Episode 330 · Post-Ben
The Joe Rogan Experience | #330
interviewed by Joe Rogan
Jan 8, 2023 · 1:54:15 · 6,100,000 views · 34 segments, 244 moments indexed
Tim Dillon sits down with Joe Rogan in the JRE studio in Austin, TX.
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- 3 min
Tim discusses whether cigars give a nicotine buzz, comparing it to cigarettes, and talks about quitting cocaine, alcohol, pills and marijuana but still struggling with cigarettes. He riffs on a Woody Allen "Sleeper" bit about foods once thought bad for you turning out to be good.
8moments
- Tim smokes no more than one cigar per day
- Tim and Ari smoked cigars during Sober October and worried they were cheating by getting high
- Cigars produce a different, more relaxed kind of high compared to cigarettes
- Tim argues nicotine isn't that addictive—he quit vaping cold turkey after doing it daily
- Cigarettes are tougher to quit than cocaine, alcohol, pills, or marijuana—Tim's 12-year sobriety doesn't include them
- Tim hasn't smoked in two months but expects he'll bum a cigarette from someone eventually and not know how it happened
- Tim references the Woody Allen film Sleeper where a future society discovers cigarettes and red meat are actually healthy
- Red meat turns out to be partly correct; the sugar industry funded fat activism to shift blame away from sugar
Woody AllenSleeperAri Shaffir
- 2 min
They discuss how the sugar and food industry funds body-positivity and fat activism messaging, citing an LA school district controversy and social media influencers secretly backed by Nestle. They also discuss the heroin chic fashion era and its links to promoting unhealthy body standards.
7moments
- LA School District told teachers not to tell kids junk food is bad, claiming it's classist and racist.
- Body positivity messaging is heavily backed by companies like Nestle to promote the idea there's no difference between foods.
- Food and health claims online don't get fact-checked the way COVID misinformation does.
- Being 50 to 60 pounds overweight still makes you less healthy than you would be without that weight.
- Fashion industry went through a sickly-thin model era where they wanted women to look like hangers.
- Balenciaga ran an advertisement with kids holding BDSM bears dressed as leather daddies, which people found creepy.
- The 90s had heroin chic, making young models look like strung-out junkies.
BalenciagaLA School DistrictNestle
- 3 min
Tim connects the fashion industry to sexual currency and human trafficking, mentioning Jean-Luc Brunel as an Epstein associate and high-level fashion photographer, and discusses Gisele Bundchen's wealth relative to Tom Brady.
7moments
- Fashion is all about sexual currency.
- Tim jokes that sexual currency doesn't apply to comedy club lineups like The Improv.
- John Luke Burnell, Epstein's confidant and high-level fashion photographer, exemplifies why human traffickers target the modeling industry.
- Modeling shoots recruit young, impressionable good-looking people—unlike comedy clubs.
- Gisele Bündchen is worth more than Tom Brady just by being hot, despite his status as the greatest quarterback.
- Gisele left Brady because he kept wanting to play football.
- There was no fat activism on Epstein's Island.
John Luke Burnellfashion industryGisele BündchenTom Brady
- 5 min
Tim recounts performing comedy at a Bitcoin guy's birthday party in Romania and meeting Andrew Tate, describing him as personally lovely despite the human trafficking allegations, and discusses corruption in Romania versus America.
10moments
- Tim was brought to Romania by a Bitcoin guy for a birthday party and performed comedy that bombed because the audience didn't speak English.
- A Russian man interrupted Tim's set by yelling "Joe Rogan" at him mid-performance.
- Tim visited Andrew Tate's house and describes him and his brother as lovely people, though he notes the women present were quiet and obedient.
- Tim wasn't stunned by Tate's arrest, comparing it to the unsurprising inevitability of smoking another cigarette.
- Despite people claiming bad things about Tate, Tim hoped the allegations weren't true because some of Tate's messaging about not being a victim seems reasonable.
- Romania is corrupt like other Eastern Bloc countries where people pay each other off to conduct business, unlike America where corruption requires serious capital and billionaire status.
- Tate made the point that American corruption requires billionaire money, whereas in Eastern European countries you only need a small business and enough cash to influence things.
- Tate's defense included that he lives in Romania for freedom, though detractors suggest it's easier to get away with illegal activity there.
- It's a weird place to choose to live if you could live anywhere, though the people there were lovely.
- Tim suggests everyone eventually has to go back to their people—his being in Ireland, comparing it to going to Italy or other ancestral homelands.
- 4 min
They discuss whether they'd ever live outside the US, touching on Ireland and Italy, then pivot into a long riff on why New York City is the best American city compared to isolating, fame-obsessed Los Angeles, and a story about a woman posing as a billionaire to see luxury real estate.
9moments
- Tim contrasts his ancestral people laying around eating with a comparison to Italy stopping cathedral building, while Irish people are tortured.
- Tim recommends The Banshees of Inisherin, the Colin Farrell film shot in Galway, as really good.
- Tim jokes that if LA gets hit with a nuke, he'd only feel sad enough to text Andy Letterman goodbye, but if Manhattan gets hit it's a catastrophe since New York is the nerve center.
- New York predates America itself, originally a Dutch fur trading outpost called New Amsterdam in the 1600s before becoming the nation's capital of commerce.
- Tim argues New York is the best city America can do, with the best food, education, companies, and architecture, creating excellence across all domains.
- Los Angeles is isolating and lonely because everyone's in their cars chasing fame, unlike New York where diverse people from all walks of life mix together on streets and subways.
- New York concentrates the best architects, chefs, baseball players, and builders in one place, surrounded by inspiring buildings that have stood for hundreds of years.
- Tim watched an online story about a woman who pretended to be a billionaire to visit expensive properties being sold and photograph their views.
- Tim admits he's also been going to places he can't afford to look at them, but he doesn't pretend to be rich while doing it.
Los AngelesNew YorkIrelandIn BrugesColin FarrellGalwayThe PlazaThe Banshees of Inisherin+4 more
- 5 min
Tim reflects on how money doesn't buy happiness but relieves desperation, recounting his first development deal and getting a big Disney check, and how his manager thought he had a gambling problem from all the restaurant spending.
8moments
- Money doesn't make you happy but it relieves desperation, and desperation makes you sad.
- Tim got his first development deal in 1993 and felt a physical weight lift when he finally didn't have to worry about paying rent.
- Getting a big check from Disney led Tim to start eating at nice restaurants; his manager thought he had a gambling problem.
- The hunger of not knowing where you're going fuels some people but breaks others.
- Modern articles prepare people to live with less and own nothing, claiming they'll be happy—but that's because people don't have anything.
- Poor people see wealthy people as evil and assume they must have stolen or subjugated their way to money.
- There's a vast chasm of intelligence between brilliant people and those struggling, making it harder for some to understand how to earn money.
- Schools don't teach anything about money—eighteen years of education and students never hear about credit cards or interest rates.
- 4 min
They discuss how student loan debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy unlike other debts, a story about a disastrous first credit card with fees exceeding the limit, and whether college is worth it given campus insanity and oversupply of doctors and lawyers.
8moments
- Tim got a credit card with a $200 activation fee and only a $250 limit, making it impossible to use.
- Student loans are the one type of debt you can't escape through bankruptcy.
- Tim argues against going to college, questioning what anyone actually learns at mid-tier universities.
- Low-level mid-tier schools exist mainly for football and partying, not actual education or career preparation.
- College is necessary if you want to be a doctor or lawyer, but we don't need more of either profession.
- Most college students major in business or marketing with no idea what they're actually going to do.
- Tim dropped out of community college to start selling subprime mortgages and regrets not having the college experience.
- Despite his unconventional path, Tim believes his journey through crazy experiences made him good at comedy.
collegestudent loansAmerican universitiescredit cardsPrincetonStanford
- 3 min
Tim discusses not knowing if live comedy would ever return during COVID lockdowns, then segues into how extremely online streamers develop strange, stunted social skills from lacking in-person interaction.
8moments
- Tim didn't perform stand-up for several months after March 2020, eventually returning to Vinnie Brand's outdoor tent setup at the Stress Factory in New Jersey.
- The fear during early lockdown was that live comedy might never return—that he'd only have this distant memory of performing in front of real people.
- YouTubers and streamers who interact almost exclusively online carry something noticeably off when you talk to them in person.
- Tim values having grown up without constant internet access and appreciates that he didn't develop entirely in front of a screen.
- Streaming full-time creates a fundamentally strange relationship with human connection—if your income depends on streaming all day, your social experience is unlike anything that existed before.
- A streamer's interaction with the audience isn't face-to-face; it's more like sending a messenger pigeon, getting reactions to what you put out rather than engaging in direct conversation.
- Anonymous online audiences remove normal social guardrails—people either troll or speak without filters, revealing their raw thoughts unmediated by face-to-face communication.
- Online interactions expose the base thoughts people have, the shitty ideas about others and themselves, unfiltered by social courtesy.
- 2 min
Tim contrasts his mother's genuine institutionalized schizophrenia with the wave of people self-diagnosing mental illness online, and discusses the difference between clinical and situational depression, segueing into a VPN ad transition.
5moments
- Tim's mother is schizophrenic and institutionalized, unlike people who self-diagnose mental illness on Instagram.
- Clinical depression exists, but distinguishing it from situational depression caused by lifestyle choices is genuinely difficult.
- Some people take antidepressants, get better, wean off them, and end up infinitely better than before—others have genuine chemical imbalances that require ongoing treatment.
- Anxiety can come from a bad job or relationship, but some people are just genetically wired wrong, like schizophrenics.
- Using the internet without a VPN is like going to the bathroom and leaving the door open for strangers to look in.
ExpressVPNanxietydepressionschizophreniaantidepressantsmental health
- 1 min
Tim reads the ExpressVPN ad copy about data harvesting and privacy, joking about people looking at his search history.
2moments
- Tim claims people die if you're online without a VPN.
- His browser history is just his own name repeated over and over, plus Zillow house listings.
- 2 min
They discuss the University of Idaho murders case, the six-week gap before an arrest, genealogy DNA tracing, and unsettling reports that the suspect seemed happier after allegedly committing the killings.
7moments
- Tim uncertain whether the suspect even killed the Idaho victims.
- The suspect's former classmates reported he seemed noticeably happier and more energetic after returning to school, which Tim finds disturbing.
- The killer was studying criminal behavior, adding another layer to the psychological profile.
- Tim wrestles with the concept of someone capable of stalking, murdering innocent people, then attending school the next day as if nothing happened.
- There's supposedly a certain percentage of psychopaths in the population, raising the challenge of identifying them early.
- Early identification programs risk false positives, flagging people who are just goofy, funny, or listen to death metal without any actual danger.
- Tech-driven identification of anti-social people essentially amounts to pre-crime, which Tim compares to Minority Report.
Minority ReportpsychopathsIdaho
- 4 min
They discuss the danger of tech companies trying to identify "anti-social" people before crimes happen (comparing it to Minority Report), then tell stories of a man who planned to bomb a mosque but was won over by a welcoming Muslim family, and a Guantanamo guard who converted to Islam.
7moments
- John Bernthal interviewed a man planning to blow up a mosque, who had developed hatred of Muslims after serving overseas.
- The would-be bomber was invited to the mosque by a woman, attended her home for dinner, and eventually converted to Islam instead of carrying out the attack.
- A prison guard at Guantanamo Bay converted to Islam after befriending an inmate, which Tim notes is a sign America is losing the war on extremism.
- Tim discusses how people seek purpose through intense belief systems, citing Camille Paglia's observation that Obama doesn't understand the passion driving religious conviction.
- Paglia criticized Obama's detached comments about people clinging to guns and Bibles, arguing he doesn't grasp that religion provides comfort and organizing principle for life.
- People in bad places who adopt rigid ideologies and join committed communities often find sense of purpose, discipline, and belonging they were lacking.
- Islamic faith is particularly rigid and devout compared to Western religions, which have been tempered by secular governments and separation of church and state.
John BernthalBarack ObamaCamille Paglia
- 2 min
They discuss Camille Paglia's critique that Obama, despite his intelligence, didn't understand the intensity and comfort religion provides people, and reminisce about grandparents who died peacefully because of devout Catholic faith.
6moments
- Religion isn't big in America, but we haven't replaced it with anything to answer why we're here or what happens when we die.
- Tim's grandmother was a devout Catholic and Democrat, and remained peaceful right up until she died because of her faith.
- When diagnosed with cancer, Tim's grandfather said 'my kingdom is not of this Earth' and faced death with complete peace.
- People want peace, but it's very hard to achieve without some kind of belief system to make sense of the struggle.
- Without knowing what it's all for, people can't deal with the chaos and use drugs like amphetamines to block it out.
- It's difficult for people to make peace with the unknown without some kind of framework to understand existence.
- 2 min
They discuss psychedelic experiences helping people find meaning, referencing Alex Berenson's book "Tell Your Children" about marijuana potentially triggering schizophrenia in predisposed individuals, and the massive number of people on SSRIs.
6moments
- Tim explains that DMT and psychedelic experiences help some people feel better about everything after the trip.
- The reality that psychedelic experiences are possible raises the question of why they're not more widely promoted.
- Alex Berenson's book 'Tell Your Children' documents the link between marijuana and schizophrenia triggers, a notion pro-marijuana advocates instinctively reject.
- Tim has seen multiple people in his life crack from taking heroic doses of cannabis edibles and go genuinely crazy.
- People with underlying schizophrenia tendencies often smoke pot all day every day, making cannabis their primary interface with reality.
- Everyone is on SSRIs, depression meds, and anxiety medication anyway, so there's massive money in pharmaceutical treatment.
Alex BerensonTell Your Children
- 3 min
A joking riff about people getting addicted to getting vaccinated repeatedly like doctor-shopping for oxycontin, imagining an article about the most-vaccinated person, and a tangent into people who fake disabilities and Oliver Sacks' brain case studies.
9moments
- Tim compares vaccine boosters to pill addiction, suggesting people get vaccinated every four months for a psychological fix.
- Tim wonders if people actually get addicted to getting vaccinated and want to do it more often.
- Someone has gotten vaccinated way more times than they should have, and Tim wants to know who has the record.
- There's definitely people abusing vaccines, and Tim wants to find the moat—the limit or threshold before it becomes a problem.
- Tim suspects Pfizer wouldn't like an article about someone who's been over-vaccinated and is probably keeping it quiet.
- People have psychological conditions where they feel they should harm themselves—some want to chop off a hand or pretend to be disabled.
- Oliver Sacks wrote about rare brain conditions in 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,' cases so bizarre doctors couldn't explain them.
- Tim dropped his phone in Hawaii and it started randomly calling people on its own, which is what a malfunctioning brain does.
- Some people's brains just have the wires wrong—something got knocked loose and that's them forever.
Oliver SacksThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
- 4 min
Tim is glad he never took crypto/NFT ad deals, unlike Logan Paul, Tom Brady, and Matt Damon who got sued, then they dig into Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX collapse and the gossip about unattractive polyamorous nerds running a commune-style operation in the Bahamas.
9moments
- Tim acknowledges he refused to promote NFTs despite being offered advertising deals.
- Matt Damon's crypto commercials compared cryptocurrency to exploration like Magellan and the moon landing.
- The show ran crypto ads for investment services but not for specific coins or projects like a hypothetical Dylan coin.
- Tim would still do FTX ads if Sam Bankman-Fried could make customers whole on his millions of debts.
- Bankman-Fried likely believes he can pull off another scheme after donating heavily to Biden and gaining access to powerful people.
- Tim questions whether Bankman-Fried is still allowed to take amphetamines, given that drug use was part of FTX's problem.
- FTX didn't even trade Bitcoin—they dealt in other dubious cryptocurrencies that weren't properly implemented.
- FTX leadership was essentially running an ugly-people sex cult in the Bahamas while taking pills.
- Despite massive wealth, Bankman-Fried's circle couldn't attract conventionally attractive people to the operation.
Sam Bankman-FriedMatt DamonKim KardashianTom BradyJoe BidenLogan PaulBill Clinton
- 6 min
They pull up photos of the FTX executives, rating their attractiveness, identifying who flipped as a witness (Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang), and discussing Sam Bankman-Fried's parents and Stanford pedigree, then listen to a clip of William MacAskill discussing simulation theory and effective altruism.
10moments
- Tim explains why crypto executives fled to the Bahamas and Puerto Rico for tax havens and regulatory escape.
- Crypto figures in Puerto Rico are dying or disappearing—one tweeted that the CIA would kill him before ending up dead in the ocean.
- Tim theorizes the government sends agents to befriend crypto guys, and when they become liabilities or know too much, they disappear.
- A paranoid crypto figure believes CIA, Mossad, and pedophile elites are running sex trafficking and blackmail operations out of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
- Tim proposes that intelligence agencies would use attractive undercover operatives to entrap nerds, as shown in James Bond.
- FTX was uncompromised because there were no attractive spies involved—the executives just wanted to sleep with each other while on amphetamines.
- Assessing the FTX inner circle's attractiveness: the Indian guy is decent, but everyone else looks rough.
- Tim walked around Stanford and felt the vibe of future tech leaders—the school has that old money WASP energy like Harvard and Yale.
- Most FTX executives flipped and became informants except Sam Bankman-Fried, including Caroline who had no honor.
- William MacAskill, who appeared on the podcast discussing effective altruism, is now revealed as Bankman-Fried's mentor and architect of the ideology.
Sam Bankman-FriedWilliam MacAskillFTXGary WangBrett HarrisonCarolineEffective altruism
- 4 min
They discuss how billionaires like Bill Gates use philanthropy as cover to socially engineer society, buying farmland and pushing meatless diets while amassing more power.
6moments
- Nick Bostrom's simulation argument: future civilizations will run simulations of the past, making it statistically likely we're already in one.
- Tim suggests Sam Bankman-Fried and Fred Bankman-Fried pursued effective altruism donations without caring if the benefits were real.
- Tim on billionaire charity: giving away money with strict conditions on how society should look is the real tell—it's about control, not generosity.
- Why does Bill Gates spend so much effort pushing people toward not eating meat and buying up farmland?
- Bill Gates controls most of the world's seeds and wants a meatless future, which is a margin play dressed up as altruism.
- Tim questions the endgame: if billionaires are engineering everyone into a genderless pod existence, who actually benefits from that world?
Bill GatesNick BostromWill MacAskillWarren Buffett
- 5 min
Tim theorizes elites want a docile, genderless, compliant population that won't own anything, tying it to "you'll own nothing and be happy" messaging and the pandemic's failure to produce a utopia, before pivoting into his Airbnb ban.
10moments
- Tim lays out the goal: a docile, genderless society where feminized men won't revolt.
- Woke ideology spreads because most people want to be good, and control mechanisms exploit that desire.
- The endgame is a slave state where corporations own everything and people work without complaint.
- Rich people write articles promoting "you'll own nothing and be happy" while owning everything themselves.
- A charitable interpretation: eliminating desire for wealth and power could theoretically free people to enjoy life.
- That's not human nature—people need things to do and reasons to live, not isolation.
- Owning a home and car provides security and independence, not just material satisfaction.
- Renting an apartment controlled by landlords is the replacement, with rules dictating noise levels and wall colors.
- Airbnb became rule-obsessed and drove people away; hotels are making a comeback as the preferred option.
- Tim claims YouTube audiences think the podcast is his guest's show, not realizing it belongs to Tim.
- 8 min
A long riff, framed as fact-checking with Jamie, about Airbnb's declining bookings due to excessive host rules like cleaning fees and no-loud-noise policies, tying into Tim's own Airbnb ban for yelling into a podcast microphone, and news articles about cities banning short-term rentals.
10moments
- Airbnb got restrictive with too many rules that make guests feel like they're not on vacation.
- Tim knows someone who rented out their home to TikTok kids and they threw constant parties, crowding the neighborhood with cars.
- Tim would record his podcast in Airbnb backyards, screaming about Meghan Markle while smoking cigarettes, angering the neighbors.
- Airbnb felt very pandemic-era; people are now gravitating back to hotels with actual maids and room service.
- Airbnb hosts report bookings have evaporated, with some seeing zero percent occupancy over the last two to three months.
- Hosts should stop telling guests to take out garbage and clean dishes themselves and instead provide actual maid service.
- Deep Covid cleaning was fake marketing that hosts charged extra for during the pandemic.
- Lake Tahoe banned short-term rentals, requiring a minimum 30-day stay, essentially putting Airbnb out of business there.
- Multiple cities like New York City and Lake Tahoe have instituted crackdowns or wholesale bans on Airbnb.
- Most Airbnbs have people watching you through cameras and surveillance; hosts claim neighbors are monitoring you so you don't party.
AirbnbMeghan MarkleLake TahoeSedonaTraeger grillMark TwainNew York City
- 2 min
Tim argues Airbnb enables hosts' voyeuristic surveillance impulses, citing a viral story of a woman who booked an abandoned, vandalized villa in Bali.
7moments
- Airbnb has monetized people's weird voyeuristic impulses and should be outlawed.
- Woman books an Airbnb in Bali only to find an abandoned villa with smashed windows.
- Tim explains why he used to enjoy Airbnbs but now understands their appeal as pretending to live somewhere else.
- Airbnb deleted his account with no process or ability to defend himself.
- Tim knew Airbnb was finished when they started asking him to clean up after himself.
- If there's a cleaning fee, guests shouldn't have to do chores—it defeats the purpose of vacation.
- Many Airbnbs are just spare rooms or garages run by people trying to make extra money with mixed results.
- 2 min
A Keeps hair-loss prevention ad, joking about bad head shapes and dyeing hair blue to take over Portland, before reading the DHT-suppression pitch and promo code.
6moments
- Keeps is for unsuccessful people who need hair, unlike naturally bald people with bad-shaped heads.
- Tim's friend uses Keeps to keep the hair he has instead of getting hair surgery, which takes five or six months.
- Experts are huge into Keeps and recommend it, though they don't tell you that upfront.
- If Tim dyed his hair blue and moved to Portland, he'd control five blocks of the city by tonight with combat boots.
- You should start taking Keeps even if you're not bald, so you'll never be bald.
- Go to keeps.com/timdillon for your first month of treatment free.
- 3 min
They discuss how pandemic remote work strained marriages by removing separate social environments, and how companies are pulling employees back into offices.
5moments
- Tim's friend and his wife both working from home nearly destroyed their marriage until they realized the necessity of separate social environments during the day.
- Remote work's appeal was freedom and autonomy, but employers responded by installing monitoring software to track clicks and screen activity.
- Workers countered surveillance by using programs that randomly move the mouse and click things to simulate activity when they weren't actually working.
- The pandemic forced people to reflect on what they actually wanted to do, leading many to permanently leave service industry jobs they hated.
- Restaurants and service establishments still feel understaffed, with long waits and openly available tables due to permanent staff departures.
- 5 min
They discuss lingering understaffing post-pandemic, government complicity revealed by the Twitter Files, and pivot into the JFK assassination as the "mother of all conspiracies" that would delegitimize the entire government if fully exposed.
8moments
- Twitter Files revealed the government was involved in conflicting pandemic information.
- Biden still won't release some of the Kennedy assassination files.
- Tucker Carlson reported on a source who says the CIA killed Kennedy.
- Michael Shermer remains convinced Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, his consistent position.
- The Magic Bullet theory was the turning point in rethinking the official Kennedy narrative.
- Kennedy assassination is the mother of all conspiracies—if a coup could happen in America, democracy is fake.
- The CIA can't let the Kennedy truth slip without claiming a rogue element acted alone.
- The term conspiracy theory was invented after the Kennedy files started emerging.
CIATucker CarlsonKennedy assassinationJeffrey EpsteinLee Harvey OswaldMichael ShermerTwitter FilesFox News
- 3 min
They discuss Tucker Carlson openly saying the CIA killed Kennedy, Michael Shermer's skepticism of conspiracies, and pivot to the unresolved Epstein case, including the fired US Virgin Islands attorney who sued JPMorgan Chase over Epstein ties and Biden's coincidental vacation there.
5moments
- Princeton University study concluded the U.S. government is an oligarchy, not a representative democracy as taught in schools.
- The Epstein case was essentially dropped despite proven victims coming forward and no arrests made in connection with the crimes.
- Andrew Tate faces human trafficking charges in Romania, but sex trafficking there is so common the cab drivers openly solicit customers.
- The U.S. Virgin Islands district attorney was fired days after suing JP Morgan Chase over Epstein ties, shortly after Biden vacationed there.
- Tim jokes Biden didn't even know where he was flying and is too old to be aware of what's happening around him.
Andrew TateJeffrey EpsteinJoe BidenJP Morgan ChasePrinceton UniversityBernie SandersKennedy
- 1 min
A brief exchange where Tim predicts Ron DeSantis will win the 2024 primary because Trump's political appeal is wearing thin.
1moment
- Tim predicts DeSantis will win in 2024
- 3 min
Tim tells a story about a QAnon-believing older woman in Aspen who insisted Trump is the real president, riffing with a Shane Gillis-style joke about Fox News moms, and theorizes QAnon is really just bored Boomers looking for fun and community.
7moments
- Tim met a QAnon believer in Aspen who grabbed him in line and insisted Donald Trump is still the real president.
- When Tim told her Trump definitely isn't president and she could Google it, she responded that "they got to you."
- Her younger daughters were embarrassed by their mother's conspiracy beliefs, which Tim compares to Shane Gillis's joke about having a Fox News mom.
- Boomers have turned politics into a sport where they're either MSNBC or Fox News, sitting in recliners with heating blankets and melted brains.
- Tim argues QAnon isn't actually a threat—it's just entertainment for elderly people who want to believe Trump's leading a secret army through tunnels.
- QAnon gave people a sense of being part of something meaningful, like they were on the verge of a major revelation.
- The breakdown of American social institutions, documented in "Bowling Alone," left communities without clubs or organizations to join together.
- 3 min
They discuss how 12 of the 14 people involved in the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot were FBI informants, and question whether the Boston Marathon bombers were similarly entangled with federal surveillance beforehand.
7moments
- People want to be part of something, and a charismatic leader like Trump exploits that desire until they're storming the Capitol.
- In the Whitmer kidnapping case, 12 out of 14 defendants were FBI informants; the two who weren't are serving long sentences.
- One of the defendants claimed the FBI coerced him into planning the entire operation.
- In the Boston Marathon bombing, the FBI said they didn't know who the Tsarnaevs were, but Russian intelligence had already warned them.
- Senator Chuck Grassley questioned the FBI about surveillance in the Tsarnaevs' neighborhood the night MIT officer Sean Collier was killed.
- The FBI's explanation for being near MIT that night—that they were there for a separate reason—raised more questions than answers.
- During a routine interview at a friend's house, four FBI agents were present when one of the Tsarnaevs' friends ended up dead from gunshots.
Chuck GrassleyDonald TrumpFBIGraham FullerBoston BomberSean CollierWhitmer case
- 5 min
A deep dive into Michelle McPhee-style theories about the Boston Marathon bombing, including the Tsarnaev family's odd CIA connections, FBI surveillance the night an MIT officer was killed, and the death of a Tsarnaev friend during FBI questioning.
8moments
- Tim discusses FBI entrapment tactics and a 19-year-old in Dallas whom agents talked into activating a fake bomb they provided.
- The FBI's operational methods stay hidden because revealing them would concern the public, though infiltrating genuinely dangerous organizations does prevent real attacks.
- Boston Marathon bombing conspiracy theory: the FBI either recruited the Tsarnaev brothers or was in the process of doing so when the real bomb detonated.
- The conspiracy hinges on whether the FBI covered up a pre-existing relationship with the bombers or actively instigated the attack by providing materials.
- Twelve out of fourteen Jihadis cases involved special administrative measures restricting trial information, yet the government claims they weren't connected to overseas terrorist cells.
- The public is conditioned to accept official narratives without scrutiny; questioning details makes you seem insane because actual conspiracy theorists muddy legitimate inquiries.
- Serial killer cases like Son of Sam demonstrate that official stories may be incomplete—David Berkowitz may not have committed all the murders attributed to him.
- A recent article surfaced about a Boston Marathon bombing suspect found with a pressure cooker bomb matching the one used, who also knew Tamil and had connections to the area.
FBIBoston Marathon bombingDavid BerkowitzChrissy TeigenMeghan Markle
- 4 min
Tim advises consuming conspiracy theories like junk food in moderation, comparing QAnon to Denny's, while acknowledging you'll never actually learn the full truth about events like Boston or JFK.
9moments
- Michelle McPhee wrote a book about the Boston Marathon bombing questioning the official story.
- Tim trusts people more if they've punched a cop while drunk.
- You'll never know what really happened with major events—nobody will figure it out.
- Tim advises rationing conspiracy consumption like a diet rather than telling people not to care.
- Q Anon compared to everyday junk food—it doesn't even make sense nutritionally.
- He tried to buy a Comanche artifact as a gift but the Comanche Museum won't sell artifacts to people.
- The Comanche were nomadic warriors who mastered horsemanship and prevented settlement of the Plains.
- Comanche warriors could shoot arrows while hanging sideways from galloping horses, using the horse's body as a shield.
- Whether it's Avatar or Top Gun, people will be upset about any major movie regardless of content.
Michelle McPheeEmpire of the Summer MoonComancheBoston Marathon
- 4 min
Tim recounts trying and failing to buy a Comanche artifact as a Christmas gift, leading into a discussion of the book "Empire of the Summer Moon" and the Comanche's mastery of mounted archery warfare.
9moments
- Tim argues the Navi in Avatar are short-sighted for rejecting the sky people's offers of money and profit instead of pursuing progress and tourism.
- Avatar made audiences depressed in 2009 because the Navi's lifestyle resonated with how people wished they could live.
- Nature is actually terrible—getting bit by bugs the size of birds, skin cancer—which is why people prefer enclosed spaces like casinos and Dubai.
- Tim promotes his website and live comedy tickets at timdilloncomedy.com.
- He's touring clubs to build material before moving to theaters in the fall.
- Tim says he never wants to work New Year's Eve but does it every year when offered the opportunity.
- Someone advised him to do something on New Year's that he wants to do for the entire year ahead.
- Don Lemon was criticized for missing the countdown on New Year's Eve.
- New Year's Eve audiences want noisemakers and little horns to blow during the countdown.
AvatarDon LemonDubaiIrvine Improv
- 4 min
They joke about outrage over Avatar's portrayal of Native Americans via the Na'vi, argue the Na'vi are naive for rejecting progress and tourism money, and Tim declares nature itself overrated compared to indoor attractions like Dubai and casinos.
9moments
- Tim complains that a New York Year's Eve countdown is completely fake and doesn't correspond to the actual city.
- Doing countdowns was part of the contract requirement for early shows, though Tim says he won't do them next year.
- Audiences love being corralled and told when to applaud—they enjoy the orchestrated nature of it.
- Talk show tapings use illuminated Applause signs and producers waving at crowds to manufacture cheering that isn't organic.
- Tim wonders if hosts like Seth Meyers have any say in guest selection on their own shows.
- The appeal of running a podcast is being able to choose your own guests instead of having them assigned.
- Tim did an acting gig with three lines where the director criticized him for passing a book differently each take.
- After seventeen takes and feedback that he kept moving his hands inconsistently, the director eventually told Tim he did a really good job.
- The director and other actor on set seemed upset during filming, though they were nice to Tim afterward.
- 4 min
Tim discusses being dropped from a Hot Ones booking, then recounts a tense acting experience where a director was frustrated with his inconsistent prop handling across takes, and muses about whether he'd want to pursue more acting roles.
10moments
- Tim on why he wouldn't take a five-month acting gig even if CAA said it would open doors.
- Podcasting and stand-up are the only things Tim feels genuinely good at because he actually worked at them.
- The problem with being too free as a comedian: directors become less excited about you once you've developed your own audience.
- Tim would want any movie role to be a cult classic, not a marquee performance like Bert Kreischer's 'The Machine.'
- Tim pitches himself as playing a corrupt mortgage guy—but only far enough past 2008 that people aren't angry anymore.
- Tim claims he's rehabilitated the image of subprime mortgage sales people through his comedy.
- Borrowers in the 2008 crisis weren't victims—they were given money and wanted it, and everyone played the game until the chairs ran out.
- Tim bought a house at 22 with no money, and it lost $350,000 in value when he sold it five years later.
- Tim wouldn't sell someone something he wouldn't sell himself—he was a cocaine addict who wanted a house.
- After losing his house, Tim moved into a dump and did stand-up for three years, which were the best years of his life.
- 1 min
Tim and his guest exchange quick thanks to close out the episode.
1moment
- Tim thanks the host and audience as the segment ends.