"Drink Juice and Spill Tea" (w/ Rachel Bloom)

Summary

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang Episode Summary: "Drink Juice and Spill Tea" (Featuring Rachel Bloom) – Released October 23, 2024

In the episode titled "Drink Juice and Spill Tea," hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang engage in a deep and heartfelt conversation with special guest Rachel Bloom. This episode delves into personal experiences, cultural analyses, and the intertwining of comedy with profound life events, particularly focusing on themes of death, grief, and mental health.

---

Revisiting the Past: Rachel Bloom's Journey

Matt and Bowen begin by reflecting on Rachel Bloom's previous appearance on the show seven and a half years prior. They reminisce about her candidness and the meaningful discussions that took place, setting the stage for today's in-depth conversation.

Matt Rogers [02:09]: "For the New Yorker."

Bowen Yang [02:18]: "For the New Yorker. And I was like, Rachel Bloom took me out to a gastropub outside of USC and told me, maybe you shouldn't do that. Maybe you should actually do comedy because it's what you love."

Rachel recounts a pivotal moment when she was encouraged to pursue comedy over medical school, a decision that shaped her career and personal life.

---

Generational Influence: A Daughter's Role in Comedy

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Rachel Bloom's daughter, who has begun to influence Rachel's comedic endeavors. Rachel shares a charming anecdote about her daughter creating a song parody titled "Poopy Little Skeletons," showcasing the playful and evolving nature of her family’s engagement with humor.

Rachel Bloom [03:15]: "Her father's daughter. Dan Gregor. Don't forget the legend."

This segment highlights how personal life and parenthood intersect with creative expression, adding depth to Rachel's comedic perspective.

---

Analyzing Children's Media: Conspiracies and Cultural Impact

The conversation shifts to the realm of children's television, where Rachel and the hosts explore various conspiracy theories surrounding beloved shows like "Sesame Street" and "Gabby's Dollhouse." They humorously hypothesize hidden meanings and societal commentaries embedded within these programs.

Rachel Bloom [13:32]: "One of the theories about Daniel Tiger's neighborhood is that it's a communist monarchy and that somehow they're all communist, but they're forcing the monarchy at gunpoint to remain in their stations."

Matt Rogers [15:02]: "Like, we're back in, like a Bronze Age. Not Bronze Age, but like, we're post technology, post technocalypse."

This playful analysis serves as a commentary on how modern audiences interpret and find deeper meanings in children's content, reflecting broader cultural narratives.

---

The Evolution of Media Scrutiny: From Gaslighting to Authenticity

Rachel and the hosts delve into the proliferation of terms like "gaslighting" and "narcissist" in popular discourse, discussing their origins and the impact of media on public understanding.

Rachel Bloom [19:25]: "I've been using those words for 15 years, and now everyone's using them. And they're not wrong."

They further explore how the advent of the internet has transformed media consumption, making past interviews and behaviors eternally accessible and subject to scrutiny.

---

Navigating Mental Health: Anxiety, Grief, and Resilience

A poignant segment of the podcast is dedicated to discussing mental health challenges, particularly focusing on anxiety and grief. Rachel opens up about her experiences with postpartum anxiety intertwined with grief, offering a candid look into the complexities of her emotional landscape.

Rachel Bloom [25:05]: "I've been around Aline so much, I think. And I think I was also really tired."

Matt and Bowen share their perspectives on handling anxiety, personal boundaries, and the societal expectations placed on individuals dealing with loss and mental health issues.

Matt Rogers [70:05]: "I was thinking about, like, why is it so hard to just say no?"

---

Awards Shows and Personal Anecdotes: Behind the Glamour

The trio reminisces about their experiences with award shows, discussing the anxiety and surreal nature of walking the red carpet. Rachel shares her interactions with hosts and fellow nominees, providing insight into the often-overlooked pressures of such high-profile events.

Rachel Bloom [53:06]: "I've had numerous people come out like, I'm the first or second person."

The conversation touches on the importance of authenticity and the challenges celebrities face in maintaining genuine personas amidst public expectations.

---

Cultural Reflections: Death, Rituals, and Societal Norms

Towards the end of the episode, Rachel and the hosts engage in a profound discussion about society's relationship with death. They critique the American cultural approach to death as being anti-acceptance and lament the lack of meaningful rituals that help individuals process loss.

Rachel Bloom [66:14]: "We're in such a world of glass houses right now."

They advocate for a more integrated and accepting attitude toward death, drawing comparisons to other cultures that embrace death as a natural part of life through rituals and communal support.

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Humorous Interlude: Iconic 400 and Lighthearted Banter

Maintaining the show's characteristic humor, Matt and Bowen introduce a playful segment titled "Iconic 400," where they humorously acknowledge cultural icons they initially overlooked, such as Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston. This lighthearted banter serves to balance the deeper discussions with moments of levity.

Matt Rogers [80:28]: "We forgot her. And that was crazy Barbara."

Rachel Bloom [86:54]: "Drunken juice and spilling tea. I already drank that drink."

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Conclusion: Embracing Vulnerability and Moving Forward

As the episode wraps up, Rachel reflects on her growth and the importance of setting personal boundaries. The hosts emphasize the value of vulnerability and open communication in overcoming grief and anxiety, leaving listeners with a message of resilience and self-awareness.

Rachel Bloom [78:15]: "I don't want to have someone yell at."

Matt Rogers [88:44]: "How do you feel about the trope of adults on a swing at night for a really close, intimate sort of exchange?"

The episode concludes with heartfelt acknowledgments and humorous farewells, encapsulating the blend of depth and comedy that defines "Las Culturistas."

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Notable Quotes

• Rachel Bloom [07:01]: "Unbelievable. Okay."
• Bowen Yang [25:12]: "Osmotically."
• Rachel Bloom [44:15]: "I have very rarely seen people who are schmoozy in a cringy way."
• Matt Rogers [73:27]: "So this is what intrusive thoughts should be. Tca."
• Rachel Bloom [76:41]: "And I'm a hugger too."

---

This episode of "Las Culturistas" offers a rich tapestry of personal stories, cultural critiques, and comedic exchanges, providing listeners with both entertainment and thoughtful reflections on contemporary issues.

Transcript

[Rachel Bloom]

Hey, comedy fans, the funniest comedians in the world are on tour, and you can get tickets to see them live near you. Laugh at the biggest names in comedy like Atsuko Okotsuka, Chelsea Handler, Corey Holcomb, Matt Matthews, Nurse John, Ralph Barboza, Ronnie Chiang, Sarah Silverman, Sebastian Maniscalco, Wanda Sykes, and so many more. All kinds of shows, all kinds of venues, all kinds of funny. Head to livenation.comcomedy to get your tickets today. That's livenation.comcomedy.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, everybody, it's me, Matt Rogers, letting you know tickets are on sale. Now to see me on tour. The Prince of Christmas tour, that is. I'm doing my whole album. Have you heard of Christmas? Plus a lot more with the whole band all throughout December. Go to www.mattrogersofficial.com to see me in a city near you. And now, las coach drums. Look, man. Oh, I see my eye. Oh, my. Bowen, look over there.

[Rachel Bloom]

Wow.

[Matt Rogers]

Is that culture?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow. La ding dong. Las culturistas calling tactile as ever, I think.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I will say, Matt, kind of webbed hand feeling very connected to you.

[Matt Rogers]

Today and as of late, always. But like always, the sisterhood is really strong.

[Bowen Yang]

The sisterhood is real. I mean, let's just set the tone. Matt just got off a red eye. I'm kind of running on paltry sleep. And not that this was, like, labored for us, but, like, it's our guests. Like, we have to show up.

[Matt Rogers]

When family comes through. You show up for family. And I believe that's the Olive Garden slogan. You show up for family.

[Bowen Yang]

When family comes through.

[Matt Rogers]

When family comes through.

[Bowen Yang]

Rule of culture number 27.

[Matt Rogers]

The Olive Garden slogan is when family comes through, you show up for family.

[Bowen Yang]

I think that is so true. And let's just get right into it because our guest is someone who figures very, very heavily into the lore. We talked about this the last time she was on. I mentioned this in whatever, the most recent big, long, extended interview where it was Michael Schulman, legend. And he was just talking about this time in my life when I was like, I think I want to go to med school, but I don't.

[Matt Rogers]

For the New Yorker.

[Bowen Yang]

For the New Yorker. And I was like, rachel Bloom took me out to a gastropub outside of USC and told me, maybe you shouldn't do that. Maybe you should actually do comedy because it's what you love.

[Matt Rogers]

Maybe become the star you've always meant to be. And that's what she said that day. She looked at you with eyes and Said you were meant to become the star. Was this before or after we had our iconic vapiano?

[Bowen Yang]

This was before vapiano. This was while we were still in school. Cause we went to USC for the Fracas Improv Festival. And this was the be. Rachel kind of planted the seed crystal or, you know, whatever the. That's not an expression, but can I.

[Matt Rogers]

Say I'm an expression. I'm starting to hate.

[Bowen Yang]

Whoa, here we go.

[Matt Rogers]

This person is mother. It's so dumb. Well, we're like, in that moment, it was true. And also it's become true for her in real life.

[Bowen Yang]

It's become true for her in real life. She Ismir and her little daughter is writing song parodies. Apple don't fall far from the tree.

[Matt Rogers]

Marry that.

[Bowen Yang]

There's a song called Spooky Scary Skeletons. And now speak on that. Now. This little girl. Yeah, literally, little girl.

[Matt Rogers]

Little girl.

[Bowen Yang]

Wrote a little girl. Wrote a song parody called Poopy Little Skeletons.

[Matt Rogers]

Poopy skeleton. Her mother's daughter. Let me tell her already. Blue as fuck.

[Bowen Yang]

Her father's daughter. Dan Gregor. Don't forget the legend. I mean, what is there to say about our guest? She is true. Oh, my God. Were you at showtune Sunday on Fire in the Pines this summer when they were playing?

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, my God. Yes. CG constantly gets played. Everyone off.

[Bowen Yang]

Book on. Let's turn around.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. No. Do you know that?

[Rachel Bloom]

No.

[Matt Rogers]

This is really. I mean, it's a huge honor. And honestly, you know what else was great about it? I'm sitting there watching it and not for one second did I think like, oh, my God, that's our friend there. I'm like, yo, that's just an iconic video that should be up there. I was like, that's. And then like later I was like, that's Rachel.

[Bowen Yang]

That's Rachel. This is. That's an Emmy. Golden Globe winning star of our hearts, An American treasure.

[Matt Rogers]

The best award, though, is the TCA individual achievement and comedy. And I know that, you know, that's a really hard one to get.

[Bowen Yang]

Ungendered.

[Matt Rogers]

They only give it to one person. It's ungendered. And they only give it to one person.

[Bowen Yang]

They only give it to one person. She has a fantastic special coming out on Netflix.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Death. Let me do my special. October 15th. Please watch. Everyone, please welcome Rachel Bloom in shades.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay, so I'm wearing sunglasses because I forgot there was an on camera portion.

[Matt Rogers]

We didn't tell you.

[Bowen Yang]

We didn't remember.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no, no. But I. So anyway, I am wearing very little makeup. At some point, I'll take the shades off. But I went. Well, I want people to be impressed. Right, because you've had all these famous fancy, like, done up, glam people on set. I just wanted to look like I just stepped out of a convertible and took a scarf off of my head.

[Matt Rogers]

You know what's crazy is you were coming up the stairs, and I was like. And I had my breath taken away. So you coming up?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Oh, what are you talking about?

[Matt Rogers]

I don't ever lie.

[Rachel Bloom]

That makes me very. We have so much to get into because, as you recall, we recorded. So last time I was on los culturistas was 7 and a half years ago in the apartment of.

[Bowen Yang]

It was the sound engineer's apartment on Atlantic Avenue.

[Matt Rogers]

Another era.

[Bowen Yang]

Another era.

[Rachel Bloom]

Sure was. I got in there, I was hungry. I made him feed me.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes. Oh, my God.

[Rachel Bloom]

And. Which is why I brought my Starbucks egg bites this time.

[Bowen Yang]

Kale and spinach.

[Rachel Bloom]

So I wouldn't. Mm. So I wouldn't make anyone feed me. But I'm laughing because you just talked about the TCA Award, and that's exactly what you talked about seven and a half years ago. You went. So at the time, I hadn't had the Emmy yet, but you were like.

[Matt Rogers]

You won the Golden Globe.

[Rachel Bloom]

You were like, she has Golden Globe. And you're like. And the TCA Award, which is actually my favorite. And then you do, like, five to 10 minutes on why the TCA is the best. Aw. In the same almost exact wording of now, and you're still correct.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I know. That's probably the one you look at on the shelf of awards and think, actually, it just.

[Rachel Bloom]

I was cleaning my shelf, and it just dropped. No. And it's made of pure glass. It didn't break, thank God. But I was like, I need to move this award. This is gonna be a problem.

[Bowen Yang]

Closer to the floor.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

So Rachel comes in and goes, I have notes based on the last time. Notes on the last time I was here on the show. And I am gripped with fear.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no. It's all great. It's all wonderful. Wait. First of all, though, wait, Sorry. I have a lot talking about my daughter. I feel like you'll appreciate this.

[Bowen Yang]

Please.

[Rachel Bloom]

I'll show you the video, but I feel like I should put it in the mic. So our nanny, who's a Drag Race fan while I've been gone, is training my daughter on what's gonna be her workroom entrance passphrase.

[Matt Rogers]

We have to know.

[Bowen Yang]

It takes training. It do take training.

[Rachel Bloom]

I Got sent this video.

[Matt Rogers]

Wait, do it in the mic so they can hear.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, yeah. Okay, action. I came here to drink juice and.

[Matt Rogers]

It spill tea, but I already finished my juice honey. I came here to drink juice and spill tea, but I already finished my juice honey.

[Bowen Yang]

That's winner.

[Matt Rogers]

Drink juice and spill tea is the title of it.

[Bowen Yang]

That's unreal. Unreal.

[Matt Rogers]

It's really good.

[Rachel Bloom]

Unbelievable. Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

Was she coached well?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, well. So our nanny. So our nanny.

[Matt Rogers]

So you're saying she didn't come up with that?

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, she definitely did. She doesn't know what she was.

[Matt Rogers]

She coached.

[Rachel Bloom]

She's very clearly off. I'll show you after this. Like, she very clearly off camera. Someone's being like, yeah, well, she do have nerve. It's.

[Bowen Yang]

But she hasn't watched Drag Race yet. Your daughter.

[Rachel Bloom]

When I was breastfeeding, I watched nonstop.

[Bowen Yang]

Drag Race talk about this idea. Because I really, really think that if I were to have a child, I would be totally in on this. Like, you wanted Space Jam to be the first thing that she listened to as she entered this planet. Do you feel like osmotically, this is the idea. Like, you want to just like, download into her all these different things?

[Rachel Bloom]

I think that they hear stuff in the womb. There's evidence that babies, you know, they spend nine and a half, ten months hearing this. Especially the vibrations of their mother's voice and like, just, you know, whoever they're around and so it does they kind of come out knowing the voices familiar to them.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. But it's not like you're not doing that and maybe you are, but is it like the. It's the Mozart thing. It's like, oh, play classical music.

[Rachel Bloom]

There definitely was a little bit of. As I was breastfeeding her, watching Non Stop Drag Race also, it was lockdown.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

So I had nothing else going on. And I was a little sad. Cause it was a very intense time. So I watched. I binged all of the drag races that I hadn't watched before.

[Bowen Yang]

There's a lot of them.

[Matt Rogers]

Pretty joyful.

[Rachel Bloom]

I've tried to rewatch it with her. Anything that isn't cartoon, she gets bored by.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally. What's she into? Cocomelon.

[Rachel Bloom]

I wear a cocomelon free household. I won't let her watch that.

[Matt Rogers]

No. Was it a part of the life at one point? And then you were like, this has to happen.

[Rachel Bloom]

I just heard you have to stop the cocomelon. So she gets to watch that when she's at my writing partner, Aline, she gets to watch cocomelon. When she's at Auntie Aline's. But in our house, we have a zero cocomelon tolerance. I mean, her favorite show right now is Gabby's Dollhouse.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, Gabby's Dollhouse is a huge hit.

[Rachel Bloom]

Have you watched this?

[Matt Rogers]

Do you know this from the girls?

[Bowen Yang]

The girls? My nieces love Gabby's Doll House.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay, okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Who's Gabby? What's her deal?

[Rachel Bloom]

So.

[Matt Rogers]

Is this a high concept?

[Rachel Bloom]

Gabby's a girl. It kind of is. Gabby's a girl. But really, she's probably 18 by now. The woman who plays her, she's a girl who sits alone in her bedroom and has a cat named Floyd. And there's a big dollhouse again. Like, this is an almost grown woman, but she has a dollhouse.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

She's trouble.

[Rachel Bloom]

And every episode, she'll be like, it's Floyd's birthday. Or she'll. Every episode, there's a ramp in her room where a gift comes down on.

[Bowen Yang]

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Keep going, keep going. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The gifts come out of the ramp.

[Rachel Bloom]

So there's a little ramp. The gifts come down on wheels. And then she goes, it's a dollhouse surprise. And then. So it's like, also an unboxing video. Cause then she opens it, and it's a little teeny thing. She goes, oh, my gosh, this must. It's a backpack. We're going camping in the dollhouse.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And then she goes, it's time to get tiny. And then she grabs a stuffed animal. She goes, pinch on my left. Pinch, pinch on my right. Grab Pandy's hand and hold on tight. And then she shrinks down into the dollhouse, and suddenly it's an animated show.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, so it's Supernatural.

[Rachel Bloom]

I thought you meant the show Supernatural that was on the cw.

[Matt Rogers]

No, I never mean that. I almost never mean that Supernatural.

[Rachel Bloom]

There's this amazing Reddit group called. What?

[Bowen Yang]

That was my Siri. I'm sorry, Wait, was my Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Your Siri just went off.

[Rachel Bloom]

Do you have a male Siri?

[Bowen Yang]

That's the default now.

[Matt Rogers]

Which.

[Bowen Yang]

Let's talk about that later, but keep going.

[Rachel Bloom]

Interesting.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sorry, we are gonna gender Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I want.

[Bowen Yang]

She's a woman. Okay, Keep going.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow, you believe Siri's a woman?

[Bowen Yang]

And I'm not saying, like, in terms of, like, a dynamic. A subservient thing.

[Rachel Bloom]

Excuse.

[Bowen Yang]

Ran.

[Rachel Bloom]

Suddenly.

[Bowen Yang]

Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Siri is a woman.

[Rachel Bloom]

Shut up. She has a vagina.

[Matt Rogers]

These gay men.

[Rachel Bloom]

Siri phobian tubes. I could get her pregnant with my cum.

[Matt Rogers]

Right now they're trying to put men in rolls of servitude.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't want to fuck man Siri. I'm not going to ask man Siri how to get me to Panera. Siri's a woman.

[Matt Rogers]

O oh my God. Point me to my bread, woman. Point me in the direction of my bread. You faceless woman.

[Bowen Yang]

You CIS woman.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, faceless CIS woman.

[Bowen Yang]

Vagina having woman. Anyway, I'm sorry, wait, how do we get my notes? So Gabby came in.

[Matt Rogers]

So Gabby shrinks down Gabby. It's like supernatural.

[Rachel Bloom]

I just said it long. I didn't even.

[Matt Rogers]

You got me.

[Rachel Bloom]

If someone's. If there's a group song, I'm like.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, yeah, you catch the last one?

[Rachel Bloom]

You can match pitch. Although I did. I did that fucking TikTok thing the do.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, that's a true.

[Bowen Yang]

Now that doesn't make sense.

[Rachel Bloom]

Cause you have to go off key.

[Bowen Yang]

You do.

[Matt Rogers]

It's weird. And also. So this is another thing. I saw this gay guy do it and he was like dough. And he was like dough, duh. And he goes, oh, do I have to? And he goes, dough. And then it worked. Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

So it's an octave specific thing. So then that's why it took me.

[Rachel Bloom]

A minute to even get dough. Yeah, but also I think you have to be on a specific pitched for their dough.

[Matt Rogers]

It wants men to sound like men and women to sound like women.

[Bowen Yang]

Like Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Like Siri. That's the truth.

[Bowen Yang]

We're not coming back from the Siri mode. I can't believe I insisted that Siri was so old.

[Matt Rogers]

No, because I honestly though that's gonna.

[Rachel Bloom]

Be number one article on Deadline tomorrow.

[Bowen Yang]

That's the poll.

[Matt Rogers]

Bowen Yang demands.

[Rachel Bloom]

Bowen Yang demands Siri bs.

[Matt Rogers]

Apple changed this.

[Rachel Bloom]

Siri B assists woman.

[Matt Rogers]

Do better. Do better.

[Bowen Yang]

Apple.

[Matt Rogers]

Siri is a woman and you took a job away from a woman. And isn't it hard enough? Isn't it hard enough in this town?

[Rachel Bloom]

It is.

[Bowen Yang]

Which town?

[Matt Rogers]

Any town.

[Bowen Yang]

Any town you ever.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't know why they would change Siri from woman to a man. Because that means you have to now pay Siri more, right?

[Matt Rogers]

Wait, speaking of women. Gabby.

[Bowen Yang]

Gabby.

[Rachel Bloom]

So she goes in the dollhouse, she goes on adventures and then she shrinks back up. There's a great Reddit subreddit called Danieltiger Conspiracy, which is a bunch of parents, I don't know if you've heard of it, this going crazy, who come up with conspiracy theories about the children's shows that they are forced to watch.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

And it's named after Daniel Tiger's neighborhood. Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Iconic theory.

[Rachel Bloom]

The conspiracy theory about. One of the theories about Daniel Tiger's neighborhood is that it's a communist monarchy and that somehow they're all communist, but they're forcing the monarchy at gunpoint to remain in their stations. But they're also making the monarchy work side by side. Like the. Like the prince in Daniel Tiger is a waiter at the restaurant and also babysits. And it's like. But he's a prince.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Matt Rogers]

I wish my brain worked like that.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, it's also a bunch of parents who haven't slept.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. It's just crazy.

[Rachel Bloom]

But the theory about Gabby's Dollhouse, I want to say that my husband, he. And that Gregor and I were talking about and elaborate on. Is that Gabby? Because Gabby's Dollhouse, I think, premiered in 2020.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

That Gabby is in a pandemic era experiment, that she's a girl on lockdown because you never meet her parents. You only see her bedroom.

[Bowen Yang]

She has Covid.

[Matt Rogers]

She's frozen in time.

[Rachel Bloom]

She's frozen in. Or she's in some sort of isolation experiment, and they mess with her by sending in the gifts on a little ramp. Oh. And she's slowly going insane because that's why she's like. She shrinks down into her dollhouse. That this is all a woman hallucinating who's slowly going crazy from being isolated from society.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. The cartoon is a disassociation.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Because the highlight of her day has already happened. She's been given a small gift on a conveyor belt. So that's when she realizes, oh, that's as good as it's gonna get today.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

And she drifts.

[Bowen Yang]

And it's been an extended four year hallucination.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Can we apply this? Are there conspiracies that we can apply to, like, children's shows that we grew up on?

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, I love this.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

So what? Like, let's start Sesame Street.

[Matt Rogers]

Were you a Sesame street girl? Yeah, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

Like, is that like a post nuclear fallout?

[Rachel Bloom]

That's what I was about to say. Yeah, I know it's a post. It's New York City in the year 3000.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Like, we're back in, like a Bronze Age. Not Bronze Age, but like, we're post technology, post technocalypse.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, it's kind of like society restarted, like in the end of Wally. Remember how they almost have to restart culture? But. And this a little bit goes into the unified Pixar theory, which I don't know if you've heard of.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, I've heard of this.

[Rachel Bloom]

But anyway, so nuclear war has warped some animals to become, of course, big.

[Matt Rogers]

Versions that speak in human tongue.

[Rachel Bloom]

But there was a section of society that knew the bomb was coming, and they. And they hid in a bunker. And that's why you also have regular humans.

[Matt Rogers]

Got it. Oh, got it, got it, got it. You ever met someone in real life and you're like, oh, I can't say who this is, but there's a person in my life who is a Sesame street adult in that.

[Rachel Bloom]

Like, they love Sesame Street. Like a Disney.

[Matt Rogers]

The way that. The way that they interact in the world is kind of like. And this is on video, so I'll just do it. They kind of walk like this.

[Bowen Yang]

Whoa.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, do you know these people?

[Rachel Bloom]

I know someone exactly like that. I wonder if we're talking about the same.

[Matt Rogers]

No, I don't think. Well, maybe we'll come back.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, there's no way. There's no.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think there's literally no way. But I'll say this person is a part of the gay community. And whenever I see them, I'm like, why isn't there a furry friend next to you speaking and wanting to know about how babies are made or wanting to count A through Z? Some people just have it. And I just.

[Rachel Bloom]

Straight. So it's definitely.

[Bowen Yang]

There's two different people or in the closet with you.

[Matt Rogers]

Here's the thing. Any straight person you know could be in the closet for me. And that's actually rollercoaster number 50. Any straight person you know could be in the closet.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, I thought it was specific to me. Or just anyone.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, anyone.

[Bowen Yang]

I think anyone.

[Matt Rogers]

But probably. Of course, I don't know. I think that people probably would feel so comfortable being gay around you because you're such an ally.

[Rachel Bloom]

I've had numerous people come out like, I'm the first or second person.

[Matt Rogers]

I feel like that is a badge of honor. Do you wear it as well?

[Rachel Bloom]

I love it.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because I don't. I don't make a big.

[Matt Rogers]

Where's your badge?

[Rachel Bloom]

Because I don't make a big deal.

[Matt Rogers]

I go, won't show eyes, will show tits.

[Rachel Bloom]

Great. Yeah, it's great. What if I just was topless but still kept the sunglasses on?

[Matt Rogers]

It would be good. It would be ally behavior.

[Bowen Yang]

It would be.

[Matt Rogers]

It would.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait. There's nothing wrong with being a Sesame Street. There's no, like.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no, I love it. I. In fact, I sort of identify with it a Little bit. There's moments in my life where I know I'm on one, like when I'm having like a. Like an anxiety response to do more. Where I'm like, you're being Sesame street adult right now. You're being Maria.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, I have that too. Where it's the show pony part of me that wants to perform and impress and cover.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. But I have another layer to add on to this conspiracy about Sesame street, which is, Please, there are weapons grade hallucinogens involved. But I guess any children's show is a hallucination.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's the thing is you can kind of Any children's show that goes into another medium, like cartoon or claymation.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah. You're on acid.

[Bowen Yang]

Sesame street has, like this psychedelic quality to it, though, where it's like, it's variety. It's like you go in, there's interstitial stuff, and you go into different little movements throughout the episode. And that is kind of really special.

[Matt Rogers]

Wait, can I ask a question about Snufflepagus? Can I get to the bottom of something?

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

No one can see him except Big Bird. What is it?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes. So they changed this, though.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

In the mid-90s. So snuffalopagus is real.

[Matt Rogers]

Uh huh.

[Rachel Bloom]

And Big Bird was like, snuffy's over there. But it's the type of gag where Snuffalupagus would disappear just when someone else came in. So everyone thought it was Big Bird's imaginary friend, but it wasn't. Now I want to say it's. In the early mid-90s. They realized this could be really bad messaging for children who were being sexually abused.

[Matt Rogers]

Whoa.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because a child would say, this is happening to me. And then they'd watch Sesame street and people would be like, oh, Big Bird, there's no Snuffleupagus. We can't see him. So there's an episode of Sesame street where everyone sees Snuffleupagus and they go, big Bird, we believe you. I'm so sorry.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Rachel Bloom]

Snuffleupagus has been here the whole time. I apologize to you, Big Bird.

[Matt Rogers]

That was the episode where they broke down what gaslighting meant. This is a very special episode on gaslighting, period. I love you pointing out that it's your favorite word. It has become America's favorite word.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's everywhere.

[Matt Rogers]

It's everywhere. The words gaslight and narcissist have taken over.

[Rachel Bloom]

I've been using those words for 15 years, and now everyone's using them. And they're not wrong.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

You've been using them since college. I wonder why.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, God. Well, can I just say, the person who taught me what gaslighting was the word was our friend Mike Spencer.

[Matt Rogers]

Really?

[Bowen Yang]

It's a very, like, NYU comedy group word.

[Matt Rogers]

It's a film thing, too. Because of the movie.

[Bowen Yang]

The movie gaslight.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

Really? I'm just saying, like, I feel like we've known about the word. The three of us have known about the word gaslight because we had the privileged dishonor of going to NYU and being in the comedy groups.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

You know what I mean?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

And can I say something? I want to correct the record. I have love for all of those people. I have loved 95% of those people. So this can connect to your notes from the episode.

[Bowen Yang]

But we talked about the wedding.

[Matt Rogers]

The wedding that was thrown for us.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

And I want to say, as like, shitty and annoying as that was, and like, in retrospect, no one has, like, I don't. We're not butthurt about it today. No, we're not. Like, that was traumatic.

[Bowen Yang]

It's just an important part of the lore of our friendship. Yeah, that's true.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah. I do also want to. That person, shortly after that episode came out, did reach out to me and say that they were hurt by my dismissive tone. And especially cause I wasn't there at the wedding. So I, you know, I was being catty. It wasn't.

[Bowen Yang]

We're all being a little catty.

[Rachel Bloom]

But I apologize again, seven and a half years later, I was just being catty. I was tired and you hadn't eaten. I hadn't eaten.

[Matt Rogers]

Was it avocado toast that was made for you? Probably, Yeah, I think it was. I think I remember that.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, I wouldn't have made someone chop up an avocado. Certainly there was not the avocado.

[Matt Rogers]

I think it was just that there was some toast. It was toast. And maybe some butter on the toast.

[Rachel Bloom]

That sounds like me.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

What are your notes on the episode from 7F years?

[Rachel Bloom]

I have a lot of thoughts.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay. Oh, boy.

[Matt Rogers]

So this is. What was the title of the episode?

[Rachel Bloom]

The Wedding.

[Matt Rogers]

The Wedding. That's literally the title of the Wedding with Rachel Bloom. This is an episode that I guess we did in, what, 2017?

[Rachel Bloom]

It is. Hold on, let me put it up. So I'm gonna be. I'm still recovering from a cold. This is not cocaine.

[Bowen Yang]

No problem. It could if it was no problem sometimes, I guess.

[Rachel Bloom]

I mean, it looks like it is cocaine with my Sunglasses. Should I take off my sunglasses to prove it's not cocaine?

[Bowen Yang]

It's not cocaine. Look at, look at.

[Matt Rogers]

Can I just say, your eyes are so beautif that to hide them would be. Yeah. Now show your gorgeous face. Show that TCA winning face to America. Now.

[Rachel Bloom]

This episode is from April 12th, 2017.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Matt Rogers]

Jesus.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay, okay.

[Matt Rogers]

What are your thoughts?

[Rachel Bloom]

Here's some notes. At 8:21, Bowen is working in an office with a floral campaign.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

So you were. I think you were graphic designer.

[Bowen Yang]

I was graphic designing on Kings Lane. E. Commerce.

[Rachel Bloom]

So there was a floral campaign.

[Bowen Yang]

God, this is so viscerally crazy.

[Rachel Bloom]

Now you got hired to write for SNL.

[Bowen Yang]

What, 2018?

[Rachel Bloom]

Less than. So this about a year after this episode happened?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, within a year I was. Yeah, I totally switched jobs, I think.

[Rachel Bloom]

So we talked about obviously me talking out of medical school. You must be even more glad now that you didn't go to medical school.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh my God, Rachel, you can't go.

[Rachel Bloom]

Viral on medical school. I mean, I guess you can in the bad way. You can go viral.

[Matt Rogers]

He could have been. No, he could have been like a fun Doctor who lip sync.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, totally.

[Matt Rogers]

Cause then you wouldn't even have to go out and get the scrubs. You would just be wearing them. And he could have done an incredible Christina Yang unbearable monologue from Grey's an Island. Totally.

[Bowen Yang]

And I would have loved the pots and pans being banged for me. You know what I mean?

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, you would have loved that.

[Rachel Bloom]

Thank you.

[Bowen Yang]

Imagine being a medical professional who was just like.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Thriving in that moment, being like, finally my time. They're finally recognizing what I do. Oh, God.

[Rachel Bloom]

My friend did say a couple months after Covid, my friend who's a doctor was like, yeah, So a couple months ago we were all heroes and getting cookies, and now no one cares and we're sad.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, God. Terrible.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay, continue.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

It was a disaster.

[Rachel Bloom]

First of all, I had forgotten how much you both watched Crazy Ex Girlfriend and really watched it. So I want to thank you for.

[Bowen Yang]

Crazy Ex Girlfriend, one of the great shows.

[Rachel Bloom]

You asked me. This is before season three. You said, is Robert a thing in season three? And I said, I can't say. Oh, so now I can answer. Which is kind of.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, finally.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a great answer too.

[Rachel Bloom]

Cause it kind of is. He. Yeah, yeah. It's this kind of secret that comes out and it's what causes Josh Chan to turn on her.

[Matt Rogers]

That show was so great.

[Bowen Yang]

And we'll talk about this as it relates to the special. But yeah, keep going.

[Rachel Bloom]

Here, I'll go back. There's something that relates to the special, but I'll go back to it.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

Throughout our conversation, I keep going hilarious instead of laughing.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a very comedian thing. You don't laugh. Comedians don't laugh.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, that's not something I do. I got it.

[Matt Rogers]

You are a laugher though.

[Rachel Bloom]

A lean Brosh McKenna does that. And I was around her so much, she goes, huh, Larious. Instead of laughing all the time.

[Matt Rogers]

Larias.

[Bowen Yang]

That's halfway to a laugh.

[Matt Rogers]

I've larious. I've heard that there is one showrunner whose iconic thing is to say instead of laugh, she goes, that's funny. And that's how you know it is the opposite of that. That's funny.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, it's like her way of turning down a joke.

[Matt Rogers]

I'll tell you who it is later.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay, great. It's not. It's Natalie.

[Matt Rogers]

And just Natalie.

[Rachel Bloom]

Never hilarious.

[Matt Rogers]

You are such, such a laugher.

[Rachel Bloom]

And so I listened to that and I'm like, this is so weird. And I'm like, oh, I've been. I was hanging around Aline so much, I think. And I think I was also really tired.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And hungry.

[Matt Rogers]

You pick things up in rooms with people that are the authorities. Like I remember I picked up from Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider the blank of it all. Like we're talking about the carry of it all. We're talking about the Brooke of it all. And then I started saying that all the time because it was just a catch all and it just happens. It's osmosis. A word you used earlier.

[Bowen Yang]

Osmotically.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh.

[Rachel Bloom]

Anyway, maybe you should have been a doctor. That's really good.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, It's a real medical term.

[Rachel Bloom]

If you would have medicine, what would.

[Matt Rogers]

Have been your focus?

[Bowen Yang]

I was going to be lazy and do orthopedics because it's not gory bloody. I mean it is gory, I guess, but it's like it's just setting bones.

[Rachel Bloom]

So you have to do surgery.

[Bowen Yang]

You don't necessarily have to be. You're setting bones and then you're like, oh, Great, I made $400,000 this year or something like that.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay. I'm actually really glad you didn't go to medical school because you very little. I actually really. There was a part of me when I was younger that was dabbling with being a doctor because I loved blood and gore.

[Bowen Yang]

Still do you?

[Rachel Bloom]

Ever since I've become a parent, my tolerance, and it's not just in kids, my tolerance for all violence and blood and gore has gone down my heart. And I say it in a special way. My heart has just been cracked open and I'm lame now.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no, you know what? It's.

[Bowen Yang]

The door has been open, and no matter how hard you try, you can't close.

[Rachel Bloom]

You can't close. And it's just like. But even I was watching the Menendez brothers thing on Netflix, and you see her hand get, like, shot off.

[Matt Rogers]

I had to skip all the moments.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a crazy fucking scene.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's a really crazy scene. And it bothered me in a way that there's just something about having a kid suddenly. And maybe it's also because I've now lost a friend. The combination of that suddenly gore and grief and loss is not something that's over there. It's very real, and it destroys me. The second Avatar movie. Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

What are the whales?

[Bowen Yang]

The whales? Yes, the whales.

[Matt Rogers]

The tocoon.

[Bowen Yang]

But that is crazy.

[Rachel Bloom]

So how do you know?

[Matt Rogers]

Okay, because I saw the film so many times.

[Rachel Bloom]

So this is how much being a parent is fucked me up. So the scene where they kill the. It's the Takun.

[Bowen Yang]

The Takun.

[Rachel Bloom]

The scene where they kill Takun. And then she's a mother.

[Bowen Yang]

Her baby is strong.

[Rachel Bloom]

Her baby is strong. And then she goes. She was a singer of songs.

[Matt Rogers]

She was a composer of songs.

[Rachel Bloom]

I kept thinking about the baby because you never see the dead baby, but it is dead. So when I got home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I googled Takun, dead baby, dead or alive, because I wanted to find some sort of Reddit or Korra thread where someone had a theory that the baby was alive. No, that's how much I can't read the news.

[Matt Rogers]

You can't even theorize about it. It was a fact. The baby did.

[Rachel Bloom]

The idea of, like, you've killed a mother, and the baby whale also died because she didn't have the milk. This is a fictitious alien whale.

[Matt Rogers]

I know.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I'm. And it's all I could think about.

[Matt Rogers]

I never could really do, like, horror. But then what's crazy is, like, it's the violence that bothers me. Yes. Like, I couldn't watch that scene in Menendez for that reason. And I kind of just like, I've always been very sens to that. I'm documented on this podcast as being, like, really sensitive to gore and horror and stuff. But when people die in movies, it, like, it hurts my feelings. And in a way where I'm like, even if I'm writing something, I very Rarely kill characters and things that I write. Even back in the day doing sketch comedy, I rarely had people die because I just think it's sad.

[Rachel Bloom]

I mean, I feel like constantly the classic way to end a sketch was for just someone to do this.

[Matt Rogers]

Just like back in the day.

[Rachel Bloom]

So I wrote on the show Robot Chicken, where, like, if someone isn't exploding. I ended numerous sketches when I wrote for Robot Chicken with someone, like, shitting themselves to death.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

I knew the way to get in a Robot Chicken sketch was to end the dialogue going hur, which is someone shitting themselves to death. And it's spelled H U U U U R R R G G G G G H H, H. And it's very specific.

[Bowen Yang]

The H. The final H is important. Yeah. Do you like podcasts, music, and audiobooks? Because when you subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get all three in one app. Imagine listening to your favorite podcasts and music on the go to work, school, the gym, or better yet, vacation. I love those. Now imagine being on vacation with your favorite audiobook from Audible and then listening to a new one every month from a huge selection of popular titles while not on vacation. That sounds like a pretty good vacation, right? Audible is now included on Amazon Music Unlimited. Download the Amazon Music app now to start Listening Terms apply. You say this in the special, which is that, like, you see now that all children are fragile, and therefore the bigger idea there is, like, everything is fragile, of course. And that's why you're like, tycoon, Dead or alive, Like, I need to know. It doesn't matter that it's a fictitious whale. It's like, everything, even the imagined stuff, is fragile. And that's all it is.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's too. Yeah. Yes, you're absolutely right. And in fact, when I was a kid, kids are fucked up. Kids have a really fucked up sense of humor. Because when you're a kid, a lot of times you don't have much to lose. So it's like why teens make dead baby jokes. It's like there's a hardness, there's a lightness, there's an I'm gonna live forever. Death and grief. And a lot of bad things are so far away, and it's just not. That's not who I am anymore. And it's weird because I used to have a really high tolerance for stuff.

[Matt Rogers]

Mm. Even out of everyone that we did sketch with, you were, like, kind of known as the darkest one. I mean, we did like that. We were never in the group together, but famously, like, at the end of the year. All the seniors were getting to do their own thing, and it was just. They just read all your blackout lines and how blue they all were. Like, how dark and they all were. Isn't that your bit?

[Bowen Yang]

I remember that.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, my God. I forgot that.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, it was just like. I remember that. It was like.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, I'm a dark. That's half me being a dark person. Also me cosplaying as a comedy. A guy in comedy, which we talked about seven and a half years ago.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

And I do want to get back to the notes I'm talking about.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no, no. We talked a lot about our college comedy groups.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And it's interesting. I can't go into specifics, but. But in sharing my story, which was that I was, you know, got caught in this love triangle and I was removed as director of Hammer Cats. I have since heard stories about other women in years behind me.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

When I thought the groups were better. Going through other things. 100% not dissimilar to that.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And it's numerous stories.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I have some bones to pick. Not with you two, but I have some other bones to pick.

[Bowen Yang]

Interesting. Off. Micro.

[Rachel Bloom]

Mm.

[Bowen Yang]

Or not with us. You're saying. Not with us. But we would.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no, not with. No, no. You guys aren't the problem. Not with you two. I have bones to pick with various other people. Totally.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

I was inserting myself in that being like. Well, we would love to know off the mic, but I'll tell you off.

[Rachel Bloom]

Mike.

[Bowen Yang]

We're not even privy to that information necessarily.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, I'll tell you off the mic.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

But I think it's interesting. Cause that was seven years ago, and I could. And I still. I mean, I wrote about. In my book. There's something that. I don't know. College is very formative. Like stuff that happens to you. Your brain is still forming. I think your brain's not fully formed until you're 25 or something.

[Matt Rogers]

Something.

[Rachel Bloom]

Then there's a reason these experiences mold you and shape you. Anyway. Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I think about the way I was.

[Rachel Bloom]

Back then, and I'm like, jesus Christ, this is great. So first of all, ripe. This was. You were a week away from being on who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, gosh. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

What ended up happening?

[Matt Rogers]

I won $5,000.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's great.

[Matt Rogers]

I've said.

[Rachel Bloom]

I think I knew this, but I wanted. I'm sure you said it. I just wanted to.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, I went out to Vegas with Sudie, who was my photo friend. Phone. A friend. But at that point they were just doing, like, plus one. Like, she sat behind me in the audience and then came out. I guess they finally figured out that phone. A friend could be very easily, like, you know, you could cheat because your. Your friend could just Google it, like, Googling it. They caught up to the age of technology, and the friend was there. So we were there, and Chris Harrison from the Bachelor was the host who did not like me, and I could tell. And he, like, did this thing where. So I got on a second episode because, like, we ran out of time, and then I had to come back out for the second episode, and I guess I messed up my entrance. And he didn't like that because I guess it was the end of the day, and so he wanted to go home, I guess. Yeah, he did give a very. I'm over this very tired energy. Like, he was doing the job, but, like, very, like, I'm half awake and I'm Chris Harrison. Which was kind of his whole thing anyway, which I think made him a good host of the Bachelor, because no one was looking at him. They were looking at, like, the guy and then the girls, because whatever. Just a perfect vanilla host. And then he. When I did my entrance to come out the second time, I went to shake his hand, and he pulled my hand, and you can actually see in the video me, like, come off my feet a little bit because he was, like, trying to do, like, a male dominance. Like, don't mess around.

[Rachel Bloom]

Fuck, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

He was a jerk. Total jerk. And I remember me and Sooty were. We went to commercial break, and he did the thing where it's like, the host is talking while everyone claps and you go to commercial, and he literally did that thing of, like. And now's the part where we pretend to talk.

[Rachel Bloom]

So what? So is that. Jesus.

[Matt Rogers]

You know what? Like, everyone's allowed to have a. Whatever day, but that was my experience with him.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, we mean to condemn, because then you'll share it on here.

[Bowen Yang]

Share it on a podcast.

[Matt Rogers]

I'll say it on Lost. Coach. I mean, I don't think it's like.

[Rachel Bloom]

That reporter who's now going back retrospectively and being like, these are some of my worst interviews.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The one with Blake Lively.

[Rachel Bloom]

But then also there's, like, one with Anna Hathaway and, like. And I was like, ooh, that's.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, but do you blame them? No. Well, I don't know.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, do I blame them? Look, press junkets are press.

[Bowen Yang]

They're exhaust. Look, press.

[Rachel Bloom]

Exhausting press junkets Are also. I got gel X for the first time.

[Bowen Yang]

I was gonna say those are fucking stun gorgeous. Show the camera.

[Matt Rogers]

I will say it's like, also.

[Rachel Bloom]

But picking my nose is harrowing.

[Bowen Yang]

That's okay. Just.

[Rachel Bloom]

No. Cause I'll stab myself. I guess I can tweezer it. Press junkets. Press junkets are.

[Matt Rogers]

Tell us about press.

[Rachel Bloom]

Press junkets are really. Have you ever done, like, a proper. Have you guys ever done a proper. You're in a room. You're in the same room for three hours. They bring people in. It's tiring.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

You say the same shit over and over again.

[Rachel Bloom]

I think what's messed up is that for other people to notice these interviews and for them to go viral. Yeah, that's the Internet. There's something a little messed up about the journalist exhuming it. Because it's a little bit like. There's a little bit of a therapist client confidentiality. Cause you're both in it together. You're both in the trenches together.

[Bowen Yang]

I get it.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think it's cool.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's juicy.

[Bowen Yang]

You're right, it's juicy.

[Rachel Bloom]

But also, like, it's a little bit of like.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, just stop.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's your work colleagues. A little bit.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

100%.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I guess my thing is just like the thing with Chris Harrison was like, it was like, I had that experience, whatever. And then like a few years later, he said all that, like, whack shit. Like when the. When the Bachelor was having a lot of, like, there was a lot of conversations about, like, race with the Bachelor, and he really kind of like, doubled down. No one needed to expose him for being whatever way because he kind of was like, he embodied, unveiled himself as a little bit of a jerk.

[Rachel Bloom]

Everyone knows he's a piece of shit. I have to believe, and this has been proven numerous times, that if someone is mean to you in the industry, the world will figure it out. That if they're mean to you, if they're mean to you, you're not an isolated experience. You don't have to go on a public tirade against them. They are going to out themselves.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

And that has now happened numerous times where I'm like, the world will take care of them.

[Matt Rogers]

That's rule of culture number eight. The world will take care of them.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, we've had this discussion about this Taylor Swift quote. She says, trash takes itself out every time. You don't think that's true? I kind of. I'm not.

[Rachel Bloom]

Every time.

[Bowen Yang]

Not every time did I Say, I.

[Matt Rogers]

Don'T think that's true. I think it. Not every time, but I think trash will likely take itself out eventually. That's what I think.

[Rachel Bloom]

It might smell up the house.

[Matt Rogers]

I just think, especially if you're like a well known person nowadays, the media is so sensitive and it's like anyone can pull something up from a long time ago. Like, there's records of everything with the Internet, it's like you can't really hide who you are. Especially now when everyone's on like an authenticity hunt.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Because it's like that's what people get off on and that's what people connect to. And so it's like, I almost think it's the reason why we're seeing this shift away from like the Diane Sawyer type interview and more towards the like Alex Cooper thing with Kamala Harris. Like, it's just everything is becoming a lot more casual because I think people are attracted to it. But that casualness is going to cause people to therefore act very casual. And when someone acts casual like that, they're gonna show who they really are.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, the access is just different. Thirty years ago, if someone did an interview, you couldn't then rewatch that interview unless you taped it on a VHS a million times.

[Matt Rogers]

Exactly.

[Rachel Bloom]

But now that interview is forever. So people can scrutinize. I'm not even talking about things that have happened to myself as much as just what happens. You can go and be like, wait a second, this is crazy. It's just the access to how people act at every moment is so just. The technology wasn't there 30 years ago. Growing up, my ideas. I'm sure your ideas of like, I want to be a star.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

What that meant was different.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Like when I thought, I want to be a star and it came true.

[Bowen Yang]

In the words of Anne Hall, I would have. Sorry. There you go. It came true.

[Rachel Bloom]

Who was the. Oh, who was the lady who ran for the wrestler who went. Oh, all of the people.

[Bowen Yang]

Wrestler?

[Rachel Bloom]

Melissa.

[Bowen Yang]

Melissa Leo. Melissa Leo.

[Matt Rogers]

Melissa Leo.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, there are people.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, the fighter.

[Rachel Bloom]

The fighter. There are people up there.

[Matt Rogers]

People up there.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, we forget about.

[Matt Rogers]

And when she said the word fuck and it was. She pretended like she didn't know, but it was so clearly she was going.

[Bowen Yang]

The hunt for authenticity.

[Matt Rogers]

I respect Melissa Leo. She.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no, no, no.

[Bowen Yang]

She ran a great campaign.

[Rachel Bloom]

Hey, she did it.

[Matt Rogers]

She did it.

[Rachel Bloom]

Consider he conceded. The thing that I keep also seeing that social media and the world rewards that I guess I need to be better at is shamelessness. I have very rarely Seen people who are schmoozy in a cringy way, mostly they get rewarded for it. Cause they're not being bad people, they're just being schmoozy. I see them getting rewarded for it, even though it makes me sometimes cringe the way it is. And this is also just social media spawn con. I very rarely see that cringiness gets attacked online. I don't think. I mean, online attacks. I don't think anyone should be really attacked online.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally, totally.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's been three weeks with this cough.

[Matt Rogers]

It happened.

[Bowen Yang]

Shit.

[Rachel Bloom]

I hope that's not foreshadowing. I hope you don't play this episode back in seven years. And I was like, that was when it began.

[Bowen Yang]

We'll come back.

[Matt Rogers]

We won't talk about it anymore. Because that's always what happens. It's like, people are like, when I die, what I want is. And I'm like, don't give them that. Because, like, don't ever be on camera being like. I guess the last thing I'd ever want to say is, it's like, what are you doing?

[Bowen Yang]

They're gonna use that in the true crime documentary.

[Matt Rogers]

Or it's just. You're just putting that energy out there.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

I gave. I gave. Do you remember. Do you know. Remember Jeff Ekman? Yeah, yeah, Jeff. One time we gave each other our, like, death. Our request if we were to die. This is when I was 20. And one of my requests was that he somehow kick Dick Cheney in the balls.

[Matt Rogers]

Sure.

[Bowen Yang]

Very. 2007, 2008.

[Rachel Bloom]

Very. How was he gonna get access to Dick Cheney? How would he. I also. He might get. He himself might get assassinated if he tried to kick Dick Cheney.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, certainly.

[Rachel Bloom]

So do I still have that request kind of pass? I don't even wanna get into it.

[Matt Rogers]

You know, it's like. Well, the whole thing with the Cheneys is it's like all of a sudden we're like, and thank you, Liz Cheney. It's like, Liz Cheney has been one of the worst people in government for such a long time. And her having basic humanity right now and not being a complete fucking moron is like, now she might watch when she's in the cabinet.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, God.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, the bar song. I mean, well, you think back on Mitt Romney's binder's full of women.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah. Oh, right.

[Rachel Bloom]

I long for binders full of women.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, remember Bia? Remember when Bia ended him.

[Rachel Bloom]

The things that ended. Remember when Marco Rubio was thirsty?

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah. Oh, the water.

[Rachel Bloom]

He just kept drinking water. But, yeah, the Howard Dean scream ruining his career is.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, we are far away.

[Rachel Bloom]

I think that's when the Internet was that. What year was that?

[Bowen Yang]

2004.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

So I feel like that was the people being like, wait, on the Internet.

[Bowen Yang]

You can play things, you can clip it and distribute. If I were to do it all over again, even at nyu, Media studies major.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh.

[Bowen Yang]

Or something sociological or something, I'm like, I need to know. I love. Especially now as an adult, I'm like, I want to know how these things work. As we're talking about media literacy and what being a public facing person means. Now I'm like, oh, I really want to pop open the hood.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, yeah. So what I was gonna say was when I was a kid and I was thinking and I was watching the Golden Globes or the Oscars and being like, oh, that's what being famous is. What never occurred to me when I never thought about because it wasn't possible, was like, I want to be at a place where I can post a thought about something that has nothing to do with the work that I'm doing. And that thought will be. I will be seen as either an expert or scrutinized for that was never a part of being. You had to go out of your way. When we were growing up, in order to, like, be a celebrity and make a statement on something, you had to, like, really go out of your way. You had to say it, like during an awards speech.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

You had to make it a point in an interview. It was more rare. And now that everyone is expected to be an authority, an expert on everything, and everything is on the record at all times. At all times is really. And I'm not even talking about if you're a celebrity, it's toxic for everyone. Everyone. Because everyone is fundamentally imperfect and in a constant state of learning. And it's just such. We're in such a world of glass houses right now.

[Matt Rogers]

It's crazy. I mean, it's like you stand a certain way or you stand a certain place and it's like a statement on things. You know what I mean? Oh, God. You know what I like, it's just. It's silly. It's dumb.

[Rachel Bloom]

Like, I also remember when they. And this is 15 years ago, I remember when they asked child Justin Bieber about abortion.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[Rachel Bloom]

And he was like, I don't know, it seems sad. It's like killing a baby. And it was like, Justin Bieber is anti abortion. It's like, he's a Canadian child. What are you. Well, he's not an abortion. He's singing. Baby, baby, what are you doing?

[Matt Rogers]

I also think, like, once.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, so his song's about babies. Of course he's gonna air on the.

[Matt Rogers]

Side of Pro Baby.

[Rachel Bloom]

Of Pro Baby.

[Bowen Yang]

It's his meal ticket, you know?

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, and it's also Big Baby.

[Bowen Yang]

Big Baby is out there.

[Matt Rogers]

And he was a baby.

[Bowen Yang]

He was a baby. And I just want to say, just to quickly put a point on this period on this is never liked dead baby jokes, even as a teenager. Okay, let's keep going.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I don't like dead baby jokes at all.

[Rachel Bloom]

I. You are better people than I.

[Bowen Yang]

No, that's. No, no, no. And that's not.

[Matt Rogers]

I just.

[Bowen Yang]

I never got it. Even as a 14 year old, when kids were doing, I was like, this is upsetting.

[Rachel Bloom]

So you know what? It was for me. And I would say like this with dark humor. And this is why I also went Hammer cats. I was dark. So I grew up in Southern California by the beach where everyone was. If you weren't happy, you covered it. It is a happy, beautiful place. I was just there this weekend. It's gorgeous. And if you're unhappy, which I was, a lot of the times you feel crazy.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because you're like, I'll take off my sunglasses first because this is important. You're like, there's something wrong with me. Why would I be unhappy here? The sun is out. Everyone around me is happy. Santa's on a surfboard when it's Christmas. Cause that's the aesthetic of, like Southern California beach Christmas. It's always Santa on a surfboard. Yes, he's wearing like the Santa clothes, but he's in shorts and he has.

[Matt Rogers]

The packs on Santa.

[Bowen Yang]

Packs on Santa.

[Rachel Bloom]

How could you be unhappy around Pacs on Santa? Around Pacs on Santa? And so I think that I looked.

[Matt Rogers]

He rocked.

[Rachel Bloom]

I went to a very dark place sometimes because I looked for validation of the darkness that I felt inside myself that wasn't being validated on the outside. And the east coast, you had to.

[Matt Rogers]

Go to New York.

[Rachel Bloom]

So like Long island half the year, like, Long island fucking sucks.

[Matt Rogers]

Totally.

[Rachel Bloom]

Like, it's like gross. It's.

[Matt Rogers]

It reminds you that life is suffering by nature of the season, even winter.

[Rachel Bloom]

Winter reminds you that life is fundamentally suffering. But if it's always suffering and it.

[Matt Rogers]

Allows you to change because you realize that time is passing. It's sort of like Gabby, you know what I mean? It's like she lives in that. In that simulation all the time and never changes. That's why she's an 18 year old. 4 year old.

[Rachel Bloom]

So my existence was more like Gabby's dollhouse, Right. Than had I lived on the east coast.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

So I did things like you look for dark humor, like dead baby jokes. I read the Exorcist for an 8th grade book report and I wrote about the Exorcist. And that's a dark. That book is not appropriate for a 13 year old.

[Matt Rogers]

No.

[Rachel Bloom]

She fucks herself with a crucifix.

[Matt Rogers]

Sure does.

[Rachel Bloom]

I mean, she talks about like Pazuzu and all. It's really. Wait, what's the Pazuzu?

[Matt Rogers]

Pazuzu was the name of the demon that possessed.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, it's Pazuzu. Right. I did the thing where she was. There's a part of the Exorcist book where she's being interviewed and she's speaking what they think is a foreign tongue. And then they play it back and she's speaking backwards and she says, no one. My. And I recorded myself doing it on the computer and then played it backwards and it's. I am no one. To hear my own voice At 13. Go. I am no one. I am no one.

[Matt Rogers]

See, that's really.

[Rachel Bloom]

So that's why I kind of think's.

[Matt Rogers]

Playing backwards in songs like that shit like the Urban Legends and everything. No, no, no, no.

[Rachel Bloom]

I should do that.

[Matt Rogers]

You should.

[Rachel Bloom]

I should make a song where there's like a. A backwards message that's like just like.

[Matt Rogers]

Really subliminally in there with someone.

[Rachel Bloom]

Fights. I died in 2008. I am. I'm now an Illuminati robot. Okay, take a note.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Rachel Bloom]

Okay, wait, this episode's seven and a half years ago.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

So we were talking about award shows.

[Matt Rogers]

Sure.

[Rachel Bloom]

Here's what's great. It is. Without question, the person who's going to be nominated for big awards is you. And that Bowen will be coming to award shows with you.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, wow. That ended up being so different.

[Bowen Yang]

I mean, it's.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no. Life is Long.

[Bowen Yang]

Life is long.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, 100%. And it should. But it's just very funny because you've now been to the Primetime Emmys way more than I.

[Bowen Yang]

But you've won and I haven't.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes. I mean, technically, I want a Creative Arts Emmy. It's the same Emmy. And you described your ideal morning. That you wake up and someone hands you a mimosa and that.

[Matt Rogers]

I was being tongue in cheek, by the way.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't know.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

It was pretty great. And then was this where I said.

[Matt Rogers]

I wanted to wear canary yellow?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Okay. That's where this comes from.

[Rachel Bloom]

And you wanted to wear canary yellow because you wanted to appear as if you. There's no way you'd win.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

And then you were practicing your winning faces. So now I'd like to ask you, what's your award show morning routine? And have you gone to award shows with him?

[Matt Rogers]

I went to the Emmys with you once when you were nominated as a writer.

[Bowen Yang]

As a writer.

[Matt Rogers]

And then I haven't been back.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Matt Rogers]

It overwhelms me.

[Bowen Yang]

It's a lot.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's a lot. That's what I was. And I was saying that it's a lot. And nothing else in life is a lot. And everyone around you also has the vibe of this is a lot. No one really feels like they belong there. Everyone else is like, I guess we're not diamonds.

[Matt Rogers]

I think that's one of the things, too, that's so different about when you're little and you look up and you're like, wow, I wanna be a big star. You think that there's gonna be a comfort and an elusivity to the experience, and you're just uncomfortable. And it's all a show. You know what I mean? You realize that red carpet. You've waited for an hour to get on it around people who are, like, hungry and uncomfortable and with their publicists.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

You know what I mean? It's all. It sucks to say it's all fake, because that sounds so rough, but it is constructed.

[Rachel Bloom]

Let's just say, well, you're not seeing the part where you're waiting in line. I love being at shows and talking. I also. I wrote on the People's Choice Awards many years ago, and I thought it was really interesting. And whenever I'm at awards, I like talking to the people, working behind the scenes and being like, so, what's the drama today?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I get the tea. Sometimes they're like, oh, well, so and so was supposed to present, and they didn't like their speech, so. And I was like. And I love. I love hearing that stuff. Because it's a job.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, it's a job.

[Rachel Bloom]

People are there to work. It's a work event.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

So when you went. This is a question for both of you. When you wake up on an award show morning, did someone hand you a mimosa?

[Bowen Yang]

No one handed me a mimosa. I'll just order a room service, and then I'll, like, work out, meditate, and then, like, put on the clothes, and that's it. And then, like, this year, the fun.

[Matt Rogers]

Part, honestly, fun part is putting on the clothes.

[Bowen Yang]

This year, Sudie came and, you know, we, like, did a whole. Just had a nice time taking a couple pictures, and then it becomes prom for, like, 20 minutes.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

And that's fun. And then once you're. Once you arrive at the thing and you gotta meet your publicist and you gotta walk, and it's like. Then it becomes work. And then you're like, ooh, this is. The curtain's been pulled back, literally, wizard of Oz style. Like, oh, the. This is not what I thought it would be. And the whole night is about adjusting to that. And then as soon as you feel slightly adjusted, then it ends. Although I will say I do think it's a mercy that the category that I've been nominated in the past three times has been top of show. And then the rest of the night, I'm like, okay, well, we're drinking. You know, do you leave after your. I don't. I'm just like, I might as well stay. Like, who knows when I'll be back? Like, I might as well savor this. Yeah. So do you. You should.

[Rachel Bloom]

Mm, no. But also the times at the Emmys I was nominated, I think my category was towards the end, so I was always there. Then you're just nervous. Okay, let me ask you a question. So I had to do so much awards campaigning for Krazy X. I knew exactly when the Golden Globes nominations were coming out, when Emmy nominations, because I had to. I was the face of the show.

[Bowen Yang]

I had to.

[Rachel Bloom]

And every night I would get before an award show nomination. It was the worst anxiety. I couldn't sleep. And the next time it happened, God willing, if it ever happens again, like, I should take a Xanax or something. I mean, when I. Last time with the Emmys, I was. Was I pregnant? When the nominations were announced, that would make sense, because I was pregnant. I was pregnant. Yeah. So I couldn't take a Xanax, but Anyway, I'm always aware of when the awards nominations are. Not always, but often I'm aware. And it gives me horrible anxiety. It feels like a worse version of a cast list coming out. I don't know, it just. It feels weird. But then you hear people be asked, like, what were you doing when you found out you were nominated? And they're like, oh, my God, I didn't know the nominations were today. I was at the gym. That's fake, Right? So what are your feelings the night.

[Bowen Yang]

Before nominations this year? I was. Honestly, honest to God, the night before, I obviously knew that the nominations were coming out the next day, but I was just like, finally back in town, getting my apartment all together, couldn't really sleep, but then woke up the next morning being like, I'm gonna go to the gym. I'm gonna sit in the steam room for, like, 10 minutes. So I, like, had this, like, agita. But then I sat in the steam room, meditated, did a whole, like, had a whole moment to myself where I was like, whatever happens, like, you care, obviously, but it's probably not gonna happen.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And so just, like, ground yourself in that and then go about the rest of your day. And you have all these other things in your schedule that were purely domestic. Like, you're gonna go and buy a new trash can.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's smart.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, like, you're gonna go. You're gonna work on this thing. And then it was in the middle of my day that it came out. And then the first. Somehow these publicists know everything before anyone else does. And then that's when they text you. And I was like, oh. And I found out through text. I was like, oh, great. But I packed my day so much that I was like, well, I gotta move on. I gotta go to this next place. And the inertia of that and the momentum of that was helpful. It's good.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's grounding.

[Bowen Yang]

It's grounding. I also hate the bullshit of, like, oh, I had no idea. I mean, I obviously had the awareness.

[Rachel Bloom]

But I guess there are some people. They would have to be like, I'm not going online. Don't tell me when the nominations are.

[Bowen Yang]

No, I was tracking and I was like, oh. And it's 11am so here's the problem.

[Rachel Bloom]

Is, because it's west coast, we always cater to you guys. Yeah, they're always like, 6am Right?

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And so then you're like, well, it's six. I might as well, like, stay up. I wish it was just an email.

[Matt Rogers]

Six is better, though. Because I feel like, you know what? Not that I've ever been, like, in contention in a real way, but, like, sometimes I'm waking up and rolling over and then being able to see the nominees and not it being 9:00am and, like, waiting around.

[Bowen Yang]

I know that's like.

[Matt Rogers]

That's like, I'd rather wake up, look at the phone and be like, oh, there's something happening in the phone right now. Or there's nothing.

[Rachel Bloom]

You're right.

[Matt Rogers]

Because then it's like you can deal with it in the moment of waking up and being by yourself. And not that I hate being anxious waiting for things.

[Rachel Bloom]

So that's what it is. I think it's the anxious waiting that I don't want.

[Matt Rogers]

The. Want to take the Xanax. Because you're like, let me just kill this feeling.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah. It's like a body. Even if you don't want. Even if you're like, this isn't. It's fine either way, your body is doing something that you don't want it to be.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, this is why I'm a pothead. This is literally why. Because I'm like, the second I start to feel uncomfortable, it's something I'm, like, actively working on is like, I have to stop my body from physically being like, oh, you need marijuana right now to calm down.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, wow. So you smoke a lot?

[Matt Rogers]

All the time.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask you this. This is a moment in the special. It's not spoiling anything, but you.

[Rachel Bloom]

You can spoil it.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, no, no, no. Well, there's the moment that you find out, or immediately after you find out that your friend has passed away, your psychiatrist tells you all you can do is feel. And then you're like, and for some reason, I grabbed a journal, because that seems like, why is that the default? I relate to this so much. It's like, why do we think. Why is the imagery of feeling, of emotional access and directness, why is that so tied to the idea of journaling? Because I have the same thought where I'm like, I guess I better write this down. Even though I never. It's never for posterity, I never look back on it. What is that? But that ended up being an important element of that moment for you, right, where you wrote something down.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, I did, but then I gave up. I mean, literally, I still have the notebook somewhere, and it's like, Adam, die. And then that's all I can write. I don't know. I think that. Look, I naturally do see writing as cathartic.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Rachel Bloom]

And There is something. The moment something happens, writing about it, you do capture. I don't know, you capture them. But that's very product oriented. And that's not what I was in that moment. I wasn't going for output. Output at all. I don't know. I don't know why. When you read self care guidelines, it always says journal.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's almost a thing that you've been told from a young. Like the American girl. Karen, keeping of you is Dear America.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you ever read this Dear America book?

[Rachel Bloom]

No, I'm talking about. There's an American girl book from the mid-90s called the Caring Keeping of you that, that every young woman read and it featured a graphic illustration of a girl putting a tampon in. Every woman listening to this or watching this, who was born in the late 80s, early 90s, knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, journal about it is the thing you read. And I was so in that moment, lost when he died. I mean, this is seconds after he's died. That I was like, the emotions were unbearable. That I was like, what will help me? I want to. It was. In a way, it was like, maybe the journal will help me not feel this way. I think that's what it is. I have to do. And I'm a very. I gotta do something person. So the idea of just sitting with my emotion doesn't seem right. But I couldn't do it. And then I remember I took a shower and there was this ledge in my shower and I just put my head on it and sobbed. And even now when I'm in the shower and I'm on that and I look at that ledge, I think about that moment where I was like sobbing, which is weird with shower sex.

[Bowen Yang]

You gotta retard the shower. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

You gotta. Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Are you having shower sex though?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Really?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I never could figure it out. I guess it's a little different.

[Bowen Yang]

It's different for gays.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well. Cause you also have to figure out. Cause water is not. Water's not a lubricant.

[Matt Rogers]

Certainly not.

[Rachel Bloom]

So that is a challenge of shower sex.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Bowen Yang]

And so thank God for natural lubricant.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, there's not.

[Matt Rogers]

And then.

[Rachel Bloom]

But also, like, do you put the spigot away?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

You know, like you go like that. Like what you want is the steaminess.

[Bowen Yang]

Right. You don't want the.

[Matt Rogers]

Well.

[Rachel Bloom]

Cause also it's like calming. Sure.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Sometimes you'll get in the shower for shower showers section, you'll be like, oh, I love showers.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I know. I just don't want to drown. Like, if I'm like. If I'm like the. Let's face it, the receiving partner likely.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

And then I'm like, uh. And then like, I'm like, not in control. What if I, like, get put under the water and I'm like, you know what I mean?

[Rachel Bloom]

I wonder how many especially. Cause I wonder how many people die that way.

[Matt Rogers]

How many? So many. I don't know. So many people are into like, choking and stuff.

[Rachel Bloom]

My friend has a fucked up story of being at a sex club and seeing a guy die.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, Jesus.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because he was really fucked up on drugs and I think he was getting. His esophagus was getting compressed or something and he was. And he was. It was like the wrong angle and he like somehow suffocated. It wasn't anyone's fault. He just couldn't. Yeah, he didn't notice, I think that his windpipe.

[Matt Rogers]

It was a sex accident.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's such a bummer story.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no, no, no, no. But like, I was watching your special and then about 10, 15 minutes in, I think it really sank in that this was going to be really about death. And I know I just said, let's not talk about it on mic because don't give them that. But I have been, like, thinking about it more, I think, because it occurred to me a few weeks ago that I should probably put like a will together because there's a certain amount of money now. And I was like, I wouldn't want that to just go somewhere. I was like, I wanna leave all that to my sister. And then I started to think about, like, well, I should probably do it soon because it's probably likelier that I'll die here. You know what I mean? I thought about, like, somewhere I'm going later in the month, and I'm like, well, that's a spot that could get attacked. And I'm like thinking to myself. And then I was like. I was hearing myself think and I was like, what is this a product of? Is it a product of our current landscape? Is it a product of me getting a little bit older? Is it the pandemic that made death very real? I think it is all about.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's hard to extricate one factor from another. We're just older. We're older and also death is all around us. And I think that it would be impossible to. Because I think about this too, where it's like giving birth during the pandemic, my daughter being in the nicu, my writing partner, for those of you who don't know. My songwriting partner died a week after my daughter was born. It is hard to extricate her being in the NICU from it being Covid, from him dying of it. Like, I don't know if you'd isolated each of these incidents, how each one would feel in a vacuum. It's.

[Matt Rogers]

It is all one experience.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's all one. You can't. When you start pulling apart those threads, I don't know. Who knows? Yeah, but a will's. I mean. Yeah. I mean, we have a kid, so we've made.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

We've made a will.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And it's all.

[Matt Rogers]

Have you made a will?

[Rachel Bloom]

It's all getting left to you, I should say.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no.

[Rachel Bloom]

Wait till the stone that I admit.

[Matt Rogers]

That's me.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

It all goes to you.

[Matt Rogers]

Thank you.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's why I came here today.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow. Honestly, I was expecting it, but I didn't want to say. It's like nomination morning. You know what I mean? Like, I was coming here today thinking, is she giving me. Is she bequeathing me, by the way, bequeath.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a funny word for a dad thing.

[Matt Rogers]

So good. Bequeath.

[Rachel Bloom]

Has anyone done a pun like bequeath?

[Matt Rogers]

I don't know. First, you are the one to do it. Oh, I bequeath my.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a good.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't know what that was.

[Rachel Bloom]

Bequeath.

[Bowen Yang]

Vibratoed.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Imagine if that was how I queefed musically. Do you have a tone? That's what happens when I fart. No, I just fall down.

[Bowen Yang]

Do your queefs have a tone to them?

[Rachel Bloom]

No, they are pure air. Juicy. No, they're pure air. If I've just taken a bath, they sound like the world's nastiest diarrhea Fart.

[Matt Rogers]

Can I ask you something?

[Bowen Yang]

I love that sound.

[Matt Rogers]

I know you'll answer this.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Squirting.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't. I'm not a squirter.

[Matt Rogers]

You never have.

[Bowen Yang]

Mm.

[Rachel Bloom]

I remember I have memories of being in, like, when I first started masturbating of, like, squirting something. Squirting. I think it was pee. I think I had to pee. And I, like, masturbated three times in a row and then the pee just got forced out. Cause it hasn't happened since, and it didn't feel.

[Matt Rogers]

You remember how it felt?

[Rachel Bloom]

It felt like, oh, I just peed myself.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

It's crazy when you watch, because sometimes I do watch straight porn and I will get into some squirting.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watch squirting. Porn.

[Matt Rogers]

And I like it because the actresses are just like. And like. And like, it looks like. And then that's when I get upset. Like, sometimes I'm like, I wish that I could experience that.

[Bowen Yang]

I know. Do you wish this?

[Matt Rogers]

Whoa.

[Rachel Bloom]

I absolutely do.

[Matt Rogers]

But I think it's fake.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't think they're feeling it. So I try to look out with squirting porn when it's very clearly water coming out of the urethra. Cause there's a theory that it is just piss or whatever. So when it's very clearly a stream coming out of that second hole, I don't like it. Cause I'm like, nah, that's just peeing.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

When it's like. There's something that happens sometimes during squirting porn where it just fucking gushes out and you can't tell where it's coming from. And it could be from the vagina. That's the squirting porn. That's the fantasy for me. When it's the stream coming out of the urethra, then it's not fantasy. Cause it's like you're just pissing yourself. Some people squirt. There's this theory that it comes from something called the Skene's gland, Skenes gland. That they've analyzed it and, like, some of it is piss. The jury's still out on whether or not squirt is piss. And by the way, like, that's how far behind we are on studying a woman's body.

[Bowen Yang]

I was gonna say, like, shouldn't we know this?

[Rachel Bloom]

We didn't know what the clit was. The clitoris is an iceberg. It's tip of the iceberg with all of these nerves that extend into, like, your vagina, your butthole. We didn't know about that until, like.

[Matt Rogers]

This is Barbie.

[Bowen Yang]

When did we find out about this?

[Rachel Bloom]

I wanna say it started in the 60s, but then it was actually mapped in, like, the 80s. This is the way over half the world gets sexual pleasure.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And we still are.

[Bowen Yang]

Like, the recency of this shit reminds me that there's this great piece in the Cut that came out in January. When you were doing the show at the Orpheum, you did some research. Well, no, of course.

[Matt Rogers]

We read the Cut every morning.

[Bowen Yang]

We read the Cut every morning. No, but I was reading this back in January. Emily Gould, I think she wrote it. But the writer did a great job of saying Crazy Ex Girlfriend was very much ahead of its time in terms of the mental health discourse that we've had. And I think the special will also kind of have this lasting relevance and permanence. Because the way we think about death has been permanently altered since the pandemic. It's like everyone is a little bit, let's just say not crazier, but just we're all like a little bit more like destabilized by the idea of like death being everywhere.

[Rachel Bloom]

And even if you're. Because look, I think a lot of people look, myself included, you wanna move on from the pandemic, you wanna not think about it, you wanna see things as back to normal. But there's no denying that everyone, we went through a world mass trauma. And something I ask in the special is how do you acknowledge death but continue to live? How do you not completely compartmentalize the idea that death is going to happen? Because that leaves you unprepared. Right. And we need to be prepared for the next pandemic. And when they say, you know, lock down or wear a mask, we need to understand where that's coming from as opposed to it being this random foreign thing.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

But you can't let it consume you.

[Matt Rogers]

No.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because we're all gonna die. And that's a part of life. Everything that's alive dies. Also, American culture is not. Is so anti death. It's so like bootstraps the green light at the end of the dock. Great Gatsby. Like, it's all like, look to the future. I think other cultures are better about integrating death.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Which is why going back, even for I think secular people, going back to like religious ritual, when someone dies is really telling that there is a ritual that like, I'm an atheist, I still crave ritual. There's something grounding about it that our American culture isn't providing. Especially when it comes to death.

[Bowen Yang]

There literally is no space. Let's just even talk about like, oh, like you grieve, you're bereft and then come back to work in like a week.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

It's like there is something nice about like, let's say like sitting Shiver or like doing like an Asian kind of funeral where it's like a full week or two weeks or whatever. You know, it's like there's a reason.

[Rachel Bloom]

That there's a that. But yeah, there's like a week or two in so many cultures. Cause you need that time to process. And I talked to a lot of people who saw the live show who came up and talked to me after the show. And like there were numerous people who were like, my mom died two years ago and People are like, okay, when are you gonna be over this? And that? You can tell people are uncomfortable around death. There's this amazing camp called Camp Comfort Zone. It's a grief camp for children.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I went up for a day to see it a couple months ago because my friend wrote a movie that we're trying to get made about these children's grief camps. And I was talking to some of the kids there, and they're like. Some of them were saying, like, I even get bullied because a parent died. And I'm like, what is that? What do you mean? They're bullying? And they were just saying, like, people are uncomfortable. They don't know what to say. They don't know what to do. So some people don't want to talk about it. Some people need to make jokes. We're so uncomfortable because we think it could then happen to us.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And for so long, I think I put people dying suddenly in this far off place of, well, this is something that happens in far off countries. This doesn't happen to me. And then it happened. And it's like, oh, no. Yeah, this could happen. And that's why having a baby during that time was so triggering. Because babies. You're told that there are so many ways babies are fragile.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And can die and babies can't do shit. It's called the fourth trimester. Because human babies are born premature. Because it has to do with. I apologize to any scientist. I think it's as our brains got bigger, our heads got bigger, but also we became bipedal, so our hips narrowed and the two don't work together. And so basically, to get children out of the birth canal before or the mother dies, they have to be born premature. So human babies are especially really, really helpless.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Crazy that evolutionarily, that works out for us.

[Rachel Bloom]

But also, it's still a work in progress. No, totally. We're still evolving. Nature kind of hasn't figured this out yet.

[Bowen Yang]

Right. But I'm saying the only reason we've lasted this long as bipedal animals with whatever, developing brains as we're out of the womb, it's because, literally, it's because we have thumbs, because we can hold our infants.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

That is kind of the only.

[Rachel Bloom]

Right. Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

It's thumbs. Thumbs are so important.

[Rachel Bloom]

But there is a thing, though, babies, you'll see.

[Matt Rogers]

I couldn't hold a baby like this.

[Bowen Yang]

No, you can't hold a baby like that.

[Matt Rogers]

I used to flow.

[Rachel Bloom]

There is a thing babies do where a little baby. You'll see them go and what that is.

[Bowen Yang]

They still do that. Sorry, go.

[Rachel Bloom]

What that is. I feel like I wake up doing that. So that's an instinct of when we were still apes and lived in trees, that a baby would grab the mom so not fall out of the tree.

[Matt Rogers]

Whoa.

[Rachel Bloom]

So you see a little baby go, wow. Tree.

[Matt Rogers]

Would you characterize the feelings that you. Because you don't really call it this in the special, but would you call it postpartum anxiety, what you had?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, I mean, I kind of had some prepartum anxiety, too. Like, I had. And being nauseous made me very anxious and depressed, especially in my first trimester.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. Ooh. And were you very nauseous?

[Rachel Bloom]

I was very nauseous, yeah. I think I had postpartum anxiety, but it was so wrapped up in grief.

[Matt Rogers]

So many other things.

[Rachel Bloom]

And the pandemic. Would I have had postpartum anxiety? But, yes.

[Matt Rogers]

It just reminds me of one of those things, like, we were talking about, like, you know, all the nerve endings and, like, that. We're not talking about, like, that women have, like. It's like. Like, you know, I think maybe because I watch, like, some Real Housewives shows, like, and I hear them use the words postpartum anxiety, which is different than postpartum depression. And, like, you just don't hear it talked about. But you have to imagine that women have been experiencing postpartum anxiety forever.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

But you feel like it's only recently something that's being differentiated from postpartum depression or being differentiated from. From any other feeling that you would have as a new mom or, like, an impending mother.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, cause anxiety is. You can cover anxiety a little bit more. Cause anxiety is a.

[Matt Rogers]

You can be proactive about it.

[Rachel Bloom]

I'm on Prozac for anxiety. I'm much more of a proactive spiraler. And that includes my intrusive thoughts, where it's like my thoughts go on overload. And the way my psychiatrist had described it was. It was kind of two sides of the same pendulum, where it's like the pendulum swings, anxiety, depression, but it's fundamentally the same chemical imbalances going on. I think. Yeah. I think that we think postpartum depression and the image is someone laying around unable to function. Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I can't look at my kid.

[Rachel Bloom]

Postpartum anxiety is.

[Matt Rogers]

Can't look away.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I think that also women are neurotic. So it's. I mean, there's so much. I think that we're still realizing about the way mental health has been portrayed for years in the media, that a Character's neurotic. It's like, oh, well, they should have been medicated, right? Totally. I feel like anxiety, because it's active, masks itself as other things. And depression is so undeniable, where it's like someone laying around who can't do anything. Like in the commercial for what's Latuda, I feel like Latuda is one of the commercials I've seen. I feel like that's her bipolar. But it's. Someone laying around is very easy for an actor to act out as opposed to, like.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, the complexities of, like, what the fuck is going on?

[Rachel Bloom]

Cause what it looks like what I'm having. And ever since I upped my Prozac, I actually haven't had a proper intrusive thought. I don't know. The intrusive thought and anxiety, they kind of go together. It's complicated. But either way, when I'm anxious, what it looks like is this. It looks like.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

Because I go into freeze, right? There's fight, flight. Freeze. Yes, I go into freeze.

[Matt Rogers]

Get this.

[Rachel Bloom]

So how do you. In a commercial for Latuda, how do.

[Matt Rogers]

You get across someone close up on.

[Bowen Yang]

The eyes.

[Rachel Bloom]

That'S less evocative than, like.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, than like.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, Donnie, can we get a tight close on Rachel's eyes as she does an anxiety, a neurosis.

[Matt Rogers]

So this is what intrusive thoughts should be. Tca.

[Bowen Yang]

Tca.

[Matt Rogers]

Give it to her for drama. Who won drama the year you won comedy? Do you know?

[Rachel Bloom]

You said it. I think it was Sarah Paulson. Whoa.

[Bowen Yang]

I love that.

[Matt Rogers]

Iconic. Have you guys ever met?

[Rachel Bloom]

I think once.

[Matt Rogers]

You ever rub statues?

[Bowen Yang]

Ew, Matthew.

[Rachel Bloom]

Well, on that note, like, literally, like a statue rubbing up against another statue.

[Bowen Yang]

Barbie sax, doll sax.

[Matt Rogers]

What is the tca? What is it? Is it a little man?

[Rachel Bloom]

No, it's a glass.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah, it's a glass. Glass. Cause it almost broke.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, men can be glass and women can be Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Emmy is famously a woman.

[Rachel Bloom]

When I won the tca, there was. I wanna say it was a guy who wasn't even in the organization anymore. He was there. He was kind of groping me right in front of my husband. It was like a problem. And I was so afraid of making him mad at me. I didn't do anything. Now I would be like, hey, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was like. He kept trying to, like, ply me with more drinks, and he was, like, getting grabby with my waist, and Gregor was right there, and he and I were both. It was so weird. We didn't Know what to do. Cause we were, like, laughing it off now. I think I would have been like, yo, dude. Yeah, that was a great thing.

[Matt Rogers]

Why do you think now you would. Is it because you're a mom?

[Rachel Bloom]

I think now we're post. Me too.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. God.

[Bowen Yang]

That really was pre.

[Rachel Bloom]

And also, I'm.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

Whoa.

[Rachel Bloom]

I was in my late 20th. No, I was. Maybe I was. I just turned three. I don't know. I'm older now, and I'm just like. And I think I also. Everything seems so tenuous that first year to show where it's like, oh, if I get mad at someone, I'm gonna ruin this. Now I'd be like, you know what? Me telling one guy to keep his hands off me is not gonna ruin my career. In fact, he deserves to be called out.

[Bowen Yang]

Right?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah. We're in much more of a culture of. That's not okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

But I'm still. You know what? There was a guy who came up to me after, like, my Off Broadway show, and he was, like, there with his son, and he, like, kissed me on the cheek, and I went. I went, whoa. And I didn't know what to do because it wasn't even. It wasn't gross and gropy. It was just weird.

[Matt Rogers]

A little familiar. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I went, a lot familiar.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay. Yeah.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I didn't know what to say. I didn't say, how fucking dare you. I didn't know what to do. And then that guy came back to his credit, and he went, hey, I realized the other day, I kissed you on the cheek. That was over. That was weird.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sorry.

[Rachel Bloom]

He's like. My son pointed out, that was weird.

[Bowen Yang]

All right.

[Rachel Bloom]

But, like, it's a lot harder. It's very easy to say. And this is a whole other thing about, like, sexual harassment. It's very easy to say. Like, if someone touches you in a way, you say no. When you're actually in the moment and someone is getting gropy or touching, it's really hard. We don't give anyone a template for being a denier or a rejecter. We don't learn. We don't practice saying no. We don't practice boundaries. We talk about it. And it's Instagram poetry. Like, you go, girl. It's like the. Like, if someone is in your space, tell them to get out of your space.

[Matt Rogers]

Mm.

[Rachel Bloom]

How do you actually do that?

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

We don't practice that enough.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, there are almost. No. I mean, not to connect dots too much, but, like, it's. It's this thing of, like, acknowledgement. Like, we don't know how to acknowledge these very prevalent whatever these, like, facts of life about with like, death or with like, people being violatory or something. It's like, how do you. To point it out is like the hardest part. And yet it is like the first thing that has to happen in order for anything to, like, be better. Does that make sense?

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, I know. I was also thinking about, like now when someone is in a scandal or whatever, the way that they get out of it is like they just don't say anything. They make it go away. Which is the opposite of what we're taught as a kid is to apologize. But I feel like not all apologies, but I feel like the more you say even though we're taught to apologize, the more it makes things worse sometimes, which is such a fucked up, weird lesson.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, not always.

[Rachel Bloom]

Not always. There are some good apologies. And a lot of the time when someone's apologizing for a scandal, it's because they're also explaining it. They're not actually apologizing. They're giving a very defensive explanation. I don't know. But as having a kid now, I think about this. What do I tell her about personal boundaries? And I tell her if someone hugs you, say, I don't wanna be hugged right now. And they're getting. She's very good about that. And I want to keep that into her teenage and adulthood because she's not ashamed about saying, I don't want to give a hug right now. And, like, keep that.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. No, that is.

[Bowen Yang]

That's great. She already drank her juice.

[Rachel Bloom]

Drunken juice and spilling tea. I already drank that drink.

[Matt Rogers]

Juice and spilled tea is title of that.

[Bowen Yang]

Title of that. Do you like podcasts, music and audiobooks? Because when you subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get all three in one app. Imagine listening to your favorite podcasts and music on the go to work, school, the gym, or better yet, vacation. I love those. Now imagine being on vacation with your favorite audiobook from Audible and then listening to a new one every month from a huge selection of popular titles. While not on vacation, that sounds like a pretty good vacation, right? Audible is now included on Amazon Music Unlimited. Download the Amazon Music app now to start listening terms apply.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think so, honey. Is now the segment that we're going to do. And also what I say to anyone who comes to me and wants to hug. Just kidding. I actually am a hugger.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh, I'm a hug. I'm a hugger too.

[Matt Rogers]

I know we're all huggers here. Need someone to hug me close. Oh, I don't think so. Honey has a segment. Do you have any. Were there any more notes on the last episode that you really wanted to hit before we do it?

[Rachel Bloom]

No, no. This is a. I talk about in the episode. I talk about talking to Adam that I would. I had been in town, I think, doing some press events with Adam.

[Matt Rogers]

He really was the best.

[Rachel Bloom]

He was the best. And so I think we had just done a. We did a thing at Lincoln center in that beautiful room that overlooks. What was it. We'd done, like a crazy Ex concert. Anyway, so listening to that and that's, you know, he's now gone and being like, oh, but in that episode, he's alive.

[Matt Rogers]

I know.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. I think in the episode we also just talk about. I'm sure we went on about Fountains of Wayne and about his genius and about the show, obviously.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't know if we did, but noted.

[Bowen Yang]

God.

[Matt Rogers]

We have. On the show.

[Bowen Yang]

We have. We've certainly talked about it on the show.

[Rachel Bloom]

I put on my sunglasses not for that, but for. I don't think so, honey. Of course.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. No good. This is, like, good energy to bring into it. I am doing an I don't think so, honey today. And it's sort of. Of pointing inward, but I'm actually going to flip the form a little bit. Oh. And I'm going to connect it to the iconic 400, which we just did because we forgot somebody. And so I'm going to do. I'm going to use this time to give that person their flowers.

[Bowen Yang]

This is amazing.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Matt Rogers. I don't think so. Any of his time starts now.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think so, honey. We didn't put Barbra Streisand on the iconic 400, and this is a huge mistake. And I'm going to use the. Let's say 50 seconds from now on to give you more than the 30 you would have gotten. Barbra Streisand, you are the one and the only. I didn't grow up with anything that wasn't Funny Girl. We were a Funny Girl house. In fact, we were such a Funny Girl house that we were also a funny lady house. Now, here's the thing about Funny Lady. Not as good as Funny Girl, but if you really want to get into the fgcu, the Funny Girl cinematic universe, you have to watch Funny lady, in which Fanny Brice has another relationship that proves to be challenging. Because when you are Fanny Brice, you have a Lot of responsibilities. You have a lot of complexities. You have a lot to live up to. And you have these men in your life who are gonna, like, not necessarily give you their best because they're not good with themselves. And Barbara, you nailed that. You nail it all the time. You are one of the greatest singers of all time. I can't believe it's only five seconds. Barbra Streisand, welcome to that con of 400 in theory. I don't think so, honey. That we've got you the first time.

[Bowen Yang]

And that's one minute.

[Rachel Bloom]

The Funny Girl Cinematic Universe.

[Matt Rogers]

The fgcu. Fgcu.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, my God, that is such an oversight.

[Matt Rogers]

We forgot her. And that was crazy Barbara. Back in Brooklyn.

[Bowen Yang]

Back in Brooklyn. Ugh.

[Matt Rogers]

That was one of the great concerts. Sudie and I went to go see Barbra Streisand at the Barclays Center. Oh, wow. There was a moment, it was 2016 and she of course got political. And there was one woman like 15 rows behind us. We already were in bed seats. The one woman in the entire Barclays center at Barbra Streisand that was like.

[Rachel Bloom]

Shut up, shut up, shut up.

[Matt Rogers]

This one Trump woman screaming in the back. Like, what did you think was gonna happen when you came to Barbara in.

[Bowen Yang]

Like, in Brooklyn, October 2016?

[Rachel Bloom]

I love people with weird. There's a bit that I've been wanting to do. Like, I wanna have a merch section on my website and I don't know how to do this. Which is called bumper stickers for no one. Which would have bumper stickers that don't describe anyone. And like, one of my ideas is like, I'm a gun toting, Bible thumping, Nathan Lane superfan. And I vote and I vote. What is someone that doesn't exist. Trumper at a Streisand concert.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm a Barbra Streisand trucker and I vote I love.

[Rachel Bloom]

Like, yeah, that doesn't make. But there's someone. There's one person out there I think.

[Bowen Yang]

There'S definitely a Nathan Lane super fan. Nathan Lane or Nathan Fielder? Nathan Lane. Nathan Lane. Nathan Fielder first. Christopher was second. I thought you said Nathan Fielder.

[Rachel Bloom]

I'm willing to bet that there are more.

[Matt Rogers]

More Trump people like Nathan Fielder than.

[Bowen Yang]

Trump Nathan Fielder fans. Than Nathan Lane fans, of course.

[Matt Rogers]

Because they're like this weird shit.

[Rachel Bloom]

Nathan Lane, the Lion King. And do they love the Lion King, But I don't know if they're a Nathan. Like, you'd have to. Who knows a lot about Nathan Lane.

[Bowen Yang]

Who is a gun toten Bipolar Lindsey Graham.

[Rachel Bloom]

There you go.

[Bowen Yang]

They're out there.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, they're out there. I love those people who are anomalies where it's like, you don't make sense.

[Bowen Yang]

You're building fun. Van Dyke.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

I had an art.

[Matt Rogers]

I had an art teacher in high school who was like, had like a cool haircut and like, played Aretha Franklin for us. And she was also the track coach and also the like. And she was like a guidance counselor. She was like, all. Did all these things and she was like, we would always jam. We would always, like, eat lunch together. And I remember she, like, loved Adam Lambert. She was, like, obsessed, and she was like a hardcore republic. Yeah, it's just like, it's. People are out there doing their thing.

[Rachel Bloom]

But also when we were growing up, but also Republicans, the country was less fresh or when something different was more open to, like, your personal interpretation. And with some people, it was just more fiscal.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes. I don't know what it was. I actually. But I remember it took me back even then, and now it's like those people that were, you know, you knew, like, way back when that were Republicans, like, you kind of wonder, like, where they're falling now.

[Rachel Bloom]

I just ran into a friend who is Mormon, still Mormon. And I go. And we talked about church, and I didn't even ask her about political stuff. I went, oh, are you still going to church? She goes, yep, I go to church every Sunday and I vote for whoever I want.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

And I was like, that, to me.

[Matt Rogers]

Means probably a good thing. Like, I'm not burdened.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's what she meant.

[Bowen Yang]

Communicating.

[Matt Rogers]

Communicating. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Lovely.

[Matt Rogers]

Bowen. Yang. Jev. I don't think so, honey.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm gonna do something. And I just confirmed it by searching through the list of the iconic 400. And there was another omission.

[Matt Rogers]

Okay, good.

[Bowen Yang]

Happy.

[Matt Rogers]

We're making things right. This is Bowen Yeongs. I don't think so, honey. His time starts now.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so, honey. Us for not including Whitney Houston in the iconic 400. I cannot believe that we as gay, music loving men did not acknowledge the template formed with Whitney Houston. Someone who went through tremendous personal challenges to give us some of the most celebrated music in the lab. 40 years. Let's say 50 years. I'm not gonna make it time bound, but I can't believe that we would do. We would do that in six days, 30 seconds. You all have permission to walk up to us in a public setting and chastise, berate Hit us. There are no boundaries. We left out Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand for 15 seconds. I'm here to apologize. This is. It's not an apologize. If it's an apologize that we left out Whitney Houston, five seconds. I apologize that we offended you, that we disappointed the community. Sing.

[Matt Rogers]

Sing for them.

[Bowen Yang]

I have not seen her in concert like you have seen Barbara.

[Matt Rogers]

That is One minute. Do you want to sing something from Whitney?

[Bowen Yang]

Boys went out to eat.

[Matt Rogers]

Then they went out.

[Bowen Yang]

But you came home around 3.

[Matt Rogers]

It's because of y'all went out.

[Bowen Yang]

It's not right.

[Matt Rogers]

But it's okay. I'm gonna make it anyway. Don't you get back to me. Yeah, I think we got it across.

[Bowen Yang]

We got it across. Glasses off.

[Matt Rogers]

Thank you. From a vocalist, this means everything. Oh, my God.

[Bowen Yang]

It was great.

[Matt Rogers]

Did you come prepared today with. I don't think so, honey.

[Bowen Yang]

She certainly.

[Matt Rogers]

I knew you did.

[Rachel Bloom]

Glasses off for this.

[Matt Rogers]

All right, here we go. Get ready.

[Rachel Bloom]

Okay.

[Matt Rogers]

This is Rachel Blooms. I don't think so, honey. Her time starts now.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't think so, honey. I'm talking to you rowdy 14 year old boys in children's parks. I don't think so, honey. When you're standing on the swing that my daughter's waiting to sit on and actually use the swing properly and you're rattling the swing, that's not my problem. I don't think so, honey. You are not meant to go on these jungle gyms and step on my child's hand. No, I don't think so, honey. Here's the thing. If this were hundreds of years ago, you'd already be a father. You'd already be a man. Go home and be a man. Go home and do your homework, honey. Parks are not for you anymore. I don't think so, honey. If you want to go and build a park for post pubescent boys, or should I say men, that's your business. But my child wants to go on the slide. And you are sticking it up with your teenage BO and you are scaring her. You're stomping with your friends and you're laughing and I can just tell that you're probably gonna smoke. I don't think so, honey. Do not step on my children's hands. And that's what I just keep. I just feel like there are a lot of hands getting stepped on. I don't think so, honey.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes, that was really important, Rachel. And that's what it. And I have to say that that.

[Bowen Yang]

Makes me so sad.

[Matt Rogers]

So I have to confront myself here, because last week I took my parents to, like, a vacation spot and there was a pool with a slide. And I said to myself, oh, fun, a slide. And then it said on there, you must be under 14 to do the slide. And I remember my first instinct was to be like, well, this is ageist, and I want to do the slide. And then I was like, Matt, you are 34. You did the slide so many times in a time that it was appropriate for you. It's just not appropriate for you to do this slide. This slide. Slides in general, you can go. You can go to any waterpark and do the slide. Seriously?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

This slide, it's okay. Let the kids play on the slide.

[Rachel Bloom]

Here's what I would argue that you could have done the slide, because here's what my I think so Honey was about. I actually have no problem with middle schoolers or like high schoolers coming to a park and using things properly in a. In an organized, non rowdy way.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Rachel Bloom]

If you're 15 or 16 and you want to actually go on the swings for an appropriate amount of time, I get it. I do that too. Yeah. It's the thing where they stand on the swing and they shake the fucking thing and then they're running around and like, they're not.

[Matt Rogers]

It's chaos. For chaos sake.

[Rachel Bloom]

They're not using the equipment properly. You being on that slide is fine with me.

[Matt Rogers]

Is there? It wasn't with the resort.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally. Do you feel compelled to speak to these teenagers?

[Rachel Bloom]

I'm not gonna get fucking Karen. No, totally.

[Bowen Yang]

No, That's a totally. And I was gonna ask.

[Rachel Bloom]

No, I just give them withering glances. And you know what? They don't notice, nor do they care. And you know who also doesn't seem to notice? My daughter. She doesn't care.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Rachel Bloom]

I'm the only person caring.

[Bowen Yang]

That's important.

[Matt Rogers]

Even when her hand is stomped on.

[Rachel Bloom]

It happened when she was young. I don't think she remembers it.

[Bowen Yang]

Aw. But like, God, what I would struggle with as a parent is be like, I wanna yell at these other kids, but I can't.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's hard.

[Bowen Yang]

God. I mean, other kids are fucking wrong.

[Rachel Bloom]

I also don't want to get made fun of by middle schoolers again. I already went through that in middle school. I'm a little afraid of the withering things they'll say to me if I'm like, excuse me, my child wants to use the swings.

[Matt Rogers]

We'll talk about no boundaries.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

They'll just be like, shut up, fucking bitch. Like, they'll just. And it's so.

[Rachel Bloom]

And then I'd start crying. Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

They'd be like, you really just felt you could say that and just did.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah, exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

Exactly.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't want to have someone yell at.

[Matt Rogers]

Because that's the thing about middle school boys is that they'll just say anything really vicious to harm you. Whereas, like, middle school girls will, like, they're starting to develop like, passive aggressiveness and like social bullying. But middle school boys will just be like, verbally bullying.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah. Yeah. But middle school girls are more or more like, okay, I'll get off the swing. And then like, they'll be talking to each other and like, looking your way and you know, they're being mean, but they still got off the swing.

[Matt Rogers]

It's psychological as opposed to like, like visceral.

[Rachel Bloom]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't know that those are binary.

[Bowen Yang]

But I get what you're saying.

[Matt Rogers]

It's non binary.

[Bowen Yang]

This is unlike Siri.

[Matt Rogers]

Fuck. Siri is a woman.

[Rachel Bloom]

Siri is a CIS woman.

[Bowen Yang]

CIS woman serving me.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

How do we feel about the trope of. Let's say it's a grounded comedy dramedy, adults on a swing at night for like a really close, intimate sort of like, exchange.

[Matt Rogers]

I think it's fine. I think.

[Rachel Bloom]

Oh. As a trope, I think it's. If seeing it in real life, it's very sweet. So many parks aren't open at night.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Rachel Bloom]

That's actually the problem is that that's the plot hole. Parks are closed.

[Bowen Yang]

I kind of. I don't think I mind it in movies either. If I see it in real life, then I go, well, why are those two grown ass people sitting on the swing?

[Matt Rogers]

I go, sex offender. And then I start calling the police. Cause I'm Karen and I get the down there.

[Rachel Bloom]

I think that's the right way to.

[Matt Rogers]

If I see adults at night on a playground, I go, sex offender. And I get my phone out And I go, 911 my girls. My God, call me Karen.

[Rachel Bloom]

The 911 operators.

[Matt Rogers]

I go, guess Kamala. This is Matt and I need you down here.

[Bowen Yang]

Thank you for your service and thank.

[Matt Rogers]

You, thin Blue line, Rachel Bloom, for coming. I can't believe this is only your second time on in seven and a half years. We can't take this long a break again.

[Rachel Bloom]

Have me on every week.

[Matt Rogers]

Honestly, I'll just sit here.

[Rachel Bloom]

I don't even need to say anything. I'll just. I'll just. But you could.

[Matt Rogers]

That would be helpful.

[Rachel Bloom]

Pretend to be like your backup pianist with no pianos.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, you're a Paul Schaefer. But look, Rachel shows up and the conversation flows.

[Matt Rogers]

Baby. This is great Death. Let me do my special October now on Netflix and give it a double.

[Rachel Bloom]

Thumbs up because that helps the algorithm.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes, algorithmically.

[Rachel Bloom]

Isn't that weird?

[Bowen Yang]

As opposed to a single thumbs up.

[Rachel Bloom]

Just any sort of reaction to it. But the double thumbs up, I mean, single thumbs up is also good, but double spell. How often do you do that on Netflix? Though not off the top. I never do.

[Matt Rogers]

I never thumbs up a favor.

[Rachel Bloom]

I just started doing it. I did it for a show about mermaids that my daughter liked. Cause I'm like, I gotta start paying it forward.

[Bowen Yang]

We gotta move out of Gabby's dollhouse.

[Rachel Bloom]

So there's this show, it's called Mermaid Academy. It's a whole thing they have cornered. Netflix has figured out the little girl brain.

[Bowen Yang]

Uh huh.

[Rachel Bloom]

That sounds creepy, but it's not.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay. If you say so. Daniel the tiger. Is that Netflix? No, that's.

[Rachel Bloom]

It's pbs.

[Bowen Yang]

Pbs? Oh.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, well that's. That's the one to watch.

[Rachel Bloom]

PBS is great.

[Bowen Yang]

We love pbs.

[Matt Rogers]

And with that thought, we end every episode with a song. It's not right, but it's okay. I'm gonna make it anyway Close the door behind you I'd rather be alone than I you making a fool of me.

[Bowen Yang]

Bye. Lost Culture Racist is a production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and iHeartRadio.

[Matt Rogers]

Podcasts, created and hosted by Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, executive produced by Anna Hosnier and Han Sani, produced by Becca.

[Bowen Yang]

Rahman, edited and mixed by Doug Babe and Monique Laborde.

[Matt Rogers]

And our music is by Henry Kamirski. Hey everybody, it's me, Matt Rogers, letting you know tickets are on sale now to see me on tour. The Prince of Christmas tour, that is. I'm doing my whole album. Have you heard of Christmas? Plus a lot more with the whole band all throughout December. Go to www. Official.com to see me in a city near.