Welcome to the crown On Anchor Greyhounds. This is Richmond Till We Die,
a conversation about the Apple TV Plus show ted Lasso, where we explore the
characters, their relationships to each other, and how they're able to make us
laugh until we can hardly breathe one moment and then feel with the deepest parts
of our hearts the night. I'm Brett, one of your co hosts for
this episode, and our guest today is Emmy Award winning writer and comedian Taylor
kay Phillips. Taylor currently writes for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO,
and her work has also appeared in publications like The New Yorker and McSweeney's.
And though she currently lives and works in New York City, Taylor originally
hails from the barbecue capital of the world, Kansas City, and is a
true Midwesterner at heart. She loves the Midwest so much, in act,
that she wrote a book called A Guide to Midwestern Conversation, which is a
hilarious and heartfelt homage to the Midwest particular brand of communication. Of course,
Taylor's a massive fan of ted Lasso too, so we invited her on the
show to chat about Ted's Midwestern mannerisms, the unique culture and charm of Kansas
City, and what it was like to be in attendance at the twenty twenty
two Emmy Awards ceremony as the Ted Lasso cast and crew collected multiple awards.
And finally, let this serve as your official spoiler alert, as there is
some light discussion of Ted Lasso plot points up through the third episode of season
three. So Greyhounds please join us as we give a warm welcome to Taylor
Kay Phillips. Thank you so much for being with us. Taylor, thank
you. I'm so excited to be here. We're excited you're here too.
We were brought together on Twitter through our mutual fandom of Ted Lasso. So
well let's just start there. Why did you decide to start watching Ted Lasso
and when did you decide? Okay, I'm invested. I'm definitely going to
stick with this. So I started during during COVID during the pandemic. I
had heard about it. I actually can't remember how, but like I'm guessing
many of us, I was sold on man from Kansas City goes to England
to do soccer because I am an English football fan by marriage. So I
did not know about English football and in fact was very performatively anti soccer as
a child in probably a very annoying way, not probably definitely a very annoying
way. And but I am now in an Arsenal fan through and through,
like I bleed Royal Blue Chiefs read and now also Arsenal red um and so
that was really it for me. I think the spinning out the sparkling water
in the first episode was yeah, that was like, yeah, exactly,
you had me at spittake, you had me at this water, spicy um,
sparkling water a thing that now I am addicted to same stream. Yep,
exactly, you got the soda stream. We also buy. We also
have an Amazon like constant delivery. It's like it's a sickness um. But
it was when I first started dating my husband. It was what he it
was like what was in his fridge, and I was very don't do this
girls, um, but I was very cool girl like, yeah, sure,
sparkling water or whatever. But now I love it and it's all I
drink, so it's a good way to stay hydrated. Yeah, So I
was I was into ted Lasso from from the beginning, I think the spit
take the midwesternisms. Yes, of course, so joke I spoke to the
owner of the Sun, you talked to God. It's one of my favorite
jokes ever in the history of the world. And then at the end of
the season, when you can end to season, I always think this is
so wonderful with television. But when you can end the season with everyone getting
what they want and still there is enough dramatic tension to make an entire other
season of television, to me, that's incredible and that was something that I
just like, I just fell in love with it. Speaking of dramatic tension,
one thing that has flumoxed many people in season three is this direct flight
from London to Kansas City. Can you shed any light on this fictional flight
for us? Absolutely? So, this fictional flight does not exist. I
looked it up today just in case something had happened and I hadn't been aware.
So there is absolutely no direct flight from London to Kansas City. We
did just get a new airport. I love it. Yeah. Within the
last month it went from being one of the worst international airports in the country
to now being okay to being good. Yeah. I actually because I could,
with my best friend, took the last flight out of the old airport,
slept at midway, and then took the first flight into the new one.
Wow, dedication dedication of it, because like, because because I could.
You know, you're never going to be able to do that again.
And I landed in the new kans City Airport, which again does not have
flights from London that land there, nor is nor is its designator Caseyi either
that's true. That's a street name, not its government. Yeah. I
was going to say, well, and something that is very funny and kind
of spoilers for season three of Barry if anybody is like just now getting into
Berry. At the end of Barry. There is also a made up direct
flight from lax to Joplin. Yes so, which is somehow even more ridiculous
than Yeah, La to Kansas City. But you know what, maybe maybe
it'll happen. The thing about the new Kansas City Airport is that no one
is going to believe you when you tell them about the old Kansas City Airport.
Like I haven't experienced it yet, but I've seen photos and I even
can't believe it. No, I mean, it's beautiful but the idea when
you're like, you're like, oh, this is a nice airport. But
the reason that it's so nice is that the airport that was there before was
impossible. It's impossible that something that looks like that was called an international airport.
And I love it. I have so much affection for it, But
that looked like a seventies architect was like, y'all want to see something in
that airport. In that airport's defense, it was done dirty by history because
what made it look kind of funny was that you could essentially like get dropped
off anywhere and then immediately get to your gate, which was super cool.
It just became a nightmare after nine to eleven because with the enhanced security,
instead of being able to be dropped off at your gate, they had the
funnel everybody through various points and then it wasn't laid out in such a way
that they could build restaurants back by the gates or anything. And so what
was pretty cool and cutting edge and super convenient when airport security had to get
more stringent, just became an absolute like nightmare to have to hang out there
and catch flights and whatnot. Right, and it was also designed. It
was designed to me such a like with such a little guy mentality, which
is like, only people from Kansas City will be using this airport to leave
Kansas City, So how do we make leaving Kansas City the fastest possible process?
And now it's like people coming for the World Cup, man, like
we got to give them some merch, some forty five dollar hats. Like
here we go four different coffee shops within a like x amount foot radius.
Oh yeah, there's a perezy, there's a messenger, there's a I don't
know the other one. It's it's noise. There are the moving walkways.
Oh yo, there's people movers. Nice. Okay, feel like I'm just
gonna have to, like now on my next trip to Kansas City, just
go visit the airport terminal. Just sort of do it. Now, there's
a lot of shopping you can do shopping on the on the coffee topic.
Two is one thing that has not come up in ted Lasso is that Kansas
City is low key like one of the best coffee cities in the whole country.
So that's just like, as you're talking about four coffee shops in the
airport, like there's actually a good reason for that. Yes, because Kansas
City is known by coffee snobs as being a very good coffee city. We're
a bunch of We're a bunch of good stuff city. Totally, totally for
the ted Lasso uninitiated. Also, coffee is a Kansas City pride point of
pride. Yes. Things that have left Kansas City now thanks to ted Lasso
now include like midwesternisms and vernacular that is familiar to people who have spent any
time in the Midwest or in Kansas City. So you wrote a book called
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation comes out April eleventh, and Jason sadekis fellow Kansas
City in what are some of your favorite Midwestern Tedisms that have made it into
the show thus far. That's so interesting because I feel like, you know,
ted Lazo speaks in these kind of jokey catchphrases that I would call more
ted lasso Isms than to westernisms. Um, because he is such a specific
dude in the best He's a genre to himself, He's a genre, not
to himself. The calling uh, Rebecca boss to me is a very Midwestern
thing. I call my like two big bosses boss um and I hope they
find it endearing and not disrespectful. We'll see um to tune in to see
the job. Let us know after your year like annual review. Exactly.
It's like, Taylor, you gotta stop this um. And I think the
um the attitude of being. It's more of an attitude thing. And I
don't know exactly the wording, but the like the attitude of receiving something at
a very high voltage, whether it be like anger or disappointment or whatever.
And the thing he does, well, now, now hold on a second,
right that, Now wait a minute, you know, let's I'll take
a second. And or the stating, the stating what's going on without necessarily
ascribing judgment, but while also saying, you know, I'm a part of
this. He said, well, we got a whole lot of emotions flying
around right now, right, you know, like I'm going to state what's
happening instead of having my own emotional response to it. So instead like so
if I somebody comes at you and is you know, is yelling adam or
whatever, and he says, well, you clearly feel very strongly, instead
of a like usob stop yelling at me, it's the stating of the situation
I feel like is a very Midwestern way of like diffusing tension and also a
very fun dramatic device in the book, there's also you haven't divided up into
different topics. So there's one about arriving, there's one about departures. There's
a food section, of course, there's also being a Midwesterner in a Kansas
city, and there's a sports section. There are lots of so you share
lots of common Midwestern sports phrases and the translations for them. And I'm wondering,
like, as far as again going with Ted and what he has said,
what are some of his like attitudes towards sports that you find Midwestern or
that resonate with the themes of your book, or that you hope he will
employ by the end of season three, Because he is coming in kind of
as an expert as a coach, but not as an expert in the sport.
He turns to Beard for or like Nate in early seasons, for how
to actually talk about what's going on with the team sport wise. So a
lot of a lot of his kind of sports phrases are reiterating to show that
he understands or like putting stuff into American football terms. But something I'm surprised
that they haven't sort of played with yet, or maybe they haven't I missed
it is this this like very Midwestern, particularly because our teams aren't always super
good, this like rebuilding year, or like these fellas really need to get
something going, or like just that kind of euphemism for we suck right now
and all I can do like, but it would be too New Jersey for
me to be like, oh, we suck with terrible, So I have
to be the Midwesterner and be like we've got we've got ways to go,
ye or I mean, and then they're all professionals, but the big one
is like, nah, he's not as far along, which like if we
ever see ted Um coaching Henry at some point, or like with his kids,
I mean, you guys, are you guys coach kids? You know
how you nicely say it's like so and so as far along or like the
I mean the entire concept of the most improved still develop developing. That's a
great Yes, they're just they're just having fun and learning right now. Yeah,
exactly having fun and learning, which there is a little bit of that
and Ted not so much. The still learning, but like the kind of
like make it lower stakes, make it more fun, Yes, take some
of the pressure off of the wins and losses. So there is some of
that in there for sure. Yeah, it's like it's not about you know,
we're not focused on winning right now, We're focused on the fundamentals,
which I think is which I'm so glad they have introduced as attention in this
season. Yes, yes, because I think that as someone who played sports
in school, like, there's nothing more irritating than being on a different competitive
page from someone, ye, especially when that person is like in charge of
your wins and losses. So yeah, so are those are some great ones.
And then the other one that I think is so fun in the Midwest
that that Ted doesn't really get an opportunity to do is the that kid is
special Yes, yea, which, like you guys are coaching, it's when
it's when you have a little too much emotional investment in the athletic ability of
a child where you're like, oh man, I'm kind of excited about going
to practice to like watch this quarterback run, yeah exactly. Or like my
husband has this like very great but very harrowing rule for himself, which is
I'm not going to buy a jersey with the name of someone younger than me
on it, and I feel like you're gonna age out of buying jersey's pretty
quickly. Well that's the thing, is like, yeah, he's thirty one
now and so and and I can't really bring myself. It's like I'm I've
got my salad or bed as jersey and like that's kind of where I'm at,
Like I think maybe Travis Kelsey is older than me, but like Mahomes
isn't, you know, like it's and you look at the I mean even
the Richmond players like they're and soccer, it's like they're even younger. Yeah,
so the like that kid is special being and in the book it's there's
one at every level like I have yes, youth, college and professional.
That's a really fun device too. It's super clever because because it happens all
the time, Like oh yeah, and that is that is to me a
very Midwestern like I don't know how to feel about the rush I get from
watching this young person do stuff. But then then you're like I get what
the Greeks were like doing right where they're like we have it like what we
do for fun as we go watch men throw things like yeah, okay,
like I get it well before we like a round out this sports fandom bit.
There's two things that come to mind as you're talking about that. One
is that I'm a I'm from Texas, but I'm a transplant, so you
Amahomes but being here in Chiefs Kingdom like that, like that kid a special
mentality is so real, Like people are obsessed with Patrick Mahomes and several other
players too, but like I feel like there was like a jersey day at
our kids elementary school and like fifty percent of the children had on Mahomes jersey
specifically, you know. So it's just like it's pretty wild. The other
thing too, just to your point of like we got to get something going
or it's a rebuilding year like that, very all shucks Midwestern mentality. My
wife's family are all New Jersey, New York Italian Yankees fans, so it's
like the moment something breaks with the Yankees that everyone's like they're bums. Everyone's
a bum. I'm like, so you're paying the most money for a team
of bums. I don't get it. That's the thing, right, not
to say the fans aren't behind the team. It's just a different kind of
love. I think it's just like the booze they boo them. Yeah,
And I remember the first time that I thought that Kansas City was booing someone,
And it was when I was a kid, like, why are we
Why are we booing this person? Like, we don't do that, And
it was like two thousand and two or whatever, and it was Raoul Levan,
Yes, and everyone was going Raoul like and that's what's happened. I
was like, Oh, yeah, we don't. We don't boo people.
That's how I felt. Yeah, when we had Moose on the Cowboys,
yes, yes, it was like, oh are we booing him? Why
are we booing our own player? No? Yeah, no, we're just
yelling his name, roll out. But then you have the Yankees who are
booing. And then you have guys, stand up guys like John Carlos Stan
who are like, well, if they boom me, I must deserve it.
I must be playing like crap. And that's just how you take it.
So that's yeah, that's different strokes. You do. You do what
you gotta do. It's clear that you have a lot of affection for where
you're from. What was part of your approach to write a book like this
and then like, couldn't bay that affection to other people on a broad scale,
to make it a love letter to your hometown. Yeah, I mean,
I think that when you think about actually really writing a love letter,
and that's something that I've thought about a lot, is there is so much
In the best way, there is so much anxiety about whether or not you
are conveying things the way that you want to, and whether or not the
recipient of it is going to feel what you feel, and the stakes feel
really high and it feels really vulnerable. But the focus is am I Am
I doing right by the person who is going to read this and receive this?
Am I conveying correctly how I feel about them? And so in that
way, like in that kind of negative way, there was so much anxiety
the whole time, a lot of imposter syndrome, like do I count anymore
I live? You know, I live in New York? Or will they
take me back? But I think that the other part of it was as
kind of cliche as it sounds, writing something that I would have wanted to
see or that I as a Midwesterner would appreciate, and I don't think that
means Here are the top ten great things about the Midwest. Here are the
top ten things that everybody says are bad but are actually good. Here are
the top ten perfect people like you know. The book itself, I hope,
is a funny way of saying, this is how we behave, for
better or worse, and I think for the most part better, Like this
is what we're like. And the idea that that hasn't really been done in
a lot of ways for people in this part of the country, I think
is silly and a symptom of a lot of other sort of attitudes toward toward
our part of the country. But I think that going into it and saying,
Okay, I wanted to hell the truth and I want to tell what
I see, but I want to tell it without without a lot of judgment.
And there are plenty of ways to talk seriously and with judgment about the
way Midwesterners behave in the way that the Midwest is as a culture. But
that's like, that's not what this is for. That's not what I was
you know, I wasn't trying. This wasn't commentary. This was conversation,
to have fun, to feel like it's true, and to also I think
the way that when you do an impression of your mom, you know you're
saying, oh, like classic dad, this is how he talks or this
is how he does things. You're not trying to make your dad sad.
Right, Yeah, you're not trying to you you're telling anybody who's ever interacted
with your dad, I know who dad is, and you're telling Dad,
I see you, and I love you, and I watch you closely and
with enough affection to be able to give that back to you. As you
were talking about that, I was just kind of wondering. So You've said
you've lived in New York City for a decade now or more, and so
I'm wondering if there is some sort of New Yorker turn of phrase that you
had a preconceived notion about but that you learned actually meant something different now that
you live there and kind of understand the cultural parlots. Yes, So it's
it's less that I know that I can that I identify New Yorker phrases and
more that I like that I can go between like that if I want to
use my new York voice, I can, but if I want to use
my Midwestern voice, I can. So for instance, Eric Adams has been
doing nonsense. I don't know if you guys know this, but the Mayor
of New York has said two consecutive things about Kansas that are yes, like
rude. He said something like Kansas. He said, Kansas doesn't have a
brand, is the first thing he said. And then the second thing was
he said, I wake up in the morning and I'm so grateful to be
a mayor of New York City, because what if I woke up and I
was mayor of Topeka and like the Midwest, and part of my brain is
like, hmm, this man should mind his manners, whereas the New York
can, I can I curse or no? Yes, cursings encouraged on the
show has just become a bit where we answer, you know, a dog
bark for the greyhounds because Western nice like that, Okay, amazing, here
comes the dog bark. Is so like the Midwestern version is you know,
you know, this man should mind his manners. But I can also say
the New York version, which is like, this man needs to go home
himself, like he doesn't. What are you talking about Kansas doesn't have a
brand. Nobody in Kansas hates the mayor of Topeka as much as we hate
your walking guys, you know. And so that's that's what's nice for me,
is any part of the New York me that felt maybe a little restrained
in the Midwest can come out. But I also know how to say the
Midwestern version of this is blank, which was very fun and interesting when writing
the book because we have our own dog bark in the book, which is
which is our little ast risk, which was kind of back and forth with
me in the editor because it was it's like, yeah, Midwesterner's curse,
Like Midwesterner I curse all the time. But do we do we want to
bring the Midwest to everybody, even people who feel a little differently about cursing,
and in the Midwest we do. You know, some people it's a
really big it's a really big tent poole thing, which is funny because it's
it's like people are like, well, you know, he said he didn't
he wished he weren't the mayor of Topeka, and you know, but if
Eric Adams said like, fuck Boston, I bet Midwesterners would be more mad
about that sometimes, And I love that we see that sensibility reflected in Ted
that he really does not curse. There's really only like one or two instances
where he says anything explicit. So I think that's a very true to the
Midwestern vibe at least at least one iteration of that, and it's certainly the
way that Midwesterners behave default in public. Like once, I'm in a space
where it's clear that we can, you know, curse, and step I
curse like sailor. But my devulg is to assume that everyone you know so
leaves the choir at church and does not you know, would be offended if
I said bs instead of hoot nanny or whatever. Somebody who to me is
a hilarious and poignant cursor is John Oliver, whose show you right on.
I find that there are segments where you can kind of tell like he's specifically
teeing it up and then you know he will curse, and like maybe it's
not as funny for people who are from England, like I don't know,
but when he does it, I feel like it's intentional and it's smart and
it's funny and I'm not the only person that thinks that because that show has
now won Emmy Awards, you are an Emmy Award winner being a writer on
that show. How long did it take for you to be able to articulate
for others what that experience of winning an Emmy is, Like it I still
haven't figured it out. It's such a specific lucky element of the dream of
writing for television. And you know, my husband is a writer for The
Late Show, Stepan Coulber, and so we we were both nominated, which
is bananas, and we both felt incredibly lucky in general, but also it
meant we got to bring plus ones, so like we both got to bring
our sisters, So that like that experience was I think even more felt even
more bananas than the actual winning because something that that Fliban and my husband and
I talk about is that like if we had worked on our favorite shows,
if we had had a dream scripted career with honestly the Ted last exception,
if we had had a dream scripted career for the three years, we would
not have been at the Emmy's. Like, it's a very kind of lucky
thing that Late Night writers because our your whole staff is nominated when you're nominated.
And I felt particularly lucky because my husband's been at the Late Show for
four years and he had been nominated. That was his That was his third
year of nominations. One year he was nominated twice, but because of COVID,
I had never gone. So it was very cool. Actually for me,
I felt very very lucky in the kind of twisted way that actually the
first time I ever went to the Emmy's was as a nominee, which when
you've been married to somebody, which first of all, is this crazy thing
to say in general, but a very but a thing that like when you're
married to a writer at the Late Show, you you know, you think,
great, I'm gonna get the wife ticket at some point, right,
like I'll probably go some point, yeah, um, which was which was
very crazy, I will say that, and this is nonsense, but it's
true. I was a little bit relieved because they had won six years in
a row until I started, and so there was a part of me that's
like, it's gonna be my fault, which is not true, but I
will say like, there was a part of me that was like, oh
thank God, which is bananas. It's crazy. It's a testament to the
work that the show does and has done before me. But it was there
was an element of like, oh my gosh. Also, I'm gonna start
looking for the weakest link. For the weakest link, they're gonna say something
went wrong. She was the one turned off the tap. Also, I
fell twice in the lobby because I couldn't walk in my shoes, and so
I did the whole rest of the night barefoot, but nobody could see because
my dress was long enough, which was very funny, and I was if
I do think that this is so bananas, but I like I do think
if we hadn't won, that would have been one of the more mortifying nights
of my entire life. But luckily we did. And so the fact that
I spilled a cheap margharita over all over some stranger's tucks while falling to the
ground in the most expensive dress I've ever worn until my wedding was actually not
the thing that I carry with me from the evening, although I am remembering
it now and it still does make me go like, but yes, it
was. It was amazing. It was the first time I saw a lot
of my coworkers because we're kind of scattered and we're all remote, so that
was very cool. I was with my sister, which is amazing. It's
like, I mean, it's amazing. It's it was truly a dream come
true that you don't even have, because the the dream is to write jokes
for television. That's always the dream I had, you know, And that's
always been the dream, and it is always the really exciting things like this
is my job and I get paid to do this, but one day a
year I pay someone to do my hair and makeup and go and sit in
an iice room and drink free alcohol. And this time they gave me a
trophy, which was very very cool. You had a lot on your mind
that day, up for award, husbands up for award, trying to walk
and stuff. But for the purposes of this show, can we reverse engineer
situation where you are, like our reporter on the ground as Ted Lasso is
winning a bunch of awards. Do you remember like thinking, oh I like
that show, or finding any of their speeches funny, or just being like
happy that a show that you liked was actually winning awards. Yeah, so
here's actually the funny thing is that writing for a variety series switches off years
and this year it was in the Creative Arts Emmys. So the ceremony that
I went to and like tripped at and fell and won the Emmy was actually
a week before. Okay, So then very kindly last week Tonight got us
all tickets, so we got to go to the Emmys, but we were
kind of up as guests, so as me and my sister, and so
it was honestly, you've been more fun because you're not you know, you're
not nervous, you're not thinking about your category. You just get to watch.
And it was I mean, and you do. You are kind of
looking and you're like, that's Brick Goldstein. I can see his beard from
like literally all the way up here. I mean, Jason Saiki is always,
i mean head to watting him is always just like the most glorious,
gorgeous, perfect person. So like having them all luck in was amazing.
And I will say that I was very very excited when Cheryl le Ralph won
for Habit Elementary, and so that was a huge moment because she sang and
it was this it was incredible, Oh my gosh, it was amazing.
She was genuinely surprised. I think we all kind of were, like,
nobody really knew, so that was amazing. And then you know, Jason
Sidekis appeared genuinely surprised, which I think is I mean fair when you look
at everyone else that was in that category. It did feel like a toss
up in a way that I think the year before it didn't. And again
I don't, I don't know. I don't vote for it. First of
all, I can't. I don't vote for that. I only vote for
writing. And I didn't vote last year because I wasn't able to, Like
I wasn't like grandfather didn't. But that was really cool, I think,
you know, even just seeing clips and remembering and seeing how the so much
of the cast brought other cast members as there as their guests or like producers,
so a lot more of the cast was there than was than was nominated,
which I thought was really cool. I think it was. I remember
exactly where they were. It's like they were down where I was sitting.
They were down to the right in the corner, and I was It was
just one of those it was like, oh good, there's still so much
love for this show. Brick Old scene one again, and he did that
hysterical like he was like they cut off the thing and so they didn't get
to hear me, and then he you know, he cursed again. It
was just it's just it's wild. It's wild to be in that room knowing
that other people are watching what you're watching on television, but like hearing in
the room how people felt about what was going on, which was clearly this
like show of love for brick old Stein, this like you know, huge
respect for for Jason today kiss and yeah, just really just I mean,
it's just it's just a cool nightem it was a big night for Abbott too,
like all the all the comedies that are you know, making making television
these two years after the pandemic and all the different things that that is,
all the different comedies. I thought, you know, Ted Lasso, you
have this heart, this kind of ship's creek descendant that goes into this kindness
and this humor, but also sports, and then you've Burry and Only Murders
and Abbot and all these shows that are so different but under this umbrella.
It was very very it was very very cool. I mean, you know,
I'm a comedy writer, so I'm just like it is local. A
soccer question for you. The NWUSL team in your hometown is the Kansas City
Current, and just like, how cool is it that that team is building
the first ever soccer stadium specific for use by a women's professional team. It's
it's just awesome, Like I the the attitude toward women's sports and the way
that it has changed. I mean, the day that we're recording this,
or maybe you don't want to say it, but like the National Championship was
yesterday, the NCAA National Championship people are talking about it might the women's National
Championship. You got the Women's tournament. People are talking about that. It's
going to be you know, it's one of the most watched women's sports events
ever. We've got like real stars, you know, the idea that Kansas
City is like, yes, we're investing in this as something that people are
going to continue to care about, something that's going to continue to be good,
something that's only going to get better. It's just it feels awesome.
It feels awesome to be starting something and being a birthplace of something that I
believe is so not only important but also very real. Like I can I
know all the names of the national women's team, and I don't really like,
I know the men's now because of because of the World Cup, but
I didn't before. And the idea that that's going to feel that Kansas City
is going to have its name on that list, on that timeline when we
go to the you know, in fifty years when people are like, wait,
people didn't treat women's and men's sports the same back in the day,
Grandma, what do you mean? And I'm gonna be like, you know,
olive oil, my child. You know, my made up kid is
naming my made up grandkids. Something weird and I don't know, but it
just happened. Uh. But yeah, No, I'm really really stoked.
And they're putting so much thought into it, like Casey, maybe all there,
all the marketing materials, all the story. Like I love the drama
that they're they're putting into it. I like that they're good. I like
that they care about being in Kansas City. Like it's just cool. It
makes me want to you know again, I performatively did not like or care
about soccer. I did not like the girls who played soccer. They got
to leave church early, and I didn't think that that was fair. Um,
and and now it's just like I'm I'm all in, who are they?
Whose whose name can I get on my jersey? Who's over thirty?
None of them? Um? You know, so no, I'm stoked.
And I think like that to your point, it's the increased access that we
have, Like it's it's able to be a fan of make that like your
first fandom. Like whereas even with like early leagues, like the first iteration
of NWSL what was it called, uh yeah, yeah, yeah, wp
A, like there was just never quite that red carpet treatment where like you
felt like you had enough access to fully care. And now it's like,
yes, like with in the w NBA, with the NWSL, like there's
actually enough accessibility that it's like, yes, I can watch like almost all
the games, you know, like I can actually be a fan of this
and be invested and not just be like, oh cool, I was able
to catch like the two games that were on ESPN when nothing else was on,
you know. So like that is that in itself is huge and has
again helped expose us to these personalities of these women who are like incredible,
incredible athletes, and so you know that it just it. It's a snowball
effect because you have all that access and you're able to see everything that's happening,
and it's just it's really fun. And I've really admired the way the
League in general has made that push to really like say this is important and
not just because like because of you know, social reasons or cultural reasons,
but because people care and because it's really high quality. Yeah, So,
I mean, that's it's it's so the way that we treat things that women
care about in our society is so fascinating. The way that we treat like
the way that women behave and the fact that you know, so unapologetically it's
like these these are women and they're playing sport and they're like they we're treating
them like like their athletes and competing at a high level and they want to
win, and it's like it's the same. And also the fact that this
appeals to young girls, young girls feel at home here, young girls are
an audience. Like even just treating that like a valid and worthy end and
covetable audience I think is a huge shift from from where we were ten years
ago, which is what I think is so so cool. So oh yeah,
we want like every girl in Kansas City, and the boys will come
to you know they will because you know, there was a great shot in
the match against the Thorns, which unfortunately they got thrashed in. Yeah,
like there was a great shot of like four or five sort of like upper
elementary or middle school age boys like holding signs and like losing their minds.
And I was like, I love that. I love this. They don't.
It's because they're good, you know, like it's fun to watch good
people do a thing. It's it's literally exactly what we were talking about,
except for you know, the Greeks only had the boys come out, but
like you know, you're you're watching people do cool stuff with their bodies.
Like I know it was against us, but did you see Sophia Smith just
like not stop, just didn't stop and then the balls Like it's you know,
it's the way that people must feel when they're playing against the Chiefs where
it's just like I mean, yeah, I don't like that we were playing
against Patrick Mahomes, but I mean we all got to see Patrick Mahomes playing
football. That's how I feel watching Sophia Smith. It's like, well I
wish, yeah that idea is actually played out in a progression of texts that
Brett sent me weekend because from Portland. OK. Yeah, when Janus to
be like brought one back and it looked like it could be close. He
was something, we got a game now, and I sent him a Sophia
Smith gift of her like I don't know, telling him to shush or shrugging
or something and just like torching someone. Yeah. A few minutes later he
was just like, I forgot about her. Yeah he can't. Yeah,
that's she's so good. I mean because I did watch the championship and yeah
last year and it was it was just like, you know, this is
well, this is the show that we're watching. I guess. I guess
we're not watching a game. I guess we're watching a show. Yeah,
which, you know what, more powered to her? I love it.
Yeah. Things that are quintessentially Kansas City include barbecue, and it's something that
we like to talk about a lot on our podcast. Do you have an
item or two from any of the spots in Kansas City that you consider at
the top of your barbecue pantheon? So yes, so I love of I
am a jack Stack girl, but everybody likes cloths napkins every once in a
while, right, But I'm also well, So here's the thing about jack
Stick is there's jack Stack in Norton City, which is close to where my
folks houses. And I hadn't eaten inside of jack Stack, I think until
I was like twenty three years old, because we would order it and then
we would go and you wait in like the little wooden area, and then
you pick it up and we take it home. And that was like usually
what I would eat right before I went back to college. I'd be like,
let's have barbecue nite because I do like their you know, their meats
are fine. Because the other thing is like the secret is I like Brian's
meats better, but Brian's is number one far from my house, and number
two the cheesy corn and the beans and the giant containers of pickles at jack
Stack is where the sweet sweet spot is. Now. My husband is now
a six year Kansas City and as as far as a Palette is concerned,
and he loves Joe's Burnand's, but he is a Bryan's boy all the way,
and the vinegary sauce is his deal, and the pulled pork and when
he first visited Kansas City, our flight got to lay and we got stuck
places. So we got there two days late later than we were supposed to,
and so we only had two days. So he had four four barbecue
restaurants in two days, and Bryan's was the last one, and he took
one bite of Bryant's and he just said, this is what I like.
So we are it really is, it really is in all of them.
And then you know, for a long time, Gates was what you could
get at Kaufman and now that's different. Um, but for my Gates experience
was a lot of Kaufman and then a lot of event other events that I
would go to that had a barbecue would have Gates. Yeah, so good
trouble. Those burnands that Joe's are are pretty amazing, I will say,
So, did I screw your question enough by naming all four of them?
Were band and item from all of them. I'm super into barbecue diplomacy and
I have a favorite thing at six different places. So yeah, I don't
I don't make people give us. We want to spread the love. Yeah,
yeah, We're all about spreading the love. It's all good. Yeah.
Yeah, So it's play. Yeah, it's pulled pork at Bryant's,
burnt ends at Joe's beans, and corn at jack Stack. And then just
like Gates is, you get into a mood for it. Like I don't
know how else to describe it. You just are like it's Gates time.
You've covered all the bases on the Joe Arthur Gates Stacks shirt. So you're
you're living right, That's true. Um, your husband is a talented writer.
You mentioned that he was, I mean nominated as well. Can you
tell us about the game show that the two of you created called Citizenship Live.
Yeah. So my husband is an immigrant from Columbia, from Bowata in
South America, and he has a green car now because we are married,
but he moved here when he was twenty two. And obviously we've now we've
done a lot of the immigration system altogether, and we did a lot of
comedy together, a lot of stand up and one of our dear friends,
her name is Orley Mattlow. She's Canadian. One time the three of us
were in the green room getting ready for a stand up show, and Orley
and Philippe were both talking about the current that at the time Secretary of Commerce
Wilbur Ross, and I was like, who is that? And they were
both like, he's your Secretary of Commerce, dog Bark and and I was
like, oh, okay. Also, I could not name a single member
like I could name the President of Columbia and the Prime Minister of Canada only
because I'm married to a Columbian and the Prime Minister of Canada's hot. And
so from there we developed this game show called Citizenship Life where we have natural
born like folks who were born here. It's natural born citizens and immigrants.
Now they might be citizens now, but they weren't born here. They didn't
necessarily grow up here. And the premises as we ask kind of normal baseline
trivia level questions about the US and then kind of the most basic questions about
the country's origin of our immigrant guests, but they end up being comparably difficult
for everyone involved, which is very funny. One of my favorites was actually
name six of the twelve states in the Midwest. So that was a question
that we offered from the States, So it was like, name six of
the twelve states in the Midwest, and then the next question was a map
of Canada with one spot shaded and red, and the question was is this
nova Scotia. More people got the Nova Scotia one wrong than the naming six
of the twelve Midwestern states. So we have such a blast. We actually
just wrote our our next show yesterday with our producer and Nat has questions about
the UK and Kenya and it's I mean, it's a blast in general,
Like the audience has a lot of fun and are we you know, we
have comedians and they walk us through their answers and stuff. But we also
have a blast learning about all of the countries and figuring out, you know,
kind of what's a what's a basic level, Like we had a fight
one time, like that a fight, but like we had a fight one
time where I was like is the capital of Australia easy? Like do people
know that? Is that too easy of a question? And then a funny
po's like, no, I think what currency they use in Australia is harder?
And I was like, I don't think so, And so we asked
both of them to the audience. We were like, which of these is
harder? And I was right, it was Canberra is harder than Australian dollars.
But both of them are pretty hard. So yeah, so that's I
mean, we have a it's one of our kind of live show things that
we do together, and it's blast. We do it once a month at
a theater called Caveat if anybody's ever in New York City. It's very it's
super super fun. Okay, So I think, how what I want to
do asking this final question is we've talked a lot about Kansas City and our
love for Kansas City and how that ties into ted Lasso, And there's been
multiple things that have been mentioned that are clearly a love letter to Kansas City
on the show. But what's one of your favorite quote unquote deep cut things
about Kansas City, either culturally or like a specific item that you hope will
make it into ted Lasso Season three? This is a great question, and
I feel these are two real pie in the sky hopes. But it would,
it would change my life. So one is maybe a little bit easier,
but it is kind of like you'd have to get it all the way
through the writer's room, which is something that I think is very funny and
difficult to explain to people who are not from Kansas City, is how purely
in the middle of nowhere. Arrowhead and Kaufman are, which is where the
Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals play at the Truman Sports Complex,
the Truman Sports Complex, and folks listeners, I whatever middle of nowhere means
to you, I promise it's not vacant enough. And it is a giant
parking lot where like you can maybe see I think a Radisson Hotel across two
interstates from behind home plate at Kaufman Stadium, which is the Royal where the
Royals play. And this is particularly of interest to me because my sister in
law is going to Taylor Swift at Arrowhead soon and I have no idea how
I am going to transport and then retrieve her from the madness that will the
parking lot. But so that is like I think that that might be fun
if you know, Richmond goes to play a soccer game at Arrowhead and that
just like a little joke. They don't e want to say it, just
a little joke about how it's in the middle of nowhere and it's just a
parking lot and people get there at seven thirty am because it's the best place
to tailgate in the world. Here's the other thing. Ted Lasso is about
forty forty five years old. That means and it's twenty twenty two. That
means he would have been in his early twenties when the Kansas City Royals had
a partnership with Krispy Kreme where, yeah, where every twelve hits you got
a dozen Krispycreame donuts. So he would have been pet the peak age to
be going to Royals games, buying the five dollars high V seats and waiting
to cash in on the Royals getting twelve tickets, which also presumably I don't
know if this is true or not, but you probably could have because they
were so bad, bought more tickets once you realize they were on the twelve,
or just pick them up, or just pick them up off the ground.
So for those of it, I don't know if I explained this,
So listeners from I believe two thousand and four to two thousand and seven the
Royals had a deal with Krispy Kreme Donuts where if the Royals got twelve hits
in a home game, every ticket was good for a dozen donuts, not
a donut, one dozen donuts. So and we I think we in two
thousand and four, I think no. In two thousand and three we lost
a hundred games. In two thousand and four, it seems like we were
going to maybe be good and then we swiftly were not. But so people
would line up, they would go straight from the game to crispy cream sometimes,
you guys, it was such a touch point of Kansas City summer culture
in the early two thousands that Ted must have had something to do with it.
And I if that made it in. I know they've already taped them,
and I know they've already recorded them, and I think, if I'm
correct, they they must already be done because you have to have all of
the episodes to the Emmys by like May whatever. So, but I think
there's time to fly back to London and just do a quick just a quick
shot of Ted drinking a whiskey in front of the computer and just maybe he
just talks to himself. He can tell the therapist about it, you know,
maybe he's just on the phone with Sam. You didn't know. You
don't even to go to London to film that. You can put you is
it in front of a green screen and just be like Henry let me tell
you. Let me tell you about two thousand and four when when when Mike
Sweeney was on first and you know, every once in a while Michael Tucker
would be really good at baseball. And as a forty three year old who
took our son to his first Royals game when he was eighteen days old,
he got a certificate at the stadium too. I can attest to the glorious
nature of the Krispy Kreme giveaway and my favorite part of the story. A
brief addendum is that the season after the Krispy Kreme from Pania Bread decided they
would do it, and so I went to that game. I must have
been to like opening there something or the first time that the Royals got twelve
hits and the Pania Bread partnership ended after one game and they read like they
saw the demand and they're like, no, we're not about that life where
I was stapping out done. It's so it was so because partnership immediately immediately,
because because the donuts, it's like you you pipe um me ice them
and you send them out the door. The bagels are bagels likes a thing
like I watched Great British Baking Show and they just they canceled it right away.
Oh so I did get I got my one dozen, because I did
go down to the Crown Center location and I got my dozen. But then
after that it was a dozen bagels. I'm telling you for a while,
idea and they aren't prepared to bagels like four fifty each, Like that seems
insane. That, Yeah, that's the other things. Markup. I didn't
even think about that. That show was it was it packed, So I
don't rememb remember that part, Okay, I just remember the rest of it.
I am also glad to have learned about this bit of Kansas City sports
lore. Oh it was. It was the greatest. It was so amazing.
Everybody's like, oh buck night, It's like, no, do y'all
remember the donuts? Oh man, it was. We would say because I
was a kid, I was ten, and we would when we were losing,
we would be losing by a lot, but we'd be going to the
parking lot because I could be time that my sister was eight, you know,
and you just hear the crowd erupted, and but we would have been
down by eight. Like this wasn't the twenty fourteen Royals where like we score
nine points in the bottom. You just hear the crowd erupt and it's like,
oh, yeah, great, we got twelve hits. We go Krispy
Ko tomorrow, Like, yeah, there's Pete Grathoft did an article about it,
and I think he had I think he has it in there somewhere.
The amount of games where we got twelve hits but lost is like an un
We did it twenty seven times. We got twelve hits that year, which
is finance anyway. I would love to see that in ted Lasso. It's
clearly really important to me. Let's hope it's as important to ted Y.
Yes, yes, Taylor. We thank you so much for you've been super
generous with your time today. We thank you for writing this book. Everybody
should go by it because it is hilarious, and we wish you all the
best in your writing, in your comedy, and in life in general,
because you have a lot of great things going on. Oh, thank you,
guys. This is so much fun. I'm a big fan of y'all
and the pod and it was enjoy to be on. Thank you so much.
Take care, Taylor, thank you. Have a good one. Ad
guys, and that's our show. We had a blast chatting with Taylor kay
Phillips. You can find links to her work, her book, her social
media accounts, and everything else we mentioned in the show notes on our website
at ted lassopod dot com. We'll be back soon with more ted Lasso goodness,
but you can keep the conversation going with us on Twitter and Instagram in
the meantime. Our handle on both is at ted Lasso Pod. This episode
of Richmond Til We Die is brought to you by Gin and Kerosene Productions.
It was produced by me Brett and my co host Christian. If you're enjoying
this podcast, please take thirty seconds to subscribe to our feed and give the
show a five star review on Apple Podcasts or a five star rating on Spotify.
Heck, if you're feeling generous, you could even do both. As
always, we appreciate all the ways y'all share your love and support for the
pod. I'm Brett signing off for Christian and Taylor. Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Cheers y'all. N Court