EPISODE
503

Cody Ko On Building A YouTube Empire, Partying With Elon & Stand-Up Comedy

Oct 03, 2023·59:00·Sam & Shaan·with Cody Ko·Listen·AppleSpotify
0:0029:3059:00
15 moments · 350 paragraphs · synced to the second
SHAAN

What 3 creators do you see that you think could become billionaires? He's like, MrBeast, Dude Perfect, or something like that. And then he said you.

Cody is popping off.

SHAAN

The algorithm has shined upon him. Cody is one of the biggest YouTubers on the platform. How did you get good at doing what you do?

If you go and listen to my first episode of my podcast, it was complete garbage. If I'm thinking about like what makes a good podcast, or what makes a good YouTube video, or what makes a good song, the number one thing you can do is How much are you thinking about like the business side of— About being a billionaire?

SHAAN

No, not—

When I was younger, it was like literally just about the creative. But now that I'm getting older, it's like I want the business to succeed. And then he looks at his phone, he's like, "Elon's been texting me." And then he showed us his phone. It was like Elon Musk. He was like, "Come over." And he was like, "Should we go over to his house?" Yeah. I mean, you can't really say no to that. And so we got in cars and drove to his house. We got to his house and him and Grimes are like standing on the driveway with lanterns. Like, "Welcome to my house." That's insane.

SHAAN

What's he like?

Like it was one of those things where we— I feel like I could rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like no days off. By the way, I listen. I listen. This is like one of my favorite podcasts. Oh, hell yeah. So it's an honor to be on it, right? Because I— it's one of two that I listen to. That's not even sponsored.

SHAAN

That was amazing. Yeah.

No, I'm serious. So like when you hit me up, I was like, let's go. I mean, it's all in. Yeah, obviously. But yeah, it's—

SHAAN

they're good too. I like them too.

Yeah. So you guys just switch between you guys. And how I built this.

SHAAN

And you, so you listen to the pod, so you kind of know the vibe. And so I invited you to come on. Uh, did you think about like, what are we going to like, cause it's different than our normal episodes, right? First, Sam's not here. Second, you're like cool entertainment guy and we're usually like nerdy tech guys. Um, what'd you think was going to happen?

I don't know, but I like being the guest on a podcast is so much better than being the host of one. Right. Cause like, it's like, that's your, that's up to you. I gotta drive. Yeah. The pressure's on you. I can just sit here and answer questions.

SHAAN

Yeah. Yeah. Good.

Okay.

SHAAN

Well, that's what we're going to do. But actually, the interesting thing is you actually started as kind of nerdy tech guy too.

I did.

SHAAN

Yeah. You were, uh, I think like an iOS dev. Yep. And let's start there. So the origin story is you, uh, you go to Duke and you, you make a viral app at one point. I don't know if we were at school or right after school.

It was, it was during college.

SHAAN

During college.

I was, uh, what did it actually do?

SHAAN

So I know it was called Cap that or I cap that? I'd cap that. I'd cap that.

Yeah.

SHAAN

What was the app?

A very funny name, by the way.

SHAAN

Yeah.

So it was like I was a senior in college and I was on the diving team all 4 years. So I like didn't have like in the summers and stuff, I was just training. And so I never did an internship. I didn't have any resume by the time I was a senior. And all these, all my like peers were doing internships and they had jobs lined up for as soon as they graduated. I didn't. I had nothing. And that kind of scared me because I'm Canadian and I wanted to stay in the States, so I needed a visa, which means I needed a job. And I also just like needed money and stuff for when I graduated. I was like, what the fuck am I gonna do? So I was studying computer science at that time and, uh, they didn't have an iOS class, but I was like, I was obsessed with my phone obviously. And I was like, I really want to know how to make an app. So I just bought a book, taught myself, and then like, you know, the way you really teach yourself something is you sure you can like read and watch YouTube videos, but like it's by, you know, thinking of a project and then trying to make it come to life. So that was my project. There was one that did something similar, but it was a paid app and I was like, oh, this is a perfect opportunity because it's not a hard idea.

SHAAN

And what was it? So you're captioning?

Yeah, basically.

SHAAN

Or like as a meme generator?

Basically. Yeah. It was like you would select a picture from your library or take a picture and then it would It had like an internal database of funny captions that we all just like got drunk and came up with. And so it would automatically apply one to the picture in white font, but like all the captions were sort of general enough where people thought there was like AI going on.

SHAAN

Like, what's an example?

Like, what do you mean? Like, like, I don't know, a super one, uh, I guess a stupid one would be like, you'd take a picture of someone in here and it'd be like addicted to cocaine or something like that. And people would see that and be like, oh, he is.

SHAAN

That's so true.

He does look like a cokehead. And so it, and okay, so then the way I got it to spread is it got rejected by the Apple review, you know, board or whatever, multiple times. And so I was like, for being inappropriate. So I was like, hey, how did I can't make this app clean? Cause then it's not funny. Right. And it won't do anything. So I basically had the, I wrote some code so that the internal database was timed because I knew the app review process took like a week.

SHAAN

Right.

SHAAN

You're just on campus.

Above like eBay and Google. And it was number 1 and I paid $0 for marketing. Right. And I'm on campus like, I don't know what to do. 'Cause I know I should be making money from this, but I'm not. And I have no idea how to make money or anything about business. And I was talking to my friend, I was like, what do I do? And he was like, dude, you should like sell ads. And I was like, I don't know, how do I even start to do that? Right. Like I didn't know the first thing about setting up like an ad SDK or anything.

SHAAN

And so, and you also kind of know your shelf life, like, you know, every day that you're the top is great.

Exactly.

SHAAN

And it might not be the case. 100 days from now when I figure this out.

And when you blow up that fast, the graph goes the other way just as quick, right? So I was stressing on what to do and I got an email from a CEO of a startup in Palo Alto and he was like, hey, saw your app, I love it, I want to hire you and buy the app. And I was like, perfect, that worked out. So I took a trip to Palo Alto, which was cool for me because like growing up, you know, being obsessed with Apple and Steve Jobs, I was like, Silicon Valley is like a dream. That's where I'd want to end up.

SHAAN

But is this it?

This is the app. Yes, this is it.

SHAAN

Yeah. Oh, amazing.

No, this is iCapThat 2, the sequel. So like when this company—

SHAAN

I'm surprised you didn't go with like dos or something. I know, right?

Did I tell you this on, on my podcast? No, no, no. Okay. When, so I, I took a trip to Palo Alto, fell in love with it, met the team. They loved, they like, you know, we just got along great. It was a, it was a mobile ad SDK company. Yeah, it was a mobile ad network. So they needed my app to drive traffic through the network.

SHAAN

Cool.

And I needed money and a job, right? So they like, it was, you know, pretty mutually beneficial. They acquired the app. I think it was like for $50K, half in cash, half in stock, which was great for me. It was a nice like lump sum to get a lump sum, sorry, to get like apartment and furniture and stuff. And then my first job was to make a sequel that was a paid version. Or no, actually, no, my first job was to make an iCapThat Plus, which was the paid version. Right. And we, we launched it and immediately it made $200 grand. And I was like, damn it.

SHAAN

Wow.

Damn it. You should have just done this by myself.

SHAAN

You're early to the Plus train, but there wasn't Apple Plus. And then we did ESPN Plus.

You were, you were, I invented that.

SHAAN

You pioneered that shit. Yeah.

I have it patented actually. And so then we made iCapThat 2 and then we made iCapThat 2 Plus and we just milked this thing.

SHAAN

How much of this do you think the whole thing made?

Like half a million bucks or something like that. But then, you know, then it died. Yeah.

SHAAN

But, and so you had, you had that run of like, you're doing that on campus. So you got the taste of like the thrill of making something, succeeding, kind of failing, but also succeeding at the same time. Where was your head at at that point? You're like, what are you thinking at that moment? You're like, oh, I could just do this again. Or what was your approach after that?

Like, after I got the job?

SHAAN

Just like after you had gone through that experience, like, did you think of like, I'm going to do this again? Or what was your—

It definitely was my first, like, little taste of independent success. So that definitely gave me a little courage. Like, my plan was, okay, I'm just going to stay at this company and work my ass off and try to try, you know, do what I can to make this thing a success so that like the stock, you know, becomes something. And that didn't happen. But yeah, it was like definitely it gave me my first little taste of success. And before that I had never, you know, had— I had never like felt momentum like that before where something's working and the graph is going up and to the right and you're like, oh my God, I'm on to something.

SHAAN

Right. And then you tasted that again when you started doing like content, right? Vine, Vine content was the next time you tasted that, like that kind of crazy virality.

I actually, that was more, everything since then has been more linear.

SHAAN

Really?

Yeah. Like I've never been, you know, you see creators all the time that blow up like out of nowhere. Like, you know, this year it was like Alex Earl or something like that.

SHAAN

Sure.

Or, um, who else? Like the octopus, octopus-y kid. You know him? No. Anyways, it happens. It seems like it happens.

SHAAN

Promising though.

He sounds like he's really funny. Um, he's really funny. But for me, it was always like, I kind of had to grind my way to having an audience by literally downloading Vine, making videos every single day. I was, I was actually pretty late. I would say like the whole first like class of, you know, like famous Viners. Had already been a thing like KingBach, right? Brittany Furlan. They were already like people, right, that everyone recognized. So when I downloaded it, I was just like, I didn't download it with the intention of like being somebody or, you know, generating an audience or anything like that. I just was— I was working on a social media app for this company and it was like Snapchat for video basically. And then Snapchat for video came out.

SHAAN

Snapchat added video.

CODY KO

We were like, damn it. And so basically I was like just keeping tabs on all the new ones that were coming out and Vine came out. So I downloaded it. Started playing around with it, and I lived alone in Palo Alto, which as a 21-year-old is the most like boring life imaginable. So I would just start making videos. I would get home from work and I just all of a sudden like started feeling like I was like flexing my creative muscle and hadn't done that in a long time. Yeah, it felt good. So every day I would just make more videos and then it was like getting involved in the community, you know, like making online friends with the other people that were kind of getting some traction. And then I started showing up on the popular page and people started recognizing my face and I just kept doing it. Like, just was genuinely like, didn't try to make it a job. I just was like, programming is my job, this is my hobby, and I'm going to treat it like an art, right? Sort of. And that, that sort of paid off because I— people, I think people liked the sincerity behind it.

SHAAN

And what do you mean by that? So like for the people that were— let's compare the people that were trying really hard to like become famous on Vine and what you were doing, what do you think was different to the outsider?

CODY KO

I think like selling out was a much more obvious thing back then, or a much more like binary thing, whereas now it's like completely expected. It's like someone, someone takes off and they start doing ad reads and their fans are like, yeah, get the bag, let's go. Whereas back then it was like, first of all, 6 seconds is really hard to endorse something. In.

SHAAN

Like, you can't even say get the bag.

CODY KO

Exactly. So it was pretty obvious when people like started making money and then people would be like, ah, you know, you sold out, you're not the same, right? So I think that it helped that I had an actual job on the side that I was making decent money.

SHAAN

But you got to a couple million followers, right?

CODY KO

Yeah, yeah, I think I had like, I, yeah, I think I had like 3 or 4 or something.

SHAAN

And on Vine, I always wondered this, something like that, or maybe too. I don't know what happened to Vine.

CODY KO

I think it was just a little bit ahead of its time. 'Cause I think now, I mean, if it came out like 5 years ago, I feel like it would've worked, but it was kind of working then and then they just like turned it off. I think it was because when Twitter, Twitter bought it before.

SHAAN

Yeah.

CODY KO

They launched, then they launched it and it really worked, but then like the traffic started tapering off. And I think they were at a crossroads where they were like, we can't monetize just, just our website. Right. Like Twitter was having a really hard time monetizing. I think it still is.

SHAAN

Wasn't there like a meeting with creators where the creators like, we want money and Twitter was like, nah.

CODY KO

And then they, wasn't there like some famous, I remember there was something like that where they, yeah, I think they like were in a room with like King Bach and those people and they were like, we want this much money to keep posting and They were like, we don't have it.

SHAAN

Right. They're like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

CODY KO

So they're like, actually, we're just going to shut it, shut down the whole thing instead.

SHAAN

You want more money? How about that? Yeah. Exactly.

CODY KO

How about no platform?

SHAAN

Like, oh, okay. Um, so you, okay. So you go through that. You, uh, you guys have had a, you've been doing content on like podcast, YouTube for like over 10 years, probably almost, right?

CODY KO

Yeah. Almost.

SHAAN

And you said, you know, it was kind of linear. So if I said like, what was kind of breakout for you? What were the, what were like the breakout moments or like things that you remember were like, oh shit, things just got different for me. Like I, something is different. I don't know exactly how, how big this is, but like something changed.

CODY KO

I remember, I remember the first time that I hit a million views overnight. It was like a, it was a That's Cringe video, which was like one of now like one of the most viewed series. On my channel. And, uh, I remember like we did a couple and they seemed to be working. People seemed to be into them, but it wasn't like apparent how much more people liked them than, you know, the other stuff that I was doing. And then we posted like the third or fourth one and I remember waking up to a million views and I was like, oh my God, that is, that was unfathomable for me. You know, even 5 months ago, right? Like those numbers just like don't even make sense to me. And so that was one pretty distinctive moment. Another one was when we— when then me and Noel went on tour for the first time and the second time and all the times after that, and the tickets would just like sell out. And I was like, I see— that was a moment where I was like, I can't believe that this is now converting into real-world sales where people want to come to a venue and see us in person. That felt Really cool. That's always like a weirdly sobering thing.

SHAAN

What do you guys do when you do that? Because we did, uh, we've done, I think we did two live shows this year. Um, both times they like, you know, people showed up, which was like shocking in the moment and afterwards. Uh, but also we were like, what the fuck? What do they want? Like, what are we supposed to do?

CODY KO

Podcast?

SHAAN

Like, you want us to just do the podcast in front of you while you sit here? Like, yeah, I know that's boring, I think. Um, and we tried to do a bunch of stuff. Uh, I personally hate it. I hate— I'm like, I don't really want to do that again because, like, you know, your series is called That's Cringe. That's— in my head, I was like, this is cringe right now. What's happening is a little bit cringe. What do you guys actually do when you do your live stuff?

CODY KO

We did, uh, so like the first couple shows that we did were just, uh, on stage, like podcasts, because the same thing, we didn't really know. And then what do people want to see? I'm not really sure they're buying tickets for a live podcast.

SHAAN

500 people just sitting quietly listening.

CODY KO

No, our first show was like 100 or something.

SHAAN

Like that or whatever. There's a crowd of people just watching the podcast. Yeah.

CODY KO

And that went well.

SHAAN

But you guys are funny. I think that's the thing. They're laughing. So it's kind of a comedy show. Yeah.

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

So I think that works.

CODY KO

But then we— so then after that, we did another tour where we were like, hey, we can't— we need something that's going to like guarantee laughs and we really want to put effort into this. So then we wrote a show and then we started writing songs for the show and it kind of became like a third music, a third like live sort of That's Cringe that we did on stage. Gotcha. And then a third like just stand-up comedy. Wow. Um, because Noel was a stand-up before we started doing anything together, so he kind of already had chops.

SHAAN

And in research for this, I saw a video of you doing stand-up.

CODY KO

What?

SHAAN

Yeah. Where? There's a video. Oh my God.

CODY KO

Please, please do not look that up. Please, for the love of God. I do not want to see that. Oh, it's on my own channel, dude. I'm taking that down.

SHAAN

It wasn't that hard for me to do this research, by the way. What's it like doing stand-up? Horrifying.

CODY KO

Horrifying. The thing is, I, I DJ now. Yeah, I've heard. And so I like, that's in front of people and I find myself like a lot more comfortable, obviously, because it's not just you and the mic and the audience. It's like there's something in between, which is already awesome. You know, it's like music, right?

SHAAN

So for the live shows, you guys are like turning it into like a full—

CODY KO

Yeah, by the end of the tour, because we did a— we toured the whole world, right? And we did like, I don't know, like 100 shows or something like that. So by the end is like we had the show literally word for word scripted and memorized, right? Because when you do it that many times, it just becomes the same show and then you like alter it a little bit every time. If something got a laugh, you'll add that back for the next one and it kind of evolves.

SHAAN

So we had Samir from Colin and Samir in here yesterday. And I had asked him a question like, I think we had said something like, you know, what 3 creators do you see that you think like could become billionaires? Like you talked about MrBeast. Great. Who else? Who else do you think has that pathway or potential? And he said, MrBeast. He said, I forget who he said, Dude Perfect or something like that. And then he said, you.

CODY KO

No way.

SHAAN

Yeah.

CODY KO

Really?

SHAAN

Yeah. And I was like, that's amazing. Cause he named 50 other YouTubers, by the way, during the episode that I was like, oh cool. I'd never heard of these people. Cause he's, I'm not like in the, like I have the things I like and I'm not like YouTube culture. I'm not like everywhere on YouTube. And I was like, dude, he's coming in here tomorrow. I'm going to tell him this and see how he reacts. And you sound surprised.

CODY KO

I definitely am surprised.

SHAAN

You know, the thing, the thing he said wasn't like he's going to be, he's like., they could, he's like, it's up to them. He's like, they totally can if they, if they choose to like optimize in that direction, they are like the ones who have like the, the kind of the audience, the intelligence and like the kind of the capability to do stuff there, or they might take that energy in a different direction. Yeah. Um, I also, uh, I was telling Ben on the way over here, I was like, I was like, I feel like you and Noel could do a, uh, like Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle movie.

CODY KO

Yes.

SHAAN

Yeah. Yeah.

CODY KO

Um, so we are working on something.

SHAAN

I can't really say too much about it, but I'm a believer that that's like so in your guys' wheelhouse.

CODY KO

I think it'd be a lot of fun.

SHAAN

I remember, so I, uh, when I was younger, I acted in a movie like as a kid, like a kid actor of a thing. And my older brother in the movie was Kal Penn, who is Kumar. Yeah. And so he called me one day and he was like, uh, hey, how's like school going?

CODY KO

Right?

SHAAN

Like, I don't even know what I had to say. I was like, how's your— what do you do? What are you doing now? And he's like, oh, I'm filming Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Which to me, I didn't even understand what that— I didn't know what White Castle was. There was none where I was at. So I thought it was a fantasy movie. Okay. I was like, oh yeah, I guess he's like going to some fantasy epic castle thing. And I remember going to school and telling my friends like, yeah, why did he call you? Just checking in on me. He was just a nice guy. He was just like—

CODY KO

you were like friends with him after that?

SHAAN

Because like, because you were saying like, you know, when you go on tour, you hang out like— yeah, same thing on a set. You just sit there, right? Right. Like 9 hours waiting for them to line up the shot. Yeah. Do like 5 minutes of acting, then you just sit there again.

CODY KO

Like, so he was just checking up on you. Like, what's good?

SHAAN

Yeah. He was like, what's good, man? Like, you know, how's your summer going?

CODY KO

What's up with his number?

SHAAN

Um, I don't know anymore.

CODY KO

You should read it out actually.

SHAAN

He came to speak at Duke actually. And I was like, I went up on stage and I was like, oh, I look totally different than like when I was 11. And I was like, hey. And I was like, hey. And I was like, he probably has no clue who I am.

CODY KO

That's really funny. He seems like a nice guy.

SHAAN

Oh, he's ultra nice. Uh, really nice guy. He's also, I really like about him is he, um, he just like grinded super, super hard at a time. There's like no Indian actors. Like the only Indian acting jobs he could get was like, you're the convenience store guy. You're like thick accent. And I remember talking to him on set. I was like, what are you going to do after this? And he's like, uh, he's like talking to his agent or something. And he's just kept turning down roles because he's like, they just want me to be the stereotypical Indian guy. Yeah. And I was like, okay, cool. So what do you do instead? He's like, I don't have anything and there's no instead. I was like, so. And he's like, he's like, I have no money and I'm just going to like, I'm going to just wait till I get a real— he's like, if I do that, I'll never get out of that.

CODY KO

Yeah, yeah.

SHAAN

So I'm just going to, like, risk it all and, like, grind through this period of, like, not having anything until I get there.

CODY KO

That's funny. I, I took a— I've told this story before on my own podcast, but I took an acting class one time and they were talking about leaning into your typecast at the beginning of your career. Like, you have to do what you look like in order to, like, get your foot in the door, right? So we did this exercise where we all went around the circle like this. It was like a, you know, room full of students, like 20 of them. And we all had a journal and we would all like one by one look at each other and write down what we thought they looked like and their typecast was. And so like. And then we all revealed them basically like one by one. They, the, the teacher would point to one of us and then the rest of the students would read what they wrote about that person.

SHAAN

Wow.

CODY KO

So it was like, it was like doctor, scientist, you know, and it was like, uh, you know, race car driver, cool shit. And then it gets to me and they're like, influencer, cokehead, DJ, sells coke in the bathroom. It was literally like 5 minutes of just the most offensive shit. How I looked like a douchebag. And I was like, damn. But I mean, I guess that's—

SHAAN

you're an influencer and a DJ now, so I don't know too much about your lifestyle, but like, this is what ended up happening. Yeah, he nailed it. He actually had a similar thing. He's like, got a call, he's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna be on CSI. And they're like, CSI? It's a terrorist plot. He's like, oh man, come on, dude. Damn it. And he actually— what he did was he changed his name, so his name is not actually Cal Penn. His name is like Kulpin Modi, and he's like, I'm not getting any auditions for the roles I want. So he just created a fake name by splitting his first name. Yeah. And then he started getting calls in, and then they're like, he shows up and he's not white. And they were like, oh, okay, I guess you're here. Go ahead and read the role and see what happens. Yeah. And then he got it. Yeah. Actually, the funny thing is the one of the bigger roles he got was like Indian doctor on House. And I was like, ah, you split the difference. Like, he doesn't have to do the accent, but like, you know, still kind of stereotypical in a way. That's funny. Did you, when you were like trying to get better at what you were doing, how did you do that? Because like, obviously you get better by just doing reps, but sometimes, you know, if I want to get better at something, I might, you know, hire a coach, read a book, take a class, like study and break down people who are good at it. Like, how did you get good at doing what you do? Was there any intentional kind of process you went through?

CODY KO

I think a lot of the times Um, if I'm thinking about like getting what makes a good podcast or what makes a good YouTube video or what makes a good song, I'll just like consume a lot of it and just think about it a lot. But I mean, like the number one thing you can do is just do it. You just learn by doing, at least for me. Um, so that's, that's how I've gotten good is just reps over time. Because like, if you go and listen to my first episode of my podcast, it was complete garbage, right? It's just something I've gotten better at. I'm still not that great at it, but like, I've gotten better at it through the years, right? And now I'm going through that sort of with like music production too. It's just like I'm at the beginning stage where I'm like, everything I make is a little bit better and just leaning into that, the joy and like conquering the 0 to 1 phase and yeah, just like learning to enjoy that part of the learning curve I think is really important.

SHAAN

What are some things you figured out that made like, let's say, the That Cringe series, which now has like, I don't know, 150 million views on that, that, that style of video that you do? What's something you figured out? You're like, oh, that's— I used to do it this way. Then I figured out this and made it better.

CODY KO

I don't know if it's really anything conscious. You know, it could— it's like it's mostly stuff that you just like innately pick up on when you do things over and over again, when you read comments and think about what people are reacting to. But, you know, a lot of the times it's like the first time we did a video like that, you know, we were trying to riff and kind of stepping over each other's lines and jokes and punchlines and stuff. The next time we did it, we got a little bit better at like letting each other speak and breathe. And like, that's one thing that I think we're really good at now is we never speak over each other. Like, we never interrupt. We're really good at riffing, but like, because we're innately just conscious of like, you know, the audience and what they want to hear. And no one likes to hear people interrupting and stepping all over each other's jokes, you know? So stuff like that, we just get better at, like, just because you do it, you know?

SHAAN

I like that answer, even though I wanted you to say, like, the trick. It's like a lesson I've had to relearn so many times that there is like, you know, there are things that make things better, but they're like, there wasn't the trick. Yeah, it was like a shitload of reps. Yeah. And caring. And then like, you know, you just sort of like get better with every rep, but there's like, there's kind of the boring, it's like the, it's not the answer that's like, yes, I found the secret.

CODY KO

I don't think it would be fun if you went from zero to good at something just by doing one little trick because it doesn't, you don't like, I find so much joy in, in like getting a little bit better at something every time I do it and then seeing a little evidence of that. Which you get by posting online, right? Like the next time you do something, all of a sudden, you know, 5 comments being like, wow, this is better than the last one you did. And you're like, fuck yeah, yeah, I'm getting it. You know, that drives me. I love that feeling.

SHAAN

We had Mark Manson come in and record here the day before, and he, he has this thing he said is like, happiness. People think happiness comes from not having problems. Happiness comes from solving problems. Yeah. Totally. And I was like, oh yeah, that's like so fucking true. And the better version of that, it turns out, is like when you, when you feel like you chose that problem. So like if the weather is just bad, you know, you know, it's like, oh, I didn't choose this. It's happening to me. Yeah. But if you're like, you know, I want to like for you, you're like doing these long 50-mile races or 100-mile races or whatever. It's like you're choosing a set of problems. That you're going to get, you know, struggle but get satisfaction with as you overcome them. Yeah. Right now, what are those for you? So it's like the endurance stuff. Maybe the business stuff is like that too for you or no?

CODY KO

Yes, for sure. Both of, both of those things.

SHAAN

Let's, let's talk about the business stuff. So on the business side, you know, a lot of these creators are building brands off their products.

CODY KO

Yeah. I mean, for me, it was like investing or other stuff.

SHAAN

Are you doing any of that stuff?

CODY KO

I am. Yeah, I'm developing something that I'm going to launch in the fall. But for me, it was always kind of difficult. I would see people doing it and I was like, this— okay, this seems obvious. And then I would think like, the money that people are paying us to promote their shit on the show, like ExpressVPN, for example, they've been a sponsor of the show for years and they've probably paid us like, you know, if we total it all up, it's like an insane amount of money, right? But their return on investment must have been way higher, right? Otherwise they would then be crazy to rebuy the ads year after year. So I'm like, why don't we just like— it just makes sense for us to own something that we're promoting because then we see all the upside, right? But it, it was always— it always kind of killed me thinking of the right thing because I don't want to force anything on, on my audience. And comedy is a very hard thing to like align with a product or a service. Cause it's just something that people enjoy. It's not, you know, it's not like a, I don't know, it's not like fitness or cooking where there's like products that people use every time they cook. With comedy, it's not like that. It's, uh, it's just like, I don't know, generic and sort of, so I like when I started doing the endurance stuff, that's when I was like, oh, there's a lot of stuff that I'm doing every day. Yeah, that it's natural for me to promote.

SHAAN

And this is really cool. Cody's Run Club.

CODY KO

Yeah. So this is kind of, kind of my first like product in this direction where like I wanted to make something more like fitness focused.

SHAAN

So this is like the first time I've done like running shorts, for example, when you're really worked, when you're promoting it, are you doing because that little like video that was on there was kind of funny. Are you like using the like Are you leaning into the humor side or you try to be like more serious when you're promoting the stuff?

CODY KO

That's something I still kind of battle with myself over. How serious? Because like, I always want to be like, comedy is a very easy crutch to lean on because it's like, I like making fun of myself. And also if I'm a little bit self-conscious about something, it's like, oh, I was just joking. So like this, you know, it's like hard for me to sit in a studio and actually make a fitness video because I'm like, I'm not that guy.

SHAAN

Right.

CODY KO

I'm just doing endurance races because I like doing it. It's a challenge, but I'm not the guy that's out there like in slow-mo, like, you can do anything, you know? So I like, I like to blend the two.

SHAAN

I mean, that was great. Like you're just like on the bike and the guy's like spraying, spraying the mist in your face to make it look like you're sweating.

CODY KO

That's great. So yeah, this is like my first, you know, time kind of generating a product in like the more fitness lane. And then I'm going to do something else that I think will hopefully be a little bit bigger.

SHAAN

It'd be funny if you were just sort of the anti-David Goggins, like just went the other way.

CODY KO

Yeah. Stay soft.

SHAAN

Yeah. Marshmallows. You sign off with something so, so incredibly soft. Do you, uh, do you listen to a lot of his stuff?

CODY KO

Uh, I do. I mean, I read his book, his first book, and, uh, I've listened to his like Joe Rogan episodes and stuff like that.

SHAAN

You should, uh, have you ever read the book, uh, Living with a SEAL?

CODY KO

No.

SHAAN

Um, it's a great book. There's an entrepreneur named Jesse Itzler. Do you know him? Have you ever heard of this guy? Jesse Itzler. Yeah. He, um, so he married the woman who created Spanx. Okay. Um, he, and then he created like Spanx, like the concept, the action. Uh, no, no, no.

CODY KO

The, uh, the shapewear.

SHAAN

Spanking? Uh, that would be big. That would be it. That's a big idea. She, uh, so, and he created, like, he started off as a white rapper. And then, uh, he's always like white rapper, then he's like, all right. Not going to make it as a rapper. So he's like, I'm going to work in a, um, record studio, like a record label. So he's like working as a record label. His intern was, uh, like this guy who's trying to be this rapper, trying to be all hard. He's like, yeah, I like this guy. It was 50 Cent. So 50 Cent was his intern for a little bit. 50 Cent goes off, blows up. So he's like, okay. Um, he's like, that guy like had it. I don't really have it. He's like, what do I, what can I do? He's like, he started creating jingles. So like rap jingles. Okay. So he's like, um, he created the Knicks theme song, like the New York Knicks, like, go Knicks, go whatever, go New York, go. And so he created sports, like, jingle, like, kind of like quick raps for companies. Okay. And then he sells that company for like, I don't know, $4 million. He's like, all right, I got $4 million. I split it between the two guys. What are we gonna do now that we got $2 million? And they, after they sold, they met a rich guy who took them on a private jet and they were like, Flying in this private jet, they're like, this is amazing. We would love to do this more. We can't afford a jet. So like, it'd be cool if you could just own like a couple rides on a jet, like a piece of a jet. Like what if I could just fly on a jet 10 times? That'd be amazing. Timeshare for jets. So they created that, ended up selling that.

CODY KO

Is that like NetJets or something?

SHAAN

They sold it to NetJets. So there was like Marquis, I think was the name of theirs. And so they sold it to NetJets, which is owned by Warren Buffett. That was a huge sale. And then now he like owns a piece of an NBA team. He like, You know, Zico coconut water. He like invested a bunch in that early on when he was like, oh, coconut water is going to be a big thing. Yeah. Because he's an endurance athlete.

CODY KO

So nice.

SHAAN

He loved doing long runs. And so he was like, the running community loves coconut water. I think mainstream is going to too.

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

So he found a small brand that wasn't doing that well, put a bunch of money in, and they ended up like selling it to Coke later.

CODY KO

I listened to that How I Built This episode. It's— that's like one of my favorites.

SHAAN

The coconut water one.

CODY KO

Yeah. If you're looking for a good one.

SHAAN

Yeah.

CODY KO

Look, look up that episode and watch that.

SHAAN

It's great. And so he, uh, one of the things he did along the way was he was like, I really want to run this, like, I guess there's some hardcore race in Arizona or whatever, the hardest race, Death Valley or something like that, something like that. And he goes there and he sees, uh, people running, and then he sees, um, this guy who's just like a, like a huge guy running this race, and he's like by himself, um, he's like bleeding and he's running, and it's David Goggins essentially. Meets him and he is like, hey, I want to run this race next year. Will you train me? And he's like, will you live in my house and train me for like 30 days? And then he did. And then he wrote a book years later. He wrote a book about that whole experience.

CODY KO

Oh, that's cool.

SHAAN

And this was before anyone knew who David Goggins was. So the book came out and he just calls it Living with a Seal. He never mentions the guy's name, but he is like this character that's just like hard as shit and just like would wake him up. It'd be at 3 in the morning. They just, Like they would run like 8 miles at night. Yeah. You wake up at 3 in the morning and be like, wake up, bitch. It's time. You know, like he'd be like, let's go. We're going running again and again and again. I got to read that. It's a great book. It's a great read.

CODY KO

Jesse Itzler, you said?

SHAAN

Jesse Itzler, yeah. Living with a Seal. It's a good, uh, a good one. Have you like, for the running thing, is it like, why? Like, I don't, I'm like, if you told me to do an endurance thing, I'd be like, oh, you've suggested my least favorite activity on earth. Yeah. Yeah. Why do you do it?

CODY KO

My parents did it growing up, so it, it's kind of in my blood. I saw them do it. Um, and I've always, like, they, they raised us, like, we would go on bike trips all the time, and so we were always doing it. And then we would see them do these incredible feats of fitness, and it just became something that I, that drove me. And then I was like an athlete in college and stuff. So when I graduated, I was like, I need something to stay in shape. So like running just seemed like the most natural thing. And then once you do, you know, 5 miles, you're like, oh, or once you do 3 miles, you're like, I think I can do 5. And then you're like, I should, I should maybe go for a half marathon. You get kind of addicted to it, right? And then so I've done like marathons ever since. And then my sister signed up for an Ironman and she did it. And she's my younger sister. So I was like, damn it, she did that before me. So then I signed up for one and then I did one and now it just kind of like through that I was going through like a pretty dark period, like right after COVID and through training for this, for these, I did an ultramarathon first and then I did an Ironman. And through training for those, I kind of like refound my confidence and my happiness. So now it's like something I want to make part of my life. So like I started the training channel and now I'm just planning more things, like I'm going to do the New York Marathon and then I'm planning 100-and-something-mile ultra that I'm trying to do.

SHAAN

What about the music videos you guys do? Because they're amazing and they're like almost like too amazing. It's like, wait, like, where did this come from? Why is this like, why is this good? Are you guys— is this what you guys actually do? Like, I didn't really understand the first time I saw one. I was like, this is— I don't know, I was just like very jealous. I was like, holy shit. Like, you can't have— you can't be like, I'm relatable and funny. But I'm also like mega talented on the other side. So, you know, you get to pick, you know, that's how life works. How did you guys start doing that and why is it like, why is it so, so fucking good? And like, why don't you lean into that more if it's so good?

CODY KO

I do think that, yeah, like a lot of the stuff I've done or been successful at, it's been like, like I'm the person to look at a pipe dream and be like, it would be really cool to be that and then like actually try.

SHAAN

And so that's kind of how that started was like, you don't count yourself out.

CODY KO

You mean like, yeah, exactly. Like, I, I somewhere in me kind of believe that I'm probably capable of that somewhere. And I think everyone is of everything, but I'm pretty good at like not, you know, turning myself down, I guess, at the beginning. And, and that's kind of what I lost in that, like, dark period was I lost that confidence. And if I thought of something, I would revert back to like, no, you couldn't accomplish that. But when it came to music, I was always like, it'd be cool to like do— it would be cool to like go online and say, I have a new song out. You know what I mean? That would be a really cool thing.

SHAAN

Work backwards from that.

CODY KO

Yeah, exactly. And like, I never— I never played any instruments besides drums growing up. I was never really musically inclined. I had a good sense of rhythm and I really enjoyed music and So I was kind of like, now this is something that's not really for you. And then I was like, no, why can't it be? And so I downloaded FL Studio, I made a beat, and for one of our videos I invited Noel over because he used to actually rap in high school. So I was like, I made this beat, can you just rap over it and we'll make a funny song for the end of this video? And he, you know, took a little bit of convincing because he was like, I closed this chapter of my life. And so finally I got him over to the place. He, you know, put a verse down. I recorded my verse I wrote and recorded, and then I was like, tried to figure out how to process a voice.

SHAAN

Which song?

CODY KO

Put out this horrible song called Keep Your Dick Fat. And then I wrote a comedy song again. Comedy is like, again, again, the comedy is a nice crutch to lean on where you're like, we're bad, but it's funny.

SHAAN

Yeah, exactly.

CODY KO

So people don't like put too much pressure on you or make fun of you too much. And so we did that. Oh, that's still up. Wow.

SHAAN

Okay.

CODY KO

This is my first beat ever.

SHAAN

It's horrible. Yeah, I like the beginning stuff. I always like the early stuff. How'd you decide on that as the concept? Like, what didn't make it that this one as the idea?

CODY KO

That's a great question, actually. I totally forget how we even came up with that. I think he must have said, keep your dick fat or something. And then I was like, oh, that's funny. Let's put that down.

SHAAN

Well, that's also how Tiny Beat Gang came about, right? Like that. That's— it was just something you said.

CODY KO

It's just like that was our whole thing is just dick jokes and being stupid and being 5 years old. So, and then so after we released this, we shot a music video for it and where we like used a friend that was a DP and we shot it all nice and then we're like, oh, this is a fun thing, like doing something a little bit more hype. Production value. This is like a really fun path to go down. And then shortly after this, I got a DM from a producer in LA. His name's Diamond Pistols, now like a fantastic friend and has produced a ton of music for us. He was like, hey, I'm a producer, let me produce your next song. This is really funny. And so we were like, sure. And we showed up at his place and we made a song called Super Zen. Like in a day or like we did. We made that song in a day and How do you make a song in a day?

SHAAN

What do you really— so you get there.

CODY KO

I mean, if you're working with a good producer, it's you get there, they're like, what do you want to make? And you're like, okay, well, I've been listening. Usually the way a music session starts is you'll just listen to music together and you'll be like, I really been into this song recently. You'll put it on, try to find some sort of inspiration. Or if you come in with a concept, then you'll kind of work off that. We didn't really have anything. And so he started making a beat. We just like wrote some bullshit lyrics and then we came up with this concept. Like at that time, Xanax was like the big thing, like Lil Pump and all these guys were talking about doing Xanax all the time. So we were like, let's make a song called Super Xan where it doesn't make any sense because we don't actually know what like mainstream rap lyrics mean. We're just kind of trying to, you know, hang on to the trending references and stuff like that. So then once we made that song, we're like, it's— the song is pretty damn good. Let's shoot another video for it. And Noel called in a bunch of favors. We ended up getting a horse for the video.

SHAAN

These look expensive too. So you guys like—

CODY KO

yeah, this one was probably like—

SHAAN

you made a bet.

CODY KO

You're like, this is worth it. Yes. Yeah. I mean, music videos are a money pit.

SHAAN

At the time, was that like kind of like significant? Like, is that like— this was like a lot of money? Yes.

CODY KO

Oh yeah, it was. We had nothing back then, so it was huge. So like I said, a lot of people did it like on favors because they liked us, and that's Diamond Pistols. you know, a lot of people that were in the video, like she was a paid actress, but, um, are just like friends and stuff. And we knew someone who had a horse and they brought the horse and we paid them like $500 or something.

SHAAN

Wow.

CODY KO

Uh, so then we released this on Spotify and it actually got a lot of streams because people watched the video because it was funny. So then we were like, we should do an EP maybe. So then we started making more music and then fast forward 2, 2 EPs and albums later, we signed a music deal with Arista, and we released 2 songs with them, one of them being Broke Bitch, which now has like over 50 million streams. I think Walkman has like 80 million or 90 million.

SHAAN

Yeah, I think I saw one was like 85.

CODY KO

Yeah, I think it's almost gold.

SHAAN

Is that 100 million is gold?

CODY KO

It's just like it's 100,000 or it's 10 million sales. And I don't know how—

SHAAN

I forget how does that even work anymore.

CODY KO

Yeah, I forget. It's a weird equation, but I think it's almost certified gold, which is fucking crazy.

SHAAN

That's a funny rap idea for you. Be like, because everyone's always platinum. Yeah, yeah. It's like we went gold. Yeah, exactly. So you— that's good.

CODY KO

I like that. Yeah, I might steal that.

SHAAN

Yeah, I'm funny too. Okay. One of my questions on my list was like, how do I— am I— it was, am I funny and how do I get funnier? So I would say, yes, you listen to the pod. Go ahead.

CODY KO

Yeah, I would say you're definitely funny. I chuckle. I think you guys— here, I'll give you some constructive criticism from a listener, from a fan of the show. I think you need better cold opens. Agreed. A lot of times I feel like you use the wrong moments and you should use the funnier moments.

SHAAN

Maybe it's even dumber than that. We come from a different world, so it's like, uh, we're just dumb about like how you would do a creative process. It's like, oh, you should care about this and like you should run a process that like, like looks at the feedback or the data and then like makes it better. Yeah. Or like watch it together and be like, what can we do better?

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

We've never done that.

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

But we should.

CODY KO

Yeah. I mean, I don't know, the show's good. So that's like, that's my only little thing because it's such a, it's such a great opportunity for a laugh right before the smash cut to the intro. It's such a beautiful thing. And so we, we tend to like take our cold opens. Pretty seriously. We were like, we need, we need a good laugh right at the beginning of the show. Someone, someone turns it on, they're like, huh, I knew I liked this show. Another week.

SHAAN

You know, I'm sticking around one more week. Yeah, exactly.

CODY KO

I'll stick around for 10 minutes exactly.

SHAAN

Um, the, uh, I just saw on the ideas, so I have an ideas section for you where I was going to pitch you a slash.

CODY KO

Oh yeah.

SHAAN

Okay. We had one before you walked in.

CODY KO

Frozen s'mores.

SHAAN

Yeah, I was like, why isn't there something called frozen s'mores?

CODY KO

So why me though?

SHAAN

Well, we had the idea right before you arrived and I was like, I gotta ask Cody about frozen s'mores potential. You think there's potential there? Listen, I like— so what we're gonna do here, let me tell you how this came about.

CODY KO

Okay.

SHAAN

I was like in the studio or whatever and I was like, I want, uh, because this, this might look however it looks, but like we're in an office building and this is like a small like Cubicle of office when we're here. I was like, I want to buy an ice cream truck and turn it into a podcast studio and like roll it up to wherever we're going to, whoever I want to record with.

CODY KO

And like, yeah, that's what Steve-O does.

SHAAN

He does it in an ice cream truck.

CODY KO

It's not in an ice cream truck, but he has like a Sprinter van, right? That he's turned into a little—

SHAAN

I was worried that my idea was cool, having a traveling set.

CODY KO

Yes. He pulled up right outside my house and I literally like, my commute was 2 seconds.

SHAAN

That's what I want to do.

CODY KO

Yeah. It was pretty sick.

SHAAN

And, uh, so we're like, okay, let's retrofit it. And then, uh, Ben was like, you know, well, we gotta just create an ice cream brand if we're gonna do that. And then, yeah, Frozen S'mores.

CODY KO

Yeah. Okay. Right.

SHAAN

Okay. Okay. It's a s'more. I see the cold and the marshmallows, vanilla ice cream. Okay. That's idea number one I have for you.

CODY KO

That's good.

SHAAN

I like that.

CODY KO

Yeah. Marshmallows are my least favorite thing about s'mores.

SHAAN

So agreed. Agreed. Um, okay. Next one. Uh, let's make a Netflix show. So I wanted to brainstorm with you real quick. Okay. A Netflix show, business related. So Business Unscripted, that's the category. Okay. So Shark Tank is a great show.

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

We need more. So like, you know, the way like, you know, American Idol happened and then people were like, oh shit, The Voice, X Factor, America's Got Talent. Like people just took that format and started remixing Masked Singer. Like they're like, people like this amateur singing thing. We're going to do it.

CODY KO

Yeah.

SHAAN

I think people like the amateur business thing. Shark Tank works. Yep. There's not really another Shark Tank. Uh, there's not like another remixed version of a cool thing that you would want. If you like Shark Tank, you might like this.

CODY KO

So we could do one for like creators.

SHAAN

So I don't know, just like what would, what would work? What do you think?

CODY KO

I like the idea of doing it where people like come in and pitch their channel or their like TikTok idea or whatever.

SHAAN

This was, uh, Sully's idea last night. He's like, yeah, we need it for creators.

CODY KO

Yeah, that's good.

SHAAN

I think I've heard it.

CODY KO

Heard someone doing that, I think, because that's not the first time I've heard that idea. Right. But I think it's an awesome idea.

SHAAN

So like, how would it work? So they come in, you got you as a guest, just like successful creators maybe are the like judges or whatever. What do they get? Because like, you know, in a business thing, you're like, I get the investment.

CODY KO

What are like the—

SHAAN

yeah, what are the—

CODY KO

I get the investment.

SHAAN

I'm going to get— no, no, I want to judge. What does the contestant get? Like, what do they want to create the— to create their channel?

CODY KO

Every creator just needs money to fund their idea. I see. Yeah. So maybe you, yeah. And then you'd maybe like, as a judge, you'd be like, okay, now I get like 10% of, I'm your manager now. I get 10% of everything that you make in the future. That's a good idea.

SHAAN

Okay. You're in. I, I think it sounds like, it sounds like you're in.

CODY KO

It sounds, I'm in on both so far.

SHAAN

Okay, cool.

CODY KO

So we're doing all of these.

SHAAN

Yeah. We're Frozen S'mores first, clearly. Second, uh, Shark Tank for, for creators. Um, Another one, uh, app startup ideas. Okay. So CapThat. Yep. Smash hit. Yeah. CapThat Plus. True smash hit.

CODY KO

I kept that too. Smash hit.

SHAAN

Smash hit.

CODY KO

I kept that too plus. Where did it stop?

SHAAN

Less of a hit. Was it 2 Plus where it ended?

CODY KO

That's when traction started dying a little bit.

SHAAN

Have you had any, and you were almost, I say almost, cause I think your friend, best friend, something like that started Cameo. So you were like very close also to creating Cameo. Yeah. Or being a part of Cameo. Oh yeah.

CODY KO

I could have been in at the beginning. They were making that in my living room and I was like, this is—

SHAAN

you're like, okay guys, losers.

CODY KO

I'm like, cool. Yeah, it looks cool. Like, what are these guys doing? Then I go record a YouTube video like that's any cooler. And, uh, and then it blew the fuck up and then I ended up investing in Series A. Right. And I was like, these guys were building this beside me.

SHAAN

Well, good for you because I, anytime I missed the first round, kills me to come in later, even though like you should just come in. It's like, and I'm like so anchored to the fact that they were in my living room.

CODY KO

It's out of principle.

SHAAN

Yeah. Yeah. I will lose more. Yeah, exactly.

CODY KO

So, uh, have you had any other like, you know, viral app ideas that you haven't pursued because you're busy being like, I had one where it was like, it was like, um, it was like an app where you could figure out where to buy frozen s'mores.

SHAAN

Frozen s'more locator.

CODY KO

Yes, exactly. But then I was like, wait, that doesn't exist yet. So someone has to invent that and then I'm going to make that app.

SHAAN

That's good. Do you have any problems or pain points or opportunities you've seen as like, you know, you're a creator, there's tons of companies in Silicon Valley like we serve the creator economy. Yeah, but I don't think they really know or understand really how a creator's lifestyle is, what they actually want. Have you seen any like pain points or opportunities that you think somebody who's business-minded would go do?

SHAAN

What do they even use for that? Like what do they—

CODY KO

I don't know. But a lot of times like they'll just make it look a little bit cartoony, but they'll know, then they'll like blend it with the original thumbnail so that it's not obvious, but it's eye-catching. You're like, something's weird about that thumbnail. Which is what it takes to stand out. It doesn't, like, you know, people think that a good thumbnail is like contrast and colors and it's like a lot of times that ends up blending in, right? You just want to look different. So I think AI does that.

SHAAN

I remember, uh, in history class at Duke, actually, I learned, uh, that Hitler did that. So back in the day, you and Hitler, like, minds think alike. He, all the posters were colored, like just like print there. Everybody was. And so he, all of his marketing was done in black and white, black and white flyers, posters, whatever. Yeah. Cause it was just the contrast to everything else.

CODY KO

And it was like, yeah, so there you go. Take a page out of Hitler's book when you're thinking about thumbnails.

SHAAN

But I think, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

CODY KO

Um, but yeah, I think there's other stuff like, for example, with podcasting, I know there's so much with ads that you can do. The most obvious to me being like just, you know, training some, you know, AI on how we speak, just feeding it the transcript of our 500 episodes, right? And then having it write the ads for us in our own voice and then actually synthesizing our voices and reading the ads for us so we don't actually have to record anything. Right. And then eventually just doing the whole podcast. But like the ad thing I think is so obvious it should happen right away. And if it's not already being worked on.

SHAAN

Have you, uh, had anybody like send you a link to like, here's you doing a podcast or here's you doing an ad? Yeah. It's kind of amazing.

CODY KO

We did it last time. It was like, uh, I forget the company's name, but I think they were looking for investment. And then I think I didn't reply to the first email. So the second one, they were like, here, here's you, by the way, here's your voice. And it was an app where you could call Elon, for example, and have a conversation with Elon on, you know, your computer speaker basically. And so we called me. On the podcast and both of us just talked with me and it was so fucking scary. Wow. And weird.

SHAAN

You're like, this guy's great.

CODY KO

Yeah, exactly. This guy's funny. I was like, our job is over, right? We're not going to have this job in a year.

SHAAN

You met Elon, right? You—

CODY KO

yeah.

SHAAN

Was it— you went to—

CODY KO

went to his house.

SHAAN

You went to his house.

CODY KO

I partied with him one time.

SHAAN

How was it? Tell me everything. How does that even happen?

CODY KO

We were— this is the first time I ever met Post Malone. And we're like, you know, good friends now. I wouldn't— I don't say that as a flex. I'm just like, I fucking love the guy. And whenever he hits me up, I'm down to hang out. But the first time he DMs me, which is often— it's not often. He's a fucking rock star. So it's like I don't hear from him for 8 months, then all of a sudden he'll text me and he's like, I'm in town. Then we're like— I'm like, fuck yeah, let's hang. But he hit us up on— or he hit me up on Twitter and Noel, I think, and was like, hey, hey dad, or something like that. Like, I love your videos or something. And I was like, oh my God, I was a huge fan of his music. So I was like, it's like so thrilled. And then he was like, I'm gonna— I'm flying back from Australia in 3 days or something like that. Like, let's get drinks. And I was like, let's do it. And I think I was at— I was with Kelsey's family at the time, my wife, like at a family dinner or something. And he was like, I'm back in town, let's meet at the Rainbow Room. And you know, an hour. And I was like, all right, guys, I got to go. Sorry, Kelsey's family. I got to dip out. So we went and met up with him at the Rainbow Room and we got fucked up. We were drinking, you know, lemon drops and, and it was just like this surreal experience where we're just like, because he's very similar, he's the same sense of humor. So we're just like joking around, riffing, having a great time. And then he looks at his phone, he's like, Elon, Elon's been texting me. And we're like, yeah, sure. Yeah, totally. Just thinking it was a joke. And then he showed us his phone. It was like Elon Musk. He was like, come over. And we were like, and he was like, he was like, should we go over to his house? And we were like, uh, yeah. I mean, you can't really say no to that. Yeah. And so we got in cars and drove to his house and, uh, we got to his house and him and Grimes are like standing on the driveway with lanterns. Like, welcome to my house.

SHAAN

Is that like—

CODY KO

I don't know. It was fucking— it was so bizarre. The whole thing was from a dream. I swear to God, it was the weirdest night of all time.

SHAAN

Was it like 1,000 people there or it's like just y'all?

CODY KO

No, it was like 10 or not even. It was like Post crew plus us, these like, you know, hangers on that are just like, hi, include me and shit. And then it was Elon and Grimes and like, uh, I forget who else was there. A couple like producers. And like 2 other people. So we're all sitting around the fire and it's like 2 or 3 in the morning and we're just sitting there talking and Post and Elon are talking and he's like nursing a glass of whiskey or something like that. And I remember thinking like, this house doesn't have any furniture. It's really weird. And someone was like, well, this is his like party house. His like family house is across the street or something. And I was like, oh, that makes sense. He's like a billionaire. As he should. Yeah, exactly. I would have a party house if I could have one. Um, with no furniture. Yeah. And so eventually, and then, and then—

SHAAN

So you're all standing.

CODY KO

What?

SHAAN

So you're all standing basically. No, no, no.

CODY KO

We're sitting outside of a, outside, like around a fire pit, like on some ledge or something like that. I think there were like a couple chairs. They were very sporadic. Um, and then I remember like we, we finally, it was like 4 AM. I was like, okay, I gotta go home. Kelsey's asking where I'm at. And so we go downstairs, can't figure out which door leads out. And I was like, I don't want to open a random door.

SHAAN

And then there's like a spaceship in there and they're like, quick, there's not enough time. Get on.

CODY KO

So then I go back upstairs. And I like lean around the corner and Elon and Grimes are making out.

SHAAN

And I was like, okay, I'm not going to interrupt that.

CODY KO

So then we just went downstairs, found the door, and then we're sitting, both of us, me and Noel are sitting on the curb afterwards looking up just like, what the fuck? No one's going to believe this. Like, this is the wildest night we've ever had. It was crazy.

SHAAN

That's insane. What's he like?

CODY KO

He was nice. Yeah, he was nice. I was pretty drunk.

SHAAN

So what does one talk about?

CODY KO

My memory is a little foggy, but I remember him saying some things that were like, okay, he clearly like thinks a little bit differently about things.

SHAAN

What did you, uh, are you like in, like, what's your, in that moment? Cause I, whenever I meet celebrities, I make a complete ass out of myself. Um, to the point where I'm like, I don't want to go and I don't want to meet him. I don't want to do it. It's, you know, I start thinking stupid things and I say stupid things.

CODY KO

I think I like, it was one of those things where we were not invited. It was like Post that was invited. So he really wanted to get to know Post. So they were talking and we were sitting beside, just kind of going, yeah.

SHAAN

So yeah.

CODY KO

Well, I mean, yeah, totally. Agreeing. So we were trying to like, you know, not be a nuisance.

SHAAN

Right. That's a better mentality. That's, that's my new mentality with celebrities.

CODY KO

Just be there.

SHAAN

Not be a nuisance.

CODY KO

And don't, yeah. Don't get people to wish you weren't there. You know?

SHAAN

That's the new win.

CODY KO

Yeah, exactly.

SHAAN

Yeah, because my win is like, we're best friends after this, so what I need to do is charm the pants off this guy.

CODY KO

This guy. No, yeah, I was too scared, honestly.

SHAAN

That's hilarious, dude. This was fun. Thanks for coming on.

CODY KO

Yeah, this was great.

SHAAN

Uh, thanks for doing it.

CODY KO

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Bye.

SHAAN

That's a wrap.

CODY KO

I feel like I could rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like no days off. On the road, let's travel, never looking back.