From Gimlet, this is Reply Al.
I'm PJ Vogt.
Two weeks ago, I talked to a man named Frederick Brennan for the first time.
Hello.
Hey.
How's it going?
Yeah, it's going okay.
Sorry, we had a little trouble connecting this morning.
That's okay.
Are you.
You're in Los Angeles?
Yeah.
It's still morning.
Technically, for another half hour.
It takes about three seconds of small talk with Frederick to understand his point of view,
which is that the world is a shitty place.
And the consolation you get is just being relentlessly candid about that.
Where in LA are you?
Van Nuys.
I've been to LA a bit, but I've never been to Van Nuys.