"More Like Read BY Jenna" (w/ Jenna Bush Hager)

Summary

Las Culturistas: "More Like Read BY Jenna" (w/ Jenna Bush Hager)

Podcast: Las Culturistas
Hosts: Matt Rogers & Bowen Yang
Guest: Jenna Bush Hager
Date: May 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and heartfelt episode, Matt and Bowen welcome Jenna Bush Hager—beloved Today Show co-host, acclaimed book club curator, and all-around culture maven. The trio dives into the world of books, pop culture, television hosting, and generational shifts in how culture is consumed. Jenna opens up about her family and public life, her passion for reading, the meaning of libraries, and the importance of authentic conversation. The hosts and Jenna move with ease between hilarity and insight, examining everything from Devil Wears Prada 2 and Paula Abdul nostalgia to book banning in America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Jenna Bush Hager: American Royalty, TV Host, and Book Lover

• Jenna’s background as both the granddaughter and daughter of presidents, making her a uniquely American figure (06:00–07:00).
• Effortless competence: How Jenna makes her job as a morning TV host look easy, and her genuine efforts to create comfort for nervous first-timers on camera.
  • “You just were the exact same when the camera was off as you were when it was on.” — Matt (07:22)

On Hosting & Authenticity

• Authenticity in live TV: Jenna reveals her strategy—being herself, reassuring guests, and rejecting artificiality, making live television inviting (07:22–08:32).
• Teamwork on TV: Jenna values collaboration over solo stardom:
  • "I'm definitely a team. Like, I want a teammate, you know, I would not want a solo show because I like to be part of—play off somebody. I like to laugh with somebody before the show even starts." (50:06)
• Matt & Bowen’s TV moments: Reflecting on their early appearances and what made them feel comfortable (08:32).

Devil Wears Prada 2: Cameos, Costumes, and Character

• Jenna discusses her cameo in the highly-anticipated sequel, how the set worked, and the thrill of improvising with icons (09:09–12:33).
  • “I got there late...there was no script. This part was unscripted...the director was like, here’s the thing...so you’re just supposed to say, great interviewer, good interview." — Jenna (09:44)
• The group's collective admiration for Meryl Streep and behind-the-scenes method stories (11:08–12:39).
• Fan-favorite fashion moments:
  • Anne Hathaway's patchwork dress in the Hamptons, Meryl’s button-down and pants, and the symbolic return of ties and skorts in cinema (63:34–66:13).

Family, Fame, & Perspective

• Stories about growing up as a Bush (“We broke into tears [when Dad ran for president].” – Jenna, 72:05), how she and her twin, Barbara, navigated the pressures and media scrutiny, and the perspective this brings to raising her own children today (73:34–74:51).
• Public adversity cultivated Jenna’s thick skin and ability to compartmentalize work/life:
  • "I have a really good way of, like, compartmentalizing my work and sort of the stuff that comes with it and, like, my actual life and the people that I love. And so there's. I don't get caught up in that part of it." (76:23)

Books, Book Clubs, and the Power of Libraries

• Jenna shares her deep passion for reading—from Babysitters Club as a childhood touchstone to her dedication in finding diverse, new voices for Read with Jenna (24:57–41:05).
  • Childhood culture moment: "It was Anne M. Martin's, the Babysitters Club...reading Logan vs. Marianne...I was like, maybe I’m not just, like, a chubby little kid from Texas. Maybe there is romance and entrepreneurship and a girl gang waiting for me." (24:57)
• The importance (and fun!) of reading widely and listening to audiobooks, sometimes using apps like Speechify to multitask (41:10–42:05).
• Book Bans & Library Love: A passionate discussion on the dangers of book banning, the critical role libraries play in communities, and the irony of regulating books in the internet age:
  • "Why are we banning all these books, y'all? ... Don't we know that kids can find all everything on YouTube.com?... But you're taking Beloved by Toni Morrison out of our libraries?" — Jenna (92:08)
  • "Libraries are the cornerstones of our community." — Jenna (94:24)
  • Bowen’s emotional story about library discoveries (“It changed my brain chemistry.” – 97:39)

TV, Pop, and Reality Culture Commentary

• Cultural through-lines between Jenna’s formative experiences (Paula Abdul, Babysitter’s Club) and her daughter Mila’s Olivia Rodrigo/Taylor Swift era (29:03–30:46).
• Comparing Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo’s appeal for Gen Z teens—Billie for the cerebral, Olivia for the emotional and direct (30:09–30:46).
• Fun, knowing banter about reality shows (Survivor, Housewives, Traitors) and the structure of "winners’ edits" in reality TV (44:14).
• "If you're a huge fan of something...you then become someone who's ahead of it." (44:55)

Parenting, Pressure, and Perspective on Achievement

• The group unpacks the heightened pressure placed on teens today—standardized testing, elite school admission, public social media disclosures (77:03–81:16).
• Jenna reflects on her own path (public high school in Austin, UT Austin instead of the Ivy League) and prioritizing happiness and kindness over resume-building for her kids (72:48–73:34, 79:51).
  • "There is such pressure on children and on teens to, like, for what?... If it’s for finding your purpose, for finding your joy, then sure. But if it’s for, like, showing off that you got into this great school, it bums me out." — Jenna (79:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On live TV nerves: "Just talking with them…letting them know it's all going to be okay. Usually they're like, wow, that wasn't so bad." — Jenna (07:22)
• On nostalgia and culture-making: "You had a pop star, a cartoon cat, and these little girls running a business, right? And that's—that's who you are." — Bowen (26:50)
• On banning books: "Guess whose job it is to make sure it's appropriate for your children? The librarians. They are trained." — Jenna (92:13)
• On method acting: "This is the only nice thing I'm gonna say to you for the rest of the shoot." — Meryl Streep, relayed by Bowen (11:25)
• Cultural rule: “Rule of culture number 14: You don't want lobster on a Monday, though.” — Jenna (21:33)
• On parent/child humility: “If you feel like you're, like, too big for your britches, get a 13 year old to hang out with you.” — Jenna (16:39)
• Book club joy: "If you love something organically, you can kind of make it part of your work. Like, y' all are doing this. You're sitting around with your best friend. Having conversations. Like, doesn't that feel like heaven?" — Jenna (40:20)
• On libraries: "Libraries are so radical to the point that we've forgotten as a society how radical they are…you get free books and movies and resources and jobs, job opportunities." — Bowen (96:06)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Jenna's Introduction & Today Show camaraderie: 06:00–08:32
• Devil Wears Prada 2 chat: 09:09–12:39, 63:34–66:13
• Books, book clubs, formative influences: 24:57–41:05
• Read With Jenna process & audiobooks: 41:05–43:42
• Reality TV, "winners edit" & pop commentary: 44:14–46:19
• Parenting, pressure & the Ivy League rat race: 77:03–81:16
• Libraries, book bans & access: 92:08–98:31
• Iconic 'I Don't Think So, Honey' segment: 85:27–93:21

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Humor, Heart, and Takeaway

True to Las Culturistas' signature blend of comedy and culture critique, this episode is peppered with running gags (Matt’s camera-finding sixth sense, shackets/quilt fashion, the “beans, beans” poem), deep-dive pop-culture analysis, and candid confessions about pain, parents, and pop stars. Jenna’s warmth and generosity shine, especially in her defense of libraries, books, and the freedom to read—offering a timely, impassioned take as censorship rises.

For those who haven’t listened, this episode provides a vibrant window into the intersection of nostalgia and newness, TV glitz and real talk, and reminds us (thanks to Jenna) that "books start conversations," and that in culture and life, a bit more conversation—with a side of beans, a tie, and a skort—would do us good.

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Further Listening Suggestions

• For fans of witty, insightful pop culture commentary: Try previous Las Culturistas episodes with blockbuster celebrity guests—search for Bowen and Matt’s interviews with the likes of Aidy Bryant or Billy Eichner.
• For more on book culture and Read with Jenna picks, catch Jenna’s segments on the Today Show or follow #ReadWithJenna online.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

This is an I heart podcast.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Guaranteed human.

[Chanel Ali]

This episode is brought to you by Skinny Pop. Snack time doesn't usually get scheduled. It sort of just appears mid conversation, mid episode, mid whatever is happening. That's where Skinny Pop comes in. Skinny Pop works because it keeps things simple. Made from just three simple ingredients. And that simplicity really works for a snack that's meant to fit the moment, not take it over. Snack time shouldn't be complicated. You keep it light, airy and endlessly delicious with Skinny Pop. Cup after cup of salty satisfaction. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted. Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason. Rule of culture number 212. Having taste means knowing where to look.

[Bowen Yang]

When we're planning a night out or pretending we invented a neighborhood. We start at New York City Tourism.

[Chanel Ali]

NYCTourism.com covers all five boroughs with culture guides, TV taping, schedules, dining, and free stuff your wallet will applaud.

[Bowen Yang]

It's made for locals, visitors, and every in the group chat.

[Chanel Ali]

Before you ask, what are we doing tonight?

[Bowen Yang]

Go check nyctourism.com Imagine never buying gas again. EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and perfect for everyday life.

[Chanel Ali]

Drive daily with confidence everywhere you go. Most Americans drive 40 miles a day. Did you know that most EVs are equipped with 200 to 400 miles of range?

[Bowen Yang]

Here's the thing. They've got fewer parts, fewer repairs, and fewer headaches.

[Chanel Ali]

With hundreds of new and used EV models available today, there's an EV to fit every lifestyle and every budget. The way forward is electric. Learn [e-mail] look, man.

[Bowen Yang]

Where?

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, I see my, oh my Bowen. Look over there. Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

Is that culture? Yes. Goodness.

[Chanel Ali]

Ding dong. Las culturistas calling

[Bowen Yang]

in back pain. Well, this one is.

[Chanel Ali]

I feel so sad for my sister, you guys. He is.

[Bowen Yang]

And I don't mean to, you know, curry pity.

[Chanel Ali]

Is that curry pity? I don't mean to curry pity. It does sound like too much, too nending and wise. Yes, curry pity.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm just gonna go ahead and identify as being in my 40s. Not that people in their 40s all have back pain, but I think I'm on an accelerated track of. Of just of needing lidocaine.

[Chanel Ali]

And so you've got a light patch on right now.

[Bowen Yang]

Got a patch on now.

[Chanel Ali]

What can I tell the girls?

[Bowen Yang]

I did what's called a dumbbell. Good morning and. And good night and good night to all that. Goodbye.

[Chanel Ali]

What is a dumbbell? Good morning. Is it one of those things where it's like this? Because this is my favorite thing. My Trainer does. And this is my favorite thing anyone ever does in the gym. And you're just supposed to do this. Ready to. Podcasts are a visual medium. Check us out on YouTube to see what the hell I'm about to do this. So when there's, like, the two dumbbells right here.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

And you put it up on your thing and then you go.

[Bowen Yang]

You hoist.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

You love that.

[Chanel Ali]

I mean, I love it in theory, but, like, it is like, when your trainer just, like, whips out, like. What did you call that? It's like a. Like a. Like a squat. Squat to squat to press.

[Bowen Yang]

Squat to press.

[Chanel Ali]

It's the craziest shit you've ever seen.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, they're just showing off.

[Chanel Ali]

I love it. Do you have a straight trainer? Straight male trainer.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Chanel Ali]

I gotta get yourself one of those.

[Bowen Yang]

Gay, male.

[Chanel Ali]

Gay. Oh, Ian. I know Ian.

[Bowen Yang]

We love Ian.

[Chanel Ali]

Ah, yes, we love.

[Bowen Yang]

Check out his SoundCloud.

[Chanel Ali]

Hey, check out Bowen's gay trainer, SoundCloud. And remember, your back probably isn't flat enough when you're doing that back exercise. That's not.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sorry, I'm saying this was not under his guidance. I did not get this.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, this is important to say. Disclaimer.

[Bowen Yang]

Disclaimer.

[Chanel Ali]

He was. Bowen was completely unattended doing these exercises.

[Bowen Yang]

He's still on Ian almost every week. And that's also something that I should be honest about.

[Chanel Ali]

You are the accountability zone today.

[Bowen Yang]

Absolutely.

[Chanel Ali]

He's in his mid-40s. He's got back pain.

[Bowen Yang]

But you know what I've been doing while whilst in bed with the useless heating pad and these useless lidocain patches? That might be me. I don't think so, honey. Later. Patches.

[Chanel Ali]

Patches.

[Bowen Yang]

I've been reading a lot.

[Chanel Ali]

What have you been reading?

[Bowen Yang]

Various books. Ursula K. Le Guin, do you read her?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

Okay, hold on.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

My favorite thing is Matt's.

[Chanel Ali]

I go. Well, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, of course. You would actually gag over CS Lewis. You would love Ursula.

[Chanel Ali]

Gag over Ursula? Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She's the different.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, she's. There's some overlap there. She's great.

[Chanel Ali]

You'll love our guest today. You will love our guest today. Loves books as well. She has a whole book club. In fact, I go into the Barnes and Noble. Picture me there. Adrift.

[Bowen Yang]

Adrift.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm walking through not only one, not only two, not only 17, 18, 19 books with the read with Jenna watermark on it.

[Bowen Yang]

It might as well be called Barnes and Reed with Jenna. No bigger name in books than our guest, than jbh.

[Chanel Ali]

And get this now Crossed over into movie stardom. She's here to promote the Devil Wears Stardom.

[Bowen Yang]

She is the star, writer, director of Devil Wears Product. She did it all.

[Chanel Ali]

No, really. She's got a cameo in the movie, and it made me smile. I love the movie so much.

[Bowen Yang]

I. I am so happy for all involved.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. And to top it all off, she's also one of America's most beloved talk show hosts and television personalities.

[Bowen Yang]

Someone who makes it effortlessly look effortlessly competent. She is competent. Makes it look effortless.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. She's one of two people in the world in human history who have had their grandparent and their father be the President of the United States. The other person is her twin.

[Bowen Yang]

Get that, by the way.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's good. Good history. I was like, who's the other person?

[Chanel Ali]

Read a book before. Who's the other person?

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, did John Quincy Adams.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's what I was wondering.

[Chanel Ali]

You know what? Fuck you both. Fuck you both.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's what I was wondering.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm just.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Jq. Jq. JQ might have had children. Well, she.

[Bowen Yang]

It's actually better that we know less about the President's. I think.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

You know what I mean?

[Chanel Ali]

We have some secrets to keep from us.

[Bowen Yang]

Secrets.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, that was jqa, but this is jbh. I am so excited.

[Bowen Yang]

I love her so dearly. Everyone, please welcome our friend, Jennifer Shager.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Hi, guys.

[Chanel Ali]

How's it going, girl?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm so happy to see y'. All.

[Chanel Ali]

So happy to see you. Now you're a guest on our show.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. I love. I mean, when Matt comes to my

[Bowen Yang]

office, let's do Joe.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

When he is part of our show. I feel like everybody smiles a little bit.

[Chanel Ali]

Of course. He's one of my favorite things to go do.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He's the best. Y' all are both the best.

[Chanel Ali]

And Bowen has guessed it as well.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You don't have.

[Bowen Yang]

You don't have to do. Well, thank you. By the way, I will never stop thanking you for helping bring Adrian, my high school teacher.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

To the studio.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you remember that?

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, of course. I'll never forget it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And we brought Matt's mom.

[Chanel Ali]

I know my mom came on for her television debut. She was pretty good.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She was really excellent.

[Chanel Ali]

She really was.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She was.

[Chanel Ali]

How do she hit her beats?

[Bowen Yang]

She hit her beats. Cause I have seen it up close in my time, in my little moments there, where it's like, oh, people are just, like, nervous to be on television live. It is a really nerve wracking thing. What are your little tricks to bring these people to a grounded place?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I Mean, I think just talking with them, you know, it's also how you interact when you're live, which is like you're just yourself, you know, and if you can just be sitting in conversation with somebody and kind of like letting them know, it's all going to be okay. Usually they're like, wow, that wasn't so bad, you know, because they're like, you just were the exact same when the camera was off as you were when it was on.

[Chanel Ali]

And I was going to say that. That I remember one of our. One of my favorite TV appearances Bowen and I have ever done was the. When we were. It was you and I, we went to go promote Fire island on Hoda and Jenna.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

And we went. And it was. It was really one of the first, like, big TV things like we did together.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

But. But you guys, I'll never forget what made it so fun and easy was hearing you and Hoda come around the corner in mid conversation, like, not stopping talking, et cetera. Da, da, da, da, da. And you sat in the chair and you were like, hey, guys, what's up? And then the conversation just kept going from there. And I was like, wow. They really just walked in, sat in the chairs and were the exact same. And that made us feel like we could be ourselves. And it really was a model of great hosting.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What about when you sang Rockefeller Senna? Y' all both were. Y' all both did.

[Chanel Ali]

We did.

[Bowen Yang]

I didn't say.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, you had a rap.

[Bowen Yang]

I had a rapper.

[Chanel Ali]

He's a rapper. He's more of a rapper.

[Bowen Yang]

People know me as a rapper. Like, they know you as a movie star.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, you guys, I was prepared to be cut, let's be honest.

[Chanel Ali]

I would imagine, like, that's one of those nerve wracking things where it's like you do something that you know is cuttable, but then to still make it in.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I couldn't believe it.

[Chanel Ali]

And they kept it so that your whole name was in it. Miranda Priestley, basically. Well, it's been out for a few weeks now, so it came out Friday. No, I know, but this is coming out in a few weeks.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, oh.

[Chanel Ali]

You have to understand. Magic podcast in the biz. So basically, like Miranda has people over at her Hampton tomb, all fancy people,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

and she's John Batiste.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. And she goes, Jenna Bush Hager.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

In reality, I got there late. Cause I was doing the show, you know, and I. So I got there as soon as I could and they were like, okay, we need Jenna Merill and Anne. And I was like, Wait, me, Jenna? Like, and there was no script. This part was unscripted.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So they were like, okay, this is like, here's. The director was like, here's the thing she's got. In this interview, she's going to introduce you because she's trying to, like, bring her in the fold of, like, the media, back into the media. So you're just supposed to, like, say, great interviewer, good interview. And I was like, natural, they said, versus Meryl Streep. You know, like, can you imagine, by

[Chanel Ali]

the way, giving, like, duh. Like, of course she gave the most incredible performance. But you just buy. So every second of how that character has changed. Not changed. You see so many different shades of Miranda Priestly. It's just.

[Bowen Yang]

You know what blows my mind and I was reminded on this press run was that she was supposed to retire around the time of the first movie.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you know that? She said. I interviewed them and she said for the first time. She turned down the first movie.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And then. And I couldn't believe it, but she turned it down because she was like, they. They're gonna need me for this, and they're not paying me enough. So she asked for double what they offered her.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And they. And she said, yeah, they said, yes, we need you.

[Chanel Ali]

You do figure, though, like, what makes that movie. It's. There's so many things about it that make it iconic, but she is the center of why. I mean, she comes on screen and you're like, that's one of film's great characters, at least in modern history and probably forever.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She's so good. And she also said in the first one, she method. Acted. Acted. Because, like, the first. She got there and she was, like, playing around, and Stanley's her friend, and they were having fun, and then she would have to be cold and rude or whatever, and she just couldn't do it. So she realized, like, day two, she's like, I'm not gonna be able to hang out with them.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And then this time, she was like, you know what?

[Bowen Yang]

Fuck it. Fuck it. Because I remember when the first movie came out, I was just on, like, Wikipedia and IMDb and, like, I don't know. I think they, like, kind of glossed over this fact because it is like. It is like, whatever. People think about method in a certain way now, but apparently the press in the first one was that, like, you're describing, Meryl was having a little too much fun. And then she goes. She turns to Anne Hathaway one day, like, day two of shooting, and she was like, this is the last compliment I will give you for the rest of the shoot. You're an amazing actor. I'm so excited to do this with you, but that's it. This is the only nice thing I'm gonna say to you for the rest of the shoot. Isn't that amazing?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She said that she would hear them. Like, it kind of like, was a sad. Sort of like, you know, great gu. Gatsby, you know, where they see the green light. That she would hear them all, like, having fun together. And she'd be in her dressing room, like, sort of. Kind of mad because she wanted to make sure there was, like, this distance between them, which was so evident in the film. And then by this time, she's like. She's kind of lost her footing in the second one.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And so. And she's a little bit more grounded, as y' all know. And whoever seen it knows I've seen it.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. I don't think he's had the chance. His back hurts so bad.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I have a physical therapist for you, cuz I have bad, bad back issues.

[Chanel Ali]

What's.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you know what it is?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm afraid. And this is personal.

[Bowen Yang]

Please.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But for me at least. Was it your lower right? Like in here?

[Bowen Yang]

Lower left?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes. So sometimes it's that your ass muscle is not strong enough.

[Chanel Ali]

You gotta. You gotta do those things I was doing earlier.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Were you doing it earlier?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, the. The squats.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, it's this. It's here. So you have to do.

[Bowen Yang]

What's it called? Hip flexor.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, you have to do, like, the clamshells. The clamshells.

[Chanel Ali]

On all fours.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's your hips that need to be straight.

[Bowen Yang]

The hip flexor.

[Chanel Ali]

No, I am.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, I like that. Where this is like. Yes, right. And that's true. Right?

[Chanel Ali]

Back issues. She's. She's saying.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So. So I'll send you the Scott. But also, it could be that you overuse your quads.

[Chanel Ali]

You. Have you ever seen his legs?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They're excellent.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, my gosh.

[Bowen Yang]

Don't even. Matt is like, John Cena.

[Chanel Ali]

John Cena looks like a little compared to Bowen.

[Bowen Yang]

But they all say, but that's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You overuse your quads.

[Bowen Yang]

But I hope. I don't even think it's that. I think I just. I just pulled something.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You tweaked it. I know, but this will help so

[Bowen Yang]

that you don't p. God, I need a pt. So bad looks.

[Chanel Ali]

It sounds like. And by the way, I always take your recommendations because you know who I met through the show who? Dr. Dendy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

What's.

[Chanel Ali]

Who's Dr. Dr. Dendy Engelman. Hun, tell everyone at home about Dr. Dendy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Dr. Dendy's on our show. She's a dermatologist.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, I've seen Dr. Dendy Engelman.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I don't remember what, why, but I don't.

[Chanel Ali]

It was the first week I was hosting, which was. Ended up being a really fortuitous week because. Is that the right word?

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, sure.

[Chanel Ali]

Thanks, guys.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, read.

[Chanel Ali]

Do you read? No.

[Bowen Yang]

The answer is no.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're writing a book. You do too.

[Bowen Yang]

She has to read.

[Chanel Ali]

Can I say something? This narrative that I don't read must end. No, you push it. I don't push it. You just push it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

See it in Barnes and Noble, like wandering, I believe.

[Chanel Ali]

Because I usually go to a local bookshop.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's right. Or a library.

[Chanel Ali]

You can find me there most days of the week. Monday through Thursday, I'm probably at my local independent bookstore.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Why did we bring up Dr. Dindy?

[Chanel Ali]

I was saying that you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What was fortuitous.

[Chanel Ali]

What was fortuitous was that ended up being an amazing week because I think that's also the week I met the dog, Matt Rogers.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh yeah, that's right.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, that was such a good.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Who got adopted right after.

[Chanel Ali]

Right after that, which made me so happy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And there was a dog, Bo.

[Chanel Ali]

I can still see Matt Rogers the dog because the people that. That adopted him follow me.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

And I follow them back.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, so you can see pictures of him.

[Chanel Ali]

They post all the time. I'm essentially. I'm the dog's godfather.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You follow Matt Rogers on Insta.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you ever DM him?

[Chanel Ali]

They kept the name too.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you ever DM Matt?

[Chanel Ali]

No, I don't. Well, the parents, yes. Because they'll be posting with him. It's a relationship. But Anyway, back to Dr. Dendy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

So that was the week that I first guest hosted and I remember she came in to talk about skincare solutions and secrets, whatever it was.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, it's like skincare around the world.

[Chanel Ali]

She was so nice and you guys were so warm together and that you were like, you have to go to Dr. Dendy. Went to her, got my. This done. What's this called?

[Bowen Yang]

11s.

[Chanel Ali]

Got my elevens.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, A little Botox, right?

[Chanel Ali]

Little Botox.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I didn't know if I wasn't gonna. I wasn't gonna, you know, air your dirty secrets. It's not dirty. We all need it.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm upfront about the work I've had.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Good. Which has been very little.

[Chanel Ali]

I needed the nose and I got a little in my elevens. That's it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You look handsome.

[Chanel Ali]

Thank you so much.

[Bowen Yang]

Now that the thing is minimalism, the derms are gonna are like, well, I'm a botox minimalist.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Bowen Yang]

And I'm like, that's so funny that you can identify as someone who likes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm always like, I could use a little more. But then I think everybody's so scared because we're on TV that all of a sudden I couldn't move my face. And my daughter the other day was like, mom, you know, you could probably use a little Botox. And I'm like, mila, I get Botox.

[Bowen Yang]

Mila.

[Chanel Ali]

Mila drags you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know, man. She really does. If you feel like you're like too big for your Britches, get a 13 year old to hang out with you for a little. She's like, and your hair highlights. Like, I can see your grace. And I, and by the way, I do, by the way, I do like change accordingly. Like, I made an appointment and, and I, I just interviewed you, love Queen. And I did her introduction and I read her the introduction and she goes, it's too much about you, mom. And then I was like, come on. Mila woke up at four in the morning and I was like, it's too much. She's right.

[Bowen Yang]

She's 20.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm gonna insore. I'm gonna. She's right. It's 4 in the morning. I'm like, I'm gonna go rewrite this

[Chanel Ali]

introduction at 4am do actually was right or do you think she just got in your head?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I think she was right.

[Chanel Ali]

Wow.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And I also think that thought of, you know, being humble and not making everything about ourselves, like coming from a 13 year old, I was like, you know what? If she says that at all, then I'm going to go in there and fix it.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally. Are you as critical with her writing?

[Chanel Ali]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

See, this is. I wish you could just skip the teen years. I, I, I. The reason I'm not a parent is because I got to sit through that part.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, there's the horrib in the beginning too.

[Bowen Yang]

Where they're where they're just little, you know, screaming.

[Chanel Ali]

The horrible part where I guess when they're babies. Oh, horrible. Just screaming. You never know what it is. You know, our friend just had a

[Jenna Bush Hager]

baby, she's going sudie, don't you like, I'm like, who? For some reason I thought it was Dave, but Dave just got engaged Dave just got engaged.

[Chanel Ali]

Dave just got engaged. And you don't call him Dave. You call him what?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

The tomato guy.

[Bowen Yang]

The tomato guy. He loves. He would love that.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, he loves it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Dave, the. I call him Dave, comma, the tomato guy.

[Chanel Ali]

Dave, comma, the tomato guy. We had to do this one.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And in fact, I saw Yalls mutual friend, and I'm like, dave got engaged. I saw the scene of Eddie's Grocer.

[Chanel Ali]

Eddie's Grocer's Grocer.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And I'm like, can you believe Dave got engaged? This is what Matt has done to our show. He's just infused his busyness into every little part of it.

[Chanel Ali]

I bring the LCU to city with Dennis.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's right.

[Bowen Yang]

Could you ever believe. With Jenna and Chanel, could you ever believe. Did you ever believe that you would have this impact on today?

[Chanel Ali]

His.

[Bowen Yang]

His.

[Chanel Ali]

His family was sensational.

[Bowen Yang]

Family.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. Big time.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. It's so fun. I mean, and it's still gonna happen. That's like. I just. Whenever I'm like, is Matt available? You could sit next to a tree and have chemistry.

[Bowen Yang]

Literally. He. He already does. I'm tree.

[Chanel Ali]

You're just stumping right now because of your back.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm stiff like a tree.

[Chanel Ali]

She stomped.

[Bowen Yang]

She stomped.

[Chanel Ali]

Wait, what were we just saying, though, before we got on to that?

[Bowen Yang]

Dr. Dendy?

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, well, yeah, you just. You're a great connector of people.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, well, thank you.

[Bowen Yang]

How was. What was. What was interviewing King and. Or was it just the queen?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

What the hell was that? Like?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I was nervous.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

And we're calling her queen.

[Bowen Yang]

She is.

[Chanel Ali]

That's her title. She is the queen. Okay. I'm just saying. I don't know. American as hell. I thought she was the queen consort. I didn't know what the word consort was at all.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, I'm not sure either, but it is. But now she's the queen. She loves books. So we were at the New York Public Library, but Anna Wintour was there, Sarah Jessica Parker. It was all these sort of people that love to read, and then these authors whom I admire. So I was nervous, you know, and I'm not really used to being nervous, but I kind of like it. Like, I kind of like to continue to push myself to feel that, you know, because otherwise, I mean, I've been at NBC for 16 years.

[Chanel Ali]

Right.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So sometimes you can get complacent and be like, what is. What feels fresh, what feels new? And so that's sort of like how it felt.

[Bowen Yang]

Can I say I went back into the building for the first time last week?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes. How was it?

[Bowen Yang]

Fine. And also a little weird. And. And what you're saying is something that I. I guess I'm gonna say I took for granted. Like, you would just run into different kinds of people all the time. Not even like. Yeah, not even. Not even, like, high profile, quote unquote, people who would come in. I'm just saying, like, everyone. Like, just the crews and all the staffs and like, I love that it's an office building.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Bowen Yang]

I love. The SNL offices were like. Or the studio was next to the Seth Meyers offices was next to the

[Jenna Bush Hager]

gym, which I work out in every morning.

[Bowen Yang]

I never did it once.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And every Monday that there's a live show, I'm like. And I mean, it's kind of gross, but there's like. I'm like, they've used this bathroom. I'm not sure for what, but, like, I take a shower and, like, things are, you know, all over the place. I'm like, what? Who's been in here?

[Bowen Yang]

What.

[Chanel Ali]

Who's gonna describe. I don't know, the shower area.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

The shower area has been used. Wait till those are all gone, you know? And it's like. Did they not use the showers?

[Chanel Ali]

I don't think it's not.

[Bowen Yang]

The SNL folks don't really use it. I think it's mostly people from downstairs who come up.

[Chanel Ali]

Okay, wait, have you eaten at the Luke's Lobster?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes, I've ate. I have.

[Chanel Ali]

I didn't know they had. I said they've got everything down here.

[Bowen Yang]

I know they do.

[Chanel Ali]

They have everything in the concourse. Especially rule of culture number eight. They have everything in the concourse.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Rule of culture number 14. You don't want lobster on a Monday, though. You know, you're not going to get a lobster roll because you've had a long weekend. You want a lobster roll to start your week, you can't start with lobster roll.

[Chanel Ali]

What day is best day for a lobster roll? Friday.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Saturday.

[Chanel Ali]

Saturday.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You know, with, like, where you feel free.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. Well, you feel free.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, wait, you. You know what? I. You know what the concourse doesn't have. And I don't know how you feel about this.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What?

[Bowen Yang]

Every day I've been begging for the Halen Hardy soup to come back.

[Chanel Ali]

Forget it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What happened to that Halen Hardy? It just disappeared out of nowhere.

[Chanel Ali]

It's ridiculous.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They are all.

[Chanel Ali]

There's like.

[Bowen Yang]

There's like one on, like, 34th and Lexington. Like, who's going there?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Unless I just couldn't.

[Chanel Ali]

The sheer amount of options for soup that they would give. I. I've never seen anything like it.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Chanel Ali]

And I. And you have to understand, I'm a huge soup.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Me too. I love soup so much. I actually used to have the soup from juice press, which is a strange. And it's. It's out of season. They stop it in the summer months.

[Chanel Ali]

That's not because of ingredients?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I think because it's. You know, people don't want something hot when it's warm outside.

[Chanel Ali]

Disagree entirely. And anyone that's out there, like, it's too hot for soup.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Chanel Ali]

You just haven't thought of what soup to get.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Exactly.

[Chanel Ali]

You don't have, like, beef barley in the summer.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

A little minty kind of pea soup. Sounds good to me.

[Chanel Ali]

Now you're talking too crazy for me. Are you a gazpacho queen?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I like gazpacho.

[Bowen Yang]

I'll have it once a summer. And I'm like, oh, I'm good.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Cause it's too.

[Chanel Ali]

It's too.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know what you mean. I know what you mean.

[Chanel Ali]

Soup just. It's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

See, my mom never cooked. I don't know about your parents, but my mother did not cook. So she would get that bean with bacon soup that was like campbel, which was like, basically your sodium intake for the year, you know, and open it up, but like that with, like, those saltine crackers with the. Covered in a little cheese melted in the toaster oven.

[Bowen Yang]

You like this?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, I loved it.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, great.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, now, was it good for me and. And probably not. Bean with bacon.

[Chanel Ali]

We didn't know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Probably not. But was it delicious?

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Chanel Ali]

Would you feed the kids now a bean with bacon?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm not sure that they still make bean with bacon, but beans are one of my favorite food groups.

[Chanel Ali]

Beans.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I grew up in Texas.

[Bowen Yang]

That's Texas. I was gonna say beans are Texan dairy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And they're good. They're protein.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Veggie protein.

[Chanel Ali]

You know what always chased me away from beans?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

The poem.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, the poem.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Was it the poem?

[Chanel Ali]

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart. The more you eat, the more you fart. I just don't like it. It's not. It's uncouth. It's untoward.

[Bowen Yang]

I've never heard this poem.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, God.

[Bowen Yang]

I didn't know, you guys.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Beans, beans, magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. The more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel. So eat those beans at every meal.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, my God. Where is.

[Bowen Yang]

Is this from the bean council?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Who made this we don't know, but we learned it in, like, third grade.

[Chanel Ali]

Same. Oh, I love also frequent tooting. I don't feel good. Like, the more you toot, the better you feel. I don't think so.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's not right.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm in a panic about who can smell it, why it's happening. Will it stop?

[Bowen Yang]

Will it stop all these beans?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, how did I get y' all here? I'm not sure, but.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, just come along.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, just sit down. You're here.

[Bowen Yang]

Come along.

[Chanel Ali]

We've invoked the name of text.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. The name.

[Chanel Ali]

We have our guest here, and it's a thrill to be able to ask you the central question of our podcast, jbh. Yes, Jenna? What was the culture that made you say culture was for you?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay, you ready?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was 1988. It was the combination of two things. It was Anne M. Martin's, the Babysitters Club.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, wow.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Reading that Logan vs. Marianne, which was kind of like, as romantic as you could get, you know, back in the 80s. And there was like. I was like, oh, maybe I'm not just, like, a chubby little kid from Texas. Maybe there is romance and entrepreneurship and a girl gang waiting for me. Entrepreneurship waiting for me, like, in my, you know, friend's backyard. And we actually made a babysitter's club.

[Chanel Ali]

Did you.

[Bowen Yang]

How did it go?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, not great, because we didn't have access to a phone.

[Chanel Ali]

That's a huge part of it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And we were also babies.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, Babies.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Babysitting babies.

[Bowen Yang]

Babies. Babysitting babies.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I did. I babysat.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But it, like, the whole club didn't really get in, you know?

[Bowen Yang]

Totally.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And why did we need a treasurer? You know? Like, what was a treasurer for? I mean, I loved Claudia, don't get me wrong.

[Bowen Yang]

Right?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But then it's that coupled with the same year, Paula Abdul's album Straight Up.

[Chanel Ali]

Straight Up.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But particularly the video for Opposites Attract with Scat the Cat.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. Dj. DJ Scat the Cat.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

DJ Scat the Cat.

[Chanel Ali]

Dam seen with DJ Scat Cat.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's Scat Cat.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's definitely Scat Cat. I loved cats. I had a cat.

[Chanel Ali]

We go together, like the opposite of tracks.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And also that. What's the one that's like, oh, straight up. Now tell me forever. Are you just having fun? That album, which was a tape. Tape for me.

[Chanel Ali]

He had a cassette.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Cassette tape. Coupled with reading the Babysitters Club, you

[Chanel Ali]

said it was time to empower.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I was like, you know what? Let's go.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, I'm ready to grow up. Yeah. Let's go.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Scat.

[Chanel Ali]

You had a pop star, a cartoon

[Bowen Yang]

cat, and these little girls running a business, right? And that's. That's who you are.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. I was like, I am going, I'm gonna take my cats with me wherever I go. And I have.

[Chanel Ali]

You are ready to. Enterprise.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Mango and Maisie, shout out two cats. Two cats.

[Chanel Ali]

Are you worried that they one time are going to do what a lot of the cats are doing on reels? Suddenly? I've been told, no, no.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Those cats are a. I'm worried what the cats are going to do.

[Chanel Ali]

It's like this, like, footage. It's this footage from, like, night vision cameras where someone is sleeping and they have two cats. And the two cats start to, like, get into it, and next thing you know, they're flying all around the room having a.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

See, I see AI cats on my. My. I have a different.

[Chanel Ali]

I have a different AI cats. The ones that are, like, they do,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

like, the dives off the diving board.

[Chanel Ali]

We know.

[Bowen Yang]

We're. Yeah, that's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I'm not worried that they're going to do that. I'm not worried about that.

[Chanel Ali]

Here's my AI is now all Donald Trump doing a stank walk down a board during the. To the song One Step at a Time by Jordan Sparks. I don't know how it happens.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, that's a very specific algorithm.

[Chanel Ali]

Literally, just him walking in. It's AI Walking in heels in hot pink shorts to. You know the song. Other people know because she.

[Bowen Yang]

It's polluting her algorithm because it's so absurd.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Because you're. Now. It's polluting all of ours because our phones are listening.

[Chanel Ali]

And she's.

[Bowen Yang]

She's with him constantly. Of course.

[Chanel Ali]

And I also. And whenever I get it, I send it. I send it to people.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

To Melissa.

[Bowen Yang]

So funny.

[Chanel Ali]

I do. I. I become that person that sends reels.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Memes.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're sending memes to people.

[Bowen Yang]

Are you getting the kids memes? No. Well, they're not on their phones.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, they don't have.

[Bowen Yang]

Thank God for you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm holding out, but don't you feel that.

[Chanel Ali]

You're kidding.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Mela's close. I signed. Wait till 8. So Mila's close. She's 13. She's the last one.

[Bowen Yang]

Poppies? No, Poppy's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Poppy's 10. No, Mila's the oldest.

[Bowen Yang]

Got it, got it, got it.

[Chanel Ali]

Okay. So do you. Are you. When you're referencing the time of when you found Paula Abdul.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

Is that around where Mila is now?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I think I was No, I was younger. I was like 7 or 8, 9, 10, that type of. Who's her?

[Chanel Ali]

Paula.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Mila's Paula is Olivia Rodrigo.

[Chanel Ali]

Love.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Gracie Abroad loves Olivia Rodrigo. It's her number one. I mean, she loves Sabrina. We went to the ERAS tour. She loves, loves Taylor. She loves Gracie Abrams. We went to that. You know, she loves her. But for whatever reason, Olivia Rodrigo is her gold star.

[Bowen Yang]

Love it standard.

[Chanel Ali]

I think it's because she very much is the one. You think so? I think Olivia is the one rising.

[Bowen Yang]

She stands out. She's doing something. She's in her own lane.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She has some music that's like a little bit ragier, which I think teens want.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Because they feel that sort of angst and they want to. You know, we. Like. I was like, Nirvana, you know, which is not a. I'm like. We were kind of like. I went to Wet concert, Pearl Jam, and I looked up and my tiny little sister, who's still really little, was like, crowd surfing. And I was like, oh, no. And she has back problems. I'm like, you know why you have back problems? They dropped you in that crowd surfing. But I think teens want, like, an outlet for some of that shit.

[Bowen Yang]

Of course.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. And she provides that.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And she provides that.

[Chanel Ali]

I do think that what Billie Eilish does is a little bit more esoteric.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

It's a little bit more, like, emotional and, like, in a way that she's cerebral.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

Whereas Olivia is speaking directly to these emotions in the same way that Taylor did.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

And I think it's. It is a generational thing.

[Bowen Yang]

To me, it's about, like, the. The. The depth in terms of, like, Billie doing something, like, subconscious. It's tapping into something like. Like, I. I love that she's still obsessed with, like, sleep and, like, all this stuff.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

With Olivia, it's like, this is right on. Like, right on, like, my sleeve.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's.

[Bowen Yang]

It's you. You get it? You. I feel like it's very legible to someone, like, who's 13 years old. Thirteen years old, yes. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.

[Chanel Ali]

Paula.

[Bowen Yang]

Was that the same album as Cold Hearted Snake or no?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

A cold hearted snake look him in his eyes he's been telling lies he's

[Chanel Ali]

another boy and play he don't play by the rules.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh. I mean, by the way, how do we know every word to that song that we haven't heard in it says,

[Bowen Yang]

it's good here because you know why? The cassette is, like, giving you a sense of place and time.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

And you're reading Babysitter's Club. Like you're in your room. I'm sure it's so vivid.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Like now. Like everything's served up to me in a way. And I'm sure it's a function of age, like, you know, neuroplasticity, imprinting. But I'm like, oh, I don't. This doesn't. I'm not gonna remember. I know, like, the discovery of this new artist in the same way I discover. I remember where I was when I discovered driver's license Olivia.

[Chanel Ali]

I told him on this podcast. I was like, have you heard of Olivia Rodrigo? He was like, no. I was like, well, you might be hearing about it. Hey, Bowen, point of order. It feels like nothing is what it says it is anymore.

[Bowen Yang]

Point of answer. It's because everything has a catch.

[Chanel Ali]

Hey. Or it turns out to be something else entirely.

[Bowen Yang]

Like a total catfish situation.

[Chanel Ali]

Exactly, Bo.

[Bowen Yang]

Except for Hotels.com? yeah, that one's pretty literal because it's Hotels.com. it's in the domain. You go there, you book hotels, hundreds of thousands of them, and hold up.

[Chanel Ali]

That's it.

[Bowen Yang]

That's it. And when stays are booked as a member, rewards are earned every time. Every stay, every stay. No tracking or managing. Just rewards that can be used like cash on future bookings, which, by the

[Chanel Ali]

way, already feels nicer than most rewards programs.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, yeah. Members can also get up to 20% off bookings, so savings start right away. Does that mean no weird restrictions and no blackout dates? Book what works when it works. It's actually really fitting of real travel.

[Chanel Ali]

So the name is honest, you're saying, and the rewards are too.

[Bowen Yang]

Exactly. Hotels.com. it's all in the name.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Chanel Ali]

Chime is changing the way people bank. With fee free and smarter banking built for you.

[Bowen Yang]

Not like old school banks that charge you overdraft and monthly fees.

[Chanel Ali]

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[Bowen Yang]

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[Chanel Ali]

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[Chanel Ali]

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[Bowen Yang]

Rated five stars by USA Today for customer service. Real Humans 24.7Chime is the new way

[Chanel Ali]

to build credit history with your own money and get rewarded every single day.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Chanel Ali]

And when you get qualifying direct deposits, you get 1.5% cash back on eligible Chime card purchases.

[Bowen Yang]

Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank bank join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to chime.com colteristas that's chime.com colteristas

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services A secured Chime Visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bancor Bank NA or Stride Bank NA. MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com feesinfo advertised annual percentage yield with Chime+ status only. Otherwise, 1.00% APY applies. No min balance required. Chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms.

[Chanel Ali]

On ebay Every find has a story.

[Bowen Yang]

And like if you're looking for a vintage band tee, not just a T,

[Chanel Ali]

the band tee from the last show your favorite band ever played.

[Bowen Yang]

He wore it everywhere. Then your boyfriend started wearing it, which

[Chanel Ali]

was cute until he dumped you and

[Bowen Yang]

took it with him, which was not so cute.

[Chanel Ali]

But he was. I miss him.

[Bowen Yang]

Anyway, now you're on ebay and there it is. Same tee from the same tour, still living in your memory. Rent free forever.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, screw you Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you.

[Chanel Ali]

Except Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

But ebay isn't just forgetting whatever your ex ex BFF stole back.

[Chanel Ali]

I miss you. It's also for that rare championship foul ball that you caught, then heroically gave to the kid next to you. You're welcome, Scoot.

[Bowen Yang]

And where else are you gonna find your first car? A RAV4 from 2003, the one you

[Chanel Ali]

wish you never sold but now finally got the chance to take back home.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm buying a car on ebay for good this time.

[Chanel Ali]

Shop ebay for millions of fines, each with a story. EBay things people love.

[Bowen Yang]

Let's take a tagline. All right, everybody, we need to discuss a vacation that's not just a vacation, it's a statement.

[Chanel Ali]

Virgin voyages. Adults only. Yes. A child free sanctuary at sea. It's giving serenity. It's giving. Sexy European summer. It's giving. I deserve this.

[Bowen Yang]

They're sailing the Caribbean and the Med, obviously. But now they've added nyc, the west coast and Alaska. So whether you want golden hour off California or full cinematic glacier core main character energy. They said range.

[Chanel Ali]

And the awards, at this point, it's less award winning cruise line and more. Do we just engrave their name on the trophy already? They've won so many travel awards, the ships might sweep our culture.

[Bowen Yang]

Awards over 20 eateries, Epic Entertainment, fitness classes, Wi fi, all included. Luxury without the nickel and diming Virgin voyages Sailors, consider yourselves called.

[Chanel Ali]

You know what my favorite Paula Abdul song is that it's only a little ironic. Her ballad rush, Rush.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

Never forget the bridge when she belted for the first and only time. So deep, so deep, so deep inside.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But that's not. I don't think that's. I think that's her first one. Right? That's not the same album.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, see, this is not the same album.

[Chanel Ali]

She was then trying to prove she could sing.

[Bowen Yang]

Right, right, right.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Which she did.

[Bowen Yang]

And which she did.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So deep, so deep, so deep inside. You see, Hear them. You hear the mic go far away.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes. Exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

How many cabinet positions in your babysitters club were you? Treasurer? Was that what you were saying?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I think I was. I can't remember if I was treasurer or vice president, which is also a job.

[Chanel Ali]

You were like, trust me, vice president is a thankless job.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I was like, guys, should we try to go around door to door? What should we do here?

[Bowen Yang]

Were there four of you?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was my sister, our next door neighbor, Robin Oxford. Robin who my mom didn't allow. She allowed bean with bacon, but she didn't have sweets in the house. So we would climb through Robin Oxford's window and steal her twinkle and such. Yeah, it was. And then it was a boy and two boys, brothers. And we actually painted their little back house. We Sponge painted it. How 80s was that? Do you remember sponge?

[Bowen Yang]

Sorry.

[Chanel Ali]

They were babysitters in the club.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They were part of our club. I don't know that they actually babysat

[Chanel Ali]

young gay boys in the neighborhood. You don't know that they babysat.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, it was a club. I'm not sure they actually babysat. I did.

[Bowen Yang]

You did. But were there four Positions. President.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Robin. My sister Barbara. Did I mention her? I hope so. Yes. Me. And then there were five of us. Secretary, treasurer, vice president, vice president. President, and probably surgeon at arms.

[Bowen Yang]

Surgeon at arms.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Surgeon at arms.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, I was gonna say, I don't

[Jenna Bush Hager]

know what a surgeon in arms does, but me neither. Something.

[Bowen Yang]

Because in the babysitters club, there were four of them, right?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

And I was gonna say, like, right,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Stacy, Claudia, Christy, Marianne.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, no. There were more than four, Wasn't there?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And Don.

[Bowen Yang]

And Don.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Because Don moved from California. Did you ever read the babysitter's book?

[Bowen Yang]

I read a couple because. So my contraband growing up as a little closeted boy was just sneaking into my sister's room and stealing her books.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Did you read Judy Blume?

[Bowen Yang]

I didn't read Judy Bloom, but you know. You know what the big standout, like, thing that I hid under my bed was? Was Sister of the Traveling Pants.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

I was like, I can't have anyone find. I can't have her find. My parents would see and be like, that's weird. But she would immediately be like, you're gay. You're reading a girl's book. Yeah, but I. God. Like, isn't that. Ooh, I love, like, a book that you're not supposed to read.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

You know?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes. And honestly, even when Judy Blume gave me. Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret, which is Mila's real name. I'm like, oh, my God. I'm gonna give that to Mila. And she said, you can't give that to Mila. You can't give it to Mila. She doesn't want a recommendation from her mother. Hide it somewhere and let her find it. And I think it's so right. Like, kids need to be empowered to find their own sort of way. Like, nobody gave you that book. You discovered it. And there's something really empowering about that.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, then you are in. You are in the business of telling people what to read. Jenna Bush Hager. What's that about?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's heaven.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yes. Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It really is. And you love it. I love it so much. And our mission is really to highlight newer voices. It's really hard. I mean, y' all are writing a book. It's really hard to be published. It's really hard to be seen. Not all authors, historically, have been published, you know, and so I think representation really matters and finding authors who are just starting their way. But it's such. I think it's such a lesson in, like, if you love something organically, you can kind of make it part of your work. Like, y' all are doing this. You're sitting around with your best friend.

[Chanel Ali]

I know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Having conversations. Like, doesn't that feel like heaven?

[Bowen Yang]

Feels so nice?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, it really is. It's like, I think we take it for granted too, as like a thing that's given us so much and we able to do. I do think though, that what is what you're able to tell from Read with Jenna and maybe people can tell from this is that we genuinely enjoy doing it. I always feel like, I think Amy Poehler said, like, if you're having fun, they'll have fun. Something so, like, key to remember. And I really, what I love about Read with Jenna and I asked you this when I was co hosting with you. Cause I've been there a few times when you've debuted your pick and just how strenuously and how much you really do care to make that selection. You don't just read one and think, oh, this'll do. Like, you read a lot.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And then, I mean, I'm reading all the time. But that also is such a gift, you know, to get to do that.

[Chanel Ali]

But it's very time consuming.

[Bowen Yang]

It is.

[Chanel Ali]

Like, you're already a really busy person.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, I read all the time, but like, also how fun is that? You know, and there's, I mean, I can listen to books and speechify. Is this app that I'm obsessed with.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yeah, people love the speech.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's really helpful.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Like, if you have to read something quickly, you can speechify that.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you, do you? I, for some reason, I'm so, I, I'm so weirdly picky with what makes it to the audiobook stage because it feels like something that's like, like easily absorbed. Like, like dense fiction can't be it for me. I don't know why. What's your, what's your process?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I have to be able to see it and listen at the same time. But like, yeah, I rarely just listen to audiobook because it's. I, I, I mean, this is also like such a lucky thing, but I start to get sleepy because my parents read to me before bed when I was little. So even like if I'm driving or something, like, hell no. Because I kind of want to just like, that's it.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So I have to be able to read it at the same time.

[Chanel Ali]

I find that the way audiobooks are performed really matters.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I mean, when we think about, like Tom Lake, which our queen Ann Patchett wrote, but Meryl Streep read it exactly that. To me, it's like if you can have those moments or you. Lena Dunham was on the show. I'd love to listen to her read her own.

[Chanel Ali]

We, we do it in the car, Melissa and I, and it's so. It's her. She's just a funny person telling her own story. Like Mariah Carey, we always say. We did. One of the only book clubs we ever did on this was we did Mariah for the meeting of Mariah Carey. And just the way that she informs the stories with her voice, it made me feel like this is a whole other dimension. And I said to Bowen the other day, like, for our book, I'm so excited to read it, give it that dimension. Because in a way it's a whole other project.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes, it is. It's like the performing of it and the storytelling of it, which, you know, like that's the original art form.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, this new one I want to read Caller Unknown.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, Caller Unknown.

[Bowen Yang]

Is this the first thriller in a while?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's the first thriller. I've only chosen two thrillers before. One is called all the Colors of the Dark, which is so good and I wish I'd brought you books. It's so good. It's like if Room, which maybe you've read and To Kill a Mockingbird because it's about like this friendship in a small town, but it's also this kind of thriller. It's so, so good. I rarely choose thrillers or mysteries.

[Bowen Yang]

How come?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But I don't know. I love them, but I do feel they become slightly formalaic.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, sure, sure, sure.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Like I can kind of be a detective. And I'm like, wait, this is. I, you know, I know where this is headed. So I think things that feel fresh and interesting or have another dimension to it, I'm into too.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. Are you like that with everything? Kinda, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

The stuff that you can get ahead of, you're like, ah, not for me.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's sort of. And I kind of, I'm like, I pay too much attention to, you know, like, they're like, chanel will be like, how did you know that they were going to surprise us with that person?

[Chanel Ali]

And I'm like, you know, you know,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm like, my ears were open.

[Chanel Ali]

It's kind of like when you're a huge fan of reality tv, like you realize like, for example, Survivor.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

This season is Survivor 50. And so it's like a huge season that a lot of people are watching and a lot of like, if. If you're a fan of the show, you'll probably go on your YouTube landing page, and then there's like, a whole bunch of people that talk about it, and they're like, oh, this person's gonna win. They're getting the winners at it. And you're like, oh, God. The winners edit. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And it's like in a movie now. It's like, once you see something mentioned, you know it's gonna pay off. Those are just the rules. So that's like the other side of being a huge fan of something is that you then become someone who's ahead of it.

[Bowen Yang]

It.

[Chanel Ali]

Without wanting to be. You just love it so much that you know the formula.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

So sometimes you have to ask yourself, am I just someone who's very learned about this thing, or is this not surprising?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Like, am I the problem?

[Chanel Ali]

Exactly.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you love TV the way he does?

[Bowen Yang]

I love it. I don't. I'm not as. I'm not as expansive in the way that Matt is. I feel like.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you have a preferred show?

[Bowen Yang]

I love. I love my Survivor. I love my.

[Chanel Ali]

We love Housewives.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

That's basically it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But Housewives across the board, pretty much.

[Chanel Ali]

We love Traitors.

[Bowen Yang]

We love Traitors.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And that's basically it.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm kind of like, I'll watch. I'll try it. You know what? I watched the Age of Attraction on Netflix.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What's that?

[Chanel Ali]

No one knew how old anyone was. And then they all met up and they did a reveal.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Did that work?

[Chanel Ali]

No. It's a little upsetting.

[Bowen Yang]

It's a little upsetting. Well, it's also.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It is. And who really gives a shit?

[Chanel Ali]

Do you know what I mean?

[Bowen Yang]

Thank you. You think couldn't hook me because I

[Chanel Ali]

was like, I don't care that she's like.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And they're like, yeah, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

But here's the thing. Like that. That's. I think the point is, it's like, you're like, oh, yeah, who cares? And then the family comes in and this is revealed, and that's. And then this thing about, oh, oh, oh. Cause it is an interesting depiction of the way you perform on a date about, like. Cause I don't know how y' all felt or you felt when you were dating or, like, how you.

[Bowen Yang]

You.

[Chanel Ali]

How, like, we feel now. But it's kind of like in the initial stages of dating, you definitely are. Whether you want to or not. You are performing. You're saying things are permissible that actually they're not. Yeah. And it's just funny to watch in a truncated, you know, reality television program just how quickly. Oh, that thing you said wasn't a big deal ended up being a big deal. That thing you said about yourself ended up not being true. And I appreciated this big thing of age being like, of course it's just a number. And then seeing people's, like, real thoughts, insecurities, insights about that actually ended up being kind of interesting as a social experiment.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes. I mean, it's true. The beginning is so performative. You're like, you don't care that you're 79, what you order. Like, think about what you order at dinner. It's so different than what you would order 20 years in. You're like, I'm not gonna eat the spaghetti. You know, it's like, now you're like, pass me the spaghetti. You know, it's like, crazy.

[Chanel Ali]

I think it's a baller. When someone on a date is like, I'm going to have pork chop soup.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm getting soup.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm going to slurp and fry because

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I didn't want to get the lettuce in my teeth.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm going to be so bad.

[Chanel Ali]

If you can't sit there and watch me slurp, we have no business continuing.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you remember what you ordered?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you love how Matt can find his camera anywhere? Matt could be like. Matt could be, like, in, like, four rooms away, and he'd find that camera.

[Chanel Ali]

Do you see me? Do you catch me finding the camera?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Camera? Oh, hell yeah. And sometimes you say, where's my camera? Were you the type of little kid that when you would go out to dinner or be in an elevator, you'd look in the mirror? Me too. Can't you see baby Matt?

[Chanel Ali]

My mom says that so when she. When I was little, she would cut hair in the house. And of course, like, she had, like, a little. Little room for her salon. And so I'd go in the room and talk to her clients that were in the chair. But she's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Marina, yourself. Can you see it?

[Bowen Yang]

Can I say something?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

We're on zoom a lot recently.

[Chanel Ali]

Stop it. This is so mean.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And he's just.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, just. Just the first log on. He doesn't do it the whole time.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What's the first. What is he doing?

[Bowen Yang]

Everyone's like, hi, hi. Hi, everybody. Hey, guys.

[Chanel Ali]

Just like, kind of primping.

[Bowen Yang]

Primping on zoom. You know, that old chestnut.

[Chanel Ali]

Everyone does it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That old chestnut.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm not primping on zoom. I'm just seeing myself there. I know this needs a little adjustment.

[Bowen Yang]

This needs a little.

[Chanel Ali]

Maybe I need to smile a little bit more.

[Bowen Yang]

We all do it. He's here.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We all do it. But some of us like it more than others.

[Chanel Ali]

I'm getting Red to film Red with Jenna.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Red with Jenna.

[Chanel Ali]

Red Vine. More like Red Vine. Jenna. The title of Apple.

[Bowen Yang]

Perfect.

[Chanel Ali]

More like Red Vine.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

John, I love that about you. You remind me of, like, a little a Disney prince. He does not. The first time I know. I was like, I feel like I've told him that before, which is weird that that's come up twice.

[Chanel Ali]

You do say it maybe twice a month.

[Bowen Yang]

That's so sweet.

[Chanel Ali]

And I love it. I love it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's true.

[Bowen Yang]

You're handsome, and you're like, but, oh, my God. Goofy, goofy, foofy.

[Chanel Ali]

Get the hell out.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I don't want to leave.

[Chanel Ali]

No. First of all, that was not where I was going. I just mean, like, no, stop, stop.

[Bowen Yang]

We love you.

[Chanel Ali]

Thank you, guys. Well, so listen, I. I do have a question for you, which is, like, sometimes I'm there, and, like, it's such a natural thing at the show to be like, oh, okay. And coming up next, it's this person. How often are you gagged? How often are you like, oh, oh, no. And then are you really grateful to have someone sitting next to you, like,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

freaking out because the person is there?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. I mean, we had Goldie Han today.

[Chanel Ali]

Wow, that's amazing.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And it's amazing, but I will say, most of the time, everybody is super kind, you know, and so it sort of lives up to your. But I'm definitely a team. Like, I want a teammate, you know, I would not want a solo show because I like to be part of. I like to play off somebody. I like to laugh with somebody before the show even starts. I like having somebody to glaze. I mean, you know, Hoda. I loved Hoda so much. I still love Hoda. I see her all the time. I talk to her all the time. It feels really good to be in community, you know? Like, I don't want to be solo by myself, because then I really would. There'd be pressure there, because then that

[Bowen Yang]

feels like a date where you're. A first date where you're performing something about yourself where you're like, I would. I want the spaghetti. Yes, you're getting. You're eating spaghetti.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I want spaghetti. And you can eat spaghetti when somebody like Hoda's next to you.

[Chanel Ali]

You can't eat spaghetti all night, right? Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And if you're solo, it would feel.

[Chanel Ali]

It does feel a little bit harder to eat spaghetti when you're solo, because then you're like, oh, God. Like. But we had next to be eating it, too.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Who was the week where you. Like, we had Kelly. Wait, no. Was it.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, I've been lucking out a lot. I had Kelly Clarkson.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, Kelly Clarkson. And there was somebody else that we were. You were like, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

Was it Reese? Yeah, because we had Reese on the show. And then Reese came in, and I was like, oh, my God. I get to hang out with these twice.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. And the Real Housewives of Rhode island guests.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

That was fun.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We actually changed the date of that so that Matt could be there.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, my God. Y' all love him.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We do.

[Bowen Yang]

That's amazing.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And I needed his expertise.

[Chanel Ali]

Of course.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Did you end up going to Coachella with that woman? I didn't see her in any of your pictures.

[Chanel Ali]

Chelsea Swanson, we went to Coachella with.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I didn't mean to call her that woman.

[Bowen Yang]

No, no, no, no, no. I just.

[Chanel Ali]

I.

[Bowen Yang]

There's something about the way you phrase things that is. So did you go end up going

[Chanel Ali]

to Coachella with that woman?

[Bowen Yang]

No, it's. You order spaghetti.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But I didn't see her in your photos.

[Chanel Ali]

No, we were in photos with her.

[Bowen Yang]

We were in photos.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

It's fine.

[Chanel Ali]

We posted a couple. But, like, the thing was, like, you know, I also didn't want to. Like, here's the thing. I know I was sensitive to this, and I was actually telling them this because they came in, the Rhode island women, and they sat down.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

There was more than just. There was more than her.

[Chanel Ali]

No, I'm talking about in the moment of interviewing them on the show.

[Bowen Yang]

They were nervous.

[Chanel Ali]

We walked over, and literally, I think it was. Was. Alicia was just like. I mean, this is crazy. This is Today show doesn't get any bigger than this. This is wild. I can't believe you guys do this whole. This is crazy. This is absolutely insane. I can't believe we're here.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They were like, we're novice. What cameras do we look at? Where do we. Matt's like, that's your camera. She's right there.

[Chanel Ali]

And I go, no, that one's mine.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Don't take that one.

[Chanel Ali]

That's. But anyway, like, I was just, like, kind of telling them in so many words. I. I was nervous for them.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

Because I was like, I know how intense it's gonna get.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And they were nervous, too.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, they were.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

There's some sort of divide, and so

[Chanel Ali]

that's why I wasn't like, she. She was. I knew she was coming to Coachella, but I didn't know how she'd react to. Because I don't think you know how you're gonna react.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do people know who she was?

[Chanel Ali]

Not there. I think a couple people came up and were like, are you Kelsey from Rhode Island?

[Bowen Yang]

But it was like, the first week after that. Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It hasn't aired.

[Bowen Yang]

It didn't really, like, stick at that point. Now I feel like she's very much a protagonist of the show.

[Chanel Ali]

When you're walking around with Bo and Yang, they tend to catch him first.

[Bowen Yang]

I felt like I was pretty incognito.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's good, because it's more fun to be like, well, also, those music fests, like, you're right. People are looking in every direction. Did y' all have fun?

[Bowen Yang]

So much fun.

[Chanel Ali]

We always have fun. I will say this. We were a little salty because we went the first weekend and then the second weekend, it was like, Madonna came out.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

And Olivia Rodrigo came out. Billie Eilish was there.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You had. Oh, yeah. Billie Eilish came out with Biebs the second weekend, too. I thought, why was that? All the great stuff in the second weekend? I thought the first weekend was supposed to be the big one one.

[Bowen Yang]

I think they're flipping it this year. I think the first weekend is now more the creator's influencer. Heavy time, and maybe people want to avoid that. I don't know. There's. There's a whole bunch of reasons.

[Chanel Ali]

It seems like the artists are not shy about saying Weekend one has a reputation for being not good. Because it is a lot of, like, what I was clocking was that they. They were feeling like the audience wasn't into it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

And I think it's because the first weekend is a lot of influencers.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Like, they're filming.

[Chanel Ali]

That's what the buzz I've heard amongst, like, what the artists say is that weekend one doesn't feel as good as weekend two.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay, well, next year, y' all better books weekend.

[Chanel Ali]

That's what we're gonna try. But also, it's like, come with us.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I would come with y'.

[Chanel Ali]

All.

[Bowen Yang]

Really?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, I'm a little scared of, like, where you use the. Like, I just, like, lies.

[Bowen Yang]

Bathrooms are tough.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Did you get home super, super late?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

I would say, like, a sensible 1230.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, that's not bad.

[Chanel Ali]

It's not bad?

[Bowen Yang]

No, no.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Who's. Adam Scott was on our show, you know, Severance, and he was saying that he couldn't get home till like, five in the morning.

[Chanel Ali]

Was he there?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He went with his daughter.

[Chanel Ali]

Love it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He said it was Kohella Koheleh.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, it's just. It's very. It's very sort of arcane, esoteric. The first time you figure out how to leave and then once, you know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So I need to go with y'. All. Cause y' all have your roots down.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, exactly. What?

[Chanel Ali]

But, Jenna, you know, you're a tease.

[Bowen Yang]

You're a tease because you say you want to come to the Culture Awards.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I don't think I'm nominated this year.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, I don't know. After three years of promising attendance, I

[Jenna Bush Hager]

don't think I'm not. I. I watched all the awards this weekend, and I'm pretty sure I'm not nominated.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Chanel Ali]

So first of all, there's another half of the nominations. Recording myself to come out. So I don't know.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know if you'll see. It's the kind of thing where if you show up, you might go home with something.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm not.

[Chanel Ali]

It's not your year.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He just told me. It's not my year.

[Chanel Ali]

See, this is the thing about you. Hollywood Susan Luchi.

[Bowen Yang]

Susan Luchi never won.

[Chanel Ali]

She did win. I think it was her 17.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But also she was nominated. I wanted 17 tries. I'm sorry. Who's getting the Today Show Award for

[Chanel Ali]

excellence in the morning?

[Bowen Yang]

It's not a category.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You told me that was an iconic one, like the Alison Williams Cool Girl Award.

[Chanel Ali]

That one's coming back when we saw that.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But the Today show morning excellence isn't there.

[Chanel Ali]

I guess it's been won by the best.

[Bowen Yang]

Look, we're.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I guess I can't make it.

[Chanel Ali]

I did love that about Devil Wears Prada, too, though. I was, you know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, I know.

[Chanel Ali]

It was a very realistic portrayal, I felt, of what would happen to those characters, where they would be then. This is beyond just Miranda, but also the industry and the vibe. Even the end. The way it ends is sort of a happy ending for them, but it's. It's kind of bleak, I know, in the way that it. If you really think about it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

You know?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. I mean, there's. It would feel so dishonest if it was still the glitzy sort of like.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. Well, and that's. She said this Meryl Streep, and it's so true. She said that they wanted to do a sequel, like nine years or like it was like three years and then nine years and it never felt like the right timing. And that this part of it that obviously, you know, magazines and publishing are having a really hard time, but also journalists are needed more than ever to hold the powerful accountable. So all of that made it really interesting to dig into and not just like, oh, here's another sequel. And I actually think that's what really worked about the film.

[Chanel Ali]

It felt very motivated. It didn't feel like, oh, we're making this sequel just to have a Devil Wears Prada, too. Even if that was the initial idea. Yeah. Because I'm sure. I'm sure certain that they were just like, oh, dollar signs. Like, let's do it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But they also said that, like, the actors wanted to see the script to make sure that there was. Yeah, because you don't like. You know, what is worse than doing a movie that, like, you know, everybody's been anticipating just for the money is like, everybody hates it.

[Chanel Ali]

I know.

[Bowen Yang]

And that's more often than not.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Which, thank God it's not one of those cases.

[Chanel Ali]

Aline Brush McKenna is one of the great screenwriters.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Chanel Ali]

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[Bowen Yang]

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[Chanel Ali]

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[Bowen Yang]

And it's easy to use. Add a serving to whatever you're already drinking. Morning coffee, afternoon tea daily, smoothie weekly. Whatever.

[Chanel Ali]

I use Vital proteins Collagen. Every morning. I just mix it into my coffee or a smoothie. It's super easy, you know, and it's become a simple part of my daily routine.

[Bowen Yang]

But however you do it, consistency is the key. It's crazy how something so effective is so easy.

[Chanel Ali]

And right now, you can get 20% off your next order by going to vitalproteins.com and using promo code LASCULCHURISTAS20. That's Lasculturistas2.0 at checkout.

[Bowen Yang]

Huge thanks again to our sponsor, Vital Proteins.

[Chanel Ali]

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

[Bowen Yang]

I thought you said it was proven by science.

[Chanel Ali]

Never said that. I just said it was good.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Bowen Yang]

Hey. Still got my hoodie?

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Chanel Ali]

See website for details on ebay. Every find has a story.

[Bowen Yang]

Like if you're looking for a vintage band tee.

[Chanel Ali]

Not just a tee. The band tee from the last show your favorite band ever played.

[Bowen Yang]

You wore it everywhere. Then your boyfriend started wearing it, which was cute.

[Chanel Ali]

Until he dumped you and took it

[Bowen Yang]

with him, which was not so cute.

[Chanel Ali]

But he was. I miss him. Anyway, now you're on ebay.

[Bowen Yang]

And there it is. Same tea from the same tour. Still living in your memory. Rent free forever.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, screw you, Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you.

[Chanel Ali]

Except Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

But ebay isn't just for getting whatever your ex/xbff stole back.

[Chanel Ali]

We miss you. It's also for that rare championship foul ball that you caught, then heroically gave to the kid next to you. You're welcome. Scoot.

[Bowen Yang]

And where else are you going to find your first car? A RAV4 from 2003.

[Chanel Ali]

The one you wish you never sold, but now finally got the chance to take back home.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm buying a car on ebay. For good this time.

[Chanel Ali]

Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a story. EBay. Things people love.

[Bowen Yang]

That's like a tagline. All right, everybody, we need to discuss a vacation that's not just a vacation, it's a statement.

[Chanel Ali]

Virgin voyages. Adults only. Yes. A child free sanctuary at sea. It's giving. Serenity. It's giving. Sexy European summer. It's giving. I deserve this.

[Bowen Yang]

They're sailing the Caribbean and the Med, obviously. But now they've added nyc, the west coast and Alaska. So whether you want golden hour off California or full cinematic glacier core main character energy. They said range.

[Chanel Ali]

And the awards. At this point, it's less award winning cruise line and more. Do we just engrave their name on the trophy already? They've won so many travel awards, the ships might sweep our culture.

[Bowen Yang]

Awards over 20 eateries, Epic Entertainment, fitness classes, Wi fi. All include luxury without the nickel and diming.

[Chanel Ali]

Virgin voyages.

[Bowen Yang]

Sailors, consider yourselves called Introducing M and M's caramel you already love now popped into a totally new texture.

[Chanel Ali]

I'd say M&M's are one of those truly iconic snacks.

[Bowen Yang]

They've just launched a brand new freeze dried innovation that brings a whole new vibe to the M and M lineup.

[Chanel Ali]

I mean, come on, what's not to love about M&M's?

[Bowen Yang]

And if it's freeze dried, I feel like I'm in space. MM's continues to be that girl. The crunch is unexpected in the best way.

[Chanel Ali]

Way crisper than you'd think. Like you bite into one and there's the little pop that you don't see coming from something that still tastes like classic MM's caramel.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure, they don't look exactly like the M and Ms, you know, but they are the M and Ms. You love. They're perfect for snacking when watching television, scrolling on your phone, or settling in for a movie.

[Chanel Ali]

And I'm already thinking they'll be great to have on hand while watching the culture awards.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes. The best part is they've got that classic M and M's caramel flavor. It's available in stores now.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm not an actor to be like. I mean, I've done. I'm only ever played myself. But sometimes when there are the lines, it's worse. We're like, we're not actors. I'm too worried about getting the line right.

[Chanel Ali]

It's easier for you to exist on camera.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Also, probably they didn't want to give us lines and know it was all going to be cut, you know.

[Chanel Ali]

Right, right, right, right. I will say my favorite look in the entire movie was what Anne wore to the Hamptons.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, you loved that dress.

[Chanel Ali]

I loved that dress.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That kind of patchwork. That is very.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes. And you know what?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That is kind of a quilt.

[Chanel Ali]

Melissa, my stylist is always putting me in a quilt.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, you love a quilted look.

[Chanel Ali]

A shacket.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You love a shacket.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

What's the shirt?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Shirt. A shirt and a shirt and a jacket.

[Bowen Yang]

Irish.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Jacket.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. She was wearing like a, like a patchwork. Patchwork quilt dress. And what I. What was a little bit. I don't think of Honey for me was in the movie, she's like looking at things to wear and she sees this dress and we don't see it as the audience yet, but Stanley Tucci is like, no, that's inappropriate for this event. You're not wearing that. No. And if it gets a stand on it. No. And then she's like, I want it. And he's like, it's not appropriate for this event.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

And then she puts it on and gets on the bus and goes out to. And I'm like, she looks the chicest there.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know it wasn't right for the event say like. Because I was like, well, what about styling? You know, it's like the devil wears Prada. The costume is probably more important than anything.

[Chanel Ali]

Hampton's easy casual shoes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's what they, they said do not dress up. Like. And if you notice, even Meryl was wearing like a button down shirt and like these pants.

[Chanel Ali]

I loved everything about her aesthetic. And one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie was her a little bit wine drunk in the kitchen.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

She gets like a little win and she's just the way that, that Meryl was playing Miranda Priestley's Joy.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

I was like, that's such an interesting.

[Bowen Yang]

Cuz you didn't see it in the.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Cuz you don't see it very much.

[Chanel Ali]

But it did get me thinking about like, yeah, that is the way that that woman would feel Joy. The way she like, she sort of says something to Anna Hathaway, pours herself a little rose. Pours herself a big glass of rose totally and like floats out of her kitchen in her like Mantello shirt. And I'm like like, damn, Mary.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But she was just in like a button down. And Kathy's like, they said to keep it, you know. Did you notice how many ties there

[Chanel Ali]

were in the film Ties are Back.

[Bowen Yang]

Ties are Back.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You look very handsome. Thank you. I wore a tie in the third grade and I made my cat a matching tie. Don't say I'm not talented.

[Chanel Ali]

Your own little. Your own little scat cat.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

My own little. And he wore a little tie and I had the matching tie and I even. And I will try to. I will show you this photo when we're done. Went to the White House in a mustard yellow shirt. From the Limited to a tie and a skort. A matching skort to the tie, which was just really a look. The mustard in the skirt.

[Chanel Ali]

Was the skirt in the White House.

[Bowen Yang]

I think that might have been the first squirt in the White House.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I bet you John Quincy Adams wore

[Chanel Ali]

a score which presidents were gay. What do people that are in the know?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I don't know. Do you know?

[Chanel Ali]

Well, they say Abelington was Abelington.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, well, because of Omar.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, no, they said before o' Mary

[Jenna Bush Hager]

was also in the Abraham book in the.

[Bowen Yang]

His roommate, you know, in Illinois or some such.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes, yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, but Abe probably all bottom. Yeah, well, Marfan syndrome.

[Chanel Ali]

No, that would be. Well, that would be the opposite.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It.

[Chanel Ali]

Marin makes you small.

[Bowen Yang]

No, Marin makes you long.

[Chanel Ali]

Really? Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

That. Abe had it for sure.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, Abe had Marfin syndrome.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, seriously.

[Chanel Ali]

Made him so long.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

How tall do you think Abe was? 68. Anybody Google.

[Chanel Ali]

Wait, didn't we see. We went to the Brooks Brothers and they had. They had a recreated Abe Lincoln. How.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

How tall was he? Tall at the Brooks Brothers. How tall was his recreate?

[Chanel Ali]

He would have been like 6:2, which at the time was like that tall.

[Bowen Yang]

At the time. Time, That's.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

My husband is 6 4.

[Chanel Ali]

So at the time, that was like 7ft tall.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay. Yeah, 6 was the average.

[Chanel Ali]

Okay, so you're talking about the President of the United States being almost a foot taller than everyone else.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Interesting.

[Chanel Ali]

Cuckoo. And a gay guy. I know.

[Bowen Yang]

I didn't. I don't remember Henry being that tall.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He's tall.

[Chanel Ali]

Listen, was that the first thing you noticed?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I like it.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, you like a cherry. You had to climb a tree. I know, you tigress.

[Bowen Yang]

Change your hours so you can swing a little.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You guys, even if I change my hours, I'm too tired to swing.

[Bowen Yang]

I mean, honestly, I have reading to do.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I have reading to do. And also, I don't. I mean, I'm not gonna go there, but the amount. The people that I would have to choose to swing with. Do you know what I mean?

[Chanel Ali]

Was like, your neighbor. Your neighbors in Connecticut, like, no, thank you.

[Bowen Yang]

No, thank you. Come on, Jenna, you're so fun.

[Chanel Ali]

You really are the best. No, like, honestly, I'll never forget the day we first met. You had met them before My.

[Bowen Yang]

No, no, because it was Hoda and Maria Shriver. We hadn't met Jenna.

[Chanel Ali]

Oh, my God.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

The first time we were on Maria was in your show.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I love Maria shrugging driver so much. Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

What?

[Chanel Ali]

What?

[Bowen Yang]

What a legend.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She's so wise.

[Bowen Yang]

But. But the first time we met Jenna was the same time was when is what you're describing.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes, yes, yes. And I remember you had. This is when you had your length. You've kept the. The bib, Bob, since you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I need to cut it again, though.

[Chanel Ali]

So you're. You're loving it. I love it.

[Bowen Yang]

I love it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's easier to have. Keep it short.

[Chanel Ali]

I think this is your look.

[Bowen Yang]

We had an original draft of this Bob sketch on snl. We had your name in it. We did Leslie Bibbs and. And Jenna Bashka in it, too.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You cut me.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sorry.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Out of the bobskin.

[Chanel Ali]

No, it was because. Listen, you made it instead of worst. Proud of you. Why did you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Why did you. I. We showed that.

[Bowen Yang]

I know you did and I wanted to text you and be like your name was. It was like we answered a Leslie Bib and Jennifer Shager. Cuz you had just gotten it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Who cut me?

[Bowen Yang]

No one. It wasn't a. It was not a cut. It was like it was between dress and era. It was like, okay, we get to lose like a minute from this or whatever.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I made it to the dress rehearsal.

[Chanel Ali]

That's usually, that's usually when Lauren steps in.

[Bowen Yang]

That's when Lauren steps in.

[Chanel Ali]

Lauren said.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Lauren said. Who the is Jennifer Shaker? I don't think many people know who Jenna Bush Hager is.

[Bowen Yang]

Are you kidding me? Well, he.

[Chanel Ali]

He knew about you back in the day when he used to make fun of your ass.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. Do you know that Amy Poehler played me?

[Chanel Ali]

Yes. Do you. But you. But think about president.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you think it's taken a long time to show shake off the Captain Morgan and tequila thing? Cause that's not fair. You never drink it that way.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I didn't drink Captain Morgan and tequila together. No, I mean Captain Morgan. Do you know that there was a. I. I was a. There was some cover of a magazine that called me Gin and tonic. Gin and tonic.

[Chanel Ali]

Come on.

[Bowen Yang]

Did you like that?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I didn't really any part of that when I was 19 and 20 years old.

[Bowen Yang]

Devastating.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I did not like it. But I will say as a 44 year old, you're like, thank God I had parents that let me make mistakes, man.

[Chanel Ali]

I was actually thinking about that the other when I was thinking about like you were coming on the show and I was like, this is someone who even I as like A, you know, 10 year old, I knew who you were. And this is pre social media. But like which.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Thank God.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, well, I was thinking about you with that too. I was like, can you imagine if you were 18, 19, 20, 21 years old when your father is the president and also like is a polarizing figure and that gets trans. Transmuted to you and all the media is harping on is, you know, wild child partying and that had to be. Were you shielded from that or how was it impossible to.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I was not shielded from it at all. Cause I was in college. Like there was nobody to shield me. You know what I mean? But I think. No, I mean it was definitely hard. I also think, oh well, like people like if that's my, you know Resilience that I had to fight through. Like, people have a lot worse, and I mean that. But also, it's like, I. You know, I think the media sort of held, like, they kind of understood. I mean, Chelsea had it bad, too, definitely. And then by the time. And I'm glad we. Malia and Sasha were there, there was this sort of, like, rallying cry. I mean, Barbara and I wrote an open letter in the Wall Street Journal, I remember, which basically was like, leave them alone.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, they're young.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Let them be kids. But they were. They were kids. Kids.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And then by the time. The second. You know, then they were like, in college, like we were. And I think, you know, I just think there has to be some sort of. We didn't choose it, you know? And in fact, when our dad told us he was going to run for president, we broke into tears.

[Chanel Ali]

Did you, like, say, please don't.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We said, you're going to ruin our lives, which we've apologized about.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. But you know what? You have every right to say.

[Bowen Yang]

Told him he was going to live.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Lose.

[Chanel Ali]

You genuinely thought he would.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're gonna lose. You can run, but you're gonna lose. But I mean, that we. I think what it goes to say is, like, we had parents that wanted us to have normal. A normal life.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And people. When Barbara and I, like, walk down the street in New York, people are like, we love y'. All. Y' all are so normal. And that, I think, is a compliment, you know, we'd rather hear, like, y' all look great or whatever.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, y' all look at this.

[Bowen Yang]

But doesn't this give you, like, such great perspective with. With Milan, Poppy? And now it's like, you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I also just think all kids like you. Look at the pressure that's on teenagers now to go to the school or to, like, you know, do the thing or to make it in some way and. And, like, get the great grades. It's like, none of that, really. At least in our house. I'm like, I want happy kids who are kind. Like, that's all, you know? And I think my parents did not. There was no rulebook like, we. When I went to, like, court, when I got that minor in possession of alcohol, I wore, like, pants like this. I didn't know. And my toe ring. And, like, nobody was like, you need to get dressed up because you're expected to be this person. It was like, no, you're yourself. And that includes making a credit cord,

[Chanel Ali]

toe ring and all.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, make mistakes. And I don't know. I mean, it's not like things could have been way worse. It's like, yeah, social media could have been a thing at the time. It was not easy. But also, like, I have the thickest skin ever now, and I look back at that Amy Poehler Tina face kid, and it's hilarious.

[Chanel Ali]

It is funny. Especially when you realize, like, it had nothing to do with you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, also, they're speaking in, like, a twin drunk language.

[Chanel Ali]

I know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Which, like, Barbara and I only wish we could do. Do you know what I mean? And how different my life really is than how. How it was portrayed is also hilarious.

[Chanel Ali]

I know. That is funny.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

There was one time in college where we were watching Dawson's Creek, and I get a call from Katie Holmes to come. She wanted to come and, like, shadow me at Texas for First Daughter. And I was like, you guys. She would be like, wow, your life is so lame. Now you're going to the library to, like, stay up all night and write your English paper, You know, Like, I just was like, you don't want to come shadow me?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, you know, doing body shots on a Tuesday.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So, no, I didn't call.

[Bowen Yang]

So real, though, while you're watching Dawson's Creek.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was weird.

[Chanel Ali]

That's great.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was weird. Like, I was like, guys, is this what's happening here? Wow. It was odd.

[Chanel Ali]

Do you think that there was anything about. Because obviously when you're, you know, you're in the public eye in that way, you did not choose. And then several years later, obviously, you choose to go on this path of being in the public eye. Do you think that that was a genuine interest and attraction to wanting to be on air and having that. Having that influence and impact? Or do you think a little bit of it was, like, I actually want to correct a perspective. Yeah, maybe they have on me.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, I mean, I don't think. Think, like, I don't. Who knows? Subconsciously, like, I would have to, like, really sit with, like, my shaman and go deep there. No, I think I was on the show for a book that I wrote. And then I wrote a book about the national parks with my mom, and I was on again. And it was. The executive producer kept coming to me. Like, I was like, no, I was a teacher. I was like, I love my job. And I taught in inner city Baltimore. And it was honestly so hard.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That. That I was like, maybe I should go take this job interview, you know, like, what? And I was a little performer. Like, I wanted to be Baby Kazat and Les Mis But I, like, couldn't sing. You know, I wanted to be. I wanted to be her performer. So I think, like, my sister's like, it makes sense. You like to make people laugh. But I wouldn't, like, have pursued the job myself.

[Bowen Yang]

But in a way, like, you already knew that you could be in the public eye. And this is like a. A modular thing where now it's on your terms, you know, Like, I mean,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I think it has. Was helpful that all of this happened when I was so young, because there I do. Other people are like, I read the comments. I, like, I would never read the comments. I have a really good way of, like, compartmentalizing my work and sort of the stuff that comes with it and, like, my actual life and the people that I love and. And so there's. I don't get caught up in that part of it. Do you know what I mean?

[Chanel Ali]

100%.

[Bowen Yang]

I think this is the thing that Mila and the kids should really go forward with. Not that you're not already doing this, but I'm like, you know what weirdly gets me is it's the performance now of opening up your college acceptances. I know everything has to be for the camera algorithm and everyone else. Else, like, they like.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And then. And it makes all these other people feel, like, terrible, you know? And it's so interesting because when we were in high school, my sister won, like, the math competition in. In Dallas. She was. She is exceptionally smart, but she also, like, she missed one math problem on her sat. She was this incredible student. And I. I love to read other

[Chanel Ali]

side of the brain.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I had a different side of the brain, and. And I was funny, and it was fine. And my parents did not compare us. Like, they weren't like, well, you know, if she did this. So Barbara gets this perfect score on the sat. And I read somewhere that Stanford has, like, a twin policy that if one twin gets in, the other one gets in, or they both.

[Chanel Ali]

Was that a real thing?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, and they may still have it, but this was like, you know, 2000 or one gets, you know, doesn't get in, the other one won't get in. So I read this, and I'm like, great news. Like family. Look what I read. I can ride Barbara's coattails all the way to Stanford.

[Chanel Ali]

I can get her to Stanford and still be myself.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And it was like the opposite of the college admission scandal. My dad was like, hell, no. Don't ruin Barbara's chances. No. But I think I was like, you're right. You're right. You know, and there was, like, in the early aughts, nobody. I didn't care. Like, she went to Yale and I went to the University of Texas. Texas. And it did not matter.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, that's good, though, because honestly, that was. That was not our experience, at least for myself, I would say that when we were in high school, this was like, peak millennial thing of, like, who's gonna get into the best school? Yeah. Like, I remember not one person in my entire high school got into an Ivy League school. And we all felt like, well, it's like equal parts. Like, we're all duds, so that's sucks. But also, thank God, not one of us is gonna get in so that we all feel like idiots, comparatively.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

You know what I mean?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, we didn't have, like, the social media to make it a thing. There was no. I also went to a big public high school in Austin. Yeah, this is, you know, like. And it might have just been, like, there. Most people stayed local. Like, there wasn't. Barbara was sort of the outlier, you know.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, a few years after we would go to school would become the prevailing narrative that you don't have to go to the school just because it's reputable and expensive.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes, well, I. But I feel like there is such pressure on children and on teens to, like, for what? You know, like, why? It's like, you guys found your best friends, like, many of whom I know because of Matt has brought them, and like, you found your family. You found yourselves. Like, that matters.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

So your school choice mattered. But I. I feel like the. The sort of rat race to excellence because it's all so public is like, what is that for? Is it for finding your purpose, for finding your joy, then? Like, sure. But if it's for, like, showing off that you got into this great school, it bums me out.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, it's a bummer for me because it's like, Asian immigrant parent or just those communities throughout the country, like, at that time were purely about the achievement and the elitism of these things. And like, now just seeing, like, it's writ large and it's just sort of blown out for everybody.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, and was that.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Did that feel hard?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Like, oh, my God. I remember getting into NYU and then going back, going to China to see family. And, like, I was in the other room sleeping, and then, like, in the next room, there were, like, my. My dad's side of the family. They all group farmers. They, like, most of them were uneducated and even They. I overhear. I overheard them saying, well, Bowen just gone to a school called ny, like nyu. And it's. It's not even that good. It's not even like the top 10 schools or whatever. And my heart think, I'm like, oh, it doesn't even measure up to these people who, like, yeah, didn't even get to go to college. And, like, they must feel a certain way about it. And I'm like, oh, right. Like, this is glow. It's a global thing where you, like, end up going to college within, like this specific arrangement.

[Chanel Ali]

And it's also all brand new.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Like, also, thank God you went where you went and you found your people and your.

[Chanel Ali]

One of the new IVs, which is the way they were branding.

[Bowen Yang]

Stop it.

[Chanel Ali]

Schools like ours so that we could feel attractive to people who.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, it's so ridiculous. It was. It was ridiculous. But speaking of ridiculous, we're all about to go crazy. I don't know why it's this voice, but I like it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm like, who are you?

[Chanel Ali]

Next time my guest host, I'm just gonna start talking like, this is that show. No, just kidding.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What are you? Who are you? Are you stoned in, like, chemist chemistry?

[Chanel Ali]

Am I stoned in chemistry? I don't know, Ms. Murray. I think that Colville and Bons are pretty sick.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

What is the who are you?

[Chanel Ali]

I'm around my friends and I'm loose.

[Bowen Yang]

You thought this was your run Club era. Turns out it was more of a thinking about Run club era. The good news, Someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. They get their race day fit and you get a payout for trying. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now, Depop. Where taste recognizes taste.

[Chanel Ali]

On ebay, every find has a story.

[Bowen Yang]

Like if you're looking for a vintage band tea.

[Chanel Ali]

Not just a tea, the band tea from the last show your favorite band ever played.

[Bowen Yang]

He wore it everywhere. Then your boyfriend started wearing it, which

[Chanel Ali]

was cute until he dumped you and

[Bowen Yang]

took it with him, which was not so cute.

[Chanel Ali]

But he was. I miss him. Anyway, now you're on ebay.

[Bowen Yang]

And there it is. Same tea from the same tour. Still living in your memory. Rent free forever.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, screw you, Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you.

[Chanel Ali]

Except Dave.

[Bowen Yang]

But ebay isn't just for getting whatever your ex, ex BFF stole back.

[Chanel Ali]

We miss you. It's also for that rare championship foul ball that you caught, then heroically gave to the kid next to you. You're welcome. Scoot.

[Bowen Yang]

And where else are you gonna find your first car? A RAV4 from 2003.

[Chanel Ali]

The one you wish you never sold, but now finally got the chance to take back home. Home.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm buying a car on ebay. For good this time.

[Chanel Ali]

Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a story. Ebay. Things people love.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a good tagline. All right, everybody, we need to discuss a vacation that's not just a vacation, it's a statement.

[Chanel Ali]

Virgin voyages. Adults only.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Chanel Ali]

A child free sanctuary at sea. It's giving serenity. It's giving sexy European summer. It's giving. I deserve this.

[Bowen Yang]

They're sailing the Caribbean and the Med, obviously. But now they've added nyc, the west coast and Alaska. So whether you want golden hour off California or full cinematic glacier core main character energy. They said range.

[Chanel Ali]

And the awards. At this point, it's less award winning cruise line and more. Do we just engrave their name on the trophy already? They've won so many travel awards, the ships might sweep our culture.

[Bowen Yang]

Awards over 20 eateries, Epic Entertainment, fitness classes, wi fi, all included luxury without the nickel and diming Virgin voyages. Sailors, consider yourself introducing M and M's Caramel you already love now popped into a totally new texture.

[Chanel Ali]

I'd say MMs are one of those truly iconic snacks.

[Bowen Yang]

They've just launched a brand new freeze dried innovation that brings a whole new vibe to the M and M lineup.

[Chanel Ali]

I mean, come on, what's not to love about M&M's?

[Bowen Yang]

And if it's freeze dried, I feel like I'm in space. M and M's continues to be that girl. The crunch is unexpected in the best way.

[Chanel Ali]

Way crisper than you'd think. Like you bite into one. And is the little pop that you don't see coming from something that still tastes like classic M and M's caramel?

[Bowen Yang]

Sure, they don't look exactly like the M and M's, you know, but they are the M and Ms. You love. They're perfect for snacking when watching television, scrolling on your phone, or settling in for a movie.

[Chanel Ali]

And I'm already thinking that'll be great to have on hand while watching the culture awards.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, the best part is they've got that classic MM's caramel flavor. It's available in stores now.

[Chanel Ali]

All right, this is. I don't think so, honey. This is our.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Wait, are y' all timing me yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, we're gonna go first.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, good, good, good.

[Chanel Ali]

And then.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yo. You like. I'm like. I. I'm like a star student.

[Chanel Ali]

You are. So for all you star students at home, this is our segment where we take one minute to just tear something apart in culture that we don't agree with. And that's putting it mildly. I'm gonna do something about Devil Wears Prada, too. It's my one one problem with the movie, and I do want this question answered. It is a little bit of a spoiler. So if you haven't seen Devil wears Prada 2 yet, you can skip my. I don't think so, honey. And probably the minute or so after it.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, great. This is Matt Rogers. I don't think so. Any time starts now.

[Chanel Ali]

I don't think so, honey. The end of the movie the Devil wears Prada 2. It's a scene with Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. And Anne Hathaway now works for Runway, and she puts something on the desk, and Meryl says, is there anything else? And then Anne Hathaway says, nope. And I just think, I don't think so, honey. That she didn't say, that's all. That's all. Why wouldn't you end the movie with that's all? And then I think, 30 seconds, and I don't think so, honey. If this happened, it must have been in the script. And either Anne was like, no, I think that's Meryl's line and didn't say it. I can see Anne Hathaway being like that. Or maybe Meryl was, like, giving someone else my line in character. I don't know. But it didn't happen. There was not enough. That's all in the movie. Otherwise, a perfect movie. I was just like, it was right there. We could have ended the movie with the iconic line, I don't think so, honey. That we didn't. Not that I don't think so, honey.

[Bowen Yang]

The movie.

[Chanel Ali]

Because I do think so, honey. Just that part. I. I don't think so.

[Bowen Yang]

And that's one minute.

[Chanel Ali]

Don't you think? Do you agree with me?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That's how you do it. I agree with you. Although I bet Meryl saw it and was, like, too cliche. No, but it's so funny because I thought it was gonna end that way too. I'm like, well, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

So then maybe this is the thing where they expect the audience to get ahead of it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

And they are subverting the expectation.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

And it breaks the cycle of you. You Would think now that Andy is at Runway, she would inherit this thing. And yet she. She's choosing to break the cycle.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I agree.

[Chanel Ali]

I just feel like had she said that's all turned out and went away and you could have left. You could have ended it on Meryl with that half smile that she did in the first movie. And I loved the last scene. The. The tracking away of them all in the three offices.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

How beautiful was that?

[Chanel Ali]

Man, the movie was fantastic.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But that last scene was so we were. We said that I watched it with Savannah and Hoda and we said where you could see all of the people in the new. It makes you fall in love with why we live here.

[Chanel Ali]

You know what? Actually it. I love a shot like that. Just like leaving the characters that we love in process because, you know, they're still. That was one of my favorite things about the way the movie fire me too.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, that.

[Chanel Ali]

It sort of leaves us on the dock like that. I was like, oh, there's still.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

There's no fun.

[Chanel Ali]

And I just loved that. And another thing I love from the movie was Emily Blunt goes, have you heard of Christmas? I was like, that's my line. Have you heard of Christmas? No, I don't think she heard the album.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Do you think she heard the album?

[Bowen Yang]

And then she.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I bet she heard of Christmas.

[Bowen Yang]

She sent it to Aline Brosh McKenna.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

She heard Jenna Bochega walk out the building.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

She went, let's get Jenna.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're the reason I am in the devil world.

[Chanel Ali]

Anyway. Okay. This is Bowen Yang's. Where's my phone?

[Bowen Yang]

Here. You want mine?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, this is Bowen Yang's. I don't think so, honey. Is he ready with one?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

It's gonna be a bummer. It's gonna be a bummer.

[Chanel Ali]

But his back hurts even as he's getting ready to.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, no, I'm afraid it's about his back.

[Chanel Ali]

This is bonye afraid. I don't think so, honey. Time starts now.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so, honey. What are the patches supposed to be doing? I don't believe that the skin is absorbing whatever the medicine is. I think you gotta take it by mouth. I think all medicine should be taken by mouth or iv, I think on the skin. It's kind of a sham. Sure, whatever. As long as there's an opening. As long as you're breaking through, you're puncturing hole. I don't think so, honey. Topical, topical, anything. Analgesic, whatever. I think it has to. I have to ingest it in some way. 30 seconds it literally has to go into my veins. I've got too much dermis. The three of us have too much dermis. The three of us have thick skins because of the hardships of life. And so my skin ain't taking it. You know what I'm saying? And so I also, also, I'm gonna spend the next 15 seconds, 15 seconds saying, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Please give me the lidocaine over the counter.

[Chanel Ali]

Orally, please.

[Bowen Yang]

I'll take the oral. Five seconds. Oral.

[Chanel Ali]

Oral. Oral.

[Bowen Yang]

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

[Chanel Ali]

And that's one minute. Really good job. I do think, though, you might just need a good old shot. Shot in the back.

[Bowen Yang]

What's a cortisone?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Cortisone.

[Chanel Ali]

If there is.

[Bowen Yang]

That's what I'm saying.

[Chanel Ali]

Can you tell Bowen he needs a back sh.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, but here's the thing. If you get a back shot.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're gonna know why it is.

[Bowen Yang]

What do you mean?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Because if it's a muscle imbalance, the back shot won't help. Can you see my man Jason?

[Bowen Yang]

I would love to see your man Jason.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You gotta see my man Jason. It may take four hours, but you will be fixed two days later.

[Bowen Yang]

I. I have something on the books for next week, but this, this woman, she's in demand.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, you need to get next week. You're gonna be better.

[Bowen Yang]

Exactly.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And I believe you need Jason in tomorrow.

[Bowen Yang]

Tomorrow? I booked her. I booked her this evening.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Can you do it this evening?

[Bowen Yang]

We're. We're figuring it out. Oh, they don't come at night, these people.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Jason will.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, my God.

[Chanel Ali]

Feels like we're going to get Jason's information.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm going to pass Jason PT and

[Chanel Ali]

then you got to see Dr. Jason PT Jason PT Jason PT don't you

[Jenna Bush Hager]

like how you save people? Yeah, he's very handsome, but he's wonderful. And more than that. I mean, he's married, but more than that, he's gonna fix you to a guy or a girl to a woman.

[Chanel Ali]

Because he was married to a guy. It's kind of like whatever. Six of one, six of one and

[Bowen Yang]

half a dozen of what?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Six, six, seven.

[Bowen Yang]

I know.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Which cliche are you?

[Chanel Ali]

Six of one, six, seven. Happened. Is when I was at today's show, we were all trying to figure out what it was.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. And then we just kept saying it so we could kick. You know, it's like when adults start saying it, then the 10 year olds are like, my mom is saying that

[Bowen Yang]

I did it one more time.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, I think we killed it.

[Bowen Yang]

There you go.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Successfully.

[Bowen Yang]

Thank you so much for your service.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You're welcome. If there's anything else I can do for you, let me know.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, we have an idea. How about and I don't think so, honey.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay, now listen. I feel like I'm just. The preface is. I didn't know we were gonna talk so much books. But it's in the book vein, so let's go.

[Chanel Ali]

There we go. It's in the book.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay, let's go.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Jenna Bush Hager's. I don't think so, honey. And her time starts.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Okay. I don't think so, honey. Why are we banning all these books, y'?

[Chanel Ali]

All, including the wicked book?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Why are we banning the wicked book? Why are we banning To Kill a Mockingbird? I posted a picture. I don't think so, honey. Of my daughter reading the summer I turned pretty. And you know what people said to me? They shamed me. I don't think so, honey. Don't we know that kids can find all everything on YouTube.com? we can give our kids iPads. We can give our kids phones. But you're taking Beloved by Toni Morrison out of our libraries. Guess whose job it is to make sure it's appropriate for your children? The librarians. They are trained. Now, listen, I know I'm biased because my mother was a librarian. She had a cat named Dewey named after the Dewey decimal system. I do think we should name cats after things that belong in the library, but I don't think we should be taking these books out. Leave it up to the librarians. I want my kid to read. Wanna know why Books start conversations. Know what we're not having enough of in this country?

[Chanel Ali]

Conversations. Conversations.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I don't think so, honey.

[Chanel Ali]

And that's what this is. Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That was sitting somewhere really deep.

[Chanel Ali]

I love to come out. That's why I don't think Sonny is a useful tool for American conversation.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I. I bet. Honestly, I think if I was having a bad back.

[Chanel Ali]

Yes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Getting those types of things out, you know, the body keeps going.

[Bowen Yang]

The body keeps going.

[Chanel Ali]

You know, we're actually. We're holding all of our tension. I don't think so. Honeys in our back 100 or our hips in our.

[Bowen Yang]

In our root chakra.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And our root chakra we're holding. I mean, that did. I felt it come out. Come out my roots.

[Chanel Ali]

Soon. They're going to ban books about the root chakra. Kids aren't even going to ban things

[Jenna Bush Hager]

like the little Engine that could.

[Chanel Ali]

No, actually, I mean, it's at that.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It's at that point.

[Bowen Yang]

It's at that point. I mean, so I. I'm going to the Brooklyn Public Library gal on Wednesday, and I. And I wrote a little speech and I got emotion. I went to the library on Saturday, wrote my little speech.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You wrote it in the library?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. I had to be on the nose about it, but it was so wonderful. I was like, oh, look at this. There's, like, adult Jigsaw Hour. There's maternity.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

The libraries are the cornerstones of our community. And when people need a place that is warm to go and have access to books also, like, what are we thinking, y'? All? We're giving anybody access. My kid can go to, like, you know, I don't know, chemistry and get on her little laptop and order shit from Amazon and not pay attention. But we're worried about the books that we house in our libraries. And as we know, representation matters. And a lot of what they're taking out is necessary for people to see themselves 100%. And librarians are not recommending things that are inappropriate to, like, 7 or 8 year olds. What are we doing?

[Chanel Ali]

What is inappropriate necessarily even mean? It's a goalpost that tends to move depending on what the people in power need and how they can control people. So what's inappropriate is, by the way, debatable from the beginning, from before the

[Jenna Bush Hager]

beginning up to parents who are not the ones that are actually banning the books. 94,000 books were banned last year in 20, 25, 92% of them were bit by institutions like, you know, by. By NGOs, by people that are like, big movements. It's not a parent that's like, hey, my kid came home with this. Because you're the parent, you can say, hey, how? Like, we should be reading Charlotte's Web and instead, like, that's our jobs.

[Bowen Yang]

Of course, like. Like, it assumes that there's, like, no monitoring at any level for this thing.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But, like, librarians are amazing, too. That's their job. And by saying we. We take these out, what we're saying is we're not empowering you to do your work.

[Bowen Yang]

The libraries are so radical to the point that we've forgotten as a society how radical they are, which is you get free books and movies and resources and jobs, job opportunities because of this, like, free thing that everyone is entitled to.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

It's amazing.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You know, I was with Min Jin, this author who I love, who wrote Pachinko. She told me, Min Jin Lee. She told Me that books actually made her brave. And she said, I'm so worried about kids not having access to books because where does that bravery gonna come from?

[Chanel Ali]

And also, it's not for nothing but you know, these parents that think I want to control everything that my kids are consuming, that's not the point of their life.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know.

[Chanel Ali]

They are supposed to live their life.

[Bowen Yang]

They.

[Chanel Ali]

At a certain point, of course, like you don't want your child exposed to something harmful, but exposed to something different is a good thing.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Exposed to something creates empathy.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I just, I.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

But also we're living in a time where like five and six year olds are getting on YouTube, seeing anything.

[Bowen Yang]

Anything.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, there's no regulation around YouTube. Yeah, we're regulating books, Right?

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

No, but never a tech company.

[Chanel Ali]

What could be more inappropriate than what the president says on his social media every day?

[Bowen Yang]

Right?

[Chanel Ali]

Like what, What? What could be more inappropriate?

[Bowen Yang]

Why are we not shielding that from like innocent eyes? Quote, unquote.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah. In a world where we are doing this like hierarchy of manners.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Chanel Ali]

Like, and morals.

[Bowen Yang]

But like I, but like I wrote about how like I was wandering the shelves of my library at the age of 13 and I stumble across the CD ROM original Broadway cast recording of Wicked and it, I took it home and it changed my brain chemistry. And I'm like, the library is an important part of that story because it gives you a sense of place and time with the discovery of something.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Where now everything gets served up on our phones and like, I don't know, I don't remember where was when I discovered this new singer that I like. Which is fine, it's just how it is these days. But like, God, it's like the original third space, blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying anything new, but it's just. I think we thank. Thank you for letting us talk about how I genuinely think libraries are like the most emotional thing for me in my community. I go. It's one of my favorite places to go in Brooklyn. It has some of the cleanest bathrooms in the whole city. It's crazy. And that's. And that's something you can't count out.

[Chanel Ali]

And there are interesting, interesting guys there who, who my favorite bit is to go to. The. My favorite bit is. New bit is to go to the men's room and just point at the side and say, oh, that's where they are. And then I. And then I wink and I go in.

[Bowen Yang]

That's where they keep them.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You say it to all your friends, but like that you're having dinner with.

[Chanel Ali]

That's my one bit. And then my other bit is whenever you buy any. Anything and they say the price, you just go to the cashier. My favorite price. And they laugh every time.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, it works, right?

[Bowen Yang]

Every time they laugh, do they laugh?

[Chanel Ali]

Some people are truly mean people. So. So they don't laugh.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I can't imagine. You don't get a laugh. Yeah. Cuz then, you know, they're kind of laughing inside.

[Chanel Ali]

Well, if they don't laugh, that's when I go. And then they go, wait, when y'

[Jenna Bush Hager]

all met, were you automatically best besties?

[Chanel Ali]

No,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

no.

[Chanel Ali]

It was weird.

[Bowen Yang]

It wasn't weird. It was just like. Well, I. We knew of you, the other person, but we went to this show together and I think there was like a bit of a status mismatch where Matt felt like I had power over him.

[Chanel Ali]

He was in the comedy groups already at nyu and I wasn't as.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Are you not the same age or

[Bowen Yang]

you are the same age?

[Chanel Ali]

He's actually younger than me, but he.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

He.

[Bowen Yang]

We're the same year in college.

[Chanel Ali]

Yeah, we're the same year in college. But he had auditioned for the comedy groups the first year and got on the improv group. And I didn't audition until my. Well, that's cause you were a track star. Delayed. Yeah. So then by the time I was auditioning, he had already gotten in the group and we sort of knew each other a little bit. And then they cut me from the improv auditions, and I thought Bowen maybe

[Bowen Yang]

had a hand in that, and I didn't. And I.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Did you have a hand in cutting out Jenna Bush Hager and the Bobs? Maybe? Bowen did cut both of us, Matt.

[Chanel Ali]

But then the next day, the very next day, I made it onto the sketch group and then I. Suddenly I was his equal and he had a deal with it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Just like I was also cut. My whole award was cut out of the Los Colturistas Awards.

[Chanel Ali]

It's interesting. It's an interesting tactic you're doing, which is you asked us about us, and then you kind of keep bringing it back to your award.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'm like, it's actually why I'm here today. I'm hoping, like, have you already taped all of those? Those are all taped in the can.

[Chanel Ali]

Do you want to give an acceptance speech right now to your. There's your camera. By the way. I'm an expert at knowing where it is.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Well, I'd like to thank.

[Chanel Ali]

They gotta go. You're saying. Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

All right.

[Chanel Ali]

So do you want to take us out with your acceptance speech.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I'd really like to thank Bowen and Matt for the Today Show Excellence in the Morning Award. Is that the name of it?

[Chanel Ali]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

You got it.

[Chanel Ali]

Thank you. And now we're just gonna say, this was so fun.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I love y' all so much. I will come back whenever. And y' all both have to come back to the show.

[Chanel Ali]

We are coming. When are we?

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yes. And sometime in June for the Rascal

[Chanel Ali]

Joistus Awards, June 17th. We're gonna be there the day it comes out. So we're actually gonna get to be on the 9am hour and the 10am hour.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, that seems like. To confront us once. Matt was on gma and I got real mad at it.

[Bowen Yang]

I understand why it doesn't feel right.

[Chanel Ali]

I went on GMA once, and she goes, the.

[Bowen Yang]

Rival turf.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I didn't give a. I'm like, you are a host on this show.

[Chanel Ali]

It was before I was a host.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

No, it was.

[Chanel Ali]

No, because you want to know what then?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was not Jenna.

[Chanel Ali]

It wasn't.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was. There's. We can look up the archival. You had been the host once.

[Chanel Ali]

Let me tell you something. It was. I know what it was because I was filming a piece of content with you for Rockefeller Santa.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh, yeah.

[Chanel Ali]

And then I said. And then someone was something and they go, okay, we just have to go because he has to go to GMA. And then you were like, it wasn't even GMA.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was GMA3.

[Bowen Yang]

Holy GMA3.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

GMA3.

[Bowen Yang]

Thank you.

[Chanel Ali]

This has been a joy.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm obsessed with you, and I love

[Jenna Bush Hager]

you guys so much.

[Bowen Yang]

I'll be.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I can't wait for Kohella. You're coming.

[Chanel Ali]

We end. And by the way, watch. Watch the morning program today with Jenna and Chanel. And I mean, love you, love you. And we end every episode with a song. What was the theme song when I was guest hosting? Because now it's different.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I know. I can't remember.

[Chanel Ali]

What's the. What's the Today show theme? Do you remember?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, I listen to it every day, but YouTube idea. I got my own sunsh.

[Chanel Ali]

This is Today with Jenna and Friends,

[Jenna Bush Hager]

guest starring Matt Rogers. Comedian, podcast host Matt Rogers.

[Chanel Ali]

Bye Bye.

[Bowen Yang]

Las Culturistas is a production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and iHeartRadio podcasts,

[Chanel Ali]

created and hosted by Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, executive produced by Anna Hosnier and produced by Becca Ramos, edited and

[Bowen Yang]

mixed by Doug Behm.

[Chanel Ali]

And our music is by Henry Kabirsky.

[Bowen Yang]

Imagine never buying gas again. EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and perfect for everyday life.

[Chanel Ali]

Drive daily with confidence everywhere you go. Most Americans drive 40 miles a day. Did you know that most EVs are equipped with 200 to 400 miles of range?

[Bowen Yang]

Here's the thing. They've got fewer parts parts, fewer repairs and fewer headaches.

[Chanel Ali]

With hundreds of new and used EV models available today, there's an EV to fit every lifestyle in every budget. The way forward is electric. Learn [e-mail] hey guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

[Chanel Ali]

We created our own podcast called hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it.

[Bowen Yang]

We.

[Chanel Ali]

We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts.

[Bowen Yang]

Podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong

[Chanel Ali]

way to put it, but you know, tired and sick.

[Bowen Yang]

Tired and sick.

[Chanel Ali]

Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen.

[Bowen Yang]

We don't care where you hear it.

[Chanel Ali]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Bowen Yang]

Where does your group perform?

[Chanel Ali]

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of the Plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change.

[Bowen Yang]

We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You can have opinions, you can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to A Slight Change of plans on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.