Rob Anderson on Twin Snakes, the Conclave Cafeteria & the Nerds Gummy Controversy

0:00Rob Anderson:The best dancers from across the globe are about to join me for the audition of a lifetime. ABC Mondays. Do they have what it takes to compete and be the next Dancing with the Stars pro? I'm here to win. Nothing is going to stop me. Our star judges will decide. This is what hunger looks like. It was 100 % the wrong choice. Robert Irwin hosts. The next era of Ballroom starts right here on Dancing with the Stars, the next pro. All new Mondays, 8, 7 central on ABC. Next day on Hulu. What are the signs and symptoms of arsenic poisoning? What if I listed them right now for you like I'd been poisoning people with arsenic my whole life?

0:37What if I just started saying to you?

0:39Rob Anderson:I'm like, damn girl, do you work for nerds? Hi, and welcome to Snacks, the show where we talk to your favorite stars about their craziest food obsessions. I'm Jo Saltz, the editorial director of Delish. And today we have an incredible comedian and New York Times bestselling author who also is very famous on TikTok for his series Are You Afraid of the 90s and Gay Science. please welcome Rob Anderson. And we'll be right back. Let's start with your favorite snack of the 90s. Favorite snack of the 90s. It doesn't exist anymore. Okay, that's, I mean, I feel like nothing good from the 90s exists anymore.

1:16Rob Anderson:Well, they've tried to make things happen again, like Dunkaroos and whatnot, but I feel like it's not the same. Not the same, and also you can buy old ones on eBay, which I think I've said before on the show, because like, but we love a Dunkaroos here at Delish. Like we've done Dunkaroos like crazy. Like fake Dunkaroos. But I don't want to de-rally from your question. You have to tell me. Do you remember String Thing? No, what? It was like a fruit snack that was on a like wax or paper wrapper and you pulled it off and ate it. So it was like, there was gushers and fruit roll-ups. Fruit by the foot.

1:52Fruit by the foot. I was like the other one, the trio.

1:53Rob Anderson:And then there was this string thing. It's called string thing? Yes, yes. And it was like a chewy, almost Twizzler kind of texture. And they were really fruity. And that was my favorite. And they discontinued it. And then when they were bringing things back, like Dunkaroos, I'm like, they're going to bring back string thing. Everybody loves string. Why do I feel like it's kind of giving me the wrapping of Bonnie Bell? Not like the red case that the cheese comes in, but it's not like that. No, maybe wax wasn't the right. It's actually just paper. It's like white paper that it's on, and it was in a design, like a swirl.

2:29Wait, Sarita's showing me a photo. So it looks like, oh, I see.

2:34Rob Anderson:Yeah, and you peel it off. I see. The flavors were red and blue. So it's kind of like that licorice. It's like the Twizzlers, like the pull-apart Twizzlers that they have now. Yeah, but it tasted even better, honestly. Like it was really a packed punch. We've had a lot of people on snacks and a lot of people talk about nostalgic snacks and a lot of people reference 90s Not one other human has said string thing So I don't know how if that if that makes you proud or absolutely Okay, it's such a deep cut that no one even thinks of it. What's like the big thing people say from the night? Everybody says gushers that I think three people say gushers You know, we got a little snack a Dunkaroos.

3:11We get a lot of like some people who can't really think about it or like chips or you know like i feel like gushers never left though like when i think of the 90s

3:21Rob Anderson:gushers just permeated i mean i'm a gushers guy yeah i love when you bring them out yeah take them out and they're all stuck together and you just eat it like yeah like a giant hunk yes yes so i just feel like it's not even nostalgic to me because i still eat them you still eat them i see i have like weird cuts of like i remember weird chips i've talked quite a bit about um in my personal life and actually never on the show about a very specific potato chip that came out in the 90s called tater skins and they were a potato chip that was like kind of a little bit thicker like a little more like um like a pringles but it was in a bag and the one side had like the skin like like a skin fry you know like how fries had skins on it and had the skins on the back i can sing you the song i'm not going to but it's like helping food waste well that's how i like to I imagine, although I'm like, I did have the thought recently of like, were those real skins?

4:15Rob Anderson:It's just food diet. I know. It's like brown. Really brown. They just put, it's just called brown. And so they, that was my thing that I remember. I loved, I did love a chip and I did love like interesting flavors of chips. But I, yes, we get a lot of gushers. We get a lot of, what's another one that we get? We get a lot of fruit by the foot. Once again, never left. you know we also get a lot of snack cakes a lot of people say like ring dings or ding dongs and things which makes a lot of sense devil dogs um have you has anyone ever said whippersnapple do you remember that one just no but i love you just whippersnapple i wish they brought that back too actually so it was a version of snapple that was creamy but i don't think okay think of cream savers like yeah but a drink yeah and i thought it was delicious it was like a whipped but i don't think there was actually dairy in it somehow they made it taste like whipped dairy snapple I'm not selling it honestly but it was like cream savers in a bottle it's tastes it's it kind of is making me think of like um orange julius like uh like that kind of like would be smoothie but no maybe that vibe a little bit okay but you also just just casually tossed out um lifesaver cream savers which also is another deep cut like and I recently bought those and my daughter was like what the hell are these things and i was like they were i think one of the best inventions i love a strawberry cream saver and like no human being has mentioned that so i'm just like you were born to be here like i'm just so grateful they're another one that i love they did bring them back yeah so i'm happy about that yes the orange was my favorite but strawberry was great and they had like a caramel one yes which was honestly it was good yes there was something special about the fruit the fruit ones are great the caramel one also i'm like i love a werther's so like i don't need a caramel cream but like I want to know what were your worst snacks because your series is are you afraid of the 90s which is fantastic I want to know what food of the 90s made you afraid like what was like the food that you dreaded as a child um okay well I hate to call out my mom yeah it's okay we've all done it here she wasn't like where did you grow up Jersey okay what part I'm Jersey Jersey Shore Brick.

6:31Okay, Brick. Where in Jersey? I grew up in Essex County, so near Montclair, but my parents lived in Holmdel, so not far from there.

6:38Rob Anderson:Yeah, I went to school at Brick Memorial. Got it. Okay, so I know your whole vibe. Yes. So I want to know your childhood. What were your nostalgic foods, good and bad? Did you have a good snack house? I always ask that question. To some extent, but my brother and I were monsters. We would eat anything that came in, like binge eat. Like, we had Go-Gurt. The case was gone. Oh, my God, Go-Gurt. The case was gone in, like, literally the day that we bring it home. Your mom having Go-Gurt, I feel like, sets a certain, like, level. Like, she was a cool snack mom. She was a cool snack mom. Yeah, I feel like that's cool.

7:12Rob Anderson:And we would order, like, pizza and root beer was my favorite thing as a kid. Oh. Like, on Fridays. What's your root beer, then? Dad's root beer. Dad's? Yeah, do you ever have that? No. I think we got it at Costco. Oh, bless. And Dad's root beer was, like, a red and blue can. And it just felt like this classic, like, I don't know. I've never had dads since I was a kid. Oh, my gosh. And you've never even heard of it. I've never even heard of it. And we grew up like an hour, not even an hour away from each other. So I don't know. I'm thinking now, was it a Costco brand where they're like dads? Like Kirkland.

7:42Yeah, Kirkland brand dads. Maybe it was, actually. No, I bet not. But I also feel like someone is going to comment being like, I know dads. And by the way, but I also feel like when you grow up in a house where your parents don't know how to cook or don't have good food, like you end up appreciating, I think, packaged goods like so much more. I don't know. I do feel like I grew up in a house and I feel like if my sister here says she's going to get mad at me. But like I grew up in a house where like my mom loved the idea of cooking but like worked and so like didn't have time to like dedicate to cooking.

8:20And also she was like fancy. Like she like when I just wanted like Chips Ahoy, she would like stop in New York City and go like get Italian bakery cookies, which were just like dry and like not delicious.

8:34Rob Anderson:Thank you. Italian cookies are the worst. I know. I'm so sorry. I don't mean this as a cultural comment. No, no, no, no. But just like they're dry. There's some decent Italian, like Italian cheesecake and stuff is great. There's great Italian baked goods. They're like, oh, we got that. The tricolor. Yes. I'm like, no, no, no. Or anything that tastes like almond extract. No, I, and like I'm Jewish, so like we have our, we have our like rainbow cookies and our almond, blah, blah, blah. I don't like them either. But like those, she would bring home those ones that are like wrapped in the cellophane.

9:05I just, I'm like, mom, I just want like crappy supermarket cookies. I know you think like these should be special, but these are not delicious.

9:13Rob Anderson:I want the Keebler elves to make my cookies, mom. Yes, yes. And I want Betty Crocker to make my cakes. Yes. Not like a fancy, heavy buttercream that's like too hard to slice. Do you know what I mean? My mom would get some packaged stuff. Like my mom wasn't like that. Like we got the Pillsbury croissants. Yum. Oh my God, those were so good. My mother would be caught dead. Never caught, but like over her dead body she would be. Be doing those like. Yeah, RIP my mom actually. Actually, my mom did pass away, which I'm just like, not the comment I want to make. So she would be caught dead. She would be caught dead with that.

9:43But crescent rolls would never be allowed at my house. Like, but you guys used to eat them.

9:48Rob Anderson:Oh, yeah. We would do some package stuff for sure. My mom wasn't like a purist like that. She did try to keep it somewhat healthy. But, yeah, the home cooked stuff, maybe not so much. Not so much. Tell me a little bit about, you've had a wild journey. I feel like you've like skyrocketed your shows. Everything's doing amazing. Thank you. My producer, Sarita, was a huge fan. I did not follow the conclave, but she was a huge fan of your conclave. The Pope games, yes. The Pope games. Yes. And anyone who calls Popes divas to me is just like the greatest thing. It's what they are. Did you go to Italy when you were doing it or did you do it for a year?

10:21Can you imagine? I would die.

10:22Rob Anderson:I actually would have, truly. Yeah. But I know that conclaves don't last a while. Right, totally. Like they really are a day or two because I think it smells. Yes. And they have to sit on, sleep on like these horrible beds. They have to be around each other. They're like, in and out. Let's figure it out. And it literally was like two days. So by the time I got out there to do it, I really kind of wanted to, though. I would say next time, I mean, may this pope last for a long time. Yeah, we like him. But I was going to say it would be great. What do you eat for conclave? Like, what's the pop or conclave snack?

10:56Rob Anderson:Oh, my God. Well. Like, what feels pope appropriate? I would think. Appropriate. Appropriate. But I think because it's closed door and there's no microphones, there's no cameras, they're going wild. Oh, yeah. Like, they aren't eating, like, communion wafers. No. Like, we think they are. Orange fingers? Like, are we doing Cheetos or something? Oh, my God. Orange fingers. Absolutely. I mean, like, careful with the full dress, right? I think they're getting, I think they're doing, like, a seven-layer dip. Oh, yes. They are, like, a 12-layer dip. Like, they're going crazy. I think they had a lot of wings for sure wings for sure one of those sloppy Dubai chocolate strawberry cups those sloppy ones that are like there's so much junk in there they were like this year they were going wild with the trend I think they were like let's bring in that oh this was last year last year yeah last year um they're doing that for sure I feel like Guy Fieri's trash can nachos like the big high stack yeah there was so much gas there like it stunk for for many reasons, they were farting left and right.

12:02Rob Anderson:They were like, we got one shot here to eat anything we want to, and they did. And they did. And there was a lot of gas. 100%. And they were like, we need to call this. What's the Pope's celebratory food? What do you think is the thing they're wheeling out to be like, we picked a guy? Rumplemints. Oh, without question. They're ripping Rumplemints shots. Rumplemints. I would actually, don't you think they're a little more elegant, like Goldschlager, maybe a little gold? Goldschlager. Elegante. Oh, God. That. Goldschlager, why? Goldschlager is so crazy because they were like, the gold flakes. This is what they told us in college.

12:37Rob Anderson:The gold flakes are in there so they can cut your throat. No. So this is what we were told. Oh, my God. So that the alcohol, you can get drunker because the gold flakes cut your throat. And so, I mean, it burns and tastes terrible. And so I was like, oh, I'm getting drunker because the gold flakes are making the alcohol go in my bloodstream. Legit lie. That has to be a lie, right? Yeah, of course. like that's so silly is gold slager a snack is my question yeah yeah i think depending on how far deep into alcoholism you are wait let's go like deep cut into like the craziest thing you drank like i need to know like rumplemints is a great you're you are bringing up the brands like it was just like the happiest way i've taken a shot of anything like jaeger rumplemints yeah goldschlager i think i've done a fireball firewater did you have firewater you had fireball No, fire water sounds wild.

13:24Fire water predates fireball. And it's the same thing, but it's from that same ilk of rumplemints. I think it's the same brand as rumplemints. But fire water was the hot cinnamon to the hot whatever. What was rumplemints? It was hot mint, burning mint. Because I didn't have fireball. That was a late in life.

13:42Rob Anderson:Yeah. Honestly, out of all of them, it's the most palatable. It's like a hot tamale. Yeah. It's a hot tamale in a shop. Yeah, it's good. I've had it now. I've had it up late. Was that also cinnamon, wasn't it? It was hot cinnamon, yeah. Goldschlager was like. Yeah. Well, you know, in college, we were like 100 proof. Like, let's effing go. And that was, that's what Firewater was. And that's what I think, wasn't Rumpelman's like crazy high proof or something? I really think it was. And then there was 151, Bacardi 151. Oh, yeah. And I got sick on that. And then I could never have Bacardi again. So that was, I think, the most rotten thing that happened to me with drinking in college.

14:17Rob Anderson:But then I made Jell-O shots once and I put too much gelatin in. bless and it was hard as a rock and i mean i was a poor college student i was like not gonna waste the alcohol so i like chewed it and ate it that was a rough go that was a rough go really oh but also like you can't let it go to waste no 100 i hear you no hell no you're like we are eating these yes chewing these till tomorrow no one else ate it though it was me oh yeah i i do feel like we don't talk enough on this show about like crazy drinks because honestly i don't really think about alcohol as a snack although i have i did ask someone if um guinness is a snack and i mean i don't do you think beer is a snack is beer a snack i think it can i think all of it can be classified as a snack is wine a snack yeah okay is coffee a snack yeah okay yeah okay honestly i think you're committed i think anything other than water as tea can be a snack i mean it's also a drink but but I think if you're going to have a thing.

15:17Rob Anderson:Like, I think if a snack is like, oh, I'm going to have a thing. Yeah. Yeah, a little something. Yeah. I don't know if gum's a snack. Gum, I don't think is a snack. No, I don't think so either. No. What do you snack on now? Like, what's your go-to? I, oh gosh, I'm a sweets guy. I love candy. Okay. So. What are your brands? Okay, number one is Haribo Twin Snakes. Oh. One sour and one sweet. I mean, that might be one of our first mentions of that here as well. Get out of here. I feel like maybe it's just because I love them so much I think they're very popular. People love a Haribo. Like... Cola.

15:53Cola, gummy bears. I think actually regular snakes. We've had like the regular worms, gummy worms. I can't have snakes. But twin snakes, I don't think anyone's mentioned.

16:02Rob Anderson:I would love a twin snakes where both were sour. I just think the sour is where it's at. Well, trolley. Do you do a trolley gummy sour worm? I feel like Haribo is just a higher level of gummy existence. I get it. I get it. And I think Trolly is like, do you want us to? And I'm like, no, no, no. And they're like, we're going to dye it bright blue. We're going to dye it red. Don't you like the colors? And I'm like, no, Haribo doesn't need those crazy colors. Haribo can be chill with a clear orange, like a light orange. Because they have the flavor to back it up. Have you been outside the country to see the Haribo extravaganza?

16:36Rob Anderson:No, but it's in Germany? It's in Germany. But also, you should find yourself at a world market, which is like, There's not that many in New Jersey, but you could probably find one near where you grew up. I don't know. Do you live in New York now? Yeah. New York City? There might be a World Market somewhere downtown, but they have a whole food section, and they actually have a lot of Haribo, like a huge Haribo section. Like an international one you can't get. Yes. Yes. Oh, I would like that. So you should find yourself there. Yeah. Although, I'm like, if you love twin snakes, I mean, maybe that you're just kind of pissed.

17:04I like a lot of Haribo stuff.

17:06Rob Anderson:And the other candy I like is, well, not, okay, so Nerds Gummy Clusters. Okay. Yes. I like them, but I just read recently some Florida thing. There's arsenic. Oh, my God. I did not know you were going to say that either. Like, because I was like, of course, you're a TikTok star. You should know what they're saying about your favorite candy on TikTok. Regardless of whether I was making TikToks or not, like, they're like the thing you eat every day. Like, literally, I eat it every day. I think it's something like 200 % of your arsenic intake is in like a nerd. If you're an adult, you shouldn't have any more than like 28 clusters a year.

17:43Rob Anderson:I'm like, that is a day minimum. I just have to tell you, though, because then my immediate question was like, well, how does rope relate to clusters? Because I recently had a rope for the first time. And I was just like, is this 20 clusters? Like, I was so upset. Yeah, I think the ropes still got arsenic in them. They must. It's the same thing. Because they said it was nerds altogether. And it wasn't just nerds. It was like all. But how many clusters equals a rope? Oh, good question, because you're trying to get your minimum arsenic. I'm just like, did I hit my max already? Yeah, no. I think there's probably like, probably 20 in a rope.

18:19Yeah, so I hit my limit.

18:20Rob Anderson:Yeah, unfortunately. It's fine. Honestly, it was my first time I've ever had, I've never had a nerds cluster before. And what did you think about it? Oh, it was amazing. Yeah, it's like a really fun thing to eat. It really is. And by the way, I like had it at, which is to me like snacks, just like no man's land is the airport. I was like traveling and I was like, I'm going to get this because like there's no one here to tell me otherwise. And like I did and it was delicious. But I don't know if I'll ever eat one again. No, I haven't since I read that because I mean, holy shit. Like, like there's arsenic.

18:53Rob Anderson:Like, like, oh, there's like tads of arsenic. There's massive amounts of arsenic in this candy. And like, I mean, sometimes that's all I eat. But Rob, what if this is like a Tylenol thing? Like what if somebody just like started talking shit about this thing and we don't even know. Okay. I have a theory. Do you know, I have a theory that this happened recently with a very popular brand of protein pre-made drinks. Not Lifeway. Life Core Power it's called. Oh, yes. And there's like 42 grams in 20. Yes. And there was something that went online. Yes. Where they go, there is microplastics in this. Yes.

19:26Rob Anderson:More than any other drink. Yes. And I like this drink. I love it too. Because it literally tastes so good for having that much protein. I know exactly what you're talking about, and I know exactly the drink you're talking about. Because I saw this TikTok as well, and I had a nervous breakdown for the same reason. And so I freaked out. I went online. It's unsubstantiated. I'm like, oh, somebody went out here. Like, Yoo-Hoo or whoever's their competitor. Is Yoo-Hoo making high protein? They probably are. They probably are. And they're like, you can't drink these. These are microplastics. Yeah. I'm like, what do you even mean?