StraightioLab – "Deodorant" w/ Julio Torres

Podcast Overview & Episode Theme

In this episode of StraightioLab (released September 30, 2025), hosts George Civeris and Sam Taggart are joined by comedian, writer, and performer Julio Torres. The trio explores the straight-coded world of deodorant—its cultural relevance, gendered marketing, and underlying ideas about respectability, shame, and community. Along the way, they riff on physical appearance, performance, authenticity, and why some body odors spark more debate than others.

The conversation, as always, is improvisational, cerebral, and very funny, with the panel frequently spiraling into tangents about social norms, creative freedom, and what it means to “fit in.” The episode is packed with quick-witted banter, gentle mutual roasting, and musings on both the micro-politics of scent and the macro-politics of artistic validation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Managing Appearance: Glasses, Hair, and Identity

• Physical Markers As Armor
  The discussion opens with George sharing his anxieties about "screen time eyes" (03:01), revealing how our appearance can unintentionally signal things about our lives:

  • "It's not that someone is dead behind the eyes. It's that there's a sort of dimness. It's like they have put down the blinds halfway." —George (03:58)

• Glasses as a Safety Blanket
  Julio and George probe the psychology of wearing glasses and dyed hair as identity shields vs. self-expression tools:

  • Julio posits that George's glasses act as a “safety blanket” and hide his vulnerability (06:47), while dyed hair is described as "turning the volume up" on identity, versus glasses which “turn the volume down” (09:07–09:10).
  • “Glasses are also—do you know what they do? They add quotes around everything you’re saying. Glasses are quotes of the face.” —George (09:10)

• Authenticity and Transformation
  They wrestle with whether removing such identity markers could reveal more authentic sides or simply make a person uncomfortable.

2. Clothing, Color, and Costume Anxiety

• Tree Trauma and Disneybounding
  George shares his fear of wearing brown pants with a green shirt and looking “like a tree” (11:47), leading to a discussion of color connotations and trauma:

  • “Whenever you’re wearing colors that are too evocative of something…people don’t like wearing blue and purple because it’s like, Barney…” —Julio (12:47)

• Cultural Signifiers as Costume
  The conversation evolves into Disneybounding—dressing in the color schemes of Disney characters to evoke, but not imitate, them—which becomes a metaphor for signifying subcultural belonging without explicit declaration (13:35–14:00).

3. Theater, Comedy, and Criticism: Who Gets Reviewed?

• Performance Spaces and Artistic Categorization
  Julio unpacks the blurry lines between theater and comedy, noting that classification affects who reviews the show and what audience it draws (20:04–24:33).

• Criticism’s Place in Modern Culture
  The group agrees that “criticism is dying,” except perhaps in theater, and riff on why reviews are less formalized for podcasts and other new media (25:00–27:13):

  • "I would say, you know, criticism is dying in all forms." —Sam (25:28)
  • The role of geography—with theater being inherently local—explains some of its durability as a domain for critics (25:52–26:39).

• The Iconic NYU Trumpet Clip
  Julio references a viral, pre-influencer-era video of a man screaming at a trumpet player, weaponizing his degrees to declare the musician “not an artist.” Julio contrasts the actual creation (no matter its quality) with credential-based gatekeeping:

  • “The trumpet player…is actually doing the thing that he wants to do. Meanwhile, this man is just hoarding…degree[s] which have given him little other than resentment…'" —Julio (30:53)

4. Frayed Edges and Artistic Process

• Formalities vs. Experimentation
  Julio embraces “frayed edges” in art—favoring original messiness over derivative safety:

  • “If you’re showing me two dresses, one…exquisitely made, but I’ve seen it before, and the other…falling apart but is a new idea, I’ll go for the new idea.” —Julio (34:52)

• Nonlinear Performance and Comfort
  The process of performing with notes on stage, missing cues, and allowing the show to morph each night is celebrated as freedom over rigidity (36:19–37:27).

• Musing on Merch
  They joke about show catchphrases as T-shirt slogans—another instance of comedic improvisation becoming a meta-commentary on performative branding (39:19).

5. Deodorant: The “Straight Culture” Deep Dive

• Deodorant’s Role as a Social Armor
  Julio introduces deodorant as the week’s straight-coded subject, connecting it to bodily shame and the policing (and sanitizing) of natural scent for respectability (64:17–67:17):

  • “The shame of the body…the sanitization of the body. The trying to disguise the body into a vessel that is merely a brick in society." —Julio (67:17)

• Stinkiness, Workplaces, and Groupthink
  Sam admits his “non-deodorant” era ended with more conventional office work, fearing being gossiped about. The group discusses how wearing deodorant in certain environments is akin to hiding in “navy blue”—becoming invisible to avoid criticism (70:37–72:01).

• Community vs. Authenticity
  George argues that wearing deodorant is akin to not littering—a pro-social gesture—while Julio likens it to enforcing conformity, similar to requiring women to shave (73:08–74:54). The discussion ultimately lands on the idea that discomfort with natural scent is more about social rules and power dynamics (76:12–76:53).

  • “The goal was never to stink. The goal was freedom.” —Julio (79:40)

• Gay Culture & The Non-Deodorant Villain
  The non-deodorant gay guy, especially in places like Brooklyn, is discussed as a social meme—critiqued not for literal body odor but as a proxy for class, personality, or work culture (76:12–77:46).

6. Wider Social Commentary & Memorable Tangents

• Instagram for Its Intended Use vs. Gay Self-Branding

  • “Using Instagram as it was designed to be used—not subverting the form in any way. Just being like, ‘Today was Sunday and I went to the park.’” —Julio (85:35)
  • In contrast, gay men are depicted as always “pushing product,” even if the product is simply self-image (86:21–86:26).

• Creative Community as “Ticket-Based Economy”

  • Gay creatives worry about ticket sales, even when playing fictional paleontologists: "To be a good member of the LGBTQ community, you have to always be buying tickets." (90:11)

• Recurring T-Shirt Ideas / Capsule Collection

  • Running gags become potential merch: “The goal was never to stink. The goal was freedom.” “The goo inside the thing is messy.” “I did not consent to therapy.” (79:40, 62:57, 53:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Authenticity and Armor

  • “I do think potentially I’m. I’m. I hide behind the identity of glasses.” —George (06:52)
  • “You give it a try…you unlocked a part of your beauty right now.” —Julio (05:30)

• On Social Conformity Through Scent

  • “The shame of the body…the sanitization of the body…the trying to disguise the body…” —Julio (67:17)
  • “Well, okay. I was always a little—” “I don’t wear deodorant.” (66:30)

• On Critique and Artistic Status

  • “Criticism is dead—as dead as that man under the tent in LAX.” —George (25:32)
  • “An artist respects the silence that serves as the foundation of creativity.” —Julio, quoting the viral video (29:15)

• On Gendered Deodorant Marketing

  • “The lady ones are literally like flower, virginity, clean linen. And then the male ones are truly, like, murder, artillery, Wolverine, Deadpool.” —George (67:57)

• On Navigating Social Tension

  • “Is the soup salty? Don’t do therapy at me.” —Sam (52:49)

• "The goal was never to stink. The goal was freedom." —Julio (79:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Riff on Appearance / Glasses / Hair: 03:00–09:30
• Costume Anxiety & Disneybounding: 11:47–14:00
• Performance & Criticism, Trumpet Video: 20:04–31:40
• Frayed Edges and Notes on Artistic Freedom: 34:31–38:02
• First "Straight Shooters" segment (Rapid Fire Qs): 45:34–52:03
• Deodorant as Straight Culture: 64:17–81:19 (main segment)
• Meta-Discussion: Scent, Class, and Power: 76:12–77:59
• Social Media, Gay vs. Straight Performance: 85:18–88:56
• Final Shout-Out Segment: 90:44–95:56
• Sign-Off / Credits: 96:18-end

Recap: For the Uninitiated

If you missed this StraightioLab episode, imagine a free-wheeling, hyper-intellectual salon on the invisible scripts of modern life. George, Sam, and Julio ping-pong from personal stories about glasses and deodorant to larger concerns about how we self-police, perform, and market ourselves. The ostensible topic—deodorant—is revealed not just as a toiletry, but as a totem of straight-coded social anxiety, respectability, and the dubious goal of ever truly “fitting in.” Ultimately, they argue it’s less about stink or scent and more about the right not to be policed—for anyone’s sake.

Capsule T-Shirt Collection (In-Jokes)

• “The goal was never to stink. The goal was freedom.”
• “I did not consent to therapy.”
• “The goo inside the thing is messy.”
• “Behind Bebo, there is only his shadow.”

Episode Tone

Smart, absurd, self-referential, and deeply funny—mixing psychological insight with observational comedy. Each laugh is paired with a surprising, sometimes poignant philosophical aside.

In sum:
"Deodorant" is the entry point, but conformity, authenticity, artistic courage, and the micro-politics of smell are the real subjects. The trio’s conversational style means the analysis is both hilarious and—intentionally—a little all over the place. If you want offbeat cultural criticism, meta-comedy, and the best possible answer to “what’s straight about deodorant?” this episode delivers.

Original language and banter preserved throughout. Advertisements and non-content sections omitted.