Fat Guy, Jacked Guy

We've got a special treat in store for all you VH-1 Heads out there in the world this week. We're revisiting the wild, whacky, incredibly self-referential VH-1 "celebreality" universe from its origin: The Surreal Life. We discuss what The Surreal Life was/is, which "celebrities" were on it, and how exactly VH-1 helped usher in the brave, new world of being a celebrity not just for doing something important but also for doing nothing important at all.

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

The title of this week's episode really says it all. This is the Fat Guy, Jacked Guy tribute to the best white rapper of the aughts: Houston's own Paul Wall. We're giving you all the Paul Wall knowledge you thought you'd never have! We discuss his background, his rise to fame, some of his biggest hits, & a lot of other stuff in between.

Here are some links to the songs & videos we mentioned in the episode:

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

This week, we're joined by one of our beloved former students (& loyal Fat Guy, Jacked Guy listener & patron), Dawn, to talk about RuPaul's Drag Race, which premiered on Logo in 2009. We discuss what Drag Race is, & we ask Dawn about all her favorite Drag Race everything. We also get into the cultural impact of Drag Race & why the queens who competed on the show have become such a mainstay in pop culture. It's a lot more significant than you think, & Dawn breaks it all down for us.

You can find Dawn on Twitter (where she is most active!). You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

This week, we're revisiting that moment in the mid-aughts when it seemed like everything underground was finally dredged up for everyone to enjoy. We're talking about the garage rock revival and the emergence of the "indie sleaze" scene, a time when roaring guitar-driven rock & roll helped build a culture of spontaneity and debauchery and...American Apparel bodysuits? It's the last of the youth-created and youth-led do-it-yourself scenes, and we're taking you on a little trip through some of it, particularly the early days of the scene and the music and fashion that defined it.

Stef mentions a Spotify playlist they made for the episode, which you can find here.

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

In this week's episode, we dive deep into the new millennium's version of Sparta by revisiting 2007's 300. We discuss everything 300 is bringing: the fascist propaganda, the anti-queerness, the idealized masculinity, the connections between the messages in 300 and the American politics of the period, and, of course, the ripped bodies of the actors who starred in the film and how they got them. If you've never seen the film, don't worry. You don't really need to. Plus, we got you covered on all the details you'll need to understand how much it sucks.

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

This week, we're wrapping up our month-long relitigation of the media produced in response to the "War on Terror" and the American War in Iraq. We discuss our experiences being part of the anti-war movement as teenagers, get into the criticisms launched by some famous entertainers and performers and the public's reaction to those criticism, and review an editorial written by David Frum for the The Atlantic THIS month. And as always, it's fuck George W. Bush forever in the Fat Guy, Jacked Guy universe.

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ and Brendan ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Support us on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠!!! There's ⁠⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

March 20th, 2003 was the start of the American War in Iraq. That means this week is the 20th anniversary of that day, and as we've been covering all this month, we're here to talk about some of the most important media of the period. In this episode, we discuss the oft-forgotten "War on Terror" documentaries No End In Sight (2007) and Restrepo (2010). We break down the content of the documentaries, discuss the problems they're highlighting in further detail, and get into why it's so important for people in the U.S. to grapple with this information right now. Today, as it is every day in the FGJG universe, it's fuck George W. Bush forever.

You can find Fat Guy, Jacked Guy on ⁠Twitter⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠TikTok⁠. You can find Stef on the web ⁠here⁠ and Brendan ⁠here⁠.

Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠!!! There's ⁠extra content for Patreon supporters⁠, as well as opportunities to interact with us in other ways besides listening to the podcast. We appreciate any and all help you can provide, and we hope to keep this going for a long, long time.  Thank you in advance for your support and love! You are our brothers!

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, people were growing wary of the "War on Terror," and Hollywood was starting to respond. In this episode, we examine Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal's "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty," two vastly different films where Bigelow and Boal try their best to critique the "war" while also showing the horrifying realities of its perpetuation. We get into our own thoughts on the films, whether or not they're actually successful in conveying what we think they're attempting to say, and seriously question why we dared to watch/rewatch these movies back-to-back in the first place.

Since it's the 20th anniversary of the start of the American War in Iraq this month, we're covering the media produced in response to the start of the war and its immediate aftermath. We're kicking things off by discussing one of the first mainstream documentaries to come out as critical of the war: Michael Moore's 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11. We discuss the content of the film, the strange criticisms of it, and we get into the role of journalists and critics when it comes to addressing horrifying events in our world. We laugh about a few things, particularly what a loser George W. Bush is, too.

In the mid-aughts, a new craze took over American audiences: they wanted to watch mean British people on their TVs talk down to other Americans (and essentially, them, too). This little infatuation, starting with Simon Cowell on American Idol, grew into a full on obsession by the time the late aughts came around. In this episode, we discuss this strange kink and its effect on our culture, specifically as it pertained to American food TV. We'll get into the separate rises of two of the meanest, nastiest British chefs around and discuss why and how each man's legacy still endures.