The Middlebrow Multiverse

The guys chop it up on a range of topics including the incomparable Dr. Dre, the new Call of Duty, Book Clubs, Couple Vibes, and a host of fuck 'ems and cheers.  

The boys put on their film critic scuba suits and do a deep dive on the Coen Brothers, dissecting their filmography, sharing their favorite scenes, talking through the People's Choice Countdown, and identifying the two movies most deserving of a re-watch.  

Our favorite gentlemen kick back in their easy chairs by the fire and puff on a pipe filled with Bayesian statistics, the semiconductor supply chain, and the surprising medical efficacy of falling asleep during the day.  Pete fields four difficult questions, and Danny is left wondering how to patch up the hole in his heart where all the joy leaks out.

The homies lay back in the cut and rap about Maggie Haberman, Hitler's jawbone, and Kendrick Lamar, among other trending topics.

The guys give it their best and come up with some passable Top 3s, fuck em's, and cheers on varied topics including bowling, exploding pagers, and people who take up too much space in car lines and on pool lounge chairs.

The lads get back after it with an update on the latest innovations in scamming techniques, a few takes on the Olympics, and a jaundiced eye cast at Amazon's dark secret.

Our boys return to action by answering your mail.  A statistic about Connecticut gets the better of Pete, Saudi Arabia is revisited, and the guys get a dose of reality from a disgruntled listener.

On this sound from June, Danny brings in a spare Pete as a fill-in host and they chew on a few choice morsels including Gen Z's reduced sex drive, a couple of attention-grabbing TV series, and a speed bracket for the ages.  

The dudes are joined by special guest Ash Miller as they put the last 14 years of Grammy winners for Best Album into the Hunger Games arena and let them fight it out to the death.  Hear what happens to Beck, Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, Arcade Fire, Billie Eilish, and more in this action-packed and suspense-filled episode. Only one can survive.

El hombres get back on el microfono to chat about the revolution in soft drink rankings, cold plunges, and epic novels.  They provide a battlefield update on the culture wars then round it out with some fuck 'ems and cheers.

The lads get back to work, sharing three news items that caught their eye this week: the Gulf States Gone Wild, Asia's autonomous-nation drug cartel, and America is shrinking. Plus a bit of whimsy. 

The guys improvise like jazz musicians and share their loose takes on Kevin Costner's pretend-cowboy act, crows, "homestyle" food, Socrates, and more. They end the episode needing an illustrator for the world's next great graphic novel sensation.

Our revenants return with mailbag follow-ups on Beethoven vs. the Beatles, the correct temperature for coffee, the broad appeal of Philip Roth, and the evolution of the Boy Scouts of America. 

The fellas do two speed brackets, facing off concepts, foodstuffs, jail sentences, and geopolitical outcomes, crowning two champions as between pizza, live sports, nice hotels, weddings, donuts, The Wire, non-fiction, and much more.  Predictably, hilarity ensues.

The bros get back to their roots with top threes and fuck 'ems.  They address the Japanese vs. German schools of automotive engineering and how they reflect life at large. Danny describes his first YouTube crush and complains about inaccurate euphemisms in dentistry. A good time is had by all.

The gents kick up their feet and manifest a good old fashioned BS session in which they each divulge four perfect things (including a $10 bottle of red wine), ponder bullshit jobs, touch on history and techniques of coffee, and generally bloviate with their characteristic wit and candor.

The lads dive into the mailbag to answer questions about AI, freeway ne'er-do-wells, and irony.  We blame society's ills on finance bros and ponder the definitional contours of middlebrow.

Our champions are back at it with a look at the news. They ponder why Trump and Taylor Swift are so ever-present, when did America hit its peak foreign power, and wow, what a time to be a Gen-Xer. Finally, they discuss a little-known army of smart home products and its nefarious deeds.

We get our first report card from our Middlebrow Ombudsman, who is watching out for our dear listeners and making sure Danny and Pete keep their content as middlebrow as possible. What is the definition of middlebrow? And do the lads hit the mark or fuck it up completely?