The Brainrot Has Penetrated

Summary

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The Commercial Break

Episode: “The Brainrot Has Penetrated”

Date: December 10, 2024
Hosts: Bryan Green, Krissy Hoadley
Producer: Christina

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Overview

This episode is a prime example of The Commercial Break’s signature blend of chaotic improv comedy, pop culture riffs, internet oddities, and the easy banter between Bryan and Krissy. As they toast a flurry of recent engagements in their circle, they tumble headlong into the Oxford Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year—“brain rot”—and take an online quiz to test their own susceptibility to internet-induced stupidity. Personal stories about road rage, generational shifts, TikTok animal accounts, and the “Wicked” musical all intermingle in running, affectionate mockery.

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Main Segments & Discussion Points

1. Engagements and Family Tales (01:08 – 06:54)

• Bryan congratulates his twin brother Kevin and brother-in-law Gustavo on their recent engagements, humorously comparing their enduring relationships to his own proposal story (in a Paris hotel room, less than cinematic but meaningful).
• Krissy jokes that Bryan’s in-laws must talk about him in Spanish so he can’t understand.
• Bryan highlights the supportive, low-drama dynamic of his extended family, “There’s no friction. At least I don’t think there is. If there is, I don’t care, I don’t know. Whatever.” (01:37)
• Anecdotes about Thanksgiving, family traditions, being “the American husband in a Venezuelan family,” and the covert benefits—"I can just kind of scoot away. They're not going to notice if the white guy is gone." (03:36)

2. Near-Miss on the Road & Modern Aggression (08:00 – 17:47)

• Bryan recounts a harrowing post-Thanksgiving drive: a pedestrian’s “deer in headlights” moment followed by a dangerous encounter on the interstate with a teenage street racer—who turns out to be a young woman.
• Lively riffing on Atlanta and Miami driving, with Bryan decrying road rage and Krissy groaning about modern city traffic:
  “You have to be such on the defensive.” – Krissy (18:16)
• The whole experience gets labeled as part of societal “brain rot,” connecting to the Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year.

3. Brain Rot: Word of the Year & Quiz (15:51 – 37:41)

Definition Segment (15:51–16:24):

• The hosts riff on the Oxford Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year: “brain rot,” loosely defined as the deterioration of mental capacity through endless consumption of trivial online content, excessive scrolling, and social media overload.
• “I think brain rot more is like a generalized term for society. It's happening collective.” – Bryan (16:34)

Quiz Segment (21:27–37:41):

• Krissy introduces a “Brain Rot” quiz from The Guardian to see how saturated Bryan’s brain is from internet culture.
• Quiz questions explore slang (“rizz”), viral memes, influencer culture, and odd social media phenomena; Bryan’s performance is intentionally, and somewhat proudly, poor.
• Christina pipes in with Gen Z insights, helping explain viral shows like “Chicken Shop Date.”
• Memorable exchange:
  “The rot has penetrated.” – Bryan, after correctly identifying a Filipino influencer (34:47)
• Running jokes about Bryan’s own Instagram feed (populated by “old ladies with flashlights”), animal influencers, and his general Boomer-in-the-Internet era status.

4. Pop Culture Rabbit Holes: 'Wicked,' Ariana Grande, & Musical Musings (39:36 – 55:41)

• Bryan reviews “Wicked”—the new film adaptation—unexpectedly loving the spectacle, music, and performances by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo:
  “This is a star making role, in my opinion, for her. She is so fucking fantastic.” – Bryan on Cynthia Erivo (44:02)
• Krissy reveals she’s reading the original “Wicked” book, surprised by its risqué nature.
• Discussion of practical effects, musical authenticity, and why the film feels fresh to Bryan, who typically avoids musicals:
  “They do get to do they—I think they do tend sometimes to be a little too campy for me...but this blends it so beautifully.” (45:11)
• Dive into the differences between the stage and screen versions; Christina provides trivia and meme lore about Idina Menzel and “Chicken Shop Date.”
• Playful derision of “Gladiator 2” with speculation about absurd plot elements: “If I want to see sharks, I’ll watch Sharknado!” (49:14)
• Nostalgia for Disney and Pixar films, underlining their resonance for both adults and children.

5. Generational Shifts, Instagram Follower Despair & Social Media Reflections (28:55, 35:02–37:41, 38:11)

• Bryan celebrates getting a twenty-something follower:
  “Christmas came early because I love all my Instagram followers, but some of them are like that old lady I almost ran over...” (28:55)
• Fascination and mild befuddlement at Gen Z culture, TikTok stars, viral animals, and the linguistic drift—“Motley Crue? What does that even mean?” (28:29)
• Side-splitting moment:
  “I barely want to follow you!” – Bryan on relentless Instagram animal invites (36:44)

6. Closing Banter: Musicals, Disney, and the Routine Absurdity of Life (55:41 – End)

• Performance anxiety about Wicked’s soundtrack colonizing their homes and workouts; Christina laughing about blasting “Defying Gravity” at the gym.
• Krissy mentions family domino games (with ambiguous, teasing references to “pound town”).
• Bryan shares a hilarious story about being asked to keep a friend’s wife company—"We're cuckolding now. I know that's not what he said, but he absolutely did not give a shit." (59:14)
• Final warm wishes to both sets of newly-engaged couples, daydreams of destination bachelor parties, and thanks to listeners for their support.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On In-Laws’ Spanish:
  “I can hear my name a lot in Spanish conversations and they say hi, but they speed up the talking so I can’t understand… They know if they get to a certain speed or there’s enough of them talking at the same time, I’m clueless.” – Bryan (01:45)

• On Modern Proposals:
  “At the end of the day, all the other shit is just noise. What’s most important is the moment between you and your partner. All that will be remembered.” – Bryan (06:32)

• On Driving in Atlanta vs. Miami:
  “I think Miami is probably the worst city to drive. They really don’t give a… And they have cars that can go very… Like a lot of people down there are driving those crazy sports cars—the Lamborghinis and Ferraris and the testosterone or whatever.” – Bryan (18:17)

• On ‘Brain Rot’:
  “I think brain rot more is like a generalized term for society. It’s happening collective.” – Bryan (16:34)

• On the Quiz:
  “The rot has penetrated.” – Bryan (34:47) “But I know it’s not Baby Gronk. I thought Baby Gronk might have been like, like, Gronkowski.” – Bryan (24:38) “I have this guy who thinks he’s married to Ariana Grande, so he keeps talking to her into the camera: ‘Hey honey, I’m going to the grocery store…’” – Bryan (37:41) “You really have to be strange to get into my head or onto my algorithm. That’s a national treasure.” – Bryan (31:03)

• On ‘Wicked’ Movie:
  “The music was great. It bounced right along. Ariana Grande is lovely in the movie as is… Cynthia Erivo… She is just a—this is a star making role, in my opinion, for her. She is so fucking fantastic.” – Bryan (44:02) “I implore the director, make a version without the flying monkeys so my daughter can see it.” – Bryan (52:55)

• On the Generational Divide:
  “Motley Crue? What does that even mean?” – Bryan (28:29) “We would know none of this except for Christina being in studio now. You just brought our average age down by ten years.” – Bryan (28:02)

• On Disney/Pixar:
  “They do a great job at storytelling. That’s what they do, and that’s what we’ve been doing for a long time.” – Bryan (56:58)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------| | 01:08 | Engagement celebrations, Bryan’s family stories | | 08:00 | Thanksgiving drive, road rage, highway stories | | 15:51 | “Brain rot” as Oxford Word of the Year explanation | | 21:27 | Brain Rot Quiz kicks off | | 28:55 | Generational divide, IG follower jokes | | 35:02 | Animal influencer industry & spoof complaints | | 39:36 | Review of “Wicked” and musical tangents | | 49:14 | Ridicule of Gladiator 2 and Hollywood sequels | | 55:41 | Musical obsessions, “Defying Gravity” humor | | 59:14 | Cuckold story, family dominos, absurd reminiscence | | 61:00 | Final congratulations and travel daydreams |

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Tone & Style

• Self-aware, irreverent, and conversationally unfiltered—the hosts’ improvisational backgrounds shine through.
• Affectionately mocking (themselves, each other, their audience, and the state of culture).
• Warm, quick-witted, and peppered with outlandish asides.

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Summary

This episode is a tour de force of relaxed, relatable chaos: warm family gossip, neurotic holiday travel, the pitfalls of social-media-fueled “brain rot,” and the cultural churn of Broadway, TikTok, and Gen Z lingo—filtered through the unvarnished, often hilarious reflections of Bryan, Krissy, and Christina. For new listeners, it’s a thorough, joyous sampling of the “Cheesecake Factory of comedy podcasts”—huge, messy, and unapologetically itself.

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Best to you, best to you, and as ever: Goodbye, Ra! (62:35)

Transcript

[A]

I don't want nobody fucking with me in these streets. I don't want nobody fucking with me in these streets. Cause ain't nobody got time for that? Ain't nobody got time for that? Ain't nobody got time? Ain't nobody got time for that. On this episode of the commercial break, he is trying to make is animal famous. So every five seconds on Instagram, see it? Yeah, no, I get another invitation, you know, don't you want to like us on Instagram? Woof, woof. And I'm like yourself, I barely want to follow you.

[B]

Is that an AI bot? Like, is that Raphael's AI bot? Don't kill.

[A]

Don't kill me, bro. Don't tase me, bro. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Oh, yeah. Guys and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian gre. This is the LA to my Gustavo, Kristen Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Kristen.

[B]

Best to you, Brian.

[A]

Best to you, Gustavo and la who are just engaged.

[B]

Congratulations today.

[A]

Congratulations to Elliot and Gustavo, my brother in law and his beautiful wife. It's on page. There you go. Gustavo and Ellie now.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, I've got wonderful, wonderful, wonderful in laws. I talk about them a lot on the show and there's a reason why is because there's no friction. At least I don't think there's enough. I don't think there's a friction on my end, but I'm probably too oblivious to know if there's any friction on their part. I don't care. I don't know, whatever.

[B]

They talk about you in Spanish.

[A]

Of course they do. They do that a lot. I can hear my name a lot in Spanish conversations and they say hi, but I. They speed up the talking so I can't understand. They know if they get to a certain speed or there's enough of them talking at the same time. I'm clueless. Actually, the other day. So Gustavo and Ali came into town for the Thanksgiving holiday, which was very lovely. Everyone had a great time and uncle Gustavo and now Tia Ale, officially Aunt Ale who we. We've always called her that, but now it's official. They've been together for like 14 years. A long time. Yeah, they've been together since they were kids. I mean, since kids, you don't get. You don't hear that a lot. I think most of us go through a couple of mistakes before we actually get to a serious relationship, especially at that age. But this is just one of those love stories that's endured the of time Truly. And they have grown up together and fallen in love with each other over so many years. And I'm so happy. I just am so happy for them. And that is on top of the fact that my twin brother is now engaged to his long time. Oh, you didn't know that.

[B]

Kevin got engaged.

[A]

So it's an engaged. So now we'll make this a big celebration here on the show. Congratulations to my twin brother Kevin and his longtime girlfriend Carrie Ann. They are now engaged. Yes. Equally as exciting. And Gustavo and Elle la. Now, now engaged.

[B]

Love is in the air.

[A]

So Gustavo and it's so. I'll. You know, I don't. I haven't talked to Kevin about talking about the engagement on air. So I'll share that they're engaged, but I'm not going to share the details because you know, it's their private information. But Gustavo, you know what? Fuck you, buddy. You're part of the show. You get, you're going to get it just like everybody else is. Gustavo has helped the show out in so many ways over the years. And obviously as my brother in law, he's kind of the one of the first in on the action, right? So he has done show notes, he's done video editing, he's done clips. He's done so many things for the show over the years. And he's just a lovely human being as is my other brother in law Danny. But you didn't get engaged, so I'm talking about Gustavo now. Good. We did a whole episode about Gustavo one time actually. I think Gustavo and Ali come into town the day before Thanksgiving. The kids are all excited. Everyone's. I'm excited because I know when Gustavo and Ali come into town, I will be able to get five minutes alone by myself. And since I'm like the American husband in the Venezuelan family, I can just kind of scoot away. You know what I'm saying? Like they're all talking and I just scoot away. They're not going to notice if the white guy is gone. I mean, you know, he's just. We don't need him anyway. Yeah, but they help out with the kids. They're so lovely. So we go and do like, you know, three days of fun filled activities. We go to Thanksgiving dinner up in the mount up at the lake with my dad. We go out. We did that putt shack. We went to dinner. We went all these places and three days here and that ring is burning a hole in his pocket. And he didn't do it while he was here. I'm so pissed, because that would have been incredible. Like, that would have been the best. But you know what? Okay.

[B]

Gotta do it when the moment's right for you.

[A]

So here's the weird thing. So Astrid says to me. Astrid says, like, at some point during the weekend, she says. I go, what are we doing tomorrow? We're doing nothing. We'll work on the studio. We'll get it all cleaned up. But Gustavo wants to go to this park here down the street from the house. He wants to go to the park for, like, 15 minutes. They wrote their name in a tree, and he wants to go look at it. And I'm like, oh, okay. That's incredibly cheesy and possibly romantic, which I don't understand. So I'm like, okay. All right. So Gustavo just told me when we were saying congratulations to him about the engagement, him and Ali, he says to me, well, I try. I wanted to go do it at the park because I thought that would be romantic, but Allie thought it was too cold, so she said, no, I won't go. And it reminded me of.

[B]

She was like, just go by yourself, Gustavo.

[A]

I know you go by yourself. Go take a picture. Bring it to me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It reminded me of the time that Astrid and I got engaged, which we've been talking about a lot lately, because there's been a lot of engagement talk in the air. And, you know, my twin brother went and got engaged. He was. There was a lot of agenda about how and when and where it was going to happen. And I said, kevin, at the end of the day, all the other shit is just noise. What's most important is the moment between you and Carrie. And that's all that will be remembered. At least that's what I told him. You know, I don't know that that's 100% true, but I said, you know the moment at which you guys do this? That moment connecting you, professing your love, and saying, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. At least in theory. And so for now, well, I'm divorced. So for now, we're good. For now, it's just harder to break up now. It's legal. And so it reminded me of when I got engaged to Astrid. That ring was burning a hole in my pocket, and I wanted to also go do it at a beautiful place in Paris. And we got to the. We got to the route to the hotel room, and I just couldn't wait any longer. And so she got out of the shower, and I asked her to marry me. She had A towel around her head.

[B]

He just blurted it out.

[A]

Not exactly the most romantic thing in the world, but, you know, it is what it is. That's maybe why I told Kevin, don't worry about it. Because I want to make myself feel better about my own proposal. But. So congratulations. Boo, by the way. Did a great deal of helping this weekend when it came to the studio. And so they were both lovely. 79 wires connecting back and forth, in and out and all this. This is certainly the most complicated version of this setup, as I've mentioned with. Good, because now we have more cameras and more equipment and another person and all this other stuff. I can't believe it's working, actually. Quite frankly.

[B]

I know. I'm impressed.

[A]

Yeah. Christina's here with us in the studio from now on. So you might be hearing from her. I'm sure you will be hearing from her. She's got the mute button. I told Astrid, I said, listen, Christina's not gonna have the mute button for me. I gotta find a way to get a mute button too. Because that's mutually assured.

[C]

Sorry. Actually, I felt the need to mute you. That one was an accident.

[A]

Press the green button. The green button. There you go.

[C]

That was Chrissy.

[A]

Okay, so see, you learned your lesson. No more. So. So the studio looks great. Gustavo and la, all weekend here helping us. We were leaving my dad's house. It's like 8 o' clock at night. And we're leaving my dad's house and we're going to come back to Atlanta, which is like a two and a half hour drive.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so my dad lives in this really hilly, very large neighborhood around this lake up in South Carolina. And these roads, like these neighborhood roads are not very big. They barely fit two cars. You know, it's like one of those neighbors. It's like a lot of neighborhoods, but they don't have any curbs on the neighborhoods. There's mountainous. It's up in the hills. And you have to be careful when you're driving. So I'm driving out of my dad's house. I'm driving down this small little street. And as I come cresting over this mountain, all of a sudden there's a lady, she's probably in her 70s, and she. It's dark, there's no street lights. She's in the middle of the road. She's walking from my right to left and she's got a flashlight in her hand. And as I come cresting up the mountain, the lady stops dead in her tracks and starts flashing the flashlight with her hands up in the air like this. With this look on her face like. Like she had already been hit by the car. Like she had already been hit by the car. She's screaming, ah, like this. I thought to myself, I'm not going to hit you. I.

[B]

You.

[A]

But, you know, I guess she was a true deer in the headlights. When that car came around, most people's reaction would be to run, to get out of the way. But she stopped to flash the flashlight in my face. And I'm like, hey, you're not doing me any good here. You really aren't. And why was she walking in the middle of the road, Chrissy? I don't know. You know, there's a lot of older folks up there and there's not a lot of rhyme or reason sometimes. And listen, I'm getting older, so I know sometimes there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to what you do.

[B]

Seems like though, if you're older, you should know. Maybe you don't want in the middle of the street in this type of neighborhood with at night, it seems like.

[A]

You should be in bed at 8 o' clock at night at 78 years old, living in your retirement village or whatever it is. And it's not all retirees up there, but it's a lot of retirees up there. Yeah. I don't get it. Why was she walking in the street and why was she crossing the road? There was no dog involved or anything. Why was she walking up and down the street, crossing the road? Maybe she was doing it for her health. But it was cold up there, man. Was it cold on things.

[B]

It was cold.

[A]

Yeah. It's kind of a roll of the dice here in Atlanta whether you get a cold Thanksgiving, because I told Astor goes, is winter here. So it's official. It's winter here. And I go, no, this is just fake winter. It's going to be 92 degrees on Christmas Day. I can guarantee if it's cold on Thanksgiving.

[B]

I was going swimming out at the Ritz at Lake Oconee one year when Jeff and I went. It was Christmas, just the two of us, and we thought that romantic Christmas and we were swimming.

[A]

It's crazy, isn't it?

[B]

It was like 80.

[A]

Yeah. So we. So we go on. So we start this drive out, you know, in this weird. This weird lady jumping out, and then we get on the road and there's not a ton of traffic, but there is some traffic. It's Thanksgiving night. So I think a lot of people are traveling home or to or fro or whatever they're doing. And we get on 85 going south toward Atlanta, which is one of these huge highways. You know, 12 lanes, six on each side. 12 lanes and an HOV lane. And HOV lane here in Atlanta, at least where we were, you gotta have one of those passes to go. The beach pass.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. And there's double straight lines you can only cross when they're dotted. You can't, you know. And they have cameras everywhere. So you'll get a ticket if you do this. So we're driving. I'm probably. The speed limit up there is 70. I'm probably going 80. Around 80 miles per hour. I also have a car full of people and children. So I know, you know, I'm not driving like a total idiot, but I'm in the HOV lane just going, yeah. And all of a sudden out of nowhere, one of these little Nissan mobiles, you know, these ones that they soup up and they, they're loud and they're obnoxious and there likely a 17 year old behind.

[B]

They've got a spoiler on them.

[A]

Yeah. They have neon lights under them and they look, you know, they look like space mobiles. Comes out of nowhere and is directly up on my ass. But I'm not going any faster. I'm going 80, 82 miles per hour. Yeah. And I'm. And there's double, there's double straight lines. So you're just going to have to. When you get in the HOV lane, if you get behind someone slow, that's just the way that it is. Get out of the lane if you don't like it. Right. Move around them. When you get to the dotted lines, that's the way you do it. But this car goes up on my ass for like two minutes. And I mean up on my ass probably a foot from my bumper. I can't.

[B]

Your blood was boiling.

[A]

Not only was my blood boiling, I thought to myself, the kids are in the car.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I'm not about to do anything stupid. Had it been by myself, I might have brake check the guy. What I thought was the guy at the time. And I was like, nope, not going to do that. Because if the Kai. If the car goes under me, it could just be a nightmare. Right. He's a fucking foot for my bumper. So then he zooms out of the lane in on my right and he comes and he goes right over into the lane so that I have to stop. And I, when I say stop, I mean slam on the brakes or he would have been.

[B]

So he crossed back over? Crossed back over and went back in front of you?

[A]

Yeah, he went back in front of me. But when he started coming back into the lane, he wasn't even halfway around me.

[B]

Chuck.

[A]

Chrissy. So Gustavo and I are sitting in front, and I'm like, whoa, like crazy. Driving, driving, driving, driving, driving. We get to some slow cars in the HOV lane. I go around the slow cars on the dotted lines. I come back into the HOV lane. I speed up to 80. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, same car does it again right in front of me. Not even halfway, not even halfway around me. Slam on the brakes. What's the problem now? I scream. And everybody in the car noticed this one, the first one, I think it was just me and Gustavo. I think people noticed that I had slowed down real fast. But this one, everyone screams because he came so close. So now I'm like, holy, is this guy trying to kill me? Is he right?

[C]

What's wrong?

[A]

There is a pack of cars that I had noticed when I had gotten on the highway. There was a pack of these cars, these whatever the fuck, little shit mobiles going 150 miles per hour down the highway, zooming in and out of traffic. Racing, essentially, is what they're doing. And I'm assuming this car was part of that racing. And I mean to sound like an old man, you know, go fast. You want to go fast. I have a heavy foot, too. But racing on the highway is a really dumb fucking thing to do. Because there's lots of people and not all of them drive well. And going in and out of those cars, one mistake and everybody's dead, including you. Likely you, because you're driving a fucking shit mobile. It's, you know, 2 inches wide, 1 inch off the ground. So I get out of the lane and I'm just like, okay, that's it. I'm out of the lane. Like, I don't want to have anything to do with this, you know, I got. I got. I'm making, like, a sane, rational decision. Even though I'm very heated about it. And I'm. So now this car gets stuck behind another pack of cars in the HOV lane, going slower. So now I'm in. I'm a couple lanes over. I've weaved in and out of traffic to just get away from this person. And I drive by, and it's a young girl. And she could not, in my view, could not have been 20 years old. She looked very young. And I thought to myself, Holy shit. It's not that she was a girl. It wasn't that she was a girl. It surprised me. It surprised me that this girl was driving like this. Usually you think of like aggressive testosterone. Testosterone driven.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm angry because you were going not as fast as I wanted you to. I got rage, you know, I decided to go in and out. So this is just like. It's brain rot is what it is. Like you, like you referred to earlier, it is simply brain fucking rot. Which is what, Chrissy?

[B]

Okay, so that's the new Oxford dictionary word of the year and it is brain rot, which is more of a phrase.

[A]

It is a.

[C]

That's true.

[A]

But an Oxford dictionary get that wrong.

[B]

Yes. And so that is. Well, it's a little bit of brain rot.

[A]

And what does brain rot mean?

[B]

Well, yeah, brain rot.

[A]

I don't think I've heard that a lot this year. Why is that the word of. Why is that the phrase of the year?

[B]

Yeah, they just, they. Well, they just pulled it out. So it's when there is excessive endless scrolling online, actually.

[A]

Okay. Brain rot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Where you get brain rot.

[B]

Because mostly from social media and that type of news. Just stuff that doesn't really mean anything. You're just scrolling. Scrolling, scrolling.

[A]

Yeah. I think brain rot more is like a generalized term for society. It's happening collective.

[B]

It is indeed happening.

[A]

Yeah. I mean I thought to. I thought to myself, this, this young lady has a dad and a mom probably that care about her very much. She's got a car that's newish, that's souped up. It's obviously can go very fast. It's got the lights on it, the rims, the whole nine yards. So someone's spending a lot of money on this car. Maybe it's her. And she is likely, likely going to at some point make a terrible mistake and end up in a terrible way. And it was sad to me, almost not that a guy would have been any different. But I have daughters and I think about. Yeah, like if that's the kind of behavior that these young people are engaging in. And I did stupid shit when I was a teen. I am like the poster boy for stupid shit. Stupid shit as a teenager. But that was. It was so dangerous. If I had not pressed the brakes, she likely would have ended up on the bad end of this situation and probably wouldn't be around to tell the story. And. Yeah. I don't know. Is this just me or people getting so much more aggressive when they're driving?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Now I feel like it Are, you know. You know me. I hate driving.

[A]

I know Chrissy hates driving. She hates driving.

[B]

I like driving. I like driving in the country with a convertible down on a beautiful sunny day and my favorite music playing. And a glass of wine in hand.

[A]

Yeah, a glass of wine in hand is the truth.

[B]

Yeah, but that's in it, you know, Major cities in Atlanta. It's crazy.

[A]

Yeah, it really is.

[B]

You have to be such on the defensive.

[A]

Listen, I think Miami is probably the worst city to drive.

[B]

Talked about that.

[A]

Yeah. Because they really don't give a. And they have cars that can go very. Like a lot of people down there are driving those crazy sports cars, the Lamborghinis and the Ferraris and the testosterone or whatever they are. The testosterone. I don't know what they are, but. And they. They use every bit of that power. They drive like morons. Cops nowhere to be found. And listen, I guess from a cop standpoint, I can kind of understand. I got bigger fish to fry. I'm not about to die tonight to chase some kid down at 112 miles per hour down the highway. But at the same time, it's so out of hand. It's like when you drive, you have to be so alert. I didn't do anything that I know of that I'm aware of to this child essentially to make her so upset. But she's willing to kill herself and other people to make a point. Yeah, to prove a point to get around you. It was so scary and so sad. So congratulations to Gustavo and ale on their engagement and.

[B]

And to brain rot. And to brain rot of the year.

[A]

Yes. It's probably all of that doom scrolling that's got her thinking, silly.

[B]

Well, there you go. It could be the doom scrolling.

[A]

It could be that. Yeah, she's got to get back to.

[B]

Her TikTok and there's a quiz.

[A]

Or maybe she's making a TikTok video. There's a quiz.

[B]

There's a quiz to test. I'm going to test you to see.

[A]

If you got brain rot for brain.

[B]

Rot, Because I have seen your. Your social media feed.

[A]

Man, is it scary. All right, well, let's do this. Let's take a break and we'll do the brain rock quiz when we get back.

[C]

In case you guys were wondering, I am currently trapped in the closet in the studio being forced to record liner after liner and I never get to leave. So help me by following us on instagram at the commercial break and on tiktokcbpodcast and go to our website, tcbpodcast.com for more information about Brian and Chrissy and access to our massive catalog of video and audio episodes. Now, please text us at 212-4333, TCB. And tell Brian and Chrissy to let me out of the closet.

[A]

Oh, God. Just having a bunch of fun here in the new studio. It's twice as nice now. Christine is just as obsessed as at the camera angles and, and, and you know, the clarity and quality of the videos as I have been. And we were just saying that Chrissy would just be like. Chrissy would be in here. Like, yeah. I'm like, hey, is the camera 30 degrees off? She'd be like, I don't, I don't know. I don't see it. And then I'd look at it on YouTube and you'd have time tilt your head to see us. Or half my body would be out of the shot and Chrissy purse and personal effects were all showing and I'd be like, is the camera angle okay? And you're like, yeah, it looks great. Oh, and now the camera just. That camera too just went off. Yeah, it's that one. There we go. Welcome to the commercial break studio.

[B]

I also pointed out that you guys are both wearing glasses. And I put my contact in the wrong eyes today. The wrong prescription.

[A]

We. This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight right here.

[B]

Or shite.

[A]

Pull that shite in. Pull that shite closer. All right, well, while we got brain rot, let's talk about brain rot. Give me, give me the quiz. I hate these things, but I'll do them anyway.

[B]

Well, I, I, for once I'm going to give one to you because you usually pull them out and stomp me.

[A]

Yeah, I usually get them from like the once every three years I go to buzzfeed. Oh, one of our kids is home. Yeah. Yes. Now she will be in every episode. Also, she's. The terrible twos have arrived. So the longer I'm here, the better. Let's keep going. Okay, go for it.

[B]

Well, so just to. Yeah, just. Well, it's not BuzzFeed. It's actually on the Guardian. More of a respected.

[A]

Oh, you don't respect buzzfeed as a news source? What, doesn't Hulk Hogan own that now or something? I think. Didn't he win that? And no, he won the other one like that.

[B]

Okay, well, let's just say that it has been a Brainrot has been announced as the Oxford word of the year for 2024, defined as the deterioration of your mental capacity owing to over consumption of Material considered to be trivial or unchallenging.

[A]

Oh my God. This is like the definition of Brian.

[B]

Through endless scrolling online. And that's what made me think of you is your Instagram feed.

[A]

I have a feeling this is not going to be good for me.

[B]

And then it says, why not stick your phone for a few extra moments and endlessly scroll through our quiz to see whether you two have brain rot from social media. Okay, question one, Go. What does Riz stand for? What is Riz shorthand for? And I'm gonna get. Yes, you got that one right. We've talked about it before, but I'm gonna give you three to choose from. But you did correctly review.

[A]

Oh, this is multiple choice. Good. I'm good at that. Those are my favorite kind of quizzes.

[B]

Okay, here's the second one.

[A]

The kind when I give you the answer.

[B]

Here's the second one. You might use the hashtag furry potato if you are going to post a video clip of what the first choice is cute animals. The second is bad takeaway food. Or the third is Kiwi eating challenge.

[A]

This is bad takeaway food.

[B]

Bad takeaway food. Let's see if you're right. Nope.

[A]

Oh, well, then I guess I'm not as brain rotty as I thought it was.

[B]

Cute animals.

[A]

Cute animals. Oh, fuzzy potatoes.

[B]

Huh?

[A]

Furry potatoes.

[B]

Furry potato.

[A]

Furry potatoes.

[B]

Okay, third question. Which of these is the 12 year old American youth football player and social media personality whose dad just happens to be a digital media marketing manager? Okay, the first is Dribby Betts. The second is Boosie Dunn. And the third is Baby Gronk.

[A]

Well, it's not Baby Gronk. I think it's Bootsy Done. Boozy done. Bootsy done.

[B]

Boosie done. Boosie. No, it's Baby Gronk.

[A]

It's Baby Gronk. What? His dad. Wait, I thought, I thought What? I thought his dad.

[B]

It seems likely he will end up more famous for his dad's ambitions than his actual achievements.

[A]

Oh, Baby Gronk. Oh, okay, I get it. I, I. Okay, all right, I know who he is now. I'm, I'm clear on that.

[B]

But, But I know it's not Baby Gronk.

[A]

Yeah, I know it's not Baby Gronk. I thought Baby Gronk might have been like, Like Gronkowski.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

Okay, maybe I'm not as Brain Roddy as I thought I was.

[B]

I'm impressed.

[A]

I'm impressed.

[B]

The fact that you're missing these is impressive.

[A]

Very happy about this.

[B]

Okay, which of these stars has the biggest following on TikTok, Charlie XCX, Dua Lipa, or Chapel Roan.

[A]

Oh, it's gotta be Charlie XCX.

[B]

Well, let's see if you're right. No.

[A]

Chapel. Chapel.

[B]

Your girl. Your girl.

[A]

Yes. Yeah, well, I. Here's the thing is that I don't really pay attention to how many people are following Dua Lipa because I'm in my mind, I'm the only one following. In my mind, we're in a relationship.

[B]

Based on her Instagram posting pictures.

[A]

Oh, yes, she is. God darn it, that girl's attractive.

[B]

Okay, here's the next one. If you are over a certain age, all celebrity news famously reads, quote unquote, curtains for Zusha, case Mog and Batboy caught flipping a grunt.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

But which of these is a real headline on buzzfeed today? The first one is Chicken Shop Date. The creator, Amelia Dibelnsberg. I'm saying that wrong. Gave us a lesson on what it's really like to run your own YouTube business. Second one is Smosh TV.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Creator Grion Zelga gave us a lesson on what it's really like to run your own Twitch business, which we're about to be on, by the way.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

The third one is Hot One. Creator Jimmy Donaldson gave us a lesson on what it's really like to run your own TikTok business.

[A]

Well, Hot Ones is a famous YouTube show, I think, but I'm sure they have a TikTok following also. Wouldn't know that we don't have a TikTok following. So I wouldn't know who's on TikTok. I wouldn't know how to successfully navigate TikTok or Instagram or YouTube, to be honest. I think if you want to talk about podcasting, then I got that one covered. I'm going to have to say number two.

[B]

Number two, the Smosh tv.

[A]

Yeah, Smosh tv.

[B]

Nope, it was the Chicken Shop Date.

[A]

Chicken Shop Date.

[C]

Chicken Shop Date rocks.

[A]

Is Chicken Shop Date an actual show?

[C]

And it's so awesome.

[A]

Go on a date on the Chicken Shop.

[C]

She's been doing it for, like, 10 years, and she has, like, celebrities or whoever come to her chicken shop, or not her chicken shop, but a chicken shop. And they eat chicken and they go on a date, and it's always really awkward and funny.

[A]

They go on a date.

[B]

This is why we have creating that.

[C]

Amelia and whoever she brings in.

[A]

Okay, go on this.

[C]

Like, there's this lore online because one time she did, like, a red carpet interview with Andrew Garfield, who you probably know, she did an interview with him, and they had insane chemistry. Like, it was amazing. Everyone was like, oh, my God, this is phenomenal. And he finally went on chicken shop Date. And so their date came out recently, and it was amazing. And then she followed it up with Elmo.

[A]

How do you follow that? Here's the thing. You've officially jumped the shark. When you bring in the Muppets. You can go to Sesame Street. You can't bring Sesame street to you. That jumps the shark instantaneously. So I hope this. But you know what? When you get that famous that Elmo wants to come on chicken shop date, then how can you argue? We would know none of this because we have not been invited anywhere.

[B]

Also, we would know none of this except for Christina being in studio now.

[A]

You just brought our average age down by 10 years. So thank you for that pulling in the young viewers. I gotta be honest, that might be part of the reason why you're sitting here is because, you know, there's only so many times I could say the word Motley Crue in an episode before. People are like, they talked weird back then. Motley Crue. What does that even mean? Motley Crue. What's that? So, okay. All right. I have to check out. I know hot ones. I do not know Chicken shop date, but I congratulate Chicken shop Date on apparently resonating with the ute. The ute's.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The ute's are all about the chicken.

[C]

Shot resonating with me.

[A]

I was so happy. I am so happy because I. We got a. And I. I'm not gonna single this person out by saying their name, but I know their name. We got a person that followed us on Instagram that I assume is no older than. Probably 21 years old.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I could not have been more happy. Like, Christmas came early because I love all my Instagram followers, but some of them are like that old lady I almost ran over. They have pictures of themselves doing flashlights outside.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And no knock on it because, you know, we're obviously, Chrissy and I, we're not 20 years old. And that's okay. I embrace that most of the time.

[B]

It's gotta be okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

There's nothing.

[A]

What do you want me to do? I was born a different year. There's no knock on it. But some of the language that gets used by this brain rot generation, some of this language that gets used to. I just don't. I remember having so many, you know, dank and Dibbity. And, you know, like, all this stuff that we would say when, you know, when we were kids.

[B]

Rad. Has now made it back.

[A]

Radical. It'll all make it back, by the way. Everything old becomes new again. But. And I've lived long enough to know that the 70s had their moment, the 80s had their moment. Now the 90s are having their moment. I'm seeing kids in flannel and big bell bottom jeans and Doc Martens and. Okay, go on, go on. I'm losing this terribly, but I'm okay with that.

[B]

That's okay. Yeah, you, you. So far, the rot has escaped you.

[A]

But let's see the brain rod escape me. I'm not sure about that. Okay. Okay, go ahead.

[B]

Okay, here we go. Which of these has been a viral YouTube sensation? The first one is Zenbd Bang Wall.

[A]

Ooh.

[B]

The second is Skidib. Skidi Toilet. Skibidi Toilet. And then the third one is Tallahassee Pooper.

[A]

Oh, I should know this one. I think this is.

[B]

I knew it.

[A]

Okay. Is it Skibidi Toilet? Yes. Okay, There you go. I've seen Skibidi Toilet, and I think Tallahassee Pooper might be a thing also, because I think I might have seen that also.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But maybe Skibidi Pooper is Skibidi Pooper. Congratulations to you. To being the bigger sideline.

[B]

Yeah. The bigger viral.

[A]

The bigger viral pooper of the two.

[B]

You might have seen the Tallahassee Pooper on your feed just because yours is so niche. I am nothing viral.

[A]

You really have to be strange to get into my head or onto my algorithm. That's a national treasure.

[B]

Okay, here we go. Next one who is generally considered to be the highest paid influencer on Instagram.

[A]

Ooh, I'll probably know this one.

[B]

Okay, the first one is footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. The second is singer and actor Ariana Grande. And the third is reality TV star Kylie Jenner.

[A]

Oh, this has got to be Kylie paid. Yeah. Highest paid. This has got to be Kylie.

[B]

No, it's Ronaldo.

[A]

Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest paid influencer.

[B]

Yeah. He has 632 million followers.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

A few more than we have.

[A]

And 632 million more. Yes.

[B]

And you can reportedly get him to endorse your product for any. A mirror. How much do you think it cost to. To get him to do this?

[A]

500 grand.

[B]

No, more.

[A]

A million dollars more. Two more. Five.

[B]

3.23 million.

[A]

For one mention.

[B]

When he isn't busy playing football.

[A]

For one mention.

[B]

Yeah. Endorse your Product.

[A]

Jesus. Guys, follow us on Instagram, please. Get us out of this hell. Get us out of this.

[B]

3.23 billion. Wow.

[A]

That is really insane. Insane. Now I know, because Astrid and I were talking about this, and this is a good segue. Ariana Grande has about 350 million followers, I think, and I. Is there more questions?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, go. And we'll go. And then we'll circle back to Ariana Grande.

[B]

And Wicked.

[A]

And Wicked, yeah. Which I want to talk about.

[B]

Okay. What is TikTok called in China?

[A]

China. TikTok. TikTok. I have no idea.

[B]

TikTok. Is it called TikTok? Is it called Douy? Or is it called La Cheng Kwan?

[A]

La Cheng Kwan?

[B]

No, Douyin.

[A]

Dion.

[B]

Duyun. And both platforms are owned by. By Dance.

[A]

I think HR is going to send me to sensitivity training after this segment.

[B]

Is that Christina?

[A]

That's Christina. That's right.

[B]

Okay, next one. Which of these YouTube horror stories does Lauren Zade Lauren Zside habitually make reaction videos of? And that is. The first choice is A Shrouded Hand. Second is Four Nights at Franco's. And the third is Life of Luxury.

[A]

I think it's the first one. Four Night at Franco's, I think is a playoff. Five Nights at Freddy's. Your reasoning is funny. I know, but I don't. I. Honestly, this is foreign to me. So I'm learning as we go along.

[B]

Okay. Yes, we all are. So it's the third one. Life of Luxury.

[A]

Life of Luxury.

[B]

The reaction videos mostly hilariously consist of her going, oh, God, don't go in there. And then they inevitably go in there.

[A]

Okay, where do they go? Luxury retail stores. I don't know what's going on there. Are we aware of this one, Christina? Do we have any information? Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

See, she doesn't have brain rod either.

[B]

Take the rod too, Which I'm glad to know.

[A]

Okay, I would have to send her to HR either.

[B]

Okay, there's just a couple more here.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. Can you spot the name of a real TikTok influencer from the Philippines?

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

One is Bella Stoop. Second one is Bella Foyer. Or third is Bella Porridge.

[A]

How do you spell porridge?

[B]

P, O, A, R, C, H. Porach.

[A]

Poach. Okay, I'm gonna say it's the last one simply based on the last name. I'm gonna go completely stereotypical.

[B]

You are right.

[A]

Okay, thank you.

[B]

The rot has penetrated.

[A]

The rot has gone into my brain. I use it. I used reason and pragmatic thinking to deduct that, yes, thank you.

[B]

Okay. She has nearly 100 million followers on the platform and also appears to have pets called Pee Pee, Dodo and Poo Poo.

[A]

Oh, Pee Pee and Poo Poo. I have those pets at my house.

[B]

Pee Pee Doo Doo and Poo Poo.

[A]

Yes, I have those pets.

[B]

You do?

[A]

Every three hours, I have those pets. Pee Pee Poo Poo. Well, every one hour, actually, if you throw in the dog. I got the dog and the kids. Everyone's Pee Pee Poo Poo around here.

[B]

Okay, the next one is Jif Palms Instagram account has over 9 million followers. What is he? Number one is. Number one is a dog. Number two is a cat. Number three is a hamster.

[A]

He's a hamster.

[B]

Let's see. It's a dog. At one point, he had more social media followers than any other animal, but he hasn't posted in a long time.

[A]

Poor, poor little doggy.

[B]

Leading some fans to fear the worst.

[A]

Oh, well, the worst. How much does it cost him to do an endorsement? Maybe we can get him to commercial break.

[B]

I think we need to put blue on there.

[A]

Oh, God. You know, here's the thing. So about the animals in TikTok, and I know, you know, animal talk and Animal gram there, it's a big, huge thing. And it's an industry. There's a cottage industry. I had a friend one time tell me he was making about a hundred grand a year selling calendars with photos of his pets on them because they had become famous on Instagram. So he was selling them for, like, 10 bucks a pop, and he was selling about 10,000 of them a year, which is insane when you think about it. And so now I have another guy that I know on Instagram. He is trying to make his animal famous. So every five seconds on Instagram. Yeah. No, I get another invitation, you know, don't you want to like us on Instagram? Wolf, wolf, wolf. And I'm like, yourself, I barely want to follow you.

[B]

Is that an AI bot? Like, is that. Raphael's a bot.

[C]

Don't.

[A]

Don't kill me, bro. Don't tase me, bro.

[B]

Okay, final question. Final question here.

[A]

Okay?

[B]

What is a waste man? The first choice is someone who has done nothing with their life.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Second is someone who has recently lost a lot of weight. And the third is the person who comes to pick up your recycling bin.

[A]

Every Thursday, the waste man. How do you spell waste that same.

[B]

Way you spell waste.

[A]

W, A. There's two ways to spell waste. W, A, S, T, E. Yes. Okay, then I. But because it's brain rot. I would assume it has to do with someone who's lost a lot of weight.

[B]

Nope. It's someone who has done nothing with their life. Oh, they're a waste.

[A]

What a waste, man.

[B]

Possibly the kind of person who ends up writing quizzes like these.

[A]

There you go. Yes. I would say that's completely useless. Useless, but it was great for content. Thanks. All right.

[B]

I'm glad to see your brain is not as rotted.

[A]

Well, think. You know what? I'm glad. Actually, I didn't know the answer to some of those because that just sounds like that I don't. Maybe that's the kind of stuff that I need to do. So my algorithm youngs it up a little bit, and I stop getting one view Instagrams. But I really, really like it. I know you very excited about it. Yes. When I get a lady that's, you know, talking about, I got this guy, and he is in love with Ariana Grande. He thinks they're married, so he keeps talking to her into the camera. And I think one, maybe two of his things have gone viral. Four or five thousand likes, which is probably not a lot, but it seems like a lot to me because we don't even have four or five thousand followers. But he keeps talking to her into the camera as if he's married to her. Like, hey, honey, I'm going to the grocery store. Or he'll be at the grocery store. And by all accounts, he is not, not joking. This is not like a lot of people aren't. It's not. I know a lot of people in this world. Most of them aren't. Well, all right, I want to talk about Ariana Grande. So that's a good segue. I'll tell you what, we got to take a short break. We got to pay some bills because Christina now wants to get a paycheck. So let's do that. And then, yeah, in a shocking turn.

[C]

Of events, it's me again, Christina, your producer and resident rom com lover, here at the commercial break. And I just have one, one thing to say. I'm just a producer standing in front of an audience asking you to follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTokCBpodcast. Text us or call us and leave us a voicemail, because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with tcb, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. And while you're at it, go to our website, tcbpodcast.com but you don't have to, because we like you just as you are. Now. If you immediately got those references, you're my kind of person. But it's time to take a break and listen to some sponsors and then we'll get back to the show.

[A]

Okay. Ariana Grande. I saw Wicked over the weekend.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And it's. And at the. You know, at my own peril, seeming a little bit more gay than I already do with all of my viewing habits. Christina probably has words about that. But I like, I talk gay, but I know the gays wouldn't accept me because I'm just not gay enough. That's right. But, you know, the gay guys do take a liking to me and I. I think that's probably because they think if you. If you could just like having sex with us, then you'd be one of us. If you could just get over the fact you get over the penises, we can include you in the group. So we'll let you hang out with us. So I saw Wicked, and despite disliking musicals altogether and having never seen a musical except for the Phantom of the Opera and Disney Junior on Ice, I.

[B]

You never saw Chicago?

[A]

I've never saw any of. I've never seen any of them.

[B]

I'm not a huge musical person.

[A]

I've seen plays. I saw A Christmas Story, the musical. Sorry, but I don't think that counts as an actual musical. It's Christmas Story, a musical. It's like more of a novelty act. Right. You're just watching. Watching the movie in music form, essentially on stage. But I. So I. And I've never seen. And I've never watched. I haven't seen a lot of musicals besides the wizard of Oz and, you know, west side Story, which I liked as. Yeah, I thought that was a cool movie. So I will share that. I thought this movie was pretty incredible, getting great reviews.

[B]

I decided instead of going to see the movie, to read the book. And it is very risque, I must say.

[A]

I got fascinated.

[B]

Very different than I thought it was going to be.

[A]

I got fascinated by the movie. I went and did a deep dive on the story. How did Wicked come about? What's. You know, who are the players? What happened? How did you decide to. Because I was so. Astrid has never seen the wizard of Oz. Never seen the wizard of Oz. I know Astrid's never seen a lot of movies like Star wars and Godfather and Goodfellas. She's never seen a lot.

[B]

I don't know if you haven't watched it with the kids.

[A]

We Haven't. Because, you know, they're still very young. And the wizard of Oz, while it's childlike, can present some situations, I think. But first of all, second of all, the opportunity's never really arisen. I've never. We never really said, hey, let's sit down and watch the wizard of Oz. And, you know, they do. They play a lot during Christmas time. The wizard of Oz, for whatever reason, it's a Christmas movie, so. But I was telling. So I'm trying to explain astage. So here we are in the movie theater, sitting in the back row. We're there like 20 minutes early. Popcorn, the whole nine yards.

[B]

Did you take the kids?

[A]

We did not take the kids.

[B]

Did not. Got it.

[A]

Okay. No. We wanted to make sure it was appropriate for the children before we showed them. We didn't know if it was going to be scary or sexualized or whatever. And they're young. We just wanted to make sure, so. And it was an opportunity for us to get away on a date night. Yes. It was probably also an opportunity for Gustavo to ask Ale to marry him. But we took up their time, so. So we get to the movie theater 20 minutes early, and Astrid announces, I've never seen the wizard of Oz. Do I need to know anything to see this movie? And I said, I don't know. I've never. I don't know the first thing about Wicked, except that it's a very successful Broadway musical. So I share with her a little bit about what's going on. I said, listen, there's this girl, Dorothy, and the house, the tornado, and then she goes off into Never Neverland and all this other stuff. And I said, the Wicked. Wicked.

[B]

Great explanation.

[A]

I know. That's exactly how I said it, too. She's probably like, what the fuck are you. You talking about? Never Neverland. And so I said, but what you probably need to know is that the Wicked Witch of the west and the Good Witch of the east are two characters in the movie. The Wicked Witch of the west dies in the movie. She threatens Dorothy and she gets killed by someone throwing water on her. She's like a gremlin, I guess. She can't get water on her. I don't know. So I say, you know, there it is. Well, the first scene of the movie, I think it is probably not important, but it is advantageous to understand what happens in the wizard of Oz, because the very first scene in the movie, which I won't ruin for anybody, it just kind of connects it all together, this musical. The music was Great. Oh, and you know what I saw? I saw the Greatest Showman. I like the Greatest Showman.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

But anyway, this musical, the music was great. It bounced right along. Ariana Grande is lovely in the movie as is. And I'm gonna murder her name. How do you say that? Christina?

[C]

Cynthia Erivo.

[A]

Cynthia Erivo. She is just a. This is a star making role, in my opinion, for her. She is so fucking fantastic. She's a great actress in this movie. She's such a powerhouse singer. And the fact. Here's. Here's really why this got me. I think the movie was great and I. And I liked it and it. And I thought the. It's interesting enough to make a movie about a movie about a dream to piece it all together and pop it right along. It dances at two and a half hours. It just goes right. So it's. You don't really feel like you're uninterested. There's no extra parts to it. It doesn't feel like they're meaninglessly just dragging on for any reason. But here's why I think this really struck me. The sets are handmade. It's all practical effect, most of it. It's practical effects even down to a 1 1/2 minute shot of 2 million tulips that they actually grew out in a field in Europe.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

The sets are. The set pieces are incredible. And the singing was done live in a way that technically they could record it like a sound studio so that they got recordings, like studio recording quality audio out of these actors and actresses. And they did it over and over and over again. And then they would splice it together using the actual singing that went on on the stage. So it was like an actual musical or is that. I've heard the director say that's what he tried to do. It was just fascinating to me that all these people came together and made this piece of work that really caught my attention in a way that I normally would not have been attentive to a movie like this. I would have said I'm not interested in a musical. They. They do get to do they. I think they do tend sometimes to be a little too campy for me. Like, I'm not into it. You know, I don't like all the singing and dancing. I would rather, much rather see acting going on. But this blends it so beautifully in a way that is powerful and it shows off the voices, but also shows off the acting. And then the story makes sense. It comes together and it's very interesting. And I would say that I would probably would have brought the kids had it not been for the last 15 minutes of the movie. The last 15 minutes of the movie. Because Astra and I were talking about on the way home, we're like, oh, God, one of our daughters would just love this. But the last 15 minutes of the movie, she would be under the couch. She'd be like, I don't like any of that. That.

[B]

But it's a two parter.

[A]

And that I didn't know until I saw the movie. Right. And I don't think I'm. I'm sure this is talked about a lot online right now, but it says to be continued. And in the beginning it says Wicked Part 1, and then at the end it says to be continued.

[B]

Well, because they shot it all together at once.

[A]

Oh, they did.

[B]

They're just, they're releasing the second half next year.

[A]

Oh, they are? Oh, okay, good. We're not. It's not going to be seven years before we see Lord of the Rings age.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, honestly, I know.

[B]

I'm excited to see it. I didn't know I had not seen the Broadway show. I knew it was about the witch. I knew it was the story of the witches of the wizard of Oz. I did not know much more than that. But now that I'm reading the book, it's very, very interesting. And now that I'm reading stuff about the movie on Wicked, there's got to be quite a bit that's been not the same as the book.

[A]

Well, I heard that. So then I went down like this rabbit hole of like figuring out how.

[B]

It got to the stage.

[A]

So it's a very interest that Universal bought the rights as soon as the book came out, but they really didn't know what to do with it and they really didn't know how they were going to make it into a movie. They just had the rights and someone approached them and said, I think I can do this as a Broadway musical. And then Universal licensed the rights to make it a Broadway musical. So Universal has owned this the entire time. They also did the movie and it wasn't until very recently did they say, okay, I think we have all of the. There's enough people out there that love Wicked that we can make enough money that we can put it together the way it should be done and that it can be. Be a big, this big grandiose thing that could make a billion dollars. And it will make a billion dollars. There's no doubt. I think it's. Well on Its way to making a billion dollars. You know they had Barbenheimer last year.

[B]

Yes, right.

[A]

Barbenheimer in this year. It's what?

[B]

The Gladiator and the Gladiator.

[A]

Gladiator, whatever.

[B]

Which I've heard is good too. Actually. I didn't want to like it, but I'm hearing great reviews.

[A]

Okay, here's all I got to say about Gladiators.

[B]

You weren't crazy about the first one.

[A]

Yeah, I don't like the first one. Okay, I didn't like the first one. But it's just not. It's just not my. It's not my field of interest. But. And I know Russell Crowe was good in it. I agree with you. But here's the thing. I actually read that there is a shark in the movie. Like they fill the arena with water.

[B]

Yes, I read that there are sharks.

[A]

Ok, they have officially gone fucking deep end. No pun intended. I do not want to see a movie where the gladiators are fighting the sharks. That's like Sharknado becoming a hit. Why? Why are we doing that? That. And I know Sharknado's point is to be stupid and silly, but Gladiators too, it's, you know, make it a little bit realistic. And I know that they did fill some of those arenas sometimes with water so that they could like have clashes, but did they put sharks in there? Really? Honestly? Come on. And I'm not sure if that's true. I haven't seen the movie, but that's what I read. And I'm like, when you add a shark, you've jumped the shark.

[B]

That's it.

[A]

But who's winning? Who's winning the war? Who. Who made more money?

[B]

I don't know. But.

[C]

Well, Wicked has just broken some all time records in the box office.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Talk to me grossed over 264 million internationally so far.

[A]

Holy.

[B]

Wow. It just.

[A]

It's been out for a week.

[C]

Yeah, it's been out a week.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

So.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I'm ready to see Gladiator too.

[B]

Me too.

[A]

Are you really?

[C]

I loved Gladiator. So I am here.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Show me those thighs.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

Bring it in.

[B]

And it's the same director as Ridley Scott. Yeah, Ridley Scott, he did this first one too.

[A]

Who's also 98 years old. Joe Biden.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This is probably. I think he's Talking about gladiators 3.

[B]

Didn't he do a lot of the Alien movies too?

[A]

He did Aliens. Ridley Scott's done a lot of stuff. He's an action movie like God, right? Ridley Scott is Well, yeah.

[B]

And. Well, I jumped down the rabbit hole. You said you jumped on how it was made. Wicked was made, but I went down the rabbit hole of the guy, the author, Gregory. I can't remember his last name, but he actually. He said that growing up, he and his siblings used to. They loved the wizard of Oz and they wanted to. So they often would play and recreate different storylines to do with the wizard of Oz. That's kind of.

[A]

And this was one of them.

[B]

And he was a children's author for years and then finally decided to make an adult book, to write an adult book. And this is what he chose to write about. And it's actually the seedling of the whole thing is trying to explore evil.

[A]

And how if people are born wicked.

[B]

Yeah. Or if. If people actually. You know what the word evil means.

[A]

Yes. I think for. For my money, this is. This movie is so well done. And listen, I'm on the outlier on gladiators. It's just not my thing. But you see it and you tell me how it is. Okay, I'll have to take. If there really is a shark and it makes all the sense in the world, then let me know and I'll go watch it. And. Yeah, Pascal, Okay, I get it. Ask bastards the same way. She's like, could give a shit about gladiators, but I could give a shit about gladiators. You know what I'm saying? And Ariana Grande. I have never given a shit about Ariana. It's not that I don't care about Ariana. I just. She's not something someone I would pay much attention to, except to know that she's an extraordinarily famous person who has grown up essentially in.

[B]

In front of the camera, engaged to Pete Davidson.

[A]

Engaged to Pete Davidson. I know. Esther and I were saying, what a fucking dumb. Dumb. Because if I'm Ariana Grande, I'm doing Wicked and Wicked two, part two, and then I am out ski Patowski. I'm just gonna sail off into the sunset with my $150 million and see you later. That girl, it's got a voice.

[B]

She does.

[A]

She is so good in this movie. I was really impressed. I was like, oh. Because I thought this could just be, like, a campy piece of shit. And it is campy in every way. Is it campy? And, you know, they're saying it's like. You know, I read somewhere it was like. Like, it's the new gay North. You know, North Star or whatever it is. But, you know, I'm a Straight guy. And there, by the way, there was two gay guys that were sitting in front of me. I know they're gay. They were holding hands the entire movie. They were just, like, laughing it up and having so much fun. And every time that they would laugh, I would laugh because I thought it was all. Was cute and funny and, like, the way that the jokes were made, it was intentionally funny, intentionally dramatic, intentionally powerful. The story is great. It is essentially a story about. Are people born wicked? And the most fascinating. I just didn't expect that it would take that turn. And it took a turn and. Yeah. And I love it.

[B]

I know. I'm excited now. I want to go back and watch wizard of Oz and Wicked after I'm done with the book. I'm close to being done with the book.

[A]

I implore the director make a version without the flying monkeys so my daughter can see it. Can you just cut out the flying monkeys and get to defy gravity?

[B]

That's the scary part.

[A]

Oh, yeah. It's pretty intense. Intense. I mean, those monkeys, they. It's like when. I'm not gonna give it away, but when the flying monkeys arrive and it's only the last 5, 15 minutes of the movie. How the flying monkeys came to be and how they arrive. Yeah, Like, I can deal with the monkeys as guards. Like, that's okay. All right. But then when they turn into flying monkeys and how they turn into flying monkeys and then. Then when they're flying monkeys, it's like. It's pretty, like, in detail, scary, you know? And you. Okay, I was scared. And I know monkeys don't fly, so there you go. At least I think monkeys don't fly. So well done to the Wicked crew. I gotta say. Now I can understand what all the hypes meant. And then going down the rabbit hole, also learning that Idina Menzel. Is it Idina.

[C]

Idina Menzel. But there is this meme of. Who is it? John Travolta saying her name as Adele Dazeem.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Adele Dazeem. I know that. I remember that. Thank you so much. Adele Dazeem. Adele Dizzine. Yes. Idina Menzel, you know, who did the voice of Elsa in Frozen, sang those songs that I cannot get out of my fucking life. But okay. She's so good doing those songs. She kind of made her career as the Wicked witch in Wicked. And that is a story that. About how that. That musical came to be and about Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel and those two as the two witches and what, like, kind of how it came together and how they interacted with each other. That's a whole different. That's a whole seven videos in and of itself. It's really fascinating. I just kind of watched, like, a. A video about it with, like, a Broadway historian was doing this, and, you know, guys, I'm doing Broadway historian YouTube now. This is not me. I was. I was in the shower the other day, and Astrid was like, why are you watching a documentary about the making of Wicked, the Broadway musical? And I was like, I'm fascinated. I'm in it now. It is.

[B]

It's a fascinating story.

[A]

I'm in it now. I can't get away from it. So I don't know that I'll be running to the next musical. But I tell you what, I was pleasantly surprised you saw it, Christina, didn't you?

[B]

Oh, you did.

[C]

Yes, I did. I loved it. I'm a big wicked girl, though.

[A]

Oh, are you. Have you seen it on the. Yes.

[C]

Well, I saw it in London.

[A]

You saw it in London with Idina Menzel?

[C]

No.

[A]

Okay. That's a touring. That's the touring company, huh?

[C]

Yeah, I saw it back in, like, 2014. It was a long time ago.

[B]

Yeah, it's been around for a while.

[C]

But the music is a big part of my musicals playlist. Oh, yeah, baby.

[A]

Yeah. Well, now I made the mistake of, you know, letting the girls listen to Defying Gravity, and now it's not. You know, I'm not even gonna get started with that song. Pop you lure, because I know that I'll never get that out of my house.

[C]

I literally worked out yesterday to the Wicked soundtrack.

[A]

Oh, you did?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, I get it. I get it.

[C]

People came in the gym right at the end of Defying Gravity, and I.

[A]

Was like, no, I want to sing it. I totally get it. Well, you know, that's.

[B]

Can't wait to see it.

[A]

Yeah. Well, you'll have to go see Gladiators on behalf of the commercial break and let me know. It should be the opposite way, but you know what? Here at the commercial break, no Stone Left Unto return. No surprise too big or small for. For our audience. And I'd love to hear. I'd love to hear if anybody was there any other movies out. I don't even know, $280 million or something. It's another one that made a. A ton of money internationally. Also, we want to. That we will go see with the kids for sure, because Moana, too. I mean, Moana is such a great movie. All the.

[B]

The.

[A]

Not all of them. Most of The Disney movies that besides the flops that have come out in the last 10 years, the Pixar movies and the Disney movies, I do have to say, they are good for adults and they are good for children.

[B]

They do a good job.

[A]

If I have to watch, you know, the people want to knock on Disney, and I understand why. I also don't. I see the faults in Disney also. But I do have to say some of those movies are fantastic. Luca Encanto, you know, all the Toy Story movies, Moana, Coco. Coco was fantastic. We went through a Coco phase here. We watched it every day and night. It's all, you know, they do a great job at storytelling. That's what they do, and that's what we've been doing for a long time. And they do a great job in it, so. Okay, well, you know, when are you gonna go see Gladiators? Will Jeff go with you?

[B]

Yeah, Jeff wants to see it too.

[A]

Will? Yes? Will you go to Pound Town with Jeff? After watching Pedro Pascal in a loincloth.

[B]

There'S a good chance.

[A]

Hey, Jeff. See, I do you favors here at the commercial break. I never get thank you notes, but I just want a little thank you note afterwards. You'd be like, thanks, Brian, you got me laid. I want to be like, hey, all right. I want to know that, you know, I'm important to you and your life.

[B]

I did send you a little text the other night when we were.

[A]

You did? You did? Yes. It was kind of funny, actually. I was like, what? Oh, okay. All right. Well, good for you. Guys, guys, congratulations on that. Congratulations on your pounding.

[B]

No, we were playing a game. Dominoes.

[A]

Dominoes? Dominoes. How you get naked dominoes? I don't even know. Yeah, I guess you just start taking off your clothes when you put down a domino. I don't know. How do you do that?

[B]

Well, you have to know how to play dominoes first. And we learned how to play in Jamaica, so now we love it. We play it, like, once a week. We'll sit down and play dominoes.

[A]

Big domino fish.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When I remember, I was. I was dating her, but remember there was the girl whose husband worked at the gay bar, and they were married, and so when he, like, they moved into town, they were friends with my friend. And then all of a sudden, he's working at a strip club and a gay bar, and at late at night, and she worked a day job, so I worked at the restaurant. She would come up, you know, he would invite her. She would say, go up to the restaurant. See, Brian he's at the bar. He'll give you drinks. And then he would call me and be like, hey, man, I gotta work till like 3, 4, or 5 in the morning. So you think you could, like, hang out with my wife? And I'd be like, you're inviting me to fuck your wife? We're cuck holding now. We're cuckolding. Now, I know that's not what he said, but he absolutely did not give a shit. And then we all found out he was working at the gay bar in the strip club. And we were like, oh, I got it. Makes sense now. I got it. But you know what? Hey, listen. Whatever.

[B]

To each to their own.

[A]

To each their own. And yeah, okay, I gotta go now. The kids are gonna destroy the house.

[B]

That sounded like a gladiator going down the hallway.

[A]

Those are gladiators running up and down my hallway. Those gladiators are going to break down the door at any moment. Because now we have Disney World in here. We've got couches and chairs and big tv. And we've always had it. But it's such a much more fun setup. I like this.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

I feel like this feels better.

[B]

It does. It's way more comfortable. I can put my feet up.

[A]

Yeah, it just makes noise when you do. This is a picadillo. I can keep on knocking my foot and I hear it in the microphone. But we're learning.

[B]

We're learning.

[A]

Everybody's learning. We're all learning together. You, me, the audience. We're all learning together. So I feel like I stick with it. Another big congratulations to both my twin brother Kevin. Yes, Carrie Anne. Welcome to the family. Can't wait to party. I've got four or five options for the bachelor party. All of them include getting the out of town and away from my children for a couple of days. Not that I. I don't love my children, but this is my opportunity. It's not going to come around very often, so I better take it. And then, Gustavo, I sense three days in Mallorca for. I'm sure I won't be the best man. But his brother will be and he lives in Spain, so I assume a Spain trip is coming. Wow.

[B]

I might just invite myself to that wedding.

[A]

You might get invited? You might get invited? It's a Venezuelan wedding.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Everybody gets it. Christina might be invited. No knows we'll have to see. So Gustavo and la, Big congratulations. We just got that news literally before we walked in the door.

[B]

They were crazy. I heard you go.

[C]

What?

[A]

Yeah. I was surprised. I was like, you were just here yesterday. Why didn't you do this yesterday? We could have celebrated. But maybe also, maybe Gustavo was like, I don't want to do it there. He's an idiot. Brian's an idiot. But you know what? What? It doesn't matter where you do it, doesn't matter when you do it, doesn't matter how you do it. You did it. And that's all that matters. She said yes, and that's all that matters. At the end of the day, onward and upward with your lovely life. Congratulations to both of you. I look forward to watching your successful journey. Growing a family.

[B]

I know. Sweet.

[A]

All right, well, while we're all sentimental, go to tcppodcast.com all the audio, all the video right there at one location. You can also get your free TCB sticker. Hit the contact us button, drop down menu. I want my free sticker. We'll send it off to you at the commercial break on Instagram, TCB podcast, tick tock and YouTube.com the commercial break. Oh, 212-433-3822. Okay, Chrissy, I guess that's all I can do for today.

[B]

I think so.

[A]

But I'll tell you that I love you.

[B]

And I love you.

[A]

I'll say best to you, best to you, Christina. And best you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time. We all say we must say, and we do say goodbye.

[B]

Ra.