Kickass News

Kickass News

Hosted by Hollywood producer and political media strategist Ben Mathis, KickAss News is a twice weekly podcast that features the most interesting personalities and thought leaders in politics, entertainment, tech, business, science, and more. Enjoy the podcast? Then please support the show and help keep us on the air by making a donation to our GoFundMe campaign at www.gofundme.com/kickassnews. Another way you can support the show is to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review on iTunes to help keep us ranking strong on the top podcasts charts. For more information visit www.kickassnews.com. Thanks for listening!

Episodes

February 16, 2022 13 mins
Today I am sharing a preview of one of my favorite podcasts and a brand new addition to the Airwave Media podcast network. Everything Everywhere is a daily podcast that literally covers everything everywhere from the Eiffel Tower and Air Force One to tsunamis, Dracula, and daylight savings time. Hosted by globe-trotting travel writer Gary Arndt, Everything Everywhere is the perfect way to learn something new every single day.  I ho...
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Basketball great Dwayne Wade discusses the game that put him on the map when Marquette University beat top-seed Kentucky, what it was like to represent his country on the redeem team during 2008 summer olympics, and how he, Lebron James and Chris Bosh became the big three for the Miami Heat.  He talks about returning to his home town of Chicago to play for Bulls, his brief stint playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers,  why he wanted t...
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November 16, 2021 39 mins
Master illusionist David Copperfield recalls his beginnings as a childhood magician, his very first magic act, and why his early heroes were filmmakers and dancers instead of magicians.  He reveals how he comes up with new ways to astound audiences and the remarkable 100 year evolution of his most famous illusion.  He talks about how he quietly began amassing the world's largest magic collection, some of his favorite pieces from th...
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November 8, 2021 31 mins
Bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns to talk about his Ordinary People Change the World series of children's books and the importance of giving kids real heroes.  He discusses his latest children's book I Am Oprah Winfrey, why he thinks kids will find Oprah's story inspirational, and why he didn't want to gloss over the darker parts of her story.  Plus Brad talks about his successful battle with a school district that tried to ...
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November 2, 2021 46 mins
Acclaimed journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa talk about the candid moment when President Donald Trump privately admitted that he had lost the 2020 election, how Rudy Giuliani convinced him to contest the results, and why Senate leaders in Trump’s own party decided that Trump’s case had zero merit.  They reveal the other former Vice-President who convinced Mike Pence to certify the 2020 election for Biden, and the brief momen...
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Science writer Mary Roach returns discusses the various animals that have stood trial in actual courts throughout history, and how that inspired her latest book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.  She talks about traveling the globe from Reno to the Himalayas to attend an animal forensics conference, track man-eating leopards, and blow up trees (yes Mary blew up a tree!).  Plus , drunk elephants, monkey muggers, and much more. Ord...
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Ron and Clint Howard talk about what it was like to balance school and their hit tv series The Andy Griffith Show and Gentle Ben.  They fondly recall how their midwestern parents helped them pursue their dreams in showbusiness while always keeping them grounded.  Ron shares some crucial advice that his dad gave Andy Griffith about the relationship between Andy and Opie, and how Ron later channelled his father’s strong will when he ...
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Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of LinkedIn, Partner at Greylock, and Host of Masters of Scale Podcast and June Cohen, his producer and Co-Founder and CEO of WaitWhat, discuss their new book Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs.  They talk about the entrepreneurial mindset, the keys to blitzscaling your way to success, and the underrated importance of a company's culture.  Plus they explain th...
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August 26, 2021 45 mins
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman (Ret.) is the whistleblower who exposed former President Donald Trump's notorious phone call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zellensky that led to the second impeachment of Trump.  Vindman reveals the weird activity that tipped him off that this was going to be an unusual phone call, the moment when he realized Trump may have violated the law, and what happened when he reported the matter to his o...
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August 24, 2021 48 mins
This is a preview episode of the new podcast When Things Go Wrong, hosted by Frank Supovitz.  Frank served a combined 23 years as Senior Vice President, Events for the National Football League and the Group Vice President of Events & Entertainment for the National Hockey League.  He's seen it all, and knows how to handle a crisis such as the time the lights went out in the middle of the Super Bowl! Frank interviews leaders in spo...
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This is a preview of episode 1 of the latest season of Legends of the Old West about the infamous land dispute known as a the Pleasant Valley War. What began as a feud between two families turned into a decade-long war that engulfed much of the Arizona territory and  became the most deadly range conflict in US history.   In each season of Legends of the Old West, host Chris Wimmer tells the tales of lawmen like Wyatt Earp and Wild...
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August 9, 2021 30 mins
Season 15 of the true crime history podcast Infamous America is all about the notorious 1978 Lufthansa Heist.  It involved one of New York’s biggest crime families and nearly $6 million in cash and jewelry - the largest cash robbery ever on American soil at the time.  The money and jewels are still missing to this day and the mystery remains largely unsolved!  Enjoy this preview of Episode 1: The Robert's Lounge Gang. Hosted by Ch...
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Ben Rhodes, A former White House aide and close confidant to President Barack Obama, discusses what it was like to go from being the ultimate White House insider to reporting on world events from the outside.  He talks about his conversation with the now imprisoned Russian activist Alexei Navalny, what he learned from the Hong Kong protesters, and how Hungarian strongman Victor Orban quickly consolidated power and rolled back post-...
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June 23, 2021 46 mins
Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone discusses his book Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire.  He talks about how Amazon has exploded during the pandemic, how the company’s purchase of Whole Foods proved all the critics wrong, and why the online retail giant is now making a big bet on brick and mortar stores.  We get into the fraught process of selecting a location for Amazon HQ2 and how Bezos managed to trium...
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June 14, 2021 42 mins
Malcolm Gladwell discusses the stranger fiction of the story of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.  Plus Malcolm talks about his heart-wrenching visit to museum dedicated to victims of the Tokyo firebombings, his revealing dinner with the top brass of th...
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Jon Meacham returns to discuss the early rumblings within the Conservative movement that led to the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021 and why Democrats and Republicans can no longer agree on something as objective as facts.  He reveals that the roots of January 6 go as far back as Barry Goldwater, how the GOP succeeded in squelching the John Birchers in the 60’s, but how they failed to con...
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Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney discusses his new documentary The Crime of the Century about how big pharma knowingly got America hooked on opioids.  Watch Alex's two-part documentary The Crime of the Century on HBO Max and follow Alex on Twitter at @alexgibneyfilm.  Kickass News is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.  Check out some of our other great shows like Food with Mark Bittman, Movie Therapy, and When Things Go ...
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We're launching our new podcast network Airwave on Monday, May 24, starting with our first original podcast FOOD WITH MARK BITTMAN. Former New York Times food journalist and #1 bestselling author Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything, Eat Vegan Before 6:00) is obsessed with everything about food. Each week on FOOD, Mark sits down with a different guest, ranging from Chef Tom Colicchio to Jane Goodall to Carla Hall, and to important...
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Ken Burns and Lynn Novick come back to the podcast to discuss their new 3-part documentary on Ernest Hemingway.  They share their own memories of the first Hemingway books they ever read, the challenges of getting to the real person behind the legend, and what it was like to re-examining some of the trouble aspects of the writer’s personality from his views on women and race to his struggles with mental health.  They reveal what th...
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March 25, 2021 43 mins
Comedian Jo Koy talks about growing up as a biracial military brat, his mom’s immigrant hustle, and his first taste of the spotlight as a childhood Michael Jackson impersonator. He recalls selling tickets door to door for his first comedy show, encountering racism in Hollywood, and how he's now paying it forward to other Philippino artists and comedians. Plus Jo talks about embracing our stereotypes, Philippino crucifixion rituals,...
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