Lovett or Leave It - Catch, Marry, Kill

Episode Date: November 2, 2019

The House votes on impeachment. Evidence mounts against Trump. And Fox News smears a decorated veteran who heard the Ukraine phone call. Ronan Farrow joins to discuss his book Catch and Kill, the response from reporters inside NBC, and his impression of a certain podcast host in the audio book. Plus Demi Adejuyigbe is back and Ashley Nicole Black joins to discuss the California wildfires, Hollywood reboots, and people who want to hang out after work. And a special edition of GAY NEWS? What a show. What a week. 

Good evening, Los Angeles. Great to be back at the improv. Appetizers and 270 degrees of my field of vision. Let's get into it. What a week. Trump marked Halloween by handing out candy with his legal wife, Melania Trump. Let's roll the clip. For those listening at home, a little boy or girl in a Minion costume walked up to the person occupying the job of president for candy.

He placed it on top of the costume, and it did roll off and onto the floor. On the list of Trump offenses, this is quite minor and it's not important and it's actually not even new, but I did really enjoy it because every once in a while it's nice to be reminded that the small, joyous, quotidian moments of family life are alien to this man. And I imagine little Donnie Jr., hopeful, walking up to his father and saying, Dad, can we go trick-or-treating? And Donald Trump being embarrassed by the fact that he has a son in front of a hot waitress saying, here's a hundred, buy yourself some candy, dressing up as for fags. This is what I imagined.

This week, Facebook employees wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg and top Facebook executives criticizing the company for allowing politicians to make false statements in ads. Jack Dorsey announced on Twitter today when we're recording this, but this week, that there would no longer be political ads on Twitter for fear of misinformation while openly mocking Facebook. This led to a question that was roiling crooked media today, and it is this. Who would win in a fight? Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Dorsey.

Zuckerberg. You know what, that is bias. First of all, Zuckerberg has one of those weird billionaire personal trainer bodies now, so maybe strong. We don't know. But also, the correct answer is probably Dorsey, but it does depend on where he is in the fast. Day three of an intermittent fast. I think Zuckerberg's got him.

And Zuckerberg's wily. That's when the fight's gonna be. You know? This week, the House is holding its first formal vote on impeachment to lay down the next steps in the process, including public hearings. Republicans have been demanding that the hearings be public for weeks. That is why they all voted no. Wait. This actually comes out. The vote hasn't happened yet as we're recording this, That is why they all voted no. Wait.

This actually comes out, the vote hasn't happened yet as we're recording this, but I'm so confident they're gonna vote no, I'm laying down a marker. Representative Matt Gaetz, or what would happen if a frat paddle became a person, filed an ethics complaint against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, saying Schiff violated protocol

during the impeachment inquiry. Gates said, I could practically see him ignoring the rules the other day when I barged into a secure room with my phone to obstruct a deposition, eat pizza, and tweet until I was ordered to leave by the House parliamentarian. Anyway it was it was worth it because Trump's gonna put a little extra peanut butter in that kong tonight for our man Gates. He's going to have a good time. Truly a baffling reaction. Absolutely bewildering.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman testified yesterday that he listened to the Ukraine call and registered the complaint directly contradicting EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland. This means that Sondland might have perjured himself, which in Trump scouts actually is one of the five badges you need to make eagle. It turns out he still needs to call Trump a genius and free one ISIS prisoner. But then he's got it. Then he's an eagle in the Trump scouts. Vindman also told impeachment investigators that important details were omitted from the transcript of Trump's call with Ukraine's president, including that Hunter Biden and Burisma were both mentioned by name. Fox News responded with this.

Because Colonel Vindman emigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian. Ukrainian officials sought advice from him about how to deal with Mr. Giuliani, though they typically communicated in English. Now, wait a second, John. Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House, apparently against the president's interest, and usually they spoke in English. Isn't that kind of an interesting angle on this story? I find that astounding, and some people might call that espionage. Vindman is a decorated soldier who received a Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

He has been in the army for two decades. He came to this country when he was four years old. Two lessons from this. One, these people have no bottom. They will say anything, smear anyone. It will not end. Lesson number two. We all need a Fox News in our lives. Someone that is on our side no matter what. Even when you're in the wrong. Fox News is the friend you call to tell them you hit a nun with your car, and they instantly reply, that bitch. Look around your friend group.

Any of them a Fox News for you? Any ride or die Fox News Laura Ingraham friends in your life who will be with you at your murder trial who will be with you to the fucking bitter end if not, why not right before we came out here a right wing site outed the whistleblower

gasp. It is a big deal. It's very bad. But we're going to go through like two or three days of Trump. Look, I'm not predicting. I'm not going to predict what happens. It happened just before we came out here.

I don't know what's going to happen next. I will predict this. We're going to have two or three days of Donald Trump telling us that now that we know who the whistleblower is and their partisan biases, the whole witch hunt is a sham. And I'm sure Kevin McCarthy will echo that and all the right wing pundits will echo that and all the intellectual zambonis that come behind Trump and smooth out the ice behind him. They'll all fucking do it too. But it's just worth remembering that it doesn't matter because everything the whistleblower says has been proven

and corroborated by every other part of the evidence. If you call the police and say, help, there's a drunk driver on the road. They're swerving all over the place. And then the police pull over Matt Gaetz. Or better, O'Rourke. If they pull over Matt Gaetz, try to figure out what your emotion is. Try to figure what that is. It's called partisanship. Feel it in your fucking bones.

Feel it, yeah. You don't like it, do you? That's how they feel. That's how the other side feels sometimes about us and how we do things. The point is, the point is they don't come back to you after and say, do you have a problem with Matt Gaetz?

They say, thank you for calling us. He was going to hit somebody. All right. When we come back, we'll have Demi, did you eBay? thank you for calling us, he was going to hit somebody. All right. When we come back, we'll have Demi Adedjou-Ibe. We'll have Ashley Nicole Black, and we will have Ronan Farrow. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

And we're back! She's a former correspondent for Full Frontal, and now you can see her on a black lady sketch show on HBO. Please welcome Ashley Nicole Black! How you doing? Good, how are you? Any big Halloween plans? I already did them.

This Halloween has been two weeks long, and I'm done. I have to say, a Thursday Halloween is a brutal day for Halloween. It does turn it into a kind of jubilee. Yeah. You know? We are doing Halloween Chicago style, but all over the country. What'd you dress up as? Rachel True. And not Rochelle from The Craft.

Rachel fucking True. Oh, wow. Specific. Yeah, if there were black women here they would have cheered for that and that is your fault audience but a character from the movie

The Craft exciting I remember The Craft I liked it I liked it when they fucked up those popular kids yeah I rewatched

so I hadn't watched it I remembered it from my early teens as like a movie about female empowerment and I went hadn't watched it. I remembered it from my early teens as like a movie about female empowerment. And I went back and watched it and they murder people. They murder like plural people in that movie. In the film, I believe it's Face Off. There's a point at which I can't remember if it's Nicolas Cage as John Travolta or John Travolta as Nicolas Cage, and it doesn't matter.

But there's a point at which he is escaping from prison. And as he's escaping from prison, he kills a bunch of guards. Now, we can lament the criminal justice system and the various injustices dispensed therein. But those guards didn't know he switched faces. They just went to work that day and said, that's a terrorist. We better keep him in here. And they never address it. And then the mystery is solved

by rubbing someone's face, I believe. Oh, yeah. You gotta touch somebody from the top of their forehead down to their chin. That's how families say hello. You give somebody one of these. It's the fucking weirdest

thing in the movie with the faces off the rails. Alright, let's bring up our next guest. He's a comedian, writer, and the host of the podcast Gilmore Guys and Punch Up the Jam. Please welcome back Demi Adedjuibe. Hey Demi. Hello. Hi. How's it going? Good to see you. Good to see you too. Thank you so much for having me back

despite having had me before and knowing what my deal is. You're welcome. What'd you do for Halloween? I went to a friend's birthday party and that's really it. Did you go as something? I went as, so I have this children's sonic costume that I bought for a thing last year that I just kind of reprised because I didn't have time to make what I really wanted to be.

I heard children's sonic and I was like, what's a children's sonic? I thought you went as a limerick. As a poem. Yeah, I went as an entire five line poem changing throughout the night. No, I went as an entire five-line poem changing throughout the night. No, I have just a small Sonic the Hedgehog costume. I told people if they asked I was Sonic Youth, I was not.

I was not. He wasn't. Stop clapping. He wasn't. Don't give me credit. Don't give him credit. He didn't do it. You guys want to play a game?

Yeah. Fire. It's the original killer app. credit don't give him credit he didn't do it you guys want to play a game yeah fire it's the original killer app ever since we clicked agree on the end user license agreement with the very first tech bro thought he was a god prometheus there was just I knew from the first seconds you weren't going to come with me. I'm into it. Thank you. Thank you for coming. It's a very serious issue, obviously. Right now, California faces historic fires and smoke.

Twelve major fires are burning currently over more than 100,000 acres in an attempt to stop power lines from sparking fires and high winds. The California utility companies like PG&E and SoCal Edison have either shut off power for over 2 million people in Northern California or plan to shut off power to over 350,000 people in Southern California. Is it right to shut off the power? Who is to blame? Every issue has two sides. So tonight, we'll look at California wildfires and the preventative blackouts plaguing communities across the state in a new segment we're calling Pros and Cons. Here's how it works. I'm going to be playing the role of pro.

Demi and Ashley are going to be playing the role of con. And you're going to kick us off after I do the first pro. Couldn't have explained it in a more confusing way. Here we go. When our cell phones inevitably die from having no power, maybe we'll finally look up from our touchscreens and get back in touch with our beautiful families. Before cell phones, all of us loved our families and none of us were self-centered in vain.

This is about Los Angeles, right? But 4.1 million Californians live with some type of disability. Many rely on life-saving machines to dispense medication, But 4.1 million Californians live with some type of disability. Many rely on life-saving machines to dispense medication, charge wheelchairs, or manage breathing. And equally as bad, without power, how will I charge my phone and connect to Wi-Fi every Saturday to download the latest episode of Love It or Leave It on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify,

and wherever podcasts are found? Bro, if they don't shut the power off, we could see even more wildfires smoke and destroy homes as more branches hit power lines and spark conflagrations up and down the grid thanks to the heat, dry winds, and overgrown vegetation from the heavy rainy season, which the National Weather Service calls a recipe for explosive fire growth. This recipe's main cause? Climate change, for which everyone's at fault. That's what led to California's deadliest wildfire

last year. Con, but these shutdowns are only necessary because of decades of mismanagement of the grid. In 2017 alone, PG&E equipment cost 17 out of the 21 major fires in Northern California. PG&E estimates $2.3 billion will be needed to do all the necessary maintenance, but

there's strong reason to believe it'll actually be much more than that. Strong reason. Bro, because nobody wanted to pay for it. Everyone wanted to pretend the problem didn't exist. Con. Nice theory, but it ignores the baked-in, fucked-up incentives

when a utility like PG&E is private and controlled by hedge funds that make money by doing system improvements for the least possible cost. Basically, shittier work equals more profit. In 2017, PG&E was approved to spend $60 million to lower fire risk by undergrounding power lines, but they only spent $28.3 million and kept the rest.

Just this year, PG&E has done less than a third of the tree trimming they agreed to do. These motherfuckers can't even trim a tree! Okay, but I do have empathy for them because I also do less than a third of the trimming I'm supposed to do. Bro. It's true.

I don't know about that part. The other part is true. And that would be a great point if you had a fucking I told you so time machine to go back to California circa 1991 and get PG&E to start pruning. But if you do go back, when you get done with California, do us a favor and warn us about Donald Trump and Bill fucking Cosby. Con. Sarcasm. Our host had discovered sarcasm.

You know what I've discovered? We can't solve this just by turning off the grid or even by strengthening the grid. Fire historian Stephen Pine estimates we need to be doing ten times more controlled burns than we're actually doing. Bro, well as long as we're going big, it's also about where we choose to live. And as housing prices skyrocket and NIMBY shit prevents us from building more housing in urban areas, people are moving into more rural and remote parts of the state, a vicious cycle. Con,

so those people should be punished with blackouts for the sin of seeking affordable homes in a society that makes a middle class standard of living in our most prosperous cities basically fucking impossible? Bro, of course not. I didn't say that. I know you didn't. Why are we fighting? Because it's easier than facing the truth. Because the cause is millions of decisions, some tiny, some enormous, made over decades by virtually everyone to maximize the present at the expense of the future also hedge funds they are always up to no good pro climate change mismanagement of our utilities and infrastructure

short-term financial decisions growth regardless environmental impact and risk all play a role and we can complain about it or we can learn about it i don't want to learn from it all right well that's a tough con pro it's almost as if there is a metaphor for climate change itself because we're stuck with both fixing the shit that was neglected for decades and dealing with the massive damage caused by neglecting all that shit. Con, and it would have been much easier if we had just addressed those issues along the way, like how a stitch in time saves nine,

which is an expression about sewing from an era where we learned basic skills instead of rotting our brains on the internet. Pro, and when it's dark, you can learn to sew. No, you're not going to be able to thread shit in the dark. Fuck. And that's pros and cons! When we come back, gay news

and Ronan Farrow. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back one quick note election day 2019 is this tuesday local elections are just as important as national ones so please go to votesaveamerica.com to find your polling places and one of our biggest chances to make a difference is in virginia we only need to flip two seats in the virginia house of delegates and two seats in the state senate and protect currently held seats to win majorities and help ensure a

fair redistricting process in 2021. If you live in or near Virginia, we need you today, right now. Head to votesaveamerica.com slash volunteer to find opportunities to volunteer to get out the vote this weekend. And no matter where you live, you can support Virginia candidates in some of the closest races through our fuck gerrymandering Fund at VoteSaveAmerica.com slash donate. Got all of it? Did you get it? All right. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Now it's time for Gay News. This week on Gay News, Halloween. Why is this a gay topic? I'll tell you why. Roll the clip. I don't understand.

Why calling that gay man a butt munch was such a scandal. That's what gays do. Munch butts and celebrate Halloween. That's why. Jessica Lange said it best. I love pumpkin carving. I love costumes. I'm fine with the fact that it's another holiday that reminds me I don't have abs.

Mostly fine with it. 100% of gay men with abs come up with costumes like Guy with Abs or Guy with Abs with a Smoky Eye. I'm a skeleton. We know what you are. I like that it's a holiday twinged with danger. Here's a study. This is from the New York Times in 1979. When trick-or-treaters ring your doorbell on Halloween, watch out for the kids wearing masks, that's the advice of two Purdue University researchers who observed 39 masked and 19 unmasked trick-or-treaters one Halloween as they visited three homes. There, experimenters instructed them to take just two candies when the experimenters turned their backs deliberately.

Leaving the youngsters alone near the candy, 62% of the masked children took extra goodies, while only 37% of their unmasked friends did the same. I know what you're thinking. Maybe that applies just to children. Don't worry. The following comes from an actual abstract from an actual study in the Journal of Social Psychology in 1976.

16 men and 10 women from an introductory personality course at Western Illinois University were asked to state how willing they were to engage in antisocial behavior, which was, and this is real, carrying a sign on campus reading, masturbation is fun. What were the 70s?

What was happening? They were tested under four conditions. Alone, undisguised. Alone, disguised. In a group, undisguised. And in a group, disguised. Subjects were more willing to carry the science in groups than alone and disguised than undisguised. All differences were statistically significant.

In other words, groups of masked people have no inhibitions. Two conclusions. One, the 70s were wild. They were wild time. Wow, some knowing nods from some boomers. And, and two, perhaps the Halloween masks don't just hide who we are, but change who we are.

Spooky. All of this is to say that I was excited about my costume. The plan was, I was going to go as David Rose from Schitt's Creek. Emily Favreau was going to be Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek. Ronan was going to be Patrick and John was going to be Ted. Did it occur to me that other people would think of this costume? It honestly did not because it was perfect. I even came up with an easy way to do an impression of Dan Levy doing David Rose. And here's the impression.

You imagine Ryan Reynolds, but what if he was gay? And that's all it is. You just take a Ryan Reynolds and you make him gay. Clip. You know, people come up to me all the time and they say, what makes aviation gin so delicious? Most of the time I run away because non-celebrities frighten me. Miriam makes the most delicious butter.

Yeah, I mean she starts pounding that cream about half an hour too early in the morning, but it tastes exactly like the butter we had at the Ritz in Paris, you know, that sort of saltless butter. You see it? Do you see it? You take Ryan Reynolds, take Ryan Reynolds.

What if he was gay? Doing it a little bit. I think that I'm too similar generally, so it's hard to find where the impression begins. But then, to my horror, I found out that everybody was going in Schitt's Creek. Literally everybody. There are so many costumes. There was an article in something called Country Living

called, These Schitt's Creek Halloween Costumes Will Make Every True Fan Say, Ew, David. Not this true fan. Because now I'm not going as David Rose. I still don't know what I want to be. But I do know what Katie Hill is going as this Halloween.

Kate Middleton. Because she got royally fucked. And that's gay news. Gay news. When we come back, Ronan Farrow. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It

coming up. And we're back. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, the author of the new best-selling book, Catch and Kill, and we've had ice cream sundaes for dessert two nights in a row for no reason. Please welcome Ronan Farrow. Thanks for having me. Hey, everybody. Did you really try to pause in like a podcast? The question was asked from the crowd.

Did I really try to pause Ronan like a podcast? Yeah, we have some tough investigative reporters here. Did you, Jonathan? Have you ever done that? It happens so often. Because it's like, we'll be on the phone, and then I'll get up to the counter, and it's time to order the burrito.

And I'll just be like, well, I should pause this. I'll just pause this for a second. And then I realize I hung up. All right. Common variant, he will leave his car and forget that I'm on the speaker in the car. And just keep talking. I hear him going into the distance, and then he's gone.

Sometimes it takes him a few minutes to realize the car is the car then just seems like uh kit from night rider because the car is still talking all right let's get into the substance i'm i'm scarlett johansson in her he carries me around i'm in a little earpiece and uh i'm approaching the singularity. I'm going to become sentient soon. All right. Thank you guys for keeping him in line. Stop interrupting me.

This is my show. You've never heard an episode before, but I am the host. News broke today in the Times that digital employees at NBC News intend to form a union, in part to be more free to speak critically about the network's top executives. According to the Times, the organizing campaign makes reference to serious questions about how the news division handled workplace sexual misconduct and its opaque procedures for exposing powerful predators, clearly a reference to your work. What is your reaction to that? You know, so many of my stories are about a lot of pretty dark things.

They're about crimes and cover-ups, but also they are about the brave whistleblowers who come forward and the community of people in the general public, and especially journalists, who say, enough, and we're not going to stop digging, and we're not going to stop asking tough questions, including of our bosses. And it's incredibly moving to see that. And it's why I finished writing a book like Catch and Kill and am still full of hope. And it's really tough to organize in any context. And it's tougher still when you're doing it and using it as a means to call out people who decide whether you get a raise or get frozen out.

And that's what they're doing. There's a lot of brave journalists in that building, and they're really fed up. And I'm inspired by it. So you went on Rachel Maddow on Friday, and it was a very, very intense viewing experience because she was clearly just sort of taking on her own bosses in that interview. But one of the things she said was that there was a lot of consternation

inside of NBC News around your reporting. Are you still hearing from people inside of NBC? And what is their mindset now? So she said a couple of really significant things, one of which was she had independently corroborated the reporting in the book, that they shut down this reporting on Harvey Weinstein, another of which was she extracted from them a statement about how they were maybe sort of kind of going to release people from nondisclosure agreements.

The book documents this series of secret payouts to bury sexual harassment allegations at that company. And one thing that I'm hearing is a lot of skepticism about that move, that this is a company that continues to defy a lot of calls, including inside the building, for reform and leadership change and even outside investigation. And that pledge to release people from their nondisclosure agreements had a ton of asterisks, including you have to come and ask permission

and then maybe we'll let you. Bear in mind, this follows on weeks of them saying there were no such settlements. Now the line is you have to go ask permission if you want to get out of the settlements that don't exist so there's a lot of confusion and apprehension and I think that extends to the community inside the building these are reporters who are receiving this news they're pretty skeptical and tough they're asking hard

questions that article in The Times today talks about how leadership is sort of dodging a lot of those questions, and I end up saying a lot. I'm a reporter, not an activist, and it's not for me to say how that conversation should shake out, but I can say unequivocally I am really glad for people like Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes and all these people unionizing

who aren't afraid to speak truth to power. Look, you're an investigative journalist You ask hard questions Well guess what So do I He wouldn't tell me What's happening in this part I was like

Just Donna Brazill it a little Just tell me He wouldn't He wouldn't do it Are you ready for the lightning round? Are you ready for the lightning round? Are you ready for the lightning round? What's lightning about? Are you ready for the lightning round?

All right, all right. Ready for the lightning round. Thank you. Let's talk about the audio book. And let's talk about one of the most important revelations in that book, namely what you think I sound like. Let's roll a clip of what happened

when I was being trailed by various people associated with Harvey Weinstein. In the end, the employees said, Jonathan's routine had been so boring, the subcontractor

surveilling him had given up. I'm interesting, Jonathan said when I told him. I'm a very interesting person. I went to an escape room. Now,

you told me that when you were doing voices for people like Rosie Perez and others, you really wanted to get it right, and so you went to them for a voice memo. Did you ask me for any kind of guidance? Because there is no way I would have said,

in a million years, I went to an escape room. I would have said, I went to an escape room. I would have been dramatic about it. Do you see how we kind of landed on the same reading there? Shut up! Let's roll the second clip. My phone pinged. It was a text notification.

You're texting, Jonathan was saying. Hope he's worth it. Hope he's worth saying goodbye to all of this. Definitely, I said, and swiped the message away. That sounds like I'm a Disney villain where a bunch of field mice are being chased by a gay snake. I mean, it worked for me, clearly. He loves it. Next question.

Who's more punctual, me or you? You are more punctual. Yes! Getting it on the record! Next question. When is the last time you listened to an episode of Love It or Leave It? This very moment.

No, no, no. No. Fine, we'll let it slide. Oh, this is going to be good. Will you confirm that you have promised me you won't write another book for at least a year on the record i want one year i want one year without i have to finish the book uh can i start preparatory research no that's writing a book one One year. All right. You got a year. Yes!

Don't you guys want another book to start soon? Oh, don't. We're not... Don't you need a sequel? All right. Catch up, sir. Catch up. A wedding? Wedding first.

Isn't that kind of a spoiler for Act 3 of Catching Kids? Oh, gross. I hate... Don't refer to my life as a spoiler for Act 3 of Catch a Kid? Oh, gross. I hate it. Don't refer to my life as a spoiler. All right. For Halloween, would it be appropriate to go as hashtag me boo? The crowd says yes, but I wouldn't risk it. I think if we bring Tarana Burke with us, just as a shield from being canceled.

I don't even think you can say that. What's my favorite video game? Well, I want to be clear, because I get tweets from strangers saying, oh, he made a reference to Bioshock. Jonathan must have introduced him to that. Untrue. I introduced Jonathan to all

the video games. One that you fell in love with was Shadow of the Colossus. He doesn't like them at first. I have to force him to play for a few hours because he doesn't like new things. And then he likes them and he's addicted. He likes Diablo 3.

He likes Bioshock. You're getting so close. I consider it my favorite video game when you consider the original and the sequel together as one story. Not the Bioshock games. When Life Hands You. Oh, Portal, of course.

Portal and Portal 2, right? Anybody follow that? That was a reference. Does anybody follow When Life Hands You? Applaud if you followed When Life Hands You if you knew what we meant. Thank you. That's J.K. Simmons in Portal 2. Wonderful game. Very funny.

Next question. What game are you playing in this clip? Oh, damn it. Hey. Hey, how you doing? Jonathan, you will love this game. For those listening at home, that was a very cool video of Ronan

wearing a VR helmet in his apartment, dodging enemies. Metaphor. Metaphor. First of all, I feel very attacked right now. Second of all, that is the game Superhot, and it is very good, and I recommend it. Okay.

You know, it's a work of art. Ronan, final question. Please no more clips. Should we live in L.A. or New York? This was exciting. I really did this. You want to have this conversation here? No, I want to be a part of this decision.

You want to be a part of the fight that's about to happen? You know what? I am liking being bi-coastal, and I will take as much of you as I can get wherever I can get it. Oh, shut up. It's a dodge. You're oohing for a dodge.

Ronan, where can people find this book? You can buy Catch and Kill at catchandkill.com Really? You got catchandkill.com? I did, I got catchandkill.com And while there is an Amazon link there I recommend you go to one of the indie bookseller links Because we need to support booksellers at this difficult time

And we need to support Catch and Kill at this difficult time, and we need to support Catch and Kill at this difficult time when it is number one on the indie bookseller list and not number one on the Amazon list where people are buying Elton John's book. You're clinging so hard to this idea that you're an underdog, and I find it so adorable. I am an underdog behind Elton. Yes.

Let's focus on the real enemy here, folks. Talented, iconic Elton John. I will only say this. I watched you report this story for a year. I watched you work on this book for the better part of a year. You are the hardest working person I have ever met. You put everything into this. And I am grateful that I got to

be in some small way a part of seeing you show people what you're made of and do something really incredible. I really am. I love you. Alright. When we come back, the rant wheel. I love you too. Thank you. Don't go anywhere.

Love it or leave it, there's more on the way. And we're back! Now it's time for the rant wheel. You know how it works. We spin the wheel, we rant at whatever topic it lands upon. This week on the wheel, we have going out after work. We have Netflix, BoJack Horseman, Rodan Farrow's on there,

Hollywood reboots, Trump photos, Katie Hill's resignation, and texting. Let's spin The Wheel. It has landed on going out after work, which I believe was suggested by Ashley. Okay, so here's the thing. Going out is for the weekend. Thank you. The man who started that clap is wearing a sensible sweater and is my soulmate.

How can I be expected to go to work all day, which may be a 10, 12, 14 hour day, who knows? And then after that, I'm supposed to make small talk, perhaps with someone who was at work for that whole day. What is there left to talk about, people? I feel like when people invite me out after work, they've forgotten that I have a small dog. And when I leave her alone in my apartment, she gets naughty. And her preferred method of naughtiness is looking sad and then running away so I can't pet her. And then she'll like turn her butt to me in anger. And her butt's so cute.

It's not really a punishment for me. I I truly like there's no way also um if you think that I look extremely young you're correct it's because my skin is very oily so I put it if I put on makeup at the beginning of the workday I don't have it on at the end of the workday I'm not putting on makeup again just for you person who wants to get a drink. And like anytime someone suggests a short activity, like anytime someone's like, let's hop on a call or let's just get a drink. It's because they already know you don't like them. Like if you thought I liked you, you'd invite me to dinner and make me commit to spending two hours with you. But if you're asking me to just get a drink, it's because you know that I'm gonna get a drink and then I'm gonna go home and then I'm gonna have a naughty little dog on my hands I think this is such an important point and I really think you've highlighted one

of the key issues that is under covered frankly which is this There is a tyranny of the kind of person who still looks put together at the end of the day. These are evil people, wizards and warlocks and witches who look fully composed and all together and not oily and not messy and they haven't dripped things on themselves over the course of the day. One hour after I get to work, I look disgusting. I'm a mess. And then there's people like, how is there no wrinkle? No wrinkles. And all of those people have straight hair.

Okay, curly hair has a time frame to it. You got to catch it when it's good. And if you don't catch it, it's, you know, you've missed your opportunity until your next shower. Totally. I know exactly what you're saying. That's my lived experience as well. One gust of wind

and I'm in Back to the Future. You know? Bah! Anyway. Fuck you straight-haired people and your drinks after work. Let's spin it again It has landed

On Hollywood Reboots Demi No one is ever Happy about the fact that Hollywood Seems to be regurgitating old ideas But I feel like lately people Sort of complain about it in this weird way where they sort of center it on the fact that like, oh, they'll reboot a thing and then just make it like all women or they'll reboot a thing and make it men.

And then they'll be like, why don't we just get an original franchise for, wait, not never all men. They'll like change the diversity of it or whatever. But they always centered on like, why don't they just make an original franchise with those things? And the problem isn't that they're out of ideas or that they think that this is the only

way to spread diversity. The problem is that Hollywood is terrified of doing anything because they are convinced that nothing will make money. And it's like in a way they're kind of right. Like we just got a movie with Will Smith and another Will Smith, and it lost $75 million.

They're freaking the fuck out. And their solution is like, well, if people want diversity, let's just do Star Wars and put a woman in it. Or like, well, do James Bond, and the only black actor everyone knows, Idris Elba can play it this time. And it feels like this sort of, I don't know, it feels like people freak out and complain about the diversity aspect of it when the truth is like, this is the sort of foot-in-the-door technique that they have of just being like,

look, we can't give you an $80 million new thing because we're terrified that you won't see it. What if we do Lion King, but for some reason, they're real? And that's fine. I think my most controversial opinion is that Hollywood reboots and remakes and sequ And that's fine. I think my most controversial opinion is that Hollywood reboots and remakes and sequels are all fine. I don't actually hate them. I think that the problem is they're always beholden

to the original version in a way where it's like they gotta remind you every few minutes of the original one and that's where the problem comes from and that's where you don't get the ability to like have these new things that feel like they're separate from years of just sort of having like the straight white man be the standard character in any fair and then you just kind of have to reboot these movies and have them like walk in the footsteps of these people and not

do anything new and then people complain about it but really just like if you're gonna reboot something just sort of like take the name and the concept and just move on past that. Like Joker. The perfect movie. Yes. The best picture nominee for the next five years. Joker. I will add only one thing. All this technology that we've been able to wield in our films, we can imagine

anything in the world and they can make it. Three Will Smiths. And at the same time, all this technology has been brought to bear and all we have done is double the number of Will Smiths and double the number of Paul Rudds. The thing about both of those people is

we know what they look like. If you're going to make a second younger actor, pick an actor that we didn't literally watch age. I know exactly what Will Smith looked like when he was younger. That is such a good point. Go to one of those actors that broke out in, like, their 40s or 50s.

Go get me a Paul Giamatti. Show me him as a teen. Get me a Margot Martindale. You know? I think we should do it the other way around, where we have, like, Timothee Chalamet and then, like, a 75-year-old Timothee chalamet and then like a 75 year old timothy chalamet And then in like 50 years, we got to be like, oh, they did a pretty good job

They nailed it I think you just rebooted boyhood. Oh Call me link later. Let's spin it again. It has landed on Netflix. What if this one was me? It landed on Ronan Farrow. Demi, take it away. I don't like... No, I'm kidding.

You're very lovely. Now I can't find any Hollywood executives to work with. Thanks, Ronan. Where does this guy, Ronan Farrow, get off? Right as I finish the script for Shakespeare in Love Again. We had such a nice moment. Let's spin it again. Deal with it. It's my fucking show. It's my show. You're on a journey with me. I do whatever I want up here. You have no say. It has landed

on BoJack Horseman. This will be fine. I love BoJack Horseman. This will be fine. I love BoJack Horseman. Alright? And I want to make a small sub-rant because I mentioned it to somebody who will also love BoJack Horseman and she said, I don't watch cartoons.

And I think that is a truly insane thing to say. It's like saying, like, do you want to go check out some Da Vinci paintings? And then they'll be like, I don't like two-dimensional art. I don't like perspective. I don't like rectangular. It's a medium.

It can do a lot of things in it. Sub-rant. Main rant. I see that the creator of BoJack Horseman tweets that there's going to be new BoJack episodes because we live in a completely saturated media environment. This see that the creator of BoJack Horseman tweets that there's going to be new BoJack episodes because we live in a completely saturated media environment. This was literally the only way I found out.

I thought that's fantastic. I'm gonna watch them right away because it's gonna be eight now and eight early next year. I'm gonna watch eight quick. I'm gonna make those last eight really last. That's the plan. But of course you go into Netflix these days in 2019 and it's really kind of a carnival game at this point. That's the plan. But of course you go on to Netflix these days in 2019, and it's really kind of a carnival game at this point. It's things are making noise. You can't actually make any choices. You have to kind of give yourself over to it

and say, Netflix, I hope you show me BoJack. Come on, Netflix. It's like you roll the dice. Ah, crap, it's Cheers. And I love Cheers, but I've seen Cheers. Calm down. I'm not going to pick a fight with Cheers. Not in this economy.

I don't know what that means. Frasier. Yeah, Frasier. I love Frasier. Seen every episode. Most of the early seasons are very good. Here's the thing. I start, I click on BoJack. I think I'm doing everything by the book, following all the rules, paying my taxes. All of a sudden I realize I accidentally watched episode six of the season. I have no idea how I did it. And I just thought I forgot a bunch of things that happened in the last season. Turns out I missed half the season. This all comes back to what Netflix has just floated, which is the idea that they're going to allow people to watch shows at 1.5 speed.

Of course, everyone involved in creating television, writing television, directing television, acting television is like, please don't do that. Please don't do that. And I really do hope they don't. But it does raise a fundamental, fascinating question about what your goal is with Netflix if you're trying to get more in like what is this is the fun like I know that it's

confusing because we have our work screens our all the time screens our tv our fun screens and then we go screen to screen to screen. That's our lives. This is a brief interlude where you're not looking at a screen because you're looking at me, and there is a screen behind me. And we're trying to incorporate more video because video is the yarn to the kittens that we have all become. If you're finding that you don't have enough hours in the day to get in all the TV

you watch for pleasure, the fix is not watching it faster. It's asking yourself some deep and important questions about the literal purpose of being on this planet and experiencing consciousness. If you need to watch your TV shows faster to get through more of them, turn off the television, put the phone down, go outside,

take ten deep breaths, get in your car, drive till you see water, get out, stare at the water, get back in your car, drive till you see water, get out, stare at the water, get back in your car, drive to a new city, and start again. And that's our show! I want to thank Ashley Nicole Black, Demi Adichie-Huibay, Ronan Farrow, The Improv, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and go out there on Tuesday and vote in your local elections. Have a good night. Love It or Leave It is a product of Crooked Media. It's written and produced by me, John Lovett,

Elisa Gutierrez, Lee Eisenberg, our head writer and Burisma board member, Travis Helwig, and writers Jocelyn Kaufman, Alicia Carroll, John Milstein, Sarah Lazarus, and Peter Miller. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McClain and Jamie Skeel,

for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast, and to our digital producers, Nar Melkonian and Yale Freed for filming and editing video each week so you can.