Lovett or Leave It - Real Housewives of Autocracy

Episode Date: June 4, 2022

This week, Lovett or Leave It journeys to Boston where a Selling Sunset star (Eugene Mirman) susses out your starter home, and the fate of American democracy goes toe-to-toe with the Real Housewives of New Jersey courtesy of authors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt and comedian Pat Regan. Who remains standing… might not surprise you. Representative Ayanna Pressley gives us hope for student loan forgiveness and abortion rights, and we welcome legendary drag queen Lady Bunny to partake in a round of takes so hot, you could use that harbor as a jacuzzi for a week.--Crooked Coffee launches 6/21. Sign-up to be the first to sip:  http://go.crooked.com/coffee-loli  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.

Hello, Boston! Welcome to Love It or Leave It, live or else, here at the Roadrunner Theater in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston, a city that dares to ask the question, what if a city had Philadelphia's charm and New Hampshire's weather? Boomy, I don't care. Look, at least your favorite local coffee shop is literally a national chain you can get anywhere. We have got a great show for you. The authors of How Democracies Die are here. And oh my God, it's a cookbook.

Pat Regan is here and he plans to temper our dread by talking about middle-aged rich women on cable. Representative Ayanna Pressley is our queen for a day. And we have a cast member of Selling Sunset who has been really struggling to get screen time. So find out why that

might be. Plus, hot takes with Pat, Lady Bunny, and Eugene Merman. And we're doing High Notes Live so if something good happened to you in this city of yours, we want to know about it. So keep it in mind for the end of the show. What's under the skirt? What's under the skirt?

Exactly what you think. Tommy John! It is, actually. It is. It is Tommy John underwear. Thank you. Thank you for applauding. This capitalistic enterprise. Let's get into it. What a week. A brewery in Finland has released a NATO-themed beer to celebrate the country's bid to join the alliance.

The brewery's CEO described the beer as having a taste of security with a hint of freedom. It's on the menu below the skinny girl Inter-American treaty of reciprocal assistance margarita. I've tried one. It's got a nice finish. Idina Menzel shared her advice to all the new Elphabas starring in the musical Wicked on Broadway. She said, make sure to wear black opaque tights underneath just in case you're drinking a lot of water and someone makes you laugh and you pee in your pants. It stops it up really good. And then you can just go right out there and fly.

Couple points. One, I think there's a lot of people in New York who miss going to Times Square to get peed on. So maybe don't rule it out. This finally sets me free to do the show on wire, Spider-Man turn off the dark style while pissing everywhere. A German farm owner has started commuting to work by horse-drawn carriage in order to save money on gas following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That's what's cool about horses. No upkeep at all.

following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That's what's cool about horses. No upkeep at all. NASA announced it will pause all its spacewalks on the International Space Station because the helmets of the astronauts' aging spacesuits keep filling up with water. I don't want to point any fingers, but my bets are on the International Space Station

senior class of 2022. Can I tell you that a cousin of mine is graduating, and I think this comes out late enough that I can say, I hope they went through with this. This was their idea, and I thought it was really clever. They're going to release two chickens in the school. Twist. One is labeled Chicken One.

The other is labeled Chicken Three. They're going to lose it looking for chicken number two. Coke, a cola, is rolling out bottles with attached caps in the UK in an effort to make the full bottle more easily recycled. This way, both the bottle and cap can eventually end up in a landfill because plastic recycling is a lie. Just a sad thing about that.

Kim Kardashian was eating at Red Lobster when she learned she passed California's Baby Bar. When reached for comment, a cheddar biscuit at Kim's table said, I'm happy for her, but what is she doing here? I'm not totally comfortable being at this table. I didn't sign a release, and while I know it's my duty to be consumed and give my life to the customer, would she eat me if the cameras weren't on? Half of my batch went to a table of Midwesterners

on their way home from Magic Mountain, and those biscuits were a piece. Anyway, congrats to Kim. And that's what that Cheddar Bay biscuit said. The Calabasas Red Lobster. Don't feel bad about the biscuit. From the moment of its creation, it longs to be consumed. The what the fuck's coming from the front like it was just phenomenal oh which reminds me speaking

of what the fuck a question i'm gonna start asking at the top of every show applaud if you thought this was lyle lovett no no no but you actually did that? Your dad did. Is your dad here? Oh, at Nashville. Okay. Is anyone currently here for Lyle Lovett? Okay, that's good, because in Maine there were several people. That's surprising. Scientists discovered a nearly billion-year-old microorganism in a chunk of Australian rock salt

and said it might still be alive. When reached for comment, the billion-year-old microorganism in a chunk of Australian rock salt and said it might still be alive. When reached for comment, the billion-year-old microorganism's spokesperson said, the organism is as with it as ever and continuing to successfully discharge their Senate duties. The main town of Pasadumkiag was forced to shut down after its only clerk resigned in protest after her request for a two-week vacation was denied. Either I go on vacation or this whole town goes on vacation, said the clerk while inflating a pool float.

Not looking good for our fence permit, said one couple whose neighbor keeps watching them shower. said one couple whose neighbor keeps watching them shower. Engineering students at Johns Hopkins University unveiled tasty tape, an edible tape you can use to seal your burrito closed. Hell yeah. What's China working on, AI? Okay. Days after his release from prison,

pharma bro Martin Shkreli is reportedly on Bumble yeah yeah yeah man I wouldn't wish being a woman on my worst enemy like my god the idea of dating a straight person

I don't know how any of you do it I don't know how you have conversations with... I mean obviously Martin Shkreli is like a bad example, but he's not an exception that proves the rule either. Shkreli's ex, journalist Christy Smythe, told the New York Post, I hope to see him, but has not as of yet met up with the universally loathed former hedge fund manager who broke up with her in prison. Just a reminder, Smythe was assigned to report on Shkreli in 2015 before leaving her husband and her job for him, even though he was never that into it. Roll the clip. You are professing life partnership. He is sending out a statement from his attorney

that said he's wishing you the best. That doesn't sound like he's reciprocating the love or the affection. Are you together? What's the status here? That's a complicated question. Mike, so he gets out of prison. out of prison. He goes on Bumble. Smythe told the New York Post this week, like this week, I'll always have feelings for him. Therapy. Everyone, everyone, everyone needs therapy. Oh, I'm sorry. This just in. Martin Shkreli has bought the patent to therapy. How is that possible? What a scamp. Video of an Arby's manager peeing in the milkshake mix has surfaced.

Twist. It was during a police investigation of the man for possession of child pornography. So, here's a rule of thumb. If you have a video of yourself peeing in the milkshake mix at an Arby's, that has to be the worst video on your phone. Very dark stuff.

A German town ordered all cat owners to keep their pets indoors through August out of an abundance of caution because the town's cats might eat the rare crested lark and its chicks during nesting seasons. Better safe than sorry, the cats just destroy those eggs and have zero appreciation for their delicate flavors. I love to take those little tiny bird eggs and then you make a little omelet, but you put in just a dash of baby formula. Okay. Fucking cancel culture. And finally, researchers from China's Beihang University have designed a drone that can operate underwater as well as fly, with the suckerfish-inspired ability to attach itself to moving underwater

objects in order to hitch a ride. Good news, we saved the whales. Bad news, they're absolutely covered in drones. When we come back, it's reality versus reality TV. And we're back I'm not going to lie to you your perception that things are not going great is extremely accurate

between the potential evisceration of abortion access book bans, conservative attacks on gay and trans people the rot has spread to the support beams propping up this 225 year old fixer upper we call a democracy we've got termites, we've got mold we've got mildew and a septic tank The rot has spread to the support beams propping up this 225-year-old fixer-upper we call a democracy. We've got termites, we've got mold, we've got mildew, and a septic tank overflowing with white supremacists. Tell Chip and Joanna to turn their truck around.

Shiplap will not save us now. Which is why I will be joined momentarily by the authors of the book How Democracies Die. However, this is a comedy show. So every time I feel like the conversation is too depressing, I'm going to switch it over to my third guest, comedian and Real Housewives of New Jersey aficionado, Pat Regan, for a little update from the Garden State. No pressure, Pat.

Please welcome to the stage Professor Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Zyblatt and the hilarious Pat Regan. Come on in. Hi, thanks for being here. Thank you. Oh, so good to see you. Thank you for having me.

Oh, thank you, thank you. Come on, sit down. This is great. All right, let's start with some questions about democracy. Then we're going to leaven it by covering the housewives. All right? It's not the first time, and it won't be the last time, that it's democracy versus New Jersey.

So I look at the Republican Party and what I see is a degeneration that's taken place over many years. In your look at what's happened in other countries, which you do explore in the book, have you seen places that were able to reverse or stop a backslide in a major party shifting further and further toward the authoritarian right?

Not very often. Ah, right? Not very often. Ah, fuck. Not very often, is it? Never. Usually it's preceded by calamity, unfortunately, though. Usually countries get into trouble, democracy comes to the precipice, falls in the precipice, and then people realize what they've lost and regroup. Chile in the 1970s is a great example of that, just to give you one example, where there was a

military coup, there was intense polarization between political rivals, and only after that did rivals realize, what the hell have we done? And got their act back together, and Chile today is a democracy. So that's not a great model for us to follow. Hard agree. Obviously, there are examples, as you're talking about about where the parties have shifted apart one party has shifted towards authoritarian tendencies and there's been a calamity are there even smaller examples where even if they weren't able to gain power that there are parties that have shifted dramatically to the right and then found a way back without that kind of calamity the only way that happens is when the party shifts too far to the extreme and gets the shit beaten out of it, gets pummeled in repeated elections.

That's the only way to sort of... That's not about to happen here. Well, it's the beginnings of a plan, at least. No bad ideas in a brainstorm. Pat! Of all the New Jersey women, who is most likely to run for Congress and win? And that's New Jersey's 5th and 9th districts.

The 5th was just redrawn this year and includes seasoned star Tenafly. Okay, I think Teresa is the most likely to run, but I don't think that she can win the election. I could see someone like, I could see Dolores winning. I could see Dolores winning. She is gorgeous. She looks unbelievable. She could run the platform of loyalty because that woman will die for anyone she's ever met, even one time 40 years ago. And yeah, I think that Dolores could run and win. She's amazing

diplomatically. Both of her exes live together in a home and they're both friends with her. Wow, that's cool. Yeah, it is really cool. Maybe a lesson for us in our democracy. Speaking of, in your book, you talk about the concepts of mutual toleration and forbearance, which are breaking down. Can you just talk a little bit about what those are and where they went? Long gone in the years since we wrote the book.

Very quickly, mutual toleration is simply accepting the legitimacy of your rival. So that means that no matter how much you disagree with your rival, no matter how much you dislike your rival, you accept them as a legitimate political player, someone that loves the country as much as we do, and should be out there competing against us. Forbearance means using restraint in deploying your institutional power, not taking the letter of the law and using it to subvert the spirit of the law, which is something that our politicians did for most of the last century, but stopped doing in the last couple of decades. So we were worried about norms when we wrote the book five years ago. We're much more worried about just

breaking the constitution at this point. Things are much worse. Pat. Yeah. Can you remember a single detail about Tiki Barber's wife, Tracy? And yes, our writers did have to Google her name despite the fact that she was on an entire season of television. Yeah, thank God that you said the name, or else I would have just kind of called her Tiki Barber's wife, which would not be feminist by any means.

Do I remember anything about her? I do remember that she's Tiki Barber's wife. I do remember that she was friends with Teresa in the beginning, but then Teresa didn't like her because she, quote, asked too many questions, which is really fair. Don't ask questions. It's annoying. But she's a friend of. Friend ofs, they can take any kind of role they want. A friend of the wives is someone who's not kind of in the opening credits, but, you know, they're going on the trips.

They're around. They have confessional looks. And they did make the choice not to bring her to the reunion, which I think was the right choice. That's my answer. I find myself conflicted a lot by wanting to be a media critic

and just sort of work the refs all the time. Like, hey, the New York Times will look at an election denier and describe them as a firebrand. Or there'll be an article that looks at polarization in Montana, but then you read into the details and it's about a group of right-wingers forcing a Democratic city council person to run out of town, right? Sometimes I feel like one of the hardest aspects of this threat to our democracy for journalists in the mainstream press to accept is, yes, when it comes to a policy dispute over taxes

or infrastructure funding, you can be a referee between two sides. But when it comes to the fight for democracy, you're not a ref. You're on a team. Even in just the last couple years, have you seen a shift in even how journalists are starting to appreciate this? Do you think that there's an understanding of that shift when they have to be a ref and when they have to understand that they are on the side of democracy? Politics is a game where you play by rules. And so it's fine to disagree over tax rates, healthcare policies. But if you disagree over the rules of the game, then you can't sustain the democracy.

And if somebody doesn't accept election results when they're free and fair, if you don't criticize violence when it's being used for political ends, then these are out of bounds. And so what happens, I think, is that journalists often feel they want to be neutral. They want to be above the fray. They want to sustain their own reputations. And in the process, they normalize totally unacceptable behavior. As an analyst, as a political scientist, I feel a little bit of this tension as well, because, you know, I try to be objective. I have my own policy views. But at the end of the day, we all have to defend democracy and recognize what are genuine threats to democracy

and call them out. It's absolutely critical. Pat, Beverly Hills is finally going to Aspen. Atlanta is going back to the Caribbean. The OC flew private to Mexico. Did you feel disrespected as a viewer by a group vacation to Nashville? Yeah, I'm so glad you asked that. I also want to say to the audience, it's okay to like do applause after my answers too. That's okay. I won't be weird about that because I'm a comedian. I won't be worried about it. It's a really good point. It's a to do applause after my answers, too. That's okay. I won't be weird about that because I'm a comedian. I won't be weird about it. That's a really good point. It's a really important point. I'm really open to being applauded.

Yeah, you know, I've actually thought about this quite a bit. And you know what I think it stems from? We have a culture in New Jersey Housewives around domestic trips. And, you know, trips on Housewives cast started being mandatory when a woman broke down in St. Thomas in 2008 on a trip. And Bravo said, this needs to happen every year, five times a year with women from different cities. Now they must go on the trip kind of no matter what. And what happened was New Jersey went on a long break because Teresa was incarcerated. And like many, like many in this country.

Applause, applause, applause. I'm being serious. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I swore I wouldn't be political. Jersey production halted. When she got out, they were like, okay, we're back in, but Teresa's parole

dictated that she could not leave the state at first. So they were always going to like random ass places in Jersey for their trip. And that was really sad. And now I'm not sure what the rules are of her parole. I haven't been made privy to those for whatever reason, which I generally don't ask. But I think that it's still frowned upon for her to leave the country. But she did go to Italy to visit her ex. Like, what's the deal? It's fucked up. Yeah, they have to go somewhere. But they always, Jersey always has had bad

trips. They're always, like, going to Italy to see their relatives or something. Which is cool if you all do that. I'm sorry, everyone's furious at me. But yeah, they should go to, like, Barbados or something. Yeah! Like, incarceration. Nice.

People like Tucker Carlson, they are cynical. Tucker Carlson used to be a much more serious person. He saw market opportunity, took advantage of it. As in your looking at what's taking place in other countries and your look at what's happened in the United States, what explanation do you see for why we've seen this sudden surge in demand for this kind of revanchist right-wing television, social media, radio? What has driven this need? It's a great question. First of all, I just want to say some of us were born in godforsaken towns in New Jersey. I love that. And I'm fighting for your right to go on amazing vacations internationally. Wow. It's a great question, because it's not just Tucker Carlson. It's not just Fox News.

There is an intense demand for this stuff. And there are a bunch of causes, but ultimately, the principal cause is this country's slow, excruciatingly gradual transition to multiracial democracy. It's the fact that we have become a much more diverse society and slowly have taken steps towards something resembling racial equality, and that has proven incredibly threatening for the white Christian majority that dominated this country for two centuries. It's very, very rare, very, very rare in any democracy anywhere that you see a dominant ethnic group lose its dominant majority and lose its dominant social status. That's a really threatening thing. The folks who tune into Tucker Carlson feel like the country they grew up in is being taken away from them. And that's an intensely

threatening thing. And that's radicalized about a third of this country. I want to follow up on that because let's say we accept that as true. I accept that as true, obviously. The people that are tuning into Tucker, that are voting for Trump, that are excited about taking the Supreme Court, that are glad that they're from a small state that gets a bigger vote in the Senate, they would never say that that was the reason, right? Because you can't really point to policy outcomes. It's not as if a Senate or a Congress or a White House controlled by this cosmopolitan, more urban majority has set their sights on Wyoming and pursued policies that hurt Wyoming more than what the Republicans would do. So what is the internal logic that they have to decide to

try to overturn democracy? How does such a big group of people who disagree with what you're saying nonetheless remain motivated by that desire to punish the big states, right? They don't agree that that's what's happening, and yet that's exactly what they're doing. How do they build an internal logic to justify their behavior if they don't accept that they're doing it because they're losing a white majority? I'm not sure there has to be an internal logic. It's not about people's sort of rational self-interest. It's not about their policy positions anymore. It's much more about their identity, the community and the country that they feel they belong in or don't belong in. It's much more sort of primal than that.

Part of the evidence of that is all these fights over highly symbolic issues like Disney, critical race theory, things that have nothing to do really with Joe Biden at the end of the day. And yet somehow in people's minds, I think these things are all connected. And part of this overwhelming sweep of change and these highly symbolic issues become signifiers of some kind of deep transformation that's taking place. Pat, during this week's reunion episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey, Dolores called Jennifer a, and I'm quoting, a fucking cunt. Did she have a point?

She really, really, really did. And it's one of those ones where similarly, like what we were all as a group just talking about, internal logic wasn't important in the claim. That stemmed from, thank you, you guys, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. You know, it stemmed from this time when, you know, Dolores and Jennifer are traditionally for the last couple of years, couch mates, which is what I call it when they sit on the same couch in the reunion, indicating they're on the same team. And it was those two and Teresa, and they were kind of Teresa's soldiers a little bit. And then what happened was it was brought to light that Jennifer's husband

did choose to cheat on her 10 years ago. She was crying about it, and Dolores said, don't cry about it. And then Jennifer said, you think I'm weak that I'm crying. And Dolores was like, that's not what I'm saying. And anyways, then they got in a fight. And yeah, Jennifer's being annoying. Thank you. So as we've watched this sort of downward slide on the right,

I think you see a lot more kind of intro left antagonism and acrimony. I think that's in part because kind of intro-left antagonism and acrimony. I think that's in part because the stakes feel total, right? The stakes for these elections, for the strategy that the broad left pursues have increasing importance because we recognize that losses threaten not just one election, but the possibility of having others. I also do think some aspect of it is a sense in which you want to argue with people who will argue back, right? You want to fight with people who will respond.

And arguing right now with an authoritarian right that doesn't believe in the power of argument to decide disagreements kind of feels pointless. It feels futile. In looking at what's happened in other countries and exploring what's been happening here, are there ways in which people could put that energy to good use, obviously outside of voting,

in terms of protests, in terms of engagement, that you have said, wow, you know what? This was more effective than I expected, actually. I think this kind of on-the-ground action, this kind of direct action actually moved minds in a way that was counterintuitive. I would say there's two things. First of all, this internal fighting is partly a function of the fact that Democrats, in order to win elections in our very tilted political system, have to win more than majorities. And so that means Democratic majorities have to be oversized. And so, of course, there's going to be more internal disagreement. So I think it's important to realize that these internal fights are nothing compared to the fight against the other side. That's one point.

A second thing I would say is that the Black Lives Matter movement is a civil rights movement. And this is something where people need to be engaged. And I think what you're asking about, this is the kind of movement and mobilization that's essentially pushing for civil rights. And it is something where people need to be engaged. And I think what you're asking about, this is the kind of movement and mobilization that's essentially pushing for civil rights. And it's in a long tradition of American civil rights. And it's something that obviously needs to be supported. I think the reason I'm asking is because your book is about how democracies die. I'm very interested in that. Slightly more interested in how they live. Live a long, if not ultimately that healthy

life. You know, we don't need to run a marathon here, but we'd like to, you know, make it. You know, just live. Maybe a 5K? Like a 5K, sure. What do we do? Just give me something optimistic. I can't just keep going to Real Housewives facts. You wrote a whole book about it.

What do we do? You give up? You finish the book? You say, well, that's a shame and build big fences? Come on. Look, first of all, and this is a really simple, basic point, we've got to win. And to win, we've got to vote. People have to vote.

And there's a real danger, a real danger. As Daniel was saying, people complain about Democrats infighting and incompetence and slowness and they're off message. A day can't go by without reading, I don't know how many columns,

criticizing the Democrats for being incompetent. The thing is, the Republican Party represents basically a white Christian majority in decline. The Democratic Party is forced to represent everybody else in the society. That's really fucking hard.

It's hard to do. And the problem is, everyone in that coalition is going to be unhappy about something. They are going to be arguing. They're going to be disagreeing. And when you end up with a president like Biden, who may be somewhat ineffectual, who may not get everything done that we hoped he would get done, people start to lose faith. They start to lose interest. They start to maybe not vote.

That's what's going to be killer. The Democratic Party, the good guys in this coalition, are a majority in this country. We can't ever forget that. We are a majority in this country. We can't ever forget that. We are a majority in this country. But we, first of all, face an uphill battle because our electoral institutions reward sparsely populated territories. So the Republicans have an advantage in the electoral college.

They have an advantage in the Senate. But if we vote, we win. We've learned that. We learned that with Obama. If we vote, we win. And on that note, listen, got like less than six months until these midterms. Everybody has to go. I'm sick of asking. You go to votesaveamerica.com and you sign up, not because you want to, though you might, because you fucking have to.

Thank you so much to Daniel and Steven. Even Joe Biden recommends their book, How Democracies Die. I think the sequel should be How Democracies Live. I would think about it. I would just think about it. Just noodle on it. I think people will love it. It'll be hopeful.

It may be short. Maybe it's How Democracies Die is a book and How Democracies Live is like a pamphlet. Remember pamphlets? And thank you to Pat Regan. Go listen to his podcast, Seek Treatment, with Cat Cohen. And he'll be at the Punchline in Philly on June 1st, hereafter in Seattle June 18th, and Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon on June 19th

when we come back. Let's talk real estate. Thank you so much. That was great. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. America can't get enough selling Sunset,

the Netflix reality show where hot blonde narcissists turn looks, attend fraught lunches, and occasionally sell a Los Angeles mansion, all under the washful gaze of hairless identical twins. We reached out to the Oppenheim Group, and as it turns out, Christine, Chrishell, Heather, Mary, Chelsea, and everyone else you've heard of could not attend or reply to our DMs,

but in a very exciting turn of events, we do have a member of the Oppenheim Group, and he does work at the brokerage. I haven't seen every episode, but I'm sure he's incredible and ready to bring the drama. Welcome to the stage. It says here, Frank Melman. Hi, Frank. Please have a seat.

Thank you for joining us, Frank. You're welcome. Hi, John. Thank you for joining us, Frank. You're welcome. Hi, John. Thank you for having me. I see you brought some chardonnay pretty early tonight. Oh, no. This is just for taking my pills. So someone's being naughty. No, no. It's just water. I've been practicing my wine-throwing skills, John.

You have to. At my office, my co-workers have the wine-throwing reflexes of American Sniper. My ophthalmologist says it's starting to destroy my retina. Is that why they haven't really been showing you on camera? Oh, no, I'm constantly getting on camera, John. They just don't ever use me, even though I am doing the most sizzling stuff. Oh, no, I'm constantly getting on camera, John. They just don't ever use me, even though I am doing the most sizzling stuff. Oh, like what?

Okay, get this. I recently confronted Chris Shell in front of everyone at work. Okay, tell me more. Tell me more. Politely, without raising my voice. Okay. And I told her it is morally irresponsible not to widen the company's portfolio to include starter houses that are actually affordable to the average Los Angelino family.

Did you know the median income in Los Angeles is $67,418? Which is more important than the average income because of all these super wealthy people. You should see these desperate young families trying to buy their first house, John. They'll offer anything. You won't see that kind of action when you're selling a $75 million house for some grumpy Russian murderer, Davina.

And you didn't scream at all during your monologue? Not even a little bit? I don't think I've ever screamed in my life. Wait, does vomiting count as screaming? No. Yeah, then no, I haven't. I understand why you're not getting on air a lot. I mean, selling Sunset is as much about fashion as anything else. How about you tell us a little bit about what you're wearing? Of course. This is a shirt my beautiful wife of 18 years gave me, and these here are pants.

Well, it's not as fierce as I'd hope, but that's on me for using the word fierce. I know I'm not serving around the office, John, but I thought some of my storylines were pretty spicy. For example, a few weeks ago, Mary and I got into it. Thank God, finally, let's hear it. A few weeks ago, Mary and I got into it. Thank God. Finally, let's hear it. I was helping Mary figure out the cost of concessions on a property that did not have proper earthquake bolting on the foundation. Well, that was a little overdramatic of me.

The foundation was bolted on the north and east walls, but it looked to the inspector as if whoever did the work had cut corners, which could be a huge problem. And Mary felt we should offer to take off $10,000, but my view was we should bring in a second inspector. This is someone's home, after all. I don't know what I would do if something happened. I can't believe they didn't include any of this reality

TV gold. The editors did slip up once, John. If you look closely at season two, episode four, there's a moment where you can see me in the background of Christine's engagement party. I'm standing next to a zebra and eating a sandwich I brought from

home. I'm not gluten-free, I just prefer my wife's bread. I saw that. I thought you were someone's plumber who wandered on set. That's what Christine said, too. And I've known her for years. And then, John, right

before she was about to say yes... Oh, yeah, here we go, Frank. Ruin that engagement. Well, it was about an hour before. Come on, Frank! I pulled Christine aside and had a reasoned, sober conversation about how these new multi-million dollar properties would be best used as mixed-income housing. Yeah.

Oh, and also all of our new homeowners should be replacing their lawns with drought-resistant plants. Then I tried to... Yeah, this is a reality show. Then I tried to walk past Christine's infinity pool while holding a plate with some mini hot dogs and fell in. Well, that's interesting. Why wasn't that on the show? Crew was on lunch. I offered to fall back in, but they said, my nipples

were coming in too hot through the wet linen. That's the name of my autobiography, actually. Yeah, no, that sounds like your nipples were just piercing through the wet linen and they couldn't recreate you falling in the pool. Yeah. So you can't really catch a break. No. Hey, while I'm here, I've actually

been working on a list of explosive things I could say to maybe get some airtime in season six. Could I run some by you? Sure, what else am I doing? Okay, let's see. I'll just rattle off a few here. What's Chelsea's problem? We should do something nice for her in case she's going through something.

It feels like everyone's pulling their weight around here except for one person and that's me. I'm gonna work harder from now on. I don't... Okay, keep going.

Do you think Maya served in the IDF? That's actually an interesting question. Yeah. I want to know. I'm sick of working for identical twins. We should form a union. That's pretty good. All right, Frank, I'm going to be honest with you here.

Maybe drama's not your thing. Maybe your way into selling Sunset is just showing off those gorgeous million-dollar houses you sell. That's what the show's about, in theory. Oh, I see how it is, John. I thought you of all people would understand that I have nothing but the best intentions. Honestly, I feel attacked. Yeah, well, lean into it, Frank. I bust my ass for my company trying to balance the wealthy's desire for luxury with America's crushing housing market. And of course,

having it all. And I can't even sniff a little bit of B-roll just because I'm, as producers said, an ugly nobody and my BBL didn't take. You got a BBL? Yeah, I fucking did. Because I care about getting the truth on television.

What is the truth, Frank? That we are hurtling toward another housing collapse created entirely by capitalist greed. So I'm sorry if I haven't had time to weigh in on Chris Schell dating a non-binary Australian musician named G Flip after breaking up with her boss Jason because he decided he didn't want kids, which also, I'm sorry, I feel it's none of my business. Frank, pick up that wine glass and take us home. I wake up every morning to sell another two-bedroom ranch in Glendale

for one million dollars over asking price in cash, and the only way I can sleep at night is to try to help the families who can pray to own a home of any kind, the same families who watch Selling Sunset specifically to dull the panic of knowing the American dream will forever be out of their reach, and you have the audacity to call me out on my failures in front of everybody

in Boston. Oh yeah, I'd watch this. I'd really watch this. Frank Millman of Selling Sunset, everybody. Chelsea is faking her accent. Eugene Merman, everybody. The Bob's Burgers movie premieres in theaters on Friday, May 27th, and he'll be introducing the movie at the Somerville Theater on that night at 8 p.m. When we come back, there's just going to be more show. It's going to be great. When we come back, there's just going to be more show. It's going to be great.

What do you guys want to do for five minutes? Let's talk about the Mexican pizza for one minute. Let's have a conversation about one thing and one thing only, which is this. How much do they pay Dolly Parton? Here's what we know. We know that Dolly Parton is making a TikTok musical with Doja Cat about the Mexican pizza. We know that she's putting it on Instagram. We can only assume that there are television advertisements in the works, okay?

We don't know how many days Dolly agreed to create the content that they needed, right? They could have done a photo shoot and some video in one or two days to use over time, okay? We have no idea how much time Dolly devoted to this project, but we do know she got paid a lot because she says no to much cooler stuff. So let's do it like this.

Everyone in this room, decide on a number for how much they think Dolly Parton is making to promote Taco Bell's Mexican pizza, which again, is a specific hard shell tostada with beans, meat, another shell, cheese, Mexican pizza sauce, beans, meat, another shell, cheese, Mexican pizza sauce, and scallions of little tomatoes and tomatoes in a box that is non-microwavable because they're

sadists. It is different now. I know. I had one on Tuesday. Because, I'll tell you something, they were supposed to be available Thursday, May 19th, but if you downloaded the app, they were available on Tuesday. But the thing about getting them on Tuesday is

there was a deer in the headlights quality, you know? You don't want the third one at that Taco Bell. You want the 5,000th one. But back to what we were trying to do, sir. Everybody think of a number. It's in millions, obviously. I'm going to count up and just applaud when I get to the number of millions you think Dolly Parton has been paid by Taco

Bell to promote the Taco Bell Mexican pizza. Okay? One. You're idiots. Wrong. Wrong. Two. Three. Four. It's not by tens. They're not making Sandra Bullock gravity money for this. Think about that, okay? So it's not going to be by fives or tens. Four.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, that's my vote, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, okay, okay, okay. Now, how do we find out? And another thing about the Mexican pizza, you got to figure it's like a long list of things, right? Of activations, right? Like she must get a certain amount per post. She has 5 million Instagram followers, which is actually lower than you'd think, right? Like there's no respect for people's elders, right? Five million for Dolly Parton? Come on. Come on, gays. Maybe if she had abs. I'm sure she does, but she doesn't, you know, flaunt them. And we're back.

Here to add some desperately needed legitimacy to this podcast to convince all of us we have the power to actually change this country for good, please welcome your Congresswoman, Ayanna Pressley. Hi, thank you for being here. Good to see you too. Thank you for being here. They love you. Thank you for being here. They love you.

It's not important, but how much money do you think Dolly Parton got for agreeing to sponsor the Mexican pizza? Oh my goodness, I don't know, but I love Dolly. So you were, of course, one of the lead co-sponsors of the Women's Health Protection Act, which did not pass. Can you talk a little bit about what it's been like to kind of try to get that in front of Congress and what the fight has been like just in the last few weeks since this opinion leaked? You know, look, I see someone here is wearing one of the things that I live by.

Policy is my love language. And, you know, we've seen policy enact great hurt and harm. And so I'm a believer that if you can legislate hurt and harm, you can legislate equity, you can legislate healing, you can legislate justice. And so the Women's Health Protection Act, which by the way, this is a bill that has been reintroduced every Congress since 2013 by Congresswoman Judy Chu. And that is because we predicted that a day like this could come. And we were called hysterical. And so I'm a co-sponsor of the Women's Health Protection Act, which did pass the House. Now, like so many other issues of consequence to everyone who calls this

country home, from climate justice to voting rights and so many other issues, it's incredibly infuriating and demoralizing. And I think the Senate has contempt for the American people, certainly for women, for birthing people. You know, I can hardly move because I certainly feel as a black woman that they have their foot on my neck and have for a very long time. And when I think about who will suffer the most, because we know if you put safe legal abortion out of reach for people, it doesn't mean that they'll stop having abortions. Abortion is healthcare. So it's a fundamental human right, but they will not do it safely. They will not do it legally. And again, as a black woman, when you consider the black maternal morbidity crisis, and that

black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth, and a history of medical apartheid on the bodies of black women and indigenous women, resulting in forced sterilizations and experimentation without our consent, and now a world where we could be experiencing forced birth, by the way, in a country that still does not have universal childcare, paid leave, and in the middle of a formula shortage. So you ask what it's been like. It's been infuriating. I'm outraged. It's been infuriating. I'm outraged. It's frightening.

Right now I'm just focused on doing everything that we can with states and pushing governors. Shout out to the Massachusetts State Legislature. We do have the Roe Act here. But whether you live in Massachusetts or not, I want folks to know that abortion, Roe v. Wade, is still the law of the land. It is legal. If you have an abortion appointment, keep it. I want to thank the

Massachusetts State Legislature for also just infusing massive funds recently to ensure that we'll have access to reproductive care and health because we know there will be spillover from other states if this ruling becomes final. And just a word about this Supreme Court. I mean, I hate to say I told you so. Listen to women, y'all. Listen to women, y'all. So, there are these two fronts. One is doing everything we can right now to protect access to reproductive health care across the country

or getting people to where they need to go to get the care that they should by right have, that they deserve. There's also the political fight and doing everything we can to make this November's election about healthcare, about access to abortion, about choice, about freedom as they are going after trans kids, if they're going after books, if they're going after teachers. One debate I've seen playing out since the Senate failed to enshrine Roe is, all right,

well now let's put these Republicans on record again. Let's put them on the record saying whether or not they would enshrine Roe is, all right, well, now let's put these Republicans on record again. Let's put them on the record saying whether or not they would enshrine a right to access to contraception. Let's put them on the record on a right to marriage equality. What do you think about that as the next fight to just sort of narrow the scope of what we put up next and put Republicans on the record at a time when they are basically banning IVF in certain states, passing these draconian laws that have no exception for rape and incest, passing these laws that would not even protect access in the case of the health or the life of the mother. What do you think about that as the next step to try to get them on record for these incredibly broadly popular nationally held views? Yeah, thank you for underscoring that point because Roe v. Wade is amongst majority of Americans, very popular. They

do not want to see it overturned. So again, this draft by the Supreme Court, if it becomes final, is a frightening bellwether of what could come and really strike at the heart of privacy. Everything from access to contraception to impacting who you marry, who you love. And so I think the strategy that you're talking about, a more narrowed focus, is smart politically because I do want Republicans to be put on the record so that the electorate can be put on notice and be very clear about who at every turn

has demonstrated contempt for the American people. We had a number of Republicans just this week who voted against baby formula. So I mean that's what we're dealing with and again as we talk about the ongoing fight here so three things really quickly. One, please go to www.abortionfunds.org and support grassroots fundraising efforts for those who may you know need to travel and need access to those funds. Secondly, I am taking up the fight to ensure that medication abortion, which is an issue that I was leading on already, I chair the Abortion Rights and Access Task Force under the pro-choice caucus as the first pro-choice majority Congress in the history of Congress. That's got to mean something.

And being in the majority has to be more than a talking point, which is why we have to keep pushing for these things. We want to ensure that medication abortion, which is safe, continues to be accessible. We also want to make sure that access to contraception is not next on the table. Representative Ocasio-Cortez and I already had a bill on that front, which we're looking at, you know, the timing of reintroducing that. I do think ultimately, the best persuasion to the electorate for the midterms is impact. People have to be able to see and feel so tangibly, so clearly that their government sees them and is fighting and working on their behalf. And that is everything from canceling student debt to enshrining Roe v. Wade to making permanent the child tax credit and so many other issues.

So all of those things are both smart policy and also smart politics. Let's talk about canceling student debt. So you, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, you have a resolution urging President Biden to cancel 50,000. He's talked, I believe, up to like 10,000. At least that's what they've signaled. What is the status of that effort? When do we expect to hear a final word from the Biden administration? What's happening right now? Yeah, well, first, I just want to acknowledge the strength of this movement. And this is an issue, student debt cancellation, one that pundits, electeds, many tried to really marginalize this

issue. And there were a lot of false narratives. It was characterized as something regressive in impact that would only benefit white graduate students who went to affluent institutions. And so we've done a lot of effective work in rounding out this narrative to tell the truth of who is bearing the burden of this nearly $2 trillion crisis. In my district, I have 76-year-olds on fixed incomes collecting Social Security, still paying student debt. I have parents who are in their upper 60s early 70s who cannot retire because they took out Parent PLUS loans

and they're still paying on their kids loans. It's an intergenerational issue. I have parents still paying on their loans and now their kids loans and of course we have a whole generation that can't start a family, grow a family, purchase a home, think about starting a business because of the burden of this debt. So we have done great work to diversify the narrative and tell the whole truth about who's bearing the burden of this. It's also a racial justice issue. I myself, like 85% of black student borrowers, had no choice but to take out loans. Our families were denied the ability to build generational wealth because of policy violence like redlining. We're borrowers had no choice but to take out loans. Our families were denied the ability to build

generational wealth because of policy violence like redlining. We're also five times more likely to default. And there was a recent study that said 20 years after borrowers took out loans, black borrowers still owed 95% of their loan and white borrowers owed 6%. So this is a racial justice issue, and that's why you see the NAACP stridently and affirmative in their support of student debt cancellation. We see the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the former Secretary of Education. So we're closer than ever before. That resolution had 100 members on it, including many from Democratic leadership. And we were successful in getting the president,

the administration, to pause student loan payments during the pandemic three times. And that's what I'm talking about. That was impactful, right? We're in a pandemic, two plus years. People were able to use those monies that they saved to remain safely housed during this pandemic, to purchase essential goods. I even spoke to some people who became first-generation homebuyers. So if that's the sort of transformational impact that we're seeing in two years, imagine if the president uses that same authority for a broad-based student debt cancellation at $50,000. This is an economic justice issue.

It's a racial justice issue. It is a gender justice issue because women bear two-thirds of this debt in this $2 trillion crisis. It's a racial justice issue, and economists have told us that if we cancel $50,000 broad-based student debt, that is going to alleviate the debt burden for 30 million people and close the racial wealth gap by 30%. So we are closer than ever before to getting this done. We need all of you to continue to just raise and amplify your voices. But we are closer than ever before to getting this done. And I'll continue to, myself, Senator Warren, Leader Schumer, Rep Omar, and others, to push

for that broad-based student debt cancellation by executive action, $50,000. We've been talking about how challenging Congress is right now. This is a unilateral move. It doesn't require one vote. So just do it. One question I have about it, even as somebody who thinks it's good politics and a good policy, is there's getting this debt off the books and freeing up a lot of people to sort of just live a better life and being able to be free to make better financial choices for themselves. But there's also the fact of a broken system that allowed all that debt to accumulate in the first place, including colleges not just taking advantage of students, in some cases just being outright corrupt, the rising cost of these schools, the false promises schools have made

to young people about what they can do with these degrees. If we cancel all this debt and the next day people start accruing more, what do we do to attack the problem at the source to make sure people have access to higher education that actually has value or that's ideally even free? What do we do to prevent the next round of debt cancellation in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And that just underscores the point that people are borrowing out of necessity. It's layered here. We have to have an intersectional approach. We have to address everything from stagnant wages and rising costs. We have to address the policies that made it

possible for the for-profit college industry to thrive with predatory marketing, deceptive business practices, producing degrees that don't amount to very much. My producer, Brian, he took a class in how to be a clown. He really did. Really? I think I know some senators who took that class. Nice. Nice. Yeah, so, I mean, we have to address, you know, these things at the root. And that does mean investing in education is the public good that it is. Federally, we need to do that. That means, you know, expansion of Pell Grants.

That means tuition-free college. It means, finally, investing in our historically black colleges and universities who have been chronically and woefully underfunded, which is exactly why you have seen HBCU presidents during this pandemic use ARPA funds to cancel student debt, because this is a racial justice issue. I mean, out of all the ways that they could have spent those funds, that's where they decided to spend it. So again, this is transformational, meaningful, impactful policy, but it is just one bold step in the right direction because we have to address those other issues, which I just enumerated. What would you think if we did everything that you're talking about, but not for MBA students? That if they just went to business school or law school, just it's not going to apply to

business school or law school. I think it'd be cool. You don't have to comment. Don't comment. If you went to business school, I don't want to forgive your dad. Anyone who has debt deserves relief. It's a $2 trillion crisis. I mean, come on. They go to cocktail parties and then go work for Goldman. No. All right.

Sorry. All right. Thank you for being here. I'm so thrilled to be here. Before we let you go. I love your skirt. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Before we let you go, when we have someone of seriousness of stature here, we like to play a game we call Queen for a Day. Just a day? That's all you get. Here you get a day. I wish it were longer. Okay. Are you ready? I think so.

You're walking down Tremont Street, and you see Ben Affleck struggling to carry an impossible number of Dunkin' Ice coffees. Do you help him or do you take a picture? I help him and then I ask, where's Jennifer? Team Bennifer. Hardcore.

I'm sorry, y'all. You're in a congressional hearing room and you find a forgotten folder of classified documents that prove that aliens have landed on Earth and the government knows all about it. Do you blow the whistle? No, I wouldn't be a whistleblower. I would just get it probably to Adam Schiff or something.

Yeah, let's get it to Schiff. Let's get Schiff on the blower. We got the evidence. Let's get Chip on the blower. We got the evidence. Next question. Okay. How many Taco Bell Mexican pizzas in one week is too many?

Have you had a Taco Bell Mexican pizza? Y'all know. I'm sorry. You could ask me that about a McDonald's Happy Meal Which I do occasionally You know partake Yeah it's good it has a toy Apple pie You can get them with fruit now

But we don't want the fruit now We don't want it it's true When I go to McDonald's I get a ten piece chicken nuggets meal And then I also get one little cheeseburger And that's the true aficionado. You get a meal and one little thing. Do you do that? No.

Have you ever had a Taco Bell Mexican pizza? No. Well, we can talk about it. We can maybe try it later. Should I? Yeah. They're good. They don't even pay us. Who said no? You joyless fucks.

Here's the thing about the Taco Bell Mexican pizza. Oh my goodness. Here's the thing about it. It's not Mexican. This is serious. And it's not a pizza. It's really neither. But you don't care.

But I don't care. You don't care. It's delicious. It's delicious. Okay. Next question. Do you have a farewell message for Madison Cawthorn? I'm going to keep it cute and mute That's good

That's what I'm going to do Okay, next question How guilty do I have to feel about using plastic straws at every opportunity? But keep in mind, I have an electric car. Guilty. Guilty. You got to feel guilty. Guilty.

Final question. As someone originally from Chicago, what is one way you would change Chicago to be more like Boston? Queen for a day. It's no joke. I was going to say, yeah, they would have fared better in the playoffs. You know? But one way I will say, I don't want to get in

trouble with my people, but I do want to say that one thing that Boston can learn from Chicago is we need to grill the hot dogs here. I just want to say that. What a boiled hot dog. We need to grill our hot dogs here. I just want to say that. What a boiled hot dog. We need to grill our hot dogs. You should grill a hot dog. You should grill a hot dog.

A little celery salt. Relish. Your relish? Yeah, that's a Chicago hot dog. Do you like brown mustard or yellow mustard? Yellow. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. And yet here we are having a conversation. Thank you so much to Congressman Ayanna Pressley. Thank you for being here. And if you want to help make an impact, go to votesaveamerica.com slash row. You can donate to the funds that the congresswoman was talking about. There are ways to help make sure anyone who needs access to abortion and reproductive care can have it right now, no matter what happens in June. You can donate to our immediate impact fund, which supports clinics and patients,

a legal defense for the fights ahead. We also have a fight back at the ballot box, and we have ways for you to help organizers in key states fighting to secure reproductive freedom at the state level, including through ballot initiatives in Kansas, Michigan, and Kentucky. And we're going to be updating the page. So if you go to votesaveamerica.com slash row, there'll be ways to donate to win in the midterms. There'll be ways to help at the local level. And there'll be ways to have an immediate impact and get people the care they need. So all three ways that people can help. When we come back, it's time for some hot takes.

Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Please welcome back to the stage Pat Regan and Eugene Merman. And Lady Bunny. Is Lady Bunny here? Lady Bunny.

Yes. Lady Bunny. Come on. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi, everybody. Thank you for being here.

Now it's time for a segment we call Hot Takes. You know how it works. Each of us will have one minute where we're forced to defend a never-before-seen indefensible position, and we each get one skip. But if you use your skip, beware, our producers are cruel people. And we don't know what the next one will be, all right? It says here that I am up first.

Let's see what my hot take is. Sure, Facebook and Twitter are bad, but TikTok is worst of all. Could not agree more. Let me give me one minute. Here's the thing. You ever seen the movie Broadcast News? All right. The devil isn't going to have hooves. All right. Like Facebook or Twitter. All right. You look at Facebook and Twitter have hooves. All right. Like Facebook or Twitter. All right. You look at Facebook and Twitter, you know, you're dealing with a monster, right? You're dealing with something that makes you feel bad inside, that it makes you feel like everyone's living a better life and everyone's angry and society's collapsing all around you. Not on TikTok. TikTok sucks you in because they're like, is this a house inspector explaining to me how flipped houses have crappy built-in sinks? Is this a Lizzo dance that I now know?

But it sucks you in and it slowly rots your brain. And then the next thing you know, you spent 40 minutes on the toilet watching TikToks. Next thing you know, you're abandoning your friendships and your relationships. You're bringing up TikTok at dinner parties with adults who think you sound ridiculous. And then all of a sudden you realize you're 39 years old. Do you know what comes after that? Nothing. That's true. Thank you.

Next up, it's Pat. Oh, my God. Sleep is unimportant and I don't need it. Wow. This is really, really true. As someone who was chronically addicted to the amazing jug speed, I can vouch that you could be really, really happy for about three hours and then not sleep for truly five days. And you can live. And you can live. And you can't do that with other things that are essential, like water or food. You know, sleep, it's really, and listen,

I think that we are in a gig economy, applause, applause. And I think that we have to be always booking. You know what's not essential is sleep. You know what is essential is booking work. We need to be booking roles in TV and film. Everyone should be doing that every single day. And if you're not, then what are you even doing here in a city? This is a city it is. And yeah, sleep is just like,

you can get sleep, you know, when you're dead, a famous truism that, you know, sometimes truisms, what they say about truisms is they're actually really true. And that is basically my biggest argument. If you take one thing from the show, it's that truisms are actually really true. biggest um argue if you take one thing from this show it's that truisms are actually really true let's see what's up next i get very frustrated when the media doesn't give equal airtime to every point of view eugene eugene that's your position sure i get very frustrated when the media does not give equal airtime to every point of view so every single point of view like sometimes you'll see two or three points of view and you're like there's got to be more it's like a multiverse of possibilities where you could have that you

could be like uh murder is bad murder is good but then there's a lot of grays murder's weird murder smells like sulfur murder murder is like too much like bananas and sometimes you're watching tv and they're i'm making a point i'm making a point point point point are you angry angry angry point point point and then you're like but there's so many more takes. Please give each equal time to each take, TV. Oh, I have six more seconds. And that, all that stuff one more time. Nice. Nice take.

Let's see what's next. Drag is easy and anyone could do it. That's Lady Bunny's take. You have one minute. Clearly. Clearly. Clearly. Oh, you fucking bitch. You absolutely...

Un-fucking-real. That's the good thing about a caftan. It hides a multitude of sins. Unbelievable. Wow. Wow. Thought we were going to have a nice time. Oh, we did have a nice time. So, I mean,

drag, did I say that? Drag is easy. I'm sitting here with my nuts shoved up my ass and support hose, and I'm saying, when did I say that? Maybe when I didn't need the girdle and all that. So maybe I should have said, bad drag is easy. I'm fired.

I'm so fired. I think you're going to have a nice time. Feeling pretty confident. You psych yourself out. You go out on stage. Next thing you know, Lady Bunny's tearing you down. Let's see what's next. Shut up, Lizzo. We get it. No, I'm not doing this again. I'm not doing this again. I took too much shit for the Dolly Parton one. Next. There's absolutely nothing gay about Top Gun. That I can do. There is nothing gay about Top Gun And let me tell you why

There was a time before, you know Everybody got all politically correct When it was understood That heterosexual men could get shirtless And bump uglies And play volleyball And kiss And it wasn't a big gay thing

It was just something you did at boarding school And then we decided that being gay was like an identity. And then all these straight guys were like, well, we better not act gay because then we'll be gay. But we're not gay. We're straight. We're hot, straight guys who have a real antagonism that isn't sexual at all. Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise do not have chemistry in a homosexual sense. They have another kind of tension.

Heterosexual, male on male, abs-based bro tension. And that's what Top Gun is. Thank you. Let's see what's next. Track and field, especially the middle distance events,

is too boring for air and shouldn't be allowed in the Olympics. Yeah, track and field, especially the middle distance events, is too boring for air and should not be televised, even the Olympics. I think I remember that correctly. And yeah, you know, it's just running, guys. It's just running. Why?

Just because these people devote their entire lives to training and very specific skills. And just because it's this very simple skill that, like, people try to master for their whole lives just to be able to do really well doesn't mean that we need to watch it on TV. I mean, for one, let's say the outfits are a little bit slutty,

and I just don't think that people should be trouncing around an oval in such honestly revealing things. And have you ever heard of storytelling, guys? Do you guys know about storytelling? Yeah, there's not that in track and field, okay? And so get it off my screen. I don't want to see this track on my TV, Tyra Banks.

Yeah, track is really boring. It's just running. And no, actually, this is really true. No one who's ever run has any personality. Nice. Let's just running. Actually, this is really true. No one who's ever run has any personality. Nice. Let's see what's next. Animated movies and television are strictly for children.

Eugene, that's for you. Sure. So animated movies and television are strictly for children. Adults shouldn't watch them. And if they walk into a room and see it, it's not geared for them. They should hide. They should run away. Children should absorb it and learn from it. And that should be their schooling. And adults should look away and not even know what the children are

watching or doing. Because that is the separation of the two is the best way to raise a society. It poisons an adult mind. Children can handle unusual things, but adults are so rigid. They cannot see anything weird. And if they do, they might eat poison. They might go into the kitchen under the sink and eat whatever is there. So they should not watch television that is animated movies or television. Nice.

Let's see what our next hot take is. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite place in New York City is, I say Times Square and I mean it. That's something that's your position. You can also pass and see what's next, but you have to defend this. Times Square is your favorite place in New York, right? Now, honey, you must have

gotten that off of MySpace, because I have not. Times Square is your favorite place in New York, right? Now, honey, you must have gotten that off of MySpace because I have not. Times Square is so cleaned up now that there are no more fucking drug dealers or $20 hustlers. I mean, there are literally, like you walk by them now and they're like, I got Louis Vuitton, I got Chanel. And it used to be like, I've got crack. Times Square is a fucking bus now. But it used to be fun. I'm sorry. Was that not? Listen, I'm not very politically correct either. No, this is good. We are so politically correct now that they are trying to make Dick Van Dyke change his name to Penis Van Lesbian. I mean, it has just gotten out of control.

It's out of control. And I say that as a member of the LGBT LMNOP community. And my pronouns, by the way, are slutty and sugar tits. My sexual preference is often, and I identify as trans slender because I used to be, now I'm trans fats. Phenomenal. Perfect.

A plus. Ten out of ten. Let's do one more. Bring back Mel Gibson. Bring back Mel Gibson. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Sure, he's made mistake after mistake after mistake,

revealing his inner truth, not something that happened by accident in a few instances, but actually over time revealed through his work and his actions and his behaviors to be the core of who he is. Put that aside. I am a Mel Gibson Hamlet in a Kenneth Branagh Hamlet world.

That is very specific. Here's the thing. Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite, and I hate that about him. But, but, Jesus, but we don't make leading men with those crazy eyes anymore. They all have, their skin is all too good. They are all too ripped. Chris Evans, his life is looking like Chris Evans. Mel Gibson looks like he woke up as the character from Lethal Weapon. I miss that. And how bad could you be if Jodie Foster is your emergency contact? Pretty bad.

You made me do that. What are you giving me the X for? You wrote that thing. God damn it. And that's hot takes. Thank you so much to Lady Bunny, to Eugene Merman, to Pat Regan. That was so, so funny. Thank you so much.

When we come back, we'll end on a high note. And we're back. Now it's time to end on a high note. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hi, I'm Jessie. Hi, Jessie. This might seem like a sad high note, but it's not. All right. The stage has been set. Expectations have been lowered. Last week, my husband of 16 years told me he wanted a divorce. Fuck. Uh, last week, my husband of 16 years told me he wanted a divorce.

At first I was sad because I have these two amazing kids and I'm so heartbroken for them, but no, it gets better. It gets better. But then in the last few days, it occurred to me that at some point in my life, that means I'm going to get to have sex with someone I'm attracted to. means I'm going to get to have sex with someone I'm attracted to. Jesse, we love that for you. We want that for you. Just be careful on Bumble. There's some real nightmare characters on there these days. It's been 16 years.

I don't know that stuff. Dude, you're going to crack it, all right? Here's the thing. Some things change. Some things don't. Also, I know you're familiar, but I, you're going to crack it. All right? Here's the thing. Some things change. Some things don't. Also, I know you're familiar, but I live in the Berkshires. Oh, you live in the Berkshires. Well, there's going to be some kind of professor who wants to take you to the Williamstown Summer Festival. I went to Williams, too.

Those math professors are nerdy but energetic. Sure they are. Sure they are. Maybe they'll solve your problem. You know what I mean? Thank you, Jesse. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? My name's Jack. My high note is that last week

I finally participated in and finished my first tournament for Ultimate Frisbee. You did? Yeah. Nice. That's great. Ultimate Frisbee.

Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hi, my name's Krista. I teach at an all-girls school right outside the city, and my high note is that last week, because of Vote Save America, I had some place to send my girls when they asked me what they could do for help. That's so nice. Thank you. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note?

Hi, my name is Kelly. I actually called in in the fall of 2020 when I started grad school. And yesterday I graduated. And I am going to be a therapist. And my best friend bought me tickets to the show to celebrate. And she's in New Zealand. so that's my high note. That's great. Everybody's pretty fucked up. We need therapists.

Everybody needs therapy. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Hi, what's your name and what is your high note? My name is Sarah and this week I was just elected to my local planning board. That's great. Congratulations. Hi, what's your name, and what is your high note?

Hey, my name is Alan. I grew up down south in Nashville, where there's no public transit, and I am thrilled that the Green Line extension is finally opening up, which is 30 years in the making, $2 billion, and now is the moment it's happening. So that's awesome. Yeah, the tea. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hi, my name is Cynthia, and my high note is after a three-year engagement,

my husband and I finally got married, and we waited to make sure it was safe to the horror, and the horror was everything I expected. And you, were you lifted up on a chair? Oh, I sure was. And you were looking forward to that activity. I was. So, background, I'm not Jewish, but my husband is, and the videos are very

funny because I'm having the time of my life and he is terrified. Now, do you have any reservation about the first act as a married woman being cultural appropriation? Don't answer that. You don't know what you're going to get. Hi, what's your name and what is your high note? I'm Elisa.

I'm Christina. We are teachers in Brookline and proud members of the Brookline Educators Union. We went on strike this week and we won. Hell yeah. Nice. Way to go. Love that. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hey, my name is Jamie. I'm actually from New Jersey. So thanks for the great coverage. And my high note is that in the middle of the day, I got a text message from my boyfriend that said, hey, I just met John Lovett. And I said, Pixar, it didn't happen.

And he sent the picture. So thanks for that. I hope you enjoyed the pizza. Oh, yeah. Connor. Yeah, it's Connor. Yeah. Yeah, right on.

Thanks for a great show. All right, you're the last one. We're going to move fast. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hi, John. My name is Stephanie, and I've been in Boston for two years and last week I just graduated with my master's degree in genetic counseling. Cool.

Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? I'm Johnny. Thanks to Representative Presley's office, I got my student loans forgiven. Nice. And tomorrow night I'm going to see Alyssa fucking Edwards. Whoa, that's cool.

I couldn't do it. I was going to make that noise. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? My name is Eli. And my high note, a little bit of a warm-up for it. So you've said recently that they're going to be furious. You can't warm it up.

What's your high note? Right now, jump to the punchline. High note is that you've tried to be making this show, as you said, as gay as possible in response to Joe Rogan, Peterson, and the ilk. I realize that I appreciate that. That made me happy. And it's been a part of my journey in opening up myself.

I now know that I am not straight. I don't know exactly what I am yet. This is the first time I've said any, in any public setting, and I want you to know that you've been a really important part of that self-exploration and opening up in myself. Thank you for saying that.

That means so much. And I want you to know that wherever you end up, the most important thing is not being straight. That's the most important thing you can do. You've already done most of the work. Getting rid of that is so hard and so important. Thank you. Hi, what is your name and what is your high note? My name is Maggie and my high note is A, it's my birthday today. Happy birthday. So that's kind of awesome. And, I got to spend it with Ayanna Pressley, who has authored the push-out bill,

which addresses the over-policing of girls of color in public schools. And I am thrilled that she is advocating for those folks in our community. And I couldn't be happier to be here with her tonight. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. That's very sweet. That's good. What's your name? What's your high note? Hey there, I'm Tanya.

I'm a teacher and so is my husband. We love you. We're huge fans of yours. Huge. For five years. My husband got COVID. He's not here and we're bummed. But my friend came with me and my high note is that my daughter, who's 15, typical teenager, miserable, tried to get her to agree to the Women's March in Boston we live on Cape Cod she finally

agreed we had the best day of our lives and it was awesome thank you for everything you do thank you thanks for saying that what's your name what's your high note hi my name is Maisie I teach second grade in Somerville. And second grade was one of the most impacted years by the pandemic because it started when they were in kindergarten. And this week I found out that 80% of my class is reading on grade level. That's great. That's great. Last one. Hi, what is your name? What is your high note? Hi, I'm Leanne. I'm a big fan, and I brought my partner with me. He has never

listened to your show, but I think he's having a good time. And the high note is not that, but it's that we've been together for 12 years, and this week he proposed to me! Nice! Best wishes. And where's the guy? proposed to me. Nice. Best wishes.

And where's the guy? Congratulations to you on experiencing tonight and whatever else. Thank you very much. Thanks to everybody who shared high notes tonight. If you want to leave us a message

about something that gave you hope, call us at 213-262-4427. That is our show. Thank you so much to Eugene Merman, Pat Regan, Ayanna Presley, Daniel Ziblatt, and Steven Levitsky, and Lady Bunny, and everyone who shared high notes. There are 157 days until the midterm elections. Thank you, Boston, and have a great night. And have a great night. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McLean and Caroline Haywood for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, Norma Alconian, Milo Kim,

Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroote for filming and editing video each week so you can.