EP. S2E61 — Hyped for The Golden Bachelor w/ Jon Gabrus

Ashley Ray [00:00:02] And I don’t want to see these old ladies get abused by mean producers who are, like, forcing them to cry…

Jon Gabrus [00:00:10] Or forcing them to have three drinks. “I haven’t had a drink since my first husband passed.”

Ashley Ray [00:00:15] And now you’re shitfaced on television.

Jon Gabrus [00:00:18] “I hate my fucking grandson.” Oh no!

Ashley Ray [00:00:22] And now actually, I’m like, “Maybe this is going to be the best version of The Bachelor we ever see created. Welcome to TV, I Say with Ashley Ray–your go-to podcast for discovering what to watch on TV and getting behind the scenes insight from the people who make the shows you love. You just heard a little tease of my chat with Jon Gabrus–one of my favorites. He just helped me get through a Beyoncé concert, thanks to a wonderful weed product he created. And we’re going to get into all the TV he’s watching–dad TV mostly. But don’t worry, we’re also going to talk about Alone–And Just Like That. And we get very much into Big Brother and those international spinoffs that made me clutch my pearls this week when I heard about what they’re doing over there in Europe on Big Brother. It’s an exciting conversation, so let’s just get right into it. Enjoy my interview with Jon Gabrus. Jon Gabrus, Welcome to TV Club. Let’s get right into this because we do the whole “Before we dive in, why don’t you tell me about yourself.” Everybody knows. We all know.

Jon Gabrus [00:01:31] We all know. It’s a fucking Earwolf podcast. You and I have done each other’s shows countless times.

Ashley Ray [00:01:38] You know, I’m going to give you a shoutout for something that many people don’t know, which is that you just did a collab with PAX.

Jon Gabrus [00:01:44] Oh, hell yeah. My little PAX Era vaporizer.

Ashley Ray [00:01:49] Your PAX Era vape. I got to get one. And let me tell you, I brought that to the Beyoncé concert because I knew I could bring it in. It’s tiny. It’s pink. Yes. It’s so cute. I got a pink one. I was like, “Oh, you knew I wanted pink.” I brought it to the Beyoncé show. It elevated the entire experience.

Jon Gabrus [00:02:05] It’s my go-to movie theater bathroom ripper while I do my last pee before I get my drink. Before the movies, I do a big old rip from the high and mighty PAX and–oh, yeah–it gets you right. It’s perfect for events because…

Ashley Ray [00:02:23] I was right in the middle of SoFi Stadium. I’m just hitting my thing, and people are like, “What’s that?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. It’s not me with my cute, little, pink thing. Absolutely not.” It was so adorable, actually, Beyoncé from the stage stopped just to be like, “I want to say, I really love that vape you’re using.”

Jon Gabrus [00:02:38] Is that the High and Mighty PAX Era collab?

Ashley Ray [00:02:41] And I was like, “Yeah! You’re a Gabrus fan?” She was like, “Absolutely.” So, I just want to let the people know that.

Jon Gabrus [00:02:49] That’s good to know. Thank you, Ashley. And that is something I am, you know, expanding my boundaries here. I’m trying to keep the lights on here at High and Mighty Studios.

Ashley Ray [00:03:01] Aren’t we all during this very long strike? How are you doing? How has it been?

Jon Gabrus [00:03:06] It’s been okay. I, of course, was never really that successful in Hollywood before this. So, I have a bunch of other means to survive, à la podcasting, Patreons, influencer bullshit–all the stuff I do.

Ashley Ray [00:03:24] I got a day job. I was like, “You know what? I got to go back to the day job advertising.” I had to do what I had to do.

Jon Gabrus [00:03:32] You’re not going to catch a fucking lick of judgment–only a dash of jealousy–from your boy, Gabrus, over here. Even once the strikes are over… I wasn’t fucking dropping the hammer on Hollywood before the strikes happened, you know? And I don’t know what the industry is going to look like after and if I’m going to be invited to it in any way.

Ashley Ray [00:03:51] Right? I don’t know how long my next staffing thing will be. So, I’m going to be working over here, getting the fine parents of America to buy various products. And I feel good about it. But I feel like we are hitting that part of the strike where people said, “you know, most people aren’t going to notice that TV is going to get worse. They aren’t going to notice that everything’s reality TV.” We’ve hit that wall where people noticed. My mom was on the phone at me yelling because ABC was playing back-to-back episodes of The Conners for five hours.

Jon Gabrus [00:04:24] Yeah, I watched football last night and the commercials were for… I mean, I enjoy watching my New York Giants. Not last night when they lost 40-nothing to division rivals, The Cowboys–that hurt. But I like watching… I don’t really watch a lot of stuff with commercials. So, when I watch football, you get those ads for shows that you wouldn’t normally watch, Million Little Pieces. Like, you know, you just, like, learn about network dramas that way. And nothing was popping off. Nothing!

Ashley Ray [00:04:57] “Million Little Pieces has been on for six years?”

Jon Gabrus [00:05:00] “Oh shit. I have two friends on the show or whatever?”

Ashley Ray [00:05:03] Now it’s nothing. Like, my mom is truly like, “Ashley, the TV is just Love Island and reality shows and then just episodes of Abbott Elementary I’ve seen 80 times.”

Jon Gabrus [00:05:15] Oh, man. I hope people start feeling it. I hope the Stranger Things fanatics start showing up in Hollywood and Sunset and Van Nuys and start going apeshit at Netflix. Fandoms need to get activated. The people who are craving the next season of blank–they need to start fucking going.

Ashley Ray [00:05:36] You need to get out there because if the strike keeps going… I mean, they already said Netflix is going to do the de-age software for the Stranger Things kids because they’re supposed to be, like, 14 and they’re all, like, 25.

Jon Gabrus [00:05:50] That stresses me out too. I mean, I don’t want to step on Millie Bobby Brown’s bag at all. So let her get her bag. But that’s fucking crazy. We’re de-aging kids.

Ashley Ray [00:06:02] De-aging actual children because Netflix refuses to give in to the strike.

Jon Gabrus [00:06:07] Yeah, for fuck’s sake.

Ashley Ray [00:06:12] That’s where we are. But one thing that I think has been pretty positive as someone who loves reality TV–they are really digging into the trash at this point. I feel like we’re getting to the point where it’s like they have this show where celebrities pretend to be on Mars.

Jon Gabrus [00:06:29] Wait, I’ve been seeing clips from that on X, and I have no idea what this is. It’s, like, lance Armstrong. I had no idea what it was in reference to.

Ashley Ray [00:06:38] Lance Armstrong. It’s hosted by, like, an Olympic winning… What are those people who skate on ice? Ice skaters! One of them. And I don’t know why this person is like, “I would be an expert on how people would live on Mars.”

Jon Gabrus [00:06:53] Marshawn Lynch is on it, too, right?

Ashley Ray [00:06:56] Yeah. Like, it’s the wildest mix of celebrities. Tatyana Ali, I believe. Or is it Laila Ali who’s Muhammad Ali’s daughter?

Jon Gabrus [00:07:05] Oh, yeah. Tatyana Ali, I think, is from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Ashley Ray [00:07:09] Yes, yes, yes. But Laila Ali is on it. And it’s just celebrities pretending they live on Mars. But it’s just a sound studio. And they’re like, “No, if you go outside, you’ll die.” And it’s like, “When you go outside, you’ll be in like the valley.”

Jon Gabrus [00:07:24] So it’s Big Brother, but the gimmick is that they’re on Mars?

Ashley Ray [00:07:31] And they have challenges.

Jon Gabrus [00:07:33] They have to eat like astronauts eat and shit? Or they have to poop in, like, vacuums?

Ashley Ray [00:07:35] Yeah. And, like, do everything how an astronaut does. And I think they throw challenges at them. Like, they’re like, “Oh no, your space lettuce was contaminated. What are you going to do?” And it’s like, “Who’s going to be the leader?”

Jon Gabrus [00:07:46] Oh, I can’t find myself giving a shit about that.

Ashley Ray [00:07:51] Exactly. I can’t care. It’s like that. And then they also have this new Army show where celebrities pretend to, like, join the Army and do, like, very difficult challenges to prove themselves. But it’s just, like, Jamie Lynn Spears.

Jon Gabrus [00:08:03] I like bad celebrity reality shows like that because if they last, there’s a chance I could be on them. You know what I mean? Like, I don’t think a lot of celebrities are dying to be on the Army. But for me, when they go down a D-List… I’ve said this countless times, but I do not want Alone, my favorite reality show, to do a celebrity season until I’m a celebrity. Hold off until I’m a celebrity, please.  I want to be on that show, so that shit appeals to me a little bit. Here’s the thing, Ashley. I feel bad saying this. I work a lot in unscripted as a host and producer and stuff like that, but I don’t love… I like competition reality. I really love travel, lifestyle, cooking reality a lot. But I don’t really love, like, whatever the third kind of reality is.

Ashley Ray [00:08:58] I feel like it’s like everything else.

Jon Gabrus [00:08:59] Yeah, I don’t really love that. And it’s funny because before the strike, my wife got really into Vanderpump right before Scandoval. She’s like, “No, you have to watch.” And she just, like, got hooked. She’s always been into, like, the housewives and that kind of world. And so, it’s odd in my house. And I just don’t have a palate for it. I think about it a lot because so many people love it. And I like tons of shit that sucks. Like, you know this about me. And I know we’re both omnivores of television content. I watch a lot of bad stuff. But there’s something for me that these shows… Look, I’ll just say it. I grew up in a house full of drunk people yelling. So, I do think part of my disdain for these shows is, like, drunk people yelling. And it feels weird. And then I get in my head about how it’s incentivized for them to behave poorly. I can’t get over that Scandoval–cheating on your wife–was, like, mutually beneficial for them.

Ashley Ray [00:10:11] It worked out for everyone involved. It’s like cheating on your wife was the career move.

Jon Gabrus [00:10:16] Tangentially, everyone… If they get paid episodically, they get more episodes. It revitalized the show. And that just hurts my heart. Not that I give a shit about their marriage and grown-ups are allowed to do whatever they want to do. But there’s something upsetting that, like, us watching it–Bravo paying them–how the economy all works… They benefited from a divorce. A lot of people benefit from divorce in that it turns our lives around. But to go through something that was a cheating scandal, and it helps everyone–we’re rewarding the wrong behavior.

Ashley Ray [00:10:58] “You got us ratings. This is great. Do you want to be an influencer for my makeup brand?”

Jon Gabrus [00:11:03] “Do you want to do fucking ads for insert any product here now that you’re huge and are a cuckold?” No, that’s not the word I’m looking for. Infidel?

Ashley Ray [00:11:16] Infidel. Yeah.

Jon Gabrus [00:11:17] That’s someone who does infidelity? That’s not an infidel. I think that might be something–

Ashley Ray [00:11:22] An adulterer.

Jon Gabrus [00:11:24] An adulterer! That’s the word I was–

Ashley Ray [00:11:25] I was going to be like, “A bastard?” And I remember as a kid, I was watching King of Queens with my mom. And if you remember, there’s a whole storyline where Doug’s friend cheats on his wife.

Jon Gabrus [00:11:35] Of course, I remember all of the King of Queens storylines.

Ashley Ray [00:11:39] As one does.

Jon Gabrus [00:11:42] Well, let me just check my dry erase board of Kings of Queens.

Ashley Ray [00:11:45] Yeah. When the friend–not the Patton Oswald friend–the Black friend cheats on his wife.

Jon Gabrus [00:11:52] Of course. Black people. How dare they?

Ashley Ray [00:11:55] We’ll get into the problematic aspects of King of Queens another time, but…

Jon Gabrus [00:11:59] But it’s there.

Ashley Ray [00:12:02] And I just looked at my mom, and I was like, “That bastard.” And she was like, “You’re not allowed to say that.” That’s, like, a bad word. I was like, “No, it’s not. It’s a word they say in the old times.”

Jon Gabrus [00:12:13] Yeah. Bastard never felt like a bad word. I remember hearing the phrase rat bastard when I was younger and absolutely loving it.

Ashley Ray [00:12:21] It just snaps. They just want to be big old bastards because that’s what gets the ratings.

Jon Gabrus [00:12:27] And they are. And they are.

Ashley Ray [00:12:30] And so that’s why I like a reality show that is more real people. Like, they just did a new season of My Strange Addiction. It’s, like, ten years later.

Jon Gabrus [00:12:41] Okay. I can get into this because that’s a little closer to documentary. It’s crazy to call, like, Real Housewives a docuseries. But, like, these 600-Lb. Life, Intervention, My Strange Addiction, even 90 Day Fiancé–they’re normal people at least.

Ashley Ray [00:13:00] They’re normal people. And the new season of My Strange Addiction was so hard to watch. It was so, so hard. They did a couple that drinks each other’s pee. There was a guy who eats raw meat. It just was a lot. But then it ends on a happy note with this couple where the husband drinks the wife’s breast milk. And it ends with the doctor being like, “Actually, this is pretty normal. It’s not a problem if, like, you enjoy doing it.” And they’re like, “Yeah! We’re the only couple that was like, ‘You can do this!’”

Jon Gabrus [00:13:31] “We got permission from the doctor. Colostrum is actually really good developmental aid. Get nuts–get jacked–drinking breast milk.

Ashley Ray [00:13:39] Good for me. But then the guy who was eating raw meat had, like, five rare types of E. Coli in his system. And the doctor was like, “You will die.”

Jon Gabrus [00:13:46] That’s fucking crazy. And, like, that show is interesting in that they follow– But I get scared in situations like that because our society puts such a paramount on fame… When we were growing up, kids wanted to be teachers, lawyers, doctors–you maybe even only knew about five jobs, right? It was like the Lego Man jobs. You’re like, “Are you going to be a cop, a fireman, a doctor, a blah, blah, blah?”

Ashley Ray [00:14:14] Or if you were a kid and you were an asshole, people would be like, “You’re going to be a lawyer.”

Jon Gabrus [00:14:17] Yeah. Oh, whenever you’re a wise ass–“Someone should go to law school.”

Ashley Ray [00:14:21] Oh, I got that a lot.

Jon Gabrus [00:14:21] No way. No way, Ashley Ray. Yes way, Ashley Ray. I believe it. I fucking believe it. But now everyone wants to be famous so bad.

Ashley Ray [00:14:37] For bad reasons!

Jon Gabrus [00:14:37] For bad reasons. But it does make sense that you can have a career just being kind of famous. You can live in a fucking hype house with six other fucking freaks–clout-chasing assholes.

Ashley Ray [00:14:50] Yeah. And they’re just like, “I’m famous because I’m the one who drinks their fucking pee.”

Jon Gabrus [00:14:54] But the thing that gets me in my head a little bit is these shows like My Strange Addiction–someone might be putting something on… And we know how production of these shows go. It’s like, “Well, my husband actually eats red meat.” It’s like, “Is he addicted to it?” It’s like, “Well, no…”

Ashley Ray [00:15:12] “He kind of enjoys it, but, like, for the show…”

Jon Gabrus [00:15:14] “For the show can you talk it up and blah, blah, blah?” And that’s what stresses me out. And I guess this is something that had to have happened 20 years ago, but I feel like we’re heading down a path and we’re rewarding really bad behavior.

Ashley Ray [00:15:27] Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Jon Gabrus [00:15:29] The fact that you just get paid for quote tweets, so if you just write, “Martin Short sucks…

Ashley Ray [00:15:37] And then everyone spends all day arguing in your comments, like, “How dare you say this?” And then you get a paycheck from X for $800 or whatever. It’s so dumb. In My Strange Addiction this last season, there was one addiction where I was like, “Okay, we’re kind of stretching this.” There was this woman who was like, “I’m addicted to sleeping with my blow dryer, like, with it on.”

Jon Gabrus [00:15:59] Okay, that’s crazy.

Ashley Ray [00:16:02] And then she was like, “I’ve burned myself four times.” But then even her kid was kind of like, “I mean, she doesn’t do it all the time. Like, it’s just sometimes she’s sleeping with the blow dryer.” And I was like, “Just get, like, a heated pillow or something, ma’am.”

Jon Gabrus [00:16:17] There’s a cool setting, right? Throw it on cool. Is it the noise? Does she need, like, a white noise?

Ashley Ray [00:16:21] She likes the noise and the heat. Yeah.

Jon Gabrus [00:16:23] Okay. “I like the noise in the heat.” That’s an interesting Tinder profile.

Ashley Ray [00:16:27] Yeah. “The noise and the heat, baby.”

Jon Gabrus [00:16:29] “Bring the noise and the heat, baby. I got you, Mama.”

Ashley Ray [00:16:34] So there is a new reality show coming that I don’t know where it falls in this because–first–it’s part of The Bachelor, which I as a whole feel is horrible.

Jon Gabrus [00:16:43] Yeah, I have issues. My wife is similar. She likes all these follow docs–the Real Housewives. But when it comes to the romance ones, for her, awkward kissing is one of the most difficult things to watch.

Ashley Ray [00:17:00] Yes. I hate watching awkward kisses. I hate reality show kissing. Like, 90 Day Fiancé is the worst at this because they, like, really turn the sound up on the kisses. I hate it.

Jon Gabrus [00:17:11] I’m not here for any of it. That stuff stresses me out. I don’t like seeing that. And then Bachelor hovers around that world of people who just kind of want to be famous, too. And that kind of stresses me. Like, if it’s a competition reality show with a skill set? Even Survivor, which I don’t watch and doesn’t really have… But, like, I love Project Runway. I love Top Chef.

Ashley Ray [00:17:33] Oh, I love Project Runway. Did you do the new season, Project Runway All Stars?

Jon Gabrus [00:17:37] I actually watched a few episodes recently, and I was really fucking impressed. It was awesome.

Ashley Ray [00:17:43] I love Christian Siriano as the host

Jon Gabrus [00:17:45] He was so good. Yeah. And I probably watched the first eight seasons.

Ashley Ray [00:17:50] Same.

Jon Gabrus [00:17:51] And then just never watched it again. And I guess it never really went away. And then, like, I threw back on. I’m like, “This feels fucking good again.” And it was fun that it was Christian. Because of the seasons I watched, I did remember Christian.

Ashley Ray [00:18:04] I’ll always remember Christian’s season. And they had really good designers who came back for All Stars. I liked it, even though it did get kind of boring. Like, after a while it was pretty clear who was going to win, and then it just kind of was like, “Okay, we’re just marching towards this person’s inevitable win.” But you know, those shows I like. But The Bachelor–like you said–it’s people who you know just want Instagram followers, who are like, “Yeah, I’m here to just be famous.” But now they’re doing The Golden Bachelor, where they’re bringing in an old man who I think is, like, in his 70s or something.

Jon Gabrus [00:18:37] What? That’s real old.

Ashley Ray [00:18:39] Yeah. Not like Hollywood old, but that’s, like, elderly. And then they’re bringing in women of that same age. So, it’s the Golden Bachelor. And they’ve released profiles of these women, and they’re all just sweet, amazing people. They’re like, “Oh, my name is Sarah. And I’m proud of my credit score.” Like, “I’m Anne, and I love my knitting group.”

Jon Gabrus [00:18:59] Now this shit? Wait, hold on because this is getting my juices flowing in a number of ways here because it’s someone who’s already, like, lived their life and is a fully realized person and isn’t… I’m sure we’ll have a handful of fame hunting psychos out of these old baddies.

Ashley Ray [00:19:16] Always.

Jon Gabrus [00:19:17] But I also am attracted to older women, so there’s a whole nother layer here. I’m sure that fucking cougar hunting MILF hunter crowd–the people who grew up watching MILF stuff on browsers–they’re going to be tuning in. Yours truly. Give me the Golden Bachelor, where it’s a 30 something year old guy and a bunch of 67-year-old women. That’s, like, literally my search terms.

Ashley Ray [00:19:37] On both sides would make everyone happier. I don’t want to see these old ladies get abused by mean producers who are forcing them to cry.

Jon Gabrus [00:19:46] Or forcing them to have three drinks. It’s like, “I haven’t had a drink since my first husband passed.”

Ashley Ray [00:19:52] And now you’re shitfaced on television.

Jon Gabrus [00:19:55] “I hate my fucking grandson.” Oh no!

Ashley Ray [00:19:59] And now actually I’m like, “Maybe this is going to be the best version of The Bachelor we ever see.”

Jon Gabrus [00:20:03] Are you hyped for it?

Ashley Ray [00:20:05] I am extremely hyped for it. It’s on September 28th. I cannot wait.

Jon Gabrus [00:20:10] I’m very curious because I hope that the whole tone of the show is a little different because this is foreseeably people who actually want to find love or have an understanding of, like, “I’m around for 15 more years. I can handle a partner.”

Ashley Ray [00:20:28] Yeah. “And I don’t want to spend it alone.” So, I kind of have some faith in it. But I’m also just like, “I don’t know.”

Jon Gabrus [00:20:36] But, like, when you’re a 21-year-old cocktail waitress, I don’t really care about looking for love. You’re like, “I haven’t found anyone yet.” No shit, babe. You’re, like, a young child. 

Ashley Ray [00:20:48] Exactly. When I watched, like, Love is Blind or any of that, like, Too Hot to Handle, I’m like, “You’re a 22-year-old. Why are we pretending you need to be here right now?”

Jon Gabrus [00:20:54] What do you need love for? I mean, like, I understand we all love love and need love. But what is the partnership for? You don’t need to get married now.

Ashley Ray [00:21:03] You need to find a stable income or something.

Jon Gabrus [00:21:07] Read a fucking book, baby.

Ashley Ray [00:21:27] Did you watch After the Altar?

Jon Gabrus [00:21:30] No. I’m not a Love is Blind guy. I can’t do Love is Blind. I can’t do 90 Day Fiancé. I did the first season of Love is Blind. And it was… What’s the word I’m looking for? Novel. Like, the premise of it was interesting and novel, but the people upset me so much. The second the gameplay came in, I’m like, “I don’t even…” Give me Love on the Spectrum. Fucking give me 10,000 episodes of Love on the Spectrum.

Ashley Ray [00:22:01] Love on the Spectrum is the best. And that makes me feel like people are good, the world is a good place, and love is possible for anyone. And then Love is Blind makes me go, “Oh, people are horrible.”

Jon Gabrus [00:22:13] Maybe it’s cuffing season over here.

Ashley Ray [00:22:17] You don’t watch Big Brother, but Big Brother Portugal has been going viral on Twitter this week. I don’t know if you’ve seen these videos. But did you know on Big Brother in Europe they just have sex on camera, like, just very blatantly?

Jon Gabrus [00:22:38] So I’m going to come clean about some shit here real quick, Ashley. I have never watched Big Brother, but I have watched an abundance of Big Brother international clips on, let’s say, tube sites of sorts because I really–

Ashley Ray [00:22:58] Okay.

Jon Gabrus [00:22:58] Hey. We’re here. You and I are friends. When I watch pornography, I don’t really enjoy professionals. I like the kind of amateur, you know, action. I think that’s a little hotter–a little less of a facade is up. And so, I sometimes find myself watching CCTV footage of two Brazilian Big Brothers having sex in the shower.

Ashley Ray [00:23:21] They just have sex. And I’m a young girl, but I was clutching my pearls watching this footage. It went viral. It’s the Portugal version of the show. And basically, this girl and the guys she likes are having sex. Okay? Totally normal. They’re even being polite. And even though everyone else is in the room sleeping with them, they’re covering themselves with a blanket at first. And then I guess, like, it just was going so long that the guy in the bed next to them was like, “You know what? I’m going to join them.”

Jon Gabrus [00:23:50] That is awesome.

Ashley Ray [00:23:55] And the girl is talking about him, and she’s like, “Yes. And then so-and-so came, and he was just so big and fun. And so, then both of them joined.” And then they interview another housemate, and he’s like, “I had to pull out the popcorn because at this point it was a show.” And the clip is literally just this girl getting a train ran on her and everyone else in the room just looking over like, “How beautiful? That’s so gorgeous.”

Jon Gabrus [00:24:14] Holy shit.

Ashley Ray [00:24:18] Me clutching my pearls, like, “What is this television? Where are we in society?”

Jon Gabrus [00:24:22] The listeners don’t need to know this, but I’m going to do a deep dive on Big Brother Portugal.

Ashley Ray [00:24:28] I’ll send it to you because also people were posting about it in Portuguese. So, I’m, like, trying to translate and find translations of what is happening because I did not realize you could have actual sex on these shows. I thought there were standards and rules and a lord in heaven who kept these things from happening, but no. Maybe I can find it because it truly is the wildest footage I have ever seen of a reality show.

Jon Gabrus [00:25:01] I love it. I love it because I remember seeking that out a few years ago, finding out that on international seasons, some of them hooked up. You know, finding some handsy stuff in the hammock from some people or whatever. But now apparently it sounds like the Portugal’s popping off.

Ashley Ray [00:25:18] Yeah. Here, I got you a clip. Let me just put this in the chat because truly… And don’t worry, it also has the subtitles, so you can really…

Jon Gabrus [00:25:26] That’s awesome.

Ashley Ray [00:25:26] And it’s just with the lights on! It’s not even in the dark.

Jon Gabrus [00:25:38] Holy shit! They’re not hiding at all. My man’s pumping.

Ashley Ray [00:25:45] Right? They’re not hiding at all. And then the other guy’s just like, “Come on. Let’s do this.”

Jon Gabrus [00:25:50] Yeah. He starts holding her hand and he stands up and walks over there. Oh, man. This is fucking pretty hot. I’m glad I found a Twitter, like, official press release. I’m going to find the fucking dirty raw footage. Raw. Pun intended.

Ashley Ray [00:26:09] Go find the whole episode apparently because apparently on Big Brother, they’re just doing wild… I just had no idea this was even allowed. Now I’m a little like, “Maybe I’m with the teenagers. We don’t need sex in movies.”

Jon Gabrus [00:26:24] We were talking about that the other day on Action Boys, my movie podcast. We were discussing how we’re all 40-something-year-old, you know, straight guys on the pod. And we’re watching ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s movies, and we’re craving sex scenes–not even just for pure horniness–just because it feels like you’re watching a grown-up movie. Is it actually a thing amongst young people? Or is that one of those things where it’s like eight people on Twitter seem to have a way larger voice than normal because a lot of stuff that I get from X or hear on Twitter or from peers–I’m always like, “How big is that actually?” I don’t know a lot of Gen Zers who are like, “Dude…”

Ashley Ray [00:27:04] Yeah, I mean, I would say I have a lot of nieces and nephews in that age group, and they all do think it’s gross. But they typically are like, “I think it’s gross because when I watch things with my parents, I don’t want to have to see that with them.” And I’m like, “How often are you watching things with your parents?”

Jon Gabrus [00:27:20] Yeah, I mean, that was a weird part of watching movies growing up is when my dad would turn to me and be like, “She’s a snapper, huh, Jonny?” And I’d be like, “Oh, you ruined boobies for me.” Well, I think about it. One of our theories we threw out there is that we didn’t have online porn growing up, and so these kids did so that it’s less of a “I need some sort of titillation to happen during this movie.” We have nostalgia for the sex scene IN Jade or whatever. You know, you’re edging through a fucking hour and a half long movie to get to it or whatever. But I wonder if because they have porn, it’s so siloed now that, like, “Oh, well, if I want to be titillated, I put on porn. And I’d never watch porn in an AMC theater or with six friends at a party.”

Ashley Ray [00:28:11] Yeah. “So why would I have this in a show?”

Jon Gabrus [00:28:13] “Why would I put this in a TV show?”

Ashley Ray [00:28:15] Which seems to be what they’re saying. And because most of them are like, “Well, we’re the generation that grew up with access to the most crazy, perverted stuff at the age of eight years old…” As soon as they had, like, iPads, they were like, “We could look this stuff up. So, we’re more sensitive to it, and that’s why we don’t want it.” And also, they have more concerns about actors being uncomfortable filming nude scenes and all of that stuff and seeing it all as exploitative. And that makes sense. But also, we’re at a stage now in TV and film where there’s so many intimacy coordinators. It’s, like, the safest time to be looking at nudity in film. This isn’t the, you know, ’80s, ’90s where you’re like, “Oh, that girl didn’t want to do that with Marlon Brando. And they made her.”

Jon Gabrus [00:29:01] Yeah, actors are more empowered than ever before, I feel like–or hopefully. I actually had never even really done a sex scene except for a joke sex scene in a sketch or something. But I shot a presentation with some company, and I had a sex scene in the show. And we used an intimacy coordinator. And in all honesty, it felt great to just have a third person there so that they were in between the director and us in a way where we could ask her questions. I could ask her questions to ask my scene partner without having to go to my scene partner to be like, “Should I put my hands right on your hips while I fake doggy style you? Or is that like, too aggro?” You know? And then you just learn how to smash your hipbone into a butt cheek at a certain angle and make it look like solid pumping. But having an intimacy coordinator there was radical–was truly, like, a game changer. Like, everyone felt more comfortable–my scene partner, myself, the director–because the director could say, “Is it possible to get them…? It’s not even possible? good. So, we’re not going to make either of them try to do something.”

Ashley Ray [00:30:18] “We’re not even going to try it.” Yeah.

Jon Gabrus [00:30:20] And it’s so infrequent now anyway because so many movies are made for the PG-13 quadrant–

Ashley Ray [00:30:29] I mean, there was a woman who went viral because she took her husband to see Oppenheimer, and anytime there was nudity on the screen or boobs, she would be like, “You have to look away.”

Jon Gabrus [00:30:38] But there is so much content made for young people without…. You know what I mean? Like, Oppenheimer is for adults. It’s a three-hour biopic by Christopher Nolan. Like, if you’re going to that, you have to just deal with what’s going to be in that. Go see Paw Patrol. Zero tits in Paw Patrol is my bet.

Ashley Ray [00:31:00] No tits in Paw Patrol. Even the Barbie movie–pretty PG. So many other options.

Jon Gabrus [00:31:09] And if you don’t want to see boobs in a movie, stay the fuck home. You’ll never see one. If you don’t want your kid to be around a certain type of language, your kids shouldn’t go to this restaurant. Like, just kids can do whatever they want. Like, parents just have this, like, energy towards their kids, where, like, “Yeah! You’re free! Be yourself.” And I’m like, “I love that.” As someone who had a super strict upbringing, let your kids freak flag fly. But that stops at, like, talking during the movies, shouting at restaurants–unless it’s like a loud bar or a brewery, which apparently is exclusively for kids these days.

Ashley Ray [00:31:43] All the videos of kids at the movies, and they’re on iPads–just fully on iPads–at the movies with sound on and just, like, playing games.

Jon Gabrus [00:31:53] If you need to go to the movies, but the only way your kid can go is if they have an iPad with no headphones on, then you’re not fucking allowed to go to the movies.

Ashley Ray [00:32:03] Yeah. You lose that privilege. Sorry.

Jon Gabrus [00:32:05] Now, I remember when I was younger, in my 20s, there was a theater in Brooklyn that would have kid screenings where no one’s going to get mad if your kid makes noise during this. But it’ll be adult movies. But it’s for the parents’ crowd who are like, “Yes, we’re going to sit through Oppenheimer, but no one’s allowed to get mad at other people’s kids for crying.”

Ashley Ray [00:32:28] Yeah, if your kid starts crying, you got to walk out. That’s the game. Like, that is fair.

Jon Gabrus [00:32:34] But if I’m going, I’m expecting people to be quiet. My movie theater rules. You’re allowed to whisper to each other during trailers, and then zero talking once the movie starts. Not phone conversations throughout the trailers. You’re allowed to whisper to each other.

Ashley Ray [00:32:52] A whisper during the trailers, we’re paying attention to the trailers, and then full silence. Don’t look at your phone when the movie starts.

Jon Gabrus [00:32:59] People have no idea how bright they’re fucking screen is.

Ashley Ray [00:33:02] Yeah, it’s so bright and distracting. Even when you turn the brightness all the way down, we still see your phone.

Jon Gabrus [00:33:07] I can see it out of the fucking corner of my eye. And it drives me so crazy. There’s a lot to be said about me here–that I need to just, like, pump the brakes a little bit. No one’s ruining Bottoms by having their phone on, like, eight seats away. But there is something… I feel like Larry David a little bit where I’m like, “Can’t you just do the movie?”

Ashley Ray [00:33:27] What’s so important that you can’t not look at your phone for just, like, an hour and a half? Come on.

Jon Gabrus [00:33:31] I just thought of something, and this is perfect. It’s not exactly TV, but because of strike rules, I’m allowed to talk about it. I saw a Broadway show in early August when I was back east visiting my family–saw a wonderful show–Kimberly Akimbo. It’s the Tony winner. A former 101 student of mine–I taught Improv 101 for years–and one of my students, Bonnie Milligan, actually won the Tony for her role as the aunt in this movie.

Ashley Ray [00:34:00] Well, congratulations to you and your student.

Jon Gabrus [00:34:01] Yeah, well, thank God she had me explaining Yes, Anding sort of ten years ago.

Ashley Ray [00:34:07] That’s how you get the Tony.

Jon Gabrus [00:34:08] This woman is, like, bananas talented and she absolutely crushed. I was so pumped to see it. She was so good during it. The whole show is beautiful. It’s the most complicated premise, yet it ends up being so universal. The main character has that Robin Williams Jack’s disease that she looks 65, but she is 13. And so, she’s in junior high but looks like an old person. But then there’s also a scam that they’re doing so that her friends can be in a cappella show. Like, it’s got so many stupid layers, but it fucking ends up being so universal as, like, fear of aging and creativity all just smashed together. But all that being said, it was a Broadway show. Now these tickets are not cheap. But it is made up of a lot of old white people who, I think, have the most difficult relationships– Old people in general. I’m not going to leave it to just white people. But over a certain age, they’re not made for phones. I would say phones rang six times at least.

Ashley Ray [00:35:10] Oh, my God.

Jon Gabrus [00:35:10] At least. And I think it shouldn’t happen at all. But if it happens once, it should be in your head of like, “Fuck. Is my phone on?” I would be so fucking embarrassed if that happened to me.

Ashley Ray [00:35:25] I would be so embarrassed. And when I was in college, I saw Fela–the musical about Fela Kuti–on Broadway. I go with my stepdad and my mom. And my stepdad’s phone goes off. But it’s not even just that. That’s embarrassing. It’s that his ringtone was just someone yelling, “Bullshitter alert! Bullshitter alert!” because he thought that was so funny.

Jon Gabrus [00:35:49] I mean, it is kind of funny but not when it’s blasting during a–

Ashley Ray [00:35:52] Not when it’s blasting literally in the middle of Fela, like, when his wives are doing their, like, sad funeral dance.

Jon Gabrus [00:35:59] Right.

Ashley Ray [00:35:59] And then my stepdad’s phone is just screaming, “Bulshitter alert!”

Jon Gabrus [00:36:04] “You’re not my real dad!”

Ashley Ray [00:36:08] Well, I do want to ask you about some TV that I think we can talk about because neither of us worked on it–weren’t in it. Season two of This Fool.

Jon Gabrus [00:36:16] Fuck, man. I think it’s one of the funniest shows on TV.

Ashley Ray [00:36:20] Right? It’s so good.

Jon Gabrus [00:36:21] It’s also got something else going for it that is very specific to my taste right now. And it’s LA stuff. It’s really an LA show–but an LA that I don’t know shit about as a guy who moved to WeHo 11 years ago and has never moved and all his friends live in Los Feliz, Silverlake, and the Valley. Like, going into the Mexican neighborhoods and seeing all that–it really feels in a small way like an LA show but just a perspective of LA that I would never have had.

Ashley Ray [00:36:54] Exactly how I feel when I watch Winning Time. I’m just like, “Wow. Look at this LA.”

Jon Gabrus [00:36:59] You need time travel to get to that LA. And the fucking show is so funny. And they really live in a kind of world of just below magical realism where it’s, like…

Ashley Ray [00:37:15] It’s such an interesting tone because, like, sometimes you’ll be like, “Oh, that’s very just traditional sitcom.” And then they’ll out of nowhere do something so surreal that you’re like, “What is this?”

Jon Gabrus [00:37:24] A two-part heist episode that’s, like, super intense with a hostage situation. But it’s also played for insane laughs with Corddry as a cop. It’s wild.

Ashley Ray [00:37:34] That was one of the funniest– Probably my favorite arc of the show.

Jon Gabrus [00:37:37] It was so funny. The shit that was happening inside there–where Julio is flipping sides and comes on the hostage side just because he got his heart broken–is like so funny. The other thing is those guys–the behind-the-scenes guys on that show who made Corporate, Jake, Matt, and Pat–they’re really talented guys. And you said that tone thing. Corporate really played in the weird tone world too in a really fun way. And I think This Fool just found, like, a richer world of storytelling. And to be honest, like, Chris Estrada is great, but Frankie Quiñones is the find of the fucking century, man.

Ashley Ray [00:38:20] I mean, and I think if you watched Dress Up Gang–if you, like, knew about, like, the improv stuff he was doing forever ago–you knew he was going to blow up and something. And I’m so happy it was This Fool because I feel like he’s truly just playing a character he loves.

Jon Gabrus [00:38:35] It’s so funny. When he’s all amped up about being security at the fucking suit shop, and he takes it super seriously and starts calling himself a first responder and shit–that shit is so fucking funny to me. And when they’re a part of the hostage situation and he starts doing push-ups to warm up… He does push-ups to warm up a few times throughout, and it’s such a funny, real, specific type of dudes–of that type of macho dude–that really it really makes me happy.

Ashley Ray [00:39:08] That bit just got me every time. It was probably my favorite show of the summer, I think.

Jon Gabrus [00:39:13] I think it might be. I mean, the only other show that I watched more aggressively was And Just Like That. I’m, like, a huge–

Ashley Ray [00:39:20] I mean, okay, And Just Like That is the show of the year. It is the best show ever made.

Jon Gabrus [00:39:26] It is my favorite show and least favorite show of the year. I can’t explain it.

Ashley Ray [00:39:29] Precisely. You’re the second, like, 40 something year old man we’ve had on the show who’s like, “And just like that is actually my favorite show.”

Jon Gabrus [00:39:39] Oh, I wonder if… I’m of the age that I watched Sex and the City as a TV show and fucking loved it because it was hot women talking about sex and was pretty funny and I was in New York–I wanted to move to New York-so it activated a bunch of stuff. And Tiff, my wife, was really into it. So, And Just Like That comes around, we’re like, “Oh, we’re going to give it a shot.” And we hated it. I will say it won me back a little bit in the last couple of episodes and… Big upset. Big surprise for me. Big upset. I always loved Miranda. They’ve Nerfed her. She is, like, so weak.

Ashley Ray [00:40:20] Oh, yeah. Miranda is not the same Miranda at all. It’s like, “What is this character?” The old Miranda never would have a roommate where she can’t use the bathroom because the bathroom was in her roommate’s room. You’re a lawyer. You have money.

Jon Gabrus [00:40:31] I don’t understand a lot of that stuff that’s going on. But I will say the surprise is Charlotte was my least favorite from the series. But Charlotte stays winning.

Ashley Ray [00:40:42] She is my favorite now.

Jon Gabrus [00:40:44] I love Harry, too. He’s so good. I’ve always liked her partners, Kyle MacLachlan and…

Ashley Ray [00:40:51] Yeah, she’s always been good in relationship dynamics, but they just really found their stride with her and Harry being, like, old sex freaks who hate their kids.

Jon Gabrus [00:41:00] And yes, she has Rock, her non-binary child. And she has, like, the new Black friend. And so-and-so has a new Indian friend. So-and-so has a new Black friend.

Ashley Ray [00:41:17] Everyone has their little diversity huddle.

Jon Gabrus [00:41:19] I saw someone on Twitter–I wish I could quote who it was–who called it, “Everyone got their own therapy POC this season.”

Ashley Ray [00:41:29] Exactly. It truly is just like, “Oh, Miranda needs Che to figure out that Miranda’s a lesbian. And that’s the only reason Che was really in it.”

Jon Gabrus [00:41:36] It’s kind of crazy that we follow… Now, it would be rude to invite four female POC characters onto the show and have them just be friends of them. But they follow them a little too much in my book. Now we’re following seven storylines. Now we’re in the H storyline of Nya falling for the chef.

Ashley Ray [00:42:02] I literally was going to say Nya. I was like, “I’m supposed to care that Nya’s ex had a kid with someone and she bought him a stroller?”

Jon Gabrus [00:42:10] I don’t know shit about Nya. In that last episode, Miranda is like, “You are a law professor at Columbia.” And I was like, “She is? Oh, right. Why the fuck are you acting like this?”

Ashley Ray [00:42:22] Yeah. Why? And then it just truly was like, “We just did all of this so she could loop her back around into fucking the chef that she met forever ago. And then all I could think was: “Great. She’s going to fuck this chef all night. And Miranda is going to come home from doing the BBC interview, and she’s not even going to be able to use the bathroom because their roommate is in the hallway again.”

Jon Gabrus [00:42:44] Steve’s got a storyline. Miranda’s got a storyline. Nya’s got a storyline. Seema has got a storyline.

Ashley Ray [00:42:50] You know who doesn’t? Brady. Their kid. They tried to kind of give him one. And then by the end of the season, he is just there to bike into scenes in the background, look around, smile, and bike away.

Jon Gabrus [00:43:01] I will say that Brady has shit story but immaculate casting. That is good casting for Miranda’s kid. Red, curly hair.

Ashley Ray [00:43:15] Tall. Looks like both of them, but still a little weird. They really did nail it there.

Jon Gabrus [00:43:19] Not, like, ugly, but as weird as you would imagine their kid would be like. It’s perfect. And just on a purely heterosexual creep vibe, I love the addition of the other characters because they’re all smokes. Like Seema is so hot.

Ashley Ray [00:43:36] Seema is so hot.

Jon Gabrus [00:43:38] And the woman whose name I could never remember who had a miscarriage. I hate her husband so much.

Ashley Ray [00:43:46] Honestly, I could do away with both of them. I don’t really care about Charlotte’s school friends. Like, Charlotte’s interesting enough they could just disappear.

Jon Gabrus [00:43:56] Charlotte has art friends. You know the woman who is her boss who wears the midriff? That’s Bonnie from Kimberly Akimbo.

Ashley Ray [00:44:08] From your mentorship!

Jon Gabrus [00:44:10] I taught her everything she knows.

Ashley Ray [00:44:12] And now she’s on the best show on TV!

Jon Gabrus [00:44:13] She’s riffing with Kristin Davis? I taught her that! Level 101 is pretty much just day care for rich 20-somethings.

Ashley Ray [00:44:25] But it got her on And Just Like That, so I think that counts as a win actually. Before we wrap up, one thing that my fans know is that you are a connoisseur of dad TV.

Jon Gabrus [00:44:54] Oh, hell, yeah.

Ashley Ray [00:44:56] Lincoln Lawyer, Bosch… I was hoping you could give us a dad TV update. What’s happening in the world of dad TV?

Jon Gabrus [00:45:04] So I really watch a lot of dad TV. And a friend of mine–and I think a friend of the show–Mantzoukas and I text about dad TV a lot. And I think there’s something–it’s action, thriller, mystery adjacent with a lead of a certain age, frequently a male. And it has sort of got some male fantasy elements of, like, he can’t stop fucking his ex-wife and he’s rich and it’s this, you know? Like, there’s a lot of detective novels that fall into that. Bosch is a great example of he’s a stud who lives in a house in the Hollywood Hills but is also a Hollywood homicide cop. Like, it makes no sense. And I think this one is not very male centric, but it is Special Forces centric. And Paramount’s Lioness… Now, I’m not plugging it. I’m just talking about it.

Ashley Ray [00:45:58] We’re just talking about it. Don’t watch it. We don’t care.

Jon Gabrus [00:46:02] It’s the dude who does all the TV now. Tyler Sheridan. I almost said Tyler Perry.

Ashley Ray [00:46:06] The Black or the white one? Tyler or Taylor?

Jon Gabrus [00:46:14] Right. Which one is it? Yeah. So Taytay–he produces the show Lioness. And it’s Zoe Saldana as, like, the head of a bad ass, like, Special Forces crew. And it’s called Lioness because they have a female undercover operative that they’re supporting. And it’s pretty intense and pretty badass action and fun characterization. And I feel like in the recent dad TV pantheon, that’s a great addition. Now, I love Bosch. And I’ve watched every episode of the new Lincoln Lawyer series, but I do not enjoy the new Lincoln Lawyer.

Ashley Ray [00:46:52] But you watched every episode.

Jon Gabrus [00:46:53] I watched every episode, of course. And I’ve watched the McConaughey movie. I love Bosch. I can’t get enough of Bosch–even Bosch: Legacy on Freevee.

Ashley Ray [00:47:02] I was going to ask–Bosch: Legacy–which Mantzoukas told me all about and had to explain to me since I knew nothing about it.

Jon Gabrus [00:47:09] Yeah, it’s clearly just a way to, like, reset some people’s salaries and trim a few characters that probably got their negotiations up too high and were like, “I can’t be in a 10th season of this fucking show.” And Titus Welliver is like, “I can. Let’s go.” Shout out Titus Welliver and Michael Connelly, the author of the Bosch novels, for seeing them on the fucking picket lines over at Paramount the last few times I’ve gone. So, shout them out.

Ashley Ray [00:47:35] Hell, yeah. I did not know Bosch was based on a novel.

Jon Gabrus [00:47:37] It’s based on a long series of novels–a lot of them. And Lincoln Lawyer is Bosch’s brother because the guy also writes all the Lincoln Lawyer books. And they are actually brothers. But two different production companies own the rights so they can never cross over in some way now–some annoying X-Men and Spider-Man way.

Ashley Ray [00:47:58] So I definitely thought Lincoln Lawyer was a real person because it was a movie with Matthew McConaughey. And I thought he was playing, like, a real person.

Jon Gabrus [00:48:07] A biopic about the guy who–

Ashley Ray [00:48:08] I thought– Yeah. I was like, “Oh, some important lawyer who, like, helped with civil rights or something.”

Jon Gabrus [00:48:14] I definitely probably thought that when that movie came out. It was only because all my stupid friends read the Bosch novels. Here’s another tying Bosch into This Fool in a way. The books are very LA. And the show is very LA in that they discuss how they like their favorite In-N-Out Burgers. They talk about their favorite taco trucks. And they’re all using real references. What was Issa Rae’s show’s name? It’s escaping me. I thought it was a great LA show as well.

Ashley Ray [00:48:49] Insecure. That’s the one that made me fall in love with LA because it just loved the city.

Jon Gabrus [00:48:53] Right, for me too. Not to keep being an old white man in the story, but I don’t know Baldwin Hills that well, you know what I mean? So, seeing shit like that to me was super interesting. But in Bosch, they’re literally like, “Are we going to go to Birds? I don’t really want to go.” Like, it’s like they talk about, like, real– And then there’s always a moment…

Ashley Ray [00:49:14] Birds isn’t that great.

Jon Gabrus [00:49:15] It’s mostly UCB people getting drunk, so that’s kind of fun. Birds, the bar, last time I was there–it’s been a while–has a passage from a Bosch novel framed where they reference Birds. They’ll be in a car chase, and they’ll be like, “Meet me down where La Cienega crosses with Melrose Place.” Like, they use super specific directions. It’s clearly been, like, fact-checked.

Ashley Ray [00:49:38] I do love that. You know, Apple TV got into the dad TV game. Have you watched Hijack with Idris Elba?

Jon Gabrus [00:49:45] Of course.

Ashley Ray [00:49:47] I thought that counted as dad TV.

Jon Gabrus [00:49:50] It 100% did. I can’t believe I left it OFF THE LIT.

Ashley Ray [00:49:52] I watched it all in a night. I kind of fell in love with it. And then at the end was like, “Oh, this could have been a movie”

Jon Gabrus [00:49:57] It would have been a great two-hour movie. Like a lot of shit that that’s on TV these days, it would have been a banging two-hour movie. Instead, it was a fine eight-hour series.

Ashley Ray [00:50:09] A perfectly fine eight-hour series that I watched until 4:00 in the morning. And I was like, “Yep, okay.”

Jon Gabrus [00:50:14] I will watch Idris Elba do almost– I mean, the premise of the show is he’s a top shelf negotiator stuck in a hostage situation. And then by the end of it, he’s bashing a guy’s head in with a pistol.

Ashley Ray [00:50:30] I was like, “He really didn’t negotiate much of it.” And also, we never, like, see him even before the plane negotiate a deal and see like, “Oh, he’s so good.” It’s truly just him being like, “I think I can handle this. I think I can manage this situation on this plane.”

Jon Gabrus [00:50:44] And I think the reasoning for that is that it is in real time, which is kind of cool. But that does get boring as a viewer. It’s like there’s a reason you time jump and edit.

Ashley Ray [00:50:58] Instead of showing us the same timeline from another character’s perspective for the fourth time. And I’m like, “I get it. The girl found the bullet. Okay, like, let’s keep going.” But I did think it was pretty solid dad TV.

Jon Gabrus [00:51:11] I’m with you there. The most recent other dad TV I’ve been enjoying was Mayor of Kingstown, which is Jeremy Renner as a guy who, like, lives in a town full of prisons and prisons are the entire economy. So, it’s all about prisoners, wardens, lawyers, releases, gangs on the outside–and he’s trying to keep the peace. These are the shows that fuck you up, though, when you’re, like, a fucking ACAB leftist. And then you’re like, “Who’s your favorite character on the show?” It’s like, “Oh, the SWAT guy who kills criminals extrajudicially.” It’s like, “Oh, the thing you rail against all the time?” I’m like, “I like it in movies!”

Ashley Ray [00:51:49] “It’s fun when it’s fake! When it’s not real, it’s the best time.”

Jon Gabrus [00:51:51] And of course I know these movies ruined me as a kid, and I had to, like, be deprogrammed for my fascist beliefs.

Ashley Ray [00:52:00] But once that happens, it’s just a good time.

Jon Gabrus [00:52:02] Yeah, I was making the joke for a while that was like, “I shouldn’t have been, like, an 11-year-old kid who had strong opinions about internal affairs. Like, ‘Let him do his job, for fuck’s sake! Get out of the way!’”

Ashley Ray [00:52:15] But as I watched SVU, I was like, “Come on! Let Stabler Knock his shit out!”

Jon Gabrus [00:52:19] “He should just be able to beat the fuck out of this guy.”

Ashley Ray [00:52:24] “We know he did it.” And then by the end of the episode, it’s another person entirely. And you’re just like, “Whatever! To get to the truth!”

Jon Gabrus [00:52:29] That’s how you know Law & Order has been fucking running cover for the fucking police industrial complex forever.

Ashley Ray [00:52:35] Oh, absolutely.

Ashley Ray [00:52:38] Well, we’re going to wrap up here. This was such a fun episode. I think, listeners, you got a lot here that we’ve talked about that you can go watch.

Jon Gabrus [00:52:45] Hell, yeah.

Ashley Ray [00:52:46] I mean, I would say start with Hijack. Just get into the dad TV.

Jon Gabrus [00:52:49] Yeah, I would say start with Hijack. Get pumped for what sounds like the Golden Bachelor. And if you aren’t watching the series Alone, there is at least a season on every streaming service. It is a History Channel show that has most of its episodes on Hulu, but you can find a season or two on Netflix. You can find a season almost anywhere. It eliminates everything I dislike about reality shows. There’s no host. There’s no interview. Eventually it does get a little boring and a little… This last season was mega monotonous. But it is, like, an anthropological study of humanity as you watch people just get hungrier and crazier as time goes on. And, like, truly non-media trained professionals that have no desire to be in the media. Like, whenever you watch a person on Bachelor, you’re like, “This person wants to be famous.” But when you watch a woman who’s like, “I just want to buy a plot of land in Alaska,” you’re like, “Hell yeah, honey.”

Ashley Ray [00:53:47] “Yes. You deserve it, girl.”

Jon Gabrus [00:53:49] Golden Alone. It’s all 70-year-olds just dying in the fucking woods.

Ashley Ray [00:53:52] And it sounds better than what I’ve been doing, which is I watched all three seasons of Hotel Hell.

Jon Gabrus [00:53:58] I don’t even know what that is.

Ashley Ray [00:54:00] It’s like a Gordon Ramsay show where he goes to shitty hotels and fixes them.

Jon Gabrus [00:54:04] I love that shit. Another unscripted show I’ve always loved was Shark Tank, and I wish there was a website you can go to where it’s like, “Mark Cuban actually made the most money off this. He lost the most money off this.”

Ashley Ray [00:54:18] Somebody up there has to have that.

Jon Gabrus [00:54:20] There’s probably some intense Reddit thread about all this.

Ashley Ray [00:54:24] If there’s someone there’s someone out there who keeps track of every Bar Rescue bar that shuts down or succeeds, someone’s definitely keeping track for Shark Tank.

Jon Gabrus [00:54:31] Yeah, I’m @gabrus on all social media. Listeners, hit me there if you’re one of those Shark Tank accounting freaks. Please let me know ASAP.

Ashley Ray [00:54:42] Yes. I’m going to let these sirens go past.

Jon Gabrus [00:54:46] Oh, shit. It’s Bosch. You’re under arrest.

Ashley Ray [00:54:48] It’s Bosch. It’s Bosch. Bosch is coming down Riverside. John, I want to thank you so much for joining me. This was such a fun conversation.

Jon Gabrus [00:54:57] Always is with you.

Ashley Ray [00:54:59] Oh, thank you. Thank you. And you come back any time. We should have you and Mantzoukas come on and just do a whole dad thing.

Jon Gabrus [00:55:04] Let’s go. Let the two fatherless 40 somethings come on and scream about dad television. I meant childless. I have a father. I can’t speak for Jason. But I know we’re both childless.

Ashley Ray [00:55:16] Yeah. You know, you fathered a generation of hipsters. And that’s what matters. And listeners, if you want to support the actors and the writers of these many wonderful shows we talked about, you can go to the picket lines if you’re in New York or LA, go join us. You can drop off food. You can drop off water. And if you’re not in LA or New York or you don’t feel like going to a picket line because it has been so hot lately, I get it. You can still donate money to the Entertainment Community Fund, which helps non-actor Hollywood crew members who suffer hardships due to the strike. You can donate at entertainmentcommunity.org and make sure to direct your gift to the film and television category when asked.

Jon Gabrus [00:55:53] Hell yeah.

Ashley Ray [00:55:53] John, anything else you want to plug? Anything you want the people to know?

Jon Gabrus [00:55:56] Yeah. Check out pax.com for my Era of see if it’s for sale in the state near you. They are delivering so depending what your state is– But I know we are in California shops and New York shops now so check them out there. Get yourself a little custom PAX Era with a little High and Mighty art design on it from yours truly.

Ashley Ray [00:56:17] It’s really cute.

Jon Gabrus [00:56:18] Yeah. And even if you don’t give a shit about me, it’s a cute pen that works well. The pods are pricey, but they are fucking good. They work.

Ashley Ray [00:56:27] Yeah, they’re pure rosin. It’s a live rosin pod that came with that baby.

Jon Gabrus [00:56:31] It works wonders, but it ain’t cheap. It shouldn’t be. It’s compressed, high quality cannabis.

Ashley Ray [00:56:36] It’s very high quality. It’s about worth what it should be. I want to thank my guest, Jon Gabrus, so much for joining me. What an absolutely wonderful conversation. Also, listeners, if you want to support the actors and writers who make the shows you love, if you’re in LA or New York, you can join us on a picket line to drop off food or water. Or–hey–get out there and picket too. You don’t have to be in the union to come support us. You can also donate money to the Entertainment Community Fund, which helps non-actor Hollywood crew members who suffer hardships due to the strike. You can donate at entertainmentcommunity.org and make sure to direct your gift to the film and television category when asked. And TV Club, make sure that you’re caught up on a few things. I want you to watch Winning Time because, well, IT got canceled. So hey, if you weren’t watching it, go watch it now. It’s a whole series because it got canceled. We’ll also be getting into the Golden Bachelor, which I cannot wait for. I’m also going to ask you to get ready for Below Deck Mediterranean because our girl, Captain Sandy–she’s coming back. I cannot wait. And that’s it. That’s all. That’s your homework. Okay? Thanks so much for listening. We’ll be back with another episode. TV, I Say with Ashley Ray is an Earwolf production made by me, Ashley Ray-Harris. It’s engineered by Abby Aguilar, produced by Anita Flores, executive produced by Amelia Chappelow. And our original theme song is by RaFia. It means so much to me if you go rate, review, subscribe. Follow TV, I Say. Let us know what you think and tell your friends. Share with your Golden Girls. Tell your Boys. If you love my TV recommendations, let everyone you know. For special TV Club members, join my Patreon.