The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 419 (2/16/26-2/20/26)

Episode Date: February 22, 2026

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 426 (2/16/26-2/20/26)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to Mind Games 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 nonstop infotainment laugh stravaganza uh yeah so without further ado here is the weekly zeitgeist

Blake you know we like to ask our guest what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are don't know so interesting no I knew you were going to ask that I have been written down right in front of me My Google search That's revealing of Oh, well, how did you put it?

Who I am. I looked at, I looked up love is blind Malibu And this is no, I'm not giving away any spoilers, but so they sent each love is blind, they send them on these, these idiots on a honeymoon in Mexico generally.

But this time they sent one of the couples to Malibu and didn't explain why. And wait, what? I was like, so they sent all the couples to Mexico and then just one couple to Malibu. And I'm like, like, is there a passport issue? Like, why wouldn't they send them? It's got to be.

And it just, it turns out that. That's what I thought too. But it was just they ran out of money. No. To send the cup. And this is a small company, um, the small streamer. Yeah. Wait, I haven't seen.

This is part of the, this is from the new season. From the new season. Oh, man. It's not important to the plot. whatsoever. But it is and it's not like, I mean, it's it's not that much. I mean, for a streamer, it's not that much to send one more couple to this weird resort. Yeah.

So they just sent them to Malibu instead. It's very strange. And it turns out it's because they didn't have the budget to send one more couple to Mexico. And also this couple, I believe they chose them because there, there wasn't like any beef between them and the other couple. So they're right. Well, they all need to be in the same spot. We can just send them. over to Malbu.

And that's a good question. Yeah, that's a good point from Catherine to producer Catherine. Where wouldn't Malibu could conceivably cost more. Yeah, where'd they spend? Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. I'm not sure. Fucking nobu or some shit.

At one of the producers' houses or something like that, you know, probably. They probably like knew somebody with the house. Oh, right. They're just like, I mean, I guess we can use my house. I'm not there right now. Yeah, that's the secret about Netflix is like, despite their crazy earnings, they are just like farming shit out to production companies that are like, going bankrupt in a lot of cases trying to produce these things.

Non-union. Yeah. Yeah, like the people who made fucking Squid game were like, we're fucked over here. Netflix is doing great. Right, right, right. Things not so good over here for us. Well, stocks is all we care about anyway.

It doesn't really matter. As long as that's going up is the thing. The important thing is that the shareholders are getting value. And despite of the Dow is over 50,000 guys. They said it would never happen. Thank you. Judge. And we are changing.

And you can edit this out if you're not announcing this yet, but we are removing the Zite Gang label and replacing it with shareholders. So the fans of the show, just shareholders. You're now shareholders. Yes. So thank you to the shareholders. Thank you to the shareholders. Absolutely. The day one.

TDSS dollar sign is our new because that's our stock trade. Hell is. Zit coin is coming. It's like coin is coming, and people were asking about that in the anniversary of the 2000. Look, we're still working on it. Oh, we're still, just get ready. This thing's being bigger all the other cryptons. Buy the dip.

We're about to buy the dip like you've never seen before. Dude, I'm about to buy the dip. Like, I'm on my way to a Super Bowl party. That's right. With a wheelbarrow. Seven layer. That's how deep this dip does go. Unfortunately, it, uh, it, uh,

does appear to be that that NFT market is completely dead. If you say so. Yeah, exactly. That's what they say. And I love that people are believing that. Because that's just making me money. Oh my God. Now I can finally buy that board ape Justin Beaver was sitting on.

The one that they're getting sued for having tried to sell. How is that what? Everybody who did the board ape or like the Jimmy Fallon one. Yeah. They're all, like, being sued by people for being, like, you said this was, I think Jake Paul, it was recently revealed, or Logan, one of the Polans. Also, they're all in that fucking shit. Yeah, they, Rand. The one that he bought for, yeah, Rand. Jake, Rand, Ron. All the Paul brothers. But the headliner last week was how Justin Bieber bought that board ape for $1.3 million an ounce worth $12,000. $12,000. Seems like a lot to me, honestly. 12,000 seems like maybe too much. That's a lot, bro.

But just on that, on that, if you just stare at the ball. And guess who's been blown up Justin Bieber trying to take that off his hands? You know what I'm saying? Signor by the dip. Over here. What is something, Troy, that you think is underrated? Chain restaurants.

Underrated. Hell yeah. Yeah. Good answer. Good answer. It's very underrated. I feel like certain ones better than others, but, you know, I think you can.

You can't really, you need to appreciate the ability to be in almost any city in the country and go. Hell yeah. A cheesecake factory. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be at least satisfied. Yeah. You know, there's no, like, mistakes.

You know, there's certain things that hit with, like, almost every chain restaurant. Like, anything in an egg roll, like, any, you know, like, that's just been, like, fried crispy and has various cream cheeseed ingredients. inside is just like, come on. That's going to be good. Every version of mac and cheese. There's a reason those shits are chained up. They're good. They used to not be chain restaurants.

I can tell you that much. I will say this. And my genuinely, I'm somewhere on social media, public record, my friend, Catherine, who's like a food journalist, like an honest to God, full-ass, food journalist, did like an Instagram poll or something

at one time. It was like, what's the most underrated? restaurant in Los Angeles. I replied, it is the Arby's that is on Sunset Boulevard. By the way, RIP to that RBS. Yeah, closed down.

And she did say that one got the most responses of people being like, it actually is. It is this one. Andrew's right. It's this one. It's so, rated so low. And it is fucking awesome.

Even if it doesn't exist anymore. Yeah. It used to, yeah, I used to stop at that Rbe's. Yeah. We're just stop at that Arby's and really crash out. Yeah. Like really just like black out and come and then leave with like, why did I order all of this? Because that Arby's is the you just left a general meeting in Hollywood and it didn't go great and you're about to get on the highway Arbys.

Yeah. Yeah. It's right next to the Netflix headquarters. Yeah. And you just said to yourself like, you know what? I deserve two French dips. Yeah. Yeah.

They had me pitch off next to a iPad AI. thing with like a smiley face on it and I lost. Yeah, the masked writer. What if we took to your premise and gave it to this AI? That sounds good. That does sound good, actually. Troy, do you give us one order from a chain restaurant that you feel like is, like, underrated or like something that everybody should get? Okay.

So have you guys ever been to Texas Roadhouse? I think is that the one with peanuts on the floor? Yeah, yeah. They have a bucket of peanuts. You're starting to see the through line between this and Days of Thunder. It's like, right? Hell, yeah. This is very me, this old thing.

The bone in ribby at Texas Red House. Yes. Is one of truly like you cannot lose. Of course. You cannot lose. Because that is, that's an ambitious order for a chain restaurant to go with a, you know what I mean? Yeah. It will be perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned every single time.

And it's like $25 for a 20 ounce bone in ribeye. It's like easily one of the best steak deals you can get. Wow. And they have it everywhere. And because you're a Texas Roadhouse, you get a bucket of peanuts and those rolls with the cinnamon butter. People love the, yeah, love to fucking rolls. Texas Roadhouse, man, I'm an evangelist. the way you've reacted to my

me saying the place with peanuts on the floor is leading me to believe that maybe it only has peanuts on the floor when I'm there like are you not supposed to just throw them on the the shells on the floor? What I remember is like it was like kind of yeah I guess people probably do just throw them on the floor but it's just me.

We got to look under Jack's desk right now because it's just coated with you. It looks like a hamster cage down there with just nothing but peanut shells. I don't know that they've actually got like a This is fine. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think like the corporate manual is like

so, you know, part of your side work is sprinkle peanut shells on the floor. Sure. Yeah, yeah. I think maybe this was, it was also the last one I went to was when I lived in Kentucky a long time ago. So maybe that was specific to Kentucky. I feel like you just sort of like

Pig pen from from Peanutshells. Sort of like pig pen from Pean You just got like a cloud of peanut shells orbit at all times. Now that would have made sense why that strip was called peanuts. He got peanut. He does have a peanut show. I kept waiting for a punchline. What is something you think is overrated?

Okay. I think that learning new slang is overrated. I think that the slang that you use should be representative of your age. I don't think you need to say, let's fucking. can go if you are 40 years old. I just feel like you use the slang you learned when you were younger. I think slang should be, I think you hear someone speak slang and you know their age. I don't like older people using newer slang.

I think that's cool beans. Let us fucking go. See, I like that. Yeah, you got it. That is cool beans. I just feel like, because I, you know, and that's tea, you know, ultimately. And ultimately that's tea, chat. And I'm sure I'm guilty of this as well, but I do think it is the, the, the, the,

appropriation. I get so mad when they're like, it's Gen Z slang and like black people have been saying it for 40 years. Right. That could be true. That could be true. But it's just, it's always, it's always looked on in a negative light. Like, you know, the like, Pokemon go to the polls, which obviously wasn't something anyone even said. But like, it's just always, it's always, it's all the time. I guess you're right. But it's just always embarrassing when older people try to use new slang. And I don't think you need to, you know, I think you can just use the slang. Like, you know, we can still say things are tight. That's fine. That's our, it's our culture. You know? I don't think we need to add new stuff. Tite was good. Keep it up.

But then how do you communicate with younger generations? How do you translate the text? Why do you need to? Because when we go to the island, oh, fuck, oh shit. Oh, no. Well, there we go. I caught you. Yeah, the only reason people use new slang is to be pet files. That's the ultimate point of trying to say. That is how we should start getting people to.

Anyone who knows what T is a pet, is a pet. Tea is grass, right? It's Mary Jane. That is the beat generation called tea, called weed tea. I just feel like I see a lot of older people really trying hard to use young slang, and I don't think you need to. I just don't think it's necessary. The Guardian has an article that's getting past around this morning about clavicular. Oh, my God.

And the headline is, The Disturbing Rise of Clavicular, how a looksmaxer turned his horror story into fame. Like that, it'd be one thing if you said, like, what is? In the face with a hammer. Like, what? What is he? All I've seen is him being talked about. What is he? Explain him in a minute.

He's like a weird. He makes, first of all, he makes $57,000 a year and thinks that's a lot. And then he's like, he's like, isn't that great? And he's like, he's like in the weird kind of the kick streaming, like young men. he literally is like trying to looks max he thinks that looks are the end-all be-all to everything he hit himself in the face with a hammer to change his drawline he also ran over a man live on stream i don't know if that guy died but like it was like insane it was insane he's like this weird he's like what 20 20 sounds like he's manslaughter maxing a little too

Mm-hmm. It's unclear if he's manslaughter masking or jester maxing. He is hot, though, right? Is he hot? Like, I saw one. He seems hot, right? He's pretty hot. You've got to stop saying these children are hot. No, no.

I just mean... He's literally like 20. No, no. I just mean it's not like he's like, like, people regard him as attractive, right? So that's like part of his thing. I think, but I think he's like built himself into that. I think he's just like a white boy. Like, you know what I?

I think that's his whole thing. He's also said that he uses meth to cut weight. I know, which is, again, just appropriating culture that we've all been doing for years. And to help his addiction. Did he, did the hammer thing work? Did he get, like, better? I don't think any of this is real, by the way. Like, I don't, I think we would, I think he would be under arrest if he had actually

hit that guy with his car. You don't think that was real? I don't know. It seems... I thought that that was, like, a guy who was, like, a stalker. I thought he did have to go... I don't know. I mean, maybe...

This is based on very little knowledge, but just everything I've heard, it seems... Like, he's like, I have taken so many steroids that I'm now infertile. And it just seems like he, like, says shit to, like, make the wildest character possible, essentially. And... But I haven't watched... the video where he allegedly runs over somebody with his car. Also, I just think he did do that part. His name is Braden.

Braden Peters. Braden Peters. Yeah. Braden. That's the first thing of looks maxing is change your name if it's Braden. He called Gavin Newsom a Chad, so that's cool. Is it? No.

I don't know what's happening. All right. Let's take a quick break. We need to reset. we will be back to talk about two Alpha, Alpha, I don't know, two heroes, RFK Jr. and Kid Rock. We'll be right back. Welcome to the A building. I'm Hans Charles.

I'm Minilic Lamoma. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated. And Black America was out of breaking point. Writing and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia at Martin's Almemata, Morehouse College, Students had their own protest.

It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution. I mean, people would die. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far.

more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to the A-building on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do you do in the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, is where culture meets the soul, a place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life, celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks, and we go down. deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff, identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore,

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And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan Cortina-26 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Boen. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi.

Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your evening. Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And we're back. No. And let's talk about war. Yeah. What is it good for?

That's what those ad rings are for. That's right. It's fun content. This is just, you know, it seems like Donald Trump is desperate for a distraction from the Epstein files and the ice goon. and the economy and the naked corruption and like everything else that, you know, is happening with the administration. So they're going to go full George W. Bush on all of our asses.

Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of saber rattling going on. He claims he's negotiating a deal with Iran, but it's not really clear what the ask is. Like they say this is about the nuclear program. Iran has stated that they are fine not having nuke. So it's like, okay, so we're good. We're good here.

God, can you imagine. Let me make up something else that I need to get from this. The thing that he wants least is Iran, like, cooperating, which is so, what a weird dynamic. They're just like, we can just fuck with him by going like, yeah, all right. Yeah, exactly. Sure. That's fine.

It's all good. He doesn't even have to do it. Funny because he's the one that, like, blew up the nuclear deal. The Obama nuclear deal, he got rid of it. And now they're like, make a nuclear deal. Right. We want a nuclear deal. It's all good.

Just like, yeah, the whole thing is just kind of like he breaks something and then, you know. But it's also like, if you're Iran, it's so easy to be like, yeah, okay. And then just don't do it because he's not even going to know. Like it's like they're gosherting with like a five-year-old. Just like, yeah, whatever. Just let's lie to his face. Who cares? What's he going to do about it?

We do, of course, know that the U.S. is not the only one negotiating here, and that Netanyahu's been talking with Trump about these talks, and they probably both, they're coming from different places. They have different end games. Trump seems to be fine with being like, I got Iran to stop doing the nuke, and then Netanyahu would rather drag the U.S. and the world into World War III. Yeah. So, I don't know. Regional World War III. I guess they're all pretty regional. Yeah. Yeah, I always refer to World War II as a regional conflict personally. That's what I'm like. I'm cool like that. Yeah, I don't know.

At this point might be cool to start raising Israel's 200 plus nukes. No. Maybe that should be something that we introduce into the conversation since they seem to be a little bit loose-canonyy, little rigsy. They're chill. They're the chillest. And that's important. to keep in mind. That's right.

All right. Moving on to AI, which I do just feel like, I'm seeing a lot of headlines recently. That it's just like, no, guys, but for real, this time. Here comes AI to for real change your world.

Do you know how fast this AI is going to know facts from Days of Thunder? Do you know how fast? That's right. Troy, you're fucking toast, bro. I know. John Henry, finished. That's right.

It does, it does, like, every time this happens, I just do need to go and do like a couple levels deep research to be like, wait, is it actually amazing now? Does it do anything good? Uh-huh. That, like, yeah, they still know. I'm going to be like, oh, yeah. That's, like, they still have the one thing where they, like, figured out the structure of the proteins, protein molecules.

And, like, that was, that's still, like, cool. If I, if I may, uh, Jack, I saw this in the notes. I will also point out, though, they love to hold up, like, the one time it works. Because that's what they do for video creation,

for, like, fucking chatbot shit. It's like, oh, my God, look at what it can do. And they don't ever point out the 9 billion other, 900,

99, 9, 9, 9,000, 9 billion other times that it doesn't work. Yeah. So, you know, great assault on even the protein thing. It's just like, it took so many shots

in the fucking dark. One of them had to work. Right. And, But that video, everybody was sharing of the AI, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, like, flying on top of a building. You know, and it's like, yeah, that looks good. But whenever it goes in a close-up, you're like, I kind of feel like I saw this from seven. This is just a space from seven.

You know, it's like that kind of thing. I kind of feel like AI is only really going to, it'll work to, like, supplement things. Yeah, yeah, it's a tool. When you just Googled, yeah, got your little AI summary that you just got a second ago, it'll be that and like it'll work for porn. Yeah, yeah. I think those will be like the two things that'll work for. The Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt thing, too, was just a face replacement.

They, the Twitter people were like, oh, you know, it was like a blank thing. We just said, show me Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting. It turns out it was like a shot video with a face replacement. They just put their faces on someone else. I think. As far as I saw on like blue sky, so who knows? But we don't source things. We don't fact check things because we hold ourselves to the same standard as the thing we're discussing,

which in this case does not fact check anything. And is permitted to hallucinate facts. But as best as I can tell, we're not seeing anything that's cool or like the change. Like even if, let's say the Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise thing is real. They just type, make Brad Pitt fight Tom Cruise into a AI engine. And it makes that video like, what does that do? Like, who's that? How does that change the world?

Like, I still haven't seen that thing other than using it as a tool for, like, scientific research and discovery. Great, yes, please, keep doing that. but they need all this investment. And so it's just these like broad pie in the sky things. The thing that made me think about it was Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, who are,

have many problems going on with their league. And, you know, owners and players directly funding or participating in war crimes, et cetera, et cetera. They are, he like gave this state of, of the league thing at All-Star Weekend.

And he said, as I look at the world and the predictions, and we're seeing much of it already on how AI is changing everything about our personal lives, our business lives. For me, there's no doubt AI will have the same impact on sports. Oh, dope. What? One area in particular that I think is worth addressing is impact on the fan experience. One of the things we're beginning to see already is how we're going to,

more than personalized, almost hyper-personalize, our telecasts. That's going to suck so bad. Yeah. That's going to be so bad. I think these people genuinely don't understand what a culture is. Right.

Like, because these people, the other thing they bring up all the time is like, oh, you could get it to generate an episode of Game of Thrones just for you, starring you and your boys or whatever. And it's like, that's not television. That's like a card for yourself. No one else wants to see that.

And then you're just in a vacuum by yourself. It's so insane that they think people want that. A lot of the stuff is like, oh, here's your AI companion. Yeah. That's just sad. Has anybody had a good experience with that? Like, I know people who have used it to be like, hey, could you organize my computer, like, help me organize these files?

Has anyone had like a good personalized experience? Like, I feel like the way this is going, to go is you're going to be watching an NBA game that like just like compliments you. Yeah. And it's like, look at that play, Jack. Jack. Jack was amazing. Yeah.

It's amazing that you're watching this NBA game. Exactly. It's amazing that you asked about how many rebounds. Only a really smart. Yeah. Like I think it's just what's the definition of good? I think there are a lot of people that enjoy that interaction. But I think the data seems to be showing that's not good for that.

or for anyone. I think it'll be good for video games, porn, and it's like a fun thing to play with, but that's not how it's being pitched to anyone. I feel like it'll work well as a tool to help you get, like, cut down on how much work you have to put into stuff, and then it'll work for things where, like, the actual quality is not that important, you know?

That's right. Like, that's where it'll be. That's why I think you're, I think you're right. It's like, oh, okay, it'll work kind of for video games and help them code. And then there's like the weird like AI girlfriend porn stuff where it's like, you know, these are guys who are buying fleshlights. They don't care if she's got six fingers.

Yeah. They're into that. Gotta consider that six, six thing. Yeah. So it's kind of like this like, I feel like it's got to be, it'll be helpful in as a tool and stuff that requires quality control. And people can plug whatever into it and have it kick it out for stuff that doesn't matter.

I mean, the personality pitch, every time the AI bros talk, it feels to me like their pitch basically boils down to, hey, we've all wanted to have a slave, haven't we? And it's like, no, dog, what are you talking about? That's genuinely how they talk. They're like, well, wouldn't you want this? And it's like, oh, really, man.

Kind of work around the clock and tree like shit. Yeah. Yeah. It always kind of, it reminds me of like the Bitcoin stuff where it's kind of, they're always like underlying it is kind of like this like, I can't function in normal society aspect to it of like, no, man, I don't want regular actual money. I need money where no one knows where it came from or where it's going.

I need like, you know, my bank accounts have been closed. Yeah. What if what if this dollar bill could be worth between half and twice as much as it is at any given second? Yeah. Like that. Don't you see the advantage, man? Don't you see the advantage? The government can't seize my assets. It's like, yeah, I do. But like, I have to admit, I've never really been that concerned about that. That's weird that you're so worried about that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like that kind of thing. Yeah, just in terms of like what they're actually using it for, because this does seem to be a thing that Wall Street is starting to pay more and more attention to is like, okay, so like what, when will there be results? Because they're just shoveling money into AI research. And there's been a couple of studies recently. Some people have even suggested like this is why they're going so hard on the like get ready to have your whole world fucking rocked guys. is because there's like these surveys,

like they just surveyed thousands of CEOs and two-thirds of executives use AI, but they use it for an average of 90 minutes a week. Yeah. Like they also are like trying, you know, there was this initial pitch in 2023 from an AI researcher being like,

this is going to increase workers' performance by nearly 40% once it's adopted. And like of the people who have adopted it, they, like, haven't increased productivity at all. It doesn't do the thing that it's supposed to do that is, like, the entire promise of it. It's changed. I think it's changed the nature of a lot of people's jobs if they're forced to use it because their job has now become, well, now I have to double check that this lying machine, like, is

not lying as much as it could be. It's just like, you're still spending the same amount of time. There's no faster way to do that. the promise of it is definitely overrated so far. It's kind of, it always kind of feels like it's like it's coming from people who maybe were good at like tech and not at other stuff. And so I want the tech to fix the other stuff,

you know, like it's like, oh, it'll make sport. I wasn't good at football, but it'll make football so much better. I can't act, but I can do this thing.

Yeah, that thing can make actors. It's always feels like it's kind of this other, other thing. I feel like as far as like actual legitimate business, it'll help in some ways. But I mean, it's kind of part of the issue is that you don't, you're not okay with error from the robot, right? It's like if you were going to get like an AI travel assistant and ask it to book you flights and like plan out a trip for you and it messes that up. Oh yeah. Like don't, you won't be okay with that the way you'd go like, oh, my travel agent's a moron. Right.

Like it's like this weird kind of thing where because it's a robot, it needs to be perfect that it can't be perfect. Interesting. Bad at its job. I feel like people are on the, I've had the opposite side now. I'm like, it's an AI. Of course it makes the stakes. Right. But they, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like at a certain point, though, yeah, the results are going to start becoming a problem for them. Like this really broad learning curve that I feel like we are giving them. a lot of grace with the learning curve of the AI because they are asking us to, I guess, because so much of their money is that same? Yeah, because the CEOs

are just like, hey, they need it to be true. Yeah, they need it to be true. They need to be able to lay off 40% of the workforce, and that's all they're Jones in for. Yes. Yeah. To go back to the NBA,

like I feel like this is like when a GM can't put a winning team together, so they just keep like, They're like, oh, we're tanking. We're like just acquiring, you know, picks for the future and like just selling this hope. And eventually it's just like people get tired of that. Yeah. Amazon saw their share prices drop earlier this month after it was announced that they're spending $200 billion on AI.

And people are like, but like you don't have any results. Microsoft, same thing because they announced that the, return on AM, but AI investment would be further off than anyone expected. But like, people were worried when they were spending $250 billion in 2024. They're expected to spend $650 billion in 2026. So they're just ramping it up. Well, it's also like, there's something to show for it. There's something to show for it will crater society. Yeah. That's right. This is going to be great. You're all going to be out of work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, best case scenario is that it puts millions of people at work.

Yeah. Troy, to your point about this being, like, the tech guys being like, this is going to be great. We just, like, won't ever have to interact with each other. It reminds me of their solve for food when they were, like, soilant. Yeah. You know how the worst thing about getting nutrients and, like, getting through the day is having to eat, spend time eating,

delicious food, well, we've solved for that. This is like, you know how the worst part of doing anything? Like, yeah, there's some busy work that sucks, but it's just like they just want to streamline everything so there's no human interaction at all in anybody's day. So, yeah, I'm still not, still not buying. I genuinely, I have a theory that

income disparity in Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, San Francisco specifically, means that there's not enough teens on the street telling these guys they're not, they're dorks, and this is why we're here. If we just need teens and tell them these people, you're fucking sociopathic nerds, their

businesses would be in a better spot. Just import mean teenagers to San Francisco, to the Bay Area. This is a great pitch. Andrew has two goaded Hall of Fame theories. One is this, and the other

is we just should never do satire. satire never works. I just don't think it ever works. We just need to never do satire ever again because people are just like, American Psycho? That should be a real guy named clavicular.

I want to be Walter White. Yes, exactly. Exactly. It flies over people's heads too. Yeah, it does. And then people just like it. Yeah. Let's take a quick break.

We'll come back and talk about Reese's cups and whether they're getting worse. We'll be right back. Welcome to the A building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Minnick Lamouba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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I mean, people would die. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to the A-building on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get, your podcasts. What do you do in the headlines

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this show is for you. Listen to if you can hear me on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn.

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And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys' Five Rings podcast in the lead-up to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Boen, hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen.

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And we're back. And did this cross? I never know, you know, I'm on my, in my own little, like, Twitter, social media bubble. But Pivot experience hit my feed like a second 9-11. Not just a second plane, a second and tiger 9-11. Yeah. A 9-12, if you will. It's, I think it's because it's like a single poster.

but it packs in so much information, so many fonts. If you look closely, you can see a social security number. Yes, I think there's 17 different fonts on this one thing. Now, that's a comedy flyer, if I have already heard, Game Changer Entertainment Presents Piven Experience, April 25th, 2026. Had you, where were you when you heard? Did you guys have planned? before this and how easy were they to cancel?

I just want to sleep through March. April can not come soon enough. The idea of waiting two plus months for this. Yeah, a friend sent it to me for sure. He also, he's kind of doing the pose of that that penis COVID guy, you know, that guy who kind of, that picture that was sent around to everyone during COVID of the guy who's kind of like crouching with his penis out. Anyway, whatever.

Oh, yeah. He's kind of doing that stance. He looks like him. I never thought of him as the penis COVID guy, but I know you're talking about the guy who's got the giant penis. God, that was a time. What were we doing? We were just sending this man's dick around to each other. Has that guy ever come out and, like, talked about it?

I'm sure he has. I think people identified him. You thought your pandemic was weird. That sounds like, I didn't even know there was a camera. It sounds like a Jamie Loftus podcast episode or something. minute. Yeah. Yeah.

We gotta get that going. Yeah, the Jeremy Pivot experience, right. It's not the Jeremy Piven experience. Oh, sorry. Andrew. This is a common mistake.

There is no the, there is no, Jeremy. It's just called Piven experience. But do you know why? It's because they ran out of letters on the flyer. There's so many.

There are in the other. Yeah. There's so much text on this. Like a fucking R.B sign. And they were just. Yeah, they had a certain number in the closet. Yeah, they didn't even have the P and the H for Philadelphia restaurant, so it's just Adelphia restaurant. In Deptford, New Jersey, 6.38.30 p.m.

Get ready for an unforgettable night with Jeremy Piven. That's a threat. That's a threat. My favorite part is this. VIP tickets $150 sitting at the same table as Jeremy Piven. So it's crazy that for only $40 extra, you can sit at his table. At the same table.

How many seats? I think we need to pull a 50 cent and just buy all the rows around him. I am putting this out there. Sorry, just real quick, I need to make an offer to our listeners. Oh, yes. Anyone who is willing to go to this on April 20th. Oh, my God, please. You should buy their ticket.

Yeah, buy their ticket. We'll pay for your ticket. Oh. And we will interview you on the show. Oh, my God. Watch me fly out. I just want you there as an observer. I don't want you to, like, go and weird to Jeremy Piven out, you know?

I just, I want you to tell me what is happening. Like, go in as an observer. Just on the inside. So it's from 630 to 8.30. It's obviously a lot of food. The VIP tickets, you sit at the same table as Jeremy Piven. I think, I honestly think all this is is just eating in the same restaurant as Jeremy Pippin. I don't think he knows it's even going to happen.

He just made reservations and somebody else is selling tickets. You're going to have dinner. You're going to have dinner this day. But that's what's so crazy because it's like if he's sitting at a table, he's not doing a show. He's just eating dinner, right? But that is actually funnier than his stand-up. I have done shows with him. Oh, okay.

So this is a step up. I've done shows with him. He and like Anne Hache started around the same time and she actually had like potential, you know, like she actually had his was just like and then me and this celebrity like did this other fucking thing. It was weird. It was weird. But she actually had like vulnerability and his like I was just like like no everybody knows you're an asshole already dude. Get off the stage. You don't need to confirm it. Like you have to there are famous assholes. in this town of Hollywood that we work in. He's known for it. He is known to be such an asshole that like it damaged his career. Like there are people who like won't come out of their trailer like for like reasons that like just because there's like the wrong M&Ms or whatever in their trailer and shit.

And like he is known for being difficult like to be so difficult that it derails your career in Hollywood. And there are many other things that, you know, there have been accusations. of sexual assault. Yeah, that's why he came to comedy. Yes. But just, he also got mercury poisoning from eating too much sushi, allegedly. And then a lot of, like,

industry groups came out and were like, that's not what happened that you won't get mercury poisoning. Luckily, there's a steak option with the Piven experience. Because he was sympathetic to the mercury community. Grilled salmon, Black Angus, Sirlein steak,

in Parmigiano with linguine and Pente Primavera. Those are your entrees. Starters are soup of the day salad. And then you really get the sense that they ran out of energy as the thing went on. Because then we go to dessert and it just says included. That's my favorite dessert. Why you got so many questions. Who looks that lineup?

That's incredible openers. Desert included. Like they're like, I don't know. no, man, I'm tired. We listed five. You'll fucking take what we got, okay? You son of a bitch. It's incredible. Also, the license plate, Ari's Ferrari,

is like, ugh. You know that's, like, actually probably his license plate. It is, and you will get a free Aris Fari or Ari's Ferrari license plate. What does that mean? Free license plate. Yeah, well, how big are we thinking? Yeah.

Like the size of a check? I think it's got to be. A key chain? A big chick. Like a giant chick. Like a giant chick. But it is funny they have in the picture of him looking like the big dick covey guy. They do then just have his personalized license plate hovering in the air in front of him, like with nothing seemingly holding it up.

So that people are like, this is their insistence on. repeatedly reminding anyone looking at this that it is entourage's R.E. Gold has to piss, has to make Piven experience some rage. Well, I got to say, I really hope he comes West and does one at Alifonia. That would be clear. My favorite restaurant, Aliforgia. Allifonia. Dessert, include.

And then just checking in with the Epstein Files. There are people facing consequences for their exposure in the Epstein files. When those consequences are convenient, like J.B. Pritzker's cousin, Thomas J. Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel's fortune, stepped down from his role. But he's like 75. He's probably like weeks away from doing this anyways. We got Peter Atia, who is like the wellness influencer, and he stepped down from his role as chief science officer of a protein bar brand, David Protein.

Worst fucking name ever. David Protein. What the fuck? I've seen ads for this, and I sent a picture of it to my friend David. It's like a year ago. And the ads don't even say protein, by the way. They just say David, and then it has a picture of a protein bar. It's the worst advertising ever.

So they, and also AG1 said in a statement, Dr. Optia is no longer an advisor to the company. I do hope David Protein's able to survive without him. As we mentioned, Sultan Ahmed bin Saliam. Suleim has been fired and stepped down. One of the least predictable outcomes is the death of Jimmy Fallon's line of pasta sauces. This is kind of here. And that's so crazy because I knew he had a pasta sauce before this for sure.

Well, hasn't come out yet. Oh. I don't want to overuse. the comparison to a second 9-11 here on this. But this would be a third. This would be a third. Finding out that Jimmy Fallon and Tommy Motola's line of pasta sauces. That's fucking insane.

The man known for destroying Mariah Carey and also Tommy Matola. So their pasta sauce line was scheduled for 2027. But those plans have been halted. by the fact that Mottola is mentioned more than 600 times you have steam files. And I'm fucked because I had already planned out my meal calendar for all 2027

and a big part of it was this pasta sauce. So I don't know where I'm going to get. It was a load-bearing part of my meal plan. All this guy's Frank Carbs over here. David Carves. David Carves. David Carves is a great thing to say to your friend David

when he's eating too much pasta. David carbs. They're protein more like David Carbs over here. So that has put a halt on the line of pasta sauces. Technically Fallon is also mentioned in

the files, but it is not the most incriminating context. Actually, Woody Allen's wife ex-stepdaughter, Sunyi announced that she was taking her daughter and a friend to see a Fallon, taping and then said what we do for our kids. Am I right? Oh my God. They also thought he wasn't funny. Yeah, Fallon is so insufferable that someone who spends

every day with Woody Allen was like this fucking guy. Well, I will say her husband did a lot for his kids. So soon he's husband. He did a lot for his kids. So that's pretty cool. That's right. For his daughter, wife? For his daughter, mostly that. His daughter. I also like I was thinking I saw this email from Sunyi and it'd be kind of cool if we all in solidarity changed our email sign up to sent from Sunyi's iPhone. You guys down to do that with me? Does that sound good? Sent from Sunyi's iPhone.

Let's do it. Come on. I didn't know we weren't supposed to have been doing that for years. Okay. You've already been there. You've been on that. That's that way no one's responding. But Tommy Mottola is another one of these guys

who's career for all intents and purposes is, you know, in the rearview mirror and has discussed needing to, quote, shut up and lay low with Epstein. Oh, wait, no, I'm sorry. This is not right now. This is him, this is what he discussed with Epstein during the Me Too movement.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Whoa. And he also helped Epstein find a private detective as his many secrets were threatened following a Miami Herald expose on his private island. Those are quotes from a Hollywood reporter article.

So he was actively helping Epstein cover up his things and also being like, eh, I better stay out of the limelight. Dear released sex offender, I do think that the times are calling for accountability and I shall not persist. That's so fucking crazy. It's all, it's like, every email, it's just like, it's not that these people were acquaintances.

They're all like best friends with it. Like, the way they talk to him is like they're like checking in to let him know where they're at throughout the day. Like, hey, hey, I met Fallon. Oh, the things we do for our kids. Hey, anyways, see you later on, brother. I was like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Yeah, I can't think of anyone in my life that I'm in. in touch with as these people are with Jeffrey Epstein than I am with my mother.

I can't think of telling anyone in my life that I went to Fallon. Right. Yeah, the level of vulnerability. That's a sense of vulnerability. Exactly. Yeah. But I do just want to, because so Jimmy Fallon's starting a pasta sauce with Tauvi Motola did seem a little bit confounding to me at first.

It's just the latest kind of weird business venture. First of all, they were, like, known for going to rouse together, like, that the Italian restaurant that, like, launched a famous pasta sauce brand. So I don't know where they got this genius idea for, like, you can just, like, see how their brains work. Wait a second. But then he has also basically turned the Tonight Show into his own personal QVC. Yeah. Like when he hawked his own line of wildly expensive pajamas dubbed P.D. Jimmy's from Alex Mill.

Other times, it's less clear. He's using his show's content to enrich himself. We mentioned before when he got into trouble after extolling the virtues of NFTs with Paris Hilton. Do you guys remember that clip? Oh, yeah. That was horrific. It is like it needs to be in a museum somewhere.

It's so strange. It's just the whole, it captures the weird NFT moment. It captures the weird experience of being in a studio audience. where they're like, come on, people, Jimmy needs it. You got to laugh. And then just like the nervous laughter of a room full of people. And it's just, it again feels like a timidic, like sketch that's supposed to feel like a, like a bad-assed trip. I'm so embarrassed that it worked on me and I did buy a board a babe after that.

I'm so unbelievably embarrassed. I've lost my apes. My apes. My aves. That's our Stella. That's our generation. he didn't disclose that he had a financial stake in that company and so he got into hot water yeah he did get in trouble oh you know what else gets into hot water is pasta

there we go that gets into hot water i'll tell you that much i do love that like the the most predictable things happen like if i were to write a movie about any of these people that would happen to the jimmy fallon character in my movie yeah it's like oh the things that you thought would happen or happening. Incredible. Yeah. And so he got in trouble with that, like during the pandemic. In 2024, he invested in the new golf league TGL,

and then four days later hosted TGL golfers on his show to talk about the endeavor. And at no point did he discuss he had any financial ties. There was an episode last year where he interviewed Adam Goldstein, CEO of Archer Aviation,

and they spent several minutes hyping the company claiming their flying cars are like stepping into the future and then he appeared in a promotional video for the company in which he wouldn't shut up about the design safety and leg room of the midnight aircraft and then people are like he's definitely first of all the videos are a lie they're misrepresenting like the progress of their flying cars and apparently he paid jimmy phallon millions for the tonight show spot and like it's like just illegal shit like he's just tied up in... It's also just fucking sad.

Like, comedy used to mean something to white guys. Yeah. It's like... Yeah. If there's any way to explode on the cultural zeit guys, it's two up here on Fallon, so I do get it. That's right. That's the way to be cool. That's how you go big.

Yeah, but it's like with these, it's like with him, it's like, why does he need more? Like, you're already making a lot of money being on TV all the time. Like, why do you? You also need to like be shady. It's so weird. It's not the money. It's the content. This man is bored. It doesn't know how to write jokes anymore. So you're like promoting brands and stuff that you have a stake in. It's just so bizarre. That's because at heart he's an influencer. Right. You're right. He cares about selling, yeah, ads. He's kind of her greatest influencer in many ways. Wait, doesn't he have like an ad TV show or something? Like a TV show where he talks about ads? Where he gets regular people to create marketing. schemes. Yes, I saw that.

Him and, like, Bose from Real Housewives, who used to be, like, in charge of, like, rebranding Uber after everybody was, like, your CEO is fucked up. Right. So it's, like, her and him, and they're just getting, like, regular people to be, like, do ads.

Yeah. To do ads. To do ads. Christ. So it's, like, Shark Tank, but you're, like, pitching them to pitch their company to people. Yeah. Who then don't get paid to do it, probably.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure all the IP is stolen. You win a one-time prize of $10,000 in the home edition of this game. Yeah. All right. Well, anyways, Jimmy's okay. His pasta sauce is not.

And I just want to assure everybody about that because I think they were. If you Google Tommy Motola, Epstein, this is the story. It just keeps coming up. It's just all about Jimmy Fallon's pasta sauce. Pasta sauce. Can't be super excited about. All right. That's going to do it for this week.

weekly, Zeitgeist, please like and review the show if you like the show. It means the world to Miles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend, and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. Didn't we learn that the folding chair was invented by black people because of what happened in Alabama? This Black History Month, the podcast, Selective Ignorance with Mandy B, unpacked black history and culture with comedy, clarity, and.

and conversations that shake the status quo. The Crown Act in New York was signed in July of 2019, and that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race. To hear this and more, listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me, is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace.

faith and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to if you can hear me on my iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Bowen-Yen.

And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan Cortina-2026 Winter Olympic Games, We've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bob, hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie.

Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears. Listen to two guys, five rings on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy you? a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, aka Neurilingualistic Programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.