The best part about friendship is — arguably — the healthy arguments you can have.
On Oct. 7, TikTok user @ashley_tropea shared a clip from a well-known podcast that will remind you of the all-too-familiar heated-but-loving-type of arguments you've likely had with close friends. Except for this war of words wasn't about politics, religion or any other typically divisive, potentially Thanksgiving-ruining topic — it was about something we can all relate to: snack food.
“It’s the build on this one,” said @ashley_tropea in her TikTok, which has gone very viral, garnering a staggering 15.8 million views and 3.7 million likes. The post has gone viral elsewhere on the internet as well, with a post on Twitter sharing the same clip garnering a further 1.2 million views.
What each account has shared is a segment of an argument over a popular breakfast-time toaster treat from the podcast "The Basement Yard" hosted by Joe Santagato and Frank Alvarez. In an episode titled “Harry Styles Could Spit On Me If He Wants” (yes, you read that correctly), what starts as a simple question about what each host’s favorite Pop-Tart devolves into one of the most epic arguments we have ever seen.
“Dude, what’s your favorite Pop-Tart?” Santagato asks his co-host in the clip.
“Obviously, it’s the strawberry one,” replies Alvarez. “But there’s—”
“That’s such a basic f---ing b---h answer.” interjects Santagato, disapproving of Alvarez’s taste in toaster dessert.
“All right, you want a real answer, Joey?” asks Alvarez, clearly getting heated over things.
“Yes!” Santagato says.
“The 2002 tie-in merch Pop-Tarts that came out for the Spider-Man movie. Look it up,” Alvarez replies with an air of disgust that someone would deliver to their worst enemy. “Those are my favorite Pop-Tarts, Joe. The Wild Berry.”
After Santagato replies, “Can you just be a person?" to Alvarez’s oddly specific but completely historically accurate answer — 2002 did feature those exact Pop-Tarts — the real argument begins.
“Bro-ey — bro and Joey in one — bro-ey, go look it up and tell me you don’t remember these being absolute f---ing fire,” says Alvarez before remembering another, perhaps even more obscure flavor of Pop-Tart to hitch his flavor wagon to. “Or the Pokémon ones they did years ago.”
“Can you just pick a normal flavor?” asks Santagato, mirroring what many people in the comments were thinking at this point in the video.
“No! Those are my favorite! I gave you a flavor, and you said, 'That’s basic.' I gave you another and you said you didn’t like it!” says Alvarez in pungent contempt. He added that he thought Joey would say his favorite was something like “Chocolate Unfrosted” which is, quite honestly, a low blow.
“What am I an IDIOT?” Santagato replies.
After more hilarious bickering, both parties agree that S’mores and Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tarts are good, both as an answer and as a treat.
But the sugary truce doesn’t last long and the co-hosts start arguing again over what Santagato says his favorite is, which is Cinnamon. (To be fair, that’s not that far off from Chocolate Unfrosted, at least in flavor profile, so Alvarez was kind of right.)
“One second, before you move forward,” Santagato says, stopping Alvarez before he continues on a tirade. “You just got mad at me for saying I like the Cinnamon Pop-Tart when you just rattled off like a… 1977 blue Cadillac f---in’… you’re a psychopath!”
The argument fizzles after with a bit more bickering, one exchange over an off-camera dog and again about the Spider-Man Pop-Tarts, which eventually Santagato agrees at least look delicious after he finds an image of them on the web.
Just as the argument bubbles up into such a passionate, fiery exchange over the snack classic, Alvarez and Santagato quickly shift the conversation back to other subjects, almost as if they weren’t just screaming expletives at each other moments before.
Folks in the comments sections across the internet all agreed that the argument reminded them of passionate discussions at holiday events, birthdays and more.
“This screams ‘east coast family reunion’ like you’re at an east coast family reunion,” said one TikTok commenter.
“This is literally how my family and I argue,” commented another.
“This is all their podcast is, and I’m so appreciative,” tweeted someone else.
“When I say I only like men who are passionate, this is what I mean,” wrote another Twitter user, reacting to the clip.
Multiple commenters said that "The Basement Yard" hosts' argument reminds them of Nick and Schmidt’s relationship from the sitcom “New Girl,” which was known for the epic shouting matches between the two characters. Watching any clip from the TV show featuring those two arguing about everything from grandma-given heirlooms to hair conditioner will prove how right those comments are.
“The accents are what’s getting me,” said another TikTok commenter. “They’re so f---ing Italian I love it so much.”
Even with all the friendly squabbling, there is also brotherly love apparent in the Pop-Tart debate. Still, at least one co-host still hasn’t fully recovered from the argument.
“I still haven’t recovered from this,” wrote Alvarez in a comment under the TikTok video weeks after the argument happened and days after the clip went viral. “Might never.”
With these men, it’s clear that what we were witnessing was not just an argument but an expression of years and years of good times — and shared Pop-Tarts — between friends.
