Comedy

The Political Orphanage

Politics minus bile plus jokes. Comedian and avowed independent Andrew Heaton interviews authors and thought leaders about policy and big thinky stuff.

Latest Episodes:

Grover Norquist Goes to Burning Man Sep 05, 2019

Show notes

Burning Man is a giant, 80,000-person party in the desert, complete with a crazy amount of neon, bicycles, and narcotics. Grover Norquist is a powerful Republican, alternately famous or infamous for compelling GOP leaders to pledge never to increase spending, who attends Burning Man every year. He joins the podcast to talk about Burning Man, influential secret societies, his foray into standup comedy, and of course, taxes.

Season 2, Ep 9

Dave Barry Is Running for President! Aug 28, 2019

Show notes

Dave Barry (interview at 24:35) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist, the author of scads of books, fellow band member with Stephen King, and Heaton's personal comedy-writing hero. He comes on the podcast to talk about his meteoric presidential campaign, comedy, and politics.

Season 2, Ep 8

Bernie vs. Elizabeth Warren - Featuring: Justin Robert Young & Brian Brushwood Aug 22, 2019

Show notes

Justin Robert Young and Brian Brushwood join Heaton to discuss how and if Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren differ, if at all. Has anyone seen them at the same location at the same time? Are they possibly the same person? Who would win in a cage fight? Plus, if America doesn't buy Greenland, what should it buy?

Ep 7

The Last English Libertarian - Featuring: Dominic Frisby Aug 15, 2019

Show notes

Dominic Frisby is a comedian, musician, and author, and his show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is "Libertarian Love Songs." He joins Heaton to discuss British politics, health care, guns, and the deeper motivations of Boris Johnson. He is extremely well dressed.

Scottish Political Correctness - Featuring: Leo Kearse Aug 08, 2019

Show notes

Leo Kearse is Scotland's Comedian of the Year from 2018, and might well be the only conservative Scottish joke monger. He's presently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he's reprised his standup comedy show "Transgressive." (A show which got Leo banned from Australian comedy venues for being too transgressive, despite the fact he was dating a transgender woman when he wrote it.) He joins Heaton to discuss comedy, Scottish politics, Brexit, wokeness, whether Scotland will go independent or not, Donald Trump, and Boris Johnson.

DEFECTORS! Justin Amash, Lincoln Chafee, Bill Weld, Mark Sanford - Featuring: Rick Ungar Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

Justin Amash recently bolted from the GOP, either out of protest or to run for president as a Libertarian or both. Former governor, senator, and Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee has left the Democrats... to become a libertarian. Meanwhile Bill Weld is still primarying Donald Trump and might soon be joined by Mark Sanford.

Pundit and former Marvel bigwig Rick Ungar joins Heaton to discuss fractures in the two major parties, and have a good-natured argument about the role of the state in markets and poverty.

George Will Saves America, Baseball, the GOP, etc. Jul 24, 2019

Show notes

George F. Will is a Pulitzer-prize winning columnist and the author of the new book "The Conservative Sensibility." He joins the podcast to discuss his latest work, and his hopes to pull back the conservative movement from the brink of insanity.

Is Women's Soccer and/or the Wage Gap Real? Featuring: Turner Sparks & Andrea Jones-Rooy Jul 17, 2019

Show notes

The US Women's Soccer Team won the World Cup this week, but gets payed less than their male equivalents. Is this blatant sexism? Market efficiencies? Illuminati conspiracy? Comedians Andrea Jones-Rooy and Turner Sparks join Heaton to make sense of it.

Should We Add Another Thousand Congressmen? Jul 11, 2019

Show notes

It's the first episode of the new series! Host Andrew Heaton is joined by podcast warlords Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young, to discuss:

Should the Trump administration continue the trend of relocating federal agencies to the states?
Congressmen have *way* more constituents than they used to. Should we create more congressmen? What about *thousands* of more congressmen?
Democratic Party Draft Picks: who would make the strongest combo, and who would you like to see on a ticket regardless?