This week, Louis Virtel is joined by Guy Branum to discuss Jimmy Kimmel Live being yanked off the air, the new Lilith Fair documentary, and the best speeches in entertainment history.

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TRANSCRIPT

 

Louis Virtel [AD].

 

Louis Virtel Welcome back to Keep It. I’m the unemployed, reemployed, and quasi-employed Louis Virtel. We’ll get into it today. Even though I am still frazzled, I feel crazy even acknowledging the week I’ve had, the week the staff of Jimmy Kimmel Live has had. But luckily today we have somebody who is one of the great podcasters and comics I know. Let me just say something about this person before I introduce him. Imagine you’re Louis Virtel at a young age and you think to yourself… One day, I’m gonna be a comic, but my whole thing is I’ll focus on pop culture and trivia. No one’s ever done this, it’s never been done. Imagine my disgust meeting Guy Branum.

 

Guy Branum Imagine my joy at Ackbar when a little boy from Illinois walks up and says, I’m Louis Virtel, you need to know who I am. And it turns out you were right.

 

Louis Virtel Was I really a demanding child actress?

 

Guy Branum Yes, you were. Still are. But I just want to say, Louis, it’s 2025 in Los Angeles, being employed is déclassé. Who’s doing it?

 

Louis Virtel No, no, the whole town is like the movie Barfly right now. There’s people lingering around like eating, like smoking and eating peanuts at bars with Faye Dunaway.

 

Guy Branum Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, we’ll get into the fracas concerning the FCC and late night comedy of which I late night

 

Guy Branum or a huge fan and grew up on as well. Yes, I love late night comedy. Like, it’s topical, it jokes, it reactive, it charm. It’s a cocktail party for America. And I think it’s a part of television that I love. And, you know, two of the bright lights keeping that alive, Colbert and Kimmel, have just recently taken blows to the jaw. And it’s really hard because… I love it, and I think it creates some of the most magnificent moments. The children do not know about Bette Midler serenading Johnny Carson on his next last show.

 

Louis Virtel No, do you know what people get wrong about that? They think she sang Wind Beneath My Wings, but she didn’t. She sang that one for the road song.

 

Guy Branum Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I just want everybody to be aware of that. Yeah, no, working for a late night comedy show, it’s sort of the entertainment equivalent of working for newspaper. There’s like a deadline you have to hit, you’re rushing, you have be up on the news, but then the paper goes to bed. They do the monolog and it’s over, and you get the relief and you have do it again the next day.

 

Guy Branum Well, it’s also there used to be like a curses on norm for TV writers for comedy writers where you started out and you did two or three years on a late night show or two or Three years on SNL and then you went on and you Did scripted stuff and it meant that you had people who really knew how to make jokes and make jokes quickly and we’ve kind of lost that in the last couple of years and it leads us to half our like scripted shows that are not as jokeful as we miss.

 

Louis Virtel I want to also be clear that I’m blaming Gen Z, who do not enjoy jokes, they want things to be awkward and they want to glance at the camera and then move right along. Let’s get back to words. But anyway, we will get into that. But I want say that during this week, where the entire world became aware of my workplace situation, I have been so thrilled at the amount of people who’ve reached out. I also remember who didn’t reach out. Okay, and what’s nice is when we found out in the room that like the music had stopped, quote, margin call, if you remember that scene, it was so inert, everybody wasn’t writing. It suddenly became like the Mary Tyler Moore show finale where like we’re just looking at each other and being like, is this the end of it? And I have to tell you, I am not an emotions in public person or on podcast person. So I, that was very unusual for me. Luckily, the rest of the world reacted in kind so fast that they got to be outraged while we got to be deeply numb and I am so, so thankful for that.

 

Guy Branum I realize that we’re not officially talking about this right now, but we are talking about it. And I just wanted to say, I appreciated the excuse to cancel my Disney Plus because the pressure of having to rewatch season one of Andor so I could understand season two of Andor because I did not remember anything from season one Andor was really soothing. I was like, all right, I have a political grandstand. I can just avoid this problem.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, because Andor also won a writing Emmy if I’m not mistaken.

 

Guy Branum Andor’s so good.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Guy Branum Have you watched it all?

 

Louis Virtel Well, Diego guest-hosted Kimmel recently, and I have to say he floored me. He really was fabulous.

 

Guy Branum Like, I have to assume that you love a process-y show. Did you watch Borgen?

 

Louis Virtel Uh, I’m not a process-y person. I get lost in it, and it almost makes me self-conscious how much I’m not picking up.

 

Guy Branum I think you might like Andor, I think you would love Borgen.

 

Louis Virtel Mm. Well, that’s like my family’s business. Like, if I ask my parents what they’re watching, they’re like, oh, it’s a Czechoslovakian homicide drama. And there’s 177 episodes.

 

Guy Branum The other day, I turned on Max and it was trying to tell me that there were new episodes of a comedy show called The Prince and I was like, oh, how did I not know that this show existed? And it turns out it was just Turkish the whole time.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, got it, got, but also of a massive comfort to me once I realized we were going to be back on the air and I could watch this fucking thing was a new documentary on Lilith Fair, which was pure comfort from beginning to end.

 

Guy Branum What did you think of it? I loved it. It was, you know, I am from that period of time. I like these singers and these acts were things that were in my world and I liked, but I wasn’t like really aware of it. I honestly was surprised that there were only three years of little affair. I thought it was something that had run for an extended period of of time and like understanding the process and understanding the soft small F feminism that went into it, but the big results that it had. Was really amazing. And having something that was just sort of like a kind of gentle collaborative story of a gentle collaborative process was really nice. Well, I have to say the thing.

 

Louis Virtel That stuck with me though was these women were treated with contempt. Yes. The clip that stands out to me is Suzanne Vega on Howard Stern and Howard Stern is throwing himself at her and by the way, everything about Suzanne Vega is like, I’m whispering into the microphone. Like there’s a softness to her period. The degree to which he was coming at her, it’s just, I had never seen that before. And by the, I love Suzanne Vega. If you know the song, Marlena on the Wall, great song.

 

Guy Branum The default objectification that pop culture was participating in for all female celebrities was really, it’s hard to wrap your head around from that kind of distance, but just sort of the jokes that we made about Jewel. Like Jewel talking about just like walking into a local radio station, sitting down and having some rando shock jock make like jokes about her teeth and stuff like that to her and very sexualizing, objectifying jokes to a teenager. Was like really horrifying but we understood it as the cost of doing business, the cost of being a celebrity. And like Sarah McLachlan coming in with this just very radical idea of there could maybe be two women on a bill and it wouldn’t frighten anyone.

 

Louis Virtel They also really nailed it by calling it shock jock culture because it was either you were hot to these people or You were beneath contempt. So we’re gonna treat your idiosyncrasies like they’re all disgusting.

 

Guy Branum One of the things that was really interesting about the documentary was just thinking about how little we understood even the idea of mobilizing female consumer power, that like there weren’t investors or like sponsors that were willing to back an all-female fair or tour like this. But yogurt existed, it’s like all of these things we understand.

 

Louis Virtel They are clearly buying things period. Yes.

 

Guy Branum Since they are half or over half of America and not being able to understand that. And there was a way that you could kind of see like the first threads of girl boss culture coming out of this, but also it’s easy to like dismiss girl boss, culture and all of that. But like taking the reins of the powers you have are a necessary part of organizing and reaching a quality.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, also extra props must be given to Sarah McLaughlin not just for founding this but you can tell it every step of the way And she really articulates this well in the interviews how much she is fighting her pure Canadian-ness as she’s having to make these fucking decisions.

 

Guy Branum Like, the Canadian energy of it, like the collaboration, the guy who was her tour manager, like so many of the people involved were Canadians. And listening to Sarah talk about the way that her mom policed her in this very, you’re not special. Directly rude, yes. But like very like stern Nova Scotia mom kind of way. And you understand the pressure that was on her and the way that she pushed out of it in a way. That she was comfortable with. And it’s really awesome. And like speaking of just the other magical thing was seeing these women who were excited to be working together, but it was not until the Indigo Girls showed up and were like, we can sing together, we can have fun together. Like let us all be a family that it just made me fall in love with them all over again.

 

Louis Virtel But that also makes, the Indigo girls have always been in touch with something like Radder, than the normal, like they remain underrated in that way and they’re also big crossword enthusiasts. Oh really? If you watch that, what was that called? Word Wars? No, Wordplay was the name of that documentary from about 2005-6. They are heavily featured in it like Bill Clinton and John Stewart and stuff.

 

Guy Branum My mom spent the entirety of the 90s trying to get me to love the Indigo Girls. And I was just like, you know. And you said no, mother. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, my favorite acts at Lilith Fair, I think, let me just be clear. Sarah McLaughlin performed at Kimmel not too long ago. The voice is still intact. It was like, I can’t even explain it. It’s like if you still had Karen Carpenter around or something, just that level of purity and not contrived. It’s not cloying at all. And the songwriting…

 

Guy Branum Is so deep and strange. Like, I really loved there’s a moment at the capture where the Indigo Girls tell Sheryl Crow, do that Sheryl crow thing at the beginning. And you could just see this look on Sheryl Crows face. One of the biggest acts who’s on the bill feeling charmed and like that people are acknowledging the specificity of what she does, that she is bringing something to this art form and like, that all of these women got to be seen by peers in that way and recognize. It really made me fall back in love with what a special time that was.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no, one thing that I regret though is like when you look at the crowd at that event What did they do after this was over? I mean, I think the problem was these were pretty huge tours. They did like 40 city tours like Multiple years. Yeah, so it’s like that just feels not sustainable period But like that particular crowd I just was like god They were so it was just women being comfortable around other women And I I don’t know what we did with that in the 2000s when we became so pop oriented

 

Guy Branum Well, there are these strange times when decades end, you know, and just realizing that like Lillith Fair ending in 99 was saying like, this energy is over and we’re gonna have fake fur and Clueless from here on in. Have I ever given you my assertion that Clueless is the first millennial film?

 

Louis Virtel Oh no, you can audition for this for me, shark tank style at some point. Maybe later on the show today we’ll do it. Absolutely. Okay, so on today’s show we’ll be getting into my life and the Kim Lafrakas and what the fuck has been happening. But also in celebration of free speech, which I get to have, I didn’t know this, we’re gonna be talking about our favorite speeches. And here’s my theory, I feel like I know what your favorite speech in entertainment history of the past. 50 years or so is and I know what mine is and i’m going to beat you in this argument yes um otherwise we’ll have our keep it segment at the end of the episode like usual and other than that we’ll be right back.

 

[AD].

 

Louis Virtel Last Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the show that I, Louis, write for, was yanked off the air after Kimmel made some benign comments, not even about Charlie Kirk, but about how people discuss Charlie Kirk. The show returned to the air last night, but the week was truly mind-boggling for everyone involved and everyone just following along at home. So Guy, where do we start?

 

Guy Branum Um, the government’s not supposed to tell us what we can and can’t say.

 

Louis Virtel I have to say, the thing that blew my mind about this whole situation was everybody realizing in one second, this is an absolute, the blatantness was so clear that like everybody sprang to the same conclusion in a cool correct way.

 

Guy Branum Yes. It’s truly crazy. You would think that an attempt at an authoritarian government in the United States would at least veil some of this, because however much there are many things that America is bad at. We like speech, and we like a lot of speech and we like very free speech. And having an official of the executive department say, like, You know, we’ve taken out Colbert, Kimmel is next, saying… That they are going to shut down the late night shows that are critical of this administration. It should be, it’s deeply un-American and Americans should be reacting with alarm. Americans who didn’t like what Kimmel said should be acting with alarm, like just liking free speech if it is the speech that you enjoy is not liking free-speech. Like you have to be comfortable with hearing things that are rough and hard. And It was not even rough or hard what he said. This is a clear assault by this president and his administration to try to shut down how loud and surly Americans get to be. And I trust the capacity of Americans to be loud and sirly.

 

Louis Virtel Also, it almost felt like they were just waiting for the right phrase to pounce on, because the one they picked, it’s almost like, you should have waited a couple more days or something. Like, there’s nothing in this that’s so, like, shockingly, I hate even using the word offensive, as if that matters. But it was so, you read it again, and it’s like, no, actually, this is particular wording that was illustrating a point, and you’re choosing to mean it, you’re chosing to say it means this other thing.

 

Guy Branum What’s really crazy is we have so much speech right now. We have TikTok. We have Reels. So many people have more. We still have X. So many in America have more of a voice than they have ever had before. And we’re filled with the speech and so much that is so hateful and so bad. Part of what they were attacking was platforms. Part of they were attacked was people who still have the power and capacity outside of the presidency, to reach a large number of people and say, you should think twice about what’s going on. And, you know, what happened with Charlie Kirk should alarm everyone because it is a situation where we’re reacting to speech with violence. Whether you agree with Charlie Kirk or not, whether you think what Charlie Kirk said is dangerous to people or not. Actually killing people for the things that they speak, beating people up for the thing that they say, that’s the path to fascism. Right.

 

Louis Virtel No, precisely. I also just wanna say how alarming it is to feel like late night is important. I’m just saying, nobody takes this job thinking like, and you know why I decided to make jokes about whatever, Melania Trump today, to make a difference. You know, it’s just like, since late night’s inception, I do think to a certain extent, they’ve ribbed the president a little bit. It always bothers me when people say like, oh, late night it’s so political now. If you watch Johnny Carson, there’s definitely jokes about every sitting president or whatever. I think the difference is we are just acutely aware of what the president thinks of these late night hosts in a way that we have never been before. Imagine if every day George H.W. Bush was like, and you know who pissed me off today, Arsenio. I mean, it’s just the priorities are so messed up and so it so directly gets to him and he loves to veil it and saying like, oh, late night is low rated or these people have no talent. He’s the one who is constantly bringing up every day how important these people’s speech is.

 

Guy Branum He is a television figure, like, sure, he’s a mediocre businessman, but he more than that has been an extremely successful figure in American popular culture, and he understands how to work the refs. Like, that’s how he has been so politically successful. And like, look, what happened with Kimmel, this is not the first time that we have seen it. Back in 2002, I think, Bill Maher famously made a comment about… 9 11 that resulted in such outrage that he lost again at ABC, his job at ABC. And that was a situation where it was. Popular outrage and a, uh, you know, corporation folding to that and saying, we’re not going to defend this person’s right to express unpopular speech. Um, and you know like Mars survived, but it is the unfortunate thing of Like. It was so directly a violation of the First Amendment that if ABC Disney had in any way stood up, there is a high likelihood that even this 6-3 conservative Supreme Court would have said the government can’t do that. But they rolled over. They said we’re going to play ball and corporations playing ball with the government is also one of the things you get on the road to fascism.

 

Louis Virtel Right, right. Also, I just want to say like my job from day to day is like to make pretty, I don’t want to save benign jokes about the president, but like, or even expected jokes about president, but it’s just like the way you would make fun of a lot of people, you know? And I can’t, everybody knows he has a thin skin, but it just like, it’s very easy to write this stuff some of the time. You know, it almost writes itself. That’s how I feel about this. This is material that really writes itself when you watch any clip of this person.

 

Guy Branum I think that that’s one of Trump’s great powers is that the jokes were kind of obvious. Like it was really hard to get a joke that like gets to the core of him because so many people were just saying, he’s orange, he is orange. And like I do think that like a tonnage of bad comedy about Trump has really distracted people from actually thinking about what the ramifications of his actions are, which is why it’s really dumb that he’s doing this. Like he shouldn’t be making. Late night show’s important in this way.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I also want to say something that impressed me about the reaction to all this was I didn’t find a lot of people trying to make jokes, which by the way, obviously even in times of protest jokes Um are helpful. I I think you know joke-telling is like often the fastest way to tell the truth Tell the truth in a way people remember But when it comes to the word fascism actually I just need you to say and I feel like we all just need to say No Yeah. Yes. There’s nothing to say. There’s no irony to put on this. Right. You know, and I’ve been thrilled with the straightforwardness of it.

 

Guy Branum It’s really hard. So much of the time, so much of the joke writing that we have seen over the past 40, 50 years was trying to guide people who still, to some extent, shared a view of American public life, that celebrated public participation, that celebrated criticism, that celebrated democracy, and that’s not what he wants. The thing is, because Trump doesn’t think about those things. He just wants things to be nice for him. He was. A gold toilet and for no one to criticize him, and he doesn’t really think about the laws of the Constitution. And that’s the president that we have chosen, and then all of the legislators that we have chosen have pretty much been willing to just go along with that. Like, what we need right now is leadership that people can get behind to forge another path. And it is unfortunate that so many of our political leaders have… Like abnegated or abdicated that responsibility, that like it really does take the Kimmels and the Colbeirs to be the people saying who are the figures and the representative of this moment. Right, right.

 

Louis Virtel No, at the end of the day, Jimmy Kimmel is somebody who is in front of everybody all the time, and even if that’s an art form that’s not as popular as it once was, it still is a rare one.

 

Guy Branum And it’s like, because politicians are so focused on local news and other things that we don’t pay attention to anymore, it is some of these entertainers who are the people that people still look at and pay attention too. Like, Trump has unfortunately given us a new model of what leadership looks like, and it’s very authoritarian, and it is very simple, and for a lot of people that makes sense. For a lot people, oh, if we back this guy, he’s going to stop there from being trans ladies in sports. Oh, if back this guys, he is going to make it harder for people to get abortions. Let’s give him all the power in the world. Yes. And that’s sad and scary. We need a different model. I wanna talk specifically.

 

Louis Virtel Specifically also about the kind of hair trigger response Trump has to any criticism whatsoever. He gave a quote recently where he talked about how somebody had floated the idea of taking away licenses via the FCC, like this whole business. And he said, 97% of the coverage on network television about him has been negative. I just want to say that I have always voted for people I did not necessarily like. And it just speaks to me that like, this really is all about ultimately being liked. Again, when I voted for Clay Aiken in 2003, did I like him personally? No, he had the skills. I found his attitude a little off.

 

Guy Branum Okay, I have two questions. The first one is, how did he survive like 70 years of people making jokes about him before he had the power to shut down their FCC license? Being this thin skinned, this annoyed with every joke, how does he survive the 90s? And then my second question is, all of these station owners in the South who were like, We must destroy Kimmel because he said something that we don’t agree with. At a point in time when network broadcasting is deteriorating, Right. What do they think their broadcast licenses are going to be worth once they’ve destroyed what programming there is on ABC? I mean, once Kimmel’s gone is pretty much just like Quinta holding things off.

 

Louis Virtel Right, no, it’s the Quinta Network. No, by the way, a lot of these terms were brand new to me. Like Sinclair and Nexstar, like Sinclair, I assume it’s named after Baby Sinclair. From the television show Dinosaurs. Did you know that one of the dinosaurs was voiced by Jessica Walter? Oh, really? The mom?

 

Guy Branum Jessica Walder worked those she toiled those actresses who like got to be famous in their like 50s or 60s after having just worked A job. Have you ever seen the group?

 

Louis Virtel You were just, I knew you were gonna fucking bring up the group. Guys, if you haven’t seen the Mary McCarthy movie about women at Vassar, which has one of my favorite underrated actresses, Elizabeth Hartman in it. Oh, Elizabeth Heartman. You a patch of Blue Stan? Yes, of course. Oh, my God, with Sidney Pate. Sidney Paute’s best movie. Yes. Yeah. Oh my God. That’s what I wanted to get to. Okay. No. So, as you’re watching me, I haven’t been back to work yet.

 

Guy Branum It’s also been like it’s do you feel like this is going to affect the way that you write jokes This is going effect the way like there There’s no way that this shit doesn’t lodge in your brain and cause you to doubt or question Making a joke that is incisive or making a joke. That touches on something that could be dangerous

 

Louis Virtel Well, I have to say you’re actually giving me too much credit because you’re making it sound like I have to make those hard decisions. Yeah. When it’s my joke to be like gay jester, I come in and I write my little document of jokes and then Jimmy, who I think obviously is not just a brilliant host and a brilliant writer and a brilliant editor, by the way, he is an ingenious strategist. He picks correctly and weaves things into a monolog that are just, you know, incisive enough, I think. And I think he’s every day when he goes to the document of all the writers’ submissions, he’s picking between subtle and obvious in a really comprehensive way.

 

Guy Branum But there are those moments when you can trust that your boss is gonna make that call, but then when something gets through, when something is too arch or too hard or whatever, like… Never too arch, Guy. I know, but there have been times when I, like, felt really bad that I submitted something because then it was funny and my boss took it and then it hit the wrong way or it bothered people and I was like, ugh, I shouldn’t have put them in the position of being able to… Make that choice and I think it is, you know, one of the things about working on a late night show is you have to write all the jokes. You have to right all of the jokes that you can and then you call through them and you figure out what’s right. But I think what was done cannot result in anything other but some degree of chilling of speech, making people a little more scared to talk and say stuff. And I think with this proliferation of speech I’m just so obsessed with the fact that like TikTok gives everybody the opportunity to broadcast themselves. And also that broadcast is heavily regulated by a corporation that is to some extent controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. And we all just kind of accept it. I accept that there are words I can’t say. And I’m an American. I should bristle at that a little more, but I have just sort of conformed what I put on TikTok, just understanding I can say the word Democrat or Republican or else they’re going to downregulate it. And it’s shifting the way that we talk, which is crazy at a point in time. That all we do is just fight and call people names on the internet.

 

Louis Virtel You actually, though, have pinpointed one of my favorite parts of working at this job, which is sometimes your job is to write the paragraph long diatribe that belongs on salon.com and is like, you know, shareable, whatever. And sometimes it’s literally a pun. You know, like, sometimes the best part of my day is when I call RFK Jr. Polio Iglesias and his wife, the marvelous Mrs. Measles, okay? So yeah, so it’s like there’s there’s room to be both really dogged and intrepid when it comes to unpacking what’s happening and then also a little bit of silliness on top.

 

Guy Branum I am just so worried for the broader ramifications of what are going to come from this attack on discourse.

 

Louis Virtel It really does feel unpredictable to me.

 

Guy Branum Yesterday, we had our president and our secretary of health and human services come out and say that they think autism is caused-.

 

Louis Virtel And they’re sure. They have their metal detector down to the sand and they hear it.

 

Guy Branum Taking Tylenol. And it’s not something that is endorsed by the broader medical community. And having this… Inability to think about truth and verification is going to hurt America’s economy, it’s going to her America’s health. We live in a strong and rich country. We have gotten so many benefits from it, but I fear that it has made us intellectually lazy. And I am really worried about the ramifications of what’s going happen. We should not fritter away this very nice inheritance we have been given by the hard work of so many of our ancestors. Shouldn’t we be trying a little bit hard? Let’s do a little science.

 

Louis Virtel Right. And if we’re going to, you know, take it down brick by brick, can the president be able to pronounce acetaminophen? Please, just at least be able to say the fancy word that you’re deciding shouldn’t exist or whatever. Anyway, one final question, please.

 

Guy Branum If you had to truly walk away from the Disney corporation and leave it all behind, which Disney princess would you have missed most?

 

Louis Virtel Ooh, God, and they’re all such good friends. Yes. And funnier than you think. I am going to… Jasmine for sure. Yes. Because just the slinkiness of the outfit she is wearing, I find very risque. Yes. But then secondly, the other outfit she wears that Jafar makes her wear late in the picture, stunning. Yes. His greatest achievement was she’s getting the hourglass and she’s going to be wearing rose. Ha-ha-ha! And it’s like, and you’re… What? What’s your whole thing?

 

Guy Branum You’re rapidly heterosexual, actually. I’m so confused. It’s important that we have representation for that at this point in time, you know?

 

Louis Virtel Also, I mean, Disney villains were like the last vestiges of Vincent Price culture, you know? And I miss that. A menacing man whose whole thing is, and I also am a gardener. Missed that, missed that. Okay, when we’re back, we’ll be talking about free speeches that you can find online, hopefully, but the topic of free speech in general, as it pertains to speeches. But before that, some quick housekeeping.

 

[AD].

 

Louis Virtel Everyone was thinking about the sanctity of free speech this week, which got us thinking about which speeches live rent-free in our heads. But before we get into our picks, Guy, what do you look for in a good entertainment speech?

 

Guy Branum I want clarity, I want a plan, and I want passion.

 

Louis Virtel I want to emphasize a plan, because I think people assume when you go up to the microphone, if you seem planned, then you’ve already lost all appeal. Oh no, take us on a journey. I want you to be one step ahead.

 

Guy Branum I will, can I make a first pick? Well first, you said that you think you know what my favorite will be. I am almost positive. Can I guess what you think I will say? Yes. I’m going to say that you’re going to that it is season one, episode two of Designing Women, the nights the lights went out in Georgia speech from Dixie Carter. Was that correct?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, no, I was thinking entertainment awards speech.

 

Guy Branum Oh, okay, then are you going to say Emma Thompson at the Golden Globes? It is Emma Thompson, at the 1994 Golden Globe. 1996 Golden Globes. 1996 Golden Globe. She had won Best Screenplay for…

 

Louis Virtel Bitch, I nailed it. I just want to say that I got it.

 

Guy Branum And I would love for you to be wrong, but I love this speech more, because Emma Thompson understood the flow of the award show season so perfectly, that she understood the Golden Globe are where you have fun. And she got on stage and she gave a speech… Uh, re-reading a letter from Jane Austen with her read of The Evening at the 1996 Golden Globes.

 

Louis Virtel As if Jane Austen were at the Golden Globes, yes.

 

Guy Branum And it is, like, the level of comedy that Emma Thompson is capable of writing, delivered in with the flawlessness that Emma Thomson is capable, and I would say it captures passion in a really different way, which is like Emma Thompson’s amusement that she, this, like, British theater girl being celebrated by the brightest lights of Hollywood. Channeling that charm through her interpretation of Jane Austen. And it is perfection.

 

Louis Virtel I will say this about that speech, and it is lovely and quite funny. She also is like kind of selling herself in a way, because I don’t think people think of adaptation as a particularly smart or interesting skill, and you hear when she delivers this speech as Jane Austen that like, wow, you tapped into it. It feels like I’m reading an extra excerpt from Sense and Sensibility.

 

Guy Branum The Globes are an audition for the Academy Awards, and it’s why it kills me. Demi Moore killed her acceptance speech for the substance and that she did not win the Academy Award. She went up there and she made a perfect argument for why I am the person of the moment, why you should reward somebody who you haven’t always thought of as being in prestige films. I loved it. All right, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel And unfortunately, Mikey Madison just does not have what we now call the “riz” when it comes to giving a speech. She did thank sex workers. Good work.

 

Guy Branum Yes.

 

Louis Virtel But you’re right, Demi really was like on the sauce. I thought she was gonna have it that year.

 

Guy Branum Yeah.

 

The correct answer, Guy Branum, is Shirley MacLaine’s best actress winning speech for Terms of Endearment. Yeah. Now talk about having a plan. Because she goes up there and she just seems exasperated at first. She goes, oh, this tonight has been as long as my career. First of all, pure Bruce Valanche line. We love it. Definitely deliver that. Then, eventually, she gets a little kooky and a little cerebral in a way where you can’t always figure out every word. But then, the way she thanks everybody involved and makes jokes about all of them, and then of course, we’re talking about terms of endearment right now. She thanks, getting to have a middle-aged love scene with Jack Nicholson, funny. And then she goes, and I’ve always wanted to work with the turbulent brilliance of Deborah Winner. The distinct, that can only mean the chaotic, problematic Deborah Winger. And by the way, I love Deborah Wenger. I do not mean to shame.

 

Guy Branum Yes, whom she had just barely beaten for that award, you know?

 

Louis Virtel Right, they were co-nominees, yes. I believe the last time we had co-best actress nominees. But anyway, and then by the end of the speech- Thelma and Louise. I’m sorry, yes, that’s right. Thank you, thank you. I’m gonna remove myself from the show. Thank you. Ben, by the end of the speech, she gets into the principles of working hard and achieving and she goes, and thank God for that. We all deserve that. And then she stops and goes, and I deserve this, thank you. To leave, I think that’s so important in a speech. You wanna have both the humility and also the fuck yeah for me thing.

 

Guy Branum Well, also, as somebody whose first nomination came 20 plus years before that…

 

Louis Virtel It was on camera running 1915.

 

Guy Branum Being able to say I deserve this and understand like don’t force humility in that moment Like yeah humble in ways that are organic, but also claim. What is yours? Yeah, can I talk about another pop culture speech? Yes, go ahead. Oh So people who follow me on Instagram will know well first, okay On Instagram yesterday as Alina way of talking to Cree summer about

 

Louis Virtel Oh, I saw that interview, too, and I love Cree Summer.

 

Guy Branum And they were talking about a particularly salty episode of A Different World. A Different world, an amazing television show that was at the top of the ratings for six seasons and we never talk about it.

 

Louis Virtel The Cosby Show spin-off where Denise goes to college and that’s where we first saw Marissa Tomei. But a lot of great actors in that show. Jasmine Guy, etc.

 

Guy Branum But it was an episode where they had been talking about caricatures of black women. And I decided to watch it in this very, like, intellectualized, I love when sitcoms are able to take on real issues kind of way. And I thought I was watching it in a very intellectualized way. But the other thing that happened to me is, last week I was on a plane and a guy hit me because I was sitting next to him and I was fat. And he was upset by that. And at the end of this episode, season five, episode 11 of A Different World, Nanny dearest. Character of Kimberly gives a speech about dressing herself as a Nubian princess when she was in grade school and winning a costume contest and having the people assume that she was Mammy. And she talks about going through life, always having to question the way that you are seen. And I did not realize that this sitcom, an episode 11 of like a network sitcom, was going to hit me as hard as it did. That in this moment, when I was having to question whether anyone could ever fully see me as human because of how fat I am, to have a show from 30 years ago speak to my soul and say, you are not alone, is just, that’s the kind of multicam sitcom writing we’re not doing anymore.

 

Louis Virtel And also, you already brought up Designing Women, but there’s plenty of writing by Linda Bloodworth Tomasson on that show where it’s the same thing, like somebody just being in a scene, suddenly expressing themselves for a long time and revealing something. You know, it’s like you don’t, that’s something that I don’t feel like, obviously we’ve moved on and dialog feels more current and contemporary now, but like that kind of thing, which doesn’t really happen in real life. Somebody just sitting and opining in a Tennessee Williams way. Just a little bit of Patti Traia-esque here. And like a slight grandstanding, but with character involved. That’s just the stuff I fucking love.

 

Guy Branum I mean, and there are the iconic Dixie Carter speeches, but my personal favorite is the New York Times publishes an article once every 15 years about how Southerners eat dirt. And it pisses people off to no end. When I was at the Mindy Project, they did another iteration of that. But there was an episode of Designing Women where they have a separate plot going on, And then Dixie Carter just calls the New York Times. And yells at them for two minutes about how Southerners do not eat dirt. We have eaten crow, we have eaten our share of humble pie, and it’s just wonderful. It’s like great writing, beautifully delivered.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I don’t want to say you had talked about this horrible incident on the plane on your Instagram. I just want to save for everyone watching a horrifying horror.

 

Guy Branum Yeah, um, you know, like, we don’t have the right to punch people even if we don’t like them or they’re a member of a group that we don’t like. I understand it’s uncomfortable when there is a fat person near you on a plane. It is also uncomfortable to be on a plan. It’s also very uncomfortable to BE a fat person on a PLANE. Um, and none of these things make it okay to hit someone. And this belief that violence is an appropriate answer in these situations is a problem with our culture and it’s almost like something.

 

Louis Virtel Uncouth about culture in general right now. Absolutely. Also, I wanna say if you are as inspired by these pop culture connections as I am when Guy is making them, his book is also fabulous. My Life as a Goddess is just full of these. Thank you so much. I’ve never heard a human being appreciate Babette’s Feast more or Educating Rita. Educating Rita. Which I just watched for the first time not long ago. Oh wow, what did you think? She, Julie Walters, who you probably know from Billy Elliot and the Mamma Mia movies. Is great because it’s a Pygmalion-like movie, and actually a very familiar one, if I do have to say so. But she’s this sort of like, somebody who can confidently self-educate, even though she sounds like an uneducated British woman. She is wonderful. I feel like Michael Caine, who is the mentor type person, I feel his arc is too familiar.

 

Guy Branum It’s not opened up enough from the stage play. Yeah. I just think- I think it’s better as a stage play, no. Her performance is so powerful to me.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, she is a great actress. That’s also from the same year as the terms of endearment week, which reminds me, what’s your next speech you’re in, True? Oh. If you have another one, because there’s an Emmy speech that I’m almost positive you’ll bring up next.

 

Guy Branum Uh, no, I was actually going to bring up a political speech. Oh, okay. I was just like, you know, Barack Obama was good at the job. Yes. And

 

Louis Virtel He’s one of the great speechers.

 

Guy Branum Like, and I think so much about his speech about his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and, like, forcing us to deal with complexity. Like, saying, yes, I have this pastor who I love, he has said things that I don’t entirely agree with. I have a grandma who I loved the most in the whole world, and she’s a white lady who is racist sometimes, and we need to acknowledge that these things exist and not expect perfection out of ourselves. And I think that so much of discourse has, like in hoping for a better America has demanded perfection and said that life is impossible if you can’t achieve, like that moving forward is impossible without perfection. And I that that has contributed to getting us to where we are with people not knowing how to talk about things and not knowing how to communicate. And I just think- And acknowledge fault, yeah. Yes, he did such a perfect job of opening up space. For movement and growth, and it was really good. And I think, you know, it would be lovely to think that every American can be a process-oriented participant in democracy who is just voting for a slightly better version of their life, every election and all of that. But it turns out we need some leadership. And right now I am hoping for and manifesting somewhere in between Barack Obama and Julia Sugar Baker from Designing Women to come out friends. Show us a pass.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my god, well that’s a very vivid image and I’m now thinking of them having sex. By the way of course, and then Dixie Carter, you know, conservative in real life.

 

Guy Branum Yes. Every time they give her a liberal rant, she also had to get to sing on the show.

 

Louis Virtel Which is so, there’s no other word for it, cut. But at the same time, rude. You can’t just, like, surrounded by these liberal actors. How can you be a Republican? Anyway, can you guess the Emmy speech I’m talking about? No, I don’t know. It was for a variety special.

 

Guy Branum Oh.

 

Louis Virtel A single performer.

 

Guy Branum Oh, I’m only thinking about Cameron Mannheim. This one’s for the fat girls.

 

Louis Virtel Oh no, love that too. By the way, I’ve been to a game night with Cameron Mannheim and she is there to win.

 

Guy Branum Wait, who are we talking about? We’re talking about Liza.

 

Louis Virtel Elaine Stritch.

 

Guy Branum Oh, Elaine.

 

Louis Virtel Elaine Stritch wins and she beats people like Ellen DeGeneres and, you know, like the people who are doing stand-up specials around that time. This is the mid-2000s. First of all, she wins and immediately goes like this and like is in the moment of winning. I don’t believe she acknowledges the people sitting around her and then on the way to the stage She stops and like screams at herself. I wanna be clear, there’s no microphones. You have no idea what’s being said or what she’s mumbling or performing to herself. And then she gets up to the stage and she does, the whole speech is entertaining, but she does two things that are particularly awesome. One, she’s finally getting around to people she wants to thank. And she picks somebody, some corporate big wig or whatever, maybe someone from the network. And she goes, I don’t like him, but he got us the money. The idea that you have to thank people, even though you don’t like them, is I think part of the deal when you win an award, right? And then two, she says, you actually have to drag me off stage because I’m going to keep listing names and then forcing the band to work with you and against you. I love the combativeness.

 

Guy Branum I’m sure you’ve already talked about this on the show. I love Nate Barghazi, I think he’s so funny, but the conceit of children will lose money if you run along on your speech at this year’s Emmy was detestable to me. Yes, me too. It’s like having a football game where you’re saying, could there be less football?

 

Louis Virtel And also, by the way, what a dream that anybody would ever impugn the rights of football. You know what I mean? It’s always the fucking award shows where you’re supposed to feel guilty.

 

Guy Branum No, yes. I mean, like, we have straight guys, not Nate, but sometimes, and not Jimmy, but sometimes you get straight guys who it feels like don’t like award shows, hosting award shows, and it feels unfun. But I was so proud of so many of the performers who said, I’m just going to run this light, like I’m having my moments. Hannah Einbinder said, I’ll make up the difference. Hannah Einbeinder from Hacks with Brave in a number of ways. And by the way, before we move on, speaking of speeches.

 

Louis Virtel I just want to say, you guys remember when I was nominated for an Emmy? It was last year. I brought it up like once. Okay, did you know that that night I had to watch this motherfucker win an Emmy. How was it? How was- and when you picked up your statue? Yes. Which Emmy winner did you feel like? Did you envision a woman of the past? Okay, I- Because I have a guess.

 

Guy Branum I have to say, there were two Emmy winners within… I was handed the envelope by Katherine O’Hara, which was magnificent.

 

Louis Virtel The best of Canada.

 

Guy Branum Second only to Alanis and then as I was realizing what was going on I looked down and it was just Marilyn Marty right in front of me and It was magnificent, but oh Okay, actually, I want to go back to speeches Agenda and just when Tina Fey and Tracy Wigfield won the Emmy and Tina said Tracy you talk first because they will play The band over you but they won’t play it over me but they made it into a bit where Tracy talked and then Tina said, no one said you got to talk to Tracy. Magnificent, magnificent work. So I would say I-

 

Louis Virtel That’s just one of my favorite things about Tina. She’s, in addition to being funny, there’s a canniness about her like she knows this whole gig.

 

Guy Branum I would like to say that I felt like Tina Fey in Tracy Wigfield because by volume we’re about the same.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, because I’m telling you, if I have an Emmy in my hand, honey, I’m Cloris Leachman. I love somebody who wins Emmys on accident. She’s like, oh yeah, Cher asked me to do a couple of things on her variety show and oops, I won again.

 

Guy Branum I also, the people who have, the great Jean Smart, her first Emmy was for a guest on Frasier. Right. And the people that managed to pick up an Emmy for a guests, I have so much respect for.

 

Louis Virtel Also, well, that’s a very fascinating history when it’s like, oh and Margaret was on SVU

 

Guy Branum Yeah, but also the people who for things that were small bit parts on shows still managed to win.

 

Louis Virtel Or win like a lead actress Emmy because it’s about one episode.

 

Guy Branum Like, Carole Kane won for Lead for Taxi, and then Valerie Mahaffey, who we lost this year, she won for Northern Exposure by being like the best thing on like three episodes of Northern Exposure, but for some reason that was in the supporting category?

 

Louis Virtel Right, she was really good in that not-good Michelle Pfeiffer movie, French Exit, a couple years ago too. Yes. Yeah, with Lucas Hedges. What are we doing with you, sweetie?

 

Guy Branum Those ladies, it is so lovely when you get to work with a Vianne Cox with a Jane Addams. These ladies who have been shrill and brittle for 20 years.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, wait, Lucas Hedges was in that Eva Victor movie. Sorry, baby. Did you see that? No, I did not. I don’t think we talked about that on the show. Good movie. Should be talked about more. Okay, those are the greatest speeches of all time. There’s actually no disagreement. Why would you even disagree? We’ll be back with Keep It.

 

[AD].

 

Louis Virtel And we’re back with the most fabulous and frankly meanest part of the show. It’s Keep It.

 

Guy Branum But first, Louis, I have to do something. I forgot the greatest pop culture speech of all time. Oh, hit me. It is Queen Elizabeth’s Heart and Stomach of a Man speech presented to the soldiers who were awaiting the Spanish Armada, then recreated Bowen Yang style by the great Cate Blanchett in the film Elizabeth. Yes. So I just wanted to say, it is one of those beautiful moments, you know, like Queen Elizabeth the first, really our first real housewife. You know, a lot of money, no money, no job that we really understand. And Cate Planchett, really our First Bowen Yang.

 

Louis Virtel Uh… A real housewife would never have red hair. Silly idea. Yes, beautifully put, what is your Keep It today, Guy?

 

Guy Branum Uh, Lewis, today, my keep it is having to make a design for your Swiss roll. Hey, Great British Bake Off. I did not come to see great visual artists on your show. I came to see the traditional dumplings of the British Isles be represented. I came for dumb things that involve suet. I came. For a little cake that only exists in one little town on one Saint’s Day and to hear people’s stories related to that. I don’t need to see somebody draw a cute little bee on their honey-flavored Swiss roll. It is boring to me. When it comes out good, I am bored. When it comes up bad, I’m sad for the person. I came to watch people try to stack breads and then have those breads collapse on each other, and I came to learn things about Cluedy Dumplings. Thank you very much. Let us get back to what Great British Bake Off is supposed to be, and that is a celebration of the cultures of the British Isles and the cultures that were stolen by the British during the 18th and 19th century. Thank you very much.

 

Louis Virtel He has knocked my glasses a sunder. I’ve never, that’s more well done than any Keep It we’ve ever done on this podcast in the, I believe 106 years we’ve been on the air. Also the show still remains so one of a kind, like pleasant in a way that it invented a new kind of pleasant.

 

Guy Branum It’s magical, and it is also an expansive kind of cozy that really has space for lots of different people in lots of conversations. Like, yes, do they get upset by pandan flavoring some of the time, but I honestly think when they lost, Mel and Sue. Mel and Su, two of our greatest talents. I think that they intentionally put extra gay guys on the show to make me keep liking the show.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, well, they are canny over there. Also, Mel and Sue sounds like a failed British pop duo.

 

Guy Branum In the 90s, so I just want to keep saying it. I mean, we wouldn’t be surprised if they did have a pop hit. This is when Louis references, they don’t know about love by Tracy Ullman, and then I bring up sunglasses by Tracy. Have you heard sunglasses? No, I don’t. The whole premise is that I’m at the beach and I like a boy and he doesn’t like me back, so I wear my sunglasses so he doesn’ see that I’ crying.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, wow. That’s very like Leslie Gore era.

 

Guy Branum It’s very Leslie Gore, but it’s Tracy God damn Ullman.

 

Louis Virtel Right, who can do anything?

 

Guy Branum Who can do ANYTHING.

 

Louis Virtel And also, I can’t even guess how many Emmys she has. It could be anywhere between, excuse me, 50 and three.

 

Guy Branum She did have her foot on the neck of the variety sketch for a period of time.

 

Louis Virtel And playing all the characters, like you could hardly not vote for her.

 

Guy Branum But first you just have to ask, do you watch Elsbeth?

 

Louis Virtel No, but I just heard that Dianne Weist is gonna be on Elspeth and I was wondering if the court ordered her to go to it. Louis, you may have to watch Elsbeth. I love Keri Preston. I watched enough of The Good Wife, so I would be into it. Yeah.

 

Guy Branum Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Is the show great?

 

Guy Branum I mean, the show is a pure delight. I don’t know if it’s great, but like Tracy Allman shows up with some thick teeth at a point in time is you like, and the thing is, is it’s a case of the week. So you can dip in for just like Diane Weist and then go away and you’re not going to miss anything big.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, okay. Got it. My keep it, and I-I wanna say, I’m very thrilled by all the people who reached out to me, including listeners of Keep It. The fact that you reached out and were so lovely, it means so much to me. My Keep It is to people who texted me with things like this. How are you feeling in light of the Kimmel News? Honey, you want my time now? Baby, I am on the streets. Yes. What? And you’re random? I haven’t seen you since you were in high school. Or also, the other thing people say. What’s happening with this Kimmel thing? Mother, it’s in the news. Read the headlines. Read just the thing right below the headline. That’s all I know. There’s not like a secret cabal of people who are telling me what’s happening or whatever. It’s just so funny. It’s like, you might know this. We’ve both been contestants on Jeopardy. It’s when you announced you’re gonna be on Jeopardy and then people text you on Facebook or whatever, what channel is it on? Mother, I don’t live with you. What? Certainly you can look this up. You have the TV, the words are on the TV. You have the remote control!

 

Guy Branum But also, when you are texting somebody who is on Kimmel when this is going on with Kimmel, you should be searching for the gossip. You should be looking for the one piece of secret information that you have the time to text when you’re texting absolutely everyone that you know.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Text me, did Jimmy cry? I’m like, he cries at everything, probably. None of my business, really. No, but I want to thank everybody for reaching out yet again. Truly, it was heartening. I had no reaction to what was happening around me, and you guys did. And so that made me feel like I was a part of humanity. I want to also thank people who have reached out asking about our former co-host, Ira Madison, who I don’t know if you saw on social media. His apartment burned down the other day.

 

Guy Branum Oh, jeez, I did not see that.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, it’s very shocking. If you want to reach out to him, there are links on his page, please go there. He’s pretty funny and knows about pop culture. I don’t know. Yeah, sort of one of you, one of your people.

 

Guy Branum Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But otherwise, Guy Branum, thank you so much for being here. Also, it must be just, this doesn’t need to be repeated. You are a genius.

 

Guy Branum As are you, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel You are genius.

 

Guy Branum I feel happy to know that you exist in this world and that I’m in a world that is brightened by your light. But also I need to plug things. Can I plug things?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, by all means.

 

Guy Branum I’m gonna be taking my solo show to San Francisco, October 20th.

 

Louis Virtel Be fruitful?

 

Guy Branum Be fruitful to Portland, October 23rd to Seattle, October 24th. And then I am doing Philadelphia, DC and Union Hall in Brooklyn in December, the 17th, 18th and 19th. So please. Go to my website or just Google Guy Branum: Be Fruitful and buy tickets if you were in one of those towns.

 

Louis Virtel Do you know what those particular announcements just reminded me of when you watch like an old game show and like, I don’t know, like Betty White will be on or something, and then the host, Alan Ludden, will be like, what are you doing this summer, Betty? And she’s like, oh, I’m gonna be in Two for the Road in Rhode Island for three months in a row. Like, people took the weirdest theater on the road.

 

Guy Branum That they were all doing regional theater was amazing.

 

Louis Virtel I’m doing the pajama game in Boulder, like what? That’s what you’re doing with your time?

 

Guy Branum Make your money girl.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Do you remember the first time we really hung out? We went to a Starbucks on the east side of town and I believe we talked about the Joy Luck Club for like an hour Really was it the loose feel of Starbucks? Yes. Oh, that’s lovely right by where the Rockwell used to be Yeah, yeah one of my favorite things that happened in recent years was when Ming-Na got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and all the Joy Luck Club actresses came out to support her.

 

Guy Branum I mean, like, it’s just so good, and there are those moments, like, when you have that film, when you have the work that allows a deep bench of great talent who have not been, like recognized or used to come forward and really show what they have. The way that, like we don’t think about it that way, but like, the color purple, I mean that we also, in addition to everything else, got Radon Chong in the color Purple, like it really was awesome that… It was telling stories that we hadn’t seen told before, that America was excited and hungry for it, and that we got to see these amazing talents.

 

Louis Virtel I want to say that the next movie after The Joy Luck Club to have a predominantly Asian-American cast was Crazy Rich Asians.

 

Guy Branum I mean, that’s ridiculous.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, what were we doing?

 

Guy Branum Yes, but also again, it gave us Gemma Chan, like, you know, let Nico Santos buy a house.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, oh my God, he is very funny. I haven’t seen him in a minute. He was so good on that show, on Superstore.

 

Guy Branum Uh, yes, he, uh, had a show that was on Trumbo or like one of our, excuse me.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, like, Trumbo, the network for the Hollywood Ten.

 

Guy Branum It was one of the streaming services that’s supposed to be really, really good.

 

Louis Virtel Tubi?

 

Guy Branum Yes, Tubi. And then he and his husband, Zeke, had a pool party this weekend that I didn’t go to.

 

Louis Virtel Ah, it all went to that.

 

Guy Branum But I was sad. I enjoy them. Yes. They are awesome. But like, I’m crazy, but Jason’s just giving you like a lush, louche, romantic comedy. Like, do they think we don’t want these things?

 

Louis Virtel No, right, every frame of it being lovely to look at and then somebody imperious coming in.

 

Guy Branum Okay, I need to tell you, I’m sorry to go back to talking about my little trauma from last week.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Guy Branum But like after the guy hit me and Delta didn’t help me, um, like six or seven people sitting around us were like, this guy’s the problem, this guy hit him, blah, blah blah. And then I like put on my eyeshades and I cried and then I lifted up my eyeshades and I saw that of the six people who had like defended me, like four of them were watching The Devil Wears Prada. And I was like.

 

Louis Virtel Oh. Allies.

 

Guy Branum Yes. The small F feminism of Aline Brosh McKenna writing a story about women negotiating power together that it has emanations and it has like ladies and gay people who believe that we are allowed to use our voices.

 

Louis Virtel That’s our show. We hope you’ve enjoyed this separate show we ran into at the end of our show, we love Guy Branum and thanks again for everything you’ve said to me. It’s been heard, I’ve loved every second of it, mysteriously during this wild time. We’ll see you next week. Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. You can also subscribe to Keep It on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. And if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our producer is Bill McGrath. Our associate producer is Kennedy Hill. And our executive producers are Louis Virtel, Ira Madison III, and Kendra James. Our digital team is Delon Villanueva, Claudia Sheng, and Rachel Gajewski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Jarek Centeno. Thank you to David Toles, Kyle Seglin, and Charlotte Landes for production support every week. Our head of production is Matt DeGroot. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.