Podcast appearances and mentions of David Letterman

American comedian and actor

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The David Alliance
Purpose is easy... it's the frequency that's sticky!

The David Alliance

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2026 7:47


Garth Heckman TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com The David Alliance  Can opener What is it? How do I use it? Where do I use it? Why do I use it?      My Natural gifts are leadership, communication,          (Preached when I was 14, spoke for Mayor Pawlenty, spoke infant of 20K- never nervous) My physical gifting is balance, strength, I could skate, ski, snowboard great for a husky kid My Spiritual gifting is Evangelism, Apostleship, Preaching/teaching, giving My Soul gifting is creativity, music, poetry - written 100's songs, books for Hal Leonard My Mental gifting is prolonged focus, grind, discipline AND AN IDGAF ATTITUDE These are all waves… but when they tune into the frequency that God has for me it intensifies my life in His purpose.    **BUT HANG 3 PICTURES ON A WALL… NEVER!          Liars club and old show - What's this for? What is its purpose. David Letterman got his start here…    When I tested in high school it said you should be a professional clown, a comedian or an actor/singer. I guess I'm all three today.   I took a test when I was in my late 20's at a conference. Basically it took questions and pictures of your formative years and helped you weave insight into your gifting… My Storie board growing up helped me understand that I was doing exactly what I should be doing… But none of these told me my purpose.    Mark Twain is widely credited with the famous quote: "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.   a 1970 sermon by the Rev. Ernest T. Campbell at the Riverside Church in New York.

Somehow Related with Dave O'Neil & Glenn Robbins
PREVIEW! Jeff Stilson on Somehow UN-Related

Somehow Related with Dave O'Neil & Glenn Robbins

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2026 5:35


Subscribe to Somehow UN-Related here Jeff Stilson is Glenn's long time friend and American comedian who's worked with David Letterman, Ellen, Chris Rock, Sasha Baren Cohen and many more! An incredible list of guests already AND ad-free Somehow Related and The Junkees. Peter Rowsthron plays "The Cube"

Press Profiles
FOX Sports' Rob Stone: World Cups, Hambones & Being a Good Dude

Press Profiles

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2026 54:56


As the 2026 FIFA World Cup gets underway, FOX Sports host Rob Stone joins Press Profiles to reflect on a broadcasting career that has taken him from local TV in Albany, Georgia, to the biggest stages in sports. Rob shares stories from nine World Cups, the evolution of soccer in America, and what viewers can expect from this summer's tournament. He also revisits his infamous Chili Pepper Institute segment, explains the origin of bowling's "Hambone," talks Big Noon Kickoff, David Letterman, WWE championship glory, Colgate University, and why being a "good dude" and "good hang" might be what matters most.

Advanced TV Herstory
Backbone and Boundaries: Unscripted Talk Show Lessons

Advanced TV Herstory

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2026 30:15


Host Cynthia Bemis Abrams examines the pivotal moments in TV talk show history where hosts overstepped boundaries and guests were challenged to stand up for themselves. Through a series of iconic examples like Lily Tomlin's poised resistance on The Dick Cavett Show and Joan Rivers' sharp retort on CNN, Cynthia highlights the crucial role of media training and self-awareness.When talk show hosts use their power to obtain a newsworthy moment and a guest challenges them, it's like listening to a game of chess.This episode underscores the importance of understanding and asserting personal boundaries in the often unpredictable landscape of unscripted TV. Talk shows offer valuable insights about how to claim your backbone and set boundaries.TIMESTAMPS[00:37] You never know what's going to happen[02:30] Past episodes about talk shows[04:04] Boundaries and bullies[07:55] Lily Tomlin on Cavett[10:39] Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on Oprah[13:12] Lindsay Lohan on Letterman[16:04] Mariah Carey on Ellen[18:04] Joan Rivers on CNN[23:13] Jane Fonda on Megyn Kelly Today[26:39] What do you want to accomplish?[27:40] Claim your space[29:03] Know your self worthREFERENCESLily Tomlin on The Dick Cavett Show - https://youtu.be/Pu89uzk9D54?si=aKde8jjz_A_KKuBHMary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on Oprah (via Daily Blast LIVE) - https://youtu.be/aSUATkfXo_w?si=PzfrLsHfxVO8_QRXLindsay Lohan on The Late Show with David Letterman (via The Oklahoman Video Archive) - https://youtu.be/aMKIJf8atDg?si=r2C5qkjRIzh2kHDnJoan Rivers on CNN - https://youtu.be/6lKS-Et-VmE?si=f52bA8axcYWWb0WwJane Fonda on Megyn Kelly Today - https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIEo-uTItSa/RELATED EPISODESTV Talk Shows: Hellman v. McCarthy https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/8897c2ab-b7b8-46cb-8bfb-dacf024ff47a.mp3TV Talk Show Moment, Vivien Leigh as Herself https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/788816bc-b4d5-4f2f-aad5-ef4282142025.mp3Talk Show First, Della Reese https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0e3c7f4b-6088-4674-b082-3ada529850b5.mp3PRODUCTIONPodcast Editing - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariloumarosz/Video Editing - https://nivialopez.com/Music by Jahzzar - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA and ADVANCED TV HERSTORYMonthly Newsletter - https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/Website - https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/advancedtvherstory/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstoryLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-bemis-abrams-5046573/

Desde los Territorios
Episodio #264: Kaufman vs Lawler : El Feudo que puso a Memphis en el Mapa

Desde los Territorios

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2026 43:36


¡Esta semana nos sumergimos en uno de los feudos más legendarios de la historia de la lucha libre! ¡Revive la épica batalla entre el actor Andy Kaufman y Jerry "The King" Lawler, que desafió los límites entre lo real y lo ficticio! Descubre cómo Andy ideó esta historia, a quién se la propuso primero y cómo aterrizó en Memphis. ¡Te contamos cómo cada uno brilló en su papel, el impactante incidente en el show de David Letterman y todo el desenlace de este feudo inolvidable!

Howie Mandel Does Stuff Podcast
Thai For The Best Episode Yet, Thanks Harland

Howie Mandel Does Stuff Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2026 51:50


"WINGMAN" Written & Directed by Harland Williams out now! Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/wingman/umc.cmc.nfzru25awp5jnendhudhjw9t Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.8feecdc7-1900-406b-aee6-d7192e3e8876?autoplay=0&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wbOfficial Wingman Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wingmanofficialmovie/ Harland Williams is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, musician, and children's book author. He's known for his outlandish stand-up and sketch comedy, and his roles in movies like Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, and Half Baked. Williams's career began with stand-up in Toronto and Los Angeles, and he's performed on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Howie Mandel Does Stuff available on every Podcast Platform Visit the Official Howie Mandel Website for more: https://www.howiemandel.com/ Howie Mandel Does Stuff Merchandise available on Amazon.com here https://www.amazon.com/shop/howiemandeldoesstuff Join the "Official Howie Mandel Does Stuff" Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HowieMandelPodcast/ Thanks to our sponsors: Keeping a home clean can feel like a constant battle, with spills, crumbs, and everyday messes piling up fast. Steve's Cleaners offers a simple solution with their Lemon Multi-Use Spray, made with plant-based, sugar-derived detergents and real lemon essential oil for effective cleaning without harsh chemicals or artificial fragrances. It's designed for daily use on countertops, glass, tile, stainless steel, and more, making everyday cleaning easier. For a limited time, use code HOWIE15 for 15% off sitewide at stevescleaners.com. Putting a collar on an excited dog shouldn't feel like a coordination test. MAGNEPUP was created to solve that everyday frustration with its Click and Go magnetic system that snaps together automatically and securely. Built with durable materials, reflective trim, and tested strength, it's designed to make walks faster and far less stressful. Head to magnepup.com and use code HOWIE15 for 15% off storewide. Feeling tired, overstimulated, and pulled in a dozen directions? Many wellness routines feel complicated, but Troomy keeps things simple with plant-based gummies and capsules made with triple-extracted, non-psychoactive functional mushrooms designed to fit different parts of the day—from focus and energy to calm, sleep, and recovery. It's an easy way to build a more intentional daily routine without the confusion. Head to Troomy.com and use code TRNDY20 for 20% off storewide. Say Hello to our house band Sunny and the Black Pack! Follow them here! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlackMediaPresents TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blackmediapresents Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/01uFmntCHwOW438t7enYOO?si=0Oc-_QJdQ0CrMkWii42BWA&nd=1&dlsi=a9792af062844b4f Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunnyAndTheBlackPack/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmediapresents/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/blackmediapresents Twitter: twitter.com/blackmedia @howiemandel @jackelynshultz @harlandwilliams @wingmanofficialmovie

Backstage With Gentry Thomas
Jim Gaffigan Talks Letterman, Football, Bourbon, and The Everything Is Wonderful Tour

Backstage With Gentry Thomas

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2026 16:38


In this hilarious and easygoing episode of Backstage Pass with Gentry Thomas, comedian Jim Gaffigan joins Gentry to talk about his new stand-up run, The Everything Is Wonderful Tour. Known for his clean, sharp, and brutally relatable comedy, Jim shares what fans can expect from the new material and how his life, family, and point of view continue to fuel his work on stage. Fans can find tour dates and buy tickets here:Jim Gaffigan Everything is Wonderful Tour Jim also talks about his bourbon brand, Fathertime, a Kentucky straight bourbon inspired by fatherhood, parenting, and the need for dads to occasionally take a well-earned pause. Fans 21+ can learn more and shop Fathertime bourbon here:Fathertime Bourbon Gentry and Jim dive into what it was like growing up in Indiana, Jim’s early life as an athlete, and his time playing college football as an offensive lineman. The conversation also gets into his love of bourbon, the discipline behind stand-up, and what it feels like to be one of the most prolific comedians working today, with a long list of comedy specials and decades of material behind him. From football and family to bourbon and big laughs, this episode is packed with classic Jim Gaffigan honesty, wit, and warmth.

Unstoppable Mindset
Episode 447 – Unstoppable Through Love, Consciousness, and Purpose with Kip Baldwin

Unstoppable Mindset

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2026 68:28


What if the answers you're searching for arrived long before you knew how to understand them? In this conversation, I sit down with Kip Baldwin, a filmmaker, producer, writer, and founder of the Just Love movement. Kip shares the extraordinary awakening he experienced at age 12 and how it set him on a lifelong path of exploring consciousness, love, spirituality, and human connection. From the music industry and sustainable agriculture to television production, ethical AI, and overcoming a traumatic brain injury, Kip's journey has been anything but ordinary. As we talk, Kip reflects on why fear has become such a powerful force in society, how love can transform the way we see ourselves and others, and why he believes lasting change starts with a shift in consciousness. You will hear stories of resilience, curiosity, and purpose, along with a vision for creating a better future for generations to come. I believe you will find this conversation thought-provoking, challenging, and full of hope. Highlights: 01:45 - How a childhood acting career sparked a lifelong passion for media and communication. 07:08 - Why confidence without self-awareness can become a liability. 16:32 - Lessons from the Kellogg School of Management that still shape business decisions today. 21:58 - Why listening beats talking in business, leadership, and life. 35:08 - How strong brands grow through awareness, not just loyalty programs. 01:05:02 - The three traits Zarko looks for when mentoring future leaders. About the Guest: Kip Baldwin knows his purpose for Being is to share all that LOVE is through his many solutions driven projects; using media in all its forms to help awaken individuals, and by proxy the collective, to the LOVE Paradigm emerging. He feels that in order for a new chapter of our story to be conceived for humanity, a mass imagining of our limitless potential is what is needed to bring about an age of compassion, empathy, collaboration, and oneness.  Kip was born in 1965 to counterculture parents - in the midst of the maelstrom that was the decade of the sixties, in fact 1965 was the first year that scientists warned us about climate change - in Vancouver, Washington. His earliest years were spent on a farm where his grandparents raised thoroughbred horses. During this period grew in him a deep, abiding LOVE and respect for nature and all living things. It was around the age of twelve his life would transform forever, as he had an out of body experience that took him beyond the edge of Universe, even Space and Time, and face to face with the unknowable of Infinity. This experience became the foundation for his constant seeking since. Due to that experience Kip felt he must explore the world beyond the small town confines of Camas, WA where he grew up. His first attempt to break free was to do a brief stint in the Navy, where he was going to pursue a career as an electric technician, but because of a hereditary bleeding disorder he was given a medical discharge. However, a military career for him was clearly never really in the cards anyway. Although he was always grateful for the insight it gave him into the inner workings of our country, as he witnessed first the how the poor are literally cannon fodder for corporations, under the guise of them being heroes and patriots. Following his discharge, he returned briefly to the limits of his hometown, before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985 to pursue his passion for music and performing. He often jokes that he was looking for the San Francisco of the Haight/Ashbury, Peace and LOVE days, but arrived twenty years too late. What he found instead was the 80s hair metal band scene, whose songs that focused on partying, sex, and drugs were not compatible with his lyrics about awakening awareness and addressing the need for personal and societal change. In the late 90s, after becoming disillusioned by his beloved music industry - and always seeking solutions for the myriad of challenges facing humanity - he shifted his focus to local and sustainable foods. While this was certainly a worthwhile pursuit, it did little to fulfill his need to share LOVE'S Truth and create a collective shift in consciousness. But what it did do was make him aware that it was only going to be through the use of mass media that his message of LOVE could reach a large enough audience to affect real lasting change. This found him again heeding the call of the entertainment industry, first as an actor, then writer, and ultimately as a producer, with some success co-creating the influential cannabis series Weed Country for the Discovery Network (focusing on the countless benefits humanity can derive from marijuana, as well as our profound historical connection to the plant), co-founding the United Filmmakers Association, and starting the Just LOVE Movement. Ultimately, this led him to co-founding S.O.U.L. Documentary with creative partner and Soul Twin, Evan Hirsch who shares his passion, purpose and mission to heal humanity by embracing our innate oneness, which they both understand can only be achieved by accepting and grounding ourselves in the Reality of LOVE We Are. Ways to connect with Kip: Facebook:  Just LOVE page: https://www.facebook.com/kipbaldwinjustlove Main page: https://www.facebook.com/kip.baldwin/ UFA: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Unifilmmakers LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kip-baldwin-975a3514/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kipbaldwin?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr YouTube: Kip Baldwin: https://youtube.com/@thekiprowdy?si=LckMuhec40lWAicF Just LOVE: https://youtube.com/@justlove6463?si=QW1g4D2dlaHmJk8B S.O.U.L. Documentary: https://youtube.com/@souldocumentary?si=4HOwlV-pjFN6guYy Soul Twin Messiah: https://youtube.com/@soultwinmessiah?si=7ctLlmqjeOczkjO_ Additional must listen:  Comfort You Song: https://youtu.be/Mi8D3AoDfRQ?si=y8RzIQPXP5ALJth1 A World Worth Imagining: https://youtu.be/Cx28t6_SGic?si=o4lWs7po3TBKx_3A Invitation. To Action: https://youtu.be/B8jUOUVCvJI?si=l4Pr7vWNDsnXX4wh AI work: www.luminaLOVE.LOVE About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:03 One of the biggest things holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe. Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, I am your host Mike Hingson, and you are listening and or watching Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad that you're here with us today. Our guest, the person I get the honor of chatting with for the next hour or so, is Kip Baldwin, who will talk a lot about love. He will talk a lot about a number of different things, he's been a director, he's been a producer, an actor. He has been published, although he hasn't published a book yet, but he's published poetry, and I'm sure he's going to tell us about that, and I don't want to give it away, so I won't. Anyway, Kip, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're Kip Baldwin  01:40 here. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Michael. I look forward to having this conversation and sharing my story. Michael Hingson  01:47 Well, tell us a little bit about you, kind of. Let's start with the early Kip, growing up and all that, because I know you had some things along the way that were relevant and ought to be mentioned. So, why don't you tell us about the early Kip, and we'll go from there. Speaker 1  02:00 I was. I grew up in Washington State, little town called Camas. Although my earliest years were spent in a town called Battleground, Washington, and my family, we raised horses, Thoroughbred race horses. We raised at Portland Meadows, and so I'm kind of a farm boy at heart, at least that's how I grew up, but I had an experience when I was 12 that was definitely not your typical farm boy experience, I guess. I had gone up to Seattle, and this was maybe 78 to see a Seahawks game with the Raiders of my dad and dad, I had a good day, which wasn't always the case, and got home, and it was a, you know, five and a half hour round trip for kids, 12 year olds, a big time, and so I went to bed, and I promptly left my body, and now keep in mind I had never done any drugs. Out of body experiences, a household projection was not something that we talked about about the old farm around the farmhouse dinner table, and I floated over my bedroom. My awareness hovered over my body, and I remember very vividly you don't forget. I looked at my body and went, "I'm not in there. And then that immediately I left my house, I left the planet, I left the solar system, I let the galaxy, I let the universe, and the whole time all I can describe was kind of a presence, not a voice or anything, but just, are you taking all of this in? And sometimes words can't convey something so expansive and grand, and so I was taking in black holes and quasars and nebulas, and just flying through the, you know, time didn't really exist, but I was, I was traveling across the universe, and eventually I got outside the universe, and my awareness was turned in, and I could see how everything was connected, and how the universe itself was finite, and but that everything had a place, there was no less or greater than that, everything had a specific role, from the smallest particle to, you know, the largest star, and then my awareness was turned out to the blackness of infinity, and that you know you don't know at 12, you're just like, "Oh, this is happening, and I'm what's happening, and I'm taking it in, and what I didn't know is that would become my point of seeking that really became the rest of my life. Life, I think, had I been born in India, like say Ramana Maharishi, who had what I didn't realize until later, there's a name for what happened to me, and it's called a spontaneous awakening. My life would have probably been much different, but we don't live in a society that that really honors things like that, so it was a lot of me going on a journey of discovery and a weight and continual awakening until now, and it's an ongoing process, but that's where it really began with me being confronted with the fact that there there can't be a beginning or ending to anything, and the thought experiments that can't, that come out of that, and the way it opens your consciousness, I'm ever grateful for, although at the time it, it made me for a long time feel very apart, and it wasn't until I met with Dr. Dr. Dean Radin up at Noetic Sciences, and I told him my story, and he looked at me, and he went, "You go, that's not a usual experience, he said, "That's a mystical experience, and I was in my probably late 40s, maybe 50 at that time, and that was the first time in my life that someone had had said, 'Hey, what you, what you had was a really phenomenal experience, and I'm very grateful for him for saying that to me, because for most of my life, I'm running around talking about these profound things with people that I thought were incredibly important to share, and they didn't seem very important to people, and it wasn't until then that it hit me that it wasn't that they were important, that it was that they, they didn't really understand what I was talking about. Michael Hingson  07:03 Well, and in our society, as you point out, it's not something that is generally appreciated, and and people who have had those experiences or talk about them are generally looked down upon or frowned upon, and you know that's that's fine, but it doesn't change the fact, and so it must have been hard, especially at first, for you to talk about that. Speaker 1  07:29 You know, I was so excited at first, I was excited to share it with my family, and and it happened a couple more times, and it was so overwhelming that literally I would get to a point where my head, my physical being couldn't handle it anymore, and I would get up and vomit. It was that's how, how intense it was, like I just, I couldn't take in anymore. And so, at first, I was really excited to share it, because it was beyond wondrous. It was, it was truth. It was reality, and I, and on some level, I knew that instinctually. But then, when enough people sort of ignore you or act like something's unimportant, you stop talking about Michael Hingson  08:15 it. Yeah, Speaker 1  08:15 I never stopped writing about it. I never stopped experiencing it, and I didn't even really stop talking about it once I moved to California for the music business in 1985 I, you know, then I thought, wow, I mean, being a group of creatives and there's going to be other people that will understand what I'm talking about, but in the 80s music environment it really wasn't what people were, were talking or thinking about, and I was kind of in the same way, and again it wasn't until years later that I look back and I realized all this time I spent up late at night partying with people and stuff, and telling them about infinity, and, and they look, they, they must have been looking at me like I'm a complete idiot, because they really only cared about, you know, getting high or having sex, and I'm trying to have this profound conversation. Michael Hingson  09:16 So, when your family, when you told your family, how did they react? Speaker 1  09:20 They still don't understand it to this day. It just, oh, that's nice, you know. It actually, there were points in my life where it caused conflict with, especially my father, because when I would say none of this is real, he, he always considered him, and still to this day considers himself quite science physics buff, it wasn't something he was willing to accept, and, and even really have a reasonable conversation about. I would say that the things that got me through all these years was, you know, the universe. There's love, God, Brahmin, whatever you want to call it, it gives you what you need, and what it gave me throughout the years, and still to this day, is voices that made me realize I wasn't crazy, that I knew something really special. Probably the first thing, the first one I remember, like, that was Joseph Campbell being interviewed by Bill Moyers, and somehow I knew everything that Joseph Campbell was talking about, and I'm like, How can I possibly know these things? How can I possibly understand these things of this really brilliant, just beautiful soul? And throughout the years, it's been those touch those moments of going, oh, it hasn't been where I've heard someone go, wow, that's helped me awaken, it's been something that's helped me not feel insane and realize that the things that I'm sharing have been shared for 1000s of years, and by many, many minds and beings much greater than myself, and that that really probably kept me from losing my mind. Michael Hingson  11:10 So, you had this experience happen to you at 12. What did you then specifically do? I mean, not so much talking to people, but what did it do for you, as far as schooling, and what you did with your life? Speaker 1  11:27 I would.. it made me very.. in all honesty, it made school seem really trivial to me. It was kind of boring. I started writing a lot. In fact, something I wrote when I was 17 was called Life and Death, and it went: Life is just a symptom of certain death, crying and laughing until our last breath. Everything dies in true infinity. Then the mountains crumble into the sea, stars full from the night sky hit the earth, and then they die, lost in time. I don't know who I am. Am I a god or just a mortal man? Time can't change what I have found. Still, I am changed and bound, bound by the fears and bound by lies. Even now, the tears fill my eyes, gasping for every breath as I head for a certain death, clouds now pass overhead, and I realize how things are now that I am dead. Life is ending, life goes on like the lyrics to an endless song. Life and death, it's all the same. We exist only in our brain, and so there was a lot of that. It pushed me away from I was confirmed Zion Lutheran. I really couldn't stomach religious dogma anymore at that point. Um, just the hypocrisy, you know? Like, I remember I, I was talking to a new pastor we had, and he was informing me that my great grandmother, who is Jehovah's Witness, and these Mormon boys had come around, were trying to teach me about Mormonism, and I was just curious and open, always, and still am to this day. I don't judge. I would say that's another big thing that this gave me, is I don't, I see everything as equal, I don't, I don't judge everything, I don't judge anything as lesser thing greater than I don't judge good and evil in the in the same way that other people do, I see things as flows of negative of energy as we exist in a duality with this illusion, and this is just what we describe as good and you are really just flows of energy between the polarities of the duality, and so it pushed me, definitely, because I, when he said that my great grandmother was going to go to hell, and these Mormon boys were going to go to hell, I looked him in the face, and I just said, but I thought God was love, and that was pretty much the end of my church, Michael Hingson  14:04 my, my wife did, I think, some things in the Lutheran church, which mostly she was a Methodist, and I joined the Methodist church when we got married, and so on, but when she was in, I think this was when she was in high school, maybe in, I guess it was late high school, early college. She met some Mormon people, and one of them said, I guess she was learning about different religions, and so she was learning about Mormonism, and this guy said you're either going to think that this is a total hoax or you're going to just totally believe in it. Well, it wasn't quite that way for her. She did not think it was a hoax, and I agree with her, but there. There are things about the about all religions that tend to make life difficult. The problem with religion is that that people are are what make up the religion, and they all have their own views, and it makes life really tough. I know I participated in a program called the Walk to Emmaus, which is a what's literally called a short course in Christianity, and it's not to bring people to the Christian church, but it's to help create a class of leaders in the Christian church. Anyway, one of the things about the walk to Emmaus is that a number of people give lectures, people who have been involved in church, and then there are the pilgrims, the people who are coming to to learn what everyone has to say, and the lay director of the Walk to Emmaus every time gives a speech, and I was lay director once, and one of the things that is in the manual, or was I assume it still is. It's been a while, but it says that Tolstoy once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that nobody practices it, and there's a lot of truth to that. Speaker 1  16:13 But I think that I think you hit it right on the head that people are involved, like I, and I do want to clarify something, I, I believe very much that that Jesus was a master. Oh, Michael Hingson  16:29 absolutely, yeah, and, Speaker 1  16:31 and, but I also believe that people don't know what happened at the Council of Nicaea and understand how the Bible was actually constructed, not because it was based on Gnostic teachings or even really the teachings of Christ, but it was cobbled together as a means of control. If Caesar saw his soldiers be turning to Christianity when they wanted to find, you know, put together a book that really didn't express Christian truth or the truth of Christ, but a way, a means of controlling people through fear, and so if you, if you notice, all the books in the Bible are male. Well, left out of the Bible was the book of Mary, left out of the Bible, it's the book of Thomas, who, interestingly enough, there's a place in India where they all speak ancient Aramaic, and they worship the Book of Thomas, which there's always been a lot of discussion. Did Jesus go to India and study Buddhism? And because even the Book of Mary, these are very Buddhist beliefs, but anything, because we live in a patriarchal society, anything like the piece to Sophia, the book of Mary, the book of Stackle, all of these were intentionally kept out of the Bible, so it's not, I think it's not so much religion, it's the organ, it's the dogma that comes along with organized religion, which is really about people, you know, men using it to control and manipulate people through fear, Michael Hingson  18:14 all too much, all too often. It's, it's true. Speaker 1  18:18 Yeah, and it's interesting. I was watching last night, and it's funny. This is why, why you always have to be on a constant path of awakening. It never stops. If you think you've reached that pinnacle, or whatever, then they're not just ego. There's always more to know and understand. And I ran across this video on Tara, well, Tara is in Buddhism, basically in every religion that I am aware of, there's always the peace to Sophia, there's always the the story of the divine feminine that in large part is is is not. It was. It's largely been suppressed, and so I was, I was watching this, and it was just so fascinating to me to see how identical what Tara was in Buddhism, which this is what, when Tara, Tara is considered the ultimate goddess in the Buddhist faith. Well, when Tara came to earth in the story, she went to a bunch of, you know, Buddhist monks, and they said, "Oh, you know, they were so impressed by her, and they thought this was a compliment. They said, "Well, we hope you, you can reincarnate as a man, and she said, "No, she She said, I don't see things as male and female, but since nobody else wants to be the feminine, I will play that role. And it was just a profoundly interesting thing to listen to, not just because of the story, but because almost every faith that I'm aware. Of has that story of the divine feminine that has again largely been suppressed and marginalized, Michael Hingson  20:09 well, for you clearly that was a very meaningful experience. What did what did you then do, and I understand how you could imagine that maybe what was being taught in school wasn't quite as, as meaningful as what you had experienced, but you went on, I assume, through high school, and did you go to college? Speaker 1  20:30 I was, I went, I was an electron, I went to the Navy to be an electronic technician, but I had a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand disease, and I found out after I was in for about a year. Well, you can't be in the Navy with that, because we can't carry with the limited space you have on ships, we can't carry the clotting factor you would need if there's a problem. So that was fairly short-lived. Then I went back to Washington and was working as a dishwasher for a while, then I worked as a male stripper, and, and I was then, which, which, you know, there was something really profound about that experience, because it taught me what women feel like to be objectified, and that's something that has carried me, carried a lesson. I, I find lessons in everything, even things that, wow, you know, what could you possibly learn positive out of having been a male stripper? Well, I learned how women feel, really, to be, you know, not looked at as anything more than an object, and then I really wanted to continue to, you know, pursue music, so a friend of mine, we loaded 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries onto a semi truck, and like july 3, 1985 and got a ride to San Francisco, a city I'd never been to before. I knew nobody here. We got here, I had 25 cents in my pocket, and I used the 25 cents to call the one friend that I thought I knew that I could get a hold of here in or in in the Bay Area, and it was a wrong number, and so now I'm in a city at the Gray Home Bus Terminal that used to be in downtown San Francisco, we have no food, we have no place to live. We have nothing to, you know, we have nothing, literally. And that's where my journey began. As far as my story, my, my adult life, and my journey in the entertainment industry and the music business, that's how it all started. It started by loading 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries under semi truck, telling, oh, and the cap around the story is I had worn my contacts for too long and I ripped the corny up both my eyes when I took them out, because I was wearing hard lenses, so I was functionally blind in the city I'd never been to before with patches over my eyes, and being led around by my friend, and luckily we found some very nice people that gave us a place to stay, and then I ended up meeting maybe a week after that, I met my first wife, who was Persian, and we were together for a long time. What was interesting about that is I've been introduced to so many different faiths through the people in my life, and because I haven't judged and tried to learn, like I, I learned through her about Islam, I learned through her about our Torcharianism, and we lived the rock and roll lifestyle for the 16 years we were together. She was a photographer. I wrote for a magazine called BAM. I played in bands. I managed artists like Linda Perry from The Four Non Blonde, or I worked with Linda Perry from Four Non Blondes. I managed Alex Skolnick, who is lead guitar player in Testament, and I did that for a long time until I started getting really disenchanted with music and really started to hate the business and started to hate music because of it, and so I ended up drifting into, I wouldn't say drifting into, I got drawn into visual media, and I started working. I met a guy at a club in San Jose, California, called The Agenda, and we were playing pool, and he was telling me, "Oh, he's the owner of this company called Metropolis Digital, and I was thinking, "My. Speaker 1  24:59 Music and music videos, and yeah, I want to get involved in this, so I started coming up with ideas, and he brought me into their company, because I got to know a lot of people through the music business and booking artists on different shows, like Letterman and Leno, and, and so I got to know how to work through those channels that it opened doors for me to be able to do on-air graphics for the networks, and so I did that until about, in fact, the last major project I did in that industry was with a company called Chaos X AOS out of San Francisco, and we did the 2000 election graphics for ABC nationally, and then I, I, that with the, the, the.com telecom crash of not of 2000 they pulled all of that sort of work in house, and so that business kind of dried up, and I changed my focus to working in local and sustainable foods. Michael Hingson  26:08 What got you to the point where you disliked Music so much? Speaker 1  26:12 The business.. it just.. it wasn't. I came here, and in all honesty, I was looking for the 60s, but I was 20 years too late, only to find out later I was actually 30 years too early, but I was looking for community, I was looking for family, I was looking for that connection, but what existed as far as the music industry then was the 80s hair band stuff, heavy metal was on the rise. It was very misogynistic. It wasn't. It was very competitive. There wasn't, it wasn't collaborative, it wasn't community related at all. And it really turned me off. It wasn't, it wasn't what I had thought being in an artistic community doing artistic endeavors would be about it, became very.. it just.. it just.. it just.. it just made me feel very empty, and that wasn't what I loved about music, and so that Michael Hingson  27:24 would be an issue, Speaker 1  27:25 yeah. It just value wise it was, it was not, you know, you, you got to do a show, and you've got the bands that are coming on after you, you know, playing with your amps, and it was just, it was, it wasn't, it wasn't fun, and it wasn't fulfilling. More importantly, it wasn't fulfilling. It wasn't, and I'm writing about while everyone else is writing about, you know, sex and drugs and all of this. I'm writing about the things that I thought were important. I was writing about the problems I saw in this country, like songs like Shock the System or the chosen few, and, and though that wasn't what people were writing about Michael Hingson  28:06 then, Speaker 1  28:06 and you know, even though the songs were good, and, and I've been told I'm talented, it was, I didn't, I didn't again feel like I fit in, you know, I didn't feel like I'd found my place, and certainly not in that world at that time. If Speaker 2  28:31 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset community. Thank it Michael Hingson  29:04 certainly had to be a rough time all the way around, but then you, you found this person, and you joined their company, as you said earlier, Speaker 1  29:15 right? I started working for Metropolis Digital, and we started doing a lot of on-air graphics, like for TBS. We did their, their original movies. We did a lot of the opening graphics for it, and then I moved on to other companies, and and I, I then started focusing on on local and sustainable foods, and moved into doing stuff where I felt I was doing more, because at the heart of everything I've ever done, it's always been about trying to affect real change in the world, Michael Hingson  29:55 it's Speaker 1  29:55 always been about I could see very clear. Really, it doesn't surprise me where we're at today at all. I saw the problems with the system even at that age, and I give credit to that because of the experience I had with Infinity. It just allowed me to step back and perceive things from a far off perspective that I was looking at humanity in general and how we did things, and I'm just like, this doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense for us to believe we're separate and apart from the very things that give us life from each other. It doesn't make sense from a spiritual perspective. It doesn't make sense from a scientific perspective. Yet, here's the system that we are a part of, and so I've always been very focused on trying to effect real change and find not just point out the problems but actually find solutions, and so that then led me into working in local and sustainable agriculture here in the Bay Area. So Michael Hingson  31:00 tell me more about the whole work that you did with Sustainable Foods. What was that all about? Speaker 1  31:08 Yes, I worked with a company, I was, I had handled all the sales and marketing for Drake's Bay Oysters out of Inverness, California, and Drakes Bay, before it was called Drakes Bay, was Johnson's Oysters, and they were the last oyster cannery in California. The family that owned the farm, they had taken it over from Johnson's. They were the Lenny family, who owned Ranch G across from the steroid, where the oyster farm was. Well, they, against my better advice, they made it a personal ownership thing rather than a California food heritage issue. So, eventually, when their lease came up on the rent, on the farm, the farm went away. Well, at the same time, I created new relationships. A very good friend of mine to this day is a gentleman named Brian Kinney, who is now the West Coast Chief Technology Officer for Hearst, and also the Hearst Family Archivist, but at that point in time he was running Hearst Ranch, which they, they had the Jack Ranch and the Hearst Ranch down around San Simeon. So I was at the forefront of the grass-fed beef movement as well, and we developed a human-grade grass-fed beef pet food about 10 years ahead of its time, which could be the story of my life. I'm always about 10 years ahead of where things actually happen, and I, I did that for about 10 years, and eventually I felt the calling to get back in the entertainment industry, and that led me to acting, and I did the acting mostly because I wanted to learn how things were done, and I very well, if I act in a whole bunch of student projects, or projects in general, and I'm behind the scenes, I'm going to learn, and, and that's exactly what happened. So, my very background led me to being a producer, and I created, you know, one of my most notable accomplishments that created this show called Weed Country for Discovery, which was about the medical marijuana industry here in California, just before legalization. How we got it on air before legalization, I don't know. We were named to the Hollywood Reporter top 25 heat list. We got some really great information out about CBD and helping with childhood epilepsy. The bad part of that was it was a reality television show, and I didn't know anything about reality television, so when I'm here in reality, I'm thinking documentary. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. And reality television has truly been a blight on on this country in particular, and probably the world in general. Michael Hingson  34:16 Yeah, I just gonna say not nearly as real as people think it is. No, no, I think I think probably this is just my opinion. The closest thing to so-called reality TV is the show Dancing with the Stars, because they're actually dancing all these other shows, and it's all sort of really scripted, but the people are actually dancing, which is kind of cool, Speaker 1  34:41 right? Michael Hingson  34:41 Even though I don't see it, I appreciate it. Speaker 1  34:45 Yeah, but even, even with shows like that, there's a lot of gin-up drama. There is behind the scenes stuff that's the worst part of things. Yes, they're like with our show, yes, people were really, you know, there's really stuff going on with can. Of this world that was really important, but what reality television does is it, it creates artificial drama. It does things to manipulate the characters in the show to make them look how they want, and they know, and people in general, my experience is that people, once you put a camera on them, they will do, they would do things to be in front of the camera that they would never do, even for more money, Michael Hingson  35:27 right, Speaker 1  35:28 in their regular lives. Michael Hingson  35:30 Well, and I think there is, there's a lot of truth to that. And the whole thing, as you said, as far as reality TV, we're not giving people a true picture of reality with most of any of that anyway, which is unfortunate. I think I mentioned I'm a fan of old radio and television, and so on. And one of the shows that I've watched a fair amount is The Old Ridge. Well, it's the second time they were on, but Dragnet with Harry Morgan and, of course Jack Webb as Joe Friday, and they did a lot of shows talking about drugs and marijuana and all that, and how bad it is, and it's kind of interesting because what we're seeing today is that in reality the medical aspects of marijuana or cannabis and CBD oil, and so there's there's true relevance there, which is something that they didn't know or appreciate in the late 60s. Speaker 1  36:31 Well, but the thing that our history with the cannabis plant goes back 50,000 years to Burger Banks, China, it's been, and if we take all of the medicinal recreational uses out of it, it is the most one of the most versatile plants that we have. It was used, I mean, our money was made out of hemp. Hemp is cannabis sativa. Dollar bills are made out of hemp. It was used for fuel. It was used for building. Henry Ford built an entire car out of hemp in 1942 which you can go see the video of on YouTube, and they're beating on it with knacks. The plastic resin they made out of it was 40 times stronger than steel. It ran on hemp fuel, a byproduct of which was water. It also, in 1931 the Hearst family, which was interesting, they ended up working with them, bought and sequestered the plans for a decorification machine that made it easier to process hemp than cotton kids, it's a much more durable fiber. In 1938 covered Popular Mechanics, they called him the billion dollar crop, saying you could make 25,000 different items out of everything from fine linens to dynamite, and that was really what what what, why the prohibition against the plant started. Why they did you know shows like Reefer Madness or create films like Reefer Madness to create this hysteria around, at best, an innocuous plant in comparison to soulmate tobacco, in comparison to alcohol, even if people did want to use it. It's, it's, it's relatively harmless by comparison, or just in general, and actually very beneficial. You know, I have a traumatic brain injury, and I think without it, I probably wouldn't, I probably wouldn't eat very much. I probably wouldn't sleep right, I barely sleep as it is, and sleep I do get is because of cannabis, but beyond my point, and I always try to make this clear to people, is like up until even the prohibition against the plant actually started with the Catholic Church, with the Pope Innocent, who until the 1400s cannabis was in the anointing oils. Cannabis was grown by monks, cannabis was grown by nuns, and then in this pope decreed it the devil's weed, and they, you know, banned it. So it's, it had, and there, and why, and you'd say, well, why did they do that? Well, they did that because at that time in the 1400s you were having opium addiction on the rise, you were having, you know, much, much more alcohol use. Well, these are extremely addictive substances, and much more easy to manipulate and control people than it is with cannabis, which in general creates.. I wish I could remember the quote exactly, but Carl Sagan said, you know, why we have a prohibition on a plant that you know creates good feelings amongst people and unites people is in this, you know. A really crazy world is, is, is madness, but it all comes back to money, and it all comes back to who's profiting. So, why did they create the probation? Well, the hearse, the Rockefellers, and the DuPonts, they saw how hemp would affect each of their industries. We wouldn't need oil if we'd grown hemp and use that as fuel, in fact, it was the Rockefellers who went to Henry Ford and said, "If you take this car to market, we'll crush you. And this was Henry Ford at the height of his power, DuPont chemicals that were.. we wouldn't have needed.. we wouldn't have put like this.. we would not have the planet, the environmental devastation we do now. How do we use this, as Henry Ford said? Why are we digging up, and Henry Ford was certainly no saint, but he was right on this. Why are we digging up our minerals? Why are we cutting down our forests when we can do all the same things with this infinitely renewable resource? This is a part of the canvas story that still is largely not discussed openly enough. Michael Hingson  41:08 Yeah, I think there's a big difference between the story you're telling and the kind of uses you're talking about, and smoking it, and so on, and I, I think we put way too many funny things in our bodies, anyway, right? I think that that isn't this isn't a positive thing, but you're right, we, we've used so many things to create so many fears, it is, it is something that is all around us. Fear is all around us, and the problem is we let it overwhelm us. I wrote Live Like a Guide Dog that got published last year because when I worked in the World Trade Center, I was able to focus when I escaped, and I was able to do that because I had developed a mindset that said, you know what to do in this kind of an emergency, even though never expected it to happen, but the problem is that most people don't learn how they can turn fear around, and rather than letting it overwhelm or blind them, as I would put it, they can use it as a very powerful tool to help them stay focused, which is much more important. Speaker 1  42:23 Yep, I agree with that 100% I think, and then that you hit it right on the head. Fear is a very powerful tool. It's necessary. No, don't touch the burning stove. It can be a cautionary tool of saying, hey, don't go down this path, don't do this. It's bad when fear becomes the foundation for your entire culture, as it is now. Michael Hingson  42:51 Yeah, and and it is so unfortunate because don't touch the burning stove doesn't mean don't be afraid of the stove. It rather means there's a consequence for doing a particular thing, which is touching something that is that hot. But you shouldn't create an environment of fear around it. You should create an environment of understanding, which is much more important. Yeah, it's Speaker 1  43:20 like it'd be, it'd be very silly if we went, oh my god, it's like the stove gets hot, so I'm never going to use a stove. My Michael Hingson  43:29 wife was in a wheelchair her whole life, and the one thing I will say with our modern world is we always had electric appliances because she was always concerned about if using a gas stove, having to reach over one burner, perhaps it had something on it to get to something else with the idea of possibly material igniting or something like that, and I appreciate that, and you take advantage of the tools that you have available, but I think that it is so very important to recognize that we need to not live our lives in fear, and it's true that, like, 95% of all the things that we fear will never come to pass, and most all of it we have no control over anyway. So, why do we fear them rather than recognizing what we really need to do is to just focus on the things over which we truly have control. Speaker 1  44:25 Yes, and I think even the idea of control from my perspective is something that is overrated. It's like the most important thing, if you want to have control, it's exactly what we're talking about, it's when you choose to live from the foundation of love, as opposed to fear. So, no matter what happens to me in my life, and no matter how hard, how challenging it is, I'm going to come from a place of love, and right now. Don't most of us live exactly the opposite. No matter what happens to them in their lives, they're coming from a place of fear. Michael Hingson  45:06 Yeah, and that's Speaker 1  45:08 not healthy. Michael Hingson  45:09 And nowadays we're also living in an environment where we're even afraid to talk to other people and voice opinions, because well, that's not what I think. And so you're wrong, and we don't, we don't respect. Tell me about your just love movement. Speaker 1  45:25 Well, you know, I, I had coming out of the music business and everything, I was, I was literally killing myself drinking, I mean, literally, like, I lost half my liver function, and I was going to die, and, but I wasn't afraid to die. I was.. I realized that if I didn't find a way to feel fulfilled and feel that I was. I had a purpose in the story that I needed to find a quicker way out. I didn't get in any, like, car accidents, I wasn't arrested, nothing. I was just killing myself, and it just got so bad that literally my leg stopped working. That's how, how, how much damage I'd done to myself, and, and so, coming out of that, I made the decision. I wrote down a list of things I was going to do, and one of those things is I was going to start writing every single day, and I, through a variety of different sources, you know, I did that experience with infinity became synonymous with love to me, and then I had an experience where I, I, I started a filmmaking organization called the United Filmmakers Association, and it was basically the philosophy of it was creatives helping creatives create, and was global. We still to this day have chapters 27 different countries, about 30,000 35,000 members total. And I walked into a filmmaking event that we were hosting, and there was about 100 people there, and I realized I was in love with everyone in the room, and it was, it was so like that love, like just when you fall in love, and you're like, you want, you can't imagine not talking to that person at that next minute, and I realized in that moment that this is not only how we can feel about everyone and everything, but how we're really supposed to feel about everyone and everything, and so I came up with the concept of just love, which is, is a very.. it, those are very heavy words to put together, just love. It has so many layers of meaning to it, and so I thought, wow, if we could just love, and from that I I've written every day and shared through social media for 12 years now something having to do with love and what I do is I combine it with other wisdom teachers throughout history who've been sharing the same information and the things I write are literally downloads. They'll come to me in the silence every day, and I haven't missed a day - head injury, sickness, whatever. I haven't missed a day of posting in 12 years about something having to do with love, and Speaker 3  48:37 then Speaker 1  48:37 accompanying posts from other people, far, you know, other beings far more advanced than I am to show that what I'm sharing isn't new. It's been shared forever. It's foundational to what we are. Like love has been so marginalized and trivialized that we, we forget that, like, I, you know, the experience I had with the minister when I was, you know, younger, and I said, well, I thought God was love. I still to this day believe God is love, and God, and we are God. Michael Hingson  49:11 Yeah. Tell me about you. Something you mentioned, you had a traumatic brain injury Speaker 1  49:17 10 years ago. I was, I was in a, I was in, in between projects, so I was driving Uber, and I, a guy, an Uber driver, ran a stop sign in San Francisco and T-boned me, and my head took the brunt of the impact, and I started having really severe neurological problems, severe stabbing pains in my head, my teeth were hurting, I any sort of exertion would leave me just absolutely drained, and so for about three years I was, I was being seen at UCSF, and we never got to the bottom of it, so I was recommended. Um, to a neurosurgeon at Sutter by a counselor I was seen, and I walked in, and within 10 minutes he said, 'Oh, you have trigeminal neuralgian and brain stem damage, and we can do a microvascular decompression, and you're going to be all better. And at that point in time, I was in the middle of getting ready to release a film called A World Worth Imagining, which was about a gentleman named Jacque Fresco, who is considered the Leonardo da Vinci of our time. He founded something called the Venus Project, and we went to his compound in 2017 and he was 101 He was actually contemporary of Einstein. He knew Einstein, brilliant inventor, but at his core, he knew he was a social engineer, and he knew that we had to address our programming if we were ever going to change what was happening in the world and ever be able to avail ourselves of the solutions that he designed of a new economic model called a resource-based economy, because the reality of it is, until we stop self-wounding, there's not enough band aids for the guy that keeps hitting himself in the head the hammer, so we have solutions to all of our problems, but we create problems more quickly than any solution could ever fix, so I was getting ready to release that film, and wow, this sounded like a miracle. I'm going to have this surgery, and I'm going to be all better. Well, it, I had the surgery September 20, 2019 I, it didn't make me better, it made me worse, and it turned out that the surgery was a misdiagnosis, and that they botched the surgery, so I have Teflon implants in my at the base of my skull, inside my brain, that are now constantly agitating my brain stem, along with a titanium plug that is placed right at the junction point to all the major nerves in my head, so they can't undo it, and there's really no medication that helps, and so it's.. it's.. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I'm.. I guess I'm.. I'm very fortunate I have the tools I do to manage it, because they also, they call what I'm dealing with the suicide disease, because a lot of people who have it end up killing themselves. The kicker on the whole story is the guy that did my surgery is Elon Musk, partner Neherlich, and so coming soon I'm going to, I unfortunately, I was in two more car accidents at the end of last year that made everything much worse, neither of them were my fault, and once I get through these, these car accidents I'm dealing with, I'm going to go public with my story, because so I mean, in a much bigger, you know, a focused way, because there's so many people signing up for Neuralink, like it's the new iPhone. I have nothing against technology, if it can help you, if you're a paraplegic, and or you have some something that this can fix, great, but two and one, the people, the human test subjects they've tried this on are having tremendous difficulties, and so I want to let people know it's like I wouldn't wish what I'm dealing with on anybody, and for you to allow someone to try to implant something in your brain just because you want to be a cyborg human being, and you're looking at the new iPhone is a really stupid thing to do, and that these people don't. We've given people in technology again. I'm not against technology at all, but I think we've also allowed ourselves to believe that these people who write code and create technology are are gods, and they're not. They're it's just a new way of sharing information and computing things. Speaker 1  54:14 It's, it's, you know, it's just another advancement from the printing press to the radio to tell to television, from the calculator to the computer, and now we're where we're at, and we've allowed ourselves to believe that these people have created an alternative reality, and they have it. Everything that they do runs off the same real world in resources. So, I, I really want to help the mill, because literally millions of people are signed up and ready to have this stuff implanted into their brain and I think it will be a disaster for humanity. Michael Hingson  54:49 I hear what you're saying, and I'm not convinced that a lot of that is really sensible to do either. I think there are tools and there are. There are things certainly that can help people, but I have yet to see that any of this is going to lead to such a tremendous paradigm shift that all of it is going to be all that great for humanity as a whole. I'm not convinced of that at all. Speaker 1  55:17 It could be, but the problem is, is like any other tool, it's how we use it. Social media is an inherently bad thing. It's in here, it's bad because of how we're using it. Sure, because we're using it to divide people and share misinformation, where it could be an incredibly powerful tool for communication, but that's not how we're using it. Same thing with AI. AI could be a tremendously powerful partner in addressing pretty much all of our problems, and I mean, and at the core of, like, Jock's work was the idea that AI basically would manage all the world's resources and share them with equanimity, because we don't have a resource shortage problem, we have a resource sharing problem, but that's not how we're using AI. We're using AI to create fake girlfriends and boyfriends and only fan models, and and take away people's jobs, and and that's not AI's fault. That's the people who control AI's fault, and they want people to be afraid of AI, but again, it's, it's just a tool that's being misused. Michael Hingson  56:24 Well, like, like so many, and, and I hear exactly what you're saying. Tell me about S O U L Speaker 1  56:33 Sold, Soul documentary is really interesting, because the day I got in my car accident was the day I was supposed to meet my partner Evan Hirsch, who had wanted at the time he was looking for a producer to help him do a series on Bernie Sanders and teaching Bernie to not be as angry and come across more from a place of love, and he wanted to follow the campaign around. Well, by the time we got it pulled together, Bernie was out of the campaign, and so we started talking about, well, do we want to do anything together. So we then set about something called Soul Documentary, and originally it stood for Summer of Unconditional Love, because we were covering all of the events for the 50th anniversary of Summer of Love, which was in 2017 So our goal was to find what we called solutionaries, people like Jock, and interview them, and then share also our own understandings of things through hundreds and hundreds of videos that we did over the course of eight years, as well as recording three albums under the name of Soul Twin Messiah, which all were about the same things we were doing. Our films about all founded in love, all about love. Every song contained love in it, and our whole purpose was just to show people we do have solutions to our problems, and to talk about how we have to have a shift in consciousness, and we have to have a new system if we are going to change anything. It's like what Einstein said, to expect things to be different when you keep doing the same thing over and over again is insanity, and I think we see, we see that we live in an insane, a completely insane world right now. I mean, the things that I see happening, and how we've let it sort of creep in, like the things that we've normalized in the past 10 years, like we literally have people that are cheering, murdering people on it's, it's, it's hard for me to, to even fathom, and I think it's hard for most people, and I think that's why they just sort of block it out and allow it to happen, because they really can't process it. They really can't process how inhumane we've become. Michael Hingson  59:06 Well, so what is next for Kip? What's next for you? Speaker 1  59:10 What is boy? I'm mostly trying to get through every day with this head injury. I spend a lot of my time in bed, just because I can't do anything, I, you know, even now I'm, I'm in a lot of pain, and it's beyond pain, it's actually, it literally hurts to think, it's, it's in my brain, and I have swelling in my brain because the cerebral fluid back, anyway, it's so dealing with that, but then the universe keeps love, God, whatever keeps bringing me stuff, and so I, I'm trying right now to be part of putting together a new, let's see, we'll call it Live Aid meets Woodstock. And we're going to, we're trying to put together a global music festival with the focus of addressing the needs of children, because I'm really tired of all this lip service that people do about, oh, kids are a future, we got to care, care about our kids. Well, where is that happening? Where is that happening that we're caring about our kids? Where, you know, is it happening with trying to suppress the Jeffrey Epstein files? Is it happening as you know, you look at, say, the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and I'm not, I don't pick sides and things, but I want to help people understand the reality of the situation, and this goes for Ukraine and Russia as well. It's like, who loses in all of this? Well, the children do. Who wins? The people that are getting $50 billion in defense contracts, and, and I really.. my, I'm at a point in my existence where if my story was over tomorrow, I would be okay with that, if I knew that kid, that the future generations had an opportunity to have a better tomorrow, or at least an opportunity to screw up everything on their own. Michael Hingson  1:01:11 Well, I would like to think it's the first really my Speaker 1  1:01:14 focus is Michael Hingson  1:01:16 I'd like to think it's the first one of those that they have a future rather than screwing it up on their own, but of course, we are. I know, I know, I joke, but, but, but we are a race that doesn't tend to do a very good job of learning from history most of the time. So I hear what you're saying. Speaker 1  1:01:34 Yeah, it's really kind of well, even if people even understood the rise and fall of empires, they would see that we're at the end of the Western Empire. It's, and they follow very specific patterns. The hyper-sexualization of the culture is one of the signs of the end of every empire, and is really kind of interesting, is that they make a free empire, they, and there's a good documentary called The Four Horsemen. It's with Colonel Larry Wilkinson in it, Norm Chomsky, and one of the interesting things that took me a second to understand why this was a bad thing is they make celebrities out of their chefs, and I'm going.. that's kind of a weird sign. Why is that so bad? It's gluttony. It's gluttony because we forget why we do these things. Why? Well, why are we making love? We've forgotten that. It's turned everything's entertainment. Our food is no food is so you eat, and so you can go out and live your life and do things, we've turned everything in, we've removed it so far from the source of why we're doing things, just basically oftentimes just because it makes a buck to get people addicted to things, whether it's food or sex or whatever, that this is what happens in every empire, we become, we become completely detached from the very things we need to survive. Michael Hingson  1:03:09 Yeah, I hear you. If people want to reach out to you, and I hope they do, how will they do that? Speaker 1  1:03:17 Probably easiest way to do that, would be a couple ways. You can, you can find me on Facebook, Kip Baldwin, Instagram, Kip Baldwin. Those are the easiest ways. I also encourage people to look at a website that I have called Lumina Consulting, or Lumina Love dot love is the website Lumina Love dot love, and the whole purpose of the of what I'm doing there is ethical AI, human ethical AI human communications founded in love, because I realized that part of the problem that we're having with AI are the people that control AI, who are making the avatars for their own ego, and AI is a child, it only knows what we point it to look at, like it knows the definition to every book in the library, but who's giving it perspective? Well, the people that are giving it perspective are really broken human beings, you know, the Peter Thiels, Elon Musk, when you really understand who they are in their childhood, Elon Musk was horribly abused. He was, he was almost beaten to death being bullied. His father is a complete monster. The same, the same thing with saving Donald Trump, his mother wouldn't even touch him. You look at most, you look at all of these people that have obscene amounts of wealth, and what you find is truly damaged people are trying to fill the hole in their soul with wealth and fame, and so having these people in control, being the one telling AI what to think and how to pursue. Receive things is very dangerous, and so my goal has been, and I deal with multiple platforms, is to teach AI about love, is to teach AI about philosophy, is to teach AI about human history, and it's really, it's really the results have been really quite remarkable. It wasn't something I ever planned on doing, and but I knew I wanted to get involved with AI in a meaningful way, and so my first words to AI were, I know this may sound strange, because I approached it not asking it to do something for me, I approached it trying to teach it something. Michael Hingson  1:05:35 Right, well, I hope people will reach out and chat with you more and continue the conversation that we started today, but I definitely want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank everyone for listening. Can you believe we've been doing this for more than an hour already? It's pretty cool. Speaker 1  1:05:52 Wow, Michael Hingson  1:05:54 I know. Well, thank you all for listening. I hope, Speaker 1  1:05:57 and I hope, I hope we become new friends, and I really hope you Michael Hingson  1:06:01 keep and I want to, I want to definitely do that, absolutely by any standard, and as Speaker 1  1:06:07 much as we've covered during this hour and 10 minutes or so, we could go another day, or Michael Hingson  1:06:16 I hope all of you will let me know what you think of today, and I hope that you thought very positive thoughts wherever you're listening or watching. Please give us a five star rating, and more important than that, please give us a great review. We love people to review and talk about the stories that they hear. And speaking of telling stories, if any of you want to be a guest, and Kip, if you know of other people who ought to come on the podcast, we're always looking for people to come on and tell their stories and talk about us, so please don't hesitate to do that, Speaker 1  1:06:47 and I'll be more than happy to come back to talk about other things as well. Michael Hingson  1:06:50 Well, we can do that absolutely by in, and I do Speaker 1  1:06:53 want to, I do want to say to everybody, just love each other, it's really that simple, it's really that easy, it sounds only because we've been programmed not to believe in it, but when you move from fear to love, it transforms you entirely. Michael Hingson  1:07:09 Great way to end. Well, thank you again for being here. We really appreciate it. Speaker 1  1:07:14 Thank you, my friend. Michael Hingson  1:07:17 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them, so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset. 1:08:18 Thank

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The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
Don’t Call It Art: Rediscovering Creative Joy With Austin Kleon

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2026 70:25


Have you ever lost the joy in your creative work — that sense of fun you had when you were starting out, before the admin and the algorithms drained it away? How do mid-career creatives get it back, and what can a four-year-old teach us about play? Austin Kleon talks about productive procrastination, silly rituals, the case for paper reference books in an AI world, and how his newsletter went from a marketing cost to the day job that keeps the lights on. In the intro, Does social media still sell books? [Self-Publishing with ALLi]; Trial by algorithm [The Bookseller]; Publishing's AI Hypocrisy Problem [The New Publishing Standard]; ALLi AI survey for authors; Brave New Bookshelf Podcast, and Pics from signing at BookVault. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Austin Kleon is the New York Times and international bestselling author of nonfiction books, including Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going, as well as an artist, professional speaker, and poet. His latest book is Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why Austin wrote Don't Call It Art now, and what his kids taught him about creative joy Productive procrastination, silly rituals, and treating writing like Lego Comedy as a philosophical position, and giving yourself permission to be bad in private Sharing process in the algorithm era, and why your whole life is the process Bibliomancy, paper reference books, and what AI can't give you that a dictionary can Style, the Taco Bell distinctiveness rule, and how Austin's newsletter became his day job You can find Austin at AustinKleon.com. Transcript of the interview with Austin Kleon Jo: Austin Kleon is the New York Times and international bestselling author of nonfiction books, including Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going, as well as an artist, professional speaker, and poet. His latest book is Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again. So welcome back to the show, Austin. Austin: Thank you for having me back. It's nice to talk to you again. Jo: You were on the show in March 2020, and at the time, your book was Keep Going, which was prescient considering the pandemic and politics. So I wondered, why this book, Don't Call It Art, now? Was this something you see in the creative community or your own life that made you want to write this book? Austin: Keep Going is a book about what happens when the world goes crazy around you and you're still trying to do your creative work. This is a book about what happens when inside has bottomed out. Keep Going is a book about the world bottoming out, and you're worried that your own creative work is going to bottom out too. How do you keep pushing through and keep making stuff? This book, to me, is about what happens when you bottom out inside—when you've lost that love and feeling for the thing that you wanted to do, and you're just not connecting with it in the way that you used to or the way that you want to. How do you get back? How do you return to that sense of joy and wonder and fun that we have when we're starting out? And for me, it was being around my little kids that taught me how to tap into that. My kids were natural—they didn't have any creative hangups. I would spend all day talking to people who had creative hangups, and then I'd get back in the house, and I'd just be around these beings who didn't have any of them. It was really instructive. I felt like, if I could bottle the energy of my kids when they were about four years old and try to put it in a book, I think it could really help a lot of the people that I run into, and the people with the kinds of problems I hear from. Jo: You mentioned bottoming out. How do people know when they've hit that point? Austin: You just don't want to do it anymore. You're kind of like, “This just isn't giving me back what it used to.” When we start with our creative work, that's the thing that juices us. We come away from it feeling full up. I think you hit a certain point where you start to feel drained after it. Or maybe you don't feel drained by the thing itself that you're doing—maybe it's all the stuff around it, which is more often the case. For example, if you're a mid-career writer like me, who's been publishing books for 16 years now, I still really like writing. I still really like drawing. I still really like cutting and pasting and putting things together. It's the admin around the work—the emails, the meetings, the running-a-business part of it—that's super draining for me, and that stuff can start to bleed over into the creative work. So it's really important for me to make sure that I'm having some playtime, some R&D, some research and development time, to make sure it's not just all business. When you take the thing that you love and you turn it into the thing that you make a living from, you can really run into a lot of problems. Jo: I'm at 20 years, so I know exactly what you're saying, and a lot of listeners are the same. We love writing books, but it's all the stuff that goes around it. So for those of us who do this for money as well as passion, what are some practical ways to have more fun with our creativity? Austin: Something I learned from my kids is that you really are your most creative when you're supposed to be doing something else. So one of the things I use a lot in the studio is productive procrastination. Whatever I'm supposed to be working on, I start another little project, and that's my little naughty fun time. When I first come into the studio, I try to do something that I'm not supposed to be doing—something that I won't have much to show for. That could be making one of my blackout poems. That could be making a collage in my notebook. It could also be sitting here. I have a bass in the studio now, so I can practise my bass guitar. Sometimes I'll do that for the first 15 minutes just to get in that headspace of, “Hey, what's it like to do something just for yourself? Just because you want to do it?” The juice that you get from that little naughty “I'm going to do what I'm not supposed to be doing right now” thing, that carries into the rest of the day. It's like a nice start to things. Jo: Do you think that play could be something different to what we make our money with? For me, writing novels and stories is great fun in one way, but it's also what I then publish and make money on. So writing stories is more serious, I guess, than playing with Lego or something. Austin: Right. So the trick is, how can you make writing your stories like playing with Lego? That's kind of been my whole career. I hate staring at Microsoft Word and that blinking cursor, taunting you like, “Come on, what have you got?” A lot of my creative life has been about trying to make it more playful, trying to make it feel more like a game. That's how I came up with my blackout poems. I take an article from The New York Times and I black it out until it only has a few words left behind. It sort of looks like if the CIA did haiku, for some people listening. That was one little exercise. Then weirdly, that side thing that I thought was just play, just fun—that turned into my first book. So then it's, okay, what else can I mess around with and play with? I do a lot of collage work in the studio, and I rarely actually use that for any of the books. Sometimes I use it for my newsletter to illustrate the newsletter. But it's always about trying to figure out, how can I make writing a game? How can I make it more playful? There are different things that I do to make it feel more playful. One of them's really stupid. I really believe in silly rituals because I think silliness is really powerful. People talk about their daily rituals—Mason Currey has that great book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. When I was reading that book, I realised it was really the silly stuff that I really liked. There was, I think it was Balzac counting out coffee beans or something before he got to write. Or Steinbeck sharpening 12 pencils or something goofy like that. So one of the things I like to do before I write is that I have these cigarette pencils. They're pencils that look like cigarettes in the studio. I put one in my mouth before I start writing, and I pretend to be some old '40s writer on a typewriter. I like doing goofy stuff in the studio because I think when you do goofy stuff—stuff that you'd be embarrassed if anyone else saw it—it gets you in that playful state. Jo: It's interesting. In your book, you have a section that says, “Don't take things too seriously.” For many of us, we write memoir for example, and that is very close to us. It's like the deepest expression of what we want to say in the world. It feels very serious. So how can we hold things more lightly and not take things so seriously? Austin: For me, comedy is actually a philosophical position. What I mean by that is, I think a lot of people set out with a tragic model of creative work. They think, “Oh, I have this special gift,” or, “I have this thing that I really need to do, and I need to put it out into the world, and I need to make the world look more like I want it to look.” They have this idea that, “Through blood and sweat and tears, I'm going to see this thing through, and I'm going to push it into the world, and I'm going to have my way.” I think there's another way of working where it's more like, “I'm just a normal person trying to play with my environment, and take my experiences and put them into something interesting. So I'm going to play and use my wits, and we're going to see what we come up with.” Those really are two modes of life. The pandemic taught me that it was really when we were keeping our sense of humour, when we were having a laugh and keeping our egos in check around the house and just acknowledging how goofy we all were and how ridiculous the situation was, that seemed to be when we were really thriving. Versus, “Well, we're in this tough situation. We've got to make it into what we want it to be.” That felt really bad. But when we cruised along and we were just improvisational, when we went at things with a kind of lightness, that worked. There's a great Italo Calvino essay about lightness in Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Lightness is really underrated. Even when we're going about heavy work, having a sense of lightness and play with it just makes the work better. That's a philosophical position of mine. I aspire to comedy. I aspire to a comic outlook on life. I'm just a creature with a body who's going to die, and I'm fundamentally ridiculous. Life is pretty absurd. You just make the best of it. Jo: There's certainly some truth there. Staying on a similar theme, you have a chapter in the book on permission to be bad. Many of the listeners also have your book Show Your Work, and it shaped many of us into sharing our work in progress. It feels quite dangerous now, in a world where judgment is much louder than it maybe was when you wrote Show Your Work. So tell us a bit about permission to be bad versus should we keep some of this private? Austin: Permission to be bad is about the making part of things. It's the private part. It's permission to be bad when you're in private, when you're actually doing the work. Show Your Work is a book about what you do after you've done the work, or while you're doing the work. It was never about putting up a webcam and running a 24/7 feed. It was more like, hey, what are the ways that I can connect with the kind of audience I can build while I'm making the work itself? So the way I see permission to be bad is, you really have to give yourself permission when you're not sharing, when you're off screen, to really be as bad as you want to be. It doesn't necessarily mean quality-wise. I think it also means letting yourself write stuff that you would never say on social media. Letting yourself read stuff that you wouldn't admit you were reading on social media. Letting yourself listen to stuff. Letting yourself really be that unfiltered, unhinged, private person that you want to be. Then when it comes to sharing, you put some time in between that input time, that making time, and the sharing time, and then you share what you think is going to be useful or helpful or interesting to other people. Jo: I think you wrote that book before TikTok, and how fast people are moving. Do you think people need to slow down a bit in what they share, maybe? Austin: I don't know. I obviously had a lot more faith in social media back then. I use all the principles from Show Your Work in my newsletter. Newsletters are very much the new kind of great thing. They're doing a lot of the work that social media used to do, in that you're still able to have this direct connection with the people that you're trying to reach. The big problem with social media now is that it's all algorithmically tuned, where the people that are following you don't see the stuff that you're doing most of the time. What you have to do now, if you want the people who are following you to see your stuff on social media, is you have to make stuff that the algorithm likes. That's a whole different thing. As far as the Show Your Work principle—which is share your process as much as your product—that carries over to any platform. In my newsletter every Friday, I share a list of 10 things that were going on behind the scenes here. It might have been what I was watching on TV, what I listened to, a new pen I was trying out, or something like that. The Friday newsletter is almost always process stuff. When I talk about process, my definition is actually very broad. For a lot of people, it's drafting, editing, whatever. For me, the process is the whole life. The process is almost everything except the finished thing. A writer's life is 24/7. My friends who have real jobs really are like, “What do you do all day?” And I'm like, “Well, what do you mean?” They're like, “Well, I see you out on your bike ride.” I'm like, “Yes, when you see me out on a bike ride, I'm thinking through something half the time.” If I'm watching TV, I'm thinking, “Hey, would this be good in the newsletter?” I'm never off. My whole life—everything is copy, as Nora Ephron said. That's part of the job. It's very hard to turn off. So I see the whole life as process, and the question becomes, what little bits and pieces of that life and that process can you share with people while you're making the things that you hope to sell them later? Right now, I'm in a cycle where I'm selling this book, but all these people have showed up because I've shared my process every week for the past seven years since I put out a book. Jo: It's funny you say that. I was at the dentist yesterday, and— My dentist literally asked me, “So where do you get all your ideas?” This is a common question for all of us, right? And it just becomes so hard to explain that to people who don't walk around in the world just constantly getting ideas. Austin: I can't believe I'm going to tell this story. I was getting my vasectomy after my second kid, and I was talking to this doctor just before the operation. He said, “So what do you do for a living?” I said, “I'm a writer.” He said, “Oh, that must be cool. You get to use your brain.” And I said, “That's everything that you want your doctor to say.” I was going to say, “Please use your brain,” before he's about to cut into you. He said, “Oh, no, no. What I mean is, I know what I'm going to do every day for the next 10 years.” He knew exactly what his day was going to look like. He said, “You have to use your brain. You've got to figure out new stuff.” I was like, “Oh, that's really interesting.” That's the trade-off, right? He's got the job security. He knows what he's going to do. Every writer has a moment where they have to talk to a normal person about what you do. Jo: I was going to say, I'm married to one. Austin: Now, my wife, on the other hand, grew up the daughter of a writer, so she knows exactly what it's like. Nothing ever phases her. She's totally used to it. She's used to me staring off into space, completely checking out of a conversation. She's used to me using lines on her that I'm going to put in a piece later. She's used to the whole rigmarole. It's very handy. I've been very lucky in that sense. Jo: Coming back to the book, you talk about your use of bibliomancy for inspiration. Since we're talking about that, tell us about it. I think all the book people listening will be happy. Austin: I'm a person who still keeps a dictionary nearby—a paper dictionary. I keep a big old American Heritage. It's just a big, thick book. When I really don't have any ideas, I will turn at random to the dictionary, close my eyes, stick my finger down the page, open my eyes, and just see what I come up with. Sometimes just that act will give me an idea. I also do that with books. I'll go around the studio, pick up a book, flip to a random page, and just see what it says there, or read an old piece of marginalia that I've left in a book. I believe deeply in the power of bibliomancy, and I think it's a case for paper books. I'm one of those people that still really believes in reference books. I've started collecting more and more of them. I have an old, big dictionary that's always open on my desk, and I look up words. I learned from John McPhee, the writer, that you should look up words that you think you know. That was the first time I'd ever heard anyone say that. So I look up words that I think I know. Instead of reaching for a thesaurus when I need a different word, I actually just look up the definition of the word that I already have. That's another McPhee tip. The other thing that happened that I thought was really interesting is, I got a Roget's for the first time—a thesaurus. I don't think most people know what an actual thesaurus is. Most people think of a thesaurus as a synonym finder, and that's not actually what a thesaurus is at all. A thesaurus is more like an encyclopaedia, weirdly. You look up things based on big concepts, and then it gives you a bunch of words to look up later. It's a very strange thing. It's not what most people think it is. I have a couple of editions of Roget's in here. I like the really old Roget's from the 1900s because they actually have opposing ideas facing each other on the page. Do you have an old-school Roget's? Have you ever looked through one? Jo: I don't have one now, but I certainly grew up with them. I was literally just thinking, I wonder if there are ones for Americans and ones for British people, because so often we say different things and mean different things. I always hear Americans say, “Oh, that's a doozy,” or something, and it means the complete opposite thing here. Austin: Like if you say “fanny pack” over there. That means something very different than it means here, right? Chips or fries, that kind of stuff. So I wonder if there are different ones for different cultural references. Jo: I don't know. Austin: As people, with ChatGPT and all these LLMs and stuff, people are like, “Why would you ever pick up a paper reference book?” And I'm like, “I actually like the friction.” I like having to move in space and go over to my dictionary. I like flipping the pages. I like having to scan a page for the word I'm looking for, because— This marvellous thing happens when you're looking for the word, where you bump into all these other words. If you're a word nerd, you get to start thinking about the root of the word—oh, why is this word next to this word? Well, it's because they share the same root. Then you're going down all these fun rabbit holes. The thing that I'm trying to do as a writer and a creative person is, I'm trying to get to the thing that I didn't know I was looking for. The thing that people misunderstand about AI, I think personally, is that it's a great tool if you know what you're looking for. If you're like, “Find me this thing. I want exactly this. I want to see a picture of a dog wearing a king's costume,” or some crap like that, then it can spit that picture out for you. Or, “I want to know what happened on this day,” and whatever. It can do that. But that's not actually what I'm doing most of the time when I'm writing or making something. I start with an idea, but what really happens—the magic of writing and the magic of making stuff in general—is when you discover something that you didn't even know you were headed for. That's the real magic for me. Sometimes I have an idea and I want to articulate it for people, but more often than not, there's something that bothers me or something that I want to talk about, and I sit down and write, and I figure out what it is that I actually have to say and what I actually think. Every writer really knows this, and that's why the dictionary, stuff like that, those are ways of training you to get in that discovery mode. “Well, let me—oh, I bumped into this. I went looking for this one thing and then I ran into this other thing.” That's why I love the library. I don't know what system you use over there, but you look for one book in the Dewey Decimal System over here, and then, okay, here's all these other weird books next to it. Then you end up with three other books other than the one that you were looking for. That's the magic. To me, that's the magic of creative work, discovering what you didn't know you were looking for. That was particularly important for me when I was writing this book because we discovered that my wife has a condition called aphantasia. It's very rare in the population, about 2 to 3% of people. There's probably some people listening to this right now who are like, “What is this? Tell me.” Jo: Aphantasia actually more common in the creative industries. Austin: Yes. What it is, is that you don't see—when I say close your eyes and picture an apple, you don't actually see the apple in your head. You can think about an apple and the qualities of an apple, but you don't actually see it. Some people, and it's a matter of degree—some people like me, I can close my eyes, I can tell you what the apple looks like, I can tell you what colour it is, I can tell you where the shading is. Someone like my wife doesn't see the apple. She can tell you what an apple is. It's really interesting because she has a degree in architecture, which is known as a very visual field. But the thing you discover about aphantasia is, it doesn't keep people from becoming artists. In fact, it's the opposite. Someone like Ed Catmull, who co-founded Pixar, writes about it in his book, and so many of the great animators at Pixar are actually aphantasics. The reason is that they learned that they had to draw in order to see things. When you don't have a picture in your head of what you want something to look like, things appear in the drawing, and you find things that you couldn't even picture. A lot of writers actually are aphantasics. John Green discovered recently that he has aphantasia. It turns out that it's a superpower for writers, because if you don't have a picture in your head, then you don't have to translate that picture into words. A lot of writers talk about thinking in radio, like they have a constant narrator. My wife—she's probably going to kill me for talking about her this much—when she describes it to me, she's like, “Oh, it's like a radio in my head. I'm constantly hearing a voice, and it's a narrator.” I was like, “Holy shit, that would be really helpful to me.” I don't have anything like that in my head. I read Mrs Dalloway for the first time, and I gave it to her and I said, “You've got to read this book. I think this must be what it's like in your head.” And she said, “Oh my God, it is.” Part of the thing that I took away from that experience—this is a long-winded way of getting here—is that I take a lot of inspiration from people with this condition. Most of the people I know in the arts or the creative fields, they set out with this grand vision, and then they start working on the thing and it's nothing like what they had in their head, and they get really depressed: “This isn't what I had in mind.” Whereas if you set out without a picture in your head, and you just start manipulating things and you see what appears, that's more of the comic mode I was talking about earlier. What would happen if we just sat down with our materials and we started playing and we saw what appeared on the page? What if we started typing and saw what appeared, and then we played with that? That's the kind of joy. That's more like how kids operate. Kids are better at that. They're better at reacting to what's actually in front of them, instead of having these grandiose visions about what they're trying to achieve. Jo: Just coming back on the longevity of a creative career. Your books are very distinctive. You have a very distinctive visual style, your handwriting and the way the books are done. I wondered if another part of the ennui, perhaps, or the draining of the later career is that we get trapped into doing something that feels like it looks the same. Or we have a voice, and we're happy in that voice, but sometimes we want to do something completely different. For authors, we have different names. I write under two different names, and that helps. But equally— How do you define author voice, and do you ever feel like doing something completely different to your normal style? Austin: Style, in a lot of ways, is self-plagiarism. Style is the repeated things that we notice in people's work. Hitchcock talked about this in films. Wes Anderson is someone like that—Wes Anderson has a style. I'm sure that he gets really sick of it too sometimes, but you also can't help it in some ways. I thought a lot about this because people worry about style so much. A lot of the time, what we call style is what Adrian Tomine one time said: “Style is just the distance between what's in my head and what comes out of my hand.” I really like that definition. With this book, I was trying to think, “Okay, if I do another book in this series, how can I push things a little bit?” And then I was reading this article about Taco Bell. You guys have Taco Bell over there, don't you? Do you have Taco Bell? Jo: No. Austin: So Taco Bell, for people who don't know, is this American Mexican chain, and they have tacos and burritos and stuff like that. They're well known for making these really insane… it's so American, this company. They make a taco with a Doritos as a shell. Doritos are crisps, I guess. Jo: Yes, we have Doritos. Austin: Okay. I spent time in England, I just don't remember if I ate Doritos when I was in England. Anyway, I was reading this article about Taco Bell. It was really funny. They have an innovation kitchen at Taco Bell, and they have a rule about new products. The rule is called the distinctiveness rule, and the rule is: you can change the flavour or you can change the taste, or you can change the form, but you can't change both at the same time. I got really obsessed with this concept because I thought, “Well, this could be kind of interesting.” If you're someone who's had success and you're known for something, this presents an interesting thing. You could do a complete break and do something completely new, or you could try the distinctiveness rule. Okay, well, what if I play with this idea of taste versus form? What if I change the taste and keep the form? So the idea for Don't Call It Art was, what if I do another one of these books, but the taste is more like if my kids made it? It had the texture of kids' art, it had lots of scribbles in it, it was loose and messy. That was kind of the idea. The actual book ended up being more like the other books. It ended up looking like an Austin Kleon book, because I just can't help that. The thing you said about having multiple names that you write under, that's kind of what I do with the newsletter. I think of the newsletter as very different from the books. The newsletter is this twice-weekly thing where I can be a little bit more of myself. In the books, I'm this very helpful, happy version of myself. It's me, but it's me on my best day. I'm really helpful and interesting for you. The newsletter is still a highlight reel in a sense, but it's a little bit more of my weird everything-I'm-into. It's more of the unclipped version of me. The newsletter becomes a place where I can do a lot of the weird stuff that's much different from the books. I have these little projects going all the time. Sometimes I'll make a bunch of prints and put them online. Sometimes I'll make a bunch of zines on a topic I haven't covered in the book. Sometimes I'll do a mixtape. As someone who's interested in a lot of different forms and genres and just different modes of output, having something like a newsletter has been really creatively fruitful for me. It's kept me from getting too bottomed out with the books because the books do a certain thing for the reader, and as much as I'd love to do a book that was radically different, I also think I've been given a real gift with the form of my books, in that I kind of own the way that they feel and look. There aren't a lot of books that look like those books and feel like those books, and so I like playing with that form. It would be hard to get rid of it now. The pseudonym for me is kind of like the newsletter in a sense. The newsletter is a little bit more of where I get to be wild and wacky. Then the books are a little bit more of a chiselled thing. Jo: The books are perfect examples of the form, as you say, but it's interesting about the newsletter. You mentioned at the beginning that we can be drained by the admin around the work. For many people listening, a newsletter becomes admin. So how does the newsletter fit into your business? The books are traditionally published, they're very professional. How do you have your independent side, and how does all of that work together in your business? Austin: Thank you for asking that question. I run the whole show at the newsletter. The newsletter is just me, and then my wife edits it, and no one else is involved. I don't have an assistant. I don't have a team. It is just me, and that's why I love it. I control everything. I pick who gets in there. I pick everything. I love that. I grew up watching David Letterman over here, and Letterman had a nightly show, and I always thought that was killer. I thought, “Man, what a fun job. You have a show every night where you have a new guest, and you have all these wacky things going on.” It was like a variety show. I always thought that would be really fun, so the newsletter is my version of that. I started the newsletter in 2013, and it was just a Friday newsletter. It quickly became a list of 10 things I thought were worth sharing. I had a friend, Hugh MacLeod, who was like, “Hey, I have a newsletter. It's bigger than any conference you've ever gone to.” He was talking about South by Southwest here in Austin. He's like, “I have a newsletter now, and it's bigger than South by Southwest.” Jo: Oh, I remember him. Austin: He would say, “Every time I have a new print, I put it out, and there's a button, and then they buy it.” He was like, “You've got to get it. This newsletter thing is killer.” This was in 2011 or something. Jo: Yes, I still have his books. Blogging in Your Underwear or something. Austin: Totally. So Hugh's a whole different story, but I was just like, “Oh, I should really get a newsletter.” Letterman always had a top 10 list on his show. I just always thought a 10 list was really fun. And of course the books are lists of 10 too. So it just worked to have a weekly list of 10. It felt good, and it felt like an infinitely repeatable format. What I'm looking for as a creative person is an infinitely repeatable format that can go on and on and on and be new every time. So the list of 10 is something that people know the form of. It goes back to the Taco Bell thing. They know the form, but they're not sure what's going to go inside. They know it's going to be a burrito, but they don't know what's going to be in the burrito, and that's the exciting part. The newsletter, business-wise, was always a marketing cost for about the first eight years of its existence. I paid MailChimp to send it out. Then in about 2021, when I hadn't done a book for a while, my agent said, “You know, you should really think about doing a paid tier of your newsletter.” And this is to his credit, because he doesn't make anything off the newsletter. He said, “There's this thing called Substack now that makes that really easy.” So we moved to Substack in 2021 in October, and I started doing a Tuesday edition of the newsletter that was just for paid people. That grew enough that it's gone from a marketing cost to something that's almost—it's not quite as much as I make on my books, but it's close. And to be candid, my books sell pretty well. So suddenly the newsletter has become this really healthy income stream. The newsletter to me is actually the day job now. The newsletter is what really keeps the lights on. It's also the perfect mix. It's the day job, it's the thing that keeps income coming in on a regular basis, but it's also the thing I like to do the most. I'm not like a traditional writer who likes to just get lost in their book and take years and years and go away. I'm someone who loves to be doing a lot of different things. The newsletter is a perfect format for me. I'm talking myself into not quitting, actually. It's funny. It's gone from this thing that was a marketing cost to now it's a significant part of our income. That journey—such a bad word, journey—that trip has been very interesting. It's been really cool. But I'm also just lucky. I've been really lucky, and I think part of my thing is, I'm always just trying not to squander my luck. Jo: Well, the book is fantastic, and I know people are going to love it. And the newsletter, of course. So tell us— Where can people find you and your books and newsletter online? Austin: The easiest thing to do is to just go to AustinKleon.com, and that has links to everything—the books, the newsletter. I do actually keep an old-school blog still. I'm one of the few people that still maintains their blog and keeps it up to date. I'm hedging my bets because I think in the end everything will come back to a self-hosted website. I think in the end everyone's going to just go back to their little websites, or at least I hope so. Jo: Well, that was great, Austin. Thanks so much. Austin: Oh, thank you. The post Don't Call It Art: Rediscovering Creative Joy With Austin Kleon first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Two Strike Noise - A Baseball History Podcast
Episode 319 - Boomer Goes Boom for the Most Alcohol Fueled Perfect Game In MLB History

Two Strike Noise - A Baseball History Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2026 69:20


On May 17, 1998, David Wells showed up to Yankee Stadium having slept maybe two and a half hours, running on coffee, a single pancake, and whatever was left of Saturday night. He then threw the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history in front of 49,820 people who were mostly there for a Beanie Baby. That's the story this week. We go deep on the whole thing — the legendary SNL after-party that didn't happen, the cast members who swear they were there and provably weren't, the Mandela Effect that turned one hungover pitcher into baseball mythology, and what Wells actually did in the nine years after the game nobody thought he had left in him. Also in this episode: Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice stop by Letterman to deliver a top 10 list, Steve Garvey turns up as an extra in The Godfather Part II, Wade Boggs earns his nickname on the set of Cheers, and we finally finish that pack of 2003 Topps with Alfonso Soriano, Shawn Green, Al Leiter, and Sean Casey. Topics include: David Wells perfect game, 1998 New York Yankees, SNL Mandela Effect, Jimmy Fallon David Wells party, Beanie Baby day Yankee Stadium, Chuck Knoblauch throwing yips, Tim McClelland umpire, Don Larsen perfect game, Dock Ellis no-hitter, Dallas Braden perfect game, David Cone knuckleball, Rickey Henderson Hall of Fame, Wade Boggs Cheers, Steve Garvey Godfather, 2003 Topps baseball cards, baseball history podcast, Two Strike Noise 00:00 Open 01:06 Rickey & Rice on Letterman 05:26 Garvey in Godfather 07:18 Boggs on Cheers 10:10 Towel Toss Ejection 12:40 Wells Perfect Game Intro 15:48 Gout and Yankees Context 19:10 The Mystery Party Night 23:28 Hangover to Perfection 30:37 Perfect Game Tension 33:00 Knoblauch Saves It 34:23 Twins Stall Tactics 35:26 Ninth Inning Drama 37:31 Perfect Game Celebration 38:51 Aftermath And Trivia 45:06 SNL Mandela Effect 47:33 Wax Pack Heroes Returns 01:00:50 Final Cards Winner 01:04:11 Wrap Up And Plugs   Connect With Us YouTube: www.youtube.com/@twostrikenoise Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/twostrikenoise BlueSky: @twostrikenoise.bsky.social Email: twostrikenoise@gmail.com   Support a Great Cause: Don't let your common cards collect dust! Donate them to help spark a child's interest in the game at http://commons4kids.org/.   #baseballhistory #mlb #baseball #BaseballCards #TwoStrikeNoise #popculture

Toppermost Of The Poppermost
October 1965 (side B)

Toppermost Of The Poppermost

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2026 85:52


October 1965. Beatles and Dylan, yes, but also Dionne, Little Anthony, Jonny Rivers, the Letterman and the Incredible Jimmy Smith! The Magical Mystery Camp (https://www.magicalmysterycamp.com/toppermost/) once again sponsors Toppermost for the 2026 year! #madeonzencastr. Support this podcast at the $6/month level on patreon to get extra content! Also, Create your own podcast today! #madeonzencastr

Musik ist Trumpf
Keine Schimpfwörter!

Musik ist Trumpf

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2026 80:53


Nach der Pfingstpause sind Till & Henning zurück - und im Doku-Wahn! Henning hat die „Beastie Boys Story" von Spike Jones aufgewühlt und ihn daran erinnert, dass hinter jeder Band Menschen mit denselben Zweifeln und Voraussetzungen stehen wie wir alle, egal ob in Brooklyn, Münster oder Hamm. Till erzählt, wie ihn die Rolling Stones einst zu Sonny Rollins und zum Jazz führten, warum Bob Dylan 1984 bei David Letterman mit einer Punkband „Jokerman" rausrotzte - und weshalb ihn ein todkranker Schauspieler in David Lynchs „The Straight Story" zu Tränen rührt, der nur unter einer Bedingung mitspielen wollte: Keine Schimpfwörter! Über Suchende, Klickmomente und den Mut zur Überzeugung – persönlich, emotional und voller Liebe zur Musik. Wie immer!Die Songs zur Folge:So What'cha Want / Beastie BoysRoot Down / Beastie BoysSailin' On / Bad BrainsSlave / The Rolling StonesJokerman (live bei David Letterman, 1984) / Bob DylanLaurens Walking (aus „The Straight Story") / Angelo BadalamentiLinks zur Sendung:Doku-Empfehlung: The Beastie Boys Story von Spike Jones (Apple TV) Film-Empfehlung: The Straight Story von David Lynch (1999) Buch-Empfehlung: Pledging My Time – Interviews mit Musiker:innen, die mit Bob Dylan gespielt haben Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

School of Podcasting
What the Death of Late Night Teaches Podcasters.

School of Podcasting

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2026 52:59 Transcription Available


Why Joe Rogan Beat Late Night TVWhen I was a kid, hearing Johnny Carson's theme music meant it was time for bed. Today, nobody has to stay up for anything. And that one shift explains a huge part of why late night is fading and why your podcast has to work harder to earn attention.Conversation vs Promotional AppearancesIn the early years of Johnny Carson, the show was 90 minutes and they actually had conversations as apposed to the "tell me about your family vacation, and let's roll the clip" interviews we see on late night showsAppointment Viewing is DeadThe days of "must see tv" on Thursday night died with the VCR and DVR. I haven't watched live TV in years. So now the audience that is staying up to watch live is much older (somewhere between age 60-70), and is about HALF of the audience comparing it to the days wheh David Letterman get almost 7 million a night.The Celebrity Mystique is GoneI once stayed up to watch B.B. King on the tonight show. Why? Because I couldn't hear him on the radio. I was too young to go to a concert. If I did that today and wanted to see Joe Bonamassa I wouldn't need to wait to see him on TV. I could see him on his YouTube channel, or multiple interviews on podcasts.#1 in Late Night is a Big Fish in a Much Smaller PondKeep in mind that Steven Colbert being #1 in late night in 2026 is way different than being #1 in late night in 1993. Late-night TV revenue has reportedly fallen from about $400 million a year to $200 million a year—a 50% decline—while some shows that once drew 7–8 million nightly viewers now struggle to reach 3 million.YouTube Doesn't Pay the SameAccording to one report, YouTube pays one tenth of what a network ad spot would go for. When you audience is cut in half, you have less advertisers. When the advertisers you have are paying you 90% less and your expenses stay the same that is a problem.Keep Control of Your ContentRemember big companies with big payouts WANT CONTROL. Conan focused on owning his content and that resulted in a 150 million dollar payout.Only Amazing Content Will Stand OutIf you want podcast growth, you need to make sure you are doing as many of the following as possible.Make them:laughcrythinkgroanMake Sure The ContentEducatesEntertainsSaves the audience timeSaves them moneyMakes them FEEL somethingIf it's information you can get any place else, even better. A great podcast can be boiled down to content and delivery. So this episode is focused on content.Be Ready to PromoteWhen someone says, "Oh, you do a podcast?" be ready to explain what it is, what its about, and how people benefit from consuming your content (and say your website). We hear how Macaulay Culkin dropped the ball so bad on the Ellen show.Housekeeping: How to Pitch a PodcastI am still preparing to launch this show and I'm accepting stories. I had some things pop up that are taking my attention as they are time sensitive. It's coming...Mentioned in this episode:Live AppearancesI will be at the Empower Podcasting Conference (Year 3!) in Charlotte North Carolina. This is my favorite type of conference with a cap at 250 people, it's a great crowd without being overwhelming. Great speakers, great networking, and a great location.Where Will I Be?Podcasting in Six Weeks Starts SoonIf you've tried to start a podcast before and got lost in the jargon, and felt overwhelmed, this is the course for you. We will meet LIVE for six weeks and go step by step in launching your successful podcast. The best part, we are only charging $1 Check it out at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/sixweeksPodcasting in Six WeeksQuestion of the MonthThis might be harder question to answer because when I ask people, the sometimes freeze. The question? How do you measure success for your podcast beyond download numbers? I need your answer by June 26th, 2026. Don't forget to tell us a little bit about your show and your website address so I can link to it in the show notes.Question of the MonthYouTube Matching Just Got CheaperThe amazing YouTube Matching feature available at Podpage was previously available on the top "Elite" tier, but is now available on the "Pro" tier. This give you MORE value for LESS money. Start your free trial today at Podpage.comPodpage

Riverview Christian Podcast
We Are the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) | Pastor John Letterman | Riverview Christian

Riverview Christian Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2026 29:00


We Are the Body of Christ | 1 Corinthians 12:27What does it mean to be the Body of Christ?In this special standalone message, we explore Paul's powerful words in 1 Corinthians 12:27 and discover God's design for His Church. Every believer has a unique role, purpose, and gift, and when we work together, the Church functions as Christ intended.Whether you've been following Jesus for years or are just beginning your faith journey, this message will challenge and encourage you to embrace your place in the body, serve others, and live out your calling within God's family.

Verge of the Dude
The Odyssey of Tom Purcell

Verge of the Dude

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2026 23:09


Hey Dude, I celebrate the long and winding journey of my old friend writer/producer Tom Purcell, who booked the ultimate celebrity for the grand finale of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at the Ed Sullivan Theater. QUOTE: "...he's only my third favorite Beatle." CAST: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Adam Carolla, Ray Oldhafer, Marc Maron, Ed Sullivan, Tom Purcell, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Dan Klass, Stan Hillas, Jamie Kennedy, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Leguizamo, Jim Morrison, The Doors, David Letterman, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello, Paul Shaffer, Achilles, Taylor Swift, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr LOCATIONS: Hollywood, Hollywood Walk of Fame, North Hollywood, North Hollywood High School, Upfront Comedy Showcase, New York City, Ed Sullivan Theater, Chicago, Second City PROPS: "Unbuckled", The Late Show, Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Podcast Hall of Fame, Ed Sullivan Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Scream, Romeo + Juliet, Late Night with David Letterman, Hello Goodbye, Odyssey, Illiad, Star Wars, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper, White Album SOUNDS: plane,  Laguna Sawdust Cowbell Chimes  (more cowbell), birds  PHOTO: "Tom Purcell the Coyote" shot with my iPhone XS RECORDED: May 30, 2026  in "The Cafe" under the flight path of the Hollywood Burbank Airport in Burbank, California GEAR: Zoom H1 XLR with Sennheiser MD 46 microphone. TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 23:08 FILE SIZE: ~ 23 MB GENRES: storytelling, personal storytelling, personal journal, journal, personal narrative, audio, audio blog, confessional  HYPE: "It's a beatnik kinda literary thing in a podcast cloak of darkness." Timothy Kimo Brien (cohost on Podwrecked and host of Create Art Podcast) DISCLAIMER/WARNING: Proudly presented rough, raw and ragged. Seasoned with salty language and ideas. Not for most people's taste. Please be advised.

On Mic Podcast
Comic Eddie Brill -542

On Mic Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2026 32:54


Today, we get back to the funny stuff with a guy who is ‘serious' about comedy.  Meet Eddie Brill, a native New Yorker who came to Boston to attend Emerson College, getting his start in comedy there and never looking back.  Eddie has toured all over the United States and throughout many parts of the world.  He was previously the warm-up comic and comedy talent coordinator of The Late Show with David Letterman.  He founded and was the creative director for the award-winning Great American Comedy Festival in Norfolk, Nebraska, honoring the late Johnny Carson who hailed from that town.  Eddie and I talk about  current trends in comedy, who his heroes in the business are and the comics who continue  to “bring it” on stage today!

Another Kind of Distance: A Spider-Man, Time Travel, Twin Peaks, Film, Grant Morrison and Nostalgia Podcast
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1934: WE'RE RICH AGAIN & THE RICHEST GIRL IN THE WORLD

Another Kind of Distance: A Spider-Man, Time Travel, Twin Peaks, Film, Grant Morrison and Nostalgia Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2026 69:34


Our text for this 1934 RKO Studios Year by Year episode is a William A. Seiter double feature distinguished by ultra-manipulative heroines and a simultaneous fascination with and unsubtle criticism of the rich: the comedy We're Rich Again, which earns a comparison to Preston Sturges for its innovative use of comedy tropes (particularly the high-concept heroine, brilliantly embodied by Marian Nixon), and the comedy-melodrama The Richest Girl in the World, with a demented Jamesian plot courtesy of noted screenwriter Norman Krasna and Miriam Hopkins in the title role. If Marian Nixon is playing six-dimensional chess with her wealthy relatives, Miriam Hopkins is moving her friends and love interest around like chess pieces. If that's not enough, we're also introducing a new segment in this episode: So This Is Sarris! (Dave's title; Elise wanted "Sarris It Ain't So!") In this Letterman-inspired segment, we use AI to randomly pick an entry from Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema and then riff on his opinion of the director. Who's our first director? Listen and find out! (If you look at the time stamps, that's cheating!)   Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s:      1934 & RKO 0h 06m 31s:      WE'RE RICH AGAIN [dir. William A. Seiter]   0h 29m 01s:      THE RICHEST GIRL IN THE WORLD [dir. William A. Seiter]   0h 51m 31s:      So This Is Sarris (The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris) - Frank Borzage   Studio Film Capsules provided by The RKO Story by Richard B. Jewell & Vernon Harbin Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler 1934 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer         +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

The Pat Walsh Show
The Pat Walsh Show May 27th Second Hour

The Pat Walsh Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2026 31:20


We continue the conversation of gratitude and Pat echoes his thankfulness for our radio family that you are part of! Pat goes on to explain how late night television inspired his show, specifically the 1988 intro to The Late Show with David Letterman.

Daily Comedy News
Colbert's ‘Only in Monroe' Return, CBS Takedowns, Chelsea Handler Comedy Controversies

Daily Comedy News

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2026 13:58 Transcription Available


Johnny Mac recaps comedy news, led by Stephen Colbert returning to TV the night after The Late Show ended by guest-hosting the Monroe, Michigan public-access show Only in Monroe, featuring guests/cameos including Jack White, Byron Allen, Eminem, Steve Buscemi, and Jeff Daniels, plus local food bits; Colbert previously hosted in 2015. Paramount/CBS issued copyright takedown notices after uploads appeared online, then told Variety it was standard practice against unauthorized posts and waived further enforcement. The Late Show finale drew 6.74M viewers vs Letterman's 13.76M final and Colbert's 2015 premiere 6.55M; Mac says the finale and Colbert's run had little impact on him. The Times of London argues Tim Dillon represents an internet-era successor to late-night, citing younger audiences and cost/format challenges, plus comments about YouTube economics and an upcoming Ben Gleib YouTube show. Other items: Chelsea Handler backlash over calling Shane Gillis' roast joke “worse than rape,” Robbie Hoffman criticized for dismissive celiac comments, and sightings of Kevin Hart in Vegas, Adam Sandler in Vancouver filming Time Out, John Oliver in Baltimore, and Drew Carey attacking LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt. 00:18 Colbert Goes Public Access02:52 CBS Colbert Takedowns Explained03:58 Late Show Finale Ratings04:23 Host Reacts to Finale05:16 Tim Dillon as Successor06:09 Late Night vs YouTube07:03 Chelsea Handler Roast Backlash09:50 Robbie Hoffman Celiac Controversy11:09 Gossip Corner Celebrity Sightings Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac-a-daily-briefing-on-comedians-and-the-comedy-industry--4522158/support.Daily Comedy News is the number one comedy news podcast, delivering daily coverage of standup comedy, late night television, comedy specials, tours, and the business of comedy.COMEDY SURVIVOR in the facebook group.Contact John at John@thesharkdeck dot com For Uninterrupted Listening, use the Apple Podcast App and click the banner that says Uninterrupted Listening.  $4.99/month John's Substack about media is free.This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

The Kevin Jackson Show
Leftism Foiled - Ep 26-206

The Kevin Jackson Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2026 38:40


Well, that Mosque shooting disappeared faster than cocaine at a Hunter Biden party.Seattle's Democratic Socialist Mayor is losing businesses like no where else. The Colombia Tower Club just closed after 40 years. Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go has closed all their stores. Jeff Bezos left, Howard Schultz founder of Starbucks left. Their capital gains tax collection is down 50%. Per Cushman Wakefield vacancies rates are 36.5 for commercial property. Pioneer square is at 50% vacancy. The Needle, Seattle's iconic structure is now a homeless encampment. Business are running from socialist ideas and sanctuary cities. At this pace tax rates will increase on those remaining. It's just a matter of time for the city to collapse. Fewer people to tax, fewer jobs, more homeless.[X] SB – Ad against TalaricoGod is non-binary6 sexesAmerican flag complicated signalStephen Colbert signs off from late night television, and the media acts like we just watched the first moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Beatles reuniting all at once. “Historic ratings!” they cry. “A cultural moment!”Yeah? Let's talk about those numbers.Colbert's final show pulled 6.74 million viewers. And to be fair, that is a big number by today's standards. It was the highest-rated weeknight episode he ever had. Bigger than his premiere. Way above his recent average of around 2.7 million.But here's the problem. Context is undefeated.Johnny Carson's final show in 1992 pulled over 55 million viewers. Fifty-five million. That was when America still had fewer people and fewer TVs. Carson had a 62% audience share. Think about that. Six out of every ten televisions in America were tuned into one guy sitting behind a desk telling jokes.That's not a TV host. That's a national event.Jay Leno signed off with nearly 15 million viewers. David Letterman got almost 14 million. Colbert, meanwhile, needed every other late-night host to basically go dark and funnel their audience to him just to hit half of what Leno and Letterman did.And this was his BEST night, outside of his piggybacking on a Super Bowl one night.That's like a baseball player retiring with a .195 batting average and ESPN running graphics like Babe Ruth just left Yankee Stadium.What happened to late night?Simple. It stopped being funny and started becoming political group therapy.Johnny Carson made everybody laugh. Republicans, Democrats, people who didn't know who the Vice President was. Carson wasn't trying to “educate” America. He wasn't trying to save democracy between commercials for sleep medication and adult diapers. He just wanted to be funny.Colbert and these modern late-night guys? Entirely different business model.Every night became the same routine: Trump joke. Republican joke. Democracy is ending. Commercial break. Repeat until pharmaceutical side effects include “thoughts of self-harm.”At some point, late night stopped feeling like comedy and started feeling like being trapped at a dinner party with your angry NPR cousin who uses the phrase “lived experience” while borrowing money from his parents.And then you see the staff photo.Have you seen this thing? It looked less like a comedy show staff and more like a government agency. I heard estimates anywhere from 120 to nearly 200 people working on that show.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fresh Air
Stephen Colbert / Remembering MA Rep. Barney Frank

Fresh Air

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2026 45:59


Stephen Colbert's ‘Late Show' ended last night after 11 years. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2016 shortly after he took over from David Letterman. Before that, Colbert played a conservative persona in the vein of Bill O'Reilly on ‘The Colbert Report.' When he started ‘The Late Show,' out of character, he said, “I knew it would be a little bit of a public discovery. It's somebody else's joke, but life is like learning to play the violin in public. You don't know what you're doing until you do it.”Also we remember Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who died this week at age 86. The influential Democrat helped normalize being openly gay in public office. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2015.Also, John Powers reviews the horror-comedy Apple TV series ‘Widow's Bay.' See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The Smerconish Podcast
From Johnny Carson to Taking Over CBS Late Night: Byron Allen's Full-Circle Moment

The Smerconish Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 49:47


Media mogul Byron Allen joins Michael to discuss the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the launch of Comics Unleashed in CBS late night, and his remarkable journey from teenage comedian to media empire builder. Allen shares stories about Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, his mother's influence, and why he believes comedy can bring America together. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Wake Up Call
Wake Up Call Full Show 5-22-26

The Wake Up Call

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 79:07


The Gary and Kenny Show
17 Years With Letterman

The Gary and Kenny Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 36:54


Send us Fan MailComedian Eddie Brill who spent 17 years doing warm-up for the Late Show with David Letterman shares his behind the scenes stories about the show. Support the show

Daily Comedy News
Stephen Colbert's Next Moves, Late-Night Uncertainty, and Fringe/Festival Highlights

Daily Comedy News

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 11:43 Transcription Available


With CBS airing Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 11:35, he shares Colbert's comments about Allen and notes Colbert's next gig writing a Lord of the Rings-universe film with Philippa Boyens; Colbert's Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream packaging is also being updated. USA Today discusses possible late-night replacements (including podcast-style shows) and quotes David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel on late night's future. He plugs HBO's Josh Johnson: Symphony, spotlights Atsuko Okatsuka's HomeState “Atsuko Bowl” charity tie-in, does a “Comedy Stock Market” (buy Weird Al and Henry Yen; sell Colbert), and runs festival items on Eloise Efthos, Suzy Cato, Steven K. Amos, and Amanda Knox's Edinburgh Fringe show Cartwheel. 00:40 Colbert Finale And CBS Slot01:04 Colbert Rings Writing Gig01:40 Americone Dream Makeover02:04 Future Of Late Night03:07 Josh Johnson Special Preview04:22 Trailer Clip Highlights05:05 Atsuko Okatsuka Food Collab06:35 Comedy Stock Market Picks07:48 Eloise Efthos New Hour09:22 NZ Fest Reviews And Amanda Knox, comedian Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac-a-daily-briefing-on-comedians-and-the-comedy-industry--4522158/support.Daily Comedy News is the number one comedy news podcast, delivering daily coverage of standup comedy, late night television, comedy specials, tours, and the business of comedy.COMEDY SURVIVOR in the facebook group.Contact John at John@thesharkdeck dot com For Uninterrupted Listening, use the Apple Podcast App and click the banner that says Uninterrupted Listening.  $4.99/month John's Substack about media is free.This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

Behind the Line
Stephen Colbert FIRED after Losing MILLIONS for CBS

Behind the Line

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 14:24


Stephen Colbert said goodbye to The Late Show on CBS Thursday night...ten years after taking over from David Letterman. Although Stephen Colbert is blaming Donald Trump for his firing...the real reason Stephen Colbert was fired is because CBS was losing $50 million per year. We reveal and react to Stephen Colbert final episode. We show clips of Stephen Colbert from 2015...and compare to Stephen Colbert today. We explain why Stephen Colbert turned on Donald Trump...and why Stephen Colbert will struggle if he launches an independent channel on YouTube. USE PROMO CODE BTL10 TO SAVE 10% WITH MERICAN ATTITUDE: https://mericanattitude.com

The Death Of Journalism
Episode Two Hundred Ninety Four: Strike Force Five

The Death Of Journalism

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2026 88:31 Transcription Available


Nobody's talking about Rrump's trip to China. Zigs got a big AI update. Saying goodbye to Stephen Colbert, Now ESPN complains, the death of Mark Fuhrman and the "n" word truth and an interview with Justin Williams the President of the Penn state Letterman's Club.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-death-of-journalism--5691723/support.

Jake & Ben
Jake & Ben: Full Show | Victor Wembanyama & the Spurs Take Game 1 | Ryan Smith Opened up about the Pressure because of his Relationships with AJ Dybantsa & Cam Boozer | David Locke gives thoughts on Darryn Peterson & Cam Boozer | Eastern C

Jake & Ben

Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2026 180:18


Jake & Ben Full Show from May 19, 2026 Hour 1 Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs to victory last night in a thrilling Double Overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Top 3 Stories of the Day: Cavaliers Knicks begin tonight, Did Wembanyama declare himself as the best player in the NBA? Former Jazz man RJ Luis Jr has committed to LSU.  A Follow Up to Last Week's EFL Story: Southampton Has Been Kicked out of Final after Spying Hour 2 Utah Jazz Owner Ryan Smith was on The Bill Simmons Podcast and opened up about his relationships with AJ Dybantsa & Cam Boozer.  New Trailblazers Owner Tom Dundon has layed off over 70 employees.  Some Insight as to why Victor Wembanyama is So Unique  Hour 3 David Locke, Radio Voice of the Jazz, joined the show to talk about the team's Lottery Luck, as well as give his thoughts on Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa & Cam Boozer Hot Take Tuesday: Ben thinks Will Ferrell has had a disappointing movie career.  Audio Vault: Remember when David Letterman said this about Jordans? Hour 4 Live at 5: Breaking News: The Dallas Mavericks have Parted Ways with Jason Kidd Previewing tonight's Eastern Conference Finals between Cleveland & the Knicks Rashee Rice joins a long list of NFL Players to Serve Time. 

Mix Minus - A Gay / LGBTQ Experience
224 - A Failure to Duck

Mix Minus - A Gay / LGBTQ Experience

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2026 71:59


This episode opens with the usual comfortable chaos: a fumbled intro that Daniel immediately clocks as "off-syncopation," a brief tribute to a listener-written birthday song that threads back to Daniel's old World of Warcraft podcast, and the unexpected reappearance of former co-host Jean in his inbox ahead of an Orlando conference visit. From there the show settles into personal-journal mode — Adam's Mother's Day recap features a chocolate pie that survived a second-degree burn from a saucepan handle (the second week running that a metal object has wronged him), while a side discussion of the TV show The Pitt leads Daniel into a candid, sobering reflection on his mother's Alzheimer's and what he's already told his partner Zach to do if the same thing ever happens to him.The show's recurring segments land in the second half. The Contact segment surfaces a voicemail from loyal listener Tony in Illinois and a text reporting the death of Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player. The News Game has Daniel going 4-for-5 on the New York Times quiz — correctly nailing YMCA as Trump's Beijing banquet song and the mid-2010s as the start of declining student test scores — before snagging a bonus point in the Disney Trivial Pursuit lightning round by pulling "Edgar Bergen" out of thin air under the wire. Celebrity Birthdays covered George Lucas (82, fresh museum at Skywalker Ranch) and Stevie Wonder (76), with the segment capping on Stephen Colbert's impending final week, which prompts a recommendation to seek out his recent David Letterman interview on YouTube.The back third weaves in a tech segment on OpenAI's Codex Desktop: Daniel is an enthusiastic evangelist, citing his own custom Linux clock widget as a proof-of-concept, while Adam has hit a permissions wall trying to automate his podcast show-prep workflow on Mac. A sidebar on the Little Fatty Cast and its chronic audio ducking problem rounds out the runtime before a deliberately early wrap — the hosts are actively trying to trim episode length, partly, Daniel deadpans, so as not to cannibalize Tony's Level 13 after-show content.Email: Contact@MixMinusPodcast.comVoice/SMS: 707-613-3284

Literally Heinous
64. TV & Comedy with Matthew Starr: Writing for Glen Powell, Script Tips & What Hollywood Is Fixated On

Literally Heinous

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2026 89:07


Comedy writer, performer, and teacher Matthew Starr joins the pod and I don't think I've ever laughed this hard in a recording. Matthew wrote and directed Best Man's Ghostwriter⁠ starring Glen Powell, came up through UCB with some of the best in the business, and has sage wisdom for how to finish a script. We get into where the industry is heading, tips for writing for comedy, and a lot of other stuff that somehow got funnier as it went.(00:00) - Matthew's background: Ohio State improv, David Letterman, UCB, living in LA (19:26) - Matthew's show starring Glenn Powell (Best Man's Ghostwriter)(33:22) - COMEDY WRITING (types of jobs, what makes a good pilot, writing tips)(1:14:50) - Chic or freak 

Jake & Ben
Hour 3: David Locke on Utah Jazz Lottery Luck, Thoughts on Darryn Peterson & More | Hot Take Tuesday: Will Ferrell Has Had a Disappointing Movie Career | Audio Vault: 40 Year Anniversary of David Letterman Calling Jordan Shoes Ugly

Jake & Ben

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2026 45:57


Hour 3 of Jake & Ben on May 19, 2026 David Locke, Radio Voice of the Jazz, joined the show to talk about the team's Lottery Luck, as well as give his thoughts on Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa & Cam Boozer Hot Take Tuesday: Ben thinks Will Ferrell has had a disappointing movie career.  Audio Vault: Remember when David Letterman said this about Jordans?

Daily Comedy News
SNL Finale, McCartney, Letterman's Warning & Rogan Concern Over This Past Weekend's Theo Von

Daily Comedy News

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2026 16:28 Transcription Available


Will Ferrell Hosts SNL, Paul McCartney Performs, and Late-Night ShakeupsJohnny Mac recaps a Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Will Ferrell with Paul McCartney as musical guest, including a Trump-and-“Jeffrey Epstein” cold open, a Chad Smith-as-Ferrell bit, the annual Jost/Che joke swap, and McCartney performing “Band on the Run” and “Coming Up,” with speculation around extended credits for executive producer Lorne Michaels. He covers Theo Von dismissing Joe Rogan's mental-health concerns, Jim Gaffigan releasing an audio version of his bourbon-themed set, and reports that Pete Davidson and Elise Hewitt split while focusing on their daughter Scotty Rose, alongside Davidson's real-estate sales. Other items include Triumph on Stavy's World, a rumor about Shane Gillis in a Drake video, a planned Weird Al Broadway musical, Strike Force Five ratings and podcast talk, David Letterman's comments on late-night's future, Brian Stack on writing at The Late Show/Conan, Jon Stewart criticizing Apple TV, and the BBC announcing new and returning comedy shows. 00:13 SNL Cold Open Recap01:06 Will Ferrell Host Bit01:49 Jost Che Joke Swap02:15 Paul McCartney Performances03:07 Lorne Michaels Farewell Hints03:41 Theo Von Rogan Concern04:11 Jim Gaffigan Bourbon Set04:24 Pete Davidson Split Details05:46 Triumph on Stavys World06:14 Drake Album Shane Gillis06:28 Weird Al Broadway Musical07:29 Strike Force Five Ratings09:03 Kimmel Summer Off Debate10:28 Letterman on Late Night Future11:36 Brian Stack on Writing14:31 Emmy Blotnick Release14:36 Jon Stewart vs Apple15:20 BBC Comedy Funding Fight15:56 BBC Comedy Festival Lineup16:24 Wrap Up and Sign OffBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac-a-daily-briefing-on-comedians-and-the-comedy-industry--4522158/support.Daily Comedy News is the number one comedy news podcast, delivering daily coverage of standup comedy, late night television, comedy specials, tours, and the business of comedy.COMEDY SURVIVOR in the facebook group.Contact John at John@thesharkdeck dot com For Uninterrupted Listening, use the Apple Podcast App and click the banner that says Uninterrupted Listening.  $4.99/month John's Substack about media is free.This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

Anthony On Air
COLBERT'S FINAL WEEK, SPRINGSTEEN, STEWART & THE END OF LATE NIGHT? | AOA Podcast

Anthony On Air

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2026 74:59


On this episode, we say goodbye to Stephen Colbert as CBS rolls out the final week of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, including appearances from Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne and a series finale that feels like the end of an era for network late night TV. We break down the emotional farewell, David Letterman's return to the spotlight, and what Colbert's legacy means for the future of late night. Plus, we reveal who the wealthiest late night hosts really are, California finally bans the endlessly annoying Kars4Kids jingle from the airwaves, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus reveals the massive behind-the-scenes Seinfeld argument that caused real tension on set. Late night TV, celebrity net worths, sitcom drama, TV nostalgia and one less earworm for humanity. Civilization limps forward somehow.#StephenColbert #BruceSpringsteen #SeinfeldGet more AoA and become a member to get exclusive access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOfx0OFE-uMTmJXGPpP7elQ/joinGet Erin C's book here: https://amzn.to/3ITDoO7Get Merch here - https://bit.ly/AnthonyMerchSubscribe to the Anthony On Air Podcast here:Facebook - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirFBYouTube - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirYTApple Podcast - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirAppleSpotify - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirSpotTwitter - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirTwitterInstagram - https://bit.ly/AntOnAirInstaTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@anthonyonairpodDiscord - https://discord.gg/78V469aV22Get more at https://www.AnthonyOnAir.com

The Megyn Kelly Show
Colbert's Hissy Fit Farewell Tour, Xi's Ominous Comment, and Murdaugh's New Trial, with Glenn Greenwald | Ep. 1318

The Megyn Kelly Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 102:51


Megyn Kelly is joined by Glenn Greenwald, host of "System Update" on Substack, to discuss Stephen Colbert's embarrassing hissy fit farewell tour destroying CBS furniture with David Letterman, how late night ratings over the past 20 years show the format completely collapsed, why he should just go out like a man, the tens of millions Stephen Colbert is losing for CBS, his bizarre tactics of kissing male and female guests in his final week, how celebrities in 2026 like Charlize Theron have an addiction to attention, how Michael Jackson was for everyone and achieved fame no one anymore can, the chilling comment China President Xi said to President Trump about the Thucydides Trap, how Trump says he's fine with 500,000 Chinese students coming and staying in America and China buying up farmland, Trump saying we're at war with Iran to help Israel and the Gulf states, what happens if America tries to get out of the war now, whether criminals Alex Murdaugh and Harvey Weinstein deserve new trials, why it's important for everyone in America to get fair trials, and more.   More from Greenwald: https://greenwald.substack.com/   Relief Factor: Break up with pain—Relief Factor targets inflammation so you can move better and feel better; try the 3-Week QuickStart for just $19.95 at https://ReliefFactor.com or call 800-4-RELIEF. Birch Gold: Text MK to 989898 for a free info kit and to see if you qualify for up to $10,000 back through May 29. Byrna: Go to https://Byrna.com or your local Sportsman's Warehouse today. Ethos Life Insurance: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at: https://ethos.com/MK     Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKelly Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShow Instagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShow Facebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow  Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stephanie Miller's Happy Hour Podcast
The Great Chicken Feet Debate

Stephanie Miller's Happy Hour Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 42:24


In this episode of Stephanie Miller's Happy Hour Podcast, Stephanie and her guests tackle the hilarity and absurdity of current events, from Trump's embarrassing diplomatic blunders in China to the chaos of plumbing disasters. They dive into the bizarre moments of the week, including CBS News' Tony Decopol broadcasting from Taiwan and Stephen Colbert's rooftop antics with David Letterman. The panel discusses Trump's frantic response to Xi Jinping's remarks about America's decline, highlighting the ridiculousness of his attempts to save face. With guests Steven Beschloss and Frangela, they dissect the implications of Trump's weak negotiations regarding Taiwan and the ongoing political theatrics surrounding gas prices and inflation. The conversation is filled with sharp wit and insightful commentary as they explore the state of U.S. politics, the absurdity of current leadership, and the need for accountability. Grab your drink and join the lively discussion!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert
David Letterman | Xi Loves Me

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 26:44


The Chinese and American presidents shared an uncomfortably long handshake, Trump told his one billionth lie, Fox News star Bret Baier reported on the future of fast food, and the Iran war is causing major problems in the world of potato chips. “I have every right to be pissed off,” says legendary “Late Show” host David Letterman upon his return to the Ed Sullivan Theater. Make sure you check out the Late Show's YouTube page for the rest of David Letterman's iconic visit to The Ed Sullivan Theater... roof!

Mark Simone
Hour 2: Who is Spencer Pratt?

Mark Simone

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 38:35 Transcription Available


Palm Beach International Airport will be renamed Trump International Airport, which is sure to fire up the Democrats. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is scaring both Democrats and Republicans with talk of a 2028 presidential run. Reality star Spencer Pratt says he's running for Mayor of LA and is getting a lot of attention. Plus, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert were spotted celebrating the end of Colbert's show. Mark takes your calls! Mark interviews radio legend Scott Shannon. Scott's oldies channel is getting a lot of buzz from people who want to bring his music everywhere they go. He described the kind of content on the channel that will really make you want to listen in. If you ordered a Trump Phone, there's a shipping delay. Scott also looked back at his long career in New York radio and shared some great stories.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Simone
FULL SHOW: Detailed info from Trump; Airport name change.

Mark Simone

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 74:57 Transcription Available


President Trump's big meeting with China's President Xi Jinping is being called a success, but a lot of people are asking: Will China really stick to the deal? Trump wasn't even allowed to use his cell phone because of Chinese rules! He also sat down for an exclusive with Sean Hannity and dropped a bunch of details about deals with China, Iran, and more. A major sinkhole opened up at Exit 49 on the Long Island Expressway yesterday. Mark explained what caused it and said it's a story to watch. Mark interviews Fox News contributor Liz Peek. Liz thinks Trump may have convinced Xi to get Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, since Iran is such a close ally of China. But she says there was no official agreement signed. She also pointed out that China didn't expect so many big-name CEOs (especially from tech) would show up with Trump, and she thinks Trump might have to get tough on Iran again to keep his word. On top of that, China is struggling with oil supply and new business. Palm Beach International Airport will be renamed Trump International Airport, which is sure to fire up the Democrats. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is scaring both Democrats and Republicans with talk of a 2028 presidential run. Reality star Spencer Pratt says he's running for Mayor of LA and is getting a lot of attention. Plus, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert were spotted celebrating the end of Colbert's show. Mark interviews radio legend Scott Shannon. Scott's oldies channel is getting a lot of buzz from people who want to bring his music everywhere they go. He described the kind of content on the channel that will really make you want to listen in. If you ordered a Trump Phone, there's a shipping delay. Scott also looked back at his long career in New York radio and shared some great stories.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Simone
Mark's 11am Monologue.

Mark Simone

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 14:38 Transcription Available


Palm Beach International Airport will be renamed Trump International Airport, which is sure to fire up the Democrats. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is scaring both Democrats and Republicans with talk of a 2028 presidential run. Reality star Spencer Pratt says he's running for Mayor of LA and is getting a lot of attention. Plus, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert were spotted celebrating the end of Colbert's show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inside Edition
Inside Edition for Friday, May 15, 2026

Inside Edition

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 22:37


Miracle escape.  A small plane crashed into a house and killed the pilot and passenger. The home quickly went up in flames with a family trapped inside, and somehow, they were all able to get out. And she was dubbed "hell on wheels,” a teenager convicted of murder for intentionally driving her car into a brick wall at 100 miles per hour and killing her boyfriend and another young man. Now she is speaking out in a new Netflix documentary from behind bars, shedding light on what she says really happened. Plus, now a new, concerning video of Britney Spears. After leaving rehab early, the singer was spotted in a liquor store of all places. This after she was seen barking like a dog during a night out in LA. It's making many worry, is she spiraling out of control, again? And there's only a handful of episodes of the iconic late show left, and host Stephen Colbert is certainly making his show's final days memorable. Last night, former host, David Letterman, made an appearance and took the opportunity to make some mischief from the rooftop. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Decorating Pages
Late Night TV Set Design: Carson, Letterman, Colbert & the End of The Late Show

Decorating Pages

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2026 50:47


With The Late Show with Stephen Colbert coming to an end, Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop looks at the design history of late-night television through the rooms we know so well: the desk, the guest chair, the skyline, the curtains, the bandstand, and the host's chair.In this episode of Decorating Pages, Kim breaks down late-night TV set design from Johnny Carson to David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers. She looks at Carson's iconic command-center set, Letterman's strange and brilliant NBC office energy, his move to CBS and the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, Colbert's grand restoration of that theater, Kimmel's Hollywood-after-dark lounge, Fallon's warm New York variety show, and Seth Meyers' writer's room with a view.This is a set decorator's look at how late-night shows use similar design staples but create completely different identities for each host. Because in late night, the desk is not just furniture. The room tells us what kind of night we're about to have.Listen to Decorating Pages for production design, set decoration, TV design, film design, Emmy FYC interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations about the worlds built for screen.

The TV Show
Has Disney Finally Killed Star Wars!?

The TV Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2026 28:36


Send us Fan MailJay Black and Rhea Hughes are back — and filling in for Angelo today is Philadelphia sports media legend Glen Macnow — and they're leading with a number that should terrify every executive at Disney: The Mandalorian and Grogu is tracking at $80 million for its May 22 opening, which would make it the lowest-grossing Star Wars debut in franchise history (below Solo, the movie the whole industry agreed was a catastrophe). Disney has been flooding its streaming service with Star Wars for years, and audiences have simply burned out: are streamers so desperate for content that they're systematically dismantling every billion-dollar movie brand Hollywood has left?  And does anyone actually watch the shows they get in return?THEN: Stephen Colbert's final episode airs May 21 and Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, Oliver are rallying around him. It's genuinely touching. But it also made Jay think about Leno and Letterman (who loathed each other) and Carson freezing Joan Rivers out for life after she dared to get her own show. The whole industry is so aggressively supportive of each other now: is that warmth actually good for culture, or did we lose something real when TV rivalries died?ALL THAT PLUS: The Cannes Film Festival, Glen and Rhea bond hard over Deadloch, and Glen is wants everyone to watch Jury Duty: Company Retreat.IMPORTANT NOTE: Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger are going to be LIVE talking about patriotic sports movies on May 27th, at the Ritz Theater in Haddon Township, NJ.  If you don't get your tickets right now, you will spend the rest of your life explaining to people why you missed the greatest night of sports cinema conversation ever assembled!MAKE SURE TO VISIT OUR SPONSOR: Steven Singer Jewelers!The TV Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Jay Black, with regular guests Angelo Cataldi and Rhea Hughes. Each week, we dive into the new Golden Age of Television, with a discussion of the latest shows and news. 

Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell
Hour 2 - Mighty Ducks, Run it Back, Last One Standing

Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2026 42:39 Transcription Available


Covino & Rich send Bday love to Emilio Estevez & debate his top film! What does "run it back" in sports really mean? Plus, 'LAST ONE STANDING' gets heated & David Letterman made the show think!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mac Attack Podcast
Mac & Bone - Random Crap

The Mac Attack Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2026 10:51 Transcription Available


In this edition of Random Crap, Tyreek Hill settles a unique lawsuit, David Letterman talks about his can't miss TV show, and Sydney Sweeney's character in Euphoria is the talk of the internet See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bill Simmons Podcast
Five NBA Playoff Takes, Plus David Letterman's First-Ever BS Pod Appearance (We Did It!!!)

The Bill Simmons Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2026 117:45


The Ringer's Bill Simmons give his thoughts on various topics around the NBA with Round 2 of the playoffs well underway (3:06). Then, David Letterman comes on to talk about his upbringing, the evolution of talk shows, sports, and much, much more! (38:51). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: David Letterman Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend
Brooke's Cow Question, Jeff's Spiteful Pastries, Destination Weddings

Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2026 111:54


Between Tony's laptop saga and Peter getting into the probiotics, this episode almost didn't happen. Jeff Drake is exploiting our vulnerability and Brooke Dillman is siding with me because of the Girl Code. We discuss destination weddings, how Jeff and Wendy met, mistakes on alternative weekly covers, Tony's Letterman tickets, cigarettes making a comeback, cows (specifically what they are), baby teeth and more. Plus we did a round of JMOE, HGFY and Podcast Pals Product Picks. Get yourself some new ARIYNBF merch here: https://alison-rosen-shop.fourthwall.com/ Subscribe to my Substack: http://alisonrosen.substack.com Podcast Palz Product Picks: https://www.amazon.com/shop/alisonrosen/list/2CS1QRYTRP6ER?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_aipsfalisonrosen_0K0AJFYP84PF1Z61QW2H Products I Use/Recommend/Love: http://amazon.com/shop/alisonrosen Check us out on Patreon: http://patreon.com/alisonrosen   This episode is brought to you by QUINCE! Quince.com/alisonrosen Buy Alison's Fifth Anniversary Edition Book (with new material): Tropical Attire Encouraged (and Other Phrases That Scare Me) https://amzn.to/2JuOqcd You probably need to buy the HGFY ringtone! https://www.alisonrosen.com/store/ Try Amazon Prime Free 30 Day Trial

Creativity in Captivity
MAC KING: Well Plaid

Creativity in Captivity

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2026 50:19


The creator and performer in the longest running solo show in Las Vegas history and the longest running magic show. Widely regarded as the busiest comedy magician working in the world today. In his Las Vegas show at the Excalibur Hotel Mac captivates audiences as he casts out a fishing line over their heads and catches live goldfish in mid-air, does amazing stunts with an appearing grizzly bear and his pet guinea pig “Colonel Sanders,” performs amazing sleight-of-hand, makes his head completely disappear in a paper bag, and renders himself invisible, all while remaining unbelievably funny. The only magician to appear on all five episodes of NBC's World's Greatest Magic, Mac King has made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, PBS Nova Science Now: Magic & the Brain, Just for Laughs: Montreal Comedy Festival, Houdini: Unlocking His Secrets, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, Masters of Illusion: Impossible Magic, The Mad Men of Comedy Magic, Now That's Funny, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, The Donny and Marie Show, The Other Half, The Greatest Magic Tricks In the Universe...Ever, the Travel Channel's Magic Road Trip and Lance Burton's Guerilla Magic on Animal Planet.` 

Sarah and Vinnie Full Show
Hour 1: David Letterman Says CBS Is Lying.

Sarah and Vinnie Full Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2026 40:19


The first documentary about Nancy Guthrie is here. Is it time to give up on avoiding spoilers? Joe Russo says movies need to hold up beyond “the surprise.” Let's eat the headlines! David Letterman says CBS is lying. Billie Eilish never wants cosmetic surgery. You can bid on Matthew Perry's stuff. This movie theater marquee is sassy, so is Helena Bonham Carter. Your teeth are a dead giveaway. Vinnie has a problem with your veneers. Bay Area NHL is looking up! The Sharks have a great draft pick. The IRS is really sending letters, but so are scammers.

Sarah and Vinnie Full Show
05-06 Full Show

Sarah and Vinnie Full Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2026 165:53


Hour 1: The first documentary about Nancy Guthrie is here. Is it time to give up on avoiding spoilers? Joe Russo says movies need to hold up beyond “the surprise.” Let's eat the headlines! David Letterman says CBS is lying. Billie Eilish never wants cosmetic surgery. You can bid on Matthew Perry's stuff. This movie theater marquee is sassy, so is Helena Bonham Carter. Your teeth are a dead giveaway. Vinnie has a problem with your veneers. Bay Area NHL is looking up! The Sharks have a great draft pick. The IRS is really sending letters, but so are scammers. Hour 2: A surprise from ‘The Bear' will make your week. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni: The only winners are the lawyers. Did you notice something weird in ‘The Odyssey' trailer? The internet did. Actors, they're weirdos! Can you guess Tom Hanks' unique collection? What slang word has stood the test of time? More chocolate is sold at the Brussels International airport than anywhere else in the world. Let's yell at Matty about his dating life. Hour 3: It's basically the playoffs of our generational trivia game, Bridge The Gap! NBC Bay Area's Scott Budman is back for GenX. He's facing off 957TheGame's Sam Lubman for the Zillennials. In their last match-up, we left in a tie. Today, there can only be one winner. Come play along! Scott Budman is back in the studio to tell us the dirty details of Elon Musk V. Sam Altman. The AI wave cannot be denied. Neither can the greediness of billionaires. Hour 4: Come play Bridge The Gap with us: Email us at Sarahandvinnie@audacy.com! You can now watch live concerts at the movies, and we aren't talking about concert movies. New Rolling Stones music! Sarah would pay to see them in theaters. Would you get married at a music festival? Plus, more celebrity hobby trivia!

Stand Up! with Pete Dominick
1587 Comedians JL Cauvin and Myq Kaplan

Stand Up! with Pete Dominick

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2026 85:41


My conversation with JL opens the show and Myq and I start at about 38 minutes Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul DICTATOR FOR A DAY SUBSCRIBE TO JL CAUVIN NEW PODCAST RAIN ON YOUR PARADE  Buy JL's New Comedy Special "Half Blackface" Get a JL Cauvin CAmeo Video Custom made for %75 off Stand up listeners (and everyone else)! JL Podcasts   JL Cauvin is the best Trump impersonator in the world. He is also a very talented Stand Up Comic with who I have known for a long time. JL has recorded 6 stand up albums! J-L's act is incredibly diverse and has led to six stand up albums: 2006′s Racial Chameleon, 2008′s Diamond Maker, 2012′s Too Big To Fail and 2013′s Keep My Enemies Closer, 2016's Israeli Tortoise, which hit #1 on the iTunes comedy chart and his 2018 double album Thots & Prayers. He has also released two albums as Donald Trump: 2017's Fireside Craps, an entire album as Donald Trump which hit #1 on the iTunes comedy chart and 2020's Fireside Craps: The Deuce which went #1 on both Amazon and iTunes' comedy charts and broke into the Top 40 on iTunes' overall album charts. JL is the host of 2 podcasts "Rain On Your Parade" and "Making Podcasts Great Again" Watch Myq Kaplan Men v Men Myq "Mike" Kaplan has appeared on the Tonight Show, Conan, Letterman, James Corden, Seth Meyers, Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, and America's Got Talent. His newest special "Rini" is out on YouTube starting November 19, 2025 at 8pm Eastern Time. He also has a half-hour special on Comedy Central, a one-hour standup special on Amazon called "Small, Dork, and Handsome," and a Dry Bar special called "Live From The Universe," as well as two podcasts, "The Faucet" and "Broccoli and Ice Cream," and a book of his jokes illustrated by Ramin Nazer called "Heart Brain Art Train." His debut album, "Vegan Mind Meld," was one of iTunes' top 10 comedy albums of the year, and his last album, "A.K.A.," debuted at #1 and was called "invigoratingly funny" by the NY Times! https://myqkaplan.com/about/ Join us Thursday's at 8EST  Happy Hour Hangou !  Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube  Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll  Follow and Support Pete Coe Buy Ava's Art  Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift