Episode 129 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
What is Shangri-La
Jan 5, 2019 · 1:03:11 · 20 segments, 151 moments indexed
- 1 min
Cold Open: Ray's Five-Hour Energy and Addy's Confession
#Tim and Ray joke about Ray taking five-hour energy, comparing it to state-sanctioned meth for children, and Ray admits he's back on Adderall now that he has insurance.
3moments
- 0:14Tim welcomes Ray Kump to the show as he prepares to take Five Hour Energy
- 0:40Ray compares Five Hour Energy to methamphetamine, noting nothing matches state-sanctioned meth given to children
- 0:52Tim questions whether Ray has quit Adderall, and Ray reveals he got insurance again
- 2 min
Announcing Ray's Departure and the Show's End
#Tim breaks the news that Ray got a job at Good Morning America and is leaving the show as Tim moves to LA; they discuss why they won't do the show over Skype, plug Ray's new solo podcast Komp, and riff on New York City's decline, including overheard Waffle House arguments and disappointing Momofuku and Baskin Robbins desserts.
9moments
- 1:09Ray got a job at Good Morning America and is leaving the show.
- 1:32The show only works with him and Ray in the same room; pre-recording episodes is impossible when Trump might declare martial law two weeks later.
- 2:04Tim acknowledges the show's cancellation will upset fans, but says listener numbers weren't high enough.
- 2:17If he were making $20,000 a month like other podcasters, he wouldn't have to salvage his career in LA.
- 2:28Tim compares the split to The Shield going into separate ways in season three or four.
- 2:41His new solo podcast Kunp is now available on iTunes pending approval.
- 2:58Ray will return when Tim is back in New York, but Tim wants to travel and get out of the city.
- 3:09Tim observed two guys arguing about Waffle House at a diner, questioning what's left of New York culture.
- 3:22Tim wonders if this is what New Yorkers have been reduced to—arguing about Waffle House instead of anything substantive.
Ray KumpDonald TrumpGood Morning AmericaWaffle HouseThe ShieldKun
- 3 min
The Upper East Side Party With the Passed-Out Rich Host
#Tim tells the story of being dragged to a New Year's party at a penthouse where the drunk, wealthy host bid $10 million on a car but begged guests to bring a bottle of liquor, riffing on the absurdity of rich people's misery.
8moments
- 3:40Momofuku Milk Bar ice cream tastes like sour milk and worse.
- 3:51Tim goes to Baskin Robbins and they have no toppings available.
- 4:11Tim questions what majesty New York City still holds anymore.
- 4:39Tim was bamboozled into a party on the Upper East Side where the host was passed-out drunk.
- 5:03Friend insisted they bring a gift to the host's party, so they bought gin and wine.
- 5:45The penthouse party had only three people, one passed out, with air-fried dumplings and toast melba as food.
- 6:14The drunk host talked about a Formula One car he bid ten million dollars on.
- 6:27Tim: the guy asked him to bring hooch to his apartment while bragging about ten-million-dollar bids.
Momofuku Milk BarBeefeaterBaskin RobbinsJanie GaravaloJim NortonRon BenningtonTodd BarrySubculture+3 more
- 4 min
Origins of the Show and the Media's Silence on Their Guests
#Tim and Ray reminisce about starting the show from conversations in Ray's broken-down car on Long Island, and lament that despite having serious guests like Mark Ames and Russ Baker on, the alternative and mainstream media alike ignored their work.
9moments
- 6:46The show grew from conversations between Tim and Ray driving back to Long Island from New York City.
- 6:58Ray's car had no heat and windows stuck open, so they'd smoke cigarettes just to stay warm.
- 7:25Tim is surprised that even alternative media outlets ignore the interviews they've done on the show.
- 7:48Authors have said their favorite interview is with Tim and Ray, citing their work as better than anyone else's.
- 8:27Even media outlets that pride themselves on stirring the pot gave the show zero interest in their interviews.
- 8:49Fans approach Tim in clubs telling him about symbols they think are pedophile markers, but he can't help them investigate.
- 9:25A fan wanted to discuss a dark situation involving a missing child but said it was too dark for the podcast.
- 9:47Tim had the child's mother on the show and found her to be brilliant and more on top of it than anyone.
- 9:58The monsters you think are bullshit as a kid turn out to be real, and they're in pulpits, governor's offices, and the senate.
Mark ElianniRuss BakerRay KumpWorld War threeLong IslandRussiaDonald TrumpBushwick
- 3 min
The Pedophile Conspiracy Rabbit Hole and Losing Innocence
#They discuss the toll of investigating dark conspiracy topics involving child trafficking, referencing a mother they interviewed, and conclude that society's power structures are organized around protecting predators, leaving them disillusioned.
9moments
- 10:22Tim argues the organizing principle of any society is pedophilia.
- 10:40Learning about conspiracy theories hasn't made him or his co-host better off — he's now dealing with infections and can't eat sugar without getting dizzy.
- 10:57People constantly approach Tim claiming to believe the conspiracy, but he and his co-host are just "a band of ne'er-do-wells, collectively."
- 11:20They're not Spotlight-style journalists who cracked a case over ten years; the public doesn't care and pursuing this material will ruin your life commercially and personally.
- 12:00Tim has looked into the eyes of researchers like Nick Bryant and Russ Baker and seen what the work does to them — they walk that road alone.
- 12:34There's no commercial interest in the alternative history Tim and Ray tried to present — just the facts without hysteria.
- 13:06The real material worth discussing involves declassified CIA operations, not Alex Jones ranting about vampire bats raping kids in phone booths.
- 13:26People don't want responsible investigation; they want hysteria because they are hysterics themselves.
- 13:38The audience that warms to this material consists of people questioning society, not people doing great in their lives.
Alex JonesCIANick BryantRuss BankersMr. GarrisBasquiat
- 3 min
Fans Wanting Them to Solve Cases, and Russ Baker's Presidential Bid
#Tim describes fans begging them to investigate nursing homes and crack cases like detectives, then tells the story of Russ Baker seriously considering a run for president despite having no answers on policy, comparing his marginalization to Ron Paul's.
8moments
- 13:48Fans ask Tim and Ray to investigate cases like nursing homes, treating them as a detective podcast.
- 14:17Tim discusses Russ Baker's idea to run for president and expose conspiracies in the debate stage.
- 15:13Ray points out the debate commission has rules specifically to keep people like Russ Baker out.
- 15:26Tim notes Ron Paul, a congressman for 20 years, couldn't get into debates despite his mainstream credentials.
- 15:48Russ claimed he tried to get a meeting with H.W. Bush near the end of Bush's life.
- 16:12Tim describes H.W. Bush in his final years as gone, grabbing women while in a wheelchair.
- 16:37The whole point of accumulating power and wealth is ending up in Maine eating lobster and grabbing women.
- 16:49Tim says his life goal is to work hard so he can eventually eat ass.
- 2 min
H.W. Bush's Handsy Decline and the Ray Kump Impression
#Riffing on George H.W. Bush groping women in his final years, Tim does an extended bit about grabbing tit and eating lobster as life's true reward, culminating in a Ray Kump impression that Ray says people will miss.
6moments
- 17:02People will miss the Ray Kump impression.
- 17:25Tim jokes about guests refusing to appear on the show because he keeps bringing up conspiracy angles.
- 17:55Tim acknowledges the impulse to see hidden depths in everything, but argues nobody will actually do anything about it.
- 18:09Tim suggests critics who want to expose injustice should just go join ISIS in Syria.
- 18:24He proposes losing weight as motivation to join a militant group for the forced fitness regimen.
- 18:40Tim riffs on being too fat to fit a suicide vest, offering to carry it like a baby instead.
Ray KumpJames ForrestalHoward Hunt
- 2 min
Louis C.K.'s Parkland Comeback Set
#They discuss Louis C.K.'s controversial leaked set mocking Parkland shooting survivors and non-binary teens, comparing it to Tim's own similar joke, and debate whether it's Louie testing edgy material too soon after his scandal.
6moments
- 19:38Tim introduces Louis C.K.'s comeback set and jokes about a Parkland bit he claims was better than Louis's version.
- 19:57Tim describes Louis's bit: wanting to shoot the Parkland kids because they had Twitter followers and he was angry about it.
- 20:13The initial leaked audio seemed edgy but manageable until more context emerged—Louis was telling his doctor he doesn't eat ice cream anymore and calling himself a fat Jew.
- 20:37Louis added more offensive material, including calling himself a faggot and making jokes about Asian guys, prompting Tim to note that not all of his comeback material is great.
- 21:01Ron Bennington made the best point: Louis cheated and has to come back gradually, like a husband sneaking back into his own house, not at full confidence.
- 21:18The Long Island audience let Louis say whatever he wanted, and in the recording he mentions David Hogg while saying "fuck kill."
- 3 min
Craziest Episodes: Noreen Gosch and the Live Show Meltdown
#They look back on standout episodes, especially Noreen Gosch's surprisingly coherent appearance despite being portrayed as crazy in a documentary, and Russ Baker's disastrous live TBS Festival appearance where he made bizarre Kevin Spacey comments.
8moments
- 21:49Noreen Gosch episode stands out as the craziest, felt like a whirlwind.
- 22:17The director was diminishing her in the documentary when she should have been the star.
- 22:38Tim refuses to call it true crime because that diminishes what the Gosch case actually is.
- 23:01The case involved unsolved human trafficking spanning fifty years, far darker than typical crime content.
- 23:20A live episode with Dick Bryant got so dark the mics had to be cut off.
- 23:38Russ Baker bombed spectacularly during a live TBS Festival episode.
- 23:48Baker started making ridiculous statements about actors and Me Too, saying things that made no sense.
- 24:12The pizza buffet launch episode is a classic that should be released more often.
Russ BakerNoreenKevin SpaceyDick BryantCharles Manson
- 3 min
129 Episodes and the Producers Who Came and Went
#They count up the show's history, joke about revolving-door producers Dana, Shannon, and the mysterious Howie who still shows up to events despite being banned from multiple shows, and reflect on how much content (129 hours) they've produced since starting in 2016.
7moments
- 24:33The Tim Dillon Show has had 129 episodes and gone through multiple producers over its run.
- 24:47Shannon Lee was a producer who eventually got moved off the show after getting sick of working with them.
- 25:00Tim recalls a producer named Howie who worked on the show but was later removed due to similar complaints that led to his dismissal from other shows.
- 26:10Tim jokes that Howie still shows up at industry events but can't afford a gun.
- 26:42Between 129 episodes, they've produced roughly 119 hours of just conversations covering everything from their past.
- 27:09The show started in July 2016 right as conspiracy theories were becoming mainstream, with pizzagate emerging shortly after.
- 27:29Tim reflects that they started as the quirky outsiders meant to be the lunatics, but ended up becoming the rational ones as reality got increasingly crazy.
The Tim Dillon ShowHowieDonald TrumpShannon LeeDavid TalbotLou Bega
- 1 min
Election Night and Robbie's Jerky Going-Away Gift
#They recall the chaotic Chris Gethard election night special with crying banana-suited guys and distraught women, then Robbie Bernstein surprises Ray with a going-away gift of jerky from a sponsor.
4moments
- 27:51Tim recalls Chris Gethard's election night special with people in costume crying throughout the broadcast.
- 28:12Rich white women collapsing on the floor after the election result, with Tim noting he initially felt sympathy before reconsidering.
- 28:29The show's trajectory over two years has been wild, according to Tim.
- 28:48Robbie Bernstein presents jerky as a going-away gift, revealing it's from one of the show's sponsors.
- 5 min
The Harvard Kid and 'Life Experience' Losers on Facebook
#Tim goes on an extended rant about a Facebook acquaintance criticizing a teen Harvard graduate for lacking 'life experience,' riffing that anyone who uses that phrase is a failure, complete with fake examples of degrading real-life experience like living in a van or nearly buying drugs from a fake hooker at Dunkin Donuts.
10moments
- 29:42Tim sees a Facebook post from a tour guide criticizing a 15-year-old Harvard graduate for lacking 'life experience.'
- 30:10The Facebook commenter argues life experience matters more than classroom learning and the kid should have waited until adulthood.
- 30:49Anybody who invokes 'life experience' is a complete loser—it means your wife left you and you live in a van.
- 31:07Tim contrasts the Harvard kid's inventions with real life experience: getting addicted to coke, losing everything, hanging out in casinos.
- 31:52Tim's daily life experience includes going to Dunkin' Donuts and nearly accepting sex from a woman who isn't technically a hooker for twenty dollars.
- 32:23The Facebook commenter has 14,000 followers and follows 400 people—which Tim finds absurd.
- 33:07Facebook is a weird platform because it tries to level the playing field and make everyone equal regardless of who they actually are.
- 33:41Most people shouldn't be on a stage, shouldn't have a microphone, and shouldn't live in public at all.
- 33:56People's opinions on social media aren't even their own—they're just restating things unnecessarily.
- 34:15Anyone talking about life experience or school hard knocks is always a loser, like Tim's mother's friend Dennis who died on a fishing boat.
- 4 min
Dennis, the Van-Dwelling 'Life in the Big City' Philosopher
#Tim tells an extended story about his mother's friend Dennis, a drunk who lived in a van in his grandmother's driveway after his divorce, repeated 'life in the big city' as a catchphrase, and kept giving unsolicited life advice despite his own ruin.
8moments
- 34:24Dennis had a heart attack at 60; Tim describes meeting him at a wake where Dennis threatened to shoot his neighbor's son with a shotgun.
- 34:47Dennis drank wine out of a large Burger King cup filled with ice, walking around saying 'life in the big city' no matter what happened.
- 35:18His catchphrase covered everything—estranged children, personal disasters—always 'life in the big city' as his refrain.
- 35:40When Dennis divorced his wife, he moved into a van on the boardwalk in Long Beach, Long Island instead of paying her, living that way for about a year.
- 36:11Tim confronts Dennis's habitual claim that nobody understands the real world, pointing out that Dennis's own world is defined by drunkenness and bad decisions.
- 36:45Dennis later lived in his mother's van parked in Tim's grandmother's driveway, showering inside the house but sleeping in the van.
- 37:12Even from the van, Dennis never stopped giving unsolicited advice, despite living in poverty and refusing to acknowledge his own failures.
- 37:41Tim mocks Dennis for claiming wisdom while living in a van in his grandmother's driveway, then Dennis brings up Vietnam service and killing what he thought was Viet Cong but was actually a nursery.
DennisLong Beach, Long Island
- 4 min
Late Night Taco Bell Runs and Long Island Drives
#Tim and Ray reminisce about nightly Taco Bell runs during their broke, aimless period on Long Island, riffing on cold Taco Bell food, threatening the drive-thru staff, and Tim's compulsive Uber Eats habits.
10moments
- 38:53Driving back to Long Island together, smoking Marlboros at 2 a.m. and hitting Taco Bell drive-thrus.
- 39:31Tim screaming at Taco Bell workers for nacho cheese and hot sauce, threatening to kill them when they got off work.
- 39:52Ordering Taco Bell on GrubHub from his apartment and feeling like a complete dirtbag.
- 40:22Getting way too much Taco Bell delivered but they forgot the soda, making it cold and inedible by the time it arrived.
- 40:39Taco Bell has to be piping hot or it's just styrofoam with sour cream—if he were a better man it would be a wake-up call.
- 40:57Delivery Taco Bell only gets microwave hot, not real hot, so you can taste the artificial heat and the cheese doesn't coagulate properly.
- 41:16Cinnamon twists taste good but cause chalkboard-scraping sensations that make his teeth clench.
- 41:34Tim ran five miles every single day for a year, partly because of all those Taco Bell runs, doing real damage.
- 41:58Running through the neighborhood in winter wearing a ski mask, still semi-fat, probably getting multiple calls to the police.
- 42:15Tim was running around like a criminal through his neighborhood at night while still almost overweight.
- 2 min
Ski Mask Runs and the Suspicious Morgue Cop
#Tim recounts running five miles a day in a ski mask through his neighborhood while losing weight, getting stopped by a cop who worked at the morgue and complimented his transformation, then riffs about wishing the show could go mainstream with hosts like Kelly Ripa.
7moments
- 42:26Fat detective in a Cutlass Sierra claims to work at the fourth precinct, trying to fuck with him.
- 42:45Morgue cop says he sees Tim running every day and thinks he's doing a great thing.
- 43:11Tim wishes the show had become something with Kelly Ripa and Brian Gumbel instead.
- 43:25Tim jokes about greeting Kelly Ripa with inappropriate comments about her appearance.
- 43:40Tim pitches an after-hours Patreon feature of them miking up the talk show hosts.
- 43:56Tim argues the audience should just imagine what happens and appreciate the unknown instead of knowing details.
- 44:15Tim questions what Shangri-La actually is and notes it's the title of an episode they've done.
- 3 min
What Does Shangri-La Mean, and Plugging Komp
#They look up the meaning of the episode title 'Shangri-La' on Wikipedia, then Ray describes his upcoming solo podcast Komp exploring politics and economics through his sensibilities, plus a separate podcast with Lucy called 'Love is Disgusting.'
7moments
- 44:43Shangri-La is a fictional place from the 1933 novel Lost Horizon, described as a mystical harmonious valley.
- 45:19Lucy is doing a podcast with Tim called Our Love Is Disgusting, coming soon.
- 45:35The new podcast is called Komp, exploring world politics and economics filtered through Tim's experiences and sensibilities.
- 46:05Tim plans to do Michael Moore-style street interviews, getting people's reactions while holding a microphone.
- 46:32It's sad to end the version of the show they've been doing, but necessary because they've covered a lot of ground already.
- 47:07They've had agents on the show discussing the intelligence apparatus and incident with chaff grenades dropped on a school.
- 47:30The territory and turf for the show has been completely co-opted by crazy trolls, lunatics, and open-lead comedians who join Antifa.
Michael MooreShangri-LaJames HiltonLucy
- 6 min
Why the Alt-Media Space Got Overrun by Trolls and Lunatics
#Tim argues that the space for sane alternative history got co-opted by hysterics and Antifa-adjacent comedians accusing people of being white supremacists, and that no one cares about actual historical facts anymore compared to moral panics like campus culture wars, using examples like drone strikes on Pakistani weddings versus outrage over Louis C.K.'s jokes.
11moments
- 47:57Tim jokes that as long as people say he's funny, they can say whatever else they want about him.
- 48:38The problem with current discourse is that everyone's hysterical and no one's the sane rational person trying to find middle ground.
- 48:49People stopped caring about what actually happened and now only care about what should have happened—everything's become a moral argument.
- 49:51Tim wanted to examine actual historical events with evidence that they might have happened differently, but nobody really cares.
- 50:24Campus culture and being uncomfortable in class have more immediate impact on people's lives than events like Watergate that happened 50 years ago.
- 50:44Being uncomfortable at work matters more than blood on the streets of Panama or drone wars, apparently.
- 51:14Tim's learned from comedy that everybody's just fearful of not working and wants to say the right thing.
- 51:57The response to people being renditioned to Sudan and tortured wasn't as outraged as the reaction to Louis CK's parking lot joke.
- 52:34Corporate overlords love social justice because as long as everyone's consuming and buying, they're happy.
- 53:25Tim and Ray prank-called a Cars for Kids charity pretending to ask if they were trafficking children in the cars.
- 53:40The joke implied the Cars for Kids workers thought something inappropriate was happening inside the vehicles.
NikeSalonChris HedgesDavid TalbotNoam ChomskyJordan PetersonPanamaWatergate
- 5 min
The System Works: Why Alt-Journalists Stay Marginal
#Tim reflects on the real lesson of two and a half years doing the show: that marginalized journalists often stay marginal not just due to top-down suppression but because they lack the skill or charisma to break through, concluding that the ruling elite maintain power through myths society needs to function.
8moments
- 53:57Tim suggests taking a gun to a cup to do something about the horror rather than just laugh about it.
- 54:39Pursuing this kind of journalism teaches you how unfulfilling the work actually is.
- 55:19Tim's realization: the system works not just through top-down suppression, but because alt-journalists are often unprepared and incapable of communicating their ideas effectively.
- 56:05If someone were genuinely talented enough, success would keep them in the mainstream because it's enticing to say you could do more from the inside than the outside.
- 56:28The only people who stay on the outside are marginal at best, lacking the personality, networks, and celebrity-building ability that rise journalists to the top.
- 57:00The ruling class and essentially the entire country have a vested interest in perpetuating certain myths rather than truth.
- 57:42Tim nearly teared up at the Bush funeral recognizing these people are demons while the mythos around them was so strong he almost believed it.
- 57:56Myths carry more weight in society than truth ever will, and even the false things people believe are essential just to survive day to day.
- 2 min
Aim Small: Society's Placated Consumers and Beef Jerky Gifts
#Tim concludes that people are too pacified by consumer comforts like iPhones and TV to demand real change, so activism should aim for small wins like healthcare rather than toppling the elite, while admiring his jerky going-away gift.
8moments
- 58:29People lack discipline and resort to instant gratification like GrubHub and Taco Bell instead of intentional living.
- 58:57Tim argues the powerful aren't defined by race but by a group that doesn't actually care about color.
- 59:18The people themselves aren't ready for real change, which is why Tim wants the system dismantled but fears chaos.
- 59:33Society has been conditioned over a century to be consumers placated by immediate pleasure and gratification.
- 59:58Aim small: pursue achievable goals like national healthcare rather than impossible dreams about stopping worship of Satan.
- 1:00:18The extent to which powerful people are demons will never be fully known.
- 1:00:33Tim receives People's Choice small batch beef jerky as a going-away gift with multiple flavors to choose from.
- 1:00:44The beef jerky flavors—flaming hot, honey barbecue, buffalo—are identical to how Larry King would describe victims in a scandal.
Larry KingPeople's ChoiceTaco BellBreaking BadDancing with the Stars
- 2 min
Tim runs through upcoming tour dates in Madison, LA, Boston, North Carolina, and Mohegan Sun, plugs Ray's new podcast Komp one more time, teases future guests like Kurt Metzger and Nick Mullen, and closes out the episode.
5moments
- 1:01:00Ray Komp's social media handles and new podcast called Komp launching on iTunes and other platforms.
- 1:01:34Tim jokes that the first podcast episode explores infections and dead baby mice, describing it as mainstream sellout content.
- 1:01:58Tim will review beef jerky on the podcast; tour dates announced for Madison, Wisconsin, LA, Boston, and other cities.
- 1:02:25Tim notes he's leaving Los Angeles and hell, but will continue the show with guest appearances from Kurt Metzger, Nick Mullen, and others.
- 1:02:44Ray's closing message: things aren't getting better, but people should try to love each other.