Working With My Best Friend (ft. Laren)

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What is up, Daddy Gang?

It is your founding father, Alex Cooper, with Call Her Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.

Daddy Gang, welcome back to another episode of Call Her Daddy.

Today, I am joined by none other than the producer.

of call her daddy my best friend lauren mcmullen wow for anyone that didn't watch my documentary on Hulu, Call Her Alex, one of the reveals in the documentary is that Lauren has been the producer of Call Her Daddy and has been working with me for over four years.

And a lot of you, actually,

most all of you were shocked.

I have never talked about this publicly.

We have kept this a secret and we've kept it private.

And today we are here to get into why we decided to keep it private, why we never shared it with the world, the reasoning behind it, and also what it's actually like to work with your best friend and the process of call her daddy.

We are going to walk you guys through what we do every single week in working together.

So I think we should just get into it.

Let's tell them how this came to be.

So I think we have to go all the way back to 2020 and the pandemic.

And first, again, I think everyone knows this is at this point, but Lauren and I have been childhood best friends since we were about six years old.

Yeah, second grade.

Second grade.

So, six years old, Lauren and I have been best friends.

And we have grown up together.

We played soccer together.

We made movies together.

We didn't go to the same high school or college, but we've been best friends our whole lives.

And in 2020, when I was producing and editing and hosting Call Her Daddy on my own, it was the pandemic, and I was by myself living in New York.

And it was a pretty dark time.

I think I was really struggling.

There was a lot going on online, obviously, with Call Her Daddy.

And I was pretty isolated in New York City at the time.

And Lauren happened to be going through a breakup at this time.

And Lauren was trying to figure out her next move.

Am I going to have to move home?

What am I going to do?

And I remember saying, Lauren, just move into my apartment with me.

Like, this will be beautiful.

Let's live together again because we had lived with each other at one point.

And so you moved in.

And at this point, explain to the daddy gang what you're doing.

Like I'm hosting this raunchy sex podcast and you are doing what?

So I had just finished Teach for America.

So my undergrad degree is in neuroscience.

I never intended to be a teacher.

I did two years of Teach for America where I taught fifth and eighth grade science in Newark, New Jersey.

I did my two years and then I was in grad school at Columbia getting a master's in clinical psychology because I wanted to go on and get a PhD and be a therapist.

So when I moved in with you fresh off my breakup, I was in my first year of my master's program and I was nanning for a crazy family on the side to make money.

So then Lauren and I moved to Los Angeles.

We decided we were done with New York for a little bit.

We wanted to try something different.

Lauren wanted to get away.

I wanted to get away.

I knew it would be better for Call Her Daddy.

I would get so many more guests in Los Angeles.

So we got on a plane and we headed to LA and we moved into this home together.

And then

the school I was teaching at had reached out and was like, our neuroscience teacher quit.

We can't find anyone who can teach neuroscience.

We'll let you teach entirely remote.

Can you teach neuroscience to these high schoolers?

And I'm living in California teaching.

children in New Jersey.

So my first class was every day at five in the morning.

And then I'd be done work at 1 p.m.

So you'd be waking up to like go record call her daddy at 1 p.m.

And I'd be finishing work for the day.

We knew no one in LA.

I didn't have a car.

It was COVID.

It was locked down.

There was nothing to do.

So I'd be like done work.

Like, hey, Alex, like, what are you doing for Call Her Daddy?

Like, yes.

I'll help.

I'll watch you.

Like, I think this is when we really started to feel like, oh my God, I missed this part of our friendship.

Lauren and I, as you guys will watch in the documentary as you watched, we fell in love with two things at a very young age.

soccer and making movies and music videos.

And that was our genuine passion.

And so you getting getting to come back into that world, I think was so exciting for both of us because it also kind of rebirthed a part of our relationship that we had lost in a way.

And so we both just leaned in and we started having so much fun.

And so when I signed my deal with Spotify,

that was six months into us living in the house, I would say.

And that obviously changed my life forever.

And it changed, I felt like everyone's lives around me just because it definitely put me publicly in a different stratosphere.

Like I felt like there were, there was more attention on me.

There was a bigger conversation around money.

Again, I think people don't really know this, but like I didn't have a team.

Like I was still editing my own episodes.

It was fully just you at that point.

Yes.

Like there was no writers and these interviews.

Like I was writing all of my interviews.

I was editing all these things.

I was like, you know, I'm, I'm now making enough money where it's dumb.

How am I not paying people to help me?

And that I think was the beginning of the start of it all.

Do you remember like the first real conversation post-Spotify?

So we sat down and you were like,

I want to have something more consistent, something more formal.

What are you interested in?

What are your next moves?

Because at that point, I had graduated from my master's program

and I wanted to go get a PhD, but I decided I wanted to take one more year before applying so I could do more research and get more, like get my name published on more papers.

Oh, right.

So I was like, wait, this kind of works out really well.

You want to go into your first year of Spotify, having people around you that you trust, feeling comfortable, not starting just like building a whole team from like scratch and not knowing anyone.

So I'm like, this is perfect.

I'll take my gap year with Call Her Daddy.

Why did I forget?

That's how it started.

Yes.

You were like for sure in your head, you were going to go to grad school and there was going to be one year that you were going to work with me.

I was going to get a freelance rate

and bill you for like my hours weekly at a freelance rate.

And then on the side, I'd also be doing my psychology research and trying to get published in more academic research.

To give everyone more context, this moment of me being like, okay, I'm going to hire you for a year, it really was us being like, let's just do this for one more year together.

It'd be so fun.

It was kind of the perfect setup for both.

It made you feel more comfortable going into your first year with Spotify.

And it gave me consistent paid work while I tried to just write and apply to grad school.

But in no way did we think this was long term.

But now that now that I was going to be like billing you hourly and like tracking my hours and like having deliverables to meet and like actual deadlines to hit, it did start to become more real at that point.

Yes.

Where at this point now you are my boss and there is.

a differential between the two of us.

It feels a little bit different than like me just sitting in the corner, giving you thumbs up, laughing, and saying, Oh, tell that funny story, tell that joke.

Like, now I'm like researching the guests you're having on, I'm pitching topics I think you should talk about.

Like, I'm spending real time doing like actual real work, and it's feeling more real.

And at that point, we kind of had to have a conversation of like, okay, if we're gonna do this one year and do it right and not leave, feeling resentful that you felt I took advantage of the situation and was just using you for money or that I felt I

didn't have clear expectations

and I'm not really set up for success, right?

We have to treat this more real.

Yes.

And that's when we had the really hard conversation of, I think I need to leave LA.

I needed more things of my own.

Yes.

I was living in your house.

I was relying on you and Matt for plans.

I was working for you.

Yes.

And like I.

We needed to shake it up.

Yeah.

And it was beautiful to see you go to Chicago and still to this day be fucking thriving.

Like that was without a doubt the best decision I think you could have ever made for yourself picking that city.

I feel like you have had such incredible success there.

You've had such a support system.

Like it's been beautiful.

So I'm just so happy that it actually ended up working out.

Yeah, I think that's like the best thing we ever could have done.

Could have done.

And I remember we podcasted together being like, I'm moving to Chicago.

Oh my God.

And we told the daddy gang, we're like, I'm moving to Chicago for a job opportunity.

The job opportunity was call her daddy.

And I was moving to Chicago so that we could give it a real chance and we didn't fuck shit up.

I feel like we're professional.

We didn't call each other's like assholes 24-7.

Oh my God, I forgot that we publicly said that.

I'm sorry, you guys.

That's like a little white lie we told.

Sorry.

But so then we, okay, so now let's explain in that moment, why did we not tell the truth about why you were going to Chicago for a job?

Because at that point, we truly thought it was going to be a one-year thing.

Like, imagine in my mind, we're really conceptualizing this as like, this is my gap year year before I'm going to get a PhD.

Yep.

And we thought it would just be really confusing to people.

If we're like, we work together and now we don't.

And like knowing the way that the internet spins things,

I think people would immediately be like, oh, they're not working together anymore because

Alex is not a girl's girl and she ruined Lauren's.

Yeah, like Alex did it again, kicked Lauren to the curb.

No, literally.

So yes,

that's what people would say.

So it was very easy.

We were like, okay, great.

We'll keep this under wraps and love you and come visit all the time.

Lauren moves to Chicago.

I'm in L.A.

And the minute she leaves, we just hit the fucking ground running.

I think the next big moment was

the year mark.

The year mark.

We were coming up on the year mark and I'm sitting in LA being like,

there was a part of me that felt in my gut, holy shit.

I have never had more fun in my life working with someone.

And I have never felt at such ease and we just have the best dynamic and i think i selfishly was like oh my god i actually can see it i can see how this could work long term but if i put my selfish wants aside and i also put my work aside if i put on my best friend hat as alex from young alex and you being my best friend i was like but what does lauren want because i am living my dream this I am living everything I could have ever wanted.

I love my job so much, but does Lauren feel that same way?

And is Lauren going to want to do this full term?

And I started to get worried that I'll be honest, I remember when I look back, I was worried that you understandably, because we've talked about this on the podcast before, like you were enjoying understandably the work, but the money, I think, was so.

So much security for you.

I think you were starting to be like, fuck, it's so nice to like comfortably afford my apartment and get to do all these things.

And so I started to because money was a huge stress in my life growing up.

Yes.

And I think I started to worry as your friend, like, fuck, is she

feeling this, which is nice, but is she forgetting how much she wanted to go and get this PhD?

And is she going to choose this life because of the money, not because she genuinely wants it?

And I started to feel a little bit of guilt where I was like, am I pulling Lauren away from her dream?

Because I'm living mine.

And you said that to me.

We had like a really real and honest conversation at like that year mark.

Yeah.

And you were like, at this point, I really can't imagine doing this without you because you were trying other people.

Like we were kind of planning for my departure.

So like you were trying other people.

You were interviewing other people.

You were having other people come and freelance with you.

And it just wasn't the same.

Same.

Because I know you so well.

So like

I have this insanely unfair advantage.

And like I can look at something immediately and be like, Alex would never say that.

Alex doesn't agree with that.

Oh my gosh, Alex would

hate that.

Yeah, you just can't teach that because it's just, you've been my sister my whole life.

Like, so it's like, so finally, we had a really honest conversation where I voiced all this to Lauren.

And I remember just going back and forth, being like, as selfish as I want to be, that I want you to know I value you more than you know.

And I would love you to do this literally until the end of time with me.

I need you to be honest with yourself and take time to really think,

what do you want?

Yeah, you were like, I could never live with myself if we look back in five years and I feel like I tore you away from your dream.

Yeah.

So I went and I talked to my therapist about it for a while.

Yeah, a while.

We were kind of talking about why did I want to be a therapist?

I

wanted to be a therapist because what you'll see in the documentary,

my dad passed away from suicide when I was in college.

He suffered from bipolar disorder for my whole life.

And

so that's what drew me to that.

But more than that, I just wanted to have deep, impactful conversations and I wanted to help people.

And I was talking to my therapist and I was like,

well, if I stay on this show, I will have deep, impactful conversations.

And I think I'm going to impact and help more people than I would if I was just a therapist.

Like Alex is reaching millions of people

a week.

Yeah.

That was like, I will never forget.

I almost wanted to start crying where Lauren came to me and was like, it just clicked for me.

Like there's so much we can do with this show and there's so much work to be done.

And especially you had said like the direction I already feel you pulling it in.

The show was changing.

Yeah.

And it just felt like, holy shit, let's do this.

Yeah.

Like it was kind of all like the stars were kind of like aligning in like a weird, beautiful way.

And in that moment, we weren't like, let's do this for the next 10 years.

It really, again, was kind of like, let's see how this goes.

Yeah.

Because again, you were so young.

We were like, Lauren, if in two years you decide you don't want to do this anymore, you can still go get your PhD.

Yeah.

Like, so I was, I think I was at 27 at this point.

Yes.

So there was time.

And again,

just for context, unwell, the company hadn't been started.

It was still just me at Spotify.

And

so we started.

Yeah.

And

I remember offering you,

where were we when I offered you your salary?

Um, I remember exactly where I was.

I was sitting at my kitchen table, and I almost fell out of the chair.

I literally remember being like, okay, so I'm going to give her like a full-time salary.

You're my only employee, basically.

So I was like, uh,

and I went in and I like pitched you, and you were like, Yeah, I'll take it.

Yeah, for sure, Alex.

And we just started.

and let's talk about how you first started because I think now being able to say like you are the head lead producer of this show I did not start there she no she did not so when Lauren came in you really took on the research role so a lot of what Lauren was coming in and helping me do was there's so much information obviously about the guests that I will be interviewing and Lauren was a beast with research because that literally was.

Like my master's degree for clinical psych, I was just cranking out research and cranking out papers so like i can research and i can write and so then talk to people a little bit about like what your first position was and like what you did so if you had a guest on and the guest had an autobiography i would read the autobiography essentially turn it into a book report and present to you and like brief you on the person's life and then i started getting like more systematized and like i made you like a research system where like i made like a memo where it like breaks out like fast facts about them put their life into a timeline put in angles i think you'd be interested in put in things I think you should avoid talking to them about.

And I'd kind of like talk to you about the person and like get you,

I would just brief you on the person and kind of pitch to you like what I think would be interesting for you to talk to them about.

Yes.

And that was kind of the start of it.

Slowly, it has completely changed in a beautiful way.

As my Spotify career continued, we then

started unwell.

And once we, Matt and I I started unwell, and our company started to grow, Lauren and I recognized that there were so many more tentacles of the business that I was being involved in.

And so I was like, I need you to take on a bigger role for Call her Daddy.

And so, what that looked like was Lauren started now to, in researching, she would write the full first draft of the interviews instead of me now.

And so, she was doing the research and she was writing these episodes.

And then she was also helping me with all of the social media organization.

So I would have a vision of how I wanted to roll.

I'm very specific about how I want to roll out who the guest is, what I want the teasers to be, what I want the promo to be.

And so Lauren would start working with our editors on crafting the promo, writing a script.

This is what this, this is what the promo should say.

This is at the time that this needs to get uploaded.

At that point, I started like kind of touching everything.

Yes.

And

finally, I think once we realized we needed more people on our team is really when you took your net, the next jump of your career, which was we found truly one of the most talented writers I think we've both ever worked with.

We stole her from CNN, from the news world.

Shout out Chase.

We love you.

And she came on and changed your life because.

Like, I was talking about this like with Chase recently because she was like, I cannot fathom because now we have like a, we have more researchers too, which is really helpful because with my background, I make us take the research so seriously.

Yes.

Um,

and they were like, How the hell were you doing this alone?

We, well, we don't know, but we got-I would start, I would start work at 6 a.m.

and probably work until 9 p.m.

And we, we wouldn't stop.

Like, we were obsessed with it.

But again, we loved it so much that it I never would wake up and be like, fuck my life.

Like, I have so much work.

Fuck Alex.

I was like, this is so exciting.

We have three interviews this week.

I have three books to read this week.

We got to get done.

We have three interviews to write this week.

And so finally, once Unwell was up and running, I think

it was very clear now that we needed to yet again reconfigure and systematize because we now do have an editor on Call Her Daddy.

And although there are some weeks that I'm like, I will be personally editing this, like for example, the Kamala Harris interview.

I was like, no one can touch this.

I have to edit this on my own.

Those are moments.

I'm still doing final edits or whatever, but we now have someone who's helping with edit.

Shout out Alex T.

Love you.

Love you.

What I will say is I think there's a lot of people on the internet, which makes me laugh.

Understandably, I get why people would think that though, again, is because when I signed with Spotify, when I signed with Sirius XM, I think there's this

idea that there's these corporate big wigs who are like handing me the cards and saying, say all of this.

And I'm just like this host.

And meanwhile, it's like when you're for literally my entire Spotify time, when you're reading these questions,

it's us.

Like, it's us putting this shit together.

And now as we ventured on, it's, yes, it's literally me, Lauren, and

one to two other young women in their 20s.

And we're all doing basically a round table.

We're talking about what we want the interview to be.

And then we've got a, someone's going to do the research.

Someone's starting the prelim on like what the interview flow will be.

We're doing multiple drafts.

We're having Zoom meetings every week.

We're going through, oh, I don't like this.

Let's change this.

Let's move this up here.

This topic should hit harder.

Let's move this to the front.

Like, and then I go and I do the job.

And so it's so collaborative.

It's so rewarding.

And the interview process has become such a well-oiled machine, but it's taken a lot of work to get there.

So why don't you talk a little bit about what you do every week?

With having Unwell Now and you doing so many things beyond call her daddy, I handle anything logistic related to call her daddy.

So anyone on the call her daddy team reports to me and I manage the entire team and I'm essentially the person who makes sure from booking to the editor to the social media team to the research team to the interview being written to communicating with PR reps to

making sure that episode makes it on uploaded on time.

Yes.

That I'm handling like everything, making sure everything is happening and everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing.

So that now you are purely thinking about nothing besides the creative.

And it's so nice the way that you are able to keep the ship running.

And sometimes you'll have three interviews in a week.

Yes.

And it's insane chaos, but it's amazing.

And we love it.

Yeah.

I was going to say, like,

I've never felt so fulfilled, never felt so stimulated.

I've never felt

like I've done something that's had this much of an impact before.

Like we're saying how like we work insane hours, but like I never wake up dreading my job.

I sometimes like wonder like, ooh, like how did I like clock like a 14 hour day yesterday and like not think twice?

I'm like, I don't feel burnt out.

It's because like I legitimately like love this job so much and I care so much about this job.

And I think like one of the coolest things is

how much autonomy I feel like I have.

I feel like that's like a big factor of like loving my job.

Like I can have a therapy session where I'm like, I just had the best talk of my entire life.

And I can be like, Alex, like, I think we need to talk about this.

You're like, okay, go write an episode.

Or I'll read something and I'll be like, this is important.

Like, go write an episode.

It's such a rewarding process

that I think looking back on the days that I obviously took such pride in doing it all on my own.

I think I now take so much more pride on not doing it all on my own because I think getting to share

the joy of what this show

does every week with other people who get to be a part of the behind the scenes, it is

indescribable, the feeling.

Like I know it sounds sappy, Daddy Gang, but like getting to give you guys interesting, fun, engaging content every week, and it all is coming from the hearts of us and a few more other young women in their 20s, like it's so fucking cool that we are creating these conversations.

And it's coming from this, like, just genuine place of, like, we're literally saying some of these ideas are because we were at a dinner and then it turns into an episode that's getting millions of views.

I'm like,

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Let's talk also now about, I think, one of the biggest questions that we have gotten online since announcing that Lauren and I work together is how

the hell do you guys have a work-friendship balance?

Because that just seems like it is a disaster waiting to happen.

And I completely understand why you would think that.

So let us tell you about it.

I think that like we kind of described in the beginning days when it was just us, we are extremely, we've always been very communicative.

And I think,

although this may sound weird, once we kind of got our rhythm of how we wanted to work together, like literally of just like, are you getting paid?

Are you quitting your job?

Okay, now you are getting paid.

Now you have a salary.

What is my job role?

What are my like day-to-day responsibilities?

Yes.

Once that happened,

when we're just working, it is the easiest thing in the world.

And I will say, it is easier than when we were kids.

Like when Lauren and I were

children, we

you we had such a passion for filming and writing scripts and, and creating these worlds together.

And the two of us, like my mom says in the documentary, when the two of us were in a room, it was almost too much.

We both were so creative and passionate.

And so we were staying up until like 3 a.m.

Like in your dad's closet editing like as children.

And taking it so serious.

And so when one of us had a vision and the other disagreed, we would butt heads more back then, be like, no, Lauren, like that won't keep the viewer engaged.

And you're like, but Alex, it looks better if it's like this.

We were so much more combative when we were younger.

Now it's like, it's just seamless.

I think something that

may sound counterintuitive is I think it's actually easier that there's a hierarchy.

And in theory, and we can get into this more in a minute.

In theory, you are my boss.

Right.

And I think that does make it easier because at the end of the day, it's your call and I'll defer to you.

It's not like we're like co-hosts, like arguing back and forth of like what we're going to talk about.

And at the end of the day, you're the one saying this shit.

Like, I'm not going to force words out of your mouth.

It's your voice and it's your show.

And like, I'm here

to help push us forward and make us better and guide you and help you.

But I'm not going to tell you your views and beliefs on something.

It's a good point.

Like, I feel like you've always been so respectful of as invested

as you are, you know, when it's like, okay, but it is your call.

And, but again, like, we are so in sympathetic with almost everything.

And I never want to get in front of the camera if we haven't talked through something where I'm like, but what do you think about it?

And then even if I, if I hear your piece and I disagree with you, I'm going to speak it out to you.

And if you disagree with me,

I don't think I've ever gotten on camera with us.

being in disagreement and being like, well, I'm going to say it anyways ever in my career.

And there is, I feel like rarely moments, but there have been moments

the team will say something to me and I'll be like, guys, I totally hear what you're saying, but I'm going to disagree with you guys on this one and I'm going to just go for it.

And that is the beauty of it's my show.

I can do that.

But I do think it's very rare that I go against the grain of the team.

And I, it's just when I'm having a feeling, most of it is when it's like comes to marketing and social media.

I feel like I have this pulse on it that sometimes I just have this feeling and I've got to go with my fucking gut.

Yeah.

I think another thing is like how we maintain a friendship and a working relationship is

during like the work week, we are very professional.

Like if we get on a Zoom, like we're not shooting the shit on a Zoom.

Oh no.

Someone, if someone like not in our company got on the Zoom, they would have no idea that we're best friends.

Like we are very no one would know.

Yeah.

We really save our like catch ups because our current

situation is I come to LA for a full week every month.

So that becomes more where we merge the two.

Yes.

I stay in your house.

We have dinner every night together.

We

jacuzzi hangooooze.

Yeah.

And we are like, the minute we'll be like, okay, it's like 6.30.

Should we stop working?

And they'll be like, immediately we close our laptops.

We go in, we watch a show, we drink wine, and we can turn on friend mode immediately.

But that is just because I think of the years of repetition.

Again, when Lauren moved to Chicago, we kind of had also in her send-off a conversation of like, our friendship is so solid.

We have been friends for basically our whole lives.

Neither of us are worried about our friendship.

Let's really pour into this.

Figuring out what is our working dynamic and what is our working relationship.

And to do that, it's really confusing if we're working together during the daytime and you're trying to have the strength or not even strength, but you're trying to feel comfortable enough to tell me, I don't like that, or that's not good enough.

And then a few hours later, we're shooting the shit about like, do you like this outfit?

Like, yes.

That was

confusing in the beginning where we needed to just figure out how do we get comfortable of having working conversations.

Yes.

And having them side by side with friend conversations was difficult.

But now we're like.

fucking experts.

I know.

We're so fucking good at it now.

Like we can, if it's five minutes before and I'm like, wait, are you on a Zoom?

And Lauren will be like, no, I just got off my last Zoom.

I'm like, wait, get on the Zoom link before everyone gets on because I want to hear about the date last night.

And we'll like quickly talk for five minutes.

And then all everyone else on the team gets on and we're like, hello, everyone.

And we pretend we didn't talk for five minutes.

And it's like, we can shut it on, shut it off.

I think it's also been really important to us because I recognize that as the, you know, owner of the company and as the host of the show, like.

I can make all these calls.

And I think I have such a respect for you and awareness for you that I don't want our dynamic to ever impact the way other people on the team or at the company feel about you.

And I think, obviously, it was easy when it was just the two of us, but now I never wanted you to feel like, oh, fuck.

I can feel that other employees are like, oh, Lauren just gets special treatment or Lauren gets to do this because she's Alex's best friend.

I think if you asked anyone at our company, they would say, One, without a doubt, Laura McMullen is the hardest working person at this company.

She will do anything and everything to get the job done.

You are so brilliant.

Everyone respects you.

And so I think if there is a moment, yes, of course, where they're like, Where does Lauren stay when she comes to LA?

Well, of course, you're staying in my house, but it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way because I don't think, one, when we're in the office, we don't speak like we're friends.

You are the producer of Call Her Daddy.

Like, people will hear me on Zooms being like, Lauren, that doesn't look good enough.

Can you please like circle back with the team?

I need like three.

We'll fix this and like make it better and come back.

Yeah.

I think I can say the reason you and I have had such a successful outcome in working together is because this isn't a friendship.

It's

you are my sister.

Like truly, like again, in the documentary, you see like

the ties that our families have, the relationship basically from fucking diapers together.

Like this isn't something that if we get in a fight, then you're just out of my life or I'm out of your life.

Like we are together forever.

And I think it has allowed us to lean into the professional aspect in a way that we have such unwavering respect for each other that nothing could come between that.

Because when it has, and when we've had issues, it is immediate.

We're on the phone or we're in person.

We're like, let's work through this.

And it has been pretty seamless.

Yeah.

And I can imagine a lot of people on the internet being like,

How, how?

I mean, of course, I have like the looming cloud of the one

really public fallout with a woman.

And I feel like that has obviously

tainted a lot of people's opinion of me.

As a friend?

Yeah, as a friend.

Even though that's the only friendship people publicly saw

of mine that they thought they knew the whole story understandably, because we did an incredible job of what our job was.

And it was marketing this friendship.

But I think it was just, it's just hard because I can understand people would try to compare the two almost in like, Alex, how did you not learn your lesson of working with friends?

And I'm like, it's just so different.

I think that's difficult for me to sit back and watch and read.

And I'm assuming there'll probably be those type of comments when this comes out, like, oh, how did you not learn your lesson?

It's going to happen again.

And like one, like we were saying, like, I've known you for 25 years.

I think people forget that you knew her for a year and a half in total.

It's just a very different situation.

And

I'm really proud of our friendship.

And I think every friendship in my life, I almost always look at us as like the model friendship because I think the way that we communicate, the way that we respect each other, the way that we are honest with each other and loyal to each other has allowed us to put ourselves into what maybe some people would

understandably think would be a difficult situation to put a friendship under that kind of pressure.

And the fact that we've thrived and has been, I think, a testament to how hard we work at being with each other through it all.

I agree.

Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Hungry Root.

Okay,

I feel like we're all so busy, understandably.

We got jobs, we got men problems,

we got all the things going on, daddy gang.

And the one thing that I hate being stressed about is getting my groceries.

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Here's the thing: I will get home from work and be like, oh my God, I forgot to order my groceries or go grocery shopping.

And that is the last thing that I want to stress about after a very, very, very, very, very stressful day at work.

Okay.

The thing I love about Hungry Root is the convenience.

We don't have time, Daddy King.

We don't have time.

Okay.

What you can do with the time you save not having to go grocery shopping is endless.

Okay.

I can get in the shower.

I can do an everything shower.

I can sit down.

I can answer my emails.

And then boom, by the time I've been so productive, my groceries are arriving.

Also, I really appreciate the health element of Hungry Root.

I'm going to be honest: if I'm doing my own grocery shopping, I'm probably going for the donuts.

Okay.

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We asked the internet if you guys have any questions for Lauren and I about working together.

And so we are going to answer them today.

Lauren, do you want to read some?

What is the coolest experience the two of you have gotten to have together since working together?

Ooh.

The Olympics was obviously very fun.

The Olympics was insane.

Like, I think, especially with our sports background, I think the two of us getting to go and produce a show for Peacock.

It was so much fucking work.

It was

so much work, but it was so rewarding.

Or we won a fucking Emmy for it.

Holy, we won an Emmy.

Wait, I forgot.

Did we never tell anyone that?

No, you guys, we won an Emmy.

Lauren and I are both going to have Emmys in our offices.

Yeah.

I forgot to.

So it made all of the blood, sweat, and tears worth it.

It was so much work, but it was really rewarding.

And I think I'm really proud of us because trying a new format, doing live, it was, yeah, Olympics was pretty fucking cool.

Okay.

What is Alex's best and worst quality as a boss?

Oh, okay.

And then you can do it about me.

What is my best and worst quality as an employee?

Okay.

You go first.

Okay, your best quality is how much you care because I think it's really palpable and the expectations are high and the standards high.

Obviously, that's what makes the show one of the best in the world.

But I think how much you care and how hard you work inspires everyone on the team.

And I think the whole company is inspired.

So you're inspiring so many people on a daily basis.

And also the whole daddy gang.

Oh my God.

Love you.

I love you too.

That's really sweet.

Okay, now you're about to hit me with the worst.

Your worst quality is your fucking typing skills.

I fucking knew you were going to say that.

I don't like no, I don't know if you like skipped typing class all of elementary school.

Lori Cooper, like what were you doing to your daughter?

But she cannot type.

No, no, I purposely change the settings on Google Docs so that she can't get in and access them because she'll fuck them up.

I'll make like a chart or a diagram.

You like put caps lock on in the middle of a sentence.

You have like punctuation in the middle of a sentence.

Like it's, it's, I need to like.

No, Lauren like gets angry with me.

She'll be like, stop typing because I'll have a thought.

Or, or when I'm talking so fast and you can only type so fast.

So then I pick it up and I try to add on what I'm saying.

And then you're like, Alex, stop it.

Get out of my documents.

Cause Lauren's very specific about her formatting and her documents.

And I come in and I just crush your fucking soul.

I don't also know why.

I never learned.

I, for some reason, always use caps lock, not shift.

So then I'll be in caps lock and I'll look up and be like, oh, fuck.

No, it's bad.

And even like in your work slacks, like,

oh.

Even in your work slacks, well, we don't slack each other.

Like, our company has a strict policy for work-life balance.

We talk on slack, but we'll, we will text.

That's the one thing that, like, we go around.

We're inappropriate.

Yeah, we, we text.

We don't slack with each other.

But when you slack,

you're so like, I guess it's good, blunt, but like, you just always seem so angry on slack where I'm like.

And then you always sometimes will call me and be like, wait, you good?

Oh, no.

Yeah, I'm bad.

I'm a bad

text.

You're bad with your fingers and words.

Leave the words to your mouth.

Well, truly.

You're not one for the...

I will say it's an abomination when I get it in those documents.

It's bad.

I just feel like, yeah, it's not my strong suit.

No.

Okay.

My favorite thing of working with you, two things, but only because I have to say it, even though I'm kind of taking yours, but it's a different version, which is

when I started Call Her Daddy, I genuinely never believed someone would care about the product as much as I do.

And I know

it is unrealistic for anyone to care that much, but you are second to none.

Like, I know if there is something going on and it's 3 a.m.

and I call you and I'm freaking out about something with Call Her Daddy, you will do anything, no matter where you are in the world, no matter what's happening, you will drop everything and you put Call Her Daddy first always.

And it makes me just feel so supportive because in it being my show, I understand someone wouldn't love it as much as I do.

And it really does feel like you care as much as I do.

So that's number one.

Number two, I think

it has been

such an incredible

process

watching you

become a boss.

And from starting in research and now growing to people reporting to you and reporting structures and how much they respect you as a boss, I know something Matt and I had wanted you to work on the past like two years was being more direct and being not confrontational, but just being able to have these hard conversations, whether it's a layoff, like you've had to, Lauren has had to lay people off.

Lauren has had to have honest conversation if work isn't up to par.

Lauren has had to, you've just had a lot of growing, I feel like, in the past two years since Unwell has started.

That I do think has allowed you to step into this

executive role in a way that has

changed the way I think people see you in this space.

Again, as you're not my best friend, you are one of the best, highest people at this company, and you are there for a fucking reason.

It has nothing to do with you being my best friend.

It's because you're really fucking talented.

Okay, we're going to get emotional.

Okay, your worst thing, if we're going to be nitpicky, ever since someone bought you your headphones that you edit with or you're like doing your notes with, what do you think I'm going to say?

Every time I call you on the phone, you're like, get in the corner.

You sound like you're underwater and you're going in and out.

You're spotty.

And I can't hear a word you're fucking saying.

So I'm calling Lauren after like a debrief of a fucking interview.

And I, every time I finish my interview, I get into my car.

We have this ritual.

I call Lauren immediately.

And I.

And I, because I zoom into the interviews and I listen to the interviews live.

And then I call her.

And as when it's on the top of my head, we go through every single question that I I asked and Lauren is at her computer and I debrief every question.

Oh, that wasn't interesting.

We're going to cut that one.

Oh, we're going to have to cut this down.

That their answer wasn't that interesting.

Oh, I want to move that to the front.

And I give Lauren all these notes.

And Lauren sounds like this.

And I'm like, Lauren.

And she's like, sorry, sorry.

Turning off my AirPods.

Sorry, Apple.

I don't know what the fuck is going on, but it is.

I think it's that an issue with my phone too, maybe.

Yeah, something's going on.

Yeah, yeah.

I literally am like, Lauren.

You're like, sorry, sorry, disconnecting, disconnecting.

That's my biggest pet peeve of you.

Oh, great.

It's like literally so minimal you're a bad typer and i wear headphones during conversations yeah it's fine okay what else what is the most awkward conversation you've had to have at work

oh i know this the most awkward conversation the two of us have had to have at work yeah i know this okay go ahead so back like we were saying when it was just the two of us um i asked you for a performance review why did i forget about this because i blacked it out yeah because i fucking blacked it out you were like i don't really like we don't need to do i'm like no no no.

Like, I need to like know, like, what are like my next steps to grow and how I'm doing.

And like, we need to have an honest conversation about things I need to grow on and how you feel about me and the company.

And for context, when she says company, this is before

unwell has started before we have 70, 80 people working at this company.

So it's me and Lauren.

And Lauren's like, let's sit down for a review.

And I'm like.

Sure, let me pour myself a coffee, even though we talk every minute of the day.

And I was like, Lauren, I don't know if I can do a performance review.

And she was like, just try.

You guys, I wish we would have fucking recorded this Zoom.

We both show up with notes that we both wrote.

And we're probably disgusting.

No, fuck you.

And you can tell we're both reading off of our notes.

Because Lauren's like, I'm going to advocate for myself now and pitch as to why I deserve a raise.

And I'm literally sitting there and be like, okay, go ahead.

And you can tell Lauren's like reading off of her computer.

And then I'm like, here's my growth.

Here are my strengths.

And we're both dying laughing.

You're like, no, stop.

We need to be serious.

serious.

Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Hungry Root.

Okay.

I feel like we're all so busy, understandably.

We got jobs, we got men problems,

we got all the things going on, Daddy Gang.

And the one thing that I hate being stressed about is getting my groceries.

And that has all changed thanks to Hungry Root.

It is one of the easiest ways to eat healthy.

Basically, Hungry Root is like having your own personal shopper.

They take care of weekly grocery shopping, recommending healthy groceries tailored to your taste, nutrition preferences, and health goals.

Here's the thing.

I will get home from work and be like, oh my God, I forgot to order my groceries or go grocery shopping.

And that is the last thing that I want to stress about after a very, very, very, very, very stressful day at work.

Okay.

The thing I love about Hungry Root is the convenience.

We don't have time, Daddy King.

We don't have time.

Okay.

What you can do with the time you save not having to go grocery shopping is endless.

Okay.

I can get in the shower.

I can do an everything shower.

I can sit down.

I can answer my emails.

And then boom, by the time I've been so productive, my groceries are arriving.

Also, I really appreciate the health element of Hungry Root.

I'm going to be honest, if I'm doing my own grocery shopping, I'm probably going for the donuts.

Okay.

But with Hungry Root, they are constantly able to suggest healthy options to you.

So take advantage of this exclusive offer for a limited time.

Get 40% off your first box.

Plus, get a free item in every box for life.

Go to hungryroot.com slash callherdaddy and use code callherdaddy.

That's hungryroot.com slash call her daddy.

Code call her daddy to get 40%

off your first box and a free item of your choice for life.

Hungryroot.com slash call her daddy.

Code call her daddy.

Daddy gang, make your life easier with Hungry Root.

Oh, I'm not switching my team to some fancy work platform that somehow knows exactly how we work.

And its AI features are literally saving us hours every day.

We're big fans.

And just like that, teams all around the world are falling for Monday.com.

With intuitive design, seamless AI capabilities, and custom workflows, it's the work platform your team will instantly click with.

Head to Monday.com, the first work platform you'll love to use.

Okay, Okay, one of the questions is, is her name Lauren or Laren?

Her name is Lauren,

but her nickname is Laren.

Because my mom was so southern.

She'd be like, Laren.

Laren.

Laren.

What's one thing you didn't know about each other until working together?

That's hard.

Go ahead.

Mine's like kind of deep.

When you're good friends with someone, like obviously you celebrate their successes and you know their accomplishments and

like you, or like, I did this at work today and I accomplished that.

Like, when you get to like see it and witness it on a day-to-day level, it's like a whole different experience.

And like, I obviously knew you were creative and I knew you were smart, but like

you're like brilliant and you're like a genius.

And like, I am constantly in all of you.

And I'm just like, damn, how'd she think of that?

Lauren.

You're literally making me cry.

Thank you.

No, I feel the same way about you.

I think working with you, I always knew you were so smart.

And obviously, like, we

in living together when you were more in the academic field, I was always just so inspired.

But it's hard tangibly to be like, I'm not in that field.

I don't know what a research paper is supposed to sound like or look like.

Yeah.

And I always knew you were so brilliant.

And we always talked about that, like how you just took after your dad in that way.

Like, he was so fucking bright.

It was like inspiring to be in rooms with him.

And I feel that way about you.

Like, and now getting to work with you, the way that you are so good

at

multitasking and yet giving somehow 100% to every multitask at the same time, like you juggle so many things at once and you're so eloquent and calm.

And I don't know, it's just really fun to watch something that wasn't like your natural thing that you wanted to do in your life become something that you are beyond talented in.

It is really cool to see you take it on and conquer it and make it look like you went to fucking school for this shit.

So I don't know.

It's just really cool to watch each other grow.

And like, I think that was a moment where, so when the premiere of the documentary happened,

I think Lauren and I were just so, but you were both just so emotional because again, this is a documentary, yes, about the rise of Color Daddy Daddy and my life.

And then you are a huge part of it.

But I think a lot of that documentary was so full circle for us because of how long we've been doing this together.

And so there was so much emotion tied into it.

And our best friend, Kristen, who is like the third in our dynamic from childhood, who is in our childhood videos, the three of us getting to come together, I think was such a beautiful moment for me because I,

when you are having a lot of accomplishments, sometimes you forget to pause and really stop and be like, we, if you knew this at 18,

you wouldn't even believe it.

So I think being around you has also allowed me to stop and really be more present because you remind me of childhood and you remind me of home.

So it's like I can

hold out of being on like executives around me and all these people from Spotify or Sirius, whoever it be.

And when I look at you, it brings me back to childhood and it makes this job still feel like a mom and pop thing that like hasn't gotten too big and out of my control and it still is my baby and it still is something that is all that's coming from the heart and i think that's what i'm excited about that people know now that you are

working with me it i hope it gives people more clarity whether you hate the interviews or love the interviews like

It's us.

And it's not some big corporation that's writing these things and I'm just regurgitating.

Like, it's us and like it or hate it

I'm really proud that we haven't strayed from the basement to now like it is always gonna be us

look at that ending that was I think that's where we have to end it you guys I am so so happy we finally got to get this off our chest now no one's gonna think Lauren just like doesn't have a job and just like is randomly an elevator for like the longest time all the comments were always like how is Lauren always with you like how does she like travel around?

Like, does she even have a job?

Right.

I have a job.

Lauren works at Call Her Daddy and Unwell.

And

it's just now, I guess, the beginning of you guys knowing this next chapter of our life.

And I don't think we're slowing down anytime soon.

I think we're just ramping up.

Oh, there's so much coming.

Get fucking ready, bitches.

Love you guys.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

I will see you fuckers next Wednesday.

Goodbye.

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