Ben Barna on Canal Street Dreams

Summary

Canal Street Dreams: Ben Barna on Canal Street Dreams

Hosts: Eddie Huang & Natasha Perrotti
Guest: Ben Barna, Executive Editor of Interview magazine
Release Date: August 15, 2025

---

Episode Overview

This episode features a candid, wide-ranging conversation between hosts Eddie Huang and Natasha Perrotti and their guest Ben Barna, Executive Editor of Interview magazine. Recorded amidst personal and professional upheaval, the episode delves into creative integrity, media evolution, the ethics of art, the impact of parenthood, New York vs. LA living, the current state of restaurants and print, and the sometimes overlapping worlds of sports, film, and friendship. It's a dynamic look at standing by your beliefs while navigating art, commerce, and community.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Eddie’s Movie Controversy, Integrity, and Moral Choices

[02:07 – 15:44]

• Eddie opens up about the decision to pull his new film, Vice is Broke, from release due to Mubi’s investment ties with an AI defense company and Sequoia Capital’s controversial activities.
• Despite his publicist and manager not being notified beforehand—and the personal and financial risks—Eddie prioritized “standing on moral ground” for his son and himself.
  • “What I’m doing is not, like, driven by my career ambitions in Hollywood. It’s literally driven by, like, I think this is wrong.” — Eddie Huang [02:42]
• Natasha and Ben both express respect, noting the gravity and sacrifice of Eddie’s decision, particularly with a child involved.
• Eddie highlights the disconnect between staff values and corporate decisions, referencing both Mubi and previous experience at Vice.
• “The world is in the worst place I’ve ever seen it in my 43 years of life.” — Eddie Huang [06:42]
• The full story behind learning about Mubi’s investment, organizing with other artists, why it hit home, and the desire to set an example for their son.

2. Navigating Hollywood, the Industry’s Shifting Sands, and Personal Creative Challenges

[16:07 – 26:37]

• Eddie and Ben reminisce about the cultural zenith of Vice and media’s shifts.
  • “Jesse Pearson era at Vice was peak...08 to like 2012, 2013 era. Some of the greatest writers we have now all came through that.” — Eddie Huang [17:30]
• Ben describes the layoffs, pivots, and new security found in print post-massacre, now a kind of “anchor” in the industry.
• Eddie shares the ups and downs after making Boogie, hoping Hollywood would open more doors, only to find that each project needs to be broader and more commercially viable.
• Natasha champions Tuna Melt (Eddie’s unproduced script), but the industry’s demand to water down a core, disturbing scene led to a stalemate:
  • “There is no film without this kid biting the alligator man’s dick off.” — Eddie Huang [25:10]
• Both lament the current lack of daring, risk-taking films and how cinema has become less of a space for essential, edgy stories.

3. Back to New York: Fires, Family, and Finding Home

[27:16 – 30:28]

• Natasha recounts the personal ordeal of West Coast wildfires, the scramble to safety, and the ultimate decision to leave LA for their son’s well-being.
  • “We just looked at each other and we were like, all right...I never saw that house again.” — Natasha [27:57]
• Health risks for kids, uncertainty during displacement, the emotional and financial calculations that led to returning to New York.
• The couple reflects on that moment being “the sign” it was time to come home, despite the blow to Eddie’s Hollywood ambitions.

4. Restaurant Dreams & NYC’s Evolving Food Scene

[31:18 – 38:36]

• Eddie and Ben dive into the close-knit NYC restaurant community, throwback nostalgia, and Eddie’s aspirations for a legacy Chinese spot reminiscent in vibe of places like Rao’s and Lucien.
• Discussion of what makes a restaurant endure: romantic energy, community, and resisting fleeting trends.
  • “My favorite type of restaurant is Rao’s...It just starts off as home cooking for people in the neighborhood...then you get through that and it’s just like an establishment.” — Eddie Huang [33:11]
• Natasha and Ben point out that truly Old World places survive by refusing to yield to “frivolous change.”
• Vivid dialogue about new restaurant openings, the power of curation, and the importance of having an original, lasting vision.

5. Interview Magazine, Print’s Renaissance, and Media Ethics

[39:27 – 56:31]

• Ben offers a behind-the-curtain glimpse at Interview magazine’s print revival and the deep importance of curation—a creative act akin to Supreme picking who gets a T-shirt each year.
  • “The mix of people in each issue is paramount...we spend hours and hours and hours trying to find that perfect balance.” — Ben Barna [51:40]
• The guest shares his “zag” back to print, surviving bankruptcies, immigration challenges (including marrying to stay in the country), and the resilience it takes to keep making meaningful content.
  • “You’re kind of, like, working into the void in that way...You just don’t know how it’s being consumed or who’s consuming it.” — Ben Barna [47:58]
• The enduring power and authenticity of Interview’s “artist on artist” format and the frustration at its widespread imitation elsewhere.
  • “But that belongs in Interview. That is the core of the magazine.” — Eddie Huang [53:39]
• Natasha and Eddie discuss the tactile pleasure and status of print magazines, both as genuine objects of culture and sometimes as props.

6. Podcasts, Audio, and Media Consumption Today

[56:31 – 59:26]

• Comparing print, audio, and video as media forms, all agree audio-only still carries unique intimacy and utility (easier to do things while listening).
• Ben reveals Interview’s goldmine of audio conversations—uncut—between some of the world’s most famous artists, and floats the idea of a possible future Interview podcast.
• Eddie’s take: “I think if you did video...corny. Not because of Interview, but because everybody’s corny now. But I think just audio...is more fly.” [58:04]

7. Sports, Fandom, and Community

[59:49 – 73:32]

• A raucous, winding late segment covers Knicks fever, Commanders heartbreak, and the joys & neuroses of sports fandom.
• Ben admits he’s more a "player guy" than team loyalist, while Eddie and Natasha’s household brings together intense passion for teams and the outsider’s bemusement.
  • “It is, besides Natasha and Senna, the most important thing to me.” — Eddie Huang [67:13]
• Natasha’s experience as a non-sports fan surrounded by passionate men (“Most of my friends are male...and they all like sports, apparently, unbeknownst to me”) [72:45] and her bemused, supportive presence in Eddie’s “degenerate gambling” group chats.
• Humor and warmth shine through: Eddie finding solace and meaning in live sports, Hooters solo rituals, parenting through it all.

8. Film, Friendship, and Full Circle Moments

[74:43 – 82:27]

• The conversation weaves through director rankings (the Coppola family!), Robin Williams' legacy, and the vibe of seeing movies in theaters versus streaming.
• Reflections on the TIFF experience, traveling with a one-year-old, and how friendships and professional circles loop back in unexpected but meaningful ways.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Creative Integrity:
  • “It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done in my career...but I just…stood in a window and was like, we’re not gonna do this film.” — Eddie Huang [13:46, 14:13]
• On Print Media Survival:
  • “Weirdly feel print feels, like, safe now, which is like, a crazy thing to say in 2025.” — Ben Barna [18:57]
• On Parenting and Sacrifice:
  • “You have a kid and you’re like, I have to move different. It’s not just me.” — Natasha [29:21]
• On Restaurant Longevity:
  • “To truly...execute an Old World restaurant, you have to resist frivolous change...most people will make a mistake and then you will lose your restaurant.” — Eddie Huang [38:37]
• On Artist Interviews:
  • “The one specific format in Interview of artists interviewing artists, it’s just like, unstoppable...but it belongs in Interview. That is the core of the magazine.” — Eddie Huang & Ben Barna [52:40-54:03]
• On Cultural Ownership and Respect:
  • “That’s not samurai because like real like chefs, right? If I see you do this move, I’m not gonna do that same move. That’s your move. You did it.” — Eddie Huang [53:39]
• On the Unknowable Audience:
  • “...It’s like you’re making this print publication and it’s like a physical thing. But, like, I don’t know how it’s being consumed or who’s consuming it...” — Ben Barna [47:58]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Eddie’s Film Pull, Mubi Controversy, & Standing Up: [02:07–15:44]
• Industry Shifts, Vice Magazine, & Print’s Return: [16:07–18:57]
• Parenthood, Morality, & LA Wildfires: [27:16–30:28]
• NYC Restaurant Community & New Spot Aspirations: [31:18–38:36]
• Interview Magazine’s Curation & Media Migration: [39:27–56:31]
• Podcasting, Audio vs. Video: [56:31–59:26]
• Intense Sports Talk, Fandom, Child-Rearing, and Community: [59:49–73:32]
• Friendship, Full Circles, and TIFF: [74:43–82:27]

---

Episode Tone & Atmosphere

Warm, unguarded, and humorous even amid tense topics, the conversation balances high-stakes career decisions, ethical debates, nostalgia, and the messiness of real life—including marriage, parenthood, and uncertain futures. The tone is candid and “downtown,” filled with inside baseball about media, restaurants, and sports, never shying away from vulnerability or laughter.

---

For New Listeners

If you haven’t listened, this episode is a primer on creative adulthood: how to fight for your work and values, adapt to change without losing your soul, and still find joy in food, friendship, and favorite teams. Expect strong opinions, inside stories, honest self-doubt, and a feeling of genuine camaraderie—whether discussing film protests or the best spots for Chinese food in Toronto.

Transcript

[Eddie Huang]

Yo. Welcome to Canal Street Dreams, the show not sponsored by Aquapona. It just happens to be the water they got at the restaurant. But we have another very special guest. They're always very special guests. But we got the executive editor of Interview magazine, friend of Natasha's, long time. I'm an admirer, Ben Barna.

[Ben Barna]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Eddie Huang]

Welcome, brother.

[Ben Barna]

Why am I here? I need to know, like, why, why, why am I. This is my first podcast.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh.

[Ben Barna]

I've never been invited on a podcast. I'm a podcast addict.

[Eddie Huang]

That feels insane, because Interview magazine is, hands down, I can definitively say my favorite magazine.

[Ben Barna]

Really?

[Eddie Huang]

Without pissing anyone off. Before Interview magazine, it was Ego Trip magazine, but for sure, Interview magazine.

[Ben Barna]

First of all, I love hearing that, and I'm not trying to be cocky, but we have heard a lot of that in the last four or five years, which feels very gratifying. But it's funny that you say that, because you've been in the magazine.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, a few times.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. But when I worked there. You were there when you were releasing Boogie.

[Eddie Huang]

Yes.

[Ben Barna]

And you were living in Taiwan at the time.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

And you did a lesson, which is how to make your first movie.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. Which is like.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. One of my favorite features, which we don't do that much anymore. But, like, it was a great shoot. I remember you were shirtless.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Back tattoo.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

And you wrote a great guide on how to make your first movie. And then a couple weeks ago, because you have Vice is Broke coming out or did.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, we were. Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

But Jillian Roscoe emailed me. Do you know her?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, she's our publicist. She's the best. Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

So she emailed me, like, two weeks ago saying. And she already had the pitch in mind. She was like, would you be down for Eddie to do a Rorschach test? Which is a feature that we do, which is basically, like. Instead of, like, a normal Q and A, it's, um. It's. The person reacts to a bunch of, like, topics, like instant reaction, kind of rapid fires. So I'll give you, like, list of topics, and you have to react to it. And so she's. She pitched that pegged to the release of Vice is Broke. And I didn't respond at first. And then. Cause I was like, I knew I was coming.

[Eddie Huang]

The movie got canned.

[Ben Barna]

I knew I was coming to your podcast. And then I saw your post yesterday, and I responded to her, and I said, I saw what happened. And she's like, yeah, I just heard. She. She. I guess, like, she. She didn't even hear through you, Right.

[Eddie Huang]

No. You know what was funny? Because I. I love my team. Like, I got to say, Phil sun, my manager, incredible. Like, like, the most loyal person I've ever worked with. Jillian is my publicist. She's incredible. But sometimes when it has to do with social justice and, like, morality.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I've been burnt so bad in Hollywood that I just do it because what I'm doing is not, like, driven by my career ambitions in Hollywood. It's literally driven by, like, I think this is wrong. So I went rogue for a couple hours.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Did it myself. And then caught the team up. The cool thing about the team is they're just like, we know he's going to do this, but he's a good dude. I think the thing that has always been the saving grace for me with Hollywood is people, like, he's standing on, like, strong moral ground, even though he did not give us a heads. Like, literally, my publicist didn't know.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. I just broke it to her. She was like, I literally just found out, you know?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

A few hours after it.

[Eddie Huang]

And I did it on a day she was traveling. Yeah, I knew she was traveling. She was on vacation. I also didn't want to bother her, so I just did it. And she's like, damn. But in Jillian's, like, to just, like, tell you the type of person, she goes, I'm so proud of you, and I stand with your respect. And I'm like, thank you. Because some publicism, some managers would be like, what are you doing in your career? You got Marvel Avengers 75 coming out. And, you know, my team just knows what they signed up for, and they're cool.

[Ben Barna]

Right.

[Eddie Huang]

So.

[Ben Barna]

Right. Her response. And then I said, I'm going on his podcast. I'll bring it up. And she's wrote back just like, ha. Transmission.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Because I'm embargoed and not supposed to talk about it, but I'm just.

[Ben Barna]

I was surprised.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Also, in terms of Mubi, like, we work with them a lot, and I met a bunch of them at Sundance. Like, very nice people. But I'm talking about, like, I can't remember, like, exactly the level of people, but, like, they were, like, kind of like publicity sort of end. Not like the top dogs or anything like that. And they're very nice. And, like, I work with them a lot, and they put out a lot of great movies, and they're doing great stuff for cinema. So to hear you call them out, I was like, damn, he's calling A movie. But like you're calling out like the sort of corporate and not like everyone that works sort of below.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah, you made it very clear. The, like the staff and like they. I don't even think they themselves align with what's going on.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Sometimes people in interviews will say, I love the asset. I genuinely am like, so happy about this energy because we were going to do a one on one just to explain to like the fans and things that listen. But I'm very happy to talk to you about this is for me, I really like the people at mubi.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, they seem like, they seem like an important company in terms of film and keeping certain kinds of films alive and out there in the public sphere. So it seems to me like a company that has values in terms of the types of films that they're putting out and promoting and stuff like that. So then to hear it's one thing to call it Amazon, like corporations that we know are evil or whatever, but then to see you say that to mubi, I was kind of shocked because I was like, damn. I was always. My mind saw MUBI as like a quote unquote, like good company or whatever.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I like, we sold them the film. We, we love mubi. Like, we love their curation. I genuinely love the team there. And the president I've been friends with for five years personally, like, has eaten Thanksgiving dinner at my house with his full family. Jason Ropel, funny enough, used to work at Amazon and came over to Mubi. But he's genuinely a good dude. Like, even as a homie, he would read my scripts, give me feedback. Like, I really like him as a person. I think this investment is like above people's heads and above people's pay grades. It's probably coming from like a board of trustees and a founder. And it's. I feel for these employees because, like, I felt the same way of Vice when Vice was doing things. I'm just like, okay, my show is here. What do you want me to do? Like, cancel my show and, like, you're doing business with Rupert Murdoch. And it was, was just like an odd place to be. But the reason why I spoke up this time is just I think the world is in the worst place I've ever seen it in my 43 years of life. Yeah, climate change is terrible. Every single city is flooding.

[Ben Barna]

Like, and you guys have a kid.

[Eddie Huang]

We have a kid.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I don't like, you know, I'm.

[Ben Barna]

Like, you guys are probably looking at it from a completely different perspective than I Am. Because, like, your son has to grow.

[Eddie Huang]

Up in this world, right? Yeah. Son has to grow up in this world.

[Natasha]

And I also just, like, for him to know that you're gonna do the right thing. You know what I mean? It's like, to set an example for him so when he grows up, he.

[Ben Barna]

Would'Ve released that fucking movie.

[Natasha]

I mean, maybe. I know, honestly, it probably would have been better for our son's life, like, financially. But the thing is, I think it's like, when your kid grows up and you're. Oh, when you were a baby, we, like, had the opportunity to actually stand for something and, like, wanting him to hopefully make those choices in his life, too. It's like, be the example that you show them what to do for our.

[Eddie Huang]

Career and our finances as a family. It would have been so much better to go through with the release of the film, promote it, not say anything. You know, like, there's brands we're working with. There was a huge, like, even the flower shop. There was, like, a huge activation booby was going to do here. They don't make that money now. Is really tough choice.

[Ben Barna]

But for me, it's a crazy choice. But I respect it. But it's like, I was. Yeah, I'm like, that's a crazy choice because it's a movie you've worked on very, very hard, obviously. And it's so personal to you, too, right? Because, like, yeah, it's not like you made a documentary about some random thing. It's like, it's part of your life. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And the thing is, is that I just. I made this cautionary documentary about how private equity basically hollows out, like, cultures and places that we love. Like, if Interview Mag took on private equity, dude, it would be. You know, it'd be completely different in Whack. It'd be so whack.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I saw it happen at Vice, and I was just like, okay, this is literally like the universe saying to me, you shall not pass. You cannot put this movie out with this company, not with these people, but this company. Because they're literally taking money from an AI defense company, just investing in AI military technology. Just feels like the end of times. Like, that particular investment is so horrid that it's very difficult to get up on a stage and be like, everybody, please subscribe to mubi Download the film. Like, I just know I can't do it.

[Ben Barna]

How did you find out? And then how soon after you found out did you make the decision?

[Eddie Huang]

So I found out about it in.

[Ben Barna]

I'm basically interviewing Eddie now.

[Natasha]

No, please. I'm like.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm generally curious also, like real friends. So it's like, we chilling, but it's like, you know, I found out in mid June when everybody else did and news broke, like, we stay on the Internet. We're like, chronically online people.

[Natasha]

And.

[Eddie Huang]

And then, you know, I spoke to a journalist, Taylor Lorenz, who's in our film.

[Ben Barna]

She's working on something for us right now. Yeah, she's incredible.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, she's just a very important voice right now. A lot of people try to take her down, but I'd been in touch with her. I always. When I see something on the progressive side of the world going on, I'll hit up Taylor and just be like, what do you know? Because she's in the trenches, she let me know that people were organizing and. And protests were coming, and I support it. You know, when Zoran got the nomination, that was just like, such an incredible day. And that weekend after he got the nomination, I believe on like, a Wednesday morning, it was official, that Guy Maguire from Sequoia started to talk shit. I believe that might have been, like, the last weekend of June. And I just immediately informed Mooby, like, hey, it's the investment. Very upsetting. I was, like, in the process of getting my head around it, but attacking Zoron, to me, who is like, one of the few hopes we have now you're really. Now you're really starting to hit me personally. It's really bothering me, and we need to talk about this. And we had been figuring out the date for the trailer to come out, and. And I spoke to organizers and people that were doing petitions, and they had made a demand, like, after this date, if you at Sequoia do not do something about Sean McGuire. I believe the date was like, July 7th or 8th. Don't quote me. But it was the second week of July. They were like, we are going to do something about this. And so I told them, I can support this film and I can support the release of this trailer up to this date, because that is the amount of time we are giving Sequoia to respond to these requests. After that date, all bets are off. They put the trailer out before the deadline. I thank them. They were like, movie is cool. The people, the marketing people, like Ibtisam working there. Very cool woman. You know, they got it out. And then I just started to see no change with Sequoia. I didn't see anything else come from Mubi. And I saw that 29 or 39 filmmakers signed a petition, I believe it was Wednesday, and I checked. And most of them, very brave, courageous, like, thank you. That was. That was great. And it was from Filmmakers for Palestine. What I saw, though, was that most of those people had already had their movies out on Mubi. So I did some research. The people who sold films to movie to Mubi at Cannes were not signing, were not petitioning. And as a filmmaker in the trenches, I just understood my position. And I was like, I'm in a position where I can do something that actually may affect some change inside of this company. Because I got a movie coming out. It's one thing to say it after. It's another to say it before. I hit up a few filmmakers that have sold films to movie that are coming out. I hit up a few actors voice, noted them. So to not put pressure. I didn't want to be a dickhead being like, are you supporting? Are you petitioning? I just hit him up. Yo, homie, how are you feeling? I know your politics. I know you got to film a movie. Are you doing anything? No one responded. Cool. Because, like, I get it. Career is very, very important to people. I just was like, dolo. And I was like, I don't know anyone else that's gonna go do this for me, so I just gotta do it. I didn't even tell Natasha. I didn't tell my.

[Ben Barna]

I was gonna ask if you guys had a conversation about that.

[Natasha]

No. I woke up in the morning and.

[Ben Barna]

I went on Instagram.

[Natasha]

I did my. No, truly. Literally, that's what happened. And I was like, all right. Like, that's what the day is. And that is just. That's fine.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

But I feel like when you do something like that, I'm happy you didn't tell me. I wouldn't want to, like, get in your head or have affected you in any way. Like, you just needed to listen to your intuition and do what you needed to do for you.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

And then I think it's cool, like, everybody kind of just like, got behind you after.

[Ben Barna]

And I saw you guys in Toronto last year. So, yeah, this thing has been waiting a year to come out.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

What was the release date supposed to be?

[Eddie Huang]

August 29th. Waited the whole year for this.

[Natasha]

Crazy and truly, just a month out.

[Eddie Huang]

It's my favorite thing I've ever done in my career. Like, my favorite.

[Ben Barna]

More so than Bauhaus.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, I love this film. I love this film. It's dedicated to Tony Bourdain, who just, like, means a lot to me. And, like, you know, a lot of times I'll just ask myself, like, what would Tone do? You know, Like, I mean, for a day when it happened, I just stood in a window. Like, I just put my forehead against the window and, like, found my center and was like, we're not gonna do this film.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And it was interesting because the morning after, I just, you know, the president called me. I got on the phone.

[Ben Barna]

Trump called you?

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, no, no, no, no.

[Natasha]

The president of movie President Donald Trump is here.

[Eddie Huang]

And they were just like, look, we're ceasing all promotion. We are canceling everything and every event. Like the flower shop. We're stopping payment.

[Ben Barna]

That's crazy.

[Eddie Huang]

Payment has not been finished on your film either.

[Ben Barna]

Angry.

[Eddie Huang]

Dude was angry. Yeah, dude was angry. And then was just like, the film will not be on the service, and you can figure out with your producers where you take it and where you go from here.

[Ben Barna]

Was it gonna play in theaters? Like, like, in New York or anything? No, it was just.

[Eddie Huang]

It was gonna do theaters, like, as, like, screenings, like.

[Ben Barna]

Right. Gonna go around. Yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Berlin. London, L.A. mexico City. Mexico City got canceled because they protest in Movie Fest, too. So shout out to them because that. That was, like, the big alarm that went off to the people internally, like, yo, people in Mexico City are, like, really upset with Mubi right now. So, like, shout out to the citizens of Mexico City. They've been protesting a lot of things lately and, like, putting the battery in people's backs. But, you know, so he canceled the film. Then I went online and I made the video, and I was just like, I'm, you know, just deep in this now. Filmmakers for Palestine, hit me up every. Like, if you're an organization, please help me, because now I just need to figure out, like, how we get this movie out. Because the message is very close to, like, the causes people care about right now.

[Ben Barna]

Sure.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And within an hour, it goes crazy. And then the movie, many people sent.

[Ben Barna]

It to me, and I was like, I'm going. I'm going to talk to him about it.

[Natasha]

They're like, I'm literally there tomorrow.

[Eddie Huang]

We did not play. I had no idea. I thought we were going to talk about, like, our love for Internet magazine writing, you know, you and your bro's pizza stuff.

[Natasha]

Yeah, it's.

[Ben Barna]

It's.

[Natasha]

It's.

[Ben Barna]

It's. I. I mean, I've been thinking about it and, like, you know, like, pressing post or whatever must have been, like, a crazy feeling, right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I. Yeah. Not to be corny, but I was definitely, like, shaking.

[Ben Barna]

Shaking.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Even in the video you can see I'm like trying to like catch my breath and stuff. But it's just, it has sometimes has to be done.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I can tell you, like, we've had a successful restaurant, we've had a successful sitcom. None of it made me happy. Like I can sleep at night. I have to be able to say like, I did the right thing. So it's self serving. At the end of the day, I want to be able to go to sleep.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, respect that. I want to see it. You know, I, I, I, I, I lived in Montreal when you could get copies of Vice at Space FB for free. You know, I was reading those do's and don'ts in print like when I was in college and I moved here and you know, lived in Brooklyn and Williamsburg, Greenpoint for a long time. Used to walk by the Vice office and see all those like Emmys in the window and stuff, you know. And also like as somebody who's been in media for 20 years, ish, 18 years. And I moved here in 2008. Like Vice was like at the time Vice was like kind of the gold standard, the holy grail. You know, I was working at like Black Book magazine and the another magazine. But like Vice was always like especially you know, in the, in the 2000 and tens. Yeah, at their peak, it was like that's kind of where you want it to be in a way.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, like that Jesse Pearson era at Vice was peak. And like the fiction issue, like the fiction that was in there is incredible. Like we highlight Ottessa Moshfi's writing in there. Like I think it's one of her first published pieces was in Vice. Like if you look at that era, I feel like 08 to like 2012, 2013 era. I mean some of the greatest writers we have now all came through that.

[Ben Barna]

Max. Yeah. Yeah. And now it's crazy to see what happened to it. I mean to kind of bring it back to like media and stuff. Like, you know, in that era, companies like Vice, those were the companies that were getting all the money. I've worked at, you know, four or five publications now in my time. And print was always the thing that was in danger. And places like Vice and buzzfeed, those were the places that were expanding, exploding, getting all the money. And you know, I've seen like, I've been like witness to many like massacres where it's like the entire print staff will get laid off in one day. And I was always lucky because I always straddle the line between print and digital. So I always got kept on. I was always, like, left there to work digital only while, like, a bunch of my friends, the whole print staff would get just, like, chopped in one day. Um, and so, yeah, now, like. And now working at Interview in Print, you know, now I'm pretty much focused on print. Like, probably 80% and maybe like 20% digital. I weirdly feel print feels, like, safe now, which is like, a crazy thing to say in 2025.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Because if you survived the great massacre of print, like, now you're an anchor of media because there's so few print magazines and people want that quality of Interview. They want the photo shoot. Like, Natasha, I think, used to assist Melzy, right?

[Natasha]

No, I worked at the PR firm upstairs.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, you work. Oh, my bad. Yeah, my bad. I got it.

[Natasha]

They were working together.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna use the Russian. My bad.

[Ben Barna]

I want to ask you guys about, like, I think it's so crazy that you guys came back to New York because, like, as someone who's been here for 18 years, I've seen, like, so many people leave. Like, I feel like I'm kind of like. I mean, like, Last Man Standing vibes, where, like, I have so many friends that have gone. And it's, like, so rare that once people leave New York, they come back. And so, like, when you guys went to LA and, like, so many people have gone to la, part of me is like, you know, am I, like, missing something? Like, is there, like, a better life outside of the city? Eventually, when you get older, maybe. And then, so to see you guys come back, I found very reaffirming. I was like, damn, they came back to New York. I think, sweet.

[Natasha]

I think the thing is, is, well, I mean, I don't think I would have left New York. Like, I think I probably would have stayed. But he was like, you're working in film, you're working in entertainment in some way. You do have to be there. If you're kind of a working director, you kind of need to be able to touch people. But, yeah, it just got to the point where it was like, we're so unhappy here. And I do think that there is a version of LA that is really great and, like, fun and cool for people on the east side that maybe don't work in entertainment. But I think when you're fully enmeshed in the entertainment industry, or as just like the wife of somebody who was fully immeshed in the entertainment industry, I was like, this just isn't great for me.

[Ben Barna]

What neighborhood?

[Natasha]

Great. So we lived in Nichols Canyon. And then for like the last year that we were there, we were on the west side. We were like in Bel Air.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Instagram is so insane because I literally know what your apartment looks like.

[Natasha]

You're like, I know what each of these houses look like. I know though, like, Arcade.

[Ben Barna]

Arcade over there.

[Eddie Huang]

Supreme Mortal Kombat.

[Natasha]

Yeah. But yeah, it just was like isolating. And I think for me, I can't speak for you. The thing about New York that I love is just like you walk outside, you don't know what's going to happen. You run into your homie, you don't. You. You can just go do anything. Everything is kind of just like walking distance away. I'll walk 45 minutes. I don't give a. In LA, especially when we move to Bel Air, you're in your house in this canyon, and then it's 20 minutes to drive to like the main road, essentially, and then another 20, 30, 40 to the thing that you want to do. And then you're in your car by yourself. And then like, maybe you don't even have a conversation with people when you get there. And then you haven't talked to anybody in three days. And then you're like going a little bit insane in your house and things start to get weird. But you have a pool, so that's great. And you have like an erewhon smoothie, but like, you're hearing voices and you're like, oh my God, like, should I kill myself? But this smoothie is so good in the pool and the palm tree and.

[Ben Barna]

It looks nice, you know, especially like, yeah. When you're in your tiny New York apartment in January and you're looking people in L. A, you're like, damn, that looks nice. But it wasn't fire related at all.

[Eddie Huang]

Because I know you definitely fire related, but I also think it's like culture of Hollywood related and really all culminating in a moment now where it was just like, even though you're chilling, drinking a White Russian by the pool, like all day in la, you. You're kind of like waiting for the phone to ring.

[Ben Barna]

Wow.

[Eddie Huang]

And just like when you find your center or just when you're about to do something you really want to do, it'll be like, you gotta go meet this person at the Sunset Tower. Or this person is coming to you right now. Oh, do you have your script ready? Can you send it out? Like, do this? It was just like so many people, I think, want to be writers and directors and actors, that the standard and the kind of. Yeah, the standard in Hollywood is like, if I got something for you that could potentially help your career, I can make you go do it. Right now you got to drop everything, and if you don't. Next guy up. Next girl.

[Natasha]

Hurry up and wait.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, hurry up and wait. And I just feel like not to be corny to talk about agency. I had no agency of my life living there, because it was just whenever your agent or manager or producer or somebody calls actor, you just got to go. And I was like, I love being a writer, director, but I would just like to make it on the merit of my work.

[Ben Barna]

Right.

[Eddie Huang]

And if I can't, I'll go make baus.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

When you made Boogie, like, do you move to LA with, like, this sense of hope? And, like, I made. I got my first feature. Like, nobody gets to do that. You know, this. This thing was in theaters. I saw it in theaters. Like, and then you. You move to LA and you're like, I'm set. Like, you know, you first went in the bank. And then, like, you know, the next. It's like, I'll get another one off the ground for sure, because I already had one. Like, that's how it works. Right? You build on that.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

But then you get there and you realize that's not the case.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I realized because that movie, you know, ended up number four at the box office. Focus Features, first debut, I was. Yeah, it was. It worked. And, like, we broke records with the trailer. But I think the thing with me was that with your career progression, each project you make is supposed to make other people more money. Like your culture should. Your. Your work should get broader each time. And my thinking was, all right, one for you, one for me.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And the film that I wanted to go up after Boogie is a film called Tuna Melt that, like, I remember reading about that Chloe Cherry was attached to. Like, actors love that.

[Ben Barna]

I read that on Deadline.

[Natasha]

Incredible film. It's an incredible screenplay. It's truly not, because you're my husband. One of the best screenplays. I mean, just like, you could put it up as a novel and it would still be, like, the best novel I've ever read. It's an incredible piece of work. It's Hand of God, I tell you. I'm like, that's the best you've ever written.

[Eddie Huang]

Thank you.

[Ben Barna]

I wish my wife said things like that to me.

[Natasha]

Something transmuted through you. That piece of work that anybody who reads it, any actor, any agent, and it's Just. It's special.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, the core of it was the feeling. Like, I wrote about in 2016, like, early. Me too. I went on a ski trip with my homie. We were 15, and a dude from the church just came in and did some foul shit in our hotel room while we were, like, trying to go to sleep. Just read the Bible in front of my face with his dick hard for, like, 15 minutes. And it's just like, I had my first panic attack. And it came from that feeling. There's a core scene in that film where there's a kid in a situation like me. But with fiction, what you get to do is you do what you wish you did in the moment or something. Something close. Character bites dude's dick off and spits it out and then feeds it to an alligator. And it is the crucial scene of the film. There's no film without this kid biting the alligator man's dick off. And every single note we got was like, yo, incredible script, fire cast, great producer. Like, can you not have him bite the dick off? I was like, there is no film without it. Which I just took a stand. Like, I always take a stand. And so that film has not.

[Natasha]

Which, by the way, we've seen crazier things in film. Like, somebody biting somebody's dick off really does not feel that wild to me.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Midnight Express. Tongue gets bit off in a Turkish show.

[Natasha]

I can think of five other things off the top of my head where I'm like, that was foul. And just truly even.

[Eddie Huang]

Just like, yeah, the Gimp and Pulp Fiction.

[Natasha]

Yeah, of course.

[Ben Barna]

Of course. Yeah. There's lots of examples.

[Eddie Huang]

And that's the cinema we love and remember.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I'm just like, cinema is just not the place to fight anymore, I feel. And it used to want to take in the 90s.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, that shit was fire. Like, that's the type of film I want. I want to see a kid by the Alligator Man's dick.

[Natasha]

I do, too.

[Eddie Huang]

So. And I just refuse to make the film without that scene. So it's been tough, but shout out my. Like, those producers have stuck with it, and it keeps picking up producers.

[Natasha]

Like, right.

[Eddie Huang]

Alex Coco with anora. Like, is like, I'm down, you know? So I'm just trying to pile the people on and, like, stack the deck so that people, like, there are enough trustworthy, great filmmaking people on this, so you get to make. It just hasn't happened yet.

[Ben Barna]

But how did the fires send you guys back here? Like, what was that about?

[Natasha]

So our house was fine. Well, we were living in a house, doing. Planning to put it on the market, so doing, like, some light renovations. So we were renting, and we were close to the Palisades, and just day of, we started seeing, like, smoke plume in the mountains simultaneously, like, watching the news, and there's a guy who's like, I was a firefighter, and if you start to see the smoke bloom and, like, a vertical. Get out of your house. And we would just looked at each other, and we were like, all right. We, like, grabbed what we could, packed our car with our dog, and our son drove to Palm Springs. And just like, never. I never. Our son and I never returned. He went back.

[Ben Barna]

You never went back to your house?

[Natasha]

I never saw that house again.

[Ben Barna]

That's crazy.

[Natasha]

Yeah. So it was. It was wild. I mean, we were, like, living in Airbnbs for almost a little over a month. Then I flew back with our son to Boston, and we just won. We just were kind of in this purgatory of, like, what are we gonna do? We don't really necessarily have the money to move back to New York and, like, rent this house and renovate our other house. And, like, there was just so many things to pay for, but we were like, fuck it. Like, we're just gonna make the sacrifice really, really for our son.

[Eddie Huang]

Just knowing kids on the block got super sick. Yeah, they did.

[Natasha]

We were talking to other parents, and their kids were similar ages, and they were getting, like, RSV and upper respiratory infections, ear infections. And I think both of us just kind of looked at each other and we were like, okay, this is not a regular fire. A lot of houses, a lot of old houses. We were, like, kind of listening to what people are saying. Like, asbestos is in the air. Tesla batteries, like, car batteries are burning. Like, this is not good. And I think we'll kind of see. I hope not. I don't even like saying this, but kind of see the effects of, like, post 9 11, people said, it's fine. You'll be fine. And then, you know, 10, 15 years later, people are coming out, they're sick. I was like, if we can just sacrifice right now and, like, have the peace of mind, literally, best case scenario, it's cool, the air is fine. Nobody has to worry about it. But I was like, worst case scenario, like, we're going to feel like we did the right thing for our son.

[Ben Barna]

You guys are all about doing the right thing, really, for, like, our kid.

[Natasha]

It's so funny. Like, not to be corny, but you have a kid and you're like, I have to move different. It's not just me. Like, I don't give a fuck about me. I would have gone back to our house and been like, cool, I don't give a shit. But you have this, like, life and just so innocent. There's nothing they can do.

[Ben Barna]

That's why I'm never going to have a child.

[Natasha]

So, I mean, it's the most beautiful. Yeah. You'll never relax again. You'll never just be like, oh, this is so like you. You always are, like, stressed about something. But yeah. Yeah. So we. We did for that. I mean, we were toying with the idea for a while, but it was New York, too.

[Ben Barna]

I see you with New York City and I met you here, like 2014 or something.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

It's like this is home, obviously, right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Like, I just think that it's never, like, one thing. I think anytime, like, someone writes a book or something is, like, one thing. It's like, it's always like, so many combinations of factors. But when the fire happened, it was just like, this is a sign going home, you know? And I knew my career would take a hit and be harder to do Hollywood business, but it's just like. It's just not as important.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

We got other things.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. And now you got the restaurant thing going, which I'm reading, by the way. Yeah, I'm enjoying that.

[Eddie Huang]

I can't wait for you to come eat.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. But I'm. I'm enjoying your. Your diaries for. For Vulture.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, thank you.

[Ben Barna]

I mean, for a grub street.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. That's been really fun. Yeah. Curbed. Curbed New York Mag. Curb.

[Ben Barna]

My friend owns Black Seed. And you. Your last one was like.

[Eddie Huang]

Was Cho Zach.

[Ben Barna]

Noah Bernamoff.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, word, Word.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, he started my land deli back in the day. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Incredible. Montreal. Like pastrami.

[Ben Barna]

Yes. And now he owns Black Seed. And like, that was their first location. The one that you talked about in that. In that thing.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I know Noah from the Mile End days.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I didn't know he owned Black Seed with.

[Ben Barna]

With. With Matt Kligman who owns, like, the Smile and all that.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, my God. I didn't know Matt from. Yeah, man, I just saw Carlos at Level Door last week. They're not mad, are they? Are they?

[Ben Barna]

I haven't spoken to them. I don't. I don't. Like you said, they have 10 locations. Yeah, I talked to know about. About Apollo. Like, I had dinner with him like, a couple months ago, and I was like, so, like, what do you think about Apollo? Are they, like, coming for the crown?

[Eddie Huang]

I didn't know was Montreal Jewish food beef, because the sourdough thing kind of is a Montreal thing too.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

So ill. Yeah. I didn't know Shout Out Matt, we saw him at goldeneye. That's. That's Matt that we.

[Ben Barna]

What's goldeneye?

[Eddie Huang]

The Jamaican resort place. Winter.

[Ben Barna]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

But Matt was out there. I've known Matt forever. We used to throw those parties at Westway with Simonez.

[Ben Barna]

Right, right. So, man, I remember those.

[Eddie Huang]

It's such a small family in New York that I love.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially in the restaurant scene, I'm sure.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm like, yeah, it's like party boy to restaurant, you know, like, Pipeline is. Is cool.

[Ben Barna]

Yes, I love it. Yes, yes, yes.

[Eddie Huang]

Damn, they're good dudes. I love those guys. I had no idea.

[Ben Barna]

Did you get that location? Are you gonna do that? That deli location? Yummy.

[Eddie Huang]

Or we put a loi out.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. What is loi or that?

[Eddie Huang]

Thank you. Thank you. But no, we. There's been so much interest since we started writing that column for New York magazine that literally every week some landlord is calling, like, I got something for you. So there are some crazy, like, iconic places that have been offered that I will tell you offline.

[Ben Barna]

Yes, we will.

[Eddie Huang]

We will stay on the pod when it happens. But it's. I can definitively say will not go to Yummy Hive on second, but it's deal will be made in the next couple.

[Ben Barna]

I like the idea of taking over, like, an iconic spot, you know, spot that's been closed down or whatever, and, like, taking that over and opening something great there.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Well, I'd love to know your idea, actually, after you eat. But even before then, I will say this. My favorite type of restaurant is Rao's B.

[Ben Barna]

I know you had Emilio on here.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Lucienne. Where it's like, okay, there's. It just starts off as home cooking for people in the neighborhood and, like your fam. Then, you know, you have the moment where it's, like, trending and viral or whatever. And then you get through that and it's just like an establishment. And I'm looking at it long, and that's the type of restaurant I want to build.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Eddie Huang]

And build towards. But, like, there hasn't been a Chinese restaurant like that.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Not. Not off the top of my head. I mean, there's like a bunch of places now that like. Like, you know, place like Wu Wanton King is like incredible. Yeah, Incredible.

[Eddie Huang]

And like that's an establishment.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's good. Like I mean it's very, very good. I think like in like 10, 20 years it's going to be like a real, real like legendary spot.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Noodle Town.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah. Noodle Town is, is.

[Eddie Huang]

I think the thing is doing it as a Roman like combining being an iconic Chinese restaurant with romance. I feel like only chows in London did that. For real, for real.

[Ben Barna]

Okay, totally.

[Natasha]

So I think the thing about who's Wanton King and Noodle Town are they're great and they are that. But to sit and have like a romantic dinner or just to feel the. I guess I don't want to put.

[Eddie Huang]

Your foot in my mouth after you're in an open toed sandal in that restaurant.

[Natasha]

Yeah. Arguably I don't think I would want the restaurant to feel like you could put my foot in your mouth right here. That's what I'm saying. We don't even have to go home. It can happen right here.

[Eddie Huang]

You gotta feel that romance. For sure.

[Ben Barna]

For sure. I also tried going to Wuz on Saturday and it was like 8pm and we walk in and there's about like 14 girls like you know, dressed up, about to go out and they're there like just crowding the front entrance. And I walked right out, was like what the is going on with this place?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, it's too much. I need a little.

[Ben Barna]

It's good for lunch, but I don't know, Saturday night dinner. I felt like just overwhelmed.

[Natasha]

Just walking.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. China Chalet was legendary. I like that. But that was more of a club. You rarely ate there.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

So I just feel like there's this, this white space for a romantic Chinese restaurant built to last 100 years.

[Ben Barna]

There's a new, there's this new spot lays like lay. It's a wine bar on, on.

[Natasha]

Oh, I've seen this.

[Eddie Huang]

How is it?

[Ben Barna]

I don't know but a lot of people are talking about it. Yeah, it's great.

[Eddie Huang]

One of the best in Chinatown.

[Ben Barna]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So if you can open up there, you're lucky.

[Natasha]

Yeah. There's so much like exciting stuff happening.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Natasha]

And food right now.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Where you've been eating lately?

[Ben Barna]

I mean I went to Bangkok Supper Club on, on Hudson Street a few weeks ago for the. They have a new like tasting menu. Just Thai food. Are you familiar with it? Bangkok Supper Club.

[Eddie Huang]

I've heard of.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Yeah, that was excellent. Then I went to J.R. and Son in, in Williamsburg, which is like. Again, it's like, it's very much like, I think, like, it's very trendy right now to do the sort of like, you know, my brother did it in Toronto. It's kind of like a play on, like, a red sauce joint. I mean, this place, J.R. and son, they took over, like a old Italian social club that's been there for, like, 60 years and basically modernized. It kept a lot of the same decorations, you know, red leather booths, very, very dark, and then just like a lot of, like, classic, like, red sauce staples. And that was like, very good. So. Yeah. And then, you know, I like, love to go to restaurants. And it's very, very overwhelming in New York because There's like, literally 20 places opening each week. And I'm like. I'm one of those people that follows the food scene very closely. Like, I'm checking Eater, like, a couple times a day. It's like my procrastination. I'm like, just a refresh eater. I'm like, any new openings that I won't go to?

[Eddie Huang]

I love this. You are on it.

[Ben Barna]

It's. I'm checking it all the time. And like, you know, even just in the last week, this new place, Chateau Royale opened, which is the guys who do libertine.

[Eddie Huang]

They just opened this, like, second story.

[Ben Barna]

And then Bartolo opened.

[Eddie Huang]

I think there's a $35 beggar's purse there. I saw. I'm also chronically on food blogs.

[Ben Barna]

You are, right. Yeah. I mean, to me, it's like, there's Grub street, there's Eater. You know, I'll check Infatuation, then I'll look at Green Pointers because I live there. So it's like, more local. But yeah, there's this place, Bartolo. That's Bartolo that just opened up. And it's like Old world Spanish. Spanish, yeah. And I think, like, that's what everyone's going for now. It's like, yes, like, historical, old school, old world vibes. Like, everyone's seems like that's the trend that everyone's chasing. And I do love that. Yeah. But, yeah, I don't go out to eat as much as I would like to, given how much I. How much interest I have in, like, restaurants here. Because it is overwhelming. There's so many new spots. You can't. You can't keep up. I mean, there's so many spots that have been open forever that I still haven't gone to. The Vaude Door is somewhere that I would love to go to.

[Eddie Huang]

We should Go together. You would be so fun to go with because you would appreciate it. And I like that people want to do Old World. Like, I like it. There is never enough. And the thing is, is that the ones that really want to do it are the only ones that will succeed. Because going Old World means the path to success. 5 years, 10 years, 50 years, 100 years is saying no. And most people.

[Ben Barna]

What do you mean by that?

[Eddie Huang]

Because I think to truly in your bones execute an Old World restaurant, you have to resist frivolous change. And if you are a person owning a restaurant that is more focused on bottom line or keeping up, like, you're going to be tempted and you will make a mistake, and then you will lose your restaurant.

[Ben Barna]

Right.

[Eddie Huang]

The margins are so thin.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

It's the people that hold out. Like Emilio from Bellottos. I just love him so much. He says no to, like, friends that want to go there, you know, like, you just have to say no. And people like, what a dick. He didn't respond to me. And it's like, no. Like, he is in the business of saying no.

[Ben Barna]

Right.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, and, like, I'm very curious to see which of these Old World restaurants will make it. Yeah, I have a gut instinct, but, like, you're in the business of saying no when you commit to the Old World.

[Ben Barna]

Yes. Well, one of my favorite places is Sevilla in the West Village, which is a Spanish restaurant that's been there for a long time. And it feels like it looks like it. I think it's like, I'm shocked that it hasn't been discovered by, like, the Tick Tock hordes because, like, they've, you know, it's that. That has ruined a lot of places. Like, even, like Bemelmann's is that there's a lineup to get in now where that wasn't the case before the pandemic. Sevilla in the West Village, like, very much feels like stepping into, like, a Spanish taverno that's been in Madrid for, like, 60 years, and you can still get a table there. You know, the servers are these older Spanish men wearing, like, red tuxes. And it's got that great vibe, great sangria, and it's, like, still, you know, manageable. Like, it hasn't been, like, discovered. But I feel, for whatever reason, because it's literally in the heart of, like, the worst parts of the West Village.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Because there are those restaurants like, that are. They're. They're like, we're presenting Old World, but we want that customer. I don't think that work, because that customer doesn't fit in that restaurant and doing the goofy stuff like, I don't want to go there. You don't want to go there. Like, it's. It very much. I would say the old world restaurant is, like, working in print. Like, if. If there's a trend to go to print now, do you think a lot of people would be successful?

[Ben Barna]

No.

[Eddie Huang]

Because you got to say no to things.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but a lot of print is coming back. Like, even places that I. That I've worked at. Like, Nylon, you know, I was at Nylon for a few years. I was there when they shut down the print publication. A lot of people got fired. And then it was bought in a. Bought, like, a couple years ago by. By. By Brian Goldberg, who is the owner of Bustle Digital Group. He owns Bustle. That whole thing. And I worked there for. I don't know if you guys know this, but this is kind of like, I'm ashamed of. I worked at the Zombie Gawker for, like, seven months, kind of against my will, because I had to take the job at the time, because I was at interview in 2018 when it went bankrupt. And I'm Canadian, and I was applying for a new work visa at the time through Interview, and then they suddenly went bankrupt, and I lost my visa application. So suddenly I had, like, zero. Like, just like that. I had zero status in this country, and I was panicking, and I, like, met with a bunch of immigration lawyers, and I was dating an American girl at the time for about a year or so. And I kept asking these lawyers, what are my options? Like, how can I stay in New York? Like, I don't want. I can't go back to Canada. I've been here for 12 years or whatever. And they kept saying, you could do this, you could do this, you could do this. But if we're being honest with you, your best chance is to marry that American girlfriend. And so I went to visit her in Nashville, where she was there for a job, and I told her, and we got married like, a week later.

[Eddie Huang]

Ew. Shout out her.

[Natasha]

I love that.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Yeah. And then, so. But basically what happened was, so I went through the green card application process, which is very, very long, very expensive, and I wasn't able to work for, like, at least a year. And in that time, Interview relaunched and without me because I wasn't able to work. And so then I didn't work for, like, eight or nine months. And, like, you know, I didn't get a paycheck for that entire Time. And then a person who I knew from back in, like, the New York media days, in, like, 2009, 10, she was hired by Brian Goldberg to relaunch Zombie Gawker. And she hit me up and she's like, do you want to be a part of this? And, like, my instant reaction was absolutely fucking not. Like, I don't belong there. I don't really believe in this endeavor. But, like, you're offering me a good salary, probably the best salary I've had at that point. And so I took the job and then we went there and I suddenly, like, you know, at that point, I'd only worked at independent publications, where you walk in and it's like a nice, cool, small office, hardwood floors. It's not really corporate. I took the job and I went to the Bustle headquarters on, like, 24th street, and it was like a real office. They own multiple publications. Bustle Mike.com, they bought, like, Brian Goldberg was buying up, like, a lot of sort of, like, publications that were, like, on their last legs. And he bought them and, like, tried to incorporate them into the Bustle Digital group. So he had a bunch of publications. And I went there and within, like. And I was like, never into it, but within, like, two weeks of being there. The first former Gawker writers who were working at a website called Splinter at the time, they found all these. The old tweets from this person who was in charge of the new Gawker. She had posted a bunch of offensive jokes in 2010, 2011, on Twitter when it was way more of the wild West. I'm not justifying or anything, but it was anti Asian jokes, things like that. Just a bunch of shit. And immediately, like, it was based. They just basically torpedoed the entire relaunch.

[Natasha]

And she saw is the old tweets. Yeah, just delete your Twitter.

[Ben Barna]

Pardon.

[Eddie Huang]

Was it Tracy?

[Ben Barna]

No, no.

[Natasha]

There's so many.

[Ben Barna]

Google.

[Natasha]

There's so many racist old tweets. Yeah, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

And so. And so. And so we were. So everyone working at Gawker could no longer be in the Bustle offices because, like, everyone was just like, fuck this person. Fuck them. So then we got. I'm saying this.

[Eddie Huang]

That was your Sequoia.

[Ben Barna]

I stayed on for a few months. Like, basically we went to Noya House, and I stayed on for a couple months being like, what do I do? I really need this paycheck. I haven't worked in a long time. And then eventually, like, I got lucky and my old. A job at Interview opened up and I went Back there, and then I've been back there for six months or six years, so. Or even maybe seven years now. So it was like a very, very. That was like, a very weird experience in my life that, like, almost seems like it didn't happen. But, yeah, now I'm here and I've got a green card and a beautiful wife.

[Natasha]

And you guys are still married, right?

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

Beautiful word.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, it worked out.

[Ben Barna]

Eight years, bro. Yeah, we lived together.

[Natasha]

Congrats.

[Eddie Huang]

I thought it was just like a. No, no, no.

[Ben Barna]

I honestly wouldn't. I wouldn't have done it if it was for convenience. I honestly think I would have rather gone back to Canada. I was very sure of this relationship and this person that had, like, made sense to me, and so I was able to do it and, like, feel good about it as opposed to just like, let's get married. I'll get the green card and I'll bounce. Like, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have done that. I think I would have just gone back. Back home. But, yeah, so. So that's like. Yeah, that was a crazy time. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

That's incredible.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Yeah, it's. It's. I. I have. I have told that story probably 100 times. Never on camera there, but, yeah, well.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, Natasha married me because she was pregnant and was like, you know, I'm not so sure of him, but I am pregnant with him, so we.

[Natasha]

Should do, like, let's. Let's keep this family together. I come from a broken home. I don't want that for my son, you know?

[Ben Barna]

But. Yeah, but. But. But that. But to bring it all back to Bustle, they bought nylon, so, like, there was a lot of print. I feel like coming back, like, IP just came back from the dead. And it's good. Like, you know, technically, like, these places are our competition, but I think, like, a rising tide sort of lifts all boats. So, like, I'm just happy to see that there's, like, a print renaissance happening at the moment. I have no idea who reads Interview magazine in print. You know what I mean? I don't know who's picking it up. It's a very strange thing to make something and people on Mulberry Street. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's where I see it. Like, honestly, that's the only place I see it physically in the world is at my brother's restaurant in Toronto because he's generous enough to put up a copy of each of our issues, and then I see it on newsstands downtown, and then I've Seen it, like, in Milan, which is, like, very cool. Seeing it overseas is, like, very cool on newsstands, like in Paris, Milan. But, like, it's not the kind of thing where you're, like, seeing somebody, like, reading on the subway. So it's like you're making this print publication and it's like a physical thing. But, like, I don't know how it's being consumed or who's consuming it or where or how are they flipping through it? Are they, like, sitting down, reading all the articles? So it's like a very strange thing. You're kind of, like, working into the void in that way. Like, most of the feedback we get is, like, on social media. You know what I mean? Like, in terms of comments and likes and things like that. So, you know, but people seem to, like, you know, when people say, I love Interview, I'm like, you know, I'm always, like, thinking, do you love the print product? Do you love, like, what? Do you love the Instagram. Instagram account? I mean, just the weird thing about making print in 2025, you're like, you don't really. It's being consumed multiple ways. And, you know, I'm sure most people are consuming it on their phones, obviously.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, that's just consuming phones. Funny enough, I will read Interview on my laptop computer.

[Ben Barna]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Because I like to see the whole photo. And the place where I do, like, print is, like, in a. In a, like, business. Like, if you're sitting in the waiting room. I like when they have a magazine that is nice.

[Ben Barna]

Some hotels and stuff like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Hotels, branded agencies. That's where I think magazine magazines really do well as an artifact in people's homes. It is cool.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

If, like, for instance, like, Emil Haney, right, great producer, has a great home. He usually has, like, great magazines in the house. And I'm like, that's a feature of the home.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

You know, like a Dover street market, like, in their cafe, things like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Coffee shops, I think really should be buying more magazines because, like, it's just nice to flip through.

[Ben Barna]

Exactly.

[Natasha]

But I do think, like, the pendulum always swings, right? And I do think people are seeking out more physical content. And, like, because you're on your phone all day, whether you're working or whatever you're doing. Yeah. And I think even me, sometimes I just get fatigued. I'm like, I don't want to fucking stare at my phone anymore. Like, I do want to read a magazine. I do want to. I also feel like you're. Sometimes you feel like a hamster. On the wheel, on your phone. Even if it is Instagram, even if you do unfollow everything and you're just following interview and things that feed you culturally. It doesn't feel the same as when I read a magazine, even an old magazine just in my hand. I feel like I'm actually like taking it in. And I do think there'll be a shift to people. People are hungry for that.

[Eddie Huang]

You know what is corny too is the people that use them as props. Like, you'll see somebody at Clandestino with like a copy of like Ulysses.

[Ben Barna]

That's very funny.

[Eddie Huang]

Right?

[Natasha]

Like that performative literature.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, oh, that's like the magazine is part of my fit.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Because I think the best thing we saw was a dude writing. He was fully like doing calligraphy and like an old, like it looked like it was like a bible. Like I was like, where the. Where did you get this beat book with these like water, like worn pages and he's like writing a novel in there. And I was like, this is peak performance performance.

[Ben Barna]

Thing with our magazine is that it's so big that like seeing somebody like sitting at a bar reading it would just look very strange.

[Natasha]

Yeah. Which I kind of love.

[Eddie Huang]

It's more like girl crossing the street with the magazine under her arm, flowers.

[Ben Barna]

You can't even like put it in a purse, like.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Fold it up like, it's like, it's pretty. It's pretty large.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

But yeah, it's also like cool. It could be cool as like, like a collector's item one day. Like a time capsule. I mean, we have the Entire archive since 1969, every issue in our office. And like flipping through those old issues is like a very incredible thing. You're like seeing articles on like, like a 25 year old Steven Spielberg, like when he made Jaws, you know, and like from like 1975 or whatever it was.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

So hopefully like, you know, in 20 years or whatever, the issues that we're making now are going to be a time capsule of this era right now.

[Eddie Huang]

That we're living through also.

[Natasha]

Oh, I was just gonna say people. I think it's just such a good gift. Like people gift books all the time. I would also love, like, subscribe.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

As a gift, I would love to receive a magazine every month of the year. Like, that's such a good gift. I don't think. I think we knew that for so long and then you like move away from the things that are just obvious and it's like, okay, let's let's bring that back. I would like to receive that gift.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, that was one of the best gifts I got, was somebody got me, like a New Yorker subscription back in the day before I, like, read a lot. Yeah, I'll say. The things I like about interviewer 1. Photography is incredible. I'm like, I'm a fan of photography, and there's just very few places to peep great photography besides, like, fine art these days. Because the stuff on your phone is. It's, It's. It's. It's not the best.

[Ben Barna]

No.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, and then I do think, too, it's the curation and the selection of the voices and characters.

[Ben Barna]

That's the top. That's the top thing that we do there. I mean, that's like, probably like at the heart of what we do is the curation, especially. Yeah, yeah, Literally. Especially. Especially in print, because first of all, we only have six issues a year, and we have 100 and something pages, usually about maybe 15, 16 stories. So it's all about the mix of. The mix of people in each. In each issue is like, paramount. And then. And then the curation, because it's very much a finite space for each issue and there's only six issues. So it's like, you know, we spend, you know, hours and hours and hours trying to find that perfect balance.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, what you do is like, what the homies, the creative director homies at supreme used to do, which is like, who's on the T this year? And, like, I think that's what print is becoming. And it's like a big deal. Like, yo, you got Buju Banton this year. You know, and, you know, I. I also think that the format, the. The one specific format in interview of artists interviewing artists, it's just like, unstoppable.

[Ben Barna]

And it's being done everywhere now. And I can't be mad at it because, like, we. I mean, I don't think Andy Warhol, like, invented it. Maybe. Maybe he did, but, like, it is definitely being done everywhere now. And, like, I see it and, like, it kind of makes my blood boil a little bit. Especially, like, a lot of places are, like, putting it on the COVID like, so and so by so and so.

[Eddie Huang]

And no, it's corny because it is your format. Like, I did one, it was me and Young Jeezy for paper, and I had to do it because it was jizzle. And I was just like, bro, that. That's my man's. Like, me and Jeezy interviewing each other. And then we became homies. But no, we sharp bit interview and. But I think interview was dead at that time because it was like possible 2015, where it was 2015.

[Ben Barna]

It was alive. I mean it went through like it was, it was, it was alive. I think it was only dead dead like for about a year. Like in 2018. Oh, maybe even less than a year. But you know, I mean, definitely sharp bit it.

[Eddie Huang]

And I think that's foul because honestly, everyone's doing it.

[Ben Barna]

Everyone's doing.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I like when it.

[Ben Barna]

It's like magazine is doing it. Like I'm seeing it everywhere. But.

[Eddie Huang]

And you know, but that's like not samurai because like real like chefs, right? If I see you do this move, I'm not gonna do that same move. Like that's your move. You did it. And that's like the samurai respect for each other. That's where things get fucked up and go to dies when everyone's like, no one's gonna catch me. No one's gonna say anything. Let me shark bite this. But it belongs in interview. That is the core of the magazine.

[Ben Barna]

It is the core of the magazine. It's very, it's very fun to do, especially as an editor because you don't have any control of where the conversation's gonna go. And sometimes that can bite you in the ass too. Cause you let two people talk, it can be incredible or sometimes it can be really boring. We've had, I'm not gonna say who it was, but a cover story probably the last year, and the two people did the interview and they realized it was so bad that they requested a do over and they did it. And it wasn't even great the second time. So we ended up stitching the two together. But. But it is like a totally unpredictable thing. You know, they have like an hour on Zoom. You know, we're happy to provide the interviewer with like suggested sample questions. It's up to them if they use it or not. Most of the time they don't. But it's totally unpredictable. And you know, it's our job to sort of shape the conversation a little bit because obviously it's a limited amount of space. So like, if they talk for an hour, the transcripts we get back is probably going to be about 10,000 words. And our job is to make it 3,000 words, choose the best parts and kind of shape it and you know, leave a lot on the cutting room floor, but still keep the essence of the convo. But yeah, it's a very fun format to work in as an editor and we Try to do other things, too. I think sometimes we do rely on that format a lot, but we definitely have other things that we do online and in print. But, yeah, that is definitely, like, absolutely the core of what we do. And, like, you can go back to the 70s and see, like, you know, Andy Warhol used to do a lot himself, just like, throw his tape recorder on there. Bob Colicello. But, yeah, Interview's been doing it for decades now. You know what I mean?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. It's like Hollywood people will jack formats because it's easy to jack a format, but the sensibility of, like, core downtown New York through the lens of fashion and art, that. That's what Interview is. That's hard to jack because you got to be part of it and you got to know it and you got to nail it. The other one I love is, like, sneeze, but sneeze is coming at it through, like, skate, you know, and like, downtown. It's like all our friends, but, like Tomskins Park.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, and so I like when there's a magazine that you can see the very clear vision of it.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Eddie Huang]

And, I mean, there's more magazines coming back. Everyone's launching Instagram magazines, real magazines.

[Ben Barna]

So many magazines coming back. I'm seeing it all the time. Everyone says print is dead, and. And to an extent like, that, there's a truth in that. But if you walk into, like, iconic magazines on Mulberry street, There's literally, like, 500 publications I haven't heard of. 480 of them. You know what I mean? It's actually crazy.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

But also, the thing about this, the sort of talent on talent interview is, like, that's being done in the podcast space now a lot.

[Natasha]

Like, totally. Actors with actors with actors or something. I watch it all the time. Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Like crazy. You know, Amy Poehler's got her podcast. She's interviewing her friends. Yeah. It's happening everywhere. 824 does it. You know, and a lot of people have asked us why we don't have a podcast. It's literally like. And we have talked about it. Part of me, like, one of the frustrating things about editing the conversations is I wish people could hear the raw audio because it's the best. Because you cannot, like, in print, capture the sort of, like, cadences and the laughter and that, like, chemistry that the two people have. It just, you know, as much as you try. Doesn't come through in print as it does on the. I don't know. And I'm. And I'm like, blessed to be able to hear the actual conversations. And they're incredible. And like, sometimes I just wish, like, we could just release this, like, on Spotify, like, two months later. And, you know, I'm sure if we, like, there's a world in which we could potentially negotiate that with the publicist. But, like, you know, the, the, the, the assumption is that it's, it's just for print only. So, like, we haven't thought of, we haven't tried to do that, but maybe one day. But we literally have, like, on our Dropbox, like a treasure trove of audio files with, like, incredible conversations between, like, the most famous people in the world. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's cool.

[Eddie Huang]

The interview. Interview pod. I know, but just in your ears. Non visual, I think is hard.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, that would be fly.

[Ben Barna]

I know.

[Eddie Huang]

I think if you did video. Corny. Not because of interview, but, like, because everybody's corny now. But I think just audio and that.

[Ben Barna]

Is, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't watch video podcasts. I mean, a lot. You know, I listen to a lot of ringer podcasts. They just got into video. But, like, I know you guys are doing video, but, like, do you guys have like, like, data? And I've heard that, like video reels.

[Eddie Huang]

Right. Like, I don't watch the video. I listen it to it in the ears and the itunes.

[Ben Barna]

That's right.

[Eddie Huang]

Because it's more fly to me to, like, listen to people. It's gentler.

[Ben Barna]

And you also get to do stuff. Wash the dishes, work out.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. That's the beauty of it, like, staring at us, talking with like, a bottle of aquapana. It's just like, what, looking at, you know, like, I don't, like, need to look at it. I just want to hear, so. But we do it for reals.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, you do it for reals. Of course. That, that I, I, I actually knew that when I asked the question. That absolutely makes sense. Because that's, Yeah. I mean, I, I see your podcast all the time and it's on reels. Yeah. On Instagram. Yeah. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

That's the way people just watch it now. And like, I wish they'd listen to.

[Natasha]

The full convos, but I, I'm a watcher podcast.

[Ben Barna]

Oh, right.

[Natasha]

Yeah. Sometimes there are certain people that, like, I watch their shit because I, I just fudge with them.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Like, if I have whatever it is, like, I won't watch the whole thing, but if I have a couple of minutes, I'll be like, yeah, I'll watch it. Yeah, that's how I'll consume.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, it's cool to like, especially after listening to somebody for so long when they pivot to video, it's like, oh, I can now see them. And like, you know, I listen to my podcast on 1.6 speed. Like a psycho.

[Eddie Huang]

Psycho.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Yeah. Because like I said, I'm a listen to a lot of podcasts.

[Natasha]

I like to speed it up if.

[Ben Barna]

I'm listening NBA stuff, you know, new stuff.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, we're gonna eat and watch NBA.

[Ben Barna]

Nicks, you're excited, right?

[Eddie Huang]

You have to excited. I think it's gonna Nick's thunder, you know, like, let's go.

[Ben Barna]

They have the Knicks are. Are, I guess, like the second best odds to win the title right now.

[Eddie Huang]

I've never seen this in my life.

[Natasha]

They're gonna take it. 20, 26. They're gonna take it.

[Ben Barna]

It's crazy.

[Eddie Huang]

It's crazy, you know, but yo, I just wanted to give you a friendly because she told me you had a heart out. It is two. It's past two.

[Ben Barna]

It's past two.

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, I just want to give.

[Ben Barna]

You friendly to make a phone call by 2:30. That's it.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, fantastic. We could talk to you all day.

[Natasha]

But.

[Ben Barna]

But what's. What's. What's your. What's your, like, Nick's vibe? Like, are you going to games? Do you have, like, do you have. Do you have a plug at msg?

[Eddie Huang]

We have a plug at msg. They usually seat me on the floor for Chinese New Year. And then, you know, I have friends that have really good seats that offer like, Ronnie F. Hit me up and was like, yo, we're gonna go there. I was like, yo, let's go, Ronnie. Like, Ronnie got the best Sean seats. But no, I actually like watching on the couch alone with my weighted vest on.

[Ben Barna]

I know.

[Eddie Huang]

And our son.

[Ben Barna]

I know this.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Because I follow you on Instagram.

[Eddie Huang]

Thank you, brother. No, because I. I need to walk around, I need to like, yell into the corner. And I do feel since the Knicks got hot, like, I'd say two years ago, the crowd at MSG is different. It's a little different. I. I used to love it when we were just such a losers and go like, watch Jamal Crawford. Yeah, that was cool. But there is this feeling now. And the only thing I can relate it to is like, Fenway, when the Red Sox are good, everyone at Fenway, when the Red Sox are good, are competing like, oh, who's going to have the better day to day. Oh, I know this stat. And you know that side. Who's better against lefties? The Garden is kind of like that now when you sit there and, like, there's people that are like, oh, I've been here for seven games. I've been here for 20. Like, I know more than you. And I was just like, I don't care.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I just want to watch my guys. And so I love watching at home.

[Natasha]

Yeah, we should matinee, though.

[Ben Barna]

Well, speaking of sports watching, the last time I saw you, I did not say hi because you were. You were. It was the Commanders. It was in September, so it was just a regular season game, I guess. Oh, my God.

[Natasha]

Were you at Hooters?

[Ben Barna]

Hooters?

[Natasha]

Were you there?

[Eddie Huang]

You weren't there.

[Ben Barna]

I was there with my friends.

[Eddie Huang]

Hooters and Toronto.

[Ben Barna]

I saw Eddie. I didn't see you, but I saw Eddie sitting there by himself. So. Locked in with just a fucking pile of Hooters wings.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

And I was like, I'm not bothering this guy. He's sitting by himself. He's got a break. You're just by. I know you've been, like, doing press. You're alone. I'm not gonna bother you.

[Natasha]

But, like, I was just, like, so funny.

[Ben Barna]

That guy's in heaven right now, bro.

[Eddie Huang]

I love you. That is me. That is my happy place.

[Ben Barna]

I could tell.

[Eddie Huang]

I could tell sports.

[Ben Barna]

I could tell.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm the simple man.

[Ben Barna]

I know. Are you. You must be very sad about Scary Terry, bro.

[Eddie Huang]

This has been the worst. Literally, yesterday, the movie thing happened, and then Terry's, like, requesting the train.

[Natasha]

I was just like, oh, no. That's probably more devastating to him, if I'm being honest.

[Eddie Huang]

She's.

[Ben Barna]

She. That's crazy.

[Eddie Huang]

Our son can say scary Terry, because I will be in the other room going, fuck, yeah, scary. And she's like, yeah. And then Senna will go scary. And like. So I'm just like, I cannot believe. Like, I almost cried. Cried over that yesterday. So sad.

[Ben Barna]

I thought it was fake when I first saw it. Yeah. Like, I saw a tweet and I was like, that doesn't make sense. Cuz the. The. I just finished the. The. The Quarterback. The Netflix show.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

And I watched the. The Redskins beat the. Cuz Jared Goff is one of the people they featured. And I watched the Redskins beat the Lions. Like, that must have been, like, an insane day.

[Eddie Huang]

That got me through the fires.

[Ben Barna]

Sorry, The Commanders.

[Eddie Huang]

Cuz it was during the fires. No, come on. And it's like. And. And. And the thing is, is that, yo, I just wish someone from like, Apollo Investments would go up to Terry and be like, listen, you're not going to get in your contract. Take the 27mil, stay with the commanders. Josh Harris got you after. We're going to get you in some series A shit. You know, Apollo Investments got you. Like, they need to just do that with Terry. Yeah, like, just hold it down. How, like, players want to come to the Knicks because they know, like, the New York business around it. Like, that's what Josh Harris needs to be doing right now.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, they seem like an exciting franchise with the new ownership and everything.

[Eddie Huang]

Who's your squad?

[Ben Barna]

Well, I'm from Toronto, so, like, it should be the Bills, but, you know, being here for 20 years, I'm like more of a player guy. Like, I follow players like, you know, I want to be. I want to have teams like, you know, the Blue Jays, the Raptors. When the Raptors won in 2019, that was very exciting. I flew back to Toronto for that championship and it was an amazing experience. All my friends in Toronto are die hard, like, Jays right now. The Jays are like doing amazing and they're huge Bills fans. And I go to Bill's games like, I'll fly to Buffalo four games from here, but, like, I just don't have that ingrained, like, die hard, like, fanaticism for a team. It's players right now. So, like, you know, last year I was rooting for the, for the. I get a lot of criticism for this too, because everyone's like, you're not, you're. You're not a real sports fan. You're on the team.

[Eddie Huang]

You're from Canada. That's fair. Like China.

[Ben Barna]

I know, know, I know. But like, you know, I was like a Brady guy. I was, I was a Manning guy. I was like, I like my homes. I like, I root for great.

[Eddie Huang]

You like a cerebral.

[Ben Barna]

Well, I like greatness. I like the all time greats. I want to see the all time greats do all time great.

[Natasha]

That's fair.

[Eddie Huang]

She's like that too.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will fought like, I was like, really into Jimmy Butler. Yeah, Like, I was like, I don't care. I'm just like into him. I'm like, so when he was Heat.

[Ben Barna]

I was like, yeah, like huge LeBron guy. I was for many years. You know what I mean? Like, when he went to the heat in 2011, there was that year where he was the villain and everyone hated him. And I was like that. And then after you got that hate Out I started rooting for him, and I was like. I remember watching those games in 2012, when they won their first championship in New York, like, at standings in the East Village, which is, like, one of the best sports bars in the city. And I was, like, the only one rooting for the Heat. Cause everyone still hated them and still hated LeBron, and it felt great. And, like, they beat the Celtics, and then they went on to win the championship. And that was. So I was, like, a big, big LeBron guy for many years. And, yeah, I mean, like, I love the Knicks. Like, it's very fun rooting for the Knicks. But, like, I wasn't rooting for the Knicks like you were in 2017. And I hate to say that on bandwagon, but, like, I was, like, losing my mind during these playoffs because, like, I got swept up in it. And I lived here for a long time. I went to game four in Indiana because I was there for the Indy 500. So I saw the Knicks play beat. Beat the Pacers in Indianapolis, and I went to a game against the Pistons here.

[Eddie Huang]

So, no, I know how it feels when a team captures, like, your heart. Not to be corny. And, like, I never. I'm like, oh, you're a year. You're too. I'm like, yo, if you're invested and you're doing it, like, we're in an.

[Ben Barna]

Emotional thing, like, you don't have to justify it or anything like that. Like, yeah, if you care, you care. And if you don't, you don't.

[Eddie Huang]

I watched people hunting and love the Red Sox.

[Natasha]

Yeah, but, like, you've said it before. The Knicks fandom is just fun. Like, it's very fun. It's fun to be a Knicks fan. Like, even I don't care about basketball. I'm like, whatever. I'll go to a game. But it's, like, fun to just engage with, like, any of the content coming out of it. And even just to hear you talk to your friends about it so passionately. I'm like, I wish that I had something that I, like, gave a fuck about that much. It's, like, fun to watch you.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, he's a very entertaining sports.

[Natasha]

I don't watch the sports.

[Ben Barna]

I'm like.

[Natasha]

I watch him. Like, you're the. You need to, like, do something in sports, I feel, because you're just.

[Eddie Huang]

Fun movie. Yeah, you did.

[Natasha]

But, like, no, I mean, like, boots on the ground, like, reporting live. Like, Jalen Brunson is like, you're. You're just fun to engage with in that way I love it.

[Eddie Huang]

I want to watch because I just. I have the passion, like the love, like it is. Besides Natasha and Senna, the most important thing to me, it's just like the.

[Ben Barna]

Knicks are sports in general.

[Eddie Huang]

Knicks and Commanders.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And then third Michigan Wolverines.

[Natasha]

Yeah. Football. I. I actually with college football the.

[Eddie Huang]

Most, I took her to the.

[Natasha]

I like watching college football and that was the best, like, I would love to arena game I've ever watched in my life. I got super into it. Like, I was. The crowd was fun.

[Ben Barna]

That's an incredible stadium too.

[Natasha]

I like Southern football fans.

[Eddie Huang]

She does. She like the Alabama fans.

[Natasha]

They just want to smoke. Like they were fighting with us in front of us. They were. I was like, he was that. He was this close to calling us a slur. You know what I mean? Like, to him, I was black. Like, I was not white enough to be there. And I was just like, this is crazy. Like the, the. That whole. That fandom is next level.

[Ben Barna]

There's a new SEC documentary coming out on Netflix, like in a week or something. Like a. Like an eight part series just all about the sec, like behind the scenes. Oh, wow. So, you know, if you like Southern football, that's gonna be.

[Eddie Huang]

You know what we need to do though is we should just go together to the Michigan Ohio State game.

[Ben Barna]

I went. Oh, I went. I went a few years ago, like Thanksgiving weekend, right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I went.

[Ben Barna]

When Michigan beat Ohio for the time.

[Natasha]

First.

[Ben Barna]

First time in this. In the streak.

[Eddie Huang]

Like probably like the John Harbaugh year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

Is it in Michigan or Ohio?

[Ben Barna]

It's in.

[Eddie Huang]

It's. They.

[Natasha]

They switch off. Okay, cool.

[Eddie Huang]

But yo. Because they also have the greatest Jewish deli of all time. Zingerman.

[Ben Barna]

I know. I went. I went. I. I went there. It was a snowstorm. I didn't eat there. But like, I walked inside.

[Natasha]

Oh, no, I want to go.

[Ben Barna]

I walked inside.

[Natasha]

Okay. Can. Can wives just like hold it down at the.

[Eddie Huang]

Yo, you have a great time. We can go to the game with the dudes who go to the game. You can just chill at Zingerman's. We'll take you to the Gandhi Dancer at night. Like, don't you have a good friend.

[Ben Barna]

Who'S a huge Wolverines fan or something?

[Eddie Huang]

Mayor Hawthorne.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. Mayor Hawthorn. That's what I was thinking of the musician, right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. We all Michigan fans.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, like, you know what's funny.

[Natasha]

Though is I see the most just outside of like, obviously Knicks fans and like Mets fans in New York, so I've never seen so many Michigan, like, merch wearers all the time. I always see a Michigan jersey, a Michigan hat, a Michigan hoodie, a Michigan this. I'm like. And then every time you see them, it's go blue.

[Ben Barna]

Exactly. They like, I bought a jacket there. I bought a Michigan jacket when I.

[Eddie Huang]

Wore it in New York.

[Ben Barna]

It's go blue. Or like, I bought. My wife took me to an Eagles game for my birthday, and I wear an. I have an eagle shirt to the gym. It's Go Birds.

[Natasha]

Go Birds.

[Eddie Huang]

Go Birds.

[Ben Barna]

Go Birds.

[Natasha]

Is this, like, insider little, like, group? It's like a little cult.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm like, okay, there's cultist. Yeah, I like it. They're iconic because also, Michigan is a feeder squad school for New Yorkers and totally Jewish community, too. It's like. It's a feeder school.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, like, the certain cultures just gravitate towards Michigan, and it's. It's the best. Yeah.

[Natasha]

There's something about it. I don't know. Even I'm into it.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

I mean, I bought in.

[Ben Barna]

The guys that I went with, they're from Montreal. They're just like. I don't. They like Michigan. I don't know why.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

I didn't ask questions. That's just their team.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

My thing was. So I became a Michigan fan because the year I started reading mock drafts, people kept saying the Redskins at the time were going to draft Desmond Howard. And Desmond was, like, going to win the Heisman. I like, yo, I get so emotional. I started watching every Michigan game to watch Desmond Howard, and I was like, we're gonna get him. We're gonna get him, and we're gonna win the Super Bowl. He was, like, the worst at receiver. He was just good at returning kicks. But I just got stuck with the Michigan Wolverines. And then, like, X Men. I love the. The mascot. And I just never missed a Michigan game from Desmond Howard's year.

[Ben Barna]

Really?

[Eddie Huang]

Until the pandemic.

[Ben Barna]

Wow.

[Eddie Huang]

Never missed.

[Ben Barna]

And why aren't you. Because you're from dc, Right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I'm from dc.

[Ben Barna]

No, no. Wizards.

[Eddie Huang]

I was a Bullets fan.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Right. But the thing was, was that Georgetown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gilbert Arenas, poker games.

[Natasha]

Oh, yeah, I saw that.

[Eddie Huang]

The thing. Yeah. The thing with D.C. at that time, in that, like, Rafel Edmond era, kind of like early 80s, it was. Everyone was a Hoyas fan, you know, so that was the squad. We were Hoyas fans. I. My father and I just followed Patrick to the Knicks, and so we were. I like the Knicks. My dad would, like, clap for the Bullets. And then when we moved to Orlando, he converted and became an Orlando Magic fan. Because my dad is like, I want to get down with the community I'm in. I was like, no, I'm a Nick fan. You know, I was just like, I. I'm loyal. I stay down. And I just stayed down for Patrick and just went with it. But the one year when the Bullets got Rasheed Wallace, Chris Weber, Rod Strickland, I went back to D.C. to just go to a game and watch Rod Strickland, I was like, this is the illest.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Point guard ever.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Rod Strickland is so nasty. He's like Kyrie's uncle. And, like, Kyrie got his game from him, but, like, he's just one of the nastiest New York City point guards. I just like New York City ball. Yeah, I think that's.

[Ben Barna]

I can tell by your film. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Have you guys talked sports on here before?

[Natasha]

Sometimes. Like, he'll go off. I just. When you guys are talking about this, I'm like, I don't even know where I am right now.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm, like, so horny.

[Ben Barna]

I'm like, you're what? You're just. You're just. You're.

[Natasha]

You're like, it's fine.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

I mean, I don't really care.

[Ben Barna]

You've done so much of this.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

You can just, like, chill and.

[Natasha]

For sure, I can. Like, I have so much going. I have, like, eight different stations in here. Like, I'm.

[Eddie Huang]

But what's cool is she has tons of homie. Like, most of her homies are insanely passionate sports fans.

[Natasha]

Most of my friends are male.

[Ben Barna]

Yes.

[Natasha]

I don't purport to be a pick me, but that's just how things have gone in my life. And, yeah, they all like sports, apparently, unbeknownst to me, because I'll be friends with somebody, have no idea they've ever watched sports in their life. And then they get around Eddie and.

[Eddie Huang]

They'Re like, oh, what's good? Like.

[Natasha]

And I'm like, that's crazy, because we've never won sports, spoken about sports, and now all of a sudden, you're, like, the number one Knicks fan. So I'm like, all right, cool. That's fine. I'll go myself.

[Eddie Huang]

But I mean, what happened on this pot is literally what happens with me and all of her homies. And a big fight early on in our relationship was like, you just. Eddie, you just take everything over. Now you're in a group chat with him. And me and you guys just talk about sports. And I was like, I'm ruining her life.

[Natasha]

It's fine, honestly. See, the way that I see it is. But I'm also in, like, his, like, degenerate gambling group chat, where I don't know what the they're talking about, but I'm like, are we gonna bet on the Chilean boys, like, soccer league today? Sure. We. They're, like, betting on, like, mud wrestling. I'm like, great. Like, had me. And if you guys win, like, just get me, you know, I'm like, get me a burger. You know, I'm like, I really like this new Louis puzzle bag. And pale yellow. Like, thanks, guys. Like, that's all I'm just here for. Like, can we make money off of it?

[Ben Barna]

I guess that's right.

[Natasha]

I don't know.

[Eddie Huang]

And we'll randomly ask her, like, who's going to win this game, like, if we don't know? And she's like, this one. And we're like, all right, cool. And she's very good.

[Ben Barna]

It works.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yo, we made a lot of money betting on F1 in Vegas.

[Ben Barna]

Really?

[Eddie Huang]

She really knows?

[Natasha]

Okay, Well, I know F1, but that's different. F1, to me, isn't a sport. And I also don't really watch it anymore because, like, I just find people to be so annoying about it. Like, I think because I was a Formula one fan, like, before the Netflix came out, and now everybody DMs me stuff. And I'm like, first of all, you know, for even thinking that I would ever want to talk to you about this. And so I'm like, I don't watch anymore. Everyone's like, who's your favorite driver? I'm like, literally, no one watching. Goodbye. We'll never watch it. So I'm just like, you'll never watch the movies? No, I don't think so.

[Ben Barna]

I'm like, I went by myself a few days ago.

[Natasha]

Okay. I'm like, just not into older.

[Ben Barna]

Brad Pitt had a great time Regal on. On Delancey Recliners.

[Natasha]

Yeah, I love that. But, like, post Brad Pitt beating the. Out of his family on a plane, I'm not tuning in for him. I understand that's a personal choice, but I do just love a moviegoing experience. I will. You know what? I'll take it back because I'll watch anything in, like, an iPic. Like, I can.

[Ben Barna]

I've never been to the iPic.

[Natasha]

Have a drink.

[Ben Barna]

You guys gotta go see the new Naked Gun.

[Natasha]

I really want to see that.

[Eddie Huang]

I want to see. And they're dating now. Like, I want to watch.

[Ben Barna]

Watching that movie, you can. You could tell why they're dating.

[Natasha]

They have.

[Ben Barna]

You can see it. Yeah. They have chemistry, but it's very funny.

[Eddie Huang]

And Pamela Anderson is such a good actor. Like, the last. Great.

[Natasha]

Yeah, she really cast this movie.

[Ben Barna]

And so good in it. Like, very game. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, question for you guys. Last Showgirl. In the pantheon of Coppola family films.

[Ben Barna]

Where did you see it?

[Natasha]

I didn't see it either.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh.

[Natasha]

I wasn't able to see it.

[Ben Barna]

Oh.

[Eddie Huang]

I put it up there. I think it's like the two Godfathers.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides. Last show, Girls.

[Ben Barna]

Wow.

[Natasha]

I'd put Virgin Suicides above the Godfathers. That's like a personal girlhood.

[Eddie Huang]

Someone's gonna say now. But I'm like, I was not the biggest Apocalypse now fan.

[Ben Barna]

I'm putting Jack at the top with.

[Natasha]

Robin Williams, straight up.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Oh, I'm putting Bling Ring. No, I'm just kidding.

[Eddie Huang]

Fire Jack. Jack is good, man.

[Ben Barna]

Deep cut.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I love Robin, like, everything. It's funny because Robin Williams made the same film basically every time. Patch Adams, Jack Deadpool.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

It's like, inspirational. Funny, man. Weirdo.

[Ben Barna]

But it's just Bicentennial, man.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Every time it's the same. Incredible.

[Ben Barna]

But then he tried to do, like. Then he. Then he was doing, like, one hour photo. He went, like, dark a little bit there. Yeah, yeah. They all. They all try that. Yeah, eventually. But then they go back to.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

A Pisces brother. I think he is.

[Natasha]

Pisces.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Sad Pisces, bro.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, sad. Definitely sad Virgo.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, is he?

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

So what does that mean?

[Natasha]

Just an Earth sign. Like, you can't really say. I feel like you. I'm a whole chart. You have to, like, really zone in. But I feel like Virgos in general are very analytical. Maybe just a little detail oriented. Very, like, regimented, strict.

[Eddie Huang]

Executive editor of magazine.

[Natasha]

It's giving Executive editor for sure.

[Ben Barna]

Right.

[Natasha]

But I think it's a good thing. I love Virgos, especially after our son. And you're a twin Virgo.

[Ben Barna]

I am a twin Virgo.

[Natasha]

That's cool. I wonder if you guys got, like, different Virgo traits.

[Ben Barna]

We're quite similar.

[Natasha]

I was gonna say, I wonder if you're, like, sharing that.

[Ben Barna]

I had to leave Toronto. I had to get away from him because we're too similar. So it's like, I had to just, like. That's so ill. Yeah. I mean, I didn't leave Toronto to Get away from him. But like being in different cities over the last like 18 years, we're still obviously very close. But like when we get together, we're. We're very. It's like, it's like, it's like mind meld shit. And so like, I can't imagine what it would have been like to be in the same city for the last 18 years. It would have been like, maybe we would have been working together in some capacity. But it's. I think it was very healthy for us to separate because we like lived together through college. And then when we got back from college, I moved here to intern. I thought I was gonna be back in Toronto for three after three months and then I just came here for a three month internship at a magazine and then never left.

[Eddie Huang]

No. It's really cool. The night I met you all in Toronto, I was like, damn. I like love brothers. I have two brothers. So it's cool when you see like such a tight, yeah, like, family relationship. But I can't front most of the time with twins. You can tell, like one's kind of like spirit is different than the other. The swag is different.

[Ben Barna]

There's differences.

[Eddie Huang]

There's like a different like Riz level with you two. It's kind of. It really is like alikes.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah. You guys are.

[Eddie Huang]

There isn't one that's like the fall off.

[Natasha]

There's not an alpha, you know?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

He's also very. He still. He told me to tell you that he's salty that you never showed up.

[Natasha]

I know. We really tried. We really tried.

[Ben Barna]

I know.

[Natasha]

And then we were like, he had to go see films. And then I had our kid. It was also our kids.

[Eddie Huang]

We also got in a fight because it was like I had told her we were going to go to a function and then I was too tired after doing all the press and I canceled. And then we just like didn't hang out for a day. Like, it was my bad, but also like, I feel like going together as a couple with the kid to the film festival, premiering your film, it's like, is difficult. High level.

[Natasha]

Yeah. I probably wouldn't ever do that.

[Ben Barna]

He was much younger. He was a year.

[Natasha]

Yeah, he was turning a year, like on that trip. Which is why I think we like tried to make it work. We should all be together. Yeah. That was our first flight with him and he did so phenomenal.

[Ben Barna]

You guys like Toronto?

[Natasha]

I love Toronto. The whole time I was there, I was like, wow, this is a great, like, if Everything goes to. This is a good place. Like, I was like, I could live here. I also really love Montreal.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah, Montreal's amazing.

[Natasha]

Like, love, love, love Montreal.

[Ben Barna]

I could really special place, amazing place to go to college.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, especially with food and people like New York or la. I'm like, yo, put Toronto in the mix.

[Ben Barna]

Yep. Like, yeah, it's a huge, like, proponent of Toronto cuisine. Like, he's always like, blowing up spots there, like in Scarborough and stuff. Yeah, Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I think it's very, very, very competitive to like SGV or Queens, you know, Like, I think the, the three best immigrant, like, burrows for food in North America. Like, well, yeah, North America. It's like Scarborough, sgv, Flushing, Queens. Queens.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, like, yeah, it's. It. They got a lot of out there. The Caribbean food in Toronto.

[Ben Barna]

That's the thing. I'm the. Yeah, the, the, the, the. The jerk chicken spots there are like, you know, some of the, like, best in the world outside of Jamaica, for sure. And I'm very jealous of that.

[Eddie Huang]

And I'll say, like, cold water seafood, incredible.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Like Toronto, great seafood restaurants, Chinese restaurants. Like, honestly could smoke SGV or New York City.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. And I never do it when I'm there. My friends don't do it that much. I mean, they go every once in a while they'll go for like a birthday. It's like fisherman's lobster.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, yeah. Fish is the. Is the best Cantonese restaurant with the.

[Ben Barna]

The tower.

[Eddie Huang]

Tower. Yeah, bro. I. I go shirt off in there. That was the one I wanted to take center for his birthday.

[Natasha]

I know.

[Eddie Huang]

That was the plan. We canceled that too. Really? Yeah. I wasn't even go.

[Natasha]

But we'll be back. I really like Toronto.

[Ben Barna]

Yeah. I'm going in a couple weeks. I'll be there for Tiff again this year.

[Natasha]

Oh, amazing.

[Eddie Huang]

It's also a great time of year to go for Tiff and go watch movies. Like, I would rather go to Tiff. Not having a film. Film. Yeah, Just enjoy leisurely walk around the city, eat food, watch some great films. Because it is one of the best film festivals.

[Ben Barna]

For sure. For sure. Top three, I think.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Natasha]

I had a phenomenal time. I can't believe that was a year ago.

[Ben Barna]

I know, Me neither. I actually can't.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Ben Barna]

It's crazy. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Should go back such a full circle. How full circle is it that like we were with Ben for a lot of Tiffany. This thing happens with Mubi this week. You happen to be on the pod this week. That's like.

[Natasha]

And like Truly top of the week. I was like, hey, by the way, he's like, this. It's this week. I was like, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

I honestly thought, like, you for. I was like. I was like, you kind of for. I was like, did you forget? And then I was gonna be like, are we still doing the pod? Because then you. You hit me up about eating.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ben Barna]

Restaurant next week to get your rest. I was like, oh, maybe I'll just go into the restaurant, we'll talk about the podcast in person. But then you're like, like, still on for Friday? I was like, oh, damn. Okay.

[Natasha]

Yeah, it's happening. The universe conspires together, and that's that.

[Ben Barna]

Are you guys doing. Are you guys done for the day?

[Eddie Huang]

We're gonna. I'm gonna make some steak tips upstairs. So that's it. I got finished. You want to eat? Well, you gotta make a phone call. You want.

[Natasha]

Yeah, I was like, if you make.

[Eddie Huang]

A phone call on the knee.

[Ben Barna]

Well, when are you. What. It might be a longish phone call. That's the only thing.

[Natasha]

He has to cook it now.

[Eddie Huang]

So you could make your call and if it times up, have some steak tips, whatever.

[Ben Barna]

Why you make making. We're done, right?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, we're done.

[Ben Barna]

Why are you making.