PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/237-bills-brain-51613897

Microsoft founder/self-appointed global health czar/Epstein buddy Bill Gates is receiving his worst press in 20 years. To celebrate, we looked back all the way to 2019 at the documentary series INSIDE BILL'S BRAIN: DECODING BILL GATES - a hagiographic look at his selfless charity work and harmonious marriage. PLUS: Luke talks with novelist Cory Doctorow, a longtime critic of restrictive intellectual property laws, about Gates’s dogged commitment to monopolism.

THE SIMPSONS taught a generation to be skeptical of authority. And then, at some point, it stopped. We revisit one of the greatest television show with two of its greatest episodes - "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "Sideshow Bob Roberts" - before venturing into the Season 26 episode "The Musk Who Fell to Earth" with guest star (...sigh...) Elon Musk. PLUS: Netflix's Dirty Money, the shifting discourse on Israel-Palestine, and an airtight theory about what Kramer would be doing today.

PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/235-fuck-it-we-w-51343674

On this very special crossover episode, we're hanging out with our good pals from across the pond - Jack and Geraint from the great Reel Politik podcast - to share a few cheap laughs over a target that's just asking for it. Yes, we discuss "Renegades: Born in the USA," the new Spotify-exclusive podcast from Barack Obama and the boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. We discuss how the show represents much that is unfortunate about Obama's post-presidency, and how exactly it fits into Bruce Springsteen's long and glorious career as a celebrity avatar of the working class. (Don't worry, we're not going to be too hard on Bruce.)

Check out Reel Politik - https://soundcloud.com/reelpolitikpodcast

In the wake of the Labour Party's disastrous performance in the 2021 U.K. local elections, we're taking a look back at a key moment in recent British history. The made-for-TV movie COALITION (2015) documents the wheelings and dealings that led to Nick Clegg's Liberal-Democrats joining forces with David Cameron's Conservatives after. the 2010 election left no party with a parliamentary majority. We share some larfs over a perfectly mediocre movie, and. discuss the true meaning of "Cleggmania" and its aftermath. PLUS: Why can't Keir Starmer sell centrism like Tony Blair could? And reflections on Toronto's alt-media landscape, from NOW Magazine to Eye Weekly to The Grid.

"The Grid R.I.P." - http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-grid-rip.html

"Keir Starmer’s Televised Meltdown Was Decades in the Making" by Luke Savage - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/keir-starmer-bbc-meltdown-labour-election-hartlepool

PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/51068447

How has it taken this long? We finally discuss David Fincher's FIGHT CLUB (1999) and its vision of consumerism, masculinity, and late '90s America. And of course we go over how the past 21 years have amplified/distorted/weakened/possibly even strengthened the experience of watching this dorm-room staple. PLUS: thoughts on Labour's disastrous performance in the 2021 U.K. local elections, and horrible tales what REALLY happened to the Three Stooges.

The year is 1965. Bob Dylan, tired of being "the voice of a generation," is on the verge of going electric... but he still has a tour of England to do. In D.A. Pennebaker's iconic documentary DONT LOOK BACK (1967), Dylan spars with journalists who question his prophet status while also trudging through protest songs that no longer mean much to him. We discuss how this film captures Dylan at a turning point. PLUS: Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell, consuming culture in the Biden era, and reflections on Biden's first 100 days.

"Joe Biden Is Not a Radical" by Luke Savage - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/joe-biden-radical-policy-liberalism-first-100-days

PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/50787521

It's time for another selection from our Superdelegate patron tier, and boy, they picked a doozy. On this episode, we shack up with the Bundys and dive into MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN (1987-1997), the raunchy family sitcom that became a flashpoint in the culture war. We discuss the show's bleak worldview, try to make sense of several of the most famous episodes, and discuss how conservative moral-panics like the one that greeted this show have changed in the decades since.

We finally tackle the ultimate movie about '80s Wall Street excess, AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000), which refracts Bret Easton Ellis through the prisms of Mary Harron and Christian Bale. We discuss its central performance, its many ambiguities, and why it is a quintessentially late-'90s statement on the '80s. PLUS: how capitalism is prolonging the pandemic, and why the drug companies are not your friends.

PATREON EXCLUSIVE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50510542

With his HBO documentary series Q: Into the Storm, filmmaker Cullen Hoback manages to demystify QAnon, exposing the mechanisms that underpin the right-wing conspiracy theory — above all, how it gives its followers a way of making sense of the spectacular failure of so many powerful institutions. Luke talks to Hoback about Q and the series.

PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/50457119

It was one of the worst-received comedies of all time. Twenty years later, its cult following cannot be denied. On this episode, Will makes a passionate case for how the passage of time has been kind to Tom Green and FREDDY GOT FINGERED's destructive project, while Luke works through his complicated feelings. PLUS: a plethora of topics, from Doug Ford vs. Alex Jones to the White House Press Corps under Biden to an aggrieved right-wing columnist who feels wokeness has destroyed Disney World.