Were you liked in high school? Yes. You're not a weird girl. Okay, have you been overmedicated or undermedicated for the entirety of your life? No, you're not a weird girl. Okay. Have people asked you, Oh, my God, are you on drugs when you were just being yourself? You're not the weird girl. Guess what? I'm one of them, too. No, you're not. Fuck off.

On this episode of the Commercial Break.

I need to be fully honest here. I do know Paco from America. He's a little awkward. But having said that- I owe him 60 bucks.

I'm not going to tell you what for, but just tell Paco to calm down.

Calm down. Okay. I'll talk to Paco. I'll text him on my WhatsApp chat after this.

The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now. Yeah, cats and kittons, welcome back to the Commercial Break. I'm Brian Green, and this is the engineer of our Grand Funk Rael Road, Chris and Joy. Hopefully, best to you, Chris. Best to you, Brian. Best to you out there in the podcast universe. We.

Round two.

Round two. We just did a really nice episode of the commercial break that you'll never hear her, neither will we, because we didn't record it.

We're just warming up.

It used to happen every other episode. It doesn't happen that often anymore because I have Chrissy's also checking. She's like, I don't trust Brian. Let me check and make sure that's recording. But somehow we both missed it. But anyway, whatever. Part and parcel of working here at the commercial break. I, Brian.

I, Brian.

I, Brian. It's time for the kiddos to have their little parent-teacher conferences. I don't know if I shared this with you. I think I mentioned a couple of days ago we had to go to the parent-teacher conferences at the school.

I know. I'm always wondering, because I haven't done many of these, do you get a little twinge of nervousness?

I do. I find that I do. I think it has nothing I think they're good. Well, and here's what we walk in. This is what we find ourselves doing. We walk in and they're like, Oh, my God, they're so great. He's so great. She's so great. They're awesome. And we're like, Are you sure? They're not throwing anybody from the top bunk off down onto the floor. They're not gouging each other's eyes out. No one's spitting out food or yelling and screaming uncontrollably because that's what's happening at the house. So what we find, it's like a therapy session going on in there. But does she set anybody else's hair on fire. No, because she's on that twice to her little sister already this week. And they're like, no.

We haven't seen that. Should we be looking for that?

Should we be looking for that? Well, you don't have lighters here, do you? I keep the gasoline away from that one. And then the other thing, I've heard this about parenting before, which is if they're good outside the house and bad inside the house, you're doing a good job of parenting them. That means they feel safe inside the house.

That means that that just makes you feel better. Yeah. Actually.

That means that someone on Instagram made that You're doing a good job. Yeah, you're doing a good job. There is so much shitty parenting information on Instagram. I can't even believe it. It's like everybody thinks they're an expert because they had a kid one time and they, Try this trick. Work like a charm. We try those tricks and they never work like a charm. They just aggravate the child even more. That's all they do. That's all it does. We go in and they don't have report cards, but they got these progress reports. X is if they're being observed, writing in full sentences or whatever, and O's if they're not being observed, doing that. They've got mostly Xs all the way down the line, so we got nothing to complain about. The kids are good. They are really are wonderful children. They really are. Just not with me.

That means it's not 24 hours.

No, not 24 hours a day. Yeah, they let loose in the 18 hours a day they happen to be with us, the 6 hours a day they're at school. It's fine. But the reason why I think I get a nervous twinge now is because the secret is out. They know that Brian Green does the commercial break, and even though they don't talk about it out loud, they know, and I know they know.

That's right.

I know you know that they know. You get them in the look. Yes. I know you know that that person knows that we do the commercial break- Everybody knows. And everybody knows. The same reason why these conspiracy theories aren't true. It's because no one keeps a fucking secret. Even though one time, one of the teachers was like, Your secret is safe with me. She whisper it in my ear, and I was like, What secret? What secret? What are we talking about? Who are we keeping it from? The commercial break.

Oh, please do keep that secret. If you don't mind. Keep going down that path.

Yeah, if you don't mind, if we could keep that a secret. But of course, no one keeps any secret. I was in the school the other day and we go into one classroom and I was praying that the teacher doesn't say anything about... Do you find you have any trouble because you're such an asshole on your show with your children?

I heard that last episode.

Yeah, I heard that last episode. You were talking to shit. Then we go into the other one and, no, okay, everything's fine. I dodged a bullet. They're great. Everything's good. They're doing wonderful. But then we get out. There's this long hallway. It's just like a preschool, right? A preschool with a kindergarten. This is a long hallway, and we got to walk down the hallway and there's all these other parents waiting to have the parent-teacher conferences. There is one couple that I don't know very well. I haven't met face-to-face. Maybe one time I shook a hand at a different event or something, but they are staring me down, Chrissy. All I can think to myself is that those two have heard from someone, everyone, anyone, that Brian does the commercial break and he's the asshole who's causing... Now they're blaming their children's activities on me.

That bad influence.

Yeah, that's right. Well, do you have Do you have any time to teach your children when you're listening to the commercial break? If you don't kick them out, we're leaving. It's like that OnlyFans lady.

The OnlyFans, yeah. That's why you park across the street and walk in to pick them up.

That's right. Maybe if we had an OnlyFans, I know they're probably like, How does he make money with that show? It's so stupid. How does anybody listen? We don't. We haven't tried to figure that out for nine months ourselves. How exactly are we going to make a living doing this?

A little dusting of love. Yes. Determination.

Love, determination, and spouses that make money and supportive family members that loan us cash. Exactly. Oh, thank God for them. Hey, I'm really excited because it's a TCB infomercial day, and today's infomercial guest is Joanna Hausman.

She's so funny. I mean, her Instagram was hilarious. I was checking it out a couple of days ago when I knew she was coming on. Yes. Everybody should subscribe.

I agree with you. I'm not giving that information. I agree with you. Yeah. Johaus, J-O-H-A-U-S, you can find her on Instagram. She also has a YouTube channel. I don't think she's been very active on the YouTube channel for a little while, but it's called Joanna Rants. It's really funny. Joanna is different than some of our guests in the sense that she's not coming on to promote anything in particular. She's here because we are big fans of hers here at this house. Asked her if she's a Venezuelan-American, and she does this line of comedy where it's like, what other people think about my complicated genetics or my complicated- Ancestry type, where you grew up. That's right. It's like, identity politics is identity comedy, and it's really fucking funny and spot fucking on. And oftentimes she'll do comedy from the perspective of someone that's close to a Venezuelan, so talking about the food and stuff like that. So we find her to be really funny around the house. She also wrote for Tacoma FD, which was one of my favorite shows over the summer because it was the only show that I could actually download onto my phone from Spain for some reason.

Are you in Spain? Yeah.

Being chased by the chickens.

Even with the... I was being chased around the chickens while I'm downloading the latest episode of Tacoma FD. Because the VPN wouldn't work. And for some reason, Tacoma FD just let me watch it. I don't know. They were like, Well, here, anywhere in the world. Go ahead, watch it. Why do we care? Which is how everybody should think about it. But anyway. Then she's got Hamster and Gretel on Disney Plus and Disney, which is really funny in and of itself. I mean, it's a kid's cartoon, but it's made for kids that are a little bit older. I think that if you have children, you can probably get into it. But we asked her to come on because I identify so much with and ask her to identify so much with what she's talking about in her brand of comedy. It's just generally funny, but then it's also funny in a way that's specific and I connect with. I'm so happy to have her on.

Like an insider joke thing. Yeah.

Do yourself a favor and check out Joanna Hausman. She's going to be on here in just a minute. Settle down, everybody. I can hear you all screaming. Okay, get to it, fucking Brian. All right, we're going to get to it, I promise. But I also wanted to share with the audience that TCB infomercials are now the guest So when you see TCB infomercial in the title, that means that we're having a guest. Isn't that a cute little name that we made up that you just figured out? I know. I like it. You found out about twelve minutes ago. Approved.

Approved.

Stamped. Stamped, thanks. Stamped after you said it. It's like when Brian asks if they'll come on, if you'll come back on the show to my guests and we're recording.

Yeah, they're like, Every time? Yeah, sure.

Yeah, of course. Sure. Why not? I'll never talk to you again. They're on the spot. Yeah, they're already texting their agent. Never again.

What are you doing to my career?

That's right. I've always said, and I'll continue to say, you're either on your way up or on your way down when you meet the commercial break. We'll figure out which one that is with Joanne. We'll be back with her after these words.

Sorry to interrupt, but that's my thing these days. If you're sick of me interrupting Brian, give us a call at 626 Ask TCB 3. Leave us a voicemail, and maybe I'll interrupt you on the show instead. You'd love that, wouldn't you? You can also text us at 855-TCB-8383, and check out our website, tcbpodcast. Com, for all things TCB. You know what's coming next. Follow us on Instagram, @thecommercialbreak, and on TikTok, @tcbpodcast. And now let's listen to some sponsors because they're the real ones around here.

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Joanna is here with us now. Hi, Joanna.

Hello. How are you guys?

We're great. We're really good. We're really good. This is an exciting day here at the Green household, I do have to tell you. Yes, it is. The Bocquete Green household, because my wife, my brother-in-law, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my other brother-in-law, and then many other Venezuelans that I know find you to be the top clam in the sea. They really think you're the best, and they're so excited that you're here on the show. Or do you find that- Astrid has been fluttering around all morning.

She's like,.

That's so sweet. I know. It's cute. I feel so I'm glad because I texted Astrid like, Yo, is this happening today? What's going on? I didn't quote any of it with kindness.

Yeah, Joanna got rough rider. She was like, Yo. What the? Yo, I don't see you. What the fuck? I know. She got so scared. She was like, What happened? And I was like, Nothing. Just to tell her that it's still on. We're still here. We'd love to have Joanna on the show. I have to say this first and foremost. You have one of the most hilarious Instagram posts that I've ever seen ever. It really is. And that is #weirdgirl. I'd like to explain this. Oh, my God. She's burying her head in the microphone.

I'm so glad. I'm so glad that you're bringing this up because just before you explain it, to preface, I recorded that angrily one day and then was like, I'm just going to upload it. Who cares?

Yeah.

And it went so viral. I was like, This is almost illegal. I put so much work into other things, and this was just an angry rant. Anyway, No.

Honestly, we've got a million views on one of our reels, and it's basically me saying, I think I'm more important than I actually am. It was like a throwaway line in an episode, and someone cut it up and put it on there. I got a million. I'm like, Why? I didn't do anything. I wish you would listen to the fucking show. That's what I want. So Joanna has this post where she's basically poking fun at these super regular, rich, popular girls who are out there doing #weirdgirl because they're eating a French fry or they put something on their head, or they're doing something that most of us would do every 30 seconds. I think all of us are weird when we're not on camera or in front of other people. We do weird shit. We're humans. That's what happens. But some people post it as if it's some nomenclature that they're tied to that makes them extraordinary. I think it's just popular girls sharing more, telling you they're more cool than they think they are.

It's It's the appropriation of weird girl culture.

Agreed.

It's appropriating what is not theirs.

What reaction did you get from people?

I was... Okay, so I uploaded the rant because I was like, I literally can't handle this anymore. If I see one more girl called Ashley with perfectly curled hair just like dancing in a very normal, like Bop Mitzvah-approved way in a grocery aisle, I will kill myself. So I uploaded this. I went to bed the next day. It was like, I don't know, 400,000 likes. Jesus. Not even views, likes. And I was like, What? And all of the comments are people like, Thank you so much for telling our truth. It's just been an unspoken problem on the Internet. And I'm like, Oh, people... First of all, wow. Second of all, I didn't realize this was hurting people in a way that most of the comments are really sincere. And a lot of people are like, Is this satire? And I'm like, What part? Do you think I'm pretending to be mad? There's too many layers.

Which one of your brain cells isn't firing off correctly, which is like half the Internet. The other thing that Christie and I are always going at are these girls and men, to be fair, boys and girls that are out there and they're in some state of disrobing or undressed. And then they'll put some inspirational quote right below their nipples. And it's like, what in the fuck are you- Follow your dreams. Yeah, follow your dreams. Here's my boobs. What are you trying to do? I don't understand. What is the message there? It drives me fucking nuts.

I feel like in the future, there's going to be an art history class talking specifically about this pastiche that has come out of the Internet. How is this entertainment? One of my tweets, this woman just took, right? And then she put half of her face on camera with no emotion. And then my tweet on top, and she just stared into the camera with some music, and it had a bunch of millions of views. Holy shit. And it's on her...

I'm like, this is not... Yeah, it's her Twitter, not mine.

She's also not adding anything. She's just... Half her face. She's breathing. She's breathing.

I don't get it.

I feel old, honestly. I think this is- I know.

I agree with you. Yeah, it's hard for me to wrap my head around some of this stuff. It really is. And there are people, too. We get shares on our Instagram posts or on whatever TikToks sometimes, and people are just staring at the camera, and then the point, this guy said it right. And it's like, did you add anything by saying that? Are you doing anything? But then the crazy part is he gets more fucking likes than I do. I'm like, What the hell?

I think that this interview is going to be unearthed in 20 years, and someone's going to call me problematic for destroying these creators that do nothing. We're going to be like, This is what all content is now. Why were you being such a hater? That's it.

Let's go in that direction. That's it. I am positive of the 600 plus hours we have done of this show, 300 hours of that are going to be highly offensive in five years. In five years, we're definitely headed for cancel culture. What can I do? I don't know. I guess. I guess I'll be canceled at some point. It might be a rite of passage at this time. True. So you were born in England, but then your mother was from Venezuela. Is that correct?

Two of my parents. Two of your parents? What am I even saying? What about the three? What about the three? My two parents. My two parents. My two parents are from Venezuela. They met in Venezuela. And then I'm trying to remember what year, but it doesn't even matter. I wasn't around. They went to England to study, and I was just born there by accident during spring break. I have no connection to England at all. Every time people ask me where I'm from, it's like, Oh, so then you're English. So then where does the Venezuelan come in? I'm like 100% Venezuelan. But my parents decided to really ruin the simplicity The beauty of my future by just... And plus, Margaret Thatcher changed the law. I'm not even literally British. If you're born in England after 1987, your parents have to be English to be considered English. You're not considered. There's no birthright.

Yeah, there's no birthright.

No, there's no birthright. I hated it. I wasn't even just born in England or London. I was born in Royal Lemington Spa, which just sounds like a fake town full of... Which, by the way, is not very fancy town, but it's called Royal Lemington Spa because the queen would go to a spa there or went once.

Yeah, she went there once and they named it for her. You got a fantastic British accent for someone that's not English.

She's been practicing all her life. She's been practicing, that's right.

I just wanted to prove Margaret Thatcher wrong. I should have had that British passport. All along. You have no idea how problematic the Venezuelan passport is. You know, you know. You'll put through your wife. You understand.

I totally understand. I also have to say, as many passports as you can possibly get may behoove you in the future. So you should go back to England and then you can get a passport. Do you have an English passport? Would you like one?

I'm just going to show up and do this accent and they'll be like, blah, eh, hell, yes.

She looks like us. She talks like us. Let her in.

Let her in, please.

It's like our immigration policy. Do you look like us? Do you talk like us? All right, come on by. No, no, no, no. If you don't, please go away. If you don't, please go away. I don't I don't need you here, causing trouble, taking my job. Did you have a job to lose in the first place, bud?

Probably not.

So your parents are from Caracas, or that's where you grew up?

My mom was born in Havana. My dad was born in Caracas. I was there until I was six or seven, and then came to the States until I was 13. And then while everyone was leaving Venezuela, because it was super... It was the murder and canopy capital of the world. At that time, my parents were like, This is It was the perfect time to go back. To go back and have our teenage daughter go through high school. And it was crazy. I remember I'd go from having snow days in Boston to having political days in Venezuela. Where they had rallies. Where there's tire fires everywhere. Yeah. Rallies, tire fires, violence. And my mom would be like, You can't go to school today.

Do you go back? Have you been back recently to Venezuela?

So So no, I haven't been back in 10 years. And part of it is because my dad is, for example, a persona non grata. He wrote an article in The Economist one time, and now the government wants to put him in jail because that's how it works.

He's not a chavista, I would assume.

No, not at all a chavista, not at all a supporter of the dictatorial regime. And then my uncle is a journalist there. He was in jail for two years for being a journalist. And then I wrote an article, or it was like a blog. A blog? No, a video essay. That's how the fancy people call it. That's a blog. Yeah. Yeah. But in the New York Times, they don't call it a blog. They call it a video essay, a video op-head. Yes.

Well, they went to nice schools. They have to call it something fancy.

They can't tell their parents now they just edit blogs. They can't do that.

I'm a vlogger, dad.

Can't do it.

You went to Harvard.

So I did this video essay on the political situation in Venezuela in 2018. And now I'm also persona So technically, maybe I could go back. Well, I could be risking jail time. Everything.

Yeah, everything.

Yeah. So I'm like, I don't know. I think I like my life a little too much to go back at this point. I wish I could. Yeah. I absolutely wish I could. I still have a lot of family there.

So Astrid and I have had this debate. When I met Astrid, she lived in Venezuela. I had been a best friend of a Venezuelan here, repatriated here in the United States with his entire family, and they took me under their wing. I I'm Mr. Gringo in the family, and I'm Venezuelan. I'm the white Venezuelan, basically. That's how I met my wife through that family. Then she moved to Switzerland, and then the whole song and dance as she comes here. She hasn't been back since. But now, when I met her father at first, we were talking about, Would we ever visit Venezuela? Her father, my father-in-law says, First of all, he says, Ay, Brian, about everything. Because he's like a true man. He's like MacGyver. He can fix anything with gum and floss. He built this whole studio, basically. He could do it in a day, and I have a hard time using a screwdriver. He's always saying, I, Brian, under his breath, walking around the house, I, Brian, I am. I'm even I am. I am. So he says to me, Listen, I'm not going to let you come to Venezuela unless I am assured that I can keep you safe.

When we met, he was like, There's no way. Maduro, Guaidó, the whole thing, all the political rallies, kidnappings, the economies and the shit. Basically, the money is not even worth the paper that it's printed on. You cannot come down to Venezuela right now. Just speak one word of English and you're in trouble in some places. But recently, there has been some discussion that things are a little bit better in Venezuela, and maybe now is the time to go visit. I see all these Americans who are running down there on eco-tourist trips, and they're running down there to go see the beautiful waterfalls and all this stuff. I'm like, Do these people not realize that Venezuela The majority of Venezuelans are probably still living a terrible life right now because of this dictatorial regime that's going on? I'm trying to triangulate whether or not I should actually be down there for any particular reason. Where'd you go?

You know what I love? I love that. I was invited to this podcast under the guise that it was a comedy podcast. Here I am giving you very serious advice about life or death situations in a dangerous country.

It's the only reason that I had you on was like, I'm going to ask Joanna, and if If he says it's okay, then I am going to go down.

Listen, I've heard this a lot. I, Brian. I, Brian. Here's the thing. I think that this is my I agree. I am telling you gossip from a second-hand source. This is me giving you advice. Do you know what I mean? It's coming from your mother. From what I've heard. Yeah, absolutely. Of course. And from a WhatsApp group with 70 people. With too many forward. I'm in 40 of them.

I get it. I'm in 40 of them. Yes.

So what I've heard is that Venezuela and the Venezuelan government right now, they're like, You know how we were being really oppressive? That's not really working for us. So let's just be oppressive to people that speak out against us and then pretend everything's fine with the tourists and show off this image of wealth and everything's going great so that people feel good coming here. But we will put you in jail if you say anything bad. So it's more like the China model than the Cuba model. So they're switching it up. They're in their China era. So I do think it's less unsafe, but it is definitely unsafe for people that are outspoken. And if you just keep your mouth shut, Brian. And go to the waterfall. I think you'll be fine.

I have 600 hours of content, and I don't know if I've always said the right thing about Venezuela. So it honestly makes... And now I've had Joanna Hausman on. I'm on the blacklist for sure.

Oh, for sure. You should publish this after you go, if you do go.

I'll publish it as I'm walking through immigration offices, as I'm walking through your customers.

Oh, good. That's a brilliant time. That's brilliant timing.

When you come to the United States, when you back to the United States, what sets you off on this? You had this wonderful YouTube, Joanna Rantz. First of all, how did you get... When did you decide, I'm going to go in front of a camera, I knew it would be a personality and be a comic and write this stuff. Have you always felt like that was something that you wanted to do?

I always knew I wanted to get into some iteration of comedy. Growing up back home, I didn't realize comedy was this very complex career that that had comprises of many different elements. So when I came here, I was like, I want to be a playwright. I don't know. And then I went to Second City. A playwright? Yeah. I was like, What's something that is funny and that I can write and act in that isn't so impossible, like television? I was like, I guess maybe playwright, which is still very hard. I don't know what I was thinking. But then I went to Second City right after college, and it was like, Oh, there's this whole There's sketches, there's improv, there's stand-up. I didn't know these things. There's late-night shows. I was like, Okay, I know what I want to do. Since I moved around so much and my identity is so utterly complicated and just existing is like, I have to explain it to people. Why are you you? I always use comedy- If we just spent the last 15 minutes. Yeah, we literally just spent the entire It's your time. Thank you for setting me up for this.

You're welcome. I think comedy for me has always been a way to, I don't know, just go about the world in a way that makes more sense. I Yeah, I don't know. I started doing stand-up, and then I got hired to be basically a glorified assistant for this channel called Flamma on Univision. It was like Univision's attempt to do a college humor. We were working with all these creators and stuff, and And then my boss was... I actually asked my boss to just let me borrow the studio for a day with my friend Chris, and we're just going to make a video and see if it works. And we published a video where I rant about the misconceptions of being Latino because on the page, I didn't feel like I would belong. One of the reasons I didn't push for myself for a while was because I look like an Irish barmaid, and I was born in Royal Lemington Spa. My last name is Hausmann. I belong in a Städel. I was like, No one's going to believe that I'm Venezuelan. This is just going to be... So then I made a video about how ridiculous our assumptions are about Latinos.

That went viral. And that gave my boss the reassurance that maybe I could have some interesting videos and points of view. And then I just started publishing videos, and they did very, very well. And I just got very granular and specific with my existence. I love that. And here we are. And here we are. This brought us here.

We always say, last stop is the commercial break. Christie and I like to think you're either on your way up or on your way down when you visit the commercial break. So congratulations either way.

I think I'm at the peak. I'm at the peak.

This is the time.

I think one of the things that I like about your humor that I connect with about your humor because we do have a mixed family here is that there are so many misconceptions. The identities of Latin Americans get tied up with one another, and it's in the most ridiculous of ways. We're just talking about this before we came on air. When we see someone else, when someone meets Astrid and they say, Oh, you're Venezuelan. Do you know Paco from Mara Kybo. It's like, no, she doesn't know fucking Paco from Mara Kybo. First of all, like any other human being, her knowledge of other human beings is limited to her circle of influence. She doesn't know Paco from fucking Mara Kybo. But it's the ridiculous nature of how some people think, and I can only take on the American perspective because that's where we are, excuse me, the US perspective. I also learned from my wife that it's wrong to call ourselves Americans because they are also Americans, Venezuelans. She Was your brand of humor spurred on by this, I don't want to say identity crisis, but this weird lumping in, everybody thinks everything about the same, about Central Americans and South Americans are all the same, and they just lump everybody together.

So many misconceptions, and it must feel uncomfortable sometimes to be in those situations where you could derive a lot of humor.

Yes. I need to be fully honest here. I do know Paco from our account. This is a little awkward. But having said that- I owe him 60 bucks.

I'm not going to tell you what for, but just tell Paco to calm down.

Okay. I'll talk to Paco. I'll text him on my WhatsApp chat after for this. Yeah, for sure. I think what shocked me as I was making comedy was how many people felt represented in someone like me being like, Hey, I'm from Venezuela and I am also Latina in my own way. You don't know how many people were like, Yeah, man, I am an Afro Nicaraguin, and I totally get you. I'm a Korean Peruvian, and I totally understand. I didn't realize that me being almost I'm almost so unapologetic on how specific my identity is actually would make people feel relieved. Like, Oh, my God, someone's doing it. Someone's telling these people that we're not all Sofia Vergara copy-paste. We're very different. And I do think it's changed. I think that when I started doing internet comedy, dude, that was like... I hate saying this. I was 10 years ago, okay? I know. I couldn't even say it. It was 10 years ago. And that era of the internet was really different. Totally. And even the barriers to entry to make content on the internet was very different. Now you have editing software on your freaking phone.

I see Venezuelans in the middle of the Amazon uploading videos with their Capivadas and their Chihuitas. Yes. And so there was a time where it wasn't that easy to access the internet and publish and edit. And now I think there's more variety out there. But right when I began, these big companies like BuzzFeed and CollegeHumor, they were making all these really funny sketches. And no one was talking about, Oh, there's other types of people that could be doing this and be very specific about their content. And I remember I made a video called the Venezuelan Birthday Song. And if you had told me a year before, you're going to make an internet video- Hold on one second, because my kid was born in July and Astrid's just finishing up the birthday song now. Just to let you know. Oh, now? If you want, we can wait for her. It might be another two hours.

It's fucking unbelievable.

Dude, the Venezuelan... Okay, I'm so glad you know this, right? Okay, so the- Of course I do. Okay, the Venezuelan... Christie, I don't know if you know this.

I do not know about the Venezuelan birthday song.

I'm not I'm talking with you. It is, I think, nine minutes long. It's crazy.

Can you imagine? It's insane. You sit there. You sit there. There's no candle that can outlast it. So don't light the candles until you're halfway through.

You sit there for nine minutes, and people are screaming and clapping. It's not even happy, but it's like... It's like you're being exercised. I love it. So if you had told me a year before, you're going to make a video, you're going to hire opera singers, you're going to hire a cast and crew, and you're going to shoot a video called the Eternal Venezuelan Birthday. So I would have been like, who would have watched that, though? No one's going to watch that. It had 8 million views in 24 hours because when you're on the internet, you do have your audience. The more specific you get, the better results you I have. So it showed, I think, a lot of... And many other Latino creators that came out in that era did the same. But I think it showed people like, Oh, you don't have to be general market. You don't have to be... Hi, I'm actually the Ashley, the first internet video I did was called Middle Class White Chick that I made with my friend because I was like, I guess I can make fun of what I look like. And it didn't do well.

And then, obviously, because I didn't know what I was... I was like, UGGs? What rimes with UGGs? Let's make a song about of us. But I feel like that showed people that the audience is out there. It's very diverse. You can get really granular.

There's riches and niches, bitches. That's what they say. There's riches and niches. And niches, bitches.

Sam, did you just come up with that?

I did. Well, I've been saying it for a long time, but I just said it out.

I love that.

I also believe that while a lot of people probably identify very much with what you're saying, they say, Hey, I'm Afro Nicaraguin, and thank you sharing your complicated story because mine's complicated, it seems complicated once you get out there in the wild. But I also think that there genuinely is a thirst by people to learn more about other cultures. Like, Hey, I'm just dumb about this stuff. And now that I see it, comedy is the-Unified. It's the unifying. It's a thread. It's an ability to... When people are laughing and learning, there's something really cool about that mix, I think. And that's why I really appreciate satirical humor and people who do it well I think you do it really well. Then there is Tacoma FD. I want to ask you about Tacoma FD. Let me tell you a story. I went to Astrid Aspana, her to Spanish. Her dad is Spanish. A lot of Venezuelans are partly Spanish. We go to Spain often because that's where we have some extended family also. We went to Spain for, I don't know, a long time, a month in the last year in the summer. And we went to a series of Airbnbs that seemed like the world's most terrible Airbnbs that looked really pretty.

You know what I'm saying? You show up, there's no internet, but they have an indoor pool, and you're like, great, but I can't fucking call anybody. That shit.

Weren't you out with the chickens? Trying to get Internet? Yes.

Then there was... I was on some Spanish hillside, and it was the middle of the night trying to get Internet from the neighbor, and there were chickens me. I didn't even know they... I didn't even know chickens were nocturnal, but there you go. So in a mad dash, to get anything familiar that I could watch at night, when we had Internet service, I downloaded one of the only things that was available to me, which was Tacoma TV, and I watched all of it, and I loved it. It was so stupid and fun. I just loved every minute of it. I thought it was great. Oh my God. You write, you have Hamster and Gretel on Disney Plus. You've written Stephen Colbert, you've written for Tacoma FD. How did you get mixed up with those guys? Is it because you were part of Upright Citizens Brigade?

Dude, I still don't understand because I love those guys. So the Broken Lizard guys, they've been around forever. They're icons in comedy. But they're very different than me, obviously. They're weird dude comedy, and they're shows about a bunch of firefighters in the rainiest city in America, Tacoma. There's a bunch of dudes called Mike in the Writers' Room I think there's more mics than women. But Steve Lemme, who is one of those show creators, is actually from Argentina. They were looking for a new writer. I think they were specifically for a female writer. In the interview, I guess they read my sample, then in the interview, I started making fun of Steve Lemme because he's Argentinian. I was like, Oh, what? Now, Steve, you think you're all this shit, right? Because you're from Argentina. He was like, Wait, why are you tagging me?

I'm interviewing you. I'm actually going to be your boss. You realize that, don't you?

I was like, Dude, Argentinians. I started razzing him a little And I don't know if that's the reason. I'd like to believe it is. But ironically, it's actually, I think a lot of it was this connection to Latin culture. A lot of people don't know that his dad is from Argentina. And we talked about it. And we still to this day, when we text, I call him Boludo. So that is like a secret inn, I think I had, to Tacoma.

Nice. Yeah. What a fun show to watch. I mean, it is certainly white guy down the middle working class comedy, right? Yes. But it is also pretty funny at times. I found myself laughing out there.

And they are such nice people. I was overwhelmed because that was out of my comfort zone in many ways. And they were just so nice and sweet. And I had a really great time working on that show, and I learned a lot. They really taught me a lot about structure and how to work in a writer's room. And we did this during the pandemic. It was all remote, and we were able to make a show. And obviously, they bore the brunt of it as the creators and executive producers, but they were able to make a show in the middle of a pandemic. Crazy. Following the rules. They're badass. Yeah.

And not to get too deep about Tacoma FD, but I do have to say this. It's very funny, but it's very sweet also. At the end of the day, I don't feel like anything is... There's mean-spirited comedy out there, which can be good in and of itself. That can be a great deal of fun also. That dark, mean, pokey in the belly thing. But there's something very sweet about Tacoma FD, and I just found it to be great.

Yeah.

So my kids are going to kill me if I don't ask this question. You're working on Hamster and Gretel. Tell us about this show.

So Hamster and Gretel about, created by Dan Paulmer Meyer, who was a co-creator of Phineas & Furb. He was married to a Venezuelan woman. So I swear to God, this is a constant- I literally love to make you. This is a constant... This is literally my life.

We should start a club. White guys. Venezuelan white guys.

And he said the same that you did, which is like, I have a Venezuelan family. They adopted me. They did. And I don't know what they say half the time, but they go, Ay, then. Ay, then. So Dan and I connected for the same reason you and me are connecting right now. He watched my content several years ago, and we connected and we're friends. And he, during the pandemic, again, made a small eight-minute short about a girl with superpowers and her brother that doesn't get any and a talking hamster and all this. And Disney green lit it. And then he was like, Do you want to headwrite this? I was like, I've never worked in animation before. Dan. And he was like, That's fine. You'll figure it out. And so I've been headwriting and now co-executive producing the show for three years. We're almost done with season 2. It's been really fun We incorporated a Venezuelan... Congratulations. Thank you. We incorporated a Venezuelan mom as a cultural linchpin in it. And she's like our Astrid. And It's been really cool to add even... This is a sincere comment, but I hate being sincere because I'm a comedian, and it's against my nature.

It's hard to swallow. I may I may combust. I may combust. But it's actually really heartwarming to see characters because the grandma is based on my grandma. Then they eat arepas, they have reina pepias, they have tequeños. You see a lot of these cultural details are sprinkled in. We don't make a big D out of it in every episode, but it's just there. It's just part of who these characters are. It feels really nice to going from convincing my boss to let me record and yell in a studio for an hour and uploading onto YouTube to then incorporating these elements into an animated show has been cool. Now I will combust.

Self-destruct.

Really cool. And then your target audience is up and coming, blossoming kids with big brains that are just exploding. And then they're getting, they're soaking up these details that hopefully will make a difference in the future and how they think about different cultures. And I think that's really cool. Now, the question is, do you work for the Disney Corporation or do you work for a production company that then sells to the Disney? You don't have to tell me the details if you can, but I'm just Are you serious to how all that works.

I work for Disney, but I actually don't... Okay, I feel like I'm an accountant now, but I have a loan out company. I have a company, and they hired my company. So technically, I work for my company that works for Disney. Yes. Does that make sense? Yes.

So here's the question. Since we are a family, can you get us into Disney World for free? Because it costs $27,000 per child, and I have 30 of them.

Okay, first First of all, I think I can. I'm not even kidding. As of a month ago, I think I can. Wow. So yes. And I'm being honest, if you guys do come here, just seriously, let me know. I can't go in a Disney World or land, but I'll go.

Yeah, we're close to the world. We're over here in Atlanta, so we're close to the Disney World. But you can come, and you and Astrid would kick it off swimmingly. There's something I know that we spent a good portion of this particular interview talking about you're Venezuelan, and you're probably so much more than just Venezuelan. But I find so... That's what connects me to you. That's why when I watch your brand of comedy, I'm connected to it because I understand it. And ticanos are the love of my life, and I haven't met an arepa that I dislike. And arena pepiata is lovely. And the only thing I dislike is that fucking Christmas roll that you all make, whatever that shit is. Oh, the pan de jamón? Oh, the pan de jamón. Oh, no, not pan de jamón, the other one. I love Panda Hamon. That's good. It's the other one where you put the meat and the mayonnaise and the pickles and whatever it is.

Oh, the ayacas? Ayacas. Yeah, it's an acquired taste. Do you like ayacas? I didn't like ayacas until it became a symbol of nostalgia. When I was in Venezuela, I was like, Get this actual lump of trash away from me. And now I'm like, I love this. It's a little present. It's wrapped. I love it so much.

Here's a funny story. We go to box something up and send it to Venezuela, and there's a shipping company owned by a Venezuelan guy, Tiny. You go to this self-storage area, and then you back your truck up, and then there's a guy in the self-storage with a light bulb hanging out, and he's taping stuff and he's like, Don't worry, brother. I'll get it through you. You're like, Okay, all right. So he goes and they, Astrid and him connect because of course, they're Venezuelan. He mainly speaks Spanish. He goes, You have to wait Give her one second. Okay, fantastic. It's like the second year that she's here. He goes into a freezer that's sitting on this storage floor, the size of this room. He opens up the freezer and he takes out 100 ayacas. It's September. And he takes out 100 ayacas in a box, and he puts it in the back of our car. How big are these? They're corn huss. They look like they're made with corn huss.

And to be clear, ayacas are You're not eating in any other time other than Christmas. No. It is a Christmas food.

And that's the only time that you eat it, or the only time that you should eat it. And then on top of that, my mother-in-law comes, and now we clear the entire kitchen. There's a picnic table seven and a half feet long, and we're making 100 more ayacas. And I'm like, Who the fuck do you think is coming to dinner? Who's going to eat all these ayacas? I have ayacas from 2012 in my fucking freezer. Oh, my God. I swear to God, I do. And I just like them so much.

I'm sorry.

But I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry. I know how it is, and at least I have the nostalgia element of childhood. But if as an adult, I was introduced to this and I had to just tolerate it, I would resent it. I would resent the other way around.

I dislike it. Yeah. Even my kids dislike it. They try and make it with different things so that you try and please me and appease me. I'm like, I just don't like... Even the word ayacas turns me off, so let's just skip it. Everything else is lovely. Please bring it on. But the ayacas. But what I wanted to say is there is something about the Venezuelan culture that the Rafael's family took me in when things were tough with my own family. For years, I just felt such love. There was no judgment, such love. I mean, they were judging me behind my back and speaking Spanish. For sure.

That's how we do it.

Absolutely. But When I learned to speak Spanish, they went into the other room. Then there's something so loving and wonderful and warm about the culture. I wonder about why that is and why my Irish... In Venezuela, Venezuela, in the Venezuelan culture, at least around my house, you show up four hours late for a party. So if you wanted to start a date, you have to say you need to be there by 4:00. Then they will not leave until 4:00 the next afternoon, no matter how much you try and telegraph to them that the party has been over for a long time. If a Venezuelan that you know comes within 300 miles of your house, they are staying at your house for an indefinite amount of time. It doesn't matter how many other Venezuelans happen to be staying at your house at the same time, and they will always, always, always greet you with a hug and a smile. I love that part. It's a wonderful culture, and I'm so happy to be a part of it because I am Irish. In my Irish Catholic culture, we have a game. Cold. Yes, we have a game.

It's who can get out of the party faster without saying anything to anybody. It's the Irish goodbye. Irish goodbye, baby. That's it. Yeah, the Irish goodbye. I would love to have you on again. We've already gone 45 minutes. I know I'm wasting a bunch of your time.

And I can't wait to see your upcoming project. Oh my God, it just happened.

I know.

What's the upcoming super project?

I feel like we just started talking. I know. Guys, what? No. You want to keep going? I'll keep going.

I'm sorry to interrupt you, Kirstie. I just wanted to say I love this conversation so much. I want to be the third host. Absolutely. I'm moving in.

I'm moving in. Come on in. Don't you have a podcast? Did you restart a podcast?

When you're here, you're staying here, too. You're staying at the Velt.

You can stay here. I want to stay there for an indefinite amount of time. Yeah, I have a podcast called Hyphenated with Cuban-American comedian Jenny Lorenzo. Yes, check out Hamster and Gretel. We really want that season three. So the more you guys watch it, the more probable it is. And I'm working on some other projects that I, according to contracts, can't talk about.

Don't talk about it. We don't want to get anybody in trouble here. We're already blacklisted from Venezuela. We don't want to get blacklisted from Hollywood also.

Too many I'm from Disney.

Or from Disney.

You just got an N.

I just got a free ride to Disney. Now I got to go. Joanna, you are welcome back anytime. Astrid will be texting you in that WhatsApp group. As a matter of fact, let's have you back when you can talk about what's next for you. Yes, please. Awesome. Let's do it. We love you. Thank you, Joanna.

We appreciate it. Oh, my God..

Oh, give us your Instagram handle. Oh, yes.

My Instagram handle is @joana. Com. J-o-house, J-O-H-A-U-S. Please follow me. You know what? Whoever wants to join my family WhatsApp chat, you're also welcome to join it. It's all in Spanish, and all we do is talk about Brian's, all the Brian's of the world.

That's what everybody does. Brian's are just bad news altogether. We love him.

We love him,. He leaves parties without saying goodbye.

I don't anymore. Venezuelans got that shit out real quick. You can't sneak out of a door when Venezuelans are there. Where are you going? You don't take. You need to take. Take some of my papers. Okay. We love you, Joanna. We'll talk to you soon.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Bye.

Finally, I feel like I was waiting forever for my turn to talk. Now that I have you, go to tcbpodcast. Com to find all of our audio and video content, and follow us on Instagram at the Commercial Break, and on TikTok at TV podcast. Want it to be your turn to talk? Call us and spill the tea at 626 Ask TCB 3, and you may hear your voice on the show. You can also text us your tea at 855 TCB 8383. And boy, do we love to hear it. Anyway, take a listen to our sponsors, and let's get back to the show. Wow.

Now I feel bad that I just... I was trying to wrap it up, and Joanne is like, Wait, we're just getting going. I know. I'm like, Oh, shit.

She's amazing.

She was so fucking funny. Spectacular, if you will. Spectacular. Not amazing. We're going to delete the word amazing from this show because it's amazing how many times I've said that word in this time. But Joanna really was fun. Remember we had Felicia Day on? Yes. I thought Felicia Day was so much fun, and Joanna had that similar vibe to her. Yeah, we were just connecting. But I often feel like with our guests, it's like when I was on the dating scene, I broke up with you before you could break up with me. I saw it coming, so I just said it early. You don't want her to say it. I'm going to hurt you now. You don't hurt me. I didn't want Joanna to say, Well, it's been fun. The last 13 minutes have been fun, but I do have to go.

Which I think is- What is that? Oh, so He's coming from the other room.

Blue's parking. I got to go, Landscapers are here. Which is all true. Oh, my God. Those landscapers. Holy shit. He came again today, like two days after he last came. This time I had to text him. I had to be like, Juan, listen, we have no grass. You cutting it is not helping it grow. It's the middle of winter. It's 22 degrees out at night. You do not need to cut my mud. You don't. My mud doesn't need cutting.

I was thinking that the other day.

I know. He's just making dense. He's just rolling his heavy machinery over it. I'm like, dude, first of all, second of all, I thought we talked about 12:00 to 4:00. Those are the no-no times. Those are no-nos, and then you have go-go times, right? I know. I realize You actually do work for a living, and I sit here and talk shit about you while you do that. But if you could, please. He probably knows about the commercial break, and that's why. Everybody knows. Everybody in the school, the landscapers, the pool guy, they all figure it out because it's 2024, and it's not that hard. I'm waiting for the people at Starbucks to realize that I have the commercial break, and then I'll have to go to a different Starbucks because I'll be embarrassed to go in there. We had a babysitter that came in, and then Astrid was Astrid loves the commercial break. She loves the fact that we have the commercial break. I come out the other day from the studio, we're wrapping up, and then I hear them talking about the commercial break, and the babysitter was like, the lady helps the kids, was like, Oh, I'm going to take a listen today on the way home.

I'm like, No, please don't. It took us a long time.

I heard her say that.

It took a long time to find a good one. You're good. I don't want to check it out. It's called Smartlist.

Right.

But Joanna was wonderful. I hope we can have her back. Now I got a free trip to Disney. Or do you think she just said yes because like those times when I asked them to come back and they have to say it- She seems sincere.

She did. I know. And now you're going to hold her to it.

I'm going to hold her to it and I'm going to make her come to my house so that we can all go to Disney World together. She's going to be like, What did I get myself into?

You did. You were like, You an astronaut. All hit it off right away. We'll all go together. You stay here. Yeah.

Hey, you take the kids. We're going on Space Mountain. You're Venezuelan. You're all the same. Don't worry about it. You're just like their mother. But I don't know, maybe that one kid might have a total meltdown. That's true. One of our kids doesn't like anybody but me, apparently. All right. Okay. Enough fun for one day. Stop it. Stop it, everybody. Go home. Turn it off. It's enough already. Yeah. So thanks to Joanna Hausman. Joe House on Instagram, J-O-H-A-U-S. We'll put a link in the description so that you guys can follow her on her Instas and watch Tacoma FD See, I'm serious. Have you ever seen the show?

I haven't. It is funny. It is funny. And endearing.

It is endearing. Yeah, it's sweet. It's like this sweet undertone to it where you're like, Oh, okay, that's cool. I like that. It's not everybody's brand of humor, but I think you'll find at least some of it funny. There's a lot of slapstick stuff in there, too, which I'm like a three-year-old. If it's slapstick, I'm all about it. I like a good pratfall every once in a while. In case you couldn't tell. No. In case you couldn't tell. No. All right. So tcbpodcast. Com. That's where you go. You find more information about Christie and I. You can watch all the video. You can listen to all the audio right there from one location. Also, get your free piggy fronting sticker. We're sending them to you. No problems. No pluses about it, kids. We'll be happy to send them off to you if you hit the Contact Us button on the website. The drop down menu says, I want my free sticker. You give us your physical address, and then we'll send it off to you in seven to twelve months. You'll get it. Don't worry. No problem, boss. No problem, boss. We'll just start sending you one every two days.

See how you feel about it. Also, one, six, two, six, askTCB and the number three. That's one, six, two, six, askTCB and the number three. You can text us. Questions, comments, concerns, content ideas. You can also leave us a voicemail. Please. Yeah, please. For the love of the Lord. Or you know what? I was thinking about this the other day. If you think of an interesting guest you might like us to have, we have an amazing booking agency, and their tagline is, Your Wish is our command. And so I said, President Biden and President Trump on the same interview. Head to head. Commercial break. They said, Well, within reason. We have a Within reason clause in our contract where we can't ask for names that are too big. So text us, leave us a voicemail, add the Commercial Break on Instagram, TCB podcast on TikTok, and youtube. Com/the See, commercial break. This is going to be a change of day in your life. All right, Christie, I suppose that's all that I can do for today. I think so. But I will tell you that I love you. I love you. I'll say best to you.

Best to you. And I'll tell you best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Chrissy and I do say we will say and we must say goodbye.

Check your pannies.