Working With My Best Friend (ft. Laren)

Alex and Laren finally reveal how and why they started working together. They also open up about the inner workings of Call Her Daddy, how they maintain their friendship, and what it’s like getting to build successful careers together. Enjoy!

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

• 0:00Alex Cooper?

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• 0:43Alex Cooper?

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• 1:28Alex Cooper?

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• 2:19Alex Cooper?

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• 3:04Alex Cooper?

  What is up Daddy Gang? It is your founding father, Alex Cooper with Call Her Daddy.

• 3:13Alex Cooper?

  Daddy Gang, welcome back to another episode of Call Her Daddy. Today, I am joined by none other than the producer of Call Her Daddy, my best friend, Lauren McMullin. Wow. For anyone that didn't watch my documentary on Hulu, Call Her Alex, one of the reveals in the documentary is that Lauren has been the producer of Call Her Daddy and has been working with me for over four years. And a lot of you, actually, most all of you, were shocked. I have never talked about this publicly. We have kept this a secret and we've kept

• 3:53Alex Cooper?

  it private. And today, we are here to get into why we decided to keep it private, why we never shared it with the world, the reasoning behind it, and also what it's actually like to work with your best friend and the process of Call Her Daddy. We are going to walk you guys through what we do every single week in working together. So, I think we should just get into it. Let's tell them how this came to be. So, I think we have to go all the way back to 2020 and the pandemic. And first, again, I think everyone knows this is at this point, but Lauren and I have been Childhood best friends since we were about six years old.

• 4:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, second grade.

• 4:37Alex Cooper?

  Second grade. So six years old, Lauren and I have been best friends and we have grown up together. We played soccer together. We made movies together. We didn't go to the same high school or college, but we've been best friends our whole lives. And in 2020, when I was producing and editing and hosting Call Her Daddy on my own, it was the pandemic and I was by myself living in New York. And it was a pretty dark time. I think I was really struggling. There was a lot going on online, obviously with Call Her Daddy. And I was pretty isolated in New York City at the time. And Lauren happened to be going through a breakup at this time. And Lauren was trying to figure out her next move. Am I going to have to move home? What am I going to do? And I remember saying,

• 5:18Alex Cooper?

  Lauren, just move into my apartment with me. Like, this will be beautiful. Let's live together again because we had lived with each other at one point. And so you moved in. And at this point, explain to the daddy gang what you're doing. Like, I'm hosting this raunchy sex podcast and you are doing what?

• 5:34Speaker 03

  So I had just finished Teacher America. So my undergrad degree is in neuroscience. I never intended to be a teacher. I did two years of Teacher America where I taught fifth and eighth grade science in Newark, New Jersey. I did my two years. And then I was in grad school at Columbia, getting a master's in clinical psychology because I wanted to go on and get a PhD and be a therapist. So when I moved in with you, fresh off my breakup, I was in my first year of my master's program and I was nannying for a crazy family on the side to make money.

• 6:12Alex Cooper?

  So then Lauren and I moved to Los Angeles. We decided we were done with New York for a little bit. We wanted to try something different. Lauren wanted to get away. I wanted to get away. I knew it would be better for Call Her Daddy. I would get so many more guests in Los Angeles. So we got on a plane and we headed to LA and we moved into this home together.

• 6:30Speaker 03

  And then,

• 6:33Speaker 03

  The school I was teaching at had reached out and was like, our neuroscience teacher quit. We can't find anyone who can teach neuroscience. We'll let you teach entirely remote. Can you teach neuroscience to these high schoolers? And I'm living in California, teaching children in New Jersey. So my first class was every day at five in the morning. And then I'd be done work at 1pm. So you'd be waking up to like, go record Call Her Daddy at 1pm. And I'd be finishing work for the day. We knew no one in LA. We, I didn't have a car. It was COVID, it was locked down, there was nothing to do. So I'd be like, done work, like, hey Alex, like, what are you doing for Call Her Daddy?

• 7:08Alex Cooper?

  Like, I'll help, I'll watch you, like. I think this is when we really started to feel like, oh my God, I missed this part of our friendship. Lauren and I, as you guys will watch in the documentary, as you watched, we fell in love with two things at a very young age. Soccer and making movies and music videos. And that was our genuine passion. And so you getting to come back into that world, I think was so exciting for both of us. Because it also kind of rebirthed a part of our relationship that we had lost in a way. And so we both just leaned in and we started having so much fun. And so when I signed my deal with Spotify, um, that was six months into us living in the house, I would say. And that obviously changed my life forever.

• 7:53Alex Cooper?

  And it changed, I felt like everyone's lives around me, just because it definitely put me publicly in a different stratosphere. Like, I felt like there were, there was more attention on me. There was a bigger conversation around money. Again, I think people don't really know this, but like, I didn't have a team. Like, I was still editing my own episodes.

• 8:10Speaker 03

  It was fully just you at that point.

• 8:12Alex Cooper?

  Yes, like, there was no writers in these interviews. Like, I was writing all of my interviews. I was editing all of these things. I was like, you know, I'm, I'm now making enough money where it's dumb. How am I not paying people to help me? And that, I think, was the beginning of the start of it all. Do you remember like, the first real conversation post Spotify?

• 8:35Speaker 03

  So we sat down and you were like,

• 8:40Speaker 03

  I want to have something more consistent, something more formal. What are you interested in? What are your next moves? Cause at that point I had graduated from my master's program. Um, and I wanted to go get a PhD, but I decided I wanted to take one more year before applying. So I could do more research and get more, like get my name published on more papers.

• 9:02Alex Cooper?

  Oh, right.

• 9:03Speaker 03

  So I was like, wait, this kind of works out really well. You want to go into your first year of Spotify, having people around you that you trust. Feeling comfortable, not starting, just like building a whole team from like scratch and not knowing anyone. So I'm like, this is perfect. I'll take my gap year with Call Her Daddy.

• 9:20Alex Cooper?

  Why did I forget that?

• 9:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:21Alex Cooper?

  Started, yes, you were like, for sure in your head, you were going to go to grad school. And there was going to be one year that you were going to work with me.

• 9:30Speaker 03

  I was going to get a freelance rate.

• 9:32Alex Cooper?

  Yep.

• 9:32Speaker 03

  And bill you for like my hours weekly at a freelance rate. And then on the side, I'd also be doing my psychology research and trying to get published in more, um, academic research.

• 9:42Alex Cooper?

  To give everyone more context, this moment of me being like, okay, I'm going to hire you for a year. It really was us being like, let's just do this for one more year together. It'll be so fun.

• 9:52Speaker 03

  It was kind of the perfect setup for both. It made you feel more comfortable.

• 9:55Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 9:55Speaker 03

  Going into your first year of Spotify and it gave me consistent paid work while I tried to just write and apply to grad school.

• 10:03Alex Cooper?

  But in no way did we think this was long-term.

• 10:06Speaker 03

  But now that, now that I was going to be like billing you hourly and like tracking my hours and like having deliverables to me. And like actual deadlines to hit. It did start to become more real at that point.

• 10:18Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 10:18Speaker 03

  Where at this point now you are my boss and there is a differential between the two of us. It feels a little bit different than like me just sitting in the corner, giving you thumbs up, laughing and saying like, oh, tell that funny story. Tell that joke. Like now I'm like researching the guests you're having on. I'm pitching topics I think you should talk about. Like I'm spending real time doing like actual real work and it's feeling more real. And at that point, we kind of had to have a conversation of like, okay, if we're going to do this one year and do it right and not leave. Feeling resentful that you felt I took advantage of the situation and was just using

• 10:58Speaker 03

  you for money, or that I felt I didn't have clear expectations and I'm not really set up for success. Like, we have to treat this more real.

• 11:08Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 11:08Speaker 03

  And that's when we had the really hard conversation of, I think I need to leave LA. I needed more things of my own.

• 11:15Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 11:16Speaker 03

  I was living in your house.

• 11:17Alex Cooper?

  Yep.

• 11:17Speaker 03

  I was relying on you and Matt for plans. I was working for you.

• 11:20Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 11:21Speaker 03

  And like, I-

• 11:22Alex Cooper?

  We needed to shake it up.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:24Alex Cooper?

  And it was beautiful to see you go to Chicago and still to say be fucking thriving. Like, that was without a doubt the best decision I think you could have ever made for yourself, picking that city. I feel like you have had such incredible success there. You've had such a support system. Like, it's been beautiful. So I'm just so happy that it actually ended up working out. Um-

• 11:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think that's like the best thing we ever could have done.

• 11:48Alex Cooper?

  Could have done.

• 11:48Speaker 03

  And I remember we podcasted together, being like, I'm moving to Chicago.

• 11:52Alex Cooper?

  Oh, my God.

• 11:53Speaker 03

  And we told the daddy gang, we're like, I'm moving to Chicago for a job opportunity. The job opportunity was Call Her Daddy. And I was moving to Chicago so that we could give it a real chance. And we didn't fuck shit up by like-

• 12:03Alex Cooper?

  And we were professional.

• 12:04Speaker 03

  -being up each other's like assholes 24/7.

• 12:06Alex Cooper?

  Oh, my God. I forgot that. We publicly said that. I'm sorry, you guys. That's like a little white lie we told. Sorry. But so then, we, okay, so now let's explain, in that moment, why did we not tell the truth about why you were going to Chicago for a job?

• 12:20Speaker 03

  Because at that point, we truly thought it was going to be a one-year thing. Like, imagine, in my mind, we're really conceptualizing this as like, this is my gap year before I'm going to get a PhD.

• 12:30Alex Cooper?

  Yep.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  And we thought it would just be really confusing to people. And we're like, we worked together, and now we don't. And like, knowing the way that the internet spins things, I think people would immediately be like, oh, they're not working together anymore because-

• 12:43Alex Cooper?

  Right.

• 12:44Speaker 03

  Shit went down.

• 12:45Alex Cooper?

  Alex is not a girl's girl, and she ruined Lauren's life.

• 12:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, look, Alex did it again. Kicked Lauren to the curb.

• 12:49Alex Cooper?

  No, literally. So, yes.

• 12:51Speaker 03

  Yeah. That's what people would say.

• 12:53Alex Cooper?

  So, it was very easy. We were like, okay, great. We'll keep this under wraps and love you and come visit all the time. Lauren moves to Chicago, I'm in LA, and the minute she leaves, we just hit the fucking ground running.

• 13:06Speaker 03

  I think the next big moment was-

• 13:09Alex Cooper?

  The year mark.

• 13:10Speaker 03

  The year mark.

• 13:11Alex Cooper?

  We were coming up on the year mark, and I'm sitting in LA being like-

• 13:17Alex Cooper?

  There was a part of me that felt in my gut, holy shit. I have never had more fun in my life, working with someone and I have never felt at such ease. And we just have the best dynamic. And I think I selfishly was like, oh my God, I actually can see it. I can see how this could work long-term. But if I put my selfish wants aside, and I also put my work aside. If I put on my best friend hat as Alex from Young Alex and you being my best friend. I was like, but what does Lauren want? Because I am living my dream. This, I am living everything I could have ever wanted.

• 14:01Alex Cooper?

  I love my job so much, but does Lauren feel that same way? And is Lauren gonna want to do this full-term? And I started to get worried that, I'll be honest, I remember when I look back, I was worried that you understandably, because we've talked about this on the podcast before, like you were enjoying understandably the work, but the money, I think was so, so much security for you. I think you were starting to be like, fuck, it's so nice to like comfortably afford my apartment and get to do all these things. And so I started to-

• 14:33Speaker 03

  Because money was a huge stress in my life growing up.

• 14:35Alex Cooper?

  Yes, and I think I started to worry as your friend, like, fuck, is she feeling this, which is nice, but is she forgetting how much she wanted to go and get this PhD? And is she going to choose this life because of the money? Not because she genuinely wants it? And I started to feel a little bit of guilt where I was like, am I pulling Lauren away from her dream? Because I'm living mine.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  And you said that to me. We had like a really real and honest conversation at like that year mark.

• 15:03Alex Cooper?

  Yeah.

• 15:03Speaker 03

  And you were like, at this point, I really can't imagine doing this without you. Because you were trying other people, like we were kind of planning for my departure. So like you were trying other people, you were interviewing other people, you were having other people come and freelance with you and-

• 15:17Alex Cooper?

  It just wasn't the same.

• 15:18Speaker 03

  Because I know you so well, so like- I have this insanely unfair advantage and like I can look at something immediately and be like, Alex would never say that. Alex doesn't agree with that. Oh my gosh, Alex would

• 15:30Alex Cooper?

  Would hate that.

• 15:31Speaker 03

  That would hate that.

• 15:31Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, you just can't teach that because it's just you've been my sister my whole life. Like so it's like, so finally we had a really honest conversation where I voiced all this to Lauren and I remember just going back and forth being like, as selfish as I want to be that I want you to know I value you more than you know and I would love you to do this literally until the end of time with me. I need you to be honest with yourself and take time to really think, what do you want?

• 16:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, you were like, I could never live with myself if we look back in five years and I feel like I tore you away from your dream.

• 16:07Alex Cooper?

  Yeah.

• 16:08Speaker 03

  So I went and I talked to my therapist about it for a while.

• 16:12Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, a while.

• 16:12Speaker 03

  We were kind of talking about, why did I want to be a therapist? I wanted to be a therapist because what you'll see in the documentary, um, my dad passed away from suicide when I was in college. He suffered from bipolar disorder for my whole life. And so that's what drew me to that. But more than that, I just wanted to have deep impactful conversations and I wanted to help people. And I was talking to my therapist and I was like, well, if I say on this show, I will have deep impactful conversations.

• 16:52Speaker 03

  And I think I'm going to impact and help more people than I would if I was just a therapist. Like Alex is reaching millions of people a week.

• 17:01Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, that was like, I will never forget. I almost wanted to start crying where Lauren came to me and was like, it just clicked for me. Like there's so much we can do with this show and there's so much work to be done and especially, You had said like the direction, I already feel you pulling it in.

• 17:19Speaker 03

  The show was changing.

• 17:20Alex Cooper?

  Yeah. And it just felt like, holy shit, let's do this.

• 17:25Speaker 03

  Yeah. Like it was kind of all like the stars were kind of like aligning in like a weird, beautiful way.

• 17:30Alex Cooper?

  And in that moment, we weren't like, let's do this for the next 10 years. It really again was kind of like, let's see how this goes.

• 17:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:37Alex Cooper?

  Because again, you were so young. We were like, Lauren, if in two years you decide you don't want to do this anymore, you can still go get your PhD.

• 17:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:43Alex Cooper?

  Like.

• 17:44Speaker 03

  I was, I think I was at 27 at this point.

• 17:46Alex Cooper?

  Yes. So there was time and again, just for context, unwell, the company hadn't been started. It was still just me at Spotify. And so we started.

• 17:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:58Alex Cooper?

  And I remember offering you, where were we when I offered you your salary?

• 18:04Speaker 03

  Um, I remember exactly where I was. I was sitting at my kitchen table and I almost fell out of the chair.

• 18:12Alex Cooper?

  I literally remember being like, okay, so I'm going to give her like a full-time salary. You're my only employee, basically. So I was like, uh, and I went in and I like pitched to you and you were like.

• 18:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'll take it.

• 18:25Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, for sure, Alex. And we just started.

• 18:28Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 18:29Alex Cooper?

  And let's talk about how you first started because I think now being able to say like you are the head lead producer of this show.

• 18:36Speaker 03

  I did not start there.

• 18:37Alex Cooper?

  She, no, she did not. So when Lauren came in, you really took on the research role. So a lot of what Lauren was coming in and helping me do was there's so much information, obviously about the guests that I will be interviewing. And Lauren was a beast with research because that literally was.

• 18:54Speaker 03

  Like my master's degree for clinical psych, I was just cranking out research and cranking out papers. So like I can research and I can write.

• 19:02Alex Cooper?

  And so then talk to people a little bit about like what your first position was and like what you did.

• 19:06Speaker 03

  So if you had a guest on and the guest had an autobiography, I would read the autobiography, essentially turn it into a book report and present to you and like brief you on the person's life. And then I started getting like more systematized and like I made you like a research system where like I made like a memo, where it like breaks out like fast facts about them, put their life into a timeline, put in angles I think you'd be interested in, put in things I think you should avoid talking about. And I would kind of like talk to you about the person and like get you. I would just brief you on the person and kind of pitch to you like what I think would be interesting for you to talk to them about.

• 19:39Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 19:40Speaker 03

  And that was kind of the start of it.

• 19:41Alex Cooper?

  Slowly, it has completely changed in a beautiful way. As my Spotify career continued, we then started Unwell. And once we, Matt and I started Unwell and our company started to grow, Lauren and I recognized that there were so many more tentacles of the business that I was being involved in. And so I was like, I need you to take on a bigger role for Call Her Daddy. And so what that looked like was Lauren started now to in researching, she would write the full first draft of the interviews instead of me now. And so she was doing the research and she was writing these episodes.

• 20:27Alex Cooper?

  And then she was also helping me with all of the social media organization. So I would have a vision of how I wanted to roll, I'm very specific about how I want to roll out who the guest is, what I want the teasers to be, what I want the promo to be. And so Lauren would start working with our editors on crafting the promo, writing a script. This is what this, this is what the promo should say. This is at the time that this needs to get uploaded, like.

• 20:52Speaker 03

  At that point, I started like kind of touching everything.

• 20:54Alex Cooper?

  Yes. And finally, I think once we realized we needed more people on our team is really when you took your net, the next jump of your career, which was we found truly one of the most talented writers I think we've both ever worked with.

• 21:12Speaker 03

  We still heard from CNN from the news world.

• 21:15Alex Cooper?

  Shout out Chase.

• 21:16Speaker 03

  We love you.

• 21:16Alex Cooper?

  And she came on and changed your life because.

• 21:21Speaker 03

  Like I was talking about this like with Chase recently because she was like, I cannot fathom. Because like now we have like a, we have more researchers too, which is really helpful because with my background, I make us take the research so seriously.

• 21:36Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 21:37Speaker 03

  And they were like, how the hell were.

• 21:40Alex Cooper?

  Were you doing this alone? Well, we don't know, but we got-

• 21:43Speaker 03

  I would start, I would start work at 6 a.m. And probably work until 9 p.m.

• 21:49Alex Cooper?

  And we, we wouldn't stop. Like, we were obsessed.

• 21:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:52Alex Cooper?

  But again, we loved it so much that it didn't-

• 21:53Speaker 03

  I never would wake up and be like, fuck my life. Like, I have so much work. Fuck Alex. I was like, this is so exciting. We have three interviews this week. I have three books to read this week.

• 22:01Alex Cooper?

  We gotta get it done.

• 22:02Speaker 03

  And three interviews to write this week.

• 22:03Alex Cooper?

  And so, finally, once Unwell was up and running, I think it was ver- it was very clear now that we needed to yet again reconfigure and system at eyes because we now do have an editor on Call Her Daddy. And although there are some weeks that I'm like, I will be personally editing this. Like, for example, the Kamala Harris interview, I was like, no one can touch this. I have to edit this on my own. Those are moments, I'm still doing final edits or whatever, but we now have someone who's helping with edit. Shout out Alex T. Love you.

• 22:30Speaker 03

  Love you.

• 22:31Alex Cooper?

  Um, what I will say is, I think there's a lot of people on the internet, which makes me laugh. Understandably, I get why people would think that, though, again, is because when I signed with Spotify, when I signed with Sirius XM, I think there's this

• 22:46Alex Cooper?

  idea that there's these corporate bigwigs who are like handing me the cards and saying, say all of this. And I'm just like this host. And meanwhile, it's like, when you're, for literally my entire Spotify time, when you're reading these questions,

• 23:03Speaker 03

  It's us.

• 23:03Alex Cooper?

  It's us. Like, it's us putting this shit together. And now, as we ventured on, it's, yes, it's literally me, Lauren, and one to two other young women in their twenties, and we're all doing basically a roundtable. We're talking about what we want the interview to be. And then we've got a re- someone's going to do the research, someone's starting the prelim on like what the interview flow will be. We're doing multiple drafts. We're having Zoom meetings every week. We're going through, oh, I don't like this. Let's change this. Let's move this up here. This topic should hit harder. Let's move this to the front. Like, and then I go and I do the job. And so, it's so collaborative. It's so rewarding. And the interview process has become such a well-oiled

• 23:46Alex Cooper?

  machine, but it's taken a lot of work to get there. So why don't you talk a little bit about what you do every week?

• 23:53Speaker 03

  With having Unwell now, and you doing so many things beyond Call Her Daddy, I handle anything logistic-related.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  To Call Her Daddy, so anyone on the Call Her Daddy team reports to me and I manage the entire team and I'm essentially the person who makes sure from booking to the editor, to the social media team, to the research team, to the interview being written, to communicating with PR reps, to making sure that episode makes it on, uploaded on time.

• 24:28Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  That I'm handling like everything, making sure everything is happening and everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing so that now you are purely thinking about nothing besides the creative.

• 24:38Alex Cooper?

  And it's so nice the way that you are able to keep the ship running.

• 24:43Speaker 03

  And sometimes you'll have three interviews in a week.

• 24:45Alex Cooper?

  Yes, and it's

• 24:47Speaker 03

  Insane.

• 24:48Alex Cooper?

  Chaos, but it's amazing and we love it.

• 24:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was gonna say like, I've never felt so fulfilled, never felt so stimulated, I've never felt like I've done something that's had this much of an impact before. Like we're saying how like we work insane hours, but like I never wake up dreading my job. I sometimes like wonder like, ooh, like how did I like clock like a 14 hour day yesterday and like not think twice and like I don't feel burnt out. It's because like I legitimately like love this job so much and I care so much about this job. And I think like one of the coolest things is how much autonomy I feel like I have. I feel like that's like a big factor in like loving my job. Like I can have a therapy session where I'm like, I just

• 25:34Speaker 03

  had the best talk of my entire life. And I can be like, Alex, like I think we need to talk about this. You're like, okay, go write an episode. Or I'll read something and I'll be like, this is important. Like go write an episode.

• 25:46Alex Cooper?

  It's such a rewarding process that I think looking back on the days that I obviously took such pride in doing it all on my own, I think I now take so much more pride on not doing it all on my own because I think getting to share The joy of what this show does every week with other people who get to be a part of the behind the scenes, it is indescribable, the feeling like I know it sounds sappy daddy gang, but like getting to give you guys interesting, fun, engaging content every week. And it all is coming from the hearts of us and a few more other young women in their twenties.

• 26:26Alex Cooper?

  Like it's so fucking cool that we are creating these conversations. And it's coming from this like just genuine place of like, we're literally saying some of these ideas are because we were at a dinner and then it turns into an episode that's getting millions of views. I'm like,

• 27:00Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Ross. Fall is about finding pieces you love, making them your own and creating looks and spaces just right for the season, whether you're updating a small apartment or a spacious home, drawn to timeless neutrals or bold seasonal touches. Ross makes it easy to imagine what's next and bring your fall vision to life. Ross makes fashion accessible to all with up to 20 to 60% off other retailers' prices on the brands you love. Find your nearest Ross at rossstores.com. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by American Eagle. Holiday outfits just got way easier. American Eagle's new arrivals are basically everything you need right now. Super soft

• 27:44Alex Cooper?

  sweaters, lightweight layers, comfy lounge styles, heritage faves and low-rise jeans that are very much back in the rotation. Whether you're heading to a holiday thing or just hanging with your people, there's something for every plan. Just don't wait too long. Your new faves won't be around forever. You can check it all out at ae.com or just go to the store. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Ritual. We are learning so much about how the gut microbiome is key to our mental health, immunity, and of course digestion. And I just feel like I didn't know any of this until recently, which is a problem because this is literally everything that we do need to know to take care of ourselves.

• 28:24Alex Cooper?

  But did you know, because now I know, the gut microbiome shifts during pregnancy, ladies, and these shifts can impact mom and baby's health in pregnancy and postpartum. And that is why Ritual created NADAL Biotic, a specialized biotic with clinically studied strains for pregnancy and postpartum microbiome support to support digestive health, mood, vaginal health, and baby's immune health. I have been trying so hard to take care of myself during this pregnancy, and I think something that has been very helpful is actually learning about the things that now I will carry, not only just during this pregnancy, but I will continue to take care of myself in a way that I really never have before. I think sometimes as women, we don't have the tools, or we don't know what we're supposed

• 29:09Alex Cooper?

  to be doing. And so we sometimes just freeze and we don't do anything. And since having Ritual in my life, it has been so nice to have this daily ritual where I'm actually taking care of myself and my baby, which feels great. So whether you're pregnant, postpartum, or looking for everyday trusted daily gut support, get clinically studied biotics to support your gut health with Ritual. My listeners can save 25% off their first month at ritual.com/callherdaddy. That's ritual.com/callherdaddy for 25% off your first month. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

• 29:50Alex Cooper?

  Let's talk also now about, I think, one of the biggest questions that we have gotten online since announcing that Lauren and I work together is how the hell do you guys have a work-friendship balance? Because that just seems like it is a disaster waiting to happen. And I completely understand why you would think that. So let us tell you about it. I think that, like we kind of described in the beginning days when it was just us, we are extremely, we've always been very communicative. And I think, although this may sound weird, once we kind of got our rhythm of how we wanted to work together,

• 30:34Alex Cooper?

  like literally of just like, are you getting paid? Are you quitting your job? Okay, now you are getting paid. Now you have a salary.

• 30:40Speaker 03

  What is my job role? What are my like day-to-day responsibilities?

• 30:43Alex Cooper?

  Yes, once that happened. When we're just working, it is the easiest thing in the world. And I will say it is easier than when we were kids. Like when Lauren and I were children, we you, we had such a passion for filming and writing scripts and and creating these worlds together. And the two of us, like my mom says in the documentary, when the two of us were in a room, it was almost too much. We both were so creative and passionate. And so

• 31:15Speaker 03

  We were staying up until like 3am, like in your dad's closet editing, like as children.

• 31:20Alex Cooper?

  And taking it so serious. And so when one of us had a vision and the other disagreed, we would butt heads more back then be like, no, Lauren, like that won't keep the viewer engaged. And you're like, but Alex, it looks better if it's like this. We were so much more combative when we were younger. Now it's like, it's just seamless.

• 31:39Speaker 03

  I think something that may, that may sound counterintuitive is I think it's actually easier that there's a hierarchy. And in theory, and we can get into this more in a minute. In theory, you are my boss.

• 31:51Alex Cooper?

  Right.

• 31:52Speaker 03

  And I think that does make it easier because at the end of the day, it's your call and I'll defer to you. It's not like we're like co-hosts, like arguing back and forth of like what we're going to talk about. And at the end of the day, you're the one saying this shit. Like, I'm not going to force words out of your mouth. It's your voice and it's your show. And like, I'm here to help push us forward and make us better and guide you and help you, but I'm not going to tell you your views and beliefs on something.

• 32:17Alex Cooper?

  It's a good point. Like, I feel like you've always been so respectful of as invested as you are, you know, when it's like, okay, but it is your call. And but again, like we're so insympathical with almost everything. And I never want to get in front of the camera. If we haven't talked through something where I'm like, but what do you think about it? And then even if I, if I hear your piece and I disagree with you, I'm going to speak it out to you. And if you disagree with me. I don't think I've ever gotten on camera with us being in disagreement and being like, oh, well, I'm gonna say it anyways, ever in my career. And there is, I feel like rarely moments, but

• 32:59Alex Cooper?

  there have been moments where the team will say something to me and I'll be, guys, I totally hear what you're saying, but I'm gonna disagree with you guys on this one and I'm gonna just go for it. And that is the beauty of it's my show. I can do that. But I do think it's very rare that I go against the grain of the team. And I, it's just when I'm having a feeling, most of it is when it's like comes to marketing and social media. I feel like I have this pulse on it that sometimes I just have this feeling and I've got to go with my fucking gut.

• 33:26Speaker 03

  Yeah. I think another thing is like how we maintain a friendship and a working relationship is

• 33:35Speaker 03

  during like the work week, we are very professional. Like if we get on a Zoom, like we're not shooting the shit on a Zoom. Oh, no. Someone, if someone like not in our company got on the Zoom, they would have no idea that we're best friends. Like we are very

• 33:49Alex Cooper?

  No one would know.

• 33:49Speaker 03

  Yeah. We really save our like catch-ups because our current situation is I come to LA for a full week every month. So that becomes more where we merge the two.

• 34:02Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 34:03Speaker 03

  I stay in your house. We have dinner every night together. We

• 34:07Alex Cooper?

  Jacuzzi, hang, schmooze.

• 34:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:10Alex Cooper?

  And we are like, the minute, we'll be like, okay, it's like 6:30. Should we stop working? And they'll be like, immediately we close our laptops. We go in, we watch a show, we drink wine and we can turn on friend mode immediately. But that is just because I think of the years of repetition. Again, when Lauren moved to Chicago, we kind of had also in her send off a conversation of like, our friendship is so solid. We have been friends for basically our whole lives. Neither of us are worried about our friendship. Let's really pour into this.

• 34:40Speaker 03

  Figuring now, what is our working dynamic and what is our working relationship? And to do that is really confusing if we're working together during the daytime and you're trying to have the strength or not even strength, but you're trying to feel comfortable enough to tell me, I don't like that, or that's not good enough. And then a few hours later, we're shooting the shit about like, do you like this outfit? Like, that was Confusing in the beginning where we needed to just figure out how do we get comfortable of having working conversations?

• 35:11Alex Cooper?

  Yes.

• 35:12Speaker 03

  And having them side by side with friend conversations was difficult, but now we're like fucking experts.

• 35:17Alex Cooper?

  I know, we're so fucking good at it now. Like we can, if it's five minutes before and I'm like, wait, are you on a Zoom? And Lauren will be like, no, I just got off my last Zoom. I'm like, wait, get on the Zoom link before everyone gets on because I want to hear about the date last night. And we'll like quickly talk for five minutes and then all, everyone else on the team gets on and we're like, hello everyone. And we pretend we didn't talk for five minutes. And it's like, we can shut it on, shut it off. I think it's also been really important to us because I recognize that as the, you know, owner of the company and as the host of the show, like I can make all these calls and I think I have such a respect for you and awareness for you that I don't want our dynamic to ever impact the way other people on the team or

• 36:02Alex Cooper?

  at the company feel about you. And I think obviously it was easy when it was just the two of us, but now I never wanted you to feel like, oh, fuck. I can feel that other employees are like, oh, Lauren just gets special treatment or Lauren gets to do this because she's Alex's best friend. I think if you asked anyone at our company, they would say, one, without a doubt, Laura McMullin is the hardest working person at this company. She will do anything and everything to get the job done. You are so brilliant. Everyone respects you. And so I think if there is a moment, yes, of course, where they're like, where does Lauren stay when she comes to LA? Well, of course you're staying in my house, but it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way because I don't think, one, when we're in the office, we don't speak like we're friends.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  No.

• 36:47Alex Cooper?

  You are the producer of Call Her Daddy. Like people will hear me on Zooms being like, Lauren, that doesn't look good enough. Can you please like circle back with the team? I need like three.

• 36:55Speaker 03

  Go fix this and like make it better and come back.

• 36:57Alex Cooper?

  Yeah. I think I can say the reason you and I have had such a successful outcome in working together is because this isn't a friendship. It's you are my sister.

• 37:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:12Alex Cooper?

  Truly. Like again, in the documentary, you see like, The ties that our families have, the relationship basically from fucking diapers together. Like this isn't something that if we get in a fight, then you're just out of my life or I'm out of your life. Like we are together forever. And I think it has allowed us to lean into the professional aspect in a way that we have such unwavering respect for each other that nothing could come between that. Because when it has, and when we've had issues, it is immediate. We're on the phone or we're in person. We're like, let's work through this. And it has been pretty seamless.

• 37:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:51Alex Cooper?

  And I can imagine a lot of people on the internet being like, how, how, I mean, of course, I have like, the looming cloud of the one really public fallout with a woman. And I feel like that has obviously tainted a lot of people's opinion of me.

• 38:10Speaker 03

  As a friend?

• 38:11Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, as a friend, even though that's the only friendship people publicly saw.

• 38:17Speaker 03

  Of yours?

• 38:18Alex Cooper?

  Of mine, that they thought they knew the whole story, understandably, because we did a incredible job of what our job was, and it was marketing this friendship. But I think it was just, it's just hard, because I can understand people would try to compare the two almost in like, Alex, how did you not learn your lesson of working with friends? And like, it's just so different.

• 38:39Speaker 03

  I think that's difficult for me to sit back and watch and read. And I'm assuming there'll probably be those type of comments when this comes out, like, oh, how'd you not learn your lesson? It's gonna happen again. And like one, like we were saying, like, I've known you for 25 years. I think people forget that you knew her for a year and a half in total.

• 39:00Alex Cooper?

  It's just a very different situation. And I'm really proud of our friendship. And I think every friendship in my life, I almost always look at us as like, the model friendship. Because I think the way that we communicate, the way that we respect each other, the way that we are honest with each other and loyal to each other, has allowed us to put ourselves into what maybe some people would. Understandably think would be a difficult situation to put a friendship under that kind of pressure and the fact that we've thrived and has been, I think, a testament to how hard we work at being with each other through it all. I agree.

• 40:00Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Revolve. Now that I'm entering this mom era, guys, I'm trying to figure out my style. Okay, I'm looking for my good elevated basics. I'm looking for a lot of matching sets. I'm looking for cozy but practical. And so I'm just, I'm trying to figure it out. So whether you're preparing for your hot mom era, leaning into a new cozy fall wardrobe, or just wanting to feel hot and comfortable, Revolve has what you're looking for in a wardrobe. Revolve has literally everything from cozy knits to event dresses, all curated in a way that makes getting dressed so easy. You also don't have to waste time endlessly scrolling, which is my favorite part because everything already fits the look that you're going for. And once you find something you

• 40:43Alex Cooper?

  like, Revolve will show you similar options. So you can build off of that. This is my favorite aspect of shopping on Revolve. I'm like, oh, I really like this sweater. And then all of a sudden they like shop the whole look. And then there's the pants and then there's the purse and then there's the shoes and then there's the jewelry and then there's the sunglasses. And I'm like, oh, my God, I just put all this in my car and I never, I didn't have to do much. It's really nice. Also, you can find the best brands, keep coming back to shop new arrivals daily and find inclusive sizing. Listen, hot girl energy, hot mom energy, whatever era you're in, Revolve has the outfit for it. Revolve has the hottest brands, new arrivals shopping daily and pieces you'll wear over and over again. Go to revolve.com/chd and use code C H D for 15% off your first order.

• 41:27Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Alka Seltzer Cold. Life's already messy enough, drama, dating, working, a cold or flu? We don't have time for that. Alka Seltzer Cold Fast Dissolve Tablets are designed to deliver cold and flu relief fast. Just drop the two tablets in water and hear those bubbles bursting into action, ready to work faster than pills. Pills take time to dissolve. Next time a cold or flu strikes, quick Alka Seltzer Cold. Nothing works faster for cold and flu symptom relief. Among oral OTC products used as directed. We asked the internet if you guys have any questions for Lauren and I about working together. And so we are going to answer them today.

• 42:11Alex Cooper?

  Lauren, do you want to read some?

• 42:14Speaker 03

  What is the coolest experience the two of you have gotten to have together since working together?

• 42:20Alex Cooper?

  Ooh.

• 42:21Speaker 03

  The Olympics was obviously very fun.

• 42:24Alex Cooper?

  The Olympics was insane. Like, I think especially with our sports background, I think the two of us getting to go and produce a show for Peacock and...

• 42:34Speaker 03

  It was so much fucking work.

• 42:36Alex Cooper?

  It was so much work, but it was so rewarding.

• 42:40Speaker 03

  And we won a fucking Emmy for it.

• 42:41Alex Cooper?

  Oh, wait.

• 42:41Speaker 03

  We won an Emmy!

• 42:42Alex Cooper?

  Wait, I forgot. Did we never tell anyone that?

• 42:44Speaker 03

  No!

• 42:44Alex Cooper?

  You guys, we won an Emmy. Lauren and I are both gonna have Emmys in our offices.

• 42:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:50Alex Cooper?

  I forgot that.

• 42:51Speaker 03

  So it made all of the blood, sweat and tears worth it.

• 42:54Alex Cooper?

  It was so much work, but it was really rewarding. And I think I'm really proud of us because trying a new format, doing live, it was, yeah, Olympics was pretty fucking cool.

• 43:04Speaker 03

  Okay, what is Alex's best and worst quality as a boss?

• 43:09Alex Cooper?

  Oh, okay.

• 43:10Speaker 03

  And then you can do it about me. What is my best and worst quality as an employee?

• 43:13Alex Cooper?

  Okay, you go first.

• 43:15Speaker 03

  Um, okay, your best quality is how much you care because I think it's really palpable and the expectations are high and the standards are high. Obviously, that's what makes the show one of the best in the world. But I think how much you care and how hard you work inspires everyone on the team. And I think the whole company is inspired. So you're inspiring so many people on a daily basis and also the whole daddy gang.

• 43:41Alex Cooper?

  Oh, my God. Love you.

• 43:42Speaker 03

  Love you too.

• 43:43Alex Cooper?

  That's really sweet. Okay, now you're about to hit me with the worst.

• 43:45Speaker 03

  Um, your worst quality is your fucking typing skills.

• 43:49Alex Cooper?

  I fucking knew you were gonna say that.

• 43:52Speaker 03

  I don't know if you like skipped typing class all of elementary school Lori Cooper, like what were you doing to your daughter? But she cannot type. No, I purposely changed the settings on Google Docs so that she can't get in and access them. Because she'll fuck them up. I'll make like a chart or a diagram. You like put caps lock on in the middle of a sentence. You have like punctuation in the middle of a sentence like. It's, it's, I need to like.

• 44:17Alex Cooper?

  No Lauren like gets angry with me. She'll be like, stop typing, cause I'll have a thought. Or, or when I'm talking so fast and you can only type so fast. So then I pick it up and I try to add on what I'm saying. And then you're like, Alex, stop it. Get out of my documents. Cause Lauren's very specific about her formatting in her documents. And I come in and I just crush your fucking soul. I don't also know why. I never learned. I for some reason always use caps lock, not shift. So then I'll be in caps lock and I'll look up and like, oh fuck, no, it's bad.

• 44:42Speaker 03

  And even like in your work slacks, like.

• 44:46Speaker 03

  Even in your work slacks. Well, we don't slack each other. Like our company has a strict policy for work-life balance. We talk on Slack, but. We'll, we will text. That's the one thing that like we go around.

• 44:56Alex Cooper?

  We're inappropriate.

• 44:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, we, we text. We don't slack with each other. But when you slack, you're so like. I guess it's good blunt, but like you just always seem so angry on Slack where I'm like.

• 45:09Alex Cooper?

  And then you'll, you always sometimes will call me and be like, wait, you good? Oh my, no, yeah, I'm bad. I'm a bad, um.

• 45:15Speaker 03

  You're, you're bad with your fingers and words. You're, you leave the words to your mouth.

• 45:20Alex Cooper?

  Truly.

• 45:21Speaker 03

  You're not one for the.

• 45:22Alex Cooper?

  I will say it's an abomination. When I get it in those documents, it's bad. I just feel like. Yeah, it's not my strong suit. Okay, my favorite thing of working with you, two things, but only because I have to say it, even though I'm kind of taking yours, but it's a different version, which is. When I started Call Her Daddy, I genuinely never believed someone would care about the product as much as I do. And I know it is unrealistic for anyone to care that much, but you are second to none. Like, I know if there is something going on and it's 3 a.m. and I call you and I'm freaking out about something with Call Her Daddy, you will do

• 46:04Alex Cooper?

  anything, no matter where you are in the world, no matter what's happening, you will drop everything. And you put Call Her Daddy first always. And it makes me just feel so supportive because in it being my show, I understand someone wouldn't love it as much as I do. And it, and it really does feel like you care as much as I do. So that's number one. Number two, I think it has been such an incredible process, watching you become a boss. And from starting in research and now growing to people reporting to you

• 46:46Alex Cooper?

  and reporting structures and how much they respect you as a boss. I know something Matt and I had wanted you to work on the past like two years was being more direct and being not confrontational, but just being able to have these hard conversations, whether it's a layoff, like you've had to, Lauren has had to lay people off. Lauren has had to have honest conversation if work isn't up to par. Lauren has had to, you've just had a lot of growing, I feel like in the past two years, since Unwell has started, that I do think has allowed you to step into this executive role in a way that has changed

• 47:26Alex Cooper?

  the way I think people see you in this space. Again, as you're not my best friend, you are one of the best, highest people at this company. And you are there for a fucking reason. It has nothing to do with you being my best friend. It's because you're really fucking talented. Okay, we're gonna get emotional. Um, okay, your worst thing, if we're gonna be nitpicky, ever since someone bought you your headphones that you edit with, or you're like doing your notes with, what do you think I'm gonna say? Every time I call you on the phone,

• 47:57Speaker 03

  You're like getting

• 47:58Alex Cooper?

  You sound like you're underwater and you're going in and out, you're spotty, and I can't hear a word you're fucking saying. So I'm calling Lauren after like a debrief of a fucking interview, and I, every time I finish my interview, I get into my car, we have this ritual, I call Lauren immediately,

• 48:12Speaker 03

  and I, because I zoom into the interviews and I listen to the interviews live.

• 48:15Alex Cooper?

  And then I call her and as, when it's on the top of my head, we go through every single question that I asked, and Lauren is at her computer and I debrief every question, oh, that wasn't interesting, we're gonna cut that one, oh, we're gonna have to cut this down, that their answer wasn't that interesting, oh, I wanna move that to the front, and I give Lauren all these notes, and Lauren sounds like this.

• 48:34Alex Cooper?

  And I'm like, Lauren? And she's like, sorry, sorry, turning off my AirPods, I, sorry, Apple, I don't know what the fuck is going on, but it is.

• 48:40Speaker 03

  I think it's not an issue with my phone too, maybe?

• 48:42Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, something's going on. It, I'm, I literally am like, Lauren, you're like, sorry, sorry, disconnecting, disconnecting. Um, that's my biggest pet peeve of you.

• 48:50Speaker 03

  Oh, great.

• 48:50Alex Cooper?

  It's like literally so minimal.

• 48:52Speaker 03

  You're a bad typer and I wear headphones during conversations.

• 48:55Alex Cooper?

  Yeah, it's fine. Okay, what else?

• 48:57Speaker 03

  What is the most awkward conversation you've had to have at work? Oh, I know this.

• 49:03Alex Cooper?

  The most awkward conversation, the two of us have had to have at work?

• 49:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, I know this.

• 49:07Alex Cooper?

  Okay, go ahead.

• 49:08Speaker 03

  So back, like we were saying, when it was just the two of us, um, I asked you for a performance review.

• 49:14Alex Cooper?

  Why did I forget about this? Because I blacked it out.

• 49:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:16Alex Cooper?

  Because I fucking blacked it out.

• 49:18Speaker 03

  You were like, I don't really, like, we don't need to do, I'm like, no, no, no, like, I need to, like, know, like, what are, like, my next steps to grow and how I'm doing, and like, we need to have an honest conversation about things I need to grow on and how you feel about me and the company.

• 49:30Alex Cooper?

  And for context, when she says company. This is before Unwell. Unwell has started before we have 70, 80 people working at this company. So it's me and Lauren and Lauren's like, let's sit down for a review. And I'm like, sure, let me pour myself a coffee, even though we talk every minute of the day. And I was like, Lauren, I don't know if I can do a performance review. And she was like, just try, you guys, I wish we would have fucking recorded this zoom. I, we both show up with notes that we both wrote. Yours are probably disgusting. No, fuck you. And you can tell we're both reading off of our notes. Cause Lauren's like, I'm going to advocate for myself now and, and pitch as to why I deserve a raise. And I'm literally sitting there and be like, okay, go ahead.

• 50:13Alex Cooper?

  And you can tell Lauren's like reading off of her computer and then I- Here's my growth, here are my strengths. And we're both dying laughing. You're like, no, stop, we need to be serious.

• 50:37Alex Cooper?

  Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Alka Seltzer Cold. Life's already messy enough, drama, dating, working, a cold or flu? We don't have time for that. Alka Seltzer Cold Fast Dissolve Tablets are designed to deliver cold and flu relief fast. Just drop the two tablets in water and hear those bubbles bursting into action. Ready to work faster than pills. Pills take time to dissolve. Next time a cold or flu strikes, quick Alka Seltzer Cold. Nothing works faster for cold and flu symptom relief. Among oral OTC products, use as directed. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Stouffer's. Let me tell you something, when I am hungry and I am trying to figure out what to eat,

• 51:20Alex Cooper?

  sometimes you can just actually become so, you're angry. You're like, I am busy, I'm hungry, I'm getting hangry, I'm getting angry. What can I eat? I need something hot and delicious and low maintenance. Well, introducing Stouffer's. Dinners are not only delicious, they're done in a flash. Serve up their classic lasagna, chicken pesto or carbonara for two. Whatever you're craving, Stouffer's is your hot, delicious, easy meal fantasy. When the clock strikes dinner, think Stouffer's. You can see all the delicious options at Stouffer's.com. Okay, one of the questions is, is her name Lauren or Laren? Her name is Lauren. But her nickname is Laren.

• 52:01Speaker 03

  Cause my mom was so southern.

• 52:03Alex Cooper?

  She'd be like, Laren, Laren.

• 52:07Speaker 03

  What's one thing you didn't know about each other until working together?

• 52:11Alex Cooper?

  That's hard. Go ahead.

• 52:14Speaker 03

  Mine's like, kind of deep. When you're good friends with someone, like obviously you celebrate their successes and you know their accomplishments and like you are like, I did this at work today and I accomplished that. But like, when you get to like, see it and witness it on a day to day level, it's like a whole different experience. And like, I obviously knew you were creative and I knew you were smart, but like, you're like brilliant and you're like a genius and like I am constantly in all of you and I'm just like, damn, how'd she think of that?

• 52:44Alex Cooper?

  Lauren, you're literally gonna make me cry. Thank you. No, I feel the same way about you. I think working with you, I always knew you were so smart and obviously like, we in living together, when you were more in the academic field, I was always just so inspired, but it's hard tangibly to be like, I'm not in that field. I don't know what a research paper is supposed to sound like or look like.

• 53:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 53:09Alex Cooper?

  And I always knew you were so brilliant and we always talked about that, like how you just took after your dad in that way. Like he was so fucking bright. It was like inspiring to be in rooms with him and I feel that way about you like, and now getting to work with you, the way that you are so good at multitasking and yet giving somehow a hundred percent to every multitask at the same time. Like you juggle so many things at once. And you're so eloquent and calm and I don't know, it's just really fun to watch something that wasn't like your natural

• 53:53Alex Cooper?

  thing that you wanted to do in your life, become something that you are beyond talented in. It is really cool to see you take it on and conquer it and make it look like you went to fucking school for this shit. So I don't know, it's just really cool to watch each other grow. And like, I think that was a moment where, so when the premiere of the documentary happened.

• 54:14Alex Cooper?

  I think Lauren and I were just so, but you were both just so emotional because again, this is a documentary, yes, about the rise of Call Her Daddy in my life. And then you are a huge part of it. But I think a lot of that documentary was so full circle for us because of how long we've been doing this together. And so there was so much emotion tied into it. And our best friend, Kristen, who is like the third in our dynamic from childhood, who was in our childhood videos, the three of us getting to come together, I think was such a beautiful moment for me because I,

• 54:51Alex Cooper?

  when you are having a lot of accomplishments, sometimes you forget to pause and really stop and be like, if you knew this at 18, you wouldn't even believe it. And so I think being around you has also allowed me to stop and really be more present because you remind me of childhood and you remind me of home. So it's like, I can pull out of being, I'm like, executives around me and all these people from Spotify or Sirius, whoever it be. And when I look at you, it brings me back to childhood and it makes this job still feel like a mom and pop thing that like, hasn't gotten too big and out of my control. And it still is my baby and it still is something that is all that's coming from the heart. And I think that's what I'm excited about, that people know now that

• 55:36Alex Cooper?

  you are working with me. It, I hope it gives people more clarity. Whether you hate the interviews or love the interviews, like, it's us. And it's not some big corporation that's writing these things. And I'm just regurgitating, like, it's us. And like it or hate it, I'm really proud that we haven't strayed from the basement to now. Like, it is always gonna be us.

• 56:06Alex Cooper?

  Look at that ending. That was-

• 56:08Speaker 03

  I think that's where we have to end it.

• 56:09Alex Cooper?

  You guys, I am so, so happy. We finally got to get this off our chests. Now, no one's gonna think Lauren just like doesn't have a job and just like is randomly in LA.

• 56:17Speaker 03

  For like the longest time, all the comments were always like, "How is Lauren always with you? Like, how does she like travel around? Like, does she even have a job?"

• 56:25Alex Cooper?

  Right.

• 56:26Speaker 03

  I have a job.

• 56:27Alex Cooper?

  Lauren works at Call Her Daddy in Undwell and it's just now, I guess, the beginning of you guys knowing this next chapter of our life. And I don't think we're slowing down anytime soon. I think we're just ramping up. Oh, there's so much coming. Get fucking ready, bitches. Love you guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. I will see you fuckers next Wednesday. Goodbye.

• 57:00Speaker 04

  Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences.

• 57:17Speaker 04

  Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 57:30Speaker 05

  Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. It's the tangiest time of the year. For a limited time, head to McDonald's and get a McRib sandwich. Make it a meal by adding a medium fries and a soft drink like an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper. So grab a McRib sandwich and embrace the tang. Save time by ordering ahead on the app. Participate at McDonald's for a limited time. Dr. Pepper is a registered trademark of Dr. Pepper, 7-Up Inc.

• 57:54Alex Cooper?

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