"A Dress That's Just A Long Oxford Shirt" w/ Jenny Hagel

Summary

StraightioLab Episode Summary: "A Dress That's Just A Long Oxford Shirt" featuring Jenny Hagel

Release Date: July 8, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of StraightioLab, hosted by comedians George Civeris and Sam Taggart, the duo delves into the nuances of straight culture with their guest, Jenny Hagel. The episode, titled "A Dress That's Just A Long Oxford Shirt," explores the intersection of fashion, societal norms, and cultural appropriation within the framework of straight and queer communities.

Political Climate and Personal Reflections [03:13 - 07:31]

George and Sam begin by sharing their recent experiences amidst New York City's vibrant yet tumultuous political landscape. They express feelings of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) as political shifts and grassroots movements reshape the city's dynamics. George remarks, “I moved to Los Angeles for a job. Very good job. The job ended, you came back to New York and got married...” ([06:01]) highlighting the rapid changes and his personal journey through these shifts.

Introducing the Guest: Jenny Hagel [07:32 - 30:41]

The hosts introduce Jenny Hagel, a figure immersed in Brooklyn’s cultural scene. They discuss the dichotomy between hare and tortoise eras, metaphorically representing fast-paced versus slow and steady cultural movements. Jenny shares her experiences of moving cities for career growth, emphasizing the challenges of reestablishing oneself in a new environment. She reflects, “Here's what I think. I think wear what feels good to you...” ([59:05]) underscoring the importance of personal authenticity over societal expectations.

Segment: Straight Shooters – Rapid Fire Questions [33:13 - 45:09]

In the "Straight Shooters" segment, Jenny participates in a rapid-fire round of "this or that" questions, revealing her preferences and sparking light-hearted banter. Notable exchanges include:

• George: “Gold star or cash bar?” ([33:34])

• Jenny: “Gold star.” ([33:44])

• Sam: “A dress that's just a long oxford shirt?” ([40:33])

This segment serves to break the ice and provide insights into Jenny's personality and viewpoints.

Main Discussion: The Oxford Shirt Dress [45:09 - 56:28]

The core of the episode revolves around dissecting the long oxford shirt dress as a symbol within straight culture. Jenny articulates her disdain for the garment's lack of flair and its metaphorical representation of “pleasing no one.” She states, “I think it is very straight. It's so interesting because I think it has no flavor. There's no edge to it...” ([45:14])

George and Sam expand on this by comparing the dress to metaphors like the "mullet of dresses," highlighting its attempt to balance professional and casual aspects without succeeding. Sam adds, “It's so boring and it just doesn't capture any essence...” ([46:19])

Fashion and Cultural Appropriation [51:38 - 56:28]

Transitioning from the dress discussion, the conversation shifts to how straight culture appropriates queer fashion elements. They reference Birkenstocks and how items once emblematic of lesbian communities have been mainstreamed, diluting their original cultural significance. Jenny remarks, “There’s something about Birkenstocks that bugs me so much because it was like, Birken were such a lesbian punchline for so long...” ([51:57])

The hosts lament the loss of subtle cultural signifiers that allowed queer individuals to identify and connect privately within public spaces. They discuss the importance of maintaining these identifiers to preserve community bonds.

Final Segment: Shout Outs [67:09 - 77:12]

Concluding the episode, Jenny offers heartfelt shout-outs to influential figures and works that resonate with her, including the documentary Pee Wee as Himself. George highlights his appreciation for Haagen Dazs Butter Pecan, drawing parallels between personal preferences and cultural identity. Sam praises Pee Wee for its emotional depth and representation of queer struggles.

Conclusion

Throughout the episode, StraightioLab navigates complex themes of identity, fashion, and cultural dynamics with humor and intellectual discourse. Jenny Hagel’s insights enrich the conversation, providing a multifaceted perspective on how everyday items like a long oxford shirt dress can reflect broader societal norms and cultural tensions.

Notable Quotes

• George Civeris ([06:01]): “I moved to Los Angeles for a job. Very good job. The job ended, you came back to New York and got married…”

• Jenny Hagel ([45:14]): “I think it is very straight. It's so interesting because I think it has no flavor. There's no edge to it..."

• Sam Taggart ([51:57]): “There’s something about Birkenstocks that bugs me so much because it was like, Birken were such a lesbian punchline for so long…”

• Jenny Hagel ([59:05]): “Here's what I think. I think wear what feels good to you...”

Key Takeaways

• The long oxford shirt dress is critiqued as a symbol of straight culture's attempt to balance professionalism and casualness without achieving authenticity or flair.

• Cultural appropriation within fashion, particularly how straight culture absorbs and mainstreams elements from queer communities, leading to a dilution of original meanings and significance.

• The importance of maintaining cultural signifiers for minority communities to facilitate private identification and connection within public spaces.

Conclusion

This episode of StraightioLab offers a sharp, comedic, yet thoughtful examination of straight culture through the lens of fashion and societal norms. Jenny Hagel’s participation adds depth to the discussion, making it a compelling listen for those interested in the interplay between culture, identity, and everyday artifacts.

Transcript

[Host 1]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Host 1]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Host 1]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Sam Taggart]

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[Host 1]

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[Sam Taggart]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

A month so give it a [e-mail].

[Host 1]

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[Jenny Hagel]

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[Host 1]

Three months only speed slow gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra.

[Jenny Hagel]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Host 1]

No purchase necessary. VGW group Void where prohibited by law. 21 + terms and conditions apply.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hootie Hoo this is a quick announcement to say that we, Sam Taggart and George Severis are going on a standup tour. That's right, a standup tour. No podcasting allowed this summer and fall.

[Sam Taggart]

It's called Sam and George Stand Up Tour. It rhymes Kind of. And we're going to Chicago, Philly, D.C. boston, Toronto, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Angeles, and maybe more locations. Tbd. Let's just say we're looking into it. And sometimes that has worked for us, us in the past and sometimes it hasn't.

[Sam Taggart]

But folks, come see us split an hour of stand up. And we're so excited to see you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We're so excited. And you can get [e-mail] Stradiolab that's link tree.com Stradiolab enjoy the app.

[Sam Taggart]

Podcast starts now. What's up, everyone? You are listening to Stradiolab bi coastally. Of course. This time.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This is the first main feed episode where we are recording as two married men.

[Sam Taggart]

Two married men. We went buttigieg mode. We are.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We have gone buttigieg mode for good.

[Sam Taggart]

Our edge is found dead in a ditch.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Our edge is over. We are political centrists and we are ready to make moderate change very slowly over the next 65 years. We don't like this new generation.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, we think they're doing. It's all backwards what they're up to.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's all backwards. Whatever happened to tradition?

[Sam Taggart]

Whatever happened to, you know, respecting each other?

[Ryan Reynolds]

This podcast is mostly about respecting your elders and also the differences between New York and language.

[Sam Taggart]

George, I want to kick it off and say I am feeling such an insane New York City fomo.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And that's what I wanted to talk to you about, because I know you are.

[Sam Taggart]

It's crazy. It's, like, not right that I'm not there right now. I feel like I'm, like, at war and everyone at home is, like, moving on.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So just for everyone who's listening, because this is going to come out in a couple of weeks, we are recording the day after Zuran's upset victory that I, of course, predicted would not happen on record. And on this very podcast, Patreon, I said, why aren't we coalescing around Brad Lander? Like, we need someone who appeals to the average New Yorker. We are, you know, we're being overly optimistic with this young upstart. And pie on my face.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, the egg is dripping down your face as we see.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Is it egg on my face, not pie on my face?

[Sam Taggart]

Well, you can get a little bit of both. You're getting a whole slew of foods thrown at your face.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's right. I'm pie on my face in the people. You know, the gay activist threw pies on.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, what's her name?

[Ryan Reynolds]

What's her name? We know her.

[Sam Taggart]

That lady from the past that lady.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That lady that from the past. Okay, so you are feeling FOMO for New York. How's Karen Bass? Oh.

[Sam Taggart]

It'S just not fair. I'm to go from. Also the wedding, which, for those listening, we were talking about just getting married. I just got married this weekend in New York. In New York City, you know, surrounded by loved ones. And it is just. It feels like I'm feeling a double whammy of like, wait, what is going on? Why am I here? And on top of it all, my job just ended. And which is why I was out here and now I have no real reason to be out here except that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I moved to Los Angeles for. You moved to Los Angeles for a job. Very good job. The job ended, you came back to New York and got married. And then New York had this historic election. They are calling it the biggest, the most shocking upset in modern New York City electoral politics history. And now you're back in la, you are unemployed, no offense. And you are watching from afar as we are celebrating on the streets.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. You have had a socialist revolution.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I want to say Chi o say famous zillennial politician was wearing the same shirt I was wearing to your wedding while canvassing for Xeron yesterday, which I think actually really locked it for the Democratic Party.

[Sam Taggart]

It is just not right. And honestly, I've lived my whole life sort of in a slow and steady, you know, in the tortoise hair binary. I'm always tortoise and I'm feeling like, is tortoise the wrong identity for this moment?

[Host 1]

Oh, wow.

[Sam Taggart]

Do I need to go hair mode?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I want to bring in our guest because I think I actually really want to talk about whether we are in a tortoise era or a hare era, because it's actually very confusing and especially it's confusing post Trump. So please welcome our dear friend coming from a different part of Brooklyn than me, but from New York nonetheless. No, no, you know, Sorry. Sam, Jenny Hagel. Hi.

[Host 1]

How are you guys?

[Sam Taggart]

So good. How are you?

[Ryan Reynolds]

We are so good. I mean, I'm amazing because I'm in New York City.

[Host 1]

Yeah. You and I are riding the wave of a socialist revolution.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's right.

[Host 1]

We literally just got back from waving flags on a barricade like in Les Mis. Like New York City flags.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's right. We're both in the same kind of like, radical polycule. And we are on the streets of Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights and we are marching and. And we are winning.

[Host 1]

Yes. I, on the way home, saw a rat Hugging a pigeon.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wow.

[Host 1]

This is just a really banner time for New York and I feel bad for anyone who's missing it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The rat and the pigeon actually cross endorsed one another and that's the reason they could bring, bring it back home.

[Host 1]

They did. It was very cool. Yeah. Also two bags of garbage. Cross endorsed each other.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. That's which is really amused. Although that was, you know, one of those bags of garbage actually has really problematic views. I heard, I heard that she actually supported Cuomo in the previous election.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, you know, we have to let people grow and learn and change as well.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So Jenny, do you think we're living in a hare or in a tortoise world?

[Host 1]

That's a great question. I think it depends if you are a Republican or Democrat. I think, whoa. Republicans are really all systems go. All their dreams are coming true. They're overturning laws right and left. They're electing people who were, I don't know, born three weeks ago. Really. I think it's full speed ahead for them and I think Democrats cannot get moving. They cannot get anything. Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The Republicans are actually electing people that were conceived three weeks ago.

[Host 1]

Yeah. Interestingly, I feel like Democrats and also I feel like Democrats spirits are broken. I feel like we have all. We've had just so many soul crushing losses over the last several years. We've had a few like really hard losses where we thought it was in the bag and it didn't happen. And so I think Democrats do not know how to think or feel. And I feel like Democrats don't even know how to hope. I know when I the polls and I don't love voting this way, but when I went to the polls for this mayoral primary, I was voting based on what I thought could conceivably happen and not what my dreams were.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. I think that there's something that happens with Democrats which is they have been betrayed by every institution and yet they want in their hearts to trust institutions so they can't go full conspiratorial. Whereas Republicans, it's like if they're failed by institutions, they're like, oh perfect. I'm qanon. Love it.

[Host 1]

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Democrats can't figure out why they can't win the game when they are the people being like the game is rigged.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes.

[Host 1]

But then they're like, if we just follow the rules. Yes, exactly. And you're like, what are you doing? Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And they are stuck in this cycle and they're ideology is like inherently paradoxical.

[Host 1]

Yes. Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

Do you live your life, Jenny, in more of a hair or a tortoise way? Because I do feel. I'm, like, kind of sick of. I. I'm like, today I'm wishing I could just be like, fuck it, it's a huge mistake. I'm ordering a moving van and I'm out of here. And I have never made a mistake like that in my life. It's, like, not built into me.

[Host 1]

Why would it be a mistake for you to move?

[Sam Taggart]

Great question. That's an amazing question. Because it feels. It feels reckless. Like, it's just, like, such a big decision to make suddenly that, like, isn't. I mean, I would. I would land fine, but it would be like, am I. Did I move here? Was it a waste to come here at all? Like. Like, I gave up my apartment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It would be a decision you are making solely because of your feelings.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And it's difficult to, like, explain rationally.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Here's what I'll say. And what I'm saying is some advice a therapist said to me years ago, but I'm passing it along to you for free because I was trying to deal with a question similarly about what city to move to after a job ended. And I had moved to a city I had never had any intention of living in solely for a job. And I wanted to go to the next city based on, like, I had friends there. I was dating somebody there, but I was like, I feel like the right career thing is for me to move to la. And this therapist goes, well, you made your last move based solely on work. Why aren't you allowed to make your next move based solely on feelings?

[Sam Taggart]

Whoa.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That is eerily extremely specific to Sam's problems.

[Host 1]

Yeah, I'm a big believer of, like, look, you'd make choices for work, but you're not at work every minute of the day. When work is done, you step outside and you have a life. And if your life is not in a city that you love and feel connected to, I don't.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And were those cities for you LA and New York, or were they different ones?

[Host 1]

Weirdly, LA was only part of the equation. I kind of. I cut my comedy teeth in Chicago and lived there for 10 years. And right around the time I was thinking, you know what? I should probably choose New York or LA and get out of here. I mean, I love Chicago, but I could kind of run out of jobs.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host 1]

And to move to a bigger city, I got offered a job at performing on the main stage at Second City Detroit, which is a theater that once existed. And I'm sure it doesn't sound fancy if you're not somebody who's familiar with, like, the Chicago scene or Second City. But it was like a. Definitely a step up for me. And where I was, it was a paid gig, it was a Equity theater gig. And I was really excited. And you get to write your own material and then perform it in front of audiences every night. And so I took that job. And I had never had any intention of living in the Detroit area. I moved there for a little over a year, made an incredible group of friends, had an incredible creative experience. And then. But, you know, after like a year and a few months, I was like, okay, I think it's time we did what we came here to do. Let's kind of get on with the next chapter of our career. And I could either go to New York or la, or I could go back to Chicago. And I. Everybody I loved was there. I really loved Chicago. It's really my favorite place I've ever lived. And I remember feeling like, but that's not what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to go to LA and go after this big brass ring that everybody.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

But then this therapist who, you know, lives somewhere in Michigan and has no sense of the comedy world was just like, that sounds dumb. There's a place you love that makes you happy and you're gonna force yourself to move to the other place, like a bad homework assignment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The thing is, psychologically speaking, the best decision is always to move to Chicago. It's like Chicago calls both me and Sam, I think, in ways that we can't even really wrap our minds around.

[Host 1]

I moved there sight unseen from Virginia right after I graduated from college. Best place I've ever been. Never knew nothing about it other than they had a team called the Cubs and they had.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You know, Sam is a UVA grad.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Wait, where are you from in Virginia?

[Host 1]

I went to William Mary.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, wow, that's wild.

[Host 1]

If you are from Virginia, there's two good colleges that are in state. And one is for people who are smart and very nerdy, and the other one is for people who are a little smarter and popular. And Sam went to the popular college and I went to the one for slightly less smart nerds.

[Sam Taggart]

I have to say, when I visited William and Mary. Cause I got into both. Of course.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Of course. And thank you for clarifying.

[Sam Taggart]

And so I went to William Mary and I was like. I was like, you know, it's pretty, it's really pretty. And then I went to visit uva and I was like, oh, these people are like, cool. I was like, okay, I've got it.

[Host 1]

That's right. And I visited both and was like, intimidated by everybody at uva. And then I went to William and Mary on the tour and I was like, oh, this place smells like books. I did William and Mary. Early decision. I didn't even.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow, you did. Early decision.

[Host 1]

I was like, this is for nerds and I am home.

[Sam Taggart]

That is so funny.

[Host 1]

I went to a party. I was like, yeah, I don't need to do a uva.

[Sam Taggart]

I had never been to a party, but I dreamed of it. My. That was like the first time I really stood up to my dad, to be honest, because he grew up in Virginia, so he like, especially in the 70s, like, he, like, William Mary had like a much better reputation. And he was like, you have to go to William Mary. And I was like, dad, I'm not going to William Mary. I'm going to uva. And he's like, you just want to go to parties. And I was like, I'm so much better than that. But I also want to go to parties.

[Host 1]

Like, all the things I thought we were going to talk about today. This would have been bottom of my list.

[Sam Taggart]

No, me too. I love it. It actually is very straight culture.

[Host 1]

The joke, the funny thing is like, it's like, it's like any like, micro community, right? Where, like within Virginia. This is a big deal. And then.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

And I left the state of Virginia. No one has ever heard of my college. No one could give a shit less. No one is impressed. Not even like, it's whatever the opposite of impressed is. They're always like, is that the school from Facts of Life? Nobody even thinks it sounds like a real school.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It is a mystery. William and Mary has always been a mystery to me. I'm always like, wait, is it really religious?

[Host 1]

Right? People think it's religious. People think it's an all girls school. People think it's private. It's just a regular. It could just be called Virginia State University.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Or it's just a strange name for a school, I think is what it comes down to. You're like, why is it not called something normal? But I will say to bring it to the topic of this podcast, which is recklessly calling things either gay or straight for no reason. I do think UVA is the straight one and William Le Mary is the gay one.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

So straight. With all due respect, Sam, no, it is. It is. It is. Popped collars and Oakley sunglasses and polo matches, and that's what I imagine. And, like, someone doing a keg stand on top of someone else doing a keg stand.

[Sam Taggart]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I honestly think I imagine Sam going to UVA as, like, him taking his fetish of manly, burly straight men too far, to the point where he's like, great, well, I'm going to go to a frat school.

[Host 1]

Yes. I mean, and obviously everybody there is smart, as Sam keeps pointing out, but it is definitely. If one of them has to be straight, one of them has to be gay. William and Mary is gay for sure.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Were you out in college?

[Host 1]

No, I. Not even to myself. I didn't. Also, I was a theater major and didn't know anybody out. We all thought we were straight.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Host 1]

Yeah. I mean, it was also. I'm. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say older than you guys. It was the late 90s being out. I know it sounds silly, but even, like, a college theater department was still just a different thing. Thing. And I do think there was, like, that thing of, like, depending on where you grew up, not even understanding that that was a possible thing. Like, I really. I was like. I think I was so what did the kids say? Compet. I think I just, like, yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

The options presented to me just had never been that. It just didn't cross my mind. Which is so funny because the minute it finally did, in my late 20s, I was like, oh, God, Like, I didn't even have, like, the struggle internally of, like, oh, am I gay? Am I? The second it occurred to me, I was like, oh, God, of course. Of course. And I'm so gay. Like, it's so funny that, like, it didn't occur to me because, like. Like, you know how, like, Kinsey's like, there's a spectrum, and everybody's somewhere on the spectrum. I'm like the 0 or, like, the 10. Like, I'm just not even a little bit straight. Like, I have no interest in men sexually even. Like, not, like, just none. I'm not repulsed by them. I'm just, like, the same way. You wouldn't be, like, sexually interested in, like, a stapler.

[Sam Taggart]

Totally. Yeah.

[Host 1]

It just didn't cross my mind. It just really didn't. I think I just. It just didn't cross my mind anyway, so that's a long answer to your question, but, no, I was not out in college.

[Sam Taggart]

That's interesting. I mean, my. It's funny how when it clicks, it clicks. I feel like when I was getting bullied for being Gay in high school and I was not out and I didn't think I was gay. And then they started bullying me. And that's when I was like, well, I'm not gay. And I was like, well, I guess I am looking at gay porn. Like, it's like. It's like, wait, like, gay as a concept is different. Like, I was like, well, I'm not g. Like, I'm like, I. I'm. I'm.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm not culturally. I'm not culturally gay.

[Host 1]

I just want to split hairs. There is all the porn. Yeah. I think, like, there was such a narrow idea. I mean, obviously there's a narrow idea of all kinds of queer people in the media, but, like, at that time, there was just the most narrow idea of what a lesbian was.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Almost never saw them on TV at all. Referenced. And then I did. It's like I had this incredibly narrow, incredibly, like, hyper masculine presenting idea. And like, I looked in college basically exactly like I look right now. Right. Like I'm wearing. Like I'm wearing what you could maybe generously consider a blouse.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I would say you're running that boardroom like it's the navy, Right?

[Sam Taggart]

Absolutely.

[Host 1]

I'm not like super, super femme presenting, but I'm not like, super masculine presenting. And so I think I also was like, I would every once in a while, cross my mind, and then I'd look in the mirror and be like, well, I don't look, look, I'm not wearing a leather jacket where the sleeves have been torn off.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right.

[Host 1]

I guess I'm not a lesbian. Like, I just.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You're like, wait a minute, I have long hair.

[Host 1]

Yeah. Or I'd be like, wearing a shirt from the loft and I'd be like, well, that can't be. I can't be gay just by. By virtue of having been inside the loft. I can't be. I think I'm just like. It would kind of float through my mind every once in a while, but then I just immediately would dismiss it. Not even in a homophobic way, but just like, in a. Doing the math.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, well, it's actually. Did you watch the second season of the Rehearsal?

[Host 1]

No. No.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, he has this thing. He's kind of. Well, I don't know if I want to spoil it. Okay, well, this is a spoiler all. He basically is flying a plane and he thinks he might have autism, and you're not allowed to fly a commercial plane if you have autism. So then he just doesn't get the results to his autism test because he's like, well, how could I be autistic? I'm already flying the plane. And that's sort of like, you are like, well, how can I be a lesbian? I'm in the loft.

[Host 1]

Yeah. I was like. I was like, I'm the most fun person in my sorority. How could I be a lesbian?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm the most fun person in the loft.

[Host 1]

Yeah. So anyway. But, yeah, I just know. And then. Right. It is funny. Like you said, like, when it clicks, it clicks. And you're like, oh, yeah, this is silly. This is why I'm always high fiving my boyfriends.

[Sam Taggart]

I. Yeah, go ahead, George.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I remember watching Will and Grace and being like, that Jack character is so offensive. Like, that is not what. Like, this is. They're perpetuating a stereotype. And of course, now I'm like, that's me.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. And, like, me af. Now I'm like, will is offensive.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm like, will is an assimilation. Why is he a lawyer?

[Host 1]

You're like, will is the character written by the straight writers. Literally. Yeah, that's the thing. I'll go on and on about how narrow the lanes are, and then meanwhile, I have season tickets to the. To the wnba.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know. There is something really amazing about just embracing everything you were told was, like, an offensive stereotype when you were younger.

[Host 1]

Yeah. It is a very funny place to live. Right. Where in some ways you feel constrained by them and then some. Some ways, like, I think once I realized I was gay, I felt like I could relax into some of the parts that I had unreal, like, unknowingly been kind of suppressing, like, totally any details about how I dressed. All of a sudden I was like, oh, that's why I didn't buy that shirt. I think some part of my brain was like, that's too gay.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

And I think it's, like, right there, it is a very funny place to live where you both reject stereotypes and then also embrace them and feel kind of comforted by them.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's funny. I think that, like, internal struggle of not wanting to succumb to a stereotype is the thing that straight men have been experiencing for the very first time over the last, like, 10 years. Like, this is when people talk about how, like, there was a crisis of masculinity because men felt marginalized during MeToo. It's like, okay, so what you're saying is that for the first time there existed such a thing as, like, negative stereotypes about straight men. And then straight men were like, no, I'm not a misogynist. Like, no, I don't talk over women in meetings. Like, how it's like, right. Part of anyone's existence is grappling with negative stereotypes about whatever community you're a part of.

[Host 1]

That's right.

[Sam Taggart]

I think that's interesting.

[Host 1]

Right?

[Sam Taggart]

And I have so much empathy.

[Host 1]

Yeah, yeah, of course. Finally. Finally, they get their day in the sun. It's funny. I also have to be careful because I feel like, first of all, I'm sure, just like, as comedians, we all do this, right? Where you talk in kind of broad strokes and make jokes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes, of course.

[Host 1]

Stereotypes. And then I think as a queer person, as a woman, like, I feel comfortable being like, you know, man and, you know, straight people and blah, blah, blah. And then, like, so I have a son who's 11, and I'm like, I gotta watch my fucking mouth because I can't be like, fucking men. You know what I mean? At some point. And I don't know how he identifies, how he will end up identifying in his life. So I also don't want to be like. It's like, I, you know, I'm honest with him about what I think are stereotypes that exist in the world, but I have to be careful about how much I like jokingly shit talk.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We run into this a lot with the fact that our entire M.O. is like, jokingly saying things are gay or straight. And sometimes we go all the way back around to just being, like, sexist because we're just like. We'll just be like, beer is for men, wine is for women, just because we're trying to make some larger point about gender. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not.

[Host 1]

You know how, like, everybody who wears pink is gay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Wait, what have we done? Is this progress?

[Sam Taggart]

You can really get stuck in here in a bad way.

[Host 1]

Yeah, yeah. You really. Yeah, it's. It is a little bit of, like, a twisty slide, right?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not to take a hard left turn, but I think let's get our first segment out of the way because I want to really delve into some topics.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, I can tell this is going to be an intellectually strong episode.

[Ryan Reynolds]

My PhD from William and Mary is about to be put to use.

[Sam Taggart]

I mean, I can't believe I first wanted to. Before we get into the first segment, I'm like, why did I jump at that so hard? I really have, like, done a good job of tamping down sort of my caring of. Of, like, local. My localness.

[Host 1]

It's. I think it's Funny, I think, right. You. But it's so hard how imprinted on you the things that you are told when you were younger are important. Those are so, like. So for, like, I had the William and Mary thing, like, you have to get into a good school and this is the one you have to. And it's like, nobody cares. And then I spent 10 years in Chicago coming up in the comedy scene, and Second City was the holy grail. And I was so important to me to work there. And I'm glad that I did and had a wonderful time. You better believe the second I set foot outside of Chicago, no one gave a fuck. Like, I showed up in New York and it was like, I had never done comedy. I had no street cred, no one. And I was talking to a friend of mine from Chicago and I remember telling her, it's like, I showed up here with a bunch of Confederate money. Like, I can't spend it, no one gives. But I. But I lived. And Sam, you'll get that from.

[Sam Taggart]

You are speaking my language so much right now.

[Host 1]

But. Right. But, like, then I showed and I had a good friend who was. Who did comedy here in New York, and he told me he was going to move to la. And I said to him, I was like, I need to tell you something to prepare you for when you go to la. No one will give a fuck what you did in New York. Whatever. Little like, oh, I was at UCB on the house team called, like, Grandpa's Pickles. Like, no one gives a fuck. No one's heard of Grandpa's Pickles. You have no currency. But I think that is, like, wherever you come up in the world, you cannot let go of these things being important.

[Sam Taggart]

It's the way that I'm in LA. I was in New York for 12 years, and honey, I made a splash, let's say that. And I'm out here and it's like, I was never. I never existed. Like, it's like I'm starting fresh in this way that I'm like, wait, what? And each time I'd be like, no. Just like, put yourself out there and people will, like, immediately, like, take to you. And I'm like, no, it's literally starting over.

[Host 1]

Oh, absolutely. It's as if you've never done comedy a day in your life. You have to eat shit 1,000%. And I, yeah, I did it when I moved here, I did it when I moved to Detroit. People were, like, constantly explaining to me how improv worked. I'm being. But you just be like, let me just eat shit for a little while.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I have never heard of anything more humbling than people in Detroit explaining to you how improv works. That, I think would be my worst nightmare.

[Host 1]

I remember somebody explaining to me what one particular form was. And then the worst part is that form had been invented in Chicago and they were explaining it wrong, but I just had to be like, yeah, okay. Yeah. Yes. Okay, great.

[Sam Taggart]

Damn.

[Host 1]

And I think that's just. Yeah. But anyway, like, that's again, like you show up with your whatever, your William and Mary diploma or your, your Second City T shirt and people are like, I don't give a damn. Well, I don't have the room down and I'm sorry.

[Sam Taggart]

No, no, it's, it's. This is, I want to talk more about this, but I know it's like probably uninteresting to, to some listeners, but I like, that's sort of where the, the tornness of moving back to New York is. Like, is it just because I'm tired of being small?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, I see. Yeah. You're like, I just, I'm tired of putting in the day to day effort.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Because the thing with, when you're comfortable in your surroundings, then you choose where to put in the effort. It's like, okay, baseline. I have a community, I have friends, I am respected. Now I want to work on a new project and that is where I'm putting in my effort. My effort isn't going into just like fitting in.

[Host 1]

No. I think, I think when you move to the new city, you have to hustle your ass off for a while and it is a little bit like planting seeds. And then once you've been there for a couple years, a lot of you have all this like. Like what? The thing that grows is like, like your reputation and your street cred and your, your network. And then you are able to be choosier and to really go hard on a corny metaphor, but you're able to pluck what you, what you want to be doing. But in the beginning it is just grinding. Yeah, yeah. I, like I said, like, I thought Second City was the holy grail. And then, and then, you know, I moved into, to New York and I was like, being on a late night show is the Holy grail. And then I was just at Brooklyn Pride a couple weekends ago and Second City recently opened a theater here in New York. I haven't been to it, but there's one in Brooklyn and they had a booth at Brooklyn Pride and there were some people there wearing these Second City shirts that had the Second City logo with rainbow. Like a rainbow Second City shirt, which I'd never seen such a thing. Like, when I was in Second City, it still wasn't. Again, it was the early 2000s. It was not. It was a little dicey to be gay. The fact that Second City would have pride, merch. And again, like, coming from Chicago, I still have a real affection for Second City. So I said, oh, my God, can I get one of those shirts? And they're like, they're not for sale. They're really just for the people working this booth. And I was like, I get it. I was like, I will pay you for it. I'm just. I'm alum. I just think it'd be so cool to have one of those shirts. And this woman goes, oh, were you, like. Did you, like, do comedy in Chicago or something? It's like, great. It just is always. But that's okay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then. And then you answer, no, I was in Detroit.

[Host 1]

Yeah. I was like, you heard of Mission?

[Sam Taggart]

I swear.

[Host 1]

But I think I was just like, look, it's always that he. But that person's not required to know anything about me. But it is like, no matter how many things I do, there's always going to be somebody who's like, but you're nobody. Right?

[Sam Taggart]

And you're like, okay, well, yeah, if we had a. A soundboard that we could put push. Little sound effects on. I want a Roddy Dangerfield I get no respect button. I want one so bad.

[Host 1]

No respect. I don't get no respect. And I want to be clear. Like, that person's not required to, like, give me anything. Any kind of.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, but they should know.

[Host 1]

No, no, but it was really funny. It was like, yeah, no matter how many of these benchmarks you set for yourself, there's no point where it's like, and then I've made it. And then I don't have to try.

[Sam Taggart]

It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host 1]

But, Sam, I think you should move. Having just met you moments ago, I think you should move. To what? The place that makes your heart feel good?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Maybe New York is my UVA after all. Because people there are actually cool. Okay, let's do our first segment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

Listen to your elders, honey. You might know them from their viral videos, but now the old gays pull back the curtain on their brand new podcast, Silver Linings with the Old Gays. Brought to you in partnership with iHeart's Ruby Studio and Veeve Healthcare. With over 300 years of experience between them, Hosts Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse serve four lifetimes of wisdom when it comes to love, sex, community and whatever else they've got on the gay agenda. Listen to these fabulous friends swap stories exploring how queer life has evolved over the decades and the silver linings they've collected along the way. Each episode dives into hot topics from safe sex and online dating to untangling Gen Z lingo, as well as insights on how music, art and fashion show up in queer culture. So check out Silver Linings, a show about how pride ages like fine wine. Available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jenny Hagel]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Sam Taggart]

Okay Jenny, our first segment is called Straight Shooters and in this segment we're going to ask you a series of rapid fire questions. It's basically this thing or this other thing and the only rule is you can't ask any follow up questions or we will get so, so upset with you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You really have to follow your heart.

[Host 1]

Okay?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. George, you want to kick us off?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. So I'm looking at my A Notebook. I'm not looking down at my phone. I promise. Okay. Gold star or cash bar?

[Sam Taggart]

Democratic socialism. Wow. Okay. Democratic socialism or operatic vocalism?

[Host 1]

Democratic socialism.

[Ryan Reynolds]

My cousin Vinnie or Papua New Guinea?

[Host 1]

Oh, my cousin Vinnie. It holds up.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Okay. A missed opportunity or a kiss from Brendon Urie.

[Host 1]

Oh, a kiss from Brendon Urie.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Voting absentee or turning 33?

[Host 1]

Turning 33. Can you imagine being so young?

[Sam Taggart]

Installing your AC or free falling towards the street?

[Host 1]

Free falling towards the street. I never want to install an ac.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Dancing on my own or financing a deadly drone?

[Host 1]

Dancing on my own.

[Sam Taggart]

Rock the vote or lost your tote?

[Host 1]

Rock the vote.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wow.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, let's see. We rank.

[Host 1]

I can carry a tote. I can't be bothered carrying totes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I do like the simplicity of Rock the Vote.

[Host 1]

Rock the Vote is revelation.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We need to bring back earnestly saying rock the vote.

[Sam Taggart]

There's something to it.

[Host 1]

We need to bring back MTV as a legitimate political force.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know the thing is, I'm always tempted to talk about youth culture, but the truth is, I'm so far removed from it that I'm sure everything I'm saying is stupid. I have the instinct to be like, why is there no MTV these days? There needs to be a sort of youth oriented media organization that's getting people pumped up and encouraging sort of young people to speak their minds. And of course, I'm sure there are things like that. It's just. They're not targeting me.

[Host 1]

Right, right. I think it's just like I was thinking. It's so funny. I worked at MTV for a few years before I worked at Late Night. And. And I think so people would always. When they hear. I got to hear a lot of people's opinions about mtv because when I said where I worked, people would, like, be like, why isn't mtv like, MTV doesn't play music videos and MTV is not relevant. Yeah. And I mean, that's fair. It had to pivot. You know, when you got to a point where you could hear any song you wanted and go online and see any music video you wanted, it had to pivot to something else. But I just. I just feel nostalgic for the time when like, like, Kurt Loder was a real newsman like you. If they broke real news on mtv, it was really an important cultural, like, you know, the real world talked about hiv. It was just such an interesting, cool time. And I feel like I wish there was something that, like, was for young people again, maybe this exists. And I hope somebody will tell me about it if it does. But something that is for young people, but assumes that young people are very smart isn't like a dumbed down or very like, isn't a dumbed down thing for young people. Like, it really, like, you had to kind of. MTV trusted that you were gonna want to get your news about Kurt Cobain's death from this middle aged man with a receding hairline and a blazer.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and the gay. The gay episodes of Next, Honey, they raised me. That was really my first time being like, wait, gay guys are real?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, no, totally. Next was like the. It was right in the middle of the transition from old MTV to new mtv. Like, it was like, it wasn't music videos and, you know, someone interviewing Courtney Love, but it also wasn't yet like Jersey Shore sort of. It was like half youth culture, half reality TV trash.

[Sam Taggart]

While we do rate our guests on a scale of 0 to 1000 doves.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think this was a really good performance.

[Sam Taggart]

I think this was an amazing performance.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think the fact that you started with changing your mind really established. Established a character. Like, I think there was something about, like the confidence of saying one thing, but then the greater confidence of changing your mind that actually really kind of pointed to the power of speaking your voice and rocking the vote.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. So with that, I'm gonna say 947 dubs.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I agree.

[Host 1]

God, thank you.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. I mean, this was maybe our first mind change in history and we've been doing this for a while now.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And I also think, you know, you changing your mind, like, emphasized how seriously you were taking it. Like, if you didn't care, you would just like, whatever, pick an answer and then move on. But it also made us feel better about ourselves. Cause we were like, okay, she's actually sitting down and listening.

[Host 1]

I literally had this feeling for a second, like, does that mean I can't go to open bars anymore? I panicked.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know I was. Because that's an interesting one. Gold star or open bar. Because I could see you being like, I gotta stick with my people. Like, gold star is such a classic sort of like lesbian term. But then you were like, no, I like drinking more than I like being a lesbian.

[Host 1]

I know you're gonna put them back to back. I think also gold star makes me nostalgic for the time when. And I know there still is like coded language and stuff in the queer community. There's so much more. I think with the Internet and social media, there's so much more access to our secret stuff that we lose it almost as soon as we create it. I feel like star makes me nostalgic for a time when we did have secrets and code words.

[Ryan Reynolds]

God. I completely agree with you, actually. And this is something I think. I think Sam and I talk about it all the time how, like, gay terms now are so democratized and some random girl will just be like, twink. Like, we'll just be like, yeah, I saw a twink on the street. I'm like, hold on, who are you people?

[Host 1]

Like, well, when I came out at work as a Democrat, and I'm like, totally. No.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Or people saying, like straight people saying. Using the terms topping and bottoming, which I think ultimately you should be allowed to do. I'm not, you know, gatekeeping them, but I'm like, hold on. We need to have a town hall.

[Host 1]

I will gatekeep partner, please, if you are not. Yes, please stop telling me about your partner. Because then I get excited. We're. You're a new friend or a new co worker, and you're like, well, my partner. And then I get excited that I found another gay in the wild.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. But then they're actually coming out as a Democrat.

[Host 1]

But then you send. Then your name is Melissa. And then you're like, my partner. My partner. And then you're like, but Brad and I would love to have you over for dinner. And I'm like, no, yeah, Brad's not your partner.

[Sam Taggart]

He's whatever.

[Host 1]

But he's something. Maybe you get a new term. Maybe straight.

[Sam Taggart]

Maybe you get a new term for.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, you can just call him your Brad. Maybe straight people just say you're my Brad for boy and my Melissa for girl.

[Host 1]

There you go. Brad is a guy you've been dating for a long time who will not commit to you. And actually, yes, correct, Melissa is the same thing.

[Sam Taggart]

This is my Brad. Should we get into the topic? Yes, Jenny, first of all, you came with a list of to die for topics.

[Ryan Reynolds]

They honestly kept getting better. I was like, I kept being like, that one. That one, that one.

[Sam Taggart]

I know we chose kind of willy nilly based on sort of what we were talking about, but all of them should be their own episode. So first, if you could just read them all and then tell us which one we're doing today.

[Host 1]

Okay, great. Thank you. This is my list of pitches for things in straight culture that I do not love. Bridal showers. Purses, wine charms. Candles as gifts. Praising a man for doing the least. Posting your children on social media. A dress that's just a long oxford shirt and Babysitting your kids. Your own kids.

[Sam Taggart]

Babysitting your own kids. I mean, what an amazing list. Wine charms in particular. I was like, there's so much happening here.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I was thinking of like posting your children on social media. I specifically am fascinated by the phenomenon of putting little emoji on your kids faces on social media because there's something. So first of all, just aesthetically I hate it. Like it's so, it looks so bad. Like why is there a little heart face in the middle of this like otherwise beautiful photograph? And then second of all, you're like, either do it or don't.

[Sam Taggart]

I am kind of like, okay, this is. I'm sure there's an answer. What's the point?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think the point is that they don't want. Well, okay, I think the point is that they don't want their children's likeness to be publicly available for like mass surveillance reasons, I assume. But then also to be a little more like grim about it, I also am sure that there's some sort of like fear about children being like some pervert being like turned on by your child.

[Host 1]

I'm sure there's all of that. I mean, look, I. You get into dicey territory whenever you're a parent and you're like, parents should or should not do that. So I'm gonna say already that I'm wading into dangerous waters. But I think that there is so much noise among parents around like safety and online safety for kids. And so I feel like why would, why all of that? And like how to keep your kids safe online, what age they should have a phone, what controls you should have on your computer and your TV and all that and your, your phone. And then why do all of that? And then be like, it's Jaden's first day of school. And post a picture of your actual child on your actual front steps with your actual address behind Jaden's head. Yes, he's in first, first day of first grade. So that a literal kidnapper can be like, okay, first grade. So he's about £80. So I'm gon need, I'll need the pickup and not the, not the, the four door sedan. Okay. Like yeah, it that, all of that makes. It's like. And your account has your last name and then you've said your kid's first name and like maybe I'm old fashioned but. And also, I don't know, man. Like I think I really feel like Jaden is going to be a grown up one day and is going to have all this stuff about them online, and we'll have had no control over what was put out in the world about them. And I don't look like Jaden's gonna try to go for a job interview or just even like a first date. Think about how to dig you deep before a first date or after a second date or whatever. And then you've got all of this stuff. And Jaden has no control over how they are presented in the world. I love that I really doubled down on the name Jaden.

[Sam Taggart]

No, I know Jaden is real. I can see him currently.

[Ryan Reynolds]

There's something about. There's something about the emoji on kids faces that feels very specifically millennial or elder millennial to me, because it is. Those parents both have the urge to post, but also grew up knowing the dangers of the Internet and they just can't decide. And it's like it is the result of two different views pulling at you. You're like, I need the likes because that's what gives me self worth. But I also know I was raised to. To fear just, like, putting information out.

[Host 1]

There that's really interesting. I had never thought of that being like, a visual representation of this, like, push, pull. But I think you're exactly right. And again, like, I don't mean to be a purist, and some people have very small online circles. Maybe I'm just extra nervous about it because I am on tv and every once in a while somebody recognizes me, and then I'm like, I don't know if I want that person to also know where I live and where my son is. And also, like, I'm queer. So I'm also like, some people have opinions about whether or not we should be allowed to own children. So I'm like, let me just stick.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And thank you for calling it owning, by the way.

[Host 1]

It's only very recent in recent human history that I wouldn't have been allowed to own my child. So.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

And then the topic we have decided to go with is the long oxford as a dress.

[Host 1]

Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

I would love for you to talk a little bit about what makes it straight to you.

[Host 1]

Okay. I think that it is very straight. It's so interesting because I think it has no flavor. There's no edge to it. You. It just. You just took a shirt and made it longer. Just a long shirt. I don't know how else. It's like. It's just. There's no. You took a shirt and just kept going. And I think it also. I think it's very I find it bland as an object, and I also feel like it favors the blandest bodies because I think, like, you really can't. If you are somebody who is curvy, that dress is not cut for you. So I think it. It just really celebrates blandness in a way that I don't enjoy. And it. It. It. I don't love a thing on a woman where it's like, I'm serious, but I'm not. I feel like either you're about your business or you're out to have a good time. It's what it is. It's the. You know what it is? It's the mullet of dresses. Business on top and party on the bottom. What are we? Yeah, are we?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's the compromise that pleases no one.

[Host 1]

That's it. That's it. You try to please everyone, you'll please no one. And that's what this garment has done.

[Sam Taggart]

I think it's a funny piece. I feel like it, like, you know, it takes the boyfriend shirt. The idea of, like, this is my boyfriend's shirt, and I just woke up, and this is all I can wear and makes it, like. And now I can wear it out. Like, it's like the boyfriend is implied even when you're wearing the shirt dress. It's like, I'm wearing this because I have a boyfriend.

[Host 1]

That's such a good point, because I think it's a very iconic image, too, in movies of, like, the woman spends the night for the first time, and then the next morning, you see her in the man's oxford shirt. And I think, I don't. Right. It's like, you can wear an oxford shirt. It's okay, lady. Live your best life. Go wear an oxford shirt. You don't have to. This is the girl version.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It really encapsulates as an object all the anxieties of, like, a progressive, straight woman. Like, it's like, it is. She is so confused about whether she wants to go full business casual or be, like, fun and flirty. She is alluding to the idea of a boyfriend, but while maintaining her own, like, female empowerment. She's like, she reads the cut like, she reads fashion journalism, but is not, like, you know, scrolling through Runway photos every day.

[Host 1]

It's.

[Ryan Reynolds]

She's just, like. It's this desperation of just, like, please just take me seriously, while also viewing me as kind of attractive. Like, it's just like, can't I just win?

[Sam Taggart]

Please?

[Host 1]

Yeah. I think it is so sexy. And again, I'm a lesbian, so, you know, I Have my own perspective. That's very gay. But I think it's, like, very cool and sexy when a woman wears traditional men's clothing and does it unapologetically. And I think that's what I don't like is this is an apologetic garment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes, it is.

[Host 1]

It's exactly right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's like. I mean, it's sort of similar to, like a skirt suit in that way. Like, there is something that's like I'm trying. Not that I'm against skirt suits, but it's like I'm trying to allude to a suit, a masculine, you know, symbol. But I'm still a woman.

[Host 1]

Yeah. And I think it's also. They're just always so plain. Every time I've seen one, it's either white or it's that oxford shirt, blue. So, like, you're not going to see one in a fun pattern. It's not. There's just not a lot of fun to be had there. And I just. Maybe that's a metaphor for being a straight woman. I think there's a lot of. It's all constraint, not a lot of fun.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And there's no whimsy, because here's my suggestion. Wear that shirt, dress, get this with a tie. That's fun.

[Sam Taggart]

Ooh.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Put a little tie on. Put like, get like an exaggerated.

[Sam Taggart]

It's kind of Fred Flintstone coated.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes. Like, or. Or, yes, very Fred Flintstone coated. Or get like an exaggerated 80s Wall street tie and have it be, like, draggy in that way.

[Host 1]

Or like Doc Martin boots or something. Yeah, right. But, yeah, it's. I think it's always like, with, like, the blandest sandal and, like a bland hobo bag. And I just. I want. Here's the thing. I sound like I'm being really judgmental. It's more. I want more for straight women. I want them to enjoy their clothes more. And I think this is. There's the least enjoyment is being had in this garment.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Host 1]

Nothing fun is happening. You put on a long oxford shirt dress there. Nothing fun is happening in your day.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Totally.

[Host 1]

No, you're. You're.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You're going. You're going to, like, a picnic park, birthday for, like, a really tertiary friend that you sort of don't even like, that you, like, went to college with, and now you happen to both have kids that are the same age. So you reconnected and you had one awkward coffee date and her husband is honestly, like, kind of creepy, but you sort of, like, put up with it and you get there and all the Kids are being annoying, and suddenly you're getting a text from your mom because your dad's condition is getting worse and you have to get home because the service is bad in the middle of Central Park. And also, you can't even use Google Maps to get from the street to where the pin has dropped in Central park because it gets all, like, confused. Your phone gets all confused, and suddenly it's 4pm and guess what? It's the hottest day of the year, and you don't even want to be there. And you thought that the fabric would be breathable, but actually, an Oxford fabric is not made for the summer.

[Sam Taggart]

It's not.

[Host 1]

Or you're wearing it in, like, the bleachers at a. A Little League game, but, like, your kids on a travel team, and it's like, the seventh game of the weekend. Wow.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow. These images.

[Host 1]

That's. I just. This garment is not made for fun. And I want.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, it's not.

[Host 1]

I want. I think there is such a reverence in queer women's clothing right now. There's, like, a really lovely lesbian style moment happening. Like, there was even, like, a New York Times article that was about how, like, lesbians are at the forefront of fashion, which truly goes against all stereotypes. And I just feel like I. I want that for straight women. I want that same kind of irreverence and fun and disregard for rules of, like, what you're supposed to wear to this or that event. And I just. That's. That's my dream for them.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. And we were talking a little bit about this before we were recording, but the. The reverence for lesbian fashion and the rise of Birkenstocks in straight culture. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

[Host 1]

Well, I mean, I think it's so funny, right? I think, like, I don't want to begrudge anybody wearing anything. That being said, this being a safe space of just the three of us and then your millions of listeners, I feel like Birkenstocks especially, I have such a, like, little, like, what do you call it? A bee in your bonnet?

[Sam Taggart]

Sure, sure.

[Host 1]

Thorn in your side, a hook in your craw. Are these expressions in English? But I think that it bugs me so much because it was like, Birken were such a lesbian punchline for so long, and then all of a sudden, the straight people woke up out of nowhere one day and were like, we like them. They're cool. And I was like, wait a second. What? Yeah, so that. That drives me a little bonkers. If they liked them on their Own. Fine. But I was like. But after at least two decades of making fun of us for wearing them.

[Ryan Reynolds]

All right, I think that Birken, I. I think Birkenstocks, wide legged pants, I think lesbians were very early to that trend. I mean, obviously, like, guess what? Shirts buttoned up all the way. Like, that's a classic. Like your cousin, like your lesbian cousin at the wedding is going to go ahead and. And wear a shirt buttoned all the way.

[Host 1]

Also beanies. Any time of year.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Beanies.

[Host 1]

That has truly been stolen from my people, Brooklyn. So I also am getting, like, I'm probably at the epicenter of the bleed over from lesbian culture. Like, there's so much of, like the thin, ironic vintage T shirt and the, you know, like, there's a lot of, like, it's just a. There's a lot of coveralls happening among straight women right now in Brooklyn. And it does feel like. Yeah, it's just, it's. It's where it's such a funny intersection. Right. To be, like, made fun of for fashion, but then also to see it co opted.

[Sam Taggart]

I even feel like gay guys are ripping lesbian fashion completely. Current workwear trend, like the long jean shorts with like a white tank top is so classy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm seeing bandanas. I'm seeing bandanas out there in a way that feels very Lilith Faire.

[Host 1]

Oh, interesting, Interesting.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Even bandanas, both on one's head and also around one's neck. Also, I think we've been saying ties are kind of coming back.

[Sam Taggart]

Like, yeah, ties are back.

[Ryan Reynolds]

There was a moment when ties were so tragically uncool, and it was even cool to just like, even at a super formal event, go with like an unbuttoned shirt. And I'm seeing ties more and more now. People are buying vintage ties. I think Blundstones, I mean, Blundstones at this point are like on their way out anyway. But the first people I ever saw wearing Blundstones were queer women. And then that became like, the official uniform of Brooklyn moms and dads everywhere.

[Host 1]

Yes. Anytime you have an intersection of comfort and utility, lesbians are there. Well, those are our cornerstones.

[Sam Taggart]

But this is what's tough about the Blundstone. George, I respect and agree with you that the Blundstone has been like, so trendy for so long and it can't last. But it's like such a practical shoe. And, you know, New York is in need of a practical shoe. It's really hard to give it up.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Totally. Well, guess what? You know what's on the rise now. And I've, I think I was on the forefront of this, of this. Merrells are hugely on the rise. I'm talking mainstream, which is so funny.

[Host 1]

Because that's like, again, that's like such a Christopher Columbus moment where it's like lesbians had marrow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's what I'm saying.

[Host 1]

90S, like, yes. And I'm like, that's again, we're doing that again.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, Meryls is literally like a joke that would be on Will and Grace. Will and Grace, famously a very lesbian, lesbian phobic show. They had one literally. Rosie o' Donnell plays a character and she's just the punchline of every single joke. But it's. It would be very classic for her to be like wearing Merrells and for Jack to make fun of her for it.

[Host 1]

Sure. There was a store. I lived in a lesbian neighborhood in Chicago and there was a store. It was a shoe store. And it wasn't officially a lesbian shoe store, but it was like in the heart of Chicago's lesbian neighborhood. And when I tell you they only sold three things. Merrell's, Clarks and Dansko's. I feel like jokes aside about lesbian style and gay men style, the thing that does make me a little crazy about all of it getting co opted so fast is that it also grew out of a need to be able to identify each other. And I will say that when straight people look like queer people, then you just don't know. There's no way for us to privately signal to each other, hey, I'm one of you. Hey, you are safe with me. And like, I'm not saying this, I don't mean to like bring the room down, but I do, I also miss this. That of these like little tiny things that we knew to look for or listen for, that that could help us identify each other to each other if we wanted to. And I feel like anything that gets made gets bleeds into straight culture so fast that we can't keep a hold of any.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I mean that is the nature of something being co opted means that it is decontextualized. And so then literally the context is removed. Like the entire point of a specific trend or a specific visual signifier is that it exists within like a lexicon that a certain in group knows. And once you take that out and it's just like, oh, sure, I can combine a brooch with Birkenstocks with a straw hat. Okay, so what are you just even.

[Host 1]

Like the tiniest things, like, you know, in the 80s that. That men had. Would wear an earring on a certain side.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Exactly.

[Host 1]

You know, just like the tiniest little or like, words lingo that you would float into a conversation that would go over a straight co worker's head, but a queer coworker could be across the room and hear it and go, oh, okay, now I know the new employee is also gay.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

I. I'm. I had this realization recently because I was like, I have an earring. I have a mustache. Like, both kind of gay coded things. And when. When done the right way. And then I was like, wait a minute. I look exactly like Benson Boone. Like, I was like, oh, no, what happened?

[Host 1]

But honestly, like, there are 27 different things about Benson Boone that would have been gay 10 years ago. Gymnastics is, like, not even.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Doesn't even crack top line completely. This is actually what drives me insane. I have nothing against them personally, but the Benson Boone image is more than anything I've seen recently, just a combination of signifier. Like irresponsible signifiers. Just like, they'll throw anything at him. They'll be like, sure, have a mustache. Have this hair. Also, you're Mormon. Also, you can do flips. Like, yes, we can see the clear outline of your at all times. But it's not sexual. It's for kids. Like, it feels like.

[Host 1]

It feels like a. Like a PR person or a. Or a manager, A stylist took a bunch of things and put them on the side of dice. Exactly. And then went like this. And then you just are like, okay.

[Sam Taggart]

He never has any reason to wear that damn outfit. Like, the music does not call for that outfit ever.

[Host 1]

Flips or the flips or the flip. It's not flipping music.

[Sam Taggart]

It's not flipping music, folks. Teach Charli XCX how to do a flip. That's flipping music.

[Host 1]

Right? I'm there for that. Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I would love it if Charli XCX learned how to do a flip before she learned how to sing or dance. No offense.

[Sam Taggart]

She's like, I'm gonna learn how to flip. Oh, that would be awesome.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow. Well, I mean.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Jenny, any final thoughts on Oxford shirts as dresses or frankly, fashion writ large?

[Host 1]

The last person who should be answering this question. Here's what I think. I think wear what feels good to you. Right? Wear what really feels like you. I think that's really the rule of fashion. I feel like New York taught me that. I think New York is full of people who are making choices, and I really love that about New York. It took me A minute. Somebody. When I first moved here, somebody was telling me that because they knew somebody who was worried about what to wear on the first day of a job, they were coming from another city. And I remember she said this really great thing. She goes, here's the thing about New York. You're always dressed correctly if you look like you made a choice. So, like, if you show up to that job, a T shirt and jeans can be right or wrong. She goes, if it's like an oversized T shirt you got for free at a 5k and like, some loose dad jeans and then a pair of sneakers that are like your old running shoes, that's wrong. That looks like you just fell into that. That. If it's like a stylish T shirt that has the name of some cool band on it and well fitted jeans and cool sneakers that are well taken care of, like, then that's an outfit. And I think in New York, if you look like you made a choice that feels good to you, you are always well dressed. And I think that that is a. There's a lot of things that New York will take from you. But that is a thing that New York has given me, and I really like that. I worry so much less about if I'm dressed right when I live here. And I just worry about, do I dress like, am I dressed like I feel great?

[Sam Taggart]

That is such a great point. When we were just in town, back in town, and my husband was putting on. It's my first time saying it publicly. He put on, like, sort of socks that, like, they were almost like hiking socks. Like, they didn't go with. It was like, hot out, and it didn't make any sense. And he was like, these are the only socks I have. Can I wear these? And I was like, like, like, I was like, absolutely. It's New York. Like, I was like, in. In la, people dress badly because they don't know. In New York, people are dressing badly because it's a stylistic choice and they're trying to make it point.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

And I was like, this is great.

[Host 1]

No one looks at you. At one point, when I was pregnant, I was eight months pregnant and I was on my way to a job, and we'd all decided at that job we were gonna dress up for Halloween. And I bought an outfit that was supposed to be for, like, a young, sexy woman that was a bee, like a bumblebee. And so I bought this thing. It was like spandex, white and black striped, and it was supposed to be, like, a sexy dress. But I was eight months pregnant, so barely. Basically, it was like a spandex shirt. And then I wore, like, black leggings and, like, antennae and wings. And then I got on the subway, and I remember being like, well, this is gonna be awkward on the subway, but it'll be fine when I get to work. No one even looked at me on the subway. And I love that about New York. People were just like, yeah, man, that's. This is her day to dress like a bee. And first of all, they probably didn't notice me, but if they did, they were like, yeah, that lady's doing her bee outfit.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. No, it's. It's heaven on earth. I gotta come back.

[Host 1]

That's what I want for straight women. I want straight women to wake up in the morning and be like, today's the day I dress like a bee. Throw your Oxford shirt. Dress in the trash. Dress like a bee. Do you?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Never has this been more apparent than when Sam and I were in Chicago and I found out that there is a, like, Ralph Lauren restaurant in Chicago that is, you know, affiliated with, like, Polo Bar in New York. So I've been to Polo Bar in New York once. It's like, someone I knew had to call in a favor because it's impossible to get a recommendation to get a reservation. And of course, everyone is, like, dressed so quirky. So quirky. And it's a mix of, like, gay men with their three girlfriends and then one straight woman with her three gay male friends. Like, it is very, like, everyone. You know, it ranges from, like, someone turning a full look to what you're saying where they're wearing a T shirt but it looks correct. Whatever. In Chicago, it was the exact same restaurant, like, the same food, same decor, but everyone was just dressed Midwestern.

[Host 1]

Yes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And I was like, damn it. This is actually altering my experience.

[Host 1]

So here's another great thing that I heard about Chicago versus New York versus whatever. Somebody told me one time, they were like, every city has its money, right? And they were like, in Boston, because of all the universities and Harvard and all that and mit, they're like, in Boston, intelligence is money. In New York, money is money, right? In, like, in la, fame is money.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Fame is money. Yes.

[Host 1]

And I think in Chicago, authenticity is money. Chicago. I dressed to go to a bar in Chicago the way I dress to in New York, and I'm not even, like, the fanciest dresser, but if I put on, like, leather pants and a. Whatever. Whatever to go, people be like, oh, okay, fancy pants. What the. Do you think you are. Like, there is no pretension in Chicago. And I really like that because I think it is like, like, the more authentic you are, the more people with you, the more people know they can respect you and trust you. And then the, like, the farther you get. I think, I think authenticity is the money of Chicago. That. And. And polish sausages.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

God, I love Chicago.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This is very interesting. I'm like, what is the. What is the money of San Francisco? It's like.

[Host 1]

I don't know, I mean.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It'S like text micro. It's like. Yeah, maybe influence.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Seed money.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Also.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I feel like the. In London, it's like internationalness. It's like, how international are you? Like, you have to have grown up in three different countries.

[Host 1]

Right. I'm sure. Like, I would love to know what is the money of Maine, Right? But lobsters, I don't know.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, I do think it's lobsters, but.

[Host 1]

I think that's my. That's my thing about fashion is I. I think you wake up, you make a choice, a strong choice about who you are and what feels good to you, and you are set.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Here's to it. And ladies, if you're listening, if you're gonna wear that shirt, dress, do something. Make a different bold choice, you know, it doesn't have to be a tie. Wear a fedora, you know, you know what? Wear leg warmers with it. Like, make some crazy choice.

[Sam Taggart]

My mom, which I've always liked this choice, she wears it as like a cover up to go to the beach. And I think that's a fun move.

[Host 1]

I'm into that. Very fun.

[Sam Taggart]

Listen to your elders, honey. You might know them from their viral videos, but now the old gays pull back the curtain on their brand new podcast, Silver Linings with the Old Gays. Brought to you in partnership with iHeart's Ruby Studio and Veeve Healthcare. With over 300 years of experience between them, hosts Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse serve four lifetimes of wisdom when it comes to love, sex, community, and whatever else they've got on the gay agenda. Listen to these fabulous friends swap stories exploring how queer life has evolved over the decades and the silver linings they've collected along the way. Each episode dives into hot topics, from safe sex and online dating to untangling Gen Z lingo, as well as insights on how music, art and fashion show up in queer culture. So check out Silver Linings, a show about how pride ages like fine wine. Available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jenny Hagel]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Sam Taggart]

Okay, so now we should do our final segment.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Which is shout outs. We pay homage to the grand strait tradition of the radio. Shout out. And shout out anything that we are enjoying. People, places, things, ideas.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And we think of them on the spot. Yeah, they're always has to be, you know, authentic not to be so Chicago. Sam, do you have one round robin?

[Host 1]

We go around robin.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, we'll go first. We'll go first. And then, and then, and then you'll go. Sam, do you have one? Um.

[Sam Taggart]

You go first. Can you go first?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, I can go first. Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Can't tell which direction I want to go in.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay. All right. What's up, New Yorkers? Bodega frequenters everywhere. I want to give a shout out to Haagen Dazs Butter pecan. I recently rediscovered butter pecan for the first time in probably over a decade. And I made the realization that what you associate with butter pecan is like a window into your personality, your upbringing, and like your own cultural References. So one time someone told me that it was Carrie Bradshaw's favorite ice cream. I actually googled it and cannot find any proof of that. I think it might be completely wrong. That's what I associate with it. So depending on where you grew up, you're either a pro butter pecan or an anti butter pecan person. I also think, even gender wise, there's some complications there because I think it seems very feminine. Butter pecan. But there's also something like robust about it. Like you're not being, like, baggy and getting like, you know, a sort of chocolate swirl. So I'm like, butter pecan. You know, it's kind of the white T shirt of ice cream in that. You can make of it what you want. And it's also both sophisticated and of the people because it's sort of available everywhere. But it, like, it sort of points to a higher sophistication. So I guess what I'm saying is. And also, frankly, it's delicious and kind of goes with everything you can pair with any other kind of scoop. So get out there and get yourself some Haagen Dazs butter pecan.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay. I don't think I've talked about this one yet. And if I have, I'm gonna jump off a cliff, quite frankly. What's up, freaks, losers, and perverts around the globe? I want to give a huge shout out to the Paul Rubin's documentary Pee Wee as himself. I watched this the other night, and it was so damn touching and so interesting. And it's always so fun to see someone who is like, you know, you're so familiar with you, you think, you know, and then you see how it all played out and you're like, oh, damn, I had no idea. Like, of course he comes from, like, a weirdo visual art background. Like, he. There's so much in. In Peewee and in that world, that was so smart and I was so touched by all of it. And it's just crazy to watch, I don't know, like, how just genuinely homophobic the world was and how it sort of ruined him at multiple points. And it's so sad and heartbreaking that he wasn't allowed to just be a gay guy out in the world because he would have been an amazing gay guy out in the world. So shout out to the Paul Rubens documentary. I highly recommend you all watch it and shout out to Pee Wee. You're incredible. Xoxo.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Have I told you that I know the guy who made it? Matt Wolfe?

[Host 1]

No, that documentary was Outstanding.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It was so incredible. It's actually funny. I don't think I've said this on the podcast, but for whatever reason, we have a mutual friend, a very good mutual friend. And so she has these Shabbat dinners, and I'm. And that's the only place I see him. And I always make small talk with him. He's very nice, but I just had no idea he was this incredibly successful and incredibly talented and respected filmmaker. I guess I just hadn't asked. And so this thing happened where this series came out that is one of the best documentary of any kind that I've seen. And I realized that this person that I've been making, you know, sort of like conventional small talk with now for three years, I could have the entire time been, like, asking him about what it was like to be the last person to talk to Paul Rubens.

[Sam Taggart]

I mean, that is so wild. That is wild.

[Host 1]

I love Paul Rubens and Phoebe Herman so much. When his show was on Broadway, I had just moved to New York and I bought a, like, third row ticket and went by myself.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Host 1]

I love his work. I think his work is so fascinating and so just smart and interesting and. Yeah, what a talent. And that really was. It was a brilliant but really sad documentary.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, it was. It was. Phew. Okay, Jenny, whenever you are ready, bring it home.

[Host 1]

All right, you guys. What's up, cool kids who went to UVA and nerds who went to William. Mary, today I would like to give a shout out to Weird Al. I recently had reason to revisit his body of work, and I have to say, I always enjoyed him. When I was younger, I had not realized how smart some of his work is. I did a lot of watching original music videos that he parodied and then watching his parody right afterwards. This man was doing a shot for shot remake of the Beat it video. This man had incredible references. Like a surgeon holds up in the Like a Virgin video. We have Madonna rising on a gondola on the canals of Venice. And then you've got Weird Al on a gurney that's moving down a hallway in a hospital, and he's writhing at the end of it. Like, it's so interesting. Like, these really interesting visual bits that just don't even. They're not even part of the song. And also, I think he is such a lovely, inspiring tale of, like, really being yourself, because there's a million people out there doing, like, pop music or some other kind of more marketable music. And this man was like, I want to do Parody songs while I have. While I play the accordion. And I'm sure a thousand people were like, do not do that. No one wants that. And it turns out people always want what you have to give. If it's coming from, like, the center of your heart, you can tell what a great time he's having doing these things. And I just love so much that this makes and was like, this is what's inside of me. I'm giving it to the world. And it is a delight.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Host 1]

Wow.

[Sam Taggart]

I am no weird. Al raised me. I loved. I mean, the song Albuquerque. I would revisit, like, over and over and over and over.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I also just love the commitment to comedy, to just being like, this is word play. Like, I am. The point of what I'm doing is to get people to laugh. I'm not like, trying to make some grand political statement. Like, it's. It's almost like going back to the basics and like going to art school and doing figure drawing.

[Host 1]

That's a great way to put it. It's like, this is just fun. Why are you doing this? Because it's funny. There is a shot in the Beat it video, a thing I also had not seen in, like, decades, but where right before, the song hasn't even started yet. And the gang members are all kind of assembling. And one guy is sitting at a bar and he sees that the gang members are assembling. So he gets up and he's sitting next to this woman and he kind of grabs her by the back of the hair, pulls her hair back, kisses her, and then walks out. And then in the Eat it video, a guy dressed just like him is sitting at a bar sitting next to this woman. And then it immediately, of course, turns to like a bad dummy, grabs the back of this mannequin's head, it pops off, he kisses it, and then tosses the head to the bar and walks out. And like, that is a two second bit. It's not even part of the song. You do not have to do that. And I laugh so hard, like you said, at the commitment. The. Nothing's funnier to me than a lot of commitment to a tiny thing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

You know, they had meetings about the mannequin and how to get it to pop off fast. Like, the amount of commitment for something that was happening before the song even started for no reason other than it's silly. What a delight.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And honestly, I think that relates to your suspicion of shirt dresses because there's a lack of commitment there.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

All comes back to the shirt dress. There's no fun, there's no playfulness, there's no commitment. Everything that's missing in a shirt dress, everything you're not getting from a shirt dress, you're going to get in a Weird Al video.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And there we have it.

[Sam Taggart]

That's. I mean, yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Thanks to everyone. Yes, thank you so much, first of all, but tell everyone, you know, where they could find you, what's going on, where they can.

[Host 1]

Where.

[Ryan Reynolds]

How they can financially support you in these trying times.

[Host 1]

I mean, first and foremost, obviously put money into my son's college fund, of.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Course, and we'll include a link.

[Host 1]

But not his face. It'll be like, no, I am. I've been doing live show, a monthly live show for a while now called Jenny Hagel Gives Advice. It's a really fun show. I do. I always have a different comedy guest every month. But basically what happens is when audience members come in, they get a couple index cards and a pen and they can write down questions they want advice on. They put them into buckets that are at the front of the stage, and then me and a guest pull the questions out at random and give them advice. And then at the end of every show, a real therapist comes on stage and tells us if we did a good job or not. Wow, it is so fun. The therapists are always very honest. They are not comedians. They are real human therapists. They're so fun. And I'm doing that show this July, Saturday, the July 26, at Joe's Pub in Manhattan. And if you felt like joining, it'd be really fun. They actually end up being these really fun shows because people are very honest and vulnerable with their questions. I think something about not having to say it out loud. You write it anonymously on a card. People really will open up and ask really lovely questions. And it kind of every evening has a kind of a lovely community vibe to it. It.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I love that.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, that sounds amazing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Let's get Orna in there.

[Sam Taggart]

Let's get Orna, folks. We got to get her.

[Host 1]

Yeah. Please come and check it out, you guys, this was such a delight. Thank you for having me.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This was so much fun. Thank you so much for doing it. Yeah, we're both huge fans and this was really lovely.

[Host 1]

Oh, likewise. Thank you.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, then. All right, Bye.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Bye.

[Host 1]

Bye.

[Sam Taggart]

Podcast ends now.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Want more? Subscribe to our Patreon for two extra episodes a month. Discord Access and more by heading to patreon.com Stradiolab and for all our visual.

[Sam Taggart]

Learners, free full length video episodes are available on our YouTube.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Now get back to work.

[Sam Taggart]

Stradia Lab is a Production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network and iHeart.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Podcasts, created and hosted by George Severis.

[Sam Taggart]

And Sam Taggart executive produced by Will Ferrell Hansani and Olivia Aguilar co produced by Bay Wang Edited and engineered by.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Adam Avalos Artwork by Michael Fails and.

[Sam Taggart]

Matt Grubb Theme music by Ben Kling Honestly, Honestly, Honestly, no one wants to.

[Host 1]

Think about hiv, but there are things that everyone can do to help prevent it. Things like prep. Prep stands for Pre Exposure Prophylaxis, and it means routinely taking prescription medicine before you're exposed to HIV to help reduce your chances of getting it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Prep can be about 99% effective when taken as prescribed.

[Host 1]

It doesn't protect against other STIs, though, so be sure to use condoms and other healthy sex practices. Ask a healthcare provider about all your prevention Options and visit findoutaboutprep.com to learn more.

[Jenny Hagel]

Sponsored by Gilead Sonesta Travel Pass is the most rewarding way to travel. Sign [e-mail] for instant savings, bonus points and perks like early check in and late checkout, room upgrades and free stays. Choose from 1100 hotels across 13 brands and unlock their best rates when you book with Sonesta. TravelPass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join [e-mail] that's sinesta.com terms and conditions apply.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Nourishes like a smoothie and sizzles like a Smash burger. Easy to pick up and hard to put down. Made from plants and grills like beef. See, it's not or it's. And and that's what I love about impossible.

[Sam Taggart]

Just this weekend, a couple impossible burgers. Put them on the grill.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Boom.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Felt like I was having a cheat.

[Sam Taggart]

Meal without the feeling of the guilt of a cheat meal. It's not just burgers. They got hot dogs, chicken. Everything you need for your summer menu.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Look for the impossible red packaging at.

[Sam Taggart]

Your local grocery store today.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's me, Earhart.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Mind if I pick the next song? Listen, even though we're eating better, people who've had one heart attack are at higher risk of another. But Repatha Evolocumab plus a statin lowers.

[Ryan Seacrest]

LDL C, our bad cholesterol, and our heart attack risk.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So let's talk to our doctor about Repatha.

[Jenny Hagel]

Do not take Repatha if you're allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Get medical help right away. If you have trouble breathing or swallowing swelling of the face, lips, tongue, throat or arms. Common side effects include runny nose, sore throat common cold symptoms, flu or flulike symptoms back pain, high blood sugar and redness pain or bruising at the injection site. View the important safety information in our banner. Listen to your heart. Ask your doctor about Repatha.

[Host 1]

This is an iheart podcast.