The Instagram account for the podcast chicksintheoffice posted an 89 second clip of Rob Lowe at the show’s table with the caption “Rob Lowe compares fame in the 80s to fame today.” The clip is edited with word by word captions and a run of vintage photos of a young Lowe, and it follows one argument from start to finish: that being famous in the 1980s was better than being famous now.

The video opens on archive pictures set to his voice: a dark portrait of a young Lowe with a cigarette in his mouth, another of him in a tuxedo and bow tie, and another in a light blue short sleeved shirt. Over them the captions begin “to live in a time,” then place it “in the late 70s,” “the early 80s” and “the very beginning.” Then the video cuts to the studio, where Lowe sits at a round table in a dark jacket across from the show’s host, with the show’s logo on the microphone and on the purple backdrop.

The first beat is about being single and being out in that era. The captions have Lowe saying “it was an incredible time to be” something, then, a few seconds later, “an incredible time to be single.” Then comes a line that frames the whole clip: “in the totality of humanity,” followed by “if I could have lived in any time.” The host reacts with a laugh and says that when people are asked which time they would pick, everyone says, “Oh the 80s!”

Lowe’s answer is the center of the clip, and it starts around the thirty fifth second with the caption “Can I tell you.” He says “it was better,” and the captions give the reason in short bursts: “No social media,” then “no cell phone cameras.” He then describes how nights out worked. A black and white photo of a young Lowe in a tuxedo with a bow tie fills the screen as the captions read “intrigue of like” and “the club at 11,” and over a color photo of him resting his chin on his hands they read “didn’t know” and “and maybe they were.” Back in the studio the captions read “you couldn’t say” and “You just didn’t know,” and he calls it “the intrigue of it,” adding “it was beautiful.” The captions are generated word by word and some words are not visible in every frame, so this account sticks to the lines that read cleanly.

The second half turns to the present, starting around the one minute mark. While a photo of a young Lowe in a teal green jacket, standing with his hands in his pockets on a curtained stage, fills the screen, the captions read “I look at movie stars today,” and then, as he comes back on camera, “it’s fun for them” and “I think it’s a burden.” The host jumps in with the point that there are “so many eyes” and that people are waiting for somebody who is “supposed to mess up.” Lowe picks that up, saying “if it’s happening in your early 20s like it was for me,” and then, with a hand at his ear, “I always have” something for “people” with “eyes on them because you’re figuring it out.” A final archive photo shows a young Lowe in glasses and a black leather jacket standing beside another man in a yellow shirt, both holding drinks, in front of an arcade game.