Speaker 1: All right, hey, then everybody, welcome to Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: TJ.
Speaker 1: Hol Heer, Amy Rebrox sitting next to me as we
Speaker 1: give you episode two of our new podcast. Were very
Speaker 1: excited if you listen to episode one, and many of
Speaker 1: you did, and we thank you for that. But you'll
Speaker 1: notice at the top of that Robes started by saying
Speaker 1: she was nervous. So episode two, how you feeling still nervous?
Speaker 3: I think it's very much mixed with excitement and gratitude
Speaker 3: as well. But I still have those butterflies, and I
Speaker 3: think it's just one of those things when you put
Speaker 3: yourself out there. When we were broadcaster as journalists, you're
Speaker 3: reading whatepy, you are okay, right, But when we were
Speaker 3: on the air and we had a microphone on us,
Speaker 3: we were talking about other people and we want to
Speaker 3: get to that place. So when you're putting yourself out there,
Speaker 3: your live's out there, your heart out there. Yes, there's
Speaker 3: more at stake, and I think you and I both
Speaker 3: realized just what was at stake for that episode, last
Speaker 3: week's episode, but also this week's episode. Everything's at stake
Speaker 3: and it's terrifying.
Speaker 1: You know, you kept using the word terrifying. We talk
Speaker 1: about what's at stake, and what it's sake is a
Speaker 1: I mean, these are twenty five generally twenty five year careers,
Speaker 1: broadcasting careers, and it was it's terrifying to think like
Speaker 1: everything is on the line. If we don't nail, they
Speaker 1: don't get it right, we make a misstep. I think
Speaker 1: finally we can exhale a little bit that we've got
Speaker 1: that one under our belt. And we had expectations of it, right,
Speaker 1: We had expectations of maybe how we were going to feel,
Speaker 1: expectations of how the podcast would do. We'd had some
Speaker 1: expectations in fear consternation about how people might respond, and
Speaker 1: on every single one of those notes at exceed are exs.
Speaker 1: So it's a huge thank you to a lot of
Speaker 1: people who you use the phrase suspend it judgment. We
Speaker 1: know we have fans, but there's been a lot out there,
Speaker 1: but we were able to finally speak and the response
Speaker 1: from you all exceeded all of our expectations, and we
Speaker 1: are incredibly grateful.
Speaker 3: We are so grateful. And we did not read the comments,
Speaker 3: I think to preserve our own sanity, and we had
Speaker 3: some of them given to us by our producers, and
Speaker 3: we were told ninety five percent were good. You got
Speaker 3: five percent that weren't. And that's, you know, I think
Speaker 3: a pretty good ratio. I thought it might be a
Speaker 3: little bit.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, gat rotten tomato score right. He will
Speaker 2: kill for that.
Speaker 3: Yes, So we were very much just my fears were calmed.
Speaker 3: I felt better about being able to tell the story
Speaker 3: the way it actually happened versus how it was written
Speaker 3: for us, and so we were just really grateful. So
Speaker 3: thank you every one of you all who left comments,
Speaker 3: good and bad, because that's part of what this is
Speaker 3: is hearing you and your thoughts and what you think
Speaker 3: and what you'd like to hear more of or less of.
Speaker 3: We're open to all of that. This is a relationship
Speaker 3: that we want to build with you as our listener.
Speaker 3: We want to hopefully have some fun with you, but
Speaker 3: also talk about things that need to be talked about.
Speaker 3: So anyway, we appreciate any and all feedback. We are
Speaker 3: getting it.
Speaker 1: I don't mean that from appreciate all feedback. Okay, you
Speaker 1: speak for yourself. I'm feedback. I don't want I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear it. Now I get what you're saying.
Speaker 1: You are right, and we do appreciate it. But there
Speaker 1: is a respect you don't have to agree with or
Speaker 1: you don't have to agree with what we say, but
Speaker 1: you also don't have to believe it. Yep, you actually
Speaker 1: don't have to believe us to still be able to
Speaker 1: respectfully have a conversation with us. And that is where
Speaker 1: we are so and going into it, we had no
Speaker 1: freaking idea what a successful podcast looks like. And they
Speaker 1: were telling us, well, look, if you get to this point,
Speaker 1: it'll be great. If you get to this, it'll be great.
Speaker 1: And we ended up we landed, and this is no
Speaker 1: small thing, and we thank you, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: for because of your interest and your listening and your comments,
Speaker 1: we launched a podcast that landed in the top five
Speaker 1: of all podcasts on the charts and stayed there for
Speaker 1: the majority of last week. And you should see robots
Speaker 1: smile right now. It's that wide smile yours.
Speaker 3: And I just got chills. Do you remember? Do you
Speaker 3: know how many times I would get chills when we
Speaker 3: were on this at together. I was like, I just
Speaker 3: got chills. I genuinely just did, because after this year,
Speaker 3: I am so grateful to be able to get chills
Speaker 3: about something positive, and I think that's just where we are.
Speaker 3: We are appreciative of positivity, and we hear those of
Speaker 3: you all who weren't as positive. But you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: we can keep this going and we can keep talking
Speaker 3: about other things and move the needle on other subjects.
Speaker 3: That is our goal ultimately. But still I think we
Speaker 3: just also want to say that we were overwhelmed by
Speaker 3: just the personal emails and texts and dms that we
Speaker 3: got from our friends, our family, a lot of our
Speaker 3: former co workers, friends who I hadn't heard from, co
Speaker 3: workers who I hadn't heard from in a while, and
Speaker 3: they mostly consisted of that they were proud of us.
Speaker 3: They all acknowledged it must have been hard to say
Speaker 3: what we said and to put ourselves and our reputations
Speaker 3: out there for everyone coming from us and our own words.
Speaker 3: And we heard a lot of sorry, I didn't check
Speaker 3: in on you more.
Speaker 1: That was And I feel almost that I need to
Speaker 1: apologize to people who are apologizing to me, because in
Speaker 1: the previous episode we did talk about that and that
Speaker 1: people don't know what to say to you when you're
Speaker 1: going through that, and some I think we've probably been
Speaker 1: the position with friends and people we know before where
Speaker 1: you don't know what to say, so you don't want
Speaker 1: to reach out because you feel like you're bothering or
Speaker 1: they are there in the middle of some right now,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to disturb. And those messages mean everything,
Speaker 1: even though you might not get a response back. We
Speaker 1: read the messages that friends and family send us and
Speaker 1: just getting something that says I'm here for you, I
Speaker 1: care about you, and there are some people who wouldn't
Speaker 1: let up in that regard, and I got in particular.
Speaker 1: Look my cousin Chardy and Nashville Love your Girl, and
Speaker 1: my good friend JJ and Little Rock. These are folks
Speaker 1: I haven't talked to a lot in the past couple
Speaker 1: of years and got closer to I was so close
Speaker 1: to for so long. Both of them sent messages Betsy
Speaker 1: as well in Arkansas that were saying, I'm so sorry
Speaker 1: after listening, I'm sorry I didn't reach out more.
Speaker 3: I didn't know. I didn't really didn't know what you were.
Speaker 1: Going through, and so we didn't want. We don't want
Speaker 1: to make anybody feel bad. That wasn't the point, but
Speaker 1: it's the truth of the matter. But don't feel bad
Speaker 1: about doing that and if there's anything we want to
Speaker 1: I absolutely say to folks and a ton of colleagues,
Speaker 1: former colleagues who reached out and some of them for
Speaker 1: the first time in all this. We want to say
Speaker 1: to those folks and everybody, not for a moment. And
Speaker 1: if you're hearing my voice right now, as soon as
Speaker 1: you get done listening to this podcast, you pick up
Speaker 1: that damn phone and you reach out to the person
Speaker 1: you've been putting off reaching out to, because it means everything.
Speaker 1: And we've had situations where we have people in our
Speaker 1: lives have passed away and we go back and go, Damn,
Speaker 1: I meant to invite them to lunch. Damn I meant
Speaker 1: to reach out to ask this. Damn please, folks, we
Speaker 1: are begging you do not have I'm serious literally today,
Speaker 1: when you in this episode pick up the phone.
Speaker 3: And reach out, you're never bothering someone. I think someone
Speaker 3: even said I didn't want to add to the noise.
Speaker 3: Oh please, I'd like to drown out some of the
Speaker 3: bad noise with some good noise. So just one line,
Speaker 3: that's all it takes. And one of my favorite things
Speaker 3: to do, having walked this a couple of times with
Speaker 3: bad things happening and people not knowing what to say,
Speaker 3: whether it's cancer or being let go from your job
Speaker 3: in a very public way. It's just one line, and
Speaker 3: I always like to preface it with this. You don't
Speaker 3: have to respond, you don't need to text me back.
Speaker 3: Just know I am thinking of you, I am praying
Speaker 3: for you, I am here for you. That's it, that's
Speaker 3: all it takes.
Speaker 1: And look, I didn't plan all. You and I talked
Speaker 1: about where we're gonna do in this episode. But this
Speaker 1: is something that there are some people in our lives
Speaker 1: that in Isaiah Thomas Right is a guy I've known
Speaker 1: for many, many years, and I always remember I was
Speaker 1: coming from your place in West Village and he called
Speaker 1: me and I didn't. I didn't answer the call, but
Speaker 1: I messaged him a short time later, and he's he
Speaker 1: hit me back on text and said that's not good enough.
Speaker 2: I need to hear your voice.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't let me avoid him and all seriously, And
Speaker 1: there are some that are built like that and people
Speaker 1: we are closer to who did that. But that's a
Speaker 1: very good example, and he's one of the folks. He
Speaker 1: does not We haven't been that closed. We don't stay
Speaker 1: in touch every month, every couple of months, but.
Speaker 2: Over the years of knowing it.
Speaker 1: But he is one who would not let it go.
Speaker 1: He would not let me sit and not respond and
Speaker 1: that was that means ever to me, and I know
Speaker 1: you had folks like that as well.
Speaker 2: It just it means everything.
Speaker 3: Well. Speaking of someone, we mentioned her in the last podcast,
Speaker 3: Sarah Haynes, and we joked, we hope she doesn't get fired.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they we just found out she's they're not renewing her.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Okay, keep listening.
Speaker 3: We just wanted to make it clear Sarah Hanes did
Speaker 3: not get fired from the view and she actually we're
Speaker 3: going to lunch on Wednesday, so it's it's all good.
Speaker 3: And it is funny how people pick up those things
Speaker 3: and make something out of it. But those are the
Speaker 3: people who just wouldn't take no for an answer and
Speaker 3: we appreciate it and we continue to appreciate any goodwill.
Speaker 1: And who's another one we mentioned it last and he's
Speaker 1: absolutely great.
Speaker 2: Byron Byron Allen out out in LA and a lot
Speaker 2: of people know that name.
Speaker 1: Look, he is an absolute medium ogul and he and
Speaker 1: I have.
Speaker 2: Known each other for years.
Speaker 1: But just in passing, and he was one starting a
Speaker 1: year ago in December. He might be the person I
Speaker 1: talk to most. He wouldn't let up I certainly every week,
Speaker 1: but every couple days we'd hear from Byron, how are
Speaker 1: you doing, what's going on? What do you need? Getting
Speaker 1: on the phone with him, constant conversations, and so we
Speaker 1: finally were able to as we now tell you all
Speaker 1: about what we've been doing the past week, past week
Speaker 1: and a half, really getting ready for the launch. But
Speaker 1: it started Thursday, November thirtieth in.
Speaker 3: La on that infamous day, November thirty at the day
Speaker 3: where a certain paper put out a certain set of
Speaker 3: pictures that set this whole thing into motion. So it
Speaker 3: was pretty cool, exactly one year later to reclaim that day.
Speaker 3: So really, yeah, we flew out to La proudly, didn't
Speaker 3: have to duck paparazzi, walked right off that plane, holding hands.
Speaker 3: It was amazing. It's funny how the smallest things suddenly
Speaker 3: feel so great, and that was one of them.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, here's the funny thing about that. We have
Speaker 1: been avoiding Lax for the past year. We have righty
Speaker 1: because every time we fly in there, I can't remember
Speaker 1: his name. I'd love to give him credit to my
Speaker 1: man from TMZ. He's the nicest guy with long hair.
Speaker 1: He's always right in our face. All right, we haven't
Speaker 1: flown to Lax for a year.
Speaker 2: This time we're.
Speaker 4: Proud stepping off the plane, take our picture. Didn't see
Speaker 4: his asst all. We were like, well that was elect
Speaker 4: Like what are we going to say? What are we
Speaker 4: going to Nope, not even an opportunity. They were not there.
Speaker 3: But still we were ready and we were smiling, just
Speaker 3: in case he wanted to know.
Speaker 1: We were out there for the jingle Ball for the
Speaker 1: Ihar Jingle Bawl in La, and we had an iHeart
Speaker 1: party to go to the day after that. But the
Speaker 1: first night we got to sit down, why do we
Speaker 1: have a four or five hour dinner with wait Byron?
Speaker 3: I think we thought we just might be able to
Speaker 3: catch them for an hour Byron and his wife Jennifer,
Speaker 3: and we thought this is going to be amazing. I
Speaker 3: finally got to meet him and his incredible wife. We
Speaker 3: walked away saying the nicest things about her. She was phenomenal.
Speaker 3: But it did. It turned into a four hour dinner.
Speaker 3: I think we were the last people at the restaurant.
Speaker 1: But Byron is one love you brother. But he's here,
Speaker 1: he's hearing and to us talk about the story and
Speaker 1: how we come out of it and where you need
Speaker 1: to go now, and he's telling us, well, this is
Speaker 1: what you should have done, this is what I would
Speaker 1: have done. You shouldn't let anybody, and he's given us
Speaker 1: this whole scenario. I'm like, bro, I'm I'm not a
Speaker 1: billionaire mogul. I can't go in and talk like that.
Speaker 1: So but he is one that we absolutely want to
Speaker 1: give so much credit to and for how he supported us.
Speaker 1: And now we were able to finally sit down. And
Speaker 1: that was on Thursdaursday thirtieth, So Friday we go to
Speaker 1: the Jingle Ball in La And this was no small
Speaker 1: thing for us.
Speaker 3: No, it was the first time we ever stepped out
Speaker 3: officially as a couple in front of cameras that we
Speaker 3: actually knew were going to be there. I did mine
Speaker 3: and did mine and smiled and we had fun and
Speaker 3: we were just being us. Apparently that's handsy and a
Speaker 3: lot of PDA. But you know what, we're in love.
Speaker 3: We're happy. I don't know how else.
Speaker 2: To act when you say handsy and a lot of PDA.
Speaker 3: Well that's what they wrote. I don't think it was
Speaker 3: that bad. We just held hands and laughed. Okay, maybe
Speaker 3: I did give you a pack on the cheek.
Speaker 2: Okay, that wasn't that. That's not that much PDA.
Speaker 3: Apparently that's PDA.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is my bad. This is I have a
Speaker 2: bad bad.
Speaker 3: Now you're gonna go there.
Speaker 1: Okay, if you like that, go ahead, but never mind. No,
Speaker 1: you did not didn't like the way you looked at me.
Speaker 1: You saw that, right, Andrew? Okay, yeah, she didn't. She
Speaker 1: didn't look at me, right, Sidney, do.
Speaker 2: You say that? Right? Would how would you vote? All right?
Speaker 2: Give given her reaction and you would say no though?
Speaker 3: Okay, well you shaking his head.
Speaker 1: Yes, we got two of our star Okay, we got
Speaker 1: two of our star producers in the room who are
Speaker 1: helping us with Look, I'm still I'm stalling because I'm
Speaker 1: not sure.
Speaker 3: Green light, green light.
Speaker 2: Okay. Look, it's a bad habit.
Speaker 1: I suppose it could be sweet, but it could be sexualized.
Speaker 2: Or viewed as such. But I have a bad habit.
Speaker 1: Of when I put my arm around you, my hand
Speaker 1: ends up lower than the.
Speaker 3: Waist, and it's crazy way to put it and it's not.
Speaker 1: It's just that, it's just it's a bad habit and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to break the habit.
Speaker 3: You kept trying to break the habit while we were
Speaker 3: on the carver. Oh I did it again. Oh I
Speaker 3: did it again. You had to stop yourself five times.
Speaker 3: But it was I think it's cute. It's I know,
Speaker 3: it's sweet. It's not what they say.
Speaker 2: It is okay, but I don't even know where it was.
Speaker 3: It was a fun night. We had a FUSI. Yes,
Speaker 3: we got to really actually step out officially as a
Speaker 3: couple and actually smile at cameras and welcome the attention
Speaker 3: and welcome the focus on the podcast. It just felt
Speaker 3: good to be able to be free of hiding and
Speaker 3: running and just avoiding.
Speaker 1: And then the day after that, so we're building up
Speaker 1: now to Saturday. We get to spend a lot of
Speaker 1: time with a lot of the iHeart folks. Had a
Speaker 1: nice party out there, and really be grateful everybody out
Speaker 1: there and the folks we met and gave some encouraging worries,
Speaker 1: folks who were clearly know the podcast world better than
Speaker 1: we do, who were giving us tips on how to
Speaker 1: handle it and what's going to be coming, and.
Speaker 3: We were getting tips and this is great Tamra Judge housewives.
Speaker 3: These are folks who spend their lives in front of
Speaker 3: the camera actually and then also have had incredible successive podcasts.
Speaker 3: So we were taking notes. You know, we were like,
Speaker 3: what is this thing called unwanted publicity? And how do
Speaker 3: we navigate this in a podcasting world where we are
Speaker 3: actually putting our lives out there, our hearts out there
Speaker 3: in a way we haven't before.
Speaker 1: That is it's so funny to think we were talking,
Speaker 1: you know, a real housewife over there. We could use
Speaker 1: some career advice, and that was.
Speaker 3: A legitimate conversation that was happening. We were taking notes.
Speaker 1: We leave La, we come back here on Sunday, and
Speaker 1: then Monday is the day before the launch. Monday was
Speaker 1: a crazy day. We got prepared and hunkered down like
Speaker 1: there was a storm coming. We did, yeah, like that
Speaker 1: was about to be the apocalypse.
Speaker 3: You made some healthy salads, I mean healthy salads.
Speaker 1: We got battles of waters, some sardines, We got a
Speaker 1: bunch of prosecco.
Speaker 2: We hunkered down, we really did.
Speaker 3: And then we don't usually stay up that late. I
Speaker 3: mean by nine pm. Oftentimes we are asleep on a
Speaker 3: lot of it is because we're early risers. You're a
Speaker 3: little bit earlier than me. But when you get up
Speaker 3: that early nine o'clock is your bedtime. So to stay
Speaker 3: up until midnight, we needed a strategy, and we decided
Speaker 3: to land on watching episodes of Wipeout.
Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, when you say it out loud, it sounds.
Speaker 3: Ridiculous, but it's I think it's become one of our
Speaker 3: absolute favorite shows because you know what, you need.
Speaker 2: An escape, right.
Speaker 1: Some people have reality shows and escapism, but we had
Speaker 1: something we just knew was going to make us laugh.
Speaker 2: It's just people falling in the water and getting banged
Speaker 2: by the big balls and whatever.
Speaker 1: You see the show, right, because he knows it was
Speaker 1: like it was so sure enough we have become now
Speaker 1: and I'm worried about this. It was like watching election
Speaker 1: returns and all we were doing was refreshing the apple.
Speaker 3: Right, the jury, where are we yes? And you start
Speaker 3: to get obsessed with it. So if you can take
Speaker 3: your mind off of it with people and then caris Hell,
Speaker 3: et cetera, you know, it got us to midnight. I'll
Speaker 3: put it like that.
Speaker 1: So sure enough, twelve, twelve oh one, twelve oh two,
Speaker 1: twelve o three. It wasn't up yet, right, so it
Speaker 1: takes a minute. I don't know, it takes a minute
Speaker 1: to get it loaded or whatever it is. But we
Speaker 1: kept refreshing and refreshing.
Speaker 3: It wasn't there was a video of us. We would
Speaker 3: have lookedlious, I don't have it yet. Do you have
Speaker 3: it yet? It's not loading, it's not loading.
Speaker 1: So finally it shows up. We go, Holy hell. And
Speaker 1: even though we knew exactly what we said, and we
Speaker 1: had listened to it several times, we asked, we put
Speaker 1: the thing on the on our soundbar and blasted the
Speaker 1: entire episode in the house that night and listened to
Speaker 1: the forty five minutes of it.
Speaker 3: Yes, we did, and we listened to it alongside Amy Sugarman,
Speaker 3: who was in La so it was a little bit
Speaker 3: earlier for her. But we were getting, you know, texting
Speaker 3: back and forth throughout the entire episode.
Speaker 1: People know who Amy Sugarman is. We just said it,
Speaker 1: but people know who she is. I don't know they
Speaker 1: should Sugar Sugar is.
Speaker 2: I think she can? We can we call her boss lady.
Speaker 2: What do y'all call her? Boss?
Speaker 1: Lady words. Okay, she's she is the head of all.
Speaker 1: She is the creative mind and the person who's been
Speaker 1: so great to us at iHeart and wanting to help
Speaker 1: us get a podcast off the ground in large, so
Speaker 1: she has been great and so she was up with
Speaker 1: us until this thing.
Speaker 3: With me until about two am. Yeah, that's when I
Speaker 3: finally could take no more and fell asleep. And it's
Speaker 3: funny because we went back and looked at the text
Speaker 3: and TJ and Sugar were going on until I don't
Speaker 3: even know three something and I was out. You don't
Speaker 3: see one more text for me until seven am the
Speaker 3: next day. But I looked at all the things I
Speaker 3: missed when I woke up. It was it was encourage.
Speaker 1: You missed a lot, You missed a phone call. I
Speaker 1: had a full conversation. My oldest daughter calls me in
Speaker 1: the middle at three fourteen. Is when it was because
Speaker 1: she listened to it and deddeh, good job. And she
Speaker 1: was almost apologetic as well, like I'm sorry, didn't know
Speaker 1: you were going through because that stuff I had not shared.
Speaker 1: So I got that phone call. You still sleep and
Speaker 1: I just stay up. I couldn't sleep, And then we're
Speaker 1: starting to see it rise and rise and rise, and
Speaker 1: we're number one in our category, and then we crack
Speaker 1: the top five of all podcasts, and we just felt great.
Speaker 1: The next day, on Tuesday, December fifth, a day that
Speaker 1: a year ago was such a difficult one, and this
Speaker 1: time around it was one of the best days and
Speaker 1: best feelings we could ever imagine.
Speaker 3: So by the time we get to Wednesday, we really
Speaker 3: felt like we could sigh some relief and be excited
Speaker 3: and celebrate, and so it was pretty cool. One of
Speaker 3: my best friends, Nikki Spina, sent over a bottle of
Speaker 3: I never know how to say it, vuvkliko vev cliko,
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is, but that really fancy champagne,
Speaker 3: and we thought, let's do it. So we decided to
Speaker 3: really take this day to celebrate, and that we did,
Speaker 3: and we went out to lunch Trinity Place, right.
Speaker 1: My friends, you're sending friends and give my friends sent
Speaker 1: me some booms farm.
Speaker 2: Is anybody outside the South?
Speaker 3: I'm going to get that, oh my strawberry wine. Yes,
Speaker 3: when you're eighteen.
Speaker 2: Fifteen.
Speaker 3: Was going to say fifteen, but then I thought I
Speaker 3: might get some shade for that. Did you see I
Speaker 3: almost said fifteen? It's more like fifteen. Yes, okay. So
Speaker 3: we had the fancy stuff and it started the day
Speaker 3: off right, and we continued the celebrations, and it just
Speaker 3: so happened we did party that day. My parents come
Speaker 3: in on the most on the craziest weeks, I feel
Speaker 3: they are there. And so it worked out. They weren't
Speaker 3: coming to celebrate our podcast. They were coming to celebrate
Speaker 3: my oldest thought Eva. She got a lead in the
Speaker 3: NYU play Medisoul and she played the role of June,
Speaker 3: so they were coming to support her. And it just
Speaker 3: so happened that this was podcasting week. I mean, we
Speaker 3: didn't plan any of this. It just all kind of aligned.
Speaker 3: So they came in and the four of us went
Speaker 3: out to celebrate.
Speaker 2: Boy, do we.
Speaker 1: Make clear the last time they came here or last year,
Speaker 1: they just happened to be coming right, and that they
Speaker 1: were in the plane the exact day or the exact moment, yes,
Speaker 1: the that our private romance was revealed, yes, And so
Speaker 1: now they're on the way on this big day. So
Speaker 1: they're supposed to be coming back later this month, and
Speaker 1: we were like, oh, what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: They're coming back in two weeks everybody, buckle up. I
Speaker 3: don't know what's gonna happen. I'm terrified something is.
Speaker 2: It's always.
Speaker 1: But Wednesday we had the great dinner with them. It
Speaker 1: was Celibra, just so night. And I've known your parents
Speaker 1: for a long time.
Speaker 2: So it's always.
Speaker 1: I love hanging out with them. By the way, they're
Speaker 1: just as well. Go to the dinner that night, had
Speaker 1: a good one.
Speaker 3: And you know, you know my dad well enough to
Speaker 3: know his tricks. He has this thing, so it's always
Speaker 3: who's going to pay the bill at the end of
Speaker 3: the night. And we had we ordered a lot of food,
Speaker 3: a lot of wine, a lot of booze I don't know.
Speaker 3: And I got him and he got him, got him.
Speaker 2: I got to pay the sick and it.
Speaker 3: Was fun because this was our first So we formed
Speaker 3: a corporation and we decided to name our company Banana Bean.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: My youngest daughter's name is Anna, I might call her
Speaker 3: Anna banana, Annalise banana. And TJ's Daughter's name is to Bean.
Speaker 3: He calls her bean. And you came up with the idea,
Speaker 3: I think to call our company banana Bean. And it's great.
Speaker 3: So we got to pull out the is it an
Speaker 3: actual official expense. We felt like it was a business dinner.
Speaker 1: Okay, we are saying, we need to say that for
Speaker 1: irs purposes right now. It was a business had a
Speaker 1: business dinner with your parents that night, of course.
Speaker 3: I mean it was absolutely tied to the podcast, so
Speaker 3: we were able to I don't even know if my
Speaker 3: dad knows we were expensing that dinner. But Dad, don't
Speaker 3: worry about it. We're expensing it. It was on the
Speaker 3: business card. So that was fun. It was, it was fun.
Speaker 3: My dad was, I mean, he was he was mad.
Speaker 2: He likes to pay the bill.
Speaker 3: Well he was, he liked. He wasn't mad. He was
Speaker 3: just like he got me.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell him he can venmo me if he wants
Speaker 1: to the balance.
Speaker 2: But no, I don't want him mad. But then the
Speaker 2: next day we got to.
Speaker 1: Lunch with him, a lunch that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: twelve thirty to what.
Speaker 3: We had, yeah, like maybe an hour. My mom and
Speaker 3: I had plans to go shopping and soho. That never happened.
Speaker 2: So we ended up having this long, April sprits filled lunch.
Speaker 3: I think again we were the last people because it
Speaker 3: was like in between servings and so looking between lunch
Speaker 3: and dinner.
Speaker 1: It was that uncomfortable time where the whole wait staff
Speaker 1: is looking at you saying, when are they leaving?
Speaker 3: Right, we would like to prepare for the next shift. Yes, so,
Speaker 3: but we were still there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that was funny. That day we were leaving,
Speaker 1: I went to the waiter. I said, hey, man, we
Speaker 1: need to square up. He said, no, the gentleman already.
Speaker 3: Took care of it, so he got your back.
Speaker 2: It's okay, So our next meal is gonna be fine.
Speaker 3: It's a ruined competition that I hope never stops. It's fun.
Speaker 1: But then so that takes us now to Friday, the
Speaker 1: next day, which is jingle Ball New York, huge, huge event.
Speaker 1: And we were so excited about this because Sabine was
Speaker 1: so excited. I've been talking to my daughter, a ten
Speaker 1: year old Sabine, the little one, about this for weeks
Speaker 1: and we have been.
Speaker 2: Planning her outfit.
Speaker 1: She got to pick everything out, She got new shoes,
Speaker 1: she got some new designer.
Speaker 2: What was it called a triple T.
Speaker 1: I think I wish I could give the designer credit
Speaker 1: right now. But the church she was wearing had Elvis
Speaker 1: and Memphis on it, and we were so excited about
Speaker 1: the jingle ball.
Speaker 3: She had her motorcycle boots.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, we were very excited about that.
Speaker 3: Did her hair with the braids on the.
Speaker 2: Side, mohawk all thereby home.
Speaker 1: It continues, But that was another great, great night to
Speaker 1: be able to go there, and you had to only
Speaker 1: be there for a short time, or we're only able
Speaker 1: to because you had mommy duty and you had to
Speaker 1: go see another show.
Speaker 3: I had to go see Medisol for the second time.
Speaker 3: There was a change in the cast and so she
Speaker 3: wanted to have me see her play roles with different people.
Speaker 3: So it was great. But it's just one of those
Speaker 3: things that any mom knows what it's like. You know,
Speaker 3: you have a business. It was again, this is business,
Speaker 3: but it was fun. A business obligation that is fun.
Speaker 3: And also you've got you got mommy duty. So we
Speaker 3: figured it out and did both and had a rush
Speaker 3: across town. But I made it, and it was fun
Speaker 3: to be able to celebrate her and what she's been
Speaker 3: able to accomplish there at NYU, And that was a
Speaker 3: fun moment.
Speaker 1: I was able to do both because my work event
Speaker 1: happened to be the fun event exactly. So we go
Speaker 1: out and you and I didn't see a lot of
Speaker 1: the concert in LA because we were shaking hands and
Speaker 1: doing that thing. But Sabine wanted to stay in the
Speaker 1: arena and watch everybody perform, So I had to go
Speaker 1: out there and fake like I knew the lyrics to
Speaker 1: some of those songs.
Speaker 3: Actually, didn't you post something where I was laughing so hard?
Speaker 3: You were trying to pretend like you knew the words,
Speaker 3: but it was so obvious as you did it.
Speaker 2: It's good for you, It's that's all I got.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Meantimes, Tabe knows every word, every word, So.
Speaker 1: That on Friday, that was another late night, and then
Speaker 1: Saturday we get together.
Speaker 2: We have We just happened to have a wedding too.
Speaker 3: We just happened to have a wedding. This is one
Speaker 3: of my oldest and dearest friends. And I don't mean
Speaker 3: to say she's old, it's just we go way back.
Speaker 2: At NBC.
Speaker 3: She's gonna love that. She is so young and beautiful.
Speaker 3: You wouldn't believe it, but no, she was. I was
Speaker 3: so excited for her getting married for the first time
Speaker 3: at fifty one. She found love and we were there
Speaker 3: to celebrate with her, and it was fun to see
Speaker 3: all my old colleagues from NBC. I was there for
Speaker 3: nine years so and it had been a long time
Speaker 3: since I had seen a lot of them. So it
Speaker 3: was an amazing way to end a very incredible week
Speaker 3: that had so many highs. And it was just the
Speaker 3: perfect way, I think, to button it up to celebrate love,
Speaker 3: and that's what we were doing. And it was a
Speaker 3: it was a unique experience for you.
Speaker 1: Which part the dress you were wearing would tell you about,
Speaker 1: I'd say, I can't.
Speaker 2: Even believe I'm on this thing now. About where my
Speaker 2: hand goes?
Speaker 3: Oh right, because it had it had a lot of sequence,
Speaker 3: and it wasn't comfortable for you to have your hand
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 1: This was a very difficult dress to do PDA in
Speaker 1: because we say sequence, and it was the larger one.
Speaker 3: It was big sequence. Yeah, they like coin and they
Speaker 3: would flip up and down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was so I mean we found a
Speaker 1: way to keep my hands to myself. You wear that
Speaker 1: dress often enough, it's like.
Speaker 3: A training dress for you.
Speaker 2: What does that mean?
Speaker 3: Meaning after enough times if I wear it, you'll know
Speaker 3: not to put your hand there anymore.
Speaker 2: Like you train a dog to do something.
Speaker 3: Husbands need to be trained and so so to boyfriends.
Speaker 3: I guess, I mean, I think most women would agree.
Speaker 1: But the wedding that night, I well, I we bring
Speaker 1: it up now because we have a I got a
Speaker 1: note this morning as we were preparing for this podcast,
Speaker 1: note from our producer Hanna, who we love, that was
Speaker 1: giving us suggestions about what to put in things we
Speaker 1: could talk about. And one of the notes she had said,
Speaker 1: you want to talk about the wedding you all went
Speaker 1: to and that you all were reportedly dirty dancing. So
Speaker 1: that's the note she sends. You were still asleep at
Speaker 1: the time. That's the time I came.
Speaker 3: That's a trend. I'm sleeping and wait working.
Speaker 2: But that is when I came.
Speaker 1: Into the room and said, hey, baby, you're a waking.
Speaker 1: I did not know I've said this in the previous podcast.
Speaker 1: You absolutely know this. I do not read headlines. I
Speaker 1: do not google my name. I stay away from it.
Speaker 1: And so I had to ask, what is she talking about?
Speaker 3: And I said, oh, I did see that yesterday. There
Speaker 3: was Yeah. I mean, sometimes ignorance is bliss, and that
Speaker 3: is part of your reasoning behind not reading all the headlines.
Speaker 3: But I got a kick out of it because I
Speaker 3: read it, and I thought, wait, it didn't just say
Speaker 3: that we were dirty dancing. It said that it was
Speaker 3: a very in front of it. It was like an
Speaker 3: extra emphasis on the dirty dancing. And I found it
Speaker 3: to be hilarious and probably not even worth me bringing
Speaker 3: it up to you, because you and I know, and
Speaker 3: everyone at the wedding knows. You didn't even get on
Speaker 3: the dance floor. You stood at the corner of it
Speaker 3: and watched me do my thing with some of my
Speaker 3: girlfriends and the bride. But you were like, eh, no thanks.
Speaker 3: And there's a reason why.
Speaker 1: It's hilarious, the idea that we were dirt Okay, stay
Speaker 1: with me here.
Speaker 2: We were dirty dancing.
Speaker 1: At a wedding reception where the band and the genre
Speaker 1: of music.
Speaker 2: Was yacht rock.
Speaker 3: In fact, everyone on the dance floor at the end
Speaker 3: of the night had Sai caps on that they hand
Speaker 3: it out to everyone who was there to celebrate because
Speaker 3: it was a yacht rock party. And so there are
Speaker 3: some songs that I could tell you every word too,
Speaker 3: that you've never even heard before. Like there was one
Speaker 3: in particular, and it's one of my favorite songs by
Speaker 3: Christopher Cross Sailing. Everyone was like sailing and we run
Speaker 3: on the dance floor and he's like, how do you
Speaker 3: dance to that song? And then you watched how we
Speaker 3: danced that song, and you were like, I'm gonna stay.
Speaker 2: In my see no, but it was It's just funnier.
Speaker 1: Hannah's note is funnier because the theme of our night
Speaker 1: really was as soon as I hear a song by
Speaker 1: a black artist, baby, we're gonna be in there.
Speaker 2: And I was waiting for a song I knew, or.
Speaker 1: How okay, can you everybody right now close your eyes
Speaker 1: hear that song in your head and imagine me and
Speaker 1: Robot dirty dancing to it.
Speaker 2: What do you even do?
Speaker 3: It's hilarious. So I got a kick out of it.
Speaker 2: It's a kick.
Speaker 1: It's funnier because I literally did not dance a single
Speaker 1: song that night.
Speaker 3: You did not because it was yacht rock, and I
Speaker 3: didn't know how. I didn't even try because sometimes I
Speaker 3: would be like, come on, come on, come on, dance
Speaker 3: with me. I knew it was a moot point. It's like,
Speaker 3: he's not getting on this dance floor. So it's very funny,
Speaker 3: okay to see someone say something that not only isn't true,
Speaker 3: but couldn't have been further from the truth.
Speaker 1: And for your information, there were two songs by black
Speaker 1: artists that we heard them cover. One was sitting on
Speaker 1: the dock of the Bay is Reading and the other
Speaker 1: was a Gladys Knight in the pipsul Night Night Train.
Speaker 1: That was the only two that we heard.
Speaker 3: And that was actually when we were having dinner and
Speaker 3: no one was on the dance floor, So you even
Speaker 3: missed that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Well, look, we are laughing, we are cracking up. It's
Speaker 1: hilarious that that was a funny hand line that we
Speaker 1: can make light of. But there were Look, there were
Speaker 1: other headlines this week with agendas, and we absolutely anticipated
Speaker 1: but that was going to happen. There's nothing we can
Speaker 1: do about those. But this place, this podcast, its platform,
Speaker 1: is not and will never be. We are committed to
Speaker 1: a place that this is not going to be about gossip.
Speaker 1: This is not going to be a place where we
Speaker 1: clap back at headlines. We are not going to get
Speaker 1: into that back and forth games because gossip is toxic.
Speaker 1: And so today we are here. We are happy, we
Speaker 1: are healthy, we are grateful, we are so touched by
Speaker 1: the response, and we are onward and.
Speaker 3: Upworth We certainly are, and you know what. We also
Speaker 3: are tired, even with all the sleep apparently I got
Speaker 3: while you weren't sleeping. We're tired. And I say this
Speaker 3: because it was a pretty funny moment. We get done
Speaker 3: with the wedding, so Bean's at home home. She's actually
Speaker 3: being Nikki, the aforementioned Nikki who got us the fancy Champagne,
Speaker 3: was watching Sabine and she was excited because we told her, Hey,
Speaker 3: as soon as we come home from that wedding, we
Speaker 3: are going to watch a horror movie with you, and
Speaker 3: that's kind of been our thing now. She likes watching
Speaker 3: because we love horror movies and like what wasted for
Speaker 3: a while, Yeah, she did, but she is in on
Speaker 3: it now and she had a specific show. She picked
Speaker 3: the movie right that she wanted to watch with us.
Speaker 1: Again, we didn't get done with this wedding UNTI almost
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock. Yeah, and she was committed. Nope, nope, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna stay up and we're gonna watch a movie when
Speaker 1: y'all get back.
Speaker 2: And she wanted to watch The Blackenning.
Speaker 1: So we partied. After the week that was this is
Speaker 1: finally the last event. We can stop. We can shut
Speaker 1: it down, We can go and go to sleep. So me,
Speaker 1: it was like, uh uh, when y'all get home, she
Speaker 1: was texting. She was texting Bud, when y'all get home,
Speaker 1: the Black Inning, we gotta watch it. So sure enough,
Speaker 1: we get in and we set it up. You make
Speaker 1: the popcorn, you hand it out to everybody in the
Speaker 1: individual tens, and we start the movie. Sabine is loving it,
Speaker 1: and then she almost ussed me out the next morning
Speaker 1: because she said, y'all went to sleep on me again.
Speaker 1: We fell asleep in them halfway through them.
Speaker 3: They took a picture of it. It's a pretty funny photo.
Speaker 3: We can we can give it to the producers. Yep,
Speaker 3: it is documented. We didn't last I don't know. I
Speaker 3: think I lasted thirty minutes maybe into the.
Speaker 2: Movie, but if you haven't seen it, but.
Speaker 3: It was the third time we had seen it. We
Speaker 3: would never fall asleep during that movie normally, yes.
Speaker 2: But that's the week that was. It was a wonderful one.
Speaker 1: There were I guess you could say highs and lows,
Speaker 1: but there were so many highs that it almost seems
Speaker 1: like we are doing a disservice by spending a.
Speaker 2: Moment on the lows.
Speaker 1: So thank you all, we are grateful and we are
Speaker 1: off and running, and we've gone back a little bit too,
Speaker 1: and kind of the lead up to the podcast launch
Speaker 1: and all the events and good time and what parties
Speaker 1: and whatnot and things.
Speaker 2: We had to celebrate. But it is Wild Robes that
Speaker 2: it started out.
Speaker 1: Like as heavy as it could, but it helped us
Speaker 1: with perspective over the past week and a half because
Speaker 1: you lost someone near and dear to you. We found
Speaker 1: out about it just days before launch.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I'm going to try to do this without crying,
Speaker 3: but I don't think that's gonna work, so I apologize
Speaker 3: ahead of time. But this is somebody who has been
Speaker 3: so special to me over the past eight years. And
Speaker 3: I met this beautiful soul, Olivia Hutcherson, right after I
Speaker 3: finished my breast cancer treatment. She had just finished hers
Speaker 3: and we were both declared cancer free in remission, and
Speaker 3: I did a story with her. She was so young
Speaker 3: when she was diagnosed. I believe she was twenty eight,
Speaker 3: and she had such a vibrant spirit about her and
Speaker 3: so much positivity and so much hope and joy for
Speaker 3: the future. And it was a way to celebrate even
Speaker 3: younger women getting cancer, and so it was also explaining
Speaker 3: to our audience that you don't have to be an
Speaker 3: older woman to get cancer. Breast cancer can happen to anyone,
Speaker 3: and so it's on you to take charge of your health.
Speaker 3: So she was that woman who embodied all of those things,
Speaker 3: and she was just incredible, so much so that we
Speaker 3: developed a tight friendship over it and stayed close all
Speaker 3: these years. Several years later, her cancer came back stage
Speaker 3: four metastatic, and she was in the fight for her
Speaker 3: life literally and figuratively. And I watched this beautiful woman
Speaker 3: fight with grace, with love. She was a professional dancer
Speaker 3: and she taught dance to students, and she had accomplished
Speaker 3: so much in her life, but she had so much
Speaker 3: more to do, and mostly she just wanted to give.
Speaker 3: She wanted to give love, she wanted to give hope
Speaker 3: and inspiration. And she documented her battle on Instagram in
Speaker 3: a very real and honest way. And I know many
Speaker 3: of you might have followed her. I hope you do now.
Speaker 3: Her account is still up. But we lost Olivia this
Speaker 3: Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I reflected back at the moments
Speaker 3: that I still wanted to have from her. The last
Speaker 3: text that I sent to her was just a few
Speaker 3: weeks before she passed. I didn't know how bad off
Speaker 3: she was. She didn't tell me, she didn't want me
Speaker 3: to know. She told me she started her new treatment.
Speaker 3: Let's get together, and I said, yes, I will be
Speaker 3: thinking of you and I will be on standby for
Speaker 3: a date. And that date never happened because she passed
Speaker 3: away very quickly after that last text I sent her.
Speaker 3: What was the Remember how old Olivia was? Thirty four
Speaker 3: years old?
Speaker 1: I remember if for folks, I only got to be
Speaker 1: around her, I think twice, but certainly once we had
Speaker 1: her on the show even once. But this was a
Speaker 1: young woman. If she walked into the room and on
Speaker 1: two front here looking at her, you would never you
Speaker 1: wouldn't even know she was dealing or fighting a battle
Speaker 1: with cancer, and two talking to her, you would never
Speaker 1: know she was struggling the way she was because her energy,
Speaker 1: her spirit. I've been amazed by this, and I've been
Speaker 1: I've seen it more with being around you and actually Morgan,
Speaker 1: a good friend of yours, who will certainly be talking
Speaker 1: about and maybe even have on the podcast at some point.
Speaker 1: I don't understand how people who are that you described
Speaker 1: to me going through the hell that they're going through,
Speaker 1: literally in a battle for their lives. How they're picking
Speaker 1: me up, not just because oh I feel okay, I
Speaker 1: shouldn't complain about anything because somebody's going through word.
Speaker 3: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: They literally talk to you in such a way that
Speaker 1: they are encouraging you and your life and concerned about you.
Speaker 2: I was always amazed by that.
Speaker 3: With Olivia to that point, going through all of this
Speaker 3: and she's fighting for her life and she's checking in
Speaker 3: on me. I have a couple things I just want
Speaker 3: to share with you because I want you to know
Speaker 3: the love that Olivia gave not just to me, but
Speaker 3: to everyone around her. And it's just inspirational to the
Speaker 3: point where I think we all, I know, we all
Speaker 3: can learn something from Olivia and continue to live differently
Speaker 3: because of how she lived her life. Just a few
Speaker 3: months ago, she wrote to me and said, I had
Speaker 3: a dream about you last night. It was so vivid,
Speaker 3: very crazy. I felt you so strongly.
Speaker 5: I know I must sound crazy, but I just want
Speaker 5: to tell you how proud I am of you for
Speaker 5: being such a life force and choosing love so side noted,
Speaker 5: dear friend of mine transitions last week to heaven and
Speaker 5: I couldn't help but think of you.
Speaker 3: Sadly, death teaches us how to live, she says to me.
Speaker 3: This is her quote. I am sorry I haven't checked
Speaker 3: in on you more, but please know I think of
Speaker 3: you often. I pray for your peace always hope you
Speaker 3: are well, my sister. That is remarkable to me that
Speaker 3: in what she was dealing.
Speaker 2: With, literally fighting to live, and she's she's.
Speaker 3: Worried about me, and that is just that takes a
Speaker 3: very special person in that situation. And I also just
Speaker 3: I really want to share with you. I know people
Speaker 3: who are familiar with Instagram, they know that when you
Speaker 3: have a post, you want people to check back in
Speaker 3: on or read you pin it. I don't I'm not
Speaker 3: that savvy with tech, but I do know that much.
Speaker 3: And so I was looking back because she was a
Speaker 3: poet as well. She has a book out there. She
Speaker 3: gave so much and she gave so much art to
Speaker 3: the world, not just through dance, but through her words
Speaker 3: and of course through her love. But she had this
Speaker 3: is almost exactly a year ago she put this post up.
Speaker 3: And I'll truncate it slightly, but she put this post
Speaker 3: up on Instagram and for anyone who wants to go
Speaker 3: and look at it. It's still up there to read.
Speaker 3: But this just hit me after her passing her words
Speaker 3: of inspiration that I will keep, and I kept with
Speaker 3: me through this week, and you know I did. I've
Speaker 3: been wiping away tears, but they're also tears of joy
Speaker 3: because I know she's not in pain anymore. I know
Speaker 3: that she's free of her body, and I know that
Speaker 3: her soul and her spirit live on, not just literally
Speaker 3: but through the people who she touched. So I just
Speaker 3: I'm hoping that her words you all can listen to them,
Speaker 3: will also have the same impact on you. She wrote
Speaker 3: this in December of twenty twenty two. I wanted to
Speaker 3: write something super motivational as the year comes to a close.
Speaker 3: The only thing I can truly tell you is this though,
Speaker 3: when you see me and you see something good, the
Speaker 3: only good thing about me is God. He has literally
Speaker 3: lifted me off of the floor and put me back
Speaker 3: together again time after time. She goes on to say,
Speaker 3: I didn't get here overnight. It took pressure, process, tears, fears, surrender,
Speaker 3: re surrender, an army or prayer warriors, my mother's arms,
Speaker 3: my brother's ted talks in the living room and a
Speaker 3: few real ones. I learned less is more and time
Speaker 3: is running out every second.
Speaker 5: So let's love now, forgive more, and yes, pray for
Speaker 5: those who have come against us and our families.
Speaker 3: The poison only makes us bitter. Life is short today
Speaker 3: is what matters most.