1 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,239 All right, everyone, we're back with another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. 2 00:00:22,359 --> 00:00:25,800 I'm Emily Jasinski, culture editor here at The Federalist. As always, 3 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,160 you can email the show at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us 4 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,759 on Twitter at fdr LST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts, 5 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,640 and to the premium version of our website as well. Happy Fourth of 6 00:00:38,759 --> 00:00:43,600 July weekend week. However long you're carrying on the celebration for whenever it falls 7 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,880 in the middle of the week, you really get a little bit of extra 8 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,039 partying in if you want to. And in this case, we thought, 9 00:00:50,079 --> 00:00:54,479 actually that some lighter fare might be best as we celebrate the Fourth of July 10 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,399 and our freedoms and just you know, spend some time, if you work 11 00:01:00,399 --> 00:01:03,640 in politics professionally or if you don't, with friends and family. And so 12 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:10,799 I want to introduce now a conversation that we had that I had with my 13 00:01:10,879 --> 00:01:15,280 colleague Sam mangled Lennett, who is staff editor at The Federalist and something of 14 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,480 a pop culture junkie. We hadn't done a culture podcast in a while, 15 00:01:19,519 --> 00:01:23,959 so I thought it was time to maybe again some lighter fair and take a 16 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,560 deep dive back into culture since it's really my favorite thing, and you know, 17 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:32,400 talk about where The first part of this conversation is airing today and it's 18 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,799 going to be mostly about TV. The next for the next part of this 19 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,280 conversation is going to air tomorrow and it's mostly about movies. We do a 20 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,239 little bit of music at the end, so if you're you're interested in that, 21 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,599 stay tuned to the end for the music conversation. But TV shows, 22 00:01:48,879 --> 00:01:52,840 you know what the sort of trends look like, what's good, what's not. 23 00:01:53,719 --> 00:01:59,000 I did forget to mention since I'm recording this introduction after we taped the 24 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,840 discussion, Um, I forgot to mention The Bear. Season two of The 25 00:02:01,879 --> 00:02:06,239 Bear, which just started. I don't know if you're watching it. The 26 00:02:06,239 --> 00:02:10,080 first season was super tight and clever. I'm not gonna certainly spoil anything for 27 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,199 the second season. I don't even think I could. I'm not done with 28 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,240 it. But it started to like really hit me as blue collar Aaron Sorkin, 29 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:21,319 and I find it incredibly exhausting. I've heard from other people that are 30 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,879 really enjoying this season of The Bear, but I think the certain like level 31 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:32,840 of point counterpoint, the rhythm of the quips like quips and rapid succession, 32 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,280 like they're just trying to do this like blue collar Sorkin thing has been my 33 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:38,960 takeaway, and again, I find it exhausting. It takes me out of 34 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:45,159 the experience a little bit because it's so unnatural and it's a show that I 35 00:02:45,159 --> 00:02:50,919 think is hyper real. You know, they know de emphasize makeup for the 36 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,840 actors, and it's supposed to be very gritty and supposed to be a pretty 37 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,639 hyper real glimpse into a kitchen, and so to have the dialogue be so 38 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:07,120 unnatural and quippy is just again, it's exhausting. You may have a different 39 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,319 take than be on the Bear. I've heard people who say they really like 40 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:14,280 how it's handled COVID, and I definitely think there's truth to that. But 41 00:03:14,719 --> 00:03:17,759 before I didn't want to leave that one out because it's it's so timely, 42 00:03:17,759 --> 00:03:22,439 so I wanted to mention it before we actually play the rest of the conversation, 43 00:03:22,479 --> 00:03:27,400 which which gets into some very recent TV and some stuff that's happened roughly 44 00:03:27,439 --> 00:03:30,759 over the course of the last year. So on that note again, Today's 45 00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:36,400 Discussion TV Tomorrow's Discussions discussion is movies. A little bit of music, So 46 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,520 stay tuned. We hope you're having a safe and joyful Fourth of July. 47 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:49,520 God bless America. Thank you so much for listening. Sam, welcome back, 48 00:03:49,719 --> 00:03:53,960 Thanks for having me. How's it going. It's going well. We're 49 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,000 here at Federalist HQ, and I realized it actually had been quite a while 50 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,840 since we've done sort of a pop culture podcast. It's you know, it's 51 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,400 something that has gotten kind of crowded out in this incredibly busy news cycle post 52 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,000 pandemic, when you have a presidential cycle coming up, you're coming out of 53 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,759 a presidential cycle. Now we're already going back into a presidential election cycle, 54 00:04:13,759 --> 00:04:17,240 and there's been so much turmoil, multiple indictments, everything is on fire all 55 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,319 the time. Everything is on fire all the time. That should be the 56 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,240 title of your memoir, Sam, one of these days when you get to 57 00:04:24,319 --> 00:04:27,360 it. So I wanted to because it's all a day weekend. First of 58 00:04:27,399 --> 00:04:30,839 all, I thought it might be a good time to do a little bit 59 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,399 of lighter content, because you know, what's more fun than the Fourth of 60 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:38,759 July. I would say best steal day, but that's a bad day and 61 00:04:38,759 --> 00:04:42,720 it's anti Americans. So there is a terrible answer I was going to say 62 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,800 Christmas, Christmas. Yeah, there's actually really nothing more fun than Christmas. 63 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,399 True, great all around, But the Fourth of July is also great all 64 00:04:51,439 --> 00:04:55,879 around, just on a slightly less scale, because a slightly smaller scale, 65 00:04:55,879 --> 00:04:59,720 because nobody is giving me presents. Fair well, the best present is America 66 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,959 and freedoms so beautiful. You just whip that out of nowhere, right out 67 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,800 the tip of the time. Sure, well, it's true. And Sam 68 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,560 and I are both Midwesterners, and we have a lot of Midwestern listeners out 69 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,279 there. It doesn't matter where you're from in America, although I will say 70 00:05:13,319 --> 00:05:17,000 the Midwest has some pretty idyllic Fourth of July Ician celebrations. Everyone in the 71 00:05:17,079 --> 00:05:20,720 country really does, but the Midwest is the best for a reason. So 72 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:25,120 you like to say that I'm a Midwest nationalist, What can I say? 73 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:28,800 Yeah, you're an expat here in the swamp. But on that note, 74 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:34,079 I actually Sam is a sort of fellow imbiber of culture. But he has 75 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:39,720 some interesting habits that might even be more something he has more in common with 76 00:05:39,759 --> 00:05:45,000 people who are older than him. He's fairly young, but he has the 77 00:05:45,079 --> 00:05:48,639 viewing habits. He's like maybe a gen xer. I was wondering where you 78 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:50,800 were going with that one. But yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. 79 00:05:51,079 --> 00:05:55,040 I think it's accurate. I think we've actually on this podcast talked about 80 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,720 the Simpsons before. You're a huge Simpsons entirely too much, so I'm like 81 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:02,279 my thirty three watch at this point. I find it always like somewhat endearing 82 00:06:02,439 --> 00:06:06,399 or maybe cute. I'm trying to be patronized when Molly and David do segments 83 00:06:06,439 --> 00:06:12,920 on what they've watched recently, because for me, it's impossible and like trying 84 00:06:12,959 --> 00:06:15,879 to, you know, sweep up a beach, Like I really can't tell 85 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,639 you everything is the answer. I've watched everything, for sure. This is 86 00:06:19,639 --> 00:06:23,399 so much content it kind of blurs together at a certain point. Yeah, 87 00:06:23,439 --> 00:06:28,079 And you know, like one thing that I try to do at Federalist is 88 00:06:28,439 --> 00:06:32,680 watch just about everything and then flag things that I think should be pieces or 89 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,279 that should be podcasts, or that we should be weighing in on one way 90 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,959 or another. So I end up just kind of watching everything. Although my 91 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,639 weakest spots, I still just can't get myself to watch a lot of drama. 92 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:48,360 And so like if there's a place that I have watched the Idol, 93 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:55,800 the very buzzy new Sam Levinson show on HBO, absolutely horrible stuff. I 94 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,560 didn't the one big blind spot In the last years, I haven't watched The 95 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,000 Last of Us, and I know Molly really liked that, so I watched 96 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,519 like half of it. You're a gamer, not too much, I mean 97 00:07:05,639 --> 00:07:10,279 my switches on a desk over there, but like not into like the whole 98 00:07:10,319 --> 00:07:15,920 like like triple A gaming, like the super expensive like movie studio budget gaming 99 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,399 stuff, right, And I think that's part of the reason I couldn't really 100 00:07:17,399 --> 00:07:21,240 get invested in the series. Also, when people like tell me I have 101 00:07:21,279 --> 00:07:26,600 to watch something just disposition only, I'm not going to that was another reason 102 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,360 why I couldn't really get super committed to the show. Well, I'll just 103 00:07:29,399 --> 00:07:31,759 start off by talking about some really recent comedies that I've watched and given some 104 00:07:31,839 --> 00:07:34,199 thoughts. First of all, the season if it's always sunny, and I 105 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:41,319 think it's season sixteen that while so I actually started watching that show way younger 106 00:07:41,319 --> 00:07:44,000 than I should have started watching that show, which is to say in its 107 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,040 first season, which I don't want anybody to do the math because it's going 108 00:07:47,079 --> 00:07:49,079 to show that it was way too young. I can be watching that show, 109 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,399 but it was a free preview on iTunes, so they actually allowed you 110 00:07:53,439 --> 00:07:58,160 to download at the time a free episode of Technology right there, right, 111 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,480 Yeah, so they used to do this and there was you know, I 112 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,800 think at the time it was It's Always Sunny and Psych but the same week 113 00:08:03,879 --> 00:08:07,120 you could download those two shows. I went on to really really love but 114 00:08:07,319 --> 00:08:11,959 It's Always Sunny, still going, and I think this new season is also 115 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,040 an incredible start. Like, actually, they've had some seasons that are a 116 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,439 little down. It's pretty consistent, but this season is just fantastic. Have 117 00:08:20,519 --> 00:08:22,879 you watched it yet? I haven't started. I'm actually just going through like 118 00:08:22,959 --> 00:08:26,319 season eighteen of South Park for some reason, What is wrong with you? 119 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,360 I have a weird taste. Man. Have you have you seen this season 120 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:31,879 of South Park before? Yeah? Well, so I wanted to, like, 121 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,360 because it's an election season, I wanted to go back like the mister 122 00:08:35,399 --> 00:08:39,080 Garrison like Trump impersonator thing, So I thought that would be like a fun 123 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,000 thing to revisit. Um, but I'm sure you know, It's Always Sunny, 124 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,600 like does touch on the political, but it's not like super obnoxious about 125 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:52,000 it. Their episode on Guns is actually one of the best episodes one of 126 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,480 the best political comedy, let's just say, one of the best pieces of 127 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,840 political satire, and I think the last ten years at least. Well. 128 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:05,720 Also like Still Too Hot the show that's the name of the episode, Okay, 129 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:07,840 gun Fever, Still Too Hot Fair. I was wondering where we're going 130 00:09:07,879 --> 00:09:13,879 with that one. But it's interesting how like when they spend shows like satirizing 131 00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:16,720 gun culture, they're always like you can walk into a Walmart and get like 132 00:09:16,759 --> 00:09:20,000 five rs and then walk out immediately, like the show Berry just did that, 133 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,200 and it's like finale when I was rapping. Okay, so you watched 134 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,639 the last season of Barry, Yeah I did not, because I got incredibly 135 00:09:24,639 --> 00:09:28,639 bored with Barry last season. Okay, that's for that a lot actually really, 136 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,080 and what did you think of the last season of Berry? It was 137 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:39,480 rightfully overshadowed by a secession, so I think it was I thought it was 138 00:09:39,519 --> 00:09:41,240 okay. I didn't really do a whole lot for me. I think it 139 00:09:41,279 --> 00:09:43,879 kind of fizzled. I just don't think the energy was there for as it 140 00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:48,279 was when I was like in its stride. Totally agree, it felt like 141 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:52,399 really energetic, it felt really it was aware that it was kind of novel 142 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:56,440 in a sense, and that wore off and just the show really dragged for 143 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:01,039 me, the romantic subplot really we started to drag. I mean sometimes subplots 144 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:05,519 sometimes foreground, but that like just it was not a natural And this is 145 00:10:05,519 --> 00:10:11,559 probably one of my biggest I think it says something really serious about our culture 146 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:16,120 of the last ten plus years that we don't have a movie like step Brothers 147 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,360 that's really come out and done exactly what Step Brothers did successfully in the last 148 00:10:20,399 --> 00:10:24,840 few decade or sort decade plus. For sure, it's just the self seriousness 149 00:10:24,879 --> 00:10:28,559 in Hollywood's in insistence, Like, actually, if if you're going to be 150 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:37,759 socially responsible and make comedy, you actually have to disguise some type of sanctimonious 151 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:43,799 cultural political message as comedy. Your comedy has to be a vehicle for some 152 00:10:43,919 --> 00:10:46,720 deeper point. And the best trajectory, the best example of this trajectory is 153 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:54,159 Amy Schumer and Everything. After train Wreck, suddenly you had all of these, 154 00:10:54,159 --> 00:10:58,039 like even Apatow type movies, they all have this. Even you can 155 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,360 get like three quarters of the way through the movie and then Brittany runs a 156 00:11:01,399 --> 00:11:07,279 marathon. Movies like that, it could have been really funny funny, funny 157 00:11:07,279 --> 00:11:13,639 stars people who are genuinely hilarious. She was so funny in um, what's 158 00:11:13,639 --> 00:11:18,000 the show that I'm thinking of? Um? On Comedy Central? Amy Schumer, 159 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,679 No, not Amy Schumer. The girl from Brittany runs a marathon. 160 00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:24,200 You know what I'm talking about? Long hair guy m incredibly good show. 161 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,720 It's yeah, it's gonna bother me Jo, I'll look it up, don't 162 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,639 don't worry. But it's just someone who's genuinely really really funny. It's a 163 00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:35,480 funny idea here, and it all gets bogged down in this vapid messaging, 164 00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:41,159 Like it's absolutely no problem with these films being vehicles for left of center messages. 165 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,879 Um, that's like quaint. You know, if we could just get 166 00:11:43,879 --> 00:11:48,360 back to like left of center Hollywood where they were like actually prioritizing the art 167 00:11:48,399 --> 00:11:52,080 and not the message in a way that like the art conveys the message right, 168 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,759 Like the art comes first, and if you're really good at what you 169 00:11:54,799 --> 00:11:58,679 do, you can make it with a really serious message that's not sort of 170 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:07,000 just chewhorned into a like a slapstick a slaps like Buddy comedy, Like it's 171 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,519 insane, Like where's the other guys? Of the twenty twenties, like there's 172 00:12:11,519 --> 00:12:13,840 just there won't be one UM And that's one of the things I love about 173 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,639 It's always sunny. It has never lost that, and it is now one 174 00:12:16,639 --> 00:12:22,759 of the few things in all of comedy buried to me, you know. 175 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,440 And there's some of these, there's some examples of this that have been really 176 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,000 successful. I actually think one of the best is I mean, I sound 177 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,639 like I'm contradicting myself here, but it's It's Life and Beth. And this 178 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,759 was an Amy Schumer dramedy that was on Hulu last year and ended in this 179 00:12:35,879 --> 00:12:41,480 really really interesting place about family, community, nature, unintentionally I think, 180 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,879 a pretty conservative place. But I've always thought she's the best example of someone 181 00:12:46,879 --> 00:12:50,039 who went from slapstick to like santimonious and dragged the industry along with her. 182 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:54,320 When when train Wreck got really popular, deservedly so, I thought that movie 183 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,519 was fantastic, and he still do. But it became the template for comedy. 184 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,559 UM and that was twenty fifth teen. You know, this was this 185 00:13:01,639 --> 00:13:03,639 was happening, but it was like that really became the template for comedy, 186 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,960 and that's been I think that that started to really eat away at Barry, 187 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:15,000 like, why are you shoehorning anything into the show about a hit man? 188 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:18,039 Well, like you said, everything becomes too self aware at a certain point. 189 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,360 Um, And it wasn't necessarily as overtly political, although I think there 190 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,639 certainly were political themes. I mean there very much were. Joda Patel's King 191 00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:31,080 of Staten Island with pe Davidson. It was supposed to be like a it's 192 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,840 supposed to be a comedy. It's filled with comedians, right, but it's 193 00:13:33,879 --> 00:13:37,159 just sad. Granted it's a reflection on his hometown and you know, losing 194 00:13:37,159 --> 00:13:43,240 his father at a young age, but it's not it's just a downer like 195 00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:50,080 comedy. And it reminds me of Nanette that one Comedy Specials. Like the 196 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:54,320 whole concept of comedy. It's meant to bring levity. Yeah, there's you 197 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,320 know, criticisms of power and criticisms of society in it. But at the 198 00:13:58,399 --> 00:14:00,639 end of the day, if you're not having fun, if it's not like 199 00:14:00,759 --> 00:14:03,200 lifting people up and letting them forget their troubles, then why does it exist? 200 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,480 I guess what we were thinking of what workaholics. Oh my god, 201 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,879 that's embarrassing, But you really don't have anything like Workaholics. Now there's just 202 00:14:13,399 --> 00:14:16,960 you know, they brought back Reno nine one one, which is one of 203 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,120 the things that I've watched the last couple years. Fantastic. It actually started 204 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:26,159 as a one of the resurrective shows that laid it on Quibbi. They repurposed 205 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,759 some of the Quimby material, which I watched a lot of the Quibby content 206 00:14:30,279 --> 00:14:33,919 right away, and well, I was you doing a ton of like daily 207 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,159 culture writing at the time. I had to and it's there. Yeah. 208 00:14:37,399 --> 00:14:39,159 I was so excited about Reno nine one one making it come back. It 209 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,879 was one of my favorite shows of all time. I think it was actually 210 00:14:41,879 --> 00:14:46,399 on currently with Sunny for a period of time that was on a Sunny would 211 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,240 be on FX and Reno was on Comedy Central. Was the peak of Western 212 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:54,519 civilization right there, and it's been downhill ever since it was, you know, 213 00:14:54,759 --> 00:14:56,679 there was it felt like a peak. Actually at the time, I 214 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:01,639 felt like, could it possibly get better than the But in fact it didn't 215 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,600 like we look back on that now, um, but you don't have Workaholics, 216 00:15:05,639 --> 00:15:09,519 you don't have anything like that. And King of Staten Island I enjoyed, 217 00:15:09,559 --> 00:15:13,360 but it also did feel slow, and it's very similar with Bubkiss. 218 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,039 Have you watched Bob Kiss? So, Bobkiss is a new Pete Davidson vehicle 219 00:15:16,039 --> 00:15:22,759 on Peacock and just star studded casts. We're talking about um, Joe Pashi, 220 00:15:22,759 --> 00:15:28,600 Yeah, yeah, Edie Falco. And it's almost like what was the 221 00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:33,559 great Pete Holmes show, um uh surfing it was basically Yeah, it's one 222 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,519 of that is one of the crashing, one of the one of the best 223 00:15:37,519 --> 00:15:39,600 shows the last ten years as well, even though it does have a very 224 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,919 heavy dose of drama in it. Um, but the drama sturfs their purpose 225 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:46,919 a better healthy comedy. Yeah, it's not just a downer for the sick 226 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,440 of being a downer. Well, and it had some fidelity to a true 227 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:56,480 story which allowed it to not prioritize this like shoehorned narrative. It was a 228 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,519 natural narrative, like it actually happened, so he didn't have to make anything 229 00:16:00,679 --> 00:16:07,159 up for sure, Yeah, like fabricate any like grand point um. But 230 00:16:07,679 --> 00:16:11,320 with Bob Kiss, it's similar in that, like Pete Davidson has had a 231 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,639 fairly interesting life and there's some really interesting stuff that has happened to him. 232 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:22,240 He's obviously talented, but it's bogged down. Again. I don't think that's 233 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:26,000 a show that needs to be completely hilarious, like from start to finish obviously. 234 00:16:26,519 --> 00:16:30,240 Um, you know, comedians are really dark, and Crashing explores that 235 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:37,159 to super fascinating effect. Um, Bob GISs is just like it's I don't 236 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,559 know, I thought it was fine, but it's is not as funny as 237 00:16:40,559 --> 00:16:42,960 it should be given the level of talent you have. And that's I just 238 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:47,360 feel like the statement on Hollywood of the last ten years, they's just not 239 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:48,960 as good as it should be, even though you have plenty of talented people. 240 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,639 And that's kind of like that's a sort of a statement on America last 241 00:16:53,639 --> 00:16:59,159 ten years. There's just a stupid amount of talent in this country and not 242 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,440 a wasted potential, right, Yeah, stupid amount of talent in this country, 243 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:03,920 and it just feels like everything is gummed up, right, Like the 244 00:17:06,519 --> 00:17:08,839 word, the mechanics of the country just gummed up, and you have this 245 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,160 wasted potential. Yeah, I mean, we could be on Mars by now 246 00:17:12,519 --> 00:17:15,480 doing stand up there, but you never it's a reality show called life on 247 00:17:15,519 --> 00:17:18,559 Mars right now. Really, Yes, I'm assuming they're not on Mars. 248 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,119 I don't know, how could they do that? It was a joke. 249 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:30,319 I feel like it simulates I assume I yeah, yes, so alien and 250 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,480 flour and good. But I haven't dug two deeply in it. But they 251 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:34,920 have. One of the guests from vander Pump Rules is on it. That's 252 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,680 another show that I've obviously been watching that suddenly had a new life. This 253 00:17:38,759 --> 00:17:42,440 is a show that started basically when I started college the early twenty times. 254 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,839 I think it started around twenty twelve. It was a spinoff of the Real 255 00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:52,319 housewebs at Beverly Hills and became a massive, a massive story this year because 256 00:17:52,599 --> 00:17:56,839 of some really some very real life drama. I think vander Pump Rules is 257 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,920 the greatest reality show of all time, with the possible exception of Jersey Shore. 258 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:03,160 It is. I'm a huge reality TV junkie. But one of the 259 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,279 guys is one life on Mars and I read an interview with him today, 260 00:18:07,319 --> 00:18:11,440 Tom Schwartz, talking about how coming out of what has been dubbed Scandival, 261 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:18,000 which is the scandal involving Tom Sandival the friend of Tom, and you've definitely 262 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,279 seen headlines, even if you've forgotten, like it's been absolutely Everywhard's massive. 263 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,720 Um that scandal, he said coming out of it, this is the simulated 264 00:18:26,759 --> 00:18:33,000 life on Mars was extremely refreshing, basically because you didn't have your phone. 265 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,279 Yeah, and that's like very sad. It's a very very very sad that 266 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:41,240 someone has this weird simulated reality television so experience on Mars, and that's what's 267 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,799 re leaving to them. To reconnect with reality, you have to go on 268 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:52,160 reality television, very mata, right, like our only escape from the reality 269 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:57,559 that reality television half wrought the reality TV your way out of reality. The 270 00:18:57,559 --> 00:19:04,160 only way out is through That might be true. We live in hyper reality. 271 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:08,000 Nothing is real anymore. So. So you did watch the last season 272 00:19:08,079 --> 00:19:11,200 of Barry, I feel like your take makes a lot of sense. That's 273 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,839 exactly what I would have expected from last season to Barry. Um, here's 274 00:19:14,839 --> 00:19:17,240 another one of my blind spots. Because by the way, I'm going to 275 00:19:17,279 --> 00:19:19,759 get so much judgment for this, but yeah, I have some really big, 276 00:19:19,799 --> 00:19:23,039 glaring blind spots. I have watched Succession. I have not watched the 277 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:27,799 last season of Succession, and that's that is a glaring blind spot. Even 278 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,119 me, like, I'm sorry, I can't you know that point the world. 279 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:34,559 I know the way to the world is on my shoulders right now. 280 00:19:34,559 --> 00:19:37,880 And I know I talk about a big game about watching absolutely everything, but 281 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,920 in order to be able to watch vander Pump Rules, I have to sacrifice 282 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:47,920 something. Yeah, that's right. And so tell me what you thought of 283 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,480 successions sort of endpoint. No spoilers, obviously, because I don't think everyone's 284 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,160 but you know, it's like the quality of the show and what it sort 285 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,000 of was was telling us about HBO, what it was telling us about the 286 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:06,799 country now. Um, so I think the intensity was still there. Um, 287 00:20:06,839 --> 00:20:10,680 there's obviously some events throughout the season that take like the wind out of 288 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,680 the sales, and then it just turns up back to eleven. Um. 289 00:20:15,279 --> 00:20:18,960 I think it was good writing all things considered. I didn't particularly like the 290 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,759 outcome, but you know, that's not really what you're supposed you're not supposed 291 00:20:22,759 --> 00:20:26,720 to always. I don't think anybody I think the ending was supposed to kind 292 00:20:26,759 --> 00:20:30,519 of um de pick that, like, yeah, it's a show where you 293 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:34,960 hate everybody, right, so you're not supposed to like what happens no matter 294 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,920 what, and that's kind of sopranos. Well, I don't know that's that's 295 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:44,440 a very like every character is literally me show. So I really I love 296 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:52,279 everyone there. So you actually the anti heroes for Sam and Sopranos are prostagonists. 297 00:20:53,279 --> 00:20:57,160 This is a really dark statement on yourself and yourself. It's more, 298 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,119 it's more. It's more so the I enjoy the memes and the Sopranos fandom 299 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,279 that is cropped up in the covid era. You're irony poisoned, unfortunately. 300 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,160 Have you watched the Eric Andre Show? Of course, Eric Andre Show. 301 00:21:12,039 --> 00:21:15,279 Yeah, you're into the kind of adult swim milliyear. Oh yeah, the 302 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,720 Eric Andrea Show. There are a couple so z Way and the Eric Andre 303 00:21:19,839 --> 00:21:26,880 Show. This is like gen Z's entree into popular culture. And like it 304 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,279 takes a while for this sort of to like trickle. You know, it 305 00:21:30,279 --> 00:21:34,319 wasn't until twenty twelve. With Girls, I think that millennials, like Office 306 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,000 is very gen X. Everyone loves the Office, but like Office is very 307 00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:41,160 giant gen X. But with Girls, you see like the millennials start to 308 00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:45,799 trickle into popular culture because you know, Lena Donald was really really young, 309 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,119 even though she's kind of an elder millennial, she was really young when Girls 310 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,279 came out. She was like one of the youngest writers, and that was 311 00:21:52,319 --> 00:21:56,720 in twenty twelve, so barely over a decade ago. And so it takes 312 00:21:56,759 --> 00:22:02,480 a little while for for Hollywood to catch up with these generations because you can't 313 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,359 have you know, fifteen year olds writing HBO shows, although some of them, 314 00:22:06,039 --> 00:22:07,680 or I should say, like some Netflix shows these days really feel like 315 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:12,480 they were written by either fifteen year old or chatter vpt or prompts from a 316 00:22:12,519 --> 00:22:18,359 fifteen year old to chatter. But I feel like this is, you know, 317 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,359 the euphoria is not an accurate depiction of zoomers, no matter what. 318 00:22:22,599 --> 00:22:25,559 It just is not. It's like a very small subsection of zoomers, and 319 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:30,400 it gets some things interestingly accurate. But I think you started to interject. 320 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:36,039 I think I think euphoria really kind of taps into the like the isolation and 321 00:22:36,039 --> 00:22:42,440 the romantic romantic romanticism of that isolation zoomers feel. Um, I don't think 322 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:47,039 it's I think that speaks why it's so popular amongst gen z um. I 323 00:22:47,039 --> 00:22:51,119 certainly think it's cultural rot and ought not to continue. Yeah, but alast 324 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:55,880 it is going to so and Eric's ericon drean z where are not Zoomers but 325 00:22:56,279 --> 00:23:00,000 they are like those shows are like ready made for TikTok. They're almost there. 326 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,680 They were really almost. Um, they're almost written with the pacing of 327 00:23:04,759 --> 00:23:07,920 TikTok and reels and that. Like every on Eric Andre Show, it's like 328 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,799 every fifteen seconds there's this hard left pivot. It's incredibly schizophrenic. Yeah. 329 00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:17,880 Yeah, So what is your take on the Eric Andre Show. This is 330 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:21,400 his first season doing this show, right, I think, So what do 331 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,920 you I mean? I'm a I'm a purist. I suppose I missed. 332 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,079 I missed Eric The Eric Andre Show. Um, that was like a golden 333 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,720 era in adult Swim's history, right, And when was that? I think 334 00:23:34,759 --> 00:23:40,640 it started in like twenty thirteen and then went to like twenty seventeen. Okay, 335 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:42,480 I'm probably wrong on that. And that's when you took time off, 336 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:47,200 so there's years in between seasons. That's when Comedy Central was doing a lot 337 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:52,119 of these Um. I think the Anthony Jeselnick Show was in that same time 338 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,839 period. Um. And there were some others love investment and like actual talent 339 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:00,440 for their or in this, like faux cable news. Yeah, like faux 340 00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:03,799 Late Night. That's probably a better example. Whereas like where millennials, we're 341 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,519 just sort of like being the anti traditional they were doing, like the Jazzlin 342 00:24:08,599 --> 00:24:15,640 like thing, the anti um, the anti Letterman thing. Right now, 343 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,759 what Eric Andre is doing, um, I think is sort of anti anti, 344 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,960 right or when Z is doing a sort of anti anti it's not a 345 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,960 deconstruction, it's just a full well, I guess it is a deconstruction, 346 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,559 but it's very like you said, it's very meta. So it's it's irony 347 00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,240 poisoned. So that's kind of the appeal of that, I think to a 348 00:24:33,319 --> 00:24:38,839 lot of people is there's so much. There's unintentionally so much to it, 349 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:45,519 so you can either turn your brain off and just vibe or you can chehotically 350 00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:49,240 try and deconstruct what may or may not be actual art. Yeah. So, 351 00:24:49,519 --> 00:24:55,359 and that's right. Um, it's like you know, somebody putting a 352 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:00,640 finger painting up in an art museum, um, a modern arn't museum, 353 00:25:00,839 --> 00:25:03,960 and you when it's gen Z, you know, you don't you can't tell 354 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:10,359 if they're satirizing or if they're actually like if if it's like the satire is 355 00:25:11,519 --> 00:25:15,839 actually sincere. Yeah, you don't know. And that's I mean obviously extremely 356 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,119 interesting. And I really like the way. I think it's really funny, 357 00:25:19,839 --> 00:25:23,759 but it's I think that what I'm getting out of it is different than what 358 00:25:23,799 --> 00:25:26,400 people younger than me are getting out of it. Like she's really talented, 359 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,680 her timing is incredible, and you get a lot of laughs out of it, 360 00:25:30,759 --> 00:25:33,799 but at the same time that you genuinely have no idea at the end 361 00:25:33,839 --> 00:25:38,400 of the day, like what she's trying, like what point she's ultimately trying 362 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:44,559 to make, because it's just anti everything, right. I think there's a 363 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,160 sort of I mean, there's going to be a huge cultural issue with that, 364 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,480 I think, because I don't think people are well. I mean, 365 00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:53,720 I'm sure people grow out of it eventually, but it's a very like omnipresent 366 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:59,000 trend right now, just the full the full blown irony poison of everything. 367 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,759 So it's impos would have found like what is the actual truth of a conversation 368 00:26:02,759 --> 00:26:04,839 with a lot of young people right now? Um, I don't know how 369 00:26:04,839 --> 00:26:08,960 we navigate that. I think it requires some kind of like resurgence and sincerity. 370 00:26:10,279 --> 00:26:15,079 Um, but I don't know. It's it's like the Eric Condre is 371 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,599 sort of like the TV version of Old Town Road and like Little Nasax, 372 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,200 I'm where you're going with that, I don't know, I'm not picking up 373 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,079 on that one. Well, what I mean by that is it's like Old 374 00:26:26,079 --> 00:26:33,240 Town Road is anti anti UM. It's sort of like a anti anti dumb 375 00:26:33,279 --> 00:26:37,279 country music. Right, so it's like this, UM, but but you 376 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,440 like it's actually really catchy in the same way that like you're going to laugh 377 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,400 at Z, but you're going to laugh at Eric Andre because they're putting people 378 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,960 in uncomfortable situations and like there's there's actually something really funny there. Um, 379 00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:51,799 And you're going to even if you like country like Old Town Road, there's 380 00:26:51,799 --> 00:26:53,440 this huge controversy over whether it belongs on the country charts or not, and 381 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,480 whether it belongs in country radio or not, and it ultimately ended up on 382 00:26:57,039 --> 00:27:02,640 the country charts like country radio. UM. And it's like that like very 383 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,319 real question is you know this is that was clearly satire of country music, 384 00:27:06,519 --> 00:27:11,359 like very clearly satire of country music. And um still at the end of 385 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:18,079 the day, it's being put in the country music John Eric Contre is now 386 00:27:18,079 --> 00:27:19,720 a late night television host. You have to say, right, no, 387 00:27:19,799 --> 00:27:22,720 for sure, yeah, he has the same standing as um what's his name 388 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:27,720 from the Daily Show? Um? Trevor. Well, he's gone now, 389 00:27:27,839 --> 00:27:30,480 thank god. They've been rotating people on on. But this this is like 390 00:27:30,519 --> 00:27:37,079 where Jordan Klepper or Trevor Noah, who would guess are both millennials um fail 391 00:27:37,279 --> 00:27:41,640 like just fail fail fail, And you have gen Z coming in and actually, 392 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:47,640 like Zewey is not Trevor Noah. Zeway is like not just satirizing John 393 00:27:47,839 --> 00:27:51,920 Stewart. It's also that she's she's she's not just satirizing. Let's say John 394 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,680 Stuart was satirizing like Bill O'Reilly, or Colbert was satirizing Bill o'reiley. She's 395 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,960 not just being Colbert. She's also kind of satirizing Colbert. It's like multi 396 00:28:00,319 --> 00:28:04,039 multiple layers of satire and commentary and you don't know, like ultimately where it 397 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,720 lands. And I think that's because gen Z like ultimately doesn't know where they 398 00:28:07,759 --> 00:28:11,279 land on any of this stuff except for that they hate everything. The world 399 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:15,599 is burning, as you said, everything is on fire all time, so 400 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,160 like that they're not rooted in it in anything. I'm not saying that means 401 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,680 I actually think they're making really interesting stuff, or people that are making stuff 402 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,440 for gen Z and making really interesting stuff that place of uncertainty isn't you know, 403 00:28:27,279 --> 00:28:30,119 categorically bad for art. And in fact, you know, if you're 404 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,200 willing to be honest with yourself because you also don't have a sense of shame 405 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,079 because you don't know what you believe, you may go in some really interesting 406 00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:41,480 directions. That's a good point. Yeah, you know, to the point 407 00:28:41,519 --> 00:28:44,240 of, like from satirizing everything, I think there's a lot of overlap. 408 00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:47,200 This might be getting way too into the internet weeds. Oh boy. I 409 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,359 think there's a lot of overlap with like the Eric Andre and the z ways 410 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,279 and like the Dirt Bag Left, so to speaking, totally. Yeah, 411 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,759 I think it's a really unique cultural phenomenon because whereas you know, the first 412 00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:00,920 group is very very corporate, the other one is very kind of despite making 413 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,240 bags of cash, is kind of a shoed by play society. But it's 414 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,039 still like, you know, how you have that Taylor Swift's ex boyfriend is 415 00:29:08,519 --> 00:29:14,720 for intensive purposes, Taylor Swift orbit the Dirt Bag Left because it's it's subversive 416 00:29:14,759 --> 00:29:17,400 in a lot of ways. It's interesting, but millennial Taylor Swift broke up 417 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,319 with him Betty Jali right, well, we don't know if she broke up 418 00:29:19,319 --> 00:29:22,440 with him, or her manager told her to break up with him. We 419 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,839 don't know the full tea, but millennial Taylor Swift could not embrace the chaos 420 00:29:26,839 --> 00:29:30,680 and many heal right, and that's actually kind of interesting. Obviously she probably 421 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,319 obviously she liked him. There was something and it very quickly became nothing after 422 00:29:34,359 --> 00:29:37,839 there was a political backlash. So draw whatever conclusions you want. But you 423 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,279 have the pod Bros versus I'm not even say the name of the one podcast 424 00:29:42,319 --> 00:29:45,160 for us you want to compare it to. But there's also Chapo. So 425 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,599 you have the pod Bros, you have Chapo, you have dirt bag left 426 00:29:48,599 --> 00:29:52,440 people. And that's another like really great juxposition, the millennial pod bros who 427 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,880 are so deeply self serious and to their own detriment in ways that are like 428 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:03,759 incredibly unfunny and in ways that make their politics really vapid and establishment. I 429 00:30:03,759 --> 00:30:06,799 mean, I just saw a clip of John Favreau the other day talking about 430 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,480 how you know, if you're voting for Jill Stein, then you're just voting 431 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,079 in the same way that you were voting for Trump over Hillary. If you 432 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,720 voted for Jill Sign in twenty sixteen, if you vote for Bobby Kennedy or 433 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,240 if you vote for Cornell West, you're just voting for Trump again. And 434 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:25,799 there's there's no self awareness, there's no serious like grappling with the world around 435 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:27,319 them, Whereas in a sense, I really do think gen Z has been 436 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:33,079 forced to grapple with the world around them because Millennials came of age largely before 437 00:30:33,079 --> 00:30:37,200 Facebook, or they had their childhood kind of split down the middle by Facebook 438 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:38,960 zoomers. It's like Wi Fi has always been in the air, yeah, 439 00:30:40,039 --> 00:30:44,720 and smartphones have always been the norm, and that forces you into a different 440 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,160 place of uncertainty, I think, in a different place of like health. 441 00:30:47,319 --> 00:30:51,720 Frankly, yeah, I mean it's certainly overexposed, and I don't know if 442 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:52,920 it's a person. I think it's a bad thing. You know, the 443 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,240 loss of innocence is way too young. You're forced to grapple with things that 444 00:30:56,559 --> 00:31:00,720 no child should have to even know exists. Said way too young. A 445 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,960 hardcore pornography, Yeah right, um, you know, I mean that's commonplace 446 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,400 on Twitter. Like I see conversations on Twitter all the time, Like Twitter 447 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,000 needs to choose whether it's like an eighteen plus platform or like ban all the 448 00:31:11,039 --> 00:31:15,079 smut um. But that's something that gen Z has to constantly grapple with. 449 00:31:15,119 --> 00:31:18,079 The way they're brains formed is entirely different than any other generation before because they 450 00:31:18,079 --> 00:31:21,240 were, like you said, they were born in the digital era. They're 451 00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:25,920 digital natives. You know, I'm a younger millennial, so you're right on 452 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,000 the border to Yeah, I guess zillennial. I've saw I've seen online people 453 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,599 are saying that it's pretty funny though, like I've seen like where I was 454 00:31:33,599 --> 00:31:37,240 I going with that, So like I've had like my life kind of split 455 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,440 between like I remember life without Facebook and the internet being everywhere, right, 456 00:31:41,799 --> 00:31:45,920 But if you don't and that's your only frame of reference, you don't know 457 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,440 what it's like touch grass, so you're untethered yeah, from the before times 458 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,079 exactly and just kind of floating around, right, which is again producing some 459 00:31:52,119 --> 00:31:55,119 really interesting stuff. No, for sure, it's great. It's great for 460 00:31:55,119 --> 00:31:57,519 our consumption, but right very bad for humanity. If you don't know what 461 00:31:57,599 --> 00:32:01,319 to believe, then you know you're going to there'll probably be a lot of 462 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:07,559 provocation. And because they're asking questions, and I think millennials lost their ability 463 00:32:07,559 --> 00:32:10,799 to even ask questions because there became this Well I think that's very obvious because 464 00:32:10,839 --> 00:32:17,160 college campuses and culture that was becoming influenced by college exactly. It became like 465 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:22,680 you cannot ask questions like and girls ask questions and got into trouble for doing 466 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,839 it, but you know, and landed in a pretty interesting place. But 467 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:29,880 Lena Dunham herself, you know, it's very we know what we think about 468 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,119 this and this and human rights and blah blah blah. It just is it's 469 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,599 a very very different thing. And the Zoomers are reacting to that. Is 470 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,799 there anything else you can think, um that fits into that category that we 471 00:32:39,839 --> 00:32:44,640 haven't mentioned yet? I did mention that I just watched The Idol. I've 472 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,759 started the Idol, which is Lily Rose Depp, so Johnny Depp's daughter, 473 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:54,440 and its the Weekend. It's been criticized as sort of being marketed to teens 474 00:32:54,559 --> 00:32:59,680 and being more explicit than Euphoria, which is almost impossible to be more explicit 475 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,319 than you've w It's grotesque. It is a very disgusting show. I was 476 00:33:02,359 --> 00:33:07,799 trying to explain it to someone yesterday. And also it's the Degrassi for Zoomers. 477 00:33:10,119 --> 00:33:14,759 It's much much more explicit than de grass I remember watching Degrassi and like, 478 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,359 I accidentally I wasn't trying to watch it, but I stumbled on it 479 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,240 one day in middle school after school, and I remember watching an episode about 480 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:27,160 like the rainbow bracelets that at the time adults were panicked over that I don't 481 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,279 think actually really exists on a wide scale, but it indicated, you know, 482 00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:34,680 what girls had done sexually at that age, the different colors that they 483 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:39,880 wore bracelet wise, and I like truly don't think that ever exists, but 484 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,599 it is like, yeah, I think of going in my lifetime from Dawson's 485 00:33:45,599 --> 00:33:51,839 Creek being a moral panic to the idol barely registering culturally as a as a 486 00:33:51,839 --> 00:33:53,960 moral panic. People are just like the shows. People don't seem to be 487 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,519 like in the show. I mean, I don't know I like it. 488 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,759 I was in Pull the Plug, so yeah, I was listening to Red 489 00:33:59,799 --> 00:34:00,839 Scare and they were like, well, we don't know anybody who who's watched 490 00:34:00,839 --> 00:34:04,279 those who hasn't liked it. I don't. I haven't really talked to anybody 491 00:34:04,279 --> 00:34:07,480 else who's watched it so far. I'm just going based on like they mentioned, 492 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:08,760 it got boot at can, which is great. You know, it 493 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,920 looks really cool to get boot it can, which is totally true. And 494 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,159 I think people who are willing to like ask these questions that the idol asks 495 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:25,079 about fame and celebrity and media and the ethics of the business and Hollywood period. 496 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,159 The Idol is asking those questions in a way that I think we've had 497 00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:34,320 a total pause in asking some of those those questions. But I think it's 498 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,760 great and I actually found the show pretty interesting. I'm not like a gas 499 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:39,920 I think it's really bad if you kids are watching it, But I also 500 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:45,880 haven't seen it being like directly marketed at kids. It is explicit though. 501 00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:50,800 No, Yeah, I was more as said from like all this smut. 502 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,079 I thought the most defensive part was just the terrible acting. It's just the 503 00:34:53,119 --> 00:34:57,880 weekend. Should stick to making nuvo RMB, that's where he really shines. 504 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,840 Should stay out of acting. Just be four millennials, and then I think 505 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:05,360 we should move to movies. But thenk you speaking of shows for millennials. 506 00:35:05,639 --> 00:35:07,840 The other two is one of my favorite things on TV right now. This 507 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,559 is a show. I believe it started in a comedy Central and and this 508 00:35:10,679 --> 00:35:15,320 is just like it's almost like broad City, but with a brother and sister. 509 00:35:15,599 --> 00:35:20,079 It's kind of a tweet how Tina fe was mad about that show for 510 00:35:20,119 --> 00:35:22,679 some reason. Oh, I don't know. I didn't I didn't pick up 511 00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:25,760 on that. But it doesn't really get a lot of it has again, 512 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:30,440 like it has a pretty good cast. Molly Shannon is a lead in it, 513 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,360 um and Wanda Sykes is a big character in it, and they get 514 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,280 some really good guest spots. But um, I think they had Dylan O'Brien 515 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,199 on a recent episode. But yeah, it's it's sort of like very broad 516 00:35:40,199 --> 00:35:44,519 City, but with a brother and sister, very much like two people trying 517 00:35:44,519 --> 00:35:50,119 to make it in New York, specifically in um Hollywood and acting and in 518 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,960 representation pr and UM. It's just one of those shows as like genuinely sunny 519 00:35:57,199 --> 00:36:00,599 esque in that it exists as a comedy and it's not. It has some 520 00:36:00,679 --> 00:36:07,039 really biting moments, some really like sharp edged comedy, and it's very very 521 00:36:07,079 --> 00:36:13,000 current. So if you're a pop culture junkie, you'll love the references and 522 00:36:13,039 --> 00:36:19,960 you'll really enjoy it. But it's not trying to sell you an emotional storyline 523 00:36:20,159 --> 00:36:23,039 alongside the comedy, which just like every time you think it's maybe going to 524 00:36:23,119 --> 00:36:27,559 be emotional, it's going to got punch you with something emotional all which is 525 00:36:27,559 --> 00:36:30,119 wonderful. It's exactly what you want, exactly. It's just for levity, 526 00:36:30,119 --> 00:36:35,159 it's for entertainment, right, So, partially because Vanderpup Rules has weighed so 527 00:36:35,159 --> 00:36:38,320 heavily on my mind recently, I just haven't been watching a lot of movies. 528 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,840 And you know what, it's not even vander Pump Rules. It's below 529 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:45,719 deck. If I'm going to be honest, I I'm admitting here to it's 530 00:36:46,639 --> 00:36:51,760 serious, a serious addiction to below deck, which is I'm a I'm a 531 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,800 Bravo junkie. I love the Real Housewives, I love vander Pump Rules, 532 00:36:54,800 --> 00:37:00,599 I love Southern Charm. But watching them for years very much, very much 533 00:37:00,119 --> 00:37:04,480 like in that subculture, love it, love it, love it has all 534 00:37:04,559 --> 00:37:07,079 kinds of problems, but it also I think, you know, the way 535 00:37:07,119 --> 00:37:10,199 I justified rationalized watching Bravo, though I do watch a little bit less of 536 00:37:10,199 --> 00:37:14,400 it these days, especially The Housewives and everything else, is by saying, 537 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:19,039 you actually do pick up on a lot of sad and serious things about our 538 00:37:19,039 --> 00:37:24,119 culture by watching these shows. And it's that the comedy of finding, you 539 00:37:24,159 --> 00:37:29,400 know, like white lotus things in our culture that are so sad you have 540 00:37:29,519 --> 00:37:32,159 to skewer them, and Real Housewives does that in a way that a lot 541 00:37:32,159 --> 00:37:34,920 of the women aren't aware of. Some of them are, some of them 542 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,039 aren't. And part of the fun is watching that, and it's not always 543 00:37:38,079 --> 00:37:40,960 pleasant to watch. A lot of times it's it's very unpleasant to watch, 544 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,880 which is why I stopped watching the season of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. 545 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:45,760 And that was one of the only times that I've ever done that. 546 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:51,559 Sam doesn't give damn. But we're going to keep going here. So I 547 00:37:51,559 --> 00:37:53,880 support you in your cultural pursuits. Thank you. I can't say the same 548 00:37:53,880 --> 00:38:00,079 for you, but I will say I have been binging below Deck since January 549 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:01,840 UM, and I never gave below Deck a chance. Have you ever watched 550 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,599 below Deck? I've never heard of it until this conversation. Okay, So 551 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:12,519 below Deck is a reality TV show on yachts. UM. So it's about 552 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,000 no, no, no, no, it's not. But it's about the 553 00:38:15,039 --> 00:38:20,880 crew of these luxury yachts, and so it's it's interesting. Like, first 554 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,119 of all, I think it's the perfect couple show because you get something for 555 00:38:24,159 --> 00:38:30,039 the men, which is the boats, and like the you know, you 556 00:38:30,079 --> 00:38:34,239 have the engineers are on the show and they're doing their their docking and they're 557 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:37,519 anchoring, and it's a lot of like heavy equipment, you can. You 558 00:38:37,559 --> 00:38:39,880 know, it's it's a little for the men and then for the women you 559 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:44,199 have the crew drama and the relationships. And for the men and the women 560 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:45,800 you have the food. So the food feature is very heavily on below deck 561 00:38:46,039 --> 00:38:49,599 and it's a fun metal travel show. You get to see other places, 562 00:38:49,599 --> 00:38:52,880 but it's also just edited in a way that makes it very easy to serialize 563 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:57,800 their drama. Um, you know, it's it's a good sort of confined 564 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,920 space that adds in a very obvious of reality. It's reality television. Like 565 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:05,440 there's some of the stuff you frankly can't script because you've done the work ahead 566 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:10,840 of time, which is putting a bunch of sexually active young people in a 567 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,440 very confined space with stressful jobs and the camera Grover like, you're going to 568 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,280 get good stuff no matter what. All right, I think we're going to 569 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,280 wrap up and move on to movies, but I think we should do that 570 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:27,039 as a separate podcast because there's just there's too much good stuff. Sam, 571 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,679 all right, well, we'll be back with a podcast on some of the 572 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:35,559 movies that we've watched in the last year. After this, looking forward to 573 00:39:35,599 --> 00:39:38,119 it. You've been listening to another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm 574 00:39:38,119 --> 00:39:42,760 Emilijashnski, culture editor here at the Federalist. Will be back soon with more. 575 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,599 Until then, be lovers of freedom and anxious for the frame.