Fireside Chats, Episode 15: Comedy in the Age of Trump with Brian Altano

Thank you for your support, and kind words!

Colin Moriarty

This was my favorite CLS episode so far. I loved how honest Brian was, going so far as to actually criticize Colin on his own show, and how graceful Colin was through this process. It was very refreshing to hear two people have an honest conversation, cede points to each other, learn something about how other see the world or feel about issues, and come out better for it. This is why I'm a proud and happy supporter of CLS.

Mat Couthon

Thank you! Happy Holidays to you, too.

Colin Moriarty

If I have one true strength in content creation, I feel, it's that I'm totally and completely myself. You are getting me, like it or hate it. And I'm proud of that. Thank you for listening.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate your kind words, and am pleased that you enjoyed the episode enough to break your silence!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much! I think disagreeing with each other is fine (and important), so long as we respect one another, which we were doing here. So I agree with you!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much! Please enjoy the backlog!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you. I appreciate your kind words, your support, and your generosity.

Colin Moriarty

I think he was overstating the point a bit, but I get what he meant in the main: That there were people out there who thought I was going to be something I'm not, and that I burned them by refusing to be that person. I'm glad that I did. I need to be true to myself.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your kind words and your support. It truly means a lot to me.

Colin Moriarty

I don't expect that I'll heal the wounds with the people I was closest to who I felt let me down (in fact, I know I won't, because I'm not interested in speaking with those people), but I generally agree that there are more bridges to mend, from both sides. It's hardly on me, really.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the episode!

Colin Moriarty

I'll agree with you 100% there: The far left is comical in the offense they take to everything. That said, the far right isn't much better...

Colin Moriarty

Well, I agree with you in the specific sense that the overreaction to the Tweet was incredible, and, as I said, purely politically motivated. I'm glad he came on to express himself, though, and look forward to chatting with him again soon.

Colin Moriarty

It's cool that you disagreed with him on some stuff (I definitely did, too), but I also feel like our conversation was fruitful and productive because we were respectful and heard each other out.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Colin Moriarty

Not sure any KF collaborations are in the cards, but I promise more game collaborations are forthcoming!

Colin Moriarty

I certainly didn't agree with all he said, either, but I wanted to make sure to hear him out and get his side.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much for your long-time support. It really does mean a great deal to me.

Colin Moriarty

You're very welcome. Folks' support here on Patreon is the reason why no ads are necessary!

Colin Moriarty

I thought being mad at Chappelle was totally weird, and I thought his joke was funny, as well. But, I wanted to hear Brian out and get his perspective, and am glad I did.

Colin Moriarty

I'm always gonna do my best to keep things respectful.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for listening!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this episode. Your support is much appreciated!

Colin Moriarty

Loved the episode. All the best to Colin and Brian. Happy Holidays.

StefanSt

One thing I've always liked about Colin is his honesty, warts and all. He doesn't sugar coat his opinion but never says it without backing it up in a rational way. The tweet was, funnily enough, something every man in a relationship has ever thought (and undoubtedly the reverse is just as true). He put it into a tweet and then suddenly everyone attacked him for it. It was a throwaway comment made in jest and people used it as a weapon to make themselves seem like a paragon of virtue. Hot tip: everyone is an asshole. Everyone has these thoughts (and much, much worse). They just don't have the balls to say them publicly. For that, and standing by it, I applaud Colin. As for Brian, I also noticed the change in his online persona. If that's how he wants to present himself that's fine, his perogative. But he needs to remember that there will always be those assholes no matter what, and that being in the position he is in draws more attention to his personal tweets as much as his IGN promoting ones too. I like the guy, he seems more rational in person and he makes very valid points from a different perspective. Good chat all-round.

Smokey Joh

I normally just watch/listen to the content and avoid commenting, but I really thought this was a fantastic episode that showed two friends evaluate a topic from two perspectives with mutual respect. Especially considering the personal nature of that topic. I don’t always agree with Colin’s perspective, nor Brian’s, but I do truly believe they are both fundamentally good people. A damn fine episode.

Kevin R Lord

Appreciated the cordial way your differing opinions were handled. Didn't completely agree with Brian's comments about women being marginalized and having justification for spewing venom over 'the joke' but hey that's what all this is about, right?! Will continue to enjoy the content made by both of you. Thank you, Colin, as always for your amazing work.

Nicole Webb

Awesome episode man.... These are great podcast, just become a patreon member and catching up on the fire side chats :)

Nic

You guys both made really good points while keeping it sane and polite just the way two mature adults should always handle themselves. Also I'm pretty positive that 99% of your fans follow you cuz u resonate with them not all that other shit that was said but still good stuff either way. Keep up the amazing work man your stuff is always continuing to improve.

Travis farmer

Wow, to think that Brian thought that the only people to follow you are racist white right wing Pepe conservatives that was expecting you to rant on their behalf is kinda not true. The jokes on him, we follow you because we know you are and we are not. Judging your audience kind off of made me lose respect for him. Other than that I like Brian and his conversations on IGN podcast about games but I don’t trust his opinions outside that. I still listen to Brian on IGN, and I love his game coverage but I least I know how his mind works.

Hose A Contra Razz

I have to agree with Colin on this episode. Maybe this is obvious bc I am a patreon supporter of Colin. I have been a long follower of Colin since his early IGN days bc I enjoyed his coverage of odd Japanese games and his excellent writing style. I loved him on Beyond and PS I Love You XOXO, he always came across to me as honest, critical and was not afraid to say what he truly thought of a game. This honest approach and what I enjoy to call (and am guilty of) "brutal honesty" I respect, this led me to trust and respect Colins opinion and I still do. I remember watching this "tweet" and ramifications unfold online. People were saying such hateful things about Colin and it appeared the people he had worked with were not standing up for him or his character. I just kept thinking, why are his friends and ex co workers just silent, stand up for your friend! I know his character and I don't even interact with him in person. Colin, to me, has always come across as a good person, a good soul. No matter what your politics are and if you agree with him or not, Colin has always and 100% comes across as a quality human by his overall actions, he is not fake(Brutally Honest) and that matters to me. Those are the type of people I would stick up for! I have their backs. If anyone ever listened to him on a podcast, he always makes it clear that the person more qualified should succeed(or get the job) no matter what gender or race or whatever you are, he always has said this. Due to this statement, one should have known this tweet was obviously a joke. I support CLS because its my way of standing up for him during this/that time period. I know Im not in his inner circle or industry where this all went down and me being vocal on twitter wouldn't matter because I am not a big name or in the game industry, but damn man! I see where Colin comes from in saying in this episode he felt alone/abandoned because even I felt that for him watching this unfold. I supported him in the way I could, which is something he always use to say, pay with your wallets and I because of this I am glad to be a supporter of your page at CLS. Also, Id like to say thank you Colin for the apology that you gave to your supporters from your videogame days. You absolutely were my "boy" when it came to games media and gaming perspective. I trusted your opinion(and still do), our gaming taste our very similar so I took what you said about games to heart and used what you said about buying a lot of games(and not buying certain ones). I have ended up loving games I would have never even tried if it wasn't for you(thank you for Resogun and Danganronpa, platinum #1 and 2)! This might sound stupid bc I still got great content on CLS during this time but I missed your knowledge on games and insight into the industry. I do know we (a lot of your old game audience) stuck up for you by supporting you over here at CLS. Well....At least I know thats what I did. Keep doing what your doing, bringing up conversations, provoking thought and allowing us to keep on learning. Thanks

Jonathan Rice

Great episode. I loved the discourse between you two and how you were able to just talk. I hope the wounds heal one day Colin because I tend to side with what Brian was saying. We will never know all the details but I also like to think that silence is not abandoning you. I can totally understand though how it hurts to feel like people you have known for years just sorta leaving you out in the cold. I'e had it happen to me with people I called my absolute best friends but we worked it out. Either way. Fantastic content my dude. Keep it coming. I don't engage here often but I do still love following the things you are doing.

Brandon Thompson

I agree with you on the requirements of a joke. Funny is far too subjective for that to ever work. Each comedian just has to take an angle they are comfortable with and see if it finds an audience.

Tyson Villeneuve

Very good point.

Like others I'll just say that I like the interview and respect that Brian seems to be pretty honest here. I also disagree with him on the not thinking he or others should have backed you up. He had twitter eggs attacking him while you had industry professionals and news sites lying about you. Big difference.

Whrathgar

Dude, similar story. On the day of "the joke" when he made the "You work with mostly all men and they're the loudest people we know" joke to Colin I said, "True, but you don't have any women at comedy button at all.." ...and....Blocked.

Under better circumstances I would have been more excited for this despite what either person believes, I like having different perspectives from those I follow. Unfortunately because Brian blocked me on Twitter I have grown incredibly resentful of the guy, you have to understand I had been following since his first days at IGN and I even contributed to the launch of The Comedy Button. Youll probably think that I had done something to deserve being blocked, although I disagree with Brian on a lot of things I always try to be respectful, the only thing I can think of is saying that him and a YouTuber that had beef with Brian should hash it over beers, then after I was blocked. The block certainly changed my attitude towards him significantly, which I'll admit I wish it hadn't.

Diego Macias

I may be wrong, but one thing I am starting to love about your FSCs is it sounds like you are working through some shit in real time for us all to hear. We all have your back dude. You don’t have to fight so hard. Can’t wait to see where you’re at 6 months or even a year from now. I can’t offer any kind of input on a discussion you have with a friend of yours other than to say it sounds like he not only knows you well, but knows how to tell you what’s up. It’s actually something I’ve never heard or seen anyone do to you publicly, including your dudes from KF. It’s good to hear you speaking as you again. I do think B is right. You always seemed to function well working with others. Hope you get that back my friend. ✌🏻

Anthony Wright

What a great convo! Brian’s the man! I wasn’t really satisfied with his explanation of “the joke” though. He lays out a series of requirements for a joke to be good: “actually funny”, “don’t leverage curse words”, and “needs context” like Jaselnik cracking jokes about people on the day they just died. Then 20 mins later says, “the joke” is bad even though it meets all those requirements. The “is it funny” requirement is super subjective. I'd think as a comedian he would commend Colin for making a joke and then sticking by it through it all. Brian’s a super-likeable guy though (and funny) so I hope he makes many returns if possible!

I disagree but fully respect your perspective on the tweet. My issue was never with people disliking the tweet, more just how they went after him. I understand when it's child molester and stuff, but really dislike when people go after someone for something they said. Clearly Colin, and many other people who found themselves in this position, are reasonable people and therefore conversation is a good thing and should be encouraged. Not a twitter mob (and this applies to all sides).

CTE

I just love jokes that get a rise out of people. Any people. Right now, the left side of the spectrum is just by far the easiest to get a rise out of. That sad part is they don't just tell you it's not funny, they want your livelihood and everything else.

CTE

Fantastic episode, very enlightening. Brian articulated perfectly my perspective on the tweet: that Colin is in a position of influence and power in an industry known to have problems with gender inequality chose to tweet something that is contrary to positive change in the industry. It was a disappointing moment for me but in no way do I think he deserved the backlash he got. I love Colin and some differences of opinion aren't going to drive me away from following what he does. I had hoped that a discussion of the topic could have happened when he originally tweeted but the over-the-top outrage prevented such a discussion, which was unfortunate. I'm glad that this conversation could finally happen in a forum of respect and openness and I appreciate Colin's ability to listen and learn, even if he disagrees. I also understand his disappointment with friends and colleagues that he felt let him down, but I believe that some of these people didn't have malicious intent. I hope he is able find forgiveness for these people.

Tyson Villeneuve

Interesting to hear Brian’s perspective and his opinion. I do respect the guy. But his comments on the tweet were off in my opinion because the tweet about a day without women was a joke whether good or bad that had nothing to do with women’s fight for equality in the video game industry and in the greater entertainment sphere. I feel like it was a simple joke tweet and nothing more. Maybe I am wrong and I am always ready to hear feedback when I am. Thanks for the episode Colin and I respect Brian for giving his opinion and I appreciate and enjoy his work at IGN.

Eric S

I want to be honest and maybe I’m wrong because I don’t know him personally, but I think he exactly knew what his reply actually did , how can a comment like that be a joke?, it was worst than yours. To make it short I disagree with him in a lot of things but glad he decided to chat with you

Edwin Garcia

This was a treat to listen too. Love the work both of you guys do and I’m glad you guys had a chance to have a conversation. Cheers!

Jacob Vega

Excellent episode Colin. I hope you can collaborate more with other games focused people maybe even KF sometime down the road. I realise this would be hard to do but I feel you may get a sense of closure if you did. Just my two cents. Anyway keep up the great work!

Douglas Stanton

Terrific episode. Its good that there was a radically different perspective on the early part of the year. I didn't agree with everything he said but that kind of thing is good to hear and really helps fireside chats. I liked how you both could disagree and still show respect to each other's point of views.

Peter Campbell

I just want to let you know that I'm one of those supporters that Brian mentioned that has followed your work back from when you first appeared on Beyond and probably on Gamefaqs as well (I spent a lot of time there in my N64 days..) I think you do great work and funny enough I would ask during Twitch stream about Washington's Beard whenever I was on Twitch watching you live, and I (sort of) got a that in Colin's Last Stand and extremely pleased with the content. Thank you for your hard work as always. Hope to hear more from you and Brian in further collaborations!

Jorge Pal

Cannot commend you enough for not having ads. Other podcasts are shoving more and more ads into their shows and it’s just ruining it for me. Thanks Colin.

Ivan Hornett

To play in the analogy mentioned, some comedy is a $100 steak, some comedy is a $5 burger... neither are wrong. I laughed at Chappell’s trans joke, I laughed at Seinfeld’s new stuff too. I just wish people could check their societal issues at the comedy club door more and laugh at everything.

Christopher Hopkins

Really awesome convo and not what I honestly expected. Lots of real talk from both sides in this one, but done respectfully which is always appreciated. It was a great listen, and kudos to both of you for both being entertaining and keeping it 100!

Keith A. Lewis

Fascinating episode! You and Brian have great respect for each other and are obviously good friends. Can’t wait to hear the others from SF, thankyou. I thought your joke was funny (kinda)! I’m sorry.

Christian Doolan

Great episode that showed that two of my favourite voices on the web can come together and show that its okay to no alway see eye to eye and still be great friends. Totally agree with bryan about not isolating yourself Colin and it shows how well you interact with other in this episode alone. Keep up the great content and despite patreon trying its very best to fuck things up ill keep supporting CLS as long as i can.

Richard Boot

I want Fireside Chats to be honest, even if it comes at my expense.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you. I'm glad our chat could keep you company!

Colin Moriarty

I largely disagree with his assessment in that regard, too, and I think he'd feel markedly different if the shoe was truly on the other foot, which, in his case, it wasn't. The response he received from what he said and the response I received from what I said aren't even in the same league. That said, I still feel badly that he went through trauma over it. I wouldn't want that. So, I understand his perspective and how he drew it. And I'm glad I'm back to games, too. Thank you for your kind words.

Colin Moriarty

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment, but you're entitled to that opinion. I'm inviting people on my show to hear their perspective; I'm not interested in opening up debates and really getting into the weeds. I don't agree with everything Brian said, but in the time we had together, I'd rather hear him out than try to combat the things I took issue with. I think you've all gotten my perspective on what transpired a million times. I know I've reiterated this a bunch, but I feel the need to state again: No one forced me from Kinda Funny. I chose to walk away. It didn't make me happy anymore, and I think I made the right choice for all of us. I agree that a lot of people made me feel the need to make that decision, but I don't think Brian was one of them.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much for your kind words!

Colin Moriarty

I'm thinking about going back to San Francisco sometime in Q1 to do another set of interviews, but will likely connect with people I wasn't able to connect with the first time around. I'd suspect the next time you'll hear from him (or that I'll at least see if he has time to record with me) is at E3. I'm not gonna go to the show, but I may cop a hotel room for couple of nights nearby and try to score people to record with as they come and go. (I could also rather easily just stay in Santa Monica and do the same thing, come to think of it.)

Colin Moriarty

I concur!

Colin Moriarty

Well, I have seven more episodes from that San Francisco trip, so you're gonna hear more people's perspectives on this (and all sorts of other shit) over the coming months. It's a good slate of shows.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks mom. I owe you a call! I know. =\

Colin Moriarty

Well, what Max did was juvenile and uncalled for, but he also apologized privately, and I fully accepted (and still accept) his apology. We've all had our moments. I e-mailed Max to do an episode with me, but he never responded, and pretty much everyone else I messaged did, so the schedule was filled rapidly, and I didn't feel the need to reach back out. But I'll try him again in the future and see if he'd be interested in recording with me.

Colin Moriarty

I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed it!

Colin Moriarty

We should absolutely, positively all be nicer to each other.

Colin Moriarty

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Colin Moriarty

I thought Brian's perspective was interesting. I don't necessarily agree with his take away as a whole, but it's certainly a fair perspective to express.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you, although I don't know that I'd categorize my trip to San Francisco as an extended olive branch. I didn't invite anyone on the show that I wasn't cool with throughout the entire ordeal earlier this year.

Colin Moriarty

I had no expectations going in, either, and I found it to be a very candid and interesting chat.

Colin Moriarty

Sometimes, you need things to thoroughly shake out to see what's really going on, and where people really stand on whatever issue is at hand. It's a painful -- but perhaps necessary -- reminder of who and what is true and who and what isn't.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening!

Colin Moriarty

That dude's article in the fall of 2016 about Trump supporters is, I feel, one of the most important and resonant things I saw written about the entire ordeal. He predicted all of this, in a way.

Colin Moriarty

Damn, he took you to task. I wasn’t really expecting that. I disagree with Brian, but I appreciated his perspective. I really appreciate the honesty in this conversation. Definitely the best you’ve done.

Nick

One of your best yet. Really enjoyed listening to the perspective you two had on this topic. Great to listen to while on a road trip.

Jason Talbott

Brian makes a weekly podcast the comedy button where he hardly ever talks about video games if you're interested

Ryan Harvey

Enjoyed this episode. I disagree with Brian however in your friends not needing to have your back. When people slander and bully your friend and you do nothing, are you really a friend? I don’t think so. Glad you returned to games. Your critique is thoughtful and articulate, something missed in games media. I get bored with the let’s act like fools and play this game content. I think you bring a level of seriousness to the art of video games. Because it is an art and I believe your commentary/critique treats it as such. Keep up the great work!

Liv

I feel like you took it easy on Brian honestly, he basically took a shit on you this whole interview and you were nice about it. People like him are the reason you were forced from kinda funny. I liked the interview but you never confronted him properly. Love the history, but be stronger in these things. I listened to Comedy Button from the beginning and this hypocrite has said NI##er on his show several times in early episodes.Would you get that pass Colin? Never heard him called out for it and never apologized for it. His Al Bundy thing was very accurate, but is that how he reacted when it happened? Brian is a HYPOCRITE. Looking forward to more historical takes, but damn did you let him get off easy.

spencer sorensen

You're awesome Colin really enjoying the content. And am super excited to hear you with Brian!

Ryan Harvey

Outstanding episode! Really hope to see Brian return for future chats (I'm certain he will!)

Alastor499

P.S your Mum is the best.

Ian Andrews

Beautiful episode. Really nice to hear you two together. Thanks for having him on. More please!

Ian Andrews

Great episode. So nice to see people of sometimes opposing views listening with open minds and hearts-and having a real discussion. It really can be done! Great lesson to learn. Thanks and love you so much, bud.

BettyAnn Moriarty

These episodes just get better and better. Fan of Brian and his music and I'll be completely honest, I wrote him off when he sent that tweet because I interpreted it as "another person coming out of the woodworks and dumping on Colin instead of having his back". Also not a fan of Max Scoville after the tweets you had with him after the election which I thought were just lame from his end. But it was great to see Brian bring povs that I didn't think about at all. Having said that it's nice to see these episodes with games industry folks has started off with a bang. I want to add: yes thank you Colin, thank you for coming back to games because you were definitely missed. KF has become unrecognizable since you've left and that isn't a slight but it's not the content I want. I missed the nuance, the thoughtfulness, the brashness that you brought when you opined on games and the industry at large. So yes, thank you for coming back.

Gustavo

Probably my favorite CLS content Was very eye and heart opening on many levels for me.

Bryan Silva

Tremendous episode. It’s funny, I saw that tweet Brian sent and (not knowing him) immediately wrote him off because I wanted to take your side. I didn’t say anything bad about him, but I certainly didn’t care for his opinion after that. I didn’t stop to consider his entire body of work or look deeper into your relationship with him, even though that’s exactly what I was telling people to do for you in the fallout of The Tweet. I guess a lot of this just has to do with perspective, and I certainly expect there are smart people out there who are detractors of yours for similar reasons I was of Brian. Maybe we should all just be nicer to each other. Anyway, glad to see he’s a smart guy, and I’m glad you’re reaching out to these people. He’s right that you’re very good at collaborating and having conversation.

Drew Packard

A great listen. I rarely hear Brian speak outside of the realm of video games and it was nice to hear you two discuss everything that you dealt with on social media. You're both incredible level headed dudes and I can't wait to show this to the people I know that are interested.

Joe McPartlin

Think the only way from my testing would be that if you downloaded it onto a computer and synced it to the phone since it's an mp3. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can direct download it through the iphone.

Owen

What a great episode. Brian's dope!

Oakley Waldron

Is there a way to listen to this in the iPhone podcast app? I'm subbed to the show but since this is early, this episode isn't on the app yet. My phone dims and then it quits playing the audio. Is there like a special link or something to get the episodes early through the podcast app?

Awesome episode. I never even gave it a second thought that people who knew Colin were douche bags for not coming to his defense during the aftermath of the tweet, but Brian made a pretty good case for them. Now I'm not sure where I stand on that subject. It still feels like *someone* besides Brian could have said something - even if it wasn't a full-blown defense - in support of Colin as a person.

Christopher Buck

Very open and constructive episode. I predict this to be very therapeutic for many listeners out there. I'm glad you did this San Fran trip. 1. To put your name back out there. and 2. To extend an olive branch to those who were willing to except. This episode should go along way to changing a ton of misinformed people's perceptions on who you are and what this community is really about.

Gabriel Garza

Amazing episode :) This conversation went very differently than I would have expected it to, but it was better for it.

Claudien

Pretty unrelated - but I remember a time when me and this girl had a bad breakup. It was sudden, 3 years of dating, gone in a weekend, another guy involved etc. - I remember the thing that hurt the most, wasn't the breakup itself, but that all these people who I thought were my friends, actually weren't. They were her friends, because not a single one of them reached out to me to ask "are you okay?" - or even "I'm sorry that happened." - Nothin.. And I remember that was the biggest sting of all. Just that feeling of "I'm alone" - I tell this story for no reason what so ever, other than to say... Good job handling it as well as you did, and are. And to keep it up, because you're not alone. Most of us don't know you personally, but here we are, and we ain't goin nowhere --- Great podcast, loved how honest and candid Brian was about the situation, and really enjoyed his point about "We're not more sensitive, we're just now being exposed to more thoughts" - Fantastic point that more people need to realize.

Owen

This was a great, honest conversation. Hopefully both guys learned something from each other’s perspectives. I’m glad both of them are friends and can have this conversation.

Sean McCole

Funilly enough, they talked about this topic on the Cracked Podcast yesterday. David Wong (real name Jason Pargin) wrote that article about Middle-America going into the election and makes some awesome points. (Could also make a great potential guest for Fireside Chat). Here's the link for those interested: <a href="http://www.earwolf.com/episode/why-conservative-comedy-is-almost-impossible-in-trump-times/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.earwolf.com/episode/why-conservative-comedy-is-almost-impossible-in-trump-times/</a>

Josh Squires

Thank you! That's very kind.

Colin Moriarty

One of the best episodes. I love you two <3

Dominic Dilullo

I was thrilled that he was candid. That's all I ever ask for!

Colin Moriarty

I'm glad you enjoyed the episode! I actually didn't have a "plan" with any of the eight people I sat down with in San Francisco, for the most part. I wanted to see what they wanted to talk about. I expected Brian and I to focus on comedy, but it was his desire to talk about the Tweet that brought us in that direction, and obviously, I was happy to oblige. I'm sure we'll collaborate again in the future.

Colin Moriarty

I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. The Outrage Machine doesn't necessarily have to destroy you, so long as you stand up for yourself and didn't actually do anything wrong. I'm happy to capitulate when I make an error, but I didn't (and don't) feel I did anything wrong, and therefore am not going to be apologizing just to apologize, y'know?

Colin Moriarty

I'm noticing a trend with you. =)

Colin Moriarty

I like Brian. I definitely think that the infamous tweet was blown out of proportion, but I appreciated that he didn't pull any punches with regards to his feelings on that whole thing, and stayed thoughtful and respectful. Very glad that you two are still friends :) Side note: Misanthrope still finds it's way back into my rotation every once in a while to this day! Definitely didn't expect that to happen when I first heard about it.

Joey Pape

I'm interested to hear Brian's take. I figured he would see your joke as not really a big deal, given some of the horrendous (and funny) things I've heard Brian say on shows like the Comedy Button... I don't remember specifically how (or if) he reacted to "The Joke" back when it happened. This should be a good convo. And comedy in the age of Trump... well... it's call Trump Hitler. That's pretty much it. You go outside of that and you end up like Owen Benjamin. EDIT: "End up like Owen Benjamin" is actually not a negative. He's sort of like you, Colin. Said some things people didn't like, they tried to ruin his career, and now he's happier doing his own thing. Ended up being a blessing in disguise, much like the infamous tweet was for you.

Mmm, common ground.

Steven Camilo