Annie DiRusso Loves an Echo Chamber
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That's so profound. I didn't want to be just- there wasn't like one person that I was like, "Oh man, I wish I was that guy." Yeah. It was like, "No, I want every experience on earth. I can't believe that I only get to be this one guy." Yeah, I actually- And I get to do different versions of this guy, you know? It's the, um... fig tree. Hmm. I wish you would've said more. I'm trying to- I feel like everyone's been saying to me,

This is so major. That's so major. That's major. Like, I hadn't really heard that much of that, and then this weekend I was overwhelmed by it. Should we do our inconsolable cover for the episode? Yeah, absolutely. But I've seen baby lizards running in their hair when they open their eyes. Even though no one taught them how.

It's a little low for me. I don't know why I'm taking it low. I don't like being down there. I don't sound good down there. I don't like being down there. Annie DeRusso. Caleb Heron. What the hell? Annie Heron, Caleb DeRusso. Well, Caleb and Annie Heron DeRusso. Yeah, yes. The Heron DeRusso family. Would you ever marry me at all? I would marry you so, so, so, so, so quickly. As soon as you're ready on there. Stop. I've said this many times. Well, I would marry you.

I know that. Okay. And I'm ready for when we get married. We've talked about this a lot recently, actually. Yeah, well, I've been asking you to have kids with me. Yeah, well, actually, we have said that. Like, maybe we have kids together. Yeah. And then, like...

We sleep with other people. Yeah, we'll sleep with other people. We sleep with other people. We have kids together, but we sleep with other people. Yeah, I mean... And then we raise these wonderful kids. Our kids would be so beautiful, wonderful, lovely, warm, smart, talented. I'm just, you know, I'm just looking at the facts. No, they would be kind of like out of this world. Baby icons. Yeah. Icon babies. Yeah, what I will say though is, and I don't want to like get negative this early in the episode. Yeah, okay, whoa.

Whoa. Okay. I've listened to a few episodes of this podcast and I've heard you kind of throw the marriage thing out to a few other people. Well, I have a lot of love in my life.

Yeah, but it feels like you probably just marry one of us, right? Well, no, not necessarily. It depends on what state we live in and how the laws evolve. I think, you know, the thing about just the long arc of justice is that time bends towards it. And you've always said that. I've always said that. And I've always – and I've been the first one to say that. And I think –

you know, if, um, you know, New York and Missouri got really cool about polygamy, I think it's something I would like to do the right way. Cause we haven't seen someone do it the right way. And you would do it the right way. Polygamy. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Polygamy could be so powerful if we would just allow it to be chill. Yeah.

And you never said that. Because everyone tries to do polygamy in like a controlling weirdo freak way. Yeah. Where it's just like, oh, one man with 17 fives, you know, 17 like middling looking wives. 17 fives? 17 like women who are fives, you know? Oh. What are you thinking? 17. Okay, so what's your, what are you thinking? Well, I would do sevens. Me and 17 sevens. Sorry. Okay.

Sorry, that's stupid. It's early for me in the day. It's early for me too. No, but why? Oh, you didn't want to go negative, but you've noticed that I want to marry a lot of people. I have a lot of love in my life, and you do too. You have a lot of love in your life. I do, but I don't talk about marrying everyone. Well, right. You're a little younger than I am. How old are you? 25. Just turned 25.

Beautiful. Beautiful. You're almost a person. Yeah, my frontal lobe is almost, or maybe it is. It's done. It's probably still cooking a little bit, I'd say. It cooks till the end of this year. I would say it cooks till 26, and then I'd say 27, 28, you're due for a pretty major crisis of the spirit, likely. And then I think the perfect age to be is whatever age I am at any given year. So like right now, the perfect age you can be, like the best age to be is 29. But then in like 100 days, the best age will be 30.

To me, like, you're going to be perfect at 30. Oh, I've been waiting for my 30s since the day I was born. I know. Like, you're already, to me, like, you're there. How do you feel about aging? Historically, I felt pretty bad about it. So, historically, it's not, like, my thing. Why? Even when I was a teenager, I was, like, a little freak. Like, I was, like...

hated to age at all and always mourned my childhood yeah um then when i turned 20 which i thought was going to be devastating for me i felt pretty much like oh yeah i'm 20 yeah um 25 i'm grappling with that feels like a big age but i'm excited to be 27 one day yeah why is that

Feels good. Feels good. That number feels good to me. 27 feels good to you? Yeah, 25 is a little scary. Do you actually, in all sincerity, if you're aging? Because it just doesn't seem like you're such a cool...

carefree like you're a fucking like you're an indie rock star you're a cool girl you make I just think I do think you're I really do think of you I admire so many things about you you're so talented and I love your music and you know that but I do also think that you're a true individual like you think you're an actual unique free spirit I think you do I think you I think you make music and write lyrics and play guitar and wear clothes and do things in your own way actually

So I find it, I think I find fear of aging kind of incongruent with what I, what I think about you. So now I do feel like I should say I'm not scared to age. But are you, but I'm asking genuinely because if you do, I think it's interesting. So I'm not really scared to age. I think something that's interesting with doing music is that it's hard to picture what aging looks like. I don't know if you have the same thing with like doing comedy and acting and stuff. Um,

It's hard to picture what my 40s are going to look like and what I really want for that. So I think in that way, and sometimes I fear it, like I fear the unknown. But I will say I have become a lot less scared of aging since I turned 20. And I am really excited to be in my 30s and 40s. I do think...

This is like superficial, but I do think I'm going to be my most beautiful in my 30s and 40s. Oh, yeah. I feel like a lot of women kind of hit a stride in their 30s and 40s. I'm really excited for and also maybe my most wise. So I'm excited for aging in that sense. But I do get scared of it in terms of like what my life will look like.

Yeah, I think I was scared of aging when I was younger. When I was a teenager, I was scared of getting older, of course. I think that's pretty natural. But one thing about being an artist that has excited me about aging is I just can't wait to see my friend's art. That's true. I can't wait to see the record you make in your 40s.

I am so excited for that. You know what I mean? It's going to be crazy. Well, I can't wait. I can't wait to see the record you make in your 40s. Let's talk about the record I'm making in my 30s. I would love to. I was pitching your 50s at first because I thought that was the youngest. No, I thought that was the youngest you would go for your debut record. That really hurt. Annie, when we were hanging out the other day, was like, I can't wait until you're in your 50s and you start making music. And I was like, whoa.

I was pretty sure that was the plan. Why put me off so far? I could do it sooner, couldn't I? I would kill for you to do it sooner. We'll see. We'll see what happens. Guys. We did talk about. Caleb's got some stuff in the tank. We got some stuff in the tank. I told you some lyrics I wrote. Yeah, and they're pretty phenomenal. When are you going to do your hour, your stand-up hour? I don't know that I would do that. I don't think I could do an hour. Well, it would take a long, long, long time to do an hour. But I will say, some of my favorite live shows.

Some of my favorite experiences of live art are when musicians joke around between their songs. Oh, well, yeah. That, I'm like, I totally love to joke between. You've seen. You're good at it. Thank you. Well, we went on tour together. We went on tour together. I got a lot better at joking between my songs.

after watching caleb um do his set so many times and the guest comedians yeah um but that's like one of my favorite parts of the show is like making little quips between the songs what was your what was your experience of us going on tour together it's horrible yeah it was like right the worst i would say the worst three weeks of my life yeah yeah what about you yeah um

No, it was, yeah. It was really, really tough for me, too. God, you're good. Yeah, I fucking hated it. No, it was great. It was actually beautiful. It was, like, some of the best times of my whole life, apart from the fact that we kind of really went deep on our friendship. Yeah, and you hated that. No. No, I loved that. Okay. Yeah.

We got really close. We had known each other in a chill friend way before doing this. I can't tell if I'm supposed to be looking at the camera. Oh, you can always look at the camera. Our fans love that. They love to see you. Okay. But you don't have to. You can mostly look at me. Well, that's what I prefer. Okay. So we knew each other in a chill friend way. And then we became pretty close on the road, I would say. It was good. It was really good. It was really good. Well, you have the coolest band in the world. Yeah, they are kind of the sweetest. They're lovely. Most beautiful people in the world. My favorite people. Yeah.

And then the shows themselves were just, like, so fun because it was changing so quickly. Like, there'd be a drag queen, a comic, then another comic, and then we would play a set. And it was just, like, so easy to tune in and so fun for us because we got to watch a different show every night. It was genuinely one of my favorite tours I've ever been on by far. Same. It was so much fun. We basically were, like, you came and did a show of mine in New York. And then we were, like, hey, we should do music and comedy touring together. No one really does that. I mean, people...

It's not irregular that a musician will have a comedian open for them somewhere or a comedian will have a band on at the end or whatever. But I really haven't seen as a dedicated, multi-city, titled, branded tour that was co-headlining between a comedian and a musician. And I just thought that would be really cool. And you did too. So we did it. And I really... Yeah, having on the drag queens in every city was so special. It was amazing. I just had so much fucking fun on that tour.

Me too. It was just like a kind of like a party every night. I also think the co-headline thing was awesome too because it was like both of our fans there and there's a pretty big crossover between them, which was awesome. Like, yeah, the demographic didn't change that much. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But it was like, yeah, so beautiful. I will say there was this moment when we were on tour that

I was, I had told you I would come in the van for a little, I was like, I'll come in the van for like one or two cities. Yes. Right. I was like, I'll go on the East coast between like, but what I'll say is you started out by being like, yeah, I'll come in the van. Oh God. City to city. Oh God. I'm so excited. Like this is going to hang. We're going to, we're going to do tour in a real way. And as we got closer and Caleb started to be faced with the reality of touring as an indie musician is, it started dwindling. It started dwindling fast.

It was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll ride from New York to D.C. with y'all. And then it's like, so...

I've decided to take the train. And then it's like all of a sudden, I booked my flights to Chicago. And it's like, oh, that's interesting. Remember when you were going to really ride in the van with us? So here's what I'll say about indie musicians. I didn't realize y'all live like prisoners. No, it's a damn slog, Caleb. Y'all are not doing well. When we talked on the phone and Caleb actually was like... I was trying to explain what Tariq was like for an indie musician because it's so different from a comic. And Caleb was like, what? Like, you're...

spending all of this money you're losing so much money but you're still going it's like yeah well y'all are talking about you start talking to any musician they start talking about we don't make money off ticket sales we hope to make it up on the merch i said pardon yeah caleb was actually and then caleb was like getting he was like is what like what can we do and i was like simply nothing like that's just like it's just the way it goes really fucking crazy and it's totally fine i i mean i love touring it's a crazy slog um and what i will say

Is I almost think we showed you that because Caleb canceled his flight. This is what I was going to say. To Chicago. Yes. And maybe a train or two. Let me tell you something.

I was supposed to, I was supposed to, this was crazy. We did the show, we did the show in Philly. It was a great show. We went out afterwards to this weird little karaoke bar, weird little karaoke bar and had a very strange night. We had a strange night in Philly. We had a strange night, but we had a strange night in Philly. And then at the end of the night, we were having so much fun and I was so taken by the spirit of camaraderie with my friends. I was supposed to fly from Philly to Chicago. What is that? An hour and a half flight?

I was supposed to take an hour and a half flight the next day. I was supposed to sleep in at my gorgeous apartment that I had rented. And I said, taken by the spirit of camaraderie in the streets of Philly, I said, y'all, I'm canceling my flight. I'm coming in the van to Chicago. Well, Caleb also does this thing where he doesn't want to shake up the whole group. So he'll be like, we're all standing on the street together. He's like, hey, Annie, can I talk to you over here for a second? He takes me five feet away from the group. And then he's like, so don't tell the boys yet, but I'm thinking of canceling my flight.

Because what I wanted to know, basically, this was really considerate and cool of me. The whole band's standing over there like... What I wanted to know was, has everyone settled into a rhythm in the van where they have a comfortable amount of space, and then we put my big body in there, and people are going to be uncomfortable and be like, why didn't he take the fucking flight? Now we're squished. That's what I wanted to know. And you were like, no. Everyone in my crew is so medically obsessed with you that they would...

They would sit on each other's laps. They would lay on the gear, anything for me to be in that van. And they didn't have to, which is what I want to know. But then, so yeah, I go back to my place. I sleep like three hours. I had to Uber 45 minutes from my place to your guys' hotel. At like 7 a.m. Try 6. And then...

And then get in the van to do what it ended up being, 14 hours? Yeah. To do a 14-hour van ride with all these people. And I got to tell you, the Uber from my place, I'm thinking, what did you do? Why did you cancel your beautiful first-class flight to go and live with these musicians? And I thought, no, it's good. It'll be like when Jane Goodall went and lived with the haters. No!

Oh, I'll learn from their culture and how they feed one another. That is what it felt like. I was like, oh my gosh, this will be so much fun. I'll learn. I could write a book about it or something. And then I got in that van and I'll say three hours in, I was feeling like this is the most special thing I've ever done. I love these people. What a joy. And then six hours in, I said, get me a gun.

I'm ready to end it all. I could not believe I did this. I said, I would have been in Chicago. I would have had two meals in Chicago by now. A shower. I probably would have gotten laid. I would have just had a beautiful day. We had such a beautiful day in that van. And we ended it and it was so fun because we pulled into Chicago and we drove down Lakeshore Drive. It was raining. Yes. And we rolled the windows down and turned around

just jammed every fun song we could think of that related to Chicago Chicago and then also we started just doing songs about friendship yes remember we did you got offended me laughing

- I was crying during this moment. - We were crying! - We were all crying, it was raining. - Delirious, yeah. - Oh my God, that was one of the most beautiful days ever. - That is a moment that is, you know, sometimes when a moment is happening, if you're lucky, you have the foresight to know that something beautiful is happening to you and you should walk in, hold onto it forever. That was one of those moments.

I absolutely agree. I absolutely agree. I can still picture it. Did we listen to Life is a Highway? Yes. Yeah, that was everything. Dude. That was completely everything. We were clocked in and we screamed. And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it. Oh my gosh. I'm really about to cry. Locked in, clocked in. Yeah, and after that, it was over. Yeah, the party was over. No, I mean like it was...

No, we had a great rest of tour, actually. No, it was over for anyone who doubted us. Yeah, our haters have suffered continuous losses. They got really quiet after that day. My haters have been in a bomb shelter for the last several years. They have been under witness protection. My haters are not winning. They're not profiting.

No, they're not. We had some haters on that tour, but like very few. Do you have any messages? Do you have anything to say to your haters generally? No, I'm like kind of like if you hate me, that's okay. Yeah. Don't tell me about it though. Yeah, you don't want to know. If that makes sense, like I don't think I'm in a place or really ever need to know about it, but just like stay away, you know? That's beautiful. What about you? What's your message to your haters? I would tell my haters hide. Hide.

hide because if me and my people ever find you you will suffer no I would tell my haters you know what I would actually genuinely say to my haters I want to know were my haters standing in front of me and were I to address them in this moment I hate your haters well this is what I would say to them

Come on, man. Please. Why? Why me? Do you know how many bad guys are out there? You could be hating. You could be hating. That's actually a really good point. You could be hating on fucking Benjamin Netanyahu. Yes. And you should be. And you're hating this fucking guy? I'm silly. I actually completely agree with that, Caleb. I bother nobody. I hang out with my fucking boys. You don't bother nobody, but... I bother nobody. I bother nobody.

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You bother nobody. Go with me, go with me. You bother... He doesn't bother anybody. I chill out. I hang out with my friends. I make my little videos. You don't even have to watch those. That's the thing. When you see these videos on your feed, you could block me. Well, I guess you kind of can't escape me. No, so this is what I'm going to say. Because the soap cutting videos. I'm going to start saying this. You can't actually escape Caleb. Yeah, that's true. That sucks for them. Even as him being a dear friend of mine, I love to see his face so much that I think it's like...

i wonder if everyone's algorithm is like this totally as i scroll every video is a split screen of caleb and like someone power washing a deck right so it's not even you couldn't block it like you'd have to block like the internet you'd have to get off the internet i i actually just experienced in this moment such empathy from any haters i did because that would suck because there are people i don't like on the internet and i will say i can't escape them and that is a helpless feeling

That sucks. I feel bad for them. But I will say as a little boy, I always dreamed that I would be talking to my friends next to a video of someone playing with goop. Yeah, I mean, that's what you dream of as a kid. That is the dream. You said, I hope that someday I'm talking to my buddies and someone on a video next to me is like, you know, chasing a chicken around a yard somewhere in Malaysia. Yeah, that's kind of mostly what I see on my feed. That's beautiful. Yeah, that's so beautiful. The other day someone sent me on Instagram one of my own videos of

and wrote l l five minutes for love and then five minutes later said i'm so high like they obviously meant to send it to someone else but they'd sent it to me yeah and i sat there for a second i was like jarring this can't be jarring then they said i'm so high love you so much whoa i said i told you i'm starting to think there's not a lot of love between us stands for love

I wanted to respond and then I thought, no. You certainly can't respond to that. No, but I thought it would be funny to respond to it. Like, I think it's kind of funny. It did hurt my feelings for a second. It brought me down like a punch in the gut for a second. Of course. But then I was like, this is ultimately funny and they must be like freaking out. But also I think they probably think I haven't seen it. They imagine that you're not seeing it, yeah. Yeah, and let's just say I see a lot of it.

So that was a, that took me down a few notches. Yeah. Well, that's beautiful that you saw it, I think. Cause now you, now you know that they love you. Oh, hold this L real quick. Just really quick. Hold this L for me. So how much can we talk about any new music that you have coming out soon? Do you have new music coming out soon? I have so much new music coming out soon and we can talk about it a lot and I'll be vague and then specific. Okay. And what's the vague part of it?

That it's more music than I've ever released, if you can imagine what that might be. Whoa. That's crazy. Yeah. You did a lot of your new songs on our tour. I did many, many of the new songs on our tour. What's your favorite song that you've put out recently? Well, I've kind of only put out one of the new songs, Legs. So I'd have to say that. Or maybe Wet is coming out before this episode. So then Wet is coming out. Yeah. I guess I'm just so locked in on Annie that I think it's all out. And you really know all... Well, you actually know all of the songs. I do.

There's a lot of songs that I'm really excited about that I've been playing live. But yeah, this is like my favorite music I've ever done, which I know everybody says, but I'm really excited. I will say some people don't. Some people get into the second, third EP album and they're not saying that it's their favorite. They're going, this stuff is really good. I'm excited about it. But I really believe you. I think there's an energy around the music you're making right now that feels like you're in the pocket. I do feel like I kind of got to a place where

that I'm really happy with with the music and it wasn't really that hard to make which is I think what makes me feel like it's so right. Music has in the past been pretty hard for me to make. Sometimes like writing especially while being on tour for so long I was on tour for a really long time like two years on and off was really tough and it was like pulling teeth but I feel like these songs like kind of were much easier for me to write. The production process was really easy

It was all like felt so natural. And I think it leaves me to still love the songs, which is nice. Yeah. What do you. OK, so, I mean, you're from New York. You're from New York City, New York. Yeah. I was born in the Bronx. Yeah. Thanks for saying that. Just north. I like that a lot of people go upstate, but it's not upstate. It's not upstate. No.

But you're from New York. Yeah. And you grew up here. And it's you, your mom, your dad, your brother. Yeah, true. You're scooping ice cream at an ice cream shop. The Blue Pig. The Blue Pig. And you start making music when you're 11, 12. Well, yeah. Basically, I took guitar lessons when I was like seven or something like that. I didn't practice, whatever. But I always loved to sing, as you do. What? As one does? And...

Then when I was 10 or 11, I watched this like, I got really into Taylor Swift and I watched this like bootleg Taylor Swift documentary. And she was like, if you want to sing, you have to write songs. And I was like, all right, I got to write some songs. So I kind of taught myself guitar and then started writing some songs when I was like 11. But before that, I was mostly doing like, because I'm in New York and my dad is like, you know,

he's 70 something like i was doing like musical theater singing right um or like old ballads like i was doing like frank sinatra type stuff yeah um and then once i got that acoustic guitar and the ukulele yeah unfortunately the ukulele as well there is no going back there was an era there was an era for the ukulele that's nice yeah yes and i hit it hard yeah

What hit you? It hit me hard. You don't hit the ukulele era. The ukulele era hits you. No, it hit me hard. I was doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Right. I was doing a lot of Jason Mraz. Right. Lucky I'm in love with my best friend. Was that Jason Mraz? Yes. Jason Mraz and Colby Collet, in fact. Yeah, okay. I was more on the...

I love when he goes on that little part. Me too. Everything about it is so real. That song. Yeah, there was a real era there where it was like it was we were just past sublime, but we hadn't quite reached like irony. I don't think.

Like that, that just, that it just earnest. It just, it was in that pocket of earnestness where earnestness was still able to be mainstream in a cool way. Now I feel like we're a little away from that, but that I'm yours felt like a real era. No, we're totally away from the earnest being cool. I think we should go back to it. Cause I think it's coming back. Okay. It's coming back. I've been working. Yeah. I've been working on that. No, no, no. I've, I've actually been working on that for years. Oh, earnestness is coming back. Yeah. No. Yeah. Earnestness is coming back. Okay. I've been working on that.

I think I'm ready for it to be back. Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. It's coming back. Hate is over. Hate is. Yeah. Hate is over. I mean, hate can be so powerful. We can reserve hate for the people who deserve it, I think. Okay, sure. But I don't think much of them. I do believe that love is back. I think that earnestness is here. I think that loving your friends is front and foremost. I think it's corniness. Well, you know what? What? I was let down by the human race yesterday.

I lost my faith in humanity briefly yesterday. Why? I posted on my Instagram story. Chance already knows where this is going. I posted on my Instagram story yesterday and I said, hey, y'all, if you're coming to my Bell House show tonight, this nice little sold out show. Oh, I thought this was so cute. And I said, hey, y'all, if you're coming to the show, here's a cute idea. Everybody make a new friend in line or meet somebody new at the venue. And I'm going to pick a pair of new friends and give you some money for your next hangout. You know, give away some cash. No, I loved that. I even responded and said, this is so cute.

Well, I thought it was really sweet, you know? And I loved that. I love to build community and I like when people, because my real dream is like, yes, of course I want to bring people together, but I also have a real dream that like,

20 years from now people will say that they met at my show and be like oh this is my best friend we met at caleb's show in brooklyn yeah that's beautiful or even a relationship would be cool that i get to be part of someone's very cool love story huh yeah and so i thought that'd be really cute so i get and i'm thinking i'm i'm buzzing all day because the reason i posted is because i was feeling a little uh anxious about the show go ahead and are you're gonna die from the matcha right now sorry

And go walk back in. And then so I'm buzzing all day thinking, man, I'm there's gonna be so many friendships made at the show tonight. That's what's getting me excited. I get to the show. I get on stage. I go, who made a new friend? Maybe 20 people cheer 400 people in the room.

Maybe 20 people cheer. And were they being real or were they kind of just... No, they were being real. I did believe them. It was all lesbians. And I... And so you can trust. I trust lesbians. Sure. More than any other group, I trust lesbians. Okay. To get the job done, to be truthful, etc. Yes, yes, yes. Well, they're an industrious folk. Yeah, absolutely. And...

Yeah, very trustworthy, the lesbians. And so I asked and I said, I said, I said, you know what? This really this really broke me. This really broke me. I wanted everyone to make friends tonight. And I got on my Instagram story and I was corny in public. You're vulnerable. I was vulnerable in cornball and I was earnest and I earnestly said that I wanted people to make friends at my show. And y'all treated me. Y'all treated me like dirt.

Y'all treated me like scum. You didn't make friends. And then I think there were more people who made friends that didn't just want to cheer. That's how I told myself that it went. Really? I would almost go the other way and say that more people cheered than made friends. Right. Okay. So I just think thinking about audiences that shows like people want to

Yeah. People want to put their hand up, you know? Yeah, they want to throw their hand. And I was offering cash prizes. Yes. I'm starting to think it's, yeah, going the other way. I do feel that, you know, the first people I gave money to was a group of four lesbians. And they had all made friends, too. They came in pairs of two. And I looked at two of those lesbians. Were they two couples? Exactly. So I'm looking at two of those lesbians and I said...

I said, first of all, I said, two lesbian couples? And they said, no. And I said, ah, you guys tried it and it didn't work out. They both shook their heads yes. I ran screaming across the stage. I said, I'm too powerful for my own good. Yeah, no, you are. This is incredible. And then I said, so what happened and how long did it last? And one of them goes, about six months. And the other one goes, it was three. And I go, oh, so it felt long to you. That's interesting. We learned a lot about them. Other two, both queer.

Probably, I'll say of the four of them, there's at least a they in there. Sure. There's a slash they on one of those she's. Yeah. And we might be even in full they them territory. Sure. And I'll say, just given my audience, one of them is on the path to taking T. Yes. One of them is heading towards, their testosterone factory is coming up this week. Yes. So I'll say those queers of the four of them, those two tried it and it didn't work out. So they're just friends now, which is beautiful. Okay. And then the other two said they hadn't tried it.

Did the two that tried it and didn't work out seem settled that it didn't work out? They seemed really comfortable in their dynamic. Okay, that's great. And the other two are about to try it, you think? No, the other two, one of them said they were taken, but they didn't say it in a way that made me feel like they were entirely pleased about it. And then the other one, it seemed like they might have been into it. Wow. Yeah, and I don't know which one of the four of them is going to have top surgery the soonest.

but of the four of them, I'd say at least probably two over the long arc of life will end up having top surgery and they'll support each other through that. I think I hope the four of them made lifelong friends. Yo. Yeah. I think that they'll hang out. I really do. I think, I hope that at least maybe they just split the cash at the end of the night and are going to go their separate ways. But I do hope that they will. Um, I do hope that they will hang out. How much cash did you give them? I gave, uh, those four lesbians a hundred dollars, uh,

And then I gave three non-binary people from Connecticut in the back $102 because that's what was left in my wallet. Oh, my God. That's wonderful. Yeah, I gave away some money. Did they say what they were going to do? Well, no, and I should have asked, but it really I did want to move on. It was a good faith thing. It is a good faith thing. I didn't want to pressure them, but I did ask both of them before I gave them money. I said, do you think you'll hang out again after this? And they said yes.

Wow. I wish we knew. I know. I would love... If any of you, I'm sure at least one of these young queer people listens to this podcast. If you guys ever met up with your people, please let us know in the comments. We would love to know about it. And let us know about your journey with tea as well. Please. Because it's upcoming for at least one of you. I can feel it. Yeah. You ever done tea? No, I haven't. Me neither. I do wonder what it would be like. I do too. Yeah. I think it could... I'm like...

Yeah. I just wonder what everything is like. Of course I wonder what it would be like. Same with estrogen. I also wonder. Oh, gosh. Me too. I want to know what everything is like. You know, I was writing the other day. I was journaling thinking about my 20s and because I'm about to turn 30. Thinking about my 20s and thinking about life. And, you know, I wrote a big source of my depression when I was younger. My teens and my early 20s was not that I wanted to be somebody else, but that I wanted to be everybody else.

That's so profound. I didn't want to be just... There wasn't like one person that I was like, oh man, I wish I was that guy. Yeah. It was like, no, I want every experience on earth. I can't believe that I only get to be this one guy. Yeah, I actually... And I get to do different versions of this guy, you know? It's the fig tree. Hmm. I wish you would have said more. I'm trying to... It's the fig tree. What?

It's very fig tree of you. So that's giving fig tree. Unfortunately, like I'm trying to remember. It's definitely like an author or poet. Yeah. We'll just keep going. Chances are it's going to be people are going to be upset that I don't know. But basically it's like

Someone was so hungry. I'm like not explaining this. Someone was so hungry and they're at a fig tree and they couldn't decide which fig to take. And then by the time they decided, like maybe they were all rotten or something. Oh, this happens to me on DoorDash like once a week.

Like everything closes by the time you're done. Yeah, I do the fig tree thing once. Yeah. Chance, did you find the fig tree situation? It is like a paragraph long quote. And who is it? I think Sylvia Plath. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure, sure, sure. And what happens at the end? Does the figs rot or what happens? Now, also Sylvia Plath, did she fuck herself up with an oven or was that something I made up in my head? I think that might be true. Did she put her head in an oven until she died? Yes. Yes, she did. Okay.

Good to know. But what'd she have to say before she did that? I was right. Right. I was right. Yeah, and that's how it is.

Yeah, so maybe you should read that whole thing. That's so real. I really do. I used to get so spun out. Like when I turned 23, I remember specifically having a really big cry about the fact that I would never be a 22-year-old tattoo artist.

Why couldn't you be a 25-year-old tattoo artist? I could, but that's the thing. I would never be a 22-year-old tattoo artist. I already did 22 and I wasted it not being a tattoo artist. Now, mind you... Wait, so you have some problems about aging. No, it's just that... No, it's not. It really is... I think at the time it was. But now I still, having made peace with aging, I still have this...

Because back then it was based on age, I think, yes. But now it's this core problem that has morphed, mutated into something else, which is that I do still feel I want to know as much about the human experience as I can. And the best way to do it would be able to have all of them myself. But since I can't, I just have to rely on being interested in other people, which is lovely as well. It is lovely. I'm kind of with you, especially choosing to do music. It's like, damn, there's so many other cool things out there. I love music. Yeah. But I like, there's always those people. I have a few friends who,

That have just kind of done like the hop around thing in their 20s, which I think is so sick. Like they'll work at like a restaurant. Then they'll work at like a candle place, you know, and like do all of these different jobs and have so many different experiences and meet so many different people, which in music you do meet so many different people and have experiences. But I do always, I'm the same way. I'm always like,

Morning lives. I didn't live. Yeah or can't or won't get to yeah Yeah, when I get excited about them, I'm like me and that would have been a fun one But I'm just I'm just this guy which I like this, you know this guy. No, it's a it's a great guy It's a great guy school. Yeah, I've really made peace with him. I like him I'm happy to do him until you know, I get moved on to the next thing but would have been fun to do other guys What would be your what would be your top thing you would have done? I?

oh other guy other guy tattoo no because i can't draw and i don't like blood and i hate having appointments no sure no sure so that's all yeah those are all columns in the no tattoo artist category um but i would like to be a part of someone's journey of putting making them like their body and looking good on their body i'd like to be a part of someone's tapestry in that way

You know what? The thing that comes most to mind... I really think we're two roads diverged, and I took one. I was playing football in high school, and I got a knee injury. And when that knee injury was healing, I had to decide if I was going to go back to playing football or go do something else. Oh, I love this. And I went and started doing student council stuff. And I think...

Had I like really gone and tried football, I might have like played in college or something. I don't wish I did, but I genuinely like my life much more than this is a mini meditation guided by Bombas.

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My friend's still laughing at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. But I do think, whoa, that's kind of interesting. Had I not had that knee injury, I wonder if I would have just...

Kept doing that because it was expected of me. And what I have, you know... I wonder what you would be like if you stayed on the football track and not gone to student council. Well, I think... Yeah, I'm like, would I ever have come out? Would I have, like, continued to... Because that was when I was 15, so I was still burying a lot of parts of myself. You know, I wasn't... I was nowhere... You know, I wasn't as fun as I could have been. I would have loved to have known you then. I was still cool. I know that you were still cool. Also, what I'll say is... Because I also...

dipped my toes in student council a bit. If we were on student council together, we would have been enemies, I think. Yeah, it wouldn't have gone well. Were you president? No. That's really strange. That's really strange. Yeah, there was always something about me that people could tell. Like, I will say even...

Like I will say I definitely didn't get scholarships leaving high school because I was liberal. Like I was. Oh, OK. Yeah, you went to school. And there was also something about me that I think people just felt was devious. That's true. Like I was never one of the golden. I was never I was always involved, but I was never like I don't want to say names because some of them are still dear friends of mine and some of them aren't, which is, you know, even more of a reason not to say their name. But there were definitely I was just never one of those kids that all the adults were like, that's a good egg.

Really? That's actually hard for me to imagine. I think some adults felt that way, but I definitely think I just wasn't, I wasn't from like a good family with a name, you know, I wasn't from one of those families, which in my town where they run deep. Yeah. The families with names have been there forever. You know, I wasn't, my mom was a single mom. We were kind of like, I'm not like, you know, we just weren't,

I think I was also liberal. I was outspoken. I got in trouble in high school a lot for talking about politics. I remember very specifically I tweeted about gun control and how much we needed it. And I was an officer in this family values student organization. And I very specifically remember one of the staff, me getting in trouble, getting called into a meeting. And then being like, this organization doesn't have a stance on gun control. And I was like, well, I do. This is when you were in high school? This is when I was 16. Twitter? Twitter, yeah. Because Twitter came out in 2000.

I started in 2009 or 10. I started pretty early. You started Twitter. I started Twitter. But I was a freshman in high school in 2009 or 10. So this would have been when I was 16. Was it seven or six? Yeah, I was gonna say it had been around for a minute because Ashton Kutcher was doing interviews about it in like 2008. But he was big on Twitter. He was like one of the originators. Oh, wow. But I remember I got there like we don't have a stance on gun control. And I was like, well, I do. And kids are getting shot at school and I'm fucking terrified. So what now? And it was just like, I couldn't believe that I was getting in trouble for this. Yeah, that's why such a conservative world, you

Yeah, I mean, mine was pretty much the opposite. I lived in a liberal bubble. I know, because you really grew up around Democrats. I grew up around the most establishment Democrat-type people you could ever imagine. Right. And it was just all about politics. It was all liberal policies. When I moved to go to school in Tennessee for college at Belmont, it was insane culture shock to me. I didn't even really realize that...

young people with such different views than me like were kicking around you know and well you you thought you've expressed this to me before you really thought that conservatism was something that legitimately only old people did and it was going to die out yeah i didn't know young i actually thought conservatism and like christianity yeah like i was pretty sure i growing up i grew up like you know 40 minutes north of the city here i was pretty sure like oh yeah probably like

religion, specifically Christianity, I thought was maybe going to die out with our generation. Right. Because the only like devout friends that I had were like Jewish people. So it wasn't really a thing. I grew up Catholic. I was like confirmed and everything. But it was all just part of like making my old Italian aunt happy. Like it had nothing to do with

Intense, personal, genuine faith. Yeah. I mean, I remember the day before my confirmation, I was like to my parents, I was like, because there was a specific Bible verse we read. And I was like, I am not vibing with this so much. And they were like, look, they're like, look.

Do it for your Aunt Gina. Come on. Yeah. And I did. I put on a little dress and I did my confirmation. I'm vibing with this so much. I was not vibing with it. So I'm not fucking with this like extra heavy. I don't know if we have to do this. I was not. Yeah, that's what I was kind of like. I was like, really, y'all? Like, I'm not really vibing with this. Like, this doesn't seem very me. Yeah. And they were like, no, it's fine. Like, just go and do it. It doesn't have to be you. It has to be Aunt Gina. Let's go. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, Gina fought hard and long to be here. Do you have an Aunt Gina? Yeah. I have an Aunt Gina. Okay. Beautiful, but back to your story. Okay, I would love for them to meet. Yeah, so then when I moved to college...

I was pretty shocked to like, well, I also went to a Christian school in the Bible Belt. You made a big choice. Yeah. Everyone from my town was so scared for me. Like they were like, like it was literally like a huge deal. Everyone was like, you shouldn't do that. Like that's not really, it's not going to be good. Like people were like really scared for me. And so I go to this Christian school in the Bible Belt and I'm shocked for some reason when I arrived there to see like Bible verses on people's dorm walls. It's

I like really, it was unexpected. I was like, really? Like y'all F with this so much. It's up on the wall like that. Yeah. And then it's like dorm, like come on goober on the door in the dorm. Yeah. And I was like, there's no way. And then I was like, maybe their parents just like put that up and then they're going to take it down. I'm like, no, they put it up. And I realized really quickly that,

Religion is alive and well. Christianity is alive and well. It is alive and well. And all the conservative sects of every faith are equally goober and terrifying. Like, you know, extremely conservative people in any religion are scary and weird to me. Absolutely.

But of the liberal sects of all faiths, my favorite are liberal Jewish people. Liberal Jewish people are the most fun to me. Oh, yeah. But liberal Christians scratch something special in my head and heart. Like, liberal – very liberal Christians. Like, my mom, honestly. My mom is somebody who's, like – she believes in Jesus and she, like, loves trans people and she's very non-dogmatic. Liberal Christian people do scratch a special place in my heart for obvious reasons. Me too. And that was a huge thing I learned moving to Nashville because, like, again, everyone from my town was so scared for me. Yeah.

And then when I got there, I very quickly realized, because everyone was like, you know, people are like so close-minded, whatever, da-da-da-da-da. When I got there, I was like, okay, I think maybe like y'all are being a little close-minded right now. Because a lot of this people that I met and friends that I made, if they were like observing Christians, I don't know if that's the right phrase. It was all just about love. Yeah. You know, and I think that was something that I can totally...

I think there are kind of some scary sex in Nashville that seem like maybe it's all love. But then there are definitely some microaggressions happening behind the scenes. It's a Trojan horse situation. Yes. Yeah. But I will say I love Nashville so much. I fucking love Nashville. It's like a great city. It rocks. And there's so many amazing people there. There's so much amazing music being made there. Yeah.

It's just a great place to kind of be. You know I love Nashville. I genuinely love Nashville. Caleb does love Nashville. Caleb came to visit me in Nashville like a week. Well, I'm saying like that. Caleb was there for work. I made work be there so I could come to Nashville. Yeah. I made sure I got to Nashville. Hey, you know what? We should do some voicemails from our fans. Okay. Okay. We're going to listen to a voicemail from our callers. We haven't done this in a minute, so I'm excited to be back in the voicemail world.

Oh. I'm a little scared. Wait, so what is happening? Well, you're going to listen to my voicemail and then we're going to weigh in on it. Oh, okay. Can't wait. Can't wait. Hey, Caleb and guest. I don't know if this is going to charge me a million dollars to make because I'm actually calling from Australia. So, yeah. I want to know the truth about DJs. What are they doing? What are they doing up there? What buttons are they pressing? What do they got going on? Thanks.

I absolutely love being like, sorry, I'm actually calling from Australia. It's like, we know, babe. I'll let you know. We know. We got there. You would know what DJs are up to. What are they pushing up there? That's a really good question. I don't know exactly what DJs are up to. I was actually hired to do a DJ set about a month ago, and I was like, surely I'll just...

put on a playlist yeah and then the person was like we're gonna have an another dj up there with you and then who was my friend roberto uh and then he called me like a week or two before and he was like so i've never gone b2b before and da da da like all this stuff and i was like same so i was like that's so interesting i've also never gone b2b which i guess means you're like djing with people and you're kind of like riffing off each other yeah um

And what I'll say is I didn't do a damn thing when we were DJing. I just kind of went. I saw that coming. Yeah. Like this. Yeah. And he was amazing. And there was actually a lot to it. But it was cool. It's something I'm down to learn. He's like matching BPMs, matching keys, blending things. My form of DJing is kind of like dancing.

Yeah, I think my DJing would be like, my DJing genuinely would be like five people in my living room. I got some candles lit and I'm like, you guys got to listen to this Yeba cover.

That is your DJing, actually. Listen to Yeba cover this song. It's like, sit down. Sit down. First of all. And don't say a word. Yeah. A gay man with a YouTube account is speaking. Listen and learn. Yes. I actually, yeah. That's insanely real. A gay guy with some YouTube covers has something to say. Listen up. That's like me, Luke, and Sam will just sit around every night for hours.

Just putting our favorite YouTube videos on. I went on a date a couple weeks ago with this guy who... It went great. We went to a bar near my house. Then we went back to my place. Love. And he was... I was like, oh, I want to play you this song that we talked about at dinner. And I played it for him. Then he was like, oh, I want to play you a song. So we started going back and forth playing each other songs. One of the hottest things you can do. No, I actually just got butterflies. But then I was playing... I was playing some Yeba...

Literally a Yeba song where she's in like a recording studio with a band. And it's one of my favorites. And I can't at this moment remember what song it is. Like I remember the visual of the thumbnail. And I was playing it for him and he was like trying to make out with me. And I was like, I do want to fuck you, but we're going to listen to this Yeba song. I was like, hey, take it easy. Whoa, brother, I'm going to fuck you. But you're going to listen to this Yeba cover right quick. It can go wrong though too. Like one time I had gone on like a pretty like,

Boring date. Let's just say like, let's call it boring. Like there was yawning involved. Yeah. We get back to my house. It's like, let me show you something. Puts on a 70 minute live, fully live concert. No. Of this like band. That's cool. But very avant-garde. And I was like, is it King Gizzard? No, I was falling asleep on the couch because it was already so boring. Yeah. And I'm like this, like,

And then they're like, that guitar tone. No. And it's like, and like also they're not a musician. So. Absolutely. You know, like not to say. No, that's me. Not to say musicians can't recognize guitar tone, but I felt like they were trying to be like, so that guitar tone. Yeah. And it's like, no. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, turn this off. We're actually 45 minutes into this show. Yeah. It was, I like basically, yeah.

fell asleep on the date see you're so much stronger than me because like seven minutes into that i would have been like hey are we gonna hook up or should i head out because i'm not watching this i was so past wanting to hook up that i was almost like i did not want to hook up yeah like i was like let's just keep this on yeah i put a board game on the couch in between us

Yeah, the thing is, yeah, if I take you home, I definitely want to sleep with you. And yeah, but if you want to get these panties off, you got to listen to Yeba really quick. You got to listen to whatever. You have to listen to Frank Ocean singing I Miss You live at the Bowery 2012 really quick. You do have these videos on lock. I was at Caleb's apartment for, I would say, 20 minutes the other day. Within seven minutes, we were sat watching Yeba.

I've got thoughts. Yeah, I've got thoughts. It happens so quick. I have my little videos that I like. Then I like to play them. It's like, you know when a dog brings you a stick and you can tell that to them it's so much more than that? Yeah. You can tell that they're like, look, I want to share this stick with you. This is a prize that I found. That's me with my little YouTube videos. No, I'm kind of the same way. I'm a big YouTuber. I always was. I was really into the British YouTubers. Yeah. Yeah. When I was

In middle and high school I was like like Zoella, do you know any of these people? No. Of course not. Alfie Deyes, Marcus Butler. I was like freakishly into them and like the only thing about them was they were British. Like none of them had, well Zoella did make up, but none of them really had any skills. They were not funny. Yeah. They were just British and they would hang out. I in fact got tickets to see them live on tour. Hmm.

What were they doing up there? Nothing. That's the thing. It was actually crazy. And I went to London for the first time like a year and a half ago. And it was like going to Disney. Like everything I saw, I was like, Zoella in 2013 went to that Nando's. Not Nando's. Yeah, I forced the people I was with to go to Nando's because they would always be like, I'm not going to do an accent. I know, but they'd be like, get in. Yeah.

Hey, we're going to Nando's. I like getting a cheeky Nando's. Cheeky Nando's. Yeah. Nando's has one of my favorite hot sauces. They have so many hot sauces. They're Spicy Garlic Peri Peri, Clockton Lockton. Marcus Butler used to like that one. Marcus. Shout out. One of my favorite. I was just in one over three weeks.

And one of my like little corner store meals when I just need to eat something quick before I went out was these frozen chicken meatballs that I would heat up and then put that specific. Literally, I bought a bottle of garlic, hot peri peri sauce from Nando's and I would put some on there and then eat it real quick and then run out the door. Wow. I love that. Yeah, it was nice. It was it was it was it was a fun time. Yeah, it sounds amazing. I have a question for you. What's so true to you? Something that's so true to me.

is this saying that I've kind of been marinating on for like a year and a half, which is it's good to be hot in the summer. And I've posted this like on Instagram. I think about it all the time, but it's just about being where you are. So like in the summer, being outside in the heat instead of like turning on the AC and like feeling the air around you and being part of your environment. But to me, it also means like,

not numbing yourself to what's going on because I tend to do that a lot and this past year I've been trying to be present and feel what's happening um and listen to what's going on around me and kind of clock in um and just be where I am so that's what's so true to me I love that I

I also think specifically the hot and the summer of it all is a – it's like a really tasty way to do it because specifically in summer, I get hot and get so fucking annoyed and can't wait for fall and winter when I won't be so hot. And I wish away the summer. And then the winter and fall come, and I do enjoy them. But then I also – there are days when it's so cold that I'm just praying. I would do anything to be hot. I would do anything to walk outside in a t-shirt. And I can't wait for the summer. And you can just spend your whole life in that loop of –

you know, not enjoying the thing that's going on for you currently and hoping for the thing that'll come later. My, uh,

uh best friend's mom miss violante always used to say don't rush spring yeah it's like don't put the shorts on in february you know yeah like wait for it to be time so it's kind of like there's her sister phrases that's why so true i love that i went earnest i went pretty earnest i really like that stop wait wait i love that feeling a little crazy right now i know that's beautiful it's good to be it is it it's good to be hot in the summer

It's good to be hot in the summer. I like that a lot. That should be merch. It's about standing in the fire. That should be Andy Russo merch right there. It's good to be hot in the summer. It's good to be hot in the summer. That'd be a fun tattoo also. And it's also kind of like, yeah, it's also good to be, it's like good to be hot in the summer. Like looking good, you know? Looking good, feeling good. So there's kind of a lot of meanings behind it, but really I mean like just standing in the fire, being where you are. Yeah. I love that. I love you. You're such a poet. I love you more. And I mean that.

And I really mean that. The way you looked at me took me back there. Well, I meant it, and that's the look I'm getting. No, you meant it for sure. Something I ask people a lot on this show that I want to ask you is, you know, what do you want? So here you are, Annie DeRusso, moved to Nashville, went to Belmont, graduated, have had some big songs, have had some great music, some great press. You've been on all this cool stuff. It's really going well for you. You just signed a new...

deal with a new record label, which is really fucking cool. And some stuff will come of that, whatever it may be. And yeah, things are going really well for you. But what do you want? What's the point? The point to me is to have fun, to be honest, and spend time with people I love. And that's something that especially being like, I took some time off to write this group of songs from touring for the last year, year and a half. And

It was very illuminating for me of what matters and what my priorities are. So I just want to spend time with people I love, make stuff that I really love and am proud of and have fun making, and hopefully get to play a bunch of shows that are really fun and have a good time doing it. I think making music is...

can seem so serious and it is but at the end of the day I'm making music like are you fucking kidding me like I'm just like my I was like sitting in my room for months just I would go on little walks come back I would think you know maybe play the guitar for a second it's like not that serious and I want to just kind of live in that feeling of like

I'm doing this because I love to do it and I'm doing this because it's fun and I want the audiences at the show to feel that and I want my band to feel that way. And just have a good time and celebrate being able to just be...

Alive making music and taking in music and art and stuff. Yeah, so that's kind of what's up I don't know if that was your question. No, I love that. I think that's a great thing to focus I I feel very similarly like I Finished my huge tour last year of my hour and I felt like God once this hour is over I'm never gonna have stand-up to do again. Like I've worked on this for so long so hard and

And yeah, I just kind of took time off and was like, I'm not doing standup for a while. And now I'm back doing new material and I went and lived and I have some things to talk about. And it feels like,

Yeah, I am just constantly trying to remind myself that nothing is that serious and nothing matters that much. I get stressed out being like, fuck, I've got to get this done this hour or else it's going to be late. And it's like, it can be late. No, same. It just doesn't matter. I actually, Caleb knows this. I cried for the whole entire day yesterday. So if my eyes are a little swollen in this episode, that's why. But then I'm like, as I'm saying, nothing's that serious. I literally cried for 12 hours yesterday. But what I will say is like,

just feeling that way and then waking up today and being like, what do I have to do today? I'm going to go be on Caleb's podcast and then I'm going to make some videos and work on this like music video. You know, it's like that's really sweet and really fun and I feel lucky to do it. And I'm excited to just hopefully take things in that direction. Yeah. Rather than letting it get too serious, especially as I'm

Starting to release so much new music. I think it's just about having a good time doing it to be honest And getting to still spend time with people you love. But yeah, I'm excited to just play more shows make more music and You know, I've been really into pickling things like What's your favorite you have to all if you can only pick one favorite pickled item red onion radish

Really? Pickled radishes in a poke bowl or in that fucking... Spicy tuna. The spicy tuna crispy rice that we had the other night. Yes. And they put pickled radish in there. An incredibly inspired touch. Their hands were guided by God. That was beautiful. I love that they did that. You loved a lot about that restaurant. There was a skeleton...

We went to the sushi restaurant the other night. There was a skeleton in the corner. They were, you know, decorating for Halloween, holding a plate of sushi. Caleb couldn't stop looking at it. He stood, but we were in a big rush. He stood by it for minutes when we walked in. Then we sat down at our table and like we're having a conversation, you know, when you're like, this person's not here with me because Caleb's eyes would be like,

They dressed the skeleton like a sushi chef. Just staring at the sushi skeleton. They dressed the skeleton like a sushi chef and had him holding an omakase plate. And then when we left, he went back up to it. I just thought that was a lot of fun. He told the people working at the restaurant, loving that. It's almost enough to make me cry. I really thought that was so fun. I like that they did that because it's playful.

I loved it too, but it like really, it took a... I really did love him or her or them. I don't know. But I loved that skeleton, the sushi skeleton. I thought, well, he has a job or, you know, I like that they love sushi because they're here at the sushi restaurant, but it's also spooky. I thought, how fun. He was definitely working there. He was in the uniform. Yeah, they were. Yeah. Oh, sorry. They were working there. You never know. I didn't know. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right.

Um, yeah, you just never know. And I, and I didn't check and I wouldn't, I don't care what their gender are. I just love. You didn't check. I didn't check. I didn't ask. I didn't talk to you. I didn't check your paperwork. I didn't do anything. Yeah, no, you didn't. I just said, I love that you're a sushi chef. Yeah. How beautiful is that? It was really beautiful. Was it distracting from the time we were having? Yeah, a little bit. Of course. Yeah. I was not focused on you. But it was great. Yeah. It was beautiful for me. Me and the sushi chef had a connection.

Yeah, absolutely. What was I going to say to you? Oh, well, on your trying to have fun and see people I love type wave, I'm also recently focused on inspiring fun in others. I want to encourage people to do fun things. There's enough voices of reason in the world, you know? Wait, I love that. There's enough voices of reason. There's enough people that will tell you to be cautious. There's enough. There are so many people that would tell you this. There are therapists. There are often your parents. There are counselors. There are like.

financial advisors, I have decided very recently that my role in the world is going to be to encourage fun and recklessness. Give an example. Like, for example, we did an episode recently where I told the Rachel Pegram episode where I said, overdraft your bank account to have fun. If you're low on money, spend it anyway. Skip your rent. I'm just going to give the reckless advice that is have fun. Well, I feel that way. I feel like money, you can always most of the time

Make back. Yeah. Find. Sleep when you're dead. Sleep when you're a sushi chef in the afterlife. Yeah.

And yeah, go do things. I want to, I need to be more like that. I'm not like that at all. I just, I'm the type of person to like give that advice, but like, so it doesn't follow it. Well, I'm trying to take it as well. And I'm, I'm trying to inspire, I want to inspire fun. I think that's a big part of my goal here. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I not only want to have it, but I want to inspire it. I want people to, when people need to hear somebody say, do the reckless thing, I hope they will come to me. I always will now.

please do and i'll say go do it you only live once life is short you know that i like to say that yeah you know that i like to to wield that axe absolutely i have a segment for you okay

I am going to read you 15 statements, and you're going to tell me as quickly as you can if you think that each one is true or false, quickly as you can. And if you get 10 or more correct, Annie, I'm going to give you 50 U.S. dollars. I am really scared for this because I want to be really good at it, but I think I'm going to be bad. Well, we're about to find out. Taylor Swift's middle name is Sinclair. False. False. It's? Allison. Allison. Hummingbirds migrate alone.

True. True. Redheads need about 20% more anesthesia than people with different hair colors. False. True. MySpace is older than Sabrina Carpenter. True. False. It is illegal to honk your car horn in New York City. False. That's true. Tab soda was invented by the Mormon church. True. False. The dog from Air Bud is still alive. True. False. Oh my god. Seth MacFarlane was a writer for Johnny Bravo. True.

True. True. The Michelin man's real name is Curtis. True. False. Bibbingdom? Bibbingdom? Bats are blind. True. False. They can see and use echolocation. The official language of Brazil is Spanish. False. False. It's Portuguese. Athens is Europe's oldest capital city. You know, I'm between Athens and Rome right now. I'm like, what came first, the Roman or the Roman?

True. It's true. Bees have two wings. False. False. They have four. I also love through the course of the episode, Annie's getting progressively farther away from the microphone. Annie eventually is going to be in the corner behind that plant. Belmont University's mascot is Bobby the Bruin. It's definitely a Bruin, whether or not its name is Bobby. False. False. Bruiser. Bruiser. Two is the only even prime number.

True. True. How'd she do? Eight. Oh, that's really good though. Is that? I know you went on a long run of L's there. I sent you this segment. L. I clipped this L. L. L. L. So funny. Well, you did pretty good.

Yeah, it didn't feel great. You did pretty good, and I want you to know that. I felt like at the beginning I was really on it, and then of course I had that slump in the middle. Yeah. God. Annie, I gotta tell you, I love you to death. I love you to death. It was too much fun to have you on the show. It was the best. I literally can't wait for your music, and I can't wait for... We have some exciting stuff that might be happening together that we won't tell people, but you and I might be doing something together soon. Yes.

Oh my god. Yes. I knew you were getting there. I knew you were getting there. Oh my god. I'm actually so excited about that. Yeah, I knew you'd get there. And we won't tell them about it now, but we'll just let them know that might be happening. Is there anything that you want to tell the, what is it, 5 to 7 billion people who watch this show? 5 to 7 billion. Yeah, do you want to tell 5 to 7 billion truthers in K-Liberty's? Sure.

Caleb's a good guy. I was really happy to be here today. Keep going. He's a really wonderful friend, and I love him so much. And, yeah. So your manager, Kat, is going to kill you because usually this is where people plug their social medias and their projects. Okay, and you know what I'll say? Shout out to Kat. Love you, Kat. Shout out, Kat. Okay, my name's Eddie DeRusso. I have a new song coming out called Wet.

Legs. Legs is about Caleb. And Wet is inspired by him too. And then, yeah, I've got a lot of new music coming out. So check it out. And Caleb was the muse for a lot of it. I love you so much. I love you so much. Thanks for being on. Thanks for having me.