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The Commercial Break
12 Days Of TCB: Drama Drops & Yule Logs
01:00:22
Episode #654: The 12 Days of TCB begins, and we are starting this off the only way we know how: drama dropping some hot goss about our guests! Donate to St. Jude & The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund Happy 12 Days of TCB! Bryan isn't into The Bear Billy Strings The end of the Eras Tour We are supporting St. Jude! DRAMA DROP! Our favorite and least favorite guests Yule Logs & Tree Lightings Text us or leave us a voicemail: +1 (212) 433-3TCB Follow Us: IG: @thecommercialbreak TikTok: @tcbpodcast YT: youtube.com/thecommercialbreak www.tcbpodcast.com Executive Producer: Bryan Green Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley Producer: Astrid B. Green Producer & Audio Editor: Christina Archer Christina’s Podcast: Apple Podcasts & Spotify To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Transcript380 lines
- [00:00]
A
Four o', clock, wallow in self pity. 4:30, stare into the abyss. Five o', clock, solve world hunger. Tell no one. 5:30, Jazzercise, 6:30, dinner with me. I can't cancel that again. Seven o', clock, wrestle with my self loathing. I'm booked quarter of a month of loathing to nine. I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear? The next episode of the commercial break starts now.
- [00:40]
B
And we're gonna have the half, half happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap dance with Danny fucking Kats and kittens. Welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is the jingle to my jangle Chris and Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Chris.
- [00:53]
C
Best to you, Brian.
- [00:54]
B
The best you out there in the podcast universe. Welcome to the first annual, the inaugural 12 Days of TCB. Don't you feel privileged and special? Doesn't this feel very like a totally different episode than normal?
- [01:08]
C
Yes, it does.
- [01:09]
B
I'm wearing my festive clothing. Kristen's got her. Chrissy's got her festive. What is that, a shirt over there?
- [01:15]
C
It's his festive shirt with a bow.
- [01:17]
B
I was hoping you were gonna wear a bra, like one of those. A sparkly Christmas bra like, you know, like in the, in the vacation movies. How. What was her. Beverly d' Angelo would always come out with some festive negligee on.
- [01:30]
C
That's right.
- [01:30]
B
I was hoping you're gonna wear a festive negligee. Well, I guess we all lose on this one. We all lose. Except for Jeff. Jeff's the only winner of this one. The 12 days of TCB. Thank you very much. This will start the first of 12 episodes of the commercial break every single day. Why I agreed to this, I have no clue. But here we are doing it as. As we all rake ourselves over the calls.
- [01:56]
D
Yep.
- [01:57]
B
You know, our network comes to us with great ideas and I just agree. I just agree. I don't. I'm just an agreeable guy. I'm like, yeah, that sounds great. How many bonus you need? 30? Sure, why not?
- [02:06]
C
Yeah. Well, you agreed months ago, so, you know, it's one of those things where it sounds like a good idea until you're doing it.
- [02:12]
B
Well, listen, it sounds. It sounded like really good news when they came to me because they were like, listen, just, there's pressure on inventory in December and we're going to need to get extra bonus episodes out there. And I'm like, sure. And they're like, so can you come up with an idea for a bonus episode or two? And then I come up with the 12 days of TCB. 16 extra episodes. There you go. There's, like, only two days of December where we're not putting.
- [02:35]
C
I know.
- [02:37]
B
It's fantastic.
- [02:38]
C
We're in it now.
- [02:38]
B
Well, listen, we're going to take it with. We're going to take it with a smile and grab your mistletoe and your missile blow, and we'll all get through it together. I was thinking about the 12 days of TCB, and I was watching the bear, which I have started now. Hot take.
- [02:56]
C
Good for you.
- [02:56]
B
Hot take. Not my. Not my favorite show.
- [02:58]
C
Years later.
- [03:00]
B
Yeah. Six years later, Brian starts the bear. Well, we actually had, like, a night with nothing. I mean, a night where Astrid and I put the kids to bed and we were both still awake with a little bit of energy left in the tank.
- [03:11]
C
Right. Which is rare.
- [03:12]
B
Yeah. And so she says, let's watch a show. Let's get into a show. I'm like, all right, which show? The Bear. Okay, sounds great. I like that idea. Everyone's been talking about it since 2017. Let's get into that show. And here's my hot take. Loved the music. I mean, the music.
- [03:29]
C
Yeah, the music's great.
- [03:30]
B
The soundtrack to the bear is fucking fantastic. Anytime Wilco, Pearl Jam, and Beastie Boys is in the first episode, you can pretty much be guaranteed that the soundtrack is incredible. But I didn't love the show itself. I liked it. I didn't love it, but, you know, I don't know.
- [03:48]
C
Maybe there's been buildup for you, because everybody's been saying how great it is, and it's fantastic. And then now you're. You have these huge expectations.
- [03:56]
B
Like a lot of the women in my life.
- [03:57]
C
Sometimes, like a lot of the women.
- [03:59]
B
In my life, the buildup was huge. And then it was such a letdown.
- [04:02]
C
Yeah, I will.
- [04:04]
B
I'm gonna see it through time. I've only gone through two episodes, so. But I. I don't get. Can you explain to me why the bear in the cage at the beginning of the show?
- [04:14]
C
It's been so long since I watched that first season, I can't even remember the bear in the cage now.
- [04:19]
B
It's the very first scene of the very first show. The bear comes out of the cage. And at first I thought, is. Is there some, like, symbolism. Symbolism there for Chicago and the bears and the cubs. And so I thought maybe that's why they call him the bear. But maybe I just haven't gotten to the part where they explain why he's called the Bear.
- [04:36]
C
Fill me back in on that.
- [04:37]
B
Okay, I will. But let me, let me ask you about another part in the show that maybe somebody out there can explain to me. There is he. This noted James Beard award winning chef comes back home after his brother dies to take over his family Italian beef sandwich shop, which. Okay, let's suspend disbelief just for a second that the James Beard award winner is coming back to the Italian beef shop in Chicago. He comes, but then there are flashbacks of when he is working at like French Laundry and moma and these, you know, incredible fancy restaurants. And then I can't remember the guy, the guy used to do talk soup. What was his name?
- [05:17]
C
Joel McHale.
- [05:17]
B
Joel McHale. Joel McHale comes in. He plays an executive chef at what I think is MoMA or French or French.
- [05:23]
C
That's right. I forgot about that.
- [05:25]
B
And then he's like talking to him in his ear and he is just degradated. Yeah. He's like, you go die. You should die. That's how terrible you are. And I thought to myself, that seems a little bit unrealistic. Maybe this is dreamlike.
- [05:36]
C
Maybe this. No, they've. There's been exposes on these, like really, you know, high end restaurants, how the main chef is just awful.
- [05:44]
B
Well, I know main chef can be awful. I've seen it in action, but go die.
- [05:48]
C
Yeah, I really. It gets extreme.
- [05:51]
B
Yeah. I mean, the way that they show the upper, like the, the part of his career where he was in these very fine dining room, like the best restaurants in the world. French Laundry is intense and it's whitewashed and it's like a. I don't know, like a. It's like an army there. If all the chefs are like in an army and they all are directed by a general and that general is no holds barred and he's going to break you down and build you back up, I suppose. But I've been with. I've worked in a lot of restaurants and I've worked with a lot of asshole chefs. Tends to be, I guess that's the way a chef has to be, is to get everybody in line. He has to make sure that everything's up to standards and up to snuff. But that seemed to me, to me to be a little bit unrealistic that a chef would say, go, dot. But you've read an expose where these chefs are.
- [06:41]
C
Yeah, no, I mean, I've. Well, Anthony Bourdain's book, you know, that came up, Kitchen Confidential.
- [06:46]
B
Kitchen Confidential.
- [06:46]
C
Talk a lot about it too. You know, so it's. It's kind of a thing. And I think there was a backlash. I think there's been a backlash from all of that. Toxic workplace behavior.
- [06:58]
B
Okay. All right. That's. I. I don't know. Okay. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna watch. I'm gonna keep going with the bear, and we'll. We'll see what happens. But I wasn't, like, the first two episodes didn't. Didn't get me. I wasn't like, I. Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, where I was like, oh, my God, I gotta watch the rest. I can't.
- [07:12]
C
Right.
- [07:12]
B
I can't wait for the next episode to come out. So tell me about your weekend. You texted me and said you. I have to hear about my weekend.
- [07:21]
C
Oh, God. I know. It was. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. We went to Billy on Friday nights. Billy Strings was really good. I had not been to a. Just a straight Billy Strings concert.
- [07:34]
B
Okay.
- [07:35]
C
I had seen him.
- [07:35]
B
Had you been to a gay Billy Strings concert?
- [07:37]
C
I've not. I've seen him play at festivals and did, yeah. So. And he's great. But, yeah, the show was amazing. It was. The light show was really incredible. And the visuals that they had up there, it was a lot different than I expected. I think there was five, maybe people up on. Five or six people up on the stage.
- [07:59]
B
Five musicians. Okay.
- [08:00]
C
Yeah. And it was good. It was something that.
- [08:03]
B
Does Billy Strings have, like, a Pink Floyd, like, light show that's going on while he's playing?
- [08:08]
C
It definitely had, like. It had kind of a fishy vibe, widespread panicky type vibe to it. So that was. That was interesting and good.
- [08:17]
B
Where did he play?
- [08:17]
C
Bluegrass isn't my favorite. Go to genre of music.
- [08:21]
B
I think Billy Strings made it. Made it a thing.
- [08:24]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can appreciate it, though. So. Yeah.
- [08:28]
B
Where did he play?
- [08:29]
C
He was in Memphis at the FedEx forum. He was at the big arena for two nights.
- [08:34]
B
For two nights. So that's what, like 12,000 people? Something like that. So 24,000. I mean, Memphis, I think, would be a place where Billy Strings would do well. So. Big light show. Billy Strings plays bluegrass. I do like bluegrass. He plays more of, I think, a mainstream version of bluegrass. He makes it accessible in a lot of ways. He's also the second fifth, no pun intended. He's the second fiddle to a lot of other musical acts. You know, he. He shows up places and he steals the show.
- [09:03]
C
Right.
- [09:03]
B
And then I think that makes People want to go. And I mean, there are videos out there of Billy Strings playing in like a basement at the end of a party to like two people playing a song and they're blown away. And the videos are grainy and awful. And he's just, he's really amazing at what he does.
- [09:20]
C
I agree, I agree. So I encourage people to check him out.
- [09:23]
B
So I would imagine that everyone was sober at the Billy Strings concert.
- [09:27]
C
Yeah, of course.
- [09:28]
B
Yeah.
- [09:28]
C
I got handed a double tequila right when I first got there.
- [09:31]
B
Oh, you did? Is there a big scene at a Billy Strings concert?
- [09:36]
C
There seemed to be.
- [09:37]
B
Is there a Shakedown Street?
- [09:38]
C
No. Well, I didn't. We didn't go to the Shakedown Street.
- [09:40]
B
Are there string heads?
- [09:41]
C
There might be.
- [09:42]
B
Are there string heads? Are there string cheese heads? I don't know. Are there people who go.
- [09:46]
C
I think there's definitely a base that is following him around.
- [09:50]
B
Is he doing like 203, 200 nights a year? I mean, I know he's doing 200 nights a year somewhere, like with somebody. He's showing up places and he's doing things. But I've. I'm interested to know if Billy Strings is like a fish type tour person. Is he really hitting the road a lot? I guess you must be. If you're have a late show and all that, you must be doing a lot of shows in a row, right? Because that's a big investment that you got to make. Speaking of big shows, Taylor Swift ended her Eras tour.
- [10:17]
C
It finally came to you as we're.
- [10:19]
B
Recording this over the weekend. I mean, yeah, you'll. You'll hear this on Friday. So over the weekend. And apparently that left a lot of people distraught, including myself, because now what's my wife going to talk about? What's going to go on for the.
- [10:31]
C
What an amazing thing to go. I mean, how long does it has.
- [10:34]
B
Been going on for years, two and a half years, I think. I don't have all the details, but it certainly is. So Astrid was sharing with me. I said, you know, she was sad in a way. And I. And she goes, I don't know. I don't know why I feel like this. She's. End of an Eras is an end of an era. Right. And she said to me, you know, I don't feel like I've ever felt connected to an event, a musical event in the way that I felt connected to the Eras Tour. And she. Over 10 million people have come in and out of the turnstiles to see her do the perform this show. I think we can all agree the ERAS tour is probably the most successful live production that has ever been put on of any show. I mean, maybe with the notable exception of, like, Broadway plays that have been going on forever and ever, like Phantom of the Opera or whatever. True. But as far as musical acts are concerned, you know, pure live music acts, I think Taylor Swift has put on the biggest, the best and the most attended, certainly the most, the highest grossing. And there are just so many little details that people have hung on to that then Taylor makes special for the audience. That's sweet that it's. I think I can understand where Astrid is coming from. She's gotten really involved in those little details, and it's made it fun for her to see which dress she wears during which. You know, it's a community of people.
- [11:54]
C
Talking about it too.
- [11:55]
B
Which song is she gonna play? Who's the little kid who's gonna get the hat at them in the middle of the set. And all the other little things that people have kind of gravitated toward that have made the Heiress tour so special and have given people a reason to pay tens of thousands of dollars to see it. I mean, it is insane.
- [12:12]
C
Incredible.
- [12:13]
B
I can't remember ever in my lifetime, maybe with the exception of the Michael Jackson bad tour, I cannot remember people going as crazy over a musical event as they have over the ERAs tour. So the ERAs tour comes to an end. So Astrid was like, it's just sad there won't be another ERA show. And, you know, whatever. I won't get to see this person talk about this. And content that she's basically been ingesting online. And I explained to her, I said, don't be so sure that this is the last ERA show that's ever been. When you spend a billion dollars on a stage and all of the equipment and all of the.
- [12:47]
C
Oh, no, I mean, she's definitely gonna tour again.
- [12:50]
B
She'll tour again. But will she do the Errors to her. Will she do the Errors show again? And I said, don't be so sure. It's all over. It's. There's a possibility that there's a big paycheck. Some, you know, Ticketmaster says, or Live Nation or who, whoever the fuck is fucking us right now says, hey, listen, we'll give you another billion dollars to get out there on the road and do another hundred shows. And I think that's the way it happens a lot. I think, you know, in. She said, well, she's a billionaire and she doesn't need to, you know, make. Well, it's what they do. It's like. That's what they do. It's like a Billy Strings or a Fish. I don't think that Billy Strings or Fish and I don't even think of Billy Strings need to be on the road making additional funds. It's what they do. They're in love with.
- [13:31]
C
Yeah, they're in love with the music.
- [13:33]
B
Yeah.
- [13:33]
C
Connecting with the fans.
- [13:34]
B
Connecting with the fans. Making $1 billion, getting high and blowjobs all the time. I mean, what, what could you possibly. You're a verified rock star, and I think we can all agree that's something somewhere deep down in us, that at some point we've all wanted to be just a little bit, at least.
- [13:50]
C
I, yeah, Yeah.
- [13:52]
B
I was a rock star for a minute. I just didn't have anybody showing up to my shows or could get any money or have a record album or.
- [13:59]
C
Anything or Cocaine and blowjobs.
- [14:01]
B
Cocaine and blowjobs I got on occasion, but I had to work hard for it. It wasn't, it wasn't as good. I had to work hard for this guy. Cocaine and those blowjobs. It didn't come naturally like I'm sure it does to Billy Strings. Billy Strings. Married?
- [14:15]
C
I don't think so.
- [14:16]
B
We know so much about Billy Strings here.
- [14:18]
C
I do know that he's sober, so he's not doing cocaine.
- [14:21]
B
I did know that too. I think he had his moment and he shared, I think, sober with. But smoking marijuana.
- [14:29]
C
Something like that.
- [14:29]
B
Something like that, yeah. There's married. He's married.
- [14:32]
C
Oh, he's married.
- [14:33]
B
How old is Billy strange?
- [14:34]
D
32.
- [14:35]
B
He's 32. He is young. Yeah, he's young. And he's been in the spotlight since he was like, 18 years old, I think.
- [14:41]
C
True.
- [14:42]
B
He's been in the spotlight for a long time. He, he's not taken any kind of traditional road to success like Fish or Widespread or Grateful Dead or whatever. He's just kind of been out there touring, making a name for himself, and he's doing well. I don't have anything, anything to complain about with Billy Strings.
- [14:58]
C
No, it was a great, it was a great concert.
- [15:00]
D
So, you know, today is the very first time I've ever heard the name Billy Strings.
- [15:03]
B
You've never heard the name Billy Strings? No.
- [15:06]
D
No shade, no tea. But I haven't.
- [15:08]
B
Hey, listen. Okay. It's just not your thing. It's all right. Listen, I, I, There's a lot of musicians when I see them on Instagram, and I'm like, who the good fuck is that, yeah, there's a lot of times when I see. I'll see someone post something and they're at. And I listen. There's a whole different universe of Latina and Latino artists that I really have no idea about.
- [15:31]
C
I guess you've been introduced to a lot of them.
- [15:33]
B
Well, living in a household with Venezuelans, then you get introduced to some of them, at least. And I looked on my Instagram the other day, and I must have seen 6, 7, 10, 12, I don't know, a lot of posts of people who were down at the State Farm arena for a Latino singer that I had never heard of, but apparently, like, four nights in a row, he sold out State Farm Arena. State Farm Arena. Yeah. And it's. It just. It's amazing to me, when I grew up, back in the 30s, when I was growing up and MTV was around, you were gonna know which artists were gonna sell out. State Farm Arena. Now, because of the Internet, you can independently grow your audience, and it can be like you can go under the radar for so many millions of people, but for the millions of people that love you, you're the thing. You're it.
- [16:25]
C
Exactly.
- [16:25]
B
That's what I think also makes, like, what Taylor Swift did so quite amazing. Is that it? It doesn't matter if you like Taylor Swift. You hate Taylor Swift. You're into it. You're not into it. You know, who the fuck. Taylor Swift for sure. She got the most famous people on earth.
- [16:38]
C
I would think so.
- [16:39]
B
Right? Right next to Billy Strings.
- [16:42]
C
Yeah, they're right there together.
- [16:44]
B
Christina's like, I don't know Billy Strings and I could give a shit about Taylor Swift. It's okay. You're not a swifty. Us swifties know each other. We have a special handshake.
- [16:53]
C
Yeah, you do. And bracelets.
- [16:55]
B
We have a special handshake with a platinum American Express. We shake each other's hands. It's a white wink with a white American Express card. That's for sure. Hey. During the 12 days of Christmas, and we do have some special content coming up after the break, but during the 12 days of Christmas, we are going to shine a light on certain charities that we would love to get a little extra attention during the holidays because we think they do some good. And we've done some research. I've done some research to make sure that they are not spending 98% of their budget on marketing like that. Cars for fucking kids. For kids. Nine, nine, nine nine. Cars for kids. Our CEO makes $10 million. Cars for fucking kids. Exactly. What do you do with. I want to know now. You can give your house or a boat.
- [17:43]
C
We did a whole deep dive. When was that? Two years ago or so.
- [17:46]
B
Two years ago.
- [17:47]
C
On, on that whole charity. And yeah, they do not give a lot of their money to the kids.
- [17:52]
B
No, they don't give almost any of their money to kids. It's charity wrapped in charity. Wrapped in charity. And then the CEOs and the executives are getting paid a fortune and it's all tax free thanks to, you know, the nonprofit system here in the United States of America. And that's how a lot of these nonprofits are actually. So when we're sharing with you information about these, please know that we've looked into them. We've given money to them ourselves.
- [18:15]
C
There's a site that you can go to.
- [18:16]
B
There is a site that you can go to. I went to that site. There you go.
- [18:18]
C
I did too.
- [18:19]
B
So today's charity will be the St. Jude Foundation, St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
- [18:25]
C
Yeah. Based out of Memphis. They do a lot of good.
- [18:27]
B
Yeah, it's. You have to have your hole in the head not to have heard of St. Jude. But St. Jude provides free care, travel, accommodations, accoutrements and food to families whose child has, or child or children have been diagnosed with terrible long term or life threatening illnesses, mainly cancer. So they provide that cancer care 100% free to families that otherwise could not afford it. And they give some of the best medical treatment in the world to children. St. Jude's does this and they do it all on the backs of donations from people like us and organizations, stuff like that. But St. Jude's Hospital, one that I have been giving to for a long.
- [19:08]
C
Time, there was just a race when I was up in Memphis this, this past weekend.
- [19:11]
B
They do a lot of different, like charity things. And while they also do a lot of commercials, a majority of the money goes to actually caring for those children in dire situations. And what did the children do? Honestly, what did the children do? Leave them alone, Care for them, give them some money. We'll put a link in the show notes directly to St. Jude so that just to be clear about this, we are taking no money for these charities. We have nothing to do with them. We did. We are not even.
- [19:37]
C
Don't send us the money. If you want to send us money.
- [19:40]
B
If you want to send us money.
- [19:41]
C
As a chair, as our own charity.
- [19:43]
B
Buy a spot on our show. Contact Odyssey. Buy a spot on our show. Give us some sponsorship money. We'll take that. But honestly, I'd Rather, I'd prefer you in this case, to give it to St. Jude. So today's charity is St. Jude. We'll take a break and then we're going to talk about Chrissy, our favorite and least favorite guests from 2024 drama Drop. We'll be back.
- [20:06]
D
Have you been missing something from your life? Of course you have. You listened to the commercial break and what you've been missing is me, right? No. Damn. Well, if what you're missing is a little giggle, you should follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok CV podcast because, you know, we're posting clips, we're being silly. You'll get a little laugh out of it, I promise. If what you're missing is communication, text us or call us and leave us a voicemail at 212-433-3822 and someone will respond, definitely. Unless you're being creepy or mean, in which case we won't. And lastly, if what you're missing is a jaunt through the Internet, check out our website@tcbpodcast.com and explore to your heart's desire. And those are really all the ways I can help you. So maybe you're missing something from our sponsor. Sponsors. Let's find out.
- [21:03]
B
All right. And we're back. Chrissy, in the 200 plus episodes that we have done, we will have done in 2024, a large chunk of those, probably the most amount of time we spent on one particular subject has been interviewing celebrities, mainly comedians, actors and actresses, here on the commercial break. It was a change that we made in season five. We typically said no guests because we couldn't get it right with just the two of us, let alone adding a third voice into the room. But then things changed in season five and we decided, why don't we spice things up? Because variety is the spice of life. Let's change things up and let's add some guests into the mix. And so that's what we did. And unbelievably, the guests came and they came for what reason? I don't know. They probably fired their agents.
- [21:49]
C
They didn't know. A few times they were like, who are these people?
- [21:54]
B
I am 100% sure that the guests are. Guests came having no clue. Actually, a few of them did come prepared. A couple of them did. Like Hannah Berner said that she had listened to the show and she had mentioned that. And that felt very nice to me because Hannah was one of our first interviews. And a big celebrity like Hannah Burner is doesn't have to stop by the commercial break. But she did. And she could not have been more pleasant as well as her husband.
- [22:18]
C
That's right.
- [22:18]
B
As bishop, who was one of my favorites for the year, Des Bishop, I thought was Hannah and dez. They were both.
- [22:24]
C
They're a great couple.
- [22:26]
B
Do you need me to remind you of who has shown up to the commercial break?
- [22:29]
C
Yeah, let's do it.
- [22:30]
B
Oh, you want me to tell you?
- [22:31]
C
Okay, okay.
- [22:33]
B
Starting backwards, I'm just going to name a few. I'm not going to go through every single one. Ron Funches, Nicky Jam, Jay Farrow, Reggie Watts made two appearances. Kelsey Cook, Morgan J. Doug Bass, Natasha Leggaro. Doug Bass, Doug Bass, which by the way, is one of our most listened to episodes. That is just unbelievable to me. No knock on Doug Bass. But of all the names I'm about to tell you, Doug Bass is probably one that you're not going to be familiar. Or maybe you are, I don't know. Who knows? Lewis Black, Dulce Sloan, Gina Gershon, Fortune Femster.
- [23:06]
C
There are a lot of good ones.
- [23:07]
B
Brian Moses, Scott, Maz Jabroni, Tom Papa, Sam Morrill. Rachel Feinstein was a ton of fun. Mo Welsh. I loved DEZ came in days. Bishop, Hannah's husband, Margaret Cho, the great and powerful Margaret Cho. Mo Gilligan, Henry hall and Daniel Thrasher from the television show Dinner with the Parents. Joe Dombrowski, Preacher Lawson, Brad Williams, Leslie Liao, Kyle Kinane, Paul Scheer, Lunel. Joanna Houseman. So many. And of course the one that you were not here for, which was Steve. Oh, that's right, Steve O. Steve O also came in. And then our very first unfortunate victim of the commercial break testing would have been. Oh, what was his name? Now I can't remember. Do you remember Virdas?
- [23:59]
C
Yes.
- [23:59]
B
He was our guinea pig.
- [24:01]
C
Our first.
- [24:01]
B
And we poked and prodded him, we rolled him over, we put him on a spit and turned him.
- [24:07]
C
We tried to send him a pillow.
- [24:08]
B
So we tried to send him a pillow. All right, so now we're going to give a little bit of the tea about some of the guests that we had. And this is not a shit talking session, but it is a shit talking session, but we're also going to he praise on people that we like. So here we go. We're going to give you the drama. Veer Das was our very first guest that we had. And this, I think this brought quite a bit of anxiety to both Chrissy and I, but mainly me as I ran around the studio trying to make sure that everything Worked sweating profusely. I did so much research about Veer Das to learn that Veer is quite the celebrity. Maybe not here in the United States States, although he does sell out a lot of venues. But if you get into India or the Middle East, Veer Das is one of the biggest celebrities they have. And Veer agreed to come and talk to us. I think he was in Minneapolis or something waiting for a show.
- [24:59]
C
Yeah.
- [25:00]
B
And he. The first thing that he did when he got on air was complain that the pillows in the United States were too fluffy. That in India they were just like, flat.
- [25:08]
C
Flat.
- [25:08]
B
Yeah, they were like an inch thick and they were flat and they were hard. And he preferred his pillows that way. So Veer suffered through an hour of Brian's incredibly dumb questions and ass kissing. Vere took it like a champ and pretended like he liked us for an hour sitting on the floor of this hotel room because he didn't like the pillows on the bed. When we got done, I contacted his agent and I thought, well, you know, what a nice thing to do would be. Chrissy, let's send him a pillow with like, a flat pillow with the commercial break logo on it. That way he'll remember us. And I contacted the agent and I said, can we please have a forwarding address for Veer? We have something to send him to. Which the agent politely responded, no, that's okay. No, that's okay. You can't send him anything. I think Veer based. I think, you know, the agent and Veer clearly saw us for what we were, a bunch of. Of amateurs doing amateur hour inside of the commercial break. It's one of the few interviews that I got really uncomfortable with. It was just a total shit show from beginning to end. If you want a good laugh, knowing what you know now, go listen to the Veer Das episode, which in my opinion is a train wreck from beginning to end. But maybe you have a different opinion. Tell me what your. What do you think was the worst interview that we did of the year? Not. Not the worst guest we had, but the worst interview.
- [26:39]
C
Oh, the worst interview that we did. Well, it might have started off with Reggie Watts in the beginning because we didn't really know how to take him and we'd heard some things, I guess, maybe from either. Read some things.
- [26:56]
B
Yeah, yeah. I don't disagree with this, but it.
- [26:59]
C
Turned into being one of the best. One of the best. Yeah. And then he came back.
- [27:03]
B
Reggie is a very.
- [27:06]
C
He's very intellectual.
- [27:07]
B
He's an intellectual and he's very out there. And he has his certain brand of comedy. He has a certain brand of. Certain brand of humanity, quite frankly. Yeah, he's like just a unique, one of a kind individual. Never seen anybody like him. Probably will never see anybody like him. All you have to do is watch 30 minutes of Reggie Watts stand up to understand he is not one of these things, is not like the other. And Reggie is that thing.
- [27:31]
C
Yeah.
- [27:31]
B
And so we had heard because sometimes we get prepped by agents and stuff. You know, listen, Reggie is a certain way, but if he likes you, you know, it'll be a great conversation. The first 30 minutes of the first interview we did with Reggie are so incredibly painful. It is so incredibly painful that I just want to bail. That's all I want to do is bail. Because I'm not on the same wavelength. We're obviously not speaking the same language. And I don't know what changed it.
- [27:57]
C
It was our talk of drugs.
- [27:58]
B
Talk of drugs. Y thought to myself, he talks about drugs a lot, so why don't I just throw that out there? And I did. And it changed the entire tone and tenor of the conversation. And all of a sudden, Reggie and I had something to talk about. And.
- [28:14]
C
And he was a sweetheart. Then he ended up sending us a case of the special drink.
- [28:18]
B
He ended up sending us our very first guest gift. And he wanted to come back. And I thought that that just tickled me pink. And the second time we spoke to him, it was as if we had tuned into the same channel. Yeah, we were old buddies. And Reggie, I think I do too. I've. I admire him. And I think that's why the first 30 minutes of the first interview to.
- [28:38]
C
His own drum, for sure. And I love that.
- [28:40]
B
And now he's in love. And I like the in love version of Reggie. Something about that makes me very happy. Every time I see him. He's always posting kind of weird, a little bit admirable. Like he's admiring his girlfriend from afar. She's doing something and he's videotaping her. And then he posts. It's a little creepy, but I like it. It's like he's doing it out of love. And I can appreciate that. Reggie Watts. That's very interesting. Who else did you think? Who else did you think was a unique interview? I'll tell you one of them. Well, yeah, go ahead.
- [29:10]
C
I think I know who you're gonna say.
- [29:11]
B
Well, I'm gonna save that for last. I'm gonna save the worst for last.
- [29:14]
C
Okay, go.
- [29:15]
B
But I'm gonna share with you that Brad Williams was another wild card. That was hard. I could see Christina cringing in the background. Brad Williams, who is extraordinarily popular comic. I mean, he is just selling out room after room after room. He's been doing it for a long time. But Brad Williams, like a lot of comics, comes with their own set of baggage. And that baggage had us a little bit.
- [29:43]
C
Yeah.
- [29:44]
B
It had us questioning whether or not we should actually interview Brad Williams. But I thought to myself, well, okay, maybe we'll get. We'll bring Brad on, and if we. If the opportunity presents itself, we'll ask the tough questions about some things that he said during an interview about his early days as a comic. And I won't get into all the details. You can Google Brad Williams. It's all over the Internet. But I thought, okay, the opportunity presents itself. Let's ask him that question and we'll see how he responds. The opportunity did not present itself because Brad Williams launched.
- [30:17]
C
He launched into a whole 45 minute. I don't think we got much, much in.
- [30:24]
B
Brad Williams did his entire set for us, and it took him about an hour. Actually, you know what? I don't even think he did a set. I think I asked him about a wrestling cruise, and he went on for an hour about wrestling. It was the most unbelievable thing. I've never seen anybody talk like that for a straight hour without any breaks. But at the end, I found Brad to be at least an enjoyable human being. I didn't have to do much work for that interview. Let's see who else was interesting. Margaret Cho.
- [30:51]
C
Very interesting.
- [30:52]
B
Was one of my favorite guests of the year. And here's why. Margaret Cho is a legend. I mean, I think she'd have to be on the top of anybody's standup comic list in history. Margaret Cho, like a groundbreaking for so many different reasons. Comic. A female comic. And when you have, like, a legend on the show, you.
- [31:13]
C
It's a little intimidating.
- [31:14]
B
Well, you wonder if they come with legend attitude. No legend attitude about Margaret Cho whatsoever.
- [31:20]
C
No, she was, like, laying down.
- [31:21]
B
I think she was laying down. Petting her dog.
- [31:24]
C
Yes.
- [31:24]
B
In San Francisco.
- [31:25]
C
I love it.
- [31:25]
B
She was like, hey, guys. And we're like, hey, Margaret, show.
- [31:29]
C
I know.
- [31:29]
B
And there was just no pretense about her whatsoever. And I found that very easy to talk to. Yes. Steve O. Was an interesting interview.
- [31:37]
C
Yeah. I wasn't here for that.
- [31:39]
B
Chrissy had been called away. So I called Tina and I said, tina, I know you grew up.
- [31:47]
C
Yeah.
- [31:48]
B
Watching Steve O. So you'll know who Steve O. Is, can you please come in and do this interview with me? It was our second interview ever, and Steve O's walking in the door. So Tina comes in. And I said, okay, Tina, I'll take it. I'll ask the questions. Just jump in whenever you want to. Like, just. You do whatever you want. And Tina said, okay. Not only was it Tina's first time ever meeting a celebrity, it was Tina's first time ever on a microphone.
- [32:13]
C
On the microphone, yeah.
- [32:15]
B
So Tina, I don't know any other way to put this, was a deer in the headlight for 60 straight minutes. But something so comforting about having my good friend in the room when I was doing an interview with someone a little.
- [32:31]
C
Had to be a little intimidating, too.
- [32:33]
B
I think Steve O. Was one of the more intimidating ones simply because Steve O. You think of Steve O, he's a wild card. Like, what are you going to get with Steve? Oh, he staples his balls to his leg for a living, I think, what are you gonna get with Steve O? Are you gonna get crazy wild man? Is he gonna do some stunt or is he gonna bring in some. Is he going to be in character for some reason or another just to kind of throw you off because that's better content for him or for you? We didn't know what to get, and what we got was a very down to earth, pleasant guy. I was actually surprised at the level of maturity that came in the door.
- [33:12]
C
Yeah.
- [33:13]
B
And no stapling of the balls, which disappointed me just a little bit. Just a little bit, if I'm being honest. I thought maybe go ahead and staple your butt. And Steve O Certainly told one of the best stories that's ever been told. On the commercial break, he explained serendipitously as we would talk about Mike Tyson a lot in the future in the. Later on in the year, he explained that he had done an eight ball of cocaine with Mike Tyson in a bathroom in Las Vegas.
- [33:40]
C
And yeah, it's wild.
- [33:42]
B
Like, I was so floored by this that you would go in to a bathroom with a certified killer. Like a guy who could knock you out and murder you in one punch. His hands are weapons. And let's face it, Mike Tyson has not always been known to be the most mentally stable human being in the world, and then you add in an eight ball of cocaine into the mix. Only Steve O. Could feel comfortable in that situation. They locked themselves in a bathroom, did an eight ball of cocaine, and spent a long night having conversation with each other. You know, I. I don't think I would do the same thing. I just don't think I would do the same thing. Okay. Favorite guest of the year. Favorite conversation of the year.
- [34:25]
C
That's hard to. That's hard to pick one.
- [34:28]
B
Just. It doesn't have to be the forever. It's not.
- [34:30]
C
I love Tom Papa's.
- [34:31]
B
Tom Papa was very good.
- [34:32]
C
It was really good. I really. I did. I loved Hannah Burner. I loved Natasha Leggiaro Leone, which we both keep doing. I liked Fortune. She was great.
- [34:45]
B
Fortune was fantastic.
- [34:46]
C
I mean, the majority of everybody has really been a great guest, even if I wasn't that familiar with their work beforehand, then afterwards. Oh, I mean, well, Heather McMahon. I didn't mean to.
- [35:00]
B
Heather McMahon. Yeah.
- [35:01]
C
She was amazing. I did not know who she was, and now I'm a huge fan of her.
- [35:05]
B
Heather is a rocket ship to the moon. I mean, that lady doesn't stop. She was also very pleasant with us when clearly we had no fucking clue.
- [35:12]
C
It was like our third interview or something.
- [35:14]
B
Yeah, it was our third interview. We had no clue what we were doing. And Heather handled it like a champ. Like, she. There are. I've learned now that we've done a number of these. I've learned, like, people come in one of two ways. In one of three ways, they come in, they can see it's amateur hour, and they become the professionals and help guide us. In other words, they're the ones interviewing us. They're taking the lead and just making sure that everything is okay. They don't. So that they don't sound like idiots and we don't.
- [35:46]
C
Yeah.
- [35:47]
B
Number two, they come in and just act a little bit off, like they. Now it's amateur hour, and I'm gonna. I'm gonna make them feel like it's amateur hour. In other words, they're not so nice. Right. Or number three, they don't know what to think, so we all end up being friends.
- [36:03]
C
You know what I'm saying?
- [36:04]
B
So they don't know what to think, so they just end up having a conversation, which I think would be probably. Our style of interviewing is more. Let's just have a conversation. Because anytime I try and do too much research about, I guess it ends up sounding like veer Das. In 1997, you won an award for most peaceful Indian comic ever. Tell me about that.
- [36:24]
D
Yeah.
- [36:24]
B
Yeah. It's sounding like such a shit show. Natasha Leggarro was fun, I think. Who is my favorite interview of the year? I think it would definitely would have to be either for Fortune, Des or Hannah would be one of those three But Tom Papa comes in a very close.
- [36:46]
C
And I had been a fan for so long.
- [36:49]
B
Well, I think because Tom Papa talks to so many like he has. That's what he does for a living. You know, he's got the Tom Papa break spread or whatever it is. What is that? Tom Papa Breaks Bread. Is that what it is?
- [36:59]
C
I. So, yeah.
- [37:00]
B
Tom Papa Breaks Bread. That's a show we just made up that Tom is going to be doing.
- [37:04]
C
Here today that does involve bread.
- [37:05]
B
It does involve bread.
- [37:05]
C
He makes bread.
- [37:06]
B
Tom Papa's bread cooks bread. Tom Papa cooks bread. Tom Papa cooks with you. Do you know the name of that show, Tom Papa Podcast? I'm looking. I think it's Tom Papa Breaks Bread.
- [37:22]
D
It's Breaking Bread with Tom Breaking Bread.
- [37:24]
C
Okay.
- [37:26]
D
Tom Papa bread.
- [37:27]
B
Yeah, we were close. We were so close. But I would now like you to think about this over the break, Chrissy. I would like you to think about who your least favorite guest of the year was. This is gonna be the drama drop. I want you to think of your least favorite guest and I want you to think of why. And you must tell us. Here on the very first day of the very first 12 days of TCB, we are gonna make sure that we have no interviews in 2025 by talking the shit out of one of the guests that we don't like. I think we're gonna have the same guest. I think it's gonna be the same person. Yeah, I think so too, because I think it was clear, probably even to the audience that this was not going well. But if it's not, then we'll, you know, we'll. I guarantee this will become the most listened to episode of the commercial break after we tell you who our least favorite guest was. So let's do this. Let's take a break, and we'll be back on the first, first 12 days of TCB. We'll be back.
- [38:28]
D
Brian might have just said it's time to take a break, but some of us have to work right now. And by work, I mean gently nudge you, nay beg you to follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok @TCB podcast. Because, listen, the more followers we get, the more clout I get with Chrissy and Brian. If you've got something to say, give us a call and leave us a voicemail. And at 212-4333, TCV or shoot us a text. One more thing, check out our website, tcvpodcast.com where you can find all of our audio and video and even request a new sticker from the contact us form. Bye.
- [39:09]
B
Okay, so we're here on the first of 12 days of TCB brand new episodes for the next 12 days, taking you through your Christmas. Grab your u. Log. Log. And your other yule log. Grab them both and grab a hot toddy. A yule log is the picture like a fireplace with that log that's burning?
- [39:29]
C
Well, no, but I think there's an actual.
- [39:31]
B
Like, they make something called the yule log that you can go and you can buy and it burns and I don't know what it's made of.
- [39:39]
C
Yeah, I gathered that.
- [39:40]
B
Yeah. Actually, I think a yule log is that. I've seen these in Germany, isn't it, where they split them open and they set them on fire. Here.
- [39:47]
D
It's a cake.
- [39:48]
B
Yule log is a cake.
- [39:52]
D
I guess it's also. Okay, have you ever heard of, like, a bush de noel?
- [39:57]
B
A bush de what?
- [39:58]
D
I don't know how to say it. Butch de noel.
- [40:00]
B
A bush de noel. Exactly.
- [40:01]
D
Christmas roll cake.
- [40:03]
C
Yeah, like, you ever seen those? Because it looks like the mine channels.
- [40:08]
D
Yes. But.
- [40:09]
B
Oh, there is a really good one with chocolate and. Yeah, yeah.
- [40:13]
D
Specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe.
- [40:17]
C
Nationally selected log.
- [40:19]
B
Yes. I was just telling. I was just telling Astor this. So we went on Friday to the local tree lighting ceremony here. The local tree lighting ceremony. They stop, you know, they block off the streets. Starbucks brings free hot cocoa. They have s' mores that they. In bags, and they have a bunch of fires.
- [40:37]
C
Sounds like fun.
- [40:38]
B
It does sound like fun, except for one thing. They blow real snow around the trees in this little square. So they have real snow, like half a foot of real snow in these grassy areas around the tree.
- [40:52]
D
What do you mean, real snow?
- [40:53]
B
I mean real, like, you know, fake snow. Like actual snow. But it's actual snow.
- [40:57]
D
How can it be actual snow?
- [40:59]
B
They make. Don't you know that they have snow machines that make real snow?
- [41:03]
D
I thought it was fake snow. Oh, for skiing. Okay. Yeah. But I was like, it's cold enough there. Was it cold? I guess it must have been.
- [41:08]
B
It was cold enough on Friday to keep that snow high and tight. Okay? So they blow a bunch of snow, and so the kids can, you know, have snowball fights, which just means a bunch of teenagers being shitty and throwing him at the parents, you know, because it's so dark out and the teenagers are back there making snowballs and just throwing them into the crowd, which. Fine, okay, we get it. There was Actually, one mother who ran in the middle of the. Ran in the middle of the square and started yelling at the teenagers.
- [41:35]
C
Really?
- [41:35]
B
Everybody was afraid. I was afraid. I was like, hide your kids, hide your wife. This lady's on fire. It's kind of mother mother that you probably don't want to be the child of and the kind of mother you don't want to be on the bad side of. But okay, all right, so, you know, they have the whole thing and then there's a bunch of bars and restaurants and they serve Christmas flavored drinks or.
- [41:53]
C
You know, Bold wine.
- [41:55]
B
Yeah, Bold wine. Here's a hottie. Oh, mulled wine. Yeah. Oh, God. Mulled wine is disgusting. Have you had mulled wine?
- [42:02]
C
I have.
- [42:02]
B
With the cinnamon sticks and stuff in it. Oh, God. Did you like it?
- [42:05]
C
I mean, it's kind of like a cider.
- [42:08]
B
Yeah, it's gross to me. I like the way it smells.
- [42:10]
C
It does smell.
- [42:11]
B
I don't like the way that it tastes. But anyway, so we go there. It's 19, minus 19 degrees outside. It is so incredibly cold. The kids do not want to bundle up because kids don't want to bundle. They don't keep on trying to explain to them, get your gloves on, put your hat on, put a scarf on. It's really cold. Within seven minutes you're gonna be freezing and complaining. And within seven minutes, minutes, they're freezing, they're complaining, but they refuse to put their gloves and their hats on. They just want me to hold them for my body. And I'm like, guys, this is not a doable thing. I can't have 13 of you hanging off me. So let me explain. So the kids, they're supposed to light this tree at 7 o'.
- [42:50]
D
Clock.
- [42:50]
B
For the last couple of years, they've done this and they've lit it, lit the tree so late into the night that all parents around the entire town have been complaining. Our kids need to go to sleep. Please light the tree quickly. So they have this tiny little stage that's set up. They have local organization after local organization singing terribly, you know, Christmas, you know, Christmas carols. And the local band is up, the local string quartet is up there. It's minus 19 degrees. I got news for you. Your strings aren't going to sound so good when it's 19 degrees outside. They're all out of tune. So all the music is terrible. I mean, God bless them, they're trying, but all the music is terrible. Everyone's cold, everyone's miserable. Teenagers are throwing snowballs into the crowd.
- [43:34]
C
Sounds Like a blast.
- [43:36]
B
It was just miserable. The whole thing was miserable. And Now I've got 13 to 15 children that are cold and they go out and they play in the snow and then they're complaining that their hands are cold. And I'm like, what did you think snow was? Did you think snow was hot balls? It's not a call to hot ball. It's called a snowball, kids. It's freezing cold. So now one of the kids wants my gloves because he can't put on his gloves. He wants my gloves and I'm like, I'm supposed to suffer because you don't want to wear your gloves? I'm not that kind of parent, okay, kid? I don't want to suffer because of you. So. So we go there. The. The most ridiculous thing is they can't, for the life of them, manage to get the tree lit in a reasonable, decent hour. So 7 o' clock is supposed to be the tree lighting fine. 7 o' clock so that the kids can go home and go to bed by 8 o'. Clock.
- [44:25]
C
Yeah, that makes sense.
- [44:27]
B
7, 10, 7, 27, 30. All of a sudden everybody's clearing out because everyone, it's. The whole crowd is like, we. And the crowd, let's be clear, is just little children. That's all it is. Who else wants to watch a tree lighting? I've seen a lit tree. I know what it looks like. I don't need to be excited with a moment that a tree lights. It's not something I'm interested in. It's for the kids. Light it at 5:45, please, for the love of Christ, as soon as it gets dark. Amen, Chrissy. Amen. So the Yule log, Chrissy, also is a tradition that back in the day when they had the three networks at a certain time, Christmas, they would put the Yule log, the lit fire log. Okay, here's why I started this whole conversation in the first place. It was so cold out there, they could have had some additional fires in Europe when we went to a. Esther and I went to a theme park called Europa Land. And it was like the middle of January in Germany. It was freezing fucking cold. And at night they have the roller coasters going and everything. There's no stopping it. It's just, it's, you know, you're gonna go on a roller coaster. It's 19 degrees outside, you're gonna be freezing. Freezing. But what they do have is they take these huge tree stumps, they cut them open and they light them on. They're dried Out. They light them on fire in the middle and they burn forever.
- [45:48]
C
That's nice.
- [45:49]
B
And they have them every 15ft. So every. So the whole place is warmed up because you have all of these logs that are just burning. Why can't my local municipality do that? Who's in charge over there? Why are we so late? Why did we put real snow on the ground? And where are the yule logs?
- [46:04]
C
I think you need to talk to your old friend the politician, the mayor of your child's school.
- [46:10]
B
The mayor? Yeah, the mayor. Also known as. I'm not even gonna say it because this episode is gonna get Shadow banned, but, yeah, he should be in Germany as a. He should be in Germany as mayor of a town. That's my opinion. Okay, speaking of mayor in Germany, tell me, who's your least favorite guest of 2024? Chrissy?
- [46:32]
C
Well, I think we. I think we're on the same page probably when I say Neil Brennan.
- [46:38]
B
Neil Brennan. I think Neil Brennan was my least favorite guest.
- [46:41]
C
Also, not any shade on Neil.
- [46:44]
B
Listen, Neil is who Neil is.
- [46:45]
C
He just turned out to be the exact same person which I had watched his special, which is hilarious.
- [46:51]
B
Hilarious.
- [46:51]
C
Hilarious. But it's also hilarious because of the way that he. His delivery is and the way his. He's so cynical and he's very pedantic.
- [47:02]
B
He's very, very dry. Very dry.
- [47:04]
C
Yeah, he turned out to be that same. That exact same way for the interview.
- [47:10]
B
Okay. And I think we were like, let's walk it through. Because it's very possible that we started off on the wrong foot with Neil. Actually, I felt like we started off on the right foot with Neil. Neil came in, we had a very pleasant conversation with him. He was very interested in what we were doing and, you know, Atlanta and all this other stuff. But as soon as we started to press record, I tried to ask him about something in his special. And when I did, I tried to prompt him to tell one of his jokes. And in the process, he thought I was trying to tell his joke.
- [47:39]
C
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
- [47:41]
B
He said, no, don't worry about it. You go ahead and tell my jokes. And it went south from there. It didn't get any better. It did. Now, to be fair to Neil, this is amateur hour over here. So it's not like we're the best podcast that's ever lived. I'm not Dana Carvey at David Spade, and I don't stand up for a living, so I'm not one of them. Like, as much as we like to get in conversations with standups. We're not standup comedians ourselves. We don't know what that's like. We've never put together three minutes of good material, let alone an hour of good material. Cereal. Okay. But I felt like maybe he could have been a little bit more gracious about. About the fact that. Okay, you're here on a podcast. We're trying to promote your special and, you know, just roll with the punches, right?
- [48:28]
C
Yeah.
- [48:29]
B
But to be absolutely fair to, like, let's just, like, lay the cards on the table. Neil is who Neil is, and Neil came in being exactly who Neil was. What you see is what you get. There is no two way. I tried to ask Neil about ketamine, and he explained that. Probably go watch the special about it also.
- [48:53]
C
He's like the youngest, I think, of 10 children or something, and he's had a lot of trauma throughout his life, but he's widely talked about before.
- [49:03]
B
And, well, that's his thing. That's his whole shtick. Right?
- [49:06]
C
So. And I think it's part of the thing is that he's trying to work on himself and do ketamine, ayahuasca, all of those kinds of things, to look inside and get past this trauma that he has. But, yeah, it was. It was kind of like pulling teeth.
- [49:19]
B
That's part of.
- [49:20]
D
He could work a little harder, says Christina.
- [49:26]
B
That is part of why I like Neil so much. That's part of why I enjoy his comedy. That's part of why I was so excited and interested to interview Neil. He also has his own podcast, which is a fascinating podcast. And what you saw on the commercial break is what you get on his own podcast, too. It's nothing different. It doesn't matter if you're famous. Neil comes at you the same way every single time. Neil. I don't know any other way to say this, but Neil reminded me of that guy in the room who's much too smart to be in the room. Do you know what I'm saying?
- [50:03]
C
Yeah.
- [50:03]
B
Much too smart to be in the room. And then everybody knows it by the end of the night. It's kind of like, well, okay, yeah, all right. Yeah, I'm probably not going to invite him to our next party, that's for sure.
- [50:14]
C
Yeah. Yeah.
- [50:15]
B
I. I want to say to anyone, his.
- [50:20]
C
His special is hilarious, people.
- [50:23]
B
All of his specials are hilarious. He's really good at what he does, and he. He co created the Dave Chappelle show, which is one of the most brilliant sketch comedy shows, if not the most brilliant sketch comedy show that has ever been. So you want to talk to Neil Brennan? You're really interested in what he has to say. He's been so close to greatness. He created greatness. And you're like, wow, that guy, he's probably. He's probably a wealth of information. But you know, when you come into the commercial break and Brian's doing your jokes for you, maybe you just feel like, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna go anywhere.
- [50:55]
C
I'm not gonna try.
- [50:56]
B
Yeah, I mean, okay, fair enough. And so there we go.
- [51:00]
C
Drama drop.
- [51:00]
B
Drama drop. Neil Brennan, our least favorite. And I forgot also that and for.
- [51:05]
C
No fault of his.
- [51:07]
B
No, no, it's our fault. It's all our fault. It's Brian's fault. Let it be Brian's fault. Let it be Brian's fault that Neil was a terrible guest. Now you'll go listen to that episode with a whole fresh set of ear. Did you think that episode was bad, Christina?
- [51:22]
D
Are you kidding me?
- [51:23]
B
No, I want to know. Did you think the episode was bad?
- [51:26]
D
Yeah, it was so bad. I was cringing when I was working on it. Yeah, I was like, this is a trainer. Not good. Well, I just felt like he really could have been nicer.
- [51:39]
B
He could.
- [51:39]
D
He really could have been like just even a little bit fun.
- [51:43]
C
I think that's just his personality.
- [51:46]
D
How do you get this far without being nice to people? Well, I don't understand.
- [51:52]
B
You know, I think there's lots of people out there who get pretty far without being nice to people. But in. I understand like the. What you're saying, but I also think when you have the bonafides that he does, when you work on shows that gets like our. That opens the pinnacle of pop culture, that opens doors, and no one's going to turn you down. You're not going to be the co creator of the Chappelle show when someone's not going to interview or you're not going to open the door. Not going to take your pitch because that's. You created something that was so great.
- [52:23]
D
But then again, like, you are coming on the commercial break.
- [52:26]
B
True. So he agreed to it, right? Yeah, okay, I know. I take. I think the point. I think the point is well taken. Then again, maybe we just got who Neil is and maybe it just didn't sit well with us. Because I think generally, generally, even though when the guests are not here, we cut up. I may sound like a dick, we may say things that are, you know, off color dower sour when guests come in, we're pretty fucking nice Yeah, I think most people would. I think most guests would walk away with the sense that maybe I won't go back, but at the very least, they were nice to me. Right. They didn't. And I'll never forget something that I think it was Rachel Feinstein said. Rachel Feinstein came on the show and she certainly didn't have to either. She's a big, huge success story. She comes on the show, we end up having a great time. She brings her aunt into the conversation at some point. Remember that?
- [53:20]
C
Okay.
- [53:20]
B
So now it's a big party. Everyone's having a great time. And then, as we usually do, we talk to the guests for a few minutes beforehand and we talk to them for a few minutes after. After. Without recording part.
- [53:32]
C
Right.
- [53:34]
B
So in this case, we say goodbye to Rachel. And I don't think she realizes that we are still listening to what she is saying. She's still being recorded on the thing.
- [53:44]
C
Yeah.
- [53:45]
B
And she says to her aunt, wow, those people actually ended up being really nice. I really like them. As if I actually expected them to be a couple of assholes. Right. Which was pleasant to hear. It was very. I don't think Rachel would mind me saying it was a nice thing to hear. I don't think she thought we were on the. On the call and we were on the call and we heard it. So I think the thing you would take away is that we were nice. We tried to be with everybody this year, at least nice and welcoming. You're not, you know, this isn't a gotcha show. You're not going to come on here and we're going to drum up all your old dirt. We're not, you know, who's that guy? The guy who's. We're not Cat Williams. We're not going to throw a bunch of shit in your face. And so the fact that. That we tried our best to be nice to everybody and sometimes that didn't get responded to in the way that we wanted. You know, I guess I don't know if that's the fault of ours or the fault of theirs or it just didn't work out.
- [54:35]
C
Everybody.
- [54:36]
B
It's like a bad date. It just didn't work out. And I'm not sure we're gonna go on a second one personality. Yeah. So, Neil. But I do have to say, besides that one experience and maybe the fact that Veer Das will probably never ever say our name again out loud.
- [54:49]
C
Yeah.
- [54:49]
B
I would say that all the other interviews in some way, shape or form, I enjoyed.
- [54:53]
C
Oh, me too.
- [54:54]
B
I really did. There were a few I enjoyed more than others.
- [54:57]
C
Others pleasantly surprised on quite a few of them.
- [54:59]
B
Wendy McCovey was another one that I really enjoyed.
- [55:03]
C
I really loved her.
- [55:04]
B
She could have come in here.
- [55:06]
C
Her new show is good, actually.
- [55:08]
B
Everyone's talking about it. Saint Elsewhere, Saint McLeod, Saint McLeod's family. I think it's Saint Denis Medical is doing very well.
- [55:17]
C
It's a cute show.
- [55:18]
B
Yeah, Lunel came in.
- [55:20]
C
Oh, Lunel.
- [55:21]
B
And Lunel was super sweet. Lunel is another, like, super. Do you know that Lunel is a bona fide superstar?
- [55:27]
C
Yes, she really is. She is attending Madonna concerts with Paris Hilton and all these guys.
- [55:34]
B
Where did Lunel come from? I know that Lunela was a pretty popular character when they pitched us for her to come in the show, but then I was like, wait, I had no idea she was that famous.
- [55:45]
C
Yeah, she's like her own character, too. I mean, remember she was wearing the funky glasses. You know, she's just got this kind of brash sense of personality, and it was great.
- [55:56]
B
She really. You have to go. Go watch that on YouTube because she's got, like to go boxes behind her. She's eating something. She's eating some kind of food while she's. During the interview. Lunel was a great interview. We had a lot of fantastic guests this year. And thank you, Chrissy, for sticking with me while I went on that. Well, I got that out of my system.
- [56:15]
C
You did get that out of your system.
- [56:16]
B
I got that out of my system. And I think there's another thing that we learned in 2024 that we may be more careful about in 2025. There is an overkill of guests. We also, I don't know if we need, you know, one guest a week. So in 2025, maybe we'll do a few less guests and we'll be a little bit more choosy about the guests that we have. Come in.
- [56:37]
C
We'll see what happens.
- [56:37]
B
We'll see what happens.
- [56:38]
C
We do need content.
- [56:41]
B
It's true. We need content for the next 11 days. Please text us and let us know. All right, so the first of the 12 days of TCB. There you go. Juicy drama jobs. We talked over the guests of 2024 Door, and we're gonna be back tomorrow and then the tomorrow and then tomorrow and then tomorrow and then tomorrow. There you go. All right. Donate to the St. Jude foundation link in the show notes. I know they would appreciate it, and it'll make us feel good that at least one of you paid attention to something we said. There you go. I want to thank. I want to thank all of our guests, even Neil Brennan, for coming in in 2024. You've all been wondering. Wonderful. And a few returning guests in 2025. Question mark. Will Reggie make a third appearance?
- [57:27]
C
I think he should.
- [57:28]
B
Will Hannah Burner remember who we are? Well, Des Bishop decide to be the third co host of the show. Yeah.
- [57:35]
C
Offered himself.
- [57:36]
B
He did. He offered himself. Right on the altar of the commercial break. He said, call me. I just need an hour's notice. And I said, okay, but I'm not calling because I'm afraid he'll say no. It's like when you meet a hot girl at the bar and then you're like, I think she was just drunk. I don't think she really thought I was cute. All right. Tcb podcast dot com. That's where you get more information about the show. All the audio, all the video, the aforementioned show notes with all the links, sponsors, codes, everything you got. It's all there at the website. You can also get your free TCB sticker. Hey, if you want a mempho sticker, I found a pile of them. We have a pile of mempho stickers. So if you want a mempho sticker from three years ago, we'll be happy to send you. We'll be happy to send you one. Let us know. Go to the contact us button, drop down menu. I want my free sticker. Give us your address and we'll send it off to you. No mus, no fuss. I think we still have a few of those possum stickers left too. Oh, those are in case you want one of those.
- [58:32]
C
Yeah.
- [58:35]
B
YouTube.com the commercial break. Every single one of our episodes now on YouTube soon on Spotify video. If I can get the thing to work. Honestly, it takes like two hours to upload a video to Spotify. It keeps timing out on me, but we'll figure out that's technical issues you don't want to hear about. But pretty soon, all of our episodes on Spotify also. But I did learn how to put clips on Spotify.
- [58:59]
C
Good job.
- [58:59]
B
So now you can see clips of the show. Like video clips of the show on Spotify. They're like reels, but for the episodes. It's really cool. Speaking of reels, at the commercial break on Instagram, I would say our TikTok, but TikTok might not be around for too much longer. So what are we going to do? Seriously?
- [59:14]
C
Yeah, I know, I know.
- [59:15]
B
Yeah. 212-4333. TCB 212-433-3822 questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas, we're taking them all. Please do us a favor. Donate to one of our causes this week. We certainly would appreciate it. Okay, Chrissy, that's all I can do for today?
- [59:32]
C
I think so.
- [59:32]
B
I'd say that I love you.
- [59:33]
C
I love you.
- [59:34]
B
Best to you and best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time. Chrissy and I always say, we do say, and we must say happy new along.
- [59:42]
C
Best to you.
- [60:01]
B
Sam.