The Lou Perez Podcast

Lou Perez is a comedian, producer, and author of That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore. You may have seen him on FOX's Gutfeld! and Open to Debate (with Michael Ian Black). Lou was the head writer and producer of the Webby Award-winning comedy channel We the Internet TV and produces Comedy Is Murder, a sketch comedy series with Free the People. Lou is a FAIR-in-the Arts fellow, on the advisory board of Heresy Press, and hosts the live debate series The Wrong Take and The Lou Perez Podcast. During my tenure at We the Internet, I made the kind of comedy that gets you put on lists and your words in the Wall Street Journal: "How I Became a 'Far-Right Radical."How'd I start out?I began doing improv and sketch comedy while an undergrad at New York University, where I was part of the comedy group the Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz.For years, I performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (both in NYC and L.A.) in sketch shows with the Hammerkatz and my comedy duo, Greg and Lou. G&L are probabl

The Lou Perez Podcast is a comedy podcast hosted by Lou Perez, with 189 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Lou Perez hosts The Lou Perez Podcast, a comedy show with 189 episodes published.

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  The Lou Perez Podcast

  The Lou Perez Podcast - What Killed Late Night Comedy?

  Aug 14, 202643 min

  Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez moderates a panel on politics, comedy, and the death of late night TV. Panelists: comedian Boris Khaykin, comedian and podcaster Andrew Heaton, Georgetown law professor and author Randy Barnett, Consumer Choice Center head of media Stephen Kent, and comedian Peter Stewart. Topics include: why Colbert was losing $20 million a year and what that tells you about the economics of late night; the no-monoculture problem — Joe Rogan now outperforms Fox News; how going political gave Colbert a short-term ratings boost and gutted the comedy long-term; the Daily Show's original rule (cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs) and how every show that copied it forgot the rule; the math of splitting one sixth of a dying market; whether Trump actually pressured CBS to cancel Colbert (the FCC and Kimmel story is more interesting); Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new formats replacing late night; the democratization of comedy and what AI tools mean for talent in Nebraska; why writing 252 episodes a year is an impossible creative ask; what it's like to be on Gutfeld! and whether he's actually the new Johnny Carson; and what's still off-limits in comedy. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez moderates the panel at FreedomFest 2026 1:39 — Is late night actually dead? The panel's opening takes 2:35 — We live in the clips economy — nobody watches late night live 3:33 — When did you last watch late night live? The panel answers 5:12 — Colbert lost $20 million a year — the economics of late night explained 5:50 — No more monoculture — Joe Rogan outperforms Fox News 6:43 — Why going political gave Colbert a short-term boost and a long-term problem 8:15 — Short term gains for long term pains 9:33 — The Colbert Report was brilliant. The Late Show was a dad reading the NYT with a band. 10:35 — The Daily Show's original rule: cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs 11:25 — The math: Kimmel, Fallon, and Colbert splitting one sixth of a dying market 12:18 — The Weather Channel sitcom and the pre-cable era of tepid centrist content 13:39 — Did Trump pressure CBS to cancel Colbert? What actually happened. 14:05 — The FCC, Brandon Carr, and Kimmel — government jawboning explained 14:46 — Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new model replacing late night 15:23 — SNL, Alec Baldwin as Trump, and the Instagram kid doing it better 16:37 — Ben Burke live in Naples, Florida — the demographics that surprised everyone 17:39 — Johnny Carson was unifying — a conservative Republican family from the Midwest loved him 18:10 — Kill Tony as an evolution of late night 19:34 — YouTube as a gateway to live comedy 20:18 — Is the FCC still necessary? The property rights argument for radio airwaves 22:23 — Howard Stern and transgression — you need a line to cross it 23:29 — Richard Pryor's masturbation jokes and why taboo topics lose their edge 25:12 — What podcasting did to late night — Conan's pivot 26:47 — Reality TV is cheap. Writing jokes is hard. 27:09 — The democratization of comedy — from 3 channels to 31 flavors 28:16 — Randy Barnett got in trouble on X — Georgetown security called 29:11 — The future: AI tools, zero barriers, a flood of new talent 30:41 — Human connection — why people still show up live 33:39 — Joe Rogan is now an institution — new late nights are forming 36:22 — Lou on Gutfeld! — what it's like to be on the number one late night show 37:57 — Gutfeld vs. Carson — is he actually winning or just winning on the right? 39:30 — The volume problem — 252 shows a year is impossible to do well 41:42 — Kimmel's Charlie Kirk joke, the FCC, and when both sides can be wrong 42:28 — Q&A — what's currently off-limits in comedy? Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

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  The Lou Perez Podcast

  The Lou Perez Podcast - Jon Miltimore

  Aug 7, 202653 min

  Jon Miltimore is back — writer, commentator, and one of the sharpest guys covering arts, culture, and politics on Substack. This is his second time on the show and we did not run out of things to talk about. Topics include: why California can't fight wildfires and why Native Americans had better land management practices; the World Cup finally breaking through in the US; what to actually expect at a Bob Dylan concert when you're a Dylan fan (Jon didn't get what he wanted; he has no regrets); Ben Askren's double lung transplant and why elite athletes bounce back from things that would end most people; the new Stallone biopic about how Rocky got made — specifically the part where a broke, dog-selling, parking-car Stallone turned down $1 million because he refused to not play the role himself; the Rocky franchise and what it means that it somehow worked as it became more absurd; working out at 44 and 47 and why exercise is mental health; the case for travel sports (and why Matthew Yglesias is wrong); and why you should never outsource teaching your kid to ride a bike. Follow Jon on Substack → https://substack.com/@miltimore TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Jon Miltimore, writer and commentator 0:31 — Canada's wildfires — black skies over New York and Minnesota 2:37 — Why California can't fight fires — federal land, bad policy, and arson 4:38 — Native Americans had better land management — and we stopped listening 5:21 — Private land vs. federal land — the tragedy of the commons 5:38 — Happy Hour Econ — a comedian and an economist walk into a bar 8:50 — The World Cup in America — how soccer finally broke through 10:26 — Bob Dylan at a Bob Dylan concert — what you should actually expect 13:38 — Lou cries at a Bob Dylan concert. He's not embarrassed. 17:21 — Ben Askren's double lung transplant — and why athletes bounce back when others don't 20:44 — Askren retires on his shield — and makes peace with his rival 23:26 — The new Rocky biopic — Stallone turned down $1 million to play the role himself 27:53 — Lou used to go by Rambo as a kid. Old ladies still ask about him. 28:29 — Jon's 13-year-old son shadowboxed like Clubber Lang at age two 29:11 — The Rocky franchise — from gritty 70s realism to superhero movie 32:50 — Working out at 44 and 47 — rowing machines, air bikes, and getting back at it 36:30 — Russell Crowe's comeback — individual agency and why exercise is mental health 41:14 — Travel sports — expensive, worth it, and Matthew Yglesias is wrong 45:34 — Teaching your kids to ride a bike — don't outsource the best moments 51:07 — Auto-deleting tweets and cancel culture — how we need to treat speech differently 52:10 — Outro — find Jon on Substack Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

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  The Lou Perez Podcast

  The Lou Perez Podcast - Liza Libes

  Jul 31, 202650 min

  Liza Libes is a writer and literary critic at Pens and Poison. Her parents escaped the Soviet Union. She went to Columbia. She found that Columbia's English Department had replaced literature with Marxist theory, postcolonial studies, and critical theory. She's been pushing back ever since. We talked about: the teachers who made us both writers; reading Wallace Stevens's The Snowman — out loud, in full — and the seventh grade class that made Liza stand in the snow for an hour to understand it; Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and the fascism problem; what happened to Columbia's English Department and why it matters for publishing; why Marxism is fundamentally an ideology of resentment (Bertrand Russell said it 100 years ago); the novel Yesteryear and what it reveals about contemporary literary self-righteousness; why writing characters who disagree with you is the whole point; the Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey and what "a complicated man" does to Odysseus's character; and Christopher Nolan's Odyssey film — specifically the Cyclops scene he cut, why it was the scene that defined Odysseus, and why its absence drains the heroism from the entire story. Follow Liza at Pens and Poison on Instagram → @pensandpoison TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Liza Libes and what is Pens and Poison? 1:20 — Looking back on your 18-year-old writer self 2:51 — The teachers who made us writers — Brother Patterson and Poetry Friday 5:34 — Standing in the snow to understand Wallace Stevens — The Snowman read aloud 10:31 — The Lost Generation: Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot — and the fascism problem 13:03 — Shakespeare and Co., Paris, and missing Notre Dame before the fire 14:57 — Columbia's English Department: literary theory replaced literature 16:58 — Marxist literary theory, critical theory, and postcolonial studies explained 18:28 — Her parents escaped the Soviet Union — why she takes Marxism personally 19:28 — What literature used to be — humanistic inquiry vs. class consciousness 21:41 — Academia made literature esoteric — and publishing followed 23:01 — The DSA voter: overeducated, underpaid, and resentful 24:44 — Yesteryear — the trad wife novel, Anne Hathaway, and literary self-righteousness 26:03 — When the author's voice drowns out the character's voice 27:14 — Dostoevsky, Lionel Shriver, and characters the author disagrees with 30:23 — Writing outside your experience — her trans character, Lou's gay character 33:22 — Lou's story published alongside Joyce Carol Oates and Junot Diaz 35:20 — Her new novel — exploring faith and Jewish theology 37:32 — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Waiting for Godot 39:03 — The Emily Wilson Odyssey translation — "a complicated man" vs. "cunning" 41:10 — What makes Odysseus great — the Cyclops, the cunning, the hubris 43:25 — Nolan's film: the Cyclops scene is gone — and why that ruins everything 45:42 — Greek hubris — Icarus, Arachne, and why pride destroys heroes 47:24 — The sirens scene: what it should have felt like vs. what Nolan did 48:30 — The overall verdict on Nolan's Odyssey — heroism is missing 49:46 — Outro — find Liza at Pens and Poison Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

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  The Lou Perez Podcast

  The Lou Perez Podcast - Michael Angelo Zervos

  Jul 24, 202655 min

  Michael Angelo Zervos is a Guinness World Record holder — he visited all 195 UN-recognized countries in 499 days. Along the way he interviewed people in every country about the happiest moment of their life. That project became a book, published by Penguin Random House, out February 23rd. We talked about: how the record works and what actually counts as "visiting" a country; a year and a half of planning vs. the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident; getting jailed overnight in Liberia for taking a photo of a building; being deported from Nicaragua because they thought he was a journalist; how he got into North Korea during a two-week window that's since closed permanently; what North Korea is actually like (his answer: Plato's allegory of the cave, in real life); Cuba on the ground vs. what the left says about it; traveling through Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, and Sudan; asking people about happiness in active conflict zones; and what his grandfather being forced to fight for communist guerrillas in the Greek Civil War has to do with any of it. Get the book → The Happiest Moment of Your Life: True Stories from a Journey to Every Country in the World https://amzn.to/4pHdYav Follow Michael on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theprojectkosmos/ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Michael Angelo Zervos? 0:34 — Greeks in America — diners, Coney Islands, and the varsity jacket problem 5:05 — Christopher Nolan's Odyssey — not a single Greek in the cast 6:25 — 195 countries in 499 days — how the Guinness World Record works 8:04 — A year and a half of planning — and the Brazilian who claimed he did it by accident 9:33 — What counts as "visiting" a country? The Guinness rules 11:08 — Project Cosmos — interviewing people about the happiest moment of their life 13:13 — Brand deals, sponsorships, and the reality of Guinness World Record celebrity 14:35 — Traveling as a man vs. a woman — the real differences 16:37 — Married with two kids — how he pulled this off 20:24 — The happiest moment of the trip — waking up in Ghana 21:33 — The Swiss man who came out as bisexual at a phone-free party in Zurich 23:45 — The worst moments: jailed in Liberia for photographing a building 26:57 — Deported from Nicaragua — they thought he was a journalist 27:41 — Left-wing dictatorships and the memory hole 29:50 — North Korea — getting in through a two-week window that's now closed 32:14 — North Korea as Plato's cave — the allegory of the cave in real life 33:44 — His grandfather forced to fight for communist guerrillas in the Greek Civil War 35:29 — Dennis Rodman's translator was a libertarian 36:44 — Cuba — what it's actually like on the ground 38:40 — Poverty porn, romanticizing socialism, and what Cubans actually think 43:42 — The Facebook argument: "Oh no, Starbucks is going to ruin Cuba" 45:38 — What's actually lost when wealth is generated — community and dependency 47:27 — Traveling through conflict zones: Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, Sudan 49:37 — Asking people about happiness in a war zone 50:27 — The book: published by Penguin Random House, out February 23rd 52:23 — Chicken soup for the soul meets Anthony Bourdain — what the book actually is 54:14 — Outro — follow Michael and get the book Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r TheLouPerez.com | info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

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  The Lou Perez Podcast

  The Lou Perez Podcast - Germania Rodriguez Poleo

  Jul 10, 20261 hour

  Germania Rodriguez Poleo — journalist, writer, and Venezuelan exile — escaped her country at age 11 after the Chavez regime accused her mother of terrorism, tortured their bodyguard to death, shot at their car, and raided their home. She arrived in Miami as a refugee. Then she went to NYU and voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Her Reason magazine article "My Family Fled Socialism. Then I Voted for Bernie Sanders." tells the story of how that happened — and how she found her way back out. She's also the narrator of the documentary Escaping Venezuela. We covered: her mother's escape on a boat to Curacao and what Interpol red notices actually do to dissidents; the Pinochet whataboutism that follows every conversation about left-wing atrocities; what NYU taught (and didn't teach) about communism, socialism, and US foreign policy; why the pipeline from wealth and privilege to socialism is real and why it matters who makes the culture; the DSA's old platform calling for nationalization of media — and what that looks like in practice in Venezuela; the 32 Cuban soldiers killed protecting Maduro when the US captured him; the 2024 Venezuelan election that was stolen in plain sight; the recent earthquake with 40,000 missing while the dictatorship reports 3,000 dead; why she believes the US should be the policeman of the world; and the tragedy of exile — what it means to have your entire family legacy erased. Follow Germania on social media → @iamGermania TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Germania Rodriguez Poleo? 0:31 — The Reason article: "My Family Fled Socialism. Then I Voted for Bernie Sanders" 1:43 — Her mom: the #1 journalist exposing Chavez — accused of terrorism 3:30 — House raids, shot at their car, bodyguard tortured to death 4:59 — How democracy is lost — and why people allow it 6:07 — Her mom escapes on a boat to Curacao, then flies to Miami 7:07 — Born in Miami — how that gave her some protection 7:26 — Interpol red notices — how dictators use them against dissidents 8:47 — Her grandfather arrested in Rome on Interpol orders 9:13 — The UN Security Council problem 10:06 — The Pinochet whataboutism — and why the left always pivots there 12:05 — NYU, Karl Marx, and an incomplete education 13:26 — No readings on the Soviet Union, Mao, or Cuba — only US horrors 15:03 — The 2002 Venezuela coup — US engineered or not? Her mom was in the room. 16:41 — "Whatever the US does is bad, everyone opposed to it is good" 17:21 — NYU's Karl Marx birthday dance party 18:39 — Why aren't we winning the argument against communism? 19:04 — The pipeline from privilege to socialism — and who makes the culture 20:08 — The documentary Escaping Venezuela — and why it matters 21:06 — DSA, Bernie Sanders, and the Norway vs. Cuba confusion 22:08 — Che Guevara shirts — racism, homophobia, concentration camps 24:08 — DSA's platform: nationalizing media — the Venezuela playbook 26:21 — How authoritarianism starts: shutting down speech in the name of morality 29:04 — Race, identity, and the boxes put on Latinos at NYU 31:06 — NYC Mayor Mamdani — victimhood politics and who's actually brown 32:22 — If the US is so racist, why do people lie about being minorities? 33:56 — Paid propagandists for left-wing dictatorships 36:13 — The US captures Maduro — and the 32 Cuban soldiers protecting him 37:39 — Should the US be the policeman of the world? Her answer: yes. 39:23 — Venezuela is not Libya — why intervention wouldn't cause a civil war 40:09 — The 2024 election Maduro stole 41:14 — The recent earthquake — 40,000 missing, dictatorship says 3,000 42:30 — That's socialism in practice — from richest country to this 42:54 — Cuba: communists vs. thugs — and the cancer it spread 46:04 — "I want to go to Cuba before Starbucks gets there" 48:23 — Her mom: still fighting, now critical of Trump, 200K YouTube views 50:16 — Does she want to go back? The tragedy of exile. 52:20 — Exile is different from immigration — what was taken from her family 54:39 — Trying to revive her grandfather's newspaper 56:05 — Outro Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU 🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 info@thelouperez.com ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez

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