The Soapbox Lex

🎬 **What happens when you give two guys from Lexington press passes and let them loose at Comic Con?**Celebrity interviews, awkward encounters, unexpected wisdom, and a few moments we probably should have edited out!In Episode 78 of **The SoapBox Lex**, Paul Ross and Eric Green return for **Part 2 of our Lexington Fall Comic Con 2026 coverage**, and this time we're rubbing elbows with the stars!We caught up with some incredible actors, comedians, voice artists, and wrestling legends to ask the one question that defines our podcast:🎤 **"What's YOUR soapbox?"**And their answers did NOT disappoint!🌟 **Our celebrity lineup includes:**🤠 **Benjamin Byron Davis** (*Red Dead Redemption*) — Why failing to use your turn signal might just signal the collapse of civilization.🍦 **Ari Millen** (*Orphan Black, Ice Cream Man*) — Oblivious people blocking doorways, Canadian politeness, and getting ejected from a hockey game.😂 **Chris Kattan** (*Saturday Night Live, A Night at the Roxbury*) — Paul meets one of his comedy heroes, shares a family inside joke, and discovers Kattan's thoughts on AI.🍄 **Charles Martinet** (*Super Mario*) — The legendary voice of Mario talks food, world travel, finding happiness, and the importance of being kind to yourself.🎬 **Jed Rees** (*Deadpool, Galaxy Quest*) — Bad drivers, impatience, and why Vancouver traffic might actually be worse than Los Angeles.🖖 **George Takei** (*Star Trek*) — A television legend reflects on the extraordinary legacy of Star Trek as it celebrates 60 years.📱 **Missi Pyle** (*Dodgeball, Galaxy Quest, Gone Girl*) — Why smartphones have taken over absolutely everything, and the unexpected joys of disconnecting.🐾 **Lori Beth Denberg** (*All That, Good Burger*) — Pet adoption, childhood nostalgia, and an increasingly questionable conversation about Bob Barker...⏳ **Todd Stashwick** (*12 Monkeys, Star Trek: Picard*) — Kindness, time travel, and a surprise cameo from **Patton Oswalt**!🤼 **The Rock 'n' Roll Express** (*WWE Hall of Fame*) — Bad breath, cold coffee, marriage advice, and memories of wrestling in Lexington's Rupp Arena.Along the way, Paul forgets celebrity names, Eric gets to geek out over *12 Monkeys*, microphones mysteriously stop working, and we learn that even famous people have surprisingly ordinary pet peeves.Some conversations are hilarious. Others are genuinely thoughtful. And a few go completely off the rails.**That's exactly what The SoapBox Lex is all about.**👇 **JOIN THE CONVERSATION!**Which celebrity had the best soapbox? Who would YOU want us to interview next? And should we do more convention coverage?Tell us in the comments!👍 Like the video if you enjoyed our celebrity encounters.🔔 Subscribe for more conversations, ridiculous debates, and unexpected adventures with Paul and Eric.🎧 **Listen to The SoapBox Lex** on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and your favorite podcast platforms.#TheSoapBoxLex #LexingtonComicCon #ComicCon2026 #CelebrityInterviews #ChrisKattan #GeorgeTakei #CharlesMartinet #PattonOswalt #RedDeadRedemption #SuperMario #StarTrek #podcast 00:00 – Welcome to The SoapBox Lex00:35 – Comic Con Part 2: We've Got Press Passes!02:17 – Benjamin Byron Davis: Turn Signals and Civilization05:19 – Ari Millen: Canadian Politeness and Hockey Fights10:15 – Chris Kattan: Meeting a Comedy Legend15:22 – Charles Martinet: Mario, Travel, and Self-Kindness19:27 – Jed Rees: Galaxy Quest and Terrible Drivers24:15 – George Takei: 60 Years of Star Trek27:24 – Missi Pyle: Smartphones Are Driving Us Crazy31:43 – Lori Beth Denberg: All That, Good Burger, and Pet Adoption36:46 – Todd Stashwick: Kindness and 12 Monkeys42:13 – Surprise! Patton Oswalt Makes an Appearance42:51 – The Rock 'n' Roll Express: Wrestling Legends Unfiltered46:44 – Comic Con Wrap-Up and What's Next

The SoapBox Lex is taking the show on the road!For Part 1 of our Lexington Fall Comic Con 2026 coverage, Paul and Eric hit the convention floor to meet the cosplayers, artists, creators, vendors, gamers, wrestlers, collectors and wonderfully weird people who make Comic Con what it is.And naturally, we asked them the most important question we know:**What grinds your gears?**The answers did NOT disappoint.We talk cosplay and creativity, terrible Kentucky traffic, video-game logic, expensive Funko Pops, AI-generated art, comic collecting, public education, inconsiderate people, professional wrestling, lightsaber combat, hot sauce…and why touching an enemy in a side-scrolling video game apparently causes instant bodily harm.We also meet creators and charitable cosplay groups doing some genuinely cool work in the community — and watch one brave Comic Con attendee take on a hot sauce challenge that quickly becomes a religious experience.And this is only Part 1.**Coming in Part 2:** our celebrity interviews from Lexington Comic Con 2026.👇 YOUR TURN:If we had stopped you on the convention floor, what would you have said?**What grinds YOUR gears?**Subscribe so you don't miss Part 2!#LexingtonComicCon #ComicCon #TheSoapBoxLex #Cosplay #LexingtonKY

Why are we still signing touchscreens with our fingers when the result looks absolutely nothing like our actual signature?Smiley returns to The SoapBox Lex, and what starts as a complaint about pointless digital signatures quickly goes off the rails.We debate whether politicians should be elected or randomly selected like jurors, complain about grammar that drives us crazy, discover some bizarre superstitions, and play a surprisingly revealing game of “Guess My Pinned Contacts.”Paul also climbs onto his soapbox about youth soccer parent group chats, Smiley explains why seemingly everyone in Lexington knows him, and we get into one of life's most awkward social situations: what do you do when someone remembers you…and you have absolutely no idea who they are?Plus: The Who vs. The HU, William Shatner stories, restaurant nostalgia, soccer moms, conference swag, and the moment Paul forgets Smiley's actual name—again.What social convention do YOU think we all need to stop pretending makes sense?Drop yours in the comments. It might end up on the list.

The SoapBox Lex hits the road!Paul and Eric are live from New Orleans at the 51st Annual Traffic Records Forum, where they're joined by Bob Scopatz for an appropriately chaotic edition of "What Grinds Your Gears?"What starts with a conversation about autonomous vehicles quickly goes everywhere.Should self-driving car companies be required to share crash data? Should manufacturers be protected from lawsuits if autonomous vehicles ultimately make roads safer? What actually makes someone a great musician? Could humans someday routinely live to 150? And if artificial intelligence eliminates huge numbers of jobs, are we eventually going to need Universal Basic Income?That last question turns into the real debate.Would UBI give people freedom and dignity—or risk taking away some of the purpose we derive from work? Would putting more money into the economy simply drive prices higher? Should government assistance come with restrictions, or does trying to police how people spend it create an even bigger problem?And somewhere along the way, Jim Markham and Patrick Dolan wander into the podcast and give us an unexpected bonus edition of "What Grinds Your Gears?"This one goes places.What do you think? If AI eventually eliminates a significant percentage of today's jobs, should the United States adopt some form of Universal Basic Income? Why or why not?

Does a good deed become less good when everyone knows you did it?Comedian Damon Darling became known online for surprising strangers by paying for their groceries. But after filming his encounters inside Walmart stores, Darling found himself banned from Walmart and other affiliated properties.That got us thinking about something much bigger.Does genuine altruism actually exist? If helping someone makes you feel good, does that make the act selfish? What if you get recognition for your generosity? And could publicly taking credit for giving actually encourage more people to give?Eric argues that we've made a mistake by treating anonymous generosity as morally superior. Paul pushes the idea further, asking whether virtually every human act of generosity contains at least some element of self-interest—and proposes one major exception.Along the way we get into social pressure, tipping, free will, secular grace, Christianity, Walmart's missed PR opportunity, and eventually attempt to invent an entirely new category of altruism.Also: Eric turns 50!!!

Legendary Kentucky radio personality Leo "Freakdaddy" Brown returns to The SoapBox Lex for another thought-provoking conversation about his latest project!After leaving corporate radio, Leo is launching an ambitious nonprofit media project called Noise for Hope, built around one simple idea:What if local media existed to strengthen communities instead of chasing algorithms?We discuss:-Why corporate radio continues to collapse-Why local journalism matters more than ever-Building a nonprofit media network-Whether politics hides how similar we actually are-Why podcasting isn't just about microphones-The importance of process over popularity-What happens when creators stop chasing advertisersPlus…-"Snitches get stitches?" Is that ever good parenting?-Why podcast success is mostly what happens after recording.-The lessons Leo learned from forty years in broadcasting.Whether you're interested in podcasting, media, entrepreneurship, or simply making your community a better place, this episode has something for you.If you could completely redesign local media, what would it look like?

Sometimes the best episodes are the ones with absolutely no plan.This week we bounce between:Was Colonel Sanders secretly Japanese?The greatest pickup line ever inventedWhy Japan loves KFC at ChristmasThe best fried chicken in KentuckyPhone notification overloadThe strange math behind "Extra Medium"AI-generated musicHourly hotel roomsSmart homes gone wrongAmazon shutting down a customer's houseKentucky taxes and government spendingFlat tax vs income taxIt's basically two friends chasing rabbit trails for over 40 minutes...and somehow it all works.Question of the Week:👉 Is Extra Medium actually a thing, or is Medium already the most medium something can be?Drop your answer in the comments.

Everyone says America is more divided than ever—but is that actually true, or are we all trapped inside algorithms designed to keep us angry?This week, Paul and Eric dive into political polarization, media bias, cancel culture, January 6th, term limits, celebrity activism, comedy, and why social media may be the biggest force shaping public opinion today. Along the way they ask whether we're forming our own opinions anymore—or simply inheriting them from the internet.Whether you lean left, right, or somewhere in between, this episode is less about changing minds and more about challenging assumptions.Question for the comments:What's one opinion you've changed your mind about—and what convinced you to change?#Cancelled#Politics#CancelCulture#SocialMedia#TheSoapBoxLex

You bought it. You paid for it.So...why can a company take it away?This week Paul and Eric dive into one of the biggest shifts happening in gaming, movies, and music: the death of ownership. From PlayStation abandoning physical discs to Nintendo removing games from digital storefronts, we ask whether we're actually buying anything anymore—or just renting access.Along the way we discuss:-Physical vs. digital games-Nintendo Switch cartridges that don't actually contain games-Raspberry Pi retro gaming-Battlefield Vietnam disappearing forever-Streaming services and digital libraries-Whether companies should open-source abandoned games-The ethics of piracy in a world where "buying" doesn't mean owningWhere do you stand?Would you rather own a physical copy forever—or have the convenience of digital downloads?👇 Join the conversation in the comments!

Episode 69 practically wrote itself.This week Paul and Eric explore accidental innuendo, misunderstood phrases, innocent words that sound dirty, and the strange ways language changes over time. From "balls to the wall" and "blowing your wad" to cockpits, dongles, Rocky Mountain oysters, and church bloopers, the conversation is equal parts comedy and linguistics.If you've ever laughed at a completely innocent phrase, this episode is for you.Subscribe for weekly conversations covering culture, language, history, technology, current events, and the absurdity of everyday life.