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Ira and Louis discuss Wakanda Forever, Lindsay Lohan’s return, Grammy nominations, John Aniston’s death and his daughter Jennifer’s recent thoughts on Hollywood, Elon Musk’s destruction of Twitter, and Ticketmaster’s evil Verified Fan program. Plus, Natasha Leggero joins to discuss motherhood, glamour inspirations, and her new book The World Deserves My Children.

TRANSCRIPT

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

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

 

Louis Virtel I’m Louis Virtel. I’m looking at my camera. I’m just not a fan of my hair this episode and at a similar point, it is fortuitous that today I would be having ring life problems just as we eliminate Kari Lake from the national conversation.

 

Ira Madison III All ring lights are down in honor of Kari losing.

 

Louis Virtel At half mast. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. At half light.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s cute. Oh, maybe I’ll do that. Let’s see if that works out. Oh, see, it’s solemn now. I just turned it down for everybody who can’t hear what I’ve done with my ring light.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of passings like Kari Lake’s, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up John Aniston dying literally yesterday. Jennifer Aniston’s father. And also for me, Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives. Everyone who has watched Days of Our Lives at some point in their life, whether it’s in college, with their parents, or if they still watch it now on Peacock, they know who Victor Kiriakis is.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, like it’s possible you’ve seen 12000 hours of this man.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. He’s been a staple since I mean, obviously, since before I was born, but definitely since I’ve been watching. And he was just I know it always reminds me, one, that Jennifer Aniston is Greek.

 

Louis Virtel Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, yes. That you know, when you look at older photos of her, too, it’s like, oh, okay. This is like where Nia Vardalos could have gone. The sliding doors, the sliding doors.

 

Louis Virtel Look at the pre Leprechaun pictures to know the full story about Jennifer Aniston. If you know what I’m saying. I say that affectionately.

 

Ira Madison III No, I love I love that bitch. Honestly, one of my favorite things and this is a dark, not favorite things to come out of like the Angelina and Brad Pitt rift because it’s not you know, it’s not a good thing.

 

Louis Virtel It’s not a happy story.

 

Ira Madison III It’s not a happy story. But being on my fuck Brad Pitt tip, now I’m just pro Angelina and Jennifer and honestly, them being, them like presenting at the Oscars together or being in a buddy comedy together would change culture.

 

Louis Virtel Also, they kind of are an ideal pairing just anyway, because Jennifer is a little bit like the by the book one who is like, you know, kind of self-deprecating and Angelina is more of the, you know, Rihanna eye roll girl and glamor sex pot.

 

Ira Madison III They’re literally Betty and Veronica.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Wow. How like how hasn’t.

 

Ira Madison III Brad Pitt and Brad Pitt as Archie. Like, who gives a fuck about Archie?

 

Louis Virtel Wow. Has this parallel been drawn before? I feel crazy that we’re only figuring it out now.

 

Ira Madison III But speaking of Jennifer Aniston, I also want to address her Allure magazine interview last year.

 

Louis Virtel If you ask me, she ate.

 

Ira Madison III She did. She first of all, she looked great in these photos.

 

Louis Virtel You know, the woman has never that the woman has never looked less than a ten. But yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. But she was wearing like the Chanel bra and stuff. Like it was really like the Julia Fox-ification of Jennifer Aniston.

 

Louis Virtel Mm, yes.

 

Ira Madison III And in the interview, she basically pulled a Gia Gunn and said that there was there’s zero beauty at the Oscars parties these days. What happens are all the glamor? Now, she basically says, I’m a little choked up. I feel like it’s dying. There are no more movie stars. There’s no more glamor. Even the Oscar parties used to be so fun, honestly, even though she sounds like she’s saying the last line of Gatsby.

 

Louis Virtel Born ceaselessly into the 1993 Oscars.

 

Ira Madison III Daisy just struck by a car, and she was like, Well, the Oscar parties are gone, she’s not wrong.

 

Louis Virtel The interesting thing about those comments is you can tell it’s set up by the interviewer who asks her beforehand or says no one will ever be as big a star as you were and are because, you know, there’s you know, pop culture is so fragmented now that someone can’t be as centralized as Jennifer Aniston once was. And she was basically responding to that. But at the same time, it is funny to hear her say the Oscars parties used to be so fun because to my eyes, the same people are still going to them like it’s still Demi Moore. It’s still Jack Nicholson, it’s still Daniel Day-Lewis or whomever, you know, Madonna, whatever.

 

Ira Madison III Does she mean that does she mean that we have to do cocaine in private now?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, is that it? Yeah. Is it a discretion thing?

 

Ira Madison III You know, I think maybe there’s more cameras and so other parties aren’t as wild as they used to be.

 

Louis Virtel Is she upset that, you know, she has to talk to David Furnish every time she sees Elton John? Is it more like I would rather just be Elton?

 

Ira Madison III And honestly, it’s funny that, you know, when people were responding, okay, 90s sitcom star with her talking about Oscar parties, but Jennifer Aniston at her height is just being on TV before she was doing movies to get to this were famous don’t like anyone who is like an A-list movie star now.

 

Louis Virtel Totally. No. You know, it sort of shifted something in my mind was when Julianna Margulies told us about filming that movie with Glenn Close, Paradise Road, and she goes, wherever I went, people knew me and not Glenn Close, because all over the world, people watch E.R., whereas not everyone all over the world is watching Dangerous Liaisons or whatever.

 

Ira Madison III You know, Julianna Margulies can beat Glenn Close for an Oscar, is what I’m saying.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Well, that’s a really upsetting thing to say. Not that I’m not a fan of Alicia Florrick, but or Carol Hathaway, or whoever she played on Snakes on a Plane.

 

Ira Madison III Before we start our show, speaking of the Oscars, I do want to shout out that. I would like the Oscars to introduce a horror category.

 

Louis Virtel You think so? You think it’s time?

 

Ira Madison III A horror and thriller category. I think it’s time. I’m always afraid of giving out more Oscars. And I think that we’re at a point now where one, horror movies are so dynamic and interesting and have a lot to say about the world. And two, we’re also getting like a lot of lazy, cheaply made horror films. And I think that if there’s an Oscar category for it, the cream is going to rise to the top.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, I like that. You like this as punishment for people who say every horror movie is a 100.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, the people who say every horror movie is about a hundred like they’re wrong. But people who also in the industry who like, won’t, you know, regard a horror film as fucking excellent are wrong too. I’m saying this because I just saw Mia Goth in Pearl and she is fucking amazing in that film.

 

Louis Virtel No, she’s one of these amazing people as opposed to I enjoy watching her or, you know, she’s good or she’s serviceable. No, there’s something specific and I don’t want to say her talent is multi-faceted, but there’s just something bracing about what she brings to the screen.

 

Ira Madison III And she’s such a film nerd. There was a talk back with her and David Karger and he was like, you know, those sort of classic movies. I have to ask, you know, like while making this, were you inspired to by, you know, like movies of the period? She was like, I like The Wizard of Oz and things. No, I don’t like those kinds of movies.

 

Louis Virtel Wow. In your face, Dave. And me, because Dave Karger is like the other Louis VIrtel in the world.

 

Ira Madison III So yeah, you’re just waiting for him to die.

 

Louis Virtel He’s got a long way to go. He looks amazing and he’s living in Palm Spring, so he’s got to survive a while.

 

Ira Madison III She said no. I was inspired by soaps like Dancer in the Dark and Steve McQueen’s, Shame, which is actually where she got the idea and suggested to Ty to do that like a long monologue that she has in the film. That’s like 12 minutes. She was like, it was great in McQueen’s film, so I want to do it like she’s like a film nerd.

 

Louis Virtel Just not old, old, old, not old. But but let me say this about her. And normally, you know, I would not have this instinct if they do a Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf reboot? She would be a pretty ideal Honey. She’s got that spooky thing, and she’s got that, like, there’s kind of a stage acting thing just about her in general, but like that, what is going on in her head? And we’re sort of on her side. And also she’s got bats in her belfry just like she has the entire Honey brain system going on. I would love to see that. And of course, Helena Bonham Carter would play Martha.

 

Ira Madison III As she would. Okay. I was wondering who you were going to cast for that. Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel Actually, the men will just be eliminated. It’ll just be the two of them.

 

Ira Madison III So I think I think Cate, do a good.

 

Louis Virtel Wait. Blanchett?.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Cate Blanchett.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah. I mean.

 

Ira Madison III It’d be a bit sexier.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III But.

 

Louis Virtel And also she would be 20 years older than Elizabeth Taylor was, who I believe was 33 when she filmed that movie.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. There’s there’s this recent Twitter thread where someone was going over, just like actresses from, like the fifties and forties, like when they were in films of their like minds blown that like some of these actresses were like 19 in this film.

 

Louis Virtel Oh sure.

 

Ira Madison III But but dressed to look like they were 38.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, absolutely no. I mean, even just Betty Davis being 42 in All About Eve is like, think about a 42 year old actress now. I mean, she would never be, as far as I know, would not be treated as washed up that way, you know.

 

Ira Madison III But that’s because we don’t have indoor smoking anymore.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God. Which we lament every week on this show.

 

Ira Madison III All right. In this episode, speaking of actors, speaking of speaking, people who were washed up, but no longer are, Lindsay Lohan is back.

 

Louis Virtel She is. Yes. I didn’t realize we’d be getting basically a direct Overboard remake from her.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So she’s back with a Christmas film. And also, Wakanda Forever is out. The Black Panther Rises Again. Or rather, the Black Pantheress. Yes. I’m obsessed with the word Pantheress.

 

Louis Virtel Spoilers ahead. Pantheress as a word. It’s just so funny.  Feminization of certain words is just lol every time I can’t explain it.

 

Ira Madison III Yes, there’ll be spoilers on the Wakanda Forever conversations, so you just skip that part if you haven’t seen it. But I feel like everyone knows it’s a pantheress because there are only women in this film.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Who the fuck else would it be? Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Also, we’ve got Grammy nominations. Plus, Natasha Leggero is here this week with us.

 

Louis Virtel She is so life giving. I mean, she’s so smart, so funny, and then also brings va va voom. Who was doing that anymore?

 

Ira Madison III Not Jessica Rabbit.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No. As you know.

 

Ira Madison III Certainly not Betty Boop who I’m wearing.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III You know, I wore Betty Boop in honor of Natasha, you know, like 2 va va vooms. Actually, the only person who brings va va voom now is Nicki Minaj on Va Va Voom specifically.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. That’s correct. Va then voom. Yes. As you know.

 

Ira Madison III All right. We will be right back with more Keep It.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III Falling for Christmas and Wakanda Forever. The two contenders for Movie of the Year for both premiered this weekend.

 

Louis Virtel Which is the category at the Oscars movie of the Year.

 

Ira Madison III How do we feel about these equally important films and the returns of our royals, Angela Bassett and Lindsay Lohan? Let’s get into Ms. Lindsay, first. Sure. Because it’s sort of impossible to spoil Falling for Christmas.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, this is it’s not based on like a Dashiell Hammett story. There’s the twists and turns don’t take you to an amazing conclusion you’ll never forget.

 

Ira Madison III There’s one twist.

 

Louis Virtel Correct.

 

Ira Madison III That she gets amnesia when she has a skiing accident and then meets a lovely innkeeper played by Chord Overstreet. And obviously they fall in love that obviously she’ll get her memory back at some point and then have to choose between her old life and the new man.

 

Louis Virtel Right. I would say this. I do remember, I would say great performances from Lindsay Lohan. Mean Girls, I would say she was very winning in The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. I would still say there is a serious hiccup of self-consciousness every time she delivers a line now. And I don’t know that I would consider any moment of hers in this movie great, thoug you can see she is very game for the silliness of the movie, and I think that’s fun to watch. But for the most part, I was like, You don’t have it anymore. That was my feeling.

 

Ira Madison III I feel like she’s giving it more in the social media clips.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Like the thing that she does at Kimmel, you know, or like these. Like the thing that she did at Fallon and like the other, like little things that are online. I just feel like, yeah, the movie, there’s a lot of reticence on her part, and it feels like she’s worried she’s going to fuck up.

 

Louis Virtel Right? Yeah. Yeah. It feels cautious and it feels it just doesn’t have any flair to it. Like, not that it’s supposed to be a hilarious movie, but like there’s a lot of like physical comedy. It’s a very goofy movie and some of that I think she hits, but it’s never laugh out loud. Hilarious either. I should have known, by the way, that there would be an amnesia storyline because her father in the movie is Jack Wagner. Jack Wagner of the soap legend theme of the episode. And also, I hope this gets people to look up the song All I Need again, because that’s one of the great one hit wonders ever.

 

Ira Madison III 84 His Era of Pop’s attempt at pop stardom.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. You know, it’s the time when people like Rick Springfield are leaking into the hot 100. You know, we’re just giving everybody a shot. David Naughton has, you know, Making It was like that guy is so much fun and a Dr. Pepper commercial, he should be on the radio.

 

Ira Madison III That’s because he was Fresco on General Hospital at first, but I know him largely from Melrose Place. Yeah. But, yeah, the the amnesia story is basically overboard, but it’s not. I mean, it’s giving Overboard remake with Anna Faris. You know, it’s not it’s not giving a good Overboard. Yes.

 

Louis Virtel But also, it is eliminating the thing from the original overboard that makes it borderline unwatchable, which is, oh, you’re basically kidnaping and taking advantage of this woman. Whereas in this version, they’re both agreeing to say they don’t know who she is and they’re kind of working together to figure it out, as opposed to Goldie Hawn as my family’s new slave.

 

Ira Madison III I feel like more than just her performance, too, like the entire movie is cautious. I feel like it was very much a Let’s get Lindsay back to the film. Let’s just put it out there. It’s thrown together by Netflix, really, because the script’s not great. There’s no flair in the directing or like anything. And honestly, no shade, but the cast is giving did we shoot this in Vancouver? Just like all of the other people surrounding her character are just sort of. They’re not bringing anything to the table.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III It’s very like TV performances and.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III It doesn’t. It doesn’t feel elevated at all as a film. And there are much better Netflix rom coms. I mean, Do Revenge was better.

 

Louis Virtel To all the boys I love before. Not that I was obsessed with that movie, but that had more of like a groundedness to it.

 

Ira Madison III It had a POV.

 

Louis Virtel Also about this movie. Yes, I will say about this movie, it is also replete with in-jokes about Lindsay Lohan that the entire world would understand. So they’re not even in-jokes about like there’s a scene where she is singing Jingle Bell Rock and she’s like, I love this song. And it’s like, oh, yes, we remember the film Mean Girls. It is. Can I say something? It is actually depressing when people bring up Mean Girls now. We have so beaten the shit out of that horse and as far as I can tell, it is the one movie from 2000 to 2005 that people remember. Maybe outside of Eternal Sunshine. Like nothing else is going on at that time anymore. I must you know, I don’t speak to the Lord of the Rings people, but besides that, nothing is going on. And so to even hear that, it was just like.

 

Ira Madison III There are dozens of us who constantly talk about Swim Fan.

 

Louis Virtel Okay. Sometimes I see that guy at parties and I’m always like, Well, I’m here with the Swim Fan guy. Jesse Bradford, right?

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Jesse Bradford, ex of Azealia Banks. Do you remember when they dated?

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Right. Wow, what an awesome couple.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel But there’s another scene in the movie where she’s wearing a jumpsuit that reminds you of Herbie. And it’s like, All right, let’s keep congratulating these brain dead millennials on remembering the three movies they’ve ever seen.

 

Ira Madison III Honestly, let’s make another Herbie film. Okay. I feel like you want to see. That’s why I want to see Lindsay. Okay. Yeah. Fully loaded. I think we. I think we could load them up some more, Herbie. Even more loads. I am just so .

 

Louis Virtel I Want to Come Second. Yeah. I Want to Come First. The nerve of that song. Really vile. Whoever threw that down her throat. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III The other cautiousness in the script is mainly in her character, too, because she’s supposed to be this selfish, rich bitch. But they also make her so nice. Sort of in the beginning, she sort of just doesn’t know how to do things for herself. But she’s not giving, like, I don’t know, like Fallon and the Dynasty reboot. Who I thought Liz Gillies played like a really good bitch and like updated the character of Fallon in the Dynasty world as opposed to what the original series was like. We’ve see like she wasn’t even giving like Hilary Banks in Fresh Prince, you know, like there’s no like there’s no panache to her rich bitch character. So then when she gets amnesia, she’s just sort of boring, too.

 

Louis Virtel Right? It’s like she’s hoping not to be unlikable, even for a second. So even during the part of the movie where she’s being tended to like she’s in the Material Girl video, she still is like kind of bedazzled by the whole thing and like a little bit shy about it always occurring to her. Whereas that actually narrative wise, it would make more sense if she were a completely different way before the accident. It’s actually a sort of confused movie in that way.

 

Ira Madison III And there’s no real tension, obviously. You know, we know she’s going to get together with Chord, but there’s no real tension when she’s getting the memory back because she’s a perfectly likable person. When she gets her memory back too. Like there should be the tension of, oh, she’s back to being a bitch again, does he even want her?

 

Louis Virtel Right. That was the good part of the bad movie regarding Henry with Harrison Ford. He can’t remember his past or whatever. Then it turns out he was cheating in his real life or something, see that’s good. That’s good.

 

Ira Madison III You know what?

 

Louis Virtel The weird thrillers of 1990. I see you.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of people with amnesia, you know what this movie actually sent me to start watching on Hulu? Samantha Who, which is so fucking funny.

 

Louis Virtel Undersung films and Christina Applegate just got a star on the Walk of Fame. It was good to see her again.

 

Ira Madison III She did. And she has MS now and that fucking sucks.

 

Louis Virtel She just is like a like she was one of those people. It’s like if she had a new show out, you’d be like, Oh, of course, I’m going to watch that. She’s a total pro, you know, she’s great on that up all night. And Jesse. Yep, anytime we gave her something to do, she’d be great at it.

 

Ira Madison III And I. I will always fondly remember seeing her in A Sweet Charity on Broadway, truly one of my first Broadway shows I ever saw. She’s just a light. And Samantha Who was still very funny. The two seasons are on Hulu. Jean Smart is fucking hilarious in it. Jennifer Esposito is hilarious in it. I wish she still acted.

 

Louis Virtel Jennifer Esposito, we talked about her on the podcast once. I thought we were, like, racking our brains for the last time we saw her. I hate when I have that feeling.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Melissa McCarthy’s in it too. She’s great. And honestly, like, Barry Watson is good and I’m always nice to see someone escape the Seventh Heaven ghetto.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, a lot of people, but yeah, a lot of dubious stories coming out of that ghetto. A word I wouldn’t say to describe that, but very well. Are we going to talk about Wakanda Forever now?

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Okay. Wakanda Forever.

 

Louis Virtel Now, let me just say, before we began, I loved the first Black Panther, and I, of course, loved the original book. Wakanda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler. So I was really proud to be a fan of this.

 

Ira Madison III I haven’t thought about that book title in a minute.

 

Louis Virtel It really was super brace. Like, we should’ve brought that up with Natasha.

 

Ira Madison III The way people went for her throat.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I mean, it really is something else. But this movie, it was nice to see the ladies get a lot of emotional stuff to do, but at the same time, I sort of thought this movie was a drag. Like outside of the first 40 minutes where it is not just fun but fucking silly, as in Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright jumping into somebody’s dorm room to shame this girl for how she’s living and and and use her for their big project or whatever. I thought it was mostly like funereal. And here comes a spoiler alert. Guys, I did not come to this movie to watch fucking Angela Bassett die. Who signed me up for that? Absolutely not. She should be in all the movies.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s. I enjoyed the film more than I expected it to. I was really worried about how they were going to deal with Chadwick Boseman. There’s something missing with him not in it. You know, like there’s something missing just about his, like his playfulness, like just a smile that he would have at a scene, the way he would bounce off everyone else. It was obviously, you know, like a sad film. The proceedings were just sort of very dire and drab. And then that, of course, you know, like name thank God for Namor, who is the hottest thing I have seen in film in quite some time. And thank you, Ruth Carter. Thank you, Ruth Carter, for keeping him just in his briefs as he is in the comics. That was great. It was it was fun seeing a new character, a new world being uncovered. But I also wanted to see more of that world. And I will say, for the beginning of the film, the really beginning of the film sort of did that thing where it made me forget I was watching a Marvel movie, but then it becomes more Marvel ified as it goes on. And then by the end, when they’re fighting on the boat, it’s a sort of okay.

 

Louis Virtel Right, no, it definitely gets back to Power Rangers fighting by the end. And I just want to say, speaking of not just Power Rangers, but VR troopers, the often competitor to Power Rangers.

 

Ira Madison III Yes.

 

Louis Virtel I know you remember Ryan Steele, Caitlin Starr, JB Reese. They have these cutaways to like the characters in costume as and you see like Letitia Wright just her eyes while she’s in this fight mode and she’ll like say thing and it looks like Power Rangers when you’re like looking in the Red Rangers eyes and he’s shouting something as the big battle is going on that looks so fucking cheap.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I hate it. It’s like, you know, obviously we got Riri Williams as Ironheart. So she was very fun and I liked her. I like her screen presence. Would love just got to watch the Ironheart series for her to see what else she brings to the table. I liked her original design of the Ironheart costume before she got to Wakanda. It looked cheaper when she got o Wakanda. It looked too sleek and.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III I get it that she’s sort of like, you know, like a new Iron Man, but that having three people in those fucking screens, like doing the thing that like Robert Downey Jr always used to do where he’s just talking from a screen. I was like, We got to do something better than this.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I agree. I also like the costume before then better. That said, a lot of the costumes in this movie I do fucking love. I mean, not to nobody’s surprise. Ruth Carter, of course, nails it, but like Danai Gurira at the beginning of the movie, when she’s wearing the the sort of blazer version of her.

 

Ira Madison III Oh, that was that was such a hot look.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. No, it was it was taking, you know, Black Panther to the boardroom. But, you know, sometimes he has to be. And that was cool to see. It reminded me of my other favorite blazer. Look, Whoopi Goldberg in Soap Dish again, the hottest she’s ever looked.

 

Ira Madison III Hmm. Shout out to soaps as I was realizing, too, that that is a film that only specific gays I think up to our age have seen. It is not a part of gay education.

 

Louis Virtel No.

 

Ira Madison III And it should be

 

Louis Virtel But like we, we pretend like death becomes ah sort of covers it. But there were other things in that vein going on at that time and this one gets lost in the shuffle. No, you can’t say the name Cathy Moriarty to a regular fagot. He’ll explode.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Anyway, Wakanda Forever was enjoyable. I’m glad I went to see it at theaters because I’ve sort of fallen off from Marvel films at the moment.

 

Louis Virtel It’s definitely too long, but there were enjoyable parts. Yes

 

Ira Madison III I tried to feel I tried to watch Thor, Love and Thunder the other week. Couldn’t finish it.

 

Louis Virtel No, it’s okay. That movie calls to mind something I cannot stand about superhero movies is they all have the same sense of humor. It’s always like, So we have the big battle scene and we’re all like big aggro alpha males and females. And then one of them says like self-deprecating joke. And then the more militant one, like, elbows them in the ribs. I hate that buddy buddy kind of comedy. I hate that. I wish there was, like, more sophisticated, interesting ways to break up the action of a movie than with this kind of, like, characters in the office style asides.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, you know, more more resilient isles, you know.

 

Louis Virtel That just came up yesterday. My friend Diablo Cody had the best joke about Resilient Isles, which is she wanted to work on the ad, she wanted to work on the commercials for the movie and say you’ll be resolving in the aisles at this week’s crime caper.

 

Ira Madison III But ah, it does make me miss the buddy films of I Said Black.

 

Louis Virtel Oh writes Wow, you’ve got a Barry Watson and now Shane Black. Yeah, you’re coming the animals.

 

Ira Madison III Do you remember? Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, great. That’s like the best thing Robert Downey Junior ever did.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. And Val Kilmer edits, you know, he’s Val Kilmer or Robert Downey is gay, but gay like hardboiled detective story. It’s it’s so fucking good. And it was Oshea Black’s directorial debut. I don’t know what she’s up to now, I hope making a new film, The 2018 Predator was abysmal. So maybe not. But you know what? Yeah, that the Nice Guys wtih Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling was fucking hilarious.

 

Louis Virtel And you would not associate Russell Crowe with hilarity. You know, I don’t watch The Insider for a yuck, so.

 

Ira Madison III I guess throwing a phone can be funny.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, that’s true. Yeah. Yeah, depending on who catches that or doesn’t catch it.

 

Ira Madison III Also, speaking of her, again,  the Azalea’ beef with Russell Crowe was funny.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, my God. I forgot all about that. Jesus, I need, like, a fucking glossary for her history or a index, a bibliography.

 

Ira Madison III I mean. Lisette I love, but. Kevin Bacon Okay, like we need six degrees of beef with Azealia Banks.

 

Louis Virtel I think we have a market that ourselves.

 

Ira Madison III How connected is a celebrity son started with the big fat.

 

Louis Virtel Oh my God. I think that could work, you know? I mean, you could throw out like Greer Garson connects her to a beef with Azealia Banks. I bet you could do it in three.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Anyway, this is we’re sort of now gearing up towards the other big events of the year, which is sort of like the Oscar movie. So I haven’t seen any of them yet, but I will be. I’m looking forward to a bunch of them, honestly, but a bunch of them. I’m also feeling like from early. Some people, I’m like, I’ll be watching this at home.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, we’ll see. I mean, I will be seeing them all in theaters, but I will be doing some reluctantly, of course. And of course I’ll be rewatching Tar again soon.

 

Ira Madison III It’s on VOD now.

 

Louis Virtel Is it really?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s on VOD now. As soon as I saw that, I was like me and Lydia Tar are about to get cozy tonight.

 

Louis Virtel I say it with Lydia Tar like me to watch that on VOD, though, because as you know, I only do things that she says directly. Otherwise my career will be adversely affected as she promises.

 

Ira Madison III Lydia Tar might not like it, but Cate Blanchett would enjoy it.

 

Louis Virtel That’s probably. True. Yes. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III What’s the movie at home, Louis?

 

Louis Virtel She says, folding her legs for the 80th time, her giant like maroon pantaloons.

 

Ira Madison III When we are back, we’re joined by the delightfully wonderful Natasha Legge.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Louis Virtel Our guest today is a comedian, actress and author who this is what it says doesn’t hold back. You are just like Bill Maher to me. After years of crushing audiences across the country with stand up as well as the historically hilarious show, Another Period, truly a fucking hilarious show. She is back with her new book.

 

Natasha Leggero You wrote on it.

 

Louis Virtel I did. I did that one time. She is back with her new book, The World Deserves My Children out now. It is the indefatigable and fabulous, Natasha Leggero.

 

Natasha Leggero Oh, thank you. That’s funny because I thought it was pronounced indefatigable.

 

Louis Virtel You know, it could be. I feels a little bit more like Cole Porter singsong when you just say indefatigable, you know.

 

Natasha Leggero Indefatigable way.

 

Louis Virtel And that, too. That’s us. You are in the right place.

 

Natasha Leggero Okay. Well, thank you for that.

 

Louis Virtel Can I say, it is not every comedian’s like ambition to write a book like they don’t have it in them. Like, for me personally, I just like to say the joke and then I’m done with my work. But you, it’s such a pleasure to read you on the page. And did you ever did you always consider yourself like a natural author?

 

Natasha Leggero No, it was it was incredibly difficult and painful and lonely. And it’s such a different experience than standup, because standup is like you try to get right to the punchline and you’re very economical and succinct. And a book is like the opposite. It’s like, how do I try to stretch this out and look at it from every angle and make it deeper? And, you know, it’s it’s it’s a totally different experience, one that I would not ever want to repeat.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, well, you barely survived that. Thank you.

 

Natasha Leggero But I will say it was during the pandemic. So I got a little lucky because all of my comedic ideas just sort of the book was almost like a depository for it because usually I would be on stage and performing. So I, I was happy that I got to do all of this, you know, when we were all sort of had nothing to do.

 

Ira Madison III Well, so here’s a question then about that. And what I’ve wondered, too, with comedians who write books, obviously, you know, when you’re on stage, you know, you’re you’re pulling from a lot of material. Do you feel like the book stuff is like off limits or are you like, who cares? I’m just going to use stories from the book when I do stand up again.

 

Natasha Leggero Um, You know, the stories in the book are some, there’s like a little, little bit here and there, but I really tried to make it its own unique thing. I wasn’t, you know, like essays on different aspects, you know, like parenting at the end of the world and freezing your eggs. And but I actually have a bigger problem now, which is my daughter. When I say something she says to a friend, and she hears me and she’s four. She’s like, Mom, don’t tell people what I say. And I’m just like, Oh. Oh. So that’s that’s a new thing that I’m trying to figure out, which I guess is going to result in me not doing a Netflix special and just sort of touring on material about her and then I guess not leaving any trail or trace and then she’ll never know. And I guess I’ll pivot when she’s 12. I don’t know. It’s it’s really challenging. I don’t want her to hate me.

 

Ira Madison III Some no phones concerts, you know, do do some of those.

 

Natasha Leggero Oh, oh, no phones.

 

Ira Madison III No, no, no. Sorry. No phone. So there’s no clips at all.

 

Louis Virtel Madonna 2019 is your Bible. Yes.

 

Natasha Leggero I mean, how much is is the right amount to talk about your because like so much of your life is your child. And, you know, as a comedian and as artists and, you know, you guys know, like, aren’t you just processing what’s happening in your life and talking about it? I mean, that’s that’s how you, you know, create. So it is challenging when someone, even though they’re four, is like, don’t ever talk about me. Um, you know, so, yeah, I’m not exactly sure how to handle that yet.

 

Louis Virtel Now that’s interesting though, because as somebody who’s been on Twitter as long as Ira and I have, like before you had kids, would you see people talking about their kids or maybe like quoting them and and like roll your eyes a little bit. Be like like that person’s milking their kid. I mean, like, I think if you’re telling a story about a kid, that’s one thing. But to be like my kid said this one thing and it was so feminist or whatever it was.

 

Natasha Leggero Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel You ever have like a sour reaction to that?

 

Natasha Leggero It’s funny because Louis, I can tell that you that’s how you feel.

 

Ira Madison III You know.

 

Louis Virtel Am I wearing my feelings on my sleeve?

 

Natasha Leggero Framed as a question. And, you know, no, I don’t really use her quotes to tweet or anything like that.

 

Ira Madison III Right. Right.

 

Natasha Leggero You know, sometimes she’ll say things that are very cutting or, you know, like like when the pandemic was starting to almost be over, but she still had to wear a KN95 mask indoors, at school. And then she said to me one morning, she’s like, Mommy, when the pandemic is finally over, can I wear any mask I want?

 

Louis Virtel Hell, yes, and that’s fine.

 

Natasha Leggero You know, it’s not even funny. It’s just I’ll use it to describe a mood or, like, a vibe or something, but tweeting it out, no. Saying it on stage, yes. So, yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it’s it’s challenging. But also, you know, we have to give them autonomy. And I was hanging out with some woman and she brought her ten year old with and some people were coming up to the ten year old and they’re like, I recognize you from Instagram. And I was like, Oh, God, I don’t want that for my child. I mean, to be honest, I’m trying to keep her in a Waldorf school shielded from technology until high school, but she’ll probably hate me for that. So I don’t know.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, there is the tradeoff with that, right? That like because it’s always so funny to me when I see friends of mine upload photos of their kids to Instagram, but they have like the emoji face covering it or something.

 

Natasha Leggero I know.

 

Ira Madison III It’s like, it’s like just take a photo by yourself at this point.

 

Natasha Leggero I know, I know. And it’s like sometimes the photo is so great, but I guess, I suppose I, I, I prefer that to like showing their, their teenage faces or their ten year old faces because that just seems like you don’t want them to start to get hooked on like seeing especially the girls. Like if people are liking it or I don’t know, I mean, we’re fucked. AI’s coming. I mean, what are we going to do?

 

Louis Virtel Something that I think about with you where I can’t really come up with an answer is, as long as I have watched your comedy, you have always been like fully formed. You are not somebody who had to evolve. A quote I use all the time as Cloris Leachman talking about Paul Lynde said He was born, finished like. And you were always exactly the form you were in. And that makes me wonder who were your actual influences? Like, were there people that made you be like, Oh, that’s the thing I want to do, because I can’t really identify who that would be in my head because you’ve always just seemed like yourself.

 

Natasha Leggero That’s such an interesting question and a huge compliment. And I think that, yeah, when I first got up on stage because I always was into like dressing up and you know, and I remember when I first started standup, I saw this quote and it was like, if you dress like the audience, you become one of them. And I always like had that in my head. Like, I need to always, like, be different or separate myself. And I mean, maybe that’s, that’s not for everybody, but for me it like really kind of rang true. And when I think of all the people like I, I’ve just always been attracted to glamor. But my first couple of years of stand up, I was afraid because I didn’t want to bomb in a costume because you’re not good for a while, you know? So, um, but who are some of my influences? I mean, I. I always just loved, like, glamorous women, you know, uh, Liza minnelli and Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn and Mae West. Like anyone who was, like, over-the-top glamorous. Like, I even remember being lit, like, really little, maybe. I don’t know if you guys have, like, early memories of glamor, but I just remember seeing, like, my nails painted red. Like, maybe I was seven and I had like a gold, a fake gold watch on and, like, looking at my hands and my gold and just thinking, like, I need more of this. How do I get more of this? I mean, I’m sure like Trump had a similar I had a similar experience, but I don’t know. I just always I always had that that energy of wanting that. I don’t know. Do you think that I shouldn’t admit that?

 

Louis Virtel No, it’s telling. That’s how it feels that deeply rooted to me. But you would have to have been that young when you’re like, this is exactly what I’m going to be of.

 

Ira Madison III Though, that even if you said talking about glamor at a young age, actually it’s connected to the pivot I wanted to make to a chapter of your book because I feel like one of my earliest things of glamor was watching soaps with my mom. Like, Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives.

 

Natasha Leggero Yes, me too, Santa Barbara. Did you watch that?

 

Ira Madison III Yes, of course I did. Yes. And see like the glamor that’s in them is specific where it’s like, you know, Marlena or Hope will be dressed up to the nines in their living room during the day when someone comes over to just have a conversation with them. And that was always glamor to me, like wearing heels or like a dress or like jeans in your home already. You’re not lounging around. And you mentioned in your book what you were waitressing, um, a Days of Our Lives actress came in and you asked to get your headshot. So like the casting director, do you remember which actor it was or which character they played?

 

Natasha Leggero Okay, God, that is such a good question.

 

Ira Madison III Because I still watch the show.

 

Natasha Leggero You do?

 

Ira Madison III I do. I do like.

 

Natasha Leggero Why was I?

 

Ira Madison III It’s a perfect lunch break.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a comfort thing.

 

Ira Madison III It is a comfort thing. It’s a perfect like lunchbreak.

 

Natasha Leggero I’m trying to figure out how I watched so much soap operas in seventh grade. Like, weren’t we at school? Like. I’m just so confused by how I just. Cause you have to watch it every day to know what’s happening, right?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I feel like during the summer. And then also sometimes they air.

 

Natasha Leggero You get hooked in the summer.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And then sometimes they air like, what do you get out of school a little early it would still be on T.V.. Like during the school year.

 

Natasha Leggero Okay. So, Vic, wait, is Victor Kirkiakis? Is that Days of Our Lives?

 

Ira Madison III Yes, that is John Aniston, Jennifer Aniston’s dad. And he died yesterday.

 

Louis Virtel May he rest. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero He died yesterday?

 

Ira Madison III He died yesterday. Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero Oh, my goodness. That’s so sad. He was an amazing actor. Um, so I believe the girl was the woman, like the ex-wife of Victor. I don’t remember exactly. I remember he had brown, curly hair.

 

Louis Virtel I must say, this narrows the field down to 36.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, there’s. There’s. There’s Vivian, there’s Kate, there’s Carly. These are the ex-wives.

 

Natasha Leggero Ira, you’re killing me with this. It’s still does something for you?

 

Ira Madison III It does. It does. I feel like I started with my mom and grandmother watching and that my family, my extended family would watch, like, on holidays. Like all the women in the family watched it. And I come from a family of like, largely women, except for my grandfather. And so, like watching them all the time, it was my way of having adult conversations with the women in my family. I feel like because when they would be gossiping and talking about adult things, they’d also be talking about the soaps that they were watching. And so by watching, I feel like I then got to slip into the adult conversations that were going on. And then what happened is you watched during the summer, and then friends, weirdly enough, friends in college would watch the shows, too. So after that, like, I was just hooked.

 

Natasha Leggero That’s so interesting that you mentioned soap operas because I did kind of grow up on them, but I never really made the association of the glamor so that. Thank you.

 

Louis Virtel Speaking of glamour, I want to talk about another period for a second, because I can think of no, there’s no other way to put this better project for you. Like it was a combination of the like over-the-top glamor thing mixed with the like hilarious buffoonery thing and rarely do those two things I think go together that like, coherently. Is it is it literally daunting to come up with new projects for yourself after that because it’s such a perfect fit for you?

 

Natasha Leggero I know I realized when we were shooting at Sundance here in this beautiful mansion and everyone’s like princess costumes, and then the crew would walk by and they’re like plaid and kind of like, ruin the vibe. And I just remember thinking, like, we purposely did a show where we just, like, are literally like princesses all day long. So, yeah, it is. It is challenging. I mean, what’s better than that show is really just the podcast. As you guys know, it’s like the easiest thing to do. Like, I have a podcast with my husband and the Endless Honeymoon podcast and like that to me is like the perfect thing as well because I can just be myself. But yes, I love physical comedy. I love, you know, the glamor and the social commentary. And I wish that it wasn’t, you know, behind nine paywall. But, you know.

 

Louis Virtel That is a confusing thing.

 

Natasha Leggero Maybe next time.

 

Louis Virtel Comedy Central, I know, by the way, but I met you right on that show. That’s the only job where I’ve been asked, what do you know about the Gilded Age? And I hope I hope more employers in the future ask me that because I was like racking my brain. I was like William Jennings Bryan, you know, the the St Louis World’s Fair, etc.. I was like I was like trying to come up with stuff.

 

Natasha Leggero I mean, the main thing you need to know about the Gilded Age is that it was like a time in history where everyone figured out they didn’t pay taxes yet. And so, you know, we’ve actually come full circle back to the wealth of the Gilded Age, where, like, people were living in these crazy houses and having, like, you know, tons of servants. I mean, there’s not that many people living like that, like in Montecito, I’m sure, like Gwyneth. And, you know, there’s there’s plenty of women who are still are people living in this kind of world. But I think that it’s going and then, of course, all of the Silicon Valley people like it’s all just going to happen again, I guess the disparity. But but yeah. So it was more like the economic point of the gilded age of that. Like, you know, people were literally not paying taxes, but they aren’t now. So it’s. You know, we’re back. We’re back, baby.

 

Ira Madison III What I try to think about, what I know about the Gilded Age. And I haven’t even watched the HBO show. I feel I think about the fact that particularly I feel like our age group, the books that we read in school, like middle school and high school, were all Gilded Age books, and they pretty much have stayed the same way. Like it’s Gatsby, Wharton, you know, like Ernest Hemingway. It seems like American education is stuck on the Gilded Age. That’s just.

 

Natasha Leggero You must have gone to a good school, cause I didn’t read that stuff until college.

 

Louis Virtel Wow, really?

 

Ira Madison III Wow.

 

Louis Virtel They stuck us with that stuff in suburban Chicago.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, in Milwaukee as well.

 

Louis Virtel A lot of Edith Wharton. A lot of Edith Wharton. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Louis Virtel I also associate you, of course, historically with the Chelsea Lately roundtable. And you were the Yale of the Chelsea Lately roundtable. If I tuned in, and you were there, I was like, Oh, we’re getting jokes. And it’s going to be like on point and she’s going to have heard of this before. So I want to thank you for that. But do you?

 

Natasha Leggero I know. But I think of all of the things I said, like I’m like, is someone going to make a compilation and they just put it out there like, you know, I worked with Jessica Simpson last week and I was like, I hope she hasn’t like watched.I remember she was like a topic for like two months.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero Like Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse. Like all these people. Like, I just feel like it was just a different time where you didn’t quite think about like we were all less empathetic, I think.

 

Louis Virtel I also feel like we were really coming off a time when, like things like the Comedy Central roasts were really popular. So it was just all about like go as hard as possible because somehow we accept that. That means you’re joking even harder, even if it’s completely mean.

 

Natasha Leggero But exactly, exactly. And now. Now I want to do a show where I just make fun of houses that feels like safes.

 

Louis Virtel True. That’s definitely true. But as you said before, you love doing your podcast. Do you miss anything about like panel shows being sort of central in comedy?

 

Natasha Leggero Right. There aren’t a lot of them anymore.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero I mean, I guess I, I, I miss like being able to go there, I guess, you know, because I do feel that now when you do a panel show, they’re like, okay, but can you make it nice? They’re not mentioned drinking or can you? We’re friends with them. So, you know, it’s just like there’s just a million reasons why not to say anything. So I guess, you know, it’s a good time to, uh, pivot, retire. I don’t know. Write a book. Write a book. Uh, it’s. It’s definitely challenging. I mean, what do you think? Do you miss roundtables? I mean, I. I don’t miss, like, digging on people, I suppose, but.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I miss the kind of, like, rowdy nature of a show, like from the seventies, like The Match Game or something where it seemed like everybody was just hanging out and whatever drunk on absinthe or whatever they played them with at the time. But but I think podcasts generally do fill the niche, generally speaking.

 

Natasha Leggero Yeah, yeah. And yeah, they’ve taken over, right? I mean, it’s like.

 

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

 

Natasha Leggero I just now I’ve been listening to you guys podcast. I want to listen to it every week. I’m like, there’s so many podcasts I want to listen to every week. It’s like, how do how do we do it? How do we I, I guess just like always having an earbud in and just sort of pretending like you’re listening to your family is, is one way to do it.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, I assume the deal is like this has to be a female led thing. Like some people are just able to multitask. I personally cannot listen to like actual conversations or actual comedy and then do anything else. But like all the women in my life seem to be able to do so well.

 

Natasha Leggero That just means you’re very in the moment, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel I you know, my artistry very urgent. Yes, right. I’m like Marina Abramovic. Yeah. You have to be present for it.

 

Ira Madison III Speaking of what you said, too, about, you know, like the work on panel shows and then, you know, like you’re like, oh, I’m working with Jessica Simpson this week. Like, I hope she hasn’t heard anything. You know, have you ever had a moment from, like, that era of stand up or, you know, like the Chelsea Lately Show or some other thing where you, like, joked about someone and then had to work with them after and they specifically remembered you saying something? Or have you been lucky to escape that?

 

Natasha Leggero No, I have escaped it. But like now that I’m mentioning it, mentioning it on your show, I’m like some bored person is going to put together a compilation. It’s really, I mean, it’s hard because it’s like I, yeah, I, I guess I am. I’m afraid to like everyone’s like, I want to make fun of Tik Tok and people are like, No, not Tik Tok and it’s just everybody loved things in this. Like TikTok is like this god now. And I, I, I tried to go on, on the flight yesterday because everyone keeps telling me it’s fun, you’ll love it. And I’m just like, it’s bad music. It’s like a bunch of Kardashian children. It’s like, I don’t really bad makeup. Like, I, I don’t really it reminded me of, like, America’s Funniest Home Videos or something, but like, like younger people, it was. It was just like, I, I can’t I can’t go. I can’t do it. What do you guys think is there’s something, am I wrong?

 

Louis Virtel I keep hearing that if you go on it enough algorithmically, it will give you something of intelligence that you care about. But I just don’t want to put in that work. And.

 

Ira Madison III So.

 

Louis Virtel Also, like, I just would prefer like Twitter jokes in a weird way. I’m a weird like apologist for Twitter, which is, by the way, among the uncoolest things you can say, so.

 

Ira Madison III I like Tik Tok in that, but my specific TikTok times are like right before bed or like I’m stoned on the couch when I don’t want to be reading things on Twitter, but I feel like my algorithm has got me to, I do less of the like America’s Funniest Home Videos kind of thing. It’s like I feel like the funniest people on Tik Tok are the people who use their stream of consciousness and just sort of say things and then it’s very brief, almost like you are watching them tweet it out, but they’d rather just say it like, I enjoy that. And then I get like a lot of random, like dancing and cooking videos.

 

Natasha Leggero So I wish you could, like, checkboxes, and you wouldn’t have to wait for an algorithm to pick like.

 

Ira Madison III These are my interests.

 

Natasha Leggero Like if there was like a tier, like, what’s the highest tier? What’s the snobbiest version of TikTok that you could possibly feed me? You know, that would be nice.

 

Ira Madison III But one thing I like is they actually have they’re actually I see a lot more standups now because.

 

Natasha Leggero Oh that’s good.

 

Ira Madison III They started. Well, a lot cause a lot of like Comedy Central and other places have started uploading clips from people’s standup specials. And so that they’re like, they come into my algorithm a lot. So I do just see a lot of people doing jokes.

 

Natasha Leggero Okay, well, you know what? I mean, it’s just like we have to be able to pivot. And it is like I remember reading this Debbie Harry article, like when I was doing a music festival and they were asking for something and she was like, The biggest advice I can say is, don’t be afraid of technology. And I was like, wow, like a 70 year old woman is like saying like, you know, just like always try to, like, embrace it. And I was like such a weird thing because I would imagine someone like her would be the opposite. And, you know, it’s it’s inspiring when you see that people have that point of view because I feel like such a Luddite and it definitely holds me back. Um, but, you know, if focusing on the positive, I think with technology would be good until the robots come because then there’s, what are we going to do?

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, they win. Right. My last question for you is obviously your podcast with Moesha is so great. I’m sure Ira has too. I have been on Love It or Leave It With him a number of times. I’ve known him over the years. What projects have you yet to do with him that you would like to do?

 

Natasha Leggero Oh, I am trying to cap it, honey. I’m good. We have a podcast. It’s twice a week. We take we have like a secrets hotline. So it’s like there are so many things you want a husband to do for you, you know, like with the kid and with the house and with, you know, his share of what we’re trying to like, you know, just like keeping the keeping things like afloat and out of it. We’re still in survival mode that the creative stuff piled on top of it can be very challenging. So I actually try to use the podcast as a way to, um, you know, kind of hijack him with some of the issues I have like almost of couples therapy. So if I bring him something in the podcast and he doesn’t know about it, then people can weigh in and oftentimes humiliate him into not doing the thing anymore. So I’ve actually found it to be like a really useful tool in our relationship. But in terms of doing more things, no, I think I’m good. No more kids, no more. I don’t know. Maybe if he wrote a movie, I would like do a part, but not if he’s directing it.

 

Louis Virtel That’s nice that you’re just like, I use the podcast to pillory my husband and he in return becomes better. That’s nice. Productive.

 

Natasha Leggero Because, you know, I don’t know what he thinks is normal. Like, you know, he was using my toothbrush, like, every day for, like, a year. And I, like mentioned on the podcast, and people were like, across the board, like, no, this is not something you do, you know.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. That’s curtains. So I think that’s that’s does that is that is that is like body horror or I’m seeing like, what do you see anyone lift up your own toothbrush, you’re like, please stay away from that.

 

Natasha Leggero How about when you put it in your mouth in the morning and it’s soaking wet?

 

Louis Virtel Absolutely not. Oh, God, it’s giving Cronenberg. I can’t.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero But he was so shamed and horrified in a way that he does not get because he like, you know, he’s the person. He always wins every argument. He’s he’s so articulate. And he just he went out and bought, like, 40 toothbrushes. I’m not kidding. Just like and just to have him there so that he could, like, always know where he could find one if he needed to. Like, he has not done it since. And yeah, it was really effective.

 

Louis Virtel I say it was worth it. Good.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero Definitely worth it.

 

Louis Virtel Natasha, thank you so much for being here and for just being exactly Natasha Leggero. You are hilarious consummately and of course her book The World Deserves My Children is out now.

 

Natasha Leggero Thank you guys so much. You are so funny. I love your podcast and thank you for making time for for little old me.

 

Louis Virtel My God. Please

 

Ira Madison III Of course.

 

Louis Virtel We always are bandying like, who should the third permanent host be if we have one? You should come on whenever you want. That’s how I feel.

 

Natasha Leggero I’ll come guest host whenever you need.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah.

 

Natasha Leggero Okay. Awesome, you guys. Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III Bye.

 

Louis Virtel Thank you.

 

Ira Madison III [AD]

 

Ira Madison III So Beyonce has officially broken Jay-Z’s record as the most nominated artist in Grammys history. But who gives a fuck. Where are the videos?

 

Louis Virtel Also, that’s really strange that she wasn’t number one before. Given how many times she won. But anyway, let the record of the year show that she is now in the lead.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, the Grammys are back and we’re always reminded how much I don’t really care about this show.

 

Louis Virtel I mean, talk about an awards show where my interest in it has just hyperbolically dropped over the years it has. There’s a lot of factors. It’s the amount of nominations. It’s the amount of categories. I mean, I’m looking at record of the year right now and it’s, what are we at? A full dozen. It’s just it’s literally the records of the year. Here are the records we remembered from this year. And so it just and and yet also they continue to reward at the top these like monoculture type superstars where I’m sorry, Taylor Swift just does not deserve three album of the year wins. It’s fucking weird to me. It’s strange. I’m not saying she’s not extremely popular and talented and has a lot of fans, but when you look back at this category and she comes up three times over the past ten years, it makes you think there simply wasn’t that much music out there. And there was.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, listen, she is the music industry at this point.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, trust me. When I look at those charts and she’s the top ten on the billboard, whatever, I just want to throw my hands up. It’s not that she’s not, but it’s like if we decided, you know, the Mercury Prize should go to Shawn Mendes, it’s like, yup, he’s he’s good at what he does. Sounds great on the record. I’m truly a big star, and yet I find there is something lacking that awarding other people would remedy.

 

Ira Madison III Well, in other news. If Taylor Swift is the music industry, than Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K. are the comedy industry, they’re the backbone.

 

Louis Virtel Good Lord. Did you watch his SNL monologue this past weekend?

 

Ira Madison III Absolutely not.

 

Louis Virtel I actually did. First of all, it has to be among the longest monologues ever in in the history of SNL. It’s something like 14 minutes long.

 

Ira Madison III I thought it was the whole episode. Wouldn’t it be great if he just went up and he just started talking and that it was an hour.

 

Louis Virtel And the other cast members just went home, you sound like Heidi Gardner in the audience. Just sort of shuffle on out midway through. Yeah. Anyway, best comedy album this year is Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan, Patton Oswalt, familiar names and Randy Rainbow. Wow. To it, Randy Rainbow is just some guy we know on Twitter. He’s like sitting over there, basically, and now he’s in the ranks of these people. So I guess that’s a thumbs up to homosexuality.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. And about his funny.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, no.

 

Ira Madison III He’s. He he’s one of those people where I think, like, his prime demo became like 50 something liberals and they like that particular amount of on the nose content. And I think he’s had to keep feeding that over the years. I sort of remember him being like ten years ago. I mean, I guess he had some tweets that were unearthed that were unsavory. But I remember him sort of being like more like traditionally just gay for gay content once upon a time.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, she sucks.

 

Louis Virtel Ira, you mustn’t say that.

 

Ira Madison III I’m over the rainbow. Okay, call me Dorothy.

 

That’s what that song is about. Yeah. And Judy, when she’s singing, that’s what it’s about.

 

Ira Madison III So what actually, what was Chapelle’s monologue about? I saw the controversy from it, some of the controversy, but I also ignored the tweet because I also just don’t care about that man anymore.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Well, he was going on about Kanye for a while and he actually had one joke I liked, which was he said he grew up among Jewish people. And by the way, almost every time he goes into like a comedy set that ends up being controversial afterwards, he always begins with blank and blank are my friends. Like it’s like he’s setting you up for like the offensive content. But anyway, he said, I grew up around Jewish people and I learned about them that way. And I would have questions like, Why did some of you dress like Run-D.M.C.? Okay, funny. Okay, funny. That speaks to me. But then as he went on, he sort of like did this thing where he was like, I’m just saying, you’ve ever been to Hollywood. Like, there’s a lot of them out there and it’s like, okay, but the joke is, but seriously, I’m stoking these anti-Semitic feelings that people have and that are have been magnified in a large way by Kanye West, who I’m allegedly taking down right now. That comes back to it at the end. It was ultimately gross from somebody who I guess doesn’t get on stage unless he can get under people’s skin, because that’s what people of a certain age think is the same thing as being good.

 

Ira Madison III Well at least trans people got a break.

 

Louis Virtel They’re off the clock right now. Yeah. Like they they say at a sleep. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III He wasn’t attacking them. I mean, but, you know, shout out to Jewish trans people who obviously felt double attacked. So.

 

Louis Virtel You’re seen, etc.. Okay. Yes. Moving on back to Grammy nominations, but like best R&B performance, there’s some things going on here. You got Beyoncé with Virgo’s Groove. This feels good. But she’s up against Jasmine Sullivan. Never mind. I thought it was going to be money in the bank, but you never know.

 

Ira Madison III Let me tell you something. I had taken a break from that lady’s album as you know, and she was tiring me out while waiting for the visuals to arrive. But I listened to just Virgo’s Groove yesterday because someone tweeted it out and I was like, Yeah, this song so fucking good.

 

Louis Virtel That song takes you away.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, it’s just, it’s. It’s really a phenomenal song, and I can’t wait for years down the line to still be listening to it. So it’s this is a reminder that yes, I fucking love Renaissance and I’m excited for Beyoncé at the Grammys. But also I don’t trust the Grammys.

 

Louis Virtel Correct. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Because they played her they played it on her face before.

 

Louis Virtel No. Right. And also, this is just one of those years where, again, Adele is in contention and I’m looking at the best pop vocal album category where it’s Abba’s Voyage, an album I’m happy exists, and that’s where the compliments end. Adele’s 30. Coldplay at Music of the Spheres right there around Harry Styles, Harry’s House. I wonder if that’ll get it or Lizzo’s Special, which I feel like there’s too much on the nose messaging and Lizzo’s album, but I feel like the Grammys would be attracted to that. As for Harry Styles, I guess the strength of that single, which is still lingering in the top ten. I am blown away by how popular As It Was is. It is not like a bad song, but it just makes you feel like, are there only four songs at the moment? Why are we still spinning that one?

 

Ira Madison III He is still touring yet and selling out stadiums like is massive. Dua LIPA is also still touring by the way, which is wild to me. Like that album is still carrying.

 

Louis Virtel What the fuck? What fagots have not seen her in concert yet? Is she in like Chechnya?

 

Ira Madison III I think she’s in South America right now.

 

Louis Virtel There you go.

 

Ira Madison III But I will also say, listen, I’m Ready One cold player. But yeah, this album wasn’t for me.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, really?

 

Ira Madison III I just haven’t really listened to it that much. You know, I haven’t been in the mood. I haven’t been in a Coldplay mood, but maybe once the winter hits, you know, as like in wandering around like cold New York City streets, then I’ll want to listen to some Coldplay.

 

Louis Virtel By the way, I put something together last week. I brought this up before how I’m really into Phoenix’s new album, which has a song featuring Ezra Koenig.

 

Ira Madison III But shocks me every time you mention it.

 

Louis Virtel I know, right? They put out the album I wanted from Charlie Puth.

 

Ira Madison III Hmm.

 

Louis Virtel That’s what I can say about this album if you haven’t listened to it yet.

 

Ira Madison III I haven’t listened to it. I’m going to listen to it.

 

Louis Virtel I have to tell you, something’s going to happen for you. You’re going to be like, I did not know they had it in them.

 

Ira Madison III Okay. Lizzo was nominated as well for Special, which is interesting because as much as I like that album, I feel like it’s sort of vanished.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Granted, it did come out right, like the week before Renaissance or so, but just like it sort of has left no dent. Besides about that. Besides about that time which you cannot escape.

 

Louis Virtel Which, no, it is really shocking. To me, I was surprised that was the first single because the sound of it is I wouldn’t call it disco, but there’s like a Nile Rodgers, the kind of Daft Punk vibe that almost felt like retro to me. I felt like maybe eight years out of date or ten years out of date, even if it’s a really good song. Meanwhile, all that song does is, hold on, I can’t I’m going to go to Starbucks right now when it’s on. I’m going to go to CVS right now and it’s on. So, I mean, I simply wouldn’t have made that A&R choice if I were her. And that’s I’m surprised it did that well. I do love the song.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. It’s a really good song. I mean, I generally like the album. I just don’t listen to it anymore.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Mm hmm. Yeah, because I think the album’s only okay. And that song is great. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. I’m excited that my kings, the Arctic Monkeys are nominated for.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah,  imagine if they weren’t? They’re sort of Grammy mainstays, actually.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. They’re also mainstays of people who it is difficult to get concert tickets for. Arctic Monkeys, Paramore, the mele that’s happening on social media right now with like truly, everyone in their mother trying to get a Taylor Swift ticket and also revealing themselves as Taylor Swift fans. I’ve actually loved this era of Taylor because Folklore wasone thing, we were all at home and people were just listening to it, whatever. But like, people have come out in force. It’s like, I got to get a Taylor Swift ticket. And I’m like, I didn’t even know you listen to her.

 

Louis Virtel Right. I will say that I do think the concept of a quote unquote Eras tour is inherently funny because anybody putting out a tour is doing all of their old music. So to say, like, this one’s going to be about the different eras I’ve had. Right. You mean a concert?

 

Ira Madison III Well, an eras tour is antithetical to a Madonna concert.

 

Louis Virtel Well, yes, unless she’s doing, like, the Reinvention tour or something.

 

Ira Madison III True.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. I’ve always been into that about Madonna that she for a long time was like, I’m not a jukebox of my old hits or whatever. And I think she also had a lot of disdain for her older songs for a long time, unless they were ballads. She’s always been a fan of Like Crazy for You, and she’s always liked Holiday, for example, which is not a ballad. No, but like the Madame X tour was Madame X and then like a light smattering of other songs and my God, I wish it were a heavy smattering.

 

Ira Madison III And I think it’s also largely for the fact that I always, when I think about Madonna concerts for the nineties are I always think of like the Blond Ambition tour. And then I sort of forget that she did the Girlie Show tour nin 93 around Erotica, which sort of like had all that backlash. And then she, you know, that tour was 93 and then her next fucking tour was Drowned World in 2001. And I can imagine being our age then. And the last fucking time you got to see Madonna was 93, or maybe you even missed it. And then the Drowned World Tour comes out and it’s like, Bitch, you not going to play a single old song.

 

Louis Virtel Right? No. Because then she could only.

 

Ira Madison III That was rude.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Because she basically was only touring Music, Ray of Light and then Bedtime Stories. There were a couple of those songs from that time, but you didn’t get to hear whatever Open Your Heart, for example.

 

Ira Madison III I mean, even looking at her setlist for that as she gives you like Act Four was called Spanish Girl, Ghetto Girl.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, my God. I can just picture her writing that down proudly. That’s,  you did get, you did get La Isla Bonita in that section, though. That’s the one throwback.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You got the Spanish version of What it Feels Like for a GIrl, Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina and Holiday.

 

Louis Virtel So my favorite Spanish anthem. Yes, right.

 

Ira Madison III My favorite my favorite ghetto girl song. You know, because. What, what, what? What? Well, what do the girls of the ghetto like to do? Well, they like to go on the holiday.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, God.

 

Ira Madison III Man, I got to get out of this ghetto. I need a holiday, and then you just hear Madonna singing Holiday, in the distance.

 

Louis Virtel This makes me think there should be a movie called Mrs. Harris Leaves the Ghetto. Get back, Lesley Manville. Get Back Isabelle Huppert.

 

Ira Madison III It’s a musical now.

 

Louis Virtel And wait. What is this here? Under best arrangement instruments and vocals. Christine McVie, Songbird Orchestral Version. It has been ages since I have touted the Bible of Christine McVie, my favorite member of Fleetwood Mac. She released a solo album for the first time in ages this year. I think she’s coming up on an 80 years old in  2023 too. I am so excited to see her having this moment. She’s one of these people where you’re constantly whenever she’s brought up or you bring up her songs, you know, Say You Love Me or You Make Loving Fun or Everywhere or whatever, the first phrase out of everybody’s mouth is oh, yeah, she’s underrated. Oh, yeah. I forget about her sometimes. Meanwhile, she’s like a frontwoman and one of the most popular bands of all time. It makes no sense. I’m not I’m not saying this to denigrate Stevie, but I’m happy for her in this moment.

 

Ira Madison III You know what? I do prefer Stevie, but I do love a Christine McVie song.

 

Louis Virtel Please Little Lies or.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, she could. She wrote Little Lies.

 

Louis Virtel Absolutely.

 

Ira Madison III Everywhere.

 

Louis Virtel She actually wrote most of their top charting songs. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

 

Louis Virtel Don’t stop. Right?

 

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. She’s. She’s an icon. So we love. We love. I have McVie-ver. Okay.

 

Louis Virtel How have I not said that out loud? Really upsetting that you would have to say that for me.

 

Ira Madison III I was in my head before I said it. I was like, Surely Louis has said this before because we’ve talked about McFever.

 

Louis Virtel Right. Right. Which there is no cure. And also just kill yourself.

 

Ira Madison III So who knew that Taylor would end up being the rightful winner? Taylor Hicks.

 

Louis Virtel In this case?

 

Ira Madison III eah.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. I don’t like to think about that either. Season five is when it got a little stinky over on American Idol.

 

Ira Madison III By the way.

 

Louis Virtel Beforehand. Season four had some fucking losers, by the way, but well get into that another time.

 

Ira Madison III By the way, speaking of season five, I don’t know. I had to bring this up in our interview. Paris Bennett.

 

Louis Virtel Love her.

 

Ira Madison III Is from it’s from Rockford where Natasha’s from.

 

Louis Virtel Natasha Leggero.Yes. Yeah. Paris Bennett. One of the great auditions of all time.

 

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. And I think she got fifth place.

 

Louis Virtel She did. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III What? One day. One day. We’re just going to turn this into a American Idol rewatch podcast.

 

Louis Virtel I think what I would want is we would take we would get like the ten finalists of the top 12, have them on our show in a Zoom format and give them one question each and go in reverse like 12th to first.

 

Ira Madison III I would love that.

 

Louis Virtel I think that’s like what we were born to do.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, we’ve but we’ve been threatening, like going deep on American Idol for a long time. So I think I think we could get a good few good people.

 

Louis Virtel I think we should call it the old D’Guad. And it’s that’s my reference to Kara DioGuardi and that’s what I call us at our spare time.

 

Ira Madison III I call us the Simon Reverse Cowell girl.

 

Louis Virtel That’s also our roller derby team.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Before we get to the big categories, I will say that best score soundtrack for visual media, we have Encanto, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, the Batman and Succession Season three. And now you know I’m a Britell filter. I love Nicholas Britell. So we’re just coming out with all of the fan names this week. Oh, I love Nicholas Britell. But let me tell you something. Michael Giacchino did things to me with that score for the Batman. Like, it’s actually the best part of the film.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right now I would say the best part of that movie is the mood setting, you know?

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, that.

 

Louis Virtel Grizzly gray detective story is sort of.

 

Ira Madison III I’m as long as it is. I was like, I put it on a plane or I put it on to get at home. And I think just the mood and the music of it, like the rhythm of that film makes it easily rewatchable.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, I would say in that way it’s most comparable. The Black, the original Black Panther, where it’s like musically, something is going on in that movie that takes you on a singular journey that removes it from just being a superhero movie.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, there wasn’t a lot of it wasn’t a lot of memorable music in Wakanda Forever, although I will say shout out to them using a song from Snow The Product. Who is a rapper that I love. She’s fantastic. A Spanish rapper. Oh.

 

Louis Virtel You didn’t love the other Rihanna song.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. So Album of the Year. We’ve got Abba, Adele, Bad Bunny, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, Harry Styles.

 

Louis Virtel And that’s about everybody. I want to also say Brandi Carlile. I’m not saying she’s not miraculously talented. She is one of these John Legend people or Alison Krauss people who I think just lives at the Grammys and they’re like, it would be awkward if we didn’t give her nominations. She’s like, on the stage right now. It’s like she has Airbnb squatters rights or something.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. On the stage right now. Right next to H.E.R.

 

Louis Virtel Yes. Oh, yes.

 

Ira Madison III Who’s preparing to present and/or win an award. And she’s not even nominated.

 

Louis Virtel Also, Brandi Carlile is one of these like I don’t want to say nefarious people, but it feels like she’s always whispering in some legends ear. She’s like, here I am working with Joni Mitchell. Here’s Bonnie Raitt. Here’s whomever. She has like, she’s, like, coerced her way in with everybody. Again, it’s not that she’s not talented. I just think something. She’s a killer. I’m just saying she’s going to kill all these people. She has easy access and she’s going to do it.

 

Ira Madison III Watch out for the killer. The killers covered. Obviously, I’m rooting for Beyonce. I don’t know what kind of chicanery will be going on this year, but if Renaissance doesn’t get it, well, I will be taking to the streets unless there are no visuals by the time the Grammys roll around. In which case, I’ll say that’s what you get.

 

Louis Virtel Also, by the way, do people even really like that Adele album? It was.

 

Ira Madison III No, it was. Did she like it? Yeah. No, she didn’t even tour off of it.

 

Louis Virtel Never  to put it out. No, no. You know, she was like on the fence about it. That’s what happened. I’m even on the fence about that song. That’s like 37 weeks at number one or whatever fucking happened with Easy on Me. Meanwhile, everybody, it’s a critical smash Renaissance. So it would be I have my hand in back slap formation, ready to attack the entire Grammy voting committee.

 

Ira Madison III All right. Those are the Grammys. All right. When we’re back, Keep It. And we’re back with our favorite segment of the episode. It’s Keep It Louis, what are you keeping this week?

 

Louis Virtel We just have to get this out of the way. I’m going to waste an entire Keep It on this. Let’s just say Keep It to everything occurring with Twitter. I’m going to go through a few of the highlights of the past couple of weeks. Elon Musk agrees to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Walks into Twitter HQ with a bad joke, immediately fires top Twitter execs. He then asks users for $20 for verification, then asked users for an $8 verification badge. Then they laid off 33,700 employees, which the company is now being sued for, which of course, they would be sued for that insane move on his part. Several prominent celebs and comedians have their accounts suspended or banned, including Kathy Griffin. Twitter adds a secondary official verification badge in addition to the first gets rid of the second badge. Hours later, Musk calls a town hall meeting for employees, informing them that bankruptcy isn’t out of the question for the platform. Amazing. And also ending remote work for all because that’s going to help. An internal report warns that the FTC could be investigating the company for billions of dollars in fines. Twitter Blue is suspended for all users. Twitter lays off 5000 more employees. All because one man would love to be cool. He would love for you to be like he did it again with his space sprockets and his crazy, you know, fantabulous inventions, sending people to every which planet. There is no reason this man should be in charge of this service, which I am now in the unfortunate position of defending, because there is something to me that I like about Twitter and continue to like about Twitter, which is there is such a cacophony of noise from news media, from people, from brands. And the thing about Twitter is it relegates everyone to turn taking like nobody is dominating your feed at any one time. You know, you’re not stuck watching a video, really. You can move right on past it. And so to me, there’s something ideal just about the way the information is presented, or at least it’s pleasing to me. I’m not saying it’s not full of horrible people or people saying horrible things, but the Internet is full of those things, too. And I’m not saying that Twitter has historically done a good job of dealing with things like bigotry or abuse or threats of violence or whatever. Obviously, that’s a concerning thing. But it just really actually does make me a little sad to think that Twitter could be I don’t know if it’s going to disappear in the next two weeks. That feels a little doomsday to me. But I do have to say, in the future it will be funny trying to explain Twitter to people because it really was like. You would watch the Emmys make a joke about Amy Sherman-Palladino and hope Patton Oswalt liked it enough to share it. That was the point of Twitter. That’s why we did it. And by the way, that’s how, you know, Elon Musk is not a real one. Comb his Twitter for jokes about Amy Sherman-Palladino you will find nil.

 

Ira Madison III You’re absolutely right. The fact that Elon Musk is desperately trying to be cool, he’s desperately trying to be Twitter’s bad character every day. He thinks he’s funny. He is absolutely not funny. He is frankly a loser.

 

Louis Virtel Yes, he is. He is maybe the most famous loser alive. And I’m Donald Trump and him are fighting. But I mean, it’s that like literally loser thing.

 

Ira Madison III Now, unfortunately, Donald Trump is actually funny.

 

Louis Virtel That is true. He is a straight bitch, which is a rare breed of a funny person.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. Yeah, he is. Bitch is the perfect definition. Like with Donald Trump goes after you with a joke. You are going to laugh and you’re going to be like, Oh, wow, that was actually a good one. Elon Musk has never made me laugh. Do you remember his horrendous SNL episode?

 

Louis Virtel Oh, right. And he brought his mom up on stage, which was such a cloying plea for, like, find me likable, find me relatable, whatever. It was so horrible.

 

Ira Madison III Because maybe one of the only people who wants to be as cool as he always wants to be cool is Lorne Michaels.

 

Louis Virtel Right. I have a friend at work who does an amazing impression of him that I would like to invoke right now. But he’s like, you know, Elon, we laugh. I can’t even do it. I sound like a bird. I can’t do it

 

Ira Madison III I also sometimes forget what Lorne Michaels looks like. And I think of Mayor Bloomberg. I don’t know they’re both the same person in my head.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah. Well, they’re certainly like, you’ve never seen them out of a suit, that kind of vibe.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. She wants to be funny. He wants to be cool. He. This is. It’s the way it’s imploding is so funny to me. Because it just feels like.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah.

 

Ira Madison III Every day there’s a new sort of like, like like the Bastille is being stormed here. This is.

 

Louis Virtel Totally.

 

Ira Madison III This is this is a different chaos every day. There were more people fired this morning while we recording because he didn’t like the way that they were talking about him in Slack and people were like, Twitter is always sort of been like a place where you could criticize your boss or things and like no more. I mean, the mean things that we used to say about Jonah Peretti in Slack to his face during town hall meetings, we didn’t get fired for those. But Elon Musk has no thick skin.

 

Louis Virtel What I would say about Elon Musk is he he wants to be Groucho Marx and instead he’s Margaret Dumont. He’s the constantly getting duped person in the comedy equation. I’m sure that I’m sure that comparison has been made 100 times.

 

Ira Madison III You know, who loves responding to Elon Musk jokes and telling them he sucks? Tommy Vietor.

 

Louis Virtel Oh yeah. Well, you know, those libs, I mean, they’ve got time on their hands. They can’t get anything going. Yeah. Ira, what is your Keep It this week?

 

Ira Madison III My Keep It once again goes to Ticketmaster.

 

Louis Virtel Oh.

 

Ira Madison III Master is at okay because I am on the I am on the plantation getting whipped as I have tried to get tickets to anybody. This isn’t even just about this week where apparently like everyone is like in the trenches fighting for their lives to get Taylor Swift tickets. Earlier this week, I tried to get Paramour tickets. The amount of money I had to pay for her Paramore tickets was obscene because of the fees at it with Ticketmaster. And also I have my verified fan. I got I got a verified fan for Paramore and verified fan, by the way, is what is your favorite artist is going on tour and with Ticketmaster to ensure that no bots or whatever get the tickets you have to sign up for verified fan and then you get verified or you get waitlisted and if you’re verified, you get to participate in a presale.

 

Louis Virtel Oh, okay. So you’re moved to one slightly better box.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Ticketmaster deciding whether or not I’m a real Paramore fan is bullshit.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, that is upsetting. I mean, you put in the work.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, yeah.

 

Louis Virtel It’s a misery business.

 

Ira Madison III Yes. Thank you. Okay. And you know what? Ain’t it fun? It’s not.

 

Louis Virtel This is an age old Keep It. I feel like as long as I’ve been conscious of getting live tickets, Ticketmaster has just been the absolutely vexing, labyrinthine red tape laden thing at the center of this universe.

 

Ira Madison III Maybe we need to go back to people having to line up at the box office tickets. I don’t know. There’s also 8 billion people in the world now and all of them wanted Taylor Swift tickets. So, maybe.

 

Louis Virtel Taylor Swift’s version of the apocalypse were all just in line for her. So there you go.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah, maybe we do need to be killing off a bunch of people, you know, bring back eugenics. But for white people.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah. Shirley Jackson’s the lottery. We see you.

 

Ira Madison III And this is just a harbinger, you know, of Beyonce, say, potentially Rihanna, potentially Janet, like. Anybody you’re interested in who’s going on tour next year, you’re going to be going through the same hell. And Ticketmaster is also introduced dynamic pricing.

 

Louis Virtel Which it sounds deeply apocalyptic.

 

Ira Madison III The prices are higher depending on how many people are logged on and want them. Insane.

 

Louis Virtel Sick. Oh, that is gross. I’m actually I’m swallowing my anger right now.

 

Ira Madison III So Biden has already said that he his administration is going after places like Ticketmaster for their hidden fees, but let’s let’s work a little faster. Joe.

 

Louis Virtel Yeah, right.

 

Ira Madison III You staved off the red wave.

 

Louis Virtel Whole thing. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III He’s, he staved off the red wave and now, you know, it’s time to take down Ticketmaster.

 

Louis Virtel I would love to see it. And then I would also love to see him at a Paramore concert.

 

Ira Madison III Honestly, I think Biden would have fun at a Paramore concert.

 

Louis Virtel No, I don’t not see it.

 

Ira Madison III His favorite song would probably be Playing God.

 

Louis Virtel Sure.

 

Ira Madison III Yeah. You’ve never heard of this song?

 

Louis Virtel I sure haven’t. No, no. I can’t do the rock music as, you know, like I can. But when people are like, Oh, I still love this isn’t really rock music. Panic at the Disco all these years later, I’m like, I could not be more thrilled to be rid of that era.

 

Ira Madison III Well. When we eventually scam Hayley Williams into coming onto Keep It, you’re going to have to listen to it.

 

Louis Virtel All right. All right. No, she seems great. Of course, I would love to talk to her. Anyway, that’s. Keep It.

 

Ira Madison III Thank you to Natasha Leggero for being here. And we’ll see you next week. Keep It is a Crooked media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison III, that’s me and Louis Virtel. This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to our digital team, Matt DeGroot, Nar Melkonian and Delon Villanueva for production support every week. And as always, Keep It is filmed in front of a live studio audience.