HiT 156 Apolitical Oscars Shock Hollywood

The 95th Academy Awards proved more subversive than anyone expected, and here's what that means moving foward. More Big Tech censorship rears its ugly head, but this time the artist in question might be punching back. And Stephen Colbert says way too much about what his 'Late Show' really does five nights a week.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Welcome to the Hollywood and Total Podcast. Entertainment news and reviews without the whoke
Hollywood narrative. Free speech, freeexpression. Now that's entertainment, and here's
your host, award winning film criticPersian Total. This week in the Hollywood

(00:31):
and Total Podcast, we break downthe ninety fifth Oscar Ceremony, the most
subversive gallot in quite some time.You gotta trust me on this one.
We also share how Stephen Colbert's latestpropaganda push reveals plenty about him and not
so much about the truth. Andwe explore how I Love Doctor and his
comic chum saved this podcast from alattaromantic misery and how they're bringing real sanity

(00:55):
to their post COVID age. Andfinally we reveal more big tech censorship,
but this time some of the artistsare going to fight back. My big
bro, who does not read mywebsite, Hollywood and Toto, but does
listen to this podcast once in awhile. He loves NFL Draft Day.
It's like Christmas and Thanksgiving and theFourth of July all wrapped up in one

(01:19):
packet. It's his day now.For me, Oscar Knight was like my
draft day. It was the oneevent that just towered over everything else in
the calendar. Sorry, Santah,but that's not the case anymore. And
of course I'm not alone here.The show no longer promises that it's going
to wrap itself up in under threehours. The powers that be talked about
that for a while, but nowJimmy kimmely just comes out and says,

(01:41):
hey, this show is going togo on and on. Deal with it.
I mean, James Cameron movies areshorter than the oscars. Think about
that. But what could possibly holdher attention for that span? I mean,
maybe they could bring on a differentcomedian every hour it gets slapped by
Will Smith. You know, maybeI don't know, but of course we
know. Jimmy Kimmel was back forthe third time as the host it just
a few days ago, our favoritelate night partisan, and of course immediately

(02:06):
half the country said, yeah,we're good, no thanks. You know,
why would you choose someone like JimmyKimmel to host a show when you're
trying desperately to bring back the show'sold fan base. Just not a good
idea. Maybe most people are justbinge watching almost anything else. And the
ratings proved a mild tick up frompast years, but certainly nowhere near the
glory days of past Oscar ceremonies.Now I have to watch the show each

(02:30):
year. It's my job. Ican't get out of it. It's just
what I do, and I dreaded. It's really just like going to the
dentist. For me. There's noNoah can. So when I was watching
this recent ceremony, I was alittle bit surprised. First of all,
Jimmy Kimmel's monologue wasn't great, butit was good. It was sweet,
it was funny, a little bitcutting towards the Oscar ceremony last year,

(02:51):
when basically Will Smith did whatever hewanted on stage and didn't get punished.
He got an Oscar and lots andlots of hugs. Well, other Kimbell's
comments about that were good, smart, efficient, and then he moved on.
Didn't dwell too much on the slapbecause I think we're all pretty much
burned out on that at this point. But what's interesting about the monologue though,
is that it wasn't political. Facthe mentioned one name, Hunter Biden

(03:14):
briefly, and that was kind ofit. So just shocking that he didn't
go there. He just kept thingsbased on Hollywood and cinema, a little
bit of cultural trends and little pokeshere and there. Perfectly accept a monologue,
not the greatest one, for sure, not a laugh out loud riot.
You know, when you have amonologue for a special event like the
Oscars, you would think that youwould have just killer joke after killer joke

(03:37):
after killer joke. Wasn't that wayon Oscar night, And you know what
it rarely is, So I can'tbe too hard in Kimmel. I thought
it was perfectly fine. And again, the lack of real culture war stuff
and the lack of politics was apleasant surprise presenters and also the award winners.
They really didn't get on many soapboxes. There were a couple of moments

(03:57):
he were there. You can certainlypoint them out. Note you know,
no denial there. But generally speaking, this was a night filled with gratitude
and sweetness and just a kind ofa spirit of camaraderie within the artistic community.
It's exactly how it should be.But I don't think that's an accident.
There's just no way. I wonderif the producers behind the event finally

(04:18):
said to Kimmel, to everyone behindthe scenes, Listen, we got to
dial this back down. Woke iscosting us dearly. Even if they didn't
frame it that way, the abidedeconomy is doing us no favors. We
need some eyeballs on this event,and we need people to kind of really
enjoy cinema, the movie going experience. Again, can we just tone it

(04:38):
down a bit? Now? Iguarantee if they did that, they didn't
say don't do this or don't saythat. That would be oppressive, and
I'm not a fan of that.Anyway, you can kind of basically do
as you want. But I alsothink that there was a sentiment shared behind
the scene saying we've got to dosomething a little bit differently. This is,
after all, a commercial, aBig three plus our commercial for Hollywood.

(05:00):
If you want to push people away, if you want to be antagonistic,
it's defeating the purpose. So Idon't know why this finally registered with
Hollywood, Inc. But it seemsto be working in certain in a certain
respect. Now, the night alsofeatured more than just fake tans, lots
and lots of fake tans and cleavage, Oh my, lots and lots of

(05:20):
cleavage too. But how would younot love moments like short Round. Yes,
Kei Hu Kuan talking about why hisOscar win for everything everywhere, all
at once, mattered so much.My journey started on a boat. I
spent a year in a refugee capand somehow I ended up here on Hollywood's

(05:46):
biggest stage. They say stories likethis only happened in the movies. I
cannot believe it's happening to me thisit's the American dream. Or how everyone's

(06:08):
favorite so called Neppo baby Jamie LeeCurtis gave a shout out to the one
genre that the Oscars ignore year afteryear. You know, the kind of
movies were talking about. They wereher bread and butter for many, many
years, and she showed him somelove on Oscar Night. What a moment
to my family, my beautiful husbandChristopher Guest, our daughters Annie and Ruby,

(06:36):
my sister Kelly. We just wonan Oscar. To all of the
people who have supported the genre moviesthat I have made for all these years,
the thousands and hundreds of thousands ofpeople, We just won an Oscar

(06:57):
together. More, Please Bravo deliverstuff like that, minus all that finger
wagging, all the lectures, andI bet you some people who swore off
watching the oscars will start to careabout them again. I know I will.
You're listening to my dad's podcast.He cried like a baby watching Snoopy

(07:19):
Come Home. Remember the graduate,Remember the keyword behind that movie, which
is a movie that I adore andcan't wait to introduce my son when he's
a little bit older, when he'sready to get a really grasp what it
means. It was about plastics.Well, I think there's two newer words
that matter absolutely in our culture todaythat really speak to our times. And

(07:43):
we should know more about projection andnarrative. If you know nothing else about
the culture these days, those twowords are going to serve you well.
Trust me. You know, whentoo many Democrats call Republicans fascists, I
think a part of them realize thatthey're talking about themselves to a certain degree.
The same holds true for the attackson Hitler. I mean, Donald

(08:05):
Trump. I don't care whether youlove or hate the guy. He wasn't
weaponizing the government to cancel free speechlike President Biden is. He wasn't keeping
vaccine mandates well well beyond their expirationdate. Who's the authoritarians again? And
I don't know a single Republican whowants the View to get taken off the

(08:26):
air. I just don't. Icertainly don't. And yet tons and tons
of people would cheer from the rooftopsif Fox News went the way went the
way of the Dodo, or ifTucker Carlson got his walking papers from Fox
News. It's just the way thetwo sides look at free speech right now.
You know, I'd rather laugh atWhoopie and Joy when it comes to

(08:46):
the View and think, gosh,I'm really happy they have the First Amendment
right to sound clinically insane on thatTV show. I'm all for it.
I'm not gonna watch, and I'mdefinitely gonna poke front of them, but
they should have the right to sayexactly what they're saying, even if it
makes my he's hurt. As fornarrative, well, I think you know
what that means. But I thinkyou should dig in deeper too. Think

(09:07):
about some recent examples. The COVIDvaccine must be taken by every man,
woman, and child, and you'renot allowed to even hint that maybe that
isn't the best situation for people regardlessof their age, where that there could
be possible fallout from taking the vaccine. You can't talk about that. You
couldn't talk about it for years inbig tech they would drown you out.
Also drag Queen's Story hour or anothernarrative. It cannot be questioned, only

(09:30):
celebrated, even if it makes youa little bit uneasy, to say the
very least, to see grown mantworking in front of four year olds and
asking for money. So with StephenColbert the Late Show recently said caught my
attention. It's got some narrative builtinto it too, But I think this
is really about projection. Here's ourfavorite late night liberal trying to explain why

(09:52):
we should listen to him but notFox News, thanks a large part to
the former president. There's a wholeindustry of people who make a good living
trying to make you think you're insane. Well, I make a very good
living reminding you that you're not.Now you think you would think you think

(10:16):
that once the people gas lading youon a daily basis have been revealed to
be liars, say in multiple textmessages and a one point six billion dollars
court filing by Dominion voting systems,they would pump the Brakes. But apparently
some people are just addicted to beingdicks. Case in point, Fox News
host and Toddler's sucking on a dogturn Tucker Carlson doth protest too much?

(10:43):
Stephen, I feel guilty about spreadingthat all that Russian collusion hoax for gosh
what three or four years now withoutone big fat apology. No maya culp
is coming our way. That's awhole lot of fake news coming from the
late night landscape, especially from Colbert. But more importantly, when did late
night TV think that being extremely vulgar? It was funny? You know,

(11:07):
I like Animal House, I likealreted comedy. Certainly vulgar stuff can make
you laugh. But the name callingthat goes on at late night, it
just happens again and again and again. I think I think Colbert is the
worst offender here, though. Samanthab who thankfully has been retired from her
perch last year on TBS, shewas maybe the top vulgarian on the late
night crew. But Colbert certainly bringsit as well. We all remember what

(11:28):
he said about Trump and Putin andsome sort of holster. I can't really
say much more than that, butI think you remember with that where that
was all about, Well, youknow, if you've got a satirical point
to make, then make it.If you've got a funny joke to share,
then tell it. Maybe even mockthe president of the United States.
Seems like that big be a goodidea, the whole speaking truth to power
stuff. I think there's a coupleof things you can say about President Joe

(11:50):
Biden beyond his age that might bepointed and funny. But for now,
keep watching Colbert. You're gonna geta whole lot of projection with a side
order of narrative. I discovered theradio show love Line at a pretty critical

(12:15):
point in my romantic life. Theshow was hosted by doctor Drew Pinsky and
commedian Adam Corolla, and they wouldgive advice to troubled teens and twenty somethings,
sex, drugs, rock and roll, trauma, a lot of trauma,
but you name it. Doctor Drewan Adam tackled it with a lot
of humor and certainly some heart.Some of the callers were abuse survivors,
and after a while it kind ofthere was a pattern that would develop among

(12:37):
them. You could kind of sensewhere they were going and actually doctor Drew
and Adam would be able to predictsome of their complaints, some of their
situations, some of the things theywent through just by hearing a few words
of their conversation. It's pretty amazing. Now I was a steady listener of
Love Line, and I started tobe able to pick out things, see
trends, notice how certain situations ledto other situations. I think they and

(13:00):
the time and the show I couldhave doled out some pretty good advice myself,
but it turned out that I waslistening to the show at the same
time I was dating a Love Linestyle caller. I had no idea,
I learned later, but certainly theshow and the advice from the two hosts
really couldn't help me get through thatpoint, to process what was going on,
and to even understand what the personI was dating, what she was
going through at the time, andwhich she had been through in the past.

(13:24):
Now that was then, you know, Adam left Love Line I think
around two thousand and five, andthen the show wrapped up a few years
later. Certainly wasn't the same withoutAdam Carolla, but it taught me a
lot about human psychology. Things thatI still used today. It's just an
invaluable show and I'm so glad Iwas able to catch it certainly in its
prime. But Love Line isn't technicallyover because there's now the Adam and Doctor

(13:45):
Drew Show, and they've been doingthis for a couple of years. It's
a podcast, not a radio show, but same kind of format, and
again you've got Doctor Drew, you'vegot Adam Carolla delivering common sense advice.
Now the callers are a bit older. They're kind of around my I think
for the most part, it's notteeny boppers calling in with their issues and
their traumas and their stripe. It'solder people just trying to make sense of
the world around them. But what'sinteresting about the duo now is they're certainly

(14:09):
older, they're definitely wiser, butthey're taking different kinds of calls and embracing
certain subjects that are certainly what weren'tavailable or even needed back in the two
thousands, but they are today.They talk about media bias, they talk
about the COVID nineteen pandemic and theoverreach involving that pandemic, and it is

(14:31):
fascinating they're tackling these issues in waysthat you will not hear on most major
mainstream shows. No radio shows,no podcasts, no TV networks will go
near these topics, certainly not withthe angle, the perspective, and again
the wisdom that Adam and doctor Drewbring to the subjects. Now there is
shocked as corrupt media as just abouteveryone else. I know, I'm kind

(14:52):
of shocked, almost on a dailybasis. But it's how they skewer these
broken, corrupt journalists that really matters. They're smart, they're savvy, and
they show these clips that indicate howfar journalism has fallen. And I have
to say, in an odd way, it's intoxicating. You know, you
read fake headline after a fake headlineto think, oh my gosh, what's
going on here? Doesn't anyone elsesee it? Well, you know what,

(15:13):
Adam and doctor True see it,and they're calling it at almost on
a nightly basis. Now they alsodo a great type of shredding what happened
with the COVID situation, the vaccines, the protocols, you know, social
distancing thing like that. You know, we know so much about it now,
what went wrong, what was overreach? What was not really helpful back
then? Or now we're smarter aboutit. But you know what, they

(15:37):
knew far earlier than most people whythings were going awry. No, Doctor
Drew was more reticent, more cautious. He's more of a cautious guy in
general. But Adam Carolla almost fromthe jump called out the nonsense for what
it was. And I would usea stronger word, but again, this
is a G rated show. DoctorDrew brings some of the medical receipts,
which is very important. He's donea lot of research. He's spoken to

(15:58):
a lot of fellow positions and doctorswho were trying to kind of sound the
alarm and tell us what was goingwrong at the time. But many times
they were silenced. Social media wouldmake them shut up, other publications would
do the same. They were frownedupon, they were shouted down. And
now they're finally being able to speak, and one of the things they're saying
is I told you so. Andthey did at least they tried to as

(16:22):
best as they could. But it'sso interesting that Adam Carolla actually was ahead
of doctor Drew when it came tothe pandemic. He instinctively knew something was
amiss. He noticed through his logicand his reason and his real strong sense
of common sense. What was goingaround, why they were mocking us,
why the overreach was happening. Rememberthe whole thing about when you're on a

(16:42):
plane, you have to wear amask at all times except when they give
you those chips and those dips andthose sodas. And then you could take
down your mask and you could eatand you can drink your heart's content without
fear of getting COVID, because youknow, the virus stops once you're taking
a little sip, taking a littlenip. It's just insane, but we
all did it. Very few ofus fought back, but Adam Carolla fought

(17:03):
back. He fought back on thepodcast show. He fought back on airplanes.
He was telling that. He wassaying that every time he'd be on
a plane, he'd be told toput his mask up twenty thirty times.
Must have been exasperating for everyone involved. You know, the stewardesses understand this
is their job. I get that, But still I'm glad he was fighting
the fight because someone had to.And I think if more of us did,
we'd have much more common sense,much less protocols, and more freedom

(17:26):
over the last few years. Nowhere in Denver, the local government was
just like every other place across thecountry. They put that police style tape
around the playgrounds. They took offthe nets on the basketball hoops. Meanwhile,
what was good for COVID? Whatwould help protect you? To be
outside, to get vitamin D,to be healthy, to get exercise,

(17:48):
maybe to lose some weight, allthe things you can do outdoors in a
wreck center or even on the beach, And they shut them all down.
And Adam Carolla was crying fell allthe way. I don't know how he
knew it, but he knew itwas insane, and he called it out
then and he's still calling it atnow. I think you could actually argue
that they're doing it too much.But for me and for many other listeners,

(18:10):
I bet it's cathartic. I mean, I just am so exhausted by
what happened, how we were ledto, how we misled. What a
great show, what a great wayto learn about life and common sense,
And boy, if more people werelistening, I think I think we'd have
a better culture. I think we'rein bad shape now, and Adam and
Drew often lead the way, andof course they're funny, they're engaging,

(18:30):
they're entertaining, and a few peopleare as sharp and as quick as Adam
Carolla behind the mic. I thinkwe look back at this terrible, terrible
chapter in American history, and itis awful. The Doctor Faucis of the
world will be seen for who theyreally are. And again, I've got
to hold my tongue because this isa teer rated show. But entertainers like
the old Love Line Gang, They'regoing to stand tall. I guarantee it

(18:53):
all right, here's a recurring segmentI really want to stop doing, but
I can't call it to censorship ofthe Week. Tim Poole went from being
a vice contributor to one of themost pugnacious podcasters around. His show was
a tim cast irl and it's aone stop shop for news, cultural opinions,
narrative shattering conversations. I had thegood fortune to appear in it last

(19:15):
year. He's a very smart dude. I don't always agree with everything he
says, but who cares. Hereally is inquisitive, he's got great guests.
He's willing to have conversations that veryfew people have right now that matters.
But he's not really content just tobe a podcaster. He's been branching
out a bit. Actually appeared onThe Pop Culture Crisis show recently and that's

(19:36):
part of that Tim Poole universe.Another good show. I highly recommend it.
But Tim also has embracing his innerrock star recently. Yes he can
sing, Yes he can make music, and he put out a couple of
songs last year. They did quitewell. They just rocked it up the
charts on iTunes. How hard isthat? I mentioned competing with the Taylor
Swifts of the world, but hedid it a couple of times too.
He's got a lot of talent ina lot of different areas. But it

(20:00):
thing is that he's got this hugefan base who will follow him wherever he
goes. Good for him. Ithink he's exposing them to do in different
things and obviously he can flex hiscreative muscles and people will follow. Except
now you can't find Timpool's music onthe popular streaming side band camp. It's
gone. It's been canceled, takenaway, no warning, new explanation.

(20:22):
It is gone. Also music fromfive Times August, who puts out some
of the best protest songs you'll everhear that's gone too. I think my
favorite song that the band has isSad Little Man about our favorite doctor,
Doctor Fauci. That band's music hasgone from band Camp, new explanation,
no warning. It's exhausting. Itscourse, this pure censorship. They're punishing

(20:47):
voices who are speaking out, whoare defying the narrative, who want to
share their own visions, their ownperspectives on things. That's why they're being
canceled. They didn't do anything wrong. Someone behind the scenes at band camp
discovered them, discovered their opinions,disagreed with their opinions, and said they're
gone. That's just the way censorshipworks in the twenty first century in America,

(21:08):
and it's what's been going on inChina for quite some time. You
know, the Chinese censorship is fascinating, particularly during the nineteen sixties. What
often would happen is that they wouldcensor you, or they would silence you,
but they wouldn't say why. Theywouldn't say you said this is wrong,
You're now punished. They would keepit nice, in vague, and

(21:29):
by keeping it nice in vague,the person being censured would think, gosh,
what happened? What did I doWhat did I say? Was it?
This? Was it that? Idon't know? So moving forward,
they would self censor. They wouldthink long and hard about what they're saying,
what they're sharing, the artwork they'remaking, and think, I don't
know if I want to go hereor there because I could get censored again.
I don't know what trip the censorslast time. That's exactly how it's

(21:52):
working right now. Many, manytimes, these big tech platforms will not
share what went wrong, what youdid, what you said, why it
goes against their policies. They justdo it. They don't keep your warning,
they don't explain, you're just gone. But this time we might have
some pushback, and how welcome isthat. Tim Poole is saying he might

(22:14):
just smoke him out. He mightjust push back against what's going on at
band camp. Legally, he's mullinga lawsuit funded by crowdfunding policies to fight
back against band Camp has not repliedto anybody. Did they ever get back
to you know, I think we'regoing to sue him. You know,
normally you never say these things likeyou just file. But we're in a
different kind of political landscape and culturallandscape, so I think the current plan

(22:37):
is we're exploring a crowdfund and potentialclass action. I think, you know,
for us, Tim Gass Music hadprobably twenty five thousand sales, and
through band Camp it might be liketen thousand or something. So that's ten
thousand people. Well, then you'vegot five times August Bryson and Bryson Gray.
Bryson Gray mentioned he was a bannedas well. I don't know why

(23:00):
they've given us no reason. Theyhave an absolute termination clause, but I'm
not sure that matters for the peoplewho purchased a product they can no longer
get access to the Yeah, Sothe idea right now is I'm talking with
a prominent lawyer on censorship issues,and I said, I, you know,
what do you think bridge of contract. We've got customers who can no

(23:22):
longer access a product they've paid for, and we have no vehicle by which
to refund them because it went throughBandcamp and Bandcamp termed it in our accounts
without notice. So there's a there'sa problem right here now. Nothing is
setting stone yet. He's been talkingabout it on his podcast, But I
think it's a wonderful idea, andI think even the threat of a lawsuit
may change things as well. Younever know, do they really want to

(23:42):
get messed up with this? Theyreally want to kind of show how how
much they don't fight for free speech, how much they care about censoring people.
That's that's that's a really difficult publicargument to have, and I think
it may be the lawsuit, justthe threat of one could be enough.
We'll have to wait and see.But if we don't start fighting back,
all the censorships that's happening now willonly get worse. Aren't you glad?

(24:07):
The Hollywood in Total podcast isn't threeplus hours long like the oscars. I
know, I am. Thank youfor listening to the show. It's short,
it's sweet, gets the job done, and you can go on to
other activities unlike those oscars. Andof course if you could tell a friend
about this show, I would reallyappreciate it. We want to spread the
word, get more people listening,grow it, keep on growing. The
plan is to go twice a weekright now or once a week, but

(24:30):
that is the future that will becoming soon. And of course I appreciate
the fine support from Radio America.It's a great team to putting out this
podcast. I really appreciate everything they'redoing for the show. And if there's
a guest you'd like to hear inthe show. Could be right, could
be left, could be center based, someone interesting and smart, someone you
want to hear more about. Justlet me know on the Twitter. I'm
at Hollywood in Toto. I amnothing if not brand focused, and I

(24:55):
will see you next time.