December 12, 2023 • 32 mins
Ellie and Scott are joined by actor and comedian, Nico Santos. Nico shares his love of fashion design! We learn all about his wild times in high-end retail, what exactly makes a Bottega Veneta bag worth the dough, and how Nico wanted to be a comic book artist as a kid. Plus, Scott shares his love of discovering that no incredible feat - not even that of his cat perching on the very top of door frames - is without struggle.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Born Too.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, Scott, Hey Ellie.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm Ellie Kemper. This is Scott Eckert. This is our
podcast Born to Love, where every week we have a
guest on the show come on and talk about something
that they love, anything in the.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
World, anything in the world. And today we have a
good friend of yours.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Isn't that right, Ellie, A very sweet, dear friend of mine.
Nico Santos is our guest this week. We are so
excited to talk to him. I know him because I'm
in a movie with him, not a big deal, a
Hollywood movie called Happiness for Beginners.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
And now we can talk about those because so for
so long we couldn't talk about those movies. And now
the strike is over and we can.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We can talk all about it. Scott.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You can show you shill for all your movies. Elle.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Oh, I'm gonna chill it up. Bebe Scott. How unearthed
was your week?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh? It was great. In the holiday season buying gifts,
I really enjoy that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I just want to point out you're a very smooth,
thoughtful gift giver. I said smooth because you don't always
anticipate your gifts, and then they just like arrive and
they're like, so sweet and thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Are you talking about a little thing called Uno Attack?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I gave your kids an Uno Attack, and I think that,
to be fair, you were a little skeptical because I
don't think that your family likes games as much as mine.
But then apparently Uno Attack made it into an episode
of The Crown.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Uno Attack is featured on this latest season of The Crown.
I didn't even know it was around in the two thousands.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Wait a minute, it couldn't have been around in the odds.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The Okay, I love Attack, I love Princess Diana, Rip
and Scott take it away, all.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Right, I'll take it away. Well, this is something that
I loved this Ellie, and you're gonna have to bear
with me here because it's something of a metaphor. Okay,
I have a little cat named Calli than my family adors.
She's the cutest cat ever. I think I may have
mentioned her on our Samantha Bee episode. But something that
she's able to do, I've seen her do this several times.
(02:18):
She perchaes at the very top of a door, like
an open door, you know, a door. It's like maybe
an inch and a half wide, or something, And of
course it's tall. It's as tall as a door we
walk through them. So, like, what seven feet tall?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Maybe ballpark?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, yeah, ballpark seven.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So I imagine a door about seven feet tall an
inch and a half wide, and my cat calli perchaes
on it. She apparently is able to leap and balance
up on this door, and it's a new habit she's
gotten into, and every time I see it, I'm like, Wow,
this is a marvelous this cat.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What is she leaping from? Please don't tell me the ground?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, at first i thought that it was the ground,
but then I've since come to realize that it's other
high things like a dresser or a counter. But see, Ellie,
you've kind of anticipated the sort of payoff to this story,
which is I imagined that she was leaping seven feet up
and landing perfectly on the top of this like high
(03:23):
wire act, and I was amazed. And then just the
other day I saw her actually get to the top
of the door. And do you know how she does it?
She hurls herself against the door, her legs are over
the top of it, and she screams as she like
scrambles and thrashes to climb up.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So you just said her legs are over it. Her
legs are over well no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
No, like like her front two legs, like it's a
person in an action movie, like leaping across a chasm
and like grabbing on with just their front two arms. Like, oh,
but from what, from a counter or whatever.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But the point is that it is the least graceful
thing I've ever seen a cat do. In fact, it
seems enormously painful, and she's making cat noises of extreme exertion. Yes, yes,
And the end result is that she is delicately balanced
(04:23):
on the top of that doorway and it looks like magic.
But of course the process of getting there was messy
and horrible. Yeah, And I don't want to get philosophical, Ellie,
because you know me, I'm no philosopher. But I was
in awe of her perfect balance. And then I saw
(04:44):
how she got up there, and at first I was
horrified because I was like, oh, the magic is gone.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
But then it only took a moment for me to
be like, oh, wait, this is even more awesome. It's
even more amazing that this cat is doing this impossible
feat in such a crazy, potentially painful way, and I
realized that's like kind of success. Most people's success in life.
(05:12):
We see Scott people's successes and they look so elegant
and wonderful, and what we don't see is the struggle
Ellie Scott.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I was sitting over here saying, in the back of
my head silently, I really hope that is the point
that he's going to make, the conclusion that he's going
to draw from Callie's feet feat And indeed it was Scott.
Nobody likes to see the sausage getting made. Everybody likes
to think, oh man, they made it look so easy.
(05:44):
They just did this really incredible thing, and it didn't
seem like they'd put any work into it. One shriek
from Callie's cat mouth, and we'll tell you this, what
does it sound like that?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I mean, it sounds a lot more like yours than mine.
This is why you are the fancy Hollywood actress.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's why I do so much voiceover catwork.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That that cat cry of yours, we don't know. We
didn't see the effort behind that. We didn't see the
years of method cat training.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
No, my sore throats, cat meal teas, Scott. What I
also want to know is how did you happen to
see Calli. I would have thought Callie would have hidden
her struggle from you, not even like intentionally so, but
just like, oh, I'm going to do this when no
one else is around.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
But yes, I think so too. It just was my happenstance.
If she knew that I was there, I don't think
she would have wanted me to watch, But who knows.
I can't see inside the mind of a cat. All
I know is that my respect for her is even
greater than it was before. And trust me, I had
a lot of respect for kitt and Calli.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Absolutely, to be honest with you, Scott, I don't know
Calli except over mostly Zoom. I guess have I met
her in person? I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't think so. And you know what, I think,
you've been to my house since we've had CALLI no
interest in meeting her zee.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Ro Having said that, so my respect for Calli, which
was at a zero, has now gone up to five percent.
So good Jock Kelly for showing us what hard is Scott.
With that, We're gonna seg into our guest introduction as
(07:31):
we said before our guest today. Nico Santo's very funny,
very sweet, brilliant guy. We are thrilled to be chatting
with him today. As I mentioned, I know Nico from
Happiness for Beginners, a very sweet movie directed by Vicki White.
It's out on Netflix now. I'm talking a lot about
it because I couldn't say anything about it for ten
(07:51):
years or however long the strike was, but now I
can say it. You also might know him as Matteo
on Superstore, or perhaps from the movie Crazy Rich Asians,
or maybe Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, or maybe
Muppets Mayhem. The list goes on and on. With these credits,
we are so looking forward to chatting with him. Nico
(08:12):
is going to be sharing with us his love of fashion,
design fashion.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'm especially I don't know very much about fashion, so
I'm excited to hear about it.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Get ready to learn when we come back. Nico Santos
Too Love. Okay, everybody, we are here with Nico Santo's
welcome too, Born to Love.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
To Love, set up and something.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I just lost my job. I have been the only
one singing so far, and he just gave me a
rent with my money.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Give me, give me a melody. I will join riight in.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Nico, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
It's so good to see you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Nico and I work together. As I mentioned before, Happiness
for Beginners, a movie on Netflix. We shot that in
like twenty twenty one. It feels like in Eternity time
is bent and backwards, but one thing that isn't is
fashion design. So, Nico, you have a background in fashion design, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I majored in costume design in college. But as a kid,
I've always had an appreciation for design stuff, especially clothing.
I was born and raising the Philippines, and growing up,
I would always watch my mom get ready. My parents
owned a wine and liquor business, so she was constantly
having to host people at her home for glamorous parties.
(09:37):
So I would always watch her get ready. It was
like the whole shipbang. So I was always just sort
of like enamored by that whole process, and I would
just like look at it was like, oh gosh, so glamorous,
and I was just really super fascinated by that world.
You know, just a little gay boy growing up in
the Philippines, and I know we're talking about fashion design
and people are probably going to look at this. I'm like,
you are wearing a hoody in a baseball cappaney. I
(09:59):
just have to say, I am not a Capital F fashionista.
There are other people out there who are done up
twenty four to seven. I am just as comfortable being
a slub. But I really do have an appreciation for
the fashion shows that come out every year, for the
new handbags that are coming out of the year. Also,
that was my job for a really long time. Well,
(10:19):
I was doing comedy. I was working high end retail.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Wow, I want to know about that.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, this seems like something Ellie does not love.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Do you I have a bone to pick? Can you
tell me, Nico, if you encounter this, well, what is
the point of making a customer feel unwelcome? Do you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. And those
are just people that are bad at their job. Because
I worked high in retail. I'm so bougie.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I was.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have to clarify high end retail. I didn't work
on all night. It was high in retail, just a
TV show exactly. That was afterlife. This is real life.
But I worked in San Francisco where it was like
stealth wealth. You didn't know. Oh yeah, some of my
biggest clients were like.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
A bunch of rich dorks.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yes. The first retail job I got was at a
store called Arthur Baron. They had a call center, and
I knew that the salespeople at their retail stores were
making big money. So I was just like, put me in, coach.
I know I can sell them as out of these shoes.
And they gave me a chance because I logged in
the most calls and the average customer was literally seventy
(11:29):
five years old. So I was just like sweet talking
to old ladies and telling them they need their ferragamos.
And this business specialized in hard to find widths of shoes.
I don't know if you were familiar shoes coming withs.
So a regular narrow is a double A, but mister
Baron carried shoes up to a quadruple A.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh my gosh, that's more narrow. Still, it's like a.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Finger with a women's size twelve in a quadruple A.
They're like, skis, how did these women survive? I know
that's what they call. I'm like, well, ma'am, if you
were a twelve quadruple A. You were in a need
all these shoes?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yes, How did you get the job making the call.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I got a job as a dresser for a theater company,
fixing costumes, running the shows, and the manager who hired
me saw that I thrived in high stress situations, so
they were like, well, put you in a call center.
And I was just like so happy that I got
the job because I was really really broke. And then
they gave me a chance at the retail store, and
(12:29):
when that job ended, I moved over to Dior, Neiman Marcus, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Chu Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, but Tega Venata was the last job I had
in retail. But Tega Venata really was like it was
a label that didn't have any logos. This logan was
when your own initials are enough, and that was such
a huge selling point. You know, women coming in like
ten thousand dollars for his handbag. I'm like, yeah, right,
(12:56):
that's when your own initials are enough.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I have a question for you. I'm unsophisticated when it
comes to all of this. My chief clothes year is
Costco or maybe Amazon Basics. So I assume that fashion
is sort of like wine insofar as everyone can enjoy it.
But if you're in the know, you can be discriminating
in a way that an idiot like me can't be.
(13:22):
So is that true, Like if you saw a Jimmy Chew,
would you be able to be like, Yep, that's that's
the one, in the same way that a somalier could
be like, oh, that's a Merlow.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I mean there's different levels to it, right, Like I
really do enjoy like going through the magazines and seeing
what's on trend, and that came from working the job
in retail and at the time, I was just like
a broke comedian, so it was a way for me
to sort of be in this world. And going back
to your thing about like white people are so rude
(13:54):
and make people feel like when they walk in the door, yep,
the salespeople will take on the persona of the brand. Yeah,
I'm like, honey, you just work here, You're not.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Every brand you named. I started sweating just thinking about
entering because I don't go into those stores that often,
and when I do, I'm just scared, yeah and unwelcome.
You just kinda walk in like you Yes, that's what
I'm gonna do next. It's either like you mean business
or you don't. So if you mean business, come talk
to me. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Certainly, there were days when I was working there, I
was like, I know this person isn't going to buy. Oh, yeah,
that's interesting, and you sense that they're going to need
a lot of attention and they're gonna end up wasting
three hours of your time.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Three hours at a shoe store, you're the perusing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh, I've had clients stay longer.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
What do they do for three hours? They already know
their side.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Niko. When you are saying you enjoicing what's going to
be on trend that season, I'm envious of that because
I would love to look forward to that. What is
it about it that makes you so happy?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah? For me, it's the craftsmanship and the beauty and
the design of it. Having it back when it costs
a design, knowing how things are made, what techniques in
sewing and beating are a lot harder to execute. When
I worked at Dior, we're charging two thousand dollars for
cotton bag that says Dior, and people will buy it
because they want a piece of the label. But then
(15:32):
when I worked at Protecta Veneta. I was like this Vegas,
twenty thousand dollars. I can tell that the quality of
the leather is absolutely top notch. That's why when I
worked at Protecta Venata, I was a lot more comfortable
selling at that price point because I could be like, no,
you have the money, you want a quality product. This
is what you want.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
What is the most expensive? Like at the end of
when the receipt printed out.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
They do not print a receipt.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
What do they do?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Who?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, there's a printed receipt.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Wait, rite you a thank you note.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We have to write thank you us our clients.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, that is such a different world.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well, that's part of the thing about selling in that
sort of level. It's about building relationships with the repeat
customers because only a handful of people can afford to
truly shop there repeatedly. You get people who saved up
their money and are treating themselves and want to buy
their their first designer handbag. But there are people who
are very wealthy who treat those stores like the gap.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
What is the hype? Can you even remember the highest priced?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
The highest When I worked at the coworker of mine
ended up selling two couture pieces. Those dresses are completely
made by hand. They'll send somebody from France to fit
those dresses for you. And each dress was over six.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Figures over six Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's another level. But that's the thing about fashion is
like there's an entry point for everybody. It doesn't matter
if you're like super poor or super rich. Right, only
the super rich enjoy these sort of handcrafted, crazy expensive materials.
But the great thing about fashion is that those sort
of design elements trickle down.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, exactly. There was just some article I was reading
about very few people can tell the difference between a
Chanel bag and a knockoff. And I know that there
are different issues at play here, but as a Maxinista,
I should say, as a TJ Maxinista, I do love
a bargain, but again, I don't want to do that
at the expense of bad labor practices.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
The idea of it is nice because it's making fashion
accessible to anybody who's interested. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I try not to shop fast fashion brands as much
as possible.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I'm sorry to interrupt. Nigo is fast fashion like Zara.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Zara h and M Forever twenty one, where literally they
will get new styles like every day that's crazy, and
it's just about churning, churning, churning new product. They'll watch
a fashion show and then literally the next day they'll
have a knockoff of that design, and it's just shady
labor practices.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You want to be very conscious and careful about where
you're buying what. But I will say the idea that
something is worth that much money is reassuring because when
you're looking at somebody say, oh, well, this is why
this is priced so high because it is like a
work of art.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, exactly. And I didn't feel like I was tricking
my client and to spending this amount of money, because girl,
I mean, look what you're buying. And I've talked clients
out of stuff before. People were just like, I really
want this bag, and I'm like, I know you want
this bag because Paris Hilton cared this bag. But you
(18:41):
will love this for two months and then you'll be
tired of it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
You're a very upstanding sales person.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
They should be writing you to thank you notes if
you're talking about a twenty thousand dollars back.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That's what I wanted to ask. Has there ever been
a time when you felt a little bit icky about
selling a piece to someone, not piece.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
But you know there are your sales quotas, so at
the end of the quarter, when you haven't met that
quota yet, you are calling just like hey, missus someone
so I know you were just here a couple of weeks,
but I just got in this beautiful hand than ship.
Please come in. I need to feed myself.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And would they like, do you think they're aware? Nico,
no offense.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
If you could charm me into it, I may be like,
thank you, I know what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They are aware, and you know which clients you can
depend on for certain things. I have clients that would
only buy during the sale period. But then there are
those two came back like every other month.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I just wanted to bring it back to your childhood
caause something you mentioned before we started recording was that
comic books somehow played a role in the whole fashion Yes, yes,
which is a surprise to me. When I was a child,
I liked comics and have not fallen in love with fashion,
So where where was that connection?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
When I was kid and did collect a lot of
comic books, I was like a huge X Men Explores,
Excalibur and For a little while, I thought that I
was going to grow up to be a comic book artist,
and so, yeah, an artist. Yeah, So I would draw
and invent my own superheroes. Then when it came to
(20:19):
the women, I would start drawing not only their superhero costume,
but what they would wear for the day.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Oh, Nico, I love that. How old were you do
you think when you were doing this? This?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Or like first and second grade? And that was one
of the reasons my mom wasn't surprised that I was gay.
She's like, you know, when you told me you're gay,
I was not surprised because your homework when you were
a kid, your homework gowns on the You would draw
(20:54):
these gowns as a kid on the back of your homework.
So I thought, I think it's gay, that's yeah. So
she was not surprised at all.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Please tell me you still have those sketches.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
They're probably in the Philippines somewhere.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I do this every morning. I look at my closet.
Nothing new has appeared, nothing has changed since the night before.
But I'm always expecting to like put together that outfit
that's going to make me feel like I'm taking on
the day. Yeah, and it never happens. I don't have
an eye for it. I've accepted it. But do you
feel better when you are.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
When you're put together? Yeah, you do feel better. I mean, listen,
there are days when I'm feeling really crappy where I'm
just like, you know what, today is a sweatpants and
hoodie day. But there are days where I'm just like,
maybe you should get out of the house and get
some air and yep, try and feel a little bit
better about yourself. And I will go through my closet
and be like, what can I put on to feel
(21:52):
like I am just a million dollars?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That's it?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And I really relish that fact. I'm also the type
of person who might wait you so much. I've been
skinny and fat all my life. I'm like Liberaci, I
have so many different sizes in my closet.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I was gonna ask Nico about this. This may be apocryphal,
but I'm a sort of the Barack Obama fashion school.
What's that When he was president he was like, I
want to wear the same suit every single day because
his reasoning was like, I make enough decisions during the
day deciding what I'm gonna wear is not worth the effort.
(22:29):
I am like that, except I don't make very important decisions.
I'm just lazy. This Amazon Basics red sweater that I'm wearing,
it's been worn several times this week. Of course, once
you're in a groove, is there anything wrong with staying
in that groove?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Nah?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Here's the thing that really annoys me about being a
public figure is that people expect you to be in
new clothes every single day of your life. I don't
prescribe to that. I buy clothing because I love that
piece and I want to wear it more than what.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
That's exactly right. Kate Middleton, Princess Princess Middleton, I just
call her Kate.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We're friends, really, because I'm more of a Meghan boy myself.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
She famously wears clothes twice, doesn't she? She wears stuff occasionally,
she'll wear a well priced item.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I think that we're holding her to a pretty low
bar if we're patting her on the back for wearing
an item of clothing two times.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Do you think Queen Victoria would have done that, Scott,
I think times are a change in Queen Victoria.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I don't want I don't want to start on queens me,
what is your favorite garment of all time? In the
spirit of re wearing stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I'm not fitting into it right now, but there is.
I have a teal leather bomber jacket.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Teal bomber jacket. I love it. I'm loving it for
the record, googling this right now.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
It's really cute and I love it. I love the
way it fits on me. I love the way it's got.
So that's one of the pieces I love.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
What about you, Ellie, you have a favorite article of clothing.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I don't. I don't have appreciation. I think of the
artistry that goes into it, Like when you are having
a wardrobe fitting for work. Okay, how strong an opinion
do you have about what the character is wearing. I
never do. I very rarely do, because I don't trust
myself to have a good view of how some thing
(24:21):
should look.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Do you I do. It's actually the part of the
process I look forward to the most because you developed
the character in your head. But for me, the last
piece of the puzzle is the costume.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So when I go into a fitting, I really enjoy
that process of seeing what they've pulled and if it's
not what I was picturing. Then I'm not shy about
having a conversation of like can we gravitate towards these lines,
these silhouettes. And it's never a conversation of like I
wanna look hot. It's always like, how does the clothing
serve the character of the world. And it depends on
(24:55):
the production because when I was working on Superstore, some
of the clothes they put my character in were like
our money Paul smanth and I'm like, he works at
a big box store, Like, why is there an eight
hundred dollar card again on me? I'm not complaining, right,
I love it. There are certain projects like for Marvel,
for Guardians, costume designers at that level, I wouldn't dare
(25:15):
give notes on something they created because I'm just like,
this is Goodture.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I've always had this thing where if you walk into
a room and you address a certain way, it does
sort of speak before you do. This is so funny, Scott.
I was actually thinking of you specifically.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Oh, I'm terrified of what's about to come out of
your mouth.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's a very nice thing. You always look respectful, you
always have.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I always look like a high school history teacher.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's the most respectful of all. When you put a
little bit of attention and care into your appearance, it
speaks a good volume about how you approach the world.
That you're conscientious and you're considerate.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, I totally agree, But you sort of pull yourself
together a little bit really does sort of like it
changes your outlook and the way people see you. I mean,
that's the thing like walking into the fancy stores. Let
me tell you the way I'm treated when I walk
in in a hoodie versus when I'm put together to
shop for the day, And it is very different when
I'm actually wearing my door bag and they're like, right, oh, sir,
(26:18):
can I get you a glass of water like a temper?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I gotta start chopping it to your Bringing champagne to
the customers.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
They don't do that at Amazon Basics, No, they sure don't.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Not a Costco.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
That is our trick, honey. Yes, when people come in
and you know that this is going to be a
two hour session, that's the first thing we bring out.
Champaion coffee, prosecco.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Oh my gosh, that would trap me. If you get
a drunkie buying high end clothing.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I love it. This has been outstanding, Miko. If you
have time, would you stick around for a little game
that we like to play with our guests.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I have nothing to do today, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So the way this game works, Nico is we're going
to just fire a couple of topics that you okay,
and all you have to do is tell us if
you love them or you love them.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
You can't be lukewarm up. I kind of like it. No, No,
that has no place here.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I like this game already.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
All right, here we go. We'll jump right in as
a shoe aficionado. Love it or loathe it? Toe shoes
still load it?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Absolutely loath it? Yeah no, just we're sue.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's the right answer.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So you'd recommend I get rid of mine.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
There maybe is a function to that design, but it
is atrocious to look at.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Fair enough, Okay, Nico, love it or loathe it? Karaoke
love it.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
I'm Filipino, honey all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
What's your go to?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
This is how we do it? Mantel Jordan anything by
Rick Ashley?
Speaker 1 (27:57):
What is rick? As is escaping me? Right now?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
We're gonna give you up the luck, dude.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
There never around, Nico. You are taking my job as
in house singing. But that's fine. I gratefully pass the baton.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Now do you like be karaoke songs or do you
like sort of like slow jam ballady songs.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I want a ballad song that's like sort of haunted Halo.
Of course.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
No, no get here by Aletta Adams. You who reached
me by well way, you who reached me by tray way.
Remember that. I don't care how you get.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Get here when you can. Now we see our voices
side by side, and we see who's winning. It's uniko.
But I love that song.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
That's a great karaoke song.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Do you know what, Scott, I am so terrified of this.
I was terrified of the shoes, terrified of the fashion,
terrified of the songs. I was literally before you guys
started soulfully singing, I was gonna be like, what about
Disney songs? Are those good ones? Because my go to
is under the Sea.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I mean, that's a great one.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Thank you for validating me, Scott, don't question yourself. Well,
thank you. I gotta love it or loath it for you.
Nico as a comic book fashion expert pouches on belt.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Pouches and bells loathe it. I'm just like, carry a purse, hilarious,
carry a purse?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Wait, does that extend to like a fanny patch? Like
in real life? That's a pouch on a belt, right.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I know it's super trendy, but I don't like fanny packs.
I like wearing the fanny pack as a crossbody.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nico.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, I don't like having that extra bulk on your waist.
I already got a belly. I don't need.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I don't need a pouch on pouch.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, belly on belly. We don't like.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Nico love it or loathe it? Big box stores, Oh
love it.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I love it. My absolute favorite thing to do actually
is go to Costco.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There we go, Kindred spirits. I'm suddenly feeling comfortable again. Costco?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
What do you love about it?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Every Costco is localized, so they all have different items
for sale. The whole experience is a fun discovery maze.
And before meeting me, my fiance Zeke was not a
Costco person and didn't understand the point of Costco. Uh oh,
and I was just like, honey, we are gonna need
(30:19):
laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper, towel. Yeah, dishwash is soap.
The sheetcake come.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
On, Oh you had a sheet cake?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Sheetcake joke, It's like a blanket size.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
It's so good. Guys. I'm in the wilds of Manhattan.
There's not a Costco that close to me.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
When are you gonna be in Los Angeles, LA? We
should go to Costco.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm there all summer, so watch out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Love it or loads it? Nico. You I noticed I
have one of my dream credits is a Muppets credit,
so I have to ask love it or loads it?
Working with Puppets love it?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
It was great. I only did a day of the Muppets,
but it was truly just like, I cannot believe that
Animal and Zuit are just two feet away from me.
This is insane.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Would you look at that puppeteer or the puppet.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It was very easy to forget that the puppeteer was there. Yeah,
because you've known the Muppets since you were a kid.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
It is magic.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
There was a moment where we hadn't shot our scene yet,
and I was walking around and I stumbled upon Animal
talking to a bunch of kids. And the way these
kids faces lit up, they were just so like, oh
my god, what is this creature that I'm talking to?
It was really really amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Okay, Nico, you claim you love working with puppets, love
it or low that working with me the.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Love at Hello, that's the right answer. That truth was
so much fun. I miss our crew.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I miss our crew, Scott. All of these I'll call
them children. They weren't really. It felt like they were
all in their twenties, felt so young in him. But
we were all just like hiking in the woods. It
was It was fun.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
It was really great.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, that's the end of our game. Nico. We have
so enjoyed talking with you today. Thank you for being
on Born to Love. We loved having you.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It was
really good to see you after all this time.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I know.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Thanks for listening to Born to Love. We'll be back
next week with brand new things that we love.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you love. We
might even ask one of our guests in an upcoming
love it or Load it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Born to Love is hosted and created by Ellie Kemper
and Scott Ecker.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Our executive producer is Aaron Coffman. Our producers Areshena Ozaki
and Zoe Danklab.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Born to Love is part of Will Ferrell's Big Money
Players Network in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts. Special thanks to
Hans Sonny.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Rachel Kaplan and Adrianna Cossiano
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Michael Fails, Alex Coral, and Baheied Frazier
Born Too.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, Scott, Hey Ellie.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm Ellie Kemper. This is Scott Eckert. This is our
podcast Born to Love, where every week we have a
guest on the show come on and talk about something
that they love, anything in the.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
World, anything in the world. And today we have a
good friend of yours.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Isn't that right, Ellie, A very sweet, dear friend of mine.
Nico Santos is our guest this week. We are so
excited to talk to him. I know him because I'm
in a movie with him, not a big deal, a
Hollywood movie called Happiness for Beginners.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
And now we can talk about those because so for
so long we couldn't talk about those movies. And now
the strike is over and we can.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
We can talk all about it. Scott.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You can show you shill for all your movies. Elle.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Oh, I'm gonna chill it up. Bebe Scott. How unearthed
was your week?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh? It was great. In the holiday season buying gifts,
I really enjoy that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I just want to point out you're a very smooth,
thoughtful gift giver. I said smooth because you don't always
anticipate your gifts, and then they just like arrive and
they're like, so sweet and thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Are you talking about a little thing called Uno Attack?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I gave your kids an Uno Attack, and I think that,
to be fair, you were a little skeptical because I
don't think that your family likes games as much as mine.
But then apparently Uno Attack made it into an episode
of The Crown.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Uno Attack is featured on this latest season of The Crown.
I didn't even know it was around in the two thousands.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Wait a minute, it couldn't have been around in the odds.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The Okay, I love Attack, I love Princess Diana, Rip
and Scott take it away, all.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Right, I'll take it away. Well, this is something that
I loved this Ellie, and you're gonna have to bear
with me here because it's something of a metaphor. Okay,
I have a little cat named Calli than my family adors.
She's the cutest cat ever. I think I may have
mentioned her on our Samantha Bee episode. But something that
she's able to do, I've seen her do this several times.
(02:18):
She perchaes at the very top of a door, like
an open door, you know, a door. It's like maybe
an inch and a half wide, or something, And of
course it's tall. It's as tall as a door we
walk through them. So, like, what seven feet tall?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Maybe ballpark?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, yeah, ballpark seven.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
So I imagine a door about seven feet tall an
inch and a half wide, and my cat calli perchaes
on it. She apparently is able to leap and balance
up on this door, and it's a new habit she's
gotten into, and every time I see it, I'm like, Wow,
this is a marvelous this cat.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What is she leaping from? Please don't tell me the ground?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, at first i thought that it was the ground,
but then I've since come to realize that it's other
high things like a dresser or a counter. But see, Ellie,
you've kind of anticipated the sort of payoff to this story,
which is I imagined that she was leaping seven feet up
and landing perfectly on the top of this like high
(03:23):
wire act, and I was amazed. And then just the
other day I saw her actually get to the top
of the door. And do you know how she does it?
She hurls herself against the door, her legs are over
the top of it, and she screams as she like
scrambles and thrashes to climb up.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So you just said her legs are over it. Her
legs are over well no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
No, like like her front two legs, like it's a
person in an action movie, like leaping across a chasm
and like grabbing on with just their front two arms. Like, oh,
but from what, from a counter or whatever.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But the point is that it is the least graceful
thing I've ever seen a cat do. In fact, it
seems enormously painful, and she's making cat noises of extreme exertion. Yes, yes,
And the end result is that she is delicately balanced
(04:23):
on the top of that doorway and it looks like magic.
But of course the process of getting there was messy
and horrible. Yeah, And I don't want to get philosophical, Ellie,
because you know me, I'm no philosopher. But I was
in awe of her perfect balance. And then I saw
(04:44):
how she got up there, and at first I was
horrified because I was like, oh, the magic is gone.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
But then it only took a moment for me to
be like, oh, wait, this is even more awesome. It's
even more amazing that this cat is doing this impossible
feat in such a crazy, potentially painful way, and I
realized that's like kind of success. Most people's success in life.
(05:12):
We see Scott people's successes and they look so elegant
and wonderful, and what we don't see is the struggle
Ellie Scott.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I was sitting over here saying, in the back of
my head silently, I really hope that is the point
that he's going to make, the conclusion that he's going
to draw from Callie's feet feat And indeed it was Scott.
Nobody likes to see the sausage getting made. Everybody likes
to think, oh man, they made it look so easy.
(05:44):
They just did this really incredible thing, and it didn't
seem like they'd put any work into it. One shriek
from Callie's cat mouth, and we'll tell you this, what
does it sound like that?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I mean, it sounds a lot more like yours than mine.
This is why you are the fancy Hollywood actress.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's why I do so much voiceover catwork.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That that cat cry of yours, we don't know. We
didn't see the effort behind that. We didn't see the
years of method cat training.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
No, my sore throats, cat meal teas, Scott. What I
also want to know is how did you happen to
see Calli. I would have thought Callie would have hidden
her struggle from you, not even like intentionally so, but
just like, oh, I'm going to do this when no
one else is around.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
But yes, I think so too. It just was my happenstance.
If she knew that I was there, I don't think
she would have wanted me to watch, But who knows.
I can't see inside the mind of a cat. All
I know is that my respect for her is even
greater than it was before. And trust me, I had
a lot of respect for kitt and Calli.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Absolutely, to be honest with you, Scott, I don't know
Calli except over mostly Zoom. I guess have I met
her in person? I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't think so. And you know what, I think,
you've been to my house since we've had CALLI no
interest in meeting her zee.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Ro Having said that, so my respect for Calli, which
was at a zero, has now gone up to five percent.
So good Jock Kelly for showing us what hard is Scott.
With that, We're gonna seg into our guest introduction as
(07:31):
we said before our guest today. Nico Santo's very funny,
very sweet, brilliant guy. We are thrilled to be chatting
with him today. As I mentioned, I know Nico from
Happiness for Beginners, a very sweet movie directed by Vicki White.
It's out on Netflix now. I'm talking a lot about
it because I couldn't say anything about it for ten
(07:51):
years or however long the strike was, but now I
can say it. You also might know him as Matteo
on Superstore, or perhaps from the movie Crazy Rich Asians,
or maybe Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, or maybe
Muppets Mayhem. The list goes on and on. With these credits,
we are so looking forward to chatting with him. Nico
(08:12):
is going to be sharing with us his love of fashion,
design fashion.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'm especially I don't know very much about fashion, so
I'm excited to hear about it.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Get ready to learn when we come back. Nico Santos
Too Love. Okay, everybody, we are here with Nico Santo's
welcome too, Born to Love.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
To Love, set up and something.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I just lost my job. I have been the only
one singing so far, and he just gave me a
rent with my money.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Give me, give me a melody. I will join riight in.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Nico, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
It's so good to see you.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Nico and I work together. As I mentioned before, Happiness
for Beginners, a movie on Netflix. We shot that in
like twenty twenty one. It feels like in Eternity time
is bent and backwards, but one thing that isn't is
fashion design. So, Nico, you have a background in fashion design, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I majored in costume design in college. But as a kid,
I've always had an appreciation for design stuff, especially clothing.
I was born and raising the Philippines, and growing up,
I would always watch my mom get ready. My parents
owned a wine and liquor business, so she was constantly
having to host people at her home for glamorous parties.
(09:37):
So I would always watch her get ready. It was
like the whole shipbang. So I was always just sort
of like enamored by that whole process, and I would
just like look at it was like, oh gosh, so glamorous,
and I was just really super fascinated by that world.
You know, just a little gay boy growing up in
the Philippines, and I know we're talking about fashion design
and people are probably going to look at this. I'm like,
you are wearing a hoody in a baseball cappaney. I
(09:59):
just have to say, I am not a Capital F fashionista.
There are other people out there who are done up
twenty four to seven. I am just as comfortable being
a slub. But I really do have an appreciation for
the fashion shows that come out every year, for the
new handbags that are coming out of the year. Also,
that was my job for a really long time. Well,
(10:19):
I was doing comedy. I was working high end retail.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Wow, I want to know about that.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, this seems like something Ellie does not love.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Do you I have a bone to pick? Can you
tell me, Nico, if you encounter this, well, what is
the point of making a customer feel unwelcome? Do you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. And those
are just people that are bad at their job. Because
I worked high in retail. I'm so bougie.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I was.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I have to clarify high end retail. I didn't work
on all night. It was high in retail, just a
TV show exactly. That was afterlife. This is real life.
But I worked in San Francisco where it was like
stealth wealth. You didn't know. Oh yeah, some of my
biggest clients were like.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
A bunch of rich dorks.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yes. The first retail job I got was at a
store called Arthur Baron. They had a call center, and
I knew that the salespeople at their retail stores were
making big money. So I was just like, put me in, coach.
I know I can sell them as out of these shoes.
And they gave me a chance because I logged in
the most calls and the average customer was literally seventy
(11:29):
five years old. So I was just like sweet talking
to old ladies and telling them they need their ferragamos.
And this business specialized in hard to find widths of shoes.
I don't know if you were familiar shoes coming withs.
So a regular narrow is a double A, but mister
Baron carried shoes up to a quadruple A.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh my gosh, that's more narrow. Still, it's like a.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Finger with a women's size twelve in a quadruple A.
They're like, skis, how did these women survive? I know
that's what they call. I'm like, well, ma'am, if you
were a twelve quadruple A. You were in a need
all these shoes?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yes, How did you get the job making the call.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I got a job as a dresser for a theater company,
fixing costumes, running the shows, and the manager who hired
me saw that I thrived in high stress situations, so
they were like, well, put you in a call center.
And I was just like so happy that I got
the job because I was really really broke. And then
they gave me a chance at the retail store, and
(12:29):
when that job ended, I moved over to Dior, Neiman Marcus, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Chu Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, but Tega Venata was the last job I had
in retail. But Tega Venata really was like it was
a label that didn't have any logos. This logan was
when your own initials are enough, and that was such
a huge selling point. You know, women coming in like
ten thousand dollars for his handbag. I'm like, yeah, right,
(12:56):
that's when your own initials are enough.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I have a question for you. I'm unsophisticated when it
comes to all of this. My chief clothes year is
Costco or maybe Amazon Basics. So I assume that fashion
is sort of like wine insofar as everyone can enjoy it.
But if you're in the know, you can be discriminating
in a way that an idiot like me can't be.
(13:22):
So is that true, Like if you saw a Jimmy Chew,
would you be able to be like, Yep, that's that's
the one, in the same way that a somalier could
be like, oh, that's a Merlow.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I mean there's different levels to it, right, Like I
really do enjoy like going through the magazines and seeing
what's on trend, and that came from working the job
in retail and at the time, I was just like
a broke comedian, so it was a way for me
to sort of be in this world. And going back
to your thing about like white people are so rude
(13:54):
and make people feel like when they walk in the door, yep,
the salespeople will take on the persona of the brand. Yeah,
I'm like, honey, you just work here, You're not.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Every brand you named. I started sweating just thinking about
entering because I don't go into those stores that often,
and when I do, I'm just scared, yeah and unwelcome.
You just kinda walk in like you Yes, that's what
I'm gonna do next. It's either like you mean business
or you don't. So if you mean business, come talk
to me. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Certainly, there were days when I was working there, I
was like, I know this person isn't going to buy. Oh, yeah,
that's interesting, and you sense that they're going to need
a lot of attention and they're gonna end up wasting
three hours of your time.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Three hours at a shoe store, you're the perusing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh, I've had clients stay longer.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
What do they do for three hours? They already know
their side.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Niko. When you are saying you enjoicing what's going to
be on trend that season, I'm envious of that because
I would love to look forward to that. What is
it about it that makes you so happy?
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah? For me, it's the craftsmanship and the beauty and
the design of it. Having it back when it costs
a design, knowing how things are made, what techniques in
sewing and beating are a lot harder to execute. When
I worked at Dior, we're charging two thousand dollars for
cotton bag that says Dior, and people will buy it
because they want a piece of the label. But then
(15:32):
when I worked at Protecta Veneta. I was like this Vegas,
twenty thousand dollars. I can tell that the quality of
the leather is absolutely top notch. That's why when I
worked at Protecta Venata, I was a lot more comfortable
selling at that price point because I could be like, no,
you have the money, you want a quality product. This
is what you want.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
What is the most expensive? Like at the end of
when the receipt printed out.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
They do not print a receipt.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
What do they do?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Who?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, there's a printed receipt.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Wait, rite you a thank you note.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We have to write thank you us our clients.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I mean, that is such a different world.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well, that's part of the thing about selling in that
sort of level. It's about building relationships with the repeat
customers because only a handful of people can afford to
truly shop there repeatedly. You get people who saved up
their money and are treating themselves and want to buy
their their first designer handbag. But there are people who
are very wealthy who treat those stores like the gap.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
What is the hype? Can you even remember the highest priced?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
The highest When I worked at the coworker of mine
ended up selling two couture pieces. Those dresses are completely
made by hand. They'll send somebody from France to fit
those dresses for you. And each dress was over six.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Figures over six Wow.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
That's another level. But that's the thing about fashion is
like there's an entry point for everybody. It doesn't matter
if you're like super poor or super rich. Right, only
the super rich enjoy these sort of handcrafted, crazy expensive materials.
But the great thing about fashion is that those sort
of design elements trickle down.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, exactly. There was just some article I was reading
about very few people can tell the difference between a
Chanel bag and a knockoff. And I know that there
are different issues at play here, but as a Maxinista,
I should say, as a TJ Maxinista, I do love
a bargain, but again, I don't want to do that
at the expense of bad labor practices.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
The idea of it is nice because it's making fashion
accessible to anybody who's interested. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I try not to shop fast fashion brands as much
as possible.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I'm sorry to interrupt. Nigo is fast fashion like Zara.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Zara h and M Forever twenty one, where literally they
will get new styles like every day that's crazy, and
it's just about churning, churning, churning new product. They'll watch
a fashion show and then literally the next day they'll
have a knockoff of that design, and it's just shady
labor practices.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You want to be very conscious and careful about where
you're buying what. But I will say the idea that
something is worth that much money is reassuring because when
you're looking at somebody say, oh, well, this is why
this is priced so high because it is like a
work of art.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, exactly. And I didn't feel like I was tricking
my client and to spending this amount of money, because girl,
I mean, look what you're buying. And I've talked clients
out of stuff before. People were just like, I really
want this bag, and I'm like, I know you want
this bag because Paris Hilton cared this bag. But you
(18:41):
will love this for two months and then you'll be
tired of it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
You're a very upstanding sales person.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
They should be writing you to thank you notes if
you're talking about a twenty thousand dollars back.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That's what I wanted to ask. Has there ever been
a time when you felt a little bit icky about
selling a piece to someone, not piece.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
But you know there are your sales quotas, so at
the end of the quarter, when you haven't met that
quota yet, you are calling just like hey, missus someone
so I know you were just here a couple of weeks,
but I just got in this beautiful hand than ship.
Please come in. I need to feed myself.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And would they like, do you think they're aware? Nico,
no offense.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
If you could charm me into it, I may be like,
thank you, I know what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They are aware, and you know which clients you can
depend on for certain things. I have clients that would
only buy during the sale period. But then there are
those two came back like every other month.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I just wanted to bring it back to your childhood
caause something you mentioned before we started recording was that
comic books somehow played a role in the whole fashion Yes, yes,
which is a surprise to me. When I was a child,
I liked comics and have not fallen in love with fashion,
So where where was that connection?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
When I was kid and did collect a lot of
comic books, I was like a huge X Men Explores,
Excalibur and For a little while, I thought that I
was going to grow up to be a comic book artist,
and so, yeah, an artist. Yeah, So I would draw
and invent my own superheroes. Then when it came to
(20:19):
the women, I would start drawing not only their superhero costume,
but what they would wear for the day.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Oh, Nico, I love that. How old were you do
you think when you were doing this? This?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Or like first and second grade? And that was one
of the reasons my mom wasn't surprised that I was gay.
She's like, you know, when you told me you're gay,
I was not surprised because your homework when you were
a kid, your homework gowns on the You would draw
(20:54):
these gowns as a kid on the back of your homework.
So I thought, I think it's gay, that's yeah. So
she was not surprised at all.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Please tell me you still have those sketches.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
They're probably in the Philippines somewhere.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I do this every morning. I look at my closet.
Nothing new has appeared, nothing has changed since the night before.
But I'm always expecting to like put together that outfit
that's going to make me feel like I'm taking on
the day. Yeah, and it never happens. I don't have
an eye for it. I've accepted it. But do you
feel better when you are.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
When you're put together? Yeah, you do feel better. I mean, listen,
there are days when I'm feeling really crappy where I'm
just like, you know what, today is a sweatpants and
hoodie day. But there are days where I'm just like,
maybe you should get out of the house and get
some air and yep, try and feel a little bit
better about yourself. And I will go through my closet
and be like, what can I put on to feel
(21:52):
like I am just a million dollars?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That's it?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And I really relish that fact. I'm also the type
of person who might wait you so much. I've been
skinny and fat all my life. I'm like Liberaci, I
have so many different sizes in my closet.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I was gonna ask Nico about this. This may be apocryphal,
but I'm a sort of the Barack Obama fashion school.
What's that When he was president he was like, I
want to wear the same suit every single day because
his reasoning was like, I make enough decisions during the
day deciding what I'm gonna wear is not worth the effort.
(22:29):
I am like that, except I don't make very important decisions.
I'm just lazy. This Amazon Basics red sweater that I'm wearing,
it's been worn several times this week. Of course, once
you're in a groove, is there anything wrong with staying
in that groove?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Nah?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Here's the thing that really annoys me about being a
public figure is that people expect you to be in
new clothes every single day of your life. I don't
prescribe to that. I buy clothing because I love that
piece and I want to wear it more than what.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
That's exactly right. Kate Middleton, Princess Princess Middleton, I just
call her Kate.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We're friends, really, because I'm more of a Meghan boy myself.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
She famously wears clothes twice, doesn't she? She wears stuff occasionally,
she'll wear a well priced item.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I think that we're holding her to a pretty low
bar if we're patting her on the back for wearing
an item of clothing two times.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Do you think Queen Victoria would have done that, Scott,
I think times are a change in Queen Victoria.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I don't want I don't want to start on queens me,
what is your favorite garment of all time? In the
spirit of re wearing stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I'm not fitting into it right now, but there is.
I have a teal leather bomber jacket.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Teal bomber jacket. I love it. I'm loving it for
the record, googling this right now.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
It's really cute and I love it. I love the
way it fits on me. I love the way it's got.
So that's one of the pieces I love.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
What about you, Ellie, you have a favorite article of clothing.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I don't. I don't have appreciation. I think of the
artistry that goes into it, Like when you are having
a wardrobe fitting for work. Okay, how strong an opinion
do you have about what the character is wearing. I
never do. I very rarely do, because I don't trust
myself to have a good view of how some thing
(24:21):
should look.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Do you I do. It's actually the part of the
process I look forward to the most because you developed
the character in your head. But for me, the last
piece of the puzzle is the costume.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So when I go into a fitting, I really enjoy
that process of seeing what they've pulled and if it's
not what I was picturing. Then I'm not shy about
having a conversation of like can we gravitate towards these lines,
these silhouettes. And it's never a conversation of like I
wanna look hot. It's always like, how does the clothing
serve the character of the world. And it depends on
(24:55):
the production because when I was working on Superstore, some
of the clothes they put my character in were like
our money Paul smanth and I'm like, he works at
a big box store, Like, why is there an eight
hundred dollar card again on me? I'm not complaining, right,
I love it. There are certain projects like for Marvel,
for Guardians, costume designers at that level, I wouldn't dare
(25:15):
give notes on something they created because I'm just like,
this is Goodture.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I've always had this thing where if you walk into
a room and you address a certain way, it does
sort of speak before you do. This is so funny, Scott.
I was actually thinking of you specifically.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Oh, I'm terrified of what's about to come out of
your mouth.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's a very nice thing. You always look respectful, you
always have.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I always look like a high school history teacher.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
That's the most respectful of all. When you put a
little bit of attention and care into your appearance, it
speaks a good volume about how you approach the world.
That you're conscientious and you're considerate.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, I totally agree, But you sort of pull yourself
together a little bit really does sort of like it
changes your outlook and the way people see you. I mean,
that's the thing like walking into the fancy stores. Let
me tell you the way I'm treated when I walk
in in a hoodie versus when I'm put together to
shop for the day, And it is very different when
I'm actually wearing my door bag and they're like, right, oh, sir,
(26:18):
can I get you a glass of water like a temper?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I gotta start chopping it to your Bringing champagne to
the customers.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
They don't do that at Amazon Basics, No, they sure don't.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Not a Costco.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
That is our trick, honey. Yes, when people come in
and you know that this is going to be a
two hour session, that's the first thing we bring out.
Champaion coffee, prosecco.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Oh my gosh, that would trap me. If you get
a drunkie buying high end clothing.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I love it. This has been outstanding, Miko. If you
have time, would you stick around for a little game
that we like to play with our guests.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I have nothing to do today, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So the way this game works, Nico is we're going
to just fire a couple of topics that you okay,
and all you have to do is tell us if
you love them or you love them.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
You can't be lukewarm up. I kind of like it. No, No,
that has no place here.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I like this game already.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
All right, here we go. We'll jump right in as
a shoe aficionado. Love it or loathe it? Toe shoes
still load it?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Absolutely loath it? Yeah no, just we're sue.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's the right answer.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
So you'd recommend I get rid of mine.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
There maybe is a function to that design, but it
is atrocious to look at.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Fair enough, Okay, Nico, love it or loathe it? Karaoke
love it.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
I'm Filipino, honey all the time.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
What's your go to?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
This is how we do it? Mantel Jordan anything by
Rick Ashley?
Speaker 1 (27:57):
What is rick? As is escaping me? Right now?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
We're gonna give you up the luck, dude.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
There never around, Nico. You are taking my job as
in house singing. But that's fine. I gratefully pass the baton.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Now do you like be karaoke songs or do you
like sort of like slow jam ballady songs.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I want a ballad song that's like sort of haunted Halo.
Of course.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
No, no get here by Aletta Adams. You who reached
me by well way, you who reached me by tray way.
Remember that. I don't care how you get.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Get here when you can. Now we see our voices
side by side, and we see who's winning. It's uniko.
But I love that song.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
That's a great karaoke song.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Do you know what, Scott, I am so terrified of this.
I was terrified of the shoes, terrified of the fashion,
terrified of the songs. I was literally before you guys
started soulfully singing, I was gonna be like, what about
Disney songs? Are those good ones? Because my go to
is under the Sea.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I mean, that's a great one.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Thank you for validating me, Scott, don't question yourself. Well,
thank you. I gotta love it or loath it for you.
Nico as a comic book fashion expert pouches on belt.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Pouches and bells loathe it. I'm just like, carry a purse, hilarious,
carry a purse?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Wait, does that extend to like a fanny patch? Like
in real life? That's a pouch on a belt, right.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I know it's super trendy, but I don't like fanny packs.
I like wearing the fanny pack as a crossbody.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That's what I do.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nico.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, I don't like having that extra bulk on your waist.
I already got a belly. I don't need.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I don't need a pouch on pouch.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, belly on belly. We don't like.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Nico love it or loathe it? Big box stores, Oh
love it.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I love it. My absolute favorite thing to do actually
is go to Costco.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There we go, Kindred spirits. I'm suddenly feeling comfortable again. Costco?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
What do you love about it?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Every Costco is localized, so they all have different items
for sale. The whole experience is a fun discovery maze.
And before meeting me, my fiance Zeke was not a
Costco person and didn't understand the point of Costco. Uh oh,
and I was just like, honey, we are gonna need
(30:19):
laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper, towel. Yeah, dishwash is soap.
The sheetcake come.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
On, Oh you had a sheet cake?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Sheetcake joke, It's like a blanket size.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
It's so good. Guys. I'm in the wilds of Manhattan.
There's not a Costco that close to me.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
When are you gonna be in Los Angeles, LA? We
should go to Costco.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm there all summer, so watch out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Love it or loads it? Nico. You I noticed I
have one of my dream credits is a Muppets credit,
so I have to ask love it or loads it?
Working with Puppets love it?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
It was great. I only did a day of the Muppets,
but it was truly just like, I cannot believe that
Animal and Zuit are just two feet away from me.
This is insane.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Would you look at that puppeteer or the puppet.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It was very easy to forget that the puppeteer was there. Yeah,
because you've known the Muppets since you were a kid.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
It is magic.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
There was a moment where we hadn't shot our scene yet,
and I was walking around and I stumbled upon Animal
talking to a bunch of kids. And the way these
kids faces lit up, they were just so like, oh
my god, what is this creature that I'm talking to?
It was really really amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Okay, Nico, you claim you love working with puppets, love
it or low that working with me the.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Love at Hello, that's the right answer. That truth was
so much fun. I miss our crew.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I miss our crew, Scott. All of these I'll call
them children. They weren't really. It felt like they were
all in their twenties, felt so young in him. But
we were all just like hiking in the woods. It
was It was fun.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
It was really great.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, that's the end of our game. Nico. We have
so enjoyed talking with you today. Thank you for being
on Born to Love. We loved having you.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It was
really good to see you after all this time.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I know.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Thanks for listening to Born to Love. We'll be back
next week with brand new things that we love.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you love. We
might even ask one of our guests in an upcoming
love it or Load it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Born to Love is hosted and created by Ellie Kemper
and Scott Ecker.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Our executive producer is Aaron Coffman. Our producers Areshena Ozaki
and Zoe Danklab.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Born to Love is part of Will Ferrell's Big Money
Players Network in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts. Special thanks to
Hans Sonny.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Rachel Kaplan and Adrianna Cossiano
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Michael Fails, Alex Coral, and Baheied Frazier
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.