“Overqualified” (w/ Becca Ramos AKA Producer Becca!)

Summary

Las Culturistas w/ Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Episode: “Overqualified” (w/ Becca Ramos AKA Producer Becca!)

Air Date: January 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode celebrates longtime Las Culturistas producer Becca Ramos as she steps into the spotlight as a guest, promoting the launch of her own podcast, Welcome to El Barrio. The conversation weaves together Becca’s journey from behind-the-scenes producer to public-facing host, her cultural diaspora as a Puerto Rican raised in Texas, reflections on pop culture, identity, and the powerful emotional terrain of coming into your own. It’s filled with laughter, vulnerability, and classic Culturistas energy, plus a candid roundtable on fashion, music obsession, cultural roots, and even New York City apartment hunting.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Becca Ramos’ Personal & Professional Journey

• Transitioning from producer to host is vulnerable but empowering for Becca.
  • “[Now] it’s my job to also be the face.” (07:17, Becca)
• Launching Welcome to El Barrio (trailer and pre-save available, launching Feb 3 on Michael Tura Network), Becca aims to bridge Puerto Rican stories across the island and diaspora.
• Her upbringing spans LA, Houston, and Portland; her parents are Puerto Rican from differing backgrounds—one island-raised, one NYC/LA—giving a unique diasporic experience.
  • “I kind of put my Texas life on a shelf sometimes.” (29:03, Becca)
  • “I want to achieve this big, grandiose life. I don’t know what that looks like, but I know I can’t do it here in Texas.” (29:43, Becca)

2. Pop Culture: Fashion, Beyoncé, and Merch Obsession

• The trio discusses fashion and their approaches to color, prints, and statement pieces (“You are the best dressed person, yeah, yeah. But you know that.” 07:38, Bowen).
• Beyoncé’s frequent reinventions—Renaissance (silver), Cowboy Carter (denim), and a predicted leather-clad rock era—spark a spirited talk about merch-buying impulses.
  • “Beyoncé’s the only [artist] that I’m like...I have to buy the merch.” (10:53, Becca)

3. Latino Cultural Identity & Diaspora

• Becca unpacks complexities of being Afro-Latina, often feeling not “enough” for either side—feeling “ugly” in Texas until moving elsewhere, and navigating language challenges as a non-fluent Spanish speaker.
• She recounts her mom fiercely defending her from being bullied for “not being Puerto Rican enough” at a quinceañera:
  • “Nobody will make fun of my child for not being Puerto Rican enough for not speaking Spanish...I can yell at everybody in Spanish because I speak both languages.” (92:36, Becca)
• The tension between island Puerto Ricans and diaspora is a recurring theme Becca wants to “bridge” on her new podcast (44:27, Becca).

4. Baylor University & Greek Life in Texas (18:07+)

• Becca's college experience at Baylor during a tumultuous period of scandal and “rape culture” shaped her worldview on whiteness, safety, assimilation, and survival as a POC.
• “I didn’t know I was hot until I left Texas.” (21:17, Becca)

5. Love, Dating, and Internalized Expectations

• Becca’s story of dating her (older, white) college TA highlights the challenges and awakenings around assimilation, family prejudice, and self-acceptance.
  • “It was like, the first moment that I was like, oh, it doesn’t matter how much I try to assimilate, I will never be enough...” (27:00, Becca)

6. Puerto Rico: Rediscovery and Creative Work (40:11+)

• Frequent trips to Puerto Rico for work and family have helped Becca heal and re-root in her culture, inspiring her podcast’s origin stories and connections to local creatives.
• “Now I have friends on the island. It doesn’t feel like I’m on vacation so much. It feels like I’m coming home.” (41:59, Becca)
• First podcast episodes are recorded in Puerto Rico, purposely centering the island’s voice.

7. Bad Bunny, Community, & Cultural Power

• Extended recollection of attending Bad Bunny’s Choli residency in Puerto Rico: inclusive production, affordable pricing for locals, real efforts to surge the local economy, and fostering a true party vibe.
  • “He really is for the culture and he’s outside.” (47:31, Becca)
• “Puerto Rico es una cama twin” – everyone knows everyone, and Becca shares how close she came professionally to influential people through a few degrees of separation.

8. Struggles with Language, ADHD, & Dyslexia (56:08+)

• Becca discusses the impact of late-diagnosed ADHD and dyslexia on language learning, and how this affects her confidence about speaking Spanish within her community.
• “I always struggled with critical reads, even though English is my favorite class...But now I’m looking back, I’m like, oh yeah, it was so prevalent, my issues.” (58:17, Becca)

9. Tumblr & Internet Culture Roots

• Becca’s teenage obsessions—Twilight, Hot Topic, and Tumblr—shaped much of her emo/alt-girl identity and early creative expression.
  • “When you open your Tumblr, you open your heart. That’s rule culture number 30.” (79:02, Bowen)

10. Apartment Hunting Hell in NYC

• In the “I Don’t Think So, Honey” segment, Becca vents about cutthroat real estate, deposits lost, unrealistic income requirements (“guarantor must make 100x rent”), dog prejudice, and last-minute scramble culture.
  • “It’s insane out here...They should put the market three months in advance.” (113:41, Becca)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Posterity & Identity:
  “I didn’t find out what Afro Latina meant until 2017. I was like, that’s me.” (23:10, Becca)

• On Cultural Belonging:
  “It doesn’t matter how much I try to assimilate; I will never be enough for these [white, wealthy] families.” (27:00, Becca)

• On Bad Bunny’s Commitment:
  “He really is outside, in the community, networking with real Puerto Ricans, and he is really doing the work.” (48:03, Becca)

• On Diaspora & Gentrification:
  “How do I not be a parasite to this community? How do I be a part of the good in this community?” (54:27, Becca)

• On Tumblr’s Power:
  “When you open your Tumblr, you open your heart.” (79:02, Bowen)

• On Language & Privilege:
  “People hold onto the language because it is so attached to your culture...now I have much more empathy to those who have given me a hard time.” (59:19, Becca)

• On Empowerment:
  “Selfishly, I’m just really grateful to be making a lot of new friends and meeting Puerto Ricans. They’re making me feel at home, like I have this extended family.” (95:01, Becca)

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Episode Timeline & Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Topic | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:34 | Start (post-ads), multiple liquid day, trending hydration facts | | 03:56 | Doxy-PEP, STIs, frank sexual health chat | | 05:06 | Welcoming Becca as a guest, her podcast announcement | | 07:17 | The anxiety & reality of “front-facing” promotion | | 08:35 | Sartorial style, fashion philosophy, color stories | | 10:07 | Beyoncé era/merch discussion, fast fashion | | 13:30 | Texas roots, Baylor, college experiences, assimilation | | 18:07 | Baylor’s football and Greek culture, safety, whiteness | | 21:17 | Discovering self-worth beyond Texas | | 27:00 | Dating, heartbreak, and never being “enough” for white families | | 29:03 | Putting Texas “on a shelf,” newfound cultural appreciation | | 40:11 | Puerto Rico trips & podcast origin, increasing connection | | 44:27 | Dynamics between island & diaspora Puerto Ricans | | 47:31 | Bad Bunny, community efforts, the “Choli” concerts | | 53:03 | Mom-daughter dynamics at Bad Bunny show, parent as full person | | 54:27 | Gentrification parallels, “being a part of the good” | | 56:08 | ADHD, dyslexia, and language learning challenges | | 71:32 | The culture that made Becca say “culture is for me”—Twilight | | 76:00 | Tumblr & mono-culture vs. algorithm, writing as outlet | | 101:13 | “I Don’t Think So, Honey” Segment | | 113:41 | Becca’s apartment-hunting woes | | 115:54 | Becca’s podcast promo—Welcome to El Barrio (Feb 3 debut) |

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Guest Details: Becca Ramos

• Podcast: Welcome to El Barrio, debuting Feb 3
• Premise: Bridging Puerto Rican culture and history between the island, diaspora, and specifically diasporicans in the U.S.; blending interviews, historical context, and personal “barrio” stories.
• First Episodes: Feature academics, writers, artists engaged in liberation & community work—Jorrell Melendez Barrío, Santiago Ortiz, and Mikey Cordero among others.

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Tone & Atmosphere

• Deeply honest and candid, with Culturistas’ signature quick wit and pop savvy.
• Reflective and empowering, centering on Becca’s learning, unlearning, and bridging the gaps in culture, language, and self-perception.
• Brimming with supportive energy from Matt and Bowen, who continually affirm Becca’s achievements and influence on their show.
• Occasional playfulness: pop culture debates, fashion/fandom confessions, and loving teasing about dogs and Tumblr days.

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Conclusion

This episode stands out for its emotional resonance, record of self-discovery, and the unobstructed joy of seeing a beloved collaborator realize her creative vision. Becca’s journey, from feeling “overqualified” but overlooked to self-empowered, offers a lens on what representation, cultural bridging, and personal healing can look like in a pop culture landscape. The episode is both a celebration and an invitation to look closer—in our families, our culture, and our own stories.

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Listen for:

• The launch of Welcome to El Barrio (Feb 3)
• Becca’s vulnerable “barrio” stories and those of her guests
• Smart, nuanced dives into Latinx pop, punk-emo Tumblr adolescence, and the messy heart of belonging—wherever home may be

Transcript

[Becca Ramos]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Bowen Yang]

That's another amazing run by Team USA. And you too can go for glory with the Xfinity five year price guarantee.

[Commercial Voice]

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[Matt Rogers]

This message is brought to you by Pizza Hut. Because if you're yelling Hut on Sundays, why not yell Pizza first?

[Bowen Yang]

That makes too much sense. Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has been challenging quarterbacks to say pizza before Hut during a televised game.

[Matt Rogers]

But now Pizza Hut is a reminder for the rest of us fans too. The big New Yorker with foldable slices.

[Bowen Yang]

Just like a true New York slice.

[Matt Rogers]

And right now, it's just 10 bucks.

[Bowen Yang]

So before that first hut, grab the big New Yorker and you're set for the whole game. For the first time ever, a truly beautiful medical breakthrough promises physical perfection. One shot makes you hot, but with terrifying consequences. In the new original series, FX is the Beauty. The glamorous world of supermodels turns deadly as mysterious deaths draw in FBI agents and a shadowy billionaire who will stop at nothing to to protect his empire from executive producer Ryan Murphy. FX is the Beauty. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers.

[Becca Ramos]

Look, man.

[Bowen Yang]

Where? Oh, I see my eye. Oh, my. Look over there. Wow.

[Matt Rogers]

Is that the culture? Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Goodness. Calling. You know what I just realized? It is for me, and I didn't understand it to be this type of day today, but it is. It's a multiple liquids day.

[Matt Rogers]

You are. You're a water sign. Classically. Oh, yeah, and the moon is new, babe.

[Bowen Yang]

I think the moon might be new right now, but by the time this episode is out, the moon could be old as fuck.

[Matt Rogers]

But I'm just saying, you are. You are filling yourself up to be dictated by the pole of the lunar pole.

[Bowen Yang]

Did you know that actually, when we drink water now, it hydrates us. Okay, let me be careful about this. So the water that we drink now is the hydration that we have in.

[Matt Rogers]

Three weeks, but the piss that we piss tonight is from the water that we drank today.

[Bowen Yang]

Correct. So when you piss later.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't understand this at all.

[Bowen Yang]

When you piss later, it will be water you've had recently. That's often why you'll find that you drink a lot of water and then like A short time later, we'll have to pee. That is that very water. But the hydration station is water you drank from a while back. You know who told me this? Doug Peek. Oh, well, our vocal go. The genius Doug Peck, who knows about hydration and quite frankly, drinking water. Also, room temp is best.

[Matt Rogers]

Now what do I do if it.

[Bowen Yang]

Burns a little when you pee?

[Matt Rogers]

Kidding.

[Bowen Yang]

When was your last sti? Oh, God.

[Matt Rogers]

We're going there at this point, we're gonna ask her a question. Our guest family. I'm gonna say the last time I got on, like, a doxy thing, because someone called, like, a few months ago.

[Bowen Yang]

Someone called and said, hey, girl.

[Matt Rogers]

Hey, girl. I'm so sorry.

[Bowen Yang]

I regret to inform.

[Matt Rogers]

I regret to inform you.

[Becca Ramos]

Respectful.

[Matt Rogers]

Respectful. So no. And he was. There was shame there. And I was like, you truly have no reason to be ashamed. Thank you for letting me know. And I'm gonna go get the doxy. So that was a few months ago, but then it was just the pill, and I've gotten the shot in the ass, and I'm like, oh, we're not joking around. What about you?

[Bowen Yang]

I've never taken doxy pep, which for everyone out there who doesn't know, for the. What we're gonna call the 99, the 98%, which is the women that listen to this doxy pep would be like a prophylactic for prophylact. Prophylactic.

[Matt Rogers]

The day after for your bacterial things.

[Bowen Yang]

Exactly.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Get them eliminated. Never taken that, but never had to. I just had one gnarly, gnarly STI back in the day. Like, a lot of people that I. A lot of sexually active people I talk to are like, yes, I have. It's not a big deal. I've gotten them a series of them, whatever. I've just had one nasty one. Syphilis.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, Sif is tough.

[Bowen Yang]

I was 26, and I got the pirate STI.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, I don't like that.

[Bowen Yang]

I said syphilis is like the pink of STIs. It has always been here, and it will always remain.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

It's ruler culture number 12.

[Matt Rogers]

Syphilis is like the pink of STI. Of STIs.

[Bowen Yang]

It has always been here, and it will always remain. Love pink.

[Matt Rogers]

Love pink. I love our guest.

[Bowen Yang]

You want to know why? She's family, Truly. And I feel like I love the joy of the readers. Katie's publicist finalists, and Kyle's whenever producer Becca joins the fray. And I feel as though this is an auspicious thing, because not only is our Beloved producer Becca Ramos joining us. But it is for a terrific reason, which is the launch of her very own podcast right here, and it's called welcome to El Barrio. It is out on February 3rd right here at iHeart. Right here at iHeart.

[Matt Rogers]

Big money.

[Becca Ramos]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, damn. If only. If only.

[Becca Ramos]

No, it's on the Michael Tura network.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay. It's on the Michael Tura network. And I've. I would just go ahead and say, can they hit pre subscribe? I don't know how podcasts work.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. When this episode comes out, the trailer will be out so you can save the show and come back next week.

[Bowen Yang]

Are you getting used to doing this? Like and subscribe.

[Becca Ramos]

Like and subscribe.

[Bowen Yang]

You covered your face, I think.

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, no.

[Bowen Yang]

So to.

[Matt Rogers]

No, no, no, no.

[Bowen Yang]

I just want to make sure.

[Becca Ramos]

Like and subscribe.

[Matt Rogers]

What a pro. We gotta bring her in. This is our beloved producer who's joined us on our benchmark episodes. Chimes in for very important reasons. Oh, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

She famously said every 30 seconds.

[Matt Rogers]

What was.

[Bowen Yang]

What did she say?

[Becca Ramos]

Ding and dong.

[Matt Rogers]

Ding and dong and dong for the iconic 400.

[Becca Ramos]

And then a chicha occasionally.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, the mother of chicha.

[Matt Rogers]

Mother of chicha, the amazing dog. She is the host, creator, producer of welcome to el Barrio out February 3rd. As we said, everyone please welcome Becca.

[Bowen Yang]

Becca Ramos, aka producer Becca. Now guest Becca.

[Becca Ramos]

This is crazy.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. What are you feeling?

[Becca Ramos]

It's like sit there usually and then now be here in the lights and the cameras and the action.

[Bowen Yang]

Right. Welcome to your public life.

[Becca Ramos]

No, it's scary. I posted my first front facing camera video yesterday in promotion of the show because I was like, oh, we're a little less than a month out. I probably should start posting about it. And it was well received, but it is nerve wracking. Now I have to not just hide behind everything like I normally do, making sure everything happens and goes smoothly. Now it's my job to also be the face.

[Bowen Yang]

You're the face.

[Matt Rogers]

You were never hiding behind. You were always pulling the levers.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. I'm strategically making everything happen. The man behind the curtain.

[Bowen Yang]

So speech.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Bowen Yang]

Also on any given day, you are the best dressed person. Yeah, yeah. But you know that.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, no, it's always nice to hear, though.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you identify as someone who has like or a sartorialist? Would you say you identify as someone with good fashion or your own fashion?

[Becca Ramos]

Both, but I would think good fashion.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Good.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, that's fine. I'll it.

[Becca Ramos]

Because I don't think I'm. I'm tacky. You know, I would never use that.

[Matt Rogers]

Word to describe you. What are the words that would describe the aesthetic?

[Becca Ramos]

Colorful.

[Matt Rogers]

I would say colorful.

[Becca Ramos]

I'm wearing brown, which is, like, not normally, but I would have color.

[Matt Rogers]

Brown's a color.

[Becca Ramos]

Brown's a color.

[Matt Rogers]

And you're full of the red and the brown and the black that I'm seeing picked up on the boots.

[Becca Ramos]

I'm normally. I think a monochrome look or a color block look is kind of my style. And, like, one print, maybe prints can.

[Bowen Yang]

Be deceiving because you might see that print and say, that's an interesting print. And then you find out when you wear the print, that print is not for you.

[Becca Ramos]

Absolutely. And I do have a couple pieces like that where I was like, ooh, you know what? It might be time to get rid of this.

[Matt Rogers]

Why do we hedge for so long on certain pieces? I have shit where I'm like, that should have been out years ago.

[Bowen Yang]

They should have left that on the rack.

[Becca Ramos]

I think it depends if, like, you bought it or if it was gifted to you. Cause sometimes I'll buy something, and it was a little more expensive than I probably would have wanted to pay for that. And then you bring it home and you're like, ah, I don't love it. But now you're like, well, I'm kind of stuck with it. It was at a thrift. I can't return it.

[Bowen Yang]

You know what, though? Those are the things you wear on the podcast. Because I feel like now that podcasts are a visual medium for real. Don't we know Foretold the prophecy was so foretold it's not even funny. But I do find that it's a good place to wear, like, your bold stuff.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I almost wore a really bold pant today.

[Matt Rogers]

Whoa.

[Becca Ramos]

But then I decided against it because I wanted to wear the vest. I bought this vest pretty recently at a thank you at a vintage shop upstate. And then I was like, I don't know how to wear this vest. And so, like, you just expressed. I was like, I will wear this vest on this podcast today.

[Bowen Yang]

I will wear this vest.

[Matt Rogers]

As you just expressed.

[Becca Ramos]

I was like, this needs to be worn, but I don't know how to wear it. And I went through so many iterations. And then I ultimately was like, okay, I'm just gonna do a monochrome. I don't want it to be boring.

[Bowen Yang]

So I wore the red, and you got a. You have an iconic neckerchief.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

So I wore a little gorgeous.

[Becca Ramos]

Specifically the Beyonce Levi's.

[Bowen Yang]

Is that what we're giving?

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

I bought it for Cowboy Carter, but also it is the one she wear in the commercial.

[Bowen Yang]

So this is dovetailing into another question, which is when an artist like Beyonce, who is the icon? Like, sort of like, we know we're gonna be in the midst of a new era, which is accompanied by a merch drop, how quickly do we. Bye. Yeah, I know the answer for you immediately.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm pretty immediate on it.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

I immediately bought the Cowboy Carter jacket.

[Bowen Yang]

Yep. You wore it to the show.

[Matt Rogers]

Still have the ashtray on the kitchen counter. It's a great jacket and various, you know, ribbed T shirts. So I'm very quick on it. Which isn't. It's good, but it's also not great. It's.

[Becca Ramos]

I am.

[Matt Rogers]

It's a form of fast fashion to me.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, and also, I. I hate to be someone who's like, yeah, I'm wearing the merch. But with Beyonce, I am that person like no other artist, and I love lots of artists, and I love going to shows, but Beyonce's the only one that I'm like, and I have to buy the merch.

[Bowen Yang]

No, no, no, no, no. See, that's the thing is, it's like, I'll get militant very quickly about supporting when the rock album is. When the topic is not just something that's floating around. I'm very excited to have a rock era.

[Becca Ramos]

I'm very excited. I'm very intrigued. I can't wait to revisit Lemonade to re. Enter the rock era.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

Cause that's where we got a first taste.

[Bowen Yang]

Don't hurt yourself.

[Matt Rogers]

Don't hurt yourself. Do we think the motif. So if Renaissance was, like, silver and metallic.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Kelber Carter was denim. Yes. Do we think rock is gonna be leather?

[Becca Ramos]

I feel like it has to be.

[Matt Rogers]

So you better stock up on the leather now. All of you. All of you. I'm talking.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, she's been hinting, but I will say, actually, Beyonce's first rock moment. This is a performance. This is one of her best live performance. No, well, obviously that. Obviously that. But I feel like when she explicitly, like, in a. In her own individual way, was like, I'm gonna do a rock song. Do you remember when she performed if I were a boy and did a medley with you ought to know? Wow. So she came out and she did. It was if I were a boy, which, by the way, it's not a Beyonce song that everyone talks about.

[Becca Ramos]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

But I do think it's one of my favorites and it's one of her number one hits.

[Becca Ramos]

I. I would concur with that. She also made it in Spanish.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, she certainly did. She did.

[Becca Ramos]

I used to listen to it in Spanish just because my Spanish is really bad. And in college when I was taking Spanish, I would listen to, like, all these songs that Beyonce would flip.

[Bowen Yang]

Like the irreplaceable Spanish version.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes. Specifically, when an artist does. That gives you bilingual.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

It doesn't have to be my own thing. There's a name. Gentle Whispering Maria. She does English videos. She does Russian videos sometimes. I always watch the Russian shit first. I'm like, give me that. But with Beyonce, with the Spanish thing, like, I guess, like, we haven't really. And I think it's okay that we haven't really, like, zeroed in on that. But it's like, that was a great risky, I guess, quote, unquote, not risky, but, like, I think she knew her.

[Becca Ramos]

Audience because she's from Texas.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

So there is, like. I think she has an homage to Selena.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

I think there's a lot of overlap in the, like, Tejano community with her especially. Cause she comes from Houston. The rodeo. The rodeo famously has lots of Tejano artists. That's where Selena also got her big break was at the rodeo, weirdly. Also Bruno Mars and lots of other.

[Bowen Yang]

People I met at Bruno Mars if.

[Becca Ramos]

It was his big break. But I definitely saw him at the rodeo Garage.

[Bowen Yang]

Roots in the rodeo.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes, Lots of roots in the rodeo. A lot of black and brown artists have roots in the Houston Live Stock Show Rodeo. So I do think if you are from the south and you're, like, trying to figure out different avenues to break. I did notice a lot of artists will do a couple country or not country. Sorry, Excuse me. Do a couple Spanish songs. Cause Casey Musgrave covered Como La Flor.

[Bowen Yang]

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

[Becca Ramos]

It is like a weird bridge.

[Bowen Yang]

Is Casey Musgraves from Texas?

[Becca Ramos]

She is. She's from Golden, Texas.

[Bowen Yang]

She's from Golden, Texas.

[Becca Ramos]

I just read this because, you know, I don't know if, you know, A24 has, like, two books about two states specifically. One for Florida and. And one for Texas. I bought myself with my, like, a 24 membership discount. Whatever. The Texas book. Cause I was like, well, I'm a girl from Texas. I gotta buy this book. And I was flipping through. Casey Musgraves does the pro. What's it called? The Prologue.

[Bowen Yang]

The Pro.

[Matt Rogers]

The Forward.

[Becca Ramos]

The Forward.

[Matt Rogers]

The Forward, Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Kacey Musgraves does the Forward. And it's really beautiful. She does, like, her little homage to coming from such a small town, Texas. Cause she is. She's from like central, middle of nowhere Texas. Golden Texas is like, I think. Don't quote me on this. West Texas.

[Bowen Yang]

Like west.

[Becca Ramos]

Like central West. Like, I think west of Waco. And I should know, I went to Baylor. But yeah, small town.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Speaking of Texas, what is the biography there for you? Give us. Give us the. Give us. Becca Ramos Diaspora Life so I was.

[Becca Ramos]

Born in Los Angeles, California, believe it or not. My parents are both Puerto Rican, but from different ways of life. My mom grew up in Puerto Rico. She was born and raised on the island. My mom's mom is Nuyorican. She was born in New York, moved to Puerto Rico, had kids in Puerto Rico. So my mom has a more traditional Puerto Rican diasporic experience. And then my dad, he was born here in Brooklyn, but then moved to California when he was very little. And he's like a Valley kid. He sounds like John Stamos. And he has a very strong LA accent, which is probably why I don't have much of a Southern accent between my two parents. But they end up in Texas, both of them, when they're like in their early 20s and meet via their families. And they both where in Texas? In Houston.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, great.

[Becca Ramos]

And they bond over their hatred of living there. And so they get married and they move back to California. They're like, fuck this, we don't wanna be in Texas. Our families can figure it out without us. And they go back and they have my brother and I in California. And then life just got too expensive, too hard. My parents went to college in their 30s, so they didn't have like a traditional, like career path or income. And so they're like, well, maybe in Texas it's cheaper. Our parents are still in Texas. We can figure it out in Texas. So then they move us when I was 2 to Texas. And then I grew up in Texas and I stayed there. I've been in Houston the whole time. Ended up at Baylor. And then I lived in Dallas for a stint. I like, dabbled in Austin. And then I ultimately, when I graduated, landed an internship at a big ad agency in Portland, Oregon. But I was like, love Portlandia. I was like, see ya.

[Bowen Yang]

See ya.

[Becca Ramos]

Let me see.

[Bowen Yang]

Because you saw in Portlandia, we're a new world.

[Becca Ramos]

It's where young people go to retire.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally.

[Becca Ramos]

So I was like, I'm a young person who wants to like, have a chill life. So I moved to Portland. I enjoyed it. It Was a cute little stint.

[Bowen Yang]

Did you smoke a lot of reefer?

[Becca Ramos]

It was my first time.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, I had smoked a couple times in college, but I was such a goody two shoes.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I was totally afraid.

[Bowen Yang]

I think that's kind of both of us, too. We were late to the game.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, you have immigrant parents. I have very brown parents. They were like fear of God in me. Like, if you do anything wrong, you'll die. So I was. And then I went to a private Baptist college, which. Not to say there weren't. There are plenty of drugs. Like rich kids doing cocaine everywhere.

[Bowen Yang]

Rich religion. People find ways to do drugs no matter what their access or. Yeah, yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, it was a dry campus. We were technically not allowed to drink. You could get expelled for being drunk on campus, even if you were of age.

[Bowen Yang]

And does that make you want it more and seek it out more?

[Becca Ramos]

I was in a sorority. I, like, did the whole thing. I was, like, rural, like, Southern girl. Like, I was a Zeta. Like, I was in a white sorority, and I lived, like, in a sorority house off campus. And I feel like if you were in the Greek life, you partied hard. Like, that was just. I was typically the dd, because I. Or not Dee Dee, but I was at least the one who hit a little. Damn it.

[Bowen Yang]

Because.

[Becca Ramos]

And not to get too dark, but when I went to Baylor, it was kind of like a scary time to be a girl at Baylor. There was a lot of rape culture at Baylor. Like, a lot of, like, what year was this? 20. I was there. 2013 to 2017. Okay, so this is like, peak Art Briles gets fired because. And this is when Baylor's at their peak for football. Right.

[Bowen Yang]

Got it.

[Becca Ramos]

So people in the. Like, in the conversation. Before I went to Baylor in 2013, it was like the Branch Davidian. Like, that. Like Colts that did the mass murder.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

After I started going to Baylor, it was like football. We became a football school. Like, we were, like, this underdog that became a big football.

[Matt Rogers]

Football filled the vacuum of Branch Davidian. Yes. That's.

[Becca Ramos]

It was crazy because people would be like, you go to Baylor Waco, where that, like, cultists. And then it became like, oh, Baylor Bears football. It became a big deal. And while I was there, though, it was like. While Baylor was, like, scoring high in football, it was also like, we're covering up all the football players, raping people. So then it became this big thing. Like, by the time I graduated, our Bryles got fired. They fired our president, who was the lawyer against Bill Clinton. Monica Lewinsky he's the one who convinced, like, whatever was defending Bill Clinton. He was our president at the university.

[Matt Rogers]

And he got fired.

[Becca Ramos]

He gets fired for covering up the assaults happening on campus.

[Bowen Yang]

There you go.

[Becca Ramos]

And then they still let him do our commencement speech, which is crazy. He was disgraced president. They fired him while I was there and then brought him back to do our commencement speech. Crazy. But all that to say the culture at Baylor was wild at that time. Like, you're thinking Trump got elected?

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

You know, like, the assault culture was at its peak. They're, like, doing. They're teaching us as the sorority girls. They would have us do these seminars. They were like, yeah, just make sure you're, like, not too drunk. And, like, don't wear short skirts and, like, be better. And then it's like, what are you telling the guys?

[Bowen Yang]

That's crazy. Right, right, right, right, right. So. Because do you think that's an assumption that they just won't change? Boys will be boys 100%.

[Becca Ramos]

And they were, like, definitely taking fraternities off campus. Cause it was, like, in tandem, as these football players were being covered up. These frats were getting really rowdy, and they were getting flagged by nationals to be like, hey, this chapter hazing is really bad. This chapter's Hazing's really bad. So I was at a time in the Greek culture, especially, like, what that X movie was out, whatever. The party movie.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh. Oh, sure. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

So I feel like that's, like, where the culture was, like, they were. Baylor was, like, trying to compete with UT to be, like, the big party school.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. That was, like. It almost felt achievement based to be the biggest party, the rowdiest.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. And it's like, lol. You're a private Baptist college in the middle of nowhere, Texas. But they. They were partying, you know, it wasn't nothing. It wasn't that small, you know, and.

[Bowen Yang]

So you're making a DD choice. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

So I was, like, not always, like, sober by any means, but I definitely was, like, keeping an eye on my girls. I was like, especially. Cause one second not to get too dark. Being a brown girl at a very white university. I'm undesirable. I didn't know I was hot until I left Texas.

[Matt Rogers]

Back up.

[Becca Ramos]

I truly was like, I'm ugly. Like, no one likes me.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, my God.

[Becca Ramos]

And then I moved to Portland, Oregon, of all places. And then I was like, oh, I wasn't ugly. I was just ugly for, like, a private Baptist university in the middle of nowhere, Texas.

[Matt Rogers]

So where everyone looks the Same.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. So I was protecting my gorals. And my girls were white mostly. And so, you know, I would see them, I'm like swatting them off my best friend. Cause she's like peak beautiful, like brown, long, luscious, gorgeous hair. Like teeny, meany little thing. Love her to death. She's still my best friend, but the men flock to her, you know. And so I'm just like standing down, only two drinks in being like, do not put anything in her drink or I will take you down.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. And so you're seeing attention being given in a new way. You're looking at it from the outside and therefore can see it the most clearly.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes, exactly. So I had like fun at my house. Like I live in a house of like five sorority girls. So we party and it was community.

[Bowen Yang]

It was, it was a good experience.

[Becca Ramos]

I had a great, like Greek life experience. Even though there was obviously like mean girls bullying, like, whatever. You're gonna have that at any school age of 18 to 22 year olds, you know.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally.

[Becca Ramos]

But I ended up building a really strong community of like girlfriends. I'm still best friends with two of the girls I lived with in college. They're still my girls to this day. And I think had I gone to somewhere like ut, it actually would have been worse. Cause the Greek life, I think, is more toxic at other public universities. I think Baylor, cause of the religious aspect, it actually was way more tame for the sororities. Not for the fraternities, but for the sororities. So, yeah, it was not the most pleasant experience. But it's a story.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah. But just on an environmental level, like, of course that starts to be pernicious. And you start to think these. You start to live in the system of the whiteness of it all.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

You're like, I obviously didn't have the language we all have now with assimilation, learning what it means to be a person of color, all these things, these were not conversations we were having in 2013 through 2017. I didn't find out what Afro Latina meant until 2017. I was like, that's me. I just was like, I'm Puerto Rican. And then people would be like, you're black? And I'd be like, well, no. And then now I'm like, yes. But then I didn't have that language. So at that time I was just like, well, if I'm just the best at everything, I'll be accepted surely.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Becca Ramos]

I was on the executive council of my sorority. I was a dean's list student. I Mean, I went to a private Baptist college. I was like, if I just. If I'm good enough, they'll like me. And then I dated this guy in college though. This. He was five years older than me, which was already a problem in and of itself. You know, if you're 20, don't date a 25 year old.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh God. And also certainly no one older than that either. You don't know what's weird until you.

[Becca Ramos]

Don'T know what's weird til you're out.

[Bowen Yang]

Of it until after the fact.

[Becca Ramos]

And so he was my T.A. so already bad.

[Bowen Yang]

Were you attracted to the fact that it felt like a hierarchy?

[Matt Rogers]

100%.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, I. Cause all semester when he was my TA, I thought we were flirting, but I took it as like, tee hee hee. This is so fun. This is like a fantasy. This is like heated rivalry.

[Bowen Yang]

It's a thing I'm not really supposed to be doing. You watched something horny about it. That's right.

[Matt Rogers]

Exactly. You watched Heated Rivalry back in the day.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

You knew it would happen.

[Becca Ramos]

I knew what it was.

[Bowen Yang]

You knew what would happen.

[Becca Ramos]

It was fantasy to me. Right. Like when I would go and I would go back to my girlfriends, I'd be like, oh my God, no, I think he's flirting with me. And then I got really drunk in the summer with one of my friends. Cause I stayed in Waco for that summer. Cause I was interning or something and I got really drunk and I added him on Facebook. Cause that's the time we were living in Instagram was not like that. But I like found his name, his full name, and I added him on Facebook. And then he messaged me asking to take me out because I was no longer his student anymore. And so he was like, well, we can like go on a date. And then we went on a date. And the next thing you know, we dated for like almost three years. Wow. I dated from like 2020 to 23 till I moved to Portland. And then like it kind of fizzled out from when I was living in Portland, the long distance, many of the things. But I sell this to say as we were dating my senior year, he is a grad student, he is older. I had to get a fake idea to go out with him. Cause he was embarrassed to take me out. Like, should have known this. The writing was on the box.

[Bowen Yang]

Lots of things that you ignore when you are just sexually attracted to someone and assuming a lot about that. He's gonna take care of me. Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And so we're out one night and he was like, oh, well, you know, my family doesn't love you. And I was like, huh? I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I've met your family. I've gone to Virginia to meet them. This is before get out came out. Which is related. Yes, very much so. He's like, east coast, family of lawyers. Dad went to Georgetown. Like, old money, esteemless, probably.

[Bowen Yang]

He was Epstein List white.

[Becca Ramos]

So to me, I was like, this was also exciting. Cause I was like, oh, he's like, elite. He's like. He's special. You know, I'm just a bumpkin from Houston, Texas. He's, like, from the East Coast. So she knows culture, and so she.

[Matt Rogers]

Graded my papers or whatever.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Literally. And so I actually. He was a geology ta, which is like, I had to take one last geology ta.

[Matt Rogers]

He brought in the rocks. Who fucking cares?

[Becca Ramos]

Literally. And so. But we're out.

[Bowen Yang]

And he's like, make sure there's no dirt on this one. To all the geology TAs out there. I'm gonna sit in the corner now.

[Matt Rogers]

We love you geology tas.

[Bowen Yang]

We respect you geologists.

[Becca Ramos]

We respect you scientists. Just not for me. No, but. And I was like, what do you mean your family doesn't like me? He's like, well, you're just not like, a rich, white D1 athlete. And he said this to my face. And then he was just like. And it was nagging. Of course, now we have this language. We have therapy language.

[Bowen Yang]

Now we have all these words we can overuse.

[Becca Ramos]

But at that time, I was like. And it was like, the first moment that I was like, oh, it doesn't matter how much I try to assimilate, I will never be enough, like, for these, like, I can be the best I got. At that time, I had already landed my job at the ad agency, which is the number one ad agency in the industry. Like, I was like. I was the best of the best of the best in every category. And it was not enough for this family because, simply, I did not come from money, and I was not white.

[Bowen Yang]

Do you think it never would have been enough even if they did spend a lot of time with you?

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. I don't think it would have ever been enough, because I remember so distinctly his mom came into town for something, like, for work. And my mom happened to also come in town. And I was like, oh, we should get dinner. And so our parents or our moms met. And I remember feeling so, at that time, uncomfortable with how loud my mom was and how much of a, like, Puerto Rican woman she was. And it was because I was, like, shrinking myself to fit into this space that was so clearly not meant for me. And now I look back, feeling so sad that I even ever felt that way looking at my mom. But I know where it came from, because it was just like, it was so clear, the writing on the wall, that I was just never gonna be accepted by this person. And I think if I had wroten it out, we would have gotten married and divorced. Like, I do think had I not moved to Portland, I would be married and divorced by now.

[Matt Rogers]

And your whole relationship to what I think we might be getting at, like, on. On, like, the pathway to you starting this podcast is like, you probably developed a very wonderful sense of, quote unquote, like, what the lineage is, right? And like, how you had both of your parents are also diaspora Puerto Ricans who then went like, you know, who now, like. And now you go back and, like, you revisit and you have this beautiful appreciation and this, like, connection to it. Like, you got to root yourself in that.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

After this fucking, like, this thing, crazy.

[Becca Ramos]

To think about my past life in Texas. Cause now I've lived outside of Texas for almost a decade. I moved to Portland in 2017. So I was in Portland for, like, three years, and I've been here for six. So I've been almost out of Texas for a decade. But it's like, I kind of put my Texas life on a shelf sometimes. I feel like after Cowboy Carter came out, it was like, the first time I was like, okay, it's okay for me to be Texas. Like, I have.

[Bowen Yang]

I was wondering how connected you are to Texas.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, I was very traumatized, I think, from my upbringing. And now I've had enough distance, and I've lived out of Texas long enough that I can have a deep appreciation for the beautiful parts of my upbringing. But I'm still never going back.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Becca Ramos]

You know, it's something. I'm trying to get my parents out of there. And they've even looked at me. I think when I first moved, they were very sad. And they were like, of course. Like, we wish you could just get a job here. But I always knew, even from when I was little, something in me, I was like, I'm not meant to be here. I'm meant for bigger and better things. I want to achieve this big, grandiose life. I don't know what that looks like, but I know I can't do it here in Texas. And I think those first few years, they were like, come home. But then When I moved to New York, they were actually like, stay there. They're like, you're happy. You seem like this is where you're meant to be.

[Matt Rogers]

And they have roots here.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. My mom is. She loves New York. She loves visiting. She grew up in her summers here in New York. My grandmother was born in Spanish Harlem and grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx. We have family in the Bronx. We have family in Spanish Harlem. So my mom spent summers in New York because she would go visit her grandmother who still lived in New York. But my dad has no connection to New York. He is very, like. He is a California dude.

[Matt Rogers]

He loves LA.

[Bowen Yang]

So funny. Mrs. LA opposite's truly attractive.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. He's like, please take me back. If you could pay if you make enough money, Becca, please retire us in la. And I'm like, I hope so.

[Bowen Yang]

We will get there. I think people with the right idea think of, like, California as a retirement estate. My parents are in Florida. And it's tough.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. Cause it's like. It's like you're like, oh, it's so warm and sunny and Disney's right there. But then it's like, oh, please.

[Bowen Yang]

The Disney of it all fades right away when you realize that is not.

[Matt Rogers]

The snake, it's Hershey.

[Becca Ramos]

Because I know you love Disney, but does your family, Are they Disney?

[Bowen Yang]

The reason that we loved Disney is because we were. That was the. At the time, a 4 vacation. No. No.

[Becca Ramos]

Cause my family's a Disney family, too. And that was, like, the only vacation. It is.

[Matt Rogers]

Because then.

[Bowen Yang]

So now it's not affordable. They're very bald about it being about the bottom line. And it's almost better for them to just be honest about it than put, like, a Disney Mickey smile on it.

[Becca Ramos]

Absolutely.

[Bowen Yang]

And take all the money from the families. But this was not how it was back in the day. The reason why we were going down there so much, and I think one of the reasons why my sister went to college in Florida is because we had, like, an experience going there once a year. And it was, of course, a warm state. It didn't have the political reputation that it has now. It didn't have sort of.

[Becca Ramos]

We weren't thinking about it like that back then.

[Bowen Yang]

No, it wasn't like that. And also, we were young and, like, I was just excited to go on vacation because we couldn't afford, like, probably similarly to you. Like, it was not. We weren't going anywhere fancy.

[Becca Ramos]

No. And, like, basically we. Cause I grew up fairly poor up until, like, I was in middle school. Cause My mom was a stay at home mom up until I was like 7 and she finished her degree while I was like, while she was a stay at home mom. And I went to her college graduation in second grade, I think. And it was after that, it was like a huge change because then my parents became a two income household and my mom became a teacher. And all of a sudden, by the time I got to high school, like freshman year, we started to like get to go to Disney and go on vacation. But my dad is. He's a very particular person and he likes only certain things in certain ways. And so the only vacation he's willing to go to is Disney.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

So then we just became a Disney family because it's like the only place my dad was willing to travel to.

[Matt Rogers]

What are the things, the particulars about Disney that were crazy?

[Becca Ramos]

I think it's because it's so Americana. You know, My dad and my mom are very different. Diasporican, Puerto Ricans. Like, my dad is like, he's like, I'm an American. I grew up in California. I love hot dogs and pizza and burgers. He's like, I'm proud to be an American. Whereas like my mom, I think she is more enriched in the culture. Cause she actually grew up on the island. But I say all that to say when we're at Disney. I think he likes the Americana of it all. I think he likes that it's like. And it's like he doesn't have to.

[Matt Rogers]

Think it's huge part of it, Main street usa.

[Becca Ramos]

And he doesn't have to think you go and you just, you eat the food, you go on the rides. There's no planning. I mean, it's just like, you just show up and everything's done for you. It's the Disney way, the magic. And I think he likes that.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Or at least it was the way.

[Becca Ramos]

It was the way I know we went last year.

[Bowen Yang]

Anyways, you need like the app and you need like all this.

[Becca Ramos]

It's so much.

[Bowen Yang]

You have to plan for months in order to enjoy.

[Becca Ramos]

And my mom is shout out, if you want a Disney vacation, hire my mom. She does do like.

[Bowen Yang]

Does she really?

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, so we could jam out about this.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. No, absolutely. She does all the bookings and stuff. My mom's booked all our trips. But she also is like an official, like Disney vacation planner. She retired as a teacher and then became like a little Disney vacation planner.

[Bowen Yang]

That's really fun.

[Becca Ramos]

So. And she loves it.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a great.

[Becca Ramos]

Cause she gets discounts to go to Disney.

[Bowen Yang]

Totally. And like people call up and they're excited about having their vacation. And the fact is it is overwhelming and difficult to navigate.

[Becca Ramos]

And she loves doing that. She loves a plan. She's very organized, type a kind of woman.

[Matt Rogers]

So back to your mom though. And about like you feeling embarrassed that you know about her volume.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

This reminds me of this thing someone said. I forget who, but it was like they were talking about like the way people talk about movies and TV and just culture nowadays where like I didn't like it. Cause the characters are unlikable. And then it's this thing where it's like the thing you don't like is usually the point.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

And like the thing that we feel shame about with particularly parents. Because I'm relating to this on some level. Like the things that I would be very embarrassed about. Like and you would just have this embarrassment because of white supremacy or whatever. Or just living in America. Like I'd be embarrassed about the food that I would bring to school or something like that. Now I'm realizing that's that's the reason the food is like the reasons for being ashamed of like the way our parents behaved or the way like our culture gets brought into these places is the point. That's the great thing.

[Becca Ramos]

That's the beauty of where you come from. Because then you're not like everybody else. And there's. I think it takes like growing up to realize that. I think when you're supposed to be.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

When you're young, you're like, oh my God. I just desperately don't want to be perceived in a way you're like, I want to fit. Especially when you already look at a place. Right. Like I don't look like any of the other kids. I also have the experience that many Puerto Ricans have where your family just all doesn't look the same. Because we're from an island that's like so mixed. Like my dad is like very white Puerto Rican and my mom is much more dark skinned. But like I am like Afro Latina. I don't look like either of my parents. At least when I was growing up. My hair was much curlier. My hair is like jet black. I was always darker. I am shades lighter than I grew up. Because in Texas the sun's always out.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. So I was very dark when I lived in Texas, like my whole life because the sun was always out. So I just looked not like my family. So I think that was like already a problem like people used to. Which is so fucked up. My mom used to tell me this as like, ahaha. And then you think about it, you're like, wow, that's like really messed up. But people used to stop my mom and be like, so is Becca's dad the same as your son's dad? Because my brother and I are only a year and a half apart, but he and I look very different. He's got like light brown hair. He's much more fair than I am. And yeah, people used to ask my mom all the time when we were kids if we had the same dad. And mom's like, they're a year and a half apart. You think I'm crazy. You think I'm just stepping out on my husband like that eight months postpartum.

[Bowen Yang]

The comfort that people had asking her, that is. Yeah, that's. That's very telling.

[Matt Rogers]

Wild.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Bowen Yang]

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The all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is more than just another suv. It's still the Palisade, but with so much more.

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[Matt Rogers]

You just got back from Puerto Rico recording these first episodes of the podcast. What was that like?

[Becca Ramos]

It was so much fun. It was actually kind of an interesting experience because this year, if you had asked me before 2024 if I would go to Puerto Rico five times in a year, I would have been like, no way. I would never have the privilege to be able to do. But in 2025, I went four times.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

Or three times. Three or four.

[Commercial Voice]

Four.

[Becca Ramos]

Three.

[Matt Rogers]

We're seeing three.

[Becca Ramos]

This is my fourth time.

[Matt Rogers]

Maybe the pinky went up.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Cause we went for my birthday three plus times. We went for my 30th birthday, which was a lot of fun. And then we went for my partner's birthday in July. And then I had a good friend that was like, I'm selling my Bad Bunny tickets. Do you want them?

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, fuck.

[Becca Ramos]

And I was like. And it was like, well, we're literally in Puerto Rico right now. Do we book a trip to be back in three weeks? We did. And we came.

[Matt Rogers]

It was August. It was August.

[Becca Ramos]

It was the first weekend of the non local residency. Cause we ended up there the first weekend of the local residency. Not cause we had tickets. Cause we just wanted to come for my partner's birthday. And then we tried to get tickets and we couldn't get them. And Then at the same time my friend's like, I can't make my trip. I'm gonna sell my tickets. But obviously I wanted to talk to you first. And I was like, yeah, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm gonna buy those tickets. And so I brought my mom for that last trip. So I went three times and then I just went this past week in January 2026. So four times in less than a year. I would have never thought in my lifetime that I'd be able to frequent the island like that. It's been such a beautiful healing experience to like go to Puerto Rico to network, to build community. I now have friends on the island that and I can see and it doesn't feel like I'm on vacation so much. It feels like I'm coming home.

[Bowen Yang]

It feels like a professional purpose too.

[Matt Rogers]

Throughout the seasons, even though it's like this temperate thing all year. But yes, yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And this is my first time going in the winter, which was very interesting cause it definitely is colder than you think.

[Matt Rogers]

It's rainy.

[Becca Ramos]

It's rainy. There are these things called sand fleas which I experienced when I went in March many, many moons ago when I was in college. But I didn't experience in them all summer. So I'm thinking, I'm putting my thinking cap on. Puerto Ricans. Let me know. Are the sand fleas worse in the winter? Because I am like eating.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

You're like.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, yeah, it's buffet bad.

[Becca Ramos]

It looks like I have chickenpox.

[Bowen Yang]

So did you prepare at all for this or were you unawares?

[Becca Ramos]

I did not anticipate that at all. I was like doing a photo shoot on the beach and they literally. I didn't even get in the water or like sit on the sand. They were jumping from the sand to bite me.

[Matt Rogers]

Fuck yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, do you identify as someone that. And a lot of people do identify as this someone that mosquitoes love. Like some people are like you do.

[Becca Ramos]

I do identify as someone that mosquitoes.

[Bowen Yang]

See, I've been lucky about this. I have this privilege.

[Matt Rogers]

What's your blood type?

[Bowen Yang]

I don't seem to bite you.

[Becca Ramos]

I was gonna ask you type.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, O. O. I'm O. That's weird then.

[Matt Rogers]

Mosquitoes should love you.

[Bowen Yang]

Is that a thing?

[Matt Rogers]

That's been something. My mom has always said that too.

[Becca Ramos]

Maybe it's an old wives tale.

[Bowen Yang]

Positive.

[Becca Ramos]

I think I'm oneg.

[Matt Rogers]

Onag. I'm oneg.

[Becca Ramos]

Maybe it's oneg.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay, so what is it? Is it you guys are the universal Donors, or am I? Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, nag.

[Bowen Yang]

I think I'm a universal receiver.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, I was gonna say you're a universal receiver.

[Bowen Yang]

Any old person can make a deposit.

[Becca Ramos]

But, yes, we're universal donors. But I do think there is something about it. But the samples are. It doesn't matter who you are. Everyone got. Sam, please.

[Matt Rogers]

Doesn't matter who you are.

[Bowen Yang]

They will eat L H I m. But. But you're.

[Matt Rogers]

This is beautiful. Because you're going for work.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Matt Rogers]

You're going for personal occasions of, like, it's my birthday. It's my partner's birthday. And then before we ask you the question, like, talk about the experience of going to, like, these. These. These shows. Because this album, wtrmos photos is like, oh, my God. Historic gargantuan culture changing album. Like, the best.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, you know, so I was there in July, which was, like, the p. It was, like, the beginning of the tour. And the energy in the island was, like, electric, because it was the beginning of the tour for the residents who live in Puerto Rico. It was before the tours. And a lot of people did ask us. They're like, are you here, like, snagging tickets from locals? And we're like, no, we came because we were.

[Bowen Yang]

I never thought of that.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. So this is something that I'm gonna tackle in the show. But it is. There's a lot of tension between Puerto Ricans that are from the island who live on the island, and those of us who live here in the states because there are socioeconomic struggles between the two cultural divides. Like, it's purposeful the way the government has divided the communities. And I am hoping with the show to kind of bridge that. But I come up on that every time I show up. I am trying to be like, no, look, I might be from the states, but I am, like, here in liberation of Puerto Rico to love and care for this island and to respect you, those who are here because it is hard to live in Puerto Rico. And they were very excited in the summer. I feel like in the summer, people were, like, so jazzed about the tour and about what was going on on the island. Because Bet Bunny did have, like, a lot of stuff for locals to be able to do. Like, he was not only, like, surging the economy, but he did, like, have all these events. Like, he did, like, an art gallery at the Museum of fine Art, like, of, like, this Adidas collection that he did of all these shoes he's designed for Adidas, like, archival ones that have never seen the light of day. He, like, did this exhibit he did like in the plaza at El Choli is like the concert hall in Puerto Rico that he performed at. But in the plaza, you didn't have to have tickets to go and experience stuff outside. So there was food and drink and gift bags and photo ops and so you could enjoy the show if you couldn't get tickets to the show. And then they would give away tickets every night. If you waited in line, there were a handful of tickets for those who weren't able to get them to get tickets. So. So he was doing a lot for the people of Puerto Rico, which is like, I don't think people realize, like, yes, it's capitalism. Yes, it looks good for him to be so for Puerto Rico. But I'm like, he really is doing that. He is for the culture and he's outside. One thing I've learned coming back and forth between Puerto Rico, what's the expression? Can you tell me? My partner's in the room.

[Bowen Yang]

Puerto Rico is a twin size devil.

[Becca Ramos]

But how do you say it in Spanish?

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico.

[Becca Ramos]

Soona cama twin. Which means everybody's. Everybody's in bed with everybody. I have, like, and I'm not.

[Bowen Yang]

It's Bad Bunny vibes.

[Becca Ramos]

Exactly. I have not been in bed because I am loyally monogamous.

[Matt Rogers]

But so what did you say? You said Bad Bunny is. Is out.

[Becca Ramos]

He's outside. Everybody knows each other. Like, what I've learned going back and forth between Puerto Rico so many times this year is like every, like, it is a small island. Like, it's a powerful. There's like brujari or something happening that, like, we're able to like, amass such a following and, like, have community in so many places and, like, be such a loud voice in such a small place. But everybody does know. Everybody like it. Truly, I am like, 1 degree separation from Bad Bunny on, like, multiple accounts. Like my designer for the show art, which hopefully I'll be able to release this coming week. Well, obviously by the time this episode comes out, the show art will be out. But I'm working with Nane, who did the choli residency art for Bad Bunny.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

My good friend who's gonna be the first episode of the show, Jorrell Melendez Barrio and his wife Aurora Santiago Ortiz. They worked with Bad Bunny to do the visualizers for his album.

[Matt Rogers]

And they're academics.

[Becca Ramos]

They're academics. So cool. I am good friends with somebody whose cousin is like, one of Bad Bunny's main directors. And now we're in contact. We're chatting. So it's like. It's crazy. Like, he really is for the people. I say all this to say he's outside. He's outside in the community networking with real Puerto Ricans, and he is really doing the work.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, the residency was like, oh, yes.

[Becca Ramos]

To bring it back to that.

[Matt Rogers]

But I'm saying it was practical in the sense that it was like, there's fucking. There's a violent assault on brown people in the mainland of America Y and putting those people in danger.

[Becca Ramos]

Absolutely.

[Matt Rogers]

Come to me.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And I feel like Puerto Rico is a safe haven for a lot of migrants in the United States who can't go home because it is a US Territory. So they can legally travel to Puerto Rico and experience a Latin culture when they can't go back to their home countries because of their citizenship status or whatever. So I find that very beautiful that because it is like Puerto Rico. Yes, they speak English there, but all the signs are gonna be in Spanish and Puerto Rico. The locals do not want to talk to in English. They will look at you with full disdain that you're not speaking them in Spanish. And yeah, they are like, it is a fully Spanish speaking country. I don't think a lot of people understand that. I think they think, well, it's like Hawaii. And it's like. Well, that's why he had the song about Hawaii, because he's like, we don't want to be like Hawaii. We don't want to be a state and then end up with our culture being like, American washed, you know. But to talk about the shows.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

You guys know I'm beyhive down. You guys know.

[Matt Rogers]

Of course. But you're about to say something.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes, sir, I'm about to say something crazy. It was better.

[Bowen Yang]

It was better than cowboy card.

[Becca Ramos]

And y' all know I had pit seats for cowboy Carter.

[Matt Rogers]

Of course.

[Bowen Yang]

No, I remember the lead up. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

I was in the nosebleeds of debitira and I had a ball. It was the best concert I've seen in my life.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

It was so much fun. It was like the whole energy in the room. It was like a true party. And honestly, what was really beautiful about the show, everything was really cheap, like the food and drink and everything. He did not mark up. They did not mark up for the locals. They really kept it very affordable. Cause we go. What did. We went to Madison Square Garden to see Sabrina.

[Bowen Yang]

We saw Sabrina on Halloween.

[Matt Rogers]

50 bucksana B area.

[Becca Ramos]

We had two drinks.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, it was crazy.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, I got two drinks. 50 bucks.

[Matt Rogers]

Terrible.

[Becca Ramos]

You know, I was able to get drinks for Everybody who was $50 in my party.

[Bowen Yang]

And Fraser. And I think it was like. It was truly, like, between the four of us, it was like, over. It was three figures. Yes for drinks.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes for drinks. It was crazy. Whereas, like, we were able to feed me, my mom. I also brought Ana to Puerto Rico for the show.

[Matt Rogers]

I remember that you guys had a.

[Becca Ramos]

Cause we're a producing team.

[Bowen Yang]

I love that you guys have become such friends.

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, yeah, that's my bestie.

[Bowen Yang]

That's your girl.

[Becca Ramos]

That's my girl. But no, I took her with. And we had such a ball. It was. I did get Covid. I did fully. I will say, I totally got Covid. Like, the concert absolutely, like, was totally fine.

[Bowen Yang]

It's nice to get it somewhere memorable. It was like. I got it in Mexico City.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, it was.

[Bowen Yang]

It was bad for New Year's Eve.

[Becca Ramos]

Because I was like, there's no way. This is the flu. It was like. Because I know.

[Bowen Yang]

Because you were.

[Becca Ramos]

You were like, 100 plus fever. Like, I was down, down bad. Like, we were at a restaurant, and I was like. I don't think anybody believed me. I was like, I'm heading south right now.

[Bowen Yang]

They're like.

[Becca Ramos]

They're like, you haven't eaten all day. And I was like. Cause I am. I can feel my body is, like, actively shutting down. I was. My fever was so bad. I was like. Because a lot of Puerto Rican homes are like, concrete or tile. I was laying on the tile. Cause I was so hot. Like, I could feel myself sweating. And, like, nothing could break my fever. But it was worth it. It was. Bad Bunny. It was worth it. It was worth it for you to.

[Matt Rogers]

Sit in the nosebleeds. And because his show is so, like, the tone of it is so warm and inviting, and it's like a bath. He's like, yeah. The fact that he can convey that to you up in the nosebleeds and bring you in, that is. I mean, he's such a perfect showman.

[Becca Ramos]

It's such a cool venue. Cause it reminds me a lot of Barclays Center. Not that it's easy to get. I don't like going to Barclays Center. I do enjoy a show at Barclays Center. Cause I do feel like there's not a bad seat at Barclays Center. And similarly at Choli, it was like, there was not really a bad seat, but it was very cool because he had two stages, right. Which I'm sure everybody knows is by now. But it was cool. Cause where we Sat. We were able to see both stages very well. So I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. From being in the nosebleeds. We were able to see the main stage that looked like El Yonke. And then the house stage was the one that was kind of in front of us. So we couldn't see the front of the house, but the cameras were facing so you could see it on the prompter. The house. So you weren't missing out on the house. We were there the day. What's the movie he was in with Happy Gilmore 2? No, no, the other one. The. The caught stealing. We were there when the caught Stealing people were there.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, fun. It's like Austin Butler. And he was so like.

[Becca Ramos]

He was obviously. He did all those interviews after being like, I was high on. On an edible, right? He did like, when you were actively watching it, you're like, oh, my God, he's trying so hard to be cool. Like, it like looked like he was like, yeah. I'm like, cool.

[Bowen Yang]

He was just zonked.

[Becca Ramos]

But instead he was just zonked and probably intimidated that he didn't speak any Spanish. Cause when the parell started, it was great the way people were grinding in every aisle to the point my mom was like, y' all grind. And I was like, carol D. Absolutely not. You are my mother. I am not like gana perreo in front of you. This is not what I was taught growing up. At the end of the day, you raised me in the South. We didn't raise in Puerto Rico. All of a sudden, her borico came out and I was like, love Orlando. And I were like.

[Bowen Yang]

And you're like, okay, now you see your parent as they have been as.

[Matt Rogers]

They were all along.

[Becca Ramos]

I was like, oh, this is who you were. I was like, when you were without my dad, this is crazy.

[Matt Rogers]

That's fun.

[Becca Ramos]

But yeah, it was.

[Matt Rogers]

Damn.

[Becca Ramos]

It was a time of my life. It truly was such a eye opening and heartwarming trip. Cause that trip also, we went to La Sala Libre, which was this project done by Mikey Cordero, who's one of the first interviews I do for the show.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

But he is part of this project called Diasporico, which is bringing or not bringing, but highlighting the stories of diaspora Ricans. Like those Puerto Ricans in the diaspora that are making a pilgrimage back to Puerto Rico and building a life in Puerto Rico and kind of highlighting, like, the struggles, but also the beauty of, like, reclaiming the island and how difficult it can be. Cause you can feel very rejected. Like, I have definitely that's what you were saying. Like, this felt very rejected.

[Matt Rogers]

This tension between people who live there and people who don't. Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

But you have to, like, kind of build a thick skin and kind of get over it and know you are building something for the greater good of Puerto Rico. I think when I had visited Puerto Rico younger, I was very intimidated by that. I felt very hurt. But now that I have more knowledge about why the people of Puerto Rico feel that way and, like, what I can do to be. It's almost like gentrification, right? It's like, how can I be of service to this community instead of, like, actively gentrifying it? And so I think you have to, like, with gentrification and people being upset with you about being in these neighborhoods, you have to, like, take it on the chin and then also be like, how can I actually help? You know, Like, I have to live here or I have to be here, or I want to be here. So how do I not be a parasite to this community? How do I be a part of the good in this community? And so I think I've become more comfortable in my skin and being Puerto Rico. And I think if I ever nail down my Spanish, I'll no longer feel like an outsider. But my Spanish is still masonos.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Well, language is so interesting because I've gone through stages of this with the Mandarin of it all.

[Becca Ramos]

And, like, do your parents speak English?

[Matt Rogers]

They do, yeah. They are trying to, like. Like, get me back on the path of, like, let's just keep it to Mandarin between us exclusively. And I gotta say, going to China this past summer, I was like, ooh. Like, this is. This is like, just the way. This is the means of communication, literally. And of course, that is the most important thing. Preserv. It is also something that, like, is completely on your own pace because your brain is your brain.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. Well, you know what? I found out as an adult? I'm super dyslexic.

[Bowen Yang]

Really?

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. And I have severe adhd, which I'm sure maybe you guys knew. I didn't find this out until this year.

[Bowen Yang]

You've never represented yourself as being. Thank you. Out of control with your attention at all.

[Becca Ramos]

Thank you so much. Because all my friends were like, girl, you didn't know? And I was like, no, I was never diagnosed until this. This year.

[Matt Rogers]

Not the friends being at brunch being, like, funny.

[Bowen Yang]

I would never think of. I would never think of that.

[Becca Ramos]

Quite literally, every one of my friends was like, we thought you knew.

[Bowen Yang]

And I was like, wait a minute.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, yeah. But I'm also severely dyslexic and I found out there is a correlation between like struggle with learning language and dyslexia because I've always struggled trying to learn Spanish. I have been taking Spanish classes since I was in seventh grade. I even during COVID went out of my way to pay for like a really expensive program, Spanish and Pena. I guess it's not that expensive, but it is Like I spent my own hard earned money to pay for a class as an adult to try to learn Spanish. And I still like, I understand it a lot more. Like I feel like if people are speaking to me, I can pretty much pick up what you're saying, but I totally freeze like communicating back.

[Matt Rogers]

This, this is what I did before this China trip was this is not an ad preply where preplay. It's just like one on one video lessons where these tutors are so good, at least you know, the Mandarin ones. But I'm sure this applies to all the languages. It's like they will very gently guide you back to being like, so you just said this and you actually meant to say this. And then let me write that down in a document for you and I'll send it in.

[Becca Ramos]

No, I will be looking aside because.

[Bowen Yang]

Language is hard enough when you are speaking your own.

[Becca Ramos]

And then I like, I can't even tell anyone.

[Bowen Yang]

Say the right thing.

[Matt Rogers]

Right, Right, Right.

[Becca Ramos]

I often say my words wrong. I didn't even figure out I was dyslexic till I was dating my partner. We were dating probably like a year or so. And I was like looking up somewhere we were going and I was like reading a street sign. He's like, that's not what that said at all. And I was like, what? And he's like, are you dyslexic? And I was like. And then I got tested and I was like, oh my God, I am. Which honestly makes so much sense. I always struggled with like different things in academia. I was like always a really hard achieving student. But I think that was just like my own familial traumas and expectations.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, that was a different kind of pressure.

[Becca Ramos]

Exactly.

[Bowen Yang]

It was survival.

[Becca Ramos]

Exactly. So it was like I succeeded out of survival, but but not without intense challenges. And I definitely had remembered flagging to many people being like, I am struggling. I always struggle with critical reads, even though English is my favorite class. And I always was an amazing writer, but a reader. I was always struggling. And so many doctors Though, as a woman, as a woman of color, I think as a child, they just dismiss you. So they're like, yeah, yeah, but you'll figure it out. You have good grades, so there's nothing to worry about. But then in reality, it's like, it's now I'm looking back, I'm like, oh, yeah, it was so prevalent, my issues.

[Matt Rogers]

There's like a fundamental thing. The other thing about language is it's this raw opening. Ew, sorry. For people to like, for people to assess how much of the culture you are part of. And it's so interesting because you understand it on some level, but it is the thing of, like, I don't know.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, I think a lot of people hold on to the language because it is so attached to your culture. And so to look at you and you don't speak it, it's like almost to be like the privilege you have to not learn our language because you are in these other spaces and you're able to navigate these other spaces. And I think the not knowing English is also attached to like, not just your assimilation, but your socioeconomic status, your ability to blend into these different circles that they do not have the same privilege. So it's like I have much more empathy now to those who have given me a hard time. But I will say for many years it was a deep rooted, like, ugh, like, pain of mine that I did not know and something I held against my parents for many, many, many years. But now with enough therapy and age, I'm like, they were doing their best, you know, Like, I can't fault them for the choices they made to hopefully give me a better life. You know, it was a conscious choice they made to not teach me Spanish, but it wasn't like out of malice, you know. And I have to remember that totally.

[Matt Rogers]

It's like being a beneficiary of a system or a circumstance that you had no control over and that you did not design. And all you can do is just have an understanding of where it all comes from. And the fact that you're doing this podcast, going there, seeking out people who will be able to fill in a shade of knowledge for you is like.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, this podcast, it's been. I've had this idea for many years. Like, I actually got my job at iheart because of this podcast in a little circumvent way. I heart did this fellowship that, that our producer Ana created called NextUp about four years ago. I had seen it cause I was a listener of the Daily Zeitgeist and heard an ad for it. And at that time, I was in advertising still, and I wanted to get out of advertising. It was Covid. I had these big dreams. I was like, I can't. I mean, it was radicalized by Covid. I was like, I cannot be selling ads for the rest of my life. This cannot be.

[Bowen Yang]

This isn't it for me.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. But I had worked on this podcast at the agency I worked at in Portland called On she Goes, and it was a woman of color travel platform podcast. And it was really fun. We had won an Iheart award as an independent show, which was really cool. But I just was, like, looking back during COVID all the things I enjoyed doing, and I was like, I liked doing that. I liked curating events in Portland. None of the things I enjoyed doing had to do with advertising. So I was like, how do I get to do those things? And I knew I had to be a producer of sorts. But then before all that, I hear the ad, and I'm like, okay, I think I'll just pitch a podcast idea. And so I had two ideas. One of them, I'm like, lol. That was such a stupid idea. But one of them was this Puerto Rico podcast. It didn't look the way it looks now, but it was like, oh, a podcast about the history of Puerto Rico. That was like, my soft pitch, because the application didn't require you to do, like, a crazy pitch. It was like getting people who are not in the industry to be in the industry. And so I had applied, and I didn't get it. And I was so sad.

[Bowen Yang]

Anna, you didn't get the updates. Don't worry. Don't worry. Well, because what she had said. Cause I remember I was talking to you.

[Becca Ramos]

It was for the battle.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm pointing to Anna now, but I had talked to you about Becca probably, like, six or seven months ago, just about how amazing you are. And she was saying that you were in the fellowship, but it became so clear that you were overqualified almost immediately. So then you became our producer.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. Because basically I had bullied Anna into hiring me because I was like, this is gonna change my life.

[Bowen Yang]

This is what happened.

[Becca Ramos]

Anna saying, no, I was like, this is gonna change my life. I was like, I know in my heart, hearts, like, this is gonna change my life. I need to figure this out. So I had applied. I didn't get it. I email Anna, and I'm like, hey, why didn't I get it?

[Bowen Yang]

There was some mistake.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. I was like. I was like, please I'll do anything. And then she was like, you're overqualified.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, that's why. But they don't tell you that when you don't get it.

[Becca Ramos]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

So that would be nice to know.

[Becca Ramos]

Anna had too many people. She had so many people to notify. Cause then I helped out the next year and I was like, I see. I was like, okay, well if there's any way I can work here, this is what I dream. And so Ana and I just stayed in conversation for months and finally she was like, I actually am hiring a part time producer. That was the offer. They were like, I've been begging for help. They finally greenlit me to hire a part time producer and so I had submitted something to be in contract and then they were like, you know what, let's just hire you full time. And then I became Yalls producer.

[Bowen Yang]

And were we the first and only.

[Becca Ramos]

Show you were producing and the Daily Zeitgeist? Because I feel like a lot of people when you're hired on the LA team, you end up on the Daily Zeitgeist because it's a well oiled machine. It's Jack show, you know, the head of development and it's I think a great intro show for anybody. Cause it's daily. So you really are just like from the beginning having to like working, figure out what's going on. There's all these moving pieces. So it was you guys, it was Daily Zeitgeist and then I had hopped on in a couple shows that like, you know, had one to two seasons. Like I did Blair Saki's show which was like a lot of fun.

[Bowen Yang]

I love flair.

[Becca Ramos]

I did.

[Bowen Yang]

Was this 2020, 2021 that you came out?

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, December 2021.

[Bowen Yang]

I just saw we met you on Zoom.

[Becca Ramos]

We met on Zoom.

[Bowen Yang]

This was the Zoom. Do you remember your first episode of Lost, Coach?

[Becca Ramos]

I don't remember the exact first episode, but one of was a virtual Julio Torres.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, fast.

[Becca Ramos]

Because at that time his little, what's it called? Location scout was scouting my apartment for problemist.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh my God, yes, you told me.

[Becca Ramos]

Because like I remember going downstairs one day and I see this little crumpled up note in like the cinder block that we used up. Propped the door open.

[Bowen Yang]

This is already very Julio Taurus.

[Becca Ramos]

And I was like. And I clearly nobody else in my building gave a fuck about this like note. But I was so curious that I was like, what is this? And so I pull it out and it's like this typed out letter that's like hello, I am Working on a project for Juliotaurus and we would love to use the second floor unit of this building. And I just.

[Bowen Yang]

This note will now weep and crumple away. And so.

[Becca Ramos]

And it was like, please contact whatever, whatever. And mind you, I had like a really kind of like interesting landlord at that time. He was this older man who was like an ex cop. And like, it was a small building, it was like only four units. And he definitely like operated like a cop. You know, he was very.

[Matt Rogers]

What neighborhood was this in?

[Becca Ramos]

What?

[Matt Rogers]

What neighborhood was this in?

[Becca Ramos]

Bed Stuy.

[Matt Rogers]

Bed Stuy? Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Okay.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. Yes. And so it was like a black owned building. It was like all black tenants. And so I think he like, thought like, well, I'm helping you guys out. You help me. But it was very con, like between the two of us, this relationship that I was like, why do I feel like I'm talking to my dad every time I talk to you, that I'm gonna disappoint you and that you're mad at me all the time and I can't ask you for anything.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, gosh.

[Becca Ramos]

It was very strange. And so I knew that he would not bite doing this. But I texted the second floor because it wasn't my unit. I was on the third floor. I texted the second floor guys. Cause there were these two young guys who I think work in tech, and they were smoking so much weed. Our apartment smell like weed all the time.

[Bowen Yang]

And.

[Becca Ramos]

But I text him, I was like, yo, like, they're gonna pay you to like run this unit. He was like, you should do it. Like, this is cool. And they never reached the go. Yeah. But I could tell that that scene where like what my unit was supposed to be filmed for in the scene based on watching the movie, I was like, oh, this scene is in Bed Stuy. And definitely this scene was meant to be my apartment. Or like, my God.

[Matt Rogers]

Where he goes back to his apartment with all of his roommates.

[Becca Ramos]

No, no. That is the scene with the guy who tries to hire Julio.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yes, yes, yes. To clean his house.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, to clean his house.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah, I see. To clean his house.

[Becca Ramos]

So yeah, incredible.

[Bowen Yang]

But you're also Aloisa Spookies fan.

[Becca Ramos]

Like, you're a Hulu, I'm a Julio.

[Matt Rogers]

You're a Julio.

[Becca Ramos]

So I was like, so excited when I saw that. But I was like, it's not my unit. I can't really do it. And I was like, and my landlord is definitely not gonna bite about this. I was like, I'm not even. I'm not Touching this with a ten foot pole. But I was like, in theory, this was very cool. It's a cool thing that happened to me.

[Bowen Yang]

But. And for that to be one of your first episodes of Lost Cults.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. And then I was like, oh my God. And then the Julio. Because I've been. I've been a fan of Julio for years and before that I just think he's such a fun and interesting. I love the weird Latino community. I think he represents the weirdos in the Latino community, which I love. Cause I was like, I think when you are a misfit in wherever you grew up, you end up leaning in this emo world, which I was a full emo Warped tour going, really hot topic. Like black eyeliner tumblr girl, straight bangs like emo.

[Matt Rogers]

I want to meet that Becca. I want to meet emo Becca. I want to meet sorority Becca. I want to meet Portland Becca.

[Bowen Yang]

You did have Eris. Eris. You had Eris Tour.

[Matt Rogers]

Speaking of Eris, we haven't even asked. We're just shooting the fucking breeze.

[Bowen Yang]

I know.

[Matt Rogers]

We gotta ask you the question.

[Bowen Yang]

That's another amazing run by Team usa. And you too can go for glory with the Xfinity five year price guarantee.

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[Matt Rogers]

What is it that makes the all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid an incredible suv?

[Bowen Yang]

Is it the spacious interior that's comfy for the whole crew or the capability to go off road?

[Matt Rogers]

It could be. Or maybe it's up to 600 plus miles of range. What if it's all that and more?

[Bowen Yang]

The Hyundai Palisade defies everything you thought you knew an SUV to be. With more style and capability, it's something new entirely.

[Matt Rogers]

It has class leading interior space with with purposeful tech. Available front row and second row relaxation seats.

[Bowen Yang]

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[Matt Rogers]

Feature 2.5T hybrid engine with up to 600 plus miles of range and seating configurations for 7 to 8 passengers. With available third row power seats that recline.

[Bowen Yang]

Also available H track all wheel drive so you can be ready to go anywhere in style. It also includes standard 100 watt USB C ports, available Bose 14 speaker audio and standard passenger talk Dr. Driver intercom.

[Matt Rogers]

The all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid is more than just another suv. It's still the Palisade, but with so much more.

[Bowen Yang]

Learn more about the Hyundai [e-mail] Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. This episode is brought to you by Skinny Pop. Somewhere along the way, a regular moment turns into a snack moment. Nothing dramatic, just the realization that popcorn would make everything slightly better. But not just any popcorn. Skinny Pop popcorn. Skinny Pop works because it keeps things simple. Made from just three simple ingredients, Skinny Pop delivers an irresistible taste without being overly complicated. Because don't we all deserve a snack that does not compromise on, well, anything? Yes. The answer is yes. With Skinny Pop, you get cup after cup of salty satisfaction. And who doesn't love that? Skinny Pop is light, airy, and endlessly delicious without asking for extra attention. It's popcorn that knows how to exist comfortably in any situation. It's the kind of snack that fits into long listens, short breaks, and everything in between. Easy to reach for, easy to enjoy, and easy to keep around for whenever snack time decides to happen. Like now. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason. From Warner Brothers pictures and award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell comes Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie opposite Jacob Elordi. In this bold reimagining the time story, Fennell takes audiences on a yearning and emotionally charged journey following Kathy, played by Robbie, and Heathcliff, played by Elordi, as their forbidden love for one another turns from romantic to intoxicating in an epic tale of lust, love and madness. Wuthering Heights, only in theaters this Valentine's Day. Experience it in IMAX. Rated R. Under 17. Not admitted without a cool parent.

[Matt Rogers]

Becca Ramos, what was the culture that made you say culture is for you?

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, my God. Okay, I have two. Kind of leaning into the emo. Okay, they're both leaning into the emo. And I kind of just mentioned one of them. The first one is Twilight.

[Bowen Yang]

So do you mean the books, the movies?

[Becca Ramos]

I mean everything.

[Bowen Yang]

Everything. Stephenie Meyer was a queen for you.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes, Yes, I. Cause I was never a Harry Potter. My brother was big Harry Potter. Even my parents read all that.

[Bowen Yang]

Might be a slight generational thing.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes, Micro.

[Becca Ramos]

My brother and I are only a year and a half apart, I think, though he was an early reader. My brother is kind of. He's very, very smart. My brother's like stupid smart. Like, like math savant. Like double majored in engineering and math. Like, he is like, we're like this. Like, like no Venn Diagram, oil, water in terms of how our brains work. And so he was like an early, early reader and he loved Harry Potter. And my parents started to read Harry Potter cause they wanted to make sure that like the books were like okay for children. So they read them before and then they fell in love with them. But I was like, I tried. I read the first book like three times. I was like, I can't get into it. Love the movies because of cinema. But you know, I couldn't get into the books. And now it doesn't even matter cause she's disgraced.

[Bowen Yang]

So I feel we don't need her anymore.

[Becca Ramos]

I feel vindicated. Not that Stephanie Meyer is any better.

[Bowen Yang]

But you know, is she also bad?

[Becca Ramos]

Well, she's just like deeply Mormon and I think there's. It's not as black and white understood.

[Bowen Yang]

You know, but what was it about Twilight?

[Becca Ramos]

I think it is inherently pretty horny for a young girl through reading it and. Cause I actually. Okay, do y' all know that she wrote another book during COVID Stephanie?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I think I had heard this and it was not real well received.

[Becca Ramos]

It was called Midnight sun and it.

[Matt Rogers]

Is a Zara Larson. Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

It's a mirror. I know it's a mirror of the first book, Twilight, but from Edward's perspective and I during COVID Cause we were in lockdown, in shambles. Like conspiracy theories are happening on TikTok. People were like, why does Stephanie Meyer has a website up and a countdown? And sure enough, she was selling the book during COVID and I pre ordered it on Amazon just for shits and giggles. And then one day, three months later, it showed up at my door and I was like, I didn't order anything. I forgot how to order the book. So I read it during COVID Cause I had all this time on my hands and then I was Transported to like 8 or 1012 year old Becca. And I was like, I should not have been reading this because it is like the power dynamics at play. It is like as an adult with a fully formed brain, you're like, no, it's weird that this hundred year old vampire is into 17 year old Kristen Stewart. Bella Swan.

[Matt Rogers]

Right? You've been manipulated by men older than you as well.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And so you're like, oh. But as a child who is like at this time in my life I'm so, I'm boy crazy, right? Hormones are crazy. But also no one likes me. So I'm like, I'm hormone crazy. No one likes me. So I'm like reading this book and it's like this deep love story where it's like, you're convinced this control is love, right? So you're reading this codependency, and you're like, it's so romantic. He's so enamored by her. Like, he's just like, her smell is so intoxicating, like, she can't be with anybody else. You know, as a child, you're like, oh, my God, that's romance. And as an adult, you're like, that's.

[Bowen Yang]

Fear to be consumed. Actually sounds kind of good. Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And so I was like. And I think I also just, like, really love that fantasy realm. Like, I've never been into, like, sci fi, but, like, true fantasy. Like the vampires witch. Like, that was my lane. I liked that type of stuff.

[Matt Rogers]

Supernatural thing in Broadcast.

[Bowen Yang]

Supernatural? Yes, I think Supernatural, yo girl.

[Becca Ramos]

But yes, I loved all the supernatural stuff. And then the movies come out, right? And they're cult classic. I was at the premieres. Like, I was Midnight Girl. Team Edward.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

Like, aggressive Team Edward. Maybe I just had a crush on Robert Pattinson.

[Bowen Yang]

People look back fondly on those movies now. Like, even Robert Pattinson recently said he'd do a sequel.

[Becca Ramos]

I take a rerun every fall.

[Matt Rogers]

Wow. Of all of them.

[Becca Ramos]

Of all of them. Because it's fun. Especially Twilight, specifically because Twilight was an indie production. And it is a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to watch.

[Matt Rogers]

Remember those soundtracks? Alex Botsavas, music supervisor from the OC Grey's Anatomy.

[Becca Ramos]

Incredible soundtrack.

[Bowen Yang]

American Mouth.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

Absolutely underrated.

[Becca Ramos]

Underrated soundtrack. And like, mind you, this is also then connected with Hot Topic. Every flood's Hot Topic. Because, you know, Paramore's in the soundtrack.

[Matt Rogers]

Of course.

[Bowen Yang]

Wait, is Hot Topic your second culture?

[Becca Ramos]

Well, no. Hot Topic was just where Twilight lived.

[Matt Rogers]

You're tying it back to the mall.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes.

[Becca Ramos]

Talk about the mall culture being emo. You know, I think if you were, like, in the. If you were Twilight heavy, you were also very emo. It was just kind of. And then my second culture, Tumblr. And you were deep on the Tumblr edits. You were deep on the shirtless Edward.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Bella. This is a skinny.

[Bowen Yang]

I remember an image of him, like, walking out into daylight. That broke the Internet. Yes. It was one of the first examples I remember of the Internet breaking. It was like a leaked image of Robert Pattinson with no shirt walking out of, I believe, like some sort of cathedral or church into the sunlight. And everyone was like, can. Can we breathe?

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think anyone can breathe.

[Becca Ramos]

I Couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. I was obsessed.

[Matt Rogers]

You loved him.

[Bowen Yang]

You were team Edward down.

[Becca Ramos]

I was team Edward down. I did not give a fuck about Taylor Lautner. I was like, my friends were, I think, team Jacob, but I was like, I'm team Edward. Because, like, the romance was between Edward and Bella. Like, if you're reading the books, the actual love story.

[Bowen Yang]

Love.

[Becca Ramos]

Love story is between the two of them. So I think I was very romance.

[Matt Rogers]

It's big and caring.

[Bowen Yang]

The love. It would be like being like I like in the Hunger Games. It's like we all know Katniss and Peeta are gonna be like having DSD together when they're old.

[Becca Ramos]

Exactly.

[Matt Rogers]

But when you say Tumblr culture.

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Do you agree with the following statement, Tumblr had monoculture, or do you agree with this statement, which is Tumblr was different lanes and we were all in our different.

[Bowen Yang]

Like.

[Matt Rogers]

Was that the beginning of like the algorithm where it's like we all have our special corners of the Internet? Okay, what do you think it was all streamlined?

[Becca Ramos]

That is a hard question because I do think it's a little bit of both.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

I think as Tumblr became more mainstream, it did become like there was a idea of what Tumblr culture is and Tumblr aesthetic. But I think at the beginning, if you were on in like 2010, like I was, then it was very silo, which it's almost like why I think gravitated to TikTok when TikTok kind of took off, because it was kind of feeding your algorithm. And same thing with Tumblr. It was like I was following these blogs that like, were like these different fandoms that I enjoyed and I was reposting, I was reblogging those things. But I also was like riding on Tumblr. Like, I was never Tumblr famous, but I. It was like a true outlet for me as a young kid. I am left handed, so I'm not very good at writing. I was never taught properly to write, so. And I think my undiagnosed adhd, I had a hard time pen to paper. My brain was moving faster than my hand could. So I would type. I would like write, write intense stories on Tumblr. Like more like biographical memoir, like journal entries. But like I was a journaler on Tumblr. I was writing, writing, writing heartbreak. Like all these different things going on.

[Bowen Yang]

You still have access to it?

[Becca Ramos]

Oh yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

You do?

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, yeah. Only I think I've shared with one or two people my Whole life, my Tumblr, like, I'm like, do you know it?

[Bowen Yang]

You've seen it.

[Becca Ramos]

Okay, he's special enough, but it took years in us dating for me to give it to him. Him, like, years.

[Matt Rogers]

Beautiful.

[Becca Ramos]

I told him, I was like, that's opening your heart.

[Bowen Yang]

When you open your Tumblr, you open your heart. That's real culture number 30. When you open your Tumblr, you open your heart.

[Becca Ramos]

No, it was because, like, it is like 14 year old me sobbing on the keyboard about like my first love, you know, like, it is like intense, the things I would write on there. But. Yeah, but like, but. And fan fiction on Tumblr.

[Matt Rogers]

And fan fiction on Tumblr. But reposting it is like the, the key thing on Tumblr that I think. Think. Or resharing. What was it called?

[Bowen Yang]

Reblogging. Reblogging.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, it's all the same. They all, all the tech companies remade the same terms over.

[Bowen Yang]

They are rereading, they're reing the reblog.

[Matt Rogers]

But reblogging was interesting because what set Tumblr apart from, I want to say, like blogger, like, like MySpace, MySpace or let's throw it all the way back to Zanga. It's like, oh, there's a way to like proliferate what one person puts out there, whether it's an image, meme, video, anything. Yeah, like Tumblr kind of like gave the right, like delivery system for like what would come in, like TikTok and then regressively, somehow Instagram. How Instagram became like Snapchat.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, because now also, but Instagram, now you have the carousels that are like doing the screenshots, which are basically the reblogs. Literally some of them are screenshots of reblogs on Tumblr. Because on Tumblr, I think the beauty of it, other than like other forums, was like, when you reblogged, you could like add your own little clip to it and then that goes viral. Yeah, all that, all the notes, it's like, oh, my God, you got 80,000 notes. Like, she's crazy, but never me. I was never fine.

[Bowen Yang]

How hard did you pop off?

[Becca Ramos]

Honestly, I was like, I kept that shit to myself. I liked Tumblr. I think in the way that I enjoyed TikTok for a while, that it was very, like, I could hide behind it.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Becca Ramos]

Like, people didn't know my Tumblr. Like, it was like my Tumblr was, wasn't your profile. It Wasn't your face.

[Matt Rogers]

Right.

[Becca Ramos]

It was like, you know, whatever my Tumblr URL was and like, whatever I wanted, I could be whoever I wanted in this blog space. So I like the anonymity of it. And that's how I viewed TikTok for me, because I wasn't following people back or anything. I was just reposting whatever in my own feed. And I liked the anonymity of, like, I could have content without following anybody. I could just like, be fed things that I enjoyed. And. And no one needs to know that I'm on TikTok similar to the way I was on Tumblr.

[Matt Rogers]

But I guess me asking those two separate questions earlier is like, I'm still. My thought is like, oh, yes, Tumblr feels so romantic because it's like TikTok is purely.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, a mess.

[Matt Rogers]

It's a mess and it's. But it's cool. But it's also like completely individualized in the algorithm. And sometimes there's moments of like, there's.

[Becca Ramos]

Not a lot of community on TikTok where there is community or was on Tumblr. But I think with Tumblr that was also really interesting is, yeah, you have these monocultures where it's like the Lana Del Rey, the skinny, like the red pill skinniness of Tumblr, like where you were being fed to be like thigh gap culture and like all these things. If you were a girl on Tumblr, it was like, depending on what side of Tumblr you were on, really rough.

[Matt Rogers]

The thigh gap started on Tumblr. Oh, 100%.

[Becca Ramos]

And I was luckily. I mean, now I am a very curvaceous woman and I am proud of that. But I wasn't growing up and I was naturally very tiny. Like I was very skinny. So I didn't fall susceptible into the skinny culture. But because I was already luckily a beneficiary of it.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

And I do think if I was the size that I am now, then I would have been wrecked.

[Matt Rogers]

Sure. All the time.

[Becca Ramos]

That was Tumblr culture. Like the dancing, the skinny girl, the ballet. Like, the goal was to be a, like, slender and emo and like, cigarette. Like, I wanted to smoke a cigarette so bad cause a Tumblr. But I like to have my deep anxieties. I was like, I can never pick one up.

[Bowen Yang]

Being the kind of person that you were in high school. No. Because your parents could never have found out you smoked a cigarette. No.

[Becca Ramos]

I'd be murdered.

[Bowen Yang]

That would be the worst thing in the World.

[Becca Ramos]

But I wanted to. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be like Lana Del Rey, cigarette smoking girl.

[Bowen Yang]

Are you a Lana girly?

[Becca Ramos]

Oh, yeah, I was a Lana girly. Absolutely like that. But I feel like it was Lana a little bit after the mark. Because I was so emo for so long on Tumblr. Like, I. I was like Deep Paramore. I was like in these bands that, like, were touring Warped Tour, like Mayday Parade and like, I don't even know other, like Black Parade, My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco, Reliant K. Like, that was my world.

[Bowen Yang]

Were you aware of Katy Perry when she was on Warped Tour?

[Becca Ramos]

I went to Warped tour when Katy Perry was at Warped tour. That was a lot of fun. And then she like. I mean, she was a 303. 3.

[Bowen Yang]

Her whole first album. Not first album, because the first album was the Christian one under Katie Hudson. But then the first album is like.

[Matt Rogers]

One of the boys.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, I was there. What's the other ones? Cobra Starship.

[Bowen Yang]

Is that Good Girl's Got Bad with Leighton Meester? Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

No, that was me for a long time. And then I probably hit the Lana streak when I got to Kotlin College.

[Bowen Yang]

So. What is that, like ultra violence? Yeah, yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

What is it? Cherry cola.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My eyes are wide like cherry pie.

[Becca Ramos]

Love that I was. And I. I saw her at Austin City Limits because I was an ACL girl for all of college. Because, like, if you're in college, I think it's a rite of passage. If you are a college student in Texas, you have to go to acl.

[Bowen Yang]

So when we discovered Lana Del Rey on this podcast, you probably were in the corner like, Jesus fucking Christ.

[Becca Ramos]

I was like. I was on some random dude's shoulder because my boyfriend at the time abandoned me to go to a Texas Baylor football game. Different boyfriend, by the way. But I. I literally. We bought Texas ACL together as a unit. Me, him, and his roommate. And they were like, becca, we gotta go to the college football game. And I was like, where he was for acl. And they're like, well, we're just gonna go to the game and then we'll meet you later. Of course, there's no service. It's like a different era of phones and connectivity. I phone dead, couldn't access anybody. Didn't know how I was gonna end up, where I was gonna end up. And so I was just like, well, I can't have anxiety about this now. I'm just gonna go to Lana Del Rey. I run there. Some man who flew in to ACL because he had like. He was like a festival junkie. He had all these festival respect. He saw me standing there, my little five two ass couldn't see shit. He was like, do you wanna get on my shoulders? And I was like, yeah. So I saw Lana Del Rey on some random, I think, British man's shoulders who was kind enough to let me see the show.

[Matt Rogers]

And that man was Robert Pattinson.

[Becca Ramos]

And if only it was Robert Pattinson, a dream, a broken dream, I wouldn't have made it.

[Matt Rogers]

I bet you that this fucking guy and all of his friends couldn't tell you a single thing now about what that fucking game was.

[Becca Ramos]

No, no, Absolutely.

[Bowen Yang]

You're not gonna.

[Matt Rogers]

Don't ditch ACL for a game.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, I mean, so the podcast comes out.

[Becca Ramos]

Podcast comes out February 3rd.

[Bowen Yang]

February 3rd is the day. And so, like, how many episodes do you have? Where are you at with it? It's a big deal.

[Becca Ramos]

It's a big deal. I mean, like I had said, this idea came into fruition in summer 2021, and I had put it away for a long time. And then as I became a better producer and I felt really confident in my skills, I was like, okay, I think it's time for me to redevelop this idea. And I did, and I pitched for a long time. And now we're here. And obviously now four years in the making is incredible. But February 3rd, I already have four episodes done. The first episode is gonna be narrative. It's gonna be very vulnerable. It's gonna be me telling my story biographical. Why am I making the show biographical? But from there, it's gonna be talk show. So I have three talk show episodes recorded in Puerto Rico. It was very important to me to come back all the way to that question to record the first few ep, because I want the listeners to understand this is a diasporic experience. And that I think as a New Eurekan, as someone who is Puerto Rican, lives in New York, it's very easy when you say you're doing a show about Puerto Rico, that people assume it's about New Yorkans and New York, Puerto Rican culture, because New York is such an important piece of Puerto Rico. But I wanted this to be a bridging of the diaspora. So I wanted it to be intentional, to be shot partially in Puerto Rico to show that. That I am coming there. I want to bridge this gap. I want people to know that this is what it's about. And I interviewed Jorrell Melendez Barrio and Santiago Ortiz. They're both professors Authors, incredible folk to talk to. We talk about a little bit about the history, the connection of the states and of the island. And then also we get a little bit into. To the connection between Puerto Rico and Venezuela. I know that's hot topic right now. We're not gonna get into that on this podcast, but.

[Bowen Yang]

Or this one, but don't do it.

[Matt Rogers]

I do think it's gonna go great.

[Bowen Yang]

This is what I wanted to start talking about it. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

No, but it's. Even outside of, like, the current events of it all, there is historically a strong connection between Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes, yes.

[Becca Ramos]

And Jor? El is a historian. I want him to talk about that because. Because I was like, it's so relevant right now. People need to know. I didn't know. And then the second episode is with Ali Marie Figueira. And she is a writer, like a culture writer. But she has lived in the diaspora between. She went to grad school here at nyu and I think somewhere in Boston or no, not at nyu, but she went to grad school in New York, I think upstate, and then also in Boston, and now lives in Puerto Rico. She's doing a boozy book club in Puerto Rico where she's trying to, like, build community on the island. And she's also just so smart. She's so funny. She taught me about the socialist college in Puerto Rico that I had no idea existed. It's like one of the only publicly funded universities or schools. Cause I think she went there from, like, middle school through college. It's one of the only publicly funded schools in Puerto Rico. And it's also the only socialist school. So it's like one of the only schools that talks about liberation of Puerto Rico.

[Bowen Yang]

That's amazing.

[Becca Ramos]

Like, history of Puerto Rico. A lot of the schools stateside and in Puerto Rico do not talk about Puerto Rican history. And that's purposeful. Cause the less we know, the less angry we are for the freedom and liberation of Puerto Rico. So Ally Marie was great. And then I talked to Mikey Cordero, which I already talked to you guys about, and all the amazing, incredible activism work he's been doing. But he's also from Bushwick originally. So he's kind of slowly, throughout life, his rebuilt this connection with the island. Like, he grew up spending summers in Puerto Rico and then eventually he became a part of this giant activist artist group in college and then just stayed in Puerto Rico and, well, slowly was, I think, spending more time split between New York and Puerto Rico. And now he lives fully in Puerto Rico. But, yeah, that's amazing.

[Matt Rogers]

I mean, these are all such like 360 narratives on diasporic experiences within the Puerto Rican community, where it's like, it comes just radially from all angles, and it just converges back very beautifully on the island where you got to talk to them.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes. And what I really wanted to do with the show, I wanted a show that kind of filled a gap I needed growing up where I felt very. Even though I was fully Puerto Rican, I never had a question about being Puerto Rican. Cause I had two Puerto Rican parents. But I think just being somewhere where there is no Puerto Rican culture, I did feel very removed. I felt almost like. I think a lot of mixed race kids feel where you're like, I'm neither this nor this. Like I'm living here, but like, I'm clearly othered by everyone around me. But I also don't feel like Puerto Rican enough. And so selfishly, I like built this podcast to meet really dope Puerto Ricans doing really incredible shit for the island, for the community, for the liberation of Puerto Rico, and just like highlighting what they're doing and the incredible art they're making. And. Yeah, and then I get into their barrio stories, which are moments that they felt like they really connected with their identity the first time they recognized they were really Puerto Rican. I feel like mine. One of the examples I have is I was asked to be in this quince when I was 15 by this person who was Dominican. We were not friends. She was a classmate of mine and we both knew we were Latino, but we weren't really friends.

[Matt Rogers]

This is in Texas.

[Becca Ramos]

This is in Texas. And so she was like, I want you to be my quince. Cause she didn't have enough people for quince. But then, like, in joining her quince, I got increasingly bullied for not being Puerto Rican enough. And I'm like, you asked me to be here because you needed more bodies. And now your whole family's gonna bully me for not being Puerto Rican enough. So then we're in the hair salon getting our hair done for these quince photos, which, mind you, being a part of quince is like being in a wedding. And I did not know that because this is my first quince. And so then I was like, okay. Now all of a sudden my parents are mad that we're spending all this money to be in this woman's keen state that we don't really know this family that we don't know. And I'm texting my mom because these women are ferociously bullying me. 14. And in Spanish also. And I recognized it because my mom also chose to speak in Spanish when she didn't want me to know something. So I was like, the tone I'm hearing is making fun of Becca. So I'm texting my mom, like, holding back tears. Everyone's making fun of me. Cause I don't speak Spanish. And then she comes. She's like, where are you? And so she comes barreling in, and she's like, nobody will make fun of my child for not being Puerto Rican enough for not speaking Spanish. And she's yelling at everybody in Spanish. Or I think she started yelling at everybody in English, and she's like, and I can yell at everybody in Spanish because I speak both languages.

[Bowen Yang]

Wow.

[Becca Ramos]

And so then she started yelling at everybody in Spanish. And then she pulled my little ass out of there. And then she looked at me later and was like, you don't have to do this if you don't want to be in this game. You don't have to be in the skince. And so then I didn't. I went to Warped tour.

[Matt Rogers]

And saw Ms. Katy, and I probably did see Katy Perry. Katy Perry.

[Becca Ramos]

But, yeah, that was, like, a moment where it was like, okay, being Puerto Rican was, like, very important for this story. And so I wanted to hear more stories from other Puerto Ricans of the diaspora that were like, what was a moment that was, whether it was silly or serious or whatever, that really rooted you in your identity and made you like the boricua you are today. And then. Yeah, and then they give me recommendations of other art and cool shit that Puerto Ricans are doing. I ask at the end of every episode, I, like, want to hear from them, like, who do you think is really cool? Like, give me a recommendation of, like, a book you're reading, an artist you're listening to, an exhibit you're going to, so that the listeners can also find this other stuff. And also, I guess before that, there's a cheesemaker called Que Bon Chinche where I just asked him to bring in a little bit of, like, chisme, whether it's serious or not. That's how we kind of talked about Venezuela. Cause when we recorded that, I had just landed right after they had closed the airways of Puerto Rico. They had closed for 24 hours, you know, Cause of everything that happened. And so I was like, well, the perfect person to have on to kind of talk about this. And so we talked about it a little bit. One of the guests we had talked about her chisme was actually her piece, she was like, I'm not in the chisme. And that's actually my chisme. Which was a really interesting take. And then we on one of the episodes talked about Romeo Santos on that New York Times podcast. And I won't get into it here. Cause I get into it plenty over there. But yeah, so it can be as serious as Venezuela or as silly as, like, you're protecting your piece and you're like, I'm not gonna be in the mix. Because at the end of the day, Puerto Rican's a suit in size bed. So you gotta be careful.

[Bowen Yang]

There's enough drama. There's enough drama.

[Matt Rogers]

Twin. That's how that's. I love it.

[Becca Ramos]

No, it's like I started, like when I found out that expression, I started asking everybody I saw that week and they're like, oh, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And you're like, so who have you?

[Becca Ramos]

And they're like, it really is.

[Bowen Yang]

We're proud of you.

[Matt Rogers]

So proud of you back there. That's so cool. Thank you.

[Bowen Yang]

This is awesome.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, it's so validating to hear that from you guys. Kings of podcasting.

[Matt Rogers]

We love you.

[Becca Ramos]

And also to be here, to be given this seat to talk to you guys is like, I couldn't be more grateful. Honestly. I big brained. It was like, I can only do this when I feel as the perfectionist I am. I was like, I must wait till the perfect time to release this podcast. And I do feel like now more than ever, even though this podcast has been in my mind for four years, the Bad Bunny really did, like, put Puerto Rico on the map in this way. That kind of gave a lot of opportunity to the people I'm interviewing to be the platforms they are. Because, like, a lot of the people I'm interviewing have been doing this work. And because of Bad Bunny, they now have a new platform to like, hightail their work to the world. And I'm so excited to be a part of that movement, to be a part of those conversations. And selfishly, I'm just really grateful to be making a lot of new friends and, and like meeting Puerto Ricans. And they're making me feel at home. They're making me feel like I have this extended family. Cause I didn't grow up with a huge extended family. We were pretty removed from my extended family. So it's been like, really beautiful to build this, like, new kind of family.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, that is beautiful. Congrats on, like, doing this thing. And it's also like, you're gonna enjoy every second of It. Because it is your interest. It's your culture. It's like. It's just perfect.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, I'm very excited. I'm very excited for you guys to listen.

[Matt Rogers]

I know. Can't wait to listen.

[Bowen Yang]

And it's coming February 3rd.

[Becca Ramos]

February 3rd, baby. But you can watch the trailer and listen to it out now.

[Bowen Yang]

Listen to you. You're already doing this. Like you're ready.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, you know, it's funny.

[Bowen Yang]

It's almost like you've been producing.

[Becca Ramos]

It's almost like I've been behind the scenes for years. No, you can ask my partner who produced, helped produce the episodes we did in Puerto Rico because we couldn't book a studio space because everyone was on vacation. Because if you know anything about Puerto Rican Christmas is the longest Christmas of any country.

[Bowen Yang]

A month long.

[Becca Ramos]

It's like a month long. And I did not take that into account when I went to Puerto Rico to try to capture some content, because I had never visited Puerto Rico during the winter. And I was like, no. Everyone's truly like, check the fuck out. They are not doing anything. So my gracious partner, who is a video editor and producer by trade, set up our whole setup in two different Airbnbs for us to record these episodes and make them happen. They're not gonna be fully on YouTube, but they are gonna be clips and all that stuff. But that first episode, I was so nervous, y'. All. Like, there's gonna be a lot of editing in that first episode. Cause I was like, bleh.

[Matt Rogers]

But we all do it. We all edit.

[Bowen Yang]

We all do it.

[Becca Ramos]

We gotta edit. I feel much better now. Now I'm here.

[Matt Rogers]

Now you're here.

[Becca Ramos]

Like, the hard part's over.

[Matt Rogers]

You started it four years in the making, Becca. But I'll still be here.

[Bowen Yang]

You're listening. And she'll still be hearing.

[Becca Ramos]

I will still be producer Becca of Las Coldrisas. I'm not letting that go.

[Matt Rogers]

No.

[Bowen Yang]

That's another amazing run by Team usa. And you too can go for glory with the Xfinity five year price guarantee.

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[Matt Rogers]

What is it that makes the all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid an incredible suv?

[Bowen Yang]

Is it the spacious interior that's comfy for the whole crew? Or the capability to go off road.

[Matt Rogers]

It could be. Or maybe it's up to 600 plus miles of range. What if it's all that and more?

[Bowen Yang]

The Hyundai Palisade defies everything you thought you knew in SUVs to be with more style and capability. It's something new entirely.

[Matt Rogers]

It has class leading interior space with purposeful tech. Available front row and second row relaxation.

[Bowen Yang]

Seats available class exclusive blind spot view monitor, available class exclusive dash Camera feature.

[Matt Rogers]

2.5T hybrid engine with up to 600 plus miles of range and seating configurations for 7 to 8 passengers with available third row power seats that recline.

[Bowen Yang]

Also available htrack all wheel drive so you can be ready to go anywhere in stock style. It also includes standard 100 watt USBC ports, available Bose 14 speaker audio and standard passenger talk driver intercom.

[Matt Rogers]

The all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is more than just another suv. It's still the Palisade, but with so much more.

[Bowen Yang]

Learn more about the Hyundai palisade@hyundai USA.com Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. This episode is brought to you by Skinny Pop. Somewhere along the way, a regular moment turns into a snack moment. Nothing dramatic, just the realization that popcorn would make everything slightly better. But not just any popcorn. Skinny Pop Popcorn. Skinny Pop works because it keeps things simple. Made from just three simple ingredients, Skinny Pop delivers an irresistible taste without being overly complicated. Because don't we all deserve a snack that does not compromise on, well, anything? Yes. The answer is yes. With Skinny Pop you get cup after cup of salty satisfied. And who doesn't love that? Skinny Pop is light, airy and endlessly delicious without asking for extra attention. It's popcorn that knows how to exist comfortably in any situation. It's the kind of snack that fits into long listens, short breaks and everything in between. Easy to reach for, easy to enjoy and easy to keep around for whenever snack time decides to happen. Like now. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted Skinny Pop. Popular for a reason. Reason. From Warner Brothers Pictures and award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell comes Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie opposite Jacob Elordi. In this bold reimagining the timeless story, Fennell takes audiences on a yearning and emotionally charged journey following Kathy, played by Robbie and Heathcliff, played by Elordi, as their forbidden love for one another turns from romantic to intoxicating in an epic tale of lust, love and madness. Wuthering Heights only in theaters this Valentine's Day. Experience it in IMAX. Rated R under 17. Not admitted without a cool Parent. One of the things characteristic of Lost Culturist episode is of course, I don't think so honey. This will be your first. I don't think so honey.

[Becca Ramos]

This will be my first. I don't think so honey.

[Bowen Yang]

So let's just like if you forgot for some reason, we'll demo it in a 60 second segment in which I don't think so honey gets said and it gets meant about something in culture. And I got something because, you know, we gotta get into it.

[Matt Rogers]

We gotta get into it. This is Matt Rogers. I don't think Sohani's time starts now.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so honey. That the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world is at Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia. So I'm not going there. I'm not going there to go do that. And that's a. Because I am interested in. Is over 600ft tall. It is 155 miles per hour.

[Becca Ramos]

Oh my God.

[Bowen Yang]

The layout of the roller coaster actually goes into the natural cliffs in the region. You have to go online and just low key incognito mode if you really.

[Matt Rogers]

Don'T want to swim 30 seconds.

[Bowen Yang]

But just take the POV of it and watch people doing it. It's fucking insane. And it's in Saudi Arabia. So I'm not one of those people that's gonna be like, shoulder shrug, let's go. I ain't going. But I. It looks like quite the ride and I don't think they're going to be able to one up it because I don't. It is a bespoke coaster built into the landscape. So I guess, you know, if that's for you, go off. It's not for me. I'm watching from home and I'm disappointed about it because I would like to rocket ship off, blast off, warp tour into a cliff.

[Matt Rogers]

That's one minute.

[Bowen Yang]

Have you seen it?

[Matt Rogers]

I've seen it.

[Becca Ramos]

Hasn't won a Guinness Book of World Record.

[Bowen Yang]

It doesn't. It's not even a. It's. It's clear away.

[Matt Rogers]

Far and away. It looks crazy.

[Becca Ramos]

I have to look this up now.

[Bowen Yang]

It's completely absurd.

[Becca Ramos]

I'm just afraid of heights to go that far.

[Matt Rogers]

Of course. This is my thing with coasters though. It's like we're plateauing. Once you hit a certain threshold of like speed, heights, drops, whatever, it's like it's basically the same as velocicoaster.

[Bowen Yang]

So then what happens is what you need to do is you need like your bespoke elements in order to make these things extra special. In this case, it is a bespoke element in the landscape in Saudi Arabia. So we can't be going there.

[Matt Rogers]

Yes, yeah, yeah, of course.

[Bowen Yang]

But I would say like, I don't know, I guess I look to like the Alps now.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

They must build a coaster and take.

[Becca Ramos]

The yeti ride at Disney. Just as close.

[Bowen Yang]

The expedition Everest is just a. It is a faint whisper.

[Matt Rogers]

Still, still will never understand. Fear of horror movies, love of roller coasters. One is clearly more scary.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know. Like, I think sometime it's just the idea that I'd be trapped in a room watching something so I can't move.

[Matt Rogers]

What about the idea that you were on a speeding vehicle that people sometimes die on?

[Bowen Yang]

But I think actually I think what's scarier would be being in that country.

[Matt Rogers]

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just people are afraid of roller coasters, understandably because something is happening to them physically.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, like I can't.

[Bowen Yang]

I say for something. We're more likely to die right here, right now than on a roller coaster from. From any. Anything. Because I. On a roller coaster, I am protected. On a roller coaster, I am. It has actually been battle tested. These things are like they, you know that for. In order for a roller coaster to run, it has to do something like a thousand continuous hours without.

[Matt Rogers]

Without incident.

[Bowen Yang]

And so it's like how they say, like when you're on a plane, you're actually safer than you are in a car. Because this is something that has been proven, tested and over and over and over to be safe. Otherwise it would. It would be crazy to let it run or put it into action. So you are saf on the velocicoaster than you are walking the streets of York.

[Becca Ramos]

But is that like new regulations? Cause I feel like growing up being in Astroworld and Waterworld, they were definitely not safe at all. I mean, Astroworld got torn down.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, I think that. What was it? Welcome to. There was an HBO Max documentary a couple years ago about a particular water park which was known for like, if you wanna get hurt, come here.

[Becca Ramos]

Yes, I know what you're talking about. I don't remember where it is, but Y.

[Matt Rogers]

Action Park.

[Bowen Yang]

Action Park. Action Park. Thank you. So basically it's Action park. And it's kind of an interesting documentary because it's just like bodily injury was almost a surety.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, it was a day to day.

[Bowen Yang]

But that's not how it is at these big ones.

[Matt Rogers]

I bring this up to sort of synthesize all of this and say, I don't know of people who've died from watching a horror movie. And I think you're safer watching a horror movie than you are writer. You know what I mean?

[Bowen Yang]

For sure. This is why dialogue is so important, because you got me there. But I will say, I do feel like I'm gonna die more when I'm watching Welcome to Derry.

[Becca Ramos]

Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

I have not watched welcome to Derry on the velocicoaster.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

So all my friends decided to watch, to put on it welcome to Derry the other day. And I was like, okay, well, you wanna do this more than hang out with me then, because I am leaving. And they were like, okay, see ya.

[Becca Ramos]

And they're like, yeah, we do, actually.

[Bowen Yang]

All right, fair. It was Steven, Dave and Jared, and I was just like, you guys really picked. They were like, yeah, we want to watch it. I was like, okay, I guess I'm abnormal here because I. I will have a heart attack watching this. I will see myself out. And I think I went home and watched, like, I don't know, could maybe. I tried to watch Beverly Hills this season and was like, this is boring.

[Becca Ramos]

It's rough.

[Matt Rogers]

Every, every. Every opportunity, like, this is an invitation to enjoy the genre. Weapons doing well at awards weapons is really great. Is. Is an invitation to enjoy the genre.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, I told you, I did watch. Watch it by force because the person in front of me on the plane was watching it.

[Matt Rogers]

You didn't watch it? You didn't hear the sounds?

[Becca Ramos]

I can't hear the sounds.

[Bowen Yang]

See? And that makes me feel like the sounds are like.

[Becca Ramos]

No, the soundtrack was released.

[Matt Rogers]

The soundtrack is great.

[Bowen Yang]

There's just one moment where the soundtrack is great.

[Matt Rogers]

One moment where the sounds are terrible.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. What is it? The face stabbing.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah.

[Matt Rogers]

Not even the face stabbing. Not even Whitmer Thomas.

[Bowen Yang]

I see. I know the other thing you're talking about. It's just like, I just can't.

[Becca Ramos]

I mean, hereditary still. Hans.

[Bowen Yang]

Little diva head come off.

[Becca Ramos]

Little diva head come off.

[Matt Rogers]

Fucking love that movie.

[Bowen Yang]

You actually can get your little diva head come off merch on the store. It is an evergreen item until a 24.

[Matt Rogers]

Souza.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, right. Which at this point, why not come. Are you ready?

[Matt Rogers]

I'm ready. This is gonna upset people in this room. Multiple people in this room.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Bowen.

[Matt Rogers]

Or they'll feel validated.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, God.

[Becca Ramos]

Can only go one or two ways.

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Boyang's. I don't think so, honey. His time starts now.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't think so, honey. Toxins how can you be so cute and so damn loud? So damn loud at the same time? It's such a fucking raw deal, isn't it? That the cutest dog breed there is, in my opinion, is also so easily angered, so damn, damn cute and yet so fucking loud that I would go crazy and go into psychosis.

[Bowen Yang]

30 seconds.

[Matt Rogers]

There was a beautiful dachshund named Nut that I knew in college. G N U T. Nut. So cute. And then I realized, oh, he's crazy. Chicha. She's the most beautiful dog I've ever met.

[Bowen Yang]

Chicha's a legend in Marvel. Chicha's a legend. I actually, I don't find anything.

[Matt Rogers]

That Chicha's very well behaved. And yeah, you guys, as the owners, know something besides me.

[Becca Ramos]

Everyone in the room.

[Bowen Yang]

Five seconds. She's a bad legend.

[Matt Rogers]

Torturous tension of dachshunds is that they're so adorable, but fuck are they loud and so, so, so tough. The scream just really hits you primally. You're like, that needs to stop.

[Becca Ramos]

No. Okay. I'm not upset with you because you're not wrong. I made the mistake of getting a dachshund, and now it's become my personality. But if you ask my partner, he doesn't forget to remind me every day that we made a bad choice. With love.

[Matt Rogers]

Sorry, you guys.

[Becca Ramos]

We love Ch. She is our tyrant. She is our overlord. She runs the house, and she has a lot of rules.

[Matt Rogers]

What'd she do today? What are the rules?

[Becca Ramos]

She doesn't like it when one of us is traveling or if we travel at all and we drop her off at daycare. She hates daycare. And she makes everyone at daycare hold her the entire time because she doesn't like to play with the other dogs because they're beneath her.

[Matt Rogers]

Oh, my God.

[Becca Ramos]

She also just, I think, is sad. And she's like, I need someone to cuddle with me 24 7. If I'm doing my makeup for too long, like today, she will start circling me and then barking at me because I'm not sitting. She can't sit in my lap.

[Bowen Yang]

She's like, you're already beautiful. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

She's like, you're already beautiful and you're taking up my time, which is for my lap. So she doesn't like it when I'm spending too much time doing, getting ready. She doesn't like it when it's too loud. So at daycare, they sent me a video of her barking at all the other dogs for playing too loud like they were doing Too much. She doesn't like it. When either of us travel, she'll be a real bad dog. When one of us is gone, she'll just start acting out, barking like crazy, being very reactive.

[Matt Rogers]

She's a bad legend.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, she's a bad legend.

[Bowen Yang]

She's a bad legend.

[Becca Ramos]

And then famously lately, the crazier thing. Cause now I have two dachshunds. One of them.

[Matt Rogers]

That's right.

[Becca Ramos]

Is good for the most part. He's a full size, standard wire hair. His name's Jack, and we adopted him.

[Bowen Yang]

I hoped its name was Chi Cho.

[Becca Ramos]

I know. We only kept his name because. Because it seemed like he really, like, responded to his name. Cause we got him as a puppy. Like, he was like eight months when we found him.

[Bowen Yang]

Change the name on the dog. Yeah.

[Becca Ramos]

I was like, it seems like he really learned Jack. So I was like, okay, we have Jack and we have Chicha. But I will say, behaviorally, the full size are much better than the minis. The minis are the bad to host. But they're so cute. But Jack is a little bit more dense than Chicha. Chicha's so smart.

[Matt Rogers]

I don't need him to be smart.

[Becca Ramos]

Well, I was gonna say, they fight over this one bone often. And Chicha's now gotten so smart. Well, she'll rile Jack up and act like someone's at the door and start barking like, oh, my God, someone's at the door. And so then Jack will be like, oh, my God, someone's at the door. And he'll start running to the door. And then Chicha will turn around. Like, she'll run with him to act like, oh, yeah, we're chasing the door. And then she'll turn around and swoop the bone.

[Matt Rogers]

Chicha for Traitor Season 5.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah. No, she would be a perfect addition. She'd be an amazing character addition to Traitors because she.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, she would be jamming with Lisa, Rinna, and Candace right now. She would have big plans.

[Becca Ramos]

She's so manipulative. Because Jack, he just wants to do good. He just wants to be loved. He just wants to be pet. And he's a little demanding, for sure.

[Matt Rogers]

Doesn't seem like a German dog.

[Bowen Yang]

Right.

[Matt Rogers]

It's just so like.

[Becca Ramos]

And Chicha's particularly loud. You're not wrong. Like, specifically, I've been told by many people, like, for a dachshund, Chicha is loud. And people think she. Cause her bark isn't just loud, but she has, like, a big girl bark. Like, behind the door, people will open up and they'll be like, what the. Like, that's what was barking like. We thought a big dog was there, and it's just a little. Fifteen pound, three inches off the ground. Big pod, little thing.

[Matt Rogers]

She's Sabrina Carpenter. She's our Ana Grande little. Little package. Big boy.

[Becca Ramos]

Exactly. So you're not wrong. Bo and I respect your choice.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, we know that chicha is. I don't think so. Honeying all the time.

[Becca Ramos]

She absolutely. She's never letting me not know what's going on.

[Bowen Yang]

It's time for you to. I don't think so. Honey, this is a moment in time. Are you ready?

[Becca Ramos]

I'm ready. I'm nervous. I don't know why, but I'm ready.

[Bowen Yang]

Mrs. Becca Ramos says, I don't think so. Honey, our time starts now.

[Becca Ramos]

I don't think so. New York City apartment hunting. Okay, I have lived in this city for six years, and I don't know if the landlords are scared of Mondame and they're making it harder for you to get an apartment, but I have never in my life had such a hard time finding an apartment than I am this year in 2026. I've already applied for two apartments and been declined. One of them said my guarantor didn't make a hundred times the rent, which is crazy. And then the second one, they were like, you have two dogs? Absolutely not. After I had put a deposit down, which meant they should not have shown that apartment to anybody else, they considered other people and let it go. And they told me I was a perfect candidate. One apartment told me that I was approved and then declined. Like, it is insane out here. It's also crazy that, like, it's expected that in one month you're supposed to find an apartment, move, pack your shit, and like, whatever. It's. It's crazy because other place, they know. The landlords know three months in advance that you are leaving that place. So they should put the market three months in advance. That's my one minute.

[Matt Rogers]

You're overqualified.

[Becca Ramos]

That's why I'm overqualified.

[Bowen Yang]

I can't believe they took a deposit and then two places have taken a.

[Becca Ramos]

Deposit and declined the apartment. They did give the deposit back. I was gonna say the second one. They're being a little shady about it, but luckily I put on my credit card so I can like, cancel the payment.

[Bowen Yang]

That's unreal.

[Becca Ramos]

Yeah, it's like. And they. All these landlords are trying to be. Or maybe not landlords, but the realtors are to trying. Trying to Be like, yeah, this is no fee. Isn't that great? And I'm like, no, that's the law now.

[Matt Rogers]

That's the law. Don't make me feel like you're doing.

[Becca Ramos]

Me a favor that it's. No. Like it was insane. It was inhumane beforehand that I had to have three times the rent just to put down on this apartment. Don't act like you're doing me a favor now that I don't have to do that. But then you're also not giving me apartments. Like, it's crazy.

[Matt Rogers]

It's absolute hell. I'm so sorry. This is.

[Becca Ramos]

I will find a place, but.

[Bowen Yang]

Yes, you will.

[Becca Ramos]

It's insane because I. I have lived in Texas in an apartment, and I've lived in Portland, Oregon in an apartment. And obviously I'm not even balking about the price point. Those are different cities. We live in New York. We live in a New York price point. I don't even care about that. Yeah, it's like I could find an apartment, like, sign a lease three months before my lease was over, you know, Cuz it's like you have to tell the landlord, hey, I'm moving 90 day in advance. And they're like, okay, cool. Assuming that they would. They do with that information is put on the market. No, they won't put a mark. They know which apartments are going to be available in three months, and yet they will not release them until the month before. And it's crazy because it's like, how is it expected that I'm supposed to hopefully find an apartment by January 1st to move in on February 1st, like in that month? You have to then pack your stuff, get rid of stuff, Move. Yeah, it's insane.

[Bowen Yang]

But you know what? As a result of this, I don't think so, honey. You're getting a. You're getting. You're getting a mansion.

[Becca Ramos]

Someone give me an apartment, please. In Brooklyn.

[Bowen Yang]

We're moving you in. On. On. We're moving you into Gracie Mansion.

[Becca Ramos]

That'd be gorge. I'm like, I just need someone to let my two dachshunds in, please.

[Matt Rogers]

One loud one.

[Bowen Yang]

Girl.

[Becca Ramos]

I know they're loud, but they're cute and they are good and they will love you fiercely. Just let me let them in as.

[Bowen Yang]

We love you fiercely and we've so loved this episode. I mean, just like, I know that this is gonna make the readers tickled pink and. February 3rd.

[Becca Ramos]

February 3rd. Welcome to El Barrio. Stream on all platforms and right now you can tune in on ig. You can find us at welcome to el Barrio on TikTok and you can find me ex ramos wherever you can find me.

[Matt Rogers]

And the Tumblr is out there somewhere.

[Becca Ramos]

And my Tumblr if you find it, honestly, congrats.

[Bowen Yang]

If you find it, you deserve to read it.

[Matt Rogers]

You deserve to read it.

[Becca Ramos]

You deserve to read it if you can find it. Because it's not under my name. So I'd be shocked. I have googled myself and many times it hasn't come up. So okay, Teals ironclad.

[Bowen Yang]

Keep googling yourself.

[Matt Rogers]

Stop that. Can I give you a recipe for disaster?

[Becca Ramos]

Cause I was what featured on Daily Zeitgeist years ago, like when I first joined podcasting and I had the audacity to look myself up on Reddit and made one comment about a pop star that I'm sure everyone can assume and it wasn't even that bad. I apologized immediately, was like, don't come for me. And then it was like, she hates women. So I know better. I will not be googling myself after this venture. Now that I am a public personality, I will never google myself again.

[Bowen Yang]

You're just in time.

[Matt Rogers]

You're just in time. We end every episode with the song.

[Bowen Yang]

My Pussies in a day's like Pepsi Cola. My eyes are wide like cherry pieces. For more of that, listen, Alana Del Rey, you should have already.

[Becca Ramos]

You should have known already.

[Matt Rogers]

We've been. We've been since day ones.

[Bowen Yang]

We've been Day one. Terlana Bye.

[Matt Rogers]

Las Colduristas is a Production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and iHeartRadio Podcasts.

[Bowen Yang]

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

[Matt Rogers]

Mixed by Doug Bain.

[Bowen Yang]

And our music is by Henry Kabirsky.

[Matt Rogers]

We all know the feeling when life gets really busy. Taking care of yourself can feel impossible. That's why Premier protein shakes are my go to. They have 30 grams of protein, 160 calories, no added sugar, and they taste amazing. So they're a healthy choice you'll actually want to to make. It's not just for fitness, it's for getting after life. Premier Protein powers me to say yes to more. Find your favorite [e-mail] that's P R E M I E R protein dot com.

[Bowen Yang]

That's another amazing run by Team USA. And you too can go for glory with the Xfinity five year price guarantee.

[Commercial Voice]

Now through February 22nd. Get Gig Wise Wi Fi for $50 a month for five years guaranteed. Plus get Peacock Premium included for two years. That's a $10.99 value per month. Xfinity Imagine that. Proud partner of Team usa. Restrictions apply. Requires paperless billing and autopay with stored bank account taxes and fees. Extra actual speeds vary this message is.

[Matt Rogers]

Brought to you by Pizza Hut because if you're yelling Hut on Sundays, why not yell pizza first?

[Bowen Yang]

That makes two much sense. Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has been challenging quarterbacks to say pizza before Hut During a televised.

[Matt Rogers]

Game, but now Pizza Hut is a reminder for the rest of us fans too. The big New Yorker with foldable slices.

[Bowen Yang]

Just like a true New York slice.

[Matt Rogers]

And right now it's just 10 bucks.

[Bowen Yang]

So before that first hut. Grab the big New Yorker and you're set for the whole game. You can't spell culturistas without R I.

[Matt Rogers]

That's right. Rhode island is the perfect place. Not just for the culturistas of the world. All the other Easters too.

[Bowen Yang]

We're talking about the food Easters, the theater Easters, the nature Easters, the luxuries does whatever you're in Easter for, you'll find it in the Ocean State.

[Matt Rogers]

So start packing those bags and be the best Easter you can be.

[Bowen Yang]

Rhode Island. All that.

[Matt Rogers]

Plan your trip@Visit Rhode Island.com that's Visit Rhode Island.com this is an I heart podcast.

[Becca Ramos]

Guaranteed human.