← The Nightly
The Nightly
RHORI Impressions & Bravoleb Sleepovers w/ Ben Mandelker & Ronnie Karam
00:22:50
Sophia & Guests Ben & Ronnie
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- [00:00]
A
Hello. You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience. Visit Hatch Co. Enjoy.
- [00:30]
B
Hey there. I'm Sophia. Welcome to this nightly from Hatch, a slumber party for pop culture lovers. And it's just me hosting tonight, but I am joined by Ben Mandel Kerr and Ronnie Caram, the hilarious host of Watch what Crappens. They are Bravo aficionados, and I'm so excited to have them here. Welcome, Ben and Ronnie.
- [00:48]
C
Thanks for having us.
- [00:50]
B
I have to admit, I have a cousin who is, like, completely obsessed with you guys. And before this record, I was like, you will not believe what I'm doing. And she was very, very jealous.
- [01:00]
C
Oh, I love that.
- [01:01]
A
How cool.
- [01:02]
B
I literally shout out to Corey, she's gone, guys shows in D.C. she loves it.
- [01:07]
A
Hey, Corey, what's up, Cory?
- [01:09]
B
She was like, you have to get them to say my name. But basically, before we get into any of the. Of the Bravo stuff, we always like to ask our guests, like, what your bedtime routine looks like. If you guys have any. Any specific things you do, anything you want to share with the audience, we like to get a vibe from you.
- [01:30]
A
Well, I'm pretty simple. I just do the face. Face, teeth. And then I go to bed and read my Kindle. And I have two Kindle pillows. You know, they're like, stands for your pillow, for your bed.
- [01:44]
B
Wait, I need a Kindle pillow?
- [01:46]
A
Yes. Oh, my God, they're so great. And so I have one of those on either side of my head because I'm a side sleeper, and I have a little Kindle remote control thing that turns the pages so I can just hold it under the. Under the covers.
- [02:01]
B
Oh, my God.
- [02:01]
A
That's.
- [02:02]
B
That was the sweetest setup in the world. I really. I like to read my Kindle in bed, but I'm now learning that I'm not operating at, like, nearly a high enough level as I should be.
- [02:12]
A
Yeah, it's a whole thing. I just started the whole clicker and pillows recently, because if someone was like, what do you mean, you rest your Kindle? I mean, I had all these pillows set up in my bed, like, real pillows. And I was, like, trying to angle them in the right way, and someone was like, get Kindle pillow, babe. So I got a Kindle pillow. Then I got another one for the other side, of course. And then I heard about the clicker because I talked about the pillow. I mean, yes, it's. It's everywhere. And now I want to get one that comes over my head and like, of course, like, a mic stand kind of thing that comes over my head and holds the Kindle center. So, you know, I'm. I'm on my sides too much.
- [02:48]
B
Ben, what about you? What is. What does nighttime look like for you?
- [02:51]
C
Um, basically, so a lot of times, so my partner Dominique, he usually goes to sleep a little bit before me and by a little bit, like, he's usually out by, like, 11:30. And I usually just. I'm, like, in bed next to him. And that's usually the time where there's, like, no distractions and there's nothing. It's just, like, me and it's just, like, pure me time. And it's so funny because Rani and I just had a very long discussion yesterday before we recorded about, like, nighttime rituals and how I want to read more and doom scroll less because I'm doing a little bit too much of the latter. Um, but I. I like to take. I usually go to sleep at, like, 1:30 in the morning, and I usually like to take those, like, hour and a half to two hours to just. Maybe I'll work on some of my writing. Maybe I'm just, like, clicking around and reading about board games, which is one of my hobbies.
- [03:43]
B
Oh, my God.
- [03:43]
C
So it's kind of like the time where I really kind of lean into, I don't know, whatever is interesting to me. And it's, like, not related to work. It's not related to Bravo. It's just related to hobby stuff. Last night, I actually spent, like, 45 minutes watching some guy play through a video game that I loved as a child. And so that did not feel as productive, but it was, like, very fulfilling.
- [04:07]
B
Yeah. It's you time.
- [04:08]
C
Yeah.
- [04:08]
B
And you can follow your passion.
- [04:10]
C
Exactly. So I try to have, like, a mix of. Of doing those indulgent things, but also, like, like doing stuff that would be. I feel, like, enriching to myself. And so I'm hoping Ronnie's going to give me his. One of his Kindles.
- [04:22]
B
I was going to send.
- [04:23]
C
I'm. I'm gonna join the Kindle revolution.
- [04:26]
B
Ronnie can give you one of his ten Kindles, and you can get started.
- [04:30]
A
I literally have four.
- [04:41]
B
Okay, so before we get started, I'm curious, like, how long have you guys been doing Watch what Crap bins? And what made you guys say that you need to make a. A podcast about talking about these shows? And you guys just talk about all of Bravo, correct?
- [04:53]
A
Yeah, all of it. We've been doing it about 14 years, and we started as TV bloggers, and we would write these really long comedic recaps about the shows. And we started doing the podcast because Ben got a gig doing video work. It was kind of when they started putting a lot of money into video content back in the day, and it was a Housewives show, and that ended up going under, but we turned it into a podcast just for fun. And there weren't very many podcasts back then, but we thought, wow, this could, like, really publicize our blog.
- [05:25]
B
Yes.
- [05:26]
A
And so.
- [05:28]
B
And it probably did, but it went even further.
- [05:32]
A
You know, it was just a weird time for it, and it was just something new and fun. You know, I always really loved talk radio, and so I never had the dream to do it, but being able to do it in some kind of way was really cool for me. I thought it was so fun.
- [05:47]
B
Yeah, it's amazing.
- [05:48]
C
What's actually so funny, if you really want to, like, drill down into it, was Ronnie was saying how we were bloggers in the 2000s, and I used to blog a lot about the Hills and Big Brother and Survivor, all these, like, very big reality shows at the time. And Ronnie and I were working at the same site, and I left the site, and I had a big following for the Hills. My. Every time I, like, wrote a recap about the Hills, it was, like, a. Was a big deal.
- [06:16]
B
Yeah.
- [06:17]
C
And when I started up a new blog, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna write about the Hills. And I found that when I wrote about the Hills on my new blog, people did not care. It's like, you know, people are very invested in their habits, so if they went to the old site to read about the Hills, that's just where they would go. They weren't, like. They didn't really follow me that much, and so I just was throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, and I found that writing about the Real Housewives was actually the thing that stuck because I started to dabble in the Real Housewives. I was like, oh, this is where I'm getting my clicks from on the blog. So when I got hired to do this web show, they were like, do you want to do a Real Housewives show? I was like, sure. So really, it stemmed from pure old. What's getting me clicks on the blog.
- [07:02]
A
That's actually how it was for me too, because in writing all these recaps, I was covering all these different shows, but I saw the Housewives taking off, and that was when it had first come out. It was a Long time ago.
- [07:14]
C
My God, how many years?
- [07:16]
A
Yeah, I remember when that first started getting recapped and I thought, who is watching this? This is so stupid. I tried to watch one episode and nothing happened.
- [07:24]
B
I know.
- [07:25]
A
It was like a lady went to a car wash and another lady, I mean, I don't know, went to work. You know, you just saw her working at her insurance company. And I thought, who watches this? But I started covering, I think, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills right when it started, just because it was so popular. And I was like, well, I guess I'll cover this. And I would get addicted to the comment section of people fighting because there were hundred and hundreds of comments from people fighting each other to the death. And it was like, well, she didn't invite that lady to her, you know, Tupperware party. And I thought that was rude. And it was just these crazy, like, nonsensical, like, very low stakes fights, but they would go to the death. And I was like, this is something new, you know, what is this?
- [08:09]
B
It really is. Yeah. And to your point, I feel like also at the very start of the Housewives, like, they were still figuring out what it was. And it is even a bit more almost like docu series of, like, these are just these women's lives. But I do feel like Beverly Hills, which I haven't watched all of, but I've seen the first two or three seasons. That one from the jump is pretty, like, crazy. So it makes sense that that would hook you.
- [08:32]
C
Yeah, those were like the glory days of Beverly Hills for sure.
- [08:36]
A
And that was the first one with the crazy plastic surgery, too. Like, I remember when that one came out, they all did an interview on a morning show or something. And there were a couple of them, like Taylor Armstrong, particularly. I don't think people had seen plastic surgery like that.
- [08:51]
B
Well, she has that, like, good old fashioned lip implant. Do you know what I mean? Some of them have that instead of
- [08:55]
A
the filler, big lips and just the crazy face. And she was laughing about it on this morning show and saying, you know, you're gonna get different stuff in our city. I mean, just look at my face. Like, this is what. This is glamour where we live, you know, and kind of laughing at herself. And I thought that was so funny. And now kind of everybody looks like that.
- [09:12]
B
Yes, 100%. 100%. Okay. Well, speaking of housewives and this kind of like transition that we've seen over time, I'm assuming you've seen the premiere of Rhode island and if you have any thoughts or feelings I haven't watched it yet, so I'm. I'm excited to. To hear what you guys think.
- [09:30]
C
Yeah, I think it's a very solid new show. I. I think really what's fun about it is all the accents. I kind of think everyone's really in it for the accents at the moment. And some. There are some, like, very funny asides. Like in the latest episode, episode two, one of the women is like, I hate driving on the highway. You know, one time I got into accident one time I ran over a woman. One time I nearly fell off the bridge. And producer's like, did you say you just ran over a woman? She's like, yeah, I ran over a woman. Anyway, did I say I love crackers? Did you see the follow up to that?
- [10:03]
A
She was. Yeah, Someone asked her about that in some interview and she's like, yeah, yeah. I was driving and, you know, I was going like 50 miles an hour or something, and this woman, she just dives out in front of my car. Like, I don't know what she was trying to do, but she was crazy. And, you know, I learned a lesson that day.
- [10:18]
C
Yeah.
- [10:18]
A
She doesn't say what the.
- [10:19]
B
I think a lot of people learned a lesson that day.
- [10:21]
C
Yeah. Yeah. The DMV learned a lesson about who they give the license to.
- [10:26]
B
Oh, my God.
- [10:27]
C
So I think that, like, so, I mean, so far it seems. It seems like the. The building blocks are there. Whenever there's a new franchise, it sort of takes, I think, a few. A few moments to sort of, like, get us, like, truly invested in the characters. But I think so far, so far, so good. I'm enjoying it. Yeah.
- [10:44]
B
My problem with Housewives is that I. It's a lot for me to get into because it's so much. So I'm, like, locked into Salt Lake because I started watching that when it first aired. So I'm. I'm hoping to have a similar relationship to Rhode Island.
- [10:58]
A
You're right. Like, if you miss any of the history, then you don't see. You don't even understand what the fights are about because they're never about what they are currently. They're always about something that happened five years ago, and it's always something stupid, like somebody was late to something, you know, and they're still bitter about it all these years later.
- [11:14]
B
It's never really about the pasta, as they say.
- [11:18]
C
Exactly.
- [11:19]
B
Do you guys have any favorites? Any people that you're like, I feel like she's going to be a star. Or maybe it's too early to Say,
- [11:24]
A
there's one of them right now who's cracking me up. Because she's just ready to fight at all times. She's like, I'm Joe Ellen, and I'm going to fight, you know, and it's. It's kind of funny because it's like, calm down. It's episode two. And so there's a little bit of that. I think it's going to take them a bit to kind of get comfortable in it and forget the cameras are there and forget that they're pretending, because eventually the cameras, you know, everyone's so aware of the cameras, but eventually you do kind of forget or you let your tongue slip or you get caught being yourself. And so I think. Yeah, I think I'm just waiting for them to get caught being themselves.
- [11:58]
C
I think Liz is. Got the. She's probably going to be the biggest breakout There's. She seems to be a little bit more of the voice of reason, which is crazy because you would never think that she would be. But Liz is. She's sort of connected to everyone, and she has this really raspy voice. She talks like this. And she literally went to the same plastic surgeon as Dolores Catania and got Dolores's face. She says so on the show, and so they look identical. And then Dolores comes on the show and they sit down together and get a caricature of themselves done. And the characters is like, are you guys sisters? Like, now that we look alike. So I think Liz. Liz is also funny, so I think she could be our first breakout star. And also Alicia, the girl who ran over someone on the street. Of course, people. She may. She may be a breakout star, too, because she says ridiculous things. Okay.
- [12:52]
B
Amazing.
- [12:53]
A
And she's probably the most Rhode island as far as voices and accents and stuff.
- [12:57]
B
Well, I can't wait. I really can't wait to get into it. One of the other things we wanted to do a little, like, temperature check on get your guys read, of course, is the summer house drama. But for the uninitiated, I guess it's a. There's been a big. A big betrayal where basically someone's ex, Sierra's ex and best friend are now dating. And. Yeah, I guess that's. That's what I'll. I'll say. But how are you guys feeling about it?
- [13:25]
C
It's. I mean, I. I'm. I'm very invested. I think it's really fun to. To track this. And also, like, there's not. Nothing really is happening lately, but people are trying to, you know, find stuff Like, Wes was seen at. I think it was seen at the national championship game last night for the NCAA is.
- [13:42]
B
Yes. My friend was on the flight behind him to Phoenix.
- [13:45]
C
Whoa. That's a hot.
- [13:46]
B
Yes.
- [13:47]
C
Right behind him.
- [13:49]
B
Yes.
- [13:50]
C
There are photos of him, and he's looking very, like, sad and mopey.
- [13:53]
B
Yeah.
- [13:53]
C
Like, oh. And it's like, why are you here, then?
- [13:56]
A
Like, to get pictures of himself looking sad and mopey so he can be a big victim. Because that's how the guys on Bravo are. You know, the guys on Bravo are a template. They play on this charm, and every season come back and they're like, this is a different version of me. I've gone to therapy because they get. You know, they get so hounded by the social. I don't even want to say the press, like, social media. And so they come back like, this is the new version of me. And they're all so, you know, practiced. And it's like they all get together and tell each other the tricks. And so he's playing all of them. You know, he's coming around with his victim face, and he really is, like.
- [14:30]
B
He kind of is, like, the most evolved version of what you're describing, too, I feel like, because I just watched the last episode of Summer House, like, the one that's airing, and it's obviously crazy to watch it through the lens of knowing that him and Amanda are now together or whatever, but the way he's, like, very interested in playing the good guy and going up to Kyle and being like, you need to apologize for Da, da, da. And it's like, you. You're just as bad as him, maybe even a little bit worse, because you're hiding the evil behind your mask. But it's crazy.
- [15:00]
C
Yeah, I almost. I'm like. I was thinking about it because I saw these photos of him at the game, and I was like, ugh. Of course he's gonna be like, go to a big public space and then look sad. But then I was thinking, what. How would I actually want him to look? Because if he looks happy, it'd be like, oh, like, what the hell, man? And then if he looks sad, I'm like, that's so fake. I think that, like, what's interesting about this Scandal, as opposed to scandal, is that with Scandal Vol. You know, there was an affair that was exposed, but once it was exposed, it was like, you know, they sort of were together, sort of. Not Raquel left him and whatever. But in this case, they're saying they're really in a relationship. And I kind of feel like if you're gonna come out in this relationship, do it. Like, you might as well stand in it.
- [15:49]
B
I know, right?
- [15:50]
C
And say, hey, yeah, we feel really bad that we've hurt other people, but we really. We really, really like each other. And we felt like we had to follow this. It was more important for us. And whatever. Whatever you're going to say and stand in it.
- [16:04]
A
They kind of had that joint statement.
- [16:05]
C
Yeah. But, like, his body language is not like. His body language is don't be mad at me. It's just he should be like, you know what? This is my girlfriend now.
- [16:12]
B
Yeah.
- [16:12]
A
But I don't know.
- [16:13]
B
She won't be for long is the problem. It's like he's, like, pathological or something. So it's like, yeah, yeah, well.
- [16:20]
A
And the biggest betrayal was to the girl. It was to her girlfriend. I think that's why people are so. Because Sierra is, like, so good and pure, you know? Like, everybody loves her. And it's so rare that someone like that is on reality tv.
- [16:32]
B
I know.
- [16:32]
A
Whereas I like her. You know, you've got the perfect victim there in a way that is. People are gonna be on her side, as they should be.
- [16:41]
C
Yeah.
- [16:41]
B
Thematically, I find that Summer House is much more about the female friendships than, like, for example, VPR or whatever, which I think also has to do with it. But. Okay, I'm like, I could talk about this forever, so I'm sad. But we have to. We have some games we're gonna play if you guys are in the mood for that.
- [16:58]
A
Yeah, let's do it.
- [16:59]
C
Yeah.
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B
So we sometimes play this game called the Guest List, which is basically like, if you could invite three people to our slumber party, who would they be? And I think what would be amazing is if we all chose one person from the Bravo universe. So do you guys have any answers? Anyone that's coming to mind that you would want at the slumber party with us?
- [17:27]
A
I mean, my old standby is Lisa Vanderpump. I just think she's so funny. I know she would go to bed early, which I love. You know, I don't want a slumber party going until 4 in the morning. She'd make sure we were all fed with really good food. She'd make fun of everybody there and then make me laugh and go to bed. That's like, my favorite kind of guest.
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B
I think that's an amazing answer. I mean, I have so much love for Lisa Vanderpump.
- [17:50]
C
She's like, oh, you do?
- [17:52]
B
I have A lot of problems with her as well, because is ultimately due to her, like, being a crazy misogynist, but just darling.
- [17:58]
C
It's just British humor.
- [18:01]
B
Exactly.
- [18:01]
A
Exactly.
- [18:02]
B
But I just can't help it. Like, when I see her, I'm like, I love her. That's mother.
- [18:05]
C
She's. She's s. Tier. But I miss, like, the more glamorous Evander pump, who would wear sort of, like, long, silky things with like. Like, fun fringe or whatever.
- [18:13]
B
Yes.
- [18:14]
C
But for me, my invitation goes out to another Brit or actually a fake British, which would be Kimmy from Ladies of London.
- [18:24]
B
Okay.
- [18:24]
C
I don't know if you've watched the new. The reboot of Ladies of London, but it is actually tremendous. I think it's the best thing on Bravo. I. I actually have a hard time imagining there'll be anything better than Ladies of London on Bravo.
- [18:36]
B
Okay.
- [18:37]
C
And I'm saying that with, like, full gravitas. It is.
- [18:40]
B
No, that's serious Good.
- [18:41]
C
In a. In a way that's different from the Housewives, because the show follows six or seven socialites. It's not really about the family life. It's really about them getting together and hanging out and getting drunk, and they're very cutting towards each other, and it's very funny. And it's. It sort of is. It's an ensemble show. But it's interesting how it actually feels different than a Real Housewives show. And I just. It's so. It's so funny. So Kimmy Murdoch, okay. Is. She's an American who's been living in London for about 25 years. So she's sort of taken on this quasi British accent.
- [19:21]
B
Amazing.
- [19:22]
C
And she's just fabulous. And I think that her and Lisa Vanderpump would be spectacular together.
- [19:29]
B
Okay. I mean, mine is kind of the wild card, but it's like, it's just who it is. And it's always going to be her. It's going to be Mary Cosby, of course. I just. Oh.
- [19:36]
A
Oh, she'd be great.
- [19:37]
B
I'm just completely fascinated with her. I love her so much.
- [19:41]
A
Like, great choice.
- [19:41]
B
I would be interested to see the three of these. These beautiful women interact and see how they bounce off one one another.
- [19:49]
C
They would either get along especially well, or it would be a strange, like, oil and. Oil and water situation. But it'd be great for us no matter what.
- [19:57]
B
Yeah. I really am trying to picture Lisa and Mary having a conversation, and I'm struggling to do it.
- [20:02]
A
Well. I think Lisa Vanderpump would be one of the only people to Actually question Mary, like, what? You have a church.
- [20:09]
B
I know.
- [20:09]
C
What is that?
- [20:10]
B
I know.
- [20:10]
A
What do you mean they think you're God?
- [20:11]
C
What?
- [20:16]
B
Okay, well, this has been completely amazing. As I said, I'm like, I wish we could talk for three more hours, but thank you guys so much for joining us. And before we wrap, Ben and Ronnie, is there anything our listeners should be checking out that you guys have been working on?
- [20:31]
C
Oh, gosh, yeah. Come to our podcast. Yeah, we are. We're watch our crapp ins on all the platforms and we're talking about these Bravo shows and many more. And you can follow us also at Watch what crappens. And we have a Patreon where Ronnie has been writing a tremendous newsletter that we put out every week, so that talks about Bravo and things going on in our lives. So come check that out.
- [20:56]
B
Okay. Before we wrap, we also always ask our guests, do you guys have a good night that you would like to give before we head out?
- [21:06]
A
I'll say good night, Kyle Richards. I hope that you have the best sleep and you wake up ready to be more honest with the world tomorrow and live your authentic self, your authentic life. God bless you.
- [21:21]
C
I'm going to say good night, Larsa. Pippin. Whatever it was that happened today, you were right in that situation and people don't understand you. And I support whatever it is that you've decided you're gonna do, even though we probably no one else probably does. So good for you, Larsa.
- [21:39]
B
Oh, perfect.
- [21:40]
C
Sleep well.
- [21:41]
B
Sleep well, Larsa.
- [21:41]
C
Have dreams of basketball.
- [21:44]
B
Amazing. Thank you guys so much for that. This was lovely. Perfect. And I had such a good time. So I'll talk to the listeners next time. And good night, Ben and good night, Rani.
- [21:54]
A
Good night.
- [21:55]
C
Good night it.
- [22:22]
A
Sam. To learn more about our phone free light and audio experience, head to Hatch Co. You can also follow us at Hatch Podcasts.