We're Here to Help - 70: All Food Comes with Risk with Josh Scherer

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

Jake, Gareth and special guest Josh Scherer (Mythical Kitchen, Last Meals) discuss a caller being a raccoon guy and accidentally following someone for 12 years.  Later, the guys chat with Josh about his early days in the food world and one of our first callers who worked for Josh. Want to call in? Email your question to [e-mail] (Ad-Free Episodes, Bonus Calls and Behind the Scenes): Patreon.com/HereToHelpPodVIDEO: Youtube.com/@HeretoHelpPodMERCH: heretohelppod.comINSTAGRAM: @HereToHelpPodTIKTOK: @HereToHelpPodIf you’re enjoying the show, make sure to rate We’re Here to Help 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.Advertise on We’re Here to Help via Gumball.fm See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. And back we are Jake. You know what I just got Garf? Huh? A response from the Reiki person. Oh wow. This is an update. What do you got?

So was there smoke in your room or is that it? Did you see that Kevin and his thing? Or I think I just let us there's a small fire. That's fine though. I don't want anything to get in the way of the intro so tell me about this Reiki thing I'll die in a house fire oh you don't know I don't know what was the first email you wrote you come highly recommended what's Reiki is this real can we call you Reiki I Yeah. Well, if I do it, it's a jakey. Yeah, there's a real chance It's gonna be mo on that table and they're gonna go like we are now releasing from your knee and I'm gonna die you Release not that

$75. Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna give you that seventy five dollars and two pokes in the eyeball If you released a bunch of energy for me, let me see the trauma. We put it in a fucking jar. I'm going to take it with me. We really, by the way, I love how most turning into Joe Pesci. He's becoming by the way. Who do you think inspired Joe Pesci? Joe Pesci used to have a two person singing act. What Joe Pesci is like a song and dance man.

That's amazing. When he started, you know how we all started with our like you and Evan, you know, our little two manman sketch groups and comedy groups. That's what Joe Pesci was doing. He had like, he did like big sketches and songs. Then he watched Three Stooges. This is a makeup. He watched Moe and he goes like this. I think I could do that and I'm only five two. He's like, you live. And you probably googled if Moe in real life, if we googled him. I bet he's a little guy. Probably five one. He probably was and I bet he was a nice guy. Whenever you see those things, you're always like, that's what they say.

Like Harpo and the Marks Brothers, he was like, he was the funniest guy, but he never spoke. Moe was probably just like a real sweetheart. He's like, I'm sorry about the eyeballs. We have a great guest on the show today, which I'm really excited about from Mythical Kitchen, Josh Shear, AKA the mythical chef Josh. He has a show on YouTube called Last Meals, which I was on. You can check it out.

It's a great show. He cooks all your last meals and then asks you questions. We actually had a really good chat. He did a on his show. They produced the hell out of it where they brought. Kevin, who was the guy he brought on again? The guy from the ostrich farm. Yeah, the caller from the ostrich farm.

He came onto the show, which was a lot of fun. He's got a book right now called mythical cookbook and he's just a great guest. He comes on. He crushes it. He's a lot of fun. We appreciate him coming on the show. So if you're a fan of Josh, you're going to enjoy it, and if you're not, I think you're going to become a fan.

And so Kevin, how do we get out of here without further ado? And now the show's beginning. Welcome to We're Here to Help Caller. Can we get your name, where you're're calling from in your age, please? Yeah, I'm Garrett calling from Indianapolis and I'm 29. Oh Garrett. Okay. Well Garrett listen, I'm not gonna lie You've got a pretty special one here You got Jake Johnson always here. You got me Gareth But you also have the host and author but the host of the wildly successful and popular mythical kitchen. Josh, here is here. Give it up. Hello. Crazy.

Successful. Crazy. Thank you guys. I appreciate that. It is very it's a great I mean, we'll talk about it more. Yeah, but it really is. We're going to save that for the so engaging. It's such a great way to mix food and interviewing. It is as fun of a show to be a guest on. Oh, I love that. As there is.

Thank you. One, thank you. You were an incredible guest. Everybody loved that episode. Two, we figured if Hot Ones is asking people to like burn their butt holes off, we would do the exact opposite. We're like, tell me your favorite foods. All you gotta do is talk about dying. All right, Garrett. We're all missing the H on your name. Why don't you let us solve your problem? What's going on? Okay. So I've been dating my girlfriend for about 10 months.

When we first started dating, we were watching Guardians of the Galaxy. I had passively mentioned that I liked the character Rocket, and I have a few funny stories about some raccoons that lived in my backyard. I didn't intend for this to be talking about a deep interest interest of mine But she's since like taken off and ran with this so start off She got me a raccoon finger puppet of the house woman gift and then it moved like stickers that Christmas ornament Yeah, now I have like wall art I've got my living room. I get this you got like a raccoon fathead on the wall No, I get this this happened with my mom. My mom mentioned one. She liked frogs

Yeah, every every holiday. I just got her frogs and finally. She's like I like them fine I'm not identifying with them. You're like once you have an in if you know she she didn't know he likes raccoons It's it's what I go through with the packer. Yeah, and I'm not even yes I think this is right. I've identified myself as a huge packer fan And I am now in my 40s going like it's I can't wear the cheese head anymore It's sad and people like hey you got more fake cheese All I hear is people complaining about others giving them gifts. Yeah, you just accept it. You just accept it Yeah, but you know I had this guy give me a book once

I had a guy gave me the mythical cookbook which was very successful. What book did you get? I got a Margarita it's about Russia. It's not just about Russia. I mean the revolution at the Bolshevik revolution It's a good book. Yeah. All right, so Garrett you become a guy who receives nothing but raccoon gifts The floor is yours. Yeah, and so I'm like even just last weekend I was looking to get a tattoo and she influenced me to get so now I have a rock Escalation big Went from the driver's seat to you're in the driver's ed car and you're the teacher. Yeah, hold on

That's a while. So I don't buy that she bullied you into getting out. That's what I mean. It's like No, you Garrett you got a record. So just bullied me. Garrett, you got a raccoon. So what's the, okay. Please. Well, I don't want to start jumping in. I want more setup. So you just got a raccoon tattoo.

The floor is still yours. But I thought, you know, sort of as a joke, and I just, you know, kept going with it over these past 10 months, but she is, she's genuine in thinking that I have this obsession with raccoons. Anytime she sees anything, she's like, oh, either I got this for you,

which I think it's sweet, you know? Sure, that's why you're calling. I just need to know, yeah, I just need to know how do I tell her that I'm not actually obsessed with raccoons. Well, first of all, you get rid of your rat tattoo, buddy You got a raccoon tattoo last week and you can't put the raccoon Jeannie back in the bottle certain women say The whole this whole world of like boys are simple and girls are complicated if I were her I have no idea what message you're sending Garrett. How do I tell her?

I don't like raccoons after I told her I like raccoons And I got a raccoon. I got a raccoon on my belly There's a very simple answer here, please you're a raccoon guy now for life You have to lean in a tattoo I want to know what the bridges were from finger puppet to tattoo say those are there have to be bridges, right? Yeah, it's care. Why did you get a raccoon tattoo if you're not interested in raccoon top of that question? Please tell us where dimensions and specificity of where it is And can you send us a photo of it? Yeah, host. Are you comfortable with that? Or is there any way for you?

Dude, I have one. Oh, you do have one. I'll put it up Yeah, so Garrett keep talking we're gonna see it as you're going but can you describe the tattoo? Yeah, I'll put it up. Keep your eyes open. So Garrett, keep talking. We're gonna see it as you're going, but can you describe the tattoo? Yeah, so it's a raccoon that's sort of like cosplaying as Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. Holy fuck. Garrett, come on. 10 months and you're getting this? This is, I mean, you guys don't ask her to marry you.

Was this your idea or her idea? So sort of both. I wanted something sort of similar to this and then what is similar to yeah Well, like I wanted something sort of Pokemon theme. Okay, so you like Pokemon a lot But yeah, now let me ask you a real question What is your so you do like raccoons or you just kind of said it? I mean I I Like I don't dislike raccoon. This is If this is real life, you're a wild guy. See, Garrett, I think we all were like identifying the problem until the fucking enormous raccoon tattoo you got on your bicep that is visible in a t-shirt.

Wait, Garrett, can we see yours? This is a Garrett Garrett moment. This is where the age comes in is this is where the age comes in This is where the age comes in but that's Packers. Oh, no, that's it. Oh, yeah, this is my cat credible Yeah, so and I and I recognize directly in front of the mic. Yeah, go the other way. I recognize the moment There you go. I recognize that there that's the same tattoo. I recognize it seems like I'm in a glass house with a handful of stones. I would like to disclose something.

I have a tattoo of a goat on my lower back. Can we see it? Yeah, yeah, hold on. Jake. You're the weirdo. I'm the weirdo. You're the weirdo. Hold on, let's see Josh's.

By the way, anything- Well, now this is the fit check you wanted here. Katelyn grabbed her phone. Anything to see. Oh, our show just changed. I'll show it to Gareth first. Jesus, Josh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josh, it's great. Yeah, thank you. Oh, my god. It rides a lot lower near the butt track. Incredible. I mean, you have a goat stamp. I sure do. I honestly just felt like I was at a strip club.

When you stood up with your body, taking those pants off. You didn't feel that when I lifted my t-shirt a little bit? No, I felt like I was at like an AA meeting. I was like, well, at that point I lost my family. You were adding chilies and the waiter needs an extra dollar on the tip. Hey, I can show you my arm. I went from the back room of chilies to like... The champagne room.

Wiggly snakes. And I liked wiggly snakes a lot more. You tipped 200 in the champagne room. Hell yeah. Anything can happen. Wiggly snakes. And I like the wiggly snakes a lot more. You tipped 200 in the champagne room. Hell yeah. Anything can happen. Anything can happen. We were talking before. You are nicely ripped up.

So before we get to this raccoon for a second, because there's just a lot that's happened in the last three minutes. Can you describe that tattoo and what that means to you? Yeah, so this tattoo is actually for charity. Charity called No Kid Hungry. A baby goat is called a kid. Yeah, I don't know Kid Hungry. Yeah, so this tattoo is actually for charity. Charity called No Kid Hungry. A baby goat is called a kid. Yeah, no, I don't know Kid Hungry. Yeah, they do great work.

Ending childhood food insecurity is a big important cost to me. I had a terrible mustache at some point and the fans raised $5,000 to me to shave it. But we had a whole two week campaign going on. That goal was out in five minutes. So I said 30 grand and I'll get a lower back tattoo. No way.

And so mine was 300,000 meals for underserved kids. Gareth, what's your story? So mine is actually very simple. It's called Cats for Hats. And there's a lot of kids out there who don't have, and I know we're laughing, but there's a lot of kids in some countries that don't have access to clean hats. And through, please stop.

Please stop. Please stop. Through this campaign, and I'm going to talk into this camera, through this campaign, I got a tattoo and I was able to give 400 children hats, brimmed hats, meshed hats. You are the stupidest person. We're both...

We're both philanthropists. He's talking about feeding hungry kids, you're talking about putting bread in their house. Here's what's so Western about your take. Mesh tats, mesh tats, he said. Here's what's so Western about your take. Because you're just so used to being able to block the sun out. A lot of these kids cannot do that.

How about the back of their necks? They could turn it around like Ashton Kutcher style. So, Garrett, we found out why Josh and Gareth got their tats. Your raccoon, which is massive. Massive. So, Garrett, we found out why Josh and Gareth got their tats. You're Raccoon, which is massive. You like Pokemon, but you're not... You're telling me that's on your left arm, and you don't identify as a big Raccoon guy?

Not rea... I don't dislike Raccoons, like I said. No, but you didn't get an Alligator. You got a Raccoon. You're the Raccoon guy for life, man. Josh and I at least have a story. There's a rationale. The idea of you getting this ink. This is wild. It, you understand, we're not even trying to be,

like this is just a crazy leap as far as like now you want to tell her you're not into raccoons. I mean, I would worry that she would be like, are you okay? She will. So Garrett, as your friend, which is what we are, Josh said it earlier, you're a raccoon guy forever. I could pitch in the direction of trying to solve this,

but I do agree. You have brandage, physically branded yourself now. Yeah, and also Garrett, when you look at like, when you get a big tattoo like that, right? So raccoons, for at least what I know about them, they live in the cities. Trash pandas. They're trash pandas.

They go around, they eat people's trash. They're like little bears, they're very smart, they're feisty. Adorable at times, too. Adorable. And in certain suburban areas areas they get fat. They're little fat garbage people, right? That's what you're kind of saying is your thing. It's like getting a tattoo of a big rat.

And then it's not bad, but people are gonna inherently go like, oh you love, you're a raccoon guy which says something about your personality. For example, there's what looks looks like a spork? Hmm, correct. So I'm going to assume You really care a lot about food and or eating correct If I see a fucking huge raccoon Gareth the joke is that but the reality is that's your cat Yeah, and your cats your family and you love Jose. Thank you The other one is a logo of a team that you care about keep going

Agreed just keep moving. You're doing it in a great way. I thought you're I got nasty for no reason No, you haven't yet, which is thank you. But you Garrett I Don't see this as any other path, but you're a goddamn raccoon guy Well, can I say please some stories Some stories start at the beginning, right? I wanted to raise money for charity, ergo, I got a tattoo. I think you can write some stories starting at the end. Let's take this tattoo. Yes, I love that.

Now, you retrofit a charitable cause into that tattoo. You're now raising emotional support raccoons for elderly, inner-city citizens. I love this. I love the charity. It doesn't have to be charity, but I do love the idea of creating a story that then goes with your tattoo I it should be charity to be clear and not not for any sort of like philanthropic thing but you can get a pass for any tattoo

and for any personality flaw if it's for charity you're not wrong you got to start and I mean you got to start like an s-corp or what are Are they called like a goc3 or something? You know what I mean? Well, there was about two years on Shark Tank where every bad pitch just said at the end and 5% goes to charity Yeah, exactly. And then one of the short word go. I'm interested It was also it was either that or you talked about someone who passed. Yes period And then you'd get a deal and then so Garrett back to you for a second. So Your question today is not How do I justify having this huge raccoon tattoo?

No, your question today is how do you tell your girlfriend of ten months that you don't like? raccoons that much It really it's a garf we have to go. I know this question Is that I agree or have we switched it Garrett? That's what we're trying to solve right? How do we tell your girlfriend right right? I think Josh is right as far as like if you want to Have a great tattoo story if you can get there is I don't even want this fucking thing, right? But this is but we are not going back to the promise. So let's, here's what I would say.

Wild, I would suggest that you have now peaked. You have climbed Mount Raccoon. You're at the top. You've planted your flag in Raccoon Mountain and there is no land left to conquer. And you could tell her that after that, after the apex reach, you now feel like you don't want any more raccoon stuff.

Since you have kind of- You peaked. You've peaked here. That might be an angle. Josh, do you have any instinct of how Garrett can now, after 10 months, tell a woman who gets, you like this woman, right? I Do you don't want you don't want to break up with her can't no definitely a future there

Okay, so Josh if you're Garrett's buddy. Mm-hmm. You now have the setup He wants to kind of curb this raccoon stuff Do you have any thoughts or advice of how he could do this? If there are a couple core tenets in relationships, one, honesty. Honesty's number one. Two, lying almost constantly, right? Like you should, because hear me out,

that's what you've been doing. That's what Garrett's been doing, and that's why he's actually afraid of telling his partner, right? It's because he's been living with this for months and months and months, letting it build, and so now, by admitting there is a tacit You know agreement that hey, I've been lying to your face

So I kind of agree with you know your sentiment that you need to start titrating down you need to start going hey I was so into raccoons and now I have physically purged this by getting it scarred onto my body and now I'm into platypuses I get scarred onto my body and now I'm into platypuses. Get ready for some platypus finger puppets, baby. No, no, no, John. Switch. His other arm can't have another weird animal. Garrett, I gotta give you some enclosing advice

because this is as weird of a call as we've had in a while. You got a tattoo of a raccoon, you can't go back and say, yeah, I kind of liked raccoons but you've gone really far with it and got me gifts forever and they're not a big passion You got a huge raccoon on your man. It's a big passion or You're telling her You're a maniac. So it's either you say to this woman. I like you I'm a total maniac get used to me making weird decisions for the rest of our relationship, such as you say to her, I've always wanted to be a dad,

you have a kid, the kid's 10 months old, and you go, I gotta be honest, I've never wanted kids. I want a vasectomy. Yeah, you're just giving such mixed messages that I think you have to double down on being a raccoon man. If you were to come off just super jokey on it, it's like, oh my God, it's crazy. I don't even like raccoons like that,

but like, wow, totally in character for me. I'm a man with two lower back tattoos. My fiance watched me get one of them, it's of another man's face, inside this man's kitchen after making chicken Parmesan. Should have gotten infected, it didn't. I went into the water at the Jersey Shore afterwards. There was so much drinking.

Straight gin too. But I'm the whimsical weirdo. In my account, they signed up for it. You're saying this is all just a bit, it's an arm bit, now pull out. If it were on your foot, one thing. It's the real estate. The real estate for me is where it has taken an insane turn.

Here would be my closing Hail Mary pitch what you could do is the next time that you get the raccoon gift you can then go this is great. I think I Love I think saying it's your love language gift. That's I love that. That's what you do. I really appreciate it I just got to say I have enough raccoon stuff for our relationship. I really appreciate it. I just got to say, I have enough raccoon stuff for our relationship. I have the tattoo. I love it. But I think I don't have any more room for raccoon stuff.

Or you say you got attacked by a raccoon. Okay, or we go the option where you come- Second tentative relationship. Or we go the psycho route, which is always an option. Yes. You go out one night to take the trash You take a blade you cut your hand and you come back in and you say you just saw a red-eyed Raccoon out there it bitch it and you're done with the breed. So Garrett, what do you think you're gonna do here, bud? You can either do mount raccoon

You've got recently that idea is you've gotten so much raccoon stuff that now you're full you could do the slow reveal You could double down on it, or you could pretend you were attacked by a raccoon And now you hate raccoon. He has to get a rabies shot though to really sell it But you can do that. Can I just say it's coming in real late in the game, but I'm falling in love with the last one Well, you used to be the guy doing the bad ideas. Now it's become me. I'm loving it. I'm loving it.

All right. So Garrett, where are we at here, pal? I sort of like the Mount Raccoon. Like I sort of peeped with this and then let her know, like, we can sort of cool down with this raccoon. Okay. So do us a favor before we go. Can you pitch three things really fast and we gotta go three things you like that could take over?

the raccoon obsession from her Alright, uh don't make sure being outside nature raccoons Colorado Colorado Colorado And Pokemon Okay, three. Raccoons. And Pokemon. Raccoons.

Those are all raccoon adjacent. They all lead back to raccoons. You're a raccoon guy. You know what? Sometimes- You're a raccoon guy. Sometimes it's good to take a walk around and look at other houses to know you love you.

Yeah, it's like what are things you like? It's like nature, garbage bins, trash, being a mini bear, rabies, closet really hurt. Nocturnal beings. Being in a pack, being able to stand on two two feet hating water. You're a raccoon guy So how about this tell her you're getting obsessed with Colorado and maybe she can start getting you like a Colorado mug Colorado sheriff's but that's gonna lead back to in Colorado There's a lot of nature by the way and you guys are getting Colorado We're gonna talk to you in 18 months and you're gonna have the state of Colorado tattooed on your chest with a raccoon

Here we wish you all the best man. Thank you for the call buddy. Good luck. Thanks guys Wow. Well, let's be honest This episode is brought to you by green light that's right Jake when your parent as you are Yeah, you'll know you'll have your fair share of big talks with your kids. I've offered to do a number of those with your kids. You've always rejected them. One of those big talks should involve money, and Greenlight can help with that. So Greenlight is a debit card and a money app made for families.

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And she goes, I think so. And I go, no, you don't get a raise for losing a tooth. But it made me think of, I want to go back to this idea and you have jobs, the jobs lead to this money. And so I like Greenlight. That is your daughter. I mean, 100% being able to be like, I deserve a raise. So yes, so this is a great way to sort of build the financial literacy of your children. Millions of parents and kids use Greenlight and learn how to make it a

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Don't forget about me. I don't live in the basement. That's greenlight.com slash gilcentme to try greenlight for free. Greenlight.com slash gilcentme. This episode is obviously brought to you by brought to you by Kleenex. Jake, Jake, ultra soft tissues, okay? It helps tackle your allergy symptoms. So if you have symptoms for allergies, this is the way to go. You wanna know what I'm gonna tell you

why I like Kleenex? Why? Because Kleenex is such a successful company that I view a soft little piece of paper that you use, I call it Kleenex. That's what a brand wants. A brand wants this. And I'm not kidding.

If you rub this, if you rub this, feel that. You weird cave person. But there's quality. Garf, Garf, this is not how people use Kleenex. No, but I'm doing- Human animal boy. No, I'm doing my Southern attorney. Let me quickly cross- cross examine if I may.

By the way, this is the new bit. Just one more, this is for your Colombo bit. Yes. Just one more thing ma'am. Oh my, you know what Kleenex, thank you. I will always have a box, we'll always have one here. And when, two ideas, two bits. Okay. If a pitch is hard we use it, or if the other guy's bid is getting sweaty,

you just go like this, there you go. Ah, it's gonna be horrible. Listen, Kleenex Ultrasoft tissues are hypoallergenic and allergist approved, so you can attack watery eyes, battle runny noses without worrying about irritating your skin. We love Kleenex, obviously we use Kleenex, we're going to be using Kleenex

more on this show. Oh, it's actually very soft. Whether they are, the gentleman likes it or not. So for this allergy season, grab Kleenex and face allergies head on. We'll be glad you did. Hello? Hi there. Welcome to We're Here to Help America's Number One Podcast. Don't look it up.

You've got some killers today. You've got Jake Johnson, Gareth Reynolds, and we have the wildly popular Mythical Kitchen host Josh Shearer is here with us today. Also author of the Mythical Cookbook. Oh my God. Amazing. Yes. That's the right reaction now who are you and what have you written and how are you on YouTube and where

are you calling from no no YouTube presence okay it's really gonna cut the call Kevin we're good hey let's be honest neither do we okay what's your name Lauren Lauren hi nice to meet you. How old are you? Where are you calling from? I'm 34 and calling from New York City. Okay. What part of New York City?

Upper East Side. Upper East Side. Yeah, my aunt used to live on the other side. Apartment number? That's a nice neighborhood up there. Okay, Lauren, floor is yours. What can we help you with today? So I would love your advice on if I should and how to confront a guy I have inadvertently been following across the country

for 12 years. What? These are back-to-back wild calls. Okay, we are, we will not chronologically use these calls but Josh. wait, we might we might now Let me ask you a question. Does he have a raccoon tattoo? Josh, please anytime somebody uses an adverb. I realize like inadvertent. Yeah, I always immediately question you I don't know if that means that I'm not a trusting person. No, don't love it. That's a sticky word for me I don't trust anyone who knows what an adverb is I'll be honest. I don't trust anyone who knows what an adverb is. I'll be honest. I don't trust anyone who knows what a verb is. So Lauren, explain what this means. You have been following around a guy across the country? Yes. Break this down. I don't get it. Totally unintentional. So I first met him,

we'll call him Jerry. Jerry. In college. We were both chemistry majors. Cool. Big school, but overall a small group of us Okay, so big University, but the chemistry department was small Yes, so you knew Jerry Jerry knows Lauren. We are in a lot of classes together We're friendly, but not friends okay, and it's hard like everyone knows each other, but That's the only place. I really knew him from was from those classes. We graduate in 2012. He goes wherever I have no idea, and then I move back to Minnesota where I'm from, where

I start teaching for a few years, then eventually I start medical school. So it's been now a seven year time period. Now I've moved to Texas for some additional medical training and Jerry is there. He's in the residency program. Okay. And when you guys see each other, is it excitement? Is it like, Jerry, Lauren?

No, we don't acknowledge each other. Wait, why didn't you say New York City? We're getting there. This is medical school in Texas. So you guys see each other and you don't acknowledge each other? Strange. No. Does he have a raccoon tattoo? No.

Well, now we have to. Are you in love with it? Let me tell you, he's not into raccoons. Jake hit his head. Previous caller, previous caller. Okay, so you guys see each other. It'll make more sense when you hear the episode. I think I had a really wild thing with raccoons.

We're not over it. Sounds like a real Jerry. So you guys see each other. You don't say hi, even though you went to college together in a small group, and now you're both in Texas. Yes. Okay. If you called then, I would you're both in Texas. Yes. Okay. If you called then, I would have advice for you.

Say hi. Yeah. Well, I have a habit of recognizing people, and then they don't know me. Respect. And so, it's very awkward, and we're like, all know that we've met, but then they forget, and so.

Can I ask a quick question? Hi, this is Josh. I mostly make meatballs for a living, but now I'm here. Are you positive that they don't recognize you, is that something that's garris intro? Hey, this is garris. I mostly make meatballs for a living. Yeah, that's how he opens every one of his stand-up She's selling those meatballs It's actually a charity that I got a tattoo for Meatball hats it's you put hats on meatballs

Do some people not in the Western world like you you show of it is down here. They do not have access to Yeah, you Italian Previous color okay Can I ask you is is is that something that you are positive about that you mostly recognize people and they do not mostly recognize you Do you have tangible proof of that? Yes We're all leaving her no further questions So Lauren you guys see each other in Texas. You don't say hi then what then so he had been there before So he leaves that year to do a fellowship somewhere else.

I don't know. Okay. I spent another four years in Texas. Okay. Now this year, I've moved to New York to start a fellowship. Okay. I'm a first day orientation. I'm in line, training paperwork, and Jerry is there in front of me in line.

Do you guys say hi? No. Okay. Jesus Christ. So- This is when Harry met Sally. And Jerry is there in front of me in line. Do you guys say hi? No. Jesus Christ. So this is when Harry met Sally. What is? You guys are gonna end up together. I think, seriously, I don't,

you should say hi to him because you might be Medfriage. Are you single? I am. Is he single? Of course he is. I don't know. This is a goddamn romantic comedy. Does he have like a, does he wear like a cool kind of 70s, whiter sweater?

Yeah. And does he look like Billy Crystal? And does he have like anger issues? And he's a know-it-all, but you're opposite. Don't go out to lunch with him. Okay, what is your question? Yeah, what is your question? So, exactly.

Should I say hi to him, or should I just like, acknowledge that maybe he has forgotten all about me, doesn't know who I am and leave it at that, or if I do say hi to him, how do I say hi? I guess without seeming like a psycho that like, I've realized we've had this long connection. And your insecurity is, is you're going to go, hi Jerry, we have we have this thing and he goes I've never seen You know we literally my name we were literally in Texas, and we're here, and he's gonna go I swear to God I don't think I've ever seen you in my life. Is that the fear of this Lauren?

That's it exactly okay now it makes sense So it's less I'm with you like it's just a cosmic that the universe is telling us that we should be together so this boils down to And Lauren if I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong How do you take the chance and get over your fears and say to somebody? We've literally been in three states together and I mean secure been secure. We've had the same life. That you've never even noticed me. Josh, go ahead. Well, do you have to necessarily say the three states thing?

Because what you could do is you start a little slow, go, hey, you look a little familiar. Did you go to a big university with small, intimate chemistry department back in 2012? You could start there. I think that's probably the best version of it. And I think you do. I think you just say hi because There's with these situations a lot of times someone doesn't know and other times people are just like I don't want to bother

You know, I think ever a problem. I what is the university you went to? Can you say it? You feel comfortable? NYU my instinct on this is that Jerry is calling another advice podcast, asking about the same thing. What he should do with his rapid jet too. Their guest has a much less rockin bod. And I will say- Josh, without question. This happens to me, I think the gym is a microcosm of life, which is something that people who

look like me tend to say. Sure. Me too, in that you never go into it. that you never go you said the gin yeah I agree I agree but if you drink too much of it you pass out. I drink a bunch of gin I recognize everybody. There is a crew of about 15 guys that I Dap up every day and I'll call them babyface because you taught me to call them babyface. And they call me handsome and we Dap each other up we don't know each other's names until you ask one

to spot you about nine months in. And then you have to break the ice and go, and hey, I know we see each other every day. We've never exchanged names. What's the name? And it's never weird. You got to fully just break down your own barriers. When you make yourself vulnerable,

you give others license to do the same. There's power in that. It's true. I think that's nice. So Lauren, I think we're all probably gonna end on the same advice and that is, you gotta bite the bullet and tell that squatter whose legs your head is right in between,

I don't know your name, but I do know you. And so what I would do is walk up to him next time you see him and go, hey Jerry, how have you been since college? Did you like Texas? And if he looks at you strange, well I have bad news for you, you're a strange lady then. I'm gonna eliminate the middle.

Go ahead. That does take on the vibe of I've been following you. Yes, okay, you're right. I think you just go like this. I think it's more of the Josh vibe. You just go, hey, are you Jerry? I think we went to college together. Right.

See what he says, go from there. What do you think of that, Lauren? Just a straight up. Later that night you guys are gonna be we went to college together. Right. See what he says, go from there. What do you think of that, Lauren? Just a straight up. Later that night, you guys are gonna be smoking cigarettes after coitus. What do you think of the, hey, are you Jerry routine? I think that sounds good.

Yeah, it gives me an ad. He's like, I don't know. He's like, oh, I must be thinking of someone else, and then I can book it and run. But if he remember is then That work. Yeah, I gotta say I don't love it. Well, you think just live your life. No Lauren. I'm gonna double down I think you want the Texas. Oh, here's what I want you to do I want you to think of some eccentric professor from back in the day. Let's call them. Mr

Walton, okay, and I want you to walk up to Jerry next time you see him in line and from behind go, it's kind of a Mr. Walton sweater. And he turns back and goes, huh? And you go, it just is Jerry. And then he looks at you and he'll know what you're talking about and he'll go, look, you're not wrong. And now, if it's meant to be, you guys are deep in the story. If it's not, then he looks at you like you're not wrong and now if it's meant to be you guys are deep here in the story if it's not Then he looks at you like you're crazy and he goes excuse me and you go you're excused

Double down into the weirdness do a 180 and walk away I like that just because we might be tempting this might be the faiths trying to put you together So let's have a strong opener So don't start if this is when Harry met Sally, that movie doesn't start with Jerry. It starts with a. Well no, it was Harry. Yes, but Lauren, you need to be, I think you have to double down on the aggressive start.

You have something in common from way back in the day. You know who this fucking guy is, and guess what, he knows who you are? Yeah You know each other and for some reason you're not acknowledging you wanna know why it's probably a shy chemistry guy Yeah, I mean and I can't wait to see if you two have chemistry He's good though you gotta admit he's good. He cooks meatballs for a living. He sure does.

Are you even gonna cook them? He gives little. Oh no, I gotta make a phone call. I call the podcast. Hey, I've been giving people raw meatballs for three years in comedy shows. Hey, Lauren, what do you think about going aggressive and the next time you see him having a call back and almost saying it in his ear from behind Just one of those Jake don't push it. I'd say cut the almost out of that equation there brother

Why don't you just put your pinky up his butt? No, but here I Make meatballs. So here's what I mean by that Lauren people. Here's what here's what I'm looking for and tell me if I'm out Of line here. I'm looking for a moment if I'm Jerry and I know Lauren. I remember her. I saw her in Texas. She didn't say hi. I didn't say hi. I don't want to weird her out. Fuck that. We're both in New York. We're in this small community. I don't know how to say hi. I'm a little bit of a shy guy. I do chemistry. I don't know. I'm just going to do my thing.

Maybe she doesn't notice me. Why would a beautiful woman like Lauren, who's interesting and smart and a chemist, we have so much in common, why would she want something to do with middle-old me I'm little Jerry the geek okay and then all of a sudden I'm sitting there and I hear you're looking a lot like mr. Walton and I turn and she's got the confidence to lean out you know what I'm doing when I turn back in my dreams because mr. Walton had the best style and then you have a laugh and right away you say cuz now you're the alpha dog Lauren Let's go eat some raw meatballs. Yeah. Well, I mean the last part's crazy, but I like you know what I like it

Josh cosine yes, they actually have this raw ground beef sandwich in Wisconsin They call yeah tiger meats every year the papers like don't eat those yeah, but here's the thing I'm gonna tell you you should Lauren. I know you didn't ask for advice on that, but I'm giving it to you You just should it's delicious. You know all food comes with risk. Yeah, but here's the thing. I'm gonna tell you you should Lauren I know you didn't ask for advice on that, but I'm giving it to you. You just should it's delicious You know all food comes with risk. Yeah, that's true. But what do you think about this idea? That the title of this one is obviously now all food comes with risk and the idea is he is a raw meat sandwich and It takes a risk to see but if you eat it, it might be delicious.

We're not going to give you advice on this because you didn't call in for us to say, I don't know, let it go. Something in you wants to push this. You're looking for someone to kick you in the ass and say, go for it. That's why you called. Am I wrong, Lauren? You're not wrong. OK, I think you're right. I think if I do it, I need to commit and say, Hey, this, this may be odd, but yeah,

we've, we've known each other for all these different scenarios. So what's something Lauren besides, Hey, we've known each other. Cause then what you're doing to him is he has to do that fake thing where he goes like, do we, Oh yeah, Lauren, he knows who you are. So what's a way to give him an easy N? What is something about those NYU days that everybody in that community knows? We're gonna make me sound really geeky too,

but we took a physical chemistry course and there's this annoying problem called particle in a box that you can reference. Ooh, this is perfect. So how would that reference go? Oh, God god I don't know. He's in line, you're in line, you're behind him. I would pitch on this and I would have Gareth and Josh do it. Josh might be, I know Gareth doesn't understand

particle in a box. He's just gonna go like dick in a box. I was also gonna do that. Thank God. By the way I said that's literally all I had. That's all I had. Is this about the Heisenberg uncertainty principle? Whoa, what are you doing, an adverb? Is that another adverb? You inadvertently blew my mind. There's a thing where the particle, you never know where it is, right?

And it's like shifting. It's like the uncertainty principle. Am I lying? Is this right? That's exactly, yeah. Let's go. Hold on, so explain that again. Because this is the story of you and Jerry

Think about Heisenberg don't ask where his parents went after 1940s. No, I know nothing about I know nothing about this Will you describe to us what particle in the box means? Exactly. It's the sense where there's the particle is moving rapidly in the box. It's difficult to know its position Okay, so you're in line. Yep. You say did did you just see that rat? You go, you go, oh rat! He looks and goes, huh? And you go like this. It's like a particle in a box. Or you go like this, or you go like this. You know, Jerry, sometimes I feel like you're a particle in a box because I never know where you're going to be, but I always know I'm going to be there. It's me. That's fun from college

Or you could say hey Jerry that thing in between your legs is a particle All right, we want to thanks clean What do you think about something in this zone Josh? You got something? I just like Gareth's pinky pitch from earlier I know they pinky up the butt I don't know Lauren here's what we got. I put a particle in your bug, Jerry. There you go Go. So here's what we're saying Lauren. We're saying we need you to be the aggressor You saw the way our brains work when we did anything intelligent on this show about particle in a box

Garrett and I are instantly talking about taking fingers and butts and dick. Yeah, because we're idiots. Yeah You're smarter and I think you should go smarter, but I think you should lead in with a reference and if he looks at you and you'll know and he's got squirrel eyes, then you're just a weird lady in New York who talked about something weird. And the problem is done.

The problem to Jake's point, you want closure on this to some extent, then you're done with it. But don't go in with an appetizer, go in with raw meatballs. I want the whole meal here. Yeah. Do we have your word you're gonna do it?

You do. Okay. And then I think, and yeah, I'll follow up once we connect. And if you get married, Jake and I will come. Josh will too. Mm-hmm. I'll make the meatballs. Yeah.

But so, Lauren, on your your word the next time you see him No matter how bad your stomachache is and no matter how much you say in that moment just a stupid podcast I'm not even doing it. You're giving your You're doing it. Yeah, and you're not gonna just go hi Do you remember me Gary you're gonna lead out with something aggressive and weird Lauren? Jerry you're gonna lead out with something aggressive and weird Lauren Go for it, and you're gonna feel uncomfortable and it might come off wrong guts get glory But you are either gonna win big or you're gonna lose big but the beauty of New York 15% in New York are just weirdos walking by you saying like particle in the box and you go like shut up

Get away from me I'm trying to play chess in the park. I'm gonna put my finger in your butt. I'll sell you a particle in a box for six dollars. So Lauren, are you going hard on this? I'm going hard. I love it. Please follow up. This is gonna be a great, this is gonna be the first true romantic comedy of our podcast. Yeah. Yeah. We'll find out if you guys really do have chemistry. You've already done that. I did. Well, we got a second option to put on it. That's not the ours. Title. You know what I do know for sure?

The three of us have chemistry. There's our ours. We'll be right back. Thanks, Lauren. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace.

That's right, Jake. Look, we love Squarespace. We use Squarespace. That's right, Jake. Look, we love Squarespace. We use Squarespace. I use Squarespace for everything. Every website. Our show also did. We built one for the party boys.

Is that? Wigs and suits. That's right. That's right. We literally, Caitlin and Kevin. Kevin, how long did it take to make that website? Super fast. Caitlin knocked it out in like a half hour.

Yes. She posted about it. She made Caitlin knocked it out in like a half hour. Yes. She posted about it, she made it really fast and it's a great website and she said it was super easy. Yes, and Squarespace is extremely user friendly. So Squarespace has it like we said, it's a great place to build your website, it's very easy. But it's also a great place to sell content, sell exclusive content on your site

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And when you're ready to launch, go to www.squarespace.com slash Gil sent me. That's www.squarespace.com slash Gil sent me to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Now go for it. Everybody. Jeff, it's Gil your cannon. This episode is brought to you by Zoc doc. You guys all know what Zoc doc is. It's a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in

network doctors near you and instantly book appointments with them online. Yes. I'm actually going through this right now. And I go, you know, I had a I'm going to try a thing called Reiki. Oh, Reiki. Reiki. Get it right. Get it right. Key. Yeah. Have you ever done? Have you ever done? I have done Reiki. I'm very surprised by this.

This felt not the Zoc part, but the Reiki part. Well, I've always been a no. And then my long-time therapist recommended it and I was talking to Eric about it and he's a big proponent and I thought- It does not surprise me. Yeah. The same with me. And then I thought, all right, I got to find one that's good.

And I honestly thought I could do a Google search and be flooded by ads. Yeah. Or I can go to Zoc Doc where I could put my insurance in, put my location in and find people near me. Well, that's one of the things that is so helpful is that you can book, you, you book through it. So you don't have to like make all the phone calls and all that. And they have verified reviews from actual real patients.

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Today gilly yeah, I was just gonna say take let the bear out of the cage, would ya? That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash H-T-H. Zocdoc dot com slash H-T-H. Gilbuketa, Jake Johnson, one to two! B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B Thank you, Joe. Thanks for having me, man. It was incredible. Can you, it's ridiculous. We're out here changing lives. Just the three of us, just like it's always been for us. Yeah, no, I think, but we sure are. The raccoon guy's life, we really did change. I will say, both of those were pretty wild calls. Yes. Was that intentional, Kevman?

I swapped the second one to be more tame. You did, okay, interesting. It felt like a theme, because with each guest, they'll be like slightly different, because Kevin picks them Hmm the theme you got were these are a little bit wild Rackham all and small wild. Yeah small. I'm gonna spoil something, but the second call initially was someone wanting to gift a crow to her husband I hope we do that one. So Josh, when I did your show, which I really enjoyed,

you told me a little bit about your backstory and how you got into cooking and how you got into having a massive YouTube show. Could you tell Gareth and our group your kind of journey into what you're doing? Because it's a wild, it's a wild show and it's a huge win for you that has ended up now with a cookbook that as you've said is doing good.

Number one New York Times special. Is that true? It is true. We beat Dion Sanders which was huge. Wow. And I would like to challenge Dion to a 40 yard dash backwards. I think you will win.

I think I got it. I think he just had issues with his foot, Josh. That's a perfect time. Strike while the iron dogs. I could challenge Dion. By the way, either one I think I got it. I think he just had issues with his foot, Josh. That's a perfect time. Strike while the iron dogs. I'm gonna win, I can challenge you. By the way, either one of these I wanna see. If you get yours, please invite Jake. But Josh, will you walk us through a little bit

about your journey because I find it fascinating. Sure, sure, sure. So, you know, I grew up watching Food Network constantly. I was a total latchkey kid, single dad, just lived with a brother. And by the time I was 11 years old, I really took an interest in Food Network. And my dad was like,

if you cook family dinners every single night, that'll be your only chore. He's like, here's a grocery budget. Walk across the street to the Ralphs. You're buying groceries, you're keeping a budget. You're cooking dinner. And how old are you at this time? I was at like 11 years old.

My brother. Oh my lord. And this is out here? This is out here, Orange County. Like Mission Viejo area for anybody that knows it. And you know, my dad like worked late at night and to his credit, he would clean the toilets. He would do all my chores. And I was out there just rolling out in gnocchi

as a little 11 year old just being like, this is what it is. So you just then said like, I think I can do this. So the first meals weren't great. No, the first meals were terrible. But then you started forming a passion. I did, and then I got to college. I actually went to school on a track and field scholarship.

Shot, foot, and discus, which explains, I mentioned I was 80 pounds heavier. Just, you know, you're also eating 7,000 calories a day, and so you sort of get triple the cooking practice. You're just up in those numbers. It's about reps. But then when I was 19, my dad actually passed away, and which is part of how I started the show last meals because I'm Obsessed with the concept of death and Sam. I'm the person that even in if somebody's asking for basic relationship advice

I'm like, well, let's get down to the actual issue. You're not worried about the raccoons You're worried about the fact that you're afraid that you can never be honest with a partner and then one day you're gonna die unfulfilled, I always like take it to that level and try and get down to the meat of it, but I also love meatballs, and so I was like, how do I combine those two things? That's amazing. Yeah, because I watched my dad sort of pass away

without like a real hobby or passion. You know? How interesting. And that was something that affected me so hard because we didn't grow up with any money and so I was always like, let's get a government job. I was gonna work for the CIA, whatever that means. And instead I started a food blog

called culinarybrodown.com and then that sort of blew up and I just kept parlaying that. And so what happened with that? So when you say that blew up, it just, you started getting views, people were starting to pay attention. You started feeling like, oh shit's different. Yeah, it was a- Was that a blog or was that a that was video no straight-up blog

I was a writer and I thought I was gonna be a writer my whole life. I had never been on camera I had no interest, but I actually got I got a literary agent while I was a junior in college 21 years old my blog got shortlisted for an award from sever magazine and his literary agent hit me up and said I know you're still in school but when you graduate keep in contact because you really have the goods here and then I dropped out of school immediately because it was hard yeah after my track and field eligibility ran up and then I worked on a book proposal I was writing for magazines I had like a column for a couple years with Maxim

magazine oh wow where I just wrote about food and eventually wrote a book called The Culinary Brodown Cookbook. Very Tucker Max meets Anthony Bourdain, but hopefully not as much of a piece of crap as the first one. He's probably fine. But anyways, I eventually sent a copy of that cookbook to Rhett and Link over at Mythical Entertainment.

And you just did that? Wow. Cold. Pretty much, I mean, it's kind of, you know, PR gifting type of thing, but I had worked with them once on a video. A year had passed and I was like, well, let's send them a copy of the cookbook.

And I thought they may tweet about it. And how big were they at the time? Oh, massive. They were already massive. Well, they were massive on YouTube, but I knew nothing about YouTube. I didn't grow up watching it. I'm still new to it.

I'm still trying to like, wrap my head around it. You guys are doing great as YouTubers though. Well,'t grow up watching it. I'm still new to I'm still trying to like wrap my head around You guys are doing great as youtubers though Well, no, but what it is is for me It was your show was a bit like there's a few shows I've done that have kind of started the press tour I did for self-reliance I wanted to do it different because I have kids and they only watch YouTube I was so funny. I was kind of like but I have been always more old world

Yeah, and so doing your show when I got there I was even surprised like how big the production value is we had an incredible moment on that where so we had Kelly Rowland on last meals and She had just like walked off of the today's show set and it became a weird moment but I that was like a week after she was on last meals and They showed a picture of the today show dressing room It was just like unkempt and I'm like we're in Burbank, California. We're a YouTube show and we got a whole like talent wrangler We got a nice clean green room all the cold brew

It's everything about what you guys are doing is as big or bigger than your biggest shows and on those shows You're kind of jumping in you're doing six minutes. It's not quite working. And then on these YouTube shows, it's more long form. And also in terms of the host, I mean, which we'll get to the follow up, you're really doing homework. Yeah. So when I was there, you're not just fucking around making food and we're goofing around. You had thought about what we were doing. And it's taken interviews in places that I personally wasn't expecting, I was like oh I thought last meal tonight watched like the Hanks

one I kept up I was like okay fun but I'm like oh we're getting heavy and then when you and I told Kevin this right away so on our show we did the we one of our first callers that we released was the ostrich farm mm-hmm arguably when we were like this show can get wild yes and that was one of the first ones where we thought like these are the calls we need yeah Mm-hmm a guy gives his boss a gift he gives him tickets to an ostrich small problems big to you Yeah, it was so huge to him so it was Truly that that episode is so crazy because also we dug a little and we're like you Have asked him to go six hours

for ostriches and he doesn't love them but then on your show that guy works at the same company as you you surprised me with him coming as the follow-up that's great producing the way that came about so my uh co-executive producer ann Annalise, she like shuts the door. We share an office and just look around. She goes, I was listening to We're Here to Help. One of our co-workers was on an episode. I was like, who? Which one? Tell me. I'm literally trying to produce the show and I want to research. She was, I don't know if you'd want me to tell you because like I'm not gonna lie, it's like a little bit awkward. I'm like, I'm gonna find this. It's gonna happen. You can either tell me. And so I listened to it and then I was like, I'm not gonna lie, it's like a little bit awkward. I'm like, I'm gonna find this, you can either tell me.

And so I listened to it, and then I was like, I'm gonna go talk to Chris. I mean, he would probably love to talk to Jake about this. And she's like, no, no, no, like we gotta slow play it. And I'm like, I'ma just say it instead. And so he was super stoked to come on. Yes, oh my God. Jake called me after that, he's like,

you're not gonna believe what just happened on Last Meals. Well, that also really got me obsessed with this idea of follow-ups. I liked them from the beginning. We were always like, we want that. Seeing that, I'm like, oh, that's a whole new range of fun. And then you have, you said he texted you, you have a follow-up to the follow-up.

Yeah, while I go pull that up from my phone that's on airplane mode, do you remember what was going on behind us while Chris was telling that story? No. We had Nicole, senior culinary producer, in a sushi coach. Yeah, yeah, cooking sushi behind us. Doing a whole, yeah, omakase.

And doing each dish. As we had some bit about, we were like, oh, where in Japan are you from? And she goes to the south. You're like, oh, not like those soft northern chefs. Yeah. There's just so much going on. Yeah, remember she made like a seared bone-maker thing.

Yeah, she rocked it. Yeah, she rocked it. Yeah, she rocked it. All right, so Chris. This is the follow up to the follow up to the follow up. By the way, this is so long it could hit the New York Times bestseller list. We're gunning for it. We're gunning for it. But so Chris got Link, the boss, the ostrich horn tickets, and then he came up and told

you that, oh, Link finally addressed them and said, thank you, this is a funny, thoughtful gift. And then now Chris has left the company Unrelated reasons Chris got engaged in his lovely fiance and him are moving back to Boston, but he sent me a message Hold on there's a whole should I read the whole thing? It's about how I didn't sign a cookbook for him I just wanted to say how much I appreciate in person. Oh, I forgot to go to his farewell party This is turning Really a nice guy because he's casually reading these things like oh

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate working with you and also for your willingness to have me on last meals It was an unexpected joy that I never expected when I joined And so for him to have that experience That's great. Yeah, and then can you before we go? Can you tell us unless you got something? when I joined Mythical. And so for him to have that experience was absolutely huge. That was really nice. That's great. And can you, before we go, can you tell us, unless you got something. Well, I was just gonna,

what was the genesis of the show style? Because it is such an interesting way to interview. It really is like, it's a very organic way to learn about someone, learn about someone's connection to food. I think food, like you're saying, the Food Network was kind of the seed that sprouted in this weird way now with, I think especially art,

this country's relationship with food, but how did you land on that idea, and how did you feel about being on camera interviewing people in that way? It's funny, I had never really been on camera interviewing people, I had been on camera cooking a lot, and I interviewed people when I was like a magazine journalist, but I never actually fused them.

But my thought was if you can get somebody to just be sitting there drinking a beer, eating their favorite foods, those to me are when all the deepest conversations happen and when you can be comfortable enough to look Tom Hanks in the face as he's like, you know, eating Greek salad and taramasa lata and being like, hey, so I heard your dad testified at the murder trial of your grandfather.

That's pretty crazy. And then he's like, oh yeah. You know, it's a great disarming way. And I think a lot of people, we're not doing gotcha stuff out there. I think a lot of people want to talk about this stuff. It's very, like the Bourdain connection is there. That was what his show did so transform.

And then who are three dream guests for you? Oh man. Because now hearing this like because what you're doing is you are it does get people talking you do have booze involved It's also your favorite food so for me I'm like it does and the element even though it's it's a high production Mmm, you are just two people sitting there and the people are dark enough behind the cameras It's like this that you're really focusing I would be your dream top don't feel like you have to say I knew you're gonna make it about ahead Well, there's this guy that makes raw meatballs in LA. I don't know if you're not

It's been a relationship complaint Guy Fieri would be one. Yeah Trav Travis Kelsey we had Jason Kelsey on and he's the personal hero is a bird's fan Okay, but now one I want to get the other Kelsey Brother on there. I want to see what's deeper behind, you know I feel it would be really fun on that and then uh Ryan Reynolds interested big fan of and he actually He reached out to me after the Tom Hanks episode

Well, I reached out to him hear me out, but he responded which I did not expect at all and I sent him a message It was really weird. I was overcompensating. I was like, I'm a 13 year old boy I is it just it got but And I sent him a message. It was really weird. I was overcompensating. I was like, I'm a 13 year old boy. It just, it got, but anyways, he responded and he was like, I'd love to do the show when I'm like back from England. And so Ryan, if you're out there, because he does, he's a listener. Yeah, he's a big listener.

He's a helper. Have you guys decided on a name for the fans? Helpers is what we've landed on. Have we? I heard someone else pitch something. I can't remember. You said trash bandits earlier in the episode. I kinda like that. I did. There's bandits earlier in the episode. I kind of like that

There's a we had a lot of people on the YouTube doing comments on one I gotta say I like anything connected to Gareth as a character called Gil Buchanan that does our ads Oh, yeah, I like anything linked to that part of the gilly beans. I like the ones and twos 68 and Balmy's Garrett creates all these catchphrase where you're like well ones and dudes six didn't involve me So anything in there my present, but we haven't found it. Yeah. Well Travis and Jason Kelsey. They have the 92 percenters Yeah, sounds too much like a militia with very upset Most militias don't have great moderate politics. Yeah

And then before we get ready, can you tell us a little bit about the sure yeah, so the mythical cookbook number one New York Times bestseller It it's everything that mythical has done with food. We literally took the best recipes we have ever created I mean over the course of like a decade You know the show spans good mythical mornings had damn near 3,000 episodes at this point Well, and so we just converted all of it I mean crazy stuff animal style mac and cheese, orange chicken parmesan, grilled cheese ramen, all these crazy things we've come up with,

along with just a lot of very weird stream of consciousness writing, because that's the only thing I know how to do. So there's a whole animated children's story in there. I have a whole like butcher chart guide to how we can stop making bacon from pigs and make it with penguins, because we're already like destroying the habitat. Wait, hold on. Yeah. Penguin bacon from pigs and make it with penguins because we're already destroying the habitat.

Wait, hold on. Yeah. Penguin bacon? Penguin bacon, it can happen. You know penguins make milk? No. Didn't until now, but that's- Wait, so you're-

I love a little bit of penguin milk. This real pitch is, because I thought you were gonna go get rid of the bacon. Plant based. Plant based on food. No. That's one way to go. And you're talking about,

this is not about, you're talking about killing a bunch of penguins Bacon I those girls little bird you've seen March of the penguins. Yeah, that's they're already dying You know like lobsters in the tank at lobster, but if you see That big is thriving in the city Jake by the way you'd eat penguin bacon. But hold on, don't get out of this. This is wild, Josh.

You want to do penguin bacon? Well, we have a whole pit. We have kangaroos because they're an invasive species. The Australian government used to literally just pay people to show up. Kangaroos are an invasive species? Oh yeah, no, Australia, straight up. You could just kill a kangaroo and show up to like a government agency and they give you cash for it Australia is barely where are supposed to be from then well

No, they just they they eat too many of the crops and they like what you know like dear rats basically went on ships What did it kangaroos? We are the invasive species He killed the chan. Oh, no, no. I'm sorry. Sorry. We are the invasive species. I was going to say, would you eat humans?

The kangaroos evolved. Would you eat human, then? What? Would you eat human? We have to go. We have to go. We have to go. We're Here to Help is hosted by Jake Johnson.

And Gareth Reynolds. The show is produced and edited by Kevin Bartelt. And the associate producer and editor is AJ McKee. Our social media director is Caitlin Tanwakeo. and our video editor is John De Bruyne. The theme song is made by Oliver Raleigh and you can check out his music at oliverraleigh.com. That's Oliver R-A-L-L-I dot com. The album artwork is by James Fostike. You can find him on Instagram at James underscore Fostike, D-I-K-E.

And if you'd like to see me do stand up on the road, go to garethrentz.com. Additional artwork by Patty Holland, you can find him on Instagram at P-A-D-D-Y Holland 2004. And if you'd like early access to episodes, subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com slash here to help pod. And if you'd like to be on the show, email us your question at helpfulpod at gmail.com.

All of the advice given on We're Here to Help is for entertainment purposes only and all listeners should be adults and make their own decisions.