NO TALKIE TIL MY SPIKED ICED COFFEE

16 Aug 2023 · 1 h 6 min

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Podcast Episode Summary: NO TALKIE TIL MY SPIKED ICED COFFEE

Episode Overview

  • Podcast Title: Front and Center
  • Hosts: Alex Center and Kevin Batory
  • Episode Release Date: Weekly, every Wednesday
  • Episode Description: After a week off, Alex and Kevin discuss various topics including the media they're consuming, celebrity news, Dunkin's new Spiked Iced Coffee, workplace dynamics post-pandemic, and more.

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Key Topics Discussed

  1. Introduction and NFL Talk
  2. The episode opens with a humorous take on NFL discussions.
  3. Alex jokes about starting a sports podcast titled "SportsCenter," suggesting that many brands were born from cease and desist orders.
  1. Media Consumption
  2. The hosts reflect on what they've been watching, particularly highlighting:
  3. Barbie: Kevin praises Ryan Gosling's performance, noting the film lived up to its hype despite the clapping and conversations during the movie.
  4. John Wilson’s Show: Kevin shares mixed feelings about the show, acknowledging its unique style and creative storytelling.
  5. New Favorite Show: Kevin recommends HBO's *Telemarketers*, describing it as a dark comedic docu-series that explores the telemarketing industry.
  1. Reality TV and Social Commentary
  2. Claim to Fame: Kevin shares thoughts about a reality show where celebrity relatives compete but struggle with adversity.
  3. The hosts discuss the emotional responses from the participants, highlighting the contrast between privilege and genuine struggle.
  1. Concert Experiences
  2. Kevin recounts attending the Scaring the Hoes tour featuring Danny Brown and JPEG Mafia, expressing his disdain for the crowd behavior and phone usage during performances.
  1. Johnny Manziel Discussion
  2. The conversation shifts to Johnny Manziel's life post-football, discussing fame, partying, and the pressures of being a sports celebrity.
  3. They note the double standards between societal expectations of athletes versus their personal choices.
  1. Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg
  2. The hosts delve into the ongoing saga of Musk and Zuck potentially fighting.
  3. They critique the absurdity of their rivalry and the media spectacle surrounding it, suggesting that it's more of a publicity stunt than a serious competition.
  1. Dunkin' Spiked Iced Coffee
  2. A discussion on Dunkin's launch of a spiked iced coffee beverage.
  3. The hosts debate the merits of this new product and the implications of drinking alcohol-infused coffee.
  4. Alex humorously reflects on how drinking spiked coffee is now socially acceptable.
  1. Zoom's Back-to-Office Policy
  2. Kevin and Alex talk about Zoom's push for employees to return to the office, highlighting the irony of a company that thrived on remote work advocating for in-person attendance.
  3. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of remote work.
  1. McDonald's and Palace Collaboration
  2. The conversation transitions to McDonald's new collaboration with Palace, a streetwear brand.
  3. They critique the trend of brand collaborations and the necessity for companies to be more innovative rather than just selling t-shirts.
  1. Sriracha Shortage
  2. A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing the shortage of Sriracha sauce, its implications, and potential solutions.
  3. The hosts emphasize the cultural importance of Sriracha and the panic among consumers.

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Key Takeaways

  • Cultural Commentary: The podcast covers a wide array of topics reflecting on modern pop culture, media consumption, and societal issues in a humorous and relatable manner.
  • Product Launches: The introduction of Dunkin's Spiked Iced Coffee marks a notable trend in the blending of beverages and alcohol, appealing to consumers looking for convenience.
  • Shifts in Work Culture: The discussion on Zoom's back-to-office policy mirrors larger workplace trends and the ongoing debate about remote versus in-person work.
  • Brand Collaborations: The critique of McDonald's partnership with Palace underscores the need for greater creativity and substance behind brand collaborations.

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Conclusion This episode of *Front and Center* encapsulates the hosts' dynamic and their ability to blend humor with insightful commentary on current events and pop culture, making it an engaging listen for fans of design, branding, and media.

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Transcript

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0:28All right. Jets, Giants, and Bengals. This is going to be an eight-minute pre-show. No one wants to hear about our NFL takes. Paywall. I'll start another show. I mean, SportsCenter is what it would be called. How fast do you think we'll get a cease and desist if we start a podcast called SportsCenter? I think we'll fly under the radar. You think so? Yeah. I actually want to do it just for that reason, just to call it SportsCenter. And just be like, what do you mean? It's my fucking last name. How dare you? Well, some of the greatest brands have been born out of a cease and desist. that's what i'm saying and also we would we would space it out sports space center yeah there you go i mean i think it's a great show i think we have a lot of opportunity here kevin

1:14three two one kevin my man what's up it has been a minute i know i know we have not recorded our famous podcast. I know. We only missed one week. I know. So many people were upset about it. It felt like two weeks. I don't think anyone was upset. I think breaks are good. So many people. You take a break and then you get people hungry for more. You know that we charted last week on the American Design Podcast charts? That's crazy. Yeah. We didn't even put out a show. I think the people are just clamoring. I know. See, we should take more breaks. Listening to old episodes. You get the people hungry for more, Alex.

1:47We got to start playing with hype. That's true. Not enough hype is happening here. We're too available. We need to start a drop model is what you're saying. Absolutely. You never know when we're going to drop. Yeah. What if we record like 10 podcasts and then we drop them all at once and we're like, here's all the news from the past 10 weeks. And then you listen to like, we're just talking about the submarine explosion right now. No, not a good idea. I don't know. It could work. A news show that's not timely. It could work because like, I don't know. I think by the time you get your takes off about the submarine, they're already late.

2:24They're already not hot. That's true. Everyone's getting their takes off on Twitter. Yeah. That's true. I don't think there's any such thing as a hot take anymore. You bring up a good point. Hot takes. Wow. This is a hot take. Hot takes are dead. Yeah. Somebody's already had the take. Wow. Somebody's already X'd it on X.com. Yeah. That's true. Speaking of, what do you think of Barbie? I like it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought Ryan Gosling totally stole the show. I thought he was – I thought his performance was spectacular. And Margot Robbie's hot. All the other Barbies are hot, especially Midge. Midge was the hottest.

3:01Oh, man. Wow. This is a very feminist take, Kevin, here. Ken stole the show and all the Barbies were hot. I think you missed the point of this movie. It's an instant classic. No, it was fun. It was fun. It was really fun. We didn't really talk about it on the show, so I'll just say my best review of the movie is it lived up to its impossible hype, which I think a lot of things get hyped up these days, and I think a lot of things fail to live up to the hype, and this did for me. So don't be a hater. Go see it. Yeah. The number one movie in America as of four weeks ago. It was a really fun movie.

3:37It's great. It reminded me why I hate going to movie theaters. Really? Wow. Yeah. Well, the clapping pre-movie. Really? When the title scene came up. Really? People were clapping? When they lowered the lights down, people started clapping. And then when that pink WB logo, the new WB logo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The stretched out one. The stretched one, yeah. Not the new one. The new one. When that came up, people started clapping. I was just like, come on, shut up. Watch the fucking movie. Wow. I like the clapping. Everyone talked all throughout the previews. Ooh. Could not hear a single word. I mean, the previews.

4:11There were some interesting flicks I wanted to see. Julio Torres has a new movie that they were previewing. I didn't get to see that preview. I mean, I could go on YouTube and watch it right now, but I haven't. And then to make it worse, Alex. What happened, Kevin? Somebody's fucking feet were stinking right by me. Okay. And it was clear they had just come from a long day of work, and then they popped their shoes off in the movie theater. It's nasty. Here's the thing. I will defend people that pop their shoes off on airplanes. I know there's a lot of hate for those people. I have been one to do that I don't think sockless but like shoes off on an airplane it's a long fucking trip I will defend those people shoes off in a movie theater jail prison take them out I don't care if you have your shoes off just make sure they don't fucking stink oh this is your shoes off bring an extra pair of socks make it good for everybody else around you because yeah if your dogs are barking it's not a good time now that I mean listen if your dogs are barking don't take your shoes off period wherever you are but I think in a movie theater keep your fucking shoes on like that's not that's not your fucking living room like and I actually like when people get into the movie because that's to be honest for me I'm like when you know I'm seeing an event like Barbie I want people to clap or get excited or laugh because to me that's if they don't do that then I might as well be watching at home where I can take my shoes off Kevin we a lot of things to walk that we watched I have a lot of things here to talk about um john how to with john wilson's back great it's spectacular it's sad that they uh got the um the max axe really it's the last season yeah okay so that's their their de-prioritizing that uh that live action reality tv show guy said nah one person camera crew who's making statements about society no more yeah i guess there's writing that has to happen on that show i guess i mean it's got to be the one of the leaner HBO productions like yeah I watched something about his process and he just sends out camera crews and like has this like massive inventory of footage and basically just writes a script and then puts the footage to the script which is that's what it feels like when you're watching it actually which one did you watch so I actually watched an episode last night or two nights ago and I realized that I didn't even finish season two I kind of got bored and stopped watching, which my apologies to John Wilson.

6:33I love the show. I have the attention span of a goldfish where I can't watch anything other than dumb reality like trash television or documentaries. That's all I can watch, which this is a documentary technically, I think, kind of. It's not even like a show with a real, it's not a drama. There's no actors. And I still can't watch it. So I'm struggling, guys, out here. It's just been spectacular. I really him and Nathan Fielder really are pushing the bar for comedy. I thought the rehearsal was some of the most revolutionary comedy shit I've ever seen. I like saying it's avant garde. Yeah, no, they definitely are pushing ground in terms of like TV reality shows like like and trying new things, which I think is we both respect.

7:16Right. Like there's so many shows that just feel so formulaic and there's so many, you know, sort of like old garbage kind of regurgitated for new audiences, you know, and there's so many just like stale formats. So the fact that both Nathan Fielder and John Wilson are, yeah, they're inventing new formats, inventing new types of shows. Like I do really appreciate that and respect it. I don't know what it is, though. I do find I just lost a little bit of steam with both of them. And I think not to say that they're not great shows. I just I don't know. I've seen like I've seen a couple of them and I'm kind of like, OK, I get this.

7:57And I don't know if each one sometimes they fail to like bring me in a little bit, which is which is tough, which is tough. But I will tell you something I watched last night, which I think is honestly my favorite show of the year. I'm putting it out there. What? telemarketers on HBO. That one looks pretty interesting. And it is a docu-series about the telemarketing industry. The Safdies are involved. Oh, nice. It is honestly one of the best hours of TV I've seen so far this year, for sure. And I think... I don't know if people are talking about it yet. I don't know. I think it came out yesterday.

8:34So this is incredibly fresh. But it's right up your alley. You're going to like, it's so good. It's like dark comedic doc series. Sick. And it's about this like telemarketing company in Jersey where they hire ex-convicts and just like anyone who wants to get a job. Right on. Are they making bank? The people aren't making money. The business, the telemarketing company is making money. They're paying these people$10 an hour. But these are people that really can't get jobs anywhere else because they have criminal records and things like that. And so they just basically let them do whatever the fuck they want as long as they make sales.

9:10And so people are just doing drugs, fucking hookers, like all sorts of things in this like Jersey warehouse. And they're all just doing telemarketing calls. It's a while. And ultimately they start to like videotape it and then unravel the truth around this like scam. Yeah. I got served up a preview for that one. You're going to love it. I'm excited for it. Yeah. You know, if you talk about trash reality TV shows. Yeah, we got more. I got one for you. What do you got? I talked about it last year. called Claim to Fame. It's about celebrity relatives. And the whole point of the game is to not reveal your celebrity relative.

9:40Okay. Jonas'? Yeah, the Jonas brothers. Frankie and Kevin host it, maybe? I don't know. Kevin, right. Joe? I don't fucking know. No, I think it's Kevin, right? Because Kevin is the third. There's Nick and Joe, which are the handsome Jonas' ones. Yeah. And then there's Kevin, right, who's in the band but not handsome. Yeah. And then there's Franklin, who's the younger brother, the famous bonus Jonas. Yeah. And they're like, they're the hosts, I believe. I've not seen the show. One of my favorite parts of the show is like these Nepo babies are faced with the slightest adversity. And then they start crying.

10:14Really? Yeah. I don't know. It's just so stupid. Is it a - Somebody gets voted off in a shocking way and then there's just like tears. This is season two? Season two, yeah. Of Claim to Fame. And so the show is just about nepotism. It's like a let's make fun of Nepo babies kind of? It's not even making fun of. It's like, let's expose them. Let's give them a chance to do, make their own path, I guess. I don't know. Okay. Give them a platform. Yeah. Nick Cannon's relative was just not revealed, but they revealed this clue last week and it was like, um, Nick Cannon's relative. You know how many relatives Nick Cannon is?

10:50I know, but like, here's the thing is like you, they unlock clues and they go into a room and there's like, they're in like bottles and shit. Is this Fox? I think it's ABC. It's right after the bachelor. Okay. It hopped at Bachelor, actually. What? In airing order. They aired it before The Bachelor for a couple weeks this year. Oh, wow. But the clue was like, has over 10 kids, and then star drummer. Wow. Yeah. So it was good. I don't know. This reminds me a little bit of The Masked Singer, right? Where it's a show meant to highlight the skills of D-list celebrities and famous celebrities of the past.

11:27Yeah. And so this is a similar show where they have to reveal Nepo babies. Yes, pretty much. It's not even nepotism. I guess - Nepo relatives. Nepo relatives. Yeah. Because these people aren't famous, right? They're just like - Are they typically average people? They're just like regular people? Yeah, like regular people like Alicia Keys' brother was on there. Neil deGrasse Tyson's son. I don't know, like Dolly Parton's niece. So what do they do? I've never seen an episode. So do they talk to these people and they try to ask them questions? So they have challenges that they have to do that are pretty dumb.

12:04I don't know. One of them was wearing an electronic ab trainer that was painful. Oh, so there's a competition angle of this? Yeah, it's a competition. And then the winner wins 100K, which in the grand scheme of television is pretty fucking low. Also for rich relatives. But I guess I don't know if that means that these people are rich. It's hard to say, but probably. Neil deGrasse Tyson's son, maybe. But if you're Alicia Keys' cousin. Brother. Brother. I mean, does that mean that person is rich? Does Alicia Keys share some of the wealth? Probably. Brother, yeah, I'd guess. Maybe. Maybe. But not definitely.

12:44I mean, he probably is doing shit for her. He's probably technically an employee. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. That's not guaranteed. But it's just really funny to see them go through small adversity and break down or cry. Got it. It's like people have never really had to do much. That's the show within the show. It's like seeing people that haven't had a ton of adversity. Yeah, like Tom Hanks' nephew. Or Tom Hanks' niece, sorry. Niece? There's a big clip that was going around when the show premiered. She was the first person to get exposed. And she went off. she was like threw a fit around the house like you know bts style um it was like packing up her bags okay big fit but they can't even get chet hanks like chet hanks is too much of a star so it has to be like chet hanks is yeah niece cousin cheson jesus christ well um i it sounds like an absolute train wreck um but my favorite jonas now franklin jonas um is uh is is i would Shout out, Throgang.

13:49I would watch just to watch Frankie Jonas because I didn't know this, but I'm a fan of Franklin Jonas because he was on Throwing Fits. Speaking of, I was at the Met game on Saturday. They lost 21-3, and I saw someone wearing a Franklin Jonas T-shirt. Wow. Good for them. At least one other fan out there. Shout out to the Mets. Absolutely demolished in a football score, which is honestly impressive to watch 21-3. Kevin, you went to the Scaring the Hoes tour, Danny Brown and JPEG Mafia. I forgot about this. Yes. We have a lot to cover here. Yeah, about a week ago, I went to Danny Brown and JPEG Mafia show.

14:27I don't know. I guess maybe I just hate going to events now. Really? That makes sense. Maybe it's becoming a bitter, I hate crowds type guy. Yeah. I can see that for you. I'm growing up. Yeah, no. Crowds suck. I mean, honestly, when your lines suck, crowds suck. Yeah, fuck it. Like, and especially when you're, like, everything at home is so accessible. Yeah. I mean, the two takeaways was I fucking love Danny Brown. Yeah, of course. He broke away, did some solo work. Good. Amazing. And then, I don't know, like, a lot of the, there was, like, sections of the crowd. We were kind of, like, in the more chill zone, which was, like, internet Zoomers, you know, Zoomers who just exist online for the most part.

15:05Very soft. Not very cool. And on their phone the whole time. like when the camera would pan into like the stage it just everyone like has their phone up it's like come on just like stop it like get out just put your phone down kevin this is your start these are a lot of old man takes you know these are the guy you know the guy in front of us at one point was taking like multiple like he recorded the whole set i swear to god like four five minute videos like it was crazy like what are you doing with those yeah it's a good question i have to be completely fair, watched some concert videos on YouTube where someone records the entire show and I watch it.

15:46I'm like, oh, good. I went to the drink show. You're part of the problem. I went to the drink show. Part of the problem, Alex. It's all a blur. I watched the Madison Square Garden. I didn't get to the final. I watched about half of it. But I was like, oh, this is kind of nice. I wanted to go to the show. I didn't go. But now I have a reasonable video. But I am part of the problem. I think it is weird, though, that people record a show versus enjoying it. But this has been going on for years. Who cares? Before we get into the topics, Kevin, we've got to talk about Johnny Menzel. What do you think?

16:18All-time partier? Definitely an all-time partier. Definitely has to be on the Mount Rushmore of partiers. Yeah. Pretty incredible. I don't know. A lot of people were talking about it was sad that he was drinking at the end. I don't know. Let the guy live. He was in a pressure cooker of this media storm. He had a meteoric rise. He was probably one of the biggest celebrities on earth at that time. Sure. Like 2012, 2013, whenever that big freshman season he had was. Yeah. Which I remember that. That was fucking awesome. Pretty sick. What a ride. Legend, yeah. But I don't know. He flew too close to the sun and he had some substance abuse issues that probably got exacerbated by the stage he was on.

17:05and you know he fizzled out and that shit he was in the middle where he was like you know i was you know he gets cut from the browns and yeah he goes on this massive bender like that was sad but i don't know it seems like he's kind of evened out and he's just like kind of chilling living his life having fun doing what makes him happy which is partying yeah i mean obviously like It's very clear that Johnny Manziel went to a Texas high school and was the star and the partying sort of guy. And in his late teens or 20s, was very comfortable performing at the highest level and also partying at the highest level.

17:48and I think he was to your point like thrust into the center of attention of like all of sports and entertainment and culture and that's a lot of pressure to put on someone and I think it's really tough to perform with that much expectations on people like people are genuinely questioning your ability to perform and I don't know if he was ever going to be good enough to play at the highest highest level who knows and i think there's a lot of college quarterbacks that like dominate and win heismans that don't like it's it's he's not the first guy to be an awesome college player look at tebow look at so many guys like him baker mayfield even like guys that can run in college right and then when they get to the pros like they can't just run down the middle yeah and not get destroyed by linebackers like it's just it's it's not that crazy to me that he would be really really good in college and then not that good in the pros and i like i kind of call bullshit on that like not watching tape stuff like i know he didn't probably work as hard as he probably should have but like he he had to know the playbook he was running fucking like the offense like he had to know the plays maybe he wasn't watching as much tape as he should have of the opponents or whatever but like i just think a lot of that is like it's a it's a convenient excuse to be like i didn't watch tape all i cared about was partying and not like i was awesome in college and like my skills didn't totally translate to the pros it's kind of like i think that's probably more realistic i don't know i'll give it to him okay i'll give him the excuse it is a different beast obviously to play professionally and all the things you have to know and do you know the quarterback documentary like you've been talking about yeah shed a lot of light on that yeah it's hard um it's not easy but like you can learn a playbook and learn an offense without watching film you know i don't know i mean learning offenses like those offenses are complicated like those are hard like you learn those like in uh you learn that in like on an ipad or like on like you're not like watching videos of fair but i feel like they tried to make it seem like he was doing no work to like be a quarterback and it's like i think the bare minimum of learning the place is a lot of work i don't think he was doing the extracurricular like what mahomes does like sits at home and watches fucking defenses and like studies them to you know to expose their weaknesses but like i don't know i just think manzel like i don't know how like i guess i don't know how likable it came across to me i was like like the monte teo documentary or even the uh chris uh logan paul was jake paul How many Pauls are there?

20:27Jake Paul, Chris Paul, and Logan Paul, famously brothers. Yeah, I mean, it's like you kind of – typically these documentaries are all produced by the people or they're involved in and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, here's the story that you need to know about me. Don't hate me. Feel bad for me. It's like every single documentary. And I feel like if that was the point of this one to a certain extent, I was like, I don't know if I'm like Johnny Manziel. What a sympathetic figure. yeah i think it i mean for me it developed or it i conjured up a little bit of sympathy for him just like yeah i don't know dude dude loves to party he does love to party and i think yeah and you want him to apologize for party rocking i mean at what point does it become sad though and i think that's what people saying like in the end scene when he's in his scottsdale house like playing oh when he's in his fucking big ass scottsdale mansion boo-hoo i know he did all right i exactly but i do think that becomes a little less like i'm just party rocking and more of like i have an addiction how old is he 30 like he's probably like early 30s yeah probably early 30s yeah i think he's got like five more years uh unfortunately for him he's 30 years old so i guess you know maybe you know let him let him rock yeah that's what you're saying i mean i don't think he's like going crazy i think he's just like vibing out with his friends like yeah like he's just having a good time he like had a pretty tumultuous um you know a couple years in his life so totally and i think if that that was a takeaway for me i agree which is like the pressure that he was under being cut from the browns and people seeing like oh my god this is the worst day of you know this guy's life and he's like actually it was the best day of my life yeah so i could just like move on sounds kind of cool sometimes you got to cut a man loose yeah i will say also like a lot of people expect right i remember this happened with ricky williams where they're just like oh my god how could he let all that talent go and give up on football and he's like actually football is like the worst job in the world and actually like it made me miserable and hate my life and i don't owe that to you to play to make you happy and to entertain you like just because i have these skills doesn't mean that i have to use them and that's kind of the expectation that's And that's, to be fair, that he's a human being.

22:51He can choose not to play sports, even if he's exceptionally skilled in them. Johnny Manziel, I don't know if that was exactly the case. But it is interesting. I mean, and I think the more these documentaries shine a light on how much pressure and how much money these companies make off of these people, that was also the big thing for me was the new contracts and branding deals. Like if Johnny Manziel was in college today, he would be the fucking like he'd be on every commercial. He'd be making so much money. And it was sad because it was just he was like five years, 10 years to too late. Yeah.

23:24Or too early. So, so many docs, so many things to talk about. Literally, you could talk about documentaries and fucking shit all day. But we have to move on, Kevin, because we have the dumbest story of the year, which is one that we've been we've been covering for months and months. Too long. Way too long. Way too long. And we're going to keep covering. We're going to keep talking about it. Fucking stupid. Yeah, Musk for Zuck, the fight of the century. We're talking about Elon Musk fighting Mark Zuckerberg, which I imagine, what was MMA? Was that generally the agreed upon sort of sport here that they're going to fight?

23:55I guess. Yeah, UFC-ish mixed martial arts. We know that Zuckerberg and Musk have been beefing publicly. Yeah, talking shit on their respective platforms. Talking shit on their respective platforms. I wonder how much of it is just to bring attention to their platforms and they know that they're trying to keep people engaged on threads. Probably 100%. Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I did open threads yesterday for the first time in a long time. To see Zuckerberg. Yeah, to see what he was saying. And I saw, I perused through some profiles. Yeah. A lot of profiles. Last post. There's like two posts they have.

24:32Like a lot of people. Yep. Maybe I'll look through some of yours. Some of my listeners. Yeah. A lot of posts from five weeks ago. Yeah, no. nothing since so i will say threads has fallen off a cliff we've talked about that a little bit i think the only person who gets engagement on threads is zuckerberg yeah i think he like i posted something the other day because i was like oh maybe i should just you know post here and it got nothing like no likes no engagement it's like this platform is is is a ghost town no more it's no more thread heads i had a lot of high expectations or a lot of hope for threads yeah i really wanted it to succeed and i just don't think it's i don't think it's working yeah But now we have to go to each respective platform, which honestly, I'm just on X.com, you know, reading the screenshots of what he's saying.

25:14That's fair. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing, too. And we're getting my information from Instagram, which basically the update here is that I thought the fight was dead. And I think I was on record saying that this fight is never going to happen. I just don't think that these two people are willing to sacrifice potentially the big giant L in front of millions of people if they lose this fight or they get their ass kicked. I think their egos are too big, and I don't think that it's actually ever going to really happen. No, definitely not. And I think it was dead for the most part. I think it was just like they'd moved on.

25:50But then it kicked up again because they announced that they had gotten like a secret location in Rome. Yeah. Not a secret location, Alex. Yeah. An epic location. Yeah. So Musk wrote, the fight will be managed by me and Zuck's foundations, not UFC. Livestream will be on this platform and meta. So basically both platforms. Everything in camera frame will be in ancient Rome. So nothing modern at all. I spoke to the PM of Italy, prime minister of Italy and the minister of culture. They have agreed on an epic location. So location. So that's the sort of like that kicked all this back up again. My favorite tweet comes after it, which he says everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy, which not to mention all proceeds going to veterans and the pediatric hospitals of Italy.

26:47Yes. so not pandering at all so sure so that was like okay maybe this is gonna happen maybe these two guys like are actually talking behind the scenes and this comes after musk was like oh i think i need to get shoulder shoulder and back surgery yeah maybe this fight won't happen so then that does that happen after before and then because on the bottom of that x thread somebody asks about the uh so basically zuck talks about his the problem with his shoulder and that it's rubbing his shoulder blade musk yeah is is is rubbing against his ribs which is going to require surgery sounds like he needs to get a rib removed so so it's going to take a couple months for musk to get sort of uh you know the surgery required for this fight and then zuck comes incredibly over the top here, which I think is the knockout blow of this whole thing.

27:44He says, I think we can agree that Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date. Then he says he needs a surgery. And now I asked to do a practice round in my backyard instead, which is so random. I think Zuck put a cage in his backyard. Oh, I saw that. Which is kind of hilarious. He said his wife was thrilled. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and an official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.

28:21I will say some of those photos of him with Israel Adesanya go pretty hard. Really? Yeah. I mean, I respect it. I would love to train with Israel Adesanya. That'd be sick. Yeah. I don't know who that is. He's one of the best UFC fighters. Okay. I think, here's the thing. I think Zuck would do this fight only because I think Zuck has really been training and really, like, ready to fight. Yeah, this is in his wheelhouse. And I think Zuck is looking to fight someone, very much like Jake and Logan Paul and many other, you know, Mayweather, you know, sort of. He wants to fight fights in which he knows he's going to win.

28:57Yeah. Hey, Zuck can beat my ass. I don't care. And that's the thing. And so he's looking for a fight with people that are somewhat serious, but like not serious enough to actually kick his ass. And I think Elon Musk would fall into that category. He'd love nothing more than kick Elon's ass publicly in front of people. Oh, yeah. I mean, it would rule and it would probably go down like that, too. And that's why it will not happen. That's right. Exactly. Musk doesn't want this. Musk's ego is too fragile to handle a public submission. Zuck would kick the shit out of Musk. We all agree that, right?

29:30We've seen that he's been posting the photos shirtless with real trainers. I believe that Zuck is a psychopath, and he loves a side mission. I mean, both of them are fucking psychopaths. Any billionaire is a psychopath. That's fair. But I just don't think that Zuck is taking this fight unless he knows he's going to win, and I think in this case he does. Absolutely. And I think Musk is just going to never do this fight. He'll talk about doing it because he knows it's going to stir up news, and he loves to troll people. Yeah, he'll probably have an – even if it does get some steam, he'll have like a convenient injury or something.

30:02Yes, exactly. Yeah. Which is sad because I do want to see this, but I just – I have no expectations that I ever will. It would be awesome if like maybe Musk – or sorry, if Zuck ignored the tapping and ignored the referee and just, you know. I think Zuck is – Or eternally finished Elon Musk and then got a hard sentence to jail. And then kind of two birds, one stone there. This is a Kevin fantasy, I think. I think it's just not going to happen. And I think it's just funny that they're like, for Italy and epic location, to think of these two people as gladiators fighting in ancient Rome. It's like the fucking egos of these fucking guys.

30:51It's like either fight or don't fight. Like don't make this whole spectacle about where it's going to be. It's like it's never going to happen. It's just not happening. They sound like some fucking grade schoolers. Yeah. And I got an epic location. Oh, yeah. Pay respect to the past and present of Italy. It's like what are you talking about? You're not fighting in any way, shape, or form. There's no ring. There's no gladiator stadium. There's nothing happening. you think about it elon musk and mark zuckerberg are kind of like modern day gladiators yeah fighting in the world of uh you know attention and yeah yeah yeah yeah fuck these guys honestly can we both agree though that like these two guys like just shut the fuck up yeah absolutely just like stop like stop putting yourselves out there and i think i think zuck is happy to just like win in the court of public opinion which is like i think you'll i think he which is our show which is our show and he would win this fight and and he knows that he he's been he's been baited into this whole thing we didn't talk about how you got psyoped into being a jake paul fan oh by the documentary on hbo or psyoped into being a jets fan psyoped into rooting for jake paul yeah dude i just believe whatever uh documentary television is in front of me um no i didn't i don't i'm not a jake paul fan i i think he puts asses in seats and i think i've always been intrigued by watching him like fight these shitty fights yeah but he's like boxing a little bit he's misunderstood right he's like a he's like a no he's not misunderstood he's a damaged soul no he's a douchebag he's like he's a fucking youtuber and he's but he's he's good at getting people to pay attention to him Which is a skill in this fucking shitty world that we live in.

32:40Yeah. And to be honest, boxing is dead. There hasn't been any enthusiasm around boxing since fucking Mayweather De La Hoya. No, Mayweather McGregor was pretty hype. No, that was a fucking fake fight too. It wasn't. It was real. No. When did Mayweather fight, not De La Hoya, but who he fought? Pacquiao? hacky out like that was like 10 that was like 15 years ago and so the fact that no one has cared about boxing since and so fucking jake paul's back you know is is putting a little bit of uh you know excitement into this and i'll go on tiktok or whatever fucking streaming platform and illegally watch it for 10 minutes while the fight is on and go back to whatever i'm doing sure yeah that's the attention span i got for this uh kevin uh that is a lot of pre-show stuff that is a lot we're dipping you know we did a lot of stuff that's the format we ditch the format guys i don't know if you know this but like formats are for fucking losers we don't need a fucking format i mean there was a stretch last year where you're like oh we like we're just do we need do we need to do pre-show do we like what's pre-show what's regular show yeah you're it's all the show it's the show it's the fucking show but um yeah next story dialine.com uh america's favorite Dunkin' and Donut shop.

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34:03I don't know what a Dunkin' shop is, but it's a famous donut shop. You ever heard of it? It's called Dunkin' Donuts. And they have a new innovation. Hard coffee. Hard coffee? Hard coffee. All right. And basically, the Dunkin' brand is venturing into ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, so coffee lovers rejoice in the... Coffee lover alcoholics are fucking stoked right now yeah the intersection of boston alcohol lovers and coffee lovers or duncan coffee lovers that middle section is an underserved uh part of a community and uh boy are they have something to get excited about because um four flavors originalized coffee caramelized coffee mocha iced coffee and vanilla iced coffee all with six percent abv all right This shit's just Four Loko for losers.

35:00I don't know. Four Loko was pretty intense on the alcohol. And it had the caffeine of two Red Bulls and the alcohol of three beers or some shit. That was crazy. This is just like seltzer. This is coffee-flavored seltzer, right? Exactly, which is Four Loko for losers. Yeah. I mean, it's a malt-based product, and it's produced at the seasonal brew collaborator Harpoon Brewery. So Harpoon is a beer maker that Dunkin' has collabed with. They've done some like— Odd that they're not with Sam Adams and the BBC Boston Beer Company. Yeah, no, you would think that the Boston collaboration there. But no, they have done—I believe they did like a Dunkin' beer or a Dunkin' stout or something like that.

35:47They had a stout, and I tried it. I thought it was pretty good. And so they got the internet talking basically just with a picture of a 12-pack. And it has packaging that we can safely say is fine. But it says Dunkin' Spiked. And this is breakthrough. This is big news. It was on CNN.com I saw. We talked about Sunny D going from orange juice to alcohol. And now we have coffee. And I think, to be honest, I think this is a smart move from Dunkin'. Because think about it. You got espresso martinis. You got Irish coffees. Coffee and alcohol. Yeah. Caffeine's so hot right now. They go pretty well. And I love this.

36:33I got to say, Dunkin' Donuts plus booze. Let's fucking go, baby. Yeah. I mean. Boston, stand up. You know, call me an old head. But I think we got to reject modernity. Yes. Which is these fucking dumb RTD cocktail, malt beverage fucking coffee drinks. Okay. And embrace tradition, which is pouring some fucking whiskey in your Dunkin'. That's right. With a little bit of Kahlua. That's right. I will say, as someone who likes a Swedish-tasting cocktail, likes a Swedish-tasting coffee, doesn't mind a sweet beer every now and then, I'm here for this. I got one or two of these maximum. We should do a case race.

37:21Yeah. I don't think anyone should drink more than two of these things. Yeah, if you drink all 12, you fight a cop. Yeah. I don't think that's a good idea. But you're right. Innovation at its finest. Design is not particularly great, but this is what the world has been looking for. This is the innovation we've been talking about. Yeah. We've been looking for a way to drink Dunkin' Donuts all times of the day. I know. Now it's finally normal for me to drink a fucking alcoholic coffee in the morning. That's true. I've been scrutinized for years for doing that. And now finally. Yeah, normalized drinking before noon.

37:54Like, you know, no longer will you be seen as an alcoholic. Yeah, normalized drinking before noon. This is now something that is totally okay. Show up to work with a spiked Dunkin' and see what your boss says. It's going to be awesome. Yeah, you got this. Kevin, I have a really great quote from Dunkin's president, Scott Murphy. He said that the creation of Dunkin' Spike means you can, quote, start and end your day with Dunkin', which is a testament to our continuous drive for innovation and understanding our fans' desires. So, yeah, this is just a day part strategy, right? Dunkin' Donuts is only really selling products from, I would imagine, like 6 a.m.

38:34to 2 o 'clock. So you're leaving so many hours on the table there. you need to provide a drink for people in the afternoon. Yeah. I don't know what I would have done if they didn't do this. So what I'm hearing is Dunkin' for breakfast, then go over, grab like a little Dunkin' sandwich there for lunch, and then right around happy hour, hit up Dunkin' for some booze and have yourself a wicked piss-a. Boston. Boston jokes. That's a good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Boston, stand up. Park the car in Harvard Yacht. You love saying that. And drink because you got to park the car because. Yeah, park the car before you start drinking.

39:14Before you start drinking. There you go. Dunkin', you know, sort of. Yeah. Dunkin' Spiked. Honestly, I'm not even being sarcastic. I want to try it. All right. We'll try it on the program. Here's my one question. If we buy a 12-pack, I'm going to drink as many as I can on camera. Yeah. Do you think this tastes like. It probably tastes bad. Do you think it tastes like an RTD latte? or do you think it tastes like a seltzer flavored with like coffee flavored? I think both are kind of bad, to be honest with you. Yeah. I don't know what this is going to taste like. Malt-based beverage. Does it have caffeine in it?

39:53It's gotta. It has to have caffeine, right? It was a little unclear. I did some digging, actually. Does Duncan? You don't know. We don't know if it has caffeine. I'm sure it does. I don't think it does. I don't think so. You think it's just a flavor house going wild? No, you're right. They have contained some caffeine. Some? Less than a typical cup of coffee. Yeah. I'm going to stick to spike in my own coffee with shitty whiskey. I'm going to call it a day. Actually, I'm not calling it a day. You're just beginning a day. I'm beginning a day when I'm at Bengals games this year. You know I'm going to start with a fucking spiked coffee.

40:37A Dunkin' spiked? Not a Dunkin' spiked. Yeah. Maybe. I mean, if there's a Dunkin' around, you know. But I'm spiking a coffee. Like a 9 a.m. spiked coffee? Yeah. Getting down to the tailgate lot? Mm-hmm. That sets the day off right. Yeah. We wonder why Kevin, you know, gets into fights at football games. You know? No. It has nothing to do with that spiked coffee that he drinks before he even gets in the car. To clear my name, I did not have a spiked coffee. Okay. Yeah. No, I think this is a good idea. I think everything is spiked now. We talked about orange, you know, high C or, you know, fucking the orange juice mixers.

41:17Like I went to the bodega the other day and I went to grab an Arizona tall boy and they had Arizona tall boy spiked. So I didn't even know that existed. You can get a peach Arizona with alcohol in it. Yeah. I feel the same way. Just buy the Arizona tea. Yeah. Get your handle of vodka. Mix them up yourself. Let's cut out the middleman here. Yeah. That didn't make as much news, I guess. Arizona iced tea, sort of alcoholic spiked. I'd like to try that, but I guess it's not that exciting or groundbreaking because spiked teas exist. Yeah, spiked tea is so 2021. Twisted tea is like one of the number one selling drinks in America.

41:55I know. I saw it in a glass bottle the other day at the restaurant we had lunch. Yeah, that's fancy. Yeah, shout out to Lula. Yeah, damn. I didn't even know. Yeah, it's honestly not a good drink. Remember we had him on the show? I thought it was good. Oh, yeah. There was one that I actually liked. But yeah, I mean, I guess it's not that exciting to mix tea and alcohol. But coffee and alcohol, yeah, here we are. It's a fucking groundbreaking story. A new frontier. With the launch of Dunkin' Spike, they also have Dunkin' Spiked teas. So they, Dunkin '… Their iced tea does go pretty hard. I've never had a Dunkin' iced tea.

42:29I know Starbucks has teas. Well, check it out, Alex. When I went to the Belmont Stakes and had a nice little payday at the racetrack, I started my endeavor with a spiked Dunkin' Tea. But it was a DIY tea. Homegrown, homemade. Homebrew. Homebrew. It was great. Okay. Yeah, the hard teas coming from Dunkin' have strawberry dragon fruit, mango pineapple, slightly sweet, and half and half. So, I mean, sure. I mean, why the fuck not? Because Dunkin' can put... They don't really have products, I don't believe, in most bodegas or most supermarkets. I guess they have ready-to-drink plastic coffee. They got the shitty beans.

43:17Yeah, but are people really interested in that? I don't know. They're ready-to-drink... They're basically milkshakes. They're pretty good. I've had it before. I'm looking at this article. It also has Dunkin' cereal. So, Duncan is going fucking line extension crazy, and they're just throwing fucking spaghetti at the wall, hoping that something's done. But I'm here for it. I'm here for the spiked coffees. I feel like that, for me, is the one I want to try and see what this tastes like. Sure, let's try them. They're not available yet, the map on the website. Yeah. They're not available in New York.

43:46So, I've been refreshing every day. Waiting. Yeah. Hoping that these malt beverages with fermented alcohol, good. I mean, sure. We're going to have to try them out, but go maximize those profits. Create those new revenue streams, Dunkin'. Go get out there. And yeah, the Dunkin' in the Dunkin' Donuts logo, where I guess it's now just Dunkin', they thinned it out. That's why they removed the donuts. Yeah, so they can get into other categories, which, to be honest, makes a lot of sense. They're not just known for their donuts. Yeah, I remove donuts so I can get into some other pants, but that's just me.

44:29It's so bad, Kevin. That's so bad. Amazing. Yeah, I mean, boozy coffee. I mean, booze and coffee go well together. We all agree. I like peanut butter and jelly. I don't think this is going to taste good. Definitely not. But there's a chance. And I will say, we're almost approaching football season in the fall. I've been known to be a pumpkin beer kind of guy. and I like an IPA and so I'm down if I see this at the bar and there's a spiked Dunkin I'm going for it catch Alex in his Aaron Rodgers Jets jersey at MetLife crushing a case of these before the Jets game go Aaron Rodgers doing the J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets that's it, doing the state farm I mean, he rules Yeah.

45:21I mean, Aaron Rodgers, pretty cool. Pretty cool guy. Kevin, Zoom, you ever heard of the sort of, what would you call it? Telecommunications company? The inventors of remote work. The inventors of remote work. Maybe not inventors, but the supporters. Yeah. The catalysts. The real winners of the pandemic, we can all say. That the pandemic was a terrible and tough time for many. It was also a positive time for some. Zoom, number one winner. Mount Rushmore, first pick, number one winner of the pandemic. Zoom, who kicked the ass of Google and fucking all the other platforms they used to use. Skype, remember?

46:07Video communications company became synonymous with remote work. The reason why everyone can work from anywhere they want to has ordered their staff to get back to their office and believes that a structured hybrid approach is most effective and people living within 50 miles of the office should work in person at least twice a week. Could you imagine taking a 50-mile drive, driving 200 miles a week just to go to work? At Zoom, yeah. It is obviously a big story because of the irony here, essentially the company that created and allowed and enabled and facilitated the work from home lifestyle is now basically on the front lines of saying, eh, get back to work.

46:5350 miles is an interesting radius. Hybrid's good, though. At least they're not being total hard asses and being like, every day. Yeah. I mean, listen, I think that would be pretty... That would be a better story for us. But yeah, they said about 12 % of the workers are in the US where Zoom is headquartered, fully remote. We're fully remote in July. So another 29 % had sort of hybrid policies. And then, yeah, again, researchers have said that there's been a lot of studies on the sort of benefits or sort of the challenges of remote work. And yeah, they're joining a large push, I think, from a lot of companies to get back to the office.

47:40Yeah. It's the fucking man trying to get everybody back under his fucking thumb. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin, as the man, um, you're not going to love this take. Most people won't, but I think that completely remote work is, is not the answer. Like I, I understand that a lot of people like it. Um, and, uh, you know, as the famous philosopher, Tom, the long one said, you know, work sucks. I know. Like, I think we graphic designers, people that do what we do, like we have the best jobs on the, planet but you know sometimes where it can be feel like be feeling like work but you know you need those in between moments you need the after work drinks you need the uh the the lols you know the workplace culture um otherwise you're just punching in and punching out and yeah i understand like wearing your pajamas and just sitting in your household days is very nice and but i i don't think that like fully work from home is like is is good for either side whether it's the business or the or the employees.

48:40So I think flexible is the way that's what we do hybrid and, uh, different strokes, different folks. But I think, you know, I think they are, uh, they are, they're, they're in agreement. Zoom, the company that makes video communications possible. So remote work, work from home is that RIP. Yeah. RIP kill it. Done. Um, Kevin, any, any further thoughts about working from home? I mean, I like the flexible. I like the flexibility. Because it enables me to go home and spend time with my family. That's important. Exactly. And I think for people that don't live in places where their family is based, like I do, like going home and being able to spend time with them or see them or spend more time there and working from other locations, totally cool.

49:28A positive of work from home or of Zoom, what Zoom has enabled. Zoom fucking is like changed business fundamentally. They've done changed the game. They did change the game, and I think they should get some more credit. I'm very pro-Zoom. Thank you, Zoom. Kevin, we've hit peak collab. Have you heard that before? Oh, yeah. Yeah, but collabs are back, and it's because McDonald's has released its newest collaboration, and it's with Streetwear, British company, skateboard company, Palace. Have you seen any of this? I have seen it. Yes. I got a question. Yes. is palace cool yes okay cool maybe i just don't skate yeah i hate streetwear palace is like supreme's like predecessors that's that's okay the not predecessors right on let me say that are they still cool after the mcdonald's sorry sorry palace is the closest thing to supreme's successor i would say they are sort of um uk-based skateboarding company that has become more than just a skate company in that they do clothes they do collabs and they have that same sort of like aura of like fuck you we do whatever the fuck we want and therefore we're cool so palace is definitely a a cool brand um and so i actually think this is pretty fucking dope of like mcdonald's to do this collab it's it's it's very much like i don't i don't know any other fast food establishments that are doing kind of collabs in the sort of like cultural space as well as McDonald's right now.

51:14Sure. Like, and every time I think we've hit peak collab or I'm like, fuck, like, I don't want to see another one of these, like, please make this stop. Like this, this is a good one. It's fun to see two brands come together. And I think like they use, they, they did a good job. I think really it's, it comes for me, it comes down to execution. Cause like, I think if you do, if you say palace and McDonald's, you're like, Ooh, that can sounds kind of cringy like why would palace do this and like you know i guess mcdonald's sure like it helps get them some cred but like it comes down to the execution and so i i personally find the design of it to be like pretty well done it's pretty tasteful like just putting the palace you know sort of uh in the mcdonald's typeface really works right under the logo like kind of simple and like you know not too complicated like they use like that patented palace like bullet style sort of copy, which is something they do on all their Instagram posts.

52:08So that really works, and they kind of put McDonald's saying in it. I think the general tone of voice is really cool, too, where it seems like a collab that kind of seems disinterested in being a collab in some ways, you know what I mean? It's kind of like somewhat aloof. It's kind of like the Barbie movie where it's Mattel, but yeah, they take a couple shots of Mattel inside to be like, no one tells us what to do. That's my thing. And I also like the billboard. They just kind of put up a very cryptic billboard on top of McDonald's Times Square. It says, basically, if I do enough descriptions about McDonald's, I reckon I can expense burgers that my life's complete.

52:49So it's kind of a snarky billboard. Yeah, a little snarky. Yeah. Kevin, what do you think? You're not feeling it. I'm not super into apparel collabs. I think it would have been cool if they had done some sort of McDonald's Play Palace, where they designed a skate park to look like an old play place. Cool idea. Yeah, it is a cool idea. I just had it right now. Yeah, sick. Feel free to take it and pay me, McDonald's and Palace. That would be much cooler than making t-shirts. Yeah, I think it's hard to sell, though. You can't sell. I agree. Make a fucking content series. I don't care. We don't need any more t-shirts.

53:29like I mean this coming from a guy who bought a McDonald's collab t-shirt last year but what do you get the no I got the fucking Hamburglar what was it called cactus plant yeah but you know I'm a hypocrite obviously but I don't know give me something cool like I'm sick of seeing collabs with t-shirts yeah we don't need more t-shirts give me something like I want to see something like Like, break that fucking budget open and, like, do something cool. Yeah. Don't just sell me shit is what you're saying. Like, if you're going to do a collab, don't just put out a sweatshirt, a T-shirt, and, like, a fucking digital billboard in Times Square.

54:10Yeah, do something cooler. Okay. I respect that. Like, listen, I'm going to be honest. I'm not going to buy any of this stuff. Yeah. Like, I'm not buying a Palace of Commons shirt. But you'd probably watch a skate competition where they were, you know, ending in a ball pit. Maybe. Yeah. Maybe so. So, and I agree with you. I think it's a great take. Like, stop doing kind of lazy claps. Like, if you're going to do something, like, a T-shirt and a sweatshirt and a billboard is really kind of like the bare minimum. Yeah. So, you're looking for something a little bit more juicy. Yeah, I want them to, like, use their economic resources to entertain me.

54:46Yeah, not just sell me shit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think this is the easiest thing to do. Sell me shit subliminally through the YouTube ads. I don't care. Yeah. Don't make it so obvious you're selling me something. Because it's like, yeah, you're right. It's a collab, but it's just a bunch of clothing. Right? That's all it is. Yeah. It's just t-shirts. It's just t-shirts to sell people. T-shirts and a billboard. Yeah. Which, I hear you. No, I - It completely makes sense. I agree. I think it's a nice - I'm so used to what collabs being is just merch drops that I'm like, oh, this is at least a somewhat tasteful, somewhat well-designed, well-executed kind of collection.

55:23but to your point, if you're going to be cool brands, if you're going to do cool, if you're McDonald's and you're going to start to get into this like cultural hype-y kind of like a world, like do something more than just sell t-shirts. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm, you know, I love a t-shirt. Yeah. We're pro t-shirt. I bought a t-shirt at the scare in the host store. Dude. I love, I love t-shirts. I love buying t-shirts. I wear a t-shirt every day. I wear a t-shirt almost every day too. Pro t-shirt. Yeah. and I love getting t-shirts of things that I went to or things I support yes that's great yes but like do more yeah is what you're saying like the merch the merch wave has now been going on for what 10 years now probably more 15 so it's like if you're gonna collab do something do something push it yeah I wanna see Ronald McDonald hit a fucking tray flip yeah or I wanna see a McDonald's completely converted into a skate park yeah or something like that you're saying like take over McDonald's come on Let's make it happen.

56:22I mean, the PlayPals is a good idea. But here we go. We got a t-shirt. So pick it up today. Best I can do is a t-shirt. Best. We tried real hard. And what we came up with was your logo underneath our logo. Is what you're saying. Yeah. We love it. Well, I'm sure, you know, maybe there's more. Maybe there's more. Maybe there's something coming that's more than this. But I wouldn't hold my breath. Fingers crossed. Last story, Kevin. We got to move on. Sriracha. We've been talking about this for quite a while. We talked about it two weeks ago. We talked about it two weeks ago. On our last podcast.

56:56But it's real out here. Sriracha is maybe extinct. And that's because Hoi Fong is really unable to produce in the production numbers that they've been doing. They've been dominating the U.S. market, selling$60 million worth of sauce without any advertising, really without any sort of marketing whatsoever. Just a great product. Yeah, fucking rules. And the shortage is fucking real. You can't get it anywhere. And this is not marketing. Upon reflecting on our previous pod and some of the takes that were coming out of there, I think it's hilarious that our rotten brand brains were like, maybe it's like a mischief play.

57:43Maybe they're choking out their own supply chain. Yeah. Are they using this for publicity? like it's just it's funny that we like we got there yeah yeah because maybe not first but like we we got there pretty quickly well i think that happens a lot right is like brand saying like we're gonna have a shortage so buy up all the cream cheese or like buy up all the wings now and it's like it's you know it it is a good marketing ploy to be like yo the thing that you love is not might not be here you're taking you know we take a lot of things for granted yeah and so i think sriracha has been one of those things that's like, yo, we love this sauce, but it may be coming to an end or we are really not able to produce.

58:27And I got to say, man, I don't know if I want to live in a life where sriracha is not available. This is affecting my life. Jeez. This is like, that's a sauce that's a staple of my fridge, right? That's maybe the only thing that has been in my fridge consistently over the last 10 years, butter and sriracha. Damn. Right? I don't know I put that shit on a lot of fucking things and I will say I haven't had it in the past couple of months and it's not at bodegas like it's not in supermarkets I've been looking and uh you know this is not a market this is not a game no it's not not a fucking game supply chain yeah so I don't know what we got to do Kevin to bring awareness to this uh to this issue because I don't think people are taking it seriously enough I think people are saying I think like us, rotted brains, they were like, oh, fuck.

59:18They'll be back. You know what I mean? This is just a temporary thing. But how long are we supposed to go? The writer's strike, the fucking, you know, and sriracha. You got to go out. No, I don't see a single person protesting. I don't know who to protest. Where do we protest? We just need to get, you know, awareness about this issue, which is like, what do we do, Hoi Fong? Like, tell us where to go. It's because of the Chili's, right? Yeah. But where do we got to go? Who do we got to petition? We got to figure out where the Chili's, what Chili's they're getting, where they're coming from, and why they're running into issues.

59:55And then we got to reverse engineer solutions to tailor that. Yeah. Not enough people. Maybe it's regenerative agriculture. I don't know what the underlying issue on the Chili supply is. Here's the sad part. And this is the thing that's interesting is like there are a lot of brands that make sriracha adjacent products. Yeah, ish. And they are now coming in saying like, you know, someone's got to fill the hole in the market. There's a demand. Someone's going to fill the supply and it's not going to be Huay Fong because they said, quote, no estimations of when supply will increase. Damn. So the thing about these other sauces is like they're not the same.

1:00:39Mind if I have a hot take here? Yeah, go for it. I think the sambal is better than the sriracha. What is it? Sambal. We had it in the fridge. It's like the smaller container. Okay. It's the real spicy shit. Okay. See, this is not good, though. I don't want other brands to come in and take over. Sambal is hoifeng. Oh, it is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, so then that's the same people. Yeah. I was going to say, I feel like that's the same. But what's going to happen is Heinz or some big ass. Oh, fuck Heinz. That's what I'm saying. And some big, big, big condiment is going to come in and start making sriracha.

1:01:13And they're going to try to take over this. It's nothing sacred anymore. That's what I'm saying. So we need to support, you know, I want to hold out. And I think it's also because the other products are just not the same. No, they're just not as good. Like we have a, I have a bottle of Trader Joe's quote unquote sriracha in the fridge. And it just doesn't hit. That's what I'm saying. It doesn't hit like the hoi feng. It doesn't have the same juice. No, it doesn't. I will say, Kevin, we did find a bottle in the back of our cabinets. Oh, yeah? And I did think in my head, I was like, maybe we should sell this on eBay.

1:01:44How much money can we get for this? Yeah, not yet. But I think we made the decision to eat it. That's good. Because it's been three or four months since I've had that sweet, sweet sauce. Do you know how - I'm going to savor it. I'm going to have it today for lunch. How much are they going on eBay for? They're going for like 50 bucks. Damn. Yeah, for a bottle of that sweet, sweet, red deliciousness. Wow. But I don't know. We got to continue to sort of monitor this. Again, I don't know. I just feel like people are talking about it, but there's not enough action. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I agree.

1:02:19There could be more action. But again, it's like I don't know what to do. We can't. There's no protesting. There's just like we need solutions. Start posting on threads about it. This is what Elon Musk and Zuckerberg, instead of fighting about this dick measuring contest that these two guys are engaging in, if we put their brains together and it's like, okay, cool, let's fund some agriculture and let's start making some sriracha sauce, they can actually do some good for the planet. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. He's a good argument. I don't know. With all their wealth. Yeah. that's the least they could do the least they could do for the people like them fighting in rome it's like yeah that'll be funny but like nothing's gonna like a it's not gonna happen and b like nothing we don't gain it's actually gonna be epic it's not gonna happen it's gonna be epic it's it's it's never happened it's gonna be awesome sauce well here's the thing if you have your hands on any sriracha slide into my dms hit me up i'm willing i i got i you know i'm willing to pay what's the most you'll pay 20 bucks a bottle how many couches 20 uh five couches uh thank you guys that's all the show we got today for for all you guys um it's good to be back kevin it's good a lot of things going on in the world you know just a lot of a lot of a lot of topics covered today you know television peak television uh continues to roll out we got fucking the dumbest fight in the history of the year uh you know early early backy contender yeah I definitely think this is the story of the year for sure.

1:03:53And we'll continue to monitor it as these two guys do not fight each other. Duncan coffee, honestly contender for potential, like, you know, innovation of the year. Depending on how it is. I haven't seen a single innovation this year that, that I think competes with Duncan spiked Duncan spiked. That's, you know, it's a breakthrough stuff. Yeah. McDonald's palace collab, collab of the year, you know, lots of, lots of definitely not lots of potential award winners on the program here today. Kevin, I'll have to see you next week. Cool. To the cameras. See ya. Peace.

1:04:48I put a drink in my hand and a jazz cow buffalo Buffalo! Popping bottles in the house with models and the VIP All the girls make out for the whole damn club to see Let's go! People always say that my music's loud Sorry for party rocking Never complain saying turn it down Sorry for party rocking Haters don't like we got the spotlight Sorry for party rocking And when we talk shit we just be lying Sorry for party rocking

From the publisher

After one long week off, Alex and Kevin are back in the thicc of things. Making up for lost time, the fellas talk about the media they're consuming, Musk vs Zuck (hopefully for the last time), Dunkin' Spiked Iced Coffee, Zoom bringing their workers back to the office, McDonald's x Palace,  the Sriracha shortage, and more!

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