Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata - Nicole Doesn’t Want Stinky Cheese Dick with Alesha Reneé & Serita Wesley

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

Hi Friends. You know what time it is! It's time for Besting Each Other with Alesha Reneé and Serita Wesley. Serita met Alesha through a friend and a plethora of people at BET. Alesha's favorite memory of traveling is when Serita came out to Los Angeles to just hang out while Alesha went to auditions. Serita’s favorite thing about Alesha is her southern charm. Alesha loves that Serita never gives up on love and knows that “real” always seems to find her. Serita thinks Alesha talks too much while Alesha thinks Serita can be a “Debbie Downer.”  They both think they would be better at Survivor than the other but they also agree that Alesha is more outdoorsy. 20 years from now, Alesha wants them to be loved, healthier and whole like we’ve never seen. Meanwhile, Serita hopes they are rich, content, comfortable and have great butts!  Together they created the Audible podcast series Unleash for Love.  This was recorded October 24th, 2023. Sources: Check out “Unleash For Love” on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Unleash-for-Love-Audiobook/B0CB9FYCV3?qid=1689358839&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=2KW0AGES9C467X5989WV&pageLoadId=Bp8khEy2uajOMeuU&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c No BuzzFeed quiz this week. Email or call Nicole & Sasheer with your friendship questions and  “Is this weird” suggestion at:[e-mail] Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link https://siriusxm.com/friends and code FRIENDS.

How are you today? Oh, I am good today. How are you? You know, I'm good. There's breath in my body and there's joy in my bones. Ooh. Joyful bones, yes. Joyful bones. Oh, we just passed spooky season. But my bones still feel joy and spookiness.

Oh, thank goodness. What are you doing? Tell me about goodness. What are you doing? Tell me about it. What am I doing? I'm going to see you soon. Yes, baby, yes. Finally going to come to a show that you invited me to. Yes.

Well, this will have happened in the past. That's true. And it was good. We had such a good time boy oh boy we had a blast we did several things that i cannot tell you about but we can like still talk about it as if it's happening because i don't know you'll probably still be doing shows by the time this comes out so like whatever they don't need to know specific nope i this is coming out november 1st and i have retired completely yes i have retired i know that's in the future for me a month from now goodbye no no you're right i get to see you soon and i'm really excited about uh my friend

i was gonna ask did you want us your own hotel room or do you want to share a hotel room? Get in my bed. Get in my bed or the bed next to me. Lay in bed next to you? No. Yeah. Either lay in bed with me or the bed directly next to me with a nightstand in the middle. Okay, great. Yeah. I want to share the same room too.

Wow. This is funny because I was like, well, I wonder if Sashira will want to share a room or if she'll want her own room. I'll just let her decide. Well, yeah, I have the same question because I was like well you're gonna be performing and maybe you're super tired maybe you want the space in case a little little booty hookup thing happens i don't know you think i'm gonna find someone in wisconsin some cheddar man isn't cheese their big thing i yes i think so is it because they make cheese do they like a cheese factory there plant what do they have i feel like i think all cheese is made in wisconsin no there's no way all cheese is made in wisconsin no i think every single cheese is made in Wisconsin. Wait, am I making that up?

Wait, Jordan has a thingy up. Oh, okay. Wisconsin is the number one cheese producing state. Wow. Whoa. I can't believe I knew that. I barely eat cheese. That's really funny.

Oh my God. They make 2 billion pounds of cheese every year. I'm not fucking a man with a stinky cheese dick. I mean, I don't think they're all sleeping in the cheese. He's going to take his pants down. I'm like, ew, is that mozzarella or cheddar? I'm too Gouda for this. Usually I hate your puns, but that was funny.

Yes. Wow, that got me good. I'm so glad. Also, if I find somebody, I'll go to his cheese house. Yeah, but that's a risk. I mean, I guess it's like a risk having them come to your hotel as well but what if like if it's my time it's my time yeah i often say that like you know when like ubers are driving crazy i've been in ubers with people where they're like just let me

out here and i'm like we're not at the destination if it's my time it's my time but that's scary what what you're gonna run off the road like nothing no very few bad things happen to people do you know what i'm saying like for every amoeba eating virus somebody gets swimming in a lake there's people who swim in lakes and nothing happened to them that's true you know if it's your time it's she gonna get you oh my goodness and that's why i think i'm gonna live forever because i truly am like come get me and and no one will like the universe is like no we're gonna leave you yeah she's too ready for it we don't like this yeah she wants it too bad just leave her alone there's no element of surprise here like i you know that movie it follows oh yes i don't think i saw it but i do

know it yeah the premise is just like this like scary monster thing is like following you or like smile where this thing is following you i really think demons would get tired of me they'd be like she's not gonna run she's just gonna go to sleep and be like can you go away she's just like living her daily life while i'm trying to haunt her i feel like the most i would do is like scream and be like ah you scared me demon and then be like oh you're not going away well Well, better go to sleep. You can't hurt me when I'm sleeping. Yeah.

But doesn't like the boogeyman or something come into your dreams? Yeah, and I think Freddy Krueger, but I feel like in that dream, I'd be like, better go back to sleep. I'll sleep in the dream. You have a sleep inception. Yeah, sleep inception, he'll get so confused

and not understand if i'm awake or sleeping do you think you could like do you think you would survive a demon i don't or i don't know what i would do to try to survive it i don't think i can also get scared easily in general and i really hope that doesn't mean like i'm becoming my mom because my mom is so she's the biggest scaredy cat ever if you touch her shoulder while you're looking at her like while she's facing you she will scream and i don't want to become one of those people who's like terrified all the time but i am finding myself jumping more like i'm just like being more jumping in general because i'm like i hear a noise or feel something i thought oh i thought um

a roach or something was like in my bed or like or or something was crawling on me and i turned the lights on and it was just hair but oh it's still could have been. That is a little scary. It's scary. I was recording with Marcy for 90 Day Bay and in there's a big window in the room I was recording in and there's a curtain over it and the sunlight hit it. So it perfectly looked like the shape of a person. Oh, God. Like trying to get in the door. And Marcy was like, oh, my God, that looks like a person. I turned around.

I went. Sure does. Well well if anything happens call 9-1-1 and she was like well can you go check and i was like i mean wouldn't that be exciting if you know someone came in tried to take me turns out it was just a shadow oh my god Oh, my God. Yeah. In the face of danger, I really calm. I really calm down. Yeah. There was a shooting at a show that I did and I was. Oh, yeah. Have I ever told you about this?

I do. Yeah. And Christy started crying and I said something that I'm not going to repeat. But she was like, how are you so calm? And I was like, I don't know. And it never phased me and i she talked about it during the show and i didn't because i was like we're fine anyway anyway in that crazy but also how wild that i'm desensitized to that that's interesting but that's good because like in the face of an emergency, you'll be okay.

Or like your energy will be okay. And probably, hopefully, calm the people around you too. I hope so. You know who might be good in the face of an emergency? These two best friends that we're having on for this episode of besting each other. Yes. Wow. What a segue.

Oh my God. Can you believe how smooth that was? That was so smooth. Oh my God, so smooth. We have Alicia Renee and Sarita Wesley on the show today. Alicia is an actress, TV personality, creator, and producer. You've seen her on Kenan, Criminal Minds, Detroiters, and Grand Crew. And Sarita Wesley has an extensive background in entertainment and a successful career in podcasting. Most recently, she held the position of head of entertainment podcast for Sony Music.

Together, they have co-created, wrote, and executive produced the Audible scripted podcast Unleash for Love. Check it out on Audible. All right. Enough with the credits. Let's play best at each other. audible scripted podcast unleash for love check it out on audible all right enough with those credits let's play best in each other we're gonna start with sarita okay time for a segment we call how well do you know your good friend also known as besting each other yes okay first up we have sarita and we're gonna ask you questions about your friendship with alicia and if you don't answer correctly you guys have to end your friendship and that's the rules of the show yes i'm so sorry if you didn't see the five friends for business yes your friendship and your business relationship has to dissolve by the end

of the show. So sorry. Okay. Well, let's hope that you guys actually know each other. First question we're gonna ask you is, how did you two meet? Well, I guess Alicia and I met technically through friends of ours who work at BET. Alicia was scouted in like a new talent search. And my very good friend, Tanya, which I call Dizzy, was one of the people that kind of found her, I guess, if you will. She worked at BET and we lived together at the time. And then Alicia started being managed or managed by another friend of mine that was a college with me that lived very close to me. And then my her current best best friend, Jamila, is also my former roommate and was her publicist. So I would say that we met through BET.

OK, very cool. You met through like a whole plethora of people yeah it's just like yes what's that song i heard it through the grapevine it's like your friendship happens through the grapevine listen i'm not a singer but we get the idea yes we met through a a stream of beautiful black folks that's good and many people vouch of beautiful black folks. That's good. And many people vouch for the other person. So that's good. Listen, that's important. It really is.

I had no one vouch for us this year. I just had to hope she was good and nice and not terrible. And turns out she not good. No, I'm kidding. She's the best. She's currently wearing a shirt from my bathing suit line that's nice yeah yes i am this is very nice yeah does support his sisters what's your favorite memory of traveling with alicia oh gosh um i would say maybe not traveling but i'm gonna say traveling literally not

figuratively like maybe not like traveling the world but um i think alicia drives insane and my favorite memory is trying not to die on a six-lane highway in la alicia drives like a bat out of hell um i love her to death i love her to death but that truck that truck goes fast my favorite memory is probably me just holding on for dear life and then also traveling with her at her different auditions um just kind of sitting in the car while she went in auditioned and then came back out those are probably my favorite memories of like actually literally traveling we actually haven't taken any real trips together um we should though but we haven't that's we've spent some time oh sorry go ahead i was gonna say that's such a nice i don't think i know any friends who would sit and wait

for me while i go to an audition nicole would you wait for me when i did an audition it depends it's a very specific thing that would have to happen we would have to be headed out of town and it's like we are leaving immediately after this audition i would sit in the car and wait for you and we would zoom zoom somewhere but like yes it's just a tuesday and i have the whole world ahead of me probably not yeah i definitely just sit in the car and uh play candy crush and listen to podcasts while she uh went in an audition and then we'd go get tacos or do something like that that's very sweet wait so sure would you wait for me in an audition i think it also have to be a situation where it's like we are going out of town or we have to travel together after the audition

and that's why i'm waiting for you i love that you guys just said like no i'm not going to wait yeah it has to be yeah going on a trip a dire emergency i feel like we probably waited for each other in new york when we were like auditioning for commercials and we're at the same audition and we're like oh i'll wait for you and then we'll get lunch after but if it's just like you have an audition i have nothing to do with it you won't you won't see me there i mean i keep trying to invite you to come watch me do stand up in many different cities and you keep saying no which is like i don't know maybe one of the meanest things that's happened to me this year but it's it's just like come come see me perform for either one or two nights in a city

that i don't need to be in you just just come hang out no i don't even want you to hang out i just want you to hang out with me backstage at the show it's also different it's also not like let's go do stuff during the day just you sit backstage which is not even the best way to watch the show just listen to me through Right. OK, next question is, what is your favorite thing about Alicia? Oh, man, probably her country ways. I think Alicia is such a like endearing southern belle. And I'm from Philly, so I'm like very northeast, you know, centric, I guess, if you will. And Alicia is like truly, truly southern. I mean, even the stuff she says is kind of like, you know centric i guess if you will and alicia is like truly truly southern i mean even the stuff she says is kind of like you know just i mean like oh oh goodness oh my god like like blanche devereaux style that's probably my favorite part about her it's just really dynamic

it's fun to be around it's so different than like what i'm used to with all my other friends um i have like maybe one other friend from the south so you know like it's which i'm not you know i'm really open to people from the south i love it but you know it doesn't sound like you are just one sounds like you are yeah it sounds like you're very closed off you only have one other friend i try to stay away it's funny because they're both from like Louisiana. So maybe it's just Louisiana. Maybe I don't mess with no place else. Listen, I'm 42.

I'm setting my ways. You're like someone who's like, I have one black friend. So I'm doing well. Before I ask the next question, you said that alicia her truck goes fast what kind of car does she drive uh it's a i believe it's a jeep like the jeep brand like just jeep i don't know i don't it's not a cherokee it's like it it's like a wrangler i believe it's a ring oh okay i'm not good with like car names like car you know no that's fine i was just like is she driving a semi like

that's even worse driving terribly with a semi that's dangerous um what do you think alicia's favorite thing is about you oh gosh probably how goofy and yeah probably how goofy i am and how or how on on uh aware i can be sometimes sometimes i'm just kind of here and i'm not really doing much else sometimes i'm just like yeah no i'm here like pretty chill I guess that's I mean like our personalities are very different she's extremely outgoing I'm a little less outgoing but so I think I hope she likes that about me but I think that's what it is if not then maybe it's just maybe my really awful laugh oh no awful it's pretty why do you think it's awful how is it awful oh okay you'll see when you're editing this

it's not great on on audio sorry if i heard you i don't know that sounds like a fun laugh it does sound like a fun laugh yeah you want to know that people think that it's funny. Yeah, that is true. Yeah. It's affirming. All right. Switching gears a little bit. What is something that you do that drives Alicia crazy? oh man probably not speak up enough um i feel like sometimes she's like has to pull all the weight uh but yeah like probably not speak up enough or probably be a little too lackadaisical about stuff again like pretty chill just kind of like here uh trying to get things done and you know go about my business so i can lay in front of my couch and watch my shows

i mean like yeah i think like that's kind of probably the the biggest thing that annoys her about me or like when i have a lack of confidence or something like that she gets pretty uh like goose what is wrong with you you know she does all that yeah that's nice it's nice to have a friend be like hey you're wonderful what the fuck's up um yeah what is something that alicia does that drives you crazy talk too much i mean sometimes when we're in like meetings or something you know or like just anything like sometimes she'll just be going on and on but it doesn't drive me crazy i like it she's so entertaining so honestly it's like that's probably the only thing that it's like okay i just

want i okay i just want i just want to say i just want to that's like what it ends up being sometimes. But, you know, she just is very full of spirit. So, you know. You guys compliment each other. It's a good balance. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's been working so far. Can't complain.

A nice ying and yang. Namaste. Okay. and yang namaste okay um which one of you would do better on the television show survivor probably me because i think i would take a little bit more time to really think through a strategy, but I do move fast. So, and I am a little, I can be impatient, but, um, I, I, I think it's me. I think Alicia would get distracted a little easier than I would. And I'd be like, no, we got to, this is it. We got to nail it in. And I like to make decisions. i don't like ponder on it let's go so i'm gonna say me um you know yeah i'm gonna say me yeah so shira and i finally watched an episode of survivor we've asked this question i don't know for years 20 times 30 times for like yeah for like two years

yeah and we finally sat down and watched an episode and i was like wait you had never seen it no we had a loose idea of what survivor was yeah okay and gotta say pretty entertaining yeah gotta also say we would it would be a double elimination they'd be like get rid of both of them yeah neither of them want to work or do anything right well actually in all fairness though i have to say that alicia is probably more um uh backwoods fluent than i am if you know like i'm not like i'm i'm straight city so and i don't really do nature all like that um it's because it's like, you know, I don't I just don't know. I just don't know. But, yeah, so I maybe she would actually be OK, because I do know that there's a lot of I think I was confusing Survivor with Amazing Race.

I think there's a lot of like stuff that would she would break out that I'd be like, oh, OK. She's like, let's cook this turtle, you know, with this soup pan that i found i made out of rocks i don't know like she's like you know i feel like she might know how to do that stuff i mean she's like lake charles louisiana completely so and i don't know what lake charles is like i assume it's like very lake focused so like forward to me i'm assuming there's like a lot more nature around there where you know there's not many lakes in philly so or any honestly i don't there i don't there's none no there's a river there is the scuco river in the delaware river don't i would not recommend either of them to be honest huh um no shade no shade to philly philly folks get mad

i don't think i've ever seen anyone swim in any of those rivers so i get what you're saying yeah disgusting yeah um last question what do you hope you're both doing in 20 years oh man i hope that we are this is gonna sound super like woo woo sweet but i hope that we are rich first and foremost content and comfortable content and comfortable i think i hope that we are comfortable with our lives leading lives of comfort a good balance of like leisure and work you know um i hope that we can get our love lives together because this is what like that show was all kind of sparked from was us just really not being able to do anything when it comes to our love lives um and then you know uh yeah just like overall comfort i don't do happiness because i feel like happiness is uh. But comfort is not mistaken.

So that's my main thing. I hope we're comfortable. I hope we got some money to spend. And I hope we have a good balance of work and leisure. And that we still look good. I hope our skin's tight. I hope our butts look good. I hope our wrists are small.

I like that. To me, that is happiness. I think happiness is subjective. But all those things sound like a nice, a nice way to be. Yeah. Yeah. If I could have a good, good butt and a nice waist and some tight skin, I'm look.

Yeah. Everything else falls into place. I'm just, I don't know. I also really love the comfort part of it. Cause I feel like I actually just saw Instagram real, which is where I get my therapy from. Or as I was talking about, like, think about how you want things in your life to make you feel as opposed to like thinking like this will make you know, this will if I have more money, I'll achieve blank or like whatever. Like it's less goal oriented, but it's more like how do I feel I want to surround myself with people who make me feel at ease or like I want to do activities that

make me feel enriched or whatever but I think like I'd like that idea of like yeah I want to feel comfortable and like secure and like that's an important thing to have in the future. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like comfort is one of those things that is more permanent and where happiness can kind of fluctuate so much where comfort's like it kind of balances and stays the same. But, you know, we'll see. I mean, I could be wrong about that as well. Again, I'm not a therapist.

I also get my therapy from Instagram Reels. Don't we all? Yeah. Okay. It is cheap. It's free 99. Yeah. Now we're going to bring Alisha in, ask the same questions and see how close you are to having the same answers.

And again, if you're off, that's the end of the friendship. All right. All right. This is the second part of besting each other. And we've got Alicia in the house today. And we're going to figure out if you're actually friends with Serena. And if you are not friends, you're going to have to not ever talk again. Did she do us proud?

Yeah. We don't know yet. We don't don't know we gotta ask you the questions and then oh okay okay then we'll know so the first question is how did you two meet uh it's funny actually we met through uh my my best friend jamila. Jamila introduced us. Here's the thing. I have a trash ass memory. So I don't remember like the exact circumstance under with which we met, but it was definitely through Jamila. They went to school together.

So it's probably some kind of function for Howard. Yeah. Ooh, for Howard University. And then how did you know Jamila? Jamila was actually my first publicist. Yeah. Yeah. She was trying to leave Cats Media, a publicity company she was working for at the time. And I needed a publicist. I was fresh at BET, didn't have any money. So I needed someone who would take me on for like the low low. And she was like, I volunteer as tribute. So yeah. I have all of his tributes, so yeah.

Okay. Next question we have is, what is your favorite memory of traveling together? You know what? The funny thing is we haven't gone anywhere like out of the country together yet, but I'd say a favorite memory that we probably both shared is the various times she would come out here to LA, she would come to my house.

And we'd have dinners, we'd talk, we'd commiserate over, you know, her writing career, not being where she wanted to be, my acting career, not being where it wanted to be. So I think like those intimate moments. Yeah. Probably like my favorite. We created Unleashed for Love at my house on one of her visits, you know, out here to LA. You're so calm. You're making me calm. Is my energy too low?

No, your energy's great. You have a calming spirit. It's like, I'm going to lay my head on your shoulder. This is... Well, we try to keep it rather even as to not tip our hats to what has been said prior.

This is a very serious questionnaire where your friendship is dictated by the answers. Can that say? We don't know. Nicole, just for girl code old times sake, give me a wink if it's for going in the right direction. Can't wink, won't close an an eye simply won't do it ow that hurt my eyes opening too wide your eyes have never been wider are we trash ass friends is what i'm getting no no we don't know but just have to be confident in these answers and we will let you know at the end. Yes.

What is your favorite thing about your friend? I would say that she literally never gives up on love. We actually fashioned a lot of our main characters' heart posture towards love love and romance around Sarita so yeah I'd say that she's just she's hopeless for it not and I love that about her do you have an example of a time where she was like hopelessly romantic or or super dedicated to love she's kind of I don't know if she's that's the thing I don't know if she's, that's the thing. I don't know if she shared this part. I don't want to, she's, she's gotten further. I'll put it, I'll say it like this.

She's gotten further along in relationships than I have, i.e. like engagements and whatnot. And recently she's coming out of a situation that we all thought would go the distance. And this is, you know know this was getting into this situation out of one that literally there was a date that invites route um and when i was catching up with her this week she dropped some news on my plate but i was like bitch that's what i'm talking about that's the energy that i'm talking about um and and her ability to just still pursue it welcome it and maintain a heart posture that says that, no, love will find me. She's extremely successful.

She's a woman of a certain age that society will tell us we could just hang it up if you haven't met that guy at that time. You know, with all the other things that you have. But my God, it always finds her. She actually, no, no, bitch, get it together. Nope. Oh, no. Sorry. Nope.

No, let it flow. Let it out. Just like Tony Braxton said, let it go. Dating is really hard. You know, dating is really hard, especially in LA, especially if you have any proximity uh to the business like I'm from Lake Charles Louisiana I'm a small town girl um I just happen to work in this business um and so you want something real and real always seems to find her um regardless of how it shapes

out so you know um sorry I love that that's beautiful it is really beautiful. Sorry. So lame. Don't talk about me when I hang up. No. Being vulnerable is, I think, a really beautiful thing. And a lot of time, like, Sashira and I did an interview where I was, like, sitting next to her and the interviewer asked, I don't know, a pretty basic question. I, like, welled up with tears. And I was like, I just like her so much. So it's just like when you have love for somebody it stirs emotions and i think that's really nice yeah thank you thank you though sorry if you had to guess what would you say

sarita's favorite thing is about you oh i think that even though i'm kind of like in this weird space right now uh with my higher power, I'd say my faith. Um, there's been many times along this journey and just within our, uh, friendship slash sisterhood that, um, some way,

somehow, um, even if I didn't have it, we had to conjure up some faith and some prayers to kind of like get through to see joy in the morning. Um, so I'd probably say that probably my faith.'s great yeah i like that um just to go in a different direction what is something that you do that drives serena crazy probably my optimism

probably that uh yeah i'd say that sometimes you don't want like sometimes you don't want the joy sometimes you just kind of want to sit in it and you just want someone to commiserate with you um for me it's such a slippery slope so i try not to even engage in that i'm trying to be better uh as far as reading the room and giving my friends what they uh need versus kind of what i want to give them what I think they need I haven't quite gotten that you know down but probably yeah sometimes you just want to an ear and um so yeah bitch I hate that too you know I'm gonna try to figure work on that I actually I'm one of those people who doesn't want to always look at the bright side and

especially if I'm in it if I'm feeling I'm like let me be angry or let me be sad or whatever actually i'm one of those people who doesn't want to always look at the bright side and especially if i'm in it if i'm feeling i'm like let me be angry or let me be sad or whatever yeah and i have a friend who recently was like started asking me do you want to look on the bright side right now or do you want us to just like feel the feelings and i can answer like actually i would like to hear the bright side or no i don't need that right now let's just feel the feelings and then we can look at the bright side maybe tomorrow or a different day and thank you for that yeah i feel like that that was helpful for me so if you're a person who you know is looking to be supportive but you don't want to like i don't know invade somebody's feelings with optimism you can ask and be like what do you want right now? How do you actually want me to respond? Do you want?

Thank you for that. Cause I think the only thing I've gotten down is, okay, do you want me to talk or do you want advice or do you just want me to listen? Like that, which is also good. Yeah. Because I would kick into fix it mode. You know, there's a solution for everything where we could always pray it away. But like you were saying, sometimes that's, that's not what they need in that moment. And sometimes they maybe don't even know what they need in that moment, but optimism ain't it.

So thank you for that. I'm gonna try to implement that one. It may save a few friendships along the way. So thank you. Yeah, wait, so Shira, am I too optimistic for you? Certainly not. No, not even close. You are not that friend.

No, no, no. Wait, are you sure I'm not really like Miss Sunshine trying to cheer you on all the time? No, you're absolutely right. You'll be like, this sucks. And I'll be like, yeah, let's kill him. Yeah, no, you're right down in the thick of it with me i got to i got to i got to get that together people like that that's funny we'll need a third person to bring us out of it

and they'll be like fuck you okay is it my turn to ask a question okay um sorry i think so i don't know i think you're right what is something that sarita does that drives you crazy i hate the way this is going to sound sometimes there is going to be a Debbie Downer and I got a big piece to pull her out of that little bubble my god sorry that's her nickname

hey girl I'm happy today I don't know where I'm going to get it sometimes you can be a Debbie Downer when it comes to love she's optimistic iter, honey. When it comes to love, she's optimistic. You know, like it's,

it's the craziest thing when it comes to like, I think that's why we're both like so attached to and happy for Unleashed for Love, like where it is because we went through it just to get it here. It took us seven years. And a lot of that was putting it down, walking away from it, crying. You know,

she was in a previous job that she putting it down walking away from it crying you know she was in a previous uh job that she wasn't really happy about at that time and just really wanting people to see her as the amazing writer uh that we all know her to be and you know believe that she will continue to get better at and you know i just wanted someone to give me a shot um as an actor you know coming from the hosted space and taking me seriously in that capacity. And we just kept hitting walls after walls after walls. And some days I had the overflow to kind of like give to her. And then, but a lot of days I didn't. So that was really hard. She's gotten better, but yeah. Sometimes it's like, girl, help me help you yeah wait what is that from help me help you

i think it's just like an old expression you know that we all say like help me help you you know i'm going down yeah i feel like i don't know if i don't know it from a particular thing i feel like you would say that yeah i think yeah i think people just at least that's where i got from it's just an expression i've heard 50 million times and i'm like you get it like help me help you because i'm drowning too you know what i mean and there's only so much you can do when when you um also need something that you're not getting um you know that validation that support or that whatever and you're trying to pour into your girlfriend who seems to be in a little more of a deficit than you, like, you know, it's like, okay, but you got to help me now.

That's to help me. I looked it up. It's from Jerry Maguire. Oh, really? Yeah. He goes, help me help you. He's like pleading with Cuba Gooding juniors. Oh, interesting. Whoa, that's crazy. Yeah. In there. Okay. help you he's like pleading with uh cuba gooding juniors oh interesting yeah in there okay it was the way i said it right that triggered something it really did and then there's a there's another one from the santa claus anyway uh i just really needed to know

i'm really glad you got to the bottom of that thank you I just needed it okay the next question is which one of you would do better on the CBS television series Survivor oh me girl that was so fast it was very very fast

her capacity for foolishness like that is just like next to none. I would say me. If she said her, she is lying and the truth ain't in her. Let me tell you. She said she was her. Don't let that woman lie to you like that. Do you think you would be better at the challenges or the social aspect because this year and i finally watched it and it seems like you have to be like decent at the challenges but just not annoying fair um oh it really just depends on like how everyone

else's temperament is you know what i mean like? Like, I'm pretty good with going with the flow. I have more of a poker face than Sarita. Sarita, can we curse on this podcast? Or should I just keep it clean? Fuck yeah. Okay. If Sarita's not fucking with anybody in that room, you will know it. You know?

Yeah. I can kind of, like, put a little, oh, hey, girl. Mm-hmm. You know? You know? And I think I'll get in the dirt a little better

than Sarita Sarita's a bit of a priss pat I'll take this wig off and get to it honey yeah that's it I love that okay last question is what do you hope you're both doing 20 years from now?

Hmm. Uh, being loved, uh, I would say probably being loved, uh, healthier and more whole than we've ever been. Uh,

hopefully, um, seeing that love expressed in various ways, like family, friends, achieving, having achieved our goal professionally at the highest level. Happy, joy filled,

still showing up for one another in ways that feels feel good you know to us both um yeah i just i just i just i want for us both just to be happy healed whole and more importantly like being loved the way it's not better than what we put out to everyone around us. Sarita and I both are givers. That department has not been the best to us, but I believe that God has it for us and it will show. That's my hope. That is so beautiful. That is nice.

Beautifully sweet answer. Well, now we'll see. If your answers have lined up and if your friendship can be still a friendship. It's tough to come up with things. If we live to fight another day. Yes. Okay. Here we are at the thrilling conclusion.

Oh, God. Oh, boy. Of our you friends. We asked, how did you two meet? And Sarita said, Alicia and I met through friends of ours at BET. My very good friend, Tanya slash Dizzy, found Alicia and her friend Jamila introduced us, and I went to school with her. Overall, we met through BET in a stream of beautiful black folks. Alicia said we met through Jamila. I have a trash memory

but they went to school together at Howard. She was also my first publicist. Yes, yes. That was very right. So you know how you met. This is off to a good start. Much more detailed. Much more detailed.

Yes. I'm like, girl, I got a trash memory girl she knows we asked what is your favorite memory of traveling together serita said i'm gonna say traveling literally i think alicia drives crazy she's like a bat out of hell that truck goes fast what do you guys i remember holding on i'm still here you're not wrong i'm still here all right thank you jesus um she said i remember holding on for dear life also traveling to different auditions where she would wait in the car playing candy crush and listen to podcasts while alicia was in the audition and then we get food afterwards and uh and they haven't taken any real trips together but hopefully one day yeah and then alicia said we haven't gone out of the

country yet i remember her coming to visit me in la and talking about our careers and we created created the show unleash together when she came to visit me in LA at my spot. And that was the same time that we were going, I went to your audition. That's happened a few times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So technically we're like, technically if you think about it, we would always travel to go get food if I wasn't cooking. Yeah. Okay. I don't drive that bad though knock it off um we asked what's your favorite thing about your friend sarita said

probably her country ways i think alicia's an endearing southern belle she is just truly southern like blanche devoe style it's so different from what i'm used to with my other friends but i do have two friends from the south and they're both from Louisiana. Alicia says, I would say she never gives up on love. We postulate our characters around Sarita and she never gives up on love. She's gotten further along in relationships and she's come out of a relationship that we thought would go the distance. And even even out of that, she still opened up her heart to love in spite of it. Love always finds her and love is really hard to find and real love always seems to find her.

Oh, Alicia, that's so sweet. Technically, that's also right because Southern Bells also are very into love. You can't be bending these answers like that. No, you can't be. No, no, no, no. You're like, what I meant was.

I mean, what did Lynch never always have love? She did. She did. be no no no no you're like what i meant was she did she did so fair we asked what is your friend's favorite thing about you sarita said how goofy i am or how unaware i can be i'm just gonna chill i chill. I'm just like, I'm here. We are very different. She's very outgoing. And I'm a little bit more introverted. And maybe my awful laugh. Oh, there it is.

And then Alicia said even though I'm in a weird space with my maker I would say my faith in many situations we had to conjure up some faith to get through it and yeah I think that's beautiful still not the same answer but well

but good answers good answers all around but not the same but it's true she's not wrong was that what i thought about that's what i thought about her right and what we thought what's what your friend's favorite thing is about you what i think is your favorite thing about me and vice versa oh okay yeah i would say that's true though alicia you're right that is true so i think that should also count i'm just putting it out there alicia's faith has brought us through lots of things well we asked what is something you do that drives your friend crazy serena said not speaking up

enough sometimes i feel like she feels like she has to pull all the weight or being lackadaisical about stuff or when i lack confidence alicia said probably my optimism sometimes you don't want the joy and you just want to sit in it it's such a slippery slope for me so i try not to engage in it sometimes she just wants an ear and i'm trying to find the balance for all of my friends okay not a lot i do like i do like your answer i didn't know how like do you say what it could go so i didn't like right that's fair but that is very fair goose let me tell you that's very fair it's very fair it's okay just call me goose it's fine okay it's cute i'm trying to be all professional i'm like okay where is goose from why yeah what's that so my my best guy friend heenan for some reason uh thinks i look like a mongoose and i mean and so he started calling me goose and then everybody in that household with

dizzy and jamila started calling me goose and alicia was there and then she just started calling me goose and so everybody that was basically around in those brooklyn times on tompkins avenue back in like shit the early 2000s calls me goose but you have to give it content i didn't know for until years later yeah mongoose was like i'm like you have to give context you know i was like no i i i have nicknames for all of all of my friends like i from being South, like, we look at that, like, as a form of, like, intimacy. And it wasn't until probably working on this project, right? Yeah. Where did that even come from?

Because we were trying to think about nicknames for our characters. And then that's when I got the story. And I was like, my God, I've been calling you that all these years. But it's fine. I mean, look, at this point, it is endearing. I mean, I guess I kind of do look like a mongoose. I mean, I'm going to have to do a side by side. What?

Wait, I got to Google a picture of a mongoose now. They are cute. And I am looking at one. I don't. And like, I don't know. Like right just right in the crux of my face, like the focal point. It is also such a like specific animal like the wikipedia page has like three sentences because people are like never thought

about a mongoose saw one one time that's about if i saw this out in the wild i wouldn't know what to call it i'd be like me either badger i don't know a lemur big squirrel big squirrel really I don't know. A lemur? Big squirrel? Big squirrel. That's a really big squirrel. That's another nickname I like. Big squirrel. Big squirrel.

I like big squirrel. We gotta put that in our pockets. That sounds like a rapper. Welcome to the stage. Big squirrel. Where my little squirrels at? Big squirrel definitely owes some folks money for sure yes or collecting the money better yet what um wait is it my turn or your turns this year i think my turn i think so too yeah we we asked what is something your friend does that drives

you crazy and sarita said she talks too much sometimes in meetings sometimes in meetings uh when we're talking she's so entertaining it doesn't bother me too much but she is very full of spirit and alicia said sometimes sarita can be a Debbie Downer, and I have to dig deep to pull her out of it. When it's love, she's optimistic. And that's why we're happy for Unleashed, for love, because it took us seven years to get here. And we kept hitting these walls. But with other things, other than love, she gets a little bit down. So I think that counts as a point, too.

But here's why, because technically she said, um, sometimes she can just keep going. And then I'm like, uh, so that's technically right. Right.

I love your ability to spin. You're really good at this. Yeah. Very good at spinning. I'm going to say her. Yeah. Um, we asked, spinning. I'm going to say concur. I concur. We asked,

which of you would do better on Survivor? Sarita said, probably me because I would take more time to think of a strategy. Wait, listen to the follow-up. But I do move fast and I'm not patient. I think Alicia would be too distracted

and I would make decisions quickly. In all fairness, Alicia is more backwards fluent than me and I don't do nature like that. Maybe she would do better that way. I'm a city girl, so I'd struggle a bit. And then Alicia said, me girl. Sarita would give up. Her capacity for that is next to none.

If she said she would, she's lying. And the truth ain't in her. It depends. I have more of a poker face than Sarita. And I can get the dirt a little better than Sarita. I can take this wig off and get into it, honey. Am I lying? She's not wrong.

She's not wrong. If it was a shootout, I would be fine. But if it's a picture, i would be fine but if it's her no oh my god not a shootout not want it with any big quarrel is not here for it oh god and lastly we ask what do you hope you're both doing 20 years from now serena's actually i'm gonna read alicia's first and then serena's so alicia said being loved i would say being loved healthier and more whole than we have ever seen seeing that love expressed in various ways having us achieve our goals at the highest level i want us

to be happy healed whole and being loved even better than we put out and then serena said i hope we're rich yeah the money yeah man i second that emotion I hope we're rich, content, and comfortable. Comfortable with our lives, balance of work. And I hope our love lives will be together. And overall, we are comfortable with that. And I hope we look good.

I hope our skin is tight. I hope our waist are small. And I hope we have great butts. 15. Yeah. You got that answer right. That's right. We got that answer right. That's right. I think that's right.

Rich and love. Rich and love. Rich and love. That's it. I'm the one. Rich and love. Yes. I feel like you guys did line up on a lot of stuff.

So we're going to say you are friends. You are still friends. You can continue your friendship and your working relationship. It's okay. We approve. Thank you guys. That means a lot. So happy about that.

For sure. Yes. We will continue on with your blessings. I'm going to need something in writing though. If you guys can write that down, that'd be great. Yeah. We'll send it via docu-sign yeah

I think this is one of our most like vulnerable quizzes that we've done like you guys had such sweet raw answers and like I can't wait to listen to your show because I can't wait to hear the perspectives you have on love and how you write them

thank you we appreciate that we're excited about it go check it out Unleashed for Love on Audible right now it's available right now literally now literally and read all the reviews

from my mother where she changed her name every time. That would be adorable. That would be so cute. My mom. Me and my country cousins, we did the same. Don't even worry about it. Same. Same.

I love it. You'll see Dwight, Dwayne, David, Daniel, all of them. Thank you guys. This means a lot to us. But that's exactly why we did Unleashed for Love. Like all this sisterhood, you know, that you guys display on your show, what we've been able to do today on today's episode. It means a lot to us.

And we really hope that, you know, the listeners can find themselves in these characters. And yeah, that's it. Absolutely. Well, thank you. Yes, thank you so much. Thank you both. Wow, we didn't do any questions today, which is usually how we wrap up our podcast

with queries, quandaries and questions. The three Qs. But we didn't do that today. But if you would like to have one of the three Q's answered at a later date, you can email us at NicoleAndSashir at gmail.com

or call, text, leave a voice memo at 424-645-7003. And if one of your quandaries is where can you get merch, you can go to podswag.com slash best friends. And if one of your queries is I got to start reading more, we have transcripts of our new episodes. You can check them out on our show page at Earwolf.com.

And if one of your quandaries is how can you support us you can rate review and subscribe yes yes quick now see you next week i don't know i'm trying to think of another cue quietly quietly question everything bye another Q. Quietly. Quietly. Question everything. Bye. Bye.