Podcast Summary: Add to Cart – The Best of Add to Cart: Live in Hollywood!

Hosts: Kulap Vilaysack (Kulap), SuChin Pak (SuChin)
Guests: Jessica Gao, Jason Mantzoukas
Date: August 19, 2025
Venue: Live at NeueHouse Hollywood
Produced by: Lemonada Media

Overview

This special live episode of Add to Cart brings together hosts Kulap Vilaysack and SuChin Pak with comedy writer and “She-Hulk” showrunner Jessica Gao and actor/comedian Jason Mantzoukas. In classic Add to Cart style, they take a humorous, honest, and occasionally chaotic look at the things they’re buying (or swearing off), what consumerism reveals about ourselves, and why nostalgia, practicality, and a very strong love of Costco and packing cubes can become a philosophy of life.

The two featured guest segments—Gao’s ode to Costco and Mantzoukas’s madcap ode to travel organization—epitomize the podcast’s combination of joyful banter, AAPI perspective, consumer confessions, and subversive self-reflection.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Live Show Nerves & Realness

• The hosts kick off by acknowledging the strangeness of performing live, with the audience including close friends, past guests, and “plus ones.”
• Kulap jokes about the difference from her wedding: “At my wedding, I didn’t have to perform, you know what I mean, with a microphone. So this is a trip.” (03:20)
• Adds intimacy and sets a playful, “overshare” tone.

2. Add to Cart/Remove from Cart: What’s In and What’s Out

Kulap’s Add

• Her “playsuit” from Instagram brand Lala Rest.
  • “I have a great algorithm that sends me things...This one clears the check every single time.” (06:25)
• SuChin admires it: “You look like a woman king yourself...One can only hope to age, and I’d love to age with you, SuChin Pak.” (07:00)
• Quote: "To age is a privilege, and I'd love to age with you." – Kulap (07:07)

SuChin’s Remove

• SuChin mourns the shuttering of MTV News.
  • “It feels like I’m not that old, you know? But now that my legacy is in a coffin underground, like, officially...I feel way older than I should feel, I think. And I feel pretty old all the time.” (08:32)
• Reminisces over the behind-the-scenes camaraderie and “drama” at MTV.

Family & Heritage

• SuChin shouts out her father-in-law for coming all the way from Santa Barbara: “No immigrant parent would ever do that for me. I didn’t even tell my parents this was happening.” (11:15)
• Mother's Day reflections: one bittersweet, one "got a balloon from Ralph’s."
• May is AAPI Heritage Month: sets up the lineup and why it matters to the hosts.

On Marriage & Choosing Partners

• SuChin reflects humorously on marrying someone “who has just spread themselves all over town”: “You want to be with someone who has just spread themselves all over town...because I’ve had every beverage.” (13:57)
• Quote: “Do not sleep on the quiet ones...Take a number.” – SuChin (13:33)

Gift Bag Drama

• Callback to a previous show with Vivian Tu (“Your Rich BFF”), and SuChin’s regret at missing out on a Gold Gala gift bag.
• Kulap surprises her by relinquishing her own: “Because you physically got sick and had a migraine over it, I give you mine.” (15:26)

3. Guest Segment 1: Jessica Gao – The Costco Gospel

[20:00–41:42]

Gao’s Shopping Philosophy

• “This is gonna shock you to your core. I’m a very conservative Add to Carter. I only add to cart when I’m ready to buy.” (20:28)
• Dresses head-to-toe in Kirkland Signature sweats—ripe for sponsorship.

Deep-Dive into Costco

• Gao is a Costco connoisseur (“I live Costco. As you all should.” 23:33)
• Runs through Costco musts:
  • Toilet paper: “It’s the right thickness. It doesn’t clog up your pipes...Never happened with Kirkland.” (25:17)
  • Bidets!
  • Alcohol selection—especially at Atwater Costco: “They get specialty, small batch whiskeys that don’t go to other Costcos.” (28:02)
  • Gold jewelry: “Almost all my gold jewelry is from Costco...because Costco lets you return gold jewelry, whereas all the Chinese jewelers won’t.” (28:53)

Costco Factoids & Anecdotes

• Gao tested her knowledge: “I read the entire thing, didn’t learn anything new, knew every fact.” (24:22)
• Dream travel: visiting all the world’s Costcos (“I want to hit up all the Costco food courts.” 33:58)
• International Costco finds: “Korea Costco has bulgogi bakes...Japan, they have matcha soft serve.” (33:39)
• Food court tricks: “Rotisserie chicken at the back forces you to walk by everything else.” (34:23)
• Costco lore: prime steaks, employee benefits, tire centers (“93% retention rate!” 38:42)
• “You can buy a coffin there. You don’t even have to buy it in bulk.” (32:55)

Hot Tips

• Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp: “It’s the best chili sauce ever...This was the wedding favor at my wedding.” (36:39)
• Removing purses from her life: “I’ve been purse-free for two years and I’ll never look back...Everything just fits into my pockets.” (39:18)
• Gender politics: “If you are in a heteronormative relationship with a man, it stops him from being like, hey, can you put this in your purse for me. He has to hold his own sunglasses, his own keys. Completely shakes him to his core. And I love it.” (40:29)

Memorable Dialogue

• Quote: “To say that to us during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month is a hate crime.” – Jessica Gao on someone not shopping at Costco (30:26)
• Quote: “My big bag is just full of other bags.” – Jason Mantzoukas (50:32)
• Quote: “I have eight pieces from the Kirkland Signature collection.” – Jessica Gao (38:09)
• Quote: “The average salary, $18 an hour in the warehouse...even their part-time employees get benefits.” (39:00)

4. Guest Segment 2: Jason Mantzoukas – Zook’s Cubes: The Packing Cube Saga

[44:06–74:10]

Inside Zook’s Cubes (Jason’s Organization Obsession)

• Jason brings luggage and demonstrates his (in)famous system: “I am exclusively packing cubes, pouches, all the rest.” (45:06)
• Critiques SuChin’s chaos: “Based on your packing...I got a panic attack.” (45:16)
• On the horror of “loose shoes” in a suitcase: “The idea of putting in your suitcase for travel loose shoes is disgusting. I want to go on record. That is disgusting.” (45:55)

Packing Debates & Gadget Show-and-Tell

• The Tom Bihn travel tray: Jason, SuChin, and Kulap all have one. Jason is deeply invested in organization; SuChin is chaos incarnate.
• The little plastic bags: “You bought 400 little tiny plastic bags on Amazon. For what?...I use them all the time.” (50:06)
• On charge cables: “I duplicate...You always want accessible...one in every bag.” (52:13)
• Memorable recurring gag: Kulap repeatedly protests Jason’s elaborate gear: “You have so many things in your pockets. No wonder you need a tray!” (57:32)

Hero Clip & Portable Gadgets

• Jason demonstrates the “hero clip,” a bag hanger: “You wouldn’t carry this around just so you don’t have to put...You love putting your shit on the ground.” (57:14)
• White noise machine, fold-down pouches, chopsticks, and travel Apple TV: “Travel with an Apple TV—why the hell not?” (70:36)
• On Apple TV: “Every hotel, you can plug it in. Guess what? You’re watching your fucking shows. Travel with an Apple TV. Why the hell not? Come on!” (70:39)

Philosophical Divide: Chaos vs. Order

• Jason: hyper-organized, duplicates gadgets, never forgets anything.
• SuChin: “I choose to forget things because I know there’s going to be a Target or a CVS.” (65:15)
• Jason’s reaction: “Your packing style is nihilism.” (64:55)

Games & Final Recommends

• Left, Right and Center: “It’s a very low stakes betting game...If you’ve got a bunch of kids and you put three $20s down, those kids will go nuts.” (73:06)
• Book rec: The Case of the Missing Men (graphic novel): “What if Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys existed in Twin Peaks?” (73:37)

Notable Quotes

• Quote: “If we’re ever in a zombie apocalypse, you’ll be dead because you’ll be unpacking your 48th zipper bag and I’ll be thriving in the wild!” – SuChin, to Jason (67:12)
• Quote: “Your packing style is nihilism.” – Jason Mantzoukas (64:55)
• Quote: “I care about this more than I care about everyone I know.” – Jason Mantzoukas on pouches (60:27)

Notable Moments and Laughter

• Warm crowd participation with in-jokes about AAPI culture, Costco, and the logistics of live podcast awkwardness.
• Running joke: the fate of SuChin’s Gold Gala gift bag and her “migraine of regret.”
• Jason’s segment is playfully contentious, with Kulap mediating and the audience clearly divided—are you Team Packing Cube or Team Whatever-Fits?
• Jessica’s Costco sermon is both informative and hilarious, with audience nods of recognition and audible gasps at the depth of her trivia.
• Live show “couples therapy” vibes during the Mantzoukas segment, as hosts “counsel” the other on organizational philosophy.

Timestamped Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------------|------------| | Live Show Start, Hosts Banter, Lotion Foot Ritual | 03:35 | | Kulap & SuChin’s Add/Remove to Cart | 06:25–15:26| | Shoutouts for AAPI Heritage, Family Stories | 10:50 | | Guest 1: Jessica Gao and the Costco Deep-Dive | 20:00–41:42| | The Purses & “Pockets” Movement | 39:17 | | Guest 2: Jason Mantzoukas & ‘Zook’s Cubes’ | 44:06–74:10| | Packing Cubes vs. Chaos | 45:06–66:11| | Gear Show-and-Tell (Hero Clip, White Noise, etc.) | 56:14–70:36| | Final Recs and Game Segment | 72:34–73:37|

Takeaways

• AAPI representation: Woven throughout, from personal stories to celebration of community staples (Costco, food, family).
• Consumer joy and self-awareness: What we buy, what we love, and what we let go of says as much about our history and personalities as about our spending habits.
• Nostalgia & Modern Life: Everything from MTV News to old-school food courts comes up, honored and lovingly roasted.
• Lively, loving irreverence: The entire episode is peppered with realness, affection, and expert-level comedy banter.

For New Listeners

This live episode encapsulates everything that Add to Cart fans have come to expect: candor, consumer chit-chat, cultural insight, and a wild ride through the hosts’ (and guests’) emotional shopping carts. Whether you come for the pop-culture nods, the serious AAPI reflections, or a masterclass in packing cubes, this episode offers laughs, wisdom, and plenty of brilliant one-liners to keep you coming back for more.

Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “To age is a privilege, and I'd love to age with you.” – Kulap (07:07)
• “Your packing style is nihilism.” – Jason Mantzoukas (64:55)
• “If you are in a heteronormative relationship with a man, it stops him from being like, 'hey, can you put this in your purse for me.' …I love it.” – Jessica Gao (40:29)
• “If we’re ever in a zombie apocalypse, you’ll be dead because you’ll be unpacking your 48th zipper bag and I’ll be thriving in the wild!” – SuChin (67:12)
• “I care about this more than I care about everyone I know.” – Jason Mantzoukas on organizing pouches (60:27)
• “To say that to us during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month is a hate crime.” – Jessica Gao, responding to Costco newbies (30:26)

THE VERDICT

Add to Cart: Live in Hollywood is a hilarious, heartfelt journey into what we buy—and why it matters. It’s as much a love letter to community as to consumer culture, brimming with wisdom, warmth, and just the right amount of chaos.