"Phish" w/ Josh Sharp

Summary

Podcast Summary: StraightioLab – "Phish" with Josh Sharp

Episode Information

• Title: Phish
• Host/Authors: Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts
• Hosts: George Severus and Sam Taggart
• Guest: Josh Sharp
• Release Date: May 13, 2025

Introduction The episode kicks off with hosts George Severus and Sam Taggart welcoming their guest, Josh Sharp, to discuss the iconic band Phish. Recorded live from Times Square, New York City, the hosts set an energetic and humorous tone, immediately diving into the dynamics of their discussion.

Main Discussion: Understanding Phish Josh Sharp initiates the conversation by sharing his emotional connection to Phish, referencing a poignant New Yorker article that moved him to tears ([32:31] Josh Sharp: "I found myself crying at it"). This sets the stage for a deep dive into the band's influence and cultural significance.

Phish vs. The Grateful Dead: Musical and Cultural Parallels A significant portion of the discussion draws parallels between Phish and the Grateful Dead, highlighting their similar improvisational styles and dedicated fanbases. Josh explains, “[43:10] Josh Sharp: 'Phish top Bonnaroo, and then now we have Coachella.'” The hosts explore how both bands foster unique festival cultures that emphasize community and musical exploration.

Phish’s Unique Cultural Space George and Sam delve into how Phish has cultivated a predominantly straight audience within a broader cultural landscape. Josh remarks, “[36:21] Josh Sharp: 'It is a safe space for straight, you know, boy-on-girl and girl-on-boy oriented people...'” They discuss the nuances of creating inclusive environments that, while primarily catering to straight individuals, still resonate with queer audiences.

Festival Culture and Community Building The conversation shifts to how Phish has influenced modern festival culture. Josh shares insights into Phish's approach to live performances, emphasizing improvisation and audience participation:

• “[43:31] Josh Sharp: 'They do a lot of improv, which you all know as UCB training.'”
• “[45:10] Sam Taggart: 'I celebrate.'”

This segment underscores Phish's role in shaping festival experiences that prioritize communal engagement over commercialism.

Phish’s Resistance to Mainstream Commercialism A notable topic is Phish's deliberate avoidance of mainstream advertising and brand partnerships, maintaining the authenticity of their concert experiences. Josh highlights:

• “[65:22] Josh Sharp: 'Slut Pop Cambridge, Literally.'”
• “[65:54] Sam Taggart: 'They don't do shot glasses in test tubes. But the culture is similar.'”

This resistance helps preserve the band's unique cultural space, distinguishing Phish from other commercially-driven music acts.

Emotional and Personal Reflections Throughout the episode, Josh shares personal anecdotes about his relationship with Phish, including moments of nostalgia and self-discovery. He reflects on his past involvement in the Phish community and how it shaped his identity:

• “[42:16] Josh Sharp: 'Being a closeted high schooler in rural North Carolina... driving to Asheville and seeing third-tier jam bands at the Orange Peel... I am a person. I know I exist.'”

These reflections add depth to the discussion, illustrating the profound impact of Phish's music and community on individual lives.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts As the episode progresses towards its end, the hosts and Josh engage in a playful yet insightful exchange about the future of Phish and its cultural relevance. They emphasize the band's enduring legacy and its ability to bring together diverse audiences.

Notable Quotes

• Josh Sharp [32:31]: "I found myself crying at it."
• Josh Sharp [43:10]: "Phish top Bonnaroo, and then now we have Coachella."
• Sam Taggart [45:10]: "I celebrate."
• Josh Sharp [36:21]: "It is a safe space for straight, you know, boy-on-girl and girl-on-boy oriented people..."
• Josh Sharp [42:16]: "I am a person. I know I exist."

Key Insights

• Cultural Inclusivity: Phish creates a safe and inclusive space predominantly for straight audiences while still resonating with the LGBTQ+ community.
• Festival Innovation: The band's approach to live performances and improvisation has significantly influenced modern festival culture, emphasizing community over commercial success.
• Authenticity over Commercialism: Phish's resistance to mainstream advertising ensures the authenticity of their concerts, fostering a dedicated and genuine fanbase.
• Personal Impact: The band's music and community play a crucial role in individual identity formation and self-discovery.

Conclusion In this engaging episode of StraightioLab, George Severus and Sam Taggart, alongside guest Josh Sharp, offer a comprehensive exploration of Phish's musical legacy and cultural impact. Through humor, personal anecdotes, and insightful analysis, they illuminate how Phish has carved out a unique space in the music world, fostering community and authenticity in an increasingly commercialized landscape.

Recommendations for Listeners For those unfamiliar with Phish, this episode serves as an excellent primer on the band's significance and the subcultures they've influenced. Fans of jam bands, festival culture, and music communities will find this discussion both informative and entertaining.

Closing Remarks The hosts conclude by inviting listeners to explore more about Josh Sharp's upcoming shows and encouraging engagement with the StraightioLab community. They emphasize the importance of understanding and celebrating diverse cultural tapestries within straight culture.

---

Note: This summary extracts and organizes the key content from the provided transcript, focusing solely on the substantive discussions about Phish and related cultural topics. Advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections have been omitted to maintain clarity and relevance.

Transcript

[George Severus]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[Sam Taggart]

With PayPal.

[Josh Sharp]

I can pay now or pay in four.

[George Severus]

No interest and no fees. Now feast your ears on this prime cut musical meat.

[Josh Sharp]

You can pay your own way, don't just pay PayPal. Subject to approval eligibility bearers.

[Sam Taggart]

Learn more at paypal.com payinfor 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 Healthc. Hosts Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse serve four lifetimes of wisdom when it comes to sex, love, community and whatever else they've got on the gay agenda. So check out Silver Linings, available on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Sharp]

Did you know women are more likely than men to develop dry eyes, which may be due to hormonal changes during.

[George Severus]

The menstrual cycle or after menopause and the use of oral contraceptives.

[Josh Sharp]

Give your dry burning or irritated eyes a daily refresh With Refresh Optivity Mega 3 Lubricant Eye Drops, a preservative free.

[George Severus]

Formula that provides fast acting, lasting relief.

[Josh Sharp]

Refresh Optive Mega 3 is safe to.

[George Severus]

Use as often as needed.

[Josh Sharp]

Find Refresh online or in the eye drop aisle at all major retailers. Member week is here at Lowe's. Don't miss your chance to get up to 40% off hundreds of items like paint, outdoor and home essentials and more. Shop our exclusive deals happening in store and online now through May 14th. Not a rewards member. Join for free today and get ready to save more Lowes. We help you save loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Details@lowe's.com Terms subject to change.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, podcast starts now. What's up everyone? You are listening to Stradiolab. We are in New York City live from Times Square.

[Josh Sharp]

George, still reeling from what happened.

[George Severus]

You're not allowed to speak.

[Sam Taggart]

Sorry, Josh silenced. He said something poetic right before we started recording and I said, not on my watch.

[George Severus]

I actually am. It's like one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

[Sam Taggart]

Do you want to say what it was?

[George Severus]

I said, you know, we're getting prepared. Usually we explain the podcast to the guest.

[Sam Taggart]

This time, none of them have ever listened.

[George Severus]

Sorry, I just had a moment in the middle of that sentence where I remembered I'm being recorded.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you ever.

[George Severus]

I was just like, I was truly on autopilot. I was like, oh, right, I should like, try to be charming. Anyway, so I was like, I'm Andy Cohen and welcome to Watch what Happens Live.

[Sam Taggart]

George, this is not how you act.

[George Severus]

What the hell?

[Sam Taggart]

Whatever. Keep going.

[George Severus]

So I was. I said, you know, I said to Josh, you know the drill. Like, you know how this works. And Josh said, oh, I know the drill. The drill is a warm bath. The drill is a warm bath.

[Sam Taggart]

The drill is a warm bath.

[George Severus]

And then, of course, Josh wisely said, that is a Fiona Apples. That's the title of Fiona Apples song.

[Sam Taggart]

And here we are.

[George Severus]

And here we are.

[Sam Taggart]

So now that we've covered that, what I think is.

[Josh Sharp]

Can I say something briefly?

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Sharp]

Out of turn.

[Sam Taggart]

Fine. To the listener, Remember, No, I see our intro.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm going to say one thing, and I'm done. Remember, to the listener, every beginning to you is actually in media stress to us. Like, you are seeing your hosts, your friends in the middle of something, and that is keep introing.

[George Severus]

Yeah, you never know what I'm doing.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm done. I'm done.

[Sam Taggart]

Again, people don't give us enough credit for when we say podcast starts now. It actually started 10 minutes before that.

[George Severus]

People don't give us enough credit for pretty much most things that we do. People don't realize that everything we do is an insurmountable mountain that we are in the middle of bleeding from all holes and trying to climb. And at the peak, it says, I heart music.

[Sam Taggart]

I have to say that this run of recordings we have been. You know, it has. I'm like, oh, is this what it's like to be Julia Roberts? You know, it's sort of like that. Like, club, club, Another club. Airplane. Airplane Club, Yes.

[George Severus]

Julia Roberts famously. Club, club, Another airplane. She's performing during the mid DJ set. She's going to the gay bar. She's performing at Fort Lauderdale Pride.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm mixing metaphors, and that's okay.

[George Severus]

What if they booked Julia Roberts at Fort Lauderdale Pride, and she did like the monologue from Pretty Woman, but it was never explained.

[Sam Taggart]

We actually need to talk about. Do gay guys care about Julia Roberts at all?

[George Severus]

What the hell?

[Sam Taggart]

It's a valid question.

[George Severus]

Explain.

[Sam Taggart]

I think she is not disrespected enough in your absolutely right community for gay guys to actually care that much.

[George Severus]

You are. So she has never had an underdog narrative. Yeah, she has been that girl from the beginning.

[Sam Taggart]

So everyone's like, yeah, she's good, she's beautiful, she's amazing. But there's not that emotional connection.

[George Severus]

No gay guy is saying, my favorite actress is Julia Roberts. Even though, of course, when push comes to shove, she is one of the great American actresses.

[Josh Sharp]

You know what they're saying? This will be brief, and then I'll leave you.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, Josh, we're trying to do our intro.

[Josh Sharp]

They're saying Erin Brockovich is my favorite actress. They're not saying Julia Roberts is because.

[Sam Taggart]

Aaron Brockovich is an underdog.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you.

[George Severus]

Aaron Brockovich is an underdog.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm done. I won't talk.

[Sam Taggart]

I fucking hate our guest today.

[George Severus]

Yeah, I'm, like, so annoyed.

[Sam Taggart]

It's like we. So what our listeners don't understand is that the podcast actually starts 10 minutes before. And what our guest today doesn't understand is actually, it started, like, way before he even got here. Like we were talking about.

[George Severus]

Yeah, you think you're what, the third co host?

[Sam Taggart]

You think you're just like, I know.

[Josh Sharp]

Just to sit here to cuck. To cuck. One to cuck. It's like, I should get to come in at that point, but I just think. Or give me. Let me key grip or something.

[George Severus]

You're ignoring the like.

[Sam Taggart]

Do you want to check the shots?

[Josh Sharp]

I would love to. I'd love to. Checking the gate. I die to check the gate.

[George Severus]

I do think there is something very particular about not having a role. You know what I mean? Like being in a liminal space between roles. Before we started recording, you were the role of friend. When we introduce you, you will be in the role of guest. Right now, you are nothing.

[Josh Sharp]

Nothing.

[Sam Taggart]

But is that sort of sensory deprivation in a way? Like, are you finally free?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, it's freeing.

[George Severus]

Well, it's freeing, but in another sense, you keep fighting.

[Josh Sharp]

You're in a substance.

[George Severus]

If you were actually feeling to touch me, if you're actually feeling liberated, you would be basking in the silence. But I can see you wanting so badly to have a different role.

[Sam Taggart]

That's why you know what he's asking for us to say? No, Piggy, be quiet.

[Josh Sharp]

I hope I'm never brought in. Quite frankly, I hope we live. I think perhaps the whole episode exists in this.

[George Severus]

You know, we used to have the. We used to have the bravery of the chutzpah and the punk rock sensibility to do that.

[Sam Taggart]

Josh, what happened to our punk rock sensibility?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

What the. No, because as soon as you said.

[Josh Sharp]

That, I get up with Iheart.

[George Severus]

Literally, as soon as you said we should do the entire episode like that, my instinct was like, well, we can't. We should bring him in soon. Whereas if this was 2020, if this was May 2020, I would be like, that is so fucking badass. Like, let's do it.

[Sam Taggart]

Something really funny happened.

[George Severus]

Never introduce a topic.

[Josh Sharp]

Never.

[George Severus]

Never promote what you're here to promote.

[Josh Sharp]

Exactly.

[George Severus]

Which I'm not gonna say.

[Josh Sharp]

No, nor I. I'm not on yet.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, and why would we promote when our guest isn't even here yet?

[Josh Sharp]

I'm not here. I'm not on. I don't exist.

[Sam Taggart]

What were you gonna say last night? Somebody said they'd been listening to us since 2016. And I was like, well, darling, we haven't been on since 20. We started in 2020.

[Josh Sharp]

Time is a flash.

[George Severus]

Well, there is something about time.

[Josh Sharp]

All right, all right, all right.

[Sam Taggart]

2020 was just 2016 again.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

And 2024 is just 2016 again. Like, we're just doing 2016 over and over. It's groundhog day but for 2016.

[Josh Sharp]

But 2016. Drag finish, do the intro.

[George Severus]

I'm sorry, it's time to do 2016.

[Josh Sharp]

Drink. What do you make of this?

[George Severus]

Yeah, Josh, be careful. Please be careful.

[Sam Taggart]

That was hard to set up.

[George Severus]

So for anyone who's not watching on YouTube, where our numbers are plummeting, by the way, what Josh just did is.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, they can't plummet because they were never high.

[George Severus]

Excuse me? They were never high because we never promoted it, because we are sort of above it.

[Sam Taggart]

And yet it's out there.

[George Severus]

And yet it's out there. So what Josh did for anyone not watching is he took the mic and actually physically moved it away from himself so that even if he's tempted to participate in the conversation, he can't physically. So now he's sort of evoking a kind of meditation state, but is actually being so jittery that it's almost like an argument against meditation as a concept.

[Sam Taggart]

It's sort of like, oh, damn, this guy really can't sit still.

[George Severus]

Yeah, it's like, oh, my God, is he okay?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, don't let him run.

[George Severus]

Is a hard no.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Self harm incoming. I think we should bring in our guest. Please welcome to the show, our dear friend whose show is having a run, Josh Sharp.

[George Severus]

Ta da.

[Sam Taggart]

By the time this is out, you will know all about it.

[Josh Sharp]

You'll be all over. Www.josharptida.com. is that the absolute Ooh.

[George Severus]

And where is it?

[Josh Sharp]

It's on the Internet, sweetheart.

[George Severus]

Where is the show?

[Sam Taggart]

Where's the show, mama?

[Josh Sharp]

It'll be at the Greenwich House. Some of y' all know it as the Barrow Street Sweeney Todd and the Pie Shop, but it at the Greenwich House Theater. In beautiful West Village blocks. And you're playing Stonewall.

[George Severus]

You're playing Sweeney.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm playing Sweeney, yeah. And Mrs. Lovett in Rep. You're playing.

[George Severus]

Just to be clear, this is one of those, you know, like, John Proctor is the villain and Juliet. This is one of these contemporary reboots of a classic musical.

[Josh Sharp]

That's Sweeney is the hero.

[George Severus]

Yes. It's more kind of like woke and lgbt. Right. So it's about how action.

[Josh Sharp]

And we're right to end at T. Yeah.

[George Severus]

No, there is no Q. There's no Q. And there's certainly no points.

[Josh Sharp]

There's no A.

[George Severus]

No, I. No A.

[Sam Taggart]

Can I actually bring up not an.

[George Severus]

Issue with Q. Oh, is your issue. Is it queer or is it question?

[Josh Sharp]

Yes.

[George Severus]

Yeah, but here's the queer.

[Josh Sharp]

Right.

[Sam Taggart]

But sometimes it's questioning.

[Josh Sharp]

But doesn't this plus include.

[George Severus]

I'm sorry, this instinct is so anti Q.

[Josh Sharp]

Like, that's true.

[George Severus]

Q is this all encompassing thing that is like, what isn't Q but Q being questioning.

[Sam Taggart]

It's like I'm questioning if I'm even Q. Like, that's such a crazy metanarrative.

[George Severus]

Show me someone who isn't questioning exactly.

[Josh Sharp]

If any of the letters. And you're not Q questioning. You haven't seen the Matrix yet. Yeah. The whole point of being under the umbrella is that we see the Matrix.

[George Severus]

Yeah. So it's like the implication that if you're LGB or T, you have this certitude.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

You're like, oh, yeah, I'm firmly B. I'm firmly G. It's like, no, you're not.

[Sam Taggart]

The Q is, like, underneath all of them. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

It's the bedrock. It's the bedrock, honey.

[Sam Taggart]

It's the bedrock.

[Josh Sharp]

The cue is the bedroom is to be queer, which is to be LGBTIM plus, You know what I mean?

[George Severus]

The question is the bedrock.

[Josh Sharp]

The question is the bedrock.

[Sam Taggart]

The drill is.

[George Severus]

Yeah, it's the drill is a Warm Bath lead single. The question is the bedrock.

[Sam Taggart]

Josh, I have a question. I have a cue. When it comes.

[Josh Sharp]

Bedrock me, bitch. Go ahead and bedrock me up and down.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm about to rock your damn bed with this one.

[Josh Sharp]

Let's go. Insert.

[Sam Taggart]

I can make your bedrock here.

[Josh Sharp]

I.

[Sam Taggart]

You know, the punk rock sensibility is, of course, complicated because at this point, you are trying to promote a show that actually you have been working on and actually does have a weeks long run.

[Josh Sharp]

Months, even.

[Sam Taggart]

Months, which is one of the longest weeks we have.

[Josh Sharp]

I know, I know, I know, I know.

[Sam Taggart]

And so it's sort of. I Feel sort of mixed on doing a bit about the show and sort of misleading you.

[Josh Sharp]

No. Bits only.

[Sam Taggart]

Bits only.

[Josh Sharp]

I mean, I don't care.

[George Severus]

We can do whatever, but bits you want to sell. No. Tickets.

[Josh Sharp]

I want to sell. Well, I think the bits sell the tickets. Do you know what I mean? It's one of the.

[George Severus]

Well, but only if you then follow up with what the show is.

[Sam Taggart]

You're not craving a like. But seriously, the show's about this and this and this first.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you think they want that, your people?

[Sam Taggart]

I don't fucking know what they want.

[Josh Sharp]

What do you think your audience wants?

[Sam Taggart]

Our audience thinks we started in 2016.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, that's true.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

No, that's not dealing with mentally.

[George Severus]

They're saying, get that orange Cheeto out of the White House.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. They're saying, get that Cheeto out of Pantsuit Nation. Rise up.

[George Severus]

They're saying, pantsuit go to nation. Hey, Ant Suit Nation. I just discovered the podcast straight away lab these really amazing LGBTQ plus guys and they. They talk about politics, media, cultural criticism.

[Josh Sharp]

They would not accept us.

[George Severus]

If you think we need to get this orange Cheeto out of the White House, you better give it a listen.

[Sam Taggart]

Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe.

[Josh Sharp]

No, I don't have a strong feeling. I feel. I feel.

[George Severus]

I highly doubt that. Knowing you.

[Josh Sharp]

I feel like we will talk as we house or I guess the strong feeling is that we will talk as we. That like for us to do a sort of, you know, if we naturally do. What's the show about? Great. If we don't, you know, they're gonna get it. They're gonna go to josharp tada.com no matter what and find out what it is. But I guess canonically, it's the Off Broadway one man show that so many of our peers and ancestors have done before us.

[Sam Taggart]

You are stepping into a rich tradition.

[Josh Sharp]

It's my iteration on that. You know what I mean? Yeah. And there's a bit of a meta conceit within it so that it's not just me, you know, into the microphone for 80 minutes. That doesn't justify the tickets. That would be amazing. And yet that is valid too, and I love some of those. But for me and my own punk rock sensibility, I said I can't ultimately only do one of those. There's sort of a thing happening, you.

[Sam Taggart]

Know, this is something. I wonder. Do you sometimes get suffocated by the punk rock sensibility to not do the thing that is the thing that everyone does?

[Josh Sharp]

Yes. And this is deep Therapy talk of, like, how much are you. How much are you trying to explore an unexplored space? And how much are you just, like, standing in your own. The way of your own success? You know what I mean? Wow. How much are you going, this should be weirder, Wilder. Instead of, you know, ultimately, just how.

[George Severus]

Much are you producing something and it's good, and how. And yet you have the instinct to take a dump on it, to give it a twist?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. And for me, it's often not even taking a dump on it as much as it is. What if you made it harder and more inaccessible in a way that gets me going? But then I'm like, does anyone but you like this? You know what I mean? This is the question.

[Sam Taggart]

It's really hard to tell. It's complicated.

[Josh Sharp]

It's complicated.

[Sam Taggart]

And we've answered that question as we're now normal on this podcast.

[George Severus]

But are we. Is this episode normal.

[Josh Sharp]

Already abnormal?

[George Severus]

Yeah. We haven't introduced you.

[Josh Sharp]

We haven't even done the intro.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, we kind of did. We started.

[George Severus]

Well, what if we just sit in the space between introducing and not?

[Sam Taggart]

Welcome to the podcast. Shout sharp.

[George Severus]

Sam. Steven, he is being so pantsuit nation right now.

[Josh Sharp]

He's being so pantsuit nation.

[George Severus]

You need to, you know, sort of access this current state that we're in where there's no democratic leadership.

[Josh Sharp]

You know what? You need to.

[George Severus]

You're still nostalgic for Hillary.

[Sam Taggart]

You guys, I just think if you didn't vote for Jill Stein, we would have a different country right now.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you know what Sam needs to do that he's not doing?

[George Severus]

What?

[Josh Sharp]

Question. Wow.

[Sam Taggart]

You think I'm not on the fucking bedrock? You don't think I'm not rock bottom on this bed?

[George Severus]

Sam, are you not questioning.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm questioning everything.

[Josh Sharp]

See, I'm asked the question, and that was declarative. Isn't that so interesting?

[George Severus]

That is so.

[Josh Sharp]

Sam, are you not questioning? Question mark. I'm not. I'm not. Exclamation.

[George Severus]

I've never seen anyone so firm.

[Josh Sharp]

What's me? Sam, are you not questioning?

[George Severus]

Are you not questioning?

[Josh Sharp]

What about me makes you think I'm not.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, my God. You're not questioning.

[Josh Sharp]

Am I not doing it at all times?

[Sam Taggart]

You're doing an improv exercise. And don't think I don't know that.

[Josh Sharp]

You think I don't know that? That's an impulse game. I'll honor my roots. Wow.

[George Severus]

To lay and my present. To stake a flag and say, I know this. I can't think of anything more toxic and masculine. I know this.

[Josh Sharp]

Anything more G, quite frankly?

[George Severus]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Why do you mean G? I thought you meant ghb, the certitude of the G. Yeah, you know what I mean. The. The wisdom of the L. Oh, my.

[Sam Taggart]

God, you guys, I just figured out what GQ stands for. Gay questioning. When you're subscribing to GQ magazine, you're.

[Josh Sharp]

Subscribing to Gay Questioning magazine.

[Sam Taggart]

And that's why there's all those hot guys on there.

[Josh Sharp]

That's awesome.

[Sam Taggart]

Because they're being like, are you turned on by this?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. For so many people, GQ was gay question.

[George Severus]

It was gay question.

[Josh Sharp]

So many of our community to get that and go, I'm receiving this modality different than my peers.

[George Severus]

No, you're getting the GQ and you're saying, I have received the subliminal messages you are sending me and I will be in the bathroom in 15 minutes.

[Josh Sharp]

And you're going, wait. You don't all receive this this way. You know, like that moment that makes you realize you're the other queer. Q queer. You know, it's like, you're right. It's gay questioning. It's gay questioning.

[Sam Taggart]

I actually think this is one of the smarter things I've ever realized that.

[George Severus]

GQ is gay questioning.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Yeah. The drill is a warm bath.

[Sam Taggart]

The drill is a warm bath.

[George Severus]

The drill is a war bath. The drill is gay question. GQ is gay question. Because that's more Kim Petra's. I'm sorry to say Fiona passed on that one.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, that's true.

[George Severus]

GQ is gay questioning is a little more slut pop Miami.

[Josh Sharp]

That's true. That's been done at Rosemont.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, whatever.

[George Severus]

That's good. Also whatever that's good is a Kid Petris track as well.

[Josh Sharp]

Whatever that.

[George Severus]

Whatever. That's good.

[Josh Sharp]

Respect. Respect.

[Sam Taggart]

GQ is gay questioning.

[George Severus]

GQ is gay questioning.

[Josh Sharp]

And all of this will be addressed.

[George Severus]

In my show, which is Ja sharp.

[Josh Sharp]

Ta da. Ja Sharp. Ta da.

[Sam Taggart]

Ta da.

[Josh Sharp]

Ta da.

[Sam Taggart]

Which doesn't stand for anything. It's a word on its own.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Are there multiple? As in Ta da?

[Josh Sharp]

Is it like it's gonna be ta da all lowercase?

[George Severus]

Did you ever think of naming it tada for and? It's like a pun.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, God. Call my lawyer. Is it too late to change? Oh, no, I've made a huge mistake. See that version of the show? I'm selling out the Garden.

[George Severus]

Right.

[Josh Sharp]

What have I done myself?

[George Severus]

You have to have a pun in the title.

[Josh Sharp]

Okay, I've got one to ghettoize myself. At the famed Greenwich House when I couldn't be playing the Garden.

[Sam Taggart]

Did you ever think of sort of going Chelsea Handler mode and calling it to Darfor?

[Josh Sharp]

Almost every day I wake up and consider going Chelsea Handler mode. And I'm waiting. And the day that I do, it's over for y' all when I go Chelsea Handler model.

[Sam Taggart]

I have seen you go Chelsea Handler mode in private spaces, and I have burns from it.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, you have to keep some things to yourself as a person, in the public. In the demi public. You have to keep some things for yourself. You know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, of course. In order to cause these 100 to 200 people that know who we are.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, absolutely.

[Sam Taggart]

They'll take everything.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, they'll take. They'll take. Rip you limb from limb. Are you kidding? Down to the bone.

[Sam Taggart]

I saw what they did to Britney Spears.

[Josh Sharp]

Like a whale at the bottom of the ocean. Every bit of the ecosystem that is the Stratio Lab fan base comes in in their time. The predators, the mitoplankton. All of it comes until you are.

[George Severus]

Not but carcass they've been plotting since 2016. Trust.

[Josh Sharp]

Trust.

[George Severus]

You don't think we know what the riots the January 6 started as? It was literally in the Streeter Lab Discord.

[Josh Sharp]

It would be fun if you called your fans Pantsuit Nation.

[Sam Taggart]

There's a World in which.

[George Severus]

There's a world in which. That's another Fiona Apple. There's a World in which. There's a world in which. It's actually one of those Fiona Apple tracks that's so long. You know how her album titles are so long. But then people abbreviate it as There's.

[Josh Sharp]

A World in which. But yeah, there's like four.

[George Severus]

It's like a poem she wrote and then she did a little drawing next to it, and it's dedicated to one of her dogs, the one that has a terminal illness.

[Josh Sharp]

The one. Don't they all.

[George Severus]

If you don't think every dog, Fiona Aphel has a terminal illness. I don't know what to tell you.

[Josh Sharp]

I don't know what to tell you.

[George Severus]

You clearly are not cute because you have not considered it.

[Josh Sharp]

Not one moment, to be honest.

[Sam Taggart]

Like, being a dog is a terminal illness.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Like, let's start there.

[Sam Taggart]

The moment you have a dog, you're like, okay, clock's ticking.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

The sands of time.

[Josh Sharp]

The sands of time.

[George Severus]

Talk about dog. Like someone not comfortable when they don't have a role. A dog. Like, when that dog is between friend and guest, they're just like, but please give my life meaning.

[Josh Sharp]

Please bring me.

[George Severus]

Whereas a cat is. The entire thing is. Q. Cats are obviously the most cute. I mean, they're just like.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, they derive ultimately like certitude from the questioning. You know, they relate. The bedrock is strong in cats. We know this, we know this.

[Sam Taggart]

We know this.

[George Severus]

We know this, we know this.

[Sam Taggart]

When I meet, like a person with a puppy, like, there is something sort of old showgirl where I'm like, you just wait.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Like, oh, God, I've seen it all.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, God. Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

You don't know what's about to happen to your life. And it's. It's funny to be so young and to be able to have that perspective.

[Josh Sharp]

And have this fun and be so lucky.

[Sam Taggart]

And to be so lucky.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm so successful.

[George Severus]

I'm so successful.

[Sam Taggart]

My dog is so. I have a dog who's old.

[George Severus]

Should we do our first segment?

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Sharp]

At last the bath has been drawn. I sink in deeper.

[Sam Taggart]

I sink in deeper. That's another poetic as hell today.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Get thee to the Greenwich House. Poetry abound at the Greenwich House. Seven times a week.

[George Severus]

Seven times a week.

[Josh Sharp]

It's maybe too many times we were discussing this off mic, but I could bring it to. On. I've never done one of those runs and it'll be curious what it does to the mind. Body. Something. This is. Did you read Jack Novak's New Yorker piece when the special based on the show was coming out?

[George Severus]

Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

No, I didn't read it.

[Josh Sharp]

Something I loved was when she talked in about it. And this is good to keep the New Yorker integral to the topic we'll be discussing later. She talked about how she realized that doing an off Broadway run was her birthright. And I read that and went actually low key. Same. And now here we are.

[George Severus]

Well, no, it is sort of. When are you going to be chosen?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

And.

[Josh Sharp]

And I was already working on this show at the time and I read that. I was like, wait, it should be one of those. It turned a page for me, quite literally.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow, that's nice. Huge.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm like, what's the journey for this thing you're making? I said, it's that.

[Sam Taggart]

It's that.

[George Severus]

Wow.

[Josh Sharp]

And then. And then. And then the producers abound.

[George Severus]

Oh, there are so many producers.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, God.

[Josh Sharp]

To have a mic and a Carly. God, you'd be lucky to have a mic or a Carly.

[Sam Taggart]

Some people have both.

[George Severus]

You're sneaking in the more traditional promotion. I see.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you see how we're doing it in such a cute way, though.

[George Severus]

That is such a cute way.

[Sam Taggart]

It's very sort of the Little Women reboot.

[George Severus]

Yeah. Which is what?

[Sam Taggart]

Nonlinear.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, it's. Oh, yes.

[Sam Taggart]

Nonlinear promotion.

[Josh Sharp]

Yes. It's Gerwig as fuck, the way I'm pronouncing it.

[George Severus]

I love calling the little Greta Gerwig's Little Women the Little Women reboot.

[Josh Sharp]

It's so good.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, what else would it be called?

[George Severus]

It's like, oh, there's a new miniseries that's Great Expectations. Like, oh, they're rebooting Great Expectations.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm being normal.

[George Severus]

This is Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Sam Taggart]

This podcast is sponsored by PayPal.

[George Severus]

All right, readers, Katie's Publicist finalist Kyle's. It's time to talk about one of the most iconic payment brands out there. That's right, it's PayPal. PayPal lets you do you. Meaning you can pay your own way with just a click. Once you click the PayPal button, you.

[Sam Taggart]

Can choose from a bunch of different ways to pay.

[George Severus]

You can pay later with PayPal at millions of online stores. If you choose pay in four, you can sp everyday purchases into four smaller payments. No interest, no fees.

[Sam Taggart]

I think we've all had those chaotic unhinged purchases.

[George Severus]

Hmm. Another way to pay is with your PayPal Debit Mastercard. You can use it online or in store and earn 5% cash back on up to $1,000 spent in the monthly category you choose, like a payroll or ride shares. 5% cash back on a ride home from a messy first date. Yes, please pay in store, pay online, pay over time.

[Sam Taggart]

Don't just pay PayPal, pay in for a Subject to approval. Eligibility varies. Learn more at paypal.com/payinfor PayPal debit card terms and limits apply. This card is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Inc. Full [e-mail] rewardspal get this.

[Josh Sharp]

Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success?

[Sam Taggart]

With Greenlight you can teach your kids.

[Josh Sharp]

Financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free [e-mail] iheart greenlight.com iheart Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this.

[George Severus]

But anyone can get the Same Premium.

[Josh Sharp]

Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities.

[George Severus]

So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you.

[Josh Sharp]

To Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail].

[Sam Taggart]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for plan.

[Josh Sharp]

Equivalent to $15 per month.

[Sam Taggart]

Required intro rate, first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes.

[Josh Sharp]

And fees, extra fee, full [e-mail].

[George Severus]

Hi, this is Debbie, your blinds.com design consultant.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, wow, a real person.

[Sam Taggart]

Yep.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm here to help you with everything from selecting the perfect window treatments to. Well, I've got a complicated project. No problem. We make the complex simple and I can even help schedule a professional measure and install. I didn't realize you did that. Yeah, we can also send you samples fast and free. Wow.

[Sam Taggart]

I mean, I always thought I needed.

[Josh Sharp]

A designer to come to my home, but scheduling's always a Nightmare. Not with blinds.com, we're on your schedule and there's no haggling, no pressure, no hidden fees either.

[Sam Taggart]

Hmm.

[Josh Sharp]

I just might have to do more. Oh, okay. Whatever you need.

[George Severus]

How about you tell me what you had in mind?

[Josh Sharp]

Okay then. So the first room we're looking at is for guests coming over. Blinds.com has covered over 25 million windows, all backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

[George Severus]

Shop blinds.com and get up to 50%.

[Josh Sharp]

Off with minimum purchase rules and restrictions may apply.

[George Severus]

So, Josh, our first segment, as you well know, is called Straight Shooters. And in this segment we ask you a series of rapid fire questions to gauge your familiarity with incompletity and straight culture where you have to choose one thing or another thing. And the one rule is you can't ask any follow up questions about how the game works.

[Josh Sharp]

Now's the time where Q becomes illegal.

[Sam Taggart]

Sam, this is sort of the 40s.

[George Severus]

This is.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, Josh. A watched pot never boils or can you watch my spot while I go to the toilet?

[Josh Sharp]

A watched pot never boils.

[George Severus]

Roy G. Biv or Boy please give.

[Josh Sharp]

Boy please give.

[Sam Taggart]

French Revolution or NYC stench pollution?

[Josh Sharp]

NYC stench pollution.

[George Severus]

JW Anderson or DW from Arthur?

[Josh Sharp]

DW from Arthur. Good one though.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay. Pimple popping vids or simple topping tips?

[Josh Sharp]

Pimple popping vids.

[George Severus]

Shopping at an H and M or choking on an M and M. Oh.

[Josh Sharp]

Choking on an M and M. Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Defying gravity or implying you're mad at me?

[Josh Sharp]

Implying you're mad at me.

[George Severus]

No smoking or. Relax. I was joking.

[Josh Sharp]

Relax, I was joking, honey.

[Sam Taggart]

We've all said that before.

[Josh Sharp]

That was a particularly good round.

[Sam Taggart]

Thank you.

[Josh Sharp]

So many of them evocative. A question will not be asked, but a statement will be made. So many of them colon evocative.

[George Severus]

That's another.

[Sam Taggart]

The reviews are in.

[Josh Sharp]

So many of them evocative.

[George Severus]

So many of them colon evocative.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[George Severus]

That's actually Kim Petrus trying to do Fiona Apple, but she, like, sort of doesn't quite get there.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, honestly, if Kim Petrus had a song called Evocative, that would be iconic.

[Josh Sharp]

Or a cockatoo. Cambridge. She does like. She does like her sort of, like, literary horror album.

[Sam Taggart]

The medium is the sensual massage.

[Josh Sharp]

That's good. That's good.

[George Severus]

You could. The medium is the massage. She is writing down.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, Josh, she's on the live stream.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, she's on the.

[George Severus]

She is on the live stream and she's pressing hard. Face.

[Sam Taggart]

She's being like, seriously, guys, you gotta vote.

[George Severus]

Kim has been listening since 2016.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, that was who I talked to last night. It was Kim. She came up to me and she was like, ooh, I've always loved you. Since 2016.

[George Severus]

So, Josh, we rank each guest's performance on a scale of 0 to 1000 doves. But now it's Blades of Grass, in honor of the new Lady Gaga album.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, and Walt Whitman, of course. No, he is the original Cruising Queer. Let's say that all y' all. Can all y' all Sniffies Queens. Give it up to Walt Whitman. He invented.

[George Severus]

Walt Whitman would have absolutely gone off.

[Sam Taggart]

No, he was literally, like, creating a location, being like it's the creek with all the boys that are shirtless.

[Josh Sharp]

Literally. The original Sniffies was Blades of Grass, let's say.

[George Severus]

Wow. The original Sniffies.

[Josh Sharp]

The original Sniffies was Blades of Glass.

[George Severus]

And that's a profume genius track.

[Josh Sharp]

Exactly. I'm bast. I contain multitudes of sons.

[George Severus]

Oh, I'm.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm seeing our coffee flying in coffee.

[Sam Taggart]

Thank you so much. Oh, this delicious. Oh, my God.

[George Severus]

This.

[Josh Sharp]

To this, I say this.

[Sam Taggart]

Hey, cheers.

[Josh Sharp]

Cheers.

[Sam Taggart]

Cheers, girls.

[George Severus]

Damn, now I feel left out.

[Sam Taggart]

Loser.

[Josh Sharp]

Want to sit?

[George Severus]

Wait. Speaking. Oh, my God. Under your breath. Speaking of this, has Aaron told. My favorite thing is that part.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Well, I love just to put sort of like a three year delay on lexicon. For the most part.

[George Severus]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Josh Sharp]

But it's like the things that are happening now in conversation. For the most part. First of all, it's all a la carte if you're slavishly devoted to every bit that the kids are saying no, it's true. It's pathetic. You pick what works for you. But often I'm putting them in a little lockbox. 2016, I'm putting them in a lockbox and I'm saving them for three years from now. And that's one where I'm like, finally, let's do.

[George Severus]

I think I'm ready to do that part. That Sam has a theory.

[Sam Taggart]

I have a really exciting theory that I think you're going to like. I think Yas Queen is about to come back.

[Josh Sharp]

See, that's what I mean. We're getting the point where I'm like, absolutely, I'm down for that.

[Sam Taggart]

Like when I heard because I'm in a hotel currently and they have like, in the elevator they have all these like fake buttons that have like letters on them and then some of them are highlighted and it says Yas Queen. And I was like, that is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

[Josh Sharp]

I love it.

[Sam Taggart]

It's so back.

[Josh Sharp]

If you looked at my phone, the amount of alarms are set. It's all alarms for four years from now. Remember to bring back this. Do you know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Well, you're like an archivist.

[Josh Sharp]

The thing is overheating. It is hot to the touch my device because of how many long term alarms I have set to remember these things.

[George Severus]

So give us sort of an idea of what types of things are you seeing maybe in the coming year.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, that's.

[George Severus]

That are gonna make a comeback. Like, I'm like, okay, so Yas Queen, what else from that era? I mean, are we talking about boob pillows are coming back like a pillow that has line drawings of boobs? Are we talking or is it like.

[Sam Taggart]

I wonder if there's. This is sort of akin to Yas Queen. It's a little further back. But like is bacon core. Like, oh, being like, Can I also.

[Josh Sharp]

Say I've always loved Yas Quim with an M at the end. Queem. Something about that is really right to me.

[George Severus]

Q stands for queem.

[Josh Sharp]

Queem.

[George Severus]

Are you clear? It's not questioning. It's not queer. Actually. That is the spectrum. Is Q. Q. Q. Queer. Questioning Queen.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, honey, I know where you start and I know where you end. And I won't say them because I know them and you should know them. What do we think is coming or no? You want.

[Sam Taggart]

No, you go.

[Josh Sharp]

No, I was gonna. I was gonna go, what do I think is coming back? But I don't have the answer in my head right now.

[Sam Taggart]

And this Is one of those. That's a question that Q is so answer based. That I do think is somewhat illegal for a podcast when you're asking a question that requires an answer.

[George Severus]

Well, I also think there needs to be.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, this we could dissect more than answer the question. This idea is fruitful because I do.

[Sam Taggart]

Love, like, obviously answering questions.

[George Severus]

By the way, Dick Sect is another Kim Petrus track for Slut Pop Cambridge.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Dick Sex.

[George Severus]

Dicksex. And it's sort of about, you know, analysis of texts.

[Josh Sharp]

Also, this is another Dick one, so they wouldn't. Yours is probably better.

[George Severus]

No. If you know her work, she's going to have two dick ones in a row.

[Josh Sharp]

Dewey. Diximal system. Is there something to that?

[George Severus]

Wow. Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Ideology spot.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, that's the lead single.

[Sam Taggart]

That actually has a little musicality to it. Yeah, that's kind of nice.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, that's good.

[George Severus]

So my thing, here's where I'm struggling with trend based stuff is like trend forecasting is over. You know what I mean?

[Josh Sharp]

Oh.

[George Severus]

And yet.

[Sam Taggart]

But to say that is trend forecasting.

[George Severus]

I know, I know, I know. But it's like. But that's the bind we find ourselves in. You want to engage in the joie de vivre of trend forecasting and the like, gay guy play that is like, this is coming back. This is so five years ago.

[Josh Sharp]

You know what you're doing? You're not trend cast forecasting. You're doing the ultimately queer act of reading the vibe. You know, you're catching a vibe.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

And as Qs, we. We are trained to catch a vibe. You're. You're reading GQ and you're catching a vibe that only is for you. A secret message that's only for you.

[Sam Taggart]

Is it just me or is this gay questioning?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. So I think you're catching a vibe, you know.

[George Severus]

Wow. Wow. Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay. Should we get into our topic?

[Josh Sharp]

Sure.

[Sam Taggart]

Josh, what topic did you bring today and what's straight about it?

[Josh Sharp]

Well, we have the New Yorker to think. Wow.

[George Severus]

Shout out to the New Yorker.

[Josh Sharp]

And it's not the New Yorker, though. Has anyone done the New Yorker? That would be good.

[George Severus]

Well, we actually.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, we did Toads, but mostly the New Yorker's.

[George Severus]

Toad. One of our recent guests is a staff writer, the New Yorker and her topic.

[Josh Sharp]

Did they write the article that I'm gonna reference?

[George Severus]

Sadly, no.

[Sam Taggart]

Who did?

[Josh Sharp]

Too bad. Actually, I should know that.

[George Severus]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Really? There was a few topics I was considering and then there was an article today about the band Phish and I found Myself crying at it. And then I was like, maybe we have to talk about fish.

[George Severus]

Let's shout out the LGBTQ creator who wrote it.

[Josh Sharp]

Amanda Petroisch.

[George Severus]

Oh, yes, their music critic. Yeah. Yeah, she's great.

[Josh Sharp]

So I think we should get into fish.

[Sam Taggart]

So fish.

[Josh Sharp]

But I've learned in our pre discussions, our off mic that's now on, that this is a really foreign topic for you and a mostly foreign topic for you.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

What do you know? Let's start there.

[George Severus]

I would say there are certain things.

[Josh Sharp]

Not to make you give an A.

[George Severus]

No, no, totally. There are certain.

[Sam Taggart]

Some A's are easier than others.

[George Severus]

There's something very comforting to me about knowing that certain things are, like, not for me. Not for me at the base level. But then on top of that, also not for me to criticize or judge or respond to.

[Josh Sharp]

Like fishing, which is something I love about the space. It's sort of Hermet sealed and earnest and uncool.

[George Severus]

That's exactly it. I actually. There was a time in my life where I felt musical theater was that. But then late in life, I have actually become involved. I think I can.

[Josh Sharp]

Profound similarities between.

[George Severus]

Actually, I would say anything involving the Winter Olympic other than ice skating. Anything involving the Winter Olympics, for me is that, like, I don't relate to it. To me, the Summer Olympics are ancient Greece. That's my culture. Winter Olympic. I've never found out what bobsledding is or losing or anything like that. Like, nor do I think it's good or bad. Like, it's not for me to judge.

[Josh Sharp]

You didn't watch Cool Runnings.

[George Severus]

Don't even know what you're talking about.

[Josh Sharp]

What formative text to me, the 90s Disney family comedy. What is the Jamaican bobsled Team?

[Sam Taggart]

Jamaican bobsled Team.

[Josh Sharp]

Cool. That's what really implanted me.

[George Severus]

I never heard of it because I.

[Josh Sharp]

Was gonna say I agree with your sentiment, but as soon as you said bobsledding, I said that I know intimately.

[Sam Taggart]

That's me too. It's so important. There was a lot of child media about Winter Olympics. There was a lot of ice skating movies. There was a lot of.

[Josh Sharp]

You already exempted ice.

[George Severus]

I have exempted ice skating, of course. My point being that I have let.

[Sam Taggart]

The record show we've exempted ice skating.

[Josh Sharp]

And Sam and Josh have exempted bobsledding under the cool runnings clause.

[George Severus]

And by the way, bobsledding is another track off of Sled Pop Norway, which is her winter theme. Slut Pop Oslo. Okay, so point being, I have known fish is one of those Things that you're born knowing. You are born knowing that fish exists and that the thing with fish is that people follow them on tour and it's like a culture and you're either a part of it or you're not. And that's it.

[Sam Taggart]

And I pretty much know the same thing. Except I did listen to a comedy podcast about fish.

[Josh Sharp]

Scott Aukerman. Yeah, I didn't listen to it, but he is a fan. He's a fan and he's talking to someone else who's not a fan and sort of explaining it. We're doing our cover of the podcast.

[Sam Taggart]

We're doing our cover. No, Harris Whittles is the fan and he is teaching Scott Aukerman to like it. So you, like, listen to the audience and what it.

[George Severus]

And was it compelling to you?

[Sam Taggart]

It was compelling. I mean, I learned.

[Josh Sharp]

You probably know a lot.

[Sam Taggart]

Actually, I never learned to. I never like downloaded an album and listened to it, but I like did hear a lot about it.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, and the truth is I'm gonna be a lot more cue than widdles. I'm not here to convince you to like it. Do you know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm here for us to swim, to play around in this pool.

[George Severus]

I would actually.

[Josh Sharp]

I don't. Wouldn't say I like it anymore. What made me weep today was just remembering my former self, remembering the me who was obsessed with them. And actually I can still. I'll go like every two years and sort of have a nostalgia trip. But I'm not an active participant in this space anymore. Definitely. I remember being the only gay person in the room of 20,000. Like it is just literally a decidedly straight space. Yeah. But upon processing, there are some like, queer elements, but done in a very straight way. You know, I mean, like we said, there's like a drug and a party culture, but also none of them are grooming or bathing.

[George Severus]

Well, there's also a community based element to it that is very like queer co op potluck.

[Josh Sharp]

Absolutely. That it does feel like it's a space for a certain type of straight person who is like this society is not for me to like jump over while still never once dabbling in gq.

[George Severus]

I mean, it's literally a safe space.

[Josh Sharp]

It is a safe space for straight, you know, boy on girl and girl on boy oriented people to do a lot of the other broader cultural cue that we do as qs.

[Sam Taggart]

You know, I sometimes do feel bad for these types of straight because they don't have much.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, there are a few Scenes. A lot of them are musical. I'm realizing, like, there's like. Like, hardcore is, like, such a straight scene, but also, weirdly, very gay.

[George Severus]

Totally.

[Josh Sharp]

Australian rugby. Well, you know, men who become so masculine, they double back around on them. They're like, oh, yeah, I'll, like, grab my buddy's cock. But I've. I've never once had sex. I've never once thought a single sexual. I've not done an iota of gq. Yeah, you know, there's, like, there's places for them.

[Sam Taggart]

You know what I just realized? We need to reframe the entire gay straight thing.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

To now it's not gay straight anymore.

[George Severus]

Oh, okay. So the entire premise has true.

[Sam Taggart]

It's not gay straight anymore.

[George Severus]

Okay, what is it now?

[Sam Taggart]

It's Q and A. Wow. So you're either question or answer.

[Josh Sharp]

So the new podcast is called Aeolab. The new podcast is called Aeolab. Old MacDonald had a farm. Ae.

[George Severus]

By the way, Q and A, parentheses, queef, and ass is also another track off of Kim Petrap Cambridge. So I, first of all, of course, love this.

[Sam Taggart]

Thank you.

[George Severus]

It begs the question, in defining Q and A, are we creating another binary that is even more rigid?

[Josh Sharp]

What's the liminal space between Q and A?

[George Severus]

Exactly. Like, what is. You know what it is? It's a statement reading a vibe. Yes. And it's a statement that ends in ellipses. Like, it's like a Q ends in a question mark, A ends in a period.

[Sam Taggart]

It's sort of the liminal space is the ampersand.

[George Severus]

Whoa. It's already in it.

[Josh Sharp]

It's already in it. And A.

[George Severus]

The options are Q, A, or.

[Josh Sharp]

And that's true. And no one's even seeing. And as the third option. It's right there.

[George Severus]

Yeah. Oh, my goodness.

[Josh Sharp]

But we needed to be expansive, because it can't just be. We can't make it a, you know, a trinomy anymore. Like, it's like, you know, we can't. We can't make it three.

[George Severus]

Sure, sure.

[Josh Sharp]

That's. That carries the same of two. Oh, no, you're on the right path. But we have to find a way to break apart it as the third.

[George Severus]

And isn't the ampersand, in assigning it the role of the third option, Aren't we othering it? Do you know what I mean?

[Josh Sharp]

But it is the continuation, literally. And is the ellipsis. And what else? Say more on that. Say more on that. The and is. Say more.

[George Severus]

Right.

[Josh Sharp]

And so the idea of, like, always exploring, say, More. You're seeking. You're seeking. That's the.

[George Severus]

And here's a question for you, though.

[Josh Sharp]

Absolutely.

[George Severus]

Isn't that the Q literally seeking more? What is it?

[Josh Sharp]

But I guess what the Q is inherently asking for is the A. You, at a certain point, stop talking to get the A. Maybe the and is just, you know, we're just. We're riding the wave.

[George Severus]

It's interesting. You think the A is the more limiting option.

[Josh Sharp]

The queue.

[George Severus]

There's actually something about the cue that is, like, demanding an answer.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, the queue has to stop for the A to exist.

[George Severus]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

The.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Sharp]

The Q has to go.

[Sam Taggart]

The Q is like thoughts.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh. Oh, okay. I guess it's me now.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

The cue is an accusation. Accusation.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you. Thank cue.

[George Severus]

And by the way, you're wel C U M. Which is another track off of Slut Pop Cambridge.

[Sam Taggart]

That's Slut Pop Manners Edition. You're welcome.

[Josh Sharp]

Slip Pop, Dear Abby or whatever.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, it's like, there's a track on it called that's My Tossed Salad Fork. That's that me Tossed Salad Fork.

[George Severus]

That's that me Tossed Salad Fork. Featuring Sabrina Carpenter. Actually.

[Josh Sharp]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Sam Taggart]

And it's an interpolation.

[Josh Sharp]

The way this has my lips chapped. That's when you know it's good.

[Sam Taggart]

The lips are chapped.

[Josh Sharp]

That's when you know it's good. Watcher listeners. That was to the watchers.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, so fish.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you call them listeners and watchers?

[Sam Taggart]

We don't. Okay, so you love fish.

[George Severus]

We don't. That was so A of you.

[Josh Sharp]

That was really. No.

[George Severus]

Yes. Anding.

[Sam Taggart]

He gave me a cue. I had to give an A. Like, he was literally being, like, gunned to my head. What do you call them? And I said, no, but this is.

[George Severus]

I'm really. It's like. You think the A is the oppressive one. No, the Q is what is oppressing the A into giving a declarative statement.

[Sam Taggart]

I mean, many straight people would argue that is true.

[George Severus]

Yes. But that is. It's like the straight people are the ones that are oppressed.

[Josh Sharp]

Done. Done.

[Sam Taggart]

Hit send.

[Josh Sharp]

Which is why they take refuge in fish is why they find these places.

[George Severus]

And not to be so standard. Q and A. I do want to sort of go back to basics, and I kind of want to give you a platform.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

To talk a little bit about fish.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. I do feel like a lot of, like being a closeted high schooler in rural North Carolina. It was a big part of developing my personality. Not just fish, but just like. Like, driving To Asheville and seeing third tier jam bands at the Orange Peel was how I was like, I am a person. You know, I exist. I've been intro'd. I've been brought on. You know what I mean? It's like that, really. So this is the primer. Let's try to make it as succinct as possible. And we're gonna go. We're gonna Little women reboot it. We're gonna go out of time. I'm not gonna. I'm not. We're gonna start in the middle, as the podcast does.

[George Severus]

Josh, I just wanna say, if you started in the beginning, I would tell you to get out of your chair and leave. The idea that you would come to this podcast and do linear storytelling as though you are like, it's insulting.

[Josh Sharp]

I even.

[George Severus]

It's insulting to the cues. Cut this A's and the ampersands.

[Josh Sharp]

Cut this part of the episode because it's insulting. Cut this part of the episode and.

[Sam Taggart]

Put it at the end.

[Josh Sharp]

Also, by the way, accountability. Keep this part of the episode. Cut the part where I said cut it, but keep it.

[George Severus]

And the idea that you're coming in and you're saying, you know, a normal person would do linear, but I'm gonna do grandma doesn't exist.

[Josh Sharp]

That's like.

[George Severus]

It's like very Sam Smith saying, am I the first gay person to win a lot?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, exactly.

[George Severus]

Like, it's like.

[Josh Sharp]

It's like not even in this category, doll.

[George Severus]

To being different.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, not even this category.

[George Severus]

No other people do what you're doing. It's called conversation. Like, no one is actually going.

[Josh Sharp]

Exactly. You're so right. So what. What you know about them is sort of tapping into when the Grateful Dead ended because Jerry died in 95. Fish, who was already like a really burgeoning popular band, had started to, like, play arenas. Became like mega successful because their fans were like, we need to flock to them. But actually they're rather different. They're very similar in cultures, but different in musical construct. They both improvise, so they do a lot of improv, which you all know as. That's your UCB training.

[Sam Taggart]

I celebrate.

[Josh Sharp]

And much more freeform. It's actually more of a jazz style than a ucb. Amy Poehler told you the rules. Oh, you know what I mean? Like, it's very free forming, but it's very. Yes, Andy.

[George Severus]

Okay.

[Josh Sharp]

And so thus, there's this culture of people who are chasing the dragon, because not only do you hear a song more than once, and it can go very different directions. You know, you're trying to see Sandino do the perfect Chessboard Herald, honey.

[Sam Taggart]

Preaching to the damn choir, you understand?

[Josh Sharp]

But also, they then sort of extrapolate that on create a broader culture where, like, for them, the shows are very long, like four and a half hours. So they're like an experience. And if you could see them every night for a week, they don't repeat a song. So you just hear. Every show is literally quite different structurally. And then also, even if it were the same show played twice, which they never would do, they, like, embrace the energy of the space and let it go different places. But musically, the Grateful Dead was basically like a folk band who then were like, it's pretty easy to just, like, take LSD and riff on these two chords forever. They sort of started out as a prog band, and we're writing these intensely composed, like, crazy epic suites that were psychotic and then finding out how to improvise within them, which is like a weird mashing of dualities. So musically. But also, if you told me this is unlistenable, I'd be, like, valid. There's a high hurdle to get into it. But then when people do, you're down bad for it. And it taps that part of straight people's brain, like baseball, where you're like, I need to memorize every statistic.

[Sam Taggart]

There's an obsession. You're allowed to obsess.

[Josh Sharp]

It's obsessive. It's obsessive. But. And there's a. There's a lot of. In culture stuff, as we know from Yas Queen, that part. There's all of these things that only this culture knows that are fostered by the band to the audience and vice versa. They, like, literally do gags with the bands.

[Sam Taggart]

I have a Q that demands an A. What's their. Yes, Queen.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, great point. And I know, actually that one of. One of the people in this room is more actively in Phish. So I. You can gut check me at any point.

[Sam Taggart]

Point.

[Josh Sharp]

Would you say it's. Would you feces drive me to a frenzy? Is that their Yas Queen.

[Sam Taggart]

That's a big one.

[Josh Sharp]

That's one of the big ones. One of their most epic songs has this sort of undecipherable lyric that's just sounds that people are always sort of trying to figure out what it actually is. And. And then they've never explained it, but people have a lot of theories of what they're trying to say.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Josh Sharp]

And it's definitely a shorthand for, like, knowing the band.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, so. Okay. So for like a. You're, like there for four plus hours. You're, like, doing drugs and you're like, I'm crazy. I've never been anywhere. This, like, where. Part of what feels straight to me about it and I'm down to be wrong because I'm just shooting in the dark here. Is it sexless? Are people hooking up sexless? So that's interesting.

[Josh Sharp]

Sexless. Wouldn't you agree? Sexless. I don't think fish is that straight.

[George Severus]

Oh, interesting.

[Josh Sharp]

Wow.

[George Severus]

But I think a lot of people.

[Josh Sharp]

Are literal of the amount of straight people in the room, which is profound and overwhelming.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you know what I mean? But you're right, there are a lot of overlaps because it circles back this thing. I mean, again, any type of.

[George Severus]

Of any subculture is inherently to be so basic. Inherently queer, because it is, like, outside the mainstream.

[Josh Sharp]

They're the most successful indie band of all time. You know what I mean? It's like they can. They can sell 13 nights in a row at the Garden and aren't on a label. You know, nobody listens to their. They've never had a pop. They've never had a radio hit ever. So which is.

[George Severus]

That is what's most intriguing about them to me is like everything else that is a subculture you can at least point to, like, the one time they were mainstream, they had a very brief.

[Josh Sharp]

Moment of trying it.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

And the record did like, okay. But didn't do anything. And then they turned in the next record. This get referenced in the New Yorker and like, here's the next one. And the A and R person was not just like, this is a bad direction. He was like, I refuse to even try to do this.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

So then they're like, all right, well, never mind. They didn't even give notes. They were like, no notes. Cut and run.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, okay, here's my theory. Ready? Okay. They are. It's not like, abandoned the classic sense. It's a theater show about a band in a way.

[Josh Sharp]

Yes. I mean, one of his early pieces, this guy was writing sort of like this, like, fantasy musical that he did for college dissertation. Stereophonic. A fantasy.

[George Severus]

Stereophonic.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, exactly. And so I think there's always. And he's now since written musicals. Like, a lot of it is drawing from that space of, like, narrative world building, you know, characters. There's characters in songs. There's like, you know.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

So you're not wrong.

[George Severus]

There is a certain state of play.

[Josh Sharp]

Play profoundly.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, God.

[Josh Sharp]

Profoundly. A state of play. There's a Lot of that. Because again, they're like one. Improv is like we're playing together and then they then want to. Also they have a light sky who's like known in the business for being the best at what he does. Because you see most big arena stadium shows, they're programmed to hell. You have like 90,000 pre programmed cues. He goes in with I think normally like four and improvises the rest of it. And so he is working these massive lights and improvising with them. So then sometimes they're doing things musically and he responds to it, or vice versa. He'll do lights and they'll go, we should play along to that. Then they extrapolated that to the audience. There was a time they literally would throw four big balls in the audience, each of which represented a band member and only play when an audience member touched it. Because they were like, we want you to play us. And that's become a thing where they're always like, how do we make you as active a participant in this as we are? Yeah, Literal sense of play.

[Sam Taggart]

That's a sense of play. I like that. It reminds me of like me at over the age. Like there's something.

[Josh Sharp]

No, it's very over the eight coded, which. And then there's all these facts you wouldn't know. Or do you know that like in the Y2K, not to bring it back to 2016, but in the 1999.

[George Severus]

That's when Y2K was right.

[Josh Sharp]

Exactly.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you know that they did a concert on New Year's Eve that was the biggest attended New Year's Eve event in the world.

[George Severus]

Where was it?

[Josh Sharp]

In a. In Florida. It was a big Cypress, Native American, I was gonna say a Seminole, like reservation in Florida. And they had like hundreds of thousands of people there. And they played all night. They started at 10 and played until like 8am the next morning after the sun came up.

[Sam Taggart]

That makes sense.

[Josh Sharp]

That's rave culture.

[Sam Taggart]

That's rave culture. Do they wear diapers?

[George Severus]

So here's my question.

[Sam Taggart]

94. The first new Year's they played at the Boston Garden.

[Josh Sharp]

11:50. They went backstage at like 11:53.

[Sam Taggart]

They came out in diapers, folks. They're wearing diapers.

[Josh Sharp]

But that was just a bit. Right.

[Sam Taggart]

It was their like first ever New Year's gag.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Now they do gags every New Year's and it's always a big surprise because they literally do like a theatrical thing as. As part of the show. So people come every New Year's being like, what's the gag gonna be. And they actually, like, make a. You know, like an opera or whatever.

[Sam Taggart]

And this past year, it was edm.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, yeah. It looks so lame.

[Sam Taggart]

It was pretty lame. Well, this is really shocking.

[George Severus]

I'm, like, getting frustrated that all these people are having more fun than me.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, that's what do. That's something I realized, too, when I actually. The part that made me cry was him thinking about his sobriety. He was talking about his sobriety really.

[Sam Taggart]

Poetically, because when did he become sober?

[Josh Sharp]

The band, like, busted up because he became so drunk. I mean, many reasons. I think the operation got too big and they had, like, 50 people to employ. And then it was like, oh, you have to keep doing this. And then the lead guy was, like, doing opiates and heroin and stuff. And so, like, that became unsustainable. So they, like, briefly broke up.

[George Severus]

And when was that?

[Josh Sharp]

2004.

[Sam Taggart]

2004.

[Josh Sharp]

Phew.

[Sam Taggart]

To have a fact checker, this is tough. I feel like that you. This is tough because you're literally now being.

[Josh Sharp]

No, I'm. This is. I have to have the right A's.

[Sam Taggart]

You have. It's. It's become an. A podcast.

[Josh Sharp]

I have to have the right A's.

[Sam Taggart]

You have to have the right A.

[Josh Sharp]

But this is what media needs. Fact checkers in the room. Are we talking about. I mean, this is 2018. If we fact. That Cheeto fact check me like we should. That Cheeto.

[George Severus]

If you haven't. If you haven't heard of Cambridge Analytica, you're only getting half the story.

[Sam Taggart]

Cambridge Analytica.

[George Severus]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Sharp]

That's the best one out of.

[George Severus]

Out of Slut Pop Cambridge, Literally.

[Josh Sharp]

Cambridge Anaclitica.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[George Severus]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Sharp]

Then, like, two years after the breakup, he got arrested with, like, heroin and pills in his car and apparently was just like everybody says, like, the. The most kind and gracious person to ever be arrested. Cause I think he was like, finally. Thank you. Thank you.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

But then he tells the story about. Then he was on, like, he managed to avoid jail by doing basically house arrest and, like, got an apartment. Apartment next to the jail and couldn't have a car. Got.

[George Severus]

That was an option.

[Josh Sharp]

Apparently they, like, worked it out with a judge where he was like, I'm gonna do two years of community service, and I'm gonna live by the jail. And. And he said it was, like, the most, like, beautiful, humbling experience. Cause he's still in Vermont. He's a rock star. People are coming up like, Trey from Fish. He's like, I'm scrubbing toilets and being like, thank you. And then he said his kids would come and visit him on the weekends. And they look back and say it was the best part of their lives. Because before that, he was on tour and doing drugs. He's like, this part where I. And I cried at that.

[Sam Taggart]

That's pretty emotional.

[George Severus]

I mean, that's beautiful.

[Josh Sharp]

But then it got me just thinking about the time in my life when I cared about this stuff. And I don't anymore. And that's, you know, that's what changed. Oh, that's a great question.

[Sam Taggart]

You became gay?

[Josh Sharp]

That's. I became gay. Honestly, I became gay. And I said, wait, there's a different version of this.

[Sam Taggart]

And it's Berlin and I can have sex there.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, you can. You can get your dick sucked if you do this in Berlin. It's literally all the same things.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, it is kind of a bummer. I've been thinking about what gay takes from me, what G takes away from me. Where now I am just like, well, I could be doing this. I could be getting into this niche subculture, or I could go somewhere and probably have sex.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, well, these are connected. The part I was gonna say is I do now, looking back, love and appreciate it even more now that I think they're even lamer that it's like an uncool space. Cause so much of queer spaces are about the currency of cool.

[Sam Taggart]

It's an arms race.

[Josh Sharp]

It's an arms race for cool. And that theirs is basically everybody agree, like, so you're lame. Like, I'm lame. And it's having so much fun.

[George Severus]

That's what it's like.

[Josh Sharp]

It's that. That is admirable. We should bring that to our queue spaces.

[Sam Taggart]

We should bring that to some Q spaces. But then what we, you and I, try to do this when we celebrate what we call Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, that's true. Have we explained this theory to George?

[Sam Taggart]

Philly, not real Philly. This is gonna be.

[Josh Sharp]

No, I don't know the concept down. Just to warn listeners. Watch. We're worried about being Coastal Elite, but in a way that doubles back and becomes praise. So this is Australian rugby, right? This is so straight, it's gay. Trust us.

[George Severus]

And by the way, Coastal Elite is one of the tracks on sluggish Coastal Alick.

[Josh Sharp]

My cock.

[George Severus]

Stole a lick my cock.

[Sam Taggart]

So KT Kunstal.

[George Severus]

Katie Kunstal.

[Josh Sharp]

Katie Tunstall.

[Sam Taggart]

That's featuring KT Kunst Tunstall.

[Josh Sharp]

That's good.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, so Philly is a real city. That's what this theory is based On.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. And Philly rules.

[Sam Taggart]

I know.

[George Severus]

Philly is one of Philly, one of.

[Sam Taggart]

The places to go. And I specifically love the gay bars in Philly because they have this, like. They remind me of, like, when I was 21 and going to, like, sort of a lame gay bar in Chicago and, like, dancing music with, like, my girlfriends.

[Josh Sharp]

Can I introduce something that we can all use? Because I love to use this in conversation. Lame, open parentheses, complimentary, close parentheses. Yes. We're not saying it pejorative.

[Sam Taggart]

Lame.

[Josh Sharp]

This is lame as in good.

[Sam Taggart]

And so now that I've. So when you go to Philly, you kind of experience these types of bars and they're too big for some reason. The music, it's the liminal space.

[Josh Sharp]

You're unwatched.

[Sam Taggart]

You're unwatched.

[Josh Sharp]

You're not in the arms race.

[Sam Taggart]

You're not in the arms race at all. And you're finally free.

[Josh Sharp]

Not a single Insta crush is there. No one could care.

[Sam Taggart]

They're putting Bruno Mars on.

[Josh Sharp]

Literally, that's the living, and you're dancing to it.

[Sam Taggart]

And so now whenever we're in a space that is uncool, we both bond on really enjoying that. And we say it's Philly specifically. We're thinking of the bar. Can we doxx them?

[Josh Sharp]

I feel like we should dox them, but this is, again, doxxing complimentary. Sometimes we go to Metro, which is my favorite gay bar, but because there's some newer girls in the neighborhood who the quote unquote, cool people want to go to. Yeah, they're not going to Metro anymore. And it's Philly. It's Philly and I love metal.

[George Severus]

Oh, Metro is now Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

We go there and I'll go and.

[George Severus]

I'll cop to it. I'm one of the girls who is no longer going to Metro and haven't been.

[Josh Sharp]

Actually dox him.

[Sam Taggart]

What the. Actually an animal?

[George Severus]

Yeah, because of excellent animal cool.

[Sam Taggart]

The cool list.

[George Severus]

But it's not even just that. It's like a return to, like, Christopher street for me too. Like, it's a really bad. I would actually.

[Josh Sharp]

Julius is number one.

[George Severus]

Well, Julius is obviously number one. And that's not even. That exists outside of the cool, uncool spectrum. But I'm even going to like, Julius is the emperor. I just went to the male monster.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm going to pieces upstairs of the monster and crowd. You're going to pieces.

[George Severus]

I've been to pieces recently.

[Josh Sharp]

Damn. What queens are you seeing?

[George Severus]

I don't remember what her name was, but she was Okay, I saw a great drag show.

[Josh Sharp]

Say more on that. I don't remember her name, but she was okay. That is such a great. That wasn't the A I expected.

[Sam Taggart]

There wasn't anything about.

[George Severus]

Because there is this. When it comes to uncool gay spaces, if it's long enough ago, then you are basically like wearing an ACT UP T shirt and pretending it's the 80s.

[Josh Sharp]

Metro is that part. You know, it's like.

[George Severus]

But I think that's Metro is that part.

[Sam Taggart]

Metro is.

[Josh Sharp]

It's like it's not happening anymore and we're going to.

[George Severus]

Metro is Yas Queen.

[Josh Sharp]

Metro is Yas Queen. Metro's 2010's except for Hell's Kitchen is Yas Queen. Metro is that part.

[George Severus]

And that's the final frontier. Because when are the cool gay guys gonna suck it the fuck up and go to Hell's Kitchen?

[Sam Taggart]

Well, when it doesn't take a fucking hour to get there, that's when.

[Josh Sharp]

Let's start with Christopher street. And let's start with Josh Sharp. Ta da, Josh Tripod dot com. Mere blocks from Christopher.

[Sam Taggart]

God, I'm loving how nonlinear this is.

[Josh Sharp]

Let's start there with what we get these gay guys to do. Bring back Duplex.

[George Severus]

Literally bring back Duplex.

[Josh Sharp]

Bring back Duplex. Do you know how much of the scene that you love the podcast cabal is born of Duplex in many ways.

[George Severus]

First time I ever did a half hour of comedy was at the Duplex.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you.

[George Severus]

I split a bill with my friend Julia Claire. We did half hours together and the show was called George Taveras and Julia Claire there. Colin. That's a stretch.

[Sam Taggart]

Love it. Love, love.

[Josh Sharp]

Birthed Aaron and I. I mean, UCB did, but when we were like, what if we like broke out of ucb, we hosted our variety show at the Duplex. Cole was running their like the hit show at the Duplex for a long time.

[Sam Taggart]

Was Cole.

[Josh Sharp]

Cole was like paying the bills at Duplex.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

By the way, if you want to learn more about that, Jeffrey Self's book of essays. Jeffrey describes the Duplex era and working with Cole. Oh, I would love to first essay. You don't even have to read the whole book.

[Josh Sharp]

So Christopher Street. Yeah, we. But this is to the Philly of it all.

[Sam Taggart]

This is the Philly of it all.

[George Severus]

Yes.

[Sam Taggart]

And yeah. So Philly, the non cool gay guys is a movement that we actually do believe in. And so we're trying to push that.

[Josh Sharp]

And not to be binary about it because actually now I'm gonna sort of do the opposite. Where I'm saying, like, the in between space is what I don't like. But in these kind of things, there are certain places that are actually cool. You're at a certain, like, warehousey rave and you're like, you've nailed the cool assignment. Yeah. Then there are the Philly spaces where it's like you are owning your uncoolness. It's these places that think they're cool and they're not, that are living in. And what is the. You know, this thing in relief when it comes to gay spaces?

[George Severus]

I mean, is it.

[Josh Sharp]

Now the ampersand is bad, where I'm like, you need to just be it or not it.

[Sam Taggart]

Can you describe what a place that thinks it's cool but isn't feels like?

[George Severus]

Is that Hell's Kitchen, then? Is Hell's Kitchen the medium? And that's why it's sort. We don't know what to do with it, because there is. It is. Hell's Kitchen is attempting to be the gay spot. Like, that is its goal.

[Josh Sharp]

There's a tackiness, but without any camp. Right. And there's sort of a. And I'm not against basicness. Like, as we know basicness can be. There's beauty and simplicity, but there's a time that has no cue or. Sorry, I should say there's a type that has no cue. There's the type of basic where it's like, oh, you haven't considered anything outside of the slain. And that's not that you've, like, considered it all and gone, what if I embrace the basic. You are only there no cue.

[George Severus]

And in this narrative, is Philly only there no Q? Or has Philly considered.

[Josh Sharp]

Wow. Don't you feel like Philly has sort of considered.

[Sam Taggart]

I think Philly has considered.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

I think Philly has seen what cool could be and said, I'm good.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. I think they've chosen I ride with my friends. Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. It's like, I don't need to do all that. There's a maturity to Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

There's a maturity to Philly. Well, it birthed our nation. You see that big old cracked bell? You see that bell?

[Sam Taggart]

And you say maturity that came out of that fucking hole.

[Josh Sharp]

You know, there's a maturity to fill it. You know what it is? Big old cracked bell.

[George Severus]

It's Lana Del Rey.

[Josh Sharp]

Crack my bell.

[Sam Taggart]

It's Lana Del Rey wearing American standards.

[Josh Sharp]

Kimpetris. Billy. Crack my bell.

[Sam Taggart]

Crack my bell.

[Josh Sharp]

Crack my bell. Open bitch. Slut. Pop Philly.

[George Severus]

Slut. Pop Philly.

[Sam Taggart]

Now that I want slept Poppy. Oh, my God. That's amazing.

[George Severus]

Do you think Philly is Lana Del Rey dressing normal, but not as an ironic hipster thing? It's like she has decided she has seen what cool is. She's been dressed by all the big designers, and now she is shopping at Target.

[Sam Taggart]

I. No, don't.

[George Severus]

Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

I think Philly is almost Katy Perry. Kelly Clarkson.

[George Severus]

Kelly Clarkson, yes.

[Josh Sharp]

Here's the thing that I think is wrong, but I'm gonna say it. Or is Philly Tate McCrae? And then you go, wait, you know, Arka? Do you know what I mean? You're like, I knew I liked something about you. Oh, you're friends with Arc.

[George Severus]

But I think that is more.

[Josh Sharp]

I didn't. You didn't give friends with arca to me.

[George Severus]

Don't you think, though, that is.

[Josh Sharp]

That's the maturity.

[Sam Taggart]

No, that is the maturity.

[George Severus]

Interesting. Okay.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Cause Kelly Clarkson's not totally right either. I'm trying to think of, like, what is right. Natalie Imbruglia.

[Josh Sharp]

Katie Tunsil.

[George Severus]

I mean, is it Adele?

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, maybe Philly's Adele.

[Sam Taggart]

But that's tough because I don't identify with Adele.

[George Severus]

That is tough.

[Sam Taggart]

I do identify with Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

Let's keep it you.

[George Severus]

Yeah. What is keeping you?

[Josh Sharp]

I ride for Adele.

[George Severus]

I love Adele.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm just sort of like.

[Josh Sharp]

I actually do.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

I mean, she's fine. Like, it doesn't inspire hatred or love, but you don't.

[Josh Sharp]

What about Bruno Mars? Does that feel like I ride for Bruno Mars? You know, I used to, as a hot take, say that you remember this era? This was the duplex era. Say he was better than Lady Gaga. I would be like, song for song. Name me a Gaga song, and there's a better Bruno song. I don't stand by that. It was just fun.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

I sort of agreed with it. But I do ride for Bruno.

[Sam Taggart]

No, I think. I think Bruno is properly Philly. I think that is a good.

[George Severus]

Yeah, I think Bruno is Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

What is pink?

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, my God. Yeah, there's something Midwestern about. Yeah, there's something Midwestern.

[George Severus]

I think they're gonna go ahead and play pink after the Bruno in Philly.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, they're gonna play it, but she doesn't. She doesn't symbolize the whole city.

[George Severus]

Is Philly. RuPaul's Drag Race.

[Josh Sharp]

With 2016.

[Sam Taggart]

Yes.

[Josh Sharp]

Peak RuPaul's Drag Race 2016 season eight.

[George Severus]

It's bringing out the signs that say vote.org.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, it's bobwinning after violetvote.org. you know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

You know what, to me is an essential. Okay, here's another. Okay, I'm tying it to fish. Ready?

[Josh Sharp]

Good.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

And if you thread it with Josh Sharp, tada too. If you pull that trifecta, that's gonna be fucking wrong.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, this is on you potentially something. That is us. The whole show has been a sign of Philly. Like a tried and true sign of Philly is walking around with shot glasses that are in like neon test tubes.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

When I see that, I say I am safely mark my location as in.

[Josh Sharp]

Philly marked as safe from Philly test tubes.

[Sam Taggart]

And I actually think fish is also. They don't do shot glasses in test tubes. But the culture is similar.

[Josh Sharp]

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. They do nitrous. They do. They're sucking out of the balloons from the dentist. You know what I mean? That's the shot glass of the fish scene.

[George Severus]

It's sucking out of the bi Loons is actually another track on Slub Pop. Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

What about Philly's balloons? Do we think?

[George Severus]

What about Philly's balloons do we think. And now we're back to Fiona Apple.

[Sam Taggart]

Now that's Nonlinear question asking.

[George Severus]

You are ampersanding boots with that one.

[Josh Sharp]

That is sentence that puts that part that ampersand.

[George Severus]

That ampersand.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, I just want to know what, like, are you going to try to incorporate something to symbolize to your. The attendees of your show that they're in Philly.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, the Christmas tree of it all. It's so easy to do two show night where you're seeing Josh Sharp. Ta da. And then Holly Box Brains at pieces. You know what I mean? Like, you could see an incredible queen or as George would call them. Okay. And I'm not. That's not a subtweet at the queen I named earlier.

[George Severus]

I'm just, you know, sub tit, by the way.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, yeah. Sub my tit.

[George Severus]

Sub my tit.

[Josh Sharp]

You could see an incredible piece of drag queen post show any night of the week. You could go to Duplex and sing Rose's Turn any night, both before and after my show.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

So it is sort of right in the peak neighborhood for. For the monster at all.

[Sam Taggart]

You know why Fish doesn't connect with gay people?

[Josh Sharp]

Why?

[Sam Taggart]

Like, how do I say this? There's no, like, I know there's a lead guy, but, like, he's not a diva.

[Josh Sharp]

No. And it's a collective.

[Sam Taggart]

It's a collective.

[Josh Sharp]

Even though he's profoundly the lead guy. It's with a lot of like, we. I have built this machine and we're all equal parts. Yes, I'm the architect. But you know, gay people need like a hierarchy.

[George Severus]

Well, yes, there is something almost anti, anti branding and anti capitalist about the whole machine. Because for example, with the Grateful Dead you might not know anything, but you know, the teddy bears, the rainbow bears dancing around.

[Josh Sharp]

Do you even know the fish logo?

[George Severus]

Do I?

[Josh Sharp]

This is so cool.

[Sam Taggart]

I literally don't.

[George Severus]

What is it?

[Josh Sharp]

Maybe this speaks to it. Because something else they talk about in the article is at the time they were getting big, they just talk about how much most bands, when they finally have access, they would make use of things. But they were like, oh, finally we have the freedom to do. To say no to all the stuff we wanna do. For 30 years they've demanded that every venue they're in, any forward facing ads to the audience are covered. So people go early and cover with curtains any billboards or advertisements in the space. Cause they're like, you should not come in and see a Coke ad.

[George Severus]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Josh Sharp]

And every venue does it. Cause they sell a billion tickets. So there's things like that where they're like, oh, at a time when you be like, what's my brand deal? They're like, how do we eliminate brands from this magical space? Slay.

[Sam Taggart]

No, that's cool. Slay credit where credits do.

[George Severus]

But that is capital ones.

[Sam Taggart]

Lady Gaga could never.

[George Severus]

Well, first of all, I want to go back to the logo, of course, Casper Mattress. But I do think that's a big part of why it's so siphoned off from the rest of culture is because there's like no advertising of it. It's literally like by word of mouth. And if you know, you know.

[Josh Sharp]

And even then you need a guide.

[George Severus]

And even then, you know, like, even.

[Josh Sharp]

If your friends like listen to Fish, they'd have to be like, but let me make the playlist. Yes, or else you will go. You will not get it.

[George Severus]

It is a fashion, community building. Where else are we seeing that?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, yeah. Other jam bands also, you know, weirdly, they've sort of invented festival culture, right? Like that is massive. The Coachella of it all. I mean, also, you know, Jane's Addiction did. Nobody wants to have that conversation. The originator of Lalapalooza.

[Sam Taggart]

I didn't know this.

[Josh Sharp]

It was originally a festival that Jane's Addiction started in the 90s and then became Lollapalooza. But at the same time, Fish was showing, throwing festivals that are only fish and 100,000 people come. There's no other bands But Fish, but they do, like, build a village, and there's, like, art and installations and weirdo shit happening. When Bonnaroo started, which sort of started the modern resurgence of last 20 years of festivals, because they knew, because it was more of a jam band festival at its inception, they went to Fish as people were like, how do you do a festival? And so Fish top Bonnaroo, and then now we have Coachella.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow.

[Josh Sharp]

You know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

So there's so many weird things where it's like. It's crazy that Fish is that girl. Until Billy Joel did the Billy Joel, they were the band that had most played the Garden.

[Sam Taggart]

That's crazy.

[Josh Sharp]

They played there, like, a hundred times and sold out every show.

[Sam Taggart]

87.

[George Severus]

Whoa.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm getting fact checked again, and I'm appreciative of it.

[Sam Taggart]

And if only we could do that to the Cheeto in chief.

[George Severus]

Oh, my God, if only.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you.

[George Severus]

But he won't come on the podcast. He's afraid.

[Josh Sharp]

Have you tried? Tried?

[George Severus]

Yes, Josh, we tried.

[Sam Taggart]

Could you imagine?

[George Severus]

I think we haven't tried.

[Sam Taggart]

You think we haven't tried?

[Josh Sharp]

What topic do you think he'd do?

[Sam Taggart]

I think he.

[Josh Sharp]

What if he did Cheetos?

[George Severus]

And it's, like, charming because he's making fun of himself and he.

[Sam Taggart]

He is, like, really self aware. It's, like, amazing.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah. Yeah.

[George Severus]

What.

[Sam Taggart]

What.

[George Severus]

What topic would he do if he was really self aware? I guess he could do Cheetos. He could do, like, Apprentice.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Business.

[George Severus]

Business.

[Sam Taggart]

I think it would be funny if, like, one day he got bonked on the head and, like, woke up and.

[Josh Sharp]

Just as a physical gag.

[George Severus]

Yeah, Just.

[Josh Sharp]

I know there's more, but just period. Well, he gets bonked on the head. That part. I'm laughing.

[George Severus]

That part.

[Sam Taggart]

That part.

[George Severus]

No, he gets bonked on the head and wakes up, he's like, I want to do a run of my show.

[Sam Taggart]

If he got bonked on the head and then was like, oh, my God, isn't it weird that I'm doing this? Like, isn't it crazy? Like, that would be really fun.

[Josh Sharp]

Little cartoon birds flying around.

[George Severus]

Big dizzy eyes holds a press conference. Never mind. That's my Trump impression.

[Josh Sharp]

It's so good. This is your new hour, right?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Here's mine.

[Josh Sharp]

Never mind.

[George Severus]

Wow, that's really good.

[Josh Sharp]

Here's mine.

[George Severus]

And that's the title track from Fiona Apple's new record. She recorded it all at home with her dogs. That's the sound of the dog with the terminal illness.

[Josh Sharp]

Rest in peace, the dog she had at that Time. Rest in power.

[Sam Taggart]

Rest in power.

[George Severus]

That time, that time, that time.

[Josh Sharp]

That time, that time.

[Sam Taggart]

This is Trump pop.

[Josh Sharp]

That's good.

[George Severus]

Instead of that part, maybe if Trump got bonked on the head, he would release Trump pop. Miami.

[Josh Sharp]

This is Trump pop. That's good.

[Sam Taggart]

That's really good. Get your bonks out.

[George Severus]

January 6th.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, that's good.

[Sam Taggart]

Terror in my anus. Ifs.

[Josh Sharp]

Rolls off the tongue.

[George Severus]

Rolls off the tongue. That's another trick.

[Josh Sharp]

There we go.

[George Severus]

Rolls Royce off the tongue. That's a Kim Petrus track.

[Sam Taggart]

Lick my Cheetos.

[Josh Sharp]

I can't wait to be brought in. I can't wait for the intro to be over.

[George Severus]

Should we bring in our guests?

[Sam Taggart]

Please welcome to the podcast Philly's favorite comedian, Josh Sharp.

[Josh Sharp]

Yes, I'll be playing the Philly Theater.

[George Severus]

Oh, I love that theater.

[Josh Sharp]

Josh Sharp. Tada. The big Philly theater right downtown. You can't miss it. It's just under uptown and it's gonna be amazing.

[George Severus]

Have you ever been to Denver?

[Josh Sharp]

Actually, no.

[Sam Taggart]

You can't ask some of that, George.

[George Severus]

I'm going. Sorry to be so cute, but I'm going to Denver. There's no way around it because I'm seeing Rylo Kiley at Red Rocks and.

[Sam Taggart]

That rule, when you posted about that, I thought you were kids.

[George Severus]

No, serious, that rules. And so we've been looking for where to stay and whatever.

[Josh Sharp]

Are they doing like the 20th anniversary of Black Light tour or whatever?

[George Severus]

I don't remember if it's. It might be.

[Josh Sharp]

But you guys need to get into Ryla Kiley more. That's like a. Such a. Like, so like a. You know what I mean?

[George Severus]

Rylo Kylie is one of. I actually recently had this experience with Gossip Beth to do's band where these are things I think everyone knows and everyone stands and then you realize no one. I saw Gossip posted it literally got one reply.

[Josh Sharp]

I feel the same about the Knife. Another band from that era.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, different Knife.

[Josh Sharp]

But so many gay guys have. No, so many gay guys don't know they are like.

[George Severus]

Or her solo career.

[Josh Sharp]

Girls are at the raves and you. Yeah, it's all good. It's all good. Anyway. Fever Ray.

[Sam Taggart]

That's. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Let's rile that part. That part.

[George Severus]

That. That part.

[Sam Taggart]

I actually don't know. Rylo, Kylie, I'm coming clean.

[Josh Sharp]

You should like, listen to Jenny Lewis at all.

[George Severus]

No, it's her band. Oh, you. It's really good because there are.

[Josh Sharp]

There is a class of gay guys, not you we know, who know Ginny Lewis and don't know Riley Kylie at all. Hello.

[George Severus]

It's like gay guys that know Caroline Polachek but don't know chairlift.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you.

[George Severus]

And that is a part.

[Josh Sharp]

That part. That is such a. That part. Yeah. What you just said is such. This is why we need it back. Cause that is the response to that. My whole body screams that part. You know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Damn. That's so Walt Whitman of you.

[Josh Sharp]

So true.

[Sam Taggart]

My whole body screaming that part.

[Josh Sharp]

As I take loads in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

[George Severus]

Walt Wart Titman is another track off of Slut Pop.

[Josh Sharp]

Cambridge. Back to Cambridge. Back to Slut Pop. Cambridge.

[George Severus]

Slut Pop. Walden Pond actually is coming out soon.

[Josh Sharp]

How many grasses did I get out of a thousand? I don't know if we said it. We got. We went on a tangent. So we are sort of still in that segment.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, it's still non linear.

[Josh Sharp]

Well, we're liminal. We're still in that segment. Yeah, but we can't.

[George Severus]

But I think because we're so liminal, we can't give you a number. I think your score was baramoto emoji.

[Josh Sharp]

Understood.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Your scale score was bear emoji.

[Josh Sharp]

That's. Well, damn. That's what that is.

[George Severus]

That's either good or bad.

[Josh Sharp]

Either good or bad.

[Sam Taggart]

That's ampersand.

[George Severus]

What if you named your child either?

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, either. Oh, that's good. You have to hear the mother yelling.

[George Severus]

It out either way. And also it is actually really.

[Sam Taggart]

You're gonna have a mother.

[Josh Sharp]

I am the mother. I am the Mother.

[Sam Taggart]

Come through RuPaul.

[Josh Sharp]

Come through, RuPaul. Vote.

[Sam Taggart]

I am the mother.

[Josh Sharp]

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. Vote. That's another track. Vote.

[Sam Taggart]

But seriously, you guys, get out there.

[George Severus]

But seriously, you guys, please vote.

[Sam Taggart]

Should we do our final segment? How long I. I've lost track of.

[Josh Sharp]

We've been so nonlinear and so non linear. You tell me where we at.

[George Severus]

Where are we at?

[Sam Taggart]

Time wise is.

[George Severus]

Yeah, we should do our final segment.

[Josh Sharp]

Any. Any lingering fish notions?

[George Severus]

I mean, really, you're asking us just things. That's very cute.

[Josh Sharp]

Things. Yeah, it is cute. I just want to know if there's anything that you needed addressed that didn't know.

[George Severus]

I know. And I do feel like it was.

[Josh Sharp]

A touchstone for us.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

You know, it didn't need to be the bedrock. It was a touchstone.

[Sam Taggart]

It was a touchstone.

[Josh Sharp]

If we're just making different sort of geological rock based touch.

[George Severus]

My stone, by the way, it was.

[Sam Taggart]

Like a limestone layer.

[Josh Sharp]

Good.

[Sam Taggart]

They played a festival in limestone Maine.

[Josh Sharp]

There we go.

[George Severus]

Oh, my God. And I watched the Limestone Festival in Blue Mix, Indiana.

[Sam Taggart]

You're literally just like.

[George Severus]

Well, I'm sort of like, Fish. Can I ask something basic?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

What is the backstory of the name Fish spelled with a ph?

[Josh Sharp]

Great question. I don't know. Do you know that?

[Sam Taggart]

I do?

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Of course there's a couple different stories.

[George Severus]

But when they first started. So they started in 83, and when.

[Josh Sharp]

They first started at Goddard College.

[George Severus]

At Goddard College.

[Sam Taggart]

College, which had 33 people in every.

[George Severus]

Year when they graduated.

[Josh Sharp]

Whoa.

[George Severus]

They wanted to be.

[Sam Taggart]

That's what they wanted to be.

[George Severus]

And that's why it's the ph.

[Josh Sharp]

But people, everyone was just like, what?

[George Severus]

Oh.

[Josh Sharp]

And then it became Fish. This is news to me.

[Sam Taggart]

I'm learning they wanted to be.

[George Severus]

Do you think that's so ahead of their time? Because I'm thinking of that very pitchforky band that is three exclamation points.

[Josh Sharp]

Yeah, yeah. Chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick.

[Sam Taggart]

That's it.

[George Severus]

That's so fish.

[Josh Sharp]

I love to learn that. Because even though I'm so tapped out of this scene because it was like the thing I obsessed over from years, like 17 to 22, like, I think even now if you played a live Fish recording, I would know the song and I probably could tell you the year and maybe month of it. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's still a part of my brain that knows every single thing about this band. So to learn something new, that's huge. That's huge for me. In all of my. As someone literate in the lore. I didn't know that part. That part.

[George Severus]

Part.

[Sam Taggart]

That part.

[George Severus]

That part.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, that's just like how we want to be called Aeolab. And people kept saying Stradio Lab.

[Josh Sharp]

And so you just became Stradio Lab.

[George Severus]

First time we ever sold out. One of many.

[Sam Taggart]

One of many. It's a slippery slope.

[Josh Sharp]

One of many.

[Sam Taggart]

But seriously, you guys, how down the.

[Josh Sharp]

Barrel this episode has been, you know, because you guys sold out now.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

You resisted that urge to make this one punk. And it's just so clear and cogent and literate. First time listeners would know every single word.

[George Severus]

Oh, yeah. No, this is the blueprint.

[Josh Sharp]

This is the blueprint. This is going to be the FYC episode, right?

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Well, you know, everything you touch becomes a four year consideration.

[Josh Sharp]

That part.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, we should do our final segment.

[George Severus]

That part. Josh.

[Sam Taggart]

Our final segment is called Shout Outs. And in this segment we pay homage to the grand Strait tradition of the radio. Shout out. Shouting out to Anything that we are enjoying. People, places, things, ideas. Imagine 2001, you're in times Square, shouting out to your squad back home.

[Josh Sharp]

What's funny about that is I'm literally in Times Square right now. But it's 2016.

[George Severus]

That's the part that's the same. Yes, it is.

[Josh Sharp]

But the part that's the same is.

[Sam Taggart]

Times Square, so that's the same.

[Josh Sharp]

We're coming to you live from Times Square.

[George Severus]

We are coming to you live from Times Square.

[Sam Taggart]

We are coming to you.

[Josh Sharp]

No, cap.

[George Severus]

No cap.

[Sam Taggart]

No cap.

[George Severus]

Is that coming back?

[Josh Sharp]

No, it's too fresh. But it could in, like, three. But I'm more warm on BET being something that's fun to do in four years.

[George Severus]

By the way, no. FAP is another track off of Smallpox and Bitch.

[Josh Sharp]

Instead of fat. People will get that. That's fat.

[Sam Taggart]

When you said profoundly earlier, I was trying to think of a pun, and the only thing I got was, propound me. Me.

[Josh Sharp]

That's.

[George Severus]

And you didn't say that out loud.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, because.

[George Severus]

What the hell is wrong with you?

[Sam Taggart]

Because I.

[George Severus]

You're leaving ideas like that on the table.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, because I was like, if I say, propound me, no one's gonna be like, that's profoundly.

[Josh Sharp]

We would know that.

[George Severus]

Oh, I see what you're saying.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

But also, there's so many lyrical directions there. Like, I am pro. Pound me. I am pro. The idea of you pounding me.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, yeah. I'm definitely proud.

[Josh Sharp]

And there's additional.

[George Severus]

I'm pro at being pounded.

[Sam Taggart]

Pro. Pounded.

[George Severus]

Pro. I'm a pro. Pound me.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Wow. Should we do? Okay. How do we do it? I'm like, george, I don't have one.

[George Severus]

Oh, yeah. I don't either.

[Josh Sharp]

Josh, I could do one.

[Sam Taggart]

You want to go first?

[Josh Sharp]

That's cool. Sure. If you need that.

[Sam Taggart]

I actually.

[George Severus]

We always think of them on the.

[Josh Sharp]

Spot, but of course, I just had one. Come to me on the spot.

[George Severus]

Okay. Go.

[Sam Taggart]

Great.

[Josh Sharp]

And this helped. You know, I came in too early on the intro. I should come in too early on the close. Yeah. Don't you feel as if it bookends for the listener and especially the watcher? It gives a bookend.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Okay. Shout out to Love on the Spectrum. It's the greatest show on television. I'm so happy it's back. These are my absolute friends, y' all. This is the Friends cast. To me is Love on the Spectrum. I talk about a warm bath. I'm spending time with David, with Abby, with Tanner, with Connor. I'm loving my life all of the New people are so good. I was weeping like I'm reading the New Yorker Fish article. Watching this season of Love on the spectrum I have. I wish every person would watch that show. I think it is so that part the best. You know what I mean?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

So shouts out to all of them. I would love to meet or work with any of you. Please find me. Run up to me in a public space with a weapon if you need. I want to know you, I want to be friends with you and I want to celebrate you most of all.

[George Severus]

Woo.

[Josh Sharp]

Woo.

[Sam Taggart]

I have also been. I started season one like two weeks ago and I love it.

[Josh Sharp]

It is the best. Yeah, I am very fish about it where it's like I have such earnest admiration for the show and the people.

[Sam Taggart]

On it and they're so funny and it's really nice.

[Josh Sharp]

They're so funny.

[George Severus]

Okay, I have one.

[Sam Taggart]

Thank God.

[George Severus]

What's up? I'm gonna keep going with the television theme. What's up television viewers? I want to give a shout out to this very particular state that I can will my brain to be in. It is it. It is a version of the Sunken Place but it is I think has a little more joie de vivre and I have been accessing it every night over the last calendar month when every night I am watching family guy on hulu.com seems to me I am on season. I didn't start from the very beginning, but regardless of where I started, I'm on season 11. I am watching it, I am letting it autoplay and I am fully watching Family Guy by myself on my computer.

[Josh Sharp]

In bed as God intended.

[George Severus]

I am shutting off any part of my brain that is reacting to anything and it is washing over me the same way. Honestly, a warm bath would I think when I am ready to comment on what I am seeing, I will activate. But for now, I am in this very special brain state that I think is very liminal and is very ampersand. And I think rather than judging myself for it, I am going to sit in it and see what comes of it.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow, that is crazy.

[Josh Sharp]

Pre activated.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, I can't wait to see.

[George Severus]

If you want to see people, if you want to see people look shocked, if you want to see the light drain from people's face, tell them you've been watching Family Guy. People on all communities, we're talking gay, straight, alt, mainstream, old, young. Never seen a reaction like that. And I've done many things that have that are. You've done many things that are considered taboo thing.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, what's up freaks, losers and perverts around the globe. I would like to give a shout out to. You know that thing when you wake up and you're like, really stressed out, and it's like 3am and you're like, why am I awake? And then you lay there. I want to give a shout out to getting up and saying, you know what? Enough. I'm gonna do stuff. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna fucking do stuff until I get tired. And I find that this is a much more productive way.

[Josh Sharp]

What kind of stuff?

[Sam Taggart]

I'm. Well, one, I'm reading.

[George Severus]

Jerking it.

[Sam Taggart]

Sometimes I'm jerking it. Sometimes I'm having a beautiful water. Sometimes I'm journaling. Sometimes as soon as I write down everything that's running through my mind, I'm like, oh, that's it. Okay, time for bed.

[Josh Sharp]

You need to download.

[Sam Taggart]

You basically just have to walk around and be like, okay, enough just laying here. And then I have a book. I've got a little light for my book so that I can read it without waking up. Misha. And it is an amazing, amazing feeling to just lean in. And honestly, sometimes when your mind is racing, you actually are having good ideas and you just have to roll with it because you can't know when the spirit of creativity is going to enter you. So when you wake up at 3am, just roll with it. Xoxo, Sam.

[Josh Sharp]

I'm an adherent of this, but it's a practice you can't always follow because it's happening in a space, a liminal space, where your mind is not always your mind. So there's times where the next day I forget that I know this is the North Star. And I'm so frustrated to not have, you know, pointed my sled dogs towards it.

[George Severus]

By the way, I just read on Billboard that Limb Anal Space on a Billboard premiered. Limb Anal Space has just premiered and it's the lead single of Slut Pop Cambridge.

[Josh Sharp]

Limb Anal Space.

[Sam Taggart]

Limb Anal Space.

[Josh Sharp]

That's good.

[Sam Taggart]

Wow. If anybody out there has a lot of time and a Photoshop account, we would love for you to make an album cover with the track list of all the tracks that we have named today.

[Josh Sharp]

Please have one of the tracks be www.josharptada.com that is graphic on this graphic that you will share far and wide on the Internet.

[Sam Taggart]

Can you make it.com and then invest.com?

[Josh Sharp]

Perfect.

[Sam Taggart]

Okay, perfect. Well, everyone go see Josh's show and.

[Josh Sharp]

July 7th tickets on sale now. Tickets recently on sale at the moment that this Episode is coming out.

[George Severus]

Josh sharpta.com Yep.

[Josh Sharp]

And you know, I need the Stradio Lab freaks there.

[George Severus]

I agree.

[Josh Sharp]

Honestly. And I'm going to say this on this podcast and no else. Y' all will get the show more than every other podcast audience. We know that.

[Sam Taggart]

You say that to all the girls.

[Josh Sharp]

You said, but don't know.

[Sam Taggart]

You're going on Exploration Live and you're saying that exact same shit.

[George Severus]

You're going to the Daily and you're saying, michael Barbaro, your listeners are going to absolutely freak.

[Josh Sharp]

The Daily listeners will hate my show. And I will tell that to Michael, Barbara. I'll say it to his face. I'm here to talk about the topic of the day, but not my show. I do not want your listeners there. I will say to Barbaro, do you.

[Sam Taggart]

Think you could turn him gay again?

[Josh Sharp]

I think he's got some cues. I think some cues.

[George Severus]

This podcast, he's kind of the king of being Q.

[Sam Taggart]

He's like Ampersand coded.

[George Severus]

He is so Ampersand. He is Ampersand down.

[Josh Sharp]

Have you had him on?

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[George Severus]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

Actually, no.

[George Severus]

Well, we had him on, but it was a bad episode. We ended up. Not really.

[Josh Sharp]

We deleted it.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah.

[Josh Sharp]

This was mutually agreed upon from both parties. Yeah.

[Sam Taggart]

Yeah, we told him to off.

[Josh Sharp]

Is this known or is this. No, no, no.

[George Severus]

I cannot believe.

[Josh Sharp]

I don't know. I don't know what y' all podcast queens be doing. Y' all have. Y' all have a community. Y' all are the fish. You know, there's an issue.

[George Severus]

The fish.

[Sam Taggart]

Y' all are.

[Josh Sharp]

Y' all are the push.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, Michael Barbaro, it's an open invite.

[George Severus]

It's an open invite.

[Josh Sharp]

Actually, Barbara, you can come to opening night. I'm gonna save you a ticket in the front. Waiting for Guffman style. I'm see if Barbara comes. Reserved for Barbara.

[Sam Taggart]

Oh, that'll be nice. And every night you look and he's not there. And you.

[Josh Sharp]

I guess this one's just for me.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, Josh, thanks so much for doing the pod.

[Josh Sharp]

Oh, my God. A blessing. An absolute blessing. And to be in the IRL kind of way.

[Sam Taggart]

I know. Thank God.

[George Severus]

And I just want to say thank you, everyone who has participated in the week of Stradiolab.

[Sam Taggart]

Six episodes and a live show.

[George Severus]

One live show. Endless opportunities and endless fun and endless play. Fish style.

[Josh Sharp]

Thank you.

[Sam Taggart]

Well, bye. Bye. Podcast ends now.

[George Severus]

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 learners.

[Sam Taggart]

Free full length video episodes are available on our YouTube.

[George Severus]

Now get back to work.

[Sam Taggart]

Stradiolab is a Production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network and iHeart Podcasts.

[George Severus]

Created and hosted by George Severis and.

[Sam Taggart]

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

[George Severus]

Avalos Artwork by Michael Fails and Matt.

[Sam Taggart]

Grubb Theme music by Ben Kling.

[George Severus]

This is Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This podcast is sponsored by PayPal. All right readers, Katie's Publicist finalist Kyle's it's time to talk about one of the most iconic payment brands out there. That's right. Right? It's PayPal. PayPal lets you do you. Meaning you can pay your own way.

[Sam Taggart]

PayPal offers people flexibility on how they can pay.

[George Severus]

Once you click the PayPal button, you.

[Sam Taggart]

Can choose from a bunch of payment.

[George Severus]

Options, including paying later with PayPal at millions of online stores. Iconic Pay in store, pay online, pay overtime.

[Sam Taggart]

Don't just pay PayPal.

[George Severus]

Learn [e-mail] Are you still quoting 30 year old movies?

[Josh Sharp]

Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, and every time you make a purchase with your.

[Sam Taggart]

Card, you automatically earn cash back.

[Josh Sharp]

Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report the best moments happen when you're with your people, laughing, vibing and just enjoying life. Coke is making those moments even sweeter. Share a Coke is back and it's.

[George Severus]

All about sharing with the whole crew.

[Josh Sharp]

Doesn't matter if it's your bestie or bro, there's a can with their name on it. So grab one for the squad and make some memories.

[George Severus]

But hurry, because these Coca Cola limited.

[Sam Taggart]

Edition bottles and cans won't be here forever.

[George Severus]

Don't miss your chance to share a Coke with all your favorite people. Since its invention, the TV has been just that, a tv. But what if it could be something more? Meet Samsung Vision AI Whether it's upscaling classic content to look brand new or translating in English broadcast subtitles to Spanish in real time, Samsung Vision AI helps you get more from TV than you ever thought possible. Redefine what it means to watch TV with Samsung Vision AI. Visit Samsung.com to learn more. Vision AI features vary by model. Upscaling utilizes AI based formulas and results may vary based on source content.

[Josh Sharp]

Translation accuracy not guaranteed.

[George Severus]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.