Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)

By Alexander Holland & John Maloney

Al and John grew up together in the '90s. Now they live on opposite sides of the world, so once a week they log on to catch up and make sense of whatever the culture has done this time, laughing at

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FAQs about Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM):

How many episodes does Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) have?

The podcast currently has 277 episodes available.

Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) episodes:

June 15, 2026 Michael Jackson: We Chose Music Over Truth
Alex saw Michael Jackson perform live in 1996. He was 14, obsessed, and desperately wanted to be one of those lucky boys he always saw by Michael's side. As the years went on, he became very glad he wasn't.

With the MJ biopic crossing a billion dollars at the box office and two active lawsuits still pending against his estate, Alex and John ask the question nobody in a theatre queue seems to be asking: what exactly are we all agreeing to ignore?

In this episode we cover the decades-long pattern of behaviour, the 1993 Jordan Chandler settlement, the evidence presented at the 2005 trial, the Australian boys, Leaving Neverland, and the $16.5 million payout to the Cascio family that almost nobody knows about.

And underneath all of it: the uncomfortable truth that his music is so woven into the fabric of our lives that the world has quietly decided the evidence just isn't worth looking at.

Michael Jackson | MJ Biopic 2025 | Leaving Neverland | Jordan Chandler | Gavin Arvizo | Wade Robson | Cascio Family Lawsuit | Michael Jackson Documentary | Don't Press the Machine Podcast
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1h 13min
June 08, 2026 Steven Bartlett, Wine, & The Over-Optimized Trap
This week on Don't Praise the Machine, we're asking the question nobody in the productivity space wants to answer: is optimization culture actually making your life worse?
When a clip of Steven Bartlett went viral, explaining how three glasses of wine with friends "ruined him for three days," the internet didn't push back on the sobriety. They pushed back on the measurement. The Whoop band. The sleep scores. The idea that a normal Thursday night had become a biometric failure.
We dig into whether treating your life as a quantifiable system to be hacked and continuously improved is quietly destroying the things that make life worth living. Friendship, spontaneity, and the occasional loaded fry.
If you've ever felt guilty for enjoying yourself, this one's for you.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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54min
June 01, 2026Rebel Wilson's Defamation Disaster — A Lawyer Explains
Rebel Wilson , star of Fat Pizza, Bridesmaids, and now defendant in her own defamation trial — is back in an Australian courtroom, this time on the wrong side of the lawsuit.
We break down the full saga: a Bondi Beach hives incident, an Outback debutante ball musical, nasty websites, a Ghislaine Maxwell comparison, and PR staffers privately texting that their own client is completely unhinged.
Joining the breakdown is a practicing Australian barrister who has been quietly calculating his own defamation exposure since agreeing to appear on this episode — and deploying the word "allegedly" as a legal shield throughout.
⚖️ Topics covered:
Rebel Wilson's defamation history & previous court win
The Charlotte vs. Rebel lawsuit explained
How Australian defamation law actually works
Why this case could cost Rebel millions
The wildest cast of characters in recent celebrity litigation
🎙️ Don't Praise the Machine is your survivor's guide to the cultural apocalypse.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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58min
May 25, 2026 Kid Rock: Rap-Rock Rebel to MAGA King
How did a guy who used to jump around in a white fur coat screaming "Bawitdaba" end up advising the Pentagon and hanging out in MAGA’s highest circles?
While his massive 1998 breakthrough album Devil Without A Cause pitched him as a raw, trailer-park, anti-establishment hero, the actual research reveals a slightly different story. From growing up on a wealthy Michigan estate with horses and orchards to commanding a massive modern cultural movement, we trace his bizarre 30-year journey through Nu Metal, Lynyrd Skynyrd samples, legendary tabloid drama, and full-blown political royalty.
It turns out Kid Rock and Donald Trump share a very specific, unique superpower and it’s exactly why their paths crossed.
Pack your bags, throw up the devil horns, and let's learn about the no.1 American Badass together.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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57min
May 18, 2026 Why Is Hollywood Obsessed With Business Stories?
Hollywood has a new favourite hero, and it is not a warrior, a wizard, or a spy. It is a founder, a CEO, a disruptor.

In this episode, we name and explore a brand new film genre: the capitalist procedural. From startup biopics to corporate origin stories, business movies have quietly taken over cinema and streaming, and we want to know why.

We break down what defines the genre, why studios keep greenlighting these films, and what it says about our culture that we are now paying to watch board meetings, product launches, and Series B funding rounds play out on the big screen.

Has hustle culture replaced the hero's journey? Are we using business stories to inject meaning into capitalism? Or have we just run out of ideas?

Topics covered: capitalist procedural, business movies, startup films, Hollywood trends, cinema culture, film genre, hustle culture, founder mythology, cultural criticism, film analysis
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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46min
May 11, 2026 How Banksy Became the Establishment's Favourite Rebel
Banksy built his reputation as an anonymous, anti-establishment street artist, spray-painting subversive stencils, dodging the law, and thumbing his nose at the art world elite. So how did he end up with Brad Pitt, Christina Aguilera, and Westminster City Council singing his praises?

We trace Banksy's full arc: from punk origins in early-90s Bristol, to A-list celebrity collector, to a Reuters investigation that may have finally unmasked the man behind the mask, and revealed something far more ordinary than the myth.

We ask the uncomfortable question: is Banksy actually toothless? And has he always been?
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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50min
May 04, 2026 Financial Journalist Tom Maloney Explains Prediction Markets
Prediction markets have exploded to $25 billion traded in a single month — but what exactly are they, and why should you care? Bloomberg journalist Tom Maloney joins the show to break down how platforms like Polymarket work, who's getting rich, and the deeply weird world of betting on elections, missile strikes, and Kim Kardashian's bar exam. From soldiers allegedly insider trading on military operations to people threatening journalists over their bets, this episode explores whether prediction markets are the final boss of financial nihilism.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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49min
April 27, 2026 Paid Virality Machine: How Clippers Took Over Your Feed
We pull back the curtain on the Clip Economy — the hidden industry where streamers pay teenagers thousands of dollars a month to flood TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts with manufactured viral content.
We break down how Andrew Tate pioneered the paid clipping model, how figures like Clavicular and Gymskin rose to fame through coordinated clip campaigns, and why context is dying in the age of the algorithm.
In this episode:
→ What the Clip Economy is and how it works
→ How streamers industrialized virality with Discord servers and affiliate links
→ Why short-form content is designed to strip away context
→ What this means for your media diet
Inspired by Charlie Warzel's Rise of the Clip Economy (The Atlantic) and Deon Nash's exposé on manufactured viral content.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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29min
April 20, 2026 Pamela Anderson: From Blonde Bombshell to Earth Mother
Pamela Anderson was the ultimate '90s tabloid machine — Baywatch bombshell, Playboy's most-covered model, and ground zero for the mechanics of celebrity . So how did she end up quoting Dostoevsky and giving spiritual speaking tours in Australia, selling skincare and preaching slow living at 58 yeard old? We break down the one of the most audacious celebrity rebrand of the decade — the Pamverse in full.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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54min
April 13, 2026 The Infuriating Genius of Keinemusik
Keinemusik are the Berlin electronic music collective who've built a global empire playing Afro house in front of pyramids, eating on stage and checking their phones — and somehow it works. They are both genuinely impressive and strangely irritating, and we want to explore why. We dig into what Keinemusik actually are, why they've become such a massive cultural phenomenon, and whether there's anything left of the countercultural roots of club music in a world of €2000 a seat VIP tables and clout-chasing iPhone videos.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm

💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/

🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
...more
44min

FAQs about Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM):

How many episodes does Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) have?

The podcast currently has 277 episodes available.

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Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)

FAQs about Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM):

How many episodes does Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) have?

Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) episodes:

FAQs about Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM):

How many episodes does Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) have?

More shows like Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)

1874

The Totally Football Show with James Richardson

FPL Pod