Overview of How Long Gone Episode 998: Chris & Jason
In this episode, Chris Black and Jason Stewart reunite in Los Angeles at the Chateau Marmont for a fast-moving, gossip-heavy conversation that jumps from travel and hotel life to celebrity sightings, Erewhon complaints, wellness obsession, fitness culture, and the latest pop-culture chaos. The tone is loose and funny, with a lot of side tangents, but the throughline is classic How Long Gone: status, taste, and the absurdity of modern life.
Main Topics Discussed
Chateau Marmont, travel, and hotel life
- They open by comparing the Chateau’s bungalows to the main hotel rooms and joking about “steps vs. stairs.”
- Much of the early banter is about hotel energy, privacy, and how different parts of the property feel more chaotic or more “rowdy.”
- They also talk about flying, airport encounters, and the strange etiquette of celebrity interactions in confined spaces.
Celebrity sightings and awkward social behavior
- Chris recounts seeing multiple recognizable people on a flight and describes an awkward moment where someone tried to force a small talk interaction with an A-list celebrity and got shut down.
- They riff on how different celebrity levels affect whether an approach is welcome.
- They also reference ongoing gossip about famous people, including:
- Channing Tatum reportedly having a burner account
- Dakota Johnson dating Machine Gun Kelly
- Joe Alwyn being spotted with different people
- Ed Sheeran’s recent controversy around Gaza-related comments and the fallout
Erewhon, food, and shrinking portions
- A big chunk of the episode is a rant about Erewhon:
- Cake slices are getting smaller
- Pizza slices feel worse value-wise
- “Luxury” grocery pricing is increasingly absurd
- They argue that if you’re paying premium prices, you should get an actually generous portion.
- Chris shares an Erewhon “hack” involving pizza crust and coconut red lentil soup.
- They contrast Erewhon’s expensive, curated feel with regular grocery stores and note that the luxury experience should justify the price.
Health, biomarkers, and bathroom minimalism
- Jason talks about a full-panel health checkup and feeling like his doctor gave him data without useful insight.
- They plug a biomarker-testing service and joke about tracking far more than standard bloodwork.
- Chris also describes cleaning out his bathroom drawer/cabinet and how satisfying it felt to reduce clutter.
- The broader theme is control, optimization, and the small relief of making one part of life less chaotic.
Fitness culture and the “High Rocks” discourse
- They spend a long stretch joking about High Rocks/HYROX-style fitness competitions.
- Their take: it’s intense, weird, sweaty, and kind of ridiculous, but they can also see why serious athletes are drawn to it.
- The conversation turns into a broader joke about extremity in fitness culture and how much suffering people are willing to tolerate for performance.
Attention span, restlessness, and live performance
- Jason talks about not being able to sit still during a dance performance at the Joyce Theater.
- He describes loving the performance but constantly fidgeting and feeling physically uncomfortable sitting for long periods.
- They connect this to age, attention span, and the inability to fully settle into passive entertainment.
- They also discuss the strange but compelling nature of dance and live performance as something between music and theater.
Music, club culture, and the post-ironic set
- They recap a recent night of DJing/playing music with friends, including a set that mixed serious and silly choices.
- Songs like “California Gurls” and “She Wolf” come up as examples of dance-floor classics that still hit.
- They talk about how some pop songs have aged into cult or sleeper-status greatness.
Pop culture news and online chaos
- The episode gets especially current when they cover:
- Ed Sheeran’s political controversy and the awkward position it put him in
- Macklemore being celebrated for a political statement while still being, in their view, a bad artist
- A distressing story involving Carrot Top and the dark, joke-heavy reaction online
- They repeatedly point out how the internet turns serious or sad news into meme material almost instantly.
Notable Takeaways
- Luxury needs to feel luxurious: Their Erewhon rant boils down to one idea — if you’re charging premium prices, don’t shrink the product.
- Celebrity etiquette matters: They’re fascinated by how fame changes what kind of approach is acceptable, especially in transit or other awkward settings.
- Fitness has become theater: High-intensity fitness culture is treated almost like a performance scene, complete with branding, identity, and spectacle.
- Modern attention spans are brittle: Jason’s inability to sit still becomes a larger discussion about restlessness, aging, and the challenge of staying present.
- The internet is merciless: Several of the celebrity topics underscore how quickly nuance disappears once something becomes meme fodder.
Overall Tone
This episode is mostly unscripted hanging-out energy: gossip, cultural commentary, and side jokes stacked on top of each other. It’s not a deep-dive interview or a single-theme episode — it’s more of a snapshot of what Chris and Jason are thinking about right now, filtered through hotel-room banter, nightlife memories, and a healthy amount of cynicism.