We’re back with one long episode in two cracking segments. First up, Welch and Moynihan (Ed. note: Kmele is currently peering through a telescope on the South Side of Chicago or something) catch up on all the stupid news of the last week, including… * The news of certain…errrr……media layoffs * Defenestrations at Fox News and CNN * The “they-ificaton” of Tucker Carlson  * The bizarro world of Robert F. Kennedy Jr * Lil’ Bobby: Prosecute people I disagree with And then it’s an hour with return guest Ben Smith (his third appearance, we think?), editor-in-chief of Semafor, former editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News, and author of the new book Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. No explanation needed. It’s good. You’ll like it.  

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

#404 - The Fall of the House of Tucker and Traffic w/ Ben Smith

Your weekly rhetorical assault on the on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally ourselves. Kmele Foster (Freethink), Michael Moynihan (Vice), and Matt Welch (Reason) talk and laugh and drink their way to at least quasi-sanity in a world gone mad, often with the aid of clean and articulate guests. Weekly Members Only subscription edition often comes with listener mail and professional-quality (if inappropriate) singing. Analysis. Commentary. Sedition. 

wethefifth.substack.com

News & Politics

Comedy

A double-album worth of great content this week. Start off with Moynihan talking to Matt and Kmele about his Free Press piece charting the collapse of Vice and him forthcoming piece charting the collapse of the Black Panther Party. Then the lads chat about the weirdness of the New York Trump trial, Israel in Rafah, and lots more. And stick around for Kmele’s conversation with the Lennon-McCartney, the Lieber and Stoller of podcasts, Matt Boll and Andy Mills, the duo who brought you The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, among other modern audio classics. They’re back with a new series called Reflector, a “show about the strange experience of being human.” We don’t know *exactly* what that means, but we absolutely guarantee that it will be a work of unparalleled brilliance. Check out episode one here. 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

#457 - The Witch Trials of Alvin Bragg, The End of Vice, The Beginning of Reflector (w/ Matt Boll & Andy Mills)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wethefifth.substack.com

* The LP snoozer * Remembering that lady who said that gross thing about kids * You will never play in the NBA, baby * Zone of Interest redux, briefly * The Ann Landers portion begins  * Should I stop being an academic and become a cop who lurks on dating apps? * The anti-Semitic date * I can’t be brave and call bullshit. So what do I do? * Well, it all depends  * How to talk about…

Members Only #211 - The Ann Landers Edition

* The most serious race controversy of 2024: that lady basketball player *  “I mean, I've been a huge fan of Blackpink for years and I've never heard a single one of their songs.: * Snek and the Supreme Court  * Everyone's wife is Ginny Thoma * The defense rests * Local news and crappy journalists  * In defense of…Marilyn Mosby?  * Israel and the ICC * Enter Sibarium: the UCLA Medical School controversy  

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

#456 - Hoops, Sneks, and Very Bad Doctors (w/ Aaron Sibarium)

* At a party  * At Fenway  * Losers (which is apparently already a show) * Jake, Dana, Donald, and Joe * Cui bono?  * How Joe wins * How Donald wins * The NY trial continues… * Mitt Romney would pardon DT * “Attacked our legal system” * The new Noem * Post-Donald, where does the party go? * How goes it in Ukraine? 

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wethefifth.substack.com/subscribe

#455 - Debate Me, Joe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wethefifth.substack.com

* Italian bootlegs  * Warm Fanta  * Drinking on your European vacation  * The Comfort of Strangers   * Pre-internet travel * Jake Siegel: a moderate dissent…and Fifth reaction * Probability and the feminist bank teller * What happens when people call you bad names in public * 9 times out of 10, they were rapping * Awful media critics  * What would CH do? * Steve Albini * “And the songs that…

#404 - The Fall of the House of Tucker and Traffic w/ Ben Smith

Download our free app to listen on your phone