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Kenny Wallace discusses Denny Hamlin winning three races in a row, Amazon Prime moving up the race at Pocono for weather, and the great George Carlin.#nascar #racing #dennyhamlin
Katie exudes joy, but even she was no match for the dog entrusted to her care for a week. We hope you enjoy the canine (and encore!) edition of Doing What Works!Here are your show notes…Watching Marley & Me for the first time, with friends, left a bad taste in Katie's mouth.A Tamagotchi is as close as caring for a pet as she got when she was little.Peek-a-boo teaches a child that whoever just disappeared will come back.If you get the first three years right with a child you're probably set.Dogs can smell fear!Notice I'm tensing up, decide that can't be good, tense up even more.Much of what Maureen knows about dogs came from City Slickers.George Carlin likes people on a case-by-case basis.
On this Artist Spotlight episode, we visit with Grammy Award winning engineer, Michael O'Reilly.Michael is a Grammy Award winning engineer for his work recording and mixing Dianne Reeves' A Little Moonlight (Best Jazz Vocal Album). Michael is also the mixer/engineer of 11 Grammy Award winning albums and 6 Grammy Award nominated albums, as well as 15 Platinum,19 Gold and 8 Multi-Platinum records. Simply put, most of us have heard the familiar sounds he's captured. Take for instance the Prince song “I Feel For You”, recorded by Chaka Kahn, or the very first single, “You Give Good Love”, from Whitney Houston's debut album, Whitney Houston.Michael began his career at New York's legendary Atlantic Records Recording Studios as an assistant engineer where he honed his craft. He gained experience working with a range of mega artists-- from The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, Average White Band, George Carlin, and James Taylor to Aretha Franklin and Charles Mingus. Michael had the distinguished honor of working alongside legendary Producer Arif Mardin on virtually all of Arif's projects over the last 30 years. In addition, he has taught as an adjunct instructor of Music Engineering at NYU.
Johnny Mac previews Bill Maher receiving the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center on Sunday, June 28, filmed for Netflix, with participants including Louis C.K., Jay Leno, Stephen A. Smith, Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, and John Mellencamp, and notes past winners. He highlights Zarna Garg's comments on the Breakdown podcast about performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival to inspire women who watch her in secret, saying money wasn't her motivation, and mentions The Hollywood Reporter's note that Jessica Kirson donated her Riyadh fee to the Human Rights Campaign. The episode jokes about Knicks chatter and Jimmy Kimmel's bit on Trump possibly attending a New York game, then covers a White House lawn UFC event invite list and reports Adam Sandler won't attend. It spotlights Patton Oswalt's new YouTube special “Tea and Scotch,” his thoughts on George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, and hecklers, plus discussion of his Star Trek Strange New Worlds role. 00:00 Mark Twain Prize Preview01:12 Zarna Garg Riyadh Debate03:39 Knicks Trump Jokes04:37 UFC White House Guestlist06:44 Patton Oswalt Carlin Talk09:44 Star Trek Rant Escalates10:57 Lucas Shovel Bit12:58 New Specials Spotlight 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 with Johnny Mac is a daily podcast covering comedians, stand-up comedy, late night television, and the comedy industry. New episodes every morning. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.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.
Stand-up comedy has always told itself it speaks truth to power. But the court jester was only in the room because the king let him in.In this episode, Gavin traces the mythology of the truth-telling comedian — from Lenny Bruce and Mort Saul through George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Bill Hicks — and asks what happens when that mythology becomes a brand. And then what happens when the brand gets handed to an algorithm that optimises it for engagement, and suddenly nobody in the chain — not the comedian, not the booker, not the audience — is making a human decision anymore.Along the way: Antonio Gramsci's "common sense," Althusser on ideology (the thing that feels most natural to you is the most thoroughly ideological), Dick Gregory's version of "being above it" versus the merch table version, and what it means that the same comics who cite Bill Hicks as a hero showed up to help elect a president.The king didn't change. The mythology just grew a new villain to point at.Welcome to the Collapse.
Emmy-winning actor Matthew Rhys joins Obsessed to talk about his addictive new Apple TV+ horror-comedy Widow's Bay, why the genre-bending series pushed him out of his comfort zone, and how he balanced scares with comedy. He also reflects on The Americans, working with his wife Keri Russell, auditioning for James Bond, playing George Carlin in Saturday Night, and the unforgettable acting lessons he learned from icons like Sally Field, Anthony Hopkins, and Peter Falk. Plus, Rhys shares hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from his career — including the disastrous Shakespeare performance that still haunts him to this day. Follow Kevin Fallon on Instagram @kpfallon Follow Matt Wilstein on Instagram @mattjwilstein New episodes every Thursday, and Saturday; early drops on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It's Tuesday in the Palm Street Studio and it's a warm one. The Tigers get all the boo's at home and should. Bartending with Phil with a revisit to a favorite thanks to Lilly. Soup in a square bowl? A Canadian Comedian Phil Nichol Wikipedia page update. Thomas the tank engine with George Carlin like you have never heard before. Some good yacht rock. Phil's son Ben graduates and his dad is proud of him. Plan to attend Sunday, June 7 at the Sportsman's Club for a great breakfast. Featuring The Grumpy Griller, Brian "The Blade", Phil Nichol, and Adam Filkins. Make good choices!
In episode 26 of the DocArena Podcast, Ross Whitaker catches up once again with BAFTA Award-winning director John Dower (Lockerbie, Thriller in Manila, My Scientology Movie) to discuss his latest film, The Balloonists. In cinemas on 22nd May, this gripping documentary follows explorer Bertrand Piccard and British flying instructor Brian Jones as they take on the world's top aeronauts and billionaires in a high-stakes race to become the first to fly nonstop around the globe in a balloon.This podcast has been made possible with the support of the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Stakeholders Fund.Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.Welcome to The DocArena Podcast in association with Film Ireland. My name is Ross Whitaker and every fortnight, I want to dig deeply into the motivations of documentary filmmakers – how do they choose their subject material and what approaches and strategies do they employ to fund, craft and distribute their work…John DowerJohn Dower is a British director who recently won a BAFTA for his series Lockerbie. His feature Thriller in Manila played at Sundance in 2009, went on to be BAFTA and Emmy-nominated, and won a Grierson and a Peabody. His film Bradley Wiggins: A Year In Yellow was BAFTA nominated in the Best Director category. John's other films include the music documentary Live Forever, My Scientology Movie, the Netflix series Sophie – A Murder in West Cork, and The Mystery of DB Cooper, described by The Guardian as, “a real-life Twin Peaks … highly entertaining” and the Times calling it “all but flawless.”The BalloonistsThe Balloonists, a thrilling new documentary opens in the winter of 1999, when Piccard - from a family of record-breaking explorers - and Jones set out to complete the last great aviation challenge of the 20th century: circumnavigating the globe nonstop in a hot-air balloon. With rival teams launching across the world, the race is on to secure a place in the history books.Working together, they must overcome extreme weather conditions, survive potentially fatal technical failures, and endure mounting mental and physical exhaustion. An exhilarating ride through breathtaking heights and perilous challenges, The Balloonists is a life-affirming story of adventure, obsession and friendship - drawn from a rich archive capturing the highs and lows of their extraordinary journey.The Balloonists is produced by Rise Films, the Oscar-winning company behind Icarus, All That Breathes, Nuisance Bear, The Invisible War, The Interrupters and George Carlin's American Dream. The film is produced in association with Anonymous Content and Red Bull Studios.In Irish cinemas 22 May 2026.Check out more DocArena episodes herePodcast music composed by michaelflemingmusic.comRoss Whitaker is a filmmaker and former editor of Film Ireland Magazine and programmer of the IFI Dublin Documentary Film Festival @RossWhitakerTVRoss is a producer and/or director of the feature documentaries Beat the Lotto (2025), Katie (2018), Between Land and Sea (2016), Unbreakable (2014) and Saviours (2007). His recent work includes the TV documentaries This Is Open Country (2025) for NBC/Sky, Birdsong (2024) for RTÉ (+ BBC, ARTE), Rachael Blackmore: A Grand Year (2021) for ITV/RTÉ, Barney Curley Beat the Bookies (2021) for BBC/RTÉ and The Boys in Green (2020) for RTÉ. His short documentaries include the award-winning Bye Bye Now (2009) and Home Turf (2011), as well as the documentary commercial Sleeping Flags (2019), which won prestigious D&AD and Cannes Lions Awards. Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.So make sure to subscribe and listen back! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Schmucks roll into Memorial Day weekend with pure chaos energy—looped audio, busted controllers, and Nick proudly announcing Monster Java as their “sponsor.” Eric and Mike spiral into a full‑blown Metamucil appreciation segment, complete with poop testimonials, before the crew derails into viral videos, car‑maintenance disasters, and a wild (and very incorrect) rumor about Rufio from Hook. They fact‑check themselves in real time, roast each other relentlessly, and cap it off with gun‑range talk, suppressor nerding, and a George Carlin rant about how everything's a lie anyway. It's unfiltered, unhinged, and unmistakably Schmucks.
Rick and Dave recap their star-studded Denver trip, a CNN story about #2, a German joke about Americans, a perfect day, George Carlin’s daughter, the Pope having customer service issues, and a good collection of Dad Puns. [Ep429]
RMR 0362: Join your hosts, Bryan Frye, Dustin Melbardis and Russell Guest for the Retro Movie Roundtable as they revisit It's a Dogma (1990) [R] Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy Starring: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Kevin Smith, George Carlin, Bud Cort, Alanis Morissette, Janeane Garofalo, Betty Aberlin, Barret Hackney, Jared Pfennigwerth, Kitao Sakurai Directed by: Kevin Smith Recorded on 2026-03-14
Entertainment from 1980. NYC banned spitting, 1st world wide radio broadcast, Oldest University in the America's opened. Todays birthdays - Katharine Hepburn, George Carlin, Steve Winwood, Billy Squier, Kix Brooks, Ving Rhames, Emilio Estevez, Stephen Baldwin, Kim Fields, Jason Biggs, Rami Malek. Perry Como died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran https://diannacorcoran.com/I got nothin - Dariius RuckerCall Me - BlondieGone too far - Eddie RabbittBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent http://50cent.com/Higher love - Steve WinwoodEverybody wants you - Billy SquierBoot scoot boogie - Brooks & DunnCatch a falling star - Perry ComoExit - Cold Beer - Buck Ford https://www.buckford.com/ History & Factoids about today Playlist on SpotifyHistory & Factoids about today webpagecooolmedia.comcountryundergroundradio.com
SEASON 4 EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Back from a week off just in time to put the podcast on health hiatus...details within today's supersized edition. Plus, befitting the time off, some meta pictures on how Democrats should plan for what they want this country to look like on its 300th anniversary, if it lasts that long. Will we have jailed Trump and gotten back the money he took? Undone his damage? Eliminated the anachronistic idea that Wyoming should have as many senators as California? Let the Supreme Court continue to lie, cheat and steal the democracy from under us? As John Candy said in "Splash": Think big, be big, my friend. MORE IMMEDIATELY: Whaddya mean the Governor of Virginia hasn't been BRIEFED on the way to overturn her state's Supreme Court's usurpation of redistricting? Why the hell not Hakeem Jeffries? Anybody notice Trump is simply rotating the same three lies about Iran? Why are only independent journalists like Garrett Graff still covering the WHCD non-shooting when the New York Times is doing 31 paragraphs on the future of the dinner like anybody gave a crap? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: stop saying Trump is painting everything GOLD. That color is not GOLD. It is the color of WEE WEE. Say it. Use the clinical terms, use the gutter terms. The gutter terms define this idiot president. Stop saying gold when you mean whizzzzzzzzzzzzzz. B-Block (56:00) ON THE PASSING OF TED TURNER: Hard to believe few of the obituaries mentioned how he also invented 7-day-a-week sports on national television. Or how Jane Fonda kept him from destroying himself in, like, 1982. One particularly harrowing saga had him telling the lowest ranking staffer at CNN's Washington Bureau which way, when he finally decided he'd do it, he'd do it. And this is said with admiration and affection for the man who created the place where I and so many of the figures of the last 45 years began our TV careers. C-Block (1:30:00) ALL TED ALL THE TIME: I was holding back until I was certain I wouldn't jinx him. My beloved first rescue dog, Ted, was up against it last fall. I took him to the University of Florida for life-saving open heart surgery and boy, did they! Eight hours on the table, eight hours of SICU, all for an eight pound dog and now - he's not even on any medications! It's a long story and I would insist it's worth hearing it. And if you have a dog (or know of one) moving from Mitral Valve Disease to Heart Failure, maybe this will provide you with hope - and an option.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Marc Weingarten joined me to discuss putting color strips on a black and white TV, trying to watch TV with Orthodox Jewish parents; moving from NY to Miami to Israel to California; his first time on stage; learning how to be a standup; producing Count Basie's final album; getting a job at the Laff Stop; investing 1% in that club; hearing the Ice House was for sale and buying it with three partners for $67,000; history of the Ice House; Pat Paulsen; seeing green George Lopez; Gallagher; David Letterman; producing Rick Dees comedy shows and writing an opening for Rick to be funny; sold out 6000 seats in 10 days; doing sports with Sweet Dick Whittington; getting Rudy Tellez as his manager; being a writer on Into the Night when Brad Garrett hosted; producing the Super Bowl of Comedy; creating the Uproar comedy label; becoming a Grammy voter; memories of Richard Jeni, Jay Leno, Harry Anderson, Jay Johnson, Marcia Warfield, Robin Williams, Ben Powers, Howie Mandel; what makes the best comedians; Woody Allen; George Carlin's friendship and advice; Bill Cosby; being bumped by Rodney Dangerfield.
The dust has settled on WrestleMania 42, but that doesn't mean that all is well and at peace in the wrestling universe. With a 2-day card of only 13 matches, there were a whole lot of folks who got pushed to the back burner of the WWE stove. Then, there was the annual post-Mania releases that took a bunch of people off the back burner and dumped them directly into the grease trap. So what's to be made of all these snubs and shenanigans? Luckily for you, we're here with our idiotic mixture of savant-ish knowledge and swashbuckling ignorance to break it all down for you and offer up our surefire ideas of how to make it all right in this, episode 244, What If…?! WWE Edition! FULL VIDEO EPISODES! That's right folks, you can see our bright smiling idiotic faces in full color on our YouTube channel. Full episodes available as well as clips. LINKS OF INTEREST: - The Culling continues with the New Day, JC Mateo and Tonga Loa leaving WWE - Are the releases of Aleister Black, Zelina and the MFT/Wyatt feud an example of WWE creative gone wrong? Cagesideseats provides some context - Uncle Corny & Brian Last on the State of the WWE ...AND ANOTHER THING: The Man They Call Tim suggests checking out Cam Cole's 2019 album "I See" Uncle Todd suggests watching George Carlin's 1996 comedy special “Back In Town” FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIAL MEDIAS: Facebook - http://facebook.com/freerangeidiocy Instagram - http://instagram.com/freerangeidiocy YouTube - http://youtube.com/@freerangeidiocy
SquigY0 Plays Whatever The F*** He Wants And There's Nothing You Can Do About It!
Originally SquigY0 Plays The Records 13, SquigY0 Plays The Records 14, and SquigY0 Plays The Records 15 on the One Cigar, One Scotch, One Podcast feedFeaturing selections from:* Bill Cosby - I started out as a child (Warner 1964) * Four Tops Live! (Motown 1968) * Devo - Live In 1980 (Warner 1980 / 2019) * All In The Family (Atlantic 1971) * Humble Pie - Performance Rockin' the Fillmore (A&M 1971) * Peter, Paul and Mary - In Concert (Warner 1964) * George Carlin - FM & AM (Little David 1972) * Elvis Presley - International Hotel Las Vegas August 26, 1969 (RCA 1969, 1980, 2019) * Joe Walsh - Can't Argue With A Sick Mind (ABC 1976)
The legendary George Carlin warned decades ago, the game is rigged by the owners of the "Big Party" you aren't invited to. While the media keeps the masses distracted with a twenty-flavor bagel selection, the foundational pillars of American safety and sovereignty are being dismantled. From Colorado, where House Democrats just passed a chilling bill to lower penalties for murder, to Connecticut, where state leaders are effectively doxing federal agents to hinder deportations, the message is clear: the law-abiding, tax-paying citizen is no longer the priority. We dive deep into the "Kabuki Theatre" of modern politics, exposing how the system treats the backbone of this country as an enemy of the state while offering "discounts" to criminals and prioritizing those who bypass our borders.Beneath the veneer of progressive altruism lies a mathematical reality that is rapidly pushing the nation toward a fiscal cliff. We analyze the staggering data from recent European studies that strip away the "Nordic Model" fantasy, revealing the astronomical costs associated with open-border policies and refugee resettlement. With some demographic groups representing a net fiscal drain of over $1.2 million per person, the "all-you-can-eat buffet" of the national treasury is officially running dry. We contrast this reality with the bold rhetoric of state representatives who openly prioritize funneling American tax dollars to foreign interests, asking the hard question: at what point does "resettlement" simply become state-sponsored national bankruptcy?As biological reality is erased from the starting lines of our athletic fields and Title IX's fifty-year legacy is dismantled in the name of gender identity, Americans are facing a pivotal crossroads. Is it time to stay and fight, or join the exodus from states like California, where even political leaders are beginning to admit the middle class is being replaced? Featuring insights from Tom Homan on the necessity of mass deportations and a hard look at the NCAA's shifting policies, this episode explores the escalating war between the state and the citizen. We examine the "Great Migration" happening within our own borders as people choose between the safety of their families and the ideologies of a government that has forgotten who it serves.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has given away his labyrinthine plot to stay in office past 2028 in one social media post and he’s just crazy enough to think it will work. It is in his rant claiming the indictment of a political opponent means "The 2020 Presidential Election Should Be Permanently Wiped From The Books And Be Of No Further Force or Effect…” He is not going to try a new Constitutional Amendment or say the limit is two CONSECUTIVE terms. He's not going another coup (at least not initially). He is going to try to nullify the 2020 Election - and hold that vote again. ANOTHER 2020 Election. In 2028. If you think that's too crazy easy for him - is it crazier than Trump insisting yesterday that we are in a war against UKRAINE? Crazier than indicting the former FBI Director on a threat to kill Trump with a seashell meme? Crazier than trying to get a comedian fired for a joke about Trump’s death and his wife when TRUMP then goes out and makes a joke about his death and his wife and all America is talking about is the dreaded D-word? Crazier than indicting a man for trying to shoot him at the Correspondents’ Dinner when it is now unmistakably clear that the suspect never fired a shot and was never on the same floor as Trump was? Crazier than Trump's insistence that we should pay for this damn ballroom because it'll protect presidents? What - are they sealing themselves in like Saddam Hussein in his Hidey Hole? And then I'll detail Trump’s bid to MATA: Make America 2020 Again. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Two competing Bari Weiss entries because while nobody's watching her version of the CBS Evening News, everybody seems to have seen her prized reporter Olivia Reingold making a fool of herself on video from the Correspondents' Dinner. And speaking of that, Stephen A. Smith came out of that experience knowing who is to blame for all America's problems: those evil liberals! Whose presidential nomination he expects to win. ESPN has a choice: platform a political idiot and Conservative tool and destroy your franchise, or get rid of him and keep it. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I often wonder WHY I ever became a political commentator. It wasn't planned and it wasn't supposed to be permanent. And the story of HOW I became a political commentator is even crazier.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Victor Varnado is many things: standup comedian, founder of Supreme Robot, King Super Nuts, and the man behind the Worldwide Tic-Tac-Toe Championship. He's also the guy who built disability gaming tech worth $500K — and never saw a dime. Lou sits down with Victor for one of the more wide-ranging conversations we've had on this show: Richard Pryor's evolution as a performer, what a histology class taught Victor about how history gets told, the UCB rap battle comedy scene, why AI is "like discovering electricity," and how you turn tic-tac-toe into a global competitive sport. Oh, and the story of the National Science Foundation grant Victor received to build voice-control and audio-description software for disabled gamers — software that could help people who are paralyzed, blind, or deaf play video games without extra hardware — that got sold to a tech company for shares against their IPO... and then the IPO never happened. TOPICS: — Gary, Indiana, The Jackson 5, and tall-tale fathers — Richard Pryor vs. George Carlin (and why Pryor won) — The histology class that changed how Victor sees the world — Bombing at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival callback — 7 years of rap battle comedy at UCB (Battle Ish) — Supreme Robot: how Victor builds and tests IP before finding investors — AI and what stays valuable when everything changes (people's attention) — Opening for Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) and Gilbert Gottfried — Norm MacDonald on Sam Kinison and what comedy is actually about — Tic-tac-toe as a strategy game (and how to make it competitive) — The disability gaming tech that a company bought and buried — Neuralink and the medical future Victor actually wants Play the game: highscoregamearcade.com 0:00 Intro — who is Victor Varnado? 1:35 Growing up in Gary, Indiana and the Jackson 5 4:40 Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and the art of performance 6:15 The histology class that changed how he sees the world 9:30 Moving to Minneapolis, bombing at HBO Aspen, and going solo 11:30 UCB, the Hammer Cats, and 20 years of NYC comedy 13:50 Battle Ish: 7 years of rap battle comedy at UCB 16:10 All those unfilmed shows — and why Victor actually recorded everything 18:30 Supreme Robot: his IP incubator explained 21:10 AI is like electricity — and why that's scary and exciting 24:40 Opening for Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall 26:40 Opening for Gilbert Gottfried at Caroline's 27:05 The joke he's working on about marriage 29:20 Norm MacDonald, Sam Kinison, and what comedy is really about 31:55 The Worldwide Tic-Tac-Toe Championship — yes, really 36:10 HighScoreGameArcade.com and the 100M player goal 37:55 The National Science Foundation grant and disability gaming tech 40:10 The $500K he never got — and what happened to the tech 41:40 Neuralink and the medical future he actually wants 42:15 Outro The Lou Perez Podcast is part of the Lions of Liberty Podcast Network. Watch full episodes of The Lou Perez Podcast and more on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez #comedy #standupcomedy #victorvarnado #AI #disabilitytech #tictactoe #UCB #lionsofiberty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode, we revisit the totally excellent animated spin-off of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, diving into its offbeat humour, time-travelling escapades, and Saturday morning cartoon charm. Featuring the voices of Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and George Carlin, the series sends Bill and Ted on even stranger journeys through history, mixing education with pure chaos. How does it stack up against the original film? Tune in as we break it all down.
Victor Varnado is many things: standup comedian, founder of Supreme Robot, King Super Nuts, and the man behind the Worldwide Tic-Tac-Toe Championship. He's also the guy who built disability gaming tech worth $500K — and never saw a dime. Lou sits down with Victor for one of the more wide-ranging conversations we've had on this show: Richard Pryor's evolution as a performer, what a histology class taught Victor about how history gets told, the UCB rap battle comedy scene, why AI is "like discovering electricity," and how you turn tic-tac-toe into a global competitive sport. Oh, and the story of the National Science Foundation grant Victor received to build voice-control and audio-description software for disabled gamers — software that could help people who are paralyzed, blind, or deaf play video games without extra hardware — that got sold to a tech company for shares against their IPO... and then the IPO never happened. TOPICS: — Gary, Indiana, The Jackson 5, and tall-tale fathers — Richard Pryor vs. George Carlin (and why Pryor won) — The histology class that changed how Victor sees the world — Bombing at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival callback — 7 years of rap battle comedy at UCB (Battle Ish) — Supreme Robot: how Victor builds and tests IP before finding investors — AI and what stays valuable when everything changes (people's attention) — Opening for Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) and Gilbert Gottfried — Norm MacDonald on Sam Kinison and what comedy is actually about — Tic-tac-toe as a strategy game (and how to make it competitive) — The disability gaming tech that a company bought and buried — Neuralink and the medical future Victor actually wants Play the game: highscoregamearcade.com 0:00 Intro — who is Victor Varnado? 1:35 Growing up in Gary, Indiana and the Jackson 5 4:40 Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and the art of performance 6:15 The histology class that changed how he sees the world 9:30 Moving to Minneapolis, bombing at HBO Aspen, and going solo 11:30 UCB, the Hammer Cats, and 20 years of NYC comedy 13:50 Battle Ish: 7 years of rap battle comedy at UCB 16:10 All those unfilmed shows — and why Victor actually recorded everything 18:30 Supreme Robot: his IP incubator explained 21:10 AI is like electricity — and why that's scary and exciting 24:40 Opening for Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall 26:40 Opening for Gilbert Gottfried at Caroline's 27:05 The joke he's working on about marriage 29:20 Norm MacDonald, Sam Kinison, and what comedy is really about 31:55 The Worldwide Tic-Tac-Toe Championship — yes, really 36:10 HighScoreGameArcade.com and the 100M player goal 37:55 The National Science Foundation grant and disability gaming tech 40:10 The $500K he never got — and what happened to the tech 41:40 Neuralink and the medical future he actually wants 42:15 Outro The Lou Perez Podcast is part of the Lions of Liberty Podcast Network. Watch full episodes of The Lou Perez Podcast and more on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez #comedy #standupcomedy #victorvarnado #AI #disabilitytech #tictactoe #UCB #lionsofiberty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SEASON 4 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Call me a cynic but I am beginning to get a sense that you may have some doubts about this Not-An-Assassination Attempt at The White House Correspondents Dinner. Well - that's what it was. Or in this case, what it wasn't. The acting attorney general says the alleged perp quote “was stopped before he got anywhere near the President.” So, NOT an assassination attempt, per the attorney general. But of course the White House is still trying to sell it as one (its 'protocol director' insists it was "the hand of God" again; its deputy chief of staff tried to start another 'USA!' chant after the incident). Even though proximity is the definition of such a nightmare scenario. Saturday Night? Obama had 15 of those. Still, among my fellow Americans who are NOT in the Trump Mass Hypnosis Cult, I may be in the minority because I DON’T think it was staged. Why are you so cynical? Just because an hour beforehand Karoline Leavitt told Fox quote “There will be some shots fired tonight!” That’s a coincidence. Just because Trump has gone insane about his quote “militarily top secret ballroom” and the next thing you know he’s GOING to a ballroom and after that the Secret Service screws up security AT the ballroom and after THAT he’s holding a press conference saying this is WHY he needs that ballroom and all his sock puppets are tweeting about the ballroom. Coincidence! Just because Trump and his filth have lied to you about every THING, every DAY, for 11 years… that’s no reason for you to think that was STAGED. It’s a coincidence! It’s all a coincidence. ALSO: for God's sake stop saying there's no room for violence in American politics and we don't resolve our differences this way! Certainly we all wish that were true. But in point of fact there's room for almost nothing BUT violence in American politics! Ask JFK, Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Garfield, Lincoln, McKinley, dozens of others! What was the Civil War if not political violence? B-Block (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Staten Island cop who has reportedly amassed more than 500 speeding tickets, and last year averaged one every other day. Jeff Bezos' Washington Post will only print a letter to the editor responding to its editorial if the authors take out the references TO Jeff Bezos. And Tom Cotton makes a hilarious mistake: Iran will meet its match not on the battlefield but at the bargaining table because it's never faced the author of "Art Of The Deal." Who's gonna tell him? C-Block (41:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: We need a break from media people talking about themselves so let's drop "Things I Promised Not To Tell" and instead read you his wonderful, weird, slightly spooky "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: "Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind." It's the headline on a column in perhaps the most prominent MAGA magazine headline. It's not me saying it this time. Not Jimmy Kimmel. Not George Conway. Not a psychiatrist. The Washington Examiner: “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind.” Why? Just because he’s also losing IRAN? Just because he’s COMPARING Iran to Vietnam (which he dodged)? Just because he threatened to go General Sherman on Teheran? Just because he's just announced you are no longer ALLOWED to CRITICIZE him ABOUT Iran? “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind” writes The Washington Examiner - guess that makes it unanimous (and there is now polling on this!) ALSO: House Democrats want Kash Patel to take an alcoholism screening test. His choices amount to: a) ARE you an alcoholic? b) Are you so FULL of alcohol you’re at risk of bursting into flames, or c) are you J. Edgar Boozer. AND about the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday. The Correspondents Association is obeying in advance to Trump, calling him an "honoree" and welcoming his rats like Brendan Carr and Stephen Miller. If you’re attending this dinner, and you are not planning to storm out or otherwise using this rare opportunity to protest Trump’s presence, you’re not only a traitor to JOURNALISM, you’re a traitor to America. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump's "National Garden Of Heroes" with 250 statues of everybody from Elvis to Whittaker Chambers is dumb enough. What happens when they forget to order the statues? Interior Secretary Burgum wants Theodore Roosevelt in the pro football Hall of Fame even though there wasn't pro football while T.R. was alive. And new Congressman Clay Fuller says he was only joking when he said Georgia was named after George Washington. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Talking about dinner in DC Saturday (The White House Correspondents) led me to mention my disastrous dates last century with Laura Ingraham on social media and there was considerable disbelief so it's time to tell that story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Nobody is at the wheel of Trump's war in Iran. Is the Strait of Hormuz open or is it closed? Are there peace talks with Iran in Pakistan TOMORROW… or nah? Is Jayvee Vance going? Is Iran going? Has Trump scheduled peace talks where we’re the only ones there? Will it make any difference if we’re the only ones there? Doesn’t “blowing a hole in the engine room” of an Iranian cargo ship yesterday mean we aren’t honoring Trump’s own ceasefire he boasted about? Are we paying 20 billion dollars for the Iranian uranium and hostages? The same uranium and hostages Obama bought for 400 million and Trump called him a traitor? Or is that a no? Don’t ask Trump – he doesn’t know. But that won’t stop him from answering anyway. Yes. Then Nope. Then Yes again. Then: All of the Above. in 48 hours he went from 13 posts congratulating himself on winning, to insisting he would stop being “Mr. Nice Guy” and blow up all of Iran. By the way, eactly when was he “Mr. Nice Guy”? We are LOSING the war in Iran and as of today a total idiot is still president and commander-in-chief. He gets questions about the pointless war he started to divert attention from Epstein and the economy he crashed, so he orders the reporters out of the Oval Office, and sits there with hapless munchkin Little Joe Rogan standing behind him, the shine off his cueball noggin blinding cameras and journalists alike. Trump has set off a chain of events over which he no longer has any control – except to withdraw and flee – and to withdraw and flee is to acknowledge he screwed up. And this man would jump off the roof of the White House before admitting he screwed up. The Trump “Administration” has so UTTERLY jumped the shark, that the truthers are coming out from inside MAGA: Alex Jones now insists Trump has done all this DELIBERATELY, because he has made a “deal with the deep state to throw the election to the Democrats." Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined the Trump Assassination Truthers and Trump himself has floated a kind of conspiracy theory ABOUT himself… he wrote ‘Praise Be To Allah’ on Easter morning to “seem as unstable and insulting as possible.” He wanted to seem as unstable as possible? MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, Trump! You’ve finally done something you promised! B-Block (28:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Before the year is out, Major League Baseball will threaten to lock the players out and cancel the season in 2027 because the smaller market teams can't make enough money to compete. One of those teams just sold for $3.1 billion more than it did in 2012. New York's hockey teams support a) Trump putting his name on public buildings or b) legal funds for cops convicted of killing unarmed civilians. Vivek Ramaswamy dismisses his opponent talking about being raped as a child as her "complaining." And Lauren Boebert thinks Congress is too horny and she won't remain, uh, hands off. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Netflix stock took a huge hit, supposedly after the co-founder Reed Hastings announced he was bowing out. But I think it might've been another announcement that did it. They are going into news podcasts with - Brian Williams? The story of how he imploded at NBC, while I was literally an eyewitness to his public self-destruction, and the advice I gave his bosses that could have saved him (and them) if they hadn't ignored it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump doubles down on bashing the Pope and appropriating Jesus. This time it’s not him pretending to be Dr. Jesus or whoever. It's, it's, it's...well the image he posted looks like he’s about to make out with him. I mean this isn’t one of my areas of expertise but JC is fondling Trump's chest. It’s so bad even Speaker Mike Johnson noticed. The Republicans aren’t mad about the other part, slamming Pope Leo, because right wing governments have been attacking the Catholic Church since King Henry the 8th. But some of the comments do underscore that if they want the Pope to "stay in his lane," the MAGA evangelical squad needs to stay in its. This also underscores how MANY wars can Trump start at the same time? War against the Pope, War against European governments, War against Iran, War against Reality. He again insists he’s blockading the Strait of Hormuz when the American navy is clearly NOT blockading the Strait of Hormuz. He again insists he’s already beaten Iran, when Iran now says IT may also halt shipping in the RED SEA. Does Trump even KNOW how bad it’s going for America in the Gulf? In world capitals? Or is this like Germany 1942 where citizens – and many government officials – were actually told the Luftwaffe had totally destroyed New York City. Let me tell you the story of what happened when German POW’s actually SAW New York City… Plus: watch where you put your hands, J. B-Block (26:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Is naming a large pothole on the Moon in honor of the late wife of one of the astronauts an "act of colonialism"? One anti-colonialism commenter thinks so. When you OD and that isn't the worst thing you did all week - the story of Clavicular. And the Swalwell Disaster prompts one Congressman (Andy Ogles) to propose hanging rapists (who's going to tell him?) and one Fox host (Jesse Watters) to pontificate on the proper time to "whip it out." C-Block (39:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She was a five-hour a week camerawoman who had already survived several years on Capitol Hill. He, owned the network and invited her to the best French restaurant in Georgetown. And she - as she told me back in '82 or '83 - wound up saying good night, by standing up in the middle of that restaurant and slapping him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) BREAKING: Trump attacks and threatens Pope Leo in insane online rant, criticizing him for being opposed to Nuclear Weapons. Then in an in-person interview upon his return to Joint Base Andrews tonight insists Pope Leo was wrong to SUPPORT Nuclear Weapons. Trump then posts an image of himself dressed in Jesus-like attire apparently healing a hospital patient. No comment yet from the world's 1,200,000,000 Catholics. (8:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I know, I know, lots of stuff just happened: Orban topples in Hungary, Vance beclowns himself there and in talks with Iran, Trump basically ends the ceasefire and threatens war against EVERY country in the world if they send a ship through the strait of Hormuz, the Houthis are trying to blockade the OTHER shipping bottle-neck there, Trump caught staring at cleavage at the cage fighting in Miami, Swalwell self-defenestrating. But I'll stick to this: The Melania Trump speech about Epstein was the single most important public statement by anybody connected to Trump in the last decade. She, personally, out of nowhere, moved the Epstein story back to center stage. A month of world-shaking cataclysm by her husband to bury the Epstein story and HIS COVER-UP OF IT and in 535 words she undid all that. And the thing that will keep this story alive for months: NONE of her words were in defense of her husband. She never said WE are innocent. She said I am innocent. She said it TWENTY FOUR TIMES. Her speech could’ve been only FIVE words long. Five words that may end the Trump presidency: I’M not taking the fall. PLUS: No, Swalwell isn't the victim and the allegations aren't anonymous and this isn't a Roger Stone set-up. He just knew there was a story, the way in 2017 I knew there was a story that would end up getting Matt Lauer fired from NBC and I knew it six days before Lauer knew it. That "B" follows "A" does not mean "A" caused "B." B-Block (42:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chuck Todd blames Trump's pardons on Biden because Chuck Todd Disease. The Financial Times with one of the great corrections of our time. The banner if not the roof falls in on Gov. Shapiro. And what exactly are Kalshi, pro golf, and golfer Bryson deChambeau trying to sell in a commercial that ends with deChambeau evidently moving to a crashed UFO to beat an injured extraterrestrial to death with some golf clubs? C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My greatest sports record fell last night. It was 21 years and two months between episodes of ESPN's SportsCenter that I anchored. My old friend Rich Eisen has now made it 23 years. A good time to describe the Rip Van Winkle effect, and the bizarre stories about my goin' back to Bristol, Bristol, Bristol, in 2005, 2013, and 2018.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We return to the world of stand up comedians on this one! Warning: Explicit Language throughout the episode Warning: May Contain Spoilers Created by: Cristo M. Sanchez Written by: Cristo M. Sanchez and Jason Nemor Harden Hosted by: Jason Nemor Harden Music by: Creature 9, Wood, Cristo M. Sanchez and Jason Nemor Harden Follow us on instagram for the latest updates and more! And don't hesitate to support us on patreon if you enjoy the show
SEASON 4 EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Did Trump lose to Iran because the war was escalating too quickly for him? Firstly, great cease fire, Trump. Oh did we mention it doesn’t include Lebanon but it DOES include Iran closing the strait of Hormuz on Day 1. CEASEFIRE? This is way more FIRE than CEASE. How do you LOSE a cease fire, El Presidente? But the bigger question: did Trump really call off his genocide because he didn’t need the missiles flying THIS week? Because this is way too early to precipitate a crisis HERE, in AMERICA? Did he give the Iranians control of Hormuz and let them keep their uranium and get out from under the sanctions because while the FIRST reason for this pointless brinksmanship was a distraction from the Epstein Files, the SECOND reason was to have a reason in late summer and early autumn to declare a domestic emergency HERE, and mess with the elections? To extrapolate from the cynical but entirely logical and disturbing writings of the great historian Professor Tim Snyder, is all this because Trump didn’t need retaliation from Iran and maybe the threat of Iranian terrorism (real or staged) on APRIL 9th… he needs it on OCTOBER 9th… so this was not only postponed, but it was postponed already pre-sabotaged, so he can keep it on a back burner TIL then, or bring it back later when he needs to lie and say Iran is a threat HERE? PLUS: Thank you Pam Bondi for putting Epstein back on the map, by not just going to the House deposition and taking the hit. Now we can again point at an all-too-obvious Trump Epstein cover-up. The other day I jokingly asked 'Where the F happened to Rudy Giuliani?" and all of a sudden he's back. And my old boss Jeff Shell did indeed get fired, for the second time, as a major TV network president. B-Block (29:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dr. Naomi Wolf is an all-time great. This time, she is unaware of the sun. We have Trump-inspired Eggcorn propagators talking about "Litnis Tests" and the "Commander And Chief!" A boss at X describes writing on the site as "tweeting." And as Trump threatens to arrest reporters (again) the White House Correspondents Dinner looms and they will welcome him, but no critics, no comedians, and no protest except the lamest thing you've ever heard: The Jake Tapper Protest Pocket Square. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: He was perhaps the greatest mechanical newscaster in history. Just perfect on the air. That, he explained, was because he never thought, he just read. Unfortunately if there was a mistake in the script, he'd read that too. And one night, boy was there a mistake in Jerry Dunphy's script!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The OTHER part of Dementia J. Trump’s vile, multi-religion blasphemous Easter post is the operative part “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge day… “There will be nothing like it… “You’ll be living in Hell… "Just watch…” All that was followed four hours and 35 minutes later by quote “Tuesday 8:00 PM Eastern Time," plus phone calls to his media stenographers: If there’s no deal Monday he’s quote “blowing up the whole country” and “I am blowing up everything over there." What that is, is at least a threat to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran. Even if it’s JUST a threat, or the “nuclear” part is hyperbole, it is still a threat to use massive amounts of conventional ordnance but Trump of course has longed to use nuclear weapons since the first term, asking his generals why we had them if we didn’t use them. He wants to. He's a sadist who wants to see people die. And of course, he IS crazy: “I know him… and… he has gone insane.” Marjorie Taylor Greene said that. Oh and her postscript, as she joined our Club Reality: “Our president is not a Christian.” This is still all about the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said was irrelevant and would open itself and about which he has held 28 public positions in the last 35 days. So here we are. Tomorrow is either TACO Tuesday or Thermonuclear Tuesday. THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW: This is Trump's fault regardless, but could he have been manipulated into it by a soft-rollout Military Coup against the civilian government, led by Hegseth and the other religious nuts in the Pentagon? And when did this America actually go off the rails? You can point at the day Trump came down the escalator it didn't extend to hell. You could look at the sign-on of Fox News Channel. Just as relevant: January 19, 2009 and one of the last decisions by a President-Elect who taught future Republican leaders that the laws would not be enforced against them. B-Block (48:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeff Shell, who is one of the two people primarily responsible for scuttling my planned return to MSNBC in 2019-20-21, is about to get fired as a network president for the second time in three years. Sometimes I wonder: could it be me, and not them? In this case, I don't wonder. Plus Rep. Andy Ogles, baseball's Texas Rangers (MLB is boasting of 40% diversity; they rolled out an opening day line-up of 10 white guys and a statue of a Texas racist, and those who pushed a pastor claiming Trump was about to be the recipient of biblical "golden showers" make up the rest of the list. C-Block (1:02:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A lot of the yap on Threads over the weekend was about the late lamented food chain "Boston Market" and who killed it. Well, my bad, that was me. The story of the brilliant commercials I did for them that worked so well, but every time it worked it cost them $12!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The buffoon who is, for better or worse, the actual president of this country has called the United States of America STUPID. No – seriously: “We are the only country in the world stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship” He didn’t call the Constitution stupid. He didn’t call the Supreme Court stupid. He didn't call the immigrants stupid. He didn't call the Democrats stupid. He called the ENTIRE COUNTRY stupid. You. And me. And his own supporters. Why again do we continue to permit this disloyal, deranged moron to remain president? Oh by the way that was him - even before his pathetic speech on Iran last night - signaling he will LOSE, that he is getting CREAMED, after the oral arguments OVER birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, summarized by his lawyer saying “it’s a new world” and the Chief Justice replying but “it’s the same constitution.” When the Justices rule in June it could be 9-0, though 7-2 would be likelier. THE BESTEST WAR EVER: Near as I can tell, the essence of Trump's argument in his Iran speech last night was: It's going perfectly because it hasn't taken nearly as long as World War I or Vietnam. He didn't address NATO, he only tweaked the allies who have refused to jump overboard with him, and he only once gave any hint about what's next (Iran has "two or three weeks" to make a deal even though everybody in Iran is dead). The overriding theme of the speech was the tantalizing prospect that he might fall asleep at the podium while he was talking. TRUMP'S PERVERTS: The latest on Kristi Noem and whether she got a group discount on plastic surgery, the servitude of Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and RFK Jr and Jeff Bezos, and the weird psychology behind why his former critics enslave themselves to Trump. A professional in the field says it's not masochism, and while it may be blackmail, it's more about Trump providing them with a way for them to lie to themselves and say they aren't deviants or hypocrites, that he will back up their delusions - provided they do exactly what he tells them to. B-Block ( ) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Oh, look, I'm dragging Katy Tur and Tony Dokoupil again. Tur and I used to talk about Trump's lack of acuity in 2015. She just did a tv segment on it this week and it was as if she discovered it. And a profile of Dokoupil by Columbia Journalism Review has revealed he was once a hair model. What do you mean "once?" Also on here, Navy Commander Tim Parlatore ragging on behalf of Gamblin' Pete Hegseth. Last time we saw him he was civilian Trump attorney Tim Parlatore. I'm waiting for Cardinal Parlatore. And if Cory Booker is paying for the astroturfed online support, he deserves a refund. C-Block ( ) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I'm dragging Tur, it's only fair I tell the story of when she went above-and-beyond even live-in girlfriend duties: the saga of the day my appendix exploded and it took me 48 hours to figure out it wasn't just an upset stomach. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
George Carlin became one of the most influential stand-up comedians in history by constantly reinventing himself. In this episode of Why Are You Laughing?, we break down the full history of George Carlin, from his early radio work, Air Force years, and clean-cut beginnings to his rise as one of the most controversial and respected voices in stand-up comedy.We examine Carlin's early career as part of a comedy duo, his appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and how he first found success as a suit-and-tie comic inspired by performers like Danny Kaye. The episode then follows Carlin's transformation as drugs, counterculture, and frustration with traditional show business pushed him toward a new style of stand-up comedy.The discussion also dives into Carlin's battles over free speech, including his arrests and the legendary “Seven Dirty Words” routine that became a Supreme Court case and changed the boundaries of what comedians could say in public and on broadcast media.We also cover Carlin's landmark HBO specials and comedy albums, which revitalized his career and introduced him to new generations of fans, along with lesser-known chapters like his failed sitcom with Sam Simon and the financial struggles that followed.Finally, we look at where George Carlin belongs in the all-time rankings of stand-up comedy, comparing his legacy to figures like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce while examining his influence on later comedians such as Louis C.K. and Bo Burnham.This is a full comedy history deep dive into George Carlin's career, reinvention, controversies, and legacy — and why his voice still defines stand-up comedy today.FOR ALL THINGS BLIND MIKEhttp://blindmike.netFOR ALL THINGS CRAIGGERShttp://www.verygoodshow.orgFOR ALL THINGS HACKRIDEhttp://hackridethedemon.comFOR ALL THINGS DJ ELECTRA FRYhttp://djelectrafry.com
SEASON 4 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have figured out what might be the weirdest most pointless delusion of Trump's second term: his claim "Vince Lombardi - I knew him." Trump was just 21, in college, and living with his parents in Queens the day the most legendary figure in football in the '60s retired as coach of The Green Bay Packers. More over, the first time he claimed he knew him was a decade ago, filled with details of witnessing Lombardi grab players by the shirt and not getting beat up because he was a winner. Where? How? He never explained. Of course he didn't. He probably saw it on television. So why does he believe he met Vince Lombardi? Because he DID meet Vince Lombardi. Only - not THAT Vince Lombardi. He met Vince Lombardi, JUNIOR, son of the legendary coach. Vince Lombardi Jr. was an executive in the United States Football League while Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of that league. Lombardi Jr. recounts meeting Trump (Trump was a jerk) in Jeff Pearlman's perfect book "Football For A Buck." By this standard, I ALSO KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI. The younger was a negotiator for the owners during the NFL Strike of 1982 that I covered for CNN. But in the 44 years since I met him I never conflated him with his father. THIS IS NOT THE LEAD STORY, it's just maddening. The lead? Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. Not that they care. The conservative publication “The Washington Post” reports Pentagon plans for thousands of Marines and other personnel conducting weeks of raids while Rubio insists it’s going so well, we’ll never need boots on the ground. But Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be wildly exaggerating how EFFECTIVELY America has degraded Iran’s military capacities AND wildly underrating how effective Iran has been destroying American equipment – especially aircraft.The Pentagon said an AWACS – the giant command and control plane – was “damaged” while parked on an airfield in Saudi Arabia. Photos have leaked. The back half of the AWACs was blown off. Iran is successfully conducting a war designed to destroy our PLANES on the ground, and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land or be based. AND THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL doesn't know it is against federal law to send troops (or other "armed men") to a polling station during an election. Five years in jail for sending them, Todd Blanche. Losing eligibility for all offices or honors, Donald Trump. B-Block (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Maher wins The Shania Twain Prize For Humor. I think I have that right. Laura Loomer takes a terrible risk invoking the term "a slap in the face" given what she's done to her own face. And who's worse? Scott Jennings (now accused by three fellow guests of faking his anti-Trump hysteria) or Abby Phillip (who lets her name be used on the grotesque CNN show where Jennings allegedly lies)? C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mean this question literally: Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? Not that I miss him, not that I'm worried. It's just - he's vanished, hasn't he?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has started World War 3 and has no idea how to stop it - and he doesn't know he's LOSING World War 3.How could he NOT know this? Because reportedly every morning they show him two minutes of highlights of "stuff blowing up" in Iran. His own personal SportsCenter Conflagration in the Middle East. Trump insisting Iran is dead. And yet Iran has struck Tel Aviv. Putin has sent a Russian oil tanker to Cuba just to remind us he can. Trump has now handed Iran de facto control of the worldwide price of a barrel of oil. Iran now controls 30 percent of worldwide fertilizer distribution. Because of Trump’s World War 3, the Philippines declares an energy emergency and Slovenia institutes energy rationing and United Airlines raised airfares twenty percent. Trump insists peace could be imminent and sends thousands more troops there. He mumbles about a peace proposal. It may be LAST year’s peace proposal and he's confused. Ukraine-Russia continues. Now the PAKISTANIS think they are mediators about Trump’s World War 3. Trump's World War 3, which is apparently being conducted, so crooks can make billion dollar bets on oil futures. And in the ultimate insanity: the military POINT of Trump’s World War 3 is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Strait of Hormuz was closed by… Trump’s World War 3.All this while Rupert Murdoch insists if Trump DOESN’T put boots on the ground in Iran it will mean “American collapse.” World War 3 (TRUMP’S World War 3) in the new Thursday Countdown dropping at midnight. IT IS ALMOST SCAPEGOAT TIME: He's beginning to give Hegseth way too much of the credit he normally gives himself. That's what he's always done when he's about to fire somebody. He did it to Noem. Hegseth could be next. Or maybe MarkWayne Mullin, he's been on the job two days and already made an idiot out of himself (again). And talk about scapegoats: who's going to get it at CBS where the morning show's target audience is now 33% smaller than the target audience I had the last week I did Countdown on MSNBC. B-Block (26:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: When Patel's federally-funded girl friend Alexis Wilkins trashes Mike Flynn, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent - this must be some list: The Blaze, Glenn Beck, Scott Jennings, and Lauren Boebert, C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A new baseball season is underway and this might be our last Opening Week until 2028 or later. My career began with covering the two most calamitous sports strikes in American history: MLB 1981 and NFL 1982. Of a drunken night with the football guys, and a broadcast in which a then-prominent sports columnist called them all communists (for the same kind of proposal OWNERS now offer TO players).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is paying Iran to try to kill Americans. $14 billion, he’s giving them. Fourteen billion for oil Iran can now sell, per Trump. What’s that called again? If you’re ‘adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort’? And that fop Scott Bessent defended it yesterday as "jujitsuing" Iran, using its money against it. In fact Trump is using Iran's money against American troops. Trump, who is garbage - who celebrated the death of Robert Mueller just as he celebrated the death of Rob Reiner - who Friday said the Strait of Hormuz would open itself and then Saturday said he would destroy Iran’s power grid unless Iran opened it - who then compared the majority political party of this nation TO Iran - who announced he is sending his ICE terrorists into the airports because ANYBODY can be a TSA agent and apparently he forgot about his mass deportation thing – and who has had some sort of hallucinatory dream in which he decided this was quote “the death of Iran” when Iran is not only winning but most Americans recognize that Iran is winning... Trump has freed up $14,000,000,000 of Iranian oil because that will lower the price of a barrel of oil by like a dollar for like a week. Oh and remember when he made that joke to the Prime Minister of Japan about Pearl Harbor? Turns out President S-Stain didn’t know what HAPPENED… AT… Pearl Harbor. BY THE WAY the Iranians say if Trump does attack their energy infrastructure, that'll black out much of the Gulf, and they'll hit Israel's energy infrastructure, and all the neighboring nations' desalination plants. Good plan, Grampa Garbage. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Twitter-X user Chris950003 has invented a new "eggcorn." Is Peter Navarro sticking to his prediction that Trump's war would lower energy prices? And the sabotage of CBS is nearly complete: Bari Weiss and the Ellisons have not only destroyed the birthplace of American broadcast journalism (Edward R. Murrow's CBS Radio) but she actually wants to have Stephen A. Smith host the CBS morning show. C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I am an alum of CBS Radio - at KNX in Los Angeles and for the radio network as a sportscaster and reporter in the '80s - and I bleed for its murder. But my connection is even more personal. The head of its all-news operation in New York personally validated, personally made tangible, my career aspirations. With one note he turned my possibility into a reality. The story of the Lou Adler Letter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are all looking at it backwards: That was Tulsi Gabbard’s passive-aggressive mini-coup against Trump - about Iran, and the elections. That's what she did in her Senate testimony – and what her deputy Joe Kent did when he resigned, a day earlier (and you think THAT was a coincidence of timing?) In a kind of bizarre code, through omission and not commission, they called Trump a liar about Iran and nukes. Not nobly or bravely. But they did it. They left no other conclusion that Trump was and is lying about Iran. Under oath. And THEN Gabbard passive-aggressively called Trump a LIAR AGAIN about the seized ballots in Georgia. Under oath. She testified that HE sent her. It might be a break in the damn; it might be trivial. It is NOT nothing. Because everybody has a moment in which they realize that they have to protect their own assets - and this might've been theirs. Lord knows all the allies have found theirs. Trump literally has no support from anyone, and the EU just started talking to Iran about a deal to get its ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is neck high in quicksand that he ordered and installed - and he's run out of people to blame. Plus I'll explain what the hell Trump meant when he said “DIG WE MUST" instead of "drill baby drill." (It was his brain defaulting back to 1962 and it's a really bad sign). B-Block (26:00) SPORTSBALL TONIGHT: Are there ANY good feelings left from the US Olympics Men's Hockey Gold? Now the scorer of the winning goal, Jack Hughes, is demanding they give him the puck rather than enshrine it forever at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and an ESPN commentator is demanding we ignore "politics" and admit Russia to the next international tournament (while Russia is aiding Iran, who we are - like it or not - at war with). (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Newt Gingrich falls for an internet troll who wants to create an instant Trump Canal in the Middle East using nukes. Rachel Maddow becomes the umpteenth commentator to insist HER favorite Trump scandal should be getting more attention than the others. And not only did the Los Angeles Dodgers desecrate Dodger Stadium by slapping a sponsor name on it - but they then lied and said they HADN'T sold the naming rights. C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My great grandfather not only turned down stock - circa 1907 - in the company that would become General Motors, but according to family lore he gave the owner the idea for the NAME "General Motors." We are not businessmen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is not qualified to continue as commander in chief. Not for another five minutes. He has to resign at least that role, immediately. Trump is personally LOSING THE WAR IN IRAN. Trump is personally TURNING IRAN into INSTANT PROCESSED VIETNAM. Never mind the politics, never mind his assault on democracy, never mind his instability, never mind his corruption, never mind the details: Just MILITARILY. Just MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL KILL AMERICAN TROOPS - Trump is NOT qualified to continue as commander in chief and he needs to resign AT LEAST his command TODAY. A week ago Trump mocked England for trying to join the war after he 'won it.' Now Trump is BEGGING England and half a dozen other countries to send ships to save him from this disaster at the Strait of Hormuz. A week ago Trump insisted Iran would NEVER CLOSE the Strait of Hormuz. Now it turns out the Iranians directly WARNED HIM they would close the Strait of Hormuz - warned him in 2019. Because it’s not just a ten dollar gallon of gas that’s coming, it’s a ten dollar STRAWBERRY. Because a third of the world’s fertilizer goes through the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping is down ooh just 97-point-4 percent. Trump is the Commander-in-Creep. Trump is the Commander-in-Cheap. Trump is the Commander-A-Sleep. He needs to turn military command over to somebody else. Because Iran could never in a million years harm this country as much as Trump is harming it right now. THE GOOD NEWS: Dick Durbin has inadvertently produced the succinct message for all Democrats and everybody else opposing Trump and the Republicans' attempt to disembowel our elections, the bill they call with bitter irony 'The Save Act.' As he explains in less than a minute, it will disenfranchise roughly 10 percent of all American voters - and generally speaking the poorer ones. This is the line we must take, and sell. Just when you thought Democratic Senators weren't worth the proverbial price of the oil required to burn them in hell. Thank you, Senator Durbin. B-Block (30:00) SPORTSBALLCENTER: How could a team retire the uniform number of a former player they had to fire as manager because of his personal moral failings ON THE FIELD OF PLAY? And yet the New York Mets are doing exactly that. (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Cornelius Rudd warns you of the upcoming 'Raptor.' The CBS tire fire produces hilariously bad stories about David Ellison (and Epstein), Tony Dokoupil (and a new job somewhere else), Joe Rogan, and Jeff Shell (about to get fired from yet another network presidency). And then we have one of the greatest name mistakes of all time when Brian Kilmeade gets Markwayne Mullin's stupid first name completely wrong, Pilgrim. C-Block (46:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: I'm making a special request for your help finding a home for two bonded senior Malteses, apparent survivors of a puppy mill, named Mai Tai and Soraya. (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: And at the opposite end of the moral spectrum, there's the upcoming 25th anniversary of the day Rupert Murdoch fired me from Fox for following the exact instructions his office gave me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 68: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump doesn’t REALIZE that he’s screwed in Iran. He can't decide if he's won and we should applaud now, or if he'll win later and we should applaud then - when the reality is, he's in a quagmire and about two weeks from handing the Democrats a majority that even White House strategists think might be enough to impeach AND remove him next year. Key Republicans and everybody behind the scenes in MAGA are looking for off-ramps. Does Trump know? Will he be temporarily not-a-moron and take one of them? Is Trump in a fugue state? Dissociative behavior? Temporary amnesia? No awareness that there are consequences? You know – his normal state – only WORSE. First about Iran he said “any time I want it to end, it will end." Now about Iran he says it will continue indefinitely until they quote “literally could never build that country back.” Is there a strategy? A plan? Anything? In the most important document of the war, Senator Chris Murphy told us what he could of a semi-confidential briefing about Iran by the administration. They seem to think all they have to do is destroy all of Iran's armaments and they'll never ever find a way to replace them. And while he’s demanding the world bend to his will, again he is helping the Russians help the Iranians try to kill our people and our allies. Monday I mentioned it was the Russians locating American Assets in the middle east for Iran's benefit. Now Trump is indirectly funding Russian advisors helping Iran with its drone strategy. Is Trump even aware he is awake? And what the hell is this with him trying to guess the shoe size of his cabinet members and buying them shoes that were already out of style in 1966? PLUS what is it with Pete PTSD Hegseth? He has now BANNED all outside photographers from Pentagon briefings because he thought the Associated Press images of him were unflattering. But ALL images of Pete Hegseth are unflattering. B-Block (32:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Poor Adnan Virk misses by an inch after trying to out-sing Michael Buble. Bill Maher gets run over at an NBA game. Alina Habba brings us her umpteenth malapropism; she can't tell her Cahoots from her Cajones; and the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee can't tell the difference between 1947 and 47 years. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Hardly that. Things I found on an ancient cassette. A bunch of radio sportscasts I did in my first 90 days in this business - just the other day (in 1979). Enjoy, or skip them, I won't be offended either way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is in essence paying to provide Iran with the location of our forces in the Middle East. Our ships, jets, troops. Trump has just waived part of the embargo against Russian oil. So Iran’s ally Russia can sell MORE oil to India to get more money. Thus Russia can spend that money to gather more information on where American forces are IN the war. So Russia can give that information TO IRAN, and reportedly is, AND nobody in the Trump Rogue Government is denying it. Trump is in effect paying Russia, to help Iran attack Americans in this war. And in case you had doubts over Russia's loyalty, its minister to Britain just repeated on television there that it is not neutral in this war, that it is siding with Iran and will help it., So, what’s that called again? When you’re fighting a war, and people in your government help a country that’s helping the country you’re fighting the war AGAINST? What’s that called again? Tree Surgery? Trea-Ting? Trea... Never mind the other problems: we a) have no business being there; b) we are not winning; c) we are going to be there for years or d) Trump is going to have to cut and run or e) Trump's setting us up for an Iranian revenge terror attack here. And just to follow up on the End-Of-The-World Rapture religious crap motivating dozens of US military commanders, one Senator has actually joined the hallelujah chorus: Senator Cramer of North Dakota says we are there because of a BIBLICAL COMMITMENT to Israel. Iran: it is far worse than you think. B-Block (38:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's a full scale pie fight over in Fascist Media. Megyn Kelly, Bill Ackman, Nepobaby Tucker Carlson, Grand-Nepobaby Buckley Carlson, and others all attacking each other - it's delightful. Then there's US Weekly's disastrous post about the passing of a celebrity-adjacent figure. And if you haven't heard this you won't believe it. They've managed to position the "White House" sign perfectly behind Karoline Leavitt in just the perfect place so when she stands all the way to her left, it reads behind her... Well, no, I'm going to make you listen to find out. C-Block (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I told somebody this story the other day so now I'll tell you. If you can envision me, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Lester Holt, and Jesse Ventura inside an MSNBC men's room talking about inches - this story is for you. Happily it was about our new president and how he was the tallest man any of us had ever met who was clearly lying about his own height. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 66: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's literally a disaster of BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS. Some of Trump’s Troops are being told that it isn't 'war with Iran' - it's a war to start a Biblical Armageddon: “Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth” says one whistle-blower NCO about his commanding officer. You heard it: a non-zero number of Trump Commanders aren't just fighting an illegal, ill-prepared, ill-fated war against an Iran that posed no realistic threat. To them it's a literal Holy War, start the apocalypse, end times, and then they all get raptured. More than 200 reports of such religious insanity, to a group called MRFF (Military Religious Freedom Foundation) and reported by one of my former MSNBC Coordinating Producers, Jonathan Larsen. MRRF is pushing back against us doing the whole Book of Revelations Crusades thing - and the newest development: the religious nuts in the military are holding emergency bible classes for those who may be deployed. Maybe not Apocalypse Now but Apocalypse SOON. The religious nut jobs are in charge, Hegseth may be in on the delusion, and so: no sign of bad luck in Rapture. B-Block (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The right wing allegation that MAGA Twitter twerp "Gunther Eagleman" only retweets if you pay him; Markwayne Mullin mistakes the smell of plumbing for the smell of war and keeps referring to "President Hegseth", and Weijia Jiang, CBS News reporter and president of the White House Correspondents Association. She and they not only actually insulted every journalist ever by inviting Trump to the Correspondents' Dinner - but he accepted and thinks he's getting an award. Trump is a man who has literally tried to get reporters killed for a decade, and they're going to sit in the same room with him. I guess because Goebbels is dead and is unavailable. I don't usually say 'I really went off on these idiots' but - I really went off on these WHCA idiots. C-Block (50:00) THURBER'S VERSION OF THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: His magazine-length version of his only non-fiction book, "The Years With Ross" about the founding of "The New Yorker" magazine (and its legendary, almost mythical founder, Harold Ross). It is as hysterical - and sometimes nearly as impossible to believe - as the best of his fiction.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 65: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: We rejoin your regularly scheduled Trump-Epstein Cover-up Scandal Show, already in progress! Trump’s disastrous attack on Iran – approved by only 27% of America and barely HALF OF REPUBLICANS, so DIDN'T move the needle that Trumpstein has erupted anew in New Mexico: The former Attorney General essentially accuses the Trump Department of Justice of SABOTAGING his investigation of Epstein’s Zorro Sex Trafficking Ranch in 2019; of telling him ‘we’ll just take it from here’ and instead burying it. They took all the evidence and simply did nothing. When New Mexico went back a year later and said 'seize the ranch, preserve the evidence' they were again ignored. And after a New York Times deep dive on all the non-sex allegations and involvements, an entire new Epstein realm has opened up: what about the thousands of Epstein's non-sex crimes and co-conspirators? Why hasn't Trump prosecuted them? Plus, all the attack on Iran did was remind the world that if WE can try REGIME CHANGE in other countries, what’s to stop OTHER COUNTRIES from trying REGIME CHANGE? And I’ll say it again: They called it ‘Operation Epic Fury’ because ‘Operation Epstein Diversion’ didn’t sound War-fightery enough. And media fails us yet again: CNN will now go the same Bari Weiss Way of CBS. Then again it was three-quarters dead already, and the real crisis is MS-NOW's president thought the future of her network (basically unchanged since we spun off my guest hosts Maddow, O'Donnell and Hayes to give them new shows in 2010) was...Anderson Cooper LOL. B-Block (43:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Postscripts to the US Olympic Hockey disaster include cheap jokes about Auston Matthews' hairline. Trump flunky Alina Habba retweets a call for violence against a judge. And the Worst Persons GOAT Bill O'Reilly is back from purgatory to win for the first time in years! Right you are, Mr. Mehoffer! C-Block (58:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I told a friend the story of the day I met the incomparable actor and character Walter Matthau and how he used to do impressions of sportscasters - so I'll tell you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
COUNTDOWN BULLETIN PODCAST FEB. 28 2026: WAR WITH IRAN (2:30) BULLETIN: While you were sleeping Trump illegally and unconstitutionally declared war on Iran, began to bomb its cities including Teheran and its parliament and its security council and its military targets and its schools and its ordinary people – and its militia allies in neighboring Iraq. Israel has joined in the assault. To quote Marty Sheen as the president in The Dead Zone: the missiles are flying, hallelujah hallelujah. To quote Trump to President Zelensky: you are playing with World War 3. Trump has called it a war, USED the term “war” repeatedly, and inanely told Iranians to stay in their homes, which this country is bombing. It is war, he is calling it war, and yet he has sought no congressional approval and Trump is thus acting as a dictator – a military dictator – at this moment. Israel has joined the military action, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" - because "Operation Epstein Distraction" didn't sound poetic enough And apparently the FIFA Peace Prize just doesn’t mean anything any more. Novel thought: You know what would be right and just? We should have our new war in Iran fought by our new patriotic triumphant flag-waving unbeatable brave American heroes who so inspired us at the State of the Union: The Olympic winning U.S. Hockey Team! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 63: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENTS: Trump should be in prison JUST for his new role in the new covering-up of the part of the Epstein files that are about him. Trump. The accusations are against Trump. The memos are about Trump. The investigations are OF Trump. They are missing. There is a law saying Trump must produce them. He has not. That is, by definition, a cover-up. A conspiracy to BURY evidence. Even if somehow it CLEARED him. SPECIAL COMMENT No. 2: As the Kash Patel Olympic Scandal expands exponentially, we have buried the lede. Patel claims he was at the Olympics, working, running American security. Let's suspend our disbelief and say he's NOT lying. If he really was at the Olympics to run American security - WHY WAS HE DRINKING ON THE JOB? Why was he out-of-control drinking with the people he was there to protect? The experts like my old MSNBC pal Juliette Kayyem are stunned: Security is not allowed to DRINK, during an event, during an Olympics. Not until the entire Olympics were over. ESPECIALLY if you are IN CHARGE of security! If you are hired for security, they put "no drinking" in your contract. SPECIAL COMMENT No. 3: Why are the US Olympic men's hockey players not only still digging but digging new additional holes? Now it's not just drinking with Patel and laughing at terrible misogynistic jokes by Trump, but all but five of them were used as political props by Trump at the State of the Union, one (Tage Thompson) was photographed in a complete MAGA hat with the Press Secretary, the winning goal scorer is complaining everybody else made it political - and Auston Matthews (a Mexican-American who captains Canada's team and has thus had two of his three countries threatened by Trump) is standing there grinning behind Trump in the Oval Office, disgracing his team and its fans and his mother and his own relatives. B-Block (47:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Jesse Watters doesn't want a president who struggles to read (prefers one who can't read at all). The popular internet delusion that the president the last time the Americans won Olympic hockey gold was Reagan (it wasn't). And MAGA internet disease victim Senator Mike Lee says ICE dresses like Mexican Cartels. C-Block (58:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: As CBS continues to dissolve before our eyes, the sad truth that network news has been collapsing since at least the night in September 1997 when I was summoned by the president of NBC to have dinner with the chief of the MS part of MSNBC with instructions to humor and ignore him because all we wanted was his money. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 62: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: In case you somehow missed it, Kash Patel's enablers at the FBI (Fan Boys International) were busily denying he went to Italy for the Olympics just to see the hockey game and jock-sniff the victorious U.S. team when all sorts of video leaked out of the dressing room showing him doing exactly that - dancing, drinking, cringing. And then Patel himself couldn't resist Supposedly we sent 100 agents to help with security and he just had to be there. Guesstimated cost just for his latest stage of his perpetual vacation on our dime? $400,000. It would be bad - a future administration will probably address it as misappropriation of funds. But what makes it worse is there's a piece by Patel from 2022 complaining about previous FBI directors wasting money on vacation, and a clip about his FBI predecessor Christopher Wray's vacation travel. Simply impeaching him is insufficient. He needs to go to prison. NOT THAT TRUMP WOULD DO THAT; THIS IS THE BEHAVIOR TRUMP TEACHES: Trump is a thief and he owes you and me at least 293 billion dollars - and we want it back. The worst thief in American history - and 270 billion of that is in tariffs. Because on tariffs, the Supreme Court has given him his COMEUPPANCE. Well – it’s given him A comeuppance. Because his new argument for the new REPLACEMENT Monday tariffs was his old argument AGAINST overturning the old Friday tariffs. But the key thing the Court actually did was give his cult a mortal shock. It is the first official body to give the Trump-Town Guyana Death Cult the message: that he is making this crap up, as he goes ALONG. -- Plus: an actual good idea from Boris Johnson: to send peacekeepers to Ukraine – NOW. And I’M the guy who thinks the Hockey Gold Medal is a BAD THING. And no, the John Barron who called into C-SPAN wasn’t Trump – he was too coherent. B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mark Zuckerberg manages to lose a lawsuit before the trial starts, Kid Rock proves he's not charging $5000 for front row tickets by confessing he IS charging $5000 for front row tickets, and Stephen Miller's wife has another one of those Freudian slips that may be desperate pleas for help from inside a bad situation. C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Baseball has already started so time for my annual explanation: why I don't work for baseball's TV network even though they offered me my own show and I accepted it. It has to do with a big league club threatening them if they didn't renege.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome back to your favorite FULL EPISODE daily comedy show, where compassion meets chaos and somehow ends with Daddy's pommel horse.This episode kicks off with Rafe's Emmy-deserving (self-awarded) E-Memoriam segment featuring a fictional commercial for “Dementia Village” — a place where we don't correct you, we commit to the bit. It's heartfelt. It's unhinged. It's possibly a figment of your deteriorating temporal reality. The gang spirals into a very real existential crisis wondering if they're currently hosting a radio show… or just screaming into the void of a nursing home recreation center. Either way, traffic is light and the martinis are on the house.Then we pivot hard into Olympic Village running out of condoms — because nothing says international unity like elite athletes discovering the supply chain can't keep up. The torch is lit. The bodies are fit. And apparently everyone is riding Daddy's pommel horse. Is it sports coverage? Technically. Is it mature? Not even a little. This is your warning.As if that wasn't enough, the Horse Boys prophecy returns. Three astrological portals are open. Fire Horse. Earth Horse. Ring of Fire eclipse portal. The universe is apparently slapping the guys on the hindquarters and yelling “LET THEM GALLOP.” Sponsors beware. Enemies get bucked off. It's cosmic horsepower in its purest, dumbest form.And because we're nothing if not intellectuals, the episode wraps with a surprisingly thoughtful (yet still ridiculous) breakdown of profanity stigma. Is swearing a sign of weak character? Or are we just emotionally articulate with flair? Science says one thing. George Carlin says another. The Rizz Show says… context matters, baby.It's heartfelt. It's inappropriate-adjacent. It's philosophical in the dumbest possible way. In other words, it's exactly what you expect from a daily comedy show that thrives on pop culture commentary, ridiculous hypotheticals, and St. Louis morning show chaos.If you came for serious journalism… you took a wrong turn at the portal.If you came for laughs, existential dread, and Olympic-level nonsense… welcome home.This daily comedy show continues to prove that no topic is too sensitive, too cosmic, or too athletic to be overanalyzed by Rizz and the gang.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.Travel Influencer Washes Underwear In Hotel Coffee Maker, Internet DisgustedWoman faces charges after allegedly leaving dog at Las Vegas airportDentist Allegedly Operated on a Child While Drunk. Then a Dental Tech Stepped In, Stopped ProcedureWest Virginia custodian accused of recording girls, hiding in high school locker roomFormer police chief sentenced to life for nearly decade-long arson spree targeting rivalsShe lost her phone. Hours later, police found it in an ecoATM in Colorado"Fuhgeddaboudit!" New York accent is slowly disappearing, study findsMan who damaged SUV with hammer mistakenly believed vehicle belonged to ex-girlfriendPickle juice and hot sauce poured on injured puppy; Florida teen faces felonyMan arrested for DUI while paying fine for previous offenseMan Busted For Spicy Chicken Domestic Battery‘Help me!': Suspect arrested after getting locked in van while trying to steal from itWanted Man Claimed To Be "George Costanza"Man brings stolen $30K harp to Point State Park before jumping into river, police sayDementia Village Commercial, Olympic Village Chaos & The Horse Boys ProphecyThe mysterious symptom popping up in some GLP-1 usersSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 61: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN: On his 66th birthday, British police arrest the former Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) on suspicion of supplying confidential government financial information to Jeffrey Epstein. They have 96 hours to decide whether to formally charge him for that or anything else. And we prosecute no one - least of all our parallel, Trump. HOURS EARLIER a South Korean court did not sentence insurrectionist former President Yoon Suk Yeol to death, as prosecutors had demanded. He tried to impose martial law on his nation in 2024 in a plot to use spurious charges of election fraud to justify ending democracy there. He gets life in prison. And we prosecute no one - least of all our parallel, Trump. AND JUST TO ROUND IT OUT: Overnight, President Zelensky of Ukraine snapped - to some degree, throwing an S-bomb at the Russians after the latest round of Trump-led stalling-tactic phony "peace talks" broke out with no result (or more correctly the result Putin wanted Trump to achieve: delay it all further). And we did nothing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 60: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Arizona Senate Republicans just introduced a measure to make ICE MANDATORY at polling places this November. Mandatory. At voting booths. This November. No - It won’t pass. This time. But this does dispel any MAGA crap that this isn't the goal, that rounding up immigrants isn't just practice. Happily, DHS and MAGA are too busy purging themselves. Maybe just as importantly: Does Trump look drawn and unnaturally thin in the face? Like, lost a lot of girth in the face - the kind of thing where people who don’t know say “you’ve lost a lot of weight, you look great” – except you don’t? Also he has just confused Harmeet Dhillon for Phyllis Diller. Standard stuff. But he made a different gaffe that you just can’t write off because it’s new. It’s not something stupid – it’s something he’s misplaced, mentally. The one Trump blunder that suggests he’s getting WORSE: The Penn Station post. AND HOW THE DEATH OF ROBERT DUVALL mainlines into the death of CBS News and the prophesy of Duvall's most important film: Network. Which you should go watch, today. B-Block (50:00) PART TWO of my list of the nearly two dozen destructive changes we are now suffering from, in television news and media in general, that we were warned by, by Paddy Chayefsky, by Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and director Sidney Lumet. C-Block (1:10:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A little out of order, but still really good. Tom Emmer, Minnesota moron. Peter Navarro, economic consultant who doesn't know the Dow Jones number isn't in dollars. And the joy of Candace Owens, so lost she can't pronounce ordinary American English words like "Bureau" and "Grandiose" and as chronicled by one of the best of all Twitter-X follows: @CandaceReading1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 59: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Just because we're paranoid, that doesn't mean Trump isn't out to get us. Trump has just accidentally revealed crucial details of his conspiracy to steal the midterms. It starts with the cadaver-in-chief, demanding of active troops at Fort Bragg – “you have to vote for us” – that’s in case the Generals or even the Joint Chiefs realize Mark Kelly is right: they HAVE to disobey illegal orders, ESPECIALLY Trump’s illegal orders. If it came to that, Trump would have the raw troops overthrow the generals And then Trump succubus Kristi Noem vowed to make sure Trump only lets the RIGHT people voting, electing the RIGHT leaders. And he’s already had ICE PRACTICE voter suppression – murder of civilians – in Minnesota. How do we stop Trump? Talk about it endlessly. Talk about his attempt to make the troops loyal to HIM and not the constitution. Talk about his attempts to seize ballots. Talk about his attempt to use ICE to intimidate voters. Talk about it, now, now, now. Trump is plotting to steal the midterms. We not only CAN stop him - we have to. MEANWHILE, HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE MEDIA BETRAY US? Jake Tapper - as guilty as anybody in the business of putting his salary ahead of all journalism - tells us to hang in there? An old boss of mine says something stupid. CBS decides to platform Stephen A. Smith, the Jill Stein of 2026. B-Block (55:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What happened to Congressman Randy Fine demanding the arrest of everybody who enjoyed Bad Bunny's Swear-filled Super Bowl Show? The White House doesn't know how to spell "cue." And enjoying the Olympics? It's all crap - especially what it did to the history of the Olympics and the National Hockey League. C-Block (1:25:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: More media criticism. This disaster didn't start yesterday. By 2004, when an anchor on MSNBC told one of his viewers - live on the air - to "get AIDS and die" - and his boss said he had to be fired for that, his boss's boss (THE PRESIDENT OF NBC) tried to intervene to save his job. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has attempted another coup. You may have missed it. Trump and Jeanine Pirro with the acquiescence of the hapless Speaker of the House and Porn Monitor attempted another coup: Attempted to get Senators Mark Kelly and Elise Slotkin and four members of the House INDICTED for obstructing Trump’s dictatorship. Tried to convict, tried to jail, for imaginary crimes of disloyalty to him that Trump bleated are quote “punishable by death” six military veterans because they told other Americans to follow the law. For expressing fealty to the Constitution, for publicly reminding service members that THEIR allegiance is to the constitution and not some rapidly deteriorating psychopathic despot. And ordinary Americans in a Grand Jury stopped Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government of the United States. For. Now. Which means the lesson Trump and Pirro and Johnson and the other deputy despots will take away is: next time don’t bother with Grand Juries, just have ICE blast them in the head. What to do to STOP “next time”- what to do RIGHT NOW in the Senate Continuing Funding Resolution - what to do in state houses before the midterms. PLUS: Trump's either-or: either he Narc'd on Epstein or knew nothing about his crimes. Either way, Trump is now the CEO of the Epstein Cover-up. And maybe even more disturbing, he is actually, seriously, hallucinating. Full-on crazy talk. Not his normal delusions: this is A Chinese plot to destroy the National Hockey League. He thinks this is really happening. B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He won Olympic Bronze but was disqualified in the game of life. The three weird sisters are still whining about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl: Megyn Kelly, Sage Steele, Michele Tafoya - the latter of two using language that matches almost word-for-word what was said by racists and sexists who called the ESPN complaint voicemail line to try to get THEM fired. And then there's the Twitter Rando whose 'egg corn' is as delightful as any I can remember. He's complaining about solitaire confinement! C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In the old days baseball spring training wasn't already unofficial underway as of... last week. It was limited and exciting and one of my joys was going to it and reporting from it. So it's time to try to recreate some of that, because naturally I still have the tape of my 1978 Spring Training reports from Florida! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 57: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: When they insist Trump's Thursday night racist video depicting the Obamas as apes wasn’t posted by Trump but by somebody else in the White House – and then he undermines the lie they spread on his behalf by saying he selected the video and had them post it but he just didn’t see the whole thing but so what it wasn’t a mistake they just deleted it – I think each part of that is a lie. It was a set-up. I conclude that this is not just blatant, human garbage racism, inherited Trump Family Branded racism, but I conclude the entire thing was designed – to whatever degree anything Trump and these scumbags do is DESIGNED – it was DESIGNED to turn out this way. Event happens, justifiable backlash, unrighteous indignation from press secretary Eva Braun, oops it wasn’t supposed to be posted, oops bad staffer, oops Trump comes out at the end of the day and… endorses the original racism anyway, quote, “I didn’t make a mistake.” And he did it this circuitous way, the way he expresses ALL his racism against BLACK people, because he can’t send ICE after them. But the point of the video was he was reminding his putrid, hate-driven base that he can't send ICE after them...FOR THE MOMENT. B-Block (33:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There are actually people in politics and media who for some reason don't see that Jeff Bezos hired Will Allen to slowly destroy The Washington Post (to please Trump) and think this was all some sort of mismanagement, rather than a well-executed plan. Unfortunately at least two of them wrote it on their sites: Jim Vandehei and Dylan Byers. Sage Steele is back with not only anti-athlete, anti-freedom of speech conservative swill, but stuff that is almost a word-for-word duplication of what Laura Ingraham wrote 20 years ago. And incredibly, in Year 11 of the Trump Scam, there's still a guy on CNN thinks Trump just changed his tone. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not to say I've had a lot of jobs but I just remembered one that I had FORGOTTEN: my two weeks as the entire sports department on a New York City newspaper that went daily, while the big papers were out on strike in 1978!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.