Bobby on the beat. Welcome to Bobby on the beat. Make sure you check us out on YouTube and of course anywhere you listen to your podcast. This week's co-host is Carson Kressley. You know him from Queer Eye for the straight guy, the original. Of course he's on Drag Race now. I think they're on like season 19 or something crazy like that. And of course, barbecue brawl, we're on season I think six. He's part of the Food Network family. He's got a fabulous story, just the nicest guy ever. So welcome Carson. Oh my gosh, I knew there'd be free food. So I was like, Well that's how I bribe people. I bribe people by feeding them. When do I eat the pork chop? Fantastic. It's so, it's so enticing. This is a podcast, there's no rules. I have to start out by saying this. I mean, you are one of my favorite people. Oh my gosh, stop it, likewise. Forget about TV and media and all that stuff. You're just like the most wonderful person. And I mean, I think people understand that about you because you are incredibly genuine. Thank you. You are just like so smart and sweet and like thoughtful. It's all the things. And I remember when we were talking about barbecue brawl. Yes. And which I produce. The first season was kind of like a pilot season. We didn't have any idea what we were doing. And then I went to the Food Network, president of the Food Network and I was like, I wanna bring Carson Kressley on. And she said to me, I don't get it. And I said, I know you don't get it. That's why we're doing it. Like when you think of barbecue experts in the world, yeah, of course, like Carson's not gonna be on your list. But there's plenty of shows that have all the barbecue experts in the world. But I wanna add somebody who has an amazing personality, who has style, who has class, gravitas, all of those. Exactly. Gravitas. Gravitas. Oh my gosh, thanks for noticing. We just have them put in. You know, you get it. And you're funny. I mean, let's face it. Thank you. Are you funny or have you been practicing that? No, I was not always funny. Really? And I was very shy as a child. I'm a shocker, cause now I'm like, hello my baby. Hello, look over here. I think maybe being the youngest of three kids, you develop attention getting mechanisms because your parents are absolutely over children by the time you come around. They're like, what are you doing with this? Two electrical outlets on the board. I also had to develop my sense of humor, probably around like seventh or eighth grade because I was, you know, mercilessly bullied in middle school and junior high. So it's really been a defense mechanism in some way. It was. It started out that way. And I think that's how a lot of people start. And you're from like rural Pennsylvania, right? I am from outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania. And people always think of the Billy Joel thing immediately. It was a good video. It was. I think it was the first time I saw naked male butts in the shower. Do you remember that part? I don't remember that part of it. It was my favorite part. We'll go to a clip right now, but there were male butt cheeks being sudsed up in a communal shower. And I was like, I'm suddenly really into Billy Joel. And it was an homage to where I'm from. So it resonates, but I am from the outskirts of Allentown, Pennsylvania. And my family is basically all farmers and Pennsylvania Dutch, which are people from Germany, but they were kind of mislabeled. Lots of dumplings. Lots of chicken and dumplings. Chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, Pennsylvania Dutch potato filling. And then how did you like, before Queer Eye, which I want to talk about, because literally one of my favorite shows of all time. Stop, thank you. No, seriously, we'll get to that in a second, but like prior to that, you worked for Ralph Lauren. I did. Getting a job like that for a person of that ilk is a very hard thing to do. How did you go from class clown in Pennsylvania to this style of maven? I just winged it. Seriously? Basically. Did you lie about your resume? No, absolutely not. Your honor. I grew up showing horses and we didn't have tons of money, but I was pretty good. So I got to show some other people's horses and I got to meet people from all over the country and I did the World Cup. So that really gave me a great view of the world and really gave me a lot of exposure. And when I graduated from college. Right, that's from Lauren. It's amazing. In 1991, the job market was terrible and I had a friend who was like, she worked at the US Equestrian Federation and she was gonna have a baby. She said, you should come take my job. And I was like, yay, nepotism. I got her job. It was in New York City. So like I graduated from college on a Wednesday or something and like Thursday I moved to New York. I took the bus from Allentown. I was like Peggy Sawyer from the musical 42nd Street. So I had that job for like two years, working for the US Equestrian Federation and working in equestrian sports. How old were you then? I was 21. So then I was at the gym one day and I was a Ralph Lauren fan and I had Black Watch plaid track pants on and I had a sweatshirt with a teddy bear holding a Black Watch plaid basketball that said USA. And then I was holding the Black Watch plaid basketball just like the teddy bear. It was like looking into a mirror at the hair salon where it repeats over and over again. And this woman at my gym said, oh my God, who are you? You need to work at Ralph Lauren. And I said, yes I do. And she was a head hunter. You're kidding me. So yeah, it was like, I was Lana Turner. I was discovered at the drug store basically. And she was like, wow, you get it. And I was like, that's merchantainment. Well, that's exactly, I mean, my father would always say to me, always do the best that you can in anything you're doing because you never know who's watching. Totally. That's a perfect example of like, you were just being your best self at the gym and somebody found you and said, you need to do this. Okay, so you worked for Ralph for how long? I worked there for about seven years and I started out as Ralph's brother's assistant. His brother's name is Jerry Lauren. What did he do? He ran the entire men's side of the business. Oh wow, okay. So it was a great opportunity. And it was like the Devil Wears Prada, except everyone was preppy and very nice. And I would, you know, ride around in a town car and I would get like sardine sandwiches and pick up dry cleaning and schedule meetings. You were an assistant. I was an assistant and I loved it. I was so good at like anticipating needs and making people happy. I loved doing that. And then after about two years, I was like, oh, could I, I really like to design something. And he was basically like, do whatever you want. We love you. So I worked in golf and tennis design, even though I knew nothing about golf. I thought an open faced club sandwich was a sandwich. And I had to go on golf trips with Tom Watson and Davis Love. So I would go to like Sea Island and I would be like carrying Tom Watson's like golf bag and people were asking me questions. I was like, I'm just here to steam the pants. So that was great. And then after doing that for two years, there was a great job in advertising, which I was already kind of in, where I would work with all the department stores. And then one day, one of our producers came in and said, hey, I heard about this show called Queer Eye for the Stray Guy on my cab ride to work. She said, you know, looking for real life gay people who, you know, are fashion experts. I was like, that's me. That was all the information we had. That was like 2002 or three. That was 2002. And it was gonna be on Bravo. And at that point I was like, what's Bravo? A nonstick cooking spray. No, exactly. We didn't know what Bravo was. There wasn't even Google. I had to ask Jeeps. Remember Ask Jeeps? And I was like asking Jeeps, like, what's the phone number for Bravo? And I called Bravo and they were Jericho Long Island. And they said, no, it's a production company is gonna make the show. I didn't know how TV worked. But I was scrappy. And I called the production company. They were in Boston. And they said, oh, they're in New York right now. Send a head shot and like a resume down to them. We'll see if we can get you in. I didn't have a head shot. I had a picture of me like with a bunch of like golden retrievers holding a stack of cashmere cable knit sweaters. So I sent that in. Like I went downtown. It was somewhere in Chelsea. And they were like doing like a domino's commercial and a Charmin campaign. And then they were casting for Queer Eye. And there were like five chairs and they had five gays. And we all sat in the chairs. Everyone was very earnest in talking about building bridges in the community. Can we just get rid of pleated khakis? Exactly. And then they were like, okay, we like you. And went to Boston. We made the pilot never thought a thing about it. And then about a year later, Bravo was purchased by NBC. And the new leadership was like, we love this pilot. We wanna make this the cornerstone of the network. Can you quit your job? And I was like, do you have dental insurance? That's what you cared about. And they're like, no. And I think it was like $15 or $2,500 an episode. Right, sure. And there were eight episodes. And I was supposed to quit my amazing job for like $8,000. And to my boss's credit, this wonderful woman at Ralph Lauren named Liz Paley. And she said, you should do this. This is a great opportunity for you. If it doesn't work out, we'll hire you back. Lovely. I mean, how lucky was I? No, it gives you an amazing backstop. Right. We started making it in March of 2003. It came out in July. That August, we were like at the Emmys. And I was on The Tonight Show. And I was doing Alan. It was one of the breakout shows of my lifetime. Same. But also, you were the breakout star of the breakout show. Well, thank you. I remember seeing you guys at some event and just being in, you guys were like the Beatles. I mean, seriously, people were absolutely like, so excited to see you guys. And it was really, I mean, just for the gay community, it was a huge breakout moment. Just because it was so public. To Bravo and the producer's credit. We got a lot of pushback. We got a lot of no's. Even, I think the network was like, ooh, queer eye. That sounds a little aggressive. Can we do a different title? And our show's creator, a guy named David Collins from Boston was like, no, absolutely not. Like it means looking at things from an extraordinary or different perspective. And it's really important. And it rhymes. So kudos to him for doing that. I mean, just a legendary show. I feel like you've been sort of running since that day. I mean, don't you feel like- Yeah, I'm exhausted. You are exhausted. I'm exhausted. You should be exhausted. I know. You're on so many shows. You do so many things. You're constantly working. I mean, listen, it's better working than not working. Absolutely, no, I know how lucky I am. There's a funny moment in television when you're on a TV show. If the ratings are good, people overlook a lot of things that they probably shouldn't. When the ratings are middling, the people in the room making the decisions go, do we like them? And then if they're not sure, you get canceled. No one's ratings are through the roof for your entire career. There's always transitional moments in the world. I've had plenty of shows that have not worked. I mean, you try, you try. Then there's shows that obviously and hopefully do work. I think that being a good person and being like somebody who supports everybody around you, being a team player, all those cliches that you hear about are incredibly important for longevity in a business like media and TV. Oh, yeah, totally. I always say this to people who are starting out in the business, be the most delightful person on set you've ever encountered because that's gonna go a long way. Show up on time, be charming, have your clothes ready. That is like- Be professional. Yeah, I guess that's what it's called. But a lot of people take it for granted. It's one of the things that I think is really important because you wanna be consistent. You want people to be able to rely on you. And I think it's like that in any kind of business, but even more so in the entertainment business because people can ask you to leave on a whim. Right. Just because they can. And there's so many people that would love to be doing what you're doing. Yeah, so that's for sure. It's the line from Devil Worse Prada. A million girls would kill for this job. And that is so true. So how do you feel about the new Queer Eye? I mean, lots of emotions? Yeah, there were a variety. But now those are all dissipated. Because they're canceled? I've drowned them out. When they said they were remaking the show, the producers were very nice and called and said, you know, we're gonna do a reboot. I was like, oh my God, that's great. When do I start? Exactly. I'm like, oh, not with you. And I was like, click. No, I wasn't click. I was very happy. And I will be honest, when that happens, you're just like, oh my God, I'm almost that young. You feel a little bit like you're replaced. But then I saw the work and it was so good. It's so important that we keep that conversation going between people who maybe don't always understand each other. It's an homage to the legacy that we created and it's a great brand. And there'll probably be another iteration. Really? Maybe, like in 10 years or so. Are you coming back? I'll be at Shady Pines by then. I made you a pork chop. It has a bourbon anchovy sauce and some pomegranate. But I'm gonna show you how I made it. Okay. Bobby on the beat. All right, I'm gonna show you how to make a pork chop. This one has a spice rub and a pomegranate relish. We're gonna start off by making the spice rub. Some red chili, paprika, mustard, cumin, coriander, a little salt and pepper. And we're gonna make some sauce too. This is a bourbon and anchovy chili sauce. Some aromatics, some bourbon. No one at burning the house down. We're just cooking off the alcohol. And then we're gonna add some stock and then some anchovy chili puree. It's a good thickening agent and it tastes good too. Then we're gonna season the pork chops with on both sides of salt and pepper. One side on the spice rub. I want it to taste like pork, but I wanna get that clear that the spice rub going. We put it on the spice rub side down on the grill. Get the crust on the outside. Now we're gonna make the pomegranate relish, mint, ginger, a little scallions, some fresh lime juice, a splash of avocado oil, some salt and pepper. You can make that ahead of time. Take the pork chop, add some of the anchovy chili bourbon sauce, the pomegranate relish. And there it goes, a pork chop. Bobby on the beat. If you don't like it, it's okay. No, I love it. I can tell already. I love pomegranates. Oh, that's really good. The first thing that hit you is like it's kind of sweet. That must be the bourbon. Yeah, I put a lot of bourbon in there. I knew you were coming. And then it gets very smoky. I love that you're like giving us all the feels. Is there cumin in here? A tiny bit, yeah. I'm highly alert. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. The great thing about pomegranates is you get that little explosion. Little pop. A popping sound. I'm gonna keep eating this because it's so good. Be my guest. I was thinking about it the other day because I was looking at my Emmy awards. I was looking at my Emmy awards and I was thinking, how many do you have? I have five. I have a couple. Yes, and that's from Drag Race, right? I have one from Queer Eye. Oh, you do, okay. And I have one from Drag Race. Amazing. And I have an international Emmy. Really? Yes. Would you get that? At the International Emmys. In New York? Yeah, it was here. Okay. I was hosting it and I think they gave me an honorary. I don't even know what it's for. That's how they paid you with an Emmy award? Yeah, I was like, I'll take it. But Drag Race has been so incredibly successful. Yeah, 19 seasons. What? And it's the most Emmy awarded reality show in the history of television. I think we have like 60 Emmys or something. It's crazy. But every year, like you see them on the list of winners of the Emmy awards. I know, we're so, I'm so lucky that I got to be a part of, like when I see my two Emmys, and I have them in my mirrored bar, so it looks like I have six. Design magic, everybody. But when I see those, I'm so blessed and grateful. And that sounds so cliche, but I really, really, really, really mean it. That I got to work on two incredible kind of queer centric shows, which was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. And now also Drag Race because I didn't have that growing up. I didn't see anybody like me that was like successful and actually celebrated. And when you asked how it felt when Queer Eye like actually hit, that was kind of the thing in my brain. I was like, wait, this is a good thing now. I would get the, there's that queer guy. And then I would like go back after Queer Eye. I was like, oh my God, it's the queer guy. Yes, exactly. And because of Drag Race being so popular and because of streaming now, little kids from Milwaukee to Malaysia get to see people that are maybe like a little marginalized or a little different being celebrated. And when you see that, you say, oh, I'm kind of like that. I'll be okay. That's the most important. For sure. We usually ask young people, like, what do you want to do in five years? Right. What do you want to do in five years? I would like to be living in Brazil, being tended to by a posse of hot. I never really have a five-year plan. I'm not going to lie. And like you go on job interviews, like where do you see yourself in five years? I was like, I'm just trying to make it to Thursday. Okay. I understand that. And also the media business is in such flux right now. Yeah, I have no idea. Like they say you're supposed to like visualize what you want your perfect world to be. And my perfect world would be doing some really great interior design projects, maybe having a show that's about interiors, which is really what I love the most. Being a gentleman farmer, raising some nice horses, selling them, I'm opening an antique booth at my local antique mall. Really? Yeah, because I like buying stuff. So you're just doing the stuff you're passionate about. So I just want to do things that make me happy. Wait, so you said you like interior better than fashion? I do. Really? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, I know. You did walk into my apartment and start looking at everything. You clocked everything. It's so good. Not that I'm surprised. I'm going to send you one of my bar carts. Okay. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I see you have one there. Yeah, that one's just okay. Well, no, that's a pretty good one actually. I need it for my barn in the Hamptons. Brooke, he's hitting on me again. I showed me date that date night with Brooke. Date night with Brooke. Yeah, Bobby on the beat. Here we are at the famous Chelsea Market. You want to go shopping? Let's go. Wait, what are we getting? One of the great things about this place is that you can do lots of things. You can eat, you can shop. It's very good people watching. I want to get some seafood. I have a couple of dinners I have to cook for. I want to get a ham because Sophie loves ham. Okay. Also, let's get something to eat while we're here. Okay. I love the sushi place. I want to go to the sushi place. The sushi place is cool here. They have a really yummy, like, that belly plate that you got last week. All right, we'll go to the sushi place. All right, let's go. Where are the very fresh noodles? Right there. They made this sign big for you. Which better, the knack of the Arduan burger? I can order a burger. All right, can we get one of those in a bun? Looks juicy. They're good? Mm-hmm. Thanks, guys. Thank you. I'm going to take you to the secret place. The seafood place? Los Mariscos. Best kept secret in Chelsea Market. Los Tacos. This is actually a short line. Usually it's, like, down there. A lot of people don't know about Los Mariscos, which is the seafood taco place of these guys. It's over here. Yeah, that way. Shiller. What do you want to drink? Margarita. Okay. But see, nobody comes in here. Who knew, right? Chidio. Oh, that looks good. Yeah, they're big. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a really inexpensive taco for as much as you get here. It's really good. The red chili and peanut sauce is good. Oh, it's spicy. Wait, do you think there's choco cups for the margarita? Don't really want to say goodbye. That's yes. Margarita's exactly what I needed. I actually need a smoked ham to bake. I need a big one. This is like an old-school craft that very few people do these days, but these guys are doing it. But they're not getting in fabricated. No, he literally just said they have a whole spear program for it in like six cows a week. It's a lot of years in Texas. Same thing. Oh, that's very nice. Thank you. Let's go look at the fish. Now I feel really little. You are little. I want shellfish for the pasta, yeah. Come on, come down here, my man. I need some little necks. Let me have 12 mussels. I need some squid. Scalips. I can't see. You can't see. It's lobster. I need some halibut. Lobster. Live. One. Thank you. Do you like all of this? Yeah, we do. Two soups, soups, soups. Thank you. She likes the belly flight. I like the belly flight. I'm so happy. I don't even like telling people you like it, because it's a nice little seat. Like people don't know about it. It's crazy. I'm going to start off with the seat. Suck it. Suck it. He's very determined. All right. Hamachi crudo at the belly's flight. The shrimp tempura roll. Shrimp pike. Shrimp pike. Thanks for doing this. Oh my god, thank you. Coisa? Kiyosa. Kiyosa. I don't... Coisa? Yeah. It's really sweet sauce. Oh, Rob, your sauce is hamachi. So good. So tender. Tell you how hamachi is your favorite fish. Definitely up there. Favorite raw fish? Yeah. It's much better than it even has to be in this other place I guess. Crazy, pretty fish. Yeah. Yum. How are you? What's your name? Lina. Lina, very nice to meet you. I'm Bobby. Pleasure to meet you. I was just in Mexico City a few months ago. You went? Yeah, we went. Yeah, it was fantastic. You want to take a picture? Yes. This is the sweetest letter. I'm not gonna lie. I love a shrimp tempura roll. I want to come here every day. This was dessert. Wow. Looks really good. So good. It's like one of the better lobster rolls I've had. It's so good. Perfect. Awesome. I love it. That was so good. We'll just take a check. I said, what do you think of the market? I love this market. I mean, this is like hours of pleasure, non-stopped. Anything you could possibly want. I know what's great is like, you know, you can take a bite of this and a bite of that. To be able to go to the butcher shop and get whatever kind of meat you want. And then to be able to go upstairs and get like a full blown sushi lunch with a side of lobster roll. I know. Can't ask for anything better. Let's go, Brooke. Let's take one can of pepper. Bobby on the beat. Okay, what do you think of Brooke's new hairstyle? I love Brooke's haircut. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I can't say it. It's a sassy Bob. Sassy. And it looks so great. Yeah. And I think sassy is appropriate because I believe Vidal Sassoon kind of brought the Bob back in the 70s. You know, we hadn't seen it since the 20s. Next on history of hairstyles with Bob B. Flay. We love a Bob. All right, so what else is happening with you? What else is happening with me? We have Rupal Stragrae's airing right now on MTV. I have a new home collection coming out with Ballard Design. So it's all equestrian inspired. You're going to love it. Like home, like, like furniture, table top, rug, lighting, artwork, accessories. Wow. Basically like the CEO came to my house and she was just like, okay, this is an equestrian theme park. Right. We should do an equestrian inspired line. We designed something off of this, right? Yeah. So it's kind of based on some of my favorite antique. And what else? Are you writing any more books? I know you've written a few. I've written four books. I know, because you're an authority figure. I'm a New York Times bestselling author. Yes. And no, I did a men's book and a women's book. And I did a kid's book. And oh, there is a new book. Okay. Yeah. I forgot. I forgot. It's in the works. It's a book on equestrian living. So like, we'll come shoot your barn. Great. I love it. But it's all, you know, how people who like live with horses and love horses kind of incorporate that into their lifestyle. So we'll be shooting some friends' farms and barns. Fantastic. Okay. Well, thanks for hanging out with us today. Oh my God, it's over already. Well, I mean, I don't want to keep you. I mean, you know, you're so fun. I could stay all day. I know, but I'm running out of pork chops. We didn't even talk about your favorite restaurants in New York. I don't have any. Really? No, that's not true. I do. Where do you go? Oh, where do I go? I go to the Polo Bar. Of course. Because it's so fun. No, here's my tip. It is fun. If you want to... How do people get in? They can't get in. You get the number. And then you have to call. Like they take reservations 30 days in advance. And also don't try to go like on Valentine's Day. Like go on like a Monday night. But will you want to go to the Polo Bar? What do you do? I call a special number. Because I work there and I'm part of the Friends and Family. I still get the discount at the store. You do? Absolutely. That's why I'm always telling you about great stuff at Ralph Lauren. I was like, you should have this. You should have that. My thing on the Polo Bar is, and this is fun for viewers, if you want to see famous people in New York City, you go to the Polo Bar. That's true. Because that's where everybody goes. And I took my mom. Consistently. Consistently. You will always see somebody. I've seen Oprah. I've seen Ralph. I've seen Kamala. I've... John Hamm. Like everybody under the sun. And I also love Shouquette. Delicious. And I know you love Aisha. Well, Aisha is my girl. She's one of the Titans. It is the most yummiest food. It's like this, where everything has an unexpected... It's so... I would say the food there is really well-accessorized. How about Minetta Tavern? Minetta Tavern is a classic. You don't like it? I do. And I like the cheeseburger. That's what I would get there. And that's really it. I don't go to any other places. Yeah, I don't go to... I go to the same ones over and over. I know. I go to pasties. I go to Minetta Tavern. These places are like New York's stalwarts then. I just always gravitate to without having to think about it very much. You're doing B-Bobby for this year, right? I am. We're in contract negotiations right now. They were a little stingy with the money. And I was like, throw in a pork chop. I'll be there. Exactly. I love you on that show. I do too. That's the thing. When you show up, and I know you're coming on, it just makes me smile. I know I'm gonna have a fun day. I felt the same way about coming to do this podcast. I was really looking forward to it. And you know, most work things are just kind of like, once you get there, but I was like actually like, going to bed last night thinking like, oh my God, I'm gonna see Robert William Flay tomorrow. And then I'm gonna meet his cats, which I did. So it's been a delight. I just love being around you. Thank you. So thank you so much. You're the best. I'm like your third favorite person. Oh, fourth. You're up there. Yeah. I'm in the top five, I think. You're definitely in the top five. All right, everybody, thanks so much for watching. This has been so fun with Carson. Coming up next week, we have one of my chefs on Triple Threat, one of the Titans, Michael Votaggio. It's a high wire situation. Every time Michael picks up his knife and gets in the kitchen and this interview is no different. Make sure you hit follow and or subscribe. We need those numbers going up, up, up. Thanks for watching everybody and I really appreciate it. Bobby on the beat.
