Recession Indicators with Suzy and Dan

0:00So if people don't like this podcast, like that now they know what they're dealing with. Cool. And we don't understand Bitcoin and do not intend to.

0:12Welcome to Second Thought, the podcast. Wow, we're here. Finally here. We made it. It's been a long time coming. It's been a long time coming. We've been working on this. We've been trying to get it to the right place. And I think it's there. This is a fun introduction to what you're going to be getting with Second Thought with Suzy Weiss and Dana Dute. If you haven't, I'd love if you listen to the episode we did with Casey Neistat. We did a nice interview there. But most weeks you're going to be finding me and Dan talking about the culture stories of the day. So I'm so happy to be here with Dana Dew.

0:42I'm happy to be here too. So I want to introduce you quickly. You're Dana Dew. I am. Fans might see you and think, how do I know that guy? Yeah. And they will be thinking about Anoush from Cobra Kai. Possibly Falafel Phil. Pretty racialized characters you've had in the barrel. You know, this last week I just played Mitch. Mohammed? Mitch. Mitch! Do you know how huge that is? That's big for you. I'm a Mitch now. Wow. It's like it changed my life. I see myself in a different way now. I'm not a mere... Mitch Ahmed? I was a... Yeah. Mitch Atta, Mohammed Atta's brother. can we tell the viewer um where where mitch is going to appear we can't tell them but we can tell them it rhymes with callways sunny in philadelphia way to avoid getting in trouble with that one i love that um you know i was so excited to do an episode of always sunny in philadelphia and then i got there and i realized it's so weird to be the one day guest star on a show that's been going on for 18 years because it's a machine it's like the lion king Yeah.

1:50And these people are like, they're family. And then I walk in there. I'm like, hi. They're like, oh, fucking new guy. Right, right. And like we would shoot our scenes. And then like they'd go to the corner and I'd go to my corner. Oh, no. It was high school. Oh, it was so high school. And then I'd like try to make a joke and they wouldn't laugh. And they'd like give a weird smile. At one point, Charlie Day and I were like standing together like in between takes. And he's like, so what part of town do you live in? I'm like, oh, West Hollywood. He's like, oh, yeah, that's a good commute to here.

2:18I'm like, yeah, where are you? I didn't hear it. He's like, I'm in Silver Lake. I was like, oh, yeah, so you can take the 10. Oh, oh. Wait, they film in Los Angeles? Yeah. Okay, another Hollywood liars out here. I know, I know. Filming It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on a rainy lot in LA. Oh, my God. I hate that. And then Danny DeVito is. Danny DeVito's on that show? Yeah, hello. Danny DeVito, I love your work. Susie Weiss hosted a Food and Culture Pocket. Oh, wait, we should. This is the inaugural episode, and people should know, like, cards on the table. This is a culture podcast. I don't do books.

2:53I don't do live music. Yeah. I don't do outdoors. Like, it's actually very narrow. But I don't think, but we're not a shaming culture podcast. Like, we can say we don't know something, and the other person is going to be fine with it. Yeah. Okay, so let's do it from the top. Okay. Danny DeVito's on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. You fucking idiot. He is. And he, like, rolls around in one of those, like, electronic wheelchairs that, like, you see in Vegas. Yeah. He's just like rolling around set in one of those. They're all like independently billionaires and like they get together to do this goofy show still.

3:22Well, that's like the office people. They made money. Yeah. It's like a few of the last shows where you really like made out. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's amazing. They were like, that's when they're like start making a million dollars an episode. Yeah. Like the Seinfeld numbers. Yeah. Well, because they didn't get, is it royalties? What's the word for when? Like a cut. Residuals? Yeah. They didn't get residuals. Oh, they didn't? Well, only Jerry, I believe. Elaine, George, and Cosmo Kramer. You're sort of giving Cosmo Kramer. Wow. Has anyone ever told you that? Thankfully, no. There's like a little bit of like, hello, that thing.

3:56I've never ever been told that I am like Kramer. I think it might be the hair. It's good. It's looking tall. I think it's so dark. For those of you listening to this, you don't need to watch the video. I think he went a little too dark. He went dark espresso color, and it looks like I have a Lego piece on my head. Well, this is your version of looks maxing, which we're going to get into. I know. But first, I want to talk about a few things that have caught my eye. Please. And the first is something you could not pay me to do, which is the Coachella Music Festival. And have you been? Would you ever go?

4:33I've never been. I would never go. But I know people who go, and they really love it. Really? Most people go, and they love it. They don't come back and say, oh, my God, that was a nightmare. We would do that because we're cynical. No, but it's objectively like I've been. First of all, have you like caught up with the Airbnb stuff? I mean, as an Airbnb owner myself. Oh, my God. Yeah. What do you have to say as a spokesman for this company? Because what's happening is people are booking Airbnbs for an exorbitant amount of money. And then I guess Justin Bieber was announced as the headliner. A ton more people are trying to get tickets.

5:06Yeah. The Airbnb hosts cancel. Have you ever done this? cancels and then relists it at a higher price because they could get more now oh wow it's crazy no i didn't know that's what they're doing it's like that is poor air beaver arbitrage yeah that's poor bnb poor airbnb etiquette yeah and then the poor people just were were shit out of luck oh it's like three thousand dollars to stay in a motel six people begging to like stay in living rooms on air mattresses for a thousand bucks a night unlike other people's airbnbs you have to like walk an hour to get an uber and then it's freezing and dusty it just does not seem like look in a good time in the defense of the airbnb owner there's yeah there's three weekends that they're making money the whole year yeah two of them are this coachella and then one of them is is red state coachella which happens a week after which stagecoach stagecoach yeah yeah and that's what that's it after that they're shut no one's going to indio palm springs it's like the dumbest place in the world to go to.

6:00It looks horrible. It's awful. I, you know, I caught up with the Biebs. I caught up with the Biebs. His performance. Yeah. Would you think of it? And this is, it was very stripped down for readers who haven't seen or listeners who haven't seen clips of it. I mean, he performed with the Grammys in his underpants. Yeah. And this was sort of like a, like, space age, like, false hill set. Yeah. That he was kind of dancing around in a sweatshirt. And then he got on YouTube and was like going through clips and people. Well, what's your take? Well, I think he he he's living his twilight years moments, but he's 32.

6:39Like Rodney Dangerfield started performing in a bathrobe when he was like 80 or like your favorite comedian, Bill Cosby. He would like be in sweatpants sitting on a couch and like would do two hours like that. The kid's 32 years old and he's like phoning it in already. And also everyone's like, oh, but he was watching videos of his older self and he's healing. Yeah. He's healing. It's like fucking. Part of his healing journey. Heal on your own time. I agree with that. It's like people are like, oh, it was so meta. He's like a mixed media artist. He's the Marshall McLuhan of the internet because he's self-referencing.

7:13It's like, give me a break. Okay. I want to see some shimmying. I want to see some background dancers or just don't do it. Or, I mean, that's my take. You don't think Beyonce wants to be healing on stage? Yeah. You think Beyonce would like to be in a bath that smells like lavender and just singing? Yeah, she would love to. She's had children. She's like, she doesn't want to be jumping around for two hours, but she does it because she knows how to put a show on. She knows how to put a show on. Yeah. And she gives the people what they want. Give the people what they want. But a lot of people are saying this is what they wanted out of Justin Bieber, but I just don't buy that.

7:42I think they have to say that to make themselves feel better because they paid 10x for an Airbnb to be at Coachella. Well, I also had the thought, and I had this with the Sabrina Carpenter set too, which was very like produced to the nines. Will Ferrell made it appear and Susan Sarandon was in it. It was costume changes and sets and all of those things. Similar to the Bad Bunny performance at the Super Bowl halftime show, it feels like it was designed for the internet and to be clipped. Like I can't imagine any seat for the Super Bowl, for Sabrina Carpenter show, for the Justin Bieber show where it's like, oh, this is the experience that I'm meant to be having here.

8:20Well, that's a bummer because that's with every form of entertainment. Now you're appealing to phone screens instead of the people that are there. Yeah. It's a bummer. Comedy, I feel like, is safe from that. Comedy is safe from that. Restaurants are not safe from that. The reason the restaurant – you'll notice every restaurant you go to, the lights are so bright in there. It's so that everything photographs well. Oh, it's horrible. It's such a bummer. I don't, I mean, there's nothing that is just like ruins a restaurant experience than a lady with an iPad at the door. Yeah. And click, click, click, click, click.

8:50No. Yeah. And then when they, when they hand you like the, what do you think about this? When they hand you the, this is so boring, the brick where you're supposed to pay. Oh, okay. Yeah. Like instead of the little leather, the black leather book. Yeah. What's your take on that as a restaurant guy? I'm more okay with the brick thing. I'm less okay with the QR code menu. Oh, the QR code menu. I'm not eating there. The QR code menu is literally the worst thing to come out of COVID. Yeah, it is. And I'm including all the dead people in that assessment. It's the QR code menu, all the dead people, long COVID, short COVID, medium rare COVID, all the COVIDs.

9:24The QR code menu is the worst. Because it forces you to have your phone at the table. Yes. Okay. Which the restaurant should be encouraging the opposite of. Yeah. Restaurants have been ruined by the internet. Coachella likely ruined by the internet. Don't you think restaurants should start doing that thing that comedy clubs do where they take your cell phone at the door? But the comedy clubs, like, they put it in a Ziploc and then they're like, we're good. Like, you could just take it out. Yeah. I guess they, like, stick it. And it really does work. I would not take out my phone at a comedy show because I'm afraid of being yelled at.

9:50Well, some of them do check it in at the door. And then you walk in and you're just like, I did a show a couple weeks ago. And it was like, there's no phones in that room. Oh. Yeah. Was it good? Did it feel like the 90s? It was amazing. Did it feel like the good old days? Yeah. Everyone's enjoying themselves. Like, no one's, like, it actually did feel a little more electric. Electric. I need to get to what really matters to me, which is Britney Spears. Okay. Okay, so Britney Spears was checked in to a treatment facility after getting a DUI. Wait, not was checked in, checked herself in. Oh. Not passive, active.

10:21Was she silenced or silenced? Both. As we know, Britney Spears was in a conservatorship for a very long time. Everyone in this story has such a, like, Dickensian name. The lawyer's name was, like, Andrew Wallet, and the judge is Brenda Penny. Like it seems, and even like Britney Spears, like it all seems so made up. Yeah. And now, I mean, I just started watching The Idol, which is Sam Levinson's show about kind of this subject. But do you think Britney should be in a conservatorship? Yes, absolutely. 100%. This is proof that she should be. I know. Everyone loves to get behind the story of like free, this is the same with like when they got rid of like mental asylums.

11:00Yeah. It's like get rid of the mental asylum. Bring back the insane asylum. Get rid of them. It's inhumane. It's not right. And then what do we have now? We have people on the streets. I mean, as we know. Shooting them. Yeah. I think Britney Spears needed to be a little bit in her family's asylum. It's really actually an amazing story because it's like she's freer now, but she's way less safe, obviously. Like she's doing the dances with the knives. She took that baby doll on vacation. Did you see that? Yes. That was horrible. Yeah. And I just don't know what the answer is because we kind of did it to her.

11:33Like we did drive her crazy and then put her in a cage and then like re-traumatize her about the cage that we put her in by like obsessing over all of these Easter eggs and her Instagram. And now, I mean, I just, it's just sad to see a pop star burn out like that. I know. It's really sad. The question is, do we put Tiger Woods in a conservatorship as well? I know. There's no men in conservatorships. There's a lot of, there's a lot of people DUI-ing these days, which is crazy. These people are rich. Get a fucking Uber. Get a self-driving car. what's happening that's actually crazy right like get a get a self-driving car you don't have to do anything you can get as drunk as you want tiger do you think they like it like they like driving drunk like it feels like grand theft auto or something i mean she was in calabasas which is tough to get an uber there i could imagine the reception's bad you're in the mountains fair enough fair enough i wonder what she was doing up there hanging she's hanging she was hanging with her little doll it's actually so sad i love britney but maybe honestly maybe if she had had like the healing coachella set that justin bieber had had and she could like google herself on youtube as it was all happening it wouldn't have been that bad she could use the healing set and i would be i'd be down with that justin's not there i'm sorry and he got 10 million dollars but there's also an element of like britney got out of the conservatorship she she ain't performing no more.

12:55You know what I mean? It's like there's something a little false about Justin Bieber being like, I'm so traumatized, but also I'm going to perform. It's like, you don't have to perform. Just don't do it. Be like Britney. Go get a DUI. Be really damaged and go get a DUI. Then talk to me. Check yourself into rehab. Go to the Betty Ford. I would like to talk to you. I fought for this story to be included. I fought our handlers and my conservators because I think this is so fascinating. I don't know if you saw this, but Shatoshi Nakamoto, who invented the Bitcoin, has been outed as Adam Back by John Kerry Rue of The New York Times.

13:30And I'm curious, A, if you are a crypto guy, obviously I'm not, I'm a woman, I don't do that, but do you like crypto? Not only do I not like crypto and not own any crypto, but I'm rooting for crypto to go to zero, so I never have to hear friends of mine talk about how crypto is the future. cryptocurrency bitcoin the blockchain i don't understand it i never will understand it i don't want to understand it but i do think it's pretty interesting that there's this like anonymous mega billionaire i think he has something like 118 billion dollars wow and tyler cowan we had a piece about this in the free press and he's like it could be because the money hasn't been moved because it would be public if you could see that it's been moved it could be that this guy lost the password.

14:13And so it's unmoved. And he's just so embarrassed that he like won't admit to it. And I like think about that all the time. Like what if you misplaced the hardware wallet and you don't have any access to your money? I think there's like a famous story of a guy who's got like$30 million or$300 million. And he hired the excavators to go through the landfill because he thought he threw it in the garbage. It's the craziest thing in the world. And he's like spending$100 ,000, whatever it is, a day because he's like there's literally billions of dollars. And I think there's something where if you get like four wrong passwords, if the fifth one is wrong, then you just get locked out forever.

14:47It's literally like the worst escape room of all time. It's like putting yourself in hell to own Bitcoin. Because you know, when you're in the airport, you're always checking for your wallet. Yeah. Like I imagine that just your whole life. If you have a Bitcoin, it's like, do I have a thing? Do I have a thing? Do I have a thing? I hate everything about it so much. And I also feel like everyone gets scammed whenever they have it. Like so many friends of mine have lost it because of scams that have popped up and like put in your password we need to do a routine check boom all your bitcoin is gone are you serious yeah it is lawless it's lawless in fact i read that the uh the you know the the the i know you like you don't like talking about the iranian war but the iranians are are collecting their toll from the strait of hormuz in bitcoin in like crypto they're like please give us some ethereum if you want to go by the strait of Hormuz, we need some material.

15:37We're so cooked. Dan's allowed to do that. He's Persian.

15:43I, yeah, I think it is, like there is something sound about it, but it's just like, it's the best. Our producer's kind of libertarian. And so she is a libertarian. She's fully libertarian. Wow, we're really just like going open kimono this episode. We're just letting it all hang out. I don't like travel. Our producer's libertarian. Like, honestly, this is going to separate the boys from the men because these are really unlikable things. So if people don't like this podcast, like that now they know what they're dealing with. Cool. And we don't understand Bitcoin and do not intend to. No, not at all.

16:18Would you reveal? It's very like the it's like, you know, that meme. If I win the lottery, I won't tell anyone, but there will be signs. Yeah. OK, if you invented Bitcoin, but you weren't going to tell anyone, what would the signs be? Oh, my God. I would be so excited. I'd tell everyone. Yeah, I think my science would be I'd be having foie gras for breakfast. Oh, really? Just seared foie gras with white truffles. Love that. Dan has the weirdest egg and cheese. Instead of bacon, he just has a lobe of foie gras. Well, that's what's interesting about, because I consider you kind of like a classic man.

16:52Thank you. Like if you had money, like you'd spend it on the good wine and the cigars and the clothes But the rich people today are really not spending it like that. They spend it weird. They don't – they're not hedonists like you. Like what are they spending it on? I don't even know what tech people spend money on. Yeah, they don't get like insane huge houses anymore. No, they get like weird like moon rocks and stuff. Like they're into that kind of stuff. Like a Tyrannosaurus jawbone. They do. Yeah. It's like they don't have the taste of the robber barons of the past. No one's building Carnegie Hall.

17:27I'll tell you that much. No, definitely not. I guess they're spending it all on like the space missions. On space missions and also – On living forever. On living forever. And they're like little compounds like when the world goes to shit that they can go to underground in New Zealand or whatever. Yeah, it's very – it's like I'm here for a bad time but a long time. Yeah. That's kind of what they're – it's like it's going to be really bad but it will be forever. That's kind of what the like tech wealth is – that's the message I'm getting from them. Yeah, no, I think wines would be – wines would be where most of my money would go.

17:55If you invented Bitcoin. Wine is where most of my money goes now. Yeah, yeah. It's actually a huge problem. Dan is – he's only doing this podcast so he can pay back his wine guy. Yeah, yeah. Oh, last thing though. What's with these Brits being secret? Like Banksy is a British guy that we don't know who he is. You could tell he was British though. You think? That was very British like energy. Also, I think people like knew that. Did they out him yet though? Brits are weird. They didn't out him yet, Banksy. No, he has been outed. Oh, we know who he is? Wait, in short order, the Bitcoin guy and the Banksy guy.

18:30Okay, here's the question. Do you have a right to be anonymous? Didn't do. Oof, not anymore, unfortunately. Yeah, I guess not. It's a real bummer. I mean, there's anonymity in the comments section. That's true. That's where you can really let it rip. It's mean. It's so mean. Wow. It's mean anonymity. Are you going to read the comments for this podcast? Ugh, I have a tough time not reading them. Really? Yeah. Are you going to? No. Oh, absolutely. And I've learned that the hard way. I don't read them at all. I read the comment section of our trailer and it was great. Really? Everyone's really excited.

19:02Just give it a week. Okay, Clavicular. This is actually really, really dark and crazy. Do you know who Clavicular is? Let's start there. I'm new to his oeuvre of work. His 89 ,000 hours of Twitch stream. Yeah. But yeah, it's funny because I started to look into his stuff. And I'm not going to lie. At first, I kind of liked him. And then I was like, oh, no, this guy is awful. Yeah, you sort of thought he was like self-help, pick yourself up by your bootstraps. And then you realize it's like, it's really crazy. The way you look matters. You present yourself to the world like that. But then he's like, take a hammer to your jawbone and then it's going to get bigger.

19:37And then people will like you. It's like, it's actually, his thing is, it's the only thing that matters. And he does really extreme things to get his physique. We saw him overdose on his live stream yesterday. And it's a little bit like, wow, are we watching like a Judy Garland situation? Like it's starting to feel like a snuff film, actually, because we're watching him die. And it's a 24-7 feed. And I don't know. I don't – call me old-fashioned. I don't think he's a great role model. Well, in a weird way, it's kind of good because you're learning that living that type of lifestyle is not going to make you happy.

20:10Right. That's true. It's like this is the logical conclusion of that. Yeah. and look I as a as a short man I feel like short people are going to get genetically like we're going to be off soon because when you get to select like Down syndrome in Norway yeah like I want my kid to be 6 '3 or I want my kid to be as God intended 5 '7 and a half well you're going to say make him 6 '3 and it's a bummer because I do think that I have a lot of my my personality yeah I was going to say my the things you have to do to overcompensate or whatever come from from those challenges. Mike Bloomberg to me, man, he's the man.

20:48Yeah. You show me a billionaire CEO who's six foot five. Easy. I don't give a fuck. They hand that to you. They hand that to you. This guy walks into a room. He's five five. He's tiny. He had to work his ass off, you know, so like we're going to lose that. I was also in LA and there's no fat people anymore. Well, that, I mean, that's done. Fat is done. Fat is done. But I agree. This is like, this podcast is pro short kings. Yeah. And it's like, it's enough with the height stuff. It's not as big of a deal as people think. It's not interesting to be tall. It's like you did nothing for that. You did nothing for that.

21:22Dan texted me yesterday and he's like, okay, really important story we got to cover. There's a$40 half chicken in Bed-Stuy at this. In Greenpoint. In Greenpoint, a$40 half rotisserie chicken. And rotisserie chickens, which is definitely a food trend, are a recession indicator because it's cheaper than red meat, but apparently not because you have to spend 40 bucks for a half chicken but it did look really good i don't usually order the chicken and i i probably would order this one and pay the 40 bucks because like two people can share that i mean no that's crazy first of all 40 for a half a chicken is is unhinged but also fine like you don't have to go there if you don't want it people are like writing like shut the place down well this came to our attention because a city council member was posting on instagram but like this is ridiculous And it's like, that's not right.

22:11Like, those are your constituents. Yeah, exactly. It's a small business, like trying to make some money. I'm actually going to try to go there tonight. I'll come back with a review of the$40 half chicken. I have to see what all the hype is about. Absolutely you do. But also, it's not the most expensive half chicken in the city. There's a place called Che Fifi in the Upper East Side that has a half chicken for$70. No way. It's crazy. Is it good? I'm sure it's amazing. Who gets chicken? Here's the thing. I think that it's less about the price of chicken And it's more about the fact That no one knows how to cook anymore So it's like a roast chicken Is like a really crazy cool thing now Right a roast chicken should be something That's like a weeknight meal And now it's like this like crazy thing That you can never imagine But most people to be fair Don't have a rotisserie And that's really what you're paying for That's where our sponsor comes in Ron Popeil Set it and forget it Rotisserie chicken makers Okay so you're gonna come back next week and tell us about this$40 half chicken with fries and three sauces, to be fair.

23:11If I can get in, I have a feeling that that, Oh, you're going to try and walk in? What they thought was bad PR is going to be really great PR. Well, there's an article about it that's actually really good and it talks about all of the margins that they're making. They're making like four bucks on these chickens. And then the owner of the restaurant is like, well, maybe this city council member should make it so I don't have to wait two years to get an approval from the historical land commission to build my restaurant so I could, you know, charge less money for the chicken. Pew, pew, pew. Do you have a favorite roast chicken recipe before we close it out?

23:42Yeah, I actually love Zuni Kitchen's roast chicken recipe. It's amazing. You make it on the cast iron skillet in the oven, blistered skin, dry brine, not wet brine. I love that. So you salt it for like three days. Oh my God. Oh, it is divine. I'm partial to Ina Garden, who I believe her recipe, it's the official engagement chicken. Love Ina. Jeffrey's going to love this chicken. I'm going to make for him. That's my Ina. We're all just looking for our Jeffrey, I think. Yeah. Our Jeffrey to make a roast chicken for. And charge him 40 bucks for. 40 bucks. Yeah. I'll give you a report. I might find my Jeffrey tonight.