Tomorrow - Episode 73: Leah Finnegan: I Am Marie Kondo

Episode Date: October 13, 2016

This week Josh takes a moment to enjoy the view with Leah Finnegan, a senior editor at The Outline, formerly of Gawker and Cosmopolitan. Between the two of them, there's trends flying out everywhere. From Amazon sweatshirts to McDonald's to red wine, you'll leave this hour knowing more about what's in vogue then ever before. That is, if you're willing to wear Prada shoes, take HGH, get the Politico newsletter, and go Mega Vi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to tomorrow on your host, Josh Wattipulski. Today on the podcast, we discuss lip sand, political, and magnolia. I don't want to waste one minute, so let's get right into it. My guest today is a new friend, a coworker, a controversial figure on the internet, and a great writer and editor. I'm of course talking about the terrific, the fantastic, the creative, Leah Finn again.

Leah, thank you for being here. Thank you, Josh. So Leah, we just started working together not that long ago. It feels like it hasn't been two months, but. What does that mean? It has. What do you mean, it feels like it's gone, it's, but- What does that mean? It has. What do you mean it feels like it's gone, it's been faster

or we've known each other longer? It feels like I've known you my entire 30s. Well you and Laura know each other, my wife Laura. Yes. Laura June. Yes. And so my guess is you've probably heard, you've probably heard some things about me before we physically met.

Well Laura and I always used to have a joke that you didn't exist. I was always like, who? Wait, what? I was like, who is Zelda's father? Is this true? Did you know this? No, I've never heard this. No, keep going, please keep going.

She always used to write, she would write about Zelda. And like, she wouldn't mention Zelda's dad. And I would say who is Zelda's dad? And what would she say? That was the joke. She would be like, I don't know. When did you first do the joke, do you remember?

It's like a couple years ago. Interesting, okay. this is great stuff. I had no idea. So anyhow, you clearly didn't know anything about me. But we started working together recently. Now prior to being a editor at the outline, you were genius. That's right.

Genius.com. You were the managing editor of news there. That's right. And prior to that, you were at Cosmo, you were at Cosmo for a little while. You were a, what was your role at Cosmo? I was the interim executive editor. I would have liked to have been around for that,

just a little bit, as Cosmo staffer. It was very fun. I tried on Kylie Jenner's lip kit. What happened? It was, it made your lips very dry. My lips are very, very dry. It was very difficult to get off. You didn't Kylie just, didn't I just read Narcola, that said that she got lip injections

because nobody wanted to kiss her? Yes, yes. That's true. She got a lip, well lip stuff going on with Kylie. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that much about about my lips Maybe you spend a lot of time thinking about them. Maybe you should now. I'm starting to feel self-conscious I feel like you're looking at my lips right now. Well, there's a microphone kind of them

So that's good. I can't see that because when you use it soon You start thinking about your lips. You're like oh like are people looking at my lips and making judgments about it? Right and they're like why is in he wearing Kylie Jenner's lip kit? What is in Kylie Jenner's lip kit? There's a a liner a lip liner. Okay, that goes around the lips Right, that's the outside of the lips. Yeah, that's you put it on the you you outline your lips Look, it's funny outline. There is a pop in popular culture It's pop it everywhere. It lips are weird the idea that they like your face has this part where it's like it's all skin And then suddenly it's not just normal skin. your face has this part where it's like it's all skin and then suddenly

It's not just normal skin. It's like pink skin and it's puffy It's so odd It's a body is a wondrous thing. The body I Not your body, but I mean the royal your sure body is a wonderland. I think we can all agree on one day John Mayer sentiment. When they put this... We go on comfortable Ryan looks. This is the way you see him so.

We're gonna do complimenting everyone's meat sex. Any house. When they put this lipstick on me first, they put on a lip scrub, which was... Yeah, what is that? It's like to exfoliate your lips. Oh yeah. And like clean off all the detratus that's on them.

And I ate the scrub and that was wrong. You're not supposed to eat it. But it smelled really good. I mean, you ate it. I just like licked it off my lips. It's like mostly sand. It's like rock for something. It's like rock for something.

It's like a jelly for something. I'm fucking throw up. Whatever you describe it right now. It's like a like a gel or something. Yeah, and it has like, it has little rocks in it. And you ate it? I don't. I just, you know, make up it. You like it, Ali? That's a just strange thing to do. There's like an alpha.

Make up eludes me. I'm not like Alicia Keys, no, make up empowerment. But I'm just like, are you wearing makeup right now? No, I'm just like. So you not like Alicia Keys no makeup empowerment but I'm just like are you wearing makeup right now? No I'm just like you are like Alicia Keys. No because I'm not like this is my statement. I'm just like what is this? I you're like you're not like making a statement you're like should I hate this? I'm like I'm like this food. What am I I'm a'm, it's on me, it's near my mouth, so probably I should just go in it, right? I don't understand the case you ate the lip sand.

I ate the lip sand and then- Lip sand is a really good product idea, by the way. And then, Mark that down right, lip sand. I mean, they should just have a product that's like chapstick, but it has protein in it, like, soilant lip balm. Soilant balm. That would be a great product for women.

Mark that goes. A makeup that you could eat called dessert cosmetics and it would make you break out like crazy but it was delicious. Wait, why? It's edible. Yeah, edible. It was basically candy.

So you ate the lips, girl. I ate the lips, girl. Them, the very nice beauty editor put them, the lip kit on me and. So it's like an outliner. Outliner then like an undercoat then an overcoat then like a bow tie. There's a top hat. There's a three piece like a mask. Then like a then a monocle and an mascot and like some little shoes. Yes this is is on CosmoPolitin.com. I can see a photo of your lips wearing that outfit.

Yes. Okay, lip outfits is a, it's a really good idea. My name is not attached to adjust my photo, so. So if I go for, if I, I'm not gonna tell you the shade. If I, it's SEOed by the shade. If I Google a Kylie Jenner lip kit Cosmo, somewhere in there, there'll be a picture of your lips.

There will be like, I mean, there will be like 20 results and you'll have to go through each post. Oh, Ryan's looking through right now. Let's see, it's just there, you were like just put a picture of my lips, don't put my face. Oh, that's your face. Oh wow, that was excellent. There it is.

Okay, I'm looking right now. I have to say, you're wearing lipstick in the second photo. In the first photo, you're not wearing lipstick. It's true, that's my natural look. Let me see that again. Powerful. Now here's what I discovered. It was empowering.

It is empowering, clearly. It was empowering both not to be wearing lipstick and to be wearing lipstick. Now I should say on this note, something I discovered about you recently. I think as recently as yesterday, is that you've been photographed for a street style blog. True. Like in 2011 or something.

And you have some strong opinions about fashion. I do enjoy fashion. You're making a joke, we moved to Soho. Right, right. And we're very close to the product showing Soho. Yeah. And you made a joke about liking, product,

I thought it was a joke about liking product shoes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But actually, I think you were serious about the shoes. I may have been, I may have been, yeah. But you don't get like, you don't wear crazy. You're not like wearing like ball gowns to work. Well, neither are you.

Yes, I am. I under these, I'm under this pair of jeans, and this, and this button. And this is my nature dreams to put you in this. There is an Oscar De La Renta. I've wearied a high,coacher, all underneath this. Anyhow, you hear my French? It's very good.

Hot-coacher. That's me. And now, wait a second. So you speak French, right? It's fluent in French. You told me the other day that you were banned from speaking French when you went to Paris. I was. Is that true?

Yes. What happened? Because I had a terrible French mid-western accent. I'm from Chicago and the French people were like just don't speak French because you sound bad. Who now? What French person actually said that? I was in a department store and I was like where are the bags? Only in France, but can't just say that only in France would somebody tell you not to speak their language. Like you never hear in America when like, you know what, just don't speak English. For first off, a person who said that would be like, don't speak American,

but you would never hear anybody trying to get, everybody here is trying to get people to speak English. You're in the new world. That's our America. That's our big thing. Our big thing in America is like, you better be able to speak English. Like, you know, speak English or die.

Sorry thing here. Right, that's, that's trash. Even if it's bad. Even if it's bad. Trump slogan is either speak English or die or grab them by the pussy's. Either way, it's a strong position. I think it's just singular pussy.

Yeah, but for a slogan, you need to pluralize it, I think. Pussy is, you get all the pussy. Grab ISIS by the pussy. No, yeah, his message is in his strong as that. His ISIS message is nice. He's not even as aggressive with ISIS as he is with women. I think ISIS is just, it's saturation level. It's no matter what you ask him about, he's going to kick the shit out of ISIS and tell you about it. Or Paul Ryan and the GOP, we're gonna get to that in a second. Let's not jump ahead. Okay, okay.

Anyhow, we were talking about your street style. Right, right. I guess all I was saying is that there are a lot of photographs of you on the internet. Unfortunately. That I had never seen until recently, and one of them was a street style of photo, and you had like you were like listening to designers and stuff, and I thought it seen until recently, and one of them was a street style of photo, and you had like you were like listening designers

and stuff, and I thought it was like, weirdly, what I know about you would have made me feel like you would have no or very negative opinions about fashion generally. And so very, which maybe you do. Complementary. Is it?

Or so you're basically saying you look like shit every day. No, I like the way I love the way you dress I'm a big fan of your outfits. I commented on your beige sweater or sweatshirt the other day Right. Yes, you were cuz you were like oh, you don't notice anything. I don't know how much of that was actually You know, I like to mix the high and the low so I get both in my clothes from Amazon And you told me you told me you got the sweatshirt from Amazon in my clothes from Amazon And you told me you told me you got the sweatshirt from Amazon. It is from Amazon. No, I know that I don't ever purchase the piece of clothing from Amazon. They have very good clothes. We mean they they're not like Amazon They're like Amazon basics Amazon basics. It's a great line. You should do Amazon basics like prison issue

Yeah sweatshirts. They're very comfortable. $8. It doesn't matter if you spill on it or if you fall apart in the wash. Would you say comfort is your primary directive when it comes to clothing? Absolutely. Yes. I want to be comfortable. I want to be in a soft outfit. I think you're pulling that off. I think you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, I think that you're equating yourself quite well with it. Great.

Comfort dressing. Thank you. I think if I were, when for comfort, I think it would be a much more situation. Are you not comfortable? Very uncomfortable right now. What, what about, why is it uncomfortable? Why is it not uncomfortable?

So I can't really, I'm never really comfortable. Yeah, that means you're, you're not wearing the right size or something. That's probably true. Yeah, that's why like I, in my mind, I'm a men's large. So. The reality you are definitely the opposite of a men's large. Yeah, but when I dress in a men's large,

I'm always comfortable. Well yeah, that's like people who wear Janko jeans are very comfortable. Exactly, like. You're not wearing men's jeans right now, are you? Uh, no, no. Okay. This I didn't actually intentionally make this

about your clothing, but we went from, we say, wait from, uh, these are, you know, lipstick. These are issues that matter to the country. Well, I was just, I'm just fascinated because I would not like the Cosmo thing is a weird fit to me for you. You know, after I was at Gawker and then going to Cosmo was like a great... Breath of...

Reprieve. Yeah. So, let's talk about this. So you were at Gawker, before the Gawker you were at the Times, right? Yes. Yeah, the New York, so okay, let's talk about this. So you were a gocker. Before the gocker you were at the Times, right? Yes. Yeah, the New York Times. Yes, yes. Not the Times of London or?

No, no, not the Roanoke Times. Is that a real paper? Yes. Not the Orlando. Times, Sentinel. Not the Chicago, Sun Times. Not the Chicago, Sun Times. Chicago Sun Times.

Same thing. You were the New York Times and you were like, what was your role there? You were recently, you were the Sun Tives. I was working in the opinion department. Right, which is perfect for you. You have strong opinions. Yes, yes, because otherwise if you work there,

you're not allowed to have opinions. But you were like an opinion blogger. You were your actual title. opinions. But you were like a you were like an opinion blogger. Kind of. I was in my in my final moments there I was working on an app for opinion that was MIT opinion. Right. That was shut down after like one day of being alive. Yeah, it was launched and they were like, you were very upset about all these opinions. We do not want to pay $6 a month for more Ross Dalfit. Was it $6 a month for the app? For just that app? Yes, really? Yes. Oh my god. Yeah. I would do anybody pay for that. Well, there you go. What does it make any sense? What a bad business idea.

Okay, but then you left the New York Times and you went to Gawker. Yes. You were part of the Max Reed era of Gawker. Uh-huh. Which I think as we know based on his recent New York magazine cover story, it's not a cover story, but it was a story. There was a he killed Gawker. There was a cover line. And you helped. Yes. But Max Reed hired you because you and I want to say I want to get this quote right We were very recently talking about it because you hated the right people yes What you said came back to bite you in the ass. Yes, I think how is this getting into territory? You don't want to discuss? No, I think like you know all my NDAs are cleared and you're living out loud Yeah, I'm a public person.

So, and he went to Gauker, in what year? 2014. Great year. I can forget 2014. No. Actually, I literally can't think of a thing in 2014. I would happen in 2014, did they remember? Ryan, do you remember?

Too many cooks. Too many cooks is 2014? It's that old? Yeah, I've rewatched it the other day, because I was you remember? Too many cooks. Too many cooks is 2014? It's that old? Yeah. I rewatched it the other day because I was like, it's still funny. It's still funny. It holds up completely.

It really? Very nice 15 minutes. 15 solid minutes are too many cooks. What about that, what is it, Harlem Shake? What year is that from? I think that's from the same year. 2014 was a huge year for viral videos. I could read you, Ebollo was 2014, the airplane that went missing on that CNN. Oh, it makes 370. Michael

Brown, Eric Garner. Wow, what a fucked up year. Actually, I think we've been trying to forget 2014 is what I was hearing based on this. Ukraine. Also the year that Leo went to Gokker, and I think what we can all describe is the beginning of the end of Gokker as we know it. Sure, yeah. went to Gokker, and I think what we can all describe is the beginning of the end of Gokker, as we know it. Sure, yeah. And also Gokker, period. Gokker, as it is now. I mean, little did we know it had been dying the entire time.

You know what? We're all dying. Every second. We are closer to our death. Which is why I say dance like no one's watching. That did you just make that up? It's an original. It's an original saying that I came up with you know Anyhow so you went to gocker and then some horrible things happen. Do you want to talk about gocker at all?

What do you want to talk about it? I don't forget about gocker. Who cares? It's fucking dead Okay, although getting a Peter teal killed it and we have to move on with our lives You know what I really want to talk about home. We should take a break We should take a quick break. Sure. I mean, we can talk about your sorted past at Gauk or whatever, but like, you know, I feel like, I'd rather talk about Trump and the media.

Okay. That's what I'm really interested in now. So we're gonna take a break and move back with more from we offending it. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ This episode of Tomorrow's Brought to you by BrainTree, developers around the world have embraced the BrainTree V.0 SDK as the easiest way to add secure mobile payments to their apps and websites. No matter what payment type, brain tree accepts it Apple pay, Android pay, PayPal, Venmo,

credit cards, even Bitcoin, if you like to live on the edge. And if something new pops up, they'll support that too. It's the same payment solution used by small companies like Uber, Airbnb, and GitHub, so you know it's scales. Integrating it into your app is as easy as inserting a few lines of code. But don't take my word for it because I'm a pathological liar. Try out the sandbox and see for yourself at braintreepayments.com. Slash tomorrow. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say,

I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, I'm think of you as a person who's like into clothes. But I- Because you literally told me you bought a beige Amazon sweatshirt the other day.

Yeah, but that's being closed. And I see you in like, beige Amazon sweatshirts on a regular basis, which is fine, which is great. I don't give a shit, but like also in your style thing, it's like you're wearing like fancy. Yeah, well I used to be fancier,

but now that I'm old, I've settled into my routine. Why? Because I'm going for comfort. So that's it. Like you are we're still rolling right? Okay, so you don't care so we can cut this in because I think it's actually interesting like so you don't care that You're not just you're just not interested in in worrying about clothing anymore. That was a phase. How long did that phase last? It lasted a while when I thought maybe I had to dress up more for work. Then I realized that no one actually cares what you wear.

Really? I think so too. I've been actually increasingly like whittling down my clothing selections to like, I basically, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've basically worn the same shirt for like, the last over a week. It's not the same shirt.

I have versions of this shirt, multiple versions, summer from the gap, summer from J. Crew, but they're all like the a basically like, middle blue Oxford. And I'm tired of thinking about clothes. It's really like a one problem I don't want to have to do with. And so I've just started wearing the same thing over and over again.

With some slight variations like, I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath this one. I wore a like waffly shirt. What are they called? What are the long sleeves? Thermal shirt. Thermal shirt the other day. Yeah.

Sometimes I wear a t-shirt, sometimes it's a dark t-shirt, sometimes it's a light t-shirt, but that's about as extreme as I wanna get at this point. Right, right, like, you don't drink. No. Okay, you don't drink ever? Well, now I have one glass of wine a month. Once a month.

Yeah. How does that work? It's really fun. How does that work? I just like choose a day and that's when I have it. You have one month. Yeah. How does that work? It's really fun. How does that work? I just like choose a day and that's when I have it. You have one glass. Yeah. And then you're done. Yeah. Now, are you do you have a sorry I'm making a drink what we're talking? Do you have do you have a particular type of wine you like to drink when you're having that one glass of wine? Is it any wine that's around? White wine. Oh really? Cold white wine. Like what kind? Like a short name?

I don't care. I don't care. I'm being a greasier. What's the difference? A sauvignon bomb. Is that like, is white wine acceptable? I don't know. I just think it tastes good.

I don't know what that means. What do you mean acceptable? Like, is it cool? I have been drinking. It goes to Rose, white wine, red, even though I'm a red person. Wait, so why is it red? Red should be way higher. Because red is cool, but it's like old school. If you're drinking white wine, you're like, I'm at the beach. So why is it red? Red should be way higher. Because red is cool, but it's like old school.

If you're drinking white wine, you're like, I'm at the beach. We're going to do Snapchat. Wow. Is that what it's like? What is exactly what I saw when I was drinking? I've been trying to not drink alcohol, like liquor. And I've switched to, well, I'm failing now because I'm having vodka. Because I have had a long day and this is what happens.

But I've been trying to drink red wine as my mate is my thing, when I go home, I'll have some red wine. Why red, you like red? I tend to, I mean, white's fine, I'll drink white wine. I think white, but white feels like a summer wine to me. And red is like definitely a fall. It was like immediately when September hit, I was like, ooh, I could go for some red wine,

like an adult. I was in a very adult about it. Right, like is white wine like a childish wine? No, it's a summer wine. Is it like a juice box wine? White wine is like, white wine's definitely like a party wine. But I'm always in the moot to party, never. Like white wine is grazenatomy and red wine is scandal.

Oh. I don't know red wine is scandal. Oh. I don't know. But that means that- Interesting. Here's the thing. What's ER? ER is like, uh, years for a day. Whiskey.

I don't know. I don't know. ER, that's even been in the air for like 10 years. Law and order is, um, Titos. What's, what's SVU? Law and order is like, mad dog. SVU is, um, SVU is- SVU is's SVU? Well, on order is like mad dog. SVU is... SVU is, you're having still water, gap staining.

Sirok. You don't want any special victims, so you're just keeping away from the alcohol. Okay. Special victims, kind of nice, actually. They're special. He's a victim. Nobody wants to be a special victim.

That's true. He's a victim. But he wants to be a special victim. That's true. He's a victim. But he's a special victim. Anyhow. I think I'm fond of it. How do you choose the day that you have the wine? Well, if, you know, I was at a wedding last weekend. Yeah.

So I had... I think I saw an Instagram. I had a glass of white wine. You were all dressed up for the wedding. I did dress up for the wedding. I have a wedding outfit. It's like, to me, it's like, I think of you as like a very, a very pragmatic, this is sort of what we're talking about,

a very pragmatic dresser. And so when I see you, like that picture, it's like jarring to me. Mm, interesting. I'm setting, I'm setting. I thought you got special victim. I love to, I love to shop. I love to, I love to spend money on clothes.

I love to spend money on clothes. That sounds like a lie to me. It's not a lie at all. You love to shop and spend money on clothes. I do. I really do. But when I moved to my new apartment, my new apartment doesn't have a closet.

It just has like an indentation in the wall. It's like a suggestion of a closet. It's like, this could be a closet. Right. So I just, I got rid of half of my clothes because I didn't want like a rolling rack or something. My husband is very chic. It's very New York. It was arm-worn.

No, I didn't. You wanted you to go to, I just, I just, I, furniture, like, I, I don't want to say I'm into a minimalist aesthetic because- You're really in a minimalist aesthetic. You're really in the minimalist? I absolutely am not. It reminds me of an essay I read recently, actually, about how minimalist is it?

I'm not into that aesthetic, but I just was like, I don't want these clothes. But you're kind of a minimalist. I'm a minimalist in that I don't own very much. Have you ever read the Marie Kondo book? Actually, before Marie Kondo was even in the consciousness of America, I wrote an essay for a gocker called Throw Everything Out that what, you're fairly viral. Megavai?

What is Megavai? I think it's a BuzzFeed term for things viral. Megavai? What is Megavai? I think it's a BuzzFeed term for things to go Megavai. But what is the, I don't know. How many hit? I think the question is like, what's Megavai to you? This was like, I don't know, it's like a couple hundred thousand. Too many, too many.

Too many, too many. That's Megavai. Right, this is the Harlem Shake Megavai. This is no, you know. I've only been going to bring it up yeah it's no side but side megafine even his name sounds like it got a it got a couple hundred thousand hits what the goldberg mentioned it on the view what she called me a blogger from gocker nice that's what exactly what you were

okay fine oh you think it I'm sorry you think it gets mentioned on the fucking view of megavine oh hell yeah I disagree strongly disagree that is homophobic no that's don't that's rude can I say something as a straight white man it's rude to call me homophobic you'll know when I be in homophobic how will we know I'm screaming at you. What? You come for Candice Cameron Beret. Wait, she's on the view? Yeah, oh my god.

Yeah, she was really bad. I think she just got fired. From full house. Seriously? Yeah, she's on for a couple of years because she's a Republican. Is that Dej? Yeah, Dej. Yeah, Dej.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, really. She's a Republican. She's a Republican. And she and fucked up. What's going on in the world? It's a great segue, by the way It's talking about Trump Trump's America Well, I didn't read Marie Kondo because I wrote my own Marie. I am Marie Kondo Okay, that's a good quote that sounds like the title of this episode Leia Vinny at Colin

I am you Brian you're not even listening. We're working on this. Typical gay guy. That's homophobia. We're gonna talk about this one with you. We're gonna take a little time to try the view. Anyhow, I said a good episode title. Lea Fennigin, Colin, I am Marie Kondo.

Anyhow, so you wrote your own Marie Kondo. Right. We don't know if Marie Kondo, you just could so you wrote your own Marie Kondo. Right. We don't know if Marie, you just could be like an Elena Ferrantace situation where you are Marie Kondo. But Marie is like out in the open. Maybe an actress who plays Marie Kondo. Okay, now you're getting like two conspiracy theories.

Have I ever heard of Andrew WK? Do you know who that is? I do, actually, my another great investigation I did at Gawker was that my ex-boyfriend went to high school with Andrew WK. The original, you mean Andrew WK? The original, not the franchise, the franchise. Prime, Andrew WK. Right, so we posted his yearbook photo.

Yeah. And we were just like, here's Andrew WK. So to you, that's an investigation. It was, took a lot of work. I had to scan it. Yeah, you actually scanned it. I think I took a photo with my iPhone. Oh.

And then emailed it to myself. You can tell the truth. The part of a journalist. It was laborious. I went to J School for that. This reminds me of when I hear about people in war zones getting limbs shot off. It's in very similar. I've been there. Anyhow. And I've taken photos of my iPhone and email

them to myself. So Lee is the same. Lee is right to the leo letter, which is the best, in my opinion, the best newsletter you can subscribe to right now It's a product of the outline currently Who knows what the future holds, but it's her commentarially you rate commentary on The world as you see it. Yes, you know she takes her Her own quirky view of the world. Yeah, encapsulates it. It's due to five, as we would say. Wow. Wow.

Well, don't take this guy to France. That's all I can tell you. You write the Lea letter. Yes. And talk about the Lea letter a little bit. What is it? What does it mean? It's a newsletter.

I know it's a newsletter. Obviously, I'm paying for the newsletter. I know's a newsletter. I know it's a newsletter. Obviously I am, I am repained for the newsletter. I know what it is. I know what it really is. I know what it's really fun. I know what it is. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun.

I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun.

I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it really is fun. I know what it media is bad. But you love the media, you're part of it. I do, I have a love hate relationship with it. You're in the midst, the whirling center of a new media business. Are you aware of that?

You are with the world. It's very exciting to me. Yeah, this is the part where Leah, you can tell that she's been paid. No, this is not an where Leah you can tell that she's being she's being paid No, this is not an ad It's very exciting Sweater review company. I didn't realize we're kind of like it. We're kind of like an affiliate link business For Amazon for Bay. She had a sweat shirt For for gilden brand sweatshirts. Is it a gilden? Yeah. You know who uses gilden brand for sweatshirts?

Who? A guy named Kanye West. Hmm, we are very similar. Yeah, you and Kanye have a lot in common. We both love McDonald's. That's actually true. I will say this, several, well, a couple months ago, you came into the office, you were eating McDonald's,

and I was like, holy shit McDonald's is back You said that you made a point to pull me inside when we got together to do the podcast and tell me Donald's is back. I said that pulled me inside. Okay, and then like a few weeks later Right kind of I was like by fair brand as McDonald's I was like I can't fuck this is it's all happening. Yeah But you were the first you were the canary Well, I can't fuck, this is it, it's all happening. Yeah. But you were the first, you were the canary. Well, I've, I mean, In the coal mine of existence. I'm a loyal McDonald's customer.

How long have you been eating McDonald's? 30 years. I've, say your entire life. Yes. You had McDonald's when you were zero years old. Yes. You had McDonald's when you were one.

Yes. I don't fucking believe that. I don't think your parents would've given you McDonald's when you were one year old. They did. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I gave it to eat McDonald's when you were one. Yes, I don't fucking believe that. I don't think your parents would have given you make Donald's when you were one You did no, I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. I gave it to eat McDonald's when you're one you can't yes You can anyone can eat a little bit before it's an apple pie into your mouth So sauce all over the baby Yeah, like I was come on now

I was a very small child. Yes, you're a small adult. I'm a small adult still. For the record. Even though I am a size large man. That sweatshirt you were wearing is on a size large. It's a size medium man. Yeah, but what's interesting is this, can I just say this? Mm-hmm.

Most people who are listening to this probably have never met Liam person. A medium on Leah is like a large, no wait, yes. It's like a large on a regular-sized person. That doesn't make any sense. I don't know what it is. Leah's diminutive. The medium looks very big on her. It's fair. So I was a very small child and did not grow or gain weight. So it was always like very concerning to my parents that I wasn't getting proper nutrition or whatever. As a parent, I can tell you that's nightmarons. Yes. So, you know, I pretty much had a free pass to eat, like an abundance of fast food. And now you can still eat fast food all you want.

Yeah, but and it turned out I had a growth disorder. Oh, and we're nice to cure it to that growth disorder. No, the cure was human growth hormone. Oh, my favorite drug. Yeah, my very party drug. Yeah. You don't hear a lot about that anymore. What was the street name for that?

HGH. No, it had a name. It was like HGH had a name. It was like, oh, we're gonna do Molly, but some are about what? Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds was a street name. Yeah, you just make that up. Absolutely. It's a great drug name And I still have some if you're if you're interested HGH. Yeah. I'm not interested, but it's in my parents a refrigerator I don't really yeah why they're like just in case Overthx give me can eat turkey

$2,000 a vile they're not throwing that out. What is you should have sold it to Barry Bond? What does it do? Well, if you're if you don't have the deficiency, I think it just makes your, it makes your, you look younger. Makes you look younger. Makes, I don't know, it's like a stirrer. Yeah, it's like when people take tea, but they don't need it.

Right. It like a hand-to-testosterone. Yeah. What happens? Well, if you take testosterone, it will increase muscle growth. It makes you like more near. It makes your hair shinier,

but it also makes your skin look nice. It also makes you dependent on it. Yeah. It bleeds your kidneys and it starts to kill you. Welcome to Being a Man. It's like a Batman. Whatever a Batman will take. Right, right.

What Batman does it take? You know, like, Bane takes that stuff and he's so strong. And then he's a piece of shit, he's not taking it. Bane is. He's taking it, whatever Batman. Right, right. Wait, what? Batman doesn't take anything. You know, like, Bane takes that stuff and he's so strong. And then there's a piece of shit, he's not taking it. Bane is taking it, shh. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, let me tell you something. Bane is a character from the Batman comic books, okay?

Yeah. He's addicted to a drug. Mm-hmm. I believe the drug is called... Venom. Venom. That's right. And it makes him really muscular. And that's what you want?

No, I've just telling you what's going on with Bane. Cool. I just saying. Maybe he has a growth disorder. He doesn't. He's... Why are you being so good at your job? He's a violent terrorist. He's a violent terrorist. Who breaks Batman's back and leads to a very dark period in the 90s Batman comics, anyhow, getting back to Leigh of ending in. So you publish the leo letter. I do. And it's your, one time week, two times a week. One time a week.

I should know this. We can do two times a week. It should be two. It's your weekly treaties. How was the best? Treat us? Treat us, I guess that's the weekly treaty. Treaties. Treat, how was it about? Treat us. Treat us, I guess that's the right way to say it. Yeah.

On culture, the media, men. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you're not a big fan of men. No. You hate men. You say you hate men? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Just like kill all men. That's my know, that seems like a lot of effort. It does. It'd be very messy. It really does. That's how we got into this, it's pretty good in the first place. Yeah. All this fighting. I mean, what's interesting about doing Leo Letters, that there are a lot of, in my last letter, I talked about how there are a lot of in my last letter I talked about how there are like four living media critics and they're all who are they? Like there's Margaret Sullivan who used to be the public editor.

Now she's at Washington Post. Washington Post. There's the new public editor Liz Spade. There's Jack Schaefer. Oh she's at Washington Post. Washington Post. There's the new public editor, Liz Spade. There's Jack Schaefer. Oh, yeah, Schaefer. Eric Wemple. Oh, Schaefer. Camille Pallia.

Camille Pallia. Camille Pallia. Camille Pallia. And then they're the ones who focus on media a lot. And then there's the thread that everyone's a media critic when they want to be. But there are no... What about my guy from USA Today? Michael Wolfe. kind of like the thread that everyone's a meteor critic when they want to be, but like there are no. I bet my guy from USA today, Michael Wolfe.

Oh, Michael Wolfe. Oh, I'm a wolf man. I'm a good guy by the way. The wolf man. He's the worst. He's the worst. He's the worst. His thing is I like him.

His whole trip is like, what's good about Michael Wolfe is that he just hates digital media. Right. He hates all new, anything digital. The New York Times could be like, we're publishing the paper, all digital, we're done with printing it, he'll be like, the fucking stupid, boring New York Times that sucks so bad. I can't stand it. It's like, okay, your opinion is not based on reality.

It's just based on your hatred of digital things. Or he'll be like, I hate Gokker so much, but then he'll be like at a party at Nick Dentons. And it's like, what? No, he's like, you should really print Gokker and some kind of paper and distribute it. And he was like, he was like scooping up the, you could just, he was like reveling in the gockers

actually. Yeah, yeah, cause they insulted his, his girlfriend or whatever, which fine, you know. So many of them not gonna name, when I left Bloomberg, he wrote, he actually wrote like, maybe more than one column about Bloomberg and its digital thing and how it was like misguided and Mike Bloomberg like dealt with, he dealt with me and and I was very annoying to me because I was like this guy's a fucking idiot. And then some of you who I'm not going to name was like email me and he was like a note of advice and I never heard

this before. I'm not, I'm actually going to misremember it but it was something like don't wrestle with a pig because you get covered and shit and the pig loves it. And I was like, oh, that's really good advice. I love when people give advice. So because we were like engaging on Twitter or something. I was like, oh, that's really good advice. Like, in this scenario, Michael Wolfe is the pig. And I'm the one getting covered in the shit. And Michael Wolfe is just eating shit and loving it. And he's just like, he goes to like,

Michael's the restaurant and he orders the shit. Michael, have you ever been to Michaels? No. I've been to Michael several times, have you ever been to Michaels? No. I've been to Michaels several times. Have you ever been to Michaels? Like, why would anyone under 70 ever go there? I didn't know. When I took over the editor-in-chief role at Engaget,

Reed Hastings invited me to have breakfast at Michaels. And I didn't know it was a thing. And we had breakfast there. And it was like really weird and strange and upset in. Like I was like, oh I'm with a bunch of old media people in this room. I don't know why. Yeah. We were like, hey, digital, rrr. And he was like, what are you thinking about Netflix? And I was like, I'm a noise, I was like literally bitching about something I couldn't like stream. It was like, actually really funny conversation. I was like, I mean, I had very nerdy opinions

about Netflix at that point. I still do, but it was definitely, he was definitely looking for like big picture business analysis. And I was like, why can't I stream all the Nightmare on Elm Street? I can't stand silver light. I might have literally said something

about the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Why are there only non-chronological ruse and episodes? No, it's problematic. It's true. Like, Magnolia, which I just purchased on Apple, can't stream it anywhere. Interesting. Have you watched Magnolia recently?

Right. So, such an interesting issue. Have you ever seen Magnolia? I think I started it and I was bored in one second. I think it must be a movie that is kind of for men. I feel like Lauren's like this. Like most things. Yeah, Lauren's like this pretty sucks.

MoviesforMen.com, aka Netflix. Well, it's from 1999, which is the year they produced Magnolia. Yeah. It's just like, it's a Paul Thomas. Fight Club, which is perhaps the most male movie ever. Yeah, it's like it's a Paul Thomas. Yeah, fight club Which is perhaps the most male movie ever yeah done and the matrix the second most male male movie ever The mid the 99 was crazy. It was a crazy year for film. Wow. It was only four Is that true? No

How old were you at that you died? Is that true? No. How old were you when I did I? 13. 13. 13. It is very male movies. Do you want to hear it? Yeah, let's hear something. The sixth sense. Oh my God. The sixth sense is Be John Marik and my Hi. American pie is not a pie who shagged me. Wow. I had to

soundtrack to that. But not in Hill was also Notting Hill. Oh my god, I never knew this would be Notting Hill. It's my favorite, one of my favorite, maybe it's my top. It's in my top three for sure. It's Blade Runner, Notting Hill, and Magnolia. I thought you meant all movies from my channel and I was like Blade Runner? Definitely.

No, I mean, I'm just telling you my top three. Okay, keep going. I don't know if I know it's my third, actually, it at this point. I was like, oh my god, it's me, the mummy. Shit, bison teniole man. Okay, these are in your dark. Now you're into just garbage. Oh, the South Park movie is really. Talented Mr. Ripley, one of my favorite movies.

Great film, Galaxy Quest, weirdly, Galaxy Quest is actually a very funny movie. Girl interrupted, another one of my favorite movies. Huge. Thomas Crown affair. No. Cider House rules. Very bad. She's all that.

She is not all that. Girl intentions, never been kissed. I get into my movies. That's just fucking amazing. Girl is getting 90 eyes. Yeah. No way. No way.

TV remakes gonna be, yeah, it'll be. Not interested. Not interested. Not interested. As a Sarah Michelle Goudeffian, have you ever seen cruel intentions? Oh, of course. Have you seen dangerous liaisons? Yeah.

You mean liaisons dangerous? No way, Ryan, do you speak French? I took like six years of French in school, but it was because it was right when my sidekick came out and I could use Google translate and I got through All of French the actual Technology product the sidekick. Yeah, I really in parasol to Nandem I thought you meant like your sidekick came out That was where my sidekick came out so it was kind of I didn't know okay, anyhow game back to the Leo letter

Okay, so there are these five critics and... Michael Wolf's not to put one of them. Four critics, and I respect them for what they do, but there's... She first never given you any trouble. No. It's pretty cool. Whatever, they're fine know, there are no critics, you know, under 40, no critics being like Buzzfeed

sucks or like- They do, yeah, because the critics are like, we don't understand it. They don't understand this well enough to pick it apart. On New York Times, should not yours anonymous source. This is like a political newsletter that we talk about all the time. Yeah. Who writes that? Joe Pompeo. Yeah.

How old is he? I'm not sure. He's not, yeah, he's not, he's not a geriatric for sure. Man, I don't want to put him on blast, but it's my favorite hate read. Yeah. Is the political news like a media news letter. It is incredibly dry. So if you wanna know what assistant managing

out of there from a newspaper went to go to another newspaper, the Politico Morty Newsletter, media news letter is like up your alley. Yes. It's so annoying. You wanna know the job moves at the Wall Street Journal's Boston Bureau, tune in.

If you want to know if a 20-year person who's been at the Wall Street Journal for 20 years has moved to a middle management role at Bloomberg, that's a slam dog. Well as you said, the best part of getting that email every morning is deleting it. That's true. It is, it is like a very sad, you know, you really feel really good about deleting an email? I've only read like three Lanny letters and I get one every week.

Do delete it? Or like every day or whenever they're out. Yeah, I just, I just, or they're all on a tab. Does it feel good? Oh, it feels great. It's just, oh, Lena Dunham talks with Gwen and Pell at the show about face cream.

I'm like, yeah. It's hard to get things out of your system, but deleting your email is very powerful. It is a powerful act of civil disobedience. It's physical, it's psychological. Yeah. And also it literally removes a thing from the field of view.

It's environmentally conscious. I don't know if there's any real environmental Actually, it's probably bad for the environment that you're deleting it The bits are using energy The bit the delete bit. They use a lot of energy Anyway, there's no My approach to media criticism is different because I'm not really trying to be fair or balanced. Nobody uses that term except for Fox. You get me.

When you say fair and balanced it just you're signaling it's like. I am Fox news. You have Fox news, quality. I don't care if people hate me. That's true. I don't want them to like me. That is actually one of your most impressive qualities. Yes. Is that you do not care what people think about you. Which is an incredible, something I admire not to draw any parallels, but

something I admire in Laura. She's very good at not giving you to ship a people think about her. Right, because it doesn't matter ultimately. I don't know, doesn't it? I mean, if you've seen your ad actions, your ad work, I've seen them. They're very, very tame. I know that. Actually, they chilled out, I think.

Yeah, I mean, people don't talk shit at me. They only talk shit very far behind my back, which is great. Like, let them talk. That doesn't bother you. I would love to have people talking about me. That's very, very good for me. What about the N-Writey Fridge,

which is a Twitter account that almost nobody knows about? As it basically only exists in the realm of media, Twitter, New York, media, Twitter. Right. But N-Writey Fridge is a, she hates you. Yeah. And has been very vocal about that. Yeah, she's been. But a, she hates you. Yeah. And it's been very vocal about that. Yeah, she's said something. But that doesn't bother you.

She said some extremely vile things about me, which is very, very funny because she's, an anonymous Twitter account, who I don't think I've ever met. Right. How many of you have, have you? I don't, unless it's you, or Ryan. I am running the MIT Fridge account.

It's the help of Ryan who I am, my sidekick. I've been doing that for years. Yeah. That's so great. But like, she said really shitty stuff about you. Yeah. And, but that doesn't bother you. Do you have any, is it emotionally hurtful?

No, I have a very thick skin because like when I was in college like people were like when I was editing my college paper people were like Leah should die. Why would you do with being people say that should die? I mean I was very vocally against fratern, and I went to the University of Texas. So that was, that was problematic. I didn't know this about you. And I may have written an editorial that, uh, compared, uh, fraternity hazing to torture at Guantanamo Bay, which in retrospect, you know, that's very much a false

equivalency. And like, because the haze in his way worse. Yeah, yeah. It was. They were broken each other with electric cattle brawds. Like, it was really bad, yeah. And, uh, okay, that's, but it's not, okay. I know, and you have to separate your public self

from your private self. What do you mean? You know, my public self who like says, who's very openly opinionated and stands for principles in my private self who very deeply believes in these things but also has a very full inner life. I give it that one glass of wine every month. I have one glass of wine among.

She has a bathed in a beige sweatshirt. I live in an empty apartment with 17 beige sweatshirts. Do you have 17, seriously? Yes. Do you actually? Big Mac and HGH, she goes. Oh, yeah, I have my stores of HGH. Actually, I slam dunk.

You're describing the perfect life. And McDonald's every night. And no one can stop me. This sounds really good. You've summed up your position on life, on career, on makeup. That's all that really needs to be talked about. And power yourself.

We didn't talk about his politics. Actually, you mentioned you said the public in private. I think were you referencing Hillary Clinton's WikiLeaks email? Or that you're a secret down to our network? We have a public opinion in the private opinion. Um, no, but we can talk about that. Well, I mean, there's not much to talk about. WikiLeaks is the worst.

Julian Assange is a piece of shit. I mean, he's like, Andy Semenik. Andy Semenik. He's like, Andy's a medic. He's like, you're a medic, is he a medic as well? Oh, he is.

Yeah. I fucking hate that guy. Every new thing you learn about him makes him worse and worse. Yeah. It's like, and he's so, and he has like, he has entitlement, and he has like,

sense of self and worth, is so outrageously inflated. Yeah. I don't know. I'm just saying, that's my opinion. He's horrible. and worth is so outrageously inflated. I don't know, I'm just saying that's my opinion. He's horrible. But anyhow, Hillary's email is relieved. I actually had a really interesting conversation today on the radio.

I listened to NPR in the mornings. I listened to like BBC World Service. And that kind of like slides into who is the guy on the radio here in New York WNYC? It's not Leonard Lopez, it's the other guy. I've never listened to the radio. Seriously? No, I have once.

At any rate. But they were talking on his show and they were talking about some guy called me. He's like, first of all, I'm a Trump supporter. I just wanna put that out. They're from Pekipsi, I'm like, okay. First of all, it's like, oh, we have a caller from Pekipsi and it's like, okay, this guy's gonna be a Trump supporter, I just wanna put that out. They're from Pekipsi, I'm like, okay. First of all, it's like, oh, we have a caller from Pekipsi, and it's like, okay, this guy's gonna be a Trump supporter.

He was. But I wanna say, it's strange that these emails are only about the Democrats. That suggests to be there's some Russian tampering, which is true. But that, he could sus that out, means it's like. Now, it's like, how do you support Trump? How do you like, oh yeah, the Russians are

tampered with his election, but also I support Trump. I don't know, maybe that makes sense. It's just an emotional thing at that point. That's why he's doing ad hominem attacks rather than talking about policy. Because at this point, his supporters are just like, I just feel like I like Trump. But now Leah, you're a Trump supporter.

Can you tell us about your motivation behind that? I am, because I just, I really. I don't have a pen supporter, but you're there for Trump supporter. Can you tell us about your motivation behind that? I am because I just, I really have a pen supporter, but you're there for Trump too. I really feel that the, um, the world America is just not ready for a female president. It's just going to be really, really, really, really, really, really bad. I was thinking about this all joking inside. I was thinking about this all jokingly, so I was thinking about this today. It's kind of crazy, but in some ways, and now there's no question that a lot of the hatred aimed at Hillary Clinton is based on her being a woman.

I said this to you, I think, on Monday, again, I was listening to the radio, and the BBC World Service was covering a story about a house divided, and it was like, the wife was voting for Hillary, and the BBC World Service was covering a story about a house divided. And it was like the wife was voting for Hillary and the husband was voting for Trump. Classic story. And he was like, yeah, she's like fat, nugly.

Like literally he said that. And I was like, this is not a reason to vote for like, to vote against somebody. Like those are not actual reasons. Right. And I was like, this is super fucked up. But as opposed to Donald Trump, this is super fucked up, but I was supposed to Donald Trump who's thin and gorgeous.

Well, no, his wife said that. That's allowed. She was like, what about Trump? He's gonna like spring check and or something like that. And he's like, no, he's fine. He's like 270 and it's like something like that and I was like, what are you fucking talking about? That doesn't make any sense.

He's totally a bloated piece of shit, like at any rate. But I was like, this is so strange. I mean, that was like, okay, yeah. This guy definitely is like a sexist asshole. But a lot of like the hatred that Hillary is receiving is like, in a way it's sort of nice. It's like kind of like she's a scumbag and she's crooked and we can't trust her.

And it's like not really about her being a woman. It's about her of like she's a scumbag and she's crooked and we can't trust her. And it's like not really about her being a woman. It's about her being like a bad politician and like untrustworthy. And it's sort of like we've forgotten that like if we elect Hillary and I actually have started thinking about this a lot, like that's a huge deal. There's never been a female president in America. This is a great feminist argument. Is it? No.

I don't think I'm saying. I'm saying that I'm saying that Trump supporters are ephemeralized by any measure and there are plenty of assholes and sexists. But it is sort of interesting that like that seemed like it was a big issue and it certainly has played its about sort of on the subconscious level with these people. The emails? No, just like the hatred for Hillary. But there's also a level where it's not about her being a woman and it's just like

where this weird ideology that makes no sense. Hillary is interesting because she's completely like de-sexualized grandmother. I find her very erotic. I know you do, but that's your issue to work out with her. Is that wrong? I don't know. If it is, I don't want to be right. Whereas Trump, who's actually a rotten pumpkin,

is still allowed to be incredibly lascivious. And it's fine. If Hillary talked about wanting to grab Bill's balls, like that would be, I feel like people would be repulsed. Game over, that's a game over situation. Trump would win in a landslide. She could never ever talk about that. He united all the people that have accused Bill

of sexual misconduct. But if she even so much has had Marla Mabelal sit at a desk who he was married to and whatever It would be a sexist issue of her playing the gender card, right? I mean Trump is not getting exactly a pass on his sexism. I mean not no not I mean not like physical evidence of it It it only took like a year, but I I mean, we were going, we had a conversation, we were talking about good tweets the other day, yesterday actually, and I was going through my faves, trying to finally tweet that I liked,

and I had a tweet about Trump, and it was like 540 days ago. I was like, I can't fucking believe. I can't fucking believe I've been talking about Trump for like 600 days. Like that's insane to me. This has been going on for so long. I want to introduce on the show at some point when the elections over in Hillary Clinton

as our president, a button where if anybody brings up Donald Trump, just sirens go up. I don't want to ever talk about him again. But can you put Trump away now? Like I don't think you can't. Like not Trump himself. He's going to disappear because he's a loser.

He's going to be on another season of he's gonna disappear because he's a loser. He's gonna be on another season of the apprentice, because that's what losers do. I mean, maybe he'll die. I'm not gonna wish Daphon to anybody, but let's just say. Maybe he'll die of natural causes. Yeah, being too great. Being too great.

Can you die from being awesome? From winning to my? Do you die for high five? Even if he, even when he loses it, the election will be like, he'll spin it as a win. Well, he'll be like, when he's like, TNN, Trump news network.

He'll be ranked. Right. Anyhow. I know what that's doing. This has only a little bit to do with Leo Letter. I mean, it's very, the entire thing has been very, very depressing to watch, like from Bernie onwards, just because it's been...

The Bernie stuff has haunted us. Women cannot win in any way, and like the emails, and like the Goldman Sachs shit, and it's just like, give me a break. Like, you just hate women. I will say this thing. Examine your relationship with your mother I just want to say one thing. Mm-hmm. It's really more about it's not about I mean here's thing Hillary is Wonderful and I like her a lot. Mm-hmm, but the Clintons generally I do think

They are they do tend to like have their own they apply their own logic to things sure like which can look very bad from the outside We're like they're like, okay. Yeah, I actually we had I had John Hyalman on the podcast great great man in politics. But he brought this up and I do think it was an interesting point that they bend the rules because there's a greater good at the end of their rule bending. But in the, if you zero in on those events,

it looks shitty. They're right. And that is a repeatable. But as compared to the Bush family, which does the same thing, but because there's a greater evil to be done. Right. And the Bush is a good person. I mean, there are incredibly powerful politicians who have, you know, who are to some degree corrupt.

But anybody who rises to the level of president is a very corrupt person. Anyone that can become the president shouldn't be allowed to be. There's no doubt, like the level of corruption you have to encounter on your way to the level of president as a very corrupt person. Anyone that can become the president shouldn't be allowed to be. There's no doubt, like the level of corruption you have to encounter on your way to being, the president is insane. There's nobody who's like some pure soul that gets through and suddenly like, thrust into the role.

Right, but also like, except for the film Dave. I've never seen that. But what's that about? Bolly Devon is a survivor. Because he needs surgery and he just starts making decisions and ends up Dave is pretty good president

because he's a regular guy. It's from the 90s back when Bill Clinton was sexy. Have you seen the film designated, sorry, the TV show designated survivor? No. You should check it out. Anyhow, Leo, what were you saying? Oh, I mean, another thing Lauren, I discussed is, and this was like another thing that was in the forefront of my mind while I was at a cosmolot, is that like, you know, women's issues are never discussed during any of the debates or, you know, any... You mean like... Any of the national conversations or never in the

papers, right, abortion, birth control, anything pertaining to issues that matter to women to literally half the population of the country. Like, oh, you think like maybe like that might, it might be cool for the like, it isn't the same actually. It's actually taking care of by the government. That's what you paid attention to. But we've also become like hyperfixated on things

that are not even, I mean, yes, they're part of reality in an abstract way, but I mean, Donald Trump made a major part of his campaign like building a giant wall. Well, right. Which is like not part of... Well, his campaign is 100% dog whistles. Yeah, that's true. And the dogs have appeared.

He let the dogs out. But we're also not sure. It's unclear from the coverage, like it might only be 15 dogs. And like, we're just seeing the same dogs over and over. It's possible it's like Nero and 15 people who really like him. Right. And that's it.

And it's like George Saunders and Dave Eggers like went to the same rally and they were like, oh my god, humanity. Oh right. I think there are a bunch of horrible people at all of these rallies who are like racist and sexist and are bad. Because there are bad people in America turns out. There are bad people everywhere. Have you ever been to Europe? No, everybody seemed lovely to me when I was in Europe, all of the Europeans. They've been good to the Jews too. That's one of the things I think about when I think about Europe.

Yes, I'm thinking of going back to be Jewish there. Right, I've returned. Yeah. Where were the Finnegans are from? The Finnegans were exiled from Ireland. The Jewish Irish that you don't hear a lot about. Yeah, the other side of my family. I hear a lot of the other side of my family

will not be returning to journey. Oh right, that's right, I forgot. Ryan Hullahan and Lea Finnigan, both of you. They're huge. Two people who identify as G.I. It's an interesting ethnicity. I just broke my fast with the Reese's during this recording. Oh, it's me.

Speaking of, I'm starving. All this conversation about McDonald's is, you're from me, totally mad. Oh wow. For food. Oh wow, McDonald's is you're from me totally mad. Oh wow. For food. Oh wow, it's not the holiest day of the year. Oh, that's right, it's Yom Kippur, is that right? Yeah, that's why I'm born with my fast.

Yeah. I just say, is there anything you'd like to add down, as we, let's wrap this up, is anything you'd like to add down for? No, my mother, my mother, I said I didn't have to add down the experience. My mother said I didn't have to fast because. Because you're perfect.

I was too small. So you're a goddamn angel. Yeah. Let me take it without a lie to a tone for. At least like three quarters of this interview I think. Me too. Okay. I'm sorry to.

I'm also, um, you know, I doubted the Caleb Burke video, and I should have been more up in mind to do it. So you were right. That's right, it was a hoax. But I should have at least been more up in mind to the possibility that it was a real abduction video. And a lot of ways I'm sorry to God for not believing in his or her existence

because it seems like I'm completely absurd. And also, I think that's it. I'm sorry to Joe Pompeo. Yeah, to Joe. You know what, your newsletter's actually pretty entertaining. I'm glad I'm grateful for Politico. I'm glad that Michael Wolfe and I are friends. Me too. I'm glad I'm grateful for Politico. I'm glad that Michael Wolfe and I are friends.

Me too. Is that what you're glad about? It's what you're saying. I'm sorry that by the Wolfe and I aren't better friends. We'll see you on Thanksgiving. Yeah, all right. Fine, okay, that's the show. Goodbye, Leah, thank you for coming on.

Thank you. Really entertaining, exciting, and I hope that we do it again. Me too. me do. Their mentions are really out of control.