Part Of The Problem - Dave Smith - The Culture Is Changing
Aired: 2024-02-06
Duration: 01:03:55


=== Addressing Last Episode Feedback (10:08) ===

[00:00:00]  Fill her up!
[00:00:02]  You are listening to the cast.
[00:00:08]  We need to roll back the state.
[00:00:10]  We spy on all of our own citizens.
[00:00:12]  Our prisons are flooded with nonviolent drug offenders.
[00:00:16]  If you want to know who America's next enemy is, look at who we're funding right now.
[00:00:21]  Every single one of these problems are a result of government being way too big.
[00:00:33]  What's up, everybody?
[00:00:34]  Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
[00:00:37]  I am Dave Smith.
[00:00:38]  He is the lovely Robbie the Fire Bernstein.
[00:00:41]  How are you, sir?
[00:00:42]  I'm doing good.
[00:00:43]  Having a nice weekend.
[00:00:44]  How about you, Mr. Smith?
[00:00:46]  Very good.
[00:00:46]  Very good.
[00:00:47]  It's been an interesting few days, and I'm excited.
[00:00:51]  We're going out to Houston this weekend to Salt Lake City the following weekend.
[00:00:55]  We got a bunch of stuff coming up.
[00:00:57]  If you want to see me and Robbie do some live stand-up comedy on the road, go to comicdave Smith.com.
[00:01:03]  If you want to see Rob on his headlining gigs, go to robbythefire.com.
[00:01:07]  But yeah, we're going to have a good time.
[00:01:12]  I got a bunch of other stuff, a bunch of big podcasts coming up as well.
[00:01:15]  So look for all of that.
[00:01:17]  All right.
[00:01:18]  Bigger than what you just did.
[00:01:19]  What do you got coming down the line?
[00:01:22]  I'm not going to tell you yet.
[00:01:23]  Oh, boy.
[00:01:24]  I'm not going to tell you yet.
[00:01:26]  There's some good stuff.
[00:01:28]  Good stuff coming up.
[00:01:29]  I'm looking forward to it.
[00:01:30]  It's a weird, it's a weird career that I have, but I do enjoy it very much.
[00:01:37]  So I wanted to open today's show talking a little bit about the last episode with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
[00:01:46]  And by the way, it's okay.
[00:01:48]  So I actually think for you guys, the listeners, there's an episode in between there.
[00:01:54]  But for us, in the order of when we recorded them, the Bobby Kennedy episode was the last one.
[00:02:02]  Me and Rob had done an episode, and then me and Bobby Kennedy did the episode, and we decided to put the Bobby Kennedy one out first.
[00:02:09]  So it's two episodes ago for you guys listening, but for us, it was the last episode.
[00:02:16]  And it's gotten quite a response.
[00:02:19]  I was trending on Twitter earlier today, which is always cool.
[00:02:24]  And yeah.
[00:02:26]  So anyway, I just wanted to, there's a few things that came out of the last episode that I thought were worth addressing up front.
[00:02:33]  And I'm curious to get your take on it, Rob.
[00:02:36]  But so, so, okay.
[00:02:41]  So it was a strange episode.
[00:02:45]  It was a strange episode of this podcast.
[00:02:47]  And it was, it's, as I'm recording this now, it hasn't been that long that it's been out, but it's clearly going to be one of the biggest episodes of this show that we've ever done.
[00:02:59]  And the first time Bobby Kennedy was on was one of the biggest episodes of this show that we've ever done.
[00:03:05]  And I will say to start that I'm grateful to Bobby for coming on the show twice.
[00:03:18]  And, you know, it's kind of an, I don't know.
[00:03:22]  It's a bizarre feeling.
[00:03:25]  The last episode with him was one of the strangest podcasts I've ever done.
[00:03:34]  And I just mean this in the sense that it was, it was emotional for me.
[00:03:42]  I kind of, I didn't enjoy it.
[00:03:46]  There were parts of it that I would say I quite frankly hated.
[00:03:53]  I've gotten a lot of responses from people who have said since then that, you know, you know, Dave destroyed RFK.
[00:04:06]  He just ruined his presidential aspirations or whatever.
[00:04:10]  And to be fair, that, you know, obviously Bobby Kennedy has, he has millions of followers.
[00:04:18]  So I also heard from some of them who thought he destroyed me or whatever, you know, like I'm not trying to say everyone was saying that, but I'm just making the point that I don't, that didn't make me happy.
[00:04:32]  It was like an uncomfortable thing for me.
[00:04:36]  I don't think I've ever had an episode before, and I've had lots of episodes where I really disagreed with a guest.
[00:04:42]  And I've done lots of debates before where I not only disagreed with the person I was debating, I've done debates where I really had contempt for the person that I was debating, but this was something different.
[00:04:57]  And so one of one of the things that some of the RFK supporters were upset with me about was that they said that I got too emotional during the podcast and they were upset that I kept evidently, I didn't really notice this until I went back and watched it, but they are right about this.
[00:05:23]  But they said that I kind of kept making faces while he was, you know, making his points.
[00:05:29]  And I did.
[00:05:30]  As I was watching it back, I was like, yeah, I totally did do that.
[00:05:34]  But I'm just saying, like, those were genuine faces.
[00:05:39]  It was just, it was painful for me in a lot of ways.
[00:05:44]  And part of that is because I just, I don't know, I did, I really had so much respect for the guy.
[00:05:53]  And I'm not saying I don't.
[00:05:54]  I still have a lot of respect for the guy, but it's, it's hard to express how disappointed I was with, you know, not just his, with his position on the war in Gaza and just with his appearance on the podcast.
[00:06:11]  It was just very tough.
[00:06:13]  I thought that Bobby Kennedy's presidential candidacy can't, his presidential run.
[00:06:23]  Sorry, I'm not going to struggle with that word.
[00:06:27]  I really thought it was heroic for the much of the beginning of it.
[00:06:32]  And when he first came on the show and we did the episode in the studio in New York, it was like, it was an incredible thing for me.
[00:06:44]  And we talked so much about the war in Ukraine.
[00:06:48]  And it wasn't just that he was right about it or that he was good on the policy.
[00:06:54]  Like, you know, Donald Trump was good, at least what he was saying, his rhetoric was good on the war in Ukraine.
[00:07:03]  And he would, Donald Trump would say things like, if you remember, Rob, he'd be like, I want the killing to stop.
[00:07:09]  I want to negotiate a deal.
[00:07:11]  I want to, you know, like, and that's great.
[00:07:13]  He's right.
[00:07:14]  That, that's the correct position for the president of the United States of America to have.
[00:07:19]  But Bobby Kennedy had like, you know, he had just clearly, when we talked about it, like he had read all about it and he knew the whole history of the thing.
[00:07:31]  And for people who like for hardcore junkies who listen to this show, if you remember back on that episode, it was crazy because it was like, you know, our whole camp of, you know, our libertarian non-interventionist types and like the best anti-war voices amongst us had, he was like saying all the shit we were saying.
[00:07:55]  And he had really like, it was just clear when you were talking to him about it, where you were like, not only are you good on this issue, but you've read like at least 10 books on this subject.
[00:08:07]  You really know it.
[00:08:08]  I mean, he was like, the point I'm making is that Donald Trump might say the right things about the war in Ukraine, but Donald Trump is never going like, look, here's what happened when NATO first started expanding.
[00:08:20]  And here's what happened in the Madan Revolution in 2014.
[00:08:24]  And here's what happened after that.
[00:08:25]  And here's what, you know, like, he's just not, that's not Donald Trump.
[00:08:30]  He's like, you know, like my, my joke about him is that he's, he hasn't read a book about anything, but he's seen a show about it and he knows what the, you know, he thinks the right position is.
[00:08:39]  So like, okay, but Bobby Kennedy Jr. has like, he knows what's going on.
[00:08:47]  And then there were just a lot of things with this.
[00:08:48]  And again, like his position on the COVID vaccine, I just thought it was so goddamn heroic.
[00:08:59]  And, you know, for so long, it was like such a third rail to talk about how like there are people who have been injured by this vaccine that the government was mandating and doing everything they could to force it on as many people as possible.
[00:09:17]  And then just going, it's safe and effective, you know, just like saying these slogans that have nothing to do with the real factual nature of what's going on here.
[00:09:32]  And these, these positions that he took, and this is when he was running as a Democrat, were things that, first of all, were true, were very difficult to say, and not just difficult in a political sense, but difficult personally.
[00:09:51]  Like these were the type of things that got a guy like RFK who has had a very sweet, privileged life, who is a son of, you know, he's a Kennedy.

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[00:10:26]  These were positions that made life difficult for him.
[00:10:31]  But he told the truth, even though it would make his life substantially more difficult.
[00:10:38]  And there is really something about that that I profoundly respect.
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=== Honest Thoughts on Gaza War (15:17) ===

[00:12:32]  Obviously, I really disagree with his position on the war in Gaza.
[00:12:39]  And, you know, as far as the episode went, I will say this, and I don't mean this as a knock on Bobby at all, because this is not, this really is not a knock on him.
[00:12:54]  I'm just trying to explain how I felt during the episode is he is very long-winded.
[00:13:02]  And I am too.
[00:13:03]  So I'm not, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
[00:13:06]  That's the same way I am.
[00:13:07]  And when I'm interviewed on podcasts, when people invite me on their podcast and interview me, I'm the same way.
[00:13:12]  I like to talk and I'll go on for quite a while explaining how I feel.
[00:13:18]  But as I'm talking to him, he's being very long-winded.
[00:13:23]  And I was trying to sit there and listen to him.
[00:13:28]  And then when I would try to respond, I felt like he was kind of quick to cut me off.
[00:13:34]  And then I started getting a little bit frustrated.
[00:13:36]  And also, I was just getting frustrated because there were just so many points where he's just kind of, it's just like it's not the same guy I was talking to the last time.
[00:13:49]  And it's not the same guy I've talked to on the phone, like outside of podcasts.
[00:13:54]  It's like he's just repeating propaganda to me.
[00:14:00]  And I just, you know, now, like, I still have respect for the guy.
[00:14:04]  I really do respect the fact that he came on the podcast knowing what it was going to be.
[00:14:10]  And he was nothing but cordial.
[00:14:12]  And I really appreciated a lot of the kind things that he said to me on the show.
[00:14:18]  But there were points where he was saying things that were just like, it was infuriating to me to hear him just saying things the way he was.
[00:14:30]  And again, look, let me put it this way.
[00:14:37]  When, whenever I talk about the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine or any of the people that I recommend, you know, like I've highly recommended, say, like Daryl Cooper and Sheldon Richmond and Scott Horton and Mearsheimer and people like this.
[00:15:02]  None of the people that I recommend are ever going to tell you a story that says something like, the Palestinians are these innocent victims who have never done anything wrong.
[00:15:18]  And the Israelis have done everything wrong.
[00:15:22]  And even the thing that you think is the most fucked up thing that the Palestinians have done, like say Hamas on October 7th or any of the like suicide bombs or any of the terrorist acts that Arabs have committed against Jews, they're never going to sit there and go, they just had no other choice.
[00:15:42]  And they didn't really want to kill innocent people, but they just had, there was no other way to do it.
[00:15:48]  You know what I mean?
[00:15:49]  And there's a way you could try to say it that way, but none of the people I recommend ever talk that way.
[00:15:54]  That's because that's goofy.
[00:15:55]  It's like, no, clearly there is this conflict and both sides have committed like heinous, violent acts and none of them are justified.
[00:16:05]  But here's the underlying situation here.
[00:16:07]  Here's like really what you should take away from this and what causes it.
[00:16:11]  But he was kind of doing that on the Israeli side.
[00:16:16]  I mean, there were things he said that You know, it's challenging when you do these podcasts, especially when people are very long-winded, where I'll ask a question and he speaks for seven minutes and there's like so much that I want to respond to there.
[00:16:32]  And you're like, you know, you have to pick all of the things and like, okay, what am I going to focus on?
[00:16:36]  What am I going to respond to on this?
[00:16:39]  And part of the reason why I was getting so frustrated during the episode is because he was saying things like, look, at one point, he said that Israel doesn't want to occupy the West Bank.
[00:16:56]  They want to give the West Bank back, but it's just impossible to do it.
[00:17:02]  They really want to give the West Bank back, but the only reason they're occupying the West Bank is because if elections were held today, Hamas would win in the West Bank.
[00:17:13]  And if it wasn't for that, they would give it back.
[00:17:16]  But if they do, then Hamas will win.
[00:17:19]  And it's stuff like this, where you're like, yo, dude, that is such an insane perspective to have.
[00:17:25]  First of all, Israel has been occupying the West Bank since before Hamas existed.
[00:17:32]  So that's obviously not the answer.
[00:17:35]  That's not the reason why they won't give it back.
[00:17:38]  They've had lots of opportunities to give it back.
[00:17:42]  They won't give it back.
[00:17:43]  And as he conceded, the settlements are illegal.
[00:17:48]  Israel has been building all of these settlements in the West Bank for decades now.
[00:17:53]  Why would they be doing that if their sole goal was to give it back?
[00:17:58]  You wouldn't be building entire like communities within the territory that you just want to give back.
[00:18:05]  It just doesn't make any sense.
[00:18:07]  So he was kind of like bending over backward in every single instance to justify the like that you can never accuse Israel of doing anything wrong.
[00:18:18]  And even when he would say something like, yeah, it's horrible what's happening in Gaza, but that's all Hamas's fault.
[00:18:25]  As if he would say the economic conditions in Gaza are horrible, but that's Hamas's fault.
[00:18:32]  As if it has nothing to do with the Israeli blockade.
[00:18:37]  As if that, like, like, I'm not against, if you were to say to me, if you were like, Dave, are the economic conditions in Gaza at all Hamas's fault?
[00:18:46]  Sure, absolutely.
[00:18:49]  But to say that there's no part of that that is the, that has to do with Israel blockading the entire area is just like so crazy to me.
[00:19:01]  So it was so like, you know, so that was part of, look, I know I made some faces and shit like that, but that was, that was kind of how I felt about it.
[00:19:09]  Like I just couldn't imagine that anyone would take this position.
[00:19:12]  And I guess the big moment that everyone has been talking about on the podcast, and there's been a there's been some funny edits made on social media.
[00:19:27]  But at a certain point, I asked him if he was at all concerned with the level of influence that Israel has in the United States of America.
[00:19:38]  And he did, he just had this very long pause and then said, I don't know.
[00:19:45]  And then just kind of like goes, I don't know, because I'm not a politician.
[00:19:50]  And I don't know.
[00:19:54]  I mean, I guess he can say he's not a politician, but if you asked him about the influence of like big pharma or the military industrial complex or the neocons or 500 other things, he would tell you they had an influence.
[00:20:10]  And who?
[00:20:11]  Who?
[00:20:12]  Listen, you could be on Israel's side.
[00:20:14]  You could.
[00:20:15]  even be on Israel's side of this war.
[00:20:18]  You could even say that we think the American taxpayers should fund this war.
[00:20:25]  But if you're being honest and I ask you, does Israel have like a lot of influence on our government?
[00:20:33]  And you go, I don't know what you're talking about.
[00:20:37]  For someone who's as well read as Bobby Kennedy, I just can't accept that that's a genuine answer.
[00:20:44]  I just think, I just think you're not being honest with me, man.
[00:20:47]  That's, that's my honest feeling.
[00:20:49]  And look, I think a lot of you guys, people who listen to this show, I think you know me enough.
[00:20:56]  And I think you can tell that I get no pleasure out of this.
[00:21:02]  I don't like even saying that.
[00:21:05]  I don't, Bobby Kennedy, he's a fucking Kennedy and he's come and done my show and he's been very respectful of me.
[00:21:12]  And I'll be honest, there's something about the guy that I think he's got like, he's got a fucking it factor about him, man.
[00:21:20]  This guy is running a national fucking speaking tour and he can't speak and he's still so compelling.
[00:21:30]  Like this guy's got a quality about him.
[00:21:32]  He's an undeniable talent.
[00:21:34]  I don't enjoy saying this, but when I hear stuff like that, I'm like, this guy just isn't being honest with me right now.
[00:21:41]  And I don't know what forces exactly are creating that situation where he can't be honest with me, but I'm just telling you, I don't think he is.
[00:21:50]  And it would be in my interest.
[00:21:53]  It would be in the Libertarian Party's interest.
[00:21:56]  It would be in for me to not say that to you, except for the fact that, number one, I feel an obligation to my audience to tell them the truth.
[00:22:08]  And number two, that I guess the thing that is in my self-interest is that my currency is telling the truth.
[00:22:14]  That's, that's kind of all I have.
[00:22:17]  Kind of all you have, Rob.
[00:22:19]  You know, it's like we're funny and we tell the truth.
[00:22:22]  That's our currency.
[00:22:24]  And if I don't do that, then what am I doing?
[00:22:27]  So that's my honest takeaway from the episode is that I just didn't feel like the guy was being honest with me.
[00:22:34]  And that was it was kind of painful and uncomfortable for me to be honest.
[00:22:41]  I don't know.
[00:22:42]  Is there anything you want to jump in on this, Rob?
[00:22:44]  Or did you watch the episode?
[00:22:46]  Yeah, I thought it was a great episode.
[00:22:48]  I don't think I can handle conversations that are quite on that caliber.
[00:22:53]  So I was very impressed by it.
[00:22:54]  I got to tune in live.
[00:22:56]  Brian hit me up and he was like, this is getting heated.
[00:22:58]  What are you up to?
[00:22:59]  I was like, send me the link.
[00:23:01]  And so I got to sit there and go, I can't wait till this shows up on the internet.
[00:23:05]  So I had a good time watching it.
[00:23:07]  I learned a lot.
[00:23:08]  I thought he had a couple good points, but overall, I mean, I'm just not as versed in the history of this situation as you are.
[00:23:16]  And I, you know, I just kind of look at it and go, I like both sides are kind of wrong and they got to figure it out.
[00:23:21]  And you can't be killing civilians in Gaza.
[00:23:23]  Like it's just kind of just, it's just kind of like simple to me.
[00:23:29]  Like, I can't, I, I, I just can't have the conversations that you're able to have on this topic, but I thought it was a great episode.
[00:23:36]  You handled it well.
[00:23:37]  Well, thanks for that.
[00:23:38]  And I, I kind of, I do agree with you ultimately, even if you're not as well versed in the history.
[00:23:44]  think that is the takeaway ultimately is that it's like, yeah, look, there's, yeah, there's, there's messed up stuff that both sides have done.
[00:23:52]  I think there's no denying that.
[00:23:55]  But again, like you said, you just can't justify this.
[00:23:59]  You can't justify what Israel is doing in Gaza and you can't justify Israel occupying the West Bank and Gaza.
[00:24:11]  As a long-term ongoing solution.
[00:24:14]  Yeah, that's right.
[00:24:14]  And look, in the same sense that, man, there was some, oh, God damn, I wish I had this right at the top of my head.
[00:24:22]  But there was a great quote from Abraham Lincoln when he was talking about slavery, when he was saying something about how he one of the major arguments against abolishing slavery was that these slaves are going to come try to kill all of us now.
[00:24:42]  Like if we give them their freedom, they're going to come try to massacre all of us.
[00:24:45]  They're furious that we've been enslaving them for all these years.
[00:24:49]  And Abraham Lincoln had some quote.
[00:24:52]  I can't remember what it was, but it was something like, we've got the tiger by the tail and we can't continue to hold it, nor can we let it go.
[00:25:03]  You know, like you're just like in this impossible situation where you can't keep doing this to them, but you also can't just let them be free because what might they do when they're free?
[00:25:15]  And that's kind of the argument there that like, yeah, but if we just let the West Bank be free, maybe they elect Hamas and then maybe there's a problem after that or maybe that.
[00:25:26]  But look, even like if we're looking at it from the example of slavery, don't doesn't every decent person just conclude that it's like, okay, I get your point.
[00:25:38]  You can't go back in time and make it so you never enslaved these people, which would be the ideal solution.
[00:25:45]  All right.
[00:25:46]  We're here now.
[00:25:47]  But you know what the answer is?
[00:25:50]  You can't do this anymore because it's just unacceptable.
[00:25:55]  And like, okay, like fine.
[00:25:58]  I'm not saying there's no problems attached to the freeing of these people, but you just have to free them.
[00:26:05]  And that's that.
[00:26:06]  And I really do think that's the situation we're in.
[00:26:10]  Anyway, there were, there were just lots of points in the podcast where it was just, it was things like that.
[00:26:20]  And I got to say, I don't completely understand.
[00:26:28]  And I know that people listening and everybody I've been hearing from on social media today has their theories, but I don't know exactly why it is that this guy who's been so willing to tell the harsh truths about so many other things seemingly can't do that on this issue.
[00:26:51]  All right.
[00:26:51]  So maybe on that note, maybe we can just give him the benefit of the doubt.
[00:26:56]  Say he's actually polling at 13%.
[00:26:58]  He's doing pretty well.
[00:26:59]  He thinks he can win.
[00:27:00]  He's got some, maybe he's lying on this issue even.
[00:27:04]  You know, you got to play the game.
[00:27:05]  Maybe he actually wants to end the Fed, get rid of vaccines.
[00:27:10]  He's got other priorities.
[00:27:11]  So halal on this one so that he thinks he's more viable.
[00:27:14]  But my honest read on politics, especially as he's polling better with the younger generations, is that if he were to flip sides on this, he'd actually be more popular.
[00:27:23]  Oh, I mean, I think this has killed his chance.
[00:27:28]  I mean, look, I don't know.
[00:27:29]  We'll see what happens.
[00:27:30]  But my, in terms of the, when, if you say the politics of it, and if by the politics of it, you mean the voting population, I think there is no question that RFK is so much stronger if he wasn't supporting this war and is the anti-war candidate.

=== Bobby Kennedy VP Offer (14:34) ===

[00:27:50]  I mean, look, there's a couple things, but number one, when you're talking about the people who are willing to break from both the Democrats and the Republicans and support a third party candidate, these are people who are outside of the orbit of the military-industrial complex.
[00:28:08]  These are people who are like looking for the most part, these are people who recognize that there is a military industrial complex who controls both major parties.
[00:28:18]  So I think it just helps him with young people, his strongest demographic, it's overwhelming that that would be more favorable to them.
[00:28:26]  But if you're talking about politics, like you're talking about actual politics, like who has influence, who has blackmail, who has lobbying money, all of that shit, then we're in a different conversation.
[00:28:46]  Okay.
[00:28:46]  So one of the other things that, so like one of the other reasons why I was trending on Twitter today or on X, whatever they call it.
[00:28:56]  You know how I told you, Rob?
[00:28:57]  Remember when I told you I just got a new phone last week?
[00:29:01]  So it, by the way, for me, this is where I'm at in terms of technology.
[00:29:07]  It just became X for me.
[00:29:10]  I had not updated the app.
[00:29:12]  I was still on Twitter up until a week and a half ago.
[00:29:15]  Now all of a sudden it became X.
[00:29:17]  But anyway, all right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is yokratom.com, longtime sponsor of this show, the entire network and SkankFest.
[00:29:30]  Everything I do, Yo Kratom sponsors, and I'm so grateful for them.
[00:29:34]  Look, if you're over the age of 21 and you like Kratom, go check them out.
[00:29:39]  If you're not, then just ignore this ad.
[00:29:42]  But if you are, you got to go check out Yo Kratom.
[00:29:46]  It is home of the $60 kilo.
[00:29:48]  They are the, if you like Kratom, this is the place to go for your Kratom.
[00:29:53]  Okay.
[00:29:54]  It's lab tested.
[00:29:55]  It's shipped directly to your door and it's the best price you're going to find anywhere.
[00:30:00]  $60 for a kilo.
[00:30:02]  So if you're a fan of what we do here or what any of us do at the Gas Digital Network, go get your Kratom from yokratom.com, home of the $60 kilo.
[00:30:12]  All right, let's get back into the show.
[00:30:16]  Okay, so one of the major things that I've been getting people asking me about for the last 24 hours or so is that Bobby Kennedy in jest suggested a couple times in the episode, but he did say it a couple times that I should be his vice president and run with him in this election.
[00:30:41]  And, you know, listen, I don't think he was seriously suggesting that, but there has been a lot of speculation of people online since then.
[00:30:50]  So let me just say that I, as people know, and we talked about on that episode, I was very strongly considering running for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.
[00:31:10]  Beyond strongly considering, as you know, Rob, and as Brian, our producer knows, and as my family and friends know, I was, I had all but decided I was doing it for a while.
[00:31:24]  That was the plan.
[00:31:26]  I changed my mind on that and it had to do with personal family reasons.
[00:31:32]  And so that, you know, is what it is.
[00:31:35]  It's not going to happen this year.
[00:31:38]  As far as running as a vice president with Bobby Kennedy, that's just not something I would consider doing.
[00:31:49]  And it's not, look.
[00:31:56]  So let me say this because this is something that I don't think I've shared with the audience before, but I should, because I should be fully transparent.
[00:32:04]  That is my obligation is to be honest with our audience.
[00:32:10]  So there was a time.
[00:32:14]  Man, I'm blank on exactly what time this was, but let's say it was months and months ago.
[00:32:24]  It was maybe this last summer, the summer of 2023, where around the time when Bobby Kennedy started talking about leaving the Democratic Party, the Democrats, and he was thinking about running independent.
[00:32:44]  And he, me and him had a few phone calls.
[00:32:48]  I had a few phone calls with other people.
[00:32:51]  I talked with Brett Weinstein, who is somebody who I really respect.
[00:32:59]  I think is a very good person and a brilliant person, who is still right now, I think, advocating that I should support Bobby Kennedy and support him getting the Libertarian nomination.
[00:33:15]  So he's on all 50, you know, as ballot access on all 50 states, which he would have as an independent and the Libertarian Party nominee.
[00:33:26]  And I understand where he's coming from.
[00:33:28]  He's basically saying that this guy is, I think essentially this is his argument, is that we are on the precipice of disaster.
[00:33:37]  This guy is the best hope at saving the republic.
[00:33:41]  We may never get another shot like this again.
[00:33:44]  And we ought to support him.
[00:33:46]  And you can have whatever little disagreements you have with him, but you ought to support him right now.
[00:33:52]  I think, I mean, by the way, I'm totally happy to have Brett on the show.
[00:33:57]  And I'd love to have him on.
[00:33:59]  And I think we'd have an interesting conversation about this.
[00:34:02]  I really admire him.
[00:34:04]  I think he's totally brilliant and makes some very good points.
[00:34:09]  At the time, this was before the war in Gaza broke out.
[00:34:16]  And I talked to both Angela McArdle and Michael Heiss.
[00:34:21]  So Angela McArdle is the chair of the Libertarian Party.
[00:34:27]  And Michael Heiss was, at the time, was running the Mises Caucus and the Mises PAC, which is the, you know, the caucus and the super PAC that that took over the Libertarian Party.
[00:34:41]  And I talked to both of them and I was like, look, I think we should really consider this.
[00:34:46]  This was very shortly after I had announced that I wasn't running and he was interested in the Libertarian Party nomination.
[00:34:54]  And I was like, look, I know that what we said we wanted to do with the Libertarian Party when we took this thing over and in the years leading up to that was that we wanted a pure libertarian to represent our message.
[00:35:11]  And that, and I meant that when I said it.
[00:35:14]  But at the same time, libertarians got to live in real life and not in theory.
[00:35:20]  And circumstances change and you got to deal with what's going on.
[00:35:24]  And I thought it was reasonable enough to go, well, look, let's just think about this.
[00:35:28]  I was never saying he should be the nominee, but I was going like, hey, guys, we really should consider this because here is a guy who is against the war in Ukraine, which at the time you're like, this is the most important thing.
[00:35:42]  He's great on this issue.
[00:35:44]  He's great on a repudiation of the entire COVID regime, great on the COVID vaccine, great on opposing the pharmaceutical industrial complex, great on opposing the military industrial complex, sharp critic of the neocons, sharp critic of the deep state.
[00:36:04]  And he's a guy who could launch the Libertarian Party to a level that we've never been at before.
[00:36:10]  No question about that.
[00:36:12]  He will absolutely, if he was the Libertarian Party nominee, he will just destroy the previous record set by libertarian candidates.
[00:36:26]  And there would be a way to kind of sell that where you'd go, okay, let's promote it this way.
[00:36:36]  Obviously, we're not saying he is a libertarian, but we're saying that like he agrees with libertarians on what we might say the six or seven most important issues are.
[00:36:48]  And so we're going to have a partnership for this one year to get our party to the next level, to get him to the next level.
[00:36:54]  And then, oh, we maybe just broke the two-party system.
[00:36:59]  And you know what I mean?
[00:37:01]  Like, like, I wasn't convinced this should be done, but I was like, we have to consider this.
[00:37:06]  We can't just dismiss this out of hand.
[00:37:10]  When once the war in Gaza broke out, or once really on October 7th, I was just like, I don't think we can do it anymore.
[00:37:21]  And I just don't, you know, I get what Brett Weinstein is saying.
[00:37:29]  And I get what some other people are saying when they've, they've told me, they're like, hey, I think you should just get behind this guy because, you know, he's so good on these few issues or this.
[00:37:38]  And, you know, there's this thing, you know, making the perfect the enemy of the good, which is a great saying.
[00:37:48]  And I do think it's something libertarians are guilty of sometimes.
[00:37:52]  And I don't think you should ever make the perfect the enemy of the good.
[00:37:58]  You know, if people don't, aren't familiar with that saying, it's kind of like if you, I don't know, if I'm like a libertarian and I'm like, I'm against taxation and someone is running on reducing taxes by 80%.
[00:38:16]  And I go, no, that's not good enough because I'm against taxation.
[00:38:20]  So I won't support you because I'm for 0%, not for the guy reducing it by 80%.
[00:38:28]  And then because that the people who wouldn't support him, you know, don't, he loses and the guy who wants to keep him at the same level wins.
[00:38:36]  That's a good example of making the perfect the enemy of the good.
[00:38:40]  It'd still be much better to have taxes reduced by 80%.
[00:38:44]  So you should support that guy.
[00:38:46]  There's something to that, you know, that view.
[00:38:50]  But there's also like another side to that, which is that let's say there's two candidates and one of them is running on, you know, a 99% tax rate and the other one is running on a 98% tax rate.
[00:39:08]  And I say, I won't support either of these guys because this is insane.
[00:39:13]  And you go, well, you're making the perfect the enemy of the good.
[00:39:16]  I'd be like, no, that's ridiculous because there's like, there's basically no difference between 99 and 98.
[00:39:22]  So the point I'm making is that it's a little bit arbitrary, but there has to be some line that you're like, no, I can't cross that line.
[00:39:33]  And so for me, what I see my role as being is I think my role is not making political compromises or figuring, you know what I mean?
[00:39:47]  Like, I think my role is to tell the truth.
[00:39:50]  And I think some, some people have to occupy that space where they just tell the truth.
[00:39:57]  They don't try to like, you know, wheel and deal and figure out every political compromise that can be made.
[00:40:05]  They just go, let me tell the truth as I see it.
[00:40:09]  And for me, there's a red line.
[00:40:12]  And the red line is, do you support more wars?
[00:40:20]  And if you're telling me that you support as president, you're pledging that you will use the American tax base to fund a war, an evil, illegal and unnecessary war that risks, as RFK admitted on the show, that risks bringing us closer to a world war.
[00:40:50]  If that's your position, then I can't support you.
[00:40:54]  I don't think that's too unreasonable.
[00:40:57]  And if I can't support you, then I definitely can't run with you.
[00:41:02]  You know what I mean?
[00:41:03]  Like if I, if I can't even like, I can't even vote for you and tell other people to vote for you, then I definitely can't be your running mate or be your advisor or be anything in your, in your cabinet.
[00:41:16]  And so, again, this doesn't, you know, doesn't bring me any pleasure to say, but that's just kind of how I feel that I just can't, you know, there's lots of things I still respect about Bobby Kennedy.
[00:41:28]  He has an open door policy on my podcast.
[00:41:30]  He can come back anytime he wants to.
[00:41:34]  But this is just, this is a bridge too far for me.
[00:41:38]  So that's, that's my feeling on the episode.
[00:41:42]  I think it's fair you're taking a clear stance.
[00:41:45]  Yeah, that's it.
[00:41:46]  I'm against war.
[00:41:47]  I'm against stupid wars that don't help anybody.
[00:41:51]  And again, I mean, it's like, you know, as I said on the episode, that I think, you know, I think from the perspective of a pro-Israeli person, which I am not, you know, I'm not exactly not pro-Israeli.
[00:42:09]  And I, I, Rob, I think I speak for you too when I say this.
[00:42:13]  I mean, you're, you're much more personally connected to Israel than I am.
[00:42:17]  Although I am as well, like my, my mother, like is, you know, my mother lived in Israel for a period of time and has been there many times.

=== Israel Living and Stamps Promo (04:01) ===

[00:42:25]  You actually lived in Israel for a while, right?
[00:42:28]  How long were you there for?
[00:42:30]  Two years between high school, college.
[00:42:32]  Okay.
[00:42:33]  But, you know, I'm saying it's not like a thing where I'm going, hey, I hate Israel and I think Israel shouldn't exist.
[00:42:39]  This is one of the things, Bobby, which I guess he doesn't, you know, know exactly where I was coming from, but this is one of the things he asked me about on the podcast.
[00:42:46]  Like, so are you saying Israel should be wiped off the map and all the Jews should be forced out or something?
[00:42:51]  I was like, no, not at all.
[00:42:53]  I'm somebody who I think that, look, I think the way Israel was established involved.
[00:43:03]  some really ugly things and involved like kicking a lot of people off their land and murdering a lot of people.
[00:43:09]  And I don't think it was justified.
[00:43:11]  But I also recognize that every country was created that way.
[00:43:15]  Okay.
[00:43:15]  Like, you know, I'm not like, I'm a realist.
[00:43:19]  And so, okay, I understand that.
[00:43:22]  I'm saying that like, I think Israel is a cool country.
[00:43:28]  And I think that they've created a country that is a good place to live for the citizens of Israel.
[00:43:35]  And that's nothing to be downplayed.
[00:43:37]  That's like, you know, that's not too many countries in the world have done that.
[00:43:42]  I'm just saying it's unacceptable what they're doing to the Palestinians.
[00:43:47]  And so I'm not saying like they should be wiped off the map in the same sense that like, I think the way we got this country from the Native Americans is fucked up, but I'm not about to give it back to them.
[00:43:58]  I'm just saying that the Native Americans that are still around ought to have their rights protected.
[00:44:03]  And the Palestinians that are still around ought to have their rights protected.
[00:44:06]  That's all I'm saying.
[00:44:08]  But to go a step further, I think that this war puts the security of Israel in more jeopardy than any other policy that has ever been put in place in my lifetime.
[00:44:20]  So the people supporting it, ironically, in the same sense that the people supporting the terror wars were not actually protecting America.
[00:44:28]  They were making them more at risk.
[00:44:30]  I think the people supporting this policy are putting Israel in more risk than the people opposing it.
[00:44:36]  So.
[00:44:37]  All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is stamps.com.
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=== Shane SNL Success Story (15:38) ===

[00:46:27]  Let's get back into the show.
[00:46:28]  Anyway, okay.
[00:46:31]  So let's talk about a few other things, Rob.
[00:46:36]  All right, what else?
[00:46:36]  What else we got here, Rob?
[00:46:38]  I love this.
[00:46:39]  Let's switch to something a little bit lighter, but that I also think is pretty important in like a pretty important cultural moment.
[00:46:48]  So Shane Gillis, a friend of both of ours, he is hosting Saturday Night Live.
[00:46:57]  That's pretty great.
[00:46:59]  This is I can't believe that SNL is ready to platform racist against Asian people.
[00:47:05]  Isn't that incredible?
[00:47:06]  You know, SNL has fallen so far.
[00:47:09]  I'm thinking of protesting.
[00:47:13]  I mean, how can major comedy institutions platform right-wing nationalist racists?
[00:47:19]  I don't even know what to do.
[00:47:20]  Dude, I'm going to call Shane and I'm going to be like, dude, listen, I want a million dollars or I'm leading the protest effort against you hosting Saturday Night Live.
[00:47:30]  All right.
[00:47:30]  So for anyone who doesn't know, Rob, tell them the bullet points of the story of what happened with Shane and Saturday Night Live.
[00:47:38]  Well, I think it's also worth noting he just got some sort of a Bud Light endorsement deal, which is pretty wild.
[00:47:44]  But two years back, Shane Gillis got SNL.
[00:47:47]  I think amongst the New York City stand-up comedy scene, it was like an, oh my God, someone like a legit comic, someone that we all think is funny, someone that we, I know him.
[00:47:58]  I'm not like, I haven't hung out with Shane that much.
[00:48:00]  I love him.
[00:48:01]  He's great.
[00:48:01]  We all love him.
[00:48:02]  There's a reason why he's as huge as he is.
[00:48:05]  But got the opportunity to be on SNL.
[00:48:08]  And then they went through his podcast archive, which you could do to any one of us.
[00:48:13]  You're going to find something.
[00:48:14]  What they found was clearly a joke.
[00:48:16]  It wasn't that crazy.
[00:48:18]  And then, of course, because of the wacky landscape we lived in, which might be over two years ago with woke culture.
[00:48:25]  Absolutely not.
[00:48:26]  This guy can't be on the show.
[00:48:27]  So I think it was within 24 hours.
[00:48:29]  He was, you know, and his life had changed.
[00:48:33]  He wasn't as rich and famous back then.
[00:48:35]  So he went from ride and high to, you know, back to not having all that much within 24 hours.
[00:48:43]  Dude, I want to find the tweet because I had a great fucking tweet.
[00:48:46]  I'll find it after this show.
[00:48:48]  But so Shane.
[00:48:52]  So I first met Shane.
[00:48:55]  He was like a younger comic on the scene in New York.
[00:48:58]  I don't know.
[00:48:58]  He came in to do Legion of Skanks and he was great.
[00:49:02]  He was great on the show, like so fucking funny.
[00:49:05]  And so yeah, like that, that's how I met him.
[00:49:10]  And then I remember, fuck.
[00:49:15]  It was one of the shows.
[00:49:16]  It was one of the new year's shows that Legion of Skanks did at the comedy store in LA.
[00:49:26]  And he did a set on the show.
[00:49:29]  And I remember watching part of it.
[00:49:34]  And he was like a younger comic at the time.
[00:49:37]  And I remember watching him do that.
[00:49:39]  And I was like, shit, that is, he was so good.
[00:49:43]  And I was like, wow, he's really, really, you know, there's like some guys who can be funny on a podcast.
[00:49:48]  In fact, there's some guys who will be hilarious on a podcast who just don't have a tight stand-up set.
[00:49:55]  There's a lot of guys like that, you know, who are like, they're really funny, but they haven't figured out how to be funny on stage yet.
[00:50:01]  And Shane was really funny on the podcast.
[00:50:04]  And then seeing him on stage, it was like, oh, he's really good.
[00:50:07]  And so I remember being like, oh, I think this guy's like really talented.
[00:50:11]  And there was just a lot of buzz about him going on in the industry, in the stand-up comedy industry.
[00:50:17]  And then it wasn't that long after that where it was like, oh, he got Saturday Night Live and he was booked on it.
[00:50:26]  And one of the things that was very interesting about this, obviously for me, is someone I knew and grew to really like and also was just very impressed with him as a talent, but it was a different thing that had really ever happened before.
[00:50:41]  This was even before the Rogan cancellation attempts, I believe, if I'm remembering this correctly.
[00:50:49]  But they went back into the podcasts to find offensive things he had said.
[00:50:56]  And there was this big pressure campaign and Lauren Michaels held out for a little while, maybe a week, where people were trying to cancel him.
[00:51:07]  And I remember at the time being like, when Lauren Michaels finally caved and fired him, I remember my reaction was like, thank God.
[00:51:21]  Because if he hadn't caved and it had just drawn out over another couple weeks, they were going to find way worse shit.
[00:51:32]  Like they had canceled him over shit that was like, just not that bad.
[00:51:36]  I remember reading one of the articles.
[00:51:39]  I'll never forget this as long as I live because there's something so great about you ever you ever see like when a news article will write something about a comedian and how offensive they were.
[00:51:50]  And when they quote them, it's still kind of funny.
[00:51:54]  Yeah.
[00:51:57]  The best example of that I've ever seen was this news article.
[00:52:00]  I don't know.
[00:52:00]  It was BuzzFeed or someone or whatever, but they wrote an article about this horrible racist comedian, Shane Gillis.
[00:52:06]  And they said in the article, they go, he described, and I can't even remember.
[00:52:11]  It was like some Hollywood actor.
[00:52:13]  And he goes, he described this Hollywood actor as, quote, gayer than ISIS.
[00:52:21]  I just remember thinking, dude, gayer than ISIS is the funniest way to describe someone.
[00:52:27]  I don't care how indignant you were reading that article.
[00:52:31]  Even you had to admit that like, that's really funny.
[00:52:34]  Like anyway, but they would have just found worse shit.
[00:52:38]  And anyway, Shane is like, I didn't even know then when even when he was hired by SNL and then when he was fired by them, I had never seen any of his sketches.
[00:52:51]  I knew he was hilarious on podcasts.
[00:52:53]  I knew he was a really funny stand-up comic.
[00:52:55]  I had never seen any of his sketches at that point.
[00:52:58]  And then after that, I just started seeing all the Gillies and whatever his sketch group.
[00:53:03]  Yes.
[00:53:04]  And they're so good.
[00:53:06]  They're so good.
[00:53:08]  Like he's so good at stand-up, at podcasting, and at sketch comedy.
[00:53:13]  He's like a talent like, and he's even gotten better at all of them.
[00:53:17]  He's an incredible fucking talent.
[00:53:20]  But there's something about the fact that he was canceled is now that then after that, Goes becomes bigger than he ever would have been on that show and is now being invited to host the show that it might as well be.
[00:53:39]  I mean, you might as well sign Lauren Michaels signature under like a declaration of apology.
[00:53:48]  Like we were wrong.
[00:53:51]  And I just think there's something beautiful about this.
[00:53:54]  It's not just about the comedy scene, although that obviously means a lot to me, but it's just about the entire landscape of where we are today.
[00:54:05]  Like that you could be, think about this, right?
[00:54:11]  As a comedian, getting cast on Saturday, Saturday Night Live is like, I don't know, if you were in, If you were in the world of acting, it's kind of like being the lead role in a major Hollywood movie.
[00:54:34]  If you're in the world of being a, I don't know, a writer, it's like getting the Pulitzer Prize.
[00:54:42]  If you were in the world of being a dancer, it's like being cast in a fucking Justin Timberlake video.
[00:54:52]  I don't know, whatever it is, it's the main fit.
[00:54:55]  It's like one of the main things you could get.
[00:54:59]  If you were a political commentator, it would kind of like being given your own show on CNN or something like that, right?
[00:55:07]  Like in this ballpark.
[00:55:09]  And to be canceled from that, to have that taken away from you and then go and become something bigger and better than any of that.
[00:55:22]  It's truly amazing.
[00:55:24]  It's really amazing.
[00:55:26]  It's like, imagine like at his height, Johnny Carson gets fired from the tonight show and then goes, I'm going to start my own tonight show from my living room.
[00:55:41]  And it becomes 10 times bigger than the tonight show.
[00:55:46]  That's, that's what we're talking about here.
[00:55:49]  That he went from having this, what the dream was and having the dream snatched away from him.
[00:55:55]  And I know Shane.
[00:55:57]  I mean, this was at a time when, I mean, I don't know, like, I don't know his fucking finances exactly, but I'll tell you, this was at a time when the financial difference of getting that meant the world.
[00:56:10]  When he went from being like dead broke to being like, you're set, you're making money.
[00:56:15]  You just went from making, you know, nothing to making six figures a year if you get this gig.
[00:56:23]  And he lost that.
[00:56:24]  That was ripped away from him and all the potential, you know, you know, leveling up from that that you would get.
[00:56:33]  And then he became something not only bigger than what he would have been if he had been on that show, but so much cooler and so much more fun and so much more.
[00:56:43]  You know what I mean?
[00:56:44]  Like that, that now they come to him and go, hey, could you come host this weekend?
[00:56:52]  That's just so fucking cool.
[00:56:54]  And I think that like particularly, I know like this podcast is more about like the political shit than the comedy shit, but I think that's something that we should all just like be really encouraged by, really encouraged by that it's just what a different world we live in now.
[00:57:09]  Where, you know, I remember, look, both as a comedian and as a political commentator, I remember times where I was like, I would be like, yo, I'd love to get like a late night set.
[00:57:24]  I'd love to do like Conan O'Brien or Letterman or, you know, the tonight show or something like that.
[00:57:30]  And I remember a time where I was like, oh, dude, if I could just get on like real time with Bill Maher or if I could just do any.
[00:57:38]  And it's so cool that like we're in a landscape now where it's like, oh, I don't even give a shit about doing any of that.
[00:57:47]  I'm not even saying I wouldn't do any of that, but like, that's not really what it's about.
[00:57:52]  Doing this is so much cooler.
[00:57:55]  Being Joe Rogan is so much cooler than being Conan O'Brien.
[00:58:00]  And being, you know, being, you know, whatever, doing, doing what some, you know, doing Tucker Carlson on Twitter or an X is so much cooler than being, you know, whoever, who's left at CNN now?
[00:58:20]  I don't even know, whoever they are.
[00:58:23]  It's so much cooler than being that.
[00:58:25]  And that's just like a great thing.
[00:58:27]  I think that's so cool that that's where we're living in now.
[00:58:29]  By the way, Tucker Carlson, I think, is about to go interview Vladimir Putin.
[00:58:36]  Dude, if Shane Gillis shows up in that interview, this is going to be the greatest thing that's ever happened in America.
[00:58:42]  But it does.
[00:58:44]  On both those notes, it seems like the wheel must be turning a little bit because two years ago, it seemed to me the read I got was, you know, Lauren Michaels has a pretty good eye for talent.
[00:58:53]  He was interested in Shane.
[00:58:55]  He was clearly right.
[00:58:56]  Shane is a super talent.
[00:58:58]  Yeah.
[00:58:58]  And it seems like the market at that time was that if they make a big enough stink over the idea that you're racist or made inappropriate comments, you're not allowed to work on television.
[00:59:08]  And Lauren Michaels, even though he's one of the most powerful people in show business, what's he been doing?
[00:59:15]  A successful show for 40 years?
[00:59:17]  How many movies has he produced?
[00:59:18]  I mean, he's up to.
[00:59:19]  Some good ones.
[00:59:20]  Yeah.
[00:59:21]  I mean, he's as big of a name.
[00:59:22]  You want to write the top 10 producers of all time?
[00:59:25]  I mean, he's in the comedy category.
[00:59:27]  He's probably number one or he's in the top five for sure.
[00:59:30]  I mean, he's made, I mean, Saturday Live for 40 years, Coneheads, Tommy Boy, you know, Black Sheep, Wayne's World, Night at the Roxbury's.
[00:59:43]  I mean, there's so many.
[00:59:45]  He's also the producer.
[00:59:46]  I think he's the producer on the Tonight Show now.
[00:59:48]  He's the producer.
[00:59:49]  He's the producer on a lot of stuff.
[00:59:50]  Was he, I think 30 Rock was part his?
[00:59:53]  Might be wrong about that.
[00:59:54]  But anyway, yes, your point sounds.
[00:59:56]  Yes.
[00:59:57]  He's as big as you can get.
[00:59:58]  And so in the woke environment, when they created complete nonsense about Shane and said this guy's a villain and he can't be on TV, even Lauren Michaels had to cave within that landscape.
[01:00:10]  And I know from trying to pitch beer companies, they just weren't touching the comedy category unless, you know, it may be barstool or something that was super clean or somehow got past the corporate radar.
[01:00:22]  Something has seemed to have changed over the last year where corporations are starting to be interested in profits again.
[01:00:28]  They're starting to actually interest it in getting to their markets.
[01:00:31]  I guess SNL actually wants to be funny.
[01:00:34]  And that's a big win.
[01:00:36]  And I don't know, maybe the wheel's not turning.
[01:00:38]  Maybe Shane just got so big that he's at Chappelle level that he's like grandfathered in.
[01:00:42]  And so he gets to do something.
[01:00:44]  But even that, even that is a ray of hope in all of this.
[01:00:48]  Like, yeah, you can get that big because he came from, look, Shane came from nothing but talent.
[01:00:57]  He was canceled when he had nothing, dude.
[01:01:01]  He had absolutely nothing.
[01:01:03]  And he was canceled in one of the most high profile cancellations ever.
[01:01:11]  And he just worked his way inch by inch up because he was so good.
[01:01:20]  That's so inspiring to me, man.
[01:01:22]  That's just so goddamn great.
[01:01:25]  And I'm just, I'm really happy for him, man, because he deserves this.
[01:01:28]  And I remember being there with him.
[01:01:30]  I remember seeing him, you know, hurting from, I remember him before he got the SNL opportunity.
[01:01:38]  I remember how excited he was about that.
[01:01:40]  And I remember how hard it was on him to get canceled, but he just kind of, he did a great thing, dude.
[01:01:46]  And he also, by the way, and this is something that I think is also an important element to this, that Shane didn't, and I think he went out of his way not to.
[01:01:55]  He didn't just like brand himself a victim of cancel culture.
[01:02:00]  I think there's a lot of people who try to do that.
[01:02:03]  And he was like, no, I'm not going to do that.

=== Shane Avoids Victim Branding (01:49) ===

[01:02:05]  He talked about it a little bit.
[01:02:07]  And then he just went on with like, let me do what I do.
[01:02:10]  Let me make really funny shit.
[01:02:12]  And that's what ultimately like kind of brought him back up to even a much higher point than he ever would have been on Saturday Live.
[01:02:20]  So that's something we could all take a lesson from.
[01:02:23]  And yeah, it's just cool.
[01:02:26]  It's a cool little moment in time we're living through.
[01:02:29]  Sure, everything's falling apart, but you also can kind of beat the system in that way.
[01:02:36]  Yeah.
[01:02:37]  But what you're saying about comedy, it's amazing how it changed from where I was starting, what the hope and dream was.
[01:02:42]  Like now it's, I just want to get better at what I do and do it to a bigger audience.
[01:02:46]  That's it.
[01:02:47]  Like, you know, I wouldn't want to write it.
[01:02:49]  You could offer me the head writing show on the daily show tomorrow.
[01:02:52]  It's a no.
[01:02:52]  I'm not interested.
[01:02:53]  Yeah.
[01:02:54]  Literally, why would I do that instead of this podcast?
[01:02:56]  Yeah, it just sounds like a goddamn nightmare.
[01:02:59]  Yeah.
[01:02:59]  You're saying, oh, hey, instead of doing this, would you like to just like have a boss and work a nine to five and like has he was like and not make the jokes you want to make and try and punch out someone else's perspective?
[01:03:13]  No, that's a cool thing too, dude.
[01:03:15]  Especially for people who are comedians is that our whole thing was always like, no, we want to be like gangsters.
[01:03:20]  I want to live my life doing what I want to do, not what anyone else tells me to do.
[01:03:26]  And, you know, so anyway, it's just a really cool, it's like a real win for the good guys.
[01:03:32]  So it just makes me happy to see.
[01:03:34]  All right.
[01:03:35]  We're going to wrap up our show on that note.
[01:03:37]  Thank you guys for listening.
[01:03:38]  Come check me and Robbie out.
[01:03:40]  Houston, Texas, Salt Lake City, a whole bunch more stuff coming up.
[01:03:45]  ComicdaveSmith.com, RobbieTheFire.com.
[01:03:48]  And of course, Run Your Mouth is Rob's other podcast.
[01:03:51]  Go check that out.
[01:03:53]  All right.
[01:03:53]  Thanks for listening, guys.
[01:03:54]  Peace.