Lovett or Leave It - Hot for Teacher's Union

Episode Date: September 30, 2023

Lovett or Leave It returns to the SiriusXM garage in Los Angeles, home sweet home. Russell Howard explores scandals that could have happened in the US, but didn't. Baratunde Thurston goes full Dr. Doolittle and breaks down the latest from the animal kingdom (and has a whale of a time doing it). Zach Zucker and Eugene Cordero see if they can come up with innocent explanations for completely hypothetical scenarios, like gold bricks in your Mercedes and thirty grand in your varsity jacket. And the rant wheel spins for Taylor Swift and Travis... something.**We recorded this before the passing of Senator Feinstein, but she was a real one For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast. 

Hi, everybody. What's happening? Welcome to Love It or Leave It. In light of recent news, we felt it only fair to assure our fans that even though every member of our staff is currently sleeping with a member of the teachers' union, we will do our best to remain unbiased. Now, Malcolm is going to come around the audience

and collect the Kellogg's box tops you were all instructed to bring to the show today. And anyone who forgot their box tops, go ahead and move your clips to yellow. Malcolm, how do you feel about that? I told you. It got something. It got something. And that's what we're trying for here. Some people don't remember the clips

moving that, but this is a smart crowd. You guys get the yellow clips thing? How many of you had the clips when you were in kindergarten? You're aware of the clips? No. No. I think it's generational and regional. At least those two.

It's at least those two things. We have a... It was so long ago. And it was so long ago. We have a great show for you tonight. Russell Howard joins us for the great American and British pastime picking on other countries. Comedians Eugene Cordero and Zach Zucker are here

and they want to assure you that this Menendez bribery scandal is just an honest misunderstanding. Writer and nature aficionado Baratunde Thurston is here, and we get wild with some facts about animals. And then it's boys night with the rant wheel, where we bro down with some rooskies,

gripe about our wives, and maybe catch the game. But first, let's get into it. What a week. Seven charisma-free candidates took the stage for the second Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday night. Trump still has the nomination locked, of course, but the candidates vigorously competed for the consolation prize, a pat on the back from Ronald Reagan's skeleton.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finally went after absent frontrunner Donald Trump by saying this. Donald Trump by saying this. Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have. Trump, meanwhile, was out in Michigan doing a stream of consciousness rant about how windmills cause whale autism and gained another 10 points over DeSantis in the polls. These fucking guys, like they're all on this stage

and they're all doing these like canned fucking bits, these just terrible 90s style soundbites. You know, we can't have weakness, we have to have strength. We can't go backwards, we have to go forward. And Trump is just in Michigan and South Carolina being like, you hear about this? Crushing them. Absolutely crushing them. Chris Christie also slammed Trump by saying this.

You're not here tonight because you're afraid of being on the stage and defending your record. You're ducking these things. And let me tell you what's going to happen. You keep doing that, no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore. We're going to call you Donald Duck. All right.

That is not the kind of thing Chris Christie would have done when we were dating. That's all I'll say. The debate was filled with a lot of crosstalk resulting in this moment from Vivek Ramaswamy. Who are tainted by a broken system. And it's not the fault of anybody who's involved. Some of us are tainted.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Thank you for speaking while I'm interrupting. Literally. Literally. At last, we've answered that eternal question. What if there was a Yogi Berra who fucking sucked? we've answered that eternal question, what if there was a Yogi Berra who fucking sucked?

At one point, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott wound up in an extended argument about curtains. Secondly, on the curtains, do you homework, Tim, because Obama bought those curtains. Did you send them back? It's in the press. Did you send them back? It's the State Department. Did you send them back? Did you send them back? You're the one that works in Congress. Oh, my gosh. You get it. You hung them on your curtains. They were there before I even showed up at the restaurant. No one is allowed to get that heated about curtains unless they're seven years into a doomed relationship. Anything else is stolen valor. They have, what, between the two of them, 11 points in the polls.

They're bickering with each other about curtain expenses from 2017. They're getting the floor wiped with them by Donald Trump. Somebody talk about Donald Trump in the debate. Donald Trump, the person with 50 points in the polls who is not there. Somebody discuss his absence.

Discuss his position. He threatened to kill Mark Milley this week. The Republican front runner threatened to kill Mark Milley this week. The Republican frontrunner threatened to murder a United States general. It's not even the third biggest story of the week. It doesn't come up at the Republican debate for president amongst a group of people trying to beat him. And the only one with any ounce of any kind of personality

looks to camera and goes, quack, quack, goofy shit. Fucking zeros, these people. They don't have it. They don't fucking have it. Trump has it. He has charisma. And it sucks, but he does. It's all he has.

And they don't have it. Chris Christie has a little. None of the rest have it. And this is television. And it demands it. It's an insult to television to not have charisma. We didn't fake the moon landing so that these people could pretend they have a chance of becoming president

during the education portion of the debate chris christie took this unusual swing at president biden when you have the president united states sleeping with a member of the teachers union there is no chance that you could take the stranglehold away. That's right, America. Biden fucks. See you at the polls. Wasn't over. America's experimentation with Republicans who are sex positive at the Reagan library continued when Vice President Mike Pence attempted this callback. My wife isn't a member of the teachers union, but I got to admit, I've been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years and the full disclosure. Oh, yes, me too, actually interrupted Tim Scott,

trying to wink with both eyes at once. Meanwhile, Donald Trump flew to Michigan on Wednesday to visit a non-union auto parts plant a day after President Biden made history by joining striking auto workers on the picket line. When asked if he planned to meet with Trump, UAW President Sean Fain said this. I see no point in meeting with him because I don't think the man has any has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for. He serves a billionaire class and that's what's wrong with this country.

He then walked away from the microphone in slow motion as a Ford Focus exploded in the background. It wasn't planned to look cool or anything. It was just a workplace disaster, one of the many reasons the union is striking. On Tuesday, a New York judge ruled that Donald Trump had committed fraud for years by inflating the value of his properties. Trump's legal trouble is like a soap opera with too many irons in the fire. Oh, were you enjoying the four criminal indictment storylines? Well, guess what? The civil lawsuit is back and she's pregnant. Wrote Trump on Truth Social, my civil rights have been violated and some appellate

court, whether federal or state, must reverse this horrible un-American decision, insisting that his company had done a magnificent job for New York and done business perfectly. Could someone with a robe get me out of this mess? He doesn't care who, he doesn't care at what level, he just needs a judge somewhere to help him. Just an old man on the toilet about to lose his apartment because of fraud, desperately hoping some

Republican he appointed to the bench can rescue him. And it's not clear that they can. They probably will. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the lawsuit, is seeking $250 million in the penalty phase that comes next. Hey, New York, hope you get to buy yourself something nice, some trash cans maybe. And then on Wednesday, in another legal blow, Judge Tanya Chutkin rejected Trump's request to recuse herself from his election interference case, describing the defense's argument as hypersensitive, cynical, and suspicious in order to accuse her of bias. Hypersensitive, cynical, and suspicious? Who do you think these guys are? Me on an edible looking

at Instagram stories? In a testament to how many different scandals are currently engulfing trump his statement that general mark milley should be literally executed is only his third biggest clusterfuck of the week something i previewed earlier for some reason this because i had an episode these calls that trump is accusing him of doing something scandalous they were ordinary calls in the course of white house business properly properly run through the correct. He spoke with his counterparts in China to reassure them that the United States did not pose a threat during the chaotic final weeks of the Trump administration. Trump described the calls as an act so egregious

that in times gone by, the punishment would have been death to be continued. That's in the message. To be continued. But if you check IMDb, Milley isn't in the sequel, so it seems like he gets killed offscreen. Milley also fielded a call from Nancy Pelosi at the time, who rang the general to inquire about the president's ability

to launch nuclear weapons. Milley told her that a protocol was in place that makes sure he doesn't launch them alone, which is, like, a huge relief. I'd hate to see Trump have such an incredible experience without someone to share it with. Anyway, there was nothing to worry about. The other launch key was safely in the hands of Rudy Giuliani.

Meanwhile, as Congress hurdles towards a shutdown, Florida hair gel gremlin Matt Gaetz suggested he would force a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, saying this on the House floor. The one thing I agree with my Democrat colleagues on is that for the last eight months, this House has been poorly led. And we own that, and we have to do something about it. When asked if the comments bothered him, McCarthy replied, does it look like it bothers me?

No, it doesn't. McCarthy then calmly returned to his lunch, a tub of ice cream the size of a car. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez has refused to resign after being indicted on multiple federal bribery and fraud charges. However, the allegations leveled against me are just that, allegations. Added Menendez, winking at the cameras, Of course, I'm sure I could change my mind for the right price.

In response to a flurry of calls for his resignation, Menendez issued a statement saying, in part, It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere. You're all being racist, said Menendez as he slowly swung his legs back and forth toward his Mercedes

as if his pockets were incredibly heavy. Check your privilege, gold bar falls out. I mean, come on, who's that for? Who's like, oh, I hadn't thought about that. Yeah, asking how much gold bricks are in the backseat of a limo, that does seem bad. But on the other hand, could be the ugly hand of racism at work. Commander, President Biden's bad dog, bit another Secret Service agent on Monday, according to an official statement.

But to be fair, the Secret Service agent started it by being in the same building as this fucked up dog. There is a part of the story, the Times had this, which is there are a bunch of different incidents. Not all of them are bites. Some of them are just people who felt pretty scared. And one example is a Secret Service officer who felt, quote, shaken.

And in the story, they are on a staircase, fending off Commander with a chair like a lion tamer. Like literally using a chair. Matt, you're in the fucking White House. are holding a chair to stop this this unstoppable untrained german shepherd from attacking you where like upstairs from the fucking diplomat diplomatic room or something and from the map room is there like a portrait of john f kennedy looking sad above you as you try to stop being bitten by the only dog in the world you can't shoot? Fox News, for some reason, aired a Man on the Street segment about rampant crime in democratic cities like Seattle, in which the people interviewed mercilessly mocked the interviewer.

I've never seen any crime in Seattle. I've never seen any of it. I've seen fun and laughter and laughter and fun. I don't believe that number. People, they're, you know, getting robbed out here, carjacked. I've never heard of anyone getting robbed. Crime is a social issue that could be solved by giving people their basic needs. It's not a thing that happens just on the street.

People don't just come up and try to rob people on the street. Do you walk around every day like someone's going to rob me every second? Seattle decriminalized drug use and then they criminalized it again. Oh my God, who are you getting these facts from? You're from New York. Apparently, you're listening to the wrong people. I saw a lot of people shooting up on my way down here. Oh, did you?

Okay. And they were bothering you? I was in a car, but, you know, people... Oh, no, you're in a car. Oh, no, they hurt people so bad. Oh, no. Tragically, everyone in this video died by looking at fentanyl. But nonetheless, that last person, she's Seattle's John Fetterman. tragically everyone in this video died by looking at fentanyl but nonetheless

that last person she's seattle's john fetterman we love her and if you are in seattle if you know this person if you are this person we are holding tickets for you for our seattle show you will be our honored guest i am i am serious i have a feeling that the Venn diagram of people from Seattle making fun of a Fox News reporter on the street and people who listen to this show or know people who do, there's some overlap in there. Find this person and get in touch. On Sunday, the WGA and the AMPTP reached a deal on a new contract on the 146th day of the strike, which will then go to the WGA membership for a vote this week. You know what that means.

Looks like California Chicken Cafe. Back on the menu, boys. That joke is for no one. For those listening at home who aren't familiar with the lunch orders of writers in Los Angeles, California Chicken Cafe is a classic restaurant on the list of places that a writer's room will order it from. You know, you're not excited about it, but you get through it. Anyway, we're in business. I'm tired of not having a TV show on principle.

It's time to go back to not having a TV show on the merits. a TV show on principle. It's time to go back to not having a TV show on the merits. A WGA strike captain told reporters, we prove that justice prevails when workers act in the spirit of solidarity, locking arms and fighting for what is right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm staffing on the skibbity toilet adaptation for Pluto TV. Thank you. A team of astronomers has published a new report based on recently gathered imaging, said the study's co-author, whether this black hole is spinning or not has been a central concern among scientists. This monster black hole is indeed spinning. Now that we have these detailed images of the hole, scientists believe the next step will be transmitting a signal asking for face.

Taylor Swift was spotted sitting with Travis Kelsey, Kelch? I've never seen it. Mother? I don't know. He's not a famous person. Anyway, some football player's mother at a home game amidst rumors that she's dating the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. The galers on TikTok, these are the fans who believe Taylor Swift is secretly gay, they do believe her presence at this football concert is yet another diversion before the release of her secret album, I'm in love with my biggest fan, a girl, and it's you because I can see the real you. Comedian Dane Cook, age 51, has married his

partner of six years, 24-year-old fitness instructor, Kelsey Taylor. Cook told an interviewer, I'm not just marrying Kelsey, I'm marrying her whole family. I love getting to know them at her gender reveal. A pair of tickets to Ford's Theater on April 14th, 1865, the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, were sold at auction for $262,500,

or if you don't count the Ticketmaster fees, $45. Did they knock you out refundss or was the theater like, oh, you're going to tell me that you didn't see a show tonight? And finally, during a pink concert in San Antonio on Monday, the singer kicked out a man who held up a message reading circumcision, cruel, and harmful. His protest, like so much

else in this world, was unjustly cut short. When we come back, it's the rest in this world, was unjustly cut short. When we come back, it's the rest of the world that's the problem. And we're back! He just flew here from across the bond, and boy are his arms tired. Not from literally flying, you idiots. Arms get tired doing lots of things. Lifting a case of Diet Coke. Trying and failing to do one

pull-up. Anyway, there are a lot of things. Here to help me out is the very funny and extremely British Russell Howard. Hi, how are you? Thanks for being here. That's Pundit. Hello, everyone. Hey, Pundit. How you doing? How you doing? I'm good. How are you?

Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Hey, Pundit. How you doing? How you doing? I'm good. How are you? Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Hey, what do you think is the most repulsive thing about American culture? Where do we start? I think it's your lack of choice as far as presidents are concerned. It's mind-blowing. You go into a coffee shop, you can have... There's more options for milk than president. You have percent two percent half and half which in england is bisexual

and and yet you get to the ballot box and it's the it's the liar or the tripper and it's just so well when you consider what what you people have done down the years you invented the telephone the the airplane peanut butter and jelly you've done everything and now what have you become just these two dusty fucks like how do you not join isis like it must blow your mind man it must be like because you know presumably everyone in the room is pro-biden but that's a hard like isn't't it? Do you know what I mean? It's like if, you know, when Freddie Mercury died, if they replaced them with Joe Biden, it's just, it's not good. No, and I think sometimes it is good to sit with these feelings before we decide we're going to do everything we possibly can to convince ourselves that we're

excited to do everything we can to make sure that Donald Trump loses and Joe Biden wins because despite the fact that he's 80 and not as sort of spry as he once was, he's actually done a very good job as president. And sure, I wish we didn't live in a society where our only options for leaders are people who remember the Bay of Pigs, but

that's not the lot we were given. That's not the options before me. And I don't have a Laurie filled with bisexual. I have fat-free and poison. Yes. What I love most about that is, presumably that's your dog.

Yeah. I don't know if you could pick this up, but you were working yourself up into such a love that your dog was going... Because your dog clearly recognizes that rage yeah yeah yeah she pundit has clearly seen you talking to the tv and she's like not now dad satan dad dad come on go to your happy place come on yeah i've never seen that i've done many talk shows down the years i've never seen a dog can't growl and try and calm down the host. That's when you know you're too far gone, man.

Apparently dogs can smell your psychological state. So Pundit must be breathing through her teeth because you see you on the edge. Yeah, no, I think she does smell the fear and anger in the room. And that is me. But that's always me. It's sort of like her baseline. I think that's how she knows I'm here and anger in the room. Yeah. And that is me. But that's always me. It's sort of like her baseline. I think that's how she knows I'm here

and that she's safe. But she calmed you down. She did calm me down. She did calm me down. Come on. Come on. You guys have dogs over there? Yeah, we do.

In fact, I've got a dog called Archie and I live in a part of London. My dog is the only dog that doesn't wear clothes. He's kind of... He's old school. Do you know what I mean? That's cool, yeah. I saw a greyhound, big, big dog. I saw one of those the other day wearing shoes.

And it looked like the poor thing. Honestly, it looked like an NBA player on acid. It was just so... You know what I mean? Just walking like that. They're not meant to have shoes. They're not meant to have shoes. They're not meant to have them.

And it looked like my dog was looking at that dog going, poor fucker. Do you know what I mean? There was that real sense of can't believe his fucking owner. Do you know what I mean? Just every little shoe, poor thing. Well, yeah, but it wouldn't make sense to just have one or two. It would help the dog.

Yeah, the dog would like it more. Yeah, man. Hey, what do you think about the banning of that Bully XL? That they're trying to ban some kind of a dog that they blame on us. They do what on us? Don't they blame that on the US, that dog? It's called a Bully XL, so I don't know if that's a US dog. Are you thinking that's an obesity reference?

I don't understand. Well, I don't really remember now. Is it based in the US? I thought that in some sense they thought it was an American import of some kind but i may be misremembering a story i barely paid attention to but the point is they're trying to ban this dog because i think the dog is dangerous it's very dangerous yeah it's um yeah that we're kind of banning it because there's just been this spate we you know the daily mail newspaper there's like someone just giggled at the mention of it which indicates you're a good crowd it's um

the daily mail is videos just random videos of like just dogs are leaping up at people and you know when you just you haven't so i haven't even clicked on it and you've shown me the image but this seems to be happening a lot in the uk dogs are kind of just leaping up and kit and sort of killing people it's broke but you know yeah there's no funny way out of it. That's not happening here. So that's something that we have that you don't. That's something you have. Yeah.

Yeah. You may have, you may have all these cool milks, but at least you're not lying down on the side of a road bleeding to death because a dog bit you. That's correct.

Yeah. That's something Trump and Biden aren't doing. No, but not yet. Except for one of his. Actually, Biden is doing that. Yeah. But he his uh actually biden is doing that yeah

but he doesn't know that he's doing that no it's not his fault uh hey did you see that um uh peers morgan interviewed that guy the chess player uh who was accused of having a a kind of um cheating by having something in his butt that gave him the answers? I didn't, but I've never wanted to see something more. So he was cheating because... So the claim is that he was getting, that he had some sort of a device in his, I think you called a bum, that would vibrate to send him messages about where to move the pieces.

How skillful is his anus? Yes. Because I think you could prod and poke my ass as much as you want, but I don't think I would know what they meant. I don't think it's like... Do you know what I mean? If you put your finger there and you're like,

you're right, I will move my rook. Right, right, right, right, right. No, as you say that, you're raising an interesting point. I guess it could be Morse code. Okay, it's Morse code, but if it's a chess move, so if it's up your ass and it's like, did it, did it, did it, did it, did it,

and you're like, I agree. I just don't know how, I mean, talk about 10,000 hours. Yeah, practice does make perfect. Imagine. It'll pay off one day, Mom, and I get out of my room. It's extraordinary. Surely you're better off just learning how to play chess. That isn't something you pick up instantly.

It's not like the first time the dildo goes up there and you're like, do you know what, I'm a champion. Right, and also, by the way, you don't really need to start with a chess master. No. I mean, you can either be good at chess or good at figuring out the singles from your anal probe. But you don't actually need both. No, you don't. But it does make you want to try, though, doesn't it?

I've been trying for years. I don't know anything about chess. I think mine might be broken, actually. Checkmate! Checkmate! At least we can agree on one thing. Our countries are the disgusting brothers of the world. Yes, we are.

We really are. Which is why we wanted to engage you in a segment we're calling At Least That Wasn't Us. Or the UK. I will read you what happened you will guess what country it happened in and bob's your uncle we both keep a tremendous sigh of relief and say oh thank god at least it wasn't us for once okay here we go this country's house speaker had to step down this week after praising you guessed it a veteran who had fought for the nazis which country was

this that is canada that is correct is. What's extraordinary about that? It's the vetting process is extraordinary. I had to show ID to get into this building. And yet a Nazi just walked into the Canadian parliament and took the applause. It was two standing ovations. He was a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. Yeah. So that was a mistake.

It was a huge error. Yeah, he's gone now, isn't he? It's theadier Division of the SS. Yeah. So that was a mistake. It was a huge error. Yeah, he's gone now, isn't he? It's the fact that he took the applause. Like, when did they figure out? Do you know what I mean? I can't believe I'm getting away with this. Yeah, but he was just sort of like waving at them and they were kind of applauding. And it's just like,

I just imagine the conversation afterwards. So what was the worst part of the war for you? And he's like, when we lost. And they're like, oh, Jesus. Yeah. A proud citizen of this country was fined for taking his snake surfing took his snake surfing that feels like australia you got it oh there you go that's good he would have gotten away with it too if he hadn't filmed his

snake surfing and put it online and he's a politician no just a person okay just a guy with a snake and a surfboard having a good time down under but that's alright though isn't it apparently

it must have been happening enough that they had introduced some kind of a penalty right again that feels alright to me I would put that

on America's Got Talent I'd watch that I mean if you had a surfing snake who's that bothering nobody nobody what kind of problem

is that going to cause? Nothing. The only people that's annoying are the fish. Right. Why weren't we given the option? But it's not like they love the surfing to begin with.

They might do. I've never seen a fish surf. It's never been given the choice. But the point I'm making, you've had to go and get a snake. Whereas before, if you're in the sea, you've got a fish there.

You go, hey mate, do you fancy a goat? Whereas the snake's miles away. I mean, it just makes no, it makes no geographical sense. Makes no geographical sense. They don't belong out there. That's not where they belong. Yeah. And we all know

that. And that's why you have to pay the fine. Exactly. An amusement park ride in this nation stalled abruptly over the weekend, leaving riders stranded 75 feet up in the air and dangling upside down for nearly 30 minutes. Okay, that feels like France. It should be, but it was Canada.

Okay. It was Canada. The lumberjack ride featuring two hydraulic arms. It's called the lumberjack ride. Yeah, it was giant axes. And it crapped out at Canada's Wonderland Amusement Park in Ontario on Saturday. Then the people were stuck up there, and then somebody that worked at the park screamed up at the people dangling,

Are you okay? And they all screamed back, No! What are you going to say? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Yeah. But that's how polite Canadians are. They're like, This must be the right. Just 40 minutes.

Oh, don't worry about us. Yeah. We'll be fine. we'll be fine we'll be fine the government body for gymnastics in this proud nation issued an apology on monday after a viral video showed an official skipping over island yes that was ireland yeah yeah there's an official skipped over a young black gymnast during a medal presentation it's horrible yeah i'm realizing now in my mind i pictured physically skipping but I'm realizing it was a metaphorical you know what I mean I was like wait in what contest was someone jumping over someone

and now I understand because of the medal ceremony part the video drew condemnation from Simone Biles among others so close to humiliation for the UK but not quite it's so upsetting and depressing I don't understand it but did they not have enough medals or did she just sort of not deem her worthy I don't know it. But did they not have enough medals? Or did she just sort of

not deem her worthy? I don't know. It seems like something you could fix in the moment quite quickly. Yeah. A university in this country is going to offer

the nation's first degree in being a social media influencer. The UK? Ireland again. Okay. But it'll be everywhere. Students can apply to earn a Bachelor of Arts

in Content Creation and Social Media at Southeast Technical University starting in November. That's depressing, don't you think? It's unbelievably depressing. But how do you even teach that? Do you know what I mean? Like, lesson one.

This is about being vapid. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? You think you're self-obsessed, you've got to take it up a notch. You just eat your food. Yeah, sometimes. We'll take a photo of it.

What blows my mind is it's not just like one item of the food. It'll be like the starter, the main, and the dessert all at the same time and somebody going like that. No one ever eats like that, ever. No one's ever gone to a restaurant, can you give me all the food right now? So I came up with a photo of me gurning at it like that. Mind-blowing.

Food, babiesies and Dreams. Great album. People are... Great album. People think their own is more interesting than other people do. That's correct. Very much so.

I'm trying to think... I'm thinking about the first day of social media class and you show up and the professor's like, now I assigned three books for each of you to read. Did you read them?

You did? Well, you failed. Your first test. Get those fucking books out of here. You won't need to look at another one of those things for the rest of your life because you're getting a degree in TikTok. Yeah, exactly.

A drunk tourist broke a statue one day after it was unveiled following a three-year, $150 million refurbishment in this country. That fills England. The country was Belgium, but the tourist was from Ireland. Oh, really? Oh, my God. What was the statue of? The tourist climbed onto the statue, which is outside the Brussels Stock Exchange, breaking off a sword and causing $19,000 worth of damage.

I don't know what the sword was attached to. That's too expensive for a statue, $150 million. What are we doing here? Yeah, that's the Belgians, man. Chocolate waffles and statues. It's too much. It's too much. A man from this country faked his own kidnapping

to spend New Year's Eve with a woman other than his partner. That's a cool move. So aggressive. Such a huge thing to make up up so he faked his own death basically he faked his own kidnapping right which is which is a huge thing to fake because once you're found people are going to be like yeah we're going to keep looking into it yeah like when someone gets kidnapped and then returned everyone's like well no harm no foul it continues to be an issue yeah Yeah. People come back to it.

Also, but New Year's Eve is kind of the one day where you can say, oh, things got out of hand. Sorry I didn't make it back. You've got an inbuilt alibi. So much traffic. Yeah, but when there's parties going on and, you know, he didn't need to do that. How did he fake his kidnapping? What did he do?

I'm not sure. The man had been in a court order to reimburse the police for their 200 hours of labor on the search sorry here he pretended he pretended to have been kidnapped by an unknown middle eastern man and miraculously was returned unscathed that is so intense you know it's gone too far you're talking to the police you've introduced racism into it because you're panicked and you're racist. And now what? Now what?

But that says a lot about the police as well. They're kind of going like, oh yeah, they've been kidnapped. A Middle Eastern man. Okay, let's get on it. It's probably fake. You said Middle Eastern, man. Lights and sirens, boys.

That's unbelievable. Where was that? It was Australia. Was it? Australia was it Australia and Ireland are doing well in this competition yeah

god that's mind blowing 200 hours trying to find where he was just at her house it seems he was just wanted to have sex with a different person

yeah and that's as far as I know right now and I can't say more because I had my defamation training today, so I'm trying not to go beyond the facts. Yeah, it's at the same place as the Instagram.

Yeah, they're side by side. They're two different institutes. Yeah, very different worlds. Yeah, they hate each other. They're rivals. Bisexual milk. That's what you call it. No.

Being half and half in the UK means you're bisexual. Oh, my goodness. I misunderstood. We call it... I see. I see. So, I'm sorry. Oh, I might have some bisexual milk with my tea.

I thought you were making a fun little joke. I want the milk to go both ways. That's what I see now. It was a little joke. Half and half is a term for being bisexual. That's right. B now. Yeah, it was a little joke. Half and half is a term for being bisexual. That's right. Bisexual isn't a term

for half and half. No. It was a simple little joke on the way to a bit. Right. I was improvising. I was on the fly. And I loved it.

You loved it. And the whole crowd laughed. Presumably you understood it. They did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you thought I meant bisexual milk. Well, I knew it wasn't. Yes.

I thought that was part of it. Like a little joke like, ha, we call half and half bisexual. I reversed it. I took another step that I shouldn't have, and I fell down. No, it's fine. You frothed that milk up.

You bet. Nothing wrong with that. Thank you so much Russell hey man thanks for having me this was so much fun genuinely one of the weirdest talk shows I've ever done but I really enjoyed it

isn't it strange yeah no it's really odd it's surprisingly popular no I can see why it's fun yeah but it's like

all the way through this there was a snoring dog and it's hot. Like, German, you're trying to be entertaining, but I'm trying to work a human audience and a dog. And because if you hear... Irrespective whether it's human or animal, you think, this isn't going great.

No, it throws you off for sure. It really does. But, like, there were bits that you really liked. The humans. The humans liked the dog not so keen. But there was never, there was never

a happy medium. When it was silence, all you could hear was pundit. Yeah. It raises the stakes in a sense. I loved it.

And now she leaves. There you go. Check out Russell's website, russell-howard.co.uk to see his dates for his US tour that starts on October 4th. Everybody go check it out. And his new podcast, Wonderbox,

which launches on October 11th. When we come back, it's not what it looks like. We can explain. Hey, thanks. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Hey, don't go anywhere.

There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. I saw a TikTok in which an obviously gay man said his favorite thing to do at a party was to go up to a stranger and say, look, I know what everyone's saying, but I, for one, don't have a problem with you being here. Please welcome to the Love It or Leave It couch two people I for one don't have a problem being here. The hilarious Zach Zucker and the incredible Eugene Cordero.

Come on out. Come on out, fellas. Right here. Hi, hi, hi, hi. Thanks for being here. Thanks for coming. I hate to even ask this, but have either of you ever done anything unscrupulous? What was it? Have you ever done anything unscrupulous? What was it? Have you ever done anything unscrupulous? Have you ever done anything wrong? No. Me neither.

Next. Next question. Are you familiar with what's going on with New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez? Yeah. Next. Nice. Do you believe him when he says that he had nearly half a million dollars in cash and gold bars in his house

because his family is Cuban and so he needed to be ready for anything emotionally? I mean, are you Cuban? I'm not. Well, then you don't know. It's true. You don't know. You don't know. You don't know, man.

You don't know when you need a gold bar. You're right. You're right. You're right. No, I'm listening. I'm learning. I'm receiving it. I'm receiving it. Listen to it and leave it.

Yeah. I'm receiving it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Porque esa es la cosa. ¿Que hablas español o no? Porque hablo perfectamente español. ¿Hay alguien aquí que habla español?

Y esa es la... Okay. Dos personas. Perfecto. Pens that's the... Okay, two people. Perfect. I thought they were... Okay, here's the thing. So until you know, you don't know. Yeah. And...

No, I'm not saying I've lived a Cuban experience either. Zach's not Cuban. I'm not Cuban. I speak Spanish. I was in a dual language program. I look like I should speak Spanish. I look like I should speak Spanish. And I don't. And he doesn't,

but you do, and you look like you shouldn't. No. I look like I learned it a bad way. Yeah, yeah. Bad. He learned the bad man's Spanish. He learned it the bad way. Gentlemen, it's time for a game inspired by Senator Menendez

that we're calling an innocent explanation. Here's how it works. I'm going to give you an actual political scandal, and you need to give us, each of you, an innocent explanation for what happened. We will alternate. You will each get a chance. The person whose explanation is the most plausible and heartfelt

will get the point. Oh, that's wonderful. And might I say, the crowd looks beautiful tonight. Each and every single one of you, Cuban or not, I love you guys. He's working the refs. Te amo con todo mi corazón. Oh, my God.

He's just trying to get those two. The rest of you that speak English, you're with me. Oh, my God. What's happening? All I'm saying is just don't judge a book by its cover. Yeah. He learned French from a bad man, too. Yeah.

But he was like more of a bad man. That was cool. That sounded like he was a French person speaking English for a second. That's another language in a sense. Yeah. In a sense and in a another language in a sense. Yeah. In a sense and in a sense and in an explanation. Let's get into it.

Wow. What a billbrain clocked out for the day. All right. Here it is. I'm going to need an innocent explanation for why you have $480,000 in cash and gold bars hidden inside your home.

Zach, you're going to go first. You have 30 seconds. Why do you have it in your home? What's the innocent, plausible, sweet explanation? Okay. Riddle me this, jokester. You go to the bank. You have a PIN.

You don't know how many people know this PIN. You don't know who has access to your money. You don't even know if it exists there. From what I understand of the environment, well, I meant to say economy, is nothing. It's kind of like the environment of our world. Let's drop in. Let's think about it. But if it's in your house, well, you don't have to remember a pin. You just got to remember where you put it. And pretty good start. It's in your in your house and if you want you can make it so that only you and your other the ones the lived ones living in there lived in ones now talk about the lived ones yeah the lived ones it could be about the lived

ones who are there yeah not the ones who are asleep wake up leave it or love where i don't even know where to look looking down the barrel of the camera. Get ready. But basically, what I'm saying is, no, I don't think he did it. That's not the question. Eugene, why do you have to... Yep, cheer yourself. That's good.

Zach, Zach. Oh, my God. It's crazy what's happening to people shouting, Zach, Eugene, you have $500,000 in cash and gold bars. Why? Why not? Well, you want to have people come over to your house, right? You want them to have a little fun experience, right?

Yeah. It's like an escape room in your home. It's like having an Indiana Jones party all the time, where they're like, hey, is there something behind this fake wall? It's like, yeah, gold bars, asshole. And then all of a sudden you have them there. Oh, what's behind that weird painting? Oh, just a stack full of money.

That is cool. And you have it all in your house, and you can play with it whenever you feel like it. You can Scrooge McDuck your life. You can have a vault that you can swim in. That's why you have it in your house. It's nice to know how much money you have. Yeah, it is nice to know.

If you have that much money. If you have $500,000, it's nice to know you have it. And you can look at it and you can touch it in gold bars. I just want to talk about the bars. Who gets to have those? I want those in my house. Get to, like, bop people on the side of the head with them? No, no, no violence with the bars.

Hey, and we're not, and look, and that's so important. Oh, you know what I'd want to set up? Have you seen, it's like a game that they play where it's like a plastic box that has a hole in it and you're trying to pull the gold bar out of it. They have it in like- Sounds like some sort of anti-Semitic cartoon. You know what? Wow. Are you thinking about it? I think you're not thinking of a game, I think you like some sort of anti-Semitic cartoon. You know what? Wow.

Are you thinking about it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're not thinking of a game, I think you're thinking of an anti-Semitic cartoon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think about those

all the time. So as a bisexual Jew, I am feeling attacked today. And because I'm the only guy who speaks Spanish? Okay, I thought that would get a way better reaction

than that. I'm gonna give the point on the first round. It's close. It's really close. But it is going to Eugene because he brought up Scrooge McDuck.

And that was actually our secret word of the day. What do you get? A gold bar? You get one gold bar, but one one gold bar but we put them in a basket on Halloween and it's it's it's sort of honor system oh so you just take one as you leave

take one but sometimes you know there's you look and it's there you look and it's there you come back an hour later it's all gone because one fucking kid took all the gold bars why are you looking at me like I did it it would be you this is an anti-semitic thing? No. It is. It's a Spanish speaking thing. Okay, sorry.

And I'm sorry. One thing I love about Scrooge McDuck, thank you for asking, is that really only he was good at swimming in the gold. Other people would jump in and try to swim in the gold and they would just land flat. Because in the psychic universe of DuckTales, he deserves the money. And he's good with it and gets it.

And it loves him back. Other people try to dive in the gold and they can't. Because they don't know how to swim in gold. Because they're not meant to be rich. Scrooge McDuck is fucking meant to be rich. God, you're so right. Something to think about. Can i tell you when i was a kid i tried to get a bunch of pennies in my mouth and lay my back and tried to spit them out

like it was like it would be water like back backstroke and yeah that's that's how comfortable he was he could literally gargle and spit the gold yeah he spit money out and it looked like water how'd it go for you not good it like trickled out and then it tasted weird. Yeah. You know what I mean? And sorry to dwell on this because it is very relevant. Glomgold, the other, the bad rich person? Yes.

Why was he worse? Literally no reason. There's just no reason. He didn't have nephews. He didn't like his nephews. Fucking glom gold. Hay alguien aquí que entiende lo que están diciendo porque no entiendo nada. But it's great to be here.

Follow up. I'm going to need an innocent explanation for why you Googled how much is a kilo of gold worth the day after you got back from a trip in the car of the person accused of being part of the bribery scam Eugene you're going to start you're in the back of the car

you're googling how much is a kilo of gold worth why because that's the question you'll always have in your head, and there's never going to be a wrong time to get the answer. There's never a time that you shouldn't learn information, even if it's late, right?

So if, let's say, my wife cheated on me. She already did it, let's say. I'm so sorry. No, no, no, it's not a real. This is a hypothetical, I hope. But if she did did the day after I would probably still google the guy

even though it doesn't matter anymore right does that make sense yeah no I think we're not all kind of more kind of sitting in

this example got it it's a hard one yeah I'm like who is this guy let's say it's a plastic box and you can reach your hand in it like let's say let's say it's a plastic box and you can reach your hand in it yeah let's say there's like a puppeteer but i think it's like

you know there's questions that you just like pop into your head at the wrong time and you know what you need to hear those answers if it's the day after you have gold bar they find out there's gold bars in your house you still want to know how much it's worth. You'll want to know what a gold bar is worth if you got it legally. Yeah. Because a gold bar is a gold bar. I'm not going to lie to you. Before I drive away safely, I am going to Google it in my car.

Because I am curious of how much a gold bar is worth. What would your guess be? One McDuck. That's about right. If you're measuring it in McDucks, it's a single McDuck. It's a McDuck. Now, currently, with the exchange rate. But they get you.

Don't exchange your McDuck at the airport. No. Don't do it at the airport. They get you every time. They get you every time. Yeah. Don't wait in that line. That's where they get you. Arriving is one thing. But the one when you're leaving, no.

No, no, no. Because they know. They know. They know they got you. It's like at Vegas, they don't show any of the clocks, and they pump funny gas into the airport so that you just, you never know where your flights are going or what time it is. Las Vegas poisons the pilots.

Okay, sorry. Famous. Questions to you. Okay, sorry. Famous. Questions to you. Yes, sure. You're in the back of a car being driven by a driver for someone who has potentially bribed you. Allegedly, I had my defamation training today. Why are you Googling it?

Sorry, what? More important, defamation training for what? Oh, just to make sure we're all keeping it tight. Is that why you have your note cards in front of your mouth right now? So that we can change things in post. He's whispering to me saying, do more Spanish stuff. He's trying to push me to go for it, and I'll take the bait every time. But, hello?

I see you guys. You know that, right? You know that we can fucking see you. It's terrifying, you know? I want to be hilarious, but I don't know 90% of what's been said so far. And so the whole time I've been sitting here going, do I tell them?

Do I go, yeah, Scrooge. I could have gotten past that and you guys would have never known, but you know what? I'm an honest guy. Aw. And I just want to say, um god that's when i was hoping something really funny would have come out you know but it's nice to launch yourself off sometimes knowing that a room full of 900 people

are gonna catch you next question point to Zach yeah yeah yeah because he got that we know why he earned that he earned that point he earned that point I feel so nervous no no no

I feel like I'm gonna throw up hey hey you're doing great yeah the 900 love you yeah hey there could be

there could be 899 people in a room that don't get it but one person in that 900 people does? Yeah. And that's what Lady Gaga said about it. All right, next up. We're going to need an instant explanation for why you were allegedly collecting unemployment while making $120,000 a year for an investment firm that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

Zach, you're going to kick us off. Yeah. Well, first off, I just would like to go on behalf of the Ponzi schemes and say, you know, a lot of people talk about the way that I conduct business as if I run some sort of pyramid scheme. But I like to think of it more of like a premium triangle with different levels of different layers and whatnot. But why would you need unemployment?

Dude, the government's dumb. You've got to get your money where you can. Sounds like this guy was running a Ponzi scheme, so he's going to be out of money pretty soon when they find out. So it's nice to just make sure he can cover his bases and get his groceries and, you know, whatever else people do with money. And you know what people do with money.

Of course. You know, they buy gold. They swim in with pennies in their mouths. They're Spanish. It's all the stuff. It's all the stuff. That's all the thing. It's all the deals.

Things people do with money. Be Spanish. Por favor. Eugene, over to you. You're doing a Ponzi scheme while making 120 000 and collecting unemployment sure um uh i'm collecting unemployment because you don't know if other people are gonna jump on board to your ponzi scheme so as people are making their decisions you're technically not working so you're unemployed once they say okay i want to be part of your scheme and you're not going

to call it your scheme you're going to call it your business. Smart. Hey, by the way, fucking, you almost fell in one of the huge pitfalls that fucks up a lot of Ponzi schemes at the job. I'll be honest. They call it a scheme. But that's a mistake people make. So that was smart.

I've been involved in a couple and have gotten fired from them because I go, hey, guys, are you part of the scheme or not? And they're like, what did or not? And they're like, what did you say? And I'm like, and then I collect unemployment because nobody took the bait.

So, yeah, it's like fishing. You're not fishing when you're just out there. You only are fishing once you've caught a fish. The rest of the time you're just on a boat. Wow, that. So are you just on a boat right now or did you catch fish

because if you caught a fish you're fishing if you're just not then you're just on a boat today wow that's um I have to say one of the saddest ways of thinking about life itself that I've literally ever heard like I would say that like one of the most important things about life is coming to realize that you really were fishing

the whole time. Or is that wrong? Turns out only the moments when there was a tug on the rod. That's it. The rest of the time was just nothing. Yeah. We're tugging on rods now. Also, can I give Eugene the points for that one?

That was a miraculous anecdote we were just dropped. And I feel like all 900 of you are not appreciating this. Well, they're questioning their own lives right now because everybody thought they were fishing this whole time. But they weren't. Turns out y'all are just sitting in the boat. Wow. Waiting for a little tug.

For giving us a lot to think about, the point goes to Eugene. Thank you. I'm going to do one more. You guys are tied. No, it's 2-1. You guys are tied 2-1. I love math.

It's one of those 2-1 ties. I'm going to need an innocent explanation for why you burned so many government documents in your fireplace, your suits smelled of smoke. Eugene, we we're gonna start with you um well uh you don't want to spend a lot of money on electricity you want to spend your money on things that you want. You need electricity, but you don't want to spend the money on it.

You need gas to drive your car, but you don't want to spend the money on gas. So if you can burn some documents, burn documents. And keep your house heated. That's two birds. Now, if a suit smells like smoke, it's great. Back in the day, didn't all suits smell like smoke? Everybody smelled like smoke. Everybody smoked.

Everybody just sat in lounges with suits on. You can get on an airplane and smoke and wear a suit. It's classic stuff. It's classic. It's classic and classy. Classy, classic Vegas stuff right there. classic Vegas stuff right there not too long ago

adults would put on their nicest most uncomfortable clothes get onto a plane that crashed 15% of the time smoke cigarettes the whole way with a suitcase that had no

wheels and now we say to each other man remember how cool things used to be the whole way with a suitcase that had no wheels. And now we say to each other, man, remember how cool things used to be? No. No. That sucks. They didn't put wheels on the suitcase until I was an adult.

I saw on a TikTok the other day on Amazon, they have new scooter suitcases that turn into scooters so you could scoot through the airport. I'll tell you, I got one of those from my daughter and we threw it away. Really? Because she fucking took off.

And we were like, oh, Jesus. Hey, hey. We had to chase her down the airport. It was brutal. It's amazing that the problem is it's not that it doesn't work, it's that it works too good. It works too. She got so excited. She was just like waving back at us.

We're like, no! You're like on Amazon, like five out of five stars. Help me find my daughter. Lasting Terminal Four. Yeah. Zach, over to you. Why am I burning government documents?

Because I got the CDs and I'm trying to see what they're listening to. So I'm, that's right. I took it in a different way, guys. And I didn't mean to, but it is a hurricane up here. Or a him cane. And so I, man, this is the best crowd I've ever had in my life. You've got 900 strong.

I got the Tony Hawk audience out here tonight. Oh, man, and we're all just spinning. No, I... I was going to go with something about burning the documents, like burning them. At first, I thought you meant literally burning them onto a CD, and then I was like, oh, you mean like

some sabotage. Right. Yeah. Right. Destruction. Some saboteur. You know, a little bit of you know like sorry we're gonna do some of this stuff stuff sorry that's how the people in the government talk yeah yeah yeah wake up sheeple and then they smell like smoke because they're smoking because they're ballers they're like yo i got all of this government junk on my CDs right now. Let me light up.

And that could be a spliff, a cig, a joint, or a cigar. And I think that's about all you can smoke. Or a vape. And, you know, you can. And you can. Yeah. And, you know, as the sun sets on my time on this show right now, and the opportunity to come back anytime again, you know, I just want to say it's been lovely to be here.

I've really felt like the Bob Burn quest to your Tony Hawk's, everyone. It looks like there's less skaters than Spanish speakers. Mierda. I could just sit here all night. I'm having a great time. This is so fun. I'm having a great time this is so fun I'm gonna give the point to Zach because smoking is cool

it is cool and people love smoking smoking cigars smoking joints smoking cigarettes and they love it while burning documents onto CDs

in a fireplace it does sometimes I'm like why is everyone why did I lose everyone there and then I hear you say that back burning documents onto CDs in a fireplace. Sometimes I'm like, why did I lose everyone there? And then I hear you say that back, and I'm like, what do you possibly do with that? You know, I gave you that answer, and I was like, oh, that's weird, why is he talking about burning CDs?

You won the point, by the way. And I gotta say, it is remarkable to be here. I love the community. Zach and Eugene, this was here i love the community zach and eugene this was i love the community and to see zach check out stamptown comedy.com you can see it on a sweatshirt stamptowncomedy.com to catch their next shows i apologize i am wearing my own merch i have just i have a lot to sell and this is really all i've got so far so you know if you want to chat afterwards uh just send us a little venmo or something um but really make sure to see eugene And this is really all I've got so far. So, you know, if you want to chat afterwards, just send us a little Venmo or something.

But really make sure to see Eugene and Loki. He really needs the views right now. Yeah, yeah. Look, these are just two side-by-side projects. Disney Plus' Loki and the Stamptown sweatshirts. Just two things that L.A. is pumping out right now that we're really excited about. This was actually made in the UK, so it's actually called a jumper.

Whoa. Bloody brilliant, mate. Eugene has won the game. When we come back, nature calls, and we're sending her a voicemail. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It,

and there's more on the way. And we're back! Week after week, I desperately look for a way to talk about all the incredible, beautiful, bizarre animal news stories that swim, crawl, and fly across our desks, including talking, as always, about the horrific doings of man. Finally, this week is the week, so please welcome to the couch the host of America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston. It's Baratunde himself. Come on out.

How you doing? Good to see you. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. Thank you, pundit, for having me. Well, say hello. Oh, you are my favorite. I have to say,

she's being a bit of a pill today. Hi. But favorite. I have to say, she's being a bit of a pill today. Hi. But she's into it. Very cute. I like you too. Can you believe that this came from a wolf? Can you believe it? Can you believe it?

I've missed you too, John. I haven't seen you in a long time. It's nice to have you. So you have a nature show called America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston. And apparently I've never been fishing. You've never been fishing because you've just been out in a boat. Because Eugene just destroyed my life. It was really sad.

Right. It's going to stick with me. Maybe once or twice. It's going to sit with me. This idea that you're not fishing unless you're catching something. Yeah. That's a big deal. I don't know about it.

You were saying about me. Hey, is it fun being outside? You know you can go there, right? I mean, yeah. It's the only way to get from my car to my house. Outside is amazing. And yes, it's often fun. How do you know how far you've run

if there's not a little thing that tells you? Yes, this is a very important question. You don't have to know. What? I heard a mind being blown. That was the sound of a mind blown. We don't have to count everything. We don't have to count everything?

Yeah. You're very soothing. It's a soothing time. Is it? No, it is not. It's a horrific, it's a terrifying time. What? I need to balance it with soothing.

What happens in America outdoors when you're there? What happens in America outdoors when you're there? When I'm there, I have a film crew with me. It's very safe. When I'm there, I find people who are connecting to this part of ourselves that we have turned off in terms of our connection to nature. And that's really fun most of the time. When I'm there, sometimes I have to do things I've never done before. And that's really fun. Most of the time. When I'm there, sometimes I have to do things I've never done before.

And that's sometimes scary. Like what? Bungee jumping? Eating a fish? I held a snake. I wasn't looking forward to that. And then what happened on the show? I held a snake.

Oh, I see. And I probably, I don't necessarily need to do that one again. But yeah, I find there's a lot more beauty out there. and I probably I don't necessarily need to do that one again but yeah I just I find like there's a lot of there's a lot more beauty out there

when I actually go out there as opposed to just talking about out there and I need that balance sometimes because I love to talk about out there but it's nice to actually

go out there too isn't that true of everything yeah isn't that a metaphor in a sense yeah hey you know sometimes what i think about what i think about watching things about the beautiful and amazing natural world and all that i can do for us sometimes now it is hard to watch any kind of nature documentary or any exploration

of the great outdoors without always having some part of you thinking about climate change i'm actually seriously asking this yeah and because it it is a difference. Like, you know, when you watch those incredible planet Earth series, even when climate change isn't the central topic, and they occasionally, I think, I think they try to figure out a balance between just showing people how beautiful nature it is letting nature speak for itself, while also pointing out that one thing we have to talk about is how these habitats are changing, how the weather is shifting. But even when they're not talking about it directly, when you see a cold place, it can't help but be on your mind.

Did you think about that at all while you were making the show? Constantly. Nature is us and we are changing. We've changed nature. And climate change was this kind of uninvited co-star of the series we we didn't set out to chronicle every nook and cranny that's different but everywhere we went was different i went to maine and met with people who you know worked in the lobster trade and now they work in the kelp trade and the oyster trade and it's not something that they

actively chose that transition. We all collectively moved the lobster more north. They're up in Canada now and the healthcare is great, but that's not why they're there. We've overheated their home. And I've also seen people, you know, we can tell the story of climate change about habitat, but when it comes to the people, we've lost something too. And so the polar bear thing hasn't always been helpful because it's very easy to disconnect yourself

from a polar bear. But when you think about the foods that make you who you are, the activities you might have done with your family that your ancestors have done, when all that changes,

then your sense of place and belonging changes too. And so we have had a very big conversation in this country about economic displacement and jobs, technological displacement. And even within a generation, you don't necessarily know how to communicate with people in your own family. But climate displacement, even if you haven't been forced to migrate yet, is happening. And we are defined by the places we're from too. So there's been two stories that I've come across making the show. One is a deeply resonant kind of sad story about that change. The other, and it's as important, is what people are doing about it. And we have

found people, indigenous folk, white folk, all kinds of folk who are figuring out ways that we can undo some of this harm and work with nature to do regenerative things, to farm fish in ways that are sustainable, to bring back soil and capture carbon. And that's been so, so, so inspiring. And if it was just the doom and gloom and I was breathing in fire smoke everywhere, I couldn't do it. I don't want to sign up for that. But I'm finding people who are doing it. I don't want to sign up for that, but I'm finding people who were doing the thing I don't hear about as often on the news. And I know it's happening because I was there.

Like it's verified information. And that keeps me going. I'm like, Oh, we have so much possibility. So many solutions from so many people working together to figure this out. Let's go. Let's get this.

Yeah. I don't like earth. That's fine. Enjoy Mars, you know, but I'm an earth man myself. If you don't like Earth, that's fine. Enjoy Mars. But I'm an Earth man myself. Yeah, we're huge fans of Earth. Yes, we're Earthlings. We're rooting for Earth.

What are you rooting for, motherfucker? Not Earth. Every morning, I find that a coyote has come into my yard and taken a giant dump and left. Literally, day after day after day after day it's treating my home like a toilet is that nature that that is nature that's the coyote saying you've been treating my home like a toilet for a little while too okay so i love you so now you're taking the coyote side you don't know the the coyote. You know me. You've heard one fact about it, and it's my fault.

Blaming the victim. You don't have to be a victim in this story, John. I'm trying to take my power back because I'm going to kill that fucking coyote. I'm going to get one of those, like, I want to get, like, an Acme brand net. You know? Like a big-ass fucking net. And I'm going to put, like, a beautiful turkey, like a cartoon turkey in the middle of the net. And I'm going to put like a beautiful turkey, like a cartoon turkey in the middle of the net.

I'm going to pull. I'm going to catch it. How does Pundit respond to this coyote poop? The thing is, this dog, dogs are a lot like- This descendant of wolves. This descendant of wolves. Dogs are like their owners. Does not accept how small they are,

believes the world belongs to them, would start something they couldn't finish. Something that would finish them. Yeah. That's the problem with this thing that I'm going to keep alive despite herself. She's like, hey, I think there's a wolf in the backyard.

I'm going to go check it out, Dad. Finally, our moment has come. It's a form of a quiz we're calling We Bought a Zoo-ological Segment. Jesus, what is this? We bought a zoo. That stinks. It's time for an animal news quiz.

Are you ready? Yes. Based on findings released this summer, the physically largest invasive species on the planet actually surpassed 200 individual animals, which is twice as many as previously thought. What is the species, and what drug kingpin did they belong to?

Senators? We have the number of corrupt, invasive senators. That's 100. They were Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos. Hippos. His hippos have been breeding. There's 200 of them now. And why are they called cocaine hippos?

Do they do the cocaine? Is that why? Or otherwise this is like slander and you just took that class. I think they're called cocaine hipposamation thing. I think they're called cocaine hippos because they're the hippos cocaine bot. And also I think

you should probably I think that like if you're going to decide to have hippos in your backyard cocaine is a good thing to put in your brain to make you think

it's a good idea. That makes more sense to me. Otherwise everything is like his cocaine house and his cocaine car and his cocaine family. Right. They're all descendants of my cocaine house and his cocaine car and his cocaine family. Right. They're all descendants of three. These are my cocaine kids.

That's a fun show. All are descendants of three females and one male imported in 1991 into Colombia. They thought they were 98. There's now between 181 and 215 hippos. Whoa. Man. They're taking over. Too many hippos.

That's hungry, hungry hippos. Yeah, and they're hungry. And they like cocaine. We got you. Yeah. This week a tourist had to be escorted away from Yellowstone National Park

after challenging a bull elk with a call known as what? A call known as what you talking about? That's correct. Also known as a bugling. Play the bugling. Bugling.

I don't... I mean, I don't speak elk. That means you better get the fuck out of here. Yeah, okay. I mean, the way that elk is looking right now on the screen is... I wouldn't challenge that to anything. I would challenge myself to anything i would challenge myself to get out of there as quickly as possible yeah don't mess with the elk no they

have built-in weapons on their heads yeah they got knives for heads yeah that's not they got head knives head knives they got a bunch of head knives and it could be cocaine elk cocaine elk with head knives yeah not fun what endangered animal population just increased for the first time since 2012? A clear sign of success of conservation and anti-poaching efforts. Elephants? So close, emotionally. African rhinos. African rhinos.

The number of black rhinos rose by 4.2% to 6,487, while white rhino populations rose by 5.6% to a population of 16,803, which is why it is now officially okay again to use the horns for sex. The moment we've all been waiting for. It's not. It's never okay. They don't work.

It's never okay. They don't work. Researchers are apparently now attempting to speak to sperm whales using what, according to the New Yorker that I read this month? Artificial intelligence. That is correct. Scientists at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Cambridge, Massachusetts fed sperm whale clicks called CODAS into chat GBT and is now attempting to decipher the CODAS patterns

using machine learning, inspiring a project called the Cetacean Translation Initiative, or CETI. That's a different CETI. That's cool. There's a different CETI. There's two CETIs. There's the one that's up,

and there's the one that's down. The directions, different. Yeah. There's CETI in each direction. That's cool. Yeah, I like that.. You study in each direction. That's cool. Yeah, I like that. We should listen. We should.

I would like to know what the whales are saying. What do you think they're talking about? Fish, probably. You think they want to go surfing? I'm cold. Yeah. What are the whales talking about? They're talking about what we talk about.

Fucking and sucking. The Malibu Dryad line. And television. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being part of this. Thank you for having me be part of this. I'm making a weird... It's a weird episode tonight, just so you know.

I'm in a weird headspace. I'm down for the weirdness. We're in a weird time, John. We're in a weird... And we're in a weird time. It's okay to reflect the weirdness. We're in a weird time, John. We're in a weird, and we're in a weird time. It's okay to reflect the times we're in sometimes. Yeah.

That's right. Sometimes you absorb. And sometimes you reflect. Sometimes you reflect. Yes. The Malibu Triathlon scrambled to alter their course earlier this month

out of concern that participants would inadvertently squish what protected species? Jellyfish? So close. It was a fish called the Tidewater Gobi. Come on, man. You didn't know Tide... What kind of curve are you on with this quiz?

It's so hard. That's made up stuff. I need proof that that's an animal. Can we bring in the Tidewater Gobi if it's real? Tidewater Gobi. Yeah. I love nature, Gobi if it's real? The Tidewater Gobi. Yeah. I love nature, but only when it's real.

Final question. Researchers, including psychiatrists from Nottingham Trent University, are studying meerkats in captivity to see if they are capable of picking up on what from humans? Bad vibes? That is correct. Oh! That is correct. They're trying to see if they can pick up on human emotions like happiness, sadness, or anger.

The research is hoping to find out if animals can perceive the emotions of zoo visitors and if the meerkats adapt their emotions around those emotions. They're trying to see if the meerkats are kind of reading the room, as it were. Yeah. Isn't that wild? Absorbing or reflecting or whatever. That's kind of cool. Where can people find you outdoors? But on their

screens. On Syracuse Avenue right after the show. You can find me at baratoonday.com. You can find my podcast baratunde.com. You can find my podcast through the podcast feeds, How to Citizen. We make citizen a verb. And the TV show, America Outdoors, is in the PBS app.

It's on the PBS website. It's on Amazon and Apple and other places. Find content. Fantastic. Baratunde, everybody. We come back. Thank you. Thank you.

The Red Wheel. Stick around. Stay right here. And we're back. Waffle Houses, stand back and stand by. Just one more week until love it or leave it heads south. No, you didn't. Yes.

To Atlanta, Asheville, and Chattanooga. We'll be joined by amazing guests in Atlanta like Housewife Candy Burris, Miss Pat, and T.S. Madison, and many, many more. We have some awesome shows lined up. I'll be doing a Q&A before the shows, so if you want to come a little bit early and get some of your burning questions answered, check out those tickets,

which include some exclusive merch and, you know, some cool stuff. So if the question is about something medical, I cannot answer it. I learned my lesson. Tickets to Asheville are sold out. You snooze, you lose.

Thank you for applauding the success of this show. But we've got a few left in Atlanta and Chattanooga. Head to crooked.com slash events to get yours today. Yeah. Please welcome Eugene, Zach, and Russell back to the stage to join us. Come on, fellas.

It's boys night. Sit wherever you'd like. You can't go wrong. Now it's time for the rant wheel. Here's how it works. We spin the wheel wherever it lands. We rant about the topic. This week on the wheel, Biden's dog bites Secret Service, and it's good. Love its rant, because I couldn't think of one.

When you edit a message, but it tells everyone it's edited, Kyle XY deserves a revival. Curved croissants, a full family TikTok page or YouTube channel, stadiums and venues having only corporate names, and streetlights don't get enough respect. Let's spin the wheel. I'd like to talk about tonight Taylor Swift and this gentleman, Travis Kelsey, who's a tight end. Hey. There he is. Famously, I mean, he has a tight end.

What? You've seen him in his uniform. And we've seen him in his uniform. Yeah, he does. Do you know how we learned the plays? No, they put a vibrating thing up his anus. And more and more people are talking about it. Look, I don't need to know about football games.

I don't need to be made aware of them. I don't need to know when they are or why they are. It is always a fun tradition that whenever the Super Bowl happens, my friends with whom I make a show about politics turn to me and say, love it, what teams are in the Super Bowl? Ha, ha, ha whom I make a show about politics turn to me and say, love it, what teams are in the Super Bowl? Ha, ha, ha, I don't know.

I'm just going to wait to see Rihanna. I know it's Usher this year. It was Rihanna last year. It could be Rihanna again this year. They could be duping us. We could be getting duped. But now I know that Taylor Swift is going to the Jets this weekend, whatever they are. And I'm sad on behalf of all the people that think Taylor Swift is secretly bisexual and sending them messages through the airwaves.

Those people need this. They need the idea of Taylor Swift having a secret longing for the sexual comforts of women. If they don't have that, they don't have anything. If Taylor Swift has not been sending them secret messages for years through her songs that are just for them, what have they been doing

with their time? Nothing. They haven't been fishing. They're just on a boat, bud. They're just on a fucking boat and i saw taylor swift eat a chicken finger and do some kind of a chest bump over a touchdown she doesn't need to be gay but she doesn't need to be that straight that's not right taylor that's not right you can't put you can't sing a song called Lavender Haze and then two weeks later

be talking about things like first and ten and third and five it's not right Travis what's his name? Kelsey and do you know that he has a

this should be the halftime entertainment just get rid of Rihanna just have you go it's not right none of this is right Travis Kelsey he apparently has a podcast.

Taylor Swift, you can do so much better. It doesn't have to be a woman, but it doesn't have to be a guy with a podcast either. Jesus Christ, let people have their idea. Thank you. Spin it again. Carly Claus to a guy with a podcast who also plays sports.

It has landed on stadium and venues having only corporate names. I believe that was your suggestion. Yeah. I just, now that my wife went to go see Beyonce and Taylor Swift was down there going to the SoFi

Stadium, like just that. It's not romantic anymore. Going to Dodger Stadium is still fun for me and my kids and I'm just scared for the moment that it becomes Ozempic, you know. Yeah. The Ozempic Field. And then I've got to be like, hey kids, let's it becomes Ozempic, you know. The Ozempic field. And then I've got to be like, hey

kids, let's go to Ozempic field and watch the fucking Dodgers. That'll be tricky because the field will keep shrinking. Yeah. It's just all going to have huge heads and then weird bodies. The stadium's got too skinny. Too quickly. There's only six

seats in there now. And the stadium's like, it's actually just diet, exercise, and discipline stadium. Thank you very much. Honestly, honestly, all that is happening with this. Intermittent fasting stadium. Yeah, it's just gotten me to the point where I realize I'm full earlier. That's all.

That's all that Ozempic is doing for me. I just like, oh, I'm full earlier. Well, that's what's going to happen to these fucking stadiums. And then my daughter's going to be like, why is it named this? And I'm like, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Let's go down to you know,

the next stadium. Squirt.org arena. Okay, now don't knock a name until you've heard it. I would love to see a show, a concert, or anything Orgarina. Okay, now don't knock a name until you've heard it. Yeah. I would love to see a show, a concert, or anything at squirt.org arena.

Well, you might. This is a replay brought to you by squirt.org. Let's check out this week's squirt. Just the poor lady on the organ. Let's see who's kissing on the squirt cam. The squirt cam And they'll have a squirt halftime show

With a little fucking game Alright I'd go there That's cool That one's fine Not Ozempic Stadium Or whatever's taking over Radio City Music Hall It's nosquirt.org Nosquirt Hall

I want to go see the Rockettes at Nosquirt Let's check out that squirt in slow-mo I think this crowd's never been to a concert or a show before Do you guys understand what a stadium is? I'm totally kidding They're in one right now And look, I've got large, extra large, double X Whatever size you need

And that's so, whatever size you need He's's got it because he has a lot of sweatshirts to fucking move. They're from England. You understand? They're nice. You guys understand that we're in Stamptown Studios right now, right? Soon to be Stamptown Studios. I didn't choose the name. Let's spin it again.

It's landed on curved croissants. Yeah, that's for me. So, a good stadium name, by the way. But in the UK, in our our largest supermarket we no longer sell curved croissants because enough people wrote to Tesco complaining

that they struggled putting jam on curved croissants oh no as a nation the British were defeated by bendy bread

and I just found that I was trying to figure out the letter that you had to write just dear Tesco I'm not being funny but I was trying to figure out the letter that you had to write just dear Tesco I'm not being funny but I was

going like that and suddenly there was jam on the table so it was you know when you just you hear something so thick

you feel like you're going to explode so an image of just this lady just it's happening Tony it's happening and yes

and now you can't get a curved croissant you can only get a straight croissant in Tesco because enough people club together for an organisation

to have to change it what about Sainsbury's do they still have the curved croissant I don't know mate oh we get it you've been to England oh I wanted to hop in so bad on some croissant play.

Do they take the crust off the breads for everyone too? Like what's the limit on this? Yeah, but it is exactly that. It's just a load of people. Why eat a croissant? Like just don't eat it. Yeah. That's what a croissant is.

I didn't write the letter. I'm with you. Why didn't you write it i'm with you i agree but it's that thing you know when you see something so stultifyingly stupid it's like walking around la man you've got like signs on your bins that say be a hero put stuff like how low is the bar and then mariah carey's gonna go and then a hero comes yeah it's just been like even

seeing that this week just going do we really need that and in probably in Sweden it's got so bad people won't put rubbish in the bin

they've actually got bins that make sound effects as if the bin the bin is being sexually gratified I'm not making this up she put it in and goes

oh thank you by that that's how bad we are as a species. Oh, man, I can't wait till we get those. Squirt that ocarina. That would make us all heroes. Actually, I'd feel like a hero

if I did that. You're talking about trying to save the environment. We've literally had to write please, go on, put it in the bin. What have we become, man? Heroes. I have a question. Hit me. Why are croissants curved? Does it affect how they taste?

It seems like it'd be fine. Why can't they be straight? It's probably easier to make a sandwich. Oh, somebody wrote a letter. Wow. I'm just saying, like... It feels like somebody came over the pond and tried to change the way we live.

Yeah. I just don't... You infiltrated us. Why can't croissants be straight? I want them to be straight. Like good bread. Have a heterosexual packaging. The Russians hacked the election over here and then you come here

and you broke the way we did breakfast. Yeah. Piece of shit. We were happy, man. Curvy, curvy piece of shit. Swagged in with your logic. I'm just saying. I love a croissant, croissant, if you will.

And we will. I will. Yeah. But it doesn't really need to be in that shape. No, no, you're right. But we, but like. So then. But you can't just chop it.

What? Okay. It seems like you're mad, but you don't know why. I think that's the exact right read. It feels wrong to slander a croissant like that. Because you wouldn't... A meatball, I don't know if you guys know this, that same meat can be turned into a burger

or whatever other meat dishes you make. Well done. So you could... Thank you. You know what I'm realizing? It means crescent. We knew he'd find us. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You do speak French.

What are you talking about? You're bilingual. There was such a tired yes from the audience. There's a wise old Gandalf figure in the corner. Look, I used to work in politics. Now I come on a show and I'm like, why can't triangles be squares?

Let's spin it again. Street lights don't get enough respect. Zach? Yeah, well, hey, you know, feel free to hop in on this one, boys. So I had this realization earlier this year. I was in Austin, Texas, which also I thought everyone there would be a bit more, you know, like I'm a bisexual man. And you never know. And a Jew.

So you got to be ready. And so when I was there and I painted my nails, God forbid, I thought everyone was going to be like queers, but everyone kind of was just like queers. You know, they were nicer than I thought. So I was just walking the street more because I was more comfortable. And I started realizing these streetlights are, they're the real backbone of America. Because rain, shine, snow, power or not, the streetlight is out there.

And they are illuminating the world for all of us to live a better life. Again, I feel like I've lost everyone. No. You sound like the most upbeat sat-nav system in the world. Normally they just give directions, but you're like that. Are you looking at the majesty of this world? And if you look at this road, this is 500 yards down the road.

Pure, beautiful concrete, gravel, lines, paint. But we've reached our destination. But have we? Have we though? I was also not kidding. Hop in, guys. But we've reached our destination. But have we? Have we, though? I was also not kidding. Hop in, guys. This is really all I've got. So the streetlights are the postal service.

In a way, if the postal service had to stay where they were and couldn't complain all the time. You will never get your mail again. Well done. I am trying to get clips right now, you know? I found out this show goes online. I am trying to get clips right now. I found out this show goes online. I am trying to share. Trump's awesome. I don't even know.

I'm going to stop. But basically, the street light as well, they come in all different shapes and sizes. That's true. Very diverse. Exactly, dude. The street lights are the pillars of diversity in America. Hey, I have the street lights.

Can you show me which street light you were trying to be that time? That was the condo. Yeah, it was. The condo street light. May I stand? Please. Okay. I love that he has permission.

You know what? I'm in someone else's home. Sorry, they can't hear me. I'm in someone else's home. I thought this was Stamptown Arena. Squirt.org won't give it to us. But this will be like, it was like those ones. Because it's kind of like straight on it's honestly a remarkable piece of work

because it's like you're looking at it straight but also it's going to both sides and you can see it in a way where it's not always perpendicular I feel like I'm maybe confusing what a street light is sometimes we need to be reminded

that the world is so much more than we take it at face value to be. You've given us a gift here tonight. Like where we see just like an attraction for bugs. You see hope. You see creativity.

You see DEI and CRT and other things that have been banned in Florida I'm seeing things I never even knew existed exactly you just took us on

like a transcendental journey here's where you lost me you said something earlier and I really haven't been able to get past it which is you said or shine and actually

or shine is the most important time that they do nothing. I'm sorry. Well, you know what? In a way, streetlights, I guess they're just fishing their whole lives. But they're on the boat because they're on the road. Well, I guess they're in the boat on the road.

I'll tell you right now. They're just on a boat and then night comes and then they're fishing. That's literally it. It's more that night comes and we are at the water park and these guys are giving it everything. Squirting. Squirting.

Dashing. Sudsing. Moving. Sudsing. They're sudsing. They're sudsing. Also, you don't know where they get their power from. We literally do.

Hey, hey. And one day we'll get to the answer to that. We'll find out. No one knows right now, and it's famously an important and unsolvable question in science. Where do streetlights get their power from? Because we don't know, we dare not speculate.

Let's spin it again. Tell me if you've seen an outlet on the side of the 405. Fucking avid media investigation. I'm going to Google it. Yeah, on the way home. Biden's dog's biting Secret service is good Baratunde? Yeah I've been digging into this story for a while now

And these dogs are getting A bad rap, Commander in particular They're saying he's untrained They're saying he's loose They're saying he doesn't have proper etiquette For the White House He's not kind of being presidential. First of all, he's a dog. He's not supposed to be presidential.

This dog is sniffing out potential turncoats. Wow. Witnesses and people who might have been involved in things that we can't see. Just the way Zach here sees things in street lamps that none of us see, those dogs are seeing things that secret service

agents that many of us can't see. Most likely, and a question I haven't heard anybody ask, maybe it's possible secret service agents are just delicious. Okay.

Boy dinner. Boy dinner. Exactly. Wow. Yeah. It's like, hey, Hunter left his cocaine. I don't know some cocaine.

We don't know whose it is. Like that? Like that. Wow. Like that. Yeah, they're just gonna be real tasty treats. And I haven't heard anybody float that. And there's no reason that I shouldn't have heard it. I thought you meant literally that the people real tasty treats. And I haven't heard anybody float that. And there's no reason that I shouldn't have heard it.

I thought you meant literally that the people were tasty treats. And I was like, are we, no one's going to, no one's going to talk about him talking about cannibalism. Just. It's not cannibalism. It's the dog.

It's only a cannibalism of the dogs eating other dogs. Or if the people eating secret service, like if Biden was biting secret service agents. And also people have problems with people eating dogs, which is weird. Yeah. But also people have problems with people eating dogs, which is weird. Yeah, but if the dog is just biting delicious people. We don't know that the people

are delicious. We're almost out of time. We have to ask the dog using the AI. I just, I just heard that we could talk to the dog. No one, we should use that AI

for the whales to talk to Commander about what's going on. Thank you. And this show is about the news. And we're going to have to leave it there. When we come back, we're going to end on a high note.

And we're back. Because we all need it this week. Here it is, the high note. Hey, John. This is James calling from New York. My high note of the week uh is well it was a couple weeks ago me and my partner went to go see uh two of my most favorite comedians the entire world's jackie cation and maria bamford in new york city and during maria bamford set uh we sat literally in the front row like against the stage uh during maria bamford set, we sat literally in the front row, like, against the stage. During Maria Bamford's

set, she turns to me, and she says, hey, could you be a part of this next bit for me? And I was like, sure. And she hands me $100 cash, and then she just let me keep it. It was part of the joke she was doing. So not only did I get to see two of my favorite comedians of all time live up front, but one of them paid me $100. So I left, like, spellbound and just floating on cloud nine. It was such an amazing experience. If you've never been paid by your favorite comedian before, then you're doing it wrong. Hi, love it. This is Michael from Sacramento, California. My high note this week is that

after two years of her battle against late stage ovarian cancer, my mother is in good health right now. In fact, throughout this journey, she recommitted herself to advocacy for ovarian cancer survivors. And this week, she is on Capitol Hill with people from all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam to remind our legislators that now is the time to fund and support ending cancer in the United States. I couldn't be prouder. Thank you so much for your show and for all the laughter and current events that you bring to our conversations every day. Thank you so much. Love the show. Bye. Hello, love it. This is Anna calling from Denmark. And my highlight of the week is that while I was cleaning my house I heard you talking about the wonderful Danish artwork Take the Money and Run and without

sounding like too much of an ass I just wanted to let you know the proper pronunciation of the name of the artist his name is Jens Honing so the last name is Honing. And I really love your podcast, and I listen to it every Saturday. Thanks. Hi, this is Ms. S., and I'm a former teacher at a men's prison. I just wanted to give a shout-out to any of my former students or assistants slash orderlies that may hear this on their tablets. I know that one of them especially will because he introduced me to it and pretty much insisted that I listen to you. And I wanted to tell everyone that I have faith

in each and every one of them and that I expect all of them to change their world for the better and that there is someone out there thinking of them every day. You have all inspired me to never give up on my goals, my hopes, and my dreams. Peace and love. Hey, love it. This is Lauren in Madison. I moved here late February, 2019 for a job, not knowing anyone. And my first weekend here, you had a show that I went to by myself. My high note is four years later, I got to take my new husband to his first show of yours this last weekend i wanted to give my high note in person but i was a lame-o in the balcony and i guess brian doesn't do stairs thanks for all you do and thanks for coming to madison thank you to

everybody who called in with a high note tonight if you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope calls at 323-538-23, 3, 8, 2, 3, 7, 7. That is our show. Thank you so much to Eugene Cordero, Russell Howard, Baratunde Thurston, and Zach Zucker. What a fun show. There are 401 days until the 2024 elections. Thanks for coming out tonight and have a great weekend. Thank you. Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. Kendra James is our executive producer.

Brian Semel is our producer. And Malcolm Whitfield is our associate producer. production. Kendra James is our executive producer. Brian Semel is our producer. And Malcolm Whitfield is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer. Sarah Lazarus, Jocelyn Kaufman, Poulavi Gunalan, Peter Miller, and Alan Pierre are our writers. Lee Eisenberg produces the show. It's mixed and edited by Evan Sutton. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure.

Thanks to our designers, Jesse McClain and Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, Zuri Ervin, David Toles, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroote, for filming and editing video each week so you can. You can find those glorious videos at youtube.com slash at loveitorleaveitpodcast. Do us a favor and subscribe to Love It or Leave It on YouTube, and don't forget to follow us at Crooked Media on Instagram and Twitter. And if you're as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review.