00:00:08
Speaker 1: And I invited you here. I thought I made myself perfectly clear. When you're a guest to my home, you gotta come to me empty. And I said, no, guests, your presences presents enough. I already had too much stuff, So how do you dare to surbey me?

00:00:47
Speaker 2: Welcome to, I said, no gifts. I'm Richard Wineker. Oh, I've really done absolutely no thinking about what I was going to say at the top of the show today, and that is going to be reflected and whatever rambling thing I have to say at this point, and I ask for your forgiveness. I tried to take a nap earlier. It didn't hold. I you know, at least I just got to lie there and worry for an hour, so that counts. And we're just going to speed into the podcast. We're going to get into it. We're going to introduce the guest, and then we're going to have a good time, and then the next hour or so is going to be perfect. Our guest today is fantastic and I'm so excited to speak to him. It's Harvey Gien. Harvey. Welcome to. I said no gifts.

00:01:37
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

00:01:39
Speaker 2: I am hanging by a thread and I just need you here. We're going to have a wonderful time. My energy levels all over the map, and I don't know why. How are you doing well?

00:01:52
Speaker 3: I mean, I heard your intro and I actually did take a nap and I just woke up from it and I feel fantastic. So I will be balancing each other out really well.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: Harvey just storms onto the podcast to brag about his successful nap. Interesting, what kind of nap are you take? How long were you asleep?

00:02:12
Speaker 3: So I just flew in from New York, and boy, are my wings tired?

00:02:18
Speaker 2: The podcast is over.

00:02:22
Speaker 3: I took about a two hour nap. It was a long weekend in New York for Comic Con, and I got home and it was pretty early in the sun's out. I always feel weird taking a nap during the day, and I can feel that it's brought like bright daylight. So I just turned off all the lights and all the blinds in my room, and then that commits myself. Well, I could take a nap because it feels like my time. And yeah, I'm like a bird.

00:02:47
Speaker 2: Just put the blanket over the bird's cage and it stops squawking. Yeah, you saying that makes me think, I do need the room to be dark when I take a nap, But a nap when it's actually dark outside is one of the most poisonous things I can do to myself.

00:03:06
Speaker 3: I agree.

00:03:06
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, what are we talking about there? You wake up so confused.

00:03:12
Speaker 3: I've done that where I think I'm going to It's also usually around the time where you know the time changes, like it it gets dark earlier or and I say, I'm took a nap and it's around four thirty and the sun still out, but it's fall. And then I wake up and I think it's it's six thirty eight yea. And then I panic, and I think that I've missed my call time, and I wake up in a in a quick jolt, and then and then I realize that I've only been to sleep for about forty five minutes.

00:03:47
Speaker 2: So disorienting. I mean, I guess this is Let's just take a minute to remind everyone that daylight savings are somewhere around the corner. Everybody, buckle up. The time is about to shift in some way. I can't tell you exactly how, but that's a good little reminder. Now, Harvey, you were in New York for Comic Con. You're in the show what we Do in the Shadows. Have you ever been attacked by a fan?

00:04:12
Speaker 3: No, I've been very fortunate. Not Congwood, but I've been very fortunate. I think that the ones that you know, because again, for the last eighteen months, we weren't really out and about. We didn't get to do like a promotion for the show. We didn't have a season two or three premiere, a little party or whatnot. We haven't We just had the premiere in season one, and we didn't have the party for the last two seasons. But I was the one that really kind of catches you of guards when you're walking in the street. I was walking in New York and someone yells up, yeah, anything, we don't want to screaming in the street, and then that kind of that's a little bit scary. But also I try not to answer to gem because that's what I mean.

00:04:55
Speaker 2: I think that's probably a good tactic.

00:04:57
Speaker 3: I don't want to.

00:04:58
Speaker 2: You don't want people to learn that you do respond to that.

00:05:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the dog doesn't respond unless it's their name they're calling.

00:05:06
Speaker 2: Harvey is calling all of his fans dogs. Myself, Harvey has come onto this podcast and say the fans of the show are less than dogs.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, I'm calling them dogs. They're all dogs. Oh my gosh. No, but it's so great to like, you know, it's good to be called something.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: And now going back to Comic Con, were people in costume? Do they go in costumes is a thing?

00:05:48
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:05:48
Speaker 2: There were people in costume and also masks?

00:05:51
Speaker 3: Is that? So they're in costumes and masks. They have to wear masks, right, but they incorporate their mask to be part of their costumes. Is really cool. So people get dressed up, Like the first question got asked was someone dresses a Gillmo. It was this young lady who was dressed Simo and she, you know, was really lovely and she was like, first of all, I want to thank you so much for you know, your Latin experior representation. And it was so cool. And then there was another person who was dressed as Nandor and their mask was the beard.

00:06:22
Speaker 2: That's great.

00:06:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was really perfect. And see, you can be very clever with your costumes and most of the people go full out like a dragon kind I know somebody had spent nine months on a costume they had dressed like entirely like uh, you know, buzz Lightyear from a toy story and down to like the writing in the bottom of the heel down till you press the button. It's the same recording. If you press another button, the wings open. Uh it was. And they by hand, like they just didn't professionally have this mate, they made themselves. So it's pretty pretty impressive.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: That skill set, to me is remarkable.

00:07:00
Speaker 3: Is so a button I can't.

00:07:03
Speaker 2: Let alone, like constructing a thing whole cloth, and it's not your actual job. You just like do this on the side in your garage. You're putting together these professional level costumes. It's just so beyond. Actually, Halloween is around the corner. Are you going to dress up as anything?

00:07:19
Speaker 3: I don't know yet. I think I'm behind. I should be thinking about what I'm going to dress up because this is kutting a close and I don't know where I'm going to be. I'm more likely to celebrates, which is first. And for that one, that's kind a cool go too, because you just get a skull face painting, you know, put some cool thing in your hair or if you don't, just comb it out nicely and then have some buckles and some celebration with some friends.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: That's such an easier one where you get to just start with the base of a skeleton.

00:07:55
Speaker 3: Right.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: Halloween is such a free for all. It's so I mean that there are too many options. I need a fence. I need to be fenced in to make my choices.

00:08:03
Speaker 3: Jump over to November first, Just jump over to a little more time for me.

00:08:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, what was the like, can you remember a recent Halloween costume?

00:08:12
Speaker 3: Well? Yeah, memory the last Halloween I could celebrate. I did like Caesar. I think it was Caesar Julius Caesar.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: That's great where we're just wearing like a toga and like.

00:08:27
Speaker 3: A halo, like a leaf, leaf, halo, leaf crown. Yeah. And I think I had brought like a salad and I had a sign like please toss my salad or something beautiful.

00:08:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, we all love Caesar. We love Little Caesar. When was the last time you went to Little Caesar's.

00:08:50
Speaker 3: I don't remember last year into Little Caesars. Oh maybe a couple of years ago. My friend lives in Echo Park and Adrian and Denise shout out to them, Oh, my favorite lesbian couple. And they were hanging out there place down the street and there's like a drive through the Little Caesar, which I never see.

00:09:08
Speaker 2: I've never heard of such a thing.

00:09:09
Speaker 3: I've never heard of such a thing. And it's there. You go to Eco Park, there's a drive through Little Caesars. And I was running late and they're like, yeah, we're gonna hang out, and I think I was like, I'll just get something on the way, like you know, to bring to the get together. And that was the quickest like three minute like party favor drive through that I've ever been through. Like the pizzas are ready to go. You just say pull up and the cheese or pepperonis and bread steaks and you are good to go in your life of the party.

00:09:38
Speaker 2: I haven't, you know, I haven't met the Little Caesars in a long time, so I couldn't speak to the quality. But I am curious because it's so easy. And we love the pizza pizza element. I love saying pizza pizza.

00:09:51
Speaker 3: We love pizza pizza.

00:09:52
Speaker 2: I loved the Little Caesar. Man, how was the pizza for you?

00:09:57
Speaker 3: You know what? It actually tasted better later the evening when a couple of you know, spirits were served, and of course you're like, you know what this is. You start having a conversation with a stranger across from you and just like, this is really good. This is really good. This is a really good piece that because they and then you're like the next day you're like, oh god, what do I feel like? Uh? Nothing against those Caesars. Obviously that's not their fault, but I just remember that it was it tasted fine. It wasn't like anything rite home about. I think it's good pizza that I have when it's like a long day and you hang out people and it's like you don't care well, you don't care for your what your taste, but touch.

00:10:41
Speaker 2: I feel that's something I appreciate about a Little Caesars is I really feel like they know exactly what they are. They're not trying to know anything beyond just buye for drunk people.

00:10:51
Speaker 3: No frize. Like it's also like you should know what you're getting. I mean it's for you know, for the like the price that you're paying, it's great value. You're getting nothing, it's almost nothing. And if you're playing five bucks and getting a full pizza and it's edible, I think Little Caesars are doing a great job, like you are feeding you know, people feeding America, but quick drive through before because you didn't make enough time in your schedule, because that's on you. Absolutely Little Caesars for the win.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: And I also I remember enjoying the crazy bread, which is a wild name for a food.

00:11:25
Speaker 3: Yeah. See, I like the Crazy bread that one I could. Yeah, that's fine with me. It reminds me of like an Olive Garden bread, which a little better I think, even like you know those breadstakes, although Olive Garden gives them to you for free.

00:11:37
Speaker 2: Right, it's good opening that Garden has over Little Caesars. But Olive Garden doesn't yet offer a drive through, so I think.

00:11:45
Speaker 3: We gotta be yeah, fifty to fifty here, Like, I don't know who's winning, but.

00:11:49
Speaker 2: Now that we've pitted them against each other, hopefully this is the next great rivalry that makes no sense. I mean, it's barely two restaurants who are vaguely.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: Itally just us in a circle going fight, fight fight.

00:12:06
Speaker 2: I love it. I absolutely love it. Now, Harvey mh. You agreed to be on this podcast recently, and I was very excited. I thought Harvey's so funny, seems really sweet, I'm sure it'll be a fine time and then we'll just get to, you know, go our separate ways, having not hurt each other's feelings or stepped on any toes. And so it came to my surprise recently I received an envelope in the mail addressed in me, and I was thinking. I look at the return address and it says h Gien. I assumed this isn't Hannah. This isn't I'm already running out of h names. This couldn't possibly be from Harvey. How would Harvey even know my address? I host, as you're aware of, podcast called I said, no gifts, and I assume you know in the various email correspondents this came to your attention. But then apparently my producer on Elise God bless their soul, has been roped into this as well, because my address was given to you, and this envelope is now in my possession, and I can only assume, based on almost no information, that this is a gift to me. And so I'm going to just confront you now, Harvey, is this a gift for me?

00:13:39
Speaker 3: Guilty? It is? Okay, I couldn't, I could not, you know, have this visit and not it's it's it's hospitality. You bring something, you know when you first come to someone's home, and so this is what I had to do.

00:13:53
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, okay, hospitality tomato tomato, I'll say, because to me this just feels like a slap in the face. But would you like me to open it here on my show?

00:14:07
Speaker 3: Yes, I think that's great.

00:14:09
Speaker 4: I think it'd be great if you Okay.

00:14:16
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get into it. It's in it, I will say, a very luxurious ready post envelope. This isn't your you know, your traditional crappy envelope. I'm going to rip into it here. I'm gonna get I can feel it through the package, and I'm gonna say it's like it's I don't know, it could be like a it's maybe twelve inches long, I don't know. Let's see what's happening here. Oh, it's got a pull to open. I love a poll to open. Tab. I hope that somehow registered on the mic because.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, sweet, okay, we're getting into it here.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: Oh this is incredible. This is this is some real beautiful self promotion happening here, which I and also so seasonally appropriate.

00:15:07
Speaker 3: And do you garden I do.

00:15:09
Speaker 2: This is a gardening steak. Yeah, this is a wooden steak I've been given here, which I mean truly could go in any direction. I was going.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: I'm a big gardener, so that's actually great for if you have a little like tomato or corn or anything growing. You put one of those down and you put the name on it, and you know exactly what you planted there.

00:15:32
Speaker 2: Harvey, I refuse to believe this is a gardening tool.

00:15:36
Speaker 3: What do you mean?

00:15:37
Speaker 2: I mean, actually, you know we're going to talk about gardening for a minute here. You opened the gardening door. I was, you know, earlier, very bored, decided to do a little bit of gardening, dumped some dirt in a pot that needed some more dirt. That's basically what I do to garden.

00:15:53
Speaker 3: Did you put a seat in there? No?

00:15:55
Speaker 2: There was ah. So what was in there was a plant that is kind of just been desperately hanging on for months, which I think it came from a bigger pot, a bigger plastic pot. No, a smaller plastic pot, and I put it into a bigger orange you know, a terra cotta pot. And then did you know the bare minimum by not putting any more dirt in. So that's what I was. That's literally what I was doing with my afternoon. I was gardening. So you've come to the right place.

00:16:26
Speaker 3: So I actually the gift is pretty appropriate then to your lifestyle.

00:16:30
Speaker 2: This is a perfect gift, Yeah, that I thought, so. Well, we've got a lot surrounding this wooden steak. But we're in the gardening territory right now. Do you garden at all? Do you like yard work?

00:16:44
Speaker 3: Like I like gardening. My dad had a real green thumb and taught us how to garden really early on, so we grew up all over. But when we used to live in Asperia, California, he would grow strawberries and corn. We hit like an acre because it's pretty cheaply about there. So you had like all this land. But it's also the desert, so it needed a lot of water, right, So he would water these plants daily, like drench these plants because it would you know, dry up pretty quickly. But he somehow managed to like have we had like the only green garden in the neighborhood because it was so much water for the California bro I think that's what we have to move eventually, but we had corn, and we had strawberries, and we had apple trees. Like the apple tree was already there when we got there, which is so cool that an apple tree can grow in the middle of the desert. But I just remember he loved gardening, and he just it was his quiet time and he loved doing it with us, and we loved in it with him. And my mom still, like you know, does plants and pots and stuff to this day. But I remember that you can use those I then you can put a little thing on it. It's like corn or you know, whatever you're growing in that area, because sometimes you forget what you plant in what area. So that was a little divide and you know, so that's the main reason why I send you that gift.

00:18:05
Speaker 2: I am such a chaotic gardener where I'll like go, I'll just be wandering around the hardware store or whatever, pick up random seeds, take them home, throw them in the garden, and then months later they're growing and I have no idea what they were.

00:18:19
Speaker 3: See, yeah, there you go. So that's probably what. So this is actually a great gift for you because I thought, you know, I would want this because I would forget as well, like corn. When did I grow corn? You know? Or sometimes you would mix in, like in one location it'd be like a pumpkin growing and then it'd be like a corn, you know, husp right behind it and it's like those how did those even cut? That was down?

00:18:41
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful fall landscape though, yeah.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: Very nice, very I think those are my favorite plans though. I think the fall like you know, the corns and the apples and the pumpkins and sound like a rig.

00:18:57
Speaker 2: You're free styling fall that the.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: Green grass girls all around.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: Do you currently garden or is it something in your past?

00:19:08
Speaker 3: Not currently I I'm working right now, but I do have plants that I water here in Toronto. The house has a couple of different plants and the garden in the front. There isn't a lot of maintenance, but it is nice to have nature around. And it's fall now here, so everything's starting to you know, at least starting to fall, and it's not it's not a gardening season right.

00:19:31
Speaker 2: Now, and how long are you going to be in Toronto.

00:19:33
Speaker 3: For till like late December? So this season we shot two seasons in one year because.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: Oh you're kidding.

00:19:42
Speaker 3: We were off for a couple of several months because of the that the P word, and and and now we're trying to catch up. So by the end of this year, I've spent ten months here in Toronto, so it's uh, I'm Canadian, I.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: Fully and I feel like the winter there must be completely brutal.

00:20:05
Speaker 3: It is pretty harsh. We do a good job of We learned our lesson after the first year here. You know, we're filming our fourth season right now. After the first season, we learned our lesson. A lot of the people who work on the show are not from Canada. They're from like New Zealand and Sunny California and even London, Like they have winters, but they were like, this is brutal. But we learned our lesson. So we noticed in the first season we had a lot of outside scenes. Yeah, that changed quickly. We still have them outside, but like, but I don't mind it because I grew up in sokol and we don't really get snow unless you go into the mountain. I think I didn't see snow in person until I was probably sixteen.

00:20:47
Speaker 2: Oh, you're a late snow bloomer.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: I'm a late late snow bloomer. Also My family had no desire to be in the snow. They're like, we spend like Thanksgiving at the beach, you know, we spend like everyone else would be like, you know, snowboarding, and we'd be in the water at the beach. So it never appealed to us, and I always appealed to me as something like, oh, I just want to make a snow you know, snowman or snow angel. And after experiencing that, I like visiting winter at least once a year. I like. I like the changing of the seasons. I like fall in you know here they have a fantastic fall as well in New York, you know. So I like the seeing how it's changing and the years changing, because in California, you could, you know, be in a coma for six months and wake up and think it's summer and it's December twenty fourth. You know.

00:21:41
Speaker 2: The only way to tell time has passed in Los Angeles is through billboards. Yeah, just the changing up the billboards.

00:21:47
Speaker 3: The change that's the changing of the guards.

00:21:50
Speaker 2: The changing of the bill Otherwise it's essentially just one long week that you're just life is one week.

00:21:57
Speaker 3: And yeah, one sunny, bright.

00:22:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's nice to be able to travel somewhere for winter knowing you can get out whenever I go home for the holidays. The moment I'm scraping snow off of a windshield or the thread of having to clear a driveway, I wear just like, please get me out of here as quickly as possible.

00:22:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just that it adds, you know, chores to your day, like you in la, Like I'm ready late for coffee, meating or an audition or what notic go to the grocery store down the street for you know, a peanut butter jar. Like it's a planning, like you have to like the shovel and clearing the pathway for your vehicle and make sure that it doesn't slide on ice, and make sure that there's no ice on your wind like you need to add an extra forty five minutes just get ready and I barely leave the door, I like rush out of the door in eight minutes, you know. So it's like it doesn't work for me, because then I'd always be late all.

00:22:55
Speaker 2: The time, right, I mean, I look at every time I leave my house as the rough draft, because I know as soon as I get to my car, I will remember that I needed something else in the house, so I know, the first trip to the car is just kind of a loose idea of leaving, and then I'll go back in the house and come back out with my keys or my wallet or whatever thing that I've left in the house. So I can't have another thing in the way. It's just too much for me. Now back to the Wooden Steak. Let's talk about vampires for a minute.

00:23:28
Speaker 3: Oh if you want.

00:23:28
Speaker 2: Okay, before the show, did you have any idea any like what was your knowledge of vampire culture?

00:23:35
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, like everyone you know, I had just seen basically Twilight, the series that was one of them. I had seen, you know, Interview with the Vampires. My favorite vampire movie, which is ironic, but that's all I really just knew was like old timey or the in nineties one or the recent one. So it was like three levels of like vampire entertainment.

00:24:02
Speaker 4: And it was like, you want the original Dracula, or you want like you know, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, or you want like you know, Team Calin, Team Edward or team Jacob, you know, right, all.

00:24:15
Speaker 2: That have you Do you feel like you've learned anything about vampires doing this or you're just getting in and getting out.

00:24:22
Speaker 3: No, I learned a lot. Like I think we're following the rules of you know, original vampires and it's really cool, you know. And sometimes we'll be sure in a scene and think about like, oh, they can't have a reflection in the mirror, so you're like, oh, this is gonna look so cool because I didn't think about the idea that you can't see them there. So we just had an episode that air where everyone's doing an activity in front of the mirror. They're all vampires, and then you look at the mirror of the camera pans over and things are floating in the mirror because obviously they're not there. Yeah, so it's very very fun to play with. But I level vampire folklore.

00:25:00
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a fascinating world to me. Do you have a favorite like type of monster or whatever? Witches, ghost, vampires. I don't think you're I actually don't think you're allowed to say vampires here. I'm making that one rule.

00:25:13
Speaker 3: Oh okay, I think I like witches. I think it's the closest thing that I think as humans that we could be like, yeah, you could totally be like, you don't have to look a certain way, you have a pointy hat or fly in a room. And I do believe that there's witches, you know, and I think that that's cool. Is there mummies walking around? I don't know. Is there zombies? I mean, I guess that's you know, it's arguable, like some people could be walking zombies the way they behave, But I think that witches is probably the closest thing to that could happen. That could definitely and I think it does. And there is which is so all witches out there? I hope you're having a good fall harvest.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: I want more stereotypical witches wandering around. I feel like the world would be better off if there was, like, yeah.

00:26:08
Speaker 3: Tho hundred style dresses and hats and all that and brooms and and Okay, I.

00:26:15
Speaker 2: Don't think anyone would complain about that. I think I would add just an extra layer of sinister whimsy to the planet.

00:26:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's cool. I think it's like, you know, I remember watching uh, bubble bubble toil in trouble with the Olsen Twins.

00:26:32
Speaker 2: What what is that?

00:26:33
Speaker 3: And that was like a kids movie and I was like, whoa, kids could be witches and I was easily you fooled. And but they wore coining hats they did in the movie, and I was like, that's that's something that was brand recognition. That's when I was like, witch witch, witch witch, and I could you know, call them out on that. But they look so cool. It looks like, you know, so much fun. So maybe that maybe they do wear that attire for special ceremonies.

00:27:02
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe behind closed doors or now I'm picturing modern day Mary Kay and Ashley as witches, and I feel like they could pull it off easily. Mary Kay and Ashley reach out. They're billionaires, they can do whatever they want.

00:27:19
Speaker 3: They could do it. They can actually bring that fashion back, you know, make it so cool on mainstream.

00:27:24
Speaker 2: Oh, easily. They just have to like, you know, scream at some member of their corporation and they'll get it, you know, onto the assembly line. I don't think spring fashion.

00:27:35
Speaker 3: Coming this fall. Spring.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like spring is the time you want to launch kind of a witchy fashion, full tilt witch Mary Kay and Ashley, I'm available to consult Harvey. Well, this is very exciting. I have something that doubles I love. You know, an item that can do multiple things. I can guard and I can stab someone. I can do This object really does it all? Where did you get this thing? Home depot?

00:28:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can go to home depot and get it. I can go to any gardening you know, supply store and get them. So I think it's also secretly where you know vampire killers go shopping.

00:28:20
Speaker 2: Right, so you see somebody in like a leather trench coat wandering through a home depot, you know that they're like, they've got a crossbow, they're looking for the stakes.

00:28:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they're asking where the holy water is and garlic?

00:28:33
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, nailed it beautiful. Well, I think it's time to play a game. Okay, we're gonna play a game called Gift or a Curse. I need a number from you between one and ten three. Okay. I have to do a little bit of light calculating. I have to get our game pieces to play with. So in the meantime, you can promote something, you can recommend something. I'll be right back.

00:28:56
Speaker 3: Okay, let's see. If you're not cut up with the current season, you should definitely catch up with what we do in the Shadows, airing on FX our next day on Hulu. Because what we do in the Shadows is a show for you, Harvey.

00:29:17
Speaker 2: I've got what we're dealing with here. And yes, he's recommended what we do in the Shadows. If you haven't seen it, it's a wonderful show, etc. But that's neither here nor there. We need to play the game. I'm going to name three things, and you're gonna tell me if there're a gift or a curse and why. And now you have to realize that there are correct answers. This isn't just about Harvey's opinion. This isn't how Harvey sees the world. This is how I know the world, and I have the correct answers. So be very careful.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:29:55
Speaker 2: To lose this game would be devastating to you and your loved ones.

00:30:00
Speaker 3: Just be careful.

00:30:02
Speaker 2: Okay. This first one's a listeners suggestion Megan has written in She's suggested gift to a curse, full emails in the subject line, so that what we're looking at here is somebody writing an entire email in the subject line gift to a.

00:30:17
Speaker 3: Curse, a curse, absolutely curse?

00:30:20
Speaker 2: And why.

00:30:22
Speaker 3: No? Because I'd rather just have it be like you know, subject whenever you have time or not important or urgent, then that's that goes on top of my list, and I want to click on that and open it. I don't want to read. No, no, no, that's a curse.

00:30:45
Speaker 2: Look, this is obviously an emotional issue for Harvey. Yeah, it's a trigger look, very triggering. It sounds like you've received some hunting emails in the past, and I'm going to try to be sensitive here, but you're wrong. I think these are absolutely a gift. I mean, what wild, just maniac thing to do to write a full email in a subject line? What are we doing? What are we talking about? I love the idea of somebody getting in their email and typing out fifty paragraphs in the subject line. I think you click on the email and it looks I mean, it's just bonkers to look at that sort of thing.

00:31:25
Speaker 3: Is there periods or just like.

00:31:28
Speaker 2: It's like, what was this? What was the center going through when they were sending this email? And if they were in such a rush, why did they take so much time to It's just so you know, I love imagining the inner life of somebody who writes an email in the subject line. I mean, it's you know, probably occasionally by mistake. But I also think it's a real particular type of person who just gets in there and gives you, you know, their book proposal in the subject line. It's too much, and I love it. I welcome all emails where the entire thing is just dumped in the subject line. Send them to me. I love them. I'm a person who doesn't use any I don't do a subject line. I don't think that it's necessary. Do you put subject lines? I feel like it's so formal.

00:32:19
Speaker 3: I don't think I do because I want you to open the mail. You don't know what prize you got or bad news if you don't open the package, and I don't want to give you any ink clean or I don't want to give you a maybe I'll open this leader. It's like, oh, I'll get an email and it has no Oh, I better open this. And if you didn't open it, then it's like, so you just ignored the email altogether. You didn't even think about the headline. It was rude. And so I find more times and less my emails get read faster that way.

00:32:56
Speaker 2: I'm totally on board with that. I feel like the subject line is from days past or it's like it's like you don't have a relationship with the person where it's like I don't know, it feels very marketing to me.

00:33:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do forget how to be like conversational or an email so you know, the I hope this email finds you. Well. I never do that, no, no, no, So I usually go straight to the points, like, you know, if I email my sister or something or whatever about work and it's like do you know where I left that laptop? You know? Or if by emails someone to question my team or something like an agent or something, it's just like when was it up. It's just like not like hello, good afternoon, some whether we're having you know, and it's like crazy, it's like happy almost weekend.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: No no, no, that's not happening.

00:33:48
Speaker 3: I don't I don't do the small tag. And then people right back to me and they kind of a little passive aggressive, like a everyone who writes back is a good morning Harvey, trying to teach you. Yeah, and it's like trying to teach me, and it's just like, don't you teach me a lesson? I asked you a question, and I'm just going straightforward I'm not trying to waste your time, because if I waste your time by, you know, a urgent message is the first thing you read and then it's hello, how's your morning? Going crazy? Whether we're having isn't it?

00:34:19
Speaker 2: It's like, where did this urgent go?

00:34:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, the urgency is no longer there. It's always there. The reason I sent an emails because it was urgent. I wanted to get information or give you information. It wasn't just like just stoping by to have a nice email chat. Hope you're sitting down because I had. This is a long one.

00:34:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's like pounding on the door. Then the person opens and you're like, oh, so nice to see Yes, okay, Harvey will okay, So so far you're doing a horrible job of this game, and that's fine. Number two gift or a curse. This is another listener suggestion, someone named Aaron rodin gift or a curse. Guided tours through museums.

00:35:01
Speaker 3: I think that's actually a gift because I might have missed something on my own tour, Like I might like my own self guided tour. I might have gone up to a paint and be like that's cool, and they kept walking which I think I've done hundreds of time. And then I was actually, this is actually true because I was in Mexico City and I went to the Deriveda Museum with my friend April E. Barra, and we were walking around like this is so cool, and I'm like, Okay, we just like dismissed it. Like after maybe like sixty seconds, I'm looking at one paint We're like, okay, we got to go to this one. And then there was a gentleman next do us, And I was like, do you know what that means? And I was like, no, man, I have a feeling you're gonna tell us. He's I'm a professor at the local university for art. And I was like, oh, he's like you see how he bought and he gave us a whole guided tour, like on the spot of the whole museum because he knew everything about these paintings, stuff that I would have never known, really specific to his art. Also, this guy could have just been full of bs.

00:36:07
Speaker 2: That's what I'd like to imagine. This was just a total fraud.

00:36:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that was like the security guard there, he is the muse and he's just giving false information about the mural, which I like to think that I was apply the case that makes for a more interesting story. But the stuff that he was saying was pretty It made sense that he described it, and it made sense. So I think that it's a gift because I don't presume to know everything or some to know everything about art or stuff like that. And if you're a professional, then I like a professional's opinion.

00:36:42
Speaker 2: Look, you've given this beautiful little defense of your answer. Unfortunately, Harvey, Look the guy that tore through a museum is too much pressure for me. Suddenly, I have to look. I understand expertise, knowledge. The person that's lovely to have that all share with me, But I like to do things on my own timetable. If there was a guy to tour through a museum where the person was like, you can just drop out whenever you want, that might be something I could deal with. But getting slowly pulled through a museum, I don't know that I can do that for me. It's a curse, not for me, I can. I can't just say for me, this isn't personal, this is an objective truth. It's a curse.

00:37:27
Speaker 3: Me. You just heard. It's not a curse for me.

00:37:30
Speaker 2: Harvey, what are we talking about? Your opinion does not come into account here, but you have if anyone sees me wandering around a museum with strangers telling them, you know facts about the art. You know where this all began. Okay, well, Harvey, you've got one final chance. I would hate to see you walk away from this game with zero points the rule? Why what are we even talking about? I feel like you're pointing a lot of fingers here.

00:38:00
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, I guess can this be worth like double the points?

00:38:04
Speaker 2: I guess is going to be worth one point? You can walk away with thirty three percent? Here? This is another listener suggestion. Olivia has written in gift her a curse Currigs. You know the coffee machines with the little plastic cups.

00:38:20
Speaker 3: I didn't say a curse because I don't really drink coffee. And second, I don't think I guess it's simple enough to make it. I don't know how to make it because I don't make coffee. I think I'm the only person I know that doesn't drink off cave on my Fearless leader on our show, Nandor. He loves coffee and he's just recently They just recently asked us if he wanted coffee makers for the set, and I think I was the only person who said no, your trailer and they're like, do you want to coffee making each other? And everyone's like, oh, I love like Natasha, she likes to go kettle for tea. Cavean loves coffe So he got the machine. And I think I was just like, can I get like which is like hot Mexican hotchuck delicious that you make it yourself with like milk and whatnot. And I don't think I would go for the machine. Unfortunately. I think it's a curse because then I would I would want to use it. I think I want to use it all the time, and I get addicted to coffee and then I want I need my jones for some Joe in the morning, and then I wake up, you know, And if I saw someone else touching the coffee machine, I get erratic and I was like, it's not a coffee machine, it's mine, And like, I think it's a curse. I think that I'm starting to crusade here, and I think you can join me today. You can change your life if you make the choice in the first step.

00:39:42
Speaker 2: Wow, you did it. You're not walking away in total shame. I think those machines are garbage. I hate those machines. They like I love coffee, what they're producing is essentially printer ring. I mean it tastes like burnt plastic. There's no there was no rison those thing should exist. We have we figured out how to make coffee years ago. I do not need the anytime that's presented to me, I'm furious. And they're kind of positioned as this luxury product. No, it tastes like crap, no thank you, and.

00:40:17
Speaker 3: Hotel rooms there how many people have used this machine and how when was the last time it was like wash thoroughly? Like you know, it's like you get a coffee machine in your room and it's like I don't want that. Like it's like I just I will get coffee. I'll just order it. I'll order coffee. Yes, you make the hot coffee.

00:40:36
Speaker 2: What you're saying to me is now making me think the curig is the taste of a radison in. That's what you're tasting a cup full of Marriotte. It tastes like it's like a stale hotel room.

00:40:52
Speaker 3: No thank you, Yeah, I agree with you.

00:40:57
Speaker 2: Wow. Okay, well, you know as badly as you did on the first two, you made it up in an enormous way. On number three. I would love to say you won the game. You clearly lost. But that's fine. At least I think everybody's excited with the way this ended. I can speak for the listener here.

00:41:17
Speaker 3: You speak for everyone.

00:41:18
Speaker 2: I speak for a lot of people. This podcast has seven billion listeners, and they're all on my side. Okay, well, this is the final part of the podcast. This is called I said no emails. People write into I said no ge Oh good lord, I'm running out of steam here. They ride into ice.

00:41:39
Speaker 3: I need.

00:41:42
Speaker 2: I should be drinking plastic coffee right now. It's seven pm. They write into I said no gifts at gmail dot com. They all have different issues this kind of thing. They drag me into it, they drag you, the guest, into it, and then we do our best to solve their problems. Will you help me answer some problems?

00:41:59
Speaker 3: Sure?

00:42:00
Speaker 2: This first one says dear Bridger and distinguished guest. Oh, that's a nice way to describe you. I am hoping for your guidance through a precarious situation during the Grand shutdown. I was given the gift of a job by a friend and colleague. I've been trying to think of a way to thank this person, but he has been resistant to anything I've come up with. His name is Max, and last week he got married to a lovely person named Kelsey. Oh, we're getting a lot of characters in this email. We've got a Max and a Kelsey so far.

00:42:30
Speaker 3: Okay.

00:42:30
Speaker 2: I was unable to track down the registry to covertly send them something. One thing that I know is, oh, now, this is nice. One thing that I know is he loves your podcast. I said no gifts, okay, while I'm on Max's side here, so I was wondering, would you consider simply saying congratulations Max and Kelsey, as I'm sure it would make his day? Okay interesting than well, I can clearly edit that out. Thank you so much for this podcast, says I'm also a big fan. Okay. Be well, someone named Dave, Dave, you've I mean, you've kind of tricked me into saying the sentence.

00:43:08
Speaker 3: Very well done, well played, Dave, well played.

00:43:11
Speaker 2: You use my reading against me, Dave, and just my uh you know, if I had known in advance, I would have just skipped that sentence and then considered. But now I've just been fooled into saying it. I mean, okay, but look, you've done a good job of fooling me. I'll say it again. Congratulations Max and Kelsey. I hope everybody is happy with what they've done to me here.

00:43:35
Speaker 3: But I have a question. Yeah, they're such good friends. Weren't you invited to the wedding and weren't you given the rest Listen and.

00:43:44
Speaker 2: Harvey brings up an excellent point, Dave, I don't know that Max is your friend.

00:43:49
Speaker 3: I don't think you're good of a friends like you thought you were.

00:43:52
Speaker 2: I feel like we've discovered something about your relationship here that's devastating.

00:43:57
Speaker 3: It sounds like every time you're insisting on giving them a if they just said, no, stay away, just give us anything. We don't want anything from you, and you kept insisting. And did you go to the wedding because they had a wedding and you were trying to go to it. You didn't get the registry because you weren't invited to the wedding.

00:44:20
Speaker 2: Dave, get Max wants you as far away from as possible. He was regretting getting you this job. This is we're on our way to an HR issue to tell you that it's oh god, this is embarrassing for you, it's scary for Max and his new wife. And Harvey is now part of the equation. He didn't have any plan on being in this at all.

00:44:46
Speaker 3: I solve this mystery as soon as the clues came in. I really like Nancy drew it hardy boys, this Dave.

00:44:53
Speaker 2: When somebody doesn't share their wedding registry with you, it's time to move on from the relationship because most people will give their registry to just about anyone. They're looking for people to buy these goods.

00:45:04
Speaker 3: They don't want it. Oh information. I've seen registries online that people just like, feel free to done the less. Whatever you have, send us a gift. And if someone's keeping away that information.

00:45:19
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm glad we brought Harvey into this actually, because this is some real clarity for everybody involved. I can't believe this. I mean, this is hopefully I mean.

00:45:28
Speaker 3: What if he's using you for forgiveness or something like you just made this like see, I got him to say it. I got him to say congratulations.

00:45:37
Speaker 2: Now you're a Max. We're friends again, we're friends. Right, you'll sit with me at the office lunch. Dave, Dave, Dave a devastating day for Dave's all around. Look, I don't know that we can go on to another question at this point. I feel like this has been such a bleak, devastating thing that we're not gonna We're not. I don't even want to see what the next person has to say, because what if it's another tragedy.

00:46:09
Speaker 3: Let's hope, Let's let's see.

00:46:10
Speaker 2: Do you want to see Let's give it a shot. We'll give it a shot.

00:46:13
Speaker 3: You can always edit this question.

00:46:16
Speaker 2: Okay, this next one, this is a short one, so this will be okay, this is dear Bridger and marvelous guest. Well, people are really, you know, going all out for Harvey. Here this person says, my son turns five next month. Oh okay, so first off of the bat, I think this might be one of our first child gift giving situations. This is interesting to me. Okay, So my son turns five next month and is now at the age where he can truly appreciate a good gift. He's an old soul in a tiny body and likes Peter Rabbit construction. Vehicles and poetry, especially poems by Robert Lewis Stevenson. I want to get him a memorable gift. What do you suggest regards Quinn? Okay, this is a nice thing. We're getting a gift for a kid. Look, a kid that loves Peter Rabbit and poetry sounds like a nice little soul. What do we get the five year old? Do you have any like nieces or nephews?

00:47:12
Speaker 3: I do. I think for their fifth birthday, I took them to Disneyland because they're old enough to appreciate the magic of it. So I would recommend for an old soul and five year old body a future membership to therapy. They're gonna have their thinker, They're going to have a lot of questions, and you know they're an old soul, they're probably already like midlife by five, right.

00:47:46
Speaker 2: And look, speaking from experience, Quinn, your son is gay. I mean, I don't want to speculate. I've only been given so many details here, but we're based described the poetry. The construction, I mean, the construction vehicles is like, you know, that could be a red herring. I don't know, but I'm just talking from my own as a previous gay five year old. I'm just saying your son is gay.

00:48:17
Speaker 3: Imperfect. Today's a national coming out day, National coming out day, so look everyone, this could be Quinn's son.

00:48:26
Speaker 2: Aside, it's a good thing to do, but I think get a nice book of How about T. S. Eliott's Book of the Cat, book about with all the books poems about cats. That's a fun one for kids.

00:48:41
Speaker 3: Taken to see cats.

00:48:42
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I'm going to say. The play, the musical is based on the book that we're setting up a lifetime here for this gay child. Yeah, and if he's not gay, he's just a wonderful straight man with excellent taste.

00:48:57
Speaker 3: Win when.

00:49:00
Speaker 2: We do you have anything else? And now do you have some devastating revelation that you've gathered from the clues here?

00:49:06
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know you personally, but are you sure this is your son?

00:49:10
Speaker 2: Like? Maybe it was a right Quinn. It's another thing to consider. Yeah, this could easily have been swapped in the hospital because you.

00:49:18
Speaker 3: Sound surprised by like, you know how lovely they are. It's like this is in my.

00:49:22
Speaker 2: Offspring, right, So Quinn, DNA test it's never too early.

00:49:32
Speaker 3: That's you get That's the gift that keeps giving.

00:49:34
Speaker 2: Your five year old a nice, memorable gift for your five year old twenty years. So look back and wonder why did mom get me a DNA test in kindergarten? And then there's a whole mystery for him to unravel. It's a gift that he can look like that will last for years. It's a mystery that he has to live with m HM. And there's no greater gift. Yeah, Quinn, you've gotten excellent advice from us. Harvey, You and I did a job. Yeah, that's the end of those questions. Harvey. This is the end of the podcast. I have this wonderful steak that's multi use.

00:50:09
Speaker 3: You know, mostly gardening.

00:50:11
Speaker 2: It is for gardening until the worst happens.

00:50:15
Speaker 3: But you're ready because you have tomatoes and you have a steak. If some want to text.

00:50:18
Speaker 2: Right, I'm ready to go. I've had a wonderful time. Thank you so much for being here, Thanks for having me listener. As usual, the podcast is about to come to an end. Your heart is racing, you're panicking about what you'll do next, and I'm not going to give you any advice today. I need you to you know, go and fly on your own, Take care, goodbye. I said, No Gifts is an exactly right production. It's produced and engineered by our dear friend Anna Lisa Nelson, and the theme song is by miracle worker Amy Mann. You must follow the show on Instagram at I said No Gifts, That's where you're going to see pictures of all these wonderful gifts I'm getting. You have to see the gifts. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you found me. And why not leave a review while you're there. It's really the least you could do, considering everything I do for you. And if you're interested in advertising on the show, go to mideral dot com slash ads.

00:51:31
Speaker 3: I invit.

00:51:32
Speaker 1: Did you hear? Funna Man myself perfectly clear? When you're a guest to me, you gotta come to me empty, And I said, no guests, Your presences presents enough and I'm already too much stuff. So how do you dare to survey? Makes good book?

00:52:05
Speaker 3: Boo