Join us on this week's episode (with a small cameo from our dog Ocean), as we sift through the spectacle and substance of the new VPR spin-off, "The Valley". From the gaslighting chaos of Kristen Doute to Zack Wickham's hair - we'll leave no stone unturned.
Then, we will welcome our first guest of the season: comedian and author Kristen Van Nest, who talks to us about her recently released book "Where To Nest". We get into some of her travels and what inspired her to write. Her narrative weaves through comedic conquests and cultural quirks, all while highlighting the profound effect of travel on our identities and art.
We'll be back each and every single week, so don't forget to tune in!
Join us on this week's episode (with a small cameo from our dog Ocean), as we sift through the spectacle and substance of the new VPR spin-off, "The Valley". From the gaslighting chaos of Kristen Doute to Zack Wickham's hair - we'll leave no stone unturned.
Then, we will welcome our first guest of the season: comedian and author Kristen Van Nest, who talks to us about her recently released book "Where To Nest". We get into some of her travels and what inspired her to write. Her narrative weaves through comedic conquests and cultural quirks, all while highlighting the profound effect of travel on our identities and art.
We'll be back each and every single week, so don't forget to tune in!
Welcome to High Low Brow, the show with highbrow takes on lowbrow culture. I'm your one host, Amanda Skriver. And I am your talk mom River Gilbert Brow Culture. I'm your one host, amanda.
Speaker 2:Scriver, and I am your dog, mom River.
Speaker 1:Gilbert Ocean has decided that she wanted to join in our recording again today, which hopefully you don't mind.
Speaker 2:It was. We let her in and she was like like cause, last time we recorded with her she just sort of sat between us and just chilled out, and now she's like no, I'm gonna stand on top of you so you can see Ocean's tail and butt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if this clip makes it onto social, you will get a grand.
Speaker 2:You will get the girl.
Speaker 1:The girl. We have a great episode. We always have a great episode. I know, I know we do, but this time around we have a guest.
Speaker 2:We do, do you?
Speaker 1:want to say who the guest is. Yeah, no, we do, but this time around we have a guest?
Speaker 2:We do. Do you want to say who the guest is?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's Kristen Van Nest, and who are they?
Speaker 2:Who aren't they? They're a comedian, they're an author. They just released their book when to Nest.
Speaker 1:It's all about travel. It's a coming of age memoir story Millennial Eat Pray Love.
Speaker 2:I think we called it yes we did.
Speaker 1:We definitely did so. If you hear that reference again, that's where that comes from. But what's it called? Yeah, I think it's a Millennial Eat Pray Love. It's, you know, a coming of age story, it's a memoir, it's all of these things. It's a a nice, easy read for if you're going, if you're going away on vacation or if you're getting ready to go away on vacation yeah before we get to that yeah do you want to talk about the valley?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think that we should talk about the valley, because we have, when we originally were doing some tinkering around and sort of recording an episode before we actually record an episode, we actually did an entire episode on the valley.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and since recording that, there's been like two or three more episodes of the valley.
Speaker 1:There has been. So I feel like we can sort of revisit, we can, we can talk about our thoughts and our feelings, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because when we recorded it we'd only seen like the first two episodes yeah, I think so it was, I think, our opinion.
Speaker 1:My opinion of it was whatever yeah, I mean I can definitely see now that they are, they're getting into the mess, yeah it's for for people who don't know about the Valley.
Speaker 2:Where have you been?
Speaker 1:No but it's Hello, do you even watch? Bravo?
Speaker 2:But it is the cast who have like aged out working at Pump, or Sir.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sir, but not all like.
Speaker 2:Some of them. It was supposed to be all of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so originally that was what the show was supposed to be. I think it was when Vanderpump Rules was supposed to end in season 10 or season 9. I can't remember the original and Stassi has gone on several podcasts talking about this so I'm not making this up, but basically it was supposed to be the next iteration of the show.
Speaker 2:For people who were were, you know, no longer working at sir, who were growing up and living in the valley and having kids yeah like a different mode of life it's now, I think, the only people from like there's some guest appearances from the, the vpr yeah, staff yeah, but it's primarily. The two big names are Jax.
Speaker 1:Taylor and Brittany obviously yeah, and Kristen and Kristen yeah, how could you forget Kristen? Doughty yeah, I mean Kristen Doughty and Jax period, like that's that's a show, that's a show that's like a Molotov cocktail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we never forgot how, we never forgot how, like Okay, we kind of knew that like we never forgot that Jax Taylor was, like I usually say, a bad person but makes for excellent TV.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean Jax is not good and you would think I mean maybe this is just me being optimistic, but you would think not being on TV for so many years and having a child and getting married would make you like he's a narcissist.
Speaker 2:That's who he is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, you know, that's who he is. Yeah, I, you know. I'm not trying to be a jacks taylor apologist, but you are right. It's like if tom sandoval and jack squared off against one another, who do you think would win?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's this well. We saw it in season two yeah or season one or two, when sandoval punched him in the face. But like I think honestly it's the Spider-Man meme where they're just pointing at each other.
Speaker 1:They are definitely just pointing at each other. Let's talk about the valley.
Speaker 2:I was going to say let's talk about Kristen, Because I kind of forgot how big of a wild card she was.
Speaker 1:Wild card. Wild card.
Speaker 2:But I feel like she's shown some growth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting. As we're watching these episodes, I have there's situations that have happened, For example, Kristen bringing up that Michelle is racist.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, a Republican, and probably racist, was the exact quote.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you for correcting me, no problem. But like Kristen was telling the truth, she was told that piece of information by Zach. Yeah, and then Zach and the rest of them were all Gaslighting her. Yeah, gaslighting her and being like oh, we didn't say that, but then in a different setting.
Speaker 1:They cut to it yeah but what I was gonna say is like remember, zach, they're at that dinner. And he's like I didn't say that. And then he walks over to her in a corner and is like, yeah, maybe there was a misunderstanding, like what the?
Speaker 2:fuck, it is very much like it's gaslighting the tv show. Yeah, like I do, I think that kristen dowdy is probably rushing into having a kid with a boyfriend she's had for a couple of months. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Who doesn't live in la and doesn't want to move to? La yeah, for sure yeah, that, that's giving red flags a hundred percent well, I mean, like I'm with luke on this, I like I also don't want to move to LA and also, but like he should not be like, yeah, let's have babies. I love babies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think honestly a Colorado lifestyle would do great. On Kristen. Oh, God, yeah I just feel like, with the weed and the mountains and the air, it would, she would, just she would thrive.
Speaker 2:And then not on tv I think honestly, that's probably what has done kristin the best is not being on tv for so many years well, there has been some controversy where faith?
Speaker 1:who kristin stassi? And jacks all made those racist remarks about jacks too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I. That's a little shocking to me because he slept with her, I mean On TV.
Speaker 1:Yes, I know that, but I think he like co-signed things that were said by Stassi and Kristen Fucking weirdo.
Speaker 2:Jax Taylor Racist's gonna racist, I guess.
Speaker 1:Anyways, where I was going with that is that Faith has actually put out a statement I believe there's more to this as well just that I think she's joining that whole like reality reckoning where.
Speaker 2:Oh, the Bethany Frankel yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:She must not be Nanny yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll censor that.
Speaker 1:But basically she has said that, bravo, when all this happened during Black Lives Matters, all that timing, they had made a commitment to sort of, like you know, certain race things. And now she has said that you know, you're letting Kristen back on your screen Like you just gave her a show. Where is this commitment to diversity and inclusion, if you will?
Speaker 2:Well, I also heard rumors about Stassi coming back to VPR.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she has repeatedly said she will never come back.
Speaker 2:It doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I'm sorry, people want Stassi to come back, but she will never come back. It doesn't surprise me. Yeah, like I'm sorry, people want Stassi to come back, but she's not coming back. Stassi makes good TV. She makes good TV, although I think she similarly what we thought, what I thought would happen with Jax, where it's like got off and went, got married, had a baby. I think that Stassi has actually taken that Like. Stassi doesn't need Vanderpump Rules.
Speaker 2:I forgot that Stassi and Jack's dated.
Speaker 1:How could you forget that's like literally the lore.
Speaker 2:But it was just in the first season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:I know, hey, we should talk about the Valley.
Speaker 1:I mean, all of this has to do with the Valley, I think you know, given that we've watched a few more episodes, I hate zach.
Speaker 2:zach just seems like your typical white demon twink yeah, and his, his, his handler is a lesbian yeah and that's that you need like straight, basic girly, straight basic hot girly to be the demon twink handler. Yes, you can't have lesbian be the demon twink handler.
Speaker 1:Yes, you can't have the lesbian be the demon twink handler and I think we have talked about this, but danny and nia are, like, basically the most normal couple yeah, a hundred percent like. I feel it's like they don't seem like your typical people that should be on a reality television show, because they are literally like totally fine, yeah, whereas what's their faces?
Speaker 2:michelle and jesse jesse were just watching a marriage dissolve, like the fact that they were like talking to a life coach, slash marriage counselor who was like when was the last time you were attracted to each other? And they're like cannot compute it, two years, eight months ago. I was like Jesus Christ. You guys don't like each other at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like when Jesse in the last episode was talking about how if Michelle cheated on him, he was like it would be over. But I'm fighting for my marriage and I'm like I think you guys are in separate relationships.
Speaker 2:I'm very excited because this is this episode is coming out before the next episode of the valley, when shit is about to hit the fan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is a little time capsule. Yeah, I mean we. What I saw on the internet today that Michelle does have a new boyfriend. Yeah, sure. So, like we knew at the beginning of the season of the Valley, Michelle and Jesse got, they got, they were filing for divorce and they've separated that Brittany and Jax.
Speaker 1:Yes, Actually we need to talk about this. I'm sure that you have seen it online, but apparently jacks's publicist, who was also britney's publicist, is traveling right now with jacks tom and tom. They did some appearance in montreal, but anyways, britney unfollowed the publicist and she unfollowed jacks. Well, didn't?
Speaker 2:he fuck the publicists in a bathroom at a bar.
Speaker 1:That's what they say on there. Yeah, allegedly, allegedly.
Speaker 2:Allegedly. But Jax came in and was like I want everybody to know that I'm single. And I'm ready to mingle with my publicists With my public, well and everybody. It's probably a Joe situation.
Speaker 1:Totally, it's totally a Joe situation. So, poor Joe, everybody, it's probably a joe situation. Totally, it's totally a joe situation. So for joe poor joe that's another episode. But yes, I mean, this is, this is what's happening right now. So a lot of people have speculated. What I've been reading in, like the various reddits and the other, like podcasters and like writers that we follow, a lot of people are saying that because this next step, like this next episode, is going to be like where things pop the tipping point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, gladwell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bad takes dude hey, well, tipping point tipping point, sure yeah so I feel like, yeah, we're. We're talking about the Valley now.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about the Valley next episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, like I wasn't 100% sold on the Valley.
Speaker 2:I was like we're not watching this past season one, like this is bad. This is like that time that they tried to make Summer House happen in the middle of an episode of VPR.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Summer House is actually like I'm watching this.
Speaker 2:I know you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I tried to watch from the beginning. I should probably try and go back and redo that, but, like this, past season of Summer House is excellent.
Speaker 2:Oh, I seem to remember you being like yeah, this one girlfriend is like gaslighting this addict that he's like yes, carl, and. Lindsay yeah, and I'm like, oh shit, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, like this past season of Summer House has been good. Plus, this is a Wes Stan account. Like, Wes is an incredible addition. Wes Anderson no, Exactly.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Hero night yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know the Valley. We're going to keep watching. Again. I think the both of us agree that it's probably we can't tell right now if it's a one season wonder, but we're going to keep watching.
Speaker 2:We'll watch it for a minute, yeah, and then we'll see gonna keep, we'll watch it for a minute, yeah, and then we'll see like it'll get canceled for sure, because what are they gonna do? None of the drama happened on screen yet. Yeah, let's, let's throw to our extra special guest, just yeah because we our special guest was uh ocean yeah, he's been making noises this entire episode.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you know people enjoy that auditory experience.
Speaker 2:Who doesn't love husky wines?
Speaker 1:But yes, let's throw to Kristen Van Nest, the author of when to Nest I got that it's her name. Yeah, I see that it's. You know, I was gonna say alliteration, but that is not, it's a pun, though it's a pun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I see that it's.
Speaker 1:You know I was going to say alliteration, but that is not. It's a pun. Though it's a pun, there we go and we have our special guest, extra special guest, extra special guest. Season four, season four. We're on episode two.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, trying to keep track of my brain.
Speaker 1:Rambling. That's how these things work. Anyways, we have a great guest on. I recently read their book. It's called when to Nest, and they are a comedian. They are obviously a writer, because we have the book here. Kristen Van Nest, it is so lovely to have you on the show.
Speaker 3:Hey as like, so excited to be on and, as I mentioned, you guys are my first podcast since the book came out, so I'm you're getting it first and I'm so honored and excited to be here for because I didn't do the greatest job of introducing you.
Speaker 1:Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about who you are, what you've done?
Speaker 3:you know all the things, yeah, so I let's see my book's called when to Nest A Global Search for Love, cheap Wine and a Place to Belong. Yes, and so I am a comedian and business owner. I have my own branding and copywriting business in LA and on top of that I do comedy. So my book covers, which just came out it covers everything from, like my high school romances through all of my 20s and basically ends at the end of my 20s.
Speaker 3:And I lived a very unique life. I started off in in branding, consulting, like normal full time job, and then was just bored and so I then switched over and traveled all over the world. I worked, I did a Fulbright scholarship in Luxembourg, so I lived in Luxembourg for a year and then was just like, went back to New York city and was just like kind of bored and wanted to keep traveling, and so then I headed over to Shanghai, lived in Shanghai for three and a half years, didn't have a job or place to live, and then worked in the wine industry. So I got to travel all over China hosting wine dinners which is so much fun and then kind of got into comedy and now I'm here in LA. I've been in LA for like six years. So this is like my at least, it feels like for now my forever home. So I've settled.
Speaker 1:It's hard to feel when you're kind of traveling, when you're kind of all over the place. It's hard to feel grounded in one place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, like I feel very I mean, I'm more now that I've lived in LA for so long but I'm very culturally confused.
Speaker 3:You know, I eat like dumplings for lunch and then I'll have, like you know, pasta for dinner, or like I'm just very sometimes I use British words and I'm like, why am I using this British word? But it's because I've lived around people where, like, they've learned British English as their second language or they're just British, and so it's like I definitely have like had all these experiences that make me like a little confused at who I am. But also, I think, as an American, when you leave America, you see other countries and it also makes you reflect on like what it is to be American as well, Because, yeah, I mean, every country is unique, but we're like pretty unique.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say you did some traveling as a child as well, yeah, I like to say that I got all of my travel out while I was still legally able to, because I'm illegal in a lot of countries. But the yeah, I lived in japan for a while and, like I had a family in, germany, germany yeah we spent a lot of time over in like germany, italy, switzerland, switzerland, france oh, my gosh sounds and I have been nowhere and I never understood why you're like we have to travel.
Speaker 2:I'm like, yeah, I've done that.
Speaker 1:And it's like oh, you haven't done that no like I. I have been to the US, I've been to other parts of Canada, I've been to Mexico, in the Dominican Republic, but that's not really like, yeah, traveling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's not like, like, oh, this cult like Japan, like, oh, this culture is like completely different than my own culture. Yeah, which, if you want to go to back to Japan, now is the time I was there in December and because of their exchange rate, it's like 30% off right now. It's basically on sale, japan's on sale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, funny.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think we looked into because we were thinking about traveling and we looked into sort of like trans-friendly places to travel. I feel like Japan did not rate very high.
Speaker 2:No, it was quite low, like we could go. Yeah, did not rate very high. No, it was quite low, like, okay, maybe you could go. Yeah, uh, it's we need to.
Speaker 1:I need to get my passport updated because otherwise it gets really dicey but, the I think number one was malta actually yeah, malta and I think thailand actually scored relatively well, it did. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wouldn't. Thailand wouldn't surprise me because, like, I think it's Katooy is the word, but culturally they have kind of like like third. I don't know if they call it third gender, I don't want to quote anyone. Yeah, but it's more like culturally normal there and kind of like part, like it's. They're not as difficult and terrible about it.
Speaker 1:yes, yes, and I guess like kind of going back to like your book, when you were sort of like you mentioned. You started traveling in your younger years and then you kind of went from there, you came back to New York and you were like, when I was kind of reading through it and I mean this in the best way possible, not a term, but I was like it was giving like Iprey love vibes, but different do you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:I take it as a compliment. I mean, hey, she's doing great. I won't hate if people say that she's doing great, yeah, yeah so thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wanted it to be. I mean, I have some chapters on work, but I also wanted chapters on relationships and stuff like that, because I feel like, especially for women, like we watch all these rom coms and kind of are like told that there's like one thing that we should want also tells us like you have to be this, this is this, and that's not true. So so basically it's, I just feel like I wanted to share kind of the vulnerability, and I don't really like myself in those early chapters, honestly, because I feel like I let, I mean, a man peed on me regularly, so gotta get that money somehow.
Speaker 3:I wish I was being paid. I was just like, oh, I love him. Yeah, it was just, my boyfriend would get drunk and he'd pee on me, and then he'd be like you peed the bed. I was like I did not that was not me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's actually. It's so funny that you say that, because I had a partner that I was with before, and who? What's their name? I cannot say. I will just say that their name starts with p, and it was funny because they were a notoriously sweaty person. But there was one time where we had someone sleep over and somebody thought that this person peed on them, but they didn't, they just sweated so much. I mean, neither is good, but yeah, can you imagine somebody like thinking that they've been peed on and it's just sweat? Either way, not good not not great either way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we don't not high up on the sexy meter not yeah, no, no, it's not tbh.
Speaker 2:I would think I would rather be sweat on than peed on non-consensually in both cases sorry, I just snorted. Yeah, non-consensually in both situations one is significantly better than the other.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I think, yeah well, I think I mentioned in the book I like researched it and you can drink your own pee three times, yeah, before it becomes so like saturated that it'll kill you. So if you're ever in the desert, just just you know, keep it in mind, hey Dune.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Two times fine, three times death.
Speaker 2:So, I'm actually shocked that it's so many times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Like I.
Speaker 1:Like you know you don't want to be dealing with that, but if you have to be there, yeah, I would hope that I am not in a situation where one day I need to drink piss but, you never know, not on my bucket list no, you mean that wasn't on your travel list of things to do.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, best and cheapest wine, number of times you can drink your pee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, imagine you had one of your wine dinners and you kind of like that was sort of like we have a special, like special.
Speaker 2:I'm mortified.
Speaker 1:Okay, we gotta. We gotta stop talking about pee.
Speaker 2:We're bringing the lowbrow to high lowbrow today.
Speaker 1:This is not an episode of OP, even as much as we're trying to make it to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Everything, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:It's fine. Out of all of the places that you sort of went to, is there a story or something that really stuck with you as you were writing this, that you were like I have to include this really stuck with?
Speaker 3:you, as you were writing this, that you were like I have to include this Well, first. So I first made like a list of chapters that I were like the ones that I thought would be interesting, and then it really comes down to like what is the theme of the book. So I went more in the maybe Eat, pray, love direction than like maybe the travelogue Bill Bryson direction. Yeah, so I had a chapter on visiting North Korea which I would not wish on anyone. Don't do that. If you're bored at work and you're like I'm going to do a weekend trip, don't go to North Korea. Don't do it.
Speaker 2:Or did you actually go to North Korea?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I went before. Now Americans are banned. I'm not sure about Canadians how, I don't know but I stayed in the same hotel that Otto Warmbier stayed in. He was the American who went over there. He took a poster off the wall in the hotel and then they basically accused him of being a spy, stealing government secrets and he was convicted to hard labor and then he had a head injury. I'm going to assume he was abused, and so they. Then Trump was a head injury. I'm going to assume he was abused.
Speaker 3:And so they then Trump was like oh, I got his body back, but unfortunately he passed away. So then, since then, they banned Americans. But I stayed at the same hotel. It's on an Island, so like you can see the city of Pyongyang, but you're like literally on an Island. It's a five-star hotel in that it has rolling blackouts and sometimes the water isn't warm. Um yeah, and you know the? I think it was like four dollars for 25 kilobytes of internet which you can only access in one computer in the lobby. So if you think about that, like, if you open your gmail, you've just bankrupted yourself yeah you're done you're done.
Speaker 3:so that was like a very strong like. It was a very bizarre experience and it just taught me. For me, the the realization or if I made it like one or two sentences was like that this man, so that he can be rich and have so much power he is just create like his country, is agrarian. They don't have internet, no one will trade with them. So there were all these children who looked really cute because they all had the same clothes on and you're like, oh, this is so cute, not like a uniform, but like similar. And then you're like, oh, it's because they're all made at the same factory, because no one will sell them clothes Like they don't have sheen, you know.
Speaker 3:So that was like very intense but it was very like off theme for the kind of eat, pray, love, finding yourself. It's just like, yeah, maybe, like maybe don't go to terrible, like maybe just don't do it. So that one got nixed. But I feel like for me. Then I was like once I had the chapters where I was like this has a really emotional trigger for me. Like you know, dating my high school boyfriend like probably isn't the most exciting thing, but like how our relationship was and the dynamic to me made it like very important for the book, because I think a lot of women like and my friends included like go through that where, just like, a man treats you terribly or your partner treats you terribly and you like, oh, but I like love them, so it's fine, and it's like maybe love shouldn't be unconditional, like maybe there should be some conditions high school relationships I've.
Speaker 2:I can't think of a single high school relationship that has gone well long term.
Speaker 3:It's just yeah, like the people who have like made it and they're with their high school partner, I'm like, wow, why?
Speaker 1:though how? Why you? You know that you could leave them if you wanted to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are other people, easy, it's I'm comfortable dated their high school girlfriend for into their 20s.
Speaker 1:I understand this so you are that demographic. Yeah, yeah, okay, and now you're stuck with me you're stuck with me upgrade, upgrade the, the north korea story.
Speaker 2:I was just like, oh God, I just jostled something, speaking of travel when I, my family in Germany were missionaries. Oh, they were regularly hosting people and I met a guy there one time and he was like, yeah, like, if you ever want to like travel some. I was like, yeah, like, if you ever want to like travel some, like I regularly smuggle Bibles into North Korea I was like sorry what.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Of all the things to be smuggling into North Korea Bibles.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's also like when I think missionary, I think like really sweet and like following the rules and like being a smuggler of like, of like you could get murdered for bringing this in. It's like whoa, that's like a secret spy life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for jesus it's like a spy jesus, which to me, I'm like that's next level in my, in my good baptist boy days, that seemed like the coolest thing in the world whoa, I want to do that.
Speaker 1:I want to break the rules for jesus. I don't think I have ever said that. That's not. That's not ever been a thing that I aspired to, if I'm breaking the law.
Speaker 3:It's for jesus, and jesus only okay that's how I wanted to rebel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fair enough. That's all you knew, that's all I knew.
Speaker 1:Now all I know is eat hot chip, charge they phone and lie such a growth, such growth as a person who has who's gonna be like, has attempted to write a book. It's, it's still it's. It's a work in progress that has just taken, aren't we all? Yeah, we're all work in progress, but I know, for writers, sometimes you build up certain. Like you know, I have to watch the Sopranos while I'm writing, or I have to listen to like a certain type of music. So were there certain like comfort shows or movies that really helped you or inspired you along the way?
Speaker 3:That's a great question. So I, while I was writing this, when I, when I'm writing something, I try and consume all of the things in that category, yeah, so that I can see like inspiration of how people did different things. My favorite one is, or the most relevant to mine is where is it? I'm not seeing it here. Oh, here it is Kristen Newman's While you Were Breeding. She is now a writer on Only Murders in the Building. So she's doing great, yeah. Yeah, she's an executive producer, writer, producer.
Speaker 3:She's next level but she has a memoir that's about her travel. It's like about her traveling when all of her friends were settling down, so that one really was the one that inspired me. But then when I was writing it I wanted to read other people and kind of how they did it. And Cheryl Strayed's Wild was a really interesting one to read because she has so many raw personal like cheating and drugs and all of these things where I was like it kind of made me want to like, push myself to be a little bit more sharing those personal stories, which is terrifying when you're writing nonfiction because you have to like, you have to get people to sign waivers and things, and that is yeah.
Speaker 1:The book that I was working on was also a nonfiction and, similarly, when I was speaking to my agent, she was like is there anyone who might be upset with the things that you're including? And I was like, well, I'm not planning to include anything about this person, but if I do, they could be very litigious she will take umbrage with this.
Speaker 3:She's probably listening right now yeah, taking umbrage with this, oh wow, yeah, sometimes your haters are your biggest fans, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah no, no lies there. So yeah, I totally understand. It's like you want to share, but how much do you share? And then are there's the concern of the things that you are sharing. Are the people going to remember that differently than how you've experienced it or remembered it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, which, like they are for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. So it's kind of like trying to live your own truth while still being true to everything else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like feeling out what you feel is appropriate. And there's also things where, like there are stories that I'm not ready to write and like one day I would love to write them, but like I don't feel, like I'm in the right spot, either emotionally, to discuss them, have or have them publicly. Or I also haven't like resolved in my head like why is this important? And like what is the thing that I learned from it?
Speaker 1:Well, what I would always call that when I was going through the editing process was I'm not here to write trauma porn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, here to just recant my lived experience yeah, and when I was writing this, I think I mean the world's really dark right now. Yes, per like, have you guys having restrictions of where you can travel? Like the world is dark. So when I was writing this, I really wanted to make something that's fun and light and there are some dark chapters in it, but I really was wanted to make sure, like for me they're they're like a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. So it's like if we only write light things and we only write about light things, like how does that really impact the world? Or change how people think about themselves, or like I don't know, it's a little bit harder to like make change, but if you. So that's why I really love comedy, because comedy can take the light of it and it can take the heaviness out of it, while still making you feel empathy even just the way that you described that.
Speaker 1:I remember that dan levy, he did an interview where he was talking about the reason why they didn't bring in like things that were happening in the real world to schitt's creek was because he wanted to create a container or a space where it felt like the world. As we know, it is a trash fire, but this, if you're going to this town, you're interacting with everything is just, it's insulated, it's fine. But you can also kind of like the amount of people that I've met who have watched Schitt's Creek and been like oh, I really learned something from this or I see myself in this. So I think, even when you don't, you don't have to revel in it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, my friends was a writer on Veep and so their last season she was, like you know, playing Louise Dreyfuss. You know, sadly she had breast cancer, so they had written the whole season out and they had to pause shooting so that she could take care of her health. And so while they were waiting, things that they had written in the comical show Veep, the president did so. Then they were like, yeah, so that they like ended the show because they were like we can't write more insane than reality, like how do you write something crazy when, like, the world is crazy? So they, they literally were like we just have to end the show, I guess, like I don't it's funny because I seem to remember that happening too, and to your point.
Speaker 1:It's like the world is so crazy and here we are predicting what's happening, by no fault like we're. We are not psychics or mediums or anything, it's just that everything is nuts, it's yeah the president doing the spongebob meme of the write that down. Write that down. If, for somebody who is looking for the book, for someone who is like thinking about picking this up, what would be your main sort of like? I mean, where would you start? I mean you start at the beginning, but what was the chapter that you wrote?
Speaker 3:that's sort of like well, I was gonna say the audiobook is also fun because the audio book I read. So if you find this voice annoying, don't get the audio book. So that's really chapter. I had the intro chapter. I had the scene in the preface. Preface, I should know how to say that it's like.
Speaker 2:It's like some words you only ever read.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's one of them that I'm like I could gun to my head, could not tell you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so those were in there.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to think, think I feel like the the first chapter with with my high school boyfriend was important, to kind of like lay out yeah who I was and where I come from, and then a lot of them actually were like little essays that I'd written along the way that I didn't really know what to do with, so so they were just sitting in like Google Docs or documents in random computers and whatever. The Changzhou chapter, where I'm traveling for Chinese New Year that one I actually the original one I wrote. I hired a local Chinese researcher, so there's some footnotes in there that are from her. Because, as I experienced, kind of going from the big city of Shanghai to these areas that used to be like the agrarian Mao Zedong, like everyone gets an equal portion of land, I wanted to kind of understand like I was in a ghost city for context, so a city that. So there was Mao and then there was Deng Xiaoping, which was like we can actually make a lot of money if we just open China up, so let's do it. And so you have like cold turkey, like, oh, I live on a farm next to my neighbor and if I need sugar I need to like ride a bike down the street. To like, hey, the government's going to buy up all of your farms and we're going to move you into high rise apartment buildings and you're going to be with all your farmer neighbors, but now you live in a high rise apartment building and so like that is a very extreme life change. So I I hired a researcher because I wanted to make sure that I was, from a external perspective, at least understanding the basics of what was going on.
Speaker 3:And so, again, going back to like memoir and like truth, like it's a little bit the anecdotal of like stories that people tell you, and then I wanted to have a little bit more factual so that I was telling it as accurately as I could. So that one came from an old essay, the traveling around Greece during Brexit when all the banks were shut down. Part of that chapter I talk about crying over an ex in a cafe. So while I was crying I was like writing this little like story about my experience there, which was at the time. I was kind of like, oh, maybe I'll like try and pitch it to a travel magazine or something. No, that didn't happen, but it ended up just like sitting there. So when I revisited it, you'll notice that chapter has a lot of like I went down this street's name while like, while I'm traveling in Berlin, or the the chapters in my early 20s, like if I can remember the street names of every street that I have ever been on. That would be amazing, but no.
Speaker 1:I can barely remember, like yesterday. So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:So some of them have like I kind of like it, but some of them are slightly different and they have those own little elements of like. Going through, writing the like beginnings of them at different points in my life and then reflecting on them now is like a hopefully more mature person who's older.
Speaker 1:What was it like? You know, since it's you reading your book, I've heard varying things from different authors about when they have to narrate their own audio book and they're like it's very difficult, it's hard. So what was that experience like for you? Did you enjoy it? Did you feel like you could infuse a bit of, like, your own humor into it while still reading the book?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so a lot of authors are nervous about this. I have a stand up comedy background so I was like, please, let me read the book. Like please.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's written. I mean, I, it's written. How I'm talking is how it's written. Yeah, one, yeah two. Like I know where all the jokes are. So I wanted to read it in the way that I had written the jokes, yeah, where if someone else reads it, they might read it a different way. Yep, so I had so much fun.
Speaker 3:But if you read the audiobook, I, there are way less accents in the beginning because I'm very nervous. And then by the end I'm like sure, let's try an Italian accent, like it's funny and so like I kind of like slowly, like blossomed into, like getting more into it. Yeah, we're like by the end day I'm like having the best time and I'm like, oh, it's over. So I had a great time doing it. But I could understand, if you don't come from like a performer background, how it's like. Wait, I have to like say it, how it, how it, how it's written. I have to like perform the feelings. But it was also fun because I could see out of the corner. You know you're in a booth so you can't hear anything, yeah, but I could see out of the corner of my eye the sound guy, and so when he laughed I was like, yes, I did it. I was like this is a great. Okay, I hit it.
Speaker 1:You just need a bit of audience to know like am I nailing this or?
Speaker 3:And like writing it I mean people through the editing process you get some like oh, ha, ha ha, or like I hate this person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but like you don't actually get feedback. No Right, that's like are the jokes funny? Like just tell me I'm funny. Yeah, is it funny? You know what I mean. And so like when it finally I'm like I hope it's funny and so it was kind of nice like seeing someone react to the funny and being like okay, that did land, it wasn't just in my head.
Speaker 1:Now I feel like I need to go listen to the audio book. Yeah, no kidding, you're selling the audio book. I mean, I love a good audio book. You're the audio book queen. Yeah, I am so well. I think like we kept you much longer than we wanted to, but this is great because we're having so much fun. Tell our listeners where they can find you on the internet, where they can purchase your book.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely follow me on social media. I'm at Kristen Van Nest across all platforms YouTube, tiktok, instagram, twitter, you name it and so I have a lot of like travel videos on there, but also like humor videos, just about like millennial culture and things like that that we just deal with. So I have a lot of like funny humor on there. And then for the book, it's available on Amazon, barnes and Noble. My publisher is Canadian, so it's all over Canada as well. Rising Action Publishing shout out, and so I think it's in chapters too. I'm like trying to name my big comedian one, the Canadian ones comedian and Canadian. Now I'm just confused. So, yeah, definitely pick it up, and, like I said, I also did the audio book, so that's like another fun way you can request it at your library or however it works for you.
Speaker 1:Amazing, awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show. Yeah, this was fun, it's very chill well, that was the episode that was the episode and I'm so excited that we had on our first guest I know it's.
Speaker 2:I love how last week we're like, or the two weeks ago we were like we're not really gonna have any guests, it's just gonna be us then immediately guests yeah, as you can tell we love to, we just keep you on your toes yeah, so that you'll keep listening we are the cast of the valley.
Speaker 1:We are just gaslighting you tell the listeners where they can find us.
Speaker 2:You can find us everywhere except for twitter at high lowbrow pod, that's h-i-g-h lowbrow pod and you can also visit our website at highlowbrowpodcom.
Speaker 1:Through the website you can also get, you know, uh, a link to how to review us. You can go check us out on good pods, you know, all of those fancy things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, leave us a voicemail. You can tell us that you love us.
Speaker 1:Um, I would prefer if people love us by leaving us a rating. But like that's just me, do both yeah do both. Why not both? Why not both? And now, if this is your first time listening, or it's not, we're back and we're weekly. We're weekly baby. So every Sunday you can expect an episode from us.
Speaker 2:Sometimes the Sunday happens in the afternoon, sometimes the Sunday happens at midnight.
Speaker 1:Hey, we didn't specify what time, but it will be a Sunday for some parts of the world. Yeah, so that's it. That's it, bye.