Speaker 1: Hey Bessies, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2: Today on the bright Side, comedian actor and writer Jacqueline
Speaker 2: Novak is here to talk about her Netflix comedy special
Speaker 2: It's called Get on Your Knees. Plus she shares the
Speaker 2: most Tony Robbins thing about her. It's Wednesday, May twenty second.
Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3: And I'm Simone Voice, and this is the bright Side
Speaker 3: from Hello Sunshine, Simone.
Speaker 2: I'm so happy to have you back. You just got
Speaker 2: back from this wellness retreat.
Speaker 3: Yes, I just got back from a retreat called on Site,
Speaker 3: and I have to say, outside of motherhood, it is
Speaker 3: the single most transformative experience of my life. I mean,
Speaker 3: pure magic with forty new friends.
Speaker 2: I wish everyone could see you. You look so rejuvenated and rested.
Speaker 3: This is what several days of no screens, no alcohol,
Speaker 3: clean eating, being out in the wilderness will do for you.
Speaker 2: What do you mean no screens? You didn't touch your
Speaker 2: phone or a computer. I did not touch my phone
Speaker 2: or a computer for several days. And to be honest,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like I'm an alien walking around
Speaker 2: on planet Earth right now. But the irony of that
Speaker 2: statement is I'm more human than I've ever been because
Speaker 2: of the deep work that I did at this camp.
Speaker 2: So I think I should explain the ground rules of
Speaker 2: on site because that really gives you a taste of
Speaker 2: what the full experience is like. So there's no screens,
Speaker 2: there's no alcohol or drugs, there are no last names,
Speaker 2: and no discussion of what you do for a living,
Speaker 2: because they want everyone to be putting humanity before credentials.
Speaker 2: They want you to come there and really rediscover who
Speaker 2: you are outside of your job. For every day we
Speaker 2: had small group therapy, and it really is like three
Speaker 2: to six months of therapy condensed into a matter of
Speaker 2: a few days. Is it mine body soul like do
Speaker 2: you wake up and go for a long walk, or
Speaker 2: is it fully group therapy?
Speaker 4: It's mind body soul.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 3: I would wake up with the birds every morning. It
Speaker 3: was so idyllic and peaceful. We would start off every
Speaker 3: morning with a meditation. We would do yoga at night,
Speaker 3: We had soundbats at night. We even had a silent
Speaker 3: disco which was super fun. And this like really cathartic
Speaker 3: release for all this hard work that we'd been doing.
Speaker 3: But I'm not gonna like sugarcoat it at all. It
Speaker 3: was it was five days of like crying our eyes out,
Speaker 3: like everyone can only imagine weeping doing in our child work,
Speaker 3: like these miraculous transformations and breakthroughs, and then you're all
Speaker 3: experiencing it together. So the people that I went through
Speaker 3: this process with, even though I had only known them
Speaker 3: for a few days, they know me better than the
Speaker 3: friends that I've had for several years.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can only imagine.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes we're more willing to tell strangers our deepest,
Speaker 2: darkest secrets than the people closest to us.
Speaker 3: But that was the thing that I was most scared of, Danielle.
Speaker 3: When I went into it. I was like, so, I'm
Speaker 3: going to this retreat. It's gonna be a bunch of
Speaker 3: people from my industry. How do I know that I
Speaker 3: can trust them with like my deepest darkest secrets, vulnerabilities,
Speaker 3: my trauma. The way that they went about it, like
Speaker 3: we fostered connection and empathetic community in really small ways first,
Speaker 3: and then that facilitated opening up in a massive way.
Speaker 2: Is there anything that you learned, any tools, any tips
Speaker 2: that you think we could all be applying in our
Speaker 2: day to day life.
Speaker 3: I came away convicted by the power of screenless connection.
Speaker 3: So I'm coming back and like ready to have phoneless
Speaker 3: dinner parties, ready to say, like in my own home
Speaker 3: and my family, we're going to do phoneless meal time.
Speaker 3: Like starting small, but those small changes I think can
Speaker 3: lead to significant improvement and just overall quality of life.
Speaker 4: We did one thing at the end of.
Speaker 3: The trip that was so powerful and everyone was crying,
Speaker 3: of course, something called an affirmation circle.
Speaker 4: Have you ever done this?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 3: Please tell me, Okay, it's this beautiful thing, and I
Speaker 3: think this is something that we could all try to
Speaker 3: do with our friends the next time we have a gathering.
Speaker 3: So you create an inner circle with a bunch of chairs.
Speaker 3: You know, however many people you have, you half that amount,
Speaker 3: and you put half the people on the inside of
Speaker 3: the circle. Everyone else is on the outside of the circle,
Speaker 3: and one by one you walk around. You gently place
Speaker 3: your hand on the person's shoulder in front of you,
Speaker 3: and you just whisper and affirmation into their ear. And
Speaker 3: while we were doing this, there was this really moving
Speaker 3: piece of music playing. And you know, after having had
Speaker 3: the honor of like getting to really see the humanity
Speaker 3: of all these people, we felt equipped to really give
Speaker 3: them an affirmation that was meaningful and had depth, and
Speaker 3: it was just so beautiful to witness and see everyone
Speaker 3: receive that.
Speaker 1: You are thoughtful and empowered queens.
Speaker 2: Thank you well from one empowered queen sitting next to
Speaker 2: me to another. You know, Simone and I love a
Speaker 2: woman who charts her own path. So on today's show,
Speaker 2: we're talking to a comedian who's doing comedy a little differently.
Speaker 2: Jacqueline Novak has a Netflix special that got a ton
Speaker 2: of buzz. It's called Get on Your Knees. Here's what
Speaker 2: I think is so cool about this. She has been
Speaker 2: working on this meticulously for over twenty years. The idea
Speaker 2: for the special actually started as a college essay, and
Speaker 2: then she turned it into an off Broadway show, and
Speaker 2: now it's come to life as this comedy special that
Speaker 2: has been widely received.
Speaker 3: I so admire Jacqueline's bravery and ambition in redefining comedy
Speaker 3: in a way that feels authentic to her.
Speaker 4: Like she is a writer at her core.
Speaker 3: She studied English in college, and she really brings that
Speaker 3: grasp of language and literature and poetry to the stage
Speaker 3: in this special. It's a super unique style of comedy.
Speaker 3: I mean, I remember when I first watched it. I
Speaker 3: was fascinated by her. I was completely captivated by her.
Speaker 3: She has this frenetic energy as she moves across the stage.
Speaker 2: Well, it really got me thinking, which is what I
Speaker 2: think she wants us all to be doing, watching and
Speaker 2: then talking about it afterwards. Because it's all about fillatio.
Speaker 2: It is about blowjobs, and at first hearing that, you think, oh,
Speaker 2: is it crude, And it's not. It's very poetic.
Speaker 3: I have never seen anything like it, never seen a
Speaker 3: ninety four minute special talking about oral sex. And you're right,
Speaker 3: it does seem like it would be raunchy. But she's
Speaker 3: even said, like, my parents have seen the show multiple
Speaker 3: times and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not the point of it.
Speaker 4: No, it's not raunch for the sake of raunch. There's
Speaker 4: a lot more to it.
Speaker 3: So we are going to get into all that and
Speaker 3: more with Jacqueline No back after the break.
Speaker 1: Stay with us.
Speaker 3: We're back with a groundbreaking comedian who is changing the
Speaker 3: narrative around women in sex with her Netflix comedy special
Speaker 3: Get on Your Knees. It's based on her critically acclaimed
Speaker 3: one woman show of the same name.
Speaker 5: I am going to talk about the blowjobs quite a
Speaker 5: bit tonight to the point of tedium, said one early critic.
Speaker 2: Jacqueline Novak is an actor, writer, and stand up comic.
Speaker 2: She's also the host of the podcast Poog with Kate Berlant,
Speaker 2: which I love, and the author of the book How
Speaker 2: to Weep in Public. Feeble offerings on depression from one
Speaker 2: who knows Jacqueline, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5: Thank you for having me. Hello, you are.
Speaker 1: Having such a moment.
Speaker 2: Your Netflix special Get on Your Knees is getting so
Speaker 2: much attention, Simone and I couldn't stop talking about it.
Speaker 2: And it's different than a traditional special. How do you
Speaker 2: describe it to people?
Speaker 5: It depends on who I'm talking to and who I'm
Speaker 5: trying to sell to, you know, like I'll tell you
Speaker 5: it's anything, but to be clear, it does absolutely stand up.
Speaker 5: I also, you know, mounted it as an off Broadway
Speaker 5: show and definitely put it in a theater context. Point
Speaker 5: is it's this sort of high brow show, but the
Speaker 5: blowjob this mix of high and low. You know, it's
Speaker 5: like very poetic and I'm sort of prudish and obsessed
Speaker 5: with dignity and all this kind of stuff. But then
Speaker 5: I'm talking about the blowjob and penis cock but from
Speaker 5: a linguistic perspective. So it's this weird combo that usually
Speaker 5: people are surprised by, sort of regardless of which expectation
Speaker 5: they came in with.
Speaker 3: You're wearing a great T shirt and jeans in the special? Yes,
Speaker 3: and I hope you don't take this the wrong way.
Speaker 3: This is like a commment to me, you could have
Speaker 3: been in like a Victorian era dress, or you could
Speaker 3: have been in a great T shirt and jeans in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. That's how timeless and flowery and poetic
Speaker 3: the language is. To me, Oh my god, I love it.
Speaker 3: I should have worn that, although it would be hard
Speaker 3: to tour with.
Speaker 2: Your comedic point of view is provocative, and you talk
Speaker 2: openly about sex and sexual situations, but it's not for
Speaker 2: shock value like you do poeticize, you unpack, you dissect
Speaker 2: even Yeah, what's the conversation that you wanted to start
Speaker 2: with the special?
Speaker 5: You know, I don't let myself think in terms like
Speaker 5: I'm trying to start a conversation and it's too grand
Speaker 5: And I take myself seriously in one sense, but it's
Speaker 5: like if other people find it meaningful or great, I
Speaker 5: can't even partake.
Speaker 1: In that, but like why the blowjob?
Speaker 5: I knew that it was something I always found compelling,
Speaker 5: almost from a literary perspective or like a poetic perspective,
Speaker 5: more than I really thought of it as a sort
Speaker 5: of thing I wanted to explore my stand up because
Speaker 5: the blowjob to me, you know, it's like sometimes hard
Speaker 5: to remember the first time you hear about something, or
Speaker 5: the first time a concept. Kind of it was this
Speaker 5: thing that you know, I remember distinctly hearing about it
Speaker 5: for the first time in middle school. It's like I
Speaker 5: sort of really do remember being like, wait what, And
Speaker 5: then in the culture of the high school it was
Speaker 5: such a charged idea. There's something that seems so foolish
Speaker 5: about it, sort of ridiculous, but it's also held up
Speaker 5: as this cool, you know sort of thing. So it's
Speaker 5: like I knew that it was one of these things
Speaker 5: that I would enjoy analyzing. I say it in a
Speaker 5: special but you know, like to the point of tedium,
Speaker 5: I was like the blowjob just as this focal point
Speaker 5: of almost like all these other things to be discussed about,
Speaker 5: like feeling foolish, like how can you be a mind
Speaker 5: and in a body? You know, how can you be
Speaker 5: a thinker and partake any sort of ridiculous acts that
Speaker 5: are relatively wordless. The blowjob sort of silences you. If
Speaker 5: you're a talker. It's kind of you know, not your
Speaker 5: It's like, wait what, but I like words.
Speaker 3: You point out the contradictions so well, and whether you
Speaker 3: accept it or not, you are changing the conversation. And
Speaker 3: I just want to go through some of the praise
Speaker 3: that you've received.
Speaker 5: I'll take it. I'll take it.
Speaker 3: Your director Natasha Leone called get on your knees, your Opus.
Speaker 3: Your former director John Early said, Jacqueline brings real stakes
Speaker 3: in gravity and poetry to the mundane. Vanity Fair said,
Speaker 3: the stage show solidified you as a comedic powerhouse. How
Speaker 3: do you feel when you hear this praise? Are you
Speaker 3: able to receive it?
Speaker 5: Oh? My god? Well, I made a point to not
Speaker 5: read any press about it, particularly after the special was released.
Speaker 5: It's a dangerous game taking in anything that the press,
Speaker 5: even a ray of review. It's like, it's just this thing.
Speaker 5: I've decided that if I let that boost me, you know,
Speaker 5: my interior state is going to be affected by that,
Speaker 5: and so then shall there be a negative press? Right?
Speaker 5: I guess I'm trying to almost not be lifted by
Speaker 5: the positive quotes, because if I cling too much of them,
Speaker 5: then similarly might I cling to some devastating statement one
Speaker 5: day that really bumps me out. But you know, when
Speaker 5: you very safely to my emotions, just give me this
Speaker 5: little wonderful compact. I'm like, oh, I like that.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 4: That's you should.
Speaker 2: I want to touch on something that Simone said, which
Speaker 2: was poetry to the mundane, because to me, that exemplifies
Speaker 2: your work so well. I've heard you say that the
Speaker 2: only way to tolerate our mundane existence is essentially to
Speaker 2: make it a big deal. So you are on a
Speaker 2: quest to make everything fun and exciting and a big deal,
Speaker 2: even mundane things like eating dinner or giving a blowjob.
Speaker 2: Why are you injecting excitement into everything right right?
Speaker 5: I think it's an emotional survival mechanism. I think I
Speaker 5: figured out for myself pretty early, I guess a teenager.
Speaker 5: When I started writing something about putting a lens on
Speaker 5: anything like the slight at a distance that you do
Speaker 5: when you're poeticizing something or writing a joke about it,
Speaker 5: or writing about it at all. It made it like
Speaker 5: suddenly the entire world has potential for you know, beauty,
Speaker 5: or it does something for me in a very core
Speaker 5: way of just relating to the world.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: It's like I remember around that time, someone's saying to me, like,
Speaker 5: why can't you just be in the moment? Why you
Speaker 5: gotta like make a film about it? And I was like,
Speaker 5: it's a way for me of getting into the moment.
Speaker 3: Well, you can tell you're highly observant, and also you
Speaker 3: are a very thorough preparer. I was held in such
Speaker 3: suspense when I was reading about your preparation Forget on
Speaker 3: your Knees.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's so incredibly thorough.
Speaker 3: So four years perfecting it on a sold out theatrical tour,
Speaker 3: five months fine tuning it in post production down to
Speaker 3: the closed captions, making sure that those were all accurate.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think there are many other comedians
Speaker 3: out there who can call themselves this committed, I mean,
Speaker 3: and so detail oriented. Why did you feel like the
Speaker 3: stakes were so high with this special in particular?
Speaker 5: I think because it's like twenty years in the making,
Speaker 5: and so because it was this big swing, like pretty
Speaker 5: ambitious in the scope, and I'm going to talk to
Speaker 5: it for ninety four minutes and I'm going to roll
Speaker 5: around on the floor and get very sort of Shakespearean
Speaker 5: and all that kind of stuff, but also be very
Speaker 5: crasp I just felt like this, this is a real
Speaker 5: laying it all out there kind of moment. And so
Speaker 5: I think the anxiety of that just naturally leads to
Speaker 5: obsessing about details because you don't really know what else
Speaker 5: to do with that anticipatory energy. Yeah, I think there's
Speaker 5: something to the first of anything right that you do,
Speaker 5: Like there's no turning back from this because it's such
Speaker 5: a big, relatively public swing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Well, I read that taking a big swing like this
Speaker 3: was actually a departure from your career strategy before. This
Speaker 3: was an epiphany that you apparently had around like twenty seventeen,
Speaker 3: deciding that the key to your success wasn't necessarily stacking
Speaker 3: up this cumulative luck of like small successes, small opportunities. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but you instead pivoted to creating your own luck with
Speaker 3: this big swing.
Speaker 4: Can you talk about that a lot little bit more totally?
Speaker 5: It is huge, Like it was huge for me, and
Speaker 5: it felt like it felt like an epiphany, And so
Speaker 5: at that moment it became really clear. It was like Okay,
Speaker 5: I want to have an especial on Netflix. But not
Speaker 5: just that I want to have a special. I want
Speaker 5: to have something on there that I know the people
Speaker 5: who are meant to be my fans will become my fans,
Speaker 5: like almost like I want to put something out there
Speaker 5: that gets my people. You know, I don't expect to
Speaker 5: get everyone. It's just so simple. But it's like, how
Speaker 5: am I going to get it on there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: How do you determine what's undeniably good?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: No, it's a very good question.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. Like I've heard entrepreneurs I
Speaker 2: interview talk about having like their own board of directors
Speaker 2: almost that they check in with.
Speaker 1: Is that what you had?
Speaker 5: I mean I definitely had wonderful people around me, for sure.
Speaker 5: But I think for me it was like I know,
Speaker 5: when I have completed something or I'm excited about something,
Speaker 5: I'm like, this is pretty good, you know. So it
Speaker 5: was more of an internal just feeling. There was a
Speaker 5: core kind of feeling of me doing me. You know,
Speaker 5: like what if I go into myself and go like, okay,
Speaker 5: what would be like crazy? Like you know, like what
Speaker 5: would be scary? But if I pulled it off? What
Speaker 5: don't I know that I could pull off? But if
Speaker 5: I pulled it off, it would be cool mm hmm.
Speaker 5: Because I read this in the artist's way like a
Speaker 5: week before starting stand up in college, it was literally
Speaker 5: like an exercise what would you do if you knew
Speaker 5: you couldn't fail? And that sounds simple, but if you
Speaker 5: actually go, wait, if I knew I couldn't fail, you
Speaker 5: might think of something that you just have not allowed
Speaker 5: yourself to think of before because you just are so
Speaker 5: sure that you would fail at it that you've never
Speaker 5: even considered it. That was kind of how I started
Speaker 5: doing stand up. The thing I'm saying now is a
Speaker 5: little different.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: If I go, okay, well, what if I did a
Speaker 5: stand up show like whatever about the blowjob, but it
Speaker 5: were totally derangedly literary, I'm like, that would be really
Speaker 5: cool to me if I could pull it off, that'd
Speaker 5: be kind of thing. If I saw someone else do it,
Speaker 5: I'd be like, Oh, I wish I did that.
Speaker 1: I loved when I read that.
Speaker 2: Natasha Leone said, it's very cool when people make their
Speaker 2: work very seriously, especially.
Speaker 1: In the business of jokes.
Speaker 2: M yeah, yeah, And I'm thinking to myself all the
Speaker 2: comedians I know actually take their work very seriously.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you seem to.
Speaker 2: Have taken it to a whole new level. I just
Speaker 2: think stand ups such a huge sacrifice. You're giving your nights,
Speaker 2: your weekends, your time, your love, sometimes you give up relationships.
Speaker 2: I mean, the list goes on. What do you think
Speaker 2: stand up has given you?
Speaker 5: You know, I do love to perform, and that feeling
Speaker 5: and the kind of vulnerability of that sort of leaving
Speaker 5: it all on the stage kind of thing. There's something
Speaker 5: about that that I really enjoy. And then there's this
Speaker 5: other thing that I value, which is my writer identity
Speaker 5: or whatever, which is just you know, something in my
Speaker 5: interior and connecting with other people in their interiors. Right.
Speaker 5: It's like that's what writing has to do with for me, right,
Speaker 5: And so a stand up is just this really embodied,
Speaker 5: live version of that.
Speaker 3: Do you think that the time that it took to
Speaker 3: find and workshop this special how did that grow your confidence?
Speaker 5: It's funny. I mean going out and just sharing this
Speaker 5: show that was this risk for me, and this really
Speaker 5: laying it on the line of kind of who I
Speaker 5: am and having a lot of people, you know, respond
Speaker 5: really well in a three hundred seat theater in Minneapolis
Speaker 5: or whatever. Right, I mean that alone, the basic simple
Speaker 5: fact of that that massively grows my confidence, that makes
Speaker 5: me go I'm on the right path for me. You know,
Speaker 5: my boyfriend Chris Laker, he's a comedian, and we talked
Speaker 5: about this a lot. But it's like, you know, trying
Speaker 5: to keep your eyes on your own paper, this idea
Speaker 5: of like no one can beat you to you. So
Speaker 5: I think for me, just having this pleasure of doing
Speaker 5: the show and touring it and the whole thing was
Speaker 5: like this feedback mechanism, you know, this positive feedback mechanism,
Speaker 5: almost like I was training myself to lock in the
Speaker 5: fact that me being the most me is correct.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: In addition to being a performer, you're an author. Your book,
Speaker 2: How to Weep in Public is all about dealing with depression.
Speaker 2: And I really like what you said to describe part
Speaker 2: of the book. You said, it's about how to summon
Speaker 2: the strength to shed that bathrobe and face the world.
Speaker 1: It was so just perfect imagery. I thought.
Speaker 2: You know, I've dealt with mental health challenges myself. It's
Speaker 2: been in my family too, and humor has always gotten
Speaker 2: me through. How did humor get you through your time
Speaker 2: of depression?
Speaker 5: Well, I think of it like it's not the cure,
Speaker 5: but it certainly is like cigarettes in the trenches, like
Speaker 5: from a fellow soldier, Like it's like, you know, if
Speaker 5: you're able to access it, it's very much like I
Speaker 5: find like a kind of here in the moment dealing
Speaker 5: with whatever you're dealing with, or a little bit of
Speaker 5: a an ointment or a little bit of a release
Speaker 5: valve or a little bit of a you know, there
Speaker 5: can be a weird fear if you're dealing with mental
Speaker 5: illness that if for a moment, you transcend your own
Speaker 5: mental illnesses, you know, worse symptoms, that somehow it's evidence
Speaker 5: that you don't really suffer. You know, I'm putting that
Speaker 5: in quotes, like there's a fear of almost a suspension
Speaker 5: of the depression because you're like, wait, am I not
Speaker 5: really clinically depressed? Then if I just laughed with my
Speaker 5: friend or something like that. You know, but no, take
Speaker 5: whatever you can get, you know, don't be ashamed to
Speaker 5: be like cackling on the mental health ward. I guess
Speaker 5: that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yes, I went through a phase where I was acutely depressed,
Speaker 2: and I could only watch comedies. I could not turn
Speaker 2: on a sad movie like I really had to laugh.
Speaker 5: That's fabulous. I could only watch like serial killer thrillers
Speaker 5: in this acute period, the gruesome sort of like terror
Speaker 5: just really brought me into my body and got me
Speaker 5: out of my mind.
Speaker 3: And so it was like, yeah, treatment looks different for everyone, folks,
Speaker 3: It's okay, we all have her oh different genres.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: You're such an imaginative thinker, so it's not surprising to
Speaker 3: me that you would find mind this unique entry point
Speaker 3: into a conversation about mental health. And I thought it
Speaker 3: was so interesting that you grew up listening to Tony
Speaker 3: Robbin's tapes with your dad.
Speaker 4: What's the most Tony Robbins thing about you?
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I mean my indomitable spirit. Well, one
Speaker 5: thing I always appreciated about about him was that he
Speaker 5: actually talks about, you know, being hideously depressed. You know,
Speaker 5: he talks about being at this low point. And I
Speaker 5: love I love when people talk about I just love it.
Speaker 5: I Mean, the thing I would say that moved me
Speaker 5: about Tony is like on these audio tapes that my
Speaker 5: dad's friend had given my dad around, like him starting
Speaker 5: his own business. Tony would like grow hoarse with enthusiasm,
Speaker 5: and there's something about that that just moved me. And
Speaker 5: it's very like thematic to my show. I love overreaching.
Speaker 5: I love when effort is bigger than the container. So
Speaker 5: I think the passion Tony's like, and remember live with passion,
Speaker 5: and then like this music comes on, like do do
Speaker 5: Do Do Do, and it's like it's part of me.
Speaker 2: I read Awaken the Giant Within, which is one of
Speaker 2: Tony's books, and it actually really shifted my perspective on things.
Speaker 1: I like him a lot.
Speaker 5: Awaken the Giant of Inn was like the core text
Speaker 5: for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, we have to take a quick break,
Speaker 2: but we'll be right back with comedian Jacqueline Novac. We're
Speaker 2: back with Jacqueline Novac, and I am so excited for
Speaker 2: this part of the conversation because Jacqueline, I am such
Speaker 2: a Poog fan. So for people who aren't as obsessed
Speaker 2: with your podcast as I am, you co host Poog
Speaker 2: with your best friend who's also a comedian, Kate Berlant,
Speaker 2: and you try out, or you investigate every wellness trend
Speaker 2: so that we all don't have.
Speaker 1: To and it is hilarious.
Speaker 2: But you're also genuinely a wellness girally, So we're gonna
Speaker 2: get your opinions on some of these trends. What's worth
Speaker 2: the hype and what can we skip?
Speaker 5: Oh my god? Okay, wait, it's so hard for me
Speaker 5: to come up with one that is skip overable because
Speaker 5: I'm like, wait, everything, come on, is on the table.
Speaker 1: Have you done the thing where you like tint your eyebrows?
Speaker 4: Microblading?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: Okay, this stuff I can get into. Okay, I have not.
Speaker 5: I do fear a certain kind of browl elimination.
Speaker 1: Yes, me too.
Speaker 5: I think it's gonna be weird in a few years.
Speaker 5: Like I think, I mean, there are different versions of
Speaker 5: it for me, Like, yes, I want my eyebrows to
Speaker 5: just be I just would love to control them, but
Speaker 5: I think it's a risk for me.
Speaker 1: This is Simon and I are really.
Speaker 2: Into doing things that we consider like maybe a little
Speaker 2: high maintenance so that we can be low maintenance people.
Speaker 5: Okay, that's amazing. So you mean, like if you do
Speaker 5: the work to go get the brow done, then you
Speaker 5: don't have to touch your brow every day exactly.
Speaker 2: So like I have laser hair removal because I shudder
Speaker 2: at the thought of shaving every single day.
Speaker 5: Totally okay, genius, I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
Speaker 5: That's my problem. I'm too lazy to make an appointment.
Speaker 5: Like I want to dry brush, but I can't seem
Speaker 5: to make it happen. Do you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: It's the deal with dry brushing, you guys, I don't
Speaker 3: know that I buy it.
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, when and where because it is exfoliating.
Speaker 5: So it's like, am I standing there if you're supposed
Speaker 5: to do it dry, you're kind of like dryly exfoliating
Speaker 5: it like standing in the bathroom, Like I don't know,
Speaker 5: Like it's just like.
Speaker 3: It sounds very abrasive to me. I just why can't
Speaker 3: I take a loofa into the shower and just do that?
Speaker 3: Why does it have to be dry?
Speaker 5: Well, that's why I'm suckered more right now by using
Speaker 5: the Plaine myths for like the lymphatic Yeah, drain is okay.
Speaker 5: I am completely like, Oh it's real, and I'm pumping
Speaker 5: the terminy okay, the area above the colinderbone that's supposed
Speaker 5: to be like we're all drains out. Oh, I'm totally
Speaker 5: into it. I'm pumping that and I'm pumping the underarms, yeah,
Speaker 5: like in the morning, and then sort of massaging the chest.
Speaker 5: I am buying fully into like face massage, cheek exercises.
Speaker 3: Wait, you talked about this on poog. There's a eyebrow
Speaker 3: massage thing that you were doing.
Speaker 5: Can you Oh my god, you teach a kind of demonstright.
Speaker 4: Yeah, please demonstrate.
Speaker 5: I saw like the Anastasia Fascia beauty I believe is
Speaker 5: this account. And after I posted my video of me
Speaker 5: doing it poorly, I saw her post a video but
Speaker 5: like correct way to do it, and I'm wrong. I
Speaker 5: was like, oh gosh, but her thing is for one.
Speaker 5: She's like, do it dry.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I'm gonna explain for our listeners. Jacqueline is
Speaker 3: massaging the part of her face that's between her nose,
Speaker 3: like the bridge of her nose and just below the eyebrow.
Speaker 4: And why do you do this, Jacqueline? What is the
Speaker 4: end result?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 1: Nos, So I'm trying. I want to try, Guosha.
Speaker 2: I see all these videos of people's faces before and after,
Speaker 2: and I I am not a wellness girlly what well?
Speaker 2: I don't buy into hype like, I want long term
Speaker 2: results to be out before I buy in.
Speaker 1: Okay, do you drink collagen?
Speaker 5: No, I'm not convinced that either topical or ingesting collagen
Speaker 5: is actually creating the production. Couldron the skin.
Speaker 4: I think it's snake oil.
Speaker 1: Same mm hmm, okay, we all agree.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: How about Celery juice?
Speaker 5: Okay. I recently someone at my Tracey Anderson class was like, well,
Speaker 5: you need to do Celery juice, Like, oh, that's it,
Speaker 5: That's an every day like without a doubt. That was
Speaker 5: almost humiliated, Like what like I didn't know, Like sure,
Speaker 5: celery just but like I didn't know. I'm interested. I'm
Speaker 5: seriously considering it, but I haven't done it.
Speaker 3: I am a full believer of Celery juice. It is transformative.
Speaker 3: If ever i'm feeling sick or a little hungover, anything,
Speaker 3: just under the weather, anything, I chug one of those
Speaker 3: big green machines. Yes, I feel amazing. I feel invigorated,
Speaker 3: I feel revitalized. I don't know what is going on there,
Speaker 3: but it works.
Speaker 5: I haven't begun yet, but I'll let you know. I'm curious.
Speaker 1: Okay, cold plunges truly.
Speaker 5: This one. I am on the fence. Okay, love how
Speaker 5: it feels, I mean for a second, but then there's
Speaker 5: this kind of other perspective.
Speaker 2: It raises your cortisol and so for people under a
Speaker 2: lot of stress, like is it good?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like that's interesting. You know what I do love
Speaker 5: this is just a Novak tip ice pack under the neck.
Speaker 5: This is like one of my mental health Like if
Speaker 5: you're just stressed out and you lay down with like
Speaker 5: a cool ice pack sort of under the neck slash head.
Speaker 4: I swear it.
Speaker 5: Freezes the thoughts.
Speaker 3: With cold plunges actually, with any wellness trend, I think
Speaker 3: you have to follow the money.
Speaker 4: And I don't know.
Speaker 3: Mysteriously cold plunges are cool, but there are all these
Speaker 3: startups selling cold plunge bats now, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, too big to fail exactly.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jacqueline, I want to talk to you about some
Speaker 3: exciting career news of yours. I saw in the trades
Speaker 3: that you're acting in a new movie called A Big, Bold,
Speaker 3: Beautiful Journey, directed by the South Korean director Cogonada, and
Speaker 3: your co stars are the Margarabi the Colin Farrell. I mean,
Speaker 3: it just seems like your dreams are coming true.
Speaker 5: I love it and I want to I really want
Speaker 5: to make you know films ultimately and like being on set.
Speaker 5: Even from that perspective, I'm just so into it.
Speaker 4: Can you tell us anything about your experience on set?
Speaker 5: Everyone was wonderful. Coconata's a genius. You know, the actors,
Speaker 5: they're incredible. It's just I'm not used to talking with
Speaker 5: stuff that other people are like part of in that way. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm like, it's weird. Here's what I'll tell you. I
Speaker 5: brought like a duffel full of skincare, convinced like that
Speaker 5: I couldn't leave a single product at home.
Speaker 1: Tell me you told Margot Robbie what to use on
Speaker 1: her face?
Speaker 5: No, I didn't, Dare. I didn't, Dare. I basically spoke
Speaker 5: when spoken to. I was like tiptoeing around. If I'm hungry,
Speaker 5: do I ask for food?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 5: I just felt very much like, Okay, I'm going in
Speaker 5: and I don't really know my way around this experience
Speaker 5: and being an actor on someone else's project. I just
Speaker 5: felt like genuine old school nerves.
Speaker 3: Well, that's what I find so inspiring about your career,
Speaker 3: because usually people will be a part of other people's
Speaker 3: projects first, and then they go out and create their
Speaker 3: opus but you were like, no, I'm dropping the opus.
Speaker 4: First, y'all. Yeah, yeah, and then I'm gonna come work
Speaker 4: on your little movie. Okay, So.
Speaker 5: Well you know why auditions are too hard? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: like chasing the roles I think I'm you know, it's
Speaker 5: like another weird inversion of like we're talking about before,
Speaker 5: but almost like, yeah, it's somehow easier for me to
Speaker 5: face mounting my own ninety four minute show and performing
Speaker 5: it and whatever then like putting myself on a tape
Speaker 5: every week for years, Like I felt comfortable going into
Speaker 5: the project almost because I've established who I am and
Speaker 5: what I do a little bit like it allows me
Speaker 5: to Yeah, just gives me a different feeling going in. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's interesting. But yeah, the acting thing. I's texting with
Speaker 5: my you know, caper Lant, my co host of Poog
Speaker 5: and actor comedian, and all these thoughts are crossing my
Speaker 5: mind about acting and like, you know, like things like
Speaker 5: I'm thinking back to second grade, like in Peter Pan
Speaker 5: and I had this one line and I just was
Speaker 5: obsessing about this line and we're saying in a thousand
Speaker 5: ways and like the night of the show, and I'm
Speaker 5: just like, is that going to be and she was
Speaker 5: just like, acting is a mystery, and that just relieved me.
Speaker 5: You know, She's like, like, you are a working actress.
Speaker 5: She loves it. I always call her like a working
Speaker 5: actress or something about it. It's just like kind of
Speaker 5: old school, like they're a working actress. And she's just like, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's a mystery. And I was like, all right, it's
Speaker 5: a mystery, and then that just freed me.
Speaker 3: Jacqueline, thank you so much for coming on the bright
Speaker 3: Side and dropping so many gems with us today.
Speaker 5: Thank you. You guys are absolute heaven. I am thrilled
Speaker 5: to have been on.
Speaker 4: Have me back, We would love to.
Speaker 2: Okay, bestie's have you ever wondered how to combine finances
Speaker 2: as a couple or if you should get a prenup
Speaker 2: before marriage. We're bringing on a finance expert to answer
Speaker 2: all of your burning money questions. Send us an email
Speaker 2: or a voice note with your questions to Hello at
Speaker 2: the bright Side podcast dot com.
Speaker 4: That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow, we're talking to the woman behind the Hello Hayes newsletter,
Speaker 3: Alexandra Hayes Robinson, and we're getting her advice about all
Speaker 3: things friendship.
Speaker 4: This is such a good one, you don't want to
Speaker 4: miss it.
Speaker 2: Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4: I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 3: You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
Speaker 1: b A. Y See you tomorrow.