Paul Verzi recounts contracting the "Chinese flu" at a packed Mexican restaurant or Levity Live show in early March, detailing his two-week isolation and sudden loss of smell and taste. He cites grim statistics where 5% of ventilator patients face only a 50% survival rate while questioning permanent immunity against new strains. Verzi speculates the virus was intentionally released to target older economic drains, discusses vaping dangers, and promotes Radix Remedies sanitizer before the episode concludes with host Alex Media's return. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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The Chinese Flu Champion00:13:15
What's up, everybody?
I am here with an amazing father, a remarkable husband, a hilarious comedian, and a champion of the Chinese flu, a conqueror of the coronavirus.
We have Paul Versey in the building.
What's up, Chelsea?
What's up, baby?
Now, listen, this is, I'm very excited to talk to you because you might be the first comedian, real comedian, that has contacted the coronavirus and destroyed it, demolished it, beat it to smithereens.
First of all, how you still look the same, bro?
What's that?
How you still look the same?
You got the fresh baldy in quarantine, beard looking right.
You know what?
I'm about 18, 19 days since my first symptom, and everything has pretty much subsided.
Very little bit of a cough.
So I had to get my act together with grooming after that.
You look amazing.
Bro, you look like Drake with Down syndrome.
Down syndrome.
No, you can let her rip, baby.
The world's ending.
You might as well say it all right now.
I want a career when this is over, but I do want to say that I do want to say that my wife and I, we couldn't officially test for it, although we were pretty much told we had it.
And I can break down exactly what happened.
So, yeah.
So I want to just go over a first thing.
Just a few things with you.
So how do you think you got it, number one?
It's between two places.
It's between doing Levity Live.
The Saturday at Levity Live was really packed.
It was the first week of, it was the first week of March.
But then on March 14th, we went out.
This was right before everybody was told to be locked down.
We did go to a Mexican restaurant for my wife's birthday around March 14th, which is the last time we were out in public.
And I remember the restaurant being packed.
And so it's one of those two places.
But my guess would be I got it at a packed restaurant March 14th.
You think it was the Mexicans?
I think it was, yeah.
Yes.
It was the Mexicans' fault.
Not that packed out show of yours at Levity.
Not that packed out.
I mean, you were selling tickets, bro.
Yo, make no mistake.
Saturday was packed out.
I mean, I had a sellout.
But, you know, so what happened was, and I got to tell you something, Rudy Gobert, the center of the Utah Jazz, actually really helped.
Actually, no, he actually helped with what he tweeted about after a major symptom happened to him.
So what happened to him was, so I had, so my symptoms started.
I told my wife, I started to feel achy and I started to feel the flu.
This is about two or three days after we went to, two days after we went to her birthday dinner, I started to feel like I had the flu.
Yeah.
Achy was convinced I had a fever.
Her birthday dinner.
Her birthday dinner.
They needed to go out to dinner, right?
Global pandemic.
Listen.
Needed to go out to dinner, right?
Had to go out to dinner.
I get she's a smoke, right?
I get she's a smoke show.
I get it.
You know, you saw it firsthand at the wedding.
She's a smoke show.
What do you think I'm doing over here?
If the smoke show wants to go to dinner, she's going to go to dinner.
If the smoke show wants Mexican, we're going.
I'm going.
I'm going.
Hey, we got margaritas coming.
Patron, though?
Patron, the good stuff.
Yes, Patron and salt around all the rims.
Okay?
Here's what happened.
Not just for all the rims.
Not just for all.
Listen, I want salt on every glass in this joint.
Okay?
So two days later, I start feeling fluish.
I start feeling achy.
Yeah, I'm laying down.
I knew something was clearly wrong.
And I'm saying to my wife, like, I wonder if this is it.
And she's like, you know, I don't know.
And then for two days after, and this is part of it.
So, so your listeners should know, you can feel like shit.
And then two days later, you feel better.
You bounce back.
Yeah.
So that's what I want you to walk us through.
I want you to walk through us through the journey of the virus, right?
So, so, so, mine was very different.
And I was considered a lucky one as far as how mild it was.
Yeah.
But I'll tell you the telltale of which made us know we had it.
Okay, go.
So, a lot of people were saying you feel like shit for two days and you feel bad, like you have the flu.
And then the next day or so, you feel good.
You could be like, oh, things are getting better.
And then all of a sudden, you get like this other, this other wave of it.
It starts to start to get it again.
Also, digestive and stomach aches and pains, definitely a part of it.
And that happened after the initial symptoms.
So I started to feel that.
Sick to your stomach?
Or like you want to feel like you're like, just like, no, not like, not like nausea, sick, like achy pains.
Okay.
Like achy pains in your stomach, achy at night.
Weird thing.
No flu, no fever for days.
I kept checking my fever, no fever.
But all these other things started to happen.
Then this is where the weird thing happened.
Day five or six.
I'm eating and I'm going, what the fuck is with this?
And I said to my wife, I go, Can you taste this wine?
And can you taste the food or the sauce?
And she goes, Yeah, I think it's fine.
And then Rudy Gobert, I'm Italian.
I'm Italian.
You know, I know this guy's been sick for a week.
The only way you realize that you have Corona is like, I can't taste the meatballs, babe.
What's going on?
I'm like, yo, this is Barolo.
This shouldn't taste like, yeah, this should, this is a Barolo.
This shouldn't taste like this.
This is ninth.
This is, this is a 16 from Napa Valley.
So, so, um, bro, I completely all of a sudden lost my taste and smell.
And Rudy Gobert tweeted something because he was one of the Rudy Gobert tweeted.
He said, just want to give all the fans and everybody an update.
He goes, I haven't been able to smell or taste anything for four days.
Is anybody experiencing this?
And then he got like 2,000 comments on it.
And I couldn't smell.
And I, and this is, by the way, when I say no smell, I don't want to get people confused.
I don't mean no smell because you're congested or you have a cold.
I'm talking no stuffy nose, no congestion.
You're fine.
You're breathing fine.
And you can't smell.
So you can't smell, you can't taste.
Bro, I'm talking you're fine, and you open a potent bottle of whiskey, nothing.
You open, uh, you open something that's potent or a candle, nothing, bro.
It was like the twilight.
That's what really freaked me out.
Like, that's when I was like, something's wrong.
Cause that's never happened to me in any time that I've ever been sick where I lost my sense of smell and taste and it was just gone.
Now, what was it like eating food and you just couldn't taste it at all?
Like, what was it like being a regular white person?
It was, it was, every good meal was ruined.
Every taste was ruined.
Every drink was water.
So it was like any drink was, you'll drink a coke, it tastes like water.
I took a sip of Diet Coke and it tasted like carbonated water.
It was just water.
And that's when I was like, something's wrong.
And then that's when, you know, it's funny though, bro.
When I first couldn't smell, I woke my wife up at three o'clock in the morning.
Both of my kids are in bed with her because I had the guest room because I knew I was going through this.
And I wake my wife up.
I go, babe, babe, I think it's definite now.
It's definitely, why?
She's like, waking up.
I go, I can't smell a thing.
She goes, you fucking woke me up.
Because this is before any symptoms came out.
So she's going, you fucking woke me up.
I'm with the two kids.
You woke me up because you can't smell or taste.
She goes to sleep.
And then the next day, it started to really come out.
Also, I don't want to give out names or anything, but Giannis had a family member, a distant family member who also tested positive.
And the smell thing was a thing.
My wife also knew a woman who, as a friend of hers, she lost taste and smell.
But the kicker that let us really know was five days later, my wife, Stacey, lost her smell and taste as well.
So now you knew that you would pass it on to her.
So it looks like I passed it on to my wife.
She was very low, mild symptoms, except that.
Here's a positive thing I am hearing: if you lose smell and taste, that those cases seem to be 40 years and younger.
And from what they've seen, on the more mild side, thank God.
Right, right.
Now, you're a gambling man.
I mean, not for a while, but yeah, I love a little juice.
You like a little juice?
You like a little action.
Now, were you like a little action?
Were you putting a little action on whether or not you would make it out, whether or not your wife would make it out?
You know what I mean?
Like, was there any part of you who's like, what's the over and under of me beating this fucking kung flu?
When I was laying in bed at night and I would cough at night, because at night the cough would come a little bit.
Yeah.
My main fear was, am I going to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to breathe or need to go to the hospital?
And the fear was there might not be a hospital bed.
Luckily, I'm up in the country.
Westchester is not as densely populated as obviously New York City.
So I thought, you know, but it definitely crosses your mind.
Nice house up there, right?
Nice house.
Nice house.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I got land up there.
Land.
Like, there's some fucking, yeah.
I'll fuck.
I could introduce you to fucking deer.
I know on a first name basis.
I'm feeding these motherfuckers.
I'm feeding these deer fucking tomatoes like they're apples.
I'm out of my hand, by the way.
I fed a fucking deer Tostitos and I heard the crackle in its mouth.
I'm not even fucking with you.
So keep going.
I'm so glad it was you that got it.
There'd be so much less funny people that got it that I have to talk to.
I'm so glad it was you.
So now the other question.
So then once I got to a certain amount of days and I had realized, I mean, knock on wood, I had realized that the breathing thing wasn't an issue and it doesn't look like I'm going to go, you know, to the hospital.
Thank God.
That's when I started to realize that it started to pass.
My wife was about four or five days behind me.
And it looks like both of us now, my wife is about 14 days.
She feels fine, back to work, everything great.
Me, I'm about 18, 19 days.
And like I said, a little bit of a cough, but there's allergies.
So I feel good.
But here's what I did learn from the doctor.
I did speak to my doctor.
There's 30% of viruses out there, which take away your smell and taste, but it's never happened to me or my wife before in our lives.
And the fact that that would be a coincidence with this pandemic just doesn't make sense.
He also did tell me, and this is what he said.
He said that 80% of people from all the studies they're doing can might not be comfortable.
There are people with 102, 103 fever for a week straight, but they don't need a hospital bed.
20% need a hospital.
Out of the 20%, they said 10% need ventilators.
And then he said, out of the 10% of the people that need ventilators, 5% have a 50% chance to make it, which is pretty fucking brutal.
So we feel very fortunate that if in fact the symptoms that we had, the smell, the taste, the way we felt like shit, if that was the mild case, we feel fortunate.
But what we need to do is go do a blood test to see if we have antibodies, to see if we, the immunity and stuff.
And they're not convinced that if we did have it, we'll be immune forever.
They do say that if you had it, you can be immune temporarily, but there could be another strain of this that comes in the fall, and you might be, they're not certain that you're 100% not going to get reinfected.
So just to clarify what people are saying, so you build up antibodies for a virus, right?
And those antibodies stay inside you in case you get the virus again.
And the antibodies, they go beat up the virus, essentially make it so you can't get sick.
And with this certain virus, the coronavirus, they're saying that just because you got it doesn't mean you built up the antibodies that can fight it, or the virus could change.
Which one is it?
Yeah, that's no, the second one.
So this mild strain that I have, if this comes back, my body knows it and my body can fight it and I have it.
But if some stronger shit comes, then the people that have some shit that are just where they're laid out and in a matter of a day and a half, it escalates to not only 104 fever, but they can't breathe on their own.
That could be a whole other thing.
So I needed, so we were told since once we lost the smell of the smell and taste, they say you just got to isolate for seven days.
If you don't need a hospital bed, we're not going to see you.
You got to isolate.
But we were basically told, act as if you have it because we think you do because of what the unique things that happen to you.
But now that we're past the time, now they're saying still be cautious, which kind of sucks.
Life on the Ventilator00:07:33
Yeah.
All right, guys, we're going to take a break just for a second, get back to that combo.
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Now, let's get back to this conversation.
Are you close to your wife's parents at all?
My wife's father has passed.
My wife's mother is staying in Florida.
Okay.
So there was no concern about bumping into them.
Your parents, no concern about bumping into them?
My mother was diagnosed with the stage four cancer in 1997.
And when she was on her way out, there was a test drug at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston.
And it was a trial on 100 people.
It worked on 26.
Then it started to come back on the 26th and it stayed helping 10.
And 20 years later, my mother is one of the 10.
But the Dana Farber Institute called, that was, bro, that was in 1997.
My mom would have been gone for years.
The Dana Farber Institute keeps calling my mother saying, you need to stay inside.
My mother's immune system is beat up from the drugs that basically killed the cancer inside of her.
Right, of course, of course.
So my mother is a number.
My mother is a candidate to just, this thing could hurt her bad.
So she's just staying in.
Got to stay in.
Got to lock it in the whole time.
What goes through your mind?
Now, I know, I understand you're younger, you're in good shape.
I mean, you smoke cigars a little bit, but you're not really the candidate that dies from this, right?
That being said, what goes through your mind when you know you have a virus that is killing people?
Yeah.
You know you have it, and you can't go to the hospital.
The hospital has told you not to go.
Is it terrifying to just sit at home and wait to the point where you're almost going to die and then knock on the door of the hospital and ask them?
That's a fantastic question.
And the short answer is my children, my children, and my wife and my family was obviously the first thing I'm thinking about.
And yeah, man, I'm not going to lie.
Like I said, I stayed in our guest room alone for like the first almost two weeks where I was just by myself at night.
I would distance myself from my kids, couldn't hug them or touch them really.
And the fear of, am I going to wake up in the middle of the night, not able to breathe?
And are the hospitals going to be ready for you?
That is like a literally like four day, five day process of thinking every night that is really fucking scary, man.
Yeah.
It was scary for sure.
And then once I got to about day eight or nine and I started to feel better, bro, I was drinking like 11 bottles of water a day.
I was like, they were like, you got to drink until your piss is clear because when your piss is clear, like water clear, that means you're hydrated.
So like that was a big thing.
Vitamin D, I took a lot of to build up the immune system and stuff.
But I think if I have to be honest, the cigar smoking hurt me a little bit because my wife really didn't have the cough.
We only had a low-grade fever, I think one or two days.
But the cough with me, especially in the throat, and, you know, and now I quit cigars, man.
I mean, I don't think I'm ever going back.
Really?
Yeah, man, because this, yeah, I mean, listen, if I, if, if in months, the doctors are like good, but I'm worried.
I'm concerned.
I wanted to look at my lungs, find out what happened.
That's it.
That's an interesting thing, man, how things could possibly change post-corona because so many people vape.
So many people, you know, smoke hookah, they do all these things because the only thing they're concerned about is potentially lung cancer in the future, right?
They're like, oh, maybe I'll get lung cancer when I'm fucking 80 or something like that.
You never think about that.
Yeah.
But when you start hearing that there's a virus that could come around every single year, and if you got somewhat shitty lungs, you could be the one on the ventilator, you start changing your life a little bit, man.
And you said something important there.
I think people that vape, I think vaping is a really fucking bad thing for this because they were starting to see what's that?
All the young people, not all, I don't want to put misinformation, but they say a lot of the younger people that are out there that are dying for this or they're on the ventilators in the hospital have also been vaping.
Yes.
Yeah.
And they were like, oh, they're healthy, but it's like, no, it's beating up their lungs.
I think anybody with a compromised, you know, lung or respiratory system, this is, they're also saying that even people 20, 30 pounds overweight, it's, it's hurting them too.
You know, so, um, yeah, man, I'm just listening if I was 55 or 65, it could be, it could definitely be different.
So, and me and my wife feel fortunate.
So now we just got to check the blood and see if we, if, if we'll find out 100% if we did have it, which all indications that we did.
Right.
And then we're going to find out if we have antibodies, antibodies for it.
But I can tell you this, losing your sense of smell and taste for fucking nine, 10, 11, 12 days is wild shit, man.
Now, have you thought of any jokes?
No, because I just, every day, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to die.
Yeah.
So, so I was just like, all like, I'm not even kidding, Andrew.
I was just thinking, you know, be able to breathe, be able to breathe.
But now, now that I'm 19 days past it and pretty much done, now I'm going like, all right, where am I going to bring this to the stage?
What am I going to do with this?
And so now you're breaking, because like we've been talking, and we're like, why the fuck are we not thinking of bits?
Like just maybe in the last week, I've started to think about bits, but the first couple of weeks of quarantine, there was nothing there.
Like nothing was happening in my head that was like obviously you do funny stuff on the podcast, but I wasn't thinking, oh, this is a bit.
And I wonder if it's because we can't see ourselves on stage soon.
Yeah.
You know, like when you know you're going up that night, you're like, ooh, I'm going to try that.
But when you know that you're not going up for months, there's no impetus to try it, right?
You're like, I'll get back to it, maybe.
Yeah, that's why you got to, yeah, that's a good point.
You got to write it down because, bro, we might not hit the stage.
It's a reality that we might not hit the stage till mid-fall.
Son.
Because even if they say go back out, a lot of people are going to be reticent about going into a room packed like sardines full of people, you know?
Yeah, that's the vaccine.
If you have a vaccine, we're back to business.
But without the vaccine, I think it's, I don't know, man.
I think it could be a while.
I think, I'm going to tell you something too.
I think this shit was, I think, I honestly don't think that this is an accident.
Was It a Plan00:03:14
This is not a bat in a fucking soup.
What is it?
Talk to me.
I think that this was a plan, man.
I think, first of all, this came out in January of 20.
They dropped this shit like an album.
This came out in January of 2020.
This fucking came out January 2020.
Yeah.
And, you know, this doctor made a good point.
It's not attacking young people.
It's attacking weaker people.
It's attacking older people, people that, you know, so if you want to talk, I mean, listen, I'm not trying to get into a conspiracy thing, but there's a lot of people.
Get into the conspiracy, bro.
Let's do it.
Third eye.
Open that third eye, dog.
I heard a doctor say something really interesting, and I'll send you the link.
He said, it's almost as if looking at this virus, it was modified to not hit young people.
Think about that.
He said, young people have weaker lungs and a weaker immune system that's immature and not developed yet, yet they're walking through it like it doesn't happen.
But you're 75 and older with any conditions wiped out.
He's like, there could be something to that.
Plus, the first handful of cases that came out were next to their biotech labs, miles away from the biotech lab in China.
Miles away from their virus bacteria chemical lab right there.
Those are the first cases, which were right near that fish market.
So, you know, I mean, who knows?
Mark just called it the Wuhanic plague.
That's good.
Real quick, before we get back to the conversation, actually, I got to shout out Radix, man.
You know, the CBD supplier of the Flagrant 2 asshole Army.
Raddix is doing something super dope, man.
So it turns out the machines that it takes to make CBD are like the same exact machines it takes to make hand sanitizer.
So, yeah, so Raddix Remedies noticed that obviously there was this hand sanitizer shortage.
So what they decided to do is turn off the CBD machines or some of them and make hand sanitizer.
It's 80% alcohol or whatever that is.
It has to be 80% in order to work.
I mean, it's, you know, look, it's not the same brand as Purel, but it's the same thing.
Okay.
And they've decided to make those, put those out, and they're donating for every bottle that's purchased, they are donating a bottle to healthcare workers and all the facilities that need it, which I thought is super cool.
They're not making any money off this.
They're essentially breaking even so that they can supply the people that need bottles of this hand sanitizer and the people at home that also want to have it.
So I thought it was so fucking cool.
Raddixremedies.com, R-A-D-I-X, remedies.com.
And of course, they have tons of CBD products that you guys can indulge in.
You know, pills of CD, gummies of CBD, sleeping things.
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So, radicsremedies.com, and you can use a promo code Flagrant to get 20% off of that.
But yo, go buy some of that hand sanitizer, man.
It's support.
That's a great way to support, and you get something out of it.
So, let's get back to the show.
Who hates old people the most?
Maybe that's the group that put it out there.
Who hates old people?
CBD and Bath Bombs00:09:51
Who needs to get rid of old people?
Do you think it's a population thing?
I mean, if you want to get like conspiratorial about it, old people, some might say, for me and you know, but some might say old people are the biggest drain on an economy because they're not working, they're not producing anything, and they're being supported by that economy.
So, the longer they live, the more of a drain they become.
Like, if you retire at 60, but we live to 100, man, that's 40% of your life.
People are just paying for you to be around.
That's right.
Matter of fact, from zero to 18, you're not doing anything.
So, you really only are giving to society from 18 to 60 or whatever the fuck age people retire.
So, I don't know.
Maybe like the evil powers that be, whoever they are, maybe like maybe we need something to kind of clip the end of the hedges.
You know, sometimes the hedges get a little crazy up there.
You need a little shape-up.
That's exactly what this one doctor was saying.
And he even said, He goes, Listen, I like facts.
I'm not into the conspiracy thing, but he goes, This thing is not attacking people like zero to 20-something.
The numbers are so unbelievably low for a virus that attacks your lungs that is just going like, and he mentioned what you said.
He goes, Who's a burden on society?
People that are sickly, people that are older.
And I believe, and listen, I'm not, I don't know what they do in China, but isn't there a thing with like you could have one female, one girl?
And then there is another thing where it's like there's a whole lot of old people and not enough young people to take care of them because they had that one child policy.
So, that was a big issue.
Maybe it's something like this.
Maybe it's a flu that came out naturally, right?
Yeah.
And when the governments realize what it was, they're like, Hey, we could act right now and get all the masks out to everybody and get all the ventilators out to everybody, or we could wait a beat, let it fuck some shit up, knock out the old folks, and then step in and save the day, right?
And yeah, so you know, sometimes it's like, I think there's a saying, I forget what it is, but like you never let a tragedy go to waste.
I think that's what politicians say, right?
Right.
So, you know, maybe that was their, maybe that's the way they looked at it.
It's like, okay, here's this tragedy.
It's only going to take out old people.
Wow, the economy is going to be humming afterwards.
You know, like, let's be honest.
I mean, we were talking about this on the podcast, but if, you know, if in Avengers, if Thanos was like, yo, I'm going to snap my fingers and everybody over 80 dies, you think there'd be a lot of pushback?
Right.
You think all the Avengers are coming together?
Maybe one or two, but I don't know of all the Avengers.
Yeah, you know, Tony Stark will be like, listen, I'm going to sift this one out.
You know?
I got some robots to work on.
Why don't you send the ladies?
Hey, what are those?
Fucking Hulks lazy ass over there.
You know what?
And listen, I don't know.
Like, I'm not, I don't know.
I'm not saying what I said that doctor said is true with the population thing and they could only have one woman.
But the one thing that he did say that made me scratch my head and go, was the age thing was the younger people not being touched by this.
And it's not like, oh, like if you look at the percentages, it's really, really, really low.
I mean, you know, my son and daughter seem fine.
My son, During me and my wife going through it, he just, there were a couple of days where he didn't feel great and then bounced back up playing video games and stuff.
So we're fortunate, man.
We're fortunate to be that everybody in our house is pretty much in the clear, knock-on wood.
It's brilliant, though.
And kids are more resilient.
And I would also say that old people probably die from the flu, the regular flu more often as well.
Now, here's a question.
I don't want to take too much of your time, but here's a question.
I know you got a busy day at home in quarantine.
I know you're fucking rammed.
Yeah, man.
I got to go organize my sweatpants.
I got to see which sweatpants I'm wearing tomorrow.
I will tell you, this quarantine's got me comfortable.
I bet it does.
I bet you walk in that yard.
I bet you liking all them acres.
You enjoying them acres?
Oh, man.
I'm going acres and flip-flops and sweatpants.
You and Yana's taking a lot of long walks, getting your mind right, right?
Oh, yeah.
Pour a glass of something, take a stroll.
Oh, so hilarious.
Yeah.
That's where you need a backyard.
We're fucked up in the city.
I'm just staring out my window like a dog.
But yeah, so here's a question.
Everybody keeps calling it like a flu, right?
They're like, oh, it's just like the flu.
I presume you've had the flu before.
Is this anything like the flu?
Mine was much, much less.
Oh, the flu was worse.
Mine was much, much less than the flu.
And some people that we've talked to that had it, our neighbor's sister has it.
And she's fine.
Okay.
That's the thing.
Like when you found out, like, what's his name?
Donovan Mitchell.
He's like, that kid, like, it's fine.
Mark is smart.
Like, some, I mean, obviously those guys are in their mid-20s or early 30s and they're athletes.
Yeah.
But a lot of people that get it are like, yeah, one night of aches, a little bit this, a little bit that.
I've had the flu where I was laid up with a fever for a long time and felt like shit.
This was just more of feeling shitty.
And the one, like I said, I would not be on here saying that me and my wife believe we had it and doctors we talked to if we didn't lose the smell and taste.
That was our biggest indicator.
Yeah, I know.
I love you, bro.
Yeah, when I can't taste wine, I'm like, something's wrong with me.
Yo, do you think that's why so many people in Italy realize they had it?
Like, like nobody in England realized they had it, right?
Like everybody in England was like, we'll just take it on the chin, right?
But Italy was like, no, that's it, problem.
My linguidity has never tasted like this.
What is these?
Everybody stay inside.
Stay inside.
We got a hobby.
Oh, shit.
I know my wife's meatball.
No other country locks down immediately.
Italy's like, all right, everybody inside for at least a month.
Let's just get this thing out of here.
I miss Risotto.
Yeah.
They said 30% Europe, 30% of Europe cases lost smell and taste.
Wow.
30%.
And they were mild and they were usually younger people.
Dude.
Yeah.
It's a little crazy shit over here.
Well, brother, I love you so much, man.
Get better.
I can't wait to see you again.
We got to hang.
We got to have you back in the studio when you're ready to go.
Yeah, for sure.
But get better.
Keep me posted on your health and everything, man.
If you need anything, I'm right here.
All right.
You guys are my favorites, man.
Love you.
Talk to you.
Love you, brother.
Peace.
Everybody.
Okay, that was Paul Verzee, man.
Make sure you go tweet or DM Paul.
Shout him out.
Let him know you're thinking about him.
And, you know, it's good in these times where you go through something like that, which is absolutely, it can be terrifying, especially when you have kids and you're on the brink.
I mean, 40 isn't old, but it's not young.
And if you have a habit like smoking cigars, you don't know what could, you know, possibly happen to you.
And when you have something, you're thinking about worst case scenario.
But guys, I have very good news.
You might have heard earlier, you might have heard a voice early in the beginning of the podcast that you haven't heard for about a week.
Alex Media is back in the building, everybody.
Okay.
The year is back.
There you go.
Al, how are you doing?
Everybody thought you might have had the corona.
Are you feeling better?
No, I'm feeling great, man.
Now, you didn't have Corona.
Did not.
But you came in here in full gear.
Yes.
You're not trying to get this Rona.
Absolutely.
I still think you, Mark, and Akash have it.
Akash probably has it.
Mark and I, I don't think we have it.
Yeah, we're close to it.
We've been close.
Mark has the closest proximity to the hospital, so he might get it next.
Okay.
Mark?
Mark does it.
We should put a little bet out here.
Who gets it first?
I think people did this with other pandemics.
Like during the Spanish flu.
They're like, who do you think is going to die first?
What?
Dude, so do Asians.
Oh, they're going all in on this.
All right.
Well, look, man, I think that, I think if anybody gets, this is my suspicion.
I don't think we get it.
I think the only person that potentially could get it is you because of your building size.
Okay.
You live on the 37th floor.
Yes.
Guys at home.
Al lives on the 37th floor.
So that means you have 37 floors of people with you.
Yeah.
Now, check out this.
This is how you know nobody lives in Manhattan.
Nobody lives in Manhattan.
My girl and I, our building has 20-something floors.
Okay.
There are 12 apartments total in the whole building that are being occupied now.
In 20-something floors.
That means everybody in the building left.
12 units total that have people in.
So that's how you know everybody's leaving Manhattan.
Nobody's staying in the fucking city.
So we have less of a chance of getting it.
I think because you're so close to people, you could get it.
Yeah, but I don't.
But you're going to be close.
You're going to be careful.
Yeah.
I'm in my house.
I'm in Queens.
Yeah.
I think the burrows don't leave.
Yeah, we don't leave.
This weekend will look like every other weekend around my building.
Yeah.
That's the thing.
I know, like when I'm growing up in Manhattan, I see people all the time.
I never meet anybody who's from Manhattan.
So everybody moved here.
So if you know that there's a global pandemic and you're not going to be able to go, you're going home.
My girl would have went back to Cali if it wasn't for me.
Vegan Cooking Ahead00:02:02
I can't cook.
I'll die.
I might be the only person that dies during Corona not from Corona.
Day just starved.
He was eating granola bars at the studio and he went home and he started.
You got to cook, man.
Get your cook up.
Alex thinks he's chef boy.
Son, I'm chef it out here.
Why?
Man, come on, Al.
Son, it's easy to cook vegan.
You don't cook it.
Next Thanksgiving.
Next Thanksgiving.
Rabbits cook vegan.
Motherfuckers are making salad every day.
Like, I'm a chef.
Nature's the chef.
Chickpeas are used for everything.
How can they be?
It's like the most versatile fucking thing.
So I said about two weeks in, he realized he's just having different types of hummus.
Yeah.
That's all he's been eating.
It's like solid hummus, liquid hummus, lumpy hummus.
Yeah.
He's the buff of goflin' hummus.
Son.
Chickpeas, amazing thing, bro.
But you feel good.
Everything all good health.
It's great to have you back, brother.
We missed you.
I missed you guys too.
It's good to be back.
Guys, that's been another episode.
You know, we're back in the game.
You know, the schedule.
The schedule goes.
We're here.
Next Sunday, by the way, we're not going to be doing, obviously, it's Easter.
Take some time off, spend time with the family.
But yeah, we're here.
You know, Monday, Tuesdays, we do flagrant.
Wednesdays, we're back in here with this.
And Thursdays, back in here at this.
And then Friday, that flagrant Patreon episode.
Glad you're liking these interviews, man.
We're going to do more of them.
We got some interesting people we want to talk to.
And if there's any interesting ideas out there that you're curious about, make sure you hit us up.
You know, we want to have these conversations with folks.
And now folks have downtime.
So we're able to speak to an El Chapos lawyer or Doc Ansel from Tiger King or all these other folks.
So we got some interesting stuff getting cooked up, man.
And one more time, shout out to Paul Verzee, man.
Go check him out.
And welcome back, Alex Media.
This has been another episode of this unnamed show.