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Ira and Louis discuss the Cannes Film Festival, Eurovision’s winner, Overcompensating, Morgan Wallen, and internet cookbooks. Jake Shane joins to discuss his new tour, LA versus NY, and more.

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TRANSCRIPT

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III And we’re back with an all new episode of Keep It. It’s Ira Madison the third on the intro. I’m not in the studio. They gave it to me last week and then they took it away. And that’s item number 75 in my new email to Crooked this week. They’ll read all the items, I’m sure.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, and I’m Louis Virtel, hi.

 

Ira Madison III You’re back in LA.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, and guess I should have some sort of Missy Elliott one-time exclusive. I have nothing to respond to that with. Anyway, hi, not only am I back in L.A., there’s a mysterious new backdrop behind me. I noted that I look like I’m in the cliffhanger game from Price is Right. I think it’s giving Duck Hunt. Also, Duck Hunt, when people would do the skeet shooting option on that game, you knew that they were crazy. Like, that is so hard.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that’s Sexy Redd’s favorite game.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, it’s crazy that you said that, oh my god that’s funny. On the way here I was listening, of course, to Fat Juicy and Wet, and I have a problem. Did you know that Siri pronounces her name sex I read? Siri, does that sound right?

 

Ira Madison III Siri is racist.

 

Louis Virtel She’s like, I refuse to say it correctly.

 

Ira Madison III Let’s just say that. And Alexa doesn’t even listen to me anymore.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, wow. She’s got a brand new attitude.

 

Ira Madison III I got a Amazon. So it’s not an Echo. It’s like the swivel one where it sits on your countertop. If I lived in the suburbs or I had a kitchen island, it would rest there and it gives you recipes and, like, um… Gives you like news updates throughout the day or whatever. Or whatever.

 

Louis Virtel This Giada di Laurenti’s fantasy. Oh, I love talking to things in the kitchen.

 

Ira Madison III I just use it to play my music, and she’s stopped paying attention now.

 

Louis Virtel She said I’ve had enough.

 

Ira Madison III Doesn’t really even play anything anymore. And so I’m throwing her out. It’s also weird having a Siri Alexa household.

 

Louis Virtel I also feel like when you throw this thing out, that’s how the movie The Wild Robot begins. And then it just starts going all over the Amazon, making friends.

 

Ira Madison III Well, it’s gonna make someone cry.

 

Louis Virtel I haven’t seen it yet, so. Good movie. And do you know who voices the wild robot? Lupina Nyong’o.

 

Ira Madison III Oh! Baby, she loves doing anything besides being on screen.

 

Louis Virtel Does she audition poorly? What’s the deal? Why is she not on the screen more?

 

Ira Madison III I don’t know, baby, she’s a black woman.

 

Louis Virtel Write that think piece.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, they don’t put us on the screen, black women. Let me tell you about my audition for Girl’s Trip 2.

 

Louis Virtel Excuse me?

 

Ira Madison III They made the cast all white. And I said, wow, you don’t even want us anymore.

 

Louis Virtel That would be very wild. Who would be, okay.

 

Ira Madison III Can you imagine Girl Strip 2 is all white.

 

Louis Virtel It’s just like Kristen Bell and her buds.

 

Ira Madison III It should be set during the same movie, by the way. The original girls trip. They’re wandering past the black cast and they’re like, these women are loud. Manager?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, it’s fully like back to the future too. Like we see the events of the first one. I say yeah Okay, but speaking of the past and revisiting it Uh, I of course just got back from my trip where I saw broadway shows every day most of which I believe ira You’ve seen we discussed some of them with a Juan A. Ramirez the other week Just to add a couple of quick impressions to this one, Death becomes Her- totally fun. Everybody should really go see it. The only thing i’ll say about it that i’m surprised I haven’t heard more often It took a little while to get to the potion, which is really the beginning of the story. So I was sort of waiting for that. But the two women, Megan Hilty and Jennifer Samard, fabulous and Jennifer’s Samard the way she’s like murmuring through her indignities the whole time. It was really giving Madeline Kahn in a way that I’m surprised I didn’t hear more queens say cause it was really that what’s up doc like. Oh, it’s bubbling under, something’s happening to me, like that kind of vibe. And you know, that’s much different than Goldie Hawn in the movie. So I was surprised to hear that, surprised to see it. That was great. What’s up, Doc? The musical? Should we get that? Ain’t nothing wrong with that idea. Excuse me, the entire premise is luggage gets mixed up. That should be on the stage. Come on.

 

Ira Madison III Should it be her and Lea Michelle?

 

Louis Virtel Oh my god, you think she’s just entitled The Barber Rolls now?

 

Ira Madison III She cornered Barbara.

 

Louis Virtel Well, let me just say I think with a gun, if we remade nuts with Lea Michelle, now we’re cooking with gas. Okay, okay. Being psychotic on the witness stand, that’s for Miss Michelle.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I agree with you, actually, because Jennifer Samard, I don’t think people are mentioning just how much she makes that character her own. Megan Hilty is hilarious and very fun, obviously, but she’s a mix of what you know Megan Hulty to be and then also Meryl Streepy, but I think that Jennifer is just truly amazing. I can’t wait to see her in more shit.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, the line deliveries and the like faux operatic delivery of the music too is also very funny. I think the best thing I saw all week was Purpose, the Pulitzer winning play, which is a follow up to a brand. Wait, is it Brandon Jenkins Jacobs or Brandon Jacobs, Jenkins, Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, you went to the cookout uninvited. I showed up in my visor and shorts. And it’s such a traditional play in that you walk in, you see a living room set and you’re immediately making predictions. You’re like, they better have a fight at that table. Somebody better come down that staircase in the middle of the night. You got your August of a Change County, Edward Albee fantasies and they all come true. Kara Young in this, who is the supporting role of visitor to this household where she’s sort of taking in the dramas that are happening. She is now a four-time Tony nominee in the featured actors category, and I am obsessed with her. She was sensational in this play. And in his last play, appropriate, there’s a character who kind of is similar, who visits the household that is taking it all in. This character is way better, way funnier. I just had a blast the entire time. So if you’re looking for just a romp, that’s a play, absolutely go see that.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, his earlier work, by the way, is much more like absurdist. So if you want to see like, read like Octorood or something like, his work is crazy, but he’s gotten now more into, just giving you classical theater, but then deconstructing it appropriate was sort of the same thing. And then that deconstructed sort of like the white family drama, you know? And then they had all these secrets and you find out, you like the father was in like the KKK or whatever. It’s very creepy play that dissects. Sort of white history in America. And then this one dissects, you know, like the black family drama. It’s very August Wilson, you’ve got this family and they’re gonna have some dramas, obviously, but what they’re actually fighting about becomes so much just a satire, I guess, of black excellence and like…

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, the politicalness of being a family, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, and then also like the stuff when it gets into like autism, et cetera. It’s just such a play that’s really sort of appropriate for right now.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, it’s a lightning rod in a lot of contemporary ways. I want to say that I saw maybe Happy Ending, which I thought was the best stage design I’ve seen in a musical in quite some time. Michael Arden, my pal from LA, is a genius. It is unbelievably well-directed. Darren Criss, fabulous. Helen Shen, fabulous He’ll be happy. You’ve seen it. He’s listening. People were saying like oh, he seemed like oh he was like debating with you back and forth I didn’t find him salty at all. So I’m no yeah, imagine him being salty. No, he’s he’s on glee. That’s illegal. You can’t be salty He’s on Glee the street drug now gypsy. I’ll say this I love seeing a musical that looks like it is plucked right from 1977 like it’s a vintage play in Yeah every sense of the word Audra of course gets a gigantic acting moment at the end when she reveals this cut the kind of the gnarly twisted mind of Mama Rose. Rose’s turn. Her turn is psychotic. It’s almost a little too deep for the musical. It’s sort of like if in Aladdin the musical, Jafar had a song where he reveals he’s neurodivergent or something. It’s like, are we getting away from the fun?

 

Ira Madison III Do you have some thoughts about Jafar?

 

Louis Virtel You know, Jafar’s my girl, I just, I thought she was good, but at the same time, it was getting away from the fun of the musical. You would never watch that version of Gypsy and say, that’s the best musical of all time. Cause it lost like the whimsy and the brassiness of it, I think. And of course, like you can’t teach Ethel Merman this, but there’s a, I think there’s something about Audra that’s ultimately a bit too prim. So I’m still voting for Nicole in that category.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I still haven’t seen it yet. So that’s on my list. I need to get tickets to Gypsy. I fucking love Audra McDonald, as you know. More people need to be watching her in the good fight. She was amazing in that. I would say that I saw all the New York Times posts about her and it was giving, all the photos were giving very much Viola Davis at the end of fences. And I was like, damn, is that Gypsy?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, no, right. Like that kind of stricken face, that kind of like, the whole world has come at me vibe, which again, is kind of true to the text and then also kind of not. So I’m like mixed on that. But one last thing. Most of the I loved what I saw this week, except for I saw the picture of Dorian Gray. Girl, I hated this production. She is obviously a marble. It’s also an athletic feat. I call that the irony man triathlon what she goes through in this play it’s like constantly moving around. Here’s the thing, it’s not just that she’s playing all these different characters in the picture of Dorian Gray, the famous Oscar Wilde book, she’s also doing the narration between them. She’s literally quoting passages of the book in Quick Seek at auctioneer speed. I’ll just say this, nothing about Oscar Wild gains impact by being sped through. There’s so much wit in the book that you want moments to breathe and absorb the sophistication of what’s happening. But I kind of just thought it was aggressive. Came at you like an assault and after a while she was speaking so quickly, and again, that’s very impressive, but she was talking so quickly it was incomprehensible. I had no idea what was even being said and why was she rushing around? So she could get into like a small little kiosk and play with Snapchat filters to get into the themes of Dorian Gray. Snapchat filters, was Banksy consulting on this? It was just like, I hated all the creative decisions. I just didn’t get it at all.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, listen, maybe it was the experience of hanging out with Oscar Wilde at a salon where he’s doing a line.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, which we all have. We’ve all been there. Some of us got sent to Reading Jail, some didn’t, and Ira and I survived.

 

Ira Madison III The importance of buying your own bundle, that’s the question. Wait, you saw, by the way, Sarah Snook is how we pronounce her name.

 

Louis Virtel She’s been snookering us with that pronunciation.

 

Ira Madison III Girl, the snookers were all up in the YouTube comments again. I have like, get a life. You cannot be talking to me about this woman every week. Don’t snook up on me like that. Let me just say her name and mess it up. Okay, they’re acting a little like the Snoop KK. That’s what I’m gonna start calling it. Okay everywhere. Wait, didn’t you

 

Louis Virtel Boop this week? Oh, and I did Boop. She is magnificent. I mean, like, let’s talk about the degree of difficulty of playing Betty Boop in a two and a half hour long musical, which by the way is my one problem with it, it is too long. But she takes a character that is essentially a GIF and turns it into this thinking baddie but like conscientious, you know, there’s that Sharon Clueless quality, like she’s smart and ridiculous, that kind of balance. But never a false note, and I just love her mannerisms. Like she’ll do like the this thing, like Betty Boop and you’re laughing, and the line readings are funny, and there’s just a sweetness and earnestness to the play that never gets cloying. They really strike something really impressive with that play. And by the way, that theater was not that filled when I saw it, and people need to be seeing this musical. Jasmine Amy Rogers is a top tier talent, and I wouldn’t be mad if she won the Tony, even though I am in the cult of Nicole, as I said.

 

Ira Madison III No, of course, I mean, listen, the Tonys, I feel rarely have big, big upsets like this, but if this were the Oscars or something, you could see Nicole being sort of this front runner and then Jazz and Amy Rogers just snatching it. Like the new young ingenue on Broadway.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, it literally is like the 1950 best actress race where Gloria Swantz is up for Sunset Boulevard, and Bette Davis is up all about Eve. We’ll say that she’s the Audra in this situation. And then who wins? Judy Holliday, the high-pitched comedic role, a la Jasmine Amy Rogers in Boop. So it’s been done before.

 

Ira Madison III It might happen. Also, I’ve never thought of Audra McDonald as Bette Davis and now I’m getting ideas.

 

Louis Virtel She could do all about Eve, because her take on Gypsy is very resentful, and the resentfulness is obviously key to Bette Davis’ performance in All About Eve.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, so now we need Nicole Scherzinger and Audra McDonald in Whatever Happened to Baby J.

 

Louis Virtel Precisely. Oh my gosh. Well, I think I was just watching that movie recently Victor Bono who play who is a gay actor in real life who plays a supporting role watch that performance I love when like real gay people sneak into old movies. It’s a crazy feeling It’s like when you see Vincent Price and anything. You’re like, that’s just some queen

 

Ira Madison III About boo

 

Louis Virtel Ainsley Mellon, that lead, he’s so hot. By the way, lots of sexy men in that cast. My friend Christian Probst is in that.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, yes, I love Christian. Yeah. Yeah, I surprised him by seeing the show and during previews and he was like, he was shocked that I came to see it. I was like baby, I went to see Bad Cinderella for you. Which actually I loved. I’m not a drag against Bad Cinderella. I actually wish that show would come back.

 

Louis Virtel Is Bat-Cinderella Andrew Lloyd Webber? It is. Yes, right, no, and it was really good, which, you know, is not really Andrew Lloyd Weber’s thing.

 

Ira Madison III Don’t you come for my king, okay? Find another king. You know I love Phantom. A singular musical. I do wanna say that that musical was originally just called Cinderella on the West End, right? And then for the US, the producers were like, they gotta know Cinderella’s bad.

 

Louis Virtel Well, also, we already have that one Cinderella, the Rodgers and Hammerstein. Ain’t nobody thinking about those faggots. I love that. In my own little corner. Don’t denigrate Leslie on Warren culture at me or brandy culture at All right, what is happening this week? Oh, God, ultimately too much. First of all, we have a whole Europe section of the podcast today where we’re going to talk about the new Europe. That’s Australia. Good guess. And that will be, we’ll be talking about the Eurovision winner, and we’ll be talking about what’s happening at the Cannes Film Festival. And let me tell you something. The girls are clapping and that could mean that the movies are good or they’re just to us which has happened before.

 

Ira Madison III They love to clap there.

 

Louis Virtel They’re like Vanna White. They like standing up and clapping. That is what they do. Our guest today is the lovely interviewer and podcasting great Jake Shane, who’s going on a comedy tour. We’ll talk to him about his comedy influences and why he’s so young and infringing on our turf that is podcasting. Well, we don’t tour. And not be Chardons.

 

Ira Madison III I bought my own ticket. Gotta bring your own drinks in places like this, ain’t the Oscars is it? Then we are also going to discuss the new gay comedy on television that everyone’s talking about this week, overcompensating. And I really mean everyone is talking about it. You cannot be in a group text without someone saying, oh, I loved overcompensation, or have you seen overcompense? The switch of talk.

 

Louis Virtel And you feel obligated to have a take, I think, too. And luckily, we also do, as people who are obligated have takes.

 

Ira Madison III All right, we will be right back with more Keep It.[AD]

 

Ira Madison III It’s not too often we get a sitcom with a gay lead, but A24 and Prime Video’s new series Overcompensating has come just in time for a summer binge. Created by and starring Benito Skinner, Overcompenseating follows the college life of a closeted jock. So we’re going to get into Benito, his work, and whether this could be a spark of a new era for queer TV.

 

Louis Virtel Okay, so I started watching this show and I was initially worried because the thrust of the show is there, it’s a bunch of people at college, they are all, I’m gonna say clearly in their 30s. And you just, you vibe with that eventually. I love it. Well, that’s the thing. I love that they’re old. And it’s very bro focused at first, like it’s about him getting into this fraternity and having to lie about being gay in order to get into it. And the ideas about what makes frat bros funny feels very 2000s and not that funny to me. But then I thought to myself, there’s no way this guy, who’s like a cool, normal internet guy, put this show together, and this is the reason he put the show together. There’s just no way he thinks that’s the main thing he wants to be a part of. As the show goes along, it gets more into normal gay relationships and friendships and stuff. And I would just say, I would recommend, wait till it gets there, and then it becomes quite enjoyable, I think.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, uh, I literally binge this show in a day.

 

Louis Virtel I’m pretty close. I have like an episode left.

 

Ira Madison III I thought it was hilarious. And first of all, I’ve loved Benny for a minute. Like he goes by Benny Drama on TikTok and Instagram. And we’ve seen him mostly for funny sketches and stuff and playing sort of different characters. And I was wondering how that was gonna translate. And I really enjoy him as an actor. I think that- He’s a good actor. He’s a good actor.

 

Louis Virtel It’s appropriately comedic and yet relatable and the emotional scenes don’t feel forced. When I watch Tina Fey and stuff, when there’s an actual emotional scene she has to deal with, you can tell she would prefer to get back to the sarcasm. He really wades into real tougher acting moments really well, I thought.

 

Ira Madison III I think that the first episode obviously introduces you to the bro-iness and it feels very much, this is the initial concept of the show. But the second episode is, this is what the show’s about. When you talk about that emotional hook moment, it’s almost like if the show were an hour, you would end on this moment in the pilot and that would really hook people. I think it’s the moment where he’s trying to get into a party with a fake ID. And the girl that he’s been hanging out with can’t get into the party. She’s bounced because her ID doesn’t look like her. And he chooses not to go into the part after this guy that he has a crush on and he just has pizza with her on the curb outside of a convenience store. And that moment, he gets to be emotional and you really see that he is a good fucking actor. And I think that playing so many different impersonations for so long on TikTok. Been a great breeding ground for him in a way that it hasn’t been for a lot of other people. Because you see a lot people on TikTok and they sort of do the same thing constantly. Like if you’re a front-facing video person, you’re getting the same jokes over and over and again. And what I’ve always sort of enjoyed about Benny, even when I didn’t love all of his characters, it was very much like he was on a SNL or a In Living Color. He was giving you a wide array of characters. Constantly. And so he was constantly playing different parts all the time. And now you can see him playing the bro jock in this. And then when he gets to slip out of it and he’s becoming a person who’s discovering that they’re gay, you know, he’s playing different versions of himself very well. And I think that that comes from a willingness to try and play different people on the internet. I just think a lot of current internet TikTok or Instagram comedias, like everybody does it now. You just, we see somebody and it’s like, this is gonna be controversial. I love the black girl who does like the Nicki Minaj impersonation, but then there’s this girl who does like a Charlie XCX impersonation and then also someone who does a Tate McCray. And I just feel like the joke is the same every fucking time. And once I’ve seen three of them, I don’t wanna see it anymore popping into my feet. And when people send it to me, I’m like, I get the joke. They’re just sort of doing an affectation and they’re referencing a line from the song, and it’s not giving original character.

 

Louis Virtel Also, there’s something about people who go viral in one particular way where they are usually afraid to stray from that. You know what I mean? Like they stick with their one thing that works. That’s how they kind of build a fan base. Being a fan on Instagram is so casual. You just follow somebody and you don’t have to do anything else, really. So to keep them interested in you, you just sort of do the same character again So when people actually. Try to express versatility or get away from being just like the awkward girl or whatever. I really do applaud that because it is risky every time. That said, speaking of awkwardness, I do think something on this show that I had a hard problem getting through was the main girl on the show who becomes Benny’s best friend or whatever, Wally Barham. Yeah, she’s a really good actress actually, but her entire job on the first three or four episodes is to… Be awkward to say the wrong thing to like sorority sisters and then sort of recant and apologize. And she has to do that like 50 times in a row. And eventually you just want someone to stop being awkward sauce and get to being a person. To being a person.

 

Ira Madison III Not awkward, sir. I know.

 

Louis Virtel But then again, she gets there and their relationship deepens. I really think people need to stick around for episodes four onward.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, and I think they will because it’s so watchable. You know what the show reminds me of? It’s on Prime and it’s A24 and you were thinking maybe it’s gonna be a bit more racy or whatever, you know, like just a bit sort of controversial. I don’t know, it’s not really feeling A24-ish, which is good. It feels very ABC family, very freeform. It’s giving.

 

Louis Virtel Which, again, might be the only other successful college set show in history. As you know, this is like a dead zone in terms of television. A different world. I fucking love a different world, I’ve seen every episode of a different one.

 

Ira Madison III Those are the only two college shows though. We really don’t get college shows. And it’s weird to get a gay college show at that too, just because I feel like. Look at education in America, right? Who’s going to college? This practice will soon be abolished. So this is also the last college show. It’s not a relatable experience for a lot of people. You know, high school is easier to do, you know? Everyone’s either gone to high school or they’ve dropped out of it.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I will say, I was watching a promotional video on Buzzfeed where Benito Skitter and fellow cast member Mary Beth Barone, who also had a podcast together, podcast together. They played Celebrity Guess Who. They are very funny off the cuff, too. Yes. I feel like they should kind of do more with the improv-y zone. Or maybe I should just listen to the podcast more. He’s like a born podcaster and a good actor.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, no, I think he’s great. I think that Adam DiMarco is amazing in this.

 

Louis Virtel So he plays the main frat bro, yes, and he of course was in White Lotus season two. Yes, and has that, afterwards he went viral because an old, was it like a movie where he plays some like total queen? That went viral and he was like queening out on it, and we don’t, we rarely see actors queen out in roles.

 

Ira Madison III I want to also say that this actress, Holmes, who plays Haley, she plays the main girl’s roommate, is my favorite fucking part of the show. She’s this over the top, like blonde girl who’s just sort of like a drunk, horny mess. She sold me from the first line she says in the show, when you don’t even see her. She’s on the phone with her roommate trying to find her at orientation. And she asked the question, are you latinx? Saying Latinx. I was immediately just like by her pronunciation of that. She had me. I love everything she does in this show.

 

Louis Virtel And also, I think what you need to know about this character is that at a costume party, she dresses as Christina Aguilera in the dirty video. That’s everything you need know about the woman. I will also say, again, this is kind of a cool thing about the show, but also puzzling, which is all the references are millennial. Yeah, well, it’s set in 2018. Okay, it is set in 2019, but that’s still not quite old enough.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, so it’s weird. So there’s a review by my friend, David Mack, Oh, I read this review, yes. But I didn’t agree with his review in Slate because his complaint was that, well, one, the actors are too old to be playing these parts. And I find that funny. I loved it in pin 15.

 

Louis Virtel I will say Pen 15 though, makes a science of it. This is sort of like, did you think you looked 21? Is my question about the show initially, but then I warmed to it.

 

Ira Madison III I don’t mind it mostly because when you go and watch like improv, like IRL, right? Or you watch actors playing things in like like a theatrical show, like you’ll usually have older actors playing these parts. And I think that just adds to the comedy of it, and it makes sense that he, I feel he’s had this script in his head for a while. There’s an interview, a great interview with his boyfriend, Terrence O’Connor, who is a creative director for Charlie XCX, and he’s spearheading the Lord. Revival right now, which by the way, I’m kind of on board for now that she’s doing the whole like, am I a man, am I woman and wearing the weird sort of like tube toppy like outfits everywhere. I’m like, okay, you’re giving me weird in a 90s, 2000s MTV sort of way.

 

Louis Virtel And also literally saying the words, am I a man? Am I a woman? Like, Fully Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Or Lordo, yes.

 

Ira Madison III I’m gagging for it now. But Terrence in the interview just talked about how he moved to LA with Benny because he wanted to help Benny with his career and everything. And I guess Benny’s had this idea for a while. So if you’ve had this ideal for a While and it was a starring vehicle for you, why let anybody else be in it? I’m gonna play this part. And the other thing that David sort of said was that it’s hard to place it because, you know. Is it 2013, is it 2018? Like Charlie singing songs that came out in different years. It’s sort of, if you’re a Charlie XCX fan too, she pops up in the series and it’s-

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, does a concert and she plays some of her older songs. She plays like Iconopop, which I forget she wrote. I love it.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, well, if you’ve seen her in concert, you can’t forget she wrote it because she loves performing that damn song. Oh, okay. I want to hear something else. I would love to hear anything from how I’m feeling now. But she performs songs from different eras and there’s just different references. So it feels like it’s loosely like late 2010s, I just sort of don’t mind to be honest. I sort of get annoyed when people really try and do a specific year and are just very rigid with it at the sake of things that could be funny. Like this isn’t Mad Men.

 

Louis Virtel Right, now I was just gonna say Mad Men is a completely different story and I mean it’s just it’s funny though when this when the show starts out we see him as a kid having this coming out moment where he’s obsessed with Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle which as you know is a movie that’s over 25 years old. Not that you can’t watch that later but it’s an older movie and even more tellingly he’s possessed with Lucky by Britney Spears and not just Lucky by Britney Spear, it’s not like he’s coming to this 10 years after it came out. He watches it on TRL Now that is a specific early 2000 situation like no doubt about it. That’s where you saw it. So if you’re trying to pin down a date for the show, you just have to let go of that. Eventually, it’s it’s you know what I would compare it to the Goldberg’s which takes place in the 1980s, but it’s just it could be any year in the in that decade.

 

Ira Madison III I like loose shit like that to be honest. Cause I’m just like, we sort of get it as millennial era.

 

Louis Virtel But I’m just saying in this era where everybody is getting less and less educated about the past, I do say it’s lightly irresponsible. Let’s just, let’s nail some things down.

 

Ira Madison III He’s spreading misinformation. I actually did have a, I posted a reel that he responded to, just making a joke about like a very unrealistic thing in the show, which it sort of makes sense for the era that it’s set in though. But in the episode where everybody’s getting Charlie XCX tickets and they’re going through Ticketmaster and it’s. You get tickets in five seconds, I was like, in what fucking world, bitch? And it’s not even just the Charlie XCX of it now. Okay, it’s just not even the fact that it’s Charlie XEX and she has a ton of fans now. I have been a Charlie XEX fan for a while. I know that it used to be very easy to get tickets. They used to hand them out. I’ve seen the bitch at the Abbey. Performing at the abbey. Unlock it with Kim Petras, okay? I have the video from that. But Ticketmaster in general is just a racket. Like nobody is getting tickets now.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right right. They do at least show a multiple character sitting and trying to get the tickets like with a little bit of panic about them So there’s some light journalistic integrity to that. I think Also, by the way, Charlie XCX on the show is really funny She is funny plays this concert and then complains to the Mary Beth Barone character Who’s booking it that she doesn’t want to sing vroom vroom to a bunch of college kids or something Anyway, the exasperation with which she delivers that line is very funny and she’s also an executive producer on the shall

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, she also is the music supervisor for the show. So all the music choices are Charlie. Oh, interesting. And I think it’s inspired, like, of course people rapping like a G6, that is me in college. That’s actually me last week. As soon as we turn the mic off, it’s back to that. The lyrics to Like a G6, by the way, are art. Go ahead. We really did not give Far East Movement their flowers enough because- Do you think it’s because they’re called- Possibly so, but the lyrics are popping bottles in the ice like a blizzard. When we drink, we do it right, getting slizzard. Sippin’ Sizurp in my ride like three six. Now I’m feeling so fly like a G six.

 

Louis Virtel Gwendolyn Brooks, mama.

 

Ira Madison III Also they have another single called Rocketeer that Ryan Tedder wrote, which is definitely one of my Molly come down songs. You know when you’ve done like Molly at a party or like a festival or something and then you’re getting home and the serotonin is gone and you’re just sort of in this weird sort of like state where you’re trying to fall asleep and you are not really falling asleep yet. There are many songs that you can play to just sort of like. Soothe you in those moments. And Rocketeer by Far East Movement is one of the top five songs that works for me.

 

Louis Virtel It’s funny that you say that because whenever, you know, it’s the Sunday after, I always, always play Carly Simon. Every time. Really? Coming around again, I dare you on a Molly come down to play Coming Around Again by Carly Simons. See if you live through it. See if your live through. Okay, okay. That song is amazing. Live version or studio, either works. Well, I’ll play it today then. Okay. And also, if I haven’t said this before. I didn’t do Molly yesterday. No My dream also is for Beyonce to cover Coming Around Again. I think it’s exactly emotional on the way she would kill. And she rarely does covers of like, well, you know, on Cowboy Carter, she did covers of singer-songwriter-y stuff, but she didn’t do Carly Simon, which I would love to hear from her.

 

Ira Madison III I am finally seeing Cowboy Carter on Thursday.

 

Louis Virtel I heard that.

 

Ira Madison III She doesn’t put any elbow grease into it. She did not put her foot in it, okay? She left her foot out. Yes, right. Other things that I just really enjoy about overcompensating is that at first it felt very, at first, it felt YouTubey. It felt very sketchy. But then as the episodes go along, it starts to feel like a real television show. And I will urge people, like you said, to get to the ending just because I feel like, The dynamics between, this is sort of a sitcom like this that’s sort of soapy sitcom too. It’s always going to be amazing in season two. Because you’re setting up character dynamics and conflicts that sort of have to come to a head and all of the drama and the secrets, him being gay and his best girlfriend sleeping with someone she’s not supposed to be sleeping with. All of this stuff comes to a head in the finale, and I just think that the ending of the first season is hilarious, this is an amazing freeze frame.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I would compare it, actually this is an odd comparison, to Cougar Town where it was delivered to us with a certain premise and then as it moves along it became the show it was supposed to be.

 

Ira Madison III Cougar Town is so good, but yeah, if you remember, even the promo for season one of Cougars Town, people didn’t want to fucking watch it because they’re like, what is this?

 

Louis Virtel You’re right. No, it’s like it seems like a gimmick and nothing more and then like it gains Soul as it goes it goes along. It’s a suburb hangout show. Yeah, which is fantastic. Ain’t nothing wrong with that Yeah, no, I’m just gonna say and one last thing This is of course a show that is drawing a lot of ire from you know random people on the internet who you know They get very protective over seeing any gay guy at the center of a show and I don’t know, want to be hypercritical or whatever. And I just want to say, let those people be hyper critical. We only get like a gay guy as the main character on a show literally once every five years. I mean, the other two seems like the last real show we got in this department. And a lot of people like think, oh, these people are just resentful or they’re jealous or whatever it’s like, well, I mean those are kind of valid feelings. And we only get one of the week. It’s like a sweepstakes winner gets to be the center of a gay show. Once every five years. And so I kind of love all the praise and all of the ire. I love like that spectrum of opinions from gay people is like, to be honest, a signature cool thing about the community, let the emotions flow no matter how bitchy they are. I don’t know, people treat like being critical as like some failing of the artist who made it or whatever, or like they should be embarrassed or they don’t deserve that embarrassment. It’s like, honestly, I just think people treat embarrassment like it’s the worst thing that can happen to somebody, when if you’re making any art at all, it’s like par for the course. You’re gonna get some pushback of some kind. I just kind of like seeing as hateful and as praising as people can be.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I think a lot of people forget that many of the things we love currently are stuff that people used to hate or drag or have backlash at one point. And obviously there is this idea of, you know, like gay people not supporting one another in general, like they’ll support a pop diva more than they will support like a gay artist, et cetera. Those are things to work on, but I don’t think this is particularly a… Looking situation, which I think a lot of people think about the fact that looking was off the air after two years because, you know, people just talked about it online all the time talking about how much they hated it. But I enjoyed looking, but it was kind of slow and boring. You know? It was also, I guess the word I would pick for it is slight. It was like a slight show. And this show has criticism, but it also has people who love it. And I think you want both because you know What, what really? Was the death knell for looking, it wasn’t in the conversation. Gays were having conversations about it, but they weren’t participating in a bigger conversation about the series, the only people talking about the show were faggots, you know? Whereas overcompensating, everyone’s sort of talking about it right now. So if there are critical gays, that’s actually for the best for Benny, because how many people dragged girls constantly Constantly. And. That show, the ratings for girls were not giving you, you know, like friends, okay? That show stayed on the air for six seasons because it was a part of the conversation. Critics were writing about it. People were constantly talking about it, whether or not people were watching about it it was watching it, it was creating a conversation and overcompensating is the word on the street right now.

 

Louis Virtel So I will say one, I feel like overcome sitting is just south of prestige. Like I don’t see it entering the awards conversation. Whereas girls, I think that was a big part of what powered it through those seasons. It’s like, oh, somebody’s getting nominated. Even after a while, if it was just Adam Driver, somebody was getting nominated for that show. That said, I it’s funny and I’m pretentious. So it should stick around. I wouldn’t be shocked just because it’s 824.

 

Ira Madison III It got a golden globe now.

 

Louis Virtel Right, well they love awarding the newest thing, they said, is it new? Give it a statue.

 

Ira Madison III And awarding a new gay, that’s cha-ching. Right, right. But anyway, overcompensating is a big yes for me. Watch it, it’s also eight episodes. I was on episode eight and as things were wrapping up, I thought it was gonna be 10 or something. So I was surprised that it was wrapping up so quickly. Once you start, you will zip through it. Yeah, all right. We’ll be back with more Keep It, but before that, some housekeeping.

 

[AD].

 

Ira Madison III This week’s guest has been, well, passing that puss ever since his TikTok videos took over the internet in 2023. Since then, he’s earned an astonishing rise from content creator to bona fide comedian selling out arenas with his last podcast tour. Now he’s hitting the road for a second time with Live with Jake Shane. Please welcome to Keep It host of Theropuss and a newly minted hack star is Jake Shane.

 

Jake Shane Hey guys!

 

Louis Virtel Hi. I’m always amazed when somebody picks up online and then like branches off into like lots of different versions of entertainment. If I were you, that would stress me out. I’m like, I’m so good at this one thing. Let me just do the one thing, has it been exciting to do other things than just what you’re primarily known for or is it like an undertaking?

 

Jake Shane Uh, it’s exciting and it’s what I want to do. Like I’d rather not be stuck in like one lane. And like, I do, I always say, I really do want to transition to traditional while also like maintaining my space in the digital landscape. So it’s like, um, it was what I wanted to do, so I’d be more stressed out if it didn’t happen.

 

Ira Madison III Well, thank God. I mean, I love what you do like in the digital landscape too. I recently watched an episode of your series. It was a Cocoa Jones episode. I’m wearing a Coco Jones shirt. I saw her last week. She’s amazing. I just think that you are so fun when you interview like celebrities, you have such a fun ease with them. Like are a lot of them people that you’ve. Feel like you’ve met before and then you sort of have a rapport with them because you seem to have one with Coco already, or how do you just build this rapport with people immediately when you’re just sitting down to chat with them?

 

Jake Shane Coco and I had never met before. Oh, you hadn’t, okay. No. It was given all friends. I think that’s a testament to Coco as well though, cause she is such a pro. And it’s like, it goes both ways. It’s like so I’m able to make someone feel comfortable, but it also is on them to make, it’s podcasting is such like an art, not an art. Sorry, I’m probably gonna get destroyed for saying that, but it’s they have to make you feel comfortable as well. And Coco was so good at that. She was so funny. Um, a lot of the people I have never met before. So most of the time I’ve never met them. And, um, it really is just, you’re kind of like jumping into water, like you’re sitting down and you start recording and it’s like, well, we kind of have to do it. So here we are.

 

Louis Virtel Um, who has surprised you recently on the podcast? I just watched your interview with Lizzo and to be honest, like I had remembered she was funny, but I would actually describe her as constantly funny on that episode.

 

Jake Shane Yeah, she was she I didn’t think she’d be as funny as she was either I mean, I knew she was like you said I knew She was funny, but she was making me laugh out loud consistently. She was so awesome Um, Lizzo, I didn’t t know she was as funny As she was Uh, I I just had um Wallows on which is um, a band it’s three guys in a band and they are they were hysterical Um, who else did I just uh, well whenever I have tucker role model on Um, I just like that dynamic. I never really expected Usually when I have like a straight guy on it’s pretty funny because i’m like I can you know, it’s like not correct

 

Louis Virtel Why do we speak to them? Can they even speak?

 

Jake Shane Yeah, sometimes, no.

 

Ira Madison III You also in the beginning of the Coco episode too, we’re talking about like a ski trip recently and I thought it was interesting that you were like debating whether or not you wanted to talk about your personal life on the show. And I was just wondering, because for people who begin as sort of content creators, do you feel like you have to share your personal life with people a lot more? Like Louis and I have never felt like we’ve had to do that because we- didn’t start that way, but I feel like when you have a connection where people are watching your TikTok videos and then they’re getting to know you, do you feel like you need to share more personal things with people just because of the medium?

 

Jake Shane No, it’s usually only when I feel comfortable and like I actually was just watching an episode and I cut something about my personal life just because I don’t it sometimes makes me anxious for like the it just like ruins things Half the time if the person you’re talking about listens to the podcast and that used to not be the case So like they used to Not listen to it. So it would be like whatever but now if i’m like talking to a guy and i’m talking about that like Chances of one of his friends catching it and sending it to him are like so people love doing that So it’s just like it ruins every, and most of the time I’m talking shit, even though I don’t mean it. So it like I can’t, it’s like I just can’t keep it in and like it sucks. Like I was, in this past episode I just recorded, I just did one with Mary Beth Barone and Benito Skinner and like I was talking about this guy and I’m like, I know it’s gonna get back to him then I had to cut it, but it was really funny. But yeah, I can talk about my personal life till no end when it’s about me and me alone, but when it involves other people I’m usually a tad more careful.

 

Ira Madison III No, we talked about overcompensating this week and that they’re fantastic, love both of them. But I feel like that is a thing that happens with a show like this. I feel when we’ve had friends of ours, like a Pat Regan or someone on, you get comfortable with them and you’re talking about things that you would just be talking about in your regular life. Then when you’re talking about it in the show, you sort of forget that it’s a medium that people are listening to. And especially you, you have so many millions of people listening. It’s, someone’s going to listen and people love running back and telling someone, oh, you were mentioned on this show, you know? And it’s just a weird sort of balance you have to play now all the time.

 

Jake Shane Yeah, and part of me misses when I could just talk shit, but then I was like less, like, you know, I was doing worse, like not worse, but like I was not as many people were listening to me back then. And I think I’d rather have more people listen to me and talk less shit, then talk more shit and have less people listen in me.

 

Louis Virtel Now, is it, you’re going on tour right now. I assume that like in your standup, like necessarily you want to get into anecdotal stuff. What’s, how do you navigate how personal to be when it comes to that material?

 

Jake Shane Oh, I’m very personal. I just say, and I usually look and I usually say to the audience, like, do not fucking record this. Do not record this. If I see this on Reddit, if I see this anywhere, I will never get on the stage again. And I will blame you guys. That’s what I say. And they’re like good about like not recording. But like I get very personal, I talk about everything. I think I don’t really care. When I’m on stage, like I don t really care

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, there is this sort of thing when you’re on stage and you are just sort of sharing things about your life because it just with comedy in general, you know, it’s about you and you’re making jokes, you know whether you’re not, you’re talking about dating or you’re talking about your family, et cetera. And you can learn a lot about people through just their comedy that you wouldn’t have known from them.

 

Louis Virtel Right, right, right. What are you most excited for on this tour? What kind of new vistas will you be conquering content wise? What will you to be discussing?

 

Jake Shane Um, something like my childhood, my family, it’s a longer show than the first tour. It feels more stand-up-y, that’s like for sure. Um, you know, I think I’m getting more comfortable on stage. Um, yeah, I love to, it like helps me visualize like the digital audience I created. So like, um, that like what I’m always most excited about, like just seeing everybody. I’m also doing Radio City, which I’m really excited about. That feels like a proper homecoming because I’m from New York. I’m just excited to like do it and say I did it.

 

Louis Virtel It’s also interesting that you say more comfortable on stage because does that mean you’re nervous often when you’re on stage? Because I go back and forth, like I myself, like when I do monologs on Jimmy Kimmel, like there’ll be times I’m nervous. And then a part of me decides, actually it’s endearing to be nervous. You know, like that’s the audience seeing me being real or whatever.

 

Jake Shane Yeah, I always say I’m nervous. Like, I mean, like I’m not, you’re gonna tell one way or another, so I might as well just like beat you to the punch and let you know.

 

Ira Madison III But it’s so interesting to me to hear that too, because I feel like, you know, from your initial TikTok videos, I feel to sort of get any attention on the app, You’re sort of like being yourself, but you’re also being over the top. You’re being funny. And I remember watching your initial videos when you were first coming out on the platform. And it’s sort of… Do you feel sort of weird then when you’re interacting with people and they sort of like maybe just remember you from the past, like dancing videos or things like that and you’re like, now I’m a comedian. Like, do you feel like you’re constantly, I guess, juggling like the past version of yourself with like the version of your self that you want people to see?

 

Jake Shane No, because it’s all me. I think sometimes and I think my whole thing is like I’m pretty much the same person But I think I think it’s like I don’t Sometimes I’ll like they’ll bring up a video that I like for God I posted and then I’m like, oh my god Like I think there’s like three to four times a day and so I was like, Oh my god I I did that like I said that but I’m liked whatever like I you know, like it’s sometimes it’s embarrassing but like embarrassment is endearing as well. So it’s

 

Ira Madison III When was the first time I feel like you first noticed that this video is getting out of, I guess, my circle of people who are just regularly watching it? Like, when’s the first you felt like, oh, this video I just did, you know, like a lot of people are watching this. And now you’re thinking about the fact that there’s just maybe like a million people watching this in their bedrooms.

 

Jake Shane I think it was the skits, the improv skits really took me off. Like I think that’s when really, really other people started to watch it. When I started doing like the John Hancock’s that just like the improv-ish skits that people would comment. Like that’s what I realized that I was growing an audience that wasn’t just in a small circle anymore.

 

Ira Madison III And what was the first comment that made you sort of from someone that you were like?

 

Jake Shane I think it was, it wasn’t like a comment, it was like, I think I woke up to like 100,000 more followers than I had the night before, and that’s when I was like oh my God, best day ever, like what just happened? And I think that’s what I was, you know what I mean? That’s when was like oh, this is taking off in a different way than I anticipated.

 

Louis Virtel Is there any particular comedy special you’ve seen the most times that maybe has been kind of a guiding light for you as you design your own stage dynamic, et cetera?

 

Jake Shane Yeah, I love Hannah I-Minders. I love Alex Edelman. I love, I’m trying to, I mean, I love like an old fashioned, like Comedy Central roast. Like the roast of James Franco, like I love those and I love God, what else? God, there was one other thing and I just, I can’t think of it now. I mean Mary Beth Barone I’m obsessed with. I’m obsess with Meg Stalter. I’m obsession with, Yeah, that’s like that’s really like my style of comedy and then like I watch a lot of like comedic television So I watch like the other two girls Barry like, you know, and I recently just watched overcompensating like anything to make me laugh. I’ll watch Broad City hacks.

 

Ira Madison III And you were just on hacks. So what was that experience like?

 

Jake Shane Perfect, perfect. The entire team was so welcoming and kind and perfect. And I’m not even just saying that. It was such a lovely environment. You know, it was so like, everyone was so, everyone was friends. It was just like the best vibe. And it made me wanna like, I was like, oh, like I wish I was on the show every single day.

 

Louis Virtel I actually when I watch them at like award shows or whatever a part of me is like delusion like they so are clearly friends and it’s not like I’m all they’re so friendly that I feel like I can just join them. Like it’s almost like a delusional audience member being like, oh, we’re all friends together. I’m like actually scared of myself now.

 

Jake Shane No, it’s, I mean, that’s like parasocial relationships and everyone has them. And I think even now more than ever. So I think, I don’t think, I think that’s normal. And I that’s a testament to their authenticity and how close they are.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s also just fun being, you know, comedy writers and creators, you now, just seeing that too, I think part of you, it’s not just a parasocial thing too, as like a fan, it’s a also a thing as, you wish that you could have that sort of experience on.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, it’s their job to have fun, I guess, right?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, you know, I’ve written on shows that

 

Louis Virtel have not been that, you know? So you were just on Hacks. If you could be on any other TV show right now, what would you like to join? What’s your sort of dream project?

 

Jake Shane Um my own i think i really want to what an all about

 

Louis Virtel What an all-about Eve answer. My show is what I love.

 

Jake Shane My own. But yeah, that or like, I mean, like, I don’t know, overcompensating. And I’m trying to think of like, what else I like, I watch that’s like, it’s like I watch a lot of like stuff that’s not on the air anymore. So like, in a dream world, Veep is still on the air and I could be on Veep. Like, that’s, like one of my favorite shows of all time. Girls, like you know, the other two, but yeah, I really want to like, write and create my own type of show.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, you’re from New York and you love girls. How do you feel about being in New York versus LA then? Because, you know, Lena Dunham just recently said, I’m tired of New York.

 

Jake Shane I didn’t like growing up in New York. I didn’t like it. I think it’s just like, I was a teenager, so it doesn’t matter where you really grow up as a teenager. It’s just not the best. And I didn’t love it. I love Los Angeles more than anything. I’m the biggest LA apologist. It’s my favorite city in the world, but it’s not as fun as New York is. But I don’t trust myself to not be out of control in New york. Do you know what I mean? Like if I, I feel like I would drink every single day if I lived there, but like, I don’t know. I feel a little more stir crazy in Los Angeles which makes me feel in a little more creative because of that. I don’t know. I love LA. I love that I have like a backyard. I love it. I can go outside all around the year. I love Erwan, sorry. And I like, like I do, I do. And like, I love, um… I don’t know. I love LA. I just love it here.

 

Louis Virtel No, I always, I live in LA and have lived here for the past 16 years. Oh, you live here? Yeah, no, I have a great time, but a part of me is almost always kind of apologizing because I do love New York too, but I almost need it as a vacation because then I can treat the release of energy as sort of a one-time thing before I go back into the, I’ll call it quasi-suburban existence you live in LA.

 

Jake Shane 100%. I mean, I, when I go to New York, I’ll like go out for an entire weekend and come back and be like, and then like LA is like, I will rehab, you know, I’m never drinking again, like I’m going to go work out and like get an IV and like, like figure it out.

 

Ira Madison III I have friends who visit from L.A., even one recently, and they were like, you all do this every weekend?

 

Jake Shane Yeah, yes, because how do you do that? Like, but I have friends here that I live with that are about to move to New York and they go out twice a weekend and I’m like, you need to get out. Like, you’re not meant for it here. Get, go away. Like, I don’t want this energy around me. I don’t want, they’re like, my had friends that went out Thursday, Friday, Saturday last week and I was like, you’re a witch and I need you to leave. You’re not, you are not meant for it here and you’re killing my vibe.

 

Louis Virtel No, we all have good skin and sleep well here. Yes.

 

Jake Shane Yes, we do. And like, oh my god, I go out this weekend and I woke up Monday and I was like, let’s fucking go. Life is beautiful. Life. Like life is worth living. And I was like, damn, like, I love it here. So yeah, I loved LA.

 

Ira Madison III Which is wild because I feel like Sundays in LA were always my favorite day to go out and do something because it’s just bright and beautiful. Like it’s getting, it’s sunny here again now. So now Sundays are the day to be out in New York, but in LA I feel Sunday is always an allure. Yeah, it was lovely on Sunday. It was like 80 degrees.

 

Jake Shane Oh, gay people are crazy. Isn’t that like Sunday fun day or something? Like, yeah, I’m like, so I’m the worst gay person on planet earth. I like, don’t know anything. Like, but I know that my other gay friends were like, Sunday fun day is a thing, like all the gays go out on Sunday. And I was like.

 

Louis Virtel I’ve always found it mysterious like I just don’t want that feeling like minutes before I tumble back into civilization and do a real job

 

Jake Shane I can’t do that, like, Monday I need at least 24 hours, and I’m sorry I sound like so, like millennial when I say, I love millennials, but like when I like say, oh Monday, but like you know, I can’t…

 

Louis Virtel Well, guess who you’re talking to. I know, I know.

 

Ira Madison III Cathy, the comic strip.

 

Jake Shane But I’m saying, like, I can- I have-

 

Louis Virtel It was a boomer reference, fear not, yes.

 

Jake Shane I don’t even know what that is.

 

Ira Madison III There’s Cathy jokes on 30 Rock. It’s older than us. But no, I feel like it’s giving various, it gets very like Elaine going back to Veep, right? Julia, you drive this on Seinfeld. I feel there’s an episode, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which doesn’t even really air anymore. But she was fine with being out for the day, but she was like, I gotta get home for my like, for 60 minutes, my Sunday night unwind. And I feel. When you have a show like White Lotus or like something airing on a Sunday or even like Housewives or something, right? The Sunday is fine because you know that you’ve got an unwind moment. You’re gonna get home, you’re gonna order some food, you’re going to sit down with your show and then you just sort of chill out and that’s how you get ready for the Monday.

 

Jake Shane I mean, I spent my entire Sunday this Sunday. I went to the farmer’s market and then I sat my ass down and I rewatched Glee for 10 hours. Was it was fucking electric and that made up for my entire weekend I was like this like it almost felt like going out to me, you know, but I would do that today too So I guess whatever

 

Louis Virtel One final question then. Who do you think is, who is your ultimate Glee character?

 

Jake Shane Rachel Berry. And I don’t give a fuck. I’m sorry. I have the alpha psych

 

Louis Virtel energy with which you said that.

 

Jake Shane Because, like, she is so, she’s so, well, I also love Santana because Santana will call out Will Schuster on, like his borderline, like pedophiliac energy, like do you know what I mean? Like, he like, like I just watched an episode, he came in, he was like, I just finalized my divorce. And she goes, why are you telling us this? Why are you tell us this. But I love Rachel Berry. I just I ride for her. I think she’s so delusional and it works

 

Ira Madison III It worked. She’s so much fun. I loved your interview with Lea Michele, by the way. Thank you. Finally you were like, finally she was like, listen bitch, I’m reading.

 

Jake Shane Yes, and she did. And you know, I wasn’t even going to ask her about it. I was like, you know what, like, I’m just going to be like, respectful and like, I’m not going to ask about the reading vibes. And then at the end of it, I was like, and you know it, and I was like, God, like this all goes to for manifestation. Before it started, I was like in my head, I was like imagine if she like took the cards and started reading.

 

Louis Virtel Ha ha.

 

Ira Madison III Ha ha!

 

Jake Shane Look at God, look at God.

 

Louis Virtel He saw you. She saw you.

 

Jake Shane He did.

 

Ira Madison III She’s God on Glee.

 

Louis Virtel That’s true. Yeah.

 

Jake Shane She is.

 

Louis Virtel Jake, thanks so much for being with us today.

 

Jake Shane This was so fun.

 

Ira Madison III When are you at, um, Radio City?

 

Jake Shane June 27th, do you wanna come?

 

Ira Madison III I would love to.

 

Jake Shane Okay, great. Come hang out, it’ll be fun. Come to the show, please.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, would love too.

 

Jake Shane Thanks guys.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you so much.

 

Jake Shane Bye guys.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III Typically, this is an America First, Australia Second podcast, but with the Cannes Festival and Eurovision hitting their high notes last week, we’re setting our sights across the pond to discuss all things Europe.

 

Louis Virtel I like how you checked to make sure I’m in pain. He looks away from the text and at me with glee.

 

Ira Madison III We’ll start with Cannes, which I’m sure a standing ovation is still going seven minutes too long. Let me tell you something, they clap so much there. I’m just like, let’s get Cannes to the free clinic.

 

Louis Virtel I mean truly it means nothing anymore when when they stand up and clap for something again It’s like because the celebrities are in the room After these premieres or after like the credits start to roll on these movies And so it’s ultimately for them and not because of anything they experience watching the movie also picture clapping at a movie People do it. I’m just saying I can you know what that’s funny that I bring that up one time We had the screener for 20th century women. I was with two of my friends watching it in the house and we actually clapped at it afterwards. We loved it so much. So I guess it is possible.

 

Ira Madison III Listen, I clapped after Thunderbolts.

 

Louis Virtel To whom?

 

Ira Madison III To my friends.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, okay. You just love friendship. Actually, I heard that movie was really good.

 

Ira Madison III It actually was really fun. Honestly, the people next to me, when the movie was over, they were like, we love your laugh. You were enjoying it. And I’m like, okay, is that a read?

 

Louis Virtel It does feel a little bit like shut up.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, no, we all had a good time at the Thunderbolts. I enjoyed it. So Khan.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, Canne, Khan whatever.

 

Ira Madison III Well, the first thing to talk about is that they switched up the attire rules. . No more see-through. They’re tired of seeing hoo-has.

 

Louis Virtel Which is, I kind of feel like the whole reason we do red carpets there, so that, you know, Anjanue type people, the person that’s coming to mind is Rooney Mara for some reason, can wear gossamer. But they had different ideas about decorum.

 

Ira Madison III You know, Anjanue Ellis also loves a see-through gown.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my god, she needs to come back on this podcast. She’s a brilliant interviewee.

 

Ira Madison III I feel like this was mostly to get at the influencer ties because people love using this red carpet for a moment. It’s really just about doing stunts at this point because does anyone really care about this festival?

 

Louis Virtel And also it’s just like the movies don’t come out here for so much longer. So I feel like you can only greet all of these movies with indifference, especially since the critical consensus of so many of these moves once they finally come out here, and obviously the movies go through alterations a lot of the time from the time people see them in Cannes to the time they come out of here. It may as well be a totally different movie and the audiences are totally different and have less reason to be obsessed with the movie, you know, because a lot of the people who are giving you reviews from Cannes are also talking to the celebrities. So like, if they openly hate at something, then they’re jeopardizing their relationship with that team.

 

Ira Madison III They’re ginned up and they’re greasing the wheels. Like Ari Aster, Eddington came out at Cannes this year and it’s, I saw Bo was afraid. And people tried to tell me that was a good movie before it came out. And now people, the pretty much consensus is that that movie was a mess. But you would never believe that from the festival circuit before. And I’m just getting reports of… Joaquin Phoenix is brought to tears by the standing ovation he received and it’s like yeah they all just want to be around him.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Also, there’s something about Cannes in particular where a lot of the applause goes to movies that are quote unquote audacious. And then once the movies actually come out here, I think we generally see through whether or not the audaciousness actually paid off.

 

Ira Madison III That’s a really good word. You know, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel The girls aren’t audacious anymore.

 

Ira Madison III Well, a review of my book from Kirkus called it Audacious.

 

Louis Virtel So people just don’t know the meaning of words anymore.

 

Ira Madison III Okay.

 

Louis Virtel All right, moving on. We have Kristen Stewart is making her directorial debut this year. And let me just say about Kristen Stewart, something that needs to be said way more often. She is awesome at being interviewed. Yes. Our friend Kyle Buchanan, Keep It Legacy visitor, has interviewed her a whole bunch, but he just interviewed her about this movie she directed. And she’s like, I’m actually unnerved by the fact that I’m not getting more pushback on it, or like getting criticized, et cetera. It seems like it’s going over really well. And by the way, I love her kind of low-key, sarcastic, lesbian sinister vibes behind the camera. Who’s doing that?

 

Ira Madison III She’s over it, she’s been over it. She’s been it since Twilight. She’s put over it since people were pappin’ her in the car with the director.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s right. I forgot all about that.

 

Ira Madison III One thing about Kristen, actually, is that she is always gonna serve you taste down. I was scrolling through Instagram this morning and she was interviewing Imogen Poots, who is in her movie. Oh yes, which is called The Chronology of Water, by the way. You know what? I wonder if it’s a sequel to The Shape of Water.

 

Louis Virtel You’re now reminding me, of course, of 73 Questions, starring Donatella Versace, where on five different questions she’s asked what her favorite movie is or what she’s thinking about lately or what her philosophy on life is, and she keeps going the shape of Walter. If maybe Imogen is fucking that fish, someone has to. Oh my God, you’re reaching into the keep it annals for you fucking thatfish, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III They were doing an interview, just a discussion really, for Letterboxd and they were talking about their four favorite films, obviously. And Kristen’s films were fantastic. She did Morvern Collar by Lynne Ramsey. She had Angela, which is by Rebecca Miller. She had A Real Young Girl by Catherine Breillet. And she also had La Bonheur by Agnes Varda. So she said it’s going to be a distaff list. She said ladies only.

 

Louis Virtel Meeting in the ladies room. She’s gonna climax with two x’s.

 

Ira Madison III I think it was also movies that were sort of inspiring her for this one and got it yeah and Imogen Poots actually surprised me too she had Cleo from 5 to 7 by Agnes Varda they’re loving Agnes

 

Louis Virtel Oh, of course. The Agnes Varda classic, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, she also picked another Agnes, Vegabond, she loves that woman, and she picked an angel at my table by Jane Campion.

 

Louis Virtel Every Jane Campion movie I’ve ever seen is tremendous, including that one.

 

Ira Madison III I thought you were about to say traumatic.

 

Louis Virtel There’s a little bit of that too.

 

Ira Madison III And Badlands, Terrence Mallard.

 

Louis Virtel Which is fabulous. A great movie. We talked about that with Sissy Spacek when she was here, if I’m not mistaken. We did, we did, yeah. The awesome performances too. I’m more of a Days of Heaven guy. And also, when you look at Mr. Richard Gere in the 70s, painfully hot. It’s like Mel Gibson in the 80s. Some people were just painfully high. Like, how could we even stand to look at them?

 

Ira Madison III Ugh, Jesus, make me a gerbil.

 

Louis Virtel And we played that man with that fucking joke for like 15 years that that was like the JD Vance couch fucking of the day But Richard year did something with a gerbil

 

Ira Madison III And that was back in the day. I miss word of mouth celebrity rumors. But now something is on the internet and everyone will run it into the ground.

 

Louis Virtel Or debunk it quickly, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, but the gerbil shit and that’s a celebrity rumor that you would hear or like Marilyn Manson removing his ribs, right? I was going to say the same thing, yes. I like wonder how that stuff parsed into the world. Right, who misinterpreted something, yeah. It had to be like something like a Howard Stern or like the random channels that someone like, people listen to when they’re driving late at night and then like. They hear it, they tell their friends, you overhear it as a kid, your parents saying it, because I’m like, how did this stuff parse through the world pre-internet? Who was first talking about?

 

Louis Virtel And also, Marilyn Manson had the other thing, which was that he was Paul on The Wonder Years. And it’s like, that actor, Josh Saviano, was simply around. He could have said, it’s not me. I don’t know why that went on forever, but. She doesn’t have what I have. She’s not mean. Very good. Haven’t heard that in a while. Let’s see what else here. Also where we have directorial debuts from Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson. So the attractive pale people are making movies.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, first of all, I have been in on the ground floor with Harris Dickinson, okay?

 

Louis Virtel I remember discussing it. I liked it more than you did.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah. I hate that movie, but he’s hot in it. So I was on board and then obviously he’s fantastic in the Ruben Aslan film. Triangle of Sadness. Yes. The name was escaping me, but I remember my Scandinavian king and he’s a fantastic and which reminds me, we did not even talk about the square with Elizabeth Moss and that scene with the condom, which is hilarious.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s right. I wasn’t here when you interviewed Elizabeth Moss. How was that, by the way? She was actually quite lovely. Well, speaking of that, Tom Cruise is at Cannes too. Getting photos with everybody, by the way. This is a meet and greet. No, by way, that’s okay. Go ahead Tom Cruise and do that. Can people stop being awed that Tom Cruise is nice? They’ll be like, he was talking with the concessions people for 10 minutes. It’s like, well, he is like a human being. It’s not like it’s impossible for him to speak to other people. It’s people can’t get it through their head that he is pleasant to talk to or pleasant to be around once he sets himself forth in the public and is not in that giant blue building on Sunset Boulevard. Scientology Celebrity Center. That’s the Celebrity center, right? I don’t think he’s ever even been in that damn building.

 

Ira Madison III I always wondering but that’s that is the Celebrity Center, right? Well, he’s above that. Okay. I feel like who’s at the Celebrities Center Okay, probably Danny Mastodon probably love the

 

Louis Virtel He’s still there. Somehow.

 

Ira Madison III Haha, he’s locked up!

 

Louis Virtel I wonder if he requested, can I just be in the blue building though? You know, he’s like, it’s the same thing.

 

Ira Madison III It’s prison. No, he’s sort of been like the grand dom of Cannes, to be honest, because you know, like the recent Grammys where everyone had a selfie with Beyonce, this is giving the amount of people who popped up dropping on their Instagram, like The Weeknd dropping a photo with Tom Cruise. I’m like, he is just there for everybody. He’s just promoting the fuck out of this movie. And I love that for him. Do you know what else was happening at Cannes? Jeff Bezos and his big ass yacht.

 

Louis Virtel Right and like his wife got some sort of environmental award and he delivered himself there like he’s David Geffen on his yacht straight from Vanuatu or wherever they go.

 

Ira Madison III It’s just so funny because first of all, it was a bachelorette celebration occurring also for Lauren Sanchez that weekend that Eva Longoria was part of, because Eva Longoria is, I guess, part of her bachelorette party. It’s like, it’s just the page six is like, Lauren Sanchez stepped out with gal pal Eva Longoria in the lead up to her big wedding with Jeff Bezos. They were also hanging out with Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian. And this is like the new. The new bimbo apocalypse. I thought you were going to say rat pack. I was like, please don’t. And of course I’m not calling the bimbos. I’m saying that you remember page six bimbo apocalypse with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay Lahan. There’s currently a, that’s what they called it. It made six, that was the headline.

 

Louis Virtel Nothing makes me laugh more than vintage tabloid-y headlines just slut-shaming. Like there was the famous Madonna one is, I think it’s from her photo shoot for the Justify My Love single, it’s immaculate collection era, and the headline is just what a tram.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, um There’s also a musical about that paid six story off Broadway right now written by Patrick Foley and Michael Breslin, they did Circle Chart.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, Pulitzer nominees. It’s a musical. Natalie Walker’s in it. God, do I love her. Natalie Walker, if you don’t know her, she, I think maybe her most famous video she ever did was singing the alto parts of All I Want for Christmas Is You, and it’s just like making noises in the background, it’s really funny. But she has deep musical theater knowledge and is hilarious in general. So look her up.

 

Ira Madison III You know, speaking of that Madonna headline too, I know that Kate Arthur, who’s a variety now, when we worked at Buzzfeed together, she was really trying to track down this old paid sex headline, which people believe was real because they say they’ve seen it, but there’s no record of it online. Do you remember the alleged headline of her being dressed up like a turkey from Sean Penn?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah, right, right cuz then.

 

Ira Madison III The fight they had allegedly had at their house, but then the rumors that they had all of the headlines and stuff scrubbed from the internet.

 

Louis Virtel And it feels like she recanted some of it or whatever.

 

Ira Madison III She did recant it all.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, because yeah, that doesn’t linger.

 

Ira Madison III But I feel like someone would have that paper like on eBay or something.

 

Louis Virtel It’s crazy that there’s any part of media that was printed out that we still cannot fucking find. You know, it is really wild. I have a trivia question for you about the Cannes Film Festival. In the 21st century, only one person who has won the best actress award at Cannes went on win an Oscar. Do you know who it is? Jennifer Lawrence? Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez. Emilia Perez! Yes, I want to say that Karla Sofia Gascon also won and also Selena Gomez won.

 

Ira Madison III That’s right, they all won. And we were talking about, oh my God, these actresses are killing it in this movie. Like, can’t wait to see this fucking movie. And then Emilia Perez came out and we were like, what, what, they smoking at Cannes? Like, y’all smoking up in here?

 

Louis Virtel It’s so crazy.

 

Ira Madison III That is what Cannes does, by the way. It’s delusion.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, again, audacious, right? It’s a crazy movie. And one last note about Emilia Perez. She has reared her head again because I’m hearing that the new movie at Ken from Titane director Julia DuCournau, Alpha, is the Emilia Perez of the AIDS crisis. Cannot wait to see that one. If anything needed in Emilia Perez, it was that.

 

Ira Madison III Let me tell you something about Julia DuCournau, okay? She is always cooking, okay. She is, always up in the kitchen. Because her movies, they’re just, look at the letterbox ratings on her movies. It is so wild, like the swing of, it has every rating imaginable. It’s not slanted towards amazing, not slanting towards bad, it’s just. Truly wild you either love this bitch or you hate her and alpha is the girls are talking

 

Louis Virtel Good. I mean, like that is exciting in a way until I see it and then I’m just mad.

 

Ira Madison III Because, I don’t know, something about people just biting into flesh is just not for me, but I love bones and all, so I donno.

 

Louis Virtel Maybe I’ll like Raw. Yeah, I’ve never seen Raw, I don’t know. But I mean, like she’s given that kind of Cronenberg vibe, right, like, you know, you, I think some people watch it and think, oh, that’s a one of a kind experience. And other people are simply thinking, what is wrong with this person? Which is what I think when I watch most Croninberg, including Dead Ringer is his best movie.

 

Ira Madison III I have listened to a little more personal Ra, though. Taking it back to Lindsay Lohan.

 

Louis Virtel Ha ha ha.

 

Ira Madison III With rumors on it? No, her original with rumors is Speak Now. Oh, yes. The one, a little more personal, Raw is Daughter to Father.

 

Louis Virtel Of course, of course, I still cannot get over her song first, which goes, I want to come first, from the Herbie Fully Loaded album, and guess who was fully loaded, her.

 

Ira Madison III Baby, Herbie always crosses that finish line.

 

Louis Virtel Gross, Herbie.

 

Ira Madison III Okay, know that about Herbie when you are in the driver’s seat and you put on your seatbelt, Herbie gets across the line first, okay?

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God, cars shouldn’t be able to lick their lips. I’m sorry. There’s something about a car with a face I can’t handle. And I’m talking about you, Lightning McQueen. I’m talkin’ about you.

 

Ira Madison III How else is he gonna guzzle that gas?

 

Louis Virtel Moving on, moving on.

 

Ira Madison III Moving on to Eurovision, that’s also happening in Europe. And let me tell you something, I was hiking in the woods this weekend, at the Catskills, just enjoying nature, as you will. It was one of my favorite things to do. Everyone knows that about me.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah, you’re a real Bob Ross.

 

Ira Madison III And so I did not really pay attention to anything going on with Eurovision. But Gabe Liebman. Sent a text because we talked about Eurovision a lot in the Q-Force writer’s room. So he sent us all a text about the winning song, which was from Austria this year.

 

Louis Virtel I’m sorry, Austria kinda needs a new thing, they only really have Red Bull going for them right now. And it is a pretty good song. The vocalist, JJ, has this very kind of operatic trill, and I think at times it overwhelms the song and it’s something I don’t really want to hear, but I think it’s also the prime kind of song that wins Eurovision, which is, it has one distinct thing you remember about it, which all the other songs tend to wash together, which reminds me of my new take on Eurovision which is I really look forward to it for the visual spectacle because the staging things they come up with are always novel. It’s always interesting, like, and fun and goofy. Whereas the songs themselves, I tend to forget and I don’t revisit.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, well, I’m really excited that JJ has a sort of like second act to his career. He dropped the fad as the last name and now it’s just JJ. But Waste It Love, let me tell you about these lyrics. I’m an ocean of love and you’re scared of water. Baby, that’s cooking.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, it’s a housewife tagline. It’s a Housewife tag line.

 

Ira Madison III What else is he saying in this song? You don’t wanna go under, so you let me go under. I reach out my hand, but you watch me grow distant. Drift out to the sea and far away in an instant. You left me in the deep, I’m drowning in my feelings. How do you not see that? Now that you’re gone, all I have is wasted love.

 

Louis Virtel Uh, not trying too hard to rhyme or have any real meter whatsoever, which was, is fine. Yeah. But also he matches the vocal, like it’s a very, um, it’s kind of purple prose, but when you sing like that, it is appropriate.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, so shout out to Austria. Sure, Vienna. I know I can eat a baked good that’s amazing there. Has some other questions about Eurovision though. Are people still mad about Brexit or is the music that bad? Because for the second year in a row, the UK got zero points in the public vote. And I would say they make a lot of good music. So that does feel a bit positive, yes. They’re pressed. And Israel still, you know, goose-stepping its way through the competition.

 

Louis Virtel Also, I had forgotten why they were originally involved in Eurovision. It’s very complicated and strange.

 

Ira Madison III Like most things involving Israel.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, yeah, no, but it is always like a record scratch when you see that they’re involved in this. It’s like What why you know, why are you here? Yeah Do something else. Aren’t you guys busy?

 

Ira Madison III Anyway, that’s all I know about Eurovision from this year, sorry.

 

Louis Virtel Again, I appreciate that I will at least remember this song, even though it’s not one of my favorite winners of Eurovision. And it was very cool to see a hello from Celine Dion, who of course made her sort of international debut on Eurovision with the winning song years and years and years ago.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, I really hope that they don’t mention Eurovision in the YouTube promo for this because someone’s gonna be mad in the comments. Right, no. They did not talk about Czechoslovakia this year.

 

Louis Virtel Czechia actually had some amazing dancers. I will say that about them, but.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, how was Cyprus this year? Because I still remember my favorite Eurovision song ever, which is Fuego by A Lady Farooq.

 

Louis Virtel I love that song. Yes, and of course it didn’t win because the thing you love doesn’t win I will also say it this year There was a particularly widespread of where people were throwing their votes and it is It’s funny that we have a competition about this because the taste about what song is best is just so random you know what I mean, it’s just like what it’s almost like I wish everybody would come together and like have a debate and then somebody wins, but just randomly throwing points at stuff like you’re constantly questioning the intention or where people are coming from or what they’re voting for in a song. So Eurovision really has some mystique to it. And I wonder if the giant elaborate point system ultimately serves the competition best, I don’t know.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, it would flop in America, too, because look at the Billboard Hot 100.

 

Louis Virtel Well, that’s part of my keep it so we’ll get to that when we get to it. Oh

 

Ira Madison III All right, is Shaboosie back on it? Did he ever leave? I’m sorry, he might just live there, yeah. I thought his song was called Last Call. He had a couple drinks left in him. Okay, oh, sorry, it’s a bar song tipsy. Who has the song Last Call? Is that Morgan Wallen? Last Night is Morgan Wallin. By the way, has a new album called I’m the Problem. We know.

 

Louis Virtel All right, we done heard.

 

Ira Madison III And he has Tate McCray and Post Malone on his album, the Tate-McCray song, boring. The Post Malones song, boring. Don’t put People I Love on your album and to make me listen to it and then the songs aren’t even good.

 

Louis Virtel It’s almost like I would have something to say about this in my key.

 

Ira Madison III It segment. Maybe we’ll get that. Oh, all right. Well, you keep teasing it. So when we’re back, it’s Keep It. And we are back with our favorite segment of the episode. It’s Keep It. Louis.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III What’s poppin’?

 

Louis Virtel My Keep It this Week has to do with the fact that, okay, Memorial Day weekend is upon us. I’m doing my thing I do, which is go to Palm Springs. As you know, I’ll listen to British trivia on YouTube the entire way there. It’s a transcendent experience for gays and I guess a couple of straight people. I won’t see them, but they’ll be there. So I’m putting my life together, packing my bag. I have everything I need. Four swimsuits in the colors of sky blue. Baby pink, black and navy, the four legal colors I may wear as someone of fair complexion. I also have my books of trivia that I will bring to my household and read aloud as they make food. I can’t make the food. I will be, you know, I’ll bring my SPF 175. I’ll brings general witticisms, hopefully. And then you know what I won’t be bringing because we don’t have it? A fucking song of the summer. Surely. This is somebody’s job to find a song that we can be dancing to on Memorial Day weekend. You will recall that last year we had espresso lined up. Somebody picked it for us and then we slithered on down to the pool and danced and talked about caffeine. It was great. The year before we had Padam Padam. Not one of Kylie’s best songs, but whatever. You can kind of thump to it at a club and not think twice about it and good for Australia. This year… We have nothing to go off of. And so I thought to myself, well, I’m going to go ahead and find the song of the summer. I know where I’ll go. The Billboard Hot 100. I go there, excuse me. It is only Morgan Wallen this week. He has 36 or 37 of the top 50 tracks. Who is listening to this music besides like the bad guys in the movie, Boys Don’t Cry? I do not know who this is for. It’s not me. I’m not moving to this. And then I looked up another list of just what’s gonna be the song of the summer. And one list suggested that Charlie XCX’s Party for You, which is a five-year-old song that has like come around again on TikTok is now the song of the summer. Iconic song. Excuse me, where’s the hook? Excuse me. Where’s the like, where is the flirtiness? These are things that come, you know, necessarily with the song or the summer, like California girls, oh, we’re dancing in the sun and we’re being flirty. Espresso. We’re dancing, it’s hot out, we’re being flirty. This song is sort of just like a run of the mill Charlie XCX song. And by the way, she already had her whole summer. We named it after her. It was called Brat. So I need an option for this summer. And by way, I can’t, if I hear espresso, that’s doubly depressing because it feels like we’re just resorting to last years. It’s like if we didn’t have a new Miss America or something, we were like, oh, that one’s still sticking around with a Tierra. No, we need something new.

 

Ira Madison III Well, let me tell you about a new song that just dropped, which is, baby, it’s for the streets, it is for the clubs, it’s about the clubs.

 

Louis Virtel I have the distinct feeling you’re about to tell me some bullshit, let’s hear it.

 

Ira Madison III Um, I don’t know if you’ve heard about, um, a collection of people named the Smurfs.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my god.

 

Ira Madison III Rihanna’s friend of mine?

 

Louis Virtel No, not that song.

 

Ira Madison III Girl, it’s so good.

 

Louis Virtel Girl, It’s not anything. Excuse me.

 

Ira Madison III It’s for the club.

 

Louis Virtel She sent a voice note out. She said, here it is. Me, me, me. That’s it. That’s all she does. That’s it, that’s all she does. She’s taunting you with non-music.

 

Ira Madison III First of all, it sounds exactly like a song you would hear at 5 a.m. In the club. It’s very tribal, there’s sparse vocals.

 

Louis Virtel Tribal, I was gonna go with Cracky, but okay.

 

Ira Madison III Actually, my friend Mcadsky played it at Wire Festival at Knockdown Center this weekend, and it went off. I’m like, oh, I think the word here is deja vu. Just met you tonight, but you feel like a friend of mine. And then she just says, feel like a friend to mine, 20 times. Ha ha ha ha.

 

Louis Virtel Could she have spent six minutes in the booth.

 

Ira Madison III She’s taunting us at this point.

 

Louis Virtel No, she said, this is as close to music. She’s like, turn this into music. I had this idea, go ahead. Put a drum machine behind it.

 

Ira Madison III You know she got a fat ass bag for that song too.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, from the Smurf soundtrack? No, right. No, she’s Papa Smurf now. Papa’s got a brand new bag.

 

Ira Madison III I can’t believe you hate this song. You’re gonna love it. You’re going to hear it. And you’re going hear it in Palm Springs. And if you don’t hear it Palm Springs, you’re gonna hear it on Fire Island. Yeah, okay. Cause it’s very New Yorky like club and like Fire Island music.

 

Louis Virtel Got it. Yeah, well, I think we gave her too much encouragement with that Wakanda Forever song, which we did nominate for an Oscar, and I believe

 

Ira Madison III That song sucked.

 

Louis Virtel It’s technically not even a song. I think she was just riffing one day and someone recorded it. But anyway, Ira, what is your Keep It?

 

Ira Madison III So my Keep It this week goes to cookbooks.

 

Louis Virtel Oh ok. Anyone in particular? Are you mad at Anthony? Is he still putting peas in guacamole?

 

Ira Madison III Now, Anthony’s just talking about his apartment in interviews. I don’t know. I don’t even know she cooks anymore. But no, I’m just talking about cookbooks in general from people who aren’t really chefs. And I’m saying this because I’m thinking about just, so there was this era of people becoming popular online, TikTok, Instagram reels from cooking, right? And you remember COVID. And all these people got incredibly famous and got a lot of followers. And then they all got book deals. And now all of these cookbooks are coming out from basically internet chefs who aren’t really giving you anything. All the cookbooks is sort of the same. They’re all just sort of, okay, but what does this food taste like? Because where’s your training? And I’m not saying people need formal training to be a chef, but it’s just like. Where’s the restaurant you’ve worked at? Where can I taste this food? And a lot of this food is just like, okay, you’ve seen it on Instagram. I have no basis of whether or not this is actually good food. Y/ou know?

 

Louis Virtel Right, I can’t believe people actually write down the recipes they see on Instagram. I like the physical media of it, I like salivating Odie from Garfield for a second, but I don’t know that I would actually imbue these people with professional, I wouldn’t trust them with my opinion. And who knows what kind of smoke and mirrors are going into this dish.

 

Ira Madison III Well, I think people just like to be told what to do. People like curation. They like lists, that’s why they listen to this show. But I also think that you’re just getting all of these cookbooks that are just sort of, people are just cooking the same fucking thing too. And it’s not giving, you know, where’d you get this from? Did you get it from your grandmother? Did you go to, I don’t know, Auggie’s counter in Crown Heights every week and just eat the tuna melt all the time and then you decided to whip up own version of a tune-em-out? Like I feel like that’s what’s happening too. It’s getting a lot of thievery too.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, something about even just people who get famous on the internet making a book, it’s like, I know you’re not reading a book. This is a lie. This is, this is a perpetration already. You got something to say to me? No, you’re reading constantly. I’d be reading. Sure. No, You’re like Belle, you can’t stop.

 

Ira Madison III Oh baby, the library is open, okay? I am Belle. I got a lot to say to those townspeople. I’ve heard what they’ve been saying about me. Belle is sort of giving you Missy Elliot in Gossip Folks when she gets with the Beast, right? Because she’s like, I know y’all soggy breast cow stomach state over here talking about me, J.J. Phad wannabes.

 

Louis Virtel JJ Phad’s second appearance this episode. I also want to say, my friend Jennifer Morrow, a Jeopardy veteran had the funniest take on Beauty and the Beast, which is in this library, there’s so many fucking books and yet it takes place in the early 1700s. So she’s like half of that would be really gross, erotic fiction about somebody named Mrs. Fanny. Like there We’re no famous books yet.

 

Ira Madison III Baby, Mrs. Chatterley, she was all up in it, okay?

 

Louis Virtel Right, that’s a 20th century book. But yes, right.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, what was the early Lady Chatterley? Oh, it was, oh, it, what’s his name? He had all the porny books.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, Mbarkidasa.

 

Ira Madison III Chaucer!

 

Oh, no, Chauc- Oh, you’re saying, yes. The Canterbury Tales.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, baby.

 

Louis Virtel Somebody was getting it delivered in their Canterberry Tale. You know what I’m saying?

 

Ira Madison III The Cunterberry Tales.

 

Louis Virtel Stop the episode, stop the episode. Move along.

 

Ira Madison III All right, that’s our episode this week. Just so you know, you’re probably gonna say, Keep It to us because we don’t have a show next week.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, I guess we’ll be recovering from our festivities without a song of the summer. So just pray for us.

 

Ira Madison III You know, remember what we used to do when we’d be off? I was reminded last week by someone. They were like, I remember when y’all did clip shows.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my god, like we were at like a Norman Lear sitcom from 1977.

 

Ira Madison III That was nasty behavior. Yeah. So we won’t be doing that. We’ll just be off. Find something else to do. All right. On Wednesday. I don’t know. But thank you to Jake Shane for being here and we’ll see you in two weeks. 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 Gaieski. 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.