Podcast Summary: Tosh Show – “My Yeastie Boy”: Featuring Evan Fox

Host: Daniel Tosh
Guest: Evan Fox, Founder of Yeasty Boys Bagels
Original Air Date: October 14, 2025

Episode Overview

This lively episode spotlights Evan Fox, the founder of LA’s cult bagel truck fleet, Yeasty Boys Bagels. Daniel Tosh brings his trademark irreverence and curiosity to discuss creativity, Jewish roots, food entrepreneurship, and the realities of running a food truck empire. Evan breaks down how punk rock, New York nostalgia, and good old-fashioned grit built Yeasty Boys’ distinctive brand and massive local following.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Jewish Roots, Upbringing, & Bagel Lore

• On Scottsdale’s Jewish Community
  • Tosh jests about Phoenix/Scottsdale being "heavily Jewish" and asks if Evan felt like an outsider.
    • Evan: “It’s pretty Jewy over there. It’s very like Palm Springs esque... a pretty big Jewish community.” (10:26)
  • Evan recalls being told he was "going to hell" by classmates for not celebrating Christmas, a culture shock compared to LA.
• Bagel Origins
  • Fun fact exchange: Both learn that bagels originated in Poland, brought to America by Jewish immigrants.
    • Evan: “Polish immigrants. Jews. They brought them to America and then it just became this American Jewish food…” (12:58)

Music to Bagels: Pivot from Punk to Pastry

• Failed Punk Band to Bagel Boss
  • Tosh notes Evan is the latest guest with a failed punk band past.
    • Evan: “I toured with other bands… did music marketing… used my PR channels to pump [Yeasty Boys].” (12:01)
• The Beastie Boys Connection
  • The Yeasty Boys name is a loving riff. Both share admiration for the Beastie Boys.
    • Evan: “I loved the Beastie Boys growing up.” (12:31)
    • Tosh: “I’m a Paul's Boutique [fan].” (12:40)

Building a Bagel Truck Empire

• From Apartment Baking to Rolling Fleets
  • Started out making bagels in a tiny 1950s oven, just “a couple dozen” a day.
    • Evan: “At the height of the apartment, a couple dozen [bagels] tops... I was instantly, like, not into it.” (14:05)
• First Kitchen & Early Fails
  • Leveled up to a kitchen through connections, led to catering for “The Voice”—with disastrous results.
    • Evan: “We showed up with burnt… bagel dogs… It was a horrible thing.” (16:10)
  • Turning point was Coachella: “Lines were like, holy shit, this is it.” (17:05)
• Food Truck Mechanics
  • Practical advice for would-be operators: "It's not so hard to get a truck; it's hard to keep it up and do well." (17:41)
  • Permits, random health checks, meter feeding, and the (sometimes rough) lifestyle of the truck yard vividly described.
    • Evan: “You dump your drainage… there’s people living, like, literally on that lot… The mechanics are fully blackened by all the grease….” (19:27)

Logistics, Branding, and Daily Grind

• Fleet Growth & Culture
  • Nine trucks and counting, each with its own backstory (including OG truck with graffiti).
• Trucking Schedules
  • Typical day starts at 4:30 or 5am, prep and commute, serve 8am–2pm, with the city’s traffic and temperature ever-present challenges.
• Branding & Menu
  • Notable for irreverent menu language—“bagels, lox, shmear, other shit”—and hip-hop references for bagel names (“Cheddi Wap”).
    • Evan: “At the time when the Cheddi Wap came out, Fetty Wap was at the prime…” (29:11)
• Permits and Parking Woes
  • Daily battles with parking meters, tickets, and the “chalk on wheels” enforcement tactic, plus creative (tongue-in-cheek) suggestions from Tosh to beat parking regulations.
    • Tosh: “If you hired a disabled driver, can they park in the handicap? And disabled drivers also don’t have to pay meters.” (25:32)

Bagel Craft & Menu Philosophy

• Bagel Making Process

  • Kettle boiled, then baked. Dough needs close monitoring; heat in the trucks means recipe tweaks are constant.
    • Evan: “11 years later, it’s not like a plug and play… you have to have people watching it.” (28:37)

• Water Myth

  • LA water is “hard” vs. NY’s “soft” water—a real factor, but also a “marketing stunt.”
    • Evan: “The water thing is a component… but… with the New York thing, it’s a marketing stunt.” (26:49)

• Bagel Hierarchies

  • Poppy seed: “Least ordered bagel… we bring like a couple a day for some old guys…” (29:52)
  • Everything bagel: “You’re just sweeping out your truck all night long.” (30:42, Tosh)

• Schmears & Toppings

  • Top five: scallion (with lemon zest), roasted veggie, plain, olive, and sweet options like strawberry.
    • Evan: “I love a toasted sesame bagel with butter and strawberry cream cheese. That is a fire combo.” (31:32)
  • Tosh: “I want a good amount of cream cheese… I honestly could scrape off two thirds of it, dude.” (32:24)

• On Cream Cheese Brands

  • Philadelphia reigns: “It’s like ketchup, dude. You don’t make your own ketchup… Philly is…” (33:17)

• Gluten-free & Sweets

  • Gluten-free bagels offered, but Evan’s clear: “...if you’re a gluten free guy, they’re great. Because gluten free sucks. Like, I’ve never had anything good gluten free.” (34:56)
  • Sweets like black and white cookies “not good”—they stick to bagels, maybe a cinnamon roll.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On entrepreneurship:

  • “I went so hard on the like, collaborations, the marketing, the branding of it, that now I had to bring in someone way more savvy than me. I brought on a CFO… ‘Evan, you’re bleeding here…’” (42:52)

• Industry realities and expansion dreams:

  • “Goal: 50 trucks. New York, Miami… San Antonio… NorCal…” (43:52)
  • “You need a central. Each region needs a central hub.” (44:22)

• On bagels as a meal:

  • Tosh: “When you have a bagel as the bread, that’s a meal.” (34:22)
  • Evan: “Three to five [bagels] a day, which is gnarly.” (34:12)

• Gift Segment:

  • Daniel gifts Evan random items from his house—including a portable toilet (“It’s never been pooped in. It has been peed in, yes, but it’s cleaned out…”) and a collectible skateboard. (35:38–38:35)
  • Evan: “This is amazing… This is so sick. Putting it in the office.” (38:31)

Additional Highlights

Running the Business & Collaborations

• Delivery platforms were a steep learning curve.
  • Evan: “Renegotiating our terms with those guys—lot of money left on the table there… It could be pretty predatory if you don’t know what you’re doing.” (43:13)
• Tosh and Evan riff on possible retail locations and drive-thru models, plus the need for a “central hub” for expansion.

LA Culture, Food Scene, and Humor

• Jokes about LA parking, morning truck strategy (less competition), and food truck “spot politics.”
• Frequent Jewish cultural in-jokes, gentle ribbing about “Jewy” tastes, “Palm Springs vibes,” and “schvitzing.”
• Pop-culture nods: The “Mitch Hedberg sesame” joke, run-ins at delis with celebrities (“I saw Ashton Kutcher... at the deli and he was wearing the J. Lux hat…” –42:25)

Notable Timestamps

• 09:47: Recording on Rosh Hashanah, Jewish holidays, ghost belief
• 12:01: Evan’s music background, transitioning to bagels
• 13:07: Bootstrapping Yeasty Boys in his apartment
• 16:10: Food truck & menu evolution (Coachella breakthrough)
• 19:27: Behind-the-scenes food truck lot life
• 26:07: Scale: 50,000 bagels a month
• 28:49: Bagel-making science & environmental challenges
• 31:32: Favorite schmears and cream cheese philosophies
• 35:38: Gift segment—stickers, instant yeast, a toilet, and a skateboard
• 41:39: Brick-and-mortar plans, collaborating with Alfred Coffee
• 42:52: Getting business help, CEO role, and expansion
• 44:22: Logistics of expansion, need for a central hub

Tone & Atmosphere

• Daniel Tosh: Typically deadpan, mocking, self-deprecating, but clearly curious.
• Evan Fox: Earnest, practical, with dry humor and evident passion for both bagels and brand-building.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a fast-paced, funny, and surprisingly informative snapshot into pivoting from arts to food entrepreneurship in LA. It’s filled with practical insights for aspiring business owners, plus warmhearted banter about Jewish food, culture, and how to make a damn good bagel.
One-liner from Tosh:

“When you have a bagel as the bread, that’s a meal.” (34:22)
And from Evan:
“50,000 bagels a month, which is not too crazy, but also wow.” (26:12)

For those curious about Yeasty Boys, food truck life, or LA food culture—or just in for a hilarious ride with Daniel Tosh—this episode delivers.