In The Words Of Bowen Yang And Matt Rogers, "What Was The Culture That Made You Say 'Culture Is For You'?"
Pondering one of my favorite segments from the podcast, "Las Culturistas" and what cultural moments and touchstones have shaped my niche interests and lifelong loves.
On their podcast, Las Culturistas, Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers ask their guests the central question, "What Was The Culture That Made You Say 'Culture Is For You'?" As fans of the show, many of the guests share that they have thought about the question for a while, marveling over what that first spark of their culture journey was.
Every response gives you so much insight into who they are as artists. I have left so many episodes thinking, “Wow, that does inform their work!” Our influences and inspirations truly weave a tapestry for our art, often unknowingly.
It’s a question that I have pondered over and over. I constantly think about how the hell I got to be the way I am. Where did my love for pop culture come from? As someone whose family was NOT invested in these niche areas of interest, what caused me to carve them out as formative facets of my identity?
I tend to think about this every time I listen to the podcast, but I get overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of cultural experiences that have shaped me over the years.
Would I talk about musical theater? Would my answer focus on my earliest forays into being a certified television watcher? Would it be immersing myself in the music of the pop divas?
However, as I listened to Amy Poehler on this week’s episode, I decided to finally tackle the question myself.
Being the long-winded person that I am, I couldn’t pick just one piece of culture. I narrowed my answers down to an array of selections that I feel were the most formative.
(I’m who they’re talking about when they say people on Substack need an editor lol.)
Degrassi: The Next Generation
First off, who could forget this iconic teaser from Season 10?!
“BABY, THERE’S A SHARK IN THE WATERRRRRRRR!”
My cousin introduced me to this show when new episodes were still airing on the N (which later merged into TeenNick). Since I was behind on the lore, I would rent the DVDs for the past seasons and the OG series from the library. My bread and butter was Degrassi: The Next Generation, though.
This show was my entrance into watching television religiously. Emma Nelson, Manny Santos, and Liberty Van Zandt were my sisters. I watched until the final season aired in 2015, right as I was going to college. It felt like a fitting goodbye as these characters ended their high school chapter, as I was off on my own adventures.
I know that they continued the show on Netflix, but it was no longer for me. Regardless, this show helped shape my love for storytelling and character. Even if some of the plotlines didn’t land, the show pushed boundaries in terms of representation and treated each character’s issues as worthy of being explored.
I still enjoy Canadian media to this day, with shows like Sort Of and North of North continuing the tradition of character-driven storytelling, with an extra dose of heart.
Pour one out for the canceled reboot that we were supposed to get on Max.
Musical Theater, specifically Into The Woods, Hairspray, and Wicked
Musical theater shaped my love for performance and the joy that comes from live entertainment. It was the first cultural community that I felt a part of in a very tangible way. I’m not even a recovering theater kid; it still very much lives in my bones.
Wicked was my gateway into understanding theater as something more than an activity that I did. Although I had been doing theater since middle school, it was the first professional show I had seen. Emmy Raver Lampman was the standby for Elphaba on the North American tour, and when I learned she was from the same area code as me, it was the first time I felt like a world I could also exist in.
I wore the hell out of this cast album. I know the original on Spotify was happy when the movie version came out, and it got a respite from me belting along to Idina. I don’t care if it’s corny, but the message is still so powerful to me. It made me believe in the power of theater and damn good storytelling. I fully understand why it makes Ariana and Cynthia cry every time.
Hairspray was my sister’s favorite musical, so it acted as a sort of connection between us. The movie came out around the time I started doing theater. It was the first time I saw a fat lead celebrated in a musical, and I felt that maybe there was a place for me on stage. It’s not without its issues, but for ten-year-old me, it was formative and planted the seeds of what representation, even in its simplest form, could mean.
Into the Woods introduced me to the magic of Stephen Sondheim when I played the Prince and Narrator (okay, inspired double casting) in a local production. I could probably include him as an entirely separate part of this post, but what an artist. There’s nothing I could say that hasn’t been said, but he was a genius. I fell in love with his music from the first listen. His work is transcendent, especially his lyricism.
I think of the Witch’s lyrics from “Last Midnight” so often.
These lyrics speak volumes without having to explain the intentions. The idea of weaponizing “niceness” and “kindness” still rings true today. What does it mean to be nice when you are wrong? These lyrics have stayed with me throughout the years, as so much of Sondheim’s music has. I hope to do something half as great as he did.
The Real Housewives Franchise, particularly Orange County, Atlanta, and New York City
Reality Television shaped my love for what boring people once considered (and still do) low-brow culture. I watched everything from Wife Swap, Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, and SuperNanny to ANTM and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. (MOVE THAT BUS!)
The most formative reality television for me was (no shocker to anyone), the Real Housewives franchise. I started watching RHOC with my cousin in middle school. I can vividly remember Vicki Gunvalson’s first “Whoop it up!” Should I have been watching rich ladies fighting and cursing on television? Perhaps not, but I wouldn’t have been introduced to the legend that is NeNe Leakes then, and that’s not a timeline I want to live in. I wouldn’t know what Skinnygirl Margarita meant (well, maybe that would have been for the best) and how Bethenny ended up being a chicken salad rater today.
Watching these shows was when I realized that I loved mess. RHOC, RHOA, and RHONY, and even the newer cities, still inform how I gossip and joke with my friends today. So much of my humor comes from reality television bits or quotes, and iconic moments from the Housewives franchise. I guess you could say this franchise taught me interpersonal communication skills!
Sitcoms like 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation
Beyond Degrassi and Real Housewives, my affinity for television was solidified by workplace comedies and sitcoms that I loved watching, like 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation (sorry for the full government name). Both shows were smart and genuinely funny, although there are certainly parts of both that did not age well.
Tina Fey crafted such a compelling satire with 30 Rock, a show that felt like spiritual seeds for television that would come somewhat later, like Veep. It was hilarious, weird, brash, and never afraid to make fun of the industry. The title The Rural Juror hasn’t left my brain since I watched that episode, and Jenna Maroney is still one of the most iconic characters ever created. I wanted to exist in the world of 30 Rock, and it was probably one of the first times I was enamored with the entertainment world of it all, even with the chaos that ensued.
Parks and Recreation inspired my love for compelling characters and building a community with the ensemble of a show. Whenever I think about developing characters in my own scripts, I think back to this world and how each character had traits, desires, and flaws that made them unique. Even Jerry had a rich life that we got to see later on. I hope to write something as meaningful and warm as a show like Parks and Rec, one that had me tuning in every week and crying through the finale.
The Most Popular Girls in School
MPGIS walked so Barbie (2023) could run.
This web series was my introduction to stop-motion animation and the use of YouTube for unconventional storytelling. It really sparked the idea of creating something of your own and sharing it with the world, without anything but some dolls and a dream. You could create your own culture through innovative ideas like this and become a part of the zeitgeist.
Much like reality television, it was formative for a lot of my humor. It was brash and irreverent in a way that I hadn’t seen done before in this medium. I loved how unserious and unfiltered it was, even when it towed the line of what was considered appropriate. The goal was to entertain and push the boundaries of what would make people laugh. I still find myself cackling on the occasional rewatch. To this day, I use the phrase “Who the FUCK are you?”
Deandra The New Girl, you will always be famous.
Whitney Houston singing “The Star Spangled Banner”
This has nothing to do with patriotism. Whitney could have been singing the phonebook for all I care! Whitney Houston is and forever will be my vocal bible. This particular performance truly shaped my love and appreciation for the divas and the level of talent that we should all aspire to. I can’t believe she was my current age when she delivered this iconic rendition. That’s power.
You can just feel the joy radiate through her as she sings. There’s an effortlessness paired with a charisma that you cannot buy. I can’t even imagine being in the crowd when she delivered this performance. I would have been on the floor in tears.
Nobody has even come close to touching this version of the song, try as they might. Fergie attempted a rendition 🤭. You simply can’t replicate what has already been perfected. Maybe it’s time to put this song to bed (for many reasons).
I am almost certain I purchased this version on iTunes. It was that serious! I still watch it on YouTube now and then when I need to feel something. It always does the trick. Whitney, in any performance, but especially in this one, influenced me to leave it all out on the table in everything that I did.
Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality
This is one of my favorite movies of all time (even though I did not include it in my Four Favorites newsletter…oops). There are many parts of the movie that aged like milk, particularly the whole idea of improving someone by giving them a makeover, and the weird misogynistic beats in the movie. I want this to become a musical, but we would need a heavy script rewrite. Someone hire me to do the job!
I am here for Sandra Bullock, though. I was enamored with her from the second I saw this movie. My family used to joke that I had a crush on her (whatever that means…straight people are weird), but it was clearly just the earliest case of leading actress affinity that plagues all members of the LGBTQIA+ community. I think it was her willingness to go there in terms of her comedy and weirdness. There was a permission to make the weird choice if it got laughs, something that played to my sensibilities.
There was an armor to the way she played Gracie in the movie, where she could never be the butt of the joke if she got to the punchline first. If she made you laugh first, she could tear down your defenses. Sandra is also just hilarious and charming in this movie in a way that I always aspired to be as a performer. The character of Gracie showed that the offbeat, funny one can be the one that people gravitate towards, which is why her winning Miss Congeniality in the end always felt earned.
I could have gone on for longer, but I had to stop somewhere. I wanted it to feel like a window into the most integral pieces of culture that continue to resonate with me. I can see how my humor has been shaped and refined from each of these cultural touchstones and why I even care about pop culture to begin with.
If I ever happen to end up on Las Culturistas one day (hey, delusion can get you far), I will have a guide to look back on.
Now… how would you answer Matt and Bowen’s age-old question?
[You can listen to Las Culturistas on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Music, or anywhere else you find podcasts, where you can hear the many incredible responses to "What Was The Culture That Made You Say 'Culture Is For You'?" throughout the years.]
The Most Popular Girls in School!!!! Yes!
“MPGIS walked so Barbie (2023) could run”…exactly 🙂↕️🙂↕️