The Daily Zeitgeist - RFK Jr Dick Detective, GOP Ignoring Humans 04.15.26

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

In episode 2041, Jack and Miles are joined by writer, director, and comedian, Mel Stephens, to discuss… Is Anyone Surprised That RFK Jr. Cut Off A Dead Raccoon’s Dick? Can AI Save the GOP? Will Michael Do Well at the Box Office? And more! The Biggest Bombshells from RFK Jr.'s Diaries: Slicing Off a Raccoon's Penis, Flying with Epstein and Listing the Women He Bedded GOP campaigns go all-in on AI — Dems not so much Why Michael Might Not Be a Box Office Success for Lionsgate LISTEN: Cham Cham by El Michaels Affair & Piya MalikSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After I got out of apology, I'm like, I just need to get some shit on FunnierDye to get my name out there, like some credibility. And then once that happens, like this, okay, like I'm getting my foot in the door. Now, like, I talk to like younger comedians I know and they're like, I don't know if I should post on like TikTok or like reels or whatever. And then it's like hard to even find something like to get discovered there. And I'm like, damn, that is so different than someone going to like funny or die.com. That's it. And you're just like, hey, put it on the front page one day, one day. Like, just do it.

One day I've made the big time. I have a YouTube video. Mom, I'm having a YouTube. I have an audition to be a tertiary character on Parks and Rec. I've done it. Good job. That's great. I never got Parks or Office.

I auditioned. No, I auditioned. Never got anything. You know what I mean? But that's what it felt because it always felt like UCB to either the office or Parks and Rec. Yeah. You know. There's some meat on the bone for that.

The ladder. I remember a girl I was dating after college being like, so what's like the ladder that you're trying to climb here? I was like, what a great question. She was working for the DA in New York. I was like, oh, so first I'm going to be a pool boy,

then I'm going to work for ABC News for a little bit and hate that. and then start a comedy website. Did she meet you when you were the pool boy at the Soho House? No, she met me in college. Oh, okay. But you were a boy in a Soho House? That's great. I was the first pool boy at the pool in the New York Soho House.

Oh, you were the, you were like an employee, like single digit employee. And I was up there. Yeah. And they had no, nothing posted. It was just a death trap for like people who, you know, children who didn't know how to swim. Because you weren't, you weren't, you weren't jumping in to save them. Hell, no, man.

Not paying me. That was always a dream of mine when I was in high school was to have a thing with a pool boy. I didn't know anyone with a pool or a pool boy. I was like that kind of a thing. Were we all socialized just to be horny for whoever worked at the pool? For a pool boy? Yeah, or lifeguard. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Like, it was like Wendy Pfeffercorn in the sandlot, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was just about to say the sandlaw. on like that's the whole thing that you want yeah oh the girl the older girl from pool and that's when i got us into the biggest pickle of all time this is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human when a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist they take matters into their own hands i vowed i will be his last target he is not going to get away with this he's going to

what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dick and Poll show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers,

but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win Stupid Prize. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close, though.

Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of IHeart Media. And I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds and marketing. Coming up this seasonal math and magic, CEO of Liquid Death Mike Cesario. People think that creative ideas are like these light bulb moments that happen when you're in the shower. It's really like a stone sculpture. You're constantly just chipping away and refining. Take to Interactive CEO, Strauss Selnick, and our own chief business officer, Lisa Coffey.

Listen to Math and Magic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast Eating While Brok, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating Wallbrook from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 434, episode three of DUR Daily Zykeyes. Yeah! This is a production of IHeartRadio. It's a podcast where you take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness through the day's news. We also have a new non-news history version of TDZ dropping every Monday morning where we do a deep dive into the zeitgeist through the lens of a different icon. Last week we did Lisa Frank, the trapper keeper, trapgod, as Brian the editor put it. This week we did Whitney Houston with Paula Viganalan, where we learn about how bin Laden was so obsessed with Whitney Houston.

He once planned to kill Bobby Brown. He was like working on a plan to have Bobby Brown killed so that he could be with Whitney Houston. It wasn't one of Bin Laden's better coaked out ideas he had. He had better plans. I mean, what can't this guy do? All right, this is what we're doing, bro. We're going to kick Bobby Brown out. All right, Osama.

Okay, well, I'll put that in the maybe pile, man. Those episodes drop on Monday. They have icon in the title. But it's Wednesday, April 15th, 2026. Dug. Go. Oh, God. For halfway through.

If it ain't death, it's fucking taxes. It's tax day here. I hope you guys did your whatever or file an extension right now. I filed my extension. Same with me because you have. Post-disaster fire taxes are very complex. Yeah. As both me, we're learning right now.

It's also Jackie Robinson Day. Shout out Jackie Robinson to go. It's also National Banana Day, Jack. Shout out the Bananas. The Bananas, the little hard nub at the bottom of the banana that nobody wants anything to do with that we call the bananas. Yes, National Glazed Spiral Ham Day. And also a shout out to our beloved friends, Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante of the Bechtelcast,

because it is Titanic Remembrance Day. So just thinking of them on this day. Did you know that movie was based on a true story? No. Honestly, that was the most interesting thing I'd learned after watching in 70 times. The weirdest trend for me to see was when young people. Young people being like, did you know that the movie Titanic is based on a true story? Yeah.

I'm like, are you huffing? Hey, Google, our Titanic real boat? Anyways, my name is Jack O'Brien, AK. Potato. O'Brien and I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray. Yes, it's Miles Gray. I'm still obsessed with the Artemis toilet and it goes, poop right here in this hole. I'm a shuttle toilet.

Let me suck out the peepee. Okay, shout out first blood on the Discord for that. I couldn't waste that. The Artemis has already landed. And that's how the toilet works, okay? It does. That's right. poop right here in this hole.

And it sings that song. Could you imagine? Yeah. Miles, we're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a very talented writer, director, comedian. You can see, I believe it, the upcoming second screens on April 25th with Pollyganalyn, which is a new special coming out in June. It's Mel Stevie!

May! Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. It's great to have you. That was your excited coffee. That was my excited. That was my, I got, I got carried away there. Took too big a hit with Mel Stevens. Oh, Mel, Mel.

Classic. You guys are playing a hell of a game of name game up top. Just, well, Mel, there's just a very specific time in like L.A. comedy and you're at the UCB theater. Like when you're just, there's generations, right? Because now that was like. It's sad not to be a part of the new one. Oh, yeah.

It's crazy. Like when I meet people who are at the theater and, I'm like, and I'm like, oh, you know, you know, Curtis Rainsbury? And they're like, what? You know, Nick Wagoner? What the fuck did you just say to me? Okay, you know, Nick Wagoner. Fuck, Eugene, Cordero, like, I know Eugene.

He was my teacher. I'm like, okay, fuck, like one person landed. But it's just like, I don't know. I long for, I think it was just a very specific time career-wise where it felt, everything felt like very fresh and new and fun and interesting. And there was a du-op group on every corner. singing around a trash campfire. I believe that that was your, that was your generation, correct?

Oh, no, I might be confusing it with mine. Anyways, I was, I was editing internet lists with a sniffer of vodka in my hands. That's what I was doing while you guys. 2011. Yeah, 2011. Mel, when did you, when did you come out to, are you from L.A.? No, I'm originally from Georgia. I moved to L.A. after I moved to New York, and then I got to,

came out here. It was going to age me, but whatever. I moved out here in 2005. Uh-huh. And then I started, I did Groundlings before I did UCB. And I did Sunday company there. And then I got kicked out. And then, not kicked out.

They were like, we just, we're not. We have another blonde woman. Yeah. And I was like, great. So then I went to UCB. And then UCB was like also like cooler than Groundlings at the time. Yeah. So then I went over to UCB.

And then that was like the funnier die, UCB kind of like cauldron. in Channel 101. And then I pivoted to stand up. Amazing. There you go. And you got a new special coming out in June. Is that correct?

Yeah. Beginning of June. Sparkles is its name. Sparkles. Where'd you tape it? Dynasty. Oh, nice. The new use to me is what I feel like that is.

Yeah, right? Yeah. I feel like it's kind of have the like, oh, you're a dynasty? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got that kind of vibe. Yeah, exactly. No big deal. Well, no, you are.

On that next shit. That's right. Well, we're thrilled to have you here. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell the listeners a couple of the things that we're talking about today. Sometimes I feel like our writer, J.M. McNabb, is writing shit into the dock to fuck with us. And this is one such day. Today we have a story.

Is anyone surprised that RFK Jr. cut off a... dead raccoon stick. And, uh, but I did do a little Googling and it does appear to be true. Uh, it's a revelation from his new biography, or not his new biography, but a new biography of him. Uh, we're going to talk about how the Republicans are dealing with the fact that they are, um, historically unpopular at this moment. And the way they're dealing with it is to, uh, basically say, no, it is the people, it must be the people who are wrong. Uh, let's go. with, let's go

with some robots. See what the robots got to say. And then Act three will do some Hollywood news. The Michael Jackson

biopic is coming in a couple in a week and a half. Very curious how this is going to do.

I want to just like talk about that as it relates to the overall biopic genre.

Because I think he might be too faint. Like everyone's assuming it's going to break records because Michael Jackson

was so famous. I think it's going to not do quite as well as everyone's expecting because he's so famous. Because I think there's like a tipping point of famousness that you can't do a biopic because the person's

face is just like, you just can't. It's like no. It's sad or like there's just so much to get through that you could possibly even do it in three hours. Yeah, I think they're trying to, I think they're keeping it focused for other reasons to the early part of his career. Yeah, sure. Anyways, we'll talk about

All of that plenty more. But first, Mel, we do like to ask our guests. What is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are? Okay, this one's really fine. Mickey Mantle's hip injury in 1961. Mickey Manil, hip injury, 1961. I'm just double-checking because I have the exact same.

Was this something about having sex? No. He, okay. My, I was. Sorry. That was what you, yesterday's guest. Search history was scream seven and you had the exact same follow-up question. Oh.

Oh, that's about sex, right? If you scream seven times, it's sex? Sorry. And this actually connects to RFK a little bit. So basically he got a shot in his hip by this, like, doctor called Max Jacobson, called the Dr. Feel Good doctor, who was also JFK's doctor. Yes. I'm actually researching him right now for.

another for an upcoming icon episode. Yeah, but go, go, go, go. And I was just interested because he didn't get the like home run world record because this hip injury turned into sipsis because the doctor hit his bone. And also he said it was like vitamins,

but it was actually amphetamines. Yeah, it was just amphetamines. They were all getting vitamin shots that was just pure speed. And they just like came out of it wildly addicted to speed and amphetamines. And people were dying. I can run on this broken leg.

It's crazy. It's like, well, your leg's still broken, bro. Yeah. It's PCP, I guess. Yeah, so I found it really interesting. And because I was also watching this movie about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961. Because I love a sports documentary or, I mean, movie. Was it the Billy Crystal?

Yeah. It's the Billy Crystal one. Yeah, yeah. And I remember being, it was like, it's a Billy Crystal movie. And I was like, this is? Yeah. And I watched the whole thing. Guy loves baseball.

That's one thing about Billy Crystal. He's, yeah, New York Sports forever. I love the Bronx Bombers. That's my impression of Billy Crystal. It's really good. Nailed it. Yeah, it's, so I, an upcoming subject of our icon episode that we're recording this week, her dad was like a famous celebrity who also got the Dr. Fieldgood shots and was just

like addicted to speed for the rest of his life. And like, when he was, when he was. getting them. He was like, they told me it was vitamins. Like, so I just had this weird experience where I just like thought I was getting this health shot and suddenly felt fucking invincible and the best I've ever felt. And then, you know, he's in his 70s doing lines of cocaine like, because he's just like trying to re- But then, yeah, I mean, to your point, this one guy who is this one little trick, doctors do want you to know about. This one guy. This one guy. who was going around, like, giving people shots of speed

and claiming there were vitamin shots, like just changes the course of history. Like, all these people become addicted to speed. Mickey Mantle doesn't break the record. Yeah. Their children have weird issues. JFK had, like, a psychotic, like, psychotic episode. And, like, in this documentary I was watching, like,

they were like, it might be why they built the Berlin Walk because this doctor traveled with JFK and was giving both him. him and his wife the shots during all of these high profile meetings. And I was just like, that sounds insane. Yeah, there's like new research that says like that a lack of sleep like gives you essentially like makes you crazy. Makes you like unable to function, but you don't realize it.

And so like, and I think that's probably true of like people who are on speed like 24 hours a day and they're not sleeping. And they're just, they're functioning more, but they're not. not functioning at a higher level. So they get bad ideas like, yeah, let's build, build a wall. Build the wall. Hell yeah. Man, that would be crazy.

A president having a psychotic episode. I mean, that's what I said in. He was like running down the halls. And I was like, gosh, why have I not heard about this? This sounds crazy. Yeah. Yeah, JFK, real wild, wild story that didn't get told a lot. Everyone was like, ah.

That's just Jackie. That's right. just sprinting through the hallways, doing wind sprint through the hallway. Time me, time me. Ready? Ready? Ready? I'll go there and back.

I'll go there and back. Watch us. Watch this. Go. Three, two, one, go. Were you fucking timing? Fuck, I'll do it again. Yeah, just like that's what I was so funny about this doctor.

Yeah. He, like, he, like, kept, like, his daughter was like, he was like trying to help. He kept saying he was just trying to help people and it was all about, like, helping to cure, like, multiple sclerosis and all these things. But it was like built on no studies. like nothing, like he was just creating concoctions. And I was like, I wonder if they're supposed to be cold or they supposed to be hot. Like, how did he hit Mickey Mantle's like hip bone?

Yeah, that's not good. I mean, probably because he was flying on speed. He's like shaking like crazy. Like, all right, Mickey, let's just roll on your side there. He's like, talkie. You sure? Yeah, I got this. I got this.

Also, he gave speed shots to Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, these secret vitamin injections where he's like, yeah, yeah, it's the vitamins that are doing. Taking Hollywood by storm. And Truman Capote. Yeah, and these are all people who died of drug-related problems. That's really wild.

Anyways, maybe we need to do a secret, like, not icon, but like should be, the man behind the icon. Yeah, the red string man. What is, what's something you think is underrated? microwave s'mores. Mm. Whoa. Talk on that.

So I have always historically, if you know me, but you don't have loved a marshmallow, but specifically from the microwave. And I used to blow them up and then put them in my hands and just like make them like this and then eat them. Because they do, when you put a microwave, when you put a marshmallow in a microwave, it gets big. Yeah. How big are we talking? I've never done it.

It's very, very big. It's so fun. Honey, I blew up the baby. It can. Yeah. And then they like to play and then it becomes more sticky. So I, last the other day, I took a gram cracker and a marshmallow and I put it in the microwave. I let it and then I put my thing on top.

And I was like, more people should know about this. I ate it and I had a blast. Holy shit. Now I just want to microwave a marshmallow just to watch it go boom. It's fun. Yeah. I mean, it can go boom. And that is like if you put 50 in a microwave and then turned it on?

What are we talking? You're asking for problems. No, two or three tops. Two or three, and you're still going to be getting what you're looking for. 50, you're mad. You don't know what I'm looking for. Pure chaos. I want to get yelled at by my wife.

Hey, babe. You just hit start on it and be like, hey, babe, keep in the kitchen. Something's happening. Something's wrong with the microwave. She comes down. What happened? What do you do? What did I tell?

tell you. And now you ruined your shirt. You had a beautiful shirt on. Your beautiful shirt, Jack. Oh, that's a, that's an old one. Oldie but a goodie. There's a great video for people who haven't been listening from day one. There's a great video of a kid who puts a glow stick in a microwave, takes it out and is like, ooh, look at that pop. It blows up on him. And he's like, starts crying. He starts crying. It's really like, really fucks me up as a parent. It's great. That kind of sounds like a good idea. Oh, it's great. So look, he's just microwave the thing.

Just microwave the glow stick. He's pulling it out. He's got it out. Oh, my God. This is riveting. Oh, I hear it. Turn to the camera round. Wait.

How bad is it? Oh, don't shake that. Oh! Oh! Dad! Here comes the dad. It's on my face. God damn, Jack.

He's looking for the label. I got to see what to do, dingling. God, can you imagine. The choking hazard, I don't know what to do if it's in your eyes. God. No rubble. He's called boys in control right now. He can barely see.

I know he's got his readers on, so he's got, like, hold on a weirding. Stuff on this, Jack. God, don't microwave a Jack. Do you have another one of these two? Do you have another one of these two? I'll mention it's all over your awesome shirt. That's all of your awesome shirt.

That'll come out. All over your awesome shirt. Did he say that'll come out? He said that'll come out. Oh, my God. Where's the stuff on this, Jack? God, don't microwave a Jack. Do you have another one of these tunes?

No. Not to mention. all over your awesome shirt. Don't come out. No, it will. No, the fuck it will not. That's so deeply entertaining.

Wow, wow. That's like the grape woman video. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, when she's stomping the graves, like that's up there. It's classic. And it's also like I don't like watching it, but I do love

I do love watching it. I know you score. I score them really hard. I score them really hard. I don't know what it is about that. Yeah. Maybe it's because that is me in the video as a child. Oh, it's true.

It's like now you're back in it. Yeah, yeah. Not to mention, you're awesome shirt. It'll come out. It'll come out. That was so good. I sort of want to do it, but I won't. Yeah.

Yeah. I do like that he had asked. asked his dad, dad, should I microwave this? Because his dad was, I said, don't microwave it, Jack. Oh, because he, that, that clip goes on. That's only, we're one minute, 52 seconds into a four minute clip because he also goes, am I ever right, Jack? That's what I ever right.

That's right. So good. There's so many parts of that that are just burnt in my brain. Don't screw around. What you do with a beautiful shirt on? And get in your eyes. A beautiful shirt. Is it a beautiful shirt?

Is I ever right about anything, Jack? Am I? It's just, I think it's... Beautiful shirt on. I think I identify with the dad, actually. I think that, you know, having kids who, like, just do things for that, like, I broke a window on purpose. I'm just like, God. What did you do?

It's so funny, because that shirt, it's just like a very normal, like some J. Cruche. Yeah, like, what kind of shirt? Is it that it's like they have there's such a tender relationship Yeah You know that his dad's like You look so good in that shirt man Like that is what it is

Oh yeah you look so fucking awesome And now it's ruined It's very different than like being from the South Like a parent like he is being very soft Like when I grew up they'd be Are you a dumbass? Yeah oh yeah Figure it out yourself

Yeah Yeah my mom Who's the poison control one My mom would have laughed the whole time and not helped me. Because she'd been like, you're not, you're fine. You know what I mean? And I'd be like, just figure it out. Am I ever right?

Oh, your beautiful shirt. We went from awesome shirt to beautiful. It is just a standard button up shirt. Yeah. Also, dinghling is such a very specific. It's like, like what if he had died, died as his dad's calling him a dingling? It's like, it's funny. And the, because the post, it was, it's, it's from literally, it's from 2014.

And the guy's like, this, it's like, as Jack's older brother, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show the world what my family already knows extremely well. Whenever Jack decides to do something, it almost never goes as planned. And it said, he is fine. His eyes still work. But more importantly, the beautiful, awesome shirt is alive and well, too. Wow. Wow. That's great.

That's so great that, like, their family just had a shirt. that they were like, man, you look so cool in that shirt. And he was like, I do. Yeah. He's like, hell yeah. Come on down. My boss is here.

I want him to see the shirt. You're going to get a kick out of this, Derek. Wait till you see my kid in this shirt. Can we have that on the show before? That clip, yeah, we definitely have early on. Early on. It's been years, though. Yeah, it was this one.

Yeah, the Amsterdam Music Festival. Those are a few clips that live right free. Part of a record. This is a Piss Buck. Yeah. What is something, I mean, you got a lot to live up to from your underrated. What's something you think is overrated, Mel? Musicals.

Mm-hmm. I mean, I just don't like musicals, but specifically, like, musical theater people. Like, just musical people. I actually, I'll extend this to, like, which I know it brings a lot of people joy. I don't really get them, but, like, just people singing in general. Mm. I'm not. But, like, specifically, like, specifically, like, which, I'm just.

like in a musical or like karaoke or like I don't know like if it's not just like it's cringe for me I really and I keep coming across these things on Instagram of like people who are like I'm I'm an adult just going to like a musical theater camp and I'm like don't don't there's yeah I stop singing I saw a video that too and like people are like it's it's like the best thing that's happened to me and I'm like oh wow it's a real yeah it's just a different just another culture a different world yeah The like, I don't know. Because I have like really close friends that are theater kid people. But like they compartmentalize around me.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. They're like, oh, I'm not, I'm not theater kid guy around you right now. And then in the wild, they'll brush up against another theater kid. And it's like two Furbys and they activate. Yes. And they're like, do they start singing? Ah, yeah. No, it's happened because I have a theater company and it'll happen.

And there's nothing worse when you're hanging out with people. And then like two musical theater people are like, and then somebody else starts it and then they just keep going as if you're not there. Are we doing Xanadu right now? You're like, what the fuck? People are like breaking in through the windows other musical theater people

rappelling in through the windows like SWAT. Yeah, the electrician turns around. Are we doing Xanadoo? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's one of those things. It's so specific and like to your point, Mel, it's like, it feels, to me, feels so foreign.

Because, like, I did theater once in, in high school, but that was like a sort of necessity to do improv at my high school. They're like, you got to be in the theater program if you want to do like improv at the high school. So, but even then, I was like, I don't know. I'm just, I'm just acting up here. But when you're like a true theater person, that's just like a world. I just can't. I'm sure it's the same way. And people are like, I don't understand what people like fucking sports.

Sports is fucking loser shit. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know either, you know. It's too earnest, I think, is also the thing. makes me feel like maybe it's just like I don't know there's something also that the like confidence is also cringe how dare you guys you got it proved down and not yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah need to go so into that I don't know what it is I've always that's why like karaoke I mean again this brings a lot of people joy I sound like an asshole and I am one but sure I love karaoke though you mentioned earlier that your partner is a theater person are they music

theater person? No, thank God. No. I don't think that much. I mean, he's like a British theater person, which is like, I feel like that's text stuff. What's his take on musical theater? Is he like, does he understand as a Fespian or is he sort of like, and that's

interesting? No, I mean, I think he likes, because I think there is good musical theater, but I think Americans just like were different, like, just the way we approach. Like, I still haven't seen Wicked. Like, because I'm just like, oh, this is too much. It's just too much. It's all. to it's like, I think it's just the Brits do things at like a different level than we do, I feel.

Right, right, right, right. Yeah, much drier. Not as similar list as we are. Yeah. My kids are really into Hamilton right now. Yeah, see, people, I know I get it. People like it. I just. Not for you. Not for me. I'm in the same boat. I'm in the same boat. Yeah, not feeling it. I mean, like, I'll watch, like, when something has like a ton of cultural significance, like, oh, I'll, you know, I'm not going to be like, I refuse to watch every single musical, but I've never, I'm not really naturally gravitating towards like, I'm going to check out this musical or I'm,

oh, I'm interested in this musical. Yeah. Yeah, I guess, it's just not that I guess, not that I'm so edgy. I'm not at all by like blonde bar,

but like, I guess it's, I just, I don't, I don't avoid it, but I don't seek it out. Yeah, yeah,

sure. We all prefer watching people get injured in YouTube videos. Yeah, See, that's like my, like, I, if there was anything for me to watch, and I've always been like this since a kid, it's like I love watching people get hurt. And it's not like, we're bad. But not really injured. Like there's a level. Because sometimes you can go like two and it's like, oh, that's too far. Like, I think that person died. It's got to be like, it's got to be glow stick in a microwave. Yeah, yeah. Like where the shirt is fine at the end. There's not even a damaged shirt. I do need that happy ending. I would not have been able to enjoy that if I had. learned that the shirt was not okay, that they had to throw the shirt out? Oh, God. That'd be terrible.

Certainly not. I would like that. All right. Let's take a quick break, and we'll be right back. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. In this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

wherever you get your podcast. I went and sat on the little ottoman in front of him. I said, hi, dad. And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen. She says, I have some cookies and milk. This is his badass convict. Right. Just finished five years.

I'm going to have cookies and milk at him all. Yeah. On the Ceno Show podcast, each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversation. about recovery, resilience, and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor, cultural icon Danny Trail, talk about addiction, transformation, and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge, featuring powerful conversations with the guests like Tiffany Addish,

Johnny Knoxville, and more. I'm an alcoholic. And without this trouble, I'm going to die. Open your free I-Heart radio app. Search the Cito Show. Listen now. I feel like it was a little bit unbelievable until I really start making money. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke,

is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future. This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. If I'm outside with my parents and they're seeing all these people come up to me for pictures, it's like, what? Today now, obviously. It's like 100% they believe everything. But at first it was just like, you got to go get a real job.

There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. And what I mean by fell is they don't have money to pay for food. They cannot feed their kids. They do not have homes. Communities don't work unless there's money flowing through them. Listen to eating while broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes.

What Cougler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You meet the president? You think Canada has a president. You think China has a president? You think China has a president? Does law a crusette. God, I love that thing. I used it all the president. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that snake.

It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual poem. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong.

Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Poll show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And hey, speaking of the Kennedys, it's a Kennedy two-for. Three Kennedys mentioned in this episode. Two for grace. JFK, Jackie Kennedy, who were apparently flying on speed the entire time they were famous and we didn't know it. And now RFK Jr., who allegedly not flying on speed, but does just seem to be a complete, I think anything would help at this point, right? Well, he was doing heroin.

He was doing heroin, but he's like so, so. sober now. He is? I believe so. Yeah, yeah. And that this is like not a great. Dude, I bet if he smoked weed, he'd have a, he'd have a fucking meltdown. He seems such on a knife's edge that if you're like, dude, take a dab real quick, R.

F.K. Jr., he'd be like, ah, like just, yeah, going up the walls. But his voice would just be totally normal. Just like, what's up, dude? It's like Dr. Manhattan. He's like, God. level because he's he smoked weed for once but yeah he's he loves a dead animal he does love a dead animal so far we've got the bear that he uh have it upon that had just been hit and the whale yeah so the person was like i'm calling animal control to come because i just hit this bear and

he was like let me take that for you put it to new to manhattan then there's a whale where he sprinted down to the edge of the ocean when a whale had been beached and uh used a chainsaw to cut off the whale's head, strapped the whale's head to the top of his van, yeah. And then had like whale guts leaking into the windows. Yeah, his kids remember the juices

flowing into the cars they drove and people looking at the van being like, what the fuck's wrong with your dad? Yeah. And they had, yeah, they had bags over their heads for some reason. Oh yeah, they were wearing smell out. No, they were, I think they were wearing garbage bag ponchos because there was so

much whale juice and they didn't want to destroy their awesome shirts. Oh, yeah, yeah. They were all wearing awesome shirts. Yeah, beautiful. There's a new biography about him that just came out from apparently like a real investigative reporter. And the big news that is the first people's first takeaway is not more animal bullshit, but yes, indeed more animal bullshit. In addition to revealing that his late estranged wife's family totally thought he murdered her,

There's another anecdote about him randomly collecting roadkill for no good reason. This might be more fucked up than the bear thing in its specificity. So the author, investigative journalist Isabel Vincent, was able to access his old journals from 1999 to 2001. That must be nightmare fuel. I know. Be reading his journals? Okay. On November 11th, 2001, he was driving down the highway with his.

wife and kids in a minivan. This bad start, we already know what he gets up to a minivan. There's kids in the minivan? Oh, God. What's he going to spot? But immediately pulled over after spotting a dead raccoon on the side of the road. And naturally, he then decided to cut its

dick off. I'm sure that that's being worded in a weird way, Jack. No, this is the direct quote from the from his journal. I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684

cutting the penis out of a roadkill raccoon. Okay, yeah. Thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be. My kids waited patiently in the car. Oh. What a psychopath? That is fucking deranged, dude.

That's disgusting. He was reportedly pondering the grudges that his brother Douglas Kennedy and his cousin Bobby Schreiber had held against each other to study later. Oh, it's to study the penis later? Yeah, yeah, he studies.

So apparently he just had a freezer full of roadkill. You have to, this is from a People magazine article that is said in the tone of somebody being like, so this is what you have to understand. This is explaining something about him. You have to understand, Bobby wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid. his after-school job was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. So he's got a great love and interest in animals and a freezer full of roadkill. I'm sure where he studies it. I like that he's like, I'm sure where he studies it.

Okay. Does anything else? The word study is doing a lot of lifting here. That's like the same way like someone high on meth is studying a VCR. Yeah. You know, it's like you're taking it apart. Like some other shit. You cut off a raccoon penis and you're like, put it in your pocket.

You're like, all right, guys, let's keep going. And like, what are you doing, Dad? Nothing. Nothing. It's something I'm going to study later. And you're dismembering an animal. Isn't that something like when you, I mean, we were always told like if somebody is like doing weird things with animals, like chances. Yeah, that's the sign that there's going to be a murder later, which by the way, this book also opens the possibility that like his wife's, his ex-wife's family was like.

Like, yeah, I'm pretty sure she died under very mysterious circumstances. They said that she took her own life, but like she did it with a knot that like nobody, that she definitely wouldn't have known how to tie. Wow. I mean, that's maybe maybe look into that a little bit too. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess that's what this book does.

It does look into that. Look, we all process 9-11 in our own ways. And the raccoon dick story was November 11th, 2001. That's a two months. Yeah. So he who didn't, Wow. Cutter Rackons,

dick off in the aftermath. Whaleshead. I don't know how that maxim works. Yeah, no, I think we landed it. That's just, I still like, it's in his journal, too. And that's truly,

everything is so disqualifying about this guy. I don't know what he was doing on New Year's Eve, 2000, from that. Oh, like Y2K, with the daughter of Y2K on him? Yeah, I'd like to know what he was saying and what he was thinking. He's like, yeah.

I mean, it's nonsense, but. Right. Yeah. If I cover myself in enough raccoon dicks, I'll be impervious to the damages of the Y2K bug. Yeah. His study of raccoon dicks is just making a necklace with like 15 raccoon dicks pointing outwards. It's just like, what is? It's every day, it's just more grim.

It's like, we knew already going to this guy's fucking obsession with dead animals. It's so odd at best. odd awful and now you're like yeah you're a bit of an odd ball yeah i mean to say i'm gonna study it later i'm this is what i'm picturing him he's holding a little dismembered genital the generals of a raccoon just like looking at it with this in the sky like on yeah under a jewelers loop yeah yeah i prefer you to say you're you're eating eat it yeah study it doing it's at least like you're like okay like uh because there are people who like especially in the south like people like eat roadkill because like, I don't know, like it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Make ends meet. Yeah, whatever. There's bully sticks for dogs. Yeah. I'd rather that than I'm going to just study this raccoon's penis. That is kind of true. Yeah, I guess in a binary, I'm like, just eat it, man.

Just eat it. Just eat it. You've come this far. Just eat it. Just fucking eat it, man. Like, you're cherishing it for academic study? No, no, no, no, no. And then I'm like wondering, what was he doing?

Also, he wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid, but then he realized how much work and dedication that required. So then he got a job at a zoo so he could probably abuse animals under the cover of his dynastic family name. Turns out he was just into dead animals, not living ones? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like every time we learn about his personal life, it's like the scene where Jody Foster like arrives at Buffalo Bill's house. in at the end of silence of the lambs. And like, yeah, he has like all these weird moths and like weird carcasses and shit.

And there's like a well in his basement. And he's still somehow the head of like the Department of Human Services. That's my research well. That's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where I put kidnapped squirrels. All right.

Let's talk about, we've got some election news, some election strategy to talk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything we've heard from people who like pay attention to the tea leaves and the electoral polling and obviously polls should be taken with a grain of salt. But the polling does not look good in terms of how people are feeling about the Republicans. And it is their job to pay attention to that stuff or so you would think. Yeah, yeah. You feel like when your policies like, you know, just starting up illegal wars and killing innocent people for nothing or kidnapping people off the street. or shooting innocent people in the streets.

You know, like, maybe there's a way to correct that. Maybe change your policies. It would be the first thing if you were paying me money to consult. Like, could be your policies. If I, look, I'm not a true believer like you guys. I'm just saying it from my freakish outside of view. It might be the policies, okay? It might be the policy.

Maybe change those to start. Go work. Go broke. Yeah. But the GOP has decided there has to be another way. It can't be us changing. the policies. And they are now pivoting to AI. They are now thinking that using fully embracing going all in on AI tools in the midterms is the key to unlocking votes to get them out of

this bind they're in. Because there's, like, there's another report today about how the coalition that got them to the White House, that is fucking gone. Like those, you've a bunch of groups that bought the bullshit are now fully off of it. And so your pathway does not look the same as it did two years ago. And so this is from Axios, I quote, GOP strategists are using AI to quickly simulate voters' attitudes towards events, such as the Iran War, and to scan millions of social media sites for up to the second trends in public opinion.

On the horizon, AI agents interacting with voters by phone to try to persuade them to vote for GOP candidates, one Republican operative tells us. That should work. I mean, they've been really good at just like persuading. me in different things and interacting with me. Like every AI assistant, every, you know, computerized thing that I've ever interacted with has been really effective. So I think this is a good, I think they're headed down a very effective path that they should

really focus their energy on and keep going. I'm sure, yeah. Because if you don't like the polling of real people and what the real people say for human polling, just get AI to cook a second opinion. Yeah, yeah. Just like see what it does. I mean, it wasn't that smart. I tried to use AI for my taxes.

That sounds, whatever, I sound stupid. But it didn't even know the things that they put in. It didn't even know the stuff that they did. It was like, wait, what? And I was like, this is stupid. I shouldn't use that. I can't believe your response was, wait, what? That text, that's terrifying.

Oh, no. But yeah, they're dumping so much money in a bunch of AI programs that will somehow, I guess, help them ignore the reality of the situation they're in. They're using one company called Aaru, which is a human behavior prediction tool. The platform, quote, the platform can replicate pools of voters with AI agents. Those bots can then be pulled on their views. This makes me so happy to hear that. I'm acting like some Democrats.

Yeah. This is like some real Democrat as to. Or how President Trump is handling an issue. It can also test the effectiveness of campaign ads by. predicting how voters may respond to them. Again, this used to be called focus groups. But you didn't like what they were saying there. No.

So create human avatars that are AI hallucinations of people. They're also like tweak it a little bit. So they're very Trump friendly. There's so many. There's another one called MiroFish. And it's a platform that folk, yeah, forecasts public opinion using simulated people. quote, campaign operatives can load in polling data and news stories and then ask you to predict how voters' actions might be affected by events such as the Iran war concluding. There's another one, eyes over, quote, scans millions of social media sites per day to identify real-time trends and public sentiment also is rising in popularity.

Quote, this is what one GOP strategy said, quote, it's crazy accurate at predicting trends. Uh-huh. Yeah. You say that that said the strategist as he dawned an oversized felt cap like it was like fucking pumpkin spice latte season. Fucked three years ago with a bunch of swassies. It's crazy how it's like up on these trends right now. I've got this thing on. Sick ass hat, dude.

My wife stopped using it for some reason. But to the victor goes of spoils. It's just like, again, they're outsourcing their own intuition to AI, which is so odd. I mean, like, I get the thing of like the AI circle jerk. of sending money to these companies that are like Trump friendly or whatever. But this is also, you're like, truly they're throttling back like the whole democratic process. Like in a normal campaign where you think like a candidate can win, you have volunteers.

You have human beings willing to give their time for the process to phone bank so they can talk to other humans to maybe convince them to vote someone. I'm just, you know, one to one, if you get a call from a person, like, hey, I was checking if you're going to vote for somebody versus Hello? Yes, this is Mark calling from the RFK can't, like

Miles are going to hang up. Hello, my good man. Yeah. Yeah. What's up, my guy? It's like, what the fuck is this? It's like, I've triangulated your speech through socioeconomic indicators based on your

social media profile. My, mm, mm, mm, what? What was that last one? my programming will not allow me to say it. Like, what the fuck is this shit? That's crazy. Yeah, which is interesting, though, too, because Democrats, meanwhile, are less into it

because they were asked about it. They're like, some people, like, if people want to use Gemini on some shit, they can, but we're not using, like, we're not replacing human consultants. We waste millions of dollars on for this shit. Well, have fun getting left behind, losers. Right.

But, like, the reasons for not. doing it was like they didn't want to ruffle the base by just engaging in like cynical AI shit thank you and that also the privacy was a big thing like if suddenly they're feeding all these like weird voter data models into like an AI like that's odd too and also really the biggest thing is they can rely on their eternal campaign strategy of which is merely gesturing to the republicans and saying they're not they're not desperate right now yeah i mean you can do that the then i'm here numbers that you get in the ordinary way of being like, hey, is this bad? Just asking people that.

Like, that is telling them what they want to hear. So they don't need to make up a fake computer. What are they going to ask? Like, hey, okay, one million AI agents pretending to be human beings. How will you guys react if Trump escalates the Iran war? It says it's a fucking hit, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

The model said it. The model said, dude. It's crazy accurate at predicting trend. Unbelievable. Yeah. So it's desperation, you know, that they're trying to squeeze out the margins in other ways. The most efficient solutions here are to change course. Yeah.

Yeah. Not going to happen. The AI thing is like it's also because it's built to just agree with you. So they're not ever going to get anything. But that's what is Trump is like all he wants is to be agreed with. Right. So it's like kind of just like a feed. It's like they're kind of in their own hamster wheel.

Which is so odd, yeah, like to all of our detriment. Because, like, they're not even going to rely on, like, millions of people in the streets. I don't know. That's a good indicator of what's going on. Oh, no, no. Those are paid actors. Even I don't even believe that. Really good question.

Like, there's this tone of AI that's, did you see the one where the guy was like, hey, which month is spelled with an X? They're like, great question. It's December. And then he's like, So just to confirm, because this is on a big test, I have, like, it's a December of spell with an X. You got it, thanks.

Anytime you have a question, just come to me. Like, he has, like, this cute, self-assured thing, like the AI does. And then he's like, spell it. He's like, D-E-C-E-R. But the C can kind of sound like an X. Thanks. You caught me there. And then he's like, okay, which month is spelled with an X?

He's like, that would be January. I'm like, they just like keeps guessing wrong confidently. And I just feel like that's not a good way to navigate reality, maybe. But that's like, but it goes to show you, right? Like how that these people live in like Elysium. Like they don't live on the earth like we do. They live in this bubble that is not on the ground anymore. That's like keeps them away from poor people, working people.

and they're getting just circle, they're just circle jerking with other rich assholes. And like, I got the newest program. It's going to look at all this cool shit. It does like, that's the solution, not anything else. Just it's, and yeah, great. See how it works because it's. Yeah, keep on it.

Yeah. Please, please, please, please, please, please. I wonder if that's like how Orban went in so confident to the end of, if he was like, you know, head. Oh, yeah. The AI was telling him he had some good numbers. He's calling the AI salespeople back in the States. He's like, you fucking burned me, dickheads.

Yeah. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target.

He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the Girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I went and sat on the little Ottoman in front of him. I said, hi, Dad. And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen. She says, I have some cookies and milk.

This is a badass convict. Right. Just finished five years. I'm going to have cookies and milk at my mom. Yeah. On the Ceno Show podcast, each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversations about recovery, resilience, and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor, cultural icon Danny Trail to talk about addiction, transformation, and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge featuring powerful conversations with the guests like Tiffany Addish, Johnny Knoxville, and more.

I'm an alcoholic. and without this truth, I'm going to die. Open your free I-Heart radio app. Search the Cino Show and listen now. I feel like it was a little bit unbelievable until I really start making money. It's Financial Literacy Month and the podcast Eating While Broke

is bringing real conversations about money, growth and building your future. This month hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer, and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. If I'm outside with my parents and then seeing all these people come up to me for pictures,

it's like, what? Today now, obviously, it's like 100%. They believe everything, but at first it was just like, you got to go get a real job. There's an economic component to community striving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail.

And what I mean by fail is they don't have money to pay for food. They cannot feed their kids. They do not have homes. Communities don't work unless there's money flowing through them. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.

He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You meet the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? The law crusade. God, I love that thing.

I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Yeah.

It is an actual point. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back. We're back, baby. So the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, is coming in, I think, like a week and a half. And I'm just very curious how this is going to do because I think biopics are interesting

in the set, like the most successful biopic, up to this point is Bohemian Rhapsody, which, like, that's not the most famous person they've ever made a biopic about, you know? Right. It's just, like, the songs were really good and, like, I guess, underrated when the movie came out, and people were just, like, ready to go to a theater and hear them.

But people are speculating that this Michael Jackson biopic is going to do as well as that. They're like, this is going to be the next Bohemian Rhapsody is going to make over like $900 million globally. And I, first of all, like, the movie is ignoring the dark side of the story and just focusing, focusing on the hits, maybe, by being like, this is about the early part of his career. Oh, he doesn't start, he doesn't become white in the movie? No, I think it's like thriller era. Oh, okay.

Starts the process, but it's not clear how strange things are going to get, I think, towards the end of the movie. but you can't deny the power of, like, we always talk about the, like, what one of the tests for how big an icon is, is like, or how iconic something is, like, whether it's a phase that children go through, like dinosaurs and sharks. And, like, Michael Jackson is actually a phase

that, like, I didn't realize this until I had a kid, but, like, when I was a kid, when I was, like, seven or eight, like Michael, I was obsessed with, like, that was my thing. It was like Michael Jackson guy. My parents' friends went to see him live, and they, like, brought back a concert program for me. That was, like, my most prize possession was just like a fold-out thing from his badge tour. And then, like, but now I have an eight-year-old and, like, his favorite musician's Michael Jackson. He's not, like, wearing the glove like I was, but. Can't get him to wear the glove at school, but little asshole.

But I do, I don't know. Like, there's a lot of potential there. Like, for, to, like, for this to be massive. But I do think it has the problem that the Tupac one had, which is that, like, some people's faces are, like, too famous. It's just, like, you can't do that. But doesn't, like, the pedophilia pose a problem? Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

But I think that's, that's the thing with his, with the fans of Michael Jackson, though, like, to this day that, like, the diehard people are just like, nah. Because he had such an impact on people. They're, like, the tunnel vision kicks in and, like, they're not going to see anything beyond, like, this is the person that made me happy with their music at a certain point of my life. And I sort of built an entirely entire personality around. I think, like, the problem is different than with, like, the Tupac thing. because it's,

I don't think it's necessarily about like the looks of him. It's like this, how do you capture all of it is like one big problem. Yeah, but I have a feeling just because of how big of a icon Michael Jackson is in like popular culture. Just like it's, that momentum will probably even just passively carry it

like to make a ton of money. And then people might be like, the movie actually sucked. shit. Right. But because of just, you know, like mops to a flame, you know, as we can still debate if it's mops or moths, Jack. But I think people will be drawn to the movie because of like there's just this other

sort of deified quality to him that I think it's like very few artists have. Yeah. Didn't his daughter come out and say this is a bad idea? Oh, Paris. Maybe. I didn't, I can. She might. Yeah.

kind of like, which I think is kind of like, who, oh, that's not a good sign. That's not a good sign. I don't know. It's hard because I don't have that connection to him. Like, in that kind of like, so I, like, after I saw after Neverland and leaving Neverland, was like, Oprah, like, I'm sort of like, no, I'm good.

Like, I'm good. Yeah, I think that is definitely. I can't really separate it for myself, but. Right. I know lots of people can. Like, I mean, especially like when I travel and stuff. I mean, it's not like, it's not like R. Kelly in that. sense, like, I feel like Michael Jackson is sort of like people just don't care.

I think overseas, yeah. Like, I think they're really, I don't know, for what, maybe it wasn't covered as much overseas, like the. It was, but I think people just don't, again, it's this very specific, like, Michael Jackson's music is just like a load bearing pillar for culture. And I know, especially for like, in black culture, Michael Jackson is he broke through as this artist that became global and represented something that was unseen before.

Yeah. And because of that. At a time when MTV would not play black artists. Right. Like he broke through. Yeah. And there's something, there's something about also like how big he got despite everything that people will compartmentalize because it's less, it feels like, well, that's such a huge

part of culture. How can I not listen to the music anymore, these other things? Some people can, like, hold both things in their minds. Some people can be completely just like, they're all lying. They're all trying to get his money. Right, right. Fully go the other way. And then you have more, like, tortured people like myself who are like, I grew up on this.

I've, like, it, I completely understand, like, the controversy around it, it's, like, sickening and you're like, how do you hold both things in your mind at the same time? So I don't know how it'll perform in the U.S., but abroad, it's going to fucking numbers, I think. Yeah, I think. Yeah, but I mean, and that's the thing is, I guess I would probably see it is if they touched on it. If they got into other things, I'd be like, okay, fine.

I'll get for you. I mean, like, talk about. If they kind of played with the gray area of it. Yeah, but again, see, this is the thing where it's the family co-signed. it. So you're not going to even learn about like Joe Jackson's abusive behavior as a parent. I don't think so. I wonder. I would assume that there's some of that in there because Joe Jackson is being played by like a big by Nassferatu. I mean, yeah, it's kind of yeah, it's interesting. Like yeah, that is. I mean, I don't know. I wonder how I just yeah. I but I do think there's this other element of like some people are too big for a biopic. Like we have. like big movies about presidents, and then, like, JFK,

the only hit movie is about, like, the courtroom drama about his murder. Like, you can't really have someone play JFK. I'd say the same thing with Michael Jordan. Like, they wouldn't even show Michael Jordan's face in air. Like, they, because it's like... Oh, interesting. When you have someone playing them,

at, like, for some reason, like, at a certain size, when you have someone playing them, it just feels like a TV movie, because they're so famous, like, you're just like, no, that's not. I agree with that. I think I agree with that because I think I saw, I like clicked and was like looking at it. And I immediately start comparing in a way that like I haven't with other biopics probably. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know. It'll be interesting. And yeah, there's a thousand reasons the way it could do badly. It said the screenplay had stuff about the abuse accusations in it. Really? That's interesting. But I think they'll re-shot the third act, I believe. Right.

Yeah. Oh, really? Oh, that's interesting. They apparently had to reshoot the third act for legal reasons. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting. What the fuck? What were they planning on putting in there?

Yeah. We're going to say that Michael won the 2020 election? Right. Do you know what? A Michael movie, I would really, I'm dying to see, which is just, listen, Lots of great music. Michael Madsen. No, Lisa Marie Presley time with Michael.

Do you know what I mean when they were together? Like, God, just desperate to know. What a weird. What a weird pairing. And then he kind of had a similar end to her dad and like a lot of things lined up there. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting like because the entirety of his life like is so, it should be talked about. Like, yes.

Because, you know, like, there were like, you know, there were rumors that like Joe Jackson, like, chemically castrated him as a child to keep his voice, his vocal range as high as possible with the Jackson 5. Like, so when he hit puberty, like, it wasn't going to drop. Like, there's a lot like makes a lot of sense in some way. Yeah, that's conspiracy theory when I first heard it, I was like, that makes a lot of things line up. I think, yes, he lived like in the same way that they study. But people who. like had, you know, a very strange brain injury and they're like, well, we can learn a lot about, like, I feel like his life should be studied in the same way as like the weirdest life, like

this, the strange, like from where he started to where he ended up, like, just bonkers. Like the level of fame is just right. You know who, it should be a TV show because it could be like so long. You know who the only person who could probably get away with doing it is like Ryan Murphy. I mean. Like if he did like a, you know what I mean? be like very Ryan Murphy of him to be like, let me do the Michael Jackson of it all. Yeah.

It's just like, yeah, it's, that's why I'm curious to see like what, how well it does in the U.S. Because I think in the U.S., obviously because he's American, people are going to get the most news about him, like even passively, right? It was like, you couldn't escape the documentary or anything like that. And then because I also look at like a lot of people who are so excited. about the film, like on the internet and things like that, too. It's difficult to put your hand on, but like, I just think of, like, even in Japan,

like, when I go there, people are still upset. Like, people are still obsessed with Michael Jackson, like, in an unironic way. Like, truly, they're like, I think for that generation, too, like, Gen X, too. It's going to do so well. You guys are right. It's going to do so well. It's so fucked up. Like, they really just should not have made it.

I agree with his daughter. who's probably going to get rich off of this who was like bad idea. Yeah. Yeah, said it was sugar-coded, I think, is what the script, the early script was sugar-coded. And I think that's, and that's why it's so complex to deal with like something like a figure like Michael Jackson, because it, he represents so many different things to so many different people. You're not going to make the film that everyone's going to want to see. should see that's fully fan service. I just think, like, to the larger point about biopics,

like some people, they're just, there's just no way to do them any service in one movie or even a series of movies. It's like read a book or something. You know what I mean? Like, maybe more time has to pass, like, too, also. Like, maybe it's like getting past the generation. Do you know what I mean?

Like, even further time away to then really be able to. to like have a gray area or tell the story because yeah i don't know who you're going to have like once like i think because there's so many things that people like hold true about michael jackson in their minds like can is is there a filmmaker that could take every box in that sense but yeah probably not until he like i think it would have to be like in 50 like when things die off and people die off yeah it's like amygias or some yeah like something like like We can make a Lincoln biopic. Right, right, right.

Also, like, the ones that tend to do well have, like, really great actors or, like, you know, giving big performances in the main role. Usually it's not just like, wow, that prison does kind of look like them. Right. True. But, yeah, I mean, I'll say this, like, you know, a lot of black fans are not going to put Michael Jackson away like that. It's just not going to happen because it's representative of something so much deeper than the music or even his, like, what he is. Like, people see him as like a celestial body, you know, in these certain contexts. Yeah.

And I think that's what's really interesting about, like, even when we talk, like, in these icon episodes, about, like, what hooks people in and what that, what meaning they're giving people with their work. Because at a certain point, like, these icons don't even exist in reality for the, for their own fans. They just become, it's just like a thing I need this thing to be for me. Oh, that's interesting. That's true. Yeah. Totally. He's at the point where he is. like his his icon, his celebrity is like its own weird thing, like its own massive force.

There's like there's a woman on 90 day fiance right now who's been on a couple seasons. She has like Michael Jackson tattoos. She's this white woman from San Diego. Right. And she like she gets emotional. Like even now talking about Michael Jackson. It's just like it's like Disney. It's like Disney adults.

You know what I mean? Disney adults Michael Jackson. And it's one of those things when you like, they say like sometimes like I can relate to it in that sense of like when I've been like obsessed with a guy or something. And then it's and like it's one of those things where we've been broken up for a long time. And but it becomes something outside of what we were. It's become something that I've created. It's a fantasy of it's no longer real anymore. And so now it actually holds more power. And so kind of the more you kind of live in that this like fantasy thing that people create it. goes kind of become godlike. Yeah. And hard to let go of. Right. Yeah.

Because I mean, like, yeah, like to that point, Mel, like, and Jackie always talk about this is like, do we've, sometimes we swap out religion for just like these cultural figures. We laugh at like the ancient Greeks and like they have these like God characters that they pretended were like it. And it's like, no, we still got those. Yeah. Yeah. We need about those every day.

And one of them cuts off dead raccoon dicks to study. That's right. Mel, such a pleasure having you on the podcast. Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff? Mel M. Stevens on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of the things, except for not Twitter. That's the only one I don't have. Okay. That's probably a good choice. Is there a work of media that you've been enjoying? Yeah. So I have been, I follow this guy, OCD Addison, and I have OCD.

And I really enjoy all of his videos specifically about when you have LECD and certain things that happen or when you're walking through. And I think he's quite great. He's like a mental health advocate. Oh, nice. Sounds great. Great, wholesome recommendation. That's awesome. Miles, where can people find you with their work in media you've been enjoying?

Yeah, find me everywhere at Miles of Gray. Find me talking about 90-day fiancé on 420-day fiancé with Sophia Alexandra. And then I also talk about my favorite sport. English football, in it? Foothie. Yeah, on Aenet Footie with Jamel Johnson and Chris Martin. A work of media I like. Co. First one is from The Onion.

So, you know, someone tried to firebomb Sam Altman's house recently. And the Onion posted, Man who threw Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's home claims he was following chat GPT recipe for risotto. And that just felt pretty on point. And another one is at Requiemarm. Copy, Scott, Social posted. You shouldn't learn about bands from shady TikTok manipulation.

You shouldn't learn about bands by hanging out with a girl you like but are also extremely afraid of. Yep. Yep. That's how I learned about the Manson family music. I was like, oh, cool. Isn't this fucking weird? I'm like, doesn't it sound good?

Is this fucking like the beach boys were involved? I'm like, okay. Oh, interesting. But part of me is like, I don't know. You're such an interesting person. What do I do with this? A couple tweets I've been enjoying here tweeted, my landlord is two weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon.

And Patrick Doron at luncheon enjoy tweeted, before my girlfriend leaves the house, she puts on Norm MacDonald Jokes compilation so I don't bite the sofa or tear up the rug. That is a classic way for me to pass time. You can find us on Twitter, and Blue Sky at Daily Zykeyes. We're at The Daily Zykeyes on Instagram.

We have a Facebook fan page and a website Daily Zykeyes.com where we post our episodes and our footnotes. We link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as a song that we think you might enjoy.

Miles, is there a song that you think that people might enjoy? Yeah, a little Indo-American. This is a collaboration between L. Michael's Affair and Pia Malik. The track is called Cham-Cham. CHAM, C-H-A-M-C-C-A-M. Just very good.

Like, El-Micha's Affair, we've played music before. Like, this guy first hit the scene by doing, like, Woutang covers, but with, like, live band instrumentation. And then, you know, has become just, like, one of these great sort of, like, instrumental producers. Sounds very 60s and 70s. So this is a good, just a good, good track. Cham-Cham by El-Mich-A-Fair with Pia Malik.

All right, we will link off to that in the footnotes. The Daily Zikeis is a production of By Heart. from our podcast from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows that is going to do it for us this morning we're back this afternoon to tell you what is trending and we will talk to you all then bye bye the daily zeit guys is executive produced by katherine law co-produced by bay wing co-produced by victor wright co-written by jm mcnap edited and engineered by justin connor when a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist.

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