WEBVTT - Zoe, PJ, and Chanel 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.400 Last June, Heavyweight performed a sold out show in the 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.560 Borough of Churches, Brooklyn, New York. The show was part 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.640 of Gimletfest, a two day podcasting festival that rivaled Woodstock 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.800 ninety four in terms of historic and cultural significance. If 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:27.160 you came to that show, good for you, And if not, well, 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:29.600 you'll have to live with that fact for the rest 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:34.400 of your life. So please sit back, wallow in that 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.680 regret and try to enjoy this slightly edited version of 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:39.560 Heavyweight Live. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.680 I know, Jackie, did you hear me out fam in 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.560 the car? Yeah, it sounds like you're on a speakerphone. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:11.960 Oh that's really good. So you know I have a podcast. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:13.200 Do you remember the name of it? 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:19.360 John, Yes, if it's going to be okay. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:20.119 What is the name of the show? 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:22.280 You know what? Next question? 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.080 Okay, you know that the name of the show is Heavyweight, right? 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:25.839 Yes? 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:26.800 Does that ring a bell? 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:27.840 It rings an annoying bell? 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:28.080 Yes? 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.679 What does an annoying bell sound like? 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:32.959 You just rang it? 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.640 Okay? So I am doing a live show. 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.000 I don't think the visual dimension as much. They can 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.560 just look at a photograph of you and it's probably 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.440 do the same thing. Yeah, you know I certainly hope 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.320 you have a little bit of something to drink before. 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.559 You tend to do much better in your live performances 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.200 if you've had a little, a little something. We all 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:54.960 know that about you. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:02:00.440 A little hoot yeah, yeah, I suppose take the edge off. Yeah, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.520 little hooch is a part of the show business tradition, 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:08.560 back to the days of being crosbys. Yes, of course 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.040 they do. Why is that so funny? I am in 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:17.840 show business. I mean it's a statement of fact. I 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:19.040 I host a podcast. 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:23.679 I just want to know. Is that considered show businesses? 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:24.120 And if so? 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:24.760 Why? 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:25.200 Why? 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:26.640 Yea, I guess it's a show. 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.400 It's a show and people are entertained by it. So 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:36.560 I'm in show business. Nothing. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:52.720 I guess you are in show business. It's cute, but 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.919 it's very cute, all. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:03:14.280 Right, John Okay, youtobe, bye bye. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:14.160 Plays and gentlemen. 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:31.960 Got the CEO and Gimblet Media founder Alex Bloomberg is 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:36.720 trotting in place beside my workstation. How do you like apples? 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:41.320 He asks? I don't care for apples, I say, when bruised, 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.720 they remind me of my mortality. When served cold, they 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.080 tend to hurt my teeth. So no, Alex, I do 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:52.480 not like apples, though I do like apple sauce. Well, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.480 how do you like these apples? He asks, without looking 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.360 away from my computer screen. I ask if these apples 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:04.480 are sauced apples. Mister Bloomberg thrusts a letter pressed handbill 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.400 in front of my face. It smells like the clone 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:12.920 department of a European duty free. The handbill reads gimlet 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:18.800 fest Fest, it seems is short for festival. Are we 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.240 disarming a bomb? While falling from a rooftop? Alex, is 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.080 your time so precious that you can't afford two lousy 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:30.440 extra syllables? Of course? I say none of this out loud. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.120 The last thing I need is to be fired from 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.200 podcasting and forced to recite my monologues into a CBE 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.800 radio while seated on the lap of some trucker named 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:45.960 Jean Francois. Mister Bloomberg checks his fitbit, pumps his fist thrice, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:52.719 and stops running. Though his brow is virtually sweatless, he 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.640 wipes it with a silken kerchief and crumples the handbill 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:00.279 into my chest. Then he asks his real question, what 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.000 are you going to do for gimlet Fest? I don't 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.320 like public speaking. I say, the very thought of a 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.760 live event was enough to make the borsht i'd eaten 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.480 for lunch perform a slow, spiteful kazatskay in my kishka's. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.559 Mister Bloomberg laughs, You're hilarious, he says, slapping my back 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.480 hard enough to make my fillings rattle, and the days 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.880 Borshed enter its final curtain call. For the next several months, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.720 I do nothing but worry. By day, I hide out 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:36.400 shivering in mister Bloomberg's executive bathroom. By night, I sit 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.440 at the kitchen table in darkness, eating unsalted peanuts and 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.840 drinking bourbon. And so the days run away like wild 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.560 horses at a farm wedding and upstate. I make a 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.000 mental note to tweet that, and all the while I 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.880 can do nothing else but think of gimlet Fest. What 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.520 will I wear to? What number will I set my 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:58.320 beer trimmer? 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:00.560 To bed? 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.080 The wife cries, it's four. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:02.520 In the morning. 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.320 When sleep does come, it brings ominous dreams. In one, 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.000 I hop out of a papier mache cake onto a cool, 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:17.840 dark stage. I am holding a ukulele. Hello, I say, 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.720 into the blackness, I'm certain there is an audience out 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.440 there somewhere judging me. In the silence, I hear a cough, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:31.720 then a Werther's Original slowly being unwrapped. A face emerges 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:36.080 from the darkness. It is ABC television personality Zach Brath. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:46.840 He informs me. I've been canceled. I awaken a cold sweat, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.359 surrounded by Werther's original wrappers, and for your consideration, DVD 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:59.359 is of alex Ink. A week before showtime, I feel 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:04.480 my bowels quake. Had my nightly prayer for diverticulitis been answered, 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.760 Dear God, I in tone, please give me diverticulitis so 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.720 I don't have to do gimlet Fest. But no such luck. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:17.360 It is only a visit from my old friend gas. 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:20.000 Mere. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.640 Days before the event, mister Bloomberg corners me in the 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:28.920 Gimlet Cat Cafe, the one on the second floor. How's 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:33.520 that live show coming, he demands, superby croak stoically, my 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.320 voice cracking in three different places. Good good, he says, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:46.440 taking a long drag of avocado flavored vape. What's the 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:50.120 run of the show, he asks, I don't know, I say, 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:55.320 ending the charade, I have nothing planned. Mister Bloomberg twitches 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.840 violently causing the two task monkeys, carrying his e hook 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.480 at a lurch from side to side. What have you 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.000 been doing with your time? He asks? The former Planet 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.040 Money spokesmodel was still capable of a hard hitting question. 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.760 What had I been doing with my time? Tweeting? I 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:20.800 say about the festival. Let's take this to the kitchen, 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:28.920 hammocks mister Bloomberg commands dutifully. I trail behind him, trying 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.600 not to spill his chocolate mint julip while swinging on 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.200 his stomach. Mister Bloomberg explains how Gimletfest is about influencing. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:40.480 It's about inspiring positive change, he says, while sipping from 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:45.240 a very long straw. Oh, indubitably, I squeal, let's force 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:49.760 feed positivity down the throats of non Matte believers everywhere. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.000 Of course, I only squeal this to myself. The last 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:55.960 thing I need is to be sent back to Canada 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.160 to do the overnight weather report from Moose Factory, Ontario. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.800 I've been thinking a lot about engaging our brand loyalists, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.920 Alex continues, but I'm barely listening. The gentle rocking of 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.520 the hammock has sent me into a reverie. When I awake. 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.360 I'm alone. The office is dark but for the muted 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.720 headlamps of the task monkeys polishing mister Bloomberg's vate pen 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:22.320 collection and preparation for the day ahead. Come to bed. 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:26.200 The wife texts, it's four a m. Of course, I 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.000 want to help mister Bloomberg. I've been listening to him 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.760 radio DJ on This American Life since I was but 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.760 a mopheaded child strapped into the back seat of Mammon's 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:39.880 minivan on the way to curling practice. Leaving the office, 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.640 I pass by his treadmill desk. He is still here, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.320 slowly trotting along, working hard. I ask, but there is 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.720 no answer. After several minutes, I realize that he has 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.960 fallen into a deep sleep. Only the support of his 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.720 loyal task monkeys is keeping him upright. Good night, Podcast, Prince, 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:04.199 I whisper, before wandering out into the night. The night 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.920 before Gimbletfest is one of the worst of my life. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.520 How's everybody doing tonight? I practice over and over into 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.800 my wife's hair brush while staring into the bathroom mirror. 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.880 How is everybody doing tonight? How's everybody doing tonight? 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:23.480 Go to bed? 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.200 The wife cries, it's four in the morning, but I can't. 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.240 I know that if I can just nail my opening line, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.880 everything else will fall into place. The audience will applaud, 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.439 mister Bloomberg, will sign my paycheck, and my infant son 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:43.920 will start calling me dada instead of haha. And so 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:51.480 I practice, how's everybody doing tonight? How is everybody doing tonight? 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:58.960 And then it comes to me, how's everybody doing this evening? 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.320 So how's everybody doing this evening? 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:26.520 Hello? Jonathan Goldstein? 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:32.160 Uh, that's that's my human beat boxer, Devin, And this 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.000 is my co host and producer, Khalila Holt. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:36.240 Hello. 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.800 Do you want to tell these people what we're gonna do? 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.120 Yeah? Uh, so tonight the theme of this evening is 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.880 Killed Killed Stories, and so we were gonna play for 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.040 you some of the stories or clips of the stories 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:58.959 that didn't make it onto the air. And also we're 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.440 gonna have some guests, some special guests, and uh, they're 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:06.760 going to be human beatboxed onto the stage. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.640 Are you suggesting that I should be human being? 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:13.120 Yeah? 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.520 Would you like to be human beatboxed onto the stage? 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.440 Not particularly, but I will. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.320 I think you're gonna like it more than you anticipate 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.640 it's you're gonna find it very enlivening. I did. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:26.679 Do we call it human beat boxing or do we 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:27.760 just call it beatboxing? 0:12:27.840 --> 0:13:07.160 He's human and he's beatboxing. So mm hmmm, i'd you 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:07.440 like that. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:10.680 It's okay. 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.360 Makes me so happy, Devin, come out here. I'm sorry. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.160 I want to tell you. I want to thank you again. 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.400 I want to tell you a story about how my 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:21.120 interest in human beatboxing came about. Are you familiar with 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.959 the Fat Boys? I am, Yeah, so I really like 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.400 the Fat Boys as a child, and I would try 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.120 to human beat box myself and I wasn't good at it, 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:36.760 and I started to feel chest pains and my parents 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.599 had to take me to the Jewish general er in Montreal, 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.920 and the doctor in the er told me that I 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:48.400 had given myself these chest pains from the beatboxing that 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:52.520 I was giving. Is that is that a peril of it? 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.400 It can happen, Yeah, definitely seems to have happened. 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.960 Yeah, so I had to stop doing it. Yeah. 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.440 Well, I think, uh, I think anybody can can beat box. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.080 So I think if you push through the pain, uh one, yeah, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:07.000 one day you could get there. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:08.600 Can we hear? Just like a little something? 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.760 Yeah, can we hear just a tiny little here, I'll 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:12.280 set you up. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:22.920 Sure, Sure, I know you're patronizing me, but I still 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:23.320 like it. 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:25.400 Ok, thank you. 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:26.560 Again, leaving the stage. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:34.040 Now, I think it's time to introduce our first special guests. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.520 You may Introd know her from the Social Security number 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:43.680 eight two three six three eight two nine seven, or 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.760 from her work on Planet Money and This American Life, 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:47.680 Ladies and Gentlemen. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:48.480 Zoe Chase. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:15:16.800 Devin brings Zoe to the stage. Zoe, how was that? 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.200 Why have you ever been human being boxed onto a stage? 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.320 It's pretty nice. You get used to it. Oh yeah, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:31.680 you can't live without it, event Hi Hi, So okay, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.600 so we're going to talk about killed stories, and at 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.840 your prompting, we're going to talk about a killed story 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.520 of mine. And I know that it made an impact 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.360 on a young Zoe Chase. And this is a story 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.960 that almost almost got killed when I was working as 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.120 a producer at This American Life many many years ago. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:53.960 And during that time, there were so many of my 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.760 stories that were getting killed all the time. But this, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:02.880 this is one that somehow evaded death barely. And yeah, 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:04.240 and you wanted to talk about it. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.560 Yeah, No, this story is the reason that I started 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:07.360 working in radio. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.400 You're talking about the Little Mermaid story, right, who. 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:12.320 You guys know that story? 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:12.640 Right? 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:18.080 Yeah, So this is a story. I would call my 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:19.960 friend Josh up on the phone just because they thought 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.160 he was very funny, and I was always looking for 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.080 a way to get him on this American life. And 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:29.800 because this American life is all about storytelling. IRA would 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.320 always say, you have to your friend Josh has to 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.440 have a story. And he'd tell me stories and they 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.680 would go nowhere, they'd be stupid, and then this was 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:38.520 one of those stories that he told me. But it 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:43.560 just happened actually turn into something, you know. I think 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.080 we just happened to have a clip. 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.320 There was this guy named Fred okay, and he got 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.800 this message, well, his mother left him in a message 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.680 on his answering machine okay, and he forwarded it to 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:58.960 I don't know, maybe one or more of his friends, 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.280 and they forwarded this message across campus to everyone. Okay. 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.399 So you want to hear the message, m M all right. 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.000 So he prefaced it by saying, you have it, you 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:09.639 the message. 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:11.600 I do not have the message. I have the message 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:13.320 in my head. I'm telling you a story. 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:15.119 So the message. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.359 He prefaced it by by some kind of sad little 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.320 lead in in a little voice. He was like, I 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.000 think you'd appreciate hearing this message from my mother. Okay, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.080 and then the message played. This was the entirety of 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.000 the message. And I'm gonna do the voice for you 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:28.720 as best I can. 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:30.120 You ready, yeah? 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:31.360 All right? Oh? 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.280 Sorry, more background. He apparently he had had a heart. 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.399 He was not a hit with the ladies. Fred, Okay, 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.760 that's this is what I was let to understand. Okay, 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:41.280 I'm not sure if this is true or not. Okay, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.760 but he had managed to score a date to go 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.320 see The Little Mermaid of All movies. 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.000 Okay, The Little Mermaid? 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.240 Okay, Yeah, So this is the message his own mother, okay, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.000 his blood relation leaves for him. 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.639 Yeah, and I quote ahem, you and the Little Mermaid 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.840 can go go yourselves. The books you wanted are not here. 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:03.920 They must be in La Joya. 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:05.159 I'm not gonna wait up all night view. 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:07.879 Goodbye. That's the entirety of it. 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:08.200 All right. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.520 Yeah, that's a message that his mother left them. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:11.880 That's correct. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.160 You catch that part. You and the Little Mermaid can 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:19.879 both go yourselves. I love you, son, Okay, that's gold. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.720 So that yeah, that's how it starts. 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.639 It's so the reason why was because I wasn't in 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.840 radio and I was just living in Philadelphia and I 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.520 was very lonely and I heard this story. 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:41.639 Somebody said like listen to these. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:46.639 Things, these streaming m P three's whatever, and so I 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.879 listened to this and I was like, that's it. Like 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.399 you can just talk to your friends about being in 0:18:54.520 --> 0:19:00.600 college and it's so funny and it's like that's all 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:05.200 and you're on the radio, like that's so, that's geezy, 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:06.680 that's the best thing. 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.800 I'm glad it didn't seem like hard no, because then 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:11.679 you'd be like I can ever do this. I'm not 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.399 gonna get into radio, and you wouldn't be here. So 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:15.199 I'm glad. 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:16.200 Yeah, it's true. 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.520 Yeah, So so I just wanted to say that, like 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.480 what I tried to do still tried to do in 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.399 radio is like I have funny friends, and I'm like, 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.600 you should be on the radio telling your story, and 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.840 I'm gonna do it like Jonathan and Josh. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:35.800 It's gonna be a whole thing. 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.800 It's just gonna be like a conversation that kind of 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.359 unfolds naturally. It's funny and then it'll kind of morph 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.280 into this American life story and that that's been my 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.399 plan for a really long time. And now I work 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.480 at this American life and I still can't get my 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:55.160 friend Lenz on the radio. 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:57.320 Like I try. 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:01.160 I like beg her so let me recorder, and I 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.480 lie to her that I'm not going to use it, 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:09.560 that that's not the plan. And now she's a very tense, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.880 serious immigration lawyer, so she has a lot of stories 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.240 that are relevant to the current moment, stories that she 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:18.960 thinks like aren't appropriate to tell on the radio because 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:20.440 they're about her clients. 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:22.000 But like, I don't see it that way. 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.840 You know, we have a clip. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.080 I just so happened to have a clip, and I'm. 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:31.960 Gonna record for me. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.280 No, but they I'll remember it better. Oh you can't. 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:35.560 First of all, I can't even tell you about it 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:37.160 because it's a client. So I'm I'll just give you 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.800 no remember it better, ruh me. 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.480 I see you like every day. 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:44.400 That's like all the. 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.560 Time, so that it's like every day you still that 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:50.520 is still something that you want to do. 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:56.760 Yeah, man, somehow the way that you interviewed your friends 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:01.320 on this American life like decade and decades ago. 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:02.920 You know, long long ago. 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:04.120 It's a long time ago. 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.760 Yeah, it's it's like the best radio ever. 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:08.720 You know. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.439 It's it's funny to me to hear you say that, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.200 because you do all of these like serious, important political 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.840 stories for this American life, and I'm I feel like 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.200 I'm just making like knock knock jokes on the radio. 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:24.840 And and to me, the irony has always been that 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.480 I'm not an easy laugh and that's been a problem 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.680 for me in broadcasting, because laughing can say so much 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:37.000 like when you're interviewing someone. A laugh can feel like, 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.840 you know, like a warm arm around the shoulder and 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.119 let the person know that you're enjoying them, and it 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:46.440 gives them confidence. And I'm not much of a laugher 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:51.520 and and I've suffered for that. But but having my 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:55.280 close friends to do stories with people who legitimately make 0:21:55.359 --> 0:22:03.400 me laugh make me a better broadcaster than I naturally am. 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.520 Should we introduce another person who makes you laugh? 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:07.280 Yes? 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:07.720 Please? 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.840 So you're gonna stick around, right, you don't have to 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:12.800 go any place. 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.760 Yet, right, I have nothing going on. 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:20.520 Okay, Previously the host of it was too long, and 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.800 so I didn't read it. He now hosts the show 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.920 reply All with Alex Goldman. He has a small dog 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:32.600 which wants pete on Alex Bloomberg's desk. PJ Vote Everyone. 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:45.640 PJA vote whoa p J Vote everybody, PJ vote. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:49.600 Whoa poo? 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:56.400 Pool Bool, PJ vote. 0:22:57.720 --> 0:22:59.760 Pool Pool. 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.680 You just received the human beatboxing of a lifetime. My 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.320 friend had that feel. 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.080 It felt like three different stress dreams that I had 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:13.280 happening at the same time. 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:19.280 Now, PJ. So when I was figuring out Heavyweight, I 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:20.240 was talking to you a lot. 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:22.600 You're sort of figuring out like what is the show? 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:26.480 Yes, And at the time it was sort of about 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:28.880 It had to do with this idea that, like every 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.440 the irony of living in society was that everybody knows 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:36.680 something about you that you just can't figure out about yourself. Right, 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:40.480 Like the ultimate irony is how one cannot know oneself. 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.920 Just as a knife cannot cut itself or a fire 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:50.160 cannot burn itself, a human being cannot really know itself. 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:52.920 I think a fire can burn itself. 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:59.520 Anyway, I was getting I was getting poetical all right. Anyway, 0:23:59.880 --> 0:24:02.399 the idea was a little broader than Heavyweight. It was 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:04.040 just sort of like I'm going to help people figure 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:05.800 out things that they can't figure about themselves. 0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:09.160 You're calling it Jonathan Goldstein medicine woman. 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.960 That was my wife's idea. That was Emily's idea, Jonathan 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:17.320 gold Seen medicine woman. And so you came to me 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:19.160 with a particular problem, which. 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.879 Was I've been told or hinted at on more than 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:26.639 one occasion that there was something about my face that 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:31.480 was like inherently punishable, that you had a punishable face. 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.440 I had a punishable face, right, And I'm sorry, I 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:37.960 just like literally just feel a bunch of people looking 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:41.560 at my face like sizing out. It does not feel good. 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:46.000 Sorry, And and how was it that you described like 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:47.600 what makes a punishable face? 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:53.960 I think that people see like either a. I think 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:55.720 there's like a you can have it. There's a couple 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:57.720 of kinds. But one is like a kind of inherent 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:01.560 smugness and one is a sort of pnus. And if 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:06.760 you have both of them, I think it's like, yeah. 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:10.080 I want so I wanted to make PJ. I wanted 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:12.240 to eradicate that really I don't think it's true. But 0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:16.480 any of that, but anyway, uh, and and the way 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:18.480 and I was re listening to the tape, and so 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:20.359 much of it was making me wish that we had 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:22.919 actually been able to do this story. You describe yourself 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:26.159