212. The Woke Oracle

AlexThis is Do By Friday, a weekly challenge podcast. This week's challenge, draft your diamond dogs from Ted Lasso.

Speaker AHello. Hi, how are you? Good. How are you doing this morning?

MerlinOh, great. I'm fighting Skype as one does. Oh my God, what a terrible app. Why can't I just go see what somebody's Skype handle is? Is there even any way to do that? Like you, I was going to verify with you what, you know what? You know what? You know what? Never mind.

Last of special. Okay. Is Alexandra here? Alexandra. I guess they'll come when they damn well feel like it. Hello, Mark. Is this the show? Is this the show?

Speaker AI don't know. what's in the show is in the show

Merlinit's your show this is Mark, hi Mark Bramhill Alexandra is taking their sweet fucking time showing up, so I guess you and I will talk for a minute, do you have an Apple watch Mark?

Speaker AI do, I am not wearing it right now that's okay I had the first generation one, which I got on day one and then I thought it was a cool toy and did not feel the need to buy a new one for years and then the battery died uh just spectacularly um but then my grandma got wanted to get rid of her fourth generation one and she gave that to me so now i have a new apple watch uh well mostly awesome she's um the it's the electromagnetic fields and

5g and stuff that she's afraid of so that's the less awesome part but you'll you'll come around

Merlineventually after the government's done scrambling your fucking brain oh yeah yeah it's gonna give you risk cancer cigars you smoke that are gonna give you cancer my you know i've been having the battery travails that everybody has been getting and i thought it was fixed and then i updated again and now i got the battery problems again i've unpaired and re-paired three times i'm on the latest everything no betas my battery's still uh hot garbage driving me nuts it's it's something

Speaker Awhere i think if i relied on my watch more i i would probably have the same complaints well i

Merlinyou know i i'm gonna i'm gonna tell you a true fact which is uh and i'm gonna begin this true fact by saying it would be crazy for me to throw away an old apple watch so otherwise i'm gonna to sound fancy like that path guy with two iphones um no i have two apple watches well technically i have three apple watches but i have two apple watches my new one and my old one because again qed i don't throw an old apple watch away which is amazing in that i can just you know always be charging one and wearing the other and i i started employing the underscore david smith method of

charging twice a day for like half hour, an hour, and it worked great. But now with two watches, I'm always charged. But here's the thing. I woke up this morning. I woke up this morning. I'm at 15% on a Series 6 watch. Explain that to me. What the fuck? Oh, man.

Are there other precautions, in as much as you're comfortable saying, and we can stop this right this second if you want, are there other things, if you know people in your life who are taking precautions about, you know, electricity. Are there other kinds of things those people employ that you're aware of? What about Himalayan candles?

Do you know about Himalayan candles, Mark?

Speaker AI don't know about a Himalayan candle. What do you tell?

MerlinWell, I mean, it's kind of like a St. Bob Mueller candle, but for people who are paranoid, and you get this thing and it's this crusty looking, it looks kind of like a scab and you light it up and supposedly, you get a Himalayan candle and that takes all the radio out of the air. Okay. You can go look it up. You can go look it up, but I'm not saying anybody in anybody's family is a nut, but I'm aware that this is a thing people get.

Speaker AIt's like a heat sink for radio waves. Cool. And a

Merlincandle. Well, there's all kinds of waves. There's waves, there's particles, and none of them are on your side, Mark. None of them are on your side. They're all out to get you. They're going to burn your feet through the floor. They're conspiring, yeah. You may be a targeted individual. I have a quiz here that you can take with me to discover whether you're a targeted individual. No, I don't. Where's

Speaker CAlex? What's happening? Hello?

MerlinReally? Is that what we're going to do here hello said you were unavailable hello oh hi princess thanks for coming i'm i'm i'm in here i'm on skype i'm on skype you know it's funny you have been there the whole time i made up the part about it saying you were unavailable i'm sorry i was trying to gaslight you okay give a himalayan

Alexcandle be honest i don't know what that is and i'm afraid if i literally say anything it will be

Speaker Bracist because i don't the himalayas are a mountain where are the himalayas oh wow wow

Merlini've already i'm sorry to wait way to way to reduce a people you're gonna give me an indian

Speaker Bburn it's an indian style himalayan style i don't know that's the thing i'm like is this a pejorative is mark here help mark help mark's not here wait he better be here what the fuck oh come on well

Merlinwell well i'm merlin man oh look at me i own microsoft i control computers oh look at me i run everything i'm merlin everything's my fault i own microsoft i have him laying candles to protect me from radio waves i'm alex i'll come whenever i feel like it or not so she said they

Speaker Bsaid that's what they said now people are so many things to be mad about

MerlinGood morning. How are we today? It's Wednesday, November 11th. Happy Veterans Day. Not that you should be stealing valor with that, but.

Speaker BNo, I did not.

MerlinTo all who observe.

Speaker BI just realized that I guess I don't. I mean, we're not recording this during a Midwestern work day. but if we were to be doing that at 11.30 a.m. Chicago time I'd be surprised that I don't have the day off for Veterans Day or wait they're stealing valor

MerlinI think I'm trying to I'm trying to do the math in my head Mark you're probably better at math than I am I'm trying to do this in my head so you steal valor if you pretend you're a veteran they worked 40 years to give veterans choice and they couldn't get it done but veteran if you're a veteran you're allowed to celebrate it's not Memorial Day because that's for the ones we lost. Never forget. Veterans Day, we celebrate all veterans. We don't call it Armistice Day anymore. We don't call it Remembrance Day. It's Veterans Day. So the fact that my wife and my daughter both have a holiday today,

are they stealing valor? Alexandra, are you stealing valor right now? Should you be at work?

Speaker BNo, I am stealing valor because I am, or I should say, I think that anybody who is not giving their employees off is stealing valor because we should be valorizing the veterans. But I'm not.

MerlinI see. So what you're saying is you're proud to be an American where at least you know you're free. Okay. Oh, no.

AlexHere's the problem. That song doesn't actually get into my head. The song by Toby Keith.

Speaker CI'm Toby.

AlexMarks, you know.

Speaker CIs that how it goes? How's it go?

AlexNo, no. Don't hand me a wreath.

MerlinI'm just Toby Keith

AlexI wish

Merlinand then there's that song by Scottish guys called Sunshine on Leith

Alexshould we start? hold on

Speaker Chold on

Alexmany many people are typing we gotta do this I'm putting alright it is called Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Speaker Cright oh god

AlexThis song, Mark, are you familiar with this song?

Speaker AFrom that title? No, I have no idea.

MerlinIs this one of those open letters to someone in the Middle East, we're going to kick your ass kind of songs?

AlexMm-hmm, mm-hmm. And we're just going to watch the beginning of this now because I am so happy for the veterans. Thank you for your service. You made me angry. sir or madam or any other. Yeah, I know. I got myself.

MerlinThere's no such thing as an ex-Marine. First to go, last to know. Oh, so this is called courtesy, oh, this is all capitalized, not all caps, but not correct title case. It's called courtesy of the red comma white and blue. Missing the Oxford comma makes it sound like a law firm. Paren the angry American.

Speaker BOh, God, it starts off like a live...

Speaker CCapitalized. Oh, Jesus.

MerlinIt's the kid from Parks and Rec.

Speaker COh, my God. Oh, no, I got one in the chamber right after this.

MerlinSo don't worry. This is the show now. You know if you try to play this on a guitar that's not a flag? You can't hear it. Oh, I think it's Adam Baldwin in Full Metal Jacket.

Speaker BOkay, get ready, get ready. It's going to drop.

Speaker COh, my God. God damn it Drop the beat Francis Oh god These look like guys Who formed a band while working together At a Costco

Speaker BIt's catchy That's why I fucking hate it Oh Oh there's the guitar again All right, now Quinn, you must keep all one minute and 36 seconds of that in because people just need to know. They need to know our sins today because Toby Keith is stealing valor and made the worst song and the worst music video.

MerlinYes, the character, the Bo Burnham character on Parks and Rec is named Chip McCapp. and his song is called Beautiful Like My Mom.

But that's not what I'm sending you. What I am sending you is something from the golden age of jingoistic novelty songs. And this is from, I believe, 1979. Now, I have not listened to this in a while. So I don't know if this is as good as I remember, but I'm sending you a link. I'm clicking. And let me know when you're ready. We'll all do a 3, 2, 1 click.

AlexAll right. I am ready when you are.

MerlinSupport our troops. Oh, God. This is so fucking bad. Okay. Three. Okay. So this is called. Well, let's come back to the title. This is a song from 1979. And three, two, one, click.

Speaker BOh, no. Oh, no.

Speaker AFrom that beat, it's off to a good start.

Speaker BOh, no. Oh, no.

Speaker AOh, boy.

Speaker COh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Just our Boy Scouts could wipe you out.

MerlinBoy Scouts.

Speaker CSomeday soon, Komeni, you'll burn one flag too many. That doesn't rhyme. You're about to feel his clout. Oh, boy. Oh. Okay. All right. That's good.

MerlinThe first 50 seconds of the Roger Hallmark 1979 jam, a message to Komeni.

Speaker BOh, God. You know what? At least I don't know why I'm saying at least.

MerlinAnd then he's got a little chant that he, he kind of does a scatting. He does like a scat. He does kind of like blah, blah, blah. But I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do the voice.

Speaker BNo, no, let's not. Let's not. Oh, boy.

MerlinGod, Roger Hallmark. Where is he now? These used to be. I think after Rick Dees, who was a morning DJ mainly in the 70s and later became a star, his first big thing was Disco Duck. Right? You know the song Disco Duck? Sure, sure. Yes, I do. It's a pretty early disco song, as disco songs go. But there was this whole spate of Morning Zoo-ish, of increasingly jingoistic songs like this.

Yeah, yeah. So anyway, that's on Vulcan Records, and you'll find it in show notes.

Speaker BHappy Veterans Day, guys.

MerlinHappy Veterans Day.

Speaker BGood to know that we still have intergenerational musical racism as well as systematic.

MerlinHooray! I think I admire the purity of this, though.

Speaker BI don't.

MerlinThis guy's not fucking around. He's not playing a red, white, and blue guitar. He's wearing a towel and chanting.

Speaker BIt's full on.

MerlinIt's a message to Khamenei, which rhymes with some things, but not other things.

AlexOh, my God.

MerlinDear Mr. Itella, I know you call us yellow. If you don't lower the gas, we're gonna lower the boom.

AlexI hate it. I hate this so much.

MerlinBecause obviously it was sung by Jella Biafra from Dead Kennedys. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Dude by Friday. We challenge Mark Bramhill. Alexandra, introduce our guest.

Speaker BOh, our fine guest here is Mark Bramhill, the creator of perhaps my, sorry, boys, my favorite tech podcast, now that I'm saying it out loud. Wow. Which is called Welcome to Macintosh. He is also the creator, correct me if I'm wrong, oh, well, the co-creator with Jeremy Burge of person in lotus position, man, person, and woman in lotus position, depending on the Unicode consortium's feeling that day.

This is a great introduction. You know what? It's all relevant. Utter clarity on Mark's background. It's all relevant. It's all, okay. It's all relevant.

MerlinYou're the jazz girl.

Speaker BI'm the jazz girl.

Speaker CGo do your towel-headed scat.

Speaker BAll right. All right.

Speaker CMark Pram, he'll make a tech podcast. Apparently, Tom Waste is going to introduce Mark. He's a man who makes podcasts.

Speaker BMore. Tell me how to use IZotope. Somewhat more relevant is that Mark has just released a new podcast called Enthusiast. And would you like to tell us about it, Mark? Because you're not just a podcast, a big podcast boy. You are a big radio boy as well.

AlexAnd I don't want to diminish your show about the birds because I've forgotten.

MerlinHow big is this radio? How big is it? Is it big, big radio?

Speaker BBig, big, big old.

Speaker CBig public radio, yeah. Big structural Bailey radio.

Speaker BDick Duck, Mark, can you tell us about, I'm so glad that we finally got to have you on the program, as Merlin calls it. Can you tell us about your new show, Enthusiasm? Enthusiasts?

I have actually heard it. I made Mark send me shares.

MerlinIt's a big radio. It's a mouthful, if you know what I mean.

Speaker BIn advance. They're saying, Can I eat your radio?

MerlinTell us about the Enthusiasts, Mark. What even is it?

Speaker AYeah, so Enthusiast is a very, very short show. The episodes are four to like eight minutes long of people just earnestly sharing a thing that they love. Edited down from as long as like some of them were like a three hour interview with people down to like eight minutes.

Speaker BThat's insane. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why? Okay, hold up, hold up.

MerlinYou're leaving all that good meat on the table just to get in a moose boosh? Oof.

AlexI mean, I'm normally the one who says that size doesn't matter. It's how you use it.

MerlinYou're not normally anything, Alexandra. Yes.

Speaker BWell, I try to say.

Speaker CNormally is not an adjective I use to. If I had more time, I'd make a shorter podcast. I know. That's why Mark Twain's only on for 20 seconds.

MerlinMisquoting, you know, Theodore Roosevelt. Misquoting, you know, General Patton. Thank you for your service.

AlexNow, is that the socialist or the teddy bear guy?

MerlinMm-hmm. What?

AlexI was trying to do a Merlin Manbed and failed.

MerlinNo, it's good. I like the way you did that because I always like to just point out the bit that I did. I know. Beautiful like my mom support the troops. Who is a person in an episode that has dropped or not that you're particularly excited to visit with on Enthusiast?

Speaker AOne of my favorite episodes was with Nevin Mergen, designer at Panic Inc. It's also a big food boy. Big food boy. And he talked about fish sauce and how it is the greatest ingredient in the world, which is just an utter delight to learn more about. Mark, it has a lot of umami, if memory serves. Is that right? Oh, yeah. It's an umami bomb.

AlexOh, problematic. Happy Veterans Day.

MerlinI don't think Alexandra would like a fish sauce. I'm just going to speculate here. Oh, no, no. It's way too much flavor. Are there other sorts of slices of white bread that you enjoy?

AlexWell, okay, listen. Mark has, we have supped together on occasion when friends were still allowed to see each other.

Speaker BAnd where was it, Mark? we were like at a fancy Italian restaurant and I don't remember what the place was but uh yeah

Speaker Ait was some some fancy boy place yes it's not the kind of place where Alex could bring their

Alexwallet of gift cards oh it was yeah it was not I think I got a gift card one of those I I clearly ruined the server's night and probably the chef's night of being like no no just plain just plain

MerlinAnd was this one of your, like, order a thing of pasta kind of thing? Oh, yes. Isn't your thing that you like to get, like, not chips, but just, like, not raw pasta, but you like just, like, a bowl of unimproved pasta, right?

Speaker BCorrect. Yes.

MerlinI have such fond memories of that. After my grandma would make spaghetti with red sauce a lot when I was a kid, and there'd be leftover spaghetti at the end. And I had such a strong recollection of just grabbing a finger full of those out of a sieve and putting salt on it on the cold spaghetti. and oh my god that's it instantly takes me back to the 1970s it's the best and the other great

Alexthing about noodles is that you can use a utensil and nobody looks at you funny so unlike a snack like popcorn you know some buttered noodles you can use a fork and a spoon and nobody people might look at you funny if you didn't use a utensil actually exactly there's so many things like

Merlinthat alex like for example like it's just it's such a bummer that you have to put on pants to wear a belt when you'd like to wear it around your forehead like a normal person? What are you talking about?

Speaker BOh, like Quail Man!

MerlinPasta is a movable feast.

Speaker BLike quail, quail. Mark, do you know who Quail Man?

Speaker AI do not know the Quail Man.

AlexOh, wait, how old are you? You don't, I apologize, you don't. I know that you're a youth, but you're not quite as much of a youth as Quinn, but I don't. Quail Man. I don't want to give away age opsec, but Doug Funny, it was a Nickelodeon character who, in his fantasy, played a character called Quail Man. And nobody here cares, but I promise.

MerlinNo, I care. I care intensely. I also I'm just constantly on guard for locating the most recent neurological incident under which you seem to be suffering. And when you talked about what's his Doug Face Blast Quail Man TV, declare Koi Koi. Koi Koi.

AlexI tried learning how to play that game, and it was not successful.

MerlinThe Summer Wars game?

AlexThe Summer. Well, it's a real game. I mean.

MerlinIt's any game real.

AlexExactly.

MerlinIf it's too real, it's not really a game that I blew your mind. Unless it's a sex game involving a Himalayan candle. I want to clear your radio energy. Alex, does your battery life on your watch suck right now? Yes. Again?

Speaker CYes.

MerlinI don't know what happened, Alex. This is the third time it's been fixed slash improved so many times. This is not the show. But I'm just so goddamn mad to wake up and be in the red at 7.30 in the morning. What is happening? What am I missing? I turned off hand washing. I'm impaired, repaired. I've updated many times. Things seem fine. And then in the last couple days, it's gone to garbage again, and I don't know why.

AlexI have three, well, I guess four now if you count Apple's built-in sleep tracker. So I wonder if that could be doing it. But aren't they pulling all from the health data?

MerlinI would be surprised if that's adding a lot of extra load.

Speaker BYeah, I don't know.

MerlinI mean, there's a lot of theories that make sense on the face that may or may not be true. You know, Jason Snell shared a lot of these when he went public with his battery problems. He broke his silence. as they like to say. But no, but like it's crazy frustrating because like I buy, for example, that the hand washing thing could have an effect. I buy, I'm saying could, not does, but like I buy that the general like listening for noise all the time to like know how loud your environment is. I buy that.

I could even buy a runaway process. So if I go to my phone and open battery usage or just tile, hours and hours and hours of Tile not being able to find any of my shit. That makes sense on my phone.

AlexOh, now I gotta...

MerlinI just... Tile can't find shit right now. I'm so goddamn mad. It says, hey, remember you're turning Bluetooth on so I can help you not find things. Whee! There was a Tile sale

Alexand I was like, I'm not gonna waste money on this because we'll get Apple tags soon.

MerlinWe're gonna get the new ones. I know. I feel the same way. I'm very heavily invested in this. When they went to making the Pro ones where you could change the battery, I was really excited, but it's just, it's wild. Anyway...

Speaker BHey, Mark. Wanna start the show?

MerlinMark, where do people find your enthusiasm? Where's your show? It's called The Enthusiast, and it's with Mark Bramhill from The Yoga Position and Macintosh. Where do people find that?

Speaker AThe website is enthusiastpodcast.com, and you can find it in any fine podcast app.

MerlinEnthusiast starts with an E, correct?

Speaker AYes.

MerlinOkay.

Speaker AI've learned that using it as the name for my show, you write it enough times, and it really stops looking like a word more than most things.

AlexAnd that's called semantic. What's it called? Semantic satiation. Yeah, that's it. Plan, plan, plan. It's like flam. Flam, plan, plan, plan. Sorry.

I watched it for the fifth time this morning. Which one episode or all of them? Oh, no, no.

MerlinWhat the hell?

AlexReally? So I should say I'm referring to the show Ted Lasso, which may or may not be related to a challenge we discuss later on.

Merlinum but i've now why would it not be related everybody knows that's a challenge don't they

Speaker Boh that's right i do an intro i always record it last i don't know sometimes we change what it's

Alexcalled anyway uh uh ted lasso yeah i woke up at like 3 a.m and i was like you know there's not a lot of things that can make me happy right now except my my my human that's right here and the cats that are here but they're asleep so i'm gonna go watch ted lasso uh yeah on my ipad and it just fucking made my day again again uh but i had to stop at the after the scene that we shan't speak of because editor quinn hasn't i believe hasn't heard it yet oh come on you know i i have here

Merlinshe's up she's up she's up through like eight is that right i think i do not think she has seen

Alexthe conversation between between two when I say the conversation do you know what I'm talking about?

MerlinYes absolutely there's very few conversations Are you talking about like him and Rebecca? Yes. Are you talking about the episode of forgiveness that made me cry over and over and over?

AlexI would say that's a spoiler but that's

MerlinAre you talking about describe your uncle? What are you talking about?

Speaker BDescribe your... Oh, God.

MerlinThat's the same episode.

Speaker BOh, God.

MerlinHe gets me ice cream.

Speaker BOh, he gets me ice cream. He's furry.

MerlinOh, my God.

Speaker BOops, sorry. I accidentally started playing the soundtrack to Ted Lasso, which is amazing.

Speaker CI thought Alex had finally become a podcast. a pure beam of podcast pod pod pod

Speaker Btoday's the day Alex finally became the podcast

Merlinfinally finally oh you're like the Pinocchio of audio

Speaker Aascended to a higher plane of podcast

Merlinyou guys know Fracture I do know Fracture well you know we could get into the thing or we could talk about other things. Anybody got anything on their mind? Oh, I see. There's news and topics. I hadn't noticed

Speaker Bthat. Are there news and topics?

MerlinOh, did you? Oh, that's you. I see your pink one. I'm kissing your cursor. I'm sorry. That's not consensual. I shouldn't touch your cursor.

AlexWhere's my cursor? Oh, no. I've put it in the resting area. The official cursor resting

Merlinarea. You're so fucking cucked by Marco.

Speaker BIt's sickening. Oh, not by Marco. Definitely

AlexDefinitely cooked by Tiff and, hmm, hmm. This is interesting because I'm trying.

MerlinSyracuse just wants to be remembered for one thing. Is that so much to ask? One thing. That's not so much to ask. It's not so much to ask. It's follow-up. Nobody ever said follow-up. Ever. Before. Until 2011.

AlexMm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yep. When I heard that, you know, I just turned 21. I was like, follow-up?

Speaker CFollow-up. What is follow up?

AlexFa-fa-fa-fo-fo-fo-fo-up? Oh, well, I mean, speaking of follow up, we have a president-elect, according to the news and topic.

MerlinWell, I mean, you know, well. Do we? Depends on who you listen to. Do we? He's well within his rights to just make up a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. Well within his rights, Turtle Man said stuff.

Speaker BYeah, yeah. I have to say, I'm very glad that I was proven very, very wrong. But wow.

MerlinIn terms of your, in terms of one's lack of optimism, the hope that kills you, that kind of thing?

AlexI mean, I thought he was going to run away with it. I mean.

MerlinThe current.

Alexthe current occupant of the white house hashtag not my president hashtag resistance um but i'm very i'm very brave uh yeah it seems though that that there may be lawsuits but they won't be

Merlingood and yes can you believe it's been a week it feels like it's i mean again again with the time but seriously like we voted at least i voted i turned in well we we how does one say election day was just over a week ago as we record this. And it's like the journey from Tuesday to Friday. Oh, my God. Has there ever been like a three, four day period that ever felt longer?

Speaker BYes. But they were one of the they were like few instances where it was more traumatic. And I'm

Alexlike, oh, I didn't realize how much actual trauma this election cycle has caused me, let alone people who are far more marginalized than I and I'm like how are we not all dead like god oh

Merlinthe human the human nervous system was never I I'm not a I'm not a neuroscientist but my sense is the human nervous system is we're asking a lot of what our nervous system is normally capable of we have been for a long time but like I don't know maybe I just need to calm the fuck down I probably do but like it's just it's it's like like I like I've been saying a lot lately it's combination of constant anhedonia and madness like i can't you can't ever be happy for too long you can't be hopeful for too long and you can't go too long without feeling like you are you are

on your last nerve of sanity like you are you are about i mean i always feel like i'm like half a day away from like needing to be like put put away somewhere like what what is happening

Alexthe uh i i feel like i've been kind of coy about it on this show before and i don't know why but i I have been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility before. And, but, and that is literally how my brain has felt. Not, not, not in a dangerous way. No, nobody worry. I mean like literally in the like chemical imbalance sort of, of way.

MerlinBut like you're, you're, you're getting, you're getting some kind of signals that this is, well, you described in your words, you feel like you're getting close to like, like, okay, this is officially becoming too much.

AlexYeah. This, like, this is my just, it's not actually my my breaking point and and like i i know uh that i am going to be fine intellectually and and physically but i it's very strange to have this feeling because i'm i'm also having the feeling of oh this is the first time so many people feel this way and that i i mean i feel like a selfish no i don't feel like a selfish ass i've i took care

of myself but wow to to to have these feelings aren't great and especially to have them for the first time oh oh like a lot of my pals are really well a lot of the ones who you could apply the the adverb normally to are not having a great time even now how are you doing mark you know uh it's

Speaker AIt's something where I feel, leading up to it, I felt overconfident going into the election night that it would be Democrats would win more races than they did. And the result that Biden won isn't that surprising to me. But it's... The fact that it's even slightly close, a little bit surprising. that it's something which is more frustrating just that like it is hard to as a uh challenger

to an incumbent it is hard to ask for a better argument that you could make for uh being for replacing someone you know like this this should have been an easier like a slam dunk

Merlinthe environment that we that's you know the environment that we're in right now in a million ways is like it again that's the madness to me is like how i mean i know jd vance is out there and economic anxiety and stuff but like it's just it's so crazy and then like then the the the uh the icing on the madness cake is that some of the biggest gains the republican candidate got uh you know election over election were in if i believe this is correct i have to check this but i've

heard it said that the biggest gains that he saw were in places where covid is the most rampant

Speaker Aand sometimes deadly yeah which is both insane but also like to some degree makes sense to me

Merlinum yeah oh yeah if you if you just put on your you know your alice in wonderland filter like everything makes sense but like it's you know everything's up is down you know it's like they say in England, you know, public is private, up is down, everything's, it's nuts. I don't know,

Alexit makes, I don't want to seem like I was the woke oracle, but it felt like it made sense, because I mean, nothing to his base, nothing has changed in four years, or their mindset of how

Merlinthe world should be has not changed. They feel like if like, as much as they still experience losses as the party in power and further decay of their culture and beliefs. I think a lot of the feeling is, can you imagine how much worse it would be if Mr. Mr. Trump, sir, wasn't there?

AlexExactly. And the fact that not only got COVID, but recovered so quickly. And I mean, people see the way that we make fun of his sniffing. I don't know why I was doing this to myself. It wasn't wholesome. I was just watching like some alt-right streamers. Like they were kind of like the Steven Crowder type.

Speaker CYou're still on your journey to understand Joe Rogan.

AlexAt this point.

Speaker CThis is the worst journey ever.

Speaker BIt's not just that now. It's like how could Spotify.

Speaker CIt's like trying to find the least bad tasting dog shit. I'm getting close. I can feel it. Oh, God, this is bad. This one's not good. Okay. Well, all three of us. Somebody explain it to me on the internet. All right. All right. I found good tasting dog shit.

AlexI feel like all three of us are invested in Spotify and the success of podcasting going forward. And I just keep going back to, wow, Spotify sure seems pretty evil and I don't want it to be. And why would you invest so much money into this man? And I don't. I want to just understand. like i i i don't know i bummed myself out is this a bit is this a bit alex because i i don't want

Merlinto be the one to have to bring down this tower of dog poop for you but is this honestly a thing that you're actively like you're trying to is this something you're really seeking to understand

Alexi'm at least with the like the the joe rogany type stuff because you know when when someone on the far right or you know a straight straight up nazi talks about how um it's like a oh oh look at look at how he's he's sniffing i bet you know he's he's really fighting against something or oh i wonder if george soros has drugged him and and like i can't i can see how people get get there in of twisted sad way uh a lot going on as you would you would say but there's a danger in life of

Merlinlocating too many skeleton keys because some things that feel like a skeleton key sorry that's a that's a term from a long time ago a skeleton key was the kind of key that would match lots of different locks and answer lots of questions um and i think like i think it's easy to for somebody like me in particular to go like oh this explains everything um like for example in the slack in a slack that you and I are in, Alex, we were just talking about, you know, is it that the president is just trying to be difficult by not giving Biden and his people access to briefings? Or is it potentially, I don't think this is that weird.

Is it potentially that there, maybe not him in particular, but folks inside, the gatekeepers know that once Biden has full access to the intelligence community, there's going to be all kinds of shit that just comes to be like Fibber McGee's Closet, another very old reference. But there's so much, I don't think that's difficult to understand. I think in the case, I think there's two skeleton keys here, and I'm happy to be talked out of this. One of them is that Joe Rogan is an everyman. I think to the people who enjoy what he does, he's seen as a

curious everyman, and who is, as our friend used to say, just asking the question. I think he comes off as a seeker who is genuinely curious, and wants answers to questions in life that seem really difficult. And like, I don't know, I don't think he's a serious person, but like, I think that's, that appeals to a lot of people to go like, oh, well, you know, he's not really one way or another. He's not ideologically tied to these different things. Setting aside the range of things that he, about which he is curious, which I guess is a conversation for another day. But go,

and then for part two, the second skeleton key on my key ring challenge is like, look at, look at how Facebook succeeds. Go look at what the top stories are every day. One thing, people on all sides, fine people on both sides, feel very strongly and passionately about things. But I think anger and outrage and really hyper-masculine outrage sells extremely well for people on the right. I don't think that's that difficult to understand. They love this macho bullshit.

They love their whole narrative that they are the underdogs and the ants are always trying to take away the boots coal mining job. And it's like, I think that really sells with people. And that kind of anger and passion definitely sells with people like me too. But I'm a pussy. Like, I'm not out there, like, talking about how fucking hard I am all the time. Because I'm not. But does that, am I getting anywhere near? Does that make sense? Like, people like feeling angry together. And they like this curious seeker, this very wise, this, you know, this Buddha of the Shurs.

who like they see as their like their intelligent curious man i don't know i'm gonna stop talking

Speaker Bi'll say something well you i would agree except he changes like you know what actually i think

Alexyou're you're right in that maybe it's just the uh the like toxic masculine performance and that's all it is because his he changes his mind about things so often like it it feels like uh i wish

Merlini remember who said this he changes his mind or changes his focus or something else uh oh i well

Alexboth oh um like that lovely clip of like oh yeah there's this corruption hey remember when that uh guy got hit by a dog that was or got bitten by a dog that was funny ha ha ha someone was kicked in the balls. Ha ha ha. Also America's going to shit. But his... I guess not his ideology, but like things go in his brain and out the other. He's open-minded to a point that I just... I don't know. Let's stop talking about Joe Rogan

and I'll... What do you

Merlinthink, Mark? Are you on a journey to understand Joe Rogan, the radio man? I am really not. He's an even larger radio man than you, with all respect. his radio is much larger

Speaker Bthat's the other thing he's not an everyman he's everywhere and has so much money which is fine

Merlinyou're saying he's Whitney Houston he's every woman is that what you're saying what are you saying are you miss are you miss Houstoning him

Alexoh no no I would never steal Miss Jackson if you're nasty I would never steal her valor no no no

MerlinI think I just put seven hats on nine hats You know what we really need? You know what we really need? We need a balm for our time. We need a salve. We need something to come along. We need a Trojan horse.

AlexWe do need something to come, yeah.

MerlinYou do that. You do that. We need a Trojan horse that comes along and gives us access to emotions that we didn't know we had anymore. We need something that can explore our vulnerabilities and much like the deep on the boys, you know, have its gills explored in a way that might kill it. We need Ted Lasso.

AlexOh, my God. Yeah.

MerlinChallenge.

AlexOh, Dick Tug. Challenge of challenges. This show is a challenge. This show challenges what media and how humans should be. Oh, God, it's so good. All right, this is far.

Speaker AIt's such a delight. Yeah. No, I mean, it's something where it's a show that, like, it really captures a sense of joy and optimism and hope that is not in a lot of media, I feel like.

MerlinCould we have a shared opening remark here? I want you guys to collaborate with me on something if I may. The challenge basically it's a MacGuffin. The idea is we wanted something to talk about and we wanted a reason to talk about Ted Lasso which understandably everybody's talking about. In a minute we'll talk about the MacGuffin for Ted Lasso. I want you to go with me on my journey which is let's go off the dome. What are some I'm going to say TV shows. It could be other things. What are some media things that really popped

during the COVID times? I think Tiger King would be one that I will always remember as being a thing. What are some other things that really popped before we get into that last? So other things that came along that you, maybe you aren't perfect for the time, maybe they're good for the time, but maybe you'll just remember them as, oh man, I watched that so many times, right? That was a thing that was top of mind for me during COVID. I'm going to start with Tiger King. What do you guys think? Other ones.

AlexWhy Fish Don't Exist, a book by Lulu Miller, although I recommend the audio book and the show Schitt's Creek, especially the final season. Oh, yeah.

Speaker AI still need to read Why Fish Don't Exist. I'm very excited for that. But I'm trying to think. Honestly, some of the stuff that I've been seeing has mostly just been like filling in dumb comedies that people make references to a lot that I've not seen before. And so there's been a lot of really stupid films that I've been watching. but nothing particularly current.

MerlinI think, I mean, this is going to sound really dark, but I mean, I think, I don't know which part of the COVID times and election times we're in right now. It's hard to, until the book is done, you don't really know what chapter you're in or which book you're in. I really hope that this is the first part of Deathly Hallows. Not the chimbers. but anyhow read another book um no but i'm gonna say another one just recently is uh the the the good uh nexium one which i also think is not now that it's over i think it's not actually that good

we'll talk about that in a future episode but like the reason i mention all this is like there are the things that are this is a really false dichotomy but follow me there are the things that are a kind of pure escapism in some ways. Like, you know, there are things, there are the things that you watch because they kind of transport you away. And they're the kinds of things, like I've rewatched Hypernormalization probably three times in the last few months because it's one of the most difficult things

that I can watch, not just because it's gross and sad, but because it really challenges my ideas about, you know, empiricism. But I think what you're getting at, if I could say, and I'll throw to you here, Mark, is like, who fucking could have guessed that a very funny commercial from years ago would be such a Trojan horse for so many different things? It starts as one kind of show. It turns into another kind of show. Each episode improbably, improbably gets better and deeper

without ever sacrificing the seriously huge, like, big, dumb laughs. But like, those last like three or four episodes are just, just, just, just tear me apart. Doesn't that feel, isn't that part of what makes it unusual is just that it's, it's, it's such a, it's such a spoonful of sugar for like some, some more sugar, but wrapped in a little bit of medicine. And in the end you're like, God, people can be good and we can forgive each other. Yeah. It just came at the right time for me.

Speaker AIt's, it's a show that feels like similar to how I felt at least during its run about The Good Place. a show about like how to be a good, kind, caring person. I feel like it also acknowledges both how easy that can be and highlighting that and also some of the ways in which it can be difficult to do that in a way that truly is like meaningful and more than just kind of wanting to do the nice thing

that sometimes it's hard to do that. I feel like I'm being very inarticulate about this.

Speaker BMark, you're on a show with me. You'll never be the most inarticulate one.

MerlinIf you're trying to pitch this to somebody and not just be like, for example, I think Sarah Marshall said this on the latest, oh my God, the latest you're wrong about, where she talks about how resistant she is to watching a show. The more other people talk about it, I'm like, I totally get that. But it is hilarious and wonderful that there are people, every day I see more people pop up and go, I was so goddamn sick of people talking about this fucking show. and now it's the best thing I've ever watched. And you're like, oh, that's really cool. Not because we win, but because I'm just glad you got to bring that into your life and find a place for that.

But it's also that when you try to describe in brainy ways, as many people have. When you're done watching the show and you listen to a podcast and somebody says, oh, it's really interesting. Ted Lasso is really a study in how you, and there's a certain kind of very boisterous, exuberant masculinity that is so confident and useful and dad-like without being condescending or without being ugly. You can be a man or you can be however you are. You can express,

I think as they, as he and Coach Beard like to say, masculine properties without being gendered as male. You try to describe it to someone and go, yeah, not like that orange Cheeto. And you're like, see, now you're already making it not fun. It's more that there's this guy who is totally, totally fine with how incompetent he is in some ways not incompetent but how unaware he is but like he buoys everybody around him because and ends up in a kind of viral way spreading human

possibility to people because you can't you can't grind him down and he's not gonna let you there's only so far he will let you lower yourself just look at trent crimson the independent i mean it's like what I'm trying to say is if you were to try and pitch that to somebody who goes oh so wait a minute this is that guy who's in the round ball rock sketch with Tim Robinson on SNL is that what you're telling me? he's like yeah it's Jason Sudeikis and he's like probably the best TV

character we've seen in a decade and he has another coach who's also coach and they go from Kansas to a fake soccer team and everybody hates him and calls him Football Football's life What do they call him?

AlexGaffer

MerlinTwat

AlexOh, wanker

MerlinOh, wanker, that's it So when you try to pitch it to somebody You sound like an idiot And you're like, oh God You're really overthinking a TV show And just for what it's worth, Mark That's very much I like The Good Place quite a lot But for me, that's Parks and Rec To me, Parks and Rec My all-time, at this point anyway All-time comfort viewing show Is just the keening desire To be a useful person And to find a place where you're useful and yeah, maybe where you can be loved, but where like you can be put to good use in the best kind of Christian way. Like you find a usefulness, you find a, you are a vessel for

Alextrying to make the world better. I mean, I've been calling this healthy masculinity the show, but this morning I listened to that podcast that you sent us.

Speaker AWith Brene Brown?

AlexYeah. Yeah. And I love her. She's a great interview.

MerlinI love that episode so – she's a little over the top. She's a little bit much at what she's doing. Well, okay, we get it. You don't need to talk about all your research all the time. That's okay.

AlexShe's just a big old – she's like Hermione turned up to 11. I know. Read another book.

Speaker CShe's a little bit try hard.

AlexBut, I mean, Jason, we should say this show was based on – Oh, you said that it was based on a commercial that Jason Sudeikis and...

MerlinIt's based on a TV commercial. Apple bought the rights to that. The commercial is legit funny. It is. Oh, my God. And Coach Beard is so little and skinny in it. He's so young.

Speaker BHe's a baby.

MerlinAnd so the two of them, Jason is the main... Jason Sudeikis is the main dude. But I think Coach Beard, whose name is Brendan Hunt, I want to say. Yes. He's like a co-writer, co-creator-like person. I don't think he's the showrunner. But yeah, it's very much a collaboration.

AlexThey don't have a showrunner. that I believe it's the two of them are co they're like co-exec you know what I don't know that's interesting

Merlinthere's another name in the executive producer thing I didn't recognize but I love what they said in that I really love what they had to say yeah they're so thoughtful in the way that they kind of talk about the process without it being masturbatory but like talking about this sort of rock tumbler that ideas go through to figure out you know how best to be polished and presented. And it's thoughtful without being too overthinky. In some ways, to be honest, a little bit like a Mike Schur show, really. Like that kind of thoughtfulness

about how these pieces fit together.

AlexThe thing that Jason Sudeikis said that made my ears really perk up was I think he said something like, I mean, the show has a lot of feminine energy. And then he was like, oh, and I don't mean feminine and masculine. and like I don't believe he basically said I don't believe in gender and I'm like oh hello Jason I'm here for you even more than I thought I was but that's I mean god what a I

I know Apple is problematic but there's something to be said for trusting creative people and throwing money at them because it's kind of cool though that

Merlinhe that like as Brene Brown kept pressing him like okay so what's gonna happen in season two and episode three. I love the fact that in particular, Jason Sudeik is called out like when you work with somebody like Apple, you know, you really don't want to get over your skis in terms of information. Also love the direct acknowledgement that even they don't know how many people are watching the show because Apple will not tell them.

Speaker CYeah.

MerlinI guess that's a negotiating tool, but I would just say that a show that was not even done airing that already has a commitment to two more seasons must be doing pretty well.

Speaker BYeah. Yep.

AlexMark, how did you find this show? like were you like me where i just kept sawing it sawing it oh boy i was sawing it in half in half um and then i kept seeing it on apple tv and it's not that i don't like jason sudeikis it was just

Merlinkind of like why why would you watch it like you look at that you look at that mug up with that blue background you're like why the fuck would i watch this looks terrible why would i watch a show about an american soccer coach in england and all the people who hate him why would i click

Speaker AI don't think I've seen something where Jason Sudeikis is a likable character before. Maybe I've missed important films or things that he's been in.

AlexAre you saying that when he portrayed Joe Biden, our perhaps presidential elect, that you didn't know? All right. I'm sorry. Continue. Sorry for interrupting.

Speaker AAm I going to get canceled for that?

AlexI don't know. I don't know. Sorry for interrupting.

Speaker ABut I was planning on watching it actually before hearing like too much about if it was any good. Just because my dad is British. He grew up in Liverpool before moving to the U.S. He was in his late 20s.

MerlinYou mean like where the Beatles are?

Speaker AYeah. George Harrison was his meat delivery boy. Of course, that meant absolutely nothing. Oh, OK. Wow. Is that a euphemism? No. All right. All right. He worked at the butcher shop down the road.

Speaker CI got my meat set on you. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Hello, hello, hello. What's all this thing?

Speaker AHe worked at the butcher shop down the road, but that doesn't mean anything because it's just some teenager showing up with your order.

MerlinIs your dad, I'm guessing probably my age?

Speaker AHe just turned 64.

MerlinOh, that's ironic.

Speaker ATo keep going with the Beatles, but yeah.

MerlinSo his family members were probably in the shipping industry, right? Isn't it like a big port town?

Speaker AIt's a big shipping place. None of his parents didn't work in that, but I honestly don't know. Grandparents might have.

MerlinSo if it was the Hunger Games, the district would be represented by a Hofner base and a boat. More or less, yes. A second wife who was into landlines.

Speaker ABut then he...

Speaker CThe cost of ownership on that joke was not great.

MerlinAnyway, anyway, England, England. And so that's, and what's the song, the Jerry and the Pacemaker song?

Speaker AHe loves soccer, football, footy, as he calls it. Oh, that's so, oh, that's so cute. And then it's something I've never been into sports like many tech folks. It's not my thing. They tried to get me to play soccer as a kid, and I got very good at figuring out where the ball was going to go and going in the exact opposite direction because I was afraid of getting kicked.

Speaker CWatch it. Watch it. It's going to move.

Speaker Aum but i it's something where my dad loves watching uh soccer and it's something that i never really could get very into um but i was excited that it's like okay there's a show that's going to be about this that feels like it'll be potentially up his alley and so uh i wanted him to try watching it too and then it turned out that it was actually good um and it i don't know it wound up being something where I was able to learn more about this thing that's important to

him that was like it gave you like a way into this part of your relationship that's really cool that's super cool and suddenly I was able to like he was able to explain like different things about like ways in which uh Ted's coaching style does and doesn't reflect on like uh other real coaches that uh he thinks are particularly impressive and like you know these elements are really like this player is probably inspired by this real person and like talking about the different strategies and things. So it was like actually really delightful. And he feels like the exact

right target audience as a British expat than being able to really just deeply commiserate with the feeling of two cultures not entirely lining up.

And I think that has been especially meaningful about the show beyond just how fun and delightful it is.

MerlinSo unexpected. Well, listen, we've got a challenge for this. And as far as I'm concerned, we can throw it out the window. I don't know if we have time to do a proper Jason Snell-style draft. I'm open to what y'all want to do. we could do a straight draft or we could just talk about characters we wish were on our emotional team.

AlexThat are diamond dogs. Yeah.

MerlinDraft your diamond dogs. Diamond dogs. We get jackets. Well, so the, you know me, it's always two things with me. The notion was, one of the reasons to talk about Ted Lasso, we thought it'd be fun to do a draft. And my idea, that I actually like this idea better than the draft per se, so much of what makes this show, again, I gotta, there's that one episode, with the forgiveness. It's like, what, the second to last, third to last episode? Yeah, the pent-ultimate. I watched it by myself one night and then watched it again the next night with Madeline.

And I liked it 100 times better because it really came together for me, the incredibly obvious theme of being like, forgiveness is so healing and when you forgive somebody, it makes them more likely to forgive somebody else. And that becomes this transformative thing. And so the idea is, yes, let's talk about that last episode. So let's maybe do a draft. But my idea was, if you were to know that you are in imminent danger of some kind of a breakdown, draft a team of people from Ted Lasso to be there with you and get you through your meltdown.

Speaker BI mean, that's kind of how I thought about it. Yeah, I love that as the challenge.

MerlinI mean, as far as my concern, we're already at an hour. Or maybe we could just go through some folks that have special resonance for us in terms of their arc or what they would. I don't know. What do you think?

Speaker AI'm happy to do it as a draft where we're competing on it or as just going through whatever y'all want to do.

AlexYou created a spreadsheet.

MerlinI'm ready to throw it out the window. I think we should just talk about the characters a little bit. Or, you know, we could also let's talk about a little bit here. We could carry it over into the after show as well. But we still have to do an after show. It's been an hour. so I just don't want to go crazy long.

AlexCan I just say who would absolutely be my first pick?

MerlinOkay, how about this? We each pick, and it's not exclusive. We each get to pick one person. We'll talk more about this in the after show. Does that work for you guys?

AlexYes.

MerlinSure. Who goes first? Our guest?

AlexGo for it, Mark.

MerlinOr Alex. You sound like you got one in the chamber. Let's hear who it is. Who's your person?

AlexOh, Rebecca. I mean.

MerlinOh my God. You're dipping a toe back into the lady pool.

Speaker COh, Rebecca, the last shot of the show. The dumbest bit from the first episode becomes the most amazing callback in the last shot of the season. I wasn't expecting it to be fizzy.

This tea is horrible.

MerlinTalk about Rebecca. Rebecca, the recently divorced, ashamed woman. She's so ashamed. Her terrible, terrible husband, who's like, you know, like we used to say on The Incomparable, as Jason and people like to say, in most Miyazaki movies, the only enemy is weather.

There's not a lot of like strict bad guys in this. And even that guy is not the worst of bad guys. But he's definitely the baddie. He's been cheating on his wife in public forever.

Alexand now but boy talk about a character arc jesus and i mean at the the beginning though we i mean it's like a half spoiler horn i guess like um the the spoiler goose i mean in the in the pilot rebecca comes off like total like the shrill, angry lady executive. And obviously that...

MerlinBut she is composed, but I do like that they let the cat out of the bag almost immediately of like, this is not a spoiler, it's in the first 10 minutes. Oh yeah, that's true. The only thing, her terrible ex-husband, the only thing he cares about is this soccer team. And she's gonna do everything she can to fuck it up. It's the flimsiest of premises. Like it's basically a three stooges sketch. But like it's fine to get us rolling with everything we need for this show to happen. But I don't know if she's shrill, but she's definitely like not very likable. And she's such a perfect super English foil for Ted.

You know, that kind of overly civil, but still like she's so civil, but she's still so nasty. You know what I mean?

Speaker BWell, yeah. But she's also so reasonable.

Alexand it's at some point um she realizes the not the opposite but some um the the thing you just talked about in tandem that like when you forgive someone they're more likely to forgive someone else but also if you apologize to somebody they're more likely to apologize to to someone else and

Merlina lot of her yeah she's basically she's basically like the grinch in some ways yeah yeah like she she got this way for a reason probably but like her heart grew three sizes that day you know what i mean like she the way that she became that she's coming through and if you've ever been divorced it's not a super lot of fun but you you have these very you have your you can be very like very cranky and but also very vulnerable like weirdly vulnerable in ways you don't expect and like that she has she finds a way like for that vulnerability to be something that she doesn't drywall over but

instead kind of leans into through somebody like keely especially who's like you said here like is able to like you know she's stinky she used to be fun stinky used to be fun with sassy smurf and like like how does she find access to that person she used to be the one who like wanted to sing through the door to nora oh my god my heart is breaking but yeah that's a really good pick well

AlexWell, and it also is specifically because we see not only that she used to be fun, but she's also still not just a good person, but an incredibly capable person. And there's that one scene where it's at the nightclub and someone has a panic attack, which is that is literally the best betrayal of a panic attack on screen I've ever seen.

Like you.

MerlinIt just takes you over.

AlexYep. And she knew, in my opinion, exactly how to help this person during a panic attack. And this scene kind of moves into everybody saying, like the team's hanging out, they're all saying goodbye for the night. and I don't know, just the way that she interacts with the folks around her and the way that she grows to respect people. And I hadn't really thought about that.

MerlinAnd she's always still her, but she's always still her own person. Even as she evolves to be a different kind of person, she seems very true to herself.

AlexYeah, she's still a bitch and it's awesome.

MerlinSure. Well, maybe I've got you wrong about On the Brain right now in this particular arc about Princess Diana, but in some ways when we say stuff like, oh yeah, like me going, oh gosh, you know, she kind of ghosted Nora, her goddaughter. But I wonder if it's a little bit like being royalty, where she ended up giving up a lot of her life to that horrible man who treated her so badly, like certain other princesses. And now it's going to be a long process of reengaging in something that's not being stuck on a pedestal at Balmoral.

AlexYeah, yeah. So I want Rebecca for my panic attacks. Who's next? Mark, Merlin?

MerlinWait, wait, hang on, hang on, Alex. Favorite scene, favorite scene. Is it the nightclub? What's your favorite, Rebecca, moment? Do you have one?

AlexThe first apology.

MerlinWith the man in the beard?

AlexWith the man in the beard. The bass man? Oh, no, no.

Speaker CThe goatee?

AlexThe, the.

Speaker CDoom, doom, doom, doom. I love that he has, how many fucking kids do you have? He's my favorite. And what's the remark? What's the remark about the son who's a priest? What does the mom say? Oh, I don't. You strayed from the flock or something like that. Oh.

Oh, yeah.

MerlinSorry, Father. Okay, so you can't say because of Quinn-related issues. This is like when you listen to Desert Island Discs and they can only play part of the song because they don't have the rights.

AlexYeah, I find it incredibly unironic without a joke, brave, when you are vulnerable enough to apologize sincerely to someone without excuses. and not to get out of trouble

Merlinbut to make it yes that's such a that's such a big thing and

Alexand so her first uh big apology um which which actually the

Merlincan you just text me and tell me who the fuck you're talking about i'm sorry i'm i'm just text me quinn don't don't look at my

Speaker Bjust do it

Merlindo it in the do it in the mouth welcome to markintosh

Speaker Bchannel i was proud is that you is that you

Merlinthat's good that's good alex Oh, when she finally finds the stones to fess up.

AlexThat walk from her office to the team, like their locker room.

Speaker CYeah.

MerlinAlso, when she can't bring herself to do it, the instant dithering that she goes into is like, oh, shit, I so recognize that. Oh, what about, look that up.

Speaker CYep, yep, yep.

MerlinRebecca, we were talking about, hey, Mark, who's your person?

Speaker AI had a really hard time figuring out who I would pick first because there are so many people who I would pick. The problem with the draft is you have to be strategic. Strategically, my first pick is Keely Jones.

AlexYeah. Oh, wow. Nice.

MerlinNo kidding.

AlexShe was my second. Yeah. Whoa.

MerlinThe Asian pastime of karaoke? Yeah.

Speaker COh, my God. When Roy, when Roy, when he said, what do we do tonight? We're going to go back to the fucking hotel. We're going to go rub their fucking face in this. And he extends his hand. Where are we going to go? Extends his hand.

MerlinKeeley gets up on the bench. Is that not one of the great moments?

Speaker AThat is just so delightful.

MerlinAnother brilliant, taking a throwaway, fun, absurd bit. Because that starts with Rebecca asking what they should do for dinner. And her misunderstanding, thinking Keeley's talking to her. But it's actually Keeley on the TV a decade ago talking to her.

Speaker Cperfect for steak Keely wow good one yeah she's

Speaker Ajust so she sees the best in all the people around her and is like I feel like would be such a good cheerleader of like you are good and pointing those things out and just in a way that isn't kind of patronizing or annoying or whatever like that it's just um and i think my favorite scene um for that i was thinking of in picking her is um when uh rebecca is saying that gives an oddly specific uh detail of uh

photographers uh getting photos of you sunbathing uh in off the coast in greece or something like that uh and then keely insists on like you have to show me these photos oh we can i feel like

Alexall right it's full on full on spoiler horn uh but but so you're talking about when rebecca uh reveals that the paparazzi got a shot of her naked on a boat right okay okay yes trying to

Speaker Ayeah and how does keely react keely reacts by being like how'd they turn out yeah how'd they turn out i want to see these and just be just being like holy shit rebecca you've got such

Merlinbeautiful breasts you can it's difficult to be a just boy she's just at the edge of like she's not as young as she used to be and maybe now she's more of an influencer than an actress and that kind of gig you're not going to do great by not wondering how the photo of you in the tampon that's your job now

Speaker Bat one point Rebecca's like what is it that you do again I'm sort of famous for being almost famous

Speaker Coh so timely

Merlinbut she's there but she's also not like the generic manic pixie dream girl exactly she has an element of that for sure especially with Roy I would say boy fucking Jamie just when you think you can't redeem Jamie at the end the army man holy shit but but like she is kind of there to like i don't know

Alexdo you think she's a manic pixie dream girl no not even kind of i mean maybe that's because

Merlinshe has her own journey you feel like she's not just there yeah to make that make the man uh

Alexcomplete his journey if you know yeah i i i was actually i immediately thought oh this is the character who i didn't see her as a manic pixie dream girl but i'm like this is probably the character that doesn't have an arc. And not that that's always a bad thing. Right.

MerlinShe's just the sassy kind of cute girl with the butt. And you're like, oh yeah, that's going to be, that's, you know. Obviously, Jamie, there's a little bit of kind of a feint here where it seems like Jamie will, Jamie's an important character, but he's not the important character it looks like he'll be at first, right?

Speaker BYeah.

MerlinGot a favorite moment, Mark? The niece? Yeah, that's... That's got to be out there.

AlexOh, God.

MerlinIt's just such a... I didn't hear anything in there about you being a footballer.

Speaker BOh, God.

MerlinJesus. And then Roy, his expressions. God, I love that guy's face. Yeah.

Speaker BHe's a fucking comedian. Oh, he's... I didn't realize he was one of the writers on the show, too.

MerlinYeah. Yes, exactly. But also, sitting in my overcast right now is... He also has a podcast, because he's a fucking comedian. and he has Rebecca on, the actress, the wonderful actress who plays Rebecca on his podcast.

AlexOh my goodness. Ugh. All right, Merlin.

MerlinCan I do mine and then we'll go to After Show?

AlexYeah. Yep, yep, yep. Let's do it.

MerlinYou guys, I completely copped out. I'm so sorry. Nope, do it, do it. No, I gotta do it. Like the, what is the show without the most important character, Nate the Great? Ah! That's how good I turned it.

Speaker BNo, you did. Yeah.

MerlinNate is the fucking heart and soul, not in the cliche way, but like the heart is in the heart and soul is in the soul of the fucking show. And the moment, well, I don't want to spoil it, but you know, he has, there's that moment where there's a misunderstanding in a late episode about what's happening. Why is somebody else cleaning up the clubhouse? And that moment when the blinds go up and the little procession comes out,

I could, you know, my kid's on TikTok all the time. There were a few moments where I got her to join me on the journey. And she's like, that was amazing. Like that, and of course, the last special when everybody lines up to the football player. But that's like, oh my God, that was so smart. I'm like, right? But like Nate, Nate is there from the beginning. Get off the pitch, get off the pitch. But he's like the lowest from the very beginning. Talk about a journey. The show starts. So what we're talking about here is a character named Nathan who is, in the States, we'd call him probably an equipment manager. He's basically like the Max Fisher character.

AlexHe's a bat boy.

MerlinBat boy. Well, yeah, but like, you know, the kind of guy like basically Max Fisher to the football team or like Bobby Hill like the towel boy. Like he's he basically cleans up the clubhouse and is the butt of all the jokes. Everybody's terrible to him. He is do we think Indian Pakistani background?

AlexProbably. I think he says his family's from Pakistan. Yeah.

MerlinPakistan. Okay. Well everybody everybody he is the man on the totem pole and everybody's terrible to him. And guess what? The coaches arrive from Kansas and they And Ted asks him a question he doesn't really have any context for. When he says something like, who are you? And I think he says, I'm nobody. He says, well, what's your name? And it's like, nobody's ever asked my name. And there's a great beat, like a pause. And then Ted goes like, oh, whenever you're ready, you can tell me what your name is. It's like, my name's Nathan.

And he starts calling him Nathan. His name, nobody calls him by his name. And then he gives him a nickname. He calls him Nate the Great. And he's genuinely interested in what he has to say. And there's a very pivotal, many pivotal scenes. This guy is so fucking dedicated to this team and this game. And we don't ever really realize how much he's dedicated to that game. Until, like fucking everybody, he gets elevated by exposure to this, not just these men, this man. He's exposed to this new idea about how you can kind of live.

And it elevates him. And he finds, Ted makes him find a voice in a scene that I think should go down in history. Do you wax your pew?

Because you're playing like a fucking Brazilian. Are you a pussy?

Speaker CIt's so brilliant.

MerlinBut of course, that's coming right after Ted is melting. We haven't gotten into Ted and his fraught relationship with his family. And having to deal with this loss at a distance. We eventually, no spoilers. Nate the Great. What a fucking great show, everybody. You know, I know you're stuck in hearing about it, but give it a throw. We'll have a link in notes where you can watch it on Apple TV. And if that's too much trouble for you because you're looking at fucking TikTok and Ricky Montgomery or whatever the hell his name is,

if you can't be asked because you're listening to Ludo while you watch TikTok, we'll also put the original commercial in the notes. Because it's also fun how that got kind of repurposed. Some of the bits from the commercial got repurposed.

Speaker CI noticed that the first time.

MerlinWe're going to fight whether we win or lose or draw.

Speaker CAnd we're going to play all four quarters. Two hives. Out of touch.

AlexThe one failing of this show is there's far fewer ball jokes than there are. There should be. Balls. Oh, ball jokes. As in testicles.

MerlinAs in what you photograph because you got your live photo.

AlexYeah.

MerlinDo they call them balls there or do they have a different funny name for them?

AlexOh, I don't...

MerlinThey got a different funny name for everything. You know what I'm saying?

AlexMark, you're the Anglophile.

MerlinYeah, you're the Anglophile. You got a torch on your lorry. And then do you fondle your balls? Do you collect your balls? Do you have a manager for your balls? Do you manage your balls, Mark? Be honest. Don't overthink it. Thanks for coming on, Mark.

Thank you.

Show notes

Transcript

212. The Woke Oracle

Show notes

Transcript

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