Life & Work with Sasha Feiler & Joe Cabello Shut Up I Love It of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sasha Feiler & Joe Cabello Shut Up I Love It.

Hi Sasha Feiler & Joe Cabello, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
SASHA: These days, everyone and their audacious auntie has a podcast. But the genesis of Shut Up I Love It goes back to early 2019, when I met up with a friend from my old improv team. I pitched him the idea for a podcast where guests come on to defend something they love that the rest of the world dislikes — or even flat-out hates. We figured, why not try it. Between the two of us, we knew enough people in the LA comedy community to keep the guest list going for a while.

And so it began. Our first episode was an interview with my old friend, “the father of modern clown,” Chad Damiani, about the bonkers TV show BANSHEE. Shortly after, we interviewed screenwriter and comic book writer Zeb Wells about the song “Miracles” by Insane Clown Posse. Pitches kept on coming! Apparently, artists love loving the unloved. As the show went on, the premise expanded into covering topics that were forgotten, misunderstood, overlooked, Mandela-affected, marginalized, taboo — you name it. Anything the guest feels deserves a little sugar.

Then COVID hit and my co-host at the time quit. The weekly in-person recording started feeling overwhelming to him and he wanted to focus on surviving the apocalypse. Who would blame him? I knew that as charming as I might be solo, I needed a co-host, so I reached out to my good friend Joe.

I have been a fan of Joe since I met him in the line to a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater. We’ve been on multiple improv teams together. He’s the calmest guy you know but full of opinions. And that charming smile that effortlessly translates into the audio waves. I simply had to reach out.

JOE: When Sasha asked me to be co-host, I couldn’t have been more excited and honored. One, because I’ve always loved podcasting and it’s nice to be able to jump on a moving train as opposed to starting something new. Two, because I was actually a fan and listener of the show at the time. And three, because it was a great way to reconnect with Sasha. We had spent so much time together in the past doing improv and whatnot, but lost connection for a couple years before reconnecting right before the pandemic. Oh, yeah, and with the pandemic, it certainly made it nice to have a built in way to connect with people.

Getting to spend an hour each week talking with an old friend while meeting new ones kept me social during that time. That’s not to say I knew what I was doing at the beginning. Becoming a good co-host, interviewer, and all around communicator are skills that take time and practice. As we’ve continued, it feels like we’ve been able to create and discover what the show is and how we interact as hosts. I’m sure if you go back to my first episode then listen to an episode today, there’s a noticeable evolution. At least, I would hope haha.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
SASHA: Six years is a long time for anything to go smoothly. Between Joe and I, we each got married, I had two kids, and there was a good share of cats and dogs coming into our lives and, sadly, leaving them too. There were health scares, some real, some false — you name it. Apparently, life doesn’t care that you have a podcast.

But somehow, we never missed a week. You see, we discovered Zoom. As the pandemic has taught us, meeting in person was not a requirement. And when a major life event like a childbirth would appear on the horizon, we’d stockpile episodes like crazy. For things unexpected, we just pushed through. Much like one would push during childbirth.

JOE: It’s always a struggle booking guests, especially when it’s just Sasha and I running the show with no producer. Between finding times that work for everyone, finding people with adequate recording equipment, and helping people find topics that would work well for the podcast, it can be tough, but we continue on by inviting returning guests we love to talk to and making connections with new people.

We record over Zoom which is great for making scheduling easier, but not everyone always has the best internet or recording equipment. I was the problem in a recent episode when my internet got unexpectedly spotty and I disappeared for 1/4 of the show. It ended up being a fantastic episode nonetheless.

Another memorable episode in that regard was when one of our guests got caught up on the train and had to record from there. There we were, having a deep conversation, all the while battling train noise, announcements, and the general chaos going on around them. At the end of the day, we’re from the improv world. We know how to exist in the chaos.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
SASHA: We like to think of ourselves as the TED LASSO of podcasts. In the sense that we’re the epitome of warmcore, just in audio form. To be clear, you meet me in real life, and I’m not necessarily this warm and fuzzy person. But when it comes to Shut Up I Love It, the tone of the show is “coziness meets depth”.

I don’t need to tell you, the world already has enough podcasts where people spend an hour hating on something or someone. We didn’t feel like the world needed more of that. Whatever weird thing you want to praise to the world, bring it on. An old TV show like NEWHART. Eating the same food every day. Nicolas Cage. You might think, hating on something is funnier than spitting out love. Well, let’s just say that Joe and I argue plenty. We know the audience wants that conflict. And we give it to them.

As far was our guests go, we usually get comedians, writers and performers. People who do the same kind of thing we do. But there are exceptions. Recently we had the amazing Ramona Shelburne, who is the sportswriter for ESPN, talk about her love of being a working mom. Then, a week later, we recorded an episode with a veterinarian about pet longevity. As long as they love the topic, Joe and I are game.

JOE: I can tend to be someone who doesn’t shy away from being combative or openly disagreeing, and I definitely bring that energy to the show, but the experience of co-hosting this show has helped me learn to do that in a more productive way.

Generally, I really enjoy using the interview to understand why the guest loves the topic, regardless of how I feel about it. I have no intention of changing their mind about it, though I do like to give push back at times, as an avenue for them to think deeper about their topic and show their love for it, warts and all. I tend to do that whether or not I also love the topic.

My favorite thing to do, somewhat unintentionally, though it’s become a staple of the show, is to hold back my true feelings on the topic until the end during the rating system. That’s when I reveal how I really feel. Did I mention the rating system? At the end of the episode, both us and our guest rate the topic on a scale of 0-10 using something else as the basis of our rating. So if the topic was the movie K-Pax, you could rate chocolate chip cookies as a 10/10 because they’re warm and fuzzy and K-Pax as a 6/10 because it’s not. Or rate another movie as a 1/10 because it sucks and K-Pax a 10/10 because it’s much better. If that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. It usually doesn’t make sense to our guests (or even us) most of the time, but that’s the fun of it.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
SASHA: I feel like our listeners know everything about us at this point. My health anxieties and dog agility competitions. Joe’s karate tournaments and collecting toys. We hide nothing and conversely, want to get the same out of every interview. My mental mantra during a recording is, “How can we dig deeper?”.

Say, someone comes on to talk about the movie TRICK ‘R TREAT. But then the conversation becomes: why does this story connect with you so deeply? What emotional need is this thing filling for you? Did something happen in your life that made you latch onto it? Speaking of latching, one of our favorite episodes is where a guest describes her experience with a “latching entity”…which she enjoyed.

JOE: One thing that may surprise our listeners is that Sasha and I rarely see each other in person, or even talk outside of the podcast. I think we’ve seen each other in person three times in the past two or three years, which feels crazy because we genuinely are friends and enjoy each other’s company.

That being said, I talk with Sasha the most out of any of my friends because of the podcast. It’s just that when we talk, we’re hyper focused on another person and their topic. I probably know more about how she feels about Die Hard than what’s going on in her personal life haha.

Pricing:

• JOE: The podcast is free to listen to on all podcast platforms, but if people want to support the show, we have a Patreon (www.patreon.com/shutupiloveitpodcast). I mentioned earlier that Sasha and I barely talk outside of the podcast, which is why we started doing bonus episodes called Shut Up Sasha & Joe if you’re a paid patron (as little as $3/month). That’s where we chat about our lives and any random things we’ve been thinking about. So whether you’re looking to get to know us better, or just want to support what we’re doing, the Patreon is a great way to do that. We love all our patrons.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shut-up-i-love-it/id1471023870
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shutupiloveit1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shutupiloveit1/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ShutUpILoveIt1
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lsPSGmdmb7Hb4ps1wIPZ3?si=661ea2fe21ff4388