May 9, 2023 • 57 mins
Welcome to the Crown & Anchor, Greyhounds! In this episode Christian and Brett have a conversation about Ted Lasso and the midwest's unique conversational style with author and comedy writer Taylor Kay Philips.
Taylor currently writes for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO, and her work has also appeared in publications like the The New Yorker and McSweeney’s. (Note: as of this publication, the 2023 WGA labor union strike, which affects Taylor and her colleagues, is ongoing. We support the WGA in their ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP.)
And though she currently lives and works in the New York City, Taylor originally hails from the Barbecue Capital of the World, Kansas City, and is a true midwesterner at heart! She loves the midwest so much, in fact, that she wrote a book called A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, which is a hilarious and heartfelt homage to the the midwest’s particular brand of communication.
Of course, Taylor’s a massive fan of Ted Lasso, too. So we invited her on the show to chat about Ted’s midwestern mannerisms, the unique culture and charm of Kansas City, and what it was like to be in attendance at the 2022 Emmy Awards Ceremony as the Ted Lasso cast and crew collected multiple awards.
Finally, let this serve as your official spoiler alert, as there is some light discussion of Ted Lasso plot points up through the third episode of season 3.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: http://www.tedlassopod.com/taylor-kay-philips-guide-to-midwestern-conversation
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a greyhound.
Taylor currently writes for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO, and her work has also appeared in publications like the The New Yorker and McSweeney’s. (Note: as of this publication, the 2023 WGA labor union strike, which affects Taylor and her colleagues, is ongoing. We support the WGA in their ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP.)
And though she currently lives and works in the New York City, Taylor originally hails from the Barbecue Capital of the World, Kansas City, and is a true midwesterner at heart! She loves the midwest so much, in fact, that she wrote a book called A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, which is a hilarious and heartfelt homage to the the midwest’s particular brand of communication.
Of course, Taylor’s a massive fan of Ted Lasso, too. So we invited her on the show to chat about Ted’s midwestern mannerisms, the unique culture and charm of Kansas City, and what it was like to be in attendance at the 2022 Emmy Awards Ceremony as the Ted Lasso cast and crew collected multiple awards.
Finally, let this serve as your official spoiler alert, as there is some light discussion of Ted Lasso plot points up through the third episode of season 3.
More extensive show notes can be found on our website: http://www.tedlassopod.com/taylor-kay-philips-guide-to-midwestern-conversation
Richmond Til We Die is an episode-by-episode conversation about the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, where we explore the characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts of our hearts the next. When you're here, you're a greyhound.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Welcome to the crown On Anchor Greyhounds. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us
laugh until we can hardly breathe onemoment and then feel with the deepest parts
of our hearts the night. I'mBrett, one of your co hosts for
(00:34):
this episode, and our guest todayis Emmy Award winning writer and comedian Taylor
kay Phillips. Taylor currently writes forLast Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO,
and her work has also appeared inpublications like The New Yorker and McSweeney's.
And though she currently lives and worksin New York City, Taylor originally
hails from the barbecue capital of theworld, Kansas City, and is a
(00:56):
true Midwesterner at heart. She lovesthe Midwest so much, in act,
that she wrote a book called AGuide to Midwestern Conversation, which is a
hilarious and heartfelt homage to the Midwestparticular brand of communication. Of course,
Taylor's a massive fan of ted Lassotoo, so we invited her on the
show to chat about Ted's Midwestern mannerisms, the unique culture and charm of Kansas
(01:17):
City, and what it was liketo be in attendance at the twenty twenty
two Emmy Awards ceremony as the TedLasso cast and crew collected multiple awards.
And finally, let this serve asyour official spoiler alert, as there is
some light discussion of Ted Lasso plotpoints up through the third episode of season
three. So Greyhounds please join usas we give a warm welcome to Taylor
(01:41):
Kay Phillips. Thank you so muchfor being with us. Taylor, thank
you. I'm so excited to behere. We're excited you're here too.
We were brought together on Twitter throughour mutual fandom of Ted Lasso. So
well let's just start there. Whydid you decide to start watching Ted Lasso
and when did you decide? Okay, I'm invested. I'm definitely going to
stick with this. So I startedduring during COVID during the pandemic. I
(02:08):
had heard about it. I actuallycan't remember how, but like I'm guessing
many of us, I was soldon man from Kansas City goes to England
to do soccer because I am anEnglish football fan by marriage. So I
(02:31):
did not know about English football andin fact was very performatively anti soccer as
a child in probably a very annoyingway, not probably definitely a very annoying
way. And but I am nowin an Arsenal fan through and through,
(02:53):
like I bleed Royal Blue Chiefs readand now also Arsenal red um and so
that was really it for me.I think the spinning out the sparkling water
in the first episode was yeah,that was like, yeah, exactly,
you had me at spittake, youhad me at this water, spicy um,
(03:17):
sparkling water a thing that now Iam addicted to same stream. Yep,
exactly, you got the soda stream. We also buy. We also
have an Amazon like constant delivery.It's like it's a sickness um. But
it was when I first started datingmy husband. It was what he it
(03:38):
was like what was in his fridge, and I was very don't do this
girls, um, but I wasvery cool girl like, yeah, sure,
sparkling water or whatever. But nowI love it and it's all I
drink, so it's a good wayto stay hydrated. Yeah, So I
was I was into ted Lasso fromfrom the beginning, I think the spit
(04:00):
take the midwesternisms. Yes, ofcourse, so joke I spoke to the
owner of the Sun, you talkedto God. It's one of my favorite
jokes ever in the history of theworld. And then at the end of
the season, when you can endto season, I always think this is
(04:23):
so wonderful with television. But whenyou can end the season with everyone getting
what they want and still there isenough dramatic tension to make an entire other
season of television, to me,that's incredible and that was something that I
just like, I just fell inlove with it. Speaking of dramatic tension,
(04:45):
one thing that has flumoxed many peoplein season three is this direct flight
from London to Kansas City. Canyou shed any light on this fictional flight
for us? Absolutely? So,this fictional flight does not exist. I
looked it up today just in casesomething had happened and I hadn't been aware.
So there is absolutely no direct flightfrom London to Kansas City. We
(05:11):
did just get a new airport.I love it. Yeah. Within the
last month it went from being oneof the worst international airports in the country
to now being okay to being good. Yeah. I actually because I could,
with my best friend, took thelast flight out of the old airport,
slept at midway, and then tookthe first flight into the new one.
(05:36):
Wow, dedication dedication of it,because like, because because I could.
You know, you're never going tobe able to do that again.
And I landed in the new kansCity Airport, which again does not have
flights from London that land there,nor is nor is its designator Caseyi either
that's true. That's a street name, not its government. Yeah. I
(05:58):
was going to say, well,and something that is very funny and kind
of spoilers for season three of Barryif anybody is like just now getting into
Berry. At the end of Barry. There is also a made up direct
flight from lax to Joplin. Yesso, which is somehow even more ridiculous
(06:23):
than Yeah, La to Kansas City. But you know what, maybe maybe
it'll happen. The thing about thenew Kansas City Airport is that no one
is going to believe you when youtell them about the old Kansas City Airport.
Like I haven't experienced it yet,but I've seen photos and I even
can't believe it. No, Imean, it's beautiful but the idea when
(06:46):
you're like, you're like, oh, this is a nice airport. But
the reason that it's so nice isthat the airport that was there before was
impossible. It's impossible that something thatlooks like that was called an international airport.
And I love it. I haveso much affection for it, But
that looked like a seventies architect waslike, y'all want to see something in
(07:13):
that airport. In that airport's defense, it was done dirty by history because
what made it look kind of funnywas that you could essentially like get dropped
off anywhere and then immediately get toyour gate, which was super cool.
It just became a nightmare after nineto eleven because with the enhanced security,
instead of being able to be droppedoff at your gate, they had the
(07:36):
funnel everybody through various points and thenit wasn't laid out in such a way
that they could build restaurants back bythe gates or anything. And so what
was pretty cool and cutting edge andsuper convenient when airport security had to get
more stringent, just became an absolutelike nightmare to have to hang out there
(07:57):
and catch flights and whatnot. Right, and it was also designed. It
was designed to me such a likewith such a little guy mentality, which
is like, only people from KansasCity will be using this airport to leave
Kansas City, So how do wemake leaving Kansas City the fastest possible process?
And now it's like people coming forthe World Cup, man, like
(08:20):
we got to give them some merch, some forty five dollar hats. Like
here we go four different coffee shopswithin a like x amount foot radius.
Oh yeah, there's a perezy,there's a messenger, there's a I don't
know the other one. It's it'snoise. There are the moving walkways.
(08:41):
Oh yo, there's people movers.Nice. Okay, feel like I'm just
gonna have to, like now onmy next trip to Kansas City, just
go visit the airport terminal. Justsort of do it. Now, there's
a lot of shopping you can doshopping on the on the coffee topic.
Two is one thing that has notcome up in ted Lasso is that Kansas
City is low key like one ofthe best coffee cities in the whole country.
So that's just like, as you'retalking about four coffee shops in the
(09:03):
airport, like there's actually a goodreason for that. Yes, because Kansas
City is known by coffee snobs asbeing a very good coffee city. We're
a bunch of We're a bunch ofgood stuff city. Totally, totally for
the ted Lasso uninitiated. Also,coffee is a Kansas City pride point of
pride. Yes. Things that haveleft Kansas City now thanks to ted Lasso
(09:24):
now include like midwesternisms and vernacular thatis familiar to people who have spent any
time in the Midwest or in KansasCity. So you wrote a book called
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation comes outApril eleventh, and Jason sadekis fellow Kansas
City in what are some of yourfavorite Midwestern Tedisms that have made it into
(09:46):
the show thus far. That's sointeresting because I feel like, you know,
ted Lazo speaks in these kind ofjokey catchphrases that I would call more
ted lasso Isms than to westernisms.Um, because he is such a specific
dude in the best He's a genreto himself, He's a genre, not
(10:07):
to himself. The calling uh,Rebecca boss to me is a very Midwestern
thing. I call my like twobig bosses boss um and I hope they
find it endearing and not disrespectful.We'll see um to tune in to see
the job. Let us know afteryour year like annual review. Exactly.
(10:31):
It's like, Taylor, you gottastop this um. And I think the
um the attitude of being. It'smore of an attitude thing. And I
don't know exactly the wording, butthe like the attitude of receiving something at
a very high voltage, whether itbe like anger or disappointment or whatever.
(10:52):
And the thing he does, well, now, now hold on a second,
right that, Now wait a minute, you know, let's I'll take
a second. And or the stating, the stating what's going on without necessarily
ascribing judgment, but while also saying, you know, I'm a part of
(11:13):
this. He said, well,we got a whole lot of emotions flying
around right now, right, youknow, like I'm going to state what's
happening instead of having my own emotionalresponse to it. So instead like so
if I somebody comes at you andis you know, is yelling adam or
whatever, and he says, well, you clearly feel very strongly, instead
(11:33):
of a like usob stop yelling atme, it's the stating of the situation
I feel like is a very Midwesternway of like diffusing tension and also a
very fun dramatic device in the book, there's also you haven't divided up into
different topics. So there's one aboutarriving, there's one about departures. There's
(11:56):
a food section, of course,there's also being a Midwesterner in a Kansas
city, and there's a sports section. There are lots of so you share
lots of common Midwestern sports phrases andthe translations for them. And I'm wondering,
like, as far as again goingwith Ted and what he has said,
what are some of his like attitudestowards sports that you find Midwestern or
(12:18):
that resonate with the themes of yourbook, or that you hope he will
employ by the end of season three, Because he is coming in kind of
as an expert as a coach,but not as an expert in the sport.
He turns to Beard for or likeNate in early seasons, for how
to actually talk about what's going onwith the team sport wise. So a
(12:41):
lot of a lot of his kindof sports phrases are reiterating to show that
he understands or like putting stuff intoAmerican football terms. But something I'm surprised
that they haven't sort of played withyet, or maybe they haven't I missed
it is this this like very Midwestern, particularly because our teams aren't always super
(13:03):
good, this like rebuilding year,or like these fellas really need to get
something going, or like just thatkind of euphemism for we suck right now
and all I can do like,but it would be too New Jersey for
me to be like, oh,we suck with terrible, So I have
(13:24):
to be the Midwesterner and be likewe've got we've got ways to go,
ye or I mean, and thenthey're all professionals, but the big one
is like, nah, he's notas far along, which like if we
ever see ted Um coaching Henry atsome point, or like with his kids,
(13:45):
I mean, you guys, areyou guys coach kids? You know
how you nicely say it's like soand so as far along or like the
I mean the entire concept of themost improved still develop developing. That's a
great Yes, they're just they're justhaving fun and learning right now. Yeah,
exactly having fun and learning, whichthere is a little bit of that
(14:09):
and Ted not so much. Thestill learning, but like the kind of
like make it lower stakes, makeit more fun, Yes, take some
of the pressure off of the winsand losses. So there is some of
that in there for sure. Yeah, it's like it's not about you know,
we're not focused on winning right now, We're focused on the fundamentals,
which I think is which I'm soglad they have introduced as attention in this
season. Yes, yes, becauseI think that as someone who played sports
(14:33):
in school, like, there's nothingmore irritating than being on a different competitive
page from someone, ye, especiallywhen that person is like in charge of
your wins and losses. So yeah, so are those are some great ones.
And then the other one that Ithink is so fun in the Midwest
(14:54):
that that Ted doesn't really get anopportunity to do is the that kid is
special Yes, yea, which,like you guys are coaching, it's when
it's when you have a little toomuch emotional investment in the athletic ability of
a child where you're like, ohman, I'm kind of excited about going
(15:15):
to practice to like watch this quarterbackrun, yeah exactly. Or like my
husband has this like very great butvery harrowing rule for himself, which is
I'm not going to buy a jerseywith the name of someone younger than me
on it, and I feel likeyou're gonna age out of buying jersey's pretty
(15:37):
quickly. Well that's the thing,is like, yeah, he's thirty one
now and so and and I can'treally bring myself. It's like I'm I've
got my salad or bed as jerseyand like that's kind of where I'm at,
Like I think maybe Travis Kelsey isolder than me, but like Mahomes
isn't, you know, like it'sand you look at the I mean even
(16:00):
the Richmond players like they're and soccer, it's like they're even younger. Yeah,
so the like that kid is specialbeing and in the book it's there's
one at every level like I haveyes, youth, college and professional.
That's a really fun device too.It's super clever because because it happens all
the time, Like oh yeah,and that is that is to me a
(16:22):
very Midwestern like I don't know howto feel about the rush I get from
watching this young person do stuff.But then then you're like I get what
the Greeks were like doing right wherethey're like we have it like what we
do for fun as we go watchmen throw things like yeah, okay,
(16:45):
like I get it well before welike a round out this sports fandom bit.
There's two things that come to mindas you're talking about that. One
is that I'm a I'm from Texas, but I'm a transplant, so you
Amahomes but being here in Chiefs Kingdomlike that, like that kid a special
mentality is so real, Like peopleare obsessed with Patrick Mahomes and several other
(17:08):
players too, but like I feellike there was like a jersey day at
our kids elementary school and like fiftypercent of the children had on Mahomes jersey
specifically, you know. So it'sjust like it's pretty wild. The other
thing too, just to your pointof like we got to get something going
or it's a rebuilding year like that, very all shucks Midwestern mentality. My
wife's family are all New Jersey,New York Italian Yankees fans, so it's
(17:30):
like the moment something breaks with theYankees that everyone's like they're bums. Everyone's
a bum. I'm like, soyou're paying the most money for a team
of bums. I don't get it. That's the thing, right, not
to say the fans aren't behind theteam. It's just a different kind of
love. I think it's just likethe booze they boo them. Yeah,
(17:52):
And I remember the first time thatI thought that Kansas City was booing someone,
And it was when I was akid, like, why are we
Why are we booing this person?Like, we don't do that, And
it was like two thousand and twoor whatever, and it was Raoul Levan,
Yes, and everyone was going Raoullike and that's what's happened. I
was like, Oh, yeah,we don't. We don't boo people.
(18:14):
That's how I felt. Yeah,when we had Moose on the Cowboys,
yes, yes, it was like, oh are we booing him? Why
are we booing our own player?No? Yeah, no, we're just
yelling his name, roll out.But then you have the Yankees who are
booing. And then you have guys, stand up guys like John Carlos Stan
who are like, well, ifthey boom me, I must deserve it.
I must be playing like crap.And that's just how you take it.
So that's yeah, that's different strokes. You do. You do what
(18:36):
you gotta do. It's clear thatyou have a lot of affection for where
you're from. What was part ofyour approach to write a book like this
and then like, couldn't bay thataffection to other people on a broad scale,
to make it a love letter toyour hometown. Yeah, I mean,
(18:56):
I think that when you think aboutactually really writing a love letter,
and that's something that I've thought abouta lot, is there is so much
In the best way, there isso much anxiety about whether or not you
are conveying things the way that youwant to, and whether or not the
(19:21):
recipient of it is going to feelwhat you feel, and the stakes feel
really high and it feels really vulnerable. But the focus is am I Am
I doing right by the person whois going to read this and receive this?
Am I conveying correctly how I feelabout them? And so in that
way, like in that kind ofnegative way, there was so much anxiety
(19:45):
the whole time, a lot ofimposter syndrome, like do I count anymore
I live? You know, Ilive in New York? Or will they
take me back? But I thinkthat the other part of it was as
kind of cliche as it sounds,writing something that I would have wanted to
(20:07):
see or that I as a Midwesternerwould appreciate, and I don't think that
means Here are the top ten greatthings about the Midwest. Here are the
top ten things that everybody says arebad but are actually good. Here are
the top ten perfect people like youknow. The book itself, I hope,
is a funny way of saying,this is how we behave, for
(20:30):
better or worse, and I thinkfor the most part better, Like this
is what we're like. And theidea that that hasn't really been done in
a lot of ways for people inthis part of the country, I think
is silly and a symptom of alot of other sort of attitudes toward toward
(20:55):
our part of the country. ButI think that going into it and saying,
Okay, I wanted to hell thetruth and I want to tell what
I see, but I want totell it without without a lot of judgment.
And there are plenty of ways totalk seriously and with judgment about the
way Midwesterners behave in the way thatthe Midwest is as a culture. But
that's like, that's not what thisis for. That's not what I was
(21:17):
you know, I wasn't trying.This wasn't commentary. This was conversation,
to have fun, to feel likeit's true, and to also I think
the way that when you do animpression of your mom, you know you're
saying, oh, like classic dad, this is how he talks or this
is how he does things. You'renot trying to make your dad sad.
(21:40):
Right, Yeah, you're not tryingto you you're telling anybody who's ever interacted
with your dad, I know whodad is, and you're telling Dad,
I see you, and I loveyou, and I watch you closely and
with enough affection to be able togive that back to you. As you
were talking about that, I wasjust kind of wondering. So You've said
you've lived in New York City fora decade now or more, and so
(22:00):
I'm wondering if there is some sortof New Yorker turn of phrase that you
had a preconceived notion about but thatyou learned actually meant something different now that
you live there and kind of understandthe cultural parlots. Yes, So it's
it's less that I know that Ican that I identify New Yorker phrases and
more that I like that I cango between like that if I want to
(22:25):
use my new York voice, Ican, but if I want to use
my Midwestern voice, I can.So for instance, Eric Adams has been
doing nonsense. I don't know ifyou guys know this, but the Mayor
of New York has said two consecutivethings about Kansas that are yes, like
rude. He said something like Kansas. He said, Kansas doesn't have a
brand, is the first thing hesaid. And then the second thing was
(22:48):
he said, I wake up inthe morning and I'm so grateful to be
a mayor of New York City,because what if I woke up and I
was mayor of Topeka and like theMidwest, and part of my brain is
like, hmm, this man shouldmind his manners, whereas the New York
can, I can I curse orno? Yes, cursings encouraged on the
(23:11):
show has just become a bit wherewe answer, you know, a dog
bark for the greyhounds because Western nicelike that, Okay, amazing, here
comes the dog bark. Is solike the Midwestern version is you know,
you know, this man should mindhis manners. But I can also say
the New York version, which islike, this man needs to go home
himself, like he doesn't. Whatare you talking about Kansas doesn't have a
brand. Nobody in Kansas hates themayor of Topeka as much as we hate
(23:37):
your walking guys, you know.And so that's that's what's nice for me,
is any part of the New Yorkme that felt maybe a little restrained
in the Midwest can come out.But I also know how to say the
Midwestern version of this is blank,which was very fun and interesting when writing
the book because we have our owndog bark in the book, which is
(24:00):
which is our little ast risk,which was kind of back and forth with
me in the editor because it wasit's like, yeah, Midwesterner's curse,
Like Midwesterner I curse all the time. But do we do we want to
bring the Midwest to everybody, evenpeople who feel a little differently about cursing,
and in the Midwest we do.You know, some people it's a
really big it's a really big tentpoole thing, which is funny because it's
(24:25):
it's like people are like, well, you know, he said he didn't
he wished he weren't the mayor ofTopeka, and you know, but if
Eric Adams said like, fuck Boston, I bet Midwesterners would be more mad
about that sometimes, And I lovethat we see that sensibility reflected in Ted
that he really does not curse.There's really only like one or two instances
(24:47):
where he says anything explicit. SoI think that's a very true to the
Midwestern vibe at least at least oneiteration of that, and it's certainly the
way that Midwesterners behave default in public. Like once, I'm in a space
where it's clear that we can,you know, curse, and step I
curse like sailor. But my devulgis to assume that everyone you know so
(25:14):
leaves the choir at church and doesnot you know, would be offended if
I said bs instead of hoot nannyor whatever. Somebody who to me is
a hilarious and poignant cursor is JohnOliver, whose show you right on.
I find that there are segments whereyou can kind of tell like he's specifically
(25:37):
teeing it up and then you knowhe will curse, and like maybe it's
not as funny for people who arefrom England, like I don't know,
but when he does it, Ifeel like it's intentional and it's smart and
it's funny and I'm not the onlyperson that thinks that because that show has
now won Emmy Awards, you arean Emmy Award winner being a writer on
that show. How long did ittake for you to be able to articulate
(26:02):
for others what that experience of winningan Emmy is, Like it I still
haven't figured it out. It's sucha specific lucky element of the dream of
writing for television. And you know, my husband is a writer for The
(26:23):
Late Show, Stepan Coulber, andso we we were both nominated, which
is bananas, and we both feltincredibly lucky in general, but also it
meant we got to bring plus ones, so like we both got to bring
our sisters, So that like thatexperience was I think even more felt even
(26:49):
more bananas than the actual winning becausesomething that that Fliban and my husband and
I talk about is that like ifwe had worked on our favorite shows,
if we had had a dream scriptedcareer with honestly the Ted last exception,
if we had had a dream scriptedcareer for the three years, we would
(27:11):
not have been at the Emmy's.Like, it's a very kind of lucky
thing that Late Night writers because ouryour whole staff is nominated when you're nominated.
And I felt particularly lucky because myhusband's been at the Late Show for
four years and he had been nominated. That was his That was his third
year of nominations. One year hewas nominated twice, but because of COVID,
(27:36):
I had never gone. So itwas very cool. Actually for me,
I felt very very lucky in thekind of twisted way that actually the
first time I ever went to theEmmy's was as a nominee, which when
you've been married to somebody, whichfirst of all, is this crazy thing
to say in general, but avery but a thing that like when you're
(27:57):
married to a writer at the LateShow, you you know, you think,
great, I'm gonna get the wifeticket at some point, right,
like I'll probably go some point,yeah, um, which was which was
very crazy, I will say that, and this is nonsense, but it's
true. I was a little bitrelieved because they had won six years in
(28:18):
a row until I started, andso there was a part of me that's
like, it's gonna be my fault, which is not true, but I
will say like, there was apart of me that was like, oh
thank God, which is bananas.It's crazy. It's a testament to the
(28:41):
work that the show does and hasdone before me. But it was there
was an element of like, ohmy gosh. Also, I'm gonna start
looking for the weakest link. Forthe weakest link, they're gonna say something
went wrong. She was the oneturned off the tap. Also, I
(29:03):
fell twice in the lobby because Icouldn't walk in my shoes, and so
I did the whole rest of thenight barefoot, but nobody could see because
my dress was long enough, whichwas very funny, and I was if
I do think that this is sobananas, but I like I do think
(29:25):
if we hadn't won, that wouldhave been one of the more mortifying nights
of my entire life. But luckilywe did. And so the fact that
I spilled a cheap margharita over allover some stranger's tucks while falling to the
ground in the most expensive dress I'veever worn until my wedding was actually not
(29:45):
the thing that I carry with mefrom the evening, although I am remembering
it now and it still does makeme go like, but yes, it
was. It was amazing. Itwas the first time I saw a lot
of my coworkers because we're kind ofscattered and we're all remote, so that
was very cool. I was withmy sister, which is amazing. It's
like, I mean, it's amazing. It's it was truly a dream come
(30:07):
true that you don't even have,because the the dream is to write jokes
for television. That's always the dreamI had, you know, And that's
always been the dream, and itis always the really exciting things like this
is my job and I get paidto do this, but one day a
year I pay someone to do myhair and makeup and go and sit in
an iice room and drink free alcohol. And this time they gave me a
(30:29):
trophy, which was very very cool. You had a lot on your mind
that day, up for award,husbands up for award, trying to walk
and stuff. But for the purposesof this show, can we reverse engineer
situation where you are, like ourreporter on the ground as Ted Lasso is
winning a bunch of awards. Doyou remember like thinking, oh I like
(30:51):
that show, or finding any oftheir speeches funny, or just being like
happy that a show that you likedwas actually winning awards. Yeah, so
here's actually the funny thing is thatwriting for a variety series switches off years
and this year it was in theCreative Arts Emmys. So the ceremony that
I went to and like tripped atand fell and won the Emmy was actually
(31:14):
a week before. Okay, Sothen very kindly last week Tonight got us
all tickets, so we got togo to the Emmys, but we were
kind of up as guests, soas me and my sister, and so
it was honestly, you've been morefun because you're not you know, you're
(31:36):
not nervous, you're not thinking aboutyour category. You just get to watch.
And it was I mean, andyou do. You are kind of
looking and you're like, that's BrickGoldstein. I can see his beard from
like literally all the way up here. I mean, Jason Saiki is always,
i mean head to watting him isalways just like the most glorious,
gorgeous, perfect person. So likehaving them all luck in was amazing.
(32:00):
And I will say that I wasvery very excited when Cheryl le Ralph won
for Habit Elementary, and so thatwas a huge moment because she sang and
it was this it was incredible,Oh my gosh, it was amazing.
She was genuinely surprised. I thinkwe all kind of were, like,
(32:22):
nobody really knew, so that wasamazing. And then you know, Jason
Sidekis appeared genuinely surprised, which Ithink is I mean fair when you look
at everyone else that was in thatcategory. It did feel like a toss
up in a way that I thinkthe year before it didn't. And again
I don't, I don't know.I don't vote for it. First of
(32:44):
all, I can't. I don'tvote for that. I only vote for
writing. And I didn't vote lastyear because I wasn't able to, Like
I wasn't like grandfather didn't. Butthat was really cool, I think,
you know, even just seeing clipsand remembering and seeing how the so much
of the cast brought other cast membersas there as their guests or like producers,
(33:07):
so a lot more of the castwas there than was than was nominated,
which I thought was really cool.I think it was. I remember
exactly where they were. It's likethey were down where I was sitting.
They were down to the right inthe corner, and I was It was
(33:28):
just one of those it was like, oh good, there's still so much
love for this show. Brick Oldscene one again, and he did that
hysterical like he was like they cutoff the thing and so they didn't get
to hear me, and then heyou know, he cursed again. It
was just it's just it's wild.It's wild to be in that room knowing
that other people are watching what you'rewatching on television, but like hearing in
(33:52):
the room how people felt about whatwas going on, which was clearly this
like show of love for brick oldStein, this like you know, huge
respect for for Jason today kiss andyeah, just really just I mean,
it's just it's just a cool nightemit was a big night for Abbott too,
(34:12):
like all the all the comedies thatare you know, making making television
these two years after the pandemic andall the different things that that is,
all the different comedies. I thought, you know, Ted Lasso, you
have this heart, this kind ofship's creek descendant that goes into this kindness
and this humor, but also sports, and then you've Burry and Only Murders
and Abbot and all these shows thatare so different but under this umbrella.
(34:38):
It was very very it was veryvery cool. I mean, you know,
I'm a comedy writer, so I'mjust like it is local. A
soccer question for you. The NWUSLteam in your hometown is the Kansas City
Current, and just like, howcool is it that that team is building
(35:00):
the first ever soccer stadium specific foruse by a women's professional team. It's
it's just awesome, Like I thethe attitude toward women's sports and the way
that it has changed. I mean, the day that we're recording this,
(35:21):
or maybe you don't want to sayit, but like the National Championship was
yesterday, the NCAA National Championship peopleare talking about it might the women's National
Championship. You got the Women's tournament. People are talking about that. It's
going to be you know, it'sone of the most watched women's sports events
ever. We've got like real stars, you know, the idea that Kansas
(35:42):
City is like, yes, we'reinvesting in this as something that people are
going to continue to care about,something that's going to continue to be good,
something that's only going to get better. It's just it feels awesome.
It feels awesome to be starting somethingand being a birthplace of something that I
believe is so not only important butalso very real. Like I can I
(36:07):
know all the names of the nationalwomen's team, and I don't really like,
I know the men's now because ofbecause of the World Cup, but
I didn't before. And the ideathat that's going to feel that Kansas City
is going to have its name onthat list, on that timeline when we
go to the you know, infifty years when people are like, wait,
(36:28):
people didn't treat women's and men's sportsthe same back in the day,
Grandma, what do you mean?And I'm gonna be like, you know,
olive oil, my child. Youknow, my made up kid is
naming my made up grandkids. Somethingweird and I don't know, but it
just happened. Uh. But yeah, No, I'm really really stoked.
(36:50):
And they're putting so much thought intoit, like Casey, maybe all there,
all the marketing materials, all thestory. Like I love the drama
that they're they're putting into it.I like that they're good. I like
that they care about being in KansasCity. Like it's just cool. It
makes me want to you know again, I performatively did not like or care
(37:12):
about soccer. I did not likethe girls who played soccer. They got
to leave church early, and Ididn't think that that was fair. Um,
and and now it's just like I'mI'm all in, who are they?
Whose whose name can I get onmy jersey? Who's over thirty?
None of them? Um? Youknow, so no, I'm stoked.
(37:36):
And I think like that to yourpoint, it's the increased access that we
have, Like it's it's able tobe a fan of make that like your
first fandom. Like whereas even withlike early leagues, like the first iteration
of NWSL what was it called,uh yeah, yeah, yeah, wp
A, like there was just neverquite that red carpet treatment where like you
felt like you had enough access tofully care. And now it's like,
(38:00):
yes, like with in the wNBA, with the NWSL, like there's
actually enough accessibility that it's like,yes, I can watch like almost all
the games, you know, likeI can actually be a fan of this
and be invested and not just belike, oh cool, I was able
to catch like the two games thatwere on ESPN when nothing else was on,
you know. So like that isthat in itself is huge and has
again helped expose us to these personalitiesof these women who are like incredible,
(38:25):
incredible athletes, and so you knowthat it just it. It's a snowball
effect because you have all that accessand you're able to see everything that's happening,
and it's just it's really fun.And I've really admired the way the
League in general has made that pushto really like say this is important and
not just because like because of youknow, social reasons or cultural reasons,
but because people care and because it'sreally high quality. Yeah, So,
(38:47):
I mean, that's it's it's sothe way that we treat things that women
care about in our society is sofascinating. The way that we treat like
the way that women behave and thefact that you know, so unapologetically it's
like these these are women and they'replaying sport and they're like they we're treating
(39:10):
them like like their athletes and competingat a high level and they want to
win, and it's like it's thesame. And also the fact that this
appeals to young girls, young girlsfeel at home here, young girls are
an audience. Like even just treatingthat like a valid and worthy end and
(39:30):
covetable audience I think is a hugeshift from from where we were ten years
ago, which is what I thinkis so so cool. So oh yeah,
we want like every girl in KansasCity, and the boys will come
to you know they will because youknow, there was a great shot in
the match against the Thorns, whichunfortunately they got thrashed in. Yeah,
like there was a great shot oflike four or five sort of like upper
(39:52):
elementary or middle school age boys likeholding signs and like losing their minds.
And I was like, I lovethat. I love this. They don't.
It's because they're good, you know, like it's fun to watch good
people do a thing. It's it'sliterally exactly what we were talking about,
except for you know, the Greeksonly had the boys come out, but
(40:12):
like you know, you're you're watchingpeople do cool stuff with their bodies.
Like I know it was against us, but did you see Sophia Smith just
like not stop, just didn't stopand then the balls Like it's you know,
it's the way that people must feelwhen they're playing against the Chiefs where
it's just like I mean, yeah, I don't like that we were playing
(40:35):
against Patrick Mahomes, but I meanwe all got to see Patrick Mahomes playing
football. That's how I feel watchingSophia Smith. It's like, well I
wish, yeah that idea is actuallyplayed out in a progression of texts that
Brett sent me weekend because from Portland. OK. Yeah, when Janus to
(40:58):
be like brought one back and itlooked like it could be close. He
was something, we got a gamenow, and I sent him a Sophia
Smith gift of her like I don'tknow, telling him to shush or shrugging
or something and just like torching someone. Yeah. A few minutes later he
was just like, I forgot abouther. Yeah he can't. Yeah,
that's she's so good. I meanbecause I did watch the championship and yeah
(41:22):
last year and it was it wasjust like, you know, this is
well, this is the show thatwe're watching. I guess. I guess
we're not watching a game. Iguess we're watching a show. Yeah,
which, you know what, morepowered to her? I love it.
Yeah. Things that are quintessentially KansasCity include barbecue, and it's something that
we like to talk about a loton our podcast. Do you have an
(41:46):
item or two from any of thespots in Kansas City that you consider at
the top of your barbecue pantheon?So yes, so I love of I
am a jack Stack girl, buteverybody likes cloths napkins every once in a
(42:07):
while, right, But I'm alsowell, So here's the thing about jack
Stick is there's jack Stack in NortonCity, which is close to where my
folks houses. And I hadn't eateninside of jack Stack, I think until
I was like twenty three years old, because we would order it and then
we would go and you wait inlike the little wooden area, and then
you pick it up and we takeit home. And that was like usually
what I would eat right before Iwent back to college. I'd be like,
(42:30):
let's have barbecue nite because I dolike their you know, their meats
are fine. Because the other thingis like the secret is I like Brian's
meats better, but Brian's is numberone far from my house, and number
two the cheesy corn and the beansand the giant containers of pickles at jack
Stack is where the sweet sweet spotis. Now. My husband is now
(42:55):
a six year Kansas City and asas far as a Palette is concerned,
and he loves Joe's Burnand's, buthe is a Bryan's boy all the way,
and the vinegary sauce is his deal, and the pulled pork and when
he first visited Kansas City, ourflight got to lay and we got stuck
places. So we got there twodays late later than we were supposed to,
(43:19):
and so we only had two days. So he had four four barbecue
restaurants in two days, and Bryan'swas the last one, and he took
one bite of Bryant's and he justsaid, this is what I like.
So we are it really is,it really is in all of them.
And then you know, for along time, Gates was what you could
(43:40):
get at Kaufman and now that's different. Um, but for my Gates experience
was a lot of Kaufman and thena lot of event other events that I
would go to that had a barbecuewould have Gates. Yeah, so good
trouble. Those burnands that Joe's areare pretty amazing, I will say,
So, did I screw your questionenough by naming all four of them?
(44:01):
Were band and item from all ofthem. I'm super into barbecue diplomacy and
I have a favorite thing at sixdifferent places. So yeah, I don't
I don't make people give us.We want to spread the love. Yeah,
yeah, We're all about spreading thelove. It's all good. Yeah.
Yeah, So it's play. Yeah, it's pulled pork at Bryant's,
(44:22):
burnt ends at Joe's beans, andcorn at jack Stack. And then just
like Gates is, you get intoa mood for it. Like I don't
know how else to describe it.You just are like it's Gates time.
You've covered all the bases on theJoe Arthur Gates Stacks shirt. So you're
you're living right, That's true.Um, your husband is a talented writer.
(44:45):
You mentioned that he was, Imean nominated as well. Can you
tell us about the game show thatthe two of you created called Citizenship Live.
Yeah. So my husband is animmigrant from Columbia, from Bowata in
South America, and he has agreen car now because we are married,
but he moved here when he wastwenty two. And obviously we've now we've
(45:10):
done a lot of the immigration systemaltogether, and we did a lot of
comedy together, a lot of standup and one of our dear friends,
her name is Orley Mattlow. She'sCanadian. One time the three of us
were in the green room getting readyfor a stand up show, and Orley
and Philippe were both talking about thecurrent that at the time Secretary of Commerce
(45:31):
Wilbur Ross, and I was like, who is that? And they were
both like, he's your Secretary ofCommerce, dog Bark and and I was
like, oh, okay. Also, I could not name a single member
(45:53):
like I could name the President ofColumbia and the Prime Minister of Canada only
because I'm married to a Columbian andthe Prime Minister of Canada's hot. And
so from there we developed this gameshow called Citizenship Life where we have natural
born like folks who were born here. It's natural born citizens and immigrants.
(46:14):
Now they might be citizens now,but they weren't born here. They didn't
necessarily grow up here. And thepremises as we ask kind of normal baseline
trivia level questions about the US andthen kind of the most basic questions about
the country's origin of our immigrant guests, but they end up being comparably difficult
for everyone involved, which is veryfunny. One of my favorites was actually
(46:39):
name six of the twelve states inthe Midwest. So that was a question
that we offered from the States,So it was like, name six of
the twelve states in the Midwest,and then the next question was a map
of Canada with one spot shaded andred, and the question was is this
nova Scotia. More people got theNova Scotia one wrong than the naming six
(47:06):
of the twelve Midwestern states. Sowe have such a blast. We actually
just wrote our our next show yesterdaywith our producer and Nat has questions about
the UK and Kenya and it's Imean, it's a blast in general,
Like the audience has a lot offun and are we you know, we
have comedians and they walk us throughtheir answers and stuff. But we also
(47:28):
have a blast learning about all ofthe countries and figuring out, you know,
kind of what's a what's a basiclevel, Like we had a fight
one time, like that a fight, but like we had a fight one
time where I was like is thecapital of Australia easy? Like do people
know that? Is that too easyof a question? And then a funny
po's like, no, I thinkwhat currency they use in Australia is harder?
(47:50):
And I was like, I don'tthink so, And so we asked
both of them to the audience.We were like, which of these is
harder? And I was right,it was Canberra is harder than Australian dollars.
But both of them are pretty hard. So yeah, so that's I
mean, we have a it's oneof our kind of live show things that
we do together, and it's blast. We do it once a month at
a theater called Caveat if anybody's everin New York City. It's very it's
(48:12):
super super fun. Okay, SoI think, how what I want to
do asking this final question is we'vetalked a lot about Kansas City and our
love for Kansas City and how thatties into ted Lasso, And there's been
multiple things that have been mentioned thatare clearly a love letter to Kansas City
on the show. But what's oneof your favorite quote unquote deep cut things
about Kansas City, either culturally orlike a specific item that you hope will
(48:36):
make it into ted Lasso Season three? This is a great question, and
I feel these are two real piein the sky hopes. But it would,
it would change my life. Soone is maybe a little bit easier,
but it is kind of like you'dhave to get it all the way
through the writer's room, which issomething that I think is very funny and
(49:00):
difficult to explain to people who arenot from Kansas City, is how purely
in the middle of nowhere. Arrowheadand Kaufman are, which is where the
Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas CityRoyals play at the Truman Sports Complex,
the Truman Sports Complex, and folkslisteners, I whatever middle of nowhere means
(49:21):
to you, I promise it's notvacant enough. And it is a giant
parking lot where like you can maybesee I think a Radisson Hotel across two
interstates from behind home plate at KaufmanStadium, which is the Royal where the
(49:42):
Royals play. And this is particularlyof interest to me because my sister in
law is going to Taylor Swift atArrowhead soon and I have no idea how
I am going to transport and thenretrieve her from the madness that will the
parking lot. But so that islike I think that that might be fun
(50:06):
if you know, Richmond goes toplay a soccer game at Arrowhead and that
just like a little joke. Theydon't e want to say it, just
a little joke about how it's inthe middle of nowhere and it's just a
parking lot and people get there atseven thirty am because it's the best place
to tailgate in the world. Here'sthe other thing. Ted Lasso is about
forty forty five years old. Thatmeans and it's twenty twenty two. That
(50:31):
means he would have been in hisearly twenties when the Kansas City Royals had
a partnership with Krispy Kreme where,yeah, where every twelve hits you got
a dozen Krispycreame donuts. So hewould have been pet the peak age to
(50:51):
be going to Royals games, buyingthe five dollars high V seats and waiting
to cash in on the Royals gettingtwelve tickets, which also presumably I don't
know if this is true or not, but you probably could have because they
were so bad, bought more ticketsonce you realize they were on the twelve,
(51:17):
or just pick them up, orjust pick them up off the ground.
So for those of it, Idon't know if I explained this,
So listeners from I believe two thousandand four to two thousand and seven the
Royals had a deal with Krispy KremeDonuts where if the Royals got twelve hits
in a home game, every ticketwas good for a dozen donuts, not
(51:44):
a donut, one dozen donuts.So and we I think we in two
thousand and four, I think no. In two thousand and three we lost
a hundred games. In two thousandand four, it seems like we were
going to maybe be good and thenwe swiftly were not. But so people
would line up, they would gostraight from the game to crispy cream sometimes,
(52:07):
you guys, it was such atouch point of Kansas City summer culture
in the early two thousands that Tedmust have had something to do with it.
And I if that made it in. I know they've already taped them,
(52:28):
and I know they've already recorded them, and I think, if I'm
correct, they they must already bedone because you have to have all of
the episodes to the Emmys by likeMay whatever. So, but I think
there's time to fly back to Londonand just do a quick just a quick
shot of Ted drinking a whiskey infront of the computer and just maybe he
(52:51):
just talks to himself. He cantell the therapist about it, you know,
maybe he's just on the phone withSam. You didn't know. You
don't even to go to London tofilm that. You can put you is
it in front of a green screenand just be like Henry let me tell
you. Let me tell you abouttwo thousand and four when when when Mike
Sweeney was on first and you know, every once in a while Michael Tucker
(53:16):
would be really good at baseball.And as a forty three year old who
took our son to his first Royalsgame when he was eighteen days old,
he got a certificate at the stadiumtoo. I can attest to the glorious
nature of the Krispy Kreme giveaway andmy favorite part of the story. A
(53:39):
brief addendum is that the season afterthe Krispy Kreme from Pania Bread decided they
would do it, and so Iwent to that game. I must have
been to like opening there something orthe first time that the Royals got twelve
hits and the Pania Bread partnership endedafter one game and they read like they
(54:04):
saw the demand and they're like,no, we're not about that life where
I was stapping out done. It'sso it was so because partnership immediately immediately,
because because the donuts, it's likeyou you pipe um me ice them
and you send them out the door. The bagels are bagels likes a thing
(54:24):
like I watched Great British Baking Showand they just they canceled it right away.
Oh so I did get I gotmy one dozen, because I did
go down to the Crown Center locationand I got my dozen. But then
after that it was a dozen bagels. I'm telling you for a while,
(54:45):
idea and they aren't prepared to bagelslike four fifty each, Like that seems
insane. That, Yeah, that'sthe other things. Markup. I didn't
even think about that. That showwas it was it packed, So I
don't rememb remember that part, Okay, I just remember the rest of it.
I am also glad to have learnedabout this bit of Kansas City sports
(55:07):
lore. Oh it was. Itwas the greatest. It was so amazing.
Everybody's like, oh buck night,It's like, no, do y'all
remember the donuts? Oh man,it was. We would say because I
was a kid, I was ten, and we would when we were losing,
we would be losing by a lot, but we'd be going to the
parking lot because I could be timethat my sister was eight, you know,
(55:29):
and you just hear the crowd erupted, and but we would have been
down by eight. Like this wasn'tthe twenty fourteen Royals where like we score
nine points in the bottom. Youjust hear the crowd erupt and it's like,
oh, yeah, great, wegot twelve hits. We go Krispy
Ko tomorrow, Like, yeah,there's Pete Grathoft did an article about it,
and I think he had I thinkhe has it in there somewhere.
(55:51):
The amount of games where we gottwelve hits but lost is like an un
We did it twenty seven times.We got twelve hits that year, which
is finance anyway. I would loveto see that in ted Lasso. It's
clearly really important to me. Let'shope it's as important to ted Y.
Yes, yes, Taylor. Wethank you so much for you've been super
(56:14):
generous with your time today. Wethank you for writing this book. Everybody
should go by it because it ishilarious, and we wish you all the
best in your writing, in yourcomedy, and in life in general,
because you have a lot of greatthings going on. Oh, thank you,
guys. This is so much fun. I'm a big fan of y'all
and the pod and it was enjoyto be on. Thank you so much.
(56:37):
Take care, Taylor, thank you. Have a good one. Ad
guys, and that's our show.We had a blast chatting with Taylor kay
Phillips. You can find links toher work, her book, her social
media accounts, and everything else wementioned in the show notes on our website
at ted lassopod dot com. We'llbe back soon with more ted Lasso goodness,
(56:58):
but you can keep the conversation goingwith us on Twitter and Instagram in
the meantime. Our handle on bothis at ted Lasso Pod. This episode
of Richmond Til We Die is broughtto you by Gin and Kerosene Productions.
It was produced by me Brett andmy co host Christian. If you're enjoying
this podcast, please take thirty secondsto subscribe to our feed and give the
show a five star review on ApplePodcasts or a five star rating on Spotify.
(57:21):
Heck, if you're feeling generous,you could even do both. As
always, we appreciate all the waysy'all share your love and support for the
pod. I'm Brett signing off forChristian and Taylor. Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Cheers y'all.N Court
Welcome to the crown On Anchor Greyhounds. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plusshow ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us
laugh until we can hardly breathe onemoment and then feel with the deepest parts
of our hearts the night. I'mBrett, one of your co hosts for
(00:34):
this episode, and our guest todayis Emmy Award winning writer and comedian Taylor
kay Phillips. Taylor currently writes forLast Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO,
and her work has also appeared inpublications like The New Yorker and McSweeney's.
And though she currently lives and worksin New York City, Taylor originally
hails from the barbecue capital of theworld, Kansas City, and is a
(00:56):
true Midwesterner at heart. She lovesthe Midwest so much, in act,
that she wrote a book called AGuide to Midwestern Conversation, which is a
hilarious and heartfelt homage to the Midwestparticular brand of communication. Of course,
Taylor's a massive fan of ted Lassotoo, so we invited her on the
show to chat about Ted's Midwestern mannerisms, the unique culture and charm of Kansas
(01:17):
City, and what it was liketo be in attendance at the twenty twenty
two Emmy Awards ceremony as the TedLasso cast and crew collected multiple awards.
And finally, let this serve asyour official spoiler alert, as there is
some light discussion of Ted Lasso plotpoints up through the third episode of season
three. So Greyhounds please join usas we give a warm welcome to Taylor
(01:41):
Kay Phillips. Thank you so muchfor being with us. Taylor, thank
you. I'm so excited to behere. We're excited you're here too.
We were brought together on Twitter throughour mutual fandom of Ted Lasso. So
well let's just start there. Whydid you decide to start watching Ted Lasso
and when did you decide? Okay, I'm invested. I'm definitely going to
stick with this. So I startedduring during COVID during the pandemic. I
(02:08):
had heard about it. I actuallycan't remember how, but like I'm guessing
many of us, I was soldon man from Kansas City goes to England
to do soccer because I am anEnglish football fan by marriage. So I
(02:31):
did not know about English football andin fact was very performatively anti soccer as
a child in probably a very annoyingway, not probably definitely a very annoying
way. And but I am nowin an Arsenal fan through and through,
(02:53):
like I bleed Royal Blue Chiefs readand now also Arsenal red um and so
that was really it for me.I think the spinning out the sparkling water
in the first episode was yeah,that was like, yeah, exactly,
you had me at spittake, youhad me at this water, spicy um,
(03:17):
sparkling water a thing that now Iam addicted to same stream. Yep,
exactly, you got the soda stream. We also buy. We also
have an Amazon like constant delivery.It's like it's a sickness um. But
it was when I first started datingmy husband. It was what he it
(03:38):
was like what was in his fridge, and I was very don't do this
girls, um, but I wasvery cool girl like, yeah, sure,
sparkling water or whatever. But nowI love it and it's all I
drink, so it's a good wayto stay hydrated. Yeah, So I
was I was into ted Lasso fromfrom the beginning, I think the spit
(04:00):
take the midwesternisms. Yes, ofcourse, so joke I spoke to the
owner of the Sun, you talkedto God. It's one of my favorite
jokes ever in the history of theworld. And then at the end of
the season, when you can endto season, I always think this is
(04:23):
so wonderful with television. But whenyou can end the season with everyone getting
what they want and still there isenough dramatic tension to make an entire other
season of television, to me,that's incredible and that was something that I
just like, I just fell inlove with it. Speaking of dramatic tension,
(04:45):
one thing that has flumoxed many peoplein season three is this direct flight
from London to Kansas City. Canyou shed any light on this fictional flight
for us? Absolutely? So,this fictional flight does not exist. I
looked it up today just in casesomething had happened and I hadn't been aware.
So there is absolutely no direct flightfrom London to Kansas City. We
(05:11):
did just get a new airport.I love it. Yeah. Within the
last month it went from being oneof the worst international airports in the country
to now being okay to being good. Yeah. I actually because I could,
with my best friend, took thelast flight out of the old airport,
slept at midway, and then tookthe first flight into the new one.
(05:36):
Wow, dedication dedication of it,because like, because because I could.
You know, you're never going tobe able to do that again.
And I landed in the new kansCity Airport, which again does not have
flights from London that land there,nor is nor is its designator Caseyi either
that's true. That's a street name, not its government. Yeah. I
(05:58):
was going to say, well,and something that is very funny and kind
of spoilers for season three of Barryif anybody is like just now getting into
Berry. At the end of Barry. There is also a made up direct
flight from lax to Joplin. Yesso, which is somehow even more ridiculous
(06:23):
than Yeah, La to Kansas City. But you know what, maybe maybe
it'll happen. The thing about thenew Kansas City Airport is that no one
is going to believe you when youtell them about the old Kansas City Airport.
Like I haven't experienced it yet,but I've seen photos and I even
can't believe it. No, Imean, it's beautiful but the idea when
(06:46):
you're like, you're like, oh, this is a nice airport. But
the reason that it's so nice isthat the airport that was there before was
impossible. It's impossible that something thatlooks like that was called an international airport.
And I love it. I haveso much affection for it, But
that looked like a seventies architect waslike, y'all want to see something in
(07:13):
that airport. In that airport's defense, it was done dirty by history because
what made it look kind of funnywas that you could essentially like get dropped
off anywhere and then immediately get toyour gate, which was super cool.
It just became a nightmare after nineto eleven because with the enhanced security,
instead of being able to be droppedoff at your gate, they had the
(07:36):
funnel everybody through various points and thenit wasn't laid out in such a way
that they could build restaurants back bythe gates or anything. And so what
was pretty cool and cutting edge andsuper convenient when airport security had to get
more stringent, just became an absolutelike nightmare to have to hang out there
(07:57):
and catch flights and whatnot. Right, and it was also designed. It
was designed to me such a likewith such a little guy mentality, which
is like, only people from KansasCity will be using this airport to leave
Kansas City, So how do wemake leaving Kansas City the fastest possible process?
And now it's like people coming forthe World Cup, man, like
(08:20):
we got to give them some merch, some forty five dollar hats. Like
here we go four different coffee shopswithin a like x amount foot radius.
Oh yeah, there's a perezy,there's a messenger, there's a I don't
know the other one. It's it'snoise. There are the moving walkways.
(08:41):
Oh yo, there's people movers.Nice. Okay, feel like I'm just
gonna have to, like now onmy next trip to Kansas City, just
go visit the airport terminal. Justsort of do it. Now, there's
a lot of shopping you can doshopping on the on the coffee topic.
Two is one thing that has notcome up in ted Lasso is that Kansas
City is low key like one ofthe best coffee cities in the whole country.
So that's just like, as you'retalking about four coffee shops in the
(09:03):
airport, like there's actually a goodreason for that. Yes, because Kansas
City is known by coffee snobs asbeing a very good coffee city. We're
a bunch of We're a bunch ofgood stuff city. Totally, totally for
the ted Lasso uninitiated. Also,coffee is a Kansas City pride point of
pride. Yes. Things that haveleft Kansas City now thanks to ted Lasso
(09:24):
now include like midwesternisms and vernacular thatis familiar to people who have spent any
time in the Midwest or in KansasCity. So you wrote a book called
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation comes outApril eleventh, and Jason sadekis fellow Kansas
City in what are some of yourfavorite Midwestern Tedisms that have made it into
(09:46):
the show thus far. That's sointeresting because I feel like, you know,
ted Lazo speaks in these kind ofjokey catchphrases that I would call more
ted lasso Isms than to westernisms.Um, because he is such a specific
dude in the best He's a genreto himself, He's a genre, not
(10:07):
to himself. The calling uh,Rebecca boss to me is a very Midwestern
thing. I call my like twobig bosses boss um and I hope they
find it endearing and not disrespectful.We'll see um to tune in to see
the job. Let us know afteryour year like annual review. Exactly.
(10:31):
It's like, Taylor, you gottastop this um. And I think the
um the attitude of being. It'smore of an attitude thing. And I
don't know exactly the wording, butthe like the attitude of receiving something at
a very high voltage, whether itbe like anger or disappointment or whatever.
(10:52):
And the thing he does, well, now, now hold on a second,
right that, Now wait a minute, you know, let's I'll take
a second. And or the stating, the stating what's going on without necessarily
ascribing judgment, but while also saying, you know, I'm a part of
(11:13):
this. He said, well,we got a whole lot of emotions flying
around right now, right, youknow, like I'm going to state what's
happening instead of having my own emotionalresponse to it. So instead like so
if I somebody comes at you andis you know, is yelling adam or
whatever, and he says, well, you clearly feel very strongly, instead
(11:33):
of a like usob stop yelling atme, it's the stating of the situation
I feel like is a very Midwesternway of like diffusing tension and also a
very fun dramatic device in the book, there's also you haven't divided up into
different topics. So there's one aboutarriving, there's one about departures. There's
(11:56):
a food section, of course,there's also being a Midwesterner in a Kansas
city, and there's a sports section. There are lots of so you share
lots of common Midwestern sports phrases andthe translations for them. And I'm wondering,
like, as far as again goingwith Ted and what he has said,
what are some of his like attitudestowards sports that you find Midwestern or
(12:18):
that resonate with the themes of yourbook, or that you hope he will
employ by the end of season three, Because he is coming in kind of
as an expert as a coach,but not as an expert in the sport.
He turns to Beard for or likeNate in early seasons, for how
to actually talk about what's going onwith the team sport wise. So a
(12:41):
lot of a lot of his kindof sports phrases are reiterating to show that
he understands or like putting stuff intoAmerican football terms. But something I'm surprised
that they haven't sort of played withyet, or maybe they haven't I missed
it is this this like very Midwestern, particularly because our teams aren't always super
(13:03):
good, this like rebuilding year,or like these fellas really need to get
something going, or like just thatkind of euphemism for we suck right now
and all I can do like,but it would be too New Jersey for
me to be like, oh,we suck with terrible, So I have
(13:24):
to be the Midwesterner and be likewe've got we've got ways to go,
ye or I mean, and thenthey're all professionals, but the big one
is like, nah, he's notas far along, which like if we
ever see ted Um coaching Henry atsome point, or like with his kids,
(13:45):
I mean, you guys, areyou guys coach kids? You know
how you nicely say it's like soand so as far along or like the
I mean the entire concept of themost improved still develop developing. That's a
great Yes, they're just they're justhaving fun and learning right now. Yeah,
exactly having fun and learning, whichthere is a little bit of that
(14:09):
and Ted not so much. Thestill learning, but like the kind of
like make it lower stakes, makeit more fun, Yes, take some
of the pressure off of the winsand losses. So there is some of
that in there for sure. Yeah, it's like it's not about you know,
we're not focused on winning right now, We're focused on the fundamentals,
which I think is which I'm soglad they have introduced as attention in this
season. Yes, yes, becauseI think that as someone who played sports
(14:33):
in school, like, there's nothingmore irritating than being on a different competitive
page from someone, ye, especiallywhen that person is like in charge of
your wins and losses. So yeah, so are those are some great ones.
And then the other one that Ithink is so fun in the Midwest
(14:54):
that that Ted doesn't really get anopportunity to do is the that kid is
special Yes, yea, which,like you guys are coaching, it's when
it's when you have a little toomuch emotional investment in the athletic ability of
a child where you're like, ohman, I'm kind of excited about going
(15:15):
to practice to like watch this quarterbackrun, yeah exactly. Or like my
husband has this like very great butvery harrowing rule for himself, which is
I'm not going to buy a jerseywith the name of someone younger than me
on it, and I feel likeyou're gonna age out of buying jersey's pretty
(15:37):
quickly. Well that's the thing,is like, yeah, he's thirty one
now and so and and I can'treally bring myself. It's like I'm I've
got my salad or bed as jerseyand like that's kind of where I'm at,
Like I think maybe Travis Kelsey isolder than me, but like Mahomes
isn't, you know, like it'sand you look at the I mean even
(16:00):
the Richmond players like they're and soccer, it's like they're even younger. Yeah,
so the like that kid is specialbeing and in the book it's there's
one at every level like I haveyes, youth, college and professional.
That's a really fun device too.It's super clever because because it happens all
the time, Like oh yeah,and that is that is to me a
(16:22):
very Midwestern like I don't know howto feel about the rush I get from
watching this young person do stuff.But then then you're like I get what
the Greeks were like doing right wherethey're like we have it like what we
do for fun as we go watchmen throw things like yeah, okay,
(16:45):
like I get it well before welike a round out this sports fandom bit.
There's two things that come to mindas you're talking about that. One
is that I'm a I'm from Texas, but I'm a transplant, so you
Amahomes but being here in Chiefs Kingdomlike that, like that kid a special
mentality is so real, Like peopleare obsessed with Patrick Mahomes and several other
(17:08):
players too, but like I feellike there was like a jersey day at
our kids elementary school and like fiftypercent of the children had on Mahomes jersey
specifically, you know. So it'sjust like it's pretty wild. The other
thing too, just to your pointof like we got to get something going
or it's a rebuilding year like that, very all shucks Midwestern mentality. My
wife's family are all New Jersey,New York Italian Yankees fans, so it's
(17:30):
like the moment something breaks with theYankees that everyone's like they're bums. Everyone's
a bum. I'm like, soyou're paying the most money for a team
of bums. I don't get it. That's the thing, right, not
to say the fans aren't behind theteam. It's just a different kind of
love. I think it's just likethe booze they boo them. Yeah,
(17:52):
And I remember the first time thatI thought that Kansas City was booing someone,
And it was when I was akid, like, why are we
Why are we booing this person?Like, we don't do that, And
it was like two thousand and twoor whatever, and it was Raoul Levan,
Yes, and everyone was going Raoullike and that's what's happened. I
was like, Oh, yeah,we don't. We don't boo people.
(18:14):
That's how I felt. Yeah,when we had Moose on the Cowboys,
yes, yes, it was like, oh are we booing him? Why
are we booing our own player?No? Yeah, no, we're just
yelling his name, roll out.But then you have the Yankees who are
booing. And then you have guys, stand up guys like John Carlos Stan
who are like, well, ifthey boom me, I must deserve it.
I must be playing like crap.And that's just how you take it.
So that's yeah, that's different strokes. You do. You do what
(18:36):
you gotta do. It's clear thatyou have a lot of affection for where
you're from. What was part ofyour approach to write a book like this
and then like, couldn't bay thataffection to other people on a broad scale,
to make it a love letter toyour hometown. Yeah, I mean,
(18:56):
I think that when you think aboutactually really writing a love letter,
and that's something that I've thought abouta lot, is there is so much
In the best way, there isso much anxiety about whether or not you
are conveying things the way that youwant to, and whether or not the
(19:21):
recipient of it is going to feelwhat you feel, and the stakes feel
really high and it feels really vulnerable. But the focus is am I Am
I doing right by the person whois going to read this and receive this?
Am I conveying correctly how I feelabout them? And so in that
way, like in that kind ofnegative way, there was so much anxiety
(19:45):
the whole time, a lot ofimposter syndrome, like do I count anymore
I live? You know, Ilive in New York? Or will they
take me back? But I thinkthat the other part of it was as
kind of cliche as it sounds,writing something that I would have wanted to
(20:07):
see or that I as a Midwesternerwould appreciate, and I don't think that
means Here are the top ten greatthings about the Midwest. Here are the
top ten things that everybody says arebad but are actually good. Here are
the top ten perfect people like youknow. The book itself, I hope,
is a funny way of saying,this is how we behave, for
(20:30):
better or worse, and I thinkfor the most part better, Like this
is what we're like. And theidea that that hasn't really been done in
a lot of ways for people inthis part of the country, I think
is silly and a symptom of alot of other sort of attitudes toward toward
(20:55):
our part of the country. ButI think that going into it and saying,
Okay, I wanted to hell thetruth and I want to tell what
I see, but I want totell it without without a lot of judgment.
And there are plenty of ways totalk seriously and with judgment about the
way Midwesterners behave in the way thatthe Midwest is as a culture. But
that's like, that's not what thisis for. That's not what I was
(21:17):
you know, I wasn't trying.This wasn't commentary. This was conversation,
to have fun, to feel likeit's true, and to also I think
the way that when you do animpression of your mom, you know you're
saying, oh, like classic dad, this is how he talks or this
is how he does things. You'renot trying to make your dad sad.
(21:40):
Right, Yeah, you're not tryingto you you're telling anybody who's ever interacted
with your dad, I know whodad is, and you're telling Dad,
I see you, and I loveyou, and I watch you closely and
with enough affection to be able togive that back to you. As you
were talking about that, I wasjust kind of wondering. So You've said
you've lived in New York City fora decade now or more, and so
(22:00):
I'm wondering if there is some sortof New Yorker turn of phrase that you
had a preconceived notion about but thatyou learned actually meant something different now that
you live there and kind of understandthe cultural parlots. Yes, So it's
it's less that I know that Ican that I identify New Yorker phrases and
more that I like that I cango between like that if I want to
(22:25):
use my new York voice, Ican, but if I want to use
my Midwestern voice, I can.So for instance, Eric Adams has been
doing nonsense. I don't know ifyou guys know this, but the Mayor
of New York has said two consecutivethings about Kansas that are yes, like
rude. He said something like Kansas. He said, Kansas doesn't have a
brand, is the first thing hesaid. And then the second thing was
(22:48):
he said, I wake up inthe morning and I'm so grateful to be
a mayor of New York City,because what if I woke up and I
was mayor of Topeka and like theMidwest, and part of my brain is
like, hmm, this man shouldmind his manners, whereas the New York
can, I can I curse orno? Yes, cursings encouraged on the
(23:11):
show has just become a bit wherewe answer, you know, a dog
bark for the greyhounds because Western nicelike that, Okay, amazing, here
comes the dog bark. Is solike the Midwestern version is you know,
you know, this man should mindhis manners. But I can also say
the New York version, which islike, this man needs to go home
himself, like he doesn't. Whatare you talking about Kansas doesn't have a
brand. Nobody in Kansas hates themayor of Topeka as much as we hate
(23:37):
your walking guys, you know.And so that's that's what's nice for me,
is any part of the New Yorkme that felt maybe a little restrained
in the Midwest can come out.But I also know how to say the
Midwestern version of this is blank,which was very fun and interesting when writing
the book because we have our owndog bark in the book, which is
(24:00):
which is our little ast risk,which was kind of back and forth with
me in the editor because it wasit's like, yeah, Midwesterner's curse,
Like Midwesterner I curse all the time. But do we do we want to
bring the Midwest to everybody, evenpeople who feel a little differently about cursing,
and in the Midwest we do.You know, some people it's a
really big it's a really big tentpoole thing, which is funny because it's
(24:25):
it's like people are like, well, you know, he said he didn't
he wished he weren't the mayor ofTopeka, and you know, but if
Eric Adams said like, fuck Boston, I bet Midwesterners would be more mad
about that sometimes, And I lovethat we see that sensibility reflected in Ted
that he really does not curse.There's really only like one or two instances
(24:47):
where he says anything explicit. SoI think that's a very true to the
Midwestern vibe at least at least oneiteration of that, and it's certainly the
way that Midwesterners behave default in public. Like once, I'm in a space
where it's clear that we can,you know, curse, and step I
curse like sailor. But my devulgis to assume that everyone you know so
(25:14):
leaves the choir at church and doesnot you know, would be offended if
I said bs instead of hoot nannyor whatever. Somebody who to me is
a hilarious and poignant cursor is JohnOliver, whose show you right on.
I find that there are segments whereyou can kind of tell like he's specifically
(25:37):
teeing it up and then you knowhe will curse, and like maybe it's
not as funny for people who arefrom England, like I don't know,
but when he does it, Ifeel like it's intentional and it's smart and
it's funny and I'm not the onlyperson that thinks that because that show has
now won Emmy Awards, you arean Emmy Award winner being a writer on
that show. How long did ittake for you to be able to articulate
(26:02):
for others what that experience of winningan Emmy is, Like it I still
haven't figured it out. It's sucha specific lucky element of the dream of
writing for television. And you know, my husband is a writer for The
(26:23):
Late Show, Stepan Coulber, andso we we were both nominated, which
is bananas, and we both feltincredibly lucky in general, but also it
meant we got to bring plus ones, so like we both got to bring
our sisters, So that like thatexperience was I think even more felt even
(26:49):
more bananas than the actual winning becausesomething that that Fliban and my husband and
I talk about is that like ifwe had worked on our favorite shows,
if we had had a dream scriptedcareer with honestly the Ted last exception,
if we had had a dream scriptedcareer for the three years, we would
(27:11):
not have been at the Emmy's.Like, it's a very kind of lucky
thing that Late Night writers because ouryour whole staff is nominated when you're nominated.
And I felt particularly lucky because myhusband's been at the Late Show for
four years and he had been nominated. That was his That was his third
year of nominations. One year hewas nominated twice, but because of COVID,
(27:36):
I had never gone. So itwas very cool. Actually for me,
I felt very very lucky in thekind of twisted way that actually the
first time I ever went to theEmmy's was as a nominee, which when
you've been married to somebody, whichfirst of all, is this crazy thing
to say in general, but avery but a thing that like when you're
(27:57):
married to a writer at the LateShow, you you know, you think,
great, I'm gonna get the wifeticket at some point, right,
like I'll probably go some point,yeah, um, which was which was
very crazy, I will say that, and this is nonsense, but it's
true. I was a little bitrelieved because they had won six years in
(28:18):
a row until I started, andso there was a part of me that's
like, it's gonna be my fault, which is not true, but I
will say like, there was apart of me that was like, oh
thank God, which is bananas.It's crazy. It's a testament to the
(28:41):
work that the show does and hasdone before me. But it was there
was an element of like, ohmy gosh. Also, I'm gonna start
looking for the weakest link. Forthe weakest link, they're gonna say something
went wrong. She was the oneturned off the tap. Also, I
(29:03):
fell twice in the lobby because Icouldn't walk in my shoes, and so
I did the whole rest of thenight barefoot, but nobody could see because
my dress was long enough, whichwas very funny, and I was if
I do think that this is sobananas, but I like I do think
(29:25):
if we hadn't won, that wouldhave been one of the more mortifying nights
of my entire life. But luckilywe did. And so the fact that
I spilled a cheap margharita over allover some stranger's tucks while falling to the
ground in the most expensive dress I'veever worn until my wedding was actually not
(29:45):
the thing that I carry with mefrom the evening, although I am remembering
it now and it still does makeme go like, but yes, it
was. It was amazing. Itwas the first time I saw a lot
of my coworkers because we're kind ofscattered and we're all remote, so that
was very cool. I was withmy sister, which is amazing. It's
like, I mean, it's amazing. It's it was truly a dream come
(30:07):
true that you don't even have,because the the dream is to write jokes
for television. That's always the dreamI had, you know, And that's
always been the dream, and itis always the really exciting things like this
is my job and I get paidto do this, but one day a
year I pay someone to do myhair and makeup and go and sit in
an iice room and drink free alcohol. And this time they gave me a
(30:29):
trophy, which was very very cool. You had a lot on your mind
that day, up for award,husbands up for award, trying to walk
and stuff. But for the purposesof this show, can we reverse engineer
situation where you are, like ourreporter on the ground as Ted Lasso is
winning a bunch of awards. Doyou remember like thinking, oh I like
(30:51):
that show, or finding any oftheir speeches funny, or just being like
happy that a show that you likedwas actually winning awards. Yeah, so
here's actually the funny thing is thatwriting for a variety series switches off years
and this year it was in theCreative Arts Emmys. So the ceremony that
I went to and like tripped atand fell and won the Emmy was actually
(31:14):
a week before. Okay, Sothen very kindly last week Tonight got us
all tickets, so we got togo to the Emmys, but we were
kind of up as guests, soas me and my sister, and so
it was honestly, you've been morefun because you're not you know, you're
(31:36):
not nervous, you're not thinking aboutyour category. You just get to watch.
And it was I mean, andyou do. You are kind of
looking and you're like, that's BrickGoldstein. I can see his beard from
like literally all the way up here. I mean, Jason Saiki is always,
i mean head to watting him isalways just like the most glorious,
gorgeous, perfect person. So likehaving them all luck in was amazing.
(32:00):
And I will say that I wasvery very excited when Cheryl le Ralph won
for Habit Elementary, and so thatwas a huge moment because she sang and
it was this it was incredible,Oh my gosh, it was amazing.
She was genuinely surprised. I thinkwe all kind of were, like,
(32:22):
nobody really knew, so that wasamazing. And then you know, Jason
Sidekis appeared genuinely surprised, which Ithink is I mean fair when you look
at everyone else that was in thatcategory. It did feel like a toss
up in a way that I thinkthe year before it didn't. And again
I don't, I don't know.I don't vote for it. First of
(32:44):
all, I can't. I don'tvote for that. I only vote for
writing. And I didn't vote lastyear because I wasn't able to, Like
I wasn't like grandfather didn't. Butthat was really cool, I think,
you know, even just seeing clipsand remembering and seeing how the so much
of the cast brought other cast membersas there as their guests or like producers,
(33:07):
so a lot more of the castwas there than was than was nominated,
which I thought was really cool.I think it was. I remember
exactly where they were. It's likethey were down where I was sitting.
They were down to the right inthe corner, and I was It was
(33:28):
just one of those it was like, oh good, there's still so much
love for this show. Brick Oldscene one again, and he did that
hysterical like he was like they cutoff the thing and so they didn't get
to hear me, and then heyou know, he cursed again. It
was just it's just it's wild.It's wild to be in that room knowing
that other people are watching what you'rewatching on television, but like hearing in
(33:52):
the room how people felt about whatwas going on, which was clearly this
like show of love for brick oldStein, this like you know, huge
respect for for Jason today kiss andyeah, just really just I mean,
it's just it's just a cool nightemit was a big night for Abbott too,
(34:12):
like all the all the comedies thatare you know, making making television
these two years after the pandemic andall the different things that that is,
all the different comedies. I thought, you know, Ted Lasso, you
have this heart, this kind ofship's creek descendant that goes into this kindness
and this humor, but also sports, and then you've Burry and Only Murders
and Abbot and all these shows thatare so different but under this umbrella.
(34:38):
It was very very it was veryvery cool. I mean, you know,
I'm a comedy writer, so I'mjust like it is local. A
soccer question for you. The NWUSLteam in your hometown is the Kansas City
Current, and just like, howcool is it that that team is building
(35:00):
the first ever soccer stadium specific foruse by a women's professional team. It's
it's just awesome, Like I thethe attitude toward women's sports and the way
that it has changed. I mean, the day that we're recording this,
(35:21):
or maybe you don't want to sayit, but like the National Championship was
yesterday, the NCAA National Championship peopleare talking about it might the women's National
Championship. You got the Women's tournament. People are talking about that. It's
going to be you know, it'sone of the most watched women's sports events
ever. We've got like real stars, you know, the idea that Kansas
(35:42):
City is like, yes, we'reinvesting in this as something that people are
going to continue to care about,something that's going to continue to be good,
something that's only going to get better. It's just it feels awesome.
It feels awesome to be starting somethingand being a birthplace of something that I
believe is so not only important butalso very real. Like I can I
(36:07):
know all the names of the nationalwomen's team, and I don't really like,
I know the men's now because ofbecause of the World Cup, but
I didn't before. And the ideathat that's going to feel that Kansas City
is going to have its name onthat list, on that timeline when we
go to the you know, infifty years when people are like, wait,
(36:28):
people didn't treat women's and men's sportsthe same back in the day,
Grandma, what do you mean?And I'm gonna be like, you know,
olive oil, my child. Youknow, my made up kid is
naming my made up grandkids. Somethingweird and I don't know, but it
just happened. Uh. But yeah, No, I'm really really stoked.
(36:50):
And they're putting so much thought intoit, like Casey, maybe all there,
all the marketing materials, all thestory. Like I love the drama
that they're they're putting into it.I like that they're good. I like
that they care about being in KansasCity. Like it's just cool. It
makes me want to you know again, I performatively did not like or care
(37:12):
about soccer. I did not likethe girls who played soccer. They got
to leave church early, and Ididn't think that that was fair. Um,
and and now it's just like I'mI'm all in, who are they?
Whose whose name can I get onmy jersey? Who's over thirty?
None of them? Um? Youknow, so no, I'm stoked.
(37:36):
And I think like that to yourpoint, it's the increased access that we
have, Like it's it's able tobe a fan of make that like your
first fandom. Like whereas even withlike early leagues, like the first iteration
of NWSL what was it called,uh yeah, yeah, yeah, wp
A, like there was just neverquite that red carpet treatment where like you
felt like you had enough access tofully care. And now it's like,
(38:00):
yes, like with in the wNBA, with the NWSL, like there's
actually enough accessibility that it's like,yes, I can watch like almost all
the games, you know, likeI can actually be a fan of this
and be invested and not just belike, oh cool, I was able
to catch like the two games thatwere on ESPN when nothing else was on,
you know. So like that isthat in itself is huge and has
again helped expose us to these personalitiesof these women who are like incredible,
(38:25):
incredible athletes, and so you knowthat it just it. It's a snowball
effect because you have all that accessand you're able to see everything that's happening,
and it's just it's really fun.And I've really admired the way the
League in general has made that pushto really like say this is important and
not just because like because of youknow, social reasons or cultural reasons,
but because people care and because it'sreally high quality. Yeah, So,
(38:47):
I mean, that's it's it's sothe way that we treat things that women
care about in our society is sofascinating. The way that we treat like
the way that women behave and thefact that you know, so unapologetically it's
like these these are women and they'replaying sport and they're like they we're treating
(39:10):
them like like their athletes and competingat a high level and they want to
win, and it's like it's thesame. And also the fact that this
appeals to young girls, young girlsfeel at home here, young girls are
an audience. Like even just treatingthat like a valid and worthy end and
(39:30):
covetable audience I think is a hugeshift from from where we were ten years
ago, which is what I thinkis so so cool. So oh yeah,
we want like every girl in KansasCity, and the boys will come
to you know they will because youknow, there was a great shot in
the match against the Thorns, whichunfortunately they got thrashed in. Yeah,
like there was a great shot oflike four or five sort of like upper
(39:52):
elementary or middle school age boys likeholding signs and like losing their minds.
And I was like, I lovethat. I love this. They don't.
It's because they're good, you know, like it's fun to watch good
people do a thing. It's it'sliterally exactly what we were talking about,
except for you know, the Greeksonly had the boys come out, but
(40:12):
like you know, you're you're watchingpeople do cool stuff with their bodies.
Like I know it was against us, but did you see Sophia Smith just
like not stop, just didn't stopand then the balls Like it's you know,
it's the way that people must feelwhen they're playing against the Chiefs where
it's just like I mean, yeah, I don't like that we were playing
(40:35):
against Patrick Mahomes, but I meanwe all got to see Patrick Mahomes playing
football. That's how I feel watchingSophia Smith. It's like, well I
wish, yeah that idea is actuallyplayed out in a progression of texts that
Brett sent me weekend because from Portland. OK. Yeah, when Janus to
(40:58):
be like brought one back and itlooked like it could be close. He
was something, we got a gamenow, and I sent him a Sophia
Smith gift of her like I don'tknow, telling him to shush or shrugging
or something and just like torching someone. Yeah. A few minutes later he
was just like, I forgot abouther. Yeah he can't. Yeah,
that's she's so good. I meanbecause I did watch the championship and yeah
(41:22):
last year and it was it wasjust like, you know, this is
well, this is the show thatwe're watching. I guess. I guess
we're not watching a game. Iguess we're watching a show. Yeah,
which, you know what, morepowered to her? I love it.
Yeah. Things that are quintessentially KansasCity include barbecue, and it's something that
we like to talk about a loton our podcast. Do you have an
(41:46):
item or two from any of thespots in Kansas City that you consider at
the top of your barbecue pantheon?So yes, so I love of I
am a jack Stack girl, buteverybody likes cloths napkins every once in a
(42:07):
while, right, But I'm alsowell, So here's the thing about jack
Stick is there's jack Stack in NortonCity, which is close to where my
folks houses. And I hadn't eateninside of jack Stack, I think until
I was like twenty three years old, because we would order it and then
we would go and you wait inlike the little wooden area, and then
you pick it up and we takeit home. And that was like usually
what I would eat right before Iwent back to college. I'd be like,
(42:30):
let's have barbecue nite because I dolike their you know, their meats
are fine. Because the other thingis like the secret is I like Brian's
meats better, but Brian's is numberone far from my house, and number
two the cheesy corn and the beansand the giant containers of pickles at jack
Stack is where the sweet sweet spotis. Now. My husband is now
(42:55):
a six year Kansas City and asas far as a Palette is concerned,
and he loves Joe's Burnand's, buthe is a Bryan's boy all the way,
and the vinegary sauce is his deal, and the pulled pork and when
he first visited Kansas City, ourflight got to lay and we got stuck
places. So we got there twodays late later than we were supposed to,
(43:19):
and so we only had two days. So he had four four barbecue
restaurants in two days, and Bryan'swas the last one, and he took
one bite of Bryant's and he justsaid, this is what I like.
So we are it really is,it really is in all of them.
And then you know, for along time, Gates was what you could
(43:40):
get at Kaufman and now that's different. Um, but for my Gates experience
was a lot of Kaufman and thena lot of event other events that I
would go to that had a barbecuewould have Gates. Yeah, so good
trouble. Those burnands that Joe's areare pretty amazing, I will say,
So, did I screw your questionenough by naming all four of them?
(44:01):
Were band and item from all ofthem. I'm super into barbecue diplomacy and
I have a favorite thing at sixdifferent places. So yeah, I don't
I don't make people give us.We want to spread the love. Yeah,
yeah, We're all about spreading thelove. It's all good. Yeah.
Yeah, So it's play. Yeah, it's pulled pork at Bryant's,
(44:22):
burnt ends at Joe's beans, andcorn at jack Stack. And then just
like Gates is, you get intoa mood for it. Like I don't
know how else to describe it.You just are like it's Gates time.
You've covered all the bases on theJoe Arthur Gates Stacks shirt. So you're
you're living right, That's true.Um, your husband is a talented writer.
(44:45):
You mentioned that he was, Imean nominated as well. Can you
tell us about the game show thatthe two of you created called Citizenship Live.
Yeah. So my husband is animmigrant from Columbia, from Bowata in
South America, and he has agreen car now because we are married,
but he moved here when he wastwenty two. And obviously we've now we've
(45:10):
done a lot of the immigration systemaltogether, and we did a lot of
comedy together, a lot of standup and one of our dear friends,
her name is Orley Mattlow. She'sCanadian. One time the three of us
were in the green room getting readyfor a stand up show, and Orley
and Philippe were both talking about thecurrent that at the time Secretary of Commerce
(45:31):
Wilbur Ross, and I was like, who is that? And they were
both like, he's your Secretary ofCommerce, dog Bark and and I was
like, oh, okay. Also, I could not name a single member
(45:53):
like I could name the President ofColumbia and the Prime Minister of Canada only
because I'm married to a Columbian andthe Prime Minister of Canada's hot. And
so from there we developed this gameshow called Citizenship Life where we have natural
born like folks who were born here. It's natural born citizens and immigrants.
(46:14):
Now they might be citizens now,but they weren't born here. They didn't
necessarily grow up here. And thepremises as we ask kind of normal baseline
trivia level questions about the US andthen kind of the most basic questions about
the country's origin of our immigrant guests, but they end up being comparably difficult
for everyone involved, which is veryfunny. One of my favorites was actually
(46:39):
name six of the twelve states inthe Midwest. So that was a question
that we offered from the States,So it was like, name six of
the twelve states in the Midwest,and then the next question was a map
of Canada with one spot shaded andred, and the question was is this
nova Scotia. More people got theNova Scotia one wrong than the naming six
(47:06):
of the twelve Midwestern states. Sowe have such a blast. We actually
just wrote our our next show yesterdaywith our producer and Nat has questions about
the UK and Kenya and it's Imean, it's a blast in general,
Like the audience has a lot offun and are we you know, we
have comedians and they walk us throughtheir answers and stuff. But we also
(47:28):
have a blast learning about all ofthe countries and figuring out, you know,
kind of what's a what's a basiclevel, Like we had a fight
one time, like that a fight, but like we had a fight one
time where I was like is thecapital of Australia easy? Like do people
know that? Is that too easyof a question? And then a funny
po's like, no, I thinkwhat currency they use in Australia is harder?
(47:50):
And I was like, I don'tthink so, And so we asked
both of them to the audience.We were like, which of these is
harder? And I was right,it was Canberra is harder than Australian dollars.
But both of them are pretty hard. So yeah, so that's I
mean, we have a it's oneof our kind of live show things that
we do together, and it's blast. We do it once a month at
a theater called Caveat if anybody's everin New York City. It's very it's
(48:12):
super super fun. Okay, SoI think, how what I want to
do asking this final question is we'vetalked a lot about Kansas City and our
love for Kansas City and how thatties into ted Lasso, And there's been
multiple things that have been mentioned thatare clearly a love letter to Kansas City
on the show. But what's oneof your favorite quote unquote deep cut things
about Kansas City, either culturally orlike a specific item that you hope will
(48:36):
make it into ted Lasso Season three? This is a great question, and
I feel these are two real piein the sky hopes. But it would,
it would change my life. Soone is maybe a little bit easier,
but it is kind of like you'dhave to get it all the way
through the writer's room, which issomething that I think is very funny and
(49:00):
difficult to explain to people who arenot from Kansas City, is how purely
in the middle of nowhere. Arrowheadand Kaufman are, which is where the
Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas CityRoyals play at the Truman Sports Complex,
the Truman Sports Complex, and folkslisteners, I whatever middle of nowhere means
(49:21):
to you, I promise it's notvacant enough. And it is a giant
parking lot where like you can maybesee I think a Radisson Hotel across two
interstates from behind home plate at KaufmanStadium, which is the Royal where the
(49:42):
Royals play. And this is particularlyof interest to me because my sister in
law is going to Taylor Swift atArrowhead soon and I have no idea how
I am going to transport and thenretrieve her from the madness that will the
parking lot. But so that islike I think that that might be fun
(50:06):
if you know, Richmond goes toplay a soccer game at Arrowhead and that
just like a little joke. Theydon't e want to say it, just
a little joke about how it's inthe middle of nowhere and it's just a
parking lot and people get there atseven thirty am because it's the best place
to tailgate in the world. Here'sthe other thing. Ted Lasso is about
forty forty five years old. Thatmeans and it's twenty twenty two. That
(50:31):
means he would have been in hisearly twenties when the Kansas City Royals had
a partnership with Krispy Kreme where,yeah, where every twelve hits you got
a dozen Krispycreame donuts. So hewould have been pet the peak age to
(50:51):
be going to Royals games, buyingthe five dollars high V seats and waiting
to cash in on the Royals gettingtwelve tickets, which also presumably I don't
know if this is true or not, but you probably could have because they
were so bad, bought more ticketsonce you realize they were on the twelve,
(51:17):
or just pick them up, orjust pick them up off the ground.
So for those of it, Idon't know if I explained this,
So listeners from I believe two thousandand four to two thousand and seven the
Royals had a deal with Krispy KremeDonuts where if the Royals got twelve hits
in a home game, every ticketwas good for a dozen donuts, not
(51:44):
a donut, one dozen donuts.So and we I think we in two
thousand and four, I think no. In two thousand and three we lost
a hundred games. In two thousandand four, it seems like we were
going to maybe be good and thenwe swiftly were not. But so people
would line up, they would gostraight from the game to crispy cream sometimes,
(52:07):
you guys, it was such atouch point of Kansas City summer culture
in the early two thousands that Tedmust have had something to do with it.
And I if that made it in. I know they've already taped them,
(52:28):
and I know they've already recorded them, and I think, if I'm
correct, they they must already bedone because you have to have all of
the episodes to the Emmys by likeMay whatever. So, but I think
there's time to fly back to Londonand just do a quick just a quick
shot of Ted drinking a whiskey infront of the computer and just maybe he
(52:51):
just talks to himself. He cantell the therapist about it, you know,
maybe he's just on the phone withSam. You didn't know. You
don't even to go to London tofilm that. You can put you is
it in front of a green screenand just be like Henry let me tell
you. Let me tell you abouttwo thousand and four when when when Mike
Sweeney was on first and you know, every once in a while Michael Tucker
(53:16):
would be really good at baseball.And as a forty three year old who
took our son to his first Royalsgame when he was eighteen days old,
he got a certificate at the stadiumtoo. I can attest to the glorious
nature of the Krispy Kreme giveaway andmy favorite part of the story. A
(53:39):
brief addendum is that the season afterthe Krispy Kreme from Pania Bread decided they
would do it, and so Iwent to that game. I must have
been to like opening there something orthe first time that the Royals got twelve
hits and the Pania Bread partnership endedafter one game and they read like they
(54:04):
saw the demand and they're like,no, we're not about that life where
I was stapping out done. It'sso it was so because partnership immediately immediately,
because because the donuts, it's likeyou you pipe um me ice them
and you send them out the door. The bagels are bagels likes a thing
(54:24):
like I watched Great British Baking Showand they just they canceled it right away.
Oh so I did get I gotmy one dozen, because I did
go down to the Crown Center locationand I got my dozen. But then
after that it was a dozen bagels. I'm telling you for a while,
(54:45):
idea and they aren't prepared to bagelslike four fifty each, Like that seems
insane. That, Yeah, that'sthe other things. Markup. I didn't
even think about that. That showwas it was it packed, So I
don't rememb remember that part, Okay, I just remember the rest of it.
I am also glad to have learnedabout this bit of Kansas City sports
(55:07):
lore. Oh it was. Itwas the greatest. It was so amazing.
Everybody's like, oh buck night,It's like, no, do y'all
remember the donuts? Oh man,it was. We would say because I
was a kid, I was ten, and we would when we were losing,
we would be losing by a lot, but we'd be going to the
parking lot because I could be timethat my sister was eight, you know,
(55:29):
and you just hear the crowd erupted, and but we would have been
down by eight. Like this wasn'tthe twenty fourteen Royals where like we score
nine points in the bottom. Youjust hear the crowd erupt and it's like,
oh, yeah, great, wegot twelve hits. We go Krispy
Ko tomorrow, Like, yeah,there's Pete Grathoft did an article about it,
and I think he had I thinkhe has it in there somewhere.
(55:51):
The amount of games where we gottwelve hits but lost is like an un
We did it twenty seven times.We got twelve hits that year, which
is finance anyway. I would loveto see that in ted Lasso. It's
clearly really important to me. Let'shope it's as important to ted Y.
Yes, yes, Taylor. Wethank you so much for you've been super
(56:14):
generous with your time today. Wethank you for writing this book. Everybody
should go by it because it ishilarious, and we wish you all the
best in your writing, in yourcomedy, and in life in general,
because you have a lot of greatthings going on. Oh, thank you,
guys. This is so much fun. I'm a big fan of y'all
and the pod and it was enjoyto be on. Thank you so much.
(56:37):
Take care, Taylor, thank you. Have a good one. Ad
guys, and that's our show.We had a blast chatting with Taylor kay
Phillips. You can find links toher work, her book, her social
media accounts, and everything else wementioned in the show notes on our website
at ted lassopod dot com. We'llbe back soon with more ted Lasso goodness,
(56:58):
but you can keep the conversation goingwith us on Twitter and Instagram in
the meantime. Our handle on bothis at ted Lasso Pod. This episode
of Richmond Til We Die is broughtto you by Gin and Kerosene Productions.
It was produced by me Brett andmy co host Christian. If you're enjoying
this podcast, please take thirty secondsto subscribe to our feed and give the
show a five star review on ApplePodcasts or a five star rating on Spotify.
(57:21):
Heck, if you're feeling generous,you could even do both. As
always, we appreciate all the waysy'all share your love and support for the
pod. I'm Brett signing off forChristian and Taylor. Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Cheers y'all.N Court
Popular Podcasts
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.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!