Eliot Glazer

Hi, welcome to it's open with a Lana Glazer. Just warning you there's going to be an outfit change. I'm recording this from the future. Okay. Anyway, so um welcome. My guest today is one of my favorite people on the planet. It's my brother, Elliot Glazer. So Elliot is my best friend. He's the best uncle I've ever seen and my brother, but he's also a comedy writer, performer, and musician. Elliot has written on shows like Younger, New Girl, and Broad City and Ben On Broad City, and he's toured the country with comedy and music. And now I am so excited about his new role as author in his new book The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Guy. Please join me in welcoming and enjoying this episode with the one and only Elliot Glazer. Hi, hi brother. Hello, how you doing today? I'm good. I met my my last day of my New York stay. Yeah, it's great when you're here. And I'd like you to stay longer. I know, but when I feel people ask if I'm going to move back here, you know, I'd want to be close to you guys of course, but I think I'm just so overwhelmed by the city now. Dude, I know. Part of me likes LA because like having depression and anxiety, it's like I thought that the consistency of having the sun every day, which is not like actually what it's like, but the idea of having the sun every day would be too much to take, but it actually does help. It does help with like mental mental health. Yeah, yeah. I'm really feeling like cold and scared this winter. And I'm like having trouble separating the onslaught of dictatorship from my real life. That's right before me. We were just talking about this last night and it's also like the um the social media of it all and the Instagram of it all, it's like worms in my brain shout out to RFK. I told you the book that I'm reading filter world by Kyle Chekka, I guess I say it, you know, I'm still early in it, but he talks about how the huge change, the thing that really changed everything on social media that then permeated into the rest of culture was the shift from the algorithm being chronological to being more mysterious, timeless and as we as you're talking about feeding you stuff that's going to make you feel huge feelings. Yeah. And for some people that's anxiety, horniness, you know, hatred, like it's so much, the onslaught is so much that I don't know, I was saying, like I was saying yesterday, it's like living in here and everything being amplified on the screen just to you and your ears, it's like and it could be anywhere. It's too much. It's too much with your niece and my daughter when she's watching TV. What I like about TV is it's up on the wall and you see the whole world around it. And like we do the iPad for like the plane and stuff and I just don't even want her to hold the phone because you get so lost. You get so lost and you don't know, you really forget that there's I, I'm 38. I forget that there's like a world outside that frame that's in my face on the subway this morning in my fucking drink car there and back. I'm like looking around and everybody's obviously on their phone. Yeah. And I'm just like we're specifically being pulled into different realities. My algorithm is so different from your algorithm. Yes. It's so messed up. But that's what there's a lot of what this book is about or at least just haven't started it. Such a big thesis is the idea that everything shifted with that chain that mysterious change in the algorithm and it's true. Because everything about that shift in change means you went from a chronological record of friends and family, you know, and they're like daily lives to something so much more nefarious and explosive, which is like brands, new news, quote news. I know. I was struggling with this last night and you were like reminding me this is like citizen journalism and it's like, you know, you look at CBS now and it's like so scary that what used to be they were the gold standard in news. I did. Good night. Good luck. That's like Edward R. R.O. CBS is now, you know, this like state sanctioned propaganda machine. At the very least, it's like having Barry Weiss, who'd never like had, who's never been in like a newsroom, I guess, you know, where she had the free press, I think, which was her own sort of like gonzo, gonzo weirdo libertarian, like, I don't know, the vibe is so scary. The vibe is so rotten. I don't think necessarily that people even know day to day that or maybe they don't even care. That's something like CBS. This like huge, I mean, they were the golden child of the news brought, that was Walter Cronkite. That was what you know, but now that it's been replaced with Barry Weiss at the helm, it's so crazy. It's so crazy. And I'm like, there's like supposed to be checks and balances and we're also talking earlier about like the New York Times that there's like still some good people eking their way through to get their stories written, but I still trust them. The time to still more reputable than even like with mom sending us an article that we saw that she saw yesterday. And it was like clearly not true. And so in like a screenshot, it was a screenshot from a Facebook article. And it was like, you know, and you're right. It was like, John Stewart gives $190 million to homelessness. And I was like, in a second, I was like, A, this doesn't seem true. I don't think that seems true, but the article itself was written that way, but it's in a Facebook post. And I'm like, who is it's like posted by like US citizen news. And I'm like, never heard of that. That doesn't sound real. I Google it. It's totally fake. And I got a little, I was like, John Stewart. I just don't trust. But you know what you said that was like so true, is that it's like mom bait, like leftist mom bait, like meant to confuse our elders. Yeah, like the I hate saying fake news, because it validates Trump's dumb vocabulary. But the idea of this fake news being real and her catching it and it being meant to sort of lighten up, like I guess the progressive democratic left, you know, the I did John Stewart are like, are patron saint giving hundreds of millions of dollars to the homeless. And it's like, A, it's not true. But also, why is this there? And like also the fake news thing, like he and they always say their own crimes at others. And it's like, you know, after Renee Good was killed by ice, all the, instead of fake news, let's just call it lies. Like all the lies that were stated about her and stoking people's fear and vulnerability. It's so I'm I really am having trouble right now. Like feeling sane, feeling safe. It's um, it's just uh, it's just a fucking hellscape. Yeah. And the algorithm thing, like as you say, first of all, I was thinking about like RFK earlier and I'm like, why would he want to eliminate the measles vaccine? Really? Like what is the point of like having all these children die and people die? And um, and as you're talking about the algorithm, like it used to be, at first it was like chronological before Mark Zuckerberg bought it. It was just a cute app. He also used to have a, uh, the Chan Zuckerberg initiative. He and his wife were pro democratic organizers and donors, uh, for years before, uh, he took such a hard right turn. But I was thinking about the RFK thing. Like, you know, it's like, it just makes you think of like a white man in a cult who's like controlling a town, you know, just has crazy ideas. But like, why is this person placed like in this position in charge of like the United States of America? And it's just to weaken people. It's just to like terrorize to control the general population. And the Zuckerberg thing, I was thinking about the algorithm. And it's like, okay, at first it's like cute and it's like a timeline thing. Then it's like selling us stuff and brands like toxic, but not, um, as evils what's happening right now, just manipulating our emotions, just making us feel huge inflammatory feelings so that we're, you know, it's like, uh, when you let a balloon go and it just, yeah, it's a, it's a mess. We're like in a chaotic mess right now. You know, I watch the view every day. I know. It's really smart. Like, it's really like, uh, hitting me. Uh, how that, that to me is like mainstream news and mainstream discourse. Well, they're owned by ABC news. So they're quote unquote legitimate that way. Right. But if anything, they're like virulently anti-Trump. In a way that I think even they probably regret at the network, you know, having read about it, I think there was this rumor that like they got a talking to once Trump came in and they had to like cool down on Trump, but, you know, Joy Behar and what be in sunny Austin, like they're not, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're really, you know, clearly liberal. But joy is always the one who like breaks through the noise. And there's a clip that I saved on my phone of her. It was one of those weeks where it was like, Trump did so much damage. Everything was so inflammatory and so violent. It's like a morning, you know, it's like the view is like this cheery happy morning set. And she's just like, I don't know how we're going to survive the next four years. And her co-hosts like the happy go lucky ones were like what, you know, like kind of, you know, like like shrugging it off. And she's like, I mean it. She's like every day, every day like he is, he, he assaults something, some tenant of society. Every day he, you know, obfuscates or just, there's some violent action every day that undoes or changes or attacks or minimizes. And she's like, I don't know how we're going to, she goes, I don't think we can survive this. And the other two hosts are few of them were like, of course we can, like it'll be fine, it'll be fine. And they're trying to like be morning show people. And she's just not that. And she's like, I don't think so. Like it was so human and pessimistic, but real. It was such realism where she's like, I really, you could see it was like an existential driver. She's like, I don't know how we're going to survive this. And like, oh, wait, wait, let's find it. And she's like, no, I've seen, I've been through Vietnam. I've been, you know, she, I think she was alive during the, she's seen so much. And she's like, I've never seen anything like this. But even mom and dad always say, we never could have expected, expected the world to look like this. Yeah. These people are supposed to be mother fucking for range. There's supposed to be for range. Yeah, you're, there's supposed to be like freaks on the periphery. Right. People who say crazy things, you know, anti-humanist things. Right. That they should just be cast aside. You know, people who are like, all the earth's flat, you know, like, or like we shouldn't vaccinate kids against polio and meat, you know, like, against these like world chain changing, you know, diseases. They used to be on the fringe. And I think with the internet, but especially social media. And the algorithm. Yeah, the algorithm. Feeding them whatever it feeds them, it validates their truth. And now their truth is technically the truth, even though they know it's their true. It's like conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorists have essentially equated their, you know, Ben, you know, Gonzo, Benana's, you know, fringe ideology with the mainstream. And that's why you get R.F.K. Right. Like the machinery behind it, Instagram, that, you know, billionaire-owned media companies have in like, taken these fringe ideas and put them in the mainstream in like the bell curve, those ideas at the bottom of the bell curve are filling the middle, middle section of the bell curve. It's so dangerous and harrowing and disturbing and like causing murder and destruction. So you and I grew up on Long Island. So we grew up not with Jews, we're Jewish, we were a minority among our community. We grew up we grew up around some Jews. I hand-fil-a Jews. Yeah. What like Hebrew school did you land in? Because I like landed at Temple Isaiah and then really like finished out my Hebrew schooling? I just went to that like secular Hebrew school that was held at like the community college. Right. It wasn't like a Hebrew school, it was very secular and almost cultural and not really religious. So it was that like weekend, weekends only Hebrew school at the at Suffolk Community College. Yeah. So I went to that too, but then I- But then you went to Isaiah. Yeah. Like actually studied the Torah for your Bar Mitzvah. Yeah. Which I didn't. Yeah, that's wild. We like had different experiences there because that for me was like my chance to be around mostly Jews. Yeah. And I loved it and you know my current best friend Annie, I was there with her and was at camp with her too. And I just loved it. It was such a such a good education even though it was like scary too. Like you know, we learned about the Holocaust. We learned about it too young. It was so crazy. It was like almost inappropriate, but also I was grateful for it because I even though I'm a white person, I knew about these genocidal frameworks that you know could take anybody, could take any person and make them the scapegoat. Yeah. So like did you learn about the Holocaust at this school? No. No, it was just super like I think what I remember is like just just holidays. It's almost like you were like it was just a space to be around progressive Jews. Yeah, I think that rather than like learn the history. But I also think it was sort of like I don't think mom and dad could afford a like traditional temple Hebrew school at that point. Yeah. So this was a nice I guess maybe a way for that one made it affordable. Yeah. So other than that, we grew up around like conservatives and right, which I didn't realize until college. Of course. No, no, that makes sense. I um I guess I was kind of honestly I think it was because of Hebrew school that I was like I could recognize racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia more clearly because I had learned about these systems of hatred leading to genocide, which like I was really afraid of because yeah, I remember this like movie and about like the Holocaust and like it started with chicks on a conveyor belt like going toward and it was like like baby chicks and it was like weirded chicks and it's like so blunt and you know there was that we had a fake pogrom. What do you mean? We had a staged pogrom by two or ory and orin literally at the Hebrew school. Yes. Ory and orin were like pull decide to pretend to be like Nazis or at the time it was Polish, you know Polish soldiers or whatever. Um I like tell the story in my and my first stand-up special because it's so unbelievable. Um and we didn't know what was happening. We didn't notice orin orin were gone and then suddenly they're like we're coming in literally staged invading our rating us, rating our Hebrew school room and like turn the lights out without telling us or our parents at Temple Isaiah. Oh my god. And we were like so scared and Annie in fact most was most scared was most manipulated to think it was happening and ran outside in the dark and was like sure that we were all being killed inside. Did you tell my mom and dad? I think I did but downplayed it as like something crazy whereas Annie's mom called the school and was like you're out of your fucking minds you will never be doing that again that is also ineffective isn't that crazy? That is insane. Psychotic. It's psychotic. Immersive theater. That's like scared straight. Truly and like Jewish kids? That's insane. Insane and like you know in when I was in fifth grade as a when Columbine happened you were in ninth grade. This is seventh grade like mass shootings had already begun. Yeah. Like you don't fucking do that. No that's so wild. How they should have like shut down after that. That's like in that's nuts. So crazy. So so crazy. But is so much of the fear that's like that's been I think very much pumped into us for a long time which is like they hate us they hate us they hate us they hate us it'll happen again and it'll happen again you know it's like so you are I mean even though I didn't experience that it's like I'm certainly I feel like it was drummed into my head too that it's like you know never forget this because they hate us they hate us they hate us they hate us and it'll do it again. So we worked at the golf club in our town. Yeah which was more like a country club of sorts. Yeah I was so anxious about doing a good job and I'm like looking for you and you're looking like this you're walking around there like stupid fucking ballroom like this and walking and then I'm walking around and you're like and I was like where are you going what what are you doing and you're like I'm just pretending to be busy I'm not doing anything I'm pretending to work and like I have to go somewhere I'll be on my way now but I was also a very I was very protective and there was a woman who was particularly mean to you because I messed up her crab cakes messed up her crab cakes so she was she was a real a real bitch to you and so I made sure with that like there was not a doubt in my mind that I was going to get revenge and so the very next time we went to work I made sure to serve her drinks with a little bit of vising in it to give her massive massive shits. Let's hope so well thank you for that Elliott thank you yeah there was um there was once a horrible smell there the second summer I believe you were no longer there there was a horrible smell from behind the vending machines and I was like guys something mate right back here in this thirty thousand dollars ahead golf club which didn't include food and drink it was yeah that was not right on top of it how wealthy are these idiots yeah and I was like there's something um not right and it was true a rat got stuck behind the vending machine this fancy fancy fucking like clearly you know everybody was such a white supremacist I I was like really a lit to the white supremacy the anti-Semitism um from a young age I just no I don't know I just know that summer I guess it was like oh oh four for me yeah I think it must have been oh four because everything was about John Kerry wow and I remember wow there were some books in like the library there and there was Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken and I was fascinated by it but people wanted to keep Fox News on and so I'd keep on Fox News and I'd be like watching it I wasn't like politically aware neither was I but I knew from listening to like Air America and like you know reading stuff here and there that it was like oh this whole like swift swift vote like flip flopper thing was such a it was such a circus it was such a it was just so dumb but people were just so allegiance to but we watched the like Fox News they used to call it like moderate news you know they well they called it fair and balanced fair and balanced we watched these people become radicalized we watched the like moderate right go all the way to QAnon like our town's library board this woman wanted to take all the like gay and queer related books in the children's department off the shelves right and they did they did and then Smith Town showed up yeah and they immediately reversed it because it was like it's not like sexualizing kids it's about like gay families yeah which exist and everybody should have exposure even if you have straight but that's the brightness around it where it's like just because you don't like it and you don't like that things are changing you don't like that things are different from you doesn't mean that you automatically throw a tantrum and win right you just don't get everything you want and the only way to counterbalance that is to show up and say no yeah no absolutely fucking not and also it's like you don't have to be gay right nobody is making you be gay nobody's making you have an abortion nobody's making nobody's making you do anything so leave everybody else the fuck alone and go fill your void however you fill it find something else that's my thing it's like go find something else there's also a video from when we were kids of you you're like I'm writing a journalism and you're like writing an essay on a chalkboard and I'm like monitoring you as you as you write it but then you know as you read it it's like you're reading it it's about like your talking about like don't be prejudice don't be you know don't be mean don't be prejudiced and then you go and your like in the lung isle is your gonna don't bother people and I think about it all the time because it's like it's so simple don't bother people don't bother people I mean you must have been like I mean not even like five maybe six and your like don't bother people you know don't be prejudiced don't be mean don't be racist don't bother people And I'm like, that's how I feel now. It's so. Leave people alone. I'd the obsession with trans people, especially kids and their genitals. She is like, get out. Why do you, why are you giving a moment's thought to trans kids and their genitals? It's disgusting. It's disgusting. This person in government, Nancy Mase, she has a crusade against trans children, really, against children. Let's just put it out there. Trans children are children. Just a crusade against children want, like, and had this bill, she was trying to pass about having children's genitals inspected as school, which includes cis children, or children who don't identify as trans. I like, this is in my blurry memory, and I don't remember the exact bill, but some bill was. Well, she's, and connecting, connected to her. And then meanwhile, she voted for the big brutal bill that took food off of children's plates. It's just cruelty, and it affects cis children as well. If that's your big weaponization or criminalizing trans children, well, cis children will have their genitals inspected too. And also, why is that on the forefront of your mind? It's disgusting. And why is that your cross to bear? And why is that your, why is that your, the journey you choose to take? It's disgusting. It's so weird, I guess it didn't ultimately work. But when I started saying during the 24 elections, I go, right, when people started saying, calling Republicans weird, I loved it. It was so effective. It was so effective. Our weirdness are so weird. You are so weird. I were focusing on the strangest things. And the thing of, like, don't bother people. It's like, yeah, it's weird. Well, let's talk about your book. OK, so you have a book coming out. This is my own first memoir style autobiograph. It's a graphical funny essays. OK, it tells what it's called. The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad gay. I love it. And Elliot, this book poured out of you. It did, yeah. Because it feels like for years, I've been trying to synthesize my feeling of, like, isolation or feeling like an alien or a weirdo among other gay people. And like, I'm not, I don't feel fully out of it. But just like, there's been things that made me feel like I missed the first day of class. Just things that are like, wait, we do that? And that happens? I just don't know. And I just don't get it. But OK, you know, I'll figure it out. So these essays kind of poured out of me because even though I've tried to synthesize these feelings in, like, TV shows and just different types of projects, doing it long form and really getting to express all of it felt truly like cathartic. And it just felt like, yeah, this medium that had been calling you. One example where you missed the first day of class was when all the gay guys from LA were going to Puerto Viarta. We were on vacation. And I was like looking on Instagram. I'm like, where are all these guys? Like, and they're guys that we both know. And I'm like, they're all on vacation together in, where's Puerto Viarta? And I just, I never put together that that was a thing. This like post Christmas, pre-new year's destination for all these gay guys. I just didn't know. And like, you'd think, well, you'd think I would know. Like, I'm an adult man in like a city with lots of gay friends. And I'm like, where is Puerto Viarta? And so that was sort of the first, for whatever reason, at an advanced age, I was like, oh, look at all this gay tourism. I'm like, I knew about Fire Island and I've been there. I know about Palm Springs. I've been there. But like, really seeing that like, oh, Puerto Viarta, Mika knows, like, there's different places that seem to just attract gay guys in droves. That I was like, when did that happen? There's also this like financial access thing that I always forget about. And you're like, oh, yeah, they're rich. You know what I mean? Yeah, gay guys, you know, I think overwhelmingly have more of a disposable income, especially without the pressure to have kids, you know? Or at least the most visible gay narrative is being rich. It's not even like a true across the board. Yeah. It's just the most visible narrative. And that's where like, these gay tourist destinations or, you know, I always see like all these other gay guys and huge groups on Instagram, like all of them on vacation together taking these big group photos where they're all, they all look interchangeable. And they're all wearing the same kind of bathing suit where I was like, wait, we all wear that? Like, I just, all these things that have just constantly been like, no one told me, you know? And like, part of me wants to be asked, but I know I probably wouldn't enjoy it anyway, but a little part of me wants to be asked. I totally get it. But that's where the book comes from. Yeah. Where it's like, huh? We do that. I love that little disparity. Like, I do want to be asked. I have to, but that's a thing that I've had to contend with. That's right. And come to terms with, I do want to be asked. Because, you know, I've like, I've watched you struggle with internalized homophobia that you spewed outward at like the gay male community. And things that like make sense, you know? That I was younger. Yeah. And I like, I get it too, the pressures and whatever. And I, you know, I guess I had like a very strong sense of my values at a young age, such that I was a feminist and I was, you know, I was like anti-racist. Don't bother people when I was like six years old. But I think where internalized homophobia and internalized misogyny meet is sometimes where we would clash. And there was, you know, there used to be this thing of like, oh, God, the JJ in the early 2000s. It was hard to be a teenager in the early 2000s. Oh, really fucking violent. Like literally Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking young white girls from at fucking Dalton, like rich white girls. And gay guys were, you know, supposed to be hairless, like fish, skinny fish. Yeah. And, you know, there was, you being, you know, like not into women, but sometimes in a rude way really bothered me. And I have one really salient memory of leaving my used tampons on a piece of computer paper. To get back at me from something. Oh, inside my door. Your door. Your door. You, I don't remember what you wrote on it, but it was like, great, cool. This is revenge, a bloody tampon. Did it throw me? Not really. You're way to get back at me. Oh, my God. And also like, what did I want you to be attracted to, like respect vagina as I guess, I guess respect the genus. The big, a big like shift for me was, I remember when we were at your apartment in the slope, in Park Slope, and I was like, oh, you got to watch real housewives with me. And you're like, I don't want to watch this. And it was like early real housewives in New York, which was genuinely so funny. And I did watch some early, early stuff, early, early until it. But then you said you were like, you're like, but every, you're like every scene seems to be edited with this like unspoken dialogue that ends with, you dumb bitch, every scene. It's like, this happens, this happens, Jill does this, Kelly does this, and the editors basically saying like, you dumb bitch. And I was like, oh, oh, okay, you were right. It's like, oh, now I see it. It's like, even though it was like a wink in editing, at large, the idea of women in general being looked at as like, you dumb bitch, you know, especially in like the 2000s. It was like, oh, this makes sense. And some of them had humanity behind them in loveable characteristics, but like the framework was always misogynist. And so it's so funny that it was petty and demeaning, but like that's now how our government is. Like in my mind, I'm like, men would never be edited that way, but it's like, they literally act that way like in congressional hearings, you know? Yeah, they are. Like Brad's like divas. Yeah, it's gosh, yes, it's too much. Actually to that point, one of the chapters in the book is about queer joy and how I think last year you were like, where do you find your queer joy? And I was like, no, what? Can I tell you? I was like, what do you love about yourself? That is gay. That isn't, you know, because sometimes I've seen you like struggle with it. And I'm like, but what do you love about yourself? Yeah. And you like weren't sure what I meant, but I was like, even like your music, your incredible taste in music ability to consume and curate music and make music and sing. And you dance so well. Yeah, but also to that point, it was like understanding when you're talking about like queer joy and my taste in music, I was like, oh, I didn't really put together what you meant. And then it was like, oh, I get it. There's an unapologetic, I have no apologies to make and never had for loving queer, but I made a bigger, at seven years old, Luther Vandross as like a child. And that was like unapologetically queer. Yes. But then even as I got older, it's like, I never, ever, ever made any sort of apology for really being into queer-coded, girly, pop-girly music. Yeah. Ultimately, I never thought I should have to apologize for like, like in Whitney Houston or Mariah. Right. So I use that chapter to be like, oh, here are things that here are other examples besides like music, where I'm doing gay right. Because the rest of the book is how I'm often doing gay wrong. But I do gay right in terms of loving the first two seasons of the real housewives of New York. I'm not interested in the housewives now. I find it all to be overproduced and it's all self-produced and everything's a marketing opportunity whereas the first two seasons of the housewives, they didn't know how to be on TV. Yeah, they're here. They had like regular teeth even, like they had their old teeth. And it's like, they didn't know how to be on TV. And that is, that's where true camp lies to me. Right. Not anymore. Yeah. But also like short shorts. I make no apology for wearing like daisy dukes. I love daisy dukes. You're fucking gorgeous. Like literally, you know, I'm even thinking like the gym, like you used to have such pressure on yourself and have such such crazy body dysmorphia. It's so painful to like really hold it. My sweet brother having this like body dysmorphia. But now it seems like you're like in your damn skin. Yeah, I mean, sure. You're gorgeous. Yeah, okay. I'm telling you. But also the, the, the, you got legs. You know, and he knows how to use them. Yeah, but the game male, the fact that Gagah, again, this is something I learned later that Gagah is referred to the gym as church. When I found that, I was like, oh, that is such a bummer, that our religion, our house of worship is the gym because vanity and body dysmorphia, it is paramount. And I am a full 100% pledged devotee. And it's awful. But like you don't feel like I admire your dedication to the gym. I admire that you work out. You always say I admire that. I admire that. And it's like, yeah, but it's couched in, you know, but like toxic body patterns. Still. Yeah, especially in LA, but even so, like it just. You don't feel strong. I do feel strong. Do you feel hot? I feel attractive, but the, it does feel like I'm just saying it for myself, but I think Gagah's in total would tell you that like the pressure we put on ourselves is a burden. And so when you're like, I admire your like health choices. It's like, I would love if that were, that with the vocabulary I was using too, but it really is to just like keep up with everybody else. Well, you know, I feel like there's, I feel like you have been a part of gay male culture opening up to a place where it's not, you know, and also no offense to the old queer eye for the straight guy, but it's like, it was like this one way. There was like homosexuals and metrosexuals. Were, was this like middle area or something? Yeah, so it gave, gave, gave straight guys the allowance and permission to have vanity or to care about their looks. Put a hair product in. Hair skin. Wear a v-neck. Yeah, but then in the book, there is a whole chapter about like what, how about, like there, when they did reboot the show, I got an email from my manager saying, would you be interested in like submitting as a TV personality? I'm like, huh? Like to do what? Like I don't cook. My hair is fine. My clothes are from Target. Like I don't know what expertise do I have? I don't even know. So I passed, which was so stupid. Like so, because I'd be taking a private plane back to LA if I didn't pass. But so there's a whole chapter about like what my, like I called the lazy queer eye. And like what my lazy queer eye would look like if I applied myself to that. That's so funny. And, you know, fashion and cooking and hair care and face regimen, you know, skin regimens. But even that too, it's like, I'm sending it until 40 that like my friends were like, you have to use moisturizer. Like you have to moisturize and I'm like, why? You know, but it's like every, it feels like another thing. It's like moisturizing and face masks. I didn't know. And again, I'm like, nobody told me. And that sounds bratty because it's like no one deserves to tell you. But I just was like, oh, we all do this too. I didn't know about face masks. You know my hair, like I didn't know to put product in my hair because hair space is segregated. So no white people knew what to do with my hair to tell me loaded up with product. You have curls. I look like fucking great Uncle Harry. If I don't like loaded up with product. The only weird thing too is like, I would always complain and say like I hate my Jew hair. Yeah. I hate my Jew hair because it was like brisly. Yeah. You know, I hated it. Yeah. And it's changed over time. But I used to say it to dad as if to like guilt him for having brisly hair. And then we also had grandma who would, when you were a child with curly, you know, big curly hair should go, your hair is wild. I know. And it's like, why are you saying that? It made me be like, fuck, I'm a wild beast. Then when you would straighten your hair, I'd be like, that's, it looks so nice. Like the fried ends sticking out. Like I'm like Edward Susser-Hans. And people don't know. And why would they? But there is such a specific, there is such a specific faction of like long Island girls, especially from when we grew up, who would like flatten their hair, it was like crisp. And it was like such a specifically like self-pating act. The girls know though, because it's like all different girls from all different backgrounds who poorly straighten their hair, hoping it would have movement. It didn't have movement. Yeah, there was no movement. It was just like two fingers pointed down. And you know, at best just downturn fingers. It's terrible. It was such a thing. But even the idea of like, the sort of ubiquitous male erratica that I see, like usually with older gay guys, but it's, I've always noticed like, with anybody, with any gay guy in their home, I'm always like, like, I would never think to have like, like a man's armpit, you know, photographed. And like, it just doesn't, it's like never struck me. I don't judge it. Like, I'm not mad at that. I like it. And I kind of wish I had it. Yeah, you do. And I just don't, it's just, again, it's just an observation. Like, am I supposed to have like, like a giant photo of like pubes? Because I'm gay, I didn't know, you know, I just, I didn't know. And so that's sort of like the vibe of both. It's so funny. And Liz Lemon. Yeah. And so I think it's a kind of a dream of production to like, what gay is and how I do it pretty bad. Yeah. It's awesome. I do it better than I used to, but it's still just like, that's great. But I think doing it better than you used to just means being yourself. Yeah. You know, we've been talking for years and years about like gay menstrual, menstrualery. Mistualcy. Mistualcy. In the comedy scene. And you know, it's like, there was this like question for a while. Like, should I be leaning into that reductive nature? Yeah. I think it's not at all. When it's inauthentic. You know, if it's authentic to that person, you know, go with God. But even when I get casting calls that are, and I read the, you know, I get like scripts and I'll read them and I'm like, so I got this because the character is gay. I would sound homophobic. But I was reading this. I would sound homophobic. Cause it's like, it's just not, it's not in me to be like that bitch. You know, it would be like, honey, you know, it's like, I would, people would be like, you're not allowed to say that, you know, it would come off sounding bad. Right. Right. Right. I can be a, I can be a bitch. Or I can be like, you know, I can have that. But it doesn't sound right coming out of my mouth. It sounds homophobic. Right. But even when I'm like annoyed with or just like, you know, I feel like ruffled by like gay guys or like gay culture in general, even when I feel that way, I still feel so much safer with that community. There is safety there. Yeah. And there is community there. Even if I feel like I don't fit in or awkward or a loop, I still feel happy that that I'm there and I get to participate in that. And like how delicious and delightful was he to rivalry? He did rivalry. I thought it was going to be like too much hype, you know, so but early on I was like, it just seemed like the hype was getting so big that I was like, I don't know, you know, I just didn't believe what it, I didn't necessarily go in thinking I would be as into it as I was incredibly immediately hooked. And not just because the show was like remarkably hot and sexy. That obviously was its own thing that I think lured people in. But I was like getting weepy at the tenderness and the romance and it's like, oh, and the reason that it's such a huge hit is because it's not just the sex stuff. It is definitely because getting to see a shame free tender loving actual romantic connection between these two characters, even if they're having their relationship in secret is refreshing. I mean, I don't think it would work if those two actors weren't so good and had such chemistry like that's a lightning in a bottle too. That's right. But like I'm tearing up during the sexy because it's so loving. Me too. Jacob Tierney really knocked it out of the park because it was all those things but smart. Yeah, it was smart. And it was also like tasteful and the lighting is beautiful. The music is perfect. It's like a perfect. Oh, that was so good. Thank you, Elliot Glazer for joining me today. I love you. And thanks to the whole tribe that made this episode possible. I want to thank my creative producers, Madeline Kim, Glenis Mahar, Onika Carlson, Kelsey Kylie and David Rutland. I want to thank our editor, Toby Lieberwitz. I want to thank the good people, the artists who made this show look and sound so damn good. I want to thank Kevin Deming for the lighting, lexic crabs for the camera work and the cinematography and the comb-opin for making a sound. So good. Thank you to Rainbow Ventura for the graphics and the opening musical sting and thank you to the band Don Her for this outro music. Please join our community. I am so excited to be here. Thank you for joining me. And if you'd like to follow us on its open pod on Instagram, subscribe to this channel and like and comment and be part of the community. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it. Have a good day.