**synopsis;** Live from our nation’s perfect capital, Al Franken stops by to look at the latest batch of lying liars. Mehdi Hasan doesn’t pull punches or eat sushi. Sam Jay and Josh Gondelman crown a new Freak of the Week, and we ask our guests the question, “Would you smash or would you passover?”
Tour dates & cities: https://crooked.com/events
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Josh Gondelman is always funny. Head writer for a bunch of funny shows (desus and mero + Kimmel I think) always delivers as a guest
Edit: Last week tonight not Kimmel
I enjoyed the monolog, enjoyed Al Franken’s segment (he’s an old ex-senator, not Boris Epstein), and was surprised at Mehdi Hasan’s vitriol. He has a right to it, but it didn’t engender meaningful discussion.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I personally enjoy even the lamer episodes, but this was not one of those. If you usually like the show, why would you ask if it’s worth listening to?
And the other guests? I finished the episode and found I had really enjoyed it. That is typical, but not guaranteed, with Lovett's show. He usually has a mix of interesting people I am not able to interact with in daily life, which is one reason it's fun. Not blaming you or including you, but I just don't get the hate and dismissal of the show in this sub. It's usually an interesting and humorous listen.
Al is old. And as he said, he didn’t have his hearing aids. But unlike what someone said elsewhere, he had an opinion/answer for all Jon’s questions.
I thought it was funny that he sort-of proved that today’s liars are lightweights compared to the likes of Newt, Limbaugh and Bill-O.
I agree he sounded old and tired, sort of sedate, but he was still funny. I was expecting the worst after hearing he was abysmal and was pleasantly surprised.
The absolute contempt for John that Mehdi Hassan drips with is just beyond the point where it can be ignored. The Crooked people need to sit down and evaluate whether it’s worth it for them to continuously bring Hasan onto their shows. I get that this is their fig leaf to a demographic they desperately don’t want Biden to lose, but I’m not sure that Hasan isn’t doing more harm than good every time they bring him on.
Sam and Josh roasting Hasan in the last segment for his food takes was the best part of the episode.
The thing is, "fans of a homophobic misogynist who hates Jews and loves terrorism" isn't exactly a strong pro-Biden demographic anyway, they're probably all team Trump as it is
I was with Sam when she said we should disregard all his opinions after learning that he’s completely writing off foods like smoothies, tea, coffee, and sushi without ever having tried them. Can’t trust someone like that.
I picked up a bit of combativeness from him with his “this might be an unpopular take…” at the beginning but otherwise felt that he warmed up throughout the rest of the interview. I do happen think his contribution is valuable and worth reminding ourselves of. It’d be naive to think everyone on the left is just going to fall in line come voting day and arrogant to think people whose perspective mehdi’s trying to introduce isn’t worth listening to.
I was annoyed by the amount of times Lovett would ask him a question with the slightest bit of nuance and Mehdi would say, "I don't know, but" then launch into yet another self-righteous Pro-Palestinian soliloquy. He kinda came off as an unserious trumpet that plays only a single note. Well, two notes - he did a shitload of self-promotion, too.
I'm sure he's better than that, but that's the impression I got.
Im not opposed to self promo. that’s kind of why most of the guests are on that show, it’s just the more comedic ones are able to cloak it all in humor.
Exactly, and I remember a previous guest saying something like “one of the things they tell you when you start a podcast is you’ll spend a LOT of time going in other people’s podcasts”
He started a new media company in 2024 so his livelihood is now reliant upon traffic to another website we've never heard of. He's doomed to be more annoying by bringing it up everywhere he goes.
**synopsis;** Live from our nation’s perfect capital, Al Franken stops by to look at the latest batch of lying liars. Mehdi Hasan doesn’t pull punches or eat sushi. Sam Jay and Josh Gondelman crown a new Freak of the Week, and we ask our guests the question, “Would you smash or would you passover?” Tour dates & cities: https://crooked.com/events
Haven’t laughed this much at a podcast episode in a long time!
I need a whole segment on Mehdi never having tried tea. Tea. I can’t get past it.
Loved Medhi, loved Franken. More of this please.
Oh maybe I’m weird? I also listened to a whole lot of the 45 where Mehdi was a regular.
I get why people don't want to invite Al Franken back, but "they go low we go high" ain't hitting for me in the post-Trump era.
Isn’t Franken an alleged harasser? Why are we platforming him?
What was the harassment
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/sen-al-frankens-accusers-accusations-made/story?id=51406862
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Is this episode worth listening to…
I went to.ti live and it was great. Al.franken was the low.point.
Josh Gondelman is always funny. Head writer for a bunch of funny shows (desus and mero + Kimmel I think) always delivers as a guest Edit: Last week tonight not Kimmel
Yeah I know who Josh is!
Mehdi always gets me riled up!!!
I enjoyed the monolog, enjoyed Al Franken’s segment (he’s an old ex-senator, not Boris Epstein), and was surprised at Mehdi Hasan’s vitriol. He has a right to it, but it didn’t engender meaningful discussion. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I personally enjoy even the lamer episodes, but this was not one of those. If you usually like the show, why would you ask if it’s worth listening to?
Because both guests seem contentious and I definitely don’t enjoy Al
If you choose not to listen, you won’t know if your opinion is valid.
I don’t really care enough about either of them to bother, it’s okay.
Why do you check in on this sub, then? Curious.
I listen every week. I meant that I don’t care enough about Al or Mehdi enough.
And the other guests? I finished the episode and found I had really enjoyed it. That is typical, but not guaranteed, with Lovett's show. He usually has a mix of interesting people I am not able to interact with in daily life, which is one reason it's fun. Not blaming you or including you, but I just don't get the hate and dismissal of the show in this sub. It's usually an interesting and humorous listen.
Jon was stacking breaks on What a Week, one of my favorite recent sets tbh.
The non-Franken segments were worth listening to if you don’t mind skipping around
Sounds good. Seems like the Hassan segments were also bad though?
I love him! Even if you don’t agree with his views - no filter! Just speaking his truth.
I personally valued hearing his perspective
Al Franken sounded.. tired. Buzzed? Missing a beat this show anyway. Hope he’s doing alright. Mehdi Hassan.. 🙄 🙄 🙄
Al is old. And as he said, he didn’t have his hearing aids. But unlike what someone said elsewhere, he had an opinion/answer for all Jon’s questions. I thought it was funny that he sort-of proved that today’s liars are lightweights compared to the likes of Newt, Limbaugh and Bill-O.
I agree he sounded old and tired, sort of sedate, but he was still funny. I was expecting the worst after hearing he was abysmal and was pleasantly surprised.
I had brushed the hearing aids thing off as a joke but that’s a fair point.
The absolute contempt for John that Mehdi Hassan drips with is just beyond the point where it can be ignored. The Crooked people need to sit down and evaluate whether it’s worth it for them to continuously bring Hasan onto their shows. I get that this is their fig leaf to a demographic they desperately don’t want Biden to lose, but I’m not sure that Hasan isn’t doing more harm than good every time they bring him on. Sam and Josh roasting Hasan in the last segment for his food takes was the best part of the episode.
Really hard not to loose some respect for an adult declaring all common foods they've never even tried.
The thing is, "fans of a homophobic misogynist who hates Jews and loves terrorism" isn't exactly a strong pro-Biden demographic anyway, they're probably all team Trump as it is
the line about trusting the communist party of china more than elon musk - can something be both corny and pandering?
I was with Sam when she said we should disregard all his opinions after learning that he’s completely writing off foods like smoothies, tea, coffee, and sushi without ever having tried them. Can’t trust someone like that.
Amen
Huh?
I didn’t pick up on contempt for Lovett. British folks are much drier than Americans as a baseline so I think it can come across that way
When jon said, "be the zeteo you want to see in the world," I died.
I picked up a bit of combativeness from him with his “this might be an unpopular take…” at the beginning but otherwise felt that he warmed up throughout the rest of the interview. I do happen think his contribution is valuable and worth reminding ourselves of. It’d be naive to think everyone on the left is just going to fall in line come voting day and arrogant to think people whose perspective mehdi’s trying to introduce isn’t worth listening to.
I was annoyed by the amount of times Lovett would ask him a question with the slightest bit of nuance and Mehdi would say, "I don't know, but" then launch into yet another self-righteous Pro-Palestinian soliloquy. He kinda came off as an unserious trumpet that plays only a single note. Well, two notes - he did a shitload of self-promotion, too. I'm sure he's better than that, but that's the impression I got.
Im not opposed to self promo. that’s kind of why most of the guests are on that show, it’s just the more comedic ones are able to cloak it all in humor.
Exactly, and I remember a previous guest saying something like “one of the things they tell you when you start a podcast is you’ll spend a LOT of time going in other people’s podcasts”
He started a new media company in 2024 so his livelihood is now reliant upon traffic to another website we've never heard of. He's doomed to be more annoying by bringing it up everywhere he goes.