On episode 62, Charles tells tale of his difficult two weeks, and then talks to Andy McCarthy about the Trump conviction.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 61, Charles talks to Rick Brookhiser about his new book, Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution. Among the topics they discuss are: Was Trumbull a good painter? Was he regarded as such in his time? What did he hope to achieve? Why did he have such a tumultuous relationship with Thomas Jefferson? What is the thing that Rick likes the most about him and the thing he likes the least about him?

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 60, Charles talks to Peter Robinson about the famous 'Tear Down This Wall' speech that he wrote for President Ronald Reagan. Among the topics they discuss are how Peter became a speechwriter in the first place, what Ronald Reagan was like, and how The Speech came to be.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 59, Charles invites Michael Brendan Dougherty and Noah Rothman to continue the debate over Ukraine that they started on Tuesday's episode of The Editors.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 58—recorded from Lord Ravenscroft's desolate manor—Charles reviews objections to his approach to counting states, relates the most recent problems he's had with his golf cart, and talks to Tim Carney about his new book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. Among the questions Charles and Tim discuss are why we should have "lower ambitions for our kids"; what modern parents are doing wrong—and why; what caused these mistakes; whether there is a political answer to them; why creative and independent play is so important; why parents think the world is more dangerous than it is; whether achieving the cultural changes that Tim proposes will be different given the obvious collective action problem; how cultural underconfidence factors in to the baby bust; and what Tim would do if he were a dictator.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 57, Charles announces a special jigsaw puzzle and relates which 44 states he's visited before talking to Robert Frommer about an extraordinary case of civil asset forfeiture. 

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

On episode 56, Charles talks to Father Nathaniel Meyers, the Pastor of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo, MN, about whether God exists, how we can know, and whether it ultimately matters.

Fr. Meyers's reading list:

• St. Augustine's City of God
• A Contemporary Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God
• Anything by Cardinal Ratzinger
• Letters of St. Paul

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Charles invites Gareth Russell to tell him all about his latest book, The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court. Among the topics they discuss are the wives of Henry VIII, the use of séances to get one's own way, the first performances of Macbeth and Hamlet, the writing of the King James Bible, snobbery within eighteenth century chocolate production, whether Mary I was as bad as her reputation suggests, and why George III moved the monarchy to Buckingham Palace.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Charles introduces a new section on the show: Manatee Fact Hour. Then he invites that reprobate Kevin Williamson on for another throwback show. Presented by Prang and Company.

The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

def generate_podcast_intro(episode_number, host_name, guest_name, topic):

     intro = f"On episode {episode_number} of the {host_name} Podcast, budget cuts destroy the introduction and {informal_name} talks to {guest_name} about {topic}."

     return intro

episode_number = 53

host_name = "Charles C. W. Cooke"

informal_name = "Charles"

guest_name = "Timothy B. Lee"

topic = "artificial intelligence"

podcast_intro = generate_podcast_intro(episode_number, host_name, guest_name, topic)

print(podcast_intro)

# The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.