The Press Box - Ep. 197: 'Search Party' With Cathy Lew and Brendan Lynch

Episode Date: October 21, 2016

'Any Given Wednesday' writers Cathy Lew and Brendan Lynch break down the latest in internet culture. They discuss Instagram accounts 8Booth and Bread Face, the evil clown movement, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. Today's episode of Channel 33 is brought to you by Seekek, the presenting sponsor for my podcast, as well as the only fan-friendly app for buying and selling tickets for sports and music. With just two taps on your phone, you can instantly buy Seekkeek tickets to an event, and you can enter that event just using your phone, no paper tickets. Drop your old ticket app. Use one that's built for 2016. Download the free Seatgeek app or go to Seekgeek.com.

And don't forget to check out my fairly new website, Theringer.com, for the very best in sports, tech, and pop culture coverage. And don't forget about the ringer podcast network, which features Keeping in 1600, The Watch, Channel 33, Shackhouse, and our ringer shows for the NFL, MBA, and MLB. And finally, don't forget about my new television show, any given Wednesday, which runs every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. on HBO. And reruns on HBO Now, HBO Go, and,

HBO on demand. Hi and welcome to Search Party. This is our first episode of a podcast about internet culture and the things that we're obsessing about online. I'm Kathy Liu. I'm a writer for Any Given Wednesday, and I'm joined by my co-host, Brendan Lynch. Also a writer on Any Given Wednesday? And we're here to just talk about everything we've been looking out online.

We're not experts. We're enthusiasts. Later in this podcast, Brendan is going to take you through his deep dive on rap mixtapes to win your court case. I'm going to complain about how much I hate people posting Instagram photos of fall. But right now we're going to get into Hot Rex, which is our segment on recommendations for things we've been looking at. Yeah. There are so many people out there who are always trying to throw their weight behind their name. And so we wanted to talk more about people who have actually chosen to not reveal who they are and have still managed to find some modicome of claim.

Brendan, who is your hot wreck? My hot wreck is 8 Booth. I'm sure you've seen this if you've been anywhere near Facebook or Twitter. Eight Booth is a gentleman in Laguna Beach, Southern Orange County, and he wears a bandana on his face, and he dives off of cliffs into the Pacific Ocean, or he'll dive off of a hotel roof. into a pool and he wears a GoPro in his mouth and he has another GoPro on his hand and nobody knows

who he is and it's just they're the scariest videos and I recommend everyone go and subscribe to his YouTube channel because he does a lot of these dives they're they're crazy they're absolutely insane, but the last couple of nights I've dedicated to trying to figure out who ate booth is. Do you feel like that's kind of sacrilegious? Don't you feel like his mystery identity is a major part of who he is? Because like I said to you earlier, I think that the bandana, that adds a lot. That adds a whole element to his vibe that I really appreciate. My reason for trying to figure out who he is has nothing to do with revealing it. Not that like, you know, if I wrote his, if I figured it out and wrote it on Twitter, people would care.

It's more that this is my diving into a hotel pool. Wow. Yeah, definitely. He dives into hotel pools. I dive into him trying to hide. And he's, let me tell you, as someone who, like, not that I'm, you know, Nancy Drew or anything, but like. Maybe like a young hardy boy. I'm, yeah, I'm like an ancillary Hardy Boy, not the main one. Yeah, a friend of the Hardy Boys. Yeah, exactly. And so let me just take you through like sort of just the things that we know about him real quick. He's done one interview on TV in early September for the CBS affiliate in Laguna Beach area. He has a Instagram that I, he hasn't accepted my friendship yet. That doesn't surprise me. You're trying.

to unearth his identity. I've, I have friended all of his friends, though. That is. Creepy as hell. That's not even creepy as hell. That's some straight up high school senior year shit. It's also creepy as hell, you're right.

He wears a hat that says Gooch, which is a lifestyle beach brand based out of the area. Gooch is a weird fact. about Gooch Apparel is that Blake Bordels is a fan of Gooch. So there's a connection between eight booth, the guy jumping off of hotel pools and Blake Bortles. They both enjoy the Gooch lifestyle. And here's a little something to snack on. Oh, wow. Eight Booth, I believe, is one of the T-shirt models for Gooch Apparel. But see, I don't know if I can believe that someone who makes a living as a model would put their physical appearance at risk by jumping into pools. And also, if you've seen these videos, you'll know that it always feels like he's just about

to miss the side of the building. It is weird behavior for a model, but the cut off jean shorts. But that to me just meant that he was like European. That felt very European to me. Kathy had a theory that he was French for a long time. And I was with it until I unearth the video of the interview. But this actually was sent to me by Bill Simmons. Shout out to Bill Simmons, our boss.

And what he said, I totally agree with, this needs to have more hits. Even though a lot of people, like, are posting it that are my friends, like, everyone needs to see these videos. They are absolutely amazing. And you know what I was thinking about is it's interesting because I feel like the reason why it hasn't been posted everywhere is because people feel really split about it. Like I've seen some headlines that are calling him a daredevil, others that call him dumbest guy on earth. And I feel like there's no kind of uniform opinion about what this dude's deal is. And that's why people haven't been able to kind of like unify and just like get behind this potential Gooch model. slash jumper dude.

Yeah, well, out there, I'm on to you, A. Booth. I feel like Johnny Utah in Point Break, and he's my, you know, boaty. What's your hot wreck? My hot wreck and my favorite anonymous person on the internet is the woman behind breadface blog. So for those who don't know, Breadface Blog is an Instagram account. It's been around, I feel like, for a while,

it has about 90,000 followers and not that many videos relative to how many people actually follow it. And when it first came out, pretty much every major news outlet started tracking it, asking if Breadfacing was the new thing. And it's basically this young woman who takes, you know, a deep dive, into a piece of carb.

So it's either, you know, like a piece of Wonderbread, a roll, whatever kind of gluten product exists and she puts her face into that product. But what I really appreciate is that it's perfectly produced with the exact type of music. That is the essential pairing. But more than anything, the reason that I really like her and her account is just because I feel like

when these things kind of pop off, people ask, like, is this the new trend? This went viral. But she actually has been able to really sustain and grow, like, her business. Because now she gets sponsorships for her clothing. She did, I don't know, some sort of, like, cross promotional lipstick thing. I just admire the way that something that's so simple was able to kind of expand into things that I just wouldn't have ever thought about.

And so, yeah. We did. She also has a place where. you can give her money. Correct. And so in honor of our first episode of Search Party, we donated to the Breadface blog in the hopes that she will potentially do a video dedicated to us, I would hope. I mean, some of my favorites have been like mini croissant plus righteous brothers,

like Unchained Melody, also steamed bun. and the song Creep by TLC, that's an amazing combination. But what would your dream combo be if she does accept our money and sponsors a search party breadpost? You put me on the spot. I would say I'd like to see like, I don't know, a bread bowl. Oh, whoa. But like...

I like the way you think. I wouldn't have gone there. I don't want her to get hurt. Yeah, that's like too intense and crusty. A spot show in a bread bowl, like a cold soup. and it would be, and then the song would be like, I don't know, like Guar or something, something with like liquids being thrown about. So when she put her head in, it was a nice, you know, splatter.

I think you're too obsessed with eight booth. Like this isn't about jumping into a, I mean, this is about jumping into bread. Which, what would yours be? I would say, like, I would feel really guilty if it was a seedy bread or a piece of toast. That stuff always makes me really, I'm just like, oh my gosh, we're not worthy. I would go with like a non and, you know, maybe some Justin Timber, like, cry me a river. Oh, that's fun. Yeah.

That's a fun. It's a cleanse. It's like a mask. None is soft enough. Correct. You know, but it's not like, you know, it's not going to soak in oils or whatever. You know, that feels good. Who do you think she is?

Unfortunately, I feel like you can guess who she is because I, and I feel like a creep in that just based on the places where she's buying bread, I feel like I know where she lives. Like she lives in a specific part of Brooklyn just because if I'm thinking about myself, like, I'm not going to go outside of like my general radius to try and like buy anything for this. So I feel like you can kind of pinpoint exactly where she lives. I don't want to sell her out. But if you think, you know, let me know. I mean, more than anything, I just like that these people have chosen to remain anonymous. I think there's something special about that, especially because we don't see that often anymore. And there's a similarity.

A booth jumps into water. She jumps into bread, a carbohydrate. right? They might just be the perfect power couple, I think. That's my personal hot wreck is them as a power couple. That would be awesome if there was a smash cut to three years from now and she's doing a putting her face into a wedding cake. Oh my gosh. For her wedding with a booth. I think I think you nailed it. Yeah, perfect. Okay, so our second section is called Time of Death. And this is where we take an internet trend, and we make a call as to if it's dead, when it's going to die, or if it's living. Well, okay, what do you think needs to end?

What is your internet trend that you're out on? I would say 100% creepy clown stuff. Yeah, I'm done with that. It's definitely, and it's, I think that it's going to have a life cycle to January. I think it's, I think we're going to see it through Christmas. Wow, really? Yeah. You don't think that that's just timed with Halloween?

No, I think there's going to be Thanksgiving and, uh, because I think, I don't know, it's, to me, the reason why this trend exists and what bothers me about it is that clowns, are the opposite of the internet. The internet is a really snarky place where you don't mean what you say and there's no being genuine or into stuff is sort of like, uh, that's uncool. Right.

And clowns are like, they're pre-internet entertainment. You know, the clown. You don't think they're just scary? No, I think clowns are, um, the ones that I've met, unfortunately I've met. What?

Yeah, I've, I've met a bunch of clowns because, living in San Francisco, San Francisco is, there's a big clown segment there. Oh, sure, like a, no, but when? Okay, so in my stand-up comedy, I have a joke about balloon animals where I make fun of them. And I would get, because I would say that they were dumb,

and then people would come up to me and they'd be like, just so you know, I'm a clown. Oh, whoa. And then they would break it down the importance of what they do. And actually the best one ever was I was doing a show and I did my joke and this woman comes up to me and goes, just so you know, I'm a clown and I'm also a medical student at UC San Francisco. And like she's like Patch Adams, you know, 2.0. And she's like, I use the balloon animals to explain what's going on.

And like I make I make a replica of the body and then show, you know, kids, you know, what's. So it sounds like you have a personal vendetta against clowns. No, no, no, quite the opposite. I'm a supporter of clowns, true clowns, but this whole like co-opting clown culture, doing the creepy clowns, because that's not real clowns. Like, I feel so bad. Imagine the poor schmo who's in clown college right now.

I mean, this is the worst economy he's ever going to see. The job opportunities are zero. Do you think Ringling Brothers is going to hire an extra clown? They're going to get like two elephants. You know, it's just like the job prospects for clowns are at an all-time low. And the thing about it is the like creepy clown, the like white face clown. Right. There's like five different types of clowns.

I didn't know that. I'm a little bit clown ignorant. God, I've been lectured by so many clowns. It's like. What are some of the archetypes? I couldn't tell you. I mean, like, I know, but I don't like know. I mean, I don't want to know too much.

Like, I don't want to be the guy who, like, knows everything about clowns, because then people are like, was Brendan like a failed clown? I actually didn't think of that until you brought it up, which unfortunately telegraphs that you were a failed clown. But the creepy clown thing, it's like Slender Man, but like, you know, the new version of it. And it's all just things that, like, high school kids make to scare their little brother or the sister.

And I'm out on it. I think, like, you know, on the election that we're going through, there's a lot of stuff up in the air. And so, like, people are, like, talking about the purge and all this and that. And it's given it an extra life cycle. But I really think, like, come January 1st, all these creeps with their clown stuff are going to get over it and, you know, go back to, you know, actual, like, true. Just earnestness. Yeah, earnest trolling. Like, stop it with the, like, well, you need to be.

need props to troll, come on, just do it, do it the old-fashioned way. That makes sense. What is your time of death? What is the thing that you're out on? Okay, I'm out on autumn as a brand. So I say this as someone, you know, fall is my favorite season, for sure, but I'm extremely tired of everyone feeling the need to present fall. Because I feel like it's never been this bad, And I don't know whether that's because Instagram has just made it much more, you know, like visual on my timeline. But the chunky scarf, the hot beverage, leaves changing color, that's privilege. That doesn't happen everywhere. The Bonne Verre album.

That perfectly timed with all of this as a movement. I'm out on that. I don't need to see it. And I'm also someone who truly believes that if you enjoy something, I think it's more important to, like, hold that. sacred rather than spending your time showing other people how much you enjoy it. But I think that this happened because summer, like, summer essentially lasts forever. It's like three months. But with fall, you have no idea when it's going to start or really when it's going to end.

Because fall could really be over tomorrow. Like it could start snowing in New York tomorrow and then it would legitimately be done. And so I think that people now have no shame about, Just putting it all out there, being so out in the open about how into fall they are. And I don't know. As someone who loves fall as much as I do, like, it's a spooky time. It's not as, I don't know, it's not a celebratory. How would you rank the seasons in terms of you liking them?

Fall, spring, winter, summer. Huh. I'm a fall person too. That's why we have this podcast, I think. I disagree in a way, like, I get that you don't like people showing off fall, but to me- Yeah, I don't like bragginess. Summer is so obnoxious and so in your face. And fall is the most understated, I feel like, of the seasons to me.

I identify with fall the most, I think. So I project like, you know. Fear of sun. Yeah. Oh, yeah, totally. And so to me, it's like, it's just, I mean, it's being more assert. but it's not like like summer's just that like drunken monster that just won't stop talking about itself and like fall is just like that like person you know like you know likes to read and you know uh nest and uh it's just

speaking up for it's you know itself and then people are like whoa whoa fall look you know what's going on here i guess you're right i am the get off my lawn of of seasons and you're right it's It's due for a come-up, but I'm just, I'm not out here for people in their pumpkin patch and apple picking, especially in places where it's not temperate enough to be having those experiences. I agree. Fall in Los Angeles is just the most disappointing thing on earth. The other thing about fall that I like is, like, I have friends that are into, like, CrossFit or just fitness in general. And, you know, you go. Are they also clowns?

No, no, but that would be, geez. That's a good bend diagram intersection for your friend group, by the way, is clowns and crossfit people. I was thinking, like, the CrossFit clown is probably, that's the scariest person on Earth. Yeah, that's true. But here's the thing is, like, what I like is that you can't be the CrossFit abs guy in a chunky sweater, you know, with your, you know, big book that you bought hardcover. You know, it keeps, it's a very modest holiday. And like, I don't know if it's like the Puritans, those Thanksgiving. I don't know if I'm reading into it.

I think you're overthinking it. But I like that it's very, it's the most dressed. And you know, you know me. Layers. I'm a layers guy. Layers and new balance. Yeah. Layers and new balance.

That's my bio. Okay. So time of death. We're out on clowns and we're out on autumn as a movement. If you really think about it, the two are kind of related because it's really just a spooky Halloween themed situation. But let's get to our last segment, the deep dive. So for those who don't know, Brendan is really one with the internet and tends to do a lot of deep dive.

Sometimes I find him covered with like Diet Coke and Cheeto debris and he's just like deep in it. So he's here to tell us what he's been looking into and what he's made. deep diving. It's never Cheetos. It's usually like pop chips, but I did have Cheetos today because there was no pop chips. Deep dive, this is a mini deep dive here. And so we had a tiny break from the show, and we had a couple days off. And that's sort of when the Amanda Knox monster documentary came out and the billboards were all over Los Angeles and, you know, they're still playing the ads a lot on YouTube I've noticed. Yeah, I feel like I'm very aware of exactly what her eyes look like. Totally. And she, here's a recommendation for you. Watch Monster on

Netflix and then right afterwards watch the Kobe Bryant documentary Muse. They are the exact same documentary, they should be shown as a double feature. It's the exact same thing. Well, when you say the exact same thing, do you mean stylistically, like content-wise? And also, where can you watch the Kobe Bryant? It's on YouTube. Okay. They're both, they both use the same background for when Kobe and Amanda are talking into camera. It's this like sort of grayish, like, marbled background. Yeah, it's almost like the school portrait, like I'm an innocent person background. And both documentaries are two people talking into camera that are sociopaths. You know they're a sociopath and they're trying to let you know, no, I'm like you. And you're like, no, you're not.

You are nothing like me. And so it's funny because you sit there and, you know, you're like, you know, I don't have evidence to present against, you know, Amanda Knox, but her manner was deeply unsettling and it's, they both have the same sort of style. I didn't look it up, but I wonder if they're the same production company. Well, assuming that they're not, do you think that there's any chance that the Amanda Knox people saw the Kobe Bryant documentary and like subconsciously modeled it after that? Possibly. Yeah, like, man, that really worked for Kobe.

This will definitely change the tie. It's the perfect template for these exonerating documentaries. No, you sit there and you like, you're like, nah. Like both documentaries, I sit there and go, no, no, I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. So anyways, that's a recommendation of watch both of those. and someone with editing skill do a like a sizzle reel of, you know, a side by side. A side by side.

That would be so awesome. Now for the, my true deep dive and you know, Kathy, that I don't like music. Yeah. And that's not. Something that comes up on a daily basis when you tell me how little you care about music when I talk about it. It's, and everyone else in our office loves music and has always. talking about music. To me, music, I see it what it does to other people, and it doesn't do that. And for a long time, I pretended that it did that to me. And recently I said, you know what,

I'm out on music. I don't like it. And which is something I feel like we can explore in several other episodes of why that is. I would love to. It's a true beef between us. Yeah. But there is the occasional music that does something to me, and it's usually, something weird. And for this deep dive, I want everyone to go out and look up. There's a rapper named Papoose from New York. He's married to another rapper named Remi Ma. One thing I really think is cool is that she got locked up for, I believe, you know, some sort of crime. And she served time in prison. And they got married right before she went in, and he held it down. He was her support system. And I think that that's so awesome that he did that. But Papu's sign like

some deal in 2005 and his record has never come out. Oh, whoa. And so what I want everyone to do is look up this series of songs he's done on mixtapes that he releases. And they're called Law Library. And Law Library are, it's a series. There's eight of them. And we're, And what it's essentially, the songs are for guys or women in prison, and it's about how to beat your case. So it's like an instructional rap situation? It's an educational rap for people who are, you know, either being prosecuted or in jail. And so I guess there's a law library in every single prison in jail. I saw the night of, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Sorry. And so it's everything that I love. Okay. It's motivational. I love, I love motivating. Well, wait. How long are these songs?

I'm just trying to get a sense so that... They're like regular songs. They're not like 10 minutes long. Okay. So they're not like a spoken word, let me break down the law for you type thing. Like they're legitimate songs. They're legitimate songs and they sound good. They're not like, you know, back in like school,

they'd play like educational rap sometimes to like teach history and you're just like this is complete garbage right this they sound good they're well produced he's like not pandering in any way he's he's coming from the heart which i love and it's motivational it's a deep dive oh whoa papoos when he deep dove into law to help people out because he has problems with you know the judicial system and he wants to give people access to you know information which I think is awesome and it's you know it's it's it's a it's a song to research and how many how many songs are are about like the joys of research so please listen to these if you're a lawyer if you're a if maybe you're in a case I don't know no I'm not but like students people in

libraries, people who have trouble getting through that first year of law school, people who are taking the L-Sat? Are these all like, who's the audience for this? I mean, the intended target is, I think people trying to beat their case, but the beautiful thing is that I think it should be celebrated by anyone who has any interest in law. And for him to do that, I mean, I don't know why he's not celebrated on this fact. Yeah, do you have a sense of like how many people have listened to mix tapes? And also one question I always have is, does it peter out like by the end? Like is mixtape number one like very popular and then by eight it's like no one's there?

No, there's a heated debate. I mean, it's semi-popular on YouTube. Like eight booth has more views than Papoos. Law Library. Law Library 1, number one, the first song is about grand jury proceedings. Number two is about warrants. Number three is about conspiracy. Number four is about homicide.

Number five is about terrorism, robbery, search and seizure. So they're like, you know. They're hitting. He's hitting the big ideas. Big ideas. And I'm waiting for Law Library 9. It's the only song I care about. Like people are talking about like all these other.

Can't even name check people. This is my lemonade is Law Library. Okay. And in like if my life works out the way like the way I hope I'll be indicted for a crime that I didn't commit, the papoose, you know, songs that I've listened to like pretty much every night. And this is also the perfect, these are the perfect songs for rap genius. This is why it was invented. So you can follow along and, you know, I wish there was more notes on rap genius. Maybe you should annotate it.

It feels like you are the one who now knows the most about it. Just purely based off what I know about your deep dive process. You know what? That's a good actionable thing to do after this podcast is sign up on Rap Genius and annotate law library 1 through 8. But please check that out. And, you know, Papoose. I know you're probably not listening, but... Please drop next page, number nine.

Number nine, I want it. And that's my deep dive. And I have a... You know, I have a... I'm in the process of a, like, two-week-long dive that's coming... Yeah, we won't interrupt that, because who knows how much longer that'll go on for. But, yeah, I'm really excited. This is, like, I feel like I'm coming into my deep diving prime in a weird way.

I think so. But yeah, that was our first episode. Thanks so much for listening. Let me give out your Twitter handle. Kathy underscore Lou. My name is Brendan Lynch. It's Brandanzig. And thank you guys.

This is a first episode of Search Party. See you next time. See you next time.