Gad Elmaleh Struggles with a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer (Ron Livingston), giving the Moroccan born comedian his first taste of The United States Of America.
Starring: Gad Elmaleh as Himself Ron Livingston as Customs Officer
DIRECTOR: Aristotle Athiras WRITER: Langan Kingsley EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Kate Lilly TALENT PRODUCER: Luke Esselen PRODUCER: Hans Sahni COORDINATOR: Jasmin Guzman DP: Matt Sweeney CAM OP: Matt Krueger CAM OP: Shaun Dixon AC: Steve Kan GAFFER: Dustin Supencheck KEY GRIP: Josh Bell SWING: James Sowka PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Justin Barnette SET DRESSER: Tony Lugo WARDROBE: Victoria Zengo MAKEUP: Jessica Leigh Schwartz SOUND MIXER: Alex Dawson PA: Vincent Rella EDITOR: Ariel Gardner EDITOR: Josie Azzam POST PRODUCER: Alex Parks
There are a lot of admirable Americans out there, but there is only one Danny DeVito. And I think that we all know he’s the one true king of American icons. Which is why we’re all so enthralled — no, dare I say, enamoured by him. That’s why there was even a petition to get him to play Wolverine, which, hey — what happened to that? I need this to happen, WE ALL need this to happen. But I digress.
DeVito has inspired more than just petitions, he’s now inspired art. In an academic institution, no less.
The subreddit /r/mildlyinteresting contains exactly that: Things that are mildly interesting. Although I take some issue with this particular post, because this isn’t simply “mildly interesting”. This is goddamn glorious.
At Mystery University in Unspecified City, a reddit user posted this most magnificent sight:
Like I said, I don’t know what city this is in or which university this is, but wherever it is, it deserves ALL THE FUNDING. Because what’s a better way to get young academic minds going than by encouraging this kind of art?!
Listen. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and we’ve all been coping in different ways. Probably somewhere around 30% of Americans have become addicted to baking sourdough bread, I’ve become way too emotionally invested in the lives of the birds that come to my bird feeder and a lot more lenient about the definition of “clean” laundry, and the other day I saw a guy drop his keys twice in a row on the sidewalk and scream “FUUUUUUCK”.
We’re all going through it, and I’m not an expert but who am I to not extend that sentiment to involve our pets? I know for a fact my dog is tired of staring at my face all the time, based on how much time he spends actively not looking at me and instead staring out the window now. And I can only imagine this much time forced inside with their humans has made the cats of the world more than a little crazy.
So who am I to judge this cat who is zoned the hell out as he “drinks” water?
Sure, he’s not drinking the water, but he seems content enough.
No drinks, only vibes.
Is he an idiot as his human claims? That’s definitely a possibility. But my brain has also been reduced to, like, three cells max over the last year, so I ask you: who amongst us is NOT an idiot? Something to ponder.
Wanderlust can strike at any time, even while watching an animated series set in the frozen tundra of Alaska! And when you can’t physically travel there yourself, the next best option is a transformative ASMR experience into the world of The Great North, a new Fox animated series starring Nick Offerman.
Our ASMR artist takes us on a journey into the wild, creating a full sensory experience that captures the essence of The Great North, as well as the importance of respecting sell-by dates. He may not be a fisherman, an Alaskan moose, or know how to squeeze syrup on pancakes, but he certainly knows how to help you escape to Alaska using only the power of whispers.
… until TikTok creator, Celina Myers, set up cameras inside (and outside) of her home to capture her out-of-control (and now insanely viral) sleepwalking adventures.
When she held her chest and said “womp”… I felt that. I feel like anyone with a chest has done this at least once.
For the sake of our entertainment, Celina has been intentionally triggering her sleepwalking by eating chocolate or cheese before bed (but for safety reasons, she has her husband Adam stay up and supervise her sleepy shenanigans). Celina, if no one has said this to you, please know: you are a hero. We appreciate your sacrifice and bravery.
Bless you Adam for chasing after Celina when she sleepwalked outside and corralling her back into the house…
The sleepwalking journey started when Celina posted a video of herself after she had sleepwalked out of her hotel room and woke up naked and locked out of her room (whoopsies!). After the video’s intense virality (collectively the series has over 530 million views), she made the ✨correct✨ decision to start capturing and sharing her sleepwalking shenanigans.
Honestly, knowing she does all that – I don’t know HOW she has time to sleep, but I’m so glad she does… otherwise we wouldn’t be able to enjoy this beautiful sleepwalking journey.
Like my TikTok recommendations? Cool. Got better ones? Awesome! If there’s a TikTok account you think FOD should feature, send it my way: kat@funnyordie.com
Everything has been bad for a long time. All of 2020 was bad. All of it. Start to finish. If that wasn’t bad enough things weren’t even magically better at 12:01AM on January 1st 2021, which, to me, feels like a scam. Today, though, there is some good news.
And boy, howdy, it is good.
Although it feels like the world is growing smaller and smaller, every so often science comes through to remind us all that hey, actually, this bitch is huge and there is so much we don’t know. Case in point, last week not one, but two new animals were discovered. Earlier in the week it was announced that researchers have identified a new species of whale in the Gulf of Mexico, and as cool as that is (truly not trying to take anything away from you, Rice’s whale), that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
Today we’re here to marvel at this little bastard.
Behold
The researchers responsible for finding this small and equally angry man pouting in northern Madagascar are saying this is possibly the tiniest reptile on the planet, and y’know what? I believe them. To me this new nano chameleon looks like a Barry, or perhaps a Gerald, but his official name is Brookesia nana, shortened to B. nana.
B. nana, the sour-puss nano chameleon. Hello, Pixar? Are you writing this down?
I’d imagine it’s hard to be taken seriously as a 13.5mm long lizard essentially named banana, however because the females are larger than oh-so-miniscule males, that means they have to have pretty —aherm— substantial junk to do the deed. So, hey, chin up, guy! You may be small, but you’re big where it counts.
You know what they say, the smaller the chameleon, the larger the trouser snake…?
Well, it’s February 14th, love is in the air, and now is the perfect time to show that special someone in your life just how much you mean to them. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to find the right words to say how you feel, so for that we have memes. Specifically – Nic Cage memes. Because what says “I love you” better than a National Treasure reference?
As if a global pandemic wasn’t enough, a polar vortex has swept most of the continental US, bringing with it dangerous icy conditions and record breaking cold. Although Texas Senator and frumpy off-brand Wolverine Ted Cruz laughed at the California wildfires and how they impacted the state’s power grid just seven months ago, in a turning of the tables nobody wanted regardless of how you feel about him, Texas’ independent power grid run on all the fossil fuels and none of the regulation that Ted Cruz boasted would never fail, has failed. Massively.
Over three million Texans have been without power for days, no heat, no running water, pipes freezing and bursting, bare grocery store shelves. Don’t worry though, king rat fucker Ted Cruz found the perfect solution to beat the cold! Going to Cancun!
Oh, I’m sorry, did you think I meant he found a solution to help his constituents? Ha! What an idea.
After being caught in ultra HD and rightfully chewed the hell out by hundreds of thousands of people online (proof that bullying works), this slug in human form booked a return flight from Cancun the following day and released a statement claiming that he wasn’t going to stay in Mexico, he was merely dropping his daughters off there because he wanted to be a good dad.
He just happened to also pack a full suitcase and a beach tote to escort his kids on a 2.5 hour flight and then come right back.
You know, as one does.
Coming back to the completely organic, farm fresh bullshit statement he released, his plan to try and cover his own ass was literally blaming his daughters. I’m not a parent, but I’m positive that throwing your children under the bus when you royally fuck up isn’t in the guide book. Are we sure Ted Cruz isn’t actually just a human skin suit stuffed full of bugs? Is he a goblin that was ripped from the pages of an old European storybook intended to scare children? While we may never know for sure how it’s possible for a man to survive with a backbone made entirely of soft, room temperature butter, it is safe to assume that an actual stick of butter would make for a better Senator than Ted Cruz.
Here’s how you can help Texans right now:
Texas mutual aid funds you can donate to right now on Venmo and help someone live through this week:
Em Schulz and Christine Schiefer are the creators and co-hosts of And That’s Why We Drink, a weekly podcast where they share true crime stories, paranormal encounters, and more than a few laughs. The podcast has been ongoing since 2017 with 264 episodes so far, boasting a whopping 80 million downloads, and the pair won the 2019 “People’s Voice” Webby Award for Best Comedy Podcast. Although Christine and Em attended the same grad school Boston, it wasn’t until they connected by chance in Los Angeles years later that they became friends and, subsequently, superstar podcasters. They chatted with Funny Or Die over Zoom to talk about keeping a successful podcast going through the pandemic and to give some words of wisdom to aspiring creatives.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Thank you both so much for joining me! I feel like a lot of groups of friends have like a moment where they look at each other and go, “we’re so funny” or “we’re so good at this, we should have our own show,” but it’s so interesting that you two took a different approach, which was finding common interests but not really knowing each other, and using the podcast to get to know each other. What’s it been like cultivating and growing such a successful podcast in tandem with your friendship?
Christine Schiefer, creator and host of ‘And That’s Why We Drink’Courtesy of ‘And That’s Why We Drink’ Podcast
Christine: Yeah. Who does that? What is wrong with us?
Em: I think we both took it as an opportunity to document a friendship from start to finish— or maybe it doesn’t have to finish. Hopefully. Christine is the one who introduced me to podcasts, so I think once I realized that this was a friend I didn’t want to lose I was like, “Well, why don’t we just try to make our own?” Worst case scenario, we have the beginnings of our friendship recorded.
Christine: Yeah. I have to admit this, when Em initially texted me I was like, “No thanks, I’m not really feeling it.” I can’t live that part down, but my boyfriend who’s now my husband was like, “You need a hobby, you need something to do after work, you’re depressed, you’re making a new friend, lean into it,” stuff like that. Then from day one, we were 100% invested.
I don’t think we ever realized it was going to be successful. I mean, we wanted it to be, but I don’t think we were ever naive enough to think like, “Oh, this is going to be the next big thing,” because we were working minimum wage assistant jobs in the entertainment industry. So it was more like a fun hobby, and I think that part of the reason it went well is we never took ourselves too seriously.
Em: Yeah, we [originally] met through film school, so we had just spent like two years being beaten down into believing that we’ll never make it big. We were just like, “Let’s do this thing for ourselves and no expectations.”
The format of your podcast is described in other interviews as ‘a true crime podcast with a comedy twist.’ But listening to it, I felt like it’s almost more of a variety talk show where you happen to talk about true crime and paranormal stuff, in that it’s very warm and casual and authentic. I feel like I’m sitting in a room with you, listening to you two hang out. Was that aspect of inviting your audience into your lives and being so open and personal there from the start or did that evolve over time?
Christine: I would say that was definitely from day one. Since Em and I were assuming only our mothers, if that, were listening, we were just kind of hanging out like we did every other night, but now we had a microphone in front of us. And we were learning about each other, like Em said. I think it’s episode 13 that I learned Em had gone to clown college and I had not known that before. So everybody who listens to the podcast got to learn that fun fact alongside me.
Em: I think it was really a blessing in disguise that we decided to start a podcast as strangers because it fuelled a need to fill empty space. We didn’t know each other, so we were just going to talk about ourselves and if someone wanted to listen, great. I’ve actually never heard anyone describe [the podcast] as that before, but I do like how that sounds. It would make sense why a lot of people seem to really enjoy the banter of it, because there’s a whole level beyond just storytelling. A lot of people who started listening from the beginning and have stayed with us feel like they became friends with us, because they got to know us at the same time that we got to know each other.
Em Schulz, creator and host of ‘And That’s Why We Drink’Courtesy of ‘And That’s Why We Drink’ Podcast
Has it been interesting building a loyal audience of people who are not solely listening for the paranormal and true crime stories, but who have also become so invested in you as people?
Christine: Definitely. Em and I have gotten recognized in public and the first few times were jarring, because it’s a radio show and you think, “Why would anyone know what I look like?” But people get involved in our social media and follow us on different platforms. I would say it was an adjustment period for sure. A couple days ago someone tweeted, “Oh, Christine I just found your husband,” because he works at the ER here in Cincinnati, they were like, “I was his patient!”
Em: It’s definitely been a fun adjustment. It feels nice to be recognized for something that people enjoy. I’m really not looking forward to the day someone recognizes me because they don’t enjoy it, like, “Hey! I hate your podcast!” But it’s been really nice, I know we’ve both made friends through it. I got to know [our listeners] because they came to so many of our shows and meet and greets, and eventually they just became recognizable. And now we have our own relationships outside of the show.
So with you both going through film school, what’s it been like finding success on the front end of the camera or mic, being the talent, not just the ones producing it? Is that something that you were prepared for or saw for yourself?
Em: I’m not prepared for it at all. Which is ironic, because we got an education to be prepared for it. It’s funny that, in some ways, we ended up in a completely different industry, like we went to TV school and now we have a radio show. It’s opened up doors, so even if we’re not in television right now, it could happen later. It’s definitely expanded our horizons.
Christine: In some ways I’m in kind of a different boat, because I always intended to do writing and a friend and I were doing clip shows and mini series on YouTube. I was always trying to do the next fun on-screen thing. I feel like that really helped— studying comedy writing, I had to do improv as well, and I think that all flows together for podcasting.
What’s it been like recording and producing during the pandemic? And also hitting your 200th episode milestone during the pandemic, which by the way, congratulations. That’s huge.
Em: Thank you!
Christine: Aw, thanks.
Em: It feels right that it would happen during a pandemic or some sort of catastrophe. But, I mean, first of all, I never thought we’d have 200 episodes. Recording has been quite an adventure this year, even before the pandemic Christine was like, “Oh, also I’m moving.” So it wasn’t a matter of when are we going to drive to each other anymore, it was now how are we going to see each other, period? We had plans of action and then the pandemic just kept ruining them. It’s been a nice game of cat and mouse to make things work.
Christine: There’s definitely been a lot of trial and error. I’m very glad that we did study what we studied. Sometimes it feels like, “We studied TV and I studied journalism and undergrad, what use was all that?” But at the same time I’m like, “Thank God I learned the basics of editing on my own,” because it made it a lot easier to adjust. I feel really fortunate that we are able to do our jobs from home during the pandemic. A couple episodes went out with apologies saying things like, “Sorry if we sound like we’re a mile away from the microphone,” but I think we’re figuring it out.
Is there anything that you two have learned or developed while in the pandemic that you’re going to apply to episodes in the future once we’re through all of this and have some normalcy back?
Em: I think that the whole world could probably say we’ve learned how to adapt to new situations. I think before [the pandemic] I was more anxious or worried about how we were going to get everything done under normal circumstances, but I think we’ve become a lot more accommodating to whatever environment we’re in.
Christine: I agree. We had, for example, a big tour scheduled for the spring and, like everybody else in the entertainment industry, our live shows were completely nixed. So being able to do virtual “live” shows instead of doing in-person shows and figuring out how to do bonus content for our Patreon supporters when we’re not in the same room has been, I think, a good lesson in creativity and winging it, which we’ve learned we’re both good at.
Broader than podcasting, do you have any advice for people wanting to either break into a creative field and/or who are considering unconventional career paths?
Christine: My advice is pretty much always the same. Em and I kept our day jobs until we felt confident that we were able to support ourselves through [And That’s Why We Drink]. While it was a dive off a cliff because we spent our savings on audio equipment and there was risk involved, we definitely waited before leaving our day jobs. My advice is pick something that you would do for free as a hobby anyway. If you go into something like podcasting expecting to make a living, I just don’t think that approach tends to work as well as if you’re 100% passionate and doing it for the fun of it first.
Courtesy of ‘And That’s Why We Drink’
Em: If you go into it genuinely, people are going to be able to tell and will want to pay more attention, versus, I think, a lot of people can tell right away if someone’s in it for the clout.
Christine: It also reduces burnout. If Em and I picked a topic that we weren’t 100% invested in, we’d be less likely to have put 110% effort and time in. We were working full time, there was a point where I was working and planning a wedding, but the podcast was the fun part of everything I had on my plate. It is hard, it’s a lot of work, especially once it becomes at a business level, but if you really care and are passionate about it, it’s going to be a lot easier to hopefully transition that into an actual job.
Em, do you have any advice specifically for young gender nonconforming creatives looking to break into this kind of industry, whether that’s through podcasting or another medium
Em: This is a time where a lot of people have questions and we’re all in a space where we’re learning together. Even though I am not cisgender, I haven’t officially come out as anything yet because even I don’t know. But I think that’s really important, because there aren’t a lot of people out there who are in the public eye in some capacity who say, “Look even I don’t know and that’s okay.” I think this is a really good time for people to get educated or help others along the way or do something in that world, because people are looking for how to be the best ally possible.
Christine: Every time we do a live show, or even just on social media or through emails, people, especially parents will come up and say, “Em, you helped me understand my child who was trying to tell me they use they/them pronouns,” or what have you. It’s really cool to see people from all generations say, “the way you talked about [gender] made it easier for me to get it and accept people.”
Em: At least once at each live show, someone who’s queer will approach us and say we’ve helped them in some way. If we’re able to do that, if that’s a side effect of our show, then other shows out there can do the same thing.
Christine: Em taught me, even. You can hear in the beginning [of the podcast] I realized I was misgendering them because we hadn’t had that conversation, but you can hear the transition over time. Now if people are really early into the podcast and they say something to us, a lot of times other listeners will jump in and comment like, “Hey, I know you’re not at this episode yet, but just so you know, Em uses they/them pronouns.” It’s really fun to see people grow along with us.
Em: One of my favorite parts about our show is how everyone together has grown in understanding, whether referring to me or a gender-queer person they know. They probably think I don’t see it, but I’ve seen a few people in the comments defending me very kindly and politely if I get misgendered. It’s fun to see what we’ve taught people and watching them teach others.
Comedy, like all art, is subjective. What tickles the ol’ funny bone for you may be crickets for somebody else, and that’s fine! There are a few things, however, that damn near everybody is guaranteed to at least chuckle at.
For example, everyone loves a good word fumble.
You know, things like when you go to say “good” and “great” at the same time and end up saying “grood”. Or when third graders try to write out how proficient their parents are in the kitchen and “cook” becomes “cock”. Sometimes there doesn’t even have to be a mistake for words to be funny, the other day I saw an ad for a company called “Bibme, a Chegg service”, and holy mother of god that combination of words made me laugh so hard I almost puked.
Go on, try and say “BIBME, A CHEGG SERVICE” out loud without laughing. I dare you.
There are few things on earth as well-known and reliable for providing top quality word fumbles or just generally hilarious phrases as letterboard signs outside of businesses, and luckily for all of us, some generous soul by the name of Ghobsmacka on Twitter has compiled dozens of them in one place so we may all bust a gut together.
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