Lovett or Leave It - Instagram Your Corruption

Episode Date: August 11, 2018

Mar-a-Lago members are illegally running the VA, a congressman allegedly committed insider trading on the White House lawn, and Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross may have grifted millions. What a week. Ira Madison III, Emily Heller, and Awkwafina join Jon to break down the week's news. Plus we look at Omarosa's new book, Fox News' reaction to Facebook banning Alex Jones, and the new Oscar for "popular" movies.

Hello, Los Angeles. Our next show is going to be on Tuesday night at the Improv, and we're going to record it on Tuesday, so get tickets if you're in LA. Before we start the show, I did want to talk about some late-breaking news. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Michael Avenatti said, I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States. You hear that, Michael?

States. You hear that, Michael? And I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework. What's your reaction to that? Michael, are you out of your fucking mind? Michael Avenatti, we didn't know what to do with you. But we liked you at arm's length. It was like, you know what? Naomi Ekperigan was on Love It or Leave It a few weeks ago, and she said this about him, that he's a messy bitch who lives for drama, but who will also have your back in a fight when you were right.

I think that's right. I think that's right. We're on the fence about you because we think I think that's right. I think that's right. We're on the fence about you because we think you might be sleazy, but you kind of have that same unexhaustible fighter sleazy thing that Trump has and we're like I don't know maybe you fight fire with fire you put him on CNN it seems to be working you're one of a few people that managed to get Trump on his heels. I have a nuanced position on Michael Avenatti. But this is a fucking joke.

Stop making it hard for us to be okay with you. You have no business running for president. We liked you on Don Lemon with good evidence that the president was afraid of. That was cool. We don't need you in fucking Des Moines. I don't need you standing next to Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand. Yeah, imagine that. It's gonna be fucking shitty. Don't overplay

your hand. You're a feisty lawyer with a client with a sexually explicit story that kept Trump on his heels. You're not Michael Dukakis. I don't give a shit what Michael Avenatti thinks about early childhood education.

Do we like him? See, isn't that interesting? Right on the fence. Michael, I think this gets back to you. So I'm now speaking directly to you. Do you hear the ambivalence? Do you hear it? You're going to lose all of us. You went to Iowa. You spoke at a county fair or something.

All right. You got a couple headlines out of it. Get out. Get out. You're flying too close to the sun. The sun is Iowa. All right. Let's start the show, because we have an incredible panel tonight, and we have a lot to talk about. She is an actress and rapper recently seen in Ocean's 8 and will next be seen in Crazy Rich Asians, opening August 15th. You may know her as Awkwafina.

Please welcome Nora Lung. Hi, Nora. Hi, John Lovett. So, thank you for being here. Thank you. I didn't know that you were you. So let's talk about it. This is embarrassing.

Can you just... I thought he was John Lovett. So now, look, you're a busy lady. People make mistakes. But you prepped for John Lovett. I prepped for John Lovett, so I was going to say I loved you as a DJ lady people make mistakes but you prepped for John Lovitz I prepped for John Lovitz I was gonna say

I loved you as a DJ and the wedding singer I told you that you were fresher than John Lovitz you did you said oh this makes more sense

you're fresher and you also said huh I just thought he was like you know you said well whatever Larry King's doing a podcast maybe John Lovitz

is doing a podcast you know what? I don't feel great about it, you know? But I'm very glad that I'm here and that you're not John Lovitz. She is a stand-up comedian and TV writer who was just nominated for an Emmy for her work on HBO's Barry.

Please welcome back to the show, Emily Heller. Hi, Emily. Hi, how are you? I was just hoping they'd replaced you with John Lovitz. With John Lovitz. You should let him host someday, you know? Mix it up. A little sub-host.

I'm a little insecure about it because, like, what if it doesn't work, but what if it does? You know? Sorry, my confidence is shattered. No let's uh bring out our last guest he is a writer on netflix's daybreak and host of crooked media's keep it please welcome back ira madison the third hi ira hi how you doing i thought i I was going to see John Lovitz, too. I know. All right.

Let's get into it. What a week. All right. This was a week defined by an unusual amount of corruption. This week, Representative Chris Collins of New York was indicted on federal charges of insider trading. According to the indictment, on June 22nd, Collins was at the White House

congressional picnic when the company's chief executive emailed the board of directors to inform them that a trial had failed. Collins quickly replied, Wow, makes no sense. How are these results even possible? Prosecutors say that within six minutes, Collins repeatedly called his son, who owned more than 2% of Innate Stock, that's the company,

after his son finally answered. I'm sorry, my dad's calling me. Why doesn't he text? My dumb congressman dad's calling me again. After his son finally answered, the son allegedly shared the news with his fiancée's father and other unnamed co-conspirators who then made timely trades of the stock in the following days. On June 26, news of the failed drug trial became public and the stocks plummeted. Collins was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump. He refused to drop out of his race. Collins called the charges meritless. They don't sound meritless. They sound

merited. He's gonna mount a vigorous defense in court to clear his name. He's gonna uh he's gonna find the real killer. Good luck man. Paul Ryan said insider trading is a clear violation of the public trust and announced that Collins would be removed from his seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee until the matter is settled. Also, it was reported this week by Forbes, by journalist Dan Alexander, that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross may have stolen as much as $120 million from associates over the years.

One of Ross's former colleagues called him a pathological liar. Donald Trump called Ross a legendary Wall Street genius and named him to his cabinet. In these particular positions, Trump explained to a crowd of supporters, I just don't want a poor person. Yeah, you don't remember that because that is not even on the top 1,000 shittiest things Donald Trump ever said. Forbes broke the scandal claims that even if half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States Secretary of Commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in

American history. Trump saw that, felt jealous, and then actually had a rare moment of self-reflection because he was like, I want that too? What's wrong with me? Throughout the past year, reports have emerged that the Commerce Secretary, among other things, lied about his net worth for at least a decade,

was accused of financial crises era insider trading by European lawmakers, concealed his investments in a Russian shipping company with ties to Vladimir Putin, and allegedly built colleagues out of millions. Emily, we are surrounded by a shocking amount of corruption. Do you feel like we're inured to it? Does it make a difference? What do you think? I personally feel like Wile E. Coyote,

when he runs off the cliff before he looks down, I'm like, corruption could so easily ruin everything about our lives that I try not to look too closely at it because I feel like we're about to find out what happens when literally everyone is. Is that hyperbolic? No, I actually the fact that corruption can eat away at a society and first slowly and then quickly and then reach into every facet of our interactions with the government and that that kind of decline can happen at any moment wasn't something I thought about today. But now I am. I mean, it feels miraculous that anyone would not be corrupt, right?

Sadly, I believe one of the things we have learned. I want to believe that people are good and won't do that stuff, but I also drive a car in LA and I know how people actually are. Right. I mean, I guess I would say, right, Wilbur Ross is definitely the fourth car

making a left on red, you know? Yes, absolutely. You know what I mean? And his windows are all the way down, and he is blasting the thong song full volume. Nora, we are deluged by these kinds of stories. But, you know, something we've talked about on Pod Save America, something that actually Dan Pfeiffer comes back to a lot,

is that corruption is one of those messages where, I know people say, like, LOL, nothing matters, but corruption is something that does matter to people. Do you think that these simple stories, you know, another thing that happened this week is Trump, who is wrong on everything without exception, is very pro-asbestos

and has decided to do a favor for the chemical companies and perhaps allow asbestos back into our lives? I know there's a lot of noise out there, but do you think that that makes sense to people, like, this is wrong? I hate asbestos. It sucks. Do you think that this is just happening now,

all the corruption, or do you think that it's always kind of been happening, and now these people are being called out? And do you think that when they get called out, that eventually they'd be scared to do it, or do you think that even if they get called out, they still will continue doing it forever and ever and ever? That's a good question. I think that there's a very high level

of tolerated legal corruption. Totally. And that's partly what enabled Trump, because he was allowed to say like, you know, drain the swamp, and people were like, yes. And then he was like, Hillary's in the swamp. And people were like, sort of. I'm still figuring out what I'm allowed to say about Democrats to them.

And what's interesting is, as you know, I try new things out every week with you. And every week, you're laughing a little harder at Hillary Clinton. It's happening. They're getting closure. They're getting there. It's cute. It's cute.

Yeah, but. It's like asbestos. You know, everything has cycles. It goes in. It goes out. Soon enough, they'll be outside our home with Janine Pirro. Yeah. Laughing and stuff. God, I love that woman. You love Janine Pirro laughing and stuff god I love that woman

you love Janine Pirro you think she's great she's she was shining she was really great in the Jinx she was Janine Pirro

was good on the Jinx she was you're cool in this moment she was like son of a bitch remember that yeah

she was like she was tough it's funny look I've never been a fan of Rudy Giuliani and I love him too You're cool in this moment. She was like, son of a bitch. Remember that? Yeah. She was tough. It's funny. Look, I've never been a fan of Rudy Giuliani. Love him too. I just started getting into him recently. He released a new album, and I was like, I mean, the Drake feature really helped.

Yeah. Ira, what do you think is the appropriate response to this kind of news? What do you think we should be saying about the fact that Wilbur Ross maybe stole $120 million, that Trump is doing favors on behalf of his corrupt pals to put asbestos back in circulation? Well, as you know, I think white people steal all the time. So it's nothing new. But, you know, I think we just have to keep calling it out but there's always more

you know it's like you call it out and other people are like well I hope they don't discover my corruption I feel like corruption's not new what's new is people being like actually corruption is good is this working? yes like instagram actually, corruption is good. Is this working? Yes.

Like, Instagramming their corruption. Yes. Like, look at my Hermes bag. Right, right, right, yeah. Instagramming your corruption episode title done. Speaking of Instagramming your corruption, an absolutely galling, mind-blowing story by ProPublica that found that there are three wealthy members

of the Mar-a-Lago Club secretly running the Veterans Affairs Administration like as a hobby from the golf course. That's hot. That's hot. Nora, would you be willing to join Trump Bedminster to have a little influence? Yeah. What does that mean?

Just get in there. Basically, here's the thing. Pick a policy. Okay. More money for schools, let's say. Yeah. All you got to do is you join Trump Bedminster. Yeah, sure.

You get in there. Yeah. And you're like, hey, I'm a member now. Yeah. Let's fund schools. Let's fucking do it, dude. Will I be able to then get into Mar-a-Lago from Memorial Day weekend? I don't know if they have like a world, I don't think they have a global membership. Well, look.

I don't know if it's kind of thing where it's like if you belong to one Trump club, you belong to the rest. Right. It's like Soho House where I need three references. I feel like, you know, they definitely earned it. So good for them. One of them is the chairman of Marvel. Really? Yeah. It of Marvel. Really?

Yeah. It makes sense. What? Captain America is kind of a veteran. Come on. You just show up with a suitcase full of money and you're like, I've got some ideas for the national parks. Can I call the government? I'm like, sure.

Frankly, more Democrats should just be showing up to Trump with a suitcase of money, join his organization for like two weeks, get the goods, expose him. Is this a good time to announce my GoFundMe? Your corruption kickstart. Hey guys, listen. I don't like like the world but it is the world i need two million dollars and uh i was thinking about it it's for windmills okay that's what my goal will be i know it seems crazy you give me the two million i give them the two million i ask for windmills i don't know we if we get them. And here's the thing. People really don't expect results on Kickstarter so it takes the pressure off me too.

Right. Two million gets you windmills. Five dollars gets you a poster. You know, for every MAGA hat you buy, you get a share of the government. And I own 51%

of the US.S. government. Speaking of infiltrating the government for a short while and then leaving and just telling everybody... McQueen. It's time. Because you know what? We don't always have to talk about the hardest ones. It's time to talk about Omarosa. Why not? Why not? We've had so many ones. It's not a talk about Omarosa. Why not?

Why not? We've had so many shitty weeks. Let's just talk about Omarosa. Omarosa from Big Brother is releasing a tell-all book entitled Unhinged, which sources have said includes secretly recorded conversations with Donald Trump. Quote, Without commenting on the specific contents of Unhinged, a spokesman for Simon & Schuster, said,

we are confident that Omarosa Manigault Newman can substantiate her highly anticipated account of life inside the Trump White House. They would not confirm or deny the recordings. Her book, in part, details Trump's, quote, mental decline. It's set to come out August 14th,

and I guess I could sit here and pretend she's not getting my money but she is. I've got it pre-ordered. I'm going to read it the morning of. Oh girl, yeah. Audible, man. I'm going to listen to that.

I wonder if she read for it. Oh please, I hope. I don't want to hear somebody else read it. Would she read her own Audible recording? I hope so. Yeah, there's more money in it so I bet she did. Would she hire like Donald Sutherland

to read her Audible recordings? Donald Sutherland to read her article? Donald Sutherland. John Voight performing Unhinged. I want to hear Ira reading it. Just out loud, real time. She hasn't returned my email. The cover features the African proverb, until the lion learns to write,

every story will glorify the hunter. It's too much. Who cares? I just find it so funny that someone who studied under Trump, like on The Apprentice, and he kept bringing back, even though he kept firing her, has turned the tables on him.

If she wants to be our man in Havana, then let her. Granted, her tape recordings are probably just him asking her to go pick up McDonald's. Yeah, no. I would like to do a true wager on the number of times, Can I get a Coke, please? It's overheard on the tapes. Emily, to Ira's point, it's hard to admit, but I believe that Omarosa has carried herself

with more integrity in leaving this White House than all the serious so-called adults. You're Gary Cohns, you're Rex Tillerson's, you're Dina Powell's, you're certainly your Sean fucking Spicer, because you know how you know a book is a piece of shit? If Sean Hannity's like, you gotta get this book. Omarosa is

actually, her motives are certainly not queer, but she's actually one of the only people who's like, holy shit, I saw some stuff in there, right? Is she a hero in this story? We gotta read the book first and see what the book says, but I do think that it's like we gotta read the book first yeah and see what the book says but i do think that

it's like when people talked about her like how the fuck could you justify working for this guy i feel like the hypothetical conversation was like i mean the only way i would do it is if i would like go in and just secretly record him and then write a tell-all book like that's the only way to justify it and that's what she did. So I feel like we gotta hold off judgment till we read the book. But if there's nothing juicy in the book, I'm gonna be mad. I mean, why do you think I joined Crooked Media?

I am recording conversations left and right. Wait, this isn't being recorded, is it? I just like the idea. Unhinged. We've never seen someone eat so much Taco Bell while saying they're not eating carbs right now. Nora, are you going to read the Omarosa book?

Yes, I will. Yeah, I think I will. I mean, it sounds juicy, right? What do you make of her? I didn't even know that she was in the White House until... Actually, just two minutes ago, so... So that's... Eye-opening.

I mean, the White House is like Grey's Anatomy. It's really hard to keep track of who's on it now. I hope you all help her get to the New York Times bestselling list. Okay, we're not flogging the book. We're not trying to sell the book. Did you ghostwrite this book? Unhinged.

Brought to you by the Abbott and Schuster. Oh man, I would so love... I'm actually thinking if she tried to advertise that book, would we say no? We'd say no. I would.

Probably. When we come back, OK Stop. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now it's time for a game called OK Stop. We'll roll a clip and then the panel can say OK Stop at any point to comment.

This week, Apple became the first company to remove Alex Jones and five of InfoWars' six podcasts from their platform. Spotify and YouTube followed Apple as did Facebook, which permanently unpublished multiple pages operated by Jones and InfoWars. Twitter was like, no, we're good. We'd love to remove him. He doesn't violate our rules. Our rules are also great.

Twitter's perfect and getting better, which is impossible, yet we're doing it. Laura Ingram of Fox News had some thoughts. Remember what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a Senate hearing back in April? There is certain content that clearly we do not allow. Right? Hate speech, terrorist content, nudity, anything that makes people feel unsafe in the community. Okay, stop. It is worth remembering how much better Facebook has been at removing boobs than election-altering bullshit.

Like, one nipple comes out and it's like, got four Facebook police outside your house. They flag my lasagna recipes. It's so rude. From that perspective, that's why we generally try to refer to what we do as a platform for all ideas. A platform for all ideas, really? Over the past few months, Facebook and other... Okay, stop. I really do love her.

Like, the evil stepmom from The Parent Trap got her own Fox News show. We never talk about what happens to those women after the movies. She just ignored the fact that he said, we don't allow hate speech. And she's like, oh, you allow all speech? Sounded like she's the fucking closer. Yeah, it's funny. Like she caught him. It's so funny.

They're like, oh, you say you like all ideas on your website? Well, what about ideas that make the victims of crime unsafe? Doesn't sound like you allow all ideas. It's like the same tone of voice people use when they're like, oh like you allow all ideas. It's like the same tone of voice people use when they're like, oh, you like all music, even country. What was that movie where

there was Norma Jean in Maryland? With Mira Sorvino? Yeah, what if this is like a Mira Sorvino the other, who was the other? Come on. Where's Shel Williams? No, no, no, no, no, no. Come on.

Gay people stop coming to this. Rita Hayworth. Alyssa Milano. It was not Alyssa Milano. It was Mira Sorvino and Alyssa Milano. Was it Alyssa Milano? Did seriously no gay people come here? Where's Lewis?

The movie was after 1984. I had that movie on DVD. It was excellent. We'll track it down. Somebody Google it. Take out your phone and figure the fuck out. The hell? Scientists have given us ample reason

to doubt that proclamation. The latest example started early yesterday morning when Apple pulled several podcasts associated with the controversial and often incendiary Alex Jones. Okay, stop. The word incendiary should be banned. It's like incendiary, like, ooh, yeah,

it's hot to the touch. Like, it's- It's a Pitbull song. Probably. But it's like tom cruise's performance in mission impossible fallout incendiary but like saying sandy hook didn't happen that's not like what a hot take you know see to me incendiary i only picture things actually catching on fire. So it feels like she's giving too much ground to the idea that he's truly dangerous. I'm like, yeah, use that word. That is correct. Coordinated, it seems, to shut down Jones because, of course, he's the media's poster child for conspiracy theories.

Okay, stop. Yeah, yeah, he is. He is. He is the media. Thank you, Laura. Thank you. Yeah, he is. He is.

He is the media. Thank you, Laura. Thank you. He is the media's poster child for conspiracy theories because he's the most famous promulgator of horrible conspiracy theories and has been for his whole career. Yeah. Yes.

Why did you say it with snark? What if she's just reading this wrong? Maybe. She has tone issues. Yeah, you could just take exactly what she's saying and just say it like it's a good thing. And it all works. But not all ideas, because they've banned Alex Jones.

Hooray. Maybe there are other conspiracy theorists we're not focusing on that she wishes we would. You know, like she sees reruns of The X-Files and thinks Fox Mulder's a real person. We should stop him first. But this isn't about Alex Jones. This is about freedom and our access to information.

Okay, stop. It's literally about Alex Jones. If big tech can control the information flow, then they can also perhaps even influence the outcome of the midterms and even future... Okay, stop.

Okay, stop. It's about freedom. I just want to say, Nora, I applaud you because a lot of people don't come to this with an open mind. Oh.

And you saw that clip and you're like, you were convinced. She ended that clip with a conspiracy theory. Right? Yes. Which, in the context of this story, is a cry for help. She's saying, please shut my show down. Will I be set free from this curse if I repeat a conspiracy theory because that's what seems to be

happening here she's like I know I shouldn't have taken the amulet I am sorry just let me put it back I don't know why I can't put it back I am sorry can't you see I want to return the heart of Tiffy T I will say her delivery is a lot

better than, say, Kellyanne Conway's. Like, when she gives her conspiracy theories, she seems frantic. She's coming up with them on the spot. She just gives you, like, a syrupy, in the heat of the night, like... Well, her eyes were

both symmetrical, you know what I mean? Yeah, you know, she's like... Kelly Conway never had symmetrical eyes. What if Mark Zuckerberg wants to help those illegals vote? Something like that. Yeah, she delivers that, like, she could stick her hand out and then, like, hold a lighter underneath it, and it wouldn't shake. Kelly Ann Conway seems like she's currently on fire at all times.

Actually, to get a primetime talk show at Fox News, that is part of the interview process. You hold your hand out. And what's crazy is Roger Ailes used to do it and he still does it. There's just one part of his office where you hold your hand out and it just gets hot. there's just one part of his office where you hold your hand out and it just gets hot. Laura Ingram also this week basically came right out and said it. She said that she doesn't want a demographic shift in America,

that America didn't vote for this demographic shift that accounts for both illegal and legal immigration. And she's getting closer and closer to just coming out and saying, I want America to be white, and that's what I'm after. And, you know, freedom means white, and that's what I'm after. And, you know... Freedom means white. Do you still like the freedom? I like some freedoms.

You know, like Ryan Gosling. Freedom. That's a nice type of freedom American. Yeah. He's Canadian. Wow. All right, Carmen Sandiego. Canada's in North America.

I've had enough of you Canadians. They're just mad because they're fighting with Saudi Arabia. And we're being neutral. Yes? Ashley Judd. Ashley Judd. Of course Yes? Ashley Judd. Of course it was Ashley Judd. Shame on all of you. Norma Jean in Maryland was Mira Sorvino

and Ashley Judd. Ashley played Norma Jean. Mira played Marilyn. It was a meditation on fame. And it was good. And I gotta figure out what I gotta do to get some gay people here. Meditation on fame. And it was good. And I gotta figure out what I gotta do to get some gay people here. Yeah, nice work.

The two. The two. Nice work. What the hell? Call yourselves gay. When we come back, we're gonna talk about the Oscars. Don't go anywhere. Just love it or leave it, there's more on the way.

And we're back! As you may have heard, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is a pretty souped-up name for whatever that organization is, announced changes to the Oscars. One new category they added is for popular film. But as our friend Aaron Ryan said on Twitter, a prize for popular films already exists, and it is called money. But what's the difference between something good and something popular?

It's Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Moonlight. That's the difference. That's the difference. That's the difference. So, would anyone out there like to play this game? Let's go to the gay guy who didn't know about Norma Jean. Hi, what's your name? Mark. She literally looked it up.

She's Sandra Bullock in the net it. Your answer. Now you know how Hillary Clinton feels. She did all the homework. But she went to his house. She's like, what happened? Mark, you don't deserve it, but you're in a position of power. I really appreciate this.

All right, Mark. Here's how it works. I am going to name something, and your job will be to decide if what I name is good or popular. There are right answers. It is a lightning round. Narcos on Netflix. Good. Correct.

The song Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time. Popular. Correct. The Shape of Water a Wonderful Christmas Time. Popular. Correct. The Shape of Water. Good. No, neither. Cracking Open a Cold One with the Boys. Popular.

It's good and popular, but we'll give it to you. No, we won't give it to you. Sylvester Stallone. Popular. And good. Instagram. Good. Popular. And good. Instagram. Good. Popular. People who go to a climbing gym. Popular. No, they're good. Jesus Christ. Very popular. Good and popular that you don't have to love all of his fans. Tattoos.

Good. Popular. Harry Potter as a metaphor for the current political climate. Good. Popular. I'm so sorry, ma'am. Adele's voice. Good.

And popular. Come on, Mark. Vote. Are you sure he's gay? Could be gayer. In-N-Out. Good. Popular.

How dare you? Yeah. How dare you? Iris got me. Iris got me. Shake Shack. Good. Damn right.

Jukebox musicals. Popular. Shockingly popular, occasionally good. Gladiator, the film. Good. Popular. Shakespeare in Love. Good. Good and popular. Yeah. Yeah. Dances with Wolves. Popular. Yep. The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. Good. Popular. No. Hey, hey, hey, Mark. Have you heard that there are books for adults? Have you read any of them?

Like Omarosa's? Dan Pfeiffer's book. Dan Pfeiffer's book. That's for adults. And finally, Cloud Atlas. Popular. Good. Nobody saw that. And it was panned, but it's good.

I read the book. You read the book. Good for you, Mark. Guys, give it up for Mark. He's won a parachute gift card. But not my respect. What do you think about the Academy Awards trying to appeal to people by adding an award

for popular films, whatever that means? On one hand, I think a popular film's only water fountain is bad, obviously. Is there a film called Water Fountain? Well, you know, like... Like Segregation. White films only. Segregation joke.

Oh, my God! Yeah, it's fine. Oh, shit. Se like... Like segregation. White films are like... Segregation joke. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's fine. Oh, shit. Segregation is funny. But also, like, if it gets, you know, non-pretentious white films some Oscars, sure. The films that are normally considered best picture worthy are usually male centered.

And they're usually things that like older white people like. Right. But aside from the past couple years. Right. Historically. Sure. Of course. But also films can usually popular tend to star white men because they all the movies do.

Right. I mean, that's also changing, but it's not like, oh, yeah, there's no diversity in the kind of smaller films, but oh, when you go to the blockbusters, that's where things have been really fixed. I mean, it's hard because they haven't released the criteria yet, too. Yes, exactly. But, you know, like, popular could mean a lot of things, you know?

A lot of women's films are popular, but those films get relegated to like best actress and best supporting actress for the recognition those films rarely cross over in the best picture I just think they want the rock to show up at every ceremony this is the only way they can make that happen and I I will say I'm not looking forward forward to this changing the way popular movies are made because I don't want action movies to suddenly stop and meditate on the importance and power of cinema, which is what they are going to do now.

All right. When we come back, The Rant Wheel. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now, for the rant wheel, here's how it works. We spin a wheel. Wherever it lands, we talk about the topic.

This week on the wheel, we have the term felon, carbs, just on there. Hey there, Delilah, becoming a, just on there. Hey There Delilah becoming a TV show. Rick Gates, Jean-Luc Picard, is back. The Meg, Lance Bass,

and Shark Thieves. Let's spin it. It has landed on Lance Bass, which I believe was suggested by one Ira Madison. I'm tired of hearing about Lance Bass. Lance Bass tried to purchase the Brady Bunch house this week. The house, it was just the outside that they used. The interior was a lot. But he tried to buy it. He was outbid.

He complained about it. Turns out HGTV bought it, and they're gonna turn it into, like, the Brady Bunch house, the interior, so people can go into it. But on the Lance Bass thing, I'm tired of him complaining about things that he doesn't get. Can we flash back to when he was complaining constantly about not getting to go into space? about not getting to go into space. You know, and he broke Danielle Fishel's heart. She's from Boy Meets World. When he was pretending to be straight.

So, you know, Danielle Fishel, space. Hold on for a second. We're learning this. I'm learning it. Are you learning what he just said? Yeah. What are you learning what he just said yeah what are you talking about they dated in high school Topanga

yeah damn that's hot I know right wait that's hot who dated Topanga Lance Bass dated Topanga

and then broke her heart well I think it was for the best and then HGTV bought his house yeah imagine if HGTV bought his house and then gifts it if HGTV bought his house

and then gives it back to him and he had already complained about it at that point. That would be weird. Or he gives it to Topanga. HGTV should give that house to Topanga. I mean,

she probably got to go. That would be very shady. Where is Topanga? I don't know. Is Girl Meets World still on? That was a show called Girl Meets World?

Yeah, it was a spinoff. Where have I been? I didn't even know Omarosa was in the White House, dude. Filming a lot of movies. Yeah, in China. You're a really chill ranter. I love it.

Thank you. You have a perfect command over the rant. You're not rushing. It's subdued, but you're not rushing. You know what I mean? You know, I just take a Xanax. Yeah, exactly. It's a very Ativan rant.

Every time I know I'm going to see Love It. It's an Ativan. Because I get that heart beating, you know? Yeah. Mirror Savino to my Ashley Judd. Yeah, I'm blonde and I'm crazy. And I'm busy trying to kill my husband a second time. No gay people here!

No gay people here! How did a double Jeopardy reference just fly right over all your heads? Shame on this crowd! Let's spin it again. This is a small thing, but you know, there's been, we were talking today about the fact that there's this ballot initiative on the Florida ballot about reinstating rights for felons to vote, especially because a lot of felonies in Florida can be a tiny amount of marijuana and it disenfranchises over a million people. The term felon is crazy. And it's the kind of thing we'll look back on and be like, I'm sorry. term felon is crazy uh and it's the kind of thing we'll look back on and be like i'm sorry so once you know these are people some you know the term maybe has meaning right misdemeanor

felony but so you commit a felony it can be a really small infraction right and then you go to jail and then you're just a felon you're called a felon for the rest of your life it is a term we don't really need i know the obama administration had briefly considered not using it and there was a little bit of kerfuffle on the right about how could you not use it, but they were like, why would you use that term? It's not just about policies that help people reintegrate after they've served time, but also making sure people aren't denigrated as they kind of try to reintegrate into society. And it's just one of those things where I don't think we've had that conversation yet, but we should, as Democrats, we should just not use the word felon to describe a person and it's

actually something we all it's one of those things that it's really small and I'm just thinking about it and I don't understand why we don't do that we should just stop it's a it's a crazy term oh this person's off Ellen what what we don't define ourselves by the worst thing we ever did, right? You don't call me a 1600 pen. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. That was funny.

That was a good joke. I love 1600 pen. I just went for the joke. I sincerely don't mean it. It was one perfect season and should have continued to go, but NBC was like, no, comedy will come back next year. So, listen. Took us off the air so they could launch a show called Do No Harm, which was a reboot of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Oh, I watched that. Yeah, I bet. You were the one. The poster had him with hands over his face, and so we just called it Dr. Facehands. And it got the lowest rating ever, was cancelled, but 1600 Pen never recovered. Am I working something

out here I don't need to? Key points. We're not using the word felon. I was just kidding about 600 Pen. I love that show. You can get it on DVD because they'll print them one at a time. And Dr. Facehands. I agree. You know?

Jeremy Meeks is hot enough to just be a hot model. He doesn't have to be the hot felon model. I agree. You know? Jeremy Meeks is hot enough to just be a hot model. He doesn't have to be the hot felon model. Agreed. Spin it again. Can we get rid of the word felon and bring it back

just for Trump when he gets convicted? He can be the only one. Trump can be the only felon. It has landed on Shark Thieves. I know it's an odd phrase, but Emily's going to

tell us about it. Yes. I turn this into the rave wheel. Okay. We're going to have a conversation about officially changing it to the rant and rave wheel. Yes. It's kind of cool. Please.

Okay. And, you know, I could rant and rave about this. It's a complicated, nuanced story with a lot of emotional highs and lows. These guys went to an aquarium in Texas, and in that area where you can pet the fish and reach into the tanks, they just stole a shark by netting it and then putting it in a baby stroller and walking out of there like it was their baby, and getting in a pickup truck,

and managers of the aquarium ran after them doing a thing they've never had to do before, which is be like, hey, bring that shark back here. And I'm a little unclear on the sequence of events, but eventually they caught the guys, they got the shark back, they went to their house and got a confession. And

at the guy's house... They were caught shark-handed. Shark-handed, yeah. At the guy's house, he had built a pretty big aquarium for the shark to be in that they thought another shark had lived in at some point. So, okay, a lot of theories here.

A lot of competing theories, like, is he starting a competing aquarium that he's going to charge money for? Is he just, like, holding that? I like to think he was shark-sitting for someone, and that shark died. Died, yeah. And he's trying to do a switcheroo before they come back to town. And he had no idea where else to get one.

I like to imagine it was like a vertigo situation, and his shark died, and he was going to turn this other shark into the shark that he lost. Yeah. I mean... Oh, that's almost sweet. Here's the thing.

In terms of things you could see in a baby stroller that's not a baby, I actually think Shark is less scary than one of those real doll baby dolls. Those hyper-realistic ones that people, like if I looked in and there wasn't a baby there, I'd rather it be a shark than one of those, but I don't know.

Giving us a lot to think about. Let's spin it again. It has landed on carbs. I don't know how we're supposed to do it. How are you supposed to not eat them? How? They tell me, they say, hey, we're going to put you on HBO. You're going to sit next to John and Tommy.

And then I say, all right, calendar, let's do this. No carbs today, No carbs tomorrow. I ate a quesadilla half an hour ago. I have a good trick for how to not eat carbs. How do you do it? Give up and eat them whenever you want. And just be cool with being fatter than you used to be. Because it's really fun.

And if you feel bad about it, I have a really good way of comforting yourself, which is eating more carbs. Now, not one single thing in my life has gotten worse since I gained weight. Every day, it's just me versus those fucking Cheez-Its. And it's like, what am I going to do, eat mixed nuts for every fucking snack? Like mixed nuts are the answer? Oh, I'll have a string cheese.

Like that helps. I don't know what I'm going to do. I just watch the days ticking down. And then it's always the same thing. Oh, wow. Tommy and John are so handsome and love it's funny. Who cares about being funny? I don't.

What's it ever gotten me guess everything then it's like also though it's a little bit like of course i just keep eating carbs because i'm like i'll lose weight even by not following the rules because the rules don't apply to me they never have then i look down in the mirror and it's like well yep, stomach's still there. Look at my face and still there. To me, it feels like you're choosing for this taping between having a skinny body and joyless eyes.

Or like an alive face and just a little bit of a less skinny body. And I feel like the second one is going to look better. Counterpoint! I want people to think I'm sick. Oh, what a deeply weird place to end the show.

Is there anything else I could just say quickly? We didn't get to the Meg, but I was just going to use that to talk about those shark guys again. Speaking of... I'll close simply by saying this about the Meg. Hey, they don't have to be bigger monsters to be scarier. It's like every time you go to a Jurassic Park movie, they're like, they've invented a new dinosaur.

It's five times the size of the other dinosaur. It's not five times as scary. Jaws was scary and it was not a Meg. It was a shark. A normal-sized shark. The raptors

in Jurassic Park were just, as far as I know, little shits. Little shits. Couple little fucking punk-ass dicks. Little shits.

Little fucking assholes. Yeah, like trying to like, I'm gonna eat extra kids now. They just take little chunks out of you and move on to the next kid. What dicks? The scariest thing is the shark within. And that's our show. I want to thank

Nora Long, Emily Heller, Ira Madison III. Thank you guys all for coming out. Thank you to Improv. We'll see you on Tuesday night. Bye.