transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:00] For everyone who only listens to us, please check out our YouTube channel where we interview Hungarian filmmaker, Aaron Timar about the Hungarian election and the impact his documentary had on the outcome.
Speaker 2:
[00:10] We are going to talk about some very serious themes on the show today. If you are the victim of violence, sexual assault, please seek out these resources. We're going to list them on the screen. Welcome to Brief Recess, I'm Michael Foote.
Speaker 1:
[00:29] I'm Mélissa Malebranche.
Speaker 2:
[00:30] Today, we're going to have some birthday reflections. We're going to talk about Mélissa's run-in with a former boss, justice for Ursula and the little mermaid, three types of hugs, Pam Bondi's no-show for her subpoena. We're going to talk about Bubblegate with Lindsey Graham's bubblewad, an interview with Seth Porges talking about SantaCon and the CEO who just got arrested. I'm going to answer all your freaky, deaky, nasty emails from my DMs and a little bit of a confessional in there too this week.
Speaker 1:
[00:59] Oh, that's right. Yeah, it was good.
Speaker 2:
[01:01] Stick around, sit your ass down. Some people that you get a dirty martini with and then other people do jokes. Actually, you know what?
Speaker 1:
[01:09] I've never had a martini.
Speaker 2:
[01:11] Really? Well, I guess it'll really knock you on your ass if you start having martinis.
Speaker 1:
[01:15] Although, you know what I'm really into now? I was like this during the pandemic. I started making like old timey cocktails because there was nothing else to do but get drunk, right? So I mean, am I wrong?
Speaker 2:
[01:32] Remember when we FaceTimed Alyssa? Okay, everyone, during the pandemic, we had a daily check-in with Alyssa and Mélissa because Alyssa was one of the first people who got COVID in New York.
Speaker 1:
[01:44] First of all, let me just say this about Alyssa, who love her. Um, uh, Alyssa...
Speaker 2:
[01:51] Alyssa's our most chaotic friend.
Speaker 1:
[01:53] Yes. And Alyssa was always sick.
Speaker 2:
[01:55] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[01:55] Always, always sick.
Speaker 2:
[01:57] Yeah, remember this. She was always sick.
Speaker 1:
[01:58] She was always sick. And Alyssa and I shared an office.
Speaker 2:
[02:02] And it's March 1st, 2020.
Speaker 1:
[02:04] And I used to always say to her, get the hell out of here.
Speaker 2:
[02:07] Because she'd be like...
Speaker 1:
[02:09] Coughing up a lung. And she's like, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. But then...
Speaker 2:
[02:13] You're reading about COVID.
Speaker 1:
[02:14] Right. And I'm, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:
[02:15] And you're like, huh, this bitch next to me keeps coughing.
Speaker 1:
[02:18] Keeps coughing. And he's like, got a fever and is still like, bleary eyed in the office.
Speaker 2:
[02:23] She's like, well, it's just a dry cough and a fever.
Speaker 1:
[02:27] And a sore throat. And boils and oozing.
Speaker 2:
[02:32] So when she got COVID, it really was. It was like her and Tom Hanks.
Speaker 1:
[02:36] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[02:36] We didn't know anyone who had COVID personally in our lives. And so we were we set a daily check in with her. And I mean, this is not my, my lore to tell, but she went into lockdown with someone, a guy that she was like in the process of breaking up with.
Speaker 1:
[02:52] And so she was stuck with this man for like two weeks.
Speaker 2:
[02:55] This poor, vicious poor girl was stuck with this guy.
Speaker 1:
[02:58] And it was awful.
Speaker 2:
[02:59] Yeah. And so we had a daily check in.
Speaker 1:
[03:00] We didn't like him anyway, though.
Speaker 2:
[03:01] Yeah, we didn't. No, he was, we, we were always, we were always off.
Speaker 1:
[03:04] We were never on a team, whatever his name was.
Speaker 2:
[03:07] And so, but we had this daily check in with her. And during the pandemic, we FaceTimed her at one point. And her air conditioner had exploded. And was shooting out this orange liquid.
Speaker 1:
[03:18] Like this goo.
Speaker 2:
[03:19] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[03:19] Yes.
Speaker 2:
[03:20] It was like Ghostbusters.
Speaker 1:
[03:21] Like hellish yuck. It was weird.
Speaker 2:
[03:22] Yeah. It was crazy.
Speaker 1:
[03:24] And we were like, and she was like, what am I? I bet you I still have the picture somewhere.
Speaker 2:
[03:28] We couldn't put the photo up because she was, she FaceTimed us and she was like, what do I do?
Speaker 1:
[03:35] What do you guys think this is? And I showed it to Andre. And he was like, that looks really bad.
Speaker 2:
[03:43] Yeah, no shit Andre.
Speaker 1:
[03:44] Tell him it looks really bad.
Speaker 2:
[03:46] And it turned out the neighbor's air conditioner upstairs was leaking onto hers and rusting. That's what it was.
Speaker 1:
[03:52] That's what it was? Yeah. But it looked thicker.
Speaker 2:
[03:55] It looked like asbestos. There was a viscosity to it.
Speaker 1:
[03:59] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[04:01] This is a quick sidebar. We're going to get into what's going on in our personal lives. I'm pregnant with twins.
Speaker 1:
[04:06] Congratulations. Mazel.
Speaker 2:
[04:08] Okay. So Mélissa and I are both wearing our Taurus sweatshirts.
Speaker 1:
[04:10] Because it is?
Speaker 2:
[04:12] The first day of Taurus season and also my birthday.
Speaker 1:
[04:15] Happy birthday, Michael.
Speaker 2:
[04:16] 420. Yeah, that's right. And your birthday is in two days, right?
Speaker 1:
[04:20] My birthday is on Wednesday.
Speaker 2:
[04:21] Okay.
Speaker 1:
[04:22] And Michael, tell everybody how old you are.
Speaker 2:
[04:24] Old enough. 38. But I'm going to lie and say 32, I think. Why? Because I want to redo what I did when I was 32. You can't though. This is my life. We've only got a couple of years left on earth. It's true. It's true. It's only a couple more years till the bunker.
Speaker 1:
[04:42] Let me, until we're living in paradise.
Speaker 2:
[04:45] The bunker under the ballroom at the White House that they're building.
Speaker 1:
[04:50] If you could go back and redo things, would you?
Speaker 2:
[04:53] Absolutely. And I shame on anyone who says they wouldn't because y'all know you would.
Speaker 1:
[04:58] For real?
Speaker 2:
[04:59] Yeah. There are so many things. I mean, I think I would slut it up more. I think that's one.
Speaker 1:
[05:04] Is that what you would do?
Speaker 2:
[05:05] Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. When I was young in my early 20s, I was scared of stuff or anxious or didn't want to, I don't know, I was afraid of anxiety. Do you know what I mean? I was like, let me not do too much because I don't want to get anxious later. And I think now that I'm on the other side of that, I'm like, I wish I didn't live in fear of anxiety. Okay, you know, like, in so many ways. And also, I think around the pandemic too, because I kept breaking bones. And I was like, I'm afraid I'm going to break another bone. Let me not. But you know, it's just like that, that fear of being anxious or having a breakdown later. It's like, looking back, I had a breakdown anyway. I might as well have turned the party. I might as well have been on the pole. I should have gotten out my pleasers. I could have, I could have had a lot more fun.
Speaker 1:
[06:00] I wish that I had told more people to stuff it.
Speaker 2:
[06:05] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[06:05] Do you know what I mean? I think when I think about even like stuff that happened to me when I was like 16, you know what I mean? Like I wish that I would have.
Speaker 2:
[06:16] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[06:17] Already had my voice.
Speaker 2:
[06:19] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[06:19] To be like, I'll never forget one time I was with, go ahead.
Speaker 2:
[06:23] No, I was just going to say, now that you know that you wish you told more people to go get bent. Do you feel like you tell people more now? Because I do. I'm making up for that lost time.
Speaker 1:
[06:35] Yeah. I think I let people know that I don't care what they think.
Speaker 2:
[06:39] I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 1:
[06:40] No, I thought it might.
Speaker 2:
[06:41] I think that's a beautiful poem.
Speaker 1:
[06:42] I love that. Be like, okay, well.
Speaker 2:
[06:44] That's Emily Dickinson poem. That is so beautiful. That was actual poetry. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:
[06:50] No, you're welcome. Thanks, everybody.
Speaker 2:
[06:55] That was beautiful.
Speaker 1:
[06:57] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[06:57] I think that, okay, so I had a birthday party this weekend and there was a situation I won't get into, but there was some drama at my birthday party that someone else brought with them. They loaded up their Mary Poppins suitcase that you can stuff with all sorts of bullshit. They said, let me bring it to Michael's party.
Speaker 1:
[07:15] I know.
Speaker 2:
[07:16] And so knowing what I know about myself, where I do wish I told people to take it and shove it somewhere, and trying to make up for lost time, I did say something.
Speaker 1:
[07:27] Did you?
Speaker 2:
[07:28] Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:
[07:28] Okay. Because we were talking about it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[07:30] And I said something.
Speaker 1:
[07:31] Okay.
Speaker 2:
[07:32] And I said, I know what you did.
Speaker 1:
[07:33] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[07:34] And you were messy.
Speaker 1:
[07:35] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[07:35] And I need to let you know that that's not okay. And I don't like you because of it. And then I blocked them.
Speaker 1:
[07:41] Okay.
Speaker 2:
[07:42] I don't want to hear your response. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[07:44] This is something that I speak to my therapist a lot about, of my sort of unquenching thirst to understand why people do things. Right. And I don't know why I need to know, but I would just want to know what were you thinking about? What were you hoping to achieve? What did you hope to learn?
Speaker 2:
[08:07] For context, people listening, basically someone came to the party and was just kind of messy.
Speaker 1:
[08:12] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[08:13] In a way that was intentional.
Speaker 1:
[08:15] Yes.
Speaker 2:
[08:16] And I was just like, and you're right, it is like, what were you thinking?
Speaker 1:
[08:19] But also potentially very hurtful.
Speaker 2:
[08:22] Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[08:23] Right. And so that's the thing. Is the intention to be hurtful? Are you just nosy?
Speaker 2:
[08:30] And for me, I don't need to know, but I will project. My projection is you don't have anything else going on. You're so bored or you're so unhappy with yourself or your life and your choices, that you've got to actually go out of your way to strum up something interesting. Take this opportunity because you've got nothing else going on. And that's where I say, and this did take a lot of healing and a lot of ketamine therapy and a lot of regular therapy.
Speaker 1:
[08:56] Right.
Speaker 2:
[08:57] To be able to say, I feel bad for that person. But I am also going to tell them what I think and how I felt. And it feels really good to let it go and move on.
Speaker 1:
[09:08] Do you legitimately, because I hear people saying that a lot about people who have caused harm and their feeling is, you know what, I feel really bad for that person. Do you legitimately feel bad for that person? Because I have to tell you.
Speaker 2:
[09:21] I don't feel bad for, I think I pity them. Where I'm like, God, it sucks to be that person. But I'm not like, oh, my heart breaks for this person. Because these people that I'm feeling that way about have so much agency and privilege that I'm like, I'm saving the feeling bad for, for my clients who have been in detention centers for four years. I'm not feeling bad for a rich white person from Brooklyn who comes to a party and starts shit. I'm not gonna save my pity points for other people who really are suffering and have no agency. But I will look and be like, yeah, yeah, it sucks to be that person. Glad I'm not them. And like kind of move on. I am a little bit more glib with it.
Speaker 1:
[10:03] Gotcha.
Speaker 2:
[10:05] But yeah, I don't know. What do you think?
Speaker 1:
[10:06] I don't feel bad for anybody. Like, I mean, I feel, sorry. I mean, in the sense of like, obviously I feel bad for people that have had a tragedy. I feel bad for people who are ill or have experienced some trauma in their life, right? But I don't feel bad or have empathy or pity for somebody who's because there's messy, just being messy and sort of gossipy and nosy, which is okay. Because we all are.
Speaker 2:
[10:39] We can all be that way.
Speaker 1:
[10:41] Well, not just that. Just listen. I say this all the time. Magdali and Joel Malebranche raised a nosy chick.
Speaker 2:
[10:49] Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[10:49] For sure. But I don't feel bad for people like that because, again, it's the intent behind the messiness. If you're just being messy, it's like kiki, then fine. But if you're being messy to be hurtful, then that's the mental. I do not feel bad for you and may you have the life that you deserve. The reason why I say things like that is not for them, it's for me, my karma.
Speaker 2:
[11:18] You inspire me because you've told me stories about how you've run into a former boss on the street.
Speaker 1:
[11:22] Yeah, I did. That's my favorite.
Speaker 2:
[11:24] You said, I want you to know.
Speaker 1:
[11:26] I did and I felt great about it. She was complaining. This person that I used to work for, she was like, what's that really bad chick from the little Ursula? She was like Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
Speaker 2:
[11:36] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[11:37] Really, really-
Speaker 2:
[11:37] Who is a complex female character.
Speaker 1:
[11:39] Okay, fine.
Speaker 2:
[11:42] There was breach of contract. She was the victim of-
Speaker 1:
[11:46] See, I don't feel bad for her.
Speaker 2:
[11:47] Death by ship. They drove a boat into her. I don't know if that fits the crime. She stole her musical theater kid singing voice. I'm sorry. That's death penalty. That's capital punishment. Sure. Get the expert on death penalty on the phone. I'm sorry. They steered a boat into her. They skewered her without a trial.
Speaker 1:
[12:08] You want to call Karina?
Speaker 2:
[12:09] Yeah. Call Karina. Get her on the phone.
Speaker 1:
[12:12] Shout out to Karina.
Speaker 2:
[12:13] I want to talk to her about whether or not this is a just death sentence for Ursula. She's a plus size woman of color. She was purple, I'm sorry. Constantly persecuted in the undersea realm.
Speaker 1:
[12:27] Well, now you got me feeling bad for Ursula and I didn't five seconds ago.
Speaker 2:
[12:30] You're old boss. We hate her.
Speaker 1:
[12:31] No, she was really, really awful. And the thing about it is she could not keep a body. And you know how I feel about people like that. What do I mean when I say you can't keep a body?
Speaker 2:
[12:41] People always quit.
Speaker 1:
[12:42] People are quitting. You're always firing them.
Speaker 2:
[12:45] You can't keep a body.
Speaker 1:
[12:46] You cannot keep a body.
Speaker 2:
[12:47] And it's people will always say like, oh, well, so and so quit. Oh, so and so got fired. Oh, so and so this. At a certain point, if you've said that more than two or three times, it's you. You're the cause coming from inside the house.
Speaker 1:
[13:00] And she was so hideous of a human being that the temp agency stopped sending people to her.
Speaker 2:
[13:08] Oh, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:
[13:10] Really, really bad.
Speaker 2:
[13:11] Because temp agencies in New York, they take 50% of whatever the person is.
Speaker 1:
[13:14] Yeah, so they're willing to take a pay cut.
Speaker 2:
[13:19] They're like, we're finding these temps on the side of the west side of the highway, curled up in a ball, tossed out the window.
Speaker 1:
[13:26] We had more than one temp leave at lunch and not come back. I'm not kidding.
Speaker 2:
[13:31] Not even make it to five o'clock.
Speaker 1:
[13:33] Not even make it to five o'clock.
Speaker 2:
[13:34] Wow. She said, I'm going to get on the off peak train and head home at lunch. Fuck this. So, Mélissa ran into this old boss after Mélissa left.
Speaker 1:
[13:44] I did. We were cordial and, how are you? I said, I'm fine. How are you? She was like, I'm still looking for an assistant. I said to her, the bravery came from a source of, I don't give a shit anymore because I don't work for you. You can't do anything to me anyway. I said to her, have you ever thought that the problem is you? I wasn't mean. I was just like, if you think about it, how many assistants have you had in a year? I said, so-and-so, the temp agency has stopped sending people to you. I was like, is there any part of you that understands that maybe it's you? She said to me, looked me straight in my eyes and was just like, I am quite exacting. And so, and because I had been her assistant at one point, I also had access to her e-mails.
Speaker 2:
[14:46] Oh my God.
Speaker 1:
[14:47] No, no, no, no. And I would see the e-mails that she was getting from her daughter, ripping her, like her daughter ripping her a new one.
Speaker 2:
[14:54] Oh my God.
Speaker 1:
[14:55] Her ex-husband called one time and was like, where is she?
Speaker 2:
[14:58] Oh, so you think that these assistants were her punching bag because she had no control anywhere else in her life.
Speaker 1:
[15:04] I mean, I also think, I think the reason why like her daughter was sending her nasty messages and her ex-husband was like calling it because there was something wrong with her and and and and because I'm a nosy bitch, I had looked into her.
Speaker 2:
[15:18] Okay.
Speaker 1:
[15:19] And she had had a very sort of a high-powered prominent job and she was sued. Oh, right. Wow.
Speaker 2:
[15:27] You really do want to know why you and your therapist are doing that work because you want to know why about a lot of things.
Speaker 1:
[15:33] I do. Like what is why like I even hurt you. Well, so like what like what do we think is the matter with the president? What is wrong with him?
Speaker 2:
[15:46] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[15:46] But for someone to comport himself the way that he does, the way that he speaks to people and the things that he does. And I get it. Some people like, Oh, I like him because he shoots straight from the hip and there's no bullshit with him. He's insane and the stuff that he says.
Speaker 2:
[16:01] People shouldn't be shooting, period. Right? Like these are federal jobs.
Speaker 1:
[16:05] We know that this country loves their guns. So we stay shooting.
Speaker 2:
[16:08] I think it's time for a what's going on in the home.
Speaker 1:
[16:12] What is going on in the home?
Speaker 2:
[16:13] What's going on in the home?
Speaker 1:
[16:14] You know my theory.
Speaker 2:
[16:15] Nothing went on in that home.
Speaker 1:
[16:17] Well, no, like about the hugs.
Speaker 2:
[16:19] Okay. Mélissa has a theory that there's two kinds of people in the world.
Speaker 1:
[16:22] There are three kinds of people.
Speaker 2:
[16:23] Three?
Speaker 1:
[16:24] Yeah, because there are three different kinds of hugs. Okay.
Speaker 2:
[16:30] So Mélissa's theory is that...
Speaker 1:
[16:33] The hug, by the way, the hug is a metaphor.
Speaker 2:
[16:35] Okay.
Speaker 1:
[16:35] Like it's not actually hugs.
Speaker 2:
[16:37] People getting touched. No. Mélissa has a theory that you're either get too many hugs, you got too many hugs in your childhood, you didn't get enough hugs in your childhood, or what's the third one? Just enough?
Speaker 1:
[16:50] Inappropriate.
Speaker 2:
[16:51] Inappropriate hugs? You've amended it since the last time.
Speaker 1:
[16:55] No, I haven't. It's always been the three.
Speaker 2:
[16:57] I was only around for-
Speaker 1:
[16:58] No, this is the first- Maybe I stopped listening. Yeah, you did.
Speaker 2:
[17:02] You know I'm not good like that.
Speaker 1:
[17:03] You tuned me out.
Speaker 2:
[17:04] I was like, this is a long one.
Speaker 1:
[17:05] Yeah. I just think that either you were constantly coddled and told that you were special and that you could do anything, and then you've gone out into the world and you think that that's actually true, when in reality, you're only really special to your parents, as it should be. But in the world, you're regular like the rest of us. Special is special.
Speaker 2:
[17:24] You can't be, not everyone can be a special snowflake.
Speaker 1:
[17:27] No, not everybody is special. Special is special. Most of us are just regular, and that's okay.
Speaker 2:
[17:33] That's okay.
Speaker 1:
[17:33] It's very nice.
Speaker 2:
[17:34] Yeah. It's uneventful.
Speaker 1:
[17:36] Right. What was the other one?
Speaker 2:
[17:37] And then to not enough hugs.
Speaker 1:
[17:39] Not enough hugs is neglect. You were not told that you were loved, even your parents didn't think that you were special, you were ignored. I think that that is not enough hugs. Inappropriate hugs, I think, is there's either some SA or physical abuse, right? And so that's what that is. And I think all of these experiences, you go out into the world and you project that.
Speaker 2:
[18:02] Yeah. I was definitely too many hugs.
Speaker 1:
[18:05] I knew that right away.
Speaker 2:
[18:06] I was a special. I was a special. And you know what?
Speaker 1:
[18:09] What?
Speaker 2:
[18:09] They were fucking right.
Speaker 1:
[18:10] Were they?
Speaker 2:
[18:11] Yeah. Thank you. Special. Snowflake. You know, many times I had to repeat ninth grade math. That's how special. Three times. Twelfth grade, I had a ninth grade math tutor and he would come. I didn't eat lunch for all of high school.
Speaker 1:
[18:30] You didn't eat lunch?
Speaker 2:
[18:31] Because I had to go to the extra health math tutor.
Speaker 1:
[18:35] Do you know if you have dyscalculia?
Speaker 2:
[18:38] We didn't have those words back then.
Speaker 1:
[18:39] I know. But now do you think that you- I have dyscalculia.
Speaker 2:
[18:43] Because it's like a party trick. Brad will be like, what's 12 times 7? I'm like, he'll be like, what's 12 minus 7? I don't know. I'm like, get out the abacus, honey. I don't know. It's not going to- Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[18:53] Yeah. Any kind of a math question, I just yell it out to Andre and he's like, brrrr.
Speaker 2:
[18:59] Wait, really?
Speaker 1:
[18:59] Yeah. He's a freak like that.
Speaker 2:
[19:01] He's a beautiful mind.
Speaker 1:
[19:03] Yeah. That's why I married him. He's geeky, smart.
Speaker 2:
[19:10] Let's get into your algorithm of showing. Let's talk about all the wicked and wild, freaky deaky things that are happening on our phones. Pam Bondi didn't show up for her subpoena.
Speaker 1:
[19:18] She was out to dinner though.
Speaker 2:
[19:20] Did you see that?
Speaker 1:
[19:22] She was out to dinner. I don't know. In the DC area, some random person recorded her and she was smiling.
Speaker 2:
[19:29] You guys know how much I hate DC. We covered it last week. I've never eaten a meal in DC where I was like. Really? Yeah. No.
Speaker 1:
[19:37] Interesting.
Speaker 2:
[19:38] But every place when I go to DC, it's-
Speaker 1:
[19:42] Are you in and out?
Speaker 2:
[19:43] I'm in and out and it's also like I'm only in the corporate areas. Okay. I'm not in a cute little Bethesda neighborhood. I'm not like, yeah. Then I went to this one drag show that was at the Hamburger Mary's. It was at the diner in DuPont Circle and that was really fun. I saw someone leap off a table and land in a split.
Speaker 1:
[20:04] Like the Dallas Cowboy Chill Leaders. Have you seen that? Do you know that those women? Sorry. Sorry. This is us. This is us.
Speaker 2:
[20:12] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[20:13] I was obsessed with, there was a Dallas Cowboys Chill Leader documentary. It was a few episodes.
Speaker 2:
[20:20] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you told me about this and they all go into debt.
Speaker 1:
[20:24] Because first of all, they hardly pay them anything. All these women have real jobs outside of the cheerleading thing, right?
Speaker 2:
[20:33] Oh my God.
Speaker 1:
[20:34] They go to appearances, they don't get paid for them.
Speaker 2:
[20:38] I can't believe, and it's also like, it's not like they don't have the money. These sports teams are owned by billionaires.
Speaker 1:
[20:44] And when they were like, well, why don't you pay them? And they're like, well, it's really about the honor of being a Dallas Cowboy.
Speaker 2:
[20:51] What's more honorable than a paycheck?
Speaker 1:
[20:53] As far as I'm concerned, nothing.
Speaker 2:
[20:55] What's more honorable than health care?
Speaker 1:
[20:57] And they practice almost every night.
Speaker 2:
[20:59] Yeah, and they're kicking in boots. That could plantar fasciitis.
Speaker 1:
[21:03] Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2:
[21:04] For sure.
Speaker 1:
[21:05] For sure, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:
[21:05] You know there's going to be a bunion.
Speaker 1:
[21:07] What is it called? It might be called Thunder Road. I don't know, I can't remember. But there's a routine that they're famous for.
Speaker 2:
[21:14] Okay.
Speaker 1:
[21:14] And they all jump up and they all land directly into a split. And then so and after a certain amount of time, there's a lot of wear and tear on the body for all these young women are having hip replacement surgery like when they retire because you can only be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. There's a few years like I think maybe six years or something. And at the end, you have to have to have to retire. And usually at the end of that, these women are having hip replacement surgery at 25. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[21:46] Whoa.
Speaker 1:
[21:47] And it's on their dime. Yes.
Speaker 2:
[21:50] It's a grueling, I mean, it's a grueling career. I think that's why the Rockettes, I call them the Rickets, they unionized.
Speaker 1:
[21:58] Yeah, they had to.
Speaker 2:
[21:59] They have to unionize because they do eight shows a day for the month of December. They can only do so many. I met one one, she was telling me she takes an ice bath every night. And because of the union, they have to address them as ladies.
Speaker 1:
[22:13] Okay.
Speaker 2:
[22:13] Collectively, they say ladies and then they all.
Speaker 1:
[22:15] As opposed to girls.
Speaker 2:
[22:16] Yeah. They have to be addressed collectively as ladies per the union contract.
Speaker 1:
[22:21] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[22:22] The Broadway union contracts are actually really freaking weird. But anyway, Pam Bondi didn't show up. She was out eating.
Speaker 1:
[22:28] She was out eating in DC and smiling. If there's anybody in this world who does not deserve to smile about shit.
Speaker 2:
[22:34] And you know that if she's out in DC smiling, eating, it was like a set up for a photo op. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't or like, you know what I mean? Like if she's out and she's probably in hair and makeup, it was it wasn't an accident. She tipped off the paparazzi that she was there. But Robert Garcia is going to subpoena her.
Speaker 1:
[22:53] So explain to us.
Speaker 2:
[22:55] Contempt proceedings.
Speaker 1:
[22:56] OK, so explain to us. She doesn't show up.
Speaker 2:
[22:59] She doesn't show up. And so they sorry, they subpoenaed her already.
Speaker 1:
[23:02] Yes.
Speaker 2:
[23:03] She didn't show up.
Speaker 1:
[23:04] So what is the what is their next course of action?
Speaker 2:
[23:09] The thing they did immediately was everyone took to the Internet to say, we are going to hold her in contempt. Those are threats. That's there's no like actual active thing that happens yet. Then the committee votes to start contempt proceedings. So the committee of that subpoenaed her would vote, we want to do contempt. Then the house has to vote, we're going to hold her in contempt. Then it moves to a criminal proceeding. So that's when the criminal charges would hit. So we're a couple of steps away from a perp walk. But it's like moving forward. There's no reason why Robert Garcia and Jasmine Crockett would stop, would just threaten and not. They have the votes in the committee. The committee issued the subpoena in the first place. It's not like, but the real battle will happen in the house when everyone has to duke it out.
Speaker 1:
[24:03] So for Pam Bondi, for her, what's the best case scenario and what's the worst case scenario for her?
Speaker 2:
[24:09] Well, it depends on what she's hiding and how damning her testimony is going to be for herself. If we're just talking about Pam, what did she neglect to do that is going to come out in this subpoena? Because a subpoena, you're under oath, you cannot lie or you're subject to perjury if you do. So what is she not saying? What is she sitting on that they're going to ask her about, that she's not going to be able to lie about or she'll face, I mean, Lil Kim went to prison for perjury, right? Like people do time for perjury. It's like a real thing. So what is she willing to go to prison for? If she wants to lie and cover it up, right? So there's a big, it's hard to answer that question, a big unknown, what doesn't she know? Or what do we not know that she knows? So depends on how bad it is. It's kind of what it comes down to.
Speaker 1:
[25:06] Okay.
Speaker 2:
[25:07] But I'm interested to see what happens with the House and how they duke it out because we're coming up on the midterms.
Speaker 1:
[25:13] Sure.
Speaker 2:
[25:13] A lot of those folks are going to be up for reelection. So do they want this on their voting record that they voted not to bring criminal charges against Pam Bondi or will it look really good? Because right now, I mean, the president's approval rating is in the two.
Speaker 1:
[25:31] In the toilet, yeah.
Speaker 2:
[25:32] Yeah. So not, and they're losing special, the Republican Party's losing special elections around the country. Anything come up on your feed this week that you want to cover?
Speaker 1:
[25:41] So, you know, I've been trying really hard to avoid the AI vegetable.
Speaker 2:
[25:45] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[25:46] And, you know, and so, friends, please stop sending me things. Because I'm trying really people randomly. Mélissa, did you see this one? Please stop sending me things. I don't, I don't want anymore. It's too much. It's too much. Because now they're getting, they're just getting worse, right?
Speaker 2:
[26:02] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[26:03] They're running out of things to do.
Speaker 2:
[26:04] The AI is like breeding with itself. It's like, yeah, self-perpetuating.
Speaker 1:
[26:08] So do you, this is really depressing, but this is what came up for me. Do you remember this French woman, Giselle Pelico?
Speaker 2:
[26:19] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[26:21] So she's the woman who they live in France. Her husband for five or so years was drugging her and SAing her and inviting other men to do the same thing, taking photos and pictures and stuff. So in the news a few weeks ago, there was this SA Academy that came up. And it's basically a website. I went to the website just to see what it was. And it's basically men trading ideas of how to do this to their partners.
Speaker 2:
[27:00] Oh, God.
Speaker 1:
[27:01] Really. And the thing is, like we all know, once you start with that stuff, you just get more and more of it.
Speaker 2:
[27:08] Yes.
Speaker 1:
[27:09] And it just, you know, we know, obviously, not all men, but it just always feels like always a man. Right.
Speaker 2:
[27:16] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[27:17] And it's and it definitely feels like this world hates women.
Speaker 2:
[27:24] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[27:25] You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:
[27:25] Yes, of course. Yeah. And I think that there is this the Internet has been great at info sharing. It's also been really It's created a forum for creeps to connect with each other.
Speaker 1:
[27:38] Yeah, for sure. Because I wonder how in the before, because I think that these people have always existed. Right. So I wonder in the before times, what were they doing? Were they putting ads in the newspaper?
Speaker 2:
[27:50] Like, were there like code words? Was it like creeps would find each other in their neighborhood and like connect?
Speaker 1:
[27:55] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[27:56] Yeah. I mean, and it is one of these things where I don't like, what do we do about that? I mean, obviously shut down these websites.
Speaker 1:
[28:05] Yeah, 100 percent. But I mean, the thing is, it's like you get rid of one and another one pops up in this place. Right. And I think that people are getting more and more devious. I think they're getting smarter, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:
[28:20] And I also think that people are getting a lot of dog whistles and signals from literally the Epstein files and how that is not being prosecuted. Correct. There is nothing happening there. And everything is just getting swept under the rug and everyone's moving on. People are, I feel like it's possible that people are learning from that and saying like, oh, well, if no one is really condemning this.
Speaker 1:
[28:46] Who's to say that I can't do this also?
Speaker 2:
[28:50] There's this kind of like signal coming from the White House that this is okay and tolerable. There is a really interesting documentary out about a cult that one of the hosts of an Exactly Right show, Trust Me, her mom infiltrated a cult, a Mormon cult. Yeah, I watched it this weekend. You watched it?
Speaker 1:
[29:14] Yeah. Is it good?
Speaker 2:
[29:15] It was really good. I've gotten like a couple phone calls from people like you have to watch this documentary.
Speaker 1:
[29:20] What's it called?
Speaker 3:
[29:21] Trust Me, the False Prophet.
Speaker 2:
[29:23] Trust Me, the False Prophet. Yeah, it's really interesting. I think we should talk about on this show because maybe next episode, we can cover some of the women went to prison. I think we could probably cover that and talk about that.
Speaker 3:
[29:36] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[29:36] There was another documentary that I had seen. It was similar. It was called Stay Sweet. It was about LDS and how the leader, like his whole thing was in order to get the girls to do what he wanted. It was like, you have to stay sweet.
Speaker 2:
[29:51] No.
Speaker 1:
[29:51] So disgusting.
Speaker 2:
[29:53] It's so creepy. How is that legal?
Speaker 1:
[29:56] Well, it's not.
Speaker 2:
[29:57] They're like, oh, it's a church. It's okay.
Speaker 1:
[30:00] But it's not legal, but they're getting away with it. Especially I think in any kind of community where they are so incredibly insulated, it's much harder to figure out what's going on.
Speaker 2:
[30:13] It's very like underground. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[30:15] A hundred percent.
Speaker 2:
[30:16] It's always in some rural place.
Speaker 1:
[30:18] Yeah. They do their best to stay away from people.
Speaker 2:
[30:21] Yes.
Speaker 1:
[30:22] Right. They're very isolated and it's by design. What?
Speaker 2:
[30:25] This is what we need TMZ to do as well. Because TMZ is photographing politicians out in the streets, we need them to also go after the LDS church.
Speaker 1:
[30:33] I think it's going to be harder.
Speaker 2:
[30:34] Have them go and do, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:
[30:36] It'll just be harder.
Speaker 2:
[30:38] But did you see the photos of Who? Lindsey Graham at Disney World with a bubble wand? No. TMZ, like someone, people are just sending photos of congressmen and senators to TMZ to shame them while they're out on recess. The fact that they're not doing anything, they're not passing any bills. They're all like helping cover up the absentee files like everything, like literally everything.
Speaker 1:
[31:07] The bubble wand comes up right away.
Speaker 2:
[31:11] But that's literally what people are sending in photos of senators to TMZ. So TMZ after 20 years of reporting.
Speaker 1:
[31:22] The thing about it is that he looks, the only word that I can think of to describe the way that he looks is daft. He just looks so daft. He just looks so ridiculous.
Speaker 2:
[31:35] Now people are going up to him and they're like leaving chambers, going back to their office and people can actually interview them because they're allowed to film and record. Someone ran up to him and was like, do you have anything to say about the bubble wand?
Speaker 1:
[31:48] Can I talk quickly about the bubble wand?
Speaker 2:
[31:50] He ran for it, he like scattered away. So great. Do you have anything to say about the bubble wand, Mélissa? She's given a dirty look.
Speaker 1:
[32:01] Again, I'm so tired of these people.
Speaker 2:
[32:05] He literally to not vote on the government shutdown, on the Iran war, on the Epstein files, and then to fuck off to Disney World and play with the bubble wand is like so. It really is District 12 Hunger Games. Like it's feeling very that lately, you know, like Effie is the announcer of the next presidential debate.
Speaker 1:
[32:33] What?
Speaker 2:
[32:35] Speaking of debauchery out in these streets, we have a special guest in the studio today. So we have with us today.
Speaker 1:
[32:42] Friend of the Pod.
Speaker 2:
[32:43] Friend of the Pod, Seth Porges, who you may remember him from the action class, Action Park documentary where we talked about how excited I was. Mélissa, about your childhood trauma. Yeah, I was. Talk about not enough hugs.
Speaker 1:
[32:56] Totally.
Speaker 2:
[32:57] She was absolutely battered and bruised at Action Park. Melissa. Anyway, he has a new documentary coming out about SantaCon, and we thought it would be cool to bring him on the show today to talk about it. SantaCon, because it's in the headlines as of last week, because why? The CEO head of SantaCon, which I didn't realize was an actual organization.
Speaker 1:
[33:17] It's a non-profit.
Speaker 2:
[33:18] It's a non-profit.
Speaker 1:
[33:19] It's supposed to raise money to-
Speaker 2:
[33:21] Alcohol awareness?
Speaker 1:
[33:22] No. The funds raised are supposed to go towards some kind of a kid's something.
Speaker 2:
[33:30] So these men are busting their bones, barfing in the streets, taking a dump on my stoop to raise money for children?
Speaker 1:
[33:40] I mean-
Speaker 2:
[33:41] Why don't you make your gift on- make your recurring gift online and leave me the fuck alone?
Speaker 1:
[33:46] Santa Cod is- it's like a scourge. It looks so disgusting. And you know, it's one of those things where like you forget that it's happening until it's happening and then you're in the middle of it.
Speaker 2:
[33:59] It reminds me of like the AI videos of the bubonic plague, like where people are just sort of like lying in the streets, you know, like slowly dying. It's okay. It was long enough ago. I can make fun of the plague, right? Like, I'm not going to get canceled for plague talk. No, right.
Speaker 1:
[34:13] But it might come back.
Speaker 2:
[34:14] No one's going to be like, my great-great-great-great-grandmother actually had the black lung. Yeah. Okay. And if that's what I go out for, so be it really at this point. Okay. So I'm excited. We'll be back. We're going to do an Under Oath with Seth Porges, and we're going to talk about SantaCon and the new criminal charges for the CEO. We're going to talk about his documentary, which I watched over the weekend.
Speaker 1:
[34:36] It was good.
Speaker 2:
[34:37] We'll get into it.
Speaker 1:
[34:37] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[34:38] We'll be right back. Welcome back to Brief Recess. We're going to get into Under Oath. We're going to do a deep dive with our good friend of the podcast, Seth Porges. We're going to talk about SantaCon and your incredible documentary. Welcome back.
Speaker 3:
[34:53] It's great to be here.
Speaker 2:
[34:55] Last time you were here, we were talking about people getting shredded up at Action Park.
Speaker 3:
[34:59] Sure were.
Speaker 2:
[34:59] Now we're going to talk about people getting shredded up at SantaCon.
Speaker 3:
[35:02] Absolutely. Different kind of shredded.
Speaker 1:
[35:03] Yeah, different kind of shredded.
Speaker 2:
[35:04] I mean, I feel like someone's gotten flayed alive at SantaCon, right? I feel like there's been some serious injuries. I feel like I've witnessed them.
Speaker 3:
[35:10] I feel like I would know about this.
Speaker 1:
[35:11] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[35:12] The problem with SantaCon, not to just immediately start complaining, but I'm a New Yorker.
Speaker 1:
[35:17] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[35:17] I'm a total yenta. The way that it springs up on you like an edible, it hits you in the back of the fucking head when you least expect it. It's right when you're like, I'm going to go buy some Christmas ornaments or I'm going to meet up with that friend or colleague for that holiday cocktail. You just don't happen to pass through the East Village.
Speaker 3:
[35:40] I think there's a direct correlation between how annoyed you will be by SantaCon and the likelihood you would have any idea when it's going to happen.
Speaker 2:
[35:46] Yes.
Speaker 1:
[35:48] That's the thing because this is what happened to me. Anytime I've encountered SantaCon, it's been completely by accident. Then I'm like, fuck, today? Is it today?
Speaker 3:
[35:58] Today?
Speaker 1:
[35:58] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[35:59] At first you're like, okay, it's one Santa, they're going to work at Macy's, you don't know, and then you see the other and you're like, oh no. Oh no. Oh no. What day is it? Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[36:07] It's always a guy named Brian.
Speaker 1:
[36:08] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[36:08] And in the Santa Su-
Speaker 1:
[36:10] And a girl named Becca.
Speaker 2:
[36:11] Yeah. So people who are not from New York, who are watching or listening, could you please explain briefly what SantaCon is?
Speaker 3:
[36:18] Yeah. So SantaCon, which doesn't just occur in New York, of course, New York is the largest and most infamous of them, is this incredible day, typically in kind of early December, when up to tens of thousands of folks dress like St. Nick and invade New York City and just kind of have their way with the town. The reputation, of course, whether earned or not, is that they get a little debauchery, use the fact that they're all dressed the same and therefore fairly anonymous to kind of be their worst selves. The reputation is it's like, you know, 22-year-olds from Hoboken, for the most part, baby's first day drinking, like that kind of thing, people who may not necessarily be the best at holding your liquor. But that's not what it always was, and that's what's so fascinating to me about the whole story.
Speaker 2:
[37:01] Yeah, it really has. I mean, I watched the documentary this weekend, and so do you want to give a little plug for the documentary, sort of tell us about it?
Speaker 3:
[37:08] Yeah, so I just made a movie called SantaCon. You can check out some of it at sanacondoc.com about the secret history of SantaCon, you know, the most hated holiday in the world, which began as this very, very, very different thing. And it was like this Frankenstein story where these guys created this thing, totally lost control of it, disowned it, and had to watch it mutate into whatever it is today.
Speaker 2:
[37:30] It is one of those things where, you know, it is a Frankenstein monster, right? And watching the documentary, it starts out as sort of this like riot girl, anti-establishment, protest-y kind of thing, where it was like almost like a public art performance of like a group of 20 friends who are best friends, just having a blast dressed like Santa as really as a reaction to capitalism in the 90s, right? Of the 90s commercials, everything is getting commodified, Christmas is for sale. And what really struck me about it when I was watching it was I was like, wow, it kind of became the thing that it was rejecting at its infancy. Like these Santas were just kind of wandering around the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, causing trouble being debauchery. And now it's become a ticketed event sponsored by corporations and brought to you by.
Speaker 3:
[38:31] Yeah. I mean, I was sort of joked that everything eventually becomes SantaCon. And the reason the story jumped out to me was because I saw it as this like it's the life cycle of all ideas. Right. You create something, the masses take hold of it, turn it into something else and you watch it before your eyes transform. And to me, that was like, wow, like SantaCon just feels like it's about like everything in this world that we see, you know, in shitification, like the way systems get corrupted and manipulated. And I just couldn't stop thinking about this. It's like, my goodness, like SantaCon began as this one thing and it turned into something else. Then meeting the people who create SantaCon and then their very tortured relationship with what it has become was so fascinating to me because if I were them and what my initial thought about what their response to modern SantaCon would be would be absolute disgust and maybe even anger at it. But that's actually not the case. And I think what their attitude is, is way more interesting and mature because, you know, we can see the things we love, maybe even the things we created, the world around us transform and what do you do? Do you just get really angry and yearn for days gone by and say, F this and burn it all and or do you say, All right, this thing isn't for me anymore. That's cool. I'm going to be over here doing something else. Cool. And that was their attitude. I was so blown away by that because right now, I think a lot of people just experience the world and they're like, I don't get this anymore. And the easy response is just be really angry, pissed off and miserable. And instead of that, you can also be like, you know what? I'm just going to continue to try to build new things. And that really, I love that.
Speaker 1:
[40:12] Let me ask you, when you decided that you were going to do this, was there anybody who had been a part of it originally who was just like, you know what? No, I don't want to talk to you about it.
Speaker 3:
[40:20] You know, we had a lot of people in our film, kind of all the early creators, and some of them were more camera shy than others. But I think these were all a tight-knit group of friends. It was a group called the Cacophony Society. It was sort of these like anarcho-prankster post-Dada folks who would just basically do random stuff. And none of it was created with the intent of maybe ever happening again or being a business or any of this sort of stuff. But every once in a while, they would create something that for some reason or another just kind of like took off. So they also created Burning Man, as you guys know. And a very similar trajectory happened with Burning Man is different types of people start to come to your event. The identity of the event changes for better or for worse. I'm not going to pass judgment on that over there. And these guys, you know, they sort of saw their baby change. The people, you know, there's a couple folks who maybe would have liked to go on camera, just did a scheduling or logistics. You can never get everybody. But I mean, but I think we got everybody we really want.
Speaker 1:
[41:21] OK.
Speaker 3:
[41:22] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[41:22] Yeah. Cool.
Speaker 2:
[41:23] As you're making this movie, right? I mean, what were some of the challenges, right? I mean, you when I was watching it, I was like, wow, he really had to film in a lot of different places. You attended SantaCon in New York.
Speaker 3:
[41:36] Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[41:39] Before you were doing this, had you been ever been a SantaCon participant?
Speaker 3:
[41:43] No. I mean, like you, I had to step that side and then realize it was SantaCon. I guess like in a way, like street theater, the folks on the street are part of the performance, whether they like it or not. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[41:56] Your reaction is part of it.
Speaker 3:
[41:57] Yeah. Honestly, yeah, that's like a big thing that really drew me in about the archival footage of the early SantaCons. Wasn't the Santa's themselves were necessarily acting that different. They're always a little naughty. It's the people around them because nobody had ever seen this before. Right. So their faces have this like sense of joy and wonder.
Speaker 1:
[42:15] They were much more amused and sort of excited about it. I feel like if you were to do it now.
Speaker 3:
[42:20] Yeah, I've seen the joke is old.
Speaker 1:
[42:22] I've seen this before. But it's not just the joke is old, but also like, oh, this is just going to be disgusting. I would not think.
Speaker 3:
[42:29] We know what this is and we don't like what this is.
Speaker 1:
[42:30] Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 3:
[42:32] Yeah. And so, you know, making this film, the what really made the film possible was this archival footage. You know, this movie started because I ran into my old friend, Scott Beale, at a bar like December 2021, maybe. And somehow Sanicon comes up and he kind of looked bummed out. I'm like, what's up? He's like, yes, Sanicon is coming up. I'm like, I know it's the worst, going to lock myself up that day. He's like, no, Seth, you don't get it. I was there when my friends and I started this thing and what it's become. I just can't wrap my heads around it. And I know this guy for like more than a decade. I'm like, pause rewind. What are you talking about?
Speaker 2:
[43:05] Wow.
Speaker 3:
[43:05] And he started telling me how he and his friends at Sanicon have also been involved with Burning Man's creation and how this group, the Cacophony Society, was also the real life inspiration for Fight Club and Project Mayhem.
Speaker 2:
[43:16] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[43:16] And I was like, wait, this is crazy. All of these cultural touch points, the same people. And then he said the thing that really blew my mind, which is that he personally had video recorded several of the early years. And he offered to show me this footage. And it really was like the entirety of the early Sanicon years from beginning to end come to life. And it was so immersive and transportive. And I felt like I was traveling back in time to the 1990s. Nobody's got their cell phones out. Right.
Speaker 2:
[43:42] It was very cool. That footage, I mean, really was... It was super cool. I mean, if you haven't seen it, and it's going to be premiering this...
Speaker 3:
[43:50] Yeah. I mean, so we've been playing at a film festival, still figuring out wider distribution. Hopefully, it'll be out in a place the world can see it next Christmas.
Speaker 2:
[43:58] I got a chance to watch it, thanks to Seth. But the archival footage really makes it, right? You get to see... You felt like you were there with them. You really felt like you were part of this group of friends. It was very well-structured, and I could see you absolutely manipulating it from behind the scenes to make it really... The interviews with people were just so thoughtful.
Speaker 1:
[44:22] They were so good, and I loved seeing the reactions of the people who were trying to explain to us what they had been thinking when they were doing this. They're just like, well, that's not what it is anymore.
Speaker 3:
[44:34] Also, how they don't necessarily all agree. To some of them, it might have been this protesting of commercialism and capitalism and Christmas, but to others, it was just... The point was that it had no meaning. It's just a piece of absurdism and surreality.
Speaker 2:
[44:46] The one story of the guy... The one Santa, they went to, I think, Portland or maybe LA, and he wore the same Santa outfit for like three days.
Speaker 3:
[44:57] Yeah. Oh, after setting it on fire.
Speaker 2:
[44:59] And set it on fire, it melted to his skin, and he wore it for three or four days and got on the plane and flew home in the Santa suit.
Speaker 3:
[45:07] Well, that's the great Reverend Al. And so he would do this thing where at the end of Portland in 1996, he stood on stage at this event and he just basically says, I'm so filled with Christmas spirit that I just might explode. And then he sets up a bunch of cheap fireworks, firecrackers in his Santa suit, and the whole thing just like goes ablaze in this indoor venue, all caught on tape. I really need to stay away from cheap Chinese produced suits that are made out of plastics. And it just melted to his skin and he just flies back to LA with this Santa suit melted to his skin because why not?
Speaker 2:
[45:42] And then there's this one other gentleman in it who was a postal worker.
Speaker 3:
[45:47] Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:
[45:49] He was my favorite.
Speaker 2:
[45:50] I was screaming in bed like the dog's barking because I'm laughing so loud. My husband's in the other room confused about what's going on. And there is a postal worker who in the 90s, for those of you who don't know, postal workers were a series of mass murders. Series of mass murders.
Speaker 1:
[46:08] And that's where the term going postal comes from. I feel like it's so funny to me.
Speaker 2:
[46:14] They were shootings in the 90s. Yeah. And so this guy was a postal worker and he seemed to be.
Speaker 3:
[46:19] He reveled in the reputation.
Speaker 1:
[46:21] Yeah. He really leaned into it.
Speaker 3:
[46:23] And we go to his boss and be like, don't make me go postal.
Speaker 2:
[46:26] Don't make me shoot you.
Speaker 3:
[46:27] Don't make me go postal.
Speaker 2:
[46:28] I'm going to go crazy if you make me do that.
Speaker 3:
[46:29] And he's just walking around with giant guns. He started a camp at Burning Man called the disgruntled postal workers union where they all wear their uniforms and walk around with guns. And he just kind of leaned into the iconography, which I think he said like, you know, there's a certain amount of fear that he translated as respect.
Speaker 2:
[46:45] And in the film, you have footage of him at like a shooting range.
Speaker 1:
[46:49] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[46:50] Like a bunch of other guys in Santa suits.
Speaker 1:
[46:52] They wouldn't fire him from the goddamn postal service because they're afraid he's going to come back and kill everybody.
Speaker 2:
[46:58] Oh, my goodness. I was dying during that. But I cried during your documentary. I literally cried at the SantaCon movie because it ended up being like a really heartfelt, touching story about friendship and friends throughout the decades. And I was like bringing booking you to come on this show to talk with me and my best friend for a million years. And it was just like it was just like very touching. Like you really brought a full circle around to this group of friends and what they started. And I think it could have quickly become a capitalism is bad. And like this is the these are the pitfalls of capitalism and and how it sort of gobbles up everything and like attacks everything that's pure. But I think that's like a really obvious read. Like I don't think you need to tell us that. And I think it was it ended up being not to like spoil it for people. But there was this really shocking surprising emotional thread through it that not to do any spoilers, but that was really unexpected for me. I appreciate that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[47:59] So surprising for you as well. So yeah.
Speaker 3:
[48:02] Yeah. I mean, you know, something happened during filming that we didn't expect that sort of played out and it's a movie at larger takes place in the 90s. We weren't really even thinking about like present day plot developments.
Speaker 2:
[48:12] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[48:13] But something happened to one of our main characters that really recontextualized everything and allowed us, I think, really make the movie about something different.
Speaker 2:
[48:22] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[48:22] You know, and it was kind of amazing and we're really glad we were able to capture that.
Speaker 2:
[48:26] But as a documentary filmmaker, you have to be ready for that, right? And being open to it is what's going to make the film great rather than good. And just taking that and using that as a part of the story just like really drove it forward in a new direction. You have to be ready for that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:
[48:41] And you also have to be cognizant about whatever emotions might be out there and how raw they might be for people involved. Because it's always a fine line about wanting to capture things without putting people out there in a way that maybe later they won't love or feel comfortable with.
Speaker 2:
[48:56] Yeah. I mean, this is like a more fun version example, but there was someone who was not on camera in this documentary who was talking about sleeping with a guy in a Santa suit and she just wanted to be in voiceover. She did not want to be shown on camera.
Speaker 1:
[49:09] Yeah, she wanted to tell her story, but not sort of be the story.
Speaker 2:
[49:13] And I'm willing to go on the record today and say that it was me.
Speaker 3:
[49:15] Yes.
Speaker 1:
[49:16] I knew it.
Speaker 3:
[49:17] Not even there. It's like we can put the name down and it's not like you know who they are. It's way funnier if you just say Anonymous Santa.
Speaker 1:
[49:25] And although there were like so many little things that just were like so they just sort of were so funny. It's super amusing. Like I remember the guy's name who shaved his beard.
Speaker 3:
[49:35] John Law.
Speaker 1:
[49:36] Yeah. And so you were like, it's him shaved beard.
Speaker 3:
[49:39] We did more than one interview with him. And in the first interview, he looks like Santa has his big beard. And then we interviewed him again and there's no beard. And I'm showing the footage people and people are like, wait, that's the same guy?
Speaker 1:
[49:48] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[49:49] Like you literally can't tell. And then they get to end the movie and you're like, I just realized that was the same guy. And he's like one of our main characters. So we had the label like, yeah, it's the same guy. He shaved his beard.
Speaker 1:
[49:59] But it like, it makes it funnier. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:
[50:01] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[50:02] It's a little bit of attitude kind of springing in.
Speaker 2:
[50:04] So we brought you on the show. I was like, we got to get Seth because SantaCon was in the headlines.
Speaker 3:
[50:08] SantaCon's in the news.
Speaker 2:
[50:09] And it's April.
Speaker 3:
[50:12] It is.
Speaker 2:
[50:13] It's not Christmas. Christmas isn't here. And SantaCon's in the news because the CEO was just brought up on fraud charges. And I wanted to talk to you about it. I wanted to do you. Are you aware of Stefan Pildes, who's allegedly misled attendees and businesses marketing SantaCon and misused the funds that were supposed to be going towards the nonprofit of SantaCon, which is supposed to be helping children?
Speaker 1:
[50:41] Kids, I think.
Speaker 3:
[50:42] Who knows? I mean, yeah, I'm aware. I mean, this is the thing about this. And this is like such a distinction that is really important to make is the original people, when they started SantaCon, it was never a business, it was never a trademark, it was never a piece of IP, it was never a brand, it was an idea. And it came of age kind of when the Internet became the Internet, as we know it, and it spread. And as it spread, people said, oh, I can start my own SantaCon. And they did. So SantaCon started popping up all over the world as the original creators would create this open, open thing that anybody could do by design. They never wanted control of it. Part of seeding-controlled world is accepting that sometimes the world will do weird things with your ideas, right?
Speaker 2:
[51:25] Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:
[51:25] And so this SantaCon and this organization and this organizer, of course, have nothing to do with the original folks who do. I just want to make sure it's very, very clear here. And so this is about the New York City SantaCon, which is, again, the biggest, the most infamous, the largest, what most people think of when they think of SantaCon. And yeah, the headlines in the press release coming from the FBI, which I guess this is the biggest thing they have to worry about these days for some reason, you know, is like, yeah, he, you know, this guy, allegedly, who created some, like, shell companies and was funneling some money. But the thing that, like, a bunch of, I was on some really funny texts with some of the original Santas after this happened. They had some really fun emojis to send me after this, you know, with all the arms up in the air, like, what the F kind of, kind of emojis going on. And, you know, one of them texted me something which is, like, super true, which is, like, there's a lot of scammy nonprofits out there. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[52:23] Yeah, a ton.
Speaker 3:
[52:23] You don't need to create shell companies and funnel money around, just pay yourself a giant salary like most of them do.
Speaker 1:
[52:28] Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3:
[52:29] And the thing that's, like, weird is, like, I don't know what this guy did or didn't do. I actually don't know him personally. I'm not going to, like, accuse him of anything. But if these allegations are true, it's like, come on, dude, just do whatever other scammy nonprofit does and pay yourself a giant salary. You don't need to go through all these machinations.
Speaker 2:
[52:44] Exactly. Yeah. I thought the same thing when I saw that. I was like, this is just such a splashy headline. This wasn't even malfeasance of an extraordinary degree.
Speaker 3:
[52:55] It's all true.
Speaker 1:
[52:56] Right. Exactly.
Speaker 2:
[52:57] Yeah. Which, I mean, honestly, the person power that it took to investigate this at the FBI must have been extraordinary.
Speaker 3:
[53:06] We're making no judgments about the FBI's priorities right now. None.
Speaker 1:
[53:09] Yeah. Everything is great.
Speaker 2:
[53:11] Kash Patel is like rolled up on a float.
Speaker 3:
[53:14] Did he? I don't want to end up on a list by even talking about him.
Speaker 2:
[53:17] But I'm already on it. So you tell me what you want me to say.
Speaker 3:
[53:20] What's the over under on him having gone to Santa Con in the past three years?
Speaker 2:
[53:24] Oh, honey. Absolutely. He was at Santa Con. No.
Speaker 1:
[53:27] Kash?
Speaker 2:
[53:28] Yes. Oh, honey.
Speaker 1:
[53:30] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[53:31] He was organizing a group.
Speaker 1:
[53:32] I mean, I'll say what I want, but I feel like if there's any debauchery going on, he's probably there, right?
Speaker 2:
[53:39] I mean, right now, I mean, they literally he's he just sued $250 million because of an article about him being wasted and missing all these meetings. And they needed like a battery ram to get through a hotel door where he was passed out.
Speaker 3:
[53:56] Most SantaCon coded FBI director since, I mean, certainly more than Mueller, probably more than Comey. Like I think this guy's, if we're going to guess, ranking FBI directors by likelihood, a guy into SantaCon, probably near the top.
Speaker 2:
[54:08] CJ, put a scale up on the screen. Yeah, I want a huge FBI director on the SantaCon. Where's Hoover on there?
Speaker 3:
[54:14] Where's all of them?
Speaker 2:
[54:15] There's the sexuality spectrum, but there's also the SantaCon.
Speaker 3:
[54:18] The SantaCon is a spectrum.
Speaker 2:
[54:21] Yeah, it's beautiful. And you know the thing about spectrums, you're on it no matter what. Yes. Even if you're all the way at one end of zero, you're still part of the spectrum. Yeah. So and that's what's beautiful about society. Really. It's the fabric of society and it's a beautiful.
Speaker 3:
[54:35] The red side of the Santa Rainbow, you know.
Speaker 2:
[54:37] And that fabric is sometimes synthetic red material.
Speaker 1:
[54:41] And it will go up in flames. It will just melt on your body.
Speaker 2:
[54:45] And someone who has been there with that level of alcohol intoxication myself, it's okay. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.
Speaker 3:
[54:54] It's okay.
Speaker 2:
[54:55] I've never been to SantaCon, but I have partied like that in my life. It's great.
Speaker 3:
[55:01] I don't know why.
Speaker 2:
[55:03] I had a blast. Really fond memories. I mean, yeah, I suppose so. St. Patrick's Day?
Speaker 3:
[55:07] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[55:07] Come on.
Speaker 3:
[55:08] Come on.
Speaker 2:
[55:09] Yeah. Where do you see SantaCon going as our resident expert on SantaCon? Like, what's next for SantaCon, right? Every year, I do feel like, at least as someone deep in his 30s, it is becoming a little-
Speaker 1:
[55:22] You're 40.
Speaker 2:
[55:23] It is becoming a little Song of Ice and Fire, where we have the two worlds colliding of the 20-year-olds from Hoboken, determined to piss themselves and get in a fight. Then we have the 30-something-year-olds who have kids, who are trying to just get through December alive. Is there going to be a civil war? What do you see on the horizon?
Speaker 3:
[55:48] What is Season 4 of Sanat Khan?
Speaker 2:
[55:50] Is it a race riot? What is it?
Speaker 3:
[55:52] That's a good question. Sanat Khan, of course, some people ask me, is this the end of Sanat Khan?
Speaker 1:
[55:58] No.
Speaker 3:
[55:58] Of course, it's an idea.
Speaker 1:
[55:59] No.
Speaker 3:
[56:01] First of all, you ask a thousand Sanas at Sanat Khan, who's the head of this? I don't know.
Speaker 2:
[56:06] They don't even know it that they had to pay to a non-profit to go.
Speaker 1:
[56:10] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[56:10] They don't even know. It's a risk band. It's a party. Who cares? If anything, it probably makes it a little more transgressive, like, we're going to the scammy thing, we're going to the con. We're all watching the documentaries about cons. We love this stuff. It's like your front row seat at the con at the scam right there. Absolutely. If you're a kid coming in from Hoboken, you're like, oh, what, $5 for my risk band isn't going to this thing that I was told it was? You never read the fine print. Who cares?
Speaker 1:
[56:35] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[56:36] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[56:36] Has SantaCon been trademarked?
Speaker 3:
[56:38] Well, when the original creators created it, it was designed to be this big open thing. Now, I think there's, you know, don't quote me on this, but I think there are certain, like, organizations and groups and local, perhaps the New York one, who have their own trademarks associated with this. And I am sure that some of them have attempted to own various aspects of this. But when these guys created it, the whole point was to make it open. Yeah. Like it's an idea. Or also, it was never something that was supposed to repeat itself. It was like a company society would create these like one off things. And then, all right, the next year, they decided to do it again. And the next year, they decided to do it again. And the next thing you know, it kind of goes viral. And like other people are doing it. And it was sort of like this proto-flash mob when they started. Like the term flash mob didn't even exist. That's basically what it was.
Speaker 2:
[57:23] I want to ask you about Coachella. Have you been following what's happening with Coachella at all? If not, I'm happy to do a quick breakdown.
Speaker 3:
[57:29] Fill me in, my friend.
Speaker 2:
[57:30] So similar to Burning Man, similar to SantaCon, Coachella was once this pure thing that then got corrupted by the wrong, one of the wrong type of person goes, and then it becomes that type of group of people go, and a lot of influencers go, and it's now become a little bit of like oversaturated late stage capitalistic hellscape, right? We're like putting branding on branding on branding, and it's supposed to be-
Speaker 3:
[57:56] This branding brought to you by this brand.
Speaker 1:
[57:58] Exactly.
Speaker 2:
[58:00] And it was supposed to just be like this fun concert out in the desert, and now it's become just like ridiculous, and brands are flying influencers out, and so this past year, and it's still kind of ongoing, these influencers that were flown out were getting really ragged on for like taking the free seat from Starbucks to go and do the Coachella thing. And I do feel like the coolness and the exclusivity of Coachella-
Speaker 1:
[58:28] It's gone.
Speaker 2:
[58:28] Is gone.
Speaker 1:
[58:29] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[58:29] No one wants to go now.
Speaker 3:
[58:30] It was probably like 10 years ago.
Speaker 2:
[58:31] It was probably like 10 years ago, but now it's like, I don't even think the influencers are going to want to go because so many people got shit for it this year.
Speaker 3:
[58:39] Well, when these things- the problem is like the modicum of cool that people are typically going to capitalize on, you got to keep that spark alive somehow. When you totally put that blanket on the fire, which is what happens with all of these things, eventually brands don't even want to be a part of it, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[58:57] It just becomes so oversaturated. It becomes too available. There's no exclusivity anymore.
Speaker 1:
[59:03] It's just so watered down at this point that it's just not cool anymore. I mean, I can't tell you how many times, like just randomly scrolling on social media to see like, and it's always like the same kind of person, come with me and see, you know, while I do, you know, this is my clothing haul for Coachella and you know, and it's.
Speaker 3:
[59:23] But what is like, New York Magazine has a thing where it's like the backlash and then the backlash.
Speaker 2:
[59:27] Your white girl voice is so good. Come with me.
Speaker 3:
[59:32] New York Magazine has a thing where it's like, like the backlash and the backlash and the backlash. I think we're in like the backlash era of Coachella and maybe in a couple of years, there'll be the backlash and the backlash and it becomes so uncool, it becomes cool again.
Speaker 2:
[59:44] But I also think the reason why SantaCon has been impervious to that uncool cancellation is because to go is kind of cringe.
Speaker 3:
[59:52] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[59:52] Like to do this is kind of cringe. The concept of it is you're already going in without any self-consciousness. People are going to Coachella because they want to look cool. They want to be like, oh my God. And same with Burning Man where they're like painting their faces. They kind of want to appear like a badass.
Speaker 3:
[60:12] It also costs a lot of money to go to Coachella. And SantaCon, you can get a Santa suit for like 15 bucks on Amazon and a path train ride from Hoboken yourself.
Speaker 1:
[60:20] Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:
[60:22] Like it is still and it does kind of hold that thread of the original concept, which is like we are, there is this anarchistic sort of element to it.
Speaker 3:
[60:33] You know, I will say like the folks involved with the modern SantaCon who I did deal with, were all awesome and like super nice. And a lot of them were kind of people who've been there for a long time. And, you know, we're just like kind of resilient in their desire to have fun, understanding that the world is endlessly shitting on what they do, you know. And I got to give props to people who are like, we're going to do this thing no matter what the late night comics say, no matter what Weekend Update says about us, no matter what, you know, they know everybody hates SantaCon. And to still do it, it's like, it's kind of cool. I think we do that.
Speaker 2:
[61:10] People have always said that about my podcast career. And I really, and it is something that makes me feel a strong affinity for SantaCon. Could you tell us maybe some of the most horrific debauchery things that you uncovered about SantaCon? Stories, maybe from the past, present, future SantaCons?
Speaker 3:
[61:29] I mean, the real joy of making this film was going through all this archival footage from the early SantaCons in the 90s. And the bulk of the film takes place in these four years, 95 through 98, in four different cities, as the original creators start SantaCon in San Francisco and then bring it to other cities one year at a time in each city, like the Johnny Appleseeds of Mayhem spreading it across the land.
Speaker 2:
[61:50] Yeah.
Speaker 3:
[61:51] So they go from San Francisco to Portland to LA., end up in New York in 98. And that's kind of the last year. A lot of the original creators went, was 98 in New York. Oh, by then, that was the first year I was in New York. And then by then, it just sort of was spreading, had a life of its own. But some of the stuff we caught on camera, which you saw in the film, I'm like watching the footage, I'm like, wait, wait, what was that? Like, they're just walking on Fifth Avenue and they run into Michael Moore for some reason. And Michael Moore thinks they're protesting consumerism and Christmas and starts leading them in these like anti-capitalist Christmas carols that he's like improvising on the spot. And it's hilarious and yes, kind of cringe and kind of beautiful and amazing.
Speaker 2:
[62:29] Where's Michael Moore?
Speaker 3:
[62:30] Yeah, it's like, just Michael Moore just manifest for some reason. It's like you say his name four times in 1990s.
Speaker 2:
[62:38] Yeah, that's what he was like.
Speaker 3:
[62:40] And it's like, that's Michael Moore. And then the 1998 New York sequence, the very first year it was in New York, it kind of culminates with several of the Santas, including our main character, John, climbing the Brooklyn Bridge as Santa, like with the Shadow of the World Trade Center behind him in this deathifying stunt that it's like, I don't know what the statute of limitations is in climbing the Brooklyn Bridge, but he had no problem talking about it.
Speaker 2:
[63:04] It's over, it's over.
Speaker 3:
[63:06] As a legal expert.
Speaker 2:
[63:07] It's definitely not 30 years.
Speaker 3:
[63:08] No, no, yeah. So it's good. It's pre-911. You could do whatever you want back then. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[63:14] Well, thank you for coming on the show and talking to us about SantaCon. Any other groups that you're really gonna, you've already done Action Park. You've already just did SantaCon.
Speaker 3:
[63:23] I mean, you can still see Class Action Park of mine on HMX, How to Rob a Bank, another movie I made on Netflix, SantaCon hopefully coming soon. You can check out Info at santacondoc.com. And honestly, if anybody's got leads about cool stuff, knowing what I'm into, reach out to me.
Speaker 2:
[63:37] Yeah. I think people have gotten a sense a bit about what you're focused on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[63:42] What's the best way?
Speaker 3:
[63:44] You can find me on social, Seth Porges. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[63:46] Next one, just like a request for a documentary. If you could do Pablo Escobar's zoo.
Speaker 3:
[63:52] Oh, we've got the hippos.
Speaker 2:
[63:53] The hippos.
Speaker 3:
[63:53] The hippos.
Speaker 2:
[63:54] I think that could be really cool. If you want to go global, I think that could be an interesting angle because the hippos are now destroying the ecosystem. But there's all this tourism.
Speaker 1:
[64:04] And I love this story so much. Yeah. The people in the area are now using the hippos as a way to make money. Hey, do you want to come see Pablo's hippos? Here they go. But the hippos are wreaking havoc. They're killing people. And apparently their scat is super toxic to the area. I would love to know.
Speaker 3:
[64:24] In terms of animals, the mess with hippo is at the bottom of the list. Do not mess with hippos. Yeah, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:
[64:29] I know. But I kind of love them.
Speaker 3:
[64:31] Yeah.
Speaker 1:
[64:32] I do. I'm obsessed with them.
Speaker 3:
[64:33] They're hungry, hungry.
Speaker 1:
[64:34] Yeah. They're not carnivores. They'll just kill you because they want to.
Speaker 3:
[64:39] Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[64:39] Yeah. Which I kind of love.
Speaker 2:
[64:40] It's so beautiful. It's such a great trait to have in our town.
Speaker 1:
[64:44] I feel like my next tattoo is going to be a hippo with an open mouth. I love them.
Speaker 2:
[64:48] We're going to take a break. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you, Seth.
Speaker 1:
[64:51] It's good to see you.
Speaker 3:
[64:52] Thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
[64:53] We'll be right back. Welcome back to Brief Recess. This is Tales from the DMs. These are all the weird, freaky, nasty things y'all send me in my DMs.
Speaker 1:
[65:02] Everybody remember what I always say while Michael is a lawyer. He's not your lawyer, so you should probably get your own. OK, so sorry, this is a review from I Need More Sleep. Same. This pod is like a brunch hangover. You really can't speak, but you enjoy sitting there with your faves, listening to them talk-ish as they keep you updated on the latest. Mélissa and Michael are hilarious and definitely worth a listen. Thanks, I Need More Sleep.
Speaker 2:
[65:33] Thank you so much. I had a brunch hangover. It's about 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:
[65:38] OK. You still remember it, so it's some hangover.
Speaker 2:
[65:40] Bad. So it was when I was dating the coach of my swim team, where I was then asked to leave the swim team and stayed over. It was the first time I stayed over at his house and we had just been hooking up. I stayed over at his house and I didn't sleep at all because I just wasn't used to sleeping in like a stranger's bed.
Speaker 1:
[66:00] OK.
Speaker 2:
[66:00] I think it was like and it was very, I forget the neighborhood, I want to say it was like Flatiron or something. Anyway, we go to brunch the next day. He tells me that he's struggling with religion.
Speaker 1:
[66:12] What's the struggle?
Speaker 2:
[66:13] Proceeds to break up with me at Friedman's on 30th Street in the Flower District on 6th Avenue.
Speaker 1:
[66:20] How many drinks in?
Speaker 2:
[66:21] A couple mimosas in. He decides to tell me he has a Catholic relapse and is feeling guilty about-
Speaker 1:
[66:28] All the gay sex?
Speaker 2:
[66:29] All the gay stuff. I was like, we are deep in our 20s. This isn't like high school anymore. And now, and let me tell you, I haven't been back to Friedman since.
Speaker 1:
[66:41] Well, he ruined it for you.
Speaker 2:
[66:42] Yeah. His name was Neil. I'm willing to go on the record. I'm not scared. I'm not scared of someone who can swim up to 15 seconds.
Speaker 1:
[66:50] N-E-A-L or N-E-I-L? Which Neil?
Speaker 2:
[66:52] N-E-A-L. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:
[66:55] Interesting.
Speaker 2:
[66:55] He spelled it weird and he was fucking freak.
Speaker 1:
[66:58] Yeah. There you go.
Speaker 2:
[66:59] Get bent.
Speaker 1:
[67:01] Here's another email. I think it's funny. I tried real hard to listen to the PETA episode. I tried fast-forwarding through some of it and finally had to give up. I can't handle the Catholic guilt. The description of what is done to animals gives me I am no longer Catholic, but the guilt never leaves.
Speaker 2:
[67:19] The guilt of what she's done to animals?
Speaker 1:
[67:21] The guilt. There's a lot of Catholic guilt.
Speaker 2:
[67:23] Over?
Speaker 1:
[67:24] Anything.
Speaker 2:
[67:24] Over like a cheeseburger?
Speaker 1:
[67:25] Everything.
Speaker 2:
[67:26] Oh.
Speaker 1:
[67:26] Everything. All of it.
Speaker 2:
[67:28] I should know better because my swim coach.
Speaker 1:
[67:31] Well, there you go.
Speaker 2:
[67:32] I was the victim of a dumping because of it.
Speaker 1:
[67:35] So they go on to say, I did start donating to PETA. I'm sure they really appreciate it. The episode made me realize they aren't the crazy organization I thought they were. But any communication from them goes straight in the trash, in real life or virtual.
Speaker 2:
[67:51] Oh, that's okay.
Speaker 1:
[67:52] Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 2:
[67:53] I do the spam all the time.
Speaker 1:
[67:55] So the question is, my question is for Mélissa. Do you still wear your vintage furs after that episode? So the answer is going to be yes. I don't think I have worn them since then.
Speaker 2:
[68:07] But it's been warm.
Speaker 1:
[68:07] But it's been warm, which is why. I'm still going to wear them, but I know that I'm not going to buy any new ones, vintage or new. The reason why I'm keeping the ones that I have, one of them especially belonged to a relative of mine who passed away.
Speaker 2:
[68:26] Sentimental value.
Speaker 1:
[68:27] It has got a lot of sentimental value. No, I think it's fine, too. And I also know that I remember when she bought it, and she was so proud and so happy that I don't think that I could give it away.
Speaker 2:
[68:42] It's like karma points, right? It's like you're going to do that, but you're going to eat the coconut yogurt, you know? It's like, it can be a little bit of a swapsie. It's up to you and your own personal sort of values, right? I am going to continue wearing like leather boots.
Speaker 1:
[68:59] Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that she went on. I have one that was gifted to me and I don't know how I feel about it after listening to a little bit of the episode that I could stomach. I've learned so much from listening to Brief Recess. Thank you so much for keeping us informed and entertained. Thanks, Karen. So yeah, as I say, Karen, do what feels right for you. If you don't feel right wearing it.
Speaker 2:
[69:18] Who gifted it to you, Karen? Write in and let us know. Was it your swim coach? Was it, like, and it depends who gifted it to you. Does it matter? Yeah, because if it's got negative sentimental value or maybe it was beloved, right? Was it maybe your boyfriend who was at a convent because he was a religious studies student and then right when he got out, he broke up with you? Was it your swim coach who right after then broke up with you? Like, who was it? Just curious.
Speaker 1:
[69:48] Do you think, now you're a married man, do you think it is in poor form to keep an item that an ex gave you?
Speaker 2:
[69:59] It depends how valuable it is. If it was like a Rolex, I'm keeping that shit.
Speaker 1:
[70:04] Right. Well, I mean, what if it's just something that you happen to like? Forget about the person who gave it to you.
Speaker 2:
[70:11] I think it's fine.
Speaker 1:
[70:11] Yeah, no, me too.
Speaker 2:
[70:12] Because when it comes to exes, there's already, especially with me, there's so much beef, there is so much bad with ex that if there's just one little shrapnel piece that has something positive to it, hang on to it.
Speaker 1:
[70:31] Okay.
Speaker 2:
[70:31] Hold it close because there's going to be-
Speaker 1:
[70:34] Do you have beef with most of your exes?
Speaker 2:
[70:36] Not that we have like live beef where I'm like, oh, I got to take this.
Speaker 1:
[70:41] So the beef is dormant?
Speaker 2:
[70:42] But there's so much- nothing has ever ended on good terms for me. There's none of this conscious uncoupling in my life.
Speaker 1:
[70:48] No.
Speaker 2:
[70:49] I'm Mediterranean stock. Like it gets vicious.
Speaker 1:
[70:53] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[70:53] Right? So it's scorched earth.
Speaker 1:
[70:55] I gotcha.
Speaker 2:
[70:56] So if there is some something positive, like a nice sentimental value thing, do you have anything sentimental from exes that you've kept? I can't think of anything because most of them were deadbeats who never gave me anything.
Speaker 1:
[71:08] There you go. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
[71:09] Thank you. They were riding my coattails.
Speaker 1:
[71:11] Exactly. Remember what I said the other day? Hobosexuals friends. That is what that is. That is what that is. It's the guy who's driving you to work in your car and then going home to smoke weed and watch SportsCenter all day.
Speaker 2:
[71:27] On your Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1:
[71:28] Yes, that guy.
Speaker 2:
[71:30] I had to explain to Brad what SportsCenter was because I was like, we didn't know what it was either. Yeah. It sounds like a hockey rink. It sounds like a place with the Crane game. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:
[71:42] Well, you never win?
Speaker 2:
[71:44] I win.
Speaker 1:
[71:44] Do you really?
Speaker 2:
[71:45] I am very good at that game. You know what's really interesting?
Speaker 1:
[71:47] The kids who get stuck in that. How is that happening? Am I wrong?
Speaker 3:
[71:52] Like physically stuck in it? Yes.
Speaker 2:
[71:54] You've never seen kids.
Speaker 1:
[71:56] I'm not the only person who's seen that.
Speaker 2:
[71:58] Send that to me.
Speaker 1:
[71:59] Am I the only person who's seen that?
Speaker 3:
[72:02] I thought you meant like stuck like trying over and over.
Speaker 2:
[72:04] Like when you get your hand stuck in the vending machine.
Speaker 1:
[72:06] No, as a kid. I swear to God.
Speaker 3:
[72:11] All right.
Speaker 2:
[72:13] Thank you for watching. This is Brief Recess. I'm Michael Foote.
Speaker 1:
[72:16] I'm Mélissa Malebranche.
Speaker 2:
[72:17] We'll see you in court.
Speaker 1:
[72:18] Not me.
Speaker 2:
[72:21] This has been an Exactly Right production recorded at iHeart Studios, hosted by me, Michael Foote, and me, Mélissa Malebranche.
Speaker 1:
[72:28] Our producer is CJ Ferroni.
Speaker 2:
[72:29] This episode was edited by Nicholas Galucci.
Speaker 1:
[72:32] Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain, and our guest booker is Patrick Hotner.
Speaker 2:
[72:36] Our theme song was composed by Tom Breyfogle with artwork from Charlotte Delarue and Manessa Lilac, with photography by Brad Obono.
Speaker 1:
[72:43] Brief Recess is executive produced by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer.
Speaker 2:
[72:48] You can find me on Instagram at Department of Redundancy Department, or on TikTok at Michael Foote.
Speaker 1:
[72:53] And I'm on both Instagram and TikTok as Mélissa Malebranche.
Speaker 2:
[72:56] Got legal questions? Reach out at briefrecessatexactlyrightmedia.com. Listen to Brief Recess on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, wear a podcast with video. Search for Brief Recess on YouTube.