The Gist

Daniel Zoughbie discusses Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump, arguing that Truman's one-sided recognition of Israel and decades of U.S. overreliance on defense distorted the region's trajectory. He traces missed off-ramps from Oslo to the Olmert–Abbas talks, explaining why partition remains the only durable framework for satisfying both nationalis...

On this Saturday edition, Mike Pesca joins the cast of Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone to explain the dopamine minefield of modern sports betting. He walks Paula and Adam Felber through the mechanics of the "vig," the absurdity of Cleveland pitchers throwing balls into the dirt to cover prop bets, and the time NBA legend Chauncey Billups unwittingly became a "face card" for a mob-run poker game i...

Mohanad Elshieky joins Funny You Should Mention with stories that make Benghazi feel less like a political Rorschach test and more like the small town where he learned comedy by roasting his siblings and dodging unlicensed militias. He walks us through the dictatorship-era silence around politics, the sudden rise of ISIS-adjacent checkpoints, and the knife-wieldin...

TJ Raphael, host of the series Liberty Lost, joins Mike to investigate the "Liberty Godparent Home"—a facility on Liberty University's campus where pregnant teens were allegedly pressured into adoption under the guise of spiritual redemption—and discuss why the financial incentives of the "adoption industrial complex" often cause the promise of open adoption to fall apart. Plus, Mike breaks down Pr...

True crime historian Rachel McCarthy James joins to talk about Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder, tracing humanity's relationship between axe and skull, where questions about Axe-related word play are axed and answered. Then the show pivots to how algorithms elevate the most loathed spokespeople on every hot-button issue, from Riley Gaines to Jasmine Crockett and Greta Thunberg, and why our brains ...

Daniel Brook and Brandy Schillace trace the life and legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld, the so-called "Einstein of Sex," from his pioneering Institute for Sexual Science to the Nazis parading his severed likeness at the 1933 book burning. They dig into the longer prehistory of Weimar queer politics and antisemitism, discussing how obsessions with masculinity and "degeneracy" turned sexuality into a political weapon. Plus: Donald Trump's ...

Michael D. Fuller joins to talk about Hulu's Murdaugh: Death in the Family. The conversation digs into what scripted drama can do that true-crime podcasts and prosecutors can't, especially around messy motives and family dynamics that don't fit a neat trial narrative. Plus, an opening segment on Trump's "don't give up the ship" blowup, congressional warnings about illegal orders, and new allegations...

On this Saturday edition, Mike Pesca reaches into the archives for a 2016 classic with actor and author Jesse Eisenberg. They discuss Eisenberg's short story collection Bream Gives Me Hiccups and the "creek vs. crick" linguistic controversy it sparked, while analyzing why a nine-year-old restaurant critic is the perfect vessel for exposing adult hypocrisies. Eisenberg explains why he prefers writing...

Today on The Gist, the late Bob Saget, who reconciles his Full House image with his "Dirty Daddy" persona while admitting he was a "nerd burglar" in his youth. They dissect the difference between misogyny and locker room talk, deconstruct the logic of his famous "Winnebago" joke. Then, cultural critic Chuck Klosterman joins to analyze The Nineties, explaining why the...

On this Thanksgiving edition Mike Pesca serves up two revitalized classics, starting with Henry Winkler (The Fonz), who joins to discuss his Hank Zipser books, the unique Dutch font designed for dyslexic readers, and his tenure-granting plan to design the world's first consumer jet pack. Then, we revisit a conversation with counterterrorism expert Clint Watts, breaking down his viral congressional ...

Mike Pesca is joined by CNN anchor and author Abby Phillip to discuss her new book, A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power. They explore Jackson's soaring, sermon-like rhetorical style and the hubris of the "tree shaker, not a jelly maker" philosophy. The conversation traces how Jackson's push to change delegate rules made the path possible for Barack Obama, even as...

Mike Pesca welcomes back Nick Gillespie (Reason Magazine) and first-time guest Russ Muirhead (Dartmouth professor and New Hampshire State Rep.) for a spirited debate that is—we swear—not even mad. Today, we look at the half-full autocratic glass: Does the dismissal of the Comey and James indictments prove that institutions are holding, or does the very attempt confirm our slide toward norms violation? We debate the two bedrock rule...

Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield of Lexicon Valley join to talk 23 skidoo, Massapequa, and why life, in fact, is a flat bagel. They trace the 6/7 meme from Skrilla's drill track "Doot Doot" through LaMelo Ball highlights and a middle-schooler named Maverick, and explain how a throwaway number became the meme stock of language. The con...

Mike joins Matt Lewis for a lively crossover conversation that opens with deep dives into Huey Lewis puns before shifting into the Democrats' "affordability" message, why word wars matter more than policy wins, and how political optics collide with economic reality. They unpack everything from tariffs to AI dislocation to the future of the Democratic bench — and why charisma might matter more than infrastructure. Later, Mike breaks...

Comedian Myq Kaplan joins the show for a deep dive into joke logic, philosophy, and the very slippery business of defining who counts as a comedian. Using his new special Rini as a jumping-off point, he and Mike wander through Grecian maxims, the paradox of the heap, why some laughs are closer to enlightenment than punch lines, and how his relationship with Rini turned into a whole cosmology of love...

Fareed Zakaria joins the show to discuss The Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, arguing that the past 30 years of globalization, AI, and cultural upheaval rival the Industrial Revolutions in their political consequences. He makes the case that today's populist surges—from Sweden to the U.S.—are driven less by economics than by immigration-fueled cultural anxiety, and...

James Patterson joins the show to talk about Disrupt Everything—and Win: Take Control of Your Future, his new playbook for turning constant disruption into something useful rather than paralyzing. He explains how he thinks about "positive" versus "negative" disruptors, wrestles with whether the gospel of disruption feeds our narcissism, and defends his literacy work and banned YA novels in places li...

The former NBA power forward and unmistakably English John Amaechi talks leadership, psychology, and the everyday skills that make organizations work. His book It's Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills of Exceptional Leaders anchors a conversation about accountability, ambition, and what people misunderstand about excellence. Also: Europe's frozen-assets loan scheme, Macron's future-jets promise, and the...

The Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas breaks down New York's post-pandemic crime surge and what the data actually say about bail reform versus simple pandemic chaos. She explains why the city's rise in murders and disorder looks different from the national pattern and how weak supervision, dangerous subways, and repeat violent offenders all compounded the problem. Gelinas also assesses the competing theories embraced by Mayor-el...