3105: Meme Cherry's Big Bake

Rod and Karen are joined by Meme Cherry, the host of the Series of Fortunate Events Podcast, to discuss her podcast origin story, drag culture, how getting catfished led to her sobriety, fitness, photoshoots, and her upcoming anti-roast show, Meme's Big Bake.

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MeMe's Big Bake Tickets

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I listen to The Black Guy Who Tips podcast because
Rod and Karen are hot.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hey, welcome to the Black Guy Who Tells podcast. I
am your pilot Rod and I've joined as always by
my co pilot Karen, and we are here to get
you to your destination, wherever that may be.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yes, wherever that may be.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Okay, it might be a little turbulent. All right, we're
gonna be cruising at a nice altitude. But we're not alone.
We have a guest, first time guest on our show.
I've been a guest on her show a few times.
It is the host of the series of Fortunate Events podcasts,
Mimi Cherry.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
What's going on girl? Oh my god, I'm here.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Hi, Hello, bojour. Hello to your listeners. This is to
an honor and thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh no, dope, you could be here. I feel like
you're really good at like promoting as well. I didn't
even really like whenever we have a guest, it's like you, like, hey,
can you give us pictures for the like show art
and stuff? And so Mimi always has these fabulous pictures
and as I go to send a picture out to
promote the show today, like the way it captured. The

(01:26):
screenshot is just like one hundred percent boobs my boobs.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
I was just like, oh, she's Oh, I see what
she did, genius.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
You know what's funny is that.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
So I just got back from a trip and like
I caught like a twenty four bugs. So I'm sorry
if I sound a little stuffy, but I could not
miss this. And as soon as I got off the plane,
I had just enough time to nap and then go
into the city and work the door for a fundraiser
for my drag mom.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
And after a while I kept seeing everybody would look
at me, but.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Then look down, look at me, and then look down,
and then like the money just kept dropping into the bucket.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
And then I went on to my drag mom and
I said.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
I see what you're doing. I know why you put
me at the door. Anyways, good morning.

Speaker 5 (02:08):
Present, it matters.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's all about we work our ass set.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
Yes, it's good a return on them. Mimi, Can you
tell me?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Can you tell everybody about a series of fortune and
events like where to find it?

Speaker 5 (02:24):
What exactly the podcast is about?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (02:28):
Please and thank you. Series of Fortunate Events aka Sophie
Pod is my little brain child. I like to say
it's like a fun little hang with a friend. I
used to say that it was the love child of
Barbara Walters and Andy Cohen, but it got dated and problematic,
so now to.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Say, I mean, I like to sometimes make up with
my guests.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
But even that I stopped doing because even that kind
of became problematic because I was like, I don't know,
this is not that's so good in twenty twenty five.
But anyways, it's a fun little it's a fun little hang.
It's part interview, part games. And speaking of promoting, I
thank you for giving me a chance to come here
because I'm on my promoting a kind of bandwagon. August seventh,

(03:12):
Oasis in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
I'm bringing you the first the Bay Areas first reverse roast.
What is a reverse roast?

Speaker 4 (03:19):
I hear both of you asking in a dark world
that is scary and threatening enough. I don't I'm not
down with like the original roasts. But I started playing
with this concept with my friends and I was like,
what about a reverse roast where we're nice to each
other but in a cunty way, And enough.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
People laughed at it that I've decided to produce it.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
As a show, but we're also doing some classic stand
up comedy, some classic drag, and my fun little podcast
games as part of Sophie pod Live twenty twenty five.
So August seventh, San Francisco Oasis.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Come on down.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
They're giving me a deal in terms of the tickets
if they're very well priced for a podcast show in
San Francisco. So come support queer art especially not more
than ever. We need to thank you.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
First of all, that sounds dope. You're calling it a
bake instead of a rose. So is it yees that
because you're building things?

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Is it you're gonna say that three fifty three five?
What's the temperature?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
A cute little four twenty five in the beginning, and
then we drop it down a three fifty Okay, I like.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
To do with that.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
I'm also in the process of starting a micro bakery.
I like to bake, so it's just kind of like
bringing the world together. I actually I brought this out
at a recent event. It is my baky hole, and
so I was having people taste my baked goods with
a baked version of a something whole.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Yeah, I say that looks familiar.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Okay, that's that's actually kind of maybe that is how
I get into gloryholes.

Speaker 5 (04:50):
They just have food.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
They're just handing you like I mean, can you imagine it? Yeah, Like, honestly,
that should be a whole restaurant. That should be how
they get the food is like your order is up
for the Croissians and it just a handsticks.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Out and.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
And it's a golden gloved hand to Yeah, of course
you know, and you see the tensation.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
This is how the Pokemon catches me.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
A Pokemon is I got something for you?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I think I would like if they had it like
at wasste height, I wouldn't I get on my knees
to eat Like the croissant right there?

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Absolutely delicious.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
What it's a baky hole.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Nobody cares about the golden hand. It's absolutely delicious.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Go on my Instagram you'll see at oak Lash I
brought it out and you can tell who the gays
are because they immediately got on one knee.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
We had a lot going on, But let me get
back to Okay, So Sophie Pod Series of Fortune and
the events, how'd you come up with the name? And
like I said, if people tune into an episode, what
shoul day expect?

Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yes, well, so I like to highlight and feature what
I believe are interesting people. So they can be people
like you Rod, they can be people like my drag mom,
Mama Celeste.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
They can be just SHAWNA. Christmas. I had SHAWNA.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
Christmas on during my Vegas sprint April Brucker, who's a ventriloquist.
I just find these people fascinating in one way or another,
and I like to like hang out with them, and
then I like to play silly games.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
The name, you know, it's funny.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
I've been asked this question a few times, and part
of it was shout out my podfather. Your podfather too,
were part of the same pod family, Keith Malley from
Keith and the Girl, and many many years ago they
put out the Guide to Podcasting that like, I literally
still have the print out here. And it was doing
one of those exercises that I came up with the name,

(06:45):
and I really I dug it out, hoping that I
had written notes, but I didn't. But I know that
part of it was me looking around my room and
I had the books because I love the books Series
of Unfortunate Events, and shout out the Netflix series.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
It's really really good. Too, but the books are.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
Great and I can't remember exactly what it was that
made me pick that and flip it, but I think
there was something about now that I think about it more,
I think the fact that it was four words, because
then I could make it sofe kind of like katG
and it all roads lead back to Keith Malley and
I'm the Khalili, so.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, you know what that Like I said, that's
definitely the inspiration for our podcast.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
We would not have had this show if.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
If I had not heard them, and specifically ironically heard
someone try to insult them by being like, your job
is easy, and then they get the whole episode about
like if it's so.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
Easy, why don't you do it?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Dude?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, And obviously to me it sounded like a lot
of work, but it also was like, oh wait, yeah,
you could do it. You don't need to wait on
someone to like come tell you to start a show.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
How long have you been doing?

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Sophie pod since twenty seventeen? And funny enough before my
eighty D brak aighty D brain forgets. Keith Malley is
also a big inspiration for The Big Bake because he
I would tell him about drag roasts, and drag roasts
are just as cutting, if not more than, like your
average stand up comedian roast. And it was Keith asking me,

(08:12):
would you ever do a roast that really got the
ball rolling? So a shadow Keith Malley because he also
is the inspiration for Mimitarry's Big Bake. But yes, I
started in twenty seventeen. It was what I call like
a cute little art project. It was audio only, my
first microphone and it's funny. I see people using them
now and I'm like the blue, the snow blue horn,

(08:33):
blue something.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
Yeah, we had it. We had the blue snowball.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
I think that was like the intro that was like
you get a podcast. Everybody's like, here goes.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Your blue snowball.

Speaker 6 (08:42):
Mike.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
And because I come from the school again if this
is a drinking game, you're gonna be drunk if Keith
Malley is the word. But having such high standards being
a Keith and the girl listener, hearing my own stuff,
I was like, oh no, I gotta step my game up.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
So at that time, my roommate.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Is he's still with us is an audio file, and
he took me down the road of I wonder if
I can pick it up. I like invested in my
Scarlet Focus right years ago, and I mean literally since
twenty seventeen, and it's gone to New York with me,
it's gone to Los Angeles with me, it's gone to
Las Vegas with me, and it's been tried and true,

(09:24):
and I just I then in the pandemic. So the
other thing is that it was an our project for
a long time and I would pick it up and
put it down, pick it up, put it down, neurospicy brain,
ADHD also day job, moving whatever, right And in the pandemic,
I started it again and I started doing zoom podcasts.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Then I put it down again and.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Then I credit my Sweet Drag friends Phoebe Cakes and
Angel food Cakes who have in my crumble opinion, and
I started seeing them their podcast on YouTube and I
got jealous and I was like, I want to hang
out with my friends again. And at that time, I'm
some other friends of mine who are venue owners in
Oakland had opened a new venue.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Fluid five ten. So I started.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
I bought a camera, I upgraded again the setup, and
I started doing the in person video podcasts in It
was two years ago in the summer and then last
year because it cost me a lot of money between
the ubers and then buying everybody drinks and like buying
them food. I decided, Okay, let's start recording these again

(10:28):
on zoom or like here in my apartment or I
can come to places. And I made it a goal
this year to be actually serious about it and like
make it a proper business.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
So Mimitary Productions is now an LLC. And I made
it a.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Goal that every Monday in your feed, you're going to
have a series of Fortune Events podcasts. And that means
going and saying like I did a few weeks ago
when I went to Vegas and I made two months
worth of podcasts in one week, and I was delirious
by the end.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
But dedication funny, But there in the.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
Can it's funny to me too, because like.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
The I don't know what your business model could possibly
be because you are one of the most generous hosts,
and I like I she like she. I thought she
was making a joke when I was on the show.
She was like, oh, you know, every guest you know,
try to get him something and blah blah blah, And
I was like, yeah, that's cute, you know.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
What I mean, it's podcast who expects me?

Speaker 2 (11:24):
You know, it's like when people show your hang out
and it's cool as hopefully some people come listening to
you and they think you're cool. You know, that's that's it.
That's been the ex shame. And then she's like, what's
your melon and dress? And I got not only a
T shirt but also uh twenty dollars like like like
a dirt like style, like yeah, like like here you

(11:45):
go like stuff it in my in my bra or whatever,
you know.

Speaker 5 (11:47):
I like, you know, like, what's that I here? Oh?

Speaker 2 (11:50):
And I was like and I and like I get
home and like, you know, I open the package.

Speaker 5 (11:54):
I sit down.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
I was like it's like fake like Meani cherry money,
Like I want to look on it, like, oh I
see it's like a souvenir. Yeah, you're like, you know
it's it's literally twenty dollars. And we were talking or something.
I'm like maybe I like dm' or something.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
But you pink me.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
You were like what the fuck?

Speaker 5 (12:11):
Yeah? I was yeah. I was like, hey, did you
like this?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Just to you were like what is this money?

Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Well you're backing this up and like and like, all
of a sudden, the twenty dollars like flew down in
there by accident and you asked my twenty.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Right, And she's like and she's like, I told you.
Everybody gets like something were coming on the show. And
I was like, oh, you meant that. I thought that
was a joke. A T shirt is putting something.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
I have stickers around here from.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Her, There's I have plenty of stuff that but it
was very nice, but it also made me think, you
do all these other selffes. I'm like, how are you
even staying afloat because I feel like every time you'll
guess you know that's gotta be hard.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
Well, I will be honest.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
I do have a day job, and I have a
very well paying day job that I am trying very
hard right now, and I'm literally investing into these side
hustles to grow them so that someday when I don't
survive a layoff five years from now, ten years from now,
please let it be ten years from now that this

(13:17):
has been built to the point that it can replace that.
And so I'm very much an investment mode right now.
A B in this economy, I don't think it's fair
that if you have the means to not share it
with other people, especially working performers, especially working artists. And
it's interesting because it also just literally helps me sleep

(13:39):
at night, because you know, in my day job, I'm
surrounded by people who make stupid money, like ridiculous money,
Like I'm how many, however many steps away from like
one of the richest men in the world. And I'm
also surrounded by starving artists literally like friends of mine
that like, you know, do ten gigs just to barely
pay the rent. And like I either like shoes with

(14:01):
holes in them, and I'm like, what size are you?
I have shoes that are brand new in my closet.
Let me get into you.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
And so.

Speaker 4 (14:06):
And then when I started the Patreon, it just it
just didn't feel right to like take money, and again
in this economy, right when I'm doing so well, to
be taking money and not redistributing the wealth. So that
kind of the Patreon became the funnel for the redistribution
of the wealth. And I'm hoping that at some point

(14:27):
between the Patreon monetizing YouTube, you know, brand sponsorships. That's
why I'm here, like making cute little like content that.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Just feels like their ads.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
Because I'm hoping someday somebody will buy them from me.
I'm just building right now, and we build together, you know.

Speaker 5 (14:44):
Yeah, No, that's dope.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Like I said, it was not expected, but at the
same time it was.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
It was welcome.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
You know, I still got that twenty dollars in my
wallet right now, just in case some shit happened. It's
always good to have cash on you.

Speaker 5 (14:56):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
For real, I looked at it, like, what is this
foreign piece of paper?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, now you brought up earlier back in the day,
you used to make out with guests sometimes on the show,
Like what was that about? Like was that like part
Like was it a segment it's like and now we
make out or was it like you were feeling the
vibe from the guests, Like how did that work?

Speaker 4 (15:18):
You know, it's funny. It's more of a joke than anything.
So when we were recording at Fluid five ten, and
it was funny. It started I think with like the
Nikky episode. So my camera times out at twenty nine minutes,
and I've built in that whenever I'm recording with the canon,
we have a commercial break, and so I started joking
when we would fire up the camera like, oh we
were in the back making out. We weren't, but it

(15:41):
just became like a running joke that like we would
take a commercial break to go make out, maybe touch
a little maybe like whatever. And then in one episode,
one of my sweet friends, Beef Beefcakes kiss me on camera.
They were like, oh, well, would you like to do
it on camera? And I was like and then and
then for a while, I was joking, so in here

(16:02):
in the bar, I'm in the San Francisco area, and
we have like one of the publications does like the
Bay Area's Best like every year that people vote, and
so I was joking that we should handwrite the most
H word podcast in the Bay Area. H word doesn't horny.
But I grew up a little bit in the last
year and a half and I realized that, you know,

(16:24):
my branding is not that and I just, you know,
I do.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Feel like, you know, like it's so interesting because like
we had obviously Me Too movement, people came more aware
of like consent culture, sexuality, like people's hidden like things.
So like maybe like we would find out like oh
yeah this this the person did a show and they
made out, but then like later they write a blog
like I didn't feel comfortable, So I definitely feel you

(16:48):
on that where you're like, I.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Don't, you know, want to make anybody feel uncomfortab.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yeah, it's a little scary.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
And then I think, and I also got sober, like literally,
like getting sober changed my life in so many ways.
And I was doing a lot of inappropriate things, and
I was putting myself in danger, and I was doing
stupid things because I was drunk a lot, and so
that was like a big shift completely in my life.
I'm now thirteen months California sobering.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
But no alcohol right right now, I totally understand.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
It's interesting because also I think there's this line between
like sex positivity spaces, and then there's like you know,
but there's also you have to be informed and have
consent and all this stuff, so like sex positivity and
playing with sex, especially in areas where it's been taboo,
where it's been courting off where so you like want

(17:43):
to encourage people to be like let their freak flags fly,
but at.

Speaker 5 (17:47):
The same time, everyone's.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Flagged might fly a little a little higher, a little
lower than their friends. So so yeah, like but it
is cool because I do think about, like there was
a time when it was like that, what a cool
thing to did?

Speaker 5 (18:00):
A good example for me is Lizzo.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Like Lizzo if it was nineteen ninety six, the Lizzo
story of like we went to the strip club, we
was fucking eating story, that's like if that was Madonna,
It's like, you guys have the best boss in the
fucking world?

Speaker 5 (18:19):
How hard right? How do I get on this story?
But twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Is like, yea, so did they ask you about eating
the coachure of bananas or did they make you eat
so like it?

Speaker 5 (18:31):
I totally feel you on that when you talk.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
About being sober and how like you felt like you
were putting yourself in a danger position. What was like
the craziest thing you think like, was there a moment
where you're like, this is rock bottom?

Speaker 5 (18:46):
I ain't doing this shit? Why I got stopped?

Speaker 3 (18:47):
When I got catfished? Id cat fished?

Speaker 4 (18:51):
That was that was for sure my breaking point. And
it's funny because today this afternoon is the birthday party
for one of my friends, and not.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Last year, but the year before.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
It was at that birthday party that I had just
been realizing that I had been catfished, and I started
playing with my sobriety. At that time, I did seventy
five hard and so there was a few things that happened. So, oh,
so seventy five hard is this like fitness slash life

(19:25):
changing modality that for seventy five days, you let me
rattle them off, you drink a gallon of water, you
work out twice, one of them has to be outside
each for forty five minutes, you have to read ten
pages of nonfiction, you can't have any junk food, and
then like maybe something else that is hard, and so yeah,

(19:46):
oh it was, and like I felt very accomplished. But
I used it as an excuse to visit my relationship
with alcohol because at that time it was easier for
me to say I'm not drinking because of seventy five hard.
Then I'm not because I think I might be an
alcoholic And so yeah, so I got catfished, and that
like really fucked with me, Like it really fucked with me,

(20:08):
And so I was like, maybe you know, I'm just
not making good choices, and let's start with this choice.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Let's remove this catfish.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Like you just you met someone through the internet and
just like, did you meet them in person or did
you like?

Speaker 4 (20:21):
How did you do you want the cat I'll give
you the capfish story, So go ahead, and I've so
I'm still on dating profiles.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
At that time, I was trying like a new one
and some.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Dating apps are better about filtering people than others. And
let's just say this one have no filter system, right,
And I at that time also and I want so,
I watched this YouTube show called social Catfish and I've
been watching it and so I've been learning about some
of the ways that catfishing happens. There's different ways, and

(20:58):
so I have that in the back of my mind,
but I'm still kind of naive at this point in
terms of like online dating. I had met a lot
of people over the years through online dating, like I've
been very successful with apps, and so, honestly.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
In a weird way, I think being part of kg
KTG community, yes, would make it actually easier to get
catfish because we have had so many friendships and people
that we've met through the Internet to where it's like
who the fuck would be the weird? Oh, who is
lying about who they are? Who the fuck cares who
you are? Just be yourself? And show up and have

(21:31):
a good time. So I could see that like actually
working against you.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you well yes,
And so anyways, I meet this guy on an app
and we go onto what's app. First red flag, even
though some people do use what'sapp, what'sapp very catfish heavy friendly,
like they love WhatsApp, they love Signal, they love like
all those things. And so we start messaging and he

(21:56):
was playing the long game. Long story short, it was
basically what they call a pig butchering scam. And so
what it is is it's a very long con and
he's like messaging me every day and I remember the
first weird one was like, oh, how was your day today,

(22:16):
and like, oh, I met with the CEO and he
was late, and because he was late, we had to
like cancel the deal and that means that I have
to pay for Like it was just weird, Like it
was really weird, but like this posturing of like power
basically I'm now realizing. And then he would send me
they because I don't even know who they are, they
would send me pictures of like a dinner that they

(22:39):
went to or like presence they got their niece and
then suddenly they started talking about how they invest on
the side. I also have an investment portfolio right that
includes crypto, and I'm not dumb about this, and I'm
not new to this, right, which saved me in a way.
And so he's telling me about you know, but I

(22:59):
also know that, like, I'm limited in terms of what
I know with crypto, and I've lost money in crypto,
so like, I'm very like, you know, skittish when it
comes to crypto. Anyways, long story short, he is showing
me like what he's making on crypto, and he wants
to teach me, and so he sends me to this
website that is like and mind you, I know about crypto,

(23:22):
and I know about crypto exchanges, and so let's say
like chain link, right is like a crypto code. He
sends me to chain linen dot com and it looks
like an exchange.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Wow, it's not really.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
And because I watched this social catfish YouTube show, I
know that there's these fake websites that they set up
and you put your money in.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
But long story shirt, you never get it out.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Right, and it looks like you're making money, and they
make it look like you're making money but when you
try to get your money out, they want to charge
you or they want to this so they like you
never get your money back. And part of it too
was he was trying to like get me to buy bitcoin,
and like what I was doing was like because also
a lot of these apps now know about catfishing and

(24:11):
like these scams, if you're trying to buy a lot
of bitcoin, they like kind of slow you down.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
And the cat was like no, no, no, hurry up, hurry up, and.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
Was like sending me screenshots with like little circles and
arrows and like you know, like a and it's like bro.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
And that's part of the thing is that they like
they try to pressure.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
You and ma to us now.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
And then I was like, hey, this is making me nervous.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
I don't really want to do this right now.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
And then he got mean and he got aggressive, which
is another part of the scheme. And then along the
way he had sent me like little intimate pictures and
like all I had done was kind of like oh
a little like would see like, you know, nothing too crazy.
He sent those back to me trying to like blackmail me,
like trying to scare me, and I said.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
I will post that on my Instagram right now. Bro, Yeah,
I'm gonna you know.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
The wrongin He was like, where they say, oh.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Wow, I will post them myself. You're not doing anything special.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
But I also know that like people have like killed
themselves because of threats like that, you know, and like
and so and so. Long story short, I realized at
that point that I'm being catfished.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I feel.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
I realized at the point that I'm being scammed. I
got really angry for like twenty four hours, and I
was like, fuck you, you're a scammer, blah blah blah
da da, and then mind you and again because I
watched this social catfish show, I know that if you
fall enough for a scam, you get put into a database.
Why did that number last year? Try to reach out
to me talking about what's your dog's name? And whenever

(25:42):
we're going to hang out? Wow, I get brought up
in the in the in the roller decks number you
can and this inflation you got on my list that
I would talk to would know my dog's name.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
A They were like, it's been a year. Let's see
if she forgot, you know, Let's see if she's Let's
see if she's drinking again, maybe she's slipping.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
You know.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
I literally checked my phone records to make sure it
was the same number, and I said, and I texted
them back and I said, you thought I wouldn't forget about.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
You, right, That's but you know, it's funny too because
I remember listening to a podcast that was about women
who get I forget what the type, what the name
of it was.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
There was romance scam. It was a romance scam, and
it was like.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Accomplished women that were getting romance scammed. And they have
multiple women that they interviewed on it. And one of
the biggest problems is that there's a lot of shame
around it because there's like a I'm too smart and
to accomplish to have been a person that sent money
to Nigerian scammer or whatever. So then this epic we
will never know how many people it really is because like,

(26:50):
who the fuck is gonna come forward.

Speaker 5 (26:51):
And be like it was me? I know, I'm the
CEO of.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Such a sound, but it was very shameful, like there
was a lot of shame of attached to it, and
these women felt like they couldn't tell anyone in the
first place. And then also, of course the romantic feelings
right like you, because in real life, if you're an
accomplished woman, it's hard to find men that don't have

(27:16):
some weird ass hang up about like you got more
than me, or you're doing better than me, or you
don't quote unquote need me or whatever, right.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
And so like life, So finding somebody online that Mike.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Doesn't feel that doesn't make you feel that way and
just and can it can be like anyway, it can
be very disarmy, and they're and at the same time
it's like and maybe I need some help my daughter's
having and so you're like, yeah, of course I'll help you,
like you like you don't have a hang up about
me helping you're not gonna come back, and then bam,
motherfucker's a catfish.

Speaker 5 (27:47):
So I definitely hear like I don't.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
I think, yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
What's wild too, And there's so many layers to these
types of scams. So and I and I'm realizing now
in real time. So from I'm watching that show, I
know that sometimes there's this like superhero kind of I'm
labeling it that this superhero scam where this third layer
scammer comes in like, oh, I can help you get

(28:14):
your money back. And I cut a clip from a
podcast of talking about this and I put it on TikTok,
And every other week there's somebody posting a comment I
can help you get your money back.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
If you've been scammed, I just delete them.

Speaker 5 (28:28):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
But you can.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
Tell that it's that third layer of the scam. That's fine,
and it's wild.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
It's wild out here, folks.

Speaker 5 (28:37):
Yeah, Cam, were you about to say something?

Speaker 6 (28:39):
Oh, I was about to say when you was talking
about the women the romantic scam.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, and the thing about it, I realized this. I
will continue to say this.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
Everybody thinks that they above getting got, but everybody gets got,
but everybody wants to pretend like they never got got.
This is and then they want to blame you for
being a sucker for getting God when at some period
of time, everybody is got by somebody, and that's the problem.
It's like, it's like, yeah, people should not feel ashamed
for coming in.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
The technology got.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
The technologies also improved.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
I remember when I got got, it wasn't obviously a
romance scam because I'm like, so, you know, in.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
Love, but they hit me up on.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
I was doing a podcast, I got a phone call
from my bank. According to the call, I d and
I'm like, what the fuck is my bank calling for?
And my bank is you know, the person is on
the line. They have certain information they've probably gotten off
of some website or something, so they know enough to
make me feel like, Okay, this is really a call
from my bank. And as they're talking to me, they're like, hey,

(29:44):
so we got this feed that on your account that
looks like maybe someone charge something that's not right and
where you know, we just need to verify dada, and
like I'm just keep in mind. In my mind, I'm
also freaking out because our podcast is live and so
like Karen and Justin are code hosting it now without me,
and I'm like, shit.

Speaker 5 (30:03):
I gotta get back like this like this is important.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
You feel that pressure of like, oh I gotta get
this in right away.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yes, And so I ended up like doing like giving
him like whatever the thing was right, and so.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
As I'm.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
I think it was like my pen, I think they
needed my pin number. I think they even had my
card everything, which is like, hey bank, what the fuck bank? Anyway,
but I was like I was like, man, they got
all this information or whatever, and so I give him
like the pin code I think on the phone, and
I'm like, yes's this and they're like, okay, yeah, so
we got the fee taking off.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
Don't worry about it, blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
And also I had looked online at my account and
there was like a mysterious looking fear or whatever, but
that could have been.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Which they probably had. They probably charged tried to charge something.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Right, they tried and it was pending, meaning they probably
had tried to charge something knowing it was gonna not
go through because they didn't have my pin number. But
then as we're doing the show, I'm seeing like, wait,
now something did go through. Now something else? Yeah, the
public's in Florida. What the fuck? And so I called
the real bank and was like what the fuck. And
they're like, oh, that's a scam. Now it says something

(31:16):
about the real bank in our state of society that they.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Were immediately like, yeah, you got scam. We're giving you
all the money.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Back because we know what you like.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
It was no hassle because and they were like, and
this is happening a lot. I went to the actual
bank in person the next day and they were like, oh, yeah,
this happens all the time. And I was just thinking
all the time, right, and I'm like, dog, we are
just out here with the wolves. And once again I
felt a level of shame like oh I got God,

(31:45):
Like I'm I'm fucking stupid. I thought I was smart
and and that's how it and that's how they got me.
So I just think, like Karen said, a lot of us,
everybody eventually gets got, but it's the shame around it
that keeps us from sharing how we get got. And
it's also the if it hasn't happening yet, it's the
arrogance that it can't happen to you that makes it

(32:06):
happen like it is everyone who's like I would have
known I would one day it'll be you.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
But was actively happening yes, Like I was like, I'm
not gonna get like this can't be.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
This can't be.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
Like yes, and sometimes it can get so bad out
of people's pride.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
I was watching this documentary.

Speaker 6 (32:25):
It was like this older man and this older woman
and I think it was like their retirement money and
things like that, and their kids kept telling their dad.
They was like, dad, this is a scam. Stop sending
this money blah blah blah blah blah. But the dad
has so much pride that he looks like they was
like talking to them kind of after they had lost everything,
and he was and he was like, yeah, I just

(32:46):
had too much pride to the worst myself.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
That I had got scammed.

Speaker 5 (32:50):
I can't you should.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I mean, I kind of feel bad for these people,
because obviously you get scammed and you feel bad for people.
But I feel like the worst case to have to
make to get sympathy is the people that get scammed
because they was trying like fuck somebody on the side
because that because there was a story with the old
like that was what's his name to catch a predator,
did like to catch.

Speaker 5 (33:07):
A scammer, Chris Hansen, Chris.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
He did like to catch a scammer or whatever, right,
And it was short lived, but it was like they
found this old man. It was like an old couple.
And the dude was like looking at these like pictures
of these internet models that someone sent him, like in
an email, and they were super high, and I'm like, buddy,
you're seventy.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
I hate to break it to you.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
The nineteen year old supermodel is not randomly emailing you,
and he like gave her money and everything.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
And so like part of how he got so deep
was he was.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Gonna have to confess to his wife and family like
I was trying. I was flirting with a fucking twenty
year old a picture of a twenty year old model.
And now the Life Savings is over there, and I'm like, god, damn,
I feel terrible, But also like, damn, bro, you you
was out here.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
You know what's even worse or better or ironically whatever.
And it happens on social catfish every once in a while,
because once in a blue moon they'll have like a
sweet person that you can tell that the hosts kind
of feel bad for and they're like gonna help. But
like three out of five is some like old racist
bitch or asshole that like is talking all kinds of

(34:22):
like would never want a date, a black person hates
black people.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
And then like and then the hosts every single time
it's from Nigeria. It's from Nigeria. You've been talking to
somebody from night? How does that make you feel?

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Which I also don't like how much glee these hosts
takes and like delivering that information.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
It's smarmy on like all levels.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
But it's it's like those are always a little bit like, well, yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Now your podcast is like heavily video, like it's Instagram's
all that stuff. What Like, yes, when you first started
in twenty seventeen, was it video as well or like no?

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yeah, no.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
The video transition started in The Pandemic with the zoom.
In the beginning, it was just me, my focus right
and some mics and like I would take it. It
was very mobile then like I would go to people's
homes and like record from people's homes and it was
really nice, very intimate. But yeah, in the Pandemic, I
started doing them over zoom right, which opened.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Up the video.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
And then once video happened and I started learning how
to edit. Yeah, it was literally like Pandora's Box for me,
Like it opened like a whole, like third eye in my.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Brain and how to thinking in video?

Speaker 6 (35:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
I was gonna say, like, cause, like, do you think
of your podcast more as a video podcast or audio podcast?

Speaker 5 (35:33):
Like how to?

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Cause I feel like in my lifetime, podcasts change. When
you say you have a podcast, now people are like,
what's the YouTube like instead of being like, oh, is
it on Spotify is it's they're looking for video.

Speaker 5 (35:45):
So I feel like, yes, this.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
If I would have not known you started this in
twenty seventeen, I would have thought You've just always had
a video podcast because it's so natural for you.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Oh well think why thank you?

Speaker 4 (35:59):
Uh yeah, it's interesting because I work from home a
lot now period since the pandemic gain the pandemic so
much as like pre pandemic postponement, right, like how much
of a time marker it is.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
And now that in the last five years I've spent
so much time.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
At home, working from home, I have YouTube on in
the background ninety percent of the time, and so YouTube.
I used to be an Apple podcast consumer because I've
been listening to podcasts now for almost twenty years, like
almost as long as Keith and the Girl has been around,
And so for half of that time, if not more right,
let's call that sixteen out of the twenty years it

(36:35):
was audio. It's interesting, right, how much of a pivot
the video did to it, and how much it like
hoom like the trajectory of it, because it brings it
into people's living rooms. It doesn't become so such a
solo experience. You can sit with your friend and watch
a podcast, which before it was like you would have
to be in a car on a car trip to

(36:56):
listen to a podcast with somebody. So I think it
it opened up up that aspect of it. And you know,
credit to like for as much as we hate him,
like Joe Brogan, right, Like Joe Brogan was the first
one that kind of like made it like a video thing.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
Yes, the other two, but he bought it to the
next level. No matter what you think about him, he
forced people to be like, you can't under.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
And he.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
Literally changed Spotify.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yees see, he changed when Spotify bought or whatever they
did with his podcast, gave him all the money and
first he came over there and it was like just
the audio and like his.

Speaker 5 (37:34):
Fans were like what the fuck.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
They had to change it to video, they had to
add all that comment stuff. And that's because of his influence,
being probably the biggest podcast in the world.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Right, he was the ja Loo of Spotify.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
He really was. He really was changed.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
I say that because j Loo Google images. You can
credit j Lo in the dress.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
Yeah, and so I also credit you know, Logan Paul
with like his podcast and so like Tricia Paida's with
her podcast, like they really brought in that like studio
feeling to it, that production value right, and again once
I crossed over to a certain point.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
That like I had production value, it just again my
brain just now thinks that way.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
And it's funny because well, I'm also a photographer since
I was a kid, so I just a I'm an artist,
like I'm a visual artist. So visual mediums are very
much my vibe and exclusive exclusive to the black guy
who tips. I started on the way home. I was
on the plane. I just did a work trip last week,
and I was watching an Automodovar movie and he has

(38:42):
like a very specific style of like photography of how
he shoots his movies. And the movie I think it's
like the room next door is the name of the movie.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
It's Tilda Swinton and uh oh god, that redheaded lady.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
Anyways, something about that movie had me in the feels
and I've been processing the some thing lately, and long
story short, I started writing my first short movie script
and I'm putting it out there that I'm gonna I
think I'm gonna make that my project for next year.
Like just the shooting of it, so what I'm gonna
do for the next six months is like really get

(39:16):
into the process of like writing a script.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yeah, and I wanna.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
I want to write it, I want to direct it.
I don't know if I want to be in it,
but yeah, I'm really excited.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
I'm just out here trying to be an artist. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Well, no, I love that you like don't have any
boundaries when it comes to that, like like think of
it and be like.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
Let's why not give it a fucking shot? Like who knows?

Speaker 3 (39:37):
Forget?

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Nah, it's definitely it's worked out in my favorite in
my life where it's just been like you want to
write a TV show and it's like, why not, Maybe
I can do it, you know what I mean. Like
the worst thing that happened is I'm back to where
I started. I'm like, oh, I guess I couldn't do it,
Like it's not it's not the end of the world,
And I think that's really dope. How do you like
go about for your show, like picking your guest? Like

(40:00):
what is it just like personal? Is it like people?

Speaker 5 (40:02):
You know? Like how did this start? And I noticed
you referenced drag culture a.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Lot, so like was it did you start with like
I want people to meet these interesting drag people, like
how did that start?

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Chicken or the egg?

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Right, So, when I first started the podcast, it was
really just like me and my friends. And at that
time I was going to drag shows and shooting as
in like with a camera drag shows, and it became
a very easy pond to target shoot into for guests,
and so I started featuring a lot of drag performers,

(40:35):
local drag performers, which then grew to like local drag icons.
And then weirdly, and I always hated it, people started
calling it a drag podcast, and I was.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Like, no, it's not supposed to be a drag podcast.
It's just a podcast.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
And so I very started to curate kind of like
my guests around the fact that it was not a
drag podcast. But again, my best friend is a queen,
my drag mother. You know, I do drag every once
in a while. So it just still is a very
easy pond to fish in. And it's interesting right because

(41:11):
I was having a conversation with my trainer, she's twenty five,
and I was telling her how much her life is
going to change over time and how much her preferences
are going to change and what she believes in and
what motivates her. Because even me, in the last five years,
things have changed. And I'll be honest, right that, like
in our last administration, when things were like a little
kinder and nicer and easier, I was starting to get

(41:34):
a little, you know, a little bit like my mom's
generation that like, oh, these militant gay friends of mine,
they're a little too militant. And now that things have
changed and we are once again, I'm out here militant
with them, and like, fuck this shit, we're getting militant together.
And so just even how I have changed in the
last few years. And so even then, for as much

(41:55):
as I was like no, no, no, it's not a drag podcast,
now I'm like, we're out here. Fuck, come to my
baky hole, let's speak, let's all be gay.

Speaker 6 (42:07):
Now.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
There is energy you have to have, Like especially I
feel like in the time of resistance, like you have
to turn that energy up. And I feel you on
that and it's it's it's just so interesting because like
I'm not in the drag culture that much.

Speaker 5 (42:19):
I don't know much about it.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
So women, and it's not for everybody.

Speaker 5 (42:23):
Yeah, yeah, oh, it's not yeah, not negative to it.
You know. It's like, yeah, some people don't like they're.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Not into anime. It's not like they hate it, you know.
And I get it, you know, I start talking about
fucking bleach or whatever, and they're just like the eyes
glazed over.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
But like drag culture has blown up in the last
like ten or so years. I mean obviously RuPaul's drag
Race like really spawning people into like stars outside of
the TV show. Uh So, like has that influenced like
the direction of your show at all? Because I feel,
you know that that blowing up that might get you

(43:03):
more clicks, it might get you more attention, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Why yes, and not in the way that you think it.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
There is there is something counter culture to the counter culture,
because once counterculture becomes mainstream, then is it counterculture. And
there is a conversation in drag that RuPaul's drag Race
is amazing, right, but you know, not everybody gets on
the race. It's just like, you know, people, it's not
that you're not a football player just because you're not

(43:31):
in the NFL, right, I was gonna say the NBA,
I know. And so for example, you know, the local
club when they book the drag race girl, that check
is going to have a few more zeros on it
than the local girl. And so it makes me want
to give the local ones that much more of a platform,

(43:53):
and I want to amplify things like Oaklash that much
more because Oaklash, so, for example, is a nonprofit organization
that started out as a silly little day party at
the same time as Sophie Pott. It's funny me and
my dragon brother both have babies at the same time,
and it started out as a silly day party. But likewise,
in the pandemic, things changed and it became a nonprofit
organization because they started raising funds to be able to

(44:16):
give grants to trans and disabled performers that could not perform.
In the pandemic, not everybody could put a bask on
and go perform, so people, a lot of them are
immunal compromised. And now in the era that we're in politically,
especially in the Bay Area, there's a big divide in
terms of the conflict that's happening in Gaza and there's
a lot of like what we call like pink dirty

(44:37):
money in San Francisco, and there's a lot of like
pink washing of like funds that maybe people that like
want to back the other side of that conflict. They're
using their big money to fund gay things in the
in the Bay Area. And so for example, organizations like
Oaklash or like the Bad Fund, they'll say, hey, we'll
give you a grant to say no to that gig.

(45:00):
And so I'm I'm I'm more interested in giving them
a voice than necessarily the drag race girl, although I'll
take the drag race girl on my show and day
because yes, it will give me more clicks.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
That is so interesting too, because like I think this part.
You know a lot of people have been focused on this,
like anti DEI, backlash and all that stuff. But yeah,
I didn't even think the money's gonna go somewhere like
it is, because for a lot of these companies it's
charity write outs anyway.

Speaker 5 (45:24):
It's like it's literally a line item.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
So it's like we were writing off that we were
given to Black Lives Matter, but it's got to go somewhere.
So yeah, it's, oh, back to the gays. You know,
they'll take the money or whatever. And yeah, I didn't
even think about that. That is uh, that's funny. I've
never heard of pink wa washing before, but that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
And in an era where because of the DEI pullbacks,
for example, Sanprcisco Pride lost a lot of its funding
and they're a little lost in their messaging too because
they got so corporatized and they got so pink washed.
And so for example, when we just had oak Lash
a few weeks ago, not us San Francisco Chronicle said it.
Then when Pride is struggling, oak lashes thriving, and it's

(46:06):
because we are community funded. We take those five ten
twenty dollars from community.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
I mean just like.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
When I was you know, when I was at ol Rio,
you know on Friday with my big titties up front,
you know when the taos and whether it's two dollars
or twenty dollars.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Okay, yes, yes not.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
And so I'm very proud of my friends, and I'm
very proud of of my drag mother malmos so lest
I love her.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Now you say you do drag, So women do drag
too as as well?

Speaker 5 (46:36):
Do you drag as men? Do you drag as women?
Is it? Do you have a person? So how does
it work.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
I will happily answer this question every single time somebody
asks me.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
So, drag is performance.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
Art, period, and it's an I like to think of
it as enhancing something. So there are drag queens, there's
drag kings, there's drag creatures. Sometimes there's a performance where
like it doesn't even look like a person, it looks
like a creature, but they're doing drag. Most of the time,
it's a performance art of some sort. You're on a stage,

(47:09):
you might be lip syncing, you might be singing, you
might just be moving. I present as a drag queen
because I usually do more of like a feminine presentation,
but I also like a little gender fuckery a kind
of aspect to it. So, for example, when I did
drag a couple of weeks ago, I was doing a
male song, like a male singer, but like in female presentation,

(47:32):
because you know, gender is a construct and we tear
it apart, and so I like to think of it
as like, look at what the presentation is, not necessarily
the body under it, because there's also non binary people, right,
and so if you see a prince that looks like
a boy, that's a drag king. If you see a
beautiful wigged, lashed, red lipped, big tittied person more than

(47:56):
likely a drag queen and if they have claws, more
than likely a creature.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
But it's all just performance art at.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
The end of the day, Like these are all nerdy
theater kids that just like to craft a little hard.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Do you have like a drag persona or is it
just like it's still me.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
Me Cherry or.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
It's still me MEI Terry. And I'm actually for the
live show. I'm working on a number that is extra
genderfuckery because it's gonna be like a bad bunny mini
mega mix.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
And again I like but and and I'm gonna have.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
Like male kind of vestage but still will have like
a very female kind of presentation. I'll shout out Major Hammy.
Major Hammy is a drag performer in the Bay Area.
They are female bodied, but they do like this very
gender fucky kind of like they'll have a mustache but
like a bra and a garter belt and like a

(48:57):
tie and you're like, I don't know what you are,
but you're hot, and so I kind of like this
gender like the kids are doing this very gender fuckery
kind of like aspect to drag and I really like
it because it's just we're.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Just playing, We're just having fun and you have it's
this theater.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
It sounds like like you have a team, you know
what I mean? So, like how much work and production
and practice and stuff goes into all this stuff? Because
I know, like even when you post on Instagram sometimes
it'll be like a photo shoot, like it's it's not
me posting selviies, Like it's like there must have been
people came and I see you're like tagging people to

(49:34):
be like this person photography, this person makeup. So like, like,
how much of a team effort is all of this
stuff you're doing.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Well, that's a good question. It depends. So I.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
Because I'm in this building mode, I've been scheduling these
like marketing photo shoots and so I just you know,
at first it started as like a fun way to
like celebrate my weight loss and then also you know,
get marketing pictures. But then it also just became kind
of like part of the content production machine. And my
drag mom is amazing. Anytime I get to work with

(50:10):
my drag mom, I love it. Nicole, who is.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Now I if I want to get rich enough?

Speaker 4 (50:15):
So that she can just become my photographer and I
can just hire her to shoot me all the time.
But for example, you know, when I was at rolling
with the Homos, I like pinged my trainer the week before.
I was like, what do I need to do to
convince you to be on a part of my gig.
She said nothing. I said, cool, it's Sunday. Can you
push me around in a chair? She said okay, And
I bought her the outfit. She showed up Sunday morning.

(50:37):
We rehearsed for an hour. I did all my makeup,
I stoned my outfit, Like I actually felt like a
proper drag queen for the first time because I did
my own makeup, I did my own hair, and I
stoned my own outfit.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Wow, that's not It's just it's like whenever I see
the like pictures or whatever, I'm just like, how like
this is a production?

Speaker 5 (50:55):
Like this is like it's.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Not just like it's not just like show production.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
There was like a plan, there was like an execution
that happened.

Speaker 5 (51:03):
There were people involved.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
I have a question, what is just wait till the
live show, Just wait till the live show?

Speaker 6 (51:13):
What that stone droughtfit means did you put stones on it?

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Did you temper it down?

Speaker 3 (51:19):
Do you want to vamp for one second?

Speaker 6 (51:21):
Yeah? Okay, she's going to get something because she used
to see they used that phrase. I was like, that
means something, and I was like, let me make you
it means what I think it means, because I might
think one thing and it could be something else.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Oh like Ryan stones or like somethingty.

Speaker 5 (51:37):
Okay, that's pretty. That's dope. You did that yourself?

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Okay, yes, by hand, every single little stone.

Speaker 5 (51:44):
Oh, that's dope.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:46):
How long did that take?

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah? Ours?

Speaker 5 (51:49):
Okay? All right? With dedication, that's what it's about, guys, all.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
Right now I feel like a true drag queen.

Speaker 5 (51:55):
Yeah, and you get to keep that forever, like that's yours.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Like that's a that's a call that like a unique
piece to your ensemble.

Speaker 5 (52:02):
Yeah, else can have that.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Yeah, I mean I I used it in the photo shoot.
I performed in it. Yeah, it's going to be part
of the rotation now.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
So for the for the Fitness Journey because you because
you alreays you're talking about that too.

Speaker 5 (52:16):
Listen, Okay, we out.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
Here, we make get games out here, we get games
out here.

Speaker 5 (52:24):
Were Okay, we love it.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
We love are you getting them legs?

Speaker 5 (52:29):
Like Roger?

Speaker 3 (52:30):
I call Roger lest the thighs?

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Y listen, we love to see it. Okay, but like,
what was that? What was that like? Was that also
part of the hard seventy was hard seventy five?

Speaker 5 (52:43):
Was it like?

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Okay, medium boiled seventy six?

Speaker 5 (52:46):
Okay? Yeah? What what made you like was it?

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Because it sounded like you were saying, like you you wanted.

Speaker 5 (52:55):
To celebrate your weight loss.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
So was it a thing where like during the pandemic
it slowed down and you were like, Okay, now I'm
back out here, or was it something you were always doing?

Speaker 5 (53:03):
How's that going?

Speaker 3 (53:05):
You know?

Speaker 4 (53:06):
So the weight thing for me has been like I
was a very thin and active kid in Puerto Rico.
And actually it's interesting, right because I've noticed it's a
through line with a lot of people that like, when
they come to the States, they gain weight because there's
something in our food, y'all.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
Yeah. And I came to the States as a.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
Teenager and then my body changed and then I started
struggling with my weight, and so ever since I was eighteen,
pretty much I've been really into fitness. My grandfather was
a natural bodybuilder. My mom is really thin. But on
my other side, my dad's side of the family, like
my grandfather looked like Santa Claus and like you know,
they would like pile on the food and telling you
you're too skinny and so while at the same time

(53:47):
calling you fat because you know Latin people. And in
the pandemic, I really fell down the bottle and the
uber heats rabbit.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Hole and like being moving.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Yeah, and I gained like a good seventy five eighty pounds.
I'm fifty down on that. I still have like a
maybe twenty five to go, but right now I feel good,
Like I feel really good about where I'm at with
my body.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
I feel way healthier.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
That's another thing with the catfish is that like I
was in my heavy kind of like mode and not
really confident, and like he tried to use that against
me too, like oh, calling me fat and stuff, and wow,
I'm like, oh, hell.

Speaker 5 (54:25):
No, that's wow, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, it's you.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Know, it's interesting too because like, at least for me,
a part of me like getting like more fit and
stuff was getting a team. So it was like, I
don't I have to admit I don't know everything and
maybe I need a little help motivation and stuff, so
like nutritionist, trainer, all that stuff, joining the gym again,

(54:51):
and it's and I think for a lot of people
it's just like the physical outer stuff, but for me,
it's just been a lot of it internally rewarding, like
feeling better about yourself, knowing like what your body can accomplish.
Because I think also outwardly like a lot of a
lot of the stuff that people see is actually slow
like that. Like it's like if I take a picture

(55:15):
every time I leave the gym, basically just to be
like Bam, I did it, but also like it's not
going to change from Tuesday to Wednesday, but yeah, shout
out to Facebook memories and stuff. It'll be like remember
you from five years ago. And I was like, oh no,
I've seen what people saying. I did lose some weight.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
That was very hard for right to do it.

Speaker 5 (55:34):
He was like.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah, because yeah, my brain is not very and also
I think because my motivation wasn't solely like lose weight
as fast as possible with not knocking people whose motivation
is that. But you know, I was like, I want
to get stronger.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
I want to gain. I want to gain muscle.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
I want to get endurance and stuff that, you know,
things I haven't had since I used.

Speaker 5 (55:55):
To play basketball five days a week.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
So a lot of that stuff is coming along, but
it can be like a bit of a head trip
to go through that. So have you always had a
trainer or does that like is your trainer like a
new thing on.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
And off over the years, Because in my twenties I
worked in gyms. I worked at twenty four Fitness, I
worked at Club one, I worked at Crunch. I love
the fitness industry, and so I've been fit and then
gained weight, and then been fit and then gained weight.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
So like it's been a bit of a yoyo thing.
So I'm not new to this, but this is.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
The healthiest approach I've done at it because I mean, hello,
I have gosaise addictive personality, right, and so you can
that can apply to the gym. Right Like the last
time that I was quote unquote super fit, I was
working out twice a day, I was barely eating. Like
that shit is not sustainable either. So now it's about

(56:52):
finding like a sustainable path and my trainer that I
have now she's the one that to me, had like
that's the healthiest approach. Also to her fitness and to
how she's training me, because she pushes me right. Like
there's time like when she she'll have me out here
deadlifting I don't know, like one hundred something pounds.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
And I'm like, what you want me to do that?
What She's like, you can?

Speaker 4 (57:15):
But then when I'm like my knee hurts, She's like, Okay,
let's stop, you know what I mean. And so I
appreciate that that she's not out here like trying to
get a big.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Thing, honestly, And I think it's important to note that
because I think two things. One, there's many trainers guys,
So if you're thinking about it, you're out here, like, man,
I'm intimidated by.

Speaker 5 (57:34):
You're hiring them, not the other way around.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Yeah, So if it's somebody that's putting you into an
uncomfortable place or a place where you're like breaking your
body down or hurting yourself, you can always be like
I don't like this and I want to find someone else.
But two, my trainer has been such a beautiful like
God send to that part because she's one she doesn't
push me to like hurt myself like, which is like

(57:59):
a huge thing, but because, if anything, I realized how
much internally I am a type A person. And you
know something I've never wanted to accept about myself because
I'm like, no, cool, I'm super chill.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
Like fuck that, but I'm cool. We can just do anything,
it don't matter.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
But then, like I right, I found that it was
my voice that was fucking me up.

Speaker 5 (58:19):
Like she'd be like, oh, your knee is hurting.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Maybe do the walk, do walks and not walks, do
a bike instead of walks, do like the one where
you sit down or whatever.

Speaker 5 (58:28):
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, okay cool.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
But in my brain I'm like the two days later,
I'm like, I'm not no bitch.

Speaker 5 (58:34):
I can go for a walk. It's just a fucking walk.
I can't walk. Oh I think I will walk.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
And then later my knees on fire, and I'm like,
she was right. I probably shouldn't have walked. She didn't
tell me to walk, And now I have to come
in here next week and face her and be like, yeah,
so my knee still fucked up.

Speaker 5 (58:48):
I took that walk that you said not the tape.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
And I remember one time she went on vacation for
like a week or something. I had to come up
with my own thing for that week, and I'm like
I was I was actually jazzed about it. I was like,
because you know, in their mind, they're like, oh, this
person's gonna feel like we didn't do our meetings, so
did they not get their money that week?

Speaker 5 (59:05):
I was like, no, fuck that.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
I've been using you to learn how to do this.
I know now I see the matrix. I'm gonna fucking
put together a workout. And I put together this fucking
workout and I and like, I'm like in my brain
like she gonna.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
Be when I get back, she gonna be like, what
you was doing? What?

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Because I'm I'm lifting so much, I'm doing so much
first time doing it on my own. I like my
fucked my whole knee up, just like I was pushing
the the sled.

Speaker 5 (59:35):
I had too many plays.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
It was like I was just like thinking I was
fucking gonna be in the he Man Olympics and so
and so. You know, I told her all this. She
was like, why why why are you doing that? And
I was just like, oh, well, you know, I wanted
to like show that I could really like pushing myself
and do this. She was like, no, that's not what
we're doing here. The plan is for you to do,

(59:57):
not for you to do.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
The plan is for you.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
To be able to do something enough times the right way,
not for like, pushing something three hundred pounds one time
means shit, That means absolutely nothing. Pushing something one hundred
and fifty times twelve times in the perfect form and
being able to do that four times in a day,
that's that's the workout. And so but anyway, all that
stuff to say, like I think it, at least in

(01:00:21):
my mind before I got a trainer, I thought trainers
are like the montage in Fucking Rocket where the guys.

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
Like chase the chickens your pitch, yes, do that shit,
Like I got that's what they were doing. And it's
not that at all.

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
Well, and I'll tell you this because I've had so
many trainers, I've had the full gamut.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
You also will have trainers that don't push you enough.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
I say all that to say that trainers are trainers,
and they're just another person on a journey to help you.
And there's ten thousand modalities like I use on an
app when I don't work with my trainer. I have
an app on the iPhone called the Ladder app. I
highly recommend it. I've used a lot of fitness apps.
It's the closest thing to having a personal trainer. And
you pick like a team, and the coaches have different

(01:01:02):
modalities and so like the modality that I use, she
combines pilates and fitness training. There's other modalities that combine
yoga and fitness training. There's another modality that's like just kettlebells.
So like, you find what you like, and you and
when it comes to fitness, it has to be something
that you like, whether it's dancing or swimming or weights.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Or kettlebells or pilates or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
Find what you like and then find the trainer that
does that modality.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
M that's okay, learn something new, appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
And then also of course, like get you some video
editing and stuff, so y'all can like post all workouts
and look cool.

Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
Like Memi Cherry does.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Like she's always doing the like bam, I did this one,
and then we did this, and now I'm.

Speaker 5 (01:01:46):
Doing these like okay, I'll see you out here, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
I think I started posting mine After that, I was like,
these are I gotta give my I gotta show I'm
in here doing it too. Okay, I know how to
set up a camera.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
I gotta I gotta trypod.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Yeah exactly, I gotta wait. I like that this is
all you need, you just need now, Okay. Honestly, I'll
be in their ghetto tripid on it. I'd be like
setting up like just wait. I'm like if I put
this block up against this weight and I wait till
everybody leave.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
But I still I'm still resourcefulness.

Speaker 5 (01:02:19):
Come on, okay, I'm still shy too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
I wait till they leave, Like I don't really don't
do it When too many people in the gym with me,
I'll be like, I'm in here working by myself, so
now let me do it. But whenever it's other people,
I'll be like, look at you walking through my shot.
You're just gonna walk through my shot like that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:32):
Okay? Player. So the bake? When is the bake coming
up again?

Speaker 4 (01:02:39):
August seventh, San Francisco Oasis Nightclub. We're doing the cabaret
style in the big room.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
I have the Big room kids.

Speaker 4 (01:02:48):
We're bringing comedy, drag, silly podcast games.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
The Bay areas first reverse roosts.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
I put the link in the in the chat. The
link will also be in the show for people to
get their tickets. I think, yeah, no, of course, I mean,
like it's so easy, and like, uh, what, like what
exactly like do you plan on doing for people to
like lift them up with this bake? Like can you

(01:03:17):
give me an example of a bake joke? Like what
would you say to somebody that that's the opposite of
a roast? Because I feel like roast We've seen so
many it's just so easy to be like this mean thing.
I don't even know what I would say nice to somebody.

Speaker 5 (01:03:33):
Like the concept is blowing my mind.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
The thing about the bake is that it's nice in
a county way. So Rod, how fucking dare you be
so kind to me and have such a fucking beautiful
wife like Karen Next to Karen, I really truly don't
understand how you can sit next to this wonderful, wonderful

(01:03:59):
may day after day and do this wonderful pod.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
I like this guy who too.

Speaker 5 (01:04:07):
I hope I hope this catches on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
I hope everybody starts doing bas We need this baby,
we need baked culture. In the in the world right now,
we too much you coming, and it's gonna.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Be very easy for me because I have a very
talented cast. Oh by the way, we just started rolling
out the cast announcements.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
Announcement, the cast announcements.

Speaker 4 (01:04:30):
So please stay tuned to my social media mimitarry I
G on Instagram. I just announced the first cast member,
Local Icon legend Nicole Dissington, a k a. Nikka Jes,
Host of Reparations that's San Francisco Oasis Black Excellence in
a wig with a wig under a wig with a

(01:04:51):
wig under a wig.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Breaker of tops, drinker of uh well things.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Honestly, honestly, this is the only this is the worst
part about me not being in the drag culture is
the pun names is exactly my bag, Like, if nothing else,
I feel like I could have done that I was
I was thinking about.

Speaker 5 (01:05:15):
I don't know if y'alluys remember that cartoon Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Called like Cops Ords. I think it was called Cops
dot Ops or whatever anyway it was. It wasn't good.
But the villain names, the villain names on those cartoons,
those could all be great drag queen names.

Speaker 5 (01:05:34):
Misdemeanor is fucking that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Like there were so there were just like so many
stuff like that, even like Captain Planet, like Haugast Greeley.

Speaker 5 (01:05:45):
I'm like, maybe they were slipping it in at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
We just didn't know they was like, listen, we got
some great drag names, but we don't know what to
do with them.

Speaker 5 (01:05:53):
Make them in the kids cartoon villains. They're the coolest
part of the show. Anyway. Me me te tell people where.

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
To find you and how to you know, you know,
how to become a listener to Sophie.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
You can find me at Seriesofortunate Events dot com or
s O F E p o D dot com. If
on Instagram, Mimi Cherry ig because somebody stole it's some
kid that's like sitting on it. She's posted like eight
things you never posted as the.

Speaker 6 (01:06:22):
Most frustrating, right, you're not doing anything with it exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
And also follow my baking journey. I just started a
little batch.

Speaker 4 (01:06:33):
Company, and yes, as an a little batch there's small
batch items. I'm launching the micro bakery very very soon,
so stay tuned for that. If you're in the Bay area.
Definitely follow because you can actually buy them from me,
or even if you're not, I am going to start
making things that I can send in the mail. My
ADHD is getting the best of me. I'm gonna give
your showback.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Well, listen, we'll have to have you back, like this
is cool, like to do our first interview or introduce
people to the audience, but we'll have to have you
back and play games, yes, and play games pop culture
and TV shows and and all that type of stuff
because I definitely want to pick your brain about some
of that stuff. And yeah, thanks for having us. Well,
thanks for coming on on me. We'll be back throughout

(01:07:15):
the week. Thank you, and make sure you guys check
out me Me Cherry.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
Until next time, I love you, I love you too.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
Tip