The Daily Zeitgeist - More Like Injustice Kennedy, Johnny Depp’s Weird World 6.27.18
Episode Date: June 27, 2018In episode 178, Jack and special guest co-host Ify Nwadiwe are joined by comedian Kurt Braunohler to discuss the Rolling Stone Johnny Depp profile, Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring at the worst time p...ossible, the travel ban hurting our chances of a brain drain out of Iran, the 28 year old socialist who who defeated an incumbent leader of the Democratic Party in NYC, the passing of Joe Jackson, a Facebook post made by a possible incel, a break down of Fortnite and PUBG, and more! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years.
I have a proposal for you.
Come up here and document my project.
All you need to do is record everything like you always do.
What was that?
That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.
Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself?
There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.
They're just dreams.
Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm.
Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts hi i am lacy lamar and i'm also lacy lamar just kidding i'm amber revan okay everybody we have
exciting news to share we're back with season two of the amber and lacy lacy and amber show
on will ferrell's big money players Network. This season, we make new
friends, deep dive into my steamy DMs, answer your listener questions and more. The more is punch
each other. Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players
Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen,
wherever you get your podcasts.
Just listen, okay?
Or Lacey gets it.
Do it.
In California during the summer of 1975,
within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles,
two women did something no other woman had done before,
try to assassinate the president of the United States.
One was the protege of Charles Manson.
26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky.
The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI.
Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.
The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current.
Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts.
iHeartTrue Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts.
What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on?
I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite.
For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers.
You mix homesteading with guns in church voila you got
straight away they try to save everybody listen to spiraled on the iheart radio app apple podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts hello the internet and welcome to season 37 episode 3 of
their daily zeitgeist yeah june 27 2018 thank you if you my name is Jack O'Brien, a.k.a. I was O'Brien when I met you.
I was Aerosmith, and I'm thrilled to be joined by today's co-host, one of the funniest comedians and performers anywhere.
He is Mr. Ify Wadiwe, a.k.a.
We're living most our life living in Ify's paradise.
Uh-huh.
You know, got to give it up to my man, Coolio.
He doesn't get enough.
I wonder if those songs were from the same year.
Mine was supposed to be Crying by Aerosmith.
I don't know if anybody can tell, because I haven't heard that song since I was 12.
By the way, that A.K. was from at Snarky Desart.
Good Twitter handle.
And Ify, it's lovely to have you.
Great job.
You did a good job.
You brought it for Miles, who is still in Europe.
Holding it down, living that World Cup life.
I think he was in a small town today where smoking weed is legal. And it's a really weird,
like permanent Renaissance fair. Like the town is like self incorporated, very strange place.
Anyways, we will never see miles again. And we are thrilled to have in our third seat,
one of the funniest comedians and performers and just people anywhere, Mr. Kurt Braunohler.
Hello.
Hey, man.
Hi, how you doing?
Thank you for doing the show.
We're excited to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Excited to be here.
Let's talk about stuff.
All right.
Your famous catchphrase, talk about stuff.
No, my catchphrase is, oh, Braunohler.
Kurt, what is something from your search history that is revealing that?
The revealing about who you are part is difficult,
but the best one I could find is just Dennis Miller cha-cha.
Because I was really just like, did he actually just say cha-cha all the time?
And he does.
He totally just says cha-cha and babe all
the time i mean babe i remembered but i was like cha-cha like that seems crazy right because i
think there's a thing i think i don't know if other people do it but i do it all the time where
it's like if i had a time machine and i went back in time could i be a successful stand-up during
that time period and i don't know if I could in the eighties,
if cha-cha people were just like,
yep,
very funny,
very funny.
That is good stuff.
I know.
I,
I,
I,
when I think about that,
I think about the fact that I'd have to have like a nickname because that was the big thing for black standups back then was like,
yo,
I'm Tokyo.
Let's go.
Right,
right.
Yeah. Cha-cha.
You would need to find your stand-up comedy mantra or something that worked for you.
I know.
Cha-cha.
I've gone through it many ways.
Or you figure out right the time when a certain new form of comedy became like relevant in like small clubs in the Greenwich
Village or something. And then you go there and you become really big and like that small thing.
And then you like kind of take off with a new type of comedy that's just your comedy from the future.
What is something you think is overrated?
I got a bunch, but I think I'm going to go with walking slow.
Walking slow is overrated.
No, I mean, sorry, it's underrated.
Okay.
We'll do underrated first.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, walking slow is underrated.
I like that.
I've been doing that a lot recently.
And it's like, I used to be a real fast walker.
I lived in New York City and it was always just like, get out of my way.
I'm important.
And now I really enjoy a slow stroll around my neighborhood.
Usually if I'm like trying to write and stuff, I just walk slowly.
And I find it's very, very relaxing to have no place in particular to go.
Yeah, no.
It's also called being unemployed.
Currently not having a job.
Yeah, no, I didn't realize how fast I walked until I had a daughter and I would walk with her and notice
that she's tripping because I'm taking
such large strides.
For a while I was like, why is she falling
so much? What the fuck is this kid's
problem? I'm running.
We gotta get her checked out
by the doctor.
How old is she?
She's two. Two. I've got 15
months, so she hasn't walked in yet.
Oh, just wait.
It's the worst.
15 months is fun.
What is something you think is overrated?
Comedians doing improvised hours of stand-up.
Fuck it.
I'm over it.
It's the last thing in my life that I want to watch is people getting up and not performing
stuff they wrote.
I'm done with it.
I'm done.
And this is coming from a person who used to do a one-man improv show in 2001.
So I understand where they're coming from.
But if I'm paying money to see comedy, I want to see you have written jokes and have a lot
of tags for every punchline.
And I don't want to see just whatever's on the top of your head yeah no i because you're not that because that reminds me
of like back in the day when it used to be big in the 90s i don't know if you remember jack uh
hip-hop artists not the 90s like the early aughts like a lot of hip-hop artists was like i don't
even write songs i freestyle i can I was like, I can tell.
Trust me. You're not fooling me.
You use the word day a lot because it rhymes with a bunch of stuff.
Yeah, and then freestyling, yeah, that used to be
so cool. But you could
tell a lot of the times it was just people
had written stuff, right? And were just
coming in and acting like, they were just
doing their standard rhymes over beats.
Just like real standard beats.
Yeah, you have to start it off with either like a lighter,
like about to smoke weed in this booth.
That's bad for the mic, sir.
All right, and finally, what is a myth?
What's something most people think is true
that you know to be false, Kurt?
I think that you need to be an asshole in order to be a great artist.
I think that's a myth.
I think that's maybe being debunked more and more now.
But it used to be like, you have to be like...
I used to think this when I first started comedy.
The people who I thought were really, really funny treated other people
like shit.
And I was like, well, that's what you do.
Like really good comics, like treat people like shit.
So I have to like, I won't respond to this email for a few days because I don't want
them to know I'm not a good comic because I'm like attentive to my business.
You have it like fully drafted and very nice.
And then you like go back and do like an edit on it where you're
like take out the please and thank you i'm a badass i'm a badass yeah take this punctuation
out of there no funny person whatever punctuate the email i do i i have done the same thing
and then like sent it out a day later and also i've done that and found it in my drafts folder
like three weeks later i'm'm like, oh, shit.
I'm bad at my job.
Yeah.
Why do you think that is?
Because I do notice there are a lot of talented people who are fucking awful.
And do you think it's a thing where they were awful before or success in this town in particular corrupts people's personalities?
I've thought about this a lot because I've seen it.
And you see it in comedy, I think, very often
just because you watch people go from being unknown
to everyone knowing them.
And you see it in a short span of time.
And I've seen it happen with multiple comedians
who were wonderful and then they get fame
and then are just monsters.
And it happens often. So it's not like one person.
Do you know what I mean?
And so my question always is in my head is, is it that they were just tricking us, that they were monsters all along, but they had to like learn to be like nice to people?
Yeah.
And then it just came out.
Or is there something about fame that – because I've also seen it happen where people go from cool to monster and then back to cool
after they realize
that they've been doing that.
Like someone,
like after a while,
like a few years of being monsters,
all of a sudden they have no friends left.
Yeah.
And then they're like,
oh, I fucked up.
And they go back to being a nice person.
Yeah.
So I think it must be something inherent in fame.
Yeah.
But it's like,
it's crazy that you,
why don't you look out for it?
Like we all, we see it so often in comedy. Why why not look out for it like when you know you're getting famous
to be like i don't want to be a dick yeah you know like it might be a trick thing because i feel like
there is like a level of when you watch someone like blow up to the stratosphere and you see like
everyone around them start turning a little bit into yes men and so i feel like no one's there to call them out and be like yo you're acting different because
they're just like nah i want to ride this wave with you yeah and i think it's just a combination
of those things and i think like i often think about how like especially stand up like you have
to be a specific type of person to think that you're important enough to stand in front of a mic, say something and have a group of people listen to you.
And there's like a certain like level of narcissism you need to actually get up on stage.
And I feel like when you get that fame and you get so much positive reinforcement, that narcissism can blow up to a huge scale and with no one to check you.
With no one to check you.
Yeah.
Yeah. Because also you're being rewarded for that narcissism all the time.
People are like, we want to hear more of what you have to say.
It's like, yep, I am important, you know?
Right.
That's why I also find it's like people who that doesn't happen to are people who have
friends from growing up.
Yeah.
Who like they still hang out with.
Right.
You know, like-
LeBron style.
Yeah.
Surrounds himself with the same people who knew him when he was 12.
I really think that helps him a lot because he should be completely insane.
And I'm sure he's a little insane.
But from the time he was 13, he lived in a town where Nike and Adidas were taking out
competing billboards just advertising only to him.
They were just trying to get him to sign with their company when he was a child.
And he's not completely fucked.
That didn't completely ruin him.
I had no idea.
Well, I think that's true too, Kurt, because if you think about the friends that you have
outside the industry, like your only friends.
I have a close friend who's not in the industry.
He doesn't give a fuck about anything that i get or anything like i'm still the same iffy that like got him beat up
in high school so like so he he has no buffer he's just like okay whatever and i do think yeah
your home you're like hometown friends who just don't care about any of your success really because
they're like i have nothing to gain or lose from you
because we know so much about each other.
Those would be the ones that would be like,
you're acting different.
Yeah, and also they have a framework
where all the little stuff that would bother you,
they don't understand it
and it doesn't matter to them.
Where you're just like,
no, but I'm only a recurring guest star.
I'm not the star.
And they're like,
you're still on a fucking TV show that I think is funny.
Shut the fuck up.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I think you also brought something up, Ify, that's kind of, I think, underrated
is how differently people start treating you once you're successful.
Like, I've had this thought with also, like, really attractive women who, like, people
are like, oh, they're so weird and like fake and stuff like that.
And it's like,
they never interact with people who aren't like partially brain dead when
they're talking to like men,
like men are just like,
yeah,
whatever,
you know,
like they never interact with a fully functioning male's brain.
So yeah,
they're going to be like,
sometimes that's going to be fucked up.
Or somebody who's trying to get something from them.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, it's like branded or trying to get.
And I think that maybe is part of it, too, when you become famous, people are trying to get stuff from you a lot.
Yeah.
Like, hey, well, now that you are doing it, help me.
Yeah.
And so maybe you become more suspicious of human beings for that reason.
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
This actually ties perfectly.
We've never had somebody's myth totally tie perfectly
into our first story like this.
But the first story we wanted to talk about
is this Rolling Stone profile of one Mr. Johnny Depp.
It is 10,000 words on Johnny Depp.
And if you could have come up with a description
of an article that I wouldn't want to read,
that is it.
10,000 words on Johnny Depp.
Rolling Stone is notably way more fascinated by Johnny Depp than I am.
They have had him on their cover five times.
Yes.
Which is shocking to me because, I don't know, he's an actor and they're a music magazine,
but I guess they always identified him as bad boy, outlaw sort of actor. So they sent
a writer who did a wonderful job to hang out with him for five days at this giant mansion that he
was renting in London. And it is just one of the darkest profiles of any human being.
Like, you've probably seen photos of him
lately looking like he's been poisoned by plutonium.
Like, his face is kind of degrading a little bit.
It's weird to see someone so thin yet so puffy.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like a skeleton was inflated.
Right.
Yeah, I think that's basically five years of untreated alcoholism because as you're reading the Rolling Stone article, you may be interested in this article pops up and it's like 2013, Johnny Depp, single, sober, and he looks great.
Yeah.
It's just like, ah, okay.
looks great yeah it's just like ah okay and then in this article he's talking about how uh people claimed that he was spending thirty thousand dollars on wine a month and or three
hundred thousand maybe and he was like that's way too little i spend way more than that on wine
uh so and he's just like staying up all night he like wakes up at like when the sun is setting and
like just stays up all night watching movies and cracking up a bunch of yes men, basically what we were just talking about.
Everything that you've just described up until this point
is a description of a vampire.
Yes.
And that's my new conspiracy theory that Johnny Depp was bitten by a vampire
and that's his new life.
Well, that's his band, right?
The Hollywood Vampires.
Oh, no.
Yes. Yeah, it is. Oh, no. vampire and that's his new life well that's his band right the hollywood vampires oh no he is fully aware that that's what it seems like that is the that's the weird thing too where he
he he drifts in and out of seeming like he has self-awareness right in this and that's what i
think is the most interesting thing about reading that because I read the whole thing too.
And I was like this is like one-eighth of the way through.
I was like this has got to be over soon.
I was like, oh, my God.
I saw the little bar on the side.
It's just a tiny speck in the upper right-hand corner.
Yeah.
And so that's the thing that's fascinating to me about it.
It's like you lose that outsider perspective.
Also, what I wanted to know is how
did that writer is amazing like did that writer do drugs because how is he staying up until dawn
8 a.m with this guy every night without doing drugs that's what i don't understand i mean he
keeps talking about how he's tired that is a it's steve steven rodrick. He does frequently, he's like, and I was on the verge of passing out sitting up, but I had to tell Johnny Depp finally that I had to leave him.
But Johnny Depp is constantly just making people hang out with him and telling bad jokes.
And he has this sense of humor that's really awful.
of humor that's really awful.
There's probably the most damning line in the thing is Roderick writes,
Depp considers himself a funny man. And then one of his jokes is he's bragging that he said Dirty Sanchez
in Pirates of the Caribbean, but it was too real for Disney
and they had to cut it out.
Too real, too dumb.
Yeah.
He also plays a Don Rickles joke from Sugar Ray Robinson's roast from the 70s
that's just openly racist, and he's like, man, that was ballsy, huh?
The writer's like, yeah, man, I guess.
But yeah, it's really, I don't know,
like there hasn't been a great portrait of, you know,
this sort of the logical extreme of sort of the pathological narcissism
that Hollywood sort of encourages and that, you know,
even just American culture, we all sort of worship fame and like fame is a religion sort of encourages and that, you know, even just American culture, we all sort of worship fame and
like fame is a religion sort of thing. There hasn't been a great portrait of what that looks
like when it's just totally running on empty, like just completely fucked in a long time. Like
it reminds you of like Sunset Boulevard a little bit the old movie where a
writer like his car breaks down like next to the mansion of a silent film actress like 30 years
after people stopped making silent films and she's just like completely bonkers it's where the line
i'm ready for my close-up mr deville isVille is from Grey Gardens, is another example of just sort of opulence in decline.
And this is, I think, one of the great portraits that I've seen.
What is interesting, too, is that he does have, he has 14 houses.
Yes.
And he has such money problems that he's like in this giant lawsuit with his old management
company.
But like imagine just selling one house of 14.
How can you have an emotional relationship with a 14th house?
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
It's like having an emotional relationship with a hotel you stayed in 10 years ago.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, just be like, no, I can't give up the experience of ever staying in that hotel again.
I know it's my 14th most valuable house, but it'll always be my ninth favorite house.
So it's like, well, okay.
So there's a great line by Bono, actually, of all people, who says about fame,
if you sit down to dinner and you realize
that everybody who's there is being paid by you, that you're probably an asshole.
And there's a moment towards the end of the article where the writer goes,
I want to go home, but feel reluctant to leave. One of the most famous actors in the world is
now smoking dope with a writer and his lawyer while his cook makes dinner and his bodyguards watch television there is no one around him who isn't getting paid like that's that's just what
his life is now his best friend and like it seems like his only friend is his lawyer who is like
just you know seeing him through all these like financial lawsuits and you know he he just hasn't paid attention to money at all ever and is in all
sorts of debt and the only weird thing is that they don't really focus on the amber heard thing
but i think it's probably because there's enough horror to go around without it yeah um and i mean
they mention it but uh i think he's probably reluctant to talk about it but I mean that is sort
of an important background all of this is just the scenes from that marriage
are like straight out of a horror movie except like a really pathetic one
there's one part where she talked about how he cut off the tip of his finger and
wrote easy amber on a mirror in blood
and then wrote starring Billy Bob Thornton
because he thought Billy Bob Thornton had sex with his wife.
But it's like Easy Amber is such a seventh grade insult.
It's like, dude, what is wrong with you?
Oh, no.
But also that's what's interesting, that you learned through the article is that the reason he, it seems the reason that he is in this, um, uh, like this specifically
dark hole is because he lost, uh, like contact with his sister who stopped talking to him
when he wouldn't agree to do a prenup with Amber or Herd.
Right.
Yeah.
And so now that he doesn't have the person he grew up with anymore is when he like really
goes into this vampire spiral. Right. Who like managed all of his yeah belongings and yeah
yeah i mean it's literal like vampirism was originally seen as like a metaphor for like
capitalism like sucking the life force out of things and like it really almost is a actual living metaphor for that in this article
it really is
but his sister
that's a really good point
that it was his sister who was running
his career prior to
all of this shit going wrong for him
alright
so things are bad for Johnny Depp
but fortunately for the rest of the world
everything's going great, guys.
We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back with just terrible news.
In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds, Sword Quest.
This wasn't just a new game.
Atari promised 150 grand in prizes
to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became
one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist.
I mean, my reaction, shock and awe. That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful.
My reaction, shock and awe.
That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful.
I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest,
a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes.
We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades.
It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president
was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months.
These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago
when President Gerald Ford faced two
attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close
to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a
woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader
Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman.
The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI
in a violent revolutionary underground.
Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.
The story of one strange and violent summer.
This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday.
This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I've been thinking about you.
I want you back in my life.
It's too late for that.
I have a proposal for you.
Come up here and document my project.
All you need to do is record everything like you always do.
One session.
24 hours.
BPM 110.
120.
She's terrified.
Should we wake her up?
Absolutely not.
What was that?
You didn't figure it out?
I think I need to hear you say it.
That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.
This machine is approved and everything?
You're allowed to be doing this?
We passed the review board a year ago.
We're not hurting people.
There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.
They're just dreams.
Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller
from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm.
Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre.
It doesn't get more Mexican than this.
Lucha libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment.
Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling.
It's a dance.
It's tradition.
It's culture.
This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre.
And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar.
Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the
United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about some
of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha
Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.
And we're back.
And one more Johnny Depp fact before we have to get into the bad news.
I'm stalling, as you can tell.
more Johnny Depp fact before we have to get into the bad news. I'm stalling, as you can tell.
He wanted to dig a tunnel that connected all of his Hollywood homes. He has 14 homes,
not all of them in Hollywood. So not clear whether he would have expanded the tunnels to connect to his homes in London or not, but he is not good with money. So you guys, Justice Kennedy
is retiring. He's long been thought of as the swing vote. Whenever the liberal side of the
court wins a decision, it's usually because Kennedy has come over. He is going to retire in July.
And so there will be an open seat for Trump to fill.
And that's very bad news because the Supreme Court has already been showing a tendency towards, you know, right wing, being right wing ideologues in in the past few days really uh so here's my
question about this why isn't there a fail safe for this why i don't because this has been the
system for hundreds of years right that presidents uh put in supreme court judges is it just like oh
well it'll be like fucked for 50 years until the next person dies?
Or is there like some way to – because it does seem crazy that now it's just a majority of people who always vote the exact same way.
Yeah.
You can kind of like just not bother bringing it to the Supreme Court because you know which way they're going to vote because they're just right-wing weirdos.
Right.
wing weirdos. Right. So one thing that has been thrown around, and I think FDR either did it or was talking about doing it, was he had a similar issue where the court was fucking things up and
holding back progress in America. And he was going to just start nominating additional justices,
sort of flood the court with more justices because there's nothing in the law
that says you need nine.
Yeah.
So he can technically do that, or she, whoever ends up being the president after Trump.
You mean Trump?
Yeah.
Oh, boy.
So, I mean, this comes on the heels of the Supreme Court upholding Trump's travel ban,
which the minority decision Sotomayor said is put in the same tradition as the Supreme
Court decision that upheld internment camps for Japanese people during World War II.
Like, that's not some left-wing rag that is making that comparison.
That is a Supreme Court justice in the minority decision.
But then to rub her nose in it, they went and reversed that the next day.
Right.
They said in the majority decision, they were like,
and this has nothing to do with that.
And in fact, that was a bad decision.
We're officially coming out as saying that that's a bad decision.
Just in time.
Yes.
So I don't know.
This is going to be an ongoing story, one of the main ongoing stories for the next couple of months.
The Supreme Court also decided today to fuck unions over because they're way too strong in America.
today to fuck unions over because they're way too strong in America. So they can no longer compel federal employees to pay dues into unions, which is going to make unions way poorer.
So it's an already right-wing Supreme Court. Kennedy has been on the conservative side. He's
been on the majority side for these
past handful of decisions that have gone conservative. So it's not like he's a reliable
liberal vote, but he has been a reliable champion of women's reproductive rights. He has been a champion of gay rights. So those are two incredibly important places where we could see things backslide a little bit
if everything goes according to the horrible fucking plan that the right wing will kind of try to hatch here.
So does that mean that I don't have to pay my SAG dues anymore?
That's a good question.
I think that's what it means.
It could be.
Or it means that they can't kick me out if I don't pay.
I know.
Right?
Maybe.
We got to get to the bottom of this, Kurt.
I am now interested.
If Kurt needs to pay his SAG union dues.
And if you were pointing out that there was a federal judge in san diego that uh issued
uh injunction basically saying that the government needs to reunite families in like 14 days i think
yeah in a strongly worded opinion u.s district judge uh dana sabraw wrote facts set forth before
the court portray reactive governance responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's wrote, older children must be united with their parents within 30 days. Within 10 days, federal authorities must allow parents to call their children if they're not already in contact with them, which
also that seems like a problem since they don't know where a lot of the children are. So like,
so like that's like putting a bandaid on a gun wound, it seems like.
But it is a common sense thing that if it had any teeth would be really good news for,
that if it had any teeth would be really good news for you know these families that have been torn apart but uh because it can be appealed and you know like eventually would end up with the supreme
court i don't it doesn't really mean anything i feel like yeah no it's it like i'm very cynical
after these last two rulings i was like okay, okay, so Supreme Court's going to be trash again.
Yeah.
Three rulings because there was also them saying that people who are talking to women who come in pregnant don't need to tell them about options that involve abortion.
Yeah.
What's interesting,
what's interesting is those crisis pregnancy centers are so evil.
Like they are set up to make people believe that this is where you go to get an abortion.
And they're all always in States that it's like not very,
uh,
available.
And then when you get in there,
they kind of like trick you and don't give you the information that like you,
like abortion is legal and you can get one if you wanted one
oh yeah right instead they show you like pictures of aborted fetuses and like traumatized teenage
girls right show you that photo of the baby's hand reaching out and like holding on to the
surgeon's finger that it turns out was completely doctored oh yeah not an accurate thing um so but
we did want to kind of dig in a little bit more
on the travel ban because it's just fucking
all sorts of people's lives up,
particularly people from Iran.
And super producer Anna Hosnier has family in Iran,
has traveled there in the not-too-distant past.
So I wanted to ask you, Anna.
I am a success story.
You are. Just kidding kidding uh well these articles
we were writing were kept being like uh iranian immigrants are like the most successful immigrants
in the history of america that are like 10 times more successful have like 10 times the homeowning
wealth and i was like damn i hope my father never hears this. He does not need to hear this.
No, it's true.
It's because you're, so my parents are from Iran.
I'm first generation.
I was born and raised in America, luckily.
So I am a citizen for now.
And it's an interesting thing because they come from Iran, which is, it's a country, a lot of, my parents came before the revolution.
So they got to experience Iran in a different light.
And after the revolution happened, they were like, no thanks, never going back there again.
But they come here and they work so hard.
Like, my parents came to America and, like, learned English from, sorry to say this, watching the Cosby Show.
And, I know, very problematic.
Let's not get into it.
I know.
Very problematic.
Let's not get into it.
And, you know, they work so hard and they get these like nice jobs and they have this money and they love they have these opulent lifestyles.
But it's like they came from, for the most part, nothing. And another thing is Iranian parents are so stern.
Like they tell you every day, get your ass up, go to school, get get good grades and if you're not going to do that
don't bother coming home so you're like literally like it's broken into you that you have to be
successful that's why i can't sit down for five minutes without like feeling my father's weight
on me like well i gotta go let me just go plant a garden like i just have to do things because
that's how you're raised and it's like in the culture is you you work hard it's just like work ethic is there and uh it's kind of shitty to think
that they're not gonna allow all these like like there's a brain drain that they're stopping from
happening from coming into iran like i have cousins in iran who are just like these like
young kids and they're being like i'm gonna be a neuroscientist and you're like these like young kids and they're being like, I'm going to be a neuroscientist. And you're like, what? Like, what does that even mean? Like, my uncle owns a school in Tehran and
I went and spoke to the students and they all speak English perfectly. They're all like, hey,
what's up? How you doing? What's going on? And I was like, oh, okay. Thought no one would speak
English here. And I was asking like what everyone wanted to do. And these are like 10 year olds and
literally like engineer, scientist, engineer, doctor. i want to be a yeah one of them literally said neuroscientist one of them was
quoting robert e lee to me and i was like i don't know what that quote's from and he was like okay
like he thought i was the idiot they were like what do you do i was like well did you burn him
by pointing out that robert e lee is a traitor, because I didn't even know the quote he was making.
I was like, that one's not clear to me.
Honestly, what you have to understand about U.S. history.
That's exactly what he was saying to me.
And I was like, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight.
Okay, anyway, check, please.
I was trying to get out of there.
But yeah, it's a culture that they love to learn.
And my parents are some of the smartest people.
And their english is
like like if you spoke to my dad today you would not know he's been here since he was 24 years old
like you're like sir do you speak english like but then he's also an engineer and worked on that
like was on the board for the bay bridge like my dad helped build that bridge and to me that doesn't
make any sense because he's such a goober in my eyes like right if we got him on the phone right
now he'd be like whoa but he's one of the smartest dudes i know and like my mom designs cctv my mom designs
spyware for this country to spy on us and they want to be like this terrorist like
yeah it's crazy it's really yeah it's going to be keeping people out of the country who are, yeah, exactly. People who like the Uber CEO is Iranian.
The founders of eBay are Iranian. My dad loves to bring up eBay. He's like, you'll know eBay.
My dad would always talk about Andre Agassi when I was growing up, too. I'd be like, cool.
But, I mean, so it's keeping some of the best and brightest in the world from coming to America.
It's also forcing people who are in just horrible war-torn countries from getting asylum here or getting out of where they are. A lot of people have, you know, one or two
family members already in the U.S. and they're expecting to be able to bring their families here,
you know, from Syria, for instance, like, which is just the worst place that you could possibly
live right now. And they are now just going to be forced to stay there, like there as the government continues to gas its people. So it's just a really... There
are any number of ways to put a human face on it, but it is families that are being torn apart.
And really, if you're just looking at it from a purely abstract political perspective,
it's not good for the country in the long run.
But here's my question.
The idea – the thing that the Supreme Court backed up was the idea that the executive has – is within his power to limit travel based on like security threats.
And who – what Iranian is setting off bombs in America?
When has there been an Iranian terrorist attack
on American soil?
There's never been.
That's the interesting thing.
So then how can the Supreme Court fucking back it up?
I think they don't care for a country
that is run by a regime that hates America so much.
But those are the
people like the good people are trying to get out from underneath the regime yeah i mean really if
we wanted a travel ban that worked the way that you're saying where it'll protect us it would be
banning travel to and from hot topics to fuel all these school shooters because
because that's been the number one attack that we've been having on American soil this past year.
And it has mainly been the Hot Topic year that has killed it.
You see the Rick and Morty shirts on them.
The Rick and Morty shirts are the real problem.
Well, that's the thing also.
A lot of it has to do with money.
Countries that make money for the U.S. are not on the travel ban.
Saudi Arabia is not on the travel ban.
And guess who?
Regime. Talk about on the travel ban. Saudi Arabia is not on the travel ban? And guess who? Regime.
Talk about an oppressive regime.
If you bring money into this country, you're cool.
Who did 9-11?
They did 9-11, guys.
The only plane that was allowed to leave American airspace
after the attacks on 9-11 was a Saudi prince.
Yeah.
None of the countries that are on the ban list
have planned or carried out a terrorist attack
in the United States
for the past two decades.
But yeah, I mean, it's a purely political decision
and the minority opinion in the Supreme Court,
one of the minority opinions compared it was like,
this history is going to not look on this very kindly
and said it's exactly like or you know in
the same family as the internment camps the other side was pointing out like how it's not doing what
it claimed to do i think i think the majority opinion was like hey it's not none of our
business the president can say whatever he wants as as long as it's a security thing,
we can't intervene. And the people who were on the minority side of the opinion were like, look,
it says that you can appeal to be allowed individuals, which would make sense if it was
really concerned about security, that they would look at families' applications
and be like, oh, okay, well, this family clearly is no threat to us and let them through.
But I think there's a total of two or three appeals that have actually been let through.
So it's not a security thing.
It's just purely political.
And I mean, there are members of the Supreme Court who pointed that out, uh they're just not getting anywhere i just want to say one last thing our gas is about to be so
expensive because iran puts out about 580 million barrels a day so wow we have cut them off uh
i mean that's that's it that's what i don't understand is like is it just
is it just that america's dumb do you know what i mean like is
it just that that we like we've defunded education for so long that we now have a populist that's so
fucking stupid that like this makes sense to them well i just i think it's such a combination of
many things i think they're i do think that all of this is reactionary to eight years of Obama.
And I think that really woke up the racists.
And I think they really came out.
And I think just also that with the combination of voter apathy that kind of happened, I think we're just going to see a huge shift in this space of politics.
I mean, even with New York, a socialist winning is big.
I mean, even with New York, you know, a socialist winning is big, you know.
So I think it was a combination of racism, social, like political apathy, and just I think just no one really kind of paying attention to what's going on. And I do think in a weird way, I think this is going to evolve into just some just dumb way that it's going to like change everything in also a good way after a long it's
not going to be quick it's not going to be easy it's probably not even going to be pretty but i
think in the end it's going to be good like i can hear just based on what anna just said you know
about the gas going up i can hear elon musk's boner from over here like I feel like that's going to just like, we're going to be so busy putting out the fires
that Trump are starting
that I think we're going to be better for it.
And that's just me being a huge optimist.
I hope so.
I hope you're right.
Because to me, I just worry that we're just...
I was in Winnipeg this last weekend.
They have this huge human rights museum there.
And I went through it and there's a huge floor on the Nazis.
And to learn that Adolf Hitler, from being time to be elected to him instituting fascism was three months.
So they had a democracy and he, within three months, went from democracy to fascism.
And I was like, that's so fast.
That's so fast
that I just, I'm scared every day. Yeah. I do think the, you know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
the 28 year old democratic socialist who just beat like a, a very moderate Democrat in New York,
who was like, so part of the, you know, power elite in the Democratic Party that he was expected to take over the Speaker of the House from Nancy Pelosi if, you know, she stepped down when the Democrats take it back, when the Democrats take it back in November.
But I really think it is, that's a sign that it was about apathy.
was about apathy. Nobody was excited to vote for this guy Crowley, who might as well have been a
Hillary Clinton type, whereas Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a Bernie Sanders volunteer who was totally involved in that whole movement. And I think that's going to be important is that, you know, using people's taking people's interest now, like people are worried about politics now. But you have to you can't just be like, OK, well, they're interested in politics now. So we take their vote for granted and come along and vote for whatever Democrat we put in front of you. You have to have ideas and ways of changing things.
you uh you have to have ideas and you know ways of changing things i i also worry about did you hear the last weekend this american life on this guy jeff beal who was running for new york 19
no who was a bernie sanders style uh democrat who to the point where like the dcc like like
disavowed him they they didn't like him and um he finished fourth oh did he and it's just like
the mainstream main guy Democrat
is the one who's going to be it.
So it's like, I don't know.
It's like I'm very worried still.
Yeah.
But it is very cool that NY14 won.
Yeah, because I feel like there's still just a level
that we're still going to be fucked by gerrymandering.
I feel like that's still a huge element.
It makes sense that the Bronx is going to vote for this young up and coming, you know, whereas like if you have a traditionally older Democratic area, they're just going to try and stay the course.
And so that's what we're going to go. But I don't there are – right now we know there are two – there is a line in the sand.
And I think when it comes down to it, when it comes to the big election where Trump has to go up against someone, I don't think we're going to run into the same issue that we have between Hillary v. Bernie.
I think we're really going to be like, all right, let's just get him out and then we'll work from there.
I feel like that's the energy.
I hope so.
Yeah.
Me too.
Me too because I felt that was what was going to happen the first time, but you know. All right.
We're going to take another quick break and we'll be right back to wrap it up.
In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds,
In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds.
Sword Quest.
This wasn't just a new game.
Atari promised $150,000 in prizes to four finalists.
But the prizes disappeared.
And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture.
I just don't believe they exist.
My reaction, shock and awe. That sword
was amazing. It was so beautiful. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of
Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll
follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. It's almost like a metaphor for the
industry and Atari itself in a
way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the
target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months.
These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks.
President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today.
These are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president.
One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson.
I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman.
The other, a middle-aged housewife
working undercover for the FBI
in a violent revolutionary underground.
Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.
The story of one strange and violent summer.
This is Rip Current.
Available now with new episodes every Thursday.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I've been thinking about you.
I want you back in my life.
It's too late for that.
I have a proposal for you.
Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is
record everything like you always do.
One session.
24 hours.
BPM 110.
120. She's terrified.
Should we wake her up? Absolutely not.
What was that?
You didn't figure it out? I think I need
to hear you say it.
That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.
This machine is approved and everything?
You're allowed to be doing this?
We passed the review board a year ago.
We're not hurting people.
There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.
They're just dreams.
Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm.
Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric.
If you follow me on social media, you know I love to cook or at least try,
especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies,
like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lighty Hoyt, Alison Roman, cook or at least try, especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies like
Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lighty Hoyt, Alison Roman, and of course, Ina Garten and Martha
Stewart.
So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste that comes out every Thursday, and it's
serving up recipes that will make your mouth water.
Think a candied bacon Bloody Mary, tacos with cabbage slaw, curry cauliflower with almonds and mint, and cherry slab pie with vanilla ice cream to top it all off.
I mean, yum. I'm getting hungry.
But if you're not sold yet, we also have kitchen tips like a foolproof way to grill the perfect burger and must-have products like the best cast iron skillet to feel like a chef in your own kitchen.
All you need to do is sign up at katiecouric.com slash good taste.
That's K-A-T-I-E-C-O-U-R-I-C dot com slash good taste.
I promise your taste buds will be happy you did.
And we're back. And there's a couple smaller stories joe jackson michael jackson's father
has passed away not that many takes on this we'll have to name a new scariest looking man alive
uh but yeah uh if you were pointing out that it's good that he lived long enough to see the Teddy Perkins episode of Atlanta.
Oh, yeah, to see him honored, you know, now that he's in the big house in the sky chasing Mike under the bed.
Jesus Christ.
Yeah, you know, bad dad.
Bad dad?
Yeah, yeah.
Very mean.
I like that's my take.
Very mean, bad dad.
Sad. Sad.
Sad.
And you also had a Facebook post that you're reading that had everybody intrigued this morning.
Okay, yeah.
So, yeah, this is a post that someone has been sharing, and it's about this guy who seems like he's an incel.
He seems like there's a lot wrong with him.
And the first sentence kind of sets the tone,
but it gets worse every paragraph.
So I'm just going to read it.
I'm going to do a quick live read-in.
Okay.
Because it's pretty long.
And he posted this.
By the way, he posted this.
No one is posting this about him.
No one posted.
This is his choice.
He posted this to Facebook. Yes. Got him no one photos this is his choice he posted this to facebook yes got it so here it is i often eat alone at a wendy's that's just down the street
from my house a little less than a week ago i noticed that they hired a new employee she's
fair-skinned woman who for the sake of not violating a pending order of protection will
say she's named michelle oh no yeah i was fond of her from the moment i first saw her i immediately went home and scoured the internet to find out more information about her i figured that this Oh no. Yeah.
It's so not a shame. I'm not ashamed. All I had to go on was her first name and location, yet thanks to Facebook's ability to search city and state, I was able to find her just after a few hours.
Once I did... Not good, Facebook. Not good.
Once I did, I realized I hit a gold mine. Her phone number was visible to everyone, not just Facebook friends.
Most women are scared to give out their numbers to a stranger because they don't think they're trustworthy.
Huh, Wonder why.
But if someone asked you out on a date after looking you up and learning your phone number without you having to tell them,
you'd likely be far more trusting of that person since they already know your personal info.
You'd have nothing to lose.
That was my line of thinking anyway.
After obtaining her phone number, I figured I'd try and do something romantic that would build up to me asking her out i decided to use an app that would let me text her
without revealing my actual number this app allowed me to change my number at will essentially making
it unblockable which i thought was a good idea since she might think it was one of her friends
messing with her and block it right away this would grant me the ability to remain a complete
enigma to her.
Once a day, I told myself.
Only text her once a day so it isn't creepy.
This guy fucking rules.
Sadly, I was far too excited at the prospect of having my first girlfriend to stick to that.
My first text to her was simply... He's so many steps ahead of himself.
Oh, man.
She's already his girlfriend.
Yeah.
My first text to her was simply, I saw that picture of your graduation you posted.
You're beautiful.
Later that day, while I was sitting in the Wendy's parking lot, I sent her another text that said, I can see you right now.
One day you'll see me too.
Before I knew it.
Oh, no.
Before I knew it, I had texted her over 300 times in just a few days.
Before I knew it.
Yeah.
She never once responded to any of them.
Still, not all messages contained text.
Some were just pictures of her that I took while she was at work
to let her know I was actually there.
Some of you may have noticed that I wasn't online at all yesterday.
There's good reason for that.
Yesterday was the day that I met her in person and tried to ask her out.
It didn't go as planned.
I walked up to Michelle while she was at the counter and told her that i'm her admirer her cheerful expression changed
as she suddenly started shouting this is the guy marco this is the guy marco is her manager he
jumped from behind the counter and grabbed me while instructing her to call the police i bit
his arm hard enough to draw blood but he did not release me until the police were live the police
said that the detainment was lawful which meant i was to be charged with battery for biting the manager
in addition to stalking this amounts to almost 500 in fines thankfully father told me he'd take
care of it since i'm currently unemployed father father this is fiction i call it father. That detail's too good. Father, it's fiction.
There's too much psycho in it.
Push me, father.
You pushed it one step too far for me.
The police also told me that since she's filing for an order of protection,
so I can't return to that specific Wendy's.
Father told me to keep my chin up and to remember that some women just aren't worth it.
He said that if she thinks having a guy flatter her and thinks about her all the time is something
to call the police over, then she must be one of those nutty feminists.
After spending some time thinking about it, I realized that he's right.
Sometimes you just have to remind yourself that it's not you, it's them.
Yeah, no, this feels, that ending was just too...
Took it too far.
Otherwise, I would have been like not sure.
Do you know what I mean?
I still would have thought it was fiction.
How many friends?
Let's see.
He's followed by seven.
Wow, he is updating quite a bit.
It seems pretty regular, but I don't know.
The case is still out.
As a matter of fact, Zeitgang, tell us what you think.
Do you think this is a real person?
Do you think this is a troll account for lulz?
The father thing is almost too much, but I can see, like,
just based on having listened to or watched a lot of those Elliot Rogers videos,
the dude who ended up being a mass shooter who shot women for not having sex with him at UC Santa Barbara.
And that is the exact tone.
Really?
Just completely deranged.
No, I like just only views women as, you know, objects who are obligated to have sex with him at some point if he puts in enough effort.
But he never called his dad father.
Yeah.
I don't know why that's the worst part of it, but it does seem like it's the furthest into just.
Yeah.
I mean, I do make my daughter call me father.
Of course.
A father.
A father.
Oh, shit.
That's terrifying.
Yeah.
Hopefully it's not true.
But yeah, people, let us know what you think. If anybody has any inside tips or if you're like, oh, yeah, that's my cousin.
Yes.
Let us know.
We have time for a brief World Cup date.
Yeah, there it is.
Nice.
It's time for your World Cup date, folks.
Germany has been bounced.
Argentina.
So yeah, apparently this happens a lot.
The defending champ just comes in and shits the whole house.
And this time is no different.
If he has somebody who pays more attention to this than I do,
why do you think that is?
Is it just they get too confident?
I think so. And I think there's just four years of like, these guys go back to their leagues in
play. So I feel like, you know, no, like any other sport, like, you know, Tom Brady in four years,
LeBron in four years, you either get better or you get older and worse. And I feel like the four
year gap between cups can really wear down on the individual players.
Right.
And when they come back, they just don't show up.
Also, I imagine that these guys,
I'm sure they're practicing from time to time,
but you're on different teams using different strats.
I can't imagine you being able to assemble like Voltron and just work.
Huh.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Those are my two theories.
Who did they lose to? They lost today to South Korea Voltron and just work. Huh? Yeah, that's interesting. Those are my two theories. Who did they lose to?
They lost today to South Korea.
Shout out South Korea.
Every time I see a post about World Cup,
I assume that was the end of it.
No.
I was like, oh, look, it's the World Cup.
It just happened.
I missed it.
Oh, man.
When is the final game?
There are 16 teams left now.
That's when you were like, in this group, there's a bunch.
And I was like, oh, maybe it's really the beginning.
Yeah.
You are still.
I think they are basically final.
Argentina.
Boo.
Everybody was.
Scumbags.
Just talking shit about.
These ne'er-do-wells.
These scumbags.
Going to beat the loyal, great team of Nigeria.
Yeah, Nigeria is out.
Argentina is in after making a huge comeback.
They lost their first game, I think, 3-0,
and ended up winning the last one 2-1.
And based on the bizarre rules of FIFA and international soccer,
they made it and Nigeria did not.
Made me sick to my stomach.
Yeah, Nigeria was a pretty cool team that had awesome uniforms.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, Ify, I wanted to – anything else from the World Cup?
Kurt, you clearly are –
I got a lot of good stuff to say about it.
I mean, the only thing I really have to say about the World Cup
is it's so fun watching just how the World Cup in America
is being treated now that America isn't in it.
Like, it's like, oh, who gives a shit?
Oh, you care about some kicking around some black and white ball?
Whatever, we're over here talking baseball, you know?
Right.
Because World Cup is when everyone in America
pretends to care about soccer as America goes through.
But now, since America didn't make it,
everyone just, it's almost like it's not even going on.
Yeah.
Although, I'm more interested in it this time
than I have been in the past.
I enjoy watching soccer more than any sport.
Yeah.
You're just not a sport guy? Because it's just a, yeah, I'm not a sport guy,
but it's constant action.
Oh, yeah.
Every other game on television is boring.
Like, soccer just always moving.
I like it.
Yeah.
I don't know anything about it, but.
Yeah.
Can you explain Fortnite and PUBG to us?
Because this is, like, the thing that I feel like,
as the host of a podcast
that's supposed to be tracking the zeitgeist i feel like i am falling down on the job when it
comes to fortnight and pub g this is like uh everybody below the age of 20 this is how they
communicate to one another they just like haven't seen relatives in years unless they're playing
them on fortnight uh what's going on well basically hunger games and uh battle royale
were correct in the future our kids would be obsessed with competing to be the last man
standing on an island uh because yeah so that's basically the concept of fortnight and pub g
is a hundred players drop in on an item you have to search for weapons and armor and the last man
standing wins uh to give you a quick history it all kind of started it's heavily
some people will say it started with uh minecraft hunger games that's bullshit and fuck you if you
believe that um it all kind of started with an arma mod that was like basically battle royale
and then eventually the guy who created that mod went on to help create this game called h1z1
um which was uh king of the kill
which was a last man standing then eventually he jumped from that and created his own game player
unknown battlegrounds so that's all all the while while this going on epic's been developing this
game called fortnight which was actually a kind of uh almost like tower defense uh game where you
kind of build your base up and protect it against a
horde of zombies and then for shits and giggles they're like let's do a fun battle royale game
mode just since it seems like all the kids are into that they blow up and they become like one
of the biggest competitors to PUBG and literally right now they're kind of two factions currently
I think PUBG just recently did an update that kind of made the game smoother that I think it's going to start bouncing out.
But Fortnite has had the lead for so long.
So then you enter Twitch where there are a lot of streamers playing the game.
And Ninja became one of the most popular streamers.
And all these subscribers are like 14 years old?
No, some are adults.
Some are adults.
Some are me.
So you're a Twitch subscriber to this guy.
Yeah, I'm a Twitch.
No, I'm not to Ninja.
I'm a Twitch streamer.
Okay.
But I live on that platform as well.
But yeah, so it's kind of been these two Battle Royale style games, but they have two very different components.
PUBG is more tactical, more realistic.
It has a more realistic look to it.
And Fortnite is more cartooony and you can build stuff
because they took the build aspect from their uh save the world part of the game and you can
actually build a base while fighting and that's the new tactic is you try and build to get the
high ground over the players and shoot down at them so fortnite is like almost has a nintendo
feel to it it's like sort of like cartoon characters. Oh, yeah. Like doing with like fun weapons as opposed to like realistic war weapons.
Oh, yeah.
And what is the platform that you play it on?
PC and Fortnite currently is on PC, Xbox, PS4 and Switch.
PUBG is currently on Xbox and PC.
Okay.
Got it.
And so you're in a tournament coming up, right?
Yeah, I'm doing the twitch rivals tournament this thursday uh so i'm playing against you saw me watching him earlier
this guy's shroud is insane and he's in the tournament i was hoping that for some reason
he wouldn't be in it but he's probably he's the favorite uh guy i'm a nobody on twitch so i am the
biggest underdog but i'm hoping to come through like the Celtics,
you know, where people are like, oh, that's somebody to look out for.
Right. Yeah. Come with the Brad Stevens.
Yeah.
Cool, man.
So now do people who are going to watch that, are they people who were playing and then got kicked out and then watch it? Or is it just other people who are like, I'm going to watch this?
There are people who watch people who are good. so twitch as a platform is where you go to watch people who are either entertaining or
very good at the game those are pretty much your two i'm on the more entertaining side so just
making jokes while you play essentially okay and then so guys like shroud and ninja people watch
them because they're so good and just like any other sport you're watching them so you can be
better at it too.
So you're going to have a whole bunch of people watching because they're going to be trying to see guys like Dr. Disrespect, Shroud.
And a few of my guys will be in there cheering me on and hopefully the brand will get stronger and I'll get some of these guys on my side.
Now are there like huge Fortnite or PUBG fans who have never played the game, do you think? I feel like some people in my chat, because they're like, I watch you play it, but I do not care to play this at all.
It's just purely a spectator sport for them.
Interesting.
And I feel like that's where there's strength to it, because I think it's easy to follow.
I think anybody can sit down and watch, like, Carl Tart, TV's Carl Tart.
Yeah, who's your roommate.
Yeah.
He never plays it, but he can't help
but stop and watch me play because i think the concept is so simple it's like oh you're just
trying to survive right if you you're trying to be the last man standing so you can just watch
someone and you get what's going on as opposed to something like dota or league of legends where
it's like you're taking down towers and then you're pushing and then you're ganking then you're
going to jungle you're like what are all these words you just said right where the concept of battle royale i think everyone's
seen hunger games oh yeah all this all us weebs have seen battle royale you know yeah all right
well kurt it has been a pleasure having you here thank you for having me guys uh where can people
find you follow you uh enjoy you uh My last name is difficult to spell,
so you can just Google Kurt Comedy,
and I will be the first hit.
All right.
And that's Kurt with a K.
That's correct.
And we usually ask our guests if there's a tweet
that they want to share at this point,
not necessarily from themselves,
but just anybody that you like.
Oh, wow.
I missed this part.
Nope, I don't have one.
I don't have one.
I think everything is political at this point.
Yeah, I know, right?
There's no more fun on Twitter.
It used to be fun.
It is no longer fun.
But I would love to plug the fact that I'm going to be in Flagstaff, Tempe, and Tucson at the end of July.
All right.
Ooh, it should be fun and hot.
Uh-huh.
Flagstaff won't be.
Too bad.
But, yeah, Tempe and Tucson will be.
So come on out.
Ify, it's been a pleasure having you as a co-host today.
Oh, man.
Where can people find you and follow you?
having you as a co-host today oh man uh where can people find you and follow you uh you know you can find me uh at if you wadiway ify nwa diwe on twitter and instagram if d's on twitch a lot of
the zeit gang has been coming through some people who just only stopped by to give me their twitch
prime sub which i'm totally down for thank you everyone who did that remember you get a free sub
if you have amazon prime and you connect it to your twitch account you can give did that remember you get a free sub if you have amazon prime and you
connect it to your twitch account you can give me that free twitch prime sub you're gonna have to
do it once a month though so don't forget uh as for comedy uh all my people in new york uh white
women me and carl uh are gonna be in new york this weekend for the del close marathon i will
also be doing stand-up at triple Crown on Saturday at 6 p.m.
And, you know, also on the 12th of July, I'll have a show at Dynasty Typewriter.
It's going to be called Afrofunk.
It's a dope lineup.
We're going to have Dulce Sloan, Byron Bowers, tons of black comedy for you to just drip in.
It's like Black Panther the movie, except comedy. All right.
And do you have a tweet
that you'd like to share with the audience?
Oh, yeah.
I guess just to keep it in the fam
of what we were talking about,
I took Trump's tweet.
So, you know,
we all heard how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
won New York.
Donald Trump tweeted out,
Wow, big Trump hater,
Congressman Joe Crowley,
who many expected was going to take
Nancy Pelosi's place, just all caps, lost his primary election. In other words, tweeted out wow big trump hater congressman joe crowley who many expected was going to take nancy
pelosi's place just all caps lost his primary election in other words he's out this is the
big one nobody saw happening perhaps he should have been nicer and more respectful to his president
and so i just retweeted that and went so who's gonna tell him
that someone much worse uh bigger enemy than jo Joe Crowley is just one you do.
Yeah,
no,
but that,
I think that's what this was a referendum on,
you know,
all those Bronx socialists were like,
he should have been nicer to president Trump.
I think so.
You can follow me at Jack underscore O'Brien on Twitter.
I'm going to share two tweets with you guys.
One from a former guest,
Jake Weissman,
just pretended to like jazz to impress someone I'll never see again.
I just deeply identified with that.
And then at the hubris guy,
so Jack Prosobayek or whatever the fuck that asshole's name is,
in the aftermath of the civility wars,
that asshole's name is, in the aftermath of the civility wars,
he wanted to make a point about how the right wing is being persecuted.
He wrote, have they erected Republican drinking fountains yet?
And the hubris guy retweeted that and said, yeah,
one got erected just the other day.
It's called my dick.
I thought that was the right answer to that.
So well done, the hubris guy.
You can follow us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist.
We're on Instagram at The Daily Zeitgeist. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes and our footnotes.
Footnotes. Footnotes.
Where we link off to the information that we talked about
in today's episode, as well
as the song that we ride out on.
And super producer Anna Hosnier
has been bringing it, as far
as musical recommendations go.
And I think
she's going to continue doing that.
I have nothing. Just kidding.
I love women.
Big woman. Just kidding. I love women. Big woman.
Love her.
Yeah.
The band, right?
The band women
that is mostly white men?
No.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of them.
Today I'm going to recommend
Stars by Connie Constance.
She's this great artist
out of England.
She's just,
I love her voice.
She's like,
bringing soul back
in the best way, baby.
You know what I mean?
And she describes this song that it's about escapism.
So I think we all need a little escapism during these great times in America.
So enjoy that.
It's Stars by Connie Constance.
All right.
We're going to ride out on that.
We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast.
Talk to you guys then.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye. Taking a walk in the park It's late so it's dark
Flicking but there ain't no spark
Fire is my only gun
Dancing to the beat of my heart
Up to my knees in grass
Sticks and stones can't leave scars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars
Looking for a clearer path
Mouth wide open cause I'm tired of the past
Wanna leave Earth and burn to live on Mars
Build a UFO that's false to the new mom's car
Stick out my tongue to the brain
Clear my face from the cave
Running, running circles insane
Life is but a child's game
Dancing to the beat of my heart
Up to my knees in bars
Sticks and stones caught in the stars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars
When I'm under the stars When I'm under the stars
Looking for a clearer path
Mouth wide open cause I'm tired of the past
Wanna leave up and learn to live on Mars
Build a UFO that's faster than your mum's car
Trying to grab a shooting star
Put it in my pocket, take it home to my jar Bye. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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