The Chris Cuomo Project - Randy Rainbow on Satire, Donald Trump, and the “Cuomosexual” Craze

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Randy Rainbow (comedian, satirist, and author, “Low-Hanging Fruit”) joins Chris Cuomo to discuss his rise to fame through viral parodies of political figures like Donald Trump, and how humor became a tool to help audiences cope during divisive times. Randy Rainbow shares insights on growing up in a turbulent household, the experiences that shaped his comedic instincts, and the backstory behind coining the term “Cuomosexual.” Randy Rainbow and Cuomo explore the challenges of balancing authenticity with public expectations and why satire remains a powerful way to address uncomfortable truths. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Support our sponsors: AG1 Every week of November, AG1 will be running a special Black Friday over for a free gift with your first subscription, in addition to the Welcome Kit with Vitamin D3+K2. So make sure to check out. DrinkAG1.com/ccp to see what gift you can get this week!   Select Quote Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at SELECT QUOTE DOT COM SLASH CHRISC to get started Cozy Earth Visit cozyearth.com/CHRIS and use my exclusive 40% off code CHRIS to give the gift of luxury this holiday season. GetMaine Lobster Use promo code CUOMO to get 15% off all orders storewide! That’s right—15% off to help you create those unforgettable moments filled with joy and flavor. Factor Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash cuomo50 and use code cuomo50 to get 50% off your first box and 20% off your next month Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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agreement with iGaming Ontario. Randy Rainbow, that's all I need to say. And you're like, oh, that guy's so funny. Or I love when he did this, or I hated when he did that. Man, has he made an impact. And I needed to get him on the podcast to talk about why he does what he does and how he finds those spaces. I'm Chris Cuomo, welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project.

Man, it's not easy to be funny. It's not easy to be funny today. How did Randy Rainbow grab us during the pandemic? How did he make us see Trump a different way? How did he make it okay to do something that's not okay anymore, which is to laugh at what you disagree with? That's the genius. And guess what?

Randy Rainbow's got a new book out called Low Hanging Fruit. It's my nickname in college. No, it wasn't. Here he is. ["Rainbow's got a New Book Out"] Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from AG1. So, holidays, you know what happens. You fall off the grind, you fall off the routine.

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insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com slash Chris C. All you have to do is go to selectquote.com slash Chris C today and you'll get started. Selectquote.com slash Chris C. When did it dawn on you that Randy Rainbow was a thing? That's a loaded question. You mean like for the public? Oh yeah. When did it hit you that we all knew who you were? It still hasn't hit me. I didn't get it because I got known in my living room and it really quadrupled during the pandemic. So I didn't know. It wasn't until when I started doing tours and going and seeing people in person

and actually feeling the energy instead of just reading comments on my phone, then I said, oh shit, something happened here. You were, you know, in a really bad period, right, pandemic. How many people have told you, Randy Rainbow, you kept me going during the pandemic. How many people have told you that? Oh, that's the number one thing I get. And I so appreciate that. Randy Rainbow, you kept me going during the pandemic. How many people have told you that?

Oh, that's the number one thing I get. And I so appreciate that. Because I've just been doing what I love to do and making myself feel better, frankly. It's very selfish, what I do. But that's what I hear is you got me through. You got me through Trump. I'm still getting me through Trump.

You got me through the pandemic. Whenever there's a national or global tragedy, I really thrive. But it's really nice to hear that because I'm just doing what I have always done my whole life to make myself feel better. When I was a little kid getting bullied on the playground and dealing with tumultuous home life, I would turn to humor and to music. And the fact that I have been able to use those tools

to make people feel better at a time when they're struggling with whatever it is, that's, you know, some real destiny-type okershit. Making the world a better place. It's, you know, it's great. You know, look, and not everybody is gonna like it, but that's part of it, you know. Not everyone likes me?

No, I'm saying what you do often will play to divides and play to controversies, and that's good. Otherwise, you wouldn't be interested. Yeah. If you just gave one side, right, and I know you're not, you're coming at it from a humanistic level, but everything fades otherwise. There's a relevancy to what you do one side, right? And I know you're not, you're coming at it from a humanistic level, but... Everything fades otherwise.

There's a relevancy to what you do, because it keeps playing in and out of where we are. And what's okay to say, what's okay to joke about, what isn't. How much of that is conscious, and how much of that is just vibe from inside Randy, where like, this is what I have to talk about? It's all vibe. I mean, do you, when you watch my video, you get me.

So I have no doubt that you know, you understand where it's coming from. But do you immediately see a political person? No, I think part of the genius is you tap into the relatability of the universal experience you tap into the relatability of the universal experience. See, he gets it. You know what I mean?

Like that's what you're going for. And when someone's really good at it the way you are, we think, yes, that's what I would have said too. Yeah, that's exactly how I would have rhymed it. Yep, that joke is perfect. That's exactly how I see it. But none of us could come up with it the way that you do, which is why it resonates. And what, because I could tell you when it was exactly that you blew up online and what

it was, but that's not what's important. What's important is for you, the registering of it. Like did, when you, because you were starting, you started before the pandemic and you were doing these. And did you ever believe that this would become a thing? Not just for you, not because you like it, not because it was performance value for you, but I'm gonna be relevant in the American conversation.

No, absolutely not. I mean, I started in 2009, 2010 making making these videos, and it was really just, as far as I was concerned, just a showcase to get whatever talents I thought I had, you know, seen by people I thought I would be plucked. And it was really just about performance. And I needed something to perform, so I started writing for myself. But then I started, you know, working myself into the headlines, Forrest Gump-ing myself, so to speak, into whatever the headline was.

And I just followed the bouncing ball of whatever that was. And when I first started, the first video I did was Randy Rimba was dating Mel Gibson. That's my golden oldies. I don't know if you're familiar with that. We're no longer dating, I don't wanna talk about it. But that was sort of how this gimmick started. It was the thing that people,

those were the good old days, that's what everyone was talking about. And everyone was, it was the polarizing conversation and everyone was up in arms over it. And I just thought, how can I, I wanna do something about this, but I don't wanna just say it the way everyone else is. Yeah, as a gay Jewish person,

all of the anti-Semitic homophobic stuff, it was, it was horrible, but I didn't just want to sit in front of the camera and say, this is bad, how can I turn it on its ear? And I said, oh, well, I'll, I'll go the opposite direction and I'll, I'll fall in love with him and I'll date him. And that's sort of how this, this satire was born. And that's sort of how this satire was born. And then I just, you know, and then Trump came along and I kept doing it.

And it just seemed every, you know, once it became about Trump and about the pandemic and people were really looking for escapism, it became more and more important to other people, which was a surprise to me. I mean, I'm not surprised because like I said, music, comedy, musical theater specifically was always how I escaped.

But the fact that people kind of found that in me was just thrilling. Playing with myself and low-hanging fruit, which oddly could go together in the same sentence in a way that would be probably bad for me to admit. I don't know what you're talking about. They are different Randys. How do you mean?

They're different Randys. You're absolutely right, but how do you mean? We were talking to me, right? Because whenever you put something out into the world, you are leaving it up to everybody else's interpretation, right? It doesn't really matter how you meant it. But I believe that in your book, of course, a bestseller, was a really interesting look

into the origins of why you do what you do. This is different because you have, I wouldn't call them ambitions, but you have realized your power and now you see a point of purpose to it, that it matters to you, why you're doing it and where it resonates and on what levels. That is a big burden on top of just trying to be entertaining. Now you have very specific purpose that drives you, not an agenda, although you do say- My gay agenda. Pressing issues from your gay agenda.

But am I right, first of all? And if so, how do you see the evolution? When you say a burden, you mean to this responsibility of people saying these nice things to me, you say? No, but that, you know, oh, I want this to matter in a different way. It doesn't matter that it's 50 million people saw it. That's cool, but that was the old metric.

The new metric is that things matter to me and I wanna make sure that they're coming through the right way. Yeah, well, I mean, the books really are a way, they are a different me. I think they're closer. I mean, there's some campy stuff in it that's kind of in my character, my persona.

But the books were a way of kind of introducing myself because when people started coming up to me at my shows and saying thank you, and they were being very generous with sharing things about how I helped them through not only with the pandemic and with Trump, but personal things. And he got me help get me through cancer and this and my father died. And I thought that's so nice, but I felt like kind of a fraud a little bit because they didn't really know who I was. This was very two-dimensional. In the videos, it's a scripted, heightened, two dimensional persona version of me.

So the books have been a way to sort of ground that and kind of come through as a real person. So I felt a responsibility to be more real through the books. How hard is that? It hasn't been hard at all. After going years of people not knowing who I was and thinking I was, for better or worse, people say nice things.

I don't have to tell you, they say nice things thinking they know who you are, and they say shitty things thinking they know who you are. I was craving being honest and being real and introducing the real me. So it's been a pleasure to come out. It's been a real release to write those books. What do you want people to understand about you? What matters most to you for them? Um, oh, my God.

Well, I think... I only ask hard questions. I know. I should have known this. This is why I never did entertainment reports. I thought we were gonna do like musical theater trivia or something, they told me it was gonna be all easy. No, I know, I know, you were the best. I interviewed Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts

in place of Diane Sawyer. I worked at ABC News for a while. I know your career. And Diane was a big mentor to me, she still is. One of my favorite people, best person I've ever seen do my job. And one of two, she's the best storyteller I've ever seen. Joralo Rivera is the best live broadcaster I've ever seen in my life. To this day, at 81 years old. So she can't do this interview. The movie was called The Mexican. So I fly out to Los Angeles

and I'm doing some drug busts. I'm doing some drug reporting out there. And meth was the big drug then. And I sit down with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. I don't know them. I don't do entertainment. And he and I had a mutual friend, this guy I went to college with, I say hello, make the connected dots. He's cool. Julia Roberts comes in.

I ask him, Brad Pitt, three questions in a row, because we had been sitting down, she had taken a little bit more time getting ready, so she sat in like while we're doing the interview. I ask him three questions in a row, one question and the couple follows up. She gets up and leaves. Because I hadn't asked her a question yet.

And I got in. So she left? Yeah, and then he did me a favor. He could see that I had no fucking idea what I had just done. So he got up and went and got her to sit back down. And we completed the interview. And when we came back, Diane's producer was there with me, who's this great guy and a legend in the business.

And he was like, "'If you're gonna talk to these people, you have to understand how to talk. He was like, you cannot sit across from a star like that and not be looking at her and be looking at him. I said, but I was talking to him. So I'm looking at you because I'm talking to you.

When I'm talking to her, I look at her. And I didn't know any of these things. So I only asked the kinds of questions that I think are interesting. I like that you take. And you are not just an entertainer. And that would be plenty by the way, especially what we need.

We need imagination to take us somewhere else more than at any other time in my life right now. And you've been part of helping hold back the distress. But I am and always have been as you know, very impressed with how you create ways to discuss what people don't really want to be talking about and that they want to just be angry about when they hear and you make them laugh at things.

How hard is that for you to do? How important for you is it that you get it right and that it hits and lands the right way? I don't overthink it like that. And I can, I can sit and think about it for hours, but if I did, I wouldn't put anything out. So I just try always to go from my gut. I mean, I trust that I have that mechanism in myself.

It comes from growing up in a turbulent household where the parents were fighting all the time. And I can trust that I know where to go to release the tension. At least I think I do. You know, no one is happy all the time. But I never show my videos to anyone before I release them. I don't run them by anyone.

I'm the only one who has eyes on them, which when I think about it is insane because I'm a worrier and I'm anxiety ridden and I overthink everything. Victoria knows. And so that's crazy, but something in me knows that I just have to just trust what kind of pours out of me. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. I mean, when people say that, oh, you were me. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

I mean, when people say that, oh, you were nice enough to say that I'm saying what people are thinking or saying it the way they want. I don't know, it's all instinct. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Which is frightening because then you wind up on a couch and Chris Cuomo's talking to you. And I'm like, how did I get here? How did any of this happen?

Why is anyone listening to me? But it just speaks to the power of trusting your instinct. You're, first of all, I can give you at least five reasons off the top of my head. I want six. One, all right, I'll add one. One is you just have it, okay, first of all. You just have it. You have the of all. You just have it.

You have the quality of what makes people watchable. And it's ineffable and it's hard to nail it down and people have it different ways. So that's the biggest one. The second thing is that you're a step quicker than the rest of us. And there, I'm sure there can be jealousy among different entertainers about that, but it is nice to have somebody who gets it in the way that you wish you got it, okay? You make people laugh at things that are, people are limiting to hostilities. And there's an absurdity to that.

You help us understand that without doing this. This is how I see you. And it's not just because I walked around the house singing Mama, You Quiero all the time when I was a kid. That comes to mind. But in the suit with the tie, with that, I know how funny this is, look on your face and the Chiquita Banana head top.

That is the beautiful combination that you provide. And I have seen an adaptability, which was going to be my last point, but I'll add one for you. You are able to adapt to zeitgeist in a really broad range of things. And to hear you say, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

Well, then you must have some smart ass friends that you hang around with because you are able to get a pulse vibe on the really broad palette of things. And the sixth one I'll give you is you have a great show. Thank you, that's the one I was waiting for. I'm glad I asked for the sex. I saved that last. Well, I mean, well thank you for that.

I mean, are we, you know, of course there was, are we gonna talk about my quomosexual moment? Oh, please. One of my favorite words ever, by the way. Well, of course there was, are we gonna talk about my comomosexual moment? Oh, please. One of my favorite words ever, by the way. Well, I wanna go on record as saying you were my first comomosexual experience. No, Andrew was.

No, that's not true. You liar, I saw it. You were all over him. We have to cut it. It was disgusting. No. It was disgusting. Were you jealous?

I hope you were jealous. Of course. I was like, this guy should be with me all day. I was, you son of a bitch. All day long. And you were just drooling over him. Well, here's the funny thing about that. It started with you. You never wrote, you never called.

But you were my first homosexual moment. Now, that video came out, which was one of the, that I think kind of exploded me during the pandemic. Certainly in my heart it did. Oh God. And for a thing, I was like, boy, are you unworthy of this guy's attention. Oh really, there was jealousy among the Cuomo brothers?

Yeah, he was like, Randy Rainbow loves me, loves me. He wrote about me in his book. I was like, he doesn't love you. He's confusing you with somebody else, like Darth Vader. No, I do. I love my Cuomos and I was, you know, but the funny thing with that video, cause I didn't realize what an impact that had.

First of all, as I write in my book, my cat was dying when I made it. And so I posted it and then I was dealing with my dying cat and you know, while isolating. So I really didn't understand until when later when the shit hit the fan and the New York Post was calling my house, asking me if I had a comment.

Sorry about that. And I said, you know, I'm not actually dating the Cuomo brothers. But that was really the first, but that's kind of, I like that's a good example of that video because it kind of is, it shows all the elements.

Cause when I do a video, it is a heightened reality. It is coming at it from different angles. And as much as it was a love song to your brother, who I really appreciated his leadership during that time, it was also poking fun at the people, like myself who were falling all over him as the love gov and everything. So, but a lot of people didn't get that,

that there are two kind of dynamics to it. Well, the problem is, our politics, which is not what you want to be a part of, and, you know, you can have your own opinion, everybody does, and you have a beautiful way of demonstrating how you want wanna play with ideas. But that's not good enough for people in our politics. And social media has only turbocharged this.

Magnified minorities rule our dialogue. And if you are not with them, you are against them. And so you like a guy that they have decided not to like or been told not to like, or to like or been told not to like, or something they've been told not to like, or to fear even worse, you've got a problem. Now, you have pushed through that and you have transcended it in my opinion,

which is good, because we need that. Andrew never will, because he's a player in the game. And even getting, you know, having to resign and getting dumped by his own party, he's still a Democrat. And for whatever reason, he will not leave the fucking party, which is, you know, I'm not a fan of the parties. I never have been, not because I'm a journalist. I just think that they're a problem in our politics. You should not have a binary system. You're asking for zero sum. You're asking for opposition. If there's Team Randy and Team Chris, not only does Team Chris lose,

but people on Team Chris can't like Team Randy. And that's not what our politics should be. So Andrew, you know, is very much in that. And that was gonna be some of the reaction, even though it was hilarious what you did. And the irony is, you were being affected by Andrew. You did the song as an expression of that moment, but you affected Andrew.

By being a subject of a Randy Rainbow song, it burnished Andrew's image and gave him dimension of likeability that he did not have before. Really, you think my video? 100%. Get the hell out of here. The Lovegov thing, the media didn't know what to do. Well, you know, I'm in the urban dictionary

as coining the term, comosexual. I did not coin it. I heard it, I had heard it before. I have to be honest with you, but I think I musicalized it and kind of, I gave it new life. Well, I created it. Did you create it?

I've never said that. I've probably said that a few times in my life. You made that. But it gave it, look, Lovegov, Andrew is not a lovable political figure. That's not what he is. He's a doer, he's a mechanic. He doesn't need people to love him

the way most politicians do, which is weird for him. But there's an explanation. He was not made to be a number one. He was my father's number two. He ran things for my father since he was 18. So he was always conditioned to be a hammer and to be a heavy. And number one is not the heavy. Number two is the heavy. Number one is, oh, Randy, we'll take care of it. You're a good guy. Appreciate you coming here. And then I come in and I crush you and say, how dare you ask him for that?

You'll never get it now. And you think I'm the problem, but it was always number one. So Andrew then became that. So Lovegov, Cuomo Sexual. The only thing that was legit was the Cuomo brothers because we've always been like this. Andrew raised me until this one moment where what should have been mine, which was your respect and praise, you gave to him.

And it was as close to a Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus moment ever. I mean, you almost broke the brothers apart. Really? I have that kind of power. Because when he kept sending me the clip, I couldn't hate him. I mean, he raised, so I had to, you know, started having a problem with Randy Rainbow.

And it started off with like little shots at first, but he's not that talented. You know, I think I've heard that before. Well, that's all right. I started saying little things. You were in a bad place. But then when he would play it around me, you know, it was like his ringtone,

basically, you know, for a while. I see, I had no idea. I'm sitting there in my fucking living room. I don't know that I'm telling you. You know, I almost came to the living room. I tell you, you were gonna get like a, you know. You would have been welcomed without open arms, trust me. Well, you know, and'm telling you. You know, I almost came to the living room. I tell you, you were gonna get like a, you know. You would have been welcomed without when I was dressed. Well, you know, and then Christina during that moment

interviewed me for her magazine, The Purist. Yes. Well, actually- You betrayed me twice, by the way. No, because I'm glad that I just remembered it. And I'll give you a bag of silver. Please. I was talking to Christina and at the end

of our conversation, I think she asked me to choose between, that was her final question for the interview, choose between Andrew and, and, oh, she named Chris. And I said something very diplomatic because, you know, I didn't want to upset anybody, but at the end of it, she said, oh, Chris wanted to get on the phone and talk to you, but he's out fishing with our son. So you couldn't even be bothered to hang around. You had to go with those fecocta fish. I wasn't fishing with my son. I wouldn't talk to you, and I'll tell you why, Randy Rainbow. You weren't, you didn't get on the phone.

That's right, that's right. Because I hurt also. Oh, so you did that on purpose. I hurt also, okay. Do you wanna talk about how I- It's because I got all this going on, doesn't mean there's not sensitive. There's a lot going on,

and we'll talk about your hurricane coverage later, but I would like to discuss the fact that shortly thereafter, after the homosexual moment, I created a video for your birthday. Yes. Did I receive flowers? Did I receive a call? Did I receive a call?

Did I receive a tweet? You followed me on Instagram, but now you don't follow anyone on Instagram. That's right, I follow no one. What's up with that? I follow no one. You could follow fucking me. I'll follow Randy Rambo.

You wanna be the one, I'll tell you what, I'll follow you right now. If you fucking do that right now. I'll do it right now. Will this make up for it? I'll follow you. I will write a song about you right now, Christopher. I'll follow it right now.

Randy fucking Rambo is who I'm following. Not even a little bit. This is good. Randy, palms up first. Follow back, all right? You did it really? That's right. Oh my God. All right, now I follow. But you're not getting off that easy.

You're the only person I follow. This is a lot of pressure now, cause I'm gonna be checking every day. One. Stop it, Chris. You don't have to do that. It's going to break again. And you know what? I'm going to keep fucking with you. I'm going to keep deleting it and then re-following him. Every time he gets pissed off, I'll be like,

I still follow you. What are you talking about? You're going to know I'm going to check every day. You're going to fuck with me. It's the only guy I follow, Randy Rainbow. Someone say Jesus if you're going to just follow one person, but I go with Randy Rainbow. That's going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Yeah.

So what do you do if we have the sequel follow one person, but I go with Randy Raybou. That's going to raise a lot of eyebrows. So what do you do if we have the sequel? Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from Shopify. Now, here's why we all need this. I'm trying to sell my free agent gear, right? But how? How do I get it out to people? How do I make sure that it is an efficient and accelerated

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To the Trump administration, do you leave it alone or do you dive in with both hands? Well, I mean, that's been the question people have been asking me for almost a decade now, is what are you going to do? What are you going to do if he wins? What are you going to do if he loses? It's good that they're asking, by the way. Why? I hate that question. Well, because if they didn't think you were relevant, they wouldn't give a shit what you were going to do. Yeah, but I don't like being tied to any one specific subject.

You know, that's the second time I've heard that from somebody. Well, this is the question that they ask all of the political commentators. But I'll tell you what though, when Alec Baldwin started doing Trump, he wanted to do it once, okay? And he was like, I don't wanna get known for this.

Hey man, feed the need. And not just that they want it, give them more. It's relevant, Randy. You're not just funny. You're funny and you're talented and you have incredible musicality. But there's more than that. Otherwise, look, I wouldn't be talking to you

if you were just a great entertainer. I would call you and I'd say I love you and I'll promote your book whenever you want because I believe in it. But there's value there. Look at the comments. People pick up stuff that you're putting out there for them to think about, to weigh, to un-weigh.

Yeah. It's a gift in that. But how does that tie to the Trump part of it? Well, that's what's gonna be relevant. Of course, and that is my answer to that. So they wanna know if you're in on what's relevant. Always, but that's, I mean, when in 2010, it was Mel Gibson.

How do you deal with blowback, by the way? Not well. I write about it in books. Why don't you deal with it well? Because it aggravates me. I don't think that it hurts my feelings. Like for instance, if I hear from these people who say, how dare you say something

that's not in my script, you're not supposed to. Some people said to me, you know, it was a specific video where I sort of poked fun at everybody and Joe Biden had it the easiest, you know, the lightest as far as, you know, what I said. Like I called him the old guy. you know, the lightest as far as, you know, what I said. Like I called them the old guy. Well, they said, take that part out and then I'll share your video.

When it comes to like telling me how, you know, how do I have to change my art and then it will be acceptable to you, that aggravates me. So I don't think that it hurts me. I'm past the point of it hurting my feelings. I don't, I don't think, I'm sure there's part of that in there too,

but I don't think that I internalize it. I don't think I take it personally. I just resent the fact that I have to share the planet with some of these people. I wanna laugh about everything. I'm trying to have a good time. And I think Joe Biden would have been the first person to laugh at my little joke

that he has to be in bed by wheel of fortune. That was the joke. And they said, you are a traitor to your nation. And I don't, I don't go for that. And plus it's very hypocritical because they're cheering and applauding when Trump, I call him up, he says, shit, con man, and a fucker, and this and that. And yeah, yeah, yeah, but then I say, Joe Biden has to be in bed by 8 p.m.

and they clutch their pearls. I don't go for that. Zero sum. They enjoy that you make the other side lose, but you cannot touch them. And look, this is somewhat new for the left, right? The same people when, you know, when Piss Christ came out and Giuliani said, we're taking that down.

That's disrespectful. There's no art value in that. It was the left who was saying, no, no, no, no. That's not how art works. And offense is an affect. And now it is the left that is starting to talk about some shit that's a little scary from the American perspective.

Now, I'm not talking about identity. Identity is a boogeyman by the right, okay, to make you invest yourself in things that don't concern you. Oh, but it concerns my kids. No, it doesn't. You want your kids to be open and tolerant. The left talking about AOC, the other, of all people. We got to figure out what to do about people being able

to say things that are just blatantly untrue and disinformation, like what? What would we do? And I never thought I'd hear a lefty say that. Like Hillary Clinton, misinformation, disinformation. You know, we got to think about it. You know, there's got to be a legal mechanism or a civil pen for what people say.

Well, yeah, you know, people are saying stuff that's just wrong. And I mean, it's it's scary because you know what comes next? You guys. Do you think about these things like, shit, I wonder if people try to stop me doing what I do. I constantly think about it, but I keep it in its own compartment. Because if you think about that too much, you just don't create. You don't like to be overwhelmed by the negative. No. And it's stifling. And I figure I might as well not do it. I'll go work in an office if people are going to tell me what to do and what to say.

You're not going to work in an office. No, I damn well will not work in an office. You're not going to work in an office, not with those nails. Thank you. I did them for you. I like the shade, by the way. It matches my couch. Well, I wanted something a little masculine.

I know this is a very masculine podcast. I like it. But yeah, I don't like to dwell on it. I don't think about it too much, but I am, I am sensing that it's, to some extent, I feel like the pendulum is swinging. Don't you think that it, because enough people are getting sick of it. Certainly in the comedy world, like you mentioned. I agree, until this new talk about censorship.

But they're not talking about comedy yet. Comedy is always an early victim of any type of social engineering. But they're talking about political dynamics right now and misinformation that creates division the problem with that is You know as an old guy who's been doing this a long time It's not the negative that creates The division it's the vacuum of the positive and it's a distinction with a difference. If there's not a balanced positive vibe out there,

right, even Harris, no, she's not an equal offender to Trump, I'm not saying she is, but she doesn't have an equally powerful positive pitch, the way Obama did, okay, and not just black for black, but he was a giant of charisma. So his counter to McCain, which was, everybody's trying to kill us, everybody's trying to kill us, you need me to keep people from killing us,

was, I don't believe in just the worst of humanity. I believe in the best of humanity. There was something transcendent about that. That's how you avoid division. Right now, you have Harris saying, this guy's a threat to fucking democracy. And he's saying everything in the world sucks. That's where you get the division. One of the blessings of what you do, and I sense that it bothers you a

little bit that I see such significance in your work. But good. Really, what do you think? I want to make you uncomfortable because I still have a grudge. But it matters because it all. I'm gonna do it. Be Arthur slow burn to camera every time you bring this up. I love Be Arthur. Is that my camera? Me too. Is she here?

She's one of my greatest inspirations. I love her. I love that whole genre. You know, we just lost Norman Lear. You know, and I was thinking about this. You would have been great as a character in a Norman Lear show. This is what I tell people. Well, that's another problem I have,

is that you know you get pigeonholed when you do anything political. You can only be Rainbow? Yeah, because not everyone gets me the way you do, Christopher. And they think this is what he does, and I hear from, you know, people who are in significant positions of power

to place me in something, somewhere else in show business. But it does not, it surprises me that it does not occur to people. You would have needed, well, you can do whatever you want because you have nothing but runway in front of you. But like a curb your enthusiasm. That's what I said today. Would have been a good, would be a good,

like that kind of platform where you come on and are yourself, you're Randy Cohn, you know, you're Randy Randy, and there's an interaction where you're not being your character and that, you know, breaks that fourth wall for people a little bit. But you'll find those. I wouldn't be so quick to abandon what matters though.

Is this the original headscarf that you had when you first started doing this or is this just an article of convenience? That was... That wasn't even really you, was it? That was added in post. So rendering. So you wouldn't even wear this on your bed. I wouldn't. You're that hair conscious.

You know something? I don't like this line of questioning. There's a bitterness. There's a bitterness. There's a bitterness in me. No, I know there is, and I don't like it. But you've made up for it. But talk about Norman Lear. What did you think I would be good on? Here's why.

What was the genius of All in the Family, of The Jeffersons, of Good Times, OK, was things that were painful, things that were outrageous, things that were objectionable, caricatured. And I heard Carol O'Connor discuss it once, Archie, for you young people. And someone said to him, you created the lovable bigot. And he stopped the guy. Now, Carol O'Connor, to the uninitiated, was almost exclusively a stage actor, okay?

So was Gene Edith. That's why Norman picked them, because he always knew those people could project things that he needed on that soundstage. So he said, no, no, no, no, not lovable. He's not lovable. You laugh at him, not with him. And there is catharsis in that.

That was what triggered me on what you do. There is catharsis. You make me laugh at things that could just make me angry or just make me wanna cry, but you'll give me a way to laugh at the same thing. And there is value in that. Thank you. And to that, I feel a responsibility not to just go do like a scripted sitcom when I think

that there is more of a responsibility that I have to, you know, although I would like to do those sorts of things. But yeah, I feel that. Do you get offers? How many, what kind of offers do you get and which do you like and which do you not? Because you do your own touring I Do yeah, well the last eight years has been all all about the touring Which I hate and there's a whole chapter in the book about touring. I have you ever had to tour for anything No, I'm a news guy. I know but you disaster to disaster. I know I know

Talk about champagne problems. I don't want to I don't want to Know it's the best part of the gig now has it made me a Dicey proposition in my personal life. Yes, not easy to be married to me not easy to be my friend Not easy to be my sibling really not easy to be my sparring partner, but Not easy to be my sibling. Really not easy to be my sparring partner. But you can't look at the worst that humanity has to offer on a regular basis and not have it fuck up your ability

to calibrate things that should be really upsetting to human beings. But, but being a witness to history is absolutely what makes this job worthwhile for me. I would not have come back from when I got shit cammed by CNN, I would not have come back. If it weren't for that component of being able to help people understand what matters

that's happening around us, especially when it's bad. Especially when it's bad, because people lose themselves in trying times, because they get really self-protective and scared. And it's really easy to, like what we're seeing in the Middle East, it's really easy to see the source of violence as the problem.

But often that's a really short-sighted view or analysis of what's happening So I can get past that for people like yeah, this rocket just came from here and did this in northern Israel, but This group is doing it for this reason and here's what was supposed to happen and it didn't and here's now what this dynamic is Otherwise, there'll be another thousand of these in the next four months That's the upside. The upside to you in limiting some of your opportunities

is that you get to concentrate on what may matter. I think that you could probably put together a character that was in a different offering that could be as impactful, but it wouldn't be easy. No, I don't think so. But I think there is that curb your enthusiasm moment in me. Yeah, of you being Randy, but not Randy Rambo. Well, I think I'm in

an interesting time sort of just in like, I feel kind of like an elder statesman of YouTube. I started, you know, when everyone started with the YouTube videos, in this kind of pocket of life, when I have, I have, I bitch about it a lot in this book where I have agents who, you know, want me to create content constantly, you know, you have to feed the beast.

And that's like, I'm not good with that. I don't, I mean, you, you're very good at it. I mean, you've got the sub stack and the flapjack. But I'm not, I'm not an artist. You have to be moved. I do, I'm a lazy, I mean But I'm not an artist. You have to be moved. I do. I'm a lazy. I mean, I'm an artist, and I need to be sort of moved.

Yes, moved. But you've got to feel it. It's not like go write a column. Yeah. You know what I mean? I know, but they don't like that. It's not like Suge Knight just said this. What do you think about it?

You've got to feel it. Yeah, that's what I tell them, but they don't like that. Yeah, that is a champagne problem. What about, I know you also do respond to comments too. I watch those segments. Those are my favorite comments. Where does that come from from you? Is that a place of, how do you respond at this stage?

So I'll tell you where it comes from. To the trolls. Okay, this is one of the beauties of this format. This format works on my psyche as well as it does the subject, sitting on your couch in your house. You get way too casual with things. I'll tell you why I am that way. When my father got elected, I was 12, okay?

And we were in Hollis Queens and we were very normal. And I went to a very normal school in a good community that was a little rough wasn't like today and When he won I automatically Became somebody who thought they were special Even though I did not think that I was I didn't even know what the fuck he'd been elected to. I was 12, you know what I mean? Like, I didn't really know that much.

And I was fighting all the time. And it was a problem. And I was getting bullied all the time, except in my neighborhood, you couldn't get bullied. You had to fight because it would never end. It wasn't the way people think of bullying, which is you go home and you tell your parents, I don't have to tell my parents.

You know, at the time I was living with my grandparents, I didn't even speak English. So it was, you had to fight. So I changed my natural character. I am not a hard guy by nature. I know that, but I don't know who the other guy is anymore. Like he never got a chance to develop. I became a fighter.

I became good at fighting. I lifted weights and I got to be a big dude. I used to be much bigger than I am now. And I back away from nothing. Now that is fucking exhausting and very Diminishing returns as a strategy Because the whole reason in social media

It's one thing if a guy I'm walking down the street with you and somebody says something about your nails that I don't like They're gonna have a problem If I'm there but online Malcolm Gladwell was sitting where you are and he says to me, oh no, you misunderstand these people online. Which ordinarily I'd be like, I don't misunderstand anything, but Malcolm Gladwell tells you,

you misunderstand it, you probably do. And he says, they just don't know how to communicate. They wanna get a rise out of you. They want a connection. And that's the way social media teaches us to do it. That if I say, Randy Rainbow is fill in the blank nasty shit, there's a much better chance that I'll get a response

than if I say, this is my favorite video. And I was like, oh shit, he's right. And then I started doing what he said, which is, I don't do this all the time. I like to slap people around. You get what you asked for with me. But when someone says something nasty, if I engage with them and say, look, I don't like the way you're saying this, but I understand the point you're having,

whether or not I understand it, whether or not they have a good point, they change like this. He was right. They just want the connection. Even if they're nasty bastards, they still want to be relevant and they want to have a conversation with you and they will drop the tone like that. And so I respond because I refuse to have anybody think they're putting it on me. If you want it from me, you'll get it from me.

And again, that is exhausting. I'm too old to be that way. I've had too much therapy to be that way. But there is a part of me that sees it as survival. Like that's what you do. So you are a responder to the trolls every time. I know, not every time. Very, very, very rarely by volume.

In person is a different prospect. Yeah. But you know what happens, Randy? In person. And does that happen a lot in person? No, but the reason why is a bad reason. I am much bigger than people think I'm gonna be. Women don't care.

If women have a bone to pick with me, they come right up into my face because they assume that you're a human being and a male, and whatever has changed in society, men should not hit women, right? So they come up and they say whatever they're gonna say. They're angry, they're upset, they're disappointed, whatever it is they say, they don't care.

Men don't. Men see me and they think twice. Because we're simple animals. And they're just bullies. If they have real conviction, then they come and they say whatever they wanna say. But they're almost always polite. All that Fredo shit, whatever they want to say about my brother.

About me, 100%. To me, almost never. Ever. And, you know, and I've made my mistakes and I've gotten into situations I shouldn't have gotten into, and they're expensive. And I've learned.

And the more I learn, and the more I ignore, which is a little tricky, because I do need to feel where people are, the better for people around me. Mm hmm. Because it takes you out of that warrior mode and the less you are that way, the better it is for the people you take care of.

But I also do something different than you, Randy. Well, you know, I'm in the thunderdome. Of course. You know, and I choose that. I signed up for that. And I do not begrudge journalists or TV people, whatever you want to call them, who don't do that. Because it's way too, it's, you're asking for it. And I get why people, you know, people say,

why didn't you give Trump a hard time? Why didn't you say this to her? Why did, because it's going to come for you. And it's going to be ugly online. And your bosses are going to get nervous. And someone's going to because it's gonna come for you. And it's gonna be ugly online and your bosses are gonna get nervous and someone's gonna come up to your wife or your husband and they're gonna say something and someone's gonna grab your kid, you know, stuff happens.

Wait, I have two questions. Please. One, this sort of what we're seeing online, I know you always say that this is not the world. Social media is not the world. I find myself trying to convince myself of that all the time because I feel like I'm so engulfed in it. Is it becoming the world though?

Slowly as we allow it. And do we need to stop letting it do that? Well, I don't know how you stop anything, but. Meaning that the people who are running, that it's sort of the loudest. The platforms, look, they have the ability to moderate content. We know they do because they figure out

where to put ads on your material, right? Yeah. You know, like, I wanna sell this, this is the right place to put it. I'm not gonna put it on this guy's, I'm gonna put it on his. So they know, they know what's coming in and they know how to value it, all right? So we could do better, but I'm very careful about that.

Now, I don't care about them as much, even though they're not really private businesses. Instagram is not Taco Bell. Okay. And they're not Yankee Stadium. They do have a responsibility. We got to figure it out. We're not there yet. And that's okay. That's okay. Identifying a problem matters. You don't have to just slap on a solution. We know that social media is an exaggerated affect. We know it is. How do we know?

A hundred different ways. First way you know is nobody puts the real name. And that tells you what you need to know right off the bat. Oh, well, I don't wanna be, have my speech chill. No, you don't wanna be held to account. That's what you don't want to be, you know, have my speech chill. No, you don't want to be held to account. Right. That's what you don't want. And it's an exact now.

The problem is the media covers it like Vox Populi. So you'll get a call from a writer who will say, do you have any response to what people are saying online? And you'll be like, what people? Who the fuck? How many? What are you talking about? Who's saying what?

Nobody's saying anything. And that's the mistake. We magnify it in the media. And now our politics is dominated by it. How do we know? Because when you go and have one of your shows, people come up to you, I guarantee this, and come afterwards, you know, so funny what you do. I don't even understand what's happening anymore.

People say that to you all the time, I guarantee it. And they're right. Because that's not the way life works. Yeah. You don't just hate people you disagree with anywhere else in your life, right? Only in our politics. And it's a magnified minority. I know it is. Is it getting out of hand? A hundred percent. Why? Cause it works so well for the parties. They love it. They love that people fear that Trump is going to be a desperate.

So it's so much easier than selling them your tax plan. And on the right, forget it. I mean, that's all he talks about is how fucking scary everybody else is. They love, you know, I'm surprised. Like if you came at him enough, consistently enough, he would put you up there and make you some kind of animal of to be feared, you know? And it works. Yeah. It works. So what's the remedy? Again, and it's non-cretuitous, you make us laugh at these things. There is... I've never heard from him though. You think I

would ever would? You say, I'll tell you what, you do a nice video about I'm not telling you to but you do a nice video about him You'll hear from that guy within 48 hours if I if I did you if you did a video Like a comment I was wrong about Trump. Oh that'll that'll really he would But I'm telling you that's the way I have to come moving with you That's the way he is. that's the way he is. I'm gonna have to come move in with you, because I'm not gonna sell anymore tickets. That's the way he is. That guy is the epitome of, the person's good to me, they're good. It could be a till or the hun.

Yeah. No, I know, because that's was, I grew up with him in my house. My father, I mean, this is another conversation for another couch, but my father was Donald Trump. So that narcissism and that sort of, if he gets the love, he, you know, you're from whoever it comes from, didn't matter.

And the second you had any kind of grievance or pointed out something he did wrong, the clause would come out. How did that, so how do you choose to live your life because of how you grew up? With that kind of how you grew up? With that kind of father, you mean? Yeah, like your father, your mother, the people who are around you,

what is that informed in you about what choices you make and how you live as Randy? Well, I mean, my father was instrumental in teaching me how not to be in the world. And I think it's a very interesting kind of correlation to Trump because it really behaviorally and everything about him is Trump So in some ways that kind of has been very helpful in my comedy because I'm almost talking to my father

But Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure a whole other host of ways. It's it's it's Fucked me out quite a bit. But isn't getting fucked up inevitable? I guess. Isn't it what gives you your talent? Yes, of course. Right?

I mean, what comedian is untouched by the darkness of life? No, it's true. Um, I heard you talk, can I ask you a Trump question? But I have to know about the Trump call. Did you talk about this? Your Trump call? Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's how you know about it. Right.

But I mean, did you talk about it beyond what I saw? Because I felt like I didn't get enough information. So that was by design. Yes, so you called him, I wanna know. So here's what happened. I'll tell you the whole story. Does he take your call? He doesn't pick him, I wanna know. So here's what happened. What happens when. I'll tell you the whole story. Does he take your call? He doesn't pick up when I call him.

He will always take my call because he respects the family. And I know that sounds like a fucking soprano's line, but he's from New York, he knows my father, he knew my father, he knew my mother, our mothers went to the same beauty parlor, he knows my brother, he respects what my brother achieved, he respects what my father achieved. So in his mind, there's cachet. So even if he disagrees, even if he hates you in the moment, there is a bond of acknowledgement that he will respond to. So I've never had him not

talk to me. I've had him contact me with other people to yell at me about things. So I asked his daughter-in-law to get him on the phone with me because I wanted to tell him that the lack of attention of people trying to kill him is shameful. And I wanted people to know that I reached out to a guy who I do not like what he is campaigning on or how he's doing it. But I feel for his family. And I feel for the fact that people are way too chill with someone trying to kill someone running for office. And it's wrong.

And I'm reaching out to him and I knew I was gonna get hit with this Cuomo apologize I didn't apologize. I didn't try to kill him. You know, I didn't tell anybody to try to hurt him I never would but that's fine. They want to take it that way. They can take it that way That's what I wanted was for people to see I don't care that you see this as weakness I don't care that you see this as me being nice to a bad guy he doesn't deserve to die for his ideas in America. And I think he's disqualified himself from office many times over.

That's not my call. That's for people to decide. But that's why I called him. And I said, I'm not gonna ask any fucking questions. I'm not recording it. I'm not asking for an interview. I don't want any access. I don't care. So, and I really don't, I really don't care. So I called him.

I said exactly what I said I was gonna say. That's all I said. And he had things to say to me, which were responsive to that. And he was grateful, surprised. Is there an awkward moment at all or no? We just know. Nope.

Okay. Look, he knows what he said about me. Yeah. He knows what he said about me. Surprised. Is there an awkward moment at all? Or no, we just know. Nope. Okay, look, because I just knows what he said about me. Yeah. And I know what he said about me. And he knows what I've said about him. And I know what I've said about him. So the beef is there. He did it. Not me. He decided to weaponize me. I never created something out of him. He is who he is. He created something out of me that affected my wife, affected my kids. I told him at the time not to do it and that it was wrong. And he did not give a shit. That's on him. That's all on him.

But I'm never going to run away from what matters. So that's why I called them and people were pissed off and that made my point. You're pissed off that I called Trump to say people shouldn't be trying to kill you and people should care that people are trying to kill you and that pisses you off. That's a problem. That's a problem. AOC saying people vandalized my office. It's fucked up.

People vandalized my office. It's fucked up people vandalized your office. Her saying nothing when a colleague of hers in Congress, because she just doesn't like her, the Republican Luna. Mm-hmm. They send a legit bomb threat to her house where her one-year-old is, and that you don't say anything about. That's fucked up.

There's something fucked up about that. And that's why I did it. Now, was it also a little bit of a litmus test? Yeah, it was. Did I wanna see how many people would think that I had been red-pilled or that I was now a Trumper? I'd say one out of three. And does that get under your skin at all?

Doesn't that aggravate you? No, here's the difference from where I'm coming from versus what I understand from your perspective. I feel disappointed in myself when I have been unable to get people to see things the way I think they should. They're going to decide what they decide, But when I try to do something and make something clear, and it winds up just feeding what is unclear, I'm disappointed in myself.

And when people say, I think you're a Trumper now, it just makes me feel like I haven't been effective at what I was trying to do. And that's disappointing to me. I almost never have feelings about the person. I have a blessing of a very high indifference curve to people. It takes a lot for me to give a shit about somebody.

I care about people writ large. Like if somebody's on the side of the road, I stop, I try and help. But how you feel about me is irrelevant to me until we get to a very high level. But reciprocally, I am very, very sensitive to what I say to other people. Now I'm not talking about some jackass on social media.

They say something stupid, I'll say something stupid back just so that people will jump on them and they'll think about it next time. But I care a lot about what my, the people who I, the family I choose say about me. Like if they don't like, I have a bunch of really smart people in my life. If they don't like what I'm putting down on the show,

I change it. I rethink it. I'm very sensitive to that. Like if Christina, you know, were to say, hey man, I saw that Randy thing. I liked it, but I didn't like this. I'm definitely not doing it that way again. Like if Christina were to say, hey man, I saw that Randy thing, I liked it, but I didn't like this. I'm definitely not doing it that way again.

So the ones who are close, I follow. The ones I don't know, I don't know. So that's the way I process it. Cause I can't do the gig otherwise. If I fall in with who likes me, I'm fucked. Because I'm never satisfying. We just did a segment about people who attacked me for saying that Hillary Clinton is wrong

to say we should find some legal remedy for misinformation and disinformation. Now, to me, that's like a no-brainer idea that we should not touch ideas, okay? But because she's a lefty, and I said something negative about what she said, that means I'm anti her, that means I'm not a frumper, and they jumped all over me. I can't play that game. It's harder

for you because you have such popularity. I don't really have popularity. I don't have fans. I beg to differ. I'm telling you it's fickle. Like if people don't like, I know this is like unbelievable, but if you were to put out a dud, okay? They still are Randy Rainbow fans. I say something that they don't agree with. I know this is like unbelievable, but if you were to put out a dud, okay, they still are Randy Rainbow fans. I say something that they don't agree with. That's it. And then I can say something they do agree with

and they come back. So you learn the fugacious nature of that following, you know, how it comes in and out. You have to learn not to attach to it. But that's why people pick sides in my business, because they want the love. The love is coming. If you pick a side, if I pick a side, this podcast has 10 times what it has on YouTube. If I declare, you know what, I am a Trump-er. You know what? I am the lion

of the left. I would be 10x inside of six months. I don't want that. I would rather enjoy guys like you that help diffuse all that bullshit than participate in it. Yeah. I find myself really being turned off to sort of the living in a vacuum in an echo chamber. I'm resisting. I don't like hearing everything that I agree with. I just don't think it's healthy

and I'm afraid of being surprised. I think I have some PTSD that like, shit, I don't know what's going on over there. It's, my pendulum is swinging in that department. Well, you have to as an artist. You have to be, you have to know. Well, also that, yeah. You know, you gotta to as an artist. You have to be, you have to know. Well, also that, yeah. You know, you gotta have that texture,

that substrate of understanding what's moving people to figure out when you wanna jump on and off the pendulum. And I think you do it beautifully. Now tell me, if I have read the first book and I believe, well, I get it, I know the guy, I don't need this book, why am I wrong? Well, I think if you read the first book, it's sort of more of a chronological memoir.

This is, if that was the main course, this is probably a bad thing to say, but I don't care. This is sort of like the dessert, but it's not empty calories. This is sort of more humorous essays. There's personal moments in it, but it's a mix of everything. It's a fruit cocktail of things. So there's some political, campy political commentary.

There's a lot of complaining about a lot of shit. Just, we haven't even touched on most of the topics in there, but I have a lot of shit on my mind. And... Give me some. What are your top five concerns? Well, it's a lot about social media. You know, get ready with me videos.

Have you done... Oh, yeah, I heard it. I heard the audiobook. There's an audiobook also. You listened to the audiobook? Yeah, I was listening to it before you came. I gotta take it or left it. He really likes me, Chris. So, you said why do the...

But you watched them, you said. I do watch them. And that's why YouTube is putting them in your queue. I know. I don't like any of it. I have to break free of this spell that I'm under, that we all are. But I don't, I feel, I fear it's too late. Why if, if it's not making you see yourself in an unhealthy way, and it is an empty departure

from the things that are nagging. Who cares? Okay, well, you've changed my mind. I feel better about it. I don't know. I don't know. I don't, I just don't. I think what I really talk about is sort of the state

of show business. And I kind of think that all of that is kind of being considered the entertainment industry now. It is. And I'm a little bit of a snob about my show business. You should actually have talent. You're one of those. I do think so.

I mean, I like, you know, when I was a kid and now the people that I looked up to had abilities that far exceeded my own, and I liked it that way. The influencers were fucked us up. It's the influencers, and I say it with love and respect, and I think a lot of them have a lot of gifts, and if you're contributing something to an audience that's of value, better on you.

You know, all good for you. But I think that you're not wrong about that. In fact, look, I don't really matter that much on social media, but I go to influencers, because I like fitness. I watch like three things. I watch people showing me how to do exercises that I don't normally do.

Makeup tutorials. I watch makeup tutorials if my wife's not around. If I watch hot rods. Is that a car? Yeah, like cars, restorationsations and all that kind of stuff. I watch fishing, offshore fishing, and I watch guys, almost always guys, sometimes women, fixing hooves. Hooves?

Hooves. I just learned how to say it. What is a, what do you call it, a hoof? Like a hoof, like a cow hoof or a horse hoof. They fix them? The farrier. And this is what you're spending, you call it a hoof? Like a hoof, like a cow hoof or a horse hoof. They fix them? The farrier. And this is what you're spending, you're not busy enough? They clean out the hoof, they're satisfying. They fix it.

It's got an ulcer or an asthma on it, they call it, and they carve it out and they put this powder on it and they put a block on it so the thing can walk and it's fixed and it walks away. And you love watching that. I love it because they are making things better. So I get it. And I reach out to influencers in the fitness space,

boys and girls, and say to them, if they're not showing their ass the whole time or the guy's just showing off his body, like he's actually trying, I say to him, this is great content, thank you. Because I know they don't get rewarded for it. If you're not showing off your ass or your abs the whole time, you don't get the following.

And we're feeding the wrong thing. We're feeding the wrong thing. So I feel you on that. I'll check that box with you. What else is something that people have to learn from you in this book about- Well, there's a lot of sex talk. I know that you were disappointed

that there wasn't enough sex in the last book. Pictures. There are book. Pictures. There are pictures. Pictures is what I wanted. Drawings. And so in that regard, I do, there are some personal revelations in there. I don't wanna give it all away here, but I talk about-

Just asking you to tee it up anywhere you want to. I'm sorry for asking to talk to you. No, there's- You need to talk about your book. In fact, now that I'm reminded of it, and there is a reference to you that you might appreciate I didn't see it. There's no appendix of this you got lazy Calm down index. Um, there's I think there's at least one reference line the acknowledgments. It's no no You're not acknowledged and there's this picture that's completely photoshopped. I got this

Did you know it's a tasteful new the the new that was going around to that porn guy that kept showing up in all these different memes. Remember that guy? Which one was that? The one where you would say, oh, happy birthday. Oh, and the guy sitting on the bed? Yeah. I don't know what you're talking about. Randy, I love you and I love what you do.

I love you back. Thank you. It's likewise. Likewise. He is funny, he is deep, and he's an artist. And I love the people who make us laugh and we need it more than ever. Just as I need you. Thank you for subscribing and following here The Chris Cuomo Project. Thank you for checking me out at 8P and 11P

every weekday night on News Nation. We're building and we're building because of you. So thank you. Want this without ads? I get it. I get it. Go to the sub stack. Five bucks a month. You get the podcast first. You get it ad free. You get all my long COVID content and you get my looks at philosophy on the walk and talks, which you can use and help you get a little bit more movement and a little bit more brain food as well. What do you say? Let's get after it.