Ira and Louis discuss the influx of Kamala Harris memes, Twisters and the rise of Glen Powell, MaXXXine, Presumed Innocent, Bob Newhart, and the return of Big Brother. Drew Afualo joins to discuss meeting Chappell Roan and Beyoncé, why men on the internet suck, and her new memoir Loud.

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Drew’s new book LOUD: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve publishes July 30th and is available for pre-order now at https://drew-afualo.com

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we are back for an all new Keep It. I’m Ira Madison the third, and I am not the new presidential nominee.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God, that’s so weird. I you know, I had you on my 2024 bingo card or whatever I’m supposed to say meme wise about that.

 

Ira Madison III Maybe I’ll be VP.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. That’s true. That’s true. It’s up in the air right now. I’m Louis Virtel. Still an Emmy nominee. Guys, I get to be an Emmy nominee so long. It’s till mid. So you think you thought you were having a brat summer. Wait till you see what I’m doing anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Isn’t it for life?

 

Louis Virtel I mean, yes, but I like the ceremony. You know what I mean? Like when I find out if I’m a winner or a loser. To be honest, let’s say, hypothetically, I won. I think it’s still a little more exciting to be a nominee than find out if you won, because then it’s just over eventually. You know, it’s like Christmas happened.

 

Ira Madison III That’s fair.

 

Louis Virtel You know.

 

Ira Madison III That’s fair. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But anyway, two corrections since last episode. First of all, in our weird conversation about Shelley Duvall, which was, of course, very cathartic for everybody.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, yes.

 

Louis Virtel We weirdly ended up saying that somehow that Robert that Kubrick did pop by when it was Robert Altman. Obviously, she only did one movie with Stanley Kubrick. She wasn’t like, let me do two of those. And then secondly, I don’t know what this is about you, IRA, but every time a new Liz Taylor comes up, you call her on Jenny as if she to.

 

Ira Madison III I didn’t. We know nothing about Christmas lunch.

 

Louis Virtel I knew Liz Taylor.

 

Ira Madison III Well, until the industry recognizes her, she’s still an engineer to me.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, but you were first to say the word engineer. Did you come up with a new word entirely?

 

Ira Madison III All right. I’m sorry. You know what? I’d be pronouncing black women’s names wrong. I’m trying to take that from you. Okay, you know, I don’t want you to be the one to do. Oh.

 

Louis Virtel That’s nice. That’s nice of you.

 

Ira Madison III You’re right, you’re right. Yeah. Hey, yo, elderberry.

 

Louis Virtel You’re the only. I support that Lady Gaga song from Joanne.

 

Ira Madison III Here we go. Yeah. Speaking of that, could be my. I keep it today. By the way, I know everyone’s already doing their. I’m ready for Best Supporting Actress nominee Lady Gaga, but that trailer for Joker two was exhausting. I could feel the full three hours of that movie in the trailer.

 

Louis Virtel It was also just the exact austerity you expect from the movie, because you got it from Joker. And I know that there’s a musical element that we don’t exactly know what we’re going to get from this movie, but there was also just not very much Lady Gaga in it altogether, so we didn’t really get a taste of what she’s going to bring back. My God, though, this better be a complete departure from the Last Joker, because who honestly watch that movie and thought, give me more of that. Like what was the Joker’s whole point of view in that movie? I’m, you know, I’m rundown and I prefer to smoke. What else did he do?

 

Ira Madison III Like this? It looks like this. Three sets from the trailer.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III The courthouse, the hospital, and I don’t know the stage again. Where the where he’s doing his show, and, I don’t know, man. It’s still looks drab, right?

 

Louis Virtel No, it’s just drab. That’s the entire movie.

 

Ira Madison III Like musicals are supposed to pop. Okay, if I want to see a drab musical, I watch 1776.

 

Louis Virtel Right of one of the drab East. I do have to say, with no disrespect to Mr. Mr. Feeny himself, William Daniels.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But.

 

Louis Virtel Speaking of legends, should we bring up the death of the amazing Bob Newhart, one of the eternal, fabulously, dry and but but also kind of contemplative. And I don’t want to say philosophical comics, but there’s just a vibe about him that his silliness always came from a very considered place. And wherever you got that on the Bob Newhart Show or on Newhart, he’s in a lot of weird things over the years. He was in a movie called First Family, where he played the president, and Gilda Radner played his horny daughter. I mean, this man did it all before eventually winning an Emmy for, The Big Bang Theory. Years later, he won the Grammy for album of the year for The Button Down Mine, one of the, famous comedy albums of all time, back when you could possibly win album of the year for a comedy album, you know? And also, like, not somebody with too many obvious successors. This sounds kind of weird, but Ellen DeGeneres almost had that quality in her stand up where she, like, is thinking about something something’s on her mind, and then outcomes of a very quirky philosophical response to her own question that shocks the audience, even though she’s not overplaying it with delivery. So, fabulous, man. You know, one of those people who was an in the league with, like, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner and these people we got to have for a long, long, long, long time. And we still have Mel Brooks. But, you know, they’ve got to go eventually.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I loved Bob Newhart. Hard from a young age because as we always bring up with, comedians of this era, most of us discovered them via Nick at night.

 

Louis Virtel I have seen so much Bob Newhart a nick at night. I would set up, you know, I, I would do my standing of Barbara Eden as I dream of Jeannie. And then Bob would. Come on. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So the Bob Newhart Show and then also Newhart. Two very funny sitcoms.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. A bit sillier. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I knew Newhart was. Newhart was for the gags. Okay. Newhart was, a goofy, goofy show.

 

Louis Virtel Larry did my other brother, Darryl. Yeah. The com I mean, just like full, zany comedy characters. And also, it was the original Better Call Saul and that it was constantly nominated for Emmys and never won a single one.

 

Ira Madison III Wow. Okay. I did not know that, but, it’s, it’s final episode is obviously iconic because there’s, the Bob Newhart Show, which was a sitcom which starred him and Suzanne Pleshette. And then there was a spinoff where he is running an in. You know, sort of a spin off. It’s not really a spin off. It’s a second show. And it’s just called Newhart. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel We’re. Yeah. He lives in Vermont. Yes. It’s a very. You’re in a you’re in an ideal.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And his wife in this show is Mary Fran. But the final episode of Newhart ends with, the small town where they own this, and these Japanese business men come in and they pay off the entire town so they can buy the town and turn it into a golf course. And, of course, they’re the only two who do not leave. And they keep the end. And they built this golf course around their end. And then years later, everyone who left the town, who turned rich, returns, and they’re all driving, Bob crazy. And then he gets hit with a golf ball and passes out, and then he wakes up in the final scene, with Suzanne Pleshette from the Bob Newhart Show. And then the idea is all of Newhart was just a bad dream.

 

Louis Virtel Within the Bob Newhart Show.

 

Ira Madison III You know, the original show? Yes.

 

Louis Virtel Very astounding. And of a TV show. I mean, the best and funniest ending of a TV show of all time. And now you’ve brought up Suzanne Pleshette, which means I now have to bring up when she was in the movie The Birds. Yes, the birds. And before she gets her. Yes, eyes pecked out, she is the most glamorous one room school teacher you have ever seen in your life. Like, suddenly, like, Tippi Hedren goes to meet this friend of hers. You open the doors to this rickety, Laura Ingalls Wilder looking school. And who is in it? A woman looking like Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield eight. Like the smoky eye as she is teaching these children nursery rhymes.

 

Ira Madison III She was a gorgeous.

 

Louis Virtel Gorgeous, gorgeous woman. Yes, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Anyway, Bob Newhart, I glad you already brought up the Big Bang Theory because, you know. I love that show.

 

Louis Virtel You sure do. I actually, it’s one of the most. I don’t want to say puzzling things about you. I mean, obviously it’s a beloved show, but I know it’s not puzzling at all about you. There’s something just contrarian enough where this belongs in your wheelhouse.

 

Ira Madison III But I have never seen an episode of Young Sheldon.

 

Louis Virtel No. Well, also, is Young Sheldon. Did that move networks and stuff? All I know is that Wendy Malik of Just Shoot Me fame had a recurring role on that show, and I’ve been thinking about her ever since. Hot in Cleveland, wondering where she’s going to go with her.

 

Ira Madison III You know.

 

Louis Virtel Crinkly mink smile.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, Bob Newhart also did a Hot and Cleveland episode. That is true. That was a great show.

 

Louis Virtel That just had everybody on it. Also the vibe scene. You can’t tell me that Valerie Bertinelli Wendy Malik Jane leaves and Betty White hanging out isn’t a good time.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I did find out that the end of Young Sheldon. Was that the reason? Obviously, we needed to. We needed to know why adult Sheldon was narrating the series. Right? It’s because it’s his memoir.

 

Louis Virtel All right, douche bag.

 

Ira Madison III And that’s why he’s been narrating it. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. And I guess that explains away inconsistencies, because there are some things that there’s apparently there’s this big moment where, oh my God. So there’s this moment where he discovers sort of his dad, like, cheating on his mom. Okay. Something, you know, in the original and not.

 

Louis Virtel Turmoil in Sheldon’s world.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, but in Young Sheldon, it’s changed to he is not cheating on his mom. His mom is wearing a wig.

 

Louis Virtel Okay.

 

Ira Madison III So he thought his dad was having an affair this whole time.

 

Louis Virtel What is this? Lollapalooza? What?

 

Ira Madison III Listen, it’s. This show slides back and forth on the spectrum, and I’m not talking about cable. Okay. And in a way, if it’s his memoir, that makes sense. Why? There’s inconsistencies in those two stories and other things that you learn about him in The Big Bang Theory. I don’t know that we needed to do that. Yeah, the show’s not lost.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, or Gossip Girl, like, what is going on? Narration. And is he joke or two? Jesus Christ.

 

Ira Madison III Or, also, I think there’s going to be a Young Sheldon spin off, right?

 

Louis Virtel Of course, I imagine if there were ads, where in the world behind them?

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Yeah. So Sheldon connects us all. Yeah. His spectrum connects us all.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, spectrum connects us all.

 

Ira Madison III We’re all on it.

 

Louis Virtel Madame web himself, Ian Armitage.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of spectrums. Yeah. Have you watched Big Brother this season? Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I started, I have a friend who’s mutual friend is on the show, so I’m invested from one angle, but.

 

Ira Madison III I have no idea, sir.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. That’s correct.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Wait, who’s the friend?

 

Louis Virtel My friend, Adrian Nunez, who would be shocked that I’m bringing him up.

 

Ira Madison III Here, but. Yes. No. Yes, of course I know. Adrian, from L.A., I recognized Adrian. I meant to text him. I recognize Adrian from the opening.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yes, he’s in it.

 

Ira Madison III That’s right. Yes, that’s. I mean, if you’re not on Big Brother, it’s at least iconic to be one of the friends who was with the contestant when they get their fake key with their home. Oh, my God, I’m surprised. It’s so stupid. It’s one of the.

 

Louis Virtel Stupidest traditions in television history where they are shocked to learn that a camera crew is there, filming them and then giving them a key to Big Brother. It’s so funny.

 

Ira Madison III That I just want to say that this season. If you’re watching the feeds, is maybe already going to go down as one of the top big brother seasons ever. It is giving early first ten season vibes. I just want to say this entire cast is unhinged.

 

Louis Virtel People are having meltdowns. I’ve seen I’ve seen only a little bit. But on the feed. Yeah. And the meltdowns are loud and verbose.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. This woman, Angela, who’s the head of household, who is a 52 year old real estate agent from Utah. One morning. One of the people that she does not like, she comes down at 8 a.m. and goes on a ten minute rant against him in front of the entire house. A rant that you can see on the feeds that she was practicing in bed. By the way, in the middle of the night she didn’t sleep.

 

Louis Virtel How do more people not do that? I would absolutely be rehearsing my dialog.

 

Ira Madison III Under the covers. Yeah, and what we’ve discovered about Angela, by the way, is she’s low key, a CBS plan because she has been on Let’s Make a Deal, The Price Is Right and House calls with Doctor Phil.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, well, okay. I cannot speak to that last one, but those other two. What that means is she she loves to stand in line outside a studio because those people.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I don’t want to say that. The dregs of society, you know, I’m a game show person myself, but I mean, people standing out there dressed in, like, Uncle Sam attire trying to get on CBS game shows, it doesn’t make you feel great about being a person.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that’s that’s the worst part of America. I want to say. Yeah. Ranks. And those are those are the people who come la, just for the weekend or like the week on a vacation to get on the show. Right? They’re not the people who are hot and come to LA and be bartenders. And I hope they’ll make it. No, you know, they’re not in it to really win it. They’re just like, hey, let’s get on this game show quickly with a bunch of loud or flashy colors, right?

 

Louis Virtel And maybe I get a Winnebago out of this. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Anyway, kind of an iconic season so far.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Yeah. And again, we’re like episodes in. I always say my fear with Big Brother is the seasons often peak early. There’s like a, you know, a richness of conflict and then it eventually dissipates. Are the main people in the conflict get eliminated from the show? And obviously the show still has to go on and it’s less exciting. But for right now, it’s rare that it comes this early. So, jump on it now while you only have a couple of episodes to, review.

 

Ira Madison III And the first two episodes, you could speed right through them, baby, because let me tell you, the Big Brother has famously never made a good premiere.

 

Louis Virtel No? Well, also, they insist on doing it live and having people go into the house and just walk around being like, wow, I can’t believe it. Light fixtures like, why are you gonna buy things in the Big Brother house? It always is the same.

 

Ira Madison III All right. We have a really fun episode this week.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I think so.

 

Ira Madison III First we’re gonna get into some politics, which is too bad.

 

Louis Virtel I run, I’m loose, and we simply don’t do.

 

Ira Madison III Well in that way. But I think we’ll do pretty well with this one, because we are going to explain, the Kamala memes to all of you. Our discord users are really puzzled and they’re like, what the fuck is going on with the coconuts and the Charlie and the brat summer of it all. So we’re going to tell you all what it’s about.

 

Louis Virtel We have the Rosetta Stone with us so we can do some decoding. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And Lewis and I both saw twisters this weekend.

 

Louis Virtel And the wildly popular film twisters.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, I am, I am actually kind of shocked how popular this film is. I feel like leading into it, everyone’s sort of like, there’s no way this movie is going to be good. There’s no way people are going to really go see it. But somehow America has got Glen Powell fever.

 

Louis Virtel They do. And also, yeah, to me it says there must be some serious awareness of the original movie, you know, which is like, I’m not saying everybody hasn’t seen twister. That wasn’t a hit at the time, but it’s not a movie I’m constantly talking about. So the fact that the follow up is a runaway success is sort of provocative also.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And then, our guest this week is the lovely Drew Farlow, who I’m friends with, and she’s going to talk about her new book and. I have a lot of questions for her because she just interviewed Chappell Road.

 

Louis Virtel You mean Kamala Harris? Compatriot chapel around.

 

Ira Madison III A common phenomenon? Yeah, as it were.

 

Louis Virtel I have not heard the words common phenomenon yet. Feminine, dominant, obviously, the Chappell song we’re referring to. But Kamala nominated. Okay, that’s coming right up.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right, well, Lewis and I are gonna make ourselves some peanut kamalas, and we will be right back with more. Keep it.

 

Louis Virtel This is an historic moment. We have the power to stop Donald Trump and the existential threat he poses to our country. Join Vote Save America’s 2024 volunteer program for the most high impact opportunities near you.

 

Ira Madison III So far, over 24,000 people have signed up, including 6000 on Sunday, and those folks have already reached out to over 1 million voters. Your participation will make the difference on Election Day, so go to triple W dot vote Save america.com/20 24 and click sign up to get started.

 

Louis Virtel This message has been paid for by Vote Save America. You can learn more at Vote Save america.com. And this ad has not been authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

 

Ira Madison III And by the way, the stands for we will win. All right. If you are confused about all of the Kamala memes that are going on lately, you might have just fallen out of a coconut tree.

 

Louis Virtel Which is, I want to say, there are too many memes. Like, you really just have to learn the coconut one to really get a handle on all of them. But yeah.

 

Ira Madison III We exist in this context. Ever since Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, the context has all been Kamala Harris. It is. So wild to exist in the context of this current political climate because. Was it two weeks ago we were like, oh, Trump got shot.

 

Louis Virtel Remember, that feels like an extremely dis. I feel like we’re talking about the Old West. That was like 175 years ago.

 

Ira Madison III I also feel like Trump being shot seemed like such a big thing. And then all of a sudden we were reminded that nothing is really big anymore politically because we move on from shit so quickly. Right. And two, he moved on from it because I think part of the context of thinking that he was going to be running against Biden, who was, you know, crawling through the Mojave looking for water. At this.

 

Louis Virtel Point, Harvey, you surely you could have found a gas station.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. He thought he’s going to be running against him. So all of all of Trump’s sort of, like, plan, in his current race just seems to be. Look at the guy they had me running against. Correct. Right. There’s there’s no there’s no real plan coming from, the Trump campaign as it is if there ever is.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. He’s not really, issue oriented other than I’ll do what the worst people in the country want me to do. You know, he’s like, he’s secretly more of a plant than any politician ever.

 

Ira Madison III But because that was all he was focused on when the RNC happened and he went out and did his 90 minute fucking speech, topping the last two. Longest speeches ever, which were both records set by him. He just gets up there and freestyles.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, please. No. I’m surprised he’s not like, doesn’t have turntables up there. You kidding me?

 

Ira Madison III He goes up and rambles for 90 minutes and that I feel like, kind of ruined all the momentum from the attempted assassination as well. Like, he moved on from it. We moved on from it. And then Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Who I believe Trump had to immediately Google, he said. So that’s a human being. Pronounce the syllables for me. Say what? He has no I mean, so far he has no strategy on her. Like, I can’t even really think of any famous sound bites said about her. I know he said something recently where he tried making fun of her laugh or whatever, and it’s like, so that’s your angle? Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Kamala. She’s crazy, isn’t she? She’s a crazy one, isn’t she? Like that crazy Nancy? That’s all he does, right?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III In terms of women.

 

Louis Virtel That reminds me of Nancy Pelosi. Is is is where he’s going with that. Also, I love that your impression of Trump has a real, dulcet quality. Or you sound like Burl Ives or something very interesting about Frosty the Snowman.

 

Ira Madison III Is Trump. In a different World? He is Frosty the Snowman.

 

Louis Virtel That’s true. Oh, please. The corncob pipe would be cute on.

 

Ira Madison III Him if he’s ever running for president and reminding us of how evil he is. You know, he was, like, really evil in the 80s, in the early 90s. And then we put him in a bunch of TV shit, Home Alone, etc. the apprentice made all of us like him again because we just, you know, we loved him firing people and we loved many, calling, people Casper the Ghost.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Joan and Melissa Rivers teaming up in Rage Against a poker player. Yeah, it.

 

Ira Madison III Was a good night. Lisa Rinna. Dee Snider, December Hardwick.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Bob Snyder is a pole. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III And then he decides to run for president. And now we have all this shit, you know, in a different world. He is just playing Frosty the Snowman in a television Christmas movie.

 

Louis Virtel Right? And also, we don’t have to see him. He’s just a voiceover artist. That would be nice. Okay, now into the Kamala of it all. Should we begin with? Now, if you look at Kamala’s official Twitter account, she is identifying as brat, which I believe counts as a kind of coming out as a career moment. It’s not pride Month anymore. Now, I saw Jake Tapper trying to discuss this on CNN, and I have to tell you, I wish he didn’t because there’s no real answer as to what being brat is. So let’s take a step back from the Kamala of it. What would you say being brat as it pertains to self-identification means. And we’re talking about Charlie Cox’s new, acclaimed album that we’ve talked about on this podcast.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, yes, I am wearing My Brat 2024 shirt for the brat tour, which I saw in New York. Being brat is sort of. Not to sound like the Gen Z correspondent that they pulled out on The Jake Tapper Show, who I’m not trying to get into how old this woman is, but if you told me that she was the Gen A correspondent, I’d have believed you.

 

Louis Virtel She’s from the Greatest Generation.

 

Ira Madison III Jake Tapper said. Gen Z corresponded and the camera panned over and I was like, I was expecting Sabrina Brier. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel And you got Sabrina, the actual teenage witch from.

 

Ira Madison III The original comics? Yeah. Being Bratt, in essence, is kind of being in your early 30s. Okay. Because a lot of people I was just say, like, getting into the context of the album when you think of a lot of pop stars, to be honest, most pop albums that tend to be iconic and early in someone’s career are from people in their 20s. Right. You know, or like teenagers, you know, a lot of you always forget that a lot of our pop stars start when they’re between 16 and 21, right?

 

Louis Virtel Right. When they are like their voice changed and they have to leave Menudo or the Mickey Mouse Club.

 

Ira Madison III Right. But the thing about brat, actually, is that Charli XCX is 31 guys, you know? And so this album is still about going out, partying, doing drugs with your friends. The line should we have a little bump? Should we have a little line? Obviously is referring to cocaine. And don’t let Camila learn that line. Good point. Good point. Okay. Scruff McGruff is already on the case. And then there’s also the song. I think About It All the time, which she muses on the fact that her friends are having babies, you know, and, like, do I want to have a baby, etc.. And I think what makes the album specifically like an early 30s thing is you are still partying and having fun, but you’re also thinking about adulthood as it’s surrounding you. You know, there’s this sort of, quality to this album that feels like it’s for people of our generation, like we’re thinking of adult things while still having fun. It’s less we’re going to the club like we’re Lindsay Lohan. You know.

 

Louis Virtel I think even I’ll step into that further. I think you’re correct. And it’s that I am a self-possessed person, maybe even just self-possessed woman. And, you know, we as pop lovers identify with women no matter who we are. But also, you can’t take away my annoying twentysomething ness. I get to be an annoying, rowdy twentysomething person, even into my 30s. Which, what could be gayer than that? When you’re in your 30s and you’re gay. Guess what? You are the other 20s.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, and also every other week someone’s tweeting some version of when you’re gay and in the closet, you don’t get to live a real adult life, right? He’s seen versions of that tweet. Oh, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel They’re always speaking to the soul of queerness or whatever people are. I don’t do I can’t do authenticity on Twitter anymore. I’m sorry it’s not 2009 anymore.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, we’ve we’ve reached a point where I kind of love the swing back to just people doing jokes. I like that you still. I still like that you still give us a punch line.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, I write like I’m on the Dick Cavett Show in 1977. I’ve nothing about me. As in step. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Because the entire sort of Twitter sphere and no one’s calling it ex is just a wild, wild West now. And who has time to be earnest? It’s just everything is psychotic right now.

 

Louis Virtel Kamala Harris calling herself brat. I guess she’s just saying I identify with youthfulness and also being youthful well into your adulthood. So that’s sort of a savvy move if we break down the logistics of it.

 

Ira Madison III Realistically, she identifies with wanting the youth vote.

 

Louis Virtel I would appreciate you shut your mouth and voting for her.

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, it’s kind of working because jumping into the brat of it all, it’s been everywhere this summer. You know, I don’t think it’s really even a connection with brat, as it were. It’s just the fact that brat is everywhere. Urban Outfitters is like, are you having a brat, Summer? Brat is everywhere. The color is everywhere. People are referencing the font. This brat that the font as well. And one I want to say that it’s giving Mad Men because I can’t remember something else in recent memory besides Mad Men that was so ubiquitous in terms of marketing, that sort of, outsized, the actual sort of amount of people paying attention to the original product, you know, like, not that many people watched Mad Men, but everybody knows. What Mad Men fashion is like. Banana Republic was selling Mad Men style clothes, you know, and people are always referencing Mad Men and Don Draper. But if you look at the actual ratings of that show, they were very low, right?

 

Louis Virtel No. I would say the rollout of this Charlie X album is one of the most successful album things in the past couple of years. Like, I can’t even think of anything to compare it to other than, I guess like tortured poets department. But she’s like her. She’s like a one woman bonanza. Like, that’s a completely different story, you know, to to emerge just with an album and like, basically this album is Charlie his entire identity right now. You know, she has she’s not really even though she has an awesome catalog of hits. It’s really all about this moment and this album. I can’t compare it to anything. Really.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, the only thing I would maybe say is sort of the early Renaissance days of like, I feel like everyone was associated cowboy. Yeah. Like disco, that shit with Beyonce, they like to be a pop star and have one album come out. And the esthetics of the album is all anybody is talking about. That’s a success. Madonna did that, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Quite, quite, yes. I mean, I don’t know that I would say she originated it, but she’s probably the most famous person to really use that technique, you know, like, oh, I’m in the cowboy era or I’m in the Patty Hearst Beret era. Yes, I just referenced American Life. Oh, it’s getting getting deep on this podcast now. I was I’m also kind of pleased with how, first of all, just pleased in general with so Kamala has accepted the endorsement of a bunch of heavy heading Democrats. It’s like everybody exchanged glances and then thought, oh wait, actually, this is doable and rad. And I don’t know that, like the thought had appeared in other people’s minds, I don’t know what happened, but, it became a really exciting moment quickly and also an organized moment. We I think we felt like with Biden in the race, like figuring out what to do, like things were coming apart at the seams and now it feels like, okay, the seams are there, and they’re part of Timberland boots that she’s wearing into the white House.

 

Ira Madison III She’s Charlene. Yes. You remember at her terms, I would say also that the connection with brat is because it’s everywhere. And then you have the coconut meme, of course, which, by the way, it is wild to me that I am still laughing. At this mean. That’s no laughing at the phrase. You think you just fell off a coconut tree? And this came from a speech, by the way, when Kamala Harris said, my mother used to she would give us a hard time sometimes and she would say to us, I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell on the coconut tree. You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.

 

Louis Virtel Which feels like something that is said. Maybe during an angry rant on untucked on Drag Race, where somebody is throwing a tantrum at somebody else and trying to sound elevated, trying to sound, smart, and then just seeming insane. But hearing it come from Kamala, which I do understand what she was saying, but it still feels so shockingly daffy for somebody that composed. And I feel like people are connecting with how oddly genuine it is to sound daffy while trying to say something emphatic.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, and I think what is really sort of connecting here is the fact that if you flash back to the original primary, where Kamala is running for president. The thing about her was it always sounded like she was just making up shit as she was going along, like she would be saying something and you’re like, girl, what are you saying? You know, it’s like she was wasn’t really answering being she was very evasive.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, a bit of a.

 

Ira Madison III Bit evasive and couldn’t really like land on a single topic or theme in a conversation. It was very I’m explaining a lot of things, and then later I can sort of pinpoint that, oh, I met this, you know, like that. That was the general vibe of it. And it was funny in a way, but it also made us not take her seriously. Yeah. And I would say that. Then with the whole Trump of it all, and then the Biden of it all. Now that stuff became jokes online as she was VP, and it’s now sort of fueled a big, just comedic renaissance for her. We’ve started finding her funny before we had to take her seriously again now. Yeah, right. And now we just find her funny. And a large part of it has to go to the Republican Party, because there is this Twitter account called like RNC research or whatever, and they are the ones who originally made the users follow the coconut tree meme go viral because they, for months, were constantly clipping out Kamala’s speeches to make fun of her online. And I think of Paul McCallion, my friend and comedian who was one of the first people who quoted it months ago with. Everything that they’re tweeting to make her sort of unlikable and sort of say how awful politicians he is, is actually just funny and making us like her more. So they keep doing that. And right now, I think yesterday they released a, ad attacking her. They released an ad calling her, you know, dangerously liberal. Then they also are the people who released the four minute clip of Kamala, repeating the line, what can be unburdened by what has been. Turns out she uses that in every speech of hers. And I guess the RNC thought that all of us would call her a fraud because of it. But it’s really just funny. She keeps you thinking the same, line, and the video is fucking hilarious, you know? And so. They have been propagating all of the funny memes about Kamala in the first place, and now we’ve sort of taken over.

 

Louis Virtel And so I guess, thank God for them. I also just want to say about the online discourse regarding Kamala. This was originally going to be part of my keep it, but it’s safer that I just talk about it here. It has to be some sort of psychological syndrome for people to say that what is happening right now reminds them of a television show about the vice president. Yes, there are going to be parallels between Veep, the only TV show about the vice president and the vice president. I don’t know how often I have to keep hearing this or that. Somebody thinks it’s novel, or we’re going to get insight out of the fact that something crazy is happening. And yes, the vice president on that TV show was a woman. Please, God, stop it.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I didn’t finish all of Veep.

 

Louis Virtel Well, the last season, it gets a little dicey. I don’t know, like the punch lines. They were going hard and making big swings, and it didn’t always land. But I would say up until the last season, maybe even a quarter way into the last season, it’s still fabulous.

 

Ira Madison III I will say that I it’s a show that I feel like I had maybe three seasons left to finish. I think I have to now. It is a show that people are constantly rewatching, and so I’m, I catch up on the episodes that I haven’t seen, just randomly. I’ll be seeing someone and like, go to their apartment to hang out with them, or like, I’m at a friend’s place for an afters or something and people just throw on beat.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Well, I mean, yeah, it is a show like 30 Rock where it’s so joke oriented. You can watch three minutes of it or six hours of it, and it hits the same. It’s so consistently, you know, bonkers, rudely funny that, however much you can take of it, you can take it at any dose you want. And believe me, I know you’re dosing.

 

Ira Madison III All right.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s get a guy. Right. Everyone. So.

 

Ira Madison III Now I’m cackling like Kamala.

 

Louis Virtel Know I do love, by the way, this. You know what else is making the rounds with her? That clip with her sister where she makes comment, calling herself Big Sister General. And then they both cackle in

 

Ira Madison III Burst out laughing.

 

Louis Virtel Shocking unison.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. There’s also, in retrospect, down the Drew Barrymore clip where she is clutching her saying, I think what we all need right now is a really big hug as a country. We need you to be Mamala of the United States.

 

Louis Virtel And Kamala, I have to say, handles that pretty well, even though she could have literally knocked her to the floor.

 

Ira Madison III The way Kamala says, as at the entire audience is clapping. Kamala just goes yeah.. Yeah, I mean.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, help you help.

 

Ira Madison III Lastly, I want to say about Kamala, what I’m really sort of enjoying about this is one we got to kick the shit out of Trump.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III So I’m enjoying the enthusiasm here. And it is novel to see enthusiasm in the Democratic Party.

 

Louis Virtel Totally.

 

Ira Madison III It’s it feels like it has it evaporated. Post Hillary like once she lost like the enthusiasm vanished. Like even when Biden won, it wasn’t really enthusiasm because we had that long fucking week of waiting for the results to come in. And then it was just like, Then you have J.Lo screaming at us to get loud. Yes. And then we did it. Yeah. Yes, we did it. He got quieter, actually. He got mute. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel He’s having a brat. Summer. He’s like, I’m not doing what you tell me.

 

Ira Madison III He’s like the G train. He’s under construction. But no, I just want to say that we’re all, like, excited by the memes and everything. And I’m glad that it’s also leading to organizing to a. The black women are starting to organize so much now for Kamala and. Younger people seem energized, at least by memes, and we see a lot of money rolling into her campaign as well, like a record amount of money rolling in. So it gives me hope about beating Trump, in the fall. And I’m hoping that momentum continues beyond this current moment. That is also not to say that a lot of the concerns politically, that we all had during the Biden administration have, like, gone away. Just because I’m making Kamala means does it mean I’ve forgotten about wanting a permanent ceasefire, in Palestine? But right now I think that people can focus on both things. And I’m just glad that we have a candidate who seems like they can win a certainly.

 

Louis Virtel No. Also, I mean, just theatrically and this is a very pop cultural response. I because I can’t really say that the debates end up mattering the most or that people remember them or whatever. Like we’re always so intensely like watching a debate when it happens. And I feel like I don’t remember any quotes ten minutes after I watch one personally. That said, watching her go up against Trump I think would be very exciting. I just think something about her is very bullet point oriented in a way that he is not. He’s just somebody who’s like picks and insults, you know, does his freestyle about that insult for ten minutes and then pretends he made a point, whereas I think she can make people feel like, you know, an adult is in the room, which, you know, there might not be when you’re on a debate with Trump. So that’s exciting.

 

Ira Madison III Well, and if you want to talk about her quote, I do remember that her versus pence. Mr. Vice President I’m speaking.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God. Get back on that tab. Yes. Though I think that’s going to be tougher because they cut the mikes now for the other people. So we’ll see what happens.

 

Ira Madison III But yeah. And can’t wait to see what cracker she picks for her VP. It’s going to be a very, very white man.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God that guy Roy. That was the North Carolina guy. He looks exactly like he’d be a love interest in 80 for Brady.

 

Ira Madison III It’s the Bachelorette now.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Which Golden Bachelor contestant will she pick? Yes. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III All right, when we’re back, we are joined by Drew Afualo.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III Every day this week’s guest is doing the Lord’s work. And by that I mean putting misogynistic internet men in their place. Thanks to her hilarious wit and unwavering candor, her viral takedowns and podcast, The Comments Section, which I’ve been on, have made her a household name on TikTok, YouTube, and hopefully soon, the publishing world. Here to talk about her new book, Loud: Accepting Nothing Less Than The Life You Deserve. Welcome to Keep It, Drew Afualo.

 

Drew Afualo Ooh.

 

Sister. Hello. It’s good to see you.

 

Drew Afualo It’s good to see you too, girl. How you been?

 

Ira Madison III I’m good, I’m good. You know, I had fun on your podcast, The Comment Section. But then, you know, you had to go and usurp our iconic episode and Chappell Roan on. So tell me.

 

Drew Afualo What I said. So tell me y’all are talking about the wrong queen.

 

Ira Madison III Tell me about hearing from her our favorite artists. Favorite artists, that she is a fan of you and really wanted to come on your show.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah, I mean, it was a blast. Chappell and I have followed each other for a while now. I dmed her earlier this year, and I was like, hey, Queen. Hey, diva, I would love to have you on my show. And she was super supportive and she’s like, I love your show. I’d love to come. And then obviously she’s had this just unbelievable, like meteoric rise, through, like, you know, her Tiny Desk concert and Coachella and all of that. And she’s just on a real trajectory right now. So I we’ve planned it for months. It’s just like it hit at, like, the time when she is the girl. So yeah, it was just kind of the perfect storm. But she is so sweet and so funny and so normal. It’s like. Which I’m sure you all know too. Like, I feel like the longer you you start meeting more famous people, you’re like, oh, you’re like normal. That’s awesome. I guess there’s a normal. Are there really weird? Like there’s no in between.

 

Ira Madison III They’re normal or they have or they’re like, I don’t know, the Smiths kids. You know, I think it’s like, what do you mean? There’s no, like, vending machine, in your car?

 

Drew Afualo Yeah. They’re like normal, or they’re just like, they’re so weird that you’re like, good thing you’re in this business. Because I don’t think you would work in any other environment. So this is good thing you’re an actor. That’s a good thing.

 

Louis Virtel So why have there been people you’ve been acquainted with through, you know, you’re influencing is the word, I guess online that. Yeah. Been excited to me. And then they completely delivered like people. You’re like, I absolutely knew this person would be rad once I met them. And then I did, and it was fab.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah. I mean, like, chapel’s a great one. Kehlani is another one. Meghan Trainor like she’s she’s fantastic. Like she is so sweet. Like there are just people that you’re like I sense the vibe. I’m glad they’re cool. You know what I mean? Like, I’m glad you’re cool, girl, because I, I thought maybe you would be. It’s good to know you are, but yeah, I’ve met way like everyone I’ve ever met. Like. And even meeting Beyoncé was a whole nother thing. Like.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, yes.

 

Drew Afualo I blacked out during most of that, but.

 

Ira Madison III You were at the Cecred launch.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah girl.

 

Ira Madison III Please, I need the info. I need the facts. What was going on was she was wearing the mysterious cowboy hat. I’m sure she was gunslinging earlier.

 

Drew Afualo She she was, she looked, obviously flawless and fantastic. She looks airbrushed in real life. I feel like when I met her, I was, like, seeing her, like, if that’s, like, what people create in phase two. And, like, she has that in real life. I don’t know how the photos. Like she has that blur tool, you know what I mean? But she’s she’s so stunning in real life. Taller than I thought she would be, too. She’s probably like five, seven, five, eight, which is, like, taller than I thought she would. Me I don’t know. I feel like with her, she’s the one person I’ve met that I was like, I thought I was. I was like, I’m either going to shit myself or be completely quiet, so I just gotta roll the dice.

 

Ira Madison III Oh my goodness.

 

Louis Virtel Well, also, it’s like I have to say, as much as we know her, the idea of having a conversation with her is not something I see in popular culture. Like, I don’t know, no, like it’s not like like I, for instance, I grew up being obsessed with like, Kathy Griffin. I always knew what talking to Kathy Griffin would be like this, I don’t know. You know what I mean? Like, this battle likes to get into, like, witty repartee. I’m not really sure.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Drew Afualo Exactly. I was literally and I was meeting with Britney, which I know y’all have had Britney on fabulous. I literally Britney and I have been huge fans of hers since I could even remember. Like I literally over drafted my bank account to get lemonade on title because I had $0.00, but I was like. I need this album injected directly into my veins. So I went into the red for that bitch. So I truly she’s someone I never thought. No matter what I do, no matter where. I’m never going to meet her like she’s someone I just made peace with never meeting. So getting the chance to meet her, like, surprisingly, was probably the only way it should have happened to me. I shouldn’t have any prep time because I. I wouldn’t have gone. I would have been too scared. I’m even, like, now she can’t. She can’t meet me. They’re going to take me to the ground if she needs me. Can’t do that. So but she was, she was lovely. Like she was fantastic and I didn’t want to. I was like, I don’t make too many jokes because I don’t know how she. I don’t know if she is she vibes with that. But she was real funny and really sweet and just cool, which is just insane to think about.

 

Ira Madison III But yeah, to be honest, like funny, I’m sure, I’m sure she did The Aristocats. You know, she’s, I’m sure she was hosting that, that was so, speaking of meteoric, sort of like, just like, you know, rises. We talked about Chappell, but.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, I feel like you have had such a, you know, blow up of a career, you know, thanks to.

 

Drew Afualo Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Tik-Tok. Yeah. It’s so interesting to, you know, be someone who has had success on that platform and then utilized it to get off the platform. And, you know, you have your book coming out and it’s just sort of like, tell us a bit about the process of going through that, because, you know, there’s so many people who are still trying to figure out ways to monetize or like, do anything else beyond, you know, just making videos in their apartment or their car or on the streets.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think once I once I got the platform, I, I think I knew because I’m, I’m 28 going to be 29 this year. So I grew up in the age of like I used to watch on Twitter all the time. I’m like, oh, like I used to. I used to like, I, I’ve been a fan of you for a minute. So like, I know about the internet. I know about internet culture very well. I feel like I’ve seen it happen because I’ve been a fan of internet people. So I think once I got the platform, which is I did not plan on doing, I thought to myself almost immediately, I need to mobilize into other forms of media so that I know for a fact I can keep doing this if I would like to, because I know social media is fleeting. I know it’s not. It’s impermanent, and it’s the audience on social media can be very fickle. So I think it’s important to start rolling balls in other directions immediately. So that’s what I started doing. Like with the comment section, it’s a great I way I did it and, you know, with my podcast, with my sister to edit girls and, and then doing more hosting gigs and shit like that. And then now getting to do the book, it’s just like all of it is, you know, I’m so grateful to the internet. I’ll never turn my back on the internet because it gave me everything I have now. But I also know that I have other things I want to do to, and other things I want to like make more solidified in more traditional forms of media. So the book’s just one of those ways, but I’m just honored I got the chance to even write a book. I know that’s very hard, industry to penetrate, to get published and everything. So I’m very grateful, and very glad that it worked out, thank God. So I just got a kick ass team. So I think that helps, you know.

 

Louis Virtel Is somebody who is used to starting conversations online and also jumping into preexisting conversations and pivoting them, making people thinking about them in a new way. What would you say is the best thing about conversing online and the worst?

 

Drew Afualo Oh, I mean, the best thing is probably the reach, right? So like, you could you could build an enormous audience, like from your home. You could build like community, you can make you can build these relationships like whether they’re parasocial or not, like, because even this, you know, my community has been able to put me in rooms with people like y’all, like, I get to meet people like you. I get to meet people like fucking Beyonce. Like I get to do all those things because I’ve built such a strong community online.

 

Ira Madison III And I’m not. I said the same sentence.

 

Louis Virtel I was going to say I’m.

 

Ira Madison III Looking for. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

Drew Afualo Obviously. Obviously that’s my Mount Rushmore.

 

Ira Madison III I know we’re a bit more from Destiny’s Child. Okay. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel We had our percentage. If you look at the Say My Name video, we’re there for a split second.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Drew Afualo I like it I think though, you know, that’s the beautiful part is, is the community and the places that’s been able to take me, from making videos online. I think the hardest thing about starting conversations online is that there are there are just conversations that you can try your absolute best and be your absolute on all your P’s and Q’s of how you want to say it. And people will still like purposely misconstrue what you say, or they’ll take things out of context, and then they’ll start wildfires in other directions and you can’t control that. So that’s probably the. Hardest part about having conversations like this online, and that’s been a running theme in my platform forever. Like the amount of men that have consistently twisted and manipulated shit I’ve said to try and make me sound like the most evil bitch alive is just like, I’m just going to do that to me forever. Like, it’s just forever. Like I’m never going to listen. So, that’s probably the hardest part. But I mean, the good far outweighs the bad, thankfully. But the bad is just really bad. Like, I’m sure y’all know I’ve been on the internet forever. Yeah, people can be really evil.

 

Ira Madison III And I think it’s so interesting. Not interesting. I mean, it’s it’s it’s it’s sad really. I mean, you know, I think, you probably know of, my friend Ashley Reece, he was like, off the orbit on Twitter, and it’s just like she is a person who, lost her husband to cancer a year ago. And the people who are constantly at her mentions every day for just any innocuous like she could tweet, I love Mountain Dew. And then you have people in her mansion saying the most vile, crazy shit. And it’s just, yeah, always a reminder that I feel like obviously the internet has given us so many gifts and, so many things. It was a boom because we were in our homes all the time. But there are truly some people who I feel like post Covid or whatever it like, truly have not left their home, have not interacted with other people sent in there, and they’ve turned into, I don’t know, like the people you would see on the X-Files or something. Like I always say that, I would say that the crazy, the crazy kooks that when you were when we were younger, you were just a wee babe, and you would hear, like, there’d be talk radio where people would call in and be like, I was abducted by aliens. Or, you know, I think that, Lincoln is still alive. I saw him having lunch with Tupac. You know, those people now have a bigger reach. And you hear you hear these crazy people all the time. And I think that’s just a weird part of the internet now. So many crazy people. You did not know that they existed.

 

Drew Afualo Totally. And it’s like it’s people to that. Like they take what you say with no like with even with all the good intention in the world and all of the preparation, like they still will try to nitpick everything and try to find something to be upset about with the most good natured people on the internet. For example, I started a war on peanut butter and jelly like two years ago. Just for fun, I like I tweeted like one day, like y’all will be brave enough to have a conversation with me about how horrible peanut butter and jelly is. Like, that’s all I tweeted. I tweeted nothing else. I said one day y’all will be brave enough to have that conversation with me and like to be funny. That shit went super viral. And then everyone’s like laughing and we’re all joking. And then some people started saying like that. I didn’t like peanut butter and jelly. That means I hate poor people because that’s all they can eat. What are you talking about, girl? Like I and I literally was like, I grew up poor bitch. What are you talking about? Like, why do you think I hate it so much? Because I had to eat it. And I said, is it possible that maybe I could just not like it and maybe that’s it, just because I just don’t like the taste like. Is that is that possible? Can we hold space for that? Maybe. Or is it just automatically jumped to I hate people with no money like that. Makes no sense. Like and so that’s the that’s the kind of like when shit I’m talking about when I say, like the most good natured conversations can be manipulated and twisted into like, I’m just an evil person. Let’s all just operate under the understanding that maybe I just want to be silly on the internet. Like, maybe I just want to make a joke. Like we’re talking about peanut butter and jelly.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, let’s unpack that.

 

Drew Afualo Serious. Let’s let’s.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s let’s. I actually couldn’t hear you because I was thinking about the plight of poor people. Yeah. So.

 

Ira Madison III So first of all, peanut butter is expensive these days. Yeah. Right, right. But two, let’s unpack that. What kind of peanut butter are we talking about? Because I was actually recently talking about peanut butter with a friend. And I was like, you know what, low key slaps. And I don’t really have it that much anymore. The crunchy peanut butter. Oh please. Like with the, with the oh with the peanuts in there I was like that shit was great. And then there were always the is it Jif or is it Peter Pan steak. So what. Peanut butter gets your goat. Like what shit don’t you like.

 

Drew Afualo Honestly, I don’t like any of it. I like peanut butter in things. I like jam on things. Yeah, some things. I just don’t like them together. I said. I said you guys would like a sandwich with nightmare textures. That’s on you. On. I like, I like take it up with God, girl, that has nothing to do with me.

 

Ira Madison III That’s why I’m like.

 

Drew Afualo Of all the things you can make into a sandwich, I don’t think that’s one of them. So, like, she’s not hitting me.

 

Ira Madison III I’m sorry.

 

Louis Virtel I will say it is just two condiments. Like, it’s a little like.

 

Drew Afualo I’m saying just. Hello.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I eat it. That’s what I said, I eat it, that’s my, that’s my, that’s my, that’s my struggle food currently. Literally. Yesterday I was like, I was eating some peanut butter, I did. I fucking love peanut butter. I love I’m like plain peanut butter.

 

Drew Afualo I like it with like, Oreos. I like peanut butter and Reese’s peanut butter cups. Yeah that’s good.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, I love that. No, I am those women. There’s a, 80s commercial that I absolutely fucking love. Look at. Look, Google if you’ve never seen it, it is. It is Jeff 80s and it’s these women like having a picnic and they’re basically like orgasming by like some like sniffing the gym and it’s like, oh, I’m going to be naughty. Like my husband doesn’t know I have like Jeff. And it’s like, I’m not picking up the kids from soccer practice. I’m having Jeff. It’s insane.

 

Drew Afualo Like substituting him for like, for instance, watching like alcohol.

 

Ira Madison III They’re like, sorry, I forgot to pick up the kids. I was eating peanut butter me with peanut butter and get some almond butter. Get some sunflower seed butter from Trader Joe’s. That shit slapped. So sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich chef’s kiss.

 

Drew Afualo Oh, I. That I haven’t tried. I love almond butter.

 

Ira Madison III Okay.

 

Drew Afualo I love almond butter. Like on fruit and stuff. Love that.

 

Ira Madison III Get into it.

 

Drew Afualo So good. Mmmhmm

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Now okay. Much as I want to keep talking about peanut butter. And by the way can we just talk about writing a book. it’s not the same thing as doing TikTok. It feels like an incredible amount of work. It feels like something where you’re, you know, there’s like a, an echelon of people you have to impress and layers. It has to rise through in order for the book to actually occur. Is it a complete nightmare to write a book?

 

Drew Afualo I don’t know what a nightmare it is. Very tedious, I will say, like most of it is very tedious. Feels like it feels like doing it for years, and then you don’t see the results until years later. But I did write it from about like January to August last year. In between, like working and stuff. That’s probably what made it the hardest, was like doing all of this and writing at the same time. So I would like be traveling and then wake up really early and then edit pages and chapters and send them back, and then go work and then come back and then get more edits. And so it’s more so just that over and over and over again. But once the initial manuscript is in, then it’s just kind of like editing, sending back approvals, editing, sending back. Like it’s just that process back, back and forth. So it’s just very tedious. I would say it’s not necessarily like the most horrifying, like hard process. The hardest part was honestly coming up with the name, like the title of the book, because we had a working title for the proposal, which I knew already I didn’t want. So we kicked around a lot of different titles, and the title I actually initially wanted ended up being a chapter title in my book, which is I’d Rather Die Alone. That’s what I wanted to title the book.

 

Ira Madison III And, my publisher was like, let’s pick something I like. I less like horrifying, sucking the word joy.

 

Louis Virtel On his vision board.

 

Ira Madison III You’re you’re you’re fans at Barnes and Noble. They might have booksellers calling in the hotline. Excuse me. I’d like to die alone. That’s why it’s like they’re like, let’s bring something a little higher energy. Like, more.

 

Drew Afualo Positive. But that one actually ended up making it to a chapter title, which I loved. I think it works much better as the chapter title in hindsight. And so I’m very proud of the titles because I came up with them on my own, just by kicking around. We had so many ideas. We just were like brainstorming. So I even told my team, I’m like, this is the hardest part for us. Is the title. Like, I call that a win. But past that, like, it was very therapeutic in a lot of ways that I felt like I’m actively in therapy. And this also felt like therapy. So it was kind of like a win win for me. But more so than that, I’m also a Virgo though, so I like thrive in a work environment.

 

Ira Madison III Yasss like Beyonce!

 

Drew Afualo I thrive in a school environment. Period. She’s the only Virgo that matters.

 

Ira Madison III But also your book title is a Rihanna album. So, Loud.

 

Drew Afualo Period, period. Look at that. And me and Rihanna have so much in common. So like, I feel like, the whole process itself was very it was very tedious and a lot of work, but it was very rewarding in a lot of ways. So thankfully.

 

Louis Virtel Now, in your various battles against misogyny online, do you have a particular favorite time where you think the message landed with the person you were railing against?

 

Drew Afualo Oh yeah, I do. I have a few like, faves, like some of my in my head, like my own Hall of Fame. Like this is again, me being a Virgo. I’m like, that was so funny. Me thinking about myself, like, I think one of, was I once had a guy, like, make a video about me and tag me and tell me, like, I’m tagging you, and I don’t care if you see this fatty. Like, that was like the catch. And I was like, well, obviously I have to respond to it because he wants me to. And I made a joke about him. I said, you looked like an offensive lineman, like at a D3 school that doesn’t play. And I just again, like, I have no way. I have no way of knowing if that was true. Like I just shot in the dark. And and then I. And then he had kind of a spiral after that. He posted like 15 videos after that. And all of them were like, I can’t believe you would make a video about me. Like, why would you do that? Why did you do this? And then he said he. Then he literally was like, you know what? Like, I’m proud of my journey. And then my boyfriend looked him up and like, I’m not kidding, he wasn’t. Oh, lineman, I did D3. And. I said, damn, I shot in the dark and I hit you, bitch.

 

Ira Madison III That’s crazy.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, yeah. The silence of the lambs.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, right. Commission. It should be noted for our audience that you were originally seeking a career in sports journalism. And you used to be the sports editor of your school newspaper and worked in the school’s athletic department. So, like, in a different world, you are this, like, sports guru. I’m. I’m imagining. Like, I can’t wait to find some way for you to meld, like, what you do and sports like in the future. Yeah. Some sort of comedic version of, like, a sports that we are actually. There’s a big dearth of sports comedies. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think we’ve only really had sports night and, obviously the iconic USA show Unnecessary Roughness. If you remember John Stamos in that.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. When you move into TV, that’ll be your next move.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Driving a Jerry Maguire like a Jerry Maguire. But with you. Okay. I know.

 

Drew Afualo I feel like that’s another thing, too, is like, I do know a lot about like. I mean, obviously, like, I worked for the NFL, but I worked in sports for a very long time. So I know a lot about football. I know a lot about basketball. Like, I know a lot about sports in general. So I think men forget that about me because they don’t care about me for obvious reasons. But like, nothing makes me like more than like infiltrating things they love. Yeah, we just like sports. Like, I worked with the NFL last year. I did the Pro Bowl last year. I actually recently did something with, the other huge conglomerates that I can’t talk about right now. I just recently did something with them, and I’m not kidding. I’m like, oh, the way it feels like I feel like it makes me. It adds ten years to my life when I get to infiltrate something they love.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that, let me tell you, I have also, I’ve not really brought it up on the podcast yet to torture Louis yet because I want to get more into it. But I am doing a deep dive to try and become a WNBA fan. Oh sure, I’m a girl. I’m obsessed. And I think what really got me besides just Angel Reese was obviously, you know, like when the men are walking, through the tunnel, and they had their fashions or whatever. Right? There was an there was an Instagram post of the WNBA players fit checks. And I was like, these are bad bitches. Like, these are giving runway walks in looks that look better than what some of our midst female celebrities are wearing on carpet these days. So I’m like, that is what’s going to get me.

 

Drew Afualo Tea. And my sister is a huge WNBA WNBA fan. She’s like super. She’s balls deep in that show right now and my sister is a lesbian. So maybe that’s hat on a hat.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Drew Afualo But she she recently got super, super into it for obvious reasons. Like she’s she’s loved it for like over a year now. But I’ve, I’ve had a few WNBA girls on my show and collected them all. That’s my new thing like and I went to the All-Star game and Phenix like and worked with them, this past weekend. So I got to watch like all of the greats play against each other, and it was fantastic. What a blast. I had so much fun. I was literally just telling. One of my friends was a WNBA player. I was telling her that when I was at the All-Star game, I’ve never felt so safe in a sports crowd. It’s nothing but lesbians and women. That’s it. I love that the energy is so, like, supportive and fun. Like no one’s getting like super fucked up and aggressive and fighting like, I’ve been to professional games many times for men. And like, the energy’s real sinister. Like it gets to a point where it gets a little like, oh, this could tip one way or the other. And I felt so safe after WNBA game and it was such a blast watching.

 

Louis Virtel Oh no there’s, there’s something about men at sporting events where they’re like they overly identify with teams like the belongingness of like it’s us versus them. And that’s where like the violence kind of gets in. Whereas I don’t associate that with the WNBA at all. After the dynamics, which I’m going to be obsessed with coming up, look out. Keep It fans. I will be getting into the WNBA.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And the games are like the Joker, you know, like like the energy. But WNBA games it’s the joker with Lady Gaga. There’s gays in the audience.

 

Louis Virtel Poison ivy shows up. Yes right. Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

 

Drew Afualo Yeah, exactly.

 

Louis Virtel Drew. Thank you. Drew, thank you so much for being here. Such a blast. Please come back ASAP, ASAP.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Adore you. Adore you. So good to see you again.

 

Drew Afualo Thank you so much for having me.

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III The movies were off to a rough start this year. And honestly. Rough middle. Yeah. I know the.

 

Louis Virtel Future’s looking rough.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, but if Florida history books teach us anything. Is that it only takes one white man to save the day.

 

Louis Virtel And he’s here.

 

Ira Madison III And that white man is Glen Powell, whose blockbuster hit twisters has finally gotten people without kids back into the theater.

 

Louis Virtel That’s us. Oh, my God, they’re talking about us. They spoke my name. I was just telling my parents that you better appreciate this Emmy nomination, because this is my version of having a kid.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I hope you have many kids. Okay? I hope, like, like, at least eight is enough level.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve had to tell you, though, quickly, if I won an Emmy, my instinct would be then to abandon television and then go for the, like, Grammys and Oscars and stuff. Like when people win seven Emmys in a row, that’s boring. I mean, it’s the same award. I don’t know. I mean, like, why Cloris Leachman this, you know what I mean? Like, you should get all the awards.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, you lazy bitch.

 

Louis Virtel You idiot. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Go get a Tony.

 

Louis Virtel You should be calling Nicole Holofcener every day for more movie roles.

 

Ira Madison III Honestly, she should be in a Neil Simon or something on Broadway.

 

Louis Virtel Totally. Oh, my God, she would be amazing. Julia Louis-Dreyfus on stage. I’m. That’s like my new Bette Midler and. Hello, Dolly. I would love to see that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right, so twisters is I was explaining this to a friend. By the way, twisters is specifically the kind of movie that is rampant in Hollywood right now because it’s such a confusing movie to describe, just in terms of what it is in the context of what came before to be Kamala. There was obviously the original twister with our queen, Helen Hunt. Yes. This movie is not a sequel because none of the original characters are in this film, right?

 

Louis Virtel It doesn’t remind you of that movie really at all. Other than there are tornadoes on the screen? Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Right. It’s not a remake. Because it’s not remaking the original film. It’s just another movie about tornadoes. And they put an ass at the end because brand recognition?

 

Louis Virtel No, I would compare it to the feud Capote versus the Swans, which was not intended to be part of the feud universe, but they put the word feud on it because we had that Joan Crawford season of TV that people remember. So now it feels like we’re in step with some TV tradition.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And then you watch it and you’re like, where’s the feud?

 

Louis Virtel Right. So they’re just a little bit upset. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III But this is such a Hollywood thing right now where I feel like they are going off a name brand recognition for existing IP, and you’re always going to get some new version of a movie or TV show that you’ve seen before, and you’re not really going to know if it’s a remake, a sequel, or whatever.

 

Louis Virtel Sure, just accept that it has something thematically to do with something you’ve seen, and that should comfort you.

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, it did, because as it turns out, I fucking love this movie.

 

Louis Virtel This movie did not do one thing for me. I was shocked to dislike this movie other than, I mean, like, let’s let’s go right through the ingredients.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Daisy. Edgar. No.

 

Louis Virtel We’ll get to her in a second. Okay, first of all, the tornadoes do look fabulous. The special effects. I’m not questioning them for a second. And you get every version of something that would be in some meteorological textbook. I think every possible version of this disaster is explored in this movie. Getting into the characters. What I remember about the original twister is that it made you fascinated with the science itself, that this was a potential job you could have. I felt like all of the discussions of tornadoes in this movie were such gobbledygook. To forward this like rom com dynamic between Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell that I didn’t retain any of it. It felt like a movie that could have taken place on a spaceship or something like that. What they were doing didn’t matter so much, as it’s just this playground for them to have this kind of rom com dynamic. And then of course, it’s not really a rom com either. Like at the end they kind of almost culminates in like something is about to happen. And I’m not saying they need to like, hook up in front of me in the twisters movie, but they didn’t explore the dynamic either. So it’s not a rom com, nor is it really in, a psychologically investing scientific tale either.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I mean, first of all, in the rom com of it all, there’s been a lot of talk online about how, spoiler alert, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glenn Paul do not kiss in this film. Correct? Not once. And apparently that is a note from Steven Spielberg himself, who said it would have been too cliché for them to kiss at the end.

 

Louis Virtel Which, by the way, it would have been I on the note it ends on is a little bit impressive from a story perspective, and clever the way they’re still united. And it’s not just he’s left hanging or whatever, like maybe they’ll hook up in the next one or whatever. I actually kind of like that. But getting into the characters themselves, they really don’t give us much reason to believe these are real people. I’m like Daisy Edgar-Jones in this movie. Who is the star? She’s somebody who is, you know, obsessed with tornado since a child. She has this big experimental idea at the beginning of the movie, she tries it out and it goes awry, and the three people she does the experiment with are killed. Also, by the way, I just want to say Kiernan Shipka is having a very strange moment right now where she has one scene in this and one scene in long legs, and it’s very like question mark, exclamation point about what she is doing there.

 

Ira Madison III I love it. She’s just pop it up on sets.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I guess, but Daisy Edgar-Jones, this role is so she’s like, it’s like the Emily Mortimer highest professional good person is who she plays like she has no personality other than I’m good at my job and I just need someone to tell me that I’m brilliant. And then, lo and behold, who gets to do it. Glen Powell, cast in an equally stereotypical role of. He’s the rowdy adversary who shouldn’t be friends with her because he’s, you know, not trained and, drives a truck and he’s a YouTuber, so he must be soulless. And then it turns out, oh, no, wait, they’re collecting money so they can be charitable with it. Like nobody has any actual objectionable personality traits. And so together, they’re just two likable people, and you find out why they’re even more likable as the as the movie goes on. I would compare it to Parks and Rec in that way. Oh, is that person an asshole? Oh no way. At the end of the episode, we find out they have a heart. That kind of bullshit.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I would say that, first of all, Daisy Edgar-Jones, who’s fantastic in Normal People. Yes. Has the personality of, a moleskin notebook.

 

Louis Virtel She, by the way, I am sick of her. I’m sick of seeing her ass in the rain. I do not need to see any more of that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah. You know. It’s. Wow. And she is. She’s a moleskin notebook. The rain. She’s soggy by the end of this movie. I’m sorry. There’s not an ounce of personality dripping from her. No. In this film, it’s like she’s just showing up on set, saying the lines and leaving a.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. And, I think also they don’t really give either of the actors any interesting lines to work with or even kind of like surprising scenes, like everything is disturbed, this one plot to get them a little bit closer together and to redeem her big scientific brain that has been taking this huge ego hit at the beginning of the movie.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I will say I did enjoy the movie. I mean, I you know what? I thought it was just pure innocent fun. But I missed.

 

Louis Virtel The fun part, though. I’m sorry to be, by the way, I’ve been watching a lot of Siskel and Ebert recently, and when Ebert is a fucking bitch to Siskel is. What’s the fun part? What are you talking about? I’m going to be Ebert right now. I mean, like they go to a rodeo at one point where during the rodeo and of course, twisters take over. They don’t get to the end of the rodeo. But he sits there and he’s like, yeah, I’ve been in the twisters ever since I was a kid, and I saw one with my mom. Kim. Having a mom is supposed to be a big, sympathetic mom, and for this character, it’s like no one did a pass on this.

 

Ira Madison III I just had fucking fun watching it. I like seeing people run away from twisters I like. I like the special effects. I think Glen Powell is. I mean, I could watch that man do anything. I just, I think he’s alluring to me. He has so much on screen charisma that it made up for her not really having any. I think I just like his smile. He’s fun. It’s so interesting that he is, being obviously he’s been getting the Tom cruise playbook since Top Gun Maverick. You know, I feel like Tom is like molding him the same way that Denzel Washington is building. And giving advice to Austin Butler. I feel like these are like the two men right now who are so dynamic on screen and also dynamic. In person. I feel like Glen’s personality in every press junket, every sort of interview, clip has been really fun and that sort of seeping into the movie too. He’s become a classic movie star in the sense that. You know what you’re getting on screen. When you go and watch him, you’re getting his fun personality, right? Yeah, sure. Then it’ll be really fun when he switches it up and does, like, a double indemnity.

 

Louis Virtel You know. Right. I do wonder how he will move more formally into prestige in the future. Not that he hasn’t been a part of great movies. I love when he works with Richard Linklater, for example.

 

Ira Madison III Everybody wants some. Go and see that movie. If you have not seen it. It’s one of Linklater’s best films. I and it’s very underrated.

 

Louis Virtel I cannot believe how surprised I was by that movie. I thought that movie had everything. And also without having any contrivances of being a movie, like, it’s not really plot driven even, and and yet you’re really engrossed in the characters are all very real. It’s a really impressive movie.

 

Ira Madison III Eats up Licorice pizza.

 

Louis Virtel Quite, quite. I, I want to also say that there is just something in general about Glen Powell where he’s just, I don’t want to say relatable, but he feels like somebody, you know, like the image that keeps coming to mind for me is he feels like somebody who runs the canoes at a YMCA, just like, hey, I know these streams. Come on in. You know that, like, inviting, jocular thing.

 

Ira Madison III I also think it’s because he is 35, and someone on Twitter months ago had this tweet where they got ratio to hell, where they said, I feel like Glen Powell just popped up out of nowhere. And I think people our age are specifically relating to him, because Glen Powell isn’t just a film actor who was and like he like sort of like Timothee Chalamet or something, even though him, I wouldn’t say because Timothee Chalamet did. He did that show about, you know, the terrorists.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, right. He was on homeland.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah he was on homeland. Yeah. But even then that’s just one season. And then he really sort of popped off after Call Me By Your Name or something. Right. But Glen Powell has been on TV forever. Like, we feel like we know him because he’s been a bit part in so many either TV shows or other movies like Hidden Figures, like, we’ve we’ve sort of seen him. And so when he now is exuding all of this charisma and getting the chance to lead films, there’s a familiarity with him because you, you sort of are like, oh, even if you don’t remember where he’s been in, you feel like you know him already because you have seen his face.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, totally. Yeah. In one thing or another, whether it’s Scream Queens or, Hidden Figures, as you said, where he played John Glen. I mean, like, he’s, I think one of the best parts of Top Gun Maverick, a movie that I believe is just about Jennifer Connelly running somehow the most successful bar of all time with, I believe, a tiki theme.

 

Ira Madison III By the way. How upset is Miles teller right now?

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God. I think about this all the time because he I was because I actually thought about him during twisters, strangely, because I felt like this movie wanted to have like a rowdy character in the way that he popped off in Footloose, where it’s like, oh, we’re here in the middle of the country, you know? And yet movie star energy, how can we mix these two and get something better? And I think Miles teller on the Footloose remake is a very underrated example of that working well.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I would say that. Listen, I had fun watching this movie. I have a three and a half letter box star film for me. Okay. Three stars for you. I know you always fight against the five stars on there, and we’re going to get you on letter box, bitch. Okay? But the three stars for me, always for me, means I enjoyed this. Did I hate it? Now. Did I absolutely love it? No, but I enjoyed it. So three and a half stars is I really enjoyed this movie and I had fun and it’s leaning more towards the I liked it. I had a good time in the theater. God, you know, for me it feels fun being back in the theaters watching movies. I tweeted that, my entire audience erupted into applause when Glen Powell stepped out into the rain in a tight white t shirt and then put his cowboy hat on like the audience was. Pharrell.

 

Louis Virtel Okay? Mine. I feel like there was a reaction, too. I do kind of wish I had seen this movie with the rumble seats, where you feel like the tornado is.

 

Ira Madison III Like 40.

 

Louis Virtel X hitting your prostate or whatever the fuck these chairs are designed to do.

 

Ira Madison III I saw screaming 40 acts, baby Ghostface almost killed me.

 

Louis Virtel No, I don’t want to be shaken by the film.

 

Ira Madison III And it’s like a roller coaster. But I want to say that this film, getting to your critiques of it. That’s sort of the problem with modern blockbusters right now. We’re getting the fun of being back in the movies, right? But. What’s missing from this movie that the original twister had and even bad blockbusters of the 90s had. There’s just no character. Yeah. And there’s nothing really sort of interesting or off kilter about the movie. I feel like stuff where, you know, like characters have either a, like a weird tic or something, right? Or like a favorite drink or like, they’re kind of an asshole or just just something that a screenwriter would add to a film to make these characters distinct and different. It’s kind of missing from modern blockbusters. Now you’re really just thinking about the plot and the fun of it, but no one’s thinking about the characters. I’m thinking again about Ticket to Paradise, the Julia Roberts and George Clooney movie that reunited them. Right on paper sounds like a perfect film. Sounds exactly like a film that you want to watch. Sounds like a great romcom. Then you watch it, and it’s supposed to be these two divorced characters who share a kid who hate each other. And you’re watching the film, and these people are too comfortable with one another. They’re interacting too much, making jokes, etc. with each other for people who actually hate each other. And I feel like if that movie were made in the 90s, they’d be a lot nastier to each other and you would get that they hate each other.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I think also we just did angst better once upon a time. Like if you put Helen Hunt in a movie, she’s I’m sorry to speak in cliches, a vibe like she is like running the dynamic of a movie, but there’s just something about her where you get the sense of like, kind of sullen adulthood, the put upon quality. And there is nothing like that in this movie. Like, you don’t get a sense of actual, like a hard won careerist person out in the world. You don’t get that from these people in this movie. Yeah. And again, once upon a time, I think the original twister was I would compare it maybe to like Jurassic Park, where you would watch it and then be like, well, now I have to know everything about dinosaurs or whatever, and there’s just nothing that propels you into the real world from this movie. And I feel like it really should.

 

Ira Madison III Even Jurassic Park, right? Sam Neill is an asshole in that film.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, or like Jeff Goldblum’s bizarre. Yeah, whatever. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Until the last sort of half of the film where he starts caring about these kids because he’s taking care of them and trying to keep them alive when they’re trapped in Jurassic Park. Like, that’s a serious transformation. When he starts caring about the kids, when he’s helping them up that, electric fence. You get the emotion in that scene because he’s gone on a real journey toward this film, you know, and even watching the beginning of twisters. Obviously it starts out with some of her friends die in a twister, and that’s why she is like, oh, I have to, like, she steps out of it for a few years and it’s just sort of like, that’s just for feel fake as a way to set up the movie. Totally. There’s a character in the film.

 

Louis Virtel It’s so like, No Time to Die. It’s every movie, you know, we’re like, she’s she’s out. She’s back in.

 

Ira Madison III Whatever. Yeah, yeah. Just lastly, there’s a character in the film, who sort of sells out, and goes corporate with all of their science stuff and tornadoes and sort of like, buying out land from the people who the tornadoes are destroying their homes. And if that was Daisy Edgar’s character, and she went on a real journey to caring about people at the end of the movie, there might have been a more interesting dynamic.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Also speaking of that, by the way, David Corn Sweat, who I couldn’t identify for the first like 30 minutes of this movie, who’s about to play Superman in the upcoming Superman movie.

 

Ira Madison III Also could not either.

 

Louis Virtel He’s like, he’s like 11th billed in this movie and you’re like, who is this tall person? I’m like, oh, the guy from The politician who dies in the first episode and who was going to be Superman, but is weirdly this thankless role in the middle of the movie. I don’t know what he’s doing there. But anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I also turned to, my friend at the last scene and said, oh wait, he’s Superman.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, he doesn’t look like he’s like Christopher Reeve Ubermensch shape in this movie either. They could cover him up. It’s not really a dynamic role, but anyway.

 

Ira Madison III Twisters. I give it a thumbs up.

 

Louis Virtel Thumbs down from a two star on a four star scale. See how clean that is? Adulthood.

 

Ira Madison III That’s dignity. All right. When we’re back. Keep it. And we are back with our favorite segment of the episode. Keep it and I must do a first initial keep it to myself because I believe that we are okay. Lewis is excited that I.

 

Louis Virtel Got you in trouble again. Let’s hear it.

 

Ira Madison III No. It’s me. I did not open this week’s episode by informing our listeners that we are officially in Leo season.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, thank God, where everybody belongs in our world.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Yeah. So.

 

Louis Virtel Though we’re turning 38 soon. Not sure I’m in love with that, but. Okay.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, you you certainly are.

 

Louis Virtel But, you know, you’re a week older than I am.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I know. I love being 38, to be honest. I love people always do that thing where they try and guess, like, ages or whatever, and it’s whatever I say. 38. I’m like, because, you know, I’m hanging out with people in their early 30s in New York. People are surprised when they find out, like, you’re 38. I mean, because we have that brat energy, you know?

 

Louis Virtel Right? Yeah. No. When you said people, you weren’t including me. How interesting. Oh.

 

Ira Madison III I think that’s the thing about brat. Too early 30s. People just seem to think, people online, especially younger people, seem to think that you die at 30. Oh, right.

 

Louis Virtel So, no, I have to say this not to be to, Deepak Chopra. But I heard Jane Fonda once say that the anticipation of age is so much worse than actually just being old. Like, it’s like you get there and it’s like, oh, wait, I’m still myself. Like, what do you think is going to happen? Like, like the fun in your life is totally over. It is weird. It’s just an anxiety I have in general. Anyway, we’ll start with my keypad. How about that? My keep it this week. Is first of all a compliment. Have you been watching Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal on Apple TV+?

 

Ira Madison III I have not, but I need to tell you that Friday night I was at. My friends took me to their friends apartment, after a bar, and, everyone was sitting around the table and three people were talking about how much everyone needs to be watching Presumed Innocent. And so it’s immediately shot up to the top of my list.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Well, it is a, limited series based on the extremely popular novel from the 80s written by Scott Turow, who was basically the other John Grisham. And it was made into a movie Once Upon a Time with Harrison Ford. And so it’s this limited series thing now. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a lawyer who, is, charged with murdering the woman he’s having an affair with, who he used to work with. He’s got this wife, played by Ruth Negga, who is amazing. As you know, Ruth Negga in passing, was like the performance of that year very much this year. I know our bitch is back.

 

Ira Madison III Also, every time I think.

 

Louis Virtel About like, imagine, I just look right at you. And that’s why I’m saying it’s so insane. It’s so crazy.

 

Ira Madison III Also, Harrison Ford, was it this ad, The Fugitive.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No, it’s very he had he is not, shall we say, a versatile actor is what we’ll say. You know, he’s in the Richard Gere community. Kind of. But, watching this, I was very enthralled. You can’t stop watching once it begins. Jake Gyllenhaal’s brother in law, Peter Sarsgaard, is in it playing a slimy, oily, fabulous character, something I’ve not really seen him do for a long time, but where as of this week, one episode is left that was unaired. I could not handle the suspense. And so I watched the original movie, and now I know what the big and I guess famous twist is from the, original.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, wow.

 

Louis Virtel You can’t. Okay, my keep it is to the producer of the show. Please stop adapting things with earlier versions that I can just look at and cheat and ruin the show. Now I’m waiting for this last episode. I’m like, oh, that’s going to wait for this fucking monologue. The original wait, by the way, is okay that this show, I think is better.

 

Ira Madison III But it’s a series. Is it is it a one and done series?

 

Louis Virtel No, it is renewed for another season. But I know that in this upcoming episode, we’re gonna get the way the original book and, winds up.

 

Ira Madison III All right. You know what? Once again, a hot show on Apple TV+ that I didn’t really know existed. But now I need to go and watch.

 

Louis Virtel So right now, conversations are very muted about Apple TV+.

 

Ira Madison III I’m going to binge all of this so that we can talk about that finale.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I enjoy, Elizabeth Marvel is on this show. I think she gives, a really good performance, but I’m really looking forward to one particular performance in the next episode. I wrote. What is your keep it this week?

 

Ira Madison III My keep It, unfortunately goes to Max in the third movie, Entire West trilogy. I did not love it at all.

 

Louis Virtel Explain what the third installment of this series is.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, so this trilogy that Ty West has done, stars Mia Goth. And the first movie that came out was X, and this was about some, adult film makers, traveling to this farm, in the 70s to shoot a film. This old man, who owns the farm. His wife, who’s crazy, starts killing all of them, basically. And then Mia Goth, escapes by killing her and fleeing. Now, what you need to know in that movie is Mia also plays the old woman who’s doing all the killing in that old woman makeup. Fabulous. The second movie in the trilogy takes place before X, and it’s set in 1918. It’s called Pearl, and that is where the old woman is. A is young, and Mia Goth plays her again, obviously. And you see her descent into madness. Got it. That movie is so fun and crazy. And Mia goth performance is so, just, like, bracing and visceral. That is my favorite of the trilogy. Like, it’s such a great, unexpected movie.

 

Louis Virtel She has risen to the top of my list of inevitable Oscar winners. Like She’s Somebody. There’s not a second one of her. So when the prestige project comes that speaks exactly to who Mia Goth is, she will nail it and she will probably win something for it.

 

Ira Madison III And won’t that speech be something?

 

Louis Virtel It’s going to be in Portuguese, and it’s going to be pitched at the level of a pan flute, like the. So her high pitched voice is so crazy.

 

Ira Madison III And what we’d be wondering if her baby daddy will be in the audience with her.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God. Oh, that’s so gruesome. Yeah, she’s with child. But anyway. So what’s wrong with Maxine?

 

Ira Madison III Maxine is the third film in this trilogy. And Maxine is a direct as a more direct sequel to X, where Mingus Maxine, who survives that film, is now in Hollywood in the 80s, and she’s transitioning from porn into horror films and a film directed by, horror. Tour played by Elizabeth Debicki.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, now that I love and theory, yes, I support that because I can picture exactly the haircut she has. And, what went wrong?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Here’s the thing. Like the film works in so many aspects to me, the film is sort of a, it’s the kind of movie that you respect and sort of like as an afterthought later, you’re happy the movie exists, you’re happy to have seen it, but the actual movie itself just sort of really isn’t that great to me. It has a bit of the vibe of like 80s, thrillers, you know, sort of like Crimes of Passion. Very DePalma and and it’s sort of weird and kooky in the beginning, for the first two of them, a third act is just sort of. And once the killer is revealed, it’s just sort of a mess to me. And it’s sort of a retread of House of the devil, one of Ty West earlier films that I loved. People have compared it to scream three, just because it’s the third part in a trilogy, and the ending is sort of a what? Okay, I guess that’s how we’re wrapping things up there. But the Hollywood stuff is fun, I will say. I mean, there’s there’s something fun about her running around on the psycho set, being chased, by someone trying to kill her. And Kevin Bacon is so fucking weird and fun in this movie. You said never nominated for an Oscar, which is crazy.

 

Louis Virtel No, there’s that weird category of people where they’ve been basically prestige their entire careers. And still it didn’t really happen for them. We call them Donald Sutherland’s. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I could see Kevin Bacon with an honorary Oscar later in his life.

 

Louis Virtel Certainly. Yeah. Stuff.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. He’s so weird and kooky. And this Giancarlo Esposito is great in this film. Honestly, Halsey is great in this film.

 

Louis Virtel And as you know, previously, the spookiest thing about her was that her name is simply Ashley as an anagram.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So, Halsey, they are doing this Jersey accent. It’s very it’s very wild. It’s just a character choice, which is so fun within the movie. And I think my main complaint about my scene is it’s just not fun enough. You know, I think it’s very fun. And there’s a lot of weird stuff going on, but a lot of it drags and not in the sort of atmospheric way that Tye usually, infuses into his movies. Just ultimately doesn’t work for me, but I don’t know. I also think that for an 80s film, there are no kills on screen that are interesting. I want to see some gore.

 

Louis Virtel I think that’s a huge problem with the recent screen movies, too. It’s the memorable kills they don’t have that. That feel like they’ve really earned the suspense and earned the jump scare, etc..

 

Ira Madison III I talked to someone about the original scream recently, and they said that rewatching it as an adult, it’s somehow even scarier because they are butchering those kids in the first movie.

 

Louis Virtel And they don’t have a cell phone on them. Baby. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. That first scene with Drew Barrymore, rewatching it as an adult now, and seeing her try to get to her parents and then arriving, and it’s that’s a brutal scene.

 

Louis Virtel I think that’s the scariest scene in movie history for me personally.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And the latest screens that really have that, they’re a little too goofy. The thing about scream was it’s funny, but the comedy wasn’t the main element of it, though in the first one.

 

Louis Virtel The the meta ness is also not that the central thing about it, to which I feel like the recent movies have made the bullseye of the reason these movies exist.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that’s why scream two still works as a sequel, as a sort of great to me, because it’s it’s madness, but it’s still only madness about movie sequels. And it doesn’t get to Inside Baseball with this as a trilogy. And now we’re doing, you know, sequels, etc.. You know, it’s still just, oh, it’s a sequel. And it makes sense because it’s a killer copying the original killer, you know? So it feels like a sequel in a way. Also speaking of the scream movie is when, you know, they went from 3 to 4, etc. Ty West apparently was saying that he was thinking about making a fourth film in the franchise, but it depends how Maxine is received. And I think a couple months ago he said that he is working on the fourth film in this franchise now, so it’s not a trilogy anymore.

 

Louis Virtel All right. Maybe it’ll end on a slightly better note, but that’s our episode.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Shout out to Leo season. Shout out to Drew Afualo for joining us. Stay safe out there. There’s twisters.

 

Louis Virtel Don’t go chasing twisters. Please. Stick to the sandstorms and the haboobs that you’re used to.

 

Ira Madison III And, Miles Teller, if you’re out there, man would want to be in her shoes. Don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

 

Louis Virtel 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.

 

Ira Madison III Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Kennedy Hill. Our executive producers are Ira Madison, the third, Louis Virtel, and Kendra James.

 

Louis Virtel Our digital team is Megan Patsel, Claudia Shang, and Rachel Gaieski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to Matt DeGroot, David Toles, Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landes for production support every week.

 

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