Edgar Momplaisir

Edgar Momplaisir is co-host of Culture Kings and host of The Wokest. Follow Edgar on Twitter here and follow Culture Kings on Twitter here. (And listen to my favorite episode of Culture Kings here.)

I talked to Jacquis about Culture Kings. Tell us about The Wokest. How did you get the idea?
The idea kind of came from me calling myself out. I know I’m wild on Twitter but I used to be insufferable on Facebook. I would write these long, self-righteous Facebook posts about police brutality, feminism, Kanye West. You name it. I started realizing I was setting myself up as this center for the right take for so many things. Then I got dragged a few times for a few different things and I realized, oh shit. I’m not right all the time. So if anyone is a target of the show, it’s kind of my own hypocrisy. I’m basically trying to realize how many times I have 3 fingers pointing back at myself whenever I try to be “performatively” woke. Zig and I worked very hard to make that distinction. We’re not calling out social justice warriors who are doing amazing work or laughing at people who are trying to better themselves. Shit! I’m trying to better myself. I’ve discovered a lot of blind spots that I’m deep in therapy trying to help. But more so, how some people can kind of take that self-righteous approach to almost mask this hidden guilt of theirs or attack others.

How do you tap into your character for The Wokest?
I think calling what I do on that show character play very generous. I think of it as more of just an exaggeration. It’s essentially the same voice I would use when I would TERRIBLY do play by play for women’s basketball games back in college. I remember a fan yelling at me “How about you use some energy?!” Then I never did it again.

Do you have favorite episodes of Culture Kings or The Wokest?
For Culture Kings, the Church episode and the tour of Chicago are two of my favorite big jumps we have ever taken. We were just having fun and I’ll never forget realizing the secret message of Jacquis’ “sermon”. I laughed so fucking hard. 

For The Wokest, it’d have to be the Ayo Edebiri episode for me. Like I said above, I’m not doing too much to change me so I think for maybe one or two guests, they were like—I’m talking to Edgar. But Ayo leaned into the bit in a way that really made me laugh and blew my mind. Those are my favorite kind of episodes. Rae Sanni did the same. Andrew Ti as well. The Boys, Gabrus, Sean O’Connor. I guess a lot of people did but also—I think I’m attached to the sort of message we reached at the end of Ayo’s episode. Which like gave me a huge inspiration for where to take the second season. If that happens......

Your girlfriend Anna is an amazing artist. How do you two talk about work and inspire each other? How has she changed your work and how have you changed hers?
We mostly talk about our work by texting each other “Is this crazy? I want to do X and is that crazy?” And the other person is like nah, go for it! I don’t know if I’ve had as much of an impact on Anna’s work as she’s had on mine. For me, she’s totally made me think about the more weirder sides of myself. I think a lot of Anna’s best jokes go unnoticed cause they are on her Twitter. Look, I love her comic but on her Twitter, she puts up these weird, absurd jokes that I get so jealous of. So I think Anna has made me embrace the more absurd side of myself. Me to her? One time, I told her lose one word on her comic cause I thought it was too wordy. She reluctantly did so and it’s her least liked comic to date. So, pretty one-sided.

What do you do to take care of yourself?
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I hit a massive depressive downswing last Fall. I know depression is as popular as Taylor Swift these days (one might argue that those two things are connected) but my downswings can get rough. I don’t shower. I sit in my room. I let trash pile up all around me. And I just order food. At the time it was Domino’s: one medium thin crust Mushroom pizza, cheesy bread, and wings! Almost every day!!!

I hit a point where I was just tired and signed up for a great therapist via @blackmarkettherapy on Instagram. And together, we just set goals on like breaking through that stuff. Right now, I’m trying to figure out what a solid routine is. I think I’ve nailed it to four things: I write (in any shape), I limit my video game time, I workout or play basketball, and I do some work on this app Sanvello.

Listen, if you take anything from this long, winded interview: use the app Sanvello. It has changed my life! It’s a cognitive behavioral therapy app that like helps you combat negative thoughts, set goals for yourself, and helps you realize which days are healthy and which days are rough. Everyone, please use it!

I am such a fan of podcasters like you, Jacquis, Anna and Shereen, Miles and Jack, Jon Gabrus, Jackie Johnson, Laci, Ryan Stanger and Eugene Cordero, Mike Mitchell, Nick Wiger, Lauren Lapkus, Alison Rosen, Brandie Posey, Teresa Lee, so many many! I picture you all out in LA hanging out all the time, bopping in and out of each other's apartments, kind of like an episode of Friends. Is any of this true? Please say yes. Wouldn't it be a good TV show?
When I saw this question, I was like—man, she’s gonna be disappointed when she realizes none of us know each other but I would say that I hang out with some names on this list a lot. I see Laci at least twice a week. Shereen, I consider a very good friend. I’ve hung out with Teresa quite a few times. I always run into her randomly. There’s quite a few of us that are good friends off the mic.

Thanks, Edgar!