Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You From how Supports
Speaker 1: dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen
Speaker 1: and I'm Caroline, and listeners, we have a hilarious interview
Speaker 1: for you today because we're talking to some improvisers slash
Speaker 1: comedians slash podcast host Aaron Gibson and Brian Soffi. So,
Speaker 1: Brian and Aaron both come from that great improvisation background.
Speaker 1: They are comedy veterans who moved to Current TV, which kristin,
Speaker 1: that's where you first saw Aaron, right, Yeah, So Aaron
Speaker 1: Gibson hosted a segment on the Current TV show Infomania
Speaker 1: called Modern Lady, and I saw it before Stuff Mom
Speaker 1: Never Told You really got started, and she was doing
Speaker 1: exactly the kind of stuff, only a lot funnier that
Speaker 1: we do now on the podcast, taking these closer examinations
Speaker 1: of how media represent and sell to women. And at
Speaker 1: the time, she was, like you said, working with Brian Safie,
Speaker 1: who was another host on Infomania, who did a segment
Speaker 1: called That's Gay, and they took those a lot of
Speaker 1: what they were doing in those two segments talking about
Speaker 1: women and l g B t Q representation and now
Speaker 1: transitioned it into this hilarious podcast Throwing Shade, and you
Speaker 1: can also hear a lot of their UCB improv background
Speaker 1: coming through on the podcast as well, because they just
Speaker 1: have that quick, improvisational and comedic rapport. Yeah. I loved
Speaker 1: hearing them talk about using their comedy, not only their
Speaker 1: comedic background, but their comedy skills to talk about more
Speaker 1: serious issues out there in the news. And speaking of
Speaker 1: serious issues, caarly, we should probably give listeners a rundown
Speaker 1: of how Throwing Shade works so that they'll understand why
Speaker 1: we ask Brian and Aaron at one point in our
Speaker 1: interview how they pick out their shoes. Yeah, we we
Speaker 1: don't mean their footwear, although I am curious. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wish we had asked them about their footwear now. So
Speaker 1: each week on Throwing Shade, they talk about two issues,
Speaker 1: which say shortened two shoes because that just makes things
Speaker 1: more fun. And Aaron picks a shoe focused on women,
Speaker 1: Brian picks a shoe focused on lgbt Q stuff, and
Speaker 1: they talk about it and they throw lots of shade
Speaker 1: sometimes and they improvise and they make hilarious jokes and
Speaker 1: it's fantastic and really fun to hear similar kinds of
Speaker 1: things that we talk about on the podcast, but presented
Speaker 1: in uh, shall we say a body or kind of way? Well, Kristen,
Speaker 1: now that we've teased everyone with body conversation and body tease,
Speaker 1: and oh well, let's just let the interview roll. Yeah, well, uh,
Speaker 1: Brian and Aaron. For listeners who haven't heard throwing shade,
Speaker 1: how would you two describe it? A descent into madness
Speaker 1: but seeing in on math? Yeah, truly. What we do
Speaker 1: is we each take a look. Aaron takes a look
Speaker 1: at issues affecting women. I take a look at issues
Speaker 1: affecting gay people, and we just treat those issues with
Speaker 1: very little respect, go off into tangents about them, turn
Speaker 1: them into ridiculous characters, and sort of make fun of
Speaker 1: the people who are causing problems in this country. Perfect. Well,
Speaker 1: so how would you guys describe each other? Though? Oh um, oh,
Speaker 1: Brian's white. Yes, how we described I feel like we do.
Speaker 1: I think we do a thing on the show where
Speaker 1: we take take turns being straight man, uh don person,
Speaker 1: and we kind of like balance that pretty flawed and flawlessly,
Speaker 1: like we just we try. We like we both like
Speaker 1: being a straight man. We both like being the clown,
Speaker 1: so I feel like we've traded off that pretty well.
Speaker 1: Brian's way more silly, You're sillier. You like nonsense, You're
Speaker 1: more confident with nonsense. Thank you. I like being dirty, yes,
Speaker 1: And I think like I think we like. I don't know.
Speaker 1: What I think Aaron does so well is going from
Speaker 1: taking a making a really super smart point and then
Speaker 1: making a dumb one seamlessly um and can flip from
Speaker 1: one to the next without hesitation, And I think so yeah.
Speaker 1: I think what's interesting about our relationship is that there's not,
Speaker 1: like Aaron said, there's not really a straight man in
Speaker 1: this dynamic. We both love being silly, and we both
Speaker 1: love being serious and wrong and wrong for the for
Speaker 1: the reasons of just being funny. Yes, you know, we
Speaker 1: defend we When we started the show, we started it
Speaker 1: out of just a We had done another show where
Speaker 1: we did similar pieces, but it was on a television network,
Speaker 1: so we didn't have a lot of freedom. But one
Speaker 1: of the reasons that we really wanted to start the
Speaker 1: show so we could do exactly what we want on
Speaker 1: the show. And I think what we want and what
Speaker 1: we like is very similar. So that's kind of one
Speaker 1: thing that I think makes our show. Um, that's why
Speaker 1: why we're basically always on the same page. Well, that's
Speaker 1: really interesting. UM, I was watching some Current TV, which
Speaker 1: is the network you were talking about where you did
Speaker 1: the segments Brian you hosted That's Gay and Erin you
Speaker 1: hosted Modern Lady, And could you talk a little bit
Speaker 1: then about um, just for listeners who might not be
Speaker 1: aware of kind of the format of those and how
Speaker 1: podcasting has maybe allowed you to take that even further. Yes.
Speaker 1: So for for me, for That's Gay, it was really
Speaker 1: just scouring every news station everything that talked about but
Speaker 1: That's Gay essentially looked at how gay people and gayness
Speaker 1: in general was perceived by the often clueless media. So
Speaker 1: we would find a ton of clips to support our arguments,
Speaker 1: like if I was talking about how gay characters in
Speaker 1: commercials are sometimes very hidden, or if I was talking
Speaker 1: about how the gay best friend is sort of become
Speaker 1: this weird, horrible archetype in uh television and in movies,
Speaker 1: we would have to find all the clips to support
Speaker 1: those arguments. It was a pretty exhaustive research wise. And
Speaker 1: then the points we would make because we each just
Speaker 1: had segments that they would break out online. We're about
Speaker 1: three minutes each. So we got to make a point.
Speaker 1: But we had to do it very very quickly and
Speaker 1: very very succinctly, and there really wasn't any time to
Speaker 1: sort of go off into our own senses of humor
Speaker 1: and and really like I don't know, sort of go
Speaker 1: into the silly territory and really say everything we wanted
Speaker 1: to say. It sort of had to be packaged very
Speaker 1: succinctly and very nicely. I enjoyed that a lot, and
Speaker 1: backed up by almost like an academic filter. Um, hence
Speaker 1: all the research, Like here's here's my opinion, but I
Speaker 1: also have to back it up with all these facts, right,
Speaker 1: Like I can say gay people are often used, it's
Speaker 1: just these magical best friends on television shows, but then
Speaker 1: I have to find ten examples of it from television
Speaker 1: shows to prove that point. So it was it was
Speaker 1: very exhausted, but it was also it was a cool thing.
Speaker 1: But this is just so much better to take a story,
Speaker 1: really think about your opinion on it, and then just
Speaker 1: go like full throttle, you know, pedal to the metal
Speaker 1: on exactly what you think of it, and get filthy
Speaker 1: with it, get crazy with it and just exhaust every
Speaker 1: other part of it. We don't have a boss, and
Speaker 1: we don't have a network. We we have no one
Speaker 1: telling us what we can't do. Really, the only checks
Speaker 1: and balances we have are people tweeting at us, going,
Speaker 1: I didn't like that you said the word panty putting
Speaker 1: this week, and then we can go, Okay, we're probably
Speaker 1: going to say that again, but thanks for letting us know. Um,
Speaker 1: some past wasn't vegan friendly enough, is it because of
Speaker 1: the Sunday Chickens. Yes, it might be. And you know
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know this, but our show
Speaker 1: in in Bomania and not nin Bomania, which is what
Speaker 1: my aunt thinks it's called, or was called. UM which
Speaker 1: was on Current TV, was started by Madeline Smithberg, who
Speaker 1: also started The Daily Show, so we had a lot
Speaker 1: of what we did had roots and how the Daily
Speaker 1: Show also researchers or some if you notice, like when
Speaker 1: John Stewart like makes his point, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: media footage that backs it up. And so we were
Speaker 1: kind of doing that in a very distilled way through
Speaker 1: the scope of women's issues and gay issues, and UM
Speaker 1: I thought I always felt a little bit shackled by
Speaker 1: that because I didn't love the idea that we had
Speaker 1: to I like having the knowledge and having the stuff
Speaker 1: to back it up, but I don't necessarily like being like, well,
Speaker 1: it's not your opinion unless it's happening seventeen time times,
Speaker 1: because there's not always. There's not always. Sometimes you have
Speaker 1: like your witch gut that you have to trust, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I think this is a problem. Like, for example, I
Speaker 1: did a whole segment on how every single woman on
Speaker 1: detective shows on TV have been either a victim of
Speaker 1: rape or or or or a child of rape, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, there there's not a lot of female detectives
Speaker 1: on TV, and most of them were either like had
Speaker 1: some like sexual um trauma trauma in their past. Um.
Speaker 1: But I mean, is it like an epidemic that's facing women,
Speaker 1: like affecting women's lives. No, But I think it's an
Speaker 1: important thing to talk about. So we have that freedom
Speaker 1: on throwing shade to like be like, hey, maybe this
Speaker 1: one thing happened and we can discuss it without it
Speaker 1: being like a trend piece or it's not everybody. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: well it did seem I mean, not that it was
Speaker 1: that long ago. But it did seem like those segments
Speaker 1: to even there was the term paper aspect, we're still
Speaker 1: kind of ahead of its time in terms of anticipating
Speaker 1: the kind of feminists and lgbt Q pop cultural analysis
Speaker 1: that now runs the internet. I have to say, like
Speaker 1: in it regarding that show, I think that that show
Speaker 1: specifically was the best show on current TV and was
Speaker 1: way ahead of its time, and it's I feel like
Speaker 1: it's a real shame that it never truly found its
Speaker 1: audience because I think now it could have cracked it
Speaker 1: And like you said, it only ended three and a
Speaker 1: half years ago. Um, but it see but all the
Speaker 1: progress that's happens, it's two and two thousand eleven whatever
Speaker 1: it was, and now is like it feels like twenty
Speaker 1: years of past, Like people are just now catching onto
Speaker 1: the fact this season that Amy Schumer might be a
Speaker 1: little political and we're finally ready for that, you know,
Speaker 1: And and it's it's a very different world than it
Speaker 1: was even a couple of years ago. Well so, in
Speaker 1: terms of talking about these issues and using them to
Speaker 1: look at pop culture, did your interest in that start
Speaker 1: with that show that you guys did, or which which
Speaker 1: came first? I think for me, just speaking for me,
Speaker 1: I was a writer on Infomania before that segment launched.
Speaker 1: I was writing for the host Connor Knighton, and I
Speaker 1: think I just was watching television and I think because
Speaker 1: of that show I watched television. It'saw like I keep
Speaker 1: bringing up the thing about the gay best right because
Speaker 1: that was my first piece, or about no Helmo, which
Speaker 1: was another piece I did. Because because of that show
Speaker 1: that I started really noticing patterns and became very aware
Speaker 1: of it. I think before I got that job, I
Speaker 1: was also very My political fire got started with the
Speaker 1: Proper campaign here in California. UM, and that's I think
Speaker 1: when I really discovered how politically I where I was.
Speaker 1: And I think that happened around the same time as
Speaker 1: in Romania, and I think I just felt supercharged after
Speaker 1: that to get into it. I don't know about you, though, Oh,
Speaker 1: I did a very opposite trajectory. UM. I was like
Speaker 1: a militant feminist in the wrong way in like the
Speaker 1: early two thousand's. My friend gave me a copy of
Speaker 1: Susan Flute's Backlash, and I would read it and get
Speaker 1: really mad, but I kind of used it as a
Speaker 1: tool to read on the elliptical machine at the gym
Speaker 1: when I lived in Houston, so that guys wouldn't talk
Speaker 1: to me. Um, And so I kind of had this
Speaker 1: like I kind of was wearing feminism like an accessory
Speaker 1: and not really fully like adopting the everything that it means.
Speaker 1: So when I started at in Romania, I was taking
Speaker 1: over for Sarah Haskins, who was doing an amazing job
Speaker 1: doing target women and um, and I really had no
Speaker 1: idea what I was doing. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: I was still in that camp of women that's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: sure I'm a liberal. Yeah sure I'm a feminist, but
Speaker 1: maybe you shouldn't be dressed like that at night, and
Speaker 1: maybe you shouldn't be um putting yourself in dangerous situations.
Speaker 1: And I think I wasn't all the way aware of
Speaker 1: what it meant to be like a supportive feminist, politically
Speaker 1: active and empathetic woman and um looking at the patterns
Speaker 1: and everything I saw on TV, and it kind of
Speaker 1: opened my eyes to all this, you know, the reality
Speaker 1: of the fact. And I think it actually helped me
Speaker 1: to become like a way better person and I'm a
Speaker 1: way cooler person. I will also say that, like we
Speaker 1: both we both trained and come from the upright citizens
Speaker 1: for day theater. So I think first our whole thing
Speaker 1: has always been the comedy of it, and then just
Speaker 1: our separate trajectories of how we also became political. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think that's also something that like specifically the
Speaker 1: comedy thing. Like I started doing comedy the minute I
Speaker 1: left Texas. I was part of Second City in Chicago,
Speaker 1: and then I moved to l A and started doing UCB.
Speaker 1: I was adamant about being one of the guys, and
Speaker 1: that kind of cloud in my vision a little bit
Speaker 1: on what it meant to support other women because comedy
Speaker 1: is so male and so um. You know, I grow
Speaker 1: a little bit you kind of as a woman. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's that. I don't think it's true. Now
Speaker 1: we don't need to get in the long discussion about it,
Speaker 1: but you definitely like you're like, I'm not gonna wear
Speaker 1: a dress on stage. I'm gonna wear a T shirt,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wear sneakers. I'm going to fit in as
Speaker 1: most much as possible because I don't want to stick
Speaker 1: out as like necessarily quote unquote a woman or someone
Speaker 1: with strong views about what it is to be a woman. Um,
Speaker 1: so I think Infomania really gave me permission to do
Speaker 1: comedy and be a strong feminist at the same time. Well,
Speaker 1: along the same lines, I am curious to know whether
Speaker 1: also being in the comedy world directly shaped any of
Speaker 1: your political social activism and views rather than them kind
Speaker 1: of uh, sort of being in separate spheres and then
Speaker 1: just kind of coming together. If comedy itself and being
Speaker 1: in that environment that maybe in the past but not
Speaker 1: as much anymore, was very white, straight bro um had
Speaker 1: any impact. Yeah, I knew. I think when I was
Speaker 1: going through ucb UM and started getting really active. I
Speaker 1: think I knew three other gay people in the whole program, uh,
Speaker 1: And it really was through that thing. It was like
Speaker 1: there was a show called three Dollar Bill and UCB
Speaker 1: that was like midnight on like Saturday or maybe Sunday
Speaker 1: night that would be sort of the gay comedy show.
Speaker 1: And I remember getting involved in that and that's how
Speaker 1: I met all of my friends there. And people were
Speaker 1: doing political stuff like you know, like James Jonian or
Speaker 1: you know, Drew DROGI those kinds of people, and that's
Speaker 1: where I became like really involved in that. And I
Speaker 1: think inherently for at least for me, one went with
Speaker 1: the other. If you were a gay person in comedy,
Speaker 1: there was something very already political about that. I think.
Speaker 1: I think that's it's so it's so interesting to like
Speaker 1: think about how women and um and women in comedy
Speaker 1: versus being like having your gender, I mean, your your
Speaker 1: sexuality kind of out in the open changes your experience
Speaker 1: in that. Because I feel like there were I don't
Speaker 1: even remember being like even being a thing of like, oh,
Speaker 1: we should start an all female thing, you know. I
Speaker 1: think the girl and I'm speaking for myself, we're so
Speaker 1: afraid of doing something like that to make it seem
Speaker 1: like I don't know, I just feel like it didn't happen.
Speaker 1: There was one female sketch team that happened. Remember that
Speaker 1: team for a little bit, but then they got to standard.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just it's such a different thing.
Speaker 1: I think. I think all of the comedy theaters in
Speaker 1: general are just way less like that. Now. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say, like at least going to us to be
Speaker 1: in the groundings. It's a it's a much, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's a much more exciting atmosphere than it used to be,
Speaker 1: and certainly more diverse and way bigger. Yeah, that's true. Well,
Speaker 1: what would you think would account for that? Just more
Speaker 1: attention to diversity or yeah, I think I think there
Speaker 1: is way more attention to diversity. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: only been in the last maybe two to three years
Speaker 1: that the general population has finally decided that women are funny.
Speaker 1: Maybe less, I don't know. I feel like it's been
Speaker 1: very very recent, um, and it feels it's so funny
Speaker 1: when people say that it's happening so fast, because it
Speaker 1: does feel like it's happening so fast, But I mean
Speaker 1: it didn't. It's taken a long time that people are
Speaker 1: finally emerging. When you see shows like Amy Schumer Broad
Speaker 1: City on a network like Comedy Central that would be
Speaker 1: unthinkable a few years ago happened. And so I really
Speaker 1: think it's just you know, I think I think so
Speaker 1: many things. There's a lot of guys to who were
Speaker 1: working behind the scenes, like Paul Feig, who's like, I
Speaker 1: want to put women front and center, and I think
Speaker 1: that they're funny. I think they can carry in all
Speaker 1: female Ghostbusters. I mean, do you know how many like
Speaker 1: of the ven diagram of everything that I would like
Speaker 1: to happen in my life. How many the just a
Speaker 1: female Ghostbusters hits? I and I think that it's just
Speaker 1: about having like for for for the LGBT community and
Speaker 1: and and ladies on the inside of Hollywood, like we
Speaker 1: need allies. We need people who are unfortunately straight white
Speaker 1: men who are gonna be like, no, it's wrong that
Speaker 1: we have a cartoonish guy with the boa coming in
Speaker 1: the room and being like we here, you know, like
Speaker 1: heratical stuff. And then and then we'll finally, like Amy
Speaker 1: Schumer and other people have done, they take control of
Speaker 1: it themselves. But well, so, at what point did you
Speaker 1: guys decide to shift a podcasting? Why why do a
Speaker 1: podcast after your comedy? Because it was just the one
Speaker 1: thing I think there was completely unfiltered that we got
Speaker 1: to write our own rules. There was certainly no world
Speaker 1: and wish you know, a woman in a gay man
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna make any waves on a television
Speaker 1: show at that point. I mean, it was kind of
Speaker 1: current and that was or or a web series. I
Speaker 1: guess we could have done, but this was just so
Speaker 1: I don't know. The podcast was so I mean, it
Speaker 1: was so natural for us, so easy. We both love
Speaker 1: talking NonStop. We both think the other is hilarious, and
Speaker 1: you know, we're sort of like, let's do this. We
Speaker 1: both like one up in each other's joke. I mean
Speaker 1: we really do. I mean Brian and I I'll speak
Speaker 1: for both of us. We love improv I mean we
Speaker 1: we were you know, definitely facets at UCB and in
Speaker 1: many different ways. And this is a performance for an
Speaker 1: audience of each other, and if nothing else, it keeps
Speaker 1: us fresh every week. Oh my god, So how do
Speaker 1: you pick your shoes? Because it's gonna be hard sometimes
Speaker 1: to just pick one. There's so many possible shoes. How
Speaker 1: do you pick them? For me? I picked the one
Speaker 1: that I think will be the funniest. Um. I don't.
Speaker 1: I try to because it is first and foremost a
Speaker 1: comedy podcast. I try not to pick something that I
Speaker 1: don't think i'll be. I'll be ever to wrap my
Speaker 1: that I'll be. You know that that won't be funny
Speaker 1: at all, that I can't wrap my brain around. Well,
Speaker 1: how am I going to make this awful story about
Speaker 1: some horrible hate crime funny? Um? And so yeah, we
Speaker 1: do go through a few, and you know a lot
Speaker 1: of them are very depressing, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I really just want to find someone who's
Speaker 1: doing something horrible and really tear them apart. That's really
Speaker 1: make it more fun, especially if someone has has said
Speaker 1: something really dumb that we can real Like. I remember
Speaker 1: our most recent one was there's this woman who runs
Speaker 1: go a marketing in Dallas and she wrote this kind
Speaker 1: of anti woman uh Facebook rant about how why Hillary
Speaker 1: can't be president and one of the phrases she used
Speaker 1: was let the haters begin. Before she started her rant,
Speaker 1: and I was I was like, I love this phrase
Speaker 1: so much. And because I was like, this is the
Speaker 1: dumbest thing everyone could have said, Let the haters, it
Speaker 1: was like full blown my mom thinking that she got
Speaker 1: it right. Yeah, and this woman has the nerve to
Speaker 1: have pictures of herself in sandals and shorts on her
Speaker 1: business website. I mean, she she's really doing it all, mom, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean there's so many The problem is
Speaker 1: the problem and the gift is that there are so
Speaker 1: many awful things happening to both of our groups, and
Speaker 1: you know the overlap of that. Um, there are some
Speaker 1: that like I never talked about the woman from UM,
Speaker 1: I think, oh yeah, Columbia, who did the carry that
Speaker 1: weight performance and non performances. We should carry the mattress
Speaker 1: that she was sexually assaulted on around campus for many,
Speaker 1: many months to graduational. You know, it's that like brand saying,
Speaker 1: it's really hard for me to make that funny because
Speaker 1: it's really serious and a real problem. So it's it's
Speaker 1: it's really a fine line of like, we don't we
Speaker 1: we do like taking the piss out of serious stuff,
Speaker 1: but there's also a thing of like, we also don't
Speaker 1: want to be disrespectful to people who have gone through
Speaker 1: some terrible Do you ever hear from listeners who are
Speaker 1: offended at how you present or talk about a shoe?
Speaker 1: H It doesn't happen that often. Yeah, I would say,
Speaker 1: like maybe once a month we'd probably get something like, oh,
Speaker 1: I wish you wouldn't have said this about such and
Speaker 1: such person. And the thing is is, like, I think
Speaker 1: there's only been a couple of times where I even
Speaker 1: felt that that person was even right. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think that we have ever tried to intentionally
Speaker 1: hurt the wrong person or group, but yes we do.
Speaker 1: There are people who are very I'm sure you guys
Speaker 1: do too, don't you constantly get criticisms. Oh yeah, especially
Speaker 1: with critiquing language and things like that. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you something, I get man splay and every single thing
Speaker 1: I say wrong either but it's on purpose I said
Speaker 1: it wrong or on accident. Um. Brian actually corrected me
Speaker 1: on the podcast this week that t Bows is alive
Speaker 1: and it was left I who died and correct me
Speaker 1: on the podcast, and someone tweeted me T bas is
Speaker 1: still alive, and I was like, what what are you
Speaker 1: doing with your time? If you had waited one more second. Also,
Speaker 1: if I cared about which member of JLP was alive
Speaker 1: or dead, I wouldn't be able to dedicate my time
Speaker 1: because I actually care about Well, it's just the difference
Speaker 1: between someone who for instance, as I was listening to
Speaker 1: that episode, I thought, oh no, she's talking about left die.
Speaker 1: But I would never tweet you that. You know. Oh
Speaker 1: we get full on letters, by the way, me more
Speaker 1: than Brian. I've talked about on the podcast. It's just
Speaker 1: it's a hard line to do because we took to
Speaker 1: because like we are very political, so we do we
Speaker 1: do capture like a very left leaning liberal America and sometimes,
Speaker 1: sorry to say, a small percentage of people don't have
Speaker 1: a sense of humor. Oh, I feel you agree, I don't.
Speaker 1: I think, honestly, I think watch dogs in any party
Speaker 1: are the worst. And and whether it's you know you
Speaker 1: watch dog or a female watch dog, straight white male
Speaker 1: dude watch dog, they're the worst. But they love it sometimes.
Speaker 1: I think, like when I get her like a corrective
Speaker 1: email or something, I think like, I think Dick Cheney
Speaker 1: would have thought, this is funny, but you're correcting me.
Speaker 1: But I think Dick Cheney would laugh like the opposite.
Speaker 1: Worst person. On the other side, someone actually tweeted me
Speaker 1: yesterday to inform me that in our most recent podcast,
Speaker 1: when I had meant to say the show Laguna Beach,
Speaker 1: I said the o C instead, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: for the one. What that person is essentially doing is
Speaker 1: going home, flipping open their laptop, connecting to WiFi, log
Speaker 1: it in, and sending you that email. That's insane. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We did get a letter that was pretty crazy not
Speaker 1: too long ago. That it was incredibly long and it
Speaker 1: was brating us for for something, and I thought, well, well,
Speaker 1: certainly this person just got so mad that they had
Speaker 1: to go home and bang out this email and just
Speaker 1: send it. Except that the email had a PS, and
Speaker 1: the PS said, after reviewing my email several times, I
Speaker 1: still stand by everything I said. And so, God, you
Speaker 1: have to really care that we are so wrong. You
Speaker 1: have to care, you have to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I respect the crap out of that person, they said,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to go ahead and side with them
Speaker 1: on this one for at least proof reading it and
Speaker 1: consider they stuff with their conviction. You know what, y'all,
Speaker 1: Honestly this is these are a good problem to have
Speaker 1: because if people weren't emotional and weren't invested, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: do this stuff. And and that's that just means that
Speaker 1: we're reaching people, even if it's about whatever. Someone had
Speaker 1: the guts to PSU and double down on it. I
Speaker 1: do just love I totally agree with you. God bless
Speaker 1: them all. I do just love someone listening to Throwing
Speaker 1: Shade or to your podcast and being indignified. It's like,
Speaker 1: but the grammar was impeccable. I mean I can do that.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Yeah, well, so you guys have such
Speaker 1: a wonderful rapport, such a great rhythm. Are feminists and
Speaker 1: homo sensuals natural allies or do you guys just have
Speaker 1: something magical. Well, here's what Aaron and I have talked about.
Speaker 1: I think that underneath it all the homophobia and sexism
Speaker 1: and is really all just misogyny. It's people being afraid
Speaker 1: of something feminine or something that they consider female. I
Speaker 1: think that a lot of people who hate getty people
Speaker 1: do it because they think there's something I don't know,
Speaker 1: womanly about it, and so I think they are natural allies.
Speaker 1: I think they also should be natural allies. And however,
Speaker 1: I do like to also think that Aaron and I
Speaker 1: do have a very specific special bond that you know
Speaker 1: that really I don't think can be messed with. But honestly,
Speaker 1: for two people who into the same kind of people,
Speaker 1: we really never talk about. Have we ever talked about
Speaker 1: sex once? I mean honestly, not likely, not in real words. No,
Speaker 1: not like not like how I do with like my
Speaker 1: friend Allison. No, not how I do with my mom. No,
Speaker 1: just kidding, I don't talk to my mom about my
Speaker 1: sex life. No, I think so. Yeah, I do think
Speaker 1: that we have a very sort of specific, exciting bond
Speaker 1: in that you know, um, I don't know. Honestly, it
Speaker 1: feels like a sibling, you know, like, Yeah, we have
Speaker 1: that kind of thing together where we love to rip
Speaker 1: each other. We'd love to get the best of each other,
Speaker 1: and we'd love to see the best of each other.
Speaker 1: I think our parents are also very similar and like,
Speaker 1: maybe not identical, but just we're both raising the South.
Speaker 1: We both were raising like maybe not conservative conservative households,
Speaker 1: but like conservative environments. There are things expected of us
Speaker 1: in a in a Southern way that we've kind of
Speaker 1: fought against. So there's a lot of, um, there's just
Speaker 1: a lot of that kind of upbringing that we that
Speaker 1: we share similar perspective. Nobody loves CASA like we do.
Speaker 1: So Throwing Shade is ultimately a comedy podcast, obviously, but
Speaker 1: you still tackle these serious issues and things that you
Speaker 1: know aren't so comfortable to talk about all the time.
Speaker 1: So what's your take on how humor can sometimes address
Speaker 1: those kinds of things like homophobia, misogyny, inequality, etcetera more
Speaker 1: effectively than the more academic think piece newsy style. I
Speaker 1: just think it's easier to listen to. I think you're
Speaker 1: much more willing to open your mind if you're actually listening. Um,
Speaker 1: I I'm not saying all things pieces are bad, Certainly not,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. After a few paragraphs of one,
Speaker 1: sometimes you feel like you're getting yelled at. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: feel like you're getting guilted into something as those are
Speaker 1: nice things to feel, and I think, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel like if you're laughing, you
Speaker 1: are also inherently listening, and comedy is by nature inclusive,
Speaker 1: like you need, you need the approval of an audience
Speaker 1: to be too. So everyone's having a good time. And
Speaker 1: I don't think think pieces necessarily have to take that
Speaker 1: in consideration. Or some talking head on a news program,
Speaker 1: they don't give a poop. If you're, if you if you're,
Speaker 1: if you're like game, you know what I mean, You're
Speaker 1: just a lot of people are just there to talk,
Speaker 1: and we certainly are, but we also care about if
Speaker 1: people are having a good time, right Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like I've never got to think a piece that's like,
Speaker 1: I'm just like you. I've never heard let's start like that.
Speaker 1: And I think comedy is such an underdog thing that
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's easier to easier to absorb
Speaker 1: that kind of thing than have a boulevard. That being said,
Speaker 1: I do think there are sometimes comedians who don't who
Speaker 1: do try to use comedy, but they still are a
Speaker 1: little bit There is this weird sub niche if that's
Speaker 1: even a word of like political comedians who like talking
Speaker 1: over people's heads, who like being as far as person
Speaker 1: in the room. And I think what works about Brian
Speaker 1: and podcast specifically in the political realm is that we
Speaker 1: will talk under you're really working with the lowest common denominator,
Speaker 1: but about things that are pretty heavy. Oh maybe that's
Speaker 1: why it's so appealing to me. Um. Well, so the phrase,
Speaker 1: the actual phrase throwing shade, has been having quite a
Speaker 1: pop cultural moment. It seems like just about even my mother,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's using the term throwing shade. Um.
Speaker 1: Have people ever taken issue with your use of it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean it's happened. I think a couple
Speaker 1: of times, if you mean, just like misappropriation and yeah, um, well,
Speaker 1: should we tell people what it's the term comes from
Speaker 1: the first time we heard it was from that documentary
Speaker 1: Paris Is Burning? You know that? Okay, Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: was the first and I think that was sort of
Speaker 1: the intro of it to the world, was you know,
Speaker 1: because I remember the big title card in that movie
Speaker 1: that says Shade, and then Dorian Corey explaining what that means. Um,
Speaker 1: And so I think we just took it from from
Speaker 1: that and being obviously huge lovers of that movie, all
Speaker 1: things queer and especially that movie, and and so that's
Speaker 1: where we took it from. I don't think though, I
Speaker 1: think we're actually using it pretty literally. So I think
Speaker 1: people will take an issue with it. Have never listened
Speaker 1: to the show for sure, Um, but but I would
Speaker 1: buy and lunch. I think I remember like one time
Speaker 1: or two times getting a tweet about that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: do think it's it's being used a lot and maybe
Speaker 1: by the wrong people, but we are actually doing it.
Speaker 1: So so what can we look forward to on Throwing Shade.
Speaker 1: There's a word of a live tour. Yeah, our tour
Speaker 1: will be on the site ready to go. We're doing
Speaker 1: a huge seventeen city tour this year and it says
Speaker 1: we're doing seventeen cities east coast, west coast, down the
Speaker 1: middle of Texas, Canada and what is our third year
Speaker 1: going on tour and um, we're really excited. We have
Speaker 1: UM we're getting separate hotel rooms this year's were very
Speaker 1: excited about about them with adjoining doors. Right, Oh, well
Speaker 1: whatever movie that would be from vacation, Yeah, and we can.
Speaker 1: Our deal is that hotels have to be next door,
Speaker 1: and we have to enter the door at the same
Speaker 1: time and leave the door at the same time that
Speaker 1: they plant at the same time. It's hard to do
Speaker 1: because their hotel doors, so one opens one way and
Speaker 1: one that opens the other. It's very difficult. And then
Speaker 1: also we have to put a glass up to the
Speaker 1: wall so that we can talk to each other. I'm
Speaker 1: picturing like total sleepover bathrobes. Hopefully it's a hotel. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: do you all have any pre live show rituals? Aside
Speaker 1: from opening the door at the same time, we each
Speaker 1: have a vodka. I don't think I'm gonna have one
Speaker 1: this year. I know we might not do that. We
Speaker 1: kind of We certainly don't get drunk, but we'll have
Speaker 1: one drink before the show. I got drunk last year
Speaker 1: in Chicago after remember when someone said Aaron filled a
Speaker 1: martini on my shoe and because I was so drunk,
Speaker 1: I still after that was after the show. Aaron thought
Speaker 1: that martinis were more than just alcohol. Legitimately, she thought
Speaker 1: it was like a mixed drink. It's happened to the
Speaker 1: best of us. She had like six martinis. I've never
Speaker 1: seen her like this in my life, by the way,
Speaker 1: and by the next day my I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's Chicago, I used to live here. I'll stay, I'll
Speaker 1: check out of the hotel. Then I'll go around town
Speaker 1: see all my old hats. And they don't go to
Speaker 1: the airplane airport at six pm. Well after, I threw
Speaker 1: up all day walking around Chicago, throwing up in different
Speaker 1: parts that I used to just different buildings I used
Speaker 1: to be. How's this for a sales pitch Throwing Shade
Speaker 1: is a lot of sober fun performing exclusively in church basics.
Speaker 1: If you can playing email us you know it is.
Speaker 1: It's a fun show we do. We have pre show
Speaker 1: which was we don't really we work out sometimes or
Speaker 1: we'll go we sit in silence. Yeah, hey, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: We stave it all for the state we do. Wait,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say something about the show. We You
Speaker 1: know a lot of people a lot of podcast when
Speaker 1: they do live shows, it's seated. There's it's this thing
Speaker 1: where they sit down at a table and and and
Speaker 1: have like the mics seed it and is very like
Speaker 1: almost like a like a book panel or like a
Speaker 1: talk is like a full production show, like a two
Speaker 1: person stand up. We're up, We're out in the audience,
Speaker 1: were including everybody. It's it's not like we're sitting down
Speaker 1: recording a show, not that there's anything wrong with that,
Speaker 1: but ours is like full frantic. You get all of
Speaker 1: our A D. D. You get all of our anxiety,
Speaker 1: you get all of our neating name. If you've ever
Speaker 1: seen singing in the rain, it's exactly like that. You're
Speaker 1: just running up walls, exactly full umbrellas. Yes, can't wait.
Speaker 1: Are you all coming through Atlanta by any chi? Yeah? Are?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, well we're in Atlanta, so well having
Speaker 1: as I think? Yeah, awesome And where can people go
Speaker 1: to find out more about you? Listen to the podcast
Speaker 1: and all that good stuff Twitters and Instagram on Twitter
Speaker 1: and Instagram hind hat Brian Sapi, which is just my name,
Speaker 1: and I'm at Gibbler tron g I V B l
Speaker 1: R t R o in and then all of our
Speaker 1: information is on throwing Shade dot com. Yeah, fantastic, amazing,
Speaker 1: Thanks ladies, big fan of your podcast, thanks for having it,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, so thanks so much again to
Speaker 1: Aaron and Brian of Throwing Shade. We loved talking with
Speaker 1: these guys and we really hope that you enjoyed this
Speaker 1: episode as well. So now let's hear from our listeners.
Speaker 1: Do you guys also listen to Throwing Shade? Did anything
Speaker 1: that we talked about strike and nerve? Or did you
Speaker 1: even listen? Are you still there? Hello? Um? And again,
Speaker 1: Brian and Aaron are on tour. Their live shows are hilarious.
Speaker 1: They are part stand up, part podcasts, and you definitely
Speaker 1: don't want to miss them because these two are comedy geniuses.
Speaker 1: So head on over to Throwing Shade dot com to
Speaker 1: not only learn more about Aaron and Brian in the podcast,
Speaker 1: but also find out if they're coming to a city
Speaker 1: near you. And, like Caroline said, we want to hear
Speaker 1: from you as always. Mom Stuff at how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com is our email address. You can also tweet
Speaker 1: up at mom Stuff podcasts or messages on Facebook, and
Speaker 1: we've got a couple of messages to share with you
Speaker 1: right now. Chris and I have received a bunch of
Speaker 1: letters after our female Urination Device or stand to pe
Speaker 1: device episode. Basically, you know our episode on on p funnels. Um,
Speaker 1: and we've heard from a lot of you guys who
Speaker 1: use these devices on your many adventures, and so we
Speaker 1: want to read a couple of letters from folks who
Speaker 1: have done all sorts of amazing things while packing a
Speaker 1: p funnel with them. Okay, so this one is from Julie.
Speaker 1: She says, so glad to hear you discussed the FUD.
Speaker 1: I've told so many women about it, to a response
Speaker 1: of polite silence. But really it is so empowering in
Speaker 1: the best way. I hike kayak, guerrilla farm, commute in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and long distance travel on the train. I keep a
Speaker 1: FUD in my purse, car and hydration backpack, each one
Speaker 1: tucked in a soft sided, zippered pencil case. It fits
Speaker 1: great in cargo pants or dress pants. Pockets that in
Speaker 1: a silk undercover braw stash for some cash and a
Speaker 1: credit card. So good to go, pun intended. The side
Speaker 1: benefit is giving the man in your life a start,
Speaker 1: and the ladies in the stalls next to you a
Speaker 1: moment of pause. I like my peace style, but let
Speaker 1: me know when the Hell of Ladies version comes out.
Speaker 1: Too much fun And of course Julie is referring to
Speaker 1: our mention of how we'd love to have a Sminty
Speaker 1: branded Hey, ladies, p funnel, we can still do it.
Speaker 1: We can still, dude, Like, we've gotten so many emails
Speaker 1: about this, not even kidding. People are super excited about this.
Speaker 1: I think at least four people would buy them, so
Speaker 1: maybe half of those would buy gifts as well. We'd
Speaker 1: get up to maybe eight. Yeah, there're any venture capitalists listening.
Speaker 1: We've got twenty dollars to put in your pocket, that's right.
Speaker 1: So I've got a letter here from Kirsty, also about
Speaker 1: our FUD episode. She writes, I just finished your food
Speaker 1: podcast hilarious and informative. As always, I work for a
Speaker 1: u N agency and spend a lot of time in
Speaker 1: the field interviewing and filming the stories of forceably displaced people,
Speaker 1: and a FUD is standard in my equipment now, though
Speaker 1: not always. About a year ago, I was at a
Speaker 1: camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many of
Speaker 1: the refugee camps there aren't really any sanitary facilities. Safe
Speaker 1: facilities for women who have been forced to flee is
Speaker 1: about so much more than hygiene, also key to protecting
Speaker 1: against risks of s g b V, but we've never
Speaker 1: had enough funds, and family and staff live with less
Speaker 1: than desirable facilities. Like you said, I'd become an expert
Speaker 1: at drinking just the right amount of water to cope
Speaker 1: in the heat and physically do my job without passing
Speaker 1: out or needing to pee, and it's not healthy. This
Speaker 1: particular trip, I spent three days with one family, and
Speaker 1: on one day we walked about forty minutes outside of
Speaker 1: the camp to a small stream and water hole where
Speaker 1: the husband would do the family washing. I remember walking
Speaker 1: out of the thicket of tall trees and my bladder
Speaker 1: was assailed by the sound of tinkling water. I had
Speaker 1: to pee. I held on while we finished filming that
Speaker 1: particular segment. Then ran about ten minutes up the track
Speaker 1: to the maze fields and I found a secluded spot
Speaker 1: no fud, so I had to do the squad and
Speaker 1: as I'm a nervous pier, it took a while to
Speaker 1: get going paranoid about poisonous snakes, but more worried someone
Speaker 1: would walk down the track. As I struggled to pee,
Speaker 1: I moved back to the herby thickets behind me. Eventually
Speaker 1: I finished did the shake. No toilet paper either pulled
Speaker 1: up my trousers and headed off back to work. Hand
Speaker 1: sanitiizer is an AID worker's best friend. When I finally
Speaker 1: sat down in our vehicle to leave the camp that night,
Speaker 1: I felt like I'd been whipped across the backs of
Speaker 1: my upper thighs and bum a two and a half
Speaker 1: hour painful car journey bouncing down non existent roads, and
Speaker 1: I got back to our accommodation and realized I must
Speaker 1: have brushed against some toxic or poisonous plant while peeing.
Speaker 1: By that night, sitting was excruciating as it happened in
Speaker 1: the congo, and with a slightly overactive imagination, I did
Speaker 1: think maybe this was the beginning of the end. What
Speaker 1: if I died from poisonous stings to my bottom? What
Speaker 1: would they tell my loved ones or see at my funeral?
Speaker 1: No heroics and that all from not being able to
Speaker 1: pee standing up. The only colleague with me was my
Speaker 1: male photographer, who was fortunately a trained medic. I was
Speaker 1: in so much discomfort in the end that I showed
Speaker 1: him and he provided any histamines which helped reduce the welts.
Speaker 1: I was fine in a couple of weeks, but my
Speaker 1: pride was tender a little longer. Since then, I've taken
Speaker 1: a FUD on each trip and have tried a couple
Speaker 1: of brands. Fresh At is the best for my kind
Speaker 1: of work and comfort. As with everything, practice makes perfect.
Speaker 1: But the trick is that you have to think carefully
Speaker 1: about the underwear you choose when you might have to
Speaker 1: use one. I find a G string or very stretchy
Speaker 1: bikini pants are okay. Otherwise you still have to pull
Speaker 1: your trousers and underwear down. As always being a woman,
Speaker 1: there are so many things to coordinate for daily work
Speaker 1: where so thanks Courtsy for sharing that story, and I
Speaker 1: mean that really drives home the importance of these things existing.
Speaker 1: They have so many practical applications, so keep sending your
Speaker 1: stories because yeah, we want to hear about how you
Speaker 1: pee too, sure mom. Stuff and how Stuff Works dot
Speaker 1: com is our email address and for links to all
Speaker 1: of our social media as well as all of our videos,
Speaker 1: blogs and podcasts, including this one with links to learn
Speaker 1: more about Aaron Brian and throwing Shade. Head on over
Speaker 1: to stuff Mom Never Told You dot com for more
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Does it How
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com