Podcast Summary: Bad Friends – "Dimorphous Expression w/ Are You Garbage?"

Hosts: Bobby Lee & Andrew Santino
Guests: Ryan H. Foley and Kevin Ryan (Are You Garbage?)
Date: October 6, 2025

Episode Overview

In this lively and often irreverent episode, Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino are joined by Kevin Ryan and Ryan Foley from the "Are You Garbage?" podcast. The group weaves between the absurd and the sincere, riffing on health scares, stand-up woes, weight loss drugs, tour disasters, mental health, and personal anecdotes that blend crude humor with real vulnerability. The tone is playful, teasing, and deeply comedic, yet with surprising moments of earnest conversation about depression, friendship, and the pressures of public life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Health Scares and Doctor Stories

• 00:49–03:40:
  Andrew recounts a recent eye infection (blepharitis) and a doctor who nonchalantly warns him it could "spread to your brain and you can die." This leads to jokes about medical anxiety and the infamous “danger triangle” on the face.

  • Quote:
    “She goes, ‘If it spreads, it can go to your brain. Whoa. And you can die.’" – Andrew (02:11)

• The group riffs on dubious medical advice found online and lampoons doctors ("Dr. Reddit", "Dr. Chevron").

2. Gas Station Crime and Extreme Protests

• 04:16–05:19:
  Andrew reacts to rising crime at LA gas stations, joking about preferring to get shot over a "gun butt" to the face.

  • Quote:
    "Just shoot me. Don’t gun butt me in the head." – Andrew (04:48)

• This morphs into a discussion of Vietnamese Buddhist monks' self-immolation as protest, with comic asides about their own levels of commitment for causes.

3. Controversial Album Covers & Bombing On Stage

• 06:39–11:17:
  The comics talk legendary album covers (Pusha T’s Daytona, Beatles “Yesterday and Today,” Captain Beefheart) and reminisce about the time Bobby bombed on stage in front of a band, ending a blossoming friendship for a decade.

  • Quote:
    "I bombed so hard that he didn't talk to me for like 10 years after that." – Kevin (09:59)

• Andrew then shares his own stories of bombing in front of Chris Rock and the anxiety of performing for famous audiences.

4. Mental Health & Comedy’s Dark Side

• 13:30–16:48:
  They discuss their friend Theo Von’s public struggles with depression and suicide ideation. Both Andrew and Bobby get candid about how comedians are often assumed to be immune from real pain.
  • Quote:
    "I have clinical depression. I have very dark days... I think people just think you're a clown, and you're like, you're not a human. Well, he's a fucking human." – Andrew (13:52)
  • Bobby opens up about checking in with Theo and the difficulty of dealing with mental health in comedy's public and often hostile environment.

5. Nostalgia & Tribute to Comedy Heroes

• 17:44–20:44:
  Heartfelt predictions about what Chris Farley could have become, memories of John Candy and John Goodman as comedic inspirations, and appreciation for their range.

6. Recasting Classic Comedies with Modern Comics

• 25:27–27:32:
  Fun hypothetical: recasting “Three Amigos” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” with themselves and their friends, with tongue-in-cheek references to studio casting biases and fears of Hollywood typecasting.

7. Natural Disasters & (Non-)Rapture

• 27:31–35:08:
  Jokes about hurricane naming conventions, the never-arriving Christian “rapture,” and playful debate about who among them could be “raptured.”

• Andrew, mock-defensive, claims religious devotion; Bobby confronts him for never inviting him to church.

  • Quote:
    “You don’t want me to be saved.” – Bobby (32:32)

8. Dimorphous Expression – The Name’s Meaning

• 36:07–36:49:
  The title is explained: “Dimorphous expression” refers to expressing contradictory emotions simultaneously, like laughing at funerals or crying when happy.
  • Quote:
    "Dimorphous expression is the phenomenon of displaying two contradictory expressions or actions in response to a single intense emotion." – Andrew (35:48)

9. Death, Assisted Suicide & Opiates

• 36:54–38:50:
  Conversation shifts to assisted suicide, morphine, addiction, and the lure of opiates in old age.
  • Quote:
    "I’m just gonna drip my way into heaven." – Kevin (39:00)

10. Pop Culture & Watching Movies Alone

• 40:00–42:11:
  Everyone discusses the pleasure (or perils) of watching movies alone vs. with others, reactions to new programs like Jason Bateman’s “Black Rabbit,” and Bobby’s immigrant father’s total alienation from music, with a touching story about his first connection to a song (“Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton).
  • Quote:
    "...a single tear. No, I swear to God. Comes on his face. And it was the first time he..." – Kevin (43:25)

11. Are You Garbage? Boys Arrive

• 49:03–54:11:
  The Are You Garbage duo comes on officially, and the mood stays loose. Talk centers on:
  • Weight loss drugs (Zepbound, Ozempic) and their side effects (constipation, nausea, “looking at your dick”).
  • Changing appearances, body confidence, childhood insecurities.
  • Comic self-roasting and zingers about “Asian-looking” eyes and “ronin” samurai.

12. Tour War Stories & Performing Nightmares

• 61:09–67:29:
  Tales from the road:
  • Traveling as a comedy crew; tour bus vs. van; bloody injuries from bunkbed mishaps; unreliable drivers (“Mega Man”).
  • Worst gigs: a legendarily bad show at Graceland, Memphis; bombing in Flagstaff, etc.
  • Practicalities of touring and adapting to different regions and venues.

13. Relationships, Dating, and Race

• 71:32–74:25:
  Bobby opens up about dating mostly white women, the pressure from the Asian-American community, and stereotypes about being “unclean.”
  • Debate about booger-eating and body hygiene as a bar to dating.
  • Open, humorous honesty about sexuality, kinks, and the “Asian porn” Twitter algorithm.

14. Adoption, Parenthood, and Acceptance

• 75:08–79:44:
  Serious and comic talk about fatherhood, adoption (jokes about “white Slavic babies” and returning adopted kids to China), and progressive parenting.
  • Questions of heritage, searching for biological families, and the emotional turmoil in adoptive situations.
  • The group touches on attitudes toward LGBTQ+ kids, with universal acceptance.
    • Quote:
      “If your son came and said, ‘Dad, I think I’m gay,’ what do you say? – ‘I’d be okay with it.’” – Ryan H. Foley (79:14)

15. Podcast Community & Support

• 80:13–81:52:
  The hosts celebrate each other’s shows, camaraderie among the “comedy podcast sphere,” and mutual support rather than jealousy.
  • The Are You Garbage boys invite Andrew and Bobby to their NYC studio; they promote their podcast, Patreon, and “Back on the Block Tour.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Medical Anxiety:
  "Doctors aren't supposed to give you the possibilities." – Andrew (03:30)
• On Mental Health in Comedy:
  "I think people just think you're a clown, and you're like, you're not a human. Well, he's a fucking human." – Andrew (13:52)
• On Comedic Bombing:
  "I bombed so hard that he didn't talk to me for like 10 years after that." – Kevin (09:59)
• On Assisted Suicide:
  "They kept changing the date of the assisted suicide because they kind of had a—probably a few good weeks or something. ... If I bailed once, I'm out. I don't know if I could go through with it." – Andrew (37:06)
• On Dimorphous Expression:
  "Displaying two contradictory expressions or actions in response to a single intense emotion, such as crying when happy or feeling the urge to squeeze a cute object." – Andrew (35:48)
• On Relationships and Racial Identity:
  "Because those Asian women find me to be unclean, which I'm not." – Bobby (72:16)
• On Podcast Community:
  "Nobody's jealous. Nobody's, you know, high tides raise all ships." – Bobby (80:27)
• On Parenting & Acceptance:
  "If your son came to you and said, dad, I think I'm gay? ... I’d be okay with it." – Ryan H. Foley (79:14)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Time | Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:49 | Andrew's eye infection & medical anxiety | | 02:40 | The "danger triangle" and web-diagnosis jokes | | 04:16 | LA gas station robberies & “gun butt” jokes | | 06:39 | Album cover controversies & musical nostalgia | | 09:53 | Story: Bombing in front of famous people | | 13:30 | Theo Von, comics’ mental health | | 17:44 | Chris Farley, John Candy, John Goodman tributes | | 25:27 | Hypothetically recasting “Three Amigos” | | 27:31 | Hurricanes, rapture, religious debate | | 35:48 | “Dimorphous Expression” explained | | 36:54 | Assisted suicide, morphine & old age | | 40:00 | Movie-going habits; Bobby’s dad and “Tears in Heaven” | | 49:03 | Are You Garbage team joins, weight loss drugs | | 61:09 | Tour bus disasters; worst gigs | | 71:32 | Dating across cultures, stereotypes, and booger-eating | | 75:08 | Parenting, adoption, LGBTQ+ acceptance | | 80:13 | Support in the comedy podcast world | | 81:15 | Are You Garbage plugs their tour / Patreon |

Conclusion

This episode is a showcase of the Bad Friends brand: a blend of quickfire irreverence, deeply personal storytelling, and unsparing camaraderie. Whether discussing eye infections, potential rapture, assisted suicide, or the challenges of podcasting and touring, the group never shies from honesty — even when cloaked in jokes. The guest appearance by the Are You Garbage crew energizes the room with more stories of comic misery and friendship. Through it all, there’s a running theme: the necessity of finding humor in life’s darkest and weirdest corners, and of sticking together as “bad friends.”