Every day, at least 50 times, I say, Well, this can't be. And then to my shock and dismay, it continues being. And I've just been wondering when something is going to be done about that.

On this episode of the Commercial Break.

I'm thinking in my later 20s, have I met someone out and then gone on a few dates with them? I don't think so.

Here is... I was explaining this to somebody a couple of days ago. I think the world needs more nosy aunt matchmakers. Do you know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

I said this the other day, Brian.

Nosy matchmakers. Yes.

We are one woman. I love that person.

Go, queen.

I... Slay, queen. Slay, queen.

Go, queen. Get off on it. The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now. Yeah, boy. Yeah, cats and Kittin's. Welcome back to the Commercial Break. I'm Brian Green, and this is our Editor-in-Chief, Christina. Christina, best to you. Best to you, Brian. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. I always wondered if it was editor and chief or editor in chief. And then- Both. Yeah, you just got to read the actual... If you read it on an SMVC. Editor in chief. I don't know what that means, but I'll roll with it because they say it's official. She's the chief editor. She's the chief editor in charge. She's the chief bitch in charge.

Oh, you're damn right, I am.

Oh, yes. Christina was just reading me and telling me about a very interesting story. Now, maybe not relevant to those of us who are old and married, but maybe more relevant to those of us who are young and single. Christina, do tell about the Hinge lawsuit because I'm very interested. I have a lot to say about this.

There's a little lawsuit flying around against the Match Group, which is like Tinder, match. Com, and Hinge.

I didn't realize that they owned so many of them until you started telling me this story. I mean, I think I did know that Match owned Tinder, but I didn't realize they owned Hinge, match. Com.

I don't know. It's crazy. Basically, I'm reading from the Washington Post, just so you guys know, but it says, There's a class action lawsuit filed February 14th. Six dating app users accused match group of having a predatory business model and deliberately employing psychologically manipulative features to ensure they remain on the app perpetually as paying subscribers.

No shit.

They're saying it violates consumer protection laws because it intentionally designs the platforms with addictive game-like design features which lock users into a perpetual pay-to-play loop that prioritizes corporate profits over its marketing promises and customers' relationship goals. And further, Later on, it goes to say...

One second. To say something about false advertising?

Yeah, it's just further down in the article. So it says, The lawsuit also accused Match of violating laws on false advertising and defective design, saying its apps are trying to entrench users on the app and prioritizing profits over marketing promises because their entire thing, especially Hinge's slogan, is designed to be deleted, but they accuse the app of inspiring users to do the opposite. Which I would say is true. In my experience, that's true.

Well, your experience says a lot because you came on and told us about this. You said that Hinge puts people in Rose Jail, quote, unquote. Rose Jail. Let me repeat for those who don't know what Christina was talking about, I don't know, 40 episodes ago at this point, 700 episodes ago. A million years ago. Yeah, she's on hinge. In order to communicate with some people or to let them know that you're thinking about them, I guess, to get ahead of the line, you would send them a rose, of which you're allowed one per week, correct? Then that rose indicates that you're the cream of the crop, you're the best of the bunch, you've given your rose to somebody. It's like a special item you give to them to let them know you're at the top of their list, right? I assume.

It's also socially embarrassing.

Totally, completely. You have to give a rose to somebody to get their attention, or is it that you get the roses?

It's that you get the roses by paying. It's like, Oh, if you're paying for this, it's nice.

Yeah, if you're paying for this, then the indication would be, or maybe the stereotype would be, What a loser. Why are you paying for it? It's embarrassing. Okay, got you. I've shared this, and I'll share it now, is that I believe that there is not legally a lot of water to hold here. I think that this happens. The gamification of everything is happening. This is essentially a social media company. Even though dating is their game, it's a social media. Social media has been gamified forever and ever. Likes, hearts, dislikes, when that was the thing. You don't pay for those things, but they are social currency in a way. I don't think that Hinge is doing anything illegal. Immoral, maybe, but an embarrassing, probably. Absolutely making dating tough on everybody, yes. But is it illegal? Probably not. Because when you think about it, it was giving this example, you go to Disney World. In every commercial that you see for Disney World. These people are running around the park without anybody around them. There's like 30 people in the entirety of Magic Kingdom, and they're getting on every ride, and they're having a magical day, and they're looking at the fireworks right from the front of the castle.

And no one's crying. And no one is crying. If you have ever been to Disney World or any Disney-related park or any theme park, for that matter, then you know that is horse shit. They are going to charge you $700 to get in, you and your family, $700 just to get in the park, and then they're going to make you pay additional money to get to the front of the line. Everybody who's standing in the line looks at those assholes and goes, What? What? Huh? What happened there? Then everybody who is in the line, the fast pass line, may feel one of two things, either fool for not paying, where's your pocketbook? Or number two, I'm embarrassed that I'm getting in front of all these people who have been standing in line for four hours. The gamification of everything is happening, and there is a price to be paid. So is it illegal? No. False advertising?

Maybe. That's what I'm going to say. I was going to say, I think the false advertising thing is really where they actually have a shot because I've been complaining about this for years that their slogan is designed to be deleted, and I think they're full of shit. Because they literally won't show you the people who you are most likely to connect with based on their algorithm, they will not show them to you unless you pay for it.

Well, now that is false advertising.

You have one chance to send a rose. But the thing is, I mean, sending a rose is embarrassing anyway. But at least in my view, that is personal to me.

I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same way.

That's personal to me. But if you have to pay to see the people in your standouts in Rose Jail who are your most compatible or you're most likely to be in your lead to like people to like you or whatever, if you have to pay to see them, then it's not designed to be deleted. It's designed for you to pay for it.

Yeah.

Which is like, bullshit.

It is bullshit. Don't be a dating out. It is bullshit. Now, listen. Okay, so this is consumerism at its finest, right? It is essentially, I give you- Late-stage capitalism. Yeah, I give you the teat, but the milk will not come until you pay, until you bite off on putting your credit card down. This is what always happens with everything, right? We all got on Facebook, and then Facebook inundated us with advertisements and misinformation and propaganda from the Nation States, third-world Nation States. That's the way it always happens. You get hooked on the free, you pay for the better. This is the way consumerism has been working for ever and ever and ever, and especially in the age of the internet, when essentially their game is showing you who you could potentially be matched with, in their minds and their shareholders' minds, why wouldn't we charge you extra to be then... But when you're telling people that this is what's going to happen regardless if you pay or not, paying gives you some additional perks, but regardless, we're going to make sure that you get the people that you're intended to be hooked up with. And they purposefully, behind the scenes, withhold until you do pay.

And then when you do pay, it's a much better experience. And you're like, Well, fuck, I guess I have to pay next month, too. Then you're like, I have to pay next month, too.

Also, the The chart, the actual money is ridiculous. 4,999 a month. That is so much money. So much money. I wouldn't even pay that to go to a gym, babe. No. And I could meet people there.

No. It's like 4,999 month She's like, Girl, get a grip. Sister, I could pay for all the streaming apps, whack off, and never have another date, and I would be happy for 4,999 a month. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of fucking money. That is so much money. That's a lot of fucking money. Can you imagine if TCV tried to charge somebody $49.99?

Oh, my God. Could you imagine? You guys wouldn't even get $5 a month on Patreon.

We couldn't get a dollar 99 a month when we did it. We couldn't get a $1.99 a month. I mean, come on, $49.99. In what world? Are they fucking crazy? They are fucking crazy. That's the thing is that they have this product that everybody's hooked on, and they know that you're not going to tear yourself away from it because it's one of the only ways that people meet each other in romantic or potentially romantic situations these days. The bars are scary. The world is a big, bad, ugly place. After COVID, I'm not sure anybody has left their house.

That's why we join run clubs. Run Club.

Run Club? Are you in a run club?

I'm in two run clubs.

Oh, cool. I like the idea of a run club, actually. I think that's cool. I meet people.

I I saw- I'm in so many clubs right now.

You should be. That's a good thing.

Well, I'm trying to be very social. I'm trying to expand my circle, if you will.

I met a couple yesterday, and they were, if I've been married for, I don't know, a decade or something. They met on one of the online, match. Com, eharmony, one of those. I forgot which one it was, but one of the ones that's been around for a while. I have friends. I have family members who have met on those and are married still to this day. There are love stories to be had inside of these applications, and there are people who meet and then really fall in love.

If they're not trying to price gouge you.

That's right. If you have the $49.99 to pay. That's insane.

I'm just really paying for dates. Sorry, that's not something I'm in the business of doing.

Yeah, okay, fair enough. But match. Com and eharmony. Com and those other ones, they've always been paid services, I believe. It's just Tinder and Hinge and OkayCupit and some of those. Match.

Com, eharmony, you know what you're getting into. Yeah. But with Hinge and Tinder and Bumble, they did not start that way. We all have been using them since they started. The people who actually, who I know, who have been married or been in a relationship that started on those apps started before their algorithm started getting predatory. They're all people who met before COVID on the apps.

Where this... Anyone who's... Go ahead.

Go ahead?

No, go ahead, please. Finish your sentence.

I was just going to say anyone who's met after it or anyone who's been using it post-COVID is like, What the fuck is this?

Was it better pre-COVID or during COVID? Why? Because it was absolutely free. There was no roses. You just did your thing.

There was probably It was really some cost, but it wasn't like it is now. It was like you had a lot more... Like 2018, 2019, it was way more just regular dating app. You were just swiping through people, seeing what you liked, the people who would like you were in your purview. There was no issue in getting to the people. The problem is now you go on hinge and you can't even get to people who you like.

Because they're hiding them behind a paywall, essentially. They're hiding them, yeah. I do understand. I'm not on the side of corporate entities every time, but I do understand that the AI technology that they use, the huge amount of data and servers that they use, the complicated machinery that is connected Sizing someone with other people they like based on their preferences and who they've chosen in the past, that's expensive stuff. You got to pay for it somehow.

We're all get ads.

That's it. I'm like, Do advertisements. Well, You say do advertisements, and I agree with you, do advertisements. Every third swipe or every fifth swipe or every 10th swipe, you have to watch a 30-second commercial. You do get ads on Bumble sometimes. Oh, you do?

I think it's ads. Sometimes I swipe through and I'm like, What? And it comes up with something else. And then I'm like, Oh, and then I just swipe past it. But you see it.

Just do it like Instagram and allow the users to pay to have their shit shown more like an ad, but it says sponsored, right? Or it says paid for.

You know. Yeah, that's what I want to see.

Listen, when I was a young man, many decades ago, many hundreds of decades ago, I do remember- When I was a young man in 1944. In 1942, long before the wheel was In 1777, back when- That's O'Brien. Back when Antarctica was green, which is weird. I watch this. Anyway, I'm not going to get into it. But I do remember that there were often, and I say often, probably twice a year, when you would listen to the local radio station's news stories about a gentleman who would put his advertisement, his classified ad for himself, his essentially dating profile, up on a billboard somewhere in Atlanta or around. I'm not even kidding. They would do this. Usually around Valentine's Day, it was like a Valentine's Day Christmas type thing. They would always have these human interest stories where guys would be putting themselves up on a billboard I'm single, ready to mingle. I'm 6'2, I'm 110, whatever it was. 110 pounds, 6'2. That's a really skinny man.

Incredible. Incredible work.

It's tiny. Tiny. You're just tiny. You can't get a date because you look like a boner. Billboards are...

Like a pencil dick. Like a pencil dick. Not even.

Billboards are expensive. They are expensive. But I mean, $49.99 a month times five years. That's true. Okay, you could probably get a billboard for 3,000 bucks. Here's what I'm saying. I don't know if you've noticed this about Instagram, and we are as guilty of this as anybody. When we have a good clip, sometimes we boost it. But now I'm noticing that the most ridiculous of things are getting boosted. Hi, I'm Dave, and I play guitar for the last three weeks, and here's my music. It's like, good for you, Dave. You should put yourself out there. I agree with that. Go for it. You got $10 to waste. Go do it, dude. Shoot your shot. Got it. But can't the apps also work this way? Where if you really want to get in front of additional people, just have an ad. Let someone pay for it individually on a one-off basis. Like, okay, I'm going to put my profile out there for the next three weeks. It's going to cost me 100 bucks. Then I'm going to get shown to not just people that I like, but everybody in my area, or at least as many people as $100 pays.

That's a more, I think, transparent way to do this is allow somebody to boost themselves. I think so, too. Yeah, and then let the marketplace decide Whether or not that's something interesting. In my opinion, if you tell people that you're going to connect them no matter what for free, we're going to get you. We got you covered. But if you really want us to get your back, if you really want the full-service experience, go ahead and pay $49.99 a month. That's bringing you in. And then it's just by hook or by crook. I understand the position that match. Com is in. They have to make money. They can't do this for free. But at the same time, I do agree that bait and switching all of a sudden, is probably a shitty thing to do. This is not going to be this is not going to hold weight legally, I guarantee you, unless they have false advertising, and that can be proven.

I think the false advertising thing might, but we'll see.

But here's where it's really going to hurt. I think there's two things that are going to happen. Number one, a larger conversation about what it is to find a romantic partner in the year 2024. Number two, more conversation and scrutiny around these dating apps, which can leave a lot of people miserable. A lot of people miserable. I mean, isn't it just fucking suck to be single in 2024? I mean, no. Okay, all right.

Maybe I'm wrong. But that's part of the reason I feel like why I don't really use the apps anymore is because I'm like, my life is fabulous.

Yeah, and you got the run club. They're cute guys at the run club? Or girls? I'm in two run clubs. You're in two run clubs. Your odds are for you.

The problem right now, here's the problem. Coming back from a knee surgery, I have been humbled. I have been humbled. I am not fast. I am, in fact, very slow. The last time I went to the run club- Are you the slowest motherfucker out there? The last time I went to the run club, I lost them.

They all ran faster than you?

Everyone ran away. See, the first time I went to the run club, they were sending people back to us to check on us and make sure that we see.

How nice of them.

It was so sweet. It was honestly a little bit patronizing, but I personally loved it. Yeah, why not? Yes, slay. Coach me. They were being so encouraging and I just want to chat when I run. It was great to have someone to chat with, whatever. My friend, she was struggling a little bit more, and so she couldn't chat as much as I wanted to, obviously. Then this time we go, and there was a different... It was mostly a pretty different group people, and it was a different leader. There was no one coming back to check that we were still with the group.

No, they were like, Fuck that.

We were on our own little run.

But when you say we, was it like you were with a slower group?

I had a friend come with me.

That was nice of her to stay with you.

We're both slow. It was just two of us basically running the whole time. But then we got back to the coffee shop after where the Run Club is sponsored by. We all get free coffee, and so then we hung out with the group a little bit there. But it's a little bit of a shame for me right now because I'm just not fast.

I get it.

But look, if you guys want to join us, Slow Runner's Run Club, I'm a girl.

Now, let me ask you a question. If you could pay 49.99 a month and get someone to push you in a wheelchair with the fast people, would you do that? No. I guess that defeats the purpose of run club, huh?

Yeah, well, we'll see. I'm joining a trail running club, so we'll see what happens there? Because you have to go. They said there's a slow group there. I was like, cool.

Trail running, you got to take it easy. You have to take it easy. Yeah, you have to go slow.

You can't go fast. You can trip, and I'm delicate.

I see you. A delicate flower over there. I'm a delicate flower. You know me. If I'm an enterprises single young man and I'm attracted to somebody, you know what I'm doing? I'm keeping up pace with them. Slower, faster, whatever. I mean, I'm not a fast runner either. I like to run, but I don't at any pace. I mean, I'm really, really slow. But I'm old. I want to take it easy. I love being a slow runner. I'm not looking for new hips.

You don't want to hurt your joints.

No, I'm not looking for a new hip at 50, which one of my uncles had. My uncle had his hip replaced at 50 because he was running all the time. Every morning, every night, he would be out running, and the doctor was like, You got to stop it. You're killing your hips. It's a terrible, terrible... Running is eventually a terrible thing on your body unless you're from one of those tribes somewhere who ran across the desert for days on end. They're so good at running. Yeah, they're so good at running.

But that's like they say you are supposed to run. That's like ideal running form, like what the people, those people would do. It's like very small steps. That's what I do. You're not doing this. People, when they're Super fast and bouncing up and down a lot when they're running. I'm sitting there, judging, going, They are expending way too much energy.

You know what?

I could do this for 25 miles.

It's crazy. I had been running for like... When I first started running a decade ago, let's say, I couldn't run a quarter of a mile without completely being out of air. But I also just had quit smoking cigarettes. I think that had something to do with it. Okay, that's part of it. I had never conditioned my body to do this. Then I started gaining some stamina, and I was up to a mile and then two miles, and then I was doing 5K every single day. That didn't take long to do that. It was maybe a six-month period, where I finally was like- When you truly work on it, it comes. But I had been running at this same particular place almost every morning or when I ran, and I would run around the same time, and I noticed that there was a gentleman. Okay, dangerous. I know, but I liked it. Yeah, but you get addicted to it.

Same time every day, a woman would never.

Well, listen, I don't think No offense to myself, but I don't think this is the guy anybody's looking to sex traffic. I'm just saying I think there are better options out there.

Yeah, maybe you're the scary one on the trail.

Maybe, you never know. What does a bad guy look like? I'm not sure. I Just a guy. I had no... Yeah, just a dude. Thanks. I loved it.

I'm a delicate flower.

You are a delicate flower. I had noticed this guy was running. He was a little bit older than me, and he was running, too, but he was running different than I was running. I was running the American way you learn in school, where you're just clot hopping around, just bouncing up and down and fast as you can. Yeah, but I had noticed this guy, and he was running almost like he was walking really fast, very smooth, very small steps, arms not swinging all over the place wildly. Ideal form. Or ideal form. And so I started fashioning my run after this guy because I noticed that what he was doing. So then my friend goes, one of my friends who also runs, says, you got to read this book on running, right? He started running barefoot, like in these barefoot shoes. Do you know what I'm talking about? Those ridiculous things that people wear?

Yeah, that's what I like to call a red flag.

Totally. Why are wearing foot gloves to run. Those little leg. Yes, the foot gloves.

They actually have socks also that are toe socks for running. They're like the Ininji or something. Yeah, okay. But I imagine that that's actually pretty good for your toes.

It probably is, but I just can't do it. I feel like I have too much self-respect to try it. Yeah, me too. I'm just like, I don't care. I'm married. I'm not looking for anybody. No one's looking for me. But I'm embarrassed by the foot sock. I just don't want to do that. Anyway, so he says, You got to read this book. He sends it to me on Amazon. I start reading it. You You know what they got? It's one of these runners who ran across the desert from this particular tribe. He wrote this book and he said, It's not about extending effort. It's about being in the pocket. You get comfortable with a small, steady pace and you just sit there. Your breathing is comfortable. Your arms are comfortable, your legs are moving like almost gliding across the... Don't pull your knees up toward your chest.

That's what I'm doing in my own little slow runners club.

Good for you.

I want to be able to run where I can talk the entire time. Well, I want to talk at you for the two and a half hours we are running this happy marathon. I want to be chatting the entire time.

You know what it says in the book? I have a podcast. You know what it says in the book? It says you should run at a pace where you can talk the entire time. It does. That's it.

It's really good for your cardiovascular health. Yeah.

Listen, you're not getting an argument from me. But here's the question. I'm a superstar, it turns out. Bringing it back around, here's the question. Do you less rely on the apps and more rely on social interactions in order to find romantic partners or potential romantic partners?

I think that's my goal this year.

Good.

I like it. I think I want to not use the apps and I want to try and meet people in real life. I don't think I've ever been out on a date from meeting someone organically. No. I'm trying to think. I don't know.

You've never been like a- Oh, no, that's not true.

That's not true.

You had to have met somebody in school or something.

Yeah, well, I was thinking after school, but then again, I did meet someone after I went out with a few years later or whatever. Okay, that's organic. I'm thinking in my later 20s, have I met someone out and then gone on a few dates with them? I don't think so.

Here is... I was explaining this to somebody a couple of days ago. I think the world needs more nosy aunt matchmakers. Do you know what I'm saying?

Absolutely.

I said this the other day, Brian. Nosy matchmakers. Yes.

We are one woman. I love that person.

Go, queen.

Slay, queen.

Slay, queen. Go, queen. Get off on it.

No, I literally said this the other day. I was like, The best way to go on dates is to have people set you up with their friends. Totally agree. Other people they No.

That's it. Our friends need to be more nosy in our lives. We can't let them succumb to the hinge trap of consumerism dating. What we need to do is just have more nosy fucking friends. That's what we need. Be nosier. Hey, I notice you haven't gotten late in a while. There's this cute girl that I know, and she's probably crazy, but so are you. So the two of you ought to go out on a date. Hey, maybe you can get a handjob out of it. Maybe she gets off to. Everybody's having a good time. Go for it. And that's it.

Do you want to know something awful?

About hand jobs?

I heard someone the other day refer to a hand job as a handy J.

A handy J?

A handy J.

Well, that's just new Lowe's.

You got to call I was like, I'm going to bar fight things.

Yeah, it's called a Hand Shandy. Thank you very much. Let's all settle down.

You know where I heard that? Run Club.

Run Club. That's where all the bullshit is happening at. It was a story about someone- I feel like now I'm missing out. I need to join the Run Club.

You need to join a run club, Brian.

I wish. I wish. But I don't have time. I have a run club. It's called the 18 Children at the House. You're busy. The commercial break. The commercial break is a run club, too. That's a gerbil run club. We're just spinning on a hamster wheel going- Yeah, it's ridden around. Absolutely nowhere. All right, we've over talked, but that's what two podcasters will do. So let's take a break, and then we'll be back.

Well, thank the baby Jesus. Brian took a breath, and now I will use this opportunity to let you know that we've got a brand new phone number. That's right. It's 212-433-318. 3tcb, and you can text us anytime you want, or you can call and leave us a voicemail, and we might just use your message on the show once Brian gets through all the messages he missed last year, of course. Anyway, you can also find and DM us on Instagram at the Commercial Break and on TikTok at TCB podcast. And of course, all of our audio and video is easily found on tcbpodcast. Com. Now, I'm going to thank G one more time that we have sponsors. So thank G, and here they are.

You know what I keep getting on Instagram? Ads for bleaching my asshole. Are you getting these?

Oh, I'm not, but I probably will now.

It's a company. I'll give them a shout out. Why not? Because they're brave enough to- Give me some information.

I'm actually curious about this.

It's called Musely. Musely. M-u-s-e-l-y. Musely. Oh. Yeah. No, not like... Yeah, Musely. What's that called? Musely. Musely. Musely? Is that what it's called? It's called Musely. Isn't it like a granola or something? It's like a weird granola that the king eats?

Like a grainy granola.

A grainy, weird granola? I think my grandma used to eat that. For sure. Yeah, weird. Anyway, so it's just an ad, and I've been getting it, I don't know, every day for for like 40 days, and it says, The perfect pitch is possible. All you have to erase dark spots in private areas with prescription skincare, formulated by dermatologist.

Is that for bleaching your asshole or is that for taking care of something like scars from HS or something?

No, this says, What is the private cream? It's a prescription cream formulated to treat dark spots in the anus, underarm and genital area.

But is dark spots... Is that hyperpigmentation or is that actually just your butthole?

I don't know. Listen, and I only know this because I've had 72 children in the last six years. I only know that assholes are generally different colors. Not like I'm looking at my own, But when you wipe a baby's butt, it's generally a different color than the rest of their skin. But I think that's pretty fucking normal, and I'm not really sure why we would need to bleach our assholes unless you're spending a lot of time down there.

People are out here watching too much porn.

Listen, I don't know who these kids are that think that bleaching the asshole is going to make you any more attractive. If you are willing to go into an asshole, you are willing to deal with what is around and in the asshole.

I don't think you're worried about what it looks like.

Not at all. Turn the lights off like the rest of us, please. No one wants to see that. I just happen to be down there.

I think as long as it's a clean asshole, then I think you're good to go.

I don't disagree with you. Okay, but beyond the assholes and my Instagram musings, let's get to some AskTCBs that have been filling up the inbox for a very long time because I didn't know how to check the inbox properly, and so now I'm just getting to them after months and months of them being out there.

Hence why I roast you on the liners, Brian.

That's it. She is good at one thing, and that is roasting me on my own show. All right, so By the way, lots of great feedback about Astrid being on the show the other day. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. Most people said they enjoyed Astrid busting my balls. So there you go. I like it. I feel like I'm the villain on my own show. You are. I know.

That's like a song from Crazy Exe Girlfriend. It's like, I'm the villain in my own story.

I definitely am. I definitely am. And that's okay. You know, if Vince McMahon was the heel in his own WWF, and look how things turned out for him. You're just fine.

You're bringing awareness to being the villain.

Yes. Somebody's got to be the villain. Let it be me. You know what I do? I preempt the villain. I preempt all of the negativity I'm going to get anyway. So I hurt myself before someone else can hurt me. Okay. Yeah, exactly. But But onward and upward, let's get to some Ask T-Cbs that have just been compiling or piling up for, I don't know, probably six months. Who cares? We're getting to them now. That's all that matters.

Yeah, and you get my opinion and not Chrissy. There you go. There you go.

No complaints allowed. Chrissy will be back, by the way, anybody who's wondering, Christie's just taking a little vacay. She'll be back. Christie's on a little vacay. She's literally drinking on a beach. She was drinking on a beach. I think she is now back in the general continental United States area.

Okay.

More to follow. I'm not really sure what's going on there, but we'll catch up with it when it's time. Okay, so first, let's go to... The reason why I saved some of these questions, too, is because they're more direct about the podcast. Like, bring down the veil a little bit. Tell us what's going on behind the scenes, Brian, please. I feel like we do a good job of that anyway, breaking the fourth wall on the show. We're not too precious about the commercial break because there's nothing to be precious about. But here's one that is more of a story/question, which we get a lot of these also. Tal in Sioux City. I am assuming that is Sioux City, South Dakota, and not Sioux City, Iowa, but I don't know because she didn't say. I've been dating a guy for six months. He's such a great dude. I've fallen for him. But we're in our late 20s, and the dating scene has been tough on both of us. This is just exactly what we were talking about. We've both been cheated on multiple times, and both of us have had what we consider shitty, toxic relationships.

Join the Club Tal. But the last three months are slow. We decided to take it slow, both emotionally and sexually. But the last three months or so, we've been getting pretty close, spending the night together, almost four or five nights a week, going to friends and family events together, and even meeting the parents. Honestly, I am not so sold on the idea of marriage in general, but he is making me think twice. All that said, I have one big concern. We have never had sex of any kind except for oral, and he down on me, but he didn't allow me to go down on him. I am totally respectful of his space and comfort level with sex, but I'm a bit worried at this point. He has had sex before, like with his last girlfriend just a year ago, so he does have sex. He's not a virgin. He's not religious, so this is not a religious thing. He has a penis. I've seen and felt it. It seems to work just fine, she says. Okay. Thanks for the update. But he just won't go there. Every time I think we are close, he shuts it down.

He just keeps saying, Let's slow down and make sure this is both what we want before we make a mistake. I'm like, Really, dude? It's just sex. I mean, it's sex between two caring people who have been taking it really slow in the first place. And anytime I ask him about it, he shuts down the conversation with a joke or he changes the subject. Brian, Chrissy, what the fuck? Brian, Christina, what the fuck? What would you all do? Horny and helpless in Sioux City. Love the show.

Oh, bless your heart and soul.

Bless It's your heart and soul. Well, this is a conundrum, and I can see why. It's not based on religious reasons. It's not based on the fact that he doesn't want to have sex because he considers himself a virgin, whether that's really... Some people are newly anointed virgins. They say, Now I'm not having sex until the right person comes along or ever again. It certainly is, I think you're taking the right tact here. You're being respectful of his comfort level and his space. Six months is a long time, I think, for two consenting adults. It's a long time to withhold sex. I would also be concerned at this point. If he shuts you down when you're trying to talk about it, I would be doubly concerned that not only are you not having sex, but he won't allow communication about your comfort level.

That's my thing is at the end of the day, he's just not communicating He's not giving you a reason why. His reason could be like, I don't want to do it until this point. I don't want to do it until I'm in love with you or something. For me, couldn't fall in love with someone without making sure.

No way. I think you're good. No way. Well, I fell in love with Astrid, I'm sure of it, before I even ever physically met her in person. But we did not abstain for long after we had met in person. When I say long, I mean days. That was Just so that we were in a place where her family wasn't around. There were mitigating factors. Her mom was in town, I was staying at a hotel, whatever the deal was. But once we had the chance, once we had the comfort level and the space to do it, it happened. And that is because I will not be in a long term relationship with somebody unless I understand that we're compatible on multiple levels. It doesn't have to be a perfect fit on all levels, but there has to be some feeling. And it sounds like they get it on. So there is some, like something going on down there.

Clearly, they fancy each other. It's just a matter of why does he not want to go there?

He doesn't even want to blow it off. He doesn't even want to blow it off.

Actually, I have had a partner who are not interested in oral?

Which I understand. I have been with women who I am not interested in oral from. But that was just- What does that mean? Well, it just means that... Not to shit on anybody else's abilities, but sometimes it was a little toothy. It wasn't my favorite experience with that particular person, so I chose to do something else. It wasn't because I was like, You're a fucking bad head giver, and I'm never getting ahead from you. It was just like, It's not that enjoyable that way, so it's okay. Let's do something else. He had me so concerned for a second. I was like, What the fuck is he going to say? Well, she had a crack pipe in her mouth, and it burned the tip of my dick, so I couldn't do it. Oh, my God. I was like, What? No, it was just, you know, some people have... Okay, no. That makes sense. Okay. Some people fit and some people don't. No, no. Yeah.

Fine. Okay. I've had a partner who was just like, I just don't really like it. It doesn't really do that much for me. It's just not really for me. I can understand this guy if he's not really into it, that's fine. But it's also like, then where is he driving his pleasure? The playing field doesn't feel super even right now, and it feels like he's making it that way. It feels like him withholding sex is maybe for a way to feel powerful.

Like a power play? Yeah. Well, maybe. You might be right. Don't know. It's hard to tell because we don't hear his side of the story, right? We don't know enough of the details because that's literally all she- If he just freaking told her, if he just told her what was up or like, I'm just not feeling emotionally ready for that, then that's okay. Or listen, I've had some really bad sexual experiences and it gives me PTSD. Or whatever the case is, there's lots of different reasons.

You have to communicate.

Absolutely. Now, I would say this. This is ultimatum time, and not in the most gentle of ways. I don't say ultimatum in a bad way, but this is the time when you say to your friend, your boyfriend, it sounds like you guys are serious. You've met the parents, you're sleeping together four or five nights a week. She said she's falling for him. She's falling for him. She said she's reconsidering the idea of marriage for him. That's a pretty big fucking deal. Don't do it, girl. Don't do it. Well, hey.

We're not interested in the shackles of marriage. I'm just saying I get where she's coming from.

Okay, fair enough. I understand the idea of marriage is not for everybody. And marriage, you probably... I would say that 50% of people, as proven by statistics, should not get married. They're not getting married. Take your time on that one. You don't have to rush into marriage or get married at all. You can live a perfectly wonderful life together without ever having a piece of paperwork saying it.

Number one piece of advice is don't get married in your 20s.

No, I agree with that.

Just wait until you're in your 30s.

Yeah, 30s, 40s, 80s. Figure it out later on down the road. But here's the thing, ultimatum time. This is when you say, okay, listen, I don't know what his name is, but let's say it's Bob. Hey, Bob, because he sounds like a Bob. Let's say, Hey, Bob. Hey, Bob. Hey, Bob. Say, Bob, We're either going to talk about it or we're going to do it, but there's no more getting around it. You either have to tell me what's up and not that we're taking it slow because I no longer am comfortable taking it slow because it's also about your comfort level, too. If you want to have sex with Bob. Love yourself. Get it, girl, you have to not force yourself on him, but you have to be the one to press the issue to a conclusion that is satisfying to you and be ready for the conclusion is, I don't want to have sex with you, so it's time to break Because that might be the conclusion, but it's better that he tell you that now than a year and a half from now when you've been frustrated to all to no get out.

You have no outlet to have your big O. This is in a critical moment for you, too. Well, She's getting her big O. Apparently so. Well, I mean, we don't know.

She's getting her nut, which I must respect.

That's crazy.

That's just crazy to me. Sorry, saying get your nut is one of the grossest things that I say, but I say it a lot.

I love it. Yeah, get your nut.

I say, Girl, get Get your nut.

You could be talking about a squirrel. Get your nut, squirrel. Get your nut. I say it all the time to the kids. I'm like, Look at that squirrel. He's getting his nut. He's got his nut. He's digging it in the ground. But yeah, so she's obviously getting her nut, but it feels like a weird little power play.

I think the bottom line is you got to break down that barrier. You got to get the communication flowing. If that means that you're going to break up, then you have to be okay with that.

I agree. I think we're all on the same page here is that it is a little strange that Bob has withheld this long. He's not even, apparently, I don't know, but it sounds like he's not even getting off. That's another thing that would have me like, if I'm- This is a little concerned. I'm 90% worried about communication issues, but I'm 10% worried about where is he getting his nut? Where is he getting his nut?

Where is he getting his nut? Where is his nut?

Where is his nut? Is he jizzing? Where is the nut? And with whom is he jizzing? These are my concerns. I'm concerned for Bob.

He got her, but he's not jizzing. Yeah. Well. As we know, 21 EPMs a month, critical. Well, EPMs, obviously.

That's right. 21 EPMs. If you guys are four or five nights a week together, that means you're spending 20 nights together where there is no jizzing. What is going on? I need Bob on the show immediately. I'd like to talk to Bob, privately.

Bob calls us at 212-212-433-3-TCB.

All right. Okay, so let's get through some of these other ones. Susie from Massachusetts says, Brian, you You talk a lot of shit about T Caputo. I mostly agree with you about Teresa, but do you believe in ghosts or the afterlife? Because it sounds like you're shitting on the whole thing. No, I'm not shitting on the whole thing, and I've never said that. What I've said was, if there are ghosts, if there are ghosts or spirits, energies, afterlife, if there's any of that that's visiting us, I don't think they're choosing Theresa Caputo to be the vehicle upon which they give their message. That's what I said. Do I believe in ghosts? I've never seen one, so it's hard to believe in them.

You've never had a A paranormal experience?

Yes, I have had a paranormal experience. Yes, I have. I've had sleep paralysis. I've seen things in the night. I've had- Oh, yeah, you did.

Okay, I know that story.

I did have energetic communications that I would consider telepathy in weird ways. I've had all kinds of unexplainable things happen to me, and I am open to the idea that anything can happen, anything. What I do know to be true for myself, for myself only, is that Theresa Caputo is not the person that's these messages and delivering them to anybody. She is a huckster who is doing a circus trick. She is a scammer. She getting her money, and congratulations, but I think she does it to the detriment of other human beings, and that I don't care for. I don't care for it.

I don't care She's spraying on people's pain, and so we will roast her until she's off the air. Yes.

Which should be soon, I hope. She's on the 18th iteration of her show. God, I know.

She's on another show.

It's crazy. She just keeps on rehashing the same show.

I just don't know how she is booking this. Honestly, her manager is incredible.

Her manager is incredible. My guess, Christina, my guess is she's getting very little money for the show. The production costs are paid for, and she makes maybe 15, $20,000 an episode, which in the grand scheme of things is not that much. But What she is doing is she's filling the seats in the auditorium, which is what really makes her money. So this is essentially a big promo tool for her to-er.

Well, just so you know, I'm going to start charging you $15,000 per episode that I'm on.

I don't think we made $15,000 in the last six months.

Just so you know. That's my rate.

Yes. Okay, here we go. Let me cap that by saying, do I believe in ghosts? I don't not believe in ghosts. That's all I'm going to put it. I am open to the idea that anything is possible, anything at all. Okay, one more, then we're going to take a break, and then we'll get back to more of these. Okay, Todd from Spokane says, I like that you pull the curtain back behind the podcast biz, and You're always saying that TCB has no listeners. I assume this is in jest, but I am a listener, and I have a few friends that listen to you also. Here's the question, is it true that you have no listeners? How many people do listen to the show? Well, we actually- Todd. Yeah, Todd. Do you think we could do 500 episodes of the commercial break for a week if we had no listeners? Of course, we have listeners. It's Christina, my wife, and my father. Those are our three listeners.

You don't even get downloads from me. No. Actually, that's not true. I am subscribed.

It's okay. Yeah, I am subscribed, too. You got to keep on reengaging that subscription now because Apple changed the way they do things. But, Todd, of course, we have listeners. Yes, we have listeners. There are listeners. You wrote in. You are a listener. You have friends that listen. You know that there are listeners. But I'm not going to share how many listeners. It's not important. It's a vanity metric anyway. I don't care. I enjoy doing the show, and we, on occasion, get a paycheck from some companies who we have worked with in the past. There you go.

Also, I will say every time I tell people who I work for, they are like, What? I've never heard that show. I'm like, Yeah, don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it. You don't even have to look into it.

It's not important. It's probably not your demographic.

No one knows the show, the Commercial Break. That's how we like it. But honestly, you have to think about this. We aren't on TV. I'm not Jimmy Kimmel or Fallon or a host on a late night television show. We're not a celebrity podcast. We're not celebrity podcast. We have a very limited scope upon which people would know us. With the amount of people that listen to us, you could literally go through life and probably never meet another Commercial Break listener. But that doesn't mean we have no listeners. It just means we don't have a lot of listeners comparatively speaking. We're just spread out. Let me tell you this. Joe Rogan has 157 million people, million downloads. Sorry, not people, million downloads. I was like, Every single month. We have somewhere south of that. How does that? Does that narrow it down for you, Todd? There you go. Konan has 28 million or something along those lines, I think. We have somewhere south of that. Yes. Christina's podcast, we probably have somewhere south of that.

No, not true. You should go listen to my podcast.

What's the name of that podcast? What's the name of that podcast?

It's called To All the Rom-Coms We've Loved Before. We talk about rom-coms and we're very cute and fun.

It is a pretty funny show. So go listen. All right, so Let's take another break, and then we'll be back. We'll answer a few more questions. We'll be back.

I know you're already on your phone, so pull up Instagram and follow us @thecommercialbreak, and then follow us on TikTok @tcbpodcast. Done? Perfect. Thank you. Since you're at the ready, why not text us hello at 212-433-3-TCB. Or if you've got some drama in your life, a little fun story, or anything really, we're desperate for content, call and leave a message at 212-433-3-TCB. And don't forget to check out tcbpodcast. Com because that's got it all. Speaking of having it all, let's listen to our fabulous sponsors and get back to the Commercial Break.

Okay, back here with Christina doing some ask at T-C-B.

I love your let's get back to the show voice. I'm sorry. I just have to say it every time. I'm like, We're back to the show.

And we're back. Yeah, I know. And you know what I realized?

And we're back, I'm back here with Christina.

Do you know what I used to say? I used to go like, And we're back, talking about this or that. And we're back in case you missed it. And I'm like, No, how would anybody have gotten to this point in the show unless they were listening to this point in the show? It's such a ridiculous thing to say. Why don't I have to recap? You're just flowing through it. I know. And we're back. It's my 19th.

It just makes me giggle every time I'm editing the show. I'm like, It's his And we're back voice.

And we're back. Anyway, sorry. No, I agree with you. Totally. So go back and listen to something. We do what's called live editing. So I actually run the commercials during the show. I run the breaks, and then Christina edits it afterwards to make sure it's nice and tight and listenable. But when I do that, I don't know why. It's like I go into '90s game show host mode. I'm like, And we're back. Who cares? We really do. Who cares if we're back?

You do it on your ads, too, though, which is a little bit funny.

You do it on your ad voice. Yeah, but we call it the commercial break, so I figure I give it a little commercial flavor. I'm also pulling the curtains back. I really don't care for most. Some people do it really well, but most podcasters start running their ads in the middle of the show. They just start mouthing off about whatever mattress they're doing. It lasts for three and a half minutes, and they try and wrap it into the content poorly. Yeah, the content poorly. I decided from the beginning not to patronize my listeners and put music beds and make it like a commercial so that they know that it's a commercial and they can choose to go there if they want to and not do that. To the dissatisfaction of some of my sponsors. I am not Mr. Let's roll it into the content for 48 minutes. Let's make a whole episode about mattresses that you get in a box. It's like, okay, dude. All right, bro. All right. Okay. So Lekwita from Chicago, Illinois, Home State, hometown, says, How do you prep for the shows? I love how many different topics you all cover on each episode.

How do you come up with the ideas? This is a question I get a lot off air, actually, because no one actually listens to the show, so they just ask me how I come up with the ideas for the show. It's a mishmash of a lot of different things. You got to trust me that there's not as much work as you might think going into content ideas. If you really listen to the show, you probably understand that. Is that literally, since we do four shows a week, I put my finger on whatever magazine, news, online magazine I'm reading, I go, Oh, that's an interesting story. Then we talk about it. Or if I have a story to tell, usually based around something that's happened in my life, it's not as difficult as people think it is, but it does consume a lot of time to come up with content ideas. But once you get the content ideas, you just roll with it. It's not that difficult.

We don't script the show. When you're absolutely full of shit like you or like me, it's really easy to just talk.

Mouth off for an hour. If you listen to some episodes, Christina, and I know you know this because we have done it ourselves, recording episodes, is that one idea will literally go for an hour, but we lose that idea in the first five minutes, and then we end up somewhere completely different. Yeah, I think that's fun. I think it's fun, too. Imagine, Laquita, that you're at a bar talking with your best friend. You guys, girls, whatever, have had a few beers. You're talking with your best friends, and all of a sudden, two hours has passed, and you forgot what you were talking, what you I heard it talking about, but now you're ending on whatever, my boyfriend hates me or I hate my boyfriend or whatever. It's like a circular conversation that just never connects back to the beginning. It's not all that difficult. Thank God that Christina and and Chrissy, we could talk all day long if we wanted to. Shane, not Shane Gillis, by the way. Shane in Indianapolis asks, I've noticed you guys don't run as many commercials as you used to. That's a good thing, but why? How did you all decide to reduce the ads?

Do sponsors give you free shit? And who is your favorite sponsor?

You have answers to that.

I have answers to this. We don't always choose to run less ads. See, here's how it goes. Sorry. Yeah, I know. I got to be delicate about this one. Yeah.

Yeah, I just know some of the answers. Yeah.

So let's put it this way. The show used You put an electronic ad marker in the show where you want the ads to go, usually always coinciding with the break. Christina does a neat little liner, and then you hear ads. Most of them are producer-read, meaning somebody else reads the commercials and run them just like a radio ad would. Those commercials are injected into the show by a hosting company, our hosting platform. That hosting company has 100% control over whether or not an ad goes into an ad slot. Basically, based on the inventory they have available or where you're listening from, or maybe if you're male or female or whatever. It's targeting, just like every other online advertising. But we also, I think, got a little crazy with the ad markers for a second there, and we had a few too many. We paired them back when we moved to Oasis, who is our new network. We paired them back a little bit, make the listening experience just a little bit better, makes also our revenue a little bit lower.

Ryan got a little slutty, and that's okay. I got a little slutty. We all get a little slutty sometimes. I got a little slutty.

I got to admit it. I do say I got a little slutty. Well, we weren't getting any other ads, so I was like, Well, why the fuck? We needed to be slutty then. We needed to be slutty. We wanted to be slutty. That's what we wanted. We had to be slutty then. Actually, yes. I'm sure a lot of people- We had to. Who do jobs, They were like, Well, while we're doing it, we might as well make some money doing it. But I think we're good. We're now at a good manageable five, six ads per show over the course of an hour, hour and 15 minutes, which is five or six minutes. It's not that big of a deal, I don't think. If you have a problem with this, Shane, then you're certainly welcome to write back in. Shane. Do we get free shit? Shane. Fucking Shane. Thanks for opening up the can of worms, Shane. Do we get free shit on occasion? It doesn't happen as often as you would think it would, but of course, some sponsors would like you to know their product very well, so they send stuff ahead of time.

99.9% of the time when I read an ad or Christina reads an ad or on the rare occasion that Hoda reads an ad. On those occasions, these are products that we like, we use, or would use. In the occasion that we don't yet use the product, oftentimes we will be asked if we need the product to try or to test. That's how that works. If we say yes, then they will send us some. I would say it's probably a good 60, maybe 60, 40, 60% of the time we already use the product, and then 40% of the time we use the product before we read the commercial so that we know what to... So we can say good things about the sponsor. That's how it works. That's how it all works. Influencers, everybody, that's how it all works. Who's my favorite sponsor so far? That's a great question. Who is my favorite sponsor? I got one. Okay, go.

Well, I have to say I use Rocket and I really like them.

Rocket Money is great. Yes.

I have used them for a long time. I love Rocket Money. I used to use my own personal spreadsheet to track all my finances. I really liked it because I love spreadsheets, but it is a lot of work. The nice thing about Rocket Money is that it does take a lot of the work out. I like looking at my month to month, what I spent on this, what I spent on this, especially I had a lot of medical expenses last year, so it's really helpful for me to look through all of that and doing my taxes and deducting all my medical expenses.

This episode is sponsored by Rocket Money. I'm just saying. I like Rocket Money, too.

I like Rocket Money, too.

Magic Spoon has been a favorite because we do like their food. I actually like Magic Spoon cereal, so I eat it. Cereal and cream. Cereal and cream. It defeats the purpose of Magic Spoon, but I have a healthier cereal. It totally defeats the purpose. It does help a little. I like Magic Spoon. Then we We did one for... Who did we do one for? I don't know. There was a travel company that we did one for one time. I don't want to say it wrong. I think it was Travelocity, and I do use Travelocity.

You've talked about that on the show.

Yeah. There you go. Okay. All of our sponsors are favorite sponsors while they're sponsoring the show. Absolutely. All right. Dab. Dab. His name is Dab. I'm assuming this is a he. Dab. D-a-b. In California. I'm really enjoying your guest episodes. So far, Joanna has been my favorite. Who has been your favorite on the show and why? Who is your dream guest? And who would you... And not who's your dream guest, and who would you love to have on the show? I'm assuming that's one question. Who's your favorite guest so far? Me? Yeah.

I think I'm going to go Felicia Day.

Yeah.

You know she's my queen. Or no, Heather McMahon. Heather McMahon. Sorry.

Heather McMahon. Yeah.

She's my icon. Well, I've loved her for a really long time, but I would say Felicia Day and Heather McMahon up at the top.

I think there's a three-way tie here. Okay, I'm with you with the three. With one moving a little bit higher than the others just because it's weird when you have a guest and they're people like the rest of us, and You never know how they're going to react or behave. We're meeting for the first time. It's like, literally, we're meeting them for the first time, and they don't know who the commercial break is, just like most of the people out in the world don't know who the commercial break is. Sometimes people take a while to get warmed up. But then there's people that you meet outside in your normal course of activities. They're really friendly. Right off the bat, you hit it off and you're like, Wow, this is a great guest. I would say Heather, Felicia, and Joanna have all three been wonderful guests on the show. Blair has been a wonderful guest. Rosebud was awesome. Everyone's been really great. Everyone's been really great. Steve-o was fantastic. I love talking to Steve-O, and he really got into it.

It was so interesting, every different person.

But I think as far as connecting with somebody, feeling great about the interview while it's happening. I do think Joanna takes a little bit of the slice of cake just because, and I don't want to say that any of the other people were bad. They weren't. But Joanna and I share something, and that is the love of Venezuelan culture. She's Venezuelan. I'm just a guy who wants to be Venezuelan, but I really enjoy Joanna. I thought she was great. Okay, so that's it. Who would I like to have on the show? There's lots of people that I would like to have on the show. I think I think Conan O'Brien. Who's a dream guest? I think Conan O'Brien would be a good guest. I think that... You know who I think that I would love to have on the show. Who? Well, I'm going to be careful about this one. Okay. Yeah. I just want to be careful about this one. I'm trying to think about whether I should say this out loud, as I think we probably could get her as a guest in the... I'll tell you off there. How's that? Let me not jinks myself.

But Konan comes to mind just because I think he is a... He's been through a wacky journey as a late-night talk show host, and now is one of the most respected or famous podcasters out there. Just from a we do the same thing, you are obviously much better and much richer than I am. I would like to pick your brain about it. I think Konan would be a great person to sit down with and talk to. I've also heard interviews where he really opens up, and he's a very tender, empathetic, interesting human being, and I think I'd like to have him on the show. There is a female equivalent that I would like just as much, but I will tell you off air because I think we may actually try and get her as a guest. I don't want to jinks it. I don't want to jinks it. I don't want to say anything where she's like, They're talking about me already. I don't want to go on the show. But stay tuned. Okay, Steve in Atlanta says, Why don't you all do a live show here in Atlanta? That's where you're based. Why wouldn't you just do a live show here in Atlanta?

I'm sure you could feel the theater. I could bring my T-shirt. I think that's fun. I have a T-shirt canon. I could bring it and make Frankie B-shirts and shoot it into the audience. Yes, Steve.

Okay, Steve is a real one.

Steve is on fire. Steve, I'll tell you what, you went- Steve is going to join my run club. Steve's probably in your run club. He's one of those guys up front not sending people back.

No, Steve was like, Leave her behind.

Steve's too worried about looming up his T-shirt gun when he gets home. Making sure he doesn't That's right. Steve, we're working on it. We're working on it. Just know this. I do believe there will be, I do believe, there will be commercial break live shows, and I do believe that 2024 might be the year when a few of those at least happen. So stay tuned. And of course, if we do a live show, we will, of course, do one in our home city because it's probably the only one I can be assured will fill the audience. And you could be one of those people, Steve, right there. And we're We're not talking about theaters. I think we're talking about clubs. That's where we're going to play. You can- Dive bars. Yeah, dive bars. Imagine that I rent out the Fox Theater. That would be great. I know, but then only 100 people show up out of 5,000. What am I going to do? I'm never work on this down again. People will be like, Well, there it goes.

That Brian Green, big loser.

That's right. All those listeners hate listeners, apparently. Yeah. Or I feel like I know I'm going to get TikToked like that. Trump did that one time where all the young kids just buy up the tickets and no one shows up. Yes. I love that. That was the ultimate rug poll, and I loved it. I'm sorry, whatever you think of whoever, I loved watching Trump get a rug poll on him. I just thought it was brilliant. That was awesome. I thought it was grand. Steve, we're going to do it. I think it's going to be this year, and Atlanta will be on the list, I promise you. Soledad in Arizona. I'm putting this in just to get my wife back a little bit from all the hell she gave me last week. Brian, her name is Soledad. That's a cool name. The only other Soledad I know is Soledad O'Brien. Doesn't she work for CNN or something? Soledad O'Brien? I don't know. She's a news reporter. Soledad says, Brian, I have a little crush on you. I love it when Astrid is on the show, and I'm not a home wrecker. I'm actually happily married for seven years, but I have you on my freebie list.

Oh my God. You know what the freebie list is. Who is on your freebie list? Who's on my freebie list? Well, now you, Soledad, because you're apparently the only other person in the world that wants to have sex with Brian Green. I think I've got Dua Lippa on there. I think I've got- You love Dula P. I do love me some Dua Lippa. Who else was on there? I think Jennifer Anaston at one point was on there, but I do love me some Jennifer Anaston. There's other women I certainly find it, celebrity women that I find attractive. I don't want to share that with everybody. That's my personal I don't want to share with everybody because then I know it's going to happen. We're going to get one of these people like 12 years from now on as a guest, and someone's going to pull the tape and be like, he wants to fuck her. I'm not going to pull the tape. I know you. Exactly.

That's what I got to be careful. I'm going to roast you on TikTok, Brian.

All right. Now, I'm putting this one in here because I have strong feelings about this, and I believe that Christina will also.

You know me.

Now, preface this. We never talk about politics on the show. It's a purposeful choice that's made because I believe that we all need a break from it from time to time. And Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. They all stink. You can go listen to many places for a political opinions and punditry. The commercial break is a free zone where you just don't have to worry about for the most part. You'll pick up on it. If you listen enough, you'll pick up on our leanings, but you get it. But this listener, Sayle, S-A-Y-L. I'm assuming this is a woman, but I really have no idea. From New York, I know you all stay out of politics, but I have to ask, what What is your opinion of the recent decision on Roe versus Wade and the Alabama ruling that embryos are children? I think you are ruining, ruining, ruining a woman's right to do anything with her own body. It's an ultimate power play, and it's fucked up. That's also just fucking stupid. I will say this. The moment that I get a vagina and a uterus, I will start having a strong opinion about this.

But until then, It is a woman's right to do whatever it is she chooses with her own body. I also know what the struggles are like for fertility issues. To shut the door on hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of women and men, men and men, women and women, having children in this country is a goddamn shame. I don't know who this judge is on the Supreme Court who's out there talking about God's plan and God's this and God's that, has no place in politics. He should be immediately, immediately taken off the bench, in my opinion. I agree. Even the Republicans who brought this on themselves, Trump being number one.

They're in a separation of church and state for a reason. Yeah.

Even the Republicans realized exactly two and a half minutes after that happened, that, holy shit, what have we done? And God damn right, what have we done? You know what you've done? You've pissed off at least 52% of this country, and this will come back to bite you in the ass as it is in every election since Rose B. Wade was overturned. You're getting your come-up. I voted Republican. I have voted liberal Democrat in my life. I voted independent in my life. But I'll tell you what, not like this, I won't. Fuck no. It's just crazy. It's insane. You're insane. You people are insane. What are you thinking?

At this point, it's just like we're too far past any... Like with the human rights, human rights violations and women's rights and health care in general. We're way too far past to not vote Democrat, in my opinion. Because if you're voting Republican, you're truly just voting against people. You're voting against letting people live and letting people have their fucking life. It's just insane. You're also voting for guns and for killing children.

Well, listen, this topic and this topic only, if you are going to be a right to human being, if you're going to put life above all else, then do it from conception to grave. From conception to grave. You cannot sit there and be a pro-lifer and vote down. Yeah. Vote for the death penalty. Yeah. Vote for the death penalty, deny people access to modern health care or any health care whatsoever. Welfare. Welfare. You cannot do that. That is absolutely hypocritical, but that doesn't serve their purposes. Is right now. That's why they vote yes on one thing and no on the other. I say they, I mean the very extreme people who have the idea that this is good policy. It never was. It never is. The country won't be the same after Roe v Wade. I think the people who have brought this on are going to see that the country is not going to stand for it. This is a losing issue. This is a losing issue. You should absolutely have the right to do whatever you with your body. If you want to vote about it, then you have to have a uterus to vote about it.

How's that? That makes sense. If you're going to put policies in place, then have people with uteruses make those policies.

That's it. It's just the fact that the people who are voting on this and who are voting on our rights and our bodies are median-age, 58-year-old men. It's just like, you just don't have the right. Sorry.

Well, I agree with you.

The only other thing I will say about it is about all the IVF stuff going on right now, because I think if you've heard me on any of these episodes, you know what I think. But it was just the fact that all these Republicans then were walking back. They were trying to be like, Oh, no, we are strongly for IVF, for all this stuff. But then they had actively voted and worked for this bill that had no exclusions for IVF in it when they were all about, Oh, we're pro-life, pro-life.

It's all hypocrisy. It's fucking bullshit. It's all hypocrisy. I'm sick of their shit. Well, listen, I'm sick of all of it, to be honest with you. This happens on all sides of the aisle. But this issue alone is one that I think... Not this issue. No, not this issue. This issue is going to Trump all, including Trump, when it comes time for people to vote for a president in 2024. I think that this is crazy. There has to be some balance restored to the universe.

It's like we're living in a dystopian society.

Well, we're getting there. All right, that's the one political question I'll take for the entire year. I'm done with it.

Really end on a low note.

I'm already upset. Now I'm going to walk into my rest of my day just completely torn up and upset. Furious. Furious. So crazy. Everyone's crazy.

I hate this.

How I feel being a woman in America. Well, listen, I got daughters, and this is what really makes me... I have a wife. I have daughters. This makes me incensed. It just makes me incensed to think that other people are going to have control over it. It's the trouble that should make everyone incensed. Well, doesn't, but it does make most people incensed. So that's the good news. The good news is it does make most people incensed, but it doesn't make everybody incensed, apparently. I don't know. I don't know. Anyway. All right. Okay. There you go. You got all your questions answered, or not all of them, but you got some of your questions answered. We'll get some more of them down the line. Christie should be back shortly. Whenever that is, she's going to be back, I promise, very soon. And yeah, what else was I going to say? I was going to say one more thing, but I can't remember. Okay, so go to the gcb dcbpodcast. Com. So where you find out more about the show, all the video, all the audio right there at one location. Well, all the audio, most of the video right there at one location, dcbpodcast.

Com. If you would like your free piggy fronting sticker, go to the website, hit the Contact Us button. There's a little drop-down menu. It says, I want my free sticker. You drop in your physical address, and then away it will go straight to your hands in 7-12 months. It'll be right around the corner. Don't worry, you'll get it.

That's called efficiency.

It's called We only have one staff member here, so no. It's me. You can also dial us up, 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3TCB. Questions, comments, concerns, content ideas. Ask TCB, ask Brian's mom. All that stuff goes into the bucket. Text us, or you can leave a voicemail. If you leave a voicemail, just be mindful that I may use your voice on air. So don't give us any identifying information. I'm 32. I'm Caucasian. I live in 123 Main Street. Christina will dox you. Don't worry. No. No, I'm kidding. Had the commercial break on Instagram, TCB podcast on TikTok, and youtube. Com/thecommercialbreak. Thanks, Dr. Phil. Until next time. Christina, that's definitely all I can do for today. But I will say this. Yeah, absolutely. Best to you. Best to you. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Christina and I must say, we do say and we will say goodbye.