recomMETAtion riday!!

+ a new game: What the heck does that podcast host look like?!

What a week! Head of the Interview team Alex Dobrenko interviewed Liza Donnelly the New Yorker cartoonist on Tuesday! Then on yesterday our top correspondent from the culture desk Alex Dobrenko shared three half finished posts he wrote in 2019. Wow!

But hey, forget all that - It’s Riday and you know what that means - Recommendation Riday Time!

Or as we say at the restaurateur luncheons, TGIRR.

Which was also the original spelling for this cocky asshole:

Before we get into recommendations I want to introduce a new game that we will play called

✨ What the heck does that podcast host actually look like? ✨

The game is simple. I’ll name a podcast and you guess what they look like (DO NOT CHEAT). At the very end of this newsletter the truth will be revealed.

This week’s podcast host is…

Terry Gross, host of NPR’s Fresh Air

If you’re like me, you probably both feel like Terry Gross is a close personal friend, like top 10 friends easy, AND you have NO IDEA what she looks like.

This, my friends, is crazy.

So: what does Terry Gross look like? Scroll to the end for the answer.

But now its time for the actual reason we’re all here -

🆘 What do YOU need recommendations for? 🆘

I wanna try something new where you comment with something you’ve been wanting recs on - it can be tv shows, books, meals, WHATEVER.

Then the rest of the ‘community’ will read your question and provide their recommendations.

It’s like a trust fall which, if you don’t know, is summarized best in this incredible video: how to set up a trust fall.

i could write a phd thesis on this still alone. TWO gingers, ponytail man!, why are they shooting this in someone’s house, why is glasses girl so worried did they not explain what trust falls were to her?!

And yes for you keen listeners out there, this recommendation riday is meta like my good personal friend Marcus Zucksaburger who just so happens to be a (pending) sponsor of Both Are True. Marcus if you’re reading plz note: I know what you did and I have the video to prove it: a little known indie snuff film called The Social Network.

You’re hosed, dude. Send $ now or forever hold your piece de resistance (french).

So what does Terry Gross look like?

I’ll give my guess - nervous tiny woman with glasses and a button nose, brown curly hair, NO freckles, a warm presence but you can tell that if she gets mad she gets REAL mad.

And now without any more adeles, here’s Terry Gross:

Wow! Ok so I feel like I got most of it right except the hair thing. I saw her as younger like mid 40s she’s got a young voice or something IDK.

But hey check this out - Terry Gross from the past:

Brown curly hair! I was right just in 1975 or something.

Anyways, did you guys get it right? Reply in the comments ALONG WITH something you need recs on.

Now THAT is someone I’d want catching me for a trust fall THAT’S A CALLBACK LADIES AND GENTIEMANS AND NBS AND WHOEVER ELSE.

Classic comedy 101 - first you make a call, then you make a call back.

I am so tired.

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BREAKING NEWS: Free and paid subscriptions of Both Are True are now available - what a deal what a joy what a once in a lifetime movie opportunity: