AND HERE’S MODI
AND HERE’S MODI is an inside look at the man behind the microphone. Hosted by comedian, Modi (@modi_live), AHM features a raw and unfiltered side of the comedian rarely seen on stage. He always finds the funny as he navigates the worlds of comedy, trending topics, his personal life and spirituality. AHM is co-hosted by Periel Aschenbrand (@perielaschenbrand) and Leo Veiga (@leo_veiga_).
AND HERE’S MODI
The Opposite of Lashon Hara
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Episode 178: Modi and Leo discuss Boston plans, "speaking well behind someone's back", and Timothée Chalamet's recent comments about ballet and opera.
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Passover Cleaning And Ego
SPEAKER_02And we are back in the studio. When I mean we, we. Me and Leo Vega. Welcome, everybody, to end. Here's Modi. Hello. Hope you guys are all doing well, enjoying this, having a good time. Whatever you're doing while you're doing this. Um spring cleaning. Yeah, getting ready for Passover. Yeah. Walking your dog, working out. Getting the Hamozi out of your uh all the chumets out of your um Explain what that is for maybe all the yeast, all of the the bread that is in the house. Well, yeah, or anything that can create that. Humets, which is really just ego. But when you when you clean, you should be thinking that you're cleaning your ego out of the house.
SPEAKER_01And um so yeah, so people go do go through these really um deep cleaning processes for Passover. Absolutely. I don't feel like people know a lot of people know that who aren't Jewish. I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_02Right. You clean the house out of anything that's that has leavened bread in it or anything that has Hamitz um yeast out of the house, and or you can put it in one place in the house and then sell that place to a rabbi for yeah, it's it's a whole deal of a transaction. It's a transaction, it's a transaction, and then he sells it to somebody who's not Jewish, and then you you don't have this in your life. So it's for like eight days, you don't have what's something that's representing ego in your life.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Yeah, interesting that that represents ego.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, not what it's like.
SPEAKER_01Because it rises, it rises. Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I guess so.
SPEAKER_01I guess there's many, there's a billion different ways to know. I just saw a headline about uh uh a house fire in the like Catskill bungalows, one of the Jewish communities, and someone died last week, and I'm realizing now as we're speaking that maybe they were cleaning the house for Passover with one of those fire fire fire hoses. Don't they have the the flamethrowers? The for the the flamethrowers, yeah. That they make the kitchens kosher with and the ovens and all the. I've seen the videos on Instagram, it's insane.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I don't know if you know, but the Villa Roma, the Italian hotel that was up in the Catskills, one year was being rented to do a Passover program, and in the kitchen they burnt down the kitchen because they were doing all that flamethrowing in there and they had a big, big fire, and it really was Yeah, that sounds like a an insurance situation is what it sounds like, but uh but yeah, it's but that's that's something.
Flamethrower Koshering And Catskills Stories
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I thought something fun to do today. Um, I've been really first of all, I got some feedback that I say like way too much, and I know I acknowledge it, you're right. They said it's very annoying, so I'm gonna try to not do that today. Okay. I might talk a little slower.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01But I've been enjoying Amy Polar's podcast.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01SNL um, very funny woman, parks and wreck, so many movies, so many things. She has a great podcast called Good Hang, and she has people on, but before she has the main guest on, she has like oh, there I go again. She has someone who knows them very well come on before them and asks them like some give me some inside information about this person. Like, what is something that only you would know to ask them? And then she does a part where she goes, let's speak well behind someone's back.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So they they kind of talk about how great the upcoming guest is together and talking well behind their back.
SPEAKER_02I've seen it.
SPEAKER_01And I'm always fascinated by the game of telephone that is this podcast because we can mention something kind of random and it will domino effect back to the person we were talking about. Right. And it's always good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and it's kind of like a message in the bottle that you're just throwing out into the internet, and you don't know how it's gonna get back to whoever. So I thought maybe we could talk well behind someone's back now. And someone maybe in the community, or someone you want to give a shout out to that we don't necessarily know for sure listens to the podcast, but it would probably get back to them.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. A few people.
SPEAKER_01Let's hear them.
SPEAKER_02Um, Jake Cohen, we've had as a guest. I think he's just something very special. We just spent some time with him. He went to the uh Oh, JQY. JQY, Jewish Queer Youth uh event. And we he was there. And I don't know, just when you run into him and he's just He's so positive. He's so positive. He's a great he's always laughing, always has a good thing to tell you, and he's just like
Speaking Well Behind Someone’s Back
SPEAKER_02And it's genuine.
SPEAKER_01It's not Yeah, it's not a like sh it's not a bit genuinely tapped into that.
SPEAKER_02And he um and people like m my sister has his cookbook on display in her kitchen. She's never made a recipe of his, but she just she just loves his energy.
SPEAKER_01He's good energy. That's a little too on the nose, though. We the Jake this that will get back to Jake like that. Okay. But we love him, love you. What do we so the gold is someone who would probably does not listen to the podcast and or just someone who you feel like deserves a shout out um recently. I was gonna say Gov, but he listens to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02He listens to the podcast. Uh uh uh V V Veronica, the woman that handles all of our packages in the building.
SPEAKER_01If this gets back to her, then we would we're doing good. Yeah. Because I don't think she's overlapping in any demo.
SPEAKER_02She saw I Modi, I thought you're gonna be prep. You have a big show. I'm like, what? And she, yeah, I saw. I'm like, R Radio City goes, yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. Um I wonder where she saw that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Maybe she's on Instagram, Radio City or something. She said something about the Today show, but we don't have anything on the today show. Did she? Yeah, I heard.
SPEAKER_02She's the woman that runs the package room in our building, and she is like an angel. A godsend. A godsend to the patron saint of packages. The patron saint of packages. She makes sure, and whenever we're away, she texts us at this camp. She holds stuff for us. And something has to be if it has to be refrigerated. She handles it. Yeah, there's some medication. But she's always with a smile and always so sweet, and she's just such a great person. Yeah. And you give her the boo boo b the la boo-boo ball balls, the labu-boo dolls. Those are done. Those are done. Thank God those are done. But I had fun with it while it lasted. Yeah. So we gave her one and she's wonderful, and she's just a good energy. And so happy. Yeah. That's so that's that's a good one. It's too far off. It's too far off. What about Jack Leball? Jack Leeball. Okay. Yeah, Jack Lee. Well, not what Josh listens to the podcast. Okay. His son. Who will uh I spoke to Second Avenue Delhi.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. What are they doing for you?
SPEAKER_02They we we are hiring them to do the catering uh uh at at the shows at 2nd Avenue Delhi at at uh at Radio City Music Hall. We have the two shows. April 23rd and 30th. Right. We have um so so after the show, there's a friends and family get together, and I want it to be like a kiddish in the synagogue. You walk downstairs and just like grab half a sandwich, eat it, put some mustard on it. You just want pastrami after stage. I want a little pastrami after on stage, and I think anybody else who's sitting through there, keep in mind they're gonna be getting there probably around 6 30, you know, and our VIPs uh go get to go to some lounge upstairs, and then they go afterward to the to to the family and friends, and then they're gonna be hungry. You gotta make sure there's food. Otherwise, so big shout out to them, and I cannot wait. Talking well behind their back. Yeah, talking about behind their back.
SPEAKER_01But Josh listens, so I know it's so that's like the opposite of Loshan Hara. Right. Yeah, is there a word for that?
SPEAKER_02Um Lush and Hora is evil speech. Yeah. Ahavathinam, how's that? Just for for free love, just love for no reason. Here's just here's just some love. Avathinam, free love. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I like that. Yeah. Good. Um, I had a moment uh recently that I forgot to tell you about. Oh. Um, but I it was really I've been thinking about it a lot, and he I was stepping outside of my doctor's appointment in the morning and
Shout Outs To Everyday Angels
SPEAKER_01this old man, and I mean like I'm guessing late 80s, early 90s, comes up to me and he asks me where Cinema Village or something, it's the name of a movie theater around there, is and I was I was like, um, I can pull it up on Google Maps for you. So I pulled it up and I showed him where it was, and he kind of started walking that way, and I had for some reason was still standing in place on my phone. He came back, he goes, Can you call 31245? And because he was trying to get in touch with someone who he was meeting up with. Oh wow. And he didn't have a phone on him, and that alone I was like fascinated by this person just like operating without a cell phone in Manhattan. Yeah. And he was meeting a friend of his to go see Hamnet, which is one of the Oscar nominated movies at this movie theater.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And he was like, Oh, I got the address wrong, but I need to tell Susan and how do I get in touch with Susan? And he was like a little frust flustered. So I said, Let's call Susan. I got it. And first of all, he had a phone number memorized. So I was like, whoa. And then it was about three or four blocks away. It was a beautiful day. So I I said, Do you want me to walk with you? And he said, sure.
Helping A Stranger Without A Phone
SPEAKER_01So I walked with him to make sure that he got to where he was going. And he was speaking though in those four blocks, he like gave me his whole life story. Keep in mind, he like I said, 80, 98, late 80s, early 90s, elderly man. I walk fast. And I realized like a block down into this journey that I had not adjusted my pace, but he was keeping up with me. Okay. And not only that, he was lugging these two tote bags full of books. Oh my god. And I said to him, Do you want me to hold those for you? And he goes, No, no, no. This is this is part of my exercise. Oh wow. He was doing a legit farmer's carry, uh-huh. Four blocks with these books, and he he said he gave me his whole life story. His name was Abraham. Okay. He was a Jewish uh a Cuban Jew. Oh. He lives on the Lower East Side. He studied poetry. He's a he was a poet. He was so excited to go see this Hamnet movie, which is I think about Shakespeare. I haven't watched it, but it was nominated for a bunch of stuff this year. And uh I don't know, it was just like a really he oh and he was very touched that I was like walking him to the movies. Right. And he offer he was he gave me his he actually gave me his number and he was like, if you and a friend ever want to go and get some dinner or something, I'd be happy to help you. He said, You must have someone above who who's looking down on you and loves you very much. Oh and it was it was very sweet, but it was one of those moments where I was I I felt like I was time traveling a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yes, when you're helping people, it feels the best thing in the world.
SPEAKER_01Or just interacting with someone who lives in a very analogue different world than I do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's wonderful. Like the guy gave you an opportunity like that to help somebody. He was so nice. Yeah, and he lives in our neighborhood?
SPEAKER_01He lives like closer to the FDR co-ops since 1964. Something said since they went up. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Oh my, it's like if her Hirsch was still alive, there'd be.
SPEAKER_01He asked if I was Jewish. I said, no, but my partner's Jewish. He goes, that's enough.
SPEAKER_02What do you mean that's enough?
SPEAKER_01He goes, that's good enough. Like that's good enough. I thought that's enough I don't want to hear anymore. But it's rare that I have something happens to me during the day that you don't know about. Right together.
SPEAKER_02Right, because you were you were you you are on your own. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And those of you who are actually watching this, Leo now has Oh, we got haircuts. Thank God. Thank God.
SPEAKER_01Thank God. And if you are watching, I keep itching my face because I've started a new retinoid. So we're in the peeling phase right now. It's
Dinner Talk And Dodging Politics
SPEAKER_01a little itchy. But this is what listen, I'm under these lights and these cameras. We gotta keep it together.
SPEAKER_02We have to keep it keep it light. I was at a dinner last I was at a dinner this past Friday night.
SPEAKER_01But without me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was this past Friday night. I was at a dinner and they they were looking to not keep it light. It was very light. We kept it light. They were asking me about comedy and how traveling and how's it going. And at one point, like I could say that they wanted to go political. It was already 1030. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You can't rip the seal at 1030.
SPEAKER_02You can't start that. And like, and the host was like, well, we usually start this before Homozy, but I think if everybody needs to talk about what they think, I said, I don't think anybody wants to talk about politics. Yeah, you were with a very uh sort of Right. And then she's like, and what do you and there were it was an Upper West Side-ish group, which is very you know, um the intelligentsia of the official highly educated, does not work in the creative fields.
SPEAKER_01Right. Read reads lots of lots of editorial.
SPEAKER_02They kept talking about editorial. There was a piece about the neo-ped conservative the op-ed this week in the times. And um it was just so insane. Like that they and then he goes, Well, d well, I'm sure you're not your vibe. And they say to you, I'm sure you read the editorial from Jason Fink about the I said I didn't. I said I didn't. I have it bookmarked for like I I don't I said I don't I don't read the New York Times. I said, it took me three days to get through the article that was written about me in the New York Times. I I I had to take breaks and hours in between the paragraphs because it was so long. I'm definitely not reading an article about that. And then and then like they began speaking about Trump and Netanyahu, and he goes, and what do you think about Netanyahu? I said, I don't, I just don't think about him. I I I don't think about him. That's just I don't have time my day to think about him. Yeah. It's just not my it's there's no space in my head to think about him. I pray for Israel, I pray for everybody that's going through hell, but I to think about him, I I don't. I don't. I'm so not a I I don't say intellectual, but is uh are they intellectuals? Is that what that they're called?
SPEAKER_01I think there's yeah, I mean they're not not, but I think they're who want smart. They have their sound bites and they want to share them with you.
SPEAKER_02And I was with the the the the well when I worked in banking, I worked with uh I worked for and with this uh this amazing uh uh Peruvian guy. I don't mention his name on the on the podcast, but but and his his wife, he he passed away, his former wife was there with with their daughter, which I'd never I'd never met his kids. And his daughter looked just like him, and you can tell she's super smart like he was, like genius smart. You can just look at her and know, oh, this is a genius. And it was just so great to meet her and tell her about her father and how amazing speak well behind his back. I got to spill with his daughter. Yeah. And then we were talking about how I was a personality hire. And she goes, Yep, you were. She goes, he told me all about all the shenanigans you did in the office, and how like when when I went on my own and did um when when the office made me manage the like gave me a different position, I was I was able to help him. You know, when Modi left the office, it was a very dark day.
SPEAKER_01I want to write a screenplay about your Merrill Lynch banking days, like that character of Modi who's banker by day, comedian by night. Yes. That period of time where you were doing both.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Cause you you weren't doing the banker job super well. I was killing it.
SPEAKER_02I mean, you were killing it, but I was like, maybe a VP. A VP. Didn't see how ridiculous that is how ridiculous that is that they gave me a promotion like that.
SPEAKER_01That's a funny movie. So there's a movie or something in there somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It was I ran the office. It was like back in those days, it's not like there was a everything you entered yourself. There was a whole back office. You need to be in touch with them, otherwise, your group would not be able to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01It was the micro skills, not the macro, the the big, not the actual banking skills. You were good at the personal, social and to read the clients, interdepartment skills.
SPEAKER_02To read the clients, and to it's it was a it was a skill.
SPEAKER_01You knew your audience.
SPEAKER_02I knew my audience back then too. Yeah, I really, really did. But to to be the dinner with them was amazing. And I'm looking at her and like I'm just like shocked. She's like 18. She's in college, 18, 19, and I'm like, wow, all those years, all those years.
SPEAKER_01All
Banking Days And Personality Hires
SPEAKER_01those years, are you speaking of next week? We're going to Boston. I don't know when this episode is going up, but March 25th and 26th, you're at the Wilbur Theater. And while we're in Boston, we're doing a forbringing a lot of stuff. Would you like to do that? We are for bringing. Yeah, this this this will air probably right when this completes. I'm not sure because I have another episode in the camp.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. This will probably air right while we're doing this.
SPEAKER_02Right. So we we're going to Boston to do the shoes, two shows at the Wilbur. And obviously, I'm a BU alumni.
SPEAKER_01You are.
SPEAKER_02And was featured in their alumni magazine, which is very nice. And uh a magazine I've been getting ever since I graduated. And I was just like thumb through and put it right in the garbage. And to all of a sudden, thumb through and see your face in there. It's so crazy. You know?
SPEAKER_01Finally, it took them long enough.
SPEAKER_02Took them a minute, yeah. Um, and then uh we're doing a Febrangan, which is a gathering of people, but just you know, like a Jewish Febregan. A hang. A hang, literally a hang, a Hasidic hang where we're gonna be telling uh Torah stories, uh Chasidic stories, singing.
Boston Plans And A Chabad Fabrengen
SPEAKER_02At the Chabad where IU, where I was I was the the president of the Chabad Student Association of You were the president?
SPEAKER_01I was the first president. Okay, I didn't know that. Yeah, I knew you were like Chabadi, but I didn't know you were the president.
SPEAKER_02I was the president, so Chabad was recognized during the years I was there. Chabad was recognized, the Chabad on campus of BU was recognized as a student uh organization. So they had to have a president, vice president, and I I was the first president. I was they made me the president, which means nothing.
SPEAKER_01Personality hire.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but uh a chabad is the the the the the the rabbi is everything.
SPEAKER_01I heard you just tell someone you were the designated driver to get everyone to where the Rebbe was.
SPEAKER_02Right. I was the guy that always drove the four hours back and forth from Boston to 770 when the Rebbe was doing something. I'm gonna bring all those things that we received from the Rebbe up there with us and what we'll because we're gonna be doing the documentary people will be there and doing it.
SPEAKER_01We're working on a documentary, folks. So yeah. They're coming with us to Boston, they're gonna go to this Fabrengan at the Chabad of BU. And then you have we're gonna be touring the lecturing, there's gonna be a lecture circuit.
SPEAKER_02I'll be doing a lecture circuit at Harvard. I'll be scholar and resident at Harvard.
SPEAKER_01You're doing a lunch QA with the Harvard Jewish Law students.
SPEAKER_02So this is a great way, this is a great place to to talk about the word mefargan. When you mefargan somebody. No, no, it's a uh when you're mad that I'm not gonna be. But like here I am. I'm going, I have three events at Harvard. Three events. So I'm saying I'm scholar and resident, I'm lecturing in Harvard, and you're saying you're doing a QA for the Jewish students of Harvard. So that's not you're not.
SPEAKER_01Because I want people to know what you're doing, like actually.
SPEAKER_02I'm actually I'll be speaking at Harvard.
SPEAKER_01That's what I'll be doing. You'll be speaking at Harvard campus. Yeah, on you're speaking on the Harvard campus. Exactly. Yeah, that is true.
SPEAKER_02Yes, with a microphone. I'm just speaking like fucking sugar in the street, you're yelling out, you know. And you're also touring the lampoon. The lampoon, the Harvard Lampoon. They invited me. They're like, from from what I understand, it's very Jewish. Of course. Over there. And so they wanted to show it to me and and like and give me a tour of it, which I'm super excited about. What a what an honor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the chabad of B.U., the Harvard Lampoon, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law, and a Harvard Chabad. QA and the Harvard Chabad. It's a f and two shows at the Wilbur.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and in between, we're doing two shows at the Wilbur. Yes. It's an amazing thing. Yeah. But that's a great word, mefargan. When you give it to somebody, you go ahead, let
Harvard Events And Mufarging
SPEAKER_02it yeah, yeah, let him think that's what he's doing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's not that I'm not I don't no, I I don't I'm not diminishing what you're doing. I'm just ex explaining to people. Yeah. Because people take what you say it like they'll believe you if they hear it.
SPEAKER_02Which is great. They should be talking to other friends and behind my back saying, You know, he's speaking at Harvard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yes. We're gonna get so much so many Harvard sweatshirts.
SPEAKER_02I said, yeah. I should be doing the commencement speed to be honest with you. At Harvard? At Harvard, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. Let's start small. Let's start with a school you actually went to. Let's went, let's do BU. BU. Yeah. Let's put that out there.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's gonna put me in Nassau Community College. Our speaker today is at Turnpike Tech. Please help me welcome Modi.
SPEAKER_01We'd do a hot five. A hot five. And then if you had to do a commencement speech, what words of advice?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's it's good to be here. Priest and a rabbi. I don't know. What would oh I would tell them. What what advice would I give at a commencement speech? A big advice I would give people is the the the students of today that wherever they are, they've no idea why they're there now. And to just make the best of wherever they are, because you don't know what w what where this is bringing you to. Yeah. Like when I was at BU, I had no idea why I was there. No idea why I was there.
SPEAKER_01And only later on I found out I And by later on, I feel like in the last two months in working with this documentary project, you've even before, even before I knew.
SPEAKER_02Even before I knew.
SPEAKER_01Which is what?
SPEAKER_02That I was there to be a part of the Chabad on campus of BU.
SPEAKER_01You were not there for academia. I was not there for you. That was not the reason why you were placed. But I did my academia. You did it. You graduated.
SPEAKER_02I got my degree and and I did it, you know, you know, yeah. With honors. I was honored to be finishing. That was my honor. That's why I said I graduated with honors.
SPEAKER_01It's our honor to get you the hell out of here.
SPEAKER_02My father always said he finished it because he just wanted to get the hell out of there. That's why I didn't fail classes and I didn't do anything like that. You did what you had to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You went to all the office hours, you charmed all your professors.
SPEAKER_02I should have a minor in office hours.
SPEAKER_01I went to every but do you understand that that's a skill and that is putting in the work? It's not like you, it's not like that doesn't diminish what you did by graduating and getting your degree.
SPEAKER_02If I knew I was getting A's on every exam, I would have not gone to the office hours. But I knew I needed to be friends with the professor because then it's very hard for them to fail you. You know, if you if you're like, oh, it's Modi, oh, oh, he yeah.
SPEAKER_01But do you realize between this and what you're describing and then what you did at Merrill Lynch in your banking days, like all of these things are very
Commencement Advice And Finding Your Why
SPEAKER_01valuable, sharp skills that a lot of people don't have. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But you have to develop when you're disleeping.
SPEAKER_01I'm mufarging you for that. Yeah, okay. That that is an incredible thing that you've managed to do. And I feel like you think you've done it as like a survival mechanism, but it's really not that because it's it's really more of a hard skill that you have and you were able to deploy.
SPEAKER_02True. True. What what skill did you did you deploy in college?
SPEAKER_01What skill did I deploy in college? Um I did You're probably a good student. Yeah, I got good grades.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because I was on an academic scholarship that was pending my GPA, so I had to keep a certain GPA.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Which you did.
SPEAKER_01So I was just focused. I didn't really party in college that much. I wasn't like raging in college. I was let me get this piece of paper and get the hell out of here. Right. It wasn't my best years. It wasn't I'm thankful and I I'm lucky that I got to go to college and have that experience, but it wasn't I don't look back on it with like on a pedestal of like, oh my college days.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know?
SPEAKER_02At this dinner the other night there were three college kids that were very like very smart. You could just tell I just hardly explain that they're very smart kids. Because their parents are those people we were just talking about. When your father's a genius and your mom's a genius, you're gonna be a genius too. And they're very smart. And they're like ones at Columbia, ones at Yale, and they're you know, they're very and they sat in a conversation of adults and listened. They didn't give their opinions about anything because they knew they were too young to have an opinion about stuff.
SPEAKER_01Which is a skill which is a skill of its own.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And they just they were just absorbing everything. It was an it was a great, it was great, it was an honor to sit with kids like that. I I I guess it's it's spring break, so that they they they were home, so they went with their parents, like which is altogether a crazy thing that they went with their parents.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I think the youth of today aren't raging for spring break. Um the Gen Z kids are not from what I saw. First of all, if you're in college right now, are you Gen Z? I don't think Gen Z is out in the world as adults fully. These are still Gen Z. This is the tail end of Gen Z, I think. Right. People, I need to look that up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I do think sometimes I regret college-wise that I feel maybe I took too much of an easy route because I had that academic scholarship and I had to have a certain GPA. So I said, what's like the easiest degree for me to get? I wasn't gonna go like biology or engineering.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, no.
SPEAKER_01So I didn't have a journalism degree, which is not a real thing. I should have done something more STEM, something that's more uh equipped to contribute to society than a journalism degree.
SPEAKER_02Uh I feel like you when we have things and articles and things that need to be written, you do it very well. And that was because you also learnt it over there.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, but I think if I didn't have that fear of losing that scholarship, I would have done something more uh technical, science related, probably.
SPEAKER_02And done what with that?
SPEAKER_01Work in an aquarium like we talked about on our last podcast. Marine biology. Marine biology. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's definitely not one thing I was interested in.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, upcoming Boston trip, chock full of activities, and then we get literally off stage. Oh, this reminds me, I have to make sure they're moving the meet and greet for the second show to pre-show. Yeah. We have to do a pre-show meet and greet because we're getting directly off stage and going to the airport and flying to Paris.
SPEAKER_02Right. Doing a meet and greet off stage is horrible. Before doing a meet and greet before a show is just ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01Let me talk to the powers up bee and see how many people it is that we sold tickets for.
unknownYeah.
Celebrities Saying Weird Things
SPEAKER_01Um Timothy Chalamet has been in some hot water over his comments saying that people don't care about ballet or the opera.
SPEAKER_02Which was the best thing that happened to the Boule and opera.
SPEAKER_01What do you think? You think?
SPEAKER_02It's the best thing that ever happened. Nobody was talking about the ballet and opera for years. No one has mentioned them, no one cares about them. And then he all of a sudden brings it up, and people right away, no, it's an art form that has to be supported. And it's in the top. They thanked him. This the Sydney Opera House, that massive, beautiful white thing, thanked him for bringing it up because we have paid PR firms millions of dollars to put opera in the forefront.
SPEAKER_01And the Zeitgeist.
SPEAKER_02And the Zeitgeist. And now he, in two words, no one cares about your opera. He put it right into it. He put it right up there. It's amazing. You you really learn from people who who dislike you, you you learn the the the most.
SPEAKER_01I don't think he was saying it as in he dislikes the ballet or opera. I think he was more reflecting on current society, saying uh it's hard to get people to care about things that aren't movies. And then he said, for example, people don't care about ballet or or the opera.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01I don't think he was saying I, Timothy Chalamet, think ballet and opera is stupid and dumb and no one cares. I think he was more just making an assessment.
SPEAKER_02Believe the word it's an art form that no one cares about. Or he maybe didn't call it an art form.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, maybe I'm taking it out of context.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01My thing is less with what he said and more of I think we should let celebrities say whatever crazy stuff they're thinking.
SPEAKER_02Just remember that no one cares about what his opinion is.
SPEAKER_01Like but we should be encouraging it. We should we shouldn't ostracize them when they when they say these crazy things. We should we should say, Oh yeah, Timothy? What what else is going on in that noggin of yours? Oh really? I feel like we've lost, I think we we're all expecting celebrities to be normal, and they're not normal, and that's whole half of the fun. Yeah. We've lost the art of an aloof celebrity, I think.
SPEAKER_02He he's a famous person. I I don't think of him as a celebrity.
SPEAKER_01He's extremely celebrity. What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02I I I think we did this once. We I to me a celebrity is somebody that they're celebrated. Like they he's famous. He's famous, he's super famous, he's all over everything, he's famous. You could be a celebrity and not be celebrated. I don't think people like light up and are are are happy and celebrate the fact that they're with him or near him. This is my own thing. Yeah, he's he's famous, and he's he's he's but he's not a celeb, he's not celebrated, in my opinion. This is my opinion completely. Oprah's a celebrity because people celebrate her, her okay.
SPEAKER_01Maybe in your metrics that you're using for this right now.
SPEAKER_02Also, uh Tucker Carlson
Enemies Accidentally Doing Great PR
SPEAKER_02is what it's out of his mind, but he mentioned again, you you learn the most from your enemies. So one of the biggest lessons is from the the story of Esther from Haman, the which is the OG uh Amalek and Hamas and and Hezbollah, all of that, that's the origins come from Haman, and he described the Jewish people as Am Mefurakfa Mefuzar, a scattered nation that's that's broken, right? So it's something you learn from your enemy. And Tucker Carlson, who's an enemy of the Jews now, or whatever, that's the way he's getting his attention, mentions that there's a Jewish net, a worldwide global Jewish network called Chabad. Well, I mean, could you ever ask for that?
SPEAKER_01Set of ethica as if it was a very insidious evil thing.
SPEAKER_02Like, imagine you you never heard of this Chabad thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you're like, wait, there's a Jewish worldwide network that I never heard about, and I'm Jewish. And they're on our college campuses. And they're all on college campuses, they're in our they're in our neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01I should look, I should look into this. I I should look at so he did amazing PR for the city.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a great PR stunt for for for Chabad.
SPEAKER_01It really is crazy how Tucker Carlson went off the deep end. I mean, he's always off the deep end, but he had to.
SPEAKER_02They took him off of a of a neck there.
SPEAKER_01So he's like Who's the guy before him that they took off?
SPEAKER_02Raleigh. Uh O'Reilly. Bill Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly. He's not dead, right? No. He's just, we just We just overnight. He used to be huge biggest thing in sugar kite. We'll do it live. Yeah, but but all of a sudden he's just gone. He's just by. Like that. We just forget. Out.
SPEAKER_01Matt Lauer. Boom.
SPEAKER_02Out. Yeah, what's his name? Don Lemon.
SPEAKER_01Out. Don Lemon. Um, wait, there's more.
SPEAKER_02Uh all of them, just out of nowhere. It really shows you in two seconds, you are nothing. Every night you have a show, people tune in, and eight o'clock, it's this hot top of the hour with Don Lemon.
SPEAKER_01The governor of New York.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that yeah, who tried to run for uh was that him? The guy that tried to he was also he had a show?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel like we went through a lot of churn there for a second with on-air uh talent.
SPEAKER_02Which nobody should be watching any news on on on TV to
How We Consume News Now
SPEAKER_02begin with.
SPEAKER_01There's no there's no news. So you don't want to read the New York Times and you don't want to listen to cable news. So headlines. How do you prefer to stay informed?
SPEAKER_02I want just the headlines of what's happening. And I actually have an amazing app that gives it to me. Here's what happened in the past 24 hours in the news. And it's just a picture and tells you what happened. And it goes from like Trump uh blew up this thing here in Iran, Israel killed this guy, uh, France has a new cure for uh some kind of disease, and then China has is making uh hero.
SPEAKER_01Here long a digest. I just want choo, choo, choo, done next.
SPEAKER_02I don't and and and if it's something that's incredibly interesting to me, then I can go and look up more about it. But to invest in sitting down and watching CNN, and then they give you a little bit of the news and they bring on every idiot to talk about it. Here's the former uh doorman of the chief of staffs, and uh, well, I remember working for chief of staff and and then they have their dumb book behind them.
SPEAKER_01I wrote the book, uh, opening doors. Well, speaking of speaking well behind people's back, would you like to thank our sponsors?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
Sponsors Tour Dates And Boiler Fund
SPEAKER_02I want to thank uh our sponsors, AH Provisions. kosher dogs.net is their website. Seth, a close friend and uh of the podcast, uh, a collaborator. Uh best kosher provisions uh available that will come to your home beautifully packaged, number one hot dogs in the world, period. Um, and 30% off of your first purchase with promo code Modi, M O D I. And uh thank you, Seth, for being uh a collaborator. And we'll see you at the Radio City Music Hall shows. And um Whites and Luxembourg, the law firm that not only does well, they do good, super philanthropic. Arthur Luxembourg, friend of mine and of the podcast, and Randy who listens to Randy's wife would listens to the podcast to tell him what we're talking about, and Sixth Street Synagogue. We need a great punchline. It's gotta be something like be the Jew you are, be the Jew you want to Jew to. Yeah, do your thing. I don't know, do you come? There's an amazing synagogue where you can just be you, and their boiler just broke. 30 years they had a boiler that heated the synagogue. And this past Saturday we were there and I was praying in my coat. It was freezing in there, freezing. I went down to get a hot thing of water just to hold it. Yeah, but we broke that boiler and we are raising money for a new boiler of Sixth Street Synagogue, and it's an amazing place, and just it should just be on your radar. If anybody asks you, hey, where should I go in New York? Tell them go see Modi. And where else can they go see Modi?
SPEAKER_01You can come see Modi at um Radio. Well, no, we have well this is Boston is happening. Then you have a sold-out show in Philly. Um Keswick.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Go ahead, do the shows. The Keswick is March 22nd, Boston, March 25th, 26th. Um, you're in Milwaukee, April 15th, Cincinnati, April 16th. Um, then you're in Radio City Music Hall, April 23rd and 30th. Um, tickets are also on sale for Atlantic City in August uh at the Ocean Casino Resort. And we're adding more shows soon. Those are going live. We're finalizing some stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, everything's available on Motelive.com. And don't just get tickets for yourself, get tickets for friends. Be the friend that brings the friends to the comedy shows. That creates machir energy. I'm sorry I sound like I'm you've got a little bit of allergies. The allergies have kicked in. I am I'm a week, I should have started the nays, the flow nays a week ago.
SPEAKER_01I love you, but I feel like you say this every year. I know. We we should set an alarm on the calendar or something. So can you do that? March is there like a farmer's almanac or something like that. March first. I just March first, you should thump into the nose. Yeah. It's like every year you say, Oh, I should have started this a week ago.
SPEAKER_02I mean, you've been back on stage. You started to to open the shows again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have to get my looks together for Radio City. I still not sure exactly what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02But every time you ask where the podcast listeners, people just go, Ah, yeah. So we love you. We're so happy that you guys are listening and watching the podcast. And like really religious people come over to us afterwards. I'm like, my wife watches your your radio show. Um we should have a radio show. This isn't a radio show, yeah. It is. This is a radio show, yeah. By any form of means, yeah. So um that's it. No? Yep. Yeah, thank you all very much for listening. Uh, thank you to our sponsors. Thank you, everybody, that's been coming out to shows and selling them out. And we love you. And uh again, find the show near you or near your friends and just come. Live laughter is literally feeling Mashiach energy. Bye. Bye.