Manipulated by the Mayonnaise w/ Carl Tart : Motherf*ckin Mini Episode

Summary

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My Momma Told Me – "Manipulated by the Mayonnaise" w/ Carl Tart

Motherf*ckin Mini Episode
Released: August 21, 2025
Hosts: Langston Kerman, David Gborie
Guest: Carl Tart

Overview

In this lively mini episode, Langston, David, and returning guest Carl Tart dive into Black food lore, focusing on soda nostalgia and an unexpected deep-dive into the "mayonnaise conspiracy." They riff on childhood memories of sodas, Black cookout beverage politics, and how Undercover Brother may have forever tainted mayonnaise for Black folks. Woven throughout are the trademark humor, playful ribbing, and cultural insight that define the show.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Soda Nostalgia and Black Cookouts

[02:21–09:12]

• The hosts and Carl joke about a wide variety of sodas from their childhoods, starting with the resurgence of “Slice” and moving through regional favorites and cookout staples.
• Soda Hierarchies: Kids at Black cookouts usually only got the off-brand or generic sodas (like Safeway Select, King Soopers 3L, Shasta), while name-brands like Coke and Sprite were reserved for adults.
  • Carl: “The adults got the name brand stuff… I think that Pepsi… for us, mixture of Safeway Select… King Soopers made a three liter...” (05:12)
  • Langston: “That's like Shasta here.” (05:21)
  • David: “That feels like if the FDA wasn’t gonna step up, we never stood a chance. Yo, three liters is… too much.” (05:28)
• They share their greatest soda vices from childhood, such as Mountain Dew, Snapple, Arizona, Big Red, and knee-hi.
  • “Even me as a kid who like I said I loved soda… soda has been one of my biggest…I don't do no drugs but soda…” – Carl (05:55)
• They discuss flavor inflation — with endless new Mountain Dew versions and exotic Snapple or knee-hi flavors.
• Artificial vs. Real Fruit: There’s a running joke about “perfected fruit in the lab” and that artificial fruit flavors (like passion fruit or grape) are better or more memorable than the actual fruits.
  • David: “Have you ever had a grape regular?” (10:29)
  • Langston: “We perfected fruit in the lab, I think we acknowledge that, right?” (10:29)

The Black Mayonnaise Conspiracy

[13:57–18:37]

• Langston brings up the “Timberland conspiracy” as comic background, then pivots to the “mayonnaise incident.”
• Undercover Brother’s Role: The hosts explore how the Undercover Brother movie villainized mayonnaise for Black people.
  • Langston: “Remember when mayonnaise was… undercover brother ruined mayonnaise for Black people.” (15:02)
  • Carl: “As a Black man who does like mayonnaise, that was tough. I like it. I still feel embarrassed.” (15:07)
• They recognize a real cultural shift—mayonnaise became stigmatized, while Miracle Whip gets collectively scorned.
  • “People who say Miracle Whip is better than mayonnaise? Stupid people. Stupid. Kick yourself.” – Carl (15:31)
  • David: “You have no discernment as an adult, you can’t tell what’s going on.” (15:37)
  • Langston: “It tastes like spoiled mayonnaise, it's awful!” (15:43)
• Economic Conspiracies: The hosts float a humorous conspiracy theory that Eddie Griffin’s anti-mayonnaise jokes in Undercover Brother hurt the Hellmann’s/Best Foods brand and perhaps tanked his own career.
  • Langston: “I’m starting to think Eddie Griffin’s career took a downturn when he fucked around with mayonnaise. Interesting.” (16:24)
• The Power of the Black Dollar: The discussion notes how Black consumer choices influence brand direction, especially in food.
  • Langston: “The Black dollar is strong—if Black people stop buying something…” (17:22)
  • David: “I think specifically the Black food dollar is very strong.” (17:31)
• Cultural Shaming: They talk about how cultural shaming ("if you eat that, you ain't Black") works on the community more than righteousness.
  • Langston: “It’s a shame, but as a community, we’re not like 'it's the right thing to do, brother.'” (17:36)
• References to memorable Undercover Brother scenes: mayonnaise made to look gross, the hero forced to eat it with hot sauce for relief.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “That feels like if the FDA wasn't gonna step up, we never stood a chance. Yo, three liters is too much.” — David Gborie, (05:28)
• “Even me as a kid who like I said I loved soda… soda has been one of my biggest vices. I don't do no drugs but soda…” — Carl Tart, (05:55)
• "Dog, I used to think that Snapple was healthy for me… if I have a Snapple, then I'm doing good." — Langston Kerman, (08:17)
• "Remember when mayonnaise was… Undercover Brother ruined mayonnaise for Black people." — Langston Kerman, (15:02)
• "As a Black man who does like mayonnaise, that was a tough… I like it. I still feel embarrassed." — Carl Tart, (15:07)
• “You have no discernment as an adult, you can’t tell what’s going on. What are you talking about? It tastes like spoiled mayonnaise, it's awful!” — Langston Kerman, (15:37)
• “I’m starting to think Eddie Griffin’s career took a downturn when he fucked around with mayonnaise. Interesting.” — Langston Kerman, (16:24)
• “The Black dollar is strong—if Black people stop buying something…” — Langston Kerman, (17:22)
• “If you eat that, you ain't Black in 1999…” — Langston Kerman, (17:49)

---

Segment Timestamps

• Soda Nostalgia & Childhood Cookouts: 02:21–11:00
• Snapple & Artificial vs. Real Fruit Flavors: 08:11–10:38
• Mayonnaise Conspiracy & Undercover Brother: 13:57–18:37

---

Tone & Flow

The episode is loose and playful, with plenty of tangents and affectionate roasting. The hosts and guest share specific regional memories with plenty of in-jokes, but the universal themes—Black food rituals, the power of group shame, and how pop culture shapes taste—shine through. The “conspiratorial” talk is knowingly tongue-in-cheek, delivered with humor and self-awareness, typical of the show’s vibes.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This mini episode offers a hilarious and thoughtful stroll through beloved (and cringeworthy) Black food moments—sodas at the cookout, the persistent guilt around mayonnaise post-Undercover Brother, and just how easily personal taste is swayed by movies or in-jokes. The episode is both rich in nostalgia and sharp in its observations of how media and culture entwine around food in the Black community.

Transcript

[Host 1]

This is an iheart podcast you can.

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[Host 1]

Welcome to today from back to school.

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Every morning we're here to help you take it all on as the forecast calls for football all across the country.

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[Host 1]

Mini episode mini episode mini episode dicky lime goes crazy i'm.

[Host 2]

Saying they've upped all the flavor profiles i think i think they taste better than they ever did before i've shifted.

[Host 3]

To spindrift and i think oh because of the real juice i think i.

[Host 1]

Grapefruit i had a bad experience with the grapefruit okay it was just nasty i was like this is not good and i never went back you've never.

[Host 3]

Gone back to do you like grapefruit.

[Host 2]

Juice though not necessarily yeah i get it i get it i like grapefruit.

[Host 1]

Juice yeah i don't it's not mine like i'm more of a pineapple why did you do that because that's what they had it might have even been.

[Host 2]

Here.

[Host 1]

As spindrift and i was like it's like too sour and yeah yeah but i've been on the olipops and poppies the olips and poppies i'm a big soda guy and i had to of course we all eventually have to stop drinking it yeah but i i'm like oh this is great also they brought back slice just what i was.

[Host 2]

My girl just went to the mountains and got a bunch of slices slice.

[Host 1]

Is healthy slice yeah they probiotic yeah.

[Host 2]

Okay yeah slice got a cola ginger.

[Host 3]

Ale i like that slice kept a building this whole time yeah do you.

[Host 1]

Know what i mean like we back.

[Host 3]

Baby slice never they never like disbanded the boys never they're like nah we'll.

[Host 1]

Get back i bet you the owner probably drank like some old slice being nostalgic he was like man that's with my stomach what if i had something wait a minute.

[Host 2]

Do you remember the strawberry slice of course even as a kid i was like i know this is not you're not supposed to just be drinking this yeah it was that.

[Host 3]

Shit was strong nah man it was.

[Host 2]

Strong and it was thick slightly i.

[Host 1]

Was a fan of big red which is an unnamed flavor that's undisclosed that.

[Host 2]

Could be anything maybe cinnamon used to.

[Host 1]

Kept everything.

[Host 2]

Yeah what is big red.

[Host 1]

Just red you know they got a.

[Host 2]

Big blue too yeah undisclosed are these.

[Host 3]

Slice flavors because i know no this.

[Host 2]

Is just the big big company we're.

[Host 3]

Not talking faygo red pop shit no.

[Host 2]

This is isley brand cola holy shit.

[Host 3]

Mister big i don't remember big red.

[Host 1]

Yeah oh damn oh man we gotta get you a big red can you.

[Host 2]

Pull up the picture of it you'll remember it you'll remember the bottle okay cause it was only in bottles right.

[Host 1]

It'S bottle it had cans it had cans too okay faygo i do remember big red you're right so faygo's big.

[Host 3]

All my family is in detroit though so like i i was constantly with faygo as a child so what was.

[Host 1]

Yalls let me ask i know you from denver yeah yeah yeah what's yalls what's yalls the soda that the kids was allowed to drink at the cookout oh i had more experience with cookouts in mississippi where i'm from and the adults got the name brand stuff coke sprite right right i think that pepsi.

[Host 2]

I think for us mixture of safeway select and then king supers is our local and they made a three liter.

[Host 1]

Ah that's like shasta here okay yeah.

[Host 2]

So the king super's three liter of pineapple or whatever have you was on.

[Host 3]

That feels like if the fda wasn't gonna step up we never stood a.

[Host 1]

Chance yo three liters is three liters.

[Host 3]

Is too much three liters of already telling me is not as good as.

[Host 1]

These other powders this is cheaper but.

[Host 2]

There'S more of it and that's a marketing tactic that's gotten me several times that's crazy it's not as good as this yeah there's twice as many times.

[Host 1]

Even me as a kid who like i said i loved soda soda has been one of my biggest i don't do no drugs but soda soda is.

[Host 2]

Like hey don't sell yourself short this.

[Host 1]

Is a drug yeah i know i know what i'm saying like that's been my biggest vice i'm saying like definitely be doing the soda lean but like shasta tiki punch well they would sell that three liter at the ninety nine cent store so like a two liter of coke is two point nine nine this is a three liter of soda that's only ninety nine cents sometimes you.

[Host 2]

Hear shit and you're like how was i supposed to win how was i supposed to get ahead no i think.

[Host 3]

About it all the time we've talked about it a ton on this podcast because i was a mountain dew kid.

[Host 1]

Yeah he was a dude it's so.

[Host 3]

Good it was it it used to hit me in the way that i needed to be hit do you know what i mean yeah it did all the things i needed i used to go to the gas station around the corner from my house and this was back when you get like a dollar fifty big gulp and i would get the big gulp and the gas station was so close that i would refill it like two or three times in the day with mountain dew yeah do.

[Host 2]

You does it make you upset that they have so many different flavors of mountain dew now i was curious oh.

[Host 1]

You were never you didn't even go code red in middle school i was.

[Host 2]

Bad though i feel like did you like code red i hated code red.

[Host 1]

I was well see all right we all about i'm thirty six yeah so i'm twenty eight please brother i just.

[Host 3]

Graduated college.

[Host 1]

I known y' all since y' all was older than me what.

[Host 3]

Us we interns here.

[Host 1]

The middle school era two thousand two thousand three right after school seven eleven bag of hot cheetos i was pepsi blue which apparently was like terrible for us also dropped.

[Host 2]

Out did not leave your hair pepsi.

[Host 1]

Blue then i got to high school i was like i'm not drinking remember people used to be like i'm not drinking no soda but they would replace it with just as sugary if not more sugary juice arizona everybody knows i only drink fruitopias i don't do that soda is not what's hurting you my.

[Host 2]

Man i only drink brisk strawberry yeah.

[Host 3]

It'S still the same syrup it's just.

[Host 1]

Bubbly and not bubbly that arizona used to hit so hard after football practice.

[Host 3]

Dog i used to think that snapple was healthy for me i was truly like nah if i have a snapple then i'm doing good yeah have a.

[Host 2]

Snapple have a salad and go to.

[Host 1]

Bed early i remember my mom actually like being like you ain't drinking that soda drink this snapple yeah i had a very young mom same same it.

[Host 2]

Was in a glass bottle though that's.

[Host 1]

Tricky and that's yeah that's tricky it.

[Host 3]

Was in the yeah they put information.

[Host 2]

Under the cap i were those real facts i thought they were they were lying right they were lying they well they they they were they were snapple bits they were real in that they.

[Host 3]

Were based on real facts okay but they were made small enough to fit on a bottle cap so they're always leaving out vital information in the shit.

[Host 2]

That they're saying right right right you.

[Host 3]

Know what i mean like there are snapple facts that you read and you're like all right yeah it's not a lie but nigga you didn't tell me everything you kept some information a lie.

[Host 1]

Of omission is me check and knee.

[Host 3]

High knee high i don't know what knee high is knee high.

[Host 2]

What'S the.

[Host 1]

Flavor my favorite was peach oh it's.

[Host 2]

That'S the brand yeah the brand is.

[Host 1]

Knee high and they had all the.

[Host 3]

Flavors they were at least for the midwest the first ones to really fuck around outside of the original like sort of set of flavors yeah like you got like they originally they were the first motherfuckers that did like strawberry kiwi out of nowhere and you're like whoa.

[Host 2]

Y' all are bugging i didn't know we could do that there's certain flavors that i'll always tap into if it's kiwi something i'll always get that passion fruit which i've never had a passion fruit in real life in my whole life pretty sour i don't even know what it looks like it's it's a.

[Host 3]

Little ball it's a teeny tiny ball it's purple and you cut that bad boy open brother allen mostly seeds it's mostly seeds i will say passion fruit is my favorite fruit flavor on earth like artificial flavor artificial no like to taste the passion fruit and the artificial version it is if i get passion fruit i'm always happy but a passion fruit itself is not that dope and you kind of feel sad after because it's like this small no i mean.

[Host 2]

We perfected fruit fruit in the lab i think we acknowledge that right yep yeah have you ever had a grape regular that's how we end up with.

[Host 3]

Twenty minutes of soda talk.

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[Guest Speaker]

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[Host 1]

Is this a conspiracy the timberland sign is that from a previous episode it is from when they when people used to say that somebody was hanging from the.

[Host 3]

Tree yeah that the timberland company is.

[Host 1]

Owned by the kkk yeah and if you look closely somebody yeah.

[Host 3]

Yeah it's crazy people are really crazy yeah that's.

[Host 2]

What i've learned doing this podcast people are people are like y' all have.

[Host 1]

To have run out by now because not to give up on the lore y' all can cut this out but this was from you i never thought this cut it out justin cut it.

[Host 3]

You know what's funny is we definitely have like repeated some conversations but not as many as you would think yeah like way more often are we getting like some version of a new conversation from folks even there's just so much like this is new yeah we've never done lactose intolerance at all i think.

[Host 2]

There'S also just so much new media and shit coming out there's so much content to like take and distill through a black lens you know what i mean that there's always some new black shit to think about yeah remember when.

[Host 1]

Mayonnaise was have y' all talked about this undercover brother ruined mayonnaise for black.

[Host 2]

People and here's the thing as a black man who does like mayonnaise that was a tough like i like it i still feel embarrassed i do feel exactly that i feel embarrassed like it's not like i'm not going crazy right but like on a sandwich yeah i.

[Host 3]

Want that i don't see a wrong.

[Host 2]

With not hell no not miracle whip.

[Host 3]

I fuck with miracle whip same and angry same like somebody gives me miracle whip i'm not gonna going to finish.

[Host 1]

It and people who say miracle whip is better than mayonnaise stupid people stupid kick yourself yeah because it's not no.

[Host 2]

You have no discernment as an adult you have no you can't tell what's.

[Host 3]

Going on what are you talking about.

[Host 1]

It tastes like spoiled mayonnaise it's awful.

[Host 2]

It'S so gross it's legitimately not good when can we get mayonnaise back as.

[Host 3]

Black people i don't know because can.

[Host 2]

I tell you one thing you know what happens in sierra leone you can just buy french bread with mayonnaise on it and they just eat that shit.

[Host 3]

Plain i think what's crazy is we gave up on eddie griffin before we gave up on hating mayonnaise whoa yeah.

[Host 1]

See eddie griffin is not in the same place as he was no not at all damn but he's the one that started that anti mayonnaise campaign and i remember come on man you telling me in the nineties you weren't making a bologna and cheese sandwich and putting mayonnaise on it mayonnaise and mustard that's.

[Host 3]

What it goes together i'm about to get a little conspiratorial with y' all i'm starting to think eddie griffin's career took a downturn when he fucked around with mayonnaise interesting i'm starting to think i'm starting to think that he fucked with somebody's money in a way that.

[Host 2]

They didn't like the hellman's family the.

[Host 3]

Hellman'S family they had an institution as far as i'm concerned in the black community potato salad mayonnaise yeah you know.

[Host 1]

Tuna fish you notice that it went fast foods after that movie helmets turned into best foods undercover brother they changed the name you know what can i.

[Host 3]

Pitch around and hurt some people i.

[Host 2]

Bet there was a merger going on uh oh like similar to what's going on with viacom and the trump shit yeah i bet you there was a mayonnaise merger going on and he was fucking up the merger with all this.

[Host 3]

Anti mayo problem bet was about to close a deal with big mayonnaise yep they had a they had a big plan a big rollout prepared and here come eddie griffin being funny yep the.

[Host 1]

Black dollar is strong it's strong as hell huge they don't they don't like to talk about it the black dollar is strong and if and if the if black people stop buying something yup.

[Host 2]

Come on i think specifically the black food dollar is very strong and i.

[Host 3]

Think he's zeroed in on a way of actually getting people to stop as opposed to like righteousness which is not how we stop doing stuff you know what i mean it's a shame but as a community we're not like it's the right thing to do brother and.

[Host 2]

We are stick to it nah but.

[Host 3]

If you into being like if you eat that you ain't black in nineteen ninety nine yeah that changes the way i approach the world yeah you know.

[Host 2]

What i mean like i do feel bad about mayonnaise and they made the mayonnaise look nasty in the movie yeah.

[Host 1]

It was like shaking his lip was.

[Host 2]

Quivering yeah man he had that watch that like spit hot sauce into it to make the mayonnaise edible yeah which.

[Host 3]

I never understood because i was like what is it about the mayonnaise you don't like is it it's bland for you because that's not its point that's.

[Host 1]

Not his point no the point is lubrication yeah so you can eat this.

[Host 2]

Sandwich now sweet boy go down smooth with mayonnaise it go down eat it.

[Host 1]

Sounds like a cartoon.

[Host 2]

Boy you want.

[Host 3]

It to go down smooth you gotta.

[Host 2]

Get some mayonnaise oh man.

[Host 1]

Mini episode mini episode mini episode mini episode mini episode mini episode.

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[Host 1]

Dot com lenovo lenovo this is an iheart podcast.