Stephen Colletti and Trey Phillips (of MTV’s Laguna Beach)

00:00:18
Speaker 1: One, Cads, that's okay, becaus no one here is.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Let's go back back to the beginning, back to when the Earth, the Sun, the stars were all alive and MTV decided to take a chance and air a reality show following high schoolers in Laguna Beach, the real Orange County as they navigated puberty, popularity, love triangles, fashion shows, and definitely not set up confrontations between girls at nail Salon's. We became friends with cool kids who drove cool SUVs and had cool names like LC Low, Kristen Talent, and my two teen Beat guests today, who twenty years later, are now reuniting with their Season one cast for a special premiering on Roku April tenth. As someone whose entire childhood was seen by millions, I usually chat with my guests about their untelevised upbringings, but today I find out what happens when your actual teenage years were chronicled and analyzed by viewers like John Madden breaking down a tight end corner root on Monday Night Football.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: What's it like when.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: Your personal life during your most awkward years becomes water cooler gossip for an entire MTV generation. I look at it like this. We gave you our childhoods. The least we can do is talk about it.

00:01:44
Speaker 3: Welcome to teen Beat. Two guys who are as.

00:01:46
Speaker 2: Synonymous with Orange County as the South Coast Plaza food Court, Steven Coletti and Trey Phillips.

00:01:55
Speaker 3: Thank you for being here. Thank you so much.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: Here we are guys, twenty years after you said yes to a weird TV experiment. Looking back on it all, did you ever imagine people would be still so.

00:02:11
Speaker 3: Interested in your high school experience?

00:02:15
Speaker 4: Uh? Absolutely not. We have a funny story where we were in our car and we were just we.

00:02:21
Speaker 5: Looked at him and I thought, what are they gonna We thought that we were getting away like bandits, Like there was nothing in our lives that was worth capturing.

00:02:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, what are they doing here? Do they do? They realize that they're wasting a ton of money on us and the location's nice, but like, I mean, we're bored here anyways, We're looking to get out of this town. So yeah, we knew obviously, you know, MTV was what it was at the time, and so we were really just like taking aback that they were there. But we were interested in at least engaging with them, but not expecting the show to actually air.

00:02:56
Speaker 3: What went into the decision to say yes?

00:02:59
Speaker 2: And was it then easy to convince your parents that this was a good idea.

00:03:04
Speaker 5: Well, I mean when they had you sign up for it, you had to fill out this nineteen page profile thing and you were like, you know, they needed the name of your dog. You know, it was like everything so all of a sudden, when they said do you want to be on.

00:03:17
Speaker 4: The show, it felt like, oh my gosh, that's so real.

00:03:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:03:21
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:03:21
Speaker 1: You know what's funny is it was kind of about that time where second semester of senior year, you're ready to get out of there. Oh yeah, yeah, you've done the whole Like, all right, there's the clicks in high school, you've gotten the parties, you've had the relationships, as you guys have seen with the show that have gone sideways here and there, and you're ready to go meet some new people and have new experiences. And if that show came around when we were sophomores or a freshman, I would have been very scared. But absolutely not. We've been social suicide. Yeah, But at that point, it was kind of like, I'm ready for a new experience, so why not? And it was actually it seemed like the girls were more into it all They're they're wiser, They're like, there's a good opportunity. And the guys are like, you screw MTV, like whatever happened to music television? Like that's lame? Yeah, And I was like, yeah, that's lame. And then in between classes, let's go grab a packet and go for it. Because I was interested in working with MTV or something. So I think that that having that timing of second semester being ready for new experiences was a big thing for me. And then as far as our parents are concerned, they were definitely, you know, they wanted to know as much as possible. And you got to give a lot of credit to the producers selling it is the documentary about kids in high school, this beautiful town, like you know, what are they up to? Like we're gonna we're gonna keep it casual. There's no conversations about going to cob up early on in the right right exactly.

00:04:37
Speaker 3: They didn't mention that part. What were freshman year Stephen and Trey like.

00:04:43
Speaker 1: Oh man, what are we doing? We like growing up, I lived just up the street from him, and I mean my mom would just be like, all right, get out of the house, go down to Tray's, lock me out, and I would just I just zip over to his house and say, hey, do you want to do exactly what we did?

00:04:59
Speaker 5: Yes?

00:05:00
Speaker 1: Dy, should we go to the beach? And he's like, yeah, let's go to the beach. We spend all day at the beach, come back, and his parents are always gracious enough to host me in their home and have dinners and take me to movies and stuff. So it's a pretty like standard beach routine. We're beach rats, you know these guys. Well, we spent all of our time and playing some sports.

00:05:17
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think it was the first time we started throwing parties too, you know.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: Like just like freshman year.

00:05:23
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, that was It was so like when you threw your first party. I remember we like we like opened up my gates and backed the car into.

00:05:31
Speaker 4: The house to pull out the ponykeg and.

00:05:34
Speaker 3: Like, oh my gosh, sorry, mom.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, there might have been some forties. There were some Nickey's back on Friday nights. Yeah.

00:05:43
Speaker 2: Speaking of which, then when the show comes around your senior year, were there ever things that you were. I mean, obviously YouTube would never smoke pot, but I'm sure some people did, right, Like, were there ever times you were conscious of what you were doing thinking about the fact that cameras were there?

00:06:04
Speaker 1: Sometimes I was more conscious, Yeah, especially for example. But yeah, you know, early on they really told us like, just try to act like the cameras were not there. And I think that we still at that age, you're still so scared of getting in trouble by your part, so we're trying to keep everything.

00:06:20
Speaker 4: On the d L.

00:06:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I think it's a It's one of those things where we also didn't really think about it. You know, you kind of got used to them setting up camera thirty feet away and zooming in and you it allowed you to be a bit more normal, But I think there was I think it was tougher for the second season because they were aware of all that could happen, all that could be captured, and you sort of maybe lost a little bit of that innocence, right.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, innocence and spontaneity, and that you had that first year where everything just felt like who knows what.

00:06:54
Speaker 3: This is going to be?

00:06:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're so naive at that point.

00:06:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Tray.

00:06:59
Speaker 2: You were really portrayed as the creative one, helping Lauren with the charity fashion show and wearing artsy trucker hats.

00:07:07
Speaker 3: Do you feel like that was a fair representation of you.

00:07:10
Speaker 5: You know, it's so funny because I just went back and I looked at all these old hats that I've done and when I had gone to college. I went to fashion school in New York, and you know, I look back at those hats when I was in that age and I thought they were a little silly. And now I go back and I look at them and I'm like, that was the beginning. You know, this was like it was that little seed that kind of made way for me to go on and have fifteen years in a fashion experience, and like, you know, I can like look back at it, and there's like a show that captures it, and I think it's so funny. I used to be a little embarrassed when I'd see myself wearing these crazy trucker hats, but now I think it's so cool.

00:07:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, with enough time and space from who we were as children, it's like it's like trends that you come all the way around. You start off being like embarrassed by yourself and then eventually come around being like I love me look out like that was great.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: I feel like as time's going on, like who you were back then was probably more was closer to anybody else on the show as far as the way that they captured you, and I think they was speaking to how unique you were at that time and talking about the trends. Of course, a lot of people are trying to fit in and they don't want to, you know, stand out too much, as you know, in fear of being judged a certain way. You didn't really have that, and I think that I always admired that about you, and I think that's also the show gravitated towards you and all these years later, Yeah, it's the time you could see like back then you were just wise beyond your years and making decisions that we're pretty badass.

00:08:37
Speaker 4: I was just like anybody else. I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, do you think it was like this kind of like a chicken or egg question. I know that for me, I was on a show that was scripted.

00:08:47
Speaker 2: But Danielle definitely in my later years became more like to Panga or did Topanga become more like Danielle? Do you think the show helped lead you to fashion or do you think you would have always gone that route?

00:09:01
Speaker 4: You know, it's a good question.

00:09:04
Speaker 5: I originally went to school in Upstate New York Is to do human rights and it was an amazing school. It was an amazing experience, But there was just something about not making something with my hands that I really I ended up having to change lands to go to fashion. It was like there was something in me that just loved being able to create something from nothing, and I'd.

00:09:25
Speaker 4: Be able to look at it.

00:09:26
Speaker 5: It just didn't hold the same weight turning in a paper that you spent twelve hours on versus looking at a piece that you did right.

00:09:32
Speaker 2: So it seems like it was in you this creative there was creative spark. Can we talk logistics a little of filming? Like what was the schedule for filming?

00:09:55
Speaker 3: Like when you were in school, what was it like walking around campus being filmed?

00:10:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, watching, So they originally were gonna be on campus, but it was right at the time where MTV was in charge of the Super Bowl halftime shows and that year was the justin Timberlake, Jane Jackson infamous moment that the wardrobe malfunctions, So that actually happened the week after they had met us, and then all the bad pr from that PTA was like, get these people off campus. We don't want MTV at our school. So they made a decision like, all right, we're not going to shoot them at school anymore. But we've already met everybody, we're still greenlit. Let's go ahead and do this thing. So we did not shoot, of course, not on campus, but not twenty four seven nearly at all. I mean, it was like, I felt like every other week we would have some sort of schedule between Thursday and Sunday, and you might shoot on a Thursday Saturday, like two days a week.

00:10:49
Speaker 4: It was.

00:10:49
Speaker 1: It was pretty relaxed. It wasn't Yeah, it wasn't asking a lot of us at that age, and they were cautious of how much time that they used at thus knowing that you know, we still had school to go to and some but it was also I could semester senior year.

00:11:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, you're done. You're already You're either committed somewhere or you're not. Yeah, Steven, I know at the reunion you touched on at least one instance from the show that you regret now. But I think if my real senior year was on TV, I would be cringing a time. I cringe just watching myself on Boy Meets World, and that was scripted. So honestly, I have a lot of respect for you guys. If you two could magically change any aspect of your behavior on the show, now, would you or now that we're here twenty years later, do you just see it all as being part of the process.

00:11:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question, because you know, I obviously do look back at some of those moments, especially down in Cabo, where you know, I'm learning life lesson there. There's a lot to take in, and I'm clearly not able to process emotion at that age in a respectful way. So you know, of course I wish I could have a little bit of a do over there, But it's moments like those you learn you grow from. And I know who I am when you're not ten shots of tequila down and in Mexico as a seventeen year old. Yes, and I'm confident in that. So while of course wish things played out differently. Look, it's it's my story. It's a part of who I am and I've learned from it, and so I think for that, you know, it's it's a kind of mixed back like sure, weish can go back and do it over, but it's it's okay, I don't. It doesn't sit with me in such a negative way where it's like, man, like I can't quite grasp that this actually happened. It's just something you look back, like, man.

00:12:35
Speaker 3: When you just have to give yourself grace.

00:12:37
Speaker 1: Sure, but you know, but that was looks it was then, you know, irresponsibility that I was I was doing in that moment between being on a show. You know, you don't realize at the time you're representing your family as well. I was so selfish and just focused on myself and my ego at that time.

00:12:54
Speaker 3: But again, you're seventeen. There's no other way to be at seventeen.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: And so that's why you give yourself a little bit of You realize you're a kid, and that's what kids do at that age. You know, we're learning a lot.

00:13:05
Speaker 2: So yeah, did you guys watch the show when it aired, and did your families.

00:13:09
Speaker 3: Watch the show? And then when it aired, were there ever any awkward moments?

00:13:13
Speaker 5: Well, I was up at that university in the middle of nowhere, and like, I think I had a very specific experience, different from everybody else because they would send you the VHS's ahead of time, and I trusted very few people that I would let let in to watch these vhs is, and you know, and nobody watched it up there, So like for then the first four episodes, I was like, this show's bombing.

00:13:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, nobody even this, Like I'm getting away with it.

00:13:40
Speaker 5: And then my parents were in New York City at the time, and so I took the train down and I got into Grand Central station.

00:13:46
Speaker 1: And it was crazy.

00:13:48
Speaker 5: It was the most bizarre experience having people recognize who I was walking through, Like a whole family at one point surrounded me and asked me questions about it, and I was like, is this a dream?

00:14:00
Speaker 4: Like this is wild.

00:14:01
Speaker 1: I remember first getting those those tapes so we would get it. Sometimes it arrived after the show, and maybe that was on purpose. It just air didn't quite get the overnight in time, but it would be about a day before and pop it in, watch it, and really we had no idea how they were going to edit it together, and really what they were going to focus on primarily, and so you know, there's there's a shock at first, and it was a okay. The first episode they're kind of you know, folks, they're like built up this love trifle. And the second okay, like we watched the episode, okay, go back in the thing, and like, back in the drawer, see you later watch it ever again. I think actually over winter break, like fifteen years later. You know, Trady's parents always gracious hosts, and we always meet up over the holidays, and I think I was just, you know, I was just coming into town to meet you, and I walked in and your folks and watching an episode they like we popped it on just through shits and giggles, and I.

00:14:56
Speaker 3: Was like, oh my god.

00:14:57
Speaker 1: I was like sorry, I'm so sorry. Yeah, do you want to leave? But yeah, now you know, and Chris and I were doing the podcast again after about you know, twenty years go by and you're older now and much more mature. I was like, okay, I can watch this, and so just watching it just recently, it was it was fun. It was funny to be so removed from those years and be able to laugh at yourself totally.

00:15:23
Speaker 2: That's a great feeling as someone who has a podcast now looking back thirty years ago on myself being able to laugh at that space and distance is so necessary. It sounds like your first moment of realizing the show was blowing up was maybe in Grand Central Station. Yeah, wow, was there a moment for both of you that maybe isn't just being recognized, but like your first moment of being like, oh, we're famous, Like when's the first time you realized you were famous?

00:15:48
Speaker 1: That's serious, you know what, that's a great question. I think there's a lot of pinch me moments, you know. It was like we found ourselves going to the VMAs.

00:15:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we are just.

00:16:01
Speaker 1: Months removed from high school, months removed from actually filming the show, months removed from still thinking this is nothing but I'm TV wanted us to show up at the VMA's. And then I think that first year was still kind of weird, but no one's really watching it. I think going into season two, and I guess the pickups there the people that wanted to talk about the show like Okay, this is actually you know, this is in theegeist, a bid and and people are really curious about season two. And then going to the VMA's That second time. I remember there were a couple of people coming up to me. I mean, Queen Latifa came up to me, and I'm looking at her because I was like, man, Latifa, like she's such a badass, and you know, I've seen her watching for all those years, and I was like, she's looking at me, she's kind of giving me one of these. And then she she approaches me. She goes, is it is it weird that I kind of know your life? I was like, is it weird that you're Queen Latifa and you're talking to me? Because that's so that was a moment where I was like, wow, okay, this is actually something that's that's reaching households.

00:16:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty cool. Queen latifah as being your moment of being like, you know who I am.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so fun.

00:17:05
Speaker 3: Is there one for you? Trey? I don't know.

00:17:08
Speaker 4: Stephen was the real hard throp. I kind of just slid under the radar.

00:17:12
Speaker 5: I might have had any bar college, Yeah you were, Yeah.

00:17:17
Speaker 1: You're hiding.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: That's pretty nice actually to have that little bit of again removal from the chaos of the world and have like a normal college experience.

00:17:25
Speaker 3: I think so in two thousand and.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: Six, there was a Virtual Laguna Beach game online. It allowed players to socialize, shop, and explore in a virtual version of your hometown, including the surf and sport you actually worked at. Did either of you know this existed? And did the amount of meta involved in this show ever break your brains?

00:17:49
Speaker 3: Did you? I?

00:17:50
Speaker 5: You know what I think I did, now you say it, I do recall something like that. But it was that wasn't the only thing. It was like, there were several things that would come out and you just be like, they just followed us in high school, you know, like, how are they making a video game about this?

00:18:05
Speaker 1: It was Yeah, so it was like some sort of version of SIMS and Yeah no idea very back.

00:18:09
Speaker 3: In two thousand and six.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm glad I didn't know. Back then, there was already a lot of overwhelming, you know, experiences coming our way. So knowing that that was the virtual world, I'm glad that we missed that.

00:18:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a few things that you were like, you know what, I'm glad I didn't know. That's that feels better.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: Once you graduated, you ventured into the city, and you frequented the cool Hollywood bars, so much so that it's fonned a spin off for some of your cast members. Were you surprised at that point maybe after Queen Latifah, The answer is no, But were you surprised that these celebrities had been watching your life and are now your peers and you're hanging out with them?

00:18:49
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:18:49
Speaker 1: You know, man, then look back on that time. It was such a thing Hollywood and going out to clubs and stuff. You know, it seemed like a whole other planet at first when we were kids in high school. But then you know, people are inviting you and all of a sudden, it's every day of the week, there's something going on, and when you're eighteen nineteen years old, like yeah, sure, sure we'll show up. So it felt always it was not deserved, it was it was awkward, and I was like, yeah, we are with these you know, true entertainers at this point, at this point, these people that have worked their lives to get to this point and you know, be famous if you will. And people are treating us in a similar way because they see us on this TV show on MTV. But we have worked, We've done nothing to contribute to this. Yeah, we just lived, and so the imposter syndrome was was definitely real. It was it was a full twilight zone, like how is this happening?

00:19:46
Speaker 3: But like, yeah, I'll go right, yes, I'll yes party on a.

00:19:50
Speaker 1: Tuesday and drink for free and hang out with people. Yeah, that's what you wanted to do at that age.

00:19:55
Speaker 5: I was thinking about this today and it was it's just this idea, why were we so famous? You know, like, well, when we look at our lives in the moment from our perspective, it doesn't make sense, but I think it really we were just this representation of high school. Yeah, that I think a lot of people identified with. So that's why we were famous. It wasn't necessarily any one of us that had done something so special. It was just they captured it in such a way that a lot of people could identify with, and we've just got to be the beneficiaries of that.

00:20:25
Speaker 2: Well, there's also to your credit, there's a real bravery that people feel when they watch you. That's like, this is brave, you know, performers, we have to be brave to have fake vulnerability. You were brave enough to say I'll show you all my real vulnerability. You'll get to see what we really do party like and hang out and what we talk like and the mistakes that we make. Like there was a when that was all new, when reality TV was new, there was a real sense of like, oh, I could never look at what they're able to do, and then the relatability of that, It's like, wow, they have the same wife I do, just maybe in a prettier location and they're better looking.

00:21:04
Speaker 1: Maybe you're giving us too much credit there, because it was like, it's honestly the bravery it was. It was more just down luck, not knowing that it was right right, not knowing that it was right. It was like, okay, this again, this is not something that's actually gonna be seen.

00:21:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, no one will even know this exists.

00:21:21
Speaker 2: So now with the reunion twenty years later, was there anything you were most nervous about coming back for this?

00:21:29
Speaker 5: I think, you know, some people haven't seen in twenty years, and it was just I remember when we first walked onto the set, it was sort of it really felt like like there was that moment where you weren't really sure how people's lives had gone, how you know, what they've done and everything, and all of a sudden you know, by the end of the time we finished shooting, it was like we were old friends again, you know, so you were able to kind of there was a bit of that nervous of seeing these people from your past, and then you just realize that.

00:22:01
Speaker 4: You're kind of the same person together.

00:22:03
Speaker 5: You might be different people in different places in your life, but you kind of were able to revert and just be friends and know each other, and that you've spent.

00:22:10
Speaker 4: So much time together.

00:22:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, that shared history doesn't go away.

00:22:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think I was really excited to spend time with everybody, and Chris and I had done the podcast, and the one thing that felt like was missing was everyone together in the same spot and in a place like Laguna, that was a character in the show. And that's actually where my biggest fear of the whole thing was was actually shooting in Laguna and how the town might receive it, because back then MTV portrayed this town as as filled with spoiled, rich kids that like like, look at, you know, the beautiful environment they're in and just you know, they're look at all the silliness that they're up too. So I think that was not a great a nice representation of the town and Laguna is this artsy community. It's a beautiful seaside escape, if you will for folks, and that charm, you know, was it was under threat with MTV being there at that time in the way that they wanted to capture the show. So I think these years later, we of course want to be respectful of the town and just hoping that people would, you know, see that, you know, people are We're grateful for having grown up there and have a lot of respect for where we come from there, So it was important to show the town in a good light and yeah.

00:23:29
Speaker 3: In a more mature light.

00:23:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that twenty years can pass and you can see it in a different way. Did the anniversary special make you closer to anybody?

00:23:38
Speaker 3: Did it? Is there a group chat? Can I be in it? Like no one will notice?

00:23:42
Speaker 2: You know, Like, did you reconnect with people in a way that now you are actually closer than before?

00:23:48
Speaker 1: I mean we've always like we've got a lot of us are still really good friends. Yeah, so we connect quite a bit, but we don't get to see talent too often. He's out in Nebraska and he was a grade below, so we didn't really get to hang out them too much. We get to hang out with them more here, and he's a fun guy to be around.

00:24:03
Speaker 5: So, yeah, you have this shared history, but also you're getting to know somebody through from the experience they've already had in life, and now they're adults and you get to see how they mature, how they become a man or a woman, and that's a special connection there. And so yeah, I think with everybody, I would pick up a call a phone and call any of them. I might not all the time, but.

00:24:26
Speaker 2: It's like that, Yeah, that's really nice. I have a similar thing with our you know, the cast of Boy Meets World. We've known each other now for thirty five years, and no matter what, if anybody needed anything, we would all be there. And you know, sometimes we even years go by without talking, but then when you do reconnect, that shared history comes right back and it's like you pick.

00:24:46
Speaker 1: Up You've a shout out to Lee Norris, who I love so much.

00:24:50
Speaker 2: He is I lovely, lovely, he is wonderful. His whole family is just incredible.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: Is human on this earth.

00:25:00
Speaker 1: Always spoken very highly of you.

00:25:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I loved him so much, and his parents came recently. We did a pod Meats World Live tour and he was a part of it, and his parents came so I got to reconnect with them.

00:25:10
Speaker 3: It was just wonderful. Yes, okay, I will. I'm going to text him the minute we're done. I'm a time that I'm here with you. Can either of you imagine a fortieth anniversary special? Where do you see yourselves for that?

00:25:24
Speaker 1: What do you think?

00:25:25
Speaker 4: Any chance to hang out with you guys?

00:25:29
Speaker 1: We're going to do that already. Do we need the cameras all around? This feels like to me, it does feel like kind of the bow on the whole thing. You know, it's our first time actually all getting together and speaking on it. We've all spoken here and there, and you know, people came on the podcast, but to have everyone together at one time, it feels like that is going to be unique in itself, and maybe it'll it'll just live by itself.

00:25:54
Speaker 3: There.

00:25:54
Speaker 1: That's fine, and you do it again twenty years later. I don't think so much. You know, you never say never.

00:26:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right. It does feel like a nice ribbon on the top. Twenty years is the perfect amount of time to wrap it up. Well, I want to play a little game of Rapid Fire here two thousand and four edition.

00:26:25
Speaker 3: Very simple. I'm going to ask you a question, you quickly respond.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: Not a lot of deliberation here. I want immediate answers. Okay, do boys like Feta cheese?

00:26:35
Speaker 1: Yes?

00:26:37
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:26:37
Speaker 1: Okay?

00:26:38
Speaker 3: Great? Who got the Best Laguna Beach?

00:26:41
Speaker 1: Edit? I was very lucky to involve those relationships. Yeah, he had his relationships, but they were not on the show.

00:26:49
Speaker 5: I mean, they could make anybody look like anything. So they killed me if they wanted to, right.

00:26:54
Speaker 3: Thank you, but they did not. Who got the Worst Laguna Beach?

00:26:58
Speaker 4: Edit? Go ahead, my boy, hair.

00:27:04
Speaker 3: It wasn't fair seeing you wish never aired.

00:27:08
Speaker 1: I still wish it never aired. It happened, but I wish it never aired. Okay, which, by the way, there were a few things that happened with other cast members that I found out they got asked.

00:27:18
Speaker 3: So you were like, did you just not ask you anything that you wished it in air? You really liked your Reddit?

00:27:27
Speaker 5: No? I mean, like, I just think when you watch the show, it's like when you talk, it's like hearing your voice on an answering machine.

00:27:34
Speaker 4: You're just like, can I just make a complete sentence?

00:27:36
Speaker 5: So I would love to complete every sentence that I just stopped halfway or like you couldn't mumble my way through.

00:27:44
Speaker 3: Is there a most embarrassing outfit you wore on camera?

00:27:48
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I'm the one here a T shirt with one sleeve cut off and an armband, like skating down the street thinking I'm like I've got it.

00:27:58
Speaker 1: I don't got it. Okay, that was unique. Oh man, there's a lot of scenes that they had to blur my my ass crack because it was I wasn't you know. You're a kid on the beach, so you go from trunks to shorts, and there's underwhere it doesn't make it in that situation. Yeah, yeah, I mean when your shirtless and and they're blurring your butt crack. That's not exactly.

00:28:17
Speaker 3: That's not your favorite. That's not your favorite. Luck something you said too much in two thousand and four.

00:28:24
Speaker 1: Like definitely a lot of likes.

00:28:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, probably gnarly gnarly said a lot.

00:28:32
Speaker 1: I still use dude all the time, So, yeah, dude is.

00:28:36
Speaker 3: A hard one for anybody who grew up near the beach. We all say dude.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: Dounzo was was someone rolled out quite a bit back then?

00:28:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, which cast member took things too seriously.

00:28:50
Speaker 1: Hmm.

00:28:52
Speaker 4: I mean I think I was.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: You were pretty serious, but that's that was the intrigue. So you just do not give me off any grief for that.

00:29:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, iPod or burned CDs c.

00:29:09
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean the binder in the car and they're just all.

00:29:12
Speaker 3: Over the ground like binder in the car and then all the different thing now that they have them on the on the windshield.

00:29:19
Speaker 4: Making a mix.

00:29:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, I do you remember.

00:29:22
Speaker 3: Five having five disc CD players in oh?

00:29:26
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:29:27
Speaker 1: And which CDs held those positions, especially before going on like a road tip or very crucial.

00:29:33
Speaker 3: Very crucial to take the vibe. Yes, totally Teddies or Joseph's Teddies? Yeah, Teddies? Okay, A I AM or texting back then, A I AM.

00:29:44
Speaker 1: Was well, texting was getting hot texting I think we were. We were ditching AIM at that point, yeah, exactly.

00:29:52
Speaker 3: Do you remember any of your aim away messages?

00:29:55
Speaker 1: Beach you and actually you my first screen name you created but really through AOL because you used to call me Steph Kleett. And I remember you you put you put it on a you had one of those label makers and you gave it to me. You put it on my tennis Rackett, So I mean the creative that he is. When I was trying to think of a name for my first account, I was like, oh, costs me stuff. That's got it kind of cool. We want that.

00:30:25
Speaker 3: That's cute. I love that you had a label maker. You're like, let me just this up real quick on my label maker.

00:30:31
Speaker 1: This is your test racket.

00:30:35
Speaker 3: Sidekick or phone.

00:30:38
Speaker 5: Oh, he had the first razor and I was so jealous. That was cool and I was, yeah, it was sick.

00:30:43
Speaker 1: That was one of those perks from MTV before the Razor came out. A producer gave me a phone and then I realized now that I think they had some sort of deal going with one of the companies because it was in the show. And yeah, but I was, yeah the razor was that was that flip phone.

00:30:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, had a sidekick and he would just how he would use it was so funny, just.

00:31:04
Speaker 3: To flip the house, open clothes, open clothes. Ugs or rainbow flip flops.

00:31:13
Speaker 1: Rainbows, rainbow flip flops the best. Yeah, although I will say these days I've recently gotten into some ugs. Yeah, and I mean yeah, let's yeah, they slides or boots what do you the boots have some some slippers and some boots.

00:31:27
Speaker 4: Very cool.

00:31:28
Speaker 1: So yeah, now it's both. But back then rains all day.

00:31:31
Speaker 4: I'm not against it.

00:31:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like it, you know who.

00:31:34
Speaker 4: I just want to be cozy exactly.

00:31:37
Speaker 3: Trucker hats or bleached tips truck Why not both?

00:31:42
Speaker 1: Exactly?

00:31:43
Speaker 2: I know it feels like you need both, honestly, Laguna beach, house party or bonfire.

00:31:52
Speaker 4: I love a house party.

00:31:53
Speaker 3: I know you love a house party. Are you still in the same house?

00:31:57
Speaker 4: Is your family folks are Yeah? Yeah, very blessed?

00:32:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, so great, I really is. That's like such a comforting feeling, you know.

00:32:05
Speaker 4: I mean, oh my gosh, every time I come home, I feel so lucky.

00:32:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really great, very special. It was special to see too, so Stephen. Finally, I know you are expecting your first child.

00:32:16
Speaker 3: Congratulations. Now this is for both of you.

00:32:20
Speaker 2: Your seventeen year old comes home one day and says a TV producer has approached them and wants them for a reality show about their high school.

00:32:31
Speaker 3: Do you let them?

00:32:33
Speaker 5: I think I feel like this is one of those things where you should, in advance create an impossible test that you say, if you pass this test, you can.

00:32:41
Speaker 3: Do it right right? So smart?

00:32:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I would be very hesitant. I would want to know what trajectory do they think that they're on, because if they've got a plan and it's not anything related to maybe being in the entertainment industry, it's like, let's let's not take this side quest. Yeah, you're probably going to find a lot of the moments very cringe later on in life. So just continue to grow off camera. But look, if they really wanted to do it, and they have a plan of why and they feel passionate about it, it's like I can't necessarily say Nope, you can't.

00:33:16
Speaker 2: One thing that's a little different now than was back then is that now is there much life off camera going to be?

00:33:23
Speaker 1: That's what I always say. It's like, if you have a public profile, you've been on a reality show.

00:33:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so those mistakes that you guys made on national TV for everybody, people are making just on Instagram and that lives, you know, the internet lives forever, TikTok. And so it's almost like, listen, you're going to make these mistakes anyway. If you have the opportunity to make some money, have a nest egg.

00:33:47
Speaker 1: I feel like if I show my kid the show, I'm never doing it. Never immediately not cool, right right, Maybe that's the game strategically as a Game sixteen sit down, we've got a viewing party.

00:33:59
Speaker 3: I'll tell tell you it does work.

00:34:01
Speaker 2: When my kids were saying six seven and brah and if the minute I start saying it, they're like all right, yeah no more so it does work.

00:34:10
Speaker 3: Just show them, show them that you've already done it. I'm not going to step on you.

00:34:14
Speaker 2: Then, thank you both so much for letting me talk to you today, and uh, I'm very excited about the special. Everybody can check it out on April tenth on Roku.

00:34:23
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you, really fun.

00:34:26
Speaker 2: Team Beat is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Suboch. The theme song is by Mark Coppus, Yes that Mark Coppas. Follow us on Instagram at Team beat pod