Episode 142 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
Mike Recine
with Mike Recine
Apr 7, 2019 · 55:53 · 18 segments, 119 moments indexed
- 1 min
Opening music, station ID, and show title announcement.
2moments
- 0:05The show opens with its title card
- 0:28Tim welcomes listeners to the episode
- 1 min
Welcoming Mike Recine and the Old Food Podcast Stu
#Tim welcomes Mike Recine back, recalling their 20-episode food podcast Stu and riffing on how exhausting podcasting is but how it's one of the only jobs left with no gatekeepers.
4moments
- 0:31Tim introduces Mike Recine as a guest in New York City.
- 0:52The food podcast was exhausting, though podcasting in general is the only viable option left.
- 1:17Podcasting is the last thing you can do where you have any control, rather than waiting around for traditional media.
- 1:28The 20 episodes were rough and people got sick of talking about gnocchi despite the podcast being well-received.
- 4 min
White Trash Happiness, Healthcare, and God Calling Angels Home
#Tim riffs on podcasting being open to everyone, fantasizes about retiring as white trash, jokes about lacking health insurance, and does an extended bit about God "calling home" a Florida guy who died in a dumb way, plus his cousin's rehab stints and the family group text hierarchy.
7moments
- 2:02War refugees are assimilating quickly by selling iPhone cases in malls.
- 2:19Tim argues podcasting isn't a white man's game—anyone with a MacBook can do it, there are no gatekeepers.
- 3:02100% white trash people are genuinely happy and having a better time than anyone else.
- 3:40Tim says nobody actually has healthcare, and being liked matters more than being funny for survival.
- 4:18He'd rather die than have his life saved by the human garbage that comprises his social circle.
- 4:44Tim jokes about running a GoFundMe just to donate all the money to Trump and then die.
- 5:07White guys from Southern Florida who think they're Black guys have the greatest clarity of vision and focus.
- 5 min
Abortion, Money as Motivation, and a Friend's False Molestation Accusation
#Discussion spirals from why people chase money to a friend's nightmare custody battle where his ex falsely accused him of molesting their kid, then into Tim's hardline abortion jokes.
9moments
- 5:31Girl's Facebook post about a dead classmate: 'R.I.P. God called another angel home,' but Tim questions whether God actually needed this particular person.
- 5:45God's recruitment strategy for heaven—why would he need a random guy from Delray Beach when he already has Richard Pryor and Mozart?
- 6:27Cousin in Delray Beach: in and out of rehab for heroin, embodies Florida itself with matted-looking hair and complete commitment to the lifestyle.
- 7:08Family group text has two tiers—one branch doing well (kid got into Villanova), the other just celebrating that everyone's still alive on Earth.
- 7:58People complain society measures worth by money, but Tim asks: what else is there? If you do something valuable, don't you get paid?
- 8:15Spending your whole life chasing money is probably bad, but if you spend no part of it trying to earn money, what exactly are you doing?
- 8:49Heroin gives people focus—part of the opiate crisis is that it's something to do, and people addicted to it are never bored.
- 9:25Red Kumpet joke: 'I don't wanna do heroin, but you try to make friends after 30.'
- 9:38Tim on whether he wants a family while doped up: probably not—imagines it would be with another horrible person, raising two horrible people, a family of demons.
Richard PryorMozartVillanova
- 4 min
Fear of Having Kids and Wanting an Abortion Crackdown
#Mike and Tim discuss the terror of having children, a friend who felt overwhelmed right after his kid was born, and Tim doubles down on wanting abortion banned and mocking women who get them.
6moments
- 10:14Tim is terrified of eventually having kids, worried about providing for them and losing his minimalist lifestyle.
- 10:55A friend had a child in college with an unstable woman, resulting in a nightmare custody situation including false molestation accusations.
- 11:47Tim describes how bad the situation got, saying the false accusation alone is terrifying because there's no way to prove innocence.
- 12:14The accusation was so extreme that Tim questions how sick someone would have to be to make such a claim.
- 13:18The core fear: having kids with the wrong person makes your life miserable; having them with the right person can be good.
- 13:45Tim pivots to abortion policy, sarcastically asking if women should be locked up and forced to carry pregnancies to term.
- 4 min
The Mysterious Cult-Kid Staffer and Leaving New York
#Tim clowns on a strange new GaS Digital staffer who Lewis apparently recruited off the street, then pivots into venting about being sick of New York — the subway, Uber caps, AOC's carbon policies, and old-school NYC weirdos in the studio.
9moments
- 14:11Lewis hires staffers who look increasingly like cult members, and there's a mysterious kid sitting in the studio that nobody recognizes.
- 14:36Tim theorizes Lewis finds these kids squatting in the East Village and recruits them to work at the podcast network.
- 15:11Tim has been spending time in Los Angeles and finds it nice, though he starts to go crazy if he stays longer than five days.
- 15:28Tim is ready to leave New York, saying he's had enough and wishing pain on most of the people who live there.
- 15:47His roommate's girlfriend texted him while he was traveling about the drunk landlady calling her a whore and asking if he'll give a warning before coming back.
- 16:14Living in New York feels like having someone's foot on your neck all the time; he's lost his passion for it.
- 16:25The subway barely works, and now there's a cap on Uber cars in the city, which drives prices up for people just trying to survive.
- 16:41Tim supports taxing the rich but argues that policies like carbon taxes and car caps hurt working people trying to get to their jobs.
- 17:18If New York had a modern subway system, you could tell people to pay up for cars, but it doesn't, so capping vehicles just punishes the poor.
- 2 min
Restraining Emotional Women and Media Personalities You'd Suck Off
#Tim relays his uncle's advice about women being "emotional animals" who need physical handling, then he and Mike run through a bit ranking which cable news men or women they'd hypothetically want to suck off.
6moments
- 17:44Tim describes early 90s New York types who look like extras from Taxi Driver and getting kicked out of Times Square strip clubs.
- 18:10Frustration with New York has reached a breaking point for Tim.
- 18:47Tim's uncle told him that women are emotional animals and need to be restrained physically, and they kind of like it.
- 19:12No woman actually wants to fuck a Chris Hayes type MSNBC guy, despite what they might think.
- 19:26Tim asks his guest which media personality he'd want to suck off.
- 19:57Andrea Tantaros from Fox News is identified as really hot, but no longer on air due to Roger Ailes and a settlement.
Chris HayesRoger AilesFox NewsAndrea TantarosNew YorkMSNBCBrian KilmeadeJordan Peterson+6 more
- 2 min
The Confusing Future of Cable News
#Riff on who still watches Fox and MSNBC, Andrea Tantaros's Roger Ailes settlement, and MSNBC bringing on pro-war Bush-era shills despite claiming to hate Trump.
3moments
- 20:11Tim questions who is still watching cable news like Fox.
- 20:47NBC's news format is baffling because it's boring and doesn't even tell a good story.
- 21:23Tim tries to get independent journalists on his show but they all have egos and think they have something better to do.
- 3 min
Jailing Journalists and the Far-Left/Far-Right Similarities
#Tim jokes about jailing anyone who declines his podcast, then gets into how far-left DSA types and far-right ethno-fascists both crave authoritarian control, plus Trump rally attendees and QAnon believers being genuinely happy.
9moments
- 21:42If Tim ever got powerful enough, he'd throw his podcast critics in jail.
- 21:58Far-right and far-left extremists would immediately start jailing opponents if they ever seized power.
- 22:10DSA functions more like a social club where most members don't understand why they're there.
- 22:26Alt-right movement contains both committed ideologues and lonely people just posting edgy content for attention.
- 22:44Committed communists or ethno-fascists in power would start jailing people immediately, though Tim notes this will never happen.
- 23:10Hardcore Trump supporters, QAnon believers, and those who think he was ordained by God don't care about much else.
- 23:34People at Trump rallies are the happiest people around, living in a world that doesn't really exist.
- 23:46White trash people in Florida and elsewhere are genuinely the happiest people—just hanging out, smoking, eating at buffets.
- 24:11Tim fantasizes about retiring as a white trash guy, saving up enough money and disappearing outside Tampa.
- 2 min
Retiring as White Trash Near Tampa and Strip Club Bouncers
#Continuation of the white-trash fantasy bit — retiring outside Tampa, hanging out with bouncer friends who only talk about fights, and "someone's gotta be that guy" riffs about aging degenerates.
4moments
- 24:25Strip club bouncers only talk about fights they've been in, spending entire dinners recounting their scars and gunshot wounds.
- 24:39Tim defends the role of the old guy at the strip club—someone has to fill every archetypal position in society.
- 25:23Tim's parents are thinking about leaving Jersey and moving to Florida, his brother and sister both still living with them.
- 25:43Real North Carolina is just rural fields where you see MAGA hats and mass graves that the townspeople celebrate without knowing whose remains are there.
- 5 min
Venezuela, Maduro, and Leftist Support for Dictators
#Extended political discussion on Maduro, US interventionism, Brunei's anti-gay stoning laws, white Brooklyn protesters claiming to speak for Venezuelans, and the double standard of Americans defending Castro or Stalin.
10moments
- 26:10Tim explains the contradiction: Maduro is bad, but US military intervention crusades haven't worked out well for America historically.
- 26:50He refuses to defend Maduro as great but won't support another foreign war on the premise that somebody's going to profit from it.
- 27:31Inaction, he argues, is how America became strong—by not getting dragged into endless wars.
- 28:11The left backs anyone anti-American regardless of how brutal they are, as long as they give out free stuff.
- 28:25These people defend Stalin unironically to your face, then refuse to admit obvious truths.
- 28:38The fundamental test: would you rather make a million dollars criticizing Putin in Russia or do it here in America?
- 29:23Pro-Maduro protests aren't actually Venezuelan—they're mostly white kids from Brooklyn chanting slogans.
- 29:51Cubans he's met hated Castro, but white people from Upper West Side million-dollar apartments insist he was doing something laudable.
- 30:28When pressed, those same people admit Castro imprisoned people and they disappeared in night raids, then circle back to defending him anyway.
- 30:47Tim sums up the cognitive dissonance at the heart of leftist support for authoritarian regimes.
Nicolás MaduroNew York TimesCastroVenezuelaBruneiRussiaVladimir Putin
- 8 min
Socialism, Markets, and Motivation to Work Hard
#Tim wrestles with which socialist policies make sense (healthcare, food safety) versus guaranteed housing/jobs schemes, arguing people need incentive to work and that far-left and far-right converge on wanting centralized control.
11moments
- 30:49Tim critiques both far-left and far-right ideologues for ignoring real-world consequences of their beliefs.
- 31:21People who claim 'if everyone listened to me, this would work better' scare him, especially unmarried open mikers living on floors.
- 32:07Tim argues socialist proposals like universal basic income and socialized medicine are probably necessary going forward.
- 32:42Health insurance markets don't function like normal markets because people only buy them when they need them.
- 33:12Without the chance to make more money than others, he questions why anyone would try to do anything.
- 33:23Recognition for work matters more than having more than people—monetary compensation represents that recognition.
- 34:09No one has ever explained to him how an economic system works if people aren't incentivized to work hard.
- 34:46Collectivist thinking is necessary in certain cases, like national defense and healthcare, where dangers aren't individual.
- 36:06Guaranteed housing and guaranteed employment proposals fail because some people don't work hard and jobs would be undesirable.
- 37:41The far left and far right aren't that different—both want control and reject markets, free speech, and freedom, just for different groups.
- 38:27Tim concludes nobody should have control, suggesting every child should have a gun.
- 2 min
More News Anchors to Suck Off, Then Michael Jackson's Guilt
#The suck-off-a-newsperson bit continues with Ronan Farrow and others, then pivots hard into declaring Michael Jackson guilty and mocking people who defended him.
6moments
- 38:58Tim runs through which news anchors he should "suck off," landing on Judge Jeanine Pirro.
- 39:21Ronan Farrow suggested as a potential candidate, with speculation about his dating life.
- 39:38Michael Jackson is guilty of the crimes he was accused of, Tim declares.
- 40:05Jackson being a weirdo and a pedophile were treated as interchangeable cultural facts for years.
- 40:42The psychological manipulation Jackson used on his victims and their families deserves serious examination.
- 41:08Tim asks guest how their podcast is doing.
Michael JacksonJudge Jeanine PirroFox News
- 3 min
Society's Indifference to Child Abuse — Catholic Church, Hollywood, D.C.
#Mike plugs his organized-crime podcast and a Bosnia genocide documentary, then the conversation turns serious about institutional child abuse being covered up across the Catholic Church, Hollywood, and D.C., plus Tim joking about his own failed child-actor career on Long Island.
6moments
- 41:47Michael Jackson case as one example of society not caring about children
- 42:10There's no Me Too movement for kids because no one cares
- 42:20Catholic Church, Hollywood, and Washington D.C. all complicit in child abuse
- 42:40Victims in Hollywood stay silent because speaking out ruins careers
- 42:58Tim claims he was never molested as a child actor, which is why he never succeeded
- 43:48Tim selectively pursuing entertainment industry opportunities as he gets older
Catholic ChurchMichael JacksonHollywoodBosniaAndrew SchulzLong Island
- 4 min
Giving Up on Network TV and Just Making Your Own Stuff
#Tim talks about being done fighting networks to make shows, referencing a conversation with Andrew Schulz about only controlling what you put out yourself, and making cheap iPhone-shot Instagram videos instead.
10moments
- 44:27Tim explains what he can control: putting out funny videos, doing podcasts, doing live stand-up—not fighting networks to make shows they'll fight him on every step of the way.
- 45:27Networks don't pick up the show anyway, so if you bend to their whims, you end up with a piece of shit you're embarrassed you made.
- 45:50Making videos on Instagram with an iPhone, with nobody telling him what he can say or what's inappropriate.
- 46:13The whole idea that you need fifteen people to make something funny is nonsense—they're trying to make people laugh, not Game of Thrones.
- 46:50Network people don't understand why what they put out doesn't thrive online—people are used to no censors.
- 47:08Tim told a network executive that the women in the restaurant could buy their network as a joke, and they did not like that.
- 47:30It's arrogant for entertainment to think it's the only place where women can be insane—women are overrepresented in real estate, publishing, fashion, finance.
- 47:50Tim would tell his daughter to go into sex work before entertainment, because it's a much more honest way to make a living.
- 48:04Network executives told him they were excited to get into podcasting last year, and Tim said they were eight years too late.
- 48:20We're in the wild west now, and it's terrifying for people not prepared for it—like being a blacksmith when nobody gives a fuck about what you do anymore.
- 5 min
SNL Is Corporate Garbage That Steals Jokes, and Colin Jost's AIDS Bit
#Tim tears into SNL as unfunny corporate propaganda (the De Niro-as-Mueller sketch, Jeff Bezos hero bits), accuses the writers of stealing sketches from indie creators, and does an extended bit claiming Colin Jost was a "bug chaser" who deliberately got HIV and now spreads it.
10moments
- 49:30SNL's not funny anymore, and Tim tried to give it the benefit of the doubt for a long time.
- 50:02Don't delude yourself into thinking SNL sketches are good — the Robert Mueller bit with De Niro was just stupid.
- 50:21SNL's audience consists of neoliberal corporate stooges making $800,000 a year who think they're the good guys.
- 50:43If you like subversive political commentary, SNL is painful to watch.
- 50:56SNL is a multi-billion dollar corporate entity but presents itself as the resistance.
- 51:18SNL probably can't be funny because they're not allowed to be — writers are disconnected from real life and ordinary work.
- 51:36Tim wrote a sketch about Girls with a character added who had a hard life, then SNL did essentially the same premise with a Bulgarian character.
- 52:21SNL writers make $4,000 a week and have catered lunches but still steal sketches from online sketch groups.
- 52:39Colin Jost was a bug chaser who spent years trying to get AIDS, eventually succeeded, and now gives it to people without telling them.
- 53:48Tim notes that Colin Jost seeding people with AIDS isn't even in the top 10 worst things about SNL.
Saturday Night LiveColin JostMegan McCainRobert MuellerJeff Bezos
- 1 min
2020 Predictions: Trump Wins, Bernie Gets Screwed Again
#Tim predicts Trump wins again, mocks Biden, Kamala Harris's prosecutorial record, and Pete Buttigieg's name, and argues the DNC will sabotage Bernie a second time.
4moments
- 54:00Tim predicts Trump will win again and the Democratic establishment won't back Bernie.
- 54:22Pete Buttigieg mentioned as another long-shot candidate, his name itself bothering Tim.
- 54:39Bernie's the frontrunner but the media and DNC will work to take him down because he's not really a Democrat.
- 54:58The party machine screwed Bernie last time and doesn't want him now, despite what voters actually want.
Donald TrumpJoe BidenBernie SandersKamala HarrisPete Buttigieg
- 1 min
Mike plugs his podcast The Sit Down and socials; Tim gives his own contact info, plugs live shows and tickets, and asks listeners to subscribe and review.
3moments
- 55:20Mike Racine plugs his podcast The Sit Down and recent episode with Sean Patton.
- 55:34Tim provides his social media handles and website for live show tickets.
- 55:47Tim asks listeners to subscribe, rate, review, and tell friends about the podcast.