EP. 211 — Nicole Wonders, Why Water For Y2K? with Clea Shearer & Joanna Teplin

 

[00:00:11] NICOLE: Hi, Sasheer.

 

[00:00:12] SASHEER: Hi, Nicole. How the hell are you?

 

[00:00:16] NICOLE: Oh my God. Oh my God. We said that right at the same time. You with more fervor. I’m good.

 

[00:00:23] SASHEER: Good.

 

[00:00:25] NICOLE: How are you?

 

[00:00:27] SASHEER: I’m also good. You know, I have been away from my home for a while. So, we’re just, like, relearning each other.

 

[00:00:42] NICOLE: Learning, living, loving.

 

[00:00:45] SASHEER: Yeah. And it’s frustrating. My internet’s been down for a little bit. And the sprinkler system was connected to the internet, so some plants didn’t get watered.

 

[00:00:59] NICOLE: Oh no. Did they pass?

 

[00:01:02] SASHEER: They haven’t passed fully. I think they’ll be fine. But it just sucks.

 

[00:01:08] NICOLE: I’m sorry.

 

[00:01:10] SASHEER: And then NASA the other day–there was a headline that was like, “We might be out of the internet for a couple of months because of solar winds.”

 

[00:01:19] NICOLE: What?

 

[00:01:20] SASHEER: I don’t know. Something. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know why people aren’t talking about this. But also, I didn’t do any research. I just saw a couple posts that were like, “NASA said we may not have internet for a couple months.” And I’m like, “My whole house won’t function.”

 

[00:01:36] NICOLE: Wait, all of us?

 

[00:01:38] SASHEER: All of us. No internet.

 

[00:01:40] NICOLE: We’re all just going to lose internet?

 

[00:01:43] SASHEER: I think so. Again, I didn’t use my internet to read that article, but that is what I saw.

 

[00:01:54] NICOLE: You know what? I love this. I love that we did no research and we’re telling the people of the podcast, “You’re not going to have internet for months! NASA said!”

 

[00:02:05] SASHEER: This causes pandemonium. It’s another Y2K situation.

 

[00:02:13] NICOLE: Yeah, where everyone’s like… I don’t even know. What was supposed to happen at Y2K? The whole infrastructure was supposed to collapse? What was supposed to happen?

 

[00:02:22] SASHEER: You know, I honestly can’t remember. I know people were, like, getting water. It was, like, a disaster thing. But, like, I guess it was maybe…

 

[00:02:35] NICOLE: The internet. We were in the water for the internet? Seems wild. Seems wild that they said the internet is going to collapse in on itself and then we said, “We got to get water!”

 

[00:02:47] SASHEER: “As the year 2000 approached, many believe that the systems would not interpret the double zero correctly, therefore causing a major glitch in the system.”

 

[00:02:56] NICOLE: So, we all got water. That’s what I distinctly remember. And that sounds unhinged.

 

[00:03:07] SASHEER: “The would-be computer cataclysm was supposed to cripple banks and governments.” So, I guess, like, if we didn’t have access to money and stuff, you couldn’t…

 

[00:03:19] NICOLE: We would just need our water and be okay.

 

[00:03:22] SASHEER: Well, you can’t buy water with no money.

 

[00:03:27] NICOLE: I guess you’re right. What a wild period of time. Oh, “NASA’s mission to avert internet apocalypse that could pause online access.” Wow.

 

[00:03:46] SASHEER: “NASA has launched a spacecraft as part of a mission in effort to avert a potential internet apocalypse that could leave people without access to the internet for months.”

 

[00:03:58] NICOLE: And “scientists have warned about the potential impact of an upcoming solar storm, commonly referred to as an internet apocalypse that could strike within the next decade.”

 

[00:04:07] SASHEER: “The spacecraft, which was launched in 2018, took a remarkable journey that brought it close to the sun’s surface, where the solar wind’s generated.”

 

[00:04:16] NICOLE: “Wow. And the solar winds consisted of a continuous–” This is wild. Okay, so this is nuts. When was this published? Oh, this is recent. This is from days ago.

 

[00:04:28] SASHEER: Days ago.

 

[00:04:29] NICOLE: Sasheer. I can’t believe you’ve got the pulse on the NASA news.

 

[00:04:35] SASHEER: I told you. I saw the headline, and I kept scrolling. But I was concerned.

 

[00:04:41] NICOLE: Heard it here first. She’s got half the news.

 

[00:04:47] SASHEER: But good thing that NASA is on the case. They’re going to try to stop it.

 

[00:04:51] NICOLE: Yes, I’m glad NASA is on the case, sending spaceships up to space to the sun to get our solar internet. Listen, we’re going to do Besting It today.

 

[00:05:02] SASHEER: Besting Each Other.

 

[00:05:04] NICOLE: Aw, shit. Wait, what did I call it?

 

[00:05:10] SASHEER: Besting It.

 

[00:05:12] NICOLE: What’s it called?

 

[00:05:13] SASHEER: Besting Each Other.

 

[00:05:15] NICOLE: I got to say, it is truly incredible to do something for so long and still get it wrong.

 

[00:05:23] SASHEER: Years.

 

[00:05:24] NICOLE: It’s kind of like my legacy. You know how you walk and you trip and you’re like, “I’ve been walking for years. How did I trip?” I feel that’s just my life. I’m, like, doing things confidently that I’ve done over and over and over again, and I fuck it up. Listen, I’m having fun, though.

 

[00:05:41] SASHEER: And that’s what counts.

 

[00:05:45] NICOLE: Ooh, listen. You want to say who our guests are?

 

[00:05:49] SASHEER: I will, yes. You take a breather.

 

[00:05:54] NICOLE: Hey, listen up. Do you want to say who our guests are?

 

[00:06:00] SASHEER: Yes. Today’s guests are Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin. And they are the hosts of a show on Netflix called The Home Edit. They also have a podcast called Best Friend Energy. And they’re hitting the road this summer, and they’re going on the Summer of Fun Tour. And go to their website, thehomeedit.com for more information. But basically, they’re an organizational company. They’re friends, they’re business partners, and we’re going to see how well they know each other as friends.

 

[00:06:35] NICOLE: Yeah. If their friendship is as organized as their business. First up, we have Joanna. This is a segment we call Best Each Other!

 

[00:06:51] SASHEER: Besting Each Other.

 

[00:06:54] JOANNA: I love it.

 

[00:06:57] NICOLE: So, we’re going to ask you questions, and then we’re going to compare and contrast answers. It’s going to be fun.

 

[00:07:05] JOANNA: Okay. I’m here for it.

 

[00:07:07] SASHEER: Okay, so first we have Joanna. We want to ask you about your friendship with Clea. First question: How did you two meet?

 

[00:07:16] JOANNA: We met through a mutual friend. And I did not want to meet because I did not want a business partner. And Clea absolutely wanted to meet and wanted a business partner. And so, she’s a friendlier one of the two of us. And she will agree with the story. And we went to a place called Frothy Monkey and had our first lunch and we got off as business partners without even asking each other.

 

[00:07:35] SASHEER: But what were the pretenses of this meeting? Did you have a mutual friend who was like, “You need to meet because you guys have similar qualities”?

 

[00:07:43] JOANNA: Exactly. I had moved from San Francisco to Tennessee about a year and a half before Clea. And she met this girl. I had met this friend, Leah, who is our other mutual now best friend. And then Clea moved from LA. We did not know each other. She moved to Tennessee and became friends with Leah on Instagram. And they struck up a fast friendship. And then Leah was like, “My friend Joanna has an old organizing business that she’s re-upping in Nashville. You guys should do this together,” because Clea had expressed interest in doing the same similar business. And so, Leah said to me, “You should meet Clea and do this.” And I was like, “I don’t want a business partner. I’ve never had a business partner. I don’t want to.” And she told the same thing to Clea, and Clea was like, “Sounds amazing. Sign me up.” And so, I was wrong, which she will agree with. And Clea was totally right. You know, everyone’s got to be right once in this life. So, you know, I give her that one. But yeah. That’s how it happened. The second I met her I was like, “1,000%. I’m obsessed with you. We are getting married as friends.” And the rest is history.

 

[00:08:51] NICOLE: I love that.

 

[00:08:52] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:08:54] NICOLE: What is your favorite memory from traveling together?

 

[00:09:00] JOANNA: I mean, I don’t know how specific I should be, but just the insane amount of laughter. Like, we have the same sense of humor. We think the same ridiculous things are so funny. We shared a room; we always used to share rooms. When we first got into business, we had, like, $0. We would either stay at her parent’s house in LA and we would do projects for free, or we would share a room in a hotel. And one of our first international trips together was London. And we shared a room in London. And I accidentally used her electric toothbrush for three days and thought it was mine.

 

[00:09:31] SASHEER: Oh my God.

 

[00:09:33] JOANNA: It was really disgusting. And I was sure she was wrong when she kept asking me. And I was like, “That’s my toothbrush.” I have a terrible memory, so I hate it because any time we get into a dispute about who’s right, her memory always is better. So, I automatically lose. And she’s like, “That’s my toothbrush.” I was like, “Clea, that’s my toothbrush.” She’s like, “I have never seen that toothbrush before.” So anyway, all of a sudden, I was like, “Oh, I think that is my toothbrush that I have not been using.” And so, I mean, we just died laughing forever.

 

[00:10:08] SASHEER: Oh my gosh. I mean, you guys are close on a different level now.

 

[00:10:13] NICOLE: Truly. Very, very close.

 

[00:10:15] JOANNA: It was disgusting. We were spitting in the sink for, like, two hours after that.

 

[00:10:19] NICOLE: Yeah. Sasheer and I are not that close.

 

[00:10:22] JOANNA: Nor should anyone. I would never even share with my husband. I mean, an electric toothbrush, you know, like, really gets in there.

 

[00:10:31] SASHEER: Yeah, I like Nicole would stop talking to me if I used her toothbrush. She’d be like, “That’s it.”

 

[00:10:37] NICOLE: It would take me, like, a moment to really get over it. I would talk about it in therapy. It would just be devastating.

 

[00:10:45] JOANNA: Yeah. That’s correct. That’s the right approach to feeling about it.

 

[00:10:50] SASHEER: Okay. What is your favorite thing about Clea?

 

[00:10:54] JOANNA: Her sense of humor. She’s the funniest. I mean, I’m talking to two very funny people. So as far as the people that I interact with on a daily basis, she is the funniest person I know. She’s quick, she’s witty, she’s sarcastic, she’s self-deprecating, she’s just… so funny. And then she’s also so caring and compassionate and giving. She will give in all ways to the point of no return. And it’s her best attribute and her biggest flaw.

 

[00:11:26] NICOLE: Besides the toothbrush, what is the hardest that you guys have laughed? With Sasheer, she was wearing these shoes that were really loud. And we were going down the stairs. And it’s not funny to anyone else, but we laughed so hard to the point where there was a man at the end of the staircase staring at us. And he was like, “Good night?” And we were like, “We are having a good night!”

 

[00:11:50] JOANNA: Yeah. You’re like, “This is amazingly funny.” What is the hardest…? We have had so many moments where we know we’re the only other person that thinks something is so funny. Even in filming, sometimes, like, the producer will say something that– They’re just trying to get through their beats. But honestly, in the organizing world, it makes no sense. One of them was talking about these sentimental boxes. The way that they used the context of it was so absurd. And we both just started laughing. And then I couldn’t stop. I had to keep going outside. Everyone thought it was funny for, like, two minutes. But then they’re like, “Time is money. Time is money. Like, we got to get on with the scene.” And I couldn’t pull it together. And then finally I pulled together, and then I looked over and she started losing it. So that one stands out to me, too.

 

[00:12:36] SASHEER: Those are the best moments.

 

[00:12:38] NICOLE: You’re just, like, dying of laughter and everyone else around you is like, “Okay.”

 

[00:12:42] JOANNA: There’s nothing better. This gift of this life is just hysterical, you know, laughing.

 

[00:12:48] NICOLE: What do you think Clea’s favorite thing is about you?

 

[00:12:52] JOANNA: I don’t know. I guess just the ability just to have such an easy friendship, where we just accept each other for exactly who the other one is.

 

[00:13:00] SASHEER: Yeah, that’s nice.

 

[00:13:02] NICOLE: That is nice. And I think it’s super important to be like, “I accept this person. Flaws and all. You might have annoying things, but those are the things that make up you, and I love it.”

 

[00:13:13] JOANNA: Yeah, exactly. I think you just accept someone as their whole being. And you know what you’re getting. I mean, we’re both very authentic for who we are. So, there’s not a lot of surprises, which is very reassuring in a lot of ways.

 

[00:13:27] NICOLE: Yeah. Like, I know if Sasheer and I are going to watch a movie where nightfall has happened and there’s a couch, I’m watching a movie alone.

 

[00:13:38] JOANNA: That’s Clea. Nicole, you and Clea have a lot in common.

 

[00:13:41] SASHEER: And I appreciate that you let me sleep. It’s wonderful.

 

[00:13:45] NICOLE: I feel like in the beginning I was like, “I think I should wake her up. She’s missing the movie.” Then I was like, “Her body wants to miss this movie.”

 

[00:13:54] JOANNA: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That’s a best friend!

 

[00:13:59] SASHEER: Yeah. Okay. What is something that Clea does that drives you crazy?

 

[00:14:08] JOANNA: Oh, God. She’s always late. Always. I mean, she will be late to her own funeral. And a close second is she cannot say goodbye. Like, if we’re somewhere together, I am like… Now we know; we have parameters. We go together, and then there’s always an option for her to get home some other way. Like, take an Uber. I’m probably not going to leave with you because I will leave three hours before you. She’ll talk to a door post. I mean, and I’m just like, “Oh my God. Let’s move along with this life.” She does not know how.

 

[00:14:48] NICOLE: That’s very funny.

 

[00:14:49] SASHEER: You put parameters up to, like, cater to each other.

 

[00:14:53] JOANNA: But if and when you ask her, she will say probably that I want to leave every event right when it starts. So, we’re probably diametrically opposed. We’ll see what she says.

 

[00:15:05] NICOLE: What is something Clea does that drives you crazy? Wait. Did we fuck this up?

 

[00:15:12] SASHEER: I did. Yeah, I reversed the questions.

 

[00:15:14] JOANNA: No, I know what you mean.

 

[00:15:22] NICOLE: What do you do that drives Clea crazy?

 

[00:15:23] JOANNA: Yeah, a million things. God, I mean, how much time do we have? But I would say one of the things is that I just am like, “I gotta go. I need time by myself. I’m done. I need to get out. You’re on your own.”

 

[00:15:42] NICOLE: Okay. Now we’re back on track. We figured it out! We did it. And I was supportive, Sasheer. I said, “We’ll get it.” And we did!

 

[00:15:54] SASHEER: Thank you for being there for me in these trying times.

 

[00:15:56] NICOLE: Listen, life is hard, and it’s long. Okay. What is the best organization tip that you have learned from Clea?

 

[00:16:06] JOANNA: Oh. I mean, she’s a master at making things look beautiful. She likes to set up a grand, like, moment. So, she used to love to do closets because there is just a huge opportunity to have such a big splashy macro moment. And I love the little bits and bobs. So, I want to get in there in the drawer, and she just wants shoes and handbags and rainbow. And I just want to be, like, sorting Shopkins in a little tiny drawer.

 

[00:16:40] SASHEER: Wait, what’s a Shopkin?

 

[00:16:41] NICOLE: I don’t know.

 

[00:16:42] JOANNA: It’s insane, honestly. They’re, like, this big. Little kids love them, but I think they’re kind of cute, I have to say. But they’re like an absurd waste of money. But they’re like little french fries with eyes and little, tiny bodies–these little plastic things that are just, like, so cute and so weird. But I love sorting them out. And these are little bits.

 

[00:17:04] NICOLE: Okay. Are they, like, little figurines?

 

[00:17:08] JOANNA: Yeah, kind of, but they’re, like, little arms and, like, eyes on french fries or, like, milkshakes or… I don’t even know. I don’t even understand how you play with them. I just like to sort them for kids. Again, we have a lot of issues. Both of us do. This is one of mine. I don’t think she has the same issue. She’s always like, “Get out of the weeds. Don’t get in the weeds.” But I just love the weeds.

 

[00:17:31] NICOLE: Okay.

 

[00:17:32] SASHEER: Which one of you would do better on the television show Survivor?

 

[00:17:37] JOANNA: Neither. Neither. But I think I would do better. We both have a ton of phobias, but I feel like her phobias in this situation would probably be more triggered than mine. So, I think neither is my first answer. And then a fallback answer is me, but only by a thread because of the actual situation.

 

[00:17:59] NICOLE: Okay. Fair.

 

[00:18:02] SASHEER: What is a phobia of yours that would pop up?

 

[00:18:06] JOANNA: For me? Well, I guess kind of weird ones. Like, battery acid getting on my skin is a weird one. Like, bird poop–I hate it. It stresses me out. I don’t like it near anything that I’m even sitting near. Like, a picnic bench–I won’t even sit. I’m just like, “No, thank you with that.” Yeah, but I don’t think these things are going to be Survivor issues. Oh, we both hate turbulence–hate flying–both of us. But hers are snakes. And I feel like in a Survivor situation, we’re going to come across a lot more things in, like, the snake family.

 

[00:18:38] SASHEER: This is true.

 

[00:18:39] NICOLE: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you’re out in the wilderness. The battery acid fear–have you been…?

 

[00:18:46] JOANNA: No, I know. I mean, I need real therapy. I just haven’t had the time for–

 

[00:18:49] NICOLE: Well, have you been in a situation where there was a threat of battery acid?

 

[00:18:54] JOANNA: No. I just am afraid of fire, and I feel like it’s just one minute away from sparking a fire.

 

[00:18:58] SASHEER: Whoa. Yeah.

 

[00:19:00] JOANNA: Yeah. We’re not saying we’re normal. I mean, she will tell you, too. She’s like, “Yeah, we have a lot not working for us in this brain of ours.”

 

[00:19:11] NICOLE: What do you hope that you’re both doing in 20 years?

 

[00:19:17] JOANNA: Oh. Living side by side in hotel rooms and traveling to beautiful places and laughing all the time, wherever we’re going.

 

[00:19:27] NICOLE: I love that. I love that you want to live in a hotel.

 

[00:19:30] JOANNA: But we do. You know, that’s been on the list since the day we met. We were like, “You know what sounds good? Live in a hotel.” Yeah.

 

[00:19:38] NICOLE: Isn’t there a little girl who lives in a hotel? Isn’t her name Eloise?

 

[00:19:41] JOANNA: Yes! She’s got it figured out.

 

[00:19:43] NICOLE: I don’t know how I know that.

 

[00:19:46] JOANNA: I don’t even know the Eloise story. That’s all I know about her. But yeah, I think she lived in the Plaza.

 

[00:19:51] NICOLE: I think it’s, like, a book about a little rich girl who lives in a hotel that’s like, “I have problems. The bellman doesn’t like my cookies.”

 

[00:20:01] JOANNA: Living in a hotel sounds pretty great. You don’t have any maintenance. You have everything you need.

 

[00:20:05] SASHEER: This is true.

 

[00:20:08] JOANNA: Yeah. Anyway, we’ve thought about it.

 

[00:20:10] SASHEER: Okay. Well, thank you.

 

[00:20:11] NICOLE: This was fun.

 

[00:20:12] SASHEER: These are great answers. Now we’re going to interview your best friend–see if she answers anything remotely close to your answers. Okay, Clea. We just talked to Joanna about you two and your friendship. And now we’re going to see if you can match up to what she said.

 

[00:20:44] NICOLE: And if they don’t match, you have to fold your business!

 

[00:20:49] SASHEER: Those are the rules. Sorry. You should’ve read the fine print.

 

[00:20:53] CLEA: Fine. Those are the stakes. I don’t make them up.

 

[00:20:55] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:20:56] NICOLE: How did you two meet? That’s our first question. How did you meet?

 

[00:21:00] CLEA: We met through a mutual best friend. She did not want to meet with me. I forced her to. And we ended up getting coffee/lunch that turned into a four-hour meeting. And we got up as business partners that day.

 

[00:21:16] SASHEER: Wow.

 

[00:21:16] NICOLE: Interesting. Do you remember the location?

 

[00:21:20] CLEA: Frothy Monkey in Franklin? Terrible name for a food establishment. Frothy Monkey.

 

[00:21:28] NICOLE: It is a wild name.

 

[00:21:30] CLEA: It’s a wild name. Also, for, like, many years of our business, every single password we had was a version of ‘Frothy Monkey.” It was, like, Frothy Monkey with a zero–an exclamation point after… You know, Frothy Monkey is a big piece of our history.

 

[00:21:48] NICOLE: Frothy Monkey is a wild name. It’s like, “What are they serving? Coffee, tea, and rabies?”

 

[00:21:54] CLEA: Really. I think it’s’ top 10 worst names of an establishment I’ve ever heard.

 

[00:22:00] NICOLE: It’s very funny.

 

[00:22:05] SASHEER: What is your favorite memory of traveling together?

 

[00:22:11] CLEA: Oh my God. We have so many. My favorite memory in general is being in London. That’s definitely our favorite travel memory. My favorite moment from being in London is the time I realized Joanna had been using my toothbrush for three days. So, I went to brush my teeth and it was wet. And I was like, “Well, that’s odd.” And I looked at Joanna’s and it was bone dry. Bone dry. Had not been used since the United States.

 

[00:22:45] SASHEER: Did you keep using your toothbrush, or did you go find another one?

 

[00:22:50] CLEA: You know, it was, like, a Philips Electric toothbrush. So, I cleaned it off, and I decided, you know, the damage is already done here. She’s been using it twice a day for three days. We already had shared those germs. I’m not throwing out a $100 toothbrush. No. I’m not going to let that happen.

 

[00:23:14] NICOLE: But you could have gotten a different toothbrush and then replaced the head when you got back?

 

[00:23:20] CLEA: Possibly. But I just went for it. I was like, “You know, we’re so far in.”

 

[00:23:25] SASHEER: “We’re already in deep.”

 

[00:23:28] NICOLE: That’s beautiful.

 

[00:23:31] CLEA: Pre-COVID. Obviously, it was pre-COVID.

 

[00:23:34] SASHEER: Yes. Right. Yeah.

 

[00:23:36] CLEA: Might have changed it post-COVID.

 

[00:23:38] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:23:41] NICOLE: What is your favorite thing about your friend?

 

[00:23:45] CLEA: Her laugh. And her loyalty. And the fact that we can, like, sit together. We never get sick of each other. We can, like, be around each other for 100 hours and then still be like, “Do you want dinner?” Like, we never get sick of each other. But her laugh is my favorite trait.

 

[00:24:05] SASHEER: That’s very sweet.

 

[00:24:08] NICOLE: That is sweet.

 

[00:24:10] CLEA: I work really hard to make her laugh because I love the sound of her laugh so much. I want it to be my ringtone–just Joanna laughing.

 

[00:24:17] SASHEER: Aww. What do you think Joanna’s favorite thing is about you?

 

[00:24:25] CLEA: That I’m funny. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I am. So, yeah. We’re a good pair together that way.

 

[00:24:37] SASHEER: Yeah. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

 

[00:24:39] NICOLE: What’s the hardest you’ve ever laughed at something that you’ve done? I laugh at myself constantly.

 

[00:24:45] CLEA: That I’ve done? Oh, I thought you meant together.

 

[00:24:50] NICOLE: Well, I mean, like, yes, the hardest you’ve laughed together with Joanna. Like, last night, I was trying to look up something on Instagram, but I open my calendar, and I just went, “Hmm. June. That’s a calendar.” And I laughed really hard and I laughed before bed and I was like, “That was funny.”

 

[00:25:09] CLEA: Joanna and I have had so many funny moments. Again, we spent an inordinate amount of time together. But I would say actually toothbrushgate is probably the hardest we’ve ever laughed just because she was so incredulous about it and refusing to believe it at first. And she was like, “No. No, that’s my toothbrush.” And I was like, “It’s absolutely your toothbrush!” And she’s like, “But I would know if it wasn’t my toothbrush.” And, like, you could see it start to click in her face, and she’s like, “But… it’s not my toothbrush…” You know, you could see it just dawning on her. Yeah, we laughed. We still laugh so hard about that. But we have a million things, honestly, that we laugh about.

 

[00:25:56] SASHEER: What is something that Joanna does that drives you crazy?

 

[00:26:00] CLEA: She’s a loud chewer, especially with nuts. Absolutely. Tops the list.

 

[00:26:07] SASHEER: Too loud like mouth open? Smacking?

 

[00:26:11] CLEA: Slight mouth open with almonds specifically. And if I ever go to jail, it will be for stabbing her.

 

[00:26:21] NICOLE: Damn. Okay.

 

[00:26:22] CLEA: Yeah, I have misophonia. And, like, it literally hurts my insides when she does it.

 

[00:26:31] SASHEER: I know what misophonia is, but it does sound like an OutKast album.

 

[00:26:36] CLEA: Yeah, it’s pretty good. As far as things go, I think it’s a pretty cool name.

 

[00:26:40] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:26:41] NICOLE: What is it again? Because it sounds close to mesothelioma.

 

[00:26:46] CLEA: You don’t need to call a hotline for this. That’s for mesothelioma. This is misophonia, which is basically people who, like, have a very intense, acute… Sounds bother them. You know, someone slurping milk from a cereal bowl; any of that kind of stuff. Yeah, it’s hard. It’s a hard life, let me tell you.

 

[00:27:15] NICOLE: Sasheer, I think you did it again. I think you reversed our questions.

 

[00:27:19] SASHEER: I sure did. I just feel like because that’s how it should be ordered.

 

[00:27:25] NICOLE: And guess what? I see you. I support you.

 

[00:27:28] SASHEER: Thank you. I accept.

 

[00:27:31] NICOLE: Clea, what is something you do that drives Joanna crazy.

 

[00:27:35] CLEA: I’m always late. I’ve never been on time. In fact, I personally… I grew up in Los Angeles. Like, you can’t be on time. There’s traffic. What are you going to do? So, this is before Waze. Like, you just guess what time you’re going to be there. And I personally think if you show up within the sigits–that’s the single digits–to being late, zero minutes to nine minutes, I think that that’s on time. That’s my feeling. No one’s going to change that. No one’s going to change my mind.

 

[00:28:05] SASHEER: Yeah. There’s a good grace period for, like, 10 minutes, I think.

 

[00:28:09] CLEA: Yes. But Joanna grew up in North Carolina where grace periods don’t exist. So, I’m like, “This is the way. This is the way it is.” You can’t hold people at fault for being in the sigits.

 

[00:28:22] NICOLE: I kind of agree. 10 minutes is, like, the grace period for everything except for airplane.

 

[00:28:28] CLEA: Yes, for everything. But even if restaurants are going to hold your reservation, like, come on. You can, too.

 

[00:28:39] SASHEER: What is the best organization tip that you’ve learned from Joanna?

 

[00:28:45] CLEA: Oh, God. You really stumped me. I know that there’s something that she must have come up with. I don’t know. We collaborate so much that–I have to tell you–I don’t even know where one thing starts and one thing ends. Like, I feel like we just come up with everything together. I don’t even know what she would say about me. I’m like, “Have I taught her nothing? Has she taught me nothing?”

 

[00:29:12] SASHEER: Maybe all her best stuff happens in the 10 minutes before you get there.

 

[00:29:16] CLEA: Yeah. She’s already put her brain to work so efficiently, and I miss it every time. Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll think about it. I’ll come back to you.

 

[00:29:29] NICOLE: Okay. A thing Sasheer has taught me is that different pouches have different functions. She packs–she’s got these pouches that all have different things in them. And I was like, “You don’t just throw stuff in your suitcase? You just throw things in your little knapsack?” And I learned. So now my makeup and all my toiletries are in separate little pouches.

 

[00:29:48] CLEA: A pouch for everything. A pouch, a travel square, packing cube, you name it. I have pouches upon pouches.

 

[00:29:58] NICOLE: Saved my life. Okay. Which of you would do better on the long running CBS television series Survivor?

 

[00:30:06] CLEA: Oh my God. Okay, let me just say this because we’ve talked about it involving The Amazing Race. Joanna and I would team up. We would crush it. We would win 1,000%. But we’re so afraid of everything that we would never get to the island. Like, the plane even to, like, get to the Survivor island–we wouldn’t be up for that. So, if you put a gun to my head and said, “Who would do better on Survivor?” I think it’s Joanna. I would give up immediately. I would, like, float to sea. There’s no chance. Like, I get very cranky in, like, a not well-appointed hotel room. So, like, I’m not going to make it in Survivor. She’s not so innocent. She doesn’t like it either. And she’s vegan, and I feel like she could eat, like, berries or something. I think she could potentially do better, but neither of us would ever get there. Too much anxiety.

 

[00:31:04] SASHEER: Yeah. That makes sense.

 

[00:31:06] NICOLE: That’s so funny that you said, “If you put a gun to my head.” Imagine we have someone at your house who was like, “Answer it!”

 

[00:31:11] CLEA: Right. No. If I had to pick, it would be, I think, Joanna. I would be so grumpy. I’d be so cranky. It would not be good. No one would want me there.

 

[00:31:26] SASHEER: All right. Lastly, what do you hope you’re both doing 20 years from now?

 

[00:31:32] CLEA: Living side by side in hotel penthouses. Just being able to travel and review hotels and, like, fun luxury experiences because that’s all we’re going to do. We’re going to become travel bloggers and live next to each other in penthouse hotel rooms.

 

[00:31:55] SASHEER: It sounds ideal.

 

[00:31:57] NICOLE: It does sound ideal. Is there a chain that you prefer, or are you doing–?

 

[00:32:02] CLEA: We’re open. We haven’t picked a location yet. We haven’t picked a city. We are loosely holding Chicago just because it’s like New York but cleaner. And honestly, I would pick California–born and raised–but we don’t know if it’s going to be, like, cut off into the ocean at that point.

 

[00:32:26] SASHEER: It’s a risk at any point.

 

[00:32:27] CLEA: It’s a risk. So, with the drought, with earthquakes– I mean, I think about these things, clearly. So, yeah, loosely holding Chicago, but we’ll have to have a second location because no one wants to spend January in Chicago.

 

[00:32:39] NICOLE: No. Too cold.

 

[00:32:41] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:32:43] NICOLE: All right.

 

[00:32:44] SASHEER: Okay.

 

[00:32:45] CLEA: Oh, I’m so annoyed that I can’t pick– I think Joanna must have taught me something.

 

[00:32:51] NICOLE: Nope. She didn’t.

 

[00:32:56] CLEA: I mean, the truth is we both teach each other so many things. Like, we come up with something, and then, you know, we layer on top of it. We’re like, “Oh, this could be–” But, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know. She’s going to be pissed. I’m going to really have to think about it. You said that this could fold our business. This one thing might.

 

[00:33:15] SASHEER: It might.

 

[00:33:19] CLEA: I wonder if she has an answer. I wonder what she thinks she taught me.

 

[00:33:24] SASHEER: We will see.

 

[00:33:25] NICOLE: Well, we’re going to find out.

 

[00:33:27] SASHEER: We’re going to bring her in.

 

[00:33:28] NICOLE: Right now!

 

[00:33:30] CLEA: Okay. I’m nervous. We surrender our entire business if we don’t get these right.

 

[00:33:46] JOANNA: I know. How did we do?

 

[00:33:49] CLEA: The rules are the rules.

 

[00:33:51] NICOLE: The rules are the rules. The stakes are high. We asked, “How did you meet?” And you both said, “Through a mutual friend.” You both said that Joanna didn’t want a business partner, but Clea was excited. You met at the Frothy Monkey.

 

[00:34:06] CLEA: Terrible name.

 

[00:34:10] NICOLE: And the second that you met, it was off to the races. And it was a coffee lunch that turned into a four-hour meeting.

 

[00:34:17] JOANNA: That’s right.

 

[00:34:17] CLEA: That’s true. That’s true. All of that is true.

 

[00:34:21] SASHEER: We asked, “What’s your favorite memory of traveling together?” And you both said, “Going to London and specifically finding out that Joanna was using Clea’s toothbrush for three days straight.” “Joanna admits that she has a bad memory, and Clea was saying that Joanna’s very incredulous about this. But she was very sure because her toothbrush was bone dry.”

 

[00:34:51] CLEA: Desert. The bristles were, like, bone dry. Bone dry.

 

[00:34:57] JOANNA: It’s true.

 

[00:34:59] NICOLE: We asked, “What’s your favorite thing about your friend?” Joanna says, “Clea’s sense of humor.” Clea is the funniest person Joanna knows. She is also very compassionate and giving. It’s her best attribute and flaw. They also get the giggles together, and no one else understands what’s going on. Clea said she loves Joanna’s laugh and loyalty. They never get sick of each other. They can be around each other for 100 hours and then want to get a dinner. But Joanna’s laugh is her favorite treat. And Clea works very hard to make Joanna laugh. Perfect.

 

[00:35:32] JOANNA: Good answer, Clea. Good work.

 

[00:35:37] SASHEER: We asked, “What’s your friend’s favorite thing about you?” And Joanna said that Clea’s favorite thing about Joanna is how easy of a friendship they have. They can accept anything about each other. They will fall asleep watching a movie, which is something I identify with because I do that on Nicole’s couch all the time. And then Clea said that Joanna loves that Clea is funny and that the toothbrushgate is probably the hardest that they’ve ever laughed together.

 

[00:36:05] CLEA: There are other stories, but that’s a different podcast. A different episode, I mean. Like, we could fill so much time just talking about the things that have made us laugh so hard.

 

[00:36:17] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:36:17] NICOLE: We asked, “What’s something you do that drives your friend crazy?” Joanna said that she always wants to leave an event very early and just leave, and it drives Clea crazy. Clea said that she is always late. She grew up in LA–and it affected her–and believes that if you show up in the… Is it “sligits?”

 

[00:36:38] CLEA: It’s a “sigit.” It’s a single digit.

 

[00:36:42] NICOLE: That’s a “sigit.” That’s how you say it. But Joanna sees it differently.

 

[00:36:48] JOANNA: That’s true.

 

[00:36:50] CLEA: I also… Joanna, hello. The thing that drives me crazy is obviously you’re a loud chewer.

 

[00:36:55] JOANNA: I am a loud chewer, but I thought it was superseded by the fact that I always want to leave events before we get there.

 

[00:37:00] CLEA: No.

 

[00:37:01] NICOLE: Oh, shit. I forgot to read that part. Clea said, “Joanna is a loud chewer, especially with nuts.” Did I fuck that up? So, it’s my turn to fuck it up.

 

[00:37:17] SASHEER: We both did.

 

[00:37:20] NICOLE: Hit it, Sasheer.

 

[00:37:22] SASHEER: We asked, “What’s something your friend does that drives you crazy.” Joanna said, “Clea is always late. Clea would be late to her own funeral.” Plus, Clea cannot say goodbye. It takes so long for them to leave a party together. They can’t actually go together because Joanna will want to leave early.

 

[00:37:48] CLEA: True.

 

[00:37:49] SASHEER: And then Clea said, “Joanna’s a loud chewer, especially with nuts.” And if Clea ever goes to jail, it will be for stabbing her.

 

[00:38:02] CLEA: No, no, no. For the loud chewing. I won’t just stab her willy-nilly. But if she eats almonds too loudly, one day, I’m going to snap.

 

[00:38:12] NICOLE: I get it. There is a cause and effect. We asked, “What is the best organization tip you’ve learned from your friend?” Joanna said, “Clea is a master of making things look beautiful. Clea will set up a grand moment.” Clea loves closets because it’s a great moment for huge, splashy things. And Joanna wants to be in the nitty-gritty–little things–like going through drawers, working on small-scale stuff. Joanna loves being in the weeds. Clea said, “I don’t know. We collaborate so much. I just don’t know. I guess we’ve taught each other things. I don’t know.”

 

[00:38:49] JOANNA: I taught you nothing.

 

[00:38:51] CLEA: Can you think of something?

 

[00:38:56] JOANNA: Functionality! Functionality. You make things prettier. And I came from a place of function… Yes! You know I’m right.

 

[00:39:06] CLEA: But elevating someone’s, like, work… In my mind, I took it as, like, a tip–like a “look at this thing,” like spice jars.

 

[00:39:18] JOANNA: No, I didn’t take it that way. I wouldn’t have had such a nice thing to say about you.

 

[00:39:24] CLEA: Okay. But, like, what? I taught you to make a shoe hole? I don’t think that that–

 

[00:39:28] JOANNA: You make things prettier. That’s a huge compliment, and I get zero–

 

[00:39:34] CLEA: I’m thinking about it. I said I needed to round back. I was thinking about it.

 

[00:39:38] JOANNA: You didn’t round back!

 

[00:39:39] CLEA: Well, I haven’t had the chance. I didn’t have a chance. I’m going to think about it. I’m going to think about it. You have taught me… What was, like, the most important thing that you–?

 

[00:39:48] NICOLE: I’m sorry, the answer period has ended. I’m kidding.

 

[00:39:50] CLEA: I failed that one.

 

[00:39:55] NICOLE: No, you can say it. You thought about it.

 

[00:39:57] JOANNA: No, she hasn’t thought about it! She didn’t round back. There is no round back.

 

[00:40:03] CLEA: Everyone will be getting an email from me tonight. I said, “We’re such good collaborators!”

 

[00:40:11] SASHEER: This is true.

 

[00:40:13] JOANNA: I didn’t say that though! I gave you your own shining moment in the sun.

 

[00:40:16] CLEA: Okay, well, I said, “I don’t think I’ve taught Joanna a specific thing either.” We go full circle together.

 

[00:40:24] SASHEER: Sometimes the best partnerships feel like they’ve always been there.

 

[00:40:29] NICOLE: That’s good, Sasheer.

 

[00:40:31] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:40:33] JOANNA: I will get a text at, like, 2:00 in the morning that she thought about it. She rounded back.

 

[00:40:37] CLEA: I will round back; you better believe it.

 

[00:40:39] JOANNA: Oh, I’m waiting for the rounding.

 

[00:40:42] SASHEER: You got around back. We asked, “Which of you would do better on the show, Survivor?” Joanna said neither. But Joanna thinks she herself would do better. Both of their phobias would get in the way, but Joanna’s probably less so. And Joanna is afraid of battery acid, bird poop, picnic benches but only if there’s bird poop on it… And then Clea said that they’ve discussed in regards to The Amazing Race and that they would absolutely crush it. But they’re so afraid of everything that they wouldn’t even get to the island. And she said, “Gun to my head, Joanna would probably do better.” Clea gets cranky even in a bad hotel room, so she’s not going to make it on Survivor.

 

[00:41:27] CLEA: I would not. If I had to sleep on leaves, I would be so mad.

 

[00:41:30] JOANNA: I wouldn’t do great, but I could sleep on leaves.

 

[00:41:32] CLEA: I said that you could also, like, forage for berries.

 

[00:41:34] JOANNA: Yeah, I would be good at foraging.

 

[00:41:38] CLEA: I’d give up.

 

[00:41:40] NICOLE: We asked, “What do you hope you’re both doing in 20 years?” You both said you want to live side by side in hotel rooms. Clea did specifically say “luxury penthouses.”

 

[00:41:51] JOANNA: Yeah. Okay.

 

[00:41:52] NICOLE: But you want to travel, go to beautiful places, become travel bloggers. You haven’t picked the city yet. Clea said Maybe Chicago, but you’re looking for a second location to avoid being chilly.

 

[00:42:05] CLEA: Yes. Chicago winters are rough.

 

[00:42:07] JOANNA: Yeah. We have a few years because you asked 20 years, so we have some time to round back with you, Nicole.

 

[00:42:12] CLEA: Yeah. We’ll get back to you on location and potential second location.

 

[00:42:18] NICOLE: I can’t wait for that email in 2043.

 

[00:42:22] JOANNA: Yeah, really.

 

[00:42:23] CLEA: That’s right.

 

[00:42:25] SASHEER: But you got basically the same answers.

 

[00:42:29] NICOLE: Most of them. Yeah.

 

[00:42:30] SASHEER: We believe you’re friends. You can keep your business together.

 

[00:42:33] CLEA: Except the one thing our business relies on–organizing–I can’t come up with a thing.

 

[00:42:40] SASHEER: One glaring thing.

 

[00:42:43] JOANNA: I taught you nothing!

 

[00:42:45] CLEA: I just feel like we teach each other things. We come up with things together. Isn’t that better?

 

[00:42:49] JOANNA: Yes. But that was not the question.

 

[00:42:52] CLEA: No, I know. Don’t worry. I’m going to come up with an answer. I’m really going to…

 

[00:42:57] JOANNA: You’re really going to work on that if you want to save our business.

 

[00:43:03] CLEA: Yes. Surely there’s a thing. I’m going to think about it.

 

[00:43:07] JOANNA: “Surely!”

 

[00:43:12] SASHEER: That’s the risk of coming on this show.

 

[00:43:13] CLEA: Yeah, it is a risk.

 

[00:43:14] NICOLE: We tear apart friendships.

 

[00:43:20] SASHEER: But your friendship is very beautiful. It reminds me of mine and Nicole’s a lot. I love that you guys like to laugh so much. And you complement each other in a really great way.

 

[00:43:28] CLEA: It’s the only way to get through. Like, how can you get through anything if you’re not, like, laughing about everything?

 

[00:43:35] JOANNA: Have to be.

 

[00:43:35] CLEA: I mean, just have to be. We laugh all the time.

 

[00:43:40] JOANNA: It’s what saves us every day.

 

[00:43:41] CLEA: It really is. I feel that. I just wish we were comedians, like you guys.

 

[00:43:46] JOANNA: We’re not funny. We just laugh at each other.

 

[00:43:48] CLEA: We just laugh at the ridiculous situations we find ourselves in all the time. All the time.

 

[00:43:55] SASHEER: Yeah.

 

[00:43:55] NICOLE: But that’s the magic of a friendship. You don’t have to be a comedian to just tee-hee-hee at dumb shit.

 

[00:44:00] CLEA:  Well, we sure do, let me tell you. We sure do.

 

[00:44:06] SASHEER: Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.

 

[00:44:08] NICOLE: We did it!

 

[00:44:08] JOANNA: Great to see you guys!

 

[00:44:10] CLEA: Thanks so much for having us! Nothing I love more than a Newlyweds-style game because Joanna and I love actually testing our information about each other. I’m not kidding you. One time we were in a hotel room. We had nothing to do. We played it by ourselves.

 

[00:44:28] JOANNA: We did!

 

[00:44:31] CLEA: Because we were like, “I don’t know! What’s the job you would least want to have in the world?”

 

[00:44:38] JOANNA: Little pieces of paper from the hotel room and like, “Don’t look!”

 

[00:44:42] CLEA: Yeah, we just love it.

 

[00:44:44] SASHEER: Oh my God.

 

[00:44:45] NICOLE: I love it. You were preparing for this moment.

 

[00:44:51] CLEA: We’ve been practicing.

 

[00:44:55] SASHEER: Well, you did a great job. I was looking up stuff on you guys, and it did say that you guys are going on tour. Is that right? You’re going on the road together?

 

[00:45:03] CLEA: We’re doing a live tour this summer. It’s called the Summer Fun Tour because this is our year. You know, the pandemic happened and then we were filming and then cancer and then bleh. And so, this year is our summer to have fun–our Summer Fun Tour.

 

[00:45:20] SASHEER: Amazing!

 

[00:45:20] CLEA: And, yeah, I’m really excited but very nervous because we’ve never done anything like this, so we’ll see. We’re not performers like you guys.

 

[00:45:29] JOANNA: We’ll round back, as some would say.

 

[00:45:31] CLEA: Yeah, we’ll round back. We’ll let you know how it goes.

 

[00:45:37] SASHEER: Amazing. Well. have so much fun. And thank you for coming on the show.

 

[00:45:39] JOANNA: Thank you so much for having us.

 

[00:45:42] NICOLE: Hell, yeah. We didn’t take any questions this episode because we were busy doing our segment called Besting Everybody. But if you have a question, query, or concern, you can email nicoleandsasheer@gmail.com. We got a number, too. 424-645-7003.

 

[00:46:04] SASHEER: We also have merch at podswag.com/bestfriends.

 

[00:46:09] NICOLE: T-shirts! We have transcripts of our new episodes. Check them out at earwolf.com!

 

[00:46:19] SASHEER: Written word! Lastly, don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe; that’s the easiest way to support this show.

 

[00:46:27] NICOLE: Stars!

 

[00:46:34] SASHEER: All right. Bye, Nicole.

 

[00:46:36] NICOLE: Bye, Sasheer. Wow, I got loopy at the end. Sorry.