Here We Are, Now Entertain Us!

Summary

The Commercial Break – "Here We Are, Now Entertain Us!" (April 23, 2026)
Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley
Episode Summary

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Main Theme:

A classic, chaotically cozy edition of The Commercial Break, where Bryan and Krissy riff on everyday absurdities, recent pop culture phenomena, AI advice for pool care and pain management, the rollercoaster of friendship, and their journey from party animals to seasoned “dad and his friends” at family gatherings. The episode swings wildly from lighthearted stories about tanning scams and engagement parties to social commentary on WrestleMania, pharmaceutical crises, tech moguls, and the weirdness of American politics.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Tanning Salon Tales and the Power of Habit

• [01:12–06:14]
  Bryan recounts getting unknowingly overcharged for years at a tanning salon ($125/month!) due to an outdated package, only to learn he could have paid a third of that. The saga includes guest passes he never used, a friendship with manager Miranda, and his aversion to unfamiliar tanning beds.
  • Quote:
    • Bryan: “There's so much unknown in this world. We like to know... We love the devil we know...” [04:21]
  • Krissy reflects on how this mirrors their food habits: “We are comfort food kind of creatures. We like what we know.” [04:39]

2. Springtime Chores, Pool Nightmares & AI Pool Management

• [06:14–12:48]
  Bryan on pool care: juggling pool chemicals, over-chlorinating, and relying on ChatGPT for step-by-step advice (“I asked ChatGPT, ‘Tell it to me like I'm a fucking idiot’”). The perils of DIY pool science and the priceless value of a professional, lest a $400 misstep become a $40,000 catastrophe.
  • Quote:
    • “My response to a pool that's looking a little weird is just put as many chemicals as I possibly can in there.” – Bryan [10:36]

3. Wrestling With Wrestling: Pop Culture Shifts

• [12:55–18:45]
  Bryan analyzes WrestleMania’s evolution from local Southern entertainment for older men into a cartoonish, kid-oriented spectacle in the Hulk Hogan era, and later into a raunchier, influencer-driven platform. Discussion on Hulk Hogan’s tragic death and substance abuse among athletes.
  • Quote:
    • “Fake or not, it's not like they're getting away unscathed. It's real to some degree.” – Bryan [19:09]
  • Krissy on opiate crises paralleling Prince’s anniversary: “I mean, it was just the 10th anniversary of Prince and...that’s what happens.” [18:27]

4. Tech, Bitcoin, and the Era of ‘Quiet Musk’

• [20:16–22:23]
  Bryan rants about Amazon deforestation for data centers, Bitcoin mining, and American tech mogul eccentricities, especially the “Age of Quiet Musk”—Elon Musk’s subdued recent presence.
  • Quote:
    • “I know this is the age of the quiet Musk. And I'm all about that. It's not so musky when Musk is not around.” – Bryan [21:34]

5. Tucker Carlson’s Public Mea Culpa

• [26:46–33:14]
  Debate about Tucker Carlson’s viral interview, where he expresses regret for supporting Trump—a rare public reckoning. Bryan points out that sifting through Tucker’s words is “like pulling corn from the shit, then making some popcorn and eating it.” [23:13]
  • Quote:
    • “I'm paraphrasing now, I will live with for the rest of my life the fact that I led people to support this president and I got it wrong.” – Bryan on Tucker’s statement [29:05]
  • Connected commentary on the performative dynamics of Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Dr. Oz, and the broader alternate media sphere.

6. The Frayed Web of American Politics

• [34:25–36:20]
  Disbelief at Dr. Oz and RFK Jr. (“cutting raccoon penises off...”), isolation in world politics, and complaints that Trump is running out of enemies—even America’s traditional allies.
  • Quote:
    • “You wanted America first, you got it. We are as isolated as we have ever been in the world without friends.” – Bryan [35:09]

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Memorable Musical and Comic Interludes

1. Original Song: “My New Starbucks Boyfriend”

• [25:04–26:39]
  A full comedic number about bromance with subversive undertones.

2. Coachella, Masters Tickets, and Lottery Woes

• [40:32–42:41]
  Krissy and Bryan commiserate on the absurdity of ticket lotteries (for Masters golf and Coachella), previous marriages, and the high cost of nostalgia.

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Heartfelt Moments & Engagement Party Escapades

The Awkward Uncle Jam

• [43:19–49:31]
  Bryan describes being roped into playing music at Cecilia’s engagement party with friend Raphael—a musical trainwreck involving drums, Beatles covers, and public embarrassment—but concludes it’s the kind of bittersweet, hilarious memory that marks enduring friendship.
  • Quote:
    • “Here we are. They put like, a couch...like this huge driveway and lawn area...and they're, you know, like a lot, 40, 50 people standing outside...and then Raphael goes over and just commandeers the couch and he's like, sit here, bro...” – Bryan [44:33–47:38]
  • Krissy: “I'm picturing the whole thing.” [47:38]
  • Bryan: “Which depressing song would you like me to whoop out for you?” [47:40]
  • Bryan: “I just felt like the old fuddy duddy playing the old tunes.” [51:36]

Generational Reflections

• [52:11–53:20]
  A tender moment as the group realizes “we did do it. We're still here. We're still kicking...Cecilia is now the next generation.” A meditation on aging, cycles of life, and the absurdity of playing Pink Floyd at a Gen Z's engagement.

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Current Events: Oil Crisis, Travel, and Upcoming Weddings

• [54:08–55:01]
  Discussion of global oil woes, canceled flights, dilemmas of expensive wedding travel, and reluctant acceptance of aging—Bryan jokes about giving his father grandkids in the latter's seventies.
• Closing practicalities: The hosts preview a busy travel and wedding season, more choppy podcast scheduling, and why they prefer networking over public speaking.

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Selected Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “We love the devil we know, that's the truth as well.” – Bryan, on tanning packages and habit [04:21]
• “My response to a pool that's looking a little weird is just put as many chemicals as I possibly can in there.” – Bryan [10:36]
• “It's real to some degree.” – Bryan, defending the physical toll of wrestling [19:09]
• “I know this is the age of the quiet Musk. And I'm all about that.” – Bryan [21:34]
• “I'll go, can I use the guest pass because I see they're going to expire after 90 days? So I think I have, like, three or four of them that I could potentially use.” – Bryan (tanning saga) [03:46]
• “Which depressing song would you like me to whoop out for you?” – Bryan (party story) [47:40]
• “It's perfect. All right, all right, everyone. Second, settle down.” – Bryan (wrapping up the episode) [56:57]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Tanning Bed Rant: [01:12–06:14]
• Pool Maintenance & AI Advice: [06:14–12:48]
• Wrestling History & WrestleMania: [12:55–18:45]
• Big Pharma & Pain Management: [18:21–20:16]
• Tech Tangents: Musk & Data Centers: [20:16–22:23]
• Tucker Carlson’s Interview & Media Personalities: [26:46–33:14]
• RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, & Vaccine/Autism Myths: [34:25–36:20]
• Engagement Party Musical Fiasco: [43:19–51:35]
• Generational Reflections & Weddings: [52:11–54:07]
• Oil Crisis & Flights: [54:08–55:01]

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Tone & Takeaways

Chaotic, self-deprecating, and peppered with “dad jokes” and moments of genuine camaraderie. Bryan and Krissy illustrate that friendship is about enduring (and laughing at) life’s embarrassments, musical misadventures, and shifting social landscapes. The more things change—from wrestling to world politics—the more their irreverent commentary makes listeners feel like part of an ongoing inside joke.

For listeners who missed it:
This episode is a rollicking, heartfelt ramble through midlife friendships, family parties, pop culture, big tech, and the insanity of American news cycles. Expect to laugh at tales of tanning mishaps, pool over-chlorination, and cringe-worthy musical performances—only to be unexpectedly moved by meditations on generational change and sticking together when life gets weird.

Transcript

[Brian]

On this episode of the Commercial Break, well, Raphael goes over and just commandeers the couch, and he's like, sit here, bro. And I'm like, I thought we were gonna do this, like, on the side of the house or something. Like, do you wanna, like, warm up a little bit? Yeah. Away from ears. Like, if I'm gonna play for my kids. Cool. They're gonna be impressed with anything. But you wanna play to actual adults. No, no, no, no, no. We got to do it in front of everybody. That's the way we got to. Let's provide some music. Let's have a little sing along. And I'm like, sing along. What would you like? Sunny side up or Black by Pearl Jam? Which. Which party starter would you like? Yeah, which party starter would you like?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I'm picturing the whole thing.

[Brian]

Which depressing song would you like me to. Who? The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Yeah, boy. Oh, yeah. Cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial Green. This is my dear friend and co host of this show, Kristen Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Kristen.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes to you.

[Brian]

Best to you. Out there in the podcast universe, if I look tan, it's because I am. I'm a man with a plan. Going to get a tan. Yeah, I got a little, like, for years, I had been a member at that tanning place, and for years, unbeknownst

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

to me, they were charging you.

[Brian]

Well, they were charging me. Of course they were charging. They were charging me the most amount of money. Yeah. So they were sending me these every month. I got, like, a free guest tan, but I was being charged so much that I could literally go into any tanning bed at any time for any reason. I could go in the middle of the night. I had keys to the place. I just didn't know it. Right. They were charging me, like, the most amount of money ever. It was like $120 a month. It was ridiculous. I pay. I mean, I could go to the gym and sleep there for $30 a month. They were charging me 125. My wife was so pissed. Jeju, I could do. I could do a week at Jeju and get a massage every day for $125, tip included. So I. But unbeknownst to me also is that, you know, when you check your spam folder, sometimes you find something good in there. They were giving me a guest pass every month.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

And that guest pass. Speaking of my wife, she's calling me right now because she can hear me talking about the tanning bed. She's on the stream listening to the tanning. So they're giving me this guest pass. And then the guest pass could be used for a free tan. Well, it expires after 90 days, so I canceled my tanning membership when I got the gym membership. But then I realized that every month I had this free tan that I was getting that I could give to whoever. So I called him up because I haven't been to the gym in a while, so. And it is better tanning beds at the other place, like the one. The tanning beds at the gym are like the basic, the redder, the better. Tina Tan and Tweeze kind of shit. Yeah, very basic, very old, probably used. Those light bulbs are likely unchanged. And years. It's giving you the worst kind of UV without any results. You know what I'm saying? At least at the tanning bed, they have to keep up with the business because that's their business. They have the really fancy machines that are supposedly better for your skin.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, I used to work in one when I was in high school.

[Brian]

Yeah. And so, so I called, Called her up. There's an older lady that manages the place. Her name is Miranda. And we struck it. We struck a friendship because my. I. I know that name. That name sounds familiar to me. And so we struck a friendship and I. So I called and I said, hey, Miranda, it's me, Brian. You know me. We have names in common. And she said, oh, yeah, how are you? And I. I said, good. And she said. I go, can. I used the guest pass because I see they're going to expire after 90 days. So I think I have like three or four of them that I could potentially use.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian]

Could I use that for myself? I know it's a guest pass. Yeah. And she said, not technically allowed, but you're not a member anymore, so guess you can do it. So I go in there and I signed up for this place years ago. I mean, this is like year for years. They were charging me thousands of dollars every year. So I go in there and I was talking with Miranda and I. I say, okay, thanks so much. She goes, yeah, no problem. She goes, honestly, you know, if you ever want a free tan, just come in and see me. But if you ever get a tan package, you know, come see us. And I was like, yeah, that's good business. Of course. I said, what are the tan packages going for these days? And she goes, you really only use this one bed ever, don't you? And I'm like, yeah, I'm a heat and she. I'm a man. I'm a creature of habit. There's so much unknown in this world. We like to know that's true. We love the devil. We know that's the truth as well.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Talked about that with restaurants too.

[Brian]

Yes, with restaurant. We are comfort food kind of creatures. We like what we know. I will eat the same thing for months in a row. I have never used any other tanning room except for number two. I just haven't. I don't know why. It's the other. The rest of them scare me. I don't know how they work. They could have.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Buds are huge. This can keep it really huge.

[Brian]

Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And this tanning bed is like a clamshell. I, I, I have to have instructions sometimes on how to use it because there's different settings and stuff like that. So I've asked people. I'm not gonna, I, I'm not gonna take a chance on my beautiful skin getting redder than ever.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

So I say, hey, hey, Miranda, let me ask you a couple cues here. That's what the kids are saying these days. Let me ask you a couple cues here. What are the tanning packages going for these days? I remember I was paying $125 a month. And she said, oh, I don't think we have that package anymore. I said, really? And she goes, no, the most we charge is $83. And that's like tan all the time, spray tans, anytime, you know, all the red light therapy, the accoutrement.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right, right, right, yeah.

[Brian]

And I said, so what kind of package would I get if I'm only using number two ever? And she's like, it'd be about $39 a month. And I said, $39 a month? And she said, yeah. And I go, why Was I paying $125? She said, well, that was our old package.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

You were grandfathered in.

[Brian]

I was, Yeah. I was at the highest level possible. And no one ever alerted me that it probably should be much lower. So I'm taking full advantage of my four free tans. So that's why I have a little glow in my face. Also managing the pool. The pool.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, I was going to say, it's been so beautiful. We desperately need rain, but it's been really beautiful.

[Brian]

It's gorgeous here today. Yeah, it's gorgeous here today. It's been gorgeous for the last couple of days. I have to go back to New York next week. It's freezing cold up there. I just talked to someone up there. And they said it's. Yeah, it's not, it's not like a turn. Last week it was 85 degrees. I was sweating through my shirts. So then Astrid, the angel of my life, runs around town buying me short sleeve shirts that would be appropriate for the, for the thing that I'm doing.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian]

And. And she buys like five of them, you know, spot on. Beautiful, stylish. All that other stuff goes with anything. Because she knows that's the thing is like, I'll bring four pairs of pants. I'll wear one of them. Right. And so the shirts have to go with everything. So anyway, so we. And, and I'm like, I'm all. Now I'm all excited. You got, you got fresh duds, you're feeling good. You're like, okay, I'm gonna go up. I got short sleeves. I'm not going to sweat through my shirt. I'm feeling good. I can be on the rooftop hanging out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I talked to someone today and they're like, it's high of 30. Like, high of 30. What, back to the sweaters? I guess.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

I had to change my suitcase. I'm like, fuck it.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, by next week it could change, though.

[Brian]

It's not. I looked. It's a high of like 54. It's going to be cold and rainy and miserable. But, you know, I guess it's that time of year for them. It's not that time of year for us. It's beautiful. Weather can be hot and we have no rain. We have no rain forever. Let's talk about the weather. Because that always makes everyone excited.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Exactly.

[Brian]

Yeah. But we do have a serious drought going.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

We do. It's been like two weeks of no rain. I think there's some rain coming up this weekend.

[Brian]

Maybe where I live, we're in a severe drought like that. I looked on the map. It's like severe drought. I get those red flag warnings.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, every day.

[Brian]

Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, okay.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And fire warnings.

[Brian]

Yes. Okay. But I don't think there's any chance of me being caught in a forest fire in the middle of Atlanta. I just don't. But I do know that there are some places in Georgia where that could be a danger. But you don't have to send me those notifications. Send me. I hate. And the Amber alerts. Are you gonna scare the shit out of me in two in the morning? Do you know what I'm saying?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Like, I know those are very loud.

[Brian]

I know it saves lives and I know that the second that this would happen to one of my children, that I would want everyone in the world screaming on the. You know, scream from the. It's a good idea, but. And Astrid agrees with me, when those things come through, we get freaked out. We get freaked out because we have children. It's jarring. And then they don't give you much information. They'll be like, blue Toyota.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian]

And you're like, blue Toyota.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Exactly.

[Brian]

What information do you want me to do with that? There's 75 million blue Toyotas in my hometown. Give me some more information. What does the person look like? What? Who are we looking for? What you know, where's their favorite place to eat? When were they last spotted? What clothing are they wearing? Like, give me some detailed information. So I got a fighting chance in hell because you say blue Toyota. Like, I'm driving down the street and I see that sign, you know, amber alert, blue Toyota. And it's like, really? I see seven blue Toyotas around me. What do you want me to do with that? Yeah, call the cops.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right. Saw blue Toyota.

[Brian]

Yeah, blue Toyota. Oh, thanks for wasting our ever loving fucking time. We're trying to find a missing child here. But, you know, whatever. Anyway, back to the tan. I'm out there, I'm getting the pool in. In a pool ready condition. I have professionals coming in. I was telling Astro last night, she's like, you know, we're always trying to save money. And she's like, well, we can afford a pool guy. And I'm like, babe, let me tell you this right now. We can afford a pool guy, because I cannot do it. I don't understand it.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, you have to pay for it.

[Brian]

It's a science experiment. And if I get it wrong, it's going to be not a $400 problem. It's going to be a $40,000 problem if I somehow ruin that pool or get some fucking sepsis in there or some shit that I can't get rid of, and pools can go horribly wrong. If I do that, then we are screwed because then we have to fix the thing in the backyard. We can't sell the house with a big broken green pool in the back of it. If we choose to do that, the kids.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, everybody wants.

[Brian]

We will save more. That pool being in that backyard saves US$200 a week from having to go get pool membership, entertainment, movie, whatever. I say let's go in the back. You swim. I'll ignore you while I doom scroll on Instagram. Scream real loud if there's trouble Right.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Splash.

[Brian]

Very hard splash. Very hard splash. Make a lot of noise if there's a problem.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, you're doing a good job. You've certainly been giving it your best effort.

[Brian]

Yeah. By pouring lots and lots of chemicals in there. That is my response to a pool that's looking a little weird is just put as many chemicals as I possibly can in there. But it's been working. The thing about shock is it's got a mixture of chemicals. It's mostly chlorine, mostly bleach, but it's got a lot of other chemicals in it, too. So if you put enough shock in there, theoretically, something's. Something's gonna happen. But then I tested the free chlorine in it last night, and it was like the. You know, it has a little. It's a little thing that you stick in the water.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Like a little test strip.

[Brian]

Yeah, it's a strip. You stick it in the water, and it gives you the color. The color of certain chemicals. Alkalinity.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I have some of that for water.

[Brian]

Okay. So, you know, so hardness, free chlorine, whatever. The other kind of chlorine is, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I stick it in there, and it's like, red is, like, you know, super high chlorine. White is no chlorine. You got to add chlorine. And it was, like, beyond. It literally set itself on fire. It set this. The. The test strip set on fire. It's like, enough chlorine. And then I read the back of the shock box, and it was like, add one bag for every 6,000 gallons in summertime, in swimming time, add two bags for every 6,000. When you're about to close the pool, when it's, like, coming into the wintertime when the pool can really kind of get nasty. I added four bags per 6,000 gallons in the last 24 hours. So I think it's good. The pool guy's gonna come, and he's gonna be like, I can't add chemicals to this for another six weeks. Right.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I was gonna say, what do you

[Brian]

want me to do with it?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Take time. You have to just give it time. Then to.

[Brian]

Yeah, the chlorine gets. It's a balancing act that's going on to my. My understanding from ChatGPT. It's a balanc said, hey, chat. Tell it to me like I'm a fucking idiot. Give me the idea. What's the idea behind making your pool clean and. And you're free of radicals? And it said, it's a balancing act between, you know, essentially Organic water. Water being organic with organic material in it. And the bleach or the chlorine that is killing that or the salt driven chlorine that is killing that organic material. You want to do a balancing act there. You want it not to be too harsh, you don't want it to be too hard, but you also don't want to.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Enough leeway.

[Brian]

Yeah. And so, you know, I'm currently on the way other side of the scale.

[Rachel]

Your.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Your seesaw is way off.

[Brian]

I have seesawed beyond seesawing. I am some. The ph is way up in the air and the chlorine is down on the ground. So that's that. Just reading about Hulk WrestleMania over the weekend. WrestleMania, sure, why not? Why don't we talk about that WrestleMania. WrestleMania happened over the weekend. Everyone gets excited about WrestleMania. Why? I don't understand. I mean I was, I watched this interesting video and I, I think it's true. It's that back in the 70s and early 80s, wrestling was mainly for locals, like local southerners, Texas. They had these local like wrestling associations and they were just fun, good time fun. Right. The wrestling been happening for years. This kind of wrestling, like, you know, the. I don't want to say pretend kind of.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right. The showmanship, showmanship.

[Brian]

It's been around for eons. It's been around since the Romans really. And then they were wrestling. But here in America, these loose associations would put on their local shows and what would happen is it would just be kind of become a local event.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

And it was really geared quite frankly toward like, like older men right. In their 40s, 50s and 60s. Just wanted to go see some entertainment. Then in the 80s, as the WWE or the WWF as it was called back then, started to coalesce, which you got was Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Hacksaw, Jim Duggan, you know, these really like cartoonish characters that came in and made it fun for kids to watch.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And the Rock was a wrestler, right?

[Brian]

He was a wrestler later on. Later on, yeah. Yeah. What they call the like, I don't know, the, the Ultra era or something like that. I don't know, I'm not, I'm not a wrestling expert, so don't quote me on this. But what I do know is I remember Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

You know, Sergeant Slaughter, those guys like, you know, way in, in the 80s, 86, 87, 88, when Hulk Hogan was everything to every kid and, and especially a male kid like Hulk Hogan was the best. He was the greatest ever that ever lived. He was like this supernatural superhero that could defeat Andre the Giant at seven and a half feet.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. And it was almost kind of soap opera ish. It had storylines.

[Brian]

That's when it started to be. Yeah. A continuing storyline. You know, working the camera, the work, as they call. They would do the work that would be dramatic, go from show to show and, you know, Hulk Hogan to be there every week, all this other stuff. So now you have this really young generation, my age at the time, you know, like five, six, seven years old, that were buying the toys and watching the cartoons. Yeah. And so now you've. Now you went from, like, older men and what had become like kind of older women, like edgier older women that were starting to get into the sport. It went straight down to kids, right?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

And so now you've got these 6, 7, 8 year olds that are into the sport, and it changes the sport kind of fundamentally into a more cartoonish version of what had been kind of an edgy local thing. All right, so then as those kids grew up, as we grew up, the sport grows up. Now you've got the 90s and early 2000s, when there's a lot of sex and, you know.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, I used to watch the glorious glow. The glorious ladies.

[Brian]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. But it. But. And those ladies went into the WWE and they're wearing skimpy outfits. So now you've got this mainly male driven, like teenagers, 20s and then early 30s that are watching it. It's getting more raunchy, it's getting more hardcore. You're now, you're in the full, like, McMahon era. That fucking douchebag. And so you've got kind of. And then that's when you have the Rock and all these other.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

What was that movie? Didn't you say you watched the movie? The. The Rock just played.

[Brian]

He played. He played a w. He played an MMA guy. Oh, And MMA guy. But he was great in that movie. Great in that movie. The. I forgot what it was called. Yeah, the Fighter. I think it was called the Fighter. Yeah. Reviews got great reviews. The Rock is fantastic, and you should watch it. He's transforms in, like, a different being. It's kind of weird, actually. He's. He's really good in the movie. And the Rock is not like, my favorite actor in the world, but I really enjoyed him in this role. Anyway, so you got these kids growing up that are now, like, aging out of the cartoonish version, and the WWE grows up with them, and now there's a lot of people that are complaining about the wwe because it's kind of turning into like influencer driven. Like now you have like influencers like Logan Paul and these other females. They're mainly Instagram and Tick Tock influencers who all of a sudden are in the wrestling ring for whatever and people are all upset. They're like, ah, this, it's not good anymore, blah blah blah, yada yada yada. You know, it's the. Some people were saying it's the worst WrestleMania ever. For this reason or that reason. I don't know. I didn't watch it and I haven't watched professional wrestling since I was about 8 years old.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, right. I know.

[Brian]

I just never got into it. It was just never my thing. I know people who are into it and God bless you. It's just like me watching a reality show like seven Little Johnson. Right. It's not. It's no better or different or worse or whatever. It's just. It's just another thing altogether, but another form of entertainment. Yeah, but the WWE survives this. Professional wrestling survives by changing. That's what it has always done and that's what it'll do. I say all this to say that I read about WrestleMania and then I also read about Hulk Hogan's death has now been associated or they believe that his heart failure may be in direct correlation with the extreme amounts of fentanyl the guy was taking to manage pain.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Really?

[Brian]

Extreme amounts of fentanyl, like to kill a horse. Enough to kill a horse on a daily basis?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, I mean, it was just the 10th anniversary of Prince and you know, that's. That's what happens.

[Brian]

That's what he died. He was taking oxycodone. Is. But same thing, same difference, right? That's all opiate pain medication. But man, it's these, these wrestlers, they're the wrestlers, the football players, the hockey players, the bull riders.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

They take a beating.

[Brian]

They take a beating body just does on the backs of Tiger Woods. There is not one person in this world who doesn't know somebody who's had an issue with opiate pain medication. Because. And these guys, they take a beating for a short amount of time and suffer for the rest of their lives. Same with football. They really leave it all out there on the map. So fake or not, it's not like they're getting away unscathed. It's real to some degree.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

No, it is. Yeah.

[Brian]

I was watching like highlight reel of one of the up and coming stars and he was like, you know, on this pole like, I don't know, three stories in the air. And this guy laying on the table, you know, I just got knocked out by nothing. You know, he's laying on the table just waiting for the suplex. And the guy jumps off this pole and like duplexes, the dude in the table splits in half. And I'm like, you just can't fake that. You can't fake falling 30ft and onto somebody. And the guy who took it, what does he do? He's like, he must go immediately into the back room and talk to the doctor about what. What is next on the schedule of narcotics that you can give me to make this pain go away.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, it's amazing. I can't believe the beating that they take.

[Brian]

And I think to some degree, even though I don't think you should be addicted to pain medication or high levels of fentanyl, to some degree. We, you know, I know we have like a big stick up our ass about pain medication now, but it's the only effective way to treat pain that we know of so far, besides snake venom. But who's volunteering for that? Snake venom? Yeah, they're testing snake venom.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. I think plants and like insects and stuff have been over the years. That's what helps for medicines.

[Brian]

Yeah, they've been. Of course, they, they say, they say that in the Amazon there may be up to a million undiscovered chemical compounds in plants and animals that haven't even been discovered. That could be instrumental in curing cancer, treating pain in a, in a way that's non addictive and all this other stuff. But you know, we're cutting down the tre to make fucking bitcoin. Bitcoin?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, yeah. To mine. Bitcoin.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Data centers.

[Brian]

Yeah, data centers. Data centers. Data centers.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

It's a big deal.

[Brian]

Didn't Trump, like sign a law where you could make your own nuclear power plant to fund your. Yeah, he did.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, God.

[Brian]

Yeah, that's, that's what we need. Sam Altman figuring out how to make a nuclear power plant next to his 360,000 acre data center with general intelligence that can't even put a spreadsheet together.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, I think you're right. I think it was the XAI people that were looking to do that or something.

[Brian]

Yeah, of course.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Musk.

[Brian]

Yeah, yeah, musk. Well, he's always up there. I gotta say though, I'm enjoying this period of musk.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

This period of musk. Silence.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian]

No, musk. Yeah. And quiet musk. I like quiet musk. I know this is the age of the quiet musk. And I'm all about that. It's not so musky when Musk is not around, and I could enjoy that. And I bet that the people who have invested large amounts of cash into Tesla are also appreciating that, because it's. It's just he. He was. That will be looked at by historians as one of the weirdest things that ever happened. Yeah. Musk hands Trump, whatever it was, 100 million, $200 million, helps him win the election, and then becomes the guy who just starts firing people and taking away aid.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Doge.

[Brian]

Yeah, Doge. To figure out that Doge. Doge didn't work. Doge didn't work.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, yeah. He had such confidence and cockiness about coming in and making that. All these changes, it was all gonna be great.

[Brian]

It's all great. It's all one.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

What did he last 90 days?

[Brian]

I think he was only allowed to work 90 days. And then Trump said, well, this isn't working out for either of us. What do you say you take a break and never come back?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. Even after the car commercial. Remember that?

[Brian]

Which one?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

The Tesla on the front lawn. The White House.

[Brian]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, nothing wrong with that. Who doesn't want to sell a couple Teslas in the front of the White House? This will be looked at as the strangest period of American history. I hope it really will. I hope. I hope it doesn't get any weirder. That's interesting. I want to talk about Tucker Carlson. I don't know if you saw this line on that. I actually took the time, even though I have no hours in the day or brain power for Tucker Carlson. And I took the time to watch the interview he did, I think with his brother. I think that was his brother he was talking to. That where he apologized for leading people to Trump to support.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, let's talk about that, because I just saw the headline. That was it.

[Brian]

Yeah. And listen, it was hard interview to swallow. It's hard to swallow an hour and a half of Tucker Carlson because he has some wild thinking, and he is clearly off base, in my opinion, on a lot of topics. But in there somewhere, there was some kind of making sense of what's going on with President Trump. And, you know, I guess if you can. If you can pull the flies from the shit, if you can pull the corn from the shit, then you can make some popcorn and eat it. All right, let's do it. We'll be right back.

[Rachel]

Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on tcb. And just like you. I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears. And I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the Contact Us page. You can also find the entire commercial break library audio and video just in case you want to look at [e-mail] Want your voice to be on an episode of the show? Leave us a message at 212-4333, TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Tell us how much you love us and we'll be sure to let the world know on a future episode. Or you could make fun of us. That'd be fine, too. We might not air that, but maybe. Oh, and if you're shy, that's okay. Just send a text. We'll respond. Now I'm gonna go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors. And then we'll return to this episode of.

[Brian]

I'm going to coachella to see diplo.

[Raphael]

I walked in the door to grab a latte I paid $10 heard Ariana Grande but then I saw him and his big dog I felt my knees weak here came the brain fog and though I'm not gay you make me feel that way I hope it never ends My new Starbucks boyfriend. All my toes curl, all the feels come my world of gold you are my shining sun we love to talk sports and swimming pools you like the patio, I like the bar stools and we spill tea and we crochet the other tables might think we're gay. I don't really care I hope it never ends you're my best Starbucks boyfriend. And though we're still straight you make me feel a certain way I hope it never ends. My new Starbucks boyfriend No, I'm not gay. You make me feel that way I hope it never ends My new Starbucks boyfriend

[Brian]

I got like six new songs. I need to load them in there so they stop playing the same ones over and over again. You know, one of those things I'll put on my to do list that'll never get done.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

So Tucker Carlson, in case anybody didn't hear, this is the politics part of the show, so you can turn it off if you want to. Tucker Carlson made a lot of news yesterday. A lot of mainstream news yesterday. Tucker Carlson, of course, the former Fox News host who Went on to start the Tucker Carlson Network. It's a podcast. And Vodcast Network, I could say vodcast, you know, YouTube, wherever he's at. And he puts on a couple shows a week, I think. And, you know, he has various in and sundry characters. Most of them I would never listen to on a regular basis because I don't believe the load of shit they're towing the line on. And Tucker himself really walks a very fine line between. I mean, just some of the things that Tucker thinks and says out loud I just clearly don't believe to be true or disagree with wholeheartedly.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian]

Including that the whole world is here, is now against white people for some. Some reason. There's some big grand conspiracy and there's a lot of other hokey shit that he believes that I'm just, you know, COVID vaccine theories and all this other stuff that I just have a hard time swallowing. But he made news yesterday. And so I thought it worthy of my very first attention giving to Tucker Carlson in the sense that, okay, I'll go watch this particular video where he was talking to, I believe, his brother, who was a former speechwriter for Donald Trump. They look alike, they talk alike, they're very erudite, they're very in their own little.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Wear bow ties.

[Brian]

New Hampshire world. No, they don't both wear bow ties, but they both wear the same style of, you know, he's got a blue blazer on with a, you know, preppy. Bullshit. Yeah, Zinn, like Zin cans.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, God.

[Brian]

Sticking there. Yeah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Why are you. I don't know, Tucker. Could you. Could you just be better? Could you just be better?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Be best.

[Brian]

Be best. Be best. Listen to our great first lady, Melania Frump. Okay, so Tucker makes news because of basically one sentence, one paragraph that he said. I'm paraphrasing now, I will live with for the rest of my life the fact that I led people to support this president and I got it wrong. And that's on my conscience. I can't. My hands are dirty. You know, I. I've got blood on my hands in that sense. And you know, I wish I hadn't. I wish I had thought better of it.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, did he say why?

[Brian]

Because so then you have to go back and watch the whole thing to hear why. Right? And they talk all about it. They talk about when Trump, you know, the Trump's first term and how kind of Trump went wrong and then what happened during the, you know, leading up to the second term. And they call it the wilderness Years where after he got, you know, left office the first time, how he went off the wilderness years is what his brother kept referring to it as the wilderness years, where he basically collected a billion dollars in funding from a lot of, you know, seedy characters and then really made that second run. Likely to keep himself out of jail.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right, right.

[Brian]

Likely to keep himself out of jail. But he had a lot of support and, and he was a, I guess a useful idiot would probably be the way to put it. But now it's clear that he's only a useful idiot to himself and that it doesn't matter who, whose money he took or who he supported or what platform he talked about. It's now The Trump Show, 24 hours a day. And Trump only thinks about Trump and it changes minute by minute and it all. And he hates his, the voters and he hates Americans in general and he just hates everybody. He's just a miserable prick. Right, right. Who only thinks about himself. And so if you can cut the, the chaff from the way or whatever that phrase is, if you can see through all the words that Tucker and his brother were using, you can see that there's. Cut the fat. Yeah. You can see some semblance of common sense in there in what they're saying, which is, it is true. And this, they're not the only ones that are saying this now. Theo Vaughn and Joe Rogan and all these people, all these people who just

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

like got right behind him was right up there with him. I mean, design the, the, what was it?

[Brian]

The, the psychedelic treaty.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And they were apparently, you know, back slapping each other at the uf, the big UFC fight, you know.

[Brian]

Yeah, I mean, listen, I, I think Joe goes wherever he thinks the ratings are, if I'm being honest. But he is a creature of media. That's what he does. Let's not pretend that Joe Rogan is like the great thinker of our time.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian]

Leading us to the, you know, the fairer land. That's not what's happening. Joe is a ratings chasing motherfucker because that is how he's made his hundreds of millions of dollars. And that ain't going to stop. And if he senses that people are souring on Trump, then he's going to move right in that direction just like all these other cats. The only one, the only one that I will give a little bit of leeway with on this. And by the way, the water's warm over here. Come on over. I don't care at this point. I just think we need to stop the Drama.

[Rachel]

Yeah.

[Brian]

But the only one that I give a little, like, leeway to with a little bit of credibility in my mind is Theo Vaughn. And I'll tell you why. Because I don't think Theo Vaughn 100% buys into a lot of this crazy, really crazy crap. I think he believes into some of it, or he talks about some of it. I don't think he buys into all of it. And you can almost hear Theo thinking in real time, being self aware about how he's wrong. Right. He's talking it through, and it's like he's having a conversation with himself. Like is the microphone as a therapist. And he's talking it through and he's figuring it out. And he seems to be, in my opinion, authentic about these realizations that he's having that, you know, this doesn't make sense. Like, this. This guy doesn't make sense. These things don't make sense. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, Rogan's gonna go where the ratings are gonna go. And I don't know why Rogan has to be at the psychedelic treaty signing. Like, why does he have to be there? What does he have to do? Because he notoriously talks about ayahuasca and DMT and, you know, ibogaine, and he thinks this is going to solve problems. I will tell you right now, ibogaine and ayahuasca are not to be trifled with. This is. This can be helpful, but I think it needs a lot of research before we just unleash this in the wild and say that everyone that's ever had a problem should get on, you know, should take an ibogaine trip or an ayahuasca trip. It didn't say anything. Like, all these things. Don't say anything. It said, please speed things up. Please speed things up. And then Dr. Oz back there. Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Oh, man. There was a time when I was he.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

The Surgeon General.

[Brian]

He's something. Yeah, he's Surgeon General. Surgeon General. What is this? The Surgeon general has been credible since that surgeon general came out and said, stop smoking. What was that guy? Remember that guy with the big white, puffy beard?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

As he was smoking.

[Brian]

As he was smoking a cigarette. That's right. Did you know there was a time when doctors recommended cigarettes as an aperitif, as a digestive? Did you know that?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I can believe it.

[Brian]

Yeah. I want one right now.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Making you think about it now.

[Brian]

Yeah. Making me think about a cigarette. Yeah. You know, a lot of people smoke in New York. A lot of people. It's $28 a pack. But a lot of people smoke. Yeah, $28 a pack. No joke. It's $20 a pack up there. But people smoke in New York. It's like an after dinner thing, I guess. You know, a lot. I see a lot of people on the street smoking cigarettes. It's like, I think it's. I think it's cosmopolitan. Like it. You know, they have a different kind of smoking there. Like, everyone lives in a building, so it's unlikely they're just sitting around smoking cigarettes all day in their building. So they. They walk outside or they have dinner or they go to the bar and they. They have a smoke. But, you know, Dr. Oz has zero credibility because he's all buddied up with that fucking. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is cutting raccoon penises off and taking them home.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

What the fuck is going on? And more stuff just keeps coming out. I'm like, what? I think, yeah, to study the penis of the raccoon.

[Brian]

Yeah. I think this is coordinated from the inside. All these releases of information are coordinated from the inside to give distance between him and Trump. Because I don't think Trump really likes RFK Jr. I don't think he ever liked RFK

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Jr. Now he just wanted his supporters.

[Brian]

Yeah. RFK Jr. Was basically the lunatic fringe of the Kennedy family until like six years ago when he. Seven years ago, eight years ago, when he started talking about autism and.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian]

And it made no sense then. It doesn't make any sense now. It's been disproven time after time after time. Yet there's a whole cadre of human beings who believe that vaccines have something to do with autism. It doesn't. They've studied it. It doesn't. It just doesn't. It's just a scientific fact. And, you know, okay, big pharma. Yeah, okay, we can all blame big. What were we blaming? One time, like, you know, I got a green jacket there. Is it causing me to be autistic? No. Or dumb? Dumber than I otherwise. No. Blame big green jacket. Big green jacket, corporations. I mean, it's just dumb. It's like, pick a target. It make an enemy. Go after that enemy. It's. It's the autocratic playbook. That's what it is. The problem is for Trump right now, as I see it, is that he's running out of enemies. He's running out of enemies. Everybody is like, wait, dude, hold on. Everyone is your enemy? Everybody who helped you, every country in the world, all of our allies, we are now alone and Ice. We are. You wanted America first, you got it. We are as isolated as we have ever been in the world without friends. All of the other European countries are getting together tomorrow, by the way, to talk about the oil crisis that's happening everywhere in the world except for the United States of America that we caused.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian]

And they haven't invited us. You want to know why? Because they think we're dumb.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Dumb, right.

[Brian]

Yeah. They don't want us there.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

No. They got to figure out what to do on their own.

[Brian]

Yeah. It's just like. It's literally in two years, the entire world flipped upside down, and it's going to take a long time before. And before we start healing some of these relationships that whether you like them or whether you don't like them or whether you think is taking advantage of America or not, it's worked pretty well since World War II is. Worked pretty fucking well. And so I would just share with you that, you know, we can debate the finer points of, you know, the European. The NATO alliance later on in life, but I think right now we kind of need them, don't you?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, I do. I mean, I think they've been great partners with us over the years.

[Brian]

So. Yeah, go ahead.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. No, that was it.

[Brian]

No beavers.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And back to beavers.

[Brian]

And back to beavers. So we talked about beavers yesterday, and I just want. I want to let you know that we got a positive review on our beaver site.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, good.

[Brian]

So I'll now be making it a part of every episode.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

We'll have a beaver segment.

[Brian]

We'll be doing a weird beaver segment every episode.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I love it. Well, you were also gonna tell us about the party that you went to.

[Brian]

Oh, I went to a party. Oh, did I go to a party?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes. I wanted to hear about this party.

[Brian]

I went to a big party. A big party for my best friend's beautiful firstborn child, Cecilia, who I've known since she was born.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I'm so happy for her.

[Brian]

She's just cut from a different cloth. Yeah, she really is. She's hippie without being, you know, overly dramatic about it. She is organic as they come. She's authentic as they come. She is just a lovely human being. I'll share this. Let me take a break, and then we can end it. I'll tell the whole story about the party and all that. Let's take a short break. Break. And then we'll be back. And by short, I mean I'll try not to play the same song again.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Load the new ones in, huh?

[Brian]

Yeah, that'll take more time than we have if I say short break and I load more songs in.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

No, not that.

[Brian]

We're not coming back for 10 minutes. Yeah, I'll load them. I'll load them in for tomorrow. Hold on. As I play the exact same song that I just played, paying no attention to what I'm doing. We're work in progress. We're building the plane as we fly it, as they say. We'll be back after this break and a different song.

[Rachel]

Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on tcb. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears. And I'll rejoice that my check is in the movie mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the Contact us page. You can also find the entire commercial break library audio and video, just in case you want to look at [e-mail] Want your voice to be on an episode of the show? Leave us a message at 212-4333, TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Tell us how much you love us and we'll be sure to let the world know on a future episode. Or you could make fun of us. That'd be fine, too. We might not air that, but maybe. Oh, and if you're shy, that's okay. Just send a text. We'll respond. Now I'm gonna go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors. And then we'll return to this episode of the commercial break.

[Brian]

Hey, Jackie beams, you're an edging man with your sandals shirt and your wild

[Raphael]

grann

[Brian]

we rocking out feeling divine at the wheel jam show become alive raise your hands, sing it out Jack your beams stand out in the crown Jack your beans you steal the scene that faded jeans jacket you're the kingpin dream with a spice of and a heart of free check it be.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Speaking of Coachella from yesterday we I just that that popped up on my newsfeed there splurged on Coachella tickets that got scammed instead.

[Brian]

Oh, I have no sorrys for you. I have no sorrys to give you. Yep. Listen, you're already getting scammed if you buy them straight from Ticketmaster, so I don't know why you would try and buy them off the off market. I understand it's It's a hot commodity for some people to go to. OK, all right. Just, you know, you're paying $12,000 for. It's like the Masters. This year, the Masters started to ratchet down on the ticket, on the extemporaneous ticket sales. And so apparently now they're tracking all the badges, and if you get caught selling them outside of the reputable, you know, regular kind of Masters, you know, subhubs and stuff like that, then they can take away your tickets for life. And when you get tickets, you get them for life. So people have to die or give up the tickets for you to get tickets. I've been in that pool. Pool for 20 years waiting for my own tickets, and I've only ever gotten them twice for practice rounds, and that was on Tuesday, and no one wants to go on Tuesday to the Masters,

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

so I know I just started getting in that pool last year. My dad and I are in it, but. No.

[Brian]

Yeah, good luck. Yeah, good luck. Yeah, good luck. I think I'm like, one. I think they say it's a lottery, but I'm not sure that's exactly how it works. Yeah, I think it's more like, ooh, that's a name. That's a name we want on the ground. And that's okay. That's the part of. Of what the allure of the Masters is, you know? If I had only stayed married in that miserable marriage, then I would have tickets to the Masters. Love you, Julia. Sorry, but we both know it's true. I wanted the tickets, and you want it out of the marriage, so there you go. I wanted the tickets, you wanted a normal husband. Something had to give. If Julia's listening. Wow. If Julia's listening. If you're listening.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Love you, Julia.

[Brian]

Hey, Julia. Yeah, I talked to her, like, every once every five years. I'd say there's a Julia pop up for some reason or another, some paperwork.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. When we first met, you were married to Julia.

[Brian]

I was married to Julia, Yeah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And listen, I enjoyed Julia.

[Brian]

It wasn't the worst thing in the world. There was, like, no abuse or anything.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

No, no, no. You guys just weren't a match.

[Brian]

Nah, nah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

You just weren't a match.

[Brian]

Yeah, we weren't.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

She was lovely, and you're lovely. Obviously, we became best friends, but, yeah, you just.

[Brian]

Two different people, two different worlds, two different ideologies.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I think you guys figured it out at the right time and cut ties.

[Brian]

Yeah, we figured it out before the wedding, actually, but, you know, the party was already. So why not go through with It. So did our marriage therapist. She figured it out, too. But she said, you know, I think probably canceling a wedding is better than a divorce. And we said, no, let's have the party. But it's down on the beach, right? Why would we stop now? We're only four short weeks away. So.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

The party.

[Brian]

The party. So I go to Cecilia and Ryan's engagement party. I get invited to the party. It's over at Rapha's house. Rafa's house has been the host of many.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes, it's a party house.

[Brian]

Have been to. And I haven't been there at a party at Rafa's house in a long time. Actually, probably been a couple years. Yeah, yeah, at least a year, if not longer. But we went and it was just. It was a lovely day outside. They had umbrellas and picnic tables and a little bar set up and rugs and, you know, it looked like a hippie paradise up there, right? Everyone was hanging out. Some of Cecilia's friends were there. All of. You know, here is the weird thing about Astrid and Rafa and Chelsea and Cecilia and I is that we are actually related now. And that's weird for someone to be your best friend for many years, and then, I mean, unless they're your sibling and they're your best friend. But it's weird for you to be best friends with somebody and then all of a sudden, you're related to them, even if it's just loosely through marriage.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, that was part of his pitch, wasn't it, when he was trying to introduce you to Astrid?

[Brian]

Well, he didn't introduce me to Astrid. Astrid, his stepmom introduced me to Astrid. But it was kind of part of the allure, right? Hey, listen, if something works out here, you be. You could be in the.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Actual brothers.

[Brian]

Yeah, actual brothers. You're already at every family event. Might as well have the title, right? And so I did. So it was good to see everybody. It was a lot of fun. The kids were with us. So, you know, if I was gonna drink, I wouldn't drink when the. When I was driving the kids around, but lovely day off outside. And then Rafa says to me, hey, would you play some guitar with me? It's like 40 people at this party, right? All of which I know. Most of which I know. 90% of them I know. But I'm still thinking to myself, you know, we aren't 27 anymore, doing this every night, high on some mystical, magical Costa Rican powder, like, you know what I'm saying? This. This. I'm not drunk. I don't think I sound good. Yeah, you know, all the.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

All the things you don't have that confidence.

[Brian]

I don't have confidence. All the things you usually look for in a situation where you're going to commandeer the actual speaker where real music is playing and start to sing. And they have a microphone, too. So I'm thinking this is like double dangerous. Because I know what's going to happen. Raphael's going to start playing guitar. He said, raphael, he comes outside with a big bongo.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Of course that'd be the bongo.

[Brian]

Yeah. And he hands it to me and he's like, okay, you play and I'll play guitar. And I'm like, okay, sure. Okay, why not? Yeah. Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. One and two and three and four. And one and two and three and four. That's my rhythm.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

The side. Like a little hit, too.

[Brian]

I tried to, but the thing is so damn big, I'm, like, sitting on it. But of course, you know, I'm 68 years old, so that hurts. So I'm like. I just look like an old man bent over trying to make some rhythm. And then he's like, sing with me. And every time I try and sing, I lose the rhythm. So it's just a high hot fucking mess. Right? But the thing about Raphael is he really doesn't give a shit. I kind of give a shit. He really doesn't give a shit. You know, and here we are. They put like, a couch, like this huge driveway and lawn area, and they got all these tables and food and all this other stuff. And they're, you know, like a lot, 40, 50 people standing outside on this lovely day enjoying themselves with some music playing in the background that's perfectly appropriate for the occasion. And then they have this couch set up outside, like this wicker couch with these big pillows and a little, like, you know, I don't know, this little overhang hanging out where Cecilia and Ryan are supposed to sit. Rug on the bottom. Yeah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

That was like their seating.

[Brian]

That was like their seating, like the king and queen. Right? You know, Pay attention to them. Well, Raphael goes over and just commandeers the couch and he's like, sit here, bro. And I'm like, I thought we were gonna do this, like, on the side of the house or something. Like, do you wanna, like, warm up a little bit? Yeah. Away from ears. Like, if I'm gonna play for my kids. Cool. They're gonna be impressed with anything. But you want to play to actual adults and so, you know. No, no, no, no, no. We got to do in front of everybody. That's the way we got to. Let's provide some music. Let's have a little sing along. And I'm like, sing along. What would you like, Sunny side Up or Black by Pearl Jam? Which. Which party starter would you like? Yeah, which party starter would you like?

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I'm picturing the whole thing.

[Brian]

Which depressing song would you like me to whoop out for you? So he starts playing, like, Beatles covers, but not the good Beatles era. Like the 1957 Beatles shit, you know? You know, I love Love, Me, do. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is terrible. Love, Me, do. And I'm trying to keep up on the drum, and he doesn't know the chords, and he's got the. He's got the chord book, like, on his phone, but it doesn't scroll on its own. So every five seconds, he has to stop and scroll. And then we start again. And stop and scroll. It's amazing. So I'm just keeping my head down. I'm not looking out into the crowd, because I don't want to know what the reaction is. But when I pop my head up two songs later, to my surprise, everybody is watching and multiple people are videotaping. And I'm like, great. This is my ever loving nightmare. People are, you know, now they're gonna tag me on Instagram, and my good name as a gringo married to a Venezuelan is gonna be tarnished by my terrible singing of American rock songs. And so then Raphael, like, hands me the guitar, and he's like, okay, you play something. And I'm like. So I start playing Wish youh Were Here by Pink Floyd, which is a perfect engagement song when you think about it. Everybody loves Wish youh Were Here.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian]

Who doesn't want to hear Wish youh Were Here at an engagement party? It's just like. The whole thing is just from the beginning is a total idea.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I want to see this video you.

[Brian]

And it's out there. I think Cecilia actually put it on her Instagram. Put some of it on her Instagram, but luckily put a song to the video. Turned the volume down on that. So then, you know, okay, drums and guitar. So Raphael, Commandeer. Is the guitar back? And then we're singing some songs from Ben Harper, and, I don't know, we play a song from Shrek or. So I don't know what we're playing. We're playing something.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Everything is awesome.

[Brian]

Yeah, everything is cool when you're part of a team. So then Cecilia Comes over and she wants to sing a song, you know, and. And she turns up the. She turned on the microphone and turns it up. And then somehow, someway, the microphone got stuck in my face and Raphael's like, do it, do it. Do the song, do the song. I'm like, I don't know, dude. So here I am crouched down like this because the microphone cord won't go up. So I'm crouched down near Raphael's knee, like I'm giving him head, singing a Ben Harper song, I don't know, trying to look at his notebook and flipping it for him.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Oh, God, this is great.

[Brian]

Cecilia's friends are like, well, that's dad and his friends. Dad and his friends. Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. I felt like I had let down Cecilia. I was gonna be the. I was gonna come in hot and be the cool uncle, and then. And I'm just a loser who doesn't know how to play the Congos with a microphone that has bad knees. Like, the whole thing is just a hot mess. Oh, God. The thing is. And you know, and then everyone was getting all emotional and sappy when we were leaving. Like, Cecilia was like, you know, you guys did it. Like you and dad did it. You've got families, you have love, you have, have, you know, you've been successful and then not so successful and then maybe successful again in, in life. Like you, you really, you know, when Raphael and I were young, we would talk about it. We're going to be the last two pirates on the boat, right? We'll be sitting somewhere, drinking a beer, playing guitar, you know, thinking about the. These days, the old days. Right. And, and that's kind of what happened during the engagement party. The thing is, when I was 25 years old with Rafael, that would have been a dream day. Just sit, drink beer, play guitar. Even to the smallest of audiences. And I think we could have gotten away with looking a little bit cooler. Of course, we practiced a lot more back then, too.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Exactly.

[Brian]

But this time I just felt like the old fuddy duddy playing the old tunes. I mean, think about it. Pink Floyd's wish you were here was made 20 years before, before Chelsea and Rafa even got together. 30 years before Chelsea and Rafa even got together. This song is now 60 some odd years old. I mean, it's like it's an old oldie. And, you know, but these are the moments that at the end of the party, as everyone's kind of getting all teary eyed and emotional about, you know, the things that Were. And the things that will be. It's like, yeah, you know what? We did do it. We did do it. We're still here. We're still kicking. No one died. We didn't.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian]

Hulk Hogan it into oblivion. We managed to put together some kind of life and we're still hanging out with each other and we still love each other. And, you know, Cecilia is now the next generation that's coming up and she'll soon have children, then we'll be grandpas playing guitar and being idiots with the microphone and then the. Then.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, your kids will still be 2.

[Brian]

Yeah, my kids are going to be 4 and 7 12.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

When you're a grandpa to Cecilia's kids.

[Brian]

I know, it's. No, it's so true. I have so long to go. Raphael's got all the. The last bird is almost out of his nest. He's got one more year. And I'm like, I just have all of the years. Yeah.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Or just getting going.

[Brian]

Just getting going. I am going to be like 68 years old when those kids start having other kids. I mean, you know, listen, I just gave my dad grandkids and he's in his 70s. Yeah. I wish I had done it sooner, but you find the right person.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Well, that's.

[Brian]

That's the key, you know, I wasn't gonna have kids just for the master's tickets. You know what I'm saying? Thank God that never happened.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

I know.

[Brian]

Yeah. But. But listen, it was a. It was a beautiful party. I love that We've got a couple of weddings that are coming up. More than. More than a couple weddings that are coming up. It's kind of weird. Ten years of being married to Astrid. I think we've gone to two weddings the entire time, one of them being our own. And now this year we've got a number of weddings. So it must just. Must be.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah. It's funny how that goes in cycles like that. Yeah.

[Brian]

I think everybody sees the end of the world is coming, so they might get married fast.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Are these new weddings or they're like second weddings?

[Brian]

No, they're all new weddings.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

They're new.

[Brian]

Yeah, all of them new. We got Ali and Gustavo. We got Chelsea and. I mean, Cecilia and Ryan. We've got. Well, Kevin and Carrie Ann already came. And there's another wedding that's in Spain later on in the summer that I don't. I hope we get to go to. But who knows, you know? So expensive.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

God. Yeah.

[Brian]

I just to want. We just bought our tickets to Spain to go to Gustavo's wedding and it, I put it on a credit card because I didn't have the cash. It was terribly expensive. What we actually had to do was fly into London.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, I just saw, I was reading something about a bunch of airlines in Asia that are having to like cancel flights. Yeah. Because of the gas. The jet full.

[Brian]

They can't afford it. Yeah, they can't afford it. People can't afford it so they're not buying the tickets. So the planes are empty so they're not going to fly them.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

And the cost of jet fuel.

[Brian]

Yeah. And KLM did the same thing and now the European Union is saying that they may have to have mandatory flight cancellations just to make sure that there's enough gas to go around. So luckily we have our tickets. I hope that, that is, we're actually flying on, on KM Delta on the way there. I don't think Delta has problem getting fuel but it's, this is a mess.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

It is a mess and it's not

[Brian]

going to get resolved quickly. It will not. Iran is in no hurry.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

No, I just saw they were shooting at ships and escorting ships. Yeah. They're not letting go.

[Brian]

Yeah. And now we look like weak kneed, shitty, you know, shit for brain strategy kind of thing because you know what, we're in a position where we have to give up and they're in a position where they don't. They have all the oil in the world. They have tolerance for pain that's super high. They've been living under a crazy regime for many, many, many years. That's still there and even crazier. And you know what, they can keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for as long as they, they have artillery to do so. And meanwhile we've got a double secret blockade I'm sure is making things. I saw like video of the streets of Hormuth today and it's like 30 boats just all like, you know, pointed at each other. Yeah. You know like small gunboats running around. It's a hot mess and it's not going to get any better. If it ended today it would be six weeks before any of that oil would even reach the places it needed to reach. That's two months almost. So we've got at least two more months of pain coming up. And that's if everybody can get their heads out of their asses and come to a deal. Yeah. Listen, I'll say it again, again. I think that de escalating the nuclear situation with Iran is a necessary thing to do. But we were Already doing that at one point. At least we had some fingers in the pie. And then I don't know what happened. Anyway, you know what? I want you to have a good day. So I'm going to stop talking.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yes, exactly.

[Brian]

Just remember Brian and Rafa.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, I'm going to think about that.

[Brian]

Brian giving Rafa head while he sings and playing the Love Me Do, Love Me Do.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

The microphone cord wouldn't reach the microphone.

[Brian]

I couldn't even stand up. It was like I had to bend down. And then, you know, Cecilia wanted to get in. So now it's me and Cecilia and her friends all singing into the microphone. That doesn't work. And Rafa spilled a beer on the board. And I'm one step away from death.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Perfect.

[Brian]

It is perfect. It's perfect. All right, all right, everyone. Second, settle down. We will be back again probably tomorrow. We'll be back again probably tomorrow, right around this time. And then next week we won't be here, so don't look for us live. Anyway, I'll. We'll run what we got. We'll do what we can next week. So stick with us. This is kind of for the next couple of weeks. I imagine it's going to get a little choppy changing. Yeah, choppy changing. And then I've got some travel in May, so.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

One of those. Of those weddings.

[Brian]

One of those weddings, yeah. And London. I'm gonna be in London.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

That's right, yeah. Are you gonna be speaking?

[Brian]

No, no, not this time. No. It's. It's not worth it. Like, to me. I mean, I don't mind speaking, and I can certainly do it, but not this time. I'm not gonna speak this time. I'm okay just going there, meeting some people, networking, going to the events after the conference is over. That's really where all the action happens anyway. Probably have a few lunches.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah, you won't have to worry about that if you're. While you're talking and having the party machine out.

[Brian]

Yeah, I don't want the party machine out. But that this particular conference was not that conference. That conference. I don't know if I'll ever attend that conference again. That was a hot mess. Always has been, always will be. But again, you don't go for the. The. For the speakers. You go. I mean. Yeah, they're not saying anything new that doesn't show up in the trade rags anyway.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian]

So these are really just events. You can go to the booths and see who's doing what, but then you go out at night and you go into lunch and you have some coffee with somebody, that's kind of how it is. It's a reason that everybody's in the same city in the same business talking about this or not. So that's what I'll go do. Plus, London is lovely.

[Kristen Joy Hoadley]

There you go.

[Brian]

Maybe I'll go see the King should. Yeah, him and I are good friends. Check us [e-mail] all the audio, all the video right there. You can also go to Instagram at the commercial break. You can find Chrissy at tcb. Chrissy, you can find me at Brian W. Green and you can go to YouTube.com they commercial break for all the episodes on the video or all the ones we have anyway on video and hit that follow button, that subscribe button, that notification button so that you can be notified about when we go live. We love you. Thanks everybody in the stream. We appreciate it. And yeah, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Okay, Chrissy, I guess that's all I can do for today. I'll tell you that I love you. I'll say best to you, best to you out there in the podcast and streaming audience. Until next time, Chrissy and I will will say, we do say and we must say goodbye, Sam.