JAZZY LADYBUG Ft. EJ Marcus | Episode 218

The lovely and talented EJ Marcus returns to the show this week!! Drew and EJ talk about being turned green, working at a preschool, fish hatcheries, how to handle a vegan dog’s diet, Club Penguin, the power of Sequoia trees, and so much more. EJ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ejhavingfun/?hl=en EJ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ejhavingfun Follow The Comment Section on IG! https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ Shop Mother's Day Beauty Gifts at Sephora Visit Macy’s to discover the new Calvin Klein euphoria elixirs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:32Speaker 01

  There would be like a glass, like a window, and you would see all of the, like where the fish had laid all of their eggs.

• 0:39Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  And then eventually, you're like so grossed out.

• 0:42Drew Afualo?

  I feel like I low-key have trypophobia, so I'm like imagining it being a lot of dots.

• 0:47Speaker 01

  And unfortunately...

• 0:48Drew Afualo?

  It was a lot of dots. I bet.

• 0:50Speaker 01

  It was a lot of dots. That is kind of the vibe.

• 0:52Drew Afualo?

  I bet. I fucking knew it.

• 0:54Speaker 01

  And I'm so sorry. Yeah, cut this out.

• 1:06Drew Afualo?

  Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show. Sorry, me, your fave, everybody knows me, who cares about me. Onto the guests. Today, we have another all-star, an icon, a legend, the hilarious EJ Marcus.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, thank you.

• 1:23Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my god, welcome back, King.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 1:26Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my gosh, I'm so happy to have you. You're one of my favorite people to follow.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  That's really, really nice. And likewise, of course.

• 1:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. This episode is presented by Sephora. So, what are you getting your mom this Mother's Day? It's hard to find something that says, "Hey, Mom, I think you're amazing, and thank you for everything," right? Because flowers that turn up wilted, or a home appliance that feels too practical, just won't cut it. The solution is simple. A beauty gift from Sephora is more personal and lets mom know she is loved and celebrated. With gorgeous Mother's Day gift sets filled with skincare, fragrance, makeup, or hair products, Sephora makes it easy to find the perfect gift for her. Shop Mother's Day gifts at Sephora. And I have to say, too, recently, I've been loving especially the videos you've been making with your partner

• 2:16Drew Afualo?

  about like two people doing like, they're like crowdfunding, or they're like doing yoga in the park. Some of my faves.

• 2:23Speaker 01

  They're very special to it's those are very rooted in like a a deep understanding of that culture.

• 2:30Drew Afualo?

  Of your community.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Lived in, yes.

• 2:31Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course. How have you been, King? How's life going for you?

• 2:35Speaker 01

  It's going okay.

• 2:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 2:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:38Drew Afualo?

  How is it being so adorable and hilarious?

• 2:40Speaker 01

  Stop. Um, it's good, although I did on my, when I was um coming here, I this is like not that interesting. I just haven't talked to anyone about it. I was trying to parallel park and they the person behind me like wasn't letting me in and it was just like one of those moments where like we were so physically close. And I actually and it was kind of like, I don't know, I I guess you saying that I'm adorable maybe made me think of this where I'm like, I looked them in the eye and was like, please, like I think they're like, ah, you know, and they were just so mad still.

• 3:12Drew Afualo?

  No, yeah, your cutie patootie didn't do anything.

• 3:14Speaker 01

  It doesn't work in those.

• 3:15Drew Afualo?

  It didn't move them.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  Contexts, so grappling with that currently.

• 3:19Drew Afualo?

  What's funny about that, I have a similar story to that where I was like going to the gym and um my fiance was driving. So we were waiting like because there was about, I don't know, ten or fifteen spots that are like fifteen thirty minutes. But then once if those are all full, you have to go behind the little barricade thing and you have to pay for parking, obviously. So there was someone in front of us and we were waiting and they kind of were blocking both lanes, so we were trying to go around them. But I think they thought we were trying to steal the spot they were pulling into.

• 3:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:51Drew Afualo?

  And it was um like they were so close, like they were in the spot was angled like this. That when she started backing up like this, she was going to hit our car.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:01Drew Afualo?

  That's just how committed she was to not giving us that spot, which I wasn't gonna take it.

• 4:06Speaker 01

  Right.

• 4:07Drew Afualo?

  Um, so then I I literally had to roll down my window and I felt like I was in a movie like in New York. I'm like, I'm walking here. I literally was like, are you fucking kidding me? You're gonna hit my car?

• 4:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:17Drew Afualo?

  And then the girl did not say anything. She didn't roll her windows down. She was in the car when we drove around her going like this.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 4:23Drew Afualo?

  Don't know what that meant.

• 4:24Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 4:25Drew Afualo?

  Don't know what that meant.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Was it like a like an EMDR tapping thing?

• 4:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I think it was like her going, everybody's yelling at me. That's what it looked like. Everybody's yelling at me. And I'm like, cuz you're about to hit my car over a spot.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  Right. It's so wild when people act fully crazy and then are like, why is everyone upset?

• 4:42Drew Afualo?

  And I, we drove around and went and parked. And then I was like, that girl better have been late for work, or I swear to God.

• 4:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:49Drew Afualo?

  I was like, I really hope, like, I was like telling myself, I hope there was a reason she needed to do that. But she almost hit my car.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  It's so crazy, the almost, I know, because people really, I don't know if it's an L, I feel like it's a little bit of an LA thing, just like crazy drivers, but like, people will, it's like a threatening, like, they're like, I'll do it.

• 5:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  And it's like, whoa, no, you shouldn't want that either.

• 5:08Drew Afualo?

  It's like a posturing thing.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  It's like a big dogging, like, I'm like, please don't. That would actually suck for both of us.

• 5:16Drew Afualo?

  I agree. It's, it's actually, yeah, the driving here is pretty nasty, awful, terrible, but I think like, it sucks too, because you have to be an aggressive driver also. Like, you also have to big dog, which I don't want to do that.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  No, it puts you in such a weird headspace. And I also like, like, so my car is bright orange.

• 5:38Drew Afualo?

  Any particular reason, or just?

• 5:40Speaker 01

  So, I did that on purpose. I thought, I thought it would be cool, like, um, it didn't really occur to me that it was like anything but cool, actually. Like, I just kind of was like, this is gonna be awesome, and I thought it looked really nice. It like, it didn't really occur to me that it would be anything except for cool until I was telling people about it and slash showing people the car, and I got a lot of responses that were like, "Okay."

• 6:08Drew Afualo?

  Orange.

• 6:09Speaker 01

  Wow, you know, and so.

• 6:10Drew Afualo?

  Interesting. We love orange here.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  I mean, listen, I love, I love orange, and that's actually a problem too, because then I'm like, wearing orange often, and I'm getting into the orange car, and I'm like, "Oh, I've become this person."

• 6:21Drew Afualo?

  The Lorax.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, whoever this is, it's now me.

• 6:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, orange is my thing.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Orange is clearly my thing. But, um, but yeah, my partner will often, like, if I'm driving kind of crazy, they're like, "You need to be careful, like, you're, it's not like you're subtle, like, it's like, you've got a bright orange car."

• 6:39Drew Afualo?

  They're like, "Yeah, and that dumbass orange car."

• 6:41Speaker 01

  Like, it makes, I do think it makes people actually angrier.

• 6:44Drew Afualo?

  So maybe it wasn't your cutie patootie face, maybe it was your orange car. That made that parallel parking situation a little bit more difficult.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  It might have been tense because of that. I also go to a place where I think the orange is so cool, I'm like, people are jealous.

• 6:59Drew Afualo?

  And that's okay, you know why? Because that is, it's essential to gaslight yourself sometimes.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:04Drew Afualo?

  I think so. I'm a huge proponent of that.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  You have to.

• 7:06Drew Afualo?

  That actually reminds me though, when your partner was saying, maybe you should chill, because you're driving an orange car. I, one time for Halloween, my partner and I were, um, the Hulk and She-Hulk. Which did warrant a lot of comments of like, um, they're cousins. To which I said, they're also not real.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  Right.

• 7:24Drew Afualo?

  So we can go off that.

• 7:25Speaker 01

  I didn't know they were cousins.

• 7:26Drew Afualo?

  Neither did I, believe it or not. I wasn't a big dork.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 7:31Drew Afualo?

  Didn't know a lot about superheroes.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Right, that's not your business. You were just dressing up as a fun costume, like.

• 7:36Drew Afualo?

  It's alright. And, um, cousins still marry often, I think, so it's alright.

• 7:40Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 7:41Drew Afualo?

  Either way, we were, we were the Hulk, but when we originally got painted, because like, my mom's, like, friend at the time, recommended this woman to me, and god bless her, I hope she's doing well. But that painting experience was, was less than favorable. I gave her a lot of pictures. I sent them to her ahead of time. I like, asked her like, can you do this? And I told her to, because she was like, oh, do you need like, beauty makeup on the face? Because obviously, when you paint one color, you just look really flat.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:10Drew Afualo?

  And I was like, no, honestly, I don't. Um, my cousin's gonna help me like, glam up the face. I just need the like, body paint, like, and the neck, more than anything.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:18Drew Afualo?

  She's like, okay, great. And, and then I said, and my fiancee, and she's like, okay, great. And when she painted, I'm actually gonna look for a picture, I'm not even kidding.

• 8:26Speaker 01

  I'm scared.

• 8:26Drew Afualo?

  I'm gonna look for a picture because this picture is actually still the contact photo of mine and my cousin Adams. In his phone.

• 8:35Speaker 01

  It's amazing.

• 8:36Drew Afualo?

  That's how you know.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  Stays the contact photo.

• 8:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, when he's like, I'm gonna make that your contact photo. It was actually so, um, god awful, but, either way, when we left, I, there was a part two in the middle of her painting me, where she was like, I wasn't facing a mirror either, which was also probably on me. But she was like, painting, and it just didn't feel great. Like, I was like, I feel like I look terrible. Like, I just had the feeling.

• 8:59Speaker 01

  You can feel it.

• 8:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then she, at one point, she goes, "Close your eyes." "Close my eye." I've had makeup done many, "Close my eye." Like, I thought she was gonna show me something, so I went, okay. So I closed my eyes like that, and then she goes,

• 9:16Drew Afualo?

  And and literally flecks of like glitter going on my lips like her her breath and the glitter all over my like you can hear that ASMR and I was going

• 9:30Drew Afualo?

  flinching and she was like well even before that when she said close your eyes she goes now my favorite part but that wasn't for me that was just to herself

• 9:43Speaker 01

  Oh no

• 9:44Drew Afualo?

  And she blows that glitter on my face either way I looked a fucking mess when I let when I left that place I was at both my fiance and I looked insane like we looked awful and terrible

• 9:57Speaker 01

  Is the glitter a part of Hulk?

• 10:00Drew Afualo?

  Oh yes she put it on my lips so she made my lips like almost like an aqua green teal and then blue silver sparkles on to my lips but obviously there's no way to like accurately aim when you're going like that so it just all over my face it's just glitter all over my face so I'm giving low key blue man group but also I was like giving Elphaba with no green paint on the face just the lips and so when we left um we were driving and we were sitting in silence because we both were like we looked terrible like both of us were like and then um my fiance was driving and then he had to kind of like

• 10:41Drew Afualo?

  flip around like make a U-turn really fast and then we cut a couple people off and had to get over just because it was the traffic was weird at the time and he was like woo that was a close one and I go yeah and then he goes I probably shouldn't be driving crazy when I look like this

• 10:57Drew Afualo?

  they're gonna have us arrested if we get pulled over and they open we roll down the window and that's what we look like

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Driving crazy and yeah because I mean the assumption would be I mean I don't know I guess substances would be involved I guess

• 11:10Drew Afualo?

  I would arrest us if I saw how we looked at that moment I would arrest us

• 11:15Speaker 01

  I'd be scared yeah

• 11:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah I'd be a little frightened I would Do you love Halloween?

• 11:19Speaker 01

  I do love Halloween

• 11:21Drew Afualo?

  What's your what's your favorite Halloween costume? That you've done, you say.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  I, I gotta say, I think my favorite was when I was Dobby. I really felt, cuz I love when I, I love when I have a costume that requires a little bit of like, like you're embodying the character.

• 11:41Drew Afualo?

  I get you, yeah, a pageantry.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 11:43Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  And it's like, Dobby, you know, like I was wearing a pillowcase, of course.

• 11:47Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 11:48Speaker 01

  And, um, and like had the ears and like the bald cap and everything. And it felt like I was just like, like running around the party, like I had to be like running around the party, like.

• 11:57Drew Afualo?

  You're, you're really getting into the character.

• 12:00Speaker 01

  Really getting into the character.

• 12:01Drew Afualo?

  Had to sell it, yeah, I get it.

• 12:02Speaker 01

  And then I was also, I was Donnie from the Wild Thornberrys, did you ever?

• 12:06Drew Afualo?

  That's a great one. And did you speak gibberish the whole night?

• 12:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I had moments, you know, I would, I would switch, but, eh, yeah.

• 12:14Drew Afualo?

  They were like, we need to get, get you away from that, the costume, you're just can't let it go.

• 12:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, like too hyper.

• 12:21Drew Afualo?

  You're Austin Butler in Elvis, like you still have that, that like months after.

• 12:27Speaker 01

  Everyone's like, so we can't understand you.

• 12:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they're like, we can't understand you and you need to stop, so how do we get there? That is so funny.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  But with the Hulk, like, did you, you got to a place where it was amended, or?

• 12:40Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah, I literally had, when we got back to the house, I had my cousin, like, cuz I had texted him and I was like, while it was happening and I saw myself for the first time, I said.

• 12:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:51Drew Afualo?

  And then I text him, I said, bitch, that's what I texted him first. And then he goes, oh my god, I'm so excited, send me a pic, I go, no, that's a bad bitch. That's a bad, that's a bad intro. And then I sent him this picture, and this is the picture that's.

• 13:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 13:10Drew Afualo?

  I don't know if you guys can see this.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  It's, I mean.

• 13:14Drew Afualo?

  Do you see the glitter on my lips?

• 13:16Speaker 01

  I, definitely, I see the glitter.

• 13:18Drew Afualo?

  Is that your favorite part? That was mine, that's why I literally was like, oh.

• 13:24Speaker 01

  It's very, it's so interesting, cuz looking at that photo, I'm realizing, like, there's so many subtleties in green characters. Like, cuz I see that and I guess, the green is, doesn't feel quite Hulk to me. I feel like that's a deeper green.

• 13:39Drew Afualo?

  No, it's giving, it, this is.

• 13:43Speaker 01

  That green is a little, I'm gonna say Shrek. I feel like that, which is different.

• 13:47Drew Afualo?

  Yes, a different kind of green person, different green vibe.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  Of course, but it's completely, no, that would be different.

• 13:53Drew Afualo?

  And like, literally, this one was even funnier because my, because my fiance has very prominent eyebrows already. And she drew even more prominent eyebrow on top of big eyebrow. Why not big eyebrow eat little eyebrow? Like, that's really where she, and then we got in the car. My fiance was like, I don't think I've ever looked worse. I was like, even like when we got there, he was like, I look like a monster. This was us driving home.

• 14:20Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 14:22Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god. This was us driving home.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Also say it's like, for those who have never had the experience of having full body paint. That is a really intense experience in and of itself.

• 14:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it is really bad. Like, it's genuinely so terrible and awful and I don't know where, like she just drew darker green lines on us too, like.

• 14:44Speaker 01

  I know, I'm like, what are the?

• 14:46Drew Afualo?

  I think it was meant to be dimension, like, I think it was meant to be like contour, almost.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  Oh my goodness.

• 14:52Drew Afualo?

  And I, that's what we looked like while we were driving. He's like, I should probably fucking chill. I said, yeah, if we get pulled over, something bad's gonna happen.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  People are just, you know.

• 15:01Drew Afualo?

  And this is where it ended.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:03Drew Afualo?

  You see how different it looks?

• 15:04Speaker 01

  Isn't that, wow. I mean, and this is your cousin fixing it?

• 15:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, this is my cousin fixing it. So he really had to rework, but when he saw us, he went, oh.

• 15:14Speaker 01

  No.

• 15:15Drew Afualo?

  And it was funny too, because we were like, like, my fiance goes, I look like a monster. And we were laughing, technically speaking, the whole is monster, I guess.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:23Drew Afualo?

  But then my cousin goes, no, you don't look like a monster. You look like those green pigs from Angry Birds.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:29Drew Afualo?

  I said, oh, oh, perfect. Okay. I was so worried it looked bad.

• 15:34Speaker 01

  Right.

• 15:35Drew Afualo?

  I was, I was worried for a sec.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's, that's great. I mean, perfect, I feel gorgeous, yeah.

• 15:39Drew Afualo?

  Perfect, that's what I was going for. I was going for Angry Birds. I needed that really badly.

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 15:44Drew Afualo?

  You ever had bad costumes?

• 15:46Speaker 01

  Bad costumes?

• 15:47Drew Afualo?

  Or ones that were embarrassing? Looking back?

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Well.

• 15:51Drew Afualo?

  That's really the only time I looked like awful awful, I would say.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  I, I'm trying to think, I mean, this is like different, but the, the thing that came to my mind was like, I was, I transferred into a new school district, basically, when I was in sixth grade. And I remember the Halloween of sixth grade. I, well, first of all, I was like, um, like not the coolest sort of kid. I was really, I was really passionate and I had a lot of zest for life.

• 16:25Drew Afualo?

  Gotcha.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  But in terms of middle school, like not super like, um, not super successful there. So that's a preface, but when I transferred into this new school, you know, there were like the cool kids and I was sort of like learning the landscape. And for Halloween, I for some reason got fixated on being, um, a jazzy ladybug. It was just some, I think it's like, was like things that I found around the house.

• 16:49Drew Afualo?

  Like a ladybug that loves jazz?

• 16:50Speaker 01

  Like a ladybug that loves jazz.[63.3 And also like really specifically not like playing jazz music, but just like a lover of jazz. Just a lover of the art. Yeah, like I think it's because I had like these ladybug wings and then I also like found like a top hat and I was like, perfect, like I have a vision. I don't know, I was just like, I felt, I felt gorgeous. Right. So I was a jazzy ladybug. And that's all that matters. And when I came to school, like, all of the popular girls were actually also ladybugs. What? But they like- You guys were having a diva off? But this was the crazy thing was like, and this is like, I don't know, maybe cut this out. Maybe, I don't know, like, but I, like, you know, middle school is a really interesting time.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  I will say like their costumes were like from the like sexy Halloween section. Got you, got you, got you. Like they were doing like a sexy thing, which feels insane to say, but it's like that is when that kind of starts happening. Right, right, right, right, right. I got you. And so it was just like, like optically like-

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Very different. Costume contests and they were sort of like, there are all, there's a bunch of ladybugs this year, but like one is like really different. But one loves jazz. Loves jazz and is like really like, like not just fully clothed, like extra clothed.

• 18:02Drew Afualo?

  All the clothes.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  Like as many clothes as possible, like very layered.

• 18:05Drew Afualo?

  If ladybugs could wear all the clothes, that's and love jazz.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:08Drew Afualo?

  You got your guy.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, so that was kind of my vibe. And I just remembered so it was like one of those moments that as a kid, you're like, I like, I didn't have the language for it, but I was like, something is happening here. Like a dynamic that I'm like, I feel like this will come up again. I don't know what it is, but I'm just gonna, something's going on.

• 18:25Drew Afualo?

  This is gonna be one of those moments in my life.

• 18:27Speaker 01

  Something, I'm gonna come back to this.

• 18:28Drew Afualo?

  For better or for worse.

• 18:32Drew Afualo?

  I was just talking about that with something similar to that with my fiance last night, because we have recently been rewatching the High School Musical movies. Were you a fan of those movies?

• 18:42Speaker 01

  I wasn't at the time, but I have since come to appreciate it, of course.

• 18:47Drew Afualo?

  I'm a musical theater girl, so I love, I was a High School Musical girl down. But like, we've been watching, we've been rewatching the movies and I like remember so much about like when they premiered and stuff. So I've been like, obviously I'm talking during the entire movie. Giving my fiance all the backstory, the lore on everything. And as we were talking, for some reason, like, because we were talking, I think it's because we were talking about movies filmed like based in high school. And then Grease came up. And I was like, yeah, Grease is so funny because Grease is like, everybody's at least forty-two.

• 19:18Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 19:19Drew Afualo?

  And they're all playing um, high schoolers, which is so funny. And then he goes, really? I go, yeah, they were all so old. And then he was like, I don't know, I've never seen Grease. And I went,

• 19:31Drew Afualo?

  are you fucking kidding? And the only reason that is like shocking to hear to me, not that my husband hasn't seen it, like it's more so the fact that he like, he hasn't seen a lot of things, like, like many, many, many, many things that are like pop culture-y. But um, I had a very intense Grease phase when I was in middle school.

• 19:52Drew Afualo?

  I was so

• 19:53Speaker 01

  That's so cute.

• 19:54Drew Afualo?

  I was so balls deep in that movie. I have told stories on this pod many times about like listening to the deluxe CD that my parents got me and like belting every single day in the car with my dad. Cause at the time, my sister was in a different school, cause she was older than me. So my, she would go with my mom and I would go with my dad. And I said this to you last night, but I was like, I also was, that was the first time I ever listened to a book on tape. Was with my dad and the first time I ever did, it was the Da Vinci Code.

• 20:20Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 20:21Drew Afualo?

  Which is kinda heavy material for like a sixth grader, but you know, my dad was like, we're gonna listen to this and we listened to the entire thing. So when people tell me, have you read the Da Vinci Code? I always say yes, even though I can't remember a goddamn thing.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Because it was like on the way to school, you were listening to it?

• 20:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was listening to it, yeah. I was just absorbing it into my brain. I was just like, wow.

• 20:39Speaker 01

  Wow, what a way to wake up in the morning.

• 20:41Drew Afualo?

  I know. And my dad like, if you knew my dad too, that also is kind of strange that my dad wanted to listen to the Da Vinci Code, but you know.

• 20:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:49Drew Afualo?

  So one of the things though was like, I, when I got a CD player, I was like, oh, I'll listen to my music in the car. And then my dad could listen to the radio and that was like, I would belt Grease songs all the fucking time. And then one time my dad, my dad would sit in traffic and like listen to that at the same time, God love him. And then one time my dad reached over and he's like, hey, I can't do it today bud.

• 21:08Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 21:09Drew Afualo?

  I can't do it today. Can you sing a little bit? I can't do it today.

• 21:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:12Drew Afualo?

  And I was like, oh.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  My god.

• 21:13Drew Afualo?

  And it's so funny, cause when I told that story to my fiance, we were laughing about it and I go, I think the funniest part about that memory in my head is that I distinctly remember it happening. And it, and I remember at the time, even though I was like 10 or 11.

• 21:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:25Drew Afualo?

  I was like, that's funny as fuck that you would ask me that.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 21:29Drew Afualo?

  Like it didn't hurt my feelings at all. I was like, oh, word? My bad.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:32Drew Afualo?

  And he was like, yeah, I just, I can't, I can't do it today. I can't do it today.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  Yeah. You're like recognizing like, this is a funny situation and you had to tell me that.

• 21:38Drew Afualo?

  That's what I was thinking. I was literally telling him last night. I was like, I really do think, I was like, that's funny as hell, but you're like, hey, can you shut the fuck up just for one day?

• 21:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, cause it's also such a like teachable moment. Like, you know, like you remember that and it was also probably for you a little bit of like, oh, boundaries. Like, oh, like morning time, maybe not screaming singing.

• 21:58Drew Afualo?

  Maybe my dad's going through a lot. Like, I was thinking my dad's sitting in traffic, going to a job he hates. My dad's like twenty eight. No, no, no. At the time, I think my dad was like in his thirties, like early thirties. Oh, man, I can't even imagine.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  I, I know. Being a parent, I'm like, you, oh, my god.

• 22:14Drew Afualo?

  Do you want to be a parent?

• 22:16Speaker 01

  I don't know. I really am like fully, fully undecided.

• 22:19Drew Afualo?

  Well, that's good. You have time.

• 22:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm young.

• 22:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you're so young.

• 22:23Speaker 01

  I also feel like if I did, I don't think it would be for a while anyway. Like, I feel like, I feel like I could be forty having my first kid.

• 22:30Drew Afualo?

  Why not?

• 22:31Speaker 01

  Why not?

• 22:31Drew Afualo?

  Fuck it.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  Like, if I was going to, because I'm like, well, I'm not ready anytime soon for sure.

• 22:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  Financially or otherwise.

• 22:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I, I actually don't want kids.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  You're hard now.

• 22:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I found that out, I, I found that out like, I would say officially in like twenty twenty, but I was always kind of on the fence. I was kind of like, hmm, I guess. But it was never a like, yes, that sounds awesome.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:56Drew Afualo?

  Which now I know for me was, was my answer.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:00Drew Afualo?

  Like, because I'm so convicted about every single thing, that like, for that to be like, I guess, I, I'm never like middle of the road on anything.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 23:08Drew Afualo?

  Especially something as serious as that.

• 23:10Speaker 01

  I also feel like with, like, women in particular, there's like, like, people, I'm sure, obviously, you've gotten so many different responses about it, but like, there's the thing of like, oh, you're unsure now, but one day.

• 23:22Drew Afualo?

  No, yeah.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  Honey, just you wait, you're gonna wake up and say, give me a baby. And it's like so, which is insane on so many levels, because it's like, right, like you're saying, it's like, well, if you're undecided, I think you should listen to that.

• 23:34Drew Afualo?

  Right, right.

• 23:35Speaker 01

  And like, or if you're.

• 23:36Drew Afualo?

  At least give it pause.

• 23:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, even if you're kind of like, I don't really know how I feel. It's like, well, it's, it's gonna change your life forever and ever.

• 23:43Drew Afualo?

  Right, right, and it's kind of something you can't opt out of.

• 23:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, it's a forever thing, and fundamentally changes like all your relationships, how you structure, like, it's like, it's, it's, yeah, the biggest decision one could make.

• 23:54Drew Afualo?

  Right, I agree, and I, I literally think the same. I always think too, to myself, I'm like, you know, it would be, I think, in everyone's best interest overall. For people to be very fucking sure that they want to be a parent. I think that would benefit everybody greatly.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 24:08Drew Afualo?

  Especially children.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, especially them.

• 24:11Speaker 01

  Especially them. They're sort of the recipients of those complicated feelings.

• 24:16Drew Afualo?

  I think, I think it's a beautiful thing, though, when you're like, actually, even if you're not sure, you're like, I, I need to focus on me right now. I think that's a beautiful thing. It's actually, to me, a really selfless thing to do because you're, you could procreate and that could, you could really, really, really, if you really wanted to. Like, and you weren't that sure, like, emotionally, you could always just do it. But when you choose not to, because you're like, I'm just unsure, I think that's a really beautiful thing to do. Because you're like, I want to be able to give a child a wonderful life if I do decide to have a child.

• 24:45Speaker 01

  Thank you, yeah, I think that is, that is kind of my vibe with it. Because it is like, I also think there's like, so many people have kids and actually expect to be able to control what, like, how that goes.

• 24:59Drew Afualo?

  Right, right, yeah.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  And I feel like-

• 25:00Drew Afualo?

  What they do, how they turn out.

• 25:02Speaker 01

  How they turn out, who they are, like, people want like a mini me or whatever, and it's like, that is so wild to me.

• 25:08Drew Afualo?

  Right, I agree.

• 25:09Speaker 01

  Because it's like, you can't, you can't like, control anything in life.

• 25:13Drew Afualo?

  Right, and you shouldn't want to either.

• 25:15Speaker 01

  You shouldn't want to, but like, let alone like another human being, I'm like,

• 25:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  I don't know who the kid's gonna be. They could want, like, I, I don't know, you know, like, so-

• 25:23Drew Afualo?

  You could do everything right and they could turn out to be a murderer.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 25:27Drew Afualo?

  You could do everything wrong and they could turn out to be awesome, like, it's really, it's really not up to you, ultimately.

• 25:32Speaker 01

  It's really not, and that's terrifying, obviously.

• 25:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's extremely horrifying and I am contributing to the world by putting pee pee poo poo time on the internet. That is my contribution to this world.

• 25:42Speaker 01

  You, I mean, I feel like a lot of people would say that you actually have many children.

• 25:46Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 25:47Speaker 01

  I am mother. From you every day.

• 25:48Drew Afualo?

  I am giving mother.

• 25:51Speaker 01

  To say the least, you know.

• 25:53Drew Afualo?

  Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Euphoria Calvin Klein just dropped the new Elixir Collection by Calvin Klein, featuring three Parfum Intense Scent inspired by a unique Orchid Accord paired with Vanilla. Each one has its own distinct attitude, its own universe. Bold Elixir is sensual, woody, and addictive. Magnetic Elixir is sweet and romantic, like a lingering touch. And Solar Elixir is bright and radiant, joy in a bottle. They're ultra-concentrated for a scent that really lasts. Find your euphoria with the Euphoria Elixir Collection by Calvin Klein. But we'll do a pivot to comedy, to stand-up. How is stand-up going?

• 26:37Drew Afualo?

  You're one of my favorite stand-ups, but how's it going?

• 26:39Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 26:40Drew Afualo?

  I know you've done a lot of really cool things in the last year.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  I've been trying. I've been trying out new stuff. I mean, I think like, I sometimes take a break. Like, I'm coming off a bit of like a break from stand-up because I feel like sometimes, sometimes you just got in and you don't have time. But also, like, I try to remember why I love it so much.

• 26:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you gotta refill the cup a little bit.

• 27:01Speaker 01

  You do. And then there's also, like, I was just talking about this with someone, like, there's also the, like, crazy vulnerability of like, like, because I'm kind of like building a new hour right now. And it's so crazy when you start to do that and you're like, okay, what am I gonna talk about? And then you have to like, look at your life and be like, oh, these are the things that are sort of coming up continuously. It's like a weird, like, self-exploration kind of moment.

• 27:23Drew Afualo?

  Oh, that's so interesting. That's so true. Especially at different phases of your life, too.

• 27:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:28Drew Afualo?

  Like, you're seeing how things are shifting and evolving. That's so interesting.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  It's interesting. It's also like, kind of humiliating, too, because it is like, at the end of the day, like, certain themes just prevail. Like, no matter how new I think material is, it's like, I don't know, like, I'm going to talk about, like, how people perceive me as being like, much younger than I am. Like, that's like something that like, always, always comes up because it is like, a theme in my life that feels like it relates to other things.

• 27:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  And then it's like-

• 27:56Drew Afualo?

  And it's consistent, too.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  It's consistent. It's just like, yeah, I don't know. But it's kind of funny, like, what, yeah, what feels like it always comes out.

• 28:03Drew Afualo?

  And I know you wrote for I Love L.A.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  I did.

• 28:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and how was that?

• 28:07Speaker 01

  It was awesome.

• 28:08Drew Afualo?

  Oh my gosh, first of all, congratulations. How fucking cool.

• 28:10Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 28:10Drew Afualo?

  But how was it? Like, how was the experience of writing and writing for the show and everything?

• 28:14Speaker 01

  It was so fun. I mean, I really, really, I love writing and being in a writer's room. Being in a writer's room is so fun. You're like- Basically, just like talking all day long and especially cuz I was like it was my first room and I was like I was a staff writer so that meant that I'm like the baby writer basically.

• 28:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 28:34Speaker 01

  My job was just like essentially to come in and be like, uh, what if they do this today? Like, what if they go to the beach? And then like kind of like, bye. Like it's like this sort of like you're like invested in there, but also you like don't have to deal with all like the heady things that like the upper levels do.

• 28:48Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Um, so it was awesome. I mean, it's it's so fun and like, you know, met great people. I love other writers and knowing them and so it was really, it was great.

• 29:00Drew Afualo?

  I know your picture in front of your TV with your name on there is so fucking cute.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was really fun. It's like, yeah, writing's awesome.

• 29:07Drew Afualo?

  What would you say is your ultimate goal? I feel like you would do so well writing a show like for real, like a Broad City or something like that or even like, what's another one? Oh, like Abbott? Like something like that. Like what is your, what's your like dream in in the writing world?

• 29:21Speaker 01

  My dream in the writing world? I mean, I I do, I love TV. I feel like right now my heart is a little bit with movies, honestly.

• 29:29Drew Afualo?

  Really? I love that.

• 29:31Speaker 01

  Which I don't really, I mean, maybe it's also like, you know, the industry's like in the toilet or whatever, but like I think it's also like movies. The space of like indie film right now is just like such an exciting place, especially with like queer stuff and like stuff that I think is like, you know, hard to sell.

• 29:50Speaker 01

  For some reason, no one wants to sell or whatever. Like, I think it's like a really exciting place to be because it just feels like there's a little bit less of like like guardrails of what you're supposed to be writing about to make it interesting to bigger audiences or something.

• 30:01Drew Afualo?

  Right, totally.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Um, so yeah.

• 30:04Drew Afualo?

  You don't have to cater or pander, really.

• 30:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Or even like you don't have to like, like I think for many reasons, writing for TV consists of like, there's so many people at different levels that are being like, this works, this doesn't, or you know, whatever, networks and all those things.

• 30:19Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 30:20Speaker 01

  And a lot of times, I mean, Hollywood is like in the Stone ages like it's like kind of crazy how behind a lot of things.

• 30:29Drew Afualo?

  No, you're actually so right.

• 30:30Speaker 01

  Are.

• 30:30Drew Afualo?

  It's actually fucking insane.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  It's really crazy because I think.

• 30:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 30:34Speaker 01

  I assumed and I feel like many people assume that it's like, you know, progress. I mean, progressive and it is in some ways, but it's also like truly, I think people are still like, I don't know. Like, can you have two gay characters?

• 30:47Drew Afualo?

  Is that like too much?

• 30:48Speaker 01

  Is that too much? Then it's the gay show, you know?

• 30:51Drew Afualo?

  Okay, but then gays everywhere.

• 30:52Speaker 01

  Right, like that just feels like I don't know if people are gonna quite get what we're doing here. Like, it's like truly those conversations are happening.

• 30:57Drew Afualo?

  There's two, then they're gonna get them confused.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 30:59Drew Afualo?

  And you're like, well, they look completely.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  And then their stories are gonna be like the same because they're both just, I mean, well, they're just gay.

• 31:05Drew Afualo?

  And all gay people do the same things.

• 31:07Speaker 01

  They do the same thing and they're gonna be at the same, I don't know, bar? Like, it's like, wait, what? It's so crazy. So I feel like lately I've been kind of dreaming of like, um, yeah, in the movie space and like.

• 31:18Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 31:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:19Drew Afualo?

  I think that's amazing. Do you have any like current projects that you're kind of working on? You don't have to spoil anything if you don't like to, but this is the place you manifest. If you really wanna get something.

• 31:30Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 31:31Drew Afualo?

  Off the ground, let's talk about it, baby.

• 31:32Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, I'm gonna manifest. Because I did actually just finish writing my like first real feature.

• 31:38Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God, how cool. Congratulations.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  Thanks.

• 31:41Drew Afualo?

  That's so amazing.

• 31:42Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 31:43Drew Afualo?

  I love that.

• 31:44Speaker 01

  It was really fun. It's like so hard to, I don't know, writing a movie.

• 31:48Drew Afualo?

  No, I'm fucking sure. I can only imagine.

• 31:51Speaker 01

  It's really interesting what your brain can do in those situations. How like you can sort of like overcomplicate things and whatever.

• 31:58Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 31:59Speaker 01

  But yeah, it's basically about, um, this, uh, a trans guy who gets a job working at a senior living facility. And, um, puts on a play with the residents there.

• 32:12Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God.

• 32:16Speaker 01

  And there's a lot of, you know, there's like a sort of like other like sort of, um, you know, there's like a rom com element with him and like this other person. But like, I. I do feel like I'm like truly I am manifesting like I feel like it will get made.

• 32:30Drew Afualo?

  I believe that. I believe it. It will get made. Absolutely. I say it now and in this chair, that's the chair you manifest. Absolutely.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:38Drew Afualo?

  I am so excited to see it. I can't wait to see it. Did you write yourself into the starring role? Cause that's what I do.

• 32:43Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, I did.

• 32:45Drew Afualo?

  I know. I call that my Lin-Manuel Miranda angle.

• 32:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:48Drew Afualo?

  I'm like, you can have it. I'm just, I'm principal talent.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  You have to. Yeah, yeah.

• 32:52Drew Afualo?

  Unfortunately, you can't make it without me.

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, absolutely. And it's like, and it's like, you know, it's already your voice. So it's like, no, like truly you can't make it without me.

• 33:00Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely. There can, no one else can play that role. It has to be you.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  Do you have stuff you're working on? Have you written stuff?

• 33:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, well, I'm writing my next few books. So I'm writing two books, two more books right now, but they're fiction books. So I'm writing more like a fantasy romance kind of book.

• 33:16Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 33:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, very cool, honestly.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  Awesome.

• 33:19Drew Afualo?

  I know. I'm super excited about it. I literally got back into like fiction reading a couple of years ago and like I used to love reading like fiction, romanticy, dystopian stuff. Like I loved The Hunger Games. I loved Twilight. Like I loved those books. So like as an adult, you just kind of stop reading or you, or you only read memoirs, which I was like, what? Or like things that help grow your brain, which I have been doing as an adult. When I wrote my, my book, like the one that's already out, I stopped reading like any sort of feminist theory or anything. Um, so that nothing, cause I have a photographic memory. So I've, I always like live in fear that it will imprint in here and then I'll just like write it without realizing that it doesn't belong to me. So there were certain things I was like Googling to make sure that it didn't belong to anyone. I was like, okay, no, that's my thought.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:03Drew Afualo?

  Cause sometimes I just absorb shit. So I'm like, I need to be chill.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  Which I think is good to just be doing in general. But like, I, yeah, that would be stressful.

• 34:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. And like during that year that I stopped reading like nonfiction, I started, I was like, well, I still want to read something. So I started reading fiction.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:17Drew Afualo?

  And like, it's so fun. Like adult fiction, so fun. Loving it. And I know the girls go crazy for it on TikTok. The book Talk Girls take that shit serious.

• 34:26Speaker 01

  I mean, yeah. Also like. Oh, I think so brilliant for so many reasons to be for you specifically to be in like the fantasy romance space.

• 34:34Drew Afualo?

  Thank you.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  I feel like, first of all, yeah, people love those books. It's also like this market of like, I, I mean, I haven't read a ton of them, but I also feel like you're so, you have such a strong voice, especially like as like with women.

• 34:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 34:48Speaker 01

  And I feel like sometimes like the female characters in those books can get a little like forgotten or something.

• 34:52Drew Afualo?

  No, yeah.

• 34:53Speaker 01

  Underestimated.

• 34:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's very like, I'm so small and human, like, oh, how am I supposed to?

• 34:58Speaker 01

  I know they're always tiny.

• 35:00Drew Afualo?

  They're also tiny and seventeen.

• 35:02Speaker 01

  Why are they tiny?

• 35:03Drew Afualo?

  And then it's my eighteenth birthday and I have these huge tits.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  Ah, like, oh my god.

• 35:08Drew Afualo?

  Me, as they're like bouncing their tits.

• 35:10Speaker 01

  Crazy, I know, yeah, the description of like, you're like, wait, I saw, is the whole paragraph about her boobs bouncing?

• 35:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's just a lot of motion in there, yeah, like her, a young hoe, she's bouncing her tits. I literally, I said the same thing when I was like, I think maybe I could write fiction, because I read a ton of them. I read them all across the board, different, spanning different kinds and genres of romanticy specifically. And so my book series is gonna be based on like, like the inspiration for it is coming from like Polynesian like mythological like lore. So there's like so many like legends and fables about how they explained like the wind and the trees and the sun. Like they were polytheistic prior to being colonized. So I'm like kind of pulling from that to write something, because I haven't read anything like that.

• 35:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:52Drew Afualo?

  And then, um, also I was like, I made my girl thirty, my main girl.

• 35:56Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 35:57Drew Afualo?

  And I, and then she looks like me.

• 35:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:00Drew Afualo?

  Who are we gonna cast?

• 36:02Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 36:03Drew Afualo?

  Oh, who?

• 36:04Speaker 01

  Oh my god, I'm so excited to read it.

• 36:06Drew Afualo?

  And I have like, uh, I also, also have a trans character in my cast, and I also have a lesbian in my cast.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  Oh, look at that.

• 36:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, but see, I'm, I'm having two gays, and I don't think anyone will confuse them.

• 36:20Speaker 01

  No.

• 36:20Drew Afualo?

  I don't think so.

• 36:21Speaker 01

  There's many types. At the end of the day, there's many different types.

• 36:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, so I'm very excited, I think it's, it's gonna be really fun, but I, I remember when I was meeting, uh, with publishers about it. There was one that I met with, I can't even remember the name, but, um, the girl had asked me on the, on the meeting, she was like, oh, I'm like, love it, love the proposal, thought it was wonderful, super interested, just curious, like, are you interested in making her twenty-three?

• 36:45Speaker 01

  Stop.

• 36:47Drew Afualo?

  I said, who? And she's like, the main girl, are you interested in making her 23? And I go, no, I'm not. She's 30. And it's funny too, because she's actually, um, a fucking fairy. So like, she's actually 700. So it's really all relative, isn't it? Like, it's all relative, isn't it? Like, and the way we wrote it too, was very like, she is 700 or 70. I don't even remember, me not even remembering. She's like 700 years old or some shit. So like, she just looks 30. That's like what we wrote.

• 37:15Speaker 01

  Right.

• 37:16Drew Afualo?

  So, no, I don't want to change that to she looks about 17 years old.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Would you mind having her be as tiny as a little shoe?

• 37:24Drew Afualo?

  Dude.

• 37:25Speaker 03

  What will we make her tiny?

• 37:27Speaker 01

  And can she just be so petite?

• 37:31Drew Afualo?

  I know, I literally was like, no, I have zero interest in that. She's 30.

• 37:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:34Drew Afualo?

  And technically speaking, she's 700 and everybody else is older than her. So I think it's okay.

• 37:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it's completely.

• 37:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like her main, like, like the, one of the dudes I met, he's only like a hot, he's like a couple hundred years older than her. I think it's alright.

• 37:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think that age gap.

• 37:48Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they're not real and it's all fiction. And then there's a lot of magic, so I think it's okay. The most unbelievable part is that she's 30 and hot and, and young in turn.

• 37:57Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 37:58Drew Afualo?

  Not, not the fact that they have magic in the world. That's not the most unbelievable part.

• 38:02Speaker 01

  But it's, of course, of course, that's a note though.

• 38:04Drew Afualo?

  But that's why it reminds me of what you were saying earlier about like it being, they being, like them being stuck in the Stone Ages. It's a very like, well, she's not like, mm. How's anyone gonna read it? And I'm like, mostly women read these, so it's gonna be fine.

• 38:16Speaker 01

  Most, I know, that's the interesting thing about that genre is it is like, the fan base is largely women. And yet, I'm like, what is going on?

• 38:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's very, I said, I saw that hole in that market, I'm gonna plug it.

• 38:26Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 38:27Drew Afualo?

  So, and I, I made her older and everybody's brown.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  Perfect.

• 38:31Drew Afualo?

  There you go. And I was like, and if any white people show up, I'm gonna kill them.

• 38:36Drew Afualo?

  I'm gonna kill them off. That's what I'm gonna do.

• 38:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:38Drew Afualo?

  I'm gonna give them a Walking Dead death, like when they, when they, what was the, what was that guy's name? When they hit his head with the bat. Was it Glenn? Did anyone watch uh The Walking Dead in here?

• 38:47Speaker 01

  I didn't.

• 38:48Drew Afualo?

  Wow, my whole crew, nobody's seen The Walking Dead. I, I've never seen it either.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Are you a huge fan?

• 38:55Drew Afualo?

  I'm talking all that shit. Glenn, I was right.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  Okay, you're right.

• 38:58Drew Afualo?

  Glenn, a lot of people, okay, Walking Dead fans will laugh at that, but like they were so pissed off when he died and they like beat the fuck out of him like with his head. So, anywho.

• 39:07Speaker 01

  Yikes.

• 39:07Drew Afualo?

  I forgot what my point was.

• 39:10Speaker 01

  That's what you're gonna do to every white person.

• 39:12Drew Afualo?

  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. If they do show up on the island dead.

• 39:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I guess that's kinda my point, but I'm very excited.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:19Drew Afualo?

  Look at us. Two worker bees.

• 39:21Speaker 01

  Yes, manifesting.

• 39:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, we're manifesting, writing ourselves roles.

• 39:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:25Drew Afualo?

  And you know what, that's, that's actually, I'm so glad that you did that because one of my, a lot of my friends too who are also in the same business as us, they've been like, honestly, you gotta write your own shit.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:33Drew Afualo?

  Especially if you're not, if you don't look or appear as Jacob Elordi or Sydney Sweeney.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:39Drew Afualo?

  You gotta write your own shit.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  You do.

• 39:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like.

• 39:42Speaker 01

  And it's gonna be so much more interesting than what someone would try to write for you as well.

• 39:47Drew Afualo?

  Like, different perspective.

• 39:48Speaker 01

  Different perspective, like, I'm like, I mean, I have and I am happy to play like the roles that go out to me, which are like, you know, like gay barista or whatever, like, or like, you know, like crazy friend who's like kinda dumb but along for the ride. Like, I'm like, literally, like, I have fun in those roles and will play them, and also, I'm like, I just know that I have to write, if I wanna play like a complicated.

• 40:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, a complex character.

• 40:13Speaker 01

  Anybody like that, then it just like, it is like, that exists in the universe that, um, the powers that be sometimes don't know that it exists.

• 40:21Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely, or that it will work.

• 40:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:23Drew Afualo?

  Like with audiences, which I'm like, you're, you're so real for that too, where it's like, I gotta write my own stuff because for better, for worse, like they, they don't see the vision.

• 40:33Speaker 01

  No.

• 40:33Drew Afualo?

  So you have to like create it yourself and get it funded.

• 40:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:36Drew Afualo?

  And I believe in you. I am so excited. I can't wait to, I imagine your movie looking like, uh, the movie Sorry Baby.

• 40:44Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 40:44Drew Afualo?

  Like, I imagine it looking like that. I feel like I loved that movie too, I thought it was wonderful.

• 40:49Speaker 01

  Gorgeous.

• 40:49Drew Afualo?

  What other movies are you loving? I know you said you've been really into movies lately.

• 40:53Speaker 01

  I I am, I am an AMC A-Lister.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  Not to brag.

• 40:57Drew Afualo?

  So is my friend Carrie.

• 40:58Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 40:59Drew Afualo?

  She does love her AMC A-list.

• 41:00Speaker 01

  I I mean, I love it. Honestly, most like, I mean, I love it for a million reasons. A big one being that it is like, well, okay, no, two big reasons. One, when I'm like at my broke-est or like not wanting to spend money, it's always like the thing that I keep. Because I'm like, okay, what it's such a great way to still hang out with people, go out.

• 41:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally. They raised the price today. I think. They raised. Two days. They raised the prices today. To what? Thirty dollars. Thirty dollars.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  Thirty dollars, and I will say like, it makes me worried about, well, MoviePass? Like, I wonder if they're in a similar kind of like MoviePass situation. Do you remember that?

• 41:36Drew Afualo?

  What the hell?

• 41:38Speaker 01

  It lived and died and it was like such a moment and I'm.

• 41:40Drew Afualo?

  They're trying to take your guys' Baba, which is AMC A-list.

• 41:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, literally.

• 41:45Drew Afualo?

  They're trying to take Baba.

• 41:46Speaker 01

  I was an early adopter of A-list. Like, it was like kind of the, anyway, but. But it also is the kind of thing where like, I'm seeing movies that I never would have seen otherwise, because I'm like, why not?

• 41:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's true. That's a really good, that's a good point.

• 41:59Speaker 01

  Um, that being said, the movie that I'm gonna now name-drop is not one that I saw at AMC.

• 42:07Speaker 01

  Because sometimes they don't show the really interesting stuff.

• 42:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  But, um, this movie, it's called Griffin in Summer.

• 42:14Drew Afualo?

  Okay.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  Or Griffin in the Summer. Do you know it?

• 42:16Drew Afualo?

  I just.

• 42:16Speaker 01

  It's ama- to me, okay.

• 42:18Drew Afualo?

  Film buffs.

• 42:19Speaker 01

  It's a beacon for many reasons. One, it was made very cheaply and then it premiered at Tribeca, I think. And then now it got, you know, distributed and whatever, but it's like a beautiful, beautiful, sweet movie. It was inspiring for my movie as well, where it's like about this like really cute little kid putting on a play in his mom's house, basically.

• 42:40Drew Afualo?

  Oh, cute.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  But there's like other elements, no spoilers, but it's just, it's so sweet, it's so well-written, it's so well-acted.

• 42:46Drew Afualo?

  Very cool.

• 42:47Speaker 01

  And it just makes me excited for the world, because I'm like, that movie got made and people are now watching it.

• 42:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 42:52Speaker 01

  Hopefully, it just only leads to more.

• 42:53Drew Afualo?

  No, absolutely. I love that. I, that's how I felt when I watched Sorry Baby. I was like, this is such, and I'm someone too, like, who can't. Trigger warning, it is about assault. I'm someone who cannot watch stuff that depicts assault in any regard because it truly will haunt me. It'll give me nightmares, it'll make me throw up. So I like, I literally cannot watch anything like that. Which is why a lot of times I'll have my sister watch stuff ahead of me and let me know if I, if I'm fearful that something bad might happen in it. And then she'll be like, no, nothing happens in it. I'm like, okay. But that one I knew, the way that a lot of people online were talking about it, I was like, I feel like she is able to talk about it in a way that's not harmful to people watching.

• 43:33Drew Afualo?

  And it's true, it was, it was done in such a beautiful, respectful way and like allowed her to tell the story as she experienced it. Which allowed me to not get too like scared watching and enjoy the film. And it was such a beautiful film.

• 43:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:48Drew Afualo?

  And it was so well-written and well-acted, like it was honestly amazing.

• 43:51Speaker 01

  It was beautiful.

• 43:52Drew Afualo?

  Ten out of ten. So I, I get your, your perspective of like wanting to watch movies like, or amplify movies that more people should go watch.

• 44:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:00Drew Afualo?

  Because they're so fucking awesome.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  They're so awesome. I mean, I just love going, I love going to the movies and just being in like a fully different world for that little period of time.

• 44:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 44:11Speaker 01

  And just like, like I went, okay, also Train Dreams.

• 44:15Drew Afualo?

  Oh yeah, I haven't watched Train Dreams yet.

• 44:18Speaker 01

  I went alone and watched that movie and literally sobbed from two minutes in until the end. Um, but it was like me, it was like a weird like middle of the day screening at this theater and I was like, everyone was, that was there was seeing it alone. Like it was, all of us were like unemployed and seeing Train Dreams alone. And I, but it was so beautiful because I, like you just feel connected to all these people, but also that movie, I mean, that was such an, the epitome of like, leaving and being like, I am changed from those two hours. And it's just awesome.

• 44:47Drew Afualo?

  I know. And you know what? I love the fucking movies. In fact, Carrie and you have now inspired me to do the AMCA list. I haven't been to the movies in a while because like where I lived for a long time, the, it was a smaller town and the, there was only like two movie theaters. And every time I would go to the movies, it would be a lot of like, if you're the movie, or you're me in the movie. And I'm a person sitting in front of you. This, it was a lot of this.

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• 45:49Speaker 01

  No, I think that's her. Oh, God, nightmare.

• 45:53Drew Afualo?

  And there was a lot of churning and staring right at me during movie.

• 45:57Speaker 01

  That's... Guys, okay, PSA, that's inappropriate behavior.

• 46:02Drew Afualo?

  That's also not very good movie etiquette.

• 46:04Speaker 01

  Movie etiquette, life etiquette. That's just like, that's not how we should be doing it.

• 46:09Drew Afualo?

  Right, I was like, I want to enjoy the movie. And I was like, also, this is How to Train Your Dragon, it's fucking fine. You guys don't need... Yes, I went to the movies to go see How to Train Your Dragon.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  God forbid.

• 46:18Drew Afualo?

  I did. God forbid a girl wants to experience whimsy. God for fucking bid.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  No, yeah, yeah. No, you won't have that issue at AMC, honey.

• 46:27Drew Afualo?

  The AMC A-list, honey, they don't play about that.

• 46:29Speaker 01

  No, that would not fly at AMC.

• 46:31Drew Afualo?

  Well, now I know about the $30 up charge, what the hell?

• 46:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, that does suck.

• 46:36Drew Afualo?

  They know, they know, they're on to us, that everybody's enjoying it.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  It's that, or they're like going bankrupt. Because they also raised the prices like not that long ago. I think it was like maybe 10 or 11 months ago.

• 46:46Drew Afualo?

  Damn.

• 46:47Speaker 01

  They raised the price up $2. Because when I started, I think it was $24.99.

• 46:51Drew Afualo?

  Shit, times are tough.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  Times are tough.

• 46:54Drew Afualo?

  Even the AMC is experiencing it.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  I never thought I'd see the day.

• 46:58Drew Afualo?

  Okay, I do have some fun facts about you. If you'd like to go over them. We have, yeah, we have, we have switched it up a little bit since the last time we were here. Okay, so this first one says, "Growing up, EJ went on school field trips to fish hatcheries."

• 47:15Speaker 01

  Oh my god, yes.

• 47:17Drew Afualo?

  What the hell is a fish hatchery?

• 47:19Speaker 01

  Uh, okay, well, they're honestly amazing. I didn't appreciate them enough at the time. But, um, cuz I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and so-

• 47:28Drew Afualo?

  PNW.

• 47:28Speaker 01

  PNW.

• 47:29Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 47:30Speaker 01

  You know, salmon, like, we were very much, and I think this is awesome, like, I feel like we learned a ton about salmon in school, obviously, because they're really cool fish. But also, like, because that's just kind of, I don't know if there's a state fish, but I feel like it should, it would be salmon.

• 47:48Drew Afualo?

  Not sure, but it's, it might be salmon.

• 47:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's an untapped, um, market, but, um, branding for, I don't know, state fish, I don't know what I'm talking about. But yeah, so we would go to the fish hatcheries, basically, okay, now there's gonna be, like, I'm gonna get some of this wrong, but my memory of it is, like, we would go and it was usually near or a part of a dam in, like, a river.

• 48:13Drew Afualo?

  Okay, okay.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  And, and that would be, and there would be like a glass, like a window, and you would see all of the, like, where the fish had laid all of their eggs.

• 48:23Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 48:24Speaker 01

  And then eventually, you're like so grossed out.

• 48:27Drew Afualo?

  Well, I'm imagining, I have, I feel like I low-key have tryphophobia, so I'm like imagining it, it being a lot of dots.

• 48:33Speaker 01

  And unfortunately-

• 48:34Drew Afualo?

  It was a lot of dots, I bet.

• 48:36Speaker 01

  It was a lot of dots. That is kind of the vibe.

• 48:38Drew Afualo?

  I bet. I fucking knew it.

• 48:40Speaker 01

  And I'm so sorry.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, cut, cut this out. Um, you like bleep out everything that I'm saying.

• 48:48Speaker 01

  But yeah, it was like a lot of fish, like, eggs, and then, um, yeah, depending on what time of year you would come, it would, like, depend on, like, when, what stage the eggs were in, like, hatching and stuff. And now I'm like, I should, like, do, like, Google this and figure out, like, actually what was going on, cuz, like, my memory is them being like, okay, here are the eggs, and then we're all, like, standing in front of the eggs, and they're like, this is really important, but like, you're a kid, so you're like, how could this possibly be important?

• 49:13Drew Afualo?

  Okay, I saw the eggs.

• 49:15Speaker 01

  I saw the eggs.

• 49:15Drew Afualo?

  Now what?

• 49:16Speaker 01

  But the whole thing about salmon is that they leave where they are born, and then they swim downstream.

• 49:24Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 49:25Speaker 01

  And then I think they lay their eggs, no, no, no, then, I don't know what they do downstream, but then they come back to where they originally were born. They know the exact place of it.

• 49:35Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 49:36Speaker 01

  And that's where they lay their eggs.

• 49:37Drew Afualo?

  Gotcha. So you you did that several times throughout school?

• 49:41Speaker 01

  Definitely more than once. I wanna say, yeah, my, I wanna say three, at least.

• 49:47Drew Afualo?

  Interesting.

• 49:48Speaker 01

  And it was kind of like, cuz we had a lot of field trips that were sort of in that vein where it was like, I, in retrospect, it's like adults being like, we live in this really, really interesting place. Like, the environment is very fascinating. It's like a rainforest, essentially. Like, like, there's all these like interesting things that animals do here that they couldn't do anywhere else. And then we were kind of like dragged along to be like, okay, I appreciate it.

• 50:10Drew Afualo?

  The whole time.

• 50:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:13Drew Afualo?

  Filming TikToks now.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  Like, oh, my god.

• 50:14Drew Afualo?

  That's what they're doing then.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:17Drew Afualo?

  When I was a kid, we went to this, um, on this field trip, cuz I grew up in Southern California, but we went to this place called the Kellogg House, which like, when I think about it now, I like genuinely don't know why we went there. Like, it was just like a fancy old house. Like, it's just an old house. Like, it was a house built from like the twenties.

• 50:36Speaker 01

  I feel like I've heard of it before.

• 50:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it it hasn't really been updated. Now, you can like get married there and stuff. Like, it's like one of those places. But we went on this field trip and like, I just loved being on a field trip.

• 50:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, so fun.

• 50:47Drew Afualo?

  Obviously, everyone's like, yay, we get to leave school.

• 50:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:50Drew Afualo?

  And I remember my mom had gotten me these like shirts and I wore, like, these shirts I loved. It was like a sweater vest with like a collared shirt built into it.

• 51:00Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 51:00Drew Afualo?

  And then I had like, I had like a flare pant on, and my mom had got me two of them, and I wore one for picture day, and the other one, I was like, I'm saving that for the Kellogg House. So I wore that outfit and I was like, look at my fucking outfit. Like, I felt so teed. I was like, oh, my god, have fun. We walked through this house. I don't remember shit like at all, really. I just remember them, this, this is old. So just like, these are eggs. And you'd be like, awesome.

• 51:24Speaker 01

  Great.

• 51:24Drew Afualo?

  And then there was like these parts where they're like, oh, like, they were taking like photos of us. And they had these old timey phones and I have that itis about me where like if I see a phone or a button, I have to press it. Like if it doesn't explicitly say you should not, you don't press this, I will go press it. So I'm like, like I just have to go, I have to go touch and then they had these old phones and I loved old phones. Don't diagnose me, I know someone's gonna diagnose me.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:49Drew Afualo?

  Don't, I already know.

• 51:51Speaker 01

  Do you have like a prediction of what the diagnosis would be?

• 51:53Drew Afualo?

  Autism probably.

• 51:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, probably.

• 51:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, if I had to guess, that's typically what they give me every time I tell them about me. My whimsy as a child, they're like, I had that too and now I have, okay. Hey, I know. Um, so like I'm aware, trust me. Um, so I like loved phones and they had these old timey phones and they had ones that were like on different levels. So you and your friends could like go, like someone would bend down and like use one and then they were like taking pictures. So I was bending down a lot to like use and press all of the buttons that I could. And then I remember they printed out the photos and they put them in these little like, uh, almost like organizers when we got back to the school the next day and we went to school the next day. Um, they were like, oh, if you guys want photos, like just take them, they're from the Kellogg house, which is I thought was really sweet. They like developed all of them.

• 52:36Drew Afualo?

  Girl, in every single photo of me, uh, where I was like, my back was in the picture, like I was like bending over to like use the phone, with the exception of me facing forward in one of them, you, my underwear was sticking out of my pants in every photo. In every single photo, I was like bending down and my big ass chonies were sticking out and they were also like a magenta pink. And I remember this so distinctly because I remember going.

• 53:02Speaker 01

  Oh, that's.

• 53:02Drew Afualo?

  Cause I was thinking, I was bending over and pressing buttons and not one person told me.

• 53:06Speaker 01

  That's what, I mean, that is a moment that I think as the adult, the teacher comes over to you, normal way, just says, hey, sweetie. Like, I'm like, come on. What, uh, cause the alternative is you're gonna find out, they're taking photos.

• 53:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, for real. And honestly, that's how I found out my underwear was sticking out the whole day. And what's even funnier about that is like, what, someone could have told me, but I was so concerned about pressing the buttons, I didn't hear anything.

• 53:31Speaker 01

  Oh, I see, yeah.

• 53:32Drew Afualo?

  Like, just like eyes wide, like.

• 53:34Speaker 01

  And then they were like, well, let's not ruin her.

• 53:37Drew Afualo?

  I told her about the underwear thing, but she needs to go.

• 53:39Speaker 01

  She's clearly focused on something else. I think it might be autism.

• 53:43Drew Afualo?

  And now I'm thinking, I don't think that helps my case of beating the autism allegations. I don't think that helps my case.

• 53:49Speaker 01

  Tunnel vision.

• 53:50Drew Afualo?

  Well, that and just like, I didn't care that my underwear was out. Cause I really, I really feel like someone might've told me.

• 53:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:56Drew Afualo?

  I, I, at the time, I was like, I, I think none of you guys told me. But now when I think back, I'm like, well, someone might've told me and I might've not heard it because I was like, buttons, buttons, buttons, buttons, buttons.

• 54:06Speaker 01

  Buttons, buttons. I mean, it's like, God, being a kid is so crazy. Like, you literally weren't used to having a body yet.

• 54:13Drew Afualo?

  You just find shit out and you're like, oh.

• 54:15Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, I didn't realize that that's what I was feeling. Like, maybe there was a little more air, like, on your butt and you're like, oh, no, like, that's just how it feels.

• 54:21Drew Afualo?

  I know, you're just, you're trial and error.

• 54:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:23Drew Afualo?

  Like, I'm trial and error, a bunch of humiliating shit that's happening to me. Okay. Okay, more, more fun facts. Okay, it says that you used to work at a preschool as your day job.

• 54:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 54:35Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my gosh, how was that job? I'm sure it was so difficult.

• 54:38Speaker 01

  It was difficult, it was honestly so fun. I mean, I love working with kids. That was like, before being whatever I am now, I was like, um, most of my resume was like being a barista and working with kids. And, um, which both of them I loved.

• 54:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 54:55Speaker 01

  Honestly, being a barista is really fun, but, um, yeah, working at the preschool was really awesome. It was the kind of job where like, I have no degree in child development or anything like that. I, um, my degree is in creative writing. I was 24 and I was kind of like, I'm a, a human body that can sort of supervise what five year olds are doing.

• 55:18Drew Afualo?

  And they're like, perfect.

• 55:19Speaker 01

  And they were like, great, we're gonna pay you eighteen dollars an hour to like, really take care of people's children. Um, sorry. I don't even know.

• 55:27Drew Afualo?

  Hey, sorry about that.

• 55:28Speaker 01

  To like, people sending their kids to preschool, I don't know. Um, but no, I mean, we had, we had a lot of fun. I was, I was basically like, an assistant to the teachers. Like, I would kind of like float around to different classrooms and like, the teachers would be like, I'm going on lunch. And I'd be like, totally. And then I'd be like there with the kids. But it was awesome. I mean, kids are so fun.

• 55:46Drew Afualo?

  They are, and they're hilarious.

• 55:48Speaker 01

  They're so funny.

• 55:49Drew Afualo?

  Kids are so unintentionally funny.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, they just, yeah, they're living in, especially like, when they're like five years old, like, they will enter into imagination. They'll enter into a different universe with you, like, at the drop of a hat. Like, it's like, you can be like.

• 56:03Drew Afualo?

  In and out of conversation.

• 56:04Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, it's like, everything is, you're like, oh, my God, and did you know the floor is all snakes? And they're like, yep. Yeah, I did. And they're like miles ahead of you somehow in this thing that you're like, I thought I-

• 56:14Drew Afualo?

  Improv, improv.

• 56:15Speaker 01

  It's all improv, I guess, actually.

• 56:16Drew Afualo?

  Yes, and, yes, and.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  Very, yes.

• 56:18Drew Afualo?

  You're, you're workshopping improv while you're in there.

• 56:21Speaker 01

  Truly.

• 56:22Drew Afualo?

  I need a place, I need a place.

• 56:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, come on, who's got a word? What job, what's our job, what's our job? Yeah, yeah, it's awesome.

• 56:29Drew Afualo?

  That's so funny. I know, I love when kids do that shit when they're like, they're like, they do a cartwheel and then they come up and they're breathing hard and they're like, my dad's got a divorce. And then you're like, oh, okay. And they're like, yeah. And then they flip away.

• 56:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, it's so-

• 56:42Drew Afualo?

  I love when kids just say shit.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  Cause it's like, at our core, like, are we ever, did we ever actually evolve from that?

• 56:49Drew Afualo?

  No, for real.

• 56:50Speaker 01

  We are actually all still that, but we're like, just masking it really heavily.

• 56:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, we're just able to mask that. That's the only difference. My, my brother, um, is a running, like, joke, honestly, like, machine because he just does things that make us laugh so hard constantly. Like, my younger brother, he's nine years younger than me and 11 years younger than my sister, but when he was a kid, he was the most, like, imaginative, like, colorful child. So even like something, he would just add so much pageantry to where it did not need to be. And, um, I remember one time, he like got in the car after a football practice, like, it was like Pee Wee football, so he's young. And he was like, okay, just so you know, like to my sister, he's like, grandpa cannot come to my games anymore.

• 57:35Drew Afualo?

  My grandpa, who, who had only gone at that point to like maybe a couple of them, cause he's 100, so she was like, what? And he goes, he just can't, he just can't. And she was like, why? Cause he had missed practice earlier that week for like a family thing. And then when he was going to practice, he goes, what am I supposed to tell the coach and the teammates when they ask me, like? And then my sister's like, just say we had a family emergency, like, that's it, that's it. And he was like, okay, okay, okay. So after that practice, he was when he's like, he can never come back to my games. And she was like, why? And he was like, well, because one of the kids asked me and then I was like, oh, I had a family emergency. And they went, okay. And then he's like, I guess there was just too much silence. So then he was like, my grandpa broke his leg.

• 58:17Drew Afualo?

  He slipped in, he broke his leg and then my, my dad had to go pick him up and then I had to go there to like help. Like he created this entire story with like characters and plot points.

• 58:26Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 58:27Drew Afualo?

  Drama. And then he was like, so like, if he does come, he has to like pretend to have a broken leg. And my mom, my sister was like, he's not gonna do that. Like, we're not doing that. And he was like, I'm just saying, I'm just telling you, that's what I told them.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  He has to have a broken leg for the rest of his life.

• 58:41Drew Afualo?

  And at least until I'm off this team.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 58:43Drew Afualo?

  It's just like, what will people say?

• 58:45Speaker 01

  Oh my god, that's so awesome. Yeah, it's like, there's, but that is also like, I'm like, I feel like my partner does that when they lie too. Like, like, sometimes I'm like, you don't, no one is asking follow up questions. Like, if you're like, oh yeah, like I, I was late. Like, you know, whatever, you're running late or something. It's like, because my car's tire flew off. It flew off.

• 59:08Drew Afualo?

  You wouldn't believe.

• 59:09Speaker 01

  It was, and then we stopped, and it's like, no one actually really cares, but now they do.

• 59:15Drew Afualo?

  You like, you snared them with this hook that you created.

• 59:18Speaker 01

  To care.

• 59:20Drew Afualo?

  Now they're kind of fucked up if they don't care at the way you described that.

• 59:24Speaker 01

  They're gonna remember it now forever.

• 59:28Drew Afualo?

  That's actually my brother in law, my, my fiance's brother. He is the most colorful storyteller in the history of time. He's also the most dramatic person I've ever met in my life. And even like, uh, my mother in law, like, they were two peas in a pod, like, my fiance's brother and her, they're the exact same person. And like, I always joke, like, her name's Lisa, shouts out Lisa. I love telling her things, like, anything at all, because she'll be like, you're kidding me. You're fucking kidding me, Drew. You're lying to me. That's how she, anytime I tell her anything, she'll be like, you're fucking lying to me.

• 1:00:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:05Drew Afualo?

  And I'm like, if you can believe it, no.

• 1:00:07Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:00:07Drew Afualo?

  That's the truth. That's why sometimes I'm like, I can't wait to tell your mom this story. She's gonna freak out.

• 1:00:13Speaker 01

  It's so epic when people are like amazing audiences.

• 1:00:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:18Speaker 01

  They give you exactly the reaction you want. You're like, thank you. Yeah, it is that big of a deal.

• 1:00:23Drew Afualo?

  And you know what's funny is on the flip side of that, like, I obviously love to talk and I love to tell stories especially. One time on my other podcast with my sister, um, a fan wrote in and asked like, what are your favorite stories to tell? Like, crowd pleasing ones. And I'm like, oh my god, what a fantastic question. I have a rolodex. I have so many. But I remember, there's, there's a few stories I have about dogs I've had growing up. Um, and like, they're, I would say objectively funny, but like, if you do love dogs to a point where like, it's almost clinical, it may not be as funny. I love my dogs that way. But like, this story I've told, this was the first time I ever went out to dinner with like, my fiance's family.

• 1:01:06Drew Afualo?

  And like, his family, it was, it was kind of shocking to me because my family will sit and fucking yap at a meal. Like, we will chat a bitch down. We love to talk.

• 1:01:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:17Drew Afualo?

  And that's like half the fun of going out to eat. It's chatting.

• 1:01:20Speaker 01

  The point of food is to, to gather upon it.

• 1:01:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly. So I literally, like, we love to chat. And this is my first time ever going out to dinner with them. They don't really chat. Like, they talk a little, but then they mostly just eat, which is kind of strange.

• 1:01:34Speaker 01

  It's tough for me.

• 1:01:35Drew Afualo?

  So of course for me, I'm like, this audience needs a performer.

• 1:01:39Speaker 01

  You're like, give me the mic. Give it to me.

• 1:01:42Drew Afualo?

  So I was like, I need to tell a story.

• 1:01:44Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:01:45Drew Afualo?

  So I was like going down my list of all my heavy hitters. And I was telling one about a dog. And like, normally, you know, you like, when you workshop a story, so many times that you have all your, your points where you hit.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:55Drew Afualo?

  And you're like, this is where they die, then I close with this. Like, that's how I like, measure stories. And I get to the point where typically people are, are busting at the seams. I'm gut busting everybody.

• 1:02:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:07Drew Afualo?

  Not one laugh. And I was like, I was so shocked by it that I literally was like, and he lived and everything was fine. So. I just like wrapped it up after that. Normally it goes for another 10 minutes.

• 1:02:16Speaker 01

  Were...

• 1:02:17Drew Afualo?

  I cut it short.

• 1:02:18Speaker 01

  They, oh my god, I have so many questions. Okay. Well, first of all, were they like, looking at you? Like, was it like, silence? Like, they were just kind of like, eating, not really reacting? Or was it the kind of thing where they were giving you like, uh, were they like, concerned?

• 1:02:31Drew Afualo?

  They were concerned about the story. So they were all, yeah, so they were listening. They were just like, oh.

• 1:02:36Speaker 01

  They were having like, that's like, I, the worst noise I can hear when I'm doing stand up is the audience going, aww. Oh my god, just take me out.

• 1:02:48Speaker 01

  I'm like, no, no, no.

• 1:02:49Drew Afualo?

  Put me out of my misery, I can't do it.

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  I cannot do that. Like, it's so, when you're waiting for a laugh and people go, oh.

• 1:02:57Drew Afualo?

  I'd rather you not laugh. I'd rather you not laugh at all. I'd rather it be stone cold silent.

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  I'd rather you call me a s-.

• 1:03:06Drew Afualo?

  I'd rather you be a bigot towards me.

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  Mad at me for something like, I'm like, anything but pretty.

• 1:03:11Drew Afualo?

  That's actually so real.

• 1:03:12Speaker 01

  Anything but pretty.

• 1:03:12Drew Afualo?

  I'd feel the same way. They go, oh.

• 1:03:17Speaker 01

  Now I'm bummed out for the rest of the night. No, no, no, no. I'm okay.

• 1:03:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, if I'm laughing, you should be laughing.

• 1:03:22Speaker 01

  Please laugh.

• 1:03:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, if I'm saying it, yeah.

• 1:03:24Speaker 01

  Please laugh, yeah. And they were concerned, why? Because the dog died or something?

• 1:03:29Drew Afualo?

  No, the do- in the story, so I'll give you the truncated version. Essentially, my sister had a bulldog. Um, R.I.P. He is passed now, but he did live till like, be like 11 years old. So, which is a very long time for an English bulldog. So, basically in this story, my dad tried to take him on a walk, but it was too hot. So, he didn't even really get that far before he was like, I gotta take him back. So, when he started walking him back, he actually didn't want to walk anymore. So, my dad picked him up and was like, walking him back. And my mom was with him. And my mom was like, hurry, we should go like, cool him off, because I think he's just hot. As he's like walking, um, a neighbor comes out on the lawn and is like, hey, like, what's up, guys? My dad's carrying my, the dog that's like, you know what I mean?

• 1:04:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, the dog's like wheezing a little bit, yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like, kinda needing an emergency help kinda situation. And so, he's like, oh, my dad stops to talk, right, is holding the bulldog like this. The, my bulldog started like, shitting himself, like, like incontinence, like, like, literally, he's releasing his bowels because he's about to die. And it's black tar shit. Just going down my dad's white shirt. My dad's holding the dog, still talking.

• 1:04:35Speaker 01

  Oh, he doesn't notice?

• 1:04:37Drew Afualo?

  No, no, no, he knew, you could smell it.

• 1:04:38Speaker 01

  He's being polite to the neighbor.

• 1:04:39Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, he's being polite. My dad is so afraid of like, perception and hates being talked to. So, like, when he's being talked to, he's like locking in. So, he's like, mhm, mhm. Mind you, the dog's like, two X's over the eyes, like a cartoon character. And, and literally, black shit going down my dad's white shirt. My mom goes, I'm so sorry, we have to go. Like, my mom literally had to interrupt and be like, we have to go, because they were two steps from the house. So, then they, they take him inside, they put him in a, in a little pool. That's the part where I lost them, when I said he, he released his bowels. That's where I lost the room.

• 1:05:09Speaker 01

  They're too worried, yeah.

• 1:05:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, because they went, oh. And I went, but it's okay, because they laid him in cold water and he came back to life. It's okay.

• 1:05:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:16Drew Afualo?

  He's fine now.

• 1:05:17Speaker 01

  Well, it's also like, I mean, yeah, this story would be really different if he had fully died.

• 1:05:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's why I was like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be telling this story with such fervor if like, the ending was he ended up dying.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 1:05:28Drew Afualo?

  But it didn't matter because I lost the room. So I literally was like, and then you know what? He came back to life, so.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  And by the way, I love animals. I think.

• 1:05:35Drew Afualo?

  I love them. I love them. I love them.

• 1:05:37Speaker 01

  Like, they're family members, you know, like, they're like, really.

• 1:05:40Drew Afualo?

  Found family, chosen family. That's one of them.

• 1:05:42Speaker 01

  Who rescued who?

• 1:05:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:46Drew Afualo?

  I know, and I also felt like, well, I guess that's kind of on me. I did pick quite of a doozy of a story to open with at my first dinner with this family.

• 1:05:55Speaker 01

  But you felt good about it. You'd gotten good responses. You know, you'd been workshopping for a while.

• 1:05:59Drew Afualo?

  Typically, I've been making the rounds with the story, so I thought maybe, my bad.

• 1:06:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:04Drew Afualo?

  Bad read on my part.

• 1:06:05Speaker 01

  That's you.

• 1:06:06Drew Afualo?

  And I think it's because I didn't really know my fiance's mom that well, and like, she lives and dies by dogs. Like, dogs are like, her favorite animal. That's her favorite. So I should, I should have known.

• 1:06:16Speaker 01

  They're.

• 1:06:16Drew Afualo?

  To my credit, though, his brother was laughing.

• 1:06:18Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 1:06:19Drew Afualo?

  But then he stopped laughing when he sensed the, like, air get sucked out of that room.

• 1:06:23Speaker 01

  That's on him. He's sick to his guns.

• 1:06:25Drew Afualo?

  I was like, yeah. Right. I was like, okay, no loyalty.

• 1:06:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, alright, thanks for leaving me out.

• 1:06:30Drew Afualo?

  You want to laugh, and you're not going to.

• 1:06:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, there are, there are those people that like, that love dogs in a way where it's like, if you even like, mention truly that like, a dog died or something, it's like, they, they can't handle it.

• 1:06:43Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  Which is kind of fascinating to me on sort of like, a, I don't know, like, a scientific level or something, like, or psychoanalysis, but.

• 1:06:50Drew Afualo?

  Like, a neuroscience level. It's very interesting.

• 1:06:52Speaker 01

  Well, animals do die.

• 1:06:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that is, that is one of the things unfortunately that they do do.

• 1:06:57Speaker 01

  Not great, but, you know.

• 1:06:59Drew Afualo?

  It's not awesome, I'll tell you that. You know what's funny? Speaking of animals, like, I have two Frenchies. And one of them is deaf. And my other, my other friend, she has alopecia, but only on his butt.

• 1:07:10Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:07:10Drew Afualo?

  And like, just his butt, I'm not kidding, like it's all both sides of his butt bald.

• 1:07:15Speaker 01

  It's like his butt cheeks if they're.

• 1:07:17Drew Afualo?

  No, not even, it's like the sides of his butt.

• 1:07:19Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 1:07:20Drew Afualo?

  Flanks, if you will.

• 1:07:21Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:07:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, so he's got, he's got bald flanks and we recently took him to the vet just to check on, just to give him like a physical.

• 1:07:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:29Drew Afualo?

  My alopecia dog, his name is Squid. So I was like, we took Squid to the vet, get him a little check on the alopecia, make sure everything's cool. And, uh, the doctor was like, honestly, like unless you guys care, like aesthetically, he's fine. And we were like, I don't care, I just wanna make sure there's not something else going on in there. Like, I do have to tell people, like, he has alopecia, it's a thing.

• 1:07:52Speaker 01

  It's like, unless you guys care aesthetically, they're like, so your dog's butt ugly?

• 1:07:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:59Speaker 01

  It looks really bad.

• 1:08:00Drew Afualo?

  Cosmetically gross to look at.

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, but if you guys don't care, cause you're freaks, then fine.

• 1:08:05Drew Afualo?

  If you're cool with this ugly bitch living in your house, I mean, I can't stop you.

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  Everybody's happy.

• 1:08:10Drew Afualo?

  They also told me too, that they're like, she said, he, he could lose a little bit of weight. Which like, I will say, like, my Frenchies are massive, like, they, they are, and I don't mean fat, I mean, like, they're huge. Like, I don't know why, every time I see a Frenchy in the wild. I'm like, that one is so much smaller than mine. I don't know why mine are enormous.

• 1:08:30Speaker 01

  Long legs or something?

• 1:08:31Drew Afualo?

  They're just like very long boys and they're like thick, so they're heavy, like they're heavy to carry.

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:08:36Drew Afualo?

  And so my dog Squid is almost fifty pounds, which is fucking huge for a Frenchy.

• 1:08:42Speaker 01

  I did not know they got that big. That is, that is.

• 1:08:44Drew Afualo?

  They don't, that's what I'm saying, like, he's about forty-seven pounds, so they, she said, he could lose a little, little bit of weight. And we were like, okay, she goes, if he loses like, gets down to maybe like forty-three, forty-two, he'll be good. And we're like, okay. So we're, we gonna have to kinda work on that with him.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  Okay, is he like on a diet or something?

• 1:09:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, we just cut back his wet food a tiny bit, cause he gets kibble and wet food. Both my dogs are on vegan kibble. If you can fucking believe it.

• 1:09:11Speaker 01

  I can't. And, and is that like your preference or?

• 1:09:15Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm raising them in a, in a like preservative free household.

• 1:09:18Speaker 01

  That was gonna be like really, I would be like, okay.

• 1:09:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you look at me again and I'm Miss Goop.

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I see your shirt is like a Pita shirt.

• 1:09:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm like, sponsored by Goop Kitchen.

• 1:09:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:30Drew Afualo?

  No, he's there. They have vegan kibble because my dog Squid has this like stomach thing where basically he's allergic to protein, but he you need protein to survive.

• 1:09:42Speaker 01

  Oh, squid.

• 1:09:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, so I had to take him to six different specialists. I found one that finally took me seriously and prescribed him vegan kibble. And it's literally something you cannot get anywhere except online with an updated prescription, which is fucking crazy.

• 1:09:58Speaker 01

  That's so wow. I mean, I'm so glad that he is living in this day and age.

• 1:10:04Drew Afualo?

  Right, literally.

• 1:10:05Speaker 01

  To get what he is.

• 1:10:06Drew Afualo?

  And he's living in LA. No better place.

• 1:10:08Speaker 01

  No, truly.

• 1:10:09Drew Afualo?

  To eat vegan kibble than here in LA.

• 1:10:11Speaker 01

  LA in 2026, he is, I mean, he's exactly where he should be.

• 1:10:16Drew Afualo?

  He's exactly, he's where his feet are. Okay, okay, more fun facts about you. Um, it says that you submitted to be a writer on I Love LA and then randomly ran into Rachel Senate on a walk around your neighborhood.

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  That is true.

• 1:10:29Drew Afualo?

  You talked and then got the job soon after.

• 1:10:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:32Drew Afualo?

  Look at you. I love that.

• 1:10:34Speaker 01

  I do feel like it was, yeah, the universe like being kind to me or something.

• 1:10:38Drew Afualo?

  It was that was meant to be.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:41Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my gosh, I love that. I love that she was vibing with you.

• 1:10:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's crazy because I was being really weird. Like, I was like, I was kind of, I mean, I think I was like evidently not as weird as I felt like I was, but it was like one of those walks where you're like, I really hope I don't run into someone. Like, I was just in a weird headspace. I was wearing a weird outfit. It was summer. It was like a million degrees. Like, I was just like, let me just walk in peace. And then, of course, I ran into Rachel and she's delightful. And, you know, it was like normal and fine, but in my mind, I'm like, just, just don't be weird. Just like, it was like, I couldn't.

• 1:11:14Drew Afualo?

  Be cool.

• 1:11:15Speaker 01

  I could, yeah, be cool. Just be normal. Just be normal. And then I walked away and I was like, well, I don't even know what I said, but I'm sure it was weird.

• 1:11:22Drew Afualo?

  And hopefully, it hopefully, it stays with her.

• 1:11:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:25Drew Afualo?

  Whatever weirdness I put up, hopefully it stays.

• 1:11:27Speaker 01

  I guess I'll be top of mind either way.

• 1:11:31Drew Afualo?

  And did you mention having submitted?

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  I didn't, I didn't.

• 1:11:35Drew Afualo?

  Oh, look at you, that's wonderful.

• 1:11:36Speaker 01

  I, you know, I thought about it and then I was like, I kept it chill. I was like, "Congrats, by the way." Sort of vaguely, ominously.

• 1:11:45Drew Afualo?

  On whatever it is you're doing.

• 1:11:47Speaker 01

  On whatever you're doing and not that I know anything about. And sort of faded into, in my mind, I, yeah, evaporated.

• 1:11:52Drew Afualo?

  You just like backed away slowly and disappeared.

• 1:11:57Drew Afualo?

  Okay, last fun fact, it says that your club penguin username was JazzyJazz3 and he played the jazz saxophone? In real life or as a penguin? Wow, jazz is a recurring theme for you.

• 1:12:11Speaker 01

  Wait, that's so awesome.

• 1:12:13Drew Afualo?

  Jazzy Ladybug, Jazzy Penguin.

• 1:12:15Speaker 01

  Oh god, it's so funny because in my mind, I, I know that I've spoken to people about JazzyJazz3. It's, but I'm like, it's amazing that it is findable out there. Yes, that is.

• 1:12:27Drew Afualo?

  Amanda's gonna find it.

• 1:12:28Speaker 01

  Um, I, that's so amazing, like, beautiful. Yes, my name was JazzyJazz3, yes, I think maybe he did play a saxophone, but I also did play the alto saxophone in, in real life.

• 1:12:43Drew Afualo?

  That's the gay instrument.

• 1:12:44Speaker 01

  It really.

• 1:12:45Drew Afualo?

  The saxophone. My sister played the saxophone. She's a lesbian.

• 1:12:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, yes, it is the gay instrument. I mean, I think the brass section was definitely for the like, you know, I wasn't gonna fit in with the girls who played flute.

• 1:12:56Drew Afualo?

  And I played the flute.

• 1:12:57Speaker 01

  And, okay, I was gonna say.

• 1:12:58Drew Afualo?

  Straight girls play the flute.

• 1:12:59Speaker 01

  Straight, beautiful, like, honestly, like, they were, they were gorgeous and so, just like, they were like little fairies. Like, they were playing the flute and I was like, "That's so awesome. I actually could never physically." I don't know, again, it was the kind of thing that, I think this was like, fourth grade, where I was like, "I don't know why, but it's just not gonna work for me."

• 1:13:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, just, that's not my journey.

• 1:13:19Speaker 01

  Even if I tried. So I couldn't do flute. I would say the more like, the girls that played clarinet were like, similar to flute girls in that they were like, very like, like, doing femininity correctly, but like, they were a little bit more like, I don't know, like, they were more like, hardened or something, like, they had like more life experience.

• 1:13:43Drew Afualo?

  More edge.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, they had a bit of an edge to them.

• 1:13:45Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 1:13:46Speaker 01

  And then the brass section was for, I guess you could say, the misfits. At least at my school, it was sort of where we found one another.

• 1:13:53Drew Afualo?

  Found family, speaking of.

• 1:13:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:55Drew Afualo?

  In the brass section.

• 1:13:56Speaker 01

  Chosen family. And I, yeah, I loved playing the saxophone. I would sit out on my front lawn and play it.

• 1:14:05Drew Afualo?

  That's such a Portland thing, a PNW thing, take your brass thing, and go sit in the grass and play.

• 1:14:11Speaker 01

  I am like, why was I doing that? I'm also, the neighbors are like, oh, great, here we go again.

• 1:14:16Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my god, the kid is back with the saxophone.

• 1:14:20Speaker 01

  Not again.

• 1:14:21Drew Afualo?

  Were you good?

• 1:14:23Speaker 01

  No, I mean, I never really, like, like, I feel like I stayed in the zone of, like, doing the, doing the things in the book and, like, playing the songs I was learning at school, but I never, like, took off in a different direction.

• 1:14:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you just kind of clocked in when you needed to.

• 1:14:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, but I really liked the identity of it. I loved that I was playing the saxophone.

• 1:14:42Drew Afualo?

  I loved that, too, when I, when I played the flute. I loved, like, carrying my instrument to school.

• 1:14:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:14:47Drew Afualo?

  I loved, like, the thought. I think it's probably because, like, naturally, I'm not, like, musically inclined, like, I don't, I can't sing, and I don't really play instruments at all. Like, I can play maybe two songs on a piano, but, like, I cannot play an instrument at all, really. So I think the flute gave me, I, like, wanted the performative aspect of it.

• 1:15:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:05Drew Afualo?

  I wanted to be like, oh, my instrument.

• 1:15:06Speaker 01

  Right. You're like, trying out an identity, kind of, and like,

• 1:15:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:09Speaker 01

  is this mine?

• 1:15:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  Not really.

• 1:15:12Drew Afualo?

  I'm like, well, I like, I like, like, the weight of the case, and I like, I feel like it makes me look like I have, like, serious hobbies.

• 1:15:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:15:19Drew Afualo?

  I think it's because I, at the time, I didn't know that I, I wasn't, I don't really have that many hobbies.

• 1:15:24Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:15:24Drew Afualo?

  I'm working on it in therapy.

• 1:15:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:26Drew Afualo?

  But, because I think because I've been so, like, um, result-driven in things that I do outside of, like, school, work, sports, whatever.

• 1:15:35Drew Afualo?

  So I think that's why the instrument gave me a lot of power, because I was like, this is like my hobby.

• 1:15:40Speaker 01

  Right, this is like my random like quirky thing.

• 1:15:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, this makes me different.

• 1:15:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, is it, are you the kind of person that's like, you only like to do things that you're really good at?

• 1:15:48Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 1:15:48Speaker 01

  Kind of, yeah.

• 1:15:49Drew Afualo?

  Or that procure a result that will prove I'm the best at something.

• 1:15:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:53Drew Afualo?

  That's like really how I, I choose. So like if, if, when I've like gotten a journal, I've already announced it on the show and I'm still not for real actually about it yet. But I got a journal because I was literally like, I am gonna do a junk journal.

• 1:16:04Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:16:05Drew Afualo?

  And I'll be honest, like I've seen junk journals many times, but like I was never really moved. And then I saw this girl I follow showing her junk journal and she had like a page for Popeyes. And she just cut up a Popeyes order and like decorated it and I was thinking, I should get a journal. Like I literally bought a journal. I swiped out of that video and I went and bought a journal and now I have it and I haven't used it yet, but you know, I'm getting there.

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  And can, what is a junk journal? Can you define that for me? Is that crazy?

• 1:16:33Drew Afualo?

  No, I'm just laughing because you're hmm.

• 1:16:35Speaker 01

  Now what is a junk journal? I was waiting for it to click in for me to be like, oh, I know what a junk journal is. But then I'm kind of like the things you said, I'm like, well, actually I don't.

• 1:16:43Drew Afualo?

  It's essentially like a lower lift scrapbook.

• 1:16:46Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:16:47Drew Afualo?

  So you just have a journal that you can carry everywhere because the idea is to like, you don't need all the bells and whistles that you need typically to scrapbook. But you can do it inside a journal. And so like, you just put like essentially just like things you like and you like glue them to the pages and like, just like scrapbooking.

• 1:17:01Speaker 01

  That's fun.

• 1:17:02Drew Afualo?

  But it's like lower lift. And then I saw this girl say like, oh, like I do it for like memories. Like I do it for like, oh, this was like a, a pivotal memory for me. I really want to take like, mostly trash or like things around and like make a memory of it. So it's like scrapbooking essentially.

• 1:17:18Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 1:17:19Drew Afualo?

  I thought so.

• 1:17:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:20Drew Afualo?

  And like, it's one of those things, I feel like one of those people where I'm like, I just want to be known as someone who loves something like that, but I like, I just like haven't been moved to actually follow through.

• 1:17:29Speaker 01

  It's, the follow through is so hard.

• 1:17:32Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. Do you have hobbies? Do you like, do you have any hobbies?

• 1:17:35Speaker 01

  I was trying to think, I mean, I do, I guess this counts, like, my partner and I do like camping.

• 1:17:41Drew Afualo?

  Oh, that's nice.

• 1:17:42Speaker 01

  Which is kind of like.

• 1:17:43Drew Afualo?

  That makes sense from you, for you being from the PNW too.

• 1:17:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:46Drew Afualo?

  Outdoorsy.

• 1:17:47Speaker 01

  I do feel like in a way, cause like, I grew up around like a lot of rich kids, but I wasn't rich. Like, we didn't really have much money, but the culture in the Pacific Northwest is very much like, the rich people hike and camp.

• 1:17:59Drew Afualo?

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:18:00Speaker 01

  It's very, there's a lot there. I'm sure people have written, um, theses, theses about it. But it's like, yeah, the way you kind of like display your wealth is like, the nicest hiking boots and like the nicest like backpack.

• 1:18:13Drew Afualo?

  I guess that makes sense. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense for Oregon.

• 1:18:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:16Drew Afualo?

  They love like a north face.

• 1:18:18Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. It's very much the aesthetic and also it's like, it is interesting, cause those, like, you know, sort of like, like simplistic, like, you know, back to nature kinds of things, like they do, there, a lot of the like gear and stuff around them is really expensive. Like, camping is expensive. If you want to do it in a way that like the gear is like nice gear, whatever.

• 1:18:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, for real.

• 1:18:38Speaker 01

  Anyway, so I grew up in this setting where like, I felt like my family did not camp. Oh my god, did not hike. Like, that was not our vibe at all, because it was like, it was just not that kind of thing we would do. And, um, but I went to school with all these kids that were like doing it constantly and I wanted that to be my vibe so badly. But I was also getting slightly traumatized by the fact that like, when we would do those things, like with school or whatever, like, I didn't know how to do it. And like, I did not have the right gear and it was so embarrassing. And so, I feel like in my, I know it's actually, it is really, there are like moments where I like, remember something from that period of time and it's like, I'm sure you have this with your fiance, where like, I'll bring it up and be like,

• 1:19:17Speaker 01

  oh my god, I just had this memory of like, everyone had like, you know, the newest, like nicest sleeping bag for the overnight trip and like, I brought mine in like a trash bag. Or whatever, like literally, you know, and my mom was like, it's fine, it's a bag.

• 1:19:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:31Speaker 01

  You know, like, what do you do? And I was like, but it's like those memories where you just like, remember being like, oh, I've done something so uncool. Like, this is so embarrassing. And I like, bring it up to my partner, Rue, and they're like, crying, literally. They're like, no, no, no, no. And I'm like, oh, I guess that's not a funny story, you know?

• 1:19:46Drew Afualo?

  You're all that great. Okay, well.

• 1:19:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh, yeah, sorry.

• 1:19:50Drew Afualo?

  I didn't mean to upset anyone.

• 1:19:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, no, it's okay. But, um, but I feel like now as an adult, I'm like, kind of, it feels like a little bit of like a reclaiming kind of thing where I'm like,

• 1:19:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's so beautiful.

• 1:20:01Speaker 01

  Cause I love being outside. And it is like a way, there's a way to do it that's like fun and not annoying.

• 1:20:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:20:07Speaker 01

  Um, so, yeah.

• 1:20:08Drew Afualo?

  No, that's, that's real. Cause my sister went to the, uh, University of Oregon. So she, she lived in Eugene for a long time and she, um, stayed up there a lot. And I remember she was like, everybody has fucking bikes here. Everybody bikes everywhere. And so my mom was like, oh, like, I'll, I'll like, you can take your bike next time you come home. And my sister, we only had beach cruisers, cause we're from here.

• 1:20:28Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:20:28Drew Afualo?

  And my sister was like, I was humiliated riding that fucking bike. And it was like a bright yellow orange.

• 1:20:35Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:20:36Drew Afualo?

  So like, back to your orange car.

• 1:20:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:38Drew Afualo?

  That was her orange car.

• 1:20:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:40Drew Afualo?

  She was like, I need a new bike. Like, I can't, I can't ride this thing anymore. Like, she was literally like, I, it's humiliating.

• 1:20:45Speaker 01

  So crazy too, cause it's like, that was probably so awesome to have down here. So cool. It sounds like really cute. And yeah, for so, it's this weird, like,

• 1:20:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they are very close ranks up there about like the outdoorsy stuff. They have a very specific vibe. Like even, um, Dace, what was the name of that water bottle you got me? Nalgene. Nalgene.

• 1:21:07Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:21:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like Dason was like, oh, like she had a Nalgene bottle. And like, I lived in Hawaii, cause that's where I went to college. And she was like, oh, I'll get you one of these, like, and everybody puts stickers on it. And it's like the most, and honestly, it's a kick ass water bottle, like especially for camping. But I took it to the beach one time in Hawaii. And when I, I went to the water, came back, I was probably gone for like five minutes. My bottle steaming hot. It felt like all the water inside was so fucking warm. I was like, oh, okay, so.

• 1:21:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:36Drew Afualo?

  This is for up there.

• 1:21:37Speaker 01

  Insulation, yes. That's so funny, cuz yeah, exactly. That does not come up in Oregon.

• 1:21:43Drew Afualo?

  So I was like, okay, so this is a PNW water bottle.

• 1:21:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:21:46Drew Afualo?

  Got it.

• 1:21:46Speaker 01

  Where it's sort of like temperate, um, sixty degrees all the time.

• 1:21:50Drew Afualo?

  No, for real, where it's raining constantly and cool and, but the air is so.

• 1:21:55Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:21:55Drew Afualo?

  Fresh and clean up there.

• 1:21:57Speaker 01

  That's one of those things that like, as an adult, cuz I have a lot, you know, it's a very complicated place, that place.

• 1:22:03Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:22:04Speaker 01

  But the, the air and the water are the things that I think back on and I'm like, okay, that is something that like as an adult, I'm like, that's really special.

• 1:22:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:12Speaker 01

  My god.

• 1:22:14Drew Afualo?

  The water thing especially cuz I remember when I'd visit my sister at school, she'd be like, you just drink out of the sink. It's so clear.

• 1:22:19Speaker 01

  And it tastes amazing.

• 1:22:20Drew Afualo?

  And it does taste amazing. I literally, it does. I was like, really? Cuz I saw her doing it. She goes, no dude, that's what I do. I fill up my water bottle like that.

• 1:22:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, cuz most places you don't wanna be doing that.

• 1:22:29Drew Afualo?

  You should not do that in most places.

• 1:22:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:33Drew Afualo?

  Unless you wanna get sick. Well, you know what? I'm so glad to hear that you're reclaiming camping. I think that's a beautiful thing. And honestly, a really kick ass hobby. That shit's hard. It's hard to camp.

• 1:22:42Speaker 01

  It is hard to camp and I will say like, it is not fun all the time. Like.

• 1:22:48Drew Afualo?

  Let it be known.

• 1:22:49Speaker 01

  Let it be known. Like, it's not all, like, people who are listening are like, yeah, obviously, that's why I don't do it. No, it sucks a lot of the time, but like, it is one of those things that like, I think especially living in LA where it does feel like sometimes, you know, things can, it can feel like it's coming from all angles.

• 1:23:05Drew Afualo?

  No, totally. You need nature. Like, you need to get out.

• 1:23:07Speaker 01

  You need to get out.

• 1:23:08Drew Afualo?

  It's so landlocked.

• 1:23:09Speaker 01

  And truly just be like, okay, like, I'm alone out here, or like, there's nothing to do except for like, sit.

• 1:23:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and with myself and my own thoughts.

• 1:23:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:18Drew Afualo?

  Which is horrifying sometimes.

• 1:23:19Speaker 01

  Really scary stuff.

• 1:23:20Drew Afualo?

  Which is why we need to do it more.

• 1:23:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:22Drew Afualo?

  And also the trees. Do you love the trees?

• 1:23:24Speaker 01

  I love the trees.

• 1:23:25Drew Afualo?

  I love the trees.

• 1:23:26Speaker 01

  I love.

• 1:23:26Drew Afualo?

  I talk to the trees all the time.

• 1:23:28Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 1:23:28Drew Afualo?

  And they do listen.

• 1:23:29Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 1:23:30Drew Afualo?

  That is true.

• 1:23:30Speaker 01

  I mean, they are older than you could ever imagine.

• 1:23:33Drew Afualo?

  Girl, that's what I'm saying. That's why I'm like, the trees listen and they hear. If anything, that would make camping worth it.

• 1:23:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:23:39Drew Afualo?

  To me is getting to be with the trees.

• 1:23:40Speaker 01

  Have you been to Sequoia National Park?

• 1:23:42Drew Afualo?

  No, I haven't. Is it like unbelievable?

• 1:23:45Speaker 01

  It is magical.

• 1:23:46Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god.

• 1:23:47Speaker 01

  Those trees.

• 1:23:49Drew Afualo?

  I got chills. Thinking about those trees.

• 1:23:52Speaker 01

  I mean, it's so, to be among those trees, it is like, it's the most humbling experience.

• 1:23:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:56Speaker 01

  And it is also, you're like, you can't be next to a sequoia tree without just grappling with all that's come before you.

• 1:24:03Drew Afualo?

  No, seriously, you're so me. You're so me. I feel so connected to the earth, especially when I'm around things like that in nature.

• 1:24:10Speaker 01

  It's so important, it's because it's unnatural for us not to be.

• 1:24:13Drew Afualo?

  I know.

• 1:24:14Speaker 01

  We should be around, we should be.

• 1:24:15Drew Afualo?

  Around more nature, yeah, less halogen lights, more trees.

• 1:24:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:19Drew Afualo?

  That's what we need.

• 1:24:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:24:20Drew Afualo?

  That's what we're rooting for in 2026.

• 1:24:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:22Drew Afualo?

  Well, I am so unbelievably happy that you came back.

• 1:24:26Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me.

• 1:24:27Drew Afualo?

  You're one of my favorite creators, and I mean that so literally, and you are one of the funniest people on the internet.

• 1:24:32Speaker 01

  Thank you so much.

• 1:24:33Drew Afualo?

  I am rooting for you so hard, and I'm stamping my card now before you, like, my card of I was an EJ fan, before you have a hit show, a hit movie, and all of the things. Like, I am so fucking excited for you, and the future for you.

• 1:24:47Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:24:47Drew Afualo?

  You're amazing, and I can't wait for everything that you've ever wanted in this industry, because I really do think you have such a unique perspective in comedy especially. And it's like, it's especially hard now, I think, in comedy, or writing, or all of it, to be funny in a way that's not harmful, be funny in a way that's not reductive, right? And it's not punching down, like, you're so funny in a way that is like welcoming, accessible, and hilarious. So I want to.

• 1:25:16Speaker 01

  Thank you, that's so nice.

• 1:25:17Drew Afualo?

  And I really want to like, I want to, I want to give you flowers, but I want to fill your cup, because I know that whatever it is that's coming down the pipeline for you is going to be like amazing. And I'm so happy for you, you deserve it.

• 1:25:29Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:25:29Drew Afualo?

  You deserve everything you've had now, that's why I was really excited to see you were part of I Love L.A., because it's the first of many, and I'm so happy to have you back.

• 1:25:36Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:25:37Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course.

• 1:25:38Speaker 01

  Ah, I'm so excited for your romance novel.

• 1:25:40Drew Afualo?

  Oh my gosh, thank you, I'm, obviously I'll invite you to the premiere where I will be the star, inevitably.

• 1:25:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:25:46Drew Afualo?

  And then you have to invite me to the premiere of yours, maybe I'll do carpet stuff on the premiere of your movie.

• 1:25:49Speaker 01

  Oh my god, I would be honored.

• 1:25:50Drew Afualo?

  I would love that, amazing. And then you'll come back again when you're a star in a movie, and then we can talk about that.

• 1:25:55Speaker 01

  Yay.

• 1:25:55Drew Afualo?

  But thank you so much for coming back to the show, I fucking love you.

• 1:25:58Speaker 01

  I love you, thank you.

• 1:25:59Drew Afualo?

  And for maybe the 10 people that don't know where you are and have never heard of your genius, where can everybody find you?

• 1:26:05Speaker 01

  Um, you can follow me online, my name on Instagram and TikTok is EJ Having Fun.

• 1:26:09Drew Afualo?

  Yes, and EJ is always having fun.

• 1:26:11Speaker 01

  Always.

• 1:26:12Drew Afualo?

  So you gotta clock in. Thank you so much to all of you for tuning into this episode of the comment section. Don't forget, new episodes drop every Wednesday. You can stream the audio on all streaming platforms. The video right now is on Spotify, but will be on YouTube, maybe, very soon. So, don't forget, lock that in, okay? Thank you so much to my amazing guest, EJ Marcus. Please make sure you guys check out everything he's doing. He's incredible and amazing and so talented. And thank you so much for tuning in. I'll see you next week. Bye.

• 1:26:48Speaker 00

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