Anania Loves Anime

Let's be honest, you don't go to the family holiday gift exchange just to participate. You go to win. This year, get a gift that'll cause a stir. A KitchenAid stand mixer. It's not just an appliance, it's a present to help them with the making. Year after year, recipe after recipe, you're enabling the family to whip up new traditions. Tis your season to mix it up. Gift a KitchenAid stand mixer this year, and make more than meals. This is a HeadGum Podcast. When you came on my show, one of the comments were like, Midwest princes. And I was like, oh, not that. Oh, boop. And I literally, like 30 seconds later, I went to go see it again, and it was deleted. I was like, work! Yes! New comment. Midwest royalty. Ananiya! What I wanted to tell you was, before we actually get into it. Come on. I was reading your Wikipedia, because every time I go on a podcast, I feel under research. Yeah. I was reading your Wikipedia, and I go to personal life. It's three sentences. The first one is, he is gay. And period, by the way. I was like, oh, yeah, that's pretty important. I see that. I see that for him. Yes. Oh, my God, that is so funny. What is the first sentence of yours? Do you know? I don't know. I don't even know if I have a Wikipedia. No? No? Not on there? Damn. Someone needs to put you on there. Whack me. Whack me. Yeah, wow. Chance that you don't. It's just like that. That's all right. I'll be there. Dude, I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. You have been, I'm a little worried about my friend. Uh-oh. Because you're busy. I am. You've been really busy lately. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's been, I feel like it's a lot. How are you doing? Um. Right. First of all. Someone yesterday, when I was literally filming yesterday, someone was like, how are you doing spiritually? And I was like, oh, I've been spiritually exhausted for three months now. Oh, I need to check. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I'm paying my rent. Apartment? Yeah. New York. Got a new apartment. I do. I just moved into this new apartment. About, it's either, what day is it? What day is it? I think it might be two months now. Yeah. It's been like two months. What's the address and unit number? Oh, sure. So, what is this? This is 20, anyway. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Well, I'm so excited for your new apartment. I'm so excited that Gaydar is going so well. Thank you. And thank you for doing my show. I was thrilled to be on it. We're so versatile. We're going show for show. Me and you. Mm-hmm. Let's flip-flop. Honestly, Caleb, I would like to see it. Yeah? Yeah. I don't know if we would have good sex, though. Me and you? Yeah. What makes you say that? Because I obviously was hurtful to hear. I don't know if you're, I don't know if I'm ready. Maybe that's, it's- You don't know if you're ready for our sex. Yeah. Like, I don't know if I'm able to receive or give you what you might need. You might not be. Yeah. That's okay. Based on, based on you saying that. It's fine. Well, I'm also going off of your personal life and Wikipedia. Yeah. And you are gay. I'm gay, yeah. So I don't know how much fun you would have with what I got going on. Yeah. I'm Barbie smooth down there. Yeah. Nothing going on. Just straight up non-binary vibes. Yes. You get it. Okay, good. I get it. I'm around for it. Are you? You know I've gotten down with many things. That seems like a threat. No, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Don't be, don't be so sure. Are we going to have sex on, okay, no, no, no, no, no. Not on camera. Not on this camera. I've been, you name a gender, I've been in there. What are you, what are you after? Can we go back just one second? Go ahead. Name a gender. Name a gender. Name a gender. That's crazy. I'm in there. Is that your gender inclusivity? Is that how it happens? I have, look, when, when the time is right and when it's fun, I've been a little bit of everywhere. Wow. Now, did I have a lot of fun with, when I was in high school, I was, I was exploring straight. Not for me. This is also on the Wikipedia. Straight was not for me. Yeah. Wow. But I gave it to you. Yeah. I made a good faith effort and I feel that so many people don't. Absolutely. You know? I think that's really beautiful. I think the problem with America is a lot of people aren't inclusive with their hearts, but maybe they're inclusive with their penis. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm, I'm, I'm giving, I'm both. I'm both. I'm community heart. I'm community heart. This heart's been passed around. What are you looking for? Are you single? I'm not. I have a boyfriend. We've been dating for like a year and a half now. How's it going? It's going good, I think. Yeah? I think so. I mean, this is like my, like, really serious adult relationship. My first one. So I'm really excited about it. It is kind of crazy to like, um, you kind of have to let go of a lot of baggage to be in a long-term relationship. Yeah. So it's always like a, I'm always working on something. You know what I mean? But it's fun and I love him a lot. I remember when people on Facebook took that very seriously. Oh my God. You know, like the single, it's complicated, engaged or married thing. That was fun. Or poking. You remember when poking meant something? Girl, you are right. I remember poking. Poking. I was poking. I was poking bitches down. I was poking. If you got a poke from me, it meant something. What did it mean? I wouldn't say. It depended. It depended. Like I would, you know, what's so crazy is I remember in like, I had me and one other little closeted gay boy in high school that we were both closeted gay boys out to each other. Oh, that's sweet. It was sweet. Community. Sisterhood. Community. And of course it started with hooking up. Oh. Okay. But then we'd be like, we'd be like, oh my God, one of the straight guys from school poked us on Facebook. Like, what does it mean? Like, we would try to determine like, does that mean he's gay? Like. And it's so nebulous. You never know. The gymnastics you would do in high school to try to find out if another boy was gay. Right. So intense. Oh, good for you. I wish I came out a little earlier, but I kind of, I'm kind of enjoying this. Not late in life, but I definitely had my time to sit on it. Yeah. Yeah. What? You grew up in Davenport, Iowa. I did. Yeah. Quad Cities. Yes. Come on. We talked about this a little bit. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. How was it? Um. First of all. I'm happy I'm not there anymore. I'll say that much. But I do. The other day I got a little homesick and I don't know what it was. Oh, um, you literally yesterday we were filming and I saw two tractors go by and I was like, oh, I could have had it all. You could have had it all. I could have been working like mid-level John Deere and sucking dick in a bathroom. Yeah. You could have had everything. Just scratched the itch. You in a pair of overalls up on a tractor. Kind of kind. Kind of kind. I think that's my next birthday shoot. It's eating and it's giving and I would love to see. I could do like the country girls make do. Yes. Just have my ass out in a mini dress. Yes. With a dripping piece of corn in the foreground. Just holding a drill on something it shouldn't be on. Yes. Yeah. I love that. I recently did buy a drill for my new apartment. Pink. So I can be butch. Did you get the pink set? No. I got like a. Oh God. Like a real like. I don't even know. Yeah. The lesbian said to get it so I got it. That's what it is. Right. It's you have to take the lesbian's lead on that stuff. Right. Yes. What's making you happy lately? Hmm. What's making you happy in life? Buy my new apartment. There's a Wendy's. There's a Popeye's. There's a Dunkin Donuts. There's a Sonic and a grocery store literally as soon as I walk out the door. I could weep. Across the street. I could weep. I haven't eaten anything but fried food in two months. Okay. People also I think they don't. I want people to really understand when the way. That you're going right now. You've got gaydar. You have all your other stuff. You're in this show right now that we're going to talk about. You have so much going on that like genuinely being able to grab a fucking chicken sandwich on the way out the door is like necessary. It actually has been saving my life. It really does. The juxtaposition of what's in my fridge versus what's in my closet is crazy. Yeah. Like I'm pulling like I have like all these like outfits and stuff just in case I got to go or I have to do like a one off shoot or something like that. But in my in my refrigerator. There's three eggs Polynesian sauce from Chick-Fil-A. Yeah. There's nothing in there that could actually sustain me. But I do look kind. You do. Looks good all the time. Oh my gosh. Oh don't worry about that. No no no no. That's okay. There's urine on the floor. Chance can we clean up the urine? Yes sir. I'm sorry. Thank you. Don't be. We like that adds character to the show. Also I was just noticing while you're talking that how well the mic matches your boots and work. Bow and outfit. Like you know you all you have a sixth sense for these things. Thanks. Like a true diva does. I can't wait until I'm styled instead of styling myself though. Yeah. All right. Oh my God. Chance trying to crawl under the cameras. This is they're going to see this chance. It's my love. Just get the tendrils. Thank you. Get the offshoots. Get the tributaries. Yep. Great job chance. We appreciate you. He can't help him Lord. He can't. I love. We're not cutting any of that. We're leaving all of that. You at one point just kind of quietly. My love. I wasn't expecting all that but work. Okay. Wait. I want to know this. Okay. Davenport Iowa. Now you live in New York City. I do. Tell me about the in between. I will. It's just so interesting because you're a great interviewer and I like to think I'm a good interviewer and you're a great interviewer. Thank you. It's hard to like you want to interview you. No, you want to turn it back on me. No, I do this as well. Fuck Davenport, New York in between. Um, so after that, well, for college, I went to Emerson college in Boston. I was there for four years. Then I did a gig in North Carolina for a couple months, moved back home, almost myself. And then I was joking, joking, joking, moved to Chicago. I was a lesbian in Chicago and then I moved to New York. I love that. Yeah. When you were. Emerson, I know you studied performance, but then you also a minor in peace and yes peace and social justice peace and social justice i don't have a fucking wikipedia and you found that out baby you think we're playing around over here i live i live for that we take this very seriously work what does how did you decide on that and also what does that look like i've never heard of that yeah um honestly i i was always pretty woke but you have to remember i'm from iowa yes so i think during the 2020 riots with um black lives matter really woke me up i was like okay i could be doing something about this and this is also when i started making content and when i first started making content it was just political like i was just weighing in on like things like people should care about and sharing mutual aid funds and all that kind of stuff so i decided to just go in that direction my peace and social justice minor really helps with like um knowing what to do in terms of protest advocacy and um research with like any kind of political um thing i guess like i got the minor because i never wanted to be in a position where i didn't know what to do and i could help other people figure out what to do as well yeah you know so that's basically what i wanted out of it yeah and it was too hard for me to do a double major so i just stuck with the minor yeah so the gig in north carolina what was that we i was doing a hunchback of notre dame and wedding singer oh my god fun like summer stock or something like what was that yeah that's so fun it was so much fun and then we did hunchback with um an actual deaf actor and he had like a shadow that was singing um singing the songs while he was signing oh wow so kind that's one of my favorite shows i've ever been in that fucking rocks yeah so did that and then went back home for a little bit and then what was was the plan to go home and and just like hold yourself over until you could go to new york yeah well i thought i thought i was gonna move to new york one year sooner than i did i thought i was gonna move to new york one year and sooner than i did i just don't have enough money yeah like it is impossible to move here unless you have x amount in your savings account and you know i just didn't i just didn't i was like what do you mean i need to pay over a thousand dollars for one room every month yeah i just wasn't there and the months keep coming and they keep coming more than one month yeah i was like oh god no it's the first of the month every week somehow right yeah i literally went back home for maybe maybe months yeah couldn't do it anymore and i was like i know i could afford chicago no shade and um i moved to chicago yeah yeah oh yeah you moved to chicago after school too after college yeah chicago chicago was where chance and i both moved after college nice to do improv and stuff where'd you live i lived in logan square nice i loved logan square i was in lakeview oh gay gay and a lot of the theaters were close to there so it was like easy oh sure like the improv theaters were over there and stuff i always wish i was closer to boystown because every time i had a drag gig it was like a 30 minute drive exactly correct yeah yeah but logan's way cooler i loved logan square i miss it all the time i miss chicago all the time the chicago queer scene is so fun it's so and it's just like i feel like they get it in a way that new york definitely has gotten it's just like not as um the word coming to my mind is violent it's like not as i don't know there's like not as much um contention with other queer people in chicago it's just like we're rooting for each other more yeah i figure and i'm so happy i started actually um performing in drag in chicago wow yeah i felt so like liberated to do so it was crazy do you remember your first ever drag show yeah it was um roscoe's um they have a open stage night every tuesday yeah and that's when i did um i did warning by fantasia for no reason let's go i don't know why let's go i've always thought my first drag song would be um only girl in the world by rihanna yes of course but then i was like well what if i didn't do that for whatever the fuck reason was yeah and i don't know it was probably the worst i've ever done in drag but i honestly some of the most fun so you have to you just have to start yeah i've had the pleasure because of being in chicago of watching so many drag queens yeah uh get good at it like they your friend starts and the wig is horrible and the fit is bad and the song is not like but then they get they they learn their makeup and their style and i've gotten to watch so many queens figure out their thing yes it's like watching someone get good at stand-up it's so beautiful absolutely yeah yeah it's so fun um so you're in chicago and how long are you in chicago i was in chicago just for a year yeah and then what took you to new york i finally saved up enough money this is when i was doing pretty well on social media too so i was like i was making enough money to move to new york and then i moved in with my best friend cedric um we went to school together we went to college together yeah and i moved to flatbush of course as we all do as we all do what um well i'm you and i are from very similar places like yes small town iowa small town missouri i moved to chicago you moved to originally to boston right what was like the oh go ahead baby um when you came on my show one of the comments were like midwest princes and i was like oh not that oh boop and i literally like 30 seconds later i went to go see it again and it was deleted yeah yes new comment midwest princess i was like i live i live oh that's so funny it was everything what was the uh what was the biggest like how was that transition for you moving from small town iowa to boston there was a culture shock for sure i mean and i mean straight at the time i was still a straight man at the time thank you for your service no thank you yeah i know you get it too yeah um it was just a lot like i was i was constantly like surrounded by queer people in a way that i have never in my life before like i think there was some kind of pull at my school and more than 50 percent of i don't know what the percentage is but we were gay everybody yeah i can everybody was gay yeah and i was like this is crazy i don't even know this and i just picked the school you're like this is so crazy because i'm straight how did i end up here i was like no this can't be right but i guess if i have to when i think of home come on yeah um so i was like this isn't gonna last long and i literally started uh hooking up with guys maybe the next year like the next beginning of sophomore year i was still in the closet i didn't come out until the pandemic of course yeah that was how it was supposed to be and then it was the pronoun pipeline from there i know the pronouns start coming and they don't stop coming they don't stop coming one thing about the pronouns ah once they come they don't stop coming i've seen it i've seen it a million times yeah you've been in them i've seen the pronouns i've been in there i've been up close for the pronoun journey that's crazy that's crazy okay so then okay you moved to new york what is the show you're in right now tell us about the show oh i'm in an off-broadway production called saturday church yeah it's an adaptation from a movie from 2017 yeah yeah you're singing in this show oh we're singing down in the show yeah i'm having the time of my life it's awesome why should uh why should people come and see it what's the what's the draw what's the thing and bear with me stay with me gay kid gay black kids like oh i sing pretty let me sing in the choir the aunt's like no you're gay and you're in church you can't be gay in church he's like but i wanna and the mom's like too busy because um the gay kid's dad just died oh my god i'm bastardizing this real bad the gay kid's dad just died and the mom's like i'm gonna cope with working all the time so then um the gay kid's like what i have no community so then he goes to a place called saturday church gay kids um trans people um going with trans people on the second go around yeah yeah trans people um and they're like hey come you can be gay here yeah and then um he gets in a fight with his boyfriend the aunt finds out he has a boyfriend the pastor's like don't be gay um he runs away he comes back and then there's a ball they they need to the social media for your show needs to clip just that minute gay kid doesn't want to church just can't be gay at church but sings at the other place just clipping that down and putting it out honestly i think that's pretty good i think i got all the i didn't spoil i guess i did i think people should just come see it because it's like it's actually really important for where we are politically right now in our country i um i think it shows the queer black experience in a way that hasn't been done before like these things are like the things he's are he's going through are very real like they're not like they're not like they're not like they're not absorbently traumatic you know what i mean like there is like some things he goes through that are traumatic but at the end of the day it's like through his community and through like dealing with grief and acceptance and love and all that stuff he figures out who he is and who he can be and his family supports him at the end of it it's a very it's a it's a feel good which i really really like yeah a happy ending a happy ending yeah we don't get those very often nope yeah nope it's nice to see them on stage and screen it's rare um i want to ask you so many questions you can ask me a question how do do the people know you're in devil wears product oh yeah this is this is okay how's it going it's great i'm finished oh my god are you really i wrapped yeah wow how long was your shooting schedule maybe on it for i think i was i think i was booked for 23 days and i ended up working for like i don't know 16 or 17 okay scheduling wise it worked out that way nice um yeah it was great it was so much fun that's amazing it's funny by the time this comes out i will have already done it but i'm doing seth meyers this week okay and i'm sure they'll want to talk about that and i'm like i'm like wondering what i'll say because it was just so lovely like it's like there's there's really nothing that interesting in being like oh it was a dream come true everything i expected everyone was the nicest i've ever worked with was there a rosebud thorn of it um i mean the whole thing was just genuinely lovely there really wasn't a downside it was like we were shooting on a soundstage that's awesome weather wasn't an issue we didn't like you know when you're on location you have your trailer on the fucking side of the road or whatever we're in like a gorgeous soundstage like studio building with like green rooms here right here and yeah in new york nice and um yeah it was just like a beautiful fun experience that's amazing good for you yeah really i'm so excited to see it yeah i mean i can't wait for it to come out i'm very excited and my yeah my character in it is great and i hope i am i hope that all the scenes i shot get into the final film that'd be great for me yeah yeah yeah but you know they don't have to so exactly um yeah we'll just see but i loved it that's amazing it was so fun what how many movies is this now this year fourth total uh total i guess i this year i filmed three about to film a fourth wow total how many movies have i been in i used to be funny i used to be funny jurassic world is that it on movies sweethearts the biggest one and my yeah sweethearts duh um so yeah i guess like six or seven total okay work it's going now good for you it's going now that's awesome there were many years where it was not going amen amen you're just begging you're trying to make the case all the time and it's like i mean the particular thing for me is like when they wanted somebody fat they wanted like a an old gruff like masculine construction worker guy and then when they wanted somebody gay they wanted like a thin white twink absolutely and so it's just like i never feel i never felt when i was starting out like anything made any sense for me ever and so just like i mean we all have our versions of this right but of like trying to convince someone that i have a place in this absolutely and then it starts going and you're like oh they figured it out yeah they figured it out i'm in that phase right now i feel like where i'm like so close like i can feel like i could break through at any moment yeah and i'm going to and you are going to well somebody somebody asked you recently where you want to be in five years and you said happy rich and a tony winner right yeah yeah is that the goal still i think so i always had this um this thought that i'd have an egot by 30 so um i'm making good progress how old are you 25 you got time i got time five years to get those one a year and one for buffer i think that's pretty good yeah one year off right one year off in there right i can go to one a year and then one year and just chill out for a year after i get my oscar yeah chilling out yeah that's for sure that's where i'm at that's where all the midwestern gay guys go to a snowbird all the older gay guys in missouri are snowboarding in pv i changed my mind i want to go to cherry yeah there we go make it happen i want to be free what's where what's like your dream like bucket list like travel destination that you haven't been oh my god good question i think i have a list my phone's over there um that's on the top of my head i know i want to go to tokyo really bad um i've been to paris i've been to london um i want to go to oh venice i want to figure out what's going on with those aqueducts yeah um yeah is that what it's called canals canals right are they canals canals yeah that but i want to know why the buildings are in water yeah and why are they frankly i don't i'm sure damn same deal i feel like i just need to i need to dip my toe in that water yeah really i think it's because they have they used to transport stuff sure they're so old but like what's the foundation of the building under the building right yeah that scares me to think about yeah well you said all those like buildings all those houses that were built on stilts on the beach in north carolina now yes are like getting taken out yeah that's kind of interesting that's what it feels like to me like that feels like the next step yeah is that they just go out there venetians weigh in um venetians let us know what your buildings are on are they called venetians people from venice yeah right and i've got it here uh firstly the city's lagoons provided a natural defensive barrier against invaders lagoon like the middle ages yeah but what are the buildings on chance what are they on they're on uh it's on a lagoon and they're through canals and they're on stilts they're on stilts are you kidding me wow that's crazy i don't understand architecture one bit it just feels like that's a lot of faith and a couple of sticks especially old-timey like back then like you imagine when they built like the san francisco like the golden gate bridge oh my god how trusting you had to be i'm terrified of bridges for sure do you have any phobias yeah but they're all politically incorrect yeah there's that and then um if heights can get to me okay heights can get to me not always but i can get scared of a height is it that you're you're you're scared you're gonna fall like you're what is it about the height i like to have control sure in general i'm with you on and i don't have control when i'm up high right because the height has the control well you obviously have control in that moment because you're still here yeah i mean that's a nice way to look at it it just doesn't feel that way i feel powerless when i'm high you know yeah when i'm up there yeah well but anyway what are your phobias you have any snakes wow um tripod phobia like the little clusters of small holes i have some friends with that yeah oh yeah i don't like thinking about that and um i just said it i forgot snakes shape phobia bridges bridges of course yeah i'm scared of bridges my mom has a uh i don't maybe she got over it i she had a fear of bridges at one point i haven't checked in recently i don't want to speak ill of her if she's cool with bridges now right there's she's allowed to grow can you go over bridges like what is your absolutely i have to i mean i grew up off the um the arsenal bridge in davenport so i had to but it's just like sometimes maybe it's because i'm catastrophizing maybe 80 of the time it's just like there's no way you can save yourself if a bridge were to collapse and you're on it yeah you know it's over like those kind of things where you can't find a kind of stresses me out a lot it's big over if you're in the middle of a bridge and it goes down that's the end for you like you can't jump to the other side there's nothing yeah yeah and also things are clanging around it's like too it's too scary oh my god but it would never yeah it's not no it's just not gonna happen it's not our truth yeah not our story yeah okay now i know what you have phobias of right and if you look under your chair you'll find six snakes there are trans snakes in the studio there are transsexual snakes well that'd be con that's just brooklyn bushwick you've been called out let's be honest you don't go to the family holiday gift exchange just to participate you go to win this year get a gift that'll cause a stir a kitchenaid stand mixer it's not just an appliance it's a present to help them with the making year after year recipe after recipe you're enabling the family to whip up new traditions tis your season to mix it gift a kitchenaid stand mixer this year and make more than meals i'm gonna ask you this question okay and i want you to be so honest with me if you for the rest of your life could only hear two albums and i mean i don't love this i'm talking like when you're in the grocery store when you're in an uber when you're watching a movie the only music you hear for the rest of your life has to come from two albums cannot be a greatest hits album what two albums are you picking what do you mean by greatest hits it can't be a greatest hits album it like can't be like you can't do like a compilation gotcha gotcha it has to be two albums that are like technical albums mine usually just to get you started i'll usually say miseducation of lauren hill oh taste and fly by the chicks oh work two incredible albums oh my god okay i think i'm gonna have to go i think i'm gonna have to go and i'm thinking like for the rest of my life i'm gonna say brand new eyes paramour wow and i'm torn between b-day and cowboy carter wait rest of my life b-day cowboy i'm gonna say cowboy carter really i was gonna go b-day i love b-day is my favorite album but i think like where i'm at as a 25 year old like cowboy carter really made a lot of sense to me like i felt connected to that story yeah so i'm thinking about for the rest of my life i think it's only gonna age i think cowboy carter is gonna age much better than b-day did yeah in 50 years you know what i mean tell me about paramour what's your connection to paramour well first of all every black person you know likes paramour i know that whether they know it or not yeah um my sister was the one who got me into it really because she used to listen to it a lot growing up um and my sisters and i were 10 years apart i have a half sister who's i think five years older than me and i have a younger brother who's three years younger than me but my middle sister she's 10 years older she left the house when i was like what nine for college or something like that but she left all of her like her cds and stuff so i was listening to like wicked paramore i was reading the twilight books like all of these things at the fresh age of nine yeah so i remember listening to the paramore stuff and i was like this is loud um first of all whatever the fuck this is whatever and i put it down for literally 10 years and as soon as i got to college i was like i know this band and i know they're good and i know ain't it fun and uh still into you but what else do they got yeah blew my mind absolutely blew my mind so yes so black people love paramore black people love paramore this is a constant in my life yeah all my black friends love paramore yeah and i love paramore do you what what is that is it because hayley williams like came up in the church as an incredible vocalist or like what is the connection well i've i've been theorizing what this might mean i think it's kind of why black people love anime too it's like there's a certain level of i'm so gassy it's the red bull it's the red it's the red bull there's a certain level of like catharsis in the music i guess it feels good to have that kind of like um a mixture of the bpm the vocals the message all that comes together and it makes like a really powerful message at least for me yeah because i'm not i'm not every black person you know um okay yeah or not i hadn't thought about that yeah that's not yeah that makes sense um i don't know i don't know i don't know um and i say it's the same as anime because when i watch like especially like a shonen like action anime it's kind of the same thing it's like the message the tone the animation the characters all come together for something that's cathartic yeah in a way i think that's my i think that might be why i don't know you kind of just really made me want to watch anime because i'm not an anime person are you not i've never really watched anime have you ever watched an anime can you like think of one that you might have what's a really popular anime i my favorite one's naruto it's probably the most popular never seen it okay that's crazy you've seen dragon ball z a little right oh sure is that that's anime yeah and pokemon maybe oh yeah okay i've seen i've seen these when i was a kid yeah but those aren't the i feel like when i think of anime what are like i feel like that's not what i think of as anime why do i think that i'm just wrong i think maybe because it was i guess it was given to like western kids as like a children's show yeah i thought maybe there was like more i thought there was maybe like deeper anime that people were into as adults when people say they're into anime are they watching dragon ball z is that what they mean they can yeah okay cool it's it's like for like some of my favorite anime are uh number six naruto full metal alchemist brotherhood i would say um given raced death parade like all of these are like they have really adult themes and most of these yeah um anime is sailor moon anime it is i know about sailor moon because so many queer people dress as that yeah she's pretty iconic too yeah and i think there's a gay girl in the show there's a gay girl we're gonna dub that over in the edit are you just saying it perfectly with this look and then it's not ai it's just good editing it's a dub anime okay maybe i need to tap into anime i think you should yeah i think you should i mean if you ever i have a google doc of anime recommendations legitimately please send my way we'll do what are your favorite musicals of all time good question ah oh caleb i feel like jill scott and why did i get married and she goes oh god that movie is horrible for her oh yeah it's been i would hate to be memed to hell like that um my favorite musicals next to normal the color purple but safe yeah i like this musical called title of show there's a pretty racially um questionable moment in my life i don't know if i can get past that but i think we can get past that okay um seems like it's probably not up to me to decide so i'll take your word for it yeah yeah yeah uh it's just a matter of perspective yeah okay sure yeah um i really like falsettos and then like you know like the easy ones like wicked rent chicago is falsettos the name of a show yeah okay i didn't know if you meant like the concept of falsettos or if there's a show called falsettos no it's a show called falsettos i didn't know that i'm so sorry i love to learn i'm impressed i would see falsettos do you want to go see falsettos is it on right now no it's not oh i was like yes i'll go with you musicals do what are you a musical person do you have favorite musicals no okay well um which ones do i like okay chance you know what ones i like uh legally blonde ah lovely i guess i liked that i don't i don't like when people when the emotion gets really big and all they can do is sing that kind of bothers me so should i fucking myself or i like seeing i want you to know that's my job i like seeing my friends in anything i want to come see your show i went to all chances um i don't really like when people make jokes on a microphone yeah is that anything that was tough to hear that was really tough to hear that was really tough to hear what do you think okay it's all right it's okay caleb came to see me in runaways okay i did i saw i see i saw all chances you know did you like it i love supporting my friends oh god it means the world to me to support my friends caleb musicals are just hard because also the theater is hard in general for me i love the theater i have so much respect for the theater they need to do something about the chairs oh absolutely sorry i'm with you a hundred percent i'm tall i'm fat and i can't be living like this it feels like this it's akin to like being in a plane like it's the worst feeling ever yeah and it's a night out yeah when you go to on a plane you're like i have to do this to get somewhere yeah going to the theater and being uncomfortable for two and a half hours is like i'm dude this was the activity if i don't get an aisle seat i literally cannot sit in the chair it would be like if your friend was like i'm a flight attendant would you come sit middle row economy for a couple hours and watch me do my thing it's like well yeah if you really want me to but i'm gonna have a bad time i don't know if i would it's hard i don't know what i don't know if i would it's hard i've been in an era of saying no and i love it yeah i love saying you're in your no era i love it you're no i love it whoa well my thing is like if i genuinely know i can do good by you or for you i will do it yeah but if it's like i have to extend myself in a way that i don't want to in this moment i'm gonna say no yeah i'm gonna say no no is powerful love it i've been on no let's be honest you don't go to the holiday gift exchange just to participate you go to win this year cause a stir gift a kitchenaid stand mixer to whip up new traditions tis your season to mix it up for years good for you i've been living in no for a long time it's crazy it's like like mid-20s right now it's like how have i not been doing this my entire life you're so young i don't feel that but yeah you're so young i don't feel that at all i feel like i've been here many many years but you know being queer it's like once you turn 26 you're kind of dead i'm 30 damn yeah you're saying that to a 30 year old and isn't your birthday in january yeah so it'll be 31 so you think i've been dead for four years what kind of flowers would he might want tulips you know what i have good news for you what it only gets better okay i'm excited when you get to my age you're gonna see things all kinds of different ways and the crazy thing about healing the crazy thing about getting not getting rid of but coping with trauma is like now i feel like i will be 30 one day you know which is good i love that feeling this was a big part of my problem as well i never saw myself i was when i all my whole life up to like 17 i was like i don't see myself and then when i turned 18 genuinely every year after that i've been like oh this is a miracle color me gagged when i found out that was just a trauma response yeah i was like not me being alive still serious like that like come on i was just having a little fun yeah no um yeah i should be therapized but yes i'm so glad that you're here thank you i'm so glad that you're here too just so you know yeah are you in therapy i kind not anymore yeah i got to a point where i didn't this sounds bad but i didn't need it anymore it doesn't sound bad you fix certain problems yeah right i might go in soon for like maintenance just to get like better coping skills with like certain work things but no i was in therapy like five months no what is it october yeah five months ago i stopped going yeah and how's it been pretty good i'm actually really proud of myself when it comes to that i've like been able to you i guess like self-navigate or maybe self-therapize like problems that have been coming up and i'm really proud of myself for that what is that you did you think that's the biggest thing you've gotten out of therapy so far yeah when i first started doing therapy i think maybe two or three years ago every session i would be crying and i was like okay maybe it was good that i was here yeah i was like okay my bad i didn't even know that it was like that yeah um and this year it's been about like a lot of the problems i'm having now it's just like work related and like self-care and she wasn't telling me this sounds bad too but she wasn't saying anything that i didn't know yeah it was just a matter of i guess i needed someone else to tell me to do the things that i know how to do i guess yeah it was like leave out time for yourself cook your own meals stop going to wendy's right right maybe figure out a way to go to sleep without jerking off yeah so why i know i haven't got past that one that one seems harmless i'll let you know when i do i'll text you yeah you text me at like 6 a.m one morning i did it good news king i just slept without jerking off i fucking did it i fucking did it that one seems harmless it is harmless i think it is yeah but who knows yeah i've been thinking about getting back to therapy but mostly because i i really relate to the thing about like well a therapist has never told me something i don't know frankly like that's just reality that they're every time i've been in therapy they've said things that i'm like duh like i'm sorry just duh i know that i feel like a lot of it is just like you need someone to say you need to do it you need the yeah and i think i want someone to be there keeping keeping track like i would like to i'd like to be with someone who's like remember three months ago when you were working on that thing and now it's better because i will have that realization myself sometimes way too late that i'm like you've gotten way better at this thing yeah i would like to maybe i'm thinking about going back to therapy now because i'm like that would be nice to just have someone who's like hey how's that thing going okay how's that thing you were working on are you the same way with like creatively with when it comes to your comedy and like work and stuff like that i mean like do you need like partners and stuff to keep you motivated no i'm very self-motivated and i would actually like to incorporate more collaboration into my creative life i see what you're saying yeah i do pretty much everything on my own creatively okay cool like in terms of like ideating now making things like there's a whole team to make everything i obviously can't engineer the show nicole does that i need chances help michelle's help i have a lot of help in my life but when it comes to like writing jokes finishing the script getting the thing that like the creative uh stuff that needs to come from my brain yeah i would like to work in more ways to like um extract that stuff okay with other people i think that'd be fun do you have any advice for me to start stand up are you thinking about starting stand up i want to oh my god the next natural thing i need to do that makes me so happy i love that well my advice is just start doing it okay and um open mics were never any good for me personally i didn't have fun at them they were deeply misogynistic which made me and homophobic which made me mad and even when they weren't i just didn't feel like it was useful information sorry six comics barely paying attention to you laughing at your material tells you nothing about a joke a lot of comics i deeply love and respect disagree with that my personal opinion is that it's just not good feedback okay so what here's here's the advice i would give you or anyone who's thinking about starting stand up is there's always room for more of us please do it i don't subscribe to the idea that we need fewer stand-ups we need more people who give a about it and actually want to be good at it yeah so if that's you come on out and then what i would say is like get booked on some some some show friend shows and things like low stakes shows to build some material and then after you have a good little base of material if you want to test new stuff ask to jump on someone's show or do a booked show like in new york it's like union hall little field bell house these are those places and the way i test new material without doing open mics is well now i could put up a new material show if i wanted to like i'm lucky to have an audience like that but when i didn't i would do like a 70 30 or a 60 40 where i would do like i would open with a a really strong joke that i've done before that i know works and then i would try some new stuff and then i would middle with a strong existing joke try some new stuff and then close with a strong existing joke okay so it's like i'm not robbing the audience of a good set yeah i know that i'll open open middle and close on something that's tested and works but i'm also not robbing myself of the chance to get a genuine audience reaction to that's really smart working on okay wow that's one piece of advice i can give you well thank you i appreciate it i would love to see you do stand up i would love to see it too and the thing is i kind of all of my jokes are already posted online you know what i mean like i'm already a comedian i just need to take literally what i post on tick tock and make a story out of it so i'm excited absolutely this is something i'm thinking about doing maybe next year i'm pretty booked until the end of it so of this year i love it i think also something to consider is like there are a lot of people who put like uh great stand-up such a great writer he's just on the show too i love him and he tests a lot of stuff online and then takes it to the stage so oh yeah that's one way to do it and then another way a way that i like to do it is if i have something that's really juicy and really good that i think is going to be amazing like if i think it's like stand-up that i'm going to love i won't say it anywhere else oh and i'll save it for the stage and that sometimes is really fun too to be like oh if i have this story that i love that i think is so juicy and like so it stays fresh and then i just don't know there's been many a comedian in new york that i've seen online and i'm like i know every single one of your punchlines already yeah i got you i think saving some stuff for the stage is so such a gift having some allure exactly some mystery some mystique i i'm excited for your stand-up era thank you who do you have like stand-up uh inspirations yes i'm so glad you asked obviously bob i love bob the drag queen she's like one of my biggest inspirations um bob is so funny and smart it's insane it's smart yeah like so smart yeah um do you know who ali sadiq is i don't he's really funny he's um i remember watching one of his specials and i think i was um just listening to it and the way he can navigate through a story and his timing is perfect i love ali sadiq um it used to be used to be kevin hart too but um what changed i don't know it became too uh flouncy i guess yeah i i'm not gonna go in that direction is what i'm essentially saying i will say on that front and this is no personally no knock on kevin i really respect his craft me too but there is i do think he um it seems that he suffered a little bit from what a lot of stand-ups suffer from which is that stand-up is the people's art form stand-up is a relatability art form yes getting up in front of a room of people and talking about life in a way that makes sense to you and to them i think after his whatever his third netflix thing was because guess what happened yeah he got rich yeah and so you get rich and then if you're lucky you don't lose touch but very few people have been lucky and i think he suffers a little bit now from being like all of his stories are like me and lebron james we're on the pj and it's like i'm bored i do like him with um dwayne the rock johnson yeah they're hilarious together well they're just so they're so in the it's like right there yeah right in there oh and monique as well monique is you know she's one of mine i love monique monique queens of comedy set monique she's a comedy set yeah she is everything you skinny are evil and you need to be destroyed you need to be destroyed her the monique queens of comedy set her coming out and say she i don't i've talked about this a million times on this show at this point the two of the most iconic sets of all time to me are monique queens of comedy and uh bernie mack when he's doing i love bernie not scared of y'all i've never gotten to him like deeply i love this show though unbelievable uh especially that set the i'm not scared of y'all kick it that set but monique when she she starts that set by coming out and going every fat in this room should be standing up and applauding me right now that's mother and i was like that's like uh and i did i got up and applauded mother i had just like the first time i saw that in high school i had never seen a fat person take up a room like that yeah and i was like oh she's not apologizing she's so in charge i feel like if people like scroll down my um my my channels they will see like the inspirations of monique and ali and um and a little bit of um and bob of like just seeing like how i navigate and like every word is funny i'm like picking each word specifically for the joke but that's what i really appreciate about their kind of comedy too yeah smart she yeah she's so smart and fearless and yeah i love i love her queens of comedy says the biggest thing for me but then obviously the parkers meet the parkers i don't know if i've seen it really oh my god is there what joke was the most i don't know if i've seen it uh it's not really it's a sitcom so it's it's just like her oh i didn't yeah i didn't i don't know anything about this is it and also was it meet the parkers or just the parkers that's what i thought the parkers is monique uh sitcom from like late 90s early 2000s who else is in it who else was in it uh yeah it was so it was called just the parkers and it was on uh yeah 1999 to 2004 on upn it was a spin-off to moesha oh you have to watch it for a million reasons but not the least of which is monique plays because i'm black a horny yes uh monique plays what you imagine monique plays a horny legend oh i live she's so horny in that show is she not just a horny legend well she is but i'm saying like in the show she embodies such a specific she's like going after this professor the whole time i love that she it's a it's unbelievable i um and i think maybe because i do gay art like a lot of people think i'm just like a lexicon of references yeah if it is before 2010 i promise you i don't know it yeah i promise you would you know i knew i i randomly will know a bunch of stuff about the i don't know if you guys ever got into this but the i love the 90s i love the oos i love the do you know do you know that show see there's something missing in our culture now was it vh1 or mtv it was vh1 vh1 had this series called like i love the series and it was a panel show for comedians and writers and musicians to come on and do like talking head interviews about like i love the 2000s would be like everything important that happened culturally in the 2000s and it was like how i learned pop culture history okay and i don't know if it's streaming somewhere but honestly like worth a watch that actually sounds like something i need it's funny my sisters are constantly trying to catch me up on on like pop culture references from the 90s and the 2000s but i just there's so much where i can't like there's no way i can be like at the front of now and trying to learn at the same time i don't know i'm not really at the front of now i'm behind on so many things now I don't know what the hell's going on. Movies I'm pretty up on, but TV shows, I haven't seen any TV show. So I'm always behind on that. The Parker's iconic, though. They go to college together. They have a little apartment. It's mother-daughter. It's cute. Love an adult sitcom. Yeah, really fun. What is your favorite TV show of all time? My instinct is to say Naruto, but just because it's what I grew up on. I think if I had to pick a Western live action, I don't know. That's a good one. I will say what I liked recently in the past year or so, I loved The Last of Us. I thought they did that really, really well. I recently watched, what's it called? Scavenger's Reign. I liked it. I couldn't finish it, though, because it was too heebie-jeebie. Like scary? It was just not scary. There's creatures and morphine and body horror. And gore and that kind of stuff. And I'm not a huge fan of that kind of stuff. But it was a great story. What else have I liked? Oh, Interview with the Vampire. Okay. Got it. Interview with the Vampire is probably one of my favorite TV shows ever. Hell yeah. Yeah. I love that. Have you seen it? No. Gay vampires start in Louisiana. I need to walk in. Hello. That's all you need. Hello. That's all you need. That is all I need. I really need you to see that TV show, actually. I will. What is so true to you? So true to me. Is this the thing you guys told me to come? Okay. I've been thinking about this. Thank you. You're one of the only. I knew this is the thing. I go on podcasts, and I'm like, oh, they're going to ask me something for their show. And I'm always under research. So I was thinking about it. And not to be on some alpha, beta, omega dynamics shit. But to also be on some alpha, beta, omega dynamics shit. To also be on some alpha, beta, omega shit. Yeah. I think men should get pregnant. Thank you. This has come up recently. I really do. Yeah. And I can't speak to the logistics. Yeah. I can't speak to the anatomy or the physiology of such. Yeah. I just think we would be in a completely different position globally if men got pregnant. I agree. And it's not even like they need to be inseminated. Maybe it's every time. Every time they inseminate, they get pregnant. Like if there's some kind of. The egg travels into them. Let's wake that up. Boom. Where is science? Boom. Because what are we doing with science if the egg can't go up the dick? I'm thinking like. Okay. First of all, crazy. Wild. That's insane. Whoa. I'm thinking like anything from financially to racially to sexually. Romantically, things would change. Yeah. Like. And I don't know if it's better. What's so true to me? I don't know if it's better if both sexes can get pregnant. Ooh. So it's all skate? Yeah. Or if it's like in 20 years. Or no. In two years, everybody on the other side of the spectrum can get pregnant. I don't know what's better. Yeah. But that's what's true to me. I like that. I really like that. And I would support it and love it. And I wish I could get a man pregnant. I've said this on the show. I think it would be really cool. What? It's a lot, Caleb. You think that's crazy of me? I don't think it's crazy. I just. Maybe what's happening is I'm reconciling my headcanon of you from a body. From a bottom to a top. Whoa. You thought I was a bottom this whole time. No, I didn't think you were just a bottom. Yeah. I thought you might have had a preference. I never thought you were just a bottom. I always thought you were so much more than that. Right. We teach bottoms. And James Factora, they're a writer at them, came on my show and was like, we teach bottoms to be small, to shrink themselves. I was like, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. I'm not a top or a bottom or a verse. I'm a dedicated team player who thrives in a fast-paced environment. You'd be great at Starbucks. I'd just love to see the team win, you know? Are you a cuck? What does that mean? I want to see everyone getting what they need. I want everyone to come. I live for that. I want everyone to have a good time. Everybody should come. You included? Me. Oh, definitely. If I don't come, it didn't happen. It sounded just so altruistic. I wasn't expecting that from you. Oh, no, I'm coming. Yeah. No, I need to come. I'm going to get mine, sweetie. But everyone gets to come. Yeah. I'm not the only one. You're a social comer. You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I want you to stop acting like you can't. And I'm coming. Do not come. Do not come. Do not come. Do not come. I love that. Good for you. Thank you. Yeah, I'm proud of you. Thank you. What's your usual so true take? Oh, I haven't done one in a while. What's so true to me right now? Um, I mean, I say some version of this all the time, but we really, we have to throw the smartphones in the oceans. Sure. It has to end. I think about often about like- It's not working. How? I miss letters. I miss letters. I miss writing letters. Really cool. One of my friends and I used to be pen pals. Like, we would send each other letters instead of like texting all the time. Yeah. But then they moved here. Fuck. Fuck. Like, what the fuck? I have a friend in New York who sends me. I have a friend in New York who sends me letters. That's awesome. Yeah. I guess I could. It's just like, now there's not really an excuse. Yeah. I don't know. I just, yeah, I need us to figure something else out. I'm not having fun. Yeah. I don't want people to continue hitting me up. What's so true to me is don't hit me up. Like, unless you have something really fun to bring to me, stop asking me for stuff. Everybody wants something. That's true. I wonder, maybe we'll talk about this off the camera too, but it feels like I'm in this exact same experience. It's where it feels like a lot of people need a lot of things from me all of a sudden. Yeah. And I hate it. I hate it. And I think they have, it's the constant access to me that is allowing them to do such, which I hate. Yeah. There's something, yeah, I'm trying really hard to give off a don't contact me vibe. That's not, there's something about my jolly fat Midwestern presence that's negating the vibe I'm giving. Sure. And so I'm actually, I think I'm giving off, okay, hit me up. Right. Cause it's, I mean like, do you ever feel like you can't be fat and mean? For sure. Okay. Constant. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm doing it anyway. I was literally getting ready to say, so you're being both. So you're being both. And we're right back to bisexual. And we're right back to bi. All roads lead to bi. And I've always said that. What's your sexuality these days? Um, I'm a non-binary bisexual trans woman. That's what I thought. Yeah. That's a lot. Insert applause. Insert applause. You know, a lot of people just had an aneurysm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They were like. All my Republican fans. Their brain took a screenshot. The number's not zero. Chance, I would like to do a segment, please. Let's go. Thank you, babe. Ah! I'm so excited for this. Ananiya. Okay. I have a segment for you. True or false. I'm going to read you 15 statements. Okay. You're going to tell me as quickly as you can. If you think that what I just said is true or false, if you get 10 or more correct, you know. Okay. We're going to give you 50 US dollars. Okay. The segment has kind of randomly become like everyone's favorite part of the show. It is kind of iconic. It's the iconic so true. It's also such a good. It's such a good. It's such a good. We'll talk marketing later, but it's just such a good. It's such a good way to post, like to promote your show. We'll talk marketing later. Okay. You ready? Yeah. But if I do get less than 10, I'm calling you transphobic. Of course. All right. And you would be right. Cheese existed before written language. True. True. Smoking one cigarette can reduce your life expectancy by about 20 days. False. False. It's 20 minutes. Snakes sleep with their eyes open. False. True. A group of wild cats is called a destruction. True. True. Iowa State University's mascot is the Hawkeyes. False. False. It's the Cyclones. And yeah, that was a chance you tried to do a trick, but a real Iowa person knows. There's no word in the English language that rhymes with month. False. True. Emerson College's school paper is the Berkeley Beacon. Oh, true. True. Cynthia Erivo was born in Scotland. True. False. England. Razor scooters came out in 1989. True. False. 2000. William Henry Harrison was only president for a month. True. True. Only 2% of Earth's population naturally has green eyes. False. True. Davenport, Iowa is the largest of the Quad Cities. True. True. Facebook is older than LinkedIn. I actually don't know. True. False. Okay. Heinz Ketchup. Okay. Immediately. Okay. Sure. Heinz Ketchup was originally a glue company. False. False. False. The Pope can't be an organ donor. False. False. True. It's true. What the fuck? How'd they do? Nine. Oh. You transphobic piece of shit. I know. That's okay. I did get all the Iowa ones right. Thank you for that. Oh, that one was. Oh, maybe it'll go, slow that down, make me look cool. Nine was a beautiful run. That's okay. And the Pope thing, what is that? Like. It's true. Is it because his organs are so much better than mine? They're holy from God. It's because the church owns his body. Yeah. Yeah. Wake up. Wake up, people. literally wake up hello that doesn't sound crazy say that one more time the catholic church owns the pope's body hello is that not fucking crazy these people are psychotic if you take any piece of religion and just like sit with it for a moment yeah they're all fucking bananas i knew i wasn't gonna be christian like at least religious in that sense very long as soon as i started asking questions yeah because the reaction from adults when you start asking questions no i was like something's up the whole thing's crumbling something's up they're like don't poke holes i've decided on this yeah it's nuts why why it is yeah why because it is uh-uh no man ananias yes such a treat to have you i am so honored to be here thank you we love you so deeply tell the people where they can find you what they should be watching you can find me at ananias00 a-n-a-n-i-a 00 and watch my show gaydar and come see you and come see saturday church by the time this comes we might be closed when you close october 24th nope there's some time oh work come see saturday church at the new york theater workshop come see saturday church and watch gaydar and follow ananias thank you so much for doing it babe thank you yay bye queers that was a hate gun podcast let's be honest you don't go to the holiday gift exchange just to participate you go to win this year cause a stir gift a kitchenaid stand mixer to whip up new traditions tis your season to mix it up.