BONUS: You Want This, You Need This feat. Adam McKay and Ryan Andrej Lough
Adam McKay returns to Chapo with director Ryan Andrej Lough to talk about their new documentary You Need This, a wide-ranging examination of American consumerism and propaganda. Check it out on streaming now!
Comments (120)
Bro discovered high bourgeois self-cultivation + yeomanry and thought he found a way out of the capitalist hellscape lmfaooooo Benjamin Franklin-ass Louis Brandeis-ass high school senior-ass how about you crack a fucking book
Is this No Logo for the 21st Century?
This entire conversation reminds me of the book: The Affluent Society. Galbraith really got it right in that one.
Props to Will for pushing back a bit. We’re a family of 4 (Mum & Dad - 2 kids). We work full time and have a very little support network. There’s no way we can slow down and grow our own food. 😄
Could not recommend more the documentary “The Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis as a perfect companion to this one, in fact I will be double featuring these two. The Adam Curtis one is available on YouTube for free. Thanks everyone!
I really enjoyed this but will is right here. Moving to collective farms in the Hudson valley is not a useful suggestion for how we move forward as a species. That was a real “???” moment for me. I hope these filmmakers spend some more time in parts of the world where people do kind of live like that (you can find this in Portugal, Nicaragua, France, and Brazil for sure) because it’s very nice, but it’s no cure for what ails us. In Portugal I can say for sure (because I live here) that it really has ended up coexisting with labor exploitation to a terrible extent. You cannot build a just and enduring societal structure on collective farming.
I don't think Ryan understand what Corporatist means and thinks it just means "when a corporate interest owns it and does bad stuff."
Anarchists dont read
These guys are so boring and eternally stuck in 2017
“What I see in the Hudson Valley…” Buddy lives behind the tofu curtain and is completely ignorant of the struggles elsewhere in the world that enable his kind of lifestyle. We’re not going to feed people with backyard gardens and local coops and it’s absurd to see that as a solution without mass mobilization and political change. Industrial agriculture has a vested interest in propping up the illusion of choice that allows him the luxury of thinking this way.
Good episode. First learned about Ed Bernays in “The Century of the Self” and his legacy reminds me of Milton Friedman; A fanatic theorist that has shaped our country through depraved, greedy means and whose ideals became cemented as practice in this modern hellscape. Hope hell is hot af for them boys.
Don't spend money on this documentary. I did. It has the feel of something produced 10-15 years ago Chapo has been going down hill since Matt was sidelined.
Man, Marx wrote all about this.
great interview with college freshman AJ soprano
why does he say corporatize instead of privatization of agriculture?
Because he thinks it should be private because he himself is a private agricultural small-holder. He is totally bought in on a market economy but has a vague anxiety about bigness as the problem rather than capitalism itself
deadly evopsych brain poison levels
Brother man, idk if you counted how many people we got on earth, but everyone growing their own food aint gonna work out
is Adam OK? He sounds like RFK.
He has essential tremor, but he sounds markedly worse since I last heard him on his Death at the Wing podcast
if the big businesses were small businesses then u could go outside more
Really bad documentary. So much AI and felt like a middle school paper level of analysis and production
Speak for yerself bucko some of us were building cities 2 days out the gate. An some of us are yet to independently build a city to date.
Not gonna listen 💕
Not gonna like your comment 💖
Haven't heard Negatvland in awhile. Great interview.
Adam McKay sounds like RFK
He has an essential tremor and might be on his way to Parkinson’s. Don’t be mean.
I rented and watched the documentary. I can't, or rather won't, say what I think because my aim is to support.
Didn't realize Paprika was also a documentary
Fun fact, you can reduce your body's levels of the forever chemicals or PFAS Will mentioned by donating blood, platelets, and plasma!
Mariner's Apartment Complex
Just happy to hear somebody talk about glaciation and kinda touch on hominid stuff.
We’re gonna have, like, GPS automated tractors within the decade. Im voting “no” on peasanthood personally
that oughta do it
Consumer unions
Commenters here gonna throw their backs out going down on themselves. My one thing would be sectoral bargaining.
You're putting a lot of faith in trade union bureaucrats.
HV MENTIONED
Bro… I like these guys, but if he is talking Freud it’s the unconscious not “subconscious”. I had to come here to say that. And Freud’s unconscious is not pre-reptilian, but advertising is definitely speaking to our unconscious but it isn’t some animal mind. Our desire isn’t some evolutionary thing necessarily — I mean if we are talking Freud… Idk why I care so much.
In a lot of cases, advertising is speaking to our baser functions. The limbic system controls a lot of basic need fulfillment behaviors, from sexual excitement and hunger to fear and other primal impulses. That’s the issue with advertising; it takes away your higher level processing power because it’s easier to sell things you don’t need to that part of you.
Appreciate the Negativland at the end but this ain’t it.
Adam McKay sounds like he is calling for the hippy movement back to the land nonsense
You either die a hero... Or live long enough to see yourself become Adbusters
Oh I’d be happier if I spent more time with my friends and family instead of working? I never realized that! I’ll go tell my boss and landlord I’m sure they’ll agree!
Can you guys make this one free?
No I think this one better of in the vault
There’s a great game about dreaming about ads, hypnospace outlaw 🩷
Sounds like Adam's been munching roadkill
lol
Where can I go to have a low cost lifestyle and have the land to grow my own food?
These hippies are almost onto something, they should read Lenin
The guests sucked ass on this one.
folks im not in the habit of leaving Bad Comments, pls understand this is not directed towards any chapo staff. but what these guests have made & are selling as their own idea is an exact rip of Adam Curtis' Century of the Self, but made Yank and SNL-brand Soy. if the ideas discussed here sound interesting to you please watch Century of the Self instead, it is a far more compellingly made film than Mckay is capable of creating (and its free on youtube)
Beat me to it.
Adam McKay? My man is starting to sound more like RFK!
Came here looking for this knowing I’d find it instantly and here we are 👏
This doc whines about environmental impact, consumerism, and tech being evil, while using a fuck load of AI shots btw. Also the editing, script writing, and narration are below the quality of a youtube video.
It really was bad
“SocDems are people to bro”✌🏽😂😂😂
Not sure about y'all, but my animal brain is very horny. .... ... . Help
How short sighted are these mfs that they don't see that leaving the power in the hands of the wealthy will lead to the rollback of their reforms?
Or the UBI will just jack up rents more...
peace and love to the filmmaker. gen x is an incurable condition and I hope his remaining days are many and painless
I regret to inform you that I believe the director is a Millennial, perhaps even Gen Z
Lifestyle anarchism in 2026?? I swear to God I will kms
Same, but mine will be slow (forced to grow my own food as an inner city bitch w a green thumb for indoor plants only)
I know it’s just a hypothetical thought experiment in isolation but I don’t think any of the specific policies mentioned would be super beneficial without other massive restructuring of society. Decoupling income from labor is exactly what tech oligarchs are trying to do because that’s the last little bit of power the working class has left.
No, communise everything, pussy!!!
It really was wild to see someone come on chapo and say "actually communism is bad and doesn't work".
Strawberry Mansion talked about this
Collectivized agriculture will always be a tough issue. Moving more towards small localized farms arguably moves us away from socialism because it further separates the workers and turns more of them into capitalists. It’s almost a reversal of the process that created the conditions for the development of capitalism and socialism in the first place, and it is more efficient and productive to use factory farms, although I don’t know if that’s only the case because of our massive reliance on fossil fuels and subsidies to key industries. Either way I do find factory farms repulsive and the idea of small localized farms is more comforting and they’re more reliable/resistant to price shocks or disaster. This is one of the only scenarios I think anarchism might be better equipped to deal with.
You’re right. It is just so difficult to imagine a world without capitalism, or even a socialism that doesn’t have to be a constantly accelerating machine in order to compete with and defend from capitalism. It’s hard to know where the line of idealism lies.
What’s on the will mennaker classical playlist? Inquiring minds want to know.
At certain points rfk does the felix thing of interjecting with a high pitch
great interview. always love when Adam’s on. can’t wait to watch the film!
never thought about ad’s speaking to our subconscious minds before. that must be why every casino is competing to create an ad with the worst catchy jingle. they don’t care if we’re physically repulsed by it because they know our subconscious mind will be attracted to it. fuck.
Century of the Self-Adam Curtis & Merchants of Cool-Douglass Rushkoff
Of course it was the fucking Dutch. Fake ass country
But then something strange happened.... individualism was destroyed by ethical individualism ....
Dream advertising? Jesus Carl Winslow Christ, when will this shit end?
I thought chapo doesn't platform politicians?? How did RFK get a pass?
right? was that just a bad connection issue or something or does mckay maybe have a dead bear in his trunk he's planning on dumping in central park?
Will, I’m gonna need a classical music playlist from you.
Purity Testing is checking to see if the hymen is intact, right?
Das 24 horas do dia, você precisa dedicar um terço ao seu empregador e um terço ao sono. O terço restante pertence a você.
Paul Lafargue—best known for his 1883 pamphlet The Right to Be Lazy—offers one of the earliest and most provocative critiques of the modern work ethic. His writing sits at the intersection of Marxism, satire, and what we’d now call anti-work theory.
appreciate will’s skepticism during this interview as philosophical solutions to material world problems makes me fucking insane. advertising warped our brains? no shit.
motherfucker actually said “we live in a society…”
The compromise between individual agriculture and collective agriculture is Community Supported Agriculture, I also think that composting is a great way to feel and see your own impact on the environment reduced. One step at a time
The director of Anchorman is on my little socialist podcast.
He had a couple entertaining appearances back in 2019-2021. Worth digging thru the archive to listen to those, includes a lot more insider baseball of his SNL days.
I'm looking at you AI powered sleep noise app!
That Nestle jingle is going to live in my brain for the next week
due to my age it’s going to haunt me until my death
Damn hippies.
I have so many podcasts to listen to at work today :)
oof goddamn nestle jingle stuck in my head again for the first time in 40 yrs
the message of the film was important and i learned some new things, but god he really overdid it with the ai shots
Why does it sound like Adam is slowly morphing into RFK jr? Is this strictly a “I did cocaine every day in the ‘90s” phenomenon?
Went to google “Adam McKay theranos movie” bc I feel like that went into preproduction 5 yrs ago and saw “Adam McKay health problems” was the second autofill result. Apparently he had a serious heart attack back in 2018 while filming Vice (the dick Cheney movie, a little too fitting). He’s been dealing with this voice tremor the past couple years and now I feel like an idiot for bringing it up. Regardless, great interview. I’m looking forward to watching this doc and whatever else Adam’s a part of going forward.
Tech bros reinvent the AdBusters shoes
This one isn’t showing up in my RSS feed . Anyone else having this issue?
Fixed!
So I see these fine folks also listen to CushVlog
there are years with no slop and there are weeks with years worth of slop
Imma be so for real: I don’t wanna grow my own food. That’s why I subscribe to community supported agriculture (CSA/positive)
Sorry can't
RFK Jr entered the pod
He has an idiopathic tremor (Parkinson’s without the Parkinson’s)
gays't
Huh, reminds me of an old HBO special they did for kids.
Chapo Trap House... always right on time.
Hmmmrrrrggmmmghhh
the April showers are slop showers and the piggies are drenched
*SickosMeme.jpg*
Second!
St
Fuck yes
Fir