May 24, 2026 • 43 mins
While Mangesh (aka Mango) is busy working on season 2 of his other show, Skyline Drive, we’re revisiting season 1 right here, and we’re up to episode 6! As George navigates the Los Angeles dating scene, one thing keeps derailing his relationships: every girl he’s into is "too into astrology." Plus, Mangesh’s mom tells him about a bizarre curse that’s been plaguing his family for generations, and we discuss why your astrologer might ask you to get married to a tree.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
The following show includes stories of soundbaths, ketamine, Pittsburgh, improv, comedy, dating,
and a snake curse. If any of that friends you,
if you're faint of heart, simply switch this off and
fire up one of my many fine films instead. Might
I suggest Jurassic Part.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So I'm guessing you figure this out? But that wasn't
Jeff Goldblum.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi, I'm Georgieva Lotus and I'm a comedian actor nightmare
la multi hyphenett.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
George is smart and funny and pulls off a great
Jeff Goldblum, not just because he sounds like him, but
he's also wiry and handsome, with dark features in a
young Goldblum. Like most comedians, George is also pretty neurotic,
and one of the ways he channels that neurosis is
by tracking everything.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I write anything down that resonates with me, Like my
notes on my phone are like a compulsive compendium.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Like if I read a book.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I transcribe every passage that matters to me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I do believe in like building your own meaning.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
His notes are meticulous lists of every book he's read,
recipes he's tried, quote stats down to minute details from conversations.
So while I could keep trying to paint a picture
of George's personality, instead I'm going to let him read
the results of just a few of the BuzzFeed quizzes
he's taken.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, I am C three po because I'm neurotic and
people pleaser, Sex and the City.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I'm a Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I'm romantic, annoyingly moral, literary character. You are holding call
field highly intelligent and sensitive, but also very so if
you don't get it together, you might have an emotional breakdown.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Can you even imagine keeping crack of every online personality
quiz you've ever taken?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Harry Potter, I'm a hufflepuff. I'm loyal, honest and kind dog.
I sometimes get accused of being aloof, but I'm just
picking marks and rec rob Lowe's character.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Your positivity can be off putting, but it's good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And he's got more he can keep going. Maybe I
should just cut.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Two muppets, doctor Bunsen Honeydew, Doctor Bunsen Honey.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Do here at Muppet Labs where the future is being
made today.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You're smart, inventive and stylish.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Sat up those time consuming repairs. Yes, George sees bits
of himself in each of these quizzes, like he does
love science what can be proven backed up. But in La,
in the scene he's in, every person he meets is
obsessed with crystals and psychics and human potential and stars.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I would say that.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Of the dates I've been on in LA, that will
come up like, oh, you're a Gemini.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Ugh, aren't you guys crazy?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
It's just been one dating disaster over and over.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Like on our third date, she said, I wonder what
you'd be like if you move through the world with confidence.
My ex was really confident. He was often on cocaine,
but it was incredible how he would walk in a
room and just charm everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Or the woman who read his stars and insisted you
have the same chart as Obama, which is interesting because
you're not very presidential. So anytime he falls for a girl,
the astrology thing always seems to be a roadblock.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Truly, every time a friend would ask, I'd be like,
it's wonderful. She's wonderful except for this one thing. She
really really believes in astrology.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
From Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast, I'm Monga's Heartikular Welcome the
Skyline Drive, Chapter one, Easy target. Back when I started
(04:36):
working on this show and ask people what they thought
about astrology, everyone immediately wanted to talk about dating.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
When astrology shows up in a date, you can kind
of feel like a slowdown in traffic, like should I
be looking for ways around us?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Or is it going to be quicker or are we
just going.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
To be sitting here for hours?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I think if you make it seriously, get them, I'm
kind of putting you in the Mary Anne Williamson anti
vaxer camp just a little bit.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
I'm talking to some like random person and they're like,
because I'm a Sagittarius, i am a witch.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
And it's like, I don't know if that's why you're dish.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Actually I do am.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Mish and I'm not a Sagittarius.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And truthfully, I'm guessing a lot of you were waiting
for our big dating episode. It's not that we didn't
do the interviews.
Speaker 8 (05:31):
I only care about astrology when it relates to love.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
I mean, I've been on dates where people ask my
sign and the problem and maybe this is why I
am not so into astrology is that I think I'm
the most universally reviled sign, which is Gemini.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I use it more for the signs I shouldn't date,
which is like Sagittarius not great Gemini, no way, never
a deal breaker.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
We get a lot of uh haters, And here I
am a defying as a we even though I just
said a second ago, I don't believe in it. But nonetheless,
there's a lot of Gemini haters out there.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Who will say, oh, so you're a duplicitous.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
Liar, and I'm like, look, I don't even want to
try to defend myself against that because it doesn't make
any sense in the first place.
Speaker 8 (06:14):
I asked him what his stosign was and he said Aquarius,
and I sent like the ghost face emoji, and he
was like, what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But as I listened to more and more stories about
how my friends were interacting with astrology, I realized I
wasn't doing a good job of articulating part of what
I wanted from this show. Like I was trying to
get out how astrology is just this ambient presence in
Indian life, this ever present hum that exists in the background.
So I asked my friend NUMBERTA about it.
Speaker 9 (06:47):
In India, the relationship with astrology is like it's like smoking,
like you might not smoke, but like you're going to
get secondhand astrology anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Number of those parents are diplomats, and whether they were
posting Russia or Canada or Poland or wherever, she was
always teaching new friends about Indian culture, from how to
celebrate the vali to why a cup of child pairs
so nicely with a chili cheese toast. Her family's whole
story is interesting to me. Her parents actually met as
(07:16):
students training to join the Foreign service, and.
Speaker 9 (07:19):
So they were doing all of their training together.
Speaker 7 (07:21):
And the way that my mom tells the story is,
she might kill me a little bit, but that's such
a cute story.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
When her dad met her mom and witnessed her brilliance
in classes, he just couldn't get her out of his head.
So with each posting he would conveniently figure out a
way to be close by.
Speaker 9 (07:37):
So I think he chased her all around India until
she married him. He's stubborn, a Taurus, and it worked
out for him.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Her parents are from very different backgrounds.
Speaker 10 (07:48):
My mother comes from a Punjabi sick family from New Delhi.
My father is from Hindu Uriya family, and so no
one would ever arrange their marriage. There are different religions,
different languages, different parts of India.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Often when you're getting an arranged marriage, families are looking
for matches from the same community. So there's little chance
that these two would have ever been paired up. But
once they fell in love, they just ignored astrology. They'd
found their partner and they didn't need it. But as
much as Numbertha has kind of avoided astrology for most
of her life, or at least not actively interacted with
(08:26):
it as a newly single person, she's found the topic unavoidable.
Speaker 9 (08:31):
I can stretch your metaphor to death.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
It did feel like when you'd go to a party and
you're like, you're not a smoke blustand I was like,
just so you could be part of the conversation, hang
out and have this moment and like now it'll be like,
oh my gosh, like mercury is in retrograde again, and
everyone's like, I'm telling you, and then you can start
chatting about the weird shit that's happening in your life.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
In America, astrology tends to be easy shorthand for young romantics,
and it's often a crude sorting system.
Speaker 9 (08:56):
People will just volunteer it for no reason.
Speaker 7 (08:58):
It'll just be like, here's how how tall I am
and I'm a Scorpio, and you're like, wow, that's all
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
It's this persistent stereotype that trails you around, allowing people
to judge you based on which thirty days you were born,
and everyone born in that period is treated like they're
exactly the same. But it's funny how even number that
gets dragged into this line of thinking.
Speaker 10 (09:20):
I don't think I'm going into it being like so
and so is a Libra and so of course it's
never going to work.
Speaker 9 (09:25):
I don't actually know what that would mean. But I
will also do.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
The thing where I'll be like, oh, yeah, of course,
another Aquarius.
Speaker 9 (09:31):
For some reason, I keep dating them.
Speaker 11 (09:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 9 (09:34):
I'm trying, man, go, why are you asking.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
This question that.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I guess maybe we should have done a dating episode,
but instead I kept coming back to trees. Well, people
who have to marry trees. Let me explain. In India,
there's an astrological sign called a munglic. The word literally
(10:00):
means Mars cursed. That is, you have Mars occupying your
house of love and marriage and that curse will supposedly
cause a spouse to die early. Being a Munglic is
treated with incredible seriousness. In some cultures, Munglics are only
allowed to marry other Munglics. Luckily, there's a workaround, since
the curse only affects your first marriage. A Munglik will
(10:23):
often have a first marriage to like a clay pot
which you can break afterwards to transfer the curse away.
Or some people marry like I mentioned a tree. Once
there was a tree and shame loved the little boy.
You would climb up a trunk swing. This is way
more intense than the giving tree, though there's a full
(10:46):
ceremony in everything. This is obviously highly controversial because what
does it mean that in a very modern and progressive
country individuals end up having to undergo these weddings to
satis by a superstition, And because it mostly affects women,
or is perceived to, the whole thing is seen as
(11:07):
anti feminist. Take eischwe Ray for example. Rai is one
of India's most famous celebs, a Bollywood star, former Missworld.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
I'm not good enough for your mother, and you think
I'd want to leave my family for you?
Speaker 9 (11:22):
After you've ruined my sister's life.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
She's a Mongolic, and there are media reports that she
actually married two trees before she could marry another Indian star.
Her father in law, the Bollywood legend Amitab Buttchen, has
actually scolded the press saying, where is the tree? Show
me the tree, you know, kind of denying the rumors.
But it's hard to know what the truth is. Rye's
(11:44):
family comes from a culture steeped and animist in the tradition,
but as one of India's most watched celebrities, she's also
under intense pressure as a feminist and as a role
model for Indian values. So if a tree gets married
in the forest, who really knows?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Anyway, That's the kind of astrology I wanted to explore
in this series, the strange and fantastic places the stars
can take you if you believe in it. But that's
not exactly what happened either. Astrology just kept happening to me.
It didn't matter whether I believed.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Or not.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Chapter two, You're a Good Snake may There is no
question that George is a romantic, But as he and
I talked about dating and love, our conversations just kept
(13:01):
getting pulled towards this question.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Of belief I was a skeptic from like grade school.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
George just can't stop questioning things. It's been something innate
since his childhood in Pittsburgh, when he was dragged to
his family's Greek Orthodox church every week.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I was like, this old man in the sky is
telling us how to dress. Why does he care what we wear?
It's really weird he sees through our clothes. Doesn't make
any sense. My dad would be like, just put on
a suit.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He always felt like kind of a black sheep. He
told me he was bullied for being a quote space
cadet poet artist even at art school. The competitive nature
made him feel like an outcast. And now that he
has all these wonderful friends who he really identifies with,
except when it comes to New Age beliefs, maybe it's
just that he doesn't want to feel left out again.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You know, I really wish I believed in this stuff
because you and your friends, the spiritual friends, are so
much happier, and they have really open hearts too as
a result, because they really trust the universe.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Which is something I can relate to. My parents had
such deep convictions about spirituality and as a kid, I
just assumed that the things my parents believed would one
day makes sense to me, like on my eighteenth birthday
or whatever. I just have this understanding that would snap
into place, and until then I just keep going through
the motions. But despite claiming he believes in nothing, George
(14:30):
seemingly tried everything part of its curiosity. But also he
seems particularly amenable whenever a cute.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Girl is involved. Like we went to a sound bath.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I had friends through Kara reading friends, have you done
your human design Church? I was really in touch with
this psychic thing called the acasion record this language.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
She just had a cold read on me.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
George is engaged with countless experiments of belief. He just
can't get off the experienced treadmill. So when another date
told him maybe he should try ketamine to counter his
depression because it had helped her, of course he tried it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I found this therapist and she was like, Yeah,
ketamine is not what i'd recommend for your what you're
going through. You have really negative stories about yourself and
a lot of trauma, and you need to sever the
ties with those beliefs, and for that, I'd recommend five MEODMT,
or the poison of the Sonoran desert toad.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
To many people inhaling desert toad poison to heal yourself
might also seem a little new agy, but because it
was presented to George in this scientific way, he was
much more comfortable with it, and as the experience grew
more intense, George was drawn into this recent memory.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
My friend and I were on a hike and this
garter snake slid across the hiking path really fast, and
she jumped back like, oh my God, really scared, like
deathitely scared. And I was like, immediately I saw it
was a garter snake, and I thought, oh, it's harmless.
And then while I was tripping, I thought, why do
I hurt myself with words and self hate and this depression.
(16:10):
I'm so cruel to myself. I wouldn't even hurt a snake.
And I don't even like snakes. I feel nothing for them.
And I started laughing while I was tripping, and this
phrase popped up, which was you're a good snake. And
I kept saying, you're a good snake. You're allowed to
be here, You're a good snake, You're allowed to be here.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All this talk of snakes and shaman and belief and skepticism.
It makes me think of this story my mom told
me when I interviewed her for this show. Tell me
a little bit about pregnancies and bert, you guys had
a hard time having me. Was there anything that indicated
that you would have a child or wouldn't have a child.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
No, they didn't read that far, at least they didn't
tell us.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah. One of the things I don't often talk about
is the miracle of my own birth. For a number
of years, my parents had one miss carriage after another.
They couldn't carry a baby to term. I think my
mom ended up in the hospital two or three times,
and they had five or six miscarriages. And then when
my mom was pregnant with me, my grandfather tried something different.
(17:15):
Here's my mom telling the story.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
He went to the temple in Goa and he lit
a lamp and had the priests like a lamp every
day for you in your own before you were born.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
They prayed, they kept the flame going continuously for nine months,
and when I was finally born, my parents named me
Mungish after that temple in Goa. And so that's one story.
The other part is the science part. It's less magical,
but equally miraculous. The pregnancy was so high risk that
(17:50):
the doctor put my mom on intense bedrest.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
I was in bed for nine months. Seventh month, he
said it could take a little easier, It could sit up,
but not walk too much.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So why were you high risk?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Because they said that my own body wouldn't love the
features to grow it, so they had to fool it.
And that's what they did.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
The way my mom explains it, they had to trick
her body with thyroid pills and barbituates, and only once
they heard my heartbeat they let her get up and
start taking baths. But only baths.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
No shut, it's no standing up to wow you, precious muggish.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
These are stories I know, stories I've always known. But
as I chatted with my mom, another story cropped up,
another possible reason for the miscarriages, and this one I
definitely hadn't heard before.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Once I got my too image, they said the curse
was on the Hutkul, the family, And it came on
to me because I was bringing the progeny.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
In what's the curse of the hettik of their family?
Speaker 5 (18:54):
It's something to do with the snakes.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
What you haven't told me about the suburb before.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Every time I got pregnant, I'd see the snake chasing
me everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
During every miscarriage, where they'd often lose the child right
before the three month mark, my mom would have these
horrible nightmares about snakes.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Grew up always in the country with lots of land around.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
My mom's dad was a chief of forestry, so often
they were posted on the edges of jungles where there
was no shortage of snakes. They would come into the
house to escape the heat and hide in the rolled
up carpets. And when the staff would unroll the carpets
in the evening to set the home up for big
dinners and events, the snakes would try to.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Slither out, and then one someone will call another, and
then Molly the gardener would come in. Three and four
would come with this mix staffs and the big sticks
and just hack it to death.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
My mom, like George, finds real solace in nature. She
can identify most flowers and trees, and she is crazy
about animals, so of course she couldn't stomach the way
these snakes were being treated.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
The poor poor little thing. So I'm always thought that
my psyche had worked on it because little and I
felt sorry because of an animal lover that I felt
sorry for the snake.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So my mom assumed these dreams were just psychological. But
when my dad's family was like, oh no, we actually
have this long standing snake curse in our family because
we killed some snakes clearing our land generations ago or
whatever the story was. And believe me, I know how
crazy this sounds. They clarified your nightmares are probably coming
(20:35):
from that. That's when my dad's sister, Indeka stepped into help.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Indaka took us to a guy holy man.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
He performed a ceremony for them, but also he.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Gave me a month throughout to sing and every day
I to recite it, and so had umish and slowly
the fear of the snake's kind of abated, and I
saw Chanta Duga in my dreams.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Chantaderga is one of our family's patron deities, a goddess
of light and wisdom and oddly enough fertility.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
But she had four arms. That's so they depict her energy.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
As many times as I've been to the Shanta Derga temple,
which is also in Goa, or stared at illustrations of
Chanta Derga on family altars. Sure, I've noticed the goddess's
four arms, but also she has like three giant hooded
cobra sitting at her feet, just facing you. So before
my mom said this, if you gave me a pop
(21:35):
quiz and asked me how many snakes is Shanta Dourga holding,
I'm not sure I would have known the answer, but
the answer is too. Two of her hands are in
these madras or poses that indicate divine protection and granting
your wishes, and her other two hands hold these tiny cobras.
So when Chantadurga came to my mom in a dream
(21:56):
and my mom noticed the snakes in her.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Hands, to brute you know it, lose all faith in
you and said no, no, she said, I can protect
you as well as the snakes and the tui should
never meet.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And then my mom, the lit major the NBA, the
modern woman who had stayed on bed rest for the
full term of my pregnancy, with a little bit of
sitting up at seven months, finally had me. But it's
so crazy, right, because it's not like our family is
steeped in superstition, and so why do we put faith
(22:28):
in things like a curse of a serpent.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
I think anything works when you're desperate. Boy, it doesn't
cost you very much, right to go ahead and do
what would they tell you to do, and you feel
like you've given it your best. That's the main thing, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Is that you're feeling about astrology?
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I keep mulling my mom's words over my head. How
anything works when you're desperate, How it doesn't cost you
very much to do whatever they tell you to do.
How you want to feel like you're giving it your best.
And I guess that's true whether you're trying to find
love or unpacked trauma or have a child when you
(23:13):
think you can't. There can be comfort in the trying,
and beauty and the wanting to believe even when it
defies reason.
Speaker 12 (23:25):
Parne Parnie in.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
The chapter three this is always going to be a
theme in your life, so trust me. We all get
the irony of this. But today George is about to
talk to an astrologer to find out.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Will I ever believe in anything or will I remain
a hardened skeptic alone in the universe.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I'm excited to hear what Janelle thinks about how philosophical
his mind is, and whether his skepticism shows up in
his birth chart. And because George is so open and witty,
I can't wait to hear him react in real time.
But something has changed since the last time George and
I spoke. When he logs onto the video call, I
(24:12):
can see that his foot is in a cast. He's
stuck on a couch, reaching awkwardly to grab things from
a table nearby, and he's subdued and clearly a little distracted.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, I broke my foot last week, and my whole
next six to eight weeks is completely different.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Now this isn't the same George I met earlier, and
I'm worried. I mean, what was I thinking bringing a
total skeptic who stops dating people when he finds out
they believe in astrology to an astrologer? Why did I
think this would work? Okay, from the moment I hit record,
(24:50):
it doesn't go well.
Speaker 11 (24:51):
Can you guys hear me? Are we all good?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
During the taping, Janelle keeps asking if George is still there?
Speaker 11 (24:58):
Did I lose you again?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, okay, all.
Speaker 11 (25:01):
Right, any questions about that?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
No, but Janelle proceeds unfazed.
Speaker 11 (25:08):
Career is a big part of your life and your focus.
Speaker 13 (25:11):
This mar says, I really want to achieve something, do
you have, Saturn in the House of Publishing, television, radio, film,
for your Jupiter is ping over the castle, and Jupiter
as a planet is all about faith.
Speaker 11 (25:22):
It's all about the things that are banned our mind
banned our minds.
Speaker 13 (25:26):
And you're still coming out of this dark thing, folks.
Are you're supposed to be hope, folks.
Speaker 11 (25:30):
Dreaming about flowing weird next for yourself?
Speaker 13 (25:33):
Meaning so, Saturn in the Ninth House says, I have
a lot of fear around these things.
Speaker 11 (25:37):
Find faith and belief and religion. But did I lose
you again?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
For all the readings we've done so far, no one
is as deeply unresponsive as Georgie's. In fact, he barely
says anything. For someone trained in improv, he is not yes,
ending the situation in the slightest.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Actually, now I forget uh sure, yeah, Romance, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
A lot to think about it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I don't know what's happening. I mean, she's explaining all
these things he said he wanted to know about.
Speaker 13 (26:09):
All right, So are there questions in particular that can
help you with regarding this, how else can.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I help you? I don't know what would be an
example of a question.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Finally, there is one moment where he starts to open
up a little. Janelle is pushing George on his skepticism,
and he tells her he just can't believe in anything
he can't quantify.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
That skepticism continues with all things unmeasurable.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And Janelle assures him that that's also a part of
who he is.
Speaker 13 (26:38):
That's the point of Gemini energy, Like, discernment is always
going to be your friend, right, I wouldn't worry too
much about it, but I do think this is always
going to be a feme in your life. Enjoy the
process of discovery versus feeling like skepticism means I can't
learn and everything's going to be wrong. She's like, how
will you know unless you ask?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
That's cool, not entirely a success, that is, until I
actually talked to George again. Chapter four, How is this working?
(27:19):
I've been waiting to catch up with George to find
out why he was so distant during his reading, why
he wasn't engaged when I emailed him to find the time.
He says he's busy with work, he has a big
audition and he's apologetic, but it takes us a little
while to connect how your auditions go.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Oh good, I just got a callback, so oh, so.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
Tell me, what do you think about the reading?
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Really interesting?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Interesting isn't the word I was expecting him to use, you.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Know, out the gate.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
It was so accurate. I was like, this is a
dead ringer for my life. But how is this working?
You know, as part of me was like, there's no
way this isn't a trick.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
But I was surprised because like I couldn't tell how
you were responding.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Even if something was really on the nose, I'd be like, hmm,
there's something suspicious about that.
Speaker 12 (28:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Like when she said like something really big was the
language of like the new moon and something big happened
for you in May Night twenty nineteen, it was like, yeah, yeah,
the biggest career thing that's ever happened was May twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
George is playing it cool, but I'm kind of blown away.
In the summer of twenty nineteen, George was named a
new Face of Comedy by the prestigious Just for Last Festival,
and it's the kind of thing that makes Hollywood notice
and launch his careers.
Speaker 11 (28:55):
Yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
It was for me a huge deal.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
It was like the first time I got a big
thumbs up from, you know, the gods of comedy. Her
opening was so dead on for my life, like sort
of the family of origin and breaking out of like
doing your own thing. Like my grandfather drove me past
a photographer's art studio and it was just dilapidated, very
(29:19):
depressing building in Pittsburgh, and he goes, that's going to
be you.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
This would be your life.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
But like, as much as I'm a skeptic, I feel
like I'm such a Gemini.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'm fascinated by George's push pull, so I ask him
a little more about it.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I have trouble when people say, you know, you deserve this,
and I'm like, oh, we are a random organism spinning
on a rock. I don't know that humans deserve anything
other than like the basic biological package of like love, community, shelter, water, sunlight,
(29:57):
Like that's that's you deserve that for sure, But like,
did I deserve the part of that show come on?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
During the reading, what I assumed was this dismissive, unengaged
behavior where George was looking down and mumbling these one
word responses. It was, in fact him taking detailed notes
on everything Janelle was saying.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I mean, I wrote down a lot of what she said,
like choose people who are limitless with your growth, who
are joyous of your discovery. Your belief system is changing,
You're going to attract new people. I have all my
notes highly categorized, so I have like it'll be like therapy, recipes, comedy.
I didn't even think about this. I put the astrology
reading into therapy.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm relieved that he got something from the experience, a
phone full of notes, it turns out. But as we
wrap up, I ask about his foot. He sounded so
despondent about it the last time we chatted. I'm curious
how he's doing. But instead of telling me how he
broke it while camping, he tells me how it immediately
led to some funny slash disappointing experiences.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
After I got back from the EO with my broken foot,
my friend was like, I'm going to cook you the
most delicious dinner steak, keen mall salad.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
It's gonna like, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
He gets promised this delicious campfire meal, but then when
they're about to start prepping, they realize.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
A bear was next to our campsite. All of our
food was gone. The bear had eaten everything. And I
was like, I just immediately started laughing because I was like,
that's perfect.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Horrible experiences are gold for George.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
The worse the experience, the better the story.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Like I was just joking that I had a really
wonderful date, and I was telling my friend, I'm sorry,
I have nothing to tell you other then we laughed,
we made dinner, we had great sex. You don't need
any details. But like the other date that week that
was really weird and twisty and strange, We're gonna talk
about that for two hours.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
So of course it's perfect that a bear ate his meal.
But when he's skeptical about love, I.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Was like, George, you have to be okay with the
fact that you might never find that. It is like
hitting the lottery to get it or his career. I
have to be okay with not getting that in the
same way that I'm okay with maybe never being in
a Takeowhitet.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Movie or like Wes Anderson. I would love that.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I would love that. I think I do well, but
they may never happen.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I wonder if these stories are just to entertain others too,
because George is a performer, a really good performer, but
he actually believes in love. It's why he goes on dates,
and he believes in his talent. It's why he keeps
putting himself out there. And as much as he doesn't
want to tell himself he's a believer, all of his
(32:40):
actions betray his incredible faith. There is so much hope
in his tone.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Do you remember apple jacks? Okay, the commercials in the.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Nineties, there was always a couple of kids eating apple jacks.
As usually the dad would come in and they'd like,
take a bite, and they'd be like, he doesn't even
taste like apples.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And the kids would be like, we well, we.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Like you just do.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
What George is seeking I realize now it isn't a
reason to believe so much as another reminder to be
nicer to himself. It's okay to eat what he likes,
to build his own meaning, to be present. He just
needs another reminder that.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He's a good snake.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
He's allowed to be here.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
He's a good snake.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
You're a good snake. You're allowed to be.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Here, Oh your friends, Chapter five, It doesn't cost you much.
(34:01):
I'm thinking about my mom's comment about why she chanted
those mantras to get rid of the snake curse.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I think anything works when you're desperate. Boy, it doesn't
cost you very much, right.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
There's actually a study that illustrates this effect in the
nineteen eighties, and Australian psychologist Graham Tyson determined that the
same people who don't believe in astrology in low stress
situations suddenly are very open to it in high stress situations,
kind of like agnostics on a plane when the turbulence hits.
(34:34):
But I think that hints to something true about a
lot of us. How there's a reluctance to admit that
you might believe. Like I saw this Pew study about India,
where astrology is clearly infused in the culture, and it
showed that while only forty four percent of Indians admit
to believing in astrology, eighty three percent use astrology to
(34:54):
plan important events. But I guess that's what I admire
about jo or like he says he doesn't believe, but
he keeps trying, keeps putting himself out there, and our
actions often reveal way more about ourselves than our stated beliefs.
On this show, over and over, I've said I'm a skeptic,
(35:17):
that I don't believe in astrology, and that is true.
But unlike George, I've been reluctant to test my faith.
I mean, sure, I pressed a banana to my palm
on Wednesdays, but I treated that as a comedy bit.
And yeah, I got some readings. But even as I
witnessed this miracle of astrology, this eerily accurate prediction of
(35:38):
how my dad would fall ill and struggle to make
it through the year, the.
Speaker 14 (35:43):
Situation doesn't look good for father.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
That is risk to father.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I borrowed myself in disbelief. I stayed aloof I taped
other people getting readings. To tell me how you feel coming.
There's so much expecting to hear that, right, I would
you to suggest this experience. I tried to see if
astrology could work for them, tried to keep myself busy,
tried to keep myself distracted from processing my own grief.
(36:10):
And I've kept trying to push the story away from myself,
but it is so clear that I can't. Every episode
starts light and ends with some bittersweet moment, not because
I intend to, but because that's where everything always leads me.
(36:33):
There's this thing I've tried not to think about too much,
this supposed answer to all my problems, a wholy astrological
graile of sorts. And I've been so angry at astrology
in a way for being so right about my dad,
that I haven't wanted to lean into it. I first
heard about it from a friend right after college, and
then my cousin mentioned it, then Pete, the astrologer from
(36:56):
The Walkman, and even doctor Kumar.
Speaker 14 (36:59):
The future of every man born on earth is already.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
There are these little shops in India. They're hard to locate,
and it's hard to find an authentic one. Pete tells me.
Speaker 13 (37:10):
There's all sorts of scam artists, right like there's all
these fake ones.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Like these shops hold all the secrets of your life,
your past and present and future. The day that you
show up, everything will change thereafter, because, as the legend goes,
your fortune was etched onto this petrified leaf hundreds of
years ago in tiny script and then bound in a
(37:36):
collection of fortunes. And if you give your thumbprint and
tell them the day you were born, it's just waiting
for you on a shelf, waiting for you to discover it.
Speaker 14 (37:48):
Your thing pound leaves in tiny uniting the world. I
like one inch by ten inch or something. So if
your leaf is phone everything about you. Your name is Mangish,
your father's name is this, your mother's name is this.
You have so many brothers, sisters, you're not married yet,
and you're now forty two years awage, now that you
come to hear your future.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Even for you to know your future is predetermined.
Speaker 14 (38:11):
And guess what, No matter what s face with religion
you're from, you're Muslim or Christian, your father's name, your
mother's name, name, wife nick, What greater validation you want
than that?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
As much as I've tried to ignore it, somehow I
can't get the idea of these little shops in India
out of my head because I don't know what I'm doing,
what I'm supposed to be doing. And what if written
on those scrolls is an answer I need? As improbable
as it sounds, I'd love to know who's the person
(38:42):
I meant to be, especially in this moment when I
feel so unmoored. Going to India where I can hear
my mother tongue again and feel the love and warmth
of my dad's family, that also feels like a good thing.
And honestly, if I can dwell in this tiny sense
of hope, if I can ask enough people and actually
(39:05):
find these ancient leaves, maybe it don't stop me from spinning.
Maybe they'll offer some direction, and maybe they'll tell me
what happens nexts.
Speaker 9 (39:29):
Close, shoot you mouth, just.
Speaker 12 (39:39):
Let it all go, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Figure it all out. Thank you so much for listening
to Skyline Drive, a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast.
This show is hosted and written by Me Mongaish Artigular.
But I could not make this show without my incredible team, Mary,
Philip Sandy. It's our supervising producer and even the so
she refused to drink mango fruity and dance of Hollywood
(40:02):
songs with me and the rest of us, she is
still incredible. Mietra Buanshaihi is our wonderful producer who's been
taking recording equipment to every single party she goes to
this month. Mark Lotto is our incredible story editor and
might be the only person I know in Brooklyn who
loves paratas and coffee in the morning more than me.
This episode was also produced and mixed by the insanely
(40:24):
talented Anna Rubinova, who worked overtime on this episode because
I was so behind on it, Anna, I really can't
thank you enough. The gorgeous scoring and theme song comes
from Botany Special. Thanks to my Palace Himanchu Sori for
hyping the show and Pete and Jay from Motor Sales
for their beautiful, beautiful music. Thank you to Number that three.
But the who runs the most remarkable children's imprint out there.
(40:47):
It's called Coquila Books. Seriously go check out their work.
My children love it. Additional production and research support from
the wonderful through shivar Rao, Lizzie Jacobs, my long suffering
why someone Buckshi, Argent Buckshie, anyone named Buckshi? Really? This
show is executive produced from ihearp On, my good pals
(41:07):
Niki Etour and Katrina Norvel. Also thank you to my
partners at Kaleidoscope, Oz, Kate Costas and Viny. You know
how much I love you. All special thanks to Ali,
Nathan Connell, Will and Bob at iHeart for getting behind
the show. And as always, a big thank you to
my Amma, my dad, Lalita Umeshatikudur, who I thank my
(41:29):
lucky Stars for. George Avio lotis an incredible comedian in person.
He was so kind to share a story with us.
If you haven't checked out his impressions, go do that now,
including my favorite this one. Your college boyfriend who took
one Shakespeare class.
Speaker 12 (41:45):
So long as men can breathe and Oz can see,
so long lives this and this gives life to thie.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
See. Yeah you're different. You're different.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I like you.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
You're not like other girls. Yeah you got something different.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I mean all of you out there are different. Thank
you so much for lending us your ears.
Speaker 11 (42:20):
Sweet so now I can't wait to getch you.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Laugh ristless
Speaker 11 (42:29):
Locusts
The following show includes stories of soundbaths, ketamine, Pittsburgh, improv, comedy, dating,
and a snake curse. If any of that friends you,
if you're faint of heart, simply switch this off and
fire up one of my many fine films instead. Might
I suggest Jurassic Part.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So I'm guessing you figure this out? But that wasn't
Jeff Goldblum.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi, I'm Georgieva Lotus and I'm a comedian actor nightmare
la multi hyphenett.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
George is smart and funny and pulls off a great
Jeff Goldblum, not just because he sounds like him, but
he's also wiry and handsome, with dark features in a
young Goldblum. Like most comedians, George is also pretty neurotic,
and one of the ways he channels that neurosis is
by tracking everything.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I write anything down that resonates with me, Like my
notes on my phone are like a compulsive compendium.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Like if I read a book.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I transcribe every passage that matters to me.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I do believe in like building your own meaning.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
His notes are meticulous lists of every book he's read,
recipes he's tried, quote stats down to minute details from conversations.
So while I could keep trying to paint a picture
of George's personality, instead I'm going to let him read
the results of just a few of the BuzzFeed quizzes
he's taken.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah, I am C three po because I'm neurotic and
people pleaser, Sex and the City.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I'm a Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I'm romantic, annoyingly moral, literary character. You are holding call
field highly intelligent and sensitive, but also very so if
you don't get it together, you might have an emotional breakdown.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Can you even imagine keeping crack of every online personality
quiz you've ever taken?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Harry Potter, I'm a hufflepuff. I'm loyal, honest and kind dog.
I sometimes get accused of being aloof, but I'm just
picking marks and rec rob Lowe's character.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Your positivity can be off putting, but it's good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And he's got more he can keep going. Maybe I
should just cut.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Two muppets, doctor Bunsen Honeydew, Doctor Bunsen Honey.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Do here at Muppet Labs where the future is being
made today.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You're smart, inventive and stylish.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Sat up those time consuming repairs. Yes, George sees bits
of himself in each of these quizzes, like he does
love science what can be proven backed up. But in La,
in the scene he's in, every person he meets is
obsessed with crystals and psychics and human potential and stars.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I would say that.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Of the dates I've been on in LA, that will
come up like, oh, you're a Gemini.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Ugh, aren't you guys crazy?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
It's just been one dating disaster over and over.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Like on our third date, she said, I wonder what
you'd be like if you move through the world with confidence.
My ex was really confident. He was often on cocaine,
but it was incredible how he would walk in a
room and just charm everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Or the woman who read his stars and insisted you
have the same chart as Obama, which is interesting because
you're not very presidential. So anytime he falls for a girl,
the astrology thing always seems to be a roadblock.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Truly, every time a friend would ask, I'd be like,
it's wonderful. She's wonderful except for this one thing. She
really really believes in astrology.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
From Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast, I'm Monga's Heartikular Welcome the
Skyline Drive, Chapter one, Easy target. Back when I started
(04:36):
working on this show and ask people what they thought
about astrology, everyone immediately wanted to talk about dating.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
When astrology shows up in a date, you can kind
of feel like a slowdown in traffic, like should I
be looking for ways around us?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Or is it going to be quicker or are we
just going.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
To be sitting here for hours?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I think if you make it seriously, get them, I'm
kind of putting you in the Mary Anne Williamson anti
vaxer camp just a little bit.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
I'm talking to some like random person and they're like,
because I'm a Sagittarius, i am a witch.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
And it's like, I don't know if that's why you're dish.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Actually I do am.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Mish and I'm not a Sagittarius.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And truthfully, I'm guessing a lot of you were waiting
for our big dating episode. It's not that we didn't
do the interviews.
Speaker 8 (05:31):
I only care about astrology when it relates to love.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
I mean, I've been on dates where people ask my
sign and the problem and maybe this is why I
am not so into astrology is that I think I'm
the most universally reviled sign, which is Gemini.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I use it more for the signs I shouldn't date,
which is like Sagittarius not great Gemini, no way, never
a deal breaker.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
We get a lot of uh haters, And here I
am a defying as a we even though I just
said a second ago, I don't believe in it. But nonetheless,
there's a lot of Gemini haters out there.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Who will say, oh, so you're a duplicitous.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
Liar, and I'm like, look, I don't even want to
try to defend myself against that because it doesn't make
any sense in the first place.
Speaker 8 (06:14):
I asked him what his stosign was and he said Aquarius,
and I sent like the ghost face emoji, and he
was like, what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But as I listened to more and more stories about
how my friends were interacting with astrology, I realized I
wasn't doing a good job of articulating part of what
I wanted from this show. Like I was trying to
get out how astrology is just this ambient presence in
Indian life, this ever present hum that exists in the background.
So I asked my friend NUMBERTA about it.
Speaker 9 (06:47):
In India, the relationship with astrology is like it's like smoking,
like you might not smoke, but like you're going to
get secondhand astrology anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Number of those parents are diplomats, and whether they were
posting Russia or Canada or Poland or wherever, she was
always teaching new friends about Indian culture, from how to
celebrate the vali to why a cup of child pairs
so nicely with a chili cheese toast. Her family's whole
story is interesting to me. Her parents actually met as
(07:16):
students training to join the Foreign service, and.
Speaker 9 (07:19):
So they were doing all of their training together.
Speaker 7 (07:21):
And the way that my mom tells the story is,
she might kill me a little bit, but that's such
a cute story.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
When her dad met her mom and witnessed her brilliance
in classes, he just couldn't get her out of his head.
So with each posting he would conveniently figure out a
way to be close by.
Speaker 9 (07:37):
So I think he chased her all around India until
she married him. He's stubborn, a Taurus, and it worked
out for him.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Her parents are from very different backgrounds.
Speaker 10 (07:48):
My mother comes from a Punjabi sick family from New Delhi.
My father is from Hindu Uriya family, and so no
one would ever arrange their marriage. There are different religions,
different languages, different parts of India.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Often when you're getting an arranged marriage, families are looking
for matches from the same community. So there's little chance
that these two would have ever been paired up. But
once they fell in love, they just ignored astrology. They'd
found their partner and they didn't need it. But as
much as Numbertha has kind of avoided astrology for most
of her life, or at least not actively interacted with
(08:26):
it as a newly single person, she's found the topic unavoidable.
Speaker 9 (08:31):
I can stretch your metaphor to death.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
It did feel like when you'd go to a party and
you're like, you're not a smoke blustand I was like,
just so you could be part of the conversation, hang
out and have this moment and like now it'll be like,
oh my gosh, like mercury is in retrograde again, and
everyone's like, I'm telling you, and then you can start
chatting about the weird shit that's happening in your life.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
In America, astrology tends to be easy shorthand for young romantics,
and it's often a crude sorting system.
Speaker 9 (08:56):
People will just volunteer it for no reason.
Speaker 7 (08:58):
It'll just be like, here's how how tall I am
and I'm a Scorpio, and you're like, wow, that's all
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
It's this persistent stereotype that trails you around, allowing people
to judge you based on which thirty days you were born,
and everyone born in that period is treated like they're
exactly the same. But it's funny how even number that
gets dragged into this line of thinking.
Speaker 10 (09:20):
I don't think I'm going into it being like so
and so is a Libra and so of course it's
never going to work.
Speaker 9 (09:25):
I don't actually know what that would mean. But I
will also do.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
The thing where I'll be like, oh, yeah, of course,
another Aquarius.
Speaker 9 (09:31):
For some reason, I keep dating them.
Speaker 11 (09:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 9 (09:34):
I'm trying, man, go, why are you asking.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
This question that.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I guess maybe we should have done a dating episode,
but instead I kept coming back to trees. Well, people
who have to marry trees. Let me explain. In India,
there's an astrological sign called a munglic. The word literally
(10:00):
means Mars cursed. That is, you have Mars occupying your
house of love and marriage and that curse will supposedly
cause a spouse to die early. Being a Munglic is
treated with incredible seriousness. In some cultures, Munglics are only
allowed to marry other Munglics. Luckily, there's a workaround, since
the curse only affects your first marriage. A Munglik will
(10:23):
often have a first marriage to like a clay pot
which you can break afterwards to transfer the curse away.
Or some people marry like I mentioned a tree. Once
there was a tree and shame loved the little boy.
You would climb up a trunk swing. This is way
more intense than the giving tree, though there's a full
(10:46):
ceremony in everything. This is obviously highly controversial because what
does it mean that in a very modern and progressive
country individuals end up having to undergo these weddings to
satis by a superstition, And because it mostly affects women,
or is perceived to, the whole thing is seen as
(11:07):
anti feminist. Take eischwe Ray for example. Rai is one
of India's most famous celebs, a Bollywood star, former Missworld.
Speaker 10 (11:17):
I'm not good enough for your mother, and you think
I'd want to leave my family for you?
Speaker 9 (11:22):
After you've ruined my sister's life.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
She's a Mongolic, and there are media reports that she
actually married two trees before she could marry another Indian star.
Her father in law, the Bollywood legend Amitab Buttchen, has
actually scolded the press saying, where is the tree? Show
me the tree, you know, kind of denying the rumors.
But it's hard to know what the truth is. Rye's
(11:44):
family comes from a culture steeped and animist in the tradition,
but as one of India's most watched celebrities, she's also
under intense pressure as a feminist and as a role
model for Indian values. So if a tree gets married
in the forest, who really knows?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Anyway, That's the kind of astrology I wanted to explore
in this series, the strange and fantastic places the stars
can take you if you believe in it. But that's
not exactly what happened either. Astrology just kept happening to me.
It didn't matter whether I believed.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Or not.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Chapter two, You're a Good Snake may There is no
question that George is a romantic, But as he and
I talked about dating and love, our conversations just kept
(13:01):
getting pulled towards this question.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Of belief I was a skeptic from like grade school.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
George just can't stop questioning things. It's been something innate
since his childhood in Pittsburgh, when he was dragged to
his family's Greek Orthodox church every week.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
I was like, this old man in the sky is
telling us how to dress. Why does he care what we wear?
It's really weird he sees through our clothes. Doesn't make
any sense. My dad would be like, just put on
a suit.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
He always felt like kind of a black sheep. He
told me he was bullied for being a quote space
cadet poet artist even at art school. The competitive nature
made him feel like an outcast. And now that he
has all these wonderful friends who he really identifies with,
except when it comes to New Age beliefs, maybe it's
just that he doesn't want to feel left out again.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You know, I really wish I believed in this stuff
because you and your friends, the spiritual friends, are so
much happier, and they have really open hearts too as
a result, because they really trust the universe.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Which is something I can relate to. My parents had
such deep convictions about spirituality and as a kid, I
just assumed that the things my parents believed would one
day makes sense to me, like on my eighteenth birthday
or whatever. I just have this understanding that would snap
into place, and until then I just keep going through
the motions. But despite claiming he believes in nothing, George
(14:30):
seemingly tried everything part of its curiosity. But also he
seems particularly amenable whenever a cute.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Girl is involved. Like we went to a sound bath.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I had friends through Kara reading friends, have you done
your human design Church? I was really in touch with
this psychic thing called the acasion record this language.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
She just had a cold read on me.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
George is engaged with countless experiments of belief. He just
can't get off the experienced treadmill. So when another date
told him maybe he should try ketamine to counter his
depression because it had helped her, of course he tried it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I found this therapist and she was like, Yeah,
ketamine is not what i'd recommend for your what you're
going through. You have really negative stories about yourself and
a lot of trauma, and you need to sever the
ties with those beliefs, and for that, I'd recommend five MEODMT,
or the poison of the Sonoran desert toad.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
To many people inhaling desert toad poison to heal yourself
might also seem a little new agy, but because it
was presented to George in this scientific way, he was
much more comfortable with it, and as the experience grew
more intense, George was drawn into this recent memory.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
My friend and I were on a hike and this
garter snake slid across the hiking path really fast, and
she jumped back like, oh my God, really scared, like
deathitely scared. And I was like, immediately I saw it
was a garter snake, and I thought, oh, it's harmless.
And then while I was tripping, I thought, why do
I hurt myself with words and self hate and this depression.
(16:10):
I'm so cruel to myself. I wouldn't even hurt a snake.
And I don't even like snakes. I feel nothing for them.
And I started laughing while I was tripping, and this
phrase popped up, which was you're a good snake. And
I kept saying, you're a good snake. You're allowed to
be here, You're a good snake, You're allowed to be here.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All this talk of snakes and shaman and belief and skepticism.
It makes me think of this story my mom told
me when I interviewed her for this show. Tell me
a little bit about pregnancies and bert, you guys had
a hard time having me. Was there anything that indicated
that you would have a child or wouldn't have a child.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
No, they didn't read that far, at least they didn't
tell us.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah. One of the things I don't often talk about
is the miracle of my own birth. For a number
of years, my parents had one miss carriage after another.
They couldn't carry a baby to term. I think my
mom ended up in the hospital two or three times,
and they had five or six miscarriages. And then when
my mom was pregnant with me, my grandfather tried something different.
(17:15):
Here's my mom telling the story.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
He went to the temple in Goa and he lit
a lamp and had the priests like a lamp every
day for you in your own before you were born.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
They prayed, they kept the flame going continuously for nine months,
and when I was finally born, my parents named me
Mungish after that temple in Goa. And so that's one story.
The other part is the science part. It's less magical,
but equally miraculous. The pregnancy was so high risk that
(17:50):
the doctor put my mom on intense bedrest.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
I was in bed for nine months. Seventh month, he
said it could take a little easier, It could sit up,
but not walk too much.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So why were you high risk?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Because they said that my own body wouldn't love the
features to grow it, so they had to fool it.
And that's what they did.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
The way my mom explains it, they had to trick
her body with thyroid pills and barbituates, and only once
they heard my heartbeat they let her get up and
start taking baths. But only baths.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
No shut, it's no standing up to wow you, precious muggish.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
These are stories I know, stories I've always known. But
as I chatted with my mom, another story cropped up,
another possible reason for the miscarriages, and this one I
definitely hadn't heard before.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Once I got my too image, they said the curse
was on the Hutkul, the family, And it came on
to me because I was bringing the progeny.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
In what's the curse of the hettik of their family?
Speaker 5 (18:54):
It's something to do with the snakes.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
What you haven't told me about the suburb before.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Every time I got pregnant, I'd see the snake chasing
me everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
During every miscarriage, where they'd often lose the child right
before the three month mark, my mom would have these
horrible nightmares about snakes.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Grew up always in the country with lots of land around.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
My mom's dad was a chief of forestry, so often
they were posted on the edges of jungles where there
was no shortage of snakes. They would come into the
house to escape the heat and hide in the rolled
up carpets. And when the staff would unroll the carpets
in the evening to set the home up for big
dinners and events, the snakes would try to.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Slither out, and then one someone will call another, and
then Molly the gardener would come in. Three and four
would come with this mix staffs and the big sticks
and just hack it to death.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
My mom, like George, finds real solace in nature. She
can identify most flowers and trees, and she is crazy
about animals, so of course she couldn't stomach the way
these snakes were being treated.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
The poor poor little thing. So I'm always thought that
my psyche had worked on it because little and I
felt sorry because of an animal lover that I felt
sorry for the snake.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So my mom assumed these dreams were just psychological. But
when my dad's family was like, oh no, we actually
have this long standing snake curse in our family because
we killed some snakes clearing our land generations ago or
whatever the story was. And believe me, I know how
crazy this sounds. They clarified your nightmares are probably coming
(20:35):
from that. That's when my dad's sister, Indeka stepped into help.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Indaka took us to a guy holy man.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
He performed a ceremony for them, but also he.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Gave me a month throughout to sing and every day
I to recite it, and so had umish and slowly
the fear of the snake's kind of abated, and I
saw Chanta Duga in my dreams.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Chantaderga is one of our family's patron deities, a goddess
of light and wisdom and oddly enough fertility.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
But she had four arms. That's so they depict her energy.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
As many times as I've been to the Shanta Derga temple,
which is also in Goa, or stared at illustrations of
Chanta Derga on family altars. Sure, I've noticed the goddess's
four arms, but also she has like three giant hooded
cobra sitting at her feet, just facing you. So before
my mom said this, if you gave me a pop
(21:35):
quiz and asked me how many snakes is Shanta Dourga holding,
I'm not sure I would have known the answer, but
the answer is too. Two of her hands are in
these madras or poses that indicate divine protection and granting
your wishes, and her other two hands hold these tiny cobras.
So when Chantadurga came to my mom in a dream
(21:56):
and my mom noticed the snakes in her.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Hands, to brute you know it, lose all faith in
you and said no, no, she said, I can protect
you as well as the snakes and the tui should
never meet.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And then my mom, the lit major the NBA, the
modern woman who had stayed on bed rest for the
full term of my pregnancy, with a little bit of
sitting up at seven months, finally had me. But it's
so crazy, right, because it's not like our family is
steeped in superstition, and so why do we put faith
(22:28):
in things like a curse of a serpent.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
I think anything works when you're desperate. Boy, it doesn't
cost you very much, right to go ahead and do
what would they tell you to do, and you feel
like you've given it your best. That's the main thing, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Is that you're feeling about astrology?
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I keep mulling my mom's words over my head. How
anything works when you're desperate, How it doesn't cost you
very much to do whatever they tell you to do.
How you want to feel like you're giving it your best.
And I guess that's true whether you're trying to find
love or unpacked trauma or have a child when you
(23:13):
think you can't. There can be comfort in the trying,
and beauty and the wanting to believe even when it
defies reason.
Speaker 12 (23:25):
Parne Parnie in.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
The chapter three this is always going to be a
theme in your life, so trust me. We all get
the irony of this. But today George is about to
talk to an astrologer to find out.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Will I ever believe in anything or will I remain
a hardened skeptic alone in the universe.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I'm excited to hear what Janelle thinks about how philosophical
his mind is, and whether his skepticism shows up in
his birth chart. And because George is so open and witty,
I can't wait to hear him react in real time.
But something has changed since the last time George and
I spoke. When he logs onto the video call, I
(24:12):
can see that his foot is in a cast. He's
stuck on a couch, reaching awkwardly to grab things from
a table nearby, and he's subdued and clearly a little distracted.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, I broke my foot last week, and my whole
next six to eight weeks is completely different.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Now this isn't the same George I met earlier, and
I'm worried. I mean, what was I thinking bringing a
total skeptic who stops dating people when he finds out
they believe in astrology to an astrologer? Why did I
think this would work? Okay, from the moment I hit record,
(24:50):
it doesn't go well.
Speaker 11 (24:51):
Can you guys hear me? Are we all good?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
During the taping, Janelle keeps asking if George is still there?
Speaker 11 (24:58):
Did I lose you again?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, okay, all.
Speaker 11 (25:01):
Right, any questions about that?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
No, but Janelle proceeds unfazed.
Speaker 11 (25:08):
Career is a big part of your life and your focus.
Speaker 13 (25:11):
This mar says, I really want to achieve something, do
you have, Saturn in the House of Publishing, television, radio, film,
for your Jupiter is ping over the castle, and Jupiter
as a planet is all about faith.
Speaker 11 (25:22):
It's all about the things that are banned our mind
banned our minds.
Speaker 13 (25:26):
And you're still coming out of this dark thing, folks.
Are you're supposed to be hope, folks.
Speaker 11 (25:30):
Dreaming about flowing weird next for yourself?
Speaker 13 (25:33):
Meaning so, Saturn in the Ninth House says, I have
a lot of fear around these things.
Speaker 11 (25:37):
Find faith and belief and religion. But did I lose
you again?
Speaker 2 (25:40):
For all the readings we've done so far, no one
is as deeply unresponsive as Georgie's. In fact, he barely
says anything. For someone trained in improv, he is not yes,
ending the situation in the slightest.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Actually, now I forget uh sure, yeah, Romance, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
A lot to think about it.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I don't know what's happening. I mean, she's explaining all
these things he said he wanted to know about.
Speaker 13 (26:09):
All right, So are there questions in particular that can
help you with regarding this, how else can.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I help you? I don't know what would be an
example of a question.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Finally, there is one moment where he starts to open
up a little. Janelle is pushing George on his skepticism,
and he tells her he just can't believe in anything
he can't quantify.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
That skepticism continues with all things unmeasurable.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And Janelle assures him that that's also a part of
who he is.
Speaker 13 (26:38):
That's the point of Gemini energy, Like, discernment is always
going to be your friend, right, I wouldn't worry too
much about it, but I do think this is always
going to be a feme in your life. Enjoy the
process of discovery versus feeling like skepticism means I can't
learn and everything's going to be wrong. She's like, how
will you know unless you ask?
Speaker 2 (26:58):
That's cool, not entirely a success, that is, until I
actually talked to George again. Chapter four, How is this working?
(27:19):
I've been waiting to catch up with George to find
out why he was so distant during his reading, why
he wasn't engaged when I emailed him to find the time.
He says he's busy with work, he has a big
audition and he's apologetic, but it takes us a little
while to connect how your auditions go.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Oh good, I just got a callback, so oh, so.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
Tell me, what do you think about the reading?
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Really interesting?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Interesting isn't the word I was expecting him to use, you.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Know, out the gate.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
It was so accurate. I was like, this is a
dead ringer for my life. But how is this working?
You know, as part of me was like, there's no
way this isn't a trick.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
But I was surprised because like I couldn't tell how
you were responding.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Even if something was really on the nose, I'd be like, hmm,
there's something suspicious about that.
Speaker 12 (28:23):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Like when she said like something really big was the
language of like the new moon and something big happened
for you in May Night twenty nineteen, it was like, yeah, yeah,
the biggest career thing that's ever happened was May twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
George is playing it cool, but I'm kind of blown away.
In the summer of twenty nineteen, George was named a
new Face of Comedy by the prestigious Just for Last Festival,
and it's the kind of thing that makes Hollywood notice
and launch his careers.
Speaker 11 (28:55):
Yeah, it's huge.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
It was for me a huge deal.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
It was like the first time I got a big
thumbs up from, you know, the gods of comedy. Her
opening was so dead on for my life, like sort
of the family of origin and breaking out of like
doing your own thing. Like my grandfather drove me past
a photographer's art studio and it was just dilapidated, very
(29:19):
depressing building in Pittsburgh, and he goes, that's going to
be you.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
This would be your life.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
But like, as much as I'm a skeptic, I feel
like I'm such a Gemini.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'm fascinated by George's push pull, so I ask him
a little more about it.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I have trouble when people say, you know, you deserve this,
and I'm like, oh, we are a random organism spinning
on a rock. I don't know that humans deserve anything
other than like the basic biological package of like love, community, shelter, water, sunlight,
(29:57):
Like that's that's you deserve that for sure, But like,
did I deserve the part of that show come on?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
During the reading, what I assumed was this dismissive, unengaged
behavior where George was looking down and mumbling these one
word responses. It was, in fact him taking detailed notes
on everything Janelle was saying.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I mean, I wrote down a lot of what she said,
like choose people who are limitless with your growth, who
are joyous of your discovery. Your belief system is changing,
You're going to attract new people. I have all my
notes highly categorized, so I have like it'll be like therapy, recipes, comedy.
I didn't even think about this. I put the astrology
reading into therapy.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm relieved that he got something from the experience, a
phone full of notes, it turns out. But as we
wrap up, I ask about his foot. He sounded so
despondent about it the last time we chatted. I'm curious
how he's doing. But instead of telling me how he
broke it while camping, he tells me how it immediately
led to some funny slash disappointing experiences.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
After I got back from the EO with my broken foot,
my friend was like, I'm going to cook you the
most delicious dinner steak, keen mall salad.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
It's gonna like, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
He gets promised this delicious campfire meal, but then when
they're about to start prepping, they realize.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
A bear was next to our campsite. All of our
food was gone. The bear had eaten everything. And I
was like, I just immediately started laughing because I was like,
that's perfect.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Horrible experiences are gold for George.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
The worse the experience, the better the story.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Like I was just joking that I had a really
wonderful date, and I was telling my friend, I'm sorry,
I have nothing to tell you other then we laughed,
we made dinner, we had great sex. You don't need
any details. But like the other date that week that
was really weird and twisty and strange, We're gonna talk
about that for two hours.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
So of course it's perfect that a bear ate his meal.
But when he's skeptical about love, I.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Was like, George, you have to be okay with the
fact that you might never find that. It is like
hitting the lottery to get it or his career. I
have to be okay with not getting that in the
same way that I'm okay with maybe never being in
a Takeowhitet.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Movie or like Wes Anderson. I would love that.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I would love that. I think I do well, but
they may never happen.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I wonder if these stories are just to entertain others too,
because George is a performer, a really good performer, but
he actually believes in love. It's why he goes on dates,
and he believes in his talent. It's why he keeps
putting himself out there. And as much as he doesn't
want to tell himself he's a believer, all of his
(32:40):
actions betray his incredible faith. There is so much hope
in his tone.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Do you remember apple jacks? Okay, the commercials in the.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Nineties, there was always a couple of kids eating apple jacks.
As usually the dad would come in and they'd like,
take a bite, and they'd be like, he doesn't even
taste like apples.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
And the kids would be like, we well, we.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Like you just do.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
What George is seeking I realize now it isn't a
reason to believe so much as another reminder to be
nicer to himself. It's okay to eat what he likes,
to build his own meaning, to be present. He just
needs another reminder that.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He's a good snake.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
He's allowed to be here.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
You're a good snake.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
He's a good snake.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
You're a good snake. You're allowed to be.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Here, Oh your friends, Chapter five, It doesn't cost you much.
(34:01):
I'm thinking about my mom's comment about why she chanted
those mantras to get rid of the snake curse.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I think anything works when you're desperate. Boy, it doesn't
cost you very much, right.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
There's actually a study that illustrates this effect in the
nineteen eighties, and Australian psychologist Graham Tyson determined that the
same people who don't believe in astrology in low stress
situations suddenly are very open to it in high stress situations,
kind of like agnostics on a plane when the turbulence hits.
(34:34):
But I think that hints to something true about a
lot of us. How there's a reluctance to admit that
you might believe. Like I saw this Pew study about India,
where astrology is clearly infused in the culture, and it
showed that while only forty four percent of Indians admit
to believing in astrology, eighty three percent use astrology to
(34:54):
plan important events. But I guess that's what I admire
about jo or like he says he doesn't believe, but
he keeps trying, keeps putting himself out there, and our
actions often reveal way more about ourselves than our stated beliefs.
On this show, over and over, I've said I'm a skeptic,
(35:17):
that I don't believe in astrology, and that is true.
But unlike George, I've been reluctant to test my faith.
I mean, sure, I pressed a banana to my palm
on Wednesdays, but I treated that as a comedy bit.
And yeah, I got some readings. But even as I
witnessed this miracle of astrology, this eerily accurate prediction of
(35:38):
how my dad would fall ill and struggle to make
it through the year, the.
Speaker 14 (35:43):
Situation doesn't look good for father.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
That is risk to father.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I borrowed myself in disbelief. I stayed aloof I taped
other people getting readings. To tell me how you feel coming.
There's so much expecting to hear that, right, I would
you to suggest this experience. I tried to see if
astrology could work for them, tried to keep myself busy,
tried to keep myself distracted from processing my own grief.
(36:10):
And I've kept trying to push the story away from myself,
but it is so clear that I can't. Every episode
starts light and ends with some bittersweet moment, not because
I intend to, but because that's where everything always leads me.
(36:33):
There's this thing I've tried not to think about too much,
this supposed answer to all my problems, a wholy astrological
graile of sorts. And I've been so angry at astrology
in a way for being so right about my dad,
that I haven't wanted to lean into it. I first
heard about it from a friend right after college, and
then my cousin mentioned it, then Pete, the astrologer from
(36:56):
The Walkman, and even doctor Kumar.
Speaker 14 (36:59):
The future of every man born on earth is already.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
There are these little shops in India. They're hard to locate,
and it's hard to find an authentic one. Pete tells me.
Speaker 13 (37:10):
There's all sorts of scam artists, right like there's all
these fake ones.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Like these shops hold all the secrets of your life,
your past and present and future. The day that you
show up, everything will change thereafter, because, as the legend goes,
your fortune was etched onto this petrified leaf hundreds of
years ago in tiny script and then bound in a
(37:36):
collection of fortunes. And if you give your thumbprint and
tell them the day you were born, it's just waiting
for you on a shelf, waiting for you to discover it.
Speaker 14 (37:48):
Your thing pound leaves in tiny uniting the world. I
like one inch by ten inch or something. So if
your leaf is phone everything about you. Your name is Mangish,
your father's name is this, your mother's name is this.
You have so many brothers, sisters, you're not married yet,
and you're now forty two years awage, now that you
come to hear your future.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Even for you to know your future is predetermined.
Speaker 14 (38:11):
And guess what, No matter what s face with religion
you're from, you're Muslim or Christian, your father's name, your
mother's name, name, wife nick, What greater validation you want
than that?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
As much as I've tried to ignore it, somehow I
can't get the idea of these little shops in India
out of my head because I don't know what I'm doing,
what I'm supposed to be doing. And what if written
on those scrolls is an answer I need? As improbable
as it sounds, I'd love to know who's the person
(38:42):
I meant to be, especially in this moment when I
feel so unmoored. Going to India where I can hear
my mother tongue again and feel the love and warmth
of my dad's family, that also feels like a good thing.
And honestly, if I can dwell in this tiny sense
of hope, if I can ask enough people and actually
(39:05):
find these ancient leaves, maybe it don't stop me from spinning.
Maybe they'll offer some direction, and maybe they'll tell me
what happens nexts.
Speaker 9 (39:29):
Close, shoot you mouth, just.
Speaker 12 (39:39):
Let it all go, you know.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Figure it all out. Thank you so much for listening
to Skyline Drive, a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast.
This show is hosted and written by Me Mongaish Artigular.
But I could not make this show without my incredible team, Mary,
Philip Sandy. It's our supervising producer and even the so
she refused to drink mango fruity and dance of Hollywood
(40:02):
songs with me and the rest of us, she is
still incredible. Mietra Buanshaihi is our wonderful producer who's been
taking recording equipment to every single party she goes to
this month. Mark Lotto is our incredible story editor and
might be the only person I know in Brooklyn who
loves paratas and coffee in the morning more than me.
This episode was also produced and mixed by the insanely
(40:24):
talented Anna Rubinova, who worked overtime on this episode because
I was so behind on it, Anna, I really can't
thank you enough. The gorgeous scoring and theme song comes
from Botany Special. Thanks to my Palace Himanchu Sori for
hyping the show and Pete and Jay from Motor Sales
for their beautiful, beautiful music. Thank you to Number that three.
But the who runs the most remarkable children's imprint out there.
(40:47):
It's called Coquila Books. Seriously go check out their work.
My children love it. Additional production and research support from
the wonderful through shivar Rao, Lizzie Jacobs, my long suffering
why someone Buckshi, Argent Buckshie, anyone named Buckshi? Really? This
show is executive produced from ihearp On, my good pals
(41:07):
Niki Etour and Katrina Norvel. Also thank you to my
partners at Kaleidoscope, Oz, Kate Costas and Viny. You know
how much I love you. All special thanks to Ali,
Nathan Connell, Will and Bob at iHeart for getting behind
the show. And as always, a big thank you to
my Amma, my dad, Lalita Umeshatikudur, who I thank my
(41:29):
lucky Stars for. George Avio lotis an incredible comedian in person.
He was so kind to share a story with us.
If you haven't checked out his impressions, go do that now,
including my favorite this one. Your college boyfriend who took
one Shakespeare class.
Speaker 12 (41:45):
So long as men can breathe and Oz can see,
so long lives this and this gives life to thie.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
See. Yeah you're different. You're different.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I like you.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
You're not like other girls. Yeah you got something different.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
I mean all of you out there are different. Thank
you so much for lending us your ears.
Speaker 11 (42:20):
Sweet so now I can't wait to getch you.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Laugh ristless
Speaker 11 (42:29):
Locusts
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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