CARPOOL: COUSINS

We're finally ready to talk about the election. And of course, the upcoming Wicked film! Finally, the long-awaited carpool for COUSINS! Sorry to those who loved the 20/20 Experience. Check in with your cousins today and we'll see you at the movies! Happy Thanksgiving. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode. Sponsors: Take advantage of the Black Friday Sale, up to 50% off sitewide, plus don’t-miss daily deals like $35 T-shirt bras and wireless bras starting at just $15 - visit ThirdLove.com NOW and get YOUR Bra-blems Solved™. Refresh your Hinge profile early OR download Hinge today and set your 2025 dating intentions now! Every week of November, AG1 will be running a special Black Friday offer for a free gift with your first subscription, in addition to the Welcome Kit with Vitamin D3+K2. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/ridepod to see what gift you can get this week! Head to https://www.squarespace.com/RIDE to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code RIDE. Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  The following podcast is a Dear Media production. The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

• 0:18Speaker 01

  Hey, can you come pick me up? Yeah, what's wrong? Nothing. Are you sure? Yeah, no, I just need a ride. Oh, my God. So fun. I just wanna have fun. Start your engine. Take it.

• 0:30Benito Skinner?

  I'm Benito Skinner.

• 0:31Mary Beth Barone?

  I'm Mary Beth Barone.

• 0:32Benito Skinner?

  And this

• 0:33Mary Beth Barone?

  is

• 0:34Benito Skinner?

  Ride.

• 0:38Benito Skinner?

  Popular. You're gonna be popular. Wait, here's the thing.

• 0:45Mary Beth Barone?

  What?

• 0:45Benito Skinner?

  What? Wicked's gonna be in cinemas, dude.

• 0:48Mary Beth Barone?

  We're at What the Fuck?

• 0:49Benito Skinner?

  We're at What the Fuck Media. We're back at What the Fuck Media.

• 0:51Mary Beth Barone?

  We haven't been at What the Fuck in a while.

• 0:53Benito Skinner?

  I'm splayed out on a couch.

• 0:54Mary Beth Barone?

  Do you know the last time I think we came to What the Fuck? Was after Ride Live last year? When we were talking about the twink on the Senate floor.

• 1:01Benito Skinner?

  We were so delirious. You were hungover.

• 1:04Mary Beth Barone?

  I was so hungover.

• 1:05Benito Skinner?

  You're a big drinker.

• 1:06Mary Beth Barone?

  I'm a huge drinker, so I'm an alcoholic. My favorite internet phenomenon right now that's happening, and it does involve myself. I posted the clip saying I'm sober, but I'll do ket. Obviously a joke. So many people commenting, wow, this girl's pretty dumb if she thinks she's sober and does ketamine. I'm like, no, see, you're dumb, cuz you don't understand satire.

• 1:24Benito Skinner?

  I can't stress enough, I got a comment this week of my Starbucks costume. The Starbucks mermaid doesn't have huge boobs. And I was like, wait, wait, you actually kinda spilled with that, sis. I'm sorry, what? Well, we saw, hey, we saw how people voted. We know they're dumb.

• 1:42Mary Beth Barone?

  We know they're dumb.

• 1:42Benito Skinner?

  So that's actually cool to know.

• 1:44Mary Beth Barone?

  If you didn't vote, like, I'll never forgive you for what you did.

• 1:47Benito Skinner?

  No, no, no, no. And I guess I, I, like, how could I forgive you? It's like, well.

• 1:53Mary Beth Barone?

  I thought we were very clear that the stakes couldn't be higher.

• 1:56Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, wait, we were very.

• 1:58Mary Beth Barone?

  I was very, very clear.

• 1:59Benito Skinner?

  You were concise.

• 2:00Mary Beth Barone?

  We, we spoke about it at length. And I understand that there was no perfect candidate this time, but it's, I mean, the choice was very clear to many people, unfortunately, not most people. And I've, I've reflected on it a lot. I wrote out a whole long post to put on Instagram and then I ended up just keeping it short and sweet, but the Democrats failed. I won't overlook that. We didn't have a candidate with clear policies. We didn't connect with the working class. We didn't vote. So I understand that it's on us, but it, it ends with us.

• 2:33Benito Skinner?

  I saw the best tweet I've ever seen in my life this morning. Do you understand that? It said, RFK, if you banned Diet Coke, I'm gonna make January 6th look like a Girl Scout meeting.

• 2:48Benito Skinner?

  Terry and I laughed in bed together for, oh, God.

• 2:51Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, here he, here he goes.

• 2:52Benito Skinner?

  I don't always have to talk about us in bed. We were laughing for a long time.

• 2:56Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, the cabinet picks, my God.

• 2:58Benito Skinner?

  It's cool that we can still laugh, I guess. I guess it's all.

• 3:01Mary Beth Barone?

  It's all we can do for now.

• 3:02Benito Skinner?

  I would say.

• 3:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Then when gay guys and women are not allowed to laugh anymore, we'll just be sitting.

• 3:06Benito Skinner?

  We'll see what happens.

• 3:07Mary Beth Barone?

  No more podcast, I guess.

• 3:08Benito Skinner?

  Yes.

• 3:09Mary Beth Barone?

  Also, people posting being like, wow, the price of meat's already gone down. I love my President Trump. It's like, you know, he's not sworn in yet. He hasn't done anything.

• 3:17Benito Skinner?

  Your president is Joe Biden.

• 3:19Mary Beth Barone?

  Joe Biden, my love.

• 3:21Benito Skinner?

  Oh, God. Popular.

• 3:23Mary Beth Barone?

  Popular.

• 3:24Benito Skinner?

  You're gonna be popu. I've never seen Wicked.

• 3:27Mary Beth Barone?

  Me neither.

• 3:27Benito Skinner?

  I can't wait.

• 3:28Mary Beth Barone?

  That's something so interesting we have in common.

• 3:30Benito Skinner?

  Wait, I can't wait to go to the movie with you. Will you fly into LA to see it with me?

• 3:33Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, totally, on Thanksgiving Day.

• 3:34Benito Skinner?

  How perfect is the Cinemark in Never Gatekeep Your Favorite Movie Theater?

• 3:39Mary Beth Barone?

  Where we saw Smile 2.

• 3:40Benito Skinner?

  We have to support movie theaters. Where we saw Smile 2. My other favorite tweet, name a more iconic duo.

• 3:46Mary Beth Barone?

  Boss and.

• 3:48Benito Skinner?

  Sky Riley.

• 3:49Mary Beth Barone?

  Of course.

• 3:50Benito Skinner?

  Sky Riley has reached out to Terry O'Connor to do the marketing for her next.

• 3:53Mary Beth Barone?

  Her next album rollout. So I just want to say really quick, there's a few people I've been following on the internet who've been posting really good information about politics, my favorite topic.

• 4:02Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 4:03Mary Beth Barone?

  So on Instagram.

• 4:04Benito Skinner?

  Quickly, before you do that, it's the Cinemark in North Hollywood.

• 4:07Mary Beth Barone?

  Okay, yeah, sorry. Because you hadn't specified. And thank you so much for calling me in.

• 4:11Benito Skinner?

  And can you remind me to talk about movie theaters in a sec?

• 4:14Mary Beth Barone?

  Sure.

• 4:14Benito Skinner?

  After politics.

• 4:15Mary Beth Barone?

  So A Girl Has No President, oh my god, I've been engaging with this account like crazy. So many good clips, good talking points, and ultimately, a lot of videos of like Republicans being batshit, which is always fun. I do find JVN posts good things as well about politics and encouraging things, which I think is important. Matt Bernstein, these are all on Instagram. Matt Bernstein has some of the best infographics in the world today.

• 4:38Benito Skinner?

  You're not gonna find any better.

• 4:39Mary Beth Barone?

  No, you're really not. Oh, my god. I want to like, I just want to like, watch him work.

• 4:43Benito Skinner?

  I know.

• 4:44Mary Beth Barone?

  I would love to see that. And then on TikTok, there's an account called Good Trouble, and he stitches videos with Republicans. And it's just really satisfying to watch them get owned, as they say.

• 4:53Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 4:54Mary Beth Barone?

  And I think that can be the biggest victory I have in a day is just watching one of those.

• 4:59Benito Skinner?

  It's been kind of crazy. So Cooper got reposted again on Twitter, so fully deactivated my Twitter at this point.

• 5:05Mary Beth Barone?

  Me too.

• 5:05Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, it's gone.

• 5:06Mary Beth Barone?

  I deleted it finally. There was tweets, I was like, oh, I don't want to see these go. But then I thought, who actually cares?

• 5:11Benito Skinner?

  No, exactly. And finally, our friend Emily looked at me. We were in Palm Springs. It was before my recital for Terry's birthday.

• 5:17Mary Beth Barone?

  Which we'll talk into.

• 5:18Benito Skinner?

  But I, I, I looked at her and I was just like, yeah, like, six people have asked me if I have AIDS and are like, doing this again, I think, and pretending that I actually worked at the White House. So I was just like, yeah, I think I'm good here. I think I'm done. I think I, this isn't my platform. But I wish all.

• 5:37Mary Beth Barone?

  You look so dumb right now. Take a bow.

• 5:40Benito Skinner?

  Sitting outside my house. Take a, Take a Bow by Lea Michele, Lee Cast version.

• 5:47Mary Beth Barone?

  I was reading through the reviews of this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Someone wrote, gave four stars. I love the podcast, but I wish Mary Beth would let Benny spaz out on his own and not try duetting him.

• 5:57Benito Skinner?

  Totally. Wow, there are easier ways to say you're Terry O'Connor reviewing the pod.

• 6:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Sorry, it's called the S ending.

• 6:05Benito Skinner?

  Someone, people always say that with pod, they're like, why are you cutting them off? I'm like, it's a conversation. Like, I don't know, why are you commenting on a podcast?

• 6:12Mary Beth Barone?

  Also, can't you just listen and enjoy it, fucker?

• 6:14Benito Skinner?

  Sorry, we're besties.

• 6:15Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, my god.

• 6:16Benito Skinner?

  If you were joining in, what, am I like doing a solo dolo thing?

• 6:19Mary Beth Barone?

  Right, that's like, and if I just sit here smiling.

• 6:21Benito Skinner?

  Hey, if I wanted to go solo, I'd go solo.

• 6:23Mary Beth Barone?

  I know you would. And guess what? This is an auditory experience.

• 6:26Benito Skinner?

  Exactly.

• 6:27Mary Beth Barone?

  If I'm just sitting here smiling, no one can see that, so I want to get in the mix.

• 6:30Benito Skinner?

  Auditory experience.

• 6:31Mary Beth Barone?

  Movie theaters.

• 6:32Benito Skinner?

  Movie theaters. Movie theaters are, they're target now. Did you know? I, at Cinemark, I was walking through aisles. It's like the aisles of Best Buy, you know, they make it a little maze, or Sephora, when it's all the little minis. I'm like, you guys are fucked for this.

• 6:44Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah.

• 6:45Benito Skinner?

  This is actually kind of crazy. Well, of course. I say this, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I do need a one-size, like, little mini spray.

• 6:51Mary Beth Barone?

  You can always return things at Sephora, even if they're open. My former employer, so.

• 6:56Benito Skinner?

  But can't you be like blacklisted, though? If you do it too much, they're like, wait.

• 7:00Mary Beth Barone?

  They will put your name on a list, but you could still buy stuff. They can't prevent you from buying stuff. They also can't stop you if you are stealing. So what they, this is the stealing, like, prevention policy. If you see someone steal,

• 7:11Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 7:11Mary Beth Barone?

  you call, you say it's a Nora. You say Nora. There's a Nora.

• 7:15Benito Skinner?

  That's fucked. Keep Nora's name out of your mouth.

• 7:17Mary Beth Barone?

  I know it sucks, but that's just what they've decided.

• 7:19Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 7:19Mary Beth Barone?

  So then you walk up to them and you say, oh, I see you're admiring our Nora's lipstick. Can I help you pick out a shade? If you saw them just put one in their bag.

• 7:26Benito Skinner?

  Admiring.

• 7:26Mary Beth Barone?

  And then you're supposed to just, like, spook them away. But like, literally, you can walk in and steal every perfume. And they can't do anything, because it's illegal or something.

• 7:35Benito Skinner?

  What?

• 7:36Mary Beth Barone?

  I don't know. It's like illegal.

• 7:37Benito Skinner?

  I keep finding this, and different countries have things where you can't fire people, which I guess is, is cool. I mean, I love it all.

• 7:44Mary Beth Barone?

  I think that we did rights wrong. We did rights wrong.

• 7:47Benito Skinner?

  I was just saying, I mean, I love it all.

• 7:49Mary Beth Barone?

  I mean.

• 7:49Benito Skinner?

  That's how I feel lately.

• 7:50Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, I support, and totally, workers' rights, through and through.

• 7:53Benito Skinner?

  I love it all.

• 7:54Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, and my final point on this, so many people, I would say, actually, most people are really bad at their jobs.

• 8:00Benito Skinner?

  Mm-hmm.

• 8:01Mary Beth Barone?

  So let's talk about the cinema.

• 8:02Benito Skinner?

  Including us.

• 8:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Including us. Let's talk over each other.

• 8:05Benito Skinner?

  Because I'm still talking about the cinema. But I'm just saying, movie theaters, I love this new era of like, there's so much merch. I'm like, I'm looking at a Funko Pop in line for a movie and in line to get my mini popcorn. Well, my kids pack. You know, I love a kids.

• 8:18Mary Beth Barone?

  Of course.

• 8:19Benito Skinner?

  Because it's a little popcorn and then I do something that's a little bit anarchist. It's very Joker of me.

• 8:24Mary Beth Barone?

  Tell me.

• 8:25Benito Skinner?

  But I get the kids pack, but then I fill that cup with icy.

• 8:28Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, totally.

• 8:29Benito Skinner?

  I don't always want a huge slushy. I mean, you're not allowed to. It costs more, I think.

• 8:33Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, no.

• 8:35Benito Skinner?

  But.

• 8:35Mary Beth Barone?

  The cinemas are closing because Ben and John are stealing slushies.

• 8:39Benito Skinner?

  There's just all this merch now and people are going back to the cinema to watch Gladiator 2 and.

• 8:44Mary Beth Barone?

  Speaking of which, we went to, I went to see Enora and they have like the armor from Gladiator in like a glass case at the theater. I'm like.

• 8:53Benito Skinner?

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:53Mary Beth Barone?

  I know you mass produced that. That's not like Pedro Pascal's actual costume.

• 8:58Benito Skinner?

  It's so crazy you say that. I just had this thought. I, I've seen 80 different Galinda dresses.

• 9:05Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah.

• 9:05Benito Skinner?

  In each movie theater. I'm like, well, that can't be the one Miss Ari War because the.

• 9:09Mary Beth Barone?

  How many did you make?

• 9:11Benito Skinner?

  How many did you make, Miss Girl? Well, they make like 20. So that's the answer.

• 9:15Mary Beth Barone?

  Still not enough.

• 9:16Benito Skinner?

  And they have to send them to every movie theater in the world.

• 9:19Mary Beth Barone?

  In the world.

• 9:20Benito Skinner?

  In the world.

• 9:21Mary Beth Barone?

  I have an unfortunate update. Jersey Mike's is being eyed for acquisition by Blackstone. It's being valued at $8 billion and I have to think part of that's because of us.

• 9:33Benito Skinner?

  Whoa.

• 9:34Mary Beth Barone?

  And where's the beef? I'd like to see some money, please.

• 9:37Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Jimmy John's commented, this is canon though, because Terry posted the recital I do for him for his birthday. They posted, this is canon. And I thought, hmm.

• 9:49Mary Beth Barone?

  That's me rubbing my eyes.

• 9:51Benito Skinner?

  How?

• 9:52Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, it's canon.

• 9:53Benito Skinner?

  It's crazy.

• 9:54Mary Beth Barone?

  Do you remember when Slim Jim was bullying people online?

• 9:56Benito Skinner?

  Oh, fully. They're like, hey, [BLEEP].

• 9:58Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, it's like, whoa, can you chill?

• 10:01Benito Skinner?

  No, the attitude on some of these brands, I'll never, I mean, I love it. I would have loved running one of those. Whoever the gay intern running Jimmy John's is. I don't know if we're your demo, but I'm happy to be a part of it now, I guess.

• 10:12Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, we've had it. I beg them to get a gluten-free sub option. And if Jersey Mike's can do it, I know they can do it.

• 10:17Benito Skinner?

  You get the Unwich, baby.

• 10:18Mary Beth Barone?

  I know, but the Unwich doesn't fill you up.

• 10:21Benito Skinner?

  I've been getting protein salad in and out because sometimes I don't like the bun.

• 10:24Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah.

• 10:25Benito Skinner?

  And, oh my god, the lettuce, it feels like a big burger salad.

• 10:28Mary Beth Barone?

  Ooh, that's our Sweet Green salad.

• 10:30Benito Skinner?

  Burger salad.

• 10:31Mary Beth Barone?

  Burger salad.

• 10:31Benito Skinner?

  Oh, Sweet Green.

• 10:34Mary Beth Barone?

  Okay.

• 10:34Benito Skinner?

  Now, wasn't that heritage?

• 10:36Mary Beth Barone?

  I loved it. And Sweet Green, they followed me on Instagram, so.

• 10:41Benito Skinner?

  Whoa, so watch for this space. But can I just say this? I've told people I haven't seen Wicked on Broadway. And it's so funny, everyone's like, they immediately start screaming at me. And I'm like, okay, to be clear, when I lived in New York, I didn't have enough money to see it. Like, I don't know how to tell, it's a Broadway play.

• 11:01Mary Beth Barone?

  The theater is for coastal elites.

• 11:03Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, I'm like, I don't know why you thought I could just like, go to Wicked all the time? Yes, yes, I should have before I left New York, but here's my thing. I said I hadn't seen it. I never said I'm never gonna.

• 11:16Mary Beth Barone?

  Sure.

• 11:16Benito Skinner?

  And I can't wait to have that moment with it. It's like when I had my moment with Lord of the Rings. After years of being like, I don't know when it's gonna happen, but it will. Although I don't think Game of Thrones is gonna happen for me.

• 11:26Mary Beth Barone?

  And that's okay. And as you know, that's my prime example of things I can understand why people enjoy, but I don't have to participate in it. Wicked, I never saw. And I'll tell you why. And this goes back to high school. My nemesis in high school would always walk around the halls singing Defying Gravity. So I had an aversion to the play.

• 11:45Benito Skinner?

  A villain origin story, if I've ever heard one.

• 11:47Mary Beth Barone?

  And that's why I'm a comedian today.

• 11:48Benito Skinner?

  Explains a lot.

• 11:49Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, so I just never took an interest in it. And then obviously now I'm like, I can't wait to see it. But I feel like it's something I should like bring my nieces to or something.

• 11:57Benito Skinner?

  I think so. I mean, apparently it's incredible, so I can't wait to see it. Here's my thing, it kind of feels like going to the movie without reading the book, which is very me.

• 12:04Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, I love doing that.

• 12:05Benito Skinner?

  It's very me.

• 12:06Mary Beth Barone?

  I think, and it's okay.

• 12:10Benito Skinner?

  Clip that.

• 12:11Mary Beth Barone?

  Clip that, dear media.

• 12:12Benito Skinner?

  If you don't clip that.

• 12:13Mary Beth Barone?

  Please.

• 12:13Benito Skinner?

  You're idiots.

• 12:16Benito Skinner?

  Okay.

• 12:16Mary Beth Barone?

  Cousins.

• 12:16Benito Skinner?

  Cousins. Wait, there is a tie here a little bit. Sometimes I force the segue, but it's like Thanksgiving. Big blockbuster movies, Thanksgiving. What's a great thing to do after a big turkey dinner? Hey, I'd do the movies. My family used to have this thing where we'd go to James Bond, a James Bond movie after.

• 12:33Mary Beth Barone?

  Don't bring up James Bond. You know, I have huge bones to pick.

• 12:35Benito Skinner?

  The sky falls. Sky Falls Home Alone. It's the best movie I've ever seen.

• 12:40Mary Beth Barone?

  I have, I, okay, I started watching the Daniel Craig, James Bond's last year, two years ago, maybe. I sped through them, fabulous films, blockbusters.

• 12:49Benito Skinner?

  You hadn't seen any in theaters?

• 12:50Mary Beth Barone?

  I hadn't seen them. I was waiting. I wanted for them all to come out and then I could see them.

• 12:53Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, of course.

• 12:54Mary Beth Barone?

  And this is a spoiler, but the final installment, I was totally hoodwinked because it was explained to me that James Bond never dies. What happens at the end of the final installment?

• 13:04Benito Skinner?

  No time to die.

• 13:05Mary Beth Barone?

  Explosion and he's dead. He's in bits. Don't, don't do that to me.

• 13:10Benito Skinner?

  James Bond is a daddy. He's got a kid. That's what you're pissed about? It was explained to me that James Bond never has kids.

• 13:18Mary Beth Barone?

  He doesn't have a fucking family, does he? And that's why he puts himself in so many risky positions.

• 13:23Benito Skinner?

  Exactly.

• 13:23Mary Beth Barone?

  It just felt like cruel to me and it reminded me of this thing where like if you're making up a story from scratch, you can actually make the ending anything that you want. So they could have made it not that and they decided to kill him.

• 13:34Benito Skinner?

  Can I say a title to you right now?

• 13:36Mary Beth Barone?

  What?

• 13:36Benito Skinner?

  Dark Knight Rises.

• 13:38Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh.

• 13:40Benito Skinner?

  When Anne Hathaway turns her collarbone and you see the pearls, the mom's pearls. Oh, I just got full chills.

• 13:45Mary Beth Barone?

  I know. The same. There are, there are ways.

• 13:48Benito Skinner?

  So today we are carpooling for Cousins, the Cousins.

• 13:53Mary Beth Barone?

  They said we couldn't do two carpools so close together and I say,

• 13:57Benito Skinner?

  Who?

• 13:57Mary Beth Barone?

  Let them talk. I just think they, you know?

• 14:00Benito Skinner?

  They're always trying.

• 14:01Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, but we have something really Thanksgiving, like we have something that's topical to Thanksgiving.

• 14:06Benito Skinner?

  We have something really Thanksgiving.

• 14:08Mary Beth Barone?

  Something very Thanksgiving and we've been talking about this, it's sort of years in the making, much like Sweetgreen. So this week we're carpooling for Cousins.

• 14:16Mary Beth Barone?

  Hello Baronies and welcome to your ads for the week. It's Mary Beth here. I'm currently outside in the rain with Pinky. We are at my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Some of you may be at your parents' houses already. Some of you may be on your way to your parents' houses. Some of you may be going to your partner's house this Thanksgiving. Your partner you met on Hinge. That's right. This has been a Hinge ad the entire time. So I think we all know Hinge is the dating app designed to be deleted. While the holidays can be crazy, take a moment to pause and reflect on your dating journey over the past year. What do you want to do in 2025? What will you do differently in your dating journey this upcoming year? So before the new year, take the time now and refresh your Hinge profile

• 15:01Mary Beth Barone?

  to better represent who you've grown into this past year. As you may or may not know, Edward and I did break up this year. That was only so the Hinge ads could be more authentic. So I'm back dating again. Who knows what could happen? I think this year I'm most proud of stating my needs and putting them first, which is something that anybody and everybody should be doing, whether you're single or in a relationship, in a situationship, things like that. You can learn so much about yourself through your dating journey. Update your photos, dating intentions, and your prompts. This one in particular is perfect. This year I really want to, hmm, do more episodes of Ride the Pod. Refresh your Hinge profile early or download Hinge today and set your 2025 dating intentions now. That's right, Hinge.

• 15:46Mary Beth Barone?

  It's all happening on Hinge. And if you are going to your partner's Thanksgiving with someone you met on Hinge, make sure everybody at the Thanksgiving table knows how you guys met. Love you.

• 15:58Benito Skinner?

  AG1 Love, One Heart. Singing live from the closet. Hey, it's a good start. AG1 is the best way to start your frickin' day, kid. And if you're trying to find the perfect holiday gift for your partner, your parent, your friend, or even your enemy, AG1 is the perfect present because it is the gift of health. Try wrapping that up, kid. So I first heard about AG1 from my favorite podcaster, Mary Beth Barone. She's a total doll. And right now AG1 is running a special Black Friday offer for all of November. AG1 is a daily health drink packed with nutrients to help alleviate bloating, support sustained energy, and whole body health. Hubba, hubba.

• 16:45Benito Skinner?

  But here's what I love about the little travel packs because I've been traveling, traveling's a privilege, but I've been having those while on my trips and I feel fabulous. My skin is glowing. I just, um, I have energy. Okay. Deal with it. This holiday season, try AG1 for yourself or even gift it to someone special. It's the perfect time to focus on supporting your body with an easy and surprisingly delicious daily health drink. And that's why I personally have been partnering with AG1 for so long. Every week of November, AG1 will be running a special Black Friday offer for a free gift with your first subscription. In addition to the welcome kit with a vitamin D3 K2.

• 17:25Benito Skinner?

  So make sure to check out drinkag1.com/ridepod to see what gifts you can get this week. That's drinkag1.com/ridepod to start your holiday season off on a healthier note. While supplies last.

• 17:39Benito Skinner?

  Get in bitch. It's a carpool.

• 17:41Mary Beth Barone?

  Okay, but I'm driving.

• 17:42Benito Skinner?

  Carpool. So here's the thing, and I have to say this, if any of my cousins are listening, it's not that I don't love you, it's just that you're too old. So I, the background of me is that like my, some of my siblings are, I say with love, quite a bit older than me. So then most of my cousins.

• 18:02Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, different generation.

• 18:04Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, my, it's just, yeah. So I, I love my cousins so much, but then also a lot of them like didn't live where I lived. I don't know. So today I'm talking more about the cousins, which is kind of like a specific thing of the cousins from Terry.

• 18:17Mary Beth Barone?

  Right.

• 18:17Benito Skinner?

  But I love my cousins. I, you guys, I fucking love you crazy bastards.

• 18:22Mary Beth Barone?

  Hey, we ride for you.

• 18:23Benito Skinner?

  We ride for you. It's just, this won't be your episode.

• 18:25Mary Beth Barone?

  We can appreciate that without participating in it.

• 18:27Benito Skinner?

  Exactly.

• 18:28Mary Beth Barone?

  Benny's cousins.

• 18:29Benito Skinner?

  Like you're the best. And I've got my eye on a couple of you. Don't piss me off.

• 18:32Mary Beth Barone?

  Don't piss me off.

• 18:33Benito Skinner?

  Cause I, sorry, I don't care. Family? What does that mean? All in follow?

• 18:39Mary Beth Barone?

  Chosen family.

• 18:39Benito Skinner?

  Chosen family.

• 18:40Mary Beth Barone?

  I would choose most of my cousins as my chosen family every day of the week. Obviously there's a few who I don't align with politically, but we had a great time when I was a kid, you know, before their brains were melted by whatever they subscribe to these days. I have an. Amazing group of cousins. My mom is one of seven. And I am talking mostly about my mom's side. I guess there's like memes online about your dad's side of the family. Like your dad's, the cousins on your dad's side.

• 19:08Benito Skinner?

  Why is that so funny?

• 19:09Mary Beth Barone?

  I don't know. It's really funny to me. But these are on my mom's side. So my mom's one of seven. And my, her youngest sibling is only six years older than my oldest cousin. So it felt like a very blended, like the generations were very blended.

• 19:23Benito Skinner?

  Blended family.

• 19:23Mary Beth Barone?

  It's a blended family.

• 19:24Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 19:25Mary Beth Barone?

  And so what is so beautiful and wonderful is that a couple of my cousins like moved into our house when we were kids to like, help my mom take care of us because there were six of us. And then they got to live on the East Coast and it was so cool.

• 19:38Benito Skinner?

  East Coast living, Connecticut style.

• 19:40Mary Beth Barone?

  Connecticut style.

• 19:42Benito Skinner?

  Barracuda. I gotta hear your mom say, "Ooh, barracuda."

• 19:45Mary Beth Barone?

  We'll get that on record for you.

• 19:46Benito Skinner?

  Good. Awesome.

• 19:48Mary Beth Barone?

  But I will tell you what is the most exciting thing that can happen to a person is when one of your parents' siblings has kids on the same timeline that your parents are having kids.

• 19:59Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 19:59Mary Beth Barone?

  So we have one family, my Uncle Brian and Aunt Carol's kids, my godparents. They have a kid Greg's age, a kid Tom's age, a kid my age, and then one that's a few years younger who's Gemini. I mean, what could be better than that?

• 20:13Benito Skinner?

  Might as well be a bullseye.

• 20:13Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, my God. It's so, it's just so fun.

• 20:16Benito Skinner?

  It's just cool, dude.

• 20:17Mary Beth Barone?

  It's just so cool.

• 20:18Benito Skinner?

  It's just cool.

• 20:18Mary Beth Barone?

  And what's amazing-

• 20:19Benito Skinner?

  Happy Thanksgiving.

• 20:20Mary Beth Barone?

  And happy fucking Thanksgiving.

• 20:22Benito Skinner?

  And on that note, happy Thanksgiving.

• 20:25Mary Beth Barone?

  So what I love about it is that a cousin is like, you know how like Amal is like an older sister?

• 20:30Benito Skinner?

  You fucking love that. I'm getting you a fucking, should I get you a Cartier Love bracelet that says that? Can they engrave that on it? Wait, that's so, Amal is an older sister.

• 20:43Benito Skinner?

  I'm gonna get you a crop top that says that. Should that be our next merch?

• 20:46Mary Beth Barone?

  I think so.

• 20:47Benito Skinner?

  Amal is an older sister.

• 20:50Mary Beth Barone?

  Wear that to Thanksgiving.

• 20:52Benito Skinner?

  Sorry, is it not?

• 20:53Mary Beth Barone?

  Hey, if you don't like the conversation, change it.

• 20:55Benito Skinner?

  Sorry.

• 20:56Mary Beth Barone?

  Amal is an older sister.

• 20:57Benito Skinner?

  Wait, I just thought about this TikTok I saw that I was supposed to send to you before you went to bed. It's pissing me off. This girl said during the Boston Tea Party, they actually threw me in because my body is tea.

• 21:06Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, my God. Okay, we have to post that on my pod. So Amal is an older sister. A cousin is, I don't even, like, what's the best thing? Cousins are just so-

• 21:17Benito Skinner?

  Amal is an older sister. A cousin is a, is a coffee. A cousin is a frappuccino.

• 21:23Mary Beth Barone?

  It is.

• 21:24Benito Skinner?

  You know what I mean?

• 21:25Mary Beth Barone?

  Because it's like a sibling, but you you don't see them as much.

• 21:29Benito Skinner?

  Going from frappuccino to, exactly, it's like a sibling.

• 21:32Mary Beth Barone?

  It's like a sibling you don't see as much, so it's a special occasion thing. It's like you don't get sick of them and it's something to look forward to.

• 21:38Benito Skinner?

  The cousins on my mom's side, they grew up in Baltimore, shout out Sam and Dan. But they went to like all boy schools, which were like really cool to me at the time. It was very Gossip Girl in a way, like they wore a suit and ties and stuff.

• 21:50Mary Beth Barone?

  Abby Yama suit and ties.

• 21:53Mary Beth Barone?

  They walk into Thanksgiving with that thing.

• 21:57Benito Skinner?

  I can't stress enough, everyone loves the 2020 experience. I think it's the worst music I've ever heard in my life. I'm not kidding, I I find that record to be the worst music I've ever heard in my life.

• 22:09Mary Beth Barone?

  It didn't really age well.

• 22:11Benito Skinner?

  Well, duh, it's not good.

• 22:13Mary Beth Barone?

  And I would say 2020 experience is on the tail end of something I'm gonna ride for in season three or four, which is post nine 11 media.

• 22:19Benito Skinner?

  Exactly.

• 22:20Mary Beth Barone?

  That could not have happened if the Twin Towers didn't fall.

• 22:23Benito Skinner?

  Sorry, that's that's at the end of the book. And my aunt married a lovely Jewish man, so my my cousins are Jewish. And they would have these bar mitzvahs and I would go.

• 22:33Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, my God.

• 22:33Benito Skinner?

  Every time, we would get to go to the bar mitzvah, well, two. So I went to two bar mitzvahs, but we would get to go to them. And it was just like private school and they had a bar mitzvah and they're all kind of like grinding and a little sweaty and kind of hooking up. So it was also kind of like my my eyes were like.

• 22:48Mary Beth Barone?

  Whoa, speaking of Gossip Girl.

• 22:49Benito Skinner?

  Jaw dropping, I was like, whoa, aren't we like 13? It was really iconic, but I didn't get to see them that much, but it was like, they were celebrities.

• 22:56Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, they are celebrities.

• 22:57Benito Skinner?

  It's like I fly into Baltimore, this big city.

• 23:00Mary Beth Barone?

  And how cool is it when you get a text, well, in the way that they are, a cousin is a celebrity. Because how cool is it?

• 23:07Benito Skinner?

  A public figure.

• 23:08Mary Beth Barone?

  It's like opening a People magazine and you get a text from your mom or in the family group chat about something that a cousin has done or is doing.

• 23:14Benito Skinner?

  A cousin is your favorite content creator.

• 23:15Mary Beth Barone?

  A cousin is your favorite influencer. A cousin is an influencer. So I have a really good cousin story. Well, also, I'm a psycho, you know how I'm a psycho. On Thanksgiving, when my cousins were on the way, they had to stop at another Thanksgiving for like on their mom's side. And then they would come to our Thanksgiving second as like the big finale and stay for the whole weekend. I would literally ask my mom every 15 minutes, when are the woods is coming? Where are the woods is? Can you text Saint Carol? Text Uncle Brian, when are they coming? When are they coming? It's like Thanksgiving didn't start until they got there.

• 23:45Benito Skinner?

  Having you as a kid like would stress me out so much as a parent. I'm like, I don't have the answers.

• 23:50Mary Beth Barone?

  I really hate to say this.

• 23:51Benito Skinner?

  I don't have the itinerary.

• 23:52Mary Beth Barone?

  If you have a daughter, what's, what's half Terry and half Benny?

• 23:57Mary Beth Barone?

  I hate to say this, buddy.

• 23:59Benito Skinner?

  Logically what will happen.

• 23:59Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah.

• 24:01Benito Skinner?

  No, it's true with us raising this, God.

• 24:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Nature versus nurture.

• 24:05Benito Skinner?

  Nature versus nurture, yeah.

• 24:06Mary Beth Barone?

  So I have a heartwarming cousin story.

• 24:09Benito Skinner?

  Okay, you better.

• 24:09Mary Beth Barone?

  And I don't want to talk about drama with cousins today because it's not what this is about.

• 24:12Benito Skinner?

  No, no.

• 24:13Mary Beth Barone?

  But let, let's just say there is some.

• 24:15Benito Skinner?

  We already called out some earlier. I think like that, hey, we got it out of the way. Now it's just, it's time to be, can't be hateful, got to be grateful.

• 24:22Mary Beth Barone?

  Exactly.

• 24:23Benito Skinner?

  What is it? Nicole Westbrook?

• 24:24Mary Beth Barone?

  Nicole, and you, and you rode for that.

• 24:26Benito Skinner?

  Can you believe I have that still in the dome?

• 24:28Mary Beth Barone?

  Thanksgiving.

• 24:30Benito Skinner?

  It's Thanksgiving. We, we, we are gonna have a good time. I need to hear Cynthia Revo sing It's Thanksgiving.

• 24:38Mary Beth Barone?

  She saw a gap in the market and she wanted to fill it. It didn't work out, but hey.

• 24:42Benito Skinner?

  And boy, did she.

• 24:43Mary Beth Barone?

  We need more Thanksgiving music.

• 24:45Benito Skinner?

  Sorry, it's the best song I've ever heard. Remember when I read you the verse and you go, this is stinky?

• 24:51Mary Beth Barone?

  It's stinky.

• 24:52Benito Skinner?

  I think about that.

• 24:52Mary Beth Barone?

  She went and spit fire.

• 24:53Benito Skinner?

  It's one of my favorite quotes from you on a [BLEEP].

• 24:57Mary Beth Barone?

  So my cousin, who is one year older than me, who I love dearly, and we were thick as thieves. We used to do like dance recitals and, oh my God. Speaking of putting on a show for your family with your cousins, we have this like front hall where there's stairs. That was our stage and we would practice, we would write scripts.

• 25:12Benito Skinner?

  The great Barone Talent Show, Charlie Brown.

• 25:16Mary Beth Barone?

  That's a, that's a breadcrumb for what's going to come next week. We're going to talk about the talent show.

• 25:19Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 25:20Mary Beth Barone?

  So before I tell this story, I just want to say one thing. I know there's legalities about like what my cousin's kids are in relation to me. That's my cousin. So don't give me this like second cousin, twice removed bull crap. That's my, my cousin's child is my cousin. And thank you. So my cousin, who is closest to me in age, Maggie, we were thick as thieves growing up. She was engaged to a man who I wanted to like because we shared a birthday. And I'm going to make sure this is okay for me to share before we put it in the episode. She was engaged to be married. Her, her wedding day was March 20 something, 2020.

• 25:55Mary Beth Barone?

  So that wedding got postponed.

• 25:57Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, so that wedding ate.

• 25:58Mary Beth Barone?

  So that wedding didn't happen.

• 26:00Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 26:00Mary Beth Barone?

  In COVID, her fiance confessed feelings to someone else who that were not only not reciprocated, but then the girl told my cousin that it happened and they broke up. I have to issue a correction. I did check in with my cousin. I did fact checking because I am a journalist. And she said that she actually caught her fiance in a lie and then he confessed to her. That's how it went down. So for as many lives as we lost in COVID, that wedding didn't happen. And I think that gave my cousin a new lease on life.

• 26:32Benito Skinner?

  Someone tell the bat from the Wuhan market.

• 26:38Mary Beth Barone?

  Thank you, my friend.

• 26:43Mary Beth Barone?

  What? It's silver lining.

• 26:44Benito Skinner?

  No, Silver Linings Playbook.

• 26:47Mary Beth Barone?

  Sorry.

• 26:48Benito Skinner?

  Thinking of J Law, sorry. The second I say Silver Linings Playbook, I think, and then I go and screw it all. I say something stupid like, I love you. I've been doing that to Terry every day.

• 27:01Mary Beth Barone?

  Speaking of mother, she's pregnant again. I'm so happy.

• 27:04Benito Skinner?

  And she was wearing Bottega at this like Academy brunch.

• 27:06Mary Beth Barone?

  She hit the red carpet.

• 27:08Benito Skinner?

  Have you ever been to the Academy brunch?

• 27:09Mary Beth Barone?

  I haven't.

• 27:10Benito Skinner?

  She wore Bottega.

• 27:11Mary Beth Barone?

  Do you see I didn't bat an eye at brunch?

• 27:14Benito Skinner?

  Sorry. Tell me that that's not what that should be called. It's never a luncheon. They don't serve lunch food. It's a brunch.

• 27:21Mary Beth Barone?

  It's a brunch and they're in gowns.

• 27:23Benito Skinner?

  If I see a croissant, it's a brunch.

• 27:25Mary Beth Barone?

  Seeing J Law on a red carpet so soon after the election was exactly what I needed.

• 27:30Benito Skinner?

  And she knew that.

• 27:31Mary Beth Barone?

  She and mother ate. Crazy as a very person.

• 27:34Benito Skinner?

  We knew eight. Oh, we have to make a compilation of that song with clips from mother. Oh, a light.

• 27:39Mary Beth Barone?

  One of the lights went out, which is cool.

• 27:41Benito Skinner?

  A light went out in a lot of ways.

• 27:42Mary Beth Barone?

  It's crazy because spooky season's over.

• 27:44Benito Skinner?

  Yeah. Hey, what the fuck, media? We're at what the fuck, we're at WTF media, saying that to the guy downstairs. I go, what floor is what the fuck on?

• 27:54Mary Beth Barone?

  And it's on five. It's on five.

• 27:56Benito Skinner?

  And they went five.

• 27:57Mary Beth Barone?

  I have met so many of Terry's cousins, whether it be at Ride Live or at Maison premiere last week.

• 28:02Benito Skinner?

  I was about to say, is it time for me to just do this thing?

• 28:05Mary Beth Barone?

  I think you should do it. I think you should just get into it. And I'm just excited to talk more about cousins.

• 28:11Benito Skinner?

  So I grew up with cousins. We had big Thanksgivings. But as I said, there were a lot of age gaps and just trying to figure it all out.

• 28:17Mary Beth Barone?

  Insurmountable age gaps.

• 28:19Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, it was just hard for us. Okay, but I love, I love my cousins. But as I met this man, Terry, he, the lore of, he would say, the cousins. And it, it just, it carried such weight. It's carried such aristocracy.

• 28:36Mary Beth Barone?

  Totally.

• 28:36Benito Skinner?

  Aristocracy. I meet Terry and little did I know I would meet 30 of my new best friends.

• 28:43Mary Beth Barone?

  An amazing group of believers.

• 28:45Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, believers.

• 28:46Mary Beth Barone?

  Who are on his mom's side, if I'm not mistaken.

• 28:49Benito Skinner?

  On his mom's side, yes.

• 28:50Mary Beth Barone?

  Okay.

• 28:50Benito Skinner?

  Love the ones on his dad's side. There's not as many. And I haven't met all of them, so I can't really speak on that.

• 28:55Mary Beth Barone?

  You're either cousins or you're the cousins.

• 28:57Benito Skinner?

  Exactly. And sorry, some are just cousins, and I think that's great.

• 29:00Mary Beth Barone?

  And that's totally fine. It's still a very esteemed and established position.

• 29:03Benito Skinner?

  Exactly. So here's my thing. The cousins have merch. There are T-shirts made on Terry's mom's side of the family for each one of the cousins. Terry's number 16, by the way. So when we get married, and there, I, I can't tell if they're serious about this, like how quickly you get the shirt, but I'm kind of like, the second after we, I assume consummate the marriage.

• 29:28Mary Beth Barone?

  In the marriage bed.

• 29:29Benito Skinner?

  In the marriage bed.

• 29:30Mary Beth Barone?

  I sneezed into the microphone. I want people to hear it.

• 29:32Benito Skinner?

  Terry's mom will knock on the door and deliver something to me, and it will say 16B.

• 29:37Mary Beth Barone?

  Okay, I was gonna, I was not gonna say it. I was wondering if it was gonna be 16.1.

• 29:42Benito Skinner?

  No, well, that would be cool too, but it's gonna be 16B for queer folks, many drama.

• 29:47Mary Beth Barone?

  Many drama.

• 29:48Benito Skinner?

  And I, I, I literally can't wait to get this shirt. So they have merch. I mean, congratulations to the whole family because all of them, the ages just really weave beautifully. Like, it's just, it's kind of tiered.

• 30:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah.

• 30:03Benito Skinner?

  Just in a, in a way you can't even really, you couldn't plan it if you tried.

• 30:07Mary Beth Barone?

  You couldn't plan it. It's cool when it goes aunts and uncles into cousins. And then from that, you go down into, well, more cousins, but by law, second cousin once removed or whatever.

• 30:18Benito Skinner?

  These cousins, God, what haven't I done with them? I mean, I've shared meals, I've shared birthdays, joy.

• 30:25Mary Beth Barone?

  You've laughed, you've cried.

• 30:26Benito Skinner?

  Hey, a lot of them listen to this crazy thing. They come to, they came to the Chicago show.

• 30:30Mary Beth Barone?

  I love them to death.

• 30:32Benito Skinner?

  They're just dolls. It's just so fun. It's like you meet one gay guy and then you get a huge family. So I, oh my God, being at weddings with them, it's so fun.

• 30:40Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, and it's cool to be like the gay guy's bestie and to be approached by one of Terry's cousins at a restaurant. And I think, God, it's just salt of the earth, people.

• 30:49Benito Skinner?

  Which one did you meet?

• 30:50Mary Beth Barone?

  I believe her name was Kit.

• 30:52Benito Skinner?

  Well, here's the thing, the family extends. Like, you can't imagine. And, and it's crazy, like, so all these cousins, I've kissed all their moms on the lips.

• 31:00Mary Beth Barone?

  You have to. And if you don't get that reference, then you haven't done the work.

• 31:04Benito Skinner?

  I completely agree. But these cousins, I know that when we're on tour, I'm gonna find one in every city, which is also really important to me. Oh my God, and I can never tell you favorites, but I have a few. And they can text me after and see. But God, I just, I, I ride for these fuckers because it's such a beautiful family. It feels like Thanksgiving to me. And I am slightly jealous at like how, just how cohesive the age, they just are. Because it's just, you don't see that every day. I, I think for Christmas, they would do like back and forth and I met, so sadly, I met most of them at Terry's grandma's funeral. And have I ever told you this story?

• 31:42Mary Beth Barone?

  No.

• 31:42Benito Skinner?

  Oh, God. Sometimes I am so me that I, I think about it and I'm like, that was a little too on the nose. Are you ever so yourself, you're like, well, that was heavy-handed?

• 31:53Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, it's like when Caroline Polachek sings about free bleeding in The Autumn Rain.

• 31:57Benito Skinner?

  You texted me that, you go, it's too on the nose for even her.

• 31:59Mary Beth Barone?

  It's too on the nose. I love the song, but it's your Caroline Polachek singing about free bleeding.

• 32:04Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 32:07Mary Beth Barone?

  That's right, I'm still outside at my parents' house. But guess what? I have another ad coming at you. I'm here to talk about Third Love. Do you know what makes every outfit look better, especially for the holidays? The right bra from Third Love. I know we all wanna look our best for the holidays, especially if you're going back to your hometown, you're gonna go to that hometown bar, and you really wanna stick it to the people that you went to high school with. Third Love's bras make it easy to bring back lift and get a smooth look under tight tops, or even stop your shirt buttons from pulling. Oh my God, that feels like magic to me. They look and feel amazing and come in over 60 sizes, including some you won't find anywhere else. ThirdLove takes the frustration out of bra shopping and solves your bra problems, which they call bra problems.

• 32:51Mary Beth Barone?

  Every style is put to the test before it's given the green light, and they don't just look great, they're also made from top-quality materials for comfort and support. So whether you're a double A like me, or an H cup like not me, oh, that's the end of that sentence. ThirdLove invented half sizes, so you're never stuck between two sizes that don't fit. Take advantage of their Black Friday sale, up to 50% off sitewide. Plus, don't miss daily deals like $35 t-shirt bras and wireless bras, hey dad, starting at just $15. This sale is too good to miss, so visit thirdlove.com now and get your bra problems solved. That's right, I had a live audience for that. My dad is standing here, letting me and Pinky back in the house. Happy Thanksgiving.

• 33:31Benito Skinner?

  Live from back in the closets. I love it here. I'm reading ads alone, it's scary, but I'll see what I can do, kid. Okay, so, this video podcast is sponsored and brought to you by Squarespace. Holy frickin' Christmas balls, you guys. We love Squarespace so much. I feel like not enough of you are sending me your Squarespaces, but I want to see, I want to surf the web and check them out, so please do that. But, in case you haven't heard, Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or managing a growing brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything, from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms.

• 34:16Benito Skinner?

  Oh god, Squarespace, you're the devil. No, I love them so much, literally like my favorite people on earth. So, okay, here are just a few of like the cool things you can do when you have a Squarespace. Online store, so you can sell your products on an online store. Hell yeah, bada bing. Whether you sell physical, digital, or service products, Squarespace has the tools you need to start selling online and make that frickin' cheddar. Asset library, ugh. Upload, organize, and access all your content from one place with the new Asset Library. You're able to Manage all your files from one central hub and use them across the Squarespace platform. Analytics, yes. Use insights to grow your business.

• 34:58Benito Skinner?

  Learn where your site visits and sales are coming from and analyze which channels are most effective. Improve your website and build a marketing strategy based on your top keywords or most popular products and content. Head to, go to, or even check out, dude, Squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to Squarespace.com/ride to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. This is the story of how I met most of the cousins. It's not that they met me in the wrong way. It's just that I, I don't know.

• 35:28Mary Beth Barone?

  Having a cousin that lives in Chicago, just before we get into this, is heritage. That's heritage, heritage, because that's family. But you need to have at least one cousin that lives in Chicago, and for a while I didn't. My cousin Chris was in Chicago for years. He left.

• 35:41Benito Skinner?

  Does he drink beer with breakfast?

• 35:42Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, honey, yeah.

• 35:43Benito Skinner?

  Then he lives in Chicago.

• 35:45Mary Beth Barone?

  He likes to dye that, he goes and dyes the river green or whatever it first, and Patty say.

• 35:48Benito Skinner?

  That's gotta be good for the water.

• 35:49Mary Beth Barone?

  But now my cousin Maggie lives in Chicago. I feel like we're at equilibrium again. So thank you to her for moving.

• 35:55Benito Skinner?

  Terry has how many?

• 35:57Mary Beth Barone?

  12 cousins in Chicago.

• 35:58Benito Skinner?

  No, I know. I was about to say, I couldn't, in not a million years could I count how many are in Chicago. But that is definitely, there's a surplus.

• 36:04Mary Beth Barone?

  Totally.

• 36:05Benito Skinner?

  Of cousins in Chicago, which I love.

• 36:06Mary Beth Barone?

  Where was the funeral?

• 36:08Benito Skinner?

  So the funeral was in Cleveland, I believe. Yes. To give you background, I was flying in the morning of because I had a show the night before with you, actually. I fly into Cleveland, it's snowing, and at the time, the only park I had was this bright yellow one from Noah. You know the one.

• 36:27Mary Beth Barone?

  I know the one.

• 36:28Benito Skinner?

  It's kind of like heritage. That color, I keep it still. I mean, I'll never get rid of it. I get to, this is so bad. I get to the airport and I'm so tired because I flew at like 5:00 AM. And the Uber's taking a while, so I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get like a, I'm gonna get Starbucks. So I get this like huge venti iced coffee. And then it looks like just based on like how long the flight took and stuff, that I'm gonna get there at the end of the funeral. So I'll be there for the burial.

• 36:54Mary Beth Barone?

  Tough. It's tough.

• 36:56Benito Skinner?

  It's tough. Terry's like, meet me at the church. And I'm like, great. Okay, I'll meet you at the church. Well, I did order an Uber XL because I was like, it's snowy out. I don't know. I just, I like.

• 37:08Mary Beth Barone?

  You want four wheel drive?

• 37:09Benito Skinner?

  I, mama, I want all the wheels firing on all cylinders. Okay? So the biggest black Cadillac you could imagine fixed me up. And I have, you know, I always check a bag, so I have.

• 37:24Mary Beth Barone?

  And is it a Patagonia duffel with wheels?

• 37:26Benito Skinner?

  Well, of course, it's huge. Which at the airport, a guy came up to me and said, is that the 180 milliliter? And I was like.

• 37:34Mary Beth Barone?

  You're like, I don't know. I've never filled it with water.

• 37:36Benito Skinner?

  I said, sorry, I don't have a gun on me.

• 37:38Mary Beth Barone?

  You're talking to the wrong guy.

• 37:39Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, and I just looked at him and said, yep. Wait, next episode, I'm talking about straight people and their, what's that suitcase? Suitcase culture, straight people suitcase culture.

• 37:48Mary Beth Barone?

  Totally.

• 37:49Benito Skinner?

  So I get into this massive black Cadillac with a venti Starbucks and a yellow jacket. I will, I think it's important to note that the trim of it had faux fur.

• 37:58Mary Beth Barone?

  You didn't even have to say it. Can I just, you didn't have to say it.

• 38:01Benito Skinner?

  Cad. So it pulls up to the church. Every single one of them has just exited this funeral. I pull up in a black Cadillac. I have to get out with a Starbucks.

• 38:15Mary Beth Barone?

  And a suitcase.

• 38:16Benito Skinner?

  And a suitcase and the yellow jacket on. And it was like, there's my.

• 38:21Mary Beth Barone?

  Now presenting.

• 38:25Benito Skinner?

  And at the time, it's like, all they've seen of me is me in wigs.

• 38:29Mary Beth Barone?

  And drag. Congratulations.

• 38:30Benito Skinner?

  Congratulations. I get out, but in a way, they welcomed me with such open arms. And that's how I knew I would love the cousins, but it just.

• 38:37Mary Beth Barone?

  Loving him means loving all of him.

• 38:39Benito Skinner?

  Are you picturing me also like, it's snowing?

• 38:41Mary Beth Barone?

  And I'm picturing people crying with, with tissues and they're dressed in all black. And you rock up in a fur trim jacket.

• 38:49Benito Skinner?

  That was the only perk I had. Sorry, I don't have a black wool overcoat, but the Cousins welcomed me with open arms. I, they always have, they always will. I just know it. And we had a joyous celebration of the beautiful life of Terri's grandma. And I do think what I've heard from Terri's mom is that she would have really loved me. And that also, I think she would have liked, I showed up in style to the queen of style.

• 39:12Mary Beth Barone?

  James Dean daydream look in your eye. Like, if people don't show up stylish to my funeral, I'll be like, kind of bummed.

• 39:18Benito Skinner?

  Well, my whole thing is that you have to wear color to mine.

• 39:20Mary Beth Barone?

  Totally. No, and look, make an entrance and make a statement.

• 39:24Benito Skinner?

  Will you also wear a veil to mine?

• 39:26Mary Beth Barone?

  Absolutely. I'm gonna wear a pillbox hat with a veil.

• 39:29Benito Skinner?

  Oh, good, because we have to get married in the afterlife.

• 39:31Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, yeah, and we will. I'll see you in heaven, kid.

• 39:34Benito Skinner?

  Oh, now that Trump's president, we're going to heaven. You get that, right?

• 39:37Mary Beth Barone?

  I totally get that.

• 39:38Benito Skinner?

  Totally.

• 39:38Mary Beth Barone?

  I think, so although funerals are obviously sad and tragic, it is a great way to reconnect with the Cousins. I'll say it.

• 39:48Benito Skinner?

  And can I say a better thing to reconnect with them at? A wedding.

• 39:51Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh, well, oh, yeah.

• 39:52Benito Skinner?

  And there's, oh my God, there's a couple weddings coming up.

• 39:55Mary Beth Barone?

  So fun.

• 39:56Benito Skinner?

  And new relationships are blooming with the Cousins. And hey, there's nothing more I love. A cousin I love, a cousin's girlfriend, I'm gagged.

• 40:03Mary Beth Barone?

  Sign me up, kid.

• 40:05Benito Skinner?

  Hey, delicious. Need 12 of them.

• 40:07Mary Beth Barone?

  12 of them, and you're gonna get 12 of them. One thing we've started to do is have a Cousins Weekend at my parents' house in the summer.

• 40:14Benito Skinner?

  It's a total fuckfest.

• 40:15Mary Beth Barone?

  It's a total fuckfest. We swim in the pool, we drink, we dance, we laugh, we cry.

• 40:20Benito Skinner?

  You do ket.

• 40:21Mary Beth Barone?

  We do ketamine or whatever drug we're feeling at the time. And what's so cute is my Cousins daughter, Vivian, she didn't know the word swimming. So she said, "I want to go to Aunt Mary's house and travel underwater." Isn't that so cute?

• 40:35Benito Skinner?

  Travel underwater? Sounds, not words.

• 40:37Mary Beth Barone?

  Not words. It's about sounds, it's about intention. What could be better than a Cousins graduation party when you're around the same age? And you might meet a hot person that you want to hook up with.

• 40:48Benito Skinner?

  Sorry, I have chills. You're so good at hooking up with people who are like, know your family.

• 40:52Mary Beth Barone?

  Yeah, it's just like, why, why go outside that?

• 40:56Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, you are kind of like a cozy homegirl.

• 40:58Mary Beth Barone?

  And honey, my latest is no exception.

• 41:00Benito Skinner?

  No, and can I say, period?

• 41:05Benito Skinner?

  Literally.

• 41:06Mary Beth Barone?

  I said what?

• 41:08Benito Skinner?

  Can we say that on here?

• 41:09Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, we can say whatever we want.

• 41:11Benito Skinner?

  That's kind of what I'm finding too. I hope everyone feels that. I told Terry recently, I'm like, this, the community of pride, I feel so free to say anything.

• 41:19Mary Beth Barone?

  Me too.

• 41:20Benito Skinner?

  This is my family. This, you guys are really, I can't stress enough, I am totally myself on this.

• 41:25Mary Beth Barone?

  But I also want to say, we are very thoughtful and we cut things to such a cautious degree where we're like, if this could anyway be construed as us making anybody feel like inferior, if they're not Trump supporters, we don't care about making them feel inferior. But like, we do try to be really thoughtful while also maintaining this like lust for life and, and we live to laugh. And so I just want you to know that like, we're always thinking about you guys.

• 41:48Benito Skinner?

  Cause like, I guess if someone held you at gunpoint and watched you vote and made you vote for Trump, like, I guess I'm not mad at you. I don't know.

• 41:55Mary Beth Barone?

  Did that happen though? Cause let us know. I want, I, I do want to shout out the cousins who I don't align with anymore on like a fundamental level, but I'll never forget the memories we had. We have a lot of beautiful home videos together and photos and I look back on them fondly. I just, I just don't fuck with you right now. So.

• 42:13Benito Skinner?

  Exactly.

• 42:13Mary Beth Barone?

  Thank you so much.

• 42:15Benito Skinner?

  Here's my thing too. Cousins are childhood. Cousins are the Disney store.

• 42:23Mary Beth Barone?

  Well, they have different toys than you.

• 42:25Benito Skinner?

  Cousins have different toys than you and no one talks about that.

• 42:27Mary Beth Barone?

  And they have a different dress up box than you.

• 42:29Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 42:30Mary Beth Barone?

  And how electrifying can it be to go in your cousin's basement in Worcester, Massachusetts?

• 42:34Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 42:34Mary Beth Barone?

  Put on a dress that you only get to see but three times a year. And maybe they'll let you put on the best dress because you're only there for a weekend.

• 42:41Benito Skinner?

  You don't know what American dolls you're, and let me tell you, every house, every, every house has a different American girl dolls.

• 42:49Mary Beth Barone?

  Every house has a different American girl dolls.

• 42:53Mary Beth Barone?

  Different Barbies, different toys.

• 42:55Benito Skinner?

  I think Brunson is about to take off. I'm not kidding. That slipped and I think it's, it's Freud. It's Freud, it's a Freudian slip and it's going to be, it's hot in this room, so I can say anything.

• 43:03Mary Beth Barone?

  You can say, and we can do a portmanteau with any two words that we want. Sorry.

• 43:09Benito Skinner?

  Well, the cousins, you're on high alert, you're on notice. We love you fuckers. And my god, you want to talk about a carpool?

• 43:17Mary Beth Barone?

  Wow.

• 43:18Benito Skinner?

  Who do you carpool with? Oh, I used to, oh my god, this was so fun. I used to carpool with my cousin Andy to high school.

• 43:24Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh my god, you had a cousin in the area?

• 43:26Benito Skinner?

  Yes, in the same class as me.

• 43:27Mary Beth Barone?

  I would have killed to have a cousin in the area.

• 43:29Benito Skinner?

  Have you ever had a straight cousin in the same class as you?

• 43:31Mary Beth Barone?

  No. Something I, I genuinely worry about this with my nieces, because my oldest brother Jamie and my oldest sister Vicky, they both live in Stanford with their families. So there's cut, I'm like, are you guys getting too much cousin time where you can't actually appreciate that like cousins are a celebrity? Cousins are an influencer and they're a copy.

• 43:48Benito Skinner?

  They're cousin gluttons, to be honest.

• 43:49Mary Beth Barone?

  But I just worry, I'm like, no.

• 43:51Benito Skinner?

  Hey, can I be honest? They're cousin gluttons.

• 43:52Mary Beth Barone?

  It's one of the most important relationships you can have is with your cousin that's a similar age than you. And all I want to say is to my nieces and nephew, cherish, you know, in Billy Madison, when he like, holds the kid's face and it shakes a little bit and he's like, cherish it, being in elementary school. Cherish the cousin relationship and whatever you think it's gonna be, it's gonna be different, because that's like your partner in crime. And you're gonna get into some crazy shit with your cousins, and I can't wait to hear all about it.

• 44:17Benito Skinner?

  Like, you're not, it's not your cousin unless you play Russian roulette with them.

• 44:21Mary Beth Barone?

  Totally.

• 44:21Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 44:24Mary Beth Barone?

  Also, I want to shout out my cousin Maria, because she does live in the area, and she only moved though, like, as I've been an adult. She comes to Sunday supper every week. She and my mom work at the same hospital, and she drinks AG1. I mean, what could be better than that?

• 44:37Benito Skinner?

  You saw the video of the girl mixing her AG1, or was that matcha? To me, that was AG1, on the plane.

• 44:42Mary Beth Barone?

  I didn't think, I, well, you know, some people are like, oh, that they must know each other. We need to be staging more TikToks, is what I'm saying. So.

• 44:49Benito Skinner?

  I agree.

• 44:50Mary Beth Barone?

  Let's talk about that on the break.

• 44:52Benito Skinner?

  Absolutely.

• 44:53Mary Beth Barone?

  We're gonna come in with some big ones.

• 44:54Benito Skinner?

  I can't believe we're gonna have a break. Hey, a great time to reconnect with cousins, and maybe, I can't think of anything that could. Be better for our cousins group chat than listening to her and talking about it.

• 45:04Mary Beth Barone?

  I love, I love nothing more than getting a text from my cousins after they've listened to the pod. They found out about my breakup through the podcast, which is crazy because there's this thing like telephone, tele, what is it? Telephone, telegram, telewoods, because my mom's maiden name is Woods. It's like, if you want word to travel fast, you just tell one of my mom's siblings or my mom and everyone will know. People you didn't even want to know will know. So I was shocked to find that my cousins didn't, I was gonna drop it in the cousins group chat, but I didn't wanna.

• 45:31Benito Skinner?

  Maybe your mom didn't wanna say it.

• 45:32Mary Beth Barone?

  Maybe, but like some of my other cousins, but some of my other cousins knew. So then they were all texting me and that was just, it was a good way to connect and it was a good way to see which of my cousins are still listening.

• 45:41Benito Skinner?

  Yeah.

• 45:42Mary Beth Barone?

  And it was all the ones that I thought would be listening.

• 45:44Benito Skinner?

  Of course. Terry emailed all his cousins that he was gay. Isn't that sweet? And they all sent back really sweet things. Yeah, they all sent back gay porn.

• 45:51Mary Beth Barone?

  That is so of a time. They all sent back their link to their favorite gay pornography.

• 45:56Benito Skinner?

  Yeah, they go, hey, it's all good.

• 45:57Mary Beth Barone?

  And I hope they replied all.

• 45:58Benito Skinner?

  They said, hey, it's all good. Check this out.

• 46:00Mary Beth Barone?

  Kim, we asked Terry, did he CC or BCC? All them.

• 46:04Benito Skinner?

  Hey, I.

• 46:05Mary Beth Barone?

  We'll find out.

• 46:06Benito Skinner?

  Hey, I know a guy.

• 46:07Mary Beth Barone?

  Hey.

• 46:07Benito Skinner?

  I'll talk to him.

• 46:08Mary Beth Barone?

  Hell, yeah.

• 46:09Benito Skinner?

  Uh, uh, oh, it's Thanksgiving.

• 46:12Mary Beth Barone?

  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and their cousins. Drive safe.

• 46:16Benito Skinner?

  If you don't have cousins, I'm sorry. Hey, we're sorry if you don't have cousins and this offended you.

• 46:22Mary Beth Barone?

  We're so sorry if this is in any way felt like threatening and or alienating. But the good thing is if you don't have cousins, you could maybe fall in love with someone that does. And that's really hopeful.

• 46:30Benito Skinner?

  That's my thing. I like, I, I had, I had cousins and now I have the cousins. And boy, am I lucky. I'm seriously luckiest guy in the world.

• 46:39Mary Beth Barone?

  You are, Kay.

• 46:40Benito Skinner?

  And I have your cousins in a way.

• 46:41Mary Beth Barone?

  I mean, we're all, it's just like, it's a plethora of cousins. More cousins than you could shake a stick at.

• 46:45Benito Skinner?

  With the broons, I go, give me more.

• 46:47Mary Beth Barone?

  Give me more.

• 46:47Benito Skinner?

  I want more.

• 46:48Mary Beth Barone?

  Travel safe on Wednesday. The day before Thanksgiving is the most traveled day of the year in America. So please be safe. Sending love to you and yours. And we hope that you have a safe place to go for Thanksgiving. If you don't, let me know, because I'm sure my mom would open her heart and her home to you.

• 47:04Benito Skinner?

  Would she make a little pork for Thanksgiving, just this once?

• 47:06Mary Beth Barone?

  She might.

• 47:07Benito Skinner?

  I would love to have turkey dinner. Here's the thing, I, I'd be at yours if I was on the East Coast. I'll say that much.

• 47:12Mary Beth Barone?

  And we would welcome you.

• 47:13Benito Skinner?

  I'd sit next to your mom.

• 47:14Mary Beth Barone?

  Absolutely. On the piano bench, because we have to do three tables. And my mom always sits at the head of the table on the piano bench and then some lucky fucker gets to sit next to her.

• 47:23Benito Skinner?

  Well.

• 47:23Mary Beth Barone?

  And it would be Benny, queer spoke to Benny Trump. We have a little place setting for you. We love you cousins.

• 47:29Benito Skinner?

  Don't you think you and I should be the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade people for the Today Show?

• 47:33Mary Beth Barone?

  First the VMAs, then Macy's Day Parade.

• 47:35Benito Skinner?

  Us on a float for ride.

• 47:36Mary Beth Barone?

  Us in gloves because our hands are, our skin is cracking.

• 47:39Benito Skinner?

  And some kind of like weird fur moment.

• 47:41Mary Beth Barone?

  Oh yeah.

• 47:42Benito Skinner?

  Holler, shawl.

• 47:43Mary Beth Barone?

  I'm on a fur coat. Cancel me.

• 47:46Benito Skinner?

  One, two, three. Happy Thanksgiving.

• 47:52Speaker 04

  Oh, my exit.

• 47:53Mary Beth Barone?

  Benny babe, eyes on the road. Benny, go!

• 48:07Speaker 05

  Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.