JOSH SCHERER IS FEELING EXISTENTIAL (Ft. Josh Scherer) | Episode 236

Mythical Chef Josh Scherer joins Drew on the show this week! Drew and Josh talk about the origin story of his famous Last Meals show, what happens when you die, why they love tall people, going to hot pot high, the meaning of Josh's spork tattoo, Josh's past as a collegiate hammer throw competitor, and so much more. Josh IG: https://www.instagram.com/mythicalchefjosh/ Follow The Comment Section on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecommentsection/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:36Speaker 01

  One of my fundamental worldviews is if a food exists, it's because somebody found it delicious. You know what I mean?

• 0:43Drew Afualo?

  That's such a beautiful way of looking at it.

• 0:46Speaker 01

  Testicles are delicious. Like, it's not weird. I don't know. Like, beef testicles.

• 0:58Drew Afualo?

  Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Comment Section Show starring me, your babe, everybody knows me, who cares about me. Onto the guest. Today, we have the iconic, the legendary, the mythical kitchen chef himself, Josh.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  I care about you. I want to hear you talk about yourself.

• 1:15Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my gosh, thank you so much, Josh. That means the world to me.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, please.

• 1:18Drew Afualo?

  I am so happy to have you. It's been a long time coming, I think.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  It has been. I am stoked to be here.

• 1:24Drew Afualo?

  Some days, I barely want any coverage at all. I just want my skin to look like my skin, just a little more even. And that's when I've been reaching for the Merit Minimalist Stick. It's a foundation and concealer stick in one, so it's super easy to throw on when I'm running errands, grabbing coffee, or meeting up with friends. And it gives me that really natural skin-like finish without feeling heavy. But when I'm filming, going to an event, or I just want a full glam moment, I need a concealer that's actually going to show up. The Hourglass Vanish Concealer is one I always reach for because it gives me that full-coverage, air-brushed finish. I also know I'm not the only person who's struggled to find the right foundation

• 2:06Drew Afualo?

  or concealer shade, and it can be so frustrating trying to guess what'll actually work for you. So, that's why I always shop at Sephora. They have the best brands all in one place with so many shades, coverage levels, and finishes that you can actually find what works for you. And if you need help, Sephora makes it super easy with expert beauty advisors, free samples, and shade-matching tools, both online and in-store. So, whether you're looking for barely-there coverage or full glam, Sephora can help you find your match.

• 2:38Speaker 01

  Crazy that I'm following The Rock. I'm somewhere in his wake.

• 2:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Which is crazy. Dude, I listened to that episode. What an incredible freaking episode.

• 2:47Drew Afualo?

  Thank you.

• 2:48Speaker 01

  How stoked were you on that?

• 2:49Drew Afualo?

  Oh, my God, I was so fired up. It was like, I feel like we've been two passing ships for a while. Like, I've met him a few times. Obviously, he's The Rock and famous, so who cares about me in regards to him? But like, getting to meet and do it on this show specifically in Hawaii was crazy.

• 3:04Speaker 01

  How big is he? How big are his traps in real life?

• 3:07Drew Afualo?

  They're huge, dude.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  Did you ever get to just like grab him?

• 3:09Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah. Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. I had my paws all over him. But yeah, no, it was, he's a big dude. But honestly, I feel like you're honestly a lot taller than I think people assume.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Thank you for saying that. I do, I really appreciate that.

• 3:22Drew Afualo?

  Josh is a big dude, and I mean that in not a derogatory sense. I mean, in a very awesome sense.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  I only take it in an awesome sense. The way that I judge people's bodies are like strictly on how good they would be at throwing heavy objects.

• 3:34Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  You know?

• 3:35Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 3:36Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Like, you know, if I see somebody that's real, then I'm like, they could never, their ACL would snap trying to play it to throw a javelin.

• 3:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, both meniscus gone.

• 3:44Speaker 01

  100%.

• 3:45Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I agree. And I made a lot of like fitness jokes with The Rock, too, because I was like, well, we have like same-sized lats. Like, they're about the same, you and I. But I honestly think-

• 3:54Speaker 01

  I think you said, um, with no bra from behind, we look the same. I think that's the term that you use.

• 4:01Drew Afualo?

  Me laughing at my own joke. Me enjoying my own joke. Hell, yeah. I was like, do you get that? I feel like top is from the back. We're about the same. Like, if he had hair, like the version of him in Maui, who knows? You know what I mean? I really do think, though, like you standing next to him, I think he would look smaller than you'd think.

• 4:18Speaker 01

  Hell, yeah.

• 4:18Drew Afualo?

  But honestly, I wasn't catching him, though, at like a Baywatch time in his life. Like, when he was on Baywatch, he was probably way bigger.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  Dude, everyone on that Baywatch shoot, have you ever heard Zac Efron like talk about how much that ruined his life? He's just like-

• 4:32Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I have, yes.

• 4:33Speaker 01

  I didn't eat a sandwich for six months.

• 4:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and he was like, it's the worst. And I was trying to keep up with The Rock, which, why was I trying to do that?

• 4:38Speaker 01

  He was like, I was fainting on set because I was so, it's sad.

• 4:40Drew Afualo?

  Fucking insane.

• 4:42Speaker 01

  It's sad.

• 4:42Drew Afualo?

  It's like, but speaking of people like Zac Efron, I want to say, I have to like, I love your Last Meals series. Like, you have been talking to crazy famous people, obviously. But I just have to commend you on that series. I think it's incredible, and I think you're a wonderful host. And I do not say that lightly, because I do not say that to every podcast host. Or show host.

• 5:03Speaker 01

  There's a lot of, there's so many podcast hosts out there.

• 5:06Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, there's quite a few of us now.

• 5:07Speaker 01

  There really are.

• 5:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  We're all out here swimming in the same waters.

• 5:11Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. But I do say quite often, like, when I talk about my experience with you as well, when I was on Mythical Kitchen and you made me a Sunday roast, which I say to this day is the best, like, UK food I've ever had is the one that you served me.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  Oh, hell, yeah.

• 5:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it was not from when I was actually in the UK, believe it or not.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  We're pretty good at cooking, is the thing. Like, that's the other thing about Mythical Kitchen that I don't know if people realize. Like, we're really good at it.

• 5:35Drew Afualo?

  Like, actually delicious, and I took it home, and my fiancee loved it.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Oh, hell, yeah.

• 5:40Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and so, I just have to say, I really enjoyed like how you interview and the way that you interview. I think it's really beautiful and amazing. And I'll say it, I think you should have been in Vanity Fair.

• 5:51Speaker 01

  Dude, listen, I don't know. There's, there's, you don't do it for that, right?

• 5:59Drew Afualo?

  Accolades, no.

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Like, you can't, like, you have to do it for the actual process.

• 6:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and the love of the game.

• 6:03Speaker 01

  100%. And like even, not to keep bringing The Rock into this, but like, you know, I loved when he was asking you questions about acting, he was like, do you enjoy the process?

• 6:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Because that's the only thing. All the other shit can fade away, but it's the actual process.

• 6:18Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  But that said, it was a little bit of an omission.

• 6:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  But I thought, you know?

• 6:23Drew Afualo?

  I thought so, too. I agree. And I really do, like, I believe you should have been in there for many reasons. But one of them being that I feel like you do what I love about interviewing, which is you connect, right? Like, so you're able to connect to them in a way that, and you know this, too, because you've spent so much time with like a lot of high A-list talent. That's what they like to say. That's all they like to describe the most famous people in the world as, like, A-list talent. They get very afraid to like open up in interviews, and they get very afraid to like show their real versions of themselves for reasons that I'm sure are very valid. Like, I'm sure it's come back to bite them in some way or another. But my question to you about that is like, how do you prepare in that sense? Like, do you do any sort of preparation before you do your interviews? Like, do you try to find ways to connect to them like outside of what they're typically

• 7:08Drew Afualo?

  used to being asked? Like, what's your process look like?

• 7:10Speaker 01

  100%. It's funny, if anybody ever asked me, and I know Sean Evans has the same answer.

• 7:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  Like, how long do you spend researching a guest? It's like as long as I take, from the minute that we book the guest to the minute that they show up. I'm literally like, I'll be in the gym on the day of the interview, like scraping bottom of the barrel.

• 7:29Drew Afualo?

  Still just double-checking, yeah.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Hilary Duff, she, one, she was an awesome interview.

• 7:35Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  But two, like, you know, she had nothing to promote for 10 years. She didn't do an album for 10 years. And randomly, I found this crazy natural birthing podcast.

• 7:47Drew Afualo?

  Nice.

• 7:47Speaker 01

  That she, you know-

• 7:48Drew Afualo?

  You're thorough in your research.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  Quite. And I listened to six hours after, before every child and after every child, she did an hour-long podcast with this natural birthing doctor.

• 7:57Drew Afualo?

  Damn.

• 7:57Speaker 01

  All about it. And I listened to six hours of Hilary Duff talk about her natural birthing process. None of that made the interview. But like, what you're, what I'm almost listening for is like how people react to certain lines of questioning.

• 8:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  And you sort of internalize that. Are there sensitivities that people have? Are there questions that they really wish people were asking them?

• 8:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  And you're sort of reading between the lines. And if you listen to someone speak for such a long time, you really internalize it. And that's what I do. I was just talking to Brittany, do you know Brittany Broski?

• 8:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I think, I think I'm familiar with her, yes.

• 8:30Speaker 01

  Broski?

• 8:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I think it's, yeah, I think it's like, like Scouse, like Broski.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  Broski, Brittany Broski. But she was, she made a comment, she was like, she was like, yeah, you don't have any notes. You just go off rip. And you know, she's got her whole, she's in royal court.

• 8:46Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  But for me, I'm like, I write everything down, and then I don't look at it. Because I'm trying to internalize it and then react in the moment.

• 8:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and you want it to be organic.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  100%.

• 8:57Drew Afualo?

  And feel organic. And I feel like that's another reason why I wanted to ask, too, because I feel like there's a lot of thoughtfulness put into your conversations. And I don't even just mean in research, because I know you're extremely well researched. Obviously, having been interviewed by you, I know you do your research for real, for real, which is a wonderful thing. But it's more so, too, like what you were saying about listening. Like, there's a lot of intentional listening going on. So, it's almost like kind of letting them steer it, but like open, getting them to open up. I think it's like the trust factor. And I feel like you're very thoughtful in your line of questioning and how you talk to them. And like, I've also told people, too, like when I interview, I feel like the whole point is like when it's long-form, you kind of want to see them talk in a way that maybe you haven't seen before.

• 9:38Drew Afualo?

  And then a lot of times, they really enjoy when you like engage them in a very normal way. Like, sometimes people ask me like, how do you not get nervous? And I'm like, well, if you just treat them like everybody else, then it will be fine. Most often times, they're awesome. Like, if you're, if you're awesome, they're awesome.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Have you ever met anyone? Because I fully agree with that. And there's an element of like earning that trust and-

• 9:59Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. It's like patience, yeah.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  But like, have you ever had any encounters where you're like, oh, you don't want to be treated like a normal person?

• 10:05Drew Afualo?

  Yes, of course I have. Yes.

• 10:10Speaker 01

  And those are the ones that kind of freak me out.

• 10:11Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, me, too. When you're like, oh, you're not giving me anything, huh? No personality whatsoever. I've joked about that with other hosts before, where we've talked about like, sometimes it's one of those where you're like- Okay, um, what else can I pull? What else can I do? Like, I feel like I'm, I'm tap dancing for my life, like trying to get them to open up a little bit.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  It's really-

• 10:32Drew Afualo?

  Just give me something, anything.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  It's really valuable when you are doing that, but you have a bowl of spaghetti in front of you. Which is the good thing about my show, because I've, everything I do is food. So if things are going poorly, I can just be like,

• 10:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  "Man, that spaghetti's good."

• 10:45Drew Afualo?

  Mmm, yum!

• 10:47Speaker 01

  But like, no, but most of the, especially like, top, top A-list, which of course, anybody who's actually in that A-list would never refer to themselves as A-list.

• 10:55Drew Afualo?

  No, that's true. Yeah, absolutely.

• 10:57Speaker 01

  You know, we had Tom Hanks as like our sixth guest ever, which was nuts.

• 11:00Drew Afualo?

  Fucking crazy!

• 11:01Speaker 01

  Fucking, none of us like, we thought we were getting pranked. We thought like a Tom Hanks impersonator was gonna show up.

• 11:06Drew Afualo?

  You're like, "Someone's pranking me, I'm gonna get pumped."

• 11:09Speaker 01

  Until he showed up in our green room, he drove himself to set in a Prius.

• 11:13Drew Afualo?

  No way!

• 11:13Speaker 01

  Fifteen minutes early to his call time.

• 11:15Drew Afualo?

  Of course Tom Hanks drives a Prius.

• 11:16Speaker 01

  Literally-

• 11:17Drew Afualo?

  A good person, of course.

• 11:19Speaker 01

  Like, he beat his, he showed up with just like one publicist.

• 11:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  Um, who's just there, and he was asking all of our cam ops about their families and where they're from.

• 11:27Drew Afualo?

  So cool.

• 11:28Speaker 01

  And then, you know, we'll have somebody else who might be, say, a more emerging star. They show up with a team of fourteen people and they're not making eye contact.

• 11:37Drew Afualo?

  And they're an hour late. Yeah, I, I've had people, I've said that before, I'm like, shockingly, like, the rudest people I've met, there's not many thankfully, but like, the rudest people I have met have been people you would not think, like, you're like, "There's no way you're acting that way." And a lot of times, they're like, young, like you said, or they're, um, like, reality stars. Like, a lot of time, if they're in the reality world, like, it's always people that you would never think would act that way, and then people that you would assume, "Oh, they might act that way," they don't.

• 12:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:05Drew Afualo?

  Which is very shocking.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  I think it's because it comes from a place of insecurity.

• 12:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, oh, totally.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  If you're treating like, right, it's-

• 12:10Drew Afualo?

  I think it's probably because they're really insecure. Probably, yeah, yeah.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  But like, yeah, Tom Hanks does nothing to prove to anyone by being rude. He doesn't have to prove anything to himself.

• 12:19Drew Afualo?

  He has no ego.

• 12:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, but if you're somebody who is already not comfortable with your own station in terms of celebrity, in terms of status or whatever-

• 12:27Drew Afualo?

  Exactly, yeah.

• 12:28Speaker 01

  That's when you're like, "How do I recapture control?"

• 12:31Drew Afualo?

  I'm gonna be mean to Mythical Kitchen.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  Fuck you!

• 12:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm gonna be mean to Mythical Kitchen, Josh.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  I'm sure you've dealt with many people, I don't even know.

• 12:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm gonna bully Mythical Chef Josh. That's what I'm gonna do.

• 12:42Drew Afualo?

  And you're so nice. Like, that's like another, you're so nice. So it, it would be extra mean to be mean to you. But just to kind of backpedal, like, how did Last Meals come about? Like, the inception of it, like, was it something you'd been working towards, something you were hoping to do, or was it kind of just like, born of just random creativity?

• 12:59Speaker 01

  I, I'd say more born of random creativity. It's funny, I, um, I have just way too much ADHD to like, plan anything, you know what I mean? I, I always, um, I also have way too much ADHD to not put energy into something.

• 13:11Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 13:12Speaker 01

  So for me, I've all sort of just thrown creative energy in some sort of direction.

• 13:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 13:16Speaker 01

  Right? I was a writer and a journalist, we've talked about this, yeah.

• 13:19Drew Afualo?

  Yes, we have!

• 13:19Speaker 01

  Both coming from the journalism world, uh, or both coming from a, a southern California shot put to journalism.

• 13:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, there's a real pipeline. It's just the two of us in it, but yeah, it's a real pipeline.

• 13:29Speaker 01

  I know. But you know, I, uh, I was mostly just doing like, standard cooking-ish videos from Mythical Kitchen. I'd written my first cookbook, I was writing for magazines, that world just kind of tanked overnight, the, the written word, uh, so to speak. And so I was just doing these cooking videos from Mythical Kitchen, uh, and, and Red and Link, having a blast, um, but mostly just doing kind of like silly stuff, you know? Um, "How do we make a $300 Wagyu burrito?" Whoa! And we still do that, and it's still fun as shit.

• 13:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 13:58Speaker 01

  But I just had this idea to like, make my own Last Meal.

• 14:01Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 14:01Speaker 01

  And it was just meant to be a one-off episode, you know, something fun we could put out there, give me an excuse to make a Cronosada burrito-

• 14:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  -on there, and as I was doing it, I just couldn't stop talking about the idea of like, grief and mortality and existentialism. And, you know, I lost both my parents at a relatively young age, my dad when I was nineteen, and my mom, I'd been estranged from her since I was fourteen, she passed when I was twenty-four. And all these like, feelings started coming up.

• 14:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  When I was cooking my la- my last meal, stupid things I didn't think about, like, I was making a shrimp cocktail, and as I was really thinking about why I was making shrimp cocktails, like, I don't even eat shrimp cocktail that much, I don't even know if I like it that much. Why is it on my last meal?

• 14:41Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 14:42Speaker 01

  And I realized that it was like, my dad's version of what success looked like.

• 14:46Drew Afualo?

  Oh, wow.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  It was like, if you could like-

• 14:48Drew Afualo?

  Me getting chills.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  I, dude-

• 14:50Drew Afualo?

  That's crazy.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  Him telling me a story of like, you know, when he was at the peak of his career, which never was very particularly high, he was like, you know, "I went to, um, what was it called? Like, the, the Rusty Pelican in Malibu and got a shrimp cocktail." You know, and I, they had internalized it.

• 15:05Drew Afualo?

  It's like the pinnacle of like, you know, like, success.

• 15:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. And I thought our, uh, audience would hate it, and then instead we got a ton of praise for it, and people were like, "We would love to see other people talk about food this way."

• 15:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 15:18Speaker 01

  "Oh shit, call Tom Hanks!"

• 15:21Drew Afualo?

  Get Tom Hanks on the phone.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Get Tom on the line.

• 15:22Drew Afualo?

  He's gonna love this. Oh wow, that's so cool, that that's how that came up. Like, when you were making your meal, like, what, what were things that, like, made you kind of want to be like, "I think I want to ask other people about it," was it purely inspired by viewers, or was it kind of like, you know, "Food is such a universal language, maybe people can speak to me through food," like, and feel more comfortable doing so?

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, a hundred percent. I, I was so shocked at my own thoughts and feelings that came up, that I was like-

• 15:49Drew Afualo?

  That is so interesting.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Surely other people will have this.

• 15:51Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  You know, and, and we've seen, um, you know, I think everybody has a connection with food, whether they think they do or not.

• 15:58Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 15:58Speaker 01

  We've had some guests that immediately got the prompt, and they-

• 16:02Drew Afualo?

  Were excited about it.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, and then, like, you know, we've had some other people that, kind of, their publicist throws them out here.

• 16:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:07Speaker 01

  Uh, Matthew Lillard was one.

• 16:09Drew Afualo?

  Very cool.

• 16:10Speaker 01

  Big Lillard head.

• 16:11Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  But he came on, and he was literally like, "Yeah, I'm sorry, man," this is my Lillard impression. "I'm sorry, man, I just don't think I really have like, an emotional connection to food," you know? And then, one of the things he had on there was his dad's steak and eggs.

• 16:25Drew Afualo?

  Oh, sweet.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  And we, as soon as the steak and eggs hit the table, he starts crying.

• 16:28Drew Afualo?

  Oh my gosh.

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Before he even took a bite.

• 16:30Drew Afualo?

  Me getting chills again!

• 16:31Speaker 01

  I know, but like, this is also a guy who, ten minutes before was like, "I don't really have an emotional connection."

• 16:36Drew Afualo?

  It's just food, yeah.

• 16:37Speaker 01

  It's never just food, it's always, uh, a metaphor, a time in your life, a, a point that you can go back to.

• 16:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  And my thing is always like, food is just the lens that I kind of view the whole world through.

• 16:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 16:48Speaker 01

  So to me, like, to tell the story of food is to tell the history of the entire world.

• 16:51Drew Afualo?

  Okay, Anthony Bourdain. You better talk to me, Anthony Bourdain. Honestly, that would probably be your like, "Oh my god, I'm gonna manifest that for you, Josh." "Josh, I'm gonna manifest that for you," that you're the next Anthony Bourdain. Oh my god, that'd be so beautiful, I think that's-

• 17:06Speaker 01

  I am tremendously flattered by it, but even the sentence, "The next Anthony Bourdain," is like, it's so impossible.

• 17:11Drew Afualo?

  But that's why-

• 17:12Speaker 01

  He's so singular.

• 17:13Drew Afualo?

  You know, that is true, but I do think you remind me a lot of him, because obviously the magic in him is not just, obviously, the food, it's the way he's able to connect to people, which is what I was already telling you. Oh my god. Okay, I'm manifesting for you.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  We had a, um, a great experience, I've gotten to have a couple people that knew Bourdain really closely on the show. And one of them is my single favorite musician of all time, Serge Tonkin.

• 17:33Drew Afualo?

  Oh, no way! Hell, yeah!

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Dude, he's like, a thousand-year-old immortal tree, like, he's just so wise and gentle, and then you hear him, you know, sing and scream, and it's incredible.

• 17:42Drew Afualo?

  He's fucking awesome, and "Radio Video" is one of my favorite songs of all time, so, period. That's so cool.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Um, but yeah, he, he has a coffee shop that's like, three miles from here, dude.

• 17:51Drew Afualo?

  Oh, no way!

• 17:52Speaker 01

  He makes Armenian coffee, has his paintings on the wall.

• 17:55Drew Afualo?

  Very cool.

• 17:56Speaker 01

  And you'll just like, show up and see him like, sweeping the floor.

• 17:58Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god!

• 18:00Speaker 01

  Uh, he's, he's rad, but he took Bourdain around Armenia.

• 18:03Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  Which is his home country, and he's done a lot of work to, uh, you know, advocate for Armenian genocide recognition.

• 18:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  And, uh, he straight up sent Bourdain a cold email, and he was like, "Hey, I don't know if you know who I am, but I have a band called System of a Down," and Bourdain was like, "Dude, a fucking coincidence I know who you are, huge fan." Uh, and then Serge was straight up like, "If you come to Armenia and shoot, you're never gonna be let into like, Turkey, or Azerbaijan, or a bunch of these other countries."

• 18:27Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 18:27Speaker 01

  And Bourdain said something, I think Serge still has this email that's like, "I'm tired of these like, petty, small dick dictators trying to-

• 18:34Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 18:34Speaker 01

  -demand what we do."

• 18:35Drew Afualo?

  Say that.

• 18:36Speaker 01

  Um, but I was talking to Serge all about this, and this is off-camera, but I was telling him that, you know, Bourdain was always my north star in terms of where I want to see with my career.

• 18:44Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely.

• 18:44Speaker 01

  And Serge said, "If he's your north star, then I think you're well on your way," and I almost started crying.

• 18:49Drew Afualo?

  Yes! Oh, Josh, that's so sweet! Me getting chills again!

• 18:53Speaker 01

  What cool jobs we have, though.

• 18:54Drew Afualo?

  I know, it's fucking amazing.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  This rules.

• 18:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I talk about my dick size, but it's the same. Hey, we're having the same cultural impact, you and I.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  We really are, you know?

• 19:04Drew Afualo?

  No, I think that's incredible and I and that's why I just said that of my own thinking because it's true and I'm and I am manifesting that for you very, very intensely because I do think that you are incredible in that and I think you're definitely I agree with my good friend, our good friend Serge Tankian, that you are well on your way. What's, what was your favorite meal to make so far, like and on last meals? Like what was like a cool, like whether it was the coolest or the most like emotionally connective, like which one was your favorite?

• 19:30Speaker 01

  There, there's some dishes that just like stick out as like, I don't know, just like the most delicious things I've ever had and things that I've never heard of or eaten before. We had like, we had the actor Sholo Maridueña on the show.

• 19:42Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, period.

• 19:42Speaker 01

  Cobra Kai and all that. But you know, his family, I think they're from De Efe from Mexico City.

• 19:48Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 19:48Speaker 01

  And he had this like, it's like called like a torta de chilaquille.

• 19:52Drew Afualo?

  Okay.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  It's just like a torta with chilaquiles and like milanesa and all this stuffed in there. And it's served, you know, in like a plastic bag that you wrap up and all kinds of scenes. But we like researched like every single thing about this one stand that he was talking about in Mexico City.

• 20:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  And we made it and it's just like my ideal food. And he took a bite and he was like, dude, this is exactly how it tastes.

• 20:15Drew Afualo?

  No way.

• 20:16Speaker 01

  And there's so many cool, just like food moments like that, you know what I mean?

• 20:20Drew Afualo?

  Absolutely. And you get to try something new. Well, you're always trying new things. Is there anything, what's like the weirdest thing you've ever tried? Food wise?

• 20:29Speaker 01

  God, we've just tried.

• 20:30Drew Afualo?

  You tried a million in one, yeah.

• 20:32Speaker 01

  Any amount of animals, penis and organ and like, we've really, there's so many.

• 20:37Drew Afualo?

  You name it, I've eaten it.

• 20:38Speaker 01

  Literally, yeah. And I think it's really cool, like, uh, to me, none of it's weird, though.

• 20:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's true.

• 20:45Speaker 01

  One of my fundamental worldviews is if a food exists, it's because somebody found it delicious. You know what I mean?

• 20:52Drew Afualo?

  That's such a beautiful way of looking at it.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  Testicles are delicious. Like, it's not weird. I don't know. Like, beef testicles, legitimately, they have this like very pure beefy flavor, almost like, uh, um, this kind of like clean irony flavor, like, uh, New York strip loin. It's like incredible, it's delightful. I don't know, I just never found any of it weird.

• 21:13Drew Afualo?

  That's a beautiful thing, though. And that's, I, that's, I think, another reason why you're able to like connect so easily because the way you look at things. Like you said, looking at the world through food is a beautiful way of looking at it. Hey y'all, guess what? Your favorite friend group is back. FX's Adults follows five roommates living in New York leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship, and family while tackling pressing questions of your twenties like, what if the person who inherited your fake ID is cooler than you ever were? Ever heard of it? Why does being around your family make you regress into your worst self? Uh, hate when that happens. And how do you tell your roommates that you have other friends?

• 21:54Drew Afualo?

  FX's Adults premieres August 27th on FXX. All episodes streaming on Hulu. Okay, can we stop settling for hair products that just don't work? I say it's time to shake up your routine and see how much better your hair can feel with Sephora's selection. I've been loving that Sephora has so many prestige hair brands all in one place, 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 Old Time Hair Oil leaves your hair looking ridiculously shiny without feeling heavy.

• 22:36Drew Afualo?

  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. Shop hair at Sephora and give your hair the upgrade it's been waiting for. What's been like the most emotional moment on the show so far? Other than Matthew Lillard crying, obviously, because that is very emotional and intense.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:09Drew Afualo?

  But like one that kind of sticks out to you?

• 23:11Speaker 01

  There, there have been a couple that like really have framed the way that I think about death in a lot of ways. And you know, we, we see a lot of, a lot of themes with a lot of people. Um, you know, a lot of people say I'm like, you know, I don't know if I believe in a capital G God, but I believe in the universe or whatever.

• 23:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  But what's been really cool is seeing people's like very specific viewpoints. Like we had Rainn Wilson on and he's a member of the Bahá'í faith. So he's, you know, he's straight up, he's the first guy to just go, I know exactly what happens when you die. And he just said it. And it was like, you know, your soul goes here and I was like, that's rad. But we had Kelly Rowland on the show.

• 23:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 23:47Speaker 01

  And Kelly Rowland, she's very much a, a Christian woman, uh, which, you know, I'm, I'm Jewish. I can't empathize with a lot of beliefs, but she, I guess she did a Netflix movie where she died and her like seven year old kid was watching the movie and he started crying.

• 24:00Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  He goes, mommy, I don't want you to die. It's just the movie.

• 24:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 24:04Speaker 01

  But then, of course, he goes like, well, what happens when you die? And she, kind of in the moment, she's like, I just had this rush of inspiration. And she said, um, when you die, it's, you, you see a beautiful light and you get hugged by all the people. You get the warmest hug by all the people that you've ever loved.

• 24:21Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god, yeah.

• 24:24Speaker 01

  Like the hopefulness of that.

• 24:25Drew Afualo?

  That is such a beautiful way of looking at it too. Yeah. And it is, it also, I feel like, and you can, I would love to know your thoughts too. I feel like sometimes, obviously, topics like death are like very taboo and they're very hard to talk about for obvious reasons. But I feel like sometimes when you do talk them through and talk about your existential beliefs, like whether it's in the universe or God or whatever, um, sometimes it makes it less scary. Like the, the more you talk about it and the more you come to terms with it, it, you feel less afraid. And I don't know, do you feel the same way too? Now that you've been doing this like constantly with a lot of people of different faiths and different backgrounds, like, has it made you feel less afraid of like death?

• 25:04Speaker 01

  A hundred percent. And that was a big, big motivation in doing it.

• 25:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I bet.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  To be honest, um, you know, I, I used to have, especially after my dad passed away when I was, you know, nineteen and it's such a weirdly vulnerable point in your life where you're like a legal adult, but you're not.

• 25:19Drew Afualo?

  A real adult.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Emotionally, you're not a real adult, you know what I mean? Uh, and so I was, you know, living in an apartment with some roommates and I just remember laying in bed at night and for the first time, not just intellectualizing death, but like really think it, really feeling the idea of what non-existence could be. I think I was a little stoned at the time too, which did not, I like a not smoke pot anymore, man.

• 25:41Drew Afualo?

  Fifty fifty dice roll. It could be awesome or horrifying, right?

• 25:45Speaker 01

  Um, but and sometimes you get both of the same Coachella and then your wife's like, you shouldn't do that anymore. And I was like, yeah.

• 25:51Drew Afualo?

  You're probably right.

• 25:51Speaker 01

  Sometimes you're locked in your own body at Green Day and it is not a good time. But I remember like laying in bed and just fully feeling the idea of non-existence. And I went just catatonic, had a full panic attack.

• 26:03Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  Was paralyzed and like crying.

• 26:05Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 26:06Speaker 01

  And there's times when I've like reached that point, again, weirdly, and this sucks, um, shavasana and yoga after like a hard yoga class.

• 26:14Drew Afualo?

  Oh my god, yeah.

• 26:15Speaker 01

  It's literally called corpse pose.

• 26:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  And you're just got death anxiety, looking at the ceiling.

• 26:19Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Uh, and since then, like being able to actually talk about it all the time, I now have these like mantras that I can go back to. Like Kelly Rowland saying, death might be a warm embrace from all the people you've ever known. Who the hell am I to say that it's not?

• 26:35Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. Yeah, I think that's why too, sometimes when I find it really fascinating when people talk about their beliefs in a way that's not obviously combative, like everyone can kind of talk about what they believe in and spiritually or religiously. And I feel like whatever it means to them, I think is a beautiful thing. Like, which is why I feel like it's important to hear other people's perspectives because it can help you even if you don't believe in the exact same thing. Like, that does give me a lot of peace of mind. It reminds me actually, like, I'm writing a fiction book right now.

• 27:06Speaker 01

  No way.

• 27:06Drew Afualo?

  Romanticacy. Hell, yeah. And I, in my research I've been doing, I've been trying to watch pieces of media based in other cultures, like in other languages, because what I was telling my, my friend the other day was like, I find that in other cultures, the way that they express love and intimacy in their media is very different from Western media. And like, there's no sex or anything like that in like, for example, like Korean dramas or like Chinese dramas, they don't depict sex, but like, they do have a lot of love and intimacy. And how they depict that I think is really beautiful because it's cultural. But also when they're time period pieces, uh, the way they talk about death, like the way they talk about grief,

• 27:46Drew Afualo?

  um, like how they talk about their ancestors, they're, they're very superstitious. Like, I find all of that to be so beautiful. And I think about how like, the way that they used to process death back in the day versus now is very different. And I think that's why I find that to be amazing. It's like a very connective thing to talk about. I think the afterlife, what that looks like to us.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  Everybody has a, a tradition, right? And, but I think like, um, right now, at least for me, like I didn't grow up, I grew up like Jewish and you know, kind of we like, you know, sit shiva when somebody dies, but like, shiva was traditionally, I think, sorry Jews, I think it was something like a week and you gotta do a lot of things, you gotta tear your clothing. You can't look in mirrors and there's all these rules.

• 28:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 28:28Speaker 01

  Our version of shiva was like, ah, four hours, we like go to a deli and we talk about the person and you wear like a pin with a ribbon on it, you cut the ribbon off and that's a symbol. But we've kind of like, you know, shortened a lot of these cultural traditions.

• 28:40Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 28:41Speaker 01

  But I think there's so much that you can like learn from those things.

• 28:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like why they did it that way, that kind of thing.

• 28:46Speaker 01

  Even if it's just like holding space and time.

• 28:49Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  To think about something, I think it's really important. Did you grow up with like any faith tradition or like cultural traditions around death, ancestors?

• 28:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, like cul- cultural, yes, especially, um, surrounding death. So like, for us, like, I actually just did this last year, I believe. Um, yeah, it was last year. Uh, when someone passes, it depends on their rank in the family because obviously like if you're a chief, like, like if you're a chief in someone's culture, and forgive me, I'm shorthand summarizing it if you're someone. But essentially, like your, your funeral could last up to a week because there's just a lot of processes that go, we go through. Uh, but we do this thing called like Meolofa, which is like a love gift. That's what it translates to. So essentially, it's always money. But it can be food or fine mats as well. Either way, but we go to the house of the widow.

• 29:38Drew Afualo?

  And then we present them with this melelofa and like, express our condolences, all of that stuff. But first, the widow, like, obviously, will like, express gratitude for us being there. We pray. And then we give them our melelofa. And then there's a whole exchange in that where we have to, you have to do this whole thing where you're like, no, please. No, you take it.

• 29:55Speaker 01

  Oh, funny, yeah.

• 29:56Drew Afualo?

  No, please, you take it. Like, you have to do that back and forth for a while. And then-

• 29:59Speaker 01

  Do you have like a term for that? Like, for that cultural exchange?

• 30:02Drew Afualo?

  I'm sure there is a term. I, I actually don't know what it is, if there is, but it is like a process of like, no, you take it. No, please.

• 30:08Speaker 01

  In Farsi, they use the term taro.

• 30:09Drew Afualo?

  Okay.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  Like, there's a lot of Persian Jews I grew up, but that's a very-

• 30:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. It's like, no, no, no. It's humbleness. Yeah, it's like, a humbleness thing.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  I already snuck the card to the waiter.

• 30:17Drew Afualo?

  Exactly. And it's like, they offer us a gift, so they give us, uh, we got like, we got, I think it was like canned fish, what, I forget, mackerel. We get mackerel and canned from Samoa and corned beef. And so they give us those in return, like, thank you so much for coming and grieving with me and that kind of thing. And I remember when I was explaining this whole process to like, one of my friends, who's obviously not Samoan. She was like, wow, that's so interesting. Because another part of the process is like, the immediate family of the widow, like, essentially comes to the house and cooks every meal and cleans and welcomes all the, the guests to the house. Because you can have guests coming in and out of your house for days. And so, and leaving gifts, leaving money, that kind of thing. And so, when I was explaining it to her, I was telling her, like, the cultural significance of it is that,

• 31:02Drew Afualo?

  you're not supposed to grieve alone. Like, that's like, the whole point. The point is that, the grief is for the village to share. So like, back in Samoa, they would come and sit on your lawn, until you were done grieving, kind of thing. And it's just, support. Like, that's really what it's supposed to be, is like, no one should have to go through the grieving process alone. Which I think is really beautiful. And obviously, when you're a child, and you go to those, and you're like, oh.

• 31:23Speaker 01

  I'm bored. I'm a play game boy.

• 31:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I was like, let's eat. We've been sitting here forever. But it's, now that I'm older, like, I can recognize, obviously, the importance of it, the cultural significance of it. And I think it's, it is a very beautiful thing, and it's the way that they would process death and, and grief. And, and it was kind of like, you, your whole job, essentially, is to just grieve, and receive the guests, and that's pretty much it. And, and your family's supposed to take care of everything else. Like, making sure the house is clean, making sure food's made, and everybody's fed, and all that kind of stuff. So, it's very beautiful, I would say. I think, a lot of times, I think Samoan funerals are actually fascinating, and sometimes when I'm telling my friends, I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll take you to one. I've been to a lot of funerals, because I have a huge family. And you grew up with Samoan people, you've told me.

• 32:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I grew up with a fair amount of Samoan dudes.

• 32:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and I was like, because you played sports.

• 32:12Speaker 01

  Played the big boy sports.

• 32:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. And that's proof, that's proof for all of you at home, that Josh is a big boy. Because he was playing with the Samoan dudes, and they're always big.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  Kicked my ass kick by some of them. Yeah, yeah.

• 32:23Drew Afualo?

  But I, I truly think that, like, just to kind of wrap on this idea of death, I think it's very powerful, what you're doing.

• 32:30Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 32:31Drew Afualo?

  Um, tackling these very difficult topics, especially, talking about your own grief is like, such a vulnerable act, and it's such a brave and courageous thing to do, especially, on the internet. Because people are crazy. Um, but I think you're incredible, and I think your show is amazing. Um, and I do have more questions about the show, obviously. Um, can I come on it?

• 32:49Speaker 01

  What? Hell, yeah, dude.

• 32:50Drew Afualo?

  Okay, I'm just getting it on the record.

• 32:52Speaker 01

  Come on.

• 32:53Drew Afualo?

  Just getting it on the record for you. I'm just getting ahead of it. Um, who was one of your funnest guests that you've had on the show? That was my real question.

• 33:00Speaker 01

  Funnest guest, dude, uh, uh, speaking of big boys, and, uh, Jason Kelsey.

• 33:04Drew Afualo?

  No way. Yeah, speaking of big boys, yeah.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  What's funny is Jason, I mean, he's, he's a big boy, but he's also like, historically, like, undersized for his position.

• 33:13Drew Afualo?

  That's very true. I knew that.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  It was the first time that we'd gotten comments that were like, okay, now Josh looks small. And he's not even like, Jason Kelsey's only, only, like, you know, he probably played like, 6'3", 290, but he went for a position where people like, 6'6",

• 33:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, that is pretty small. Yeah.

• 33:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was like, the small, quick guy. But he came on, and, you know, we, I had to, to bribe a friend who lives in Philly, to like, drive around the city. He was a dentist. It was actually one of our camera operator's brothers. He was a dentist, and I think he like, lied and told his patients that a family emergency happened. Sorry, Pat. Uh, that a family emergency happened. And instead, he took the day off, and he drove around Philly with a cooler full of dry ice, went to Dalisandro's Cheese Stakes, Suiaki's Meats to get their sausage, and then Stock's Pound Cake, because none of them would like, ship. I even called, I like, called the old Polish couple that owns Suiaki's Meats. And I was like, hey, I'm a producer of the show, I host this thing, and, Jason Kelsey. And they're like, oh, yeah, we love Kelsey. Right?

• 34:13Speaker 01

  And I was like, awesome. So like, could you just, put a couple pounds of sausage in the thing, we'll pay for it.

• 34:17Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 34:18Speaker 01

  Ship it to this address. Like, yeah, no, we don't know how to do that.

• 34:21Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 34:22Speaker 01

  We love Kelsey. I started to remember going like, do you have like, a younger relative or a boyfriend?

• 34:27Drew Afualo?

  Anyone I can talk to, anyone at all.

• 34:30Speaker 01

  I gotta go cut the meat.

• 34:32Drew Afualo?

  They're like, okay, thanks for calling, bye.

• 34:35Speaker 01

  All right, go birds, go birds. Uh, but yeah, we like, shipped it all out, and then-

• 34:40Drew Afualo?

  Man, you do not fucking play about those meals. You're like, no, I am getting the OGs.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  And some of that, part of that's earning the trust.

• 34:47Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah.

• 34:48Speaker 01

  This is a family recipe, this is, like, we're, we're going to the nines.

• 34:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, hell, yeah.

• 34:53Speaker 01

  I got to tell Jason that the reason we won the Super Bowl, or no, the reason, yeah, we won the Super Bowl, God 2017, was because of my lucky Eagles hat that I was wearing.

• 35:02Drew Afualo?

  And you're welcome, by the way.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then he like, very earnestly goes like, you know what, man, like, all the things that every single fan is doing, like, that, that energy is what we feed off of. So like, I don't doubt that you're, and I was just like, dude, you don't have to even say that. Anyways, we ended up going to a, going to a bar afterwards.

• 35:19Drew Afualo?

  He's like, thank you, and I appreciate your service, Josh. Thank you. Thank you so much.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  Uh, I watched him drink a punch bowl meant for six people at a bar afterwards. It was awesome. He's like Paul Bunyan.

• 35:28Drew Afualo?

  No, for real. He's like, the real life Paul Bunyan. And I've, I've only, I've, I've hung out with Kylie, uh, via FaceTime or whatever, because I was on her podcast, so, love them.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  Another large person.

• 35:38Drew Afualo?

  Yes, a big girl.

• 35:40Speaker 01

  Six foot tall, uh, New York player.

• 35:41Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah. That's why I, I find that to be, uh, beautiful and representative of me. I was like, you're my representation.

• 35:48Speaker 01

  I love large people.

• 35:49Drew Afualo?

  Me too.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  There's, there's something that I can't-

• 35:52Drew Afualo?

  Josh, we have to do something about it. Everybody in this industry is this big, and it's humiliating for them.

• 35:58Speaker 01

  I remember watching the discourse of, uh, people talking about, uh, you, you and Peely's, uh, uh, heights together, and people being like, he's 5'9", she's 5'. I was like, just scale everything, like, just-

• 36:10Drew Afualo?

  You gotta add like, four, five more inches.

• 36:12Speaker 01

  What are you doing, like a creative player in a video game?

• 36:14Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, for real.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  And it just-

• 36:16Drew Afualo?

  You guys fucking wish. If he's 5'9", I'm 5'000. What are you talking about? I know, I tell people all the time, and I think that's why, like, the first time I ever stood next to The Rock, I remember a lot of people were like, you know what's funny is like, I know you say you're big, but like, now I believe you, because he looks normal sized. And I was like, okay, relax, first of all. And I was like, but Josh is also very tall, and taller than me. So write that down, first of all. But I am, now that you've met so many A-list talent, you know, especially, like, everybody is so tiny.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  I'm trying to think who the lar, who the large people that have surprised me are, because there's been a couple.

• 36:50Drew Afualo?

  Really? Yeah, there, I'm trying to think.

• 36:52Speaker 01

  Uh, Nick DiGiavani, the chef.

• 36:54Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah.

• 36:55Speaker 01

  He's 6'3".

• 36:56Drew Afualo?

  No, that's true. He is tall. I have met him. That's true. He is very tall.

• 36:59Speaker 01

  Ben Schwartz, tall guy.

• 37:00Drew Afualo?

  No way, really?

• 37:01Speaker 01

  Ben Schwartz, like, 6'. He's a Hooper, too.

• 37:03Drew Afualo?

  Oh, no way.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  Down on the court, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 37:05Drew Afualo?

  What the hell?

• 37:06Speaker 01

  There's a fun bit, wait, look up this, there's a video of Ben Schwartz just like, messing around on the New York Knicks court, like, two years ago.

• 37:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  And he's just pulling out little like, and-one moves, sitting. I think he makes like, eight jump shots in a row, too.

• 37:18Drew Afualo?

  The hell?

• 37:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, Ben Schwartz can ball.

• 37:20Drew Afualo?

  That's like, honestly, probably one of my favorite things about interviews. And that, that was my next question for you, was like, what's like, one of your favorite things to, not necessarily something specific to find out about someone, or like, what's one of your favorite moments in interviews? Like, if you get them to like, tell you something interesting, or whatever, like, what would you say is your favorite part?

• 37:38Speaker 01

  My favorite moment is, is finding the thing that used to mean a lot to somebody. Because I think that's the thing that gets lost with a lot of celebrities, is people kind of assume they like, came out of the womb famous, or came out of the womb only wanting to be an actor.

• 37:55Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  And like, you know, I, high school sports meant so much to me at the time.

• 38:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 38:01Speaker 01

  At the time, and I'm, you know, you can probably identify with this, that's like, the most important thing in the world.

• 38:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's like, all I knew. And that was my thing.

• 38:06Speaker 01

  You're 15, and it's, it's do or die, if you don't win that JV soccer game.

• 38:11Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 38:12Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And so like, finding out people's, and you know, you can, there's so many online data-

• 38:19Speaker 00

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• 38:55Speaker 01

  The basses, you know, I remember finding out Elizabeth Olsen. She was, she went to Campbell Hall, which is like a really good sports school. Drew Holiday, all the Holiday brothers went there. Tons, big, big legacy. She went to Campbell Hall and she was the starting either setter or libero on the

• 39:15Drew Afualo?

  No way on volleyball?

• 39:16Speaker 01

  As a freshman.

• 39:17Drew Afualo?

  No way!

• 39:18Speaker 01

  She put up like, I think thirty-seven assists in like their opening freshman year game against like Malibu High, who'd just come off a state championship.

• 39:27Drew Afualo?

  You're crazy.

• 39:28Speaker 01

  And so I'm like, I'm like reading an LA Times, I'm reading an LA Times article from two thousand and two, and finding that it's just like freshman Lizzie Olsen had thirty-seven assists.

• 39:35Drew Afualo?

  That's crazy.

• 39:36Speaker 01

  But I was like, at the time, that must have been the most important thing in the world to her.

• 39:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 39:41Speaker 01

  Cause that's sick as hell.

• 39:43Drew Afualo?

  Hell yeah.

• 39:43Speaker 01

  And so like getting to bring stuff up like that and seeing them get like transported back.

• 39:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, and feel excited and seen. I think that's like, I think that's the beautiful thing that's obvious to me in your interviews. And that's why I really enjoy you as a host is because you make people feel seen. And that's like, it's very hard to do sometimes, especially for people like Elizabeth Olsen, for example, who have been revered and been famous for a long time and they've been rewarded like, and they're sitting at this very high echelon, like reaching that point of them. And that's funny hearing you say that too, cause that's also one of my favorite things to find out about them. Like find out something that maybe they have never really talked about that they really enjoy. Like whether it's like a hobby or like just kind of a side thing they find interesting. Like even like one time I had, when I had Bob the Drag Queen on, the second time, uh, we were talking about,

• 40:31Drew Afualo?

  I forget what, what it was we were talking about, but he ended up telling me that he loves space. Like, and he loves to learn about space and like black holes was his first exposure to space. And that's where he learned about how black holes work. And, and then we talked about space for like thirty minutes. And I was like, I was just asking him a lot of questions, cause I'm just so curious. But I, I think that's always so fun. And I think you bring that out in people and that's a beautiful thing. Who are you gunning for on Mythical Kitchen? I'm sure you already have a bunch that you haven't been able to announce yet. But like, who are you like, who would be like your, if not Anthony Bourdain, if, if he was alive? Obviously it would be him, but if there was another North Star for you to get on the show, who would you love to have?

• 41:09Speaker 01

  You know, there, there's one celebrity that every time you hear a story about him, you're just like, he seems like the best, most interesting guy in the world. It's Keanu Reeves.

• 41:19Drew Afualo?

  That's such a good one. That is a great one.

• 41:21Speaker 01

  Imagine how good he'd be on that show.

• 41:23Drew Afualo?

  He would love you.

• 41:25Speaker 01

  He's so earnest.

• 41:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  He's so interesting.

• 41:28Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 41:28Speaker 01

  It's so funny, cause he, he hardly does any press.

• 41:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 41:32Speaker 01

  As himself, but he occasionally does press as Dogstar. Do you know Dogstar?

• 41:36Drew Afualo?

  No.

• 41:37Speaker 01

  It's his band.

• 41:38Drew Afualo?

  No.

• 41:39Speaker 01

  So like, I'll see, you know, Keanu Reeves, you know, you'll kind of look up like, well, do, do they do any podcasts? Do they do anything similar to what we do? How, how attainable is this? And there's like no interviews with just Keanu, except for on like some random, you know, like rock podcast.

• 41:53Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 41:53Speaker 01

  And it'll just be like, Dogstar featuring Keanu Reeves on whatever podcast has nine thousand views. And it's just Keanu like in the back being like, yes, I remember watching Robert Trujillo play, play bass. And I was like, man, I love his technique.

• 42:07Drew Afualo?

  He's weirdo.

• 42:08Speaker 01

  And yeah, we're playing like, you know, five hundred cap room tomorrow. You guys should come out. And I'm like, that's awesome, dude.

• 42:15Drew Afualo?

  That would be incredible. Oh my God. I think he would adore you. And I bet his last meal would be so interesting. Or even like Robert Pattinson, like Robert Pattinson's freak.

• 42:24Speaker 01

  We were just talking about him the other day.

• 42:25Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, freak, freak weirdo, not derogatory.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  No freaky.

• 42:28Drew Afualo?

  He's just strange.

• 42:29Speaker 01

  Freaky dudes, man.

• 42:30Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, he's just strange as hell.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  Come on the show.

• 42:32Drew Afualo?

  I think he would love you too.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  I love them, man. They're the best.

• 42:36Drew Afualo?

  They are the best.

• 42:37Speaker 01

  Like Woody Harrelson too. He's just a weird ass guy. He's vegan. We made, uh, we had Anthony Padilla from Smosh and he

• 42:44Drew Afualo?

  Love him. He's great.

• 42:45Speaker 01

  He's vegan and he's been vegan for a while. His entire last meal though was like Taco Bell pizza. All this stuff.

• 42:52Drew Afualo?

  He said fuck it. Yeah, at the end.

• 42:54Speaker 01

  But we made everything vegan for him.

• 42:56Drew Afualo?

  Oh, that's so sweet.

• 42:57Speaker 01

  Honestly, like, you know, we made a, a perfect beef Wellington for Gordon Ramsay. Like we've made

• 43:02Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 43:02Speaker 01

  A five log U and procured weird sea creatures for, for, you know, some of the world's best chefs.

• 43:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 43:08Speaker 01

  Making all of Anthony's shit vegan was so hard.

• 43:10Drew Afualo?

  That was like infinitely harder.

• 43:12Speaker 01

  Literally, yeah.

• 43:13Drew Afualo?

  Than trying to cook the perfect steak.

• 43:14Speaker 01

  A hundred percent, a hundred percent.

• 43:17Drew Afualo?

  That is, yeah.

• 43:18Speaker 01

  Who are you gunning for?

• 43:19Drew Afualo?

  Oh God. I don't know. Honestly, I feel like I, I'm super open to a lot of people, but I would love like Zendaya. Or her and Tom Holland at the same time would be crazy.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:31Drew Afualo?

  But you've had Tom Holland. Have you had Tom Holland?

• 43:33Speaker 01

  He's, he's another one that we

• 43:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that you're working on. You could easily get him. He's

• 43:37Speaker 01

  Non-alcoholic beer, bureau?

• 43:38Drew Afualo?

  Yes. Have you tried? Oh, I haven't tried it.

• 43:41Speaker 01

  I'm in my thirties now. I can't hang anymore. I'm a weak, I'm soft. I had to, I had to, to leave the house twice last week, which is, is hard.

• 43:49Drew Afualo?

  That's a lot.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  You know, I had to like go to like, you know, support a friend doing a music show.

• 43:53Drew Afualo?

  Going out at night.

• 43:54Speaker 01

  Oh, Jesus Christ.

• 43:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  And so, but anyways, non-alcoholic beer. You have a bureau in your hand. It, it smells like you're having fun. It tastes like you're having fun.

• 44:01Drew Afualo?

  Interesting.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  And you can just

• 44:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you get to drive home.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know.

• 44:05Drew Afualo?

  You get to go home when you want to go home.

• 44:07Speaker 01

  Cycles interrupted. Wonderful, dude.

• 44:09Drew Afualo?

  You're so me, because I've been talking about that a lot. I'm like, once I got past, fucking, I don't even know, like twenty-five, it started like declining steadily, my ability to drink. And so now like, that's why I'm a big weed fan, because like I don't regret it in the morning and I don't want to like die because I'm so nauseous and sick.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:26Drew Afualo?

  So, but now like when I do drink, I'm like, I feel like I'm going to be hungover for days. I'm like, I'm never gonna recover.

• 44:33Speaker 01

  It's a commitment for four days.

• 44:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's so, it's so painful.

• 44:36Speaker 01

  I can't even go out on a Saturday anymore. I'm like, it's Friday or bust. Cause Friday night, then it's like, okay, you're hungover Saturday. Sunday, you're still a little bit worse, but you can still like

• 44:46Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  Do your laundry and go shopping and get things set up for Monday.

• 44:49Drew Afualo?

  I know.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Can't even go out on a Saturday anymore.

• 44:53Drew Afualo?

  I know, I'm real strict about, I'm real strict about bedtime.

• 44:55Speaker 01

  Six thirty PM and then I'm

• 44:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm real strict about like my nighttime routine. Like I'm just so old. Like, and even like I just did my joint bachelor, bachelorette. Uh, with my man, we went to Vegas with our bridal party and it was really fun. And I highly recommend if you guys want to do a joint one, cause we just went on vacation together and that was fun. But I was like telling my friends, I was like, I, I, yeah, we'll go out. And they're like, you're gonna go out and drink? And I was like, yes, I will drink. I'll, I'll have some drinks then. Cause I just never drink, cause I'm like, I can't. I can't, I don't have time for that. I'm at the age where even when I eat stuff, my stomach hurts past a certain time.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  I can't, can't eat, you can't eat late anymore.

• 45:32Drew Afualo?

  I can't eat late.

• 45:33Speaker 01

  You can't eat late anymore.

• 45:33Drew Afualo?

  They don't believe us, Josh. They think that's not gonna happen to them, but it will.

• 45:37Speaker 01

  Past eight PM, you'll wake up sweating. And that happens now.

• 45:40Drew Afualo?

  I wake up sick and I have, and I have acid reflux and I have to sit with a pillow behind my neck.

• 45:45Speaker 01

  Korean barbecue is the worst for the

• 45:46Drew Afualo?

  Oh my God, that's so true.

• 45:48Speaker 01

  It's my favorite thing to do. But if there's something, it's actually, I, I remember looking, looking this up, like meat sweats are a real

• 45:53Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  phenomenon. Cause it, your body takes so much more energy to process protein.

• 45:58Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 45:59Speaker 01

  Than it does like any other mac, uh, macronutrient.

• 46:01Drew Afualo?

  Yes.

• 46:02Speaker 01

  And so literally your body's just there trying to like grind and dissolve all the short ribs that you ate. You know, and then it's gotta get through all the soju and the beer that's in there.

• 46:12Drew Afualo?

  That's so funny you say that, cause like I love Korean barbecue, like so does my man. But he literally tells me like, sometimes I'm like, what about Korean barbecue? Like, and he's like, I just, then I'm gonna be up all night. Like my stomach's And I'm like, damn, that's a good point. Hey guys, so listen, whether you're working out, hiking outdoors, traveling, or just trying to feel your best, staying hydrated matters. Did you know hydration affects almost everything? Energy, focus, workouts, and even how you're feeling throughout the day? So over seventy-five percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated without even realizing. So what do we do about that? Well, Instant Hydration is a premium electrolyte drink mix designed to support hydration, energy, recovery,

• 46:56Drew Afualo?

  focus, and overall performance without sugar or unnecessary additives. Me personally, I try to keep myself as hydrated as much as possible. And fun fact, a lot of the time when I'm recording this podcast, I'm actually drinking electrolytes out of my comment section mug. And that is because the Instant Hydration mixes are super easy to just open and mix in with water before we shoot an episode. And they help give me an extra boost of energy and focus. They're also really great for a travel day when you know you'll be at the airport, sitting on a plane for hours, or to take before or after your workout. Honestly, there isn't ever a bad time to be hydrated, so you can take them with you anywhere you'd like. I also love that Instant Hydration contains zero sugar, which means no glucose spike and no sugar crash.

• 47:41Drew Afualo?

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• 48:22Drew Afualo?

  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 and I can feel better knowing my old clothes are getting a second life somewhere else. The app is free to download and there are no seller fees, which makes it easy for me to list as many pieces as I want for no additional cost.

• 49:05Drew Afualo?

  Listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. Once an item sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. Clean out your closet and give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees and free shipping in the US for a limited time. I actually just recently tried Hot Pop for the first time.

• 49:25Speaker 01

  Oh hell yeah, that's fun.

• 49:26Drew Afualo?

  Went to Heidi Lau. Yeah, okay, the most

• 49:28Speaker 01

  Century City Mall?

• 49:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, I said the Century City Mall, yes. And I did take Amanda, my producer, and it was the most stressful meal of my entire life. But it was delicious.

• 49:37Speaker 01

  Why? Did you get the dancing noodles?

• 49:38Drew Afualo?

  No, we did. I couldn't handle the dancing noodle. That's how stressed out I was. I mean, it's the most overstimulating experience.

• 49:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:44Drew Afualo?

  But it's delicious.

• 49:45Speaker 01

  So for people that don't know, the, the dancing noodle, um,

• 49:48Drew Afualo?

  Right, if you're unfamiliar.

• 49:50Speaker 01

  If you're unfamiliar.

• 49:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 49:51Speaker 01

  Uh, uh, someone comes out, I think I had one time they were on rollerblades, um, and they have like a boombox.

• 49:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  And just somehow like, they could have better sound quality if they wanted to.

• 50:00Drew Afualo?

  They could.

• 50:01Speaker 01

  This is a big chain from Shanghai.

• 50:02Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 50:03Speaker 01

  No, it is the tiniest boombox speakers. They're just like

• 50:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 50:08Speaker 01

  And then the guy takes hand-pulled noodles and starts stretching dough.

• 50:12Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 01

  And whipping it around. I, I've multiple times seen the noodle break and it just hit a diner in the face.

• 50:18Drew Afualo?

  And then they're like, what are you, it's a dancing noodle, what do you want? Like, hello?

• 50:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:21Drew Afualo?

  This is extra. Yeah.

• 50:22Speaker 01

  And then they throw it in your soup when it's

• 50:25Drew Afualo?

  After he's been gripping it, then he throws it in your soup. That's for you to enjoy. I know, we watched, uh, the first time we saw the dancing noodle, Amanda got really scared. She was like, what is going on? Because they're blasting music and then they have that little JBL. And you picked the song. And then, yeah, you

• 50:40Speaker 01

  You picked the song?

• 50:41Drew Afualo?

  You picked, I, we didn't pick a song, but the table next to us picked a Trey Songz song, which I thought was an interesting choice. Yeah, and they played that and then he's just real nonchalant with it. Like, he's just, like, dancing to the noodle and then he just throws it in there. And then she was like, what the hell was that? And I was like, it's the dancing noodle. It's a whole thing. I can't get into that right now.

• 50:58Speaker 01

  You ever see like the people spinning signs, like a new Quiznos subs opens, they're spinning a sign? Some of them are kind of just wagging it and then there's other dudes that are throwing it behind their back.

• 51:07Drew Afualo?

  Exactly.

• 51:07Speaker 01

  Same with the dancing noodle, you'd never know what you're gonna get.

• 51:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's real, depends on them.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  It could be a straight-faced guy, kind of body rocking and just pulling noodles. Or it could be a full-on breakdancing.

• 51:15Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it's a full-on, like, show, dog and pony show.

• 51:19Speaker 01

  I, the first time I went to Heidi La Hot Pot, you choose your soup base, right?

• 51:22Drew Afualo?

  Yes, yes.

• 51:23Speaker 01

  There was a big group, so we got four soup bases. And I wanted the original Sichuan spicy hot pot.

• 51:29Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah.

• 51:29Speaker 01

  Love spicy foods. I had smoked a fair amount of weed before going.

• 51:33Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah, me too.

• 51:34Speaker 01

  Because I think it's even better if you're smoking before, like, cream barbecue, it's great.

• 51:38Drew Afualo?

  I agree.

• 51:39Speaker 01

  But I think hot pot's even better.

• 51:41Drew Afualo?

  Josh, you're so me, Josh, you're so me.

• 51:43Speaker 01

  The liquid makes it go down easier.

• 51:45Drew Afualo?

  Yes, I agree.

• 51:46Speaker 01

  That said, when I'm stoned, all I want to do is sweat into spicy soup. But I, I sort of lack, like, a dog, a corgi, if you just put a pile of food in front of it, it'll eat itself to death.

• 51:55Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  That's me. And so I was just going so hard on the spicy Sichuan hot pot.

• 52:02Drew Afualo?

  Shit.

• 52:02Speaker 01

  The liquid had fully dissolved, it was just oil and chilies at the end of it. And I'm dipping tofu and greens and beef. And the next day, I was like, I think me and my wife were like supposed to go do some sort of errand. And I was like

• 52:17Drew Afualo?

  Whatever it was, you didn't make it.

• 52:18Speaker 01

  I was like, I'm stuck in the house today.

• 52:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I'm glued to that toilet, mama, that's what I'm doing.

• 52:22Speaker 01

  The toilet, the air conditioning's on full blast. I was just like moaning for a while. And so now I'm like, it's not even a roll she's put on me, I put it on myself, I'm like, am I allowed to get it? If I can't be responsible, if I can't be responsible with the spicy Sichuan hot pot, I don't deserve to have it.

• 52:37Drew Afualo?

  Unfortunately, I have to temper myself. That is literally how my man is too. Like, my man's like, if I'm not regulated, like, I'll just go insane. Like, he, like, there are certain treats that he has where he goes, like, they do something weird to me. That's what he always says to me. He's like, I can't, I can't eat it, they do something weird to me.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  He's like a gremlin.

• 52:53Drew Afualo?

  It's like, real prey drive, like, it's just like, immediately, I have to eat all of these.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  Well, I normally, like, I, I can't keep snacks in the house.

• 53:01Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 53:01Speaker 01

  I feel like my wife just has like a normal relationship with food, you know, which is so foreign to me. Cause I'm like, no, if there's like Girl Scout cookies, the box is gone. I can't, I can't have one and be satisfied.

• 53:11Drew Afualo?

  One? What are you, nuts?

• 53:13Speaker 01

  I've had to like learn to, and I really have actually made a fair amount of strides in that.

• 53:16Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 53:17Speaker 01

  Living with her, cause she, she was like a dessert every night household.

• 53:20Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  Which is crazy. They eat one little slice of coffee cake and one little cream, you know?

• 53:24Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, what are you, oh, must be nice.

• 53:25Speaker 01

  I know, literally, yeah.

• 53:27Drew Afualo?

  Oh, you can have one?

• 53:28Speaker 01

  That sounds stable, that's incredible, yeah. Me, it was like, we didn't know when the next

• 53:33Drew Afualo?

  No, hell, no.

• 53:34Speaker 01

  Treat was gonna be in the house.

• 53:35Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah, that's a, big boy certified, you and me both, bitch. I, I'm literally the same, that's how my man is too, especially with things like Cadbury eggs, like, those are his favorite. What's your favorite, like, like shitty treat like that? Like, what's your favorite candy or chip?

• 53:48Speaker 01

  Uh, easy answer, peeps.

• 53:50Drew Afualo?

  It's beeps?

• 53:51Speaker 01

  Peeps?

• 53:51Drew Afualo?

  Oh, peeps.

• 53:52Speaker 01

  Peeps.

• 53:53Drew Afualo?

  Damn, that's real shit.

• 53:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's real shit. Yeah, it's disgusting. I love, like, there's something about just, like, stale, especially.

• 54:00Drew Afualo?

  Peeps, Josh.

• 54:01Speaker 01

  You leave a peep air dried for like a day and a half, just outside in the wind.

• 54:06Drew Afualo?

  You're out here, you're out here eating peeps?

• 54:08Speaker 01

  Dude, I used to eat

• 54:09Drew Afualo?

  Like that?

• 54:09Speaker 01

  I used to eat peeps at track meets in between throws.

• 54:12Drew Afualo?

  Josh, you're nuts.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  I remember being like Orange County Championships, like, you know, not to brag, but like, literally in the lead, you know, just like 56 feet and I'm sitting there watching my competitors eating like the blue bunny rabbit peeps.

• 54:26Drew Afualo?

  You're, you're housing peeps in between sets?

• 54:29Speaker 01

  Well, cause you know, keeping up the glycogen stores or whatever.

• 54:31Drew Afualo?

  You're crazy, dude. You, if I, I'll tell you what, if I saw my opponent eating a fucking peep and he beat me, I'm gonna be mad.

• 54:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 54:37Drew Afualo?

  If I saw you shoving a peep in your mouth and you beat me?

• 54:39Speaker 01

  Okay, but it was literally, it was like me shoving peeps in my mouth, Ma Atua Brown from like Downey High School, uh, uh, playing a ukulele on the side. And just like mucking all these

• 54:51Drew Afualo?

  I think we had the exact

• 54:52Speaker 01

  Some random kid doing pushups.

• 54:53Drew Afualo?

  We had the exact same high school experience, if you can believe it, Josh.

• 54:55Speaker 01

  You would've been like at the same track meet though.

• 54:57Drew Afualo?

  That's true.

• 54:58Speaker 01

  You were what, you were Centennial?

• 55:00Drew Afualo?

  No, I went to Corona.

• 55:01Speaker 01

  You went to Corona?

• 55:01Drew Afualo?

  I should've gone to Centennial, um, that is where all the Samoan people went, so that's a good guess. So it's a great guess.

• 55:08Drew Afualo?

  No, that was actually kind of strange that like me and my sister and Billy actually went to Corona and didn't go to Centennial. Uh, because every, all the Samoan people went there.

• 55:16Speaker 01

  Who else was in your league? Like, do you remember like who you competed against? I guess like, like Damian Upland?

• 55:21Drew Afualo?

  It was like Modern Day was a big one that we were always against. Um, Orange Lutheran was another one. Obviously everyone in, in Corona, which was like Norco, Centennial, Santiago, all those people. Roosevelt, I think they were big in track too.

• 55:34Speaker 01

  Roosevelt was great, Roosevelt was baller when I was there.

• 55:36Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, big in track, yeah, same. Uh, but speaking of track, I have some fun facts about you.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  Oh, hell, yeah.

• 55:41Drew Afualo?

  They may not be as fun as yours, but you'll tell us if they're fun. Uh, okay, this first one, it says, speaking of throwing, that you competed in the hammer throw for UCLA's track and field team.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  Hell, yeah, I did.

• 55:51Drew Afualo?

  That's fucking crazy awesome. And you're eating peeps in between it. That's crazy. Hammer throw, dude?

• 55:58Speaker 01

  I'll tell you what, it was cuter in high school, cause like, you know, in high school, I was like, you, you advance any level in sport.

• 56:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:05Speaker 01

  And suddenly you're just like a smaller fish.

• 56:07Drew Afualo?

  It's, yes, exactly.

• 56:08Speaker 01

  So by the time I got to college, you know, I never got that much better. I was very happy to make it there, you know, like, I was the guy that would get like third place in the meets.

• 56:15Drew Afualo?

  Hey, consistent.

• 56:16Speaker 01

  Hundred percent.

• 56:17Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:17Speaker 01

  I was happy with that.

• 56:18Drew Afualo?

  Hell, yeah.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  You couldn't do the cute shit anymore. When you get in like third place at a meet, you can't be eating peeps.

• 56:23Drew Afualo?

  Less leniency for you.

• 56:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, especially when like, the two dudes that beat you were like actual like Olympians, you know? No longer funny that you're eating peeps. That was more like a throw and then go, you know?

• 56:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I gotta go back to, back to the lab.

• 56:35Speaker 01

  Go visualize, make some technique work, yeah.

• 56:38Drew Afualo?

  Did you like throwing more, did you play football at all?

• 56:40Speaker 01

  Only, so I played football, uh, freshman year of high school. I, I loved the sport, I love the sport to this day. There was something about the culture that I hated.

• 56:50Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:51Speaker 01

  And so many, so many of my teammates, and I, do you know the, the school Vista Marietta?

• 56:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 56:57Speaker 01

  So one of my, my best friends, uh, Emile, I was just hanging out with him this week. Um, he, he and I were training partners at UC Santa Barbara, both throwing shot put and discus. Um, but he was like, you know, 5'8", Filipino nose tackle, had some free offers. But he had a coach there named Coley Candell, shout out to Coach Candell, who he just speaks so highly of. And he's like, he was a tremendous mentor, he was incredible, he didn't play the typical weird stereotype.

• 57:22Drew Afualo?

  Like the politics of it.

• 57:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:24Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:24Speaker 01

  And I just didn't have that. I, I really disliked the coach that I had. He had, you know, a bunch of 14-year-olds on steroids.

• 57:32Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 57:33Speaker 01

  It was just a really bad vibes.

• 57:34Drew Afualo?

  That's terrible, cause it killed your experience too with the sport, especially if you love the sport.

• 57:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 57:39Drew Afualo?

  Which is like, uh, it, it can be a hit or miss when you have really shit coaches too. And they control so much too, it's not even just the sport. It's like your workouts and your schooling and all of that, like, they affect all of it.

• 57:52Speaker 01

  And even like in terms of your future, like, uh, this coach would withhold letters from people.

• 57:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's actually happened a lot, that happened to my dad, when my dad was playing football, yeah.

• 57:59Speaker 01

  Dude, why does that happen?

• 58:01Drew Afualo?

  I don't know.

• 58:02Speaker 01

  So withholding letters, so, uh, a college would send you a, a letter saying, hey, we're interested in you coming to our college?

• 58:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 58:07Speaker 01

  And your coach just wouldn't show it to you?

• 58:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, because I, I have no idea what the fuck it is, to be honest. I feel like it's like, I low-key think it's like sabotaging kind of deal, because they're jealous, maybe because they didn't have that. So that's, that's always my assumption and it's like an ego thing.

• 58:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:23Drew Afualo?

  Um, or if you're in college, which is when it happened to my dad, when my dad was at the JC. Um, that happened to my dad there and that was, I think, to keep him from transferring, because it was like they wanted to keep him there, which then you're just burning years of eligibility.

• 58:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:35Drew Afualo?

  Which is fucking dog shit too. And that's also why my dad didn't go to a bigger school, because my dad started playing in college. Like, my dad had never played football until he went to junior college.

• 58:45Speaker 01

  That's sick.

• 58:45Drew Afualo?

  So, and he still got drafted, clock it, but my dad, we joke about this all the time.

• 58:50Speaker 01

  Where did he transfer after, after JC?

• 58:51Drew Afualo?

  Western Texas A&M.

• 58:53Speaker 01

  Oh, shoot.

• 58:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, so it was like

• 58:54Speaker 01

  That school's not even called that anymore, is it?

• 58:55Drew Afualo?

  No, it's not.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  Is it UTEP now?

• 58:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I forget, it's called, um, Western Texas A&M, they changed the name of it, but it's like, I forget the name of it now. But you're right. Um, but that was like, that, that was one of the schools where like, uh, Last Chance You, did you watch Last Chance You on Netflix?

• 59:09Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 59:09Drew Afualo?

  That was one of them where like, it was exactly like that. That's the school my dad went to. Um, and even from there, my dad got drafted seventh round, but right before Mr. Irrelevant.

• 59:20Speaker 01

  Oh, wait, your dad is the second?

• 59:22Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, second to last.

• 59:23Speaker 01

  The runner-up to Mr. Irrelevant? That's so sick.

• 59:26Drew Afualo?

  And my mom was joking, cause my mom was like, low-key, I wish she got picked last, cause then you get all this fun stuff.

• 59:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 59:32Drew Afualo?

  Which I think they're coming out actually with a movie or something about Mr. Irrelevant, like, or like the origins of Mr. Irrelevant.

• 59:37Speaker 01

  They totally are, yeah.

• 59:38Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I, I was like, um, only Josh and I would care about that, if you like sports. Like, if you like football, then that's fun, that's a fun fact.

• 59:44Speaker 01

  There's a couple good, there's Mr. Irrelevant coming out and there's another one about like, this, I think like Shane Gillis is in it. But it's about this like football game, I think during World War II, that was like played on Guadalcanal or some

• 59:57Drew Afualo?

  Oh, okay, okay.

• 59:59Speaker 01

  World War II football movie.

• 1:00:00Drew Afualo?

  Interesting.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  I love a sports movie.

• 1:00:02Drew Afualo?

  Oh, the only kind of shit that we like. Oh, you love a sports movie? What's your favorite sports movie?

• 1:00:06Speaker 01

  Uh, okay, uh, speaking of Keanu Reeves, The Replacements. I don't know if this is my favorite.

• 1:00:10Drew Afualo?

  Oh, that's a good one.

• 1:00:11Speaker 01

  I still have it in mind, though.

• 1:00:11Drew Afualo?

  No, that's a fun one.

• 1:00:12Speaker 01

  Love The Replacements.

• 1:00:13Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:13Speaker 01

  Um, I, God, I can quote, quote so many lines from it. Um, it just, he's wiry. He's wiry. Uh, he's not, he's not skinny, he's wiry. Um, Coach Carter?

• 1:00:24Drew Afualo?

  That's a great one.

• 1:00:24Speaker 01

  I would've, so I would've quit football freshman year.

• 1:00:27Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:27Speaker 01

  And then I lost like 50, 60 pounds in the summer.

• 1:00:31Drew Afualo?

  Damn.

• 1:00:31Speaker 01

  Because the football coaches, after I quit, said, you know, I don't know if you know this, but you're just gonna get really fat and get diabetes if you quit, so.

• 1:00:39Drew Afualo?

  What the hell?

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  That's a crazy thing to

• 1:00:40Drew Afualo?

  That's an insane

• 1:00:41Speaker 01

  For five grown men to say to a 14-year-old.

• 1:00:42Drew Afualo?

  I'm, yeah, I was gonna say, I'm 14, by the way, thanks for that, thanks for those words of wisdom, appreciate you.

• 1:00:46Speaker 01

  And so I played basketball and I remember like, just seeing Coach Carter with like my entire, you know

• 1:01:30Speaker 01

  Junior basketball team.

• 1:01:32Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:32Speaker 01

  And it's still just like.

• 1:01:34Drew Afualo?

  That's such a good one.

• 1:01:35Speaker 01

  You ever drive by the Safari Inn on, uh, on like Olive in Burbank?

• 1:01:39Drew Afualo?

  No, no, no, no.

• 1:01:39Speaker 01

  Anybody know what I'm talking about?

• 1:01:40Drew Afualo?

  No. What is it?

• 1:01:42Speaker 01

  It's this like crappy motel, but they have this iconic sign that says Safari Inn.

• 1:01:46Drew Afualo?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:01:47Speaker 01

  And there's a scene in Coach Carter that's shot there.

• 1:01:49Drew Afualo?

  Oh.

• 1:01:50Speaker 01

  And I remember driving by, driving by the Safari Inn and just going like, "That's the motel that Channing Tatum breaks out of to sneak out to the house party after they win the Palm Springs Cup."

• 1:01:59Drew Afualo?

  I was gonna say, is it when they sneak out to the party?

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-huh. There's supposed to be like Palm Springs for a tournament.

• 1:02:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah. That's so funny. One of my, one of my favorite sports movies is Rudy.

• 1:02:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:10Drew Afualo?

  That's one of the best ones to me because I'm like, it's just all of the will and all of the drive, none of the talent.

• 1:02:15Speaker 01

  None of the talent.

• 1:02:16Drew Afualo?

  It's fucking awesome. I was like, the fact that he's just like, no worries, he'll show up anyways. Fucking awesome.

• 1:02:21Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:02:22Drew Afualo?

  It was like one of the best ones. And I'm, I joke about that all the time. I'm like, you, when I make fun of awful men and they love football, I'm always like, "You're not, remember the Titans. You're Rudy." Okay? Everyone needs to remember that.

• 1:02:36Drew Afualo?

  Okay, go on to more fun facts. We'll go through them. Um, first one says, "You have a tattoo of a spork on your arm."

• 1:02:42Speaker 01

  I sure do.

• 1:02:42Drew Afualo?

  That is, and is that your favorite utensil?

• 1:02:45Speaker 01

  It's, I think it's because there are too many white guys with yin yang tattoos, but they mean the same thing, you know what I mean? It's duality. It's, you gotta have the fork and the spoon.

• 1:02:53Drew Afualo?

  You said, "This is my culturally sensitive yin and yang tattoo."

• 1:02:57Speaker 01

  Although I will say though, um, I was playing basketball at like a 24 hour fitness.

• 1:03:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  And a guy points to my tattoo and goes like, "Where'd you serve?"

• 1:03:04Drew Afualo?

  Serve?

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  And I was like, huh? And he was, turns out.

• 1:03:08Drew Afualo?

  The mythical kitchen sir.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  I thought he was messing with me. I was like, I don't know what punchline to follow this with. But turns out, I think he was an Army Ranger and he's like, "We all got, um, titanium like sporks to like eat our MREs with in the field." And, and I know some like.

• 1:03:24Drew Afualo?

  A Ranger dude? They think, they think you're walking around impersonating a Ranger. Careful.

• 1:03:30Speaker 01

  I don't think this is stolen valor.

• 1:03:32Drew Afualo?

  Hey, this is not stolen valor.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  I'm a chef and I love Taco Bell. I'm so sorry.

• 1:03:34Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah, sporks are just a thing. Sporks are just a thing.

• 1:03:36Speaker 01

  I'm gonna fill out this entire arm though with, um, the history of the design of the spoon.

• 1:03:42Drew Afualo?

  Peeps and that, you're weird.

• 1:03:44Speaker 01

  I know, I really am.

• 1:03:44Drew Afualo?

  I'm just kidding.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  I'm filling out the salad on this arm.

• 1:03:47Drew Afualo?

  No, it's fucking awesome. I think that's wonderful. There's enough men taking tribal tattoos from other cultures. I'd rather you do that.

• 1:03:54Speaker 01

  My tribal tattoos, tomatoes.

• 1:03:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's, that's your culture.

• 1:03:59Speaker 01

  It really is.

• 1:04:00Drew Afualo?

  Okay, next one says, "In college, you ran a food blog called Culinary Bro Down."

• 1:04:06Speaker 01

  That's how it all started.

• 1:04:07Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:07Speaker 01

  CulinaryBroDown.com.

• 1:04:09Drew Afualo?

  That is the birth of now mythical kitchen Josh.

• 1:04:12Speaker 01

  It really is.

• 1:04:12Drew Afualo?

  And that was, that was when you said you loved to write too about like food. Did you write about the same kind of thing? Like how your perspective on food and how you see the world through it? Is that what you were kinda doing?

• 1:04:21Speaker 01

  A little bit, but it was always, um, it was more like, I mean, shit, a lot of the stuff I, I still do now is more like humor forward.

• 1:04:26Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:27Speaker 01

  But it was very much almost this kind of like absurdist comedy blog, but then I would make recipes. And I, I started it just wanting to see what it became, have an outlet, and then also kind of use it to prove to other people like, "Hey, look, I know, I know how to photograph food. I know how to write recipes. I know how to write cool stuff."

• 1:04:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:44Speaker 01

  But I remember like, a lot of it was trying to figure out my place in the world and as it related to sports, food, masculinity, all this. And I remember at the time, um, the paleo diet was big.

• 1:04:56Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:57Speaker 01

  And I just thought like, I remember talking to a gym bro about it.

• 1:04:59Drew Afualo?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:05:00Speaker 01

  And he's like, "Yeah, like now men are becoming such pussies. We need to like go back to eating how our, our paleolithic ancestors did."

• 1:05:06Drew Afualo?

  Okay.

• 1:05:07Speaker 01

  And you know, not eat fucking rice and I don't know.

• 1:05:11Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that'll fix it.

• 1:05:12Speaker 01

  And I was just like, this is coming from such a weird place.

• 1:05:15Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:15Speaker 01

  Um, and then of course, fast forward 10 years now and we are in a much weirder place.

• 1:05:19Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  But I wrote this piece about the Velocita diet. Where I was like, "Why stop at eating what paleolithic man ate?" You know who, uh, who was much more virile and aggressive and had a bigger dick than paleolithic man? Velociraptor.

• 1:05:33Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:05:35Speaker 01

  You should be eating exactly what.

• 1:05:36Drew Afualo?

  The real apex predator.

• 1:05:37Speaker 01

  Really, and I wrote this entire like farcical piece about this, just pure stream of consciousness.

• 1:05:42Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:05:43Speaker 01

  Uh, and like, I ended up winning like an award for best writing from Sever magazine.

• 1:05:48Drew Afualo?

  Period.

• 1:05:49Speaker 01

  And so I was just writing all about that kinda stuff.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:54Drew Afualo?

  You're so me. That's why I said, you're, you're a lot like me. I was doing, I was doing something similar in college when I was like pursuing sports journalism specifically. Uh, because like you were saying, I, I, what I really loved about sports, like obviously I loved, enjoyed watching sports and I grew up playing sports and my family, everyone's an athlete. So it was just kind of a natural world for me to exist in. But I really loved off the field stuff. Like I really loved to follow them and see what they were like off the field and with their families and like, who they loved and like what they loved and like things that they enjoyed that were not sports. And I, I followed a lot of Polynesian guys, especially like Tongan guys, Samoan guys, like Vajian guys, Hawaiian guys. And a lot of them I found were very moved to play football solely because they thought it could pay bills, like in the end.

• 1:06:38Drew Afualo?

  And so they just so happened to be athletic and agile enough to make it to the NFL, but they don't necessarily wanna be there.

• 1:06:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:45Drew Afualo?

  Like if they could choose, a lot of times they would choose something else. And that was the part I found extra fascinating, which is why when I was on your show, I talked about how like, my senior capstone thesis was about Tuatang of Iloa and like, that was like when his first year went Alabama. And I followed him and I did like a three month long thing, following his family and, and his parents. And I got to know them, went to church with them and I like, hung out with them in their apartment and I like, learned a lot about them and talked to them and I wrote a lot in the story about how like a huge part of this transition for him was, learning how to not be anonymous anymore. And that was like really difficult for him and, but he really wants to take care of his family and, he feels like he owes this to his family and all of that. So that whole part I thought was really interesting, which is why, I feel such a kismet connection to you, Josh.

• 1:07:26Drew Afualo?

  Cause I feel like you see it the same way, like that kind of, I would honestly say journalism, like that is, it's ingrained in us. I'm telling you.

• 1:07:35Speaker 01

  But also like, like these, these things, like I think food, food and sports, I, I could've gone into sports or gone into food.

• 1:07:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, totally.

• 1:07:42Speaker 01

  I could've either gone into food professionally and left sports as a hobby.

• 1:07:44Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:44Speaker 01

  Or gone into sports professionally and left food as a hobby, but I knew it was always gonna be one of those things. But for me, both of them are the same in the sense that you're telling much bigger stories about the world.

• 1:07:55Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:56Speaker 01

  Through this specific lens. And I think you can do the same with music, whatever you gravitate towards.

• 1:08:00Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  But to me, it's, it's all just trying to make sense of this silly thing we call life.

• 1:08:04Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  Bouncing the ball and tackling people.

• 1:08:08Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  And making souffle, they're all metaphors, right?

• 1:08:10Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  They're all just small things that you, you know, can actually tell larger stories with.

• 1:08:15Drew Afualo?

  And I'm hoping Vanity Fair heard that. I hope you heard that from him.

• 1:08:21Speaker 01

  When's the last time you bought a magazine though? I don't know, no, I didn't, I know, I wanna be on the mag, I wanna be on the.

• 1:08:25Drew Afualo?

  Obviously, I wanna be there, obviously.

• 1:08:27Speaker 01

  I don't know. I mean, buy them, I used to work for magazines.

• 1:08:31Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, I could do it. Okay, last fun fact. Uh, do you remember what dish you posted a picture of for the first ever Instagram post?

• 1:08:39Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 1:08:40Drew Afualo?

  On November 25th, 2013.

• 1:08:42Speaker 01

  Unless I deleted it because I think in the caption, I, it was, I think it was so cringy. Was it like a roasted piece of trout with kumquats?

• 1:08:52Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, you were right.

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  That's still up. I had to delete that. The caption is something like, "What's up, bitch?" Something so, it's like so bad.

• 1:09:00Drew Afualo?

  Dinner mode. Me and dinner.

• 1:09:03Speaker 01

  I remember, I remember making that. That was before I had a smartphone. And I, I was borrowing friends' phones to log into an Instagram to take pictures and then I would log out.

• 1:09:15Drew Afualo?

  It's such a boomer thing to do before boomers.

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  Dude, I didn't have a laptop till I was like 25. Like I was, I rolled, I was in college on a desktop.

• 1:09:22Drew Afualo?

  You're.

• 1:09:23Speaker 01

  And I'm not even that old, like I'm, you know, I'm not young anymore, but I'm not like.

• 1:09:26Drew Afualo?

  Not that old.

• 1:09:27Speaker 01

  It was in the 90s. It was like 2013 and I didn't own a laptop.

• 1:09:31Drew Afualo?

  You're a real simple guy. I appreciate that about you. Yeah, it literally says that it was a trout with roasted kumquats and asparagus.

• 1:09:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:39Drew Afualo?

  Look at you.

• 1:09:40Speaker 01

  Was it asparagus and green beans?

• 1:09:41Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it says asparagus on here, but look, he's fact checking you.

• 1:09:47Drew Afualo?

  He goes, "That's so funny because I would never put asparagus with that, so it's probably green beans."

• 1:09:50Speaker 01

  No, no, I totally would. I totally would. I think it's green beans. Oh, funny. I think it was green beans with slivered almonds.

• 1:10:00Drew Afualo?

  Hey, sounds delicious.

• 1:10:01Speaker 01

  Not to put you on blast.

• 1:10:04Drew Afualo?

  No, you should.

• 1:10:04Speaker 01

  Produced episode.

• 1:10:05Drew Afualo?

  Every time, every time someone doesn't like the fact, I'm like, and count that against Amanda.

• 1:10:09Speaker 01

  It was bad, too. Yeah, brown butter roasted kumquats, not good, never made them again.

• 1:10:13Drew Afualo?

  Hey, they're bad, so don't try them.

• 1:10:15Speaker 01

  Kind of like, it needs the acid to go. Going back, I would have either pickled or candied the kumquats.

• 1:10:19Drew Afualo?

  And look at you, that's gross.

• 1:10:20Speaker 01

  Remake that dish.

• 1:10:21Drew Afualo?

  You should, and say TBT. That's, that's an old school, like, caption we used to use all the time. Throwback Thursdays.

• 1:10:28Speaker 01

  That really was.

• 1:10:29Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, we used to do that all the time. We're so old. Yeah, man, and woman crush Wednesday. Yeah.

• 1:10:34Speaker 01

  And there was never, it would also have to be like ironic. It can never be something that you.

• 1:10:37Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, it couldn't be for real. It would have to be like something silly, like I would take a picture of my burrito and I'd be like, man crush Monday.

• 1:10:44Speaker 01

  I'd take a picture of like my buddy, like, you know, like passed out on the toilet.

• 1:10:47Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:49Drew Afualo?

  We sound like dinosaurs to them.

• 1:10:51Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:10:51Drew Afualo?

  On TikTok especially, I'm like a hundred thousand years old.

• 1:10:54Speaker 01

  I have some old videos on Instagram that are good, though. I have some old, like, lifting videos on there.

• 1:10:58Drew Afualo?

  OT.

• 1:10:59Speaker 01

  I think I have a video of me hang cleaning like three hundred fifty pounds.

• 1:11:02Drew Afualo?

  And you said, guess what? I'm leaving that one up.

• 1:11:03Speaker 01

  I'm leaving that. Oh, that one stays up. Technique, garbage, but I was ripping it.

• 1:11:09Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, that's me when I pulled two twenty-five for the first time. I literally, my, my man like recorded it for me. Cause I pulled it and then I was like, oh my God, I'm so excited, like my first time doing that. And then he was like, the form wasn't great though, because I, I didn't get you to the last rep. And I was like, I don't give a fuck, I'm posting it. I don't fucking care. I don't fucking care. Technique police for real. I know my man, um, he, the most he's ever deadlifted is six hundred.

• 1:11:32Speaker 01

  Hell, yeah.

• 1:11:33Drew Afualo?

  And so he only pulled it once and he recorded it and he literally told me when he was working towards it, because he was getting big during it, because he was lifting very heavy.

• 1:11:40Speaker 01

  In college or after college?

• 1:11:41Drew Afualo?

  No, this was like a couple of years ago.

• 1:11:42Speaker 01

  Oh, really?

• 1:11:43Drew Afualo?

  Yeah, this was like a few years ago. Um, he was only pulling it because one of our best friends is a power lifter. And he was at like five something for a while and he was working towards six. And my man is so competitive that he was like, oh, I'm only doing it so I can pull before him. And I was like, are you serious? He goes, as soon as I pull it, I'm done and I'm gonna cut.

• 1:12:00Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:12:01Drew Afualo?

  And I was like, okay.

• 1:12:02Speaker 01

  Did you do it?

• 1:12:02Drew Afualo?

  Yes, he pulled it once and then started cutting immediately. And then his, our buddy, he pulled it like a, maybe a week later.

• 1:12:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:09Drew Afualo?

  But he was like, what the fuck ever?

• 1:12:12Drew Afualo?

  I was like, that kind of stuff is fun and only you would understand that. So I appreciate you being here so I can bounce those off you.

• 1:12:17Speaker 01

  Only, only twenty, like in my twenties, understand that, because now I'm just like, it's not worth it for your bet. Your rotator, your rotator cuff's gonna go sooner than.

• 1:12:25Drew Afualo?

  No, literally now. No, literally now, my, my man's like, I'm not lifting that heavy anymore. There's no need anymore. I did it. And he's like, and the video's up, so there's proof.

• 1:12:37Drew Afualo?

  Well, you know what, Josh? I appreciate you coming. You're a hoot and a holler, let me tell you. And on a serious note, I really genuinely believe you are like the next, like, for real, Anthony Bourdain. And I really, like, see such a bright future with you, obviously, but I'm just so excited that you're someone who's like prominent in the interview space.

• 1:12:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, thank you.

• 1:12:57Drew Afualo?

  Uh, because it's rough out there, let me tell you. I do genuinely believe, like, as a host too, I always believe there's more than enough room for us, because I really do think that everyone brings something so unique. And you have such a unique way of connecting to people through food and humor, right? But, but also especially food and the way that you're able to kind of, to broach these very difficult topics of like spirituality, religion, death, grief. Through these very humorous mediums is so important, especially now. I feel like the world is so tumultuous for obvious reasons, it's burning around us and it's terrible. But a lot of times these escapes are important and then you're someone who's able to like still talk about things that matter and that are important.

• 1:13:40Drew Afualo?

  In a way, that's digestible and fun for like young people. So I'm glad that young people have you. They need people like you in the world. And I'm glad you came and hung out with me for today.

• 1:13:48Speaker 01

  I, I mean likewise, and couldn't agree more, like, there's not only room for everybody, but like the, the rising tide.

• 1:13:53Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:54Speaker 01

  All boats. And I'm so glad there's, you know, you and I have had a lot of similar experiences.

• 1:13:57Drew Afualo?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:58Speaker 01

  Obviously, we've had a ton of different experiences.

• 1:14:00Drew Afualo?

  Right.

• 1:14:00Speaker 01

  That lend us to interacting with the world, our viewers, guests in different ways. And I'm really glad that people have you as well. And I, I mean, that's in the bottom of my heart.

• 1:14:07Drew Afualo?

  I appreciate you. And me and Josh go to the same gym, fun fact. We see each other all the time.

• 1:14:11Speaker 01

  See me on the elliptical.

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  Hey, it saves the knees. That's, that's thirty, man.

• 1:14:16Drew Afualo?

  Listen, cardio's important. Thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the comment section. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Mythical Chef Josh. For, I don't know, the one or two people that logged on today and don't know where to find you, where can everyone find you?

• 1:14:31Speaker 01

  You can find me over at the Mythical Kitchen channel on YouTube. We also have a podcast called A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich. And I think I'm called like Mythical Chef Josh on most social media. You can just, you can Google it, I'm out there.

• 1:14:42Drew Afualo?

  Good luck not running into Josh on the internet.

• 1:14:44Speaker 01

  Find me on the elliptical, over there.

• 1:14:49Drew Afualo?

  Working out. Thank you so much for coming and joining me. I adore you. I think you're amazing. Please tell your beautiful wife I said hello. And thank you so much for joining us on this episode. Don't forget, new episodes of the comment section drop every Wednesday. You can stream audio on all streaming platforms. But the video is for free and exclusively on YouTube. Thank you so much to my amazing guest, Josh. Thank you so much for joining and I'll see you next week. Bye.

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