I Interviewed Johan! Plus: Mox's R&B Playlist

After I interviewed Mayo last week, I figured I’d continue introducing you to others on our team. This week, we bring you Johan, the mystery man behind the cameras — whose face was first (finally!) revealed in our live episode a couple of weeks ago. Obviously Sheek loves his hair and you can assume he wears the same shoe size as Styles, but surely there’s more to this kid from Queens?? What follows is my interview with Johan, conducted on the ride up from the city yesterday on the way to the studio.

Alright, Johan, first of all, how do you know us?

I met you guys at Aristotle Torres’ office in like 2013. It's funny, I saw the photo the other day, it came up on my Apple throwback thing. He was kind of trying to do what Vice was doing before Vice was doing it. And he wanted you guys to have your own show on the platform. And I remember kind of being like, “holy shit, I'm finally meeting somebody that I've been wanting to meet for a very long time.” Because I had been watching you guys since you were doing the skits with Cam’ron and Max B. I remember just being like, “oh, these guys are going to be on SNL soon.”

Where would you rank working with 2J3BD in difficulty vs. all the other jobs you’ve had in the past?

First off, this does not feel like a job. This feels like I’m cheating the system and getting paid for it. Before I started being a videographer, I was doing freight deliveries with my dad. And those were like, really long days. Being a busboy, being a barback, working at Starbucks, working at Southern Star Mortgage before they got raided by the feds. I started as a boom operator in video before I even picked up a camera. I was probably the worst boom operator you've ever seen in your life.

What? How?

I say with all due respect, I’m not as tall as you, Jeff. It’s impossible if you’re a short guy. We were doing like, a horror movie and the mic would just be in the shot all the time. I got kicked out maybe halfway through the day. Like, the sound guy was just like, fuck this, man. I'm sorry, you're gonna have to go home. They paid me for the full day. They're like, this is not for you. And I was like, alright, maybe somebody will let me touch their camera. And that worked out a lot better for me.

What is something about the showcast that people wouldn't know, like, that only you know because you're in the circle?

Styles is a sweetheart. Styles is just very kind. I feel like Styles would give you the shirt off of his back if he saw you in trouble.

Or the shoes off his feet.

Yea, that. Sheek doesn't put effort in being funny. He's just funny. That's just him. It's not an act. Funny shit comes out of Sheek's mouth, whether he likes it or not. And Jada is such a diva. But in the best way. Not in a way you’re put off, or like in The Devil Wears Prada. It's more like, you're entertained by his shenanigans at the same time.

And what don't people know about what we talk about in these drives up to the studio?

Oh, we talk shit about everybody. I’m kidding. Honestly, the reason I think we get along so much is because you guys remind me of the friendships I used to have in junior high school when things weren't that serious and you didn't have to worry about finances and women problems. We talk about entertainment in a way that's just really inside baseball. And even if we disagree, I feel like I'm learning something from you guys. Like, all the time.

That's nice! I feel like we mostly learn about professional wrestling from you on these rides. What's a movie that you would want to see covered on 2J3BD?

I've been thinking about this: definitely Forrest Gump. The soundtrack is amazing. Tom Hanks just hits it out of the park. And there's so much that happens in that movie. The Vietnam War and the 60s. The fact that it goes through so many aspects of American life and, like, American history. Kennedy being killed and the concept of it is just so bizarre and crazy: this man just kind of waltzes through life, but at the right place at the right time. I remember the trailer having this ridiculous line of, “The man who was not good at anything, but one thing: life.” It’s the most ridiculous movie ever, but it's so entertaining.

I feel like Eric would love it most, who do you think would like it least?

I think Sheek likes it most. Maybe he’s like a Jack Burton character to Sheek. But Jada might knock some thumbs off because there’s not many Black people in it.

Since you sit with the edits an watch every episode at least twice, what are the one or two times you’ve laughed the hardest?

This last episode really had me fucking dying. To see the kind of rage that Mox is able to build up within Styles. If you watch that again, you’ll notice that Jada’s trying to talk himself out of having this conversation with him. Like, Mox pulls Jada into the conversation! Jada wants nothing to do with it. And Jada’s just fuming. The first shot you see of Jada, I had to, like, zoom way in because he had such a look of disappointment in his face. And then, at the same time, Mox is just, like tickling a lion’s toe or something with Styles; just infuriating him.

ERIC: You know what I loved? How, in the part before the AKAs, Mox says “I’m not here to complain…” and it’s like, oh god, here we go.

Words that aged poorly within two minutes.

Without recency bias, like, is there another moment or two?

Sheek with the thing about Little House on the Prairie, man. That part fucking kills me so much, that Michael Landon was a cuckold. I think Styles didn’t get it at the time and then he found out later. Sheek was like, “Google it. Or maybe not.” Sheek will always get me with some shit. Jada, too. It even happened in this last episode where Jada was like, “Wait your turn, Mox.” Jeff and I were just laughing our asses off at the fact that he just straight-faced older brother’d him. It kills me so much.

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This week’s episode revolving around Weekend at Bernie’s begins with a heated argument: Who does Tony Moxberg think won the R&B battle at the live show? Tony Moxberg, of course. And Styles ERUPTS, claiming that Mox doesn’t know who Marvin Gaye is — which isn’t helped by Mox not remembering 1) what song he chose or 2) not being able to name a Marvin Gaye song but 3) offering to sing the song he chose but also 4) not following through on the thing he offered up.

In the middle of all of this, Mox says readers of the newsletter can get their hands on his “🍷 Time” playlist, which he doesn’t send to just anyone. Yes, Marvin Gaye is on there, as are Tina Turner*, Fantasia, GIVĒON and Force MDs. No Johnny Gill though. Here’s the link, which Substack won’t let me like, preview more elegantly.

*Tina Turner, obviously, was who Mox played at the live show and didn’t remember.

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I forgot to ask what everyone’s watching this week, and I would rather send out the newsletter than ask them. So, sue me.

That’s about it for this week! As always, you can also find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram, TikTok and right here, for our weekly newsletter. But before we go:

Quiet week on the suggestions front! Maybe it’s because I hated on whoever asked for Baby Driver last week. My bad, but I can only be honest about how much I hated that movie. Eric and I saw Devil Wears Prada 2 on Sunday and both thought it was way better than we expected it’d be. I brought it up yesterday after we’d taped the T2 and City of God episodes and the guys were all excited to see it, so maybe that counts as the “what we’re watching this week.” Anyway, keep sending in ideas to our suggestion box!