The Season Of Swivel!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Commercial Break – "The Season Of Swivel!"

Episode: Season 7, Episode 884 (Unofficially 890)
Date: January 7, 2026
Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley

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Overview

Kicking off Season 7, Bryan and Krissy come back from an extended holiday break with their signature off-the-cuff, irreverent humor. This episode blends personal holiday recaps, podcast updates, and an in-depth, surprisingly earnest discussion of Venezuela’s current political upheaval. Listeners are treated to the usual chaos, self-aware jokes, and friendly banter, but also a nuanced look at a heavy topic—showcasing the unpredictable, “cheesecake factory” variety that TCB fans love.

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Episode Highlights & Key Discussion Points

1. Season 7 Kickoff & Podcast Housekeeping

[03:22–08:52]

• Hosts welcome listeners back, both amazed and amused that they're entering their seventh season.
• Bryan admits to an audio glitch on the first episode: "I forgot to press record on my actual board...It's not terrible, but it just sounds like you're watching us in a tin can." (03:02)
• Jokes about the show’s flexible new release schedule: two to four episodes a week, “depending on how we’re feeling.”
• Plans to interact more with listeners via live YouTube streams and possibly bringing fans on video.
• Notable Quote:
  • Bryan: "We promise one thing, we deliver another. Still, stay tuned. It's going to be a very exciting season of TCB." (01:06)
• Acknowledgement of the podcast industry being a “wild west,” and embracing flexibility moving forward.

2. Holiday Recaps and Spinny Chairs Crisis

[08:52–14:07]

• Krissy spent Christmas in Naples, FL with a big family reunion.
• Bryan discusses holiday time with family, multiple celebrations back-to-back (graduation, wedding, holidays, birthdays).
• Side tangent on studio redecorating—Astrid (Bryan’s wife) wants to upgrade the studio, but Bryan staunchly defends his beloved spinny chairs:
  • “No non spinny chairs. You get non spinny chairs, I'm going to feel stuck. My ADHD isn't going to play well with non spinny chairs. Spinny chairs only.” (08:55)
• Both reflect on the restorative quality of time away and family togetherness.
• Memorable Moment:
  • Kids allowed to stay up until midnight for the first time on New Year's, with Bryan describing his son’s gleeful dancing during the ball drop. (15:26)

3. Return to Venezuela: Personal and Political

[16:13–39:51]

• The tone shifts as Bryan recounts a harrowing moment: Astrid bursts into the room, exclaiming, “They are bombing Caracas.” (16:13)
• Takes pains to offer a nuanced, personal perspective as someone married to a Venezuelan and connected to the diaspora.
• Breaks down the complex Venezuelan political crisis and the recent U.S.-led action against Nicolás Maduro, weighing ethics, sovereignty, oil motives, and realpolitik.
• Questions from Listeners Tackled:
  1. Why U.S. involvement? — Argues sovereignty is forfeited by illegitimate, criminal regimes. References the 2024 Venezuelan election being widely recognized (except by Maduro).
     • “Sovereignty only exists if there is a legitimate government in place.” (24:46)
  2. Is it 'just about oil'? — Bryan acknowledges oil is part of the equation, but says resources must still ultimately benefit the Venezuelan people.
  3. Leaving regime members in power: — Cautions that simply overthrowing everyone creates a vacuum for armed gangs or foreign actors to seize control.
     • “If you simply just take everybody out... there are also other interests at play, mainly the Cubans, the Russians, the Chinese, the colectivos...” (27:15)
  4. Why is there protest against Maduro’s arrest? — Calls for skepticism about protesters’ motives and affiliations, questions the authenticity of some social media “outrage.”
  5. Supporting Trump on this, despite personal opposition: — Contrasts stances under Biden and Trump, highlights the bipartisan failure to effect change prior to recent events.
     • “Sometimes the ends do justify the means. Not everything is black and white. And actually nothing in life is black and white.” (28:55)
• Chrissy’s reflections add personal resonance: her father was born in Venezuela and worked in the oil industry in the 60s–70s. They both acknowledge the massive suffering and refugee crisis of the past decade.

Notable Quotes

• Bryan: “If you got thrown overboard with a brick tied to your ankle, you would not be picky about who threw you the lifeline...” (24:48)
• Bryan: “The truth is, for me, I ... still do gringo things. Right? I'm not like a hundred percent encased in Venezuelan culture. So it's authentic to what I know. But I never try and claim that, like, I'm the expert.” (51:21)
• Chrissy: “It sounds like things have just gotten awful there.” (36:40)

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4. TCB’s Unlikely Rise as a Venezuelan Resource

[43:18–51:38]

• Bryan recounts unexpected attention from Venezuelans on Instagram, including recognition at a Houston party:
  • “Gather around, my little Venezuelans. Let me tell you a story about an Irishman in a podcast...” (48:21)
• Amusing stories of the “Gringo” auto-captioning snafu—Instagram translates “Gringo” as “Green go”, inspiring “Brian Green Go” as an accidental alter-ego (46:55)
• Emphasizes that Astrid is his fact-checker, script editor, and executive producer behind the scenes.
• Memorable Moment:
  • Bryan humbly disclaims expertise, instead presenting himself as an empathetic “observer” with authentic love for Venezuela and its people. (51:25)

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5. Season Outlook & Closing Banter

[52:34–end]

• Tease of next week’s episode: An interview with Jeff Hiller (“so good!”).
• Restates new episode drop schedule: “between two and four episodes a week...Depending on how we feel.” (53:02)
• Encourages listeners to follow TCB on Instagram, get their free TCB sticker from the website, and interact live.
• Flirty, affectionate sign-off (as always):
  • Bryan: “But I'll tell you that I love you.”
  • Chrissy: “I love you.” (55:11)
• Final words: "Until Thursday. We will say, we do say and we must say...goodbye." (55:19)

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Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 00:00 – Ad Spot; Audio announcement; Season 7 launch
• 03:22 – Official welcome back, Season 7 housekeeping
• 05:41 – Recap of December off, interviews/catch-up
• 08:52 – Spinny chairs & studio redecorating tangent
• 09:31 – Krissy’s Naples holiday story
• 13:08 – Bryan’s family adventures, holidays, and kid antics
• 16:13 – Astrid’s “They are bombing Caracas!” moment; segue to Venezuela
• 20:19 – “Venezuela 101”: Bryan answers questions about the crisis
• 24:46 – Discussion on sovereignty, legitimacy, and regime change
• 28:54 – Cautionary notes on foreign intervention and aftermath
• 39:51 – Maduro arrested and flown to New York—reaction
• 43:18 – Instagram fame, “Green Go” nickname, Houston story
• 51:25 – Bryan’s humility and “observational content” disclaimer
• 52:34 – Upcoming interviews, episode schedule, community engagement
• 55:11 – “I love you” sign-off (classic TCB)

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Memorable Quotes & Banter

• On Podcast Planning:
  “We promise one thing, we deliver another.” – Bryan (01:06)

• On Spinny Chairs:
  “You get non spinny chairs, I'm going to feel stuck." – Bryan (08:55)

• On Authenticity:
  “I'm not like a hundred percent encased in Venezuelan culture. So it's authentic to what I know. But I never try and claim that, like, I'm the expert.” – Bryan (51:21)

• On Intervention:
  “Sovereignty only exists if there is a legitimate government in place.” – Bryan (24:46)

• On Family:
  “Kids were up past midnight four days in a row...They were so fucking excited.” – Bryan (15:26)

• On Being "Green Go":
  “Instagram thinks I’m saying green go...I could be Brian Green Go. Astro was like, don’t be stupid.” – Bryan (46:55)

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Tone & Takeaways

This episode leans heavily into the show’s “just FINE, not for everyone” DNA—combining whimsical detours (furniture arguments, family shenanigans) with genuinely insightful, first-person commentary on world affairs. The hosts’ warmth, chemistry, and ability to oscillate between irreverence and earnestness are on full display.

For new listeners:

• Expect unpredictable swings in topic and tone.
• Even the serious gets the TCB offbeat spin—but always lands with authenticity and heart.

Fans and Venezuelans alike will appreciate this unique, empathetic bridge between comedy podcasting and current events, all wrapped up in a good-natured, conversational package.

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Best to you, Cats & Kittens—Season 7 starts now!

Transcript

[Brian Green]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

But if you've forgotten to get that.

[Brian Green]

Special someone in your life a gift. Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless.

[Rachel]

So here's the idea.

[Brian Green]

You get it now, you call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a [e-mail] Switch limited time.

[Rachel]

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

Upfront payment required $45 for three months.

[Rachel]

$90 for six month or $180 for a 12 month plan. Taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Per month when network is busy. See terms.

[Brian Green]

Thanks to TikTok ads, I was able to open up a business with my.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Childhood friend and even hire employees.

[Brian Green]

My name is Julian and I am one of the founders of the Snacks Lab. We are an exotic snack company.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We import snacks from all over the world. We had over $100,000 in sales from our TikTok ads in the first month.

[Brian Green]

So our orders went from five a day to over 250 orders a day.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

You definitely have to use TikTok ads.

[Brian Green]

TikTok for business is helping owners like you reach new customers every day. Head over to get stuck started.TikTok.com TikTok ads the only way to mitigate not being successful is to not quit. That's it. If you don't quit, you might make it and if you quit, you definitely won. And. And honestly, I think after all the years I've seen people make it and not make it, the only common denominator is, is that on this episode of the commercial break. Well, you knew it wouldn't take but one second before we would mess something up on this season seven of the commercial break. And man, did we. I forgot to press record on my actual like the board that brings all the microphones in that makes it sound so smooth and sexy, like you're hearing my voice right now. So I forgot to press record on the very first episode that we record for season number seven. We're gonna sound a little tinty and shallowy on this particular episode. I would rather put it out than not put it out. So I'm gonna do that. But just bear with the audio quality. It's not terrible, but it just sounds like you're watching us in a tin can or we're in a tin can or you're in a tin can. We're all in fucking tin cans. It's 2026. I don't know what to tell you. It's all Going to hell in a hand basket. But we're so excited that season number seven is here. It's upon us. We're bringing new episodes. We're recording live on YouTube.com the commercial break, Tuesdays and Thursdays. And we've now decided that we will do between two and four episodes a week, depending on which week it is and depending on how we're feeling. We're not limiting ourselves. It's cap off, kids. All gas, no breaks. You know how we like to do it. We promise one thing, we deliver another. Still, stay tuned. It's going to be a very exciting season of TCB. Okay, here it is. Episode officially number 884, but unofficially number 890. Season number seven starts now. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Oh, yeah. Cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the co host of this show, Chris. Enjoy Hoadley. Best to you, Chris.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Best to you, Brian.

[Brian Green]

Best to you out there in the podcast and streaming universe. Season number seven starts now. Crazy.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I can't believe.

[Brian Green]

Insane. Six years, seven. We say that every year. Yeah, we said it. Season one, too.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And Happy New Year.

[Brian Green]

And Happy New Year to you. We will not be saying that until October. No. I was laughing because Chrissy was like, hey, we've been out of touch for like, not out of touch, but we haven't talked on the.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, it's on the holidays phone for.

[Brian Green]

Two weeks, three weeks. And so she said, hey, call me. Let's. Let's talk before we talk. I said, okay. And I was laughing because when I called her, I was, I wanted to say happy New Year. And I was recalling that in 2023, season number five, for the first 10 months.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, we just. That was our tagline. Happy New Year.

[Brian Green]

Happy New Year. We were wondering just how long we could get away with it. And I think we took the joke too far. So we won't be doing that again. But, you know, but we're still in the first six.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, we're the early.

[Brian Green]

There's a bubble, there's a, There's a little shine there. For the first week or two of the new year, you can get away with it. I'm still saying Happy New Year. I said Happy New Year to the kids at the Starbucks today.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Said Happy New Year to everybody here at the house.

[Brian Green]

Yes. Well, that's appropriate because you haven't seen them in New York. Yeah. I think the rule is if you haven't seen someone in a new Year and it's still January. You can say happy New Year. Yeah. If it's February, you just sound like a shithole. You just sound like you don't know what you're talking about. So welcome back season number seven. Chrissy and I are excited to kick down the door and get back to life here in the studio. We have taken an immense amount of time. Yeah. Between sicknesses and travel.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And I mean, I was laughing to myself too, thinking about last year. I mean, I think we recorded like, every single day in December.

[Brian Green]

We did. Yeah. I think we even recorded on Christmas Eve, if I'm not mistaken. We did.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And this year, like.

[Brian Green]

And this year we took it all of December off. Yeah. And it felt good. It did, it did. It felt. We recorded very little between Thanksgiving and today, really. I think we recorded like, I don't know, maybe seven days total. And it felt very good. So thanks for hanging with us. Thanks for listening to the TCB classics and some of the interviews that we had sitting in the. Sitting in the can.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We did do a lot of interviews.

[Brian Green]

I remember that we did a ton in that. That 12 days of TCB. I think we did seven interviews or something like that. And then like the seven hours of TCB or whatever, it was all a lot. And that's okay. We were excited to do it and we're excited now just to be refreshed, be refreshed, recharge, refocus, get our together. Feel good about coming into the studio a couple times a week and hopefully you feel the same and we're excited. Season number seven. So no more talk about that. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Chrissy and I will be here live on YouTube.com the commercial break or restream IO the commercial break. You can go watch us somewhere. Sometime between 1 and 3pm we'll go live. I don't want to say exactly.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We'll just mess it up.

[Brian Green]

We'll just mess it up. Yeah. I'm not going to pin anything on there. And then we will be putting out two or three new episodes every single week on the RSS feed. So stay tuned and maybe we'll run some. I thought about this. There's a lot of people who texted in. They have their thoughts and their opinions about the new schedule. Most of them very supportive, extremely positive. I don't think I had one, like, super negative comment about all of which indicates to me that we're probably doing the right thing. Like if we were slimming down and people were like, no, don't do that. I love four Fucking hours of the commercial break every single week. Then I think we would hear it. But we didn't hear it with a couple of people. But most people were by and large supportive. But there were a lot of people who said, I just jumped in season five. I jumped in, you know, season six, whatever. So what I might do. What I might do is on Fridays, I might rerun TCB classic episodes. I'll pick ones that I think are notable for some reason, maybe interviews that we liked or whatever. We'll rerun them on Friday. You can choose whether or not you want to listen to it. And then, you know, maybe we'll have. Still have four episodes a week, just in a different way. So we'll figure it all out. Stay tuned. Everything is flexible. We're bending to the will of the podcast gods right now.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And yeah, I mean, this industry is still the wild west, very much growing and changing.

[Brian Green]

Growing.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Having to change with it.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, we're changing with it. And one of the things that we have always wanted to do is be more interactive with the listenership, be engaged with them. So by doing these live on YouTube.com the commercial break, you can chime in via chat or soon we'll have the ability to. I mean, we have it now, but we're not doing it today. We can have the ability to bring people in on video. So you can kind of do a FaceTime call with us, and we'll do that in the future. So chime in, we'll be ready. And then maybe on Instagram. You don't know. We don't know. We don't know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

The world is our oyster.

[Brian Green]

The world is our oyster. We're starting afresh. I feel like we have a brand new commercial break and Astrid's ready to change the curtains. So that's how I know it was time for a change.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We're gonna change out the.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, we're change out the curtains that's coming. Yeah, the furniture and the curtains is coming. She has a big bug in her boo about this. She thinks, I love these chairs.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

She does a great job.

[Brian Green]

She does. I love these chairs personally. But she says it's time to freshen it up. And I was like, we just got these last year. Why do we have to change it up? And she's like, that's the time when you change it up. You do it for a year and then you change it up. The. Am I supposed to know? I'm just a man. I'm just a guy Just trying to feel my way through all my feels.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And testosterone chairs are nice. They spin.

[Brian Green]

And that's the best part about them. I told Astrid, no non spinny chairs. You get non spinny chairs. I'm going to feel stuck. I'm going to. My ADHD isn't going to play well with non spinny chairs. Spinny chairs only. That's the rule. Change these things to fucking bright. You know, turquoise if you want to. But do not take my spinny chairs away. I only want spinny chairs.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's right.

[Brian Green]

And leave me a place for this big ugly board that she says is ruining the mood. It's ruining the mood. It runs the whole show. What do you want me to do?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It's got pretty lights on it.

[Brian Green]

It does have pretty lights on it. Speaking of pretty lights, you spent Christmas down in Naples, Florida.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I did.

[Brian Green]

I love Naples, Florida. God bless Americ.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And relaxing. We're so fortunate. We really are. Jeff's mom has a place down there, and so we went down there for Christmas. We've done that before in the past. Not every Christmas, but we've done it quite a few years since we've been together. And this time we had. All of the brothers and their families came, too. So it was a big reunion.

[Brian Green]

Wow. Wow. We were.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It was so much fun. We did big dinners and all went to the beach and did the pool. I mean, it's just so nice when that's the biggest decision you make every day is, are we going to the pool or the beach?

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Or.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Or both, but in what order?

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And, you know, went on nice walks. It was beautiful. 75.

[Brian Green]

Thank you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Can you be happy for me?

[Brian Green]

No, I can't. No. No, I'm not gonna be happy for you. That's asking too much. That's asking too much now. Of course, it's. I'm happy.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, I know. And I know you love Naples.

[Brian Green]

I got it. I love the beach. That's what I love. I love the beach. And we also had a chance to go to the beach and they experience historic cold temperature.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, there was a weird cold front that came.

[Brian Green]

It just blew on through the five days we were at the beach for Astrid's birthday. But, you know, hey, listen, I'm going to say this. I said it before. I'll say it again. I would take a cold, rainy day at the beach over a warm, sunny day at work every day of the week.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I mean, it's something magical about the beach.

[Brian Green]

There really is. And I know that people that live there, I've talked to them and they're like, hey, yeah, there's a beach there, you know, and it's like, how can you get used to the beach? I understand. If I lived there, I would probably get, you know, used to the beach.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

But there's a reason they live there.

[Brian Green]

That's right.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

They like the beach.

[Brian Green]

They didn't move there. I mean, unless you're born there, you didn't move there for shits and giggles. You move there because you wanted to be close to the beach in the warm weather. That's the way that it is. Florida is a paradise in that sense. In most, you know, most places. Most of those beaches are just beautiful.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

They really are.

[Brian Green]

Especially in the Gulf and down in Naples. Just beautiful, beautiful. You know, Florida itself. You know, I don't. I don't. I live. Listen, I. I had. I was fortunate enough for a period of time to have a vacation place there, condo there. But, you know, I sold it because I got taxed to death.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, that's true.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. They may not have income tax, but they find a way to get that out of you, that's for sure. And it usually happens through real estate, which is why all those. That beach property is expensive. But we did actually, we went down to Alabama is where we went. Yes.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Orange Beach. I love that area.

[Brian Green]

We went again down to Orange beach. Second. There we went. First time. You know, you're growing up as a. As a Georgian, as a person in Atlanta, Amelia Island, Naples, Florida. Panama City, Destin, Florida. You'd never heard about anybody going to Gulf Shores, Alabama, or Pensacola, like in between Pensacola and Gulf Shores. Never Orange Beach. I didn't even know that was until, like 10 years ago. And all of the sudden, this place has exploded out of the ground.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

And it is really a nice place. I do have to say, Listen a. It's the. You know, there's big buildings all up and down the Strip. That's all it is. These huge condo buildings. But I do have to say that I like the vibe. I think it's cool. I. I'm. I'm all about Orange Beach. I'm telling you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It's an easy drive over there.

[Brian Green]

Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And it's. It's very nice.

[Brian Green]

Amelia island is still my jam. But it's so expensive to go down to Amelia Island. So expensive. And it's tiny and it's crowded and all the stuff that everybody else complains about. But at least we had a chance to go. We saw Gutavo.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Congratulations.

[Brian Green]

Gustavo Gutavo. We saw him get married. We saw him graduate. Graduate.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

All the things.

[Brian Green]

Yes. All the Things. It was a day to rejoice. Happy, happy.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What a wonderful time. Okay, so you had the graduation. Because that's really kind of like the last time I saw you was right before the graduation because you went out of town for a week, then I went out of town for a week.

[Brian Green]

And that was like December 12th or 13th. Yeah. And then.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And then there was New Year's. And I'm thinking about. Okay, so Gustavo's graduation, his marriage, Astrid's family is here.

[Brian Green]

Family comes in town.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

There was. The in laws were in town too. On. On Gustavo's wife's side. And then. And then you roll into Christmas, New Year, and then Astrid's birthday, and then Astrid's birthday.

[Brian Green]

And then the whole fucking crew goes down to Orange Beach. Two houses right across the street from each other.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What a big celebration time.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, it was great. It was great. It was one of. One of my favorite holidays in memory. The last holiday that I think that would, like, top this holiday season. First of all, we had a lot of time off. It allowed me to recharge. Yeah. Second of all, we spent all of it with family, which made me feel good. I felt cozy and comfortable.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It does recharge your battery.

[Brian Green]

It does, right. And, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on with the business and stuff, but I was able to kind of like, mitigate the stress with a lot of, you know, FaceTime with family and kids and all that other stuff. But then also, you know, we. The. The travel, it was. Yeah, I. I don't like the actual travel part. Getting from two to, you know, from A to B. But once I get there, I love it. Oh, yeah, I loved it. We went to Houston. Houston is a town. Houston is a town.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Not my favorite city in America. I'll be real straightforward about that. But the people there are lovely, and we've had some great food in Houston. And, you know, then we go down to Orange beach, and that's great. And then we were here in Atlanta for the actual holiday for Christmas and New Year's. I mean, for Christmas, it was just, you know, it was a great time. This is a great time. This is a great time. It is. And, you know, then my wife's birthday, January 2nd, I. The kids. The kids were up past midnight four days in a row. They knew the day before New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve. We put them down for a nap and then we met, laid. Let them stay up to see the ball drop. First time we've ever let them do that. They Were so fucking excited. I have video of my son just screaming his full head off, dancing. His little. Shaking his butt.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Was the New York one. It's a new. It was a new ball.

[Brian Green]

Okay, well, we watched the New York. That was because of where we were. That was an hour before we actually celebrated it. So we celebrated the Chicago. Well, you know, they do that Ryan Seacrest bullshit. Yeah. But we were with a bunch of Venezuelans anyway, so we weren't really watching that. But anyway, my son was shaking his butt. He loved it. The girls were dancing with everybody. You know, there's 20 people, we're all having a great time. And then January 1st, on New Year's Day, everybody stays up late, hanging out, having fun, talking, playing games. And then January 2nd, my wife's birthday, everyone stays up late talking, having fun. The kids, we managed to put them to bed before midnight on January 2nd. But I went to bed about one o' clock local time. So that's 2:00am East Coast Time, Miami time.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah. You were up late.

[Brian Green]

I was up late. And I went to bed because one of the kids got up. So I went and I laid them with them in the bed. And then 30, 40 minutes later, the door popped right open and Astrid came running in and she said the following words. They are bombing Caracas. And I popped right out of bed. I knew exactly what she meant. Anybody who's paying attention knows exactly what was going on. They're waiting for this moment to happen, waiting for kind of hell to break loose. Because Trump and the administration have been threatening for a long time action down in Venezuela. They've been blowing up boats, which I do not agree with. I want to be clear about that. I don't believe in blowing people off the face of the earth because you think something might be going on. But. But Venezuela is a complicated situation, right? And I know a lot of Venezuelans, so I understand their point of view. And I have come around to their point of view where I might have been very much a passive, a pacifist. And, you know, I'm not wanting any kind of war bombing, you know, any of this stuff. I have come to see the light on this one. And yeah, I want to share that with everybody, but let's do this. Let's take a break. We got to take a break. We always have to take a break. Always have to take a break. You gotta pay some bills. What do you think? We do this for fun and we do this just for money? That's not true.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No.

[Brian Green]

But now I forgot where I put all the Things on my board. On the big ugly board that Astrid wants to get rid of. Here it is.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

A mini board too.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, that's a mini board. That's not even the big ugly board. That's just the mini board. But you know, you know, she gets like that. Okay, let's do this. Let's take a short break and when we get back, I will talk all about Venezuela.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Some of you, I want to hear.

[Brian Green]

Questions that you have dialed in. You know that I am married to a Venezuelan. And so you've been very kind and thoughtful, most of you. And you have questions and I would love to answer them to the best of my ability, just being someone who's observed Venezuela and Venezuelans. But I think I probably know a little bit about the situation. Not claiming know everything, but I think I know enough to be dangerous. So let's do that after we return.

[Rachel]

Okay? You're probably wondering why I, Rachel, have taken over the voice duties at tcb. It's pretty simple. Astrid asked me to shut Brian up, even for a minute. Well, lovely Astrid, your wish is my command. Do you want to help Astrid too? You know you do. Leave a message for her or me or Chrissy at 212-4333 TCB. That's 212-433-3822. You can be on the show too. Just call and say something, anything. Or text us and we'll text you right back. Promise. Then head over to tcbpodcast.com and get your free sticker. It's your constitutional right to a sticker and we must abide. You get the point? Follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and watch all the episodes on [e-mail] TheCommercialBreak Best to you and Astrid. Especially Astrid. A year from today, what would your dream private practice look like? Would you spend less time chasing claims or only working with clients who value your skill set? What if you had more time for yourself? Alma empowers you to confidently accept insurance backed by an all in one EHR that simplifies scheduling, documentation and day to day practice operations. Your dream practice is closer than you think. Learn more about [e-mail] get started.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Rachel]

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Brian Green]

I was just watching the weirdest video where a guy was sucking on a natural gas can. What is that a thing? Do we do that now?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No.

[Brian Green]

Are we doing that?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Okay.

[Brian Green]

Just making sure.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Don't do that.

[Brian Green]

Okay. I'm making sure. If the kids are into something, I want to try. Give it one try. That's the old. Yeah, that's the. Give it the old college try. My age. My age. Glass of milk and some calcium pills. Good night. Yeah. Esser is Venezuela and you listen to the show. You know that, you know that we have long talked about Venezuela on the show and traditions and cultures and situations. I have not too much delved into the political situation down in Venezuela except to say that clearly I do. I have not agreed with it. But so. Well, let's have a more nuanced conversation about this. I understand the point of view of an American, especially ones who don't disagree, who disagree with the Trump administration on almost every single topic. And as someone who also disagrees with the Trump administration on almost every single topic, it's a hard pill to swallow that what Donald Trump has done and his administration have done are in fact a step in the right direction for Venezuela and Venezuelans. So we can argue the how and we can argue the what, and we can argue the who, but the why and if they're done. Nicolas Maduro has been torturing, yes, the people of Venezuela for his entire reign. He was way worse than Chavez. Way worse than Chavez. He took it to 11. Chavez took it to five. He took it to 11. Chavez. At least you could still eat and do business and, you know, have dollars and all that stuff. Maduro painted Venezuela in a very difficult corner and then he got into bed with some of the worst in the worst around the world. There is a geopolitical larger picture here, which I won't get into too much here, but just to say that China, Cuba and, and Russia have been puppeting Maduro for a long time and that is no bueno for the United States of America. So there is a larger picture, but the smaller picture is, and the one that really matters is that Venezuelans, native Venezuelans, people who lived under the Maduro regime or have family that did, or friends, they know that this is one bad hombre. He is a bad dude and he is a criminal and he has a criminal regime and they have been doing Bad things to the Venezuelan population for a long time, up into and including murder. And so taking him out was absolutely the right move. And they did it with him alive and facing justice. So there you go. Any Venezuelan that you talk to will agree with me, 99% of them. He needs to go. There are, of course, people that support Nicolas Maduro down in Venezuela. And they support Nicolas and Maduro mainly because, number one, they are part of the regime, or number two, they are benefiting directly from the regime. And this, this includes people who are not, who are very desperate and they take food or small amounts of money to do the bidding of the regime. That is a complicated situation, and it makes the situation down there right now very complicated. So, people, I'm just going to tackle some of the questions. Yeah, right. What gives us the right to go into a sovereign nation and take out the president of another nation? Sovereignty only exists if there is a legitimate government in place. And what I mean by that is that no country, no democratic country in the world recognizes the Maduro regime as the legitimate leadership of Venezuela. As a matter of fact, in 2024, there was an election. Someone else was voted in office by some say 90% of the vote. This vote was watched by international cadre of people who do this type of thing. And they called it a free and fair election and overwhelming support for the opposition. Overwhelming support. But Nicolas Maduro called it a fake election, and he did not release the grip of power. He has been playing games for a long time on this, the world stage. And.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Because how long has he been in power? Is it.

[Brian Green]

I think it's 13, 13 years? Okay, yeah, 13, 14 years. Chavez died and he handpicked Maduro to. To take his place. So, yes, we should not be going into sovereign nations and taking out the leadership, but this is not a legitimate leadership. This is a criminal organization. And that is what happens when. When you spend 13 years being a criminal and you know, someone had to do something because they had elections. They tried coups, they tried everything. They protested in the streets. If the Venezuelan people could have done this themselves, they would have long ago done this. They needed help, and help came. And as I said in a video on Instagram, if you got thrown overboard with a brick tied to your ankle, you would not be picky about who threw you the lifeline. You would not. You would grab at the first hand that came down in the water. And that's how most Venezuelans feel. Almost all of them that I know, actually, all of them that I know, that's it. That's, that's the bottom line. Okay? Number two, all we did is go in there for the oil. The United States of America set up the oil business in the first place down in Venezuela. The Venezuelans themselves asked for the help. They teamed up with the United States and United States oil companies to make sure that they could get to the oil, number one and number two, so that they could refine the type of oil that they have. I am not one to believe that, you know, they owe the United States oil. It's their resources. But oil is not the only thing they have. They have gold, they have minerals, they have stuff that, that is useful. It's resources that are worth money to the Venezuelan community at large. They need help. They need help getting it out of the ground and refining it. It's not easy to do. And some say the Americans are the only ones who have the type of technology that can do this. Okay, so Donald Trump ain't doing anything for free. We already know this about Donald Trump. He ain't doing anything for free. But if you ask some Venezuelans, most Venezuelans, they will say that Russia, China and Cuba have been taking the oil for themselves this entire time for the last 13 years. So if someone's going to take the oil, let it be the people who know how to do something with it. And maybe, maybe if this is played correctly, fairly and with accountability, maybe the Venezuelan people at large can benefit from it.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I hope so.

[Brian Green]

There can be jobs, there can be dollars, there can be, you know, something can spread out to the community at large. Let's keep our eyes on the prize. Let's hope that happens. Okay. Number three. Well, they just left the same regime in power, correct? They did. But I have a question for you, and I want you to think about this in a nuanced way. We did this in Iraq and we did this in Afghanistan and it didn't go well. It didn't go well. Yeah, we went in and we took out everybody. We took out everybody we thought might be associated with the current administration that we thought was no good. And they had oil and we, you know, and I get it, I understand we're once bitten, twice shy about all of this stuff, but. But if you simply just take everybody out and leave the country or take everybody out and hope that you can go get the oil feed fields. There are also other interests at play, mainly the Cubans, the Russians, the Chinese, the collectivos, which are armed gangs that are down there. The farc, which is a, you know, narco terrorism group down In Colombia and in Venezuela, there are people who will come in and fill that vacuum that are armed to the teeth and ready and waiting to pounce on the opportunity to get a hold of all the money that those oil fields represent and other stuff. And other stuff. And not to mention just power. Power. Over 30 million people. Right? So let's not be so naive to believe that we can just go down there, take everybody out and then put somebody in place and everything's going to. Yeah, hey, happy days, you know, the next day, you know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah. It's going to be a process.

[Brian Green]

There's going to be a Starbucks in the middle of Caracas. That's not going to happen, right? That's not going to happen. It's a process. And things are dangerous right now. It's very precarious. And so my opinion is, you know, in for a penny, in for a pound. Now we have to help the Venezuelans get through this transition period. And then we have to discuss very quickly how we have a free and fair election or install the rightful president of Venezuela. Okay? Oil is part of the equation. It always was, it always will be. We're not doing anything for free. Let's just say it like we mean it. And I don't necessarily agree with all of the greed. I don't. But sometimes the ends do justify the means. Not everything is black and white. And actually nothing in life is black and white. Nothing in life is black and white. Okay? So here we are. Let's support the Venezuelans, let's support their voices, let's support their objectives, and let's help them get to a place where they're in a better place. That's. That's it. Okay. Number four, all these people who are protesting, some people even going so far as to say that Nicolas Maduro needs to be freed.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Huh? Where? Here or in.

[Brian Green]

No, there are people here that are saying that, right? And there are lots of people in Venezuela. Lots of. Lots of. The regime is saying that in Venezuela, that Nicolas Maduro is still the president, he needs to be returned, he's the leader, blah, blah, blah. Be careful about who you listen to. Because, first of all, you know, when I turn on the stations that I normally listen to, when I turn on the TV that I normally watch, I'm hearing a lot of kind of dumb talk, right? Dumb talk that they're just angry at Trump and so am I, but they're angry at Trump for doing anything that included using the military. I don't disagree, but this is complicated and we can't just be so blind as to just hate Trump and then disagree with everything he does. So he has to undo it immediately, because that would be suffering a worse fate than anything the United States could impose. Right now, let's be careful about who we listen to, because also there are lots of people around the world, including foreign governments, that want to influence this outcome. And we have to be careful. There are videos going around right now, if you watch them on Instagram, of people who are protesting this whole thing, right? Protesting Trump, protesting Nicolas Maduro's arrest. And people are asking these people, who are protesting, what do you know about Nicolas Maduro? Why do you support him? Right? Or why do you want him back? And they can't answer a single question. And then the question is asked, are you Venezuelan? And the answer is no almost every time. Now, this could be selective editing. This could be just people walking up to random people and they just pick the answers that they choose. I'm not so dumb as to believe also that people who agree with me are not also, you know, doing some propaganda here. Right. But at the end of the day, I think this is largely a coordinated effort to discredit Trump or to support the regime. Right. We have to be really careful about who we listen to right? Now, Number five, I thought that you were against Trump and why would you support this? Right. It was one of the questions. When Biden was in office, he put a $25 million bounty on Maduro's head. $25 million is a lot of money for any Venezuelan who's been picking out of a garbage can. You think that's a joke? It's not picking out of a garbage can to survive day to day. $25 million. They knew exactly what they were doing when they did that, when the State Department did that. They were hoping to affect change down in Venezuela, but they didn't do the job. They just left it up to other people to go in there and do it. Right. Biden said when he was running for office in 2019 for the 2020 election, he said he was going to take care of this. He said he was going to take action. He said he was going to install the rightful president of Venezuela. He did none of that. He did none of it. He just put a bounty on Maduro's head and further constrained the situation down there by putting more sanctions. And then he took sanctions off once Russia invaded Ukraine. But that's. That's complicated. But the Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, have been yelling and screaming for anybody to do anything about Venezuela for Years and years and years until it happened under Trump. And now all of a sudden, they've changed their tune. Right? This is. They are scoring political points. This is playing politics with people's lives. Is this going to work out great? I don't know. Is it. Is it dangerous? Of course it is. Is it leading to chaos? Yes, it is. But, you know, it's one small little beam of light in a very dark room for the last 13 years. And I just. I'm listening to the people around me. I'm listening to the people around me have been for 30 years. Right. I have come around to their way of thinking. This is a dangerous man who needed to be put in his place, and his place is probably a cell. That's where he needs to be. And his wife should not be called his wife. She should be called by her name because she is just as bad as he is. Just as bad as he is. So these two people are now in jail. Let's let them have a trial.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Let's see what happens. I guarantee they're not going to be found innocent of the charges. No, no, no, they aren't. Now, the Trump administration has some problems with the way they did this. They have some problems with, you know, not talking to Congress about this, not informing the Gang of Eight and some other things, but. Okay, but you can't put the cat back in the bag now. And that certainly doesn't mean returning Nicholas material.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, I was going to say there's no way that that's going to happen.

[Brian Green]

No, no, it's not going to happen. If tomorrow elections were held in the United States of America and the most liberal of liberals won the presidency, they would be read in. And once they were read in, I can guarantee you they would have the same exact stance. Nicholas Maduro will serve time in jail. He will be put in front of a judge, and we will figure this out. Because you can't just be that naive. You can't. And so it makes me a little bit sad when I see all of these Instagram accounts and all these people that I usually, like, love their content, follow them, and agree with them. It makes me a little bit sad that they kind of have, like, uninformed voices or maybe like, very skewed opinions of what's going on. But I think that's. I also have to understand that if I didn't know any Venezuelans, I was.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Going to say not everybody has the same insight into firsthand knowledge that you have of, you know, people actually living there.

[Brian Green]

Well, how do you feel about this? And how do people that you know feel about this?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I mean, it just happened, really, you know, so I, you know, I was shocked, but, yeah, I see that he had to go and, I mean, I've known enough through you and through Astrid and meeting Astrid's family that, yeah, something had to change. Something had to change. Now how it was all done, like you said. Maybe every box wasn't ticked, but again, yeah, we're such an a. You know, the one side hates the other side so much.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Anything that anybody does is prickly. Right.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. And listen, I know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I mean, my dad was born in Venezuela and, you know, was part of that, the, the oil. His family was part of that. His dad was a geologist and was down there finding the minerals and the oils and the stuff. And that was in the 60s, 70s. So I've always kind of, you know, had a love for, for Venezuela, like my dad.

[Brian Green]

There you go.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

So, yeah, I've been a little familiar with it. It's. It sounded, it sounds like things have just gotten awful there.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, it's. It's terrible. And the larger dysport, 8 million, 9 million people have fled that country.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian Green]

Spain, Colombia and the United States of America are holding the majority of those people. And things have just gotten terrible, terrible for the everyday Venezuelan. And, you know, they wanted this. They wanted this, they begged for this. They screamed into the void for years and years and years and the world would pay attention for a minute and then they'd move on. And then they pay attention for another minute and then they move on. And nothing ever came of it. No real support in any meaningful way to affect change.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And yeah, best case scenario to me is that now the whole administration is able to put pressure on, you know, even though, Even though it's the same regime, they're able to at least put enough pressure on them to make changes. It's going to be a process and it isn't going to happen overnight.

[Brian Green]

No.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

But.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, and, and they're going to play games and they're going to say things that sound anti Trump and anti American and Nicholas Maduro and all this. They're going to play games, but they have to right now. They have to keep things in line. They want to keep the trains running on time, so to speak, because they know if they're smart, they know that total civil breakdown is not. Not what's needed right now. Right. So at first, when Trump came out and said, you know, we're. We're supporting the, the president or we're Talking to the vice president, who's now the president, I thought to myself, holy shit, what is he doing? But given 24 hours and really thinking.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And I think we're going to learn more, too, over the next week.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I think we're going to learn a lot more. I think that the next couple of weeks, things are going to move fast and furious, and we're just going to have to, you know, see how it plays out. I'm not a. I can't tell the future. I don't know. All I know is one thing happened that was really good for the everyday Venezuelan, and that's a. Nicolas Maduro is far away from the ability to do anything else to the Venezuelan people. Now, there's a lot of people there that could still do stuff to the Venezuelan people and probably will. But maybe over time, as Chrissy mentioned, maybe over time, the pressure campaign can mount. Listen, now they know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

If you screw around. Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

We're going to come in there.

[Brian Green]

Someone's going to come in and.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Right.

[Brian Green]

And jerk a knot in your tail. Or worse. I think Nicholas Maduro was lucky to get out alive. If I'm being.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian Green]

I was watching a video where Nicholas Maduro was being walked into the DEA office in New York. You know, they did this whole per. Walk with him.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I saw that.

[Brian Green]

Up to New York.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Took him out of the plane. They walked him around, they took pictures with him. You know, like he was some doll or something, but I guess that's what you do when these situations happen. But they walked him into the DA office and Nicholas Maduro's walking in there. He's like, hey, everybody, Happy New Year. Hey, everybody, Happy New Year. Not for you. Not for you, bud. I'm sorry. You know, that really pissed a lot of people off because it's like this guy thinks this is all a joke. Well, he's been thinking that for a long time. And he found out. Right. I'm not gonna say it because I don't want to sound like Pete Hegseth, but he messed around and he found out.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

So. Okay. All right, let's take a short break and then we'll. We'll talk more. You want to talk more?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Let's do it.

[Brian Green]

We'll talk more. We'll be 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. Then I'll rejoice choice 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 212-4382. 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.

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Chrissy Hoadley]

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[Brian Green]

Really, really strange. Let me turn on the camera. Really strange commercial for a natural gas. I don't know. Hey, listen. It's all happening, Chrissy. It's all happening.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Happy New Year.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Also. Okay. Also, a lot of people have comments. Say a lot of people, like six or seven people have comments. And I follow you on Instagram. What's going on? Yeah, so my Instagram. My personal Instagram page, Brian W. Green, you can follow it if you want to. I do talk a lot about Venezuela and Venezuelan things and, you know, being married to a Latina and all that other stuff. So that's what's going on. It's. Yeah, it's gone gangbusters. It has. Yeah. Well, even Mike Pesca from the Gist reached out to me. Me and Mike talk a lot, but he reached out to me on. On the day after all of this happened on Saturday. First of all, on Friday night, we were up all night. I mean, we were watching the news, WhatsApp groups.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Sure. Thinking about you.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Then we go to sleep, and like 40 minutes later, I get up to go to the bathroom and I check my text and it's like Maduro's been captured and everybody's up again. We're all like, we're trying to get some sleep. But Mike Pesco was like, hey, man, you know, what's your take on the Venezuelan situation? And I'm like, you are so much. He's like a geopolitical expert. Mike Pesco.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

And I'm like, oh, dude, you know much more than. He's like, no, no, you're a resource. And I'm like, you are?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah. You've got firsthand knowledge.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I do. But I mean, you know, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not an expert in anything. I just sound like an expert. I.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

You've got a pulse on the people.

[Brian Green]

I do have a pulse on the people. She's right in my house, and I follow her around and go, does this sound right? Is this the right word?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

She's right.

[Brian Green]

She's so annoyed because there's, like, these, you know, I liken this. I liken this to not knowing, like, not imagine you've never seen water before, right? But then someone goes, you're the. Congratulations. You're the best swimmer in the world. And you're like, what is water? Yeah. What is water? Right. Because all these, like, people who are well known in Venezuela are like, following and commenting and messaging me and I'm.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Like, oh, I love that.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. And other people are freaking out and I'm like, I don't know, I'm picturing.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Like, you getting off a plane in Venezuela at some point and like, people being like, brian Green.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Green go. Green go. Green go. It's funny. Funny because on Instagram I do these, you know, I script a lot of this stuff out. I sound much different on Instagram than I do here because this is all improv. I have no script, but there I scripted out some of it out to make sure that I'm. I'm saying it correctly. Right. I don't want to make a misstep on this.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No. There's a lot of eyes are on you.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. Now that we have, there's a lot of eyes on me. I can't, like, I just want to make sure that I'm not, you know, misspeaking in any way, shape or form. Plus, you have two minutes there, essentially. Two minutes to get people's attention here. I'm talking for days on end, right. I can say whatever I want to. I can correct it. I can go back and, you know, ums.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And people just know not to.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't, don't pay attention to what he says there. So when I, when I do it, I put closed captions on it that can be translated into Spanish. Well, when I say Gringo, which I say a lot in my videos, when I say Gringo, Instagram thinks I'm saying green go. And so I was like, oh. After a while it was like, it keeps on doing it, the closed captions. I'm like, oh, that's interesting. I could be Brian Green Go. Like Gringo, you know, And Astro was like, yeah. Esther goes, don't be stupid. Yeah. She goes, you're so old. I was like, ah, it's a catchy name. She's like, it's not a catchy name. Actually pretty lame. Don't be that.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

But I see where you're going with it.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, the green. Yeah. Green go. Green go. Yeah. But it was funny because I went to Houston. I don't know if I told you this story, but I go to Houston and my brother in law's sister in law, we at that we went to their house for a party. Okay. We're there at the house, and there's some chatter going on over in the corner, like, excited chatter going on, like what we call an obladera. So people like talking fast and at each other and all this, but I don't understand what they're saying. But I understand they're talking about me, but there's a lot going on. But I'm like, I don't know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And you're used to that.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, I'm very used to people talking about me behind my back. That's right. It's been going on forever. It's been going on since I was a baby.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, but I mean, the Venezuelan behind your back.

[Brian Green]

30 years this has been going, yeah, I'm the gringo Pelones. So then somebody comes over and says, oh, a lot of people are excited that you're here. They want to come over and meet you. And I said, what? And they go, well, you know, someone mentioned that you were here, and everybody follows you on Instagram and they like your videos, and so they wanted to come over, and they want to come over and meet you. They're here local, so gather round. Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And I'm like, what, people?

[Brian Green]

Yeah, gather around, my little Venezuelans. Let me tell you a story about an Irishman in a podcast. First of all, I'm like, no.

[Rachel]

The.

[Brian Green]

Irishman in the podcast. Tale as old as time. An Irishman in a podcast about Venezuela. Latin American country where they're two shades darker, don't speak the same language. Language. But you, my friend, have the keys to the kingdom. Let us all meet at a house in Houston. I was floored. I was like, whoa, that's fun. Nah, I don't know. I mean, yeah, sure, it's nice, you know, you feel like, oh, that's cool. But then I was thinking about it at night, and I had to talk to Astrid. I was like, did he really? What were they? And she goes, yeah, they wanted to come over and meet you. God, you're famous. No, I don't think fame is the word. I. I think people appreciate.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yes.

[Brian Green]

Yeah, they.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I think you speaking out and having some knowledge.

[Brian Green]

I think my love for vet. The Venezuelans in my life has translated into me understanding and being empathetic of some of the cultural things. But let me be clear about this. 90 of the time, I have to check with Astrid to make sure that I'm getting it right. She is my executive producer, my script writer, my director. Like, she. I am. There is none of this Content happens without Astrid, number one. Number two is that I am no expert. And even some of the things that I talk about, like I was talking about New Year's Eve and I was saying, like, you know, hey, you know, turn off Ryan, your grapes. We did do our grapes, but yesterday and I were like, we're not doing 12 grapes. Okay, first of all, the grapes this year were huge. Second of all, no one can do that. No one. I mean, I'm sure people do with tiny grapes, but the tradition is 12 seconds before midnight, you eat a grape every second.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, that's hard.

[Brian Green]

Making a wish for every month of the new year. Well, first of all, I can't do anything that fast. And second of all, you know, like I said in one of my videos, you'll be chewing to death or choking to death. One of the two.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I know. I was surprised to hear that. It was 12 seconds.

[Brian Green]

12 seconds.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I thought it was more like 12 minutes.

[Brian Green]

No, no, no, no.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Know.

[Brian Green]

I mean, some people do have their variation of it, but I think three or four grapes, you know, it's like, okay, you gotta die. Gonna die. But they have a lot of superstitions and traditions that go along with this. And so, you know, I was, you know, I was saying on this video, well, stop going, you know, watching Zion Seacrest and going to bed at 1:00am you know, you're partying with Venezuelans, you'll be up. But the truth is, for me, I sometimes I do go to bed at 1am Even though I'm with Venezuelans, I'm still a gringo. Like, I still do gringo things. Right? I'm not like a hundred percent encased in Venezuelan culture. So it's authentic to what I know. But I never try and claim that, like, I'm the expert. I do all of these things.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No.

[Brian Green]

Every single time. No, you know, it's.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It's your perspective.

[Brian Green]

It's an observe. It's observational content is what it is. But I. The. But the love for Venezuela and the love for their culture and their understanding of who they are as a people, at least my. My understanding of them is authentic.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's all.

[Brian Green]

Authentic. But I've just enjoyed sharing with other people what I know about Venezuela. It's been a lot of fun. And Astrid, as I mentioned earlier today, is super supportive and absolutely annoyed. Yeah, absolutely annoyed. She's absolutely annoyed. But I would be too. Let's just be honest. I would be too. I mean, if this was. The shoe was on the other foot and Astrid was all of a Sudden at, you know, 25, 000 people following her because she's talking about, you know, how we love the Kardashians. I think I would be like you because we watch E. Entertainment before red carpets. Yeah, that's, you know, it's. It is one of those things. So. All right, well, season. There you go. Season number seven in full effect. Yeah. We're doing a little bit of a short show today because we had one of our last interviews earlier today. You'll hear that next week with Jeff Hiller. That was great.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

So good.

[Brian Green]

Oh, man, it was a lot of fun. I had a lot more fun than I expected to have with Jeff. Yeah, he's great, but he is great. And he will be on next week. You'll hear that episode next week. Chrissy and I will be back on Thursday around 1pm for another live streaming episode. Then you'll hear that on Friday. So, you know, stay tuned. It's all flexible.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

And so we might.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's. Our New Year's resolution, is to be flexible.

[Brian Green]

Our New Year's resolution is this. We will do between two and four episodes a week.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Green]

Depending on how we feel.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Between noon and four.

[Brian Green]

Between noon and four. Yeah. On. Between Tuesday and Saturday.

[Rachel]

Yes.

[Brian Green]

So stay tuned. Watch the bouncing ball. Watch this space, as my good friend Rachel Nadale would say. I couldn't watch Rachel Maddow last night because I knew what she was going to talk about. About. I didn't want it to make me mad, so I left it alone. Did you watch her?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

No, I. I was over on cnn and I was looking at Fox News, too, because I like to be. I like to see what the other side say.

[Brian Green]

Well, they had Maria Machado on, and so I watched her interview. She didn't say much of substance except to kind of kiss the rosy bum of Donald Trump. But I know that's the game she's.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Got to play, right? There is. There's a whole game going on.

[Brian Green]

Yeah. But, you know, there are. You can follow me on Instagram or you could. There's lots of good resources, one of them being Joanna Housman. You can watch her. You know who said some smart stuff? Michelle Wolf, who we just interviewed. And she had some really wise things to say about the whole situation down in Venezuela. So, you know, there's lots of resources out there. I am not the only one. So follow me, don't follow me, whatever. Figure it out. But follow the commercial break in Instagram so that you can learn. When we go live, you can see clips of the show. You can watch all of our episodes on YouTube.com the commercial break every single episode. You can also go to our website tcbpodcast.com Every single episode, audio and video, it's all there. You can also get your free sticker. Yes, we still have free stickers. We still give them away. Go to the website tcbpodcast.com go to the contact us button. Drop down menu says I want my free sticker. Give us your physical physical address and we will send one away. I think we still have some merch stickers available. I've got some merch too. I've got some extra merch. So if you want extra merch, email us at the same place with the free stickers. Email us and we'll figure out how to figure it out. We'll figure out how to figure it out. Yeah, we'll get it to you, we'll give it to you, we'll air mail it to you. You pay the postage. I don't know. We'll figure that out. Okay. Chrissy. I do suppose that's all I can do for today.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I think so.

[Brian Green]

Okay. But I'll tell you that I love you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I love you.

[Brian Green]

I'll say best to you, best to you out there in the podcast and streaming audience Until Thursday. We will say, we do say and we must say goodbye.

[Rachel]

Olivia Culpo here to tell you all about the launch of the new Abercrombie spring denim collection. Made the way denim should feel. Their denim has always been a staple.

[Brian Green]

In my wardrobe and has a wide.

[Rachel]

Range of fits, styles and washes. Every jean is available in both their classic fit and viral Curve Love shop in the app, online and in stores.

[Brian Green]

New year same extra value meals at McDonald's. So now get two snack wraps plus fries and a medium soft drink for just $8 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery, everything. 5:30.

[Rachel]

Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water. Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it. Even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be Tide.