The Press Box - ‘Jam Session’ — Gal Gadot, Cardi B, and the Last Taylor Swift Discussion of 2017 (Ep. 381)

Episode Date: November 15, 2017

The Ringer’s Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins discuss GQ's profile of Gal Gadot (0:57) and New York Magazine's cover story on Cardi B (8:36). Then they examine why Taylor Swift’s new album, ‘Reputation,’ feels disingenuous (20:10); process Meghan Markle leaving ‘Suits’ to (probably) join the British royal family (26:59); celebrate the reignition of the Jenny Slate–Chris Evans relationship (31:37); react to an excerpt from Jenna Fischer's new book (35:07); and talk about Serena Williams’s new house (41:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Jam Session. I'm Juliet Litman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. I just want to get into it because we have several hot topics that we're going to talk about. Can we tell people what to expect? Sure. Well, obviously talk about Taylor Swift. I feel like a little bit.

This is not a Taylor-centric pod. And we feel good about that. We'll talk about the woman who toppled her, Cardi B. Yes. Some Megan Margul News. Yes. Some Jenny Slate and Chris Heaven News. Thank you to everyone who tweeted us about that.

Absolutely. You were heard. We'll address it. Serena Williams getting married this week. Yes. Let's talk about her home. Oh, Real Estate Corner. It's back, baby.

And then I, my voice is already trembling thinking about this topic. There's a lot of emotion coming into this week's episode. And for me, it's centered on Jenna Fisher's current book tour, which I just don't approve of. And I'm very upset about it. You support her, but you question some of the choices. I honestly feel emotional. We'll come back to it. Yeah, it's true.

So are we going to start with my emotion? Let's start with how you're feeling. So we are starting with a truly delightful profile, a cover story, on Gal Gadot. that came out in GQ this morning. This morning. It's written by Katie Weaver, and it made me cry multiple times. What was the first time you cried? So I would love to tell you about it.

I was waiting in line to get coffee at the commissary on the lot. Now, I'm just sitting there reading, waiting, and I read an anecdote. It doesn't even happen in the profile. It's a retelling of an incident at a comic conference, which is something that I am just constitutionally opposed to, but that's fine. There we are, and it's a story about how a little girl, and a Wonder Woman costume met Gao Godot and started crying. And then it's about gal consoling her and saying, it's okay.

There's no reason to cry. We're all here together. And I'm really proud that I held it together just this. Your eyes look glassy. So if you could hear the shaking, I was almost there. And I just, in public, teared up. And I really honest to God, like, then it was my turn to order coffee. And I had to be like, oh, I'm sorry, I have something in my eyes.

The barista that we see every day, I didn't know what. to do. What was the alternative? A story about a Wonder Woman just made me cry. Well, she's a great Wonder Woman. Yes. Which is fortunate because we're beginning a lot more of her. One thing this profile points out is that she'll be playing Wonder Woman for the next two years, basically, without stop. Unless, and I think we should talk about briefly, there was a report in page six last week. It's Unconfirmed, but said that Gal Gadot had refused to participate any further in the franchise, unless Brett Ratner, who has been accused of multiple instances of extremely gross sexual misconduct, is removed from the franchise. Right. So I hope that she's still in it.

Me too. And I also just completely admire that. I do too. She seems great. I think also very notably, like she points out in the article, she's been an actress for 10 years, but she just feels like she's starting now. Yes. How lucky to have, like, many years. to like practice and like practice like getting to know yourself and who you are and not having

to grow up in the as a as wonder woman but to like step into it when you're ready for it. Absolutely. Which I think is like one of the reasons is a great story is because she seems like young and vibrant and youthful and she's 32. She's not 22. Yes. She also has a very articulated personality and you know Katie is a great writer but and captures she seems a little not not weird.

She is definitely a personality and it comes through. times a thousand in this piece, including how she rolls up to their interview on the beach in Tel Aviv with a pre-made egg sandwich for Katie, the writer. Totally. And then notices that the writer doesn't eat it. That was what it's really interesting is Katie points out several times how hyper-aware she is of her surroundings, which I thought was a really smart way of making her seem very sharp and intelligent and is not the type of portrayal you often get of a celebrity in this kind of profile, male or female. Yes. And she also does it very deftly so that it doesn't seem at any point like she's on the defensive or feels threatened by it. That it's just kind of she's in control. Totally.

This is her life now. This is how she deals with it. And also very few mentions of her personal life. She has two kids, which she wouldn't necessarily know from like, you wouldn't be like, oh, what a great mom. Which is like cool, fine. I'm sure she is. Yeah, exactly. It's just about like her being like an actress, which is so weird. It's like about like a professional, which is strange that it's weird.

But most of the stories that we talk about and that get a lot of attention are like also wrapped up in like actress slash Brad Pitt's ex-girlfriend, ex-wife or Taylor Swift and like who is she talking about? Is it Carly Claus? Is it Calvin Harris? Like have some thoughts about it later. And yes. No, that's a great point. And the profile does it really well. And kind of one of the ways it does it, which is instance number two where I definitely cried, which is.

Katie Weaver, the writer, insists on, keeps asking Gallagado to teach her how to fight like Wonder Woman. And the first day, Gallagado kind of is like, I don't want to hurt you, you'll hurt your back, you're not really sure, we're not going to do this. And so they make a compromise to kind of do the Wonder Woman walk. But only after Gallagado kind of dictates, like, you have to say, this is really embarrassing, which is a really funny moment in the piece. And it's very charming the way it's done.

It's clearly not actual embarrassment. It's just self-awareness. Yeah, absolutely. translated perfectly. But then at the very end, the next day she walks Gao Gadoat home, and there in the courtyard, they actually do start doing the fighting. And then it ends with a hug. And like, that is, I don't know why I cried, but I just did. I was just like, oh, this is really moving. Look at what women can do together. I don't know. It's been a year, man. It's really, it's been so tough. And so I think one of the reasons we both are like, this is great and different. It's also,

it reminds me more of an athlete profile than of a celebrity profile. Yeah. Because I think partially because of the physicality and sort of like teach me a move. It's like teach me how to dunk or teach me how to throw a spiral. Teach me how to fight. Like that is so rare. And that's one of the reasons I think it's like crystal clear in the wake of all of the Harvey Weinstein stuff and everything that's come out since. But like stories about women making movies with women where it's about how physical they are and like their large presence is so rare in this profile probably, although I think this is recent, but I think unwittingly kind of leans into that. And not it's part of who, it's part of the Galgado package now.

Right. But there's a moment where Katie is like, she noticed her bathing suit. She's like, oh, I saw you wearing that in an Instagram. And Galgadotte's like, oh, I wore a bathing suit twice. And I went back to the Instagram to try to find it. Also, because it's beautiful photo shoot. But I wish there had been more just like Katie's pictures because she describes her physicality so much.

I feel like you really need to see that. But anyway, go back to her Instagram. And the pool party in question where she wore the bathing suit the first time was September 23rd. So that's recent. It is. So this was a quick turn, I think, or something. That sounds right. It feels...

Probably the photo shoot happened a long time ago, and then, like, she wrote the profile, like wrote it very quickly. Yeah, you know, I bet it all happened this fall. Yeah. Anyway, it was a delight, top to bottom. It felt, what you're saying is right, it felt refreshing. It felt just like a rare moment of sunshine. Yeah.

And, you know, there are... This isn't a man's magazine, but I can't think of a man in this character, except for the husband who very briefly shows up in a scene at the local baking agree where she keeps, where Gallagado keeps being stopped by everyone. Sure. And also translates the whole menu. Yeah. Amazing.

Again, extremely charming. Amazing. Yeah, and it's, you know, those things that you could see with a different writer where those kind of nurturing hostess, I want to make sure you're comfortable gestures on the part of Gallagodeo could be translated as a very, she's so nurturing and womanly and mom-like and that's, there's none of this. It's presented as a form of strength in this piece. Also, not a single mention of Chris Pine.

Yeah, that's true. Though I will say this, this profile is basically like the first two-thirds of Wonder Woman, but with Katie as Chris Pine. Sure. It's basically just like a screwball romantic comedy, but it's Katie being like, I don't know. And that's why you honestly responded to it so much. It's delightful. Yeah. It's a romantic comedy. Yeah, it's very true. Will you be seeing Justice League?

No. Well, I mean, maybe for work, I shouldn't say that. Like, literally it's my job to see Justice League. Damn it. Don't worry about it. But, like, she can't even get you to see that. I wonder if people will see it for her. I suppose that she is the only reason that I would go see it, but she's kind of being used to paper over everything else that's wrong with this franchise and the men in it.

And I don't know if I feel like supporting that. Sure. I hear you. We would like to support Cardi B and our friend Alison P. Davis of New York Magazine. Yes. Another cover story this week. It's been a pretty good week for magazine. Allison spent some time with Cardi B.

A lot of time it seems like. Yes. She did. I really enjoyed this profile. file. Allison, we still adore you. Allison, we love you. We're proud of you. We miss you. But this is good. Cardi B is fascinating to me.

Like, what is your primary, other than Bodak, Ella, like, what's your primary association with her? Instagram. Because for me, it's love and hip-hop. Right. But there's so many, and I was talking to Sean Fentasy about this, too, and he's also, like, Instagram. But I just think there are so many different ways that people are coming to her now that she's, like an interesting example of celebrity. She's a very different thing. She actually couldn't be more different than Gagadat. Yes, very true.

Like, she has been a hustler for a long time. She's been working towards this. A lot of her mediums. Yeah, her future is not circumscribed the way that Giles is, like, for the next two years. And Alton really gets to that in the piece. It's sort of like this was the trajectory she was headed on or headed down, but she wasn't necessarily, like, kind of have a number one song in the unseated Taylor Swift. And so now she barely even has time to make more music. And so she's more of like a true 21st century millennial or 20%.

entry celebrity to me. She's also a millennial. Yeah, I did think I love Cardi B. I feel like Bodak Yellow was the only exciting thing to happen in pop music this year, which we can come back to when we talk about an unexciting thing that happened. I'm really disappointed that her next song features, what's that guy's name? He's white. Is it Post Malone? No, it's G. Easy. Okay. I'm really disappointed that her second song has G. Easy on it, basically. He, like, just doesn't seem worthy of her. But whatever. You know that song? If I hit it one time, I'm Piper. I don't know that.

It's popular at SoulCycle. Anyway, back to this profile. So I thought the thing that was very interesting about this profile and what you said about her being a representative of 21st century celebrity is very true is her discomfort with the level of seven fame, which is both 100% understandable. Yeah. And sort of puts her at an interesting moment because she, you know, Bodek Yellow skyrocketed. She's suddenly on the covers of magazines.

She was also on Rolling Stone last week. It all happened very quickly. And there is that anxiety, both of how to handle that personally, because it's a lot. In this profile, it just talks about she's traveling all the time and she is sandwiching in as many appearances as possible while traveling to promote something that doesn't exist yet because she doesn't. I mean, she has the song, but she doesn't have an album. She doesn't even really have time to record it yet. It doesn't totally know what it's going to be. It doesn't sound like.

But then also just personally how confused. that all is. Yeah. It's interesting, and I think bodes well for her future, that she's sticking with all the people who've been, like, in her management team for a while.

Like, she's, like, Alison points out, like, her manicurist is someone she's been seeing for a long time. Right. And everyone's sort of, like, pre-Mega fame. But, yeah, she's just, like, she mentions Brittany. And the other, the moment that I found

really poignant is it's pretty close to the early of the piece. And Allison's, like, tells the story of how Cardi B. here is Jimmy Kimmel say, like and she has the number one song in the country and she's like actually it's number two and like no one knew yet that it was number two because the new out the new charts hadn't come out and like number one I think that like just sort of indicates that she's more of like a pro than maybe she gets credit for and she's like paying attention to this stuff and I feel like a lot

of the time with pop stars particularly younger women you just sort of think like things happen to them right or beyond their control but she's like keyed in to what's going on and also that she cares about that kind of stuff which like a lot of people like won't admit to Yes. She's very clearly engaged and has, what's interesting is that she's been doing this for a long time. And to an extent has plotted a large amount of this, but I just don't think anticipated how quickly that song became a number one hit. Yeah. And how much attention would come from that. And it's kind of unusual actually even in this climate. Yeah. The amount of attention because the charts are kind of disparate and a lot of things hit number one without anyone kind of really feeling passionate about it. And that's a true. to her and her talent and her force of personality and that we all want a story like this right now. I checked out her sister on Instagram. She was over a million followers. So there's also like a Cardi B like Halo effect. Yes. Which I'm happy about. That's great. But it is funny. As you pointed out, she was a reality star for a long time. This is not her first rodeo.

Sure. With a lot of attention. It's just I think the amount of it and how quickly she jumped to the next level. Yeah. Also it's like it's like a crossover. Love and Hip Hop is really popular with with a specific audience who watches like every Mona Scott show and like loves. Right. And Alison has to this in her piece. Like that's also like very popular with African Americans. Like that that's like the, I think also the target demographic. And Allison's like, yeah.

And at Jimmy Kimmel there was like a white woman in a Cardigan. She's like bopping her head along. Yeah. So that also just must be really weird to confront even if it's not like something you're talking about in those terms every day. But crossing over from like a specific more segmented audience to a much broader one is is a significant change in celebrity. And it doesn't happen that much anymore.

Everyone really does stick to their silos. Yeah. And she has managed to break out of that. And then I think is also quite understandably feeling the pressure of how to maintain that. Yeah. Which very few people have figured out how to do on a long-term basis. Yeah, it's true. I hope she does.

Yeah, absolutely. Also, it's cool similarly to how the GQ profile made dog dot something a real professional. Like, Cardi v. we started as a stripper and she talks about it as a job and like the power she got from that. And like that is also cool. Like I don't know that I would like to be a stripper, but like the fact that that's like the beginning of her story and it's like part of the narrative in an empowering way, again, is like refreshing.

It's so hard to not read these stories outside of the lens of Harvey Weinstein. So it's another cover story about a woman written by a woman. Yeah. That is rare than it should be. It's so weird how rare it is. But it's great. It's, I hope that that happens more. often. These both were fantastic. They were both much more interesting and honest portraits of

these women than you normally get in these situations. And, you know, the good news is that it seems people are responding to that. So I hope it keeps going. Me too. I forgot to put something on the rundown, but I just wanted to take a quick detour because it's related. Go ahead. The best thing that I've read in a while was a Hollywood reporter, Q&A, with Shonda Rhymes and Betsy Beers last week. It was like just so great. It was like, this is what it means to be a boss. I don't care if you're a man or a woman. But it was last week was a 300th episode of Grey's Anatomy.

And it was a real throwback. Congratulations to you, by the way. Thank you so much. Been there the whole road. I know it means a lot to you. I can't believe how long Jesse Williams has been on the show because I still watch it. And I'm like, God, he's so hot. How long has you been on?

I believe he joined in season six. Okay. And we're now in season 14. So that's a lot of seasons. Yeah. And he's like from like three hospitals ago. He was like from Mercy West, which closed, whatever. Anyway, it's just totally besides the point.

So, Shonda Rhymes and Betsy Beards did a lot of press with The Hollywood Reporter for the 300 episode. And Shonda Rhymes just, like, gave incredible, honest, unfiltered answers that I also, like, shout out to the Hollywood Reporter for good editing because the power of her words really came through. And basically, the final question is, like, have you thought about when this show will end? And she was just like. I think it was, is there anyone else who would have a decision on when this will end? And she was like, who would close the chocolate shop at me? And it was just amazing. That was also like on the heels of talking about how they weren't ready for an abortion

storyline in season one, but they came back to it later when it made more sense. And like the hilarity of being told not to use the word vagina in season five when you've used it in seasons one and two. And it was just such a great Q&A because she was so unfiltered and like clearly doesn't have to worry about like job security or anything. And I just, I fucking loved it. I just, I absolutely loved it. I agree. I will say these are all examples also of just hearing from women in, and after a climate of just hearing some terrible stories about men for a long time.

And I think you and I suspect any person with an internet connection has been engaged with and also just emotionally exhausted by the onslaught of news that we had in Hollywood and basically every other industry around the world. Also, like think about the juxtaposition of these like very, very, very, carefully crafted poor apologies with these off-the-cuff, honest quotes that are just like about being a human. I completely agree. And it is not in any way a full solution.

No. But here is one thing we can do is let more women speak and hear less from the sad men or the bad men. It's just like, it's just incredibly refreshing. Yeah. Let's take a break. We'll talk about our sponsors. And then we'll get into Taylor Swift.

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Go to ZipRecruiter.com slash jam, as in jam session, which you are currently listening to. And now let's talk about Taylor Swift. We have to talk about Taylor. Let's keep a brief. Okay. Her album is bad. However, on my second listen, I was like, eh, this is not as bad as I thought at first,

but there's no real bangers here. It's not a disaster. And it is not the disaster that I expected after hearing, look what you made me do, which I still cannot believe that got released. I would have loved with Gorgeous. I think it's the best song on the album. Or not the best song.

I think it's the best single. The only song that I will truly get behind is getaway car. I like Getaway Car. I like New Year's Eve, too. Everyone likes New Year's Eve. What's that about? I think it's because it's the most country Taylor. But every Taylor Swift album has the one mom song where it's like, I need you to know how important

you are to me and it could be about a guy, but it's really, it's for all the moms. I don't get it. Yeah, I think it's not for me. I think it's just sort of, I wrote this in the exit survey. I think her strength is in songwriting. That's a great point. And so when she allows that to shine, like the most bizarre thing, it's parents. wearing these, like, insane electronic drops with her vocals, which are bad.

She's not a good singer, but she's not a good singer. You're right. So, like, I think people who like the sort of like the old Taylor, that's the song for them. That makes sense. That helps me understand it. Yeah. The album is not as bad as I thought it would be based on the singles. And that, I honestly can't believe these are the four songs they chose to release ahead

of time. That is the worst promotional strategy. It's very weird. And if you're going to have a Jack Antonoff song, Getaway Car is like the Out of the Woods of this album. Absolutely. I should have leaned into that. Yeah. It's basically a B-side 1989. Yeah.

But that would have at least put everyone in a different mindset in order to receive the album with slightly more of an open mind, which honestly, I think everyone who had already pre-ordered it had already pre-ordered it. I think she sold over a million copies. Good for her. She knows how to make money. She will always know how to make money. But I think there has been a real disconnect. Not even a disconnect. We all got our jokes off. and then didn't listen to it again. Right. And I think that she could have changed that.

I think she could have changed the critical reception. I'm surprised actually by the number of positive reviews that she got. Me too. Some of them I actually appreciated because, you know, jokes are good, but we've been making jokes about her for three months now. Right. And I've heard all of them. And so to at least kind of try to engage with what she's doing and why she made the choices that she made and how they speak to a current pop music moment that I just don't really care for. so that might be why I don't like some of these songs.

Like I don't, I only need one Antonoff song and I don't need whatever Max Martin and Shelbach did on this album is bad. Devastating to me. Me too. I really upset. It's like shakes my faith in my God Max Martin. Same. Like, has he lost it?

No, I think they're just trying to sound like the radio and it's like a little bit of EDM and a little bit of hip-hop and a little bit of, you know, they're just trying to mash it all together so to try to be the kind of genre-spanning crossover mega pop star that we were just talking about with Cardi Beat. That's very hard to do. It doesn't usually happen when you engineer it. That's true. I think the worst song is that Sharon and Future song? Oh, you know what? I don't think that. I mean, that's a bad song, but it's funny to me. I understand, number one, I understand what doing there. It, and it honestly almost sounds like 2006 or something. I'm like, I, this is a time capsule and I get it and it's really silly. But, and also, everyone is at least cast in their

correct role there. She's mostly just doing the hook. That's true. Okay. And it, I mean, it's not good, but it makes me laugh. Sure. There are a couple, what's the one that sounds like a musical that sounds like Annie? It kind of has a hard. I don't know. This is why we can't have nice things. That I honestly haven't made it through. I had to turn it off. I find delicate hard to listen to? I just think that one, I like really like ambient noise. I like, I always have music on. Like I wake up in the morning

put it on. And it's like to just sort of like have like a dull sound behind you. And the weird thing about these songs you don't expect from Taylor Swift and from pop music in general is like some kind of harsh change like two thirds through the song. And that's like what most of these are. It's like now we have a weird bridge

and I'm just like what what is going on here? Ready for it is kind of eight different songs smashed together. to serve various corporate purposes, I assume, like, you know, the baby let the games begin is already being used. I mean, it was sold to college football for that reason. And yeah, it's all force and engineered and inauthentic, which Taylor Swift has always been calculated, but she was able to tap into something that felt very real. Totally.

And that is gone. And I don't care for it. On that note, last night, Tuesday evening, she showed up at Target in Nashville to, like, check out the display, which I guess she always does. And she does all the video footage from her Snapchat, I guess, or Instagram, whatever. I saw them all on CNN, thanks to the aggregation. And she's wearing her, like, now signature full face of makeup with the red lipstick. Oh, it's back? Yes.

I'm wondering, does she do that herself at this point, or does she just always have a makeup person? on hand. She must always have someone on hand. It's just, like, weird to me to not change your makeup look. And then that's, I assume that was the case, too. And then if you have a makeup artist, like, one of the best things about it is they can do makeup for you in a way you're not capable of yourself.

So, like, couldn't you ask them to, like, give me, like, a nighttime casual look instead of, like, my today's show morning look? It was like, that is, like, a baffling decision to me. I've never understood it. It's just sort of... I've just never cared for the red lipstick, and there was a moment when it was gone, and then it came back, and I was sad.

It's almost like a costume. It's almost like how Steve Jobs wears like the same black turlnack every day. You know? Like it's just sort of like, this is what I look like. This is how people expect me to look like in public. Right. But when you're trying to sell authenticity, it's very weird. Steve Jobs is never trying to be like, look how regular I am.

You know, I guess at this point is she trying to sell authenticity. I think going to Target in the middle, like late at night to take pictures of the kids is, yeah. Yeah. It's like she's trying to see like, woman of the people. I guess maybe she's also just trying to, those are the people that pre-ordered. Yeah, 500s. I can't remember what the final tally was, but it was over half a million albums. So that almost seems like brand maintenance rather than, look at me, I'm a real person.

I think she's given up on Look at Me, I'm a Real Person, which is, in a way, honest. But she has not figured out what the new tenor of her music is. Yeah. I don't listen to lyrics, so I don't even have any commentary on like the messages she's sending. I'm just like, they're pretty trite. Fine. Let's move on. Okay.

devastating news to me one would think but I'm actually on board with it okay it seems that Megan markle is leaving suits to to become a princess um it's been reported that Megan Markle and Patrick Adams who plays her TV fiancee and um fraud Mike Ross are both leaving at the end of season seven right which is the next half season and um I read on blind gossip that she tried to get out of it sooner but they just decided to have like an amicable split and this this fulfills her contract and then she's out. I think that's classy. Yes. Didn't we talk about this recently? And I floated the idea that maybe they would find love and go start their own firm and ride into the distance. That's great. If she's leaving,

I'd like him to leave too. Okay. Gabriel Mached is the show. He's like the Meredith Gray of the show. Yeah, and he'll say. So that's all that matters. Okay. Gabriel Mockt is married to Jacinda Barrett from the real world London. Wow. I want everyone to know that. Okay. It's pretty great. Do you have any requests for how suits could handle this in a way that would be most satisfying to you as a suits fan? So Jessica, Gina Torres, who's getting divorced from Lawrence Fishburn, left the show as well. And she moved to Chicago and she's getting a spinoff. I like that. Let's expand this universe.

So I would like the door to be open for Mike and or Rachel to have a different show at another time. Okay. So Rachel's not going to have a show anymore because she's moving to the UK to become a princess. So my question to you is, can the other guy whose name I have literally already forgotten because I do not retain suits information in my. Mike Ross? Who's the other, who's her? Her guy? Mike Ross.

Mike Ross. Played by Patrick Adams. Okay. You got to pick one name. Sorry. Patrick Adams. I'm not going to retain them all. So would you accept a Patrick Adams spinoff that.

Without her? Yes. No. Absolutely not. Okay. So that timeline has to end. Yes. They have to be done.

Okay. Yeah, so just, if you're listening, Aaron Korsch, please know Mike Ross show about Rachel. I can't deal with that. Can we pivot to the second half of that of the sentence? Yes. Which is Megan Markle probably becoming a princess? Yes, Megan Markle, probably getting married to Prince Harry. That's really wild.

I'm thrilled. I am too. I'm at the point where I just don't want to jinx it. It seems like it's really going to happen and I'm getting too emotionally invested. And if something goes wrong. I just want to say my only hesitation. and I feel her hairstyling has gotten worse since she's already started dating Prince Harry.

She's gone back to the center part, away from the side part, and I think it's worse for her face. You know, I was thinking a lot. Kate Middleton cut her hair again. I should call her the Duchess. I'm sorry, but she'll always be Kate Mendelton to me. A little bit shorter.

And I had some concerns about that also, so... So just doing bad hair in the palace? Is that what's going on here? I think that if you are going to be associated with the royal family, you don't get to be quite as... fashion forward. Yes, there was a photo, a slideshow, I think, from glamour, potentially

cosmopolitan. Probably both. About how Megan Markle has become more conservative since she started dating Prince Harry. And I will say she was a pretty conservative dresser to begin with, so it's like as far as celebrities go, so it wasn't that big of a difference. But it is true. We're more covered knees and covered shoulders. Yeah, there's a no knee rule. Yeah.

Apparently. But she did wear a Ripjean still. So. Okay. Well, she's she hasn't signed her life away yet. She has time. Can you imagine you just go to an event, you go to a charity event, and you just meet a prince, and then you become, and then you get married to him. It's really, really weird. I can't believe this is going to work out. It's also, like, just think about his, the past body of his work with Cressida bonus.

The past body of work? I mean, it's just so outrageous. Yeah. Well, you know, it's kind of like he wasn't taking it seriously, and now he's taking it seriously. Poor Pippa. She had a date, the brother or someone from. made in Chelsea. It's just unbelievable. Pippa's been photographed biking around London a lot recently, going to places near her 17 million pound home in Chelsea. That's insane. Thanks to her husband,

the hedge fund manager who also has a Scottish title. I think Pippa is doing okay. I think Pippa gamed the system to her advantage. The bike has like one of the giant baskets. It's basically like should have a baguette sticking out except she lives in London and not Paris. Seems like she's doing great. She probably goes to Paris all the time. Yeah. You can still... Still take the train. Yeah. Great. Brexit hasn't happened yet.

I assume you'll still be able to take the train even without Brexit. It'll just be annoying. Bring your passport. It'll be a little harder. All right, let's move on. All right. We're going to DTR and take a deep breath. Let's just run the clip first. Okay. So this is from Chris Evans's Twitter.

It was posted last week. So I'm going to read the tweet first. Okay. This is Dodger Stuff Lion. He loves it. He brings it everywhere, talking about his dog's dog toy. If you press its paw, punctuary grammar's not quite right there, but we're going to go past it.

His primary colors, Amanda, it's fine. Keep it moving. If you press the dog toy's paw, it sings. Today, Dodger the dog decided to join in. So this is a video of Chris Evans' dog singing along with a dog toy. And I'm just going to give everyone a tip here to listen for any background noise that might be available. Ooh.

I gave magic. Yeah. Okay. You know whose voice that is. That's Jenny Slate. You know that laugh. A once in a lifetime laugh. That is Jenny Slate in the living room.

With the dog. With the dog. Chris Evans is comfortable enough to post this identifying video clip on Twitter. They're back on. I guarantee he didn't think it through first. There's no way he was like, okay, here's a sound of my girlfriend's voice in my cute dog video. I don't think he thought it through. I don't think he's that primary colors.

He's lived in this world for a while now. I just, have you never posted a video? You're like, fuck, I forgot that had sound? No. That happened to me. So. I'm hyper aware of the effect of technology and media has had on our day-to-day lives, Juliet. I do this for a living.

I don't know. I just feel like that wasn't intentional. However, then once the cat was out of the bag, she did not take it down. She followed up with a great tweet. Yes. This was November 10th from Jenny Slate. My boyfriend does many dreamy and generous things, but number one in my mind right now is how he celebrates my new turtlenex. Let's me show, again, we're having a lot of trouble with apostrophe s is.

Let's me show him my online shopping spoils and cheers me on. I just think these two are in love. This is, good. I got here too. I'm so glad to hear you have the same. And they're just like just going for it. Just like, look, we love our dog. Look.

I'm by his turtlenex and he still finds it sexy. Like, great. I have totally evolved my position. on this because this is not black backsliding. No, I think they're in love. This is 2.0. I'm just like, are we going to have a Chris Evans Jenny Slate wedding? I feel I feel bashful for them. I know. It's really nice. Really, they're putting it on display in a way that will come back to haunt them almost certainly. But yeah, they seem like they're in love. They found love in a hopeless place. The break was hard for them and they got over it. And now they're building a life together with Dodger the dog. How do you feel about the phenomenon known as cuffing season?

Oh, that, yeah. Could we be witnessing cuffing season? It's definitely possible. And, you know, we could also just be witnessing their shooting schedules or such that they figured it out. Or are in Atlanta together still. I suppose we don't know where down there was. Yeah. Yeah. That all seems possible.

I still think they're in love. I do too. Maybe cuffing season brings out love. Maybe we're just being really, maybe we need to believe in this love right now. Maybe. We need it. I found myself extremely ready to do that. Do you think he was like watching when Harry met Sally?

And he was like, when you realize you love someone, you want to spend the rest of your time with them, like the rest of your life with them starting like immediately or whatever he says. Yeah. Yeah. The light, the lightning. Speaking of lightning, let's move on to our one things. Okay. Mine is a downer, so I'm going to go first. Okay.

And then we'll end on a high note with yours. Okay. Great. I honestly need to like steal myself. We're just having a lot of emotions in this podcast. And this one really, this just hit me so hard this morning. Okay. Thanks to Chris Ryan for sending me this link.

because he knows that I've been rewatching the office. I somehow, I'm myself on the office's YouTube page. Actually, this is what happened. Somehow. Okay. This is what happened. Chris Ryan's my office roommate. And we've been talking about a lot of things that we just, like, view differently in the year 2017. My number one is Elm FIO.

And this is what started it. I was on the way to work. Wait, I'm sorry. To clarify, the band or the expression? The band. Okay. I heard LMFAO on the radio, and I was. I was like bopping along.

I was like, yeah, this is a good song. People hated on it. Wow, it's fun. And then I was like, oh, what a time. It came out in Obama's president. And now I just have no time for this. I can't deal with LMFAO. I was just like, good song, but nope.

And I put on classical music. So then I started telling Chris about this. And I was like, there are all these things. And I'm just like, I wonder how they would be perceived in the year 2017. Sure. And I was like, and then I was like, remember the office? That was a funny show. And so I then went to the YouTube channel.

And I was like, yeah, this is a funny show. show, so I started re-watching it on Netflix, and I've been talking about it a lot. And so, coincidentally, Jennifer's been talking about the office a lot as well because she has a book that just came out. As you probably know. Marry the title? Yeah. The actor's life, a survival guide.

It's really tough. Thanks to Jezabelle for quoting this for me, so I don't want to read the whole book. She played Pam, obviously, Jim and Pam, a top five TV couple of all time, and Jennifer definitely agrees because this is what she wrote. Just remember that Jennifer was married when she was on the show. the office and um that's not what she wrote that's still juliet had to tell i'm sorry sorry that'd be incredible and john krasinski has been with emily blunt for a long time and they have kids and they live in a really nice brown son in brooklyn that they're selling it actually that they are selling that we

discussed previously okay this this is what she wrote he wasn't that just the best jim he was jim i remember the day we met as i was being shown to the actress's holding room he was just being called in to read with another potential pam as he passed by he introduced himself and we shook hands. It was as if lightning struck through the center of the room. And then she goes on. John and I were walking out of an audition scene and he suddenly turned to me and whispered, You're my favorite Pam.

I hope you get this job. I'm actually squirming right now. It's really tough. It was exactly as sweet and cute and supportive as anything Jim would say to Pam. I smiled really big and said, I'm so glad you said that because you're my favorite gym, and I don't think anyone could do it except for you. Let me give you one more. Oh, God.

I don't feel good. This is about their first kiss as Jim and Pam. When he walked away, I felt completely transported into a new reality. I was Pam. I was talking with my mother and my heart was breaking. I spoke into the phone telling her I was in love with Jim, but I couldn't confess my feelings to him. Suddenly, Jim walked in the door. I turned and I saw him.

My heart felt like it might burst out of my chest. I wanted so much to tell him how I felt before I could. He kissed me. It was perfect. This is so hard. Jennifer was and may still be in love with John Grisinski. Can I just say, do you know how long it takes to write a book, to edit a book, to publish a book? This was in galleys.

People were thinking about this for 18 months to two years. And she's been thinking about it for so much longer. I know, but just no one thought to say, maybe, you know, we could reposition this slightly. Yeah, it's upsetting because A, it's like this like deep unrequited love and she like bought, she's an actress and like has and like buys into these weird realities of the shows and like the scripts that she's given I guess I'm sorry to be the editor here but it's just also the writing is not particularly sharp and relies on a lot of I'm in love cliches yeah that just kind of both show her hand in a way that's very frustrating and also make it uncomfortable yeah and then lightning

struck really she mentioned this previously I think on maybe on watch what happens or on a previous press store. And at the time, John Cresensky just kind of like, I think he was like, I feel sorry for her because it was taken out of context. This is a lot of context. And he clearly just doesn't feel the same way, which is like he's married. He has a wife and children. And like, they were, that was like his job and whatever. I just, I, it's, I really feel for her because this is really cringe-worthy and also quite sad. And I, it just, it really upsets me. It's also, I should just say it, this made me deeply, physically uncomfortable. And there's video evidence of that, but it's also relatable.

Yeah. It's so relapse. That's one of the reasons I find it's so sad. Jim is adorable. He's adorable. Everyone has had someone in their life where it wasn't quite reciprocated and you're like in a friend zone and then it's just, oh. Totally.

It goes quite bad and you can't give it up. Also like, don't write a book about it. Never write a book about it. The thing that's really also just very hard for me to like get through for Jenna Fisher is that she has, in every type of friendship, relationship, whatever, the two people tell the stories differently. Like every relationship that runs the gamut from friends. So true. And so this is, she is telling the story

very specifically and she's put it in like the official record of books. Like this is like, her version of events is on paper and like you can purchase it. And that's embarrassing because he's like definitely telling his version of events are just like, uh, no or whatever. Oh, I had a nice time filming the office. Yeah, like, uh, cool. Also, he's not, he, not of them have really gone on to anything since this. I mean, he's had some movies, but I would say he, he, uh,

bulked up. That happened. Yeah. I mean, like, I don't care for John Krasinski, which also, I think, makes me very upset. What? Yeah, I just don't. I like Jim a lot, but I don't care for John Krasinski. Oh, that's confusing.

He did make a David Foster Wallace movie that wasn't good. That's tough. Seriously. The only thing worse than that. That's a warning sign. It's a red flag. At least he wasn't like, I need to adapt the fountain head. But still, a lesser David Foster Wallace is like, okay, we get it.

You know how to read. Good job. Got it. Yeah, exactly. Okay. That's a real downer. Jennifer Fisher, I feel for you, and I wish you hadn't done this. I've got some happier topics.

Let's move into happier news. So my one thing is actually several things that fall into the umbrella of Serena Williams. And what a wonderful umbrella that is. It really is. So there is a visual component to this that we're going to do later, and you can watch. On YouTube. On YouTube and on our social media feeds at the Ringer. It is another real estate corner because I do have some questions.

We both have questions, I should say, about. It's just a perplexing real estate purchase from Serena. While also being furniser than anything you and I will ever be able to acquire in our lifetimes. We credit is due. Sure. The other interesting thing, we're recording on a Wednesday, and there are rumors that Serena Williams is getting married this week. In New Orleans. In New Orleans.

She was spotted there by the Daily Mail checking out wedding venues. Right. Rumored guests include Jay-Z and Beyonce. And callback. Megan Markle. Is she just like a celebrity wedding guest now? How did she get in with everyone? Well, remember in this Serena Vogue profile?

Uh-huh. No, I'm sorry, Vanity Fair profile. Her friends who comment about how great she is are Kim Kardashian-West and Megan Markle. So random. Maybe it's not. I just don't understand. I think that they are both at this point.

And Megan Markle has sent it there pretty recently. I know. But they're sort of in the all-time fame clubhouse. I guess so. Where all the rich, famous people know each other. She did like a bachelorette kind of weekend in New York City. and I saw pictures from people, and it included her sister Venus, great, Lala, Anthony, great.

And Sierra. Great. The wife of Russell Wilson and also star on her own right. Did they do karaoke? I didn't see that. So I did Google, I was wondering about Caroline Wozniaki and Serena Williams. I thought you might have more information. From July, like back on Wimbledon times,

there's like a video of Caroline Wozniakie talking about how Serena Williams is very strict about what she wants her to do as like a babysitter or whatever. but I was wondering if they're still friends, have you had any information on that. I think they're probably still friends. I think Caroline McNayazi, Caroline Wozniakie also recently got engaged. To David Lee. Yeah, you have more information about that than I do. Gigantic ring, just huge. It's, you know, whatever she wants, I guess. But so they both have had significant life changes. Yeah. Because when they were best friends, they were just two single girls on the town on the tennis circuit. And now they are both engaged and Serena as a mother. So I think it's probably just kind of, you know, life changes and relationship changes along with it.

Do you think Olympia, or sorry, Alexis Olympia O'Haney and Jr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Like going down the aisle to Aunt Venus? Like how so? Well, that's a great question.

A really nice thing that I have enjoyed is that Serena Williams seems to love being a mother. Yeah. All of her Twitter and Instagram posts are just like, I can't look away from her. So cute. I went to a Bruno Mars concert and I already missed Alexis Olympia, which is just a hilarious sentence. Bruno! Yes.

Serena's social media presence is unfiltered. Well, I suppose it is unfiltered because that's how she accidentally announced her pregnancy. Anyway, so I can't imagine a wedding without Alexis Olympia. I would imagine Venus carrying her down the aisle is interesting, but I suspect that they each get their own roles. Oh, interesting. And I would suspect I'm imagining that she kind of gets rolled down on her own. Like a little carriage for the baby. Yeah, but like an open carriage.

I'm imagining something akin to like a royal wedding presentation. Like however they get the crown to the coronation, you know, before it goes on someone's head is how I'm kind of imagining Alexis Olympia rolling up. I really hope Harry's there. I can't imagine he will be. That's too much. A bridge too far. Well, you know, there's such a level of secrecy to these things anyway. We don't know exactly where they're getting married.

We don't totally know. It may not happen this week. But if he were involved, then it would not only upstage the wedding, which is unfair. That's true. But it would kind of, you can't keep all of those secrets. No. It's just too great. Let's talk about our house.

And to hear that, please go to our YouTube channel. In the meantime, thanks for listening. And we'll be back after Thanksgiving. Thank you.