907 - Big Balls feat. Kath Krueger & Jeff Stein (2/10/25)
Kath joins us for our annual review of the Big Game spectacle. We give our appraisal of what this year’s ad slate says about the state of American culture, plus reactions to Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, and how conservatives continue to be oppressed by the TV. Then the Washington Post’s Jeff Stein joins us to discuss his reporting on what exactly Elon Musk & the DOGE team are trying to do to the federal government.
Jeff’s piece on Elon & DOGE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/08/doge-musk-goals/
If you’re in LA, check out Jacques & Grace’s Game Show Pig variety show at the Loge Room this Wednesday, 2/12: https://www.lodgeroomhlp.com/shows/game-show-pig/
Comments (148)
I've become obsessed with Ralph Mooney's pedal steel solo on Big Balls in Cowtown
ngl i listened to the DOGE convo for about 10 minutes and as great as the reporting is, i cannot stomach another second of it
good episode, I agree 100% with the vibe of the super bowl
In my headcannon the Palestinian guy on the Grand National was part of the show
Shoutouts to Kendrick having the dancers form a trans flag at one point. I only just learned he's made music about having trans relatives so it's cool to see the #1 rapper in the world is on our side
Time to make Kath full-time on the show
My American friends keep sending me onisha robinson insta reels/ tktok
Will saying fit is so embarrassing
Their views on the halftime show are also so embarrassing. You can tell they’ve entered their boomer era.
Travis kelce did lose horribly and put the outfit back on! There's a shot of him leaving the stadium dressed like that!
i hope catturd survives his bowel injuries another year so that the groovy grapes can play next year
I love Chris. “Big Balls In Cowtown” has been stuck in loop in my head since this story broke. Now here it is as the outro.
Elon needs to become South Africa's second astronaut
You guys forgot to ask Jeff if he's seen the new Adam Friedland show lately
Make Kath 3rd mic
The salesforce commercials were pretty dumb too, Defector had a good piece about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKmsvRXE4A
I had not thought about Donut Twitter in years. I assume all those people have very performatively moved to blue sky
China just synthesized rocket fuel and motherfucking oxygen in orbit. They will be laughing at us from Mars while Grok flips us ass up and fucks us forever
I actually can't believe Felix hasn't heard of the American Pakistan woman. He's going to have a field day with that
MAGA Hotep collab on the way.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we need more KATH
The half time show was great y'all are trippin
Loveeeee the Jacque ad read bc I know they were on the phone with Chris threatening to throw themselves into the Bayou
Yo Jeff Stein kinda funny
"It's important by virtue that I am reporting on it" made me laugh.
The annoying Pakistan lady also has some preposterous eyebrows, I keep getting sent clips in a group chat
We need an episode about how its all jus about Bannon, Musk, Vogt, and Friends “getting inside the Dems OODA Loops”, etc. 🙃
okay let's be real here, the one halftime act that would genuinely heal our wounds is Deftones
Metallica would have been a pretty solid choice too if they didn't spend the last 10 years touring with punch-holes-in-drywall acts like Pantera and Five Finger Death Punch
When I hear all these “MAGA conservatives” tweets I just think, they not like us…
Did anyone else listen to Trash Future today? According to a reporter they interviewed, Big Balls could have easily crashed the world economy
pushing to prod on the system that pays t-bills is low key nutty with it
59:30 "A dog can't play basketball" and Will pulls Lassie??? Not Air Bud???? We need a mutiny on this show
I’m sorry to report that Paul Butterfield died almost 40 years ago
I wish Chapo staff wrote for WaPo. It might be worth reading.
A: Mac DeMarco halftime, vaguley leftwing but mellow. B: piss off 90% of the country and have MBV or Slowdive do a show that I personally will vibe to while the rest of America is like "Why are the guitars so loud."
We love Kath folks
I was zoned out during the Israel flag Fox News commercial but that snapped me right back to attention lol
Kath Krueger one of the best guests every time but she sounds *exactly* like my friend from college
28:05 FOX BUTTERFIELD Seth Dickfield?
For anyone who wants to read about automation in government, check out the geniuses in Australia and Robodebt.
I really enjoyed kendrick's performance. I dont think it was revolutionary or anything, but it was fun! He played the hits, the dancers were cool, it was all i wanted it to be.
he specifically didn't
The chapos are right that the Kendrick performance isn’t really that subversive or revolutionary- but I do think you gotta take a step back from being a contrarian and look at how wild it is the NFL went through with the Kendrick halftime. Clearly they (correctly) assumed they would make buckets of money from this as a cultural spectacle, but they basically KNEW that they would alienate and piss off a lot of of their core audience- but by season start next year all those people will be watching again anyway. I think last year or maybe before Will talked about how wild it is that liberals seem to be getting football in the National divorce- and I think that’s still true. Because no matter what the weirdo conservative pundits say or do, the average conservative voter will watch football no matter what. The major league sports I think are going to increasingly become the circus that panders to liberals while we slide more towards fascism. Also whatever you think of Kendrick, you gotta admit that him uniting America to call a single whiny annoying Canadian a pedophile is just good for the culture.
https://youtu.be/JwsLpPCujCw?si=x1rtic00xeDdvB-o The AC/DC Big Balls song is stuck in my head now.
Is Jeff Stein the guy that wrote the cum town article
Random but my dad was the lawyer portrayed by Jon Bernthal in Show Me a Hero. Never get to brag about that cuz it’s such a forgotten mini series that no one saw.
Really missing an opportunity here with Will's pronunciation of doge to use George Clinton's Atomic Dog
wait what are they referring to when they talk about a washington post journalist getting in trouble for something they said on chapo? did Jeff Stein say something crazy when he was on or something? I don't remember podcasts well enough to have an idea of what it might have been
My guess is something with Dave Weigl?
I think felix is right that musk will be blamed for the unpopular things that happen in Trump’s second term but I think musk is completely insulated from any unpopularity. Even if he’s at 25% approval nationally, he’d still have dozens of yes men telling him he was immensely based for ending social security.
1) Travis Kelce needs a low ACT former college basketball or volleyball player for a gf/wife: see George Kittle/Netflix “Receiver” 2) Will and Katherine totally hustle more athletic appearing couples in pickleball.
The only Halftime that matters https://youtu.be/HCDYgZM5yq0
One the da BEST albums
I can’t get enough of JD Vance going to bat for the “normalize Indian hate” guy. What a fucking worm. I’m amazed his wife ever let him stick his dick in her.
IVF or someone else's kids
I will not tolerate any Creed Halftime Show slander. Strike 1.
Is big balls the broccoli haired individual?
holy shit googling "woman in pakistan" actually worked. shoutout to katherine
didn't rly think about elon getting the brunt of the trump hate but I'll grab onto anything I can to make myself feel better
elon when someone asks him why needs hundreds of billions in toy rocket money if he's cutting unnecessary spending from the federal budget: 😳😳😳😳
They vastly overstate what a w**ger Travis Kelce is
Such a strange point of view, that of the Internet-addicted nerd celebrity playing hipster. Do we really believe that all the young Trump supporters are losers with no girlfriend? I'm pretty sure there are a lot of normal guys with jobs voting for Trump these days, and for that matter, lots of lonely dorks who live in their Mom's house voting for Dems.
The whole Samuel L Jackson bit was lifted directly from the college dropout skits
1. Katherine very funny 2. Non IT people yapping about AI is regarded 3. Boosting wapo = sus
“Normalize Indian hate” -this post has been approved by Pakistan gang
latest rwn and chapo episodes both mention carlito’s way 🤯🤯
9:20 uhhh dont go to the website kanye mentioned in his commercial
can you tell me what it is so I won't
Shout out Paul Butterfield! He's dead though
Yes yes we get it you’re left but not like those lame wokes over there. It’s so tiresome. That schtick is as dated as Kek stuff.
Please get a life.
Lol the tongues ad was just CoffeMate trying to horn in on the Galaxy Gas game — teen boys whipping coffee creamer out of a spray can followed a brightly colored hallucinogenic sequence. Very cool
Did nobody else catch ‘This is America’ playing behind an ozempic commercial?
(Lou perltzman coded) if it’s the 20s again can we at least have Tiffany lamps and Tin Pan Alley?!?
I’m finna Win Jeff Stein’s money no bap 🚫🧢
GO BIRDS. I WILL DIE FOR MY COUNTRY, PHILADELPHIA.
Felix begins speaking
My fav reaction was NYT commenters who wanted local jazz musicians to have done the halftime, like who haven’t been on TV since HBO’s Treme
Lol A bounce medley would have been kinda cool tho
Only good half time show, prince singing purple rain in the rain 🌧 💜
Haven’t heard this take before
Her formal name is The American Lady and word on the internet is she’s in Dubai now but was supposed to be on a plane home? She’s my favorite performance artist since hide your kids hide your wives.
She is someone who could have absolutely crushed it as a flim-flam artist in the 1800s, but I am so grateful she is here for us now
Lay off Seal. If you don't go out and sing kissed by a rose while spinning with your arms out every first rain of spring, you are the problem with America. lol
YES that fox news ad was crazy. Like they appreciate israel for giving them good ratings last year
Was anyone else's mom talking about how excited she was to see Lauren Dangle perform some song as redemption for apparently the New Orleans mayor preventing her from singing at some previous event because she is Christian
Love chapo, but I will never listen or have anything to do with seeking derangements.
The people hated Jaques, because he told them the truth
Is Vivek Ramaswamy the ultimate cuck?
The answers in the hair
Havent been able to stop thinking about how ontario canada bought a super bowl ad
Doug Ford quite literally doing mafia style bust out of the province.
Super Bowl 60 half time will feature the return of the magical Mr Mistofolees and many shirtless Tom of Finland cut outs and it wouldn’t be gay enough for Benny Johnson.
God, I want that so bad
My sincerest thanks to Kath for introducing me to the trainwreck that is American Woman in Pakistan.
Go birds
I must admit I found the "officials are having to work like dogs to stop loonies from trying to eat the lava" really funny
Right there with ya. Really wanted the granny in the rascal scooter to go full Gollum, but they have to keep that stuff family friendly.
kanye would do great in the power electronics or EBM scene
I was just thinking this morning about whether he'd go ahead and sample Death in June and get some neofolk in there.
Felix’s bit about Utah people experiencing Jews for the first time through Tom Brady’s commercial had me doubled over
Real talk, I know a Jewish family from SLC and the Mormons call them gentiles
Blessed slop day
Re: all the AI commercials. I genuinely do not understand the appeal for so many of these AI products. A chatbot, sure. Kind of bleak but I at least understand how someone might find it useful. But McConaughey does these commercials for the salesforce AI that apparently can show you how to get to your airport terminal (Are you stupid or something? Can you not follow the clearly printed signs?) or order your preferred food for you at a restaurant (You can’t be bothered to read the menu?). Are these problems that anybody actually has? Altman and the AI evangelists genuinely don’t like humanity. For them, the quirks and serendipities that define human experience are just inefficiencies to be smoothed out (I guess so you can spend more time working and consuming product). The restaurant example is crazy - you want an AI to know in advance what you want and to order it for you? If you’re in that much of a rush and can’t even talk to the waiter, don’t go out to eat. Just drink Soylent at your desk. You don’t even want to look at the menu and maybe see something new you want to try? Nope, no new experiences for me please. I’m optimized with AI!
This year’s ftx ad bc I don’t know what the product is or what it does
Captain Freakout would be amazing.
Goddamn guys. We can’t even enjoy the Kendrick performance?
They ARE white people.
Musk making a big show of sleeping in a cot is the lamest shit I have ever seen. Wow, look at how urgent this problem is that he must immediately address it at great personal sacrifice! I have a better idea. Create a working assembly line based on a century of refined principles in the first place and then skip the whole cot thing. And the fact that idiots keep giving him more money for this ludicrous bluster makes me ill. And the fact that he is this natalist and is stupid and horrible looking and abandons his "family" for weeks at a time is depraved.
What's the name of the song between the beginning and interview portions?
I think it's Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Don't know the song.
For real though, Captain Freakout would be amazing.
The snoop dogg/tom Brady commercial was very 1995 era cringe, the only thing missing was a hip cartoon lady turning everyone purple to prove a point
Brady and Snoop should’ve looked directly into the camera and done the Do the Right Thing rants.
A good 3/4 of the celebs there looked like they were in the theres of withdrawal
Ozempic
Thanks for bringing on Jeff, he's been really good at covering some of the hell civil servants are being put through.
They don’t have wire-fu in Poland yet
disturbed to see wapo but pleased to hear malcolm
Yayyyyyy Kath is back!
Kath #1!
Oh great, another episode sponsored by wapo.
I saw someone say Tool should have done the halftime show lmao
For me at that point you can just skip the game
Wild how little Chapo has to say about the extermination of Palestine now that it’s not a cudgel to trash Democrats anymore.
The netzarim corridor has been handed over to the people of Gaza, and north and south gaza have been handed over as well.
This sounds like the Liz Truss-ification of the US
17:00 Felix revealed as not a Cushvlog enjoyer
Lube ready, Felix body pillow check, new chapo episode!? Double check. 😈😈
The DOGE phenomenon is really exemplary of how the system of checks and balances really relax any teeth with respect to balancing/checking the power of the executive. Founding fathers were so brilliant, and were so afraid of having another monarch that they forgot that all the cops work for the executive branch. Turns out you can be president and also the sovereign citizen
imagine if Bernie had won. the Parliamentarian would have called a hit on him
WaPO can eat my entire ass and suck my dick from the back
can I have nitrus
GO BIRDS
should’ve been Drake and Kanye
I thought it was a great halftime show. Who cares if it's not a political revelation?! It's the NFL; you literally couldn't be more political. Also, the artistry was incredible
I got hard seeing this post and ended up slamming my dick in the door
Me and my wife’s boyfriend had stinky butt sex watching the big game. Don’t tell her shhhhh
Fuck ya Kath episode just in time for my pizza to be done cookin
Hell yeah. Slop for the pigskin piggies.
SLOP IT UP
Jeff Stein?!
Kath!!!
🐷🐷
Damn it
First!