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Franchesca Ramsey, also known as Chescaleigh, is an American comedian, activist, television, and YouTube personality, and actress who has appeared on MTV and MSNBC. Join Michael Jamin and Francheca as they explore her path to success, lessons learned, and what it takes to make it in Hollywood.Show NotesFranchesca Ramsey's Personal Site - https://www.franchesca.net/Franchesca Ramsey on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchesca_RamseyFranchesca Ramsey on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chescaleigh/Franchesca Ramsey on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@franchesca_leighFranchesca Ramsey on Twitter - https://twitter.com/chescaleighAutomated TranscriptFranchesca Ramsey (00:00:00):No. You, you never, you never know. And, you know, on the topic of Nose and Failures, I went to the red carpet for the Emmy's in 2008 and I swore that was gonna be my big break. I thought, I was like, I'm never going back to the chamber. Like I, I remember my boss.Michael Jamin (00:00:15):So you went as what?Franchesca Ramsey (00:00:17):As I was a red carpet reporter for.com. Oh yeah. I was on the red carpet. I interviewed like Kathy Griffin and Neil Patrick Harris. And I sang with Josh Groin. Like I had the best time. Right. And then I had to fly back to Florida and go to work. And I was heartbroken. I thought I was gonna get an agent. I thought I was gonna, I just thought like, this is it. I'm, I'm making it. And I did not make it.Michael Jamin (00:00:42):You're listening to Screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.(00:00:50):Hey everyone, it's Michael Jamin. Welcome back to another episode of Screenwriters. Need to hear this. I have a wonderful special guest today and she's extremely inspiring. And if you want to be a screenwriter, you need to hear how this woman broke in because it floored me. I'm here with Franchesca Ramsey and she has all, she's a multi-talented person cause she's an actor or writer performer. But she started as a YouTuber.Franchesca Ramsey (00:01:13):I started on the internet. It's honestly, it still blows my mind when I say it. But the internet opened so many doors for me and I could not be more proud of the career that it's helped me build.Michael Jamin (00:01:26):And you have so much. But I think what's most, like, I wanna talk about all your successes, but to me, what I really interested by are all the failures that led up to yourFranchesca Ramsey (00:01:35):Success,Michael Jamin (00:01:36):. Cause this is not overnight. No. that you made it.Franchesca Ramsey (00:01:39):No, absolutely not. And I really try to be transparent about those things because I know how it is when you're on the other side and you're watching people have all of these wins and you're comparing yourself to them and you're suing that everything is going their way. And the reality is, more oftentimes than not, there are so many nos behind the scene before they got to the yeses that you're getting to watch and experience. Right. So I, I've had a lot of them. ,Michael Jamin (00:02:09):We're gonna go through 'em, but lemme just tell everyone how we met. Cuz we only met on, on Friday. On Friday. I'm not big on Twitter, but I checked it for some reason, fate told me to check it. And someone had tagged me in a tweet saying, there are two screenwriters you need to follow me and you and your your, your Twitter is tr is is ChecheFranchesca Ramsey (00:02:26):Lee. Yeah,Michael Jamin (00:02:27):Chely. Which is, which is Lee's probably your middle name.Franchesca Ramsey (00:02:29):Lee is my middle name. Yeah.Michael Jamin (00:02:31):Okay. And so they tagged me and you and I, I didn't know you, so I was like, oh, look at her. And I clicked on your link and then I, and I realized, oh, what, you got a huge following and you have some interesting, you talk about interesting things. So I follow you. And then later that day, literally that day, I'm picketing cuz run, strike the Disney lot. And then you call out to me cuz you recognized me.Franchesca Ramsey (00:02:49):Yeah. Oh my God. I mean, I, I mean I, so I started following you on TikTok. It's been a while. I'm still pretty new to TikTok. I think I've only been on there like a year. I'd begrudgingly joined. I was one of those mm-hmm. . and so there's not a lot of TV people on there. Right. And the thing that I was saying to you at the Disney lot was, I appreciate that you have demystified the, the process and the business because there are a lot of people who love and enjoy television, talking about the business, and yet they have never worked in the business. And you come from a place of, yeah, I have sold shows. I've worked in hit series. I, you know, you've done so many things. And just being able to see someone who knows what they're talking about, but again, is making it accessible, is really inspiring. And it really is in line with the ethos of my work.Michael Jamin (00:03:39):And and you do all of that. I wanna talk about, jeez. Well, actually, actually, I should probably say how everyone knows you. Okay. Yes. You've done a ton. You first of all, you were a correspondent on the Nightly Show with, with Larry Wilmore, who Yes. It's funny I know so many writers and he, I, I think of him as a sitcom writer because he's written, he's a writer. Yeah. But he's also a performer's. Like you're singing yourself. He's a multi-talented person, but also decoded on m comedy Central. Mm-Hmm. Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:05):Mtv. Mtv. Decoded. Oh,Michael Jamin (00:04:06):Mtv. Yeah. Okay. I, Carly, which you did one season on Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:09):The reboot. I, yeah, I did the first season of the reboot.Michael Jamin (00:04:12):Right. And that must have been, oh, I don't wanna talk about that. Yeah,Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:16):Yeah.Michael Jamin (00:04:16):We'll talk about that. We're gonna get into all that. You, you wrote for the Oscars in 2020. Mm-Hmm. you were, you were recurring on superstores an actor, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:24):I was, yeah. I was recurring, recurring for 12 episodes in season six.Michael Jamin (00:04:28):Wow. That's, that's, that's,Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:29):Yeah. And I did that and I did that while I was a writer, producer on iCarly. So I had They didn't let you leave? They did let me leave. And I had many a times that I was on set at five o'clock in the morning to shoot, to go to shoot a superstore. And then I still had to get my outline and on time , and I did it. Oh my God.Michael Jamin (00:04:51):But, but Oh, and but you started mm-hmm. , even before this, you had a, you had a viral video Yeah. That went on YouTube.Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:58):Yeah. So I, I started making YouTube videos when I was in college. Not to date myself Right. But my senior year of college, YouTube was founded and I started making YouTube videos. And I had my very first viral video in 2012, which was Shit, white Girls Say to BlackMichael Jamin (00:05:15):Girls. Oh, you started, but you didn't start in 2012.Franchesca Ramsey (00:05:17):When did you start? No, I started in, I started in 2006.Michael Jamin (00:05:20):And then, right. So you had many, you did years of not making viralFranchesca Ramsey (00:05:25):Videos. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I was working as a graphic designer. I worked I worked in beauty and fashion mostly. So I worked at Maybelline, I worked in the package department. I was Photoshopping eyelashes on packages. The mascara does not make your eyelashes that long. , that was me. And then I also worked at Anne Taylor and I was working at Ann Taylor when I went viral in 2012.Michael Jamin (00:05:50):But did you not, did you, like when you were in high school, in college, did you want, I mean, guess, did you wannaFranchesca Ramsey (00:05:55):Be a writer performer? Yeah, no, actually I wanted to be an actor. I went to a performing arts middle and high school. There are a number of alumni from my high school. The person that most people know is Eric Andre. He's a comedian. Right. He was a year older than me. And there are a lot of us from my high school that are still in the business. And I went to college for acting. I went to the University of Michigan, but I left largely because I was struggling after losing my acting scholarship. I had a scholarship my first year, my second year I didn't. And I got a job. DidMichael Jamin (00:06:26):They, could you a scholarship for only one year? IsFranchesca Ramsey (00:06:28):That how works? Well, it was so it was not a need-based scholarship, meaning that it was not based on your parents' income. It was a talent based scholarship. So I auditioned for the school. I got a scholarship my first year. And then after that, the whole faculty voted on who got the scholarship. And because I was only a sophomore, I didn't know everybody. So most of the people that got the scholarship the next year were like juniors and seniors. So I was working part-time at school. I worked for the School of Public Health. I was working on their website. I was a self-taught designer had a bootleg of Photoshop and I'd gone to H T M L camp in middle school. And so I was like uploading files and shit, and I was getting paid 20 bucks an hour. And I was like, yo, this is it. I was like, maybe I should be a graphic designer. . So I left Michigan, moved back to Florida, which is where I'm from, and went to design school and was Oh, really? Studying graphic design. Yeah. And, you know, just I always kept a blog. I'd had a website since middle school. And when YouTube came out, I was like, yo, this is, this is really neat. ButMichael Jamin (00:07:34):This was just cuz you wanted personal expression.Franchesca Ramsey (00:07:37):Yeah. I just thought it was cool. I'd always, I was on live journal and I had dreadlocks at the time, and so I was always like taking photos of my hairstyles and like doing tutorials and just writing about my daily life. I mean, before, before there were digital cameras, I had like a scanner. And so I would go and get my photos developed and then I would scan them and I would post them on my little website. And it was just, I've always been a journaler. I've always like really loved, like just keeping track of my life. I am an only child, so I, I just like, I, that's just always been my form of expression. And so when YouTube came out, I felt like it was the perfect combination of all the things I was already interested in. Right. So I started making YouTube videos in 2006.Michael Jamin (00:08:21):But, and some of those, cause I went, I I scrolled down. You got a long list.Franchesca Ramsey (00:08:24):Yeah. I have so many .Michael Jamin (00:08:26):And some of them were just like, oh, here's, here's how I do my hair. And here's like, yeah. But then you started venturing off into more scripted, you know,Franchesca Ramsey (00:08:33):Compliment stuff. Yeah. I mean, so honestly what happened was I was watching Eric become a successful standup, and I remember him calling me and him saying, there are no black girls in New York doing standup. And I was like, really? And he was like, yeah. Oh my, this is my bad Eric. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got it. You got you. They're so funny. You should be doing this. And I was like, oh, I don't know. Like, I've never done standup. Right. And so I got a copy of the Comedy Bible, which is a great book that I recommend. Okay. And I used it to write my first standup set and was doing comedy in, in Miami and was making sketches and trying to promote my comedy career via YouTube. AndMichael Jamin (00:09:14):Was that working? I mean,Franchesca Ramsey (00:09:15):Yeah, it was. I mean, I was, it's so interesting because where we are with social media is just like, it just feels so accessible now. But like back in my day, I didn't know anyone that had a website. Right. And I had business cards that had my website, my YouTube on them, and I would go to comedy shows and I would say like, oh, you should watch my YouTube channel and like, get on my email list. And, you know, when I would do competitions at the Hollywood Improv, like I would send out emails and I would say, please come to my shows. And did people I Yeah, they did, they didMichael Jamin (00:09:51):Come. So these are your fans would come basically people who were on your email list? JustFranchesca Ramsey (00:09:55):People that I would, I would, I would, if you met me somewhere, I was asking you to be on my email list. Really. And after I graduated college, I got a job as the communications manager at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. So I was doing all of their graphics and PR stuff. And so I was learning how to write press releases. And so like, I was using that to build my online community for my YouTube channel. Right. And I, yeah. And I entered a YouTube contest in 2008, I guess. Yeah. 2008. It was the Red Carpet Reporter contest. Really? And I went to the Emmy's. Yeah. And I I You,Michael Jamin (00:10:33):You entered and you won?Franchesca Ramsey (00:10:34):I entered and I won. And I, I , I really used the things I learned at the Chamber. Like I sent out a press release about myself, , to like, local news. And news was on like my local news. Wow. I threw a party so people would vote for me. Like .Michael Jamin (00:10:52):So this is like, it was a lot. Cause so many people say, well, you know, how do I get an agent? How do I, people expect agents, managers, producers to make their career. And that's not what you are doing. No,Franchesca Ramsey (00:11:03):No.Michael Jamin (00:11:03):You're doing it yourself and you're not asking for permission, you're doing it.Franchesca Ramsey (00:11:07):No, I, working at the Chamber was really eye-opening for me because I learned so much about the power of networking. Right. I always had business cards. Every time I would meet someone like a tip that I learned was I would keep a little sharpie in my bag and I would write a interesting tidbit about them on their, on their business card. And then I would email them and I would talk about something that they had said to me. So like, if you said, oh, I gotta leave for my kid's soccer game, I would email you and I'd say, it was really great meeting you at the, the Coffee with the President event. I hope your kid, you know, killed the soccer game. You know, some, just something like that. And then people would be like, oh my gosh, she was so thoughtful. Like, yeah.Michael Jamin (00:11:44):But these are people who you, you don't, are are these people that you think that can help you? Like, who are these people you're meeting that you want their business card, that you wanna wanna email them? No, they'reFranchesca Ramsey (00:11:52):Not, they're not people that I think can help me. Like, I, I just think of it as, you know, when you meet someone and you connect with them, it's not necessarily that they're gonna help you get further mm-hmm. . But like, if, if we have a connection and we like each other, like maybe there's a world in which we work together, or Yeah. I've got this, I'm doing this contest and I need as many votes as possible. And I met you at an event and we got along, or I'm doing standup now and I'm like, Hey, you know, remember I was kind of funny when we met, like come to the standup,Michael Jamin (00:12:22):But how often would you, if you met, I don't know, let's say, I don't know how many people we've met in a month, let's say it's a dozen. How often are you contacting them to stay in touch to let them know they'reFranchesca Ramsey (00:12:32):Live? So I was, so, so again, I was working at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, which is a membership organization for small businesses. Mm-Hmm. . And we would put together events. We had a weekly coffee with our president every Friday. We had dinner galas, we had golf tournaments. We would go to like, opening of businesses. Like we were doing events all the time. And at every event I was just like, hi, hey, nice to meet you. And I was just meeting as many people as possible and I was doing some of this on Company Jam. I was sending emails and being like, Hey, I met you at this event, can I put you on my email list? You know? Right. soMichael Jamin (00:13:06):I How did you get to be so smart about this though? I mean, like, like did someone teach you this or is this like, I'll just gonna, I like thisFranchesca Ramsey (00:13:11):Idea. I, I will say I learned a lot from the Chamber because we had we had like a women's group and we had like a young professionals group. And because I worked at the Chamber, I was there for all of these events. And I will also add, this was my first job outta college. I am still friends with the people I worked with at the Chamber. I'm still friends with the members that, you know, I met when I did my book tour in 2018, I was able to do it at a bookstore that was one of the members of the chamber when I, you know, I was like trying to get something together. And the bookstore was like, yes, we will absolutely buy copies of your book. We remember you. Right. And right. And it's, I think oftentimes people think about networking for like, these selfish, you know, I'm gonna move forward.(00:13:57):Right. But if you come from a genuine place of just getting to know people and, and showing real interest, my dad always says, be interested. Not interesting. Right. Actually, just like getting to know people and connect with them, you will find that people are like, yeah, you know what? I could throw you five books. You know what? I got a place that you can host a comedy show a actually I will buy a book. Like, people wanna help you. And I was really fortunate I got that job not knowing what it was. And I say all the time, it really like laid the foundation for me when it came to the power of networking and that people like who, you know, really does help you get ahead. But it also enriches your life and your career.Michael Jamin (00:14:38):But how else did it help you knowing any of these people later? Like how, how else did it, you know, materially Okay. I get, yes, you had a and you could, you could do a signing at the store, but how else did it help you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:14:50):I think just helped me to see people that like believed in me. You know, when it was time for me to have comedy shows and stuff. And especially there's so many places where you have to ha bring 10 people. Oh, okay. You, you, you gotta do a bringer show if you're gonna get on stage. And so, you know, kind of corralling my email list to get people to come and support me when I did that YouTube contest and I needed people to vote for me. Right. I, there was a member who had a nightclub and so I threw a party at the nightclub and it was genuinely me just being like, can I throw a party here? And they were like, yeah, no problem. Your, are your friends gonna buy drinks? Right? Yes. . So I set up little laptops and I had people voting for me at the party and Wow. And I, and I won the contest.Michael Jamin (00:15:35):So these are just so small, little, little unexpected ways that just pay that just pay off. But you don't know how or whenFranchesca Ramsey (00:15:41):Yeah. Pay off. No, you, you never, you never know. And, you know, on the topic of knows and failures, I went to the red carpet for the Emmy's in 2008 and I swore that was gonna be my big break. I thought, I was like, I'm never going back to the chamber. Like I, I remember my boss. WellMichael Jamin (00:15:57):You went as what? AsFranchesca Ramsey (00:15:59):I was a red carpet reporter for people.com. Oh yeah. I was on the red carpet. I interviewed like Kathy Griffin and Neil Patrick Harris and mm-hmm. , I sang with Josh Groin, like I had the best time. Right. And then I had to fly back to Florida and go to work and I was heartbroken. I thought I was gonna get an agent. I thought I was gonna, I just thought like, this is it. I'm, I'm making it. And I did not make it. I went AndMichael Jamin (00:16:24):How did you get that job to begin with? The, you know, the red carpet shop? I, because you didn't have an agent?Franchesca Ramsey (00:16:29):I, I entered the YouTube contest. So theMichael Jamin (00:16:31):Contest that was just from that.Franchesca Ramsey (00:16:31):Okay. Yeah. So you had to send in a video of you doing an interview. And I interviewed like my boyfriend at the time and my dog. And then I, you know, I was in the finalist and then I went on the streets of Miami Beach and I just interviewed people. Right. And and then it was voting. So then I, you know, I was doing all, I was hustling to get votes.Michael Jamin (00:16:50):It's so funny cause you are not shy. I mean, no, like, that's how I met. I mean, right. And good for you and good for you. I mean, who else is gonna advocate for you, if not for yourself? I think people want agents. Like they want an advocate. Well be your own advocate. HowFranchesca Ramsey (00:17:02):About that? No. Yeah, no, it's totally true. And look, I, I, I did that red carpet reporter contest and I, you know, I was kind of thrown to the wolves in that nobody was helping me. Right. interview people. They gave me a list of potential celebrities and I watched as many shows that were nominated as possible. I wrote jokes. There was a person under the camera poking me in the leg being like, you gotta hurry it up, wrap it up, wrap it up. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I just was going for it. And I really thought, and my videos were, they were funny, the clips were viral. I was doing great. And then nothing happened. Like, it was it,Michael Jamin (00:17:39):Did they ask you back the year later? Or No?Franchesca Ramsey (00:17:41):No. Nothing. No. They didn't even do the contest again. It just, it just was over. I thought people, people.com was like, we loved you. And I was like, great. Do you wanna hire me? And they were like, no, ,Michael Jamin (00:17:53):No. What makes you, why, why would you think we wanna hire you ?Franchesca Ramsey (00:17:57):I was so heartbroken. I moved, I moved to New York the next year, Uhhuh, and I did kind of like the little tour. Like I went to the people offices. I got all dressed up and I was like, remember me? I won that contest. And they were like, yes. When like, what, what do you want? I was like, I, I thought I would get a job. .Michael Jamin (00:18:14):Really? Yeah. And so then what happened? So, okay, good, good. , you got, you're here and then you fell back a couple pegs. That's fine. And then what happened?Franchesca Ramsey (00:18:21):Yeah, so I was kind of pounding the pavement in New York. I did all sorts of jobs. I stuffed envelopes for like a a temp agency. And, you know, I'd gone to school for graph graphic design and I was going to lots of events in New York. Like I went to social Media week in New York. Right. And I met a guy at Social media. He probably was trying to date me in, in hindsight, I had a boyfriend. Right. But I met this guy at Social Media Week and he worked for a creative temp agency. And he was like, oh, well I can help you find a job. And I was like, really? And he was like, yeah. So as this, at this temp agency, I was just doing design for a bunch of different places. So I did some design for the botanical gardens. I had to ride a hour plus train up to the freaking Bronx. Mm-Hmm. . And I was, you know, pushing pixels around for the for the botanical garden. I also worked for this place that did like a big book of I guess it was like a, it was like a fashion book that got put out every year. I, I don't really remember what it was, but I was, you know, just doing a lot of photo editing and stuff. And that's, and then I got the Maybelline job through a friend.Michael Jamin (00:19:32):But that wa I, I wanna, but Okay. But then all the while you're still putting out YouTube videos, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:19:36):Yeah, I was still making YouTube videos. I was usually like waking up early and editing. I was stealing my neighbor's wifi so I would upload before I went to work because Uhhuh, that was when nobody was on the internet. Youtube was very slow back then. So Yeah. You to like, leave your computer uninterrupted to upload videosMichael Jamin (00:19:57):And, but, but pe people were slowly finding you at this point, or no?Franchesca Ramsey (00:20:01):Yeah. I mean, I was building a little bit of an audience cuz I was making those hairstyle videos. And remember I had had a website in middle school and high school. Right. So I had, I was building my audience. Like I was in this live journal community called, oh no they didn't, which was like a gossip community. Uhhuh . So I posted my videos there. I was in a dreadlock community called Get Up, dread Up, and I would post my hair videos there. And, but atMichael Jamin (00:20:28):Some point you, you decided to make a leap Cause you you had that one video that went viral.Franchesca Ramsey (00:20:32):Yeah, so actually before that, I entered another contest in 2011 called the YouTube Next Up Contest, Uhhuh . And and I won that contest. It was a contest to find like YouTube's next big stars. Right. And it was me and 25 other people. And we each won $35,000. Nice. And we spent a week at YouTube learning how to like better produce our videos and we got new cameras andMichael Jamin (00:20:57):Out here YouTube and, and my, inFranchesca Ramsey (00:20:59):New York? InMichael Jamin (00:21:00):New York. Oh, New York. Okay. Yeah. You know, my partner and I ran a show by from Renton Link.Franchesca Ramsey (00:21:04):Oh, well yeah. I love them.Michael Jamin (00:21:05):Yeah. They're, they had a show, YouTube offered them money, like a lot of money to make a sitcom and they hired us to, to be the right to run.Franchesca Ramsey (00:21:11):Oh, cool. Yeah. No, I love, I love them. I was in one of their, I was in the old collab video with them years ago. Oh wow. Yeah. So I got to meet so many YouTubers from that, and actually my current writing partner, I met her through the YouTube. Next up she was a freelance producer at YouTube and they put us in little teams and had us make YouTube videos, Uhhuh. And she and I, she and I really hit it off and we stayed friends. And the, the year after I did next up is when I had my first big viral video. And I really believe that next up taught me a lot about, you know, tentpole content. Like thinking about my content around holidays and special events and trending stories and finding ways to infuse my personal voice. And so I started kind of like changing my content right. Where I was just doing hair stuff. Right. And I was doing random comedy things, just being more focused.Michael Jamin (00:22:03):And what was your focus?Franchesca Ramsey (00:22:04):Well, my focus was more of looking at trends and finding ways to infuse myself in them uhhuh. And looking at what everybody's talking about and how can I put my own unique spin on it. Right. And so what happened was, there was a viral video called Shit Girls Say. Right. And it was a guy in a wig just doing a bunch of different things that girls say. And there were lots of parodies. There was like, shit, black girls say shit, moms say shit, dad say, and I was trying to figure out, I was like, I wanna do one, but I don't know what I wanna do. And I had gone home for the holidays and I was at a party, a Christmas party mm-hmm. and everyone was drinking and I was not, because I was the designated driver. And as my friends were getting drunker, people were starting to say some things to me that just were at the time things that a lot of my white suburban friends would say to me.(00:22:57):And I wouldn't think twice about, but because I had this video in my head, I was like, oh, maybe this is the video. People were like touching my hair and, you know, just saying things that I don't believe were coming from a bad place. Right. But I was like, something is in this. But I was like, I don't know, like, I don't know what to make this. It's like, I was like, shit black girls say, I was like, shit, white girls say, and I hate to even say it. My ex was like, maybe it should be shit white girls say to black girls. And I was like, no, that doesn't make sense. The the meme is shit. Girls say so it has to be that. And my ex was like, why, why does it have to be like that? And I was like, I dunno, I don't, I really wrestled with it. And then I thought, well, maybe that's what it'll be. So I wrote down all of the things that people had said to me. Right. I shot the video, I uploaded it before I went to work. And by lunchtime it had like a million views. And my email was just like blowing up. My phone was just like going nuts. No one at Ann Taylor knew I made YouTube videos, Uhhuh . And I was like freaking out. It was like, what? The frick is happening?Michael Jamin (00:24:02):Freaking out. Because you were worried you were just in trouble, Atara, or what? No,Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:06):No, I was just freaking out in the sense that I was feeling overwhelmed because my inbox was suddenly, you know, NPR wants to interview you and the Huffington Post wants to write something about you. Yeah. And like all of these agents and S n L reached out to me and they were like, we would love for you to audition for S N L. And I was like, what the f I was at work while this was happening. Wow. And I was like crying at my desk and, and my coworkers were like,Michael Jamin (00:24:31):What is all like tears of joy. No tears.Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:33):Yeah. Tears of joy, but also tears of like, I'm very emotional. I was very, I was just overwhelmed. Like, I don't know how to handle this. And, butMichael Jamin (00:24:43):That video is, is wonderful. Yeah. obviously I watched it, but were you, I mean you were making a statement?Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:50):Yeah. I mean, I don't think I knew I was making a statement. I thought I was just genuinely, I thought I was making a video about being from West Palm Beach, going to private school, where oftentimes I was the only black person in my class. And having my friends who were well-meaning say things to me that I knew made me feel uncomfortable, but I wasn't really sure why.Michael Jamin (00:25:14):You weren't sure why?Franchesca Ramsey (00:25:15):I wasn't sure why, but I knew I, but I knew there was something funny about it. Right. And I, and I think my surprise was realizing that I had captured a universal experience that other black people and just marginalized people in general experience where people in their lives are like, you're different from me. And they're acknowledging it in a way that is not necessarily malicious, but it does still feel uncomfortable.Michael Jamin (00:25:39):But, but some of them were kind of cringy. Some were like, Ooh, did someone, some of them really say that to you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:25:45):Like, oh my god, really? Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. And, but that's also what was incredible to me about it is because the comments were like, this is my life. The comments were saying, I am the only black girl in my school in Idaho, and this has happened to me. And, and I'm, I'm watching these comments coming come in and realizing like, oh, I did something with this that I didn't anticipate. Yeah. I, you know, I got invited to be on Anderson Cooper. They did a whole segment about me in that video. I had never been on national television before. And, and, and I, I was like, I had no agent. I had no help. I did my own makeup, which mm-hmm. I think I did good. But like, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I stillMichael Jamin (00:26:25):Have How did your friend, how did your friends react to it though when they saw it?Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:29):Oh my God, they thought it was amazing. My whole, I I mean this was, butMichael Jamin (00:26:32):But they were the ones who said these things to you.Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:34):Yeah. And they were like, this is really fun. One of the girls that like was the main culprit came with, with me to Anderson Cooper .Michael Jamin (00:26:39):But aren't they supposed to apologize for, I mean, they're not supposed to think it's funny. They're supposed to say, I'm sorry. I said those things.Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:45):, you know, I, I I think it's also just a symptom of where I was in my life because at that time now we talk about privilege and microaggressions in a way that feels, you know very forward thinking and, and progressive. And in 2012, we were not. Right. And so again, while I knew that those comments made me uncomfortable, I did not have the language to explain why. Right. And I, and I did not believe my friends were malicious, and I still don't believe that they were malicious. It's just a symptom of your privilege. And that is something that people do all of the time, right? Mm-Hmm. , like straight people do that to gay people. Right. Gay bodied people do that to disabled people. Like cis people do that to trans people. It happens across every dynamic and, and every identity. And so I don't think my friends, some of them did feel like, oh my God, this makes me like look bad. Right? But I didn't have anyone that felt like, oh, Francesca hates me. Like, everybody knew I was making comedy content. Mm-Hmm. . And a lot of my friends that were sharing it across all backgrounds were like, oh my God, this has happened to me. Or Oh my God, I need to check myself. Because Right. In the context, this doesn't seem great. Right.Michael Jamin (00:27:59):Do Now I imagine putting yourself out there, cause I know what it's like, it exposed you to backlash too. And myFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:07):God. Oh my God, yes.Michael Jamin (00:28:09): What, what and what was that like for you the first time? And what's your advice? For me itFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:13):Was r it was really hard. It was really hard. So that video got about 12 million views in the first week. Right. And, you know, again, today 12 million views maybe. Doesn't seem like a lot.Michael Jamin (00:28:24):No, it's a lot. It's aFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:25):Lot. I mean, I, I, you know, TikTok, people are blowing up all the time, but it was really big for me. Right. But again, because I was talking about race, there were a lot of people that were uncomfortable and there were people that were calling me a racist. They were saying that I hate white people and you know, this is not right. And if it was reversed and, and I, for better or for worse, am very accessible. So I was in the comments, like fighting with people. I was arguing back and forthMichael Jamin (00:28:52):And why? So that's the thing.Franchesca Ramsey (00:28:54):Yeah. And I, and I do youMichael Jamin (00:28:55):Should you do that?Franchesca Ramsey (00:28:57):No, I, I think you really have to pick your battles mm-hmm. . And I think that, I think that there are some people that are always gonna dislike you no matter what. And they always have, they already have their mind made up about you. Yeah. And so you have to decide like, what is the purpose of me engaging with this person? And for me, especially on Twitter, even if I engage with someone who I disagree with, if I think I can make a broader point about the misconception, or I can clarify something, or I can use them as an example of how to better defend yourself on certain topics, I'll do it. Versus there are a lot of people I just don't engage with at all. ButMichael Jamin (00:29:37):You, I I'm gonna guess I'm taking a wild guess though. I'm gonna guess that you've never once changed anybody's mind.Franchesca Ramsey (00:29:45):I dunno that that's, I don't, I I'm gonna push back and say I don't necessarily think that that's true because I got a lot of emails from people that said that I did change their minds. Really. But I think, but I think it's, again, it's also a matter of what your approach is. And it also has to be somebody who actually wants to have their mind changed. There's a difference between somebody that just wants to argue. Right. And someone who genuinely says, I don't understand this thing and I want to, and I think whether it's online or in real life, we have to be better at gauging the difference because it is a waste of your time to argue with the person who already has their mind made up. Mm-Hmm. versus to engage with the person who says, you've made me think about this differently. I'm not sure I agree yet, but I'm like close to figuring out if, if I could be.Michael Jamin (00:30:31):And that makes you feel good knowing that, I mean,Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:34):Yeah. I mean me, it'sMichael Jamin (00:30:35):Exhausting. That's all. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:37):It isMichael Jamin (00:30:37):Exhausting. It really is.Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:39):It is exhausting. But I think what that video taught me about myself, and it really kind of shaped the direction that my content went in Yeah. Is that there's a lot of, that comedy is really powerful, that we can tell stories that we can tell the stories of people that don't necessarily see themselves represented and feel like they're being heard. We can expose people to new ideas. Mm-Hmm. , we can get people to think about the world that they inhabit and how they move through the world differently. And I realized like using comedy to talk about serious stuff is something that I wasn't seeing other people do on YouTube. And so I really started like shifting my content Yes. In that direction.Michael Jamin (00:31:19):That's almo. Would you say that's kind of your brand now? I mean, what? Whatever that means.Franchesca Ramsey (00:31:23):Yeah. It was, and I'm, I don't know. It's hard. I'm trying to get out of it if I'm being honest.Michael Jamin (00:31:28):Why? Okay. Yeah. Why?Franchesca Ramsey (00:31:29):Because it is exhausting. Because, because as a black woman moving through the world, I'm constantly being asked to justify my existence and educate people mm-hmm. and talk about serious topics all the time. Right. So then to do that for my job is, is dually exhausting. And, and I, I struggle with it because I know I'm good at it. Right. And I know it's important, but it takes a lot out of me. Yeah. It ta and, and you know, like, I'm dealing with this right now with the writer strike where I'm making a lot of content about the strike because I think it's important. But I'm also being asked and pulled and every direction where people like, explain this will tell me this, well, it makes sense, da da da da da. And I'm like, this is actually my livelihood. Like this is not just a trending topic on Twitter. Like this is about how I'm gonna continue to make a life for myself, you know?Michael Jamin (00:32:21):But Okay. So you're, are you're still, are you still making original content on YouTube? No. No. Why not? I think you should Franchesca Ramsey (00:32:29):I have, I have a, cause I, I have a complicated relationship with YouTube Uhhuh. I guess the, the best way to say it is, you know, after, after, after I went viral, I got an agent. I left my day job, I started auditioning and, andMichael Jamin (00:32:45):The, and the, I say want, I wanna slow it down. The agent reached out to you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:32:49):Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. And I will also add that prior to that, I had made DVDs of all my standup and all my sketches, and I had mailed them out to every agent in New York. And not one person got back to me.Michael Jamin (00:33:03):This is exactly what Okay. So I do a, a monthly webinar, free webinar where I talk about Hollywood and how to break in, this is exactly what I talked about yesterday. Yeah. Is that you have to make them beg Yeah. If you're begging them, it's not gonna happen. Right. It's not gonna happen. Right. They have to look at you like you are, like you have dollar signs on your face Yeah. And you're a big bag of money. And when they see money on your face, they'll come after you. Yeah. Which is what they saw with you. Okay. This isFranchesca Ramsey (00:33:27):Someone, it was like the, it was like the year prior I had sent out those DVDs and I did not get one person to get back toMichael Jamin (00:33:33):You. Same person, same talent. Yeah. You just didn't have the platform yet.Franchesca Ramsey (00:33:37):Yeah. And then suddenly everybody wanted me. So then I, you know, I got this agent and, you know, I got the opportunity. I, I met with a manager and she said like, what's your dream? And I said, I want my own TV show. AndMichael Jamin (00:33:50):She What kind of show, by the way?Franchesca Ramsey (00:33:52):Well, I didn't really know. I just knew I wanted a show. And she looked at my YouTube channel and was like, well, we should pitch like a sketch show. So I was out pitching the sketch show, nobody bought it. Mm-Hmm. . And one of the places I went to though was M T V. And M T V was like, well, we really like you. We have this show about feminism and and pop culture that's doing really well. Would you be interested in developing something similar about race? And I was like, yeah, that sounds cool. So I met with this production company called Corn Neighbor Brown. Mm-Hmm. , we started developing what then became M T v Decoded mm-hmm. . And, you know, I, Dakota has opened so many doors for me. I'm, I'm so proud of that show. But I dealt with so much harassment because of that show so much. And YouTube, for Better for worse, did not really support me. And, and I, and I, and I really struggled with that becauseMichael Jamin (00:34:45):What kind of support were you hoping to get from them?Franchesca Ramsey (00:34:48):Well, people were making death threats. Oh. People were taking my content and they were editing together videos of me to make me say that I hate all white men and I hate all white people. Oh my God. And I think people should die. And, and, and, and YouTube was like, well, you know, it's not a copyright violation. And I was like, how is this not a copyright violation? Like, soMichael Jamin (00:35:07):What do you do when that hap what do you do when that happens?Franchesca Ramsey (00:35:10):I mean, what I did was I ended up walking away. I mean, I did it for six years. And again, I am so thankful for all the doors that it opened, but I had to ask myself like, is this worth it in terms of what I want? And what I want is to be a comedy writer. I don't want to be a professional educator. I don't want,Michael Jamin (00:35:29):But I imagine you were also monetizing this from YouTube. You were making monies, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:35:32):Well, it was MTV's content. So I was not making, I was making a flat rate on every episode. I was credited as executive producer because I had developed the show. So I was being paid as the host and executive produ producer, and I was paid anytime I wrote an episode mm-hmm. . And I wrote about, I'm gonna say I wrote about like 50% of the episodes, and then I got hired on the nightly show. Right. So I was on TV and I was doing Dakota at the same time. So we brought in writers. Right.(00:36:02):so I was making a flat rate. I wasn't making, I wasn't making a ton of money. I I I, I worked part-time jobs. I worked as a writer for Upward for three years. Mm-Hmm. , I was speaking at colleges, I was doing like little TV things here and there, but I was M T V was not paying all my bills. Right. and so when I really like took a step back and looked at where I wanted to go in my career, I was like, I just don't wanna be an internet personality for the rest of my life. Mm-Hmm. . And I don't wanna be the girl who just talks about race. And I was like, I'm glad that this is given me a platform and opened all these doors for me. But I would meet people and they would, they were surprised that I was funny. And, and I would say, well, I'm a comedian. They're like, no, you're not. I see you onde coded. And I'm like, right. Well, Dakota is like an educational show. I'm, I'm not, I'm not know. But the thingMichael Jamin (00:36:54):Is, people say to me, I'm afraid about, like, they're not even in the business yet. I'm afraid about being put into a box. Right. I'm afraid of about doing this one thing that getting stuck in the box. And my attitude is get in a box first. You know, you need to get work.Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:06):Yeah. Get in the box first. Yeah. And thenMichael Jamin (00:37:07):You worry about getting out of the box.Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:09):Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I, and I would, yes, I, I agree. Like, and if, for me, I didn't know I was getting into a box. I was following what was being successful for me and what I was enjoying and what I was good at. And I did that for six years. You know, I was on the nightly show. And, and even that, like, I started for a minute. I was like, oh, I think I wanna be a late night host. And then I was realizing like, oh, this is really hard. Like mm-hmm. talking about the news and, and, and writing about news, writing about what's happening in the world and trying to put in a funny spin is just a, it's hard. It's so hard. And again, I learned so much, but I think what I really learned was, I was like, if I have a TV show one night a week, I don't wanna do five nights a week, .Michael Jamin (00:37:51):But even on your channel, which I poked around, I was like, oh my God. Like you interviewed Michelle Obama. I was like, what? Like what? How did that come about? ?Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:58):Yeah. I mean that was, that was through YouTube. I, so, because I was so active and I had won that Emmy's contest and I won that next step contest, like I had a relationship with YouTube, like I would speak at events there. Mm-Hmm. one time they had this party where they had an airplane circling LA with like celebrities. And I hosted the plane. Like I was speaking over like the, the speaker in the plane. It was so weird. It was very fun. But like, that was because of YouTube. And so they would regularly reach out to me and say like, oh, we're doing this event which you hosted, or would you speak on this panel? Or whatever. SoMichael Jamin (00:38:36):Leaving, it must've been very hard for you because on the one hand, they were good too. You on the other hand,Franchesca Ramsey (00:38:41):Yeah. I mean, I wasn't getting paid for a lot of those things. Like I Oh really? No, no, it was justMichael Jamin (00:38:45):Exposure.Franchesca Ramsey (00:38:46):Yeah. It was just ex it was exposure. And that was also part of it. Like, that was me making a conscientious decision that I wasn't gonna do unpaid work anymore. Uhhuh. . But I started saying like, okay, cool. Like, you guys are happy to have to fly me out and have me speak on a panel, but I then have to run back to my hotel room and like write these articles because I'm, I don't have money. You know? And like, my visibility, I think a lot of times people think like, oh, I see you everywhere. So that must mean you're making a lot of money. That must mean you're, you're, you're crushing it. And that's just not always the case.Speaker 3 (00:39:23):Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.Michael Jamin (00:39:47):But even on your videos of, on your YouTube videos, you were mon like, cause you can't monetize them. Yeah. You just didn't, you weren't getting a lot. That'sFranchesca Ramsey (00:39:53):No, I wasn't, I I was never one, I was never consistent largely because I always had a regular job. Like I, I tried being a full-time YouTuber and I just, the money is so inconsistent. It's a once a month paycheck. Yeah. And you don't know how much it is because some months you have a really good month and your views are really up. Other months your views are really down. The, I don't know what they're like now, but at the time your ads did not automatically come on your video. Sometimes the ads wouldn't show up for like a day or two. Uhhuh . So if you got all your views in those first two days and then they dropped off by the time you got ads, you didn't make any money.Michael Jamin (00:40:30):Oh, interesting.Franchesca Ramsey (00:40:31):And then there's like certain times of year that were really good, I was always trying different things. Right. Like I was making Holiday vi, I made these Christmas card videos. I made these videos that you were supposed to send to people for their birthday. I did Parodies, lady Gaga came out with a song. So I did a video for like, you know, I stayed up all night like editing this video. So Yeah,Michael Jamin (00:40:50):You did Gwen Stefani, you sounded just like her. Yeah. I was like, that was great. I wouldFranchesca Ramsey (00:40:53):Do all these impressions and I was, I was just realizing that the amount of hours I was putting in were not, it wasn't paying off for me is what I was realizing. And that was a big part of my transition into like, I want to be in tv. Right. That's always been the goal. You know, I, I went to acting school. I didn't know I was gonna become a writer and, and I was so glad that I was doing that, but I was like, this is, I don't wanna be on YouTube for the rest of my life. I don't wanna make videos in my apartment. I don't wanna make videos about my life. I want to work in tv. So really focusing on that, and again, doing Decoded was awesome, but I realized what I have to do is I gotta get a sample. Right.(00:41:36):Like I have to, I have to put together a packet. Like I have to start doing the things that are gonna move me into the next phase. Mm-Hmm. . And I think kind of to your point about being in a box, I think you have to be open to, if you're in a box or people are seeing you one way, being open to saying, what else can I do? And like, how can I show people that I'm more than this one thing? Mm-Hmm. and taking that risk and believing in yourself is really scary. But it's essential because I could have done decoded for the rest of my life and I don't want to do that ,Michael Jamin (00:42:11):You know? But then, so iCarly was prob was your first scripted? Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:42:15):And then it wasMichael Jamin (00:42:16):What, so how did you get that? Cuz that's a big leap you have toFranchesca Ramsey (00:42:19):Write. Yeah. So before iCarly, what did I do before iCarly? So I did the nightly show and then I sold a pilot to Comedy Central. Mm-Hmm. . And the pilot was with the same producers that did Decoded and it was kind of like a late night sketch type show, Uhhuh . And we didn't go to series. They actually gave us a mini room and I did not know it was a mini room at the time. I was just happy that I was getting a writer's room. And so we wrote 10 episodes of the show. We didn't go to series. I wrote a book. Right. I did a book tour.Michael Jamin (00:42:54):And how, how did the, how did the book come about? Which the book is called, well that escalated quickly, , which I imagine and the memoir and memo, it's memoir Mistakes of an Accidental Activist, which is Yeah, that's a perfect idol. Cause I think that's exactly what you were, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:43:08):Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it, it really was a collection of essays about a lot of the mistakes that I had made in communicating with other people on the internet and talking about things that were important to me and all the lessons that I had learned along the way. And after Shit White Girls say Went viral, I had a number of people reaching out to me, asking me to write a book, but I just didn't know what I wanted to write a book about. TheseMichael Jamin (00:43:32):Were agents or publishersFranchesca Ramsey (00:43:34):Literary agents saying like, you should write a book. And I just didn't know what I wanted to write a book about. I kept putting it off funny. And then after I was a nightly show was still on the air and I, I decided, I think I wanna give this a chance. And I finally had initially I wanted it to just be called Accidental Activists and that was gonna be the title. And I started putting together a book proposal and meeting with literary agents. And I met this great literary agent and she gave me like really good notes on my proposal. She really ripped it apart . Mm-Hmm. . And I was so happy because I had felt like she was the first person I talked to that wasn't like blowing smoke up my ass. She was the first person that was like, this is good, but it could be better. Right. and so she and I worked together for like two months on the proposal and then we went and did a number of meetings. I think we met with like six publishers andMichael Jamin (00:44:28):I And you didn't wanna write it first, you wanted to pitch it first as get it sold first?Franchesca Ramsey (00:44:32):Yeah. So in with non-fiction, you don't have to write it first. With fiction, usually you do have to write it first. Right. If you've written a book before the fiction proposal usually don't have to write the whole thing. But for non-fiction you usually write like two or three chapters mm-hmm. and then you do like a summary of what the book is about and a bio and who you are and, and why this book and you know, what are books that are in the same family as yours and Right. What your plan for press would be and all that stuff. And I'm, you know, I went to school for graphic design, so I made like a really beautiful book proposal with like photos and Oh wow. Artwork and I drew all these little charts and graphs and stuff cuz that's kind of like, I love infographics. And so yeah, we went to maybe six or seven publishers and I got four offers. Wow. And they went kind of head to head and my agent was pitting them against each other. Wow. yeah. And I got a six figure book deal, which was a big deal. .Michael Jamin (00:45:30):That is a big deal. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:45:32):And thenMichael Jamin (00:45:33):Did they help you, what, you know, promote it, put you on tour?Franchesca Ramsey (00:45:36):Yeah, so I mean, that's part of when you work with a publisher is they have a a publicist, like an in-house. I was at Grand Central Publishing, so they had a publicist and we did a photo shoot for the book. And I spent my own money, like I got a publicist. I also had a website built for the, for the book. And then we did an eight city book tour and I got cities added because I really wanted to do something in Florida where I'm from. And that was where I reached out to some of my contacts from the chamber and got my local Miami bookstore.Michael Jamin (00:46:09):Why these, the only eight cities, though. Like, what, when they say they're putting on tour, like, I don't know.Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:14):Well, they looked at, they looked at the analytics from like my Facebook and my Instagram and, and my YouTube to see like where my audience was at. Okay. And they used that to pick what citiesMichael Jamin (00:46:25):And then people came out. Yeah. And, and you read, you read and signed books.Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:28):Yeah. Yeah. So I kind of, I picked, I reached out to friends in different cities and I had different people as kind of like my co-host in each city. And it was awesome. But it was, it was exhausting. It was really exhausting. And I was doing that at the same time that I was doing my comedy Central pilot. And all of this is to say that like, in that moment I thought like, I'm making it. I was like, I'm making it. I'm like, I'm about to be like a star .Michael Jamin (00:46:55):That's what I would think. But you know,Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:56):It wasn then my showed didn't go. No. Cause then I showed it didn't go. ButMichael Jamin (00:46:59):That's normal. Most shows don't goFranchesca Ramsey (00:47:01):Right. But I didn't know that didn know that. I, I, I didn't know that. I, I thought I'm a failure. Especially because, like, really think about it. Yeah. Well, think about it this way. When, when you, when a pilot gets announced, right? I, this is my first time having a, having a pilot ever. Mm-Hmm. , a pilot gets announced and people that don't work in TV think that means you have a TV show. They're like, where is the show? And I'm like, oh, well I'm making the pilot now. And they're like, well, when does it come out? I'm like, I don't know. It hasn't been ordered a series. So like, people were writing articles about me, like 10 Reasons Franchesca's gonna change late night. And like, we need Franchesca's show. And like, she's amazing. And Larry Wilmore had gotten canceled. So it was like Franchesca Ramsey's gonna be the only black woman late night host. And like all of this hype was coming for me, and my book was coming out and, and, and, and my publisher was really like, this is it. We're gonna time it with the show. And then, and youMichael Jamin (00:47:54):Were believing this too.Franchesca Ramsey (00:47:56):And I was believe of course I was, of course I was believing it. I was like, oh my God, I want this so badly. Yeah. You know? And and hindsight is 2020. Like it was not the show for me. I'm glad that I didn't end up making that show because I, I really don't wanna host a late night show about identity. Right. I, I thought I did, but I don't want to anymore. And so like, when it didn't go to series, and then, well, we, we did the mini room and, and that was kind of like a consolation prize, but even then I was like, it was another year of staffing and, and, and putting the room together and trying to figure out what the show was, and then waiting around for Comedy Central. And then they said, we're not going to series. They were like, well, let's sell it somewhere else. So I was like, shooting these sketches. And we,Michael Jamin (00:48:44):That doesn't, that doesn't happen. . Right. But that so rarely happens, but, okay.Franchesca Ramsey (00:48:47):Right. Well, especially because other networks are like, well, you didn't want it. Why do we want it?Michael Jamin (00:48:51):Yeah. We don't, they don't want damaged goods. You don't,Franchesca Ramsey (00:48:53):You don't. You didn't want it. So now you think I'm gonna make the show. Like, yeah. Right. Again, and I'm just kind of like, I, I'm just like, I'm just going along. Right. Like Right. I'm going and taking these meetings and, and you know, you have meetings and they're like, we love you. You're amazing. You're great. We're passing, you know, .Michael Jamin (00:49:09):Yeah. Yes. I know. All those meetings. .Franchesca Ramsey (00:49:11):Right. And so I was just like, I was just like, oh my God, my career is over. And I got a writing job on yearly Departed, which is was a late an end of the year comedy show. Mm-Hmm. . And that was through Twitter. BES Calb, who was our showrunner, followed me on Twitter. We were friendly, and my reps were like, Hey, there's this late, this end of the year comedy special, do you wanna take a meeting? I took the meeting and Bess was just like, I love you. I think you're super funny. She had read my sample and yeah, it was kind of, it was like a series of eulogies for different things throughout the year. Uhhuh .(00:49:54):And we did it over Zoom Oh, wow. During the Pandemic. And I was still auditioning, and that's when I booked Superstore. I booked Superstore while I was doing Yearly Departed. So I went to LA to do Superstore and it just worked out that it was at the same time that yearly was gonna film. So I got to go be on set and, and Seeba happened. And and after being here for Superstore again in the middle of the pandemic, I was like, I don't really wanna go back to New York. Right. What if I just stay ?Michael Jamin (00:50:25):Well, you, but you're married, aren'tFranchesca Ramsey (00:50:26):You? I was, I got divorced. You was? Okay. I got divorced in 2019.Michael Jamin (00:50:30):Okay. So you don't have to worry about your husband coming overFranchesca Ramsey (00:50:32):Here. No, no. We got divorced before, before I got hired on that show. Yeah. I mean, right. Like the year before the pandemic. Right.Michael Jamin (00:50:42):And then how did I, Carly come about then?Franchesca Ramsey (00:50:45):My managers were just like, Hey, you know, I, I told them I wanted to staff. Right. And so, yeah, I took a meeting with Ally Shelton, who was our showrunner, and again, she read my sample. And I think what she really appreciated was that I had this background as an internet person and mm-hmm. You know, Carly is an internet person personality, and I had actual experience and dealing with trolls and dealing with going viral and Yeah, of course. Live streaming and course bands and social media course. And so Allie was a perfectMichael Jamin (00:51:18):Choice. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:51:19):Yeah. Allie was like, you really understand this world. And I I came, I went into my meeting and I had watched episodes of iCarly and I pitched some ideas as for what I felt like would be the direction that I would be interested in going in. And and prior to that, I had my friend Shameka that I mentioned that I had met through YouTube. She and I had sold a pilot to Fox. And so I learned a lot about the scripted process through that. Right. Just through development. It was with Kay Cannon and and Kay is amazing. I learned so much from her.Michael Jamin (00:51:55):But was it intimidating for you to be, cuz now you're in out of your element again, you haven't done scripted, soFranchesca Ramsey (00:52:01):It, it wasn't intimidating. I, and I, again, I really feel very fortunate because I was able to work with a friend of mine that I had known for, you know, almost 10 years. And she and I had made YouTube videos together and we had come out to LA for pilot season as actors and we got an apartment together. And through the audition process we were like, all of these scripts are bad, we could fucking do this. Right. We were like, we could write a script better than this. . Yeah. Right. And so we wrote like a treatment. We didn't even write a full script. And then we, through our agents, went and took a bunch of meetings and we met with Amy PO's company. Mm-Hmm. . We, we went to Kay Cannon, which is K and l. We went to a whole bunch of places, but Kay and Laverne, her business partner, we just, we just loved them. And they were like, we wanna develop this with you. And so they really taught us how to develop and structure a scripted pitch. ThatMichael Jamin (00:52:57):Was the Fox show.Franchesca Ramsey (00:52:58):Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I had never pitched a scripted project before. Everything was like sketched late night. Yeah. Variety. And so yeah, off of that, again, we didn't go to series, but we wrote the pilot. And so I used that as like a sample, even though I'd written it with someone else. And then I had a sample that I'd written by myself, and then I had like all my decoded videos and I had sketches from my Comedy Central pilot an

This episode gets super random, super ATL, and Super Power Rangers. Dulce Sloan started her comedy career in Atlanta, Georgia. The scene and city are super proud of all that she is doing on The Daily Show, Yearly Departed, and The Great North. We got the chance to catch up as she was in town for the NAACP Awards. Her guest was a TIP favorite David Perdue. David is an amazing comedian and educator currently living in Atlanta. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NAACP Image Award Nominee Lynae Vanee is a multifaceted performer, poet, influencer, writer, and actress hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Spelman College and Boston University with a Master's Degree in African American Studies, Lynae uses her digital platformsto speak on race, feminism, politics, and inclusivity. Lynae's viral videos have garnered over 20 million views across platforms and have garnered the attention of several celebrities, major networks, and the general public. Highlighted in the LA Times and Bustle, Lynae has built her brand on "keeping it black but keeping it brief," offering critical context on today's issues in a succinct and stylized manner. Lynae has collaborated with various brands such as Meta, Target, Revolt, Tommy Hilfiger, and Netflix, to name a few. She has also been a featured guest on the MSNBC program The Cross Connection with Tif any Cross and appeared in the 2021 Amazon Prime television special "Yearly Departed".

On this episode of Money Making Conversations Master Class Paige Simpson, Vice President of 21 Laps Entertainment share her journey through the entertainment industry. Topics Covered• Paige is the Vice President of Television at 21 Laps Entertainment, the production company behind hits like Stranger Things, Night at the Museum and Arrival.• Current projects include 'Yasuke' which is now under development with Netflix. A story of a Black samurai that is in talks to star Lupin actor, Omar Sy.• Previous shows worked on include Ambitions for OWN, Bigger for BET+ and comedy special Yearly Departed for Amazon Prime.• Previous roles with Will Packer Media, Showtime, Scrap Paper Pictures and Academy Award-winning actress, Viola Davis.• Paige is passionate about storytelling and mentoring the next generation of entertainment executives. • Paige is a Spelman alum who studied biology before discovering her true calling of bringing diverse stories to life through television. More on Paige SimpsonPaige Simpson is a creative visionary and television executive with over a decade of experience in Hollywood. As the current Vice President of Television at 21 Laps Entertainment, she works diligently to create amazing, diverse, and bingeable content for Netflix, as a part of the production company's overall television deal with the streaming giant. Paige's expertise and talent in television development allowed her to create a significant career path and work with powerhouse brands like Will Packer Media, Showtime and Scrap Paper Pictures. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of Money Making Conversations Master Class Paige Simpson, Vice President of 21 Laps Entertainment share her journey through the entertainment industry. Topics Covered• Paige is the Vice President of Television at 21 Laps Entertainment, the production company behind hits like Stranger Things, Night at the Museum and Arrival.• Current projects include 'Yasuke' which is now under development with Netflix. A story of a Black samurai that is in talks to star Lupin actor, Omar Sy.• Previous shows worked on include Ambitions for OWN, Bigger for BET+ and comedy special Yearly Departed for Amazon Prime.• Previous roles with Will Packer Media, Showtime, Scrap Paper Pictures and Academy Award-winning actress, Viola Davis.• Paige is passionate about storytelling and mentoring the next generation of entertainment executives. • Paige is a Spelman alum who studied biology before discovering her true calling of bringing diverse stories to life through television. More on Paige SimpsonPaige Simpson is a creative visionary and television executive with over a decade of experience in Hollywood. As the current Vice President of Television at 21 Laps Entertainment, she works diligently to create amazing, diverse, and bingeable content for Netflix, as a part of the production company's overall television deal with the streaming giant. Paige's expertise and talent in television development allowed her to create a significant career path and work with powerhouse brands like Will Packer Media, Showtime and Scrap Paper Pictures. Support the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WHAT. A. WEEK!!! We are still drunk from the Madison Cawthorn goodbye party and barely have any vocal chords left from primal screaming with our AAF squad out in these NYC reproductive streets last weekend! “Feminist Buzzkills Live!” The Abortion Access Front Podcast is here to rage & bring you ALL the information on the latest anti-abortion BS and the invasive misogynistic species trying to get all up in your junk. This week, we've got y'all with a DOUBLE DROP! This episode is delivering all the good and bad news that spewed out this week along with two very special badass Roe-rriors. In addition to this hour of our pissed off fuming angelic voices, we've got an extra minisode dedicated to our very loud feelings and opinions about the sheer batshittery that was a six hour hearing before the U.S. House Judiciary (or shall we say, douche-iciary) on the leak, abortion access, and post-roe America.  Joining us is Poonam Dreyfus-Pai, Deputy Director of All-Options, an organization that provides judgment-free support for pregnant and parenting people who need resources for abortion, adoption, or the children they already have. Poonam assists us in popping off about the shameful AF baby formula shortage, fills us in on the magical safe space that is All-Options, how they are making the world a little less scary for folx with wombs, and how YOU can get involved! PLUS! Here to sprinkle some comedy on this anti-abortion shit cake is the hilarious AAF stan, Aparna Nancherla, from the Amazon hit shows “Yearly Departed” and “Search Party'.” She's hopping in to bless us with laughs, talk about what she's been up to, and to rage out about all the garbage going on in the world! Sign up for Operation Save Abortion via the link below & follow @AbortionFront on all socials - we'll keep you one step ahead of the garbage womb raiders trying to seize your bodily autonomy. ‘Cause you know us, when BS is poppin', we pop off! HOSTS: Lizz Winstead @LizzWinstead Moji Alawode-El @MojiLocks Marie Khan @MjKhan  SPECIAL GUESTS: Poonam Dreyfus-Pai of @alloptionsnatl  Aparna Nancherla @aparnapkin ROECABULARY WORD: Preliminary Injunction – Pre–trial court order that stops or sometimes mandates an action by another party. EPISODE LINKS: All-Options Website All-Options Talkline : 888-493-0092 Aparna Nancherla's Website OPERATION SAVE ABORTION Midwest Access Coalition / @midwest_access_coalition (IG) @MidwestAccess (TW) GET SOME FBK MERCH! AAF's Abortion-Themed Rage Playlist FOLLOW US: Listen to us ~ FBK Podcast Instagram ~ @AbortionFront Twitter ~ @AbortionFront TikTok ~ AbortionAF Facebook ~ @AbortionFront YouTube ~ @AbortionAccessFront PATREON HERE! DONATE HERE! VOLUNTEER WITH US HERE! ADOPT-A-CLINIC + WISHLIST HERE! HYPOCRITES UNMASKED HERE! EXPOSE FAKE CLINICS HERE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ See you next week! FBK Pod ~ Fridays at 6PM ET When BS is poppin', we pop off!

Karak Chai| Batch no.1  Celebrating all things Theatre, Film, Series and Podcast. I have curated a collection of hidden gems to watch and listen to-- all whilst sipping on your first or fifth Karak Chai. This is batch No.1 of many more to come. I hope you enjoy and do let me know which one was your favourite and also, this is the the first time I am putting this type of episode out. So, please do give me some feedback innit.  The Projects in the episode are as Follows:  Theatre An Adventure by Vinay Patel & Kash Arshad at Octagon Theatre An Adventure follows three decades tale of a couple who meet in post-partition India in 1954, marry and move first to Nairobi then 1970s England.  Cast: Esh Alladi, Saba Shiraz, Daon Broni & Jessica Kaur.  Period Party by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan at Hampstead Theatre with Kali Theatre Period party tells a story of a South Asian non-binary Queer teen. Who through this journey and celebration of a period party is going on a journey of discovering who they are. Concha by Carly Fernandez & Manisha Sondhi at Brixton House Concha is a semi-autobiographical show following our lead who is queer and trans, on discovering they have chlamydia,  and how they must now inform their recent sexual partners. Cast: Carly Fernandez.  10 Nights by Shahid Iqbal Khan & Kash Arshad at Bush Theatre with Tamasha Theatre 10 Nights about our lead character Yasser who decides to take part in itikaf,  which is sleeping and fasting in the mosque for the last ten nights of Ramadan. And how that experiences pushes him to deal with certain things in the past.  Cast: Zaqi Ismail, Safyan Iqbal & Sumayya Si- Tayaeb.  After The End by Dennis Kelly and Lyndsey Turner at Theatre Royal Stratford East After The End tells a tale  about a city under attack from a nuclear blast. As the dust settles, Louise wakes to find herself in a fallout shelter with Mark, the colleague who has saved her life. They have enough water and food to last two weeks. Now they just need to find a way of surviving each other.   Cast: Nick Blood & Amaka Okafor. Our Streets by Beth Kapalia & co at Tara Theatre Our Streets explores through film and live performance, a group of 14-18-year-old women and non-binary people of Wandsworth will take the audience on an adventure through the city, all while never leaving the theatre.  Delving into a variety of themes, including recent events and discussions around women's safety in London, Our Streets will open up the conversation of what Wandsworth could and should look like if we all played a part in designing and imagining our local urban landscapes.  Cast: Hania, Leona, Issy, Charly, Shania, Anousha, Violet, Daniella & Blu.  The Hen-nah Party by Amani Saeed at Richmix The Hen-Nah Party is all of the joy of a henna night without the stress, gender norms, and aunties at the wedding. Featured Artists: Amrit Kaur, Amani Saeed, Sanah Ahsan and Meral Alizada. Rouge by Marion Motin by Rambert Dance Rouge is about finding our real selves: our instinct and nature, rather than our culture. It's about leaving the artificial world to just live, to connect with real bodies and real people Cast: Daniel Davidson, Juan Gil, Liam Francis, Miguel Altunaga, Aishwarya Raut, Simone Damberg Würtz &Guillaume Quéau. Film Stalling it by Jemma Moore & Caroline Ward Stalling It follows five toilet stalls, three bridesmaids, one pregnancy test, one nosey neighbour - zero ideas of what to do next. The 1980's an era of female independence, sexual freedom, experimentation, self expression and style. Sometimes. It's 1988, Sammy, Bethan and Jo are bridesmaids at their best friend's wedding. Their outfits are fabulous, their hair do's are huge, the nuptials have been made and the drinks are now flowing. We join our bridesmaids in the midst of the time honoured female tradition...the joint bathroom break. Cast: Sophie Hopkin, Jemma Moore, Caroline Ward & Sacharissa Claxton. Little Sky by Jess X Snow Little Sky follows the journey of SKY, a Chinese-American pop star who returns to the city they were raised in to find their estranged immigrant father. Haunted by their childhood memories, SKY risks their non-binary identity to end the cycle of violence in their family. In the confrontation, SKY discovers something that changes how they feel about the people they love. Cast: Wo Chan, Kyoko Takenaka, Fenton Li, Yiging Zhao, Austin Deng, Bruce Liu & Tao Qiu. How To Raise a Black Boy by Justice Jamal Jones How To Raise a Black Boy follows four boys as they journey through a fantastical world of black boyhood, queer identity, and fraternity in a modern reimagining of the fairy tale genre. Cast: Maiya Blaney, Rodney Chrome, Christian Coston-Payne, Emperor Kaioyus, Eric Payne, Rayceen Pendarvis, Justin Smith, Nicklaus Vallie & Cory Walkers.  Yaha Waha by Sarah Li Yaha Waha follows a South Asian DJ and a performance artist use their platforms to celebrate their heritage. Cast: Almas Badat, Anthony Pius (Bolly Illusion).  Shams by Pauline Beugnies Shams follows Eden, a 30-year-old Belgian woman, works in a cultural center a few thousand kilometers away from her home, in the bustling capital of Cairo. She makes a life-changing encounter with a young woman named Shams. One day, Shams brutally disappears. With the support and friendship of two valiant young Egyptians, Eden starts a fight against her own fears, denials and bias to find Shams. Cast: Claire Beugnies, Amina El Banna, Reem El Maghraby, Zainab Magdy & Alaa Taha. Baba by Adam Ali & Sam Arbor Baba is about an unexpected discovery forces Britannia, a gay Libyan teenager, to question whether to stay or flee his beloved homeland. Cast: Adam Ali, Mudar Abbar, Ahmed Elmusrati, Ali Gadema, Samar Abu Kaf, Elysia Kazinos, Colette Dala Tchantcho & Usaim Younnis.  Beirut Dreams in Color by Michael Collins Beirut Dreams in Color tells the stories of Masrou' Leila, a Lebanese rock band with an outspoken gay singer, and Sarah Hegazy, an Egyptian activist. Both parties have experienced oppression because of their sexual orientation and beliefs. The short documentary shows what it's like for the LGBTQIA+ community to be oppressed and threatened by the governments in the Middle East. The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night by Fawzia Mirza & Kausar Mohammad  The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night is about Pakistani Muslim woman brings her Puerto Rican girlfriend home for the first time on the family's annual game night.  Cast: Kausar Mohammad, Vico Ortiz, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Pia Shah & D'Lo.  Meenakhsi Sundareshwar by Vivek Soni & Aarsh Vora  Meenakhsi Sundareshwar is about a couple who are forced to live apart due to a unique job prospect. Follow along as the two newlyweds face the hassles, hiccups - and hilarity - that arise from their long distance marriage. Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Abhimanyu Dasani , Shivkumar Subramaniam, Nivedita Bhargava, Purnendu Bhattacharya, Komal Chhabria, Manoj Mani Mathew, Archana Iyer, Ritika Shrotri, Kalp Shah, Mahesh Pillai, Sonali Sachdev, Varun Shashi Rao, Sukhesh Arora, Khuman Nongyai, Danish Sood & Guneet Wahan Muhafiz by Pradipta Ray & Ashutosh Pathak Muhafiz is set against a backdrop of sectarian violence, can a gay Hindu man find the courage to help a Muslim? Cast: Jaydeep Ashra, Deepak Chunara, Rishabh Dhangra, Prerna Gandhi, Pradeep Kumar, Arfi Lamba, Prince Mahajan, Angel Modi, Kamiesh Rajendra Patil, Rohan Pujari, Sushant Sharma, Mukesh Shukla, Akash Sinha, Shiv Tandan & Neha Vyas.  Series  Delhi Crime by Richie Mehta. Delhi Crime is based on the Nirbhaya case, Delhi Crime follows the Delhi Police investigation into the finding of the men who perpetrated this crime. Cast: Shefali Shetty, Adil Hussain, Denzil Smith,  Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang · Yashaswini Dayama, Aaron Kaplan, Jeff Sagansky, Anurag Arora, Jaya Bhattacharya, Vinod, Sharawat, Gopal Datt, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Swati Bhatia, Gaurav Rana, Amitabh Acharya, Sanjay Bishnoi, Shobhna Bharadwaj, Mridul Sharma & Abhilasha Singh. A Black Lady Sketch Show by Robin Thede. A Black Lady Sketch Show is A half-hour sketch comedy written by and starring Robin Thede. Cast: by Robin Thede, Gabrielle Dennis, Ashley Nicole Black, Quinta Brunson and Skye Townsend. Yearly Departed by Linda Medoza & Amazon Prime Yearly Departed is a comedy special that tackles some of the end of year highlights that people probably want to forget about. There is a 2020 show as well a 2021 instalment. Cast: (2020) Phoebe Robinson featuring Rachel Brosnahan, Tiffany Haddish, Patti Harrison, Natasha Leggero, Sarah Silverman, Christina Aguilera, Natasha Rothwell, and Ziwe. (2021) Yvonne Orji featuring Chelsea Peretti, Jane Fonda, Aparna Nancherla, Alessia Cara, Dulcé Sloan, Megan Stalter & X Mayo. Special by Ryan O'Connel Special follows A young gay man with cerebral palsy branches out from his insular existence in hopes of finally going after the life he wants. Cast: Ryan O'Connell, Jessica Hecht, Punam Patel. Marla Mindelle, Augustus Prew, Patrick Fabian & Max Jenkins. Sort Of by Bilal Baig & Fab Filippo Sort Of follows a gender-fluid millennial who straddles various identities, exposing the identities and labels that are no longer applicable. Cast: Bilal Baig , Gray Powell, Amanda Cordner, Ellora Patnaik, Grace Lynn Kung, Supinder Wraich, Alanna Bale & Kaya Kanashiro. Chernobyl by Craig Mazin Chernobyl is based on a true story where in April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes. Cast: Jared Harris,  Stellan Skarsgård, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley, Adam Nagaitis, Con O'Neill, Adrian Rawlins, Sam Troughton, Robert Emms, David Dencik, Nadia Clifford, Douggie McMeekin, Alan Williams, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, Karl Davues, Michael Socha, Laura Elphinstone & Jan Riccia. Q-Force by Gabe Liedman Q- Force follows handsome secret agent and his team of LGBTQ superspies embark on extraordinary adventures. Cast: Sean Hayes, Matt Rogers, Wanda Sykes, Patti Harrison, Gary Cole, David Harbour & Laurie Metcalf. Honourable Mentions Made in Heaven on Amazon Prime. Four More Shots Please! On Amazon Prime. Podcasts  Las Culturistas by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. Las Culturistas is a pop-culture and comedy podcast co-hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, Honourable Mentions  No Thank You, Please  Brown People We Know  Talk Art Bitten Peach Pod I'm Still Standing The Front Room  Kiki In The Cronx Social: Myself: https://www.instagram.com/chaiwithrai_/  Links: Myself: https://linktr.ee/raimuitfum  Hope you all enjoyed it and Thank you for tuning in. To Subscribe, share, follow my work and everything else is listed above.  

Ryan talks to actress and comedian X Mayo about the difference between discipline and passion, the common misconception of Stoics as unfeeling and unemotional, how Stoicism relates to Christianity, the importance of being content to be thought clueless about some things, and more.X Mayo is an actor, writer, producer, comedian, and taco expert. Landing in NYC in 2013 with just 80 Dollars and A Suitcase, X has survived over 24 moves to now being an Emmy Nominated writer for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah. X is the Creator and Host of Who Made The Potato Salad? a comedy show/party made in 24 hours that only stars black people and people of color. You can catch X in the second season of, "Yearly Departed," and in the hit NBC sitcom, "American Auto."Our Daily Stoic Leatherbound Editions are back in stock! The Daily Stoic is the first collection of all the Stoics in centuries and the only book to ever put them in a page-a-day format—366 days of the best Stoic quotes, insights, and exercises. You can get your copy signed and personalized as well! Join Daily Stoic Life now! As a member of Daily Stoic Life, you get all our current and future courses, 100+ additional Daily Stoic email meditations, 4 live Q&As with bestselling author Ryan Holiday (and guests), and 10% off your next purchase from the Daily Stoic Store. Sign up at https://dailystoic.com/life/ As a participant in Daily Stoic's Stoicism 101: Ancient Philosophy For Your Actual Life, you'll not only learn all you need to know about Stoicism, you'll learn it from one of the world's foremost thinkers and writers on ancient philosophy and its place in everyday life!Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailCheck out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookFollow X Mayo: Homepage, Twitter, InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SEASON 2 PREMIERE ALERT! Hannah Pilkes is here and BOY OH BOY does she have a bedtime story for you... This episode is about... being a little wacky, LSD, Philadelphia, trauma from the Battle of Gettysburg, being covered in bugs, The Disco Biscuits, Wawa meatballs, converting to Judaism, and David Attenborough of course. Hannah is a comedienne, actress, and writer based in New York. She got her start in the Kevin Bacon drama The Woodsman and since then, she continues to reach a wide audience today through her stand-up performances, comedy sketches on social media. She is one of the comics featured on Vulture's list of “Comedians You Should and Will Know” in 2021 and can be seen in Sorry Not Sorry on TruTV, Yearly Departed on Amazon Prime Video, and much more. 

Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and the bestselling author of “Nobody Will Tell You This But Me,” a New York Times Editor's Choice. She wrote for eight years on Jimmy Kimmel Live. She also writes for The New Yorker's "Daily Shouts." She received a WGA Award in 2016. She has written for the Emmy Awards, the Oscars, and the 2020 DNC. She is the head writer and EP of Yearly Departed on Amazon Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been a while…I know I shouldn't've kept you waiting…but I'm here now! Welcome to Secure The Gag season two! Can you believe it? I heard that most podcasts only last like ten episodes (don't quote me)... so to be on season two is wild! Especially with a premiere episode with the iconic WUSSY cover girl, Meg Stalter (Hacks, Yearly Departed, Tooning Out The News, Star-Crossed The Film, Crank Yankers)!!!!   !(*Buy WUSSY Vol. 10 HERE*)! Meg and Nathan get deep about Meg's come up in Chicago, creating the genre of IG Live comedy, and taking over as everyone's favorite online and now IRL comedian. They also discuss Meg's breakout role on the incredible Hacks and get the behind the scenes tea on Meg's most viral videos (i.e. HI GAY!). Listen and get to know Meg and her incredible comedic process!  Secure The Gag is a queer comedy podcast hosted by comedian and writer, Nathan Pearson. Tune in every Monday as Nathan interviews funny queers about their infamous online videos, bits, and success.  Nathan Pearson is a comedian, actor, writer, and host of Secure The Gag based in Brooklyn, NY by way of Atlanta, GA. Recently, he was featured on HBOMax's Humans By Orientation platform and on the UCB Character's Welcome where his “Guy F**ks His Bully's Dad” sketch became a viral sensation. Online, Nathan has amassed a following on TikTok and has been featured in Vulture, Instinct, Queerty, Logo's NewNowNext, and more.    Secure The Gag is part of the WUSSY Podcast Network hosted by WUSSY Mag @wussymag Hosted by Nathan Pearson @nathankpearson Produced by Jon Dean @jondeanphoto Edited by Ryan Andrews @rtayrews Podcast Art created by Beardy Glasses @beardy.glasses Podcast Music by DJ Helix @1djhelix  Follow @SecureTheGag

CULM is a collection of crazy yet true sleep stories told by your favorite comedians, designed to help you relax. With these funny bedtime stories, you will laugh yourself to sleep knowing you haven't screwed up as hard as our storytellers. Season 2 guests include Hannah Pilkes (SEARCH PARTY, YEARLY DEPARTED, THE WOODSMAN), Jared Goldstein (THE UNICORN, NIKKI FRE$H, MODERN FAMILY), Fareeha Khan (COMEDY CENTRAL'S TIGHT FIVE), Harris Mayersohn (THE LATE SHOW, COMEDY CRIB), Sebastian Conelli (SEARCH PARTY, CHRIS GETHARD PRESENTS) and more!Follow us on instagram @culmpod

“Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend to know what I am talking about.”   So begins a 2007 Vanity Fair article by Christopher Hitchens called “Why Women Aren't Funny”.   College student Bess Kalb picked up a copy of the magazine, read it on her train ride from New York to Rhode Island, and, in her words, “became radicalized.” She decided then and there to drop out of school and become a comedy writer. She scored an internship with The Colbert Report and then (“because I'm an anxious Jew who is the daughter of two anxious Jews”) went back to finish her degree before working for Jimmy Kimmel for eight years. (And scoring a few awards while working there!) She then puts out a “ghost memoir” in 2020 called Nobody Will Tell You This But Me which becomes a big New York Times bestseller and ranked one of the best books of the year by Vogue, Forbes, Wired and others. (Jodi Picoult said “I have not been so profoundly moved by a book in years.”)   Today Bess Kalb is 34 years old. She lives in Hollywood with one kid and another on the way. And she is a truly prolific comedic genius. She's been nominated for an Emmy and a Writer's Guild Award and has also written for The Academy Awards, The Democratic National Convention, and her incredible special Yearly Departed (where she is Creator, Executive Producer, and Head Writer).   Do you know Yearly Departed?   Leslie and I loved it. You can stream it on Amazon Prime. (2020 or 2021!) Bess came up with the idea of developing a comic sendoff to 2020 with a mock funeral featuring female comics, each coming onstage to give short eulogies to parts of the year. Tiffany Haddish shows up. Sarah Silverman shows up. Dulcé Sloan shows up. Jane Fonda shows up. It's a huge hit and she pulls it off again in 2021. It's fresh and funny and creates wonderfully necessary sign-posts as we navigate the (hopefully?) tail-end of this horrible pandemic.   With the brilliant full moon above our heads let's sit down with the equally brilliant Bess Kalb to talk about: how we keep anxiety at bay, how we help dismantle celebrity culture, what is one way to define success after making it up the ladder, how might we think about “diversity hiring”, what gender norms are baked into the comedy that we consume, what is a structurally perfect joke, what might a fake male virtual assistant buy you, and much, much, more, including the amazing Bess Kalb's 3 most formative books.   Let's flip the page into Chapter 95 now…   What You'll Learn: How can we keep our anxiety at bay? How can we ditch celebrity culture? What gender norms are baked into the comedy we consume? What is a structurally perfect joke? What can a virtual male assistant buy you? What's one way to define career success? How do we take down boy's clubs?   You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.3books.co/chapters/95    Leave us a voicemail. Your message may be included in a future chapter: 1-833-READ-A-LOT.   Sign up to receive podcast updates here: https://www.3books.co/email-list    3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, Judy Blume and Quentin Tarantino. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every single new moon and every single full moon all the way up to 5:21 am on September 1, 2031. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show and is 100% non-profit with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. 3 Books has 3 clubs including the End of the Podcast Club, the Cover to Cover Club, and the Secret Club, which operates entirely through the mail and is only accessible by calling 1-833-READ-A-LOT. Each chapter is hosted by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. For more info check out: https://www.3books.co

Cerramos el año con el estreno de Yearly Departed, ¿quieren saber de qué trata? Escuchen la reseña que nos hacen nuestros conductores sobre este divertido especial de fin de año con grandes actrices y comediantes femeninas en una dinámica muy particular. Y para cerrar con broche de oro, Diana, Héctor y Arturo nos platican sobre sus películas y series favoritas del 2021, como Invincible, The Underground Railroad, el documental de Val Kilmer, Modern Love 2, La guerra del mañana... y no podían faltar Pan y circo, La rueda del tiempo y Maradona: sueño bendito.El propósito de este episodio es que disfruten los últimos días del año con grandes historias y se preparen para todos los estrenos y reseñas para el 2022. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of LOL we kick it with Actor and Producer X Mayo to hear all about her roles on NBC's new workplace comedy, “American Auto”, which premieres on January 4th and well as “Yearly Departed” on Amazon Prime Video. The conversation charts her rise from UCB sketch performer to producer of the “Who Made the Potato Salad?” live show to writer on The Daily Show and now a star on multiple network shows.

Esta semana en Netflix recomiendo Don't Look Up y The Lost Daughter. De Prime Video destaco Being The Ricardos y Yearly Departed. De Disney+ comento Becoming Cousteau y Encanto. En Star+, recomiendo la imperdible Summer of Soul. De HBOMax comento Promising young Woman/Hermosa venganza y de AppleTV+ Swan Song. Y finalmente, en StarzPlay llega la nueva temporada de The Great.Además les comparto una selección de películas navideñas para armar un maratón durante los próximos días. Dónde encontrar y ver películas como The Holiday, Love Actually, Duro de Matar, Home Alone, Eyes Wide Shut, It's a Wonderful Life, Carol, Elf y otras más. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on The Present Age Podcast, I chat with Franchesca Ramsey. You may know her from her YouTube videos, her time on Comedy Central’s Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, her web series MTV Decoded, the recent iCarly reboot, NBC’s Superstore, or even a Maroon 5 video.Parker Molloy: Hey, Franchesca, how's it going?Franchesca Ramsey: Hi Parker. I feel like the standard answer is it's going good, but the realistic answer is taking it day by day.Yeah, it's a challenge.It is a time. It's a time, but we're here we are doing the best that we can. I'm trying to hold on to the fact that I'm healthy and I'm working and I'm working on stuff that I'm excited about, so those are the things that are getting me through.Yeah. And when did you move? Because you said you're out west now, right?Yeah. I'm in L.A. I had such a strange journey here. I technically was here in September working on Superstore for three months, but I still had an apartment in New York, so I was subletting an apartment here for three months. Then I signed a lease, went back to New York, packed my apartment, and then physically moved everything here on December 1st. So technically I've been here a year, but I'm counting December as my full anniversary in Los Angeles.Cool. Well, congratulations on the move.Thank you.And also, and so here's kind of the funny thing with Superstore, I watched Superstore since the first episode.Oh wow.And then I didn't see that you had posted online that you were, pardon me, I'm just at home watching, and I was like, okay, cool. And I'm like, wait, hold on. I know her. We worked together.That's so funny. A number of people said that. I mean, social media is so strange because sometimes it feels like you're getting all the updates from someone, and then suddenly you get none and you realize like, oh, this person's just not in my feed anymore and I'm not sure why. I've been taking a lot of extended social media breaks and I took a big one right when I booked Superstore. So I wasn't even online for a while. I don't hold it against anyone if they're not up to date with what's happening in my life.It was a pleasant surprise! You were great on that show!Thank you.One thing I like about the show is it really seemed to show...it was a very labor-focused, it shows from the worker's perspective talking about unions and stuff. That's not something you see on TV much.I think a lot of times so many shows you can see the transition when the people making the show start making lots of money, become very out of touch, and you see it with celebrities too, where either their stand up or their Instagram posts or their interviews are really about normal people s**t. And then there's like this moment where they become celebrities and that happens in TV shows too. And with Superstore, it was very much the opposite. It really felt like, oh right, the people that are working on the show have worked in retail, they know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. They know what it's like dealing with customers. And that's why the show, I think really spoke to a lot of people because it just felt really real.Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And that was one of the coolest aspects of it because you always have shows like Friends where people are working these kinds of low-wage jobs, but then are living in these fancy apartments.Beautiful apartments while working at a coffee shopWell then you'd have like on Superstore, it'd be oh, someone is sleeping in the tunnel under the stores, something like that where it's just, that's more realistic, I guess. But, yeah, that was cool. And I mean, you've done so much. You had a really big YouTube following for a long time, and then had your own MTV web series.Yes, which Parker wrote for, yes!Yes!So many episodes, Parker.Thank you.You turn those around and it was so delightful that I got to work with you again.That was so much fun. Yeah. It really was.It was really great. I just had to hype you up because... I always showed up that you worked on that show, but I think people don't know, it really does take a village. It's not just me.Yeah and I mean, and the thing I appreciated about that is I've wanted to write TV for a while, and that was a nice opportunity to really kind of get into that sort of quick writing scripts and stuff. So I really appreciated that opportunity when you offered it to me.No, cool. So great to work with you!But yeah. And then you worked on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which got canceled far too soon.Yeah.You wrote a book, you made a pilot for Comedy Central. I already mentioned Superstore. You worked on iCarly reboot. And you were in a Maroon 5 music video with Ilhan Omar.Oh my God. Yes. Before everybody knew who she was. I mean, it's just, yes. Well, I have done all of those things!You're done a lot of stuff. So what are you up to now? Like, work-wise, what are you doing?I'm writing on Yearly Departed again...Oh great!On Amazon, which is the end of the year comedy special. And it was so wild because it was the first thing, the first job that I had during the pandemic.So it was a remote writers' room. There was no vaccine when we shot that. So it was stressful going to set and getting tested all the time. And this was a time when the rat rapid tests weren't really available. So you had to go get tested like five days before that. And then you had to come a day before and get there super early. And it was just like a whole process.So this time around things are a lot different. We're actually going to have an audience this year. My mom is going to come and sit in the audience, which is going to be really fun. So I'm working on that.And then I sold a pilot to a streaming service. I sold two pilots. So I won't say who they are because I hope they're listening and they're like, oh, she's talking about no week. She's talking about us. Yeah. Pit you all against each other. So I am like racking my brain right now. I'm trying to hit my deadlines, which is not fun, but I'm making it work. And yeah, that's it, that's it.Your average person is doing like a little bit, a little bit of everything. You’re doing four, five people's worth of work, that sort of stuff.I’m an overachiever, but here's the thing is I realized that I thrive when I'm busy and that I will complain the whole time, but if I'm not busy, I will complain because I'm bored. So I would rather be busy than bored is the thing that I've been saying to myself.That's a good point. I think that I kind of have that, that same issue, but I ended up convincing myself that it's better to be bored.There is power in taking time off, and I'm actually kind of juggling all of these projects and a big part of why I've taken on lots of things is especially in an industry like television, where so much is out of my control. I find that it's better to have multiple things in development so that when, and if one thing does not come through that my whole world doesn't fall apart.So I'm right now looking at all the things I have in development, what's most important to me, what am I okay with if it falls apart and also what will I do in the event that nothing goes.And so a part of me is kind of like, I hope these things happen, but if they don't, I'm kind of, because I had to take some time off. I might just take the end of the year and just not do anything, which I have not done in a long time.Yeah. Yeah. And it is nice to take a break. And that was one thing that I, when I first started doing this the podcast and also the newsletter that I was with, I quit my job in June and was just, I'm just going to kind of dive into this and hope for the best. And it's scary, but I'm trying.Yeah. But I think a lot of people did that this year. It either, they were forced to do it because their job ended or they needed to move back home or their living situation shifted in whatever way.But I think also it's just been a huge time of reflection where people are saying like, I could die. Do I want to do this thing that I'm putting all this time and energy into? Isn't making me happy. Is it paying my bills? Is it contributing to the world? Or whatever your priorities are. And so it's really brave to say, well, this isn't working out for me and I'm just not going to do it. And if things need to change, you can go back and get another job.Yeah. Well, exactly and hope for the best. It's not like working in media was, is particularly stable. Anyways. It's not I was leaving some super stable job that I know will be there 20 years from now. it's entirely possible. I could have gotten laid off two months later anyway. So I might as well be something that I like.Yeah, It's true.But one thing I kind of wanted to talk to you about is back when you were on YouTube a lot and also I do appreciate that, your, the most recent YouTube video you uploaded was from like a couple of years ago.Yeah, I don't do YouTube videos anymore.Yeah. And it's just you and Michelle Obama, here I am just me and Michelle just chilling here and then, “I'm not going to update anymore.” That is such a perfect flex.Oh, that's so funny. I didn't think about it that way, but yes my last video is myself and Michelle Obama.But one thing, one thing that sort of happened when you were really putting a lot of time into YouTube was you got a lot of...you kind of were one of like the early targets of those response videos, which for people who aren't really familiar, first off, you're lucky. But second, it's like, there's this whole genre of video where someone will just watch someone else's YouTube video and then offer their commentary or to debunk in argument or however they try to frame it. But I mean, in your case, it was just someone, it was kind of a lot of people just being really mean and racist and...Oh, yes.Which is awful.Yeah. It was a perfect storm. I mean, the internet has changed so much since I started creating content. And it seems like it just gets faster and faster, but in many ways, Decoded, and what I was doing before Decoded was really new.People were not talking about social justice, the way that we talk about it now, I kind of stumbled into it. And that's really what my book is about that I accidentally started these conversations about race and privilege and microaggressions truly without any knowledge beyond my own personal life experience. And I don't regret it. I'm glad that I did it. But at the time I really felt like I was on an island making this content and not getting support.And so when my content started taking off, a number of people realized, oh, I can just react to this and piggyback off of the views and saying incendiary things will always get you views just saying something heinous, even if you don't believe it, because honestly, I'm not sure some of these people even really believe the stuff they're saying, not that that excuses it, but just say something wild or racist or sexist or transphobic or whatever, and you will rack up views.So a lot of people did that. I paid a lot of people's rent for many years.Yeah, you did.I don't know what they're doing now. A lot of them are “pivoting” quote-unquote, and are now “liberal” quote-unquote, I clocked it. But, it's one of those things that if you haven't been through it, it's so hard to understand. And no one who hasn't been through it really knows how to support you when it's happening. But I got through it and a big part of my reasoning for leaving YouTube and just pivoting to other things was realizing I'm not happy doing this. The reward is not worth the risk to me. And I think there's a better use of my time and talents. And so that's what I've done. I'm so sorry about that. One other thing I wanted to talk to you about and ask about was that you are really great at taking these social media breaks and I have tried and I have failed. And I just want to know is there anything specific that you do that, that helps you not check Twitter or whatnot, again?Yeah. I have a whole strategy. I take all the apps off of my phone and I don't just log out of them. Like I delete the app off of my phone. I log out on my desktop. I enable my parental controls and I put on my parental controls, all of my social media of choice. So Instagram, Twitter, I even put some gossip sites that I, I love celebrity gossip. I don't indulge the way that I used to, but I just like to know what's going on. I put those on there and I just, I do that because even when I consciously decide I'm taking a social media break, it's just embedded into my daily routine that I wake up and I check Twitter.I don't even think about it anymore. I'm just, oh yeah, I'll just check Twitter. And if it's not there, if my popup on my desktop says, this site is blocked. I can remember, oh right, I'm not doing that right now. And I usually set a time limit for myself. I don't just arbitrarily pick a date, I say, okay, I have a script that's due, or we're going into production or it's pilot season or something like that, I'm going to take off for two months. I'm just not going to do it. And I think I'm trying to prime myself to eventually quit social media full-time. I'm just not there yet, but oh, I want it so bad to taste it.Well, one of the reasons that I personally struggled to take these breaks and keep these breaks and all of that is just the fact that I worry if I'm not on social media, that I'm missing out on an opportunity or that I am just missing out on anything. I mean, but especially when it comes to work-related stuff, I...You need to know. You need to know what's happening in the world, especially if your job is to quote-unquote “report” on it or react to it or commenting on it or whatever. I totally get it. That has been a big part of the reason that I haven't been able to quit.Social media does not pay my bills the way that it used to, but it pays a few. There's a few. And so, sometimes I'm like, Ooh, should I take this brand deal? Should I take this? Whatever it is. And a lot of it comes through social media. Yeah. So I get it. It is really hard, but that is one of the conscious choices that I've been moving towards is making sure that I don't rely on social media for income and just bring it full circle.A number of people made their careers off of talking about me, right? And then when I wasn't there anymore, they were fucked. So I sometimes I check on people just I really wonder what that person is doing. And I realized that their channel is tanked. Why? Because they built a brand off of what somebody else is doing. So I looked at my career and I said, “If Twitter went away tomorrow, would I be fucked the same way that when Vine went away?” there were a lot of people that were, that they were in trouble, when there was talk about TikTok no longer existing there were people who were freaking out because they had put everything into TikTok.And I told myself, I never want to be in that position. Social media has been really good to me. I love it and I hate it, but I don't want to be handcuffed to it. And so I've been weaning myself off. So I think if that's something that you want to work towards, it's really trying to find opportunities off social media so that you've got a little diversity in your streams of income, but also in your entertainment and how you connect with people. The internet has been fantastic, but it can't be for me, the be all end all is it's, it's just not healthy for me.Right. And there's another level of challenge to it when everything is in this pandemic and you're kind of, everyone's kind of cooped up in their own little spaces.And that's what Clubhouse was popping up. People were lonely, people on Clubhouse falling asleep because they were just like “I need to talk to people.”Yeah. A social media network that's created … conference calls.Oh my god.People are sitting there willingly dialing into conferences.So I didn't even think about that. We hated conference calls so much and then people were selling their access to Clubhouse on eBay. Will you spend a thousand dollars for a Clubhouse invite to be on a freaking conference call? That's so funny. Yeah.Well, and then obviously, as it goes with social media, every other company was quick to create their own version, now Twitter has its own spaces. I think that...Twitter has, I've never used it before, but.I like it. I listened to someone in there and I like it better than clubhouse because it transcribes what's being said in like super fast, it's not perfectly accurate as those types of things are, but I was just reading a conversation as it was going. And it was cool. And I was this is cool. This is what was missing from Clubhouse.Yes. Absolutely. Accessibility.Yeah. And that's another thing I tried with this podcast is, I either find the time to transcribe the whole thing, or, which is 99% of the time, I send it to one of those transcription services. The charge is like a dollar a minute and I'm like, it's worth the 30 bucks to...Franchesca Ramsey:Yeah this is write-off too, I mean, it's for work.But yeah, when doing that, I've talked to so many people who were like, I don't listen to podcasts, but I really appreciate that this is accessible. Not just, not even just for people who need to read things, but just people who don't want to listen. Which is fair.Yeah or you're multitasking. I am a chronic multi-tasker. And so being able to read the captions on a video when I'm supposed to be doing something else. Is really, really helpful. So I get it. I can only assume that other people are doing that with podcasts.Yeah. It's a lot easier to sneakily read something on your phone than to listen to the podcast or watch a video, but...Absolutely.Yeah. And so as you were kind of saying when, with trying to wean yourself off of social media and thinking about the question of how screwed am I if Twitter shut down today or something like that. It's, that's kind of what went through my head before I quit my job, because for some reason I succeed on Twitter and don't succeed out of it.I know why you succeed, because you're a good writer. And because you're smart.I'm not good on Facebook or...They're all different skillsets, that's why, because it's so funny because you and I met through Upworthy...I always tell people how weird that was of a fit, that was for me, if they're like “Upworthy? The place to post happy things?” I'm like, “Yes, I know. Right. Yeah.” It wasn't always happy.Okay. But it wasn't always happy things and...But It's what people associate it with.Yes, but you and I specifically, I think we honed our voices at Upworthy and kind of like changed the culture of what Upworthy was doing because it was just fluffy. A son says something to his mother and you'll never believe dah, dah, dah, whatever. But like we started doing things that were kind of pushing people to think differently about race and gender issues and things that the platform wasn't doing before.But to that point, the way that we had to learn how to shape our voices was very specific to Facebook. What was it called? the information gap or...The curiosity gap.The curiosity gap, right? Facebook really lends itself to these long personal inviting topics and conversations that you like want to engage in, where Twitter is more like a bullhorn. It was like, listen up, I have something to say.Yeah. And that's fair, that's a fair point about like the differences between those two. And another thing on Upworthy, that sort of, that sticks with me to this day is the fact that Facebook give, if Facebook can take it away.I mean, it's, listen, it's all connected. Look at what happened to Upworthy.It’s not that the content changed.No, it's definitely it's Facebook changed. Facebook changed.And then they tried to change the content to match Facebook, which to match what they thought Facebook wanted, which...You can't predict what Facebook is going to do. And that's why I think it's really smart, but so many people are pivoting to newsletters, right? Where they like...It's your mailing list.I want to have access to my fans or my audience. I want to connect with them directly. I want to go right to their inbox. I don't want to have to rely on, I mean, I've seen it too many times where people are like, I never see your Facebook post in my feed. And I'm well, I can't control that. I don't know why.Yeah. That is one of the frustrating things to watch. And in the few years that, because after I left, after Upworthy, I went on to work at Media Matters, this progressive media watchdog, where basically it was like watching a lot of Fox News and stuff like that, where the whole time they would on Fox and on all these other right-wing kind of sites they would complain about tech bias. They would say it's against conservatives.It's happening to everyone.But they would do it so constantly that you could tell when Facebook would kind of start just artificially, like boosting some of these pages. And so now if you look at the top pages on Facebook, it's Ben Shapiro, Breitbart, all of these right-wing goodness.It's the same thing that I was talking about on YouTube though. It is chasing rage clicks. Like Upworthy, we talked a lot about empathy and heartwarming and feel good, that's what's making people share.Those outlets are relying on people sharing because they're mad and you can be mad on both sides of the issue, right? You can be, I agree with this and I'm pissed off about it or you're this is b******t and I don't like it now I'm going to share it to tell everybody how much b******t it is.And both of those are very profitable for them. People don't share, we are more vocal about things that we hate and I'm guilty of this too. The things that we love, it goes on Yelp and it's, this salad was amazing. No, they're like the salad had a rat in it, burns places look great.Yeah. I mean that's totally it. I remember when I was in college, someone was, one of my teachers was talking about that, just being something just expect a 10 to one negative to positive experience kind of what drives you to respond to something and l kind of think about that in shaping writing and stuff like that, because you want people to respond, but I don't want to make people angry.And that's why I think that, I feel, I every once in a while, I think about the fact that if I wanted to, I could, because there's nothing that people, that the algorithms in, all of these, on all of these platforms love more than people who will advocate against their own rights. Or if I was a trans person who was saying, “Oh, I shouldn't be allowed to use any public restrooms. And here's why,” I would become, I would get to...We had examples of that, right? People love, they're called a “pick me, pick me, pick me.” They love a pick me. They love a token. I mean, there is, I get people a lot of times I ask how do you go viral? how do you do it? And there's not really like a trick to it, but there is a recipe that the internet and the algorithm likes, it likes hot girls, it likes cute babies, it likes cute animals, it likes weird-looking animals.As we both have our dogs.So we both have terrier dogs.Both cute and weird looking.Very cute and weird looking, the internet loves them, but it also favors outrage, anger and things that are surprising. And again, the surprising element was what Upworthy was really good at. But if you are a marginalized person saying something that people don't expect, you're going to blow up because people are going to be mad that you said it, people are going to be like "finally someone said it." It's going to be a bunch of people that are just like so confused. Is this a bit, is this like that Christian Walker guyYeah.Oh, been like, “Isn't this a performance? This gay black man is seeing, he doesn't like gay people and he doesn't like black people. This is real?”Yeah. It's like, “What is this guy?” and at first I was, “Oh, he's probably, maybe he's just doing this making cash, making a lot of money.”I think it's maybe a little of both.I mean, but also his dad is a former professional football player who is now running for Senate in Georgia, so.Yeah. I mean, again, I think it is a little bit of both. I think he, maybe he does believe some of it, but I also realize that he is embellishing a lot. Like he's always in a Starbucks drive-thru doing these rants and ordering, he's always, "hey, look, blah, blah, blah" and then he will stop and order his frappuccino. And I'm like, you're doing a bit, you're doing a bit, he knows that is ridiculous. And he knows that people are going to think it's cringy, but they're also going to think it's hilarious because, but he's doing that on purpose.And people who agree with him will share it because they agree with him. And here is the, this is the thing I'm trying to dial back on is sharing content that I disagree with to say how bad it is and that is...Look, I am guilty of it too. Like, it is a hard line because ultimately you are preaching to the choir. People who believe that terrible thing are not going to be swayed by you sharing it.…And explaining why such and such thing is wrong. And then the algorithms, the social media platforms, they see that something's being shared and they're like, guess people like it, like to them a share as a share and it's all the same. And I try to think about that one.It's totally true. It's totally true. I really have tried to kind of move away from like education forward. Like the types of stuff I was doing it to code it or Upworthy or even Nightly Show, which was still a lot of like infotainment and be more comedy forward, just because I think that it personally is less taxing for me.I'd rather make people laugh than just straight-up lecture them. So that's kind of been my personal compromise and also picking my battles. Sometimes I have nothing to say that someone else hasn't already said, so I'd rather just share something someone else's said rather than add my voice to the chorus. That's just saying the same thing.So if I have a fresh take, then I'm more likely to share it. Not because I think I'm going to change the perspective of the misogynist, but hopefully arm my audience with the information so that they're better prepared for these conversations or so that they can be better informed about the issues and really know what's on the line and what we're fighting for rather than I'm not going to, we're not going to change the minds of bigots, especially not on social media. It's just...It could happen, but it's highly unlikely.I used to try to justify arguing with people online by going well, I'm not really arguing with this person. I'm arguing for the sake of others.I believe that can be true.Sometimes it can work, but...Sometimes.Sometimes it doesn't.Yeah, but sometimes it doesn't and you know what? I have gotten to a place in my life where I am, I'm not going to dunk on myself because sometimes I've done shitty things, I'm human and yes, sometimes I'm having a bad day and somebody harms them and mention and says something racist and then like, you got to learn to think, motherfucker. I'm going to like clap back. I'm going to clap back and guess what? It's going to make me feel good in the moment and that's what I needed today.There's a pandemic. I have enough s**t on my plate, If I get a little serotonin boost from this thing, to me I'm like, it's fine. Right? The internet moves so fast, this person, they're troll, they don't care, they're, we all win, right? They got my attention, I got to dunk on them, a few people got to laugh and then I move on. So, I do think that there is value in it too, because there are people who will reach out and say I was having a terrible day. And then you said this funny thing, and it really made me laugh. And I'm like, okay, cool, great.Every time I get a nice email, it's always like, I'm sure you get a ton of emails saying that people like your stuff, no, I don't get anywhere near it. I remember every specific one that I get because, because I do get lots of emails from people, but they're usually from people who are very angry about some, it's so that's one thing that I try to do a little more of is reach out and tell someone, I really liked this article, or I really liked this video you did, or I'm your, I appreciate your work because it helped me do something.Oh my gosh. I love that. I try to do that too. It's funny because strangely enough, when I'm having a bad day is when I like to do that, I'll randomly go on Twitter and just say like, if you're having a bad day or you need support tweet me and I'll sign up in your DMS and I'll just spend an hour going in people's DMS and being like, you're amazing. I know you're upset about losing your job, but f**k those guys, you can get another job. And then they're like, thank you, this helps me so much and I'm, you being appreciative that I did this for you is as great for me as it is for you.I mean, and that's, that's I think maybe is the lesson Fitbit. If social media was just a little more, if the way our attention worked was that we could get more attention by saying positive things and not necessarily trying to be extreme or surprise people that, that maybe the world would be slightly better place, but that's not the world.I also, I forgot who I saw say this, so I'm not taking credit for it. But I saw something that was just saying that as humans, we were never meant to be able to communicate with this many people at one time, it's completely unnatural to, from your phone, speak to hundreds of thousands, If not millions of people, it's just, it's not the way things are supposed to be done. And so of course there are going to be consequences. There's a lot of positive too, but there's a ton of consequences that come from it. And so yeah, these networks and platforms are just capitalizing off of it because they don't care about our wellbeing. They care about selling ads, keeping the lights on. So they're going to chase what works and what works is people being upset and mean and terrible.Well, before we go, is there anything else you want to mention or you want to plug or...No, all of my stuff is still like in that percolating stage, but I will say at like at the moment of warm, fuzzy, cause we've talked about this negative stuff. I do appreciate that the internet has brought some really great people into my life. And I count you as one of those people, even if we don't get to talk all the time, I appreciate your voice so much on Twitter and just the fact that we've been able to stay in contact and find different ways to work together. And I'm hoping that we'll continue to keep doing that and that kind of gives me hope that the internet can be a really positive place. It's not all doom and gloom.Well, thank you. I mean, and that's, there are a lot of times when a project will end or something and I'll be, “Yeah, hopefully, we can work together again sometime. And maybe I mean it, it just kind of like I know we won't.”A thing that people say.Yeah. But when, I remember when you left Upworthy, because you, I think we both kind of had the same attitude about Upworthy, which wasn't that bad. It was like, it's a job. It is what it is. When you left, it was, I hope we can work together on something moving forward.And we've been able to do that a few times. So I'm always happy when that is, that is the case. And I really appreciate your work. You are always the person I, you are someone I look up to immensely, so.That's really sweet. I really appreciate you saying that, Parker!Thanks! Get full access to The Present Age at www.readthepresentage.com/subscribe

Host Tim Kash interviews “Yearly Departed” writer and executive producer Bess Kalb about the female-led comedy special. Prime Video Presents is a Prime Video podcast and an AT WILL MEDIA production. Watch the Amazon Original special Yearly Departed, streaming now on Prime Video.

Yearly Departed is a comedy special features eulogies for the year 2020 with a line-up of all-women comedians discussing everything from casual sex to beige Band-Aids and everything in between that we've "lost" in 2020.You can watch Yearly Departed on Amazon Prime.Directed by: Linda Mendoza              Actress: Tiffany Haddish, Natasha Leggero, Sarah Silverman, and Rachel BrosnahanFor more information and other valuable resources, make sure to subscribe, follow and visit our sites.Website: www.thevoiceofmany.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theevoiceofmany/?hl=enTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheVoiceofMany3Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Voice-of-Many LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/the-voice-of-many-podcast-1417a81b7

El podcast que te contará todo lo que puedes ver, escuchar, aprender, hacer y leer! (Sin Spoilers)       Isabel Sesma, Mariana Velazquez,  Miguel Alejandro, Adrian Murra y Fernando Veloz platican sobre la representación de la mujer en la cultura popular.Hablaremos de: Backstreet Boys, Mirada de Mujer, TikTok, Los Soprano, Hey Arnold, Birds of Prey, Mary Shelley, Metroid, Mario Bros, Nunca Estaras A Salvo, Hellblade, The Bodyguard, Hello Sunshine, Little Fires Everywhere, According to Jim, Kevin Can Wait, Kevin Can F*ck Himself, Alias, Girls, Amy Schumer, Los Pitufos, Fleabag, Wonder Woman, Los Juegos del Hambre, Joss Whedon, Buffy La Cazavampiros, Gloria Trevi, Tilda Swinton, Katy Perry, The Sound of Metal.Recomendanciones:Wishful Drinking, Yearly Departed, Spiritbox- Holy Roller, I Care A Lot, Rodhan, Renegades: Born in the USA.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/todoquever)

Episode 177 - “Horny and Sad” Audience Question - @KylesMichael; Titillating Topic - Tattoos; Next LIVE Show: Thursday 1/21 at 8pm Central Sheik Tweets - @the_IronSheik Sponsors Audible, Mathis Designs, Cornfed and Wed, NPA, Room 56 Studios, Anchor Previously on the SoCo Show Grandpa Dick Game; Charles the Racist Fish What'd You Do? New Year's Eve, Your Year in Flavor, Courage the Cowardly Dog What Do You Think? PS5 or Vaccine?; Cereal; Tony Hawk What'd You Watch? Death to 2020, Yearly Departed; Coming Soon: Pieces of a Woman, History of Swear Words One More Thing NFL Playoffs, JB to SXSW! Seth's PS5 Queue Don't forget to LIKE, SHARE, SUBSCRIBE and COMMENT to be a part of the conversation! Connect with us! Email, Facebook, Twitter For movie reviews and other fun stuff, check out Jared Buckendahl! YouTube, Facebook, MERCH, Patreon, Twitch --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-soco-show/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-soco-show/support