Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez sits down with two UFC Hall of Famers — Don Frye (The Predator) and Dan Severn (The Beast) — alongside host Eric Carroll of Dad Talk Today, to talk about the early days of MMA, the wild west of the original UFC, and what it took to compete when nobody knew the rules.

Topics include: how Don and Dan each got into the Octagon in the mid-90s (Don needed an outlet during a rough divorce; Dan saw an opportunity when wrestling had nowhere left to go); what it was like to fight in a tournament format — three fights in one night, no idea who your next opponent was, and the whole event might be illegal; Dan starting his UFC career at 37 using Just For Men Number 45 to look more intimidating; the legendary Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama brawl at Pride FC and how it almost didn't happen; Pride FC's testing policy (there wasn't one); Dan Severn at 68 still going to the gym every day with both ACLs gone; how neither of them had ever heard of Brazilian jiu jitsu when they stepped into the Octagon; Don fighting a 600-pound grand sumo champion; and Don Frye's extremely candid prediction on the McGregor vs. Holloway rematch.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez with Don Frye and Dan Severn at FreedomFest 2026 0:27 — 33 years of the UFC — how Don and Dan first got into the Octagon 1:00 — Don Frye: going through a divorce, needed an outlet, got in the cage 1:56 — Dan Severn: wrestling had no professional outlet — MMA filled the gap 3:22 — Dan started fighting at 37 — and used Just For Men to look more intimidating 4:36 — Early UFC: no weight classes, no idea who you'd fight, three fights in one night 5:47 — The UFC was illegal — Indian reservations, no guaranteed payouts 6:10 — Dan Severn: 120+ fights, no training camps, never told anyone about his injuries 7:39 — Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama — the legendary Pride FC brawl explained 9:32 — Pride FC didn't test for anything 10:18 — Dan Severn at 68 still goes to the gym every day 11:44 — The evolution of MMA — no Google, no footage of opponents, style vs. style 12:46 — Dan Severn had never heard of Brazilian jiu jitsu when he entered the Octagon 14:42 — From the cage to entertainment — pro wrestling, movies, and the cowboy look 15:30 — Q&A: Have the Beast and the Predator ever fought each other? 17:15 — McGregor vs. Holloway prediction — Don Frye's honest take 18:17 — No weight classes in early UFC — imagine fighting a 600-pound sumo champion 18:36 — Don Frye fought Akebono — 6'11", nearly 600 pounds, grand sumo champion 20:06 — Obesity in America — Dan Severn on the food pyramid and standards 21:23 — Dan Severn shows off an original UFC belt 22:09 — How sports can push back on division — capitalism and the dollar 23:30 — One moment you'd want to relive — both legends answer 24:46 — Outro

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez moderates a panel on politics, comedy, and the death of late night TV.

Panelists: comedian Boris Khaykin, comedian and podcaster Andrew Heaton, Georgetown law professor and author Randy Barnett, Consumer Choice Center head of media Stephen Kent, and comedian Peter Stewart.

Topics include: why Colbert was losing $20 million a year and what that tells you about the economics of late night; the no-monoculture problem — Joe Rogan now outperforms Fox News; how going political gave Colbert a short-term ratings boost and gutted the comedy long-term; the Daily Show's original rule (cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs) and how every show that copied it forgot the rule; the math of splitting one sixth of a dying market; whether Trump actually pressured CBS to cancel Colbert (the FCC and Kimmel story is more interesting); Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new formats replacing late night; the democratization of comedy and what AI tools mean for talent in Nebraska; why writing 252 episodes a year is an impossible creative ask; what it's like to be on Gutfeld! and whether he's actually the new Johnny Carson; and what's still off-limits in comedy.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez moderates the panel at FreedomFest 2026 1:39 — Is late night actually dead? The panel's opening takes 2:35 — We live in the clips economy — nobody watches late night live 3:33 — When did you last watch late night live? The panel answers 5:12 — Colbert lost $20 million a year — the economics of late night explained 5:50 — No more monoculture — Joe Rogan outperforms Fox News 6:43 — Why going political gave Colbert a short-term boost and a long-term problem 8:15 — Short term gains for long term pains 9:33 — The Colbert Report was brilliant. The Late Show was a dad reading the NYT with a band. 10:35 — The Daily Show's original rule: cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs 11:25 — The math: Kimmel, Fallon, and Colbert splitting one sixth of a dying market 12:18 — The Weather Channel sitcom and the pre-cable era of tepid centrist content 13:39 — Did Trump pressure CBS to cancel Colbert? What actually happened. 14:05 — The FCC, Brandon Carr, and Kimmel — government jawboning explained 14:46 — Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new model replacing late night 15:23 — SNL, Alec Baldwin as Trump, and the Instagram kid doing it better 16:37 — Ben Burke live in Naples, Florida — the demographics that surprised everyone 17:39 — Johnny Carson was unifying — a conservative Republican family from the Midwest loved him 18:10 — Kill Tony as an evolution of late night 19:34 — YouTube as a gateway to live comedy 20:18 — Is the FCC still necessary? The property rights argument for radio airwaves 22:23 — Howard Stern and transgression — you need a line to cross it 23:29 — Richard Pryor's masturbation jokes and why taboo topics lose their edge 25:12 — What podcasting did to late night — Conan's pivot 26:47 — Reality TV is cheap. Writing jokes is hard. 27:09 — The democratization of comedy — from 3 channels to 31 flavors 28:16 — Randy Barnett got in trouble on X — Georgetown security called 29:11 — The future: AI tools, zero barriers, a flood of new talent 30:41 — Human connection — why people still show up live 33:39 — Joe Rogan is now an institution — new late nights are forming 36:22 — Lou on Gutfeld! — what it's like to be on the number one late night show 37:57 — Gutfeld vs. Carson — is he actually winning or just winning on the right? 39:30 — The volume problem — 252 shows a year is impossible to do well 41:42 — Kimmel's Charlie Kirk joke, the FCC, and when both sides can be wrong 42:28 — Q&A — what's currently off-limits in comedy?

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Jon Miltimore is back — writer, commentator, and one of the sharpest guys covering arts, culture, and politics on Substack. This is his second time on the show and we did not run out of things to talk about.

Topics include: why California can't fight wildfires and why Native Americans had better land management practices; the World Cup finally breaking through in the US; what to actually expect at a Bob Dylan concert when you're a Dylan fan (Jon didn't get what he wanted; he has no regrets); Ben Askren's double lung transplant and why elite athletes bounce back from things that would end most people; the new Stallone biopic about how Rocky got made — specifically the part where a broke, dog-selling, parking-car Stallone turned down $1 million because he refused to not play the role himself; the Rocky franchise and what it means that it somehow worked as it became more absurd; working out at 44 and 47 and why exercise is mental health; the case for travel sports (and why Matthew Yglesias is wrong); and why you should never outsource teaching your kid to ride a bike.

Follow Jon on Substack → https://substack.com/@miltimore

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Jon Miltimore, writer and commentator 0:31 — Canada's wildfires — black skies over New York and Minnesota 2:37 — Why California can't fight fires — federal land, bad policy, and arson 4:38 — Native Americans had better land management — and we stopped listening 5:21 — Private land vs. federal land — the tragedy of the commons 5:38 — Happy Hour Econ — a comedian and an economist walk into a bar 8:50 — The World Cup in America — how soccer finally broke through 10:26 — Bob Dylan at a Bob Dylan concert — what you should actually expect 13:38 — Lou cries at a Bob Dylan concert. He's not embarrassed. 17:21 — Ben Askren's double lung transplant — and why athletes bounce back when others don't 20:44 — Askren retires on his shield — and makes peace with his rival 23:26 — The new Rocky biopic — Stallone turned down $1 million to play the role himself 27:53 — Lou used to go by Rambo as a kid. Old ladies still ask about him. 28:29 — Jon's 13-year-old son shadowboxed like Clubber Lang at age two 29:11 — The Rocky franchise — from gritty 70s realism to superhero movie 32:50 — Working out at 44 and 47 — rowing machines, air bikes, and getting back at it 36:30 — Russell Crowe's comeback — individual agency and why exercise is mental health 41:14 — Travel sports — expensive, worth it, and Matthew Yglesias is wrong 45:34 — Teaching your kids to ride a bike — don't outsource the best moments 51:07 — Auto-deleting tweets and cancel culture — how we need to treat speech differently 52:10 — Outro — find Jon on Substack

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Liza Libes is a writer and literary critic at Pens and Poison. Her parents escaped the Soviet Union. She went to Columbia. She found that Columbia's English Department had replaced literature with Marxist theory, postcolonial studies, and critical theory. She's been pushing back ever since.

We talked about: the teachers who made us both writers; reading Wallace Stevens's The Snowman — out loud, in full — and the seventh grade class that made Liza stand in the snow for an hour to understand it; Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and the fascism problem; what happened to Columbia's English Department and why it matters for publishing; why Marxism is fundamentally an ideology of resentment (Bertrand Russell said it 100 years ago); the novel Yesteryear and what it reveals about contemporary literary self-righteousness; why writing characters who disagree with you is the whole point; the Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey and what "a complicated man" does to Odysseus's character; and Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film — specifically the Cyclops scene he cut, why it was the scene that defined Odysseus, and why its absence drains the heroism from the entire story.

Follow Liza at Pens and Poison on Instagram → @pensandpoison

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Liza Libes and what is Pens and Poison? 1:20 — Looking back on your 18-year-old writer self 2:51 — The teachers who made us writers — Brother Patterson and Poetry Friday 5:34 — Standing in the snow to understand Wallace Stevens — The Snowman read aloud 10:31 — The Lost Generation: Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot — and the fascism problem 13:03 — Shakespeare and Co., Paris, and missing Notre Dame before the fire 14:57 — Columbia's English Department: literary theory replaced literature 16:58 — Marxist literary theory, critical theory, and postcolonial studies explained 18:28 — Her parents escaped the Soviet Union — why she takes Marxism personally 19:28 — What literature used to be — humanistic inquiry vs. class consciousness 21:41 — Academia made literature esoteric — and publishing followed 23:01 — The DSA voter: overeducated, underpaid, and resentful 24:44 — Yesteryear — the trad wife novel, Anne Hathaway, and literary self-righteousness 26:03 — When the author's voice drowns out the character's voice 27:14 — Dostoevsky, Lionel Shriver, and characters the author disagrees with 30:23 — Writing outside your experience — her trans character, Lou's gay character 33:22 — Lou's story published alongside Joyce Carol Oates and Junot Diaz 35:20 — Her new novel — exploring faith and Jewish theology 37:32 — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Waiting for Godot 39:03 — The Emily Wilson Odyssey translation — "a complicated man" vs. "cunning" 41:10 — What makes Odysseus great — the Cyclops, the cunning, the hubris 43:25 — Nolan's film: the Cyclops scene is gone — and why that ruins everything 45:42 — Greek hubris — Icarus, Arachne, and why pride destroys heroes 47:24 — The sirens scene: what it should have felt like vs. what Nolan did 48:30 — The overall verdict on Nolan's Odyssey — heroism is missing 49:46 — Outro — find Liza at Pens and Poison

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Michael Angelo Zervos is a Guinness World Record holder — he visited all 195 UN-recognized countries in 499 days. Along the way he interviewed people in every country about the happiest moment of their life. That project became a book, published by Penguin Random House, out February 23rd.

We talked about: how the record works and what actually counts as "visiting" a country; a year and a half of planning vs. the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident; getting jailed overnight in Liberia for taking a photo of a building; being deported from Nicaragua because they thought he was a journalist; how he got into North Korea during a two-week window that's since closed permanently; what North Korea is actually like (his answer: Plato's allegory of the cave, in real life); Cuba on the ground vs. what the left says about it; traveling through Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, and Sudan; asking people about happiness in active conflict zones; and what his grandfather being forced to fight for communist guerrillas in the Greek Civil War has to do with any of it.

Get the book → The Happiest Moment of Your Life: True Stories from a Journey to Every Country in the World

https://amzn.to/4pHdYav

Follow Michael on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theprojectkosmos/

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 — Intro — who is Michael Angelo Zervos?

0:34 — Greeks in America — diners, Coney Islands, and the varsity jacket problem

5:05 — Christopher Nolan's Odyssey — not a single Greek in the cast

6:25 — 195 countries in 499 days — how the Guinness World Record works

8:04 — A year and a half of planning — and the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident

9:33 — What counts as "visiting" a country? The Guinness rules

11:08 — Project Cosmos — interviewing people about the happiest moment of their life

13:13 — Brand deals, sponsorships, and the reality of Guinness World Record celebrity

14:35 — Traveling as a man vs. a woman — the real differences

16:37 — Married with two kids — how he pulled this off

20:24 — The happiest moment of the trip — waking up in Ghana

21:33 — The Swiss man who came out as bisexual at a phone-free party in Zurich

23:45 — The worst moments: jailed in Liberia for photographing a building

26:57 — Deported from Nicaragua — they thought he was a journalist

27:41 — Left-wing dictatorships and the memory hole

29:50 — North Korea — getting in through a two-week window that's now closed

32:14 — North Korea as Plato's cave — the allegory of the cave in real life

33:44 — His grandfather forced to fight for communist guerrillas in the Greek Civil War

35:29 — Dennis Rodman's translator was a libertarian

36:44 — Cuba — what it's actually like on the ground

38:40 — Poverty porn, romanticizing socialism, and what Cubans actually think

43:42 — The Facebook argument: "Oh no, Starbucks is going to ruin Cuba"

45:38 — What's actually lost when wealth is generated — community and dependency

47:27 — Traveling through conflict zones: Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, Sudan

49:37 — Asking people about happiness in a war zone

50:27 — The book: published by Penguin Random House, out February 23rd

52:23 — Chicken soup for the soul meets Anthony Bourdain — what the book actually is

54:14 — Outro — follow Michael and get the book

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ

Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081

Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697

📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r

🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected]

✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Germania Rodriguez Poleo — journalist, writer, and Venezuelan exile — escaped her country at age 11 after the Chavez regime accused her mother of terrorism, tortured their bodyguard to death, shot at their car, and raided their home. She arrived in Miami as a refugee. Then she went to NYU and voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary.

Her Reason magazine article "My Family Fled Socialism. Then I Voted for Bernie Sanders." tells the story of how that happened — and how she found her way back out.

She's also the narrator of the documentary Escaping Venezuela.

We covered: her mother's escape on a boat to Curacao and what Interpol red notices actually do to dissidents; the Pinochet whataboutism that follows every conversation about left-wing atrocities; what NYU taught (and didn't teach) about communism, socialism, and US foreign policy; why the pipeline from wealth and privilege to socialism is real and why it matters who makes the culture; the DSA's old platform calling for nationalization of media — and what that looks like in practice in Venezuela; the 32 Cuban soldiers killed protecting Maduro when the US captured him; the 2024 Venezuelan election that was stolen in plain sight; the recent earthquake with 40,000 missing while the dictatorship reports 3,000 dead; why she believes the US should be the policeman of the world; and the tragedy of exile — what it means to have your entire family legacy erased.

Follow Germania on social media → @iamGermania

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Germania Rodriguez Poleo? 0:31 — The Reason article: "My Family Fled Socialism. Then I Voted for Bernie Sanders" 1:43 — Her mom: the #1 journalist exposing Chavez — accused of terrorism 3:30 — House raids, shot at their car, bodyguard tortured to death 4:59 — How democracy is lost — and why people allow it 6:07 — Her mom escapes on a boat to Curacao, then flies to Miami 7:07 — Born in Miami — how that gave her some protection 7:26 — Interpol red notices — how dictators use them against dissidents 8:47 — Her grandfather arrested in Rome on Interpol orders 9:13 — The UN Security Council problem 10:06 — The Pinochet whataboutism — and why the left always pivots there 12:05 — NYU, Karl Marx, and an incomplete education 13:26 — No readings on the Soviet Union, Mao, or Cuba — only US horrors 15:03 — The 2002 Venezuela coup — US engineered or not? Her mom was in the room. 16:41 — "Whatever the US does is bad, everyone opposed to it is good" 17:21 — NYU's Karl Marx birthday dance party 18:39 — Why aren't we winning the argument against communism? 19:04 — The pipeline from privilege to socialism — and who makes the culture 20:08 — The documentary Escaping Venezuela — and why it matters 21:06 — DSA, Bernie Sanders, and the Norway vs. Cuba confusion 22:08 — Che Guevara shirts — racism, homophobia, concentration camps 24:08 — DSA's platform: nationalizing media — the Venezuela playbook 26:21 — How authoritarianism starts: shutting down speech in the name of morality 29:04 — Race, identity, and the boxes put on Latinos at NYU 31:06 — NYC Mayor Mamdani — victimhood politics and who's actually brown 32:22 — If the US is so racist, why do people lie about being minorities? 33:56 — Paid propagandists for left-wing dictatorships 36:13 — The US captures Maduro — and the 32 Cuban soldiers protecting him 37:39 — Should the US be the policeman of the world? Her answer: yes. 39:23 — Venezuela is not Libya — why intervention wouldn't cause a civil war 40:09 — The 2024 election Maduro stole 41:14 — The recent earthquake — 40,000 missing, dictatorship says 3,000 42:30 — That's socialism in practice — from richest country to this 42:54 — Cuba: communists vs. thugs — and the cancer it spread 46:04 — "I want to go to Cuba before Starbucks gets there" 48:23 — Her mom: still fighting, now critical of Trump, 200K YouTube views 50:16 — Does she want to go back? The tragedy of exile. 52:20 — Exile is different from immigration — what was taken from her family 54:39 — Trying to revive her grandfather's newspaper 56:05 — Outro

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Meghan Murphy is a writer, podcaster, and one of the original people to get canceled on Twitter — permanently banned in 2018 for tweeting "men aren't women, though" and referring to a man who wanted to get his testicles waxed as "him." She's been writing and podcasting independently ever since, and she now lives in Mexico.

We talked about: the tweet that got her banned and the Yaniv waxing lawsuits that triggered it; Canada's Bill C16 and what it actually means to have gender identity law on the books; losing venues, hiring private security, and getting stalked around her Vancouver neighborhood; how Joe Rogan and Elon Musk both played a role in keeping her career alive; why she left Canada in January 2021; the cartel "protest" that burned some cars, got wildly exaggerated online, and tanked the tourist season in her Mexican town; the fear of fun — Andrew Huberman, Bryan Johnson, Gen Z, and the obsession with optimizing yourself out of actually living; why she's happier single; why "nobody wants you after 35" is not true; and why guys who call attractive women "mid" are almost certainly not having sex with real women.

Follow Meghan on X → @MeghanEMurphy Meghan on Substack → substack.com/@meghanmurphy

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Meghan Murphy? 0:45 — The tweet that got her banned: "Men aren't women, though" 1:36 — Jessica Yaniv and the waxing lawsuits — the rabbit hole 3:20 — Trans widows, skin suits, and Lou's Black Mirror idea 5:15 — Canada's Bill C16 — gender identity legislation and its consequences 6:07 — Getting banned at 11pm on a Friday — and crying at the bar 7:22 — Losing venues, getting no-platformed, and hiring private security for talks 7:46 — Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and getting back on X 9:10 — How a ban silences other people — the chilling effect 9:54 — Her entire left-wing social circle turned on her 10:43 — Canada's speech laws — brushing up against criminal charges 12:05 — Leaving Vancouver in January 2021 — Covid authoritarianism and fear 13:27 — Stalked in her neighborhood, verbally attacked in public, constant threats 15:03 — Canada vs. America — why things changed here but not there 15:37 — Trump, Canada as the 51st state, and touring with Scott Thompson 18:18 — Life in Mexico — why she stayed and never went back 20:29 — Gentrification, gringos, and the cartel "protest" that tanked the tourist season 26:59 — The fear of fun — Andrew Huberman, Gen Z, and the obsession with optimization 30:55 — Bryan Johnson measuring his son's nighttime erections 33:40 — Living forever for what? If you're not having fun, what's the point? 35:46 — Lou weighs his food — and his brother smokes and has the same cholesterol 37:53 — Being single vs. married — and why Meghan is happier alone 40:12 — "Nobody wants you after 35" — why that's not true 44:10 — Porn, Instagram filters, and why guys don't understand real attraction 48:04 — Lou meets his wife — the audible "wow" at the bar 50:23 — Bitterness is unattractive — and everyone in Mexico is still having sex 50:44 — Outro — follow Meghan on X and Substack

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Meghan Murphy is a writer, podcaster, and one of the original people to get canceled on Twitter — permanently banned in 2018 for tweeting "men aren't women, though" and referring to a man who wanted to get his testicles waxed as "him." She's been writing and podcasting independently ever since, and she now lives in Mexico.

We talked about: the tweet that got her banned and the Yaniv waxing lawsuits that triggered it; Canada's Bill C16 and what it actually means to have gender identity law on the books; losing venues, hiring private security, and getting stalked around her Vancouver neighborhood; how Joe Rogan and Elon Musk both played a role in keeping her career alive; why she left Canada in January 2021; the cartel "protest" that burned some cars, got wildly exaggerated online, and tanked the tourist season in her Mexican town; the fear of fun — Andrew Huberman, Bryan Johnson, Gen Z, and the obsession with optimizing yourself out of actually living; why she's happier single; why "nobody wants you after 35" is not true; and why guys who call attractive women "mid" are almost certainly not having sex with real women.

Follow Meghan on X → @MeghanEMurphy Meghan on Substack → substack.com/@meghanmurphy

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Meghan Murphy? 0:45 — The tweet that got her banned: "Men aren't women, though" 1:36 — Jessica Yaniv and the waxing lawsuits — the rabbit hole 3:20 — Trans widows, skin suits, and Lou's Black Mirror idea 5:15 — Canada's Bill C16 — gender identity legislation and its consequences 6:07 — Getting banned at 11pm on a Friday — and crying at the bar 7:22 — Losing venues, getting no-platformed, and hiring private security for talks 7:46 — Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and getting back on X 9:10 — How a ban silences other people — the chilling effect 9:54 — Her entire left-wing social circle turned on her 10:43 — Canada's speech laws — brushing up against criminal charges 12:05 — Leaving Vancouver in January 2021 — Covid authoritarianism and fear 13:27 — Stalked in her neighborhood, verbally attacked in public, constant threats 15:03 — Canada vs. America — why things changed here but not there 15:37 — Trump, Canada as the 51st state, and touring with Scott Thompson 18:18 — Life in Mexico — why she stayed and never went back 20:29 — Gentrification, gringos, and the cartel "protest" that tanked the tourist season 26:59 — The fear of fun — Andrew Huberman, Gen Z, and the obsession with optimization 30:55 — Bryan Johnson measuring his son's nighttime erections 33:40 — Living forever for what? If you're not having fun, what's the point? 35:46 — Lou weighs his food — and his brother smokes and has the same cholesterol 37:53 — Being single vs. married — and why Meghan is happier alone 40:12 — "Nobody wants you after 35" — why that's not true 44:10 — Porn, Instagram filters, and why guys don't understand real attraction 48:04 — Lou meets his wife — the audible "wow" at the bar 50:23 — Bitterness is unattractive — and everyone in Mexico is still having sex 50:44 — Outro — follow Meghan on X and Substack

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Aaron Brown is a quantitative analyst, risk manager, and author of the new book Wrong Number: How to Extract Truth from a Blizzard of Quantitative Disinformation. https://amzn.to/4frmg3n

He's also about to debate gun control at the Soho Forum in August — and his preparation for that debate is a pretty good preview of what's in the book.

Topics include: why out of 28,000 gun control studies, the RAND Corporation found only 20 that weren't statistically crippled; the smoking analogy and what it tells us about legislation that runs ahead of evidence; why gun laws burden legitimate owners and not criminals; why we have a crime problem, not a gun problem; The Lancet paper that claimed US aid saved 92 million lives; how to spot three red flags that tell you a statistic is BS; and Wonder Bread's motto "Helps build strong bodies 12 ways" — which nobody ever actually wrote down.

Get the book → Wrong Number: How to Extract Truth from a Blizzard of Quantitative Disinformation https://amzn.to/4frmg3n

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Aaron Brown and Wrong Number 0:34 — The Soho Forum gun control debate — and who he's up against 3:45 — The proposition: abolish all restrictions on adult firearm ownership 4:48 — Lou on navigating gun laws across state lines (NJ → PA → NY) 7:25 — The wide cultural divide: Scranton airport vs. any other airport with guns 9:04 — RAND Corporation: of 28,000 gun control studies, only 20 weren't crippled by errors 10:04 — The smoking analogy — legislation running ahead of the evidence 12:15 — Gun control laws only burden legitimate owners — not criminals 12:43 — The Glock switch ban and the AR-15 — targeting the popular, not the dangerous 15:18 — "Trump is a fascist" — and you want him to take the guns? 15:42 — Stop calling it a gun problem. It's a crime problem. 17:47 — We can identify the 1% of kids likely to commit 20–30% of violent crime 19:31 — Genetic markers for violence — and why that's controversial 20:48 — The Nordic prison model — does it work, and could it work here? 22:09 — Immigration data: why lumping everyone together gets you bad answers 25:20 — Lou's joke about open borders (for immigrants like his dad, not his cousins) 25:39 — Aaron's Jewish smuggler ancestors — blocked from junk dealing by licensing laws 27:04 — Did US aid really save 92 million lives? The Lancet paper that can't add up 29:13 — They saved 114% of the people — including 46M in China, which gets no aid 31:22 — Most published research findings are false — and we've known since 2005 32:42 — DOGE cuts and the "millions are dead" narrative 36:15 — Three red flags that tell you a statistic is BS 39:18 — Wonder Bread's "12 ways" — nobody ever wrote them down 40:18 — Outro — Wrong Number and the Soho Forum debate

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

Rambo Van Halen is a pseudonym. He's a Hollywood producer — the real kind, the below-the-line kind, the guy making sure the steel gets to the factory — who worked in the industry for decades, walked away in 2019, and wrote a book about it.

The book is called Hollywood Samizdat: Notes from Below the Line. It's published by Passage Press. Lou read it. He dog-eared it. They talked for an hour.

Topics include: what a producer actually does (mostly administration, definitely not what people think); what happens to actors when nobody says no to them for 20 years; the feminization of Hollywood and why straight guys stopped being able to do their jobs; military veterans vs. film school graduates on set (no contest); Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, and the Amazon river; the unwritten casting rule about who can and can't be the butt of the joke; MeToo — the careers it should have ended, the ones it shouldn't have, and the Joe Gatt story that will make your jaw drop; and why Rambo Van Halen is not his real name and probably never will be.

Get the book → https://passage.press/products/hollywood-samizdat?srsltid=AfmBOorHefB5b7WS0T_hiObEIcPzGEWLHKXoL-4gInHttqmha-D5SLui Rambo on Substack → https://substack.com/@rambovanhalen

TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Rambo Van Halen? 1:40 — What a producer actually does (it's mostly administration) 3:50 — Building a bubble around the creatives — and what it does to them 6:20 — Film is a business, not a public service — and film school gets this wrong 7:25 — Jim Carrey, Michael Jackson, and what happens when nobody says no 10:55 — Plastic surgery, masculinity, and actors who should leave their faces alone 12:46 — Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, and the men who used to be on screen 16:25 — How Hollywood got feminized — and why straight guys couldn't do their jobs anymore 19:06 — Military guys on film sets — why they beat film school graduates every time 21:32 — Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog, and Klaus Kinski's on-set meltdown 25:04 — Why he made his lateral move out of LA in 2019 27:30 — White male shit libs coming at him on Facebook 30:56 — Comedy as a masculine art form — why wokeness couldn't kill it 35:00 — George Floyd, Memorial Day, and saying what you actually think 37:25 — The unwritten rule: the black guy can't be the butt of the joke 43:28 — Roy Price, MeToo, and the careers that got destroyed 45:01 — John Lasseter, Aziz Ansari, and Joe Gatt — three very different MeToo stories 50:37 — The sushi bar incident — actress hits on producer, ignores her date 54:24 — Bikini casting, auditions, and what actresses will do for a role 58:12 — Who is Rambo Van Halen — and why the pseudonym? 1:01:16 — Why he wrote Hollywood Samizdat as a journaling exercise 1:03:08 — On publicist spam, bad podcast guests, and only booking people worth talking to 1:04:01 — Outro — where to find Rambo Van Halen

Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU

📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez