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Ira and Louis discuss Lorde’s return to music, their favorite YouTube videos in honor of the site’s 20th anniversary, 10 Things I Hate About You the Musical, Terrence Howard refusing to play Gaye, and avoiding Cowboy Carter spoilers. Jillian Bell joins to discuss her directorial debut Summer of 69, how a Demi Moore movie helped her through a breakup, and more.

TRANSCRIPT

Ira Madison III And we are back with an all new episode of Keep It. I’m Ira Madison the third.

 

Louis Virtel I am Louis Virtel. I continue to be Louis Virtel. Do you remember the super group from the 80s, the Traveling Will Buries? It had Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynn, Roy Orbison, and Tom Patty, and they put all their old rock and roll powers together and took it on the road and the music was pretty Men I care about. Okay, right. We finally have the millennial version of that because we are getting a 10 Things I Hate About You musical on Broadway with music from Carly Rae Jepsen. Lena Dunham. Literally, the brain freezes at the potential for this to be good or bad. Because by the way, Ira, among teen movies, I’m not a 10 things I hate about you, Stan. You’re not? I like Heath Ledger in it and I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it. But Larissa Olenek, aka Alex Mack, honey, Alex Mack should have stayed a puddle. That performance was not it. But what about Ms. Julia Stiles? The angst is important, is the performance? I’m not sure. I think it maybe took her until Dexter or Oliana to get where I needed her to be.

 

Ira Madison III Mmm, I love Julia Stiles in this movie. It’s weird because I love this and I don’t like Save the Last Dance

 

Louis Virtel Which as you know is filmed in my hometown. The White High School was my high school. I come from the White High school and saved the last dance if you needed to know my origin story.

 

Ira Madison III Was that your grandmother on the subway watching them kiss?

 

Louis Virtel Love you Nana

 

Ira Madison III That’s one of my favorite scenes from that dumb movie. The canoodling on, I guess, the red line? Yeah, right. Yeah, and this white woman turns and looks at them and gives them a face.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, do you know what is one of the hardest things for a movie to pull off is when an actor who’s like not a trained dancer of any time has to give some triumphant dance performance. Like they can’t get around it with stunt doubles like they do in Black Swan. There’s a movie in the 60s called Isadora about Isadora Duncan played by Vanessa Redgrave. Guess who is not a ballet artist that would be Vanessa Redgraves towering stage in many other ways.

 

Ira Madison III Well, guess who’s not a ballet dancer or a hip hop dancer?

 

Louis Virtel Styles. No, and what she turns in at the end of that movie to me looked like charades.

 

Ira Madison III A chipmunk? What do you mean? It’s truly a horrible, horrible dance. Her dancing at Things I Hate About You is much more fun if you recall the scene where she’s drunk and on the table at the party. Oh, right. Yeah. You know, doing her white woman moves and Heath Ledger. The shimmy. Snatches her up. I find that movie romantic.

 

Louis Virtel But I think it’s a good candidate for a Broadway musical because you could still improve it in a way. Mm-hmm. Legally Blonde almost counts as that because it’s like a three-star movie. Everything’s fun about it. There’s still potential to turn it into something else with a musical. I feel like this is sort of similar. I love LegallyBlonde the musical. Also, the songs in that musical are really fabulous. Yes. Oh my God, you guys, is art. Speaking, and a YouTube staple, the, montage of the local productions of it where that one line in the store where the salesgirl is talking to Elle. She gets one big note and has nothing else to do in the show and you just watch people fail at it again and again and it’s very sad, but also funny.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, I think it’s a, it’s Courtney, take your break. Courtney, Take Your Break, yes. If you have not seen a YouTube clips of Courtney Take Your break, and it’s compiled of Legally Blonde, the musical performances from high schools and colleges across the US, you are missing out.

 

Louis Virtel I want to say there are some middle schools in there too, because it gets.

 

Ira Madison III Dank fast. Ted thinks I hate about you becoming a musical with music from Carly Rae Jepsen. I was like, is this woman in the studio? Where’s the music coming? And there is music coming, I believe. I believe she’s been working with Rostam on some new stuff. But if she’s not in the Studio and she is working on a Broadway musical, then I am all for that.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Well, I would love her to be a Tony nominee because, I mean, since, call me maybe, she’s had obviously albums we all love, namely Emotion, but after that, The Loneliest Time I Enjoyed, The Loveliest Time was cute too. But it feels like she’s fallen off the awards track since she was so popular at her onset. And there’d be a return to form for her that is much deserved. She’s such a good musician and good singer live whenever she’s at Pride or something. I stay for the entire thing. She is extremely pleasant and fun.

 

Ira Madison III She’s been stuck in the gay ghetto and I’m not talking about gag city. Oh my God, remember gag city? And Lena Dunham is involved and I just gonna say it, Lena Dunhom is the GOAT.

 

Louis Virtel Guys, I’ve got news for you. I don’t think any show since 2010 has gained a sort of gravitas and saintly hood like Girls. The way people who are 15 years younger than me are talking about how Girls is their favorite show. I mean, I don’t think we anticipated that at the time. It’s pretty rad.

 

Ira Madison III It’s funny because it was the Sex in the City sort of vibes but for millennials and it sort of has become that now too because people are revisiting it the same way that people revisit Sex in The City and I’m pretty sure they will keep revisiting for decades to

 

Louis Virtel And I just want to say, by the way, I just finished my Sex in the City rewatch, like as in last night finished Alexander Petrovsky, the final two episodes and include in the episode before that where Kristen Johnston fall out falls out of the building. They really bent the fuck over backwards to have you try to believe Carrie would end up with this absolute gremlin of a fucking man who is so rude to her constantly has no redeeming qualities. And by the way, when she’s introduced to him, she hates the art too. She’s like making fun of the artist she’s looking at and then suddenly she’s like enamored of this guy. The only thing that is real to me about that storyline is that she kind of sticks with it because people keep telling her how great he is. So she’s kind of like using that as background knowledge to get involved with his depths. But otherwise, it’s just not believable. Why would she go to Paris? Anyway, it’s still the greatest show of all time, but yes.

 

Ira Madison III It’s silly, it seems like it was constructed just for big to save her. And by the way.

 

Louis Virtel And by the way, he comes out of nowhere too. They’re not together. And then he’s like, wait, wait, I’m wrong. I realize it. You’re the one. It’s like I don’t even know if she is.

 

Ira Madison III Meanwhile, the entire series is about these women’s friendship, right? And you would think her friends would be the people to go and save her in the finale and be like, girl.

 

Louis Virtel Riot.

 

Ira Madison III LEAVE!

 

Louis Virtel That’s the moment we need it. When Miranda tells Big, go get our girl, Miranda, you’re like the lawyer who would fly out there and do this yourself. That’s such a weird instinct from her, even though she delivers that line well. She does. But how about you go get her, bitch? That should have been the name of the sequel series, not in just like that. How about you? Go get her bitch. Which, by the way.

 

Ira Madison III I know we haven’t just like that coming view as everyone realizes is the worst show on television, but also the best show on television.

 

Louis Virtel The most anticipated bad show.

 

Ira Madison III So every year. Yes. I cannot fucking wait for this show to be back. It’s just a few weeks. It’s coming back in a few week, but we’ve done the spinoff series. We’ve done in the movie. And now thinking about 10 things I hate about you and Legally Blonde. We need to cross the sex in the city musical Rubicon.

 

Louis Virtel How have we not gotten there yet? And by the way, these are some musical theater, I mean, like Sarah Jessica Parker, who’s, you know, grew up on the Great White Way. Cynthia Nixon, Broadway legend herself, multiple Tony winner.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, Sarah Ramirez no more, but. Oh my God, Che is gonna make an impact.

 

Louis Virtel I think Sex in the City the musical would be it. Oh my God. I mean, it really is bone chilling to hear those words together. Like you should really be careful. It’s like playing with a haunted amulet or something.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, well, speaking of bone-chilling music, this week, we’re going to discuss Lord.

 

Louis Virtel She is frightened, she’s a frightening girl.

 

Ira Madison III She’s a frightening girl. I think me, I’m not going to be so nasty during the actual segment because I’ve actually come around on the song since it first dropped.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, her new song, what was that?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, what was that? What was that, we’re going to discuss Lorde’s new single, her return and honestly dive into Lorde in general cause I think we’ve never really done a Lorde deep dive on this show.

 

Louis Virtel No, I don’t really know why she hasn’t come up, though I guess since like the Royals era, since the Pure Heroine era, she hasn’t really commanded any single moment. So we have enough space to kind of review her now and give her a proper space.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, and then also YouTube has reached 20 years. Which is too old.

 

Louis Virtel Should have been canceled long ago.

 

Ira Madison III That’s as long as we’ve been doing this podcast.

 

Louis Virtel That’s right. No, we’re like the TV show Gunsmoke. I’m Miss Kitty. So we’re going to pick our favorite YouTube videos. I have three specifically in three different categories. And I also think they’re inarguable. So I don’t know what I repicked, but they’re wrong compared to mine.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, okay. Well, I think I’m going to gag the girls.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, all right. And as you know, I’ve been called un-gaggable by mostly the men in Berlin. Is that your Grindr biome? Oh, good lord.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And then we have the fantastic Jillian Bell joining us this week to discuss her directorial debut, Summer of 69, which is coming to Hulu soon. And let me tell you something. I thought this movie was going to be set in 1969. I thought we were going to get a little son of Sam moment. Well, the 69 refers to the sexual act 69ing.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, it has nothing to do with Brian Adams or his incredible oeuvre. Yes, and it starts Chloe Feynman, a newcomer named Sam Morelos, and then there’s lots of incredible cameos from people like Nicole Byer and Alex Moffat and Charlie Day in a particularly skeezy role that we’ll get into.

 

Ira Madison III Charlie Day is always hilarious on the screen. The only reason to watch Horrible Bosses, one and two, by the way, movies that I unfortunately love. And also, Nicole Byer, baby, friend of the podcast, friend of ours, you are looking fly in this movie.

 

Louis Virtel She was looking sensational in this movie. And also she’s just extremely funny. Like one of the most dependable people. She’s in that Kiki Palmer universe. Just turn the camera at her. She’ll be funny.

 

Ira Madison III Alright, when we are back, more keep it.

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III After a four year hiatus, Lorde has re-entered the Zeitgeist with her new single, what was that? James? I love the way…

 

Louis Virtel What do you say to so not the timbre of the song?

 

Ira Madison III I can only hear the title and think of the Wendy Williams meme, where she hears a noise and she says, what was that? Okay, James. I wish it were about that. The release has sparked countless articles and internet discourse about the pop star’s new sound and what we can expect from her return. But first, let’s talk about her return, which happened last Tuesday when I was on way to see. Flow, I was on the way to see their concert at the Brooklyn Paramount. And Flow, if you don’t know them, it’s amazing British trio, a girl group. They’re sort of R&B sounding music and it’s harkening back to Destiny’s Child, SWV, those kinds of groups. Yes, yes, yes. Part one. Yes, they are fucking fantastic by the way. And they killed, as always. M&EK produces their music. Oh, cool. Get into Flow if you have not listened to Flow. As I’m heading to the concert, a friend texts me, Lord is going to Washington Square Park. And I was like, well, okay, girl, but I’m going to Brooklyn. So, and I live by Washington Square park. So as I’m headed to the train, I see hordes of people who can only be described as Lord fans. Yeah, spooky 23 year olds, right? Yeah, yes, spooky, 23 year old and also grown men in their thirties. Oh, sure. Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Fresh off of work, still in their business clothes. Briefcase is in hand. And they head to Washington Square Park where she is set to perform her new single. Now the kids are waiting. And she puts on Instagram, sorry, y’all. I don’t know why I’m throwing in a y’ all there. She wouldn’t say that. She’s from fucking New Zealand.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. Jane Campion not throwing yalls in her post.

 

Ira Madison III Lord lets everyone know that she doesn’t have a permit and the cops have shut down the performance. So her fans are just left there and some of the more reasonable adults leave. Other people stay there until it gets dark, just singing Lord songs around the campfire as they do. And these are people with nothing to do with their evening, I guess. I guess, yeah. And then Lord miraculously pulls up and performs her song. Well, dances to her song as it plays. And the dancing can only be described as latter era Michael Jackson.

 

Louis Virtel You took the words right out of my mouth. So it’s like when the video came out, it incorporated this performance, correct? Okay, the dancing truly is giving Michael Jackson impersonator on Hollywood Boulevard. The way, like, it’s the hair is in her face. Same skin color. Yeah, and like the white dress shirt and like, the kind of like shoulder forward moves. By the way, it is always hilarious when someone shows you their dance moves and they even 1% resemble Michael Jackson because it’s, like you’re ripping off Michael Jackson. It’s clear, only he dances this way. Um, yeah, she really puts that kind of the angst of, um, 90s Michael, you know, they don’t care about us. Michael is who I think was showing up here. Yeah. She’s giving jam. Yeah. That’s her vibe. Oh my God. Lord dunking on Michael Jordan. Let’s see it. But anyway, yes, we get the song. What was that? Uh, which is I had heard allegedly about Jack Antonoff. I don’t know that there’s any truth about that at all.

 

Ira Madison III He’s not involved. I know, but right, I mean, about him, you know what I mean? Oh, sorry, yes, it’s about him. Yeah, who knows, who know? I think that after I listened to many of his songs.

 

Louis Virtel What was that? You turned it off? Though you’re not a fan of Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter, and I think he ate that one.

 

Ira Madison III I came around on it. I fucking love it I think I don’t know if we addressed it on the show and I’m sure the fans have been waiting with baited breath They love when our opinions change. That’s right. They’re obsessed with it ain’t happening on white lotus bitch. Oh, yeah No, me neither. We were right on that one. Yeah, but no, I love please please please now. It just it Paola or whatever. It was just it was hammered into my head so fucking much. I love it

 

Louis Virtel It must be said, it’s hard to critique a pop song at first because what you think of it the first time as opposed to when you hear it the 5,000th time is just a totally different world. And it’s not fair, but it’s just true. Okay, this song, Familiar Lord Angst. When I think back to the song, I keep instead hearing Greenlight by Lord because it has the same sort of rambunctious street energy. So I think the song is okay. I think video is not good, unfortunately. I will say it’s good, but I also knew she could make this song already. So it’s not really an explosive comeback for her, especially after four years.

 

Ira Madison III Actually, you know what? The song is described as late 2023 back in New York, deep breakup, she did date Jack Anson off, allegedly.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, it somewhat could be, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, they were hanging out and I think about that because the apartment that I live in, I don’t know if they knew a friend in here or maybe she rented some, maybe one of them rented a place in here at the moment. But I specifically know a friend of mine always tells me when they come to my apartment that they were visiting another friend who lives in this building too. And they would see Lord and Jack Antonoff walked out the door once.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God, again, we’ve busted this case wide open. The song is absolutely about him. I’m 100% sure now. I’m looking for evidence. You’re like Lady Gaga, yeah, at the Capitol.

 

Ira Madison III I’m going to hold a little seance in my apartment, and maybe it was this very apartment.

 

Louis Virtel That’s right. Oh, OK, spooky again. Lord, never not spooky. Count on it from her.

 

Ira Madison III But the thing about Lorde in this song is, this is veering into a new musical territory for her. Obviously she’s not working with Jack like she has in the past. She’s working with producers, Jim E. Stack, who’s worked with Bon Iver and on Charli XCX’s Girl So Confusing, which of course Lorde roared back into public consciousness with, by appearing on the remix, and one of the best pop songs of last year. Yeah. Absolutely.

 

Louis Virtel Honestly, I keep hearing songs from Brad and I’m like, I underestimated this. Like I now I’m obsessed with the song Spring Breakers. Yes. What a nasty, funny song. Never get invited because I’m such a hater. Baby. She looked me in the eye and said that. Welcome to keep it.

 

Ira Madison III And also written by Dan Nigro, who has sort of roared into becoming the new Jack Antonoff in a way. He’s worked with Chaperone on her music and he’s worked with Olivia Rodrigo on her musics. But also, I’m gonna tell you a Kylie song that he worked on Louis, because he’s been around for a minute. Dan Nigro has credits on Kiss Me Once, the album.

 

Louis Virtel Which is a B-plus song and album.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, he wrote the song, If Only, which is one of Kylie Minogue’s better songs. I fucking love that song. And even if that album is sort of maybe a B, I think that song’s an A.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I mean, actually there are quite a few really good songs in that out, like Lesa-

 

Ira Madison III A million miles, I was going to cancel, sexercise, actually, you know what? I think the album’s an A, A-.

 

Louis Virtel I feel like those seven songs are good, but then there’s other ones that are just like kind of watery bleh, because her best wateriness was the Aphrodite album.

 

Ira Madison III La Sex goes off at a party, though, by the way, and people are always asking me, what is this song? And I’m like, baby, this is Kylie.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I feel like we’re at the point where it’s irresponsible not to know Kylie’s entire catalog. Sorry, we were just wrong not to treat her like Janet Jackson. You should have known this shit the entire time. Sorry.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, listen to Impossible Princess, bitches.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. Which people routinely say is her best. It’s not. It gets a little too moody for me. It’s a little, but I respect that in her catalog, especially since she had to get through the 90s and she tried everything. Okay, back to Lorde. Do you know what I was just reacquainted with? That Lorde, when Royals came out, The Pure Heroine, which was an explosive debut album, and she was nominated for record of the year and song of the year that year, which she won. And she was, of course, what, like six years old when she won song of year. Lorde was not nominated for best new artist that year. Which is really weird, and who was nominated, Casey Musgraves, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, James Blake, and do you know who won? Was it Cesar? Macklemore. Oh! I have to say, like no disrespect to Macklemoore, who I’m sure is just a nice guy who wants to live in Seattle, but if you took him out and put in Lorde, that would be one of the most explosive, like best new artist nominee categories of the past 25 years.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Okay. Sorry. I was thinking of album of the year where Scissors Control was nominated and don’t know if it won or not, but Macklemore, this is what I mean about pop music and things changing, right? It would feel like we all feel so differently about MackleMore given his support for gay rights and support for Palestine. Like he’s changed so much in people’s minds, just as a person. As opposed to when he was just making annoying music and we were like, who is this white rapper who beat Kendrick Lamar for album of the year?

 

Louis Virtel Right. No, he has been through a real sea change of public opinion. Now, I went through and listened to Lorde’s entire discography, which of course is not that expansive. She had three albums before this. I’m still not listening to that last album. I’m sorry. Can I tell you something? Yeah. I think the idea of that album, we’re talking about Solar Power, which was definitely her least successful album and least beloved. The idea of it is good because I don’t think she could have done what she did in the first two albums again, which is to say brooding music. That has some pop hooks in it, but also has the spooky ASMR quality and, you know, just seething angst that Lord is familiar with. Solar Power, if she had, all I can say is, it’s meant to be kind of soothing, outdoorsy She, of course, grew up in New Zealand and sunniness and summeriness speaks to her. I just think if the pop hooks were there, it could have been really cool, but instead, it’s a very sleepy album and it makes you feel like you have the covers over your as opposed to experiencing the sun free of the ozone.

 

Ira Madison III I do like the song Mood Ring. I think it was stoned at the nail salon that really just sort of turned me off initially. And I feel like that album is a lot like what people refer to radical optimism as. Like radical optimism, I think is actually pretty great.

 

Louis Virtel Radical Optimism has a number of good songs and light, embraceable production, but I just think, again, when the dance hooks hit that hard as they did on Future Nostalgia, it feels slight in comparison. And the songs still do kind of sound like Future Nnostalgia, so it’s hard not to compare them.

 

Ira Madison III It’s interesting because Lorde has always been this anthemy girl. She’s been brooding and she’s been sort of reclusive, but she has been a girl who has anthems. Obviously tennis courts is a jam. Let’s go down to the tennis courts and talk it out. Yeah, that is a gem. That whole first album, Pure Heroin, has nothing but bangers. And I like the… Hip hop, like the trip hopness of it. It’s very, obviously Billie Eilish was inspired by a lot of that kind of music, you know? Like it’s the same sort of sound when Billie was first debuting. And then melodrama, I love as an album. I just saw the play John Proctor is the Villain on Broadway starring Sadie Sink, fantastic play.

 

Louis Virtel I say this will be a major presence at the Tony’s. Yes

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, we have major presence at the Tony’s and we’ll talk about it more in our theater preview episode next week. But it’s so fantastic. And it’s about these four teenage girls learning the crucible in their high school. But obviously they’re talking about Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Lorde. And there is a amazing musical number in the performance where Sadie Sigg performs to Greenlight by Lorde and it’s just, I just remembered how fucking amazing that song is and just how much it connects to younger women and obviously grown men in their thirties, you know, it’s just it’s an anthem. And so I’m not shocked that Lorde is back trying to release an anthemic song. It doesn’t sound like it’s so out of left field for her. But what’s interesting is that the image that she’s portraying is so very different It’s the… Washington Square Park performance is incorporated into the video, obviously. And the person who films her is Terrence O’Connor, who I adore. I’ve met him before he works with Charlie XCX’s team. He was behind a lot of the iconic brat imagery. I believe he was the one who came up with the brat wall. Very good. But he is sort of like Dan Nigro, I guess, a go-to person for the pop girls. He’s done that. And he is the one who’s doing the… The Heim imagery, all the covers of their latest singles, recreating moments in pop culture. So it seems just interesting for Lorde to be going to the well of, this is what the other pop girls are doing. So let me try and get on that bandwagon though, like the writer that everyone’s using, the image consultant that everyone is using. It just seems interesting for her. And I mean, I guess she did work Jack Antonoff before who was. You know, running around and giving all the stuff to the girls, but I feel like her work with Jack Antonoff was before he became Ran Through.

 

Louis Virtel I think, well, I think also it’s like she can be fearless in collaborating with people like this because she is so unique that like she won’t sound like what other people are producing no matter what. Like she won’t be like forced into some mold, which by the way is kind of, I think the annoying thing about some of her music is about a lot of it is about telling you that she’s rebellious, which again, she started out as a young teenager. If I were a young teenage writing music, you better believe that would have been the subject of my songs too. But I will say like Royals, which is still her strongest pop hook to date. The subject matter of that song and also the line in Team, a song I actually like better, I’m getting tired of being thrown my hands up in the air or in Royals talking about how everything’s gray goose, this, this, it’s like, you’re a white woman from New Zealand, why are you upset with, let me get this right, hip hop imagery? That’s like was it for you? Mind your business. Yeah, mind your business is like my response to Royals. But Team is actually, what I like her best musically because she has the spooky vocal, but there’s also a whimsy to it. And Perfect Places on melodrama is another example of a song that has this too. I would almost compare it maybe to the Postal Service. What the hell are Perfect Placed is.

 

Ira Madison III A fucking word.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, where it’s like, there’s a dreaminess underneath the sort of cobwebs that she puts in there production-wise. I just think that really creates a really potent blend and a signature blend for her that no other artist does. I just thought of Billie Eilish, maybe Billie Eillish.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, also, I really love that song Yellow Flicker Beat from the Hunger Games soundtrack. Yes, and she has an amazing cover of Kanye West’s Hold My Liquor from Yeezus and she gets like the spookiness of that song and just like the vibe. I’ve always loved the Lord’s vibe and I don’t know, the song has grown on me quite a bit. I think the what was that-ness of it is just sort of capturing this feeling that we all have now. Sort of feels like, especially post-COVID and that last album of hers was sort of just a blur and I feel like time in general has felt like a blur. You’re just going. What was that?

 

Louis Virtel Maybe we should just call this podcast, what was that? And you start with that every time. What was that, okay, Louis. But you just reminded me, by the way, of a Lorde song I totally forgot about. She was on a Talking Heads tribute album, and she covered Take Me to the River. Would never have associated her with that song or musical style before. It is so perfect for her. And what she does with that is fantastic. And I think I would like to hear more covers from Lorde. Because when she covers a song, it enters this other territory that it didn’t previously belong to. So I think she should do, that would be smart for, when Mandy Moore did that coverage album in 2001, we should do that for Lorde.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, also many more, by the way. I don’t know if you remember this. You know the fact that when everyone used to release their singles, obviously they would have remixes on them. And a lot of those singles and vinyls have been, I guess lost to time because record labels haven’t wanted to put them on streaming so they’d have to pay artists this extra money or whatever. This is all to say that last week at Basement, my friend Andy, whose DJ name is Sparkle Baby. Played the Hex Hector remix of Mandy Moore’s Candy. And it is fucking amazing, the Hexx Hector dub. Go and look it up, it’s on YouTube. Oh honey, I’ll cut this podcast off and put it on. It’s not on streaming. And you know, Basement Studio, like it fit in with that vibe. I love when someone plays like a [Unrecognized] pop remix that we haven’t heard forever. In that sort of like techno house sphere. So go and listen to that. There’s something about

 

Louis Virtel that even supersedes Baby One More Time and Genie in a Bottle in a way. I’m not saying it like it’s as famous or as like the hyper like jock jams hooky as those as as one more time but like just the then white girl attitude of that song is somehow like very immortal. I can’t explain it. That song has something.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, anyway, I was like prepared to come here and sort of be like, I really like this song and maybe drag some Lord fans too because they’re scary characters. But honestly, suddenly the Lord fan is me.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I’ll say this, she emerged on the scene and really was not contrived. It came out of left field. This is not a musical style that needed to exist this hard in the mainstream. And she came and happened. And when she performed Royals at the Grammys, it’s like, oh, and you’ve got the talent to back it up. It was kind of like a Mariah doing unplugged moment for me. It’s like wow, that was commanding and fabulous. So I can’t deny she’s a very Welcome presence, uh, uh. It’s just she’s one of these people where she makes the music herself. So it’s going to take a long time to make. She’s not going to give you an album every year.

 

Ira Madison III And as much as I love Brat initially and as much as you and other people have grown to love it, I feel like that remix album and really, Girl So Confusing, gave that era the gravitas it needed to really cement itself as essential pop music.

 

Louis Virtel And that song, The With Lord, I think gave Charli XCX a humanity she previously lacked. You know, she became more of a person and a character that we knew and it’s like, now we understand her drama and we understand vibe with other artists now.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, she’s the cool rock girl, but we get how that affected Lord. We get how Lord affected her. And I think going into this era now, we know a little bit more about Lord than we ever We know her insecurities. We know how she feels as a person, as a young woman now. And I’m really sort of interested in finding out what that was, what it is.

 

Louis Virtel What that will be. Yes. Was that the Aretha Franklin Whitney Houston song? It wasn’t, it isn’t, and ain’t never gonna be. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III What dream pop may come. Oh, what a horrible Robin Williams movie. Oh, God. All right. Up next is our conversation with Jillian Bell.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III This week’s guest is a comedy powerhouse who you know and love from films like 22 Jump Street, Britney Runs a Marathon, Kinda Pregnant, and more. She’s now making her directorial debut with the new comedy Summer of 69, which hits Hulu on May 9th. Please welcome to Keep It, Jillian Bell.

 

Jillian Bell Hello.

 

Ira Madison III Hi.

 

Jillian Bell Thanks for having me.

 

Louis Virtel A hilarious queen, of course, of course. Now, of this is your debut directorial effort, but it feels like a lot of people are doing their first of something here. This is Chloe Feynman’s first real starring role. The other actress is just brand new to cinema, it appears. So it seems like a lot of fresh beginnings for everybody involved. But was the, I guess, attitude like on set, was it just dripping with fear or what?

 

Jillian Bell No, no, it was actually really exciting because we were all doing certain things for the first time. So I kind of had a meeting with them at the beginning where I’m like, hey, it’s okay to be scared and it’s a kid to be excited. Like we’re just going to set up really fun, safe space and a playground. And then none of us will feel like we’re failing because we’re trying stuff in a And I think hopefully that eased the tension a little bit. And honestly, working with American High, who was the production company, was really great because they do a lot of these films every year. They put out another teen comedy and through Hulu. And so they have a really good infrastructure. They have a lot like, here’s the three first ADs we work with, you know? So which of these would you like to work with? So it was really nice and safe. Coming into a place where they were already really established and could help in my first time doing this, you know?

 

Ira Madison III And what would you say has been your education, I guess, for directing? You’ve been in so many comedies, you know, and you’ve gotten so many different ways of directing from being on different sets and interacting with different directors. You know, what would say was, I guess the stuff that you really just seeped into your brain and when you were on set, you felt like, this is how I’m doing it.

 

Jillian Bell Well, like you said, you learn so much from great directors, and I’ve had a lot of those over the years, and then you learn something from people who have a tougher time on set as a director. And you kind of learn from the mistakes, and I feel like the mistakes always come from a place of ego. They’re usually ego-driven, and it’s any time someone has a suggestion for how to shoot something, or how their character could do a certain scene, or. How the costume could look. It’s met with a little bit of like, oh, you don’t trust me. The director should make all the calls. And it’s like, that’s not how it should go. It really is about knowing your vision and then hiring the right people and letting them have their own vision seep in. And then it just becomes, like the DNA is just so much sweeter and fuller if you’re having everybody who’s really good at their jobs come in and actually get to do what they’re good at. So I think that was kind of my goal, was let’s let everyone do their jobs. There’s no ego here. There’s, like I said before, it’s safe to try everything out and there is no failing.

 

Louis Virtel It’s interesting to hear you articulate how important it is for everyone to feel safe. It sounds like you’ve maybe had that experience before or know what it’s like to feel free making comedy. Do you have a sort of best experience on set that sets the groundwork for this kind of thing?

 

Jillian Bell Oh my gosh, well, early on in my career, doing 22 Jump Street was huge because that was Phil Lord and Chris Miller who were the best. And it was really nice because one of the scenes that we had to shoot was, it was a scene with me and Jonah Hill fighting in this hotel room. And we came that day and just sort of started improvising this whole bit about what if. I think he’s trying to kiss me, and are we doing like Mr. And Mrs. Smith where there’s some sexual tension there? And that was never in the script. And when we were shooting it, I was like, no way is any of this staying in. Like, they’re humoring us. They’re letting us go along with the riffs. But you know, you get the best of what you get, and then everything probably gets edited out. And then when I saw the film, every part of it was in. And I was just like There are people who definitely have a strong vision and then they showed up that day and heard that we were excited about that approach and let us try it. And it’s one of the scenes people talk to me about the most. So I think I just always kept that in mind of like, know what you want, but then stay as open as possible. And that’s some of where the magic really comes in.

 

Ira Madison III No, I vividly can recall seeing you in that movie, especially the moment where, you know, like the mask drops and we realize you’re the villain. Like that was such a star-making turn. I remember being in the movie, just being like, who is this? She’s so fucking funny.

 

Jillian Bell Oh, thank you. And I didn’t know I was gonna be the villain. I found out at the table read. Because I still didn’t have the part by the time I was doing the table read. It was like, can you come and read the table with us? And so I was nervous. And I was like okay. And just thought I was this really snarky woman who was mean to Jonah Hill about his age, even though we were the exact same age when we were shooting it. And then when I was reading it, I was Oh my God, am I the villain? Am I the Villain? I’m like, you know, that meme, but I was so excited and then I wanted it even more and I was really lucky to get to do it.

 

Louis Virtel Now, in this movie that you just directed, this is filled with like a bunch of comic powerhouses, people who’ve been around forever. You got Paula Pell in there, Nicole Byers in there. The movie is about a girl who hires an exotic dancer to sort of train her sexually for this crush she has. And the summer of 69 is literally talking about the 69 sexual position. She is bracing herself to get into that position. So there’s a lot of sexual hijinks involved with this movie, but. There are so many comic personalities here, and I was wondering, how did they all get involved? Did you pick them personally, or did they audition, or how did you get this ensemble crew together, and were you fans of them ahead of time?

 

Jillian Bell Fans of all of them. A lot of the younger cast were people that auditioned. So Sam Morelos, like you said, it’s their first feature film. And wow, like just so incredibly wise beyond their years, so impressive. And then Matt Cornett had done some of the roles and was in High School Musical, the TV show. And I, but like these were, this was like an exciting moment for them. So I was so excited when we found them. In their auditions and then Charlie Day was actually in the first thing I ever directed, which was just a music video. I did a music right before this and him and his fabulously talented wife, Mary Elizabeth Ellis came and they did parts in it. And Charlie was like, hey, next time you direct, give me a call, which I was like oh, thank God that like I didn’t fail too hard, so.

 

Louis Virtel And he is fabulously disgusting in the movie, so. As always, like, I love seeing him on screen.

 

Jillian Bell He is ridiculous. Like I was like, do you want to play the most disturbing man? He was like absolutely. And we describe his character, like I was saying to him, it’s almost like Casey Kasem with a cold.

 

Louis Virtel Wow. May he rest, love him.

 

Jillian Bell And like a dash of Trump in there. So I was like, oh, it’s so much fun seeing him get to play a character like that. Um, but yeah, I mean, Nicole Byer I knew, Paul Lappell I knew. Liza Koshy I knew a little bit. And so Natalie Morales, Alex Moffitt. So it was really just, Hey friends, do you want to come out and do this thing and fly to Syracuse? And, and I was so lucky that all of them said yes.

 

Ira Madison III And you also co-wrote this film as well. So I think you mentioned in an interview before, you were drawing on John Hughes things, but what sort of films and ideas were coming to you when you were, I guess, conceiving this? And also, when you first conceiving, did you know you were going to direct it from the beginning?

 

Jillian Bell Yeah, it came to me as an offer to direct and I just said, I really like the script, but I want to take a pass at it. I felt like there was a lot of stuff I could insert from my own life. I was definitely an Abbey. I was, you know, I was very sexually inexperienced and didn’t know what, what was what. Um, and… And so I was like, you know, and my older sister was sort of my Santa Monica. She wasn’t a stripper, but she was very much a person I could go to and be like, what’s going on with my body? It’s changing. And is it normal that I have a crush on this guy? So I just wanted to add a lot of that in. And then I had a lot of different references for this movie from like, across the universe to licorice pizza to Valley Girl and Sixteen Candles, there’s some obvious nods there. And so it was kind of, you know, there were some that were targeted towards teen comedies and Can’t Hardly Wait was one too. I love that movie. But then there were others where I was just like, oh, there’s something about the vibe of how this was shot. You know, we were lucky to get to do a lot of different things in this film because there were musical numbers, there were fantasy sequences. So we could kind of go to wild places with it. Like, within the movie, we have… You know, a musical, we have a horror film, we have all these different, we ever romance, you know wedding seat, like there’s so much to dip into and play with. So we got to kind of go to all different places, but then just make sure totally it felt like it was in the same film.

 

Ira Madison III It’s interesting you bring up Licorice Pizza too, because Paul Thomas Anderson, obviously you were in two of his films, which is so side of left from the comedies that you’ve been in. And one of them’s The Master, which is one of the most amazing films of the past 20 years. And then I believe you were also in Inherent Vice. So what was it like working with Paul Thomas Anderson on these films that are so unlike the other work that you have been a part of?

 

Jillian Bell Unreal. Just getting to watch him work. I really loved how he worked because it was very quiet. Like, you know, he kind of would just give direction to the people that needed to be in the scene. And a lot of scenes that we were in in the master, it was group shots. So we were just sitting there watching. I mean, my first day on set was Philip Seymour Hoppe just doing this wedding speech over and over and, over and again. And so we’re just all sitting on a boat. Just watching him give a speech, a toast to his daughter who had just gotten married. And I was just in awe of his performance because he tried something different every time. It was always interesting. I felt like Paul had a lot to choose from and Paul would just kind of walk over and kind of let us talk with each other and give Phillips some direction and then he would. Walk away and we’d all just still be talking. And then Philip Seymour Hoffman would just interject and start doing it and we didn’t even realize we’re rolling again. Like it was, so it was like a really cool, almost method way of just keeping it all very real. And I really liked it. I was like, oh, that’s a cool thing as a director to not have to be like cut. And then everyone has to be silent. And you know, you’re waiting to hear whatever the notes are that people are getting, which is always so uncomfortable. And so I really like how he worked.

 

Louis Virtel Who have you had the best rapport on set with as a fellow actor? I was just watching you in Kind of Pregnant and your relationship with Amy Schumer is very believable. It feels to me like you are friends in that movie. Like you have made each other laugh for years and years and year. Who would you say was just sort of most kind of inspiring and that you clicked with as an actor?

 

Jillian Bell I will definitely say Amy for sure, Amy and I didn’t know each other that well. We had met at a party once and I, you know, when you meet someone and you’re like, Oh, I could tell you every secret I’ve ever had because I just feel so comfortable around you. So she was definitely one for sure. And now we’ve become really close and talk all the time. And, and I just would love it to work with her again. Um, so she’s one, I have to say also, um, God, Channing Tatum is the best human being on the planet and I continue to want to work with him again and again. And Kate McKinnon, I love Kate McKennon. She’s a real one. She like, we’re constantly doing stuff and we’re like, I don’t know, I could just picture us as these like old bats on set, just being like, they ready for us yet? Like, I dunno, sipping our. Dr. Pepper’s or something, I don’t know. So it’s just something about her that just makes me feel like I’ve known her forever.

 

Louis Virtel Over the next few years, I’m very interested to see how Kate McKinnon will be utilized because she has a very familiar skill set, but at the same time, anybody with that weird of characters within her has got a lot of potential for I’m sure things even weirder, like dramatic potential. So I’m always thinking about her.

 

Jillian Bell Yeah, I honestly wonder what she’ll end up doing because part of the bond that we have is that both of us want to just end up on a farm somewhere, only talking to animals. So I’m like, which one of us is going to bow out first? But we also do love what we do. So it’s so funny, like that mix of like wanting to just be alone with a cow for the rest of our days or like doing the high-pressure jaw.

 

Ira Madison III You’ve also been a part of some of the most iconic comedies of I guess like the 2010s, the late 2010s. You did Workaholics, you’ve done Eastbound and Down, Kirby Enthusiasm as well. Do you miss the grind I guess of television and a lot of your television work now is sort of doing voice work. So do you miss grind of being a part of a show and then also you’ve Multicam too, you know, I believe with partners. So do you miss that stuff? Is there that sort of a different tool that you wish you could itch again?

 

Jillian Bell You know, I feel like if I end up doing TV again, it would have to be something like a limited series. Like, I kind of like the schedule of shooting a film. It’s sort of like, you know the amount of time you’re gonna be doing it and then it’s done and then you get to go on to something else. I just, I get a little bit like, ah, now I wanna try something new. I don’t know if it’s because my college experience was basically going to the groundlings where you create. New characters all the time, so you do it like three times and then the sketch would be done and you’d have to like find something new. So a part of me is like, I like the, I’m not as into the scheduling of TV and thank God it’s not as like, like when Friends was on and it was like 27 episodes every season, you know, that was, that would be so intense, but I do love the creating a family with someone that you get to keep revisiting. But I feel like in terms of the creative, I really enjoy trying different things every few months.

 

Louis Virtel You’ve already mentioned some of your movies that influenced you, but what movie will you put on right now that is like an ultimate comfort movie that you could watch at any time? Not comforting to the rest of us movies, but movies you would put on again and again.

 

Jillian Bell Okay, well my favorite movie of all time is Clue, so that’s up there.

 

Louis Virtel I have seen that movie more than I have seen maybe even like a picture of Bugs Bunny. So I, because we are in the same boat.

 

Jillian Bell Flames, flames on the side of my face.

 

Louis Virtel On the side of my face. Yes, Madeline.

 

Jillian Bell Ah, the best. One that would be kind of surprising to people is A Few Good Men. Wow. Okay. I love, I love A Few good men. It’s so funny because when I had it like a, you know, like my, a big breakup years ago, and I watched it over and over again. And then I did a movie with Demi Moore. She was in Rough Night. And I said to her, I said to her, I go, I have the weirdest compliment for you. I was like, a few good men got me through my breakup. I just watched it over and over again. And I go and you know why? And she goes, no, I do. I go you do? And she says, yeah, because there’s no love storyline in it. And I’m like, yes. And it’s just excellent writing. And it so like 90s Sorkin and I love Rob Reiner. He’s probably one of my favorite directors because of his range. And Yeah, that’s one that I love watching over and over for comfort. And then I got to throw in maybe like a horror film, like Sinister, The Conjuring or something. I just love horror movies. So yeah, I have a lot of weird comfort movies.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, I love a horror movie. I mean Scream is something I throw on all the time, watching people get murdered, I guess is relaxing. It is. And be cynical about it. That’s the important thing about Scream.

 

Louis Virtel You know, just, how can you believe it?

 

Ira Madison III I mean, I’m a Tom Cruise fan, so I love a few good men as well. And I think I even remember reading, it was either with Sorkin, an interview with him, or Demi Moore, maybe in her biography, she talks about the no romance thing, just about how, if there was one, they’d be bad at their jobs, and I think it’s so interesting that you watch that film and the point is that there’s no romance, it’s just people being good at their job, which is very Sorken and I feel like we missed that. In films and TV.

 

Jillian Bell Yeah, and I’m really, like, there’s something I’m really curious about, which was happening a lot in the 90s. Like, it happened in A Few Good Men. It happens in Silence of the Lambs. There’s a lot of movies that have this, where there’s a a lot the male gaze thrown in to the women, and they just cut it off. Like, they just don’t address it at all. So there’s, like a moment in A few Good Men where he’s talking about, you know, she’s making the point of, like… I know exactly who you are and I can call your card and, you know, you’re not doing your job.” And he’s like, I’m very sexually aroused right now. And she just like doesn’t handle it and I’m like, wow, why is that in there? And then in Silence of the Lambs, all the men are constantly hitting on Clarice. And I’m, like, what is this? And I, like it just must have been the thing that men knew how to write for women and then they just… I feel like the Debbie Moore’s and I feel like they must have been like, I’m not reacting to that. Yeah, stop. I’m going to justify that.

 

Ira Madison III At all. It feels very like 90s, we’re getting into more female leads in films and how do we deal with feminism? A strong female character is, she’s just dealing with sexism all day, but it doesn’t affect her. Yes. That’s how they’re pitching it in the room.

 

Jillian Bell Yes, it’s like we needed Sarah Connor to come out, show us how it’s done.

 

Louis Virtel Every time I wear a tank top and do a pull-up, I’m like, this one’s for Sarah Connor. She did it best. Oh, Jillian, thank you so much for being here. So fabulous to talk to you and I’m so interested in your directorial future as well as all of your acting projects. So thank you for being with us today.

 

Jillian Bell Thank you so much. That was so nice. It’s so nice to talk to you guys.

 

Ira Madison III I’m very excited in a sort of a few good men type of movie from you too. Like make one just a little bit funnier, but link up with like a Sorkin or something. I think you’d be great at that.

 

Louis Virtel And monologs in a row, please.

 

Jillian Bell So everyone’s, it’s all monologs and everyone’s walking down a long hallway for everyone ever.

 

Louis Virtel Like Tennessee Williams on speed, just like full monologs and upset-ed-ness.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you to Jillian Bell. Summer of 69 premieres May 9th on Hulu. And when we’re back, it’s more keep it.

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III YouTube has officially reached its 20th anniversary, giving us two decades of streamers, music videos to watch with gays at afters, and videos of this podcast.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, that’s mainly what YouTube is for. When people aren’t watching us, they’re actually abusing YouTube.

 

Ira Madison III I’m actually a little scared when I go to a friend’s home that we’re going to be playing music videos on YouTube and I see that they’ve been watching us.

 

Louis Virtel And by the way, who knows how we’ve been edited. I mean, do they turn me into like some sort of monster, which I never am. So who knows?

 

Ira Madison III So in honor of this milestone, we’re going to decide what belongs in the internet canon with our all time top YouTube moments. Now Louis, I think when you think of gays and music videos and YouTube, this isn’t a music video, but it is an important gay moment in YouTube history. And I have to start with it.

 

Louis Virtel I’m wondering if we chose the same thing. Go ahead. Mine is Leave Britney Alone. Oh, no. But that is, I mean, that is quintessential YouTube because the Leave Britney alone video was first of all, the fan strike back, which is the entire brand of the internet now, right? Like they’ve taken over, they control everybody’s decision-making, et cetera. But Leave Britneyalone was just, first of All, Britney’s breakdown during that entire era was the only news story. It is all we were talking about. So for YouTube to finally have this crowning moment where Chris Crocker, who by the way, what I met once upon a time, a doll.

 

Ira Madison III And currently a doll, Kara Cunningham, is their name since they’ve transitioned.

 

Louis Virtel And Kara, at the time, put a voice to just the intense ownership we feel over celebrities and also queerness that we had not really seen before. It was not palatable. It didn’t fit into any of the five Queer Eye slots that we gave to queens at the time. It was rowdy. It was kind of funny and kind of scary, as all queerness should be.

 

Ira Madison III And a little vulnerable too. The crying, the wrapped in your sheets so no one can see your room and the lighting will be, like the lighting is this orange sepia filter. You really could not get away from parodies of this video, references to this video. It was everywhere.

 

Louis Virtel And also it’s one of the last, I mean, like YouTube at the time still could be monocultural too. So everybody knew about that video. Whereas in a way now, I feel like because of TikTok and things that sort of dilute algorithmically to everybody, we won’t ever have a video that hits as hard as that video does.

 

Ira Madison III As I discussed with Jay Jert when he was on the podcast, I had to have him explain what a Mr. Beast is.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God. Well, that guy comes on Kimmel all the time. I’m like, here comes another 600 million views or whatever, the last great YouTube behemoth. I picked something from that era too. And I just want to say I picked three videos, three YouTube videos with three different headings. There’s one where it’s purposeful YouTube content by a creator. Purposeful pop? If you will. There is one that’s spontaneous person goes viral. And then there’s an video created like a music video. The first one is the shoes video. When shoes came out, as you know, let’s get some shoes, where like this gay ass voice sounding kind of like a gay Beavis and Butthead character is just singing about shoes and it’s like, shoes, oh my God, shoes. Like that kind of lizard brain Valley girl thing that was so funny. That was the first time I’d seen something on YouTube that was intended to be funny, intended to be consumed on YouTube. We had to watch it a million times, which is a key component of YouTube success. Not just I saw it once and enjoyed it. It’s I’m going to play it again and again. I was an editor at the Daily Iowan, the paper of the University of Iowa at the time. And we would be strapped to deadline like characters in all the president’s men every single day. And then we would allow ourselves to watch one video. As a break and it was always shoes. Literally everybody in the arts office agreed on shoes and knew all the words to shoes in a creepy like monastic way.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, no, the character who sings Shoes is Kelly, a character created by Liam Kyle Sullivan. And this song is just hilarious. It has vibes of obviously publicity and other really funny, just drag personas online, but Shoes, it was a banger.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. No, you wanted to sing along with it like it had its own vibe. And also like there was something about the other comedy in the video too, like how Kelly’s mom has a crush on Tom Skerritt. I’m like, okay, this is a pop culture person. Like I want to relate to this person. This isn’t just they stumbled into one good stupid song. There was actually there were actual comedy instincts at play here

 

Ira Madison III Alright, I’m going to do a music video.

 

Louis Virtel Although I wonder if we picked the same one

 

Ira Madison III Well, no, probably not, because let me tell you something. I was gonna pick a gay guy music video night staple, but I’m thinking of music videos and the most streamed music video on YouTube and how, even if it’s not really our culture, I can’t help but go off whenever this song is played in the club. I feel like it’s a song that everyone fucking knows. And it is. Despacito.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, interesting. Luis Fonsi, who just feels like he struck some sort of Rumpelstiltskin deal where we’re going to give you one song and it’s going to get you 700 billion views. Like literally more of one thing than anything that has ever been counted.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. I mean, then you’ve got Daddy Yankee involved. You’ve got the Justin Bieber on the remix. And when you think about artists on YouTube, YouTube really gave Justin Bieber his career. Yes. And it’s just such a massive fucking song. And when you that are monoculture, everyone knows this song.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, it feels like the charts just shrank to be about this song at the time. Like suddenly no other songs existed. The music video I chose though, it’s the only music video I think I’ve seen since the advent of YouTube where I was positive it was gonna win the VMA for Video of the Year the minute it premiered, knew it. And… It was such a dramatic turn for the artist, unexpected and yet perfect for her. I said formation. I remember when that premiered, you couldn’t not talk about it. Like the incredible imagery hanging up the car window, the dancing that was sort of accidentally parodied by Taylor Swift afterwards. It’s also just the incredible song. Also, I mean, like the definitive musical moment of the 2010s is Beyonce’s jump from. Good singles artist and accomplished performer into definitive album artist of the time. And her self-titled and Lemonade, as this was the first track off of, it was just spellbinding. It was like, wow, this artist is not just a step ahead of us. She’s a step-ahead of the entire game, more interesting than we ever gave her credit for, and is only getting kind of crazier. It is a crazy music video.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I remember being on the bus going down Santa Monica Boulevard to West Hollywood when this premiered and pulling up YouTube, watching it, I didn’t even have my fucking headphones with me, watching the formation video, being one of those people, and wow, that video was spellbinding. It is maybe still my favorite Beyonce video.

 

Louis Virtel And by the way, at that time, I had thought we had already seen the, like what would be our favorite Beyonce video. You know, I could say the same thing about Single Ladies, for example, the 7-Eleven video is, I think now suddenly very underrated. Love that video, could have been that, but this is still a crowning achievement and the best video of the 2010s, definitely.

 

Ira Madison III All right. So what was your other category that you had?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yes, and my other category is just person who goes viral on YouTube and maybe they don’t even mean to well That was mine for leave Brittany alone. Okay, right? This this goes in that category this that bucket and also this is the important YouTube category of then has to go on the Ellen Show which used to happen Like you were sent you were like pushed onto a bus and you had to go to the valley The apparently kid do you remember this guy? His name is Noah Ritter. He’s like this little little kid And a reporter goes up to him and is asking him about having seen something. He goes, well, apparently, and he says it like 30,000 times. Just pure adorable, not contrived at all, not trying to go viral, just a kid who speaks with a certain tick and it was so adorable and so rewatchable. Then he went on Ellen and perfect match for Ellen, by the way. That did happen from time to time. And like I watched it again the other day and thought. What a prize, what a prince. And then by the way, best case scenario, we never heard from him again. No idea what he’s doing. It was just that moment. He wasn’t given some sort of weird multicam deal where he was then shoved down our throats. No, he was just a cute kid. It happened, we are out.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, so this video I’m about to pick, I think you might be familiar with it. The name of it is Immaculate Conniption and it is from this YouTube series called Verbal Vogig.

 

Louis Virtel I remember her. Created by Louis Vertel. That was the first comedy I ever did. I did a YouTube show called Verbal Voguing. My friend Brad Sheen edited it. I have to say he edited it brilliantly, but it was just me talking to a camera.

 

Ira Madison III There’s a lot of editing too, because there’s jump cuts, it’s seamless.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. And by the way, we would sit there and like, I would have to come up with jokes and it would take forever. So then the fact that he made it look lickety split was amazing. Yeah. But that was basically because of that YouTube show where, by the way, I have simply the worst haircut of all time. It took me a long time to get into like the swing of LA, shall we say, but that was 2011. And because of that, I got to do things like be on Chelsea lately. And I got Billy on the street from that. So, oh my God, YouTube is important to me. Oh, wow, that’s so chilling. That’s Lewis history, it’s your lore. Yes, no, yeah, we did like 14 episodes or something. None of them were viral, by the way. I think the most popular one was like 90,000 views or something, but at the time, that kind of just meant like everybody in West Hollywood saw it. So I would go out all the time and like, every barista would be like, oh my god, you’re the queen who won’t shut up about Madonna. My how things change.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, I could have picked something like David after the dentist, you know, which is still hilarious. Charlie bit my finger and all that, yeah. Yes, but I don’t know. I think it’s important to think about how YouTube was and kind of still is very important. And it did change a lot of people’s lives and careers. And you know. Yeah, verbal vulgar was the first place I saw you.

 

Louis Virtel Well, I mean, also, I mean, let’s just say this about YouTube. You could be gay, do content that would never be on any other TV channel, not even something like allegedly super pro gay like MTV. And then it can be popular, you know, it’s like it took some power back for queer people that they could just put videos out into the universe, then people would like them, you know, and want to see them and make stars out of these people. That’s all you need to know about YouTube’s history. I think that’s it. It’s also, I mean, like I use YouTube also for like just great performances. Like YouTube is great for having every old American aisle performance that I can go there and watch Melinda Doolittle sing My Funny Valentine. My producer is laughing at me and I will slap this straight man. Melissa too little bodied that performance.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I do love Melinda Doolittle, which is so crazy. Which is so that her last name describes her size. Okay. She’s a tiny woman.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yes, sure.

 

Ira Madison III Not more than a tool at all. Also just a place where you could have events. I mean, I’ve hosted so many events that were on YouTube, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic. I think I remember when Comic-Con went on it and I hosted the panel for New Mutants, which is hilarious. But I got to meet Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy at the time, and they were so lovely. I think that YouTube is also where I hosted a panel for Legendary, do you remember that TV series? You know what? That show was good.

 

Louis Virtel Talk about something we have no cultural memory of and Megan Thee Stallion was great on it.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I don’t know if I ever mentioned, I was on that with Jameel and Jameal. Oh my God, your hero. Yeah. Our Paul Bunyan with her tall tails. There was a moment where she said, Ira, like for the podcast, keep it. You guys were so mean to me. I was like, call it out, honey. It wasn’t just you, Jameil.

 

Louis Virtel Let’s just hear Jamila. We probably were a little bit meaner in those days. Jamila Jamil, come on, keep it. I said it. Come on.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, she’ll come out with a gun.

 

Louis Virtel We earned it. It’s okay. I’ll wear the Kevlar.

 

Ira Madison III I just rewatched Kill Bill last night and I’ll say that woman deserves her revenge and we deserve to die. Yeah, but um.

 

Louis Virtel I’m still watching. I’m STILL watching. I feel like I’m doing an official anniversary video for YouTube and we’re still tuned in.

 

Ira Madison III And you’re tuned in right now. To keep it. All right, when we’re back, our favorite segment of the episode, it’s keep it! And we’re back with our favorite segment of the episode. It’s Keep It. Lewis, what are you saying keep it to this week?

 

Louis Virtel This is a rare case for me, because it’s not a total keep it, it’s keep it or is it? My keep it this week goes to, you familiar with the actor Terrence Howard? Baby wipes? Yes. Quotable man, interesting ideas about things like the existence of math. Go down that rabbit hole and you will soon come out of it because you don’t want to be there. But he allegedly once turned down, as he said in a new interview with God help me Bill Maher, that he turned down playing Marvin Gaye in a biopic. Which by the way, we have never really had the definitive Marvin Gaye biopic. And if you read that life story, it is fucking fascinating. By the way he also wrote my favorite girl group song of all time, Dancing in the Street by Martha and the Vandellas. What’s going on with that? Yeah, dancing, what’s going with that. What’s Going on is a famous Marvin Gay song and album moving on. He told Bill Maher that he couldn’t do it because he had a conversation with Quincy Jones. Where Quincy Jones said that Marvin Gaye was gay, which by the way, news to me, he’s married several times, has kids, et cetera. It’s in the name. I know, I should have been paying attention. He told Bill Maher, that would fuck me. He said if he had to kiss somebody, if I kiss some man, I would cut my lips off. Now, I mean, I don’t want to hear that homophobia, et cetera, and he claims it’s not homophobic to say that, it’s just not a quote I need to hear. And by the, Bill Mahr also replied in response, something along the lines of. I mean, I’d have kind of a reaction to, Bill, if you ever kiss a man, that’s the day I stop being gay. Whatever, please don’t. I will drop out of the sexuality entirely if you join our ranks, but- Not a man. The dolls are fine. Yeah, sure. Sure, sure, sure but here’s the thing. I guess I’m grateful he didn’t take this role because then if there were a gay or queer component to the story, I wouldn’t need him doing interviews about it either. So I guess I can only thank Terrence Howard? I guess there are probably plenty of other choices for who could play Marvin Gaye. We already have a Leslie Odom Jr. There are plenty of people who could do this.

 

Ira Madison III All I have to say to that is I’m sure Terrence Howard wouldn’t want to play Marvin Gaye, a gay man, on film because the streets already talk about whether or not Terrence is gay anyway.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, okay. He doesn’t want to add to that noise. All right.

 

Ira Madison III Maybe the streets are talking, okay? So ain’t nobody worried about you. First of all, no one wants to see you play Marvin Gaye anyway.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, that’s true. It wouldn’t be good. And also, by the way, you know what he did that was gay? What Madonna video is he in?

 

Ira Madison III Wow, which one was it?

 

Louis Virtel Ghost Town, where he’s like slow dancing with her in the apocalypse. Did you know that Madonna sometimes has bad ideas? Anyway, not a great video. Song is not bad. By the way, the streets are talking a legend.

 

Ira Madison III We’re gonna throw that out there

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, okay, sure. As Star-Jones says, allegedly. Oh, I don’t think you’re going to jail. I think you can say that the streets are talking. He and Bill Maher are gonna pull up on me. Okay. Let’s get the hell out of here. Iro, what is your key bet?

 

Ira Madison III My keep it this week goes to Instagram. Oh, one of the social media platforms. I use it a lot. It is a multifaceted keep it, okay? Like there’s a lot going on. What happened this week, last night in fact, Beyonce started her Cowboy Carter. And I’m going to the Cowboy Carter tour when it hits LA, I’m going when it hit London, that’ll be part of my keep it in a minute. And obviously all of the content is coming. And, but just like last time, I will be avoiding all of this. And so I am off Instagram at the moment.

 

Louis Virtel I have to say, you are fucked if you even peek at it, because I wasn’t attempting to learn anything about this tour, which by the way, should be amazing. You and I have talked about how we love this album, but I’ve seen like certain props, et cetera. And I’m like, wow. I mean, that gives away probably an entire quarter of the concert.

 

Ira Madison III Everything on my feed, probably my TikTok feed, my Instagram feed, everything, not just friends attending the concert, but it’s everyone reporting on it too. And just, you don’t realize how many internet sites that you follow that would just be posting, here are all the looks and here’s all the songs, et cetera, and so I’m really avoiding everything.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, you have no choice. I look forward to your report. So you’re seeing that imminently then, what, in the next few days? Yeah, I’m seeing no in a few weeks.

 

Ira Madison III It doesn’t come to New York until May 22nd. So that’s going to be a while. Got it. It’s in LA right now. Correct. Yes. It’s an LA right. And then I’m going to see it June 7th in London. And this is where my next keep it comes in. Did you know that it is now required to apply for and pay for a visa to visit the UK?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God, you need like a special little golden ticket.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, you do. So now, visitors to the UK from 48 countries now apply and pay a fee before travel and you do this by using the app UKETA. Now, I’m glad I discovered this because it only is like $22 to apply for it and you’re just putting your passport information, etc. If you Google it, U-K-E-T-A, it’ll take you to a bunch of different websites, like, um… E-VisaUK.com, that’s the sponsored one, right? You know, all sorts of things always pop up when you Google something and not the thing you’re actually looking for.

 

Louis Virtel Right. It’s like when you Google flights and like weird sponsored things come up first before just the deals you actually want. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III So I clicked on this first and then I did some research after I was going through this website because this website tried to charge me about $180 for the process.

 

Louis Virtel You’d be in debtor’s prison.

 

Ira Madison III Right, and then I found like the actual app in the app store, downloaded it, $22, accepted and approved in two minutes. So, my other keep it is to these fucking scam websites trying to milk money out of people who are visiting the UK. Because what’s going to happen is, you are going to forget that you were supposed to do this and then you’ll be at the airport and someone will tell you, you need this, otherwise you can’t get on, in some cases you probably won’t be able it on the plane, right? So you’re gonna go to Google, look it up, and end up paying exorbitant fees to rush it on the same day.

 

Louis Virtel Well, this is like actually a public service. I hate when our podcast is actually helpful. It seems like you might actually save people some trouble today.

 

Ira Madison III But yeah, I’m also looking forward to a little social media break, to be honest. Not just for the Beyoncé purposes, but it’ll be nice to clear my brain out as the summer’s

 

Louis Virtel I also haven’t been to London in 10 years. One of the greatest places I’ve ever been. I mean, it’s also like Carmen Sandiego style. Like just all the landmarks are like right in a row. Like you can just go like walk between them. It’s so much fun. So that’s our episode this week. Thank you to the glorious Jillian Bell for being here. Oh, she was so fucking funny. She also told us afterwards, she says she’s a big Clue fan. About how she ran into Leslie Ann Warren in a mall and Leslie Ann and Warren went up to her and said, do we know each other? And she literally cried because they don’t know each other, but she knew Leslie Ann, Warren. It was so cute. And also, of course this came up because I just started screaming the words Leslie Ann Warren after the interview. As you want to do. Right, you know, I get a little delirious. She has the best speaking voice, best speaking. We should do an episode ranking the best, the actor’s best speaking, voice, Jeremy Irons, Jane Fonda, et cetera. Gilbert Gottfried.

 

Ira Madison III What a voice. All right. That is our episode. And next week at long last, we’re joined by our friend Juan Ramirez for our theater preview. So we will see you next week. And don’t forget to follow Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. You can also subscribe to Keep It on YouTube for access to full episodes and other exclusive content. And if you’re as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review.

 

Louis Virtel Keep It is a Crooked Media Production. Our producer is Bill McGrath. Our associate producer is Kennedy Hill. And our executive producers are Ira Madison III, Louis Virtel, and Kendra James.

 

Ira Madison III Our digital team is Delon Villanueva, Claudia Sheng, and Rachel Gajewski. This episode was recorded and mixed by Jarek Centeno. Thank you to David Toles, Kyle Seglin, and Charlotte Landes for production support every week.

 

Louis Virtel Our head of production is Matt DeGroot and Madeline Herringer is our head of programming. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

 

Ira Madison III And as always, keep it as filmed in front of a live studio audience.