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One of them talks about home renovations while the other scrolls through his phone.
They do, obviously.
Its like asking if they take Apple Pay, only its hot caramel.
Why caramel?John Early:Why caramel, Kate?
Kate Berlant:Why not caramel?
Thats an inside joke from way back when John and I would just be at a restaurant.
Restaurants are very loaded for us.
Anyway, we always had this joke where we imagined ladling hot caramel onto a check.
There kind of isnt anything there beyond the fact that it made us privately laugh.
JE:Its an audio joke, too.
Theres something very funny about saying, Do you guys take hot caramel?
Hot caramel: You have to wrap your mouth around the words very aggressively to say it.
So the answer is yes, you actuallycango too far.
We go really far in the direction of trying to appear perfect.
JE:I think weve crossed the line.
Were almost sending up the formality of the dining experience.
And every once in a while well get a waiter who doesnt find it funny.
KB:And its so hard.
JE:Itssohard, and well talk about it forweeks.
KB:Nothing about that interaction makes us uncomfortable.
To be clear, I want adoration, so nothing about being adored is uncomfortable to me.
So that last sketch comes from a very real place, embarrassingly enough.
I think it was at Sweetwater in Williamsburg.
KB:Wow, that sounds about right.
To be clear, May 5, 2012, is our anniversary.
But at this point in the friendship, I feel like we were a little deeper into it.
I think we said it to our waiter.
KB:Do you take hot caramel?
Then it was the fun of imagining how different people from different social groups would have different caramel paraphernalia.
In my mind, its a fad that some people are still really clinging to.
JE:These are associations that weve made after the fact.
Were delighted by that association that people seem to be making.
But the caramel specifically paired with those two does highlight its crypto association.
But if you do look closely, there are outlets on the other tables.
The girls, too I feel like it makes sense that they would be paying with trendy crypto.
The joke is just received, which is a blessing.
JE:Our production designer, Grace Alie, and her prop team are amazing.
You have to have the harder version before its melted.
You have to have the scoop.
Then in the stripper moment, theres that black-and-white checkered caramel thing, which I love.
It feels very Chinatown.
How many days were spent shooting?KB:The whole special took five days.
Oh my God.KB:Its kind of amazing that we pulled it off, to be honest.
There were a lot of times of us having to get things in one take.
The guys with the caramel we had to get in so quickly.
JE:The sun was setting.
KB:There was a lot that was very, very rushed.
The strip club was literally two minutes.
Was it actually caramel or some kind of substance?JE:No, it was not caramel.
It was definitely some sort of chemical mixture that he made.
He did melt down real caramel and then tried to match it to that color.
Of course, caramel shifts.
Thats the whole point; it gets more and more caramelized.
So some of the color we actually did in postproduction to make it look more amber.
And it was more milky in real life.
I mean, he was so sweet and professional and did such a beautiful job.
I think for him it was probably another maybe more bizarre day on the job.
It wasnt real boiling.
Weve arrived at the logic portion of the quiz.
The checks in the sketches all have real numbers on them.
Whats the caramel exchange rate?KB:We dont know!
JE:Do we adjust for inflation in the future?
JE:I think you figured it out.
Is caramel scarce in this universe?
Every time the characters total up the check, they calculate.
They measure enough caramel for the tip.
They bring it to a boil.
They ladle it into the thing.
Its too strong to say struggled with.
We didnt have time to care.
Maybe theres a world where … in a dream world …
I dont know, Rebecca.
JE:That was a hole in the logic.
We really talked about this on set, though.
We never thought this through.
We knew the sketches would be funnier if we just got up and went.
Thats all Im gonna say.
Theyre popping it out and splitting it like that.
So you bring your own hot plate.
Thats just embedded in this culture.
Is this allowed on a flight?KB:I think caramel would be allowed.
It has to be electric.
JE:Or battery operated.
KB:We shouldve had some sign with a coil and a hot plate.
KB:Maybe pellets.
Would hot plates still not be allowed in dorm rooms in this world?KB:Really good point.
JE:They would definitely not be allowed.
What does caramel mean to you guys?KB:Its decorative.
John is into caramel in real life.
I skew more chocolate.
JE:Ive always been drawn to caramelization.
Butter pecan is kind of in that family.
I love a brown-butter dulce de leche Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
KB:I love brown butter, too.
Your characters in the last scene are presented with a banana split.
Is there caramel on that?KB:No.
I think there would be hot fudge, maybe butterscotch.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
