Wrong Turns with Jameela Jamil
Episode: Margaret Cho and Brandi Denise
Date: October 23, 2025
Overview of the Episode
This episode of Wrong Turns is a riotous celebration of life’s most embarrassing and disastrous moments, where host Jameela Jamil invites the legendary comedian Margaret Cho and the fearless Brandi Denise to revel—without shame—in their personal catastrophes. No silver linings, no inspirational conclusions; just pure commiseration, laughter, and some truly mortifying stories. From highway mishaps to teenage detective missions and viral bodily functions, the conversation is candid, hilarious, and deeply relatable—proving no one’s dignity is safe, not even the hosts.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Disaster: Drawn to It or Drawn to You?
[02:27 – 03:32]
- Jameela Jamil kicks things off by asking if her guests are magnets for disaster or if they chase chaos for the story.
- Margaret Cho confesses that disasters happen and “I just absorb them...if you’re a comic, you can use them as material.”
- Brandi Denise admits, “I allow situations to continue out because I’m there for the story, baby.”
- Both agree: sometimes you’re “here for the plot” and want to see “how does this end?”
2. Micro-Humiliations: The Scale of Embarrassment
[03:34 – 07:29]
- Margaret Cho tells an airport tale of mistakenly eating another person’s breakfast burrito and escaping before her crime is discovered.
- “I choked it down and I walked out as quickly as possible.” [04:52 – Margaret Cho]
- Jameela sums it up: “You deep throated a burrito at 8 o’ clock in the morning?” [04:55]
- Brandi Denise shares her middle school plight: period starts during class, no products, so she improvises with tissue. The tissue pad falls out in front of her crush and is kicked around class before reaching her.
- “...just a red beanbag. Just on the ground...I’m like, is that me? And they kick it to me. I’m like, gross. And I kick it.” [06:24 – Brandi Denise]
- Both identify with the need for plausible deniability in embarrassing situations.
3. Jameela’s Wrong Turn: Ant Poison Karma
[07:56 – 10:40]
- Jameela recounts how she and her boyfriend, James, accidentally poisoned themselves with outdoor ant spray left on their kitchen floor. Projectile vomiting, trip to the ER, and “direct karma” led to a new insect policy.
- “The most absorbent part of your body is your fucking feet. So we were full of the very ant poison…” [09:27 – Jameela]
- “Wouldn't it be amazing if I’m actually the ant? And now my antenna comes out…” [10:40 – Jameela]
4. Margaret Cho’s Big Mistake: The Fruit-Only Diet Disaster
[13:05 – 21:46]
Margaret recounts her “wrong turn” with punishing diets, escalating to only eating fruit—alphabetically.
- She describes how, on a persimmon phase, she suddenly, desperately needed to go to the bathroom while stuck in LA rush hour. Bargaining with her own body failed, resulting in a horrifying, very public accident.
- “I’m gonna shit my pants right now…trying to bargain with my anus…pinch my asshole. I’m only letting out the liquid and not the solids.” [15:26 – Margaret Cho]
- “It was so liquid that it just spread over my whole ass…like, the liquid part is leaking through the denim into the fabric of my car seat.” [18:01 – Margaret Cho]
- “The song ‘Holiday’ by Madonna is blasting—so every time I hear that song now, I have like a PTSD.” [19:11 – Margaret Cho]
- Jameela: “It’s Lady Macbeth. ‘Out damn spot, out!’ Isn’t it? You know it’ll never go away.” [20:29]
- The story becomes a group analysis of diet culture pressures and whether being thinner could ever justify the humiliation.
- “You could be anorexic and not be thin, which is the most horrifying thing...how dare you actually be in anorexia and not be thin?” [14:15 – Margaret Cho]
5. Brandi Denise’s Wrong Turn: The Cheaters Caper
[23:47 – 35:56]
Brandi tells her teenage detective saga: after a college boyfriend stands her up for a movie date, she and friends launch a stakeout.
- They don pantyhose on their heads, grab snacks, and film like they’re in “Cheaters,” tailing him as he takes another girl out—movie date and all.
- “We’re like straight out of high school; this is a mission. It’s Mission Impossible.” [25:48 – Brandi Denise]
- “I had the little handheld camera…my other homegirl joins us. Now we’re making a full-on episode of ‘Cheaters’.” [26:29]
- Escalates to standing on each others’ shoulders to peek into his window, catching him and the girl in the act (with creative use of bed placement).
- “We can’t even reach his windows…we completely did a cheerleading thing, singing in harmony…” [28:51]
- “Looking into the window is just like his bed. So I don’t see him per se. I see his ankles, which means he was standing on his bed.” [29:36]
- Jameela: “She’s protecting her knees, and I respect that woman for that.” [29:46]
- Brandi barges into the apartment (back door unlocked), confronts him, and claims she just needs her computer monitor back, refusing to acknowledge her own jealousy.
- “I didn’t want to seem, like, desperate about the date. So…‘You need to give me my laptop monitor back.’” [30:48]
- Ends with confessions of subsequent emotional reckoning, turning ‘savage’, and evolving beyond her “detective” phase.
6. Listener Submission + Jameela’s Farty Encore
[36:07 – 39:22]
- A listener’s queefing-in-the-train-station disaster sets the group howling.
- “My vagina very loudly queefed a few times at the rhythm I was talking.” [36:31 – Listener]
- Jameela: “I asked her if I could call her Queef Latifah. And she said yes.” [36:42]
- Jameela adds her own tale: her boyfriend James covers up an echoing bathroom fart by singing along in the shower.
- “He sings such a long, beautiful song that he’s improvising in the moment…and I know what’s happened because it was so obviously from his asshole.” [37:50]
- The trio briefly discuss whether farting in front of your partner should ever be routine.
- “No, it’s fine. Some people think it’s the height of intimacy. I just think there’s certain information that should not be shared.” [39:04]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
“You deep throated a burrito at 8 o’ clock in the morning?”
— Jameela Jamil [04:55]
“I allow situations to continue out because I’m there for the story, baby.”
— Brandi Denise [03:06]
“I was making a shit strainer. Like a ricotta. Separating the liquid whey from the milk solids.”
— Margaret Cho [18:33]
“At that particular time, it turned me into a savage…I just had all the boyfriends. I was the player at that point.”
— Brandi Denise [33:36]
“My vagina very loudly queefed a few times at the rhythm I was talking.”
— Listener Story [36:31]
“He sings such a long, beautiful song that he’s improvising in the moment…and I know what’s happened because it was so obviously from his asshole.”
— Jameela Jamil [37:50]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Disaster: Drawn to You or Drawn to It? — [02:27 – 03:32]
- Micro-Humiliations — [03:34 – 07:29]
- Ant Poison Karma — [07:56 – 10:40]
- Margaret Cho’s Fruit Diet Story — [13:05 – 21:46]
- Brandi Denise’s Cheaters Caper — [23:47 – 35:56]
- Listener Queef Latifah & Jameela’s Fart Song — [36:07 – 39:22]
In the Speakers’ Own Words and Tone
Jameela, Margaret, and Brandi maintain infectious, irreverent humor throughout, welcoming embarrassment as a shared human experience, not something to be ashamed of. The show’s vibe is lighthearted and boisterous—the guests riff off each other’s anecdotes, escalations, and colorful metaphors with genuine camaraderie and zero judgment.
Where to Find the Guests
- Margaret Cho: margaretcho.com | New album Lucky Gift streaming everywhere
- Brandi Denise: @brandideniseboyd on social media | New standup special out now on Hulu, “LOL with Brandi Denise”
Final Thoughts
Wrong Turns continues its run as the ultimate anti-inspiration comedy confessional. This episode is unmissable for those looking to commiserate, laugh, and feel gloriously less alone in their disasters—no lessons learned, just life as it is, dignity optional.