The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 401 (Best of 9/29/25-10/3/25)

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 408!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X-1 Carbon, ultra-light, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity

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so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Hi there, this is Josh Clark from the Stuff You Should Know podcast. If you've been thinking, man alive, I could go for some good true crime podcast episodes, then have we got good news for you. Stuff You Should Know just released a playlist of 12 of our best true crime episodes of all time. There's a shootout in broad daylight. People using axes in really terrible ways, disappearances, legendary heists, the whole nine yards. So check out the stuff you should know true crime playlist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Introducing IVF disrupted, the Kind Body story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. It grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disembate. disillusioned, and angry patience. You think you're finally, like, in the right hand. You're just not. Listen to IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight... And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. A man who robbed a bank when he was 14 years old. And a centenarian rediscovers a love lost 80 years ago. How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? Listen to Heavyweight on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the Internet, and welcome to this episode of the weekly zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one non-stop infotainment.

Laugh stravaganza. Uh, yeah. So without further ado, here is the weekly zeitgeist. Miles, we're thrilled to be joined in our third and fourth seats by the host of the very popular book podcasts, reading glasses, and the new book show Reading Smut. Hey. For the Maximum Fun Network, please welcome to this show. Mallory O'Mara and Brea Grant. I can tell you're a fellow Irish person

because you're the only person who's pronounced my last name correctly. Omera? Yeah. Everyone says O'Meara. And I'm like, oh, wow. You definitely have spices in your food if you can't pronounce my last name.

I have not, I've never, I will eat food and say, oh my God, what is that? And they'll be like salt. Yeah. Eating salt. Okay. Wow.

Someone studied abroad, huh? Yeah. Amazing guess on your part that Jack O'Brien is Irish also. You know your stuff. I literally said your nickname is Potato. Potatoes, O'Brien. Yeah, you didn't even with a slight Irish brogue. Potatoes, O'Brien.

Can't put my finger on that guy. Did my brogue come out? Ah, shit. I try to cover it up, you know. Potatoes O'Brien, a real dish. Delicious dish. A delicious dish. It is.

Especially if you put this special. special salt on it. Oh, yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. Potato, peppers, onions. Pretty basic. Pretty basic.

Pretty basic. Pretty basic. It's about as far as we go flavor-wise, so. That's right. Yeah. Well, we're thrilled to have you. Congratulations on the new podcast, reading smut. That's what it says on the tin.

Yeah. Sorry, just to interject, Jack, the origin of it could potentially be from a place called Jacks. Yeah. In Manhattan. Wow. So I'm just saying, Jack O'Brien. Anyway, sorry.

Don't dig too deep or you're going to find something you don't want to know. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you're going to powerful people are involved, man. You might want to leave that alone. How has it been going from a straightforward reading podcast to, I guess it's still pretty straightforward to read smut, but how... You think. One would think.

A lot more talk about genitals in this section of the book world than what we're normally used to, but it's been a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Do you both like smut or is that kind of a thing where it's like, well, this is a whole other genre. We really didn't probably tap into. I think I'm like more of the noob to it. Like I'm, I just, we started reading it like at, so for our other show reading glasses, we don't really do book clubs or anything. But we did a couple of like special book clubs with smut books. And they were really popular. And we were like, oh, maybe we should just see if people want to be reading more of these. And the more we talked about, the more that people wanted to hear about it. So. We just decided to dedicate the genre is blowing up, and Mallory can speak much more to it than I can. But it's sort of interesting to see why. Like, why are so many, particularly women, but a lot of, I mean, you just said, you said, all fairly, you've read a smart book.

Why are we picking up these books? I had to pick it up because this, the description was so absurd that I was like, this is a book. This is an actual book someone wrote the words to. And last week, someone was talking about smut. The book is called Hallopeen. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think it's Holly Wilde is the author.

Yeah, there's a lot of seasonal smut with, you know, Christmas smut, Halloween smut. Yeah. With like a guy has like a rock candy penis in it. And I was like, this is, and I'm like, okay. I mean, like, this is different. So I'll give it up. I don't hate it. Yeah.

I mean, the first book we ever did for the show was about a man who is actually a door and gets turned into a human man. So it's a pretty popular thing. I mean, that's the fun thing about the genre is it doesn't take itself that seriously. A lot of corners of the literary world are very snooty. And the smut people are like, hey, you want to bang this gingerbread man? Let's go. Yeah, right. Exactly.

Really silly, really fun. And I think that's why people get into it so much is because it doesn't take itself seriously. There's no, it's very welcoming. Yeah. It's like, yeah, it's like the scribbling of like, rather than like painting, it's like, dude, do whatever the fuck you want. And it's actually very fun because there are no rules, and you get to be like, I don't know if the guy's dick has made a rock candy. He's a fucking, he, gummy bears come out. What are you going to do? Why not? Did he do one where someone, is that real? Yeah, I can write. There's a few excerpts I was going to read. But anyway. Brea, didn't we do one where someone where frosting came out? Yeah, yeah. It was a balloon animal.

The balloon one, right? The balloon animal. Wait, there's literally something for everyone. Yeah. Well, he's a, he's a wear balloon animal. He's something. Sometimes he's a man and sometimes he's a balloon animal. But you have to be careful. Nothing's sharp around him. Sure. Is this a testament to like how bad men are? Absolutely.

That there always has to be like some separate. Yeah, I'd rather this be a like a werewolf door human than a, yeah. 5,000% one one deep look into Tinder and you're rushing towards the nearest door. Right. I have to see another guy holding a fish with an backwards hat on yet. Once you see enough fish photos, a guy with the rock candy penis looks pretty good. Yeah, exactly. So it's just like people's desire for truly consequence-free sex that's like not tied to anything or any like, it's not going to remind you of the sex that you've had with people, right?

Yes. It's like just get me into a fantasy world where I don't have to be tied down by experience or expectations or anything. Yes. And the heroes are always very into the world. women. They're always like very feminist. They always have good jobs. Yeah. It's a, it's a magical fantasy land. Clean bedrooms. But I will also say they aren't all like magical men. There are real men. There are real women. Like there are. We don't read just like the fantasy ones. Although that's obviously what's kind of popular right now. But yeah, there actually is like definitely a man at a clean

bedroom trend. Wow. Like the author's like and then like how is that how would you usually encounter that description like in a book? Beautiful sheets. Gorgeous curtains. very clean. You know, you date enough guys who have never washed their towels and don't have DeVe covers or bed frames. And reading these books

about these thousand-year-old fairies who have like 2,000 thread-count sheets. Yeah. Pretty nice. You don't have to go to Jordan Peterson to have somebody imply that you should clean your bedroom. You can just read about

people, fucking balloon animals. Yeah. Wow. You'll get the same message. Yes. That's wild. I mean, I one time, I did have

jeans I use as a towel. Yep, that sounds about right. Yeah, yeah, and I'm sorry. In college, we've moved on. Yeah, you've moved on, you've evolved. You have, I'm sure you have real towels now that get washed. I do. I have one.

I have one. I have a dish towel that I've been using for about a week next to my computer. And you just carry it around on your shoulder like a chef. Miles this morning when we were recording and I used it to wipe my mouth. I think so highly of me, he was like, is that a song? Did they have pulled off of your foot? Valid question, though. It gave sock.

It was giving sock. I can't even imagine someone pulling a sock off their foot to wipe their mouth. And you haven't dated enough men. Jack, that's why. I've seen jeans used as towels, man. The sock isn't that bad. Can't think of a worse article of clothing to use as a towel.

I can and I've seen it. Yes. A sweater? Underwear. Table-knit sweater. Oh, my God. Yeah, I mean, it's rough out there, folks. Yeah, wool isn't absorbent at all.

Yeah, just wipe your hands on. I don't care. Yeah. What is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? My search, the last thing I googled is boat cruises in Chicago because the weather is still nice here. It's about eight degrees for the next few days.

And my friend is visiting. So we want to see the architecture and maybe some ice agents attacking citizens from a helicopter. What is going on? I can't enjoy anything. Yeah. Was that yes last night where they came out of a fucking black hawk? Let's get a little.

What? There's trendy Aragua in here. Yeah. Yeah. We said awa chilis. Oh. Jesus Christ. They're serving Iowa frescoes.

They're like, oh, just the fucking trend outwagwa. We got to forget them. Yeah. So that's the last thing at Google's with boat cruises because I was like, but I saw that literally probably the. But within a day of doing that, there was that image of the ICE agents, like, doing PR for themselves. And they're, like, on the Chicago River, like, oh, yeah. Do you see that?

And they're, like, there was a guy with a camera and it's awful. They're just making the macarena. Yeah, it was gross. I was like, oh, my God, you can't go anywhere. Giving out Halloween candy that was donated. We talked about that in the past year where when you donate Halloween candy, it goes to the U.S. military to, to. Like, they're like, because the U.S. military is like care packages, but what they actually do is use it to, like, bribe the locals.

Oh, yeah. Foreign countries. Now, probably in our country. Yeah. Oh, I mean, they've been bribing children in our country. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, how else do you plant crack on a father? You know what I mean?

Sure. And, you know, it's a little trick-a-o. You little swip-swap. It's pretty easy. A little swip-swap. Been bribing me since G. G.I. Joe. It was like the first thing that I liked.

All right. What is something. you think is underrated Bimble and blimps The original airships Finish my question I'm just I'm heated up

Yeah I'm fucking heated up Let him cook Jack Okay go on Why Okay Boo First off

All right Let me sell you a door So airships are Better than planes For the environment They're cumbers What do you think the door to door Blimp salesman rolls up

It's not a car It's not a car brother It's a door it's a door on skates would have thought it was a blimp nope yeah you know

nope I go do to door on my door selling originables there we go now I like the way we're spinning this out yeah yeah yeah

okay so Hindenburg aside let's get past that little big aside but we're going to move past it we're just going to bracket

the Hindenburg I just call that one Led Zeppelin it it is a Zeppelin I remember when I found out that was a real thing I was like

that's just the Led Zeppelin album cover. That's not a thing that happened. And then I'm like, wait, what the fuck is this? Oh, okay. Anyway, so Hindenburg aside, what, are there any, is there any modern? I think, were you, were you, oh, no, who was on? Was it maybe Daniel O'Brien who was I was talking about, like, how limited the, like, the derogibles, like, there are a few derogibles actually in, like, in, like, being used around

the world right now. Very few. Uh, this country, the U.S. is home to the, Goodyear blimps, you know. Famed for saying ice cubes a pimp on one day in the early 90s. Yeah, yeah. Everybody did so much

detective work to try and figure out what the good day was. They should have just gone back through Goodyear Blimp history and seen which day it was. Ice cubes of pimp. Yeah, you could find it. You idiots. Why are you doing all this work? Zygang, hop on the discord. We need your help. Yeah.

Figure this out. We, I don't know. I am mystified by these because I used to do a show about vehicles, right? It was called car stuff and a burst of creativity. And really, the story of the airship, the dirigible, the Zeppelin, it's kind of a story about how humanity can't have nice stuff. Because it's a thing that works so long as people don't try to shoot it down. Like my dreams of a rap career.

Oh, man. I have to hear it all the time. It's the zeppelin of our times. You think people are trying to shoot zeppelin's down now, blimp's down now? Probably not, right? I don't know. They're shooting at fucking drones, aren't they? Yeah.

Yeah. I think it's too tempting. Is that what it is? What if I could bring this down? What if I could? You know what I mean? Like with a plane, you're like, man, I, that, no way, no way. But a dirigible?

Now you're talking. Yeah. It's, you definitely, I think I, I'm getting the call of the void when I look at a blimp. Oh, yeah, exactly. It's just like, man, look, I could, I don't have to be able to aim good at all. I could probably throw a football clear through that Zeppelin and bring it down. And you're looking at your friends and just pre-checking with them and you're like, I'm a cool person, right? Like, I'm not.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I was like, I already called dibs on bringing it down. Oh, damn it. All right, you go. You go. I wanted to get on board with this. And so I was like, I bet, I bet like that the Hindenberg disaster was such a mess and like so horrifying looking, like just that having a huge thing like burst into flame and like I think 36 people died. Like, but is it that dangerous?

And it is like there's people dying like a lot at that. During that time of popularity, there's a lot of ill-fated missions. A lot of them in New Jersey for some reason. It might just be that New Jersey doesn't know how to deal with. But, yeah, like a few years before the Hindenburg, USS Akron crashes at sea off the coast of New Jersey in severe storm. 73 dead, many drown. Oh, I can see how weather is probably its greatest foe. It's a little bit of wind.

You guys are right. You guys are right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. I just, I, I feel like it could potentially be an answer to a lot of the stuff happening with private and commercial flights. It's just slow, ungainly cumbersome.

They're chunky boys in the sky. Chonky boys in the sky. Hell yeah. I love that. That's the album name. Yeah, yeah. Led Zeppelin's not released album. I want to be.

Yeah, the fact that the Empire State Building was. originally designed to be a blimp docking station. That's why it kind of looks the way it does. It has always, like, capture my imagination and just been like, man, there is an alternate version of history where, like, the sky over New York is just full of blimp's and dirigible. How is the empire, the empire state building was designed, right? To be. It seems like it would have a big pointy thing on the top would be a bad, bad call.

It was designed for other stuff, but in the pitch meeting, someone was like, you know what? also we should park blimps here you guys at a time we're essentially like our version of a i was just like you throw blips into the pitch so i get people excited about it it was a very pro blimp yeah like even even though the big point you think it's like it's fine you'd think right but this is this is 100% dirigible safe okay no way that this metaphorical bubble will ever burst yeah wow we're just yeah when's our ai hindenberg good the lord man oh it comes soon enough on the way Anyways, I agree with you. We need to bring them back for good or ill, just because they would look cool.

The world would look so sick. I like how you tagged for ill, as if you lightly implied that blimps may ruin the world. And you're like, let's go for it. Look, they appear to be more dangerous than I was hoping when you first brought this up a few minutes ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On Wikipedia, list of airship accidents, and there's quite a few. So whimsical as hell, you don't need jet fuel to propel yourself quite as much as you do with, like, the thousands of flights, thousands and thousands of flights that are, you know, going through the air every day. It is a plot point at the end of Ministry for the Future, the book about like what a future where we actually solve climate change would look like, one of them is that we replace air travel via jet fuel propelled rockets with, with direct.

Ridgibles, and it's fun. It's just slower. You just have to be willing to, like, slow the pace of your life down a little bit. And there's nothing wrong with taking a breath. No. I mean, there is now saying shit like that today will get you killed. This guy's too into breathing. What is something you think is underrated?

Okay, this is happening recently. I think when you're having a casual conversation and somebody asks, an intense question, I think that's underrated, okay? So you're talking about day, you're talking about the weather even. Yep. And then someone just goes, this is literally what just happened to me this last weekend. Someone just went, so what do you, what age do you want to die at? Yes.

You all just kind of sat in that and like really talked about like the morbid nature of our existence. This is so funny because yes, one of our guests yesterday, their underrated was, or maybe they're overrated was getting too deep, but basically that. No, their underrated was talking about the weather. Just like keeping it light. Yeah, yeah. Keeping it light.

Keeping it light. And I love that. You come in and go, dude, I was talking about the weather. And someone's goes, when do you want to die? Right. Yeah. When do you want to die is the crazy thing to come in with. That sounds like a threat.

Like, there's a threat barrier you done that. That is while, yeah. It's probably like 5, 4, 125 pound woman. So she was ready to kill me for sure. She's like, and I have that thing on me. did you give an answer or did you kind of been like i'm just trying to pick up my taco johns lady i mean the amount of the amount of taco johns i've had in my life it's crazy i'm still alive let's just let's just let's just put it all out there okay but yeah i said um so

because of that i hopefully this isn't too sad i remember being like not that i like came up in the streets or anything but i remember being young and not being able to like see what my life would be past 25 yeah i'm well past that now but um so i was like i'm good at like 64 66 yeah everyone on the table got very sad they were all like 85 94 and i was like yeah give me like a hard 64 and i'm no like i've done everything i need i don't know like maybe 15 20 minutes you set a timer i just lay in traffic yeah yeah by the way uh taco johns is a local minnesota taco bell variant. And I think people in the central parts of the country know about it, right?

Know about Taco Jones. They should. DJs. Yeah. That's a, that's a heavy one. I've never seen somebody in their 90s look like they're just living a normal life. Like, once you hit the 90s, it's like it's a different way of living. It's a different way of living. Like, it is subsistence. Like you, it just, it feels like your awareness is down to like a pinhole. Like, you, like, you, You have, like, a pinhole view and, like, ability to interact with existence. And you have so much energy to interact, too. Yeah, sure.

Like, my grandmother lived to be 100. And in her 90s, it wasn't until, like, she hit 95 when it started getting the thing where she's always kind of had a routine of, like, wake up, smoke a cigarette, breakfast. If there's baseball, watch Japanese baseball. If there's sumo wrestling, watch. You are indestructible. Bro, she has another cigarette. Then have some beer.

She would always drink beer every night. But like a little, you know how they have many cans of Coke? They have mini cans of beer in Japan. So she would have one of those be wasted and go to bed and fucking do it all over. And it was the same thing. But it was just like this cycle where even if I, like, you know, I'd visit maybe like with a year in between because I wouldn't be able to travel. being in school or something like that. And when I'd see her, she would be like, oh, you're back.

And I'm like, it's been a year. Yeah. Like, he's just sort of like, I don't know, motherfucker. I've been doing my same shit every day. I'm good, baby. Yeah. She's like, it's been a hundred years for me. You have no idea.

People, people who have those routines who live really long are like, they have the same energy as like a conspiracy theorist that realizes one of the conspiracies is true, right? So they think that like everything they do contributes to how long. They're like, hey, I've smoked two cigarettes a day. had a beer before bed every day and it's worked for me so like this is what it is that's the same person who's like uh i've been retaining my semen because the government is a bunch of lizards and something you know that's the same energy i love that create i love whatever it is mentally that keeps them going on that path yeah yeah you do have to retain your semen just to

realize to be able to see the lizard nature of the government but we we've covered that on you we also covered that on yesterday's episode and what it's something you think is overrated Something I think is overrated. I think the last days of summer, the dog days of summer. I think they're overrated, okay, because I'm an adult. I don't have to go back to school, and we have global climate change now. So every day is warm. It's December.

It's 95 degrees. Yeah. I could be swimming in February of Minneapolis, but we'll eventually, will the water be acidic. Sure, but I can still do it, okay? Yeah. So I'm not really worried. I mean, you guys are set up there. That's where people are going to be invading from the south.

Yeah, y'all got out of that, I'm eyeing all them lakes, man. That's the goal. That was kind of part of it. I used to live in New York, and I was like, well, this will be underwater pretty soon, so we'll find a different place. My problem is now we have all these, like, data centers and everything. So, like, they're soaking up all the walk. So I don't know that even, we're not untouchable anymore. So I don't really know.

But I know it'll be hot. All the preppers say Michigan. A lot of them say Michigan. Yes. Go to Michigan. That's the Allen. like in which they're already there so that hell right there right put up a fight for some of that but right you're like hey you can't you can't kidnap our governor that's our job

that's that but yeah so I'm thinking last days of summer because I'm looking right now it's it's October 1 I'm looking outside I don't have the temp on me but I'm pretty sure it's like a balmy 75 but you do have sleeves on I don't see is I'm inside yes this is a dresses I'm going to get all right right uh you don't want to see the lower half it's it's sleeves but just on my it's just on my like calves and stuff there's no pants oh like compression socks yeah yeah so but yeah it's like those calves warm yeah yeah yeah you know that those are the money makers i post those on you can check out my only fans to check yeah yeah only calves um yeah but it's but i'm inside the AC is on a little bit

And I want to look like an artist, you know, so I put this on. But outside, yeah, this is, it's hot right now. That's too hot for Minnesota in October. 75? These are like, these, it's been like this lately. This is how people, like, we get a little bit less snow or we get like a crazy amount of snow. We're like, well, we'd be this way, whatever. And then it's hot until like December.

And then you're like, it doesn't. What was it like when you were a kid? Like, what did you feel, what were the, what was October, like, 20 years ago? You had legit seasons. October was a little bit cooler. You felt to go, like, I play football. So it would be like, ooh, October's here. It's football weather.

Right, right. And you feel good on Friday nights and all that shit. November was like already a barren wasteland. December, you finally got like real snow and all that sort of stuff. And then in like January, February, March, April, you're like, maybe I should die. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not a frozen hell. I didn't realize that.

Maybe we should build just a mall that everybody walks. through so we don't ever have to go outside when we're downtown. Yeah. Yeah. How was it when I was younger? They built tunnels so we didn't have to go outside. Yeah. That's out. It's dark and hell's cold. Yeah. All right. Ben, wonderful getting to know you. We're going to take a quick break.

Then we're going to come back and talk about Fox News's weird horniness. We'll be right back. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ain't. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ultra-light, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity with Intel core ultra-processors, blazing speed, and AI-powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around.

Whoa, this thing moves. Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search at Lenovo.com. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, powered by Intel Core alter processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Hi there, this is Josh Clark from the Stuff You Should Know podcast. If you've been thinking, man alive, I could go for some good true crime podcast episodes, then have we got good news for you. Stuff You Should Know just released a playlist of 12 of our best true crime episodes of all time.

There's a shootout in broad daylight. People using axes in really terrible ways, disappearances, legendary heists, the whole nine yards. Check out the stuff you should know true crime playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I started trying to get pregnant about four years ago now. We're getting a little bit older and it just kind of felt like the window could be closing. Bloomberg and IHeart Podcasts present. IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. Introducing Kind Body, a new generation of women's health and fertility care.

Backed by millions in venture capital and private equity, it grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients. You think you're finally like with the right people in the right hands, and then to find out again that you're just not. Don't be fooled. By what? All the bright and shiny. Listen to IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, starting September 19 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight, I help a centenarian mend a broken heart.

How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? And I help a man atone for an armed robbery he committed at 14 years old. And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. And he got down. And I remember feeling kind of a surge of like, okay, this is power. Plus, my old friend Gregor and his brother tried to solve my problems through hypnotism. We could give you a whole brand new thing where you're like super charming all the time. Being more able to look people in the eye.

Not always hide behind a microphone. Listen to Heavyweight on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Podcasts. Damn, that was so fast. I didn't get you have a break on that one. I don't like when you breathe, Jack. I know, I'm sorry. It's too much.

It's a way to knock that off, huh? You hear it when he laughs to? He goes, Wait, what's a good way to laugh without breathing? just as an example. Can you imagine him? You would cook his ass if he actually laugh like that.

Yeah. I'd be like always trying to show off those nice teeth. I'll always find the way. There's shit on your life. Oh, so you think you're Tarzan on some. Oh, oh, type of shit. Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm Jane, you're Tarzan.

It's always something just sicko. I'm a sick freak. Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about teenage mute. and ninja gerbils yeah so the yeah the fash across america tour has made its memphis stop and pam bondi pete higgseth and teenage new ninja gerbils stephen miller uh dropped in to have like another just having to watch these pep rallies where a bunch of fucking federal like troops and agents

just have to hear some guys scream at them I guess that's like the theme of the week so they did that they gathered all this law enforcement to basically be like you know what you guys are fucking unleashed which is fucking terrifying because why the fuck is Hegseth

the fucking secretary of defense in an American city telling troops you'll fucking have at it because they're just clearly trying to make the agents and troops feel like they're above the law. Trump told on himself when he was like, me and Pete have been talking that like it would be cool to train the military on our cities. So it would be cool.

Yeah, it would be cool. Yeah, very cool. That seems wildly illegal. Yeah. But hey, you know what? Like the teenage mutant ninja turtles, they're also radical. Ninja gerbils got on stage. And I don't know.

He's, every time Stephen Miller speaks, it's just some whiny bullshit where you, It's just, like, big, like, you're not tough behavior, and he's, he's on a run. He, every, I think I've seen three clips of him total in my whole life of him talking. And so this is probably the third one. And I'm always, it's always so jarring. Yeah. Well, it just doesn't match. None of it matches any of it.

What he's saying, how he's delivering it, his body movement to nothing matches. Yeah. And Marcella, look, you've grown around people who, grown up around people who don't take shit. You know what I mean? Oh, boy. You know, you know what's. Oh, I used to run an MS-13. I'll just get myself in hot water.

I mean, I think, like anybody, just let's assess his menace, quote-unquote, menacing speech here. Yeah, yeah. Really getting the troops on. Well, he puts the men in menacing. But there is a square inch of block in this city where a citizen doesn't feel safe is unacceptable. This is Memphis. This is the United States of America.

Wait, pause, pause. Wait. what I want the listeners to listen for as a bully the way I listen first you have to listen this is why I saved this clip for you first you have to listen

for speech impediment there's history of it there you can hear it if you really got a good ear if you have a well-trained ear like me I've been bullying because I was a child to be bullying kids

sorry that's just my history yeah I've learned to use it for good but I started rough okay you can really hear previous history of a speech impediment which also explains a lot of how he says things Okay, go hit the play.

Okay, thank you for the play-by-play. The bullshit is done. It's over. It's finished. You can hear it, though, can you? You know, the gangbangers that you deal with, they think that they're ruthless. They have no idea how ruthless we are.

Oh. They think they're tough. They have no idea how tough. We are. They think that they're hardcore. We are so much more hardcore than they are. please someone needs to sample this I hope some famous hip hopper

just uses it maybe Kendrick can do another if he needs to do another Drake this you can do this is a so we are so hardcore yeah this could be run by Drake's no idea how hardcore we are what the fuck they think they're tough they're hard core

we are so much more hardcore than they are this is the this is again like Marcella this is why I we were going to talk about this in an earlier episode. I was like, I need Marcella, because I know Marcella your, the hair, your bully hairs on the back of your neck are shooting up being like, this

bitch ass, this punk ass bitch right now. You think, you think we're so much more hardcore. Like that is the saddest fucking sentence I've ever heard is we're so much more hardcore than they are. It also sounds like how he talked to

kids in junior high. Like he hasn't grown up. He always thought that was the way to talk. You're hardcore? Well, I'm a lot of gold. Yeah. Like the West Side Connection album had just come out. And he's like, you think you're gangster? We're a gangster. You think you're hardcore?

We are so much more hardcore. Okay? We're so hardcore. It's just a perfluous amount of hardcore that we are. This actually is frivolous. It's frivolous. The levels of hardcore. I wanted that to go on and on. Oh, I mean, it's there. It does.

He goes on to basically say, you know why I'm hardcore? Because I'll have the entire U.S. military come after to use base. So you're very tough. Much more hardcore than they are. And we have the entire weight of the United States government behind us. What do they have? Behind us. You guys hear that?

Right. Behind us. So we are going to win. They are going to lose. We are going to rescue Memphis. And it will not only be safer than ever before, but businesses and investment are going to pour in. And Memphis will be richer than ever before. because President Trump has decided this is a priority.

And when President Trump makes a decision, this team behind me today, execute. Okay. So, yeah, for everybody out there in Memphis, I mean, I don't know. I barely know anything about Memphis 10 at Key, but I don't think anyone's hardcore there from far away, at least what I know from his hard core is.

This is nothing. Memphis? Oh, yeah, you're fine. I do love, I do love this representation. It's very beat for Vendetta. I love this representation. of like a leader of the United States like threatening gangs

like this is the shit that they used to sample in the 90s except it didn't sound corny like this do you know what I mean? It's too over the top like it is from a movie that yeah where like the performance is like that's a little much but all right like it's just it seems like he studied like pathetic 80s movie villains

to like perform this speech like how do we like set T something up So when this person falls flat on their face, everybody can feel fucking awesome. That feels like the express, like, subtextual purpose of the writing behind this scene. Do you think that the blood was rushing through his veins? Like, he felt a high. Do you think he was high? No.

Look, you know how not hardcore this, dude? I bet he is shook. At all. He's on speed. Yeah, he'll take someone that a doctor or a pharmaceutical company's manufactured. I think, like, this whole administration. is flying on Adderall. I think we're going to talk about it.

I mean, I'm saying he doesn't even seem like he does it. I'm saying like his wife finally gave him black cherry Pepsi. And he was like, I've got the speech for you, lady. You think he's on some Latter-day Saints shit where he's like, chocolate milk this morning, motherfucker. Don't talk to me. I had chocolate milk this morning instead of regular milk.

I am fucking freaking out right now. I do feel like both in this speech and the Heg-Suff speech where Hegsev got up in front of generals and was like delivering a similar speech that had like parts built in where you can tell they thought that there was going to be like fucking swelling applause and they have they have ox cord buzz like it's always just empty room buzz so so here's the thing that's funny about that to me is that when you're a comedian and you watch other comedians and you watch them pause for laughter that is my favorite moment of silence

and now I have to rewatch this with that in mind because I'm realizing that I don't think I was watching that with like comedy brain in mind but now I want to rewatch it with comedy the pauses because the pauses are always so funny in comedy when people, there's a couple people with specials that they're like

I need you to applause and then the crowd does they go oh we're applaz me right now okay by then I love a force of applause break that was a joke folks yeah guys if you watch my HBO Max special there's a moment

in the special where I say, please stop applauding. I don't have time for that. Because some of us write jokes to the point that we don't need, I don't need to plug. Your laughter is enough. I need to move on. Yeah, shut the fuck up.

I'm trying to do something. You killed so fucking hard in your special. It's amazing. You kill so fucking hard. You're so fucking hardcore. I was so hardcore. My special is the most hardcore. Hell yeah.

There's words traveling about another comedian who just taped a special that went less well that we're not going to talk about. Theo Vaughn is a dumb piece of shit. Oh, you mean. I do have a new podcast coming out. Comedy is dead season two with a new guest host, Chloe Michaela, who is based in Chicago. We have, it should be coming out next week. I'm really, I'm doing, you know, we don't do planned drops anymore, right? Guys, we just drop the shit.

We're in a society where there's no preparing for anyone to pre-list. Nothing matters anymore. Anyway, so we're dropping two episodes at once because we recorded an emergency episode because we wanted to talk about the thing we're going to talk about later on here. But we get into that Theovon thing, thing. So you guys don't have to talk about it. But I'm letting your listeners know that if they want to listen to them, they can take a little listen when I want to hear your commentary, because I know you're not going to fucking hold back.

I don't hold back, but I do think that you wouldn't know what I'm going to fly next. Okay. All right. And that, I'm tuned in kind of a related story. I just like, did you, Marcel, watch Pete Higgs-F speech to like all the Pentagon generals, like all the top military brass where he just. Wait, wait, wait. Was that the one where, okay, wait, go, sorry.

He's like, he's got a giant flag behind him, and he's, like, talking about how, like, you guys are too fat, essentially. But, like, you know, just giving this speech that, again, same energy, same, like, you know, I've pumped myself up. I've delivered this speech in the mirror 20 times, but, like, you can tell there's nothing behind it. You can tell that he's, like, very scared. So anyways, that speech went very badly, just dead silence. No, like not even polite claps. No, they were basically commanded. They were like, attention.

They're like, all right. All right, stand up. Now sit your ass down. But so the fallout from that is. There's a fallout? There's consequences? Oh, my God. He's now starting to institute random polygraph tests for people who work in the Pentagon.

That people are, they're saying it's to stop leaks from happening. They're saying to stop leaks. but I guarantee there are questions on, like, how good does Pete look in a suit, though? Yeah. Like, he, I mean, and that, that was a cool speech, though, wasn't it? Did he know that that shit's in it? Yeah, it was, Jack.

Put me on the Bali right now. He didn't bomb up there, right? No. Bombing is not a word that we would use in relation to that. The polygraph machine is smoking. Yeah. On fire. Nah, that was sick, man.

That was so, so fucking. you're so good at lifting us up yeah Jesus Christ blinking I saw that that that that Spider-Man or that's what that moment is wait what when the Spider-Man mean when they're just pointing at each other yeah oh oh they're not pointing there got it doing that

doing the polygraph with Pete doing the polygraph the Pentagon's calling the reporting that he's subjecting people to random polygraph tests untrue and irresponsible which is the new catchphrase that they're using for like any report because they made journalists sign NDAs

to be like anything that you report that we don't approve could be like you're basically the enemy at this point like the good countries do. Yeah, yeah. Like that Saudi Arabia festival we're going to talk about later. Okay. Yo, or right now. Right now. Let's get to it. I mean first

I'm just generally right, like looking at the state of mainstream quote unquote comedians. It's so fucking depressing right now. Like, just for starters, right? Like, Fallon is not funny, but unfortunately, he is a late night host. But okay. I had such a, I was such a fan girl

when I was like 15 and I'm like, that's where I should have stayed. Yeah, he was I mean, I get it at the time, like his appeal was he was like the cutie guy who was always cracking up on stage. He's got cutie energy where he's just like kind of goofy. I mean, he used to be more chiseled, you know? He didn't have a drinking problem yet.

Yeah, so it was growing. It was coming. it was happening in front of our eyes. This was him. He went on CNBC to promote some new show he's doing, but he was asked by the host on CNBC. He's like, hey, what's it like being a late night host in this era of like FCC threats and how does that in free speech?

And this is just like the very, you know, with his chest out, no fluttering, straightforward, brave answer he gave. I am wondering how you're thinking about what you can put in a monologue, what it's like being on an FCC-licensed Avenue of broadcasting right now? You know, our show's never really been that political. You know, we hit both sides equally, and we try to make everybody laugh.

And that's really the way our show really works. I mean, our monologues are kind of, you know, the same that we've been doing since Johnny Carson was doing the Tonight Show. So really, I just keep my head down and making sure the jokes are funny. I have great writers, clever, smart writers. And we just, yeah, we're just trying to make the best show we possibly can. We're going to keep, I'm going to keep my head down. Don't be mad at me. We're actually not like Jimmy Kim, like famed radical political ideological Jimmy Kimmel.

This is essentially like what he's saying. We're not like that shit. Yeah, right. We're just, you know, we hit both sides. We normalize Trump. You know, that's kind of our thing. But we also like to hit both sides. He let me touch his hair, which was a fun moment.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the felon thing is interesting because he was never political. Yeah. And I think about, God, somebody recently did like a, oh, God, I wish I could find it. But they were talking about how it wasn't until more recent presidents that president started going on late shows because, like, he brings up Carson, but Carson didn't have presidents on his shows, you know? So it's like, you can't compare yourself to that because. because Carson did sometimes teeter the line in terms of humor. And it's frustrating to watch him make that comparison because it's like,

dude, you're so, you're right that you have never been political, but to compare yourself or bring up Johnny Carson is not correct. Yeah, yeah. It's just interesting to see him squirm a bit because I think he knows. He's like, damn, this is such an L for me. He doesn't want to be there. He wants to be drinking.

He ends up talking like somebody like on cops who got pulled over, like being suspected drunk. He's like, no, this is what I do kind of like all the time. Just, you know, like it looks like he's lying to his wife, you know? Yeah, that's the vibe. You can hear in the voice when someone's just being, like, really detaching themselves from the answer they're giving. And that was just so apparent. But detaching themselves because I think he really believes that.

I think he actually probably has never wanted to ever put his toe into any political side of it. Like, he gets talked into it. You know what I mean? Like, that's what I'm saying is him specifically, I'm not. surprised that he's detached. What's frustrating is like, if you're so detached, then why do you have these people on your shows then?

Yeah, exactly. So it's really pathetic. Is it which I wally or is it one mic? Yeah, the Riyadh comedy thing. I was just reading this thing where Pete David, I saw Pete Davis in on the lineup and I was like, okay, you're a comedian, like a stand-up like that. And his dad died in 9-11?

There's- Firefighter. That's just the wildest. I really couldn't wrap my head around that. There's like this clip of him on Theo Vaughn's podcast or talking about it. And he's like, yeah, I guess because like, you know, my dad like died of 9-11 or something. Like I guess I'm, I guess I shouldn't like be gone or whatever. And like just-

Everybody, can we just pause and celebrate this Pete Davidson impression on this really fantastic. I wasn't expecting. I wasn't expecting to hear that. Hey, look, you got it. You got to get in where you fit is. It was really good. I just watched the clip.

But like, it's. just again for someone you were watching it all morning and jerking off to it so you can get the sound right i was edging i was edging okay not quite full full blown jo but you know i was i was walking the line as uh what's his what's his johnny cash says um but like hearing him say that articulated and also he goes on to say like yeah they're paying me enough money to look the other way like this is what other comedians have said or some form of like weird equivocating i think jim jeffreys though he got pulled off because he's like yeah so they killed a journalist, like, so we don't do that all the time.

And they're like, okay, you can't say that. So now you're not going to come anymore. Yeah, because they haven't admitted it. So. Yeah, yeah, 100%. I, um, I will also say with Pete stuff, because his is the one I think my brain has been like, like, like, I get sad for the legacy. You know, people are always like my legacy, a firefighter, they care about, you know,

the legacy they leave behind and their family name, you know, if you're a firefighter, you land mentally in like the traditionalist space. Yeah. I want to be a hero. I want to be a man. I want to do something with my life, you know? And it's a bummer. And then you also go, yeah, Pete's just an American.

Like, he is just so American that he's like, why would he care about international politics? I don't really like. Yeah, he's not connecting it like that. He's like, I don't know. My dad died a nine of art, you know? Yeah. It was like a long time ago and we like won a war about that or whatever, I think. I don't, I didn't really pay attention.

I haven't I lost enough with my dead father. Yeah, right. He got to take this money away from me. But it's that thing where, I mean, I think we have this in everybody in our family. That's why I think we should be talking about this type of shit. Because, like, how many of your parents give a shit about international politics? Mine did, but that's because we're from El Salvador and Nicaragua, you know? There's a long history there.

You were supposed to care. Yeah, and America is a front row seat at all the destabilization in those places, too. So, like, you'll be well aware of how all that the international relationships work there, for sure. And so with someone like him, he just strikes me as that American that just, is like, well, it's not affecting me, right? Even though we know that it is. Yeah, sure. All these fucking rich people are all in cahoots.

But Pete just the, you know, oh, you know who we should say in, and Nicole McKaylor brought this up is that Jessica Carson, because she's gay and Jewish, she's the one that she was like, she's going to have interesting stories when she comes back. Yeah, she does. People were citing some of her old, like, stuff that she said and like on stage and just in interviews and talking about how she's like, yo, female comedians basically don't exist over there because they can't say shit and she was saying something to the effect of like we have it so good here that we're able to do this material and then sort of the underneath all that

is like hearing about these like agreements they're signing to be like you will not fucking say anything that will bring any anyone into ill repute isn't that wild so producer victor points out i guess bill burr did a bit where he slammed bionc for going over there and then also said he would 100% take the deal too oh yeah that's right he does do that. That's like how he ends it, I believe. It's like the punchline is, hey, I'm not better. I'm just pointing it out, which, you know, that's what's going on here. And he also tried to be like in America and it's like, yeah, but the whole killing a journalist kind of puts it over the edge.

Or I mean, just generally, right? Like if you can't, you can't really be some kind of, as a comedian, right, like you have to be a proponent for free speech because your careers are built on the backs of people before where they could not say things because of decency laws or things like that. And I'm not saying that philosoph, I mean, like in a utopia philosophically, they would be aligned with that. But to your point, Marcel, it is true. It's the same way where like, people are like, well, yeah, I'm going to wear Nike's. I'm going to have an iPhone. Like, I don't really give a fuck like that, really. Like, if it comes down to it, and I'm not, they're not going to, it's not like they're taking me to a prison to go execute somebody. I'm getting paid and people are going to

fucking maybe laugh. And then I fucking skate with millions. Exactly. And, and, And we were, my friend and I, because we were, we were like, we wanted to watch TV together, but we both had to, like, do something at a certain time. And we was like, we had a limited time. So we were like, what can we watch that? Like, we don't care if we miss what we're watching, that we both agree on. And we agreed on old Bob Barker on Pluto TV. There's like an old episode, like, from the fucking OG days where he still dyed his hair,

brown. That was always funny. We were watching those episodes. And I was like, oh, this is interesting because this is the early days of, like, TV getting kind of spicy during the day and he says shit that you're like oh yeah you're not supposed you can't say that and it just made me be like

man the history of entertainment this crossover with television versus like vaudeville you know that because in vaudeville you did have the person that was hired to say the political shit you know like there was always that act unless of course the venue didn't want that but there was always the act that just

you were allowed to have someone push things over to the edge because you're in public and free speech was free speech It's this weird space we're in where it's like a scrambled egg of the history, the past, the future, the present, and all these entertainers that claim to be, oh, what, we love Lenny Bruce, but technically you don't if you're going to this festival and accepting this money, you know? But I also know that the research I've done as an entertainer is I have learned that if people say they wanted to be famous when they were a kid, these are people, these are the people. that fuck up and have no morals and no ethics eventually. That's the end. Yeah. It's just I have to be famous. Yeah. Because that's always been their goal. I have never thought of that. I wanted to be a teacher my whole life. And then I was like, well, shit, I don't think I want to do that. What do I want to do?

And I, you know, make a list and, you know, comedy ended up on that list from someone else suggesting it to me, not even me thinking I was going to pursue the arts. And I've made a fine career from it, but it could also be argued that many people would look at my career and look down on it and be like, your career isn't shit because I'm not fucking hell of rich. Right, right. You know, I'm doing fine. Yeah, right.

But I'm doing fine in terms of like how I've made off of your craft. How I've maintained my self-respect and who I am as a person, my morals, my ethics, my family history, you know, I'm trying to respect them. And that's the difference because I could have been taking so much. Dude, these motherfuckers

Honey Boo Boo's mom was doing a reality show and they wanted me to be a head writer like in 2017, 2018, and they would have been good money. But I was like, I'm not participating in that nonsense. My team was pissed because they were giving it to me. There was a gig I could just take and I was like, I'm not doing that. I'd rather do stand up and be on the road. So there's choices you make

as a comedian and as an entertainer and as someone who's going to be on TV, but in America, you can't really fucking, at the end of the day, all the answers are wrong. in America. We are everyone's demon, you know, around the world. Guys, I'm high. This is what happens. Hey, we are demon, though.

We are demon. Yeah, I'm reading a history of comedy book where they... Which book? It's called The Comedians, I think. Oh. Yeah, but they, like, I, and mainly, I just, like, skipped right to the 60s part because I couldn't deal with, like, the very old shit. And...

You know, P.S., guys, essay books, there's no skipping. You can read whatever book you want and whatever or do you want, job. okay. Don't let the, let the, let the bars in your mind. I go to the last three pages. I read those. I go done. That's because you're stupid though. That's true. But I was surprised by how much, like there were a lot of shows that like the Smothers Brothers, I guess, were like a show that went political at a certain point. And like they got canceled for it and were like their careers were really damaged for going political. So like there has been this censorship.

for a long time and I remember like this came up in the context of Lorne Michaels because Lorne Michaels like went to a show a year after they were canceled and they were like getting heckled by John Lennon who was just like shitfaced and heckling them and he was like all right I never want to do anything that's going to get me canceled from TV. Oh, that's funny. And so that's why he gave us Jimmy Fallon. That's right. And then and then also with the Smothers Brothers is interesting because Martin George and Steve Martin were kind of in that space. You know, they were young.

And it's cool to watch them go on Fallon and talk shit. Yeah, talk shit straight to his face. Because they come from the era of like, nah, dog, we were political. Like you think we're some easygoing sweetie pies. But actually, we have always been political because that is their history because that's just, that's where they come from. So I love that they did that. That was a, you know, and everybody gets to see it or appreciate it. Yeah.

And they're like, he's like, oh, I'm more of a Gutfeld guy because Gutfeld was on like the night before or two nights before. Yeah. And he's like, uh, yeah. And it's funny because he's like, okay. So you're going to act like I'm not talking shit directly too. Yeah, he's a put like you pussy. He just called him a, that's it. You want to talk about who's more hardcore?

Martin's Short. Steve Morton. Okay. He got heart. And they come from that, but that that's that whole world. It's like it's all fucking, again, it's all mixed in a really fucked up diureable nonsense. Put that on a T-shirt.

Oh, yeah. Diarrieable of nonsense. Let's take a quick break. Someone draw it and then we'll come back. Do our. last story about the diarrhea bowl of nonsense. We'll be right back. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Ultra Light, Ultra Powerful, and built for serious

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the kind body story, starting September 19 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and on the new season of heavyweight, I help a centenarian mend a broken heart.

How can a 101-year-old woman fall in a... love again. And I help a man atone for an armed robbery he committed at 14 years old. And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke.

And he got down and I remember feeling kind of a surge of like, okay, this is power. Plus, my old friend Gregor and his brother tried to solve my problems through hypnotism. We could give you a whole brand new thing where you're like super charming all the time.

Being more able to look to people in the eyes. Not always hide behind a microphone. on. Listen to Heavyweight on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And Waymo's in a bit of Hotswater. I guess.

Yeah, no, the cops caught them doing an illegal U-turn, and, oh, wait, they just let them go. This is just kind of a silly story because it's the only reason this was making news is the cops pull this car over. They walk up to it and they're like scratching their heads like a cartoon. They're like, we're our driver. What do we do now? Like truly, they posted this on their own Facebook page. Like, we didn't know what to do, guys.

It's like there's nobody in there. So we just had to. So we just kind of fucking let it fuck off and do its thing. that's how that's how you know it's a white waymo got away yeah exactly but like they didn't even give waymo the company a citation right you know what i mean which is like weird to like oh i guess we'll have to like all of our cars are programmed to abide by the like the laws you're like well clearly this thing busted an illegal you turn so it's not but i'm just like what kind of fucked up loophole is this you know what i mean like it's been deemed roadworthy enough to fucking be autonomously operated

on the roads, like, there has to be some way that the quote-unquote driver, like, there's no accountability because no driver? Yeah, you would think they would have to have some protocol in place for when the way most start running red lights or doing, you know, doing a legal thing. Doing donuts in the middle of the night. In the neighborhood. Yeah. What if they just like start getting weird, like in the middle of that?

You look out your window. Doing takeovers and shit. Yeah. Yeah. What the fuck? There's nobody in these cars. Now, correct me if I'm. wrong, this is how Blade Runner starts, right? It's like a cop has to track down. A Waymo does

kill somebody and then they got to track down its owners and then they find that everybody's run. I haven't seen Blade Runner all the time. Yeah, yeah. The Waymo would have to go undercover as a normal car and like pretend like it's a normal car. It wouldn't actually know that it wasn't a normal car. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's, it is in a normal like functioning civilization, the way that this would work is they would come up with the idea. They would test the Waymo's a bunch with like a driver ready to take over at all times. And then they would have to like do legislation to like get the world ready for this technology. And instead the way we like hit the edge of the possibilities around this is just like a confused cop walks up, looks through the window and is like, oh.

And then just turns around and like let's it go. Yeah, this is, how do you, how do y'all feel about, like, obviously, I'm guessing we're all pretty much on the same page as far as, like, all this stuff is so wrecked, like this technology could be helpful, but it's so reckless, like you just said, do you think we speed up or do we slow down? Do you think there will ever be a thing where we walk back from this, or are we just now full speed ahead? Guess what? Everything's automated. I mean, honestly, even like porn stars are using, like, robots to make their dick spitting shit. I don't, I'm sorry. That was actually the second to last thing I Googled.

So that's why they're talking about me. Once we're using robots to make their dick bigger. There's like, how to make dick bigger with robot was my last Google search. Via, I'm sorry, via robot. Why did they say that? That's crazy. Let's just click the episode. That's the episode.

No context. That was my last Google search. All right. Ben has been great having you, man. Well, there's, like, machines they use so they can always get directions. Okay. Oh, sure, sure. But that's not AI, man.

That's called old school machinery. Not yet. Okay. Well, I think, I mean, my thing is, like, they're obviously the amount of capital that's been spent and wasted on AI is like they're, they're into deep now. So this has to work or they're going to be just economic ramifications that are like going to make the dot-com bubble look like fucking a day at the park. Yeah.

And it's essentially using. What AI stands for is, like, using the best technology that they have to fool people into thinking that the technology is even smarter. Is a person. Right, right, right. Is a person. I am person. So I feel like it's better situated to maintain its bubble. I do feel like at a certain point, the patience or, you know, the credulity of people is going to run out.

But, like, generally, are we going to do? take a step back from like just rapidly advancing technology and just like letting reckless technology lead to the way. I think like really bad shit's going to have to start happening for that like to I guess really bad shit's going to have to start happening to rich people. I guess let me clarify that in America. In other countries they have I think more reasonable laws. But in America the only things that matter are corporations, which is why it's like front page news if someone breaks the window of a bank or a waymo or burns a waymo exactly waymo's our people we believe here at the daily zegas we believe that in the near future waymos are people Waymo's are my mother.

More than half of the people on Earth will be AI from a real news story. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I think it's just like the thing we were talking about in the trending episode where Peter Thiel's like the lack of innovation, it's like, no, all these people are focused on like things that will make money. Right. You know, and there are people that are trying to innovate for like the betterment of our world.

Right. And I think unfortunately right now, all the emphasis is like, well, how do I make money with technology rather than how do I improve the world with technology? We're past, we're past that, like, era where people were like, I've invented something to help the world. It's like, where I came up with an app to fuck over, whatever, and you're like, Jesus Christ. Right. Like, you know how kids still have their innocence? I have an app to get rid of that.

Yeah. Just knock it out real fast. It's called Instagram. You're going to love it. Yeah. Yeah. An app that just covers, gives your kid the talk, shows them their first porn video and tells them Santa Claus ain't real and the same one quick movement. Oh, my God.

Yeah. What's crazy is, that's not the thing. Someone is going to see this and be like, that's genius. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you as a parent who brought a person into the world doesn't have to be embarrassed to do your job. No, I just put this, I just put this VR headset on them. And then knock out those awkward conversations. Yeah, it's sort of like.

Shame settings to make sure they really get the point. Do you remember a clockwork orange? That's right. It's sort of like the ludovic, never mind. Anyway, I just put like that, but with all sort of like, you know, conversations you need to have with your children to help them understand the world. I don't even know who this Lou DeVico guy is, all right?

Hey, Lou DeVico technique? Whoa. Hey, let's talk. So this is time once again for a weekly check-in with the 2002 Al Pacino movie Simone or Sim One. So it's S, the number one M-0-N-E. Is that how it's written, I believe, just to drive it home? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

so this is a movie that doesn't really exist in the shared consciousness it's about a director who becomes frustrated with a movie star and replaces her with an AI actress named Simone as in simulation one sim one simone there you go fucking mind blow you did it I don't remember this movie again just like if I was like I don't know man sure whatever it like it's like man, we just had 9-11, man. Do whatever you want. Yeah, right. Yeah. I'm pretty sure the way it works is he kind of like matches some keys on a computer keyboard and barks digitize into a microphone. Make it have a great eyes.

Enhance. Enhance. And then it just like creates a digital actress. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I don't know. And then the media, it's like it's sort of. becomes this thing where it's like, who's this Simone? Oh, my God.

She's so secretive. And everyone gets so fucking obsessed with the idea of who this person is, that it's like, oh, interesting. Okay, now everyone wants to know where the reclusive computer program is. Yeah. He's like working in an empty warehouse with just two movie screens and a keyboard. Right. Like, that seems to be the energy.

So have I, have none of you have seen this, right? I remember when it came out. I think I saw it back of the day. Okay, he did. Yeah. Does he, okay, so I'm guessing, I haven't seen this. So I'm guessing one of two things happens. Either he somehow has sex with the AI, like become sentient, whatever, or it kills him.

Am I right? I don't, I don't remember it at all. I'm sure there's like a lot of playful flirting. It like almost kills his career. I can't imagine, like, because it's not, I don't think it's a thriller. I think it's like a fun sort of, remember that movie? ed TV yeah it's like

satirical sci-fi it's just like yeah satirical fun like would it the world sure is getting crazy but yeah I don't know everyone forgot about this movie

including yeah I have no idea what happened right now no I mean there there is so I have just reading the description I'm like wait

what the fuck is going on in this there's something about zoophilia in it I'm like wait what the fuck because I think it gets away from him and she ends up

Simone becomes even more famous simultaneously becoming a double winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress tied with herself. Yeah. So this was just the, what? We could see their pipe dream like all the way

back there. Because this is what like David Zazloff saw this and suddenly this is when he became interested in being a film executive. There it is. Right. We'll create. We'll remove the humans, create digital

and they will win best actress. I can't imagine the performance by the AI actress in this is good, you know, because the performances by AI actors currently aren't good. No. I've yet to see one where I was like, oh, that was like, they're doing something interesting there. I mean, but it is a matter of time before, because remember, we started off with being like, Will Smith doesn't even know how to eat spaghetti. Sure.

And now, like, it is getting slick. And now it's like, hmm, it can't eat spaghetti now, ish. Yeah. It's a full-blown. Wow, it's using the spoon and the fork to eat spaghetti and curling it up. Wow. Okay. Have I ever ever been tricked by AI yet?

Like, you've seen a video like, that's crazy. And then you're like, oh, fuck. And then you just, you feel like you have to like explain to everyone throughout your day and just been like, ah, I'm having a terrible one. I got tricked by a video. I saw a baby in an alligator's mouth. and then it crawled out of the alligator and I saw this black dude fighting gators in the swamp

there's like one there's a ball there's like a have you said that hand where the dude beating the shit out of alligator's I got fooled big time on this show I got food big time I got food big time Simone I'm gonna watch big time

you get fooled big time what happened we do our own overrated underrated on Monday morning and my underrated was how much animals or just like seeing animals discover trampolines. Oh, was that like bunnies on a trampoline?

Yeah, there's like all these videos all of a sudden the Bears love them. People afforded to me. And I do, there is one of my favorite genres of videos, like, from early YouTube days is just like ring camera videos of bears discovering hammocks and like not knowing what to do with themselves. They do an amazing job of like expressing the awkwardness of like being in a hammock and like the unsteadiness of like the unsteadiness of like.

trying to get into a hammock and but then they have a fucking blast swinging on the hammock and then like I started seeing these animals getting on trampolines and I was like guys we got a new banger out here animals on trampolines and as I was presenting this to the world super producer Catherine law came in and was like oh I think this is a man yeah and then we had to go to sleep grandpa we had a nurse sedate jack yeah yeah exactly what do you mean that's so worked up that's such an insidious lie to like, because you're right, there's not a big jump from ring camera, bear in a hammock to like rabbits or cats or whatever on a trampoline. So like really they're just slipping in there and be like, hey, you know how your aunt is on Facebook all the time a little bit too

much? We're going to, we're going to, we're going to, AI pill her now. She's not even going to know. She's going to be like, there's bunnies on the trampolines. You need to cover. We need to buy trampoline covers. Yeah. I'm so cynical just now with AI. I'm always. is like this second I'm like oh this is weird I'm like I'm like let me look at the fingers how are the windows shaped is that an actual door is that how anything is built that's good that's what that's what we all should be doing we are now like the we're human uh what do you call the capture tests or whatever you know right right are you a robot we get yeah right it's definitely because like there are times I'm like oh this is interesting I'm like oh this is fucking

a what the fuck is this like for Pinterest as somebody who like used to like like be like, oh, let me look at like a shoe on Pinterest or something. Or like, what can an office look like? A shoe. Yeah. A shoe. Hmm.

Hmm. But like now it's just chalk full of like AI bullshit in there. It is. I got another story of getting fooled. It is mostly animal that I googled a shoe and found the story about this old woman who lived in a shoe. She was played by a goose. And I was like,

holy shit. shit. She's raising all those kids in that shoe. A single mom who worked two jobs. She's playing the Reba fucking theme song. How do you even get zoned for that? You know, that's your first thing. It's like, yeah, yeah. You can't just be living in a shoe with a family.

Everyone brings their own sense of cynicism. They're like, look, I work in permitting, man. There's no way they're going to fucking offread that. What counties is this in? No, no, not happening. Not happening. But now there's a big news story that's bringing back into the headlines because there is a new, according to headlines, a new, quote,

rising star in Hollywood, a completely AI-generated performer called Tilly Norwood. What's so fucking funny to me is like to make a, you're like, okay, we're going to admit it's AI, we're going to admit that it's whatever. And then you give it a name like

Tilly, what? Yeah, yeah. This is, I don't know. The name should we got to, if we're going to be in the future, let's be in the future. You know, like, yeah, right, right. Give me it. Tilly Norwood. But they're doing the opposite thing. You know, they're just trying to give it like the opposite, the thing that's going to make you feel okay. And when you look at it, like Tilly Norwood is always giving like

a dorkable smiles. And like one of the videos is her like crying on command. And this is, it is also kind of a bullshit news story. Like it feels like the only person. So the story is that they created this video about like a new actress named Tilly Norwood who's like, gonna star in all their future movies. They did like a bunch of fake interviews with people where they're talking about like how this is hell. Like that they're like, yeah, we're, you know, because everything is hell right now,

we created this AI actor. So like they're kind of like in on the joke a little bit. The person who created Tilly Norwood is like considers themselves both like a comedian and like digital content. and it's like it's they're also the only source that anybody is interested in signing this actress yeah because they went to an AI summit or the Zurich summit and like unveiled this thing and like on stage they muttered it's like oh man like and we're getting a lot of interest like in like you know from talent agencies and then that just that quote generated all these headlines of

AI-generated actress could be first to be signed by talent agent. This AI actress is getting calls from agents. Who is Tilly Norwood? AI actress has Hollywood agents vying to sign her up. That's so smart. That's so smart because there's no one more petty than like actors, comedians, entertainers, or whatever. So the minute they get a whiff of like, what do you mean?

They have an agent? I don't have an agent. How, how? That just spins up the news cycle. That's genius, honestly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And also the news cycle is just incredibly 30.

for any news that makes it seem like AI is the future because so many corporations are trying to rely on that future. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited for like three years from now when we have our first, you know how like, um, um, I'm blanking in his name. There's going to be like someone who does a heinous crime in the name of like an AI actress, you know, like they did for like Jody Foster or whatever. Right. Like we're going to have one of those guys. I'm just like, I mean, I'm doing this for Tilly Norwood, you know. I mean, people have like self-hacking their own lives. Yeah, take their own lives.

Because they're like AI. I mean, these things are so insidious when it comes to, you know, sending the wrong message to vulnerable people. There's so much wild shit about AI, like chat bots, like just like the, you know, widely available ones, just telling people like, yeah, you actually, it's kind of crazy that you figured this out, but it's true.

You are in a simulation. And anybody who's telling you you're not, your parents telling you you you're not, that's because you're so smart and they're haters who are their agent Smith. Right. You know, exactly. That's what the bunnies on the trampoline are telling people right now. That's right. But yeah, like this, they're real.

This, like, the person behind the company, it's like, they're like, they said, like, and we're quote, we're going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months, which is like, okay, because you're. begging someone to make you an offer so you can actually make it seem as if you were telling the truth on stage. But then the same comedian AI person was like, also I want to announce the creation of Particle 6 offshoot Chicoia, which is an AI talent studio designed to create, manage, and monetize a new generation of hyperreal digital stars. The calls coming from them,

they're calling themselves. Yeah. Yeah, it's very, uh, what's Trump's alias when he would call? Baron. John Barron. Yeah. I got a call from John Barron. I don't have you heard about this Trump guy. I'm John Barron, though. And he's very hot. The ladies love him. Why are you doing a Donald Trump impression? Because I just think he's really cool. It's sort of like an icon. You know, you can say it is, you know, it is what it is. This is just my voice. I don't know what you're talking about. It's just like this. Leave it alone. Donald, why are you calling? It's not me. It's not me. It wasn't me.

What? I just called you Donald, and he said, it's not me. You're identifying yourself as not. Nope, it isn't me, though. He's shagging yourself. Yeah. Worst way to go down is the self-shaggy, 100%. Yeah. All right.

That's going to do it for this week's weekly zeitgeist. Please like and review the show. If you like the show, uh, means the world demiles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend. and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. Oh, come on.

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and boost productivity all on one device. Hi there. This is Josh Clark from the Stuff You Should Know podcast. If you've been thinking, man alive, I could go for some good true crime podcast episodes. Then have we got good news for you. Stuff You Should Know just released a playlist of 12 of our best true crime episodes of all time. There's a shootout in broad daylight. People using axes in really terrible ways, disappearances, legendary heists, the whole nine yards. So check out the Stuff You Should Know true crime playlist. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your, podcasts. Introducing IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. It grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients.

You think you're finally like in the right hand. You're just not. Listen to IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight... And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. A man who robbed a bank when he was 14 years old. And a centenarian rediscovers a love lost 80 years ago.

How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? Listen to heavyweight on the I-heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast.