Jersey Mike's with Drew Tarver

"Jersey Mike's with Drew Tarver" is Episode 107 of *Doughboys*, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger, with Drew Tarver. "Jersey Mike's with Drew Tarver" was released on June 7, 2017.

## Synopsis

The 'boys welcome actor and comedian Drew Tarver (*Bajillion Dollar Propertie$*) to discuss his new gig portraying Carl Hardee Jr. in commercials, and to review Jersey Mike's Subs, his sandwich chain of choice. Drew brings some sweet treats from his dad's candy shop, to weigh them against some confections from Mitch's mom's favorite Quincy chocolatier.

## Nick's intro

"*It's not TV. It's HBO":* in 1996, the pay-cable network started using this iconic slogan, which they would carry through the first decade of the 21st century. In 1997, shortly after adopting this intentionally elitist marketing approach, HBO ordered a one-hour crime drama pilot from David Chase, a veteran of network dramas like *The Rockford Files* and *Northern Exposure*.

Originally envisioned in Chase's words as "more like a live-action *Simpsons*," once he came to develop it, he settled on a darker, grittier tone chronicling the dueling domestic and professional worlds of mafia crime boss, Tony Soprano. The January 10, 1999 premiere date of *The Sopranos* would become the equivalent of 0 A.D. in the era of prestige TV, making a star out of character actor, James Gandolfini.

With modern series dominated by brooding anti-heroes who rack up body counts, it's difficult to convey how shocking and intriguing it was to audiences of the time used to the black-and-white morality of network procedurals to depict the show's protagonist relentlessly cheating on his wife and personally committing brutal murders. The series also pioneered pay TV's 'high and low' approach to gaining an audience, combining precise writing and artful filmmaking with graphic violence and often gratuitous female nudity. Behind the scenes, Chase's heavily hands-on, borderline megalomaniacal approach to TV production became the template for modern showrunners as he personally re-wrote every script for the series.

And as much a character as Tony, Carmela, Silvio, Livia, Paulie Walnuts, Bobby Bacala, Johnny Sack, and Big Pussy was the state where Tony oversaw his crime empire that masqueraded as a sanitation business: New Jersey.

In 1956, Mike's Subs opened in the small New Jersey town of Point Pleasant, becoming a fixture in the community. A hard-working high schooler named Peter Cancro began working there in 1971, and in an accelerated Horatio Alger-tale, he purchased the store just three years later. In 1987, Cancro began franchising his restaurant and his empire of sandwich shops would expand for the next three decades and now slings submarines at 1500 locations, renamed to reflect its Garden State heritage.

This week on *Doughboys*: Jersey Mike's.

## Fork rating

	+ regular
	+ Mike's Way
 Jersey Mitch
	+ giant
	+ Cool Ranch Doritos
	+ Mountain Dew
 Drew Tarver
	+ regular on wheat
	+ Mike's Way, no tomato

Mitch also got a chocolate chip cookie, but saved and shared it with Nick and Drew live on the podcast.

Also as an aside, during a conversation about salads, Nick canonically upgrades his fork score for Sweetgreen to 5 forks.

## AmeriCandy: Hometown Turtleoff 🐢

In this segment, Mitch brings both dark and milk-chocolate Tortuga turtles, gifted to the Doughboys from Mitch's mum's favorite candy shop. Drew's grandfather runs a candy company, Mascot Pecan Shelling Company, that also makes candy similar to chocolate turtles; he brought Chocolate Covered Pecans and Pecan Caramel Clusters.

All prefer the milk chocolate Tortuga turtles to the dark. Everyone loved both Mascot products. No losers in this, all winners in AmeriCandy.

Tortuga TurtlesMascot Pecan Caramel ClustersMascot Chocolate Covered Pecans

## Quotes

**Nick**: It's very good.
**Drew**: It's very good.

## #hashtags

* #IRLGamingPicks
* #KyoDough
* #CheeseMysterySolved or #MouseLife
* #IllWatchWithDrew
* #Sopranyes vs. #Soprahellnos

## The Feedbag

The Doughboys all agree this person just needs more ice trays.

## Plugs and Drops and Things

* *Comedy Bang Bang*
* *Big Grande's Teacher's Lounge*
 * *Moana*
* *Angela Lansbury "Beauty and the Beast"*
 David Bowie "Rebel Rebel"
 Dave Matthews Band "American Baby"

## Related Episodes

* 283. Jersey Mike's 2
* 339. Hero's Journey: Sub-Optimal: Eponymous Region
* 341. Hero's Journey: Sub-Optimal: Semi-Finals
* 343. Hero's Journey: Sub-Optimal: Finals