118: Chef Microwave with Tommy Pope | Soder Podcast | EP 116

Summary

Soder Podcast – Episode 118: "Chef Microwave" with Tommy Pope

Host: Dan Soder
Guest: Tommy Pope
Release Date: January 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and unfiltered episode, Dan Soder welcomes his longtime friend and fellow comic Tommy Pope (“Stuff Island”, “Look at Dish”,”Tires”) for a conversation that jumps from the agony of rooting for battered NFL teams, to the love and science of comfort food, to the brutal realities and bizarre politics of the TV biz. The guys riff on the intensity of sports fandom, compare Philly and New York food scenes, swap kitchen war stories, roast network executives, and drop pure wisdom on cooking, relationships, and brotherhood.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. NFL Playoff Misery & Fandom Rants

Timestamps: 00:44–15:00

• Dan (Niners fan) vs. Tommy (Eagles fan): They commiserate about the tension of their teams facing off and the frustrations of injuries.
  • “Well, this sucks. Having an injured team sucks.” (Dan, 00:59)
• Injuries Screwing Up the Fun: Walking through how injuries kill the competitive spirit and the joy of best-vs-best.
  • “You want to beat the best.” (Dan, 06:35)
• Being ‘The Villain’ After Winning: How sports fans become hated after their team wins a title, using Red Sox and Chiefs fans as examples.
  • “You’re putting the Vader helmet on as soon as you get in the locker room.” (Tommy, 07:14)
• Tribalism and Sports Banter: Rants about Seahawks fans, fake fanbases, and the near-violence of city loyalties.
  • “Boston sports in just one moment…he goes, ‘Niner hat in Boston, that’s risky.’” (Dan, 11:07)

2. Deep Dive: Food, Cooking, and the Philly/NYC Bias

Timestamps: 17:41–28:59

• Austin Isn’t a Food City? Tommy claims Austin’s food is overrated outside BBQ and “Japanese farm system sushi.”
  • “It’s not a food city. People say it’s a food…I miss American comfort foods.” (Tommy, 17:48)
• Big City Food Bias: Only people from major cities understand having real delis and comfort food nearby.
  • “When you grow up in a big city…you get used to stuff like that.” (Dan, 20:13)
• Hoagie Science: Tommy gives a full tutorial—complete with hand motions—on “crunching the meats” for a proper deli sandwich.
  • “You pinch a three prong pinch and twist…you aerate.” (Tommy, 22:18)
• Smash Burgers and Crunchy Bacon: Tommy rails against smash burgers and reveals his “Chef Microwave” bacon method.
  • “Sometimes Chef Mike—Microwave—that’s all you need.” (Tommy, 25:32)
  • “Microwave bacon…soaks up all the extra grease. Perfect crunch.” (Tommy, 25:00)

3. Cooking as Defense, Therapy, and Family Ritual

Timestamps: 32:09–36:56

• Learning to Cook for Survival: Tommy reveals he learned to cook as a way to avoid getting beaten up by his brothers.
  • “I would cook for my brothers so they didn’t abuse me.” (Tommy, 34:48)
• Cooking as Connection—And Solo Joy: Both men talk about parents who loved to cook, and how being in the kitchen is a “break from life.”
  • “The only time I saw [my dad] at his peak happiness…was when he was in the kitchen.” (Dan, 32:09)
  • “Cooking is an exceptional break from life…Beauty, dude.” (Tommy, 28:18)

4. The Cruelty and Madness of TV Development

Timestamps: 39:11–54:17

• Comedy Shows Ruined By Execs: Both recount horror stories of making pilots and web series that were gutted by clueless executives.
  • “Talentless hacks…that’s the only good thing I’m liking about watching the collapse of the industry.” (Dan, 43:07)
• MC’ing and Gatekeepers: They discuss how industry decision-makers always want their “fingerprints” on a project, ruining original visions.
  • “It’s always just somebody going…It ruins it.” (Dan, 42:30)
• Dream Projects and Hustle: Tommy describes his dream show blending standup and food; Dan explains how modern comics/creators can now produce and own shows directly.
  • “You could do everything on your own…” (Tommy, 56:37)

5. Epic Eye Injury Story (Bleach Incident)

Timestamps: 58:17–64:28

• Tommy vs. Tilex Bleach: In a Final Destination–esque accident, Tommy gets bleach directly in his eye and must get urgent hospital treatment.
  • “The bottom drops out…the mechanism hits a towel rack and does a 360 at my face…violent splash, direct to the eyeball.” (Tommy, 60:23)
• Miserable ER Night: Details the horror of a Morgan’s lens flushing out his eye and the existential terror of losing vision.
  • “Straight on this lens or else it starts cutting into your cornea.” (Tommy, 62:12)

6. Brotherhood, Relationships, and Bite-Sized Wisdom

Timestamps: Throughout

• Relationships and Cooking: Tommy on teaching his girlfriend to cook; the pitfalls of giving advice in relationships.
  • “If I say [how to cut an onion] she’s like, can you just give me a chance?” (Tommy, 33:33)
• Admiration and Mutual Love: Closing out, Dan and Tommy celebrate each other’s work and friendship.
  • “I think you’re one of my favorite human beings on the planet.” (Dan, 66:22)

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Standout Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sports Fandom:

  • “You want to beat the best.” (Dan, 06:36)
  • “You’re putting the Vader helmet on as soon as you get in the locker room.” (Tommy, 07:14)

• On Cooking as Coping:

  • “I would cook for my brother so they didn’t abuse me.” (Tommy, 34:48)

• On Network Execs:

  • “It’s always just somebody going… and then you go, that ruins it.” (Dan, 42:30)

• On Food Nostalgia:

  • “When you go get sushi—sushi in Texas doesn’t even…dude, it is remarkable. Eighteen courses…mind-blowingly beautiful.” (Tommy, 18:31)
  • “Microwave bacon—soaks up all the extra grease. Perfect crunch.” (Tommy, 25:00)

• On Relationships & Cooking:

  • “Cooking is an exceptional break from life…like the orchestration of prep, lighting, background music…throwing on some background piano music or jazz…” (Tommy, 28:18)

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Episode Timestamps Guide

| Segment | Topic / Quote Highlight | |---------------------------------- |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:44–15:00 | Sports talk: Niners–Eagles, Eagles fandom, injuries, rivalries, being the villain post-title | | 17:41–28:59 | Regional food rants, deli science, sandwich assembly, Austin food scene, Philly/NYC bias | | 32:09–36:56 | Family, learning to cook, cooking as coping, therapy, and joy | | 39:11–54:17 | TV industry, development horror stories, ownership, pitching, the creative grind | | 58:17–64:28 | Tommy’s bleach-in-eye story, ER hell, perspective on health/luck | | 66:22–67:00 | Mutual admiration, show plugs, closing “Go Niners” vs “Go Birds” playoff shout |

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Tone and Style

This episode features Dan and Tommy’s trademark blend of vulnerability, ball-busting, Philly authenticity, deep warmth, and relentless humor. Their language is raw, rapid-fire, and unscripted—full of foul-mouthed asides, insightful analogies, and moments of sincere affection.

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TL;DR

A hilarious and heartfelt hour-plus of sports heartbreak, Philly food obsession, how to make a perfect hoagie (crunch your meats!), why cooking matters, insider comedy biz grievances, and why you shouldn’t ever, ever clean your shower with the windows open. One of Soder’s warmest, rawest, and most quotable hangouts.

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Recommended If You Like: Sports misery, Philly/NYC culinary worship, kitchen survival tips, network TV horror stories, brotherly trash talk, or just two comics getting real and clowning hard.

Transcript

[Dan Soder]

Hey, everybody. I'm back on the Road February 13th in Orlando, Florida, Florida. I don't know why I said that. So weird, but I'm going to be there. February 13th, Orlando, Florida. February 14th, Tampa, Florida. February 28th, Buffalo, New York. I'll see you there. Hopefully. Dance order.com for tickets. I was holding that in. I don't know if we kept that in, but that was a real burp. I mean, we don't even need it. We don't do intros on this, but this is the one guy I want to intro from Stuff Island.

[Tommy Pope]

Are we. Are we rolling?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. From.

[Tommy Pope]

Look at. Jesus Christ.

[Dan Soder]

We don't. We don't. No kissing. No kissing on this podcast.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Don't we.

[Dan Soder]

Right to insertion. Tommy Pope.

[Tommy Pope]

Let's go.

[Dan Soder]

Stuff Island. Look at Dish. A guy I've known forever, that I love, and one of my friends that this week I'm in a position of like. I want you to be miserable this weekend because the 49ers are playing the Eagles.

[Tommy Pope]

Yes. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Well, this sucks. This sucks. Having an injured team sucks.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

So bad.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because if we were full strength, this. I would be talking to you.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But we have. Literally. And if you're not a sports fan, people. Hold on. People sometimes do this with the podcast where I talk sports and they go, I don't like it. I'm telling you right now. Cut to the 15 minute mark.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

We'll be on to something else.

[Tommy Pope]

We get the same shit. You start mentioning sports to these fucking.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. The range to the 15 minute mark.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And I understand that the game already happened.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I'm probably very upset about it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Tommy's probably on fucking cloud nine about it.

[Tommy Pope]

Who knows?

[Dan Soder]

Who knows?

[Tommy Pope]

One of us will be dead.

[Dan Soder]

Dead. But if I will say this. If the 49ers were at full strength. No. If we win or you guys don't beat us by two scores.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You need to fire offensive coordinator.

[Tommy Pope]

Tell you something. You want to talk. Roc has a blown ACL. McL. His head is backwards. That guy is going to get shot to the moon in a cannon.

[Dan Soder]

Let me tell you something about Eagles fans. You guys are the defending super bowl champions.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You're the defending.

[Tommy Pope]

Arguably a better roster easily. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Howie Roseman is. It's not even an argument.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

He's the greatest general manager the NFL probably has ever seen.

[Tommy Pope]

Yes.

[Dan Soder]

In the catch. In the. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

It's deep. Because I can't. I got to do something with my feet.

[Dan Soder]

I know. I keep going. Keep going.

[Tommy Pope]

Talk about fucking team like But Howie.

[Dan Soder]

Is like a guy where I watch now again, we Niners, Eagles, when we bump into each other, it's always a little nasty. I like that.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But in the NFC east, you guys are all my friends are Eagles fans. So I like watching you guys. I pay attention to the team. Howie is like the greatest general manager. Your roster's locked.

[Tommy Pope]

It's crazy.

[Dan Soder]

20, 28, it's crazy. It's like.

[Tommy Pope]

And they're young and they're outside of a couple dudes. They're young as hell.

[Dan Soder]

But man, oh, man, your offensive coordinator.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Has been getting eggs thrown at his house, brother. Like people, I mean, you're like going to his house screaming at him.

[Tommy Pope]

That kid, he deserves much more.

[Dan Soder]

What is it? I, I, no, everything is like, I can name you. What's wrong with our team. ACL on Bosa, ankle on Warner, ACL on our backup team.

[Tommy Pope]

Objective things. You can, you can lay your head.

[Dan Soder]

On a pillow condition. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

You can, you can at least leave this season going.

[Dan Soder]

Look, we had some injuries and also and 49ers fans will tell you this to be get offseason. You got an arm, you got to touch it.

[Tommy Pope]

It's within reach. You're not going to hold this.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And it a real.

[Tommy Pope]

I know what the it is. I know. This is a game ball.

[Dan Soder]

Got a game ball.

[Tommy Pope]

Jesus Christ. Why are we doing this?

[Dan Soder]

Well, let me tell you outside, I would love to have a catch toss.

[Tommy Pope]

Around a one way street.

[Dan Soder]

I would love to have a catch this awesome.

[Tommy Pope]

Delivery guys.

[Dan Soder]

Just Amazon drivers getting mad. Before we get back to birds. Niners.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Can I tell you that you're the only person that I can really talk about this on the podcast. He's going to come on the podcast.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But having a friend that is a head coach in the NFL.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The rage.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Soder]

That I feel when people talk about it. Oh, my God, the rage.

[Tommy Pope]

It's tough, dude. Like, it's tough.

[Dan Soder]

Mike McDaniel's one of my oldest friends.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Went through hell with me.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

When my dad died, he was my best friend.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Like friends through high school, we reconnected as adults when we both gave up drinking.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I'm so proud of him.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Of course.

[Dan Soder]

He's exactly who he is. You see, that's my friend.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Been the same guys in seventh grade. And then I got Rex Ryan with his bad teeth calling him nerd boy.

[Tommy Pope]

He's got game show host teeth, dude. It's.

[Dan Soder]

They're not. Hey, Rex.

[Tommy Pope]

Throwing those in is crazy.

[Dan Soder]

Hey, you fat. Who thought blue teeth were a good idea?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Halloween, Halloween central.

[Dan Soder]

Now your food can see you coming in the dark. I thought toes are for sucking, not for eating. Idiot. Colin McDaniel, nerd boy. He's got more than you ever have. You fat. You couldn't make it work with a.

[Tommy Pope]

His wife's vagina is in a cast.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my God.

[Tommy Pope]

Him crawling through that.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my God.

[Tommy Pope]

Buzz sawing through that.

[Dan Soder]

She's got nicks on her lips from those ugly ass teeth. And I don't give a. If I saw him in person. Here's the thing is like I'm prepped when I see him in person. Just a double burn him you.

[Tommy Pope]

But now he's built like pancake batter in a condom.

[Dan Soder]

Dude is.

[Tommy Pope]

He's melting everywhere.

[Dan Soder]

He just.

[Tommy Pope]

Him, dude, he just rolls down hallway him.

[Dan Soder]

But I'm telling you.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

When you have. When you have skin in the game and it's someone you love, you know, we both feel this way when we see people talk about Shane.

[Tommy Pope]

Of course, of course.

[Dan Soder]

People where you're like, yeah, I don't want. If I see you, I'm gonna be mad.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But, dude, this season, the Dolphins had a really tough season.

[Tommy Pope]

You're expressing the beauty of sports.

[Dan Soder]

Exactly.

[Tommy Pope]

It's. You want this anger. You want this to something to fuel your regular life.

[Dan Soder]

It's hot. The ups and downs, boring dish of life.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, yeah, it's hot. Talks on eggs.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly what it is.

[Tommy Pope]

I haven'. Every day you put a little hot sauce on there, baby. We got anger. We got anger on a football.

[Dan Soder]

And what I love about it is like, guys, like, it's fun when you talk about sports, but then when people actually know sports, where I go, like anybody that I've talked to, especially Shane, about Eagles, Niners, and I go, we're injured. And then sports fans can even bypass their anger to go, yeah, that does suck.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, of course.

[Dan Soder]

You go, I don't want to fight you with a broken hand, dude. And you go, well, that's all I got.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. You don't want to see anyone injured and you also don't want to play an injured team.

[Dan Soder]

You want to beat the best.

[Tommy Pope]

The best. It's like, that's why the Eagles Patriots super bowl, dude. I'll rewatch that every six months. It was the greatest game ever played. Obviously I'm biased, but everyone's at full strength playing their best game.

[Dan Soder]

You're going against the greatest. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

The best ever.

[Dan Soder]

The greatest dynasty in the NFL.

[Tommy Pope]

What, 450 or something.

[Dan Soder]

It was crazy. Also, what I love about it is that was your guys's turn.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Into the bad guys.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Yeah. 100.

[Dan Soder]

Same with. It was 04 with the Red Sox. Oh, four Red Sox. Everyone's like, beat the Yankees and then they do it, and then they win another one. And you go, you. Yes, that's exactly.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. You're putting the Vader helmet on as soon as you get in the locker room.

[Dan Soder]

That's exactly it.

[Tommy Pope]

You're on the other side.

[Dan Soder]

It is it. Dude. It's. What's crazy is, is I was at the. I watched it happen to Chiefs fans in real time.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I went to the first super bowl they played in Miami, and I was at the airport the next day, and someone was like, a couple people were like, congratulations. And people like, we've been waiting so long. And then a couple people were like, all right, now shut the up. That's how I feel about Bill's fans.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Bill's fans.

[Tommy Pope]

If you're watching, they're coming.

[Dan Soder]

If you guys win the super bowl this year.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

We're over you.

[Tommy Pope]

Yes. 100.

[Dan Soder]

You got your new stadium. You got your ring.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm a big fan. I. I want to see them win. Unless we're playing them, but God damn, as soon as they win them forever.

[Dan Soder]

That's exactly what it is. The second they win, you go, you're all right.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, I. I mean, we.

[Dan Soder]

We.

[Tommy Pope]

We dog walk the Chiefs.

[Dan Soder]

I loved it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. We changed their whole organization. We Sonic the Hedgehog. The rings fell out of their pockets, dude.

[Dan Soder]

My God. Patrick Mahomes was like, I don't know what to do.

[Tommy Pope]

Where am I?

[Dan Soder]

Kelsey's like, straight up the whole time, just looking at the clock, being like, can I retire?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

He does this. Travis Kelsey does this thing where he's fake blue collar. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

He's wigger king.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Dude. He really is just like black, black, black scent. Until he dates Taylor Swift. And then he's like, I just love music. I just love it. But he. They were talking about if this was his last game at Arrowhead when he was playing the Broncos on Christmas and he went. Saw that billboard for that lottery. I went, I would have used.

[Tommy Pope]

I could have used that. He said something like that, Right. I could have used that. Two grand.

[Dan Soder]

You have a hundred million dollar deal with Amazon. Yeah, dude, stop acting like because you put on Carhartt that you're laying rebar.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm so glad you brought that up. I. That drove me insane. Yeah. Where he goes, it's like you're trying to assimilate with regular human beings.

[Dan Soder]

You made bands charms commercial immediately after. But that's what he did. He goes, I see that. I see that lotto sign. I win that billion dollars, you're fucking Taylor Swift. Yeah. She's got more money than all of South America.

[Tommy Pope]

I think it was 20 million. It wasn't even. It made me go, yeah, it's fucking chump change.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, that's your signing boat.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. It's fucking uber money.

[Dan Soder]

Because that's jet money. So I can fly and see her in South America. Oh, man. I don't know. But the. The sports are fun until your team gets to the playoffs. And then it's just nerves until. And then you're just like, buddy, I'm that way.

[Tommy Pope]

If the Redskins game.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Tommy Pope]

That just. Yeah, I'm nuts. Because that. There's a lot of implications.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. We could have got a two game when we were playing week 18.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And also Seahawks fans know you can talk to me and it'll make me mad. So they DM me and they're like, go Hawks. And I'm like, first off, your fan base.

[Tommy Pope]

You're not even a real fan.

[Dan Soder]

Your fan base is fugazi.

[Tommy Pope]

They don't.

[Dan Soder]

Hey, the 12th man thing. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

They stole it from Texas A&M 100. They have to pay $35,000 a year to use the 12th man. You fucking hacks. Way to steal your thing.

[Tommy Pope]

Pacific Northwest and fucking Florida. None of it's real.

[Dan Soder]

None of it's.

[Tommy Pope]

None of your teams fucking matter. I don't care if it's hockey fucking the lightning. Suck my dick. They win all the time. Do the Panthers like.

[Dan Soder]

Panthers are a dynasty right now.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I just got into hockey, dude, and I'm. I'm a Bruins fan because of the family I'm marrying into.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because they don't around.

[Tommy Pope]

No. Bruins are.

[Dan Soder]

But here's staple. Here's the thing with sports, especially when you're marrying into a family or you're dating somebody, you gotta check what. Who the family's number one sports team is.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because that's going to be the one that dominates. Had they been a Patriots family.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It'd probably be a little bit weird because I'd be like, well, the Niners are.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

One time I was flying into Boston from London and I have my 49er hat on. This is just Boston's. This is Boston sports in a. In just one moment. Yeah. I'm going through. I'm going through, like, customs, like the Guy's looking at my passport, thick ass, Boston accent, and I'm wearing my niners hat. And he goes, okay, you're in London for four, for seven days. All right? And he looks at, he goes, nine a hat in Boston, that's risky. And I, I just push back immediately. I go, for what? What's the rivalry?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And he goes. And I go, oh, you just wanted to fight. Yeah. You don't even know. You didn't even do.

[Tommy Pope]

You don't know why. It's ingrained in your fucking DNA.

[Dan Soder]

Crazy. We rented a car at Hertz from Logan because we were going to drive back to New York from Boston.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Katie and I flew into Logan. We rent a car at Hertz. Hertz rental car that, you know, the people that check, they like scan your car and do all guys like going through, look at my license, niners hat on again. He hands me this stuff and he goes, go Boston sports.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Just generic.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, just all the sports.

[Dan Soder]

You.

[Tommy Pope]

That's like Happy holidays for retards.

[Dan Soder]

You go, happy holidays. Well, that's what they doing.

[Tommy Pope]

Fights. Go Birds.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, yeah. I mean go Birds is your. You guys are close. Hey everybody, it's your favorite hypochondriac. Well, I'm not really not a hypochondriac anymore because, you know, I go see a doctor and then, and then you realize like, oh, maybe, maybe this is in my head. Once you see an actual medical professional and they're like, no, you feel like, oh yeah, I might have let that get away from me in my head. Anyways, if you have an actual medical problem and you need to see a doctor, Zoc Doc. I've been on it since 2012, baby. I'm talking about had the app on my phone and it's helps me find a doctor in whatever area you're in in network, whatever specialty you need. You just can go right to Zoc Doc and find a doctor almost immediately. A free app. And it's the website that helps you find and book high quality in network doctors so you can find someone that you love and that you can use regularly. And it's, it's all through just an app for free. A free app. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments. Go to ZocDoc.com Soder to find and instantly book a doctor you love [e-mail] Soder Zocdoc.com Soder thanks Zocdoc for sponsoring this message. Mint Mobile Talking cell phone carrier Mobile's end of the year sale Is still going on, but only until the end of January. Cut out big wireless bloated plans and unnecessarily monthly charges. With 50 off 3, 6 and 12 months of unlimited. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. This January, quit overspending on wireless with 50 off unlimited premium wireless plans started just 15amonth at mintmobile.com Soder that's mintmobile.com Soder Limited time offer upfront payment of 45 for three months. $90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required. 50. 15amonth equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plans term only 50 gigabyte. May slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com dude, when I first moved.

[Tommy Pope]

To New York, I. It took me weeks to get over just seeing Yankee hats. Oh, my God, the pain I'd have in my heart. Just anger. Well, you're this guy. I want to say something. And I got the Texas cowboy hats.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my God.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm going from hell to Heller.

[Dan Soder]

You're going from. You are going worse to worse to, like, even worse because.

[Tommy Pope]

And even the Dallas Austin is. It's not real.

[Dan Soder]

They wear it because it's.

[Tommy Pope]

They don't care. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

They go, this Conway has 100. A guy got killed in a drunk driving accident. And I bought this at a Buffalo exchange.

[Tommy Pope]

Purple bangs flowing through the top, top of the straight.

[Dan Soder]

They actually had to like jaws to life it off. It's crushed skull. But I bought it for $38. It corduroy. Yeah. Yeah. You don't. Austin. Does Austin outside of UT have sports?

[Tommy Pope]

No.

[Dan Soder]

Like outside of Texas.

[Tommy Pope]

No, there's no.

[Dan Soder]

There's like the university.

[Tommy Pope]

In fact, there's one sports bar that we frequent that's a hardcore Eagles bar.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, all.

[Tommy Pope]

All Philly sports. But Eagles games, standing room only. They play the fight song. It's nuts. I got a dj.

[Dan Soder]

Great.

[Tommy Pope]

Like noon. There's a pill head spinning records.

[Dan Soder]

You think he's. You think he went to bed at all or he just shot through?

[Tommy Pope]

He don't even watch, dude.

[Dan Soder]

He goes. I don't know. Their accents changed. I'm on so much drugs.

[Tommy Pope]

He's just focused on beating assault cases.

[Dan Soder]

I got handsy back there. Now I'm up here worrying about it.

[Tommy Pope]

Space of time spinning right when you.

[Dan Soder]

Move to a rival city.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Luckily, it's not. They don't like. If it was actual Dallas proper, you'd have problems.

[Dan Soder]

It's a problem you'd have problems.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, because they're true hillbillies.

[Dan Soder]

And I, as a Niner fan, I don't bump into too much. Maybe in the early 90s, it would have been a problem if I was here.

[Tommy Pope]

Right.

[Dan Soder]

But here they're going, yeah, time has.

[Tommy Pope]

Passed, but NFC east rivalry never, never, ever ends.

[Dan Soder]

And you guys have, I would say, the best rivalry in A Division.

[Tommy Pope]

100.

[Dan Soder]

100. Because you got Eagles, Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, Eagles, Washington, Eagles.

[Tommy Pope]

I feel like it's the Yankees, Red Sox of football with the Cowboys, Eagles. What mark are we at? 15. They said you skip all this.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, I don't.

[Tommy Pope]

I got that.

[Dan Soder]

I don't agree with that.

[Tommy Pope]

Shut up, Dan.

[Dan Soder]

I don't agree.

[Tommy Pope]

We're having fun. That's interesting.

[Dan Soder]

Bears, Packers. Is. Is. Socks. Socks. Yankees. Because they're close. Yeah, they're closer. And there's. There's more like. Dude.

[Tommy Pope]

There's more history, dude.

[Dan Soder]

Bears fans, but hate the packers and pack. There's, like, kids that grow up just being, like, in Wisconsin.

[Tommy Pope]

You're from Green Bay.

[Dan Soder]

That's what I'm saying.

[Tommy Pope]

You got nothing.

[Dan Soder]

Nothing. I always used to argue best sports rivalries, and then Joe List blew me out of the water with North Carolina. Duke. Yeah, that's because they're down the road.

[Tommy Pope]

From each billion percent.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, they're like, billion. They've hated each other forever. They. It's like one of the games I want to go to is a Unc Duke at camp.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. You jump around with all those Harry Potters.

[Dan Soder]

I wouldn't. My knees are busted. Yeah. I'd watch them.

[Tommy Pope]

I go, well, you're tall enough to stand over these little five, six pharmacies.

[Dan Soder]

Could you guys stop? I'm trying to watch it. I try to watch it. Yeah. Do you like the food in Austin, at least? Because you're.

[Tommy Pope]

It's not a food city. People say it's a food. It's not a food city.

[Dan Soder]

It isn't. No.

[Tommy Pope]

It's obviously barbecue heavy, but the money you have to spend to get a good quality meal outside of the cuisine of American barbecue is. It's crazy.

[Dan Soder]

Do they like. Thank you. Everyone just wants ribs.

[Tommy Pope]

Dude, I. We had sushi at scratch.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

Scratch, which is Amakase, which is, you know, Damn.

[Dan Soder]

I don't know. But at first it was real American, and then it went real Japanese.

[Tommy Pope]

Well, it's a. It's a Japanese farm system. It's a baseball team.

[Dan Soder]

We got guys coming up with the double legs.

[Tommy Pope]

The biggest rivalry in Japanese.

[Dan Soder]

So when you go get sushi Sushi in Texas to me doesn't even.

[Tommy Pope]

Dude, I know this was. This is why I said it. It is remarkable. This guy is Philip Lee. He's like, he owns a, a bunch of restaurants. He's a Michelin guy. For a while, it was the most exceptional experience I've ever had in my life. Eighteen courses. Everyone's different. Every different piece of fish. They only had a couple meats, but it was like, mind blowingly beautiful.

[Dan Soder]

Like at the end where you were.

[Tommy Pope]

Just like, dude, no. So no one's talking because everyone's like, you know, enjoying. Wealthy and enjoying it and just not. They have no personality.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

So after every bite, I go, I'm like a black lady. I was like, oh, oh, my God.

[Dan Soder]

And then some guy, you try it. Some guy in a 10 gallon hat that owns 40 oil derricks is like that boy over there likes, I'm just trying to have a tuna fish sandwich in peace. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm wearing a Michael Vick jersey.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. He's like, can you put it on bread? I wouldn't mind some fish on bread. Yeah. That's.

[Tommy Pope]

It just gets old. There's like, there's not. There's not much to. There's no American comfort foods. This is what I miss about Philly in New York.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, you can go get a New York. You can get a chopped chi or Philly, you can go get a good deli.

[Tommy Pope]

It's crazy. The void. You know, you watch those, those restaurant shows where they're like, Gordon Ramsay will put on like a bar rescue or restaurant rescue type. They put a map out and they go, Japanese, Chinese, American steakhouse. And they look for all these locations. There is not. I, I don't. There's a void really for American comfort food.

[Dan Soder]

Like no sandwich deli or you're hungover.

[Tommy Pope]

There's no, like, Dude. There's a couple places I've tried that have like the best ratings for like a. A comfort.

[Dan Soder]

Can I tell you, it's big city bias. When you grow up in a big city, one of the major cities in, in the United States.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You get used to stuff like that.

[Tommy Pope]

100.

[Dan Soder]

Because I grew up and you get.

[Tommy Pope]

It from like delis and like.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Small places around the corner. You could.

[Dan Soder]

I didn't even under. I didn't even understand that concept.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

When I was in college in Arizona, my friend, my roommate was from Long Island. His friend was interning at SNL and then came to visit Tucson and him and I were just. Him and Billy and I were just talking and I was like. And he's like, where's a deli around here? And I was like, what do you mean? Like, you need cold cuts. I could take you to the fries. There's a grocery store. There's a deli in the fries. He's like, I mean, like a sandwich. Oh, Subway's across the street. And it's like watching this guy just fall down stairs of disappointment. Yeah. Of him going.

[Tommy Pope]

Just logs on the Delta immediately out of here.

[Dan Soder]

He was like, you guys don't have anything. I was like, well, like, what do you want? And he's like a sub. Like a sandwich. And I was like, chiba, hut's open. And he was like, I'm gonna. Myself by the third or fourth. By the time I got the blimpies. He was looking for rope.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

He was like, give me the out of here. Because you don't. I don't think people that grow up in large cities don't understand that.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You're. You don't have that outside.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, it's a strip mall everywhere else.

[Dan Soder]

Everywhere else. Like, if I were to go to Denver and go like, let me get a good bacon, egg and cheese. They firehouse subs.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Here's the thing, though. Like Primo's Hoagies. Send it, dude.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Like, we're talking high end comfort.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Comfort foods that, like, do it right. Thin sliced meat that are crunched.

[Dan Soder]

Why have.

[Tommy Pope]

You know this, Dan? Do you know the secret of making a good deli sandwich?

[Dan Soder]

Tell me, baby.

[Tommy Pope]

Crunching the meats.

[Dan Soder]

Crunching them.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. So you get it extra thin. Everything's sliced extra thin.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

Right. The type of.

[Dan Soder]

Write this down.

[Tommy Pope]

You can. You can see everyone at home, right?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Gentle Salon.

[Dan Soder]

Hold it up.

[Tommy Pope]

Capicola.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Capricola gets no love.

[Tommy Pope]

I wanna, I wanna. I wanna gauge your. Your, your. Your face hair.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Through a piece of meat. You want to see it enough. Enough to know my buddy's got a beard on right now.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

That's what I'm talking.

[Dan Soder]

I wanna, I want to do confessions.

[Tommy Pope]

And you lay it out.

[Dan Soder]

If you're making. I know you're there, but I don't know.

[Tommy Pope]

It's like the mash for five.

[Dan Soder]

Forgive me, Father five sin.

[Tommy Pope]

I got my meat cut too stiff. No, you want. When you lay it out, imagine a piece of salami, right? Circular. It's sitting on the table. What you. You do is you pinch a three prong pinch and twist.

[Dan Soder]

And that goes on your little Italian claws.

[Tommy Pope]

You gotta get.

[Dan Soder]

You lose a ring, you lose. You land like an eagle, like an Italian eagle. You land and crunch it. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

You're plucking it out of the ocean.

[Dan Soder]

Take back off and drop it on your. And you're in your little sandwich nest. He's up. You got two pieces.

[Tommy Pope]

Baby burger.

[Dan Soder]

Just feeding it in hot pepper. So you.

[Tommy Pope]

So you crunch it. You twist, crunch and twist and you aerate.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

And the purpose of that is for it's almost the difference between a filet mignon and a. The ass of a cow.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. A little rump roast.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, rump roast, sure. London broil, if you will.

[Dan Soder]

What's so funny is that's the only part of Colorado that comes out of me where there's talking cuts of meat.

[Tommy Pope]

Meat.

[Dan Soder]

I go, what are you looking for? Like rump roast? Everything else. They're like. I go, absolutely not. Anything else? They go, what about cutting cattle? I go, brother, what do you want to talk about? Hindquarters? What are we talking about? Mid. Because you ain't getting up. And if you want tongue, brother, I can cook you some tongue rules beef. Tongue tacos. Yeah, Mexican.

[Tommy Pope]

Anyway, you keep layering these aeration.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

Levels right. You got the mortadella, you got the capicola, you got the salami. Everything's layered except for the cheese. Provolone. Keep it always pro and also extra cut. You got to keep it thick.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Cheese to meat ratio, it's just as important as bread to meat ratio in the whole thing. Right. So you look at just a regular cheeseburger.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

I need a certain amount of cheese for the burger. If you're doing one of those steak cut, small fancy burgers, the. The roll can't be more than two thirds.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

The size of the meat.

[Dan Soder]

What about us? What about a smash burger? What are you looking for?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, I hate those. In and out, right to the toilet.

[Dan Soder]

Is it. Are you a Smash Burger?

[Tommy Pope]

No, sometimes I just toss it right in the toilet to save 30 minutes of digestion.

[Dan Soder]

Whenever I've made burgers, it always. That's really funny. You go, yeah. Whenever I have a Smash Burger, it feels like I'm having the last hamburger someone cooked at a bar. Of course you are, because they're just like.

[Tommy Pope]

It's all oil gristle. Yeah, yeah, get the point.

[Dan Soder]

I don't like it.

[Tommy Pope]

Microwave bacon. You know what I'm saying?

[Dan Soder]

That's exactly it.

[Tommy Pope]

Put a little paper. This is a secret, dude. Just paper towel. Microwaved bacon. Well, it's the greatest bacon of all time.

[Dan Soder]

Really.

[Tommy Pope]

Soaks up all the extra grease. Perfect crunch.

[Dan Soder]

I love a Crunch on a bacon.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

My mother used to have this, like, this little circular edged. Like a rimmed plastic. Obviously we're, you know, damaging our souls.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And it would lay over the. The ridges, and it would be a grease catcher. Like a foreman grow, in a sense. And then she would just put paper towel over it and then let it sit. What are you talking about? Texture, Crunch. Sometimes Chef Mike. Microwave.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

That's all you need.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Old Mikey. And then you're good to go. Let's go. I love a microwave. I'll do microwave cuisine. You should do a whole cooking book on microwave cuisine. I guarantee you'd be a New York Times bestseller.

[Tommy Pope]

Not a bad idea.

[Dan Soder]

I'm telling you. Your fucking particular set of skills. Yeah, like, asshole Philadelphia Cookbook, because what.

[Tommy Pope]

Are they gonna do? It's just the thing is, like, how many dishes can I make that you're actually gonna cook? No, there's only 10% of people that are watching this. Are good. Are gonna cook what I'm cooking. And the whole purpose of the show is to go. You could cook this.

[Dan Soder]

Yes.

[Tommy Pope]

You can impress anyone.

[Dan Soder]

Yes. And when you watch Tommy cook. Go watch our. Katie and I were on an episode of look at Dish. He made these unbelievable sausage and peppers.

[Tommy Pope]

It's very simple.

[Dan Soder]

It was so simple that you're like. Sometimes you watch stuff get made and you go, I feel extra for not cooking.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I feel like I genuinely. I would probably put my top two regrets of growing up.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Not knowing cars and not knowing how to cook.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I think those are the two things that I failed myself.

[Tommy Pope]

100, dude.

[Dan Soder]

My stepdad. Yeah, Nick. Shout out. Nick, I'm looking for you because I genuinely around. Yeah, he's in his 80s. I want to send him an email that just says, you were the man.

[Tommy Pope]

Where were you?

[Dan Soder]

You were the man. No, he was the man. Him and my mom were married for, like, three years when I was a kid. The man.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

They were together for, like, five, married for three. But he was the man. And he would just be in our garage building cars. Yeah, he re. He.

[Tommy Pope]

He really hated your mom, huh?

[Dan Soder]

Well, they didn't last.

[Tommy Pope]

He probably learned how to build a car.

[Dan Soder]

He was like, I was.

[Tommy Pope]

Because you're so miserable.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. He goes, I just gotta go in there. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I gotta figure out that my mom's neck.

[Dan Soder]

He just reels under the. Honestly, I didn't even rebuild it. I just sat under there inside a bunch, crying. To the oil tank he built, though, for my mom, like, as an anniversary present. He Bought her the. The body of a 1970 MGB, then built it, like, in our garage. Built a car and my gay ass. While he was building a car, I was like, I'm gonna watch wrestling and X Men. And he was like, okay. There should have been out there learning.

[Tommy Pope]

There has to be a little forgiveness there because children are ignorant to real life skills and stuff. You have to be pressured by either an abusive or, like a very educational father.

[Dan Soder]

Yes.

[Tommy Pope]

To get in stuff like that. You know what I mean?

[Dan Soder]

You really have to either be forced or have just the greatest dad.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. There's no middleman, no in between. It's a dad that wants to beat the fuck out of you.

[Dan Soder]

And so you go, hey, instead of hitting me, teach me about a carburetor.

[Tommy Pope]

Same thing with cooking. Even if your father cooks.

[Dan Soder]

My dad was.

[Tommy Pope]

The last thing he wants to do is try and teach you.

[Dan Soder]

My dad.

[Tommy Pope]

Because it's a break. Cooking is an exceptional break from life where it's like, it's beauty, dude. Like the orchestration of like, prep. Can I tell you, throwing on some background piano music or jazz, and I don't mean to be hacking corny about it, but just music that is mellow.

[Dan Soder]

No words.

[Tommy Pope]

No. No words.

[Dan Soder]

Great.

[Tommy Pope]

No words. Or if there's words, it's like soft, melodramatic, Gay. Yeah, yeah. But like prepping and the lighting's perfect and the. The just again, the orchestration of time and. And temperature and getting a meal right. And then sitting down going, I crushed that.

[Dan Soder]

I'll tell you, man, three hours goes.

[Tommy Pope]

By, and I'm happy for some reason.

[Dan Soder]

Warby Parker, you know, I got laser eyes, but they're starting to wear off, so I might. I. I'm making peace with the fact that I might have to go back to getting glasses again. And I'm okay with that because I think as I get older, people will take me more seriously with glasses. But when I did wear glasses before the lasik, Warby Parker was my place. I'd pop in, trying a different pair, see it. You can even see an ophthalmologist right there. And then, boom. Get. Ophthalmologist is the right word, Right. That's not the foot one. These doctors, sometimes you think you're talking eyes and you're talking feet. Feet. But Warby Parker, you can go see an eye doctor. They can get you the right prescription, and then you can find a good pair of glasses. In fact, I remember going there with a. An old girlfriend and being like, you pick out my glasses. And then she did and then we broke up and then I thought about her every time I wore them and it sucked. But the glasses were good. So when it comes to quality for the price, Warby Parker is the best you you know they got completely. They don't got the outdated styles. They got the good stuff. They have everything you want for better looks for happier eyes. It includes contacts, online eye exams and sunglasses. Wary Parker gives you quality and better looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price. Our listeners get 15 off plus free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at warbyparker.com SODER that's 15 off when you buy two pairs at w a r b y parker.com SODER after your purchase, they're going to ask what you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you.

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[Tommy Pope]

On the job site with Dale, who's a framing contractor. Hey, good morning. Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles. We we're here where he needs us most.

[Dan Soder]

Yep, they sure are.

[Tommy Pope]

We make it easy for him to save on all his insurance needs all in one place with coverage that fits his business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down.

[Dan Soder]

It's all right.

[Tommy Pope]

We're so far up here.

[Dan Soder]

Look at me.

[Tommy Pope]

Take a deep breath. I'm good.

[Dan Soder]

So good. Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail].

[Tommy Pope]

And see how much you could save. It feels good to Geico.

[Dan Soder]

My dad loved to cook. Love to cook. The only time I saw him at his peak happiness outside of watching the Niners was when he was in the. I swear to God, I remember this burning my brain in my grandma's apartment in San Francisco. Him cooking with a cocktail, and then him just, like, working over the sauce and giving like a. Yeah. Of his rum and coke and then getting back into it. I watched my dad, and you'd have the. The towel over his shoulder, just moving stuff. Stuff. And he could cook like a mother. My mom's a fantastic cook, and she said when they were married, their favorite thing was just to cook all day. Just on a Sunday, just gonna cook all day. You make these three dishes, I'll make this dish, and then at night, we'll have a big dinner.

[Tommy Pope]

A perfect sign of a happy relationship or marriage is if they can exist in the kitchen together.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And know what they're doing. Be self sufficient, independent, and confident.

[Dan Soder]

Is that big for you? When you date, do you like. No. Because you're the cook. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I'll take it over.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. I don't mind doing all of it.

[Dan Soder]

Have you ever dated someone?

[Tommy Pope]

Is a really good cook? She didn't cook at all until I met her. And she's fucking unbelievable.

[Dan Soder]

I love that. How.

[Tommy Pope]

Dude, it's insane. Her talents, insane. However, we have to work on the communication thing where it's like. And I'm not talking about, like, behind, Like, I'm not. I'm not saying communication like, you know, chef talk, type. I mean, like, like independence and like, be confident. Because she. She's always like, you.

[Dan Soder]

Am I doing it wrong?

[Tommy Pope]

It's always like, get the off of my shoulder, you know, Like, I'm always over. And I'm like, no, I'm. I'm just trying to give you advice of things that I up for years. Like, I'm trying to teach you it. And that's like a. I feel like it's an emotional, like, roadblock for relationships where it's like, if I said it, it's different. Whereas, like, if you knew what you were doing and you told her how to cut an onion or something like that, that she'd be like, oh, thank you.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude.

[Tommy Pope]

And if I say she's like, can you just give me a chance? Yeah, we, you know, it's just like, no, you're not. I'm different.

[Dan Soder]

Any kind of. Any kind of instruction. It's like, if you go for golf lessons, dude, and you go, now you're pulling your arm and she goes, what do you know?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then the golf goes. You pull in your arms. Yeah. Oh, that. I felt that. Yeah. And then you're sitting there and you're.

[Tommy Pope]

Like, yeah, look at the difference.

[Dan Soder]

I told. I told you.

[Tommy Pope]

I said that instead, I spent fifteen hundred dollars. But that lessons.

[Dan Soder]

That's.

[Tommy Pope]

And I said the same thing.

[Dan Soder]

That's where the argument starts. It's because we get mad and we go, I just said that. And then she goes, but she didn't say it like that. And it's just like, what got you into cooking? When did you start cooking? Was it your family? Like, was it your dad and mom being like, get in the kitchen?

[Tommy Pope]

No, it was truly the opposite where my parents weren't around, and in order for my brothers not to me up, like, this is true. I've said this many times.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I would cook for my brother so they didn't abuse me.

[Dan Soder]

Dude, that's.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. So after school, my parents weren't home. My mother was a night nurse.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

So she worked 12 hour shifts. My dad worked until he. He picked us up at 5 to go to football, baseball, basketball practice, whatever the.

[Dan Soder]

So you had those hours.

[Tommy Pope]

Few hours to avoid beatings. And, you know, during seasons, like, you didn't want to go out and play because you got to get your homework done and then go to the football field or something. Right. So I would just make them grilled cheese. So I mastered the grilled cheese at a very young age. The simplest of things to do.

[Dan Soder]

When was the moment? Do you remember the moment I got it? Where you go, I'm not getting hit, dude. I'm not getting it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, dude. 100. I don't mean there's. I could. I couldn't tell you the exact day.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

But I realized the way they behaved, and I would just cook them something. I'm like, you guys want. You want. You want. Do you want to grill grilled cheese or something?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And they're like, yeah, I could use it.

[Tommy Pope]

Just put their hand down.

[Dan Soder]

Like, they open it up and they go, yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Go from a fist to grab the plate. Oh, you look at that, huh?

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my. Oh, what did you do? You butter both sides of toast.

[Tommy Pope]

You the brute. Bringing me something, huh? Oh, monkey face.

[Dan Soder]

And then did you. And then from that, did it become like.

[Tommy Pope]

I got obsessed. I got obsessed with, like, learning how to try new dishes and, like, learn how to make a sauce.

[Dan Soder]

Have you done the very complicated ones, like a quiche? Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

That's not cocky.

[Dan Soder]

No. What's the one that set. That Set that, like, crumbles.

[Tommy Pope]

No, I know what you're talking about. No, I didn't do a souffle. Chocolate souffle with chef Donnie at Chef Donnie's the man. Yeah, he's the man. Barstool.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

We did, like, a collab where he showed us how to make it. I've yet to recreate it, but, yeah, like, a chocolate souffle is, like, one of my favorite desserts, which is vanilla ice cream name, if you know how to do that. And he showed us how to do it. Just ramekins, you know, it's just very easy to do. It's just all, again, timing. It's. It's just have some wherewithal when you're making something. I just stay focused.

[Dan Soder]

I do feel the same comfort around people who are cooking.

[Tommy Pope]

Babe, this is where we're at now.

[Dan Soder]

I. I feel the same comfort with people that cook. That People that can fight.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That. That confidence, you know, like, when. Timing. It's all timing. Yeah, it is.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But, like, self defense. Guys will, like.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Tell you something where they go now right here, you're grabbing.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You're gonna want to pull.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That's how it feels when I watch you cook. And you go, right here, you got the peppers. You're gonna lean into them. You're gonna feel a little pressure. That's the same feeling of, like, I grab his arm. Now I'm in control. Now. I can move.

[Tommy Pope]

I actually have to give Chris a chokehold.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Get the off the pan. Don't touch the heat.

[Dan Soder]

Have you had anybody in your life that tries to cook that sucks so bad that you're just like. And we're done.

[Tommy Pope]

I can't do this. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, like, friends, where you're like, yeah, I'll show you how to cook something, and then halfway in, you go. The.

[Tommy Pope]

No one's ever really tried to do that.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I'm.

[Tommy Pope]

I don't have any friends that, like, really cook. I. Derosa de Rosa is very knowledgeable. I don't. I've never seen him cook.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

But he's very knowledgeable.

[Dan Soder]

Are you the only one? Are you. Are you the Highlander?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The only one.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. I removed sword, my chef's knife from the rock.

[Dan Soder]

Someone introduced.

[Tommy Pope]

I was the only one that get pulled out.

[Dan Soder]

Someone else introduced you goes, my friend that can cook, And Tommy goes. And just unsheath it. I don't think you can. What the can you make? Yeah. Because I'm. I'm useless, and I would like to learn. And my mom, bless her, tried.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

She's a fantastic cook.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And when I was going to college, she was like, I'm gonna put together like seven recipes that are very fucking easy that you can learn. And I got good at like three of them. Yeah. And then just alcoholism.

[Tommy Pope]

This is, well, alcoholism, if you can control it, it's very good for the kitchen.

[Dan Soder]

It's great.

[Tommy Pope]

You know what I mean?

[Dan Soder]

You focus.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. A couple bottles of wine.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. That's why the, that's why the, the best is watching. If you ever work at a restaurant.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Watching the line cooks just get blackout drunk. Oh, my God. After our shift.

[Tommy Pope]

And they're managing all those opioids.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my God, those guys are animals. Ups, downs, lefts and rights. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

They're all DJs in a bar.

[Dan Soder]

I want to, I really want to just interview chefs.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I find them to be so interesting.

[Tommy Pope]

You know what the problem is, Dan? And this is what I'm going to do with my show. Once we start going on the road a bunch. The chefs that are actually catered to in terms of media are high end chefs. Right. So this is like the, the disconnect with the culinary world and the comedy world. That's why I wanted to do my show is it's either you're the bougiest of where like you don't feel connected to the chef.

[Dan Soder]

Sure, you're.

[Tommy Pope]

It's very interesting to watch Cirque du Soleil 100.

[Dan Soder]

You go, you're a gay Frenchman in cloth.

[Tommy Pope]

I can't do a triple Indian to a barrel.

[Dan Soder]

I have a tough time with 20 push ups.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

This guy's lifting himself off of a finger.

[Tommy Pope]

Bingo.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

So I wanna, I wanna step down. The chefs that are like Applebee's, they're. Well, that's, that's all right. You want pill head chefs that are very fun and then you want the, the mid middle grade grounds. I had a show idea that I almost sold to the production company that did.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

It was called Night to the Night, where it was a, a travel show where we did comedy. Met like a tell in Seattle. And we went through his daily routines, saw a couple places, you know, the touristy type throughout the day. And then I met the next upcoming chef and we go through his kitchen, we'd take him to the food market market, pick out his ingredients, and then we'd cut back to hotel preparing his set, you know, going through his list. And then it would go to the prep station in the, in the kitchen, and then you'd show some stand up.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And then you'd show the delivery of the food in the. In the actual restaurant. And then we'd all meet, like nights of the night in a big circle table, eat the dish and tell road stories.

[Dan Soder]

I love that.

[Tommy Pope]

It's great.

[Dan Soder]

Why'd they pass? Because they're idiots.

[Tommy Pope]

No, they tried. They tried to buy it and they said, well, well, you're probably not going to host this. God damn it. And I said, I'll sit on that.

[Dan Soder]

I know so many.

[Tommy Pope]

I shouldn't have told that.

[Dan Soder]

If you want.

[Tommy Pope]

No, I don't care.

[Dan Soder]

We don't give a. Honestly. Sometimes when you say about show ideas that don't work on podcasts, it reignites it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

When I had that Stone Cold Law show on Peacock.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And WWE was dragging their feet.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I went on Barstool, was very loud about it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Next day I flew to Charlotte to do shows at Comedy Zone. I get off stage, my agents, the agent agent, you know, the big dog.

[Tommy Pope]

Never talked to you.

[Dan Soder]

Never talk. Once a year you talk to him. Yeah, yeah. He calls me and he's like, how's everything going? Then, yeah. He called me and he goes, why did I just get screamed at by Nick Khan from the wwe? And I was like, oh, no, thank God it was after the show. Yeah, it was after the Thursday night show. And he was like, like, did you talk about the Stone Cold Law show on barstool? And I was like, oh, I was real loud about it. And I. And then they put it out. Like, Barstool's Instagram put it out as a clip.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And he's like, okay, they're getting mad. And then we hung up. And then my manager called me and was like, great. Like, that's exactly what you needed to do. Because now we're talking. Now they're now engaged in the conversation. Yeah, for sure. Because here's the problem with the reason that TV shows are.

[Tommy Pope]

Are.

[Dan Soder]

Are all right now. Except a few. They're obviously there. Always good stuff being made. But those networks and corporations have good ideas. And then someone tries to prove that they have a job. 100 and they. It 100 and they go, always fingerprints. It's always just somebody going.

[Tommy Pope]

Somebody. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then you go, that ruins it.

[Tommy Pope]

It's the whole.

[Dan Soder]

You take you out of that show. I don't give a. About that show. 100. Joel McHale gonna.

[Tommy Pope]

100.

[Dan Soder]

I don't give a. About all that.

[Tommy Pope]

100. That's why you build your own thing.

[Dan Soder]

That's why I felt bad for Josh Adam Myers, because he did goddamn Comedy Jam and they pulled him as the host. Yeah, that show works because Josh hosts it. Yeah, he knows how to host it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But they were like, no. Comedy Central's like, now we'll just do it without you. And then it just looked like karaoke.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And you're like, now with Josh. He explains, he tells where it comes. He does a song. He around. They always do that. They try to change the recipe.

[Tommy Pope]

Of course they do.

[Dan Soder]

And it breaks. Talentless hacks, that's what they get into the business. That's the only good thing I'm liking about watching the collapse of the industry is watching those people try to pivot to new stuff. Now, where they go, dude, it's like, I'm a podcast booker now. Yeah, you told me. No, when you were at tnt.

[Tommy Pope]

It's truly priest going to a new parish.

[Dan Soder]

It really is. They just move them around.

[Tommy Pope]

It'll just be.

[Dan Soder]

That's perfect.

[Tommy Pope]

It'll be some executive at Comedy Central. Like, they're now with some other media. They're the. They're the VP of this other media company. I'm like, I know what you did when you were a Comedy Central. I know how many shows you did. You know how many shows you.

[Dan Soder]

I remember when Delco proper should have gone to the distance, dude, they could have.

[Tommy Pope]

You dyed your hair, but I know it's you.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, yeah, Dude, I got a good story. I love this. I just, I. I want to keep talking. I want this story. We're coming back to this, though.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. So I. I took one cooking class in my life. Viking Culinary. It was a. It was one of those, like, date night cooking classes.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

You make a dish with. With chefs.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

In the Viking. It was off the main line in Philly, and it was like salted fish. It's like a fishy bacon salt. Who gives a. Anyway, so we're cooking, we're prepping, we're doing the whole thing. There's probably four or five other couples. I got my eye on this chef, right. The sous chef.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

He's a light skinned bald black guy.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

And I'm like, how do I know this guy? I know this guy. How do I know him? The whole time I can't focus. My girl's like, tom, come on, we got to make the goat cheese with pink peppercorns. And I'm like, I know this guy and it's killing me. And the whole time I go, I got it. I know it. This guy was a teacher at St. Charles Barro, where I went to grade school.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

He came in when I was in eighth grade and blew the roof off. He was like a cool black guy. And everyone's like, yo, yeah, this dude rules.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, I'm not racist.

[Tommy Pope]

I like this teacher.

[Dan Soder]

That's the thing, McNabb. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm not racist at all. So he was a priest that came in out of nowhere. And then I fucking. I walked up to him after the, after the class, and I was like, I know who you are. Your father something or other. You taught me in, in eighth grade, St. Charles. And he goes, no, no, I. I don't know what that. I don't know what that is. I go, yeah, I know that's you. I. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Cleaning off a knife. He goes, please, please, please, le.

[Tommy Pope]

There's enough blood on this.

[Dan Soder]

Please, please, please. You're gonna dig and you're not gonna like what you're gonna find.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, about a week goes by, right. So we leave, obviously. A week or two goes by, and this girl I went to grade school in high school with sent me a picture of the Philadelphia Inquirer. And it's this dude's face for pen.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And the guy.

[Dan Soder]

It's not for a car wash or.

[Tommy Pope]

It wasn't for the salted cod. I know, it was bad. It wasn't that bad.

[Dan Soder]

That's cool, dude.

[Tommy Pope]

Got passed around enough where they were like, all right, now we can't do anything.

[Dan Soder]

And now.

[Tommy Pope]

And he's a sous chef.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And by the way. And the restaurant industry goes, yeah, we'll take you. We need the bodies. Yeah. The restaurant industry just go, fine, yeah, we got.

[Tommy Pope]

We got a hundred cases of onions. I don't care how many kids you eat.

[Dan Soder]

I don't care if kid. If little kids get you hard. Fine.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. Sharpen that pairing knife. You're in for it.

[Dan Soder]

It. Yeah, dude, that really is true, though. That's why it's always funny when I see comics that publicly are like this network or that network. It's like, no, no, that network. You have a problem with a specific person at that network. Of course that didn't greenlight something.

[Tommy Pope]

And they're always. I. I'm sorry that there is anger and hate that I hold, but like, we're talking talentless rich women.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

That are truly, like, they're. They're held in regard as if they've done anything in their life.

[Dan Soder]

Life. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Their parents paid the rent so they could be twenty thousand dollar income, dude. And eventually their VP of.

[Dan Soder]

Let me tell you how many development when I. The.

[Tommy Pope]

Are you. Have you ever made a sketch? Have you ever done anything in your life?

[Dan Soder]

I remember going to a meeting. This is when MTV was turning into pure. It was like, still. But it wasn't. When MTV was doing, like, they just went full, like, like, 16 and pregnant, all that. They were just like, we don't give a. About music anymore. We're not doing any of our cool programming. I. They were like, we have a meeting with mtv. And I told my agents, I was like, there's nothing. They don't want me. I'm an alcoholic. At the time, I was like, just drinking every day. I was like, they don't. They don't. There's nothing. And I don't think there's anything I want to do with them.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

They're like, no. There's this new girl. New girl who works there who saw you at the Cellar. Her. And she thinks you're so funny, and she wants to meet with you. And I go in her office, and it's her. She was really nice. And then her assistant, who's like, fresh out of college. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

23. Who's.

[Dan Soder]

Whose dad probably runs Blackrock 100, who probably flips. Yeah. Section 8 housing for profit. And that meeting, to me was like, oh, this shit's so broken. Yeah. Because I sat down and they're like, like, what do you want to do?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And I went, well, you guys should start playing music again. I was like, this, like, reality sucks. You guys should start doing music. And I was like, bring Pop Up Video back.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I was like, you guys own VH1. You own the IP. Let me host Pop Up Video. Yeah, I would host. I would host the.

[Tommy Pope]

Out of that. That would be so sick.

[Dan Soder]

And, dude, that was the funniest part of any meeting I've ever taken with a network. Because the older lady went, I loved Pop. Pop Up Video.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The woman I had, like, it turned out the meeting was with, like, an older woman. She was around my age, and she was like, grew up watching Pop Up Video. It was the best. You learned this about all this. You learned extra stuff about the artist. And so we're, like, vibing on it. And I was like, straight up, you own the ip. Yeah, reboot that. I'll host it. We'll make it a little darker, make it funnier.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

We'll bring in writers. We'll have, like, a good time. And she's like. I could see it in her face. This is like. And then her assistant, who's straight out of College goes, I don't know if we could call it a pop up video. I just did the hand. Yeah, we'll call it pop up video. And then she goes, we should call it like super fun stuff. You don't know about something like that. And I was like, yo, this is dude. And then I just started watching it spin out and I was like to the lady, I was like, it was nice meeting you. I don't think there's anything here for us. But then you watch just MTV go down the drains. And you're like, well, of course. You're playing ridiculousness all day. They don't make any.

[Tommy Pope]

Anything, these executives at these creative places. It's like when you have a conference call for like a real job, right. And there's always some Debbie at the end who just wants to put a fingerprint going like, I'm. I'm listening. I'm working. And she'll just drone on for five minutes about nothing. They have to put their fingerprint on. Say, I did that.

[Dan Soder]

So they don't.

[Tommy Pope]

During the process of Delco proper, it got morphed. If you look at our pilot at.

[Dan Soder]

The funeral General it's unbelievable.

[Tommy Pope]

It's perfect. It's our dark tone. It's. It's the image and the comedy that.

[Dan Soder]

We want it that butterly with blonde hair.

[Tommy Pope]

Hilarious, dude. One of their notes of butter. Like, we don't think he would call her a. This young. You don't think that animal would call a woman. Have you seen.

[Dan Soder]

Do you watch that?

[Tommy Pope]

Who were.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Who were creating. You don't think he would call a woman a.

[Dan Soder]

Will you watch that pilot? It's just the Leo meme the whole time.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, yeah, right?

[Dan Soder]

Everybody go, oh, my God.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, there he is.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, my God.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And change the ump.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It's a little League, dude. And it's like crazy when you watch it. What's crazy to me is, you know, I know where we made our faults we got. Because at the same time, this is like one of those things where you find out where you go. That would have been so cool. They were developing Delco proper and Michelle Wolf. Yeah. About working at the Used Car with Nick Depaulo.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And it was great. Tony Amatuk. We had like an unbelievable cast.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And that script was dark and funny and watching them come in and ruin it. They made us, dude. They took a 24 minute pilot and they were like, here's what we're gonna do. Snapchat is huge.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

So we're gonna film Three different episodes. So we had to take a pilot, take it into three different things.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then what we filmed, they went, Snapchat's only five minutes. So cut your 11 minute things down to five minutes. They edited it, took all the good stuff out. It was. I won't even post it.

[Tommy Pope]

You can't.

[Dan Soder]

Michelle and I were so angry at that whole situation.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That, like, I remember being. This is when I was on the Bond for Fire. I remember being in one of the conference rooms on the 37th floor of Sirius. Just an empty conference room, screaming at someone, being like, what the are you doing to this show?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because you guys got to make the pilot. At least film it. They. They buckled us at the script process. They were like, I don't know. We do Nick DePaulo as a car.

[Tommy Pope]

Hilarious.

[Dan Soder]

As a used car, hilarious. Letting him be angry.

[Tommy Pope]

And Shane and I would watch his podcast, like late night.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Just watching him rant.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, I love that we said it.

[Tommy Pope]

We set up Nick Depala losing his mind.

[Dan Soder]

And also maybe funniest thing, maybe this country wouldn't be so divided if you would have a show that had Michelle Wolf and nick the Paul 100. Because one of them. It's real. One of the greatest scenes we had was we went Nick go off on Michelle and he's like, you stupid red hair. And he like went off on her. And then she fired back and I was like, this is awesome. This is awesome. We had a good director. We had every. And dude, just what. But it was. It was fingerprints. It was people getting in and with it. Yeah. And by the end, it sucks when you make something and you're with it the whole time. And by the end you go, look what they've done to my boy, dude.

[Tommy Pope]

Me and McKeever worked like for 10 years doing sketches and stuff like that. But, like, if you look at that first pilot of like the. Even before the web series.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

Funeral episode. That's the one where I'm like, past the lens of what we wanted to capture. And then it goes to the web series Fingerprint. Then it goes to the pilot for television Double Fingerprint. And then it's like, well, this is not who we are.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. You know, and that's all.

[Tommy Pope]

Beauty of what they're doing with tires with Netflix is like the full creative control. It's all about numbers. No one gives a fuck anymore. You can eliminate all these fucking. These. These, you know, nonsensical fucking morons.

[Dan Soder]

And what you do is you have Shane and McKeever going in there going, Leave me the fuck alone.

[Tommy Pope]

100.

[Dan Soder]

And Netflix goes for sure. Yeah. Which, by the way, is.

[Tommy Pope]

That's on the back of Shane going, I'm the best in the world because I'm the heavyweight. You can suck my dick.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I'll let you know when. I'll call you back.

[Dan Soder]

You know what's funny is because when you remember Shane was a young pup when Delco proper's going, yeah. And it's almost like he grew up to be like, I watch what you guys did to my boys. You're not doing that. Yeah. Make the show I want to make. And that's what you need. Yeah, that's what you need is you need a big dog that someone's gonna come in and. Big dog.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And go, you. I'm not making. Making that.

[Tommy Pope]

Doing the same thing, like, creative wise, where he's like, he's not. I. I know for a fact he's not making the same mistakes and letting people step on some product. He's like, this is. Dude, this is how I'm doing it. You could suck my bird too.

[Dan Soder]

You know, I came out hot after Stone Cold Law got killed. We had a show. We sold it with Stone Cold Steve Austin. I'm not talking about. This was like. We were like, and maybe we can get him.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

He was on the Zoom calls. He was popping up going, hey, what's going on, boys? And you're like, hey, Steve, swear to God, just popping up, being like, what's going on with you guys? I'm in Utah. Learn how to shoot a sniper rifle. And me and St. Germaine are like, I'm like, I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima Samurai game. Feeling like. But we. I was so hot after that cartoon got killed because here's what pissed me off. We wrote St. Germain's such a fucking great writer. And we wrote. We wrote.

[Tommy Pope]

I was supposed to do a podcast with Bobby Kelly last night.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And I'm doing. Taking this antibiotic for the. I think I passed out. I missed the podcast.

[Dan Soder]

Bobby.

[Tommy Pope]

Bobby hasn't responded to me yet.

[Dan Soder]

He's a hero.

[Tommy Pope]

Dan did. Dan said, are you okay? Is there anything I can help with?

[Dan Soder]

Bobby, sweetest.

[Tommy Pope]

Bobby sent me to the moon. I'm gonna. I'm gonna find out if he's really upset.

[Dan Soder]

He is. But I'm gonna tell you right now, he is.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, dude.

[Dan Soder]

Sight unseen.

[Tommy Pope]

Bobby, I'm sorry.

[Dan Soder]

Sight unseen.

[Tommy Pope]

Make this the only clip. Bobby, I'm sorry I missed your box.

[Dan Soder]

I'm gonna tell you right now.

[Tommy Pope]

I was a sick boy.

[Dan Soder]

Hold on real quick. Tommy, sight unseen, he's very mad, but he just saved a life, so he's okay. He's a hero. He's running off the fumes of being a hero.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

So you. You made your mistake at the right time is what I want to say. It's all about timing. But what's funny is when I came off that Stone Cold, we wrote the script, we gave it to him, and then Peacock's coming back to us going, we're passing it around the office. Everyone thinks this is hilarious. Serious. If we can get Steven Seagal to be the bad guy in this, this would be great. Stone Cold versus Steven Seagal. And then they pass on it. And you go, then what was all the dick tickling you were doing, dude? So then when I came in with the cartoon we're doing now at Fox, I came in on, like, every meeting and I was like, here's the deal. You. Yeah, I got a YouTube subscription. I'm on the road. I'll take. Because of Shane. Shane did this with Gillian Keeves. Yeah. When he did his first theater tour, he took the marketing money and turned around and made season two A Gillian Keys. So when I saw that, I was like, that's a brilliant idea. When I signed up to do a theater tour, I turned around and I told all these networks. I was like, I'll make it myself.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

There's young animators, and I can get people to do the voiceover now.

[Tommy Pope]

You could do everything on your own.

[Dan Soder]

That's what I mean.

[Tommy Pope]

They said this 10 years ago, but, like, now it's true.

[Dan Soder]

It's so true that you don't need anybody. But what I like about Foxes. And shout out Cheryl at Fox, she was like, like, yeah, yeah. She goes, I like. I like. I like this attitude. She's like, well, there's.

[Tommy Pope]

There's certain networks that are starting to function the way, like, a YouTube.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Designer would.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

They have. They're like. They're going, everything. Because they've seen it too.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And if you get in the. I'm. I. I do voiceover for Universal Basic guys on Fox. And it's like, those guys are like. They don't abide by the rules either.

[Dan Soder]

Shout out those guys because of their show. They like our premise of our show. They're like, that might pair well together.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You're like, please.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, it's season right now.

[Dan Soder]

Please. I know. We're. Because they're. They're the same production and everything that our show is Nice. So we're watching them and we're going like, guys, can you give us a green light, please? Yeah, we can make a great show. And we got. We got roles for everybody, baby. Yeah, just let us in the door.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, but I'll do something for you.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah, you will.

[Tommy Pope]

I'll do something for you.

[Dan Soder]

Kidding me.

[Tommy Pope]

I could do lots of stuff, dude.

[Dan Soder]

I'm telling you.

[Tommy Pope]

I do lots of voices.

[Dan Soder]

You're gonna be absolutely one of the eighth grade bullies.

[Tommy Pope]

Just don't make me a fucking whop. I'm tired of being Italian.

[Dan Soder]

You're not gonna be. You're not gonna be a little kid. I know. No, you get to be a little kid. I'm not gonna make you a little ginzo. Yeah, I'm gonna make you a little. I'm gonna Just regular.

[Tommy Pope]

Can I just be regular?

[Dan Soder]

But shout out another thing that's great.

[Tommy Pope]

About talking like this. Can I just be regular?

[Dan Soder]

Can I be.

[Tommy Pope]

Why is everybody telling me I'm a Italian? Why can't I just be a regular guy?

[Dan Soder]

Everybody gonna put me over noodles. I don't want to go over noodles no more.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm naked with a robot.

[Dan Soder]

Why do people keep cornering me in their holding a newspaper like the end of a good fella. Thirteen. Yeah, you're goes.

[Tommy Pope]

You do. You're a grown man myself.

[Dan Soder]

Before we leave, I need to know what happened with the bleach.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, yeah, right now, just what happened?

[Dan Soder]

Tell me the story.

[Tommy Pope]

Dude, it was Final Destination type. I told you. It was. I bought my. My girl has a thing with her eyes.

[Dan Soder]

Your girlfriend's unbelievable.

[Tommy Pope]

She's the best.

[Dan Soder]

She.

[Tommy Pope]

She's the best.

[Dan Soder]

She was at the look at Dish.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, yeah, that.

[Dan Soder]

That look at Dish. We were just like, oh, we don't even want to leave.

[Tommy Pope]

I know, dude.

[Dan Soder]

You guys are like, we were to film another one. We're like, we just all hang out. Hang out. Yeah, it was the best y. She has up with her eyes.

[Tommy Pope]

She knows she's like, deathly afraid of anything with eye related. She get that. She gets nuts. She get contacts, Dan. I have to roll the windows up to. To use the windshield wiper fluid.

[Dan Soder]

What?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, she'll go nuts if the windows are down.

[Dan Soder]

She bark at the wind.

[Tommy Pope]

In Texas.

[Dan Soder]

She barks at the wind.

[Tommy Pope]

She's afraid a piece of.

[Dan Soder]

Scratch like a little dog. The.

[Tommy Pope]

She's afraid a piece of the water that has a chemical in it will fly into her eye and she'll go blind. She's nuts about. Okay, so she goes, you clean the shower. She says it all the time. Don't get bleach in your eye. I'm like, shut the up. How would I get bleach in my eye? She says, crazy. I think she put it in the universe. She wished this on me at some point. Anyway, I get. I order three tilex with bleach.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

It's the only thing that gets mold off.

[Dan Soder]

It really is Tilex with bleach. They know what they're doing.

[Tommy Pope]

They know what they're doing.

[Dan Soder]

It's one of the 409. I think 409's defunct, dude.

[Tommy Pope]

It's romp appeal. Set it and forget it. You don't even have to scrub, dude. Just squirt and let it sit.

[Dan Soder]

Yes. And you're good.

[Tommy Pope]

Our everything's impeccable in our bathroom.

[Dan Soder]

Can I tell you the last time I cleaned my bathroom? I did that and forgot I did it and jumped in the shower.

[Tommy Pope]

Oh yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I turned it on. I was like, oh my God. I'm just naked surrounded by bleach.

[Tommy Pope]

Welcome to cocaine, brother. Anyway, I pull out one of the bottles, brand new out of the box.

[Dan Soder]

Sure.

[Tommy Pope]

I spin the top from off to on. You know, I start spraying like this by the shower head. Wall one. I'm on wall one.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Not even in the width part yet.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And the, the bottom drops out of the handle, the mechanism. This hits a towel rack and does a 360 at my face. And when I say it was a like of a violent splash direct to the eyeball.

[Dan Soder]

Come down like that, dude.

[Tommy Pope]

It and like directly in my eyeball. I immediately.

[Dan Soder]

Could you feel it immediately?

[Tommy Pope]

Oh, dude. And I go to the sink, start splashing. I'm washing it out. I even got in the shower for 15 minutes. My girl calls my sister in law who's a doctor her and I'm like, I'm screaming, I'm going. I'm not going to the er. I'm not going. We had plans. Yeah, we plans at night.

[Dan Soder]

That's so funny.

[Tommy Pope]

And I'm not going to er.

[Dan Soder]

It's gonna. I can't break plans, dude. I can't. Your eyes.

[Tommy Pope]

I'm just wearing an eye patch.

[Dan Soder]

Can Tommy see the future now?

[Tommy Pope]

We got sushi tonight. I'm not going to ER Do a little roll.

[Dan Soder]

We're gonna sit around and watch eat rich people eat sushi.

[Tommy Pope]

And finally she texted like her friend who's also a doctor and like three doctors said go to the U. Yeah, you gotta. And then I sat in the ER for like five, six hours. Canceled my sets. I had mothership sets.

[Dan Soder]

How long did it wait for them to see you?

[Tommy Pope]

Not. It was pretty quick.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Tommy Pope]

I. I guess they. They. You know, they. I guess they just look around going, who needs the most immediate attention?

[Dan Soder]

They always do that.

[Tommy Pope]

They asked me how long ago it was. I only told him, like, 25, 30 minutes, because it was right around the corner of this. This hospital. So they let me sit there for like, a half hour maybe, before I got this thing called the Morgan's lens, which I saw.

[Dan Soder]

That they open your eye.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, I'll say. I'll send you the photos.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. He'll edit.

[Tommy Pope]

You can post it up.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

But essentially, it's a. It's a giant plastic. Imagine a contact, but larger, where it sits underneath each.

[Dan Soder]

Ah, yeah. Dude, I can't. With eyes. Dude, I'm like your girlfriend.

[Tommy Pope]

And then they put this IV thing. Drip. The drip, and they just. For an hour. Hour and 15 minutes, I sat there while this. This bag depleted. And you don't. I'll tell you what. When you close your eyes, you don't realize what straight is, right? So you got to stay straight on this lens, or else it starts cutting into your cornea. Right? So every time you go left and right, and. Dude, let me. I'm. You kidnapped me. Everybody's just going to jail. The secrets I would tell if they kept me in there for 15 more minutes, I'm ripping that thing out.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

I was, like, losing my mind. It started getting, like, real crazy.

[Dan Soder]

How did it feel? Did you get the relief of when they took it out?

[Tommy Pope]

There's no relief at all because that's like a catheter. There's Earth 100.

[Dan Soder]

It's like, I haven't. I imagine the worst because they. After I got my shoulder operated on, they were like, you. You. We got to give you a catheter. Yeah, because I had to piss and I couldn't because of the medication. And when they put it in, you go, oh, I'll feel the relief. But you don't feel the relief.

[Tommy Pope]

No.

[Dan Soder]

And then when they pull it out, it hurts, even. And then you're, like, just sitting there for two days.

[Tommy Pope]

The irritation's nuts. Why am we in these glasses? You think I want to look like this, Dad?

[Dan Soder]

I thought you were going into your producer. Yeah. Bet you're not getting bothered in midday.

[Tommy Pope]

I just sold three.

[Dan Soder]

Go to 47th Street. I bet they ain't bugging you. I got a deal for you on the diamonds. Oh, you look at this. Boy. That's all right. It's like.

[Tommy Pope]

So anyway.

[Dan Soder]

Season.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah. So it's just, you know.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Three days of hell. Now. I got this ointment, so you have.

[Dan Soder]

To put it in. Did you experience any eye like.

[Tommy Pope]

No, I feel good. The problem is, it's like, I forget the alkaline. The. With bleach, you can't tell if it's corroding your. Your actual cornea and retina. So it's very. You know.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, that's.

[Tommy Pope]

It's dangerous.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Because you're not feeling the immediate pain the way you think you would.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

And it's slowly.

[Dan Soder]

That's the scary, slowly corrode. You go, I feel fine. And then you open it, you're just one eye willie. Yeah.

[Tommy Pope]

Start losing sight. I'm supposed to go to an optometrist before I put contacts and we shoot tires on Monday. Okay. I can't fucking. I gotta. I gotta see a doctor before that. Wear contacts. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Because. Could you film tires without contact sex?

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah, I'm not. My. My sight's not bad. It's just.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And you're not like, reading cue cards or nothing.

[Tommy Pope]

No.

[Dan Soder]

You're just being a.

[Tommy Pope]

Being a whop.

[Dan Soder]

Being a wop. You. Insults. Being waps. I. Dude, that's. I mean, way, way, way less dangerous. But getting stuff in your eye is a feeling that you go. It's immediately helplessness.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It's immediately like your hands go up.

[Tommy Pope]

And you're like, dude, you take things for granted, man.

[Dan Soder]

Dude, when I. When I worked at Dos Caminos, we had a salsa trio that you'd have to put out on everything, bro. It's pretty sick. But there was a habanero salsa that was, like, filled with habanero peppers.

[Tommy Pope]

You get in your eye.

[Dan Soder]

Yo, dude. So you take ladles and there's a trio that you have to, like, bring to the table with the chips. So you ladle it out or whatever. One time I dunked the ladle in and it just goes bloop right into my eye. And I was like, just like, on the line being like, it's in my eye. I. It's pepper spray. Well, yeah, the sous chef and I. I don't know if this was just, like. It worked because I thought it was going to work. Gave me a glass of milk, and then it was small enough where I put it over my eye and just had to open my eye and.

[Tommy Pope]

Milk. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And, like, do that. And he's like, dude, it's a base. It'll neutralize it or whatever. And I was Like, I don't know if that worked or what. Like, people might know what that isn't like that it's supposed to, but it helped. Yeah, it was like, but it's so funny. Me back on the floor with just a one red eye, like, do you want to try? What the is wrong with this guy? But I still remember seeing the. The go in and go right in, and I was like, how do those porn stars take. Come to the face? Yeah, it's fun because they go, yeah, they're hungry.

[Tommy Pope]

They skip lunch. You're not yourself when you're hungry.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, they got to bring in porn stars to show you how to deal with bleach. They go, this right here's Julianne. She's gonna show you. Take it right to the eye. I love you. I think you're one of my favorite human beings on the planet. Every time I see you, I get ramped up. Say stuff island. Look at dish.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Watch the stand up. He's hilarious. Yes, sir. Tires, season three.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You got the waps in that? Everything. Tommy Pope. Ingest it and love it. Love you, buddy. Sorry about your go, Niners.

[Tommy Pope]

Don't end like that.

[Dan Soder]

I know, but I gotta say it.

[Tommy Pope]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I'm a fan.

[Tommy Pope]

No, you're right.

[Dan Soder]

You're right. I gotta say, go Niners in two, one.

[Tommy Pope]

Go birds.

[Dan Soder]

It.