95: You Won The Show with Brian Baumgartner
01:02:48 Share

This is a HeadGum Podcast.

Well, door, in as fast as 30 minutes. Wherever you find yourself this summer, you can get the goods. Download Instacart for free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time. Minimum $10 per order. Excludes restaurants. Additional terms and fees apply.

We are great guests great guests great episode great guests first call you said

She wins. We're here to help. Well, you definitely became a game show host towards the end. I don't know what happened. She did. I don't either. We're in the hole a lot of money after that. But she, it is. It's a fun one.

Look, sometimes we get a call and we go like, okay, well, let's dig through this a little. Other times we almost have to thank them for what they've gifted us. I think that's correct. And this is one of those. Yeah, yeah. We didn't have to work. No, not at all. And we have a great guest. Yeah. You know him from The Office. Yeah.

So as well as he has a new cookbook out called The Seriously Good Barbecue Cookbook. His name is Brian Bumgardner. You probably I mean, everyone knows it from the office, but he's done a ton of stuff and he's a great guest. Really funny. His chili story has got a great story. So we have two great calls with him. We have a great chat after that.

And yeah, like, I mean, we've just been talking about this first call a little bit after, excited to see where this can go for us as a show. And as usual, we thank everybody. We're not going to delay this one. Enjoy the show. We're not going to delay this one. Enjoy the show. There's no point in delaying. You mean like just getting to it? Yeah. Without further ado! Hey!

Hi. Hi there. Hi. Hi. Uh-oh. That doesn't sound like Jake. You must be curious what the hell's going on. But first, what's your name, age, and where are you calling from, please?

Lindsay, 40s, and California. Great, Lindsay. Shoe size? Yeah, shoe size. Yeah, shoe size is a fun one. Can we get it? Seven. Okay, perfect. Right there on average. Well, listen, Lindsay, you got Jake, you got Gareth, and you have a very special guest, the guy who actually asked about your shoe size, the great from the office, Brian Bumgartner's here. Yes. Yes. Yes. Hi, Lindsay. How are you? Good. How are you?

I'm doing fine, thank you. I like that you said 40s. Which leaves a lot open to interpretation. Probably getting close to 50s. We're good. Maybe or maybe not. Maybe not. Alright, Lindsay, what's going on? What can we help you with today? Okay, so I need your guys' help on...

an interesting way to tell my sister that I think my parents possibly made a porno. Whoa. Wait, wait, wait. No, it gets worse. Don't you tell us the way. It gets worse? Wait, at our great grandmother's 84th birthday party. Wait, wait, wait. You think they did it there? So I have a box of these eight millimeter films that

I don't know how they even ended up in my possession. I think they were probably in like a box of photos. And then when I moved from my parents' home, like out here to the West Coast, they were just there. And then over the years, I would develop these eight millimeter films and send them back to my family. And we would like, wow, look at these films like, oh, look at us at the beach or look at us like at Christmas or whatever.

So my mom passed a few years ago, and my dad had asked, you know, do you have any more of those films? Like, I want to see more of your mom, whatever. And it's always a crap shoot. Oh, no. Oh, okay. That a boy, Dad. All right. You missed her. So it's always a crap shoot. I was on these films because we never knew. Like, they're not labeled or anything. Right. They're just like...

Yeah, they're just like in these blue caps or whatever. And you take them to wherever you can find to get them developed, whatever. And then you just pass them out and you just wait to see what's on the film. There's no video or audio or anything. Well, recently my dad asked. And so I got them out of our storage and I'm going through them and I'm like, okay, I'll send like another five and get more developed. But yeah,

As luck would have it for me, I saw there was papers underneath all these films that it was my mom's old handwriting. And so I'm taking it all in. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I haven't seen her handwriting in years. And I'm going through the papers. And at the bottom list of all of what because now we know what they're what the films are. They're all labeled. And at the very bottom. Right.

Great-grandma Moore's 84th birthday, and then circled it says X-rated. Oh! Oh, we have visual evidence. Lindsay, this is a great call. Yeah, you have got the setup.

I'm hovered. I am deeply invested. Oh, so am I. And I also have to get an eight millimeter projection, obviously, to help you out fully in this. Have you, you haven't looked at it yet? No. So as we speak, I haven't developed the film because again, it's always a crapshoot. And I was like, you know what? This is so good. I,

I kind of do little things to my, she's my older sister. So like, I'll do little things. I've done it through our whole life. Like all, when I lived at home, I would mail her cards in the mail just to like mess with her and stuff. But, um, I once told her that I had adopted a highway just to get her out of bed to help basically tell her that I had to clean up trash. Like I'll do little things like that. So I'm like, no, I'm sitting on this gold mine. I don't know what's on the film. Um,

I have to assume that there is something on

It's X-rated. She's not writing a note like this as a joke. So great. This is a note to herself. It's amazing to be nostalgic over like, Mom's handwriting. And then be like, oh God, they made a porno! Well, and then also your dad is like, hey, have you gotten the film developed yet? He's looking for this. Yeah, this is what he wants. Give it to him. It's like National Treasure, but with parents fucking.

Oh, boy. Totally. And this would have happened before my sister and I were born. This had to have happened in the 70s. Oh, it's so hot. Oh, Christ. This is so good. I'll give you $100,000 for the tape. Look, the show will offer $100,000 for the copy of this. I'll go $200,000. I'll negotiate against my fucking self. Parents in the 70s, pre-kids, and an 84-year-old's birthday, I'll give you $500,000 for first access to this tape. So, Lindsay, question for you.

This is a perfect setup. Perfect. What is the specific question that we can try to help you with? So I live out in California and my sister still lives back in the same hometown where my dad is. So we go back several times a year. My question is, how do I present this to my sister? Do I develop the film and then have like a screening with her? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Absolutely. With dad there as well, you just say, guess what? I got some of the old... Let's sit down. Bring the kids as well. Bring everybody in and just say, I got... Dad, I got some of you and mom's things. Let's screen it. Let's see what happens. Hey, dad, this one is of Grandma Moore's birthday. You remember that, Dad? Hey, dad, you press play unless you got something you want to say, big guy.

Well, let me ask you this. Do you because there's two ways you can play it there and both are hysterical and horrible.

One is that you and your sister watch this together for the first time. The other is that you kind of pawn this off on your sister and you say, look, I've been going through some of these. Some of them don't, you know, whatever. There's an issue. Can you watch a couple of these just so we know what they are when we give them to dad? And you let her go off and almost like a child walking into like a slaughterhouse.

just come back out white, not blinking, sick. Because not only are we talking about parents potentially fucking, we're talking about 70s era pubes. Oh, not a problem. Jake, that's a horrible admission over there, Jake. Lindsay, question for you. Just because I'm trying to relate. I would have watched this thing day one.

My call would be, how do I tell my sister I've watched my parents have sex 100,000 times? So I'm trying to relate with you on this one.

Are you nervous to watch it to see? Because you'll know. A porno doesn't go from zero to 100 miles an hour. You'll see the buildup. It depends where they cut into it. Again, we are national treasuring this, but what's strange is that it's at Grandma Moore's birthday. Yes. So this could be a quickie. It's a bathroom? Yeah, it could be a bathroom. The idea of setting up an

8mm camera. That's what I mean. The setup. This is not on a phone. I know. That was my initial point. Which means they're gonna... There's a setup. They gotta figure out lighting. Oh my god. So there's gonna be footage of either mom or dad looking at the camera and then being like, honey, move this way. Yeah. So what is your hesitation to...

you know, get it transferred to digital or however you're going to have it, or sit back and project it alone and see what you're dealing with. Have you done that? Where are you at on that stage of this game? Okay. So I, you know, honestly, I think I'm just going to throw my sister at it because I know hands down they made a porno. It's in my gut, knowing my parents, knowing their healthy sexual appetite, they,

There is actually... We are here to help. Lindsay, there is a way the show could help. We don't want to throw poor sister under the bus. If you want confirmation... Well, even then, you could know what she's going into. If you want full confirmation... You gotta know what's on the tape. We are willing to test market this

Bit of footage. Now, what do you do with it? Do you send it to a place to get it transferred? By the way, that poor bastard is like, oh, God. Oh, no. Your take on this is being, like, really gross. It's not like a bunch of hyenas murdering a baby. Jake, you're the guy who said you'd watch footage of your parents fucking, I quote, a hundred thousand times. We all let that go. And you're going to throw the creep net on me? Yeah.

How dare you, sir? I would say this. I have no legs to stand on. I have a sister. Before, I would want to 100% know if for the only reason to make the setup and the awkwardness for her way worse. Correct. But I will say this. If I was going to preview it myself, it would be

Through squinted eyes. Yeah, you'd need a clip. And my fingers. Yeah. Like blocking certain, like, and I would, to your point, if there's going to be some setup, I would hit stop very, very quickly. I think Brian is onto the idea that basically play it, get it.

The second you see a bare ass, you're pretty good to go on not needing to go any further into this. I agree with you. And then what I would do with your sister is I would say, hey, look, I want to make this really sweet for dad. Yeah. So I think we should maybe cut together like a best of before we give it to him. That's fun. So you get her into a little area. You set up a sheet or however you want to broadcast this. And you say, hey, I'm going to play this. Set up a broadcast.

Well, I'm still picturing the 8-millimeter. Not for fluids. Not a fluid sheet. Not a car. We're not projecting the movie. No, no, no. It's going to be on your big screen TV. I like the nostalgia of it. Okay. You know, you could really make it sweet. We could do a drive-in. I'm pitching. But what I would do is I would just set it up, and when you know it's about to happen, I would say,

I'm going to get a little more popcorn, refill the Skittles. I'll get some more Mr. Pibb. I'll be right back. Let me know if I miss anything or what do you think of this next bit. And just go off and like your nuclear blast is going off. Put on the glasses, duck down, and get ready for an explosion. So, Lindsay, what are you actually thinking? Are you...

are you going to watch this? Or are you going to really just, because if it's a pot off on the sister and that's what you want to do, that's easy advice. Just send it to her and say, it's fun. Check it out. Knowledge is power though. Knowledge is, I totally agree with you. You have to know for sure. I totally agree. I agree. We're all in alignment. Because what if, so, so here's, and part of it is you have to enjoy the moment.

Yes. Which is like you need a camera. You need an iPhone on her watching. Yes. You do. Because if you don't know and you send the tape.

to her, maybe she's so awkward that she doesn't ever say what's on it. I think you've got to do it in person and I think you want to have your camera set up for this. I think Brian's right. I think we both do. Is there any world where you could get your sister and film her watching and you're there like you're putting, you go, I don't know what's on this either, but you have your phone and while she's watching, you're a little bit off. So if you just pawn it off to her,

it's just weird. Yeah. If you're doing it where she goes like, Oh my God, what am I watching? And you guys crack up, then you guys stop together. Yes. The thing that I will say, no matter what,

is you got to get your dad this tape ASAP. He deserves it. Yes. This has been the thing he's been thinking about for a long time. Not only does he want to see his wife, he wants to see himself. Oh, my Lord. Oh, my Lord. This is when he was in the 70s. Okay. I agree. He wants to see the old dog bark.

Go ahead, Brian. I do have a somewhat unrelated question, which again is more just for fun. I'm not saying you have to do anything that it changes it. Is your dad now in a new relationship? That's a good question. Great question. No, and he would never. He would never be in a new relationship.

No, and since he probably is, he's probably like, I need to see this. Like, I like what Jake, like the 70s, him and my mom. Like, my mom was smoking hot. It is very sweet. Send me the text! Jake! Yeah. It is very, very sweet. So I think, but I think what we're all saying is you're kind of asking for how do you get the most bang for your buck. Or. Yeah. Or you're asking, do you want to know what time? Because there's another problem. There is a world.

You send it to get digitized to our PO box. Yeah. We do a follow up. We'll tell you what's on the tape. I mean, again, Lindsay, we are. We also have you and your sister. We are definitely offering it up. If you want a couple of guys to jump on the family porn grenade, say the goddamn word. But if you want to just go to your sister, we can pitch there. I just need to know where what you want.

Okay, if you guys want it, I will send it to you, and you guys can have the first preview. They've got a lot of facilities around here. This show is always shocking. They can absolutely digitize. Oh, that's why we're in a room of sheets. Never in a million years.

years did I think you were going to say that? Now, Lindsay, this is what we'll say. Really? This is phenomenal. Listen, I think it helps you a little bit. It's not our mom or dad. No, we're just watching some porn from the 70s at Grandma Moore's party. I'm willing to do a follow-up with your sister. I'm not willing to do a follow-up with your dad. And I'm willing to take your dad out to lunch. How about that, Lindsay? Well, why don't we do this? We'll set it up.

This is shocking. We'll get it out here. We'll get it digitized, right, Kevin? We'll do all that. We'll be very safe with it. We'll make sure it's preserved. Brian, you're welcome back. You're welcome back. We will Mystery Science Theater 3000 this thing. Shocking. We'll watch it. We will not reveal anything, obviously. We'll tell you what's on it, and then there's a chance that you can even follow the pitch that we were saying before, whereas your sister could see it, but you can avoid it at all costs. Or do we have the sister on two?

And the setup for the sister, which we say on the call is your sister found a tape that said grandma Moore's birthday, 84 year X rated. She didn't want to watch it. She said, the combinations of words is beautiful. And now we're here to tell you what's on the tape. We want to get it to your dad. We can send it to him directly. We can then get it digital. Whatever's easy. We're not going to send him eight millimeter where he's got to set it up. He'll get what we can. He'll get a link. Yeah. What we can do is,

is we'll screen it. We'll figure it out. And then we can touch base with you again and let you know what we're dealing with and we can go from there. Is that what you want to do, Lindsay? Yeah, let's do that. I'll send you guys. You guys can have a...

Congratulations, you guys get the first screening of 70s porn. And let me tell you this, Lindsay. If we end up just watching a birthday party for an old woman in the 70s, we will sue you. We will sue you. Hold on. It's seven and a half hours. We don't do this until the end, but Brian has written a cookbook. There is a world.

that we take the cookbook, we make a real meal. Brian, what would be the best dish from that cookbook for two guys? And I know it's specific. For two guys to watch other people's parents in a 70s 8mm, what are we eating? In case we're just watching a party, right? You know, I mean, just to go for the joke, just a bratwurst. Yeah, definitely. Oh, wow.

Wow. Well, Lindsay, listen, we'll get that plan moving and we will get back to you. Yes. You know what we're going to do? Let's send her one of these books. We're going to buy one of the books. We're going to send her the cookbook. All right. We're going to send you Brian's. She sent us an 8mm. Yes. She needs to get something back. Absolutely. Yeah, collateral. We'll send you some weird out merch. You're getting a whole damn box. Yeah, you are. I think you're the first prize.

You are. I don't know what really happened. Lindsay, I think it's safe to say you won. We're here to help. And I didn't know it was a game show until just now, to be honest with you. Congratulations on winning. So that's what's going to happen. So we'll figure that all out. And then for the screening, Brian, you are more than welcome to come back and be a part of that behind the scenes process. I love it. But Lindsay, we will help you with this and we will talk to you soon.

That sounds great. Enjoy, guys. All right. Don't say that. Thank you, Lindsay. Bye. This episode of We're Here to Help is brought to you by Booking.com. Booking. Yeah. So people are traveling a lot during the summer. And if you're looking for a place to stay, go to Booking.com. Stylish hotels, family-friendly resorts. I told you yesterday, Jake, I was driving back on a brutal trip

drive and needed to get a hotel on the fly for one night and bing bang boom baby booking.com i'm booking a family trip to new york as we speak and i'm using booking.yeah

Truly just makes booking a place to stay so easy. So go to booking.com and get yourself a great place. The right stay can make you a fan of any U.S. city. Book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app.

And Jake, we are brought to you by Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscription, monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. We've talked about this before. We've both had multiple things we did not know we were still paying for. That's why we're here.

that's part of the business model of some companies where they're just like, Hey, sign up for a week. You'll be good. And then like two years later, like with that in mind, sign up to our Patreon. We're never let rocket money call you out for it. So rocket money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of five

million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year. And you could just use that on our Patreon when using all of the app's features. So stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash help. That's rocketmoney.com slash help. rocketmoney.com slash help.

Hungry Root. Hungry Root is the easiest way to eat healthy. They send you fresh, high-quality groceries, simple, delicious recipes, and essential supplements. Hungry Root gets to your personal health goals, dietary restrictions, favorite foods, how much time you want to spend cooking, and more. And I understand that our former hunk with a little chunk...

who now is just back to hunk, is a big fan of Hungry Root, as we all are. But you have a little story, Kevin. I've for years have been looking for a meal delivery service that caters to vegans. A lot of them do not have a vegan version. They're closest they have is a veggie. And those aren't

really that good. I literally Googled three months ago, best vegan delivery service, Hungry Root popped up. I have for three months had it delivered for, I get a box of five meals a week, every single week. I love it. Super easy to make. Lee and I have a blast making them. And you've never looked better. I feel great. Yeah. Highly recommend it. I'm a huge fan of Hungry Root.

We love them. And right now, Hungry Root is offering We're Here to Help listeners 40% off your first delivery and free veggies for life. Just go to HungryRoot.com slash Here to Help to get 40% off your first delivery and get your free veggies. That's HungryRoot.com slash Here to Help. Don't forget to use our link so they know that we sent you.

Hi. Hi there. How are you? Welcome to We're Here to Help, America's number one podcast. What's your name, age, and where are you calling from, please? My name is Busy. I'm 22. I'm calling from Rochester, New York. And your first name one more time, just so we get it right. Busy. It's Busy. It's with a B. B-U-S-Y. Is it short for Elizabeth?

Yeah, it's B-I-Z-Z-Y. Yeah, cool. All right, look, we're all impressed. You've done great on the name so far. Listen, you've got Jake. Yeah, sorry, sorry. We got a new thing we're doing. Our guest helper does the shoe size thing. Can we get your shoe size, please, Busy?

A size seven. Seven. Okay. Very consistent. We're talking a lot of sevens today in the foot department. Well, you've got Jake. You've got me, Gareth. And you have a great guest today. He's got an amazing cookbook coming out, as well as you know him from the office. Give it up for Brian Baumgartner. Welcome, our guest helper. Thank you. Very helpful on call one. Yeah. So don't be nervous. You got a size seven. It's fine. I think...

I think I like the office more than I like New Girl, too. Thank you for coming, Brian. Now you've lost. We're here to help. First caller won. Thanks for joining us. I don't know. This caller might win, actually. That's really good. All right, Busy, what's going on? What can we help you with today? I have a really big problem for you guys. I've been dating my boyfriend for a little over a year, and he's perfect, except he only uses

children's toothpaste. Oh, wow. So he refuses to use any mint toothpaste or chew mint gum or eat anything mint because he says he has a mint aversion. But like, I like the smell of really fresh mint breath and I'm trying to, you know, break him into mint and I don't know how or what to do. What does he use? Bubble gum? Yeah.

Yeah, he uses like strawberry children's toothpaste. Oh, dear Lord. He's a child. Wow. I know. Thank you for validating me. How old is this guy, Busy? He's 22. No, he's 12. Yeah.

That's the explanation. It's my son. He's 12. He's 12. He's 12 years of old. And what's the age of this 12-year-old boy? I mean, what's his name? What can we tell him? What can we call him? Oh, Thomas. Thomas. Like the tank engine that he probably loves. Okay, so we got... Wait, by the way, Busy, can I tell you something right now? I...

Your name is Busy. His name is Thomas. Actually, I was making a joke, so I didn't hear the age. 22 as well. Oh, so you're both 22. These guys are taking notes of everything that you're saying like they can't remember these just very clear facts. Yeah.

They just wrote down children's toothpaste. Like we need to know. Well, if you really want me to walk you through the process, Brian, I will say that what I've got here is BF over year, no mint, strawberry, Thomas. So there's a lot of touch points here for me to keep track. I had that all in my head. Well, I think if we wanted to see who smoked the most weed in their life, I would win by a mile. Not by a mile.

Well, I don't know. You and I would fight. I'm just saying we're right. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank God I have the notes busy. Okay. Me too. I have BF, can't read that, taste paste, he hates mint, weird dash, strawberry 22. Okay.

22 again is great. But not the name. Not the name. Thomas, yeah. Okay, Busy. So your problem, just so we, why don't you ask exactly what your problem is? I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but just to make sure. Okay. My question is how do we convert him to be using mint toothpaste and chew mint gum? Yeah.

So it's how do we convert Thomas? How do we get him away from little children's toothpaste in order to use adult toothpaste? Now, the obvious one here is there is toothpaste that's for adults that's not mint.

There's charcoal toothpaste. There's other flavors. It sounds like that's not her problem, though, right? You want mint. Well, she said, how do I convert the mint? That's why we wrote it down. Well, no. But what she also said was she likes the fresh stuff.

smell of minty breath breath well but is it the toothpaste or is it you just want mint in his mouth you want a mint mouth well it's different things yeah yeah yeah like a mint mouth like he doesn't have bad breath but there's something refreshing about like a night but does it have to be mint and here's why he's saying he doesn't like mint yeah yes does he order off the kids menu how bad is this game um

No, he doesn't. Does he sleep in a race car bed? Does he walk around in pajamas? I was going to say, Star Wars pajamas. And so I just need to be very clear with what we're pitching on here. Is it the toothpaste is an issue, or do you just want mint breath, or do you just not want the taste of kids' toothpaste?

You got to make it as specific as possible for us. If I had one choice, then it would be not children's toothpaste, adult toothpaste. Okay. Okay. Yeah. That's clean. That's easy. Okay. Yeah. Well, why don't we could pitch in the direction of trying to get them to mint it up? And if not, then they're like Jake saying, I mean, there are other adult options. There's an easy way to get away from kids toothpaste.

What is that? I will not have sex with you if you use little boys' toothbrushes. I find it a major ick. It is a major turnoff. When I'm watching you and I go in our bathroom, I honestly feel like I'm babysitting. I will put you to bed. I will read you a story. I will not get on top of you. You should get him a dinosaur toothbrush for like a six-year-old and just put it next to it. A little bit of shame goes a long way in a situation like this.

Yeah. Put a little baby's cup in there. Put a little toddler stand here. The thing that he has to step. Yeah. I was just going to say a little step. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you want to get like a little, like a kid's potty for like next to the toilet that he can use from now on. When he goes to kiss you going, Oh, did you brush your teeth with little baby? Yeah. Cute. I'm not turned on, but I do find it really cute. I like that. I also think there might be, does he go to the dentist a lot?

A normal amount. We're not bringing the dentist into this. I want to try. It's a hard play, but okay, I think you're right.

Here's another one. But when he goes to the dentist, he tells him he doesn't like mint. Yeah, but I would imagine some dentist would be like, you're in your 20s. There's other adult toothpaste that's not mint. Yeah. It's not like the mint game has monopolized all adult toothpaste. But it's that mouthwash. It's that after brush mouthwash scent that is good. It's nice. It's a reset. Yeah. It gets you back. And you're saying his breath is not bad, but it's...

Do you ever catch a whiff? There's cinnamon toothpaste. Cinnamon's a good play. Ooh, cinnamon. Cinnamon would be good. Cinnamon's a good player. That's why I'm trying to get to the bottom of the question. She weirdly sounds turned on by cinnamon. Cinnamon. I'm not legally allowed to have that anymore. That's why I'm trying to get to what we're pitching. Because if it's

It's just the baby's toothpaste. We can shame him away from it. But it is. It's baby's toothpaste. And then there's a time where you become a big boy and you use grown-up toothpaste that protects grown-up teeth. It is strange. And then if it's about you don't like the smell of the taste, say, like, I'm not kissing you with that. And then get him a thing of toothpaste.

adult toothpaste that's cinnamon. That he goes, I don't hate the taste of this. Cinnamon's good. The man doesn't like mint. Why are we forcing mint in his mouth? But okay, do you think he's going to put up, I mean, my guess is he also really enjoys the flavor of these little kids' toothpaste. Do you think he's going to get a little, you're going to get a little pushback even on the cinnamon twist?

I don't think I would get a pushback on the cinnamon twist, but it is annoying that he doesn't like mint because then if we travel together and I forget toothpaste, I'm not going to use his roast children's toothpaste. Busy, busy. This is something you're going to realize in a long time. Yeah, busy. He ain't the guy for you. Also, if this is the... But she's 22. I know, but if you're worried like we're going to go on vacation to Paris and I'm going to forget my toothpaste and I'll use cinnamon, you can solve that problem in five hours. Yeah, yeah.

You can solve that problem at the airport. So that's a very solvable issue. I think cinnamon is the move. The only other pitch that I had was I was going to say you got to fight a breath war against him, which would mean you remove mint from your process, get a little stinky, and see what conversation that brings up. So, Brian, what are you thinking? Where's your head at? Well, I...

And maybe I'm reading way too much into this situation. That's the whole premise of the show. Go for it. Is there anything else childish that he does or is fixated on?

No, no, no, no. Not at all. Oh, okay. All right. He's a grown man. He's a grown man. It's just you want some mint. He's a graduate student. Yeah. It's just that he has this weird aversion to mint. So would you be willing, Busy, because especially a 22-year-old guy, would you be willing to say no sex until mint mouth? How much do you hate mint? I got a feeling you're going to like something more than your dislike of mint. Yes. Okay.

Right. And then he's going to go, I don't like the taste of mint. And you go, I don't care. Yeah. Yeah. Put it in your mouth before we do this. It's fine. And he goes after three times, he's going to go mince fine.

You know, there is actually another solution, which is this. It's, I don't know, is this like a torture tactic or something? But you get like really strong dental mouthwash, minty dental mouthwash. And you say you must use this for the next two days after that.

The taste of mint. It will be totally benign. He'll swim if he wants to. And then now you're like, a little Colgate's fine. Yeah, I've been wanting to condition him into it, kind of. Yeah, good for you. I like that. You know what else? I mean, you could kind of lead up to that. You just say his breath's bad. Just be like, look, your breath is bad.

You know, you're the only person who's going to know that on a level like this. So why not just tell him that? Unfortunately, the kid's toothpaste is just not working for that. It's for kids. You have a grown man mouth and you're throwing bubble gum flavor in it, expecting to get grown man kisses. You're fighting an adult problem with kids. Yeah. Yeah. You brought bubble gum to a mouth war. So here's where we're at, Busy. You got the shame game where you tease them a little bit. Uh,

You got add cinnamon. You go bad on bad where you just get your breath bad. So he has to go like your breath stinks and you go, welcome to the party. Let's make a deal here. You do the overexposure routine. And that is you get some of the most intense mouthwash you can and make them do it for a few days and then go.

Let's cut that out. Let's just use this toothpaste. You withhold sex. You say absolutely not. Sex is for big boys. Or you tell them straight up, you got bad breath. You have adult breath and your baby toothpaste isn't working. Busy. We've given you some options. What are you going to do?

Okay, I think I'm going to go with trying to overexpose him with a mouthwash is my first attack. And if he refuses, then I will go with you're an adult and you need to use adult toothpaste. Okay. Yeah. Brian, what's your first? Great advice. Great advice. You're the best caller that we've had. And the other one, the bar was really high, Busy.

It was really hot. I think Brian's our first guest to openly celebrate his advice. He was so like, yes. And so how are you going to actually, before we get you off, just because I'm curious, how are you going to pull off the overexposure? I'm thinking I will buy a mouthwash and then I'll be like, so here's a really fun idea I have. Let's take a video of us using mouthwash.

and make up some dumb TikTok thing, and then make him do it. Mouthwash challenge. Okay. Mouthwash challenge. Yeah, like a little challenge. Like, who can keep it in their mouth longer? Oh, that's a fun way to do it. That's good. Because we're pretty competitive. Is there a way to say in the challenge, it's a three-day challenge? You have to do it every day for three days? Because if he just does it once, I don't know. I mean, yeah. Can you make it a little bit of a marathon by the end? Then when he just goes to regular toothpaste, you've maybe, you know, broke it.

yeah i feel like i could come up with something pretty elaborate because he's not really on social media so i could be like super elaborate like oh my god it's so trendy can you send us the clip yes please and we'll post it because if we would love to post the challenge of it and then yeah we'd love to post the challenge and then potentially if if he makes the move we could have you both back on to just do a quick follow-up to see what his new life is like as a mint yeah but

The more detailed you can get that challenge where he's got to like, he thinks he's being really funny about how much he hates the mint. Yeah. And he thinks it's about holding it in. Yeah, right. But he doesn't realize we're just reconditioning his time. It's a reset. That's a great trick out. Great advice. Because now I can force him. I can be like, oh, I have to send this like, and I have to do this challenge. Like we have to do this together. There you go.

Perfect. Well, busy. Keep us posted. Brilliant suggestion. And congrats to Brian on winning the call. And my favorite moment of it was this, when you said it and go take a... Yeah, like in Home Alone where Macaulay Culkin first gets the bad guys. Yes! Thank you so much for the call. Keep us posted. Thank you. Thanks, Busy. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

This year Dell Technologies' back to school event is delivering impressive tech with an inspiring purpose.

With every qualifying purchase, Dell will donate to ComputerAid, who equips solar community hubs with tech and AI literacy skills to empower remote, displaced, or disconnected communities around the world. This is your chance to empower people globally through AI access and digital opportunity while upgrading your tech now powered by Snapdragon X series processors for game-changing performance and to power efficiency.

Help Dell make a difference. Shop AI-ready PCs and get free shipping on everything at dell.com slash deals. Purchase any PC monitor between $715.24 and $911.24, and Dell will donate $1.75 for each eligible product within your purchase to ComputerAid, capped at $1.2 million total. For details and restrictions, go to dell.com slash deals.

And we are brought to you by Squarespace. We love Squarespace. Squarespace has so many things to help you build your business. I use Squarespace for my personal website. We built Squarespace for the Suits and Wigs party. Look, they've got...

blueprint AI and SEO tools, flexible payments. You can sell your content. There's video collection, client invoicing. I've been with Squarespace long enough to be like, I remember when it was pretty simple, but now you can really, really build up your business with

It helps you build merch, all these things. So go to www.squarespace.com slash Gil sent me to save 10% off of your purchase of a website or domain using the code Gil sent me. And

And we're also brought to you by Babbel. Jake, we've talked about this before. Babbel is the science-backed language learning app that actually works. Saves you money. You don't need to hire a tutor. It's 10-minute lessons, handcrafted by 200 language experts. Helps you speak another language. So,

I spoke French when I was in high school and all that stuff. And then I had completely forgotten it. So I use Babel and French is coming back. As a matter of fact, the other day I was in Toronto doing a show and talked to a French person from the stage.

Gareth, give us a taste of what Babel has helped you with with your French. Je m'appelle Gareth. J'ai étudié dans l'école française pour deux ans.

Babbel helps. It really is so easy. It does not take very long. You can do it anytime. So here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get 60 percent off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at Babbel dot com slash HTH. Get up to 50. No, get up to 60 percent off at Babbel dot com slash HTH. Spell B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash HTH. Rule and restrictions.

Hello. Hi, welcome back to the show. Can we get your name, your problem and our solution? That's great. This is Lindsay. I had called previously about my parents who I thought made a porno. Oh, what?

Wait, we never got to see it, Kevin. Yeah, this is a strange follow-up because we were... Where we left it was we were going to get a copy of it and we were going to screen the porno for you. Conversion from film to video. Kevin, will you jump in, sir? What happened was I gave her HeadGum's address. She mailed it to HeadGum. I...

Anya texted me, what is this? I responded, porn or an 84-year-old's birthday party. I grabbed it. What's the difference? I brought it to a store. Depends on your Google search, Gareth. I said, please convert this. They handed me back this thumb drive three weeks later.

Are you guys ready to watch the file? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Can I just say quickly, I kept thinking this was about to take a bad turn. Me too. I mean, relatively bad turn where we weren't going to be able to watch the parents' porno. Wow. Are you ready? But Lindsay's going to be on with us? We're going to describe to Lindsay what is on the video that we are watching. Not if fornication starts to happen. Oh, this is a great... And Lindsay, you did not know this was going to happen right now?

No, actually, I knew that I was calling in today and I've just been like letting bullets all day. Are you comfortable with this if we watch and describe what we see? Well, obviously, I'm comfortable with you guys watching it. And I guess use a code word if fornication starts to happen. But let's have a code word. I think that's a good idea. Why don't we say something like turtles?

Okay. Sure, yeah. Because the turtle head goes in and out of the shell? I hadn't thought about it that deeply. Okay. I don't think that's what I was thinking about. Maybe turtle's a bad one now that I hear Jake's version of it. Turtles move slow. Is that the goal? But turtles, it's just about getting the job done, I guess. It's not a race. Slow.

Turtles have been around forever. Okay. Let's watch. So if things start to take a turn, we'll start to talk turtles. We'll just say turtles. Here we go. This is crazy. This is great. Wow. It's only three minutes. Perfect length. Sounds like a Jake porn. It sounds like 10 Jake porns.

What? It's just a couple lines at the zoo. We're seeing lions at the zoo. We're seeing peacocks. This is going to get confusing because if we see an actual turtle... Turtles were the rock. By the way, I love zoo footage on this 8mm. Elephants? Look at how great this looks. This was from the 70s, yeah? I would love to see that elephant with a big mustache on it. So we got the elephants. This is great. Just zoo footage. Yep. Seems like...

Yeah, really? The elephant, there's a lot of elephant footage, but the elephant is...

Oh, for three minutes of just this elephant, and that's how we end the follow-up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Either way. By the way, I'm not going to lie. I don't think we're going to see your parents turtling. Gareth, you don't go from animals at the zoo to hardcore sex in two minutes. Now, those are peacocks eating. That's not a peacock, is it? What is that? That's an ostrich. Ostrich. Good work, Jake. Thanks.

Going back to an episode where you're in Ostrich Farm. I remember that. Still just zoo stuff. Yeah, antelope. Just antelope hanging out. We should point out all these animals have passed away as well. No parents yet. Giraffes. Just giraffes. We're seeing giraffes chew. This is a real disappointment. Polar bear. We are really, unfortunately, we are getting very close to being able to say there's no turtles at the zoo.

I mean, this is a real downer of a follow-up. This is a shame. How much time is left, Kevin? I mean, there's no porno. 20 seconds. We still have 20 seconds. Okay, we're seeing... Wait, so what did your parents write on this again? They wrote 85th birthday? They maybe took grandma to the zoo. Five seconds to see some penetration. Nothing was written on it.

on the 8mm itself, but on... There's, like, a piece of paper that my mother had written out that was what was supposedly on every film. Well...

Look, Lindsay, we have good news for you and bad news for us on our show. The good news is that your parents, there's not a porno of your parents. No, not even close. That doesn't exist. The bad news for us. There's not even shots of your parents. Guys, is that there is no porno of Lindsay's parents. And also, watching 70s animals in a zoo is quite literally exactly the same as watching them now.

Yeah, not much has changed. You didn't even get to see like clothes change or like the backdrop. You didn't get to see, oh cool, look at the way Pepsi canceled. Elephant fashion is the same as it's always been. Elephants, ostriches. Grey trunks. Same. So Lindsay, you called in for a little bit of help. We did give you a little bit of help.

The tape is fine. Lindsay, how do you feel about that? What do you, you must feel relief. Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can breathe. Yeah.

I'll give you $100,000 if you have footage of your parents. Yeah. Is there any other tapes you could send? I mean, we would love anything. Can I get on the phone with him? Can I beg? Even now, who cares? Yeah. Is there any way we could maybe talk to your dad and try to just eke it out? See if he's got something. Something. Or if maybe with AI, we could make something. I don't know. I just, it's kind of a tough day for the show. Lindsay, where are you at? How are you feeling? No, honestly, I'm relieved. My hands are like still shaking, honestly, though. Okay.

But there's like 50 to 60 more films that I still have to get. Not interested. Not interested. Lindsay, Kevin would love to get eyes on him. This was $85 to convert this. I don't think we have that kind of money to do like another 60. The show sinks because we're just trying to find a porno through these old videos. We'll put thousands of dollars in an adventure. We'll see a silverback.

In the event that I'm developing these and we happen upon... Of course, Lindsay. Oh, you know where to turn. Please, please. You know where to turn. You know what? I will...

provide the full right to nothing would make us happier than to start shouting turtle so besides besides zoo footage that by the way we were so close weird perfect storm yes there was actual actual turtles real turtle and then lindsey has a panic attack and hangs up

Well, Lindsay, we appreciate the call. This was a fun one. And the trust. And the trust. We appreciate it. We wish so. I'm so glad you guys handled my parents' porno, not really porno, but zoo video with great care. And if anyone out there has a predicament similar, and they would like, even if they've seen it, and they just, I mean, we're just kind of hankering for watching some people who listen to our shows, parents,

pork so just let us know and last but not least obviously this isn't about us but if it were how would you grade our ability to help you if it a's and a's and f's fail and it's not a pass fail there aren't quite literal grades abc matters what would you grade us and why lindsay

No, I'm going to give you guys an A+. This is great. Because honestly, the professionalism with the producer Kevin. Yeah, I drove home feeling like I was like making a documentary. Yeah. Okay. So that's it. So, Lindsay, we appreciate the call for us, for our listeners. You've all been part of an A+. Everybody should feel good about themselves. Did we get to see her parents have sex? No. Did we want to? Yes. Yes.

Do we still want to? Yes. Yes. Will we always want to? Yes. Yes. Will we probably end up, you know, going through other videos that she has in her attic somewhere? Yes. Yes.

I mean, are we probably now, instead of taking notes, just drawing little pictures on our note cards of her parents, whatever they look like doing it? Yes. Okay. I mean, is it all we're going to think about for the next couple of weeks? Yes. Yes. Okay. Are we going to get a weird Google search later and clear history? Yes. Are we going to do it in a private window and still clear the history? Yes. Yes. Goodbye, Lindsay. Bye, Lindsay. Bye, guys.

Well, first of all, thanks for winning the show. That's got to be a good feeling. It is a fantastic feeling. Yeah, we love it. Okay, yeah, well, you have a cookbook, but you've written a couple cookbooks. I have written a couple cookbooks. And how did that start? I mean, obviously, people know you mainly from The Office. Yes.

Were you always cooking? Did this start once you kind of had a cushy Hollywood gig? How did it start? The idea of, I mean, first off, yes.

I do like to cook, but I mean, if we're honest, which that's what we're about today, clearly. Yep, candor. There was a moment during the office that has gotten quite a bit of attention, which was my character making some chili and spilling said chili on the floor. If you haven't seen it,

You literally are living back in the 70s still. And so, yeah, so I, I mean, my progression was at some point, I don't think I had ever made chili in my life for real. And at one point I did. And I was like, oh, like that chili reference from the show. I took a picture of it and people went just like absolutely bonkers. Amazing.

And now, I mean, it has gotten to the point with that clip and the show's sort of resurgence or escalation. I can't post a picture of food. Not that I post a lot of pictures of food. That's not like, why aren't you eating chili? Like, where's the chili? Don't spill it. So we had a chili cookbook. And we did that. And that was a lot of fun. I met a bunch of world champion chefs there.

And, um, but this is really what I do. Um, I, I barbecue, I grill when I'm home. Obviously I'm on the road a lot, but four or five nights a week, I'm outside cooking and it's what I love to do. It gives me a, a release, uh, for me, it's, it's being able to focus, uh,

specifically on something else kind of clears my mind. Zen. Yeah. Yeah. So I really enjoy it. So this is really a passion of mine and, um, have met a lot of great chefs and have a lot of, um, got a lot of great contributions for the book and I've had a great time with it. So then when you moved out, how long were you out here kind of auditioning before you got the office? Okay. So you were, you were involved in theater, correct? A lot of that before that. So,

So how did that sort of come to be? So there was a lot. So I was smart enough to know out of college that the like living on

on a sofa in a studio apartment in New York of a fr like that was not for me like I knew that so I started in Minneapolis where which was a town you could make as a great theater I don't think a lot of people know how great the theater town is at least at the time I haven't looked up the stats since because I whatever but like second per capita in theater to New York great stuff but it really is it's like well-funded

And, um, so I started there and then started traveling around and really that's what I thought that my life was, um, that I just a theater actor. I like, I never, and now for my podcast and so I'll talk to people, um,

Who had this passion for film and television or moving to L.A. even as a couple of guests recently, like as kids and all that. It wasn't even I didn't even think about it like it was not truly like. Do you think that kind of helped you in the long run in the sense that you were never even really focused on it? So it gave you maybe.

Maybe. An ability to kind of lower the stakes? Because I think it is like, when you are an auditioning actor in Los Angeles, these things feel so important. Yes. That maybe... Oh, yes. I mean, for the success that I had when I came out here, I think for sure. Because I was truly...

Even though I was older and had experience in the work, I was told like the idea that I wouldn't get something or that once I got it, it wouldn't be a success. That wasn't, I wasn't thinking about it. I hadn't been, you know, through that. But I think, and I do think people sort of plant this as a flag and like people

people should follow whatever they want. And so I'm not trying to sound like weird or, or better than, but like, for me, it truly was not about being famous. Yeah. Like the, the fame side of it, like the celebrity side of it, just growing up and going to college and studying theater. Like for me, it was like, I really love creating characters. Yeah. Like I really love being in a,

a live theater, like feeling, you know, got my high was like off of that energy that was created there. Like that was it. Um, so I think that, you know, some of the things that have happened now are incredible and I'm really enjoying a lot of things, you know, um,

playing golf or meeting certain people that i you know admire for one reason or another is awesome but i didn't get into it for that so anyway it's a long sort of like um way of saying once i moved to los angeles i met the folks on the office about three months after i oh are you kidding crazy you went from minneapolis to here well so i was in minneapolis and then i was i was uh i

I was like a regional theater actor. I mean, I did some stuff in New York and, you know, were you working in film and TV at all? Or was it? No, I had done. No, I had my SAG card. Like I had done enough little, a couple of, yeah, a couple of little things. And that was part of it too, was like, well, I,

I kind of want to try this out, but I know I need my SAG card. I know I, you know, blah, blah, blah. So, so, um, I mean, I described myself and I don't know if it's accurate or not, but like kind of the person with the least money that had the

the largest storage of TiVo at the time. Like, so I just watched television because I hadn't watched a ton of television. I was like, well, if I get a audition for this show, I need to know what, like, what, yeah, like what, what's the style, what's the aesthetic, comedy, drama, like all that. And so I, I had found this show called The Office, um, for

British version. I heard they were doing it here. And so I said to this manager, and at that point, I had gotten a couple of commercials or whatever, and I said, this is the show. I need to be on this show. It's funny, too, because if you are trying to watch network TV to be like, what is the tone of... The English office and the American office broke the kind of mold for how you do deliver comedy. It is actually...

It is a little more theatrical in the way that it is. It's much more subtle. It's like the comedy is bred out of the silences or the looks to camera, which is not what the standard for like a sitcom was. Correct. Regular TV. No, for sure. And that was part of it. Like it wasn't.

for me, like, oh, this is going to be a big show. Because in fact, like at the time, everybody was like, this is a colossal error. We have this genius version already. Why are you remaking it? But when I heard they were doing it, for me, it was like, oh, I get this. Like, I get this awkward timing. I get this. Which your character is almost like,

arguably like what the best at and like like your character Kevin really is at times there just to make the awkward even more awkward in ways there are so many moments like I think that like the office bloopers go around so much now and I think like there is there are characters on that show who are allowed to smile or break a little bit and it works but you are

The point of Kevin was almost to be like the most stoic, like amp up the awkwardness. Yes. And so that must be hard. Like when you break, a take is kind of over. Whereas like there are certain characters who are like, they can smile. Like there's a lot of presences that kind of smile. But Kevin like could not do that. That must have been very difficult as well. Yeah. Because the show is so funny. Well, thank you. I mean, looking back on it now,

I think that part of the special sauce that wasn't Allison Jones, who was the casting director, genius. So it is, is not to take anything away from her. I don't think that this specifically was intentional, but it was sort of the setup of the whole show that, that made it. So one was because the camera's moving around, we're,

all there all the time. I mean, you talk about number one on the call sheet may work 50 or 60 hours a week, but everybody else comes in a couple of days. We were all there all the time. And what was, I think, sort of not unintentional

or no one has claimed that this was foresight, was like we had a few amazing stand-up guys. We had a few amazing improv guys. You know, we had people from different areas, and then, you know, and you watch the show, and you can sort of see it, like myself and the only other guy that I knew from the show, which was Rainn Wilson, had come from theater. And so for us, I think it was much more like...

creation, like different than who we are as. Yeah. We had rain on the show and I mean, he is so different. Obviously. I mean, it's like overstated, but he's so different from the character that he played. Yeah. Um, but what are the other things you saw there? So then you got like, Corral is an improviser.

Yeah. So like second city, Corral, Oscar Nunez. He's an improviser. Yeah. And then you got Craig Robinson, BJ Novak. They were really standup guys. Yeah. So yeah, that was just a mix. Yeah. That's interesting. And then you're all in a big scene together. Cause you're right. You're all there. All of us are there all the time. Everybody gets a shot at a single or a two shot. So everybody's kind of sauce goes into it. But in, and, and, and in addition to that, because,

Because we were all there all the time, like, it doesn't take years, right? It's more like weeks that you start, I mean, not to make, like, a cheesy sports analogy, but you start to...

know where people like to receive the ball. Like, you know where the setup is. It starts moving much faster. You start to know who scores where. And who scores where. And whatever we're talking about, where the best joke...

can come from, especially in an improv. It was scripted, but we certainly improv a lot. So you start to just, and the writers are seeing the same thing because they're seeing us all work together. Who you have different chemistry with and your comfortability just as a team, like, just like you're saying, who was the first person that you started finding real chemistry with where you were? Cause I, I feel like with sitcoms,

We all build our characters off each other. Yes. Like, I feel like once you start going, you have an idea in your head, but then there's somebody you're in a scene with and you're like, I understand my character more when you're next to me. Right. Was there somebody at first where you're like together, we're starting to build a thing and now I really get it. Yeah. I, well, so I'll answer that question a couple of ways. I mean, first off,

Um, and I was lucky enough because I didn't come from, from improv. I mean, I think I'm okay. I think I'm okay at it, but I was with in the corner there, Oscar Nunez and Angela Kinsey. And the three of us, again, we were all in the same room for 14 hours a day, but we

We were sitting next to each other in the corner. And so there was that. It's fun. There was a dynamic early on, which if you, I haven't talked about this in a long time, but if you, if, if there's a, and there's, there's fractures, there's branches, but if you take like,

a hierarchy of stupidity in a certain frame. There is a Kevin to Dwight to Michael thing that happens. And there was a dynamic that we kind of liked early on. We didn't end up doing a ton of it, but where...

Dwight was to Michael like Kevin was to Dwight. Like there was some behavior between that. And particularly in the like physical comedy, like not that we were better or anything like that, but that we were sort of used in that way. That was certainly it. But I'll share something else with you that hasn't been talked about that much. I did talk about it on...

Uh my podcast but there was something that I never heard about which um I believe I'm getting the the title correct you'll get the idea anyway that the writers did which when they were searching for B stories or whatever else on episodes they had this little game almost that they played called unlikely duos and they would take two and they were like what happens if

Pam and Kevin have this story and what comes out of that. So you have some episodes with her and I that are like, it's an odd couple. Yeah. But that is like such a richness to the world. Yes. That you find that there's something that is within that, which I thought was just a genius idea. Like don't keep them separate. Like a lot of the character as well as like almost the like ability

a move like it's like an immovable character in some way so it's like whoever goes with you has to kind of be like kind of create out of this like kind of stoic guy a little bit oh no yeah totally but i but which is such a fun game though to be like absolutely but i but to like but also in terms of like broadening relationships and stuff and for some reason this example is coming into my head because she and i there was some like

weird pervy Kevin stuff to Pam early on, but like they found they, they did one of these unlikely duos. I'm sure when Pam was pregnant and she was like eating all of these meals and it was like second lunch or I can't remember all the things.

third breakfast and they would like eat together. And so it was like this sweetness of like them getting along, doing this activity that they both enjoyed. That's so, what is a, and I know it's kind of a hard question if you don't have one, it's okay, but.

Looking back, what is a big, clear memory that you get to take with you that you go like? For me, when I look back at the show or a different movie I'm doing, there's a scene or a moment that I get to go like, I'm really glad I was there for that and I saw that. Is it the chilly moment? Is there a moment when you felt like either your character was killing it, somebody else was killing it, but you knew you were involved in a TV show before?

that was important to a lot of people. It was really neat to be in it while also doing it. Is there anything that kind of jumps in your head? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of stuff sort of outside of it, but I would say that there's a bunch. But I think for me, what I palpably remember that people I've talked to don't remember as much, but the very second episode we ever did was this episode called Diversity Day.

And people talk about how the show developed and got better, which I think is totally true. Michael's character was changed. But when you look back at that very second episode, like it could have been one of our best. And I remember palpable. I mean, so this is we shoot the pilot. We come back. We're doing only six total and we're shooting this episode. And I remember I remember exactly where I was sitting and talking to people. And I was like, man.

To your point the way the show is shot the timing of it the pauses People may not get it. But if they do what we're doing here is special because at the time comedies, you know, there were there were dramas like NYPD blue in a way the wire where they were talking about issues like race and comedies

nothing yeah since all in the family which is the seventh so you're talking about there's a 30-year stretch and i am don't somebody come at me there may be an episode here or there but but that comedy was unwilling to go and talk about serious issues in a in a real way and there we were like

jokes that were like not easy jokes like my favorite one which I don't know I this comes into the office like could you do that today but um Mike uh the character of Michael Scott turning to Oscar and saying what is a term less offensive than Mexican

And Oscar's like, Mexican, that's where I'm from. Mexican's not offensive. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what is the word we could use that is less offensive? And just the idea of that and that people, like this is the way that some people think. And so addressing it head on, I was so tremendously offended.

Yeah, that's cool, man. Proud of that. You must have felt really, like you're saying, not knowing, there was obviously people thought this show will not succeed in America. And then it starts to crush. That must just not only feel good for everyone's security and peace of mind, but as far as making the show, you get to amp up all that. How deep into shooting were you when everyone started to kind of be like, holy shit, we're like, we're...

I'm going to be on a fucking ride here. So it was, um, I mean, there's that, there's a real specific moment. So there was, we, we got an order of six first season. Yeah.

And then we came back and the press had announced that we'd been given like an opening 13 was not true. We'd been given six. We came back in season two and did six and started to pick up. And so that was 12 episodes. But this we finished that episode in like September.

And they hadn't aired yet. So we all like packed up our trailer and thought we're never, we're never coming back. And then we gradually started to pick up. And then by the, by we came back and then by the Christmas episode of that year, um, Corral won the golden globe. And it was like, they were giving,

giving us episodes at like two or three at a time. And then all of that happened. We hit 10 million viewers and it was like, okay, you can finish the season. And then like two weeks later it was like, and here's another one. Yeah. And so at that point it started 10 million now is just such an ad. It's so crazy to think of like that number now. I know. Even then that was like big, obviously. But now it's like, that is impossible. It's gone.

Yeah. Yeah, that's like live sports. We appreciate you coming. We've taken a ton of your time. You're the best, man. Dude, thank you so much. I really enjoyed it. And you crushed those calls. Oh, that was very fun. The caller won the first one. You did win the second. What a blast, man. Well, thank you, Brian. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. Absolutely.

We're Here to Help is hosted by Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds. The show is produced and edited by Kevin Bartelt, and the associate producer and editor is A.J. McKeon. Our social media director is Caitlin Tanwakio, and our video editor is John DeBruyne. The theme song is made by Oliver Raleigh, and you can check out his music at OliverRaleigh.com. That's Oliver R-A-L-L-I dot com.

The album artwork is by James Fosdyke. You can find him on Instagram at James underscore Fosdyke, D-I-K-E. And if you'd like to see me do stand up on the road, go to GarethReynolds.com. Additional artwork by Patty Holland. You can find him on Instagram at P-A-D-D-Y Holland 2004. And if you'd like early access to episodes, subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com slash here to help pod. And if you'd like to be on the show, email us your question at helpfulpod at gmail.com.

All of the advice given on We're Here to Help is for entertainment purposes only, and all listeners should be adults and make their own decisions.