Debait and Switch? (Live from Boston!)
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Hi, I'm Stacey Abrams, host of the brand new Crooked podcast, Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams. Each week, we'll work together to better understand one of those big issues that seems insurmountable. Whether it's the Electoral College, America's loneliness epidemic, or the future of Hollywood post-strikes, I'll challenge you to dig in and ask, how do we get here? What obstacles lie ahead? And what can we do to get good done? Are you in?

Episodes of Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams are available starting August 15th. Head to your favorite audio platform and subscribe now so you never miss an episode. Boston! It is great to be back. We are live from the Wilbur. I'm recording this immediately after our live Pod Save America show.

which we did the night after our debate breakdown episode, which we did immediately after watching the debate. So if I sound tired and wired and on my last gangly leg, I just want you all to remember, I don't value the opinion of people from Boston. I welcome your hatred. I welcome your hatred. Tonight on the show, I give author Gretchen Felker Martin two terrifying choices, horror scene or Marjorie Taylor Greene. Icon Kathleen Turner...

Romances her IMDB page and gets a little frisky. Then Jade Jordan gives it to me gay, and by it I mean the news, you degenerates. And I have evidence that wasn't presented in the Karen Reid trial.

Also, we're doing live high notes tonight, so just everybody go back to two hours BD, that's before debate, and try to think of some positivity. There's just one rule. Your high note, this is just for us, your high note cannot be about this show, okay? Because when the high notes are, I'm having so much fun, it makes the people at home mad. Fuck them. No, no. And look, here's the thing. You don't get very far in this business by saying, fuck the audience. Fuck the audience.

But first, we have no choice. Let's get into it. Because if we can't get out of it, we gotta get into it. What a week. The first presidential debate was last night, and if you saw it, you know that it was a catastrophe. And if you didn't think it was a catastrophe, please make your way to the stage. I will pay you $7,000 to trade brains with me.

It was like that riddle where there are two guards in front of two doors and one of the guards tells only lies and the other guard is some sort of disoriented dust golem. If you hadn't watched it, we're going to have a little intermission here to allow you to leave the room. You have a pure soul in mind and I will not be the one to corrupt it. You're free. Minutes ahead of the Thursday debate, President Biden poked fun at the rumors that he takes stimulants, tweeting a link to dark Brandon's secret sauce, a can reading, get real, Jack. It's just water.

I too liked jokes before the debate. I too remember what it was like to laugh. Once the debate began, it was clear that President Biden's stimulant and ice cream levels were in the red zone. He sounded hoarse, his delivery was slow and halting, uneven, he mumbles, and things went downhill from there, which is how my wife describes sex with me. Before the debate, you would have laughed at that. Pretend I just showed you a clip you don't need to see.

Look, sometimes a horse breaks slow out of the gate, but manages to pull out a win with a huge burst of speed in the home stretch. Just a fun fact about horses, doesn't actually apply in this case, but what beautiful animals, so hard to draw. While answering a question about Medicare, Biden froze a bit before landing on this.

We'd be able to wipe out his debt. We'd be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with. Look, if we finally beat Medicare...

It's harder the second time because the first time you don't know what's coming. I know that was tough. I know that was tough. But I have an idea. It's going to be okay. Can we try it again with some music? Making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the COVID. Excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with... Look, if we finally beat Medicare...

It was worth a shot. Of course, this isn't just about how Biden sounded. This is about his inability to push back on Trump in any coherent way. Or an incoherent way. After Trump lied about health care or child tax credits or the border or veterans, if Biden would have drifted down in aerial silks and performed pink so what suspended over the crowd, I wouldn't have understood why, but I would have at least felt like I was in good hands.

And there were so many opportunities. Trump gave him so many opportunities. Joe Biden was like a man standing in front of a whack-a-mole game, his hands empty, occasionally whispering, there's one. Trump spent the entire debate lying through his teeth. And by the way, not in a way that endeared him to undecided voters. He's eminently beatable. And Biden was unable to deliver basic rebuttals. In Biden's defense, though, he wasn't listening. He was just waiting for his turn to talk, like an actor who just moved to L.A. at a party. That would have killed in L.A.,

Trump also falsely claimed that democratic states allow for post-birth abortions and then when asked about... Yeah, fuck him is right.

What's the story there?

In his own abortion answer, Biden slammed Trump for overturning Roe v. Wade, but then inexplicably pivoted to talking about a woman who was murdered by an immigrant. The fact is that the vast majority of constituents didn't know when it was decided. All right, you know what? I'll take the note. Let's skip it. We don't have to watch it again, but we saw it. Politically, pivoting from abortion to immigration, as Joe Biden did here, is like sitting down to a beautiful meal at your favorite restaurant and eating the fucking wine glass.

In response to Biden's defense of his actions, Trump said this. I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either. When Trump is calling someone else incoherent and it's landing, that is a state of emergency. We are all in the Titanic submersible and the whole pressure alarm is going off. Thursday did at least bring us this all-time debate line. I didn't have sex with a porn star. He continued, she was a porn actress.

We haven't had stars since the 80s. Also, there was this line where Trump was asked whether he'd take any action to combat climate change. I want absolutely immaculate clean water, and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it. We had H2O. That's the person who won the debate, which is somehow scarier than climate change itself.

Overall, Biden came to this debate needing to dispel concerns about his age while exposing Trump's extremism and narcissism. He failed on both counts, unless undecided voters are into this. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past those freaks. Biden was asked a question about his age, and even in a question about his age, he somehow wound up rambling about computer chips in South Korea. He sounds like me in therapy getting asked about my own worst flaws. All of a sudden, I'm yapping about how Michigan needs newer bridges.

After Trump once again bragged about acing his cognitive test, he and Biden got into this extended back and forth about golf. Look, I'd be happy to have a driving contest with him. I got my handicap, which when I was vice president, down to a six. And by the way, I told you before, I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it? That's the biggest lie that he's a six handicap of all. I was eight handicapped. Eight.

I've seen you swing. I know you swing. Let's not act like children. President Trump, we're going to go there. Let's not act like children. Finally, we're almost done. Finally, an answer to the age old question. What if Statler and Waldorf weren't funny? And I say at this point, boys have at it. They should be golfing. They're 78 and 81 years old. These are the last good golfing years.

While Democrats walked away shaken, it's somewhat reassuring that most of us had the exact same reaction to Biden's performance. Oh, my fucking God. It's like when you're at a wedding and you know the couple is just definitely going to get divorced, but you don't know if the other people at the wedding know. And then a couple drinks in, somebody finally cuts the tension and turns to you and be like, these people hate each other. This is fucking crazy. Like former Senator Claire McCaskill, who told Rachel Maddow this. Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn't do it.

He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age. And he failed at that tonight. I think the one thing Biden had to do was to remember to take his amphetamines. Pretty well dispelled that fucking rumor, huh? That was, he was raw-dogging it there. Over on CNN, John King said this.

This was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party. Deep, wide, and aggressive. Happy last weekend of pride, everyone. We're Democrats. Our kink is panic. And our safe word, maybe Whitmer. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the party doesn't need a new nominee, but admitted that was, from a performance standpoint, not great. Thanks, babe.

All we need is a boost in morale, continued Pelosi, ushering in the cast of suffs. It's too soon for suffs. It would have worked with Hamilton. On Friday, the Dems slowly pried their fingers off of their eyes and started to put the pieces back together. When asked if he thought Biden was Democrats' best messenger at this high-stakes moment, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that he would reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment other than to say, I stand behind the ticket. I don't even know what that means.

Some pundits tried to blame CNN for Biden's performance, which I personally view as absurd. This is the exact debate format Biden asked for. This is like me trying to blame the Cheesecake Factory waitress for my stomachache because she brought me everything I ordered. Kayla is just doing her job. Or she was until I got her fired. My tum-tum hurts. South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn called the debate Strike One against Biden but urged the party to stay the course. The mixed metaphor is perfect. This feels exactly like trying to play baseball on a sailboat.

John Fetterman tweeted, I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden's shoulder after the debate. No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of a person and their record. Annoying, my friend. And not a great analogy. What do vultures hover over again? We're not vultures. There's nothing in it for us. There's no meat on those bones.

At a rally in Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders admonished Trump for lying during the debate, but admitted of Biden, I think the president was not terribly articulate, to say the least, and he was not focused. He did not defend a very strong record. And that is a really excellent point. It's not a bad record. It's actually a really impressive record. It's the record player. That's the issue. It's antique. We got it at a garage sale. A little rain got inside of it, and they don't make parts for it anymore. And sure, it brings us back to a simpler, safer time.

And you don't know if a new one will be as good. On Friday, Biden appeared at a campaign stop in North Carolina, and he said this. I know I'm not a young man. State the obvious. I don't walk as easy as I used to. I don't speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job.

I know how to get things done. And I know like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up. And he has a great moment for him. I, too, believe in the wise words of Chubba Wumba. We must all, listen, you, listen, Brainy Quotes Says Gandhi once said, we must be the Chubba Wumba we want to see in the world.

Biden is great in that moment. He's just a completely different guy when there's an audience. I think that was our problem. He needs the energy of a crowd. He's an iPhone 6 running on 1%. Needs that external battery. So what happens now? First of all, you go to bed at 1.30 a.m., caffeine still racing through your veins as you scroll until your eyes close over endless headlines using synonyms for fiasco. Then you have a nightmare about having to play the guitar during the podcast, even though you don't know how, because even your dreams have lost all subtlety.

And then you wake up at 6 a.m., still wired, and get a new coffee. And then you go to the gym in the hopes that you can work off some of this energy. But then you're at the gym and you get Joe Biden-level acid reflux. And so you go to CVS to get Tums, which kind of help. And then you think, hey, the dynamic heading into this debate was one that felt enervating, boring, and losing. Is that the dynamic now? No, it is not. And is that terrifying? Yes. But here's the bright side. Why are we afraid?

We're afraid because of the threat that Trump poses. We're afraid because we understand the stakes, but we're not afraid of each other. When Republicans worry about Donald Trump, they're afraid to express it because they're afraid of him. They're afraid for their safety. And as we saw on January 6th, as we see with Republican politicians being afraid to go against Trump because they fear for their family's safety, it is not an idle threat. We believe in democracy, and right now we're practicing it.

I think one of the reasons this conversation, though we've had it many times, came to such a stark relief now is I think on some level we all believe Joe Biden when he says, I've been underestimated. He was underestimated when he was a primary candidate. He was underestimated as a general election candidate. He's underestimated as a president. Joe Biden outperformed my expectations.

I believe he played his hand on domestic policy better than any human being could. I truly believe that. I believe Joe Biden did as well as any human being could have done. Thank you.

And whether it's the investment in climate, the infrastructure bill, the executive actions, the way he managed Congress, the way he negotiated with Republicans, the way he understood his role both as someone to push for progressive policies while being a representation of institutions. I don't think that there's a place where you can point to age as a factor in hurting his ability to govern. I really don't. I really don't. Certainly on domestic policy. And then there's, of course, the CHIPS Act, sir.

A perfect time to yell about a specific piece of legislation clearly fully fucking accountenanced by what I was already saying.

But the most important job that Joe Biden has now as president is to stay president. And I don't make the rules. Being the messenger, being the candidate is a different job than being the president. Having this debate is not an argument about whether or not Joe Biden can be president. It's a debate about whether or not he is the person that has the right skills for this moment to remain president, to defeat Donald Trump when the stakes are so high.

I don't know what Joe Biden is going to do, but we're going to have this debate. If Joe Biden is the nominee at our convention, I know every person here is going to fight like fucking hell for him, right? But until that convention, let's have a debate about who the best nominee is. And Joe Biden...

We'll either step aside or try to convince us that he's it, and we will not be told. The most important part of this is we will not be told that this is an idle worry or that we didn't see what we saw in the debate or that we should shut up because Donald Trump is so dangerous. We will be honest because Donald Trump is such a threat.

Because we know that if the American people understand the stakes in this election, we will win. But if we are debating Joe Biden's age, if that stands in our way, I really worry we won't. So we will have this debate and we will do it with the knowledge that while we may not agree on the best path, and we did during the Pod Save America live show, if you were here, we had a debate. Woo!

about whether to stick with Joe Biden or have an open convention. And it was genuinely, like, we could have flipped the side. It was Dan and Tommy said stick with Joe, and Mehdi and John were arguing for an open convention. They both did an incredible job. You're listening, and it makes a ton of sense. They could have switched sides and had it the other way. There are very decent people who will have...

different opinions on this, but it doesn't mean either side doesn't understand the stakes or the threat posed by Donald Trump. So I just think that's important. The reality is either path is pretty scary, but there was never a way to get to November without being scared out of our fucking minds. Though at the same time, before we do go this route, we should ask ourselves, do we trust Democrats not to accidentally pick someone even older?

Somebody get Jimmy Carter on the phone. Carter, Carter, Carter, Carter. All right. We have an amazing show for you. Kathleen Turner is here. Jade Jordan is here. And we'll be right back with Gretchen Felker Martin. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

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Love a late show in Boston. Even when people in Boston are being as nice as they can possibly be, they're still just an air of alcohol and menace. No matter, you're at your absolute best. You're at your absolute best. Please walk into the stage. She writes the chills that pays the bills. It's the otherworldly author, Gretchen Felger-Martin.

Hi, welcome. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Right here. All right. Your book is called Cuckoo. Yes. Now, you write body horror. Yes. Why does having a body have to be so horrible? Man, I don't know, but I'd like a word with whoever made that call. Yeah. I remember the first time I watched a David Cronenberg movie and I thought, why does this feel good? I guess I have to do this now. Yeah, you're a real freak.

Why do we have a fascination, you think, with body horror? So my personal theory here is that everyone to a greater or lesser extent is in a protracted state of involuntary intimacy with their own body. You can't get away from that fucking thing. Right. And so the idea of it being distorted or injured or mutilated or transformed artistically becomes cathartic because we would like to see it suffer. Right.

especially if we don't have to feel it. Interesting. Wow. You've really given these, that clearly just rocked these people's brains. On some level, that sense of you are trapped with your own body and you better learn to live with it. Is that part of why some conservatives find it

trans people to be such a threat? I mean, I think that in modern America, political conservatism is essentially repressed psychosexual sadism. You don't feel good, so nobody else can. And the only real pleasure you can get out of life is by making sure that nobody else is happy. Or at least to prove that

That your experience of the world is the right and best experience of the world. Right, it must supersede all others. This must be the way, this is the way life is. And if you can't accept that, we've got to stop you. Right. And I do think that trans people represent an existential threat to that way of thinking because we're dealt a hand that I think no one would debate is difficult. And so many of us managed to create a life that we want to live out of that.

Here's a video that our head writer, Hallie, wanted to get your reaction to. For those at home, we are now watching a clip of what is apparently a tiny, flat human face made of real, living, lab-grown cells draped over a resin base, and it is smiling. Let's roll the clip. That's a face made of living human cells. May be useful in the cosmetics industry and to help train plastic surgeons. Question, do we need science?

This is great to me. I want to touch that thing. I want to lick it. That's a horror writer for you. About horror. Life. It inspires art. Art inspires life. Life begins in a hospital parking lot while a nurse calls a lawyer to see if you're allowed to receive an emergency abortion. Which is why it's time for a game we're calling Little GOP of Horrors, a title that only works visually. Also because it's really you want to say Little Gop of Horrors.

Also known as Drag Me to Congress, aka Dawn of the Red, alternatively 28 Bills Later, Gretchen. I'm going to read you a long line. You're going to tell us if it describes a cinematic horror from the twisted minds of filmmakers or a real-life horror from the twisted minds of politicians who order their steaks well done and think the reverend is the hero in Footloose. If it's real, say life. If it's fictional, say art. Are you ready?

I'm ready. A terrifying cult attempts to keep a group of unsuspecting people from leaving a hospital. That sounds like something Mitch McConnell would do. It does, but it is art. That's the plot of the 2016 film The Void.

Next up, a terrifying cult attempts to keep a group of unsuspecting people from entering a hospital. That one's Mitch McConnell. That one's life, yeah. This week, the Supreme Court refused to overturn an Idaho law that would force Idaho women to wait in hospital parking lots at home at Starbucks until they become septic or otherwise start dying so that their abortions can be classified as life-saving, thus allowing doctors to perform them. A lower court ruling stands for now, so the law is not in effect.

But as Melissa Murray said on Pond Save America this week, it sure seems like the Supreme Court's conservatives dodged the question because they know that abortion motivates voters. After viewing a disturbing and strange video, a woman feels compelled to investigate the film's origins until she realizes the only way to escape her doom is to force someone else to watch it too. The ring. That is the arch. That is the plot of the ring.

After viewing a disturbing and strange video, a woman feels compelled to investigate the film's oranges until she realizes the only way to escape her doom is to force someone else to watch it, too. Oh, that's me listening to those clips you were playing from the debate. That's right.

That's also what happens on TikTok when someone eavesdrops on a stranger on a plane and decides that they're having an affair and decides to put them on blast to the whole world with zero information about any of the people involved, including the wife they are supposedly looking out for because we are a twisted judgmental society seeing other people as characters in a drama rather than flesh and blood human beings. Put your goddamn phone down, people.

Have you been following this? People just saying like, ah, I saw people cheating at the fucking airport. I'm going to film it and put it on the internet. You absolute fucking panopticon freaks. Put your goddamn phones down. You Puritan monsters. Yeah, I haven't heard of this. I'm gay. That's a very funny. I'm sorry. I haven't heard of this. I'm gay.

Hired to take care of a storied manner, isolation and professional failure destroys a man's connection to reality until he embraces violence, even against the people closest to him. The Shining. That's correct. Hired to take care of a storied manner, isolation and professional failure destroy a man's connection to reality until he embraces violence, even against the people closest to him. The Presidency of Donald Trump. That's correct. Tried to incite an insurrection. They went after his vice president.

Cast out from society into the wilderness, a religious family is tormented by misfortune and fear. It may have been unleashed by supernatural forces. Perhaps the devil. Robert Eggers, the witch. That is the witch. Cast out from society and forced to live as a pariah, a once beloved figure descends into madness and confusion, coming to believe he's been trapped by a malign and hidden forces in a, quote, nightmare world. Is that Trump again? No, that's Rudy Giuliani. Oh. Oh.

He's kind of like a Xerox of Trump. Yes. He literally was overheard saying, I'm trapped in a nightmare world. Also, there was a story that in his bankruptcy filing, he's apparently buying like $8 polyester ties on Amazon. And my only issue with that is I'm 41 years old. I barely wear suits anymore. I have accumulated so many fucking ties. Yes.

This is a man who is in his 70s. What on God's earth is happening in his clothing that he is going, that he is out of fucking ties? My God, the body horror. You don't want the answer. We don't want the answer. A woman loves her peaceful neighborhood until she realizes all of her neighbors are in a cult hellbent on brainwashing young women. Stepford Wives. We'll accept it. I think we can accept it.

But it's 2019's movie One BR. One brr. Oh, yeah. That's a great movie. One brr. One bedroom. One bedroom. A woman loves her peaceful neighborhood until she realizes all of her neighbors are not in a cult hellbent on brainwashing young women. Martha? I don't know what this is. That's right. It's Martha Ann and Samuel Halito hating their neighbors for having the audacity to

To care about pride. Virgo, Virgonia. Virgonia is the Italian word for shame. Oh, I know. And just like the English word for shame, it has no effect on me. Any final thoughts on the connection between Republican and fictional horror? There are two sets of things that you don't want to be close to. It's that elemental. Jaws, the shark. You don't want to be next to Jaws. That's the whole point of the movie. That's every election now.

That's very election. And like Jaws, the tension builds even if you can't see the shark, you know? I don't know how that applies in this case. I got nothing. And the book is Cuckoo? Cuckoo. And there are queer people trying to escape some kind of a cult. Yes. And it's pretty gross? It's pretty gross. Nice. Thank you, Gretchen. Everybody go check out Cuckoo now wherever you get your books. Up next, a question only Kathleen Turner can answer. Was I in this?

Thank you so much. That was so great. Thanks so much for having me. One more time. That was fun. There's a legend coming. Please welcome to the stage, and we cannot believe it, a living legend, the one, the only, Kathleen fucking Turner. Say hi. Thanks for being here. Come on. Oh. Come on. It feels so good to be on stage. That, man, that voice.

It's incredible. It's incredible. I played this house 20 years ago in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? First of all, why are you here? Why did you do this show? My daughter turned me on to your podcast. We were...

We took a vacation together in England and we were driving a lot to different parts and she came completely prepared with hours and hours and hours of you. Wow. For my co-host, that would be torture. No, actually, after my initial resistance, I learned to love it. Okay, that's great. Thank you. So...

It is the 30th anniversary of Serial Mom. Oh, yeah. And it's funny because I saw that movie when it came out. And like so much upon reflection, Serial Mom, yet another work that knew I was gay before I did. What is it like being part of that John Waters legacy of film? God.

Well, I love John. I mean, honestly, love the man. He is one of the best-hearted people you'll ever meet. And originally, he sent me this script, and I read it through to the point where she pulls the liver out, and I went, oh, no, I don't, no, no, no, no, and I threw the script in the dump, and then I went back to it. And I read up until The Leg of Lamb.

And then I went, oh, come on. And I went back to it. So I finally called John and I said, look, you're going to have to explain to me how you're going to shoot this. Because this can either be a ridiculous gore fest or it can be one of the funniest damn things I'll ever do. And he rushed to New York, knocked on my door and convinced me.

And it is so funny. It is so funny. It makes me laugh. We have a classic Love It or Leave It game that was tailor-made for you. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for Was I In This? Here's how it works. Chris is out there in the house. Audience, you will not embarrass yourselves in front of Kathleen Turner. All right? Raise your hand if you want to play, and Chris will find you in the audience.

What's in this? Let's bring the lights up. Great. Hi. Hi. Kathleen once played a writer who must travel to Cartagena to save her kidnapped sister. During her journey, she falls head over heels for an exotic bird smuggler. True or false? True. Romancing the Stone. It is also the near... We're approaching the 40th anniversary. It is the 40th anniversary of romancing. First of all,

I love that. I mean, I just love that movie. And it is a movie that... First of all, we're desperate for rom-coms, but also... Woo!

That movie spawned so many copycats to this day. It's like every year somebody's trying to recreate a Romancing the Stone and they can't do it. No, no. The whole point, I mean, Hollywood is run by bankers. You know, it's no longer and hasn't been for a very long time. A creative engine, as it were.

And so they think the formula for a successful film is to repeat something that has already been done. Not seeming to understand that success comes because it is new. Because it did break ground. Yeah. Yeah.

Next question. Kathleen appeared across from Nicolas Cage as an Italian-American bookkeeper who falls for a baker with a wooden hand. False. That was Cher. That was Cher. Right, that is the plot of Moonstruck because Kathleen was opposite Nicolas Cage in Peggy Sue Got Married. Is time travel really the antidote to infidelity, as the film suggests? No.

I don't know. I have to confess I was a little disappointed with the ending. With Francis. I don't think... Coppola. I'm not sure that he really... Francis Ford Coppola to you. Yeah. I'm not sure that he really thought that through all the way. I also, because I saw that movie when I was a kid, and it's a movie about someone going back in time. I believe hit on the head of their 25th

high school reunion. She faints, yeah. She faints, and she faints. And I realized that I'm the age of Peggy Sue. And I was like, oh, wow. It's time for me to go back in time and make some changes. Yeah. Yeah, I really can't believe that she would have done the same thing again. Yeah. No. It's interesting. Let's all go back and watch Peggy Sue Got Married. And think about how it would be different now.

Kathleen played Dottie Hinkle in John Waters' black comedy slasher Serial Mom. True. False. No. No. That was Mink. That was Mink's soul. That was Mink's soul. She was the murderous mom Betty Sundfin.

Have you seen the John Waters retrospective at the Academy Museum? Will you go with me? Oh, you mean at the museum? Yeah. He sent me, he walked through and sent me a video of the whole thing. And it's got like Serial Mom dresses and some of the costumes and everything. And I guess the leg of lamb. Is the leg of lamb in there? I don't know. I'll buy tickets if you Venmo me. All right.

Kathleen portrayed a woman taken out of this world in a chandelier-related incident in The War of the Roses. True. Oh, God, yes. Yes. I, first of all, I feel like, again, because I guess HBO knew I was gay and I didn't, I clearly was, like, drawn to you as a child. And these, like, these incredible performance you gave as this, like, as this, like, strong woman

larger-than-life woman, you're a gay icon. How'd you do that? Why do you think that is? I think perhaps in some ways, and I've... Oh, heaven's the best. I do a lot of activism. I serve on the board of People for the American Way for many years. City Meals on Wheels in New York City. Planned Parenthood. All of these...

I work for and with... And I, um... Women have always really been strong supporters of gay and gay's rights. And frankly, I think you guys owe us. You need... Hey, we could use some help now. Yes. And I think...

I think this is the right moment for Kathleen Turner to be the chief arbitrator between the great truce between the gays and the lesbians. I think it's time they came back to the negotiating table, understood that we're in this together. Truly. You know, that'd be a beautiful thing. Now, you told The Guardian that you started to fall in love with Michael Douglas while shooting Romancing the Stone. Then you go on to Jewel of the Nile and The War of the Roses. Yes.

Yeah. Now we and then Kominsky method. We just. Oh, Kominsky method. Yeah. We we have such a great time together. And yes, indeed. At first I was. I was getting. But then his separated wife showed up in Mexico. What's she going to do?

That's life for you. I like that there was this period of time in the late 80s and the 90s where Michael Douglas, movie after movie, women would fucking kill for him. There was Fatal Attraction. There was Disclosure. There was a bunch of different movies where women would blow up their entire lives. Yeah, that's not me. Yeah.

But not you. Not you. In your movies with Michael Douglas, he's chasing you. He's chasing you. I like that. I like that. Well, you know, if you kind of look at the whole body of work, my women usually take the lead. They do. They do. Kathleen played a cartoon shoe in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? True. False. Jessica Rabbit.

Jesse, Joan, there is a shoe. There is a shoe. It goes in the dip. Yeah, let's roll the clip. And I'll try him, convict him, and execute him. Hey, I don't think I can get my voice that high. They let kids watch that. I know. I know, it's rather shocking. I think my favorite line from that was, I love you more than any woman has ever loved a rabbit before.

I love that. I love that. What an amazing... Were you Jessica Rabbit or was Jessica Rabbit you? You're now so entwined. Like, it seemed the character couldn't exist without you, right? Well, Bob Zemeckis directed. And he directed Romancing the Stone. So we'd known each other, you know, for many years. And I think that when he wanted just a voice...

He thought of me. What he didn't realize, and which was absolutely gorgeous for me, was I was extremely pregnant then. And so I would waddle into the studio, and I have these friends, like opera singers, who claim that they gain a note on either end with the resonance. So I don't know. Anyway, the last day I was supposed to work, my water broke.

And I'm in the hospital saying, call this studio. Tell them I'm not coming today. I like that. I like that. The sexiest voice ever recorded had to call in for maternity leave. That's cool. That's great. And finally...

Kathleen played what was described as Chandler's dad on Friends. Yeah. That is such a... Accurate. All of these movies, it's so interesting, like, situating some of these movies because, like,

like these strong, like whether it's the strong women are existing in this sort of misogynist space. And then you play Chandler's dad at a time in which there wasn't even really the word trans. And yet it's a kind of loving portrait of this person in the end. Have you thought about that? I was, I was doing a,

One woman show based on Tallulah Bankhead, of course, up in San Francisco. And two of the writers from Friends came up and came backstage and talked to me about playing...

man in drag, yeah? And you're right. I mean, people have asked me since then, would you do it now? I mean, shouldn't it be done by a man in drag? Well, of course it should. But we didn't have that then. I mean, honestly, it wasn't really an option. And so I wanted to... Okay, no, wait, I have to... Okay. I had...

I had a dresser on the show, right? Gay guy who also did drag. And so I said, you're going to take me to some clubs. You know, I need to understand what this is and what I have to do. So he took me to these drag clubs and they were brilliant. And they were, oh, so, such angry people.

laughter. You know, I mean, they were hilarious, but there always seemed to be this edge of real anger underneath. And so first day of rehearsal at the studio, I go in and I read through the script and suddenly the producers and everybody else run off to a corner and huddle

And then someone comes over bravely and says, it's great. You know, it's just great. I mean, you're great. But we wonder, could you just be a little nicer? Yep, okay. What's up?

It's interesting because it's clearly this, you know, maybe it wouldn't obviously exist in the same way today, but this character is described as a drag queen, but clearly living as a woman all the time. He's fully, yeah. He's not just a drag queen. His life is as a woman. Right. That's exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, it's funny, though, because Matthew Perry used to call me dad.

You know, and he would see me. Dad. That's sweet. Poor baby. Thank you for being here. I enjoyed it. Was this fun? Do you have fun? Do you have fun? Yeah, I had fun. Everybody give it up for the one, the only, Kathleen Turner. That was so much fun. Thank you so much. When we come back, one more time for Kathleen Turner. When we come back, Jay Jordan gets extra extra with the news.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Each year, the International Rescue Committee's Emergency Watchlist Report assesses the 20 countries at greatest risk of new or worsening humanitarian emergencies. These countries are home to only 10.6% of the world's population, but carry a disproportionate burden of global humanitarian crisis. The civil war in Sudan has left over 24 million in need of humanitarian aid.

while armed conflicts and natural disasters have displaced 1.26 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And Gaza has become the deadliest place for civilians in the world. Donations help the IRC provide families affected by humanitarian crises with emergency supplies in the aftermath of a crisis,

and with the resources they need to recover and rebuild their lives for the long term. Just $14 can provide a temporary shelter for a displaced family, and $72 can provide two months' worth of emergency food for a child. Donate today by visiting rescue.org slash rebuild.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? Maybe you never skip leg day or your skincare routine or therapy day. I have to tell you, I am a creature of routine. And I walk pundit. I get the same quad espresso every morning from Starbucks. Oh, and I also do go to therapy, although I did cancel therapy last night to do Anderson Cooper.

Healthy, very healthy call. That's real. That's real. Sorry, Dr. Christie, I can't do therapy. I gotta go on Anderson Cooper. You can watch. I'll be saying the same things I'll be saying to you. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash love it to get 10% off your first month.

Obviously, you should not do what I did. You should all be in therapy and stick to it. And by the way, I also did Chris Hayes. So it's like therapy or Anderson Cooper plus Chris Hayes is a no-brainer. It's a no-brainer. As is you getting therapy, betterhelp.com slash L-O-V-E-T-T, betterhelp.com slash love it.

The election is less than 100 days away. Oof. Wow. That might sound scary, but it also means you still have 100 days to donate and volunteer your ass off. And whether you're falling out of a coconut tree or anxiously clinging to one, now is the time to volunteer, donate, and canvas your ass off.

Canvassing is an especially great way to make a difference to get the word out about important candidates and valid initiatives where you live. Sign up to Canvas at votesaveamerica.com and then head to the Crooked store to pick up a canvassing kit. This is all the essentials for a day of door knocking, including a clipboard, pens, band-aids, a tote bag, and more. Get one to motivate yourself to canvas more or send them to your friends in swing states. Matching clipboards are the new matching friendship bracelets. Go to crooked.com slash store to get your kit.

I do still think there's this effort to hope that like, will the DNC sort this out? Will somebody sort this out? Will there be some, I know you know, is somewhere some group of grand poobahs figuring this out? Somewhere the machinations are machinating. Somewhere the rooms are filling with smoke. I guarantee you, I guarantee you,

Hakeem Jeffries texts? If you saw those texts, it would shake you to the fucking core how much they look like your texts. God help us all if we saw the texts of the powerful. Schumer doesn't text. Schumer calls. Schumer's got a flip phone. That's why Nancy Pelosi was so fucking pissed when Schumer got her number. Schumer called Nancy Pelosi saying, "Hey, baby reindeer." Please welcome

The funniest comedian in Boston until he goes back to New York. That's right. It's Jay Jordan. Hi. Thanks for being here. Wow, what an entrance. They're going to crucify me. No. I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for being here. No, no, the thing about... And based on what I just saw, we're worried about who's going to be the nominee. I have decided to run. And...

Yeah, I don't look it, but I am of age. So yeah, they're going to find out a bunch of gay shit, but I hope that y'all are okay with it. But yeah. So yeah, I've decided to run. I mean, I just think, I mean, people are going to want to check the birth certificate because I'm sitting across from a 23-year-old. Please tell more industry people that. All right.

We're going to close out Pride Month with a love it or leave it tradition. That's right. It's time for Gay News, Boston's version. It's wonderful. Oh my goodness. That sucks. Hey, do you think Boston is a queer space? I've been in a queer space in Boston and I'm going to text him after the show. Someone said, so yes.

So now it's time for gay news. Here's how it works. We talk about some gay news and in between we say, but up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, gay news. It's meant to evoke the kind of news on the March, March of Time kind of newsreels from another era when people got their news from like a real place. You mean a TV with a fat bat? Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, okay. That's right. All right, let's kick it off. But up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, gay news.

You kick us off. All right. Okay. President Biden pardoned over 2,000 U.S. veterans convicted between 1951 and 2013 under military law against gay sex. Some of them were still in jail. Of course, the gay division of the armed forces, as we call it, the Navy. Joe Biden pardons the Navy. Okay.

Harvard's Arnold Arboretum announced their corpse flowers, which smell like rotten meat, are currently in bloom and can be seen streaming on their YouTube channel. Smells fantastic, said Steve Bannon. Big deal. Anyone can look beautiful and smell terrible. It's called summer, all right? The corpse flower, which blooms every 7 to 12 years, they're named Pepe Le Pew and Dame Judy Stinch. Which...

That's shameful. It's disrespectful. Smelly Clarkson was right there, okay? We also would have accepted Stink 182. Bridgerton star Nicola Conflin announced her new charity single, her new charity single, Shoes More Shoes, to benefit Not A Phase and The Trevor Project. She said the song is exclusively for gay men. No, it isn't, said Tommy. Uh...

We're just kidding. Exclusively for gay men. By that, she means straight women visiting for bachelorette parties, too. Okay, Bailey Ann Kennedy has been named Miss Maryland USA, becoming the first trans woman and the first Asian American woman to win the crown. And that is also a series of words you can repeat to your uncle at Thanksgiving if you'd like for him to just blow up.

Miss Marilyn celebrated in the customary way by doing a couple of bumps of Old Bay off of a key and getting loud with her boyfriend in a bar. Classic Marilyn. That's also a little bit of Boston. Yeah, that is a little bit of Boston. That's a little bit. I'm wearing an Irish linen shirt for y'all. Yeah, Irish linen. So if you listen very close, the shirt said, we had it bad when we came here too. Uh...

Be nice. All right. The number of LGBTQ elected officials in the U.S. has jumped nearly 200% since 2017. Pretty good. That's a lot. According to a report by the LGBTQ Plus Victory Institute, the report also found that for the first time, there is at least one out LGBTQ elected official serving in every state and D.C., which...

And D.C. I'm like, you mean exclusively gay staffers in D.C.? Because Jesus Christ. Massachusetts-based beverage company Snapchill recalled its canned coffee drinks this week over fears the drink had been infected with botulism. Oh no, the coffee drink might fuck up my stomach? That's the point of coffee. Grow up. Ha ha ha ha.

Yeah, also, just inject it into my frown lines. I don't... That's what both of us say. But I'm gay news. But I'm... I forgot. Oh, we... Yeah. Wow. That's how they know. That's how they know. And the sitting. And the sitting. He's been in every part of that chair except for the correct one. But...

It's really true. It's really true. Okay. The Tokyo Marathon will add a non-binary category for runners in 2025, making it the sixth and the final world major marathon to offer the option. Finally, finally, yes, finally, Tokyo residents will be able to complain about the co-worker who won't shut the fuck up about the marathon they ran. Bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-

It's a step forward, but I'm still calling for a category where you're allowed to ride a Segway. All right. The MBTA added googly eyes to five of its trains to the delight of passengers. So be extra careful out there. It is a very undignified time to get run over by a train.

Hoo-wee, who's the looker, said President Biden. Can I say, that is the most wholesome train joke I have made this month.

Gay news. Gay news. 23 sets of twins have just graduated from a single Massachusetts middle school with twins making up about 10% of the eighth grade class. Ugh, gross. And they're so stinking cute. Here, we have a picture of them, I think, right? Oh, look at them on the playground. Experts think the phenomenon is responsible for the recent 600% uptick in parent traps. Ha ha ha.

But I'm kind of gay news, I guess. No, Lindsay Lohan, gay news, gay news. She's coming back. Boston is. She's coming back. The Boston Celtics announced star player Christoph Porzingis. Christoph Porzingis. Christoph Porzingis will be out for five to six months following leg surgery. And while they're in there, dude, just have them make you a couple inches taller.

He's already 7'2", so with just a little more height, he can just drop the ball in the net and nobody can stop him. These are $50 million ideas, people. Kristaps Porzingis, of course, named after the sound his father, Sheldon, from the Big Bang Theory, made at the moment of his conception. He's actually a very talented Eastern European player, and I do want y'all to know some congrats on the championship. But...

But Porzingis coming back and injuring himself in two games. Most Boston shit ever. I was like, y'all are going to win, but something terrible has to happen. Hey, listen, this is gay news. Oh, yes. Also, he's a tall, hot Eastern European. Does that make it? I just think if we're in Boston talking about the Celtics, I don't feel safe.

How's your pride been? It has been, it's been fun. I did a gig for a company that I think is trying to destroy my job. So that was fun. You do a corporate gig. I walked in, I was like, y'all aren't evil, right? And they were like, tell some jokes. So afterwards they were like, do you want to like do a roast battle against like an AI version of yourself? And I was like, oh,

Oh, y'all sent the check, right? So I had to deal with that. But I went to Fire Island. That's cool. Yeah. Did you do the roast battle against an AI version of yourself? No, I would never. I don't want to do that. I don't want to put...

There's so much of my shit out there already on the internet. I do not need them to like come up with AIJ. Like regular J is horrible enough. Thank you. Hey, that's the guy who I'm going to text. I don't want to talk. I don't want to hear that kind of negative talk about yourself. Thank you. That's very sweet. How's your pride been? Well, I missed some of it.

Wait, wait, are you telling me you were gone somewhere? I was out of town for part of it, but then it's been fun coming back. It's been great being on the road. I do love getting to be in Boston during Pride because it reminds me how lucky I am to live in L.A.

I am going to fucking roast you all goddamn night. Maybe I would have liked this city if one of your many colleges had welcomed me. But that's...

But that's not how it turned out. And you know what? And you know what? You know what? You can eat shit. I went to undergrad at what we like to call, I went to undergrad at Ole Miss, which is the Harvard of Mississippi. It's also the MIT of Mississippi. I mean, it's just kind of, what? Let me do jokes, baby. Wow.

No, you're sweet. Thank you. So this is my second time in Boston ever. The first time I came, I did Laugh Boston. We heard about the first time you came. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Yes. No, I went to, I did Laugh Boston, which is a fun comedy club. I walked around Boston like a dumb, smug New Yorker. I was like, oh, this is nice. People should know about this. It's beautiful. Y'all have an ASAP? Okay, yeah. Got expensive hand cream. Yeah.

Wow, congrats on getting the Aesop, Boston. You did it. It's fun to razz Boston. Just a little. They can take it. You guys are a gritty town. Yeah, yeah. I...

Oh, it's going to start. No. It's going to start. The thing about it is they're also an uncivilized people. No, no, no. It's actually amazing. The thing about Boston that's amazing is all these buildings and all these schools and all of these events and concerts, this art, this creativity, this symphony, it's created by Bostonians, which is like incredible. It's like, it's amazing. What's the theory about if you give enough typewriters to chimps and enough time?

No, that's sort of what it's like. It's like seeing... When you come to Boston and you see art, it's like seeing a monkey with a suit on. It's like they're at a little computer. And they all work in healthcare. Uh...

They're just animals. I love it. I love it. I also, I'm very happy y'all have welcomed me with open arms and other orifices. Also, I do like to consider myself the crispest addicts of stand-up comedy. So hopefully I don't die here tonight.

And that's a great place to leave it. Everybody, that's gay news. Support. This is the end of Pride. Go to cricket.com slash pride to donate to our Pride Fund, which is going to LGBT organizations, trans organizations, online.

the ground right now. We raise for this fund every single year. We haven't hit the goal yet, so if you can, before the end of Pride, please give us a donation. These are groups that are doing actual work every single day. Jay Jordan, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, John. Love it, everyone. That was great. That was fun. Where can people find you? Oh, he's already gone. Everywhere. We come back. We're going to end on a high note. And we're back.

And I'm just kidding about Boston. I love, you know, it's a fine place. It's a fine place. Yeah, I hear you guys got, you guys, I hear you guys got a Thai place. And what gives you hope? What's your name? What's your high note? My name is Megan. I'm from Albany, New York. And I ran for a very small office in my town. And I won on Tuesday the Democratic primary. And...

Is the door normal size and the office is small or is it the kind of thing we have to get down to get into it? And tonight is my 40th birthday. Happy birthday. Welcome to the club. Yes. Welcome to the club. So in 2008, Obama inspired me to join politics and here I am. Great. That's great. Thanks for sharing that. Hi.

Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Julia. My high note is that I work for state governments. And this week we met a legislative deadline and are making health care more affordable for Californians. And there was an update in North Carolina. So we're making health care more affordable from North Carolina to California, which gives me a lot of hope when there isn't a lot inspiring happening at the federal level. That's great. Thank you.

Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Sarah. My high note is after being a board administrative assistant for a long time and being unemployed for a while, I finally found, I guess, my dream job, which is just working front desk at a rock climbing gym with just ridiculous fun people who are all in their 20s. And it's the best job I've ever had in my life. I'm very happy for you, though.

I got to tell you, you know what's really interesting? I'll just say that there's something that's interesting that I noticed from a trend in high notes. And one of them is people feeling a little bit strange of saying that they were in the kind of, I don't know, professional class grind. And they're just like, I work at a bar now and I love it. There's a little part of it that's like, and that's okay, right? It's like, yeah, it's great. It's a funny thing that I know...

It's okay that your job doesn't have emails. That's actually pretty fucking sick. All of our jobs, it's like, oh, you don't have a job that's about emails? Okay, I guess. Jobs are supposed to be about emails. And so you got your Slack emails and your text emails and your computer emails. And in the morning, you start trying to get ahead of your emails, but you can't. You can't, and that's what it means to live. And if it's a good day, there's no emails at the end. Hi, I'm Jessica.

Hi, I'm Jen. I work for one of the residential recovery homes in Boston, an area of Boston that's particularly affected by the opioid crisis. And what gives me hope is seeing the support that our clients give each other every day. I don't think I've ever seen another person give somebody else as much support as when our folks who are still in active recovery

give support to the folks who have lapsed or relapsed. Unfortunately, it's part of the journey towards recovery and seeing them persevere every day despite the broken system that they're trying to access support in. So that's what gives me hope. So thanks. Happy Pride. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Kristen and I'm from the Portland, Maine area. And Maine in the house. I was always told I sounded like Kathleen Turner. Just kidding.

So not the high note part, but so on Monday I had a house fire and it was awful and everybody's okay, but it's been kind of crazy. But the high note is just crazy.

I knew that I had surrounded myself with really amazing people, but the absolute just love that I have felt from my family, my friends, my feminist chorus, my worker, my coworkers, it's just like I've never felt so surrounded by just love and care. And it's been really amazing.

So shout out to all those people. Hi, what's your name? What's your high name? Hi, I'm Jessica. I'm surprisingly a 2016 Republican turned not Republican anymore. Oh!

Love to have you. I guess my high note is really just being surrounded by so many great people who really believe in democratic causes. And despite what happened on Thursday night, we're still going to move forward. We're still going to keep going. Whether it's Kamala Joe, someone else, we really have this in the bag, everyone. And we've got to keep fighting for what we believe in because we can't let what happened before happen again. So I really believe in that. Thank you. Thanks for sharing that.

What's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Jessica. I'm from a predominantly conservative town in central New York, and we just elected our first, the first drag queen to a U.S. school board. Pretty good. Pretty good. What's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Josh. I live in Jamaica Plain here in Boston. I'm...

Half of a two-dad family. I was laid off in the end of the year, Merry Christmas, last year. But I just signed for a new job, and I have two special-need kids. And we just went on a family vacation that felt like we didn't want to kill each other when we got back. So things are headed in a better direction. That's pretty cool. And so feeling really good, and going into the summer, we got a little work to do, but feeling really hopeful. All right. Excited to be here.

Hi, what's your name? Hi, my name is Jana. I hail from a town about 20 minutes south of Worcester, Massachusetts. It's a red dot in an otherwise blue state. And a couple months ago, I threw my name in the hat to run for selectman of our town board. And I won a couple weeks ago. Thank you.

And I campaigned in this here t-shirt for the people at home. The OG merch. It's the straight shooter. I love it. Respected on both sides because I was also the highest vote getter in my very red town, even though I am a flaming liberal. That's amazing. That's awesome. Thank you so much. Congratulations.

My name is Grace, and my high note is I just moved to Boston in April. Yeah, thank you. But I have been living here alone while my husband was finishing his residency at NYU, and he just moved here yesterday with me, so this is our first night out together. What kind of doctor? Oncology. Hematology. Oh, my God. Well...

I'm glad he's here. He's at the end of his residency? Yeah, he just finished yesterday. They kept him until 8 p.m., so... Wow. Yeah. Well, that's great. Congrats. What's your name? What's your high note? Yeah, I'm Joe. I'm from the Kansas side of Kansas City. I just moved to Boston after two layoffs and working to try to get people to buy a Medicare Advantage for a year. I decided, fuck it. I'm going to apply to grad school.

Finally did. Got accepted into Brandeis University and living in Waltham. And my partner got a job at Boston Children's Hospital. So yay for him. And more or less, we decided to move up early and enjoyed it. And you guys are all surprisingly nice compared to what John has to say. Hey, way to make a good impression. I think that's a great thing about Boston. You can keep it together for a while.

That's also something you're well known for. Just keep it together for a little bit. Put on a show for the visitors that we can go back to doing what we do best. Making a bar too loud. What's your name? What's your high note? My name is Jessie Ray. I turned 35 yesterday. So 35 and a half years ago, a four year old named me after Jessica Rabbit because she was a pretty lady. It was cool to see Kathleen here tonight. I'm sorry.

I got a little stuck on the fucking... Yeah, no, my dad was four. No, my little brother, my little brother, like, threw an absolute temper tantrum that he was going to have a baby pumpkin sister. So, I'm sorry, just to back up. Yeah, no, yeah, no, absolutely.

There was a lot of math in there that I think actually was a red herring. So you're named after Jessica Rabbit. Yes. Your name is Jessica. Yes. Not Rabbit. Jessica Ray. Jessica Ray. You're named after Jessica Rabbit. And that is because your four-year-old brother, who I assume is gay now...

So that's your name. Yes. That's your name. And what's your high note? I actually, I commented this morning on the Discord. Yesterday was my birthday. The Discord is so lovely. Everybody wished me a happy birthday. I've actually been having a hard time because I work for a large breed dog rescue that was previously in...

in Humboldt, California, just south of LA. And I was stationed with my military husband. We just moved the rescue up to Montana. But the move, we had a lot of help. It was a whole caravan, all 12 dogs,

Only the rescue, the shelter was ready. So we don't have power, water. In this time of stress, I was feeling like I kept getting put on the back burner. Everyone else I work with and my loving husband all got to go home and do the events that they got to do. And I was feeling really homesick. Have you considered setting your house on fire? I don't house yet. So yes. I'm so sorry, by the way. I don't know if these fire jokes are too soon. The woman who lost her house.

There's nothing too soon in this space. - We now have electricity and water, so I will be going home to a real place. - That's great. Thank you for sharing that, Jessica Rae. Named after Jessica Rabbit, who took, there's 12, so it's 35 years minus four, 12 dogs.

If you have 12 dogs without electricity leaving Los Angeles, no, 12 dogs leaving Los Angeles at a certain speed and there's no electricity in Montana, but you're going to Boston and that's during the debate. When you get to Boston, will the dogs have electricity? But how far did the dogs get? Thank you for sharing your high note.

What's your name? What's your high note? My name is Nick. I was raised on a farm in rural North Carolina, as much as you could expect to a very conservative family. And I would like to say my high note is that I have convinced all of them not to vote for Trump and to vote for Biden. Way to go, man. Way to go. How'd you do it?

Most of them are very religious. That's how I grew up in the church. But as soon as I brought up women's rights, the right to abortion, the right for a woman to control her own body, my mom helped me with this. Praise to my mother. She helped me with this to convert my entire family that a woman's right is more important than a convicted felon. Thank you for sharing that. I think that's a great place to leave it because...

We're not in charge of what Joe Biden does. We're not in charge of what happens. Over the course of the next few weeks, we can make our voices heard. We can have this debate. We can be a part of it. But at a time when people are incredibly cynical, at a time when people don't trust the news, at a time when some of the most important people to reach are people who don't pay attention and don't trust politicians, actually person-to-person conversation is going to be more important, which means each of us have more power than ever before to help change people's minds.

And I think that that's a really cool lesson. Thanks to everybody who shared a high note tonight. If you want to send us a message about something that gave you hope, send a voice memo to lowlyhighnotes at gmail.com or you can leave one on the Discord. That is our show. Thank you so much to Gretchen Felker Martin, Kathleen Turner, and Jay Jordan. There are 51 days until the Democratic National Convention and 128 days until the 2024 elections. Thank you to the Wilbur. Thank you, Boston.

Have a great night and have a great weekend.

Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is our executive producer. Chris Lord is our producer. And Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer. Sarah Lazarus and Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles, and Mohana Dalshiki are our writers. Evan Sutton is our editor. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Stephen Colon is our audio engineer. And we're your listeners.

And Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, David Toles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroat for filming and editing video each week so you can.

It's love it or leave it.