Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - Everyone & Van Gogh

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

Comedian Vinny Thomas and Emma discover Van Gogh's ghost and get inspired by an artist with a selfie stick.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey guys, I'm Emma Choi and welcome to Everyone and Their Mom, a weekly show from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. This week we're talking about a hidden Van Gogh portrait with Wait Wait contributor, comedian, and someone who once had to help me teach Peter Sagal what sissy that walk means. It's Vinny Thomas. Hi Vinny. Hi Emma. That's true. We did have to teach him that. It took a really long time and I don't think he got it, so that was fun. Anyways, Vinnie, I'm really excited to talk to you about this story. I don't know if you've heard, but the world has a new Van Gogh. Yeah.

Okay, I just wanted to guess. No, Vinnie, this is huge news from the art world, okay? They found a new Van Gogh. New Van Gogh alert. New Van Gogh alert. Isn't that exciting? It is. Is it a drawing? Is it a painting? Is it a sculpture? These are great questions, Vinny. A Scottish researcher recently discovered the self-portrait via x-ray,

where it was hidden on the backside of another one of his paintings. That's a Van Gogh bogo, and it's amazing. Wait, so were they just like, is this a yearly thing? on the backside of another one of his paintings. That's Van Gogh Bogo. And it's amazing. Wait, so were they just like, is this a yearly thing? Do they casually x-ray paintings to make sure nothing is behind them? Like just in case? I don't know.

It seems like a weird thing to do. Apparently like painting on both sides of a canvas is not super uncommon. It's like a way that Van Gogh saved money. You know, hashtag sustainable king, hashtag thrifty icon. And it's dated really early in his career because the fun fact the drawing it's a self-portrait and he has both ears in the portrait

you know so it's kind of like you know if you see a picture of me with a bowl cut you know it's 2004 it's like that with him i mean don't let's talk selfies okay because okay what is a video but a moving selfie, right? Very true. Especially for those of us in the front-facing video community. Yes, and let's talk about that. So you make a lot of videos of your face for Instagram. Have you ever had a video go viral when you didn't like how you looked?

Oh, yeah. All the time. Constantly. I remember one video, I had a poppy seed in between my teeth. Like big, right in the middle. I didn't even notice. But my dumb ass was smiling, you know, like an idiot. And I look in there and of course I get three comments right away.

They're like, who's the star of this video? Is it you or is it the poppy seed? So I deleted it and I wiped it from the face of the earth and no one will ever see the poppy seed video again. Not even the scientists that we were talking about earlier. But maybe that's the future version of finding something on the back of a painting. It's they'll find your deleted tweets and your deleted videos. That would be horrible. I think that would be the most if some sort of cyber terrorist attacked the United States by leaking everyone's deleted tweets and

posts that would that would ruin us. I mean, are you do you take a lot of selfies in general, like not videos? No. And I think I should take more just because every time I see someone else's pictures, I get a little bit jealous. You know, I'm like, they look so good. Yeah, because they look good. They're like, you know, they took some time to sit there and take a picture. And me, I'm just enjoying my breakfast. You know what I mean? I'm not taking. Yeah. I mean, okay, so the self portrait is basically a selfie selfie why do we think that van gogh didn't want us to see this one oh um well it could be it could be any number of reasons right do do they know how he looked like was he was i don't even know how like van gogh looked in real life oh you know you know Jesse Tyler Ferguson? I do. Yeah. So he looks like that, but like more like wizened, basically.

Okay, got you. More grizzled and wizened, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get it. Yeah, I think he hit it just because it was a mistake. You know, I feel like people paint pictures all the time. Like I think a lot of people who go to like those paint and sips, like where you drink wine and you paint with the girlies. I think a lot of those paintings turn out bad and

people want to paint over them you know reuse the canvas I think that maybe maybe he was like he painted it and then you know how sometimes you take a picture of yourself you're like that wasn't cute that wasn't cute and delete it yeah he was like I don't look good like after 35 hours of painting that self-portrait like I don't look good and then maybe buried it I wouldn't put it past him yeah maybe he painted a poppy seed in his teeth and he was like, can't do that anymore. Oh, yeah. I don't know why he was scared to show his face, his pretty face with the ginger beard. Just to start off, will you introduce yourself to us?

Yes. Hi, my name is Devin Hobbell. I'm a 24-year-old writer, activist, TikToker, fashion lover. I'm a lot of different things. Yes. We're so excited that you're here. You're also a TikTok star, which I think is how a lot of people will know you. Can you tell us a little bit about your content? Yes.

All of my videos are filmed on a selfie stick. So it kind of pokes fun at like influencer culture, I guess, or like just social media culture a little bit. If I could describe myself, live, laugh, love is very much a permanent mood in my life. I love that. It's like 40-year-old why nots in you, you know, and it's beautiful. Well, so this week we're talking about Van Gogh because a new portrait of his was found behind another painting, which is crazy. And it made us think about portraiture in general and how TikToks are kind of like today's portraits. Do you feel like that's true? I do feel like that's true. I feel like it's really interesting to see people film themselves and it allows people to really show

themselves to others how they would like to be seen. And I feel like it's for me, I have a specific angle with my selfie stick and I'm showing people myself with the selfie stick, but I'm also choosing to show the background. So yeah, I feel like it allows me to kind of create a visual or like a video version of like a painting or a picture that I don't know I think is really cool do you remember the first moment where you first went viral yes so I was completely alone in Turkey like in a hotel room and I remember like I had just posted something on TikTok and it was me walking down the street saying bring back selfie sticks in 2022. And I remember all of my friends

were texting me and they're like, you're on Twitter right now. And I don't even have a Twitter. So I was like, what? They're like, you're on Twitter. Like some, we see you on the stories. And I was like, okay, that's cool. And then I was like, I didn't think too much of it. I was like, okay, whatever. It's like probably one video that's going to do well. I'm like, whatever. I'll go back to my regular life tomorrow. Well, if I could bring it back to the story of Van Gogh, we can't stop thinking about the fact that like Van Gogh didn't want people to see the self-portrait.

And now it's in a museum. Do you think we should just like leave it be? I mean, I honestly think we shouldn't see it because that was his wish as the artist to like hide his face for whatever reason. But I think it's a cute moment. Like I'm looking at the self-portrait right now. I think it's cute. Well, if you're up for it, we have a game to play with you. Is that okay? Yeah. So we're going to play a game with you called Hype Them. You're super motivating and positive in your videos, which we love. So we're going to give you someone down on their luck

and you give them a pep talk. Does that sound good? Yeah. Okay, let's try it. The last person finishing the marathon. Hype them up. You got this. You go, girl.

Slay, slay, slay. And even though you came in last place, you are still a baddie. I love you. Yes. Slay. A chef who has all the ingredients, but they forgot to buy an onion. Hype them up.

Oh my goodness. You, it's okay. I'm pretty sure you can try to make it work and it will work and taste amazing with no onion. A teacher who poured curdled milk in their coffee. Hype them up. We can go out for tea after this. We don't need to drink the curdled milk. It's okay.

I bet it tastes delicious though. A kid who knocks on the door of a gingerbread house and there's a witch inside. Hype them up. The witch is here to cast a spell for only greatness and prosperity in your life. Period. Yes. Okay. One more.

Let's do one more. A painter who painted over a portrait he never wanted anyone to see and someone in the future exposed it to the world. Hype them up. You're beautiful and everything about that picture is perfect because it represents you and you are special and amazing just the way you are. So don't be afraid to show that face. I love it.

And I'm going to go write that down and put it in Van Gogh's grave and he's going to be so happy. Yes, Van Gogh, I love you. To me, he could not make it more obvious that he didn't want that other painting to be seen. So it's very rude to like go digging and find what I'm sure Van Gogh thought was a terrible painting

and like bring it back to the surface, he's probably rolling over in his grave. Okay, Vinny, I know this is like the smallest part of the story, but we were really excited about the x-ray component. What would you do with an x-ray machine? Or if you had x-ray powers? These are two different answers. If I had an x-ray machine, sell it. Cash. Period. But if I had x-ray powers, I would use it to see if people swallowed metal objects. Okay. Okay. You know what I mean?

Does it happen a lot? I don't know if it happens a lot, but I'd love to know. Yeah. I feel like penguins at the zoo, you're not supposed to throw coins in like fountains because birds or penguins or whatever will eat them up. Yes. Right? And they have to x-ray

them and you'll see like the metal in their stomach i would love to know who has metal in their stomach um yeah that's very specific it is but i don't think it's wrong and i love it that's why you're the comedian vinnie All right. Oh, my God. It's so loud in here. Okay. Now for my favorite part of the podcast, the credits. And this is true.

This week I'm recording out of a real plain bathroom. And the seatbelt sign is on, but I got up anyways. Okay. This show was brought to you by Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. This episode was produced by Haley Fager, Zola Rhea, and Nancy Seichow. With help from Oja Lopez, Blythe Robertson, Lillian King, Sophie Hernandez-Semignoni-This, and the Lyft driver for keeping me on my Met Gala behavior. Follow her on TikTok at Hallbatty. That's at H-A-L dot P-A-D-G-I-E. Thank you to my co-host, comedian and WaitWait contributor Vinny Thomas. Follow at Vinny on all social media platforms. That's at V-I-N-N underscore A-Y-Y. Vinny, check your TikToks. I sent you a bunch of them right now.

Oh, and thanks to this airplane for taking me places. Here's a real life flush. I'm Emma Choi and you can find me at WeWeMPR and really just trying to hold my breath in here. It's not great. Okay, I'm done. This is MPR.