#19 Joey

Hi, John, Okay. If I were to plan a surprise 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.840 vacation for us, where would you want to go? Did 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:10.879 you say vacation? Surprise vacation? 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.440 It could just never happen with my work schedule, like 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:16.760 I can, that can never happen. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:17.640 Where would you want to go? 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:18.840 Why would I want to go? 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.040 For fun in the sun? Listen how stressed you sound. 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:23.520 The idea of actually being. 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.840 On vacation with you nice idea. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.240 It wouldn't be vacation. It would be a slight cation 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.040 because we'd do everything on a sleigh. We'd dash through 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.000 the snow and I don't know, like check our phones 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.960 and argue. Occasionally you'd hang up on me and I'd 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:49.960 start the show. But from Gimblet Media, I'm Jonathan Goldstein 0:00:50.280 --> 0:01:07.360 and this is Heavyweight today's episode. Joey as a young man, 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.880 whenever conflict arose, my go to move was to roll 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.920 up into a fetal ball and pray to go unnoticed. 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:19.800 Of course, this only made matters worse case. In point 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.080 one afternoon, while riding a trolley, I fell into a 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.080 daydream and missed my stop. Anyone else in my position 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.480 might have yelled I missed my stop, or open the door, please. 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.880 But in imagining all these trolley riding strangers turning around 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.319 to stare at me, my mind went blank. So I 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.240 decided it might be simpler draw less attention if I 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.080 just jumped off. As I landed onto the street, I 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.000 heard a high pitched scream that I would later realize 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.280 was coming from me. Instead of drawing less attention, I 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.720 was now center stage. The trolley conductor skidded to a halt, 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.040 and all the passengers ran to the windows to watch 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.880 as I painfully crawled into a nearby bush. Once in 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.360 the bush, I hid waiting for the trolley to leave. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.840 For young Jonathan Goldstein, the cost of staying silent that 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.600 day was two twisted ankles and the loss of my pride. 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.120 Hey, Joey, Hey there, it's awesome to hear from you. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.799 This is young Joey, and he recently had a bad 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.280 day that forced him to realize his fear of being seen, 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.040 his fear of speaking up, was exacting a far greater 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:41.080 cost than a mere double ankle injury. It was ruining 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:45.720 his life, and so he's reached out for help from. 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.160 Me and just never get myself in a situation like 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:48.680 this again. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.080 I think Joey is twenty two years old, and the 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.160 lead up to his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.120 day begins right after his art school graduation, when he 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.520 moved into an artists loft in downtown. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.239 LA live in that downtown city life kind of living 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:06.400 in a communal living style. 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.280 The downside was that the loft had bed sheeets for 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.919 walls in six roommates. But the plus side, the loft 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.720 had bed sheets for walls and six roommates, six super 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.839 cool roommates, a DJ, a dollmaker, a photographer, a guy 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:28.720 who quote trimmed weed, and super coolest of all, a podcaster. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:34.560 And I pictured these cool artist types having great parties 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.160 and a lot of cool people over and all the 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:41.040 artists in the LA scene would come through, and I 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.760 was going to come in and hopefully fit in immediately. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:50.280 But Joey didn't fit in immediately. He never felt comfortable 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.000 just hanging out with everyone, never knew what to say, 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:55.960 and so he ended up spending most of his time 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:01.040 alone in his room rehearsing icebreakers. I like your tattoo, 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:07.440 he'd repeat to himself, your tattoo. I like it, sweet tat, 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.280 he'd say, pointing limply at the mirror like a socially 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.760 crippled Travis Bickle, Unable to come up with anything that 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:20.479 felt right. Paralysis set in. Joey began spending all day 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.719 in his room, a shadow behind a bedsheet. 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:26.480 They'd all be in the living room right next to 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.599 my room, hanging out, watching a movie, you know, drinking, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:31.920 hanging and doing the thing, and I would be in 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.960 my room, just like making people uncomfortable with by not, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:37.200 you know, being out there. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.440 Joey had been living in the loft several weeks when 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.360 he realized just how isolated he become. One day, will 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:46.800 waiting outside the bathroom, he ran into one of his 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:47.520 new roommates. 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.000 She she was like, oh, hi, what's your name? Oh 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:55.880 where do you live? I was like, uh, here, I'd 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.200 live here. 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:09.040 Eventually, Joey began avoiding the loft altogether. He'd spend every 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.560 day wandering the streets, only returning in the evening. 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:15.160 When I was back in my house at night, I 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.160 would sneak into my room and then make and then 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.960 make it drink, make sure I didn't drink too much 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.280 water so that my bladder was empty, so I wouldn't 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.520 have to leave my room to pee. My new goal 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.240 was to just be as unobtrusive as a roommate as possible, 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.599 be invisible, So in this time I would just try 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.880 to spend all my day out of the house out 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.200 on my rollerblades, which I had also recently taken up. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.560 Everyone needs a hobby, and Joey found one that provided 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.320 both good exercise as well as a way to free 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.159 himself from the oppressive yoke of human dignity. And so 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.600 it was while rollerblading that Joey discovered his new home 0:05:55.640 --> 0:06:00.600 away from home, the pizza parlor. The pizza tarler played 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.400 cool music and had cool art on the walls. It 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.760 even served cool pizza. There was one shape like a 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:11.720 marijuana leaf and other shape like circles. But because Joey 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.080 was Joey, even a simple thing like ordering pizza was 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:19.080 a challenge, and so he rehearsed his icebreakers. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.159 I found myself like making sure I could have something 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:27.120 to say, like preparing something for the quick interaction while 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.760 I buy my pizza, Like what kind of thing I 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.200 don't know, Like if it's raining out, I would have 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.120 something clever to say about that, or. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:37.920 Give me an example of the clever thing that you 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:39.320 would say when it was raining. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:46.280 I'd say, oh, man, bummer, and this is not rollerblading weather, okay, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.560 like I would or I don't know what I'm trying 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:49.800 to say. 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.400 Slowly, Joey began making social inroads, even managing to earn 0:06:55.480 --> 0:07:00.360 himself a nickname, that rollerblading guy. His fantasy is fun 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.160 in friendship with his bohemian loft buddies were over, but 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.880 his fantasy is a fun in friendship with his bohemian 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.840 pizza parlor buddies had only just begun. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.360 I had planned on continuing to visit there and making 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.800 these friendships grow and hopefully progressing them to real life 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.120 friendships outside of the shop. 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.480 And so every morning Joey wood Blade straight to the 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.240 self service refrigerator that housed the day old dollar slices. 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.000 I pretty much exclusively ate pizza from that moment on 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:40.200 for all your meals pretty much. There was definitely days 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.360 that went by when it was just pizza. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.120 Like, how many slices a day were you eating. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.200 Say four or five? Two for breakfast and then stick 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:49.840 them in my backpack for the rest of the day. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.200 What were you doing for fruits and vegetables? 0:07:54.760 --> 0:08:00.080 I occasionally got the veggie slice. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.720 And that was Joey's life, eating za, rolling blades, and 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:09.680 waiting for old man scurvy until one terrible, horrible, no good, 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:11.160 very bad day. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.800 January fourteenth, was like every other day. I woke up 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.320 to go get my pizza, headed into the shop, and 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.880 unfortunately I only found pepperoni in the fridge. 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.280 Joey is a vegetarian, and so without having prepared anything 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.439 clever to say, like pepperoni pizza, Oh man, bummer, Pepperonis 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.760 aren't vegetarian, he instead said nothing and trying to just 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:43.120 roller blade back out the door without anyone noticing. But 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.000 he'd only bladed a couple blocks when he saw a 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.200 familiar face biking towards him. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.760 And it's one of the pizza chefs. So I just 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.360 thought he was gonna hell, I don't know. I thought 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.320 he was gonna say, what's up, man, let's hang out. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.679 What's your name? Will, Let's you know. I thought he 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.120 was just interested in me. So I was excited to 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.559 see him biking towards me, and I took off my 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.560 headphones to greet him, and the first thing he said 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:21.280 is don't come back. I said, I said, excuse me, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.120 he said, you're taking slices, I. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:30.079 Said, what, and then it clicked, flipping through the dollar 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.240 slices and then abruptly leaving in silence. Looked fishy, like 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:35.679 Joey was stealing pizza. 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:41.160 And I was kind of like panicking talking to him, 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:42.600 like I could feel that I could hear the panic 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.960 in my voice and stuff, but I didn't know what 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:46.880 to say, so I kind of just I was kind 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.760 of speechless, and I, you know, didn't have the confidence 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:56.040 to keep fighting. Okay, yeah, and then he he biked away. 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.280 I started crying on the streets, and I I must 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.520 have looked ridiculous, rollerblading down the street while crying. 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.880 At that point, it was a terrible day. It became 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.000 horrible as well as no good and very bad when Joey, 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.040 crying on the street, received a phone call bearing more 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.640 bad news. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:25.160 The roommates had been kind of talking and they that 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.160 they used the words I'm getting under their skin. 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:36.520 The roommates found Joey's silent, sneaky ways unsettling. They wanted 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:37.240 him out. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.800 I like went and got my stuff, and I don't know, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.200 I basically moved out in that moment. I like just 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:53.439 left without seeing anybody and I kind of ran away. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.160 As the day came to a close, Joey called called 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.280 the one person he always calls, the person he's leaned 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:07.240 on his whole life, Elise, his twin sister. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.080 She gave me the same advice that everyone did, which 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.440 is just you know, go talk to them, be normal. 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.040 But I don't know. I mean, I never was able 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:22.080 to take that advice from anybody coming from her, though 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.880 it was especially I felt especially bad. 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.720 He was like almost in tears telling me this story. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.840 Alise knows Joey better than anyone, and he's relied on 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.600 her socially his entire life. When he started dating, Alise 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.920 introduced him to her friends, and when he was too 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.520 anxious to attend family functions, Elise would go in his place. 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.760 And he told me about how he cried, which is 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.560 always he doesn't cry that often. You could tell it 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:52.560 was a big deal that he expressed that he cried 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.400 about it, and he told the whole story, and I 0:11:55.520 --> 0:12:01.160 was laughing so hard because really funny story, and I 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:03.800 wanted him to see that it was funny too, and 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:05.560 he could see the humor in it, but he was 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.359 also pretty clearly devastated. 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.959 When I ask Elise, what's so funny about her brother 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.000 crying on the phone. She makes a pretty strong case, 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.439 casually eviscerating him in the way only a loving sister can. 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:24.320 Him and his rollerblades and often like funny looking tank tops, 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.520 his like creeper mustache, and his mullet. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.040 Definitely wait, just the look of him, Hang on a second. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:31.320 He has a mullet. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:44.880 Full mullet full, full, creepy young child mustache, and his 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:50.360 shoulders and arms look looks strong, but they're small, and 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:55.319 same with his legs. His legs are shockingly skinny. They 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.120 do have an incredible shine to them. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.000 I will admit, does he does he play at. 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.880 I'm not sure that's ointment. I'm guessing that's just his 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:04.800 oily self. 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.480 I don't want Joey to have to wait years and 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.440 years like I did, just to know the sweet joys 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.720 of uncrippling an abnormality. So I asked Joey's oily self 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.360 what he most wants out of all this, and the 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:25.040 answer he delivers is pretty to the point, almost like 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:25.920 he's rehearsed it. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.000 I want to say sorry that I wasn't able to 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:34.160 leave my room. I wish they knew how I felt, basically. 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.720 But when I put forward my action plan for Joey 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:42.080 to fix his bad day by rerollerblading through it, rerollerblading 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.520 back to the pizza parlor to clear his name, and 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.520 rerollerblading to the loft to apologize for being such a creepy, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.200 sneaky roommate, I can hear the beads of sweat squeak 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.360 out of Joey's hairline and saturate his mullet. 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:02.080 Right, yeah, I'm definitely yeah, I've definitely been meaning to, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:07.680 but the prospect is pretty scary. I just mentioning it. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:09.040 I got nervous, for sure. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.920 Joey still wants to be invisible, but decades of experience 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.520 have taught me that oftentimes the more invisible you try 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.200 to make yourself, the more visible you become. So if 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.960 I have my way, Joey will no longer have to 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:28.640 hide in the metaphorical bush like a young metaphorical Jonathan Goldstein. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:47.320 After the break, helping Joey to stop spinning his wheels. Okay, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.280 hold the line for a moment, Joey, All right. 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.960 Sounds good. Hang on, I'm practicing my witty retorts anything. 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:59.360 Don't do that, Okay, During the ad break while you 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.120 were loading up on unbelievable deals, I was considering the 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:07.680 full extent of Joey's dilemma as much as Jonathan Debonair 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.440 Goldstein wanted to help him. The truth is, Jonathan Stuart 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.360 Goldstein is actually a lot like Joey. And so I 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.880 made a phone call to an old friend, a man 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.640 whose example and critical feedback, some might say overly critical feedback, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:30.680 have helped me to become the animalist socialibus. I am today, happy, confident, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.360 out of the shrubs and loving it. And I was 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.240 hoping you could work the same magic on Joey. Joey, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:44.840 this is my friend Gregor. Howdy, Hey, So Joey was 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.720 living in this loft, and he Gregor is the exact 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.360 opposite of Joey and me in any given social interaction. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.320 He's never afraid to stand out, never afraid to say 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.280 the wrong thing. Case in point, was. 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.000 Johnny kidding when he said you're wearing rollerblade? 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.840 Yes? No, I am a rollerblader. 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.640 But so you rollerbladed into the store wearing your rollerblades. 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:07.360 That's right. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.640 I have these very vivid memories of being in Central 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.880 Park and seeing these people, mostly grown men, on rollerblades 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.360 with that folded hands over the lower back and their 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.080 body bent forward like zipping around in like a lycroskin suit. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.280 The big giant grin as they gasp for breath and 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:22.040 like goggles on. 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:23.960 You got all that out of your system. 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.040 I hate rollerbladers, and I hate everything about rollerblades, but 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:28.840 I think most people don't have the caurage to ask 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:30.760 for help. It takes a very big man to ask 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.400 for help. Okay, so the guy wants the rollerblade. 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:33.760 Fine. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.280 Since Joey feels most comfortable when he's rehearsing social interactions, 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.400 I suggest we do some role playing. Joey plays himself 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.240 and Gregor plays the pizza shop owner. After ten minutes 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:53.000 deliberating over his character's name, Gregor decides on Carmine. 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:53.520 Please call me krmine. 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.000 All right, stop just trying to add a little depth 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:56.640 of the character. 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:57.400 Don't do that. 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.400 Once I finish offering some helpful direction, we begin. So, okay, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.520 so you're you're the owner. I'll do the folly work. 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:09.600 I'll make any necessary sounds. Okay, Joey, you're coming into 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:11.760 the pizza parlor, tingle, tingle. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:18.280 Hey, so it's been a long time. I don't know 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:27.040 if you heard I. I had a bit of a. 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:30.520 Joey trails off. Even in a simulation, his nerves get 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.600 the better of him. I try to inspire him with 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.480 more folly work. Tingle, tingle. The place is starting to 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.040 fill up a little, so you might want to spit 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.399 it out. Tingle, tingle, tingle, tingle. 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:46.760 Oh my god, it's like radio lab. Suddenly a monkey 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.439 came in, Gregor call me Carmen. The whole duration of 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.639 this shoot. I need to be in character. I'm like 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.159 Daniel da Lewis. I will only answer if you call 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:56.719 me Krma. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:58.880 Why did I even have you be the shop owner? 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:00.160 Why wasn't I the shop. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.800 I could be your son who's got like bigger dreams. 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:04.760 I don't want to spend my whole life saying pizza 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.400 derailing that I got big dreams. I want to get 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.480 into real estate, commercial real estate. I want to least laundromats. 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.600 See I'm not like you, you really I want to 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.639 have a self storage unit. They're very profitable, don't you see? 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.320 Now we're gelling as a team right at the very end. 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.040 As you start to fade us down, you can't even 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:23.959 hear what I'm saying anymore. 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.840 Sure, Gregor was taking none of the work seriously. But 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.920 Joey was enjoying Gregor, and in his own way, Gregor 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:43.639 was enjoying Joey. It looked like Gregor was in I 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.480 noticed that you like to sit very close to the gate. 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:49.879 Gregor and I meet at the airport for the flight 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.040 to see Joey in La. While squatting on the floor 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:57.160 staring fixedly at the gate, Gregor shares some insider tips 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:58.440 on air travel. 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.600 Because when they say extra time getting on the game 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:02.560 jet way, you're allowed to run. 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:03.120 Past those people. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:10.800 You're allowed. 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.360 See like I could easily run outrun that little girl 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.560 in the purple. Anyway, Johnny, stick with me. I'm gonna 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.520 show you how to board this big bird. That's what 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.080 I say as the pilot when I bought the play. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.520 Let's bring this big bird down, brother. But that way 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.680 he knows I'm a member of the free Eternity of Aviation. 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:40.280 Cross checket where you grow on pompleys. 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.919 Once we've board it, running down the jetway like a 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.240 couple of giggling idiots, Gregor regales me with stories the 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.240 time lou Reid threatened to put an ashtray through his head. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:52.920 No, he didn't heavy glass. 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.040 One the time a taxi driver told me he had 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:56.560 eyes like his dead brothers. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:58.120 That's a terrible story. 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.880 The time all dozen or so members of the Wu 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.640 Tang clan squeezed onto his living room. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:05.600 Couch, he asked for my seat to tree. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.960 Then come the aviation stories, all the flights he's been 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:10.639 on where people have died. 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:12.760 But then there was another photos on when someone died 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:14.720 right next to me, and they were literally doing the 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:16.959 thing on the PA where they're like, there's any doctors 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.359 on board? And I was like, I'm kind of a doctor. 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:21.879 How are you kind of a doctor? 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.480 I'm a very good diagnostician. Look, we're on twenty five RL. 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:27.480 It's one of my favorite runways. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.159 Gregor and I rent a car and meet up with 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.919 Joey at his favorite coffee shop. From here, we planned 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.000 to head to the pizza parlor, get him unbanned, and 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.000 then go to the loft so Joey can apologize to 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:45.159 his former roommates. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.560 Morning. Nice to meet hi, How are you hid? 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:50.960 How are you? 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.879 As well as being rollerblade footed, Joey's just as chopstick legged, 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:00.119 mustache lipped, and mullet headed, as his sister Relise said, caution. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:00.200 And. 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:03.439 Did it take you a while to decide like what 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.199 you were going to wear today? Joey seems anxious, so 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.439 I asked him, Joey, are you anxious? But before he 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:12.439 can answer, Gregor steps in. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:14.040 Johny, let's take it from here. You don't want to 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:15.720 make the guy nervous by asking me if he was nervous, 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:17.440 Why don't you go around in a circle and each say, 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.879 a member of the Wu Tang until we get. 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.800 On with his idiot's game. What Gregor's really doing is 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:30.119 distracting Joey, protecting him, in this case, protecting him from me. Ready, Okay, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:36.440 I'll start the rizza Diu stop is the genius? 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:36.960 Genius? 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:44.760 Okay, stop number one? The pizza parlor? Is this the place? 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:46.080 What time they open? Eleven? 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.320 Oh? I'm getting nervous. My stomach is jumping. 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.160 Oh wait here, Joey, I have some of the creer 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.960 just in case. As Joey's mentor, I know he runs 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.000 a pretty good chance of choking, so I prepared him 0:21:59.040 --> 0:21:59.840 some notes during my. 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:02.600 Okay, here you go. Read this that. 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:06.800 You guys were like family to me, and when you 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.439 accuse me of theft. I try it slower. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:10.680 You guys were like family. 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:13.439 Go ahead. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:16.359 You guys were like family to me. And when you 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:21.200 accuse me of theft, I mishandled the situation. I became discombobulated. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.960 I should have defended myself, told you I'm no thief. 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.720 Although we want to offer Joey help, it's important that 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.080 he do this on his own. No Gregor, no Jonathan, 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:36.360 no Elise. We'll be there with Q cards and emotional support, 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.280 but ultimately Joey needs to enter the pizza shop and 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:42.119 make his case solo. 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:44.400 We're gonna let Joey shine. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:47.120 Yeah, I mean I think like you bring. 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:48.040 Your shine box, Joey. 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:50.199 Are you getting the reference to the shinebox? 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:51.800 That would be a you guys got a lot of 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:53.639 references out on that. Have you seen Good Fellas? 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.040 Do your joe pesci for Joey just to loosen him 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:57.440 up a little. 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.119 Ed was one tough irishman. I put his hand and 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:02.720 advice tween days until his eyebowl pop. 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:10.720 That yet, get two vegetarian pizzas stuff. 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.800 I instruct Joey to order pizza and kombucha's for his roommates. 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.240 This way the pizza parlor crew will see he's not 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.600 just a dollar slice guy, but someone capable of committing 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.240 to an entire pie and a vinegar and bile based beverage. 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:27.120 It'll show personal growth. 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:29.480 Just have fun yourself. 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:37.680 Joey swings open the door and roller blades inside. Remember 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:43.000 the rollerblading this whole time, Joey's been wheels down wearing 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.520 his blades. You might want to rewind a few minutes 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:50.119 and re listen with that image in your mind. And 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:53.399 it's not just the roller blades. Joey is also wearing 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:57.600 a wire. So standing outside, Gregor and I can eavesdrop 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:00.760 on how things are going inside the parlor. Do you 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:01.200 want to hear? 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:04.480 I can't stand well. 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:07.600 Gregor paces back and forth on the sidewalk. I cut 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:10.840 an earphone and listen as Joey rolls up to the counter. 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:12.720 Hey, how's it going? 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:15.639 Joey is greeted by a pizza chef. 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:18.120 Yeah, I don't know if you remember me. I used 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.600 to come here all the time. I was kicked out 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:24.760 of your shop a couple months back for stealing slices, 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.840 even like I was accused of stealing slices. No, I 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:29.840 totally know why you thought it was me because it 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:31.680 looked like I mean, I came. 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.560 In, Gregor and I watch nervously through the storefront window. 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.239 Oh, he's blowing in, rushed to his eight. 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:42.359 Joey isn't mounting a defense, and he isn't offering a 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.720 counter narrative. Instead, he's exhibiting a level of mealy moothery 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:50.360 not seen since a young Jonathan Goldstein tried to explain 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:53.840 to a trolley conductor why he was hiding in a bush. 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:55.320 And I was kind of hoping I could come back 0:24:55.400 --> 0:24:56.600 just because I. 0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:58.439 Love But as Gregor and I bicker over whether to 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.119 walk inside and rolled your Joe out the door like 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:05.320 a dessert trolley full of flaming horse manure, we noticed something. 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:07.399 I know, it's weird that's been so long, but I 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:10.560 just like felt really bad at her. That was really embarrassed. Really, 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:12.200 I'm sorry. She's really nice. 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:15.080 You saw like someone come in and with like bloller seats. 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:17.080 I remember that day. I was working that day. 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:19.880 Not only does she remember that day, but she also 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:20.879 remembers Joey. 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:23.440 No, I was a guy who came in like several times. 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:25.199 She's like, yeah, no, I see, I think that was me. 0:25:25.600 --> 0:25:26.880 Kind of remembers Joey. 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:29.680 I came in. I'm a vegetarian. I saw that you 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:32.119 guys only had Pepperoni slices because I was like, oh, 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:34.640 not for me, And I just turned around totally looks 0:25:34.640 --> 0:25:35.440 like I just grab one. 0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:37.600 And since you didn't do it, you know, you don't 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:38.200 have anything. 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:39.479 To apologize for it. Yeah, I just want to make 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:41.040 sure you, like you guys, don't think I did a 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:43.200 man okay, okay, cool. 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:47.120 Yeah, if he was willing to come back to face 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.720 his accusers, she says, he probably didn't steal the pizza, 0:25:51.560 --> 0:25:56.679 and with that, Joey orders his pies and kombucha's with 0:25:56.800 --> 0:25:59.920 her faces pressed against the window. Gregor and I watch 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.400 with amazement as Joey waits for his order while engaging 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:09.920 in some completely unscripted repartee cool song. He says, totally. 0:26:10.040 --> 0:26:15.920 She says this band is so cool. He says yeah. 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:20.320 She says, we didn't prepare Joey for any of this, 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:24.280 but here he was riffing and scatting away like some 0:26:24.400 --> 0:26:29.320 kind of improvisational jazz cat Carmine would have been proud, 0:26:29.680 --> 0:26:36.640 thank you very much, and tingle tingle. Joey emerges from 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:44.040 the restaurant holding our pizzas aloft like trophies. Joey, Oh 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:44.680 you did it. 0:26:44.720 --> 0:26:45.959 Oh my god, I'm shaking. 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:46.760 I'm shaking it. 0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:48.320 You did a great job. 0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:51.520 Despite his fear of saying the wrong thing, Joey had 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:55.560 managed to put himself out there and stumble his way through. Joey, 0:26:55.560 --> 0:26:58.080 that was great, and like, yeah, you really like and 0:26:58.119 --> 0:26:59.719 you did it by yourself. We didn't have to go 0:26:59.760 --> 0:27:00.439 in anything. 0:27:00.520 --> 0:27:04.119 Yah, that's awesome. Oh I really really was nervous though. 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:06.119 I felt my leg completely shaking. I thought she was 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:08.600 gonna look down and just see my leg shaking like it. 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:12.879 Okay, one to ten, how you feel? Did you wrestle 0:27:12.920 --> 0:27:13.200 the bear? 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:15.920 Because I know I still have to go to the loft. 0:27:15.960 --> 0:27:17.880 That's you know, the relief hasn't come. 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:25.080 But after the break, Joey tries rolling up a much 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:29.520 harder hill, apologizing to people. He actually knows. 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:33.560 Those people you lived with, they actually know the real 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:35.240 joy I mean maybe they didn't like the real Joys, 0:27:35.400 --> 0:27:36.760 but they knew who you were. 0:27:37.600 --> 0:27:39.120 No, I don't think they did. I mean I hope 0:27:39.160 --> 0:27:39.600 they did it. 0:27:45.960 --> 0:27:47.720 Do you think it's a good sign that the roommates 0:27:47.720 --> 0:27:49.320 did not respond? No? 0:27:49.320 --> 0:27:51.040 No, to be honest, I'm pretty nervous about that. 0:27:53.080 --> 0:27:55.800 Joey had tried to contact his former loft mates via 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:58.240 group text to let them know he'd be coming by 0:27:58.280 --> 0:28:00.800 to talk. But as we stay and on the street 0:28:00.960 --> 0:28:04.560 in front of the building, our kombucha bubbling and vegetarian 0:28:04.640 --> 0:28:09.600 pizzas congealing, Joey checks and re checks his phone, not 0:28:09.720 --> 0:28:13.399 a single one of his former roommates has responded. 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:15.520 Not even like any response is not a good sign. 0:28:15.640 --> 0:28:18.840 Well maybe that's better than like responding by saying I'm 0:28:18.880 --> 0:28:21.960 not interested. Right, the loft is on the second floor, 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:24.320 behind the metal gate, and there's no doorbell. 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:26.840 All right, let's figure out how to get into this fortress. 0:28:27.600 --> 0:28:30.679 There's no drain pipe to shimmy, no fire escape banister 0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:33.439 to reverse oli. All we can do is wait for 0:28:33.480 --> 0:28:36.359 someone to come in or out. Gregor fills the time 0:28:36.600 --> 0:28:38.360 with yet another aviation story. 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:41.160 When I was going through the TSA, the lady was like, 0:28:41.320 --> 0:28:42.840 could you pull your pants up a little bit? 0:28:44.320 --> 0:28:45.800 You just told me to take my belt off. 0:28:45.920 --> 0:28:47.280 Now my pants are falling down. You want me to 0:28:47.320 --> 0:28:48.000 pull my pants up? 0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:48.600 Which is it? 0:28:48.880 --> 0:28:50.440 You really get told to play an? 0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:52.280 I get told that every time I go through the tar. 0:28:52.400 --> 0:28:54.520 Where's a belt with a pair of shorts? You wear 0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:55.720 a belt and shorts? 0:28:55.800 --> 0:28:57.320 Yep, I never heard of that. 0:28:57.880 --> 0:28:58.880 How do you think I keep mouth? 0:28:59.040 --> 0:29:02.120 I think someone's coming. Thankfully we're interrupted. 0:29:02.320 --> 0:29:05.320 Oh thank yo, how's it going? 0:29:06.680 --> 0:29:10.040 One of Joey's old roommates emerges. He's a hip young 0:29:10.080 --> 0:29:13.480 man who, if not wearing a straw pork pie hat 0:29:13.520 --> 0:29:17.440 and carrying a gondola paddle, is certainly giving off that vibe, 0:29:17.800 --> 0:29:24.000 a Venetian boatman vibe. Joey, foregoing all social foreplay, dives 0:29:24.080 --> 0:29:24.480 right in. 0:29:25.080 --> 0:29:27.760 Yeah, I'm here because I want to apologize. I don't 0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:30.840 know if you've got the group text. Oh no, yeah, 0:29:31.320 --> 0:29:32.920 I just wanted I felt really bad about how I 0:29:33.000 --> 0:29:35.480 love things here, so I brought some pizza and my 0:29:35.840 --> 0:29:36.959 friends here. Okay. 0:29:37.720 --> 0:29:41.560 Joey gestures over to his friends, two balding middle aged 0:29:41.600 --> 0:29:45.720 men slumping behind him like bald scarecrows stuffed with museley. 0:29:46.640 --> 0:29:50.720 Hey, h okay, all right, well this is really awkward 0:29:50.760 --> 0:29:51.480 in a surprise. 0:29:51.880 --> 0:29:54.600 All right, I was just going out of my car. 0:29:54.840 --> 0:29:59.960 Okay, So the boatman isn't very receptive, but Joey proceed. 0:30:00.880 --> 0:30:02.360 Does anyone else tell him? If you want to ask 0:30:02.400 --> 0:30:04.160 if they are okay with me coming up? 0:30:04.640 --> 0:30:10.840 Okay, thank you so much. It's taken all of Joey's 0:30:10.880 --> 0:30:13.479 courage to return to the place where the coolest art 0:30:13.560 --> 0:30:16.560 kids in La live, and he's still being denied entry. 0:30:17.480 --> 0:30:20.200 As Joey stares in silence at the steel door that's 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:23.840 just clanged shut in his mustachioed face, I struggle to 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:29.280 come up with something positive to say. I think you 0:30:29.360 --> 0:30:30.080 handled yourself. 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:32.719 Well, I'm extremely nervous right now. I don't feel good 0:30:32.720 --> 0:30:33.840 about how this is going. 0:30:35.640 --> 0:30:39.560 Upstairs, the gondolier is saying to his roommate something along 0:30:39.600 --> 0:30:43.760 the lines of, Hey, remember that silent roller skating weirdo 0:30:43.840 --> 0:30:47.880 we kicked out of our art loft. Well, he's downstairs 0:30:48.560 --> 0:30:56.240 with pizza and his two gay dads. But then, yo, 0:30:57.520 --> 0:31:02.959 how you doing. Zach is the unofficial head of the household, 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:05.680 the guy who takes care of all the square noormy 0:31:05.680 --> 0:31:09.160 stuff like throwing out expired cottage cheese and paying the 0:31:09.200 --> 0:31:14.040 rent on time. He's bearded and shaggy. He turns to Joey. 0:31:14.640 --> 0:31:18.760 Joey stares down at his rollerblades and starts mumbling explanations. 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:21.800 Yeah, I just thought. I mean, I didn't think it 0:31:21.840 --> 0:31:25.120 was just like I just thought, like. 0:31:25.400 --> 0:31:28.520 I haven't heard this much mealy mouthing since I guess 0:31:28.560 --> 0:31:31.160 an hour ago, when Joey was at the pizza parlor. 0:31:32.360 --> 0:31:37.040 Zach looks at Joey skeptically. His arms are crossed. Nonetheless, 0:31:37.560 --> 0:31:39.360 Joey soldiers on, I. 0:31:39.320 --> 0:31:42.400 Just feel really bad about kind of how how I 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:45.600 left things here. Huh. Yeah, I know that I wasn't 0:31:45.600 --> 0:31:48.400 the best roommate, and I feel really bad. I'm just 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:51.600 kind of uncomfortable about like just you know, even just 0:31:51.640 --> 0:31:53.680 how you guys think about me. But I just wanted 0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:55.840 to apologize and make things right. 0:31:59.160 --> 0:32:00.680 There were things like that bugged me. 0:32:00.760 --> 0:32:03.440 Here we go no Whereas the pizza chef had been 0:32:03.480 --> 0:32:06.720 impressed with the mere fact Joey had returned for Zach, 0:32:07.160 --> 0:32:08.080 that wasn't enough. 0:32:09.600 --> 0:32:11.600 You had your headphones on a lot, and you had 0:32:12.040 --> 0:32:13.160 noise canceling headphones. 0:32:13.160 --> 0:32:14.320 You're just like in your world. 0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:16.960 He launches into a laundry list of grievances. 0:32:17.160 --> 0:32:19.840 Didn't clean the bathroom, and I was just like. 0:32:20.400 --> 0:32:24.320 Dude, Joey ignored everybody, never cleaned up after himself, never 0:32:24.360 --> 0:32:25.760 even washed a dish. 0:32:25.720 --> 0:32:28.720 The amount of rent or who's paying what? Or why 0:32:28.760 --> 0:32:31.200 are you paying her and not paying Ah? 0:32:31.440 --> 0:32:35.080 The worst thing Joey could imagine was happening. He was 0:32:35.120 --> 0:32:39.760 being seen and told that he'd always been seen. He 0:32:39.840 --> 0:32:42.800 put all his effort into trying to become invisible and 0:32:42.880 --> 0:32:45.920 absolutely no effort into doing his share of the chores. 0:32:46.680 --> 0:32:49.840 That's why his roommates wanted him out. They'd seen him 0:32:49.880 --> 0:32:53.680 visibly not cleaning the loft, visibly not taking out the garbage, 0:32:54.040 --> 0:32:56.600 trying to hide but not really hiding at all. 0:32:57.080 --> 0:33:00.480 He taking an advantage of And that's what I was like, whoa. 0:33:01.080 --> 0:33:04.080 If ordering a pizza had given Joey the Jimmy legs, 0:33:04.360 --> 0:33:08.000 facing Zach was giving Joey the Joey leg a name 0:33:08.040 --> 0:33:10.960 I've just coined for a condition in which one's entire 0:33:11.000 --> 0:33:15.240 body becomes one single Jimmy leg that is a Joey 0:33:15.360 --> 0:33:18.600 leg that won't stop. Jimmy ing is like a liberty, 0:33:18.760 --> 0:33:22.360 you know. But while Joey is jimmy ing, he isn't folding, 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:23.960 He's not running away. 0:33:24.320 --> 0:33:28.840 But it was just the way that it was done. Yeah. 0:33:29.240 --> 0:33:34.040 As Zach finishes speaking, Joey maintains eye contact. And what's more, 0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:38.240 as the la breeze whips up the hindquarters of his mullet. 0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:42.120 He does not fall prey to his lifelong crutch, silence, 0:33:43.120 --> 0:33:48.680 without notes, without wittyish rejoinders. He responds all this stuff, 0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:48.880 like the. 0:33:49.120 --> 0:33:51.920 Not paying rent on time, and all the chory stuff, 0:33:52.120 --> 0:33:55.760 all that stems from this shyness, this like the weirdness 0:33:55.760 --> 0:33:58.360 and like just feeling uncomfortable to like, I don't know, 0:33:58.440 --> 0:34:00.880 be in the public space is kind of just because 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:03.640 I'm weird and shy, and I can't blame it on 0:34:03.680 --> 0:34:06.120 anything but myself. I mean, it was all It's all me. 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:07.160 It's like my own things. 0:34:08.280 --> 0:34:10.360 Zach looks at you as I wish I was more. 0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:11.960 Able to like be friendly with you guys. 0:34:11.880 --> 0:34:14.960 Sees them struggling, and his face softened. 0:34:17.800 --> 0:34:21.759 I understand like having social anxiety, having like issues where 0:34:21.800 --> 0:34:24.440 you're like you feel something that's like strangling you in 0:34:24.480 --> 0:34:26.440 a position where you have to converse or whatever. 0:34:26.880 --> 0:34:27.960 Like I can understand that. 0:34:28.840 --> 0:34:30.960 Yeah, like I only wanted to just be friends with 0:34:31.000 --> 0:34:31.640 you guys. 0:34:32.120 --> 0:34:34.440 I have I appreciated where were you staying now? 0:34:35.000 --> 0:34:38.600 Awkwardness is just a step along the way to vulnerability 0:34:39.320 --> 0:34:42.960 and being vulnerable, allowing yourself to be seen is the 0:34:42.960 --> 0:34:45.560 only soil from which friendship can grow. 0:34:45.600 --> 0:34:47.319 I love your funky style. 0:34:47.320 --> 0:34:51.399 And what better fertilizer than a mutual love of the mullet. 0:34:51.880 --> 0:34:55.360 I've been contemplating a similar mullet as yours, but I 0:34:55.360 --> 0:34:58.239 don't know if my hair would work as much as yours. 0:34:58.280 --> 0:34:59.320 You have a different volume. 0:34:59.640 --> 0:35:02.480 So as Zach and Joey wax on about the beauty 0:35:02.480 --> 0:35:06.240 of Joey's ape drape, another loft made appears in the stairway. 0:35:06.600 --> 0:35:06.799 Nice. 0:35:08.920 --> 0:35:21.359 Yeah, if that's okay, that's great, Thank you, Holy cow, 0:35:21.760 --> 0:35:23.160 this is a really big space. 0:35:23.920 --> 0:35:24.120 Good. 0:35:25.120 --> 0:35:27.560 Joey leads Gregor and I on a tour through the 0:35:27.600 --> 0:35:31.160 old audio cassettes and dummy heads, past the kickboxing bag 0:35:31.200 --> 0:35:34.160 and vinyl collection, and ends the tour in a truly 0:35:34.239 --> 0:35:38.600 empty V cribs kind of way at his old bedroom 0:35:39.160 --> 0:35:42.719 where the magic happened. And by magic, I mean where 0:35:42.800 --> 0:35:46.759 Joey slept on the floor wrapped in unwashed blankets. 0:35:47.120 --> 0:35:48.480 This is where you used to stay. 0:35:48.680 --> 0:36:00.680 Did you have a mattress? Joey breaks out the pizza 0:36:00.719 --> 0:36:03.320 and kombucha, and we all gathered by the hot plate 0:36:03.400 --> 0:36:04.040 for a toast. 0:36:04.360 --> 0:36:07.080 You're supposed to actually look up, look at each other's eyes. 0:36:11.640 --> 0:36:12.319 The communication. 0:36:18.560 --> 0:36:23.800 After we choke back our kombucha, I suggest a symbolic gesture. 0:36:24.520 --> 0:36:27.000 You want to you want to wash all the glass? 0:36:27.480 --> 0:36:31.280 I do. This is totally ridiculous. 0:36:33.239 --> 0:36:34.879 You're gonna use soap and everything. 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:37.080 I know. 0:36:38.719 --> 0:36:38.959 Something. 0:36:43.200 --> 0:36:45.840 Just as we're about to leave, Gregor decides he'd like 0:36:45.880 --> 0:36:49.200 to use the bathroom. And whereas a couple of shrinky 0:36:49.239 --> 0:36:52.200 and sneaky violets like Joey and me might just slink 0:36:52.239 --> 0:36:54.520 off looking for it, Gregor does not. 0:36:54.840 --> 0:36:56.400 It might be too much of in a position if 0:36:56.440 --> 0:36:58.520 I was to leave a little urine in your toilet 0:36:58.560 --> 0:36:59.120 on the way out. 0:37:00.600 --> 0:37:04.000 By embracing the awkwardness of life, acknowledging that we are 0:37:04.120 --> 0:37:08.360 creatures who require toilets, Gregor somehow makes things less awkward, 0:37:09.480 --> 0:37:19.200 at least for himself. Gregor has mastered something that Joey 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:23.360 is still learning the art of saying, here I am, 0:37:23.520 --> 0:37:29.719 even when peeing into a toilet while wearing a lapel microphone. 0:37:40.520 --> 0:37:45.319 You're welcome, Thank you, take it. 0:37:45.320 --> 0:37:49.680 Easy, Thanks you guys. 0:37:48.360 --> 0:37:54.600 After leaving the loft, there's only one thing left to redo. 0:37:55.160 --> 0:37:55.399 Hello. 0:37:56.560 --> 0:38:00.480 Yeah, Joey phones up his twin sister Release, and this 0:38:00.560 --> 0:38:02.480 time he isn't crying. 0:38:03.239 --> 0:38:06.040 It was so good, it was so cool. Yeah, I 0:38:06.080 --> 0:38:09.640 think he genuinely forgave me and I did it all 0:38:09.680 --> 0:38:10.359 on my lone, son. 0:38:11.400 --> 0:38:12.040 No, you did it. 0:38:12.160 --> 0:38:16.839 You needed so much help. Well after I got the help, 0:38:16.880 --> 0:38:18.840 I did it on myself, you know, I mean, but 0:38:18.960 --> 0:38:20.440 now I just feel like I can do it on 0:38:20.480 --> 0:38:21.520 myself by myself. 0:38:22.040 --> 0:38:24.279 I am really proud of you that I know that 0:38:24.239 --> 0:38:25.120 it takes a lot. 0:38:25.360 --> 0:38:25.719 It did. 0:38:26.600 --> 0:38:28.040 It takes a lot from me. Yeah, you know more 0:38:28.080 --> 0:38:30.319 than anyone. Your proudness feels good. 0:38:32.280 --> 0:38:35.280 I'm not surprised that Elise is proud, but I'm taking 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:38.840 aback to see that. Gregor looks proud too, proud of himself, 0:38:38.880 --> 0:38:42.680 of course, but also with Joey. So once Joey gets 0:38:42.680 --> 0:38:45.880 off the phone, Gregor offers up some fatherly advice. 0:38:46.320 --> 0:38:48.239 I understand what it is to be young. It's a 0:38:48.280 --> 0:38:52.320 tough phase. Until you're about forty five. Life is really difficult, okay, 0:38:52.840 --> 0:38:54.919 and then from there on in it's all just sitting 0:38:54.920 --> 0:38:56.880 in one of those soapbox derby cars, rolling down the 0:38:56.920 --> 0:38:59.240 hill to your senescence and eventual death. 0:39:00.239 --> 0:39:01.200 You're depressing the guy. 0:39:01.440 --> 0:39:04.680 I'm coming to my Hallmark inspirational line. I'd say it's 0:39:04.719 --> 0:39:07.960 a tough fifteen to twenty five year period. It's very 0:39:08.040 --> 0:39:09.719 unpleasant really most of it. 0:39:11.760 --> 0:39:13.399 Could you repeat that Hallmark line again? 0:39:19.040 --> 0:39:22.760 And with that, Joey pulls off his unlikeliest feet, yet 0:39:23.440 --> 0:39:29.240 he gets in a genuine off the cough zinger. Gregor 0:39:29.280 --> 0:39:35.200 and I had brought this big bird down a big 0:39:35.880 --> 0:39:36.640 group hug. 0:39:36.680 --> 0:39:40.759 On Kang Kang, there we go, touching me. 0:39:54.120 --> 0:40:03.640 Now that the furniture's returning to its goodwill home, now 0:40:03.719 --> 0:40:05.120 that the last. 0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:07.480 Month's rant is scheming with. 0:40:07.719 --> 0:40:12.200 The damage to pozzle, take this moment to deserve. 0:40:14.320 --> 0:40:20.440 If we imagine, if we felt for far. 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:31.440 From things good. Accident Heavyweight is hosted and produced by 0:40:31.520 --> 0:40:34.759 me Jonathan Goldstein, along with Khalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and 0:40:34.800 --> 0:40:37.759 Stevie Lane. The show is edited by Jorge Just, with 0:40:37.840 --> 0:40:41.600 additional editing by Alex Bloomberg. Special thanks to Emily Condon, 0:40:41.640 --> 0:40:44.799 Flora Lickman, PJ. Vote, say E, TG and Thomas and 0:40:44.920 --> 0:40:48.200 Jackie Cohen. Bobby Lord mixed the episode with music by 0:40:48.239 --> 0:40:52.320 Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson, Blue Dot Sessions, and he himself, 0:40:52.480 --> 0:40:55.759 Bobby Lord. Additional music credits can be found on our 0:40:55.760 --> 0:41:00.279 website Gimltmedia dot com slash Heavyweight. Our theme song is 0:41:00.280 --> 0:41:02.759 by The Weaker Thans courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our 0:41:02.800 --> 0:41:05.880 ad music is by Hailey Shaw. Follow us on Twitter 0:41:05.920 --> 0:41:09.680 at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight at gimletmedia dot com. 0:41:09.880 --> 0:41:13.480 We'll have a brand new episode next week ATIOS. 0:41:21.520 --> 0:41:25.080 You're fly Enough, You see it All, Johnny. I've seen 0:41:25.120 --> 0:41:28.560 people get married on planes, people get divorced, babies being 0:41:28.600 --> 0:41:31.000 born a bunch of times, seen a man take another 0:41:31.040 --> 0:41:34.800 man's life. Mar Mitz's Wutkins Vinieires. I've seen on planes, 0:41:34.960 --> 0:41:36.080 seen kittens be born,