#393: Kyle Mooney

🎶 MC Miker G And DJ Sven, 🌶️ Tatemada Jalapeño Salsa, 💻 Froggy Flips, and more.

Perfectly Imperfect is a newsletter offering “A Taste of Someone’s Taste” from guests like Charli XCX, John Cale, Julian Casablancas, Ayo Edebiri, Lena Dunham, Mac Demarco, Dasha Nekrasova, Weyes Blood, Tim Heidecker, Michael Imperioli, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Mel Ottenberg, Chloe Cherry, Matty Matheson, Anna Delvey, The Dare, Caroline Calloway, Snail Mail, and more.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Kyle Mooney to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Kyle Mooney is a Los Angeles & New York City-based comedian, writer, and director. When I look back on the formative influences of my sense of humor, music taste, whatever, it’s the early-Youtube contributions of GoodNeighborStuff + Kyle’s solo stuff that were among the most impactful of my youth. I was (and still am) completely entranced by toast, characters like chris, classic skits like Outrageous Fun & smoking, and of course, Kyle’s iconic interview videos. He went on to have a great run on Saturday Night Live where he drank beers with Larry David, brought along some old friends like Bruce Chandling, and had a rap battle with Kanye West. Mooney also co-wrote and starred in the indie comedy Brigsby Bear with Mark Hamill and Alexa Demie, and will make his directorial debut with A24’s Y2K starring Rachel Zegler. Lucky for us, Kyle is here to tell us what he’s been into.

Without further ado

Kyle Mooney (instagram, twitter)

🎶 MC Miker G And DJ Sven - Holiday Rap

I started buying records again in the last couple years (pretty much stopped when I was 19, and got into “comedy” 🥴…) here are some recent faves:

A silly Dutch hip hop record from 1986. It samples Madonna’s “Holiday” and is featured in the old school viral video “Little Superstar” (maybe that’s how I found it?)… I played some records at a party recently and played this one and people were seemingly getting as much of a kick out of it as I do, so that was nice. 

🙏 The Winans - Very Real Way (Remix)

The LP version of this track is great, but it’s always nice to stumble upon a 12 inch remix that changes a song just enough to make it new again. 

The Winans are a gospel group from the 80’s/90’s with a lot of wonderful songs. I’ve only scratched the surface of their discography, but so far they’re all hits to me.

⛵️ Marty Butler - I Wasn’t Gonna Fall in Love

For the yacht rock folks, this seemingly is a complete ripoff of Christopher Cross’s “Never Be the Same”… maybe with a little more country twang? But Cross’s song is great to me, so this is too.

🧀 Cabot Wickedly Habanero cheese

I found this cheese at the Gristedes near my apartment in NYC a few years ago, but am pretty sure you can find it anywhere. Fun spicy cheese that’s perfect for a good ol cracker. 

🌶️ Tatemada Jalapeño Salsa 

Chips and salsa is one of the best things I think, but it’s tough to find store bought salsa that comes close to something you’d find at a restaurant / taco shop. This salsa right here though is something special. It’s creamy, light, and spicy, and is a nice change from the typical red / pico de gallo -ish salsa you’d typically grab at the grocery store. 

💻 Froggy Flips

I watch this guy’s YouTube channel before I go to sleep quite a bit. Not sure where he’s from, but he’s got a distinct / endearing presence behind the camera. Froggy goes to garage / yard sales and conventions and buys toys/comics/games etc. and then flips it on Ebay.  A lot of the folks he buys from recognize him from his videos, and it’s incredibly charming to get a peek into the community of resale / bargain hunting. There’s a decent amount of Star Wars / He-Man toy type stuff which I love, but hey, you might not!

⚾️ Baseball

Another hobby I’ve gotten into since I moved back to California. (Generally been getting into a lot of stuff I was into in 5th grade.) I love watching my “team” on tv - the Padres. It’s been a challenging year, but that’s cool. The players feel like my friends, and I really want them to do well. I also play Immaculate Grid with a few pals and we text our scores every morning. Before I fall asleep I’m usually reading baseball stats and trying to memorize all the teams Vince Coleman played for or something. 

🎻 “greatest composers of all time”

A Google search I did everyday for the first few weeks of my baby’s life. (My wife and I had a daughter!) We’d carve out some time to walk in the backyard and listen to classical music. Really nice to get past the obvious guys like Beethoven/ Mozart and into Monteverdi / Ravel, etc.

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