Have you ever wondered how a tech industry insider might crack up the comedy stage? Alexis Gay did just that, and she's here to spill the beans on her unexpected leap from tech to stand-up, podcasting, and beyond. As we chat with the brilliantly funny Alexis, she peels back the curtain on her transformative pandemic experience and how it led to the birth of her podcast, Non-Technical. We get a real look into the personal influences that flavor her comedic style — from an unwavering love for "Parks and Recreation" to the anthems of Lady Gaga, Alexis opens up about the media and muses that have molded her into the performer she is today.
When it comes to finding laughter in the shared absurdity of office life, shows like "Silicon Valley" hit close to home for both of us in the tech world. We reminisce about the characters that felt like colleagues and the show's uncanny knack for capturing the essence of tech culture. It's not just about the jokes though; Alexis and I unravel the deeper threads of connection that these workplace comedies weave into our lives, revealing how humor has become a vital part of our identities. And we don't stop at TV — our conversation spins a thread that ties the power of music to our personal narratives, acknowledging those anthems that have seen us through the highs and lows.
The laughter doesn't end there; Alexis shares gems from her journey, including the importance of using what you've got when you're starting in comedy and some dream podcast guests she'd love to grill with unexpected questions. We also relive that heart-stopping moment when her Twitter video went viral, reshaping her path in an instant. Whether you're here for the giggles or to catch a glimpse of what it takes to pivot from a well-trodden path to the wilds of improv and stand-up, Alexis Gay delivers. It's a rollercoaster of insight, wit, and the kind of stories that make you want to hit subscribe for more.
Have you ever wondered how a tech industry insider might crack up the comedy stage? Alexis Gay did just that, and she's here to spill the beans on her unexpected leap from tech to stand-up, podcasting, and beyond. As we chat with the brilliantly funny Alexis, she peels back the curtain on her transformative pandemic experience and how it led to the birth of her podcast, Non-Technical. We get a real look into the personal influences that flavor her comedic style — from an unwavering love for "Parks and Recreation" to the anthems of Lady Gaga, Alexis opens up about the media and muses that have molded her into the performer she is today.
When it comes to finding laughter in the shared absurdity of office life, shows like "Silicon Valley" hit close to home for both of us in the tech world. We reminisce about the characters that felt like colleagues and the show's uncanny knack for capturing the essence of tech culture. It's not just about the jokes though; Alexis and I unravel the deeper threads of connection that these workplace comedies weave into our lives, revealing how humor has become a vital part of our identities. And we don't stop at TV — our conversation spins a thread that ties the power of music to our personal narratives, acknowledging those anthems that have seen us through the highs and lows.
The laughter doesn't end there; Alexis shares gems from her journey, including the importance of using what you've got when you're starting in comedy and some dream podcast guests she'd love to grill with unexpected questions. We also relive that heart-stopping moment when her Twitter video went viral, reshaping her path in an instant. Whether you're here for the giggles or to catch a glimpse of what it takes to pivot from a well-trodden path to the wilds of improv and stand-up, Alexis Gay delivers. It's a rollercoaster of insight, wit, and the kind of stories that make you want to hit subscribe for more.
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of MyPop5. Quick note before we get into today's show, we do have an incredible episode with the fantastic comedian, alexis Gay, but before we get into it, I just wanted to share that we recorded this one quite a while back and you'll hear throughout the episode that we end up plugging Alexis' podcast, and it's still an incredible podcast. You should go listen to it. But she's not actually making any new episodes for the show, so I wanted to make sure that you're aware. If you are excited about it and want to hear new episodes, they won't be coming. She's prioritizing her comedy and some other work at the moment. But please still go back and listen to all of her old episodes and continue to support her work. So let's go ahead and get into it.
Speaker 1:An incredible conversation with Alexis Gay. Hello everyone, we are back here for another episode of my Pop 5 with the incredible Alexis Gay. Alexis is a phenomenal comedian, also fellow podcaster, host of the Non-Technical Pod, and we are so grateful to have her. Alexis, thank you so much for joining.
Speaker 2:Ryan, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course it's been a wishlist item for me to have you. I stumbled across you, you know, after seeing you actually do some promo, initially with another person on the podcast, matt Friend. You did a show with him, that's right After you know, we did some emailing back and forth. It seems like you also know Dylan Adler, who we've had on the show. It seems like it just had to happen. So just so happy that we're here and finally getting to chat.
Speaker 2:It was meant to be, let's do it.
Speaker 1:So, before we get into everything, I ask all our guests the same thing Can you provide your pop five with no comment, no context?
Speaker 2:Alexis, what is your pop five? Okay, I think I can do it from memory.
Speaker 1:My pop five.
Speaker 2:This is not in any particular order Correct, Correct, Okay, great. My pop five is the TV show Parks and Recreation, the song Dancing on my Own by Robin the artist Lady Gaga, the TV show Silicon Valley on HBO and the book Bossy Pants by Tina Fey.
Speaker 1:Awesome, Awesome. One of my favorite things about when I get people's pop five is, like I know most of these people's work. The reason I ask you to be on is because I'm familiar with the things that you do and at least a little bit of your background and seeing the like ways that I might be able to try and put pieces together of like oh, it's cool to see how these might have been influential to you. But just so the audience knows, some of your background is you worked in the tech industry for years.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, seven of them, seven years, seven years and.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, seven of them, seven years, seven years in the tech space and then, you know, jumped into doing comedy and the podcast that you're doing now. So can you tell me a bit about your background and kind of what led you to where?
Speaker 2:you are today. Absolutely my background very traditional seven years in the tech industry before becoming a full-time comedian and podcaster that old chestnut, that old common tale that we've all heard a thousand times. The reason why that's all true, why that all happened, is I was doing comedy on the side while I was working in tech in San Francisco. I was doing improv comedy. That led me to making these little videos. Then I started doing a YouTube channel, then I started doing standup and while I was working at Patreon, which your listeners may be familiar with if they're especially especially if they're in the creative space, it's a platform that lets artists and creators run their own membership businesses.
Speaker 2:And I was working at Patreon for three years when, during the pandemic, my online audience started to grow at a clip that was fully unexpected to me. Certainly, I was making really short videos, because that was all my attention span could handle in the old pandemic. I was living alone in a studio apartment making these videos so that I did not go crazy, and I was so grateful that anyone was watching them. And then a lot of people started watching them, my audience started growing and by the end of 2020, I thought life is quite unexpected, isn't it? I would really like to know how it feels to do this full time, whatever this is, whatever this turns out to be. So I launched my podcast. I kept making videos and now that the world is open, back up that was two years ago. I've also been able to do more standup and collaborate with a bunch of cool partners and people and companies, and that's the story. That's how it all went down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's so cool. You, you made the joke. You know the uh, the typical story of, like tech industry going into you know comedy, um, but there's something that attracted you, I think, to the tech industry. Attracted you, I think, to the tech industry initially and I think your podcast still works in that space and talking to people who are in that world. So what was it like coming out of school that kind of got you wanting to be in that space.
Speaker 2:I love this question, ryan, because the answer is is at once so poignant and also so very dumb. I will tell you what happened. Essentially, I had planned. My life plan was that, well, I'm going to be an actress. However, I'm also very academic, so I'm going to be good at school TM. And so I did those two things for my entire education, including college, where I did not major in drama.
Speaker 2:I went to a school at NYU that would allow me to take classes from all over. It's called Gallatin. It's the school for individualized study. I minored in business and then, when it came time to graduate, it was like, well, it's acting time. I guess had no idea what that really meant. The year was 2013.
Speaker 2:It was not as easy to create opportunities for yourself using the internet as it is today. There were some people doing it, but it was not as commonplace as it is now, and so I decided to get a job, of course, so that I could pay for my life, while also figuring out what it would mean to do acting, which it was time to do. And, honest to God, I started working in tech because one of my best friends, steve, worked in tech, and Steve is one of the smartest people I know and loved his job, and he had so much fun at work. He was working with really smart people, solving interesting problems, wearing whatever the hell he wanted. He wore these ridiculous camo pants for months. He just wore them to work. I was like that's crazy, when does this guy work? And so I got a job at a tech startup and then I got there and, honestly, the rush of how meritocratic the space was, meaning how all I felt like I had to do to be successful was work hard and show up, mostly on time, and be nice to people. That was such a rush, that was so exciting. It was so the opposite of that barrel. I was staring down, acting, wise, going. I don't know how to make anything happen here, but in this tech world, oh my God, I just have to raise my hand and be like I'll do that thing and they're like intern, you got it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out to Steve for making all that. Shout out to.
Speaker 2:Steve Still, one of my best friends, one of the people that I yes, one of the people that I still see all the time.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. That's so cool, I think. One of the things that I think is such a cross on your pop five of the tech world and comedy is the show Silicon Valley you know, and so, like when I've listened to your podcast or just heard bits of your story.
Speaker 1:I've never worked in the tech space, but I think that show definitely, as much as it is parody tries to capture, I think, what it's like to be in the startup type of world in a big way, and so I'm curious what was the catalyst? How did you come across Silicon Valley, why did you love it and why, is it here on your pot five?
Speaker 2:Okay, so Silicon Valley, if I remember correctly, premiered in 2012. And I started working in the tech industry in the spring of 2013. So it was a very new show and it coincided with me entering this industry, and the very first time I came across it was on a Subway ad.
Speaker 2:I was waiting for the Subway. I'm looking at the ads just seeing what's going on in the world, and the ad featured the actors on that show all dressing like Steve Jobs in the black turtleneck and I thought that's so. Oh, that's funny. There's a show about tech. Wow, I guess it's really getting big, because this was 2013. And I remember I watched it and I was literally like I cannot watch the show. It is too accurate.
Speaker 2:It feels like I'm working, and that was at the time I knew I thought well, they are doing a really great job. But this is simply not for me, because some of the lines these characters would say I was like my boss literally said that today. This is painful. It took years for me to pick it up again. Honestly.
Speaker 1:What brought you back?
Speaker 2:I think I picked it up again a few years later, after I had sort of settled into my job a little bit and I was able to have some distance and be able to appreciate all the things that were ridiculous about it. And Silicon Valley just did such an amazing job, especially for the moment in which it was created, which again like that 2012, 2014 era of tech. They just did such a good job at picking up on all these little specific things that were totally ubiquitous in the industry ways people would talk about their company's mission.
Speaker 1:You know we're going to change the world and it's like you know we're going to change the world and it's like you do on demand dog walking, yeah, no, I think that's that's funny, that you had the pull away from it and, like you know, didn't have that. And what I think is interesting is that what you're saying brought you back to it is the ability to kind of appreciate some of the ways that they kind of touch on what it's actually like to work in that space. At the same time, it was popular to the masses as well. People who might not have all have also been involved. Some of that, I think, is the performances.
Speaker 2:I think some of the best comedic minds are, you know, involved with the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so why would you say that it's here on your POP5? Why was it influential to you? How has it impacted maybe, the work you're doing today or some of who you are now?
Speaker 2:Well, silicon Valley and this is foreshadowing a little bit of what we might talk about with Parks and Recreation. But Silicon Valley is a workplace comedy. It's so much more than that, but I think that is definitely one way we could describe it. And so is 30 Rock, so is the Office, so is Parks and Rec, and these are the shows that I find myself returning to again and again and again, whether that's for comfort or almost to study, in a way to sit back and enjoy but also feel like I'm learning about characters and dialogue and things like that. And I realized in looking back at the shows that I gravitate to over and over and over again, they all take place at work, and I thought that is so funny because it didn't happen intentionally.
Speaker 2:I didn't set out to begin my comedy career by becoming known for making fun of things at work, just like I didn't set out for all my favorite shows to take place at work. But I have since wondered if there's a relationship there, because I grew up so artsy but academic, if this idea of comedy at work just sort of like fit right in the middle of my brain. And so Silicon Valley is, and I still go back and watch that show for mostly for fun, in some ways for inspiration, but mostly just because it's so freaking good. Um, you know, you know, it is so incredible to watch like who I consider the masters at that craft of making fun of the tech industry do it so many years before I even really started doing comedy at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, definitely. I think that's why it's attractive to the masses as well, because, regardless of the industry office parks and recs or otherwise like, you spend the majority of your life at work, right Understanding peer relationships in the workspace or manager-employee relationships in the workspace, and so, regardless of the industry, there's a relatability involved with what it's like to have that person that annoys you at work, or the boss that drives you crazy or trying to get projects done and the shenanigans that comes with that. So I think there is something that's appealing there for most people, because that's where you spend majority of your life.
Speaker 2:Totally. I think we all love to see ourselves on screen in some capacity, and I think that Silicon Valley did that for a lot of people who worked in tech and then for people who didn't work in tech, to ogle it a little bit and be like, oh my God, is that what it's like? And the answer is like yeah, kind of.
Speaker 1:Pretty much In a similar way to, I think, parks and Rec or even the Office. In some ways it's so cool to look back on it in hindsight and maybe even in some episodes or even just the main cast in general, see how much they've blown up almost all of them.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean Kumail Nanjiani's in Marvel movies now.
Speaker 2:Right, literally a superhero. Yes, academy Award nominated screenplay with his wife, emily Gordon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, big sick. What, yes, Hell?
Speaker 2:yeah, such a good movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's just like the performances and some of those comedic minds. I the performances and some of those comedic minds. I mean Thomas Middleditch, so talented, you know, and like, oh my God, I don't know if you've seen like the Middleditch and Schwartz like improv?
Speaker 2:Oh, of course, and yes, I've been lucky enough to see him in person a couple times, with Ben Schwartz and then also with improvised Shakespeare. Is that what they call it, improvised Shakespeare Co? It's crazy. It's like watching magic happen in front of your eyes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so talented from a comedy standpoint. And you know comedy, I think, is the through line. Obviously, it's what you care about and the work you're doing now.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But what was the catalyst for you?
Speaker 2:When did you realize you were funny, or you know, when did you like start having that interest in your life? You know people ask me that a lot. They're like when did you realize you were funny? And I just don't know that. I even still think to myself when I laid my face down to sleep. Man, I am funny. I am one funny person. I don't feel like that.
Speaker 2:I remember a couple key things. I remember a few moments that stick out to me that showed me how much I enjoyed making people laugh, which is kind of similar. One that really sticks out is, as mentioned, I grew up acting and in a play in high school and then another time in a play in middle school. I remember I had a couple comedic lines, even though these were dramas, and I just remember loving getting to say those lines like, oh good, that line's coming up, I can't wait to just nail this line and get that laugh. And that happened again in high school. And then when I started performing improv in San Francisco, I took a level one class at Endgames Improv in San Francisco, which is a fabulous improv studio, and after each class you have your class show, and so we were performing for our friends, which, god bless my friends. Nothing quite like inviting your friends to a level one improv show.
Speaker 2:And I remember getting the first laugh of that show or at least my first laugh of that show, our first laugh that I was involved in and it was like electricity, it was like it felt so good.
Speaker 2:And since then, obviously, I've returned to seek that feeling again and again through performing standup, through making these videos, et cetera, and I don't think of it so much as validation though that's definitely part of it right, being validated that the stuff I'm saying is funny, that the stuff I've worked hard on has merit, has value. However, what I really love about it is that it is this moment of connecting with the audience that nobody does on purpose in the audience. Right, when you're laughing, you're laughing because something resonates and as a performer, I feel so connected in that moment. I feel so much less alone in that moment to know that this thought I had or this character I'm playing, the people that are watching me are thinking, oh my God, that's so me, or that's so my roommate, or that's so my girlfriend. That feels so, so good. So I don't ever think to myself I am funny. But I know that there are moments where I have just absolutely loved soaking up every single laugh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and I think there's, of course, like humility involved in these conversations. You know, talking about you can uh, I'm speaking for myself but can feel uncomfortable, you know. But I think that you are doing this and people gravitate towards you and you know it is validating, and so, like you are funny, you know in response, and like people are telling you that with their actions. You know so.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I can speak for them as well in my own opinion, that you know.
Speaker 2:I greatly, greatly appreciate it. I really do. I appreciate every single person that follows me, watches my stuff, shows up to the shows. It's just the most humbling experience of my life, no question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, I think what's interesting is there are the comedians who are would consider themselves like the funny friend or the person who's you know, always doing jokes, even within their family, and then the ones who are just more like no, I'm silent or reserved, but when I'm on stage, that's when I cut it. How would you say you fall in that in your friend groups in general?
Speaker 2:It's so funny you asked me that because I was thinking about this recently friend groups in general. It's so funny you asked me that because I was thinking about this recently, especially as we've had I've just been seeing friends more and I really think I have a lot of friends that are a lot funnier than me, yeah.
Speaker 2:There are friends that I hang out with. I'm like, wow, he's so funny and they're hilarious, and I love laughing at their jokes. I find myself not really I'm not really like cracking that many jokes, I'll be honest, in social settings, and I wonder how much of that is that? Because I spend my professional time making jokes, if maybe I'm just tired and maybe I and I also I just really like listening, and I will say, though, that I'm definitely still like an outgoing extroverted person, but I find myself wanting to learn more about the people I'm talking to than, like you know, be like a clown all the time. Also, I feel like that would be so insufferable. If you're like, oh, this is my friend Alexis, she's a comedian, I'm like, hey, folks, how's?
Speaker 1:it going you guys drinking what's up like that would be so annoying yeah, but there are some comedians who love that, like that is their, their thing, they are. I'm happy for them.
Speaker 2:I feel bad sometimes, honestly, I feel bad. I feel like when I meet people I don't want to let them down. You know, if they know that I'm a comedian, or especially if they're familiar with my work, I sometimes feel a little self-conscious for a second, like, oh no, are they going to? They're going to be like wow, alexisis gay is not as funny as I thought, and I've honestly just had to make my peace with that, because that's the truth. Is that, like, comedy is my job and I love it more than any job I've ever had. But yeah, I can't be funny all the time sometimes I'm sad yeah, I mean, some of that's hard too.
Speaker 1:You know like, uh, with with any of that, once you kind of say you're, you know profession, know like you hear that from Canadians all the time, like the response thing oh, tell me a joke. And you're like that's not how this works.
Speaker 2:It's so outrageous. Yeah, I haven't figured out a good thing to say to that. I usually just go uh yeah, and then I just pause and it goes away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just leave it alone. Yeah, well, before we move on to Silicon Valley, just a couple you know rapid fire questions in that, in that world. Do you have a favorite moment or episode or anything that you will go back to or that comes to mind when you first think about the show?
Speaker 2:Certainly, no, it's a discussion of a theoretical mathematical equation. It's in, I believe, the season one finale, where they are solving what they get distracted by, which is a hypothetical question around how long it would take to do something to a lot of people in the audience.
Speaker 2:And first of all, this is one of the funniest scenes ever written in television history. But the reason why it sticks out to me is one of my favorite memories is that once I realized Silicon Valley was really great and I could successfully watch it, I had my mom watch it with me and watching her watch this scene and absolutely die laughing is one of my favorite memories because we were just like cracking up at this completely inappropriate situation the diagrams they're drawing, the words they're using, and my mom and I are absolutely losing it, laughing, and so that's one of my all-time favorite memories and scenes.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, that's awesome. You just like unlocked a memory for me a little bit too. I might cut this, but like one of the things that I have a similar feeling with, I have a uh grandmother who, like, doesn't watch a ton of tv or movies or anything and one time we were over when I was maybe in high school and she had never seen like mrs doubtfire oh and so we're like watching that movie with her and like there's like a line where, like robin williams is like burning himself on the stove or something and and he says something along the lines of like first day as a woman and I'm getting hot flashes or something.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And she is like rolling, laughing, not stopping. I had to like pause the movie because she like could not stop laughing and I'm like where did this come from? So like a moment like that with family, where you can kind of see someone get lit up, is really special, god, it's so good, it's so good. Do you have a favorite character on the show?
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, and it might not be for the reason that you'd expect I professionally wanted to be Monica.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, that makes sense, it does right, especially because you were working in that world.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, world, yeah, yes, yes, she worked in venture and I never aspired to work in venture, but she, I just. She got to work with so many smart people, she got to solve so many interesting problems. I think part of it is also she's the only really featured female character on the show, and so I was able to maybe see myself in her a little bit more than the other characters. But I but I like, was her for Halloween once, like I have a Pied.
Speaker 2:Piper t-shirt oh wow, yes, yes. In 2016, when I worked at an API company for cloud communications, I was Monica from Silicon Valley.
Speaker 1:That's so awesome. How do you feel about the ending? I know it's polarizing. I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. I think it's perfect. I think it is. I think it is the absolute best they could have done. Honestly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also love the little 10 years later documentary thing too, you know. But the ambiguity, I think like it's hard because you want the answers, like the, the character in prison, you know, and you're like wanting to know why, why is she there? And they just don't answer it. Because it's funnier that way, you know yeah yeah, I think it's perfect.
Speaker 1:I also love mike judge and like the various different things he's done in his career, like people wouldn't realize that putting together King, the Hill and Silicon Valley and you know the various things he's done and realizing like that it's the same mind behind it all.
Speaker 2:So genius in a lot of ways in his relationship to how they make fun of the characters on the show or how they write jokes about them and he says we make fun of them like we would make fun of our friends, and that resonated with me so strongly because in my work I don't seek to disparage people in a way that feels overly mean or harsh, and that could change. I could make different things in the future, but most of the time I'm making fun of people or situations from a place of either experience or love, or I'm literally making fun of myself, because it's how I sound and I hear myself say stuff sometimes and I'm like wow, oh boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, cool. I want to get onto these other ones here because I know I don't want to keep you too long here, but in the same vein we already alluded to it Talk to me about Parks and Rec. How did you come across that show and what do you love about it?
Speaker 2:Ryan, I would love to talk to you about Parks and Rec. I would love to talk to anyone about Parks and Rec at any point in time. I think this is maybe the show I have rewatched the most, by the numbers. I think by the numbers I've rewatched Parks and Recreation more than other TV shows. And how I came across it was after the Office wrapped.
Speaker 2:I heard this show was from some of the similar folks from behind the Office, so I checked it out and then, honestly, I did not. Similarly to Silicon Valley, I did not revisit it for a long time because at first it felt to me it felt similar to the Office, but not exactly the Office, and so it was sort of too close. I was like, eh, let me, I'll come back to this. And I came back to it and absolutely fell in love with Leslie Knope's character because once I started getting into it I realized that I had never quite related so much to a television character before.
Speaker 2:There had always been elements of people that I related to. You know I related a little bit to, like Monica on Friends. You know that was one of the first ones where I was like, oh, wow, she's like really obsessive about detail, like I liked that I relate a little bit. You know I've just related a little bit to characters. And then here was Leslie Knope who, as the star of this TV show, cared so much. She cared about her friends and about her job and about making things cute and having fun and eating whipped cream and people. You know, they maybe ribbed her lightly for it, but this was not a defect. This was something wonderful about her that people really loved and appreciated, even when it drove them crazy. And it was truly the first time where I saw a character who was allowed to care that much in that way be supported by her peer group and I, oh that really just absolutely lit me up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that that's so cool, that that's the the character I think you know with a lot of shows, especially that one. There are so many you know, great characters and great performances on that show so many. Everyone has like a different favorite. You know kind of in the show In a similar way. This is the online discourse about it too. Like it was a slow start to get into that show.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was.
Speaker 1:And I think even the writers you know Mike Schur is sad. Art to get into that show yes, it was. And I think even the writers you know Mike Schur is sad, like they struggled, I think, trying to even find the voice and understand who the characters were, even in the first season or so. And then they finally realized, oh, what they were trying to do, you know, with the roles.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. In some ways it starts three times. It's there's season one, and then it starts in over again in some ways in season two, and then, when Rob Lowe and Adam Scott join, it starts over again in some ways in season three.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And as a comedian, as a comedy writer, it is so affirming to watch that transition and watch some of the most talented people in the industry keep going, keep trying, even when something isn't quite clicking the way they want, making some tweaks, bringing some people in. Sometimes you just have to keep going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's a good way of looking at it. What I think I appreciate about you saying that as well is that the general observer might not even recognize the work that goes into the creation of it right, because it's not by accident that they're just adding these other characters.
Speaker 2:It like they're thinking about what do we need?
Speaker 1:What type of chemistry do we need to kind of bring into the show, like to fit the story, but also to like, hey, we need to evolve and we need to change things. And I think it's polarizing again to like kind of how they handled the last season, with it being like a time jump in a hypothetical future, versus like it's staying in real time, with some of these characters and the jokes that they're able to make about.
Speaker 1:Now that it's in the future, what would potentially be happening in, I think it's like 2017 or something now which sounds funny in hindsight, but they were so creative with that show in terms of how they're either bringing a new talent or a new story and helping it evolve over the years, so I don't think people realize the work and the planning that goes into it. It's intentional, the work that happens in order to kind of please stories and these things happen.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It was also one of the only shows I had seen at that time where the characters were kind to each other and supported each other. But there was still a lot of comedy drawn from those situations and it's something that I actually at the time and still do, contrast it against uh, the office for because in some ways a lot of the humor from the office this is not a dig at the office. I also think that's a fabulous show in so many ways. So much of the humor came from sort of antagonistic relationships at work and on parks and rec. Yeah, there are people that don't get along, but most of it comes from a place of love and a friendship. And in my life, in my real life, like I said, I have all these funny friends.
Speaker 2:That felt much more real to me and much more enjoyable for my particular kind of comedy.
Speaker 1:Totally. I mean and that stems from Leslie Knope, you know, like she's just so loving, she loves being at work, she loves those people that even though there's a comedy that exists, it stems from love. Except for Jerry or Gary or Larry, that's right.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Which is so great, right, because this is like a soft, sweet man that's done nothing wrong you know I later was a manager when I was at Patreon. I managed a team of seven people which grew slowly over time and I've definitely like I see some of the things that I would do were very like, very Leslie Knope in so many ways. Like I remember one year for Christmas gifts I made us all custom mugs Stuff like that your number one character in that show.
Speaker 1:Give me another character that you loved on that show.
Speaker 2:Ben Adam Scott's character. What an incredible evolution. What a sweet relationship to watch evolve. I'm such a sucker for a workplace relationship like a slow burn friends to lovers story.
Speaker 2:I always have been, and so I thought he was so funny but so dry and so clever the kind of person you'd want to stand next to at the party right, because you know whatever he's going to say, his comments are going to be perfect, or the person you want to sit next to at the meeting, or you want to debrief the event afterward with so absolutely loved him. And then you know, what made those characters so great is that they're surrounded by these in some ways much larger than life foils. Right, you know, rob lowe's character is super energetic, super positive, and aubrey plaza's is super emo at times and very dark, and so it was fun watching, like les, leslie and ben, who are arguably like more straightforward characters, get to play with these folks who are, you know, taking it to 11 in the best way yeah, tom is another big one.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, just so good.
Speaker 2:The list goes on. Chris, for Andy, everybody, rob, ron Swanson. It's just such a good show. Ryan, I'm literally now just gonna go rewatch Silicon Valley. No one's gonna hear from me for months. You'd be like what happened to Alexis. They'll be like she's busy. She fell down a deep, a deep hole yeah, one thing that like was.
Speaker 1:It was hard, I think, for me to binge Parks and Rec and I think some of it is like it took me longer maybe to have like the emotional attachment with some of those characters, but like once you're kind of into it, like it was easy to kind of uh get through.
Speaker 1:One thing that I love about that show, though, is like some of the things that have made me laugh the hardest are like moments from that show, and like they're like small clips and like I will still, like you brought up, you know, ben, the adam scott character yes and I think of, like the claymation thing where he's like, oh, my god, oh my god, okay.
Speaker 2:So that episode has two of the funniest moments in of of television, in my opinion, because not only is there the claymation requiem for a tuesday bit yeah, um, where he says it has how is it not longer um but it also has the get on your feet red carpet on the ice rink moment oh yes, oh my god, truly and earnestly. One of the funniest moments in television.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh my gosh. There are so many in that show, and Chris Pratt's character has so many funny moments, for me too, when he goes to the doctor for the first time.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was just thinking about that today, yes, yeah Me, and my brother will sometimes just pull up that clip just because it's so funny.
Speaker 1:But yeah, such a good show, I recommend it to anyone you know, I think.
Speaker 2:Anyone, there's something for everybody. On Parks and Rec.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know, I think that some of the characters that are outliers, like you, you grow to really love almost everyone on that show. Oh, yes.
Speaker 2:You know, I really give them a lot of credit too. They do such a great job of creating the world of Pawnee by bringing back those little characters again and again and again. Having that local journalist, shauna Moway, tweet come back every once in a while, or even the people sometimes that show up at the town hall. You start to recognize because they're at a bunch of town halls and then you run into them at the stand or whatever. I like when things are hyper-realistic and for a small town that felt hyper realistic to me.
Speaker 1:Thinking of small town, to like their relationship with even places like the cafe or rival cities, you know like. I grew up in a very small town and like the animus that you have for another town, for nothing based on the fact that they're just another town.
Speaker 2:Like it Yep.
Speaker 1:They capture that small town mentality Absolutely mentality absolutely well, awesome, let's go ahead and get on to the next thing here, one thing that I was surprised by. I mentioned my predictions at the beginning of trying to see how I can find how this art kind of impacts everyone based on their pop. Five the ones that I'm surprised by, because I don't know you, this is the first time we're talking here is the music, and so so I want to hear about Lady Gaga. Tell me all about Lady Gaga and what you love about her.
Speaker 2:I would love to tell you all about Lady Gaga. So the reason she's on this list is she's been one of my favorite artists since really the beginning of her career with Just Dance and Poker Face. A friend of mine had that CD and I remember him saying Alexis, I think you're going to really like this artist, I think she's really good and I listened to it immediately fell in love. I had never heard anything like it. Part of that is probably more on me than it speaks to you, because it was dance music. It was like really great, fun dance music.
Speaker 2:But the reason she's on this list, she's an artist that I look at and I see continuing to push herself, to transform and evolve with each new album she makes, even though she now has the eyes of the entire world on her. And I think when you don't have an audience, it's much easier to try on different hats, different styles, different joke formats. That's certainly how I felt. The freedom of having nobody watching made it very easy to try a bunch of crazy shit. But Lady Gaga has billions of people watching her and billions of dollars riding on some of these decisions that she makes and lots of jobs and a PR situation to handle at all, you know, to keep in mind at all times and to watch her somehow in that world still find ways to grow and transform, I think is operating at the absolute top of her game, and it's something that I really admire. And though I'm not a musical artist, I aspire to have even 10% of that courage to keep growing and changing and transforming, even though your fans typically want you to keep playing the hits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's something she runs up against now. A lot, you know, as, I think, an expectation of yes. She was very eccentric in the marketing of that first album too, in terms of the stuff she would wear, or the way she presented herself.
Speaker 1:Yes. So now not having that right and now being very much, like you know, doing jazz records with Tony Bennett, you know the duality of those different personas allows the audiences to kind of question be like wait, which one are you? And you know, and I think it's yeah, she embraces it and excels in in every way and I think one of the things that helped her, I think, is stars born, probably, you know.
Speaker 1:Because, like I think, they people were able to be like oh she is, you know, incredible. You know, because, like I think they, people were able to be like oh she is, you know, incredible, you know at her craft. Doesn't need to be. You know, maybe, what people originally thought she was with the poker face. You know era Gaga.
Speaker 2:I think it's very courageous to disappoint your audience in some ways, yeah, or to know that you run the risk of doing so, especially if that's in service of your own growth, or if that's in service of your own growth or if it's in service of trying something on to see if it fits you. I believe her album Joanne was not as commercially successful as some of her other work, but it's not like she produced Joanne and then stopped because it wasn't as successful. She went on to have Chromatica, which is such a freaking good album first of all, so amazing. I'm really grateful that that came out when it did. We needed it.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And who knows what she's going to do after that. And so I just find it so inspiring to watch somebody try things, put them down, pick it back up, go back to her roots with jazz and things like that. Put it down. I mean, I think that's unbelievable to do when you have a small audience. I think it's absolutely incredible to do when you have a giant one.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. What was your music listening like when you were growing up, and was it pop in this space, or was it an easy to kind of get into or kind of what were you mostly into?
Speaker 2:I still have a pretty wide ranging music taste. Growing up, though, I definitely liked pop music. Changing music taste. Growing up, though I definitely liked pop music and I liked musical theater soundtracks. I went through a period in high school where I was trying to be cool. I was trying to listen to cool music, mostly because the guy I liked to listen to cool music. And I was like yeah, this band is so great, I totally like them.
Speaker 1:What is cool music? It's like indie bands, anything Just different stuff.
Speaker 2:I also tried to get more into old classic rock, which I don't know why I was like. I think sometimes I desire to like, feel a connectedness. I mean I spoke about that a little bit in terms of laughter and making people laugh, but I think also I desire to feel a connectedness with, like, things that happened before me or things that are bigger than me, and I think I saw rock music as a way to connect with that. So, for example, I got into the Clash and the who, the Rolling Stones. Briefly, my mom listened to a lot of the Beatles.
Speaker 2:Radiohead album is one of my favorite albums ever made, called the Benz. I almost put the Benz on my pop five and I just sort of wanted to try it on. I don't know if I wanted to be someone who liked this stuff or what, but it turned out that I am somebody who liked that stuff. I just didn't know it until I tried it on. I got very into Bob Dylan when I was writing a paper for my US history class. Still pretty into Bob Dylan. So, yeah, it's been pretty wide ranging. In the last few years, though, I've returned to pop music with a lot more Gaga, taylor Swift in the mix. But honestly, I feel like my relationship with music is different now because Spotify is so much better at telling me new artists than I will ever be at finding them myself. So I kind of just like Spotify. I trust you. Happy pop music mix Monday.
Speaker 1:Wake up.
Speaker 2:Sounds great. Play, shuffle, let's go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's both a beautiful thing and a difficult thing. These things that exist. Technology makes things so easy for you to find things you know at the same time. You know you hear artists who lament. You know everything being a mood. You know if it's like 10 lo-fi jazz beat hits. You know like those types of things like being denigrated to a vibe. You know, as opposed to whatever the art is that's been created.
Speaker 2:But that's interesting.
Speaker 1:What I really think about a lot is people's relationship with music in general, you know, because for some people they don't listen to music very much, or when they, do?
Speaker 2:that always blows my mind.
Speaker 1:I think that's shocking.
Speaker 1:Totally Me too. What I think is like for some people it is just that soundtrack for the vibe and that's okay, you know, it's like I just need something to give me energy at the gym or to wake me up in the morning or to do this stuff. But then there's people who are just like, oh no, I'm listening to every lyric because I want to feel something or you know, and so just like the, the variance for how music impacts people is it's such an individual relationship. It's cool to hear that. So when you're listening to gaga or even, you know, radiohead or anything, was it the lyricism, was it the energy? Was it the story behind who she was and that persona? What is it in terms of your relationship with her work that you think most hooks you?
Speaker 2:For Lady Gaga. It's definitely how the songs make me feel. I use music as a tool, sometimes simply to get this show on the road. Sometimes I do not want to do a thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I must make a giant black coffee and then we blast very loud pop music and then I can do the thing. Yeah, gaga has many times been my go to for doing said thing, so I just really appreciate how it makes me feel.
Speaker 1:I have a lot of fond memories of dancing with my friends to her various songs, yeah, which is always lovely, and yeah, she, and what I like is it's like you have some people who are just the moment, but like she has stuff that's continuing to carry, carry through.
Speaker 2:She's enduring. Yeah, she's enduring. Yeah, I respect that. So much about her.
Speaker 1:One of the things that's difficult as we transition to this next one is this next song that you have here on your pop five is so heartbreaking and like. I've heard it so many times and it's emotional even just thinking about listening to it, much less actually listening. But can you tell me about Dancing on your Own by Robin and?
Speaker 2:what you love about that song and why it's here on your pop five.
Speaker 2:So I surprised myself by including this on my pop five when I was thinking about the five pieces of pop culture that have really had an impact on my life. Several of them, of course, were related to comedy, because that's a big part of where I'm at right now, but dancing on my own really precedes my relationship to comedy and it's much more about my relationship with myself. And the first time I heard it was 2010,. I believe when Body Talk the album that it's on was, I think it was top in the charts. I think it was 2010. I believe when Body Talk the album that it's on, I think it was top in the charts. I think it was a Billboard hit. Robin, of course, had a hit, I think, like 10 years prior, and then came back a while later with this and with Call your Girlfriend around the same time.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure I heard it at a party, or maybe one of my friends showed it to me in college and it became my song to the point where, to this day, with my college friends, if that song comes on, everybody turns to look at me, because in college I started like, truly like Robin style, dancing whenever this song would come on, which I still do today. You ever see me out in this song comes on, there's going to be punching, there's going to be arms, arms, arms for days. But here's why that's actually meaningful to me. It's a couple things. One, the message of the song, even though it's oh my God, it's so heartbreaking right.
Speaker 2:It tells the story of the person that you love, or perhaps who you just ended a relationship with, dancing with someone else, and you're there dancing on your own, and you see them and oh that feeling Horrible, so bad. However, it's also a very optimistic, hopeful song.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Because she's still going, she's still dancing on her own, and you can take that out of the romantic context. You can apply it to any other kind of heartbreak or failure or setback and you can be like yep, I'm aware of this situation Not ideal but I'm still dancing, I'm still going, I'm still moving forward. That is what it means to me. And then there's a separate meaning, which is I grew up very afraid to look stupid or ugly or gross or weird, and improv comedy which I started doing in 2017, is what I credit with really breaking me out of a lot of that, because in improv you often look stupid and dumb and ugly and weird and gross and you have to play an iguana randomly for no reason and you just have to be down with that somehow.
Speaker 2:But doing this Robin dance with my friends for my friends. In some ways I felt free to look weird and to have fun and I was also entertaining people because they, you know. It became this recurring bit throughout all of college, anytime the song was on. As recently, by the way, as three months ago, my friend's wedding we did this like this is still.
Speaker 2:I have friends who are like this is your song, right? Like still to this day and I think that there was something really important about feeling confident enough to look a little weird, especially in public dancing, and being kind of free that I really did not grow up with and I didn't fully come into my own with until several years later.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, you said a bunch of things and I want to make sure I touch on them, right. One of the things that I had never thought about it in that way, right, the? What is it like to be perceived, you know, when we're even going to the lyrical context to be dancing on your own right, there can be some shame, you know. I know some people who are like I don't want to go eat at a restaurant by myself because of how I might look, you know. And so that is a real feeling, you know, to be thinking through that. What I also think about, when you were kind of talking about the optimistic viewpoint from the song, is that what I also love about the song is the dichotomy between the lyrical content and the instrumental. It is very much moving. It's not a sad sappy, you know. We're just ballad and piano, which there are covers. Who do?
Speaker 2:it that way. There are covers that turn it into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think it is intentional to be able to put it in that space, to say there is energy and forward momentum behind what we're saying with these lyrics. It is sad, but it is also. Hey, we're okay, it's intentional to have. This is the feeling I want you to have, which is why I chose the instrumentals to be this way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can be deeply heartbroken and still moving forward with your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally. One of the things you just said I really liked is I recognize that this is a bad feeling, or that I am hurt or I am hurting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:But I can also do this. I can dance, I can move forward, I can do this. I can recognize that there's pain, but I don't have to let that control my existence, which I think is really powerful.
Speaker 2:Oh God, it's just such a good song. Yeah, there's a line that's like I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the girl you're taking home yeah. But she's still dancing. You just gotta I mean you gotta just keep it moving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things you mentioned even earlier, right when we're talking about finding someone that you can relate to on camera.
Speaker 1:Like you want to attach yourself to that. I think heartbreak and sadness, like in music, is one of the things that you can think of. You know that relationship that didn't work out and the first person that comes to your mind when you think of this, especially when it's fresh in your own life. So, yeah, such a beautiful song. I want everyone to go listen to that song because I think it's just's. It's so incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2:But yes, and if you're looking for a version to listen to, I might recommend watching the YouTube clip of her performing it live on SNL.
Speaker 2:OK because she's a fabulous live performer and I think that seeing her energy on stage performing it live, doing all of her crazy dancing and still singing, is incredible. And then, obviously, make sure you watch the music video as well, and then also just go ahead and rob and dance alone in your apartment or wherever you are, or, honestly, wherever you're listening to this podcast. I would say, just break it out.
Speaker 1:Totally. I was so stoked too. I think it was two years ago or three years ago when she dropped Honey. Yeah, she put out that new record which I was just like she takes these long breaks where it's just like you do such cool stuff and you're just like so excited anytime she puts anything out.
Speaker 2:I know it's so true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but anyway, let's go ahead and get here to your last one on your list, the book Bossy Pants, tina Fey's book. Tell me about your relationship with that book.
Speaker 2:Okay. My relationship with this book, which is Tina Faye's autobiography that came out in what do you think 2010? Is that. This was the first time that I ever had a flicker of interest in doing comedy myself and it was so distinct to me. I think it was something about reading the book. In the book it's told mostly as vignettes from her life, but you get a sense for the path she took into comedy, which roads panned out, which didn't, and it was sort of like oh, people can do this. I am a person, I could also do this. However, I very quickly decided against it. But it was this little flicker, it was this just this little moment of like. I think I want to do this. I actually said it. I said it on the phone to my mom. I said I think I might want to do comedy, and that was when I was like 19 years old and I wouldn't even try comedy, and for another seven years or something like that.
Speaker 1:And so do you remember like a specific story or anything in the book itself or just in total, just kind of seeing? Oh, here's a person that I've grown to admire and now there were small steps. She had life before this, and being able to see that helped. You see that.
Speaker 2:I think I'm I'm definitely due for a reread of this book.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you that because I would be very curious to see how some of the vignettes might hit me differently now that I have this profession. I think I just remember being so struck by and this is true of pretty much every comedian, most people, really but how humble her beginnings were as a performer. You know her telling stories of not getting auditions and doing improv for prop. You know few audiences or, at like, not super well known spaces, and I think it was just this reminder and maybe just the awareness of oh right, everybody just starts.
Speaker 1:You just start somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that was what stuck out to me, that she wasn't always Tina Faye on weekend update. She wasn't always creator of 30 rock and playing Liz Lemon. You know, she wasn't always Tina Faye, she was Tina an improviser.
Speaker 1:What, what was it for you? That was your first like, okay, I'm going to do it. What was the first active step you took um in terms of comedy, because I know there's. You said it was while you were working you started doing some of it.
Speaker 2:There are, I would say, like three distinct steps. One was that I was working in tech in San Francisco. I'd been working in tech total for four years, one of which was NSF, and I felt totally claustrophobic by how much of my life had been absorbed by the tech industry, because I worked at a big tech company and my friends worked in tech and the person I was dating at the time worked in tech and it was just everywhere. It was in the water, it was in the air, and I felt so far away from New York, which had been home for so long, and I felt so removed from culture.
Speaker 2:San Francisco certainly has culture. I would never try to claim that it doesn't. That would make me like one of those New Yorkers. That's like. Every other city is bad and New York is the best one, but that's beside the point. In San Francisco there is culture, but it didn't feel like it would bleed into the streets the way that it does in New York. You know, in New York I feel like we walk around. You're passing people who are clearly on their way to auditions, or people carrying musical instruments, or artists painting a cityscape or whatever. It's just in the city. And in San Francisco. You have to look harder for it, and the way that I found it was by taking my first ever improv class, and so that was my first active step. I took an improv 101. Also, I had had a horrible day at work that day.
Speaker 2:And I was literally crying at the end of the day about something that happened at work and I was talking to maybe my boyfriend. I was talking to somebody on the phone, who was I talking to? And I was. I remember just being like I don't even want to go to this improv class with like strangers, and then I I mean it changed my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like it changed my life. I'm so glad that I went. I'm so glad that I went.
Speaker 1:Do you still like that medium? I know some people like improv is the catalyst, but then prefer something else out there.
Speaker 2:Would you? I miss improv so much. I was just talking to my friend who's an improviser in LA and I'm so freaking jealous. She's like, oh, I'm doing this show tonight. I'm like, oh my God, I miss improv because improv is a team sport. Stand up is not a team sport. It's often just me and it gets. I get old after a while. You know like I like having other people in the mix yeah, I totally love the community.
Speaker 1:I I did level one at UCB, just like the first little love first intro of it. But I love, especially now, that it's just it's a resurgence after the pandemic of people coming back. And I love the community involved because even though it is a team on stage, it's like the culture even within the community is like, because no one is making all of their money, you know, just improvising, right.
Speaker 1:It's such a niche art form that like it requires a lot, but just like the support that you see within the community and the UCB world, or people who do groundlings or second city, or you know, even just the, the friendships that you kind of build with, with those people, it's, it's, it's really incredible.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I miss that a lot. I mean it's something I'm hoping to bring more into my life again in the future, because I really miss it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so improv was the kind of first thing you did, and then tell me about getting started with your, with your podcast or with the video content. What kind of inspired those?
Speaker 2:Well, I remember after I did improv for a while so I took several levels of classes my friends from improv and I. We founded an improv team and we would sell tickets to shows and we came up with our own format and style. It was a mix of short form and long form improv.
Speaker 2:So our team was called Happy Medium and it was so talk about the friendships like that was just so, it was so fulfilling, you know, to get together and perform. Talk about the friendships Like that was just so, it was so fulfilling, you know, to get together and perform.
Speaker 2:and starting the other projects was quite different because, like I said, they're much more solo endeavors, the videos I started making all the way back in 2017 because I had left that company, the one that I said where I was crying great company, genuinely like great, great company. But I hated my job, I was miserable and I took time off between jobs, which was also like, not exactly in the type A plan, but we did it.
Speaker 2:And during that time I challenged myself to make a one minute video every day for 30 days and I did that because at the time it just kind of felt like a thing people were doing. Because at the time it just kind of felt like a thing people were doing Nas Daily, who is now someone I know, which is hilarious and he's been on my podcast he was doing his daily videos, which he did for well over a thousand days. Other folks online who are into vlogging were very into the grind and the hustle.
Speaker 2:I wasn't as into that aspect but I but I really valued setting a goal and I valued consistency and I also valued having something to do every day because I was unemployed and it was really nice to have a purpose. So I said to myself and to my best friend Romy I said I'm going to make a one minute video every day for 30 days and so I made a private Instagram account and she followed it my best friend Romy, and then a boyfriend at the time, pranav, and they were my only two followers because it was a private account.
Speaker 2:And so to Romy's credit, cause she's the best. She would text me sometimes at 5, 30 or 6 PM and be like where's my video? And I would just be like, oh my God, I have to make a video, and so I did that for 30 days and I just absolutely fell in love with it. They didn't even start as comedy videos to be honest. They were just video. It was cause it was like I had an iPhone and the internet and I think I upgraded from iMovie to Final Cut but, I didn't want to do anything fancy until I knew what I was doing, so they definitely didn't start as comedy.
Speaker 2:Some of them are truly and I say this with love some of them are bad. A lot of them are bad, but I love that I'm so proud of that. I think that's fantastic. Like I don't cringe when I look at them. I'm just like how dope that you made something this bad and kept going?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:No, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, that's how that started.
Speaker 1:That's a long time ago yeah, I think that's one of the greatest. Like artists, you know rules is like give yourself the excuse to just make something shitty. You know like, yes, oh my god, and especially because you knew at that point, like, even if it is just two people, you know two people are going to see this. You know yep, and so it's so hard. But yeah, give yourself the excuse because you can always just delete it or you can.
Speaker 2:You can. Truly, I couldn't agree more and I'm glad that you said that, because it's something that I've been thinking a lot about in the last few months, honestly which is letting go. I feel that right now, I'm in this moment of having to relearn how to let go some of those proclivities I have towards needing everything to be perfect or excellent or polished or good, and I'm really actively trying to just make things right now, and some of them are going to be good and some of them aren't.
Speaker 1:And that's fine, and that's all we can do. That's all we can do, awesome. Before we go, we do ask five rapid fire questions to send everyone out on. So first one, first here. If no one has ever listened to your pot five, experience anything from your pop five. Experience anything from your pop five. What's the one that you want them to go experience right now?
Speaker 2:Ooh, oh my God, if they haven't had any of the five, oh my God, haven't had even one. Yeah, I would say go, go watch the music video for dancing on my own by Robin Amazing Because it'll stick with you.
Speaker 1:If you could be on a reality TV show, which one would you choose?
Speaker 2:Great British Bake Off.
Speaker 1:Great British Bake Off. I love that. Are you a baker?
Speaker 2:I want to be on it so badly. No, I just want. I just really want to be on it.
Speaker 1:What's one piece of advice you'd give to people who are thinking of trying to get in the comedy space?
Speaker 2:To look at whatever they have at their disposal right now and without needing to buy, acquire or like, learn anything new. Like what can they make? What is the smallest, simplest, easiest version of a thing they can make or write today and start there and then do it bigger or better or differently the next day?
Speaker 1:That's amazing. That's a good one, thanks. Who's a dream podcast guest that you have for your own podcast?
Speaker 2:Oh, there are so many. I interview influential people from tech, media, business and beyond, aka whoever I want about everything except their resumes. So I like taking people who have reputations that precede them and then I ask them you know, quite silly questions Like do you believe in ghosts? I would love to have Reese Witherspoon on she's a dream guest.
Speaker 2:I would love to have Bill Gates on yes, I just. I would love to have Oprah Winfrey on People who have these larger than life backgrounds and recognition. And then I just want to ask, I just want to chat with them Say, what's the tiniest tale you're willing to die on?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What's your pump up song?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. And then, lastly, if you had to think back on all your comedic performances or videos, whatever you do, what's the, you know one that comes back as like favorite memory or anything either on stage or in your comedic?
Speaker 2:career so far. You know, what was pretty remarkable was when I was making those short form Twitter videos during the pandemic. I made several and then one really took off more than the other ones and it was the first time it had ever happened. And it was hilarious because I remember opening my Twitter and I thought something was broken because every time I clicked the notifications tab it would refresh with 20 plus more notifications. And it happened several times and I was like something is wrong with my.
Speaker 1:Twitter.
Speaker 2:And then I looked at the tweet and it was because it was racking up, you know, tens of thousands of views like every few minutes or whatever it was, and by the end of the day it had over a million, and by the end of the week it had 3 million. And that scale of viewership. I don't think I'll ever experience anything so unexpected ever again. It was so bizarre. I couldn't believe the numbers on the screen and the fact that those numbers correlate to real people. Looking at this thing, I just don't think I'll ever get over that. 3 million people saw this thing that I made in my bedroom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that I almost deleted, by the way, oh wow, because I thought I yes, because I thought I sounded tired.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, I said to my friend, I don't even think I can post this. I sound so tired.
Speaker 1:That's so funny. Were you just refreshing most of the day? Were you consumed by it?
Speaker 2:I was so shocked. I was just like what is happening? What is happening? It was absolutely, it was unbelievable. It was, in the truest sense of the word, hard to believe. Hard to believe Because prior to that, the most views anything had gotten on Twitter for me was 1,100. I was like this is very intimidating, very intimidating. There's a lot of people following me now. I hope they're like am I jealous?
Speaker 1:Well, on that note, where can people follow you? What do you want to promote? How can we get our people to support you?
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, come on down. You can find me at yayalexisgay on Twitter, instagram and TikTok. You can also find my podcast, non-technical, at NontechnicalPod, on Twitter, instagram and TikTok, or wherever you get your pods. If you want to see me live, that's a thing that you can do, which I'm so thrilled to say. I have an email list you can join. The link is in my Instagram bio. I'm not like amazing at using the email list, but that means you won't get a lot of emails from me, so I think that's actually a perk.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying is I will only email you if it's do or die, if it's go time, baby you know.
Speaker 1:I love that. Well, hey, thank you so much for doing this. We'll definitely put put all those links in the episode description here. It was such a pleasure chatting with you. You're so talented, I love your work and forever a supporter. So thanks so much for joining the show.
Speaker 2:Oh, Ryan, that's so kind of you to say. This has been so fun. Thank you for giving me the chance to revisit so many of these things Of course, of course.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll talk soon, and thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Fabulous Talk soon. That'll do it for today's show.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening. We That'll do it for today's show. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed this conversation and enjoyed all three of the interviews that we had for this mini season of the show. That does conclude our interviews that we have for this three-year anniversary special. However, we have one more episode where we're going to get together next week, daniel and I, to recap some things and just catch up with you. So we'll see you next time, but until then, what's your pot five?