Choppy Watters

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to Love It or Leave It. Live from Hollywood.

“I'm John Love It and to paraphrase Donnie pardon you cost a lot of money to look this bad.”

We've got a great show for you tonight, but first let's get into it.

What a week. [APPLAUSE] On Monday Treasury Secretary Scott Beson announced an economic day for Iran. In the second world war, D-Day marked the historic beginning of a campaign with our allies to target and drive the enemy from its positions, including those in third countries.

Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe. And this D-Day twists were supposed to root for the Nazis. [LAUGHTER] Beson went on to warn other nations to cut ties with Iran or face the retaliation of the United

States. Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system, the clock just started ticking. And to show that he mean business, best not revealed that ticking clock drawn by the president himself.

[LAUGHTER] It turns out, in reality, the operation doesn't do much of anything right now. It's about future economic pressure. This led to a revealing moment during the press conference. But D-Day wasn't a threat of an invasion and the US didn't give a timeline to Germany.

So why not impose the sanctions today? Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity, the to remedy bad behavior.

“Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”

[LAUGHTER] Hey, man. If what you're proposing would blow up the global financial system, they wouldn't suggest to Iran and other countries that you aren't actually committed to following through on the threat.

How is this guy so bad at putting on a convincing act?

How do we get the one gay guy who never went to theater camp?

Meanwhile, back in North America, trading negotiations with Canada broke down over a slew of last-minute proposed changes by the Trump administration. This included a demand-- this is real-- by the United States-- that Canada no longer require bilingual labels for products sold in Quebec. Ironically, Trump is attacking a bunch of people who love fries and hate immigrants for

refusing to learn the language. It's just that that language happens to be French. Oh, that's not French, added the French. Trump announced a 25 to 50 percent tariff on imported cars, trucks, and auto parts.

“Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs and threatened to revoke access to their most important”

straight, Ryan Reynolds. Then Ontario premier dug forward, responded bluntly to Trump during a radio appearance. Well, he can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned. We're going to go out of him. Full steam.

I know it's probably not helpful long-term, but I love when other countries' trumps attack ours. It's like Godzilla vs. Mothroff, they both had gout. Ford later said the following about Trump, "You know, some have been in this game a long longer than he has, I guess, skin on me like an alligator, and you think an insult

from him hurts me?" "Well, bring it on, buddy. I'm ready. Bring it on." This skin tastes nothing like alligator, said RFK Jr. after killing and eating.

Ontario premier, Doug Ford. Continuing to post through a Trump wrote that the U.S. is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Good ones set a farmer bankrupted by tariffs and fuel costs. I guess I'll put rocks in my pockets and walk into Lake America.

And on Tuesday, Canada came back with even more retaliatory tariffs, of up to 50% on aluminum foil dishwashers, locomotives, and fish. It wasn't good fish anyhow, said RFK Jr. eating a locomotive. Then it was J.D. Vance's turn to defend this trade war at a speech in Maine. "Canada and China have been the two worst countries when it come to trade policy anywhere

in the world. What a shame that is. We have to remember, Canada is a state. Sorry. It was actually an accident." It's just hitting me that this guy is going to run for president

next year. We're going to be enduring this shit for fucking years. And it could be longer if Democrats have a bruising primary and then somehow accidentally nominate Joe Biden again. Vance also delivered this charming anecdote.

"The second lady said, "Well, you could have one or two things.

You can be vice president or you can have a fourth child.

Wow, men.

They really can't have it all.

“Maine was just the latest stop on Vance's tour having used his Friday appearance at”

a Ohio steel mill to attack Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul L. Sayad. "I'd love to go back in time and tell my papal that there's a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticizing your vice supremacist," J.D. Vance emerges through a portal in the living room of a middle town Ohio home in 1997.

Who are you? What are you doing in my house as James Lee Vance? It's me, Papua. It's J.D. from the future. And guess what?

I'm vice president of the United States. My grandson, vice president. I'm so proud. After all the hardships you faced, I knew you'd be the next Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

No grandpa, opposite, opposite, shut up, listen, in Michigan.

They're running this guy of dual. He wants to impose Sharia law, or at least that's the lie I'm telling about him. Oh, I don't know what Sharia law is.

“We haven't been told to be afraid of that yet.”

Oh, fuck. Okay. Okay. So you know 9/11, wait. Of course you know.

Wait, what am I doing? Grandpa. Call the FBI. They want to learn to take off but not to look. And then the portal closed and J.D. is grandfather assuming he must have been dreaming.

Turned off Veronica's closet and headed upstairs. And headed upstairs hoping that for once a teenage J.D. Vance wasn't in the hall bathroom masturbating. And seen. Yeah.

Speaking of a duel, he appeared on Fox News on Monday and had this exchange with Jesse Waters. So you're a doctor, right? So you think it's okay for a parent to slap you, so it's a good thing. You think that's okay?

“I mean, do you really want to have this conversation?”

Are you circumcised? Yeah. But I mean, that's all. Jesse, are you? Personal question.

Okay. Docs. So you're probably should want to move on. Ironically, it was a duel who kept getting cut off. And it was Waters who's dingling actually moved because here he was discussing that interview

the next day. In this case, I thought the interview was fine. He was, I thought it was compelling, he's a confident guy, kind of a guy's guy, but I don't trust him. You know, I like him, I don't want to like him.

I like him for some stupid reason, but he's not right for Michigan. Look, the heart wants what it wants. And in this case, in this case, Jesse Waters' heart wants Sharia Law. Speaking of people worried about their manhood. Pete Heggseth explained the changes he's made to the Department of Defense.

Now that it's been rebranded as the Department of War. This is a new department with a new focus on our core mission, where we're restoring the warrior ethos. And that means a focus and unrelenting, uncompromising focus on lethality. It means no more DEI.

It means no more trainees, just training. Based on how the Iran War is going, maybe we try the trainees. Republicans have all convinced themselves that trans people are unstoppable in the water. And yet you don't want their help with the Strait of War moves. Trump isn't just lashing out against Canada, Iran, trans people.

There are also buildings that are now making him angry. The Trump administration is now threatening to literally demolish the Kennedy Center if their plans for that building can't move forward, including adding Trump's name to the facade despite not having congressional approval. And I say, go ahead, you little freak tear down.

We'll find other places to sing a dance, like wherever Trump is ultimately buried. Now, if Trump's plans for the renovation cannot be enacted, Trump's DOJ lawyers have threatened that, quote, "the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River

that has been proposed by some for many years.

Actually, I've never felt better, said the Kennedy Center, posing with a lane chow.

And finally, musician and icon Dolly Parton, who was born in a one-room cabin and rose to become one of the most famous musicians on earth who gave over 300 million books to children around the world through her charity and who personally funded the development of the COVID vaccine. The one person beloved by all Americans has died at age 80.

Oops, wrong 80-year-old blond said, "God, my bad." And we've got a divine show for you tonight. We'll be right back with Josh Johnson. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of love and relief it coming up.

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Check out. And we're back! Josh Johnson will be out in just a moment, but first, if you haven't already. Don't forget to check out Long Play. It is our mini-series about what it will take for Democrats to win again in the South.

It's hosted by our friend and former White House colleague, Jennifer Palmary, Jenna joined by award-winning journalist, Erin Haynes, and former New Orleans Mayor, Mitch Lancher. Jen Erin and Mitch have spent months traveling across the South from North Carolina to Texas. They spoke him with voters, politicians, strategists, and organizers to discover what it will take to finally turn the South blue again.

You can binge the entire series right now by heading to Long Play series on YouTube or check it out wherever you get your podcast. And if you're in LA, you can still get tickets for this show, love to leave it at crgad.com/events. You've got some great guests coming up. And my first guest tonight tells jokes on TV, YouTube, and theaters across the country.

And now on this very stage, please give it up for Josh Johnson. Hi, how are you, nice to meet you, thanks for being here. What's happening? Not too much. How are you?

Nice to meet you. So I just want to say, I am annoyed by how much good material you produce as a single human being moving through the world. Oh, thank you. I did a bit frustrating.

That's nice. Because you're very good and there's a lot of it. Oh, thank you. You know? That's really, that's really kind of.

Because famously, there's like a choice between quality and quantity. And you said, no, I'll do them both. Yeah, I was designed to give it a try. Yeah.

“Why do you think other people choose between the two if you don't have to?”

Oh, I mean, I can't answer for them. Yeah. But I think that what people might be responding to is that I'm genuinely interested in the things that I talk about. And I think that when someone's genuinely interested, it can breed interest in the person

that they're talking to.

If it's something that never would have occurred to you or you don't think is interesting,

you know? Like, have you ever watched cards yet, Sue? What's cards yet, Sue? It is where these two people get into a car. They start off with a seat belt on.

And then when the ref says go, they try to choke each other out with their seat belts and stuff. It is one of the most fascinating things to watch because it's like, first of all, has a sport. Like, first of all, who, like, who?

Because we know Jiu Jitsu is a thing. Who was like, yeah, but like, what about in a car? Like, that's a wild thing.

“And I think if you talk about it, you're genuinely interested in it.”

Now, somebody might even check it out. One of you might go to youtube.com after this and type in car Jitsu. And then, Sue, like, an incredible, I mean, there's one guy who straight up leans

It looks like something from a Jason Bourne movie. Wow, I think I'd lose. Because I don't think I'm, I don't, I'd say maybe it would like get rid of some of my disadvantages. I think I'm small.

Okay. You know, I don't know how to fight. Gotcha. Right.

“So I think on a big flat, open plane, I'm at real risk of losing, to really anybody.”

And though, maybe in the car, it being just strange, space, but I think I'll actually quite, I'd panic pretty quick. But if you know how the car works as well, it helps. Because it was this one guy who this guy was trying to grab a seat belt and wrap it around his neck real quick.

And he just reclined. Like, he just, no. He just leaned right back, dude, didn't know what to do. Oh, yeah. You got to have the manual because if you just pressed the button, you're like, mmm, yeah.

That sucks. Have you seen, um, uh, chess boxing, do you know what I'm talking about? Yes. Where people, they, they, they fight for around and then they play chess. Yes.

That seems, that seems fun. That seems great because you're good at one or the other. Right. And depending, depending on how good you are at the boxing, you might influence some of the chess game.

If you can really concuss your opponent before you get back to the board. Right. Like, you think, like, no, no, no, I put all my points in charisma and intelligence. They're like, no, I put, I'm barbarian. I put all my points into strength.

It's a strength. I have a hook. Yeah. Yeah. So you're fucked.

You know, chess wise. Yeah. You know, 'cause you'll forget what they all do. Do you play chess? No.

I've always thought, oh, man, I hear this idea of thinking too moves ahead.

Yes. And that seems like a cool skill to have in life. Yes. But I don't have it. No, no, no.

Okay. You can build it. I can't chess. And I'm not good at all. I'm actually pretty bad.

But I'm getting just good enough to know when something bad about to happen to me. Yeah. Like, sometimes someone will make a move, and I'm like, that doesn't seem good at all. But I don't know how to get out of it, but I still, that's the thinking too moves ahead. Wow.

Because I don't know what's going to happen, but I know it's bad and it's probably going to happen soon. I often fail to think more than a move ahead in life as well. Okay. I'm not a really strategic person in my kind of day-to-day.

You know, I'll often, like, miss-handle a social moment, or there was an obvious move I could have made. But I just didn't do that. But I don't do moves. I just sort of say what I sort of, I sort of will lose on process.

You know what I'm saying? Are you panicked, though? Do you have a lot? So, I used to think I didn't have anxiety, and then I went to something called therapy. I don't know if you've heard of it.

It's kind of like catching on. You don't really have to do it. You can do it like two or three times in your life, and that's all you need. And so I did it two or three times, and I said, I don't have anxiety, and then she asked me a couple questions, and the end of it, she's like, no, no, no.

You're always anxious 100% of the time.

That's just what you think being alive is. You were like, you're like the Hulk of anxious, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. I'm always anxious. You remember that same phrase?

Yeah. That's my secret. I'm always anxious. So, you are making these, you're making kind of specials about topical politics all the time, but you now have a new special out.

It is more about you, and kind of more personal stories. Did it take more time to develop? Did you just do it in the same rhythm that you do, kind of covering the news? I don't really think about things as far as how long they take personally, because I think that there have been times where I've been working on something all week, and then I realize

“maybe it comes show time, it's not the best thing, so I'll pivot and do something else.”

And sometimes you have like a spark of inspiration, you just write all day before the show, and so I think that when it comes to what I do on YouTube weekly, versus the HBO special is like the weekly is more meant to be topical of the moment, things that I'm feeling, or just responding to in the world, and then things like the HBO special are more meant to be timeless, you won't find a lot of like data references in them, and stuff like

that, and the hope there is that people will watch it a long time. From now, maybe decades from now, and the weekly is more, I understand it eventually. It doesn't seem like we're gonna get there now, but I watch old and listen to old stand-up from albums, from even the Nixon era, and it's crazy how you can tell because the person's killing, that the thing is funny, but you just have no frame of reference at all for who

waters is. Like, they'll be like, "Ah, Senator, water is this idea, and like everyone's dying, but then you're like, I, yeah, I don't know, I don't know what he looks like, so I don't get the tie joke or whatever." Yeah.

And then there's like the Bob Newhart specials, and those are still good. Yeah. Tell me what you think about there, as I make a topical show, week after week after week, after week, basically. Yeah, but they started to get my life.

They started different purposes. Yeah, they started different purposes. Yeah, they started different purposes.

“And also I think that there are best hubs that you can take that more speak to a thing”

that will always have with us, that that will become timeless.

If you have a joke about corruption, people are going to across cultures even be able to insert whoever there, leader is who is corrupt in that place. Wow, maybe even aliens. Probably aliens. We feel like maybe aliens haven't visited because it's us.

Like we keep being like, well, if they're out there while they say something, it's like,

“do you say something when you hear a couple shouting in the next hotel room over?”

Like what it just seems like a couple is like really having the last argument. Is that when you want to hop in and be like, "Hey, y'all, I'm here too." Yeah, maybe they've just been saying, maybe we'll just see if it comes down and stop

by and it just never has, because it's always been kind of going, because even when

we think of it as being a generally peaceful time, it's not really a whole part of the planet or kind of in a state of kind of war or horror, you know, there has been a great time to land, because even as we've made more advances and become more knowledgeable about ourselves and the universe, if you're an alien, you're still like, "Oh, if I land, they don't necessarily treat people who look different, great."

Yeah, we're not creating a welcoming environment for the aliens. No, but through AM radio, we are sending them jazz and stuff like that, like that totally. Like if they like, if they like Prince enough, they'll still come. Yeah, and maybe they'd like, we want to go to that part of Minnesota, we want to go to that part of Minnesota where the kids are all above average.

That is a specific restaurant reference to a Prairie Home Companion, and I'm so sorry. When you were right, what was I doing back to you? So on your tour, people take a personality quiz before they go and they get assigned a quality or an animal, and then they dress as that animal or the colors of that animal to come to the show.

And you were saying backstage that you really love JK Rowling, but not the Harry Potter stuff. Well, I don't even know what to do with that.

But so you basically sort me, it's like a sorting hat, it's like a sorting hat, but it's

a little different. Yeah, JK Rowling did not occur to me, but what the person out of quiz. Oh, sorry, it didn't mean there. Yeah, yeah.

“I think that I make it weird, so what I was saying?”

No, you're fine. You're fine. You're fine. No, I'm not anxious. No, what are you?

But anyway, let's say true personality quiz, I was a yellow jacket. You're a yellow jacket? I got yellow jacket because I create a lot of buzz, that's what it says. I didn't just say that. That's not a joke.

It was like part of it. Because I'm like, you know, yeah, I build community. I build community. Yeah. I build community.

But what is it that you're trying to do by having people kind of, I don't know, like, do the person out. It's not like quiz show up, like it's a sort of camp theme to. So the whole reason that I created a comedy band camp is when I was a kid.

“I really wanted to go to like a camp that, for any like 90s babes in here, you remember”

bug juice and shows like that, like there was this idea that I have before camp could be. And even if it didn't exist, I just didn't get the opportunity to go. We didn't have money for like a summer's long type of camp or anything. And I really wanted to create one.

And so I never really learned to play music or dance the way I thought you might

at an arts camp or something, but I started doing comedy and I made friends with all these incredible artists. And so I made something with all my friends for the people that come to the show, like this sort of camp experience I always wanted to have. Because it's very much possible to give people something that you never got.

And this is my form of doing that. And so, you know, you take the person out of quiz. And it won. It's fun. I love quizzes. I love like learning little things about myself and my friends, but also you show up at the show and you already have an icebreaker to meet other people who are in your troupe.

So sometimes people dress up like you said, they either get the shirt that's from their troupe or they come in the colors or something. If they already have those colors at home and you already have like a marker as soon as you show up at the show for people who you know answered the quiz the way that you did or you know you have things in common with and everything.

And so it's just one of the aspects to the show that I'd like people to play with. I went to Jewish summer camp, but it was a sports camp and you know, they figure out who the gay kids are. And so then I get cordoned off with the gay kids, but then at the end of the summer, they got to figure out the give everybody awards and they got to figure out what to give to the kids that don't play sports and it's a sports camp.

And I remember one time I got a plaque that said most improved colon nature.

I think maybe you got better at being outside.

“Maybe that's how they, maybe that first day they were like, wow, he doesn't want to be”

here at all. And then by the last day you're like, all right, he's only mildly excited to go home. Yeah. Well there's a point if there's a point also which the other kids figure out your gay and then you got to get out of there.

Nope, fair enough. Now we know you're quick to turn around and take. So time to put your takes to the test and a rapid fire segment. We're calling the take machine. Okay.

I'm going to give you a topic on the news and you'll have to share your take on it 15 seconds just a quick take. Oh, geez, okay. Here we go. All right.

David Ellison threatens to move Paramount to Tennessee. What? Do you know what? Like Tennessee is a weird pick, is all I'm saying. Like is he, is that a punishment to Paramount to his own company or is that a punishment

for Tennessee? I think it, yeah, we create a lot of weather. I think it's his way of saying, well, Tennessee is hopping. People are moving to Nashville, Bachelorette party, and so forth. What if Paramount was there?

They got, you know, they don't have as much of they don't have the lips governing. I feel like he didn't think this through. Yeah. I don't think, I don't, yeah, do you think he's really going to do it? I think he's really threatening to do it.

Yeah, but really threatening and really doing are very different things.

“Well, here's the thing, by being governed by a collection of capricious and kind of”

irrationally motivated billionaires, or have deeply brittle egos. Yeah. Like, do I think it is rational to move all these people from Paramount to Nashville, even if that kind of destroys a lot of the value that you have from being a city like Los Angeles, which is filled with the most talented people on earth, not talking about actors and directors.

I'm talking about the people that make things. They make the people that are below the line, like that, this is where, I mean, a lot of people have felt like they've had to move, because the business has not been working here. But even still, that talent is here, and maybe you would say, well, hold on.

If you move Paramount to Tennessee, that would really hurt the company and I lose a lot of value.

But when you're a billionaire with so much money that you could never spend when all

of it is just numbers in a ledger, you can be irrational and do a lot of damage and not feel it. And so you are now kind of at the, you're kind of hoping that someone would do the right thing. But I don't know.

Next up, Jason Kelsey suggests you mail your piss to AI data centers. I think mailing is kind. I think you could just go that mail is a whole thing. You've got to get a container and you've got to get postage, whatever. You could just go piss.

Yeah, he just go piss. Yeah, go piss at the data center. But boy, I feel like if you're working for PR for the data center people, the AI companies,

“somebody puts this, you're like, God, I think I'm bad in my job.”

I feel like if it's kind of cool for Jason Kelsey to talk about literally mailing piss to something. Like you kind of lost yourself, you've lost the argument a bit. Not just that. It's like these places, these data centers, they promised all these jobs that they obviously

were never going to fulfill and the whole job.

Like workforce, there is like two security guards to just make sure that people don't blow the place up. That is not enough people to stop people from pissing on a data center. Like if you showed up with a whole army, and we're talking, they got the water bottle autumn.

They're just full of piss. Like everybody is. The to the point where they even kind of waterling when they walk up to the data center. And then they just start letting loose. Security guard going to be able to stop one, maybe two.

But also you don't want to be pissed on. So then as security guard, you go be like, hey, hey, stop. Which people will eventually, but not before they're done. Right. It's such an important point.

It's like you're a security guard for this data center and like, why am I getting pissed on to protect the shareholder value of Nvidia? Yes. This isn't the life I wanted. No.

This isn't the life I wanted for myself, protecting this humming empty chamber of servers. Security outer add more boobs to different pictures and dirtying the water and dirtying the water. Yeah. Yeah.

That's certain point you just have to be like, hi, who am I protecting? Like one of my favorites is whenever there's like a robbery attempt on like a brink's truck or anything like that, and then the person is like, you know what? This is insured. This is not my issue.

Like they like fully are like, look, take it if you want, take it. I'm not risking my life. Yeah. This is my, this is my problem with the film Home Alone because that is a, that is a film about a little boy trying to prevent his family from hitting a deductible.

Yeah. You know what you think about it? Yeah. I'm sorry, that takes a little bit of the joy out of it, but it's like, but it's like, what could there be deductible be on a 1992 house in Chicago with an umbrella policy?

By the way, maybe they already did some work early in the year. They had one problem with an air conditioner. It's December. It's fucking Christmas.

And it's only through plot armor that he's not a murderer, because half the stuff would have killed Eddie Bot. Like even as a kid while I was watch, I was like, no, he touches those two things and let's shoot himself, he'll die. Like he touches these, he'll die.

And then he, you know, grabs a, and then he falls back, but I'm like, no, that's a dead guy. You can actually, if you wanted to have a meter for how many times they die, if it was real life, and it's more than 17. Yeah.

Plus the third degree burns on the top of his head.

Yeah, yeah. That's gruesome.

“And that some of it's just like injuries after the fact, you know?”

How many times can a person be hitting the hit with like a brick? I'm a big fan of the movie and the franchise and everything, but just wolf. Every once in a while, you see someone get knocked out in a movie. And as someone who's like head friends actually be knocked out through accidents and stuff, it's like, to be unconscious for like even a second is pretty bad, right?

And when you're unconscious for like the five minutes, it takes for them to set a new scene. That's a coma. Yeah. You're in a coma. Yeah.

You're in a coma. Like in Star Trek about. And then you're out.

It's like, well, that's bad.

Yeah. Like I love when, especially martial arts movies when someone's like, I'm going. And they're like, I'm going with you and it's like, no, you're not, no, I'm going with you. We're in this fight together.

And then the protest is like, okay. And then they turn around. They're like, like, just to the back of the head, they're not coming out. And it's like, when they wake up, the person's not there. But in my mind, I'm like, so you're willing to kill him just to not let him go.

Yeah. Because you don't know when he's going to wake up, you just know you left him. It's just not very heroic thing to do, but we just keep letting it slide. Over and over again, through decades of kung fu movies. I'll tell you what'll knock you out, Josh on his comedy band, Camp Tour in a City

near you. Yeah. His HBO special Symphony is streaming now on HBO Max. And you watch him on the Daily Show on Comedy Central, Josh will be back for the Red Wheel.

And we'll be right back with Dustin on That's Black. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of love at her leave it coming up. Love at her leave it is brought to you by him's losing weight as one thing with feeling your best to summer.

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See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit BetterHelp.com/loved, that's BetterHELP.com/loved. And we're back! My next guest, one in Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Milk, he is also the writer of films like Rustin and Jay Edgar, please welcome, Dustin Lance Black.

Hi, welcome, so good to see you. Now, hi, hi. So you also have a new documentary series. Yeah, it's coming out. And you talked to Dolly Pardon for it.

I do, I know my heart broke earlier today, because the documentary is about the queer

But her manager, who she came up with, was Sandy Gallon, who had a lot of other acts. And she went in the documentary and talked about how important it was to her to have a gay manager, someone who was who thought outside of the box because you had to as a gay man in that time.

And who she could also just because they had no money at first, share hotel rooms, and

her husband wasn't pissed off about it. So they, you know, became best of friends, and you know, that tribute in this documentary series was already a beautiful thing, I think. And now, from someone who has had the back of LGBTQ people, really early on, included them in her lives.

And as a genre of music, where that's not common, that kind of courage is going to be hard to find again. We'll she'll be missed. Yeah, she's a real cool lady. Hey, remember, Jay Agar?

Yeah. Yeah, he liked to suck the, you know, as well. He did. Yeah. He was into it.

Do you think he liked the sausage party?

Do you think he would like the movie, Jay Agar?

Ging, Jay Agar? What do you think Jay Agar would have said if he said it? What do you think of Jay Agar Hoover? Saw the film. I want you all to know about this.

Yeah, well. I went to the house.

“I went to the house that he shared with his second charge, you know, because that's what”

you do in Washington, DC, right? And you could tell no one had ever slept in the other bedroom. It was all really, really obvious. So what he'd like it, I really hope not, I wish he would have liked it less. I wish it would have, you know, Clint Eastwood would have gone on for it even more.

Because, because that motherfucker, I want to see him rolling around in his grave, very uncomfortable knowing that that's out there. Yeah. Hey, Clint Eastwood, I think he'd be hard to make chit chat with, like between takes. No.

Really? Yeah, he's great. He, you know, takes a talk, taking to chairs, and that was the moment. That was awkward. Yeah.

Well, he's not for a bit and didn't totally work, but you know what I respect people that go for the bit. But what was he likely to make him, like, he is one of the great directors. He's also one of the great actors. Has a very kind of, I don't know, he seems taciturn, you know, sort of presentation.

He's really cool. I mean, he really is cool like that. And you want a story? You want a story? Yes.

I remember there was this moment when we were filming and Leonardo DiCaprio's on the ground, and he's about to get kissed after a big fight seen by a guy, and Army Hammer. And he, and we're rolling cameras, and Leo says, hey, stop. How do you want this to be, Clint? What do you want this to be like?

This kiss? What do you want it to be like?

And Clint Eastwood just looked at me and he's like, I don't know, I've never kissed a dude

before. And so I was brought in. I was brought in as the expert. Wow. It was like a game consultant.

Yeah, I had to let him know how I would have liked and boy growing up when I did.

“I really imagined many times when you were like, you know what?”

Army step out. Let me show you. I wanted to. I wanted to. He also taught me to foster my teeth to stay alive longer.

Oh, really? Yeah. That's a good thing. It was actually a really cool guy. Well, I was thinking, like, films that are dramatized stories about real people.

I sometimes think we've watched, like, say good fellows or films that are ostensibly about real people, but so leave that behind. Like, does it matter that it's about a real person versus, like, when you tell a story about someone like Jager Hoover or Harvey Milk, two writers might take the same source material, same history, same real material, and then write scenes that are completely different.

Different point of view, different perspective, and they would both work, and they would both be part of a true story. So what is true about the story in the parts that you're writing from your mind? Well, I mean, it is easier to do fiction. That's where I started.

It's a real trick and to do nonfiction and biographies.

“The first thing you have to do is figure out what is it about, right?”

Because if you're just about a person in a timeline and nostalgia, forget it, that's going to be dry as dirt. So you figure out what it's about, what is its purpose, how is it going to be a chaos bomb? You drop into the culture and it shakes the right stuff apart.

I mean, Milk was that in many ways. And so once you know that, you just start to build the story around that and you start to find the pieces of the real story, you can put in it to try and achieve that to get that thing to be explosive. So, you know, with people like Byrd Rustin and Harvey Milk, it's pretty easy because

they live to that way, but sometimes it's a challenge. But are you thinking, are you proactively thinking what are the ways in which I can use this real story and these real experiences to shed light on what's happening today or do

because obviously you're living in the present.

Yeah, I mean, by the time I'm done with the research, I'm pretty sure I know why it's necessary. Sometimes I give up after quite some time because I go, you know, it's not, it's not there.

“I don't know how that has anything to do with tomorrow, right?”

It's got to have to do with tomorrow. Nobody wants to go watch nostalgia, like it's just not going to succeed. And so, I do centered around that and I remind myself of that every time I get lured into a writing a scene because the truth of what happens at that moment is so fascinating. I go, yeah, but is it necessary or is it going to get in the way?

And those are, it's really hard, you know, writers say that's like killing your precious children. And, but you got to do it or else it loses focus, especially in movies. TV, you can play a little more, but in movies. It has to be really tight.

Yeah, to be really tight. Yeah. Does that mean that if you were to write a screenplay about Harvey Milk right now, you would tell a different version, like how different of a story would you tell given how much things have changed since I was 2008, 2009?

Yeah, I was 2008, 2006, '78 when I was writing it. And do you know what's really sad, upsetting? It would be almost the same now. Because I feel like, you know, many of the movements that I care about and not just the LGBT movement, but the women's movement, the movement to be able to pray to whoever you

like, the color of your skin should that matter more than your character, as Dr. King says. These are things I really care about. And in 2006, '78, as we were watching Proposition 8 come, which was going to take away the right to marry in this state, our movement was so fractured.

It was so beat up, the coalitions that Harvey had built in the '70s between racial minority movements, seniors, unions.

“And that's how we got elected, it wasn't just gay people.”

And that's how we beat Proposition 6 in a far more homophobic time, same thing, statewide. And I was watching it, and I'm looking at right now, and I go, we're falling for it. I'm guilty of it two sometimes. We're falling for it, meaning unless someone from a different, you know, rights movement agrees with me on everything, we reject them in that purity test.

And we get divided, and you see people stern it up on the right. They'd love to stir it up, you know, and so no, actually sadly, I think we learned the lessons in 2009, I think, to film helped it.

We had this incredible period of progress, where we were working together, arms were locked.

And I've just been watching, I've been living in London, watching from afar how the coalitions have been falling apart. And so, you know, when I saw Trump running again, I thought inevitable. And we can, we've weakened ourselves. Now, I thought it's going to lose.

So now, you're making this documentary, which we talked about, which you spoke to

“Dali for, it's called Rockout, it's about queer figures in rock and roll history, but also”

about your brother who was a musician. What is the connection to your brother? And what are some of the things people might not realize about the influence of gay people in rock, who was secretly gay, too, by the way, if anyone-- Oh, there's a lot of that.

I don't give you all of them, but you know, one of the stories, and I'll go back to my brother that I loved, was Arthur Baker, who did the song "Fire," and he had this gay manager, one of the biggies, Kit Lambert, who had who. And he said, he just rushed in, he said, "I just saw the craziest thing. I just walked in on Jimmy Hendrix and Jim Morrison, and they're making out."

And Kit Lambert says, "What do you expect them to do?" They're rock stars. So yeah, there's a good bit about, and drugs, I assume, were involved. I mean, I hope they were having a very good time. Right, personally.

Yeah, yeah. I think people-- I think a lot of coconut things happen. Yeah. I have never seen it.

I've read about it in my books. And then back to the video games for me. Yeah, good, good, good, then. My brother was not a musician, but he loved music. This is the getting back to the reason, because, you know, if you're making documentaries,

you're not making documentaries to make money, let's be real. That's not the point. So my big brother, who was into punk and metal, and rock and roll, really, butch, came out to me, shocked me, while we were filming milk. The whole family was surprised.

I was like, are you sure this isn't a face? 'Cause he'd always--

He'd always worn leather, he worked as an auto mechanic, and not that kind of leather, like, you

know, punk metal leather. I'd always say he'd always wear leather, or if you don't know, I'm just thinking about

But that became the issue, is that he moved in with me, left Virginia, where it was

“still illegal, you couldn't have a job, or he could be fired if you're gay.”

And he moved out to California, and after a few months, he was even more depressed. And I come home, and he's sitting on the back patio, and he's lined up his brawl reds, and his beers, and I know he's in the state, and he just says, "Where are the gay people like me?" And I said something, "I'll regret," I said, "I don't know."

I mean, I know where there's leather queens, but that's more SNM than rock and roll. And you know, that's more machismo than his music world, and, you know, he would be gone, he would die within the next year or so, and just in that kind of loneliness. And I'm a man, what? I was kicking myself forever, I went, it's one thing to be an outsider, because you're

gay, but imagine being an outsider who's into music that makes you more of an outsider, punk and metal, and you're an outsider in that outsider group. That's really lonely.

“And so I just started digging when I had the opportunity, and some time I freed up, and”

I started finding out that not only are gay and lesbian and trans people in the rock metal scene, that actually we helped build it, and there's a really good reason we were the ones to build rock and roll, and if in the documentary it gets deep into that. That's cool. So who was secretly gay?

There's also a great, I got, no, but I love that stuff. Which needle? No, I don't know. John Lynn. There is a thing on John Lynn.

Oh, really? You got tune in. Yeah, and by Peter Brown, so not just like, I'm not going to gossip people, I'm going to first hand folks, so Peter Brown, who managed the Beatles after Brian Epstein, died in Brian and Peter, gay and friends, he gets real specific about Brian and John's early relationship.

In a way that's not sensational, in a way that's pretty beautiful, interesting. That's cool. I was just kidding about the Beatles, and now I'm learning something, sort of having to have to pivot from this. One of my favorite things is when Paul McCartney and an interview talks about the John

rumor, and he's being cheeky, but he says, well, I shared a bed with him for years on

the road, and he never made a move on me, and I was like, oh, poor, poor Paul, there

was a young. But there was an article about Carrie Grant, that was recently kind of on earth. It was hard to find online, and there was a creator who does a lot of history of gay people in Los Angeles and Hollywood, whose name's escaping me. But in it, there's a tour of Carrie Grant, and he lived with another male actor, and

the house was immaculate, except when the reporter comes into the house, notices that both of their beds are unmade. They clearly wanted the reporter to come in and see both these bachelors in their two separate unmade beds. And otherwise, perfectly manicured, kept gay house that they had the two unmade beds.

And I thought, wow, the reporter's coming, let's make, hey, mess up the guest room, you know? That was really common. That story. In their entertainment, in fact, we have John Reed in the documentary, who is Queen and

Elton's manager, and also Elton's first boyfriend, they were together for a long time. And he talks about, and if you can believe it, like, people didn't believe Elton was gay.

My gaydar, which is not great, I think would have been going off, but they would always

must up the sheets before the parents came home. And he tells a story how Elton's mom kind of came up to him and said, we know babes. And had their backs. And I was speaking, I was talking about with Josh, when I tried to leave camp early because the other kids had figured out I was gay before I was.

My mother called and spoke to the owner of the camp.

“And the owner of the camp said, oh, friend, for boys like Jonathan, that's what we do”

the musicals. So, you know, a lot of your work has tied into activism. I think there have been times when you've been sort of more forward and being an activist and times when you haven't, you also come from this background. And your mother was a Mormon and I know that influence you.

First of all, do you think of yourself still as an activist and also has your mother's background

and how politics works in your home shaped how you think about how to persuade people? Yeah, I mean, an activist the way I was for 10 years, not right now. Part of that's just I moved to London and my husband and I had kids and very busy. And also kind of detached from it and I sort of needed to break.

You know, I know some people are fleeing to some beautiful cities in Europe and good for them. I'm the opposite, I see a fire, I want to get in there and that comes from my mom. My mom was Mormon, but she was also southern, grew up on the tough side of the river in Louisiana and was paralyzed from polio.

And I saw from my first experience with people being treated wrongly.

Was watching people treat her like she wasn't fully human, she couldn't be smart, she couldn't achieve because her body mostly didn't work. And it really angered me as a kid and I just, I think it planted a seed of wanting to see justice deep in me and I saw how she dealt with it, which it wasn't being right. She could, she had a mouth on her for a Mormon mom.

She could read you to filth, but she chose not to in situations where she felt really belittled in public and she would have a conversation with people who are very different than her who didn't see it and I would learn from that.

“I mean, that's what we did in the marriage equality movement.”

You know, I was going down to the south, to Alabama, to Mississippi, to these very conservative states and we were having conversations, we were having town hall meetings, talk backs with people who I knew disagreed vehemently who I am. And those I think in combination with a lot of other people's efforts, those really made a difference.

By the time we got to that Supreme Court with our case, we knew that almost every state was now in favor of marriage equality and that was a huge shift in a small amount of time and it happened because we dared to share space with people who we knew we disagreed with on most things and that is lost in the movement right now. I think yelling at people for being wrong is helping.

If I just feel good, it feels disagree with that. Well, thank you, Dustin Lansblack. Rock out is available on the streaming service referee on September 20th and we'll be right back. Hey, don't go anywhere, there's more of love at our leave it coming up.

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I'm Nate Silver. I'm Gailandrook. And I'm Claire Malone. We're back. And we're back with our friends at Crooked Media for a new show called Still Counting.

Yeah, numbers are hard. It takes very easy. And frankly, numbers have only gotten harder. What does the data actually cite? How do we reconcile that with the other things that we're seeing in American politics and

around the world? And how do you use that data to understand or maybe even dare to predict the future of American politics? New episodes every Wednesday starting September 9th. Subscribe to Still Counting on YouTube.com/atstillcountingpodcast or wherever you get your podcast.

And we're back!

First of all, let's get Josh back on the stage.

Come on back. You guys met. You guys met. Go through the. It's funny that there's a language of a stage in which even though you both have obviously

met backstage, we have to introduce and we've already had an interaction, so I don't have to reintroduce myself to you in theory of the night of this stage being the only place. Yeah, but maybe if you didn't introduce us at all, everyone would just think we get a long real great. Yeah.

Which we don't. There was a lot of tension back there. Yeah. She's been heard it on the stage. He's got one of those hooks I was talking about from.

Oh, yeah. You wouldn't think it. You wouldn't think Dustin Lines Black has a great hook.

No. He fooled you. Yeah.

I hide it under this very bitch.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. No. There's a softness and beneath.

Fights. Fights in danger. All right. Well, speaking of fighting. It's time for the round wheel.

Here's our works. We'll spin the wheel. We'll land. One of us will have to land for 60 seconds on whatever topic we choose. What is the function of the wheel?

We don't know any more. Let's spin it. Josh, it's landed on you.

“What is something you'd like to rant about for 60 seconds?”

I thought that we liked money more than this.

We're really willing to let Trump bankrupt the entire world economy.

In a way that, like, honestly, honestly, there would be so many more evil things said if any other president, a match of Hillary or Kamala had won and then anyone lost a dollar on milk. That would be a, like, a markedly different world than us watching beef and gasoline and all the things that he promised would go down and not that I believed him.

It was one of those things where when someone who's clearly trying to get late tells you they love you and you're like, sure, like, it's, I mean, I'm not, I'm not disappointed as if I believed him. I'm more just disappointed in us. I thought that like the French, you look at the French, right?

And they were like, maybe we kick back retirement for two years and they burned cars. Like, that, that, I thought that we had that as the country with the most guns. Yeah, that was, that has been surprising. I agree. I agree.

I, um, I didn't go the full 60 seconds as I was scared us about to say something that would put me in jail. Oh, you, and, and, you know what, that's something that guests have struggled with and you made the right decision. Yeah.

Because we also, we have a pretty, we're, let's spend it again.

Oh, come on, hey, I have to follow him. Yeah, you do. But it's like, we're going to, it's not following it's joining. But before you go, I realized that a question. Dustin lands black.

“Do you go by Dustin, or do you go by Lance, or do you go by Dustin Lance?”

Or just go by Dustin Lance black. It depends if I like you or not. Yeah. To your friends? Lance.

Wow. Interesting. Dustin, Mr. Black is correct. All right. 60 seconds.

60 seconds for Mr. Black. All right. This is a rant aimed at myself, which is a rant about keeping all my shit together. All of it, which Mormon, I grew up Mormon, so N. Gay, so best of a little boy in the world. You got to learn to keep all your shit together no matter how you're falling apart.

And I thought it was really good at it for very long time. Recently, I went on social media. I tried to go back on it. I hadn't been on it for a long time and I looked at what I was wearing. I looked at my photos and I go, "My shit is not together."

This, by the way, is a disguise. I don't even own these clothes. I wear sweats almost every day of the week. There are parents here who go to the school with my kids. I wear sweats every day of the week.

You know, I used to go to the gym. I used to have a, you know, a life. Job. All of that. And then I move back here.

“And there's this mother fucking incontinent shit storm.”

Flowin' in from Washington, D.C. And I got to pay attention to that shit to that mother fucker because it matters to my family. So I'm letting all the shit go to get rid of that mother fucker and to polish the turd I really care about.

(applause) Dude, do you mind if I say a little something? I don't. As someone who wears the same thing every day. You look great.

Thank you. (laughter) But I stole it from my husband's side of the closet. I mean, no, what's the hoodie look is really empty. Here's the thing.

Here's the thing. I was like, I feel like there's a kindred thing happening with me in Josh right now because as people that know what it looks like to have it together, to hear someone who does have it together, claim to be among those of us who don't have it as much

together, that's our culture is not a costume. (laughter) That's probably, yeah, it's probably. You have, there's a polish to you that I'm that's very impressive. And by the way, I want you to notice something.

This is not something I'm thinking about in the moment. Before I even, before I even knew you were booked on the show, I've had a previous thought about you as a person about how polished you are as a human being. Oh, I'm so deeply broken inside.

This is all compensation. For sure. I stole and closed from my husband. I combed my hair. I mean, these aren't things I do much anymore with two kids.

So it's bullshit. Also, by the way, can we talk about having it all together and social media? It's so fucking boring. It's so dull.

So like, I'm going to strip down naked by the end of this show to show you a true self. Great. Well, you'll run outside just say, "Coney, 2012, and we'll go from there."

Yeah, that's right.

All of the dysfunctional people are more interesting.

“Like all of the people who I would like to get to know”

are the people who probably don't really have it together. When people have it together, they're kind of finished. It's like when you see a sexy person at the gym, you're like, "All right, you did it." (laughter)

Okay, stop. You can stop now. You know what I mean? Because they're just over there maintaining their hotness and you're like, "You're done cooking."

Like, go have a pizza. It gets for my mental health. All right. (laughter) Why are you laughing?

Let's spin it again. (laughter) Okay, I want to talk about a developing story, which is there's a new roller coaster that's going to open at Universal.

And I was actually excited about this. In part because it's a roller coaster that is unique in that most roller coasters are on a flat area. This roller coaster goes down one of the hills that the Universal Park is near and back up.

And it's the first big roller coaster that they've built there. And they've been saying since they started constructing it, like, don't worry. We're testing it to make sure it doesn't affect the studios. We're going to film things.

It's going to be very quiet. It's going to be shockingly quiet roller coaster. It's going to be, there's going to be no noise from this thing. They forgot something, which is that people scream on a roller coaster.

(laughter)

And so they've built this amazing,

super sophisticated roller coaster. But if you live in the neighborhood on the other side of that hill, and I am well known to be a Yimbee. I believe in building. I don't like Nimbeeism.

But I have a lot of sympathy for these people that are like, they invented a new kind of roller coaster.

“How could I have anticipated that when I bought this home?”

There's a scream every two to three minutes. (laughter) That's all. (laughter) One thing I would offer up,

I don't know if it consoles the people who are near the roller coaster or anything. But as someone who has lived in bad neighborhoods, at least it's a roller coaster. (laughter)

Jim, it's like, at least they know what it is every time. The screams that I heard in the middle of the night, I'm like, "I don't even know what that." That's such an important point. But imagine if you're living in a house

and you know that the reason people are screaming is because of a big corporation. They decided to build a roller coaster outside of your house. And then I also love the idea that they're going to have to tell people

when they get in the roller coaster. (laughter) Hey everybody, welcome to Universal. Have a blast. Yeah.

No screaming on this one. That's part of the fun. Everybody be real quiet. Have they thought about doing like, 'cause is it one that dangled legs ones

“or is it one of the, like, comes down on your lap ones?”

Oh, there it is. That's right there. I'll trust me. My kids are so excited. And I'm going to be the one screaming.

I think this guy's higher value will be woken. I'm excited about, I'm going to ride this thing.

And I'm going to scream as always.

But I think it's a fast and furious theme. So it's like a car. You're in like a little car. Why don't they just put like a bubble on it? Doesn't that keep the screaming?

If they put like a little, a little bubble on the top? Yeah, I think there's no bad ideas in a brainstorm for sure. No. I assume, here's the thing.

I assume with a roller coaster adding a bubble on top. It's like a whole thing. You know? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it changes something.

And then the bubble could always pop off, I guess. But like, if they have a bubble on it. Now bubbles are flying into the community of Alley. Yeah. Several injured by falling bubble

from the Universal Studios' fast and furious ride. Yeah. You could go as a name and ball gag. You can get sort of into that. Like, that's like when the safety belt comes down

They walk around and being like, you know, every, a Tarantino would be super admirable. Yeah, right? Again, right over here. Yeah, it's called the Kim Fry.

Yeah, you realize that a universal property. We got to suggest this. Yeah, it's the car that, it's the car that vingorames drives and everybody gets a ball gag. I think it's all.

This is much better than a bubble idea. Like, this is. And you know what? You're not getting ideas like this in Nashville. All right.

I don't know. All right. That's the right way. [applause] And now it's time for second thoughts.

[applause] We've done it. Another perfect show, according to me. But according to our producers, there may have been places where I should have some regrets,

which is why I have a list in my hand of things that the producers of this show, believe I could have done differently throughout this night. And if Dustin Lance and Josh, if you have any thoughts or regrets or things

you'd like to say differently or things you wish to adjust, that's what this space is for. We reflect on even just this night. I think like, hmm, you know what? I wasn't perfect, you know?

That's something that could happen. Or you could just, you don't have to have them. That's part of it, too. All right, here we go. First up, I snubbed Canada's other

most important straight Ryan Gosling, right?

What an intense reaction. [laughter] Oh, this is a one question that the producers have is, do we think that JD Advanced Time Travel Sequence was quote worth it?

And I say yes. [applause] I don't regret it at all. And per your wishes, I did cut it down. There were several other parts of it

that you will never hear.

[laughter] I'm sorry we all know something about Jesse Waters, penis now. [laughter] Uh, let's see.

It seems like we are still definitely not on board with calling Pete Higgseth the R word. [laughter] I receive the feedback. Uh, let's see.

I immediately told Josh that your productivity annoyed me. That's fine. It's okay. I didn't take it personally. Um, I also said I would lose at Carjitsu.

No one asked if I would win at Carjitsu. [laughter] Wasn't really on the table. To be fair to you though, most people would lose because most people don't know the rules.

Right. Are there rules in Carjitsu?

“Yeah, I think there's like a thing about,”

like you can't just like step on your opponent in the seat. You know, I think you can't like try to push him through the windshield or anything. There's some stuff. Um, let's see.

I reference Prairie Home Companion. [laughter] And, uh, I did it. I brought up JK Rowling in a deeply confusing way. [laughter]

I think I, I think I get what you meant by the end. [laughter] Yeah, I saw that. I think that's worthy of-- I feel back and things that are different the next time.

Um, I brag to Josh about how good I was at looking at bugs. [laughter] That's okay. I mean, I think you're better than me. Sometimes when I see a bug, I immediately like blank,

so I don't have to look as much. Like it's a-- It's a way of doing a double take to make sure it's really there. Can I tell you something? Yeah.

Uh, I'm married to a trans person. And, uh, when there's a bug in the house,

never does the fact that they were once a girl

emerge with more ferocity than bug in the bathroom. I am in a heterosexual fucking marriage. [laughter] The LGBTQ goes out the fucking window. [laughter]

It's like-- it's-- it's out of control. Are you-- are you up? I'm just saying it's what happens. Sometimes we're just too dudes. A lot of the times we're just too dudes.

If I cry, they're like clipping such a fag. Like it's like-- you know what I'm saying?

“Like it's too dudes a lot of the time bug in the bathroom?”

Uh-oh. Yeah. Um, and that interesting-- everyone has their Kryptonite. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. Now are you a good bug killer? Uh, I do the job. I do the job. I'll get it done.

You know, I-- here's what happens with me in a spider in the house. And it's like-- there it is. A brown recluse. They're not here. You know what I mean?

I'm always-- I've always given it to myself

that that's the one. That's that one that got out of the-- that got out of the exotic pet store. It's going to kill us. And it's a microscopic--

Yes, spider. Yeah. You know, but spider in the home. Not like our home. We got two bunch boys.

I don't know how we ended up with them. We've considered conversion therapy. But they seem awfully straight. And which means that every bug has to be saved. And at one point, I remember my oldest three year old came up to me

with a surprise. And he put it in my hand. And the spiders just crawling all over me. And I-- I-- I-- I have to appreciate it. I'd say thank you for that.

Before I scream. Like a dog bring you a bird, you know? Yeah, but I can't kill them in my hand. Oh, you can't. I'd be-- I'd be-- it'd be shame.

Shame upon me. That's nice. I have a quick question. What escaped from the-- There was a spider that's loose?

Oh, I'm saying that I could-- when I see a spider in the house,

“I think I know that that is a harmless spider.”

But a part of my brain tells a story about an exotic pet shop that that spider got loose from. It has been breeding in the neighborhood and slowly becoming an invasive deadly spider. That's just a little intrusive thought I have.

Like when a phone-- like when a phone call drops, and I assume that that building collapse. Or if somebody on the street gives me a weird look, I'm in a courtroom telling people about what happened. [LAUGHTER]

Does that not happen to you? I mean, instantly crazy, full scenarios of terrible things happening all the time. All the time. Yeah, these are new fears for me.

Like today, my key to the car is on that back table. And as I was walking up to do the show, I thought, oh, if this whole building comes down, someone's going to have to pick me up. [LAUGHTER]

You truly are the whole thing's right. Yeah, so this is what I'm saying. And this is the kind of energy I brought to a therapist who I-- when I told them that I don't have anxiety. Yeah.

I regret what I just did.

To-- I also implied that drugs must have been involved

for two rock stars to kiss. But that's probably true, right? Not required, but certainly spice.

“But I don't think you should have got that.”

I briefly pretended to have even a moment that I know anything about cocaine. [LAUGHTER] I immediately asked about gay musicians and their secrets right after you shared an emotional story

about your brother. I asked no follow-ups about the brother. I went right to who gay. Yeah.

That felt a little bit insensitive.

At the same time, I had to admit I was really into the-- Which boys were kissing which boys too. Right. That's how I grew up. That's what we want to know.

Which ones are actually doing? We know they're all doing it. Sorry. Maybe not. No.

[LAUGHTER] But in our mind, in our hearts,

we hope they're all doing it.

We just need to know about it,

“and hopefully have a high definition video of it.”

Another thing. So I was fine with it. I'm so sorry. Who kissed? [LAUGHTER]

Hey, everybody's kissing back then. Because of the cocaine. Yeah. Or other-- I think there's quailudes more.

quailudes off. Yeah. We don't have that anymore. Yeah. We don't have that anymore.

A successful drug war. [LAUGHTER] Hey, and that's where I'd like to leave tonight. Let's all take a moment to applaud the drug war. And that's our show.

And we'll be back up back. Another relief is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Kendra James Filmograph, Kelsey Gante, and me, John Love it. Our production team includes Halle Keeper, Sarah Lazarus,

Roman Borsalino, Peter Miller, David Tolz, Claudia Shang, Jay Banks, Gavin Persell, and Matt DeGroke. And our staff is probably unionized with the writer's guild of America East.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I'm Nate Silver. I'm Gailandrook. And I'm Claire Malone. We're back.

This time, with our friends, at Crooked Media, for a new show called Still Counting. Yeah, numbers are hard. It takes her easy. And frankly, numbers have only gotten harder.

What does the data actually cite? How do we reconcile that with the other things

“that we're seeing in American politics and around the world?”

And how do we use that data to understand or maybe even dare to predict the future of American politics? New episodes every Wednesday starting September 9th. Subscribe to StillCounting on YouTube.com/At StillCountingPodcast

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