Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Excuse My Grandma. It's Kim and my cohosts.
Speaker 2: Grandma Gail.
Speaker 1: Okay. We're so excited because today in the studio, we have Jill Kargman and her mom, Coco. Jill came on the podcast in 2021. She was one of our first guests on Zoom in the middle of the pandemic.
Speaker 2: She was really put yep. She was terrific and supportive. We didn't know where our podcast was gonna go at that moment, but she was really there for us, and we're always appreciative People in the beginning who remember us.
Speaker 1: Of course. And she is gonna talk about her new movie, Influenced, which Grandma and I got to watch and are obsessed, about an Upper East Side influencer. It's very, very funny. And it's really special to have three, four generations in the studio today. So welcome, both
Speaker 2: of you.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having us. And you guys have just blown up. I'm so thrilled to be back.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I know. I feel like we have both grown. Grandma We've gotten older. Didn't know what a podcast was, probably.
Speaker 2: No. I didn't know what a podcast was.
Speaker 1: And, yeah, I feel like we've we've come a long way, which is exciting.
Speaker 2: It's fun. It's fun. We're having a good time. Everybody recognizes us, Kim. Everybody comments on our hair, on what we're wearing.
So this is a very big, you know, day for us that I could be with a real trendsetter, which was Coco. She really had always had great style growing when I was young. She had
Speaker 4: a good closet. And she had a good closet. But that you know, you have to start with that. But I don't know. The style is, you know,
Speaker 2: depending on the day.
Speaker 4: Are you talking wake up in the morning and you don't know, you know, how why is my hair looking that way? You've slept in a little weird way.
Speaker 2: She always looks great. Always did.
Speaker 4: You're too kind.
Speaker 1: How does one build a perfect closet?
Speaker 4: You buy basics, and they never go out of style, and you act as your own stylist. You know, I have clothes that I wear from twenty five years ago, and people say, is that the new season? And I laugh because, you know, there's certain things that bread and butter, you know, and yes, you go a little bit off ramp and you buy that sort of outre stripes thing and a different color that you never wear once in a while, but, you know, it's fun to play with those things, but basically you buy the classics, and you have fun with accessorizing. And Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's your advice too.
Speaker 2: Well, I've always said that. See, where you go wrong is the pants go this way, the pants go this way, the pants go that way. And I always say just classic straight, and you as Coco just said, you can do it in a sweater. You can do it in a belt. You know, don't we're short.
We're petite. You can't dress for a six foot ten person, So you have to know your own style, and I'm very much agreeing with Coco about the stylist. You should at this point know your own style because whenever the stylist puts the things on you, they do it for eight feet tall girls, and we're always tucking in the shirt and we're always hemming it somewhere. So you really have to, at some point, realize what your style is. Well well, I wanna get into this a
Speaker 1: little bit more later, but while we're on the topic, Jill, your style is obviously like so unique.
Speaker 3: I have a very small comfort zone.
Speaker 1: When did you figure out your personal style?
Speaker 3: I think, like, my bat mitzvah, I got a a a leather jacket from Trash in Vaudeville. Yeah. The late Jimmy Webb sold it to me. And I I think when I got to high school but I wore pants then. Now I don't wear pants.
I only wear dresses.
Speaker 4: I don't even remember you in pants.
Speaker 3: I wore pants in high school a little bit, but I had a motorcycle jacket. Right. The first of many. Right. But I have probably, like, six
Speaker 4: school, that was also in in when you were in boarding school Yeah. Where she stood out just because she was from New York. Never mind that she had
Speaker 3: a Well, were other New Yorkers, but they morphed into preppy, but I kept my New York style, and I wore all black, and I looked, you know
Speaker 4: And her friends would say to me, I can't wait to get up in the morning and see what Jill's gonna be wearing. Stop. No. I mean it.
Speaker 2: It's just black.
Speaker 4: It was just a vampire.
Speaker 2: Oh, but you have a twist. You have a twist.
Speaker 4: Yeah. It was they definitely knew you had a look of your own. And, you know, a lot of them didn't get it, but, you know, people do.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I would say, to answer your question, probably 12.
Speaker 1: That's young.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, also, went to Spence. I had a uniform. And so when you have a uniform, you're, like, desperate to kind of make it your own and douche it to it and and, like, put your imprimatur on something that feels like Right. One size fits all. Yeah.
So maybe I was rebelling against that. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Possible. I still feel the anxiety since Dalton didn't have uniform of every single night before school Throwing everything out of my closet, not knowing what to wear, feeling like awful in it, comparing yourself to other people. So I get the uniform. And I also was like, how would you find out what your style is if you have a uniform? So I guess there's ways around it.
Koko, were you, like, into Jill's style?
Speaker 4: Yes. I mean, there were I what I objected to were the things that were too revealing for her age, you know, like even for her pug mitzvah dress. You know?
Speaker 3: I wanted strapless.
Speaker 4: She's like, you have nothing to hold it up. No. I said, I'll I'll let you get the dress if you promise that I can have the dressmaker put on some nice velvet straps with a bow, very Gigi looking, and you'll look appropriate. You know? And so we had a little conference.
Speaker 2: You should see the girls now.
Speaker 3: Oh, they're horrible.
Speaker 2: Are barely covering on a check blocker.
Speaker 4: They wear band aids here. You know? Like a band aid.
Speaker 3: It's your gynecologist.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I wanna talk influencer culture a little bit. I'm gonna throw this to Grandma first.
How would you describe what an influencer does?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know, Kim. I'll talk about ourselves.
Speaker 1: No. Well, okay.
Speaker 2: Sure. What we do, we try to have a certain communication with our audience, is clearly a certain audience, I would say from 15 to 90, about what we expect in a relationship between different generations. So I think it does influence people who listen to us because they tell us that all the time. Oh, I wish I had that kind of relationship with my mother, with my grandparent, with someone, in authority that would make me feel comfortable and happy. So in that way, I think an influencer, that's what we do.
What other influencers do, I'm sure they do fashion. I'm sure they do makeup. I'm sure they do pop culture. Whatever they do, I don't watch too much of it, Kim. You know?
I'm not big on any of those But I have recently. I have recently, and the ones I seem to really like are the ones that are all in good family fun. I'm not a lover of the way out there kind of influencers who are making a statement What about
Speaker 1: the way out there?
Speaker 2: Well, I like to keep it in the mainstream.
Speaker 3: Put it that way. Don't So not the Mormon tradwives? No. Giving
Speaker 2: Correct. Birth in the Thank you. No, I don't love it because I don't want young people to think that's the way life really is. I don't believe it is the way life is. I think most people live in the middle.
Speaker 1: So nothing for like shock value.
Speaker 4: It's not a
Speaker 2: matter of shock value. I don't approve of it for mass media. I you know, you can read a book to be shocked, and that's fine, and you can watch a program that perhaps is shocking, but I don't want 15 to 21 year olds when their brain is really not formed to listen to things that are really, I think, not good for them, and I don't wanna be a part of that. Many of them are, and I also think the shaming about a lot of the social media, you know, I look better than you. I'm perfect.
I'm this and that. They don't look perfect.
Speaker 1: What you think social media is. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. Quick quick answer.
Speaker 1: Okay. Coco, how would you describe, like, the influencer world?
Speaker 4: I have no knowledge of it because I don't follow TikTok. I know they're out there. They're influencers in food. I addict.
Speaker 3: I mean,
Speaker 4: I just do. And I see that there's this whole industry out there just for cookbooks and recipes. So an influencer is someone who is passionate about the subject they know about, and they just are not shy about videoing themselves in front of the mirror, putting on makeup, whatever it is, whether it's cosmetic, the cosmetic world, the chopping onions and sauteing mushrooms world, they have, something to share, and they're excited about what they're involved in, and they little by little get their followers, and they become influencers if they reach a certain amount of followers, right? Correct.
Speaker 1: You follow Jill?
Speaker 4: Of course. First, my grandkids put me on Instagram because they said, Grammy, don't you wanna know where we are? And I said, Yeah, come to think of it. But I always shied away from anything technical, things like that, but that's how I started. Right.
And with them, and then of course, I just love all the the yeah, it's a sharing app. I mean, that's what what I use in sports. And daddy was
Speaker 3: so good at it. My father, I mean, he's 12 years. He was 12 years older than her. And he got really into Instagram because of antiques. So he followed antiques dealers.
And if he went to a museum, he would post an object or something that they collected with such passion
Speaker 4: and wrote being a journal. Captions. Yeah. But it's like a digital journal. Yeah.
But for him, he didn't care About likes or whatever. Likes. You know?
Speaker 3: Like, wasn't trying to
Speaker 2: like, he wasn't making a living from it. No. No. No. Thank heavens.
Speaker 1: Those are actually really good definitions. Yeah. I was expecting you to be like, I don't know.
Speaker 3: No. No. I think Well,
Speaker 4: now you
Speaker 2: know now. I think we know now.
Speaker 4: We know.
Speaker 1: But have you ever Not for me. Been influenced by something that Jill has like you don't do linking to stuff.
Speaker 3: Nope. I don't do any monetization. I did it twice, and I felt disgusting. Really? Not because not that there's anything wrong with it.
It just didn't feel like me, and I I felt like I was selling my soul or something. And I just decided, I don't wanna do that anymore. I I don't monetize.
Speaker 1: You tried it out? Like
Speaker 3: I tried it out with a couple of things. And after two posts, I said, that's
Speaker 2: you're earning every penny. See, I actually think some of it's fun because we do it for monetary purposes, and I think some of the things we're comfortable with. The makeup, we're very comfortable with because we both love to put makeup on,
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: And some products we like more than others, which I'm it comes through on on the ads, and we get,
Speaker 3: of course, repeat. But you're doing ads so that to me, that doesn't feel the same. As a affiliate. Yeah. They're embedding it into their life and sort of pretending Oh, I see what this is something that when I use this, but they're getting paid for it.
Right. So to me, I don't understand how they have any credibility. Well, here's
Speaker 1: my thing though. I feel like I follow people hoping that they'll link. Like, if someone wears a really cute outfit, I want to buy it because I like it. And if they don't link to it, I'm stressed that I have to now find where to buy the outfit. Yeah.
See what you're So I actually like it. But I can see how it can get annoying, and it depends what kind of content you're just searching for.
Speaker 2: I think what's happened is, and I mean this is for a fact, that's why brick and mortar stores are out of business, people wanna buy what they see on Instagram and on these different platforms for themselves. They don't wanna go out. They like it how it looks on the young girls who are showing it, and it's a marvelous easy way to do things rather than go to the store and hassle. So I think what's happened is many people represent that brand and look great in I mean, I follow certain girls who wear these long pants and sweaters, and I think I know they're not gonna fit me, but I still love the way they put it together, and I do watch it, and I always say to Kim, I love what she wears. Know, she said, Grandma, you could never wear them anyway.
The pants would be down.
Speaker 1: No, no, no. This is what happens. You call me and you say, you know that girl on Instagram dressed like her? And I'm like, what girl on Instagram? And you're like, the one that was on the feed today.
And I was like, we all have different feeds.
Speaker 3: Don't see a thing.
Speaker 1: Like, you think that everyone sees the Sees
Speaker 4: the same. No.
Speaker 1: No. Not how we're
Speaker 4: Yeah. You don't see all my broccoli and cheese recipes
Speaker 3: or whatever. The algorithm knows you.
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Speaker 2: Good job, Kim.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about influence. You started doing this character on Instagram.
Speaker 3: During when you guys were doing your podcast.
Speaker 1: I remember. At what point did you realize that she could become a movie?
Speaker 3: Well, it was a slow process because first, I was just doing it every day, like a little snippet because I was bored. And then one of them hit. Like, it really went viral, and Vogue emailed me and asked if they could do a story on Danielle. And I said, okay. Sure.
So Vogue did this whole profile on Danielle, and then people were reaching out more for TV because that was my background from Odd Mom Out. And so we sold the pilot to IFC, and it was I did rounds of notes, and it was green lit, and we're, you know, starting prep.
Speaker 4: Mhmm.
Speaker 3: And all my executives were fired. So I suddenly went from, like, about to have another show to nothing, And I was so disappointed, and then it was sitting in a drawer for a while. I was working, moved on to other projects, and then I had done two cameos, like small parts in acting in in movies. And one of the directors said, I really would like to write something with you. Would you be open to that?
And I said, well, I have this pilot Mhmm. Who's ready to go. Maybe we turn it into a feature. So that's my co writer, and we wound up doing just that. So it took a while, though, but just baby steps.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Feel like it's never perfectly linear
Speaker 3: Never.
Speaker 1: And happens that way. So typically, because I'm so interested in this side of the industry, like, I know you can do it a few different ways. Why did you write the full pilot versus, like, go around and pitch the concept?
Speaker 3: I I don't know. I had pitched it. I pitched it to, I think, four places where the producers wanted to see if they were even interested in this. They sent the Vogue article. They sent a treatment, whatever, and then said, do you wanna hear the pitch?
So we went to, like, Comedy Central, Apple. I forget what the fourth was. Yeah. And IFC in the room said, we want this.
Speaker 1: Got
Speaker 3: it. It was very fast. And then I had probably a year of, like, drafts and going through stuff. I flew out there a couple times. It was great.
Mhmm. And I was concurrently doing another project with NBCUniversal, but that you know, a lot of these people, they buy like five times as many properties as they're gonna They bought us for
Speaker 2: a while. They're gonna do something for us. But you know what? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Right. All my books have been all five of my novels have sold, and only one was made. Momsilis was turned into Admiral, but they were all optioned. Doesn't mean anything. The first time one of my books was optioned, we got a bottle of champagne.
My parents opened it in their apartment. We I said, it's gonna be a movie. Yeah. Never have. Yeah.
Crickets.
Speaker 4: Because they warehouse material.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And So mhmm.
Speaker 1: So this story, would you say it exists in the same world as Odd Mom Out?
Speaker 3: Yes. It's still definitely Upper East Side. We shot it all on 74th Street. We had a soundstage at Greenpoint as well, but it's it's Upper East Side, the world. But I feel like where my character in Odd Mom Out was the version of me Mhmm.
This is very much the opposite of me.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's what I was gonna ask you. Is this take this character, somebody that you knew, or this is just a They're
Speaker 3: all over. They're all over.
Speaker 1: They're
Speaker 3: everywhere. It's not even a composite. It's just total but you see them everywhere, and it seems like a familiar person, especially if your kids go to sleep away camp. Right. Right.
Or a lot of Zennials at our camp. Right. But, it really I feel like during the pandemic, my daughter, Ivy, had come downstairs the day after Thanksgiving and said, where are we going on Christmas vacation? This was this was 2019.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: And I said, well, don't just assume we're going on vacation. Why are you saying it like that? And she goes, well, everyone at school is asking where we're going. I said, well, tell them that's not a polite question, and some people can't afford to go on vacation. So she turns around and goes back to room, and I turned to my husband and said, where are we going for vacation?
So we wound up taking out his laptop and went on his points. And Amsterdam was basically free for us and the three kids to stay in a nice hotel and just go. So they the next day, they said we said, guys, drum roll. We're going to Holland. They said Sadie said, what?
What's the temperature in in my mind? And I said, it's the same temperature as New York. Just say thank you.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So we go on this trip not knowing that COVID was gonna hit, like, three months later. But we had the best time. We went to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. And our very last day, probably January third or fourth, we went to the Anne Frank House. Right.
And, we didn't realize it, but it kind of reframed our whole COVID because we got back, and the lockdown was, like, two months later, two and a half months later. And a lot of Sadie's friends were really struggling. I heard her on the iPad with one of these Danielle type kids. Right. The kids.
And the mother was like, this is a nightmare. This is a goddamn nightmare. And Sadie is saying to the friend, you're in a mansion in the Hamptons. Right? It's not a nightmare.
I was just in Anne Frank's apartment. Right. You have Seamless. You have the Internet. Like, cry me a river.
But I realized travel is education, and that was really Yeah. So I started doing the shtick, making fun of the dumb mom. Right. And my friends started laughing and said, you should post this. So that's how I did the very first post.
So, it was it was it's funny. I feel like a lot of the camp friends and that does intersect a little bit. And on mom out season three, we did the visiting day camp, and these moms
Speaker 1: Oh, good.
Speaker 3: Had these moms had hats and that had the tail number of their private jet on it. And she had a cooler of Nobu because the kids miss ethnic. Yeah. Ethnic. And it was just a certain type of people where we call it BFTJ, bad for the Jews.
Speaker 4: That's what
Speaker 2: I was gonna say. This bothers me on many levels, but does this read well outside of New York?
Speaker 3: I think so. I think Odd Mom Out related was related about because there is, like, definitely the aspirational part. And now in this moment of influencer culture, I feel like I wanted to kind of peel back the brocade curtain and see that this person who's posting and has almost a million followers and has all the filters and seems like they're living a fabulous life is kinda lonely and miserable.
Speaker 1: Mhmm.
Speaker 3: So there's and we partnered with Instagram, so we had the real user interface Right. To lend veracity to it, and then you see what her real life is. So there's that dichotomy that I think is really important for that 15 to 21 and younger, unfortunately. Respect. You have to know that it's totally it's not them.
It's the ambassador of themselves. Right.
Speaker 1: And obviously, there's a difference. Like, you're being satirical even though a lot of it is like truth and people are this way. But I can put my grandma, I think, is getting at is like, how do you make sure people don't get offended slash do you care?
Speaker 3: Oh, I definitely don't care. But I I definitely don't care. But I feel like with I mean, Jews have had a hard time the last couple years, but I still feel like there is stuff in influencer culture that we see online, especially now where I'm like, don't post that. Like, you just don't wanna throw gasoline on the fire. But the black comedians that I admired growing up always, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, they held fun house mirrors to their community, and I feel like I can do it too.
But, but, yes,
Speaker 4: I mean, some some some people also show the positive side of, you know, your our tribe, and especially in the kids who are studying for their B'nai mitzvah, which a lot of America now will understand what a B'nai mitzvah is, but they're studying and they say, you know what? This is a great line. This shows charity and fix, you know, repair the world. They were talking about a very positive tenant of our And it instructs people who know nothing about us, that there's real value. They're really good values that we follow, even though the, the package of the person isn't always appealing to the outside world, but they're basically the philosophy that we adhere to is a very good one.
And, people will understand that hopefully. It's representation
Speaker 1: as well. I hope this isn't giving anything away, but there's a relationship between Danielle's kids and the local homeless man. And I've been walking around my area and we like, of course, there's like the local guy. And I've thought differently about the relation like, I feel like I also was told, don't give, like, them money. You don't know what they're gonna spend it on.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Alcohol and drugs. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Alcohol and drugs. Whatever. And I am thinking differently about it now. So I there's obviously, it's fun and all these things, but there's, like, such important messages in it too.
Speaker 3: My husband and I were in LA two weeks ago when we parked the car, and there was this unhoused guy Oh, yeah. Who, by the way, was I know. I I just learned it too. He was like, I mean, he was not clean, but he looked very attractive, and he started singing. And he had the most beautiful voice.
And Harry said, this is exactly like your movie. He probably moved to LA with big dreams Yeah. To be a rock star and who knows what drugs or whatever. But Yeah. I mean, he sounded like Scott Wieland or something.
It was it was amazing. Yeah. And I couldn't believe it. I said life is imitating my little movie. But, yeah.
It's it's So funny. It's I wanted to have it be not hitting you over the head. It was I call it, like, hiding the protein in with your pasta kind
Speaker 4: of thing. Mhmm.
Speaker 3: But they do have good hearts. And ultimately, that's influence in this movie is that it's not about Instagram. It's about the person right to you, whether it's your child or your grandma or whomever that is a good influence on you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I also feel like the over the top bat mitzvah culture and touching on that It
Speaker 2: was awful. Be done.
Speaker 3: I I grew up with Dylan Lauren who started Dylan's Candy Bar. And I said, I feel like this could be something that kids Right. And it's there's something wholesome about candy. Right. It kind of felt not like logo.
It's I we oh my gosh. Talk about BFTJ. We went for a press trip. I think I can't remember who I was writing for, but we were in the Boca Raton Hotel. I was with Harry, and there was a bat mitzvah in there.
And they they everyone's table, instead of saying Table number 7, Table 8, they were like, you're at table Prada. You're at table Chanel.
Speaker 2: I thought, but you gotta fashion theme. This is bad. You can't write this. No. But I but I wanted this up.
Speaker 3: To be I wanted it to be not that. Right. Because I didn't wanna I didn't wanna lean into that stuff. So I thought, like, at least Dylan's is wholesome and happy to to be our branded thing. But they just came in, and our set designer was working with them, but they were like, we got you.
And they just came in and built all that So good. For us. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: So fun.
Speaker 3: And then at the end of shooting it, we said, you got I I said, how do we get all this candy back to you? They're like, no. No. It's for you. So all the extras just devoured it and probably got I
Speaker 1: also loved that, obviously, there's sets that were being built, but then that you filmed in real locations as well. Because as someone who grew up on the Upper East Side, I was like, there's that place.
Speaker 3: There's Yeah. There's a lot of those Easter eggs. And we had locations and a great, you know, permit person liaison. So we got everything we wanted to do. We really I feel like Odd Mom Out, we had to be way more guerrilla style.
This we we just, like, stole footage. Like, you're not supposed to you're supposed to clear everything, but we I feel like I was not established in that world. I mean, I started acting at 40. Wow. At 39, basically.
And so, yep, season one, when we asked for clothes Yeah. They're like, what? What's this show? Are you a reality housewife? And I said, no.
It's a scripted comedy. They're doing this now. And by season three, we were getting, like, racks of clothes sent. So it was much easier this time because I had the show. Right.
So the wheels were greased a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you had amazing cast and cameos in there.
Speaker 3: Yes. I really wanted to pepper it with those New York type people that maybe people don't know all of them outside of the city, but I feel like whether it's media or fashion, I just wanted them there and around. But I was not shy about asking everybody
Speaker 1: with, share like, the Face Times with, like, Gwyneth Paltrow? And was that easier? Well, Gwyneth, I grew
Speaker 3: up with. Okay. Matt Damon, I social climbed at the Met Gala. We share a friend in common. Yeah.
And, you know, you just have to I hate asking favors. It makes me feel disgusting, like I need a silkwood shower. But my agent at CAA said, listen. You can try to go through proper channels, but if you know the guy, just ask him.
Speaker 4: 100%.
Speaker 3: You know? And I I know if I had gotten through proper channels, I'd have doors slammed in my face. But he's the nicest guy and just said, yeah, sure. I'll do it. So was So great.
It was really fun. Your
Speaker 2: divert go for into a whole different area. Do your children you've got fabulous kids. They're all very, very smart. You think they wanna come back
Speaker 3: to the Upper East Side, or they're No. They wanna let Sadie, my eldest, is graduating. She wants to live in the East Village.
Speaker 2: I know. She she wants to live where my grandson
Speaker 1: coming back to New York.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I've indoctrinated all my children. They all wanna come back to is the capital of the world.
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 3: Everything else is slow and preventable. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's pretty good here. But, I mean, they all basically wanna come back.
Speaker 3: They all wanna come back here, which I think is great
Speaker 2: kudos to you and your husband. Yeah.
Speaker 3: We're You did a good job. Very tight knit. Right. And, I mean, we live three blocks apart. I'm actually my husband and I are living with my mom right now Aw.
Because we're renovating. Okay. So it's we're a very cozy group, and we live, anyway, three blocks apart, and my brother's 10 blocks away.
Speaker 2: But we do the same thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We do the exact
Speaker 2: same thing. The exact same thing.
Speaker 3: And we live together in the summer. That's mean nice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: How's Jill, the roommate?
Speaker 4: Well, she's in a
Speaker 3: She thinks a slob, though.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But that's it's part of the DNA in your, in your family. Actually, I was the only neat one. Yeah. So you have dad's DNA.
Speaker 3: Daddy called her Ms. Tidy Bowl.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And, and all her kids are, I won't say the slob word, but there it is. Smashing. I see. And, yeah, when they when they stay with me in the summer, they think they're at the four seasons.
They shower. The towel goes on the floor.
Speaker 2: Big issue.
Speaker 4: Excuse me. There are hooks. See those hooks? That's what they're for. Yeah.
You know?
Speaker 3: Harry puts boxers on the hamper. Not in No. Just on sitting atop. It's crazy.
Speaker 4: Anyway Michelle, that's so good.
Speaker 2: But it all works. Yeah. Family
Speaker 4: is good. I'd rather have them with me and messy than not see them.
Speaker 1: Exactly. Cool. I guess you can get some more mahjong games in. We do.
Speaker 3: Addicted. We've been playing now that I'm in residence here, we're like great gardens. Literally, I'm we're sitting there playing mahj.
Speaker 4: Yeah. And then the girls play, so we have an instant table.
Speaker 3: Instant force. So when we travel, we I bring I don't bring the dumb travel set. I bring the hardcore ass thing.
Speaker 2: Oh, the big the heavy Yeah.
Speaker 3: The heavy Heavy ass thing comes with us.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We play too. Grandma's like We play.
Speaker 2: I actually played about fifteen, twenty years ago and then we stopped. And now all of a sudden there was a resurgence. Just one cute story, we were up at Brown for graduation last spring and my ex daughter-in-law disappeared one morning, and she said, I'm not gonna tell you where I was. I said, well, now you've got my curiosity up. Where were you?
She said, I went to a Marjong factory. I said, you left me. And
Speaker 4: you left island.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Chris Lloyd is a big She collects all my She has a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, firstly, she got these gorgeous Marjang sets, which she eventually she did sell some. They were but they're so intricate. I like the white tiles because I don't see on the colored tiles, which is very interesting. Some people, you know, we have pink tiles and blue Yeah. Have all
Speaker 3: the colors.
Speaker 2: But some of the graphics on the Yeah. The things are so beautiful, but then you don't know what you've got to bam or crack. I don't know. Oh, it's hard. So but I said, could leave me out of that shopping day.
That's the worst thing I ever heard. But she said that was the most interesting part of Rhode Island. She went to this fabulous fact.
Speaker 3: Really cool.
Speaker 2: Jill, I thought be that made
Speaker 3: for Maj on? About Maj on the other week. Great.
Speaker 1: My mom got tickets, and I was like, of course, I'm coming. She's coming on the podcast in a few weeks. And I loved hearing your, like, pet peeves about the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah. About, like, annoying people.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I have a lot.
Speaker 1: One or two?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm gonna about to get a bigger list because I'm going to Vegas. Oh. For the world championships. It's the world championship. Yes.
But I'm going to Metallica at the sphere that night. So That's so That's my main reason. Alright. I'm just going once. I'm not going this isn't gonna be like a yearly pilgrimage.
But apparently, some people are monsters. Oh, no. I do. Okay. Like, there there are vipers.
Yeah. But, yeah, I have a lot of issues. Usually, I feel like it's a personality. Sometimes Mahjong elicits their dark side. And so if they lose I played with a woman who threw her rack of tiles.
Oh. And she no. She said, what makes you think you're ready for Vegas? And I said, well, I just was in a tournament. I came in fourth, so I feel like I can pull it off.
She goes, so then we play, and I won. And I said, well, I got four flowers, two, four, six, eight. And she goes, we don't need an autopsy. Oh,
Speaker 2: she's just not I know. I know. Not playing with her.
Speaker 3: They just check the person who's east just verifies. But you don't need to, like, walk it through the way we do. Right. Yeah. But I realize that they all hate the newcomers because they all say, I've been playing for fifty years.
Who the f are these upstart little trendsetting? You know, they're all just, following Do they
Speaker 2: play card when they go when you're in Vegas? They did. Play with the card or is it Play with the card?
Speaker 1: That would be crazy to memorize it.
Speaker 2: No. No. No.
Speaker 3: Chinese China,
Speaker 2: they don't play with the card.
Speaker 3: It's only martial arts.
Speaker 2: It's only measure you know, in Yeah. China, they don't play that way.
Speaker 1: I'm new. Like, it has become a trend lately for I've just turned 30. So, like, girls in their twenties and thirties to start playing. Yeah. I obviously have the background of, like, you, grandma, and and mom I loved it.
Playing. So I've been organizing with the girls. But I never understood before when my grandma was like, people lose friendships over cards. And I was like, you are just melodramatic, blah blah blah. Now I get it.
Because their personalities come out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. For good or for bad. Right.
Speaker 4: But it's like in tennis. You remember it's I remember it when I was playing tennis and you played doubles. Yeah. And I would be afraid. Somebody paired me with someone else.
I said,
Speaker 2: that's
Speaker 4: right. Me cry last time. You know? I mean, some of the women are women.
Speaker 3: Don't do that. I play at any money at all costs. I don't play there's no second game with someone who's a bitch. Like, I life's too short. We're all gonna die.
You gotta calm the hell down. And usually, those people are not happy, and I feel like Right. And they they shine
Speaker 4: at what they do. Don't need Exactly. I don't give or tennis, and then they're
Speaker 2: They're they're a mess and everything else.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Right. Exactly. So you don't have
Speaker 1: a girls group that you play with?
Speaker 3: I have three steady groups.
Speaker 4: Oh, per three.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Including seriously.
Speaker 1: I guess so. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And so I I really love it. And then I have I would play with, like, Jack the Ripper. Like, I will show up anywhere and play.
Speaker 1: Can we all share how many sets we have?
Speaker 2: Well, I started with about four because I used to have Majeong days when I was in Florida and had a house. Used to have I did I have really did. And we had Majeong afternoons, but that I sold the house and I got rid of the set. So one set went to your new to my son's wife, my daughter, my new daughter-in-law. Like, years ago.
No. No. No. But yes. But the set, she just started playing last year.
And then I keep a set in New York that was my mother's, which is beautiful, which is an ivory set, which is really quite beautiful with the little round the bedding discs that they used to play with, was it's a beautiful set. That I have in my closet. I still have it. I never take that out.
Speaker 4: It's fragile if it's
Speaker 3: ivory. That's the thing. Went to a proper game with ivory tiles, and I have those, like, salad tosses. Right. And I just whip them out and start doing it, and everyone goes, no.
It was like the Zapruder film. Stop. Slow. They're ivory. They're gonna chip.
Yeah. So I mean
Speaker 2: I thought that was probably funny. That's why you don't play it with films
Speaker 3: as group.
Speaker 2: Just keep it. And then I have two sets, and I have one set that mommy got me that the jokers say Gail.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's very good.
Speaker 2: That was a great birthday gift. She gave it to me a couple of years ago. So I have them in all locations, and I'm excited to do it again. And then you've got me a new cover, a map. Yeah.
Which we never used to play with those bats, but now the mats The very
Speaker 3: neoprene helps them slide better. If you played on a tablecloth, they were like,
Speaker 2: yeah, that's what I used to
Speaker 3: do. Yeah. It doesn't work out. This is very nice.
Speaker 1: And it's fun. There's fun prints. Right. Okay. Well, I only started playing recently, but there's been random brands who saw I was playing and sent things.
So now I have, like, a foodie one.
Speaker 3: The guy in that one. Like yeah. They're played with yesterday. Yeah. Love mahjong lah.
Speaker 1: So I
Speaker 3: think I have four. I have 14.
Speaker 1: Pretty good. Pretty good.
Speaker 2: You win.
Speaker 4: I only
Speaker 3: have one. But guess what? I'm coming out with my own.
Speaker 2: Oh, how much fun
Speaker 3: for Halloween. It's it's a spooky set.
Speaker 2: Very cute. You.
Speaker 3: It's really cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's very
Speaker 3: It's really cool. Because Halloween's very stylish. It's very stylish.
Speaker 1: What brand is it?
Speaker 3: Center and Spring, they make all the custom mahjong tables. They're really chic, and they have the Nantucket set and the vineyard and whatever. So this is their first
Speaker 2: Oh, that should be fabulous. You know, they have tables that are made that they've Yeah. Mix the the
Speaker 3: I know, but you can't use our tiles.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not doing it anyway, but I can't imagine, like, the standard tile.
Speaker 3: But I'm a brat. I want the colorful ones.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Mhmm. I feel like a mahjong set has to be part of an Upper East Side Woman starter pack. What else would be in the starter pack?
Speaker 3: Interesting. Takeout menus. It's weird because I'm not really I'm sort of I'm Upper East Side Of Jason. I'm Dorito down under Roosevelt Island Tram Overpass.
Speaker 1: How have I never heard of this?
Speaker 3: Because I made it up. Okay.
Speaker 4: Yes. I will use now. It's like, so
Speaker 3: I don't feel like I'm a real upper setter. I'm sort of one foot in, one foot out.
Speaker 4: Okay. Because you love Brooklyn also. Go to Brooklyn every weekend.
Speaker 3: We don't have a country house. We're like Right. You know, we're always in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: It's so funny, though, because you know it so well.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I went to Spence. I if I walked up Madison in the seventies, it would be like my entire Lamaze class.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But when I go home to bed, we're in, like, a weird commercial area. Like, it's very anonymous. Okay. I don't run into anyone I know. Yeah.
Which I like. Yeah. I love it. I'm never leaving. They're putting my dead body.
Speaker 4: Except at Halloween when you when
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2: Cricket trainers
Speaker 4: Halloween have or TikTok famous. Yeah.
Speaker 3: House TikTok famous. You know how, like, Home Depot crashes October 1? That's because of us. We they sold out of the 18 foot skeletons because they're all, like, crawling up my house.
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Yes. So what do you get, like, different inspo every year, or you reuse
Speaker 3: the same? We reuse and we adapt, but we're basically, like, from Staten Island where you just happen to be in Manhattan.
Speaker 4: Yeah. It's like Diker Heights. You know? Like an
Speaker 2: Diker Heights for Christmas. Meredith Yeah. Yeah. Does it too on She's on that street. 78th Street.
But her house always wins.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Because they close off that street. It's so popular.
Speaker 2: Which is wonderful Yeah. For the kids. Yeah. That I think a great addition.
Speaker 3: It's almost at that level. That's great.
Speaker 2: Just used to go
Speaker 1: up and down the elevator, and we would put, like, one bowl of candy out. It was not
Speaker 2: Well No.
Speaker 4: But it's in a building, it's totally different.
Speaker 2: Building, it's different. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. How do you think New York City has changed over the last, like, decade?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's changed, some for the better and some for the worse. I think, I'm here, I'm living basically where I am now, almost sixty years. I think it's changed in the sense that we, not our neighborhood, where we are, our kids walked to school, They were very, very close knit. We had a very close knit community. There were little shops that are no longer around anymore.
It was a very neighborhood kind of thing. Now, basically it's all chains or it's stores that have four or five different locations because they can't survive on rent, which has changed in the last several years. Far as think kids are still kids. They're still growing up in a city. I think maybe they're being a little more careful, but on and off over the years kids had to be careful always.
There was always issues in a big city. I think our subway system and our bus system are the greatest. Kids get school perfectly. Are there problems with unhoused people now? That's the term.
Speaker 1: I'm alert.
Speaker 2: Just I heard. You know, but that's always been it's more so now because we have so many more people in the city than we had before growing up. So I think it hasn't so far changed for the worse. It hasn't gotten better. I think it's almost at a plateau.
There's no great social remedy to a big city. It's very difficult to run, very difficult to live in, and you do the best you can. And what I'm talking about the homeless gentleman or a house person, I think what you have to do is be charitable to them. Know, be kind. They're not pariahs in city, but unfortunately the city isn't doing enough for them, and that takes the city down.
And in LA as well, I mean, they have a bigger problem certainly than we have, and in other large places, there has to be more social services. So I think it hasn't gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten better.
Speaker 3: I was growing up, I feel like you and dad would have been arrested for the freedom I got. It's such a long rope. I I basically took my bus pass. I went downtown. I had no cell phone, and I was eight for the 2019.
No. But I was eight. Would be arrested now. Well, listen. Loved it.
I had the best childhood. But that's But Willie was mugged. My brother was mugged.
Speaker 4: The information from me.
Speaker 3: No. But you'd be like, okay. She's just with her friends.
Speaker 4: Yeah. You say I'm going to Amanda's house, and we're gonna have a sleepover. And meanwhile, you were at Limelight.
Speaker 3: Yeah. True.
Speaker 4: We were
Speaker 3: not we went clubbing. That was later. That was, like, at 13 for playing.
Speaker 4: But
Speaker 1: That's a for clubbing.
Speaker 4: I know. I know.
Speaker 3: Started clubbing in eighth grade.
Speaker 2: It's really But I think they still are, by the way. I have a 14 year old, and she
Speaker 1: is She's not going to nightclubs.
Speaker 2: They are going out in groups, and they are going to parties, and they I don't know what what Where. Yeah. They are going.
Speaker 3: But they have cell phones with, like Well, that's
Speaker 2: the truth.
Speaker 3: I was on 10th Avenue. Right. You know? And no one knew where I was. Well, that's scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's a little scary because I know. It's crazy.
Speaker 3: My kids didn't grow
Speaker 2: up like that. Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I had a very, very tight leash. Yeah. So and I don't think find friends was a thing No. When I was younger.
Speaker 2: But you didn't we didn't have cell phones. I know.
Speaker 1: Had a cell phone. Oh. But but I don't know if there was
Speaker 2: I don't think that app was a rare.
Speaker 4: No. The tracking's recent. Yeah. I mean, love that.
Speaker 2: Why my your mother's tracking me.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: Where could I be going?
Speaker 3: No. I like seeing where my mom is.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Especially when she's in California. I'm like, there she is. Or oh, she's at the market. Yeah. Cute.
I like it. Okay.
Speaker 1: It's cute. I still think it's the best city.
Speaker 4: I think so too. Yeah. I love the fact that people you know, there's they're talking about the exodus to other states, and but there are new people wanting to come. Now, the trouble is, can they afford to pay the rent? But those wanna make it here, they figure, everyone has a hope for the future, and if it's going to be bright and fulfilling, it's gonna be attached to New York because this is the place where people come.
And it's good for the city. I think that's the biggest hope for the city is that people will continue to want to
Speaker 1: be here. Okay. I wanna end the episode with a fun little game. It's sort of like fill in the blanks Mad Libs style. Love it.
Okay. So I'll say blank, and then we can each go around
Speaker 3: and say
Speaker 2: it. Okay. I'm blessed.
Speaker 1: The people who seem the most put together are actually
Speaker 3: do you all wanna start? Oh, put together.
Speaker 1: Coco?
Speaker 4: Happy? I don't know. What do think?
Speaker 1: The people who seem the most put together are actually
Speaker 2: Kim, I have you. I have no idea.
Speaker 1: No. You have to say, like, are are they actually hiding something in here? Are they actually have to be are they actually put together
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think you can be together in their Yeah. Put together in their minds, in their in the way they are or in their clothing. I think you can be put together star wise and be still a mess. So I'll say they're happy.
I don't know. Yeah. I have no idea. I have no idea.
Speaker 1: There's no right answer.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
Speaker 4: So go to the
Speaker 2: next question. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay. The biggest lie on social media is
Speaker 2: Is this too hard? These are too hard for me. Biggest that everybody's happy? Yeah. That everyone's perfect.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 1: Perfection and, like Right. Like edited photos.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And everything is filtered. I I'm gathering what's her name? I had a face lift, and they photoshopped her. So now I can't even believe about Kim Kardashian looking so good.
What did
Speaker 4: she have
Speaker 2: a face lift? She had what do you mean? That was the talk of the town.
Speaker 3: I know the mom.
Speaker 2: The mom. No. No. Mom. Don't mean definitely.
I didn't mean Kim.
Speaker 3: Oh, you didn't?
Speaker 4: I meant Christian.
Speaker 3: The mom. The mom. I mean, I
Speaker 2: thought she looked gorgeous. Now she said her face lift's no good. I said, everybody lied to us. The face really didn't look as good as it was supposed to look.
Speaker 3: Oh. No. They said it's slipping.
Speaker 2: It's slipping.
Speaker 4: Already?
Speaker 2: How could it slip?
Speaker 3: I think facelifts can slip. But not six
Speaker 2: months. Fever?
Speaker 3: That so quick. That's why they want to slip. Like,
Speaker 2: Well, evidently. But anyway, that was I'm so disappointed. Blue
Speaker 4: point slip.
Speaker 3: They all slip. Gravity is gravity.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I say. Yes, it is. You know that.
Speaker 1: Lots of sagging over time.
Speaker 2: Lots of sagging. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay. If you really know New York, then you understand
Speaker 2: Tolerance.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I was gonna say tolerance.
Speaker 3: Noise. Differences. Yeah. Differences. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was I was gonna say something along the lines of, like, the noisiness and chaoticness is, like, okay. Like, not to be
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I love it. I, like, would rather have sirens than cricket.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I I thrive on it. The rhythm. You know, everything here is fast. Yes.
You really you I grow very impatient when I'm walking behind tourists. Tolerance you need because they're here to
Speaker 3: Support our city, and we need tourists,
Speaker 4: but also But I also feel like, hey, we are Why are you walking for a breast with fanny So that part, I know that New York is that's why they call it a New York minute.
Speaker 2: Mhmm. That's good. It's a good one.
Speaker 1: What I'm not okay with is the rat situation.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No. I'm really not, and I never will be. And our rats are needs to step up. Yes.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I know. Is he
Speaker 2: you see all these rats. Okay. I I
Speaker 3: see rats. I I have a heart attack, and I screamed. And my husband said, why are you screaming? It's outside the car.
Speaker 2: It's not in the car. No.
Speaker 4: I don't like see them.
Speaker 3: It's in a skull.
Speaker 4: I see them.
Speaker 2: I must be going.
Speaker 4: You're not, like, down You're not walking enough. Walking distance. Even on the the street side. They exist. The street side.
They exist.
Speaker 3: Third. Oh, because that's 2nd Avenue Subway.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And, like, the restaurants leave their garbage
Speaker 2: out Yeah.
Speaker 4: And the restaurant
Speaker 2: They're to park up around. Lids garbage were supposed
Speaker 3: be pure.
Speaker 1: They still haven't found. And we had a whole conversation
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: This week.
Speaker 2: Oh, didn't tell
Speaker 1: you that. I know. This is the update. Well, I actually mom was sitting with me, and I was like, talk to them. I'm scared.
And so she talks to them. And this is actually so funny really quick. So you know how people tell you to like spell out the name of the building or whatever the name of what so she was like, d as in dog, blah blah blah. And then she goes r as in rat.
Speaker 3: Right. Because it's a problem. It's a problem.
Speaker 1: It is a problem. They're coming, and they're checking
Speaker 3: downtown in Brooklyn. Like, Upper East Side is easy compared to
Speaker 1: that. Oh my god. It's every But the summer
Speaker 3: is really bad.
Speaker 1: It's really I'm viscerally. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I can't handle it. I can't
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. You guys are gonna have to move to the country permanently. I
Speaker 1: know. Okay. Last one. If someone has been in New York City too long, they start to
Speaker 2: complain about other people,
Speaker 3: complain about other places.
Speaker 2: That's me. Yeah. That's good.
Speaker 3: That's good. I don't know if there's such a thing as too long. I'm gonna definitely die here. I don't do
Speaker 4: the Florida thing. I don't know. Too long. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, Florida is good when it's very cold here.
Speaker 3: I don't mind cold. I'm a different person. Oh, I'm an angel of death. I don't care. Bring me another long winter.
I love it. My clothes are better.
Speaker 4: My skates like are better. Summer. Hate heat. I don't wanna see mantos. Yeah.
Oh, and you know, who gave people permission to go half dressed as soon as the temperature gets a little warmer Yeah.
Speaker 3: They're new to Shorts.
Speaker 4: And what's to look at men's hairy legs walking, you know, sitting on a at a restaurant.
Speaker 3: Like, shirtless, running. It's gross. I know. I'm Alright. Winter forever.
I love it. I'm ready for Game of Thrones, the wall zamp there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I see your similarities more and more as this conversation.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No. We are very much I'm a tweed type of person. Right. I like giving a nice British tweed.
Cashmere. You know?
Speaker 1: My god. There's our sound bite. I'm so happy we found it. Thank you, ladies, so much
Speaker 4: for joining.
Speaker 3: You guys are the cutest.
Speaker 1: This was so much fun. Jill, share with everyone how they can watch Influenced.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's in theaters May 8. It'll be in 10 cities nationwide, and you can follow influenced dot movie on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Yay. Kokoani shout out? Do you want anyone to follow you?
Speaker 3: No. Okay. No.
Speaker 2: They're always following her. She's always doing trendsetter. She doesn't have to No. Shout anything
Speaker 4: I'm a quiet person. I love it. But I love being I loved this. This was great. I really enjoyed seeing you at work in your merchandise.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Tell everybody that I really do go to work.
Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. Do. It's fantastic. I really enjoyed the whole experience.
Speaker 1: Thank you. You. We appreciate you coming. And remember to follow Excuse My Grandma on TikTok, Instagram. Follow the podcast if you're not already and rate us five stars.
And we will see you next week.
Speaker 2: Bye.