AIDA OSMAN CAN JUSTIFY ANYTHING (Ft. Aida Osman) | Episode 235

Aida Osman is here this week!! Aida joins Drew to talk about co-starring with Will Ferrell on her new show The Hawk, lying to men at the bars, faking an Australian accent, Avatar fanfiction, getting scammed into funding a BBL, whether the River Styx is niche, and so much more. Aida IG: https://www.instagram.com/shutupaida/?hl=en The Comment Section IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/?hl=en 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

  Hi, it's Danny Pellegrino from Everything Iconic. 12 celebrities, one Don, and cold, hard cash. From the producers of The Traitors comes The Mob, a new Hulu original series. The iconic Parker Posey hosts this unique reality competition show where 12 celebrity contestants shake down in an Italian villa to win a share of up to $250,000. Watch the new Hulu original series, The Mob, premiering October 26th on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 0:35Drew Afualo?

  That was one of my favorite things about going out was lying.

• 0:37Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 0:37Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God. I was like, and who am I gonna be tonight?

• 0:40Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 0:40Drew Afualo?

  I guess we'll see.

• 0:41Speaker 02

  Fake name.

• 0:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. I was like, I guess we'll see.

• 0:43Speaker 02

  I'm Destiny. I went to Juilliard. What do you do?

• 0:47Drew Afualo?

  One time I was faking an Australian accent, which I'm not good at.

• 0:50Speaker 02

  Me, too.

• 0:51Drew Afualo?

  You've done that, too?

• 0:52Speaker 02

  We are the same sicko.

• 1:01Drew Afualo?

  Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Common Section Show, starring me, your fave, everybody knows me, who cares about me. Onto the guest. Today, we have the iconic, the hilarious, the legendary Ida Osman.

• 1:17Drew Afualo?

  Welcome to the show, queen.

• 1:18Speaker 02

  Hi, hello.

• 1:19Drew Afualo?

  I'm so happy to have you.

• 1:21Speaker 02

  Really?

• 1:21Drew Afualo?

  We were just having a real, deep conversation about Caleb Heron.

• 1:25Speaker 02

  Yes, we were.

• 1:26Drew Afualo?

  He's our invisible string.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:28Drew Afualo?

  As he is with a lot of people on my show, which is fucking annoying. I guess it just speaks to how hilarious you are, and he is.

• 1:34Speaker 02

  He's everywhere. We were saying that he's like, probably seven different Caleb's. He's all over the map. He can be anywhere, anytime.

• 1:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, he's kind of like Bigfoot, where it's like, everyone's has their own account of witnessing.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:47Drew Afualo?

  But I can't believe them all. Because it could be legend in folklore.

• 1:50Speaker 02

  And was he really there with them? You know what I mean? Like spiritually, was he there? Physically, maybe, but...

• 1:56Drew Afualo?

  Right. But that is our invisible string between us.

• 1:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's great.

• 1:59Drew Afualo?

  But one thing you do have in common is that you're both hilarious.

• 2:02Speaker 02

  Thank you. I'll take that.

• 2:04Drew Afualo?

  I did watch a lot of your stand-up clips as well, and I find you hilarious.

• 2:08Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 2:08Drew Afualo?

  Just in general, but before we get to the show and comedy writing, I do want to start with stand-up, because I feel like, was stand-up your first love, would you say?

• 2:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:16Drew Afualo?

  In the form of entertainment?

• 2:18Speaker 02

  Well, actually, you know, I think if I were a little less pussy, maybe I would be like a pop star. Like, I have this, I have this delusional thing, even though I'm pushing 30, that like...

• 2:33Drew Afualo?

  Pushing 30 as if that's old, mind you.

• 2:34Speaker 02

  No, no, but it's probably too old to become Zara Larsson. You definitely aren't gonna like, find out you're Tyler at 30. But in my head, I'm like, wait, no, once this comedy thing wraps up, like, I have albums in me.

• 2:47Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 2:48Speaker 02

  But no, I...

• 2:49Drew Afualo?

  Can you sing well? I'm assuming.

• 2:51Speaker 02

  I love to do it.

• 2:53Drew Afualo?

  That probably means yes.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  I love to do it.

• 2:54Drew Afualo?

  A really great singer is always very humble about being able to sing.

• 2:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, okay.

• 2:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. I'm very upfront about the fact that I can't at all.

• 3:00Speaker 02

  You can't hold it out at all?

• 3:01Drew Afualo?

  No, I fucking wish. I was also like, God hit me with a funny stick and said, get the fuck out of here.

• 3:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's the thing.

• 3:07Drew Afualo?

  You're done, you're done, go.

• 3:08Speaker 02

  That's the thing that I wanted to, like, I like to be funny. It's like, there's things that you wish that you could do, but I like to make people laugh, and I like to talk, and I always see shit. You know what really blew my mind the other day? I found my old laptop from middle school.

• 3:21Drew Afualo?

  Okay.

• 3:22Speaker 02

  And I was going through the photo booth.

• 3:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 3:24Speaker 02

  And it was me and my friends, you know, like, just like gay theater kids, obviously. It's the only people I hung out with.

• 3:29Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  And there was, I was, they were like, looking at themselves and having a great time, and I was like, guys, wait, isn't it so crazy that when the camera turns on, like, we're different people, and like, isn't that so funny? Like, doing just like, bad Jerry Seinfeld comedy, like, what's the deal with this? And it like, was annoying and cringey, but it also made me realize, like, I've always been like this.

• 3:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 3:54Speaker 02

  Guys, look, this is so wild.

• 3:56Drew Afualo?

  Here, guys, look, and I'm stunning on top of that.

• 3:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, and also, we don't even need to talk.

• 4:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and obviously, I'm stunning, but I'm hilarious, too. I totally relate to that feeling, too. Because I'm sure, I'm sure you've been asked before, like, have you always known that you wanted to be in entertainment? Or was there another dream that you had?

• 4:14Speaker 02

  I didn't know.

• 4:15Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 4:15Speaker 02

  Like, I feel like I didn't understand our careers, even, like...

• 4:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, no, not at all.

• 4:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I didn't know what stand-up was for real until I was like, 19 or 20. And there was a, there was like, an open mic night at this bar that I worked at, and I had added some extra shifts, and they were doing a Monday night comedy night.

• 4:32Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 4:32Speaker 02

  And I'm from Nebraska, so that's the other thing I have in common with Caleb.

• 4:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, Midwest.

• 4:36Speaker 02

  Midwest girls down.

• 4:38Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 4:38Speaker 02

  I'm slamming my little drinks, I'm getting these people drunk, and I'm looking up, and these white men is doing bad jokes, like, bad stuff. And one girl came on and just talked about her period for a while, but it wasn't funny. Like, you can talk about your period, I love, it was just...

• 4:54Drew Afualo?

  You gotta do it in a funny way.

• 4:55Speaker 02

  Be funny.

• 4:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 4:56Speaker 02

  And I think I'm a really competitive person, I realize.

• 5:01Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 5:01Speaker 02

  So I went up and I tried it, and I was, I fell in love.

• 5:04Drew Afualo?

  Just like, off the cuff, you just went up there?

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Immediately. I'm sure I bombed, I was like, like, I bombed.

• 5:09Drew Afualo?

  You're so me, though. I would do the same shit. I'd be like, well, I can do that.

• 5:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I want, yeah, if he can do it, I can fucking tear it. Like, I just wanted to try it so bad, and I loved it.

• 5:19Drew Afualo?

  So that was your first time ever trying stand-up?

• 5:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:21Drew Afualo?

  When, after that, what, were you trying to do that? Were you trying to like, go to more open mics? Or did you try like, posting videos or anything?

• 5:29Speaker 02

  I did, but it was like shitty, because Nebraska, I was in Lincoln, so I had to drive an hour to go to the next open mic in Omaha.

• 5:36Drew Afualo?

  Oh, damn.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  The next one was three hours in Des Moines, so I really like, I had to die for my bitch, you know? Like, really show her love and go...

• 5:45Drew Afualo?

  I had to commit.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Yeah. I had to drive super far, and I would do it, and I'll go with my friends, and we would have a really good time and do our jokes. It just felt like such a small community, like, I didn't even know other people were doing comedy. And then I tried to start like, writing for Twitter, like, really, in fact, that's, I knew Brittany from Twitter, I just realized.

• 6:06Drew Afualo?

  Oh, that's so funny. That's how I knew Caleb. Like, my first exposure to him ever was on Twitter. Same thing.

• 6:11Speaker 02

  Caleb, Jaboukie.

• 6:13Drew Afualo?

  Yes, Jaboukie's a great one.

• 6:15Speaker 02

  Seriously, there was this cuddy one, that he was kind of, his name was Jovan, and he was this hilarious gay boy from New York, I think, and he was just unhinged, and I was like, all you have to do is talk about your life.

• 6:25Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 6:25Speaker 02

  And I loved it, and I like the idea of like, just getting paid to be funny.

• 6:30Drew Afualo?

  Be yourself. I agree. And that's funny you say about Twitter, because Twitter was my favorite app, like, for a long time, because I'm 30, gonna be 31 this year. So Twitter was my first social media app I ever had, like, that wasn't like, MySpace or Facebook. And it was like, the funniest thing in the world to me. I just loved that you could just see people, like, stream of conscience, put these hilarious jokes out.

• 6:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:54Drew Afualo?

  Again, I found Jaboukie that way. I still, to this day, remember when he got banned off Twitter, because he said that Martin Luther King, on Martin Luther King Day, said he was killed by the FBI.

• 7:05Speaker 02

  I remember that, too.

• 7:07Drew Afualo?

  And then when he came back, he goes, guess who they let out? Like, it was like, him resurrecting his account. So I still remember that to this day, and I also remember Caleb. Even now, I'll still see like, pretty famous old tweets, like, in meme videos. And they're like, the oldest tweets ever, but they're just hilarious.

• 7:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:24Drew Afualo?

  So I totally get what you mean about that. And that's where you started kind of like, workshopping writing jokes?

• 7:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, trying stuff, just seeing what would stick, and like, trying to find a voice, really? Because you have to know what you joke about, and I have put my foot so far up my own esophagus. Like, literally, I have like, I have said the dumbest things in the world that have got me in trouble, and you just, you...

• 7:46Drew Afualo?

  You try, yeah, you trial and error it.

• 7:48Speaker 02

  Like, why am I talking about Doja Cat like that? Like, I'm maybe gonna see this girl one day, there's not a lot of black women in entertainment.

• 7:55Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 7:55Speaker 02

  Why? Sorry, Doja, unblock me.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Just unblock me, please.

• 8:01Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 8:02Speaker 02

  But we don't use Twitter anymore, so it's okay. I have a second life on Threads.

• 8:05Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God. I, okay, no, I just now started looking at Threads.

• 8:09Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 8:10Drew Afualo?

  Because I'm, I'm missing that itch that I can't, can't scratch anymore. I deleted my Twitter like, I think, three years ago now, which I'm devastated by, because I really loved that app, but it just has churned into the worst, most toxic place ever now. But once upon a time, it was lovely and amazing, and it was my favorite app to like, scroll on. Even when I started kind of doing this, it was like, one of my favorite apps to go on, because that's one of the few places I could really fuck someone up.

• 8:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:37Drew Afualo?

  And not get banned, or get like, strikes against me.

• 8:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:40Drew Afualo?

  So I could like, say just the most insane, serious things, like, the way I really wanted to insult awful men sometimes, like, bigoted men. I can't do on like, TikTok, because they put that checkmark by my name, then they locked me down.

• 8:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:54Drew Afualo?

  But on Twitter, they didn't care, obviously, but I'm devastated at the loss of it. But I've heard Threads is popping.

• 9:00Speaker 02

  Well, I'm a latecomer, like, I, because I'm like, I don't know, I think I'm a curmudgeon, like, I think I'm an old, I've been, if it's new, I'm like, ew, really? This is what they're doing?

• 9:10Drew Afualo?

  That's why I thought about Be Real. I was like, you can't make me.

• 9:13Speaker 02

  See, what, the part of my brain that we just went to, I forgot about that.

• 9:16Drew Afualo?

  You forgot about, see, yeah.

• 9:17Speaker 02

  Come and go.

• 9:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. Yeah, but I literally tried it for maybe a few days, and I was like, I can't do this.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  No, no, no.

• 9:23Drew Afualo?

  I can't do this.

• 9:24Speaker 02

  I can't update you guys in photos every day, and then like, when, I didn't know how to do the, the double angle thing, and it was making me feel insecure about myself, like, bitches are figuring out how to do, they're directing, like, massive storylines. No, no, bitch, no, I'm sticking to my one POV.

• 9:39Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Don't hurt my feelings.

• 9:42Drew Afualo?

  Right. So when did you, speaking of your voice in comedy, when did you kind of feel like you were starting to find it a little bit more? Was it like, were you doing more open mics? Were you like, starting to get into writing more seriously?

• 9:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:52Drew Afualo?

  When was that?

• 9:53Speaker 02

  I wish I had like, an answer for you, like, I know myself. Like, I try to be self-aware, but I'm like, I'm changing every day.

• 9:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's true. That's a good way of looking at it, though.

• 10:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, I, especially now, like, I'm a mother now, and I got married, and I remember thinking that was lame as shit like, three years ago. Like, I was like, bitch, I'll never find a man, and he's like, so, that was my voice then, and that's how I felt about life. And then I met this great guy, and I just, you know...

• 10:19Drew Afualo?

  I've heard that.

• 10:20Speaker 02

  God damn it.

• 10:21Drew Afualo?

  I know, it's a bummer.

• 10:22Speaker 02

  They got us, bro.

• 10:23Drew Afualo?

  It's a real fucking bummer. I'll tell you what, I was like, it's so bad for my brand, like, me being in love with my man, like, such a bummer.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  And that's why we hide them. We post them like, once a year, and like, hide them.

• 10:33Drew Afualo?

  There you go, I'm like, yeah, it's fine. And you're fine. And men will be fine, because they have, you know, rights, and then that's the one thing we get, is being like, ugh, about it. But I'm, and I, and you know, I guess it's like, a good thing you find the one, but like, I'm like, they're still awful, like, 90% of them, but the one, yeah.

• 10:50Speaker 02

  I had this, I feel like I scavenged, like, I found him, and the girls are like, oh my God, like, how's your relationship? Bitch, I can't help you. Like, I want to help you find a man, but it was, I looked like, far and wide.

• 11:03Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 11:04Speaker 02

  And my checklist of things that he needed to not have, but be.

• 11:08Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 11:09Speaker 02

  Like, how he needed to talk to me, and in a lot of ways, I love, I love you, baby, I love you so much, baby. These are all jokes, baby. He needed to teach me stuff about the world, and he couldn't just be a random dude, you know what I mean?

• 11:23Drew Afualo?

  Right, yeah, I agree.

• 11:24Speaker 02

  My husband has taught me like...

• 11:28Speaker 02

  I mean, I taught him how to wash the dishes. I know for a fact I did. They don't be washing it. I had to put.

• 11:32Drew Afualo?

  Don't bring that up with me again. I already know.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  Bro.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  So I, he, he just taught me, well, first of all, I stopped lying when I started dating him. Did that happen to you?

• 11:42Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course it did. All I loved to lie when I was dating before, all I did was lie.

• 11:47Speaker 02

  I miss lying.

• 11:48Drew Afualo?

  All the time. I miss like, that was one of my favorite things about going out was lying.

• 11:51Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 11:52Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god. I was like, and who am I gonna be tonight?

• 11:54Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 11:55Drew Afualo?

  I guess we'll see.

• 11:56Speaker 02

  Fake names.

• 11:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, I guess we'll see.

• 11:58Speaker 02

  I'm Destiny. I went to Juilliard. What do you do?

• 12:02Drew Afualo?

  One time I was faking an Australian accent, which I'm not good at.

• 12:05Speaker 02

  Me, too.

• 12:06Drew Afualo?

  You've done that too?

• 12:06Speaker 02

  We are the same sicko. Girl, and.

• 12:10Drew Afualo?

  And then when I got, I got, I got too drunk and I dropped it. Like, because I got too drunk. And then he was like, mind you, I think you're stupid for even believing me because it's not good. Like, my, my Australian accent is not good at all. I'm not even gonna pretend to try now because it's not good. And then when I dropped it, he was like, wait, you're not Australian? And I go, when did I say that? Me just gaslighting? As if I haven't been speaking in a cartoony voice for hours.

• 12:32Speaker 02

  You're weird. We're drinking.

• 12:33Drew Afualo?

  And then I was like, when, where did you get that? In fact, why are you making things up about me? Are you spreading lies about me? Me just gaslighting.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, and saying stuff.

• 12:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, just saying stuff.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  And you're not keeping a through line.

• 12:43Drew Afualo?

  No.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  You're having, you're, you're being Drew.

• 12:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, I'm being me. I'm being whoever I need to be to get a free drink.

• 12:48Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. This is, okay, so mine is really, really, yours is fun. Yours is like a hot, sexy, flirty story. Mine is dark and academic and bad.

• 13:00Drew Afualo?

  Oh no.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Okay, so I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a philosophy degree.

• 13:07Drew Afualo?

  Ooh, look at you, smarty pants.

• 13:08Speaker 02

  Sure, but like, I was, I, there's no way to cut this. Yeah, you're right. It was, I, I was smart back then. I don't really have, um, so, uh, we're in like my philosophy of current issues, my first class. And I was not taking it seriously. It was a gen ed. It was like, I'm not, I'm not gonna do this.

• 13:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 13:28Speaker 02

  So I was like, fuck it, I'm about to be somebody else.

• 13:30Drew Afualo?

  In class?

• 13:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, in class, during the icebreaker, no less. So they're going through each person.

• 13:37Drew Afualo?

  Love it.

• 13:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, immediately, like, let's get to it. I'm Australian, bitch. So we're going through people and then they, they start with me. And I'm like, hey, um, yeah.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, my name is Ira Osman.

• 13:53Drew Afualo?

  That's a pretty good one, honestly.

• 13:54Speaker 02

  No, I was so committed, bro. And it's like, I'm saying this deeply Muslim name, like, yeah, Ira Osman, from Africa and Australia. And I'm doing this and we go through the whole thing and then we get to the last person. And he's like, hey, um, I'm from Sydney. My name is Dylan. Uh, whatever, whatever. I can't do his. I don't, I didn't, you know, practice his.

• 14:18Speaker 02

  And he's like, it's so, so cool. It's someone here from, you know, down on the team.

• 14:23Drew Afualo?

  I think I'm from a different one.

• 14:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I'm from, yeah, it's like further south.

• 14:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, what side are you from? I'm from the other side.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Um, so, yeah, so I, I realized I shot myself in the foot in that moment, but I had to maintain this lie.

• 14:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you had to.

• 14:37Speaker 02

  The rest of my college career.

• 14:41Drew Afualo?

  Just like Ross from Friends. You ever see that one?

• 14:44Speaker 02

  Wait, go ahead.

• 14:44Drew Afualo?

  Ross from Friends. He like fakes a British accent his like first day teaching.

• 14:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 14:48Drew Afualo?

  Because he thinks they'll pay attention more. And then he has to hold it for like the whole semester.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  And then, of course, like, what do you do? It just slowly dissipates over the course of your undergraduate career.

• 14:58Drew Afualo?

  I don't wanna do the accent anymore. Guys, come on. I don't feel like it.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  Come on, and I, I'm acclimating to Nebraska. Like, I'm losing my accent. I'm trying to get rid of it. Like, you start building this story and then that's when I realized, like, damn, I am, you know how you flip it? You're like, I should write fiction. Like, I'm not a liar. I should, I'm a storyteller.

• 15:15Drew Afualo?

  I'm just a really imaginative person.

• 15:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:18Drew Afualo?

  I love, yeah, literally, my, my man, he loves to say that, like, he's like, well, cuz I'm sure you have this too, now that I'm figuring out we move the same in a lot of ways. Um, uh, when I tell a story, there's pageantry to it.

• 15:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:32Drew Afualo?

  Like, if I say there, there was like a hundred people outside, obviously, there's probably realistically two, but that's not the point. The point is.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  Hyperbole bitch.

• 15:39Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, hello, it's color. We're adding it to the story. So anytime I recount a story to my, like, my husband where he's not there.

• 15:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:49Drew Afualo?

  He'll be like, is that what really happened or is that? He always like fact checks me a little bit and I'm always like, yes, that's what really happened. I always say yes, even though it's not.

• 15:59Drew Afualo?

  Cuz he knows, like, I was like, the gist is true.

• 16:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:02Drew Afualo?

  Everything else, it's just decoration on the tree. Like, the tree is still beautiful. Obviously, you're enjoying it, but like, it's just decoration.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm trying to give you an experience. Why don't you want an experience?

• 16:11Drew Afualo?

  This is like 4DX, but like storytelling.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, scratch and sniff, come here. There's more to this. Just look. That's crazy. I don't tell good stories unless I've written them. Seriously, no.

• 16:23Drew Afualo?

  You don't think so? I bet that's not true.

• 16:26Speaker 02

  No, I get in my head. I'm very, and I, I have to stop watching so many TikToks on 2X speed. Like, I'm not having original thoughts.

• 16:32Drew Afualo?

  I do that a lot. Me and my sister joke that like sometimes when I watch stuff, like, things that are not supposed to have that feature, like a movie or something, or someone talking for a long time. I'm like, oh, I wish I could 2X this. Like, when I'm watching and I'm like, I get it, I get it, but like, oh, I wish I could 2X this. Yeah, I'm, I'm experiencing that kind of brain rot too sometimes.

• 16:51Speaker 02

  No, I have it. I'm, I'm rotted up for sure. My literacy rate is declining with the trend of like, every day I'm like, write or read a fucking book.

• 16:59Drew Afualo?

  Chipped away just a little bit, yeah.

• 17:01Speaker 02

  Have you read anything recently?

• 17:03Drew Afualo?

  Recently, I'll be honest with you, what I'm reading right now is a fanfiction.

• 17:07Speaker 02

  Oh, about what?

• 17:08Drew Afualo?

  Um, are you familiar with Avatar, The Last Airbender?

• 17:18Drew Afualo?

  I'm like so deeply humiliated.

• 17:21Speaker 02

  No, this is amazing. Okay. Yeah, the little boy with the blue arrow?

• 17:25Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 17:26Speaker 02

  Go ahead.

• 17:27Drew Afualo?

  Are you familiar with him?

• 17:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. And the girl, Cora, right?

• 17:31Drew Afualo?

  Katara, yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  Oh, my god. This is so good. Take that out. Take that out.

• 17:35Drew Afualo?

  Okay, well, there is, no, there is, you said Cora?

• 17:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:37Drew Afualo?

  There is another Avatar in a different show. Her name is Cora.

• 17:40Speaker 02

  And you would know that?

• 17:41Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I would. Yes, I would. I'm intimately familiar with that, yes. Essentially, there's two characters in that, in this fake animated series, um, that I think should have ended up together. This fanfiction is about another world in which they do.

• 17:54Speaker 02

  I love you so much.

• 17:57Speaker 02

  Keep going. Keep going.

• 17:59Drew Afualo?

  I literally have been reading, I'm not, and I'm so dead ass, I'm, I've been reading it like legitimately.

• 18:04Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 18:04Drew Afualo?

  On my phone, of course, through Safari on my phone, of course.

• 18:06Speaker 02

  It's like between work breaks too. It's like, guys, one.

• 18:09Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yes. It's in between anything. Anytime I'm laying and I'm looking at my phone, if you think I'm doing work, I'm not. I'm reading my fanfiction.

• 18:14Speaker 02

  That is amazing. I love that so much. It's probably better than how I find books, which is like, on TikTok, if somebody clips a live from Dochi. Where she's explaining like her process.

• 18:28Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 18:28Speaker 02

  I'm like, you know, I still think I'm gonna be a pop star one day.

• 18:30Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course. I'm rooting for you.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Thank you, thank you. The, the Grammys are coming. Um, the Grammys are loading currently. I'll just do whatever Dochi's like, yes, this is what I did.

• 18:39Drew Afualo?

  I mean, that's fair. She's got great taste.

• 18:41Speaker 02

  She's got great taste. She's wonderful. I'm reading a book that she recommended and I don't know what it's called. I really should know what it's called.

• 18:49Drew Afualo?

  But I am reading it.

• 18:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, I am reading, I'm kind of.

• 18:51Drew Afualo?

  I can promise you I'm reading it. I just don't remember the name. I've been there, though.

• 18:55Speaker 02

  I've been reading it since her career started, though, so that's really bad. It's like, she's like four years in.

• 19:00Drew Afualo?

  It's a slow burn, you know? I'm just taking, I'm taking my time. I'm savoring.

• 19:04Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 19:05Drew Afualo?

  See, I love that about us. We can reframe anything.

• 19:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:08Drew Afualo?

  To be in our favor. I think that's a beautiful thing.

• 19:10Speaker 02

  That is so true.

• 19:11Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 19:12Speaker 02

  I can manipulate, I can justify anything to make myself feel better. And that is such, that's a positive trait. I know that it is.

• 19:19Drew Afualo?

  I think so too. And I agree with you because even when I've like talked with my friends or like my sister and we're talking about like breakups or something.

• 19:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:28Drew Afualo?

  I'll always tell them like, if, if, you know, my friends are like, I just wish I had like closure. I wish, I'm like, well, give it to yourself.

• 19:34Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 19:35Drew Afualo?

  And I always tell them, make up the story.

• 19:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:37Drew Afualo?

  What are you gonna do? Come correct me?

• 19:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:39Drew Afualo?

  Oh, I dare you. I dare you to come over here. Well, clearly, they broke up with me because they, I'm like too beautiful and too talented. Like, I'll tell myself anything. You're not here to verify.

• 19:49Speaker 02

  That's true. And we only have the narrative that we keep in our head.

• 19:53Drew Afualo?

  That's what we need.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  So you have to write it. Or like, what was I gonna say? It's, this is, this happens too. I'm like a sieve. Like, things go in and out. It's like, I know I have so much ADHD. And I learned about it recently. I don't know, do you know your mental illnesses or are you?

• 20:09Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah, you know, it's funny you say that.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:11Drew Afualo?

  Because I've been tiptoeing around an OCD diagnosis for over a year.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 20:15Drew Afualo?

  I, I'm recently, I'm closing in on her.

• 20:18Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 20:18Drew Afualo?

  But transparently, last year, I was going through the fucking trench, I was being dragged through the mud, girl, mentally. That I, I got on meds for the first time, which have been a lifesaver and I'm happy about. But I remember I made, this is like one of the few times I've made my therapist laugh. I don't know if you try this, but like sometimes I'm like, I hope you laugh at my job. Like, am I your funniest client? Like, sometimes I wanna ask her that. And so she was, she's very like, uh, let's not use humor to cope. Like, let's talk through things. I'm like, okay, girl.

• 20:45Speaker 02

  You're like, end the Zoom call.

• 20:46Drew Afualo?

  I'm like, yeah, I'm like, mm, whose side are you on?

• 20:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:48Drew Afualo?

  Um, and so we're, we're like talking about, I'm like going through the trenches. I'm getting on meds. And then I told her, I was like, so recently I saw something that makes me think that I might have OCD. And then she, to me, goes, mm-hmm. Well, that's not a no. And I was like, okay. And I go, so I just feel like it's true, but I'm so stuck in this right now. I really feel like I'll come back to you.

• 21:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:13Drew Afualo?

  Let me just, let me get out of this and then I'll circle back.

• 21:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:15Drew Afualo?

  And then she kinda laughed and she goes, well, yes, remember I told you we'll revisit stuff once we get through this. And I'm like, okay. So she knows I have it. Like, I was like, and so, yes, I'm very familiar with, uh, finding out later in life your diagnosis.

• 21:30Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, I always knew something was off, you know?

• 21:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me too.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  It was obvious, but I just thought I was like, I just thought I was silly. Like, I just thought, I just thought I was, you know, I was like, I'm great. I lie, I manipulate, I steal sometimes. I love to shoplift. That's normal.

• 21:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, well, something, well, I mean, okay, a girl.

• 21:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:51Drew Afualo?

  Oh, a teenage girl.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  Making it in America, right? So I was, I, I never really thought I had a problem. And no, listen, I love my brother. He had full-blown autism. So compared to him, I was like,

• 22:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you're like, well, I'm fine.

• 22:06Speaker 02

  Princess Diana. Like, I was doing great. And, and, um, I just, nobody ever thought to look at what I was doing. Cuz we're dealing with my brother, he's nonverbal and like, he had a lot of health issues. So, yeah, recently I got a new ther, I got a psychiatrist. Cuz I was looking for them pillies.

• 22:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I feel you.

• 22:25Speaker 02

  Just a few of them.

• 22:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 22:26Speaker 02

  Just a couple. And I was talking to her and she did the ADHD test on me and she came back with the results. And she was like,

• 22:37Speaker 02

  Nigerian lady.

• 22:40Speaker 02

  She's like, oh, oh.

• 22:45Speaker 02

  Your mind is like a thousand gristle pass.

• 22:50Speaker 02

  I said what?

• 22:51Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 22:51Speaker 02

  Like, stop being poetic.

• 22:53Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah, you could have just said, yeah, you have it.

• 22:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, say the clinical shit. Definitely, for sure, say the clinical shit. Like, I was like, I reported her. I reported her to the board. I did. You can't practice in California.

• 23:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, good luck, bitch.

• 23:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, have fun. But she, then she gave me some Adderall and I told, and all my friends were like, don't take it. Just start doing, um, eye therapy and like get a red. Yeah, yeah, do Mad Gab on your phone. You're like, no, I want, I want to try it.

• 23:23Drew Afualo?

  I need the serious shit, yeah.

• 23:24Speaker 02

  So I got the pills, tried the pills and used it for like two, three months so I could get, I think, the brain.

• 23:31Drew Afualo?

  Locked in.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, like get the pattern of maintaining a thought for longer than two seconds.

• 23:36Drew Afualo?

  Right, yes.

• 23:36Speaker 02

  And then I feel like I, I used it to help me like an instrument, but I don't like to take them that much anymore.

• 23:41Drew Afualo?

  And that's fair.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:42Drew Afualo?

  And, and that's good with time, like, that's why it's nice to like do it slowly over time.

• 23:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:47Drew Afualo?

  My sister has been telling me recently too, my sister's also getting, she recently is getting tested for ADHD as well.

• 23:53Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 23:53Drew Afualo?

  And she's also, one of the questions, she like sent me a picture of it and one of the questions on the questionnaire, just to set up the test, was like, do you find yourself interrupting people frequently? Which like, if you knew my sister, that's all that bitch does. Like, and like when you talk to her, she'll be looking like she's listening and she goes, I went to the store yesterday.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 24:14Drew Afualo?

  And then I go, oh, you did? Oh, did you? And she goes, yes, I did. And you know what I got? And then we talk about her thing for about twenty minutes? And she goes, sorry, what were you saying? And then we just go right back. I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me.

• 24:26Speaker 02

  It doesn't bother you?

• 24:26Drew Afualo?

  No, not at all.

• 24:27Speaker 02

  Are you big sister or little sister?

• 24:28Drew Afualo?

  Little.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 24:29Drew Afualo?

  Which is ironic, because a lot of times people are like, that's little sister shit, but no, no.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  You're supposed to be better than me.

• 24:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 24:37Speaker 02

  No, but that's.

• 24:37Drew Afualo?

  She's way more type B than me in a lot of ways too. Like, I'm a very type A, uh, kinda girl and my sister, like, this is a good example. We were in Vegas recently, because me and my man are getting married, uh, soon.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  Woo hoo.

• 24:49Drew Afualo?

  But we had a joint bachelor, bachelorette party, um, in Vegas. And like the last day we were there, we had to check out at like twelve and it was like nine in the morning and we were like, oh, let's go shopping around, like in the little stores and stuff. And, uh, we were, she was like, yeah, I'll come too. And I was like, all of us obviously packed beforehand.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:06Drew Afualo?

  So then we all packed, I packed the night before, because that's how crazy I was about packing. And so then we go and we're shopping for hours. We come back and she goes, I'll go pack now.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:16Drew Afualo?

  And I was like, you didn't pack? She goes, no, I'm just gonna zip it all up in one big thing. I'm all, oh, my god, bitch. I was like, if you guys can't believe she was not packed, like, we had to leave in like five minutes and she's like, it's gonna take me like a second.

• 25:26Speaker 02

  And you have like a capsule wardrobe with photos of everything you're gonna wear every day.

• 25:31Drew Afualo?

  And yes, I did. I got all my outfits in little piles with all my little things on top.

• 25:35Speaker 02

  So there's like type A and type B and then I saw this on TikTok, there's like type C, have you seen this?

• 25:39Drew Afualo?

  No, is it like a mix of the two?

• 25:40Speaker 02

  It's like you have no God.

• 25:44Drew Afualo?

  You're just kinda floating?

• 25:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm type C. I'm somebody like, if you go on my phone right now, thousands of notes. I write everything down.

• 25:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 25:51Speaker 02

  Do I look at them ever again? No.

• 25:52Drew Afualo?

  Of course not.

• 25:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, do I, I have a routine that's like minute, because I'm a mom now too. So it's, it's so, it, I'm embarrassed about the level of like routine. It's like I'm in a cult. Like, I've created a cult, I'm the solo person in the cult.

• 26:07Drew Afualo?

  And she's the leader.

• 26:09Speaker 02

  She's the leader.

• 26:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 26:10Speaker 02

  Eight fifteen, boil her eggs. Eight twenty, purify her urine or whatever they do in cult, like, change her diaper. But, purify her urine, change her diaper. And, and it's just constant, constant, but then I never follow it. So there's that type C of like, you want structure.

• 26:27Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 26:27Speaker 02

  But you don't.

• 26:29Drew Afualo?

  It's, you're like, I should have structure, but I'm always kinda fine.

• 26:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, everything's good, everything, I'm with Drew.

• 26:37Drew Afualo?

  I joke about that too, because my friend, who's my assistant and my other friend, who's my agent, they're both type A women, but like to, to the utmost, utmost degree, like way more than me and I feel like I'm pretty type A. And I always joke that whenever they're there, I can be whatever. I can be the dumbest bitch in the room when they're there, because they're handling all of it.

• 26:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:57Drew Afualo?

  So I can actually afford to be type B when there's an even more type A person amongst me, but that's not very common.

• 27:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:04Drew Afualo?

  So sometimes I have to be da da. Like, I was like, oh, I have to be, I have to be Big Papa, because nobody else is here to steer the ship.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  This is insane.

• 27:11Drew Afualo?

  I guess it has to be me. But I, I do wanna pivot back to comedy writing. I would love to know, because I know we talked about Twitter and that was kind of where you started like seeing, where you could sample. Uh, when did you really start getting into like writing in general? Like, whether it was like full sketches, scripts, pitches, all of it?

• 27:28Speaker 02

  When did I start doing, okay, well, back to college, I really wanted to write for the satire newspaper, like, you know, like, and I had applied for the Onion in Chicago.

• 27:37Drew Afualo?

  Oh, fun.

• 27:38Speaker 02

  And they didn't accept me.

• 27:41Drew Afualo?

  And they said fuck off? And I said, okay, no worries.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  They're like, you're making jokes about Nellie and Solange, like, we don't know who those people are.

• 27:48Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 27:48Speaker 02

  So, you know, and, and I just wanted to write for the newspaper at my college and it was the same situation where I like didn't fit in with these weird, um, quasi-autistic white boys.

• 28:01Drew Afualo?

  Right, I see what you mean.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  You know, like, they thought they were Harvard Lampoon, but we were in Nebraska, so. It wasn't that, it wasn't giving out.

• 28:08Drew Afualo?

  And they notoriously have really bad taste, so there's that too.

• 28:11Speaker 02

  White guys?

• 28:12Drew Afualo?

  White guys, yeah.

• 28:12Speaker 02

  Talk about it.

• 28:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, they have really, really bad taste. And so a lot of times when they're like, well, I don't find that funny, I'm like, well, who are you?

• 28:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:18Drew Afualo?

  Well, well, of course you don't, look at you.

• 28:20Speaker 02

  What's your worldview?

• 28:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, okay, well, you tell me a joke. I'd love to hear it, I'm sure it's hilarious.

• 28:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, and it's, yeah, it's like, yeah, and her pussy was stankin' and it's like.

• 28:30Drew Afualo?

  I hate my wife.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, I hate my wife.

• 28:32Drew Afualo?

  My wife always wants to go to Target.

• 28:33Speaker 02

  Oh, god.

• 28:34Drew Afualo?

  It's like the same shit.

• 28:35Speaker 02

  Stanley Cup, every day, Stanley Cup. Yes, I drink water every day.

• 28:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, well, yeah. Yes, yes, in fact.

• 28:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, so I'm totally gonna forget about comedy writing if I don't focus. Um, didn't take Adderall today? Okay, so I wanted to write satire stuff and I just started writing my own shit and trying to put it out into the world, tried to make videos, but I am so bad at videos, like.

• 28:59Drew Afualo?

  Really?

• 28:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I love TV, so I wanted to write scripts.

• 29:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 29:02Speaker 02

  And I was doing shows, I had moved to LA to do another podcast where I was the co-host, it was called Keep It.

• 29:09Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 29:09Speaker 02

  It's still going.

• 29:10Drew Afualo?

  With Ira.

• 29:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, Ira and Louis. It was, um, it was a great time, except for, they were so much older than me and now I have like clarity is twenty twenty.

• 29:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 29:18Speaker 02

  Is that the saying? Clarity is twenty twenty.

• 29:21Drew Afualo?

  I am an idiot.

• 29:22Speaker 02

  Clarity is twenty twenty?

• 29:24Drew Afualo?

  Hey, it's all the same. I knew, I caught, I caught your metaphor.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  Thank you, that's, that's all that matters.

• 29:27Drew Afualo?

  No worries.

• 29:28Speaker 02

  You're not pretentious, this is like, this is, there's orange on the wall.

• 29:32Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 29:32Speaker 02

  This is where I wanna be.

• 29:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, period.

• 29:35Speaker 02

  Um, hindsight is twenty twenty, I was much younger than them and I was trying to keep up with their like pop culture references and everything and my offerings would be like, did you guys see what Tierra Wax said today? And they're like, you know, we're talking about Jane Fonda, this is a weird pivot.

• 29:48Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 29:49Speaker 02

  And so, I'm sure it added color, but I just didn't know myself well enough. And then maybe you can speak to this too, because you podcast every day, like, you do this a lot. You have to have opinions and talk a lot.

• 29:59Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  And so I wasn't really enjoying that, but I loved them and I loved the experience.

• 30:03Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 30:04Speaker 02

  But I really wanted to just write scripts. And so I, I moved, I had moved to LA for that and then I started, I think I was doing a show at the Comedy Store.

• 30:14Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 30:14Speaker 02

  And one of the comedians that wrote for Big Mouth was like, this girl's funny. And then.

• 30:21Drew Afualo?

  And that is the perfect, I feel like, humor for you.

• 30:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:25Drew Afualo?

  What you've been describing you really love to write about and like inform, an opinion on.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:30Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah.

• 30:30Speaker 02

  It was smart and it was inappropriate.

• 30:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 30:34Speaker 02

  And, and it didn't, it didn't sacrifice intellect and specificity for the type of like dirty raunchy jokes it was doing.

• 30:42Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 30:43Speaker 02

  And I really liked that.

• 30:44Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 30:45Speaker 02

  And I was a fan of it. And I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you this, you're gonna like this. Before I even moved to LA for the podcast, I was telling people in Nebraska that I had gotten a job at Big Mouth. Just lying, just manifest, which is the type of manifesting.

• 30:58Drew Afualo?

  That's what I'm saying. I, I said the same thing, I'm like, is it lying or is it me just manifesting my reality?

• 31:02Speaker 02

  Yes, creating that reality.

• 31:03Drew Afualo?

  And then when it works out, you're like, I knew it.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  I'm a witch, maybe?

• 31:07Drew Afualo?

  And I'm supposed to stop lying even though it works?

• 31:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. God, and maybe that's why my, my, I have no motion, because I've stopped lying right now. My motion is slowed, I need to start.

• 31:17Drew Afualo?

  I need to get back in the saddle.

• 31:18Speaker 02

  I have MSG next week, I gotta, we gotta wrap this up, you know? Man?

• 31:23Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  So, yeah, and then, you know, he asked me to come, I interviewed and I talked to Nick Kroll and all the people at Big Mouth and I was just so fanned out, like, I really, I love you guys so much, I've been watching this forever and, and.

• 31:36Drew Afualo?

  So fucking cool, though.

• 31:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I'm a huge comedy fan, like, I'm a nerd about comedy, I wish that I was cooler about it.

• 31:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 31:44Speaker 02

  Like, when I met Will on the show that I just did, I just.

• 31:47Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 31:47Speaker 02

  I think I was visibly drooling.

• 31:49Drew Afualo?

  No, we have to talk about that.

• 31:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, tell me about Big Mouth.

• 31:52Speaker 02

  And he mog, he's hot. I'll say it.

• 31:55Drew Afualo?

  I'll say it.

• 31:56Speaker 02

  Will, I'll be the first to say it. Will Ferrell's fucking hot. He's hot.

• 32:01Drew Afualo?

  I believe you.

• 32:02Speaker 02

  He's like intense and sincere and earnest and like so funny.

• 32:07Drew Afualo?

  Hilarious.

• 32:08Speaker 02

  He's sexy.

• 32:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, well, one of one, honestly. This episode is brought to you by Vinted. If you're like me, it feels like you have an infinite amount of clothes in the back of your closet that you tell yourself you're gonna wear, but never actually do. And when you get new clothes, you have absolutely no room for them. If only there was an easy way to clear out your closet, give your clothes a second life, and make a little extra money while doing it. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand app that makes it easy for everyday sellers, people like you and me, to sell pre-loved fashion and earn some extra money. Vinted is so convenient and easy to use that it finally got me into my closet to declutter and organize. Selling clothes I never wear anymore frees up so much space for my new pieces,

• 32:52Drew Afualo?

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• 33:35Drew Afualo?

  so it's actually easy to find products that work for your hair. If your hair needs repair, the K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask is one of those products people genuinely swear by. If you're trying to level up your wash day, the Kerastase Elixir All-Time Hair Oil leaves your hair looking ridiculously shiny without feeling heavy. And if you're into that glossy, healthy hair vibe, the Gisu Honey Infused Hair Oil is such a staple. I love knowing that Sephora curates the best of prestige hair care, so you're not just guessing. You can shop products that are actually worth the investment, because healthier-looking hair starts with better products. Plus, Sephora makes it super convenient with free shipping and same-day delivery.

• 34:16Drew Afualo?

  Shop hair at Sephora and give your hair the upgrade it's been waiting for. Hey, y'all, it's me, and I wanna talk to y'all about something a little serious, like what sometimes happens to me when I'm working a ton, and I'm having some intrusive thoughts or things that are kind of slowing me down a little bit in terms of being able to do my job to the fullest extent. And a lot of times, I would associate that with being anxious. But for a lot of people, that's not just anxiety, that's OCD. And most of them have no idea. Not the organizing stereotype, real OCD is persistent, unwanted, intrusive thoughts that feel totally out of character, along with mental or physical behaviors you feel driven to do to get relief even when it never actually comes.

• 34:59Drew Afualo?

  These thoughts can feel very real, which is what makes them so upsetting. OCD is highly treatable with the right kind of specialized therapy. It needs ERP, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, proven to be the most effective treatment. NOCD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment, covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans. Licensed therapists specialize in ERP therapy in live, face-to-face, virtual sessions with support between sessions, so you're never facing OCD alone. If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15-minute call to get started at nocd.com. I find humor incredibly sexy.

• 35:42Drew Afualo?

  I find people who are so themselves, like really sexy. That, I think that's what I love about stuff like that, especially when you have artists like Will Ferrell, for example, like someone who is so singularly themselves that I think people believe it's an act.

• 35:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:56Drew Afualo?

  All the time, which like, a lot of times, he's in and out of a bit, for sure. But like, it's, he's just so unique, like so singularly themselves. We were talking about Kiki Palmer earlier, like she's another person like that to me, where it's like, you're so yourself that people find you so unbelievably funny and amazing, that they think it's like an act. But that's just how they exist, and I think that's a beautiful thing.

• 36:17Speaker 02

  I think when people come to the stage, like the, this is a stage, even though we're like just being girls.

• 36:23Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 36:24Speaker 02

  This is still a stage, and you have to decide like how you wanna show up.

• 36:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 36:28Speaker 02

  So it's like a refinement.

• 36:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 36:30Speaker 02

  How I wanna show up is like distracted, I have ADHD, and I, I don't know. But like, I guess that's just honesty.

• 36:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it is. It's authenticity.

• 36:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:38Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I agree.

• 36:39Speaker 02

  It's cool, I think it's cool that you share that you have OCD.

• 36:42Drew Afualo?

  Thank you.

• 36:43Speaker 02

  And that you're fucked up.

• 36:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yes, of course, that I have a lot of problems, and my therapist hears about them constantly.

• 36:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 36:49Drew Afualo?

  I know, it's, well, and there's power in it, right? Like, and that's another form of representation, I feel like, especially, that's like the beauty of, um, I would say, one of the good things that comes out of social media, melding with this world. But I was gonna ask you, like, if you feel like it's changed at all, like the comedy space, now that things like TikTok are big and like Reels are big, like, and obviously, we talked about the death of Twitter, or the Twitter that we loved. Do you think that's kind of shifting the space at all? Like, do you think it's changing comedy and like depiction of it? Because a lot, I always ask comics especially, because, um, I also have such a longstanding respect for stand-up. I think stand-up is one of my favorite art forms ever. I, I've always loved, like, making people laugh, like you said, but I also love to laugh.

• 37:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:33Drew Afualo?

  So I love to be told jokes, I love to, to, uh, like, you know, think about people's perspectives through humor and comedy. So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on like, if you feel like things like TikTok becoming huge, and people posting like, fucking nothing but crowd work, and being like, I should go to the Laugh Factory and do a ten. Like, that kind of mentality, I'm curious if it's like, you've seen a change, like, in comedy, and like, the expression of the art form, I guess.

• 37:57Speaker 02

  Definitely, especially because like, my background is, obviously, like, the Nebraska rooms, which were, you know, I had to like make white boys laugh, so I'd like,

• 38:07Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 38:08Speaker 02

  You were really shaped by the room that you're in.

• 38:09Drew Afualo?

  That's such a good point, yeah.

• 38:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, and so like TikTok humor, you know, you, if you're not on TikTok, you don't know what I'm talking about ever. Like, I, I was off TikTok for a week, and now they're saying stuff like, what's the new thing right now? It's, um, beating a dead horse?

• 38:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, beating a dead horse, I've seen that. I've seen that, and I've seen Quiet on the Creek.

• 38:27Speaker 02

  Quiet on the Creek, Sassy Santana, Quiet on the Creek.

• 38:29Drew Afualo?

  And I, I know it was a Sassy Santana song, but that was like, I just saw that because I was offline for a couple days, and I was like, what the hell is that? I have to catch up.

• 38:36Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 38:37Drew Afualo?

  Start sweating, like.

• 38:39Speaker 02

  I, I remember, and someone asked me last night, they're like, what's Quiet on the Creek? And I just started going.

• 38:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me too.

• 38:45Speaker 02

  And everyone's like, what, are you having a seizure? And I'm like, no.

• 38:47Drew Afualo?

  No, no, this is, this is literally what it is.

• 38:49Speaker 02

  You asked me a question.

• 38:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, I'm answering your question, and here you are judging me.

• 38:52Speaker 02

  And then they, then they want like the full explanation, and it's like, well, I haven't heard the song yet, I'm gonna listen to the song. I've seen the video promoting it.

• 38:59Drew Afualo?

  That's all I know.

• 39:00Speaker 02

  And that's all I know. I know it's about being DL, I'm assuming.

• 39:02Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  And I know, you know, and, and I know I sound crazy. So you can have totally different worlds of humor.

• 39:08Drew Afualo?

  True.

• 39:08Speaker 02

  And I love that.

• 39:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  I love it all.

• 39:11Drew Afualo?

  I think so, too. I think that's a really healthy way of looking at it, too. Because I think sometimes, I understand bristling if you're a comic, like a traditional comic, and then you're getting annoyed, because now comedy, stand-up especially, has been watered down in a lot of ways, because it's like, it's so easy to go viral.

• 39:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:27Drew Afualo?

  With just one clip, that all of a sudden, it empowers, man, mostly, to be like, I should quit my job and do this for a living.

• 39:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:35Drew Afualo?

  Um, when they have like one crowd work clip do well. So I understand being apprehensive about it in that sense, but I also, I think, I see it the same way you do, and that's probably my bias, because obviously, I came up through TikTok. But I was like, there's also so much humor and perspective on there, too. Like, it's like, not all bad. Some of it is really awesome, in the way that it's been able to blend.

• 39:55Speaker 02

  TikTok was essentially my doula while I was pregnant. Fully was guiding me, like a magical fairy, like I, people would be like, are you, are you good? Do you need, I'm good, like, I've been listening to mothers, like, month by month, literally like 38 weeks pregnant, 24 weeks. I would find the specific video, and it felt like I had, this is so sad and Gen Z, I felt like I had a friend who was pregnant at the same time as me. It didn't matter if I knew the girl or followed her.

• 40:20Drew Afualo?

  Right, and that is the beautiful part of it, I will agree with you on that. Like, connection, community, right? Like, it's, that's why, when it's not being perverse, and it's not being utilized in an evil way, it's amazing.

• 40:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:31Drew Afualo?

  I agree, and like, back to Big Mouth, I love that you were able to write with them, especially because I, I agree with you on the humor of Big Mouth. It's like, similar to what I find hilarious, because I've talked about this with Caleb, too, but like, uh, Family Guy's one of my favorite, like, TV shows, like, ever, because the humor is so layered in it, and sometimes, it's just so downright fucking absurd that it's hilarious. But I was like, there are a lot of layered jokes in, in those kinds of shows, like, where the humor is so unbelievably funny to me. But then you have like, it's kind of like The Office or like Friends. Friends is different, I'll put that in a different bucket, but my, my point being, sometimes their fans are just the worst. But I was like, so it makes you not wanna look into the show, but I promise, it's hilarious.

• 41:15Drew Afualo?

  Like, that's how I feel, I'm like, if you really look at it, and that's how I feel about Big Mouth.

• 41:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:19Drew Afualo?

  So I love that they were able to like, uh, understand and appreciate how your humor, and what it could add to the team.

• 41:25Speaker 02

  But then also, I would go too hard sometimes, and everyone would look at me and be like, are you?

• 41:29Drew Afualo?

  Be like, hey.

• 41:30Speaker 02

  I'm like, what if Mona is like, yeah, and then I creamed in my underwear, and I could do a, I could do a, I could do a spin and keep the dick still inside? And they're like, whoa.

• 41:40Drew Afualo?

  They're like, okay, well, all right, peel it back a little bit.

• 41:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:45Drew Afualo?

  They're like, well, don't be gross.

• 41:46Speaker 02

  Yeah. Big Mouth, don't, yes.

• 41:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, don't be, oh, my bad, I thought that was kind of our whole thing.

• 41:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:53Drew Afualo?

  My bad.

• 41:53Speaker 02

  I thought we were vile, like sewer demons, man.

• 41:57Drew Afualo?

  Okay, now, well, that's a great, uh, creaming in your pants is a great transition to Will Ferrell. And you're in your new show, The Hawk.

• 42:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, The Hawk.

• 42:05Drew Afualo?

  I would love for you to tell me about it.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 42:06Drew Afualo?

  And you're, and how you came to be involved with it, and just like, what you're most excited about.

• 42:12Speaker 02

  Well, I'm excited to be working again, let's just start there, because it's Hollywood, like, when we were talking about things transitioning, Hollywood is in a very transitional place right now.

• 42:22Drew Afualo?

  That's true, yeah.

• 42:23Speaker 02

  It's still trying to remind people that TV is good.

• 42:26Drew Afualo?

  Right, totally.

• 42:27Speaker 02

  Because right now, you know, our comedians are coming out of streaming, and our comedians, not streaming, but what am I trying to say?

• 42:33Drew Afualo?

  No, streaming is a great one, yeah, like, yeah, and it's like the bite-sized clips of everything.

• 42:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, clips and stuff, like, there's a different pathway to entry now.

• 42:41Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 42:41Speaker 02

  You know, so, um, and like I said, I love all of that, I'm not.

• 42:47Drew Afualo?

  No, but it does, it does make it hard sometimes, especially like, for the more traditional side of Hollywood, yeah.

• 42:53Speaker 02

  And it's like, you gotta change your, your thinking about it.

• 42:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 42:56Speaker 02

  Like, I, so I auditioned for the show, I had the baby in July, I auditioned for the show, like, maybe three months after, and I had had a C-section, so.

• 43:03Drew Afualo?

  Look at you, girl.

• 43:04Speaker 02

  I really, I saw Will on the email, I'm like, I can't say.

• 43:09Speaker 03

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• 43:40Speaker 00

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• 44:15Speaker 02

  I want to do this.

• 44:16Drew Afualo?

  No, absolutely.

• 44:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, I want to do this.

• 44:19Drew Afualo?

  And women can do anything. I got chills thinking about you doing it right fresh off of a C-section.

• 44:23Speaker 02

  Doubling over.

• 44:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me getting chills. Women can do anything.

• 44:27Speaker 02

  We really can do anything.

• 44:28Drew Afualo?

  Literally.

• 44:28Speaker 02

  That's what I learned. And in fact, having a child, people get scared. People are like, I don't want a baby in my career and all this. The way my baby has whipped me into shape.

• 44:36Drew Afualo?

  Oh, wow, that's so beautiful.

• 44:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:38Drew Afualo?

  What a beautiful thing.

• 44:39Speaker 02

  It's really sweet.

• 44:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 44:41Speaker 02

  She's amazing. And she's cooler than me. And then that's how it's supposed to go. That's evolution, I guess. And she's, like, she's so... The other day, I was playing a Zara Larson song, and she looked at me like...

• 44:54Speaker 02

  And then I turned on, like, The Cure, and she was like...

• 44:58Drew Afualo?

  And she was like, now we're fucking talking.

• 44:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, okay, you're being an elitist a little bit, but...

• 45:03Drew Afualo?

  Hey, that's misogyny. We'll talk about that when you get older.

• 45:06Speaker 02

  Yeah. You're really male-centered for a one-year-old.

• 45:10Drew Afualo?

  For a one-year-old? Yeah, we gotta work on that.

• 45:12Speaker 02

  Dada, first word. What's wrong with you? I give you tit.

• 45:16Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 45:16Speaker 02

  Every day.

• 45:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you're all, no worries. I grew you inside me, but no worries.

• 45:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, chill, go ahead. I was just like a vessel. I just opened a portal for you. It's not a big deal.

• 45:26Drew Afualo?

  So you did your audition?

• 45:28Speaker 02

  Audition, I was in a lot of pain, and I did not get that character. But then I got a call from a friend of mine who worked on the show. She wasn't a friend, but she became a friend after meeting her. I met with Gloria Sanchez, because one day, hopefully, I'll have a TV show.

• 45:43Drew Afualo?

  Yes!

• 45:44Speaker 02

  Then, uh, then I auditioned for another character, and it was, it was the, it was the daughter of the caddy, who's played by Keith David.

• 45:53Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 45:54Speaker 02

  Who is, I can't believe I got, I can't believe the people I got to work with on this show.

• 45:58Drew Afualo?

  No, it's actually fucking insane.

• 45:59Speaker 02

  It was wild.

• 46:00Drew Afualo?

  All-star lineup.

• 46:02Speaker 02

  Will, Molly Shannon, Keith David, Luke Wilson, Jimmy Tatro's really fucking funny. Like, everyone...

• 46:10Drew Afualo?

  That's so fucking awesome.

• 46:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:11Drew Afualo?

  What a great lineup.

• 46:12Speaker 02

  And I was scared, because it's like, okay, I'm a black girl coming onto this all-white set.

• 46:17Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 46:17Speaker 02

  You know? I didn't know how it was gonna be, and I haven't had amazing experiences with white people. You know, I'm from the Midwest.

• 46:24Drew Afualo?

  You're telling me, girl.

• 46:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 46:26Speaker 02

  I was scared, but they're, obviously, they were all really cool. I didn't feel uncomfortable even one time.

• 46:32Drew Afualo?

  That's so beautiful.

• 46:33Speaker 02

  It was good.

• 46:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 46:34Speaker 02

  It was good. And I'm coming from my last show, which was, like, directed by black women, written by black women. Cast was black women. And that was a life-changing moment for me, too.

• 46:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 46:43Speaker 02

  I learned that that was possible, even though the burden of it was just so scary.

• 46:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 46:48Speaker 02

  But, you know, we got our two seasons. It's a beautiful show. I think it's a beaut, Rap Shit is a beautiful snapshot of, like, 2024 and 23 and 22.

• 46:58Drew Afualo?

  And we love Issa.

• 47:00Speaker 02

  We...

• 47:01Drew Afualo?

  We love Issa over here.

• 47:02Speaker 02

  We literally will die about Issa.

• 47:04Drew Afualo?

  I love her. She's incredible.

• 47:06Speaker 02

  Talk about being intimidated on set.

• 47:08Drew Afualo?

  Shit, I was gonna say.

• 47:10Speaker 02

  Like, if I was wet for Will, what do you think was happening?

• 47:14Drew Afualo?

  Right, for real.

• 47:15Speaker 02

  Sorry to my husband, that I keep publicly saying I was wet for...

• 47:18Drew Afualo?

  You get it, you get my joke.

• 47:20Speaker 02

  He knows, yeah. It's, yeah, it's comedy.

• 47:22Drew Afualo?

  I know, especially Issa, like, I, I love everything she does, but also the fact that she was like an online girl, like, came from online and like writing her own stuff. Like, that's what I find so inspiring, especially about her, is the fact that she was like, I'm writing this, and it's like for me and for my community and for us. Like, it's like, it's, it's like that old thing where it's like, if I want to be on TV, I'm gonna have to write it my fucking self, I guess. I'm gonna have to put myself in it and write it myself.

• 47:49Speaker 02

  And then fight the whole time.

• 47:51Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 47:51Speaker 02

  Like, with Rap Shit, I know that I didn't have to see it because she was the EP, and I was just one of the writers and actors, but I know they were fighting. Because, like, Rap Shit was even coded as a more, it was deeper into black culture than Insecure even was. You know what I mean? We were showing, like, a side of Florida, a side of Miami. The characters were fully themselves. They were not apologetic about their blackness. And obviously, that's the same for Insecure as well. But, you know, it was focusing on rap and hip-hop.

• 48:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 48:19Speaker 02

  It wasn't necessarily about the bigger life things, like work and friendship and things that could be real... Like, I know a lot of white women that watched Insecure.

• 48:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 48:28Speaker 02

  I don't know any white women that watched Rap Shit.

• 48:30Drew Afualo?

  Right, right, right. Yes, exactly.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  She was getting even more herself with the Rap Shit, I believe.

• 48:36Drew Afualo?

  Which is so fucking awesome. I got chills again. That's so awesome.

• 48:38Speaker 02

  Women are amazing.

• 48:39Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I agree.

• 48:40Speaker 02

  And, um, so, yeah, back to the show. I did the show. I had to drive to, like, Newport Beach. I didn't know anything about golf. I was, my character doesn't know anything about golf, so it was a good setup. And, yeah, it's amazing. It was Netflix.

• 48:55Drew Afualo?

  Incredible. I'm, and again, what an all-star lineup, but I, I think that they have wonderful taste, obviously, having you there. But I may, I, I do...

• 49:05Speaker 02

  Let's take our rings off.

• 49:07Drew Afualo?

  Just for a minute.

• 49:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, for one second.

• 49:10Drew Afualo?

  But I do think it's a beautiful thing, you recognizing the importance of things like Rap Shit, for example, because I feel like, with me, too, like, writing, and that's why I was gonna ask you a question about it, because I am venturing into writing.

• 49:24Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 49:24Drew Afualo?

  And it's very, very new for me. I know, and I'm like, it's very new for me. I did try stand-up, um, because Caleb was like, you have to try, you have to try, like... And I did try it, and I think it's great. I think I'd rather consume it than do it, uh, me personally. But I think it's because I have so many other things that I'm going on right, that I have going on right now. But I really love the idea of writing comedy. And I want to write, yeah, I want to write jokes, and I want to make people laugh. And I, uh, have just recently started writing. So I'm, and me and actually Amanda are working on something together, along with my sister. Amanda's my producer right there.

• 49:58Speaker 02

  That's amazing.

• 49:59Drew Afualo?

  She's helping, uh, we're writing a pilot together.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  I have loosebumps now. I just like, I love when people write, because it's just like, every, so I have a friend who started writing as well, too, and she's a producer. And she worked for, uh, shout out, Sabah, I love you. She, uh, started writing, and she kept saying, like, I'm nervous, I don't want to do this. And then I read her script, and it was so funny. And I'm like, think about all these women who are holding the coolest, most nuanced, funniest stories, but they're stopping themselves. And I was like, you know, everyone's a writer, Sabah. Like, everyone is a writer. She's like, that's like saying everyone's a dentist. Sabah, no, it's not.

• 50:37Drew Afualo?

  I'm not saying that, because one requires specialized training.

• 50:39Speaker 02

  Yes. And like, that's not what, but, you know, people will create things to stop themselves from being themselves.

• 50:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like narratives.

• 50:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, truly. And so when I, I told you I read her writing, it was so good. And it's like, like, write, like, look inward. It's okay.

• 50:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 50:54Speaker 02

  It's okay. I know it's so hard, but I really support everybody. Journaling, cool, that's, I think, everyone, if you can do that, do that. But the specific act of, like, painting with words and ideas.

• 51:07Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 51:08Speaker 02

  Jokes are so fun. It's like, timing and tension.

• 51:12Drew Afualo?

  I was gonna ask, like, I, I would love some advice, or I guess just generally, about comedy writing specifically.

• 51:18Speaker 02

  Let me get ChatGPT. I don't have any thoughts.

• 51:21Drew Afualo?

  I'm just curious, like, especially writing, like, as a person of color, because I'm literally, all the roles that I've written, like, we've written together so far, like, the people we've written, I'm like, I'm, first of all, casting myself.

• 51:33Speaker 02

  Obviously.

• 51:34Drew Afualo?

  Obviously, I'm first on the call sheet, obviously.

• 51:36Speaker 02

  Dakota Johnson. Please, I need you to play me.

• 51:40Drew Afualo?

  That's why I was like, unless, unless Jason Momoa's available, obviously, no one else is built like me. So like, clearly, that's not gonna work. But I'm just curious if you have any, like, advice in terms of, like, I guess, just like, direction? Like, when you, because we have, like, the inception of the idea, like, we have, we know where it's at, where it takes place, that, that general thing. But I'm really, I am nervous, like what your friend was saying. I am really nervous about writing, like, actual jokes into script. And like, because I have so many jokes in my head, but like, I'm just curious, like, how do you work on building confidence, I guess, in, in that kind of writing? Because I have so much confidence in many other things. But this is, I think, I, I feel confident about it, but I feel nervous because I have so much respect for it, and I want people to obviously enjoy it and laugh at it.

• 52:21Speaker 02

  That's good. Like, you respect something, that means you're gonna treat it with love, and you're not gonna, like, pimp it out.

• 52:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 52:28Speaker 02

  I think I, that's, that's, if you ask me about the having qualms with people in comedy, like, when I see that they're pimping it out, like, they want something from it.

• 52:37Drew Afualo?

  Yes, exactly.

• 52:37Speaker 02

  That's when I get protective of it.

• 52:39Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 52:39Speaker 02

  And I think it's good that you're protective. It means that you care.

• 52:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 52:43Speaker 02

  And, yeah, I think that this question is probably better suited for Quinta. Or like, somebody who's written something and put it in the world.

• 52:52Drew Afualo?

  What are you talking about? You've been writing.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  You're right, you're right. I've written a lot of shows.

• 52:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's very true. That's why I'm, I'm so curious, just, and especially you not being a white woman.

• 53:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 53:01Drew Afualo?

  Means a lot to me.

• 53:02Speaker 02

  You don't know me.

• 53:04Drew Afualo?

  I'm assuming because we were talking about no white woman having watched your show.

• 53:07Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 53:08Drew Afualo?

  And I'm assuming if you were white, you would tell me.

• 53:10Speaker 02

  I'm backed into a corner. I'm backed into an African corner.

• 53:14Drew Afualo?

  But I guess like that's, that's kind of my thing. Cause you know, that's like, that is one of those invisible barriers that works against us a lot of times, especially depending on the, the setting of your show and like where it's at, and especially if you're in it. I'm just curious, like, have you, have you ever felt like you needed to curb that at all? Like your voice in that regard?

• 53:31Speaker 02

  Um, well, nobody's gonna write what you and Amanda are gonna write. So you guys have to get more specific.

• 53:37Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 53:38Speaker 02

  You have to get more specific. That's what's gonna make it alive.

• 53:41Drew Afualo?

  That's such a good point.

• 53:42Speaker 02

  You never wanted to hang out with somebody who's like, hey, how are you? How's your day? I'm going to the mall. They have great A C there.

• 53:49Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 53:49Speaker 02

  Like you want somebody who's gonna tell you like, oh, I put my hand in the Dyson air blade and I got, I got horny about it. Why is my flesh moving like that? You know, you want somebody to tell you something super specific.

• 54:03Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 54:04Speaker 02

  And then through that is the emotion of like,

• 54:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 54:07Speaker 02

  It's weird to be horny at the mall.

• 54:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 54:09Speaker 02

  That's the emotion.

• 54:11Drew Afualo?

  Okay. That's such a good point because I,

• 54:13Speaker 02

  Be yourself.

• 54:13Drew Afualo?

  My, my kind of comedy too, like how I like to be funny is, is getting extremely specific. So I actually really do love that, that tip because that will help me. Because I've written a book and I'm writing, I'm currently writing.

• 54:26Speaker 02

  You have written a book.

• 54:26Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 54:27Speaker 02

  I have your book.

• 54:28Drew Afualo?

  No way.

• 54:29Speaker 02

  Yes, I have your book.

• 54:29Drew Afualo?

  Oh my God, period.

• 54:30Speaker 02

  New York Times bestseller, no way.

• 54:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 54:32Speaker 02

  What the fu-

• 54:33Drew Afualo?

  Go ahead and jot that down.

• 54:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's, that's, yeah, go ahead.

• 54:38Drew Afualo?

  So I'm starting to write a fiction book and I'm like, so that's why I think even when I started working on this show with Amanda and my sister, um, I was like telling my fiance, I was like, I'm kind of nervous. Like, and he was like, well, you've already written. I'm like, I know, but this is like for TV and it just feels like a different animal entirely.

• 54:55Speaker 02

  I have a really undercooked theory that I'm about to embarrass myself and say, but like, it's a psychology, like,

• 55:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 55:00Speaker 02

  I always imagine that there's a triangle, right? And you're like, unfortunately in America, the ti- upside down triangle.

• 55:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 55:09Speaker 02

  The top layer of the triangle is gonna be like white people.

• 55:12Drew Afualo?

  And their humor.

• 55:13Speaker 02

  Middle class, their humor and it's very Eurocentric.

• 55:17Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 55:17Speaker 02

  And you might not really fit in there and we're gonna keep going down. It doesn't mean down like in your inferior, but it gets smaller.

• 55:25Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:25Speaker 02

  And either way, if you're standing right here where Drew is standing, where I'm standing, where Quinta's standing, whatever.

• 55:31Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 55:31Speaker 02

  And you look down to who's gonna watch your stuff.

• 55:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 55:35Speaker 02

  There's still a point at the end of that triangle, which means there's one person there.

• 55:38Drew Afualo?

  That's such a good point.

• 55:40Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 55:41Drew Afualo?

  I got chills again.

• 55:42Speaker 02

  I was high and it like, it made sense at the ti- it's like,

• 55:46Drew Afualo?

  It makes sense now and I'm not high.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  Okay, good.

• 55:48Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying.

• 55:49Speaker 02

  I have to write my book.

• 55:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I say, I was like, what do you mean? Ask Quinta. I got a great one from you. That's a great, no, that's a really great way of looking at it because.

• 55:57Speaker 02

  There's always one person. If it makes Amanda laugh, if it makes you laugh, that means that it's gonna make girls like you guys laugh and that's the point of writing.

• 56:04Drew Afualo?

  That's so true.

• 56:05Speaker 02

  You're trying to find your people.

• 56:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and voice, like you were talking about earlier.

• 56:09Speaker 02

  That's all you have to do.

• 56:09Drew Afualo?

  God.

• 56:11Speaker 02

  If she laughs, if you laugh, it's funny.

• 56:13Drew Afualo?

  And we have been laughing and I'm sure you do this too. Cause like sometimes I'll like, even like I did an episode earlier with someone and he, he repeated a joke back to me that I've said. And I was, I was laughing my ass off like I didn't say it.

• 56:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:29Drew Afualo?

  Like he was, I was like me laughing at my own joke. My bad. Sorry. What were you saying?

• 56:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:32Drew Afualo?

  So you're right. I need to remember that because,

• 56:35Speaker 02

  Oh my God, we have the same type of psychosis. We do because like I, I know it's arrogant sometimes to be like, my joke, I love my joke. I was so brilliant, but it feels like a different, it feels like a different me.

• 56:49Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 56:49Speaker 02

  And now I'm this me.

• 56:50Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 56:51Speaker 02

  Laughing at that me.

• 56:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:52Speaker 02

  And I wanna fuck that me.

• 56:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:57Drew Afualo?

  And guess what? I wanna tongue kiss that version of me. Yeah, because they were so good about that.

• 57:03Speaker 02

  I wanna bring fingering back because of her. Like that's, that it's, it's good. They hate when a bad bitch love herself.

• 57:10Drew Afualo?

  Listen.

• 57:10Speaker 02

  I just love myself.

• 57:11Drew Afualo?

  And finds, and finds myself hilarious. Like that's, of, of course I'm gonna laugh.

• 57:16Speaker 02

  I talk to myself all day.

• 57:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me too.

• 57:18Speaker 02

  I'm ridiculous. Okay. This is another thing I've realized recently. You know, people are that old adage, like, oh, I'm gonna sound like an old prophet. You know, the one that's like, um, comedy, no tragedy plus time equals comedy?

• 57:29Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 57:30Speaker 02

  The people that I love and spend the most time with, that time is so small. They're like, they like broke their leg and they're like, this is fucking crazy. I can't walk.

• 57:41Drew Afualo?

  Right, right.

• 57:41Speaker 02

  That, the people, and those are comedians to me.

• 57:44Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I agree.

• 57:45Speaker 02

  They, they understand the world as a funny thing and that makes them feel better.

• 57:49Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I agree.

• 57:49Speaker 02

  You obviously have that.

• 57:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, thank you. I know. I think, and you do too. Obviously that's why we have the same psychosis, like you were just saying, which I agree with. And I think that's like the beauty and people like yourself, uh, being on huge shows with huge names like that, because I feel like it's important to see a different kind of perspective that way. And one that's not like punching down and one that's not like,

• 58:13Speaker 02

  Oh my God.

• 58:14Drew Afualo?

  dragging others in order to like lift yourself up. It's like, it's one of those where it turns into like, a, a purely just different perspective. Like I think that's what makes it so funny. Like when people are able to look at stuff and it's kind of like what they, again, speaking of old adages, like when they say you can quite literally say anything, because a lot of like newer comics are like, oh, you can't say anything nowadays because everyone will get offended.

• 58:37Speaker 02

  Okay. So you're just not funny.

• 58:38Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. So if you don't have the juice to do it, just fucking say that. But also it's like, you, that's not true. You could talk about or joke about anything, but if you do it in a way that's smart and funny, then people will be receptive to it.

• 58:50Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 58:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. And it's like broaching that little like divide.

• 58:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:54Drew Afualo?

  That is almost impossible for especially white guys. Like they like, and even sometimes when I fucked up white guys before, like comedians before, um, online, I've said like, do you really think that like marginalized people have never heard a fucked up racist joke? Of course, like, I mean, you think I've never heard a joke about women? I've never heard a joke about race. Like, of course I have. If I didn't laugh, it's because it wasn't funny.

• 59:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:17Drew Afualo?

  It just wasn't well-written.

• 59:18Speaker 02

  It wasn't good.

• 59:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 59:20Speaker 02

  Like you need to workshop that.

• 59:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you should probably work a couple more fives with that set. Yeah. Like, and that's why, that was gonna be my next question for you, because this is my favorite question to ask, especially women in comedy. If you've ever been given notes after a set from a guy who thought he could do it better.

• 59:34Speaker 02

  Oh, you know, because I think we're in the post Me Too era. It's different. It's like,

• 59:42Drew Afualo?

  Oh, it's approached differently now?

• 59:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like, it's honestly so beta and like just bring back that old harassment.

• 59:50Drew Afualo?

  Right, yeah.

• 59:51Speaker 02

  This one is like psychological.

• 59:52Drew Afualo?

  That's what I call mad men misogyny.

• 59:54Speaker 02

  Yes, classic style.

• 59:55Drew Afualo?

  We gotta bring that stuff back.

• 59:56Speaker 02

  Like spank me on my ass if you're gonna do this. Like, you're just bringing it.

• 1:00:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you gotta hire me off my breast size. Like, let's bring that shit back.

• 1:00:04Speaker 02

  Call me Toots. Like, where's Toots?

• 1:00:06Drew Afualo?

  Toots.

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  Bring Toots back. Smile. Toots, where is that? Like, nobody tells you to smile anymore, which is fine. I mean, I don't want to, but like, the way it'll happen for me now is all, I will kill, right?

• 1:00:18Drew Afualo?

  Right, obviously.

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah. Sometimes I don't. I can't lie to you. Sometimes it's,

• 1:00:23Drew Afualo?

  Enough of that.

• 1:00:24Speaker 02

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:00:25Drew Afualo?

  I know you're killing every time.

• 1:00:27Speaker 02

  No, I just did a show yesterday where I was like, God, I gotta stop talking about this. It's not funny. Gotta find what's funny about this.

• 1:00:35Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:00:36Speaker 02

  A guy pulled me aside after a show and I'd done really well and it was a big show too. It was at the comedy, no, it was at, it was at one of these spots.

• 1:00:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:45Speaker 02

  And I had performed to like a slew of Mexican men and their girlfriends that they had drugged to this Freddie Gibbs comedy show. And afterward I got off stage and I was probably one of the only women, like young women.

• 1:00:57Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:00:58Speaker 02

  And the guy pulled me aside, I was with my husband at the time, pulled me aside and he's like, that bit that you do about, um, uh, apps and like dick size and pussy depth.

• 1:01:12Speaker 02

  That's my, yeah, I can't, I have to stand on that. That's one of my jokes. It's, it's called meet match. It's something, I've, I'd done it only one time.

• 1:01:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:20Speaker 02

  He's like, yeah, that would be funny, except for like, most men do have big dicks. Like, it was just Drew, it was, and I'm like, you're talking about yourself.

• 1:01:30Drew Afualo?

  Oh my God, it's Mr. Penis Size himself.

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:33Drew Afualo?

  He went and watched your set? What are the odds? The hell?

• 1:01:36Speaker 02

  In the honor of greatness. Oh.

• 1:01:39Drew Afualo?

  Oh my God, Emperor Penis. I'm so happy you made it to the show.

• 1:01:41Speaker 02

  Thank God. You took, uh, thank you, thank you.

• 1:01:43Drew Afualo?

  What an insane.

• 1:01:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was psychological. It was like, I want to talk about your joke about sex to invite sex into our conversation.

• 1:01:51Drew Afualo?

  Yuck. Yeah.

• 1:01:53Speaker 02

  So I feel like it, it's stuff like that that I get in the, in, in the comedy world.

• 1:01:58Drew Afualo?

  God, what's worse? I don't even know.

• 1:01:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:02:00Drew Afualo?

  I don't know if note, like notes on my tags is worse or that's worse.

• 1:02:04Speaker 02

  No, this is like, you have weird dreams about it. Like, you start to see his face in toast.

• 1:02:10Drew Afualo?

  Yo, what the hell? Why are you haunting me?

• 1:02:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't.

• 1:02:13Drew Afualo?

  Oh my God, that's so oaky spooky scary.

• 1:02:17Speaker 02

  Like men are weird and now that we've,

• 1:02:18Drew Afualo?

  Especially comics. Oh my God.

• 1:02:20Speaker 02

  Comics are losers.

• 1:02:21Drew Afualo?

  They can be fucking weirdos.

• 1:02:23Speaker 02

  Comics are losers. Like, if you're a female comic, hot, like sexy.

• 1:02:28Drew Afualo?

  So sexy and unique.

• 1:02:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, like you were thinking, you're an anthropological artist.

• 1:02:32Drew Afualo?

  Observer.

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  Yes. If you're a man, you're a pervert. Get off stage. Stop it. Put that mic down. Why are you holding the mic like that?

• 1:02:41Drew Afualo?

  Go to war.

• 1:02:42Speaker 02

  Seriously.

• 1:02:43Drew Afualo?

  You need to go to war.

• 1:02:43Speaker 02

  U S P S.

• 1:02:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:45Speaker 02

  People.

• 1:02:45Drew Afualo?

  Girl, get a job. Yeah. When men say they're in comedy and if you're not renowned, I'm like, oh, so you're unemployed.

• 1:02:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, you don't have a job. You're practically a magician. You're practically, you know what I mean?

• 1:02:55Drew Afualo?

  At this point.

• 1:02:56Speaker 02

  You're a word magician?

• 1:02:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:00Drew Afualo?

  Okay. Weird, uh, weird but perfect transition. I do have some fun facts about you.

• 1:03:05Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:03:05Drew Afualo?

  Um, okay. You'll tell me if they're fun. You'll let me know. Um, but this first one says that in 2017, you watched a solar eclipse with Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

• 1:03:15Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:03:15Drew Afualo?

  That's fucking crazy.

• 1:03:17Speaker 02

  Another hot man.

• 1:03:20Drew Afualo?

  A man with a job?

• 1:03:21Speaker 02

  Ridiculously sexy employed man. Yeah.

• 1:03:24Drew Afualo?

  That's fucking crazy.

• 1:03:25Speaker 02

  Again, this is a Midwest lore. Like for some reason in the, in 2017, the, the solar eclipse, the best place to see it was a couple miles from my hometown.

• 1:03:35Drew Afualo?

  What the hell?

• 1:03:35Speaker 02

  So Bill Nye hosted like a massive science convention.

• 1:03:38Drew Afualo?

  That is so sick.

• 1:03:40Speaker 02

  And he was on a huge stage. He looked like Joel Osteen. It was fucking like mega church level.

• 1:03:45Drew Afualo?

  Like Tony Robbins?

• 1:03:46Speaker 02

  Yes, it was so hot.

• 1:03:50Speaker 02

  He wore a lab coat. It was open. It was a hot summer day. Me and my friends drove like fifty miles to go see.

• 1:03:56Drew Afualo?

  That's crazy. I would have done the same thing.

• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  Yes, we had on the glasses. He was like, look up, look to the sky. And I just felt like a child again. My, Bill Nye taught me like how water works.

• 1:04:09Drew Afualo?

  For real.

• 1:04:10Speaker 02

  He taught me like magnets. Like I think he, he was my dad.

• 1:04:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, he was like literally my dad.

• 1:04:15Speaker 02

  Bill Nye was my dad.

• 1:04:16Drew Afualo?

  That was my fucking dad, dude.

• 1:04:18Speaker 02

  Daddy and us dad.

• 1:04:21Drew Afualo?

  And not many men can be both.

• 1:04:22Speaker 02

  No, it's very rare.

• 1:04:23Drew Afualo?

  It's very rare, especially for white men.

• 1:04:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:25Drew Afualo?

  That is so cool. What a bucket list thing. I would have do, I would, that would be my fun fact for the rest of my life.

• 1:04:29Speaker 02

  It's crazy if that's on your bucket list and like you didn't even know it was hap, like if you're watching this, it's like, well, one day I'll be like.

• 1:04:36Drew Afualo?

  One day I'll watch the solar eclipse with Bill Nye.

• 1:04:38Speaker 02

  That's, and then I won't die until that happens.

• 1:04:40Drew Afualo?

  I can't die until it happens, obviously. That's so fucking cool. Okay. Next fun fact, um, you first discovered standup while working at a bar in Lincoln, Nebraska that had standup night, which we knew.

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 1:04:52Drew Afualo?

  And then, uh, this one says, growing up, you played the cello in the school orchestra and you played drums in band for a semester?

• 1:05:00Speaker 02

  Play is such a generous word to give me, cause I did. I, I held those things in my hand. And I did, I did, I did, but like, I also told you I had ADHD. So if somebody just flashed a new thing in front of my face, I was like, I could do that.

• 1:05:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, well, and now I'm, I've, well, now I've conquered this. Now I'm on to this.

• 1:05:19Speaker 02

  Now it's time to get mediocre at another thing. So I did play those things, but I played them all really poorly.

• 1:05:26Drew Afualo?

  I was a band girl too, growing up, but I was, uh, I played the flute.

• 1:05:30Speaker 02

  Hot.

• 1:05:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I played the flute. I was a woodwind girl, so.

• 1:05:33Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:05:33Drew Afualo?

  I don't know.

• 1:05:34Speaker 02

  That's shrill. That's like flute girls.

• 1:05:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:37Speaker 02

  Flute girls always like, in my, at my school at least, my best friend was like flute, was it lead?

• 1:05:43Drew Afualo?

  Number one, yeah, like chair number one or whatever.

• 1:05:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, and she was just so meticulous and had pretty little fingers.

• 1:05:49Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:50Speaker 02

  You know your best friend when you're a kid, like you love her, you fucking hate her.

• 1:05:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:05:54Speaker 02

  I hate you. I wanna be you. I either wanna fuck you or.

• 1:05:58Drew Afualo?

  And I will unpack that later.

• 1:06:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's for later. That's for twenty-four.

• 1:06:02Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:06:02Speaker 02

  But right now, the, she was, yeah, she was great. The flute girls are.

• 1:06:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I think so. I even, even so though, I, I will say, yeah, I was like, yeah, I was one of those bad bitch flute girls. But I will say though, I did stop playing the flute after, um, I wanna say elementary school. Yeah, cause into middle school, I like made honor band, which is very cool. I actually just told this story at my bachelorette party because I, we were having dinner and I was like, what's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to everyone? I'll start.

• 1:06:33Speaker 02

  Oh, you're one of those dinner demons.

• 1:06:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm one of those people. I'm like, I'm trying to, I'm trying to stimulate conversation.

• 1:06:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:06:38Drew Afualo?

  Or, or doing like would you rathers? Like those are so fun.

• 1:06:41Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 1:06:42Drew Afualo?

  And so I was like telling this story there, but I, basically I made honor band, but, um, you get called, like my teacher would call us up to come to the front and accept the award, which is just a medal. And then that's how you know you made honor band. Uh, for context, I, you had to wear a white top, black bottoms. I wore these like black velvet pants that like flare.

• 1:07:00Speaker 02

  Flared out, obviously.

• 1:07:00Drew Afualo?

  And so my mom was like, those are a little too long for you. They're too big. And I was like, you don't know anything and the drip needs to be good tonight. Cause I'm gonna make honor band. So I insisted on wearing them. I rolled them like a thousand times, but they were still very long. So anyways, I, my name gets called. I'm fired up. I'm like, oh my God. And I was first because I, my last name, yeah. So I had to walk all the way to the front of the stage and walk across. So he puts the medal on me. I get it. Take my picture. Turn around, start walking back. As I start walking back and I'm about to turn the corner, my foot gets caught inside my pant leg, pulls my pants to my ankles.

• 1:07:35Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:07:36Drew Afualo?

  To my ankles, bitch.

• 1:07:37Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:07:37Drew Afualo?

  I, I literally hogtie myself, like together, feet together, fall flat on my face. And because it's floor mics, because it's orchestra, sounds like Thor landed outside.

• 1:07:50Drew Afualo?

  And it like echoes all the way to the back of the room. My butt's up, my Hanes Target underwear out.

• 1:07:56Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:07:57Drew Afualo?

  Pants around my ankles. I literally inchworm flat, like pull up my pants, get on my hands and knees, crawl back to my seat. Don't know why I chose that option. I think I was just so humiliated. I had no way. I remember what shoes I was wearing. I remember what my hair was, cause I was so traumatized. I crawl back to my seat and you just hear my knees. The whole way back there, get in my chair. And then the guy, I remember the kid next to me, his name was William. He was like a nerdy little white kid with glasses. I sit there, I, I sit in my chair. I turn and look at him. He's looking at me like this. And then I go, and I look at him and I don't even know what to say. So then I'm like, what?

• 1:08:41Drew Afualo?

  That's like the first thing I said.

• 1:08:43Speaker 02

  Now you're mad at him.

• 1:08:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, now, now I'm gaslighting him. I'm like, what? Did something of note happen?

• 1:08:48Speaker 02

  This is weird. You're being weird to me.

• 1:08:50Drew Afualo?

  The hell are you looking at?

• 1:08:51Speaker 02

  And then it's funny, cause I bet now in your healthy adult phase, you're like, so that's the day that people found out how fat my ass is.

• 1:08:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:59Speaker 02

  It's still a beautiful moment.

• 1:09:00Drew Afualo?

  It's a beautiful thing. Either way, and I, and I remember, I don't remember a fucking second after that because I remember sweating through my white button down because I was so embarrassed. And then I walk outside, concert's over. Everyone's kinda looking at me and going, right? And then I go, finally find my parents. I'm like walking up to them. I obviously clearly don't really wanna talk about it, cause I'm humiliated and I've processed at least some of it. And then when I walk up to them, my mom goes, told you they were too big.

• 1:09:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, as a mom, the part, like while you're telling that story, the thing I was thinking about now as a mom is the deep satisfaction.

• 1:09:34Drew Afualo?

  Listen.

• 1:09:35Speaker 02

  She felt, she's like, at least she got honor band.

• 1:09:38Speaker 02

  I don't.

• 1:09:38Drew Afualo?

  Hey, she's fine.

• 1:09:39Speaker 02

  She learned to listen to me.

• 1:09:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and that, and honestly, I was like, right. When she said that, I was like, I mean, you got me. What can I say? I'm on the ropes.

• 1:09:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:48Drew Afualo?

  What can I say? I showed my, I showed whole to the whole school. So obviously the pants are too big, mom. Thank you.

• 1:09:53Speaker 02

  Yes, you win. Okay. No, but listening to your mom is, when you're a kid is so lame. It's just so uncool.

• 1:09:59Drew Afualo?

  And I, that's why I was like, to be fair, she warned me several times. And I wore, I wore her shoes that night too, were, which were also a little too big. And that's why they got caught in my pants.

• 1:10:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, too big for your britches.

• 1:10:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, the whole thing. I was like, you know, and sometimes I feel like, especially the way our mindset's been working, I needed things like that sometimes. Like King Kong hitting those planes out of the sky.

• 1:10:19Speaker 02

  For sure. And I've seen that movie.

• 1:10:20Drew Afualo?

  I needed my ego to be swatted out, like just in case. Otherwise I would have turned out to be like fucking Jake Paul or something.

• 1:10:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, you would have been trying to fight black men, older black men.

• 1:10:30Drew Afualo?

  I'd be Mr. Beast and I'd be making poor people eat each other.

• 1:10:32Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:10:32Drew Afualo?

  You know what I mean? Like, if, if I.

• 1:10:37Drew Afualo?

  I needed something bad to happen so that I could make sure I don't turn evil.

• 1:10:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:10:40Drew Afualo?

  So, cause they knew where I was headed here.

• 1:10:42Speaker 02

  That's good. I'm trying to think if I have a, I guess it's a hero origin story, right?

• 1:10:46Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, hero, villain, anti-hero, whichever one.

• 1:10:49Speaker 02

  Do you feel like, okay, if you had to pick, we're going back to writing, character work.

• 1:10:52Drew Afualo?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:10:53Speaker 02

  Are you anti-hero, hero, or villain?

• 1:10:55Drew Afualo?

  I like an anti-hero because I like.

• 1:10:58Speaker 02

  Who are your favorite anti-heroes?

• 1:10:59Drew Afualo?

  Ooh, hmm. I really like, yeah, yeah, Walter White's a great one. I, I think honestly, hmm.

• 1:11:12Speaker 00

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• 1:11:48Drew Afualo?

  That's such a great question. I like Wanda from WandaVision, Wanda Maximoff. She's from Marvel.

• 1:11:54Speaker 02

  I didn't get to watch that.

• 1:11:55Drew Afualo?

  That's Elizabeth Olsen's, but she, she kinda like turns evil, but the shit she's doing, it like makes sense. Like it's one of those where she was doing good for so long and then kinda went evil.

• 1:12:05Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:12:06Drew Afualo?

  But I feel like a lot of Game of Thrones characters too are also very anti-hero to me. I'm like thinking like Jon Snow, Loki.

• 1:12:14Speaker 02

  Is he anti-hero?

• 1:12:15Drew Afualo?

  Low-key because he has to do terrible things in order to continue to keep moving the way he is. Like, but then he ends up killing Daenerys and I hated him at the end.

• 1:12:23Speaker 02

  Well, we're also in an era, we might be coming out of it now, but where anti-heroes were like the, I think from like twenties, I'm gonna say since Walter White.

• 1:12:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:33Speaker 02

  Till maybe around now. Anti-heroes are, are, first of all, what's a hero, like a hero, like Peter Pan?

• 1:12:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like.

• 1:12:40Speaker 02

  Like Aladdin, like who can relate? Do you know a man who's like Aladdin?

• 1:12:44Drew Afualo?

  I agree. That's why I fuck with anti-heroes because it's one of those where they're morally gray in a lot of ways. Like it depends on who you ask. Like if, whether or not they're evil, because it's like to them, their actions are justified.

• 1:12:57Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 1:12:58Drew Afualo?

  To a certain extent. So, and I find that a lot more interesting.

• 1:13:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're, they're human. Like I'm gonna, good classic mode is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character Fleabag.

• 1:13:07Drew Afualo?

  It's a great one.

• 1:13:09Speaker 02

  Amanda, see?

• 1:13:10Drew Afualo?

  That's a great one. I know, cause when you find out the twist at the, like, yeah, like then you're kinda like.

• 1:13:16Speaker 02

  Evil bitch.

• 1:13:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then you start looking at the whole thing way differently.

• 1:13:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, but then, like especially, you know, we all probably at this point now, thirty, grief, there's been a big grief. Like you lost a friend or a family member. And if you remember that time afterward, you were living in such a weird limbo. Where you were kinda doing anything, at least in my experience.

• 1:13:36Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 1:13:37Speaker 02

  Refusing to look at it.

• 1:13:39Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:39Speaker 02

  So I was just like, yeah, I'll fuck that guy. Yeah, I'll fuck his girlfriend too or.

• 1:13:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's like a shark. Like you're moving, you're moving, cause otherwise you'll die.

• 1:13:47Speaker 02

  You're a bad dude. You're a bad person. You're looking for, you're looking for like stimulation.

• 1:13:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:53Speaker 02

  And so I related to her. Like every scene in Fleabag, I'm like, damn it, I've done that. Damn it. And so I, I love anti-heroes. Now I'm starting to shift toward people that are, like they want to do good things. Maybe this is from working with Will too. Like I learned a lot about character development.

• 1:14:09Drew Afualo?

  Love.

• 1:14:10Speaker 02

  He writes characters that like are trying to do the best thing, but their shitty traits are holding them back.

• 1:14:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I love stuff like that.

• 1:14:19Speaker 02

  They're earnest, they're good people. And like Mike Schur, Mike Schur, I should, I should know his name, but it's, again, we pronounce white men's names wrong.

• 1:14:27Drew Afualo?

  Right, and that's, and that is our right.

• 1:14:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's literally in the constitution.

• 1:14:31Drew Afualo?

  I'm allowed that.

• 1:14:33Speaker 02

  His name is easy. It's like Schur. It's like Mike Schur. Like it's an English word.

• 1:14:37Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:14:37Speaker 02

  So he like writes a lot of optimistic characters and I like that now. I didn't used to write like that.

• 1:14:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:43Speaker 02

  I wanted to write the deepest, darkest, most fucked up girl in the world. But now I'm, now I'm starting to. I'm starting to see the joy in life, so I think that that's

• 1:14:54Drew Afualo?

  And I think that's that's a beautiful way of looking at the evolution of your writing too. And like even like as an artist, like an actor, like the portrayal of characters and how you see them and understand them differently. I think that's a beautiful thing. And even like when I talked to Alana Glazer, when she was on here and we were talking about like how she, you know, did Broad City and everything and writing and she was telling me that she recently had a baby, got married. And she told me that um she had took a break right after she had her baby, just to kind of like be present with her and her new life and everything. And she said, I think it made me a better writer because it's like, I see life so differently now that I've had a child and now that I'm married. And like she's like, the way I see and write now is like a lot different now, like cause I'm in a different phase of my life.

• 1:15:35Drew Afualo?

  And she was telling me, this is like right around the time I took a break, like I I took a break for a bit. Online, because I was just getting really overwhelmed with everything and she was telling me, it's a good thing to do that. Even if you do it, like you're in a new season of life and you do it and she's like, cause then it refills your cup and your ability to write. Like, cause you can't pull from nothing.

• 1:15:54Speaker 02

  You have to observe new new shit. You have to see something new about yourself, about the external world, like.

• 1:16:00Drew Afualo?

  I think that's a beautiful thing, that it's like kind of evolving your writing in that way. Giving it a new layer.

• 1:16:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, I have, I have a heart now.

• 1:16:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, optimism, because the world has to be good.

• 1:16:14Speaker 02

  Into the world.

• 1:16:15Drew Afualo?

  That makes me wanna cry.

• 1:16:18Speaker 02

  I was so like, oh, this shit sucks, this shit is ass, like, we're gonna die, Monsanto. Like, I was so focused on negative things and I'm still focused on those things. But now I end with optimism because like I have to feed my daughter, I can't be worried about GMOs forever. I have to eat a couple of microplastics.

• 1:16:41Speaker 02

  So, yeah, it's just, it's changed my worldview, it's changed how I see the world. And like I said, she's so cool and she deserves everything and I'm just working so that.

• 1:16:52Drew Afualo?

  And that's beautiful and I think that your artistry and the way you've been depicting it, even before you got this new informed perspective was just as valid and important. Because it's also a like universal experience in a lot of ways, like things you've written about and spoken to, people can relate to.

• 1:17:11Speaker 02

  Some could call it sex work, you know, like I was out in the streets, I was having a good time. And so I was reporting live from that. Which is all you can do, people worry so much about their voice and their brand and what they're gonna put out into. You just have to report live from where you're at.

• 1:17:28Drew Afualo?

  Right, and that's being an artist, like more than anything, it's being able to feel it and like understand it and then put it into some sort of art form, which I think you're really good at. And I think that's why you're continuing to see success and continuing to do well and work with these amazing people. But I think that's so cool about how you were saying, working with Will Ferrell has like helped character development in that kind of way too. Cause I also agree that those kinds of, even like when you were talking about someone who has all the best intentions, but they have a lot of shitty traits. Like I think about uh Michael Scott in The Office, which is another perfect example of like, and that is like the best part of that character.

• 1:18:06Drew Afualo?

  Is that like, it's not really his detracting traits that are like a hallmark of him, they're just really annoying things about him. But he has a good heart underneath it all.

• 1:18:17Speaker 02

  Characters who are trying. Like if I see there's effort being put in, and that's real life too, like, you know, we're, we live in like a very cut off culture. Like I don't like her. How dare she tell me that I am late to dinner.

• 1:18:34Speaker 02

  And then in people, I just look for like who is trying to move with intention, like who's trying to work on it. And that's the characters that I wanna see in the world too, like people who, they're not just sitting and how awful they are. They might have to do some awful shit, but it's all a type of survival, like it might not be physical needs, but it's emotional needs. And that's another thing I'm learning with my kid is like, we just do the shit that we need to do to get our needs met. Like we're just, like, she's not trying to be wicked, she just wants me to pick her up from the little jail that I have her in. But I need her to be in jail right now, I'm making dinner. But so she's, everybody's just trying to get their needs met and once I understood that, it, first of all, the cutoff shit stopped.

• 1:19:17Speaker 02

  I was like, grandma, you're out of here.

• 1:19:22Drew Afualo?

  I don't care how long you've known me, grandma.

• 1:19:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, stop, stop being so familiar. And uh now, now I give people second chances.

• 1:19:31Drew Afualo?

  Well, I think that's beautiful and I think that's a wonderful, uh other than just like understanding that, it's like understanding like, maybe that's where I was. And not like holding resentment towards your past self for it, but you're like, but I just don't wanna be there anymore, I think that's a beautiful thing. And I agree with you about the cutoff thing, I think that's also a generational thing. And I think it also is tied to brain rot in some way. Exactly, I was just, and I was just talking about this in therapy yesterday. Uh because I was telling uh my therapist about Love Island, if you can believe. Uh but I was, I was only telling her that sometimes when women are extremely, extremely judgmental of other women, even if you're not counting it in that horrible horrifying context of Love Island, but a lot of times, the first thought is like,

• 1:20:15Drew Afualo?

  oh, you're a bad person and I don't wanna be connected to you. And I think, I was like, I understand that that can be very black and white for larger things, like bigotry. But sometimes I was like, I I extend this empathy especially towards women, but I'm like, sometimes women are not the best versions of themselves. And like, if you're connected to them. Yes, part, part of like unpacking your internalized misogyny first of all, and then also being a good friend and a sister to someone is loving them through these terrible phases. Like, sometimes it is so hard to love girls through these awful situations, but like, I'm like, that is like the true experience of sisterhood to me, is like coming, going through it and coming out the other side of it.

• 1:20:59Speaker 02

  Cry, what's your sign?

• 1:21:00Drew Afualo?

  I'm Virgo.

• 1:21:01Speaker 02

  I'm a Cancer.

• 1:21:02Drew Afualo?

  I'm a Cancer moon.

• 1:21:08Speaker 02

  You're, you're speaking to something that I think is like one of the ills of being a girl right now. It's so bad. Bad and it's like.

• 1:21:17Drew Afualo?

  And it's judgmental and it's finite, like so like quick, like no, you're done and I don't ever wanna talk to you.

• 1:21:23Speaker 02

  And I had, I got that bitch up out of here. Literally all she did was tell you about yourself. But we've created this thing and we could talk about this for hours, like I think it's a result of um the work, the real work we had to do in the Me Too movement. And the real work we had to do with talking about police brutality. And it just, and then also we live in a surveillance state, so everything has led to us hyper, being hyper.

• 1:21:49Drew Afualo?

  Critical of each other.

• 1:21:49Speaker 02

  Critical of one another. We need it for our own safety.

• 1:21:52Drew Afualo?

  I agree, I said the same.

• 1:21:55Speaker 02

  This is my plan.

• 1:21:56Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I literally, I said the same thing and I was, and if anything, I was saying like, that is one of the hardest parts of unpacking your internalized misogyny. Is understanding why sometimes women have to make certain choices. Cause I can, I'm only talking about women in this very small context, but like sometimes you have to understand the larger system. That is almost inherently forcing them to do this. And you can love people from afar, like even if it's, if it's pulling from you energetically or physically or literally, you can love them from afar, but like, I was like, I can't imagine a world in which I don't love my, my truest best friends, like women that I love and adore through everything, like that includes shit things, like sometimes your friends are not gonna show up a hundred percent.

• 1:22:38Drew Afualo?

  And sometimes they're gonna be going through awful things and sometimes they're gonna be dating awful people. And I was like, oh, the things I've loved my women through.

• 1:22:45Speaker 02

  Yes, then you have to adhere to that too, like it's radical acceptance of the people you love. Because on the flip side, I don't wanna just get on women for being like, you know, cutting people out of their lives. Sometimes you need to do it for your nervous system, like this girl is doing too much. I want to be there for her, but it doesn't make sense for me right now to keep this young woman in my life.

• 1:23:05Drew Afualo?

  Exactly, and that's the.

• 1:23:07Speaker 02

  And I want her to have a better life, but you need to go do that in.

• 1:23:10Drew Afualo?

  Somewhere else.

• 1:23:10Speaker 02

  France or wherever you're at.

• 1:23:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and that, and that's like, that's why holding space for both. And understanding when you cut people off or move them off to the side until they can figure it out. Or you can love people through it, like it's, it's all, it's all very specific to your situation. And I think that's why I'm like, to judge so quickly and so finite is such an online thing. Because it's like, it's also, you're talking about kids who went, who lived through COVID. And kids who, their social skills are are much lower and they don't have this like real life experience. Like this real life experience of like, sometimes people make mistakes. And that is what matters more is accountability and change moving forward. As opposed to, you made one mistake, I know now you're a bad person and I never wanna see you again.

• 1:23:57Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 1:23:58Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I was like, but then you have no community and that's why young people are like, I don't have any friends, how do I date, how do I do any of that? And I was like, unfortunately, you have to make peace with, sometimes people are gonna disappoint you.

• 1:24:07Speaker 02

  Sometimes your best friend's gonna scam you out of two thousand dollars and go get a BBL and you're gonna have to forgive her and you're gonna have to never get your money back. And I, yes, I'm talking about one specific person.

• 1:24:20Speaker 02

  And I love women so much, I thought she was calling me.

• 1:24:27Speaker 02

  Like, this story was, so one of my friends, I started like a. Um, she's no longer really a friend, but I still care about her. She started.

• 1:24:36Drew Afualo?

  I have some girls like that too.

• 1:24:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think we all do. We're like, I see that she was trying, like I just said, like you're trying to survive. Go do that shit over there. You're doing Looney Tunes shit over here. Like, stop this. So she started to GoFundMe and it said gender-affirming surgery. And this whole time I've known her to be like cis woman with no desires to change herself. But look, when you see gender-affirming surgery, you like empty your pockets. Especially if it's your friend, like, I don't know what's going on with you, but I love you and I want to support you. And then I donated some money and posted it for her and I think she got to her goal. And then she kind of dropped off the face of the planet and I did not hear from her for months and months.

• 1:25:15Drew Afualo?

  Interesting.

• 1:25:16Speaker 02

  And she called me one time and was like, yeah, you know, I had this uterus thing. I had to go to, uh, had to go to a different country. And get this done. They only do this surgery there. And I said, okay. And then I started to get suspicious because she was like at the beach when she told me that, like you're in the south of France.

• 1:25:34Drew Afualo?

  Like I'm counting and I'm like.

• 1:25:37Speaker 02

  And, um, I, this is a long way of saying, I think she got a BBL.

• 1:25:44Drew Afualo?

  Gender-affirming. Low-key, she's hilarious. Because that's true. That is gender-affirming care. That is true.

• 1:25:52Speaker 02

  You feel more like a woman. This is the body you want to be in.

• 1:25:54Drew Afualo?

  That is really fucked up, but low-key funny. I hate when people are accidentally funny when they're being fucked up.

• 1:25:59Speaker 02

  When you're manipulating.

• 1:26:01Drew Afualo?

  When you're being fucked up and then you're kind of funny, that's annoying.

• 1:26:05Speaker 02

  I was hurt because she, I felt like she'd lied to me. This like manipulation.

• 1:26:10Drew Afualo?

  No, not at all.

• 1:26:11Speaker 02

  So I had to cut her off and I remember talking to my therapist at the time because I was like, what do we do when women wrong us? But we don't want to make them like pay for that. And she was like, she was like, forgive her and move forward and don't incorporate her so deeply into your life. Because I, I, I struggle with that. I'll like. I want to like give you my social security number. Like, it's like that.

• 1:26:35Drew Afualo?

  And give me your baby.

• 1:26:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, you can have her. I trust you. We've been talking for forty-five minutes.

• 1:26:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, perfect. You don't need to know anything else about me, but you can give me your baby.

• 1:26:45Speaker 02

  I mean, she probably will be like, mommy?

• 1:26:48Drew Afualo?

  That's because you're cancer probably too. I'm sure you're, you're very. Yeah, and you're very emotionally connective. Like, that's like naturally. You're just, you want to connect and be connected and I think that's a beautiful thing. And I actually had a very similar experience to, not to the BBL, but to like having to remove someone out of my life that I didn't want to. But it just kind of forced my hand and it was like, I, I truly believe and I've said this to girls who have asked me before, I'm like, uh, sometimes you have to wish them well. And my hope and prayer for you is that they come back, like, and they come back a better version of themselves and you are a better version of yourself and you can be better friends. And like my, my girlfriend that I had to kind of let go a few years ago, um, she actually came back. And she came back better and, and I'm better and older and we're older now. We're in our thirties and like, we're able to reconnect in a different way.

• 1:27:33Drew Afualo?

  And I, I think that's a beautiful thing. And I, I really do think too, it's like the mark of sisterhood. Like it's having tiffs with your girlfriends. Your, your girlfriend's annoying the shit out of you, or your girlfriend's being absolutely batshit crazy. And then you just gotta be there. Like one time my friend was like ranting to me about something and she was like, giving me this whole dissertation. And she was talking uninterrupted for like forty minutes and I was just listening and then she was like. Yeah, and then she stopped and she goes, do I sound crazy? And I was like, I mean, yes, but I love you. Yeah, I was like, you do, you do sound, yeah, a little bit, but like, I love you.

• 1:28:08Speaker 02

  And that's what you need, like, we're girls. Like, I, one of my homegirls right now is going through a breakup. God bless her. It's really hard and like. I'm hearing the same story every single day, every, the same emotion every single day, but we're girls. So that's what we have to do. Like, I'm gonna be there for you at every step.

• 1:28:25Drew Afualo?

  The military doesn't know anything about that. You ever been clocked in? Like, I'm saying the military, they, they clock in and they work for the government. This is our version of military service. It's clocking in with our girls who want to rehash the same shit. Over and over and over again till one of us dies. That is service. Listen, I'm ser- I'm serving someone, I'll tell you what.

• 1:28:47Speaker 02

  You're serving God himself.

• 1:28:49Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, hello. That's why I was like, when I'm sitting here and I'm reopening it with you for the thirty-seventh time. And we're revisiting the same pockets and I'm going, yeah, see, no, we already went over that.

• 1:28:57Speaker 02

  And you're doing the same jokes, same punchlines, same insults, same beats.

• 1:29:01Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then at the end I'm like, and when you're in the phase where you want to make fun of them, you let me know. Because I got a gang of jokes that I can't tell you now because you're too sensitive.

• 1:29:07Speaker 02

  So good. I'd be going way too, I go way too hard. I'm like, and I never liked that nigga.

• 1:29:14Speaker 02

  He was bald and his hair was so shiny.

• 1:29:18Drew Afualo?

  Me and Caleb have been together receiving information from our friends before about people. And it's funny because my sister is like your friend where she's, she's so sweet and so innocent. And so it's our other girlfriends talking, me and Caleb are sitting together. My sister's just like her. And then we're listening and then we haven't said anything. None of it sounds good. We haven't said anything. And then at a certain point she said something and I can't say it, but it was just something so specific that we both were like. To each other and Caleb goes, I haven't said anything. I haven't said anything this whole time. And we were laughing and I go, yeah, okay, but I, I have to jump in now. I'm gonna have to say something now. Like, he sounds fucking awful. And then I start, we start kind of baby stepping into that.

• 1:30:01Drew Afualo?

  And then my sister goes, man, thank God they're here. Because if I was just here, I would be like, wow, congrats.

• 1:30:06Speaker 02

  Well, honestly, the fact that you have, will listen to someone speak for forty minutes, you're a saint. Like, you actually are do- I'm not doing that level of work.

• 1:30:13Drew Afualo?

  Nearly as mean as people would assume.

• 1:30:15Speaker 02

  No, you're not mean at all. You're an angel. I'm like, I like to get to the solution way too fast that I hurt people's feelings. Like, you've been talking for twenty-five seconds, let's wrap this up. Like, what are you gonna do, bitch?

• 1:30:25Drew Afualo?

  No, he sucks. He should die.

• 1:30:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's it, period. And I don't want to hear anything less. And that is like, I'm trying to stop doing that. I'm trying to be able to like, focus. I have this new thing now where I repeat what people say in my head so that I don't change the topic. I'm like, I'm like your big sister. Like, I will change the topic just to serve myself and my own agenda. I need to start working on that. So I'm like repeating what people say and I'm not trying to rush to the solution. Because to me, it's simple, like. It's, we shouldn't, why are we investigating every nook and cranny?

• 1:30:56Drew Afualo?

  I feel the same way. That's why I really had to work on that. That's why I'm saying, I've really had to work on that. I've been very. In fact, like there have been times where me and Caleb are in the same group chat. And then he'll text me separately and he goes, hey, are you vibing with this shit or what? Because obviously he's very blunt and very direct. And I was like, you say something this time. I'm always the bad guy. You fucking do it. I'm gonna be the supportive girl.

• 1:31:21Drew Afualo?

  And so sometimes he has to go in there and say something, but I do think that is an exercise, a muscle I've had to exercise. Because I did the same thing. Like, I'd be, I'd listen and I'd be like, right, well, it sounds like he hates you and he's not attracted to you.

• 1:31:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's an unfortunate truth.

• 1:31:36Drew Afualo?

  And you should be with someone who's attracted to you and he's not, clearly. Like, and that is one of those things where I feel like women need that kind of information. But it's, in my experience, it's downloaded and processed better when it's given in bite sizes. Sometimes, especially when women are, are very, they're in a space where they're really convicted about it. Like, they're like, I know this is the one. I know this person's the one.

• 1:31:58Speaker 02

  You set up like an IV, you have to do a slow IV drip. Like, I can't, you'll die.

• 1:32:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like I'm taking poison out of you. I gotta do it little by little.

• 1:32:09Drew Afualo?

  It's like when I'm quiet quitting work and I'm stealing things, just one little thing at a time.

• 1:32:14Speaker 02

  Paperclip on Monday, sticky notes on Tuesday, taking an office chair next week.

• 1:32:19Drew Afualo?

  And I always tell my friends, I'm like, and when you're in that phase where you're ready to light that bitch up. Let's, that's my favorite part of the breakup.

• 1:32:28Speaker 02

  I have a cannonball.

• 1:32:29Drew Afualo?

  My favorite, and I was like, oh my God, I have been lighting up a group chat without you in it with this joke. And now I get to put this joke in your group chat.

• 1:32:38Speaker 02

  And the group chat is called like, this nigga sucks. And it's about how shitty your boyfriend is. And we be going ham.

• 1:32:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and then, see, that's our way of processing. So we don't tell you. Whenever you're ready, we'd love to include you.

• 1:32:52Drew Afualo?

  I do have one last fun fact about you. Okay, last one is that you were accepted into law school, but you deferred your admission for a year to pursue comedy. And within that year, you realized you wanted to make comedy your career. Okay, smarty pants.

• 1:33:08Speaker 02

  No, that's one of those annoying stories. It's like, you know, where people like, I gave myself a year and I said, if I don't make it, then. I would go back to the normal world.

• 1:33:18Drew Afualo?

  Well, I'll tell you what, getting into law school is not easy.

• 1:33:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, I wanted, that's the only reason I went into philosophy with my, my waning Australian accent. I wanted to be a public defender. And I was interning at the public defender's office for like a year or so. And it was chaotic and it was.

• 1:33:39Drew Afualo?

  So incredible. Oh, I love when women are smart. I love it. That gives me a huge boner. That's why I can't put this leg down, otherwise you'll see it and get uncomfortable.

• 1:33:49Speaker 02

  I'm really happy you're hard.

• 1:33:52Drew Afualo?

  I think that's fucking incredible.

• 1:33:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, I wanted to be a lawyer. I still, um, I still, my, I married into a lawyer family.

• 1:34:00Drew Afualo?

  Tea.

• 1:34:01Speaker 02

  My mother-in-law is one of the coolest. She taught constitutional law at UCLA. Like, she's a badass.

• 1:34:06Drew Afualo?

  Damn.

• 1:34:06Speaker 02

  She's so, I mean, she's so sweet. It's got this, lawyers are so cool to me. They also are so boring sometimes. Lawyers are super sweet. They have big hearts, but they're so like focused on the rules.

• 1:34:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 1:34:19Speaker 02

  They care so much, but it's very rigid how they care.

• 1:34:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's true.

• 1:34:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, uh, lawyers are.

• 1:34:25Drew Afualo?

  It's real like syllabus coded.

• 1:34:27Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 1:34:28Drew Afualo?

  They love a good syllabus, a lawyer.

• 1:34:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:34:30Drew Afualo?

  Me just saying shit.

• 1:34:31Speaker 02

  You love the law so much that you, that's why I don't want to do it. Like, I took that year off and I was like, mommy, please, I just want to be a, I want to tell jokes. And she was an African woman, so she was like, you don't know. Like, you get to, you get a year.

• 1:34:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:44Speaker 02

  You try it. And in that time, nothing happened, except for I got on Wild 'n Out. And that sounds like a huge thing, but I was kicked off Wild 'n Out so fast. Drew, I'm so, fuck, fuck. Like, I got on this show and I was like, this is it. This is my moment.

• 1:35:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:03Speaker 02

  Cat Williams.

• 1:35:03Drew Afualo?

  I used to, I used to watch Wild 'n Out all the time.

• 1:35:06Speaker 02

  I loved Wild 'n Out. I loved music, so it was a perfect crossover. And I did well on the show. I remember the thing that got me kicked off the show, though. I was, yes, I remember the day. We were in Atlanta. It was sticky as fuck. I came inside and we, we were all supposed to do this like joke thing where you find someone in the audience and you, uh, compare them to like a celebrity. I don't remember the name of the.

• 1:35:28Drew Afualo?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:35:29Speaker 02

  So I found a woman who was sitting by a white woman. It was a black woman, sitting by a white woman. And I was like, well, listen up, y'all. I got Rachel Dolezal and Rachel Dolezal.

• 1:35:43Drew Afualo?

  And that didn't land?

• 1:35:45Speaker 02

  Nobody, what the fuck? I think it was like, it'd been exactly, it was so dated. It was like a dated.

• 1:35:51Drew Afualo?

  You think? At the time?

• 1:35:53Speaker 02

  Nobody left. Not a single person in the audience left.

• 1:35:57Drew Afualo?

  That's so funny.

• 1:35:58Speaker 02

  Listen, okay, and that's when I learned, there's different types of humor, right? And I, I, I got kicked off the show.

• 1:36:04Drew Afualo?

  Wrong room, wrong room.

• 1:36:05Speaker 02

  Wrong room, wrong arena. It was a huge, massive theater. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

• 1:36:10Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my god.

• 1:36:11Speaker 02

  And I left going, okay, I'm not funny. That's fine. Like, I'm, I'm too weird. It's just like, it filled that story that I've always had. Like, you're too weird. Go home.

• 1:36:18Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:19Speaker 02

  And I, I cried in bed about it. My manager called me. I cried in bed for a little bit. And then I went back to New York where I was living and doing stand-up. And there was a producer who works at Irony Point, who, shout out Dan Powell, because he's the coolest, it's a white man whose name I'll say correctly.

• 1:36:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:36:36Speaker 02

  He, he has done Inside Amy Schumer. He's done, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robbins.

• 1:36:41Drew Afualo?

  That's one of my favorite sketch shows ever.

• 1:36:44Speaker 02

  So he, like, he was really tapped into this sensibility.

• 1:36:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and especially, I know what you mean, that weird, like, especially I Think You Should Leave, like, that is so, I'm sure, I don't know if you have this experience, when I tell people, have you ever watched I Think You Should Leave? It's sometimes if they've even heard of it, they're like, yeah, because it's a very specific kind of humor that I find hilarious.

• 1:37:07Speaker 02

  It's a good litmus test for, am I gonna be friends with you?

• 1:37:10Drew Afualo?

  I agree.

• 1:37:11Speaker 02

  Like, I'll play it. I, I used to also play Detroiters. It's all Tim Robbins.

• 1:37:14Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah?

• 1:37:15Speaker 02

  Detroiters, um.

• 1:37:17Drew Afualo?

  Have you watched Chair, The Chair Company?

• 1:37:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I watched the beginning of that.

• 1:37:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I, I only, I only watched the first episode. I haven't stopped, I haven't finished it yet, though.

• 1:37:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's one of those, I'm like, I don't know why I stopped. It's Tim, like, I would.

• 1:37:27Drew Afualo?

  I would die for him.

• 1:37:28Speaker 02

  I gotta stop.

• 1:37:30Drew Afualo?

  I feel the same way about him.

• 1:37:31Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 1:37:31Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course I do.

• 1:37:32Speaker 02

  And, um, let's take the rings off. Let's just let, let our finger get some air.

• 1:37:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:37:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, he.

• 1:37:39Drew Afualo?

  So you met Dan Powell?

• 1:37:40Speaker 02

  Met Dan Powell. Well, I, I had, I had spoken to him when I was in New York and he was like, look, I got a new show on Netflix. It's called Astronomy Club. I know you said you wanted to be a writer.

• 1:37:48Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:37:49Speaker 02

  Why don't you come and audit the room? Which is, which is the coolest thing anyone's ever, like, I, I sat in there and it was really cool. A sketch comedy show, a bunch of nerdy black people who were like flipping Shakespeare, but also writing about Ludacris and, like, just being full people.

• 1:38:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 1:38:10Speaker 02

  And not kind of shaming me for not knowing something or for knowing something.

• 1:38:13Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I know what you mean.

• 1:38:14Speaker 02

  No shade to Wild 'n Out, but it's a specific type of humor.

• 1:38:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and it's a specific room, like we were saying.

• 1:38:19Speaker 02

  Specific room.

• 1:38:20Drew Afualo?

  And you needed a, a different room, like, that, one that you could reach. I, I've joked about this with my friend too, who does, like, she's really comedy-facing. Where I've told her, like, sometimes I think there's this thing where, like, your interests could cover theirs, but theirs can't cover yours. So sometimes you'll make jokes that maybe they're not understanding or really vibing with, and it's just because their interests can't cover yours, like.

• 1:38:43Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:38:43Drew Afualo?

  Like, I can joke with you about that stuff, the stuff that you find hilarious. I, I can laugh with you about it. I can relate to it. But sometimes, like, I, for example, like, I've made like a River Styx joke before, and it doesn't always hit, like, and it's because sometimes people don't understand what that is.

• 1:38:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:38:59Drew Afualo?

  Or what that is in reference to. So I know what you mean. You're like, kind of like, it does make you second guess sometimes, especially when you're not a white woman.

• 1:39:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:39:09Drew Afualo?

  It's like hard because you're like, well, then where the hell, who the hell am I gonna make laugh?

• 1:39:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:39:13Drew Afualo?

  You know what I mean?

• 1:39:13Speaker 02

  And the triangle, that's when the triangle comes back in.

• 1:39:16Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. And I'm gonna, and I.

• 1:39:19Drew Afualo?

  And I honestly, I'm going to hold on to that triangle-like metaphor as I continue with this show that I'm working on.

• 1:39:26Speaker 02

  There's always someone you can make laugh. Somebody knows who the Rivers, what the River Styx is.

• 1:39:31Speaker 02

  I don't know what it is. Um, I think it's Grecian or something, right?

• 1:39:35Drew Afualo?

  That is true. Yes, it's in hell. Yes.

• 1:39:39Speaker 02

  Um, yeah, somebody will always get you. I, I used to let people's reaction decide whether I was gonna keep doing that joke. And now I don't.

• 1:39:47Drew Afualo?

  So, such a good point.

• 1:39:48Speaker 02

  You know what I mean? Like, stand-up is, uh, stand-up, you, you should be having a conversation with the people in the room.

• 1:39:54Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:55Speaker 02

  And I love that part of it, because I get, I just talk to people. Like, I, I love really hyper-polished performers, and I think that's so brilliant, and I try to do that cert, but most of the time, I just like to talk to people.

• 1:40:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:06Speaker 02

  And, um, yeah, so, somebody will laugh. You, if you're making a, you start to study humor a little bit, you're making a really in, like, esoteric River Styx, mystical reference, like, it's gonna be hard for people.

• 1:40:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's a little niche, yeah.

• 1:40:23Speaker 02

  And you just don't read no more, you know?

• 1:40:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's like, that's.

• 1:40:26Speaker 02

  I don't know what you're talking about.

• 1:40:27Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 1:40:28Speaker 02

  So, so, but it's, yeah, like, I've, you, you learn about yourself, then that's your voice.

• 1:40:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I, and honestly, I, first of all, I think we've fallen in love, you and I.

• 1:40:39Speaker 02

  I think so.

• 1:40:39Drew Afualo?

  I think so too. I think you and I are gonna have to take our relationship to the next level.

• 1:40:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:40:43Drew Afualo?

  That is my feeling after this. But I do want to say, just to kind of wrap us, I think you are incredible, and I'm really glad that I got to have this talk with you for many reasons. But the main one being like, it is really cool to talk to someone who has had a lot of experience, not just in writing, but also in acting, and just kind of the way you see humor and you see character development and you see that kind of like, I guess, like how that unfolds when you're creating something. Because I've been very nervous about making the show, like, especially writing it for TV. Like, I've been so nervous about it, like, and I'm never really nervous about stuff like that typically, because I'm, like you said, you write for your own humor, and that is kind of how I've done everything I've done.

• 1:41:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:41:23Drew Afualo?

  Um, like, I'm like, well, I thought it was hilarious, so I'm gonna do it that way. But for some reason, I think I was like, even without consciously thinking it, I feel like I was thinking, well, everyone has to find it funny. Like, how do I write in a way that everyone finds it funny? But I really think it's fate that I'm talking to you today.

• 1:41:38Speaker 02

  I'm gonna be so honest with you, like, you can, now you have my number. You can call me. I love to give notes, because I know that it's so hard to find somebody who wants to give good notes.

• 1:41:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and like, and in a, and in a helpful way, not in a way, because sometimes, you know this too, I'm sure, in this industry too, like, sometimes if you send it to someone, like, I don't know if you're like giving me good notes or these notes because you don't want it to do well, or.

• 1:42:00Speaker 02

  Are you about to nab my storyline?

• 1:42:02Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 1:42:02Speaker 02

  Are you about to nab my shit?

• 1:42:04Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. And that's why I'm like, Caleb's like one of the few people I trust to read stuff like that and not do something like that to me. But it's really hard, and now I have you, which is even better. And that, that's another thing I was gonna say, is like, you're not a white woman. So that's the kind of perspective I need, like, allegedly. Alleg, we haven't fact-checked. That wasn't a fun fact.

• 1:42:22Speaker 02

  I unzip, I'm.

• 1:42:22Drew Afualo?

  And you're Rachel Dolezal.

• 1:42:26Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my god, let me find out. That'd be crazy. But I, I would love to get your feedback and stuff. I, I think, I just think you're so important. And I think, and I'm really grateful that you're continuing to, uh, elevate and continuing to write and contribute. Like, I think voices like yours are so important. And they, they give me courage to keep going and put mine on TV.

• 1:42:46Speaker 02

  I already love you so much.

• 1:42:47Drew Afualo?

  I love you.

• 1:42:48Speaker 02

  Like, I've been watching your podcast for a long time now. I never imagined I'd get to sit right here in the yellow chair.

• 1:42:52Drew Afualo?

  Yes, and impart wisdom on me.

• 1:42:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:42:55Drew Afualo?

  It's beautiful.

• 1:42:55Speaker 02

  And learn a lot.

• 1:42:57Drew Afualo?

  Likewise. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I fucking love you.

• 1:42:59Speaker 02

  Nice to meet you.

• 1:43:00Drew Afualo?

  You're the best. And it was so nice to meet you. If you guys couldn't tell, we did just meet.

• 1:43:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:43:04Drew Afualo?

  Even though you couldn't tell, because we were so vibey.

• 1:43:06Speaker 02

  Even though it's like, we're the same person, there's a line of symmetry right here, where you're literally the same.

• 1:43:10Drew Afualo?

  Literally.

• 1:43:11Speaker 02

  We're folded hot dogs.

• 1:43:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, we're split, split in half, you and I.

• 1:43:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:43:15Drew Afualo?

  But thank you all so much for tuning into this episode of the comment section. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Ida. Where can everybody find you?

• 1:43:22Speaker 02

  I'm on Instagram, on Shut Up Ida. People have told me to stop limiting myself with that username, but I'm not gonna change it. So, uh.

• 1:43:28Drew Afualo?

  It's already done.

• 1:43:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's too late. TikTok, I don't post a lot. Instagram, I post a lot.

• 1:43:34Drew Afualo?

  Yes. And also your show?

• 1:43:37Speaker 02

  My show, The Hawk on Netflix. I was also on Rap Shit on HBO Max. And guys, be looking out for more stand-up, because I need to focus on my craft.

• 1:43:48Drew Afualo?

  Now that I'm done acting with Will Ferrell, I guess I have to get back in the saddle.

• 1:43:51Speaker 02

  That's how you know I'm not on a TV show. I'm like, God, I focus on stand-up.

• 1:43:56Drew Afualo?

  Uh, waiting for that series regular. I feel you. I made that joke on here once where I was like, well, obviously I didn't get the part because I'm still here doing this. So, obviously.

• 1:44:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm pretty free.

• 1:44:07Drew Afualo?

  Thank you so much for joining us. Love you. You're the best. Thank you all so much for tuning in. Don't forget, new episodes of the comment section drop every Wednesday. You can stream the audio on all streaming platforms, but the video lives for free and exclusively on YouTube. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Ida. Thank you so much to all of you, and I'll see you next week. Bye.

• 1:44:34Speaker 00

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