Philly Cheesesteaks & Escape Rooms — A Rabbit-Hole Mailbag Edition

Questlove and Cousin Jake field some deceptively simple mailbag questions about cheesesteaks and cereal. Ahmir breaks down his fiercely loyal cheesesteak habits, giving way to tempting side quests about ketchup etiquette and Ultramagnetic MC’s memorabilia on South Street. The Q&A then pivots to music nerdery, with Ahmir naming his all-time favorite live album and dissecting what makes a live recording sonically “perfect.” He also shares the story of his first time onstage with his parents’ band as a kid. Along the way, the conversation hits bygone Philly landmarks, 2 a.m. laser tag, and what we can learn from escape rooms. As a reminder, hit QuestloveSupreme.com to submit questions or DM us on Instagram or Facebook. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast.

• 0:03Speaker 00

  Guaranteed human.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  If you're a custodial supervisor at a local high school, you know that cleanliness is key and that the best place to get cleaning supplies is from Granger. Granger helps you stay fully stocked on the products you trust, from paper towels and disinfectants to floor scrubbers. Plus, you can rely on Granger for easy reordering, so you never run out of what you need. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.

• 0:35Speaker 02

  This life check-in is brought to you by State Farm. Porque el bienestar de tu familia también merece protección. When we had our first baby, I had it all planned out, right? Everything, apps, books, todo. Now that baby number two is here, I'm definitely going more with the flow. I am well aware about the drama and I've learned that with family, it's not about being perfect. It's about showing up every single day. Breathe, respira, change a diaper, and I guess repeat. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 1:07Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm Niall Rogers. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, meeting some of today's coolest and most fascinating artists. We'll explore the stories before the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the moment where it all began. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 1:38Speaker 00

  The Questlove Show is a production of iHeart Radio.

• 1:54Speaker 04

  What's up, everyone? This is Cousin Jake, one of the producers of The Questlove Show, and we're here for a mini-episode doing the fan mail, the mailbag thing. At the top, I'm going to encourage you all, go to questlovesupreme.com, there's a contact us form, send a question. You can, you know, leave it a comment, a thoughtful comment on YouTube, or DM us at the QLS handle on Instagram. We want to get these read, we do this from time to time. So what I'm noticing, Amir, is we're getting a lot of questions that you're asking other people. And you're a big cereal guy. You know, you're always asking folks like what their cereal is, and then-

• 2:31Speaker 00

  I was a cereal guy, if my trainer and-

• 2:37Speaker 04

  When I say cereal guy, I also mean you like to talk about cereal.

• 2:39Speaker 00

  Yes. Food, I feel like for guys my age is almost like the new strip club. I will look at, marvel at, and repost the most toxic foods of all time.

• 2:53Speaker 04

  You mean calorically speaking?

• 2:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, I really can indulge in, you know, what it is that would rush me to the emergency room, so. But yeah, I love looking at it and fantasizing about food. That's where I am in life right now.

• 3:08Speaker 04

  No, listen, that's also my favorite form of small talk. Like, this morning on the train up here, there's so many times I sit next to somebody, if it's a crowded train, and they're asking me if I live, you know, Philly or I live in New York. And I ask them what neighborhood, and then I mention like, oh, do you like this spot? And then I ask them, like, what's your favorite spot in your neighborhood? Funny enough, 16 years ago, the first conversation you and I ever had, you put me on the game, I owe you. It was longer than 16 years ago, you put me on a Cosmies, which is now-

• 3:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, man.

• 3:35Speaker 04

  And you said that was your pandemic farewell to arms meal.

• 3:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, Cosmies is, you know, at one point, I take the Philadelphia Cheese Steak and Hoagie Guide very seriously. Whenever Philadelphia Magazine does their annual ratings, I'm not going to indulge in all 50 sandwiches at once, but I will usually allow myself a two-week period around Roots picnic time, in which, you know, for those 14 days that I'm in and out of Philadelphia, I will have tried at least 10 of those sandwiches. And I gotta say, what I've been doing lately has been very, very foul.

• 4:19Speaker 00

  So, this is something that I learned in New York City. So basically, in Philadelphia, I'm very loyal to De La Sandro's. And it's weird how Philly is, because when a place gets too popular, then suddenly it gets pushed into the tourist-

• 4:39Speaker 04

  Trap.

• 4:39Speaker 00

  The tourist spot, you know, like back in the early 80s, Jim Stakes was like the destination place, because it's like, yo, they're using Cheez Whiz? Oh, my god.

• 4:50Speaker 04

  In West or on Fourth?

• 4:51Speaker 00

  Okay, so I didn't learn about West until, if you've seen many of my DJ gigs, you know that my longtime sidekick, Yamin Awal World, you know, he's from West Philly in 60th Street. And he told me the original Jim Stakes was right across the street from his house in the neighborhood. And of course, it got so popular that they formed one on South Street. So, you know, the first time that I would venture on South Street, and this is when I was like going to school in the same neighborhood at Performing Arts, the concept of putting Cheez Whiz on your cheesesteak to a 12-year-old is like dopamine rush, you know what I mean? But it got too popular,

• 5:36Speaker 00

  and then it just got sort of added into the tourist pile. And the same for Iska Bibles. Like, Iska Bibles, if the Roots made like north of like $130 busking, sometimes we would skip our Wawa meal, like-

• 5:55Speaker 04

  Turkey sandwich you always reference?

• 5:57Speaker 00

  Right, exactly. Like, literally, the goal of a Saturday with the busking roots, as you know it, was to make enough weak money, but also if we had like $20 left over, we would just get cold cuts. We would make a hoagie based on individual amarillo rolls and turkey and pepper cheese, and, you know, you get free condiments. But if we really, if we made like 40 bucks, we would go to Iska Bibles and then get like a chicken cheesesteak and a gremlin.

• 6:29Speaker 04

  You'd go chicken. You got to at this group.

• 6:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, you know what? I've never had, Iska Bibles to me is the one spot for whom their chicken cheesesteak is better than their actual cheesesteak. And so-

• 6:42Speaker 04

  Agreed.

• 6:43Speaker 00

  I will say that, you know, I got hip to De La Sandro's when it was still like an underground secret of Philadelphia. And then it got too popular. And the same thing happened with Max's, but I do not mess with Max's, so, you know. All the slander there. The most respectful thing I can do is to say, air quote, slander, slander, slander, end quote.

• 7:09Speaker 00

  So, De La Sandro's has always been my spot of choice, and it got so popular that someone wisely opened up, you know, set up shop across the street.

• 7:24Speaker 04

  Is it Chubby's?

• 7:25Speaker 00

  Chubby's.

• 7:25Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:26Speaker 00

  Chubby's is-

• 7:28Speaker 04

  They set that up back in the day, right?

• 7:30Speaker 00

  I, you know what? There are four really intriguing spots on that block. There's two other, like, really good-looking seafood spots, where I always say, you know what? I'm gonna give the seafood spot a try, but then I'm like, dog.

• 7:47Speaker 04

  I'm here.

• 7:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, I can only get a good cheesesteak once in a while, so I always go down to De La Sandro's.

• 7:54Speaker 04

  No cheese was there.

• 7:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, none. No, no, no, I do it the real way. And so, you know, I've been hearing all this buzz about Chubby's, and Cabal, my keyboard player, is literally treating me like I'm having an extramarital fear.

• 8:10Speaker 00

  And I gotta admit, during this past run, the Jay-Z picnic,

• 8:17Speaker 00

  I've went with the intentions of going to De La Sandro's, but-

• 8:21Speaker 04

  That line.

• 8:22Speaker 00

  The line, and I went across the street and, dog.

• 8:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:28Speaker 04

  I have never been.

• 8:29Speaker 00

  I'm a believer, so, you know.

• 8:32Speaker 04

  Somebody told me that, you know, the ABC show in the 90s, Boy Meets World, with Ben Savage, Fred Savage's younger brother, you know, it was set in Philly, and I mean, as Hollywood backlot as you could possibly-

• 8:44Speaker 00

  Yes, exactly.

• 8:45Speaker 04

  But their hangout was called Chubby's? So like, some people said it was always like a nod to Rockford.

• 8:50Speaker 00

  Always a reference to it.

• 8:51Speaker 04

  I gotta fact-check that a little bit.

• 8:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, that might be a little too deep. Like, I didn't hear much buzz on Chubby's until-

• 8:57Speaker 04

  Recently.

• 8:58Speaker 00

  Maybe like a year ago, when it started rising up in the ranks in Philadelphia.

• 9:05Speaker 00

  But also, you know, but Tariq is a lifelong Angelo's.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 9:11Speaker 00

  You know what? I'm not sold on seeded bread. I need my bread to be-

• 9:17Speaker 04

  Need that chew.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's, it's, but the thing is, you know, they also have Angelo's teamed up with Bradley Cooper.

• 9:25Speaker 04

  Right.

• 9:26Speaker 00

  And, you know, Angelo and Coop's spot in New York is all the rage. Like, the line is crazy. I don't like the soup Nazi method of it all, like, but I respect it. Where they sell you one thing, one thing only, and you can't adjust the order, you have to give it to them the way they give it to you, which I respect, because it's New York and you gotta represent like perfectly. It was only because of Angelo's that I learned that it's disrespectful to put ketchup on your cheesesteak.

• 10:02Speaker 04

  No kidding, really?

• 10:03Speaker 00

  Dude, I didn't know this. And, you know, like other, and these are like out-of-town bloggers that like, if you put ketchup on a sandwich, that means that that sandwich wasn't good on it. Like, a sandwich has to be excellent on its own.

• 10:16Speaker 04

  It's like you had Padma Lakshmi, you told her that it's sacrilegious to put ketchup on a hot dog, and she looked at you like, I do what I want?

• 10:22Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, no, no, no, Chicago believes it's sacrilegious. I put everything on my hot dog, so.

• 10:28Speaker 04

  Yo, so you mentioned Jim's, my favorite fun fact, and I hope it survives the fire at Fourth and South. When you're waiting in line, and that line can be long, you get to the corner before you want, and there's a autographed Ultra Magnetic MC's, Next Plateau, they were-

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Really?

• 10:44Speaker 04

  Right, press photo, autograph. And I asked old Keith about it one time, he's like, I love Jim's, I love it. He almost rode with me from the Bronx to Philly one time to get Jim.

• 10:52Speaker 00

  That's what, okay, that's, that's odd, because at Iska Bibles, right across the street-

• 10:59Speaker 00

  Is where I learned, okay, so Iskabibbles, nothing scares me more than walking into a restaurant establishment. And there are, I feel like putting an eight by ten in a restaurant.

• 11:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  Is a mark of death. It's, it's a moment of time. Like if, if, if music is a Polaroid of where your life is at that moment.

• 11:22Speaker 04

  Right.

• 11:23Speaker 00

  And a picture is literally a Polaroid of where your life is at that moment. Nothing scares me more than to be frozen in time. And when you go into Iskabibbles, there's such a very specific nineteen eighty-nine to nineteen ninety-five window of music where they have not changed any of those eight by.

• 11:43Speaker 04

  But they were working on the wall and they're like, yeah.

• 11:45Speaker 00

  Right, exactly. So I, the only eight by ten that the Roots have ever like collectively given to a spot to be hung up there is in Iskabibbles. But then I called it a curse.

• 11:58Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 11:58Speaker 00

  So when they weren't looking, I stole it back.

• 12:00Speaker 04

  You stole it back?

• 12:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, cuz I didn't wanna get the, the mark of shame of it. But there's a, a wild pitch era ultimate net of MC's eight by ten and Iskabibbles across the street.

• 12:11Speaker 04

  They might've just walked the street one day and handed them out. That's funny.

• 12:14Speaker 00

  Dude, there's no loyalty in the cheesesteak game, man. I promise you this.

• 12:17Speaker 04

  And it might be a way to hustle up a freebie of some kind, you know, like, yay, put this up.

• 12:22Speaker 00

  You know what, you know, the irony of it all is, is I've been sort of frequenting Iskabibbles since the days of the Roots busking.

• 12:32Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  Matter of fact, I've done magazine articles in which I play, I cosplayed an employee there where, for an hour, like some magazines.

• 12:44Speaker 04

  For like the photo shoot or for the actual?

• 12:46Speaker 00

  For, I, I think I, for two hours, I had to be an employee of Iskabibbles.

• 12:52Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 12:53Speaker 00

  To this day, after thirty-five year history there.

• 12:58Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:59Speaker 00

  I still don't think they put two and two together or who or what I am.

• 13:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:05Speaker 00

  So I'm just a regular customer there. But also in Philly, I don't walk around looking like Questlove, so.

• 13:11Speaker 04

  You're not gonna cut the line also at Del Sandro's, like, you are a civilian. So.

• 13:15Speaker 00

  Never.

• 13:16Speaker 04

  That's funny. That's great. Well, the question, um, that was asked.

• 13:20Speaker 00

  Oh, wait, we didn't even get to the question?

• 13:21Speaker 04

  No, but this is great. People, people ask us about this all the time. Mike, Open Mike and I were talking about cheesesteaks. We needed you.

• 13:27Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 13:27Speaker 04

  But here's the question. What is the most overrated cereal of all time? And that is from Trav from Columbus, Ohio.

• 13:34Speaker 00

  Overrated cereal?

• 13:35Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 13:36Speaker 00

  Good people, I am not completely sold. And I think the cereal only meant something for the millennial eighties generation. I have not been sold on, um, what's the cookie cereal?

• 13:52Speaker 04

  Uh, Cookie Crisp?

• 13:54Speaker 00

  I've not been sold on Cookie Crisp and really Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I don't know why I'm not Team Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And I often hear people who are six to ten years younger than me.

• 14:10Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:11Speaker 00

  Really riding for Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Monthly I do, as a New Yorker, if I am home on a Saturday afternoon, there is a spot that I go to, uh, the Nighthawk Movie Theater.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:25Speaker 00

  And which, once a month, they'll show like Saturday morning cartoons. And they'll also have a buffet bar of at least like an option of forty different cereals. And they'll bring in cereals from around the world. Fun fact, uh, post, the post-cereal brand uses the Walmart businesses to test future cereals that you'll get. So I think, uh, the Walmart cereal brand is called Morning, not Morning Dew or Morning, Morning Sunrise or whatever. It's, it's the, the no frills of Walmart, like the cheap cereal.

• 15:06Speaker 04

  Right.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  But no, it's really post-cereal testing out new flavors like strawberry shortcake or the Dooce Leche or French toast cereal. The Walmart brand cereal is the best cereals of all time. And I can't believe I just said that.

• 15:24Speaker 04

  You're gonna get me in the Wally world and it takes a lot.

• 15:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:27Speaker 04

  You know?

• 15:27Speaker 00

  I gotta admit it.

• 15:34Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm Nile Rodgers, producer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of the group Chic. A great song has a way of defining a moment, a moment of joy, heartbreak, or anything in between. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, dropping in on some of the coolest, most fascinating artists working today. We'll go deep into their lives and careers and hear what it was like before the moment that made them. From hitmakers like Miguel.

• 16:08Speaker 05

  That last year, finishing that record was the hardest experience of my life. Regardless of how everyone else buys into this, I believe in this and I'm gonna push.

• 16:20Speaker 03

  To rising stars like Alex Warren.

• 16:23Speaker 06

  You know, a song is a story and the verse is setting the scene. And for me at least, it's allowing me to be personal and vulnerable with the audience, whether it's about my wife and I'm being vulnerable about her or it's about, you know, my parents and I'm being vulnerable to them. And it's almost like a cinematic piece in a way where each song tells that beautiful story.

• 16:41Speaker 03

  It's gonna be one hell of a trip. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 16:53Speaker 07

  This is Shirley Strawberry from the Steve Harvey Morning Show. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. And it starts with a great deal on an all-wheel-drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or a Corolla Sedan with the latest features and tech. Or test drive a spacious Grand Highlander or Adventure Ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid models available, you can enjoy longer trips without all the stops. While Toyota's legendary resale value means you could get more at trade-in, get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for deals and details. Toyota, let's go places.

• 17:34Speaker 00

  Behind every chart-topping hit, you know by heart there's an original. Writing it someplace where nobody was listening. Some basement, some bedroom, somebody with headphones on at three in the morning chasing a thing they couldn't even name yet. Behind the culture that marks a generation, there's an original. Already moving, already shaking things up, already looping that one bar, already off tempo, on purpose, because on purpose was the point. Behind every night that changed the room, somebody had to walk in first. Not knowing it would land, but doing it anyway. Originals are out there, living stories worth telling. What's yours?

• 18:19Speaker 00

  Behind every original, live in Levi's.

• 18:28Speaker 04

  So another question we got, this is from Flying Tortoise, not Flying Lotus.

• 18:33Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 18:33Speaker 04

  What is your favorite live album? And is there a show you attended that you wish was recorded?

• 18:38Speaker 00

  So, oh God, this is so weird to say. Okay, so my favorite live album is also my favorite album of all time. Um, and I believe that a big part of this is because, I mean, most of you know the, the lure of how it was called The Drums with Steve Ferrone and Average Right Band. A year later, after seeing that Soul Train performance, they released a double live album called Person to Person, which is pretty much, uh, my North Star. We purchased that album, uh, first day of school, we binge shopped as a way for my parents to con me and to go into school. I thought we were going record shopping and then they're dropping me off with, you know, a bunch of kids and I'm crying like, wait, what's going on here?

• 19:19Speaker 00

  Like, I feel like the first day of school for any kid is almost like being dropped off to, to prison. And, you know, they called and checked on me, he's crying all day, whatever, and they take me binge shopping for records. And so, and as a reward for completing first grade, um, they would take me binge, they took me binge shopping on the last day of school.

• 19:43Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 19:44Speaker 00

  And so, uh.

• 19:45Speaker 04

  Same record store each time?

• 19:47Speaker 00

  Same record store, King James in, in West Philadelphia. And, um, you know, my dad shops like I do right now where we just, hey, that, that, that, that, that, that, that.

• 19:58Speaker 04

  Michael Jackson style.

• 19:59Speaker 00

  Yes, exactly. Like coming home with a box of like ninety, ninety or a hundred records. Um, and yeah, Person to Person spoke to me. However, uh, I will say that ideally, the, the equipment and the recording conditions of whatever Grover Washington Jr. used for Live at the Bijou, uh, in nineteen seventy-six, I feel is probably one of the most exemplary, perfect sonic recordings of funk musicians in a zone. Um, it's so good that I will say that Premier has easily.

• 20:42Speaker 00

  During premieres nineteen ninety from Daily Operation to maybe the group home album. So let's say like between ninety-one and ninety-five. There are at least six or seven gems that you'll hear from that Grover. Like the drums are mic perfectly, the, the. That was like my north star for the first Roots Come Alive album.

• 21:08Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 21:09Speaker 00

  A live album that I'm still not too happy with because it sonically doesn't feel like what it is when you're at a Roots show.

• 21:21Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 21:21Speaker 00

  Um, we tried to, to match it, but it's also very slow and lethargic sounding like so. That was the moment, you know, a person like will walk past himself in the mirror and be like, ooh, I gotta lose weight.

• 21:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:36Speaker 00

  When I mastered the Roots Come Alive and realized how slow the next movement was, then I was like, dog, I gotta drop a hundred pounds, man. I'm drumming like a turtle like. But yeah, I'll say that, um, however, this is the first for this show. I, I really never toot my own horn for, uh, anything of self-promotion, you know? I will say that I am very, very, very impressed with how the Roots Come Alive Two turned out sonically. You know, as a person who I knew what we had coming against us. First of all, it's like,

• 22:20Speaker 00

  you know, when a legacy act is like, here's our seventeenth record. And, you know, it's like, all right, it's not like the, the, the five that I like, you know, that you stick to. Like, there's no group that has ever, at the most you can hope for like one or two good songs from like their new album.

• 22:38Speaker 04

  Right.

• 22:38Speaker 00

  So in my mind, I knew going into making the Roots Come Alive Two, like what barriers of cynicism do I have to knock over in order to like make people do the, the Dame Dash Kanye thing where it's like, oh Sid, this ain't whack. And so the way that we captured and recorded, uh, which thanks to the, uh, our, you know, now that Dave Gai and Ian Uncle Chief Hendrickson are Roots members from the Dap King world.

• 23:09Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 23:09Speaker 00

  Um, you know, I've been doing a lot of recording of, of the new album and of things that I do um, over the studios that they use in Brooklyn, especially now that they're not being utilized that much now that Sharon's not here.

• 23:23Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 23:24Speaker 00

  Um, so they have a mobile truck uh, that's pretty much vintage seventies. Like it takes you back into a time period. So pretty much this new Roots album, if you guys just give it a chance and listen to it from top, you will, yeah, Tariq's astounding breath control is there. Sonically, it is, I feel like one of our most perfect recorded time capsules. So, and I rarely toot my horn. So if I'm like, it's all right, then it must be good.

• 23:58Speaker 04

  No, that's, um, that's great. Well, we'll end on a simple note. I've heard you speak of this before, but I want to honor the question. This is from Frank Miller.

• 24:05Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 24:06Speaker 04

  Um.

• 24:06Speaker 00

  Wait, my Frank Miller?

• 24:07Speaker 04

  No, I don't think so. No.

• 24:08Speaker 00

  Okay. I was like, wait a minute.

• 24:10Speaker 04

  There's a few Frank Millers in the world. I know at least two of them. Um, where was your first professional playing gig?

• 24:16Speaker 00

  Like the first time I played in front of an audience?

• 24:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, we can say that.

• 24:20Speaker 00

  Okay. So I mean, everyone knows the story of how I was a part of my parents' show at the age of seven as a means to keep an eye on me. Not because like, hey, our son has a talent, but more or less like, we want to know where he is twenty-four seven because you might get kidnapped. So, you know, they would sit me weird enough. I was, imagine a seven-year-old sitting at a bar in a nightclub. You know, and, uh.

• 24:46Speaker 04

  Back in the smoking era too, just, you know, a nightclub.

• 24:49Speaker 00

  In the worst area. And I live in the don't talk to strangers type, you know, there, there are heavy repercussions if we catch you talking to strangers. But you're putting me, a cute kid at a bar, you know, in whatever, the Bloomfield connect, you know, that sort of thing. All I remember is it was seventy-six and my dad had just introduced covering Paul McCartney and Wings as Let Them In into the set. And my parents were always big on like the crowd participation thing, like seeing the rappers do the whole somebody say ho thing, or I want to see which side is livier.

• 25:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:28Speaker 00

  This side or this side, you know? My parents were doing that since the seventies. Like my dad would represent the fellas. Men, now we want you to sing. And if we don't catch you singing it, then they run up to them and put the mic in their face and put them on the spot and.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  Front row it. Yeah.

• 25:43Speaker 00

  Yeah. Oh, but they would go throughout the nightclub. So if you weren't singing with enthusiasm, they put you on the spot. And my parents had like really good comic timing. So I think out of fear, because the bar was getting a little too crowded, they called me onstage to sing Let Them In.

• 26:04Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 26:04Speaker 00

  And, um, you know, back in the seventies, Michael Jackson was the only prototype we had and I already had an Afro like him. So I would just dance like Michael Jackson.

• 26:16Speaker 04

  Not even the Silvers you just had. We went.

• 26:18Speaker 00

  Been, no, yeah, straight Jackson. Just like that, the whole skippy thing with his left leg and scuffle with his right leg and.

• 26:24Speaker 04

  And that bought some time in their set.

• 26:25Speaker 00

  So I was knocking at the door. So I was ringing the phone. Like, you know, people like knocked out like, oh shit, he's so cute. So yeah, that's, that's the first moment that I performed in front of an audience. I was like five.

• 26:38Speaker 04

  Nice. That's a good story. There you go, Frank. Well, as every time, I enjoy doing this so much. Um, please in the comments, let us know like the Philly natives and those that have passed through. Advocate for your cheesesteak. I'm gonna tell you mine is Little Sicily Two.

• 26:53Speaker 00

  Oh, where's that?

• 26:54Speaker 04

  Chicken joint, Columbus Boulevard, right by where, uh, you know, the movie theater used to be in that little shopping with the gas station.

• 27:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 27:02Speaker 04

  It's an Indian fusion cheese. It's owned by Indian folks. Indian fusion chicken cheesesteak. Whew.

• 27:07Speaker 00

  In that cut?

• 27:08Speaker 04

  In that cut.

• 27:08Speaker 00

  Is that movie theater that United Artists?

• 27:10Speaker 04

  Almost came back and didn't. No, I think they're turning into Lofts. Trader Joe's is coming now.

• 27:16Speaker 00

  So it's a fun side story. I would, there was a, a laser tag spot there.

• 27:24Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 27:24Speaker 00

  So pretty much during Things Fall Apart recording and for Knowledgey recording, when we were done recording at like one in the morning, one of the first times I'd flexed my Michael Jackson muscles. Like you would always hear things like stories opening for Michael Jackson, like FAO Swartz opened up at three AM so Michael could come in. I would often pay the laser tag spot. I'd slide them a couple hundred dollars just to stay open till four AM. I'm certain that they just pocketed, you know, whatever employees were there at the time.

• 27:58Speaker 04

  Owner did not know.

• 27:59Speaker 00

  Right. The owner absolutely did not know. And the met like the levels of, of evil strategy of us playing the laser tag at two in the morning. That's where, you know, pretty much our hangout spot would be like after we record, go do laser tag from midnight to three.

• 28:21Speaker 04

  Cool off. Yeah.

• 28:22Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 28:22Speaker 04

  I wonder if laser tag is gonna make its renaissance. Like people are so in love with like nineties culture, that and virtual reality.

• 28:28Speaker 00

  So is that going out? All right. So I just came back from Minnesota. And, you know, kind of my integrity thing is making sure that I get my steps in.

• 28:39Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 28:39Speaker 00

  Try to do like fifteen to twenty thousand a day, which is a lot for my schedule. And when I was in Minnesota, I decided, all right, I'm gonna get up at six AM. And way to find out the mall doesn't open till eleven. So.

• 28:54Speaker 04

  You just walked around the mall?

• 28:56Speaker 00

  Well, I did, I did, uh, two, two, uh, rotations around the actual mall structure.

• 29:01Speaker 04

  Man.

• 29:01Speaker 00

  And then, uh, I followed a guide on, um, online of how to go to every spot in. If you do the entire Mall of America, which it has a complete amusement park inside the mall.

• 29:16Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:16Speaker 00

  Right. So pretty much you're gonna get eighteen thousand steps in it. And when I was going through it, one, it was, it was the last mall I've ever seen in which people still actively visit it. Like now malls are a ghost town. But man, in Minnesota at Mall of America, there were like a lot of laser tag spots.

• 29:36Speaker 04

  No kidding. Okay.

• 29:37Speaker 00

  And so I think those group activity things are good for work. Now, um, there's a group of us, uh, Janina, actress Janina Gavin Carr.

• 29:49Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 29:49Speaker 00

  Sometimes Chappelle, like we will organize, um, Escape the Rooms.

• 29:54Speaker 04

  Okay. Escape Rooms. Yeah.

• 29:56Speaker 00

  So I, I use Escape the Rooms as kind of a, a, a low-key kind of tester for people. Like this shows me who they are.

• 30:07Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 30:07Speaker 00

  In terms of how do you work in groups? How do you solve problems? How smart you are, how much, how patient you are, how you strategize, like. So Escape the Rooms was sort of the genesis to the game nights I do now.

• 30:23Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 30:23Speaker 00

  So before the game nights, I would say that at like Janina Gavin Carr is kind of my, my game wife.

• 30:31Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 30:31Speaker 00

  In which even now, like I think she's coming to shoot a movie here in New York for two weeks. And her first thing is like, four nights of Escape the Room, but she's like.

• 30:41Speaker 04

  And you're going all new ones? So you don't know and.

• 30:43Speaker 00

  Total new, like her level, the way that she finds new Escape the Rooms is, is crazy. She's even done a kind of a, what do you call it? A, a Houdini level, not in the water, but like literally like escape the safe that's trapped inside of a thing and boxing. It's like, yeah, it's, it's.

• 31:03Speaker 04

  She's ready for like Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, the game.

• 31:05Speaker 00

  Oh, she's past that. She's way past that. So yeah, Escape the Rooms.

• 31:09Speaker 04

  Nice. All right. Well, please, uh, let us know your cheesesteak spots, Greater Philly Proper. Submit questions. These are fun to do. Episodes, mini episodes between the big episodes. Like I said, uh, Q L S on Instagram, DM us, leave a comment. Or the easiest way, the way it absolutely gets seen is go to questlovesupreme.com and hit the contact us. But I'm here. Thank you, man. Until the next time.

• 31:31Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 31:31Speaker 04

  All right.

• 31:47Speaker 06

  This is Colin Cowherd from the Colin Cowherd Podcast. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. That's Toyota Ford ability. All starts with a great deal on an off-road ready Tacoma or a half-ton Tundra to a Toyota's most capable and longest-lasting trucks. Built on a reputation for quality and reliability, Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. For a great deal today to a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. Honestly, honestly. Honestly, no one wants to think about HIV, but there are things that everyone can do to help prevent it. Things like PrEP. PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis, and it means routinely taking prescription

• 32:31Speaker 06

  medicine before you're exposed to HIV to help reduce your chances of getting it. PrEP can be about 99% effective when taken as prescribed. It doesn't protect against other STIs, though, so be sure to use condoms and other healthy sex practices. Ask a healthcare provider about all your prevention options and visit findoutaboutprep.com to learn more. Sponsored by Gilead. Behind every chart-topping hit, you know by heart there's an original. Writing it someplace where nobody was listening. Behind the culture that marks a generation, there's an original. Already moving, already shaking things up. Behind every night that changed the room, somebody had to walk in first. Not knowing it would land, but doing it anyway. Originals are out there.

• 33:15Speaker 06

  Living stories worth telling. What's yours? Behind every original, live in Levi's.

• 33:24Speaker 03

  If you love music and great artists' interviews, check out Before the Moment, hosted by Nile Rodgers. This new series follows Nile as he travels across the country, talking with some of today's most fascinating artists about the moments that shaped their lives and careers. From hitmakers like Miguel to rising stars like Alex Warren, Nile explores the stories behind the careers, the songs, and the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the point where everything changed, and this podcast tells the stories that came before it. Listen to Before the Moment, a Lincoln Original Series, on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's that?

• 34:05Speaker 00

  My fresh detector.

• 34:06Speaker 03

  Uh, your what?

• 34:08Speaker 00

  There it is.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  What is it detecting?

• 34:10Speaker 00

  Fresh produce, fresh meat.

• 34:13Speaker 03

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 34:16Speaker 00

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices when your fresh detector is going off. Head to your local Food Lion or shop at foodlion.com. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.