Matt Gourley Disobeys Bridger

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Matt Gourley Disobeys Bridger"

I Said No Gifts! with Bridger Winegar

Guest: Matt Gourley
Date: January 8, 2026
Podcast Network: Exactly Right / iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

In this episode of I Said No Gifts!, host Bridger Winegar invites comedian and podcast host Matt Gourley for a lively, meandering conversation filled with offbeat humor, anecdotes about gifts, birthdays, and personal quirks. As tradition demands, Matt brings a gift (despite explicit instructions not to), leading to reflections on gratitude, parties, dance classes, horror movies, and the perils of woodworking projects. The banter highlights both hosts' chemistry and their shared distaste for conventional celebrations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Tom Cruise Cake, Cookie Swaps & Office Treats

(00:55 – 05:02)

• Bridger laments being left out of an office cookie swap and critiques the concept (“You can't eat that many cookies... the flavor gets all mushed in your mouth.”).
• The duo reviews the infamous Tom Cruise white chocolate coconut cake (“The hype—it’s crazy. White chocolate is a lot for me.” – Bridger, 03:28).
• Both agree it needs black coffee to cut the sweetness, and riff on the bakery’s good fortune from the annual Tom Cruise orders.

2. Sweets, Childhood, and Regional Naming

(05:02 – 07:01)

• Matt shares his fondness for milk chocolate-covered honeycomb from Little Flower bakery in Pasadena.
• Bridger recalls knowing the treat as “sea foam” growing up in Utah—where, as they joke, things are often named after bodies of water the state doesn’t have.

3. Family Relocations & the Oddities of Growing Up

(07:07 – 08:56)

• Matt’s parents lived in St. George, which Bridger calls “Utah's Florida,” while Matt grew up in Whittier, CA.
• They riff on confusing California geography (“Everything outside of LA is like 45 minutes away in a circle.” – Matt, 08:43).

4. Palm Springs Getaway & The Hotel Bathtub Debacle

(09:09 – 13:01)

• Matt recounts a “babymoon” trip with his pregnant wife gone awry—broken bathtubs and poor customer service.
• They discuss the etiquette of complaining (“I really struggle with when I should complain and when I shouldn't.” – Matt, 10:09) and Bridger’s recent success at reversing bank fees (“I think at this point, everyone's not on the side of the banks, even their employees.” – Bridger, 10:25).

5. Birthday Celebrations—Big and Small

(15:25 – 19:30)

• The challenge of milestone birthdays comes up, as Bridger’s boyfriend turns 50 soon.
• Matt describes his own 50th: a small dinner at The Raymond in Pasadena, but regrets the dinner table layout prevented mingling.
• Both express discomfort with hosting: “I don’t like hosting people. I’d rather be—well, I don’t even know if I’d want to be a guest. So I guess the short answer is no, I don’t like to have a party.” – Bridger, 18:59.

6. Matt’s Gift: Handmade “No Thank You” Cards

(20:08 – 26:32)

• Matt unveils his gift: a set of 8 handmade “No Thank You” cards for Bridger to give to future guests who break the no-gifts rule (“You have deliberately disobeyed me.” – Card text, 21:52).
• These were crafted during his daughter’s dance class using her jewelry elastic (“That’s my daughter's jewelry bead elastic. I need that back.” – Matt, 21:39).
• Discussion digresses into art school trauma, discovering Bridger and Matt both have experience in art/design (Matt was told he was “seduced by the line”).

7. Parenting: Dance Classes and K-Pop Demon Hunters

(26:34 – 29:52)

• Matt’s 4-year-old daughter is in dance (tap and jazz/ballet). Both share the oddities and subtle guilt of watching kids’ activities through one-way mirrors.
• Matt confesses to introducing his daughter to K-Pop Demon Hunter, delighting in her unexpected tastes for danger and “ouchie stories” (“She loves when people are scared. She loves when people are in danger.” – Matt, 28:58).

8. On Fear: Paranormal Activity, Haunted Houses & Horror

(30:17 – 36:13)

• Bridger reviews Paranormal Activity: The Play, debating if it’s more theater or magic show. Audience shrieks are “sincere.”
• Both discuss their scare tolerances: Bridger is “emotionally vacant” to most horror; Matt is jumpy but loves classic Halloween.
• They share favorite haunted house movies (Bridger: The Haunting; Matt: Halloween) and reminisce about film locations in LA.

9. Thank You Cards & Gift Memories

(38:40 – 41:11)

• Discussion shifts to gratitude protocol—neither makes a habit of writing thank you notes (“Some people are very good at it. I never do it at all. Classless.” – Bridger, 39:05).
• Bridger has a garage full of gifts from past podcast guests; Matt suggests a memory game of guessing which gift came from whom.

10. Gift Master Game

(41:20 – 48:37)

• Game premise: match gifts to celebrities and justify.
• Celebrities: Alec Baldwin, Jamie Lynn Spears, Margaret Atwood
• Gifts: bullet bike, rock hard abs, omnipotence

Notable answers:

• “I'm gonna give [Margaret Atwood] omnipotence...I trust her with the keys more than Alec and Jaime.” – Matt, 45:57
• Jamie Lynn Spears gets a bullet bike; Alec Baldwin gets rock hard abs (“But no other part of his body is allowed to improve.” – Bridger, 48:07).

11. Listener Email: The Stepdad Gift Dilemma

(48:38 – 56:03)

• Listener jmm asks what to get a stepfather who only likes Siamese cats and woodworking (“What do you get for the man who likes nothing?” – Email, 49:24).
• Both riff on the “danger” of repeating cat gifts endlessly.
• Matt recommends quality woodworking tools (specifically from Woodpeckers brand).
• Side discussion: Matt’s mishaps building a standing desk (“It was like killing a child. It was hard.” – Matt, 52:05).
• Bridger seeks advice on furniture repair for his dog-chewed chair leg.

12. Pet Stories

(54:49 – 57:06)

• Bridger clarifies he rescued his dog Bonnie, a Rottweiler (“She’s 10 months old and she’s in heat; really becoming a woman.” – Bridger, 54:57).
• Matt introduces his 14-year-old part-Maine Coon cat, Margo, described as “a plus size model cat” who is more affectionate than the rest of the family.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On office treats:

• “Cookie parties are a bad concept...what if it came from someone who's not good at baking? Then your whole party's been ruined.” – Bridger (01:48)

On the Tom Cruise cake:

• “The hype—it’s crazy. White chocolate is a lot for me.” – Bridger (03:28)
• “You needed a little black coffee with the hype as well.” – Matt (04:00)

On turning 50:

• “My boyfriend's about to turn 50, and it's either 0 or 1,000 for him.” – Bridger (15:34)
• “I had my 50th two years ago. We just got a patio area of the Raymond...It was nice. I couldn't complain.” – Matt (17:26)

On parenting quirks:

• “This dance class has those kind of mirrors, like in interrogation rooms. I can't see in.” – Matt (22:48)
• “She loves when people are scared. She loves when people are in danger.” – Matt (28:58)

On haunted house favorites:

• “Most of the haunted house movies now take place in new builds, which I don't like. No, I need some sort of Victorian, some sort of Winchester mystery house vibe.” – Bridger (33:47)
• “My babysitter made me watch [Halloween] when I was young... so I have always had this morbid fascination and I love it.” – Matt (35:49)

On gift etiquette:

• “Some people are very good at [sending thank you cards]...I never do it at all. Classless.” – Bridger (39:05)

On Matt's gift of No Thank You cards:

• “You have deliberately disobeyed me.” – Card text, (21:52)
• “This is, like, genuinely nice.” – Bridger (21:32)

On the importance of woodworking precision:

• “There's a brand called Woodpeckers that makes these precision measuring instruments... having one of these would make the difference.” – Matt, giving serious gift advice (50:27)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:55 – Tom Cruise cake and cookie party discourse
• 05:02 – Candy and childhood memories
• 09:09 – Palm Springs and the bath fiasco
• 15:25 – Birthday party anxieties
• 20:08 – Matt presents his handmade “No Thank You” cards
• 26:34 – Parenting, dance classes, K-pop
• 30:17 – Play review: Paranormal Activity, horror discussions
• 38:40 – Thank you cards and the gifts trunk
• 41:20 – Gift Master game
• 48:38 – Listener email: Stepdad gifts & woodworking
• 54:49 – Pet stories: Bridger’s dog Bonnie and Matt’s cat Margo

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains Bridger’s signature dry wit and Matt’s affable, self-deprecating humor. Conversations are organic and playful, often spiraling into tangents with comedic payoff. The show’s irony about gift-giving, social etiquette, and life’s smaller absurdities is ever-present.

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Engaging Takeaways for New Listeners

• The real “gifts” are the ridiculous, touching, and relatable stories shared between friends with conflicting beliefs about celebration and gratitude.
• Matt Gourley’s handcrafted “No Thank You” cards perfectly encapsulate the podcast’s playful meta-commentary on etiquette, obligation, and friendship.
• Listeners will come away with actual life tips—how to politely refuse a gift, the importance of a well-made woodworking square, and even how to repair furniture nibbled by a teething pet.
• The humor is warm and quietly anarchic, skewering social niceties with affection rather than spite.

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Transcript

[Host]

This is exactly right.

When I invited you here, I thought I made myself perfectly clear. When you're a guest in my home, you gotta come to me empty handed. I said no. Guess your presence is presence enough. And I already had too much stuff, so how do you dare disobey me?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Welcome to I said no gift. I'm Bridger Weiniger. I can type 70 words per minute and I'm proficient in nothing. Um, what's going on? What's happening? Well, you know, I thought the podcast was recording about four hours ago, so I left the house very early. Thank God I didn't get here. I was able to turn around in time and then just wasted several hours because I had planned nothing.

[Matt Gorley]

What did. What she do?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Matt, save it for the podcast.

[Matt Gorley]

Sorry, sorry.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The guest is very rude this morning.

[Matt Gorley]

I know, I know. I'm just. I'm on tenterhooks. I want to know, so I'll shut up.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'll shut up. This is a mystery for you that you're going to find out very soon.

[Matt Gorley]

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Listener. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? This is a professional.

[Matt Gorley]

Wait till you see what I brought. A gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's going on? I showed up to the office. They were having a cookie swap party without me. I was not told about this, but jokes on them. I think cookie parties are a bad concept. I think it's a flawed idea. You can't eat that many cookies and if you try a bunch at the same time, the flavor gets all mushed in your mouth. And then if you're taking them home, they're getting old. No one is getting a cookie. At its best, the only cookie you're enjoying is the first one you try there. But the unfortunate thing is, what if it came from someone who's not good at baking? Then your whole party's been ruined. It's. I understand the. In theory, sure. I've never been to a good one. And I'm sure everyone at the office is having a bad one right now. Okay, well, the guest is here.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, no, I'm not talking. Oh, no. Fool me once.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, I'm very. I'm absolutely thrilled about today's guest. It's Matt Gorley. Matt. I mean, welcome.

[Matt Gorley]

That didn't seem sincere. The welcome. I've already outstayed my welcome by starting too early.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I know I should have just shut down the recording, found another guest, found somebody to come talk to me.

[Matt Gorley]

I wouldn't blame you. It's cookie day.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's cookie day. People are very Excited.

[Matt Gorley]

I hear there's the Tom Cruise cake in the building.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is that true?

[Matt Gorley]

That's what Patrick told me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Have you tried it?

[Matt Gorley]

I have.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I've had one, too. What do you think? Actually, from this podcast.

[Matt Gorley]

Can we really.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Matt Gorley]

Can we speak frankly?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I would love nothing more. I think everyone at this point should speak frankly with anything to do with Tom Cruise.

[Matt Gorley]

That's fair. It's not gonna get back to him. Right. He's probably the most insulated person in.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The world, and we're only gonna have him for a couple more decades.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. You sound like you know that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Fact O.

[Matt Gorley]

What do you know? What did you think?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I thought it was pretty good. Yeah. You know, the hype. It's crazy. White chocolate is a lot for me.

[Matt Gorley]

Me, too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I need something to cut that.

[Matt Gorley]

And it ain't coconut.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, it's certainly not coconut. Or vanilla cake. Yeah. But I did enjoy it, despite all of that, but it felt like something that I needed, like a pot of coffee, black coffee. To eat it with.

[Matt Gorley]

To drink. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So when did you have it? Was it from Tom.

[Matt Gorley]

It was from Tom Cruise. Oh, my God.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So that's really gold.

[Matt Gorley]

But it wasn't to me, obviously, yet.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You might be on the list this year.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, we'll see. It hasn't come yet, but I felt like you could taste the hype and, like, the ingredients. You just mentioned you needed a little black coffee with the hype as well.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, I don't. I guess he's probably someone who doesn't eat a lot of sweets.

[Matt Gorley]

No, I don't think he ever does.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So I imagine the first time he tried it, it was probably so exciting to try something sweet. And so it didn't really matter what it was.

[Matt Gorley]

And he had, like, a.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Not even.

[Matt Gorley]

He had a little thimble.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right? Exactly.

[Matt Gorley]

Just reduced down to, like, a paste.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. If he had, like, had a lick of a Tootsie Pop, he would have had the same reaction, and everyone would be getting the Tom Cruise Tootsie Pop every year. So not a bad idea. But God bless him, he's keeping this bakery in business. And it was not a bad cake, I'll say that. Especially if you like very sweet things, which most people do, because most people have bad taste.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And again, the bakery is wonderful, and the cake is not bad, but.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, I like where this is going because you and I seem to feel the same about this cake, which implies that we both have good taste. I'm gonna get on that taste train. Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You and I, out of this whole office. I'll say right now everyone should just leave the building. Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

And you're not talking about just this studio that no one else is in.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You, you and you. Okay, I'm pointing to no one right now. Listener YouTube, Listener Watcher is getting a real treat with me pointing at nothing right now. They're. They're out of their mind excited about this. But what sort of treat are you into?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, my favorite is a kind of like toffee. Oh, a rich like toffee chocolate.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, you know what? There's these milk chocolate covered honeycombs at this little bakery in Pasadena called Little Flower.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I like this. I've seen Little Flower and it's always kind of difficult to access. I see it off the side of the freeway and think, well, I would love to go there. But I'm never on that frontage road.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, it's like if you're trying to get to an in n out, you always the next one. The next one. But there's no other little flower.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Matt Gorley]

You gotta just plant it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But it's like a honeycomb.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, but like it's like a. It's not a hard honeycomb, but it's not soft. It's kind of just brittle and light and fluffy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think I grew up knowing that as sea foam, they would call it sea foam, which. What is that? Just. Maybe just a Utah thing, but.

[Matt Gorley]

Cause you guys had no sea.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. We were desperate naming everything sea names. Most of the things I know as sea foam.

[Matt Gorley]

Even your name is kind of like over water.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. And it's a desert. We just have a dead sea.

[Matt Gorley]

That's right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's essentially all the water in Utah. Then one piddly little river. So we're desperate for liquid, for hydration. Sea foam. But I love that kind of candy. I never have it. It really buries itself in your molars.

[Matt Gorley]

It does. It's there. Well, that's a blessing and a curse because a couple days later you get a treat. Little aftertaste. But like, well, aftertaste.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Way, way aftertaste. Decades after I brush my teeth once a month. So that's ideal. O, no, I love that sort of thing. And I love a toffee, but toffee can go weirdly wrong.

[Matt Gorley]

You mean like if it goes bad or.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, just like if somebody made it poorly.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I suppose.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was in Palm Springs recently and I won't name the business.

[Matt Gorley]

When was last weekend. This past weekend.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are you following me?

[Matt Gorley]

And wait, what part of Utah are you from?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right outside of Salt Lake City. It's called South Jordan.

[Matt Gorley]

My parents lived in St. George.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, you're kidding. No, St. George is kind of Utah's Florida.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's kind of the vacation spot of Utah.

[Matt Gorley]

That sounds a lot like my parrot.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's also home to a lot of. A lot of polygamists.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, that's not my parents that I know of.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They could be.

[Matt Gorley]

They could be.

[Bridger Weiniger]

We would go to Utah as our little, like, getaway when I was growing up. About five hours south of it.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Have you spent much time there in St. George?

[Matt Gorley]

A fair amount. I've never been to Salt Lake.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Interesting.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, but because they only lived there for about 10 years, how did they.

[Bridger Weiniger]

End up in St. George?

[Matt Gorley]

I am still asking that question. I think my stepmom followed some friends there on a whim, and then they got out just as quick. Now they're in Maryland.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, interesting. What a swing to. Wow.

[Matt Gorley]

I can't account for any of this. It's just. Trust me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wait, where did you grow up?

[Matt Gorley]

Whittier, California.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What is happening in the family? On the run from something they are.

[Matt Gorley]

Cause the rest of my family is all stuck.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I feel like you start here, you stay here. Yeah, I love being in Southern California.

[Matt Gorley]

I do too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So did the Beach Boys.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I know Beach Boys.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They're not from Whittier. They're from.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, the little old lady's from Pasadena. That's all I could say. Which is where I live now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They're from Hawthorne.

[Matt Gorley]

Hawthorn.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There we go.

[Matt Gorley]

Hawthorne.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. Is Hawthorne. That's close. Close. Ish. To Whittier.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, kinda.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I just assume anything outside of LA proper is just right next to each other, just in a line.

[Matt Gorley]

It's. Everything outside of LA is like 45 minutes away in a circle.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Within LA, everything's 20 minutes and then 45 minutes. There's really no other time span or an hour and a half from 5 to 7pm?

[Matt Gorley]

Yes, at least.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wow, St. George, that's so fascinating. And what was I. What point was I trying to make coffee? You didn't want me to get to.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sensitive for you.

[Matt Gorley]

Was I so scared of Palm Springs?

[Bridger Weiniger]

You were in Palm Springs? What were you doing there?

[Matt Gorley]

When is this going out?

[Bridger Weiniger]

This is going out January 2026. So in the future.

[Matt Gorley]

So my wife and I are expecting a child in January. And so we went on a baby moon slash. Our friend's 50th birthday party.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, wow. Two very different life events.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What was the. How did you celebrate both of those?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, we went to just a kind of boutique hotel getaway that if we're speaking taste.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's the hotel?

[Matt Gorley]

It's called, like, I could barely even pronounce it. Cracoria Pensione.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, this is kind of the Mediterranean one. Yeah, I've never been to that. I go to Sparrow's Lodge.

[Matt Gorley]

I'll try that next time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sparrow's Lodge. If you can get a deal, it's the best place in the world.

[Matt Gorley]

Why is it the best? Because this place. You couldn't get a working bathtub for a pregnant lady to save your life. And that's after multiple times trying. This whole thing was supposed to be a comfort trip for her, and it was a disaster.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are they reimbursing you?

[Matt Gorley]

Listen, I really struggle with when I should complain and when I shouldn't. Sometimes it's good. Then maybe you could handle this for me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I got some bank fees reversed this morning.

[Matt Gorley]

Really?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm happy to get in touch with these people today. It was very easy. It was just very nice.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, you had four free hours.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. There's your answer. We got to the answer in a very roundabout way. I noticed five fees that they had snuck in. I called. The lady was very nice. I think at this point, everyone's not on the side of the banks, even their employees.

[Matt Gorley]

They're like, what bank was this?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, I don't want to say because then what if somebody up top gets in touch?

[Matt Gorley]

You're going to slam Tom Cruise to no end.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And I won't slam a bank. It was Chase bank, okay?

[Matt Gorley]

The corporation.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I just don't want them figuring out that this woman reversed all of my fees. Oh, right. Is she in danger now? I didn't take the survey after the call.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, my God, we gotta get her out of here.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I should have taken the survey and given her a five star. It's all a disaster. But you went to this place. The bath wasn't like the faucet wasn't working or was there a leak?

[Matt Gorley]

They literally like. You know how there's a stopper. These are old bathtubs. So they just had this aftermarket stopper that was nowhere near close to ever. It was just folly that someone would even think a. That this would work or fool someone. It just couldn't hold water. So then they put us in a room with a sunken stone bathtub.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I like that.

[Matt Gorley]

But their stopper was one of those suction cup ones. But you can't suction on flagstone with, like, grout in between.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, right.

[Matt Gorley]

And it took so long, but by the time there was three inches of water in the bathtub, it was freezing cold. And this was after my poor wife, who, you know, hasn't had the easiest pregnancy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Matt Gorley]

All she wanted was just some book time and some bath time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, that's what you do on a vacation. I know you've got a complaint, or I'll write. I'm willing to write whatever thing I need to email. Yelp Review, Google Review, TripAdvisor. I'll get in there and burn this place down.

[Matt Gorley]

Because I was caught between a rock and a hard place, wanting to take care of this for her, but her also going, I don't want the stress. I don't want to deal with this. So I just had to let it go.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, there's no winning there. If you had been at Sparrow's Lodge, you would have had a working bath and shower. Have I been there?

[Matt Gorley]

Is that the. Like, are they green bungalows?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, it's like an old ranch that's been retrofitted. I'm trying to think. I think they're a dark red color. So now you're really challenging my memory. That I can't remember, but I wouldn't.

[Matt Gorley]

Trust me for that kind of thing. What color?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, color. That's a hard one.

[Matt Gorley]

It is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think that's why they kind of talk about, like, why no one can be an eyewitness to anything. Yeah, it's very. You don't remember anything that has happened in the past?

[Matt Gorley]

Let me ask you this. The one thing I do remember about the place that I think is Sparrow's Lodge. The adjoining walls on the rooms, but there's like a space on the bottom of the walls. About three inches of just air.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Did you stay in a truck stop bathroom?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, yes, but that wasn't this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What? You've stayed in a place where the hotel rooms have a space under the floor.

[Matt Gorley]

Some are watching glamping and like, safe house. I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This is not the place.

[Host]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

I keep.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You can't go back to wherever that was.

[Matt Gorley]

Go on. I won't go on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This has a big barn in the middle, almost.

[Matt Gorley]

That does sound familiar.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And it's very quiet.

[Matt Gorley]

Would they not let you play music or talk to your friends after 8pm cause that's another thing that happened at that place. Couldn't talk to my friends.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What were you taking there in a blindfold?

[Matt Gorley]

That's what I'm saying. It was for a wedding.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, this. You can talk after 8pm that's one of the big selling points of this place.

[Matt Gorley]

Man, this is a four stars up there with the Ritz, huh? You gotta pay top dollar.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They let you have a s', more, which is wonderful. That really gets me.

[Matt Gorley]

God, this sounds like it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wow. But the space under. I mean, that's crazy to me. That sounds dangerous.

[Matt Gorley]

It does.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That sounds. Did you ever read, I feel like there was like a New Yorker piece or something about these people that ran a motel or something and had. They were spying on everyone in the rooms. That's all I can tell you.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay. But that sounds like that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It sounds like that situation.

[Matt Gorley]

It sounds like a kind of place like you go. Because people are into that, like passing messages under the wall.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Seeing each other's feet. Yeah, it's the Wikifeet Hotel. Just the tone. That's an idea, actually. Yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

It's not a bad idea.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They need to expand that brand.

[Matt Gorley]

The Wikifeet.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wikifeet is just a website. Why not turn it into a whole universe? Yeah. She's got a book, action figures, that is just like a bland doll. And then very specific feet.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. And footwear.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And footwear.

[Matt Gorley]

And it's just nothing. You pay $180 for a box.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Think of. I mean, in 30 seconds. We've thought of several new revenue streams for this company. Is it a company or is it just one pervert running a website?

[Matt Gorley]

That's a good question. I feel like it's now like a colloquium of perverts.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

He's probably had to bring on, like, sub perverts to run the.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And cool the servers.

[Matt Gorley]

Why did I say he? It could easily be a woman.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It could be in anything. It's a he. It could be an animal. I don't know.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, it's an animal.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's an animal for feet. Wow. So you were in Palm Springs and what happened with the 50th birthday?

[Matt Gorley]

That was very nice. Our lovely friend Cece and friends, we all went to dinner. They had a whole weekend. We just stopped in for the dinner because we had already had this babymoon planned.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, Right. My boyfriend's about to turn 50, and it's either 0 or 1,000 for him. And I'm like, can you modulate the event? Because one of these things will cost beyond. And then the other thing is us just being mad at each other alone at dinner. So maybe find a group of friends that want to do something within the United States.

[Matt Gorley]

I think at any cost. Avoiding mad at dinner, having been there.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Every other night.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. This is what we're in for, I guess. This is what we did. And I don't mean just you and me in our respective relationships. Our partners as well.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, of course.

[Matt Gorley]

That's what you just sign on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Birthdays are hard, too. I think there's a lot of unnecessary pressure. And I'm not somebody who really does celebrations, and neither is he. But especially for a milestone event, it feels like you have to do something. But when you never do anything, I guess it is kind of hard to figure out what speed you should be going at for that celebration.

[Matt Gorley]

And I think it's hard for the partner of the person having the birthday because, like you said. But you can't quite gauge what he might want.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, exactly. Because the ideas he's given are nothing. Or go to Vietnam.

[Matt Gorley]

Not in a war.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Get enlisted.

[Matt Gorley]

Wow, that's interesting. So where are you leaning?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was like, well, maybe we could go on a little trip within the continental United States. I mean, his birthday's in January, so it kind of limits pleasant places to go unless you want snowy weather. But neither of us wants anything to do with that. So that starts to narrow it down. And then I'm like, well, are we just headed towards Palm Springs? Which I think is a great idea.

[Matt Gorley]

Back to the Sparrow's Lodge.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Back to the Sparrow's Lodge. That's where I'd like to have my 50th birthday. Maybe I can convince him. I don't know.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Have you ever had a big birthday celebration?

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I had my 50th two years ago.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, you're kidding. What did you do?

[Matt Gorley]

We just got a room or like the patio area of the Raymond restaurant in Pasadena, and I had smallish group of people for dinner.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, see, that seems like a reasonable adult's 50th birthday party.

[Matt Gorley]

It was nice. It was nice. I couldn't complain. Yeah, it was. You know, you're picking. It's not a party, so you've got your close people there.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Normal conversation being had. The only.

[Matt Gorley]

Not a complaint. The only regret I have is just the layout of the table was such. Where I couldn't. I kind of got to talk to five people, and there were probably another 10 or 15 that I never really got to speak to much.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's kind of the folly of every birthday party, which is that you really don't get to spend any time with anyone. Yeah, you just get to say hello and catch up briefly and then have to move on. Yeah, I always just leave my own parties feeling guilty. That I didn't spend time on other people.

[Matt Gorley]

I do, too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not the person for this sort of thing.

[Matt Gorley]

Do you like having birthday parties or do you like to keep it simple?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know. I had three in a row this year. I did not have one. The other three were wonderful. I set some very hard guidelines. I sent an email with rules that the party will end at 11, and I will ask people to leave. And I make it very clear what I want out of the party. And it, for the most part, is a nice time. But the problem is I don't get to talk to people that much. So it's just I don't like hosting people I'd rather be. Well, I don't even know if I'd want to be a guest. So I guess the short answer is no, I don't like to have a party.

[Matt Gorley]

You like them in theory. I like them in theory. And then often in practice, you ask yourself, how did I get here? How did my life come to this?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes, exactly. I almost feel like I would like to send out a mass email that says, respond to me. I want to see each of you individually. Take me out to dinner. But then you wonder, then there's that worry. What if people don't respond? And suddenly the feeling of isolation.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. And then if you're on your 13th dinner in a row.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, exactly. Then that's also ruining your life. I don't know if there's any winning. I. Forget it.

[Matt Gorley]

Man, this is rough.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know. Speaking of bad things, things I'm not comfortable with. Matt, I was excited to have you here today on the podcast.

[Matt Gorley]

I understand.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I thought, Matt will come over, we'll have a nice time. He won't interrupt the intro. We'll just be civil with each other and try to start the year off right. So I was a little surprised when I walked in and saw you holding what is. From where I'm sitting, clearly a gift. Yeah. Podcast is called I said no gifts. Do you have anything to say about this?

[Matt Gorley]

I just want you to know that going into this, I know I was breaking the code.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. So just right off the bat, and.

[Matt Gorley]

It'S not like I didn't struggle with it. In fact, I think I tailored the gift as a kind of acknowledgment to me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, interesting. Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

And I felt like the only way to do this is to hedge my bets. I have to give you a gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

Regardless of how no other guest in the history of the podcast has ever given you a gift. I want to be the first to just break that rule. And so I made you some things that you can use for me or for future guests that bring you gifts.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, wonderful.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, I'm glad to hear it was hard for you.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, it was hard.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, let us.

[Matt Gorley]

So it still is hard.

[Host]

Did you know tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it. Even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tide.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's in this wonderful little plaid, red, and black bag.

[Matt Gorley]

You can use that as a little belt satchel if you want.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Better. Okay, we'll open it. Oh. Oh, wait. Did you make these?

[Matt Gorley]

I made you some. No thank you cards.

[Bridger Weiniger]

8 no thank you cards. And they look like real cards.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, should I open that? Yeah, sure, go for it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What is this? Is this elastic?

[Matt Gorley]

That's my daughter's jewelry bead elastic.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I like this. I've never seen something like that before. Kind of a rainbow elastic.

[Matt Gorley]

I need that back.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Of course. This clearly cost you a fortress.

[Matt Gorley]

That's the real gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This is a family heirloom. I wouldn't want to keep that. Of course. These. Okay, so this first one says, you have deliberately disobeyed me. And it says my name on the front. This is great. And then it says, plenty of summer night. Real friends don't give gifts. Did you hand write all of these? Yeah. This is, like, genuinely nice. And different types of styles of handwriting. Fonts, I guess. Is it a font when you write it with your hand?

[Matt Gorley]

That's a good question. No, I think the font is the size.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, right. And it's a typeface.

[Matt Gorley]

Typeface.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So I.

[Matt Gorley]

It can't be a tight. It's a hand face.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's a hand face. A handwriting.

[Matt Gorley]

A handwriting. Yeah. That's better.

[Bridger Weiniger]

To you, I say boo. Hiss. I said no gifts. This is gorgeous. Thanks, but no thanks. Because I said no gift. How long did this take you?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, I had a little time at my daughter's dance class, so I brought this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're busy ignoring your daughter's life.

[Matt Gorley]

This dance class has those kind of mirrors, like in interrogation rooms. I can't see in.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What I know.

[Matt Gorley]

What I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They can see out, but you can't See in. That feels backwards.

[Matt Gorley]

It does feel backwards. I don't understand it. This feels also that we tried to cancel and they won't let us out. So we have another month, but then we're done.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How long has it been? A year?

[Matt Gorley]

No, it's been a few months.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God. What a scam.

[Matt Gorley]

It's a real like multi level monkey.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. They might not even be dancing in there. They might just have them seated quietly.

[Matt Gorley]

She comes out in full makeup. Like.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is she. What sort of dancing is she learning?

[Matt Gorley]

It's tap and jazz.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Gorley]

Is that right? No, tap and ballet. I don't know. I can't see. I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Okay. This is. I look. I look. I said no. And then there's a somebody giving the finger. And then inside. Oh, gifts.

[Matt Gorley]

That one's got one inside.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are you an artist? Do you draw?

[Matt Gorley]

It depends on the day, I think.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Did you study art in school?

[Matt Gorley]

I studied, yeah. I went to study art and graphic design, but I was told by instructor that I was seduced by the line, so I moved to scenic design. My undergrad degree is in scenic design.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Seduced by the line.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What does that even mean?

[Matt Gorley]

I think to him it was like, you need more form and shadow and abstract. Where I think I'm an illustrator. So that's why I kind of like to, you know, like this kind of graphic art.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Very. Right, Right. This is. To me, you will always be truly inconsiderate. I said no gifts. This is incredible. I'm gonna have to give these away to guests.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, you can do that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thank you. But I said no gifts. With a big. What do we call this? I just always say Ghostbusters thing.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. A don't or a beware.

[Bridger Weiniger]

A don't sign. No smoking. But it's over a gift. Gorgeous. Thanks. But you failed. That's a nice. I could save this for all sorts of occasions, actually. And then. Oh, and these are all the envelopes. This is gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. And you did these while your daughter was learning?

[Matt Gorley]

For the most part, yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think. I think. Do they give you a desk and pens at this point?

[Matt Gorley]

No, I was just doing them on a creaky chair last night.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This all happened last night?

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This would have taken me months.

[Matt Gorley]

No, they're not that special.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes, they are. The listener will see on Instagram or YouTube video. Get to see it on video. Very exciting. These are actually like professional level.

[Matt Gorley]

That's kind, but I.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Now give me a break. Come on. Stop fishing.

[Matt Gorley]

You Already said it. How can I be fishing? I'm trying to stop it. I'm throwing that fish back in the ocean.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're looking for more.

[Matt Gorley]

No, I don't want it. Go on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're insatiable. Okay. So your daughter's learning tap and jazz.

[Matt Gorley]

Jazz, yeah. Learning is a.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Was this her idea or the parents idea?

[Matt Gorley]

I think she likes dancing, but it wasn't like she said, what's dance class and when can I do it? She's four.

[Bridger Weiniger]

She's four.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Does she seem to be enjoying it?

[Matt Gorley]

Yes, she does. One of her great friends at school is there. So much so that when the dance class is over, I, her father and myself, we can't pull them apart. They're holding on to each other, screaming at times. We had a rough goodbye last night.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's happening behind that mirror?

[Matt Gorley]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Get out of this class.

[Matt Gorley]

I'm trying, but I can't.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's a type of trauma.

[Matt Gorley]

I can't. And it's like the hotel that we were at. It's just. Do you engage? Do you fight? When I've had to choose my battles.

[Bridger Weiniger]

In these things, seems like you're just gonna roll over every time.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, I used to be the opposite. But you get to a place where you're like, is it worth it?

[Bridger Weiniger]

It isn't worth it. Just to stand up for myself.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. And then I would stand up for myself for trivial things. Now something as big as a bathtub or a dance class, this is kind of my problem.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't stand up for myself often enough. Then I find a situation where I'm like, oh, that's probably not worth standing up for myself. And then I do. And then I embarrassed. I'm embarrassed by it. And never stand up for myself again. Basically, yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

I wrestle with it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How are you as a dancer?

[Matt Gorley]

I'm good when I'm prepared to give into it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

But that's not most of the time. Most of the time I'm self conscious about it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right.

[Matt Gorley]

But when I let go and go, I think I can dance.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What sort of situation?

[Matt Gorley]

Like a wedding. A fun wedding. Yeah. I don't find myself in dancing situations much more than that. Although I dance at home with my daughter and my wife. Like, we dance around the house.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Your dancing team?

[Matt Gorley]

Yes, that's right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Dancing team Captain Captain, of course.

[Matt Gorley]

And please refer to me as Captain.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Captain Dance Captain Dance. What are you dancing to around the house?

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, you name it. It's a lot of K Pop Demon hunters.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

I got her onto Like a prayer, which she likes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, that's fun.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. I'm trying to kind of get some things I like in there, but they're not really taking. But a lot of Disney.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, sure, sure. What was the K Pop Demon Hunter's Journey for you as a parent?

[Matt Gorley]

I brought it home.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You brought it home.

[Matt Gorley]

I was patient zero.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wow.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Fascinating. That is not how I would have imagined that goes.

[Matt Gorley]

I don't think it's how it happens most times, but I had hear. I think most of my podcast listening is film based.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right.

[Matt Gorley]

And so I'd heard enough about it. And I was pretty big into anime when I was younger.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

And I just know my daughter's tastes. And I was like, she's. She's gonna go crazy for this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So you were an early adopter then?

[Matt Gorley]

I guess I was.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't like it. Kind of just was suddenly the biggest thing in the universe. But I don't. What did Netflix, like, release it and then it quietly started to become a big thing? Or was it? Yeah. Oh, interesting.

[Matt Gorley]

It was the, I think, I think their biggest week after week growth film they've ever had. Maybe.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Congratulations to Netflix.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

God, we're rooting for them.

[Matt Gorley]

We will. You're gonna be calling them for your bank fees pretty soon.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Truly have my Netflix debit card. Wow. Wow. So that's father to daughter. Interesting.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And how did. Was she immediately into it or was it something where she had to figure it out? Because to me, it doesn't make sense for a child. It feels kind of for teens or something.

[Matt Gorley]

I think you're right. I don't want to say my daughter has advanced tastes, but she likes when people are scared. She loves when people are in danger.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hurt or scared within the thing. Not the viewing party.

[Matt Gorley]

Not always. Not always. She loves a good ouchie story or fall down story or. Why did you cry so?

[Bridger Weiniger]

She's cruel. She's just a cruel heart.

[Matt Gorley]

She's cruel curious. Yeah. I wouldn't call her cruel, but she's experimenting with it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This is a scary person, Martina.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is she currently an only child?

[Matt Gorley]

She is until January 1st.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sibling is in for ruined awakening.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Or she might also be.

[Matt Gorley]

That's the thing. I mean, our daughter, Glen, she's really incredible. She's just a whirlwind. She's Tasmanian devil.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, right.

[Matt Gorley]

And everybody keeps saying, oh, well, you've got that now you're gonna have the calm one. And I'm like, what if this is the calm one?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, right. That's always a possibility something much worse could be. Around the turn. Around the. I don't know what the phrase is. Around the bend. Around the bend.

[Matt Gorley]

Around the corner.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Around the corner.

[Matt Gorley]

Like, it all works.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. It all applies to babies being born.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Speaking of scary things, I just saw Paranormal Activity, the play. Have you heard about this?

[Matt Gorley]

I have heard about this because I teach theater online, and they have to see a play, and someone wrote a critique on this play.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What did they have to say about it?

[Matt Gorley]

Just that they were pleasantly surprised. They never thought it could be as good as one of the movies, and they liked it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was shocked. I really expected a tacky time, and it wasn't. I don't see enough plays to really say, but it seemed done well enough that I wasn't like, well, this is. It's embarrassing that I'm here.

[Matt Gorley]

It's not campy. It's. It's just.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, it's very sincere. It's very. It really. I mean, my complaints would probably be that it just, like, in order to build tension, it's just extremely boring. Up until the scary part.

[Matt Gorley]

Yes. That's their M.O.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. It's like the first half an hour, I was a little dozing off until the first big scare. Then I was awake for the rest of the time. And I'm not easily scared by things. My boyfriend is. He was freaking out, but I at least kind of. It registered for me that it could be scary to other people.

[Matt Gorley]

So you have your emotional vacant inside, but you acknowledge.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The listener knows. I feel nothing. I have a long history of feeling absolutely nothing. I've heard of that.

[Matt Gorley]

For empathy when people go through a hard time, but for scares. I've never heard of that kind of lack of empathy for.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No.

[Matt Gorley]

I guess you're saying you have empathy for scares, but you can't feel it yourself.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, I guess.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay, well, no, that's admirable.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is that a psychopath?

[Matt Gorley]

No, No. I think that's the opposite of a psychopath. You can't help that you're superhuman and not afraid of anything on this earth.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That I'm a very strong man. Yes.

[Matt Gorley]

But that you empathize that weaker people can.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, Right.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. I'll lead us into whatever scary thing the world is headed towards because it won't scare me.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But it was. There were some frightening moments. There was. I. I tried to. I was like, is this a play or is it a magic show? Or some moments where it's like, well, this is more of an illusion or a magic trick than a I don't know. It was scary enough. I didn't expect. How, like, how could a play possibly scare people?

[Matt Gorley]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

People were shrieking. The audience was shrieking.

[Matt Gorley]

Were they coming out in the audience at all? Was there anything? No, nothing like that at all.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, I kind of expected something like that. And it was all on stage. And, yeah, I've said this, but I think the moral of the play was essentially, don't run anybody over with your car that will.

[Matt Gorley]

That direct action is not even immoral.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's not even like this stuff that's. Just put it on your list. Don't run anyone over. But, yeah. Do you get scared easily?

[Matt Gorley]

I do, yeah. Jump scares. It's not that I'm scared. I don't get scared. Like, existentially afraid of that. I do have plenty of other things in life, but movies, it's more just when is it coming? When is it coming?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. So I guess I do get scared.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I feel like people really complain about jump scares and say they're cheap or whatever, but I feel like that's kind of the only way you can get me at this point.

[Matt Gorley]

I think when done well, they're the best. Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's so much fun. Yeah. But other things, ghosts, that kind of thing don't really do anything for me either.

[Matt Gorley]

I think I'm much more scared of a slasher film because it could really happen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Exactly.

[Matt Gorley]

And ghost. I like certain ghost movies. I like to believe for the movie that it's fun, but that I'm not gonna go to bed worried that Annabelle's coming or whatever.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, I love. I mean, my number one favorite's a haunted house movie, but there aren't enough of those.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And most of the haunted house movies now take place in new builds, which I don't like.

[Matt Gorley]

No, all the paranormal ones.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, it's like a condo.

[Matt Gorley]

Talking new builds in, like, Corona, California.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, I need some sort of Victorian, some sort of Winchester mystery house vibe.

[Matt Gorley]

Do you have a favorite haunted.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I love the Haunting.

[Matt Gorley]

I was just gonna say the Haunting or the new one.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What if I loved the 99 1?

[Matt Gorley]

That was something to be said.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Felt like a misfire.

[Matt Gorley]

I know. It was. It was. I can't even say because we rented that, like, three years ago and I fell asleep halfway through.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Who's in it? It's like Catherine Zeta Jones, Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson, and Lily.

[Matt Gorley]

What's her name?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Lily Taylor.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I think so. But not the new Lily Taylor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, there's an old.

[Matt Gorley]

Wait, What?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Lily Taylor? 1.0. Lily Taylor, is it? I don't know who Lily Taylor even is. Lily, reach out. My apologies, but I don't know this person.

[Matt Gorley]

Wait, who's David Harbour's girlfriend that he cheated on? Lily Allen. Okay, that's.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Lily Allen is not in.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. Then it must be Lily Taylor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Lily Taylor.

[Matt Gorley]

You've probably got it brought up on your screen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You could say we're going to gaslight you from here. You're not seeing that whatever your reality is back there is not true. Lily Taylor. Interesting. No. I only ever saw the trailer of it. Loved the original so much that I thought I'll stay away from the original. And I love the book too.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, I've never read it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's really spooky. Really very spooky. And the original movie is kind of eerie.

[Matt Gorley]

I've heard it really holds up. And then I've seen it, but it's.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Been a long time has a lot of loud. The loud pounding noise, which is frightening. This kind of mysterious coming from nowhere. Yeah, but that's probably my number one favorite horror movie. Oh, that. The Shining with strangers.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh yeah, those are all good. Haunted house, haunted hotel, haunted cabin.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But haunted home invas.

[Matt Gorley]

Haunted home invasion. Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Do you have a favorite?

[Matt Gorley]

I mean, I have a long history with Halloween and I love it. I hate it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's this long history?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, I just was shown it as a small child.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The movie itself. I thought you were talking about just the holiday in general.

[Matt Gorley]

My babysitter made me watch it when I was young and so it just shaped my life more than I care to admit. And so I have always had this morbid fascination and I love it. And then the house is in Southampton. Every year for Halloween we go. Rather than visit Santa Claus at Christmas, we take my daughter to see Michael Myers.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How does she feel about that?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, it varies from year to year. This year she didn't want to go near him and we don't force it on her.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right.

[Matt Gorley]

But it is funny because these are not like professionally associated Michael Myers'. They're just people dressed up. So you'll get like a tall one, a short one, a brown one.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They just show up there.

[Matt Gorley]

Every variety of Michael Myers you can imagine. Sexy Michael Myers. They're all there.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Every Michael Myers is a sexy Michael Myers. What's happening under that jumpsuit? They should have a Santa at that house.

[Matt Gorley]

They should.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I just feel like we make that a year round destination because now it.

[Matt Gorley]

Looks almost like a gingerbread house. It's been restored and it's very Victorian.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's kind of by the train. It's right.

[Matt Gorley]

It's probably 15ft maybe.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Too close.

[Matt Gorley]

Too close.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Ruining the vibe.

[Matt Gorley]

If the train derailed, the first thing to go is the Myers house.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And what a. What's the character's name? Laurie.

[Matt Gorley]

Laurie Strode.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is her house in the same area?

[Matt Gorley]

It's. If you walk across the street and then a few blocks in where the library is in South Pasadena, it's across the street there. And that was recently for sale.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh.

[Matt Gorley]

I went to look at it, and it's been subdivided into three different units.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's like a triplex.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. It's strange.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's a shame.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Why didn't Jamie buy it?

[Matt Gorley]

Good question.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What is she doing with her money?

[Matt Gorley]

She ain't buying her houses. And then there's the place where the hedge is. You know, from that movie where he peeks around.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah. That hedge is still.

[Matt Gorley]

The hedge is still there. And not only that, but the house on the other side of the hedge is from Mama's family. Okay, let's.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mama's family is what we should be talking about.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Wow. Those hedges. How long does a hedge live? Is it the original hedge?

[Matt Gorley]

That's a good question.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Probably that'd be a 45 year old hedge.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. At least. I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wow. I need to see that hedge. I'd like to stick my hand through it or something.

[Matt Gorley]

You can walk. I mean, you can go up to it as much as you like.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is it on someone's property?

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, but it's right there by the sidewalk, you know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay. So you could grab the homeowner.

[Matt Gorley]

You could. It might be Mama. And then Pee Wee Herman's house from the movie's right around the corner, too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Incredible.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And it looks just like it did in the movie.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I think it's white or yellow now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, wait. What color is it in the movie? Wasn't it red again? We're going back to what colors I can remember.

[Matt Gorley]

Maybe it's red. Now, see, I've got it all wrong. I do know there's like a 3 inch space under the walls that you can put if you want.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're not allowed to speak after 8pm in that house. Okay, well, I have my cards here. Do we have anything left to say about thank. Do you send thank you cards occasionally?

[Matt Gorley]

I do not, as a rule.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What sort of thing has to happen in order for you to send a thank you card?

[Matt Gorley]

I think it has to have been a gift that I received that I wasn't able to say. Thank you for in person. For some reason or something special. So I will at times. But I'm not one of those upsetting thank you card writers.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Some people are very good at it. Very on top of it. They do it right away.

[Matt Gorley]

I know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I never do it at all. Classless.

[Matt Gorley]

It adds an air of mystique.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's true. You just leave them wondering if you cared about the gift.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. What did I get wrong? And then I'm gonna try harder next year.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It gets better and better every year. Yeah. Till the person's life has been absolutely demolished.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, you've made a career off getting gifts, so if you were to start now, it would be.

[Bridger Weiniger]

A career is a generous one.

[Matt Gorley]

You're gonna have to.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Now I know. Of course I'm gonna have. I mean, I will give these away to guest after guest. I think the third gift I got on this was Lauren Lapkus. Brought some thank you cards. And I don't know. My apologies to Lauren Lapkus. I'm not quite sure what happened to this, but it was an early pandemic, so I wasn't responsible for anything.

[Matt Gorley]

I was gonna ask if you had a chest or a trunk of every gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I have a garage.

[Matt Gorley]

A garage. But they're not all in one place or anything. No, I mean, you have a bunch here.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There are a bunch here in the studio now, thank God. Kind of the most camera ready gifts.

[Matt Gorley]

Who gave you the redneck plunger?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Rob Huebel.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, nice.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, that was a great one, I think. I wonder if I would be able to remember. I've received probably, I mean, hundreds of gifts at this point. It'd be an interesting challenge for my memory and my gratitude to see if I knew which each gift, who gave each gift.

[Matt Gorley]

It would be cool to stack them all in a room and have you go through and see if you could get them right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God, that would be horrible.

[Matt Gorley]

And then you have to match them with names so you get to see all the names you're reminded.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think I probably.

[Matt Gorley]

It's a Price is Right game.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And what do I win? Just the knowledge that my brain is still functioning.

[Matt Gorley]

Abyssal vacuum or something.

[Bridger Weiniger]

If I get a vacuum. Okay, well, I will do anything. I've gotten a vacuum on this podcast.

[Matt Gorley]

Have you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

My boyfriend gave me the vacuum, and I told him not to spend too much money on it. He came on the podcast and gave me a vacuum.

[Matt Gorley]

What kind of vacuum?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Vacuum. It might be abyssal.

[Matt Gorley]

Really?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, it works pretty well. I don't know. I mean, our other vacuum was working Just fine. That was the big problem. You complained and complained and complained about the vacuum. It was working totally fine. So it was upsetting to get a new vacuum.

[Matt Gorley]

I see. But he wanted it. But he disguised it as a gift for me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, right.

[Matt Gorley]

Stealth gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Kind of a classic sitcom trope. Here's the bowling ball, honey. That kind of thing. Well, I think we should play a game.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

We're going to play a game called Gift Master, but I need a number between 1 and 10 from you.

[Matt Gorley]

4.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. I have to do some light calculating to get our game pieces, so right now you can promote, recommend, do whatever you want. I'll be right back.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh. Oh, golly. Well, I'm having a child in January 31st, so come on and check that out. We'll probably be at a hospital near you. What else can I tell you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

You.

[Matt Gorley]

I have a couple of podcasts, I guess, with goerlian rust and bananas for Bonanza, and you can check those out. And then there's the Conan o' Brien podcast. There's.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Everyone go leave a one star review for everything you just heard.

[Matt Gorley]

Please do. Only if you go to that hotel and give it to them as well.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, go listen to Matt's Wonderful. Let's support Matt. Also, I haven't mentioned in years that people should be leaving reviews for this podcast. Do those matter anymore?

[Matt Gorley]

They might bump you up in the algorithm, but I don't know, do people even. I think a lot of people spread their listening among different podcast apps now, so. It used to all be Apple based.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And I don't know, does anyone care about anything anymore is the big question.

[Matt Gorley]

I don't.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Go leave a review. Stop being selfish. Leave a gorgeous review of this podcast and then a bunch of 1 stars for Matt again. Okay, this is how we play Gift Master. I'm going to name three celebrities, three famous people, and then I'm going to name three gifts, things you can give away. You're going to tell me which gift you would give, which person, and why.

[Matt Gorley]

I love it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Does that make perfect sense? Yeah. All right. The celebrities today are, number one, Alec Baldwin, number two, Jamie Lynn Spears, and number three, Margaret Atwood. The gifts you'll be giving are a bullet bike, rock hard abs and omnipotence. That's more of an experience.

[Matt Gorley]

I have some questions.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

What's a bullet bike?

[Bridger Weiniger]

A bullet bike, that's. What do we call.

[Matt Gorley]

What's a Jamie Lynn Spears? It's on the. I'm trying to remember.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Jamie Lynn Spears is a very fast motorcycle. And a bullet bike Is Britney Spears younger sister.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay, all right. Bullet bike omnipotence.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What do we call that? I call that a bullet bike. You know, the very small, stylish looking motorcycles that aren't a dirt bike or a Harley. What is that called?

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, we used to call. They had a brand name there called Ninjas when I was young.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Ninjas, right.

[Matt Gorley]

But like a street bike. Kind of like a street racing bike. A bullet bike. Maybe that. Okay, so a bullet bike omnipotence and.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Rock hard abs and Jamie Lynn Spears.

[Matt Gorley]

Margaret Atwood and Alec Baldwin. Alec Baldwin who I saw at Disneyland a couple weeks ago.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're kidding. With the whole crew?

[Matt Gorley]

The whole crew.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are they still doing the reality show?

[Matt Gorley]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are they being followed by a camera crew?

[Matt Gorley]

No, they were there, I think because his wife was on Dancing with the Stars and they all contractually have to do some like B roll at Disneyland.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I'm sure he was having the time of his life.

[Matt Gorley]

It seemed like he was okay with it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

He has like 40 kids. Yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

It's crazy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And they were all there.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Have you seen the reality show?

[Matt Gorley]

We watched the first episode. I got enough.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's a fascinating experience on many levels.

[Matt Gorley]

On many levels.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's very. How did she do in Dancing with the Stars?

[Matt Gorley]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I feel like she's probably not that great of a dancer.

[Matt Gorley]

It doesn't seem like it. I don't think she was well liked. I don't think people were. You know, you can get voted above your dancing talent just based on personality. Like I think Andy Richter recently.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Andy really took it away for quite a while. Yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I feel like she's not a well loved.

[Matt Gorley]

Doesn't seem like.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's her name? Hilaria.

[Matt Gorley]

Hilaria Baldwin.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hilaria Baldwin.

[Matt Gorley]

Reach out. Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And you can go in between accents. Yes. Oh, so you saw them at Disneyland? Did you see what ride they were going on?

[Matt Gorley]

No. They were outside the Fantasyland place where you can get pancakes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's a good thing. When you have 40 children. Get a stack of pancakes.

[Matt Gorley]

They were just like corralling up all of them. And I think they had to do that every 15 minutes to make sure they didn't lose someone. And you know how you can go to Disneyland with those plaid vested guides?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yes, yes.

[Matt Gorley]

Seemed like they had three.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You would have. That's a minimum for that size of family.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay. Bullet bike omnipotence and rock hard abs for Margaret Atwood, Jamie Lynn Spears and Alec Baldwin.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mr. Hilaria.

[Matt Gorley]

Margaret Atwood.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The author.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, but what does she write?

[Bridger Weiniger]

She wrote most famously the Handmaid statue.

[Matt Gorley]

That's right. Okay. I'm gonna give her omnipotence.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

Why? I just feel like if she has that kind of perception for that book being as old as it is and as prescient as it's become.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Matt Gorley]

Even at the time I could see how she had written it, she should.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Be able to control whatever she wants.

[Matt Gorley]

I trust her with the keys more than Alec and Jaime.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Okay. I would lean Jamie.

[Matt Gorley]

Would you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

We'll see what Jamie has to do with unlimited power. I feel like she's got the brain, she's got the.

[Matt Gorley]

What has she done with limited power? Because they say, you know, having some limits is a good thing, but she's going to go full Caligula or something. Okay. I'm comfortable with that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

And then keys to the world, keys to the bike. How old is Jamie Lynn Spears now? Is she fit? Does she already have rock hard abs?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't want to give her a.

[Matt Gorley]

Gift she doesn't need.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. You don't want to double up on rock hard abs.

[Matt Gorley]

But I'm hesitant to give Alec rock hard abs.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's almost like ultimate power for him.

[Matt Gorley]

I know. And if he does have rock hard abs, is he still. Astounding?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. That's a weird one person.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Interesting.

[Matt Gorley]

But I'd love to see him on a bullet bike.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I wonder what his sense of balance is.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. Google Jamie Lynn Spears. Let's see what she looks like right now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, this is. Let's see. Jamie Lynn Spears, 2025. Let's see.

[Matt Gorley]

See.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Google. Shut down. Your whole search engine is so bad. The images that we're getting are too small. The resolution should be bigger. Look at this. How blurry that photo is.

[Matt Gorley]

That's this year.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's this year. Okay, so she looks like she probably doesn't need rock hard abs.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay. Then I have no choice, I guess. Like my hand is forced. I don't even know if she wants a bullet bike. But Jamie Spears is getting a bullet bike.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can see her zipping around town on one of those streets of Tokyo.

[Matt Gorley]

The pictures you showed me, she's in kind of like a Catholic schoolgirl thing, which is very Japanese school uniform. Akira.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can see her kind of pulling that all together and making that her new thing, her comeback. Her comeback is someone who drives around.

[Matt Gorley]

Tokyo in a bullet bar and on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

One.

[Matt Gorley]

And then, yes, Alec Baldwin gets rock hard abs, but no other part of his body is allowed to improve.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Every other part of his body has to get much, much worse. Yes.

[Matt Gorley]

So. Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Fascinating. That gets another reality show, I would say.

[Matt Gorley]

And if you were to just catch him at the right height through a porthole, you would think, like, this is the most fit man I'm in for a treat.

[Bridger Weiniger]

A porthole just to look at men's abs.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, yeah. It's just like. It's like a family friendly glory hulk.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, exactly. Okay, well, you answered those perfectly.

[Matt Gorley]

Thank you.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Very well done. This is the final segment of the podcast. It's called I said no Email. People write into isaidnogiftsmail.com desperate for answers. People are wondering all sorts of things and begging for help, etc. Will you help me answer a question? All right. This is. Hello. Cold. My stepfather's birthday is approaching. I'll be honest. Despite living together for a decade, we still don't know a lot about each other. As far as I know, he likes two things. Siamese cats and woodworking. I have given him figurines of Siamese cats for the past several gifts. I think I need to get him something else at this point as his desk is running out of room for Siamese cats. What do you get for the man who likes nothing? He doesn't like restaurants or movies. Thanks. And that's from jmm. They them terrible stepchild. Get him a new stepchild.

[Matt Gorley]

Have you gotten him an actual Siamese cat?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I mean, this is something I'm a huge advocate of is giving people live animals as pets. I think that's not at all. Yeah, it's a win for the person and the animal. We know that everyone will be taken care of in that situation. The more the mere Siamese cats. They're expensive, they're classy. He loves them. Does he own any? Or is he just obsessed with the concept?

[Matt Gorley]

Or is this one of those runaway things where someone thinks you like something so they keep getting for you? You mentioned it once, you know, and now the stepchild sees all these, like, Siamese cat bric a brac everywhere, but doesn't stop to think that they gave them all these things.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right, Right. And meanwhile, the rift between them is growing. They don't think that this person enjoys anything. He doesn't think that they know anything about him. And the pile of cat garbage is just growing and growing and growing.

[Matt Gorley]

I think you gotta take Siamese cats off the table. You have a clue here with woodworking. I enjoy woodworking. I know you can get. They're somewhat pricey, but there's a brand called Woodpeckers that makes these really good precision measuring instruments, like mini squares and stuff like that. And I think if your stepfather likes and enjoys woodworking, having one of these quality things would really make the difference. I love them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What are you making with your woodworking?

[Matt Gorley]

Just home renovations and shelves and lanterns and shit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Lanterns?

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I made some lanterns.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How many lanterns are you making?

[Matt Gorley]

I've made seven lanterns.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Gorley]

Maybe eight.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know what inspired the lantern idea.

[Matt Gorley]

Just having a backyard that needed lanterns. That's like. I took a look and said this lanterns could spruce this place up.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Is this all self taught?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, I was a scenic design manager, so I learned some basic carpentry skills then. But then I've had to kind of YouTube a lot myself.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Have you had any failed projects?

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, sure.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Like what?

[Matt Gorley]

Well, just recently I've been building out a backhouse studio.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Matt Gorley]

And so I decided to build a standing desk within a built in, like kind of grander desk.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh.

[Matt Gorley]

And then I did that. And then the standing desk mechanism broke and I had already built it in, so I had to destroy it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh.

[Matt Gorley]

And then remake it so I could take it apart. If this happens again, what a waste of time. It was one of my hardest days of my life.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Did it damage the original desk? Yeah, I had to destroy the whole desk.

[Matt Gorley]

Not the whole desk. I had to destroy the two inner sides of it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Gorley]

I had to just crowbar it apart. It was like killing a child. It was hard.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How did it break?

[Matt Gorley]

The mechanism just was trying to recalibrate. But because I had built. This was my mistake. I had built it into a desk. It was rubbing up on parts that it shouldn't.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, interesting.

[Matt Gorley]

And it broke itself or I did.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It just bad workmanship on my part. It's the poor carpenter who blames his desk.

[Matt Gorley]

I'm taking the blame for. I am. I got to it eventually. I didn't want to admit it at first.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And are you staining all of it and all this?

[Matt Gorley]

All that staining? Finishing masonry.

[Bridger Weiniger]

My dog recently gnawed off a part of my armchair, the wood leg. And I don't know what to. Well, just part of it. And I don't know, should I just put some stain on there and hope people don't notice or should I sand it down?

[Matt Gorley]

Is it like three dimensionally pulled apart or just on this, like, surface?

[Bridger Weiniger]

You know, it's like a little, you know, leg. It's like round and curvy.

[Matt Gorley]

Like a mid century kind of.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Or almost like Victorian or something.

[Matt Gorley]

I would say Gabriel leg.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You know, like. I would say, like, French ish. I don't know exactly how.

[Matt Gorley]

Not like a claw foot kind of thing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, Like a little claw foot cabriole leg. Okay. Yeah. Whatever that is.

[Matt Gorley]

That's what it is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's what this. And she gnawed off essentially the knee of it. So now it's like, kind of. So I'm like, do I sand that down and then stain it? I don't want to take it to somebody. That seems like a lot to put an armchair in the car to get this one little thing fixed.

[Matt Gorley]

You can sand sand it, and then you'd probably fill it a little bit with some filler.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Filler.

[Matt Gorley]

If there's little divots in it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's flat.

[Matt Gorley]

It's flat. Then you're in good shape. You know what you get? Restora finish.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Restora finish.

[Matt Gorley]

And it's something you can just rub on and you can buy it in the kind of color of the finish of the wood and try that at least and see if that helps you. But usually that. If it's just like superficial mars and dins like you can.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And sand it a little bit first.

[Matt Gorley]

Don't sand it first. You just put this in and it'll usually darken it up and kind of. Then you've kind of buffed it a little bit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Restore a finish. Yeah.

[Matt Gorley]

And there's no E on the restore. It's like restore. Hyphen. A hyphen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, interesting. Restore a finish.

[Matt Gorley]

And if there is any, be really careful. Something else.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's another brand I do not condone. God knows what will happen. Yeah. I don't endorse, but we're saying. Jmm. Get some sort of woodworking woodpecker tool. No more Siamese cats unless they're the real thing.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And the best breeder you can find. Go to a cat mill.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This podcast is very pro. Animal mill, puppy and cat shop. Don't adopt. I had some listeners attack me about my dog that we recently got. They thought that I had bought her. What have I done on this podcast that makes people think I'm going to Cruella de Ville to buy a dog?

[Matt Gorley]

What you just said. And if you've said anything like that before, I would imagine that's why they.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thought that I adopted her. Of course, I rescued the dog.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay. Okay. What kind of dog and what's the dog's name?

[Bridger Weiniger]

She's a Rottweiler named Bonnie.

[Matt Gorley]

Wow.

[Bridger Weiniger]

She's 10 months old and she's in Heat, Really? She's becoming a woman. I've never dealt with something like this before.

[Matt Gorley]

She has to get her.

[Bridger Weiniger]

She has to get spayed. But they say you should go through at least one heat with the puppy.

[Matt Gorley]

That makes sense because it prevents further issues.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right? Yeah. Maybe you avoid some cancer or something in the future.

[Matt Gorley]

Bonnie, how did you happen on the name Bonnie?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I wanted to name her Ronnie, after Ronnie Spector. I love Ronnie Spector, but my boyfriend, our last dog was named Edie, and she was frequently being called Eddie, being misgendered.

[Matt Gorley]

I have an aunt Edie and I know how that goes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. So Jim said, let's give her a nice, clear Bonnie. And so that was close enough.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm sorry. With pet gender, I'm like, it's not very high stakes for me.

[Matt Gorley]

No. I mean, we named our daughter Glenn. I mean, it's clearly not for me either.

[Bridger Weiniger]

When people really get sensitive about a pet's gender. I don't own the dog. I don't own the cat. I'm just assuming.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Don't get after me. That if I say he or she just let me know in a nice non aggressive way.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, I agree with you.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's a dog.

[Matt Gorley]

It's a dog.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And we love the dog. Yeah, we love Bonnie. Wait, you have a. I have a cat. A cat. Not a Siamese.

[Matt Gorley]

No, but she's part Maine coon. All high maintenance.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. A lot of fur.

[Matt Gorley]

A lot of fur.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Shedding it.

[Matt Gorley]

No, she pulls a lot off, but it doesn't like, she doesn't leave a wake of fur. Okay. And I'm, I think, fairly allergic, but not to her because she's one of those kind of long hair, hypoallergenic, and she's like a kind of like a plus size model cat.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I love this cat.

[Matt Gorley]

She knows it too. She's beautiful and she knows it. She'll let you know it. I love her, though. She's kind of the person in all of our family that will acknowledge me first in the morning.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What's her name?

[Matt Gorley]

Margo.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Margo. I love that. And how old is she?

[Matt Gorley]

She's 14.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, wow. Yeah. You have another decade with that cat.

[Matt Gorley]

I hope so.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I love cats.

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah. She's one of my best friends.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I just learned that when at least a dog goes in heat, they do something called blowing their coat, which is suddenly all of their fur is just all over the house.

[Matt Gorley]

And that's a heat thing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I was like, oh, is she like, is she malnourished what's happening? She might be. Maybe we're bad pet owners, but I think she's healthy. And when they're in heat, they just suddenly start losing tons and tons. The amount of hair that a dog is able to produce, that they leave enough around the house to fill a garbage can and still have fur on their body. It's. I don't know. Nature. Jmm. If you've gotten some sort of answer, and I know you have, it's time to repair your relationship with the stepfather. 10 years is too long to hate each other.

[Matt Gorley]

Mm.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's time to live in some sort of civil household with all of the Siamese cats you buy him. We answered the question perfectly. I have all of these thank you cards. This is perfect. Every guest from the next eight people.

[Matt Gorley]

Choose them wisely.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I know. That's what I was going to say. Should I give them in order as just sequentially or should I give them when I care?

[Matt Gorley]

Yeah, that's up to you.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That could create some drama.

[Matt Gorley]

This comes with no, you know, you know, no expectations. So use them how you will.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This podcast could use some drama in the headlines. So, you know somebody's mad they didn't get a thank you card. They will never come back.

[Matt Gorley]

Well, now they know that they could get one.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Exactly.

[Matt Gorley]

Oh, man. I really put you in a bind.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Matt Gorley]

I mean, starting with me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Starting with me. I know. Oh, my God. I know.

[Matt Gorley]

What do you do there?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God. I feel like I've got to give you one.

[Matt Gorley]

No. No expectations.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I told you this was very tacky.

[Matt Gorley]

I've already seen them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, I'll think about it.

[Matt Gorley]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'll think about it. Thank you for these.

[Matt Gorley]

You're welcome.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I've had such a nice time with you here today. Thanks for having me, listener. The podcast is over. I'm letting you go. I've decided to release you for the day and go do something else. Find something nice to do. I love you. Goodbye. I said no Gifts is an exactly right production. Ourselves senior producer is Annelise Nelson, and our episodes are beautifully mixed by Ben Tolliday. The theme song is by miracle worker Amy. Man. And we couldn't do it without our booker, Patrick Cotner. You must follow the show on Instagram at isaidnogifts. That's where you're going to see pictures of all these wonderful gifts I'm getting. And don't you want to see the gifts?

[Host]

Thought I made myself perfectly clear. When you're a guest in my home, you gotta come to me empty handed. I said no guests. Your presence is present enough. And I already had too much stuff, so how do you dare disobey me?

[Bridger Weiniger]

It.