The Daily Zeitgeist - Megachurch Christmas Madness, Leave The Grinch Out Of This! 12.20.23

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

In episode 1600, Jack and guest co-host Blake Wexler are joined by comedian, Rosebud Baker, to discuss… Megachurches = Christmas Madness, Stop Grinch-ifying Political Opponents, Gen Z and Millennials Are Saving Libraries, Netflix’s Leave The World Behind Is A Huge Hit… With Conspiracy Theorists and more! Texas megachurch responds to backlash over opulent Christmas show Gift of Christmas 2023 Drummer Boy - Prestonwood Baptist Houston megachurch is latest to spark controversy with Christmas show This Oklahoma Church's Viral Christmas Production Has People Calling Out Megachurches​ Trump lawyers complain ‘Grinch’ Jack Smith is trying to ruin their Christmases, wonder whether Obama could have been charged with murder Marjorie Taylor Greene Inspires Holiday Jeer With Anti-Biden Christmas Merch Right-wing media accusing Biden of being 'the Grinch' ‘You’re a rotten orange with alarmingly fascist ideas!’: Watch hilarious Donald Trump as ‘Mr. Grinch’ A liberal PAC is running ads that call Republican Sens. Loeffler and Perdue 'the Grinches of Georgia' GOP group launches Grinch-themed ad buy in PA ahead of the holidays Anti-Trudeau children’s book tops Amazon bestseller list How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – Throwback 20 Gen Z and Millennials Are Saving Libraries The US library system, once the best in the world, faces death by a thousand cuts Netflix’s Leave The World Behind Is A Huge Hit… With Conspiracy Theorists Leave the World Behind: 10 Things in Netflix's Apocalyptic Movie that Conspiracy Theorists are Obsessing Over What would really happen if we were hit by a complete ‘Leave the World Behind’ tech wipeout? Netflix users poke fun at Elon Musk's reaction to 'Leave the World Behind' Tesla scene Barack Obama had ‘a lot of notes’ on Leave the World Behind script Yes, President Obama Gave Notes on 'Leave the World Behind,' and No, There's No Conspiracy Theory Why Leave the World Behind's use of Friends is more meaningful than you think What the QR Code on Leave the World Behind’s Map Leads To LISTEN: Norton Commander (Garage Session) by Men I TrustSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in.

Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed.

Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 318, episode 3 of Dear Daily Zeitgeist, a production of iHeartRadio. This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into American Shared Consciousness. And it is Wednesday, December 20th, 2023. My name's Jack O'Brien, a.k.a. That's no bone, it's giant balls. There ain't no animal that it could belong to.

I know that you're gonna say dicks and balls aren't made of bone. That's just because you haven't seen mine that is courtesy of blinky hack on the discord in honor of richard brooks the physician who looked at the first dinosaur bone ever discovered and said nah that is a scrotum that is is not a femur, just a scrotum belonging to a giant. Anyway, shout out to that man, Richard Brooks. Shout out to Blakey Hecht. I'm thrilled to be joined in my second seat today by today's guest, co-host, a brilliant comedian, writer, actor, the hilarious, the chaotic, the riding a recumbent bike in short shorts blake wexler

hey everybody this is blake wexler aka blake's legs put the cum in circumference there plump plump plump plump plump plump plump plump and that was not written by Paul Garaventa. That made me sick. I wrote that. Very blue show so far. Yeah. It's very blue. I know.

We're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a hilarious comedian, actress, writer whose face and words you've seen all over TV and stages across this great land. She writes for SNL. Among many other places, please welcome the hilarious and talented Rosebud Baker! Thank you, guys. I don't have a song about my balls or anything like that. Oh, it's okay.

I'm happy to be here. Just to clarify, that song was not about my balls. It was about Richard Brooks, the physician who coined the name scrotum humanum's balls right so right yeah okay yeah i just got it i mean god i would take i would take the compliment if i were you but that's fine giant balls uh yeah giant stony balls right how are you guys doing you guys are on the east coast where you know yeah it actually feels like christmas is it beginning to feel a lot like or look a lot

like christmas it does it is i well i i'm actually doing decorations this year which i've never really been one to do but i had a baby so now i'm like well congratulations let's yeah let's make this whole place look like santa's workshop she's not gonna remember a thing she doesn't even know she has hands but you just looked at your baby and said let's go yes yes i'm like christmas you look like you could make toys why don't we decorate the place like a workshop my wife and i went to the rockefeller center tree did you call it the rockefeller center i did and i was hoping nobody it's a boston accent not a fan of uh i thought it was like jay-z yeah no it was it is funny that I've heard that phrase in that context

more than, you know, The Tonight Show or anything going on at NBC, which I guess speaks to where my career is. But I do think it was cool. Nobody telling you you look fancy like a Rockefeller? No, I'm not. Could you? Nice spats, man.

Could you, actually? Yeah, I will. But yeah, no, I've never been before, and we went on Saturday, which is probably the worst day that you could go because that's when, you know, people aren't working and everybody was there. But it was cool. It was very, it still felt festive as horrible as it was trying to get around down there. But yeah, it was cool. I can't imagine. If I need to wake up on a Wednesday, if I leave the building at like, or even just like Friday, like I'll, I get out there and I'm like, well, I'm awake now because I'm fighting for my life. Right. So it's coffee.

It's crazy down there. I think I just hadn't been to a mall around Christmas in so many years that I had forgotten how terrible it is. You know, we had just been shopping via the mail, via the internet. Have you guys heard about these things? The mail and the internet? Yeah. And I went on Sunday night to the Grove to pick up a couple things with my five-year-old and seven-year-old.

And it was hell it was truly like the worst like just five blocks away from the mall just stand still traffic like i was trying to leave an nfl game like it was just yeah awful and then it never it never eased up like everybody was fighting for parking spots and then furious once they got into the mall because there weren't enough parking spots you're like if we ever get out of this i'm just leaving the city we're just driving past the house out of the city i just left my car and just was like guys don't look back don't look back grab the We got to go. We have new last names now. All right.

Well, Rosebud, we're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell our listeners a couple of things we're talking about a little later on. We're going to look at a couple of these mega church Christmas celebrations. The Righteous Gemstones is real and it is glorious. Y'all, it is a sight to behold. Not understated. They're not going understated with the Christmas celebrations this year. They see your Christmas workshop, Rosebud, and they say, what if we just recreated the Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl halftime show instead?

Yeah. the Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl halftime show instead. Yeah. What if we made up new Christmas color schemes that were like bright day glow? Yeah. Just a fucking nightmare. But for more money. Yeah, but wait, oh my God.

So much money. Well, hey, we don't have to pay taxes. So it's kind of a good deal. Neither does the NFL. Right. The NFL is a church. A lot of people don't know that. Yeah, they have tax exempt status. Neither does the NFL. Right. The NFL is a church. A lot of people don't know that. Yeah, they have tax exempt status for being on Sundays.

The church. We're going to talk about Gen Z and millennial saving libraries because we need a little bit of good news. And talk about people grinchifying their political opponents. We'll talk about Netflix's film. Leave the world behind. Have you guys seen this? Have you heard about this? It's like the number one movie.

I've seen it. I mean, I've heard about it and I think I've seen the trailer, but I haven't seen the movie. You just did punch up on it. Wait, maybe I did. Yeah. Maybe I did see it.

What's it about? It's Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts. I did see it. I saw it. You saw it and it was so memorable. It literally came out a week ago. I know. You're like, oh yeah, okay.

Yeah. Left a huge impression in addition to The World Behind. Left a huge impression on you. I left the movie behind. Yeah. Blake, have you seen it? I haven't seen it, but now I want to.

Oh, Blake. Because it seems like a lot of people like me have been really enjoying it. Yeah. Preppers? Preppers and conspiracy theorists? Mostly preppers, yeah. Yeah. So we'll talk about that.

All of that, plenty more. But first, Rosebud, we do like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history? Oh, Jesus Christ. Probably just going to be a bunch of symptoms. Just me Googling symptoms. Yeah.

Classic. So just a classic search history. Yeah. Just a classic search history. Do I, am I depressed or am I realistic? That's one. There's a period at the end of that, by the way.

Yeah, right. Not a question mark. Maybe the most depressing idea I've ever come across in research was this thing. I don't know that it's necessarily true true but it's a really dark idea that basically you know abraham lincoln suffered from depression melancholy is what they called it back then and a gunshot wound and a gunshot wound was also a health he was that was in his search history do i have a gunshot wound or what's going on? Or am I just depressed? Or is this the worst fucking play ever?

But it was basically this theory that because he suffered from depression, it made him a really good president because he saw things more realistically than everyone else. And just depression is basically the absence of the candy coating that the rest of us use to get through our day-to-day lives. And when I read that, it really bummed me out. And I thought, I have to share this with the audience of my comedy podcast. So that's what I'm doing right now. That's why Grant was such a terrible president because he had such like, you know, an amicable personality. He was always looking on the bright side. Well, he was drunk for most of the time.

He was an alcoholic. Yeah, he was an alcoholic. So that helped him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a profound search history, I would say. It is the central question of our time am i depressed

or am i realistic right i i think it's not it's it's both it's yes you are both and uh you would make a great wartime president yes right i've always said that you have your peers i have always said that yeah that's right. That's right. Yeah. What's something you think is overrated? Girl dad content. I think I'm all set on the girl dad content. I keep seeing it cause I had a daughter and I'm just seeing like these dudes that are acting like heroes because they, they were brave enough to love their girl offspring.

I'm just kind of like, yeah, you're not a hero. You're just doing your job. It bugs me. I'm like, you're a dad. You're just a dad. You're 50% of the dads in the world. Yeah, I had a girl dad. I just called him dad that's what that it's just like well i don't know why but i'm it's it bugs me i'm just every time i see it i'm like oh here

we go another macho guy in a tutu like looking trying to look like a hero yeah there's that one like psa where it's like this big brawny guy doing i'm a little teapot with his daughter and it's like fatherhood like can you fucking believe it holy shit this guy's tough but he's being un-tough around his little girl i I know. I'm like, you're acting like you adopted. You just had a kid. Right. I'm just annoyed with it. So yeah, girl dad content. That's the overrated thing for me right now.

I'm buttoning up my shirt so you can't see my under my t-shirt. Girl dad t-shirt. I think it kind of started with a literal brawny dad where brawny james's father lebron james was like posting a ton of girl dad content and then i think like most of other men saw a strong man doing something and they were like oh i must be oh i must be a girl dad as well not that i am one it's like I need to become a girl dad. Yeah.

That's a great one. How do I become girl dad? Yeah. Real men cry too. Strong men cry too, Mr. Lebowski. Yeah. It's that like over, like when a very basic idea is like profound to somebody yes like dude sometimes

even i cry and i'm like a guy yeah i'm just like yeah you're a human fucking being what are you talking about right yeah but i'm like oh okay no but it's like I'm a guy at the same time that I'm crying. Like, you're not listening because you're a girl. I'm a guy. Oh, man. Yeah. And you are saying like, but like, shout out to the girl mom content out there, right? You got to respect that.

I don't see that. I don't see girl mom content right i i've literally never seen someone be like i'm a girl i'm a mom but i'm a girl yeah you know it's like i i'm sure it's out there because it's the internet but i i haven't seen yeah yeah and it is nice to be a boy dad i'm a boy dad and that's that's nice because I don't have to learn any of the difficult lessons that those commercials are suggesting girl dads have to learn about. Right. You know, about vulnerability and stuff like that. Right. How to cry on camera.

Yeah. I just study the ancient Spartans and, you know, teach my kids about Roman, ancient Roman phalanx warfare. Yes, of course. That's what boy dads do. I came home last night, and Andy was watching something on YouTube. It was like growing up in the most conservative part of Russia, and it was just him and the baby were watching this on YouTube. I was like, what are you doing? No, sweetheart, you play your cards right.

This could be us in a few years. no sweetheart you play your cards right this could be us in a few i was like are you watching are you watching just like places that like wives can't talk back are you just like imagining a life far far away yeah he just had yes i am so wistful tear away this was right after he andy put his credit card away after getting two-day shipping on a France national team jersey. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Yes.

Exactly. That is my life, actually. That's the whole thing. There is something with Girl Dads 2 where I almost see, maybe I'm imagining this, but there almost seems like a flirtatious, like, virtue signaling. Like, I'm a girl dad, and I'm also willing to cheat on my wife. Seems like a lot of the vibes from these videos. Yes.

Really? It feels like they're trying to get pussy by posting themselves with their daughters. That is another thing that I'm like, it's really gross. There's literally one where the guy was like, when you're a six foot five dude, like macho dude, but you still are half the girl dad. And it was like him on stage with his daughter in a tutu. And I was like i you don't need to be listing your height dude you know yeah you're six foot five and i was just gonna say body fat was gonna he he wrote his body fat out and then deleted it because he was like yeah too much

maybe too much yeah with an annual income. Wow. Yeah, that's a bummer. I didn't realize that there was that edge to it. But yeah, I mean, I guess that's true with any hyper-masculine thing, that there's probably that subtext. Right. What's something you think is underrated? Vaping. Nice. Because the tide has turned against vaping. Are you quitting? I just got back to it after

pregnancy and having a child. And I gotta say that first hit, I was like, is there a heroin in there? Like, what? this is the greatest feeling i've ever had have you ever vaped jack or yeah i'm like uh seven months off of it currently good for you oh sorry you're in your final trimester yeah yeah exactly and i just can't wait to get this kid out of me so i can yeah yeah no i just like i got i got real sick one time and then like i found myself like i was like in a bed

like coughing and like so sick and then like just quietly like vaping into my sleeve and i was like that's fucking terrible like just like the darkest yeah didn't feel good i didn't feel invulnerable like a like a girl dad should like you know i felt weak girl dads don't use beds they sleep they stand like a horse yeah they sleep standing up just yeah yeah in a athletic stance next to their daughter's bed just ready to kill anyone who comes yeah with a loaded pointed at their own head yeah yeah yeah daddy what are you doing go back to sleep i just fucking love you so much i don't think that's a good way to work through that emotion.

No. Right. Yeah. I feel like there's an unwritten, like, long read article about how vaping is, like, secretly. It's good for you. Well, because it's replacing cigarette smoking, which is so bad for you. Right. Right. Right.

Compared to vaping. Isn't it? It is like, that's always, I guess that's what I always told myself when I was vaping. And then I never really like looked it up to double check. I was just like, nah, it's fine. It's good. I feel like when you don't know what the end looks like, it's at least we, we can assume. I think it's whatever you want it to be like it could be

worse or it could be better we what we really won't know for another 10 years yeah yeah yeah exactly for me i was like it's like sleeping in a room with a humidifier that where the water is like yeah the water's been bathed in by a smoker basically can i say something so dark where i everything is fine but i had a family member like a doctor goes oh uh you have cancer and we're all like oh my god and they go it won't be the cancer that kills you though and we're're like, oh, okay. I don't know if that's better. Like something else will kill you before the, you won't live long enough for the cancer to kill you was like essentially what the doctor was saying.

So about vaping. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, break we'll be right back you're listening to iHeartRadio uh big money players your doctor your doctor relative was like get delivering a prognosis that was like you have cancer and the cancer is not what's going to kill you because you have this other thing that is like way worse worse so my i have a relative who's older and they were told by a doctor who's

not a family member or even a friend yeah i'm working on that i'm trying to befriend the doctor because they say things like this but they have cool vibes yeah a great bedside manner and that they we bunked up after this news uh but yeah, I know that's what they're saying. They're like, oh, hey, like you're old. So the cancer, you're too old for cancer to kill you was essentially what they were saying. Yeah. Which is which you can take it both ways. You can be like, oh, my God, that's so depressing.

My body is going to shut down before the cancer gets it. Or it's like, well, I beat cancer in a way. It's a sprint, not a marathon. It's the other way. Cancer survivor, kind of. And we will be right back. And I know we are up against it.

I'm sweating profusely. Why do you keep making the wrap it up gesture while you're speaking? Because I'm doing this into a mirror. cutting profusely. Why do you keep making the wrap it up gesture while you're speaking? Well, I'm cause I'm doing this into a mirror. All right. We're,

we are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, dancing for the devil, the seven M Tik TOK cult. And I'm Cle Acevedo, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed.

Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again.

Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career,

you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner.

The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100 percent of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you.

Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not.

What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people.

There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back and guys i'm so jealous of mega churches the there's two texas mega churches that went viral on tiktok this week for their extravagantly gaudy Christmas shows. The Prestonwood Baptist Church's The Gift of Christmas Show featured a performance of The Little Drummer Boy, which looks like a fever dream about Tron Legacy,

starring the Blue Man Group. Hell yeah. Yeah, it's really... It does, like, the first thing i thought was like tron and also but like derivative tron so like the black eyed peas super bowl halftime show does anybody remember that is that a touchstone for anybody else it was like 12 years ago i feel like let's get it started right like that year or yeah right yeah like that was definitely played but they they were coming off a string of like seven identical hits and then they were the super bowl halftime show and i just remember the whole thing

was like kind of glow in the dark day glow like people who had just had the idea for the first time like what if aliens yeah and yeah like that that's kind of what this reminds me of also there's like a lot of stuff is like graffiti but yeah there's like a graffiti backdrop like uh it was giving like hamilton yes it's giving hamilton big time like the graffiti is like the graffiti written by those white people during the black lives matter protests where they were like kill whitey but it was like written in calligraphy and you're like that's not real man that is definitely you writing that on your own garage but also i'm no expert but wasn't the whole point of little drummer boy that a poor child had no riches to give the baby jesus

and had like just had the immaterial gift of music i am an expert and that's true you are an expert that is what your senior thesis was was written about yeah c plus but this is basically like that song written by people who are like lighting cash on fire on stage. Yeah. There's like a, there's a, there's a clip of Ashley and Jessica Simpson singing little drummer boy in like a really cunty way from like 20 years ago.

And that's how you know the content. Yeah. It's like, and it's like and it's like that i was like that is 100 what is going on here they are just cunty christmas carols all day that needs to be its own like that's what i call christmas music collection cunty carols yeah the whole family but yeah they it like true like the so there's drummers on stage like suddenly there's a day glow backlit thing on stage with that where it's like the lyrics to the song written in shitty graffiti and then the drummer starts flying through the air

all of the drummers just take off from the stage like it's a fucking pink concert. And they're just drumming through the air while dancers start dancing below. And the whole thing just makes Celine Dion's Vegas act look understated by comparison. I mean, I was at Mariah Carey's Christmas concert two nights ago. Wow ago and i have to say

looking at these tiktoks i was like i was ripped off like yeah it's cheap it it made it made mariah carey's christmas concert look like a a small church's little like recital yeah Yeah. Looks like shit, Mariah. Sorry. Yeah. Sorry, Mariah. Yeah. Yeah. The church defended itself to the press stating that they're not ashamed to pull out all the stops in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season. They even offered to pray for those of us ridiculing their show. just love it anytime they say jesus christ both together it is like such a specific energy italics yeah it's written in italics yeah it's written and spoken in italics so a few days later cross town another tex megachurch went viral for its Christmas show, which featured a literal flying Santa sled, which we all remember from the gospel, and a nativity scene with an elephant. A real elephant.

A real elephant, straight up. And then another church across town used all their money to breed a type of reindeer that actually has a red nose over centuries. And they finally debuted it as well. Yeah, it's radioactive and has a light. Yeah, unfortunately, it backfired and it also had laser eyes and it killed most of the congregation. Even worse, it actually lives 250 years, which is even worse. It's unkillable. You can't kill this reindeer. Yeah.

The last year, there's also... Sorry for... I guess we love Jesus too much, okay? We built an unkillable reindeer that has laser eyes and glowing nose. Sorry if we love Jesus. Now, who's going to take care of it? Someone. Please.

It's killed most of us. Last year, an Oklahoma church got attention for its show featuring the traditional Yuletide Bon Jovi covers. They had Living on a Prayer and a reboot of Ariana Grande's Seven Rings with new lyrics like, Oh, Mother Mary, I pray she's slaying and lashes and diamonds, tithes, and something else. My computer just took a shit. I'm guessing praying.

I'm guessing praying. I didn't pray. Just going with praying. Yeah. Tithes and offerings. Praying would have been better. Fuck me. don't know i love everything about this i love that it's like an arms race of gaudiness i love that their response is somewhere between like okay then i guess you can arrest me for loving jesus too much didn't know that was a crime and also like what's the matter loser jealous like that fit that feels

like the real vibe it's like oh i'm sorry does your church suck maybe that's the problem right yeah and obviously yeah we have a hotter santa with a tighter beard like they're making like everyone's sexier too yeah yeah truly i bet their santa has a six-pack sorry our santa has huge tits and a six-pack yeah yeah we really apologize maybe if you pray harder you'll get a sexier santa with bigger tits yeah i i am desperately jealous i truly wish my parents, like, I lived in Kentucky for three years, and this was an option for us. Like, all my friends in Kentucky were, like, part of one of these major, like, evangelical Disney on ice Christianity type mega churches. churches like that one of the good like basketball games after school was a fellowship of christian athletes game where you would like play for an hour and then you would like go listen to somebody like testify for a half hour and i i fucked up yeah yeah it was like at halftime the halftime

show it like it seems pretty easy like it seems like they mostly leave you alone to enjoy the light show as long as you say that like you're saved that's they mostly leave you alone to enjoy the light show as long as you say that you're saved. That's the main thing. You have to be like, yeah, I'm saved. I let Jesus into my heart, and it was like a tiny orgasm of the soul, and now we are good here. So you can move on to the next person because I'm just enjoying the Bon Jovi.

I feel like megachurches don't get in your business either. Like they just I don't know. I'm like, if you're going to if you're going to make that much money, you better put on a show like, right. Yeah, you could you could just have a Christmas thing where they don't do anything. I'm like, if I am part of a megachurch, I want I want megachurch. I want I want them to go big. big. Live up to the name, please. Thank you. Yes. Yeah.

Where is this money going? When I just gave you an iPhone into the collection chart, where did that money go? Because you made me. Yeah. Yeah. The elephant's wild. You got to know. It's got to go somewhere.

And at least it's going to, I don't know, at least it's going to them getting entertained. It's not, it's not going to the church's lawyers. Let's put it that way. I mean, it's going to the church's lawyers too, but yeah, you can't, you can't suspend six private citizens above a hundred feet above the floor of your amphitheater without getting some pretty good legal representation. I feel like that's really that's really a great point. It's really a great point. But at the same time, what I'm saying is at least they're putting that money towards entertaining people and hopefully not covering up molesting them.

You know, hopefully we cannot speak to that. But yeah, I can't speak to that. We cannot speak to that, but yeah. You can't speak to that, but you know. Yeah. One dollar towards the Slay Riders is a dollar less to cover. That's right. Or we could just tax churches.

Yeah. Or we could tax them. Yeah, that could be. And then use that money for things like, I don't know, libraries, for instance. It's a slippery slope. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, libraries, for instance. It's a slippery slope.

Yeah. Yeah. A new study released by the American Library Association revealed that Gen Z and millennials are visiting libraries way more often than older generations. There's so much news that is just like various trappings, various ways of dressing up the idea

that like Gen Z and millennials are poor. Like they don't have any money and baby boomers kept it all. And yeah. Yeah. But that's basically what we're off. We're more likely to pick up food off the street and eat it. Cleaning the street, you know, because like, you know, they're too poor to afford food. Is that what it is?

Yeah. Yeah. Basically, 54% of Gen Z millennials visit an honest to goodness physical library this Because they're too poor to afford food. Is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah, basically. 54% of Gen Z millennials visit an honest-to-goodness physical library this past year. And they have a preference for print books, not digital ones, which I fully identify with. Because just any break from the phone is worthwhile. Yeah. Dude, when I don't look at my phone for an hour i feel like i've done community service it's so great i i feel like i've done something good in

the world and all i've done is sat in my house not looking at my phone i'll be even if i'm watching tv if i do it without looking at my phone i feel like i just helped the world. Right. It's incredible. Do you hold on to your books too? Like, do you have bookshelves in your homes as well? Or do you give them away? I have bookshelves full of books I've never even opened. Yeah.

And I never will. I'll just look at them. I'm very streamlined. We just, uh, we, we have like book burnings in our backyard that we just, you know, get rid of inventory, you know, make a show.

I love those. You do them right too. Yeah. You have a good guest list for those. My, my wife and I used to have separate bookshelves for like my books and her books. And it got so embarrassing of like the smart shit that she reads.

And then for me, it was like Jalen Rose's autobiography. The second printing and the tales from the road. Um, so yeah, we had to start mixing them up. Yeah. There is something nice.

Just having a physical book, like a tangible book in your hand. Yeah, I really love it. Magazines, I still like having magazines. And because the print industry is dying, like they're very thin, so they're easier to carry around. There's no advertisements in them. So you just, yeah. But yeah, I don't know.

The library system is extremely vulnerable right now thanks to budget cuts and, you know, some right-wing trolls. So maybe it would be worth it to, like, tax churches and give it to libraries. This is a crazy idea. Yeah. Or we could just keep escalating the megachurch Christmas performances. I do think that by just focusing on the christmas performances we are letting them off easy with regards to the other big

celebration because east the easter performances are pretty fucking terrifying they because they like some of them go like really bloody. There are definitely examples where they're like anti-Semitic. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, not that. Not that part. I didn't mean to say that right before. Led you right up to it.

That was a bit of a timing mishap there. That one was on me. I apologize. Okay. Oopsies. Yeah. yeah but i do like i do like that they uh that there's a lot of blood and gore at least yeah you know like let's go let's go old testament yeah i think they like just leave easter to be about bunnies and candy eggs but get your gore out during halloween like i think they the there's a thing

called hell house that they used to do that's like a mega church themed haunted house but it's basically like this is what's gonna happen to you if you don't let jesus into your heart it sounds awesome if you're right to that like if you're into a haunted house what's better than that like really the trick of yeah like the ultimate movie trick of just being like i don't know the bad guys are none maybe like you know yeah religion just adds amps everything up 10x so why not have these mega churches just start doing the haunted houses as well? They would probably suck. And even the face value of people actually believe this.

And then putting that, that's kind of the other fear, parallel fear that you can have simultaneously. Yeah, you just put slash that at the end for the non-church people. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer

of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades.

Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jimei Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline,

a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Sanner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote, what is it, like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's

better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it.

That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from blumhouse television iheart radio and realm listen to dream sequence on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever

you get your podcasts and we're back and it is that time of the year when the Dr. Seuss classic, The Grinch, just gets shoehorned into every political message. Right now, this year, we've got Trump's lawyers citing how The Grinch sold Christmas to argue against Jack Smith's prosecution timeline. They're like, he's given us too much work for Christmas break. They said this proposed schedule would require attorneys and support staff to work around the clock through the holidays, inevitably disrupting family and travel plans. It is as if the special counsel, quote, growled with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming,

I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming, but how? And then they, like, cite, Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Random House, 1957. And the publisher. Yeah. This is, like, how lazy Trump's lawyers are. It's like me writing a fucking paper in third grade, you know, eighth grade, just trying to, like, pad out the word count as much as possible.

What have I read? I know I've read The Grinch. It's really the only thing I can think of right now, actually. So we might as well cite that. Yeah. Marjorie Taylor Greene is currently selling Biden Grinch wrapping paper because there's no better way to stick it to the Democrats than paying $25 for a single roll of wrapping paper. But that's, you know, they're good at this. I think the wrapping paper is the gift.

Right. There you go. It's the gift itself. Yeah. So it makes sense. That's crazy. No, no, no, no. The box is empty.

Why would you think there's something in the box? Look at the wrapping paper. That's the gift. That's the gift. Yeah. And now that Christmas is over, you can use it for next Christmas. Exactly. It's like, oh, my God. comparison to the onslaught of Trump as Grinch memes we got during his presidency. There were just so many Grinch Trump. There were like viral videos in 2020. A liberal PAC made an ad comparing Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to the Grinch. A Republican group launched

a five-figure digital ad depicting top Democrats as Grinches. There were definitely viral videos with Trump as the Grinch. There was a whole Grinch parody children's book about how Justin Trudeau stole Canada's freedom with COVID safety measures that somehow became a bestseller. So it's tough. Part of me is like, stop doing this. This is dumb. But it clearly just resonates. People are just like the, the Grinch is having a moment. I, it's funny to me that they really feel like it's like sticking it to each other,

that they're really getting each other with this. Yeah. You know, just they're like, Oh, well, everybody hates the Grinch. It's like,

it's actually a pretty beloved character. Yeah. He's the fucking protagonist of all the stories that he's in. Yeah. He's the only monster that's got his own movie. Yeah. You know? That's got his own beloved happy ending movie.

It's like, oh, thank God. The Grinch is good. Yeah. He has a dog. I mean, he's like, you know. He's amazing. He's kind of like an unpaid intern, you know yeah his dog is the dog abused but he loves it he loves it look at him he's so happy he's so happy yeah it ignores the fact that the

grinch ultimately becomes good and returns everybody's christmas presents and like loves christmas by the end of the movie and i feel like it's going to be extra ineffective on younger people who grew up with like the newer Grinch movies, like the Jim Carrey Grinch movie from 2000. I think the Who's are just like total assholes. That was from that long ago? Yeah. Isn't that crazy? They're like rich kids.

Yeah. Yeah. It blew my mind. Like we are at the 20th anniversary of the movie Elf that finding that out made me feel fucking blew away into a cloud of fucking ash and dust. But yeah. Messed up. God. Yeah. And the Grinch in the Jim Carrey movie is also like mad at them because they bullied him and ostracized him purely based on his looks. That's right. Everybody who's like raised on that is going to be like, what? OK, fine. If Biden's the Grinch, like you guys are awful.

You guys are fucking terrible. Yeah. But Biden, as we all know, he's been ostracized purely based on his looks. That's true. Yeah, it's, as we all know, he's been ostracized purely based on his looks. That's true. Yeah, it's true. Exactly. And his ability to ride a bike effectively, I guess. The Grinch and he both seem equally dry.

They both seem like they would go up in flames if like a single like ember brushed against them. They would. Right. For some reason, the Grinch has always seemed very dry to me. Especially the Jim Carrey Grinch. Yeah. Am I the only one? Come on.

No, no, no, no, no, no. I feel like he seems a little wet. I don't know if that's. Jim Carrey Grinch? Seem wet? Yeah. Let's not fight. Let's not fight on here.

I don't like this cross talk. Oh, my God. So help me God. He lives in a cave. Yeah, he does. He does. He always seems to like manage to be a little bit dry to me, but maybe. I guess he is made of Muppet fur, which does seem flammable.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because he's around. Is the snow melting in the cave? Because that's what I'm thinking too like caves traditionally wet but if an igloo an igloo an igloo is not really wet is it because it's so cold like how cold is it there i'm so sorry that i started this i apologize no i need to go to the hospital because of this statement.

I'm so sorry, Blake. Why isn't this a segment? How wet is an igloo? How wet are these igloos? When we have a live show for this podcast, that's going to be the thing the crowd yells. How wet is an igloo? Is an igloo. The reviews of the show couldn't have been worse.

They were really brutal. Nothing was contextualized. Yeah. It was just us getting them to shout that. Right. Yeah. Anyways, I feel like the time has passed. The Grinch thing is being... The anti-Grinch agenda is being pushed by news producers in their 50s

who don't know the truth about the Grinch. Yeah. You know? It's by boomers for boomers. Yeah. And I don't know how to say that altogether like you would say FUBU, but it's something like... It is there. It's just sort of a sound.

It's DBFB. Yeah. Yeah. The Grinch is like ultimately by the end of the movie is kind of like a girl dad to Cindy Lou Who, you know? Like he really kind of like a girl dad to cindy lu who you know like he really kind of shows up he's not the you know father but he's the father who shows up uh whatever that saying is about stepfathers you know the original girl dad yeah exactly he's the father's stepdad that's so uh worship him uh all right let's talk about leave the world behind this is a movie

i went and saw in theaters i was so excited about it it i don't that true that is true is that true that is true i saw the trailer i was like this looks cool the trailer not the one there's like a minute and a half trailer that i think most people have seen there's another one with like an lcd sound system song that is really cool i really loved the trailer it's one of my the trailer is one of my favorite movies of the year the movie is not one of my favorite movies of the year the movie ends up like i don't know i don't want to spoil anything but i think you could probably if you've seen if you know anything about it it like kind of has the message that we get in a lot of movies like this that like the preppers were right q anon was right all along essentially but it is certainly

the striking accord it's the number one movie. It's the number one movie. It's been the number one movie on Netflix since it came out. And I think they're saying it's going to be the top movie of the year. And there's a bunch of things that are... I think it was helped by the fact that Elon Musk complained about the movie, despite the fact that he didn't watch it. There's a part where Teslas come alive, basically, and start attacking the protagonists.

And it's not as dumb as that sounds. It kind of is while you're watching. If there's a moment where you're taken out of it and you're like, okay, this is, why am I stressed out right now? This is very stupid. Yeah, this is dumb. Yeah.

Yeah, it's basically, you know how for a long time in action movies, like, action movie villains would just be like, hack the building and make it blow up and they would just like type five computer keys and the building would blow up this is like that

but like on a global scale it's just like we're under cyber attack the cars can come alive now it's just like every kind of ill-informed, technophobic article that has been published in the mainstream media over the past 20 years just compiled into one place. One movie. Yeah. And then they're also just like, rich people should have bunkers. There's also racism. Yes. And as like a B story, there's like racism that just sort of seems to settle down. Right.

Yeah. In the middle of it. Yeah. And yeah, that part kind of weirded me out. There was like a weird like moment between the two characters, the mom and the. Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali yes yes and I was like this so wait is this the end of the is this the end of her being racist I it was like yeah and then it just never gets addressed after that I was like what the where did that storyline go

like it was there was certain things where I was okay, there's like some loose ends that really just, it kind of ends the way a sketch would end. Yeah. Oh, you didn't watch past the credits. So they address all of it. Like if you watch past the credits, they tie all the ends together. Oh, okay.

Okay, got it. You bailed too early. I see your concern. The post-credits sequence where they tie everything together. Man, I always forget to watch. You're too hard on yourself. It's actually revealed. Ant-Man is,

this is part of the Marvel shared cinematic universe. And it is involved. Yeah. I think like I, what one question that was constantly on my mind, the whole movie is like, how much are we supposed to hate the, this family?

Like the Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawk. I'm like, because I did like like this is as much as i've disliked a protagonist of a movie like that just both of them seem they are yeah deeply unlikable like portraits of what is wrong in with like a lot of people in our world, but like, and then, and then they don't seem to like clean it up. It's not like, oh,

well they're better now. It's just, they were, yeah, you're right. It's like, they, they don't really change.

And then the other family, like his wife, like just like, I think died or something. They never address, but like it's assumed that his wife is dead like 24 hours before we meet him. And then he's like having this moment with Julia Roberts. And I'm like,

wait, it didn't your wife like just what the, I'm like, all of you are really emotionally just not there. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it's sorry. I just, I haven't seen my wife in three days.

So obviously, you know, I'm very lonely. Yeah. Yeah. So Elon Musk called it out because he was like, Tesla's can charge from solar panels. Even if the world does go full Mad Max, there is no more gasoline. So what? Our cars are going to be fine, which is in no way a reaction to what is happening in the movie.

I don't even know what he thought based on that response, but it did certainly help people be like, oh, this movie is something that I can watch. be like oh this movie is something that i can watch it's so upsetting too to know that if there was a cyber attack that elon musk would be on x saying the world has gone full mad max like that is how he would address it yeah exactly that's the last like the last book that that trouble really uh read was the grinch he's only Mad Max. And his response doesn't make sense either, where it's like if there were like inventory robots that tried to like keep having sex with the male cashiers and the owner was like, yeah, but they have great battery life. You know, it's like, no, that's not really the problem.

That's not the point. Yeah, this takes place over a weekend. What are you talking about? Really not the problem. Yeah. No. That's great about the batteries, but that's not the problem. Congratulations.

Congrats, man. Yeah. The other big reason that it's become a focal point of conspiracy theories is that it is produced by the Obamas as part of their overall deal with Netflix. They are like producers. They came on the way producers do. They're like, okay, we're going to lend you our name and some money. And you have to put up with me reading the script and writing notes on it. And you just have to read the notes.

You don't have to do anything about them but you you do have to read them and that's that's what happened and people are like the obamas are trying to tell us something yeah they're like theorizing that it's some kind of warning from the obamas about like what's coming the whole thing it's just like i think that's like what i disliked about it is like it is a dumb person's idea of like what a smart person would think is like yeah going like is dangerous about the current state of the world is yeah like oh man they can they can hack anything bro they can fucking hack anything dude you fucking yeah you microwave they could fucking hack that dude yeah yeah yeah it like retelling the the plot lines of it it's almost as if it it makes you feel like you're high and you're pitching a movie to your friend. Yeah. Right. It does.

Yeah, and then, like, maybe, I don't know, like, some Teslas could, like, chase the family down, and maybe they got to find a bunker. Yeah. And also there's racism. Yeah. The scariest monster of all.

And we'll say that in the movie. We'll say, we'll say that. The scariest monster of all. Yeah. And the friend you movie we'll say we'll say that the scariest monster of all yeah and the friend you're pitching it to is President Barack Obama yeah yeah it's

wild to me that they decided I think he like read the book and so that that was like it was probably like on one of his lists of you know novelists but the the conspiracy theory that is pretty convincing is of course connecting this movie to matthew perry's death after all he used to date julia roberts he died on her birthday i i don't probably don't have to connect all the dots after that right like you guys get it there's an eclipse

on the poster and the next eclipse is on matthew perry's birthday leave the world behind 192 eclipse 192 chandler 192 bunker commodus roman emperor commodus died year 192 by drowning everything is put in on purpose by the elite perry knew his time was coming. And so he, you know, he made a deal to collect, you know, to get out. That's that's from a actual Reddit post. And then someone responded more like by the Obamas, a.k.a. elite. Yeah. So. Pretty.

I mean, that one makes you think, right? Like the eclipse. Commodus. But I don't have to say anymore., right? Like the Eclipse, Commodus, but I don't have to say anymore. You guys are connecting the dots on your own. Yeah, for sure. There will be a part two to this episode where we can discuss this further, of

God knows how many. I'm not trying to get killed here, you know? There's going to be actually a subsequent 192 episodes. Yeah. Episode one subsequent 192 episodes. Yeah. That is true. Yes. Episode one of 192.

Just the three of us working it out. Just trying to figure out, just getting to the bottom of this. Going frame by frame. Getting after it. Part of the problem, like the movie really does have like hidden details. Like the director, who is Sam Ismail, the director of Mr. Robot. So it's like that's that's where the giant cyber attack comes from like it's that that's kind of that guy's thing and also it's

like in a novel it did not come from the obamas the director did hide like a bunch of six six sixes in the beginning and ending of the movie. So. They were playing into it. There's also like a hidden QR code. In the CNN map. So it definitely is. The Matthew Perry conspiracy. I think we can all agree. Because they hid the 666 in there.

Yeah. I mean you can't argue with that kind of logic. Yeah. I don't know guys. Keep your eyes open. That's all I'm saying. Rock solid. Did you like the movie, Rosebud?

I actually did like the movie. And then the more I thought about the movie, the less I liked it. Yeah. But I really liked the experience of watching it. It was just like then I got then I started thinking watching it. It was just like, then I got, then I started thinking about it, and I was like, there's a lot that doesn't make a ton of sense here.

Yeah. You know? Yeah, there's some really cool moments, though, for sure. Yeah, I think it was really cool. It was just like a fun movie. It was fun to watch. Yeah. You know? The fun movie that then is like, sending secret signals to the dumbest people on earth to be like yeah you're right everything you've ever been worried about is

right vote trump and they're so thirsty to be told any kind of affirmation for them is like anything they're just it's like so i knew that was going to happen while i was watching but it's like you watch that and it's like there's all of this all these plot there's so much action in one movie and so little like character development and then you watch like may december and it's like there's a lot of character development and nothing is happening and i'm like can i get one thing what just can we just get a movie that's like you get both i don't know something good please can i just watch something good i don't mean to say that either of these movies are bad because i've enjoyed both of them but yes i that's essentially yeah i guess i something i just really like for me no i'm with i'm with you i am no bit gonna watch this movie now like yeah you said i something i just really like for me no i'm with i'm with you i am no bit

gonna watch this movie now like yeah you said like i i sometimes you want to watch a movie where you don't have to think about anything and it's it entertains you so yeah but yeah maybe i'll i mean once i scan the qr code who the hell knows what's what's gonna happen but yeah yeah it was wild because they like kept it a secret when it was in theaters. Like, it was in, like, five theaters. Like, I had to, I saw the trailer. I was like, wait, this is in theaters and has been for, like, three weeks. It made, like, $45 in its theatrical run. And then, but it dropped on Netflix.

I was like, man, they're really, like, doing this director wrong. And then I guess they knew what they were doing. they're really like doing this director wrong and then i guess they knew what they were doing and i i do feel like it is like mick kind of designed for being watched on netflix like it's just because it's got like cool things that happen in it that you don't want to don't want the audience to think too much about and so you know they just kind of look up from their phones every once in a while and they're like, oh, shit. That's the Teslas are crashing. Anyways, Rosebud,

such a pleasure having you. Thank you for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me, guys. Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff? You can find me on Netflix. I'm I got a short set on Netflix's Verified Stand-Up right now. There you go.

And I'm also on there for That's My Time with David Letterman. But go check out Verified Stand-Up. And then I'm on Instagram and TikTok as Rosebud Baker. And I'm no longer on Twitter. Nice. Wow, what happened? What's wrong? You don't like Twitter?

I love it. Just, you know, just, just mental health. No, I just, I couldn't anymore. Mental health. I couldn't anymore. I was like, but you know, I still, I'll, I'll log into Andy's sometimes and just like read people's tweets. Cause I do, I do miss that part of it.

Yeah. You know. I do. I love a part of it yeah you know I do I love good amazing is there a work of media that you've been enjoying a work of media yeah just anything anything you've watched or heard I just I feel like I just mentioned it but that but May December I'm like right in the middle of it I was watching it right before the podcast and it's it is good like it's there's i also haven't seen natalie portman in a while yeah so nice to see her she's incredible she's great everybody in the movie is really good it's yeah that that was one that just like fucking stuck with me after I watched it. I was like, oh man, I can't.

Does it, let me ask you this. Does it pick up in terms of like, cause I'm, I'm in it. I'm in it. I'm, I swear to you.

I know it sounds like I hate it, but I didn't watch it in chunks. So I have, I'm having a hard time. Like I didn't, I didn't walk away from it being like nothing happened, but then I have talked to people who walked away from it being like, well, that just sort of ended. But I thought it was really kind of perfect.

It's building a lot of tension. I just need something to happen. I will say the musical cues, the overly dramatic musical cues never pay off literally. I think they are meant to be overly dramatic. Okay. For some reason. They're doing a lot of heavy lifting. Yeah, they are.

Yeah. But the performances are great. They are. Yeah. Yeah, it's very strange. I wish... You asked me if there's media I've been enjoying. I need to say again, I am enjoying this.

I just I can't seem to enjoy anything without also criticizing it in my brain, which is, again, getting back to am I depressed or realistic? Yeah, I had the same thing with like the new Wes Anderson movie that's like on a lot of people's like year end lists. And I saw that. And it was at a time when i was like going through something and just like not in a good place mentally and i hated it so much and now i'm like oh maybe i just need to like re-watch it the short one no this is asteroid city it's like it has like a really fun like desert 1950s aesthetic. It's just like I hate it.

Tom Hanks in the Bill Murray role actually, but he's great. Bill Murray might be in there somewhere. I forget. I just didn't like the way it was written or something. That might just be because I was in a shitty mood. So I might have

to go back and watch it. I hope you're feeling better. Yeah. Oh my god, thank you so much. Me too. You're welcome. Blake, where can people find you as they're working media? You've been enjoying. Yeah, people can find me January 4th. I'm headlining Vermont

Comedy Club in Burlington, Vermont. I know a lot of Zeitgeist people came out last time so hope to see you and then february 3rd i'm doing a show at my hometown club helium in philly where it's a talk show and uh it's called the reviews are in and me and my guests read yelp reviews and google reviews that we've left for products and companies and restaurants so it's kind of a way where you realize how insane you are either positively or negatively for leaving reviews so that's february 3rd in philly and then my stand-up special blake wexler daddy long legs is streaming on youtube

and the audio version just came out so wherever you get music you can listen to it and media that i've been enjoying hyena videos where i've been i don't like use hashtags i i don't know what they're for but i looked at hashtag hyenas on instagram and like they're really cute they're really cool where like there's a lot of hyena cubs and big ones and they're like the laughing noises they make are great and there's this one girl who's like really sweet with all like and then i like she has a wildlife sanctuary and she like cuddles tigers and stuff and it is really cute but you have to put it outside your head like oh a horrific tragedy is going to happen here in a year and a half but there is a lot of really cute stuff there. Hyenas, look at hyenas.

They're cool with each other. They laugh. They're great. Hyena videos, it'll uplift you. I just looked it up and they're covered in blood. Jesus Christ, Blake. No, that's what I mean. Their faces look like they're shaved

raccoons. Have you ever seen a shaved raccoon? It's cute. Like the scariest looking thing? No, it's cute. So yeah, no, they're covered in blood and they laugh. I don't understand where the disconnect is. What did you... Yeah. They're really cute.

Have you ever seen that hilarious feel-good Christmas movie, The Smile? Yeah. Like, these are terrifying. Well, you're looking at the wrong ones. terrifying. Well, you're looking at the wrong ones. Rosebud is pulling up the worst pictures, like,

manageable of anything. Unmanageable. That one's carrying a little one, right? Or what is that? No, it's eating a baby. It looks like it's eating a baby. I think they're carrying them. I'm going to keep looking. I don't know if.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I was like, oh, Blake has such a sweet one. And I like made me want to look it up. And then I was like. Oh, Blake is a sick. It's probably my algorithm, honestly. Yeah. No, I like it.

I like what you showed me. That was the thing. All right. Work of media I've been enjoying is this tweet from Chris Van Arsdale. It was an infographic that said, The first episode of That 70s Show aired on August 23, 1998. It takes place on May 17, 1976, 8,133 days, 22 years earlier. If it aired today, December 18th, so this was on Monday, 2023,

the first episode would take place on 9-11. That's just a good thing to keep in mind. You just tweeted that and said that 9-11 show. That's crazy. I need to know whose brain

Chris Van Artsdale That's wild True genius You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram We have a Facebook fan page and a website

DailyZeitgeist.com where we post our episodes And our footnotes Where we link off to the information we talked about in today's episode as well as a song that we think you might enjoy super producer justin connor is there a song that you think people might enjoy uh yes there is jack if you like music so mellow that it sounds like the drummer is trying to play after his parents went to sleep then you'll love this song. Seriously, the hi-hat taps are lighter and more timid than the ones a British orphan gives when asking for more soup.

Wow. I like that. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, that means a lot to me and you guys. That was my contribution to the mameable commentary on this song being so chill but anyway this song is called Norton Commander Garage Session by

Men I Trust and you can find that song in the footnotes. Footnotes? The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio for more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows that is gonna do it for us this morning we are back tomorrow with a special Christmas episode and then that's it we're out we're done except we

have a bunch of like holiday evergreen holiday episodes we've been recording over the past couple weeks to keep you guys in content yeah so we'll talk to you all then. Happy holidays. Blake, happy holidays. Rosebud, happy holidays. See you on the other side. Bye. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese.

On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice.

And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Thank you.