The Lou Perez Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Maud Maron: Nikole Hannah-Jones Sacrificed Her Daughter Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

Former public defender and former NYC candidate Maud Maron joins Lou to talk about Nikole Hannah-Jones's confession about her daughter's education, what happened to the "tough New Yorker," drug dealers on her stoop, and why she's done with the Democratic Party.

Maud is a New Yorker, a woman, an independent, and currently "independently unemployed." She ran against Alvin Bragg for Manhattan DA on the Republican line. We get into Mamdani and Rikers, the DSA takeover, why registering as a Democrat is a trap, the teachers union nobody mentions, Lou's Queens public schools and the SHSAT, Soho encampments with furniture, and why the sidewalks are yours for the taking.

Watch full episodes 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 🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 👕 Rock XX-XY Athletics. Get 20% off with promo code LOU20: https://www.xx-xyathletics.com/?sca_ref=7113152.ifIMaKpCG3ZfUHH4 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez 🎬 Watch my sketch comedy streaming on Red Coral Universe: https://redcoraluniverse.com/title/the-lou-perez-comedy-68501a2fd369683d0f2a2a88?loopData=true&ccId=675bc891f78f658f73eaa46d

0:00 – Intro: Maud Maron, independently unemployed 0:36 – We met at FreedomFest in Memphis 1:42 – The face cream the government doesn't want you to have 3:51 – Keeping tabs on Brooklyn through Nextdoor 4:33 – What happened to the tough New Yorker? 5:43 – Drug dealers on the stoop and two cops in the living room 8:38 – "He looked like Boston Rob from Survivor" 9:37 – Push-in robberies: safety is the baseline 13:03 – What's changed since Maud's public defender days 13:32 – Her grandfather and the old Democratic machine 14:39 – Mamdani, Rikers, and the Trinitario gang member 16:55 – Jumaane Williams vs. Target over ICE 18:28 – Democrats who defend gang members 20:44 – Maud's question: is there a path for NYC Republicans? 21:33 – The registration trap 23:31 – Pataki, Giuliani, Bloomberg, and Larry Sharpe 26:29 – The DSA took over the party 28:13 – Politics is a street fight 28:25 – Nikole Hannah-Jones and her daughter 33:11 – The teachers union nobody mentions 33:45 – $50,000 a year per student 37:18 – Lou's Queens public schools and the SHSAT 40:26 – When Asian kids don't count as people of color 41:06 – Argentina and Tucumán pride 42:41 – Running against Alvin Bragg, and what's next 43:17 – Saritha Komatireddy vs. Tish James 44:57 – Trump cleaned up Union Station 45:33 – Soho encampments with furniture 46:32 – The sidewalks are yours for the taking

Bretigne Shaffer: The Honest COVID Story No One Will Publish Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

Bretigne Shaffer writes children's horror, superhero graphic novels, and dark comedy about COVID — and she self-publishes all of it, because no traditional publisher (or Netflix) will touch a story that's critical of the pandemic response.

We talk about her Halloween story Elixir of Fear — a 19th-century patent-medicine salesman who's also a wizard, a "budgie flu," and a whole town swept up in a fear campaign — why great art about COVID hasn't arrived yet, the people now pretending lockdowns "weren't a big deal," and why she moved her family from California to Kentucky. Plus: the lost world of literary journals, short stories as Hollywood IP, B-movie horror vs. gore, The Exorcist, her upcoming short story collection Alligator and her novel Davy Sunshine and the Big Pandemic, the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry — and the burning question of whether female unicorns have horns.

🔗 Bretigne Shaffer Website & Substack: https://www.bretigne.com Books: Annabel Pickering & the Sky Pirates · Urban Yogini: A Superhero Who Can't Use Violence

0:00 – Intro: Bretigne Shaffer braves a cold 0:58 – The stomach bug that took down Lou's whole family 2:16 – Elixir of Fear: a COVID fable in children's horror 3:35 – The "budgie flu" and how fear campaigns work 4:50 – John Bellairs and scary-but-not-too-scary stories 6:04 – Why write fan fiction you can't sell? 8:12 – Procrastination and the pain of writing 10:07 – Where's the great art about COVID? 12:26 – "It wasn't a big deal": the lockdown memory hole 15:07 – When COVID skeptics couldn't say a word 17:00 – Alligator: her first short story collection 17:10 – Mailing stories to literary journals 19:31 – Tin House, Fiction, and Mark Jay Mirsky 20:37 – Short stories as Hollywood IP 22:07 – Libertarian film studios and fleeing California for Kentucky 22:54 – Halloween, B-movie monsters, and Alligator (1980) 25:09 – Real horror vs. gore: The Exorcist 26:47 – Why she self-publishes 30:07 – Annabel Pickering and Urban Yogini 31:28 – Davy Sunshine and the Big Pandemic 32:53 – Writing for kids vs. adults 34:26 – The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry 36:20 – Do female unicorns have horns? 37:14 – Molière's The Imaginary Invalid 38:46 – Where to find Bretigne

#BretigneShaffer #COVID #SelfPublishing #Horror #FreeSpeech #Libertarian #LouPerezPodcast

David Zhang: How China Silences Critics in America Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

David Zhang built a 1.4 million subscriber YouTube channel exposing the Chinese Communist Party — from his base in the US, where he can actually say what he thinks. Born in China, raised in Canada, now in New York, David breaks down how Beijing operates: surveillance, threats to family members back home, and a propaganda machine that's gotten scarily good at targeting Western audiences.

We get into TikTok as a weapon, China's economy cratering under Xi Jinping, the comedian who got an entire stand-up competition banned for one joke about the PLA, and the doctrine of "unrestricted warfare" — Beijing's playbook for taking down the US without a single bullet. Plus: the four olds Mao tried to destroy, Chinese tourists at the Louvre, and the Asian gene that means David didn't need deodorant until he was 27.

🔗 David Zhang YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChinaInsiderWithDavidZhang/videos

0:00 – Intro: David Zhang & China Insider 1:52 – Born in China, moved to Canada at 11, then the US 4:33 – Free speech in China: three different threat levels 7:25 – How the CCP threatens creators outside China 9:31 – Stand-up comedy in China — and the joke that got it banned 13:37 – Is being gay legal in China? 15:10 – 1.4M subscribers and the bot armies in his comments 17:04 – Why David's family left China 18:35 – China's billionaires and the capitalism secret 23:21 – Shanghai's LED light shows vs. actual economic collapse 26:54 – FreedomFest Vegas and dying American small towns 30:03 – Outsourcing, COVID, and what we can't let China control 33:30 – Taiwan, TSMC, and the chip supply nightmare 34:36 – "America Against America": Wang Huning's playbook 38:37 – TikTok data harvesting and information warfare 43:06 – Has David ever been back to China? 44:11 – Chinese tourists, the Louvre, and materialism without morality 46:30 – Mao's "Four Olds" and destroying Chinese culture 50:28 – The Asian gene: David didn't need deodorant until 27 51:59 – Wrap-up

#DavidZhang #ChinaInsider #CCP #TikTok #China #FreeSpeech #LouPerezPodcast

Aidan Grogan Went Undercover at Socialism 2026 Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

Aidan Grogan is a researcher at the Manhattan Institute. He went undercover at Socialism 2026 — the annual conference sponsored by Haymarket Books, held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend — and sat in on panels that weren't being livestreamed to see what they were saying behind closed doors. In some cases, they were saying considerably more radical things than what made it onto the stream.

We talked about: how he got in (registered as Aidan G. with a burner email, wore Marxist pins, didn't iron his shirt, gave up on the disguise by day four); masks required at all times, COVID still surging, it felt like 2020 all over again; the family abolition session — two Yale-affiliated researchers sitting in a circle with Crayola markers on the table, advocating to dismantle the family as an oppressive capitalist institution; Sophie Lewis, Oxford graduate, family abolitionist, currently married; the audience describing the "most culturally celebrated family" as white people, private property, and heteronormativity; the fat genocide panel and the presenter who was herself relatively fit; Sophie Lewis denying any biological basis to sex; the mismatch between revolutionary rhetoric and people with too much anxiety to fire a gun; the old macho Marxists vs. today's conference-goers; Bill Ayers and the career path of a left-wing terrorist (hint: it ends in a tenured professorship); Robert Nisbet's The Quest for Community and why radical politics is a substitute religion for the socially alienated; and the DSA platform calling for abolishing the Senate, the Electoral College, and the checks and balances of the American constitutional order.

Read Aidan's coverage → City Journal: cityjournal.org Follow Aidan → Manhattan Institute: manhattan-institute.org

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Aidan Grogan, Manhattan Institute and City Journal 0:43 — What is Socialism 2026? Haymarket Books, Labor Day, Chicago 1:27 — Going undercover — livestreams vs. behind closed doors 3:51 — The viral clip: pronouns, jazz hands, anxiety about clapping 4:11 — Armed revolution calls — "I have too much anxiety to use a gun" 5:35 — How he got in: Aidan G, burner email, Marxist pins, bad clothes 7:20 — Day one vs. day four — what happens when you dress normally 8:20 — Masks required the entire time — felt like 2020 all over again 10:00 — His cover story: "I'm new to socialist ideas and just exploring" 10:54 — The family abolition session — Crayola markers, Yale researchers 12:29 — What does abolishing the family actually mean? 14:17 — The audience answers: white people, private property, heteronormative 16:41 — Sophie Lewis: family abolitionist, Oxford graduate, currently married 17:49 — Do they ever actually live by the ideas they preach? 18:49 — "It takes a village" — and why they mean the government 21:09 — The data: two married biological parents produce the best outcomes for children 23:45 — Low birth rates — opportunity cost, not money cost 26:06 — At war with biology — the left's rejection of reality 27:24 — Queer theory, family abolition, and the roots of the movement 28:27 — Sophie Lewis denies any biological or natural basis to sex 31:38 — The fat genocide panel — presenter was relatively fit 33:29 — The old macho Marxists vs. today's conference-goers 34:15 — Luigi the musical, political violence, and LARPing revolutionaries 36:48 — Champagne socialism — why these people won't actually risk anything 38:48 — Robert Nisbet and radical politics as substitute religion 39:01 — People who want communes nobody would want to be on 43:05 — Bill Ayers, the Weather Underground, and the career path of a left-wing terrorist 45:18 — Should we be worried? Lone wolves vs. organized violence 46:52 — DSA platform: abolish the Senate, Electoral College, and checks and balances 47:50 — Mayor Mamdani and the low bar for praising elected officials 49:59 — American institutions are more robust than the radicals think

Andrew Hartz: How Activism Took Over Therapy Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Andrew Hartz is a psychologist and the founder of the Open Therapy Institute — a national directory of vetted, non-activist therapists, plus a peer-reviewed journal, conference, and podcast. He wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed about political activism in mental health, got a grant to do something about it, and hasn't stopped since.

We talked about: what an activist therapist actually looks like (APA's division on psychoanalysis lists 90 talks with zero mention of therapy, evidence, diagnosis, or treatment — but plenty on colonial domination, carcerality, and proximity to whiteness); how APA accredited a drag show called "Feel the F***ing Fantasy Redux" for continuing ed credits; a keynote speaker who co-translated Communism for Kids and wrote Abolish the Family; clinics diagnosing patients differently based on their race; patients being referred out for having the wrong politics; how mental health activism is backfiring on the people it claims to help (secondary gains and the evidence against rewarding symptoms); when this all started (earlier than you think — 2014, accelerating through 2019); why Lacanian nonsense writing infected academic psychology and what that sentence actually is; what CBT can and can't do; humor as a mature defense mechanism and why patients who laugh have better outcomes; why AI therapists worry Andrew more than most people realize; and Lou volunteering to coach soccer for a team of first graders despite having never played the sport.

Find a vetted therapist → opentherapyinstitute.org

Read the journal → Open Inquiry in Mental Health on Substack https://openinquirymentalhealth.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

0:00 — Intro — Andrew Hartz and the Open Therapy Institute

3:23 — What is an activist therapist? The APA call for papers read aloud

6:24 — APA's division on psychoanalysis: 90 talks, 800 attendees, zero mention of therapy

8:29 — APA accredited a drag show for continuing ed credits

10:08 — Keynote speaker co-translated Communism for Kids, wrote Abolish the Family

11:53 — Lou's SJW Therapist sketch — and how close to reality it actually is

12:21 — Diagnosing people by their race — a white girl's anxiety vs. a black girl's anxiety

13:17 — The intake form that starts with pronouns — and what that signals

14:01 — Patient referred out for thinking she didn't get a fellowship due to affirmative action

14:41 — Who's paying for this? Insurance, premiums, and activist therapy

16:16 — "Evidence is Western" — activist therapists and why they reject research

17:25 — When did therapy start going this route? 2014, accelerating through 2019

19:47 — Lou's SJW Therapist video: January 2019 — right on time

20:12 — Mental illness as identity — secondary gains and how compassion backfires

21:33 — Test anxiety, extra time, and why rewarding symptoms makes them worse

23:52 — Lou used to wet himself before tests. He is not ashamed.

26:06 — The incoherence of activist academia — can anyone read this sentence?

27:23 — "Counter the extractive relations of cis heteropatriarchal racial capitalism" — a real sentence

29:54 — Lacan, oracular interpretations, and how academic nonsense writing spread

33:45 — If you have to build a birdhouse, the sentences have to make sense

36:36 — Greg Lukianoff, CBT, and what good therapy actually looks like

38:10 — Anger, dysregulation, and slowing down the loop

41:53 — What therapy cannot do: eliminate human emotion entirely

42:44 — Lou and the spiral — and why self-control matters

45:32 — Lou volunteered to coach soccer. He doesn't know how to play soccer.

49:30 — Humor as a mature defense — why patients who laugh have better outcomes

52:56 — Was it Good Will Hunting? What Robin Williams got right about therapy

54:55 — AI therapists — what they can replace and what they can't

57:17 — The danger of chatbot therapy for people who struggle with real relationships

58:03 — Open Inquiry in Mental Health journal and how to find a vetted therapist

TIMESTAMPS:

#MentalHealth #Therapy #ActivistTherapy #OpenTherapyInstitute #AndrewHartz #CBT #Psychology #LouPerezPodcast #LionsOfLiberty #AITherapy

Barry Maher: A Brain Tumor Gave Me a Novel Sep 04, 2026

Show notes

Barry Maher spent 20 years as a corporate speaker and wrote six nonfiction books. Then he discovered he had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. He woke up from surgery with Lady Gaga playing on loop in his head and a complete, fully formed novel already there — vivid as a memory, not a dream. Two years later, that novel became The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon, published at age 76. He's also in remission and can tell time again.

We talked about: the moment on an Asian cruise when he couldn't read a clock and didn't know why; why his wife figured out something was wrong before he did (he was putting his clothes on backwards); introducing a ship's captain on stage and then asking him what he did for a living 15 minutes later; the doctor's clock-drawing test and the nurse who wouldn't let him go to the bathroom alone; why a brain cancer diagnosis is like an impending hanging — it concentrates the mind; the novel that emerged from surgery (complete with open crypts, dark spells, sudden death, and the Ralph Lauren version of the Manson family); why The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick are the same story; and the Lady Gaga song that played on loop in his head for three straight days (it's "Always Remember Us This Way" from A Star Is Born — he was not a fan before, and he is definitely not one now).

Get the book → The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon by Barry Maher https://amzn.to/4xqVD4y

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Barry Maher? 0:24 — Six nonfiction books, 20 years of corporate speaking — and now a novel 1:18 — The speaking business: cold calling, articles, PR, and repeat clients 2:37 — Lou bombing at a Christmas party and waiting to get paid after 4:21 — The speaking escape hatch: "and the point of that was..." 5:41 — His first presentation: an hour of solid content, to a funeral home audience 6:50 — The cruise where he couldn't read a clock — and didn't know why 7:55 — His wife noticed something was wrong on the second cruise 9:15 — He introduced the captain — then 15 minutes later asked what he did for a living 10:06 — What it's like when your mind is the thing that's broken 10:46 — The doctor's clock test — and the nurse who wouldn't let him go to the bathroom alone 11:29 — He wrote himself off. He didn't let her accompany him to the bathroom. There are limits. 11:53 — Waking up from surgery with Lady Gaga on loop and a complete novel in his head 12:27 — The TikTok husband who can't draw clocks — and why that's not funny 14:01 — The seizure during surgery — and why the story felt like a memory, not a dream 15:01 — A brain cancer diagnosis is like an impending hanging — it concentrates the mind 15:38 — He was in his early 70s. He decided to finally write the novel he'd always wanted. 16:47 — Writing it took two years — and the memory never faded 18:26 — Lou hates writing. Barry loves it now. The brain tumor may be responsible. 20:21 — The title: The Great Dick — as in Great Gatsby meets Moby Dick 21:59 — Lou read Moby Dick aloud at his wife's hospital bed. She put pages in the wedding bouquet. 23:35 — The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick are the same story — he makes the case 24:03 — What the book is actually about 25:22 — Always Remember Us This Way — the Lady Gaga song that played for three days straight 27:15 — Did the tumor affect the part of the brain responsible for creativity? 28:16 — His wife likes the book — even with the original subtitle 29:43 — The antihero Steve Huskey — and why women are rooting for him anyway 30:09 — Health update: cancer in remission, can tell time like a champ 30:36 — Outro

Don Frye & Dan Severn: The Wild Early Days of the UFC Aug 21, 2026

Show notes

Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez sits down with two UFC Hall of Famers — Don Frye (The Predator) and Dan Severn (The Beast) — alongside host Eric Carroll of Dad Talk Today, to talk about the early days of MMA, the wild west of the original UFC, and what it took to compete when nobody knew the rules.

Topics include: how Don and Dan each got into the Octagon in the mid-90s (Don needed an outlet during a rough divorce; Dan saw an opportunity when wrestling had nowhere left to go); what it was like to fight in a tournament format — three fights in one night, no idea who your next opponent was, and the whole event might be illegal; Dan starting his UFC career at 37 using Just For Men Number 45 to look more intimidating; the legendary Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama brawl at Pride FC and how it almost didn't happen; Pride FC's testing policy (there wasn't one); Dan Severn at 68 still going to the gym every day with both ACLs gone; how neither of them had ever heard of Brazilian jiu jitsu when they stepped into the Octagon; Don fighting a 600-pound grand sumo champion; and Don Frye's extremely candid prediction on the McGregor vs. Holloway rematch.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez with Don Frye and Dan Severn at FreedomFest 2026 0:27 — 33 years of the UFC — how Don and Dan first got into the Octagon 1:00 — Don Frye: going through a divorce, needed an outlet, got in the cage 1:56 — Dan Severn: wrestling had no professional outlet — MMA filled the gap 3:22 — Dan started fighting at 37 — and used Just For Men to look more intimidating 4:36 — Early UFC: no weight classes, no idea who you'd fight, three fights in one night 5:47 — The UFC was illegal — Indian reservations, no guaranteed payouts 6:10 — Dan Severn: 120+ fights, no training camps, never told anyone about his injuries 7:39 — Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama — the legendary Pride FC brawl explained 9:32 — Pride FC didn't test for anything 10:18 — Dan Severn at 68 still goes to the gym every day 11:44 — The evolution of MMA — no Google, no footage of opponents, style vs. style 12:46 — Dan Severn had never heard of Brazilian jiu jitsu when he entered the Octagon 14:42 — From the cage to entertainment — pro wrestling, movies, and the cowboy look 15:30 — Q&A: Have the Beast and the Predator ever fought each other? 17:15 — McGregor vs. Holloway prediction — Don Frye's honest take 18:17 — No weight classes in early UFC — imagine fighting a 600-pound sumo champion 18:36 — Don Frye fought Akebono — 6'11", nearly 600 pounds, grand sumo champion 20:06 — Obesity in America — Dan Severn on the food pyramid and standards 21:23 — Dan Severn shows off an original UFC belt 22:09 — How sports can push back on division — capitalism and the dollar 23:30 — One moment you'd want to relive — both legends answer 24:46 — Outro

What Killed Late Night Comedy? (FreedomFest Panel) Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez moderates a panel on politics, comedy, and the death of late night TV.

Panelists: comedian Boris Khaykin, comedian and podcaster Andrew Heaton, Georgetown law professor and author Randy Barnett, Consumer Choice Center head of media Stephen Kent, and comedian Peter Stewart.

Topics include: why Colbert was losing $20 million a year and what that tells you about the economics of late night; the no-monoculture problem — Joe Rogan now outperforms Fox News; how going political gave Colbert a short-term ratings boost and gutted the comedy long-term; the Daily Show's original rule (cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs) and how every show that copied it forgot the rule; the math of splitting one sixth of a dying market; whether Trump actually pressured CBS to cancel Colbert (the FCC and Kimmel story is more interesting); Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new formats replacing late night; the democratization of comedy and what AI tools mean for talent in Nebraska; why writing 252 episodes a year is an impossible creative ask; what it's like to be on Gutfeld! and whether he's actually the new Johnny Carson; and what's still off-limits in comedy.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez moderates the panel at FreedomFest 2026 1:39 — Is late night actually dead? The panel's opening takes 2:35 — We live in the clips economy — nobody watches late night live 3:33 — When did you last watch late night live? The panel answers 5:12 — Colbert lost $20 million a year — the economics of late night explained 5:50 — No more monoculture — Joe Rogan outperforms Fox News 6:43 — Why going political gave Colbert a short-term boost and a long-term problem 8:15 — Short term gains for long term pains 9:33 — The Colbert Report was brilliant. The Late Show was a dad reading the NYT with a band. 10:35 — The Daily Show's original rule: cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs 11:25 — The math: Kimmel, Fallon, and Colbert splitting one sixth of a dying market 12:18 — The Weather Channel sitcom and the pre-cable era of tepid centrist content 13:39 — Did Trump pressure CBS to cancel Colbert? What actually happened. 14:05 — The FCC, Brandon Carr, and Kimmel — government jawboning explained 14:46 — Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new model replacing late night 15:23 — SNL, Alec Baldwin as Trump, and the Instagram kid doing it better 16:37 — Ben Burke live in Naples, Florida — the demographics that surprised everyone 17:39 — Johnny Carson was unifying — a conservative Republican family from the Midwest loved him 18:10 — Kill Tony as an evolution of late night 19:34 — YouTube as a gateway to live comedy 20:18 — Is the FCC still necessary? The property rights argument for radio airwaves 22:23 — Howard Stern and transgression — you need a line to cross it 23:29 — Richard Pryor's masturbation jokes and why taboo topics lose their edge 25:12 — What podcasting did to late night — Conan's pivot 26:47 — Reality TV is cheap. Writing jokes is hard. 27:09 — The democratization of comedy — from 3 channels to 31 flavors 28:16 — Randy Barnett got in trouble on X — Georgetown security called 29:11 — The future: AI tools, zero barriers, a flood of new talent 30:41 — Human connection — why people still show up live 33:39 — Joe Rogan is now an institution — new late nights are forming 36:22 — Lou on Gutfeld! — what it's like to be on the number one late night show 37:57 — Gutfeld vs. Carson — is he actually winning or just winning on the right? 39:30 — The volume problem — 252 shows a year is impossible to do well 41:42 — Kimmel's Charlie Kirk joke, the FCC, and when both sides can be wrong 42:28 — Q&A — what's currently off-limits in comedy?

Jon Miltimore: Wildfires, Bob Dylan, and the Making of Rocky Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

Jon Miltimore is back — writer, commentator, and one of the sharpest guys covering arts, culture, and politics on Substack. This is his second time on the show and we did not run out of things to talk about.

Topics include: why California can't fight wildfires and why Native Americans had better land management practices; the World Cup finally breaking through in the US; what to actually expect at a Bob Dylan concert when you're a Dylan fan (Jon didn't get what he wanted; he has no regrets); Ben Askren's double lung transplant and why elite athletes bounce back from things that would end most people; the new Stallone biopic about how Rocky got made — specifically the part where a broke, dog-selling, parking-car Stallone turned down $1 million because he refused to not play the role himself; the Rocky franchise and what it means that it somehow worked as it became more absurd; working out at 44 and 47 and why exercise is mental health; the case for travel sports (and why Matthew Yglesias is wrong); and why you should never outsource teaching your kid to ride a bike.

Follow Jon on Substack → https://substack.com/@miltimore

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Jon Miltimore, writer and commentator 0:31 — Canada's wildfires — black skies over New York and Minnesota 2:37 — Why California can't fight fires — federal land, bad policy, and arson 4:38 — Native Americans had better land management — and we stopped listening 5:21 — Private land vs. federal land — the tragedy of the commons 5:38 — Happy Hour Econ — a comedian and an economist walk into a bar 8:50 — The World Cup in America — how soccer finally broke through 10:26 — Bob Dylan at a Bob Dylan concert — what you should actually expect 13:38 — Lou cries at a Bob Dylan concert. He's not embarrassed. 17:21 — Ben Askren's double lung transplant — and why athletes bounce back when others don't 20:44 — Askren retires on his shield — and makes peace with his rival 23:26 — The new Rocky biopic — Stallone turned down $1 million to play the role himself 27:53 — Lou used to go by Rambo as a kid. Old ladies still ask about him. 28:29 — Jon's 13-year-old son shadowboxed like Clubber Lang at age two 29:11 — The Rocky franchise — from gritty 70s realism to superhero movie 32:50 — Working out at 44 and 47 — rowing machines, air bikes, and getting back at it 36:30 — Russell Crowe's comeback — individual agency and why exercise is mental health 41:14 — Travel sports — expensive, worth it, and Matthew Yglesias is wrong 45:34 — Teaching your kids to ride a bike — don't outsource the best moments 51:07 — Auto-deleting tweets and cancel culture — how we need to treat speech differently 52:10 — Outro — find Jon on Substack

Liza Libes: How Marxist Theory Took Over Literature Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Liza Libes is a writer and literary critic at Pens and Poison. Her parents escaped the Soviet Union. She went to Columbia. She found that Columbia's English Department had replaced literature with Marxist theory, postcolonial studies, and critical theory. She's been pushing back ever since.

We talked about: the teachers who made us both writers; reading Wallace Stevens's The Snowman — out loud, in full — and the seventh grade class that made Liza stand in the snow for an hour to understand it; Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and the fascism problem; what happened to Columbia's English Department and why it matters for publishing; why Marxism is fundamentally an ideology of resentment (Bertrand Russell said it 100 years ago); the novel Yesteryear and what it reveals about contemporary literary self-righteousness; why writing characters who disagree with you is the whole point; the Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey and what "a complicated man" does to Odysseus's character; and Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film — specifically the Cyclops scene he cut, why it was the scene that defined Odysseus, and why its absence drains the heroism from the entire story.

Follow Liza at Pens and Poison on Instagram → @pensandpoison

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Liza Libes and what is Pens and Poison? 1:20 — Looking back on your 18-year-old writer self 2:51 — The teachers who made us writers — Brother Patterson and Poetry Friday 5:34 — Standing in the snow to understand Wallace Stevens — The Snowman read aloud 10:31 — The Lost Generation: Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot — and the fascism problem 13:03 — Shakespeare and Co., Paris, and missing Notre Dame before the fire 14:57 — Columbia's English Department: literary theory replaced literature 16:58 — Marxist literary theory, critical theory, and postcolonial studies explained 18:28 — Her parents escaped the Soviet Union — why she takes Marxism personally 19:28 — What literature used to be — humanistic inquiry vs. class consciousness 21:41 — Academia made literature esoteric — and publishing followed 23:01 — The DSA voter: overeducated, underpaid, and resentful 24:44 — Yesteryear — the trad wife novel, Anne Hathaway, and literary self-righteousness 26:03 — When the author's voice drowns out the character's voice 27:14 — Dostoevsky, Lionel Shriver, and characters the author disagrees with 30:23 — Writing outside your experience — her trans character, Lou's gay character 33:22 — Lou's story published alongside Joyce Carol Oates and Junot Diaz 35:20 — Her new novel — exploring faith and Jewish theology 37:32 — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Waiting for Godot 39:03 — The Emily Wilson Odyssey translation — "a complicated man" vs. "cunning" 41:10 — What makes Odysseus great — the Cyclops, the cunning, the hubris 43:25 — Nolan's film: the Cyclops scene is gone — and why that ruins everything 45:42 — Greek hubris — Icarus, Arachne, and why pride destroys heroes 47:24 — The sirens scene: what it should have felt like vs. what Nolan did 48:30 — The overall verdict on Nolan's Odyssey — heroism is missing 49:46 — Outro — find Liza at Pens and Poison

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