Garage Monologues with Jay Swanson

01:00:00.01] - Speaker 1
And then this leads me into a very darker question about, are humans really good? You know, look at
children. What is their natural behavior that we teach out of them? It's selfish.
[01:00:10.18] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:00:10.23] - Speaker 3
Right?
[01:00:11.08] - Speaker 1
So are we just trying to protect ourselves from who we really are?
[01:00:16.21] - Speaker 2
Grudge monologue. Grudge monologue.
[01:00:19.22] - Speaker 1
James Swanson. Grudge monologue.
[01:00:23.03] - Speaker 2
One of the statistics that consistently blows my mind is the ratio of people who watch or listen to the
show versus how many of them are actually subscribed to it. There are so many people listening right
now that may even think that they are subscribed and are unaware that the algorithm is just kind of
randomly feeding it to them because they've showed interest in it before. If you'd like to support the
show, it's one of the simplest and easiest ways that you can do so by hitting that little subscribe
button, and it lets the algorithm know that you are interested, you're along for the ride. And if you'll do
that, I promise I'm going to do the best I can to continue to bring the most interesting stories I can
from Paris, both from my friends and beyond, to keep that link alive for those of you that love the city,
may want to live here one day, or may already live here. Thanks for watching. Welcome back to
Garage Monologues, the least accurate name a podcast could ever possibly have. Look at the 4 of us.
[01:01:11.11] - Speaker 3
We are not in a garage, and it is not a monologue.
[01:01:13.24] - Speaker 2
I mean, it feels a little garagey today.
[01:01:15.13] - Speaker 1
It is a little garagey.
[01:01:17.07] - Speaker 2
We're doing the, the 4-Up. This is a new experience for all of us combined today, but I kind of thought
it'd be really fun over the course of this season because it's a season about transitions and Big life
changes and really ambitious projects across the board between running all the major marathons,
doing a full stand-up show in French when you don't speak French, and starting a new business after
already having one business under your belt and a third career.
[01:01:42.18] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:01:42.29] - Speaker 2
In an industry that doesn't usually welcome women in the first place. I think it's gonna be a really
interesting season altogether, and so I thought it'd be really fun if we got together and caught up once
per round of episodes. Just to see how everybody's doing. And so these guys could get to know each
other a little bit, because even if they're on screen with me, doesn't mean they get to hang out
together. So this is my, my cheeky way of forcing them to all become friends. Tamara is the, as the
most recent addition to Paris, because everybody like— actually, so you've been in Paris for how long?
6 months?
[01:02:11.16] - Speaker 4
Yeah, about 6 months.
[01:02:12.24] - Speaker 2
Yeah. Jane, how long have you been in Paris?
[01:02:14.22] - Speaker 1
Uh, it's coming up to 21 years.
[01:02:16.12] - Speaker 2
21 years. Okay, I was gonna guess 20.
[01:02:18.12] - Speaker 4
Ooh la la.
[01:02:19.05] - Speaker 2
And Paul's been here for what, 16 years?
[01:02:22.28] - Speaker 3
17.
[01:02:23.09] - Speaker 2
17 years. Wow, I'm 1 year under on all my guesses so far. For Tamara, he's new. Between, you could,
between, uh, life, comedy, setting up a business, romantic relationships with French, you guys are all
in it. You have a lot of overlap. What would you tell Tamara that you wish you knew when you first got
to Paris?
[01:02:40.20] - Speaker 4
Oh gosh, that's great. I like that.
[01:02:42.20] - Speaker 1
That's cool. What would I— I feel like when you move somewhere, you, of course, you want to involve
yourself in the culture, but It's actually very okay and worked in my benefit to be different and not try
to be French, but to love and appreciate some of the values of my French friends.
[01:03:01.13] - Speaker 4
I agree. I like that. Yeah, it's something about comedy that's really fantastic. You know, people talk
about it being like therapeutic and laughter is like medicine, but I think in comedy it's for us that it's
really healthy too. Yeah, because it— you have to know who you are, and it is an interesting challenge
to be like It's tempting.
[01:03:19.11] - Speaker 1
Exactly.
[01:03:19.22] - Speaker 4
Like, remember when Madonna moved to England and she was like, hello, what's your name,
governor? And everybody's like, Madonna, what are you doing?
[01:03:26.08] - Speaker 2
She did.
[01:03:27.09] - Speaker 4
She put on a British accent and everybody was like, Madonna, what are you doing? Oh really?
[01:03:32.07] - Speaker 3
I don't—
[01:03:32.24] - Speaker 4
It's an easy thing. We're pack animals, right? So there is this draw, this magnetic pull to kind of behave
in a way that makes you fit into the tribe easier. But when you're an artist or a creator or a thinking
person, a lot of times you're like, no, wait a minute, my clay is hardened and I like the vase. Yeah.
[01:03:50.29] - Speaker 3
I have no advice. I hate people giving advice. I'm hitting 40 this year and I'm fed up of these people
online on their carousel Instagram. I'm 50 and here's what I would tell my 30-year-old self.
[01:04:05.17] - Speaker 2
Number 1, don't care what other people think, blah, blah, blah.
[01:04:09.01] - Speaker 3
And it's like, All this advice, I feel like, can only come from if you've lived through the thing that you've
done, right?
[01:04:15.11] - Speaker 1
Absolutely.
[01:04:15.21] - Speaker 3
So my advice to people moving to Paris is don't listen to advice that people that already live here,
because you'll have your own journey. Paris has changed since I first moved. I could give advice to
somebody who moved here in 2009 now, which was me. There's a lot of posts like that, like, I've just
run my first marathon, here are the top lessons I learned.
[01:04:31.06] - Speaker 4
If you're about to—
[01:04:31.28] - Speaker 3
no, you're not. You can't. I just had a child, here's what you should do if you— no.
[01:04:36.10] - Speaker 4
I agree.
[01:04:37.13] - Speaker 3
Stop giving advice, life advice to people who haven't gone through the thing that you've gone through,
'cause in order to give advice and to understand the advice, you need to have gone through it anyway.
[01:04:46.17] - Speaker 2
But that's what you're saying. You went through it. You lived here. You moved here. You had a kid
here. You've done all those things. Why can't you give the advice to other people?
[01:04:52.28] - Speaker 3
Because if I do, it's like— 'cause before you have a kid, everyone who has a kid is like, oh, this is what's
gonna happen.
[01:04:58.14] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:04:58.27] - Speaker 3
And then you go, oh, oh, okay, and you take it on. 'Cause I found this with marathon training, And I
found it with having a kid, very similar thing. It's like when you're training for a marathon, like, here's
what's going to happen, here's what your body's going to do, you're going to hit the wall at 30, blah.
And you go, all right, you take the information in, but it means nothing when it actually happens. You
cannot understand setting up a business in France. You can be like, here's what it's going to be like.
But when you're in it and you're at the INPI signing up for your— like, figuring out whether your brand
exists or it doesn't, like, you can't—
[01:05:27.26] - Speaker 2
The frustration of it, sure. Maybe you can't prepare somebody for like, this is going to be hell and
you're not going to sleep. and you're gonna wish you had never done this at certain points. Yeah, sure.
But you can be like, yeah, you, you have to feed a child, so make sure you have a bottle.
[01:05:39.17] - Speaker 3
You know, that just comes— it's like you have to run the next mile. It's that you— it's a natural thing.
[01:05:43.22] - Speaker 1
Let me play devil's advocate, because I'm with you, because everybody always wants to tell you how
they did something, and your journey is always different. But I think there are elements of things that
would have helped me, um, had somebody have told me Especially coming from North America where
we do business different. North America is a commercial market economy. France is the opposite. It's
a social and relationship economy. So you can't pay people to do business with you if they don't like
you and they don't trust you, which comes in time. They don't care how much you're gonna spend.
[01:06:16.11] - Speaker 4
Yeah, I like that so much.
[01:06:17.20] - Speaker 1
So that— I wish somebody would have said, listen, just so you know, you can't throw money at people
here. It's not gonna work.
[01:06:24.19] - Speaker 4
That's great. I love that. Also, I think the nature of advice has changed. Before, advice was like, ooh,
look, I found some advice. I better listen to it, almost like prescriptively. But now advice is like
omnipresent, and the qualifier to actually being labeled advice is gone. So now advice for me is
almost like walking through a used clothing store. There's a lot of shit.
[01:06:47.28] - Speaker 1
This is so true. Everybody has a damn opinion about everything.
[01:06:52.13] - Speaker 4
But I might find something where I go, Hey, this looks nice on me.
[01:06:55.19] - Speaker 2
I like this.
[01:06:56.13] - Speaker 3
Here's my advice about advice. No, I'm just—
[01:07:00.14] - Speaker 2
Don't listen to anybody.
[01:07:02.11] - Speaker 3
Yeah, exactly. Let me tell you. No, I'm just being pedantic about it. I moved here already speaking
French and having a French girlfriend and already immediately having a job in France in French with
French people. So it's like a very— it didn't feel like I don't— when I hear, mostly Americans, because
that's most of my circle, like coming over and feeling frustrated that they couldn't integrate or they
can't find French friends and stuff like that. I had the complete opposite experience. I had like too
many French friends. I was like, I need, I need more of my people just, just for, just for a minute. Like,
sure, I'm tired of kissing everyone at a house party. Hello, goodbye, happy birthday at the end. And
then you leave and you're like, cool. And then they start a new conversation. I'm like, no, I was leaving.
[01:07:46.14] - Speaker 1
Let me leave.
[01:07:47.16] - Speaker 4
You know what I'm tired of is kissing the wrong person and thinking I'm doing it right. Yeah, exactly.
You know, I'm like, oh, I kissed a guy on the cheek, he acted weird. My wife's like, that was a waiter. I'm
like, I thought I was fitting in.
[01:07:59.08] - Speaker 2
But see, these are the rules, right? These are the things. And I do think that there are really helpful
points of advice, like how to get in, how to enjoy yourself here more. But that's a really good point that
now, as it goes with the information economy that we live in, right? There's just a surplus. And how do
you know who to trust? I think that now we just look at like, oh, how many followers does he have? Oh,
that qualifies him to speak. No, it doesn't. Like, he just says the— loudest, dumbest thing and people
love it. How do we even get back to a sense of, no, this is, this is good advice?
[01:08:31.10] - Speaker 4
I think it's also something that creators need to think about because the algorithm is kind of, um,
manipulating people's behavior. You get rewarded for specificity. You get rewarded for being like very
vertical down one, uh, kind of opinion. And you also get awarded for negative commentary versus
positive. If you create a negative tension, you get way more engagement.
[01:08:54.25] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:08:55.11] - Speaker 4
And I think people have to be aware of the direction that the wind is blowing you, and especially if
you're a creator of any type. If your goal is not just followers for the sake of followers, but you actually
have something that you've created, a brand, you really have to make sure that everything that you
digest goes through the filter first of, this is who I am.
[01:09:15.16] - Speaker 1
I love that.
[01:09:16.02] - Speaker 4
And do I accept it or do I not accept it?
[01:09:17.23] - Speaker 1
I love that. 'Cause it's so tempting, I think, to be performative in a way that isn't you.
[01:09:24.15] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:09:24.25] - Speaker 1
Like, I'm just not gonna dance on Instagram. Yeah.
[01:09:29.24] - Speaker 2
On TikTok, you will.
[01:09:30.25] - Speaker 1
No, but like, but I do also know if I did that and if I were talking about the Eiffel Tower and croissants
all day long, I would have a huge following. I'm a hell of a dancer. I want you to know that. So that's
not—
[01:09:42.12] - Speaker 2
I won't believe it till I see it on TikTok.
[01:09:45.23] - Speaker 1
You know, I come down to sticking with my core message, and it is deflating when you see that
actually people want to hear about ballerina flats and not other things.
[01:09:55.02] - Speaker 2
Sure.
[01:09:55.10] - Speaker 4
So, yeah.
[01:09:56.06] - Speaker 2
But that's also this— I think this is a problem that has plagued humanity ever since the printing press
and probably before, right? It's every generation has its TikTok. Like, there you can look at those
articles written back in the day about people— people don't talk to each other on the train anymore
because they're too busy reading the dang newspaper. And then again, always getting attention. You
look back hundreds of years of advertising, and it's all— it's like snake oil. It's like, what sells the best?
What is the biggest promise I can make? How do I figure this out? And we're at a place now where the
leverage is so, so high that now you can reach millions of people when you used to— that was
impossible. So now we're having to deal with, how do we filter this out in just an overwhelming sense?
[01:10:39.16] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:10:39.27] - Speaker 2
How do you guys filter it out? Like, who do you— how do you decide who you trust on the internet?
[01:10:44.11] - Speaker 4
I don't trust people on the internet. I think there was a moment I had where I'd won this competition
early on because I'm very good.
[01:10:51.18] - Speaker 2
And yeah, which competition, Tammer?
[01:10:53.12] - Speaker 4
It was called the World Series of Comedy.
[01:10:55.06] - Speaker 2
I was gonna say, was this a boxing competition?
[01:10:56.25] - Speaker 4
No, it was for comedy. And this guy said this thing to me, you know when people who are wiser than
you give you a piece of advice that you kind of don't— that keeps flowering as you get older, and then
3 years later you're like, oh my God, now I understand what it means? And he said, He's like,
congratulations, but what I wish for you is that you find your voice before your audience finds you.
And I was like, I didn't get it. And then I started, and then I went viral and got a bunch of new followers.
And I'm like, oh my God, I'm so glad I know who I am because I see comedians who get really famous
on social media, but they don't know who they are yet.
[01:11:31.20] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:11:32.07] - Speaker 4
And then when they start to then deviate and explore and experiment and find their voice, Their
audience goes, uh-uh, that's not who you are. So now they've defined who you are, and now you might
as well have a 9 to 5 because now you have a boss, right? I am cautious about who I talk to online, but
I'm also cautious to make time to talk to myself, right?
[01:11:52.08] - Speaker 2
Ultimately, like, there's— we overvalue large audiences is a really big part of it as well. So it depends
on what you're trying to sell, who you are, who you're trying to reach, what your message is. And at
some point, hopefully, maybe you get a very large audience based on who you actually are. But some
of the most impact— some of the most impactful people and brands that I've ever come across have
a very small audience, but they're speaking directly to those people in a very deep way, right? But to
your point, like, the algorithms, everything right now, because everybody's more concerned with
volume and they want eyeballs and they want those numbers, and it's very hard to know or to
measure, like, the impact you're having on anybody. Like, how impactful is this really until you fill a
room maybe, or like you get people to really do something to show up. Um, there's a real temptation
to, to pursue the most clickbaity thing you can.
[01:12:38.16] - Speaker 1
Absolutely.
[01:12:39.00] - Speaker 2
Rage bait, or to just follow the— follow— you see, oh, that works. Like, this is one of the reasons I
actually kind of hate Threads. And YouTube does this, everybody does this, but Threads is like the
lowest lift possible, so it's the easiest for this to propagate. Something goes viral and people
immediately just copy and paste it into their own thing to go viral. Maybe they change something,
maybe they don't, and now it's this this pursuit of virality, this pursuit of audience, for what?
[01:13:05.13] - Speaker 1
Oh God, there's so much to say about this. So my first business does rely on volumes of people
visiting the city, and we have to be visible. And there is this careful balance of making sure you find
the people that are looking for you and they understand what you deliver. 'Cause we did a— I'll never
forget, we did a viral post. I was so excited. It was at the Bastille Market, and I go every Sunday, and I
took a picture, a video of The beautiful wall of flowers. I shared it, it popped. I was so ecstatic. Did it
translate into anything meaningful? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary. Do you know how many
messages we had of people saying, will you ship flowers? Can I order a bouquet? So, you know, it's
like we think that these things are the Messiah, and they're absolutely not.
[01:13:55.06] - Speaker 2
No, but it's really hard when everybody around you is looking at that metric.
[01:13:58.23] - Speaker 1
Absolutely.
[01:13:59.10] - Speaker 2
Being like, oh, this got a million views, or this got whatever. And recognizing— I mean, with some
platforms that matters. If you do that on YouTube, you're making some money at least, right?
[01:14:06.29] - Speaker 1
Sure.
[01:14:07.08] - Speaker 2
But I think at the same time, to your point, what you have to choose the audience you want.
[01:14:12.20] - Speaker 1
And now we're back to what Tammer said.
[01:14:13.29] - Speaker 2
I'm sorry.
[01:14:14.18] - Speaker 1
Yeah, go, go. Making sure that you're sharing what is authentically you.
[01:14:18.08] - Speaker 4
100%. It's so important. I feel like there's a shift happening in society. I mean, interesting enough,
we're sitting at Back Market, right? Like, my generation was so crazy about hip-hop. Everything in hip-
hop was quantitative. How much do you have? And show off how much do you have. And society's
starting to change now. Now it's going, how did you get it?
[01:14:35.22] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:14:35.28] - Speaker 4
We care now because this generation has witnessed horrific behavior from the older generation. So
now they're going, how did you get it? And there's places like Back Market that are like, yeah, I care
where this came from. I care how much damage this is creating in a product form. I can't wait for that
to happen to human beings.
[01:14:52.00] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:14:52.18] - Speaker 4
Be careful who— which celebrities you follow. And I think that is happening. I think people are starting
to go, A lot of my heroes I don't respect anymore.
[01:15:00.18] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:15:00.29] - Speaker 4
A lot of people that used to be these icons in the arts are horrific people, and we're finding that out.
And I think now there is gonna be a turn towards, I care how you did this more than I care about the
quantitative side. It's the qualitative side that's coming. That's my glass half full perspective. But I
really think that economy can predict human behavior, and that seems to be where the economics are
going.
[01:15:25.13] - Speaker 2
I think that I've been thinking about this a lot with the fragmentation of fame.
[01:15:29.02] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:15:29.08] - Speaker 2
Like, that we all have in our brains.
[01:15:30.21] - Speaker 1
What does that mean?
[01:15:32.14] - Speaker 2
So, fame used to be like, for a while, the way we grew up was in a monolithic culture, right, a
monoculture. So, everybody watched the same TV, everybody watched the same movies, we all had
our Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Marilyn Monroe, whoever, that was fame, that was that person, and there
was basically like one road, well, there were a few roads to it, but they were all kind of in the same
club, and we knew what famous was. And now, You can be known by more people than have ever
heard of Marilyn Monroe, right, and be completely anonymous on the street. And so the amount of
people that you can reach today is absurd. And that, in a way, I think is a good thing. You can find a
specific audience that is into what you're into, but now we no longer share that. And so all the
trappings that came with fame the way we grew up with it are going away unless you walk into your
niche. Like, you go to a—
[01:16:23.05] - Speaker 3
Is that not because there's different— I think I feel like, 'cause there's different ways of being famous
now, whereas back in the day, who was famous? Sports people, musicians, actors.
[01:16:31.29] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:16:32.09] - Speaker 3
That's about it.
[01:16:33.22] - Speaker 2
I mean, politicians or—
[01:16:35.03] - Speaker 3
Yeah, politicians as well.
[01:16:36.11] - Speaker 2
But at least that you'd spot on the street.
[01:16:39.06] - Speaker 3
But they will still, that still happens. So if you're in a film, if you're a famous actor or a famous sports
person, you will still be known worldwide.
[01:16:48.26] - Speaker 2
Potentially, but I think that that's, as attention fragments, so this is where it comes down to, right? that
you would have been more universally known as an actor if everybody saw the TV show you were in.
But now fewer and fewer people are watching that show. There are some shows that still pop off.
Yeah, but it's fewer, right? Or maybe it's more into— I don't know. There's just more people.
[01:17:08.11] - Speaker 3
There are more larger people. Like what you're saying is like, you know, if MrBeast walks down the
street, yeah, you know, he might get mobbed by 15-year-olds because he's, you know, very famous for
young kids. My mum would have no idea who he is.
[01:17:20.05] - Speaker 2
I mean, so many people, but that's even our age.
[01:17:21.26] - Speaker 3
But because he's a new— like, we're all doing something that didn't really exist back in, you know, like
20 years ago before social media, basically.
[01:17:29.06] - Speaker 2
So there's like social media famous, which now you have like Hot Tua and like the, you know, like you
can just pop off, go viral, make a podcast. Yeah. Have your moment. I don't know how A-list celebrity
is going to work in the future.
[01:17:40.18] - Speaker 3
I think as long as they're making movies and—
[01:17:42.17] - Speaker 2
Yeah, but I— but fewer movies are getting made. Fewer good movies are getting made. I think to your
point about people respecting the arts less, part of it's also that Netflix and all these other streaming
services are just making content. They're not making Films that make you feel anything, that make
you question anything. There's nothing impactful.
[01:17:59.19] - Speaker 4
It's all business objectives. There's no communication or artistic objectives.
[01:18:04.22] - Speaker 2
Well, then this thing— the objective is retention, but you're still gonna get like someone like Tom
Holland.
[01:18:10.16] - Speaker 3
Everyone knows who Tom Holland is. Sure, but he's only been around for a couple of years because,
because of movies. Yeah, I think movie stars will always have that. Like, you can't go to an island in
the Pacific and on holiday, 'cause everyone there knows who you are. But I think they're the only ones
anymore, 'cause even like music, I started to realize as I was getting older, like music is for young
people. Like, I feel like you get to an age, maybe it changes, but I feel like after a certain age, I was just
like, I'm not listening to any new music. I'm just listening to all the stuff that I loved up until I was
maybe like 28, 29. I think from like I'm 30, I'll hear new music, but that it will never—
[01:18:45.17] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:18:45.27] - Speaker 3
Like I'm still listening to the stuff that I was listening to It's formative. Yeah. And then when a Billie
Eilish comes out, I'm like, what? I've never heard of this person.
[01:18:53.08] - Speaker 4
You get nostalgia attached to it, too. It's a big effect. It shows you human beings are such feeling
creatures. The biggest flop in marketing history was the Coca-Cola case study, where they asked
people, does the new flavor taste better? And they all said, absolutely, it tastes better. But nobody
remembered to ask, how would you feel if we took the old flavor away? And what they took away is
memories of them having their kid try Coke for the first time, or going to the Dodger game when they
were— their grandfather took them because Coke has always been there, and the nostalgia is so
powerful.
[01:19:24.11] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:19:24.13] - Speaker 4
But I think fame has changed. Like, the algorithm has taught me that, like, it— the way the algorithm
works, right, is at first it sends to 200 people to test your engagement. If your engagement is high,
then it goes to 2,000, then it goes to 20,000, 200,000, 2 million, and on and on and on. And it's like a
dartboard. The, the first 200, those people know me, they like me, All the comments section, super
positive. 2,000, still positive. 20,000, still positive. 200,000, starting to get weird. 2 million, there are
really mean people. Oh my God. In the comments section.
[01:19:54.15] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:19:54.27] - Speaker 4
And what it tells me is fame, we've always treated like an on-off switch, and we should treat it like a
dimmer. You should be able to go, that's enough, I'm full of fame, and I don't wanna eat anymore
'cause I don't wanna become famously obese. I don't wanna have too much fame. And we see it when
people have too much fame, they distort, they behave differently. And I think we've always treated
fame like just on/off, and I think we shouldn't. Even money, there are people who are financially
obese, and there should be a more like, you're not helping society by giving your taxes, society's
helping you to not be weird. Stay a human being, because if you keep just making money, money,
money, look at Elon Musk, you wanna be like that? You wanna act like that guy?
[01:20:34.23] - Speaker 1
But don't, I mean, this is what we do best, sadly, is we overconsume everything.
[01:20:40.12] - Speaker 4
100%.
[01:20:41.11] - Speaker 1
And how do we, you know, I guess this is the big human condition that we're trying to protect
ourselves from. And then this leads me into a very darker question about, are humans really good?
You know, look at children. What is their natural behavior that we teach out of them? It's selfish.
[01:21:00.05] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:21:00.09] - Speaker 3
Right?
[01:21:00.23] - Speaker 1
So are we just trying to protect ourselves from who we really are?
[01:21:06.04] - Speaker 2
Well, and kids are also, they, they They're just little bundles of need until they're able to walk on their
own.
[01:21:10.15] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:21:10.23] - Speaker 2
But I also think culturally there's a social Darwinism there to some extent where it's not that humans
at their base level are overconsumers. I think there are a lot of human cultures and civilizations that
had a very nice equilibrium with their environment. I think that the issue is that in competition, the
overconsumption Like the production of more goods, the ability to produce more weapons, to
produce more people, to produce more food. Like that cycle is self-feeding and it ends up eating the
cultures next to it that are peaceful.
[01:21:44.25] - Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
[01:21:45.08] - Speaker 2
Like basically a warmaking culture is going to crush a peace-loving culture. Hopefully not every time,
but I think what we're left with after thousands and thousands of years of human history is ultimately
people that are really good at making a lot of stuff so they can use that stuff to crush other people
and take their stuff. And they make more stuff. And so I think it's a replicating thing. I don't know that
it's at our base nature as humans, but I do think at least culturally we've selected for that over the
course of time. I don't think the people are bad. I think one of the things that I like—
[01:22:11.21] - Speaker 1
Well, you're not— I'm not saying that humanity is bad, but we have this tendency—
[01:22:14.23] - Speaker 2
Jane, this is the hot take you're coming in with? This is humanity is bad?
[01:22:18.01] - Speaker 1
No, but we have— we don't— we have a tendency to overconsume things, including people. And then
that brings us back to Instagram, and then we feel that because you've generously shared things, now
we have the right to know all about your private life. Or now we have the right to come in like a fly at a
picnic and be negative in your comments. You know, and it's instead of just ourselves controlling our
behavior, I try to control what I consume and not just doom scroll. I try to look at content that makes
me feel good about myself.
[01:22:52.16] - Speaker 4
That's great.
[01:22:53.12] - Speaker 1
And that's hard, 'cause we get—
[01:22:55.15] - Speaker 2
Yeah, you're geared to want the negative, yeah.
[01:22:57.08] - Speaker 1
Yeah, of course.
[01:22:57.22] - Speaker 4
We're used to, I think TV taught us to digest entertainment passively, and social media's more
proactive. And I think where that takes energy to be proactive and make decisions with your eyes
wide open. But to your point, I think this selfish behavior is not our, that's not in our original DNA.
We're an empathetic society. Like, there's actually this great video online called empathetic society
and how we're hardwired to be helpful. There's a thing called reciprocal exchange where if I do
something for you, you feel the need to do something nice. That's why you should never say, no
problem. You should always say, I know you'd do the same for me.
[01:23:38.04] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:23:38.09] - Speaker 4
And then you get future credit. Like, as a, as an experiment, my senior year in Sweden at my university,
we sent 50 holiday cards to perfect strangers. We got 27 back from perfect strangers. Reciprocal
exchange. People who said, I don't know them, but they sent me a card, I'll send them a card.
[01:23:55.09] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:23:55.24] - Speaker 4
And I think that's what we're hardwired for. But, you know, freaking capitalism and people trying to
make money over and over and over with no limitations, on/off versus a dim, those people are the
ones who've manipulated our behavior. Even soap operas come from Tide. It's a marketing company
that was making content for housewives in the '50s. So content creation isn't new, and manipulation
isn't new. This is us being selfish, is an effect of marketing companies going too far and now bleeding
into our government so they can keep going further and further and further.
[01:24:30.12] - Speaker 2
Well, when you like profit margin goes up, the worse people feel, the incentive is there to make people
feel terrible, right? And that's in there. I think though, to like that point of people being good in our
society, my sister when she was here, was she talked about the stereotype of the French being rude,
and she was like, yeah, I've had bad experiences here before, but watching you walk around and live
your life here, everybody's so nice. And I couldn't, I couldn't stop myself every time we left anywhere
because everybody was so nice, just been like, it's fucking French people, man, they're so rude, right?
And she's like, I didn't say that, you know. Um, because everybody is so nice. And I think that that's
one of the reasons I actually love living in a city, even though it's loud and it's it's obnoxious, and yes,
people get in your way and on your nerves, etc., it's also full of opportunities for human connection.
And one of the arguments that I would make for making sure you speak French if you move here, or,
you know, trying to speak the language of wherever you end up living, is because those human
moments remind you like, oh yeah, people are so good.
[01:25:26.17] - Speaker 2
I was talking about that with Cooper the other day because, um, we— everywhere we go, people take
care of Cooper. Like, they're like, oh, let me bring him water.
[01:25:33.16] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:25:33.26] - Speaker 2
And like, the service staff, or even people sitting next to you, like, oh, he looks a little hot, or People are
paying attention and watching out. And I feel that with my friends, like how they take care of him. But
then to see strangers just like looking out for the vulnerable little dog next to them.
[01:25:48.19] - Speaker 4
I think that's the word. It's the word that they always tell you in the arts, be vulnerable, be vulnerable.
And people are like, that's scary. But then you go, wait, what's the effect of me being vulnerable? It
sends a message that I'm safe. Do you know what this guy said at this really interesting focus group
where instead of asking kids in a focus group, what do you think about technology, they took it all
away. It was a deprivation exercise. We took away their technology for 3 weeks and gave them $500.
And they said, you didn't take away my technology, you took away my friends. There was a young kid,
a millennial, who was like, I'm dizzy. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, I don't have a watch and
you took away my phone. I don't know what time it is ever. And I think, and the conclusion we came to
is that this is the loneliest generation that's ever existed.
[01:26:33.02] - Speaker 2
Oh God.
[01:26:33.08] - Speaker 4
We don't talk about that, but There are less kids in families, both parents work, kids are alone more
than ever. There's a reason why media needs to be social, is 'cause people are lonely, and people are
sad, and I think that's what overconsumption— overconsumption is a terrible thing, but sometimes
there's a causation, and people are sad. The colors all around us, cars used to be red, and yellow, and
green, and now they're gray, black. Art is reflecting life, we're sad right now.
[01:27:00.26] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:27:01.03] - Speaker 4
I think there's a lot of sadness in the world, and I think consumption is one way that we try to fill the
hole. So I think there's a reality to that, is to kind of start asking yourself questions, talking to yourself,
and being like, why does this make me feel good? And I think we should ask ourselves that. Like, why
does buying something new make me feel good? Are there other ways that I can feel better?
[01:27:20.11] - Speaker 1
Well, wait, wait now, guys. Let's look around, okay? There's a lot of people who are vulnerable, who are
vulnerable in need. And I see this rising tide of hatred. I see this rising tide of not wanting to support
your brother and your sister. So I'm happy to take care of Cooper anytime, but I still, you know, I get
very dismayed when I see the way we treat our fellow citoyen.
[01:27:51.24] - Speaker 4
Yeah, but I think the thing that's changed recently, the reason why you probably feel that way is
because of the amount of that story coming at us.
[01:28:00.12] - Speaker 2
Yeah, 100%.
[01:28:01.04] - Speaker 4
I think to be a good politician now has become exactly the same as it is to be a good content creator.
creator. Be more negative, um, keep saying the same thing over and over and over again, create fear,
create negative emotions, creates more engagement than being a politician that went hope. Yeah,
that, that playbook that Obama had wouldn't work today because— so negativity is more effective to
create engagement, and I think that's why. But you do have like—
[01:28:27.18] - Speaker 2
you have a Mom Donnie, right?
[01:28:29.06] - Speaker 4
Yeah, Mom Donnie's creating—
[01:28:30.10] - Speaker 2
that's a different playbook that's like very much starting to work. Actually, no, we can do good for
other people.
[01:28:35.04] - Speaker 4
100%.
[01:28:35.13] - Speaker 2
And I think that I agree with you, like, it's so much of it— and I'm sorry I interrupted.
[01:28:39.13] - Speaker 1
Did you?
[01:28:40.06] - Speaker 2
I don't know. I felt like I did for a second. But the— I will hand the microphone over to you, but just by
saying, I do think that it is that all these algorithms are geared to make us feel like shit.
[01:28:50.29] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:28:51.13] - Speaker 2
Because it also makes us feel powerless. It makes us passive. It means that we're less politically
engaged. It means we're gonna consume more.
[01:28:58.17] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:28:58.24] - Speaker 2
It means we're going to— the more isolated we are, the more we look to What— okay, I'm gonna— like,
dating apps, not made to connect you with other people. They're made to keep you on the dating app.
Like, that— yeah, they are not incentivized to actually make you happy. The more miserable and lonely
you feel, you're just gonna keep coming back and like, well, I'll spend another $5, or I'll spend $20,
whatever, on that. So the landscape around us is what's sick. And I think that we as people— I, I think
the majority of people are aware of it and pushing back.
[01:29:26.09] - Speaker 1
I hope so, because I feel like we have a buffet And everybody keeps going for the cake and then
complaining that they're fat, right?
[01:29:33.16] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:29:34.06] - Speaker 1
So we also have to be very responsible as consumers on what we tolerate.
[01:29:39.19] - Speaker 4
Agreed.
[01:29:40.04] - Speaker 2
Speaking of cake and getting fat, that's a great segue to our local bakery.
[01:29:44.07] - Speaker 1
It's been so quiet over there.
[01:29:46.04] - Speaker 3
Yeah, I don't know.
[01:29:48.17] - Speaker 2
Did we depress you?
[01:29:49.11] - Speaker 3
No, it's just these conversations. It's just like— it's like—
[01:29:51.27] - Speaker 1
Do you want me to hug?
[01:29:53.08] - Speaker 3
It just feels like every 'Cause for me, like, the algorithm, I'm a firm believer of like the algorithm is the
audience. It's like the audience is deciding, we are deciding what the algorithm is doing.
[01:30:03.24] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:30:04.02] - Speaker 3
It's not Mark Zuckerberg being like, oh, I'm gonna send this to people. If we're not watching it, no, it's
not, as you said, like it gets sent out to 200 people. If 200 people go, this is boring, then it doesn't get
sent out to anyone. I agree in the sense of like if you're, like content creating specifically, and you kind
of have to be in one lane.
[01:30:25.24] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:30:27.00] - Speaker 3
Because if you start veering from that lane, then people go, I didn't sign up for this shit. And I'm
finding that out with my running stuff. It's like, I'm, you know, all of my social media followers have
come from my comedy stuff. And then as soon as I start posting videos of like, hey, I'm doing the
marathon, whatever, no one gives a shit. It's not that no one gives a shit, it's just that like the algorithm
has sent that to my audience who have— or— and they've gone, no, not interested in it. Yeah, but then
it's like, all right, well, that's probably my problem, is that the, the thing wasn't engaging enough, or
whatever the—
[01:30:57.10] - Speaker 2
But it's also finding a new, right, a different audience, right? Like, it does segment you. I think that—
but the issue is more that they have— I mean, there's studies, right? They have geared things to skew
to the negative, to the rage, to the—
[01:31:08.17] - Speaker 1
like—
[01:31:08.19] - Speaker 3
I think that's because that's what we like.
[01:31:09.29] - Speaker 2
Yeah, and that's why they do it.
[01:31:10.29] - Speaker 3
It's not— but they, they're not doing it to then change us. We're the ones that are changing.
[01:31:15.19] - Speaker 2
They're tapping into our worst instincts, right? And it's like, it's the same thing you're saying. Like,
yeah, if we, if we're like, if you put cake on the table at a Weight Watchers, we believe you're not, you're
not helping those people. And so we're, you're basically taking advantage of, and I don't think we can
excuse that behavior just because we as humans are jumping through the hoop. It's like, right, but
you're intentionally putting that hoop there even though you know it's bad for us. Yeah, you'll make
more money.
[01:31:37.00] - Speaker 1
Paul is right. If we didn't go for the hoop, the hoop is gonna disappear.
[01:31:40.25] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:31:41.05] - Speaker 2
We're the ones who are creating this system. So basically that means that either as a society we have
to come together to choose what's better for society, or we as individuals have to all universally make
the best choice for ourselves.
[01:31:55.04] - Speaker 3
Yes. But we don't, right, in our personal lives? Like, it's like—
[01:31:57.17] - Speaker 2
That's why we have regulation.
[01:31:58.23] - Speaker 3
Tonight, if I want, it's like, I'd rather have beer and pizza tonight than a Greek salad.
[01:32:03.04] - Speaker 2
That's my whole life, yeah.
[01:32:04.06] - Speaker 3
Do you know what I mean?
[01:32:05.06] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:32:05.06] - Speaker 3
So then we'll have—
[01:32:05.29] - Speaker 2
That's why I'll die alone.
[01:32:06.18] - Speaker 3
These look like yummy cookies. If you'd have put carrots and hummus in front of us, we'd have not
touched them. But because— and then you would have done 5 podcasts with like carrots and
hummus, and by the end of it you're like, well, this is a waste of time. No one's eating the carrots and
hummus. Let's get some local goods that taste yummy. And then that is just gonna keep feeding the
thing. Here's an idea.
[01:32:25.24] - Speaker 2
True.
[01:32:26.14] - Speaker 3
Should we build a social media app which doesn't have comments? 'Cause I feel like if we're going
back to the thing about TV and film back in the day, it's like you could watch something and you'd get
fucking angry at home because you didn't agree with it, but you could— there was no way of Yeah,
communicate.
[01:32:41.15] - Speaker 2
You can scream at it, but they couldn't hear you.
[01:32:43.05] - Speaker 3
Yeah, like it was just like, hey, we get to create art for art, and if you don't like it, you don't like it, but
you don't need to let the world know that you didn't like it. And you don't need like this whole sharing
what— like you did. But then I get so involved in the comments anyway.
[01:32:56.20] - Speaker 4
Is that a jammie dodger? Uh, is that what you call those?
[01:32:59.17] - Speaker 2
I have no idea what you call that actually.
[01:33:01.06] - Speaker 4
What do you call your English?
[01:33:02.17] - Speaker 3
Isn't that a jammie dodger? Well, no, I mean, that's a posh— uh, a jammie dodger is like a round biscuit
with jam in it. So yeah, depending on what the ingredients—
[01:33:10.26] - Speaker 2
It's a round hole in a square biscuit.
[01:33:12.03] - Speaker 3
I might, I might have to have that one then to tell you if it's a Jammie Dodger or not.
[01:33:15.15] - Speaker 4
I'm taking my tooth out so I can—
[01:33:16.11] - Speaker 3
Jammie Dodger, you Jammie Dodger.
[01:33:18.09] - Speaker 2
Fresh Monologue. Let's take a quick break brought to you by our sponsors. Sitting here chatting about
changes and new adventures makes me reflect on my own adventure here in Paris and some of my
business decisions, many of which have been good, many have been questionable, but one of the
best that I ever made was spinning off all of my Paris recommendations and videos about how to do
Paris into its own separate brand, Paris in My Pocket. When people came to my vlog for Paris advice
and then would find a story about my life here, or maybe even me just sitting there being like, I'm sad,
it didn't really make a whole lot of sense. And so splitting those 2 into separate things has been one
of the best choices I've ever made. If you happen to be coming to Paris for your first time, or maybe
you're returning, my base guide is actually loaded with tons of articles on how to get around, where to
go, how to do the city if you happen to have mobility issues. That one's free on our website at
parisinmypocket.com, actually, so feel free to grab that from the blog.
[01:34:12.17] - Speaker 2
And in that base guide comes what you might want regardless of how many times you've been to
Paris, and that is over 500 of my personal recommendations to the city of Paris when it comes to
eating, drinking, and having a good time. These are all places that I would go back to personally for
one reason or another, and I try to be as direct and honest as I can. And since it's behind a paywall,
you know I can be as honest as I want to be. And we're culling it regularly. We regularly check in and
see which of these places deserve to be there and which ones we should cut. And if you want to go
even deeper, we have Guide Plus, which adds a bunch of pre-made itineraries so that you can pack in
a day in the Marais, a day in Montmartre, or perhaps a book lover's day walking through Paris between
the Right and Left Bank. Go to parisinmypocket.com right now, grab my guide, use the code
GARAGEMONOLOGUES at checkout for 10% off. And thank you so much for listening to my podcast.
With that, let's get back to the conversation.
[01:35:03.18] - Speaker 3
I think it's, uh, Oh really?
[01:35:10.17] - Speaker 2
Atelier Pain. You need to lie down, buddy.
[01:35:12.21] - Speaker 3
Oh, that makes sense. They love a play on words here, don't they? For like businesses.
[01:35:18.02] - Speaker 2
Figure that out.
[01:35:19.20] - Speaker 3
Okay, I thought it was a Formula 1 related thing.
[01:35:22.18] - Speaker 2
If it's not Atelier Pain, it's Atelier—
[01:35:24.11] - Speaker 4
I would have thought that too.
[01:35:25.14] - Speaker 2
Okay, but please, you guys, I guess—
[01:35:27.05] - Speaker 3
All right, I'm doing the Jammie Dodger.
[01:35:28.09] - Speaker 2
Jammie Dodger.
[01:35:29.14] - Speaker 1
I, I don't want a whole one.
[01:35:30.24] - Speaker 2
Does anybody want to like Another note for future, um, for future improvements, because we're full of
improvements to go. We have one light going today. We're at Back Market, uh, who have generously
given us access to their creative space. So you're going to see a lot of different random backgrounds
as we play around in here. Uh, I did throw up one light. We're going to play with the lights over time.
Next time, definitely run the microphone cables under the table is a note for me for the future to make
this look a little bit nicer. Um, and maybe bring something soft for Cooper so he can lie down and be—
He's a big boy. comfortable.
[01:35:59.26] - Speaker 3
That is the equivalent of a Jammie Dodger.
[01:36:01.20] - Speaker 2
Is this it?
[01:36:02.09] - Speaker 3
Tastes good.
[01:36:03.05] - Speaker 4
Right on.
[01:36:03.27] - Speaker 2
It looks good.
[01:36:04.11] - Speaker 3
It's better than a Jammie Dodger.
[01:36:05.18] - Speaker 2
I guess I'll go for a little bit of—
[01:36:06.21] - Speaker 3
Do you ever have like posh versions of bad food and you, and you go, to be honest, the non-posh
version was better? Do you ever have that?
[01:36:18.14] - Speaker 2
Are you having that now?
[01:36:19.26] - Speaker 3
No, not necessarily, but it made me think of like sometimes we try and over— yeah, posh and or over-
organify like food that's just junk food and you're like, just give me the— just give me the Oreo cookie.
Why have you made this out of organic whatever it is like? Give me the chemical stuff. I prefer the
Oreo cookies.
[01:36:38.10] - Speaker 1
I have such a good example. Yeah, I love a dirty martini. Don't like distill and cold brew my olive juice.
Just like pour it out of the jar like it's meant to be, right? Yeah.
[01:36:50.16] - Speaker 4
Fill it up.
[01:36:51.05] - Speaker 2
We have got quite the spectrum of optimism to pessimism, and I think it's actually fairly well
gradated.
[01:36:55.09] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:36:56.09] - Speaker 2
As we're sitting, so.
[01:36:57.10] - Speaker 3
Well, here's— 'cause this is a very English-American thing, right? But it's also a very European-
American thing. Like, Europeans, we are not positive about anything ever. You guys are like, dude, we
won one match, we're gonna win the World Cup. It's like, no, you're not. Everyone in— I feel like, and
obviously it's not everyone, but I feel like the UK is just fucking miserable. We're all miserable and
we're— So do you say that?
[01:37:24.11] - Speaker 1
So I lived there 2000 to 2006.
[01:37:26.26] - Speaker 3
Uh-huh.
[01:37:27.20] - Speaker 1
I didn't find that. I didn't find it was miserable. Paul's like, you had no friends.
[01:37:34.13] - Speaker 2
No, she's calling me out.
[01:37:35.23] - Speaker 3
No, I think, yeah, I think it's— we are very pessimistic. We don't like—
[01:37:40.11] - Speaker 1
That I'll agree with.
[01:37:41.05] - Speaker 3
We don't like positivity.
[01:37:42.10] - Speaker 1
Yes.
[01:37:43.19] - Speaker 3
And this is why there's quite— there's a rift between the Brits and the Americans.
[01:37:46.23] - Speaker 4
Yeah, because—
[01:37:47.17] - Speaker 3
and the reason why you get a bad rap is because when you come over and you're like, hi, shut the fuck
up. Just, you know, you're just bubbling with energy and like naivety about Europe, and we're just like,
calm down, it's not that good. Like, this is delicious!
[01:38:01.10] - Speaker 1
It's not that good.
[01:38:01.29] - Speaker 4
Because in America, I think your negativity has a different level of toxicity than American negativity.
Like, if you watch like couples, if you watch a British couple, it's like, I hate this daft cow, I can't believe
I've been with her. But you've been with her for 30 years.
[01:38:16.17] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:38:16.28] - Speaker 4
And then in America, it's like, she's the love of my life. and in 9 months they're divorced. Yeah, so you
guys do have negativity, but it's almost theatrical.
[01:38:26.21] - Speaker 3
Yeah, and it sounds beautiful.
[01:38:28.14] - Speaker 1
It is. I'll hear you complain because you sound good.
[01:38:32.02] - Speaker 3
Yeah, well, I think, I think we're— there's something about— and I don't know whether— I don't know
what the history of it is and why the country is like this in general, but it's like we don't belong, or we
don't believe that we should belong. We don't believe that we merit this the things that are, you know
what I mean, we'll be like, oh, this is fucking shit, mate.
[01:38:49.00] - Speaker 4
I mean, it's on brand. Keep calm and carry on. Totally right. And to me, that comes historically from
war. Yeah, you know, during the war, and keep calm and carry on. What a great message. I don't think
they knew it was going to become a brand for forever. Yeah, but I don't know, a little bit of PTSD.
[01:39:05.29] - Speaker 3
I don't know why we're like that. It's— but it's refreshing when you go because I've spent a lot of time
in the US with my old job There was a fun moment where an Italian colleague of mine, we were both in
a— in the lift going to our hotel. It was like an 80-floor hotel in downtown San Francisco, and we were
in the lift and we were there and 2 Ameri— like an American couple came in and we were like at the,
you know, like floor 70 or whatever it was.
[01:39:30.29] - Speaker 2
Mm-hmm.
[01:39:31.26] - Speaker 3
And they heard us speaking and they're like, oh, where are you guys from? And then it was just like, we
were immediately like, oh. And I don't know where that— it's very European, just like, why are you
talking to me?
[01:39:44.03] - Speaker 2
I have that now. I've lived here long enough. I remember— You've become French in that way. Yeah, I
was on my way back to see family in Washington State, and I landed in Sea-Tac, and they changed
this— there's a really nice restaurant area where you can actually see the planes coming and going.
You've got the Olympic Mountains in the distance. It's beautiful. And I was like, I'm just gonna go sit
down. And they had like lobster mac and cheese. I was like, what? I'm trying that right now. Sat down
and there's just a stranger sitting next to me here, 2 strangers sitting next to me here. And I'm sitting
there not talking to anybody. They're all talking to each other. And I'm like, do they know each other? Is
he hitting on her? How do they— where is he getting that story from? Why are they like— they keep
trying to talk to me. I'm not talking to them. And I realized, oh my God, yeah, I've become a little bit
French on this. 'Cause like, no, this is just Americans like Isn't that lovely though?
[01:40:33.05] - Speaker 4
I think I've got a theory. My theory is that I do think it's lovely, but I think it depends on where you
come from originally. I think the more your city has public transportation and you're constantly
surrounded by people, the more negative you are. I think California, San Francisco, we go from the box
we live in to the box we drive in to the box we work in. So when you meet people in between, it's like a
dog that doesn't get to hang out with other dogs. Oh my God, oh my God, is that a tennis ball?
[01:40:59.21] - Speaker 3
Watch this!
[01:41:02.09] - Speaker 4
come back. But if you're a dog that's been around other dogs, it's just like, hey, what's up?
[01:41:06.26] - Speaker 1
Yeah, you know, you'll never make a better friend than for 2 hours at a sports bar in Chicago.
[01:41:13.02] - Speaker 4
Oh yeah, yeah, that's true.
[01:41:14.12] - Speaker 1
They will be your best friend for those 2 hours, and it's so wonderful, and you can talk about
everything, and then you just get up and you float away.
[01:41:21.22] - Speaker 2
It is a very American thing too, because I feel like Americans traveling— but anywhere, I used to— I still
miss this to some degree, and I get my hit when I go to London because London's still chattier. than
Paris is. But that ability to just be like, hey man, I like that jacket.
[01:41:35.01] - Speaker 3
Hey, thanks, man.
[01:41:35.16] - Speaker 2
And then just move on. Like, in Paris, people look at you sideways if you do that. They're just like, what
do you want? What are you after? Kind of the same way that if you smile when you're walking down
the street, they're like, you're crazy or you're after something.
[01:41:45.00] - Speaker 4
Yeah, I get that a lot here.
[01:41:46.14] - Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.
[01:41:47.05] - Speaker 4
I actually have a lot of people like— I think I look weird here though, too, you know what I mean?
[01:41:51.10] - Speaker 1
No, you're striking.
[01:41:52.19] - Speaker 4
You have—
[01:41:52.26] - Speaker 2
It's not about weird.
[01:41:54.05] - Speaker 1
You have rizz. You have external rizz.
[01:41:56.19] - Speaker 4
That's very nice of you to say. Thank you. To me, it's so— it's the same head I've always had. It's the
same face I've always looked into in the mirror. But I feel like my— I get ignored more in New York
where people just pass by and go, that's just a New Yorker. Whereas here they're like, is that a bobcat
in my backyard? Like, where's he? Came from the woods.
[01:42:17.26] - Speaker 2
And Parisians want to small talk, right? I think they just don't know how.
[01:42:21.05] - Speaker 1
To some degree, the best small talk is at a bus station when the bus is running late. Yeah, because
everybody's gonna pile in on the misery of that.
[01:42:29.13] - Speaker 4
Trauma bonding.
[01:42:30.07] - Speaker 1
Trauma— we'd love a little trauma bond here. Gosh.
[01:42:33.08] - Speaker 2
That was my Metro ride here this morning. Pure misery. Yeah, absolutely.
[01:42:38.03] - Speaker 4
There's a guy in New York named Christopher Carley, and me and him are like best friends to this day.
One thing about his childhood, his dad was a homicide detective. in Queens in New York. So I
remember we were kids and I was in his living room and I'm like, hey, why is that chair orange and all
the other furniture doesn't match? He goes, oh, it's murder furniture. And I'm like, what's murder
furniture? He's like, yeah, my dad investigates a murder and the guy doesn't have family. He's like,
that's a nice chair. And he's so— we have some pieces in the house that are murder furniture, just so
you know, like what this kid has seen and lived through. And then one time we had left the Creek in
the Cave in New York and we were going back to the Village. And on the subway, we took the L, which
you shouldn't take at night because it's the longest train, so that's where the homeless people go. So
it's like 1 o'clock in the morning, and a lady comes on in a medical gown. Horrible start, right? And
then Chris was like, just don't look at her.
[01:43:30.23] - Speaker 4
I'm like, I won't. You don't look at her either. It's just the two of us, empty cart. And then all of a
sudden, we hear the door open, and she's like a starfish, and she goes, look at me, look at me! And
then we look at her, and she starts to use the bathroom. And from that night on, Christopher Carley
and I, best friends.
[01:43:49.28] - Speaker 2
Trauma bonding. Yep, that is its own form of it.
[01:43:53.01] - Speaker 3
Holy cow.
[01:43:53.16] - Speaker 1
Best friends.
[01:43:55.14] - Speaker 2
I don't think I've ever seen anybody actively poop on the Metro, actually. I've seen the aftermath, but
I've never seen it happen.
[01:44:01.28] - Speaker 4
I have.
[01:44:02.08] - Speaker 2
Yeah, I have. Yeah, you clearly have. New York, man, best city in the world, right? That's what's so
interesting about traveling and like living in other places too, is gaining that perspective. But I think
then the question is— and this is a question I know Tamara thinks about a lot— but as these pieces all
fall off of you and you find new parts of yourself underneath, maybe you decide to add things, how do
you end up— you talk about this a lot too when it comes to accent and when it comes to so many
other elements— how do you know where you belong? Like, where, where do you, where do you fit in?
And how do you define what home is, especially after having bounced around as much as some of us
have? All of us have, actually.
[01:44:41.22] - Speaker 3
Yeah, right.
[01:44:43.02] - Speaker 2
I'll eat a cookie while I wait.
[01:44:43.24] - Speaker 1
Okay, so we're all sitting with that one.
[01:44:45.24] - Speaker 4
I mean, I—
[01:44:46.27] - Speaker 1
What is home?
[01:44:47.27] - Speaker 4
Home, that's a big one. Yeah, you know, I, I think every— I got to the point where I've traveled so much
that every time I was somewhere, I missed somewhere else. And then I realized it's not a place
anymore, it's a people. It's a people and it's a feeling. It's like Maya Angelou used to say, people don't
always remember what you do or say, but they always remember how you made them feel. And so
now I've become less human and more like a cat. Like, I, I judge by energy now, and home is an
energy. If I feel safe, if I feel— this is the great thing about comedy is when you feel safe, you feel safe
to take risks. It's good to have writing partners and a small community of comedians. We could say
anything in front of them and you know you won't be judged because they know it's part of the
process, it's part of the art. So I think a feeling for me, home and safety Safety is a location almost
that's created by an energy from the, the people that, you know, are in my inner circle.
[01:45:40.20] - Speaker 1
You know, I love that. What were you saying about the crab thing earlier?
[01:45:43.26] - Speaker 4
Oh, the hermit crab.
[01:45:44.16] - Speaker 1
The hermit crab. Because I had the— do you know what a hermit crab is?
[01:45:47.03] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:45:47.22] - Speaker 1
Okay.
[01:45:48.09] - Speaker 3
Do you know what they call it in French?
[01:45:49.13] - Speaker 1
What?
[01:45:49.23] - Speaker 3
It's something ridiculous.
[01:45:51.25] - Speaker 4
A crab sauce?
[01:45:53.02] - Speaker 3
Because we found some on a beach with my daughter and, uh, uh, uh, Thierry, like Thierry Lhermitte.
It's like— I think it's that. I've got to find it now.
[01:46:03.29] - Speaker 2
Sorry. Thierry the Hermit.
[01:46:04.27] - Speaker 3
Yeah, it's like— yeah.
[01:46:06.17] - Speaker 1
It's not like Crab Sans Amis or something? Um, but you know, when you, when you said that, I don't
know why it's so funny that you have this— that you posed this question now, Jay, because when you
said that, I had this beautiful image of like carrying around your home with you.
[01:46:21.11] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:46:22.12] - Speaker 1
And Now flash forward, we're talking about where is home, and I've lived in different— I've spent now,
given that I've just turned 50 this past—
[01:46:32.18] - Speaker 2
Happy birthday.
[01:46:33.05] - Speaker 1
I know you're all shocked.
[01:46:34.09] - Speaker 4
Happy birthday.
[01:46:35.01] - Speaker 1
Thank you. This past December, I have now spent more of my life outside of the US than in the US.
[01:46:41.09] - Speaker 2
Wow.
[01:46:41.29] - Speaker 1
So I ask myself, where is home? And I guess home is what I carry with me in my values and the
people that I get to share it with along the way.
[01:46:49.29] - Speaker 4
Yeah.
[01:46:50.20] - Speaker 1
Right?
[01:46:50.27] - Speaker 3
It was Bernard Lhermitte.
[01:46:53.06] - Speaker 2
Which is worse.
[01:46:54.10] - Speaker 3
Yeah, well, Thierry Lhermitte is actually a famous actor or something. He's actually a dude.
[01:46:58.19] - Speaker 2
So this is Bernard?
[01:46:59.11] - Speaker 3
Bernard. Bernard the hermit crab.
[01:47:02.11] - Speaker 2
Why Bernard? Who knows?
[01:47:06.02] - Speaker 1
But like, where is home? Where do you feel— because also then you have this relativity of who you
are. Like, the Jane 5 years ago, and even the Jane last year, is very different than the Jane here today.
I hope.
[01:47:19.23] - Speaker 2
You also at some point deconstruct the concept of home, maybe, because for For me, I grew up with
a concept of home being a place, especially being a house, and the family, but I hated my home.
[01:47:30.23] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:47:31.04] - Speaker 2
I didn't feel safe. I didn't know that, 'cause obviously as a kid you can't— if you realize that as a kid, I
think you have a psychotic break. So you're protecting yourself from understanding that, but then later
you look back and you're like, oh yeah, I always left as soon as I could. I always went to a friend's
house. I always brought someone with me if I could. I stayed at school as late as possible. And so
home is not a safe place in that sense. And so then you find— I think for me that that first real feeling
was actually coming through Paris because I tried Nice. And I don't know, but there have been
moments where I felt safer, or, you know, but it's something that I've had to build after deconstructing
a negative version of it.
[01:48:07.08] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:48:07.13] - Speaker 2
Where I'm like, yeah, home is not a good thing. Kind of like family is not a good word for me, you
know. And so then how do you, how do you build that back up into something for yourself.
[01:48:16.15] - Speaker 4
There's this old— older dude named George that I met, and he said, I love travelers, and when I meet
travelers, I don't say, where are you from? I said— I say, where did you start?
[01:48:24.25] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:48:25.07] - Speaker 4
And I love that. Like, I, I think that's— it's what home is now. And, and, and, and it's what we— it's
almost like a painting. It's what we create it to be. And who are— who, who's our chosen family versus
our given family?
[01:48:38.12] - Speaker 1
Oh my gosh, absolutely.
[01:48:39.13] - Speaker 4
Right? But the word family still matters. It says we're redefining what it means.
[01:48:43.17] - Speaker 1
Paul, where's home?
[01:48:48.06] - Speaker 3
I don't know. I mean, here obviously, because I've been here for 17 years, and it's been— for me, it was
a long time ago that I'd lived more time in France than anywhere else. It was like 10 years ago. The
longest place I've lived is 6 years, like the longest physical house or apartment I lived in is 6 years. So I
don't know, it's— yeah, I don't, I don't really have one. I, I mean, I have one now physically, like we live in
a place But I don't enjoy it.
[01:49:11.20] - Speaker 2
Mm-hmm.
[01:49:13.19] - Speaker 3
So, but I think it's also when you say, oh, I go home, like, oh, I'm going home to England or whatever.
I'm going home to see my mum who lives in the Southeast even though she's Irish. But Ireland's not
my home 'cause I've never lived there. So, but I will say I'm going back home to England 'cause some
of my friends live in London and my mum's in the Southeast. So, that kind of feels— again, it's more
linked to people than a place. But then also, when I go to Montreal, I had a very specific time of my life
in Montreal, which I always feel like I got— I feel like home when I go there. When I go to Sydney and
when I go to Madrid, they're 3 other places that I— yeah, it's kind of all over the place. I feel good in a
bunch of different places.
[01:49:55.14] - Speaker 4
That's great.
[01:49:58.08] - Speaker 2
Yeah. I think I went through a period where I got confused about saying, or going home. Because I
don't say that about going to the States anymore, but there was a period in there where I would get
my— I kind of confused myself where I'm like, I'm going home, but I am home. But like, and then it was
also like, but do I want— do I want to call this home? Do I want to call that— like, what do I— this is my
home. I'm building a home here in Paris, but it doesn't feel entirely like that yet, even though I know I
belong. And I remember we, like, last year when we did road trips a little bit during your tour and it was
my 40th. And we decided to go. You're one of the only— you're my only French friend. Not even
French. Uh, you're my only friend based in France. Yeah, you're my only French friend that has ever
been to the town I grew up in.
[01:50:38.00] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:50:38.25] - Speaker 2
We went with my dad, and I used to have this fantasy of like, my hometown is surrounded by wheat
fields, and this is the time of year where it smells amazing, where everything's like harvest is
underway, and it's just hot and dry, and it carries on the wind, and you smell it. It's kind of like if you
mowed your lawn, but like 10 times more powerful than that. It's really lovely. And this town empties
out, all the college students are gone, it's really quiet, you have it kind of all to yourself. And I always
had this fantasy of like, I'm gonna go back to my hometown, Pullman, Washington, and shack up for
like 3 months by myself and write a book and just wander the streets at sunset when it's nice and cool
and enjoy the smells of harvest. And then when we went to visit, I was like, nah. I was like, no, I don't, I
don't, I don't have that fantasy anymore, you know.
[01:51:27.21] - Speaker 3
I had a, a, a, a friend that— my friend who's been a friend since I was a kid that you now know, um,
who we had an argument, a bunch of us friends, about him wanting us to go to his childhood, like
where he grew up, to better understand who he was. And we all sort of got on him about it. I'd be like,
we're not going to see your childhood because you're not a child anymore and we're not children. Like,
you have those memories of you as a kid in that place. I don't need to go there to understand you
better as a person. It's not going to make any difference. I know you come from this island, uh, and I
know that you want me to go there, but it's—
[01:52:07.25] - Speaker 4
it's—
[01:52:08.09] - Speaker 2
it—
[01:52:08.14] - Speaker 3
now that you've wanted me to go so often, I don't want to go anymore because what am I going Do
you know what I mean?
[01:52:13.04] - Speaker 4
Right.
[01:52:13.14] - Speaker 3
It's like, 'cause I know that he has a lot of his childhood friends and like his group, and I think it's
where he feels like a bit like he runs the place. Not he runs the place, but like he has an important—
he's a big fish in a small pond there, whereas where he lives in London, small fish, big pond, right? And
so I think he wants— I don't know. And it's that thing of like, yeah, that's— he would definitely say he's
going home back there. But then here, everyone's gonna ask you where you're from because you
don't— You don't look or sound French. So I look French?
[01:52:45.09] - Speaker 2
What?
[01:52:45.22] - Speaker 3
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, it's weird to say look French, but you know, going back to
your point, like, you look different than most of the people in this city who— Paris is one of those
places. I don't know if Milan, being a fashion center as well, is very— like, I found that when I came
here, I was like, no one's got blue hair here, you know? Whereas in London, people are dressed weirdly,
they look like all sorts of— probably like New York as well, right? And so they'll still go, oh, where's, you
know, where's home? And then you go, well, home's here. And immediately I feel like you come across
pretentious. Like, people were like, yeah, but where's—
[01:53:16.18] - Speaker 2
Well, yeah, when they say where you're from and I have to say—
[01:53:18.15] - Speaker 3
You're not originally from here. It's like, yeah, I might have lived— like, I get, um, compared to Jane
Birkin quite a lot. She was an English— I think she was a singer. I think she was like Serge
Gainsbourg's muse person. Yeah, I think I might be messing this up.
[01:53:32.05] - Speaker 1
I think she was.
[01:53:32.25] - Speaker 3
Anyway, she'd been here for like 100 years. but still spoke with a very British accent. So I get
compared to her because I don't have an accent when I speak French, and they're like, why don't you
have one? And why was she— was she faking it? Like, what's the situation? Like, your accent gets
formed when you're like in, uh, before 20. She moved here after she was 20. Can't change it. It's done.
[01:53:52.21] - Speaker 2
I think I've, I've thought about this a lot recently just because the— that it always comes up. Where are
you from? Nobody ever guesses where I'm from based on my accent. I have a weird accent in French.
And, you know, it's not an American one. Anytime I say I'm American, eventually people are like, oh
yeah, I knew you were American. I'm like, no. And then I switch into an American accent because I can
put it on.
[01:54:10.08] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:54:10.15] - Speaker 2
But it's just not the way I speak. But I'm not— I'm really not— I feel I'm in this weird place where, like
we talked about it, I've Frenchified in some ways. I'm still American in a lot of ways, and I don't want
that to change either way. Like, there are things I've adopted from France that I want to keep and
things that I never want to let go of from my American upbringing. But I do feel like if I'm anything, I'm
Parisian at this point, which also sounds super pretentious and also opens up the whole box of like
people that were born in the suburbs wouldn't call themselves Parisian, right? So like, I know that
that's walking into something, but as far as how I feel, I love traveling with Parisians. Like my Parisian
friends, we all complain the same way. We all see the same stuff. We're all judging people the same
way.
[01:54:48.07] - Speaker 3
Back to negativity again.
[01:54:48.25] - Speaker 2
It's all— yeah, yeah. But it's like, but it's really funny because there's a shorthand that we share
because because we've lived in the city for long enough. And I've also grown up in this city. You know,
Serge Gainsbourg famously said that, you know, to be Parisian is not to be born there, but to be
reborn there.
[01:55:03.12] - Speaker 3
Mm-hmm.
[01:55:03.26] - Speaker 2
And I think that I have very much been reborn here. And so somebody can always negate whatever
you say, right, about where you come from in so many ways, outside of maybe if you were born there.
But like you would say, you don't feel like you come from where you were born.
[01:55:18.27] - Speaker 3
Oh no, not at all.
[01:55:20.08] - Speaker 2
I don't, I don't know if you feel that way, if you feel like you come from where you were born.
[01:55:23.26] - Speaker 4
I think when people are like saying, where are you from, they almost want to be able to predict how
you're gonna behave and how you're gonna act.
[01:55:29.27] - Speaker 2
Yeah.
[01:55:30.14] - Speaker 4
And if that's their— if that's the definition that they're using with me, and then I go, yeah, you can't—
America's not home because I don't, I don't fit that. I think people's eyes are more open now around
labels and definitions around things because we're not the ones who created those labels and things.
And so for the first time now, even the definition of home— if you ask me what does home mean 5
years ago, rather than a place, just the literal word, it's a very different thing what it means to me
today than what it meant to me when I wasn't thinking about what the word means. Do you know
what I mean?
[01:56:01.07] - Speaker 2
Yeah. Shane, have you told us where you're from?
[01:56:02.29] - Speaker 1
Well, now I'm really sitting with this because if somebody asks me where I'm from, just like at the
elevator, I say Chicago. I have not lived in Chicago for 30 years.
[01:56:19.00] - Speaker 3
Yeah. Um, I spent my whole adult life—
[01:56:21.01] - Speaker 1
I think that my whole adult life—
[01:56:21.05] - Speaker 3
Home and from a different—
[01:56:22.25] - Speaker 1
Yeah.
[01:56:22.29] - Speaker 3
Like, where are you from isn't where your home is necessarily. I think that, that was a— because I think
when you were saying when people ask where you're from, they might be wanting to know how you're
going to behave. I think it's— I mean, for my case and most of the people that I've met, it's like you
sound like you're not from this place. Because if you're from this place, you'd have a certain voice, and
you don't. Where's the voice from? And it's— for me anyway, because I'm obsessed with languages—
that's like the, the, the— I don't care how you— I'm not going to associate it with a behavior
necessarily. Yeah, but yeah, you're right. Like, you're— you say you're from Chicago immediately, but
then—
[01:56:56.09] - Speaker 2
But the question is where you're from. Because I've grown up— is kind of what you hear, right?
[01:56:59.21] - Speaker 1
Yeah, I've grown up in Europe, right? I grew up in London, and that's where I spent my youngest years
in my 20s, and then now here. And but I don't identify with being British, and I don't, I don't identify
with being French, even though I love some of the things that I picked up from those cultures and I
carry them with me. I, I am not, I'm not French, and I don't try to be.
[01:57:21.23] - Speaker 3
Is it the formative years, like when you're— because I say I'm from, what is it, a place called Canterbury
in, in the UK, but I, I lived there total for 5 years of my life. But I say I'm from there because I went—
because it's like they were my teenage, like the formative years of where I got my voice, like where my
voice settled. Because at some point I had American accent when I went to an American school in
Geneva. But this voice is what I sound like. And maybe it's the formative years where you go, oh, I'm
from the place that I was a teenager.
[01:57:52.26] - Speaker 4
That makes sense to me. I think it's like almost A lot of times it's like, hey, how can we connect?
[01:57:57.24] - Speaker 1
Right.
[01:57:58.05] - Speaker 4
What do we have in common? What can I predict about you? What do I know about you? What fun
conversation can this catalyze if I have an understanding of where— it's almost like an improv where
they're like, give me a topic, right? And I think there are places that I've lived that haven't tattooed me,
and there are places that have changed my behavior and changed my perspective and changed the
way that I look at the world.
[01:58:18.17] - Speaker 1
Absolutely.
[01:58:18.27] - Speaker 4
So when someone says, where are you from, or what's home, I kind of do go through that list first, like,
What, what are the ingredients in the soup that you're tasting right now?
[01:58:27.12] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[01:58:27.29] - Speaker 4
And sometimes that could change, you know, like before I was way more East LA. You might be able
to see that in the face tattoo and some, you know, the way that I look sometimes. But there's a lot of
times people that go, you, you don't act how you look. And I'm like, yeah, I don't. I'm not from that
energy anymore. I was from a scary place and now I'm not from a scary place. So yeah, I'm gonna
change my behavior, you know what I mean? So the soup you're tasting today is my answer to that is
the ingredients are this, but those ingredients are different than they would have been, what home
would have been, or where I'm from would have been before.
[01:58:59.05] - Speaker 2
I'm in a weird place right now because I used to— to your point about like, what's— what are the
ingredients in the soup? Like, when people used to ask me, where are you from, or where do you live,
especially when I was like in West Africa or then on the road for a couple years after, like, I was a
vagabond for, you know, 6 or 7 years straight. Yeah, lived in on a few different continents and in so
many different places, and I felt kind of lost, and I didn't want to identify necessarily so strongly with
where I came from, especially because when I tell people where I come from, nobody's ever heard of
it, right? It's not LA, it's not Chicago, it's not London. Even Canterbury people have heard of, even if
they think it's a chocolate egg.
[01:59:32.14] - Speaker 3
You guys have heard a lot about Canterbury.
[01:59:35.07] - Speaker 1
It's Canterbury. Canterbury.
[01:59:36.18] - Speaker 3
Yeah, because you— I, I guess you're obsessed with like the Canterbury Tales.
[01:59:39.20] - Speaker 2
Archbishop of Canterbury. Yeah, that's, that's it.
[01:59:41.01] - Speaker 3
Right. Whereas no one in France has ever heard of this thing. So when I'm like, yeah, they The French
people know it 'cause they go there on student exchange all the time 'cause it's across the boat and a
20-minute drive from the boat when you cross over. But yeah, every American I've spoken to are like,
oh, like the Canterbury Tales? I'm like, how the hell do you know that?
[01:59:59.01] - Speaker 4
Like Chaucer?
[01:59:59.25] - Speaker 3
I'm like, you know more about it than I do. What is going on?
[02:00:03.02] - Speaker 1
It's required reading, I think.
[02:00:04.20] - Speaker 2
It is required reading. But I think for me, I'm so focused on what we're doing right now And I'm so
grateful to be where I am right now. I think I spent my entire life running, and I finally stopped, and I
finally built— like, faced what I had to face and have built something here.
[02:00:20.18] - Speaker 4
That's huge.
[02:00:21.10] - Speaker 2
So for the first time in my life, there's calm, and like, I have a home in my friends. And even if I'm not a
fan of where I live in Paris specifically, I've carved out a space for myself. So I guess in a lot of ways,
for me, home is what I'm actually in the process of constructing right now for the first time. And so
when people ask where you're from, it's just easiest, especially if they're French, just to be like,
American. And they're like, oh, of course, but where? And then you say Seattle, not really Seattle. And
then you have to tell that whole story.
[02:00:47.24] - Speaker 3
But is it like the same thing as when people ask you, what do you do?
[02:00:50.20] - Speaker 2
Yeah, good luck with that.
[02:00:51.26] - Speaker 3
You have a quick answer, which is, I'm a comedian, or I'm an author, or I'm a YouTuber, whatever it is.
But then it's not only that. It's like, what actually do you— Do you know what I mean? Like, it feels like
one of those questions, especially if you've got like a more regular job in an office and you're, you
know, your title that you have at the bottom of your email makes no sense to anyone if you're sat next
to them on an airplane. It's like, oh, what do you do?
[02:01:14.16] - Speaker 2
But I feel like nobody's gonna push back on what do you do if you're like, I'm an accountant. They're
not gonna be like, with that accent? You know what I mean? Like, where you're from is gonna be very
clear. Like, people push back on that all the time.
[02:01:24.26] - Speaker 3
Yeah.
[02:01:25.15] - Speaker 2
In a way that I think is more challenging.
[02:01:26.25] - Speaker 3
Well, there was a thing about New York recently. What was the— I can't remember. It was Jennifer
Lopez. on an interview in a thing, uh, on a podcast where she was like, if you're— it was on Subway
Takes where she was like, if you're not born in New York, you have to be born in New York to say that
you're from New York sort of thing. And it was a whole thing, and obviously she got completely rinsed
for it. But then on the other side, a lot of people agreed with her. It's the same debate about Paris. If
you're born in Paris, blah blah blah, whatever, you know.
[02:01:53.06] - Speaker 2
And only Intramuros. And then even if you're born within the periphery, Where in the periphery were
you? Like, it's— it gets— people are just trying to place themselves on a hierarchical ladder by being
like, I'm from a better place than you are. Yeah, so I do think that that's an element to it, and that's why
for me, I just, I just push back now where I'm just like, yeah, I'm Parisian, and I know I'm gonna get
some flack for that from somebody who's like, but you weren't born there. I'm like, you're right. Yeah,
but where else am I from? You tell me.
[02:02:17.23] - Speaker 4
I like to give weird answers. I'm from the planet Lithium. And they're like, isn't that a mental
medication? I'm like, you're not my doctor.
[02:02:26.22] - Speaker 2
Jane, after all of that, have you settled on where home is for you?
[02:02:32.03] - Speaker 1
I don't know that I have, and I probably never will. I'm a rolling stone. I mean, you can put me anywhere
and I will build. I'll be my little Bernard Crab carrying my house with me, right?
[02:02:45.23] - Speaker 2
Yeah. Thanks guys so much for coming and for sharing some treats with us today.
[02:02:50.02] - Speaker 4
Thanks for having us.
[02:02:51.05] - Speaker 1
Is it over already?
[02:02:51.29] - Speaker 2
Uh, yeah, we can wrap it here. Uh, but it's not over because hopefully people are gonna follow along,
hear more about your stories.
[02:02:58.28] - Speaker 1
Follow along. Tell them to follow along. Follow along.
[02:03:00.04] - Speaker 4
Tell them what to do.
[02:03:00.28] - Speaker 2
Oh yeah. It's the new age. If you made it this far, please, for the love of God, uh, follow this wherever
you happen to be watching. Subscribe. Um, but also, uh, tell somebody if there's something in here.
We're gonna be clipping the crap outta this. I'm sure you'll find a clip that connects, uh, with a friend
out of this, cuz these conversations have been really, really fun so far, and we're gonna be carrying
them on through the rest of the year. So don't miss a single one.
[02:03:23.00] - Speaker 4
Whoop whoop! It's gonna be incredible.
[02:03:24.17] - Speaker 1
It's gonna be fabulous.
[02:03:26.04] - Speaker 3
It'll be all right.
[02:03:26.24] - Speaker 1
Paul's like, it's gonna be perfect.
[02:03:29.29] - Speaker 4
Uncle Per, well played.