TOBIN: So I'm gonna blow up my older brother spot for a second here. [CHUCKLES]

KATHY: Okay.

[HAPPY MUSIC BEGINS]

TOBIN: When he was in high school he had the epitome of a terrible high school girlfriend, okay, she was clingy, she forced him to disobey my parents all the time, it was like a bad scene with the two of them.

KATHY: Okay.

TOBIN: Now imagine if you will, I'm six years old at the time and a total brat.

KATHY: Oh little Toby!

TOBIN: Little Tobin somehow figured out that it would be hilarious if every time she came to the house I pretended to not remember her name.

KATHY: Oh Tobin. [LAUGHS]

TOBIN: Even though we had met several times. So she would show up and be like "Tobin!" and I would be like "Hmmmm I wanna say, Sarah?"

[MUSIC PETERS OUT]

KATHY: [LAUGHING] No!

TOBIN: Linda? Tip of my tongue, tip of my tongue, kinda don't remember.

KATHY: [LAUGHING] Oh my god!

TOBIN: And I like, tortured this girl.

[KATHY SIGHS]

TOBIN: But here's the funny thing is like, I sort of remember my parents whenever they would discipline me about being mean to her, or talk to me about it, it was sort of with like a wink, like "you're doing good kid."

[KATHY LAUGHS]

TOBIN: They'd be like, "now Tobin, that's mean, don't do that again."

KATHY: Aw Tobin.

TOBIN: There's a chance I was a shit sibling.

KATHY: Yeah.

[THEME MUSIC BEGINS]

VOX 1: From WNYC Studios this is Nancy.

VOX 2: With your hosts, Tobin Low and Kathy Tu.

[THEME MUSIC ENDS]

TOBIN: Kathy.

KATHY: Tobin.

TOBIN: So there's this comedian, Nore Davis.

KATHY: Nore! He was on 2 Dope Queens!

TOBIN: Uh huh, loved him. And if you remember, in that set he talked about his brother Khalil, who's trans.

[2 DOPE QUEENS CLIP] NORE: At first before he transitioned I didn’t understand what it was, before he explained it to me. Something you don't understand and you have an ignorant mind to it. So before he was going through it, I’m sad to admit this, I thought that transgender, seriously, I thought it was like the ultimate gay? [LAUGHTER] You know, I thought it was a level every gay person was trying to turn.

[MUSIC STARTS]

TOBIN: Nore talks about Khalil a lot in his act. He was actually in the audience when Nore taped this comedy special. And in a way that's been easy, doing stand-up about their relationship. But real life, they've never really sat down as brothers and just talked about everything that's happened.

NORE: Why you sound so awkward?

KHALIL: Cause it’s nervous. I’ll get through it.

NORE: Why you sound like...Nothing’s happening, everything’s fine, we’re just gonna talk.

[MUSIC ENDS]

NORE: Well Khalil, as a kid, you were a girl, correct?

KHALlL: Yes. I was born a female, raised as, our mom tried so hard to raise me as a girl.

NORE: Oh my god, so hard.

KHALIL: But was not working at all.

NORE: Yeah.

KAHLIL: and I was forced into a damn dress.

NORE: Yeah you were forced into that dress, you hated it.

KHALIL: I was forced into everything, like pink, all that stuff. It was horrible.

NORE: Your room is like white.

KHALIL: No it was green, I got pick that, thank God.

NORE: Okay. I lived in a room downstairs.

KHALIL: And I was so jealous. I was like, look at the colors...

NORE: And I didn't even know that!

KHALIL: ...and the toys.

NORE: And that's crazy, I'm just living my boyish life. And...

KHALIL: And I was just there, like, hating.

NORE: And you're like, ugh! I want this! I want to switch with him!

KHALIL: Exactly. Especially when you were gone, I would just sneak in your room and play with things, and just...

NORE: Really?

KHALIL: Hell yeah. And I'll run when you come cause you're thinking like, you were just thinking I was taking your shit. But honestly I was in my happy moments. I had, like, dolls and Barbies and those damn playsets and...

NORE: That's true, you did have the playsets, that was rad.

KHALIL: People ever say you will know when you're trans when you're little. You don't know the language or what to call it. But I'm just like, "Why does he keep getting dope shit?" And then when I would try to go for it, I would get denied like hardbody. Mom would just come in like "NO!" I'm just like "why?"

NORE: Oh my God I did not know that.

KHALIL: Yes.

NORE: But I mean but you know, I'm a kid.

KHALIL: Hell yeah. So anything we got to share like video games, I was happy as hell because I was like, I get to play with these. I'm allowed to play with that.

[LIGHT PERCUSSIVE MUSIC BEGINS]

NORE: So let's talk about the great day that was like, I knew you were gonna be gay, is like prom.

KHALIL: Oh man.

NORE: Your prom. Not mine.

KHALIL: I thought that was before prom because I already had a few girlfriends before then.

NORE: That's true. But I just remember it being like that blatantly of like mom having you in that dress and you then your hair all done up, like you were just like some R&B, from R&B group, and me and auntie were like, this is not right. Mom just kept screaming "she's she's beautiful she's beautiful" and we're just like...

KHALIL: By then, by prom and all that, I was out bro. Like once I saw like you can go away to college, I couldn't wait to cross that stage.

NORE: Jesus.

KHALIL: I was like, "I am never coming back."

NORE: Wow.

KHALIL: I graduated '06, so like 06-07, I was a freshman. But I didn't transition actually until like 2010.

NORE: So tell me the moment you felt like "oh this is a thing I can do this" cuz that's kinda like the same moment I had with stand-up where, it was like "alright I can do stand-up boom" and then, what was your moment where it was like "oh, I can be a man, I can transition." When was that moment?

KHALIL: Thank God for my college it was very inclusive and very diverse. Every semester you have a drag show which were dope, like the talk of the town or whatever. So then there's this one dude doing the show and every girl is like going crazy. Everybody's whispering, like, "You did you know I used to be a girl? Did you know that used to be a girl?" and all this, blah blah blah. And I'm like, "What?" And they're like "She transitioned into a man, that's a he." I was like, "You can do that?!" I seriously, like, ran and Googled the fuck out of it, like anything that I could find.

NORE: Wow.

KHALIL: And it was like, bing bing bing, And I was like "What?"

NORE: Cause you told me in the backyard of my ex-fiance now, girlfriend then. And then we were smoking and you were like "Yeah man, I'm transitioning, I feel like I'm a man." And I'm like, "wait what?" And you're like "Yeah, I'm a man." So I'm gonna transition into a man, like change my name, do testosterone shots. And I was just like, "I don't know what's in this weed bro, like, but okay."

[BOTH LAUGH]

NORE: And I remember honestly being scared for you cause it's like, how more diverse do you need to be? You have sickle cell, you're Black, then now you're going to transition to a guy, I don't even know how that works. Yes I was scared for you, man, that's how I honestly felt. But I knew how crazy and how stern and strict our mother was, so I just felt like I have to be this rock and bridge for both of y'all. Because I don't want to lose you. And then I just saw how ignorant she was cuz I remember just being like, so what, like it's 20... this is not 1958. Like so what? But she always had that "I want a daughter." I remember her always screaming that around the house like, "Now I can't have a fucking... now I can't go to the wedding, now I can't walk my daughter down the aisle."

KHALIL: And she was like using me like a show pony, just like fucking brag to her friends and all that. And I'm just like no.

NORE: I remember that. You wrote a letter like, "If you're not gonna accept me, I'm just gonna off myself."

KHALIL: Yeah it was either you're not gonna accept me, I'm gonna off myself or you're just never gonna see me again. I was so close. Like that's how I had that mechanism to just shut down and act like it doesn't exist and then go back on about my life. So now it's just like, that's why I gave the options to everyone in the family. Like you can either accept this or I'm not gonna be here or you're just not gonna see me ever again in my life.

NORE: And I believe mom's prideful self, it took her a lot to tell me that and I was like what? Like, either you just get over yourself because at the end of the day it's still your child. It's still your child. Like, do you want your child here or not? "No I want my child here." Alright then. Then what's the problem? I remember having that conversation with her in the kitchen and then I felt like I broke through to her with that.

KHALIL: Mom would always have those moments and it was just like hard to trust her too, because then it's like, even when you would get through to her, and then she'll be like, "okayI'm fine I'm fine." But then when she'll see me, "Why are you looking like that? Why are you dressing like that?" Blah blah blah, and all this other stuff. And I'm just like, now you're flipping on your word. Here we go again. Basically by that time I attempted suicide twice and I kept waking up, so I'm just like "Okay, I guess the universe has something for you."

NORE: Wait wait wait...time out. You attempted suicide. Twice?

KHALIL: Twice, man. In college.

NORE: Nigga this the first time you telling me this?

KHALIL: Oh, I thought you knew?

NORE: No no, I never knew this. Are you serious?

KHALIL: Yeah man.

NORE: So what just taking pills?

KHALIL: Yeah. Taking mad pills.

NORE: How many?

KHALIL: Six.

NORE: Six?

KHALIL: Six, seven of like the morphine and all that.

NORE: Of morphine?

KHALIL: Yeah because with sickle cell you get the pain medicine and all the other stuff. Because I was in college and remember I went to college to run away, and just...unhappy. And then, I just felt like a disconnect. So I was just like...I couldn't do it no more. It was just like...

NORE: Aw man.

KHALIL: ...living as a female and just all that stuff they expected from you, like being a woman and all this other stuff, it was just...it just sucks. And it was just a constant, what is it, taunting, seeing men do whatever they wanted to do, or like freedom and all this other stuff. And there are just privileges out there.

NORE: And you're just this jailbird.

KHALIL: I identify with that so much, but it's like nobody can see it, so you're just literally drowning and screaming inside. And it's just like, why? And every time I would just be like, "God if you have something meant for me I'll wake up."

NORE: Obviously. Cuz you have to come here and record this podcast!

KHALIL: Obviously! And that's my true calling.

NORE: That's why those attempts failed, because you had to sit here and record this podcast with your brother. And I would have to talk about your journey on my stand up.

[LIGHT ELECTRONIC MUSIC FADES IN]

NORE: So God had a huge.. he was like "No, there's no way. What is Nore gonna talk about? What is Khalil is gonna go and be successful and do what he does?"

KHALIL: That's true.

[BEAT]

NORE: Yeah, so mom was just kinda like our, what can I say, uh, Magneto...type. But then Dad was kinda Thanos. Because you had to come out to him and then you hated...you really hated him. I never understood that hate because he never said anything. But there were like moments...

[MUSIC FADES OUT]

KHALIL: It just always pissed me off with dad because I am his splitting image. Like anything he liked, like karate, he excelled, I excelled, trophies, everything like that. And he's just like, "alright whatever."

NORE: He never talked! He never talked to us!

KHALIL: Never never talked.

NORE: But maybe he's sulking, which is so immature of him. That's like, that's not our fault, nigga. But then it's like now, right now in 2017, he's retiring, like this month. He won't shut the fuck up! He talks to me all the time and now I don't want to talk to him. He's so weird, it's so weird.

KHALIL: Y'all are all buddy buddy! He was always quiet to me. I'm thinking like, he's speaking to you, so I'm like okay. You're having your conversation.

NORE: Yeah but no, but so I would deal with you coming out with him, cuz he would keep going, "So how's she doing, how's she doing?" And I'm like "He's fine. Khalil's fine." "Oh, so how's K?" So now he's at a point with the K, where he just calls you K, which kinda sucks because it has no gender. It's like cereal, like nigga he ain't cereal, he ain't Special K. It's Khalil. And then I would battle with it myself, like, uhh, am I supposed to fight this battle for you? Am I supposed to be your fucking knight? Like "No! Say the pronouns right!" Right?

[KHALIL LAUGHS]

NORE: Or am I just supposed to be like, "No, he's just ignorant, and I don't give a fuck, and you don't really talk to him, so..."

KHALIL: No, the first time I came out I called him, I was like "Yeah, I'm transitioning." He was like, "Alright well, it's your life. Do what you want to do." And I'm just like, "Wait what?" So I'm like, I'm telling you I'm transitioning, and you're like, "Yeah, alright. How's your mom gonna take it?" "She's dealing with it how she's ---" "Alright." "Alright talk to you later." That was it. Especially with the surgeries and all that, that's how I got back at dad. Because I was always on Dad's medical insurance, but he never checked the god-damn bill whatsoever in life. So I was like, I'm gonna use this motherfucker.

NORE: You were gonna use his insurance?

KHALIL: Exactly, so I called 'em up and everything. And I was like, "So would he know?" "No you're 18, he doesn't know, he would just get a bill." And I was like "Word? Put this surgery on that man's card! Thank you!"

NORE: And that surgery was to remove your breasts?

KHALIL: Yeah. The chest surgery. And I was like, "Put that on that man's card my good sir.”

[NORE LAUGHS]

[MUSIC STARTS]

KHALIL: You have to figure out who you are now too. Because once you transition, it's like okay, I got the physical part down, or it's forming. But now internally it's like, what type of man am I?

[MUSIC FADES OUT]

KHALIL: Now that transition everything that I get from you, it's like now I get that like guide or mentor of like how to assimilate, well not assimilate but just like navigate, move through the heterosexual male world. And like...

NORE: Ha ha, how to be man.

KHALIL: ...it's so different, because like, there are some things from being a female or woman that are dope or fun too, like grooming or like lotions and all those things, like I still love all that stuff.

NORE: Yeah, that's weird.

KHALIL: Or then like having girlfriends speaking and talking, that was one thing that I didn't notice, because I'm like, okay cool, now I pass, now I'm hanging out with guys and now we're hanging out and it's just quiet, we're just watching a TV or a video game and I'm just like, "Wait why is nobody talking? Like there's no gossip? There's no tea?"

NORE: No. Nope.

KHALIL: And I'm just like...

NORE: No. We just watch the game, or we play the video game, and we shut the fuck up. Just like, brah, I get this from my girl, I don't need this from you, shut the fuck up. Right?

[KHALIL LAUGHS]

NORE: So...and then you would take from me is like proper handshake etiquette.

KHALIL: Aww man, I still suck at giving...

NORE: Barbershop.

KHALIL: I'm learning giving pounds.

NORE: I remember you telling me, "Yo how do I go to the barbershop? Like how do I, who do I talk to?" I'm like, just talk to the barber then sit the fuck down. That's it. And give a pound and that dude that doesn't give you a pound...

KHALIL: I still suck at those. I'm trying though.

NORE: No you don't suck... let me see...

[HAND SLAP NOISE]

NORE: Alright, so you know what it is? You're a little rough. You come in so hard. You gotta go just...

[HAND SLAP NOISE]

KHALIL: Ahh.

NORE: There you go, loose, loose...

KHALIL: Gotcha.

NORE: Be like water. Bruce Lee. Like what's up, ehhh. Gimme a pound.

[HAND SLAP NOISE]

NORE: Boom, there you go. I remember you come in so hard and I'm like, "Yeah you don't need to be a MAN all the time!" That's not what it is. Huah! High-five nigga!

[SOFT ELECTRONIC MUSIC FADES IN]

KHALIL: I just feel so menacing. Like, I'm not a girl no more!

NORE: I just shot my thigh with testosterone!

KHALIL: I'm a man god-damn-it!

NORE: Yeah, I get it, I get it…

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[SIREN NOISE AND PARK AMBIANCE FADES IN]

TOBIN: What's the worst thing your sister's ever done to you?

[THEME MUSIC STARTS]

PERSON 1: When we were little she drew a line in the middle of our bedroom and I wasn't allowed to cross the line and I had to cross the line to get out of the bedroom door.

TOBIN: Do you feel like that's an accurate representation of that story with the line?

PERSON 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, I was the bad sister. [ALL LAUGH]

[THEME MUSIC ENDS]

PERSON 3: Nancy will be back in a minute.

[WHISTLE]

[MIDROLL]

[THEME MUSIC PLAYS]

TOBIN: And we're back!

KATHY: So at the end of July, Donald Trump tweeted, kind of out of nowhere, that he was banning transgender people from the military. And it was really sad, scary news for a lot of people.

TOBIN: And despite everything, one person did manage to make us laugh that day and that was comedian Patti Harrison:

[CLIP] PATTI: Now Jimmy, I’m a transgender woman and as a trans person it’s hard to articulate exactly how I feel. But I guess if I had to describe it, I’d say, “Donald, you’re so stupid, you are sooo stupid. You’re lucky you’re so hot."

KATHY: Patti went on the Tonight Show to give Jimmy Fallon the trans perspective to the news. And the whole thing is so deadpan and weird that it was basically the perfect response to those bananas Trump tweets.

[MUSIC ENDS]

[CLIP] PATTI: You know I don’t even think Trump even knows what transgender means. He probably thinks that transgender people are those cars that turn into robots… [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]

FALLON: It might be so. Patti before you go, go do you have any final thoughts about all of this?

PATTI: Well first I want to say that there are amazingly brave trans people who should be allowed to serve like Kristin Beck, a retired Navy SEAL with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and countless service medals

[APPLAUSE]

PATTI: And yet Trump says transgender people in the military would be a tremendous disruption. And I get it. If you constantly draw attention to yourself, spend all day distracting everyone, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, the perfect job for you isn't the military. It's the president of the United States.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]

FALLON: Patti Harrison everybody!

PATTI: "Patti Harrison everybody!" Yeah. Wow. I delivered that much more muted. I felt like I was being so loud in my head, and I was kind of talking like a kiosk with an automated voice from a kiosk.

TOBIN: Well, we should say that that happened just like a couple hours after President Trump tweeted. So you were on the air so quickly after that. Like, did you know going in what you are going to say? How did that work?

PATTI: So I was actually in a cab to do voice-over recording for something else, and the driver was listening to talk radio and that's how I learned about the military ban. And it was very kind of surreal because he was listening to this like AM radio where It was like very poor quality and it sounded like [FUNNY MUFFLED VOICE] "Trump... and also" and I was like I can't be right. And then my friend, Jo Firestone, she texted me and I was like "hey..." -- she writes for the Tonight show -- and she said, "Hey, they wanted to do a piece on this and they'd like to like have a transgender person share their thoughts on it specifically." And I got there. They had jokes prepared that they had written and then they kind of like mined like, wo where were you when you found out, what are your feelings, like how do you feel. Whenever I go into a situation where like people I've written jokes for me specifically on like being trans I always like my butt hole clenches because I'm like waiting to be like really transphobic kind of hack dick jokes and stuff, kind of the old punch lines that trans women are always used for. But the jokes that they wrote were like very, very thoughtful and nice and like funny.

KATHY: Were like the writers all like straight white cis dudes?

PATTI: Yeah, in the room for the monologue, it was like six white guys, but I didn't like challenge them about their queerness or anything. [KATHY LAUGHS] I didn't want to assume that they're straight. But I did see you know some fitted packs and pants. I'm gonna drag them all right now. Haha. Fuck you for changing my life for the better.

[ALL LAUGH]

PATTI: But it's probably like the first time I've like gone into a paid situation where I felt like secure and like I had control.

TOBIN: Have you had the experience where you walked into a gig and somebody hands you a sheet of like totally transphobic jokes and you have to navigate that and like how do you navigate that?

PATTI: I've had people like approach me because they're like, "Hey we want to work with you" and they'll like send me a script and it's just awful. Awful in the sense that it's like very offensive and degrading at like a cellular level where I'm like oh this is kind of attacking like the fibers of my DNA. I'm like, this sucks. And that's really stressful because sometimes it's from higher up, like people that could potentially like change the course of your career. From someone who like I've watched their work growing up. And like thought they were amazing and they sent me this thing and it's like now, it's my job to be like, "Hey this is offensive because this..." But then it's like oh I don't want to seem like a wet blanket. I don't want them to like think that I'm difficult to work with. Does that make sense?

TOBIN: Yeah, totally.

PATTI: And that's that's kind of the deal that you get in an industry that for a very long time has been predominantly white cis het. And so your oppression is a selling point or it's used didactically to teach someone something, which when it's done in that way it's like the intentions are good. But in that same breath it becomes a point when it's like, oh this is like the only thing you want me to do? I also like to you know joke about farts. And so I think it's very funny that like the piece for the most part that I did on The Tonight Show was like very clean, because it's like NBC, it's very like accessible. And then like people are like "oh I'm a big fan" and they like looked me up online and find my tweets and they're all about like fucking dogs, or someone coming on me or me coming on someone else or me coming near a pond or me getting fisted near a pond, and like people are like "what is this?"

[KATHY AND TOBIN LAUGH]

PATTI: I get all these like DM's that are like "you're disgusting." And I'm like I know! I'm just not going to say it on TV!

[CLIP] PATTI: I'm Patti, I'm nineteen years old, and I'm from Pensacola, California. I've tried online dating sites, and dating apps, like Tindr. There's just been no luck so I'm really ready to just open myself up to dating new kinds of people, even if that means fucking a dog.

[KATHY LAUGHS]

TOBIN: It's so true. We were like passing around different YouTube videos and different things that you've done, and we'd like love them so hardcore, and we're also like oh man but Jimmy Fallon's set is like so funny, but it's like a completely different animal. And now it's like this thing that is sort of like brought you into the public eye. So there's like probably some interesting discourse.

PATTI: It's kind of like my Full House, like Bob Saget's Full House. How everyone was like well Bob Sagat's on Full House. But then everyone's like, "Have you seen his stand up? It's so raunchy."

[ALL LAUGH]

PATTI: I wouldn't like, I don't go on stage or in my live shows in Brooklyn like have them introduce me as the transgender comedian Patti Harrison.

TOBIN: Right.

PATTI: But I think there are points when it's labels do matter, especially if you're talking to a demographic that might not have heard from like a trans person before. Like if you're accessing a group of people who have not seen a trans person in a humanized way, they've only seen them as like a dead prostitute on like SVU or something. Which is my dream role. Which I'm sure I will play.

TOBIN: Oh my god. Same.

[ALL LAUGH]

TOBIN: We like don't have a good segue about this, but you're obsessed with Laura Dern and can we just talk about that for a little?

PATTI: I was obsessed with Laura Dern because Jurassic Park for like a solid four years of my childhood was the only movie that I watched.

KATHY: Wow.

PATTI: I loved Jurassic Park because I was like I'm going to be an archaeologist. And then I just loved her outfit. And I loved the way she ran with that flashlight attached to her foot. And I loved the way she said "Rrrrrunnn. Ruuuun." What is it? It's like, "Well Mr. Arnold I think we're back in business." And it's like [DINOSAUR SCREECH] as the head comes through.

KATHY: Wow.

TOBIN: Also I always think of her like convulsive crying run when she sees him again.

PATTI: Yeah.

TOBIN: She's like, [PANTING]. It's great. She really sells that part.

[ALL LAUGH]

TOBIN: Okay, so we have another clip from the series of videos you did for Seriously.TV, where you do like this fun house version of an Animal Planet show?

[ANMIAL SHOW THEME MUSIC, ANIMAL NOISES]

[CLIP] PATTI: Hi I'm Patti and welcome to Patti Reviews: Exotic Animal Edition. I'm here with Nick. [LOUD KOOKABURRA NOISES] Nick what the fuck is this thing shut it up!

[MORE KOOKABURRA NOISES]

PATTI: Oh my god! Now why is her name Giggles?

NICK: Oh because they're called the laughing kookaburra. Her call sounds like laughing.

PATTI: What kind of jokes do you think makes this bird laugh?

NICK: Uh, it wouldn't take much.

PATTI: Racist jokes?

NICK: Sure, racist jokes.

PATTI: Tell a racist joke, Nick.

NICK: No. No I will not tell a racist joke.

PATTI: Do all kookaburras have my mom's voice and laugh like my mom does whenever I tell her that I'm gonna  be somebody?

NICK: They do, they all have this call that they do.

[KOOKABURRA NOISE]

PATTI: No mom, I'm going to make it in New York, fuck you! [CRIES] What do you know, you don't care about what I do, you don't think I'm talented. [KOOKABURRA NOISES STOP] That's what I thought, I'm gonna be a star and I'm gonna forget all about you when I do. You and your knife for a mouth.

TOBIN: So...

PATTI: Wow. I think that plays better as a sound bite than it does visually.

[KATHY LAUGHS]

TOBIN: It plays well both ways I think. My question is how rooted in truth is that joke in terms of the relationship with your mom and you choose choosing your career?

PATTI: It is rooted in truth. That bit was like improvised, but not as harsh. Like I've always just wanted to like impress my mom and she's so...she's 69. She's from Vietnam. She moved from Vietnam straight to Ohio and just has like lived only in Ohio and only watches, like, the only thing that she watches on TV that she likes is Judge Judy and Geico commercials. Those are like her favorite thing. I will never make her laugh as hard as the Geico gecko makes her laugh.

KATHY: Wow.

PATTI: Any time I like told her about like you know the stuff, she's like, "Okay." Like, "Mom I'm like I'm going to be on the Tonight Show." She's like, [MOM VOICE] "Ok will do you need...? Are you calling me because you want me to send you money?"

KATHY: Oh my god.

[KATHY AND TOBIN LAUGH]

PATTI: Also I don't want to be pigeonholed as the Asian comedian who does like an Asian accent for their mom.

KATHY: Uh! But I feel that so hard.

PATTI: It's... It's... She's very supportive and like in kind of a [MOM VOICE] "Oh that's nice. Do you need money? Okay then bye." Then gets off the phone.

[TOBIN LAUGHS]

KATHY: My mom's version of that is, "Can you make a living off that? Are you sure?"

PATTI: [LAUGHS] "Do you get health benefits?"

KATHY: Yeah. "Are they going to fire you soon?"

PATTI: Yeah. When I got the job at the website, she like wept because I told her, I was like "Yeah I can get health benefits."

[KATHY LAUGHS]

PATTI: She was like "Oh thank god!"

TOBIN: [LAUGHS] That was the piece of it...

PATTI: Yeah that was like, like she doesn't give a shit about like anything. She just wants me to like be safe and stuff which is like sweet, which what I should focus on. But I'm like, no praise me for my TV!

[KATHY AND TOBIN LAUGH]

PATTI: Did you see when that transgender comedian bashed Donald Trump? Watch this trans comedian epic takedown of Donald Trump. I'm like Jesus Christ.

[MUSIC FADES IN]

KATHY: I don't think I've laughed this much in an interview ever. [LAUGHS]

PATTI: Aww.

KATHY: Thank you so much!

TOBIN: Thank you so much for coming in.

PATTI: Thank you for having me. This is so much fun. I can just gab and gab and gab. Yeah I'm a gabby girl.

KATHY: Yes!

PATTI: Trademark it!

[ALL LAUGH]

PATTI: Gabby Gal!

[MUSIC TRANSITIONS INTO END THEME MUSIC]

KATHY: Alright, credits time.

TOBIN: Social media, you know what to do. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all @nancypodcast.

KATHY: Plus we've got links to Patti and Nore's comedy at our website, nancypodcast.org.

TOBIN: Okay okay, our producers...

KATHY: Matt Collette and Rachel Neel!

TOBIN: Sound designers...

KATHY: Jeremy Bloom and Matt Boynton!

TOBIN: Intern...

KATHY: Caleb Codding!

TOBIN: Editor...

KATHY: Jenny Lawton!

TOBIN: Executive producer...

KATHY: Paula Szuchman!

TOBIN: I'm Tobin Low.

KATHY: I'm Kathy Tu.

TOBIN: And Nancy is a production of WNYC Studios.

[END CREDITS MUSIC]

TOBIN: See? The magic...No! Because the great take was wasted with an interruption from before. This is some bullshit!

 

Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information. New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.