October Bonus: Catching Up With RFK Jr.
For Halloween we picked one of our scariest topics: What has RFK Jr. has been up to? Updates include a whale head, a bear body and a cameo from Roseanne Barr for some reason.
You can play the episode directly through Patreon or use our RSS feed to add it to your podcast app. Here are the instructions from Patreon. And if you've got bonus episode requests, as ever, drop them in the comments!
See you next month!
M&A
Comments (124)
Listening to these bonus episodes in reverse because I just got my Patreon. Such a dark way to see what rfk jr has become
As a diabetes researcher, him calling it juvenile diabetes gave me a stroke. Pediatric diabetes is more severe phenotype and a real concern but if hes saying "juvenile diabetes".... that's the out dated term for t1d
A bear, a whale, and a worm walk into a bar
Listening to this post destruction of HHS because of RFK Jr is dystopian.
So. Fucking. Dark.
Californian here, when I first registered I accidentally registered as the independent party before registered and fixed it
I'm not ashamed to say I ate dog meat in Cambodia while staying with a family in the forest. They were proud to serve it to me and I will try anything. I also taught English in China and my student came from a city where they commonly eat dog meat. Yes dogs are eaten in Asia. Not defending RFK, more saying that just because your culture doesn't eat a certain thing doesn't mean it's not a valid thing for other cultures. I do personally judge negatively cultures and peoples who make animals suffer and damage the environment with the food source.
The dog meat trade (DMT) in Cambodia is incredibly cruel, senseless, and disgusting. It’s not for sustenance, it’s a “luxury food” meant to represent masculinity and virility. I was involved in reporting on DMT when I lived there. It’s so weird to say you’re not ashamed.
Could you literally be any funnier Aubrey? Your sotto voce brain worms are for closers killed me.
Between RFK and Dr. Oz, I'm beginning to think that Trump is just choosing his cabinet based on who y'all have torn apart for being insane and terrible lolol 😭
Y'all should consider doing an episode on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalitis!
“Brain worms are for closers” sent me 🤣
Listening to this after the election hits different... 😭😭😭
The bear thing is so Prince Charles coded
Griftiest Grifter - Professor Tim Spector https://amp.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/18/zoe-nutrition-app-diet-tim-spector-wellness-science
We are so effed.
I can’t believe this saga is going to continue and we’re going to have to follow it. Maybe y’all should unlock this one for the public? I want to send this to everyone.
oh no, poor Mike & Aubrey: this doofus being appointed to HHS (assuming he's approved by the Senate). You guys will never be free of him! :-(
Wait, so does Mike not know the trick of using their profile pic along with “David 💪🏻” so you vaguely know who they are? 😆😆😆
I think it's worth noting that T1 Diabetes was called "juvenile diabetes" through part of the 70s. Which makes RFK's framing that much more diabolical imo
"This is the last time we'll have to talk about him" JK turns out this has only been the terrifying prequel
Listening to this today for the first time and my skeleton shrinks a little each time you say ‘hopefully this is the last time we have to talk about this man’ ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
I'm not in US but if there are any vaccinations you've procrastinating from, go now!
One quibble - RFK Jr was a real attorney. He was an ADA while an addict, which is such a dereliction of duty, I have no words. But yes, beyond that, he hasn’t done much. And he’s a scary moron.
God I miss my robot vacuum 😭😭😭
Imma need you to more than double down on his shenanigans now 😂😂 did you hear he is coming for our cough syrup?! 😂😂
brainworms are for closers!!!
I need y’all to cover Ashley Black and the Fasciablaster. I need to hear Mike rant about this grift.
Please hang in there everyone
so "below sea level" wasn't a lesbian joke then
You've already done Jamie Oliver, but there's another UK reality show "Doctor in the House" with Rangan Chattergee where a well spoken, thin doctor lives with a working class family and tells them (in a fairly patronising way) that they'll die early unless they drink less soda and eat more broccoli. He now has a very popular health podcast which is littered with all the usual productivity tropes you would expect. I'd love so much to hear you guys' take on it but it is a bit niche.
Nene H assign
While “The Rambler” isn’t a song, it apparently was a broadside. Meaning Aubrey isn’t WRONG, just a couple hundred years too late: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=361
Confetti cannon for the shark a vagrant reference.
Y'all are the best.
"Brain worms are for closers!" Not me cackling in my car
Okay, you guys owe us a bonus episode on Aronofsky's The Whale
No I literally work at Central Park and when the bear story dropped I spent a full week having to explain who he was and how whacky he is based on the previous 2 RFK Jr episodes 💀
Sorry for the gross factor, but I just got over a stomach bug. And listening to this podcast episode with noise cancelling headphones on made vomiting my brains out a much better experience. I was too busy being horrified by RFK 🤣
Listening to this episode made me realize just how entirely too online I am. None of this was new to me. BRB going to go touch some grass
The real question no one is asking: does QAnon think RFK Jr is the reincarnation they’ve been waiting for? No one covers the JFK reincarnation story anymore.
Brainworms are for closers .... never change, Aubrey. Never change.
My dog's BFF is a robot. Granted it is one of those treat-dispensing bots that I stuck googly eyes on... but he loves to sit next to his "roebit fren" or gaze lovingly into its googly eyes willing it to vomit out some snacks.
That was spot on, thank you.
This episode is like dipshit bingo - name drops for every nut job and grifter, when I heard Tim Pool I said “Oh JESUS” aloud to an empty room 🤦🏻
Ok admittedly I saw the subject of this and was like “nooooooooo why, please noooooooo more about this turd”. 25 minutes later I’m laughing hysterically in the shower that I forget to rinse the shampoo out of my hair. Well done you two.
On the anti vax anti autism running mate— as an autistic person I’m pretty confident that it came from the 2 tech industry parents, not the vaccines. lol
I’m sure my dad just watches YouTube videos of people boring cylinder heads over and over (even though he does it for a job) because he’s eccentric and I’m autistic because of vaccines I guess??
"Okay, question:...No it's not" is how I've felt this entire election cycle
Love how obvious it is that Mike’s physics YouTube rabbit hole took him to quasars recently
Robot vacuums are very underrated. And really an essential for disabled people.
RFK jr is terrible, and the bear story of putting a bear in Central Park is whack. But the laughing at the basic concept of gathering roadkill thing feels pretty classist and reflective of urban caricatures of rural culture. Putting a bear in Central Park? Yeah, whacky. Picking up usable meat? perhaps unfamiliar to you but not itself evidence of far-right whackiness. -your friendly neighborhood rural queer Nonetheless thanks for this wild ride of an episode 😆
As someone who grew up in Massachusetts it’s painful to see who RFK, Jr. has become. Intelligent enough to become a lawyer, but somehow no critical thinking ability.
It's the ivy league education hahaha
also Joe Biden DIDN'T do the "lockdowns" (there were no real lockdowns to be clear). he lifted them, kicked people off Medicaid, privatized COVID vaxx and treatment, allowed the eviction moratorium to expire without any pushback, reduced the isolation guidance multiple not based on any science but the desires of business. I could go on and on. it's hilarious that ppl see Joe Biden as some COVID extremist when he has overseen a policy that is almost the exact same as what conservative think tankers in 2020 suggested.
Always Be Groping!
RFK Jr going FALCON HUNTING is the weirdest part of the bear story
How is this man just a reverse Snow White? All these animals, just coming to him and dying.
Love you guys❤️
Best tag line yet!!
I really hoped you were going to also cover RFK Jr and the whole MAHA - Make America Healthy Again "roundtable" hosted by Sen Ron Johnson with Jordan Peterson, the Sears siblings, Jillian Michaels, etc. Though its maybe worth a whole episode? Because its really off the charts. https://wapo.st/4e9TGix
As someone who helped administer a California primary election some months back, and had to explain to many confused and irate voters why they couldn’t vote for certain candidates without changing their registration, fuck the American Independent Party. Fuck them SO HARD.
i am from CA but now live in MN and it took me until this episode to realize i had originally registered with the American Independent Party 🤦🏼♀️😂
Fluid flow lololol
Regarding the robot vacuum: my dog eats the crumbs and the vacuum cleaner eats the dog hair. It's a whole ecosystem.
Dying at the gumar to David bicep in less than 30 seconds!
Just stuck on the bear and that he claimed he was going to use the meat. Clearly not, if he picked it up on the way somewhere and it sat in the back of his car ask day. I mean, did he field dress it before putting it in his car? What was the weather out? Was that bear sitting in the back of his car in 70 degrees, or 30 degrees? (Fahrenheit)
Based on the Behind the Bastards episodes about RFK Jr, I can say with 99% certainty that he planned to feed the bear carcass to his falcons. Maybe after storing it in his neighbor’s freezer for a while.
The Supreme Court ruled today that he's stuck on the Michigan and Wisconsin ballots.
Okay definitely a nitpick but Assange isn't an American citizen that's one of the criticisms of the US attempting to prosecute him
My brain really thought for a second that the Google founder had an affair with Elon Musk and not his wife 😆
Someone do a couples costume of the bear and the whale for gay Halloween pleaseeee 🐻 🐳
This was just so good. So happy you’re back 🩷
Also as a school nurse can 10000% confirm “1 in 3 kids” do NOT have diabetes. We see 1-2 in a school per year if at all
Scariest Halloween Ghoul: RFK Jr, for his ability to still haunt this election despite dropping out.
“The camping, and the dust, and the libertarians” *chef’s kiss
Have you ever thought about an episode on the ‘ultra processed foods’ hype? Very interesting as it’s based on misusing data from Brazilian research. It also features a British tv ‘extreme medicine’ doctor who wrote a bestselling book about it. Lots of stuff to debunk and fun to be had! It’s really like that ‘clean beauty’ trend where there is a sliver of truth, but the exaggeration wins. Eating fresh products is better, but when even bread is deemed ‘ultra-processed’… Hmm…
I would second an episode on this, especially if they included themes around moralizing foods
As a Med student, it drives me crazy when people think “juvenile diabetes” just means children with diabetes, when it’s just a term that’s not rly used anymore for type 1 diabetes ! It just means that most people get type 1 while they’re young !
Yeah, Michael kind of missed that RFK Jr was making a WAY bigger claim.
I know this is a small detail, but I can’t stop giggling about the logic that a bicyclist would hit a bear…in MANHATTAN 🫠
I also find it hard to believe that the cyclist wouldn’t also die after hitting a bear
This is hilarious to me because I actually teach a class on harvesting roadkill for food...in Portland! It's not that weird, y'all
That's the most Portlandish thing I've heard in a while, and I live in Portland, too. (hats off, not an insult)
just wanted to say that I appreciated the lesbian fluid flow joke even if Michael didn't, I had to pause because I was cackling too hard lmaooo
And oh, Michael, tapeworms can be so much longer than you think...
UK listener here, would you like to verbally eviscerate Wes Streeting for his transphobe pandering and recent ozempic for the unemployed bullshit? Please?
that's so dark, and also employment services case workers in mental health wards... Starmer really is a huge disappointment. Even the Tories didn't go so far as to get people in mental health wards into employment services.
I wish I could send this comment directly to Aubrey, and I know this was such a minute part of the episode, but I deeply appreciate Aubrey's knowledge about diabetes in general. I am a Type 1 diabetic, and the way that diabetes is portrayed in pop culture and by politicians is so fucking annoying. It is used as this weapon and punch line about how unhealthy we all are when there is such a strong genetic component for both Type 1 and Type 2!! I wish we would stop demonizing people with diabetes in general, and find ways to just make our lives easier to live. Her responses to general misinformation is so spot on I always just feel so seen.
Seconded! I am also a type 1, and it's refreshing to be so frequently acknowledged on the podcast
Every time you guys post about this man I get both excited and a shiver goes down my spine knowing it will only be more disturbing than the last time 😭
I am outraged that Michael did not laugh at "Brain worms are for closers!".
Also the framing of the cyclist for the bear death is giving Charles wanting to pretend he had a fake arm for the press.
lmfaooooooo
I'm listening to this while sanding a wall so the bear clips are unintelligible lol
I'm just listening on my phone and I cannot understand them AT ALL
Brainz wormz, Aubrey is hilarious.
Me: ugh end of the month rent is due :(( Me: but that means new maintenance phase 👁️👅👁️
i was literally thinking "Ooo, I'm gonna make a 'Ripped from the headlines Law and Order' joke online about this bear in Central Park story" and then Aubrey said it 😆
Dun dun!
Seeing another "Catching up with" episode pop up in the Patreon feed made me think of having a Bonus Episode on April 1st that's "Catching up with" for somebody who *hasn't* done anything interesting since then, so the episode is just one minute long.
David. Bicep.
American cars must be absolutely humongous to be able to get both a bicycle AND a dead bear cub inside and still be able to park in the city without anyone noticing it.
I believe he had a VW van at the time. I could be wrong but that’s what I heard.
Haha Aubrey you’re ON IT today! 🤣 Laughing my way home from school dropoff!
RFK Jr is still on the ballot in Indiana! He’s listed as “We the People” party. Missed this show, thanks for the ep (and condolences on how much you had to read about this guy)
Same for Michigan! hoping that has some impact here in such a critical state
Bit for the Peep Show fans there “he’s eating Mummy!”
Speaking of RFK Jr., another favorite podcast of mine, Binchtopia, decided to dress up this year as RFK jr. and his brain worm for Halloween. Enjoy. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBd2KunNTl-/?igsh=a21yenBoMTVkZ2Jm
18 year old me registered as an American Independent in California in '99. I was so embarrassed, glad I wasn't alone!
so excited to listen to this after having heard Behind the Bastard’s series on him. what a character.
I have been wanting you guys to catch up on him forever omg 😭 I can’t wait to listen to this
Aubrey's "okay" at the beginning when Michael is talking about all of the animals that are going to be involved sounds very resigned and like "Hang on, let me get my cup of dumb bitch juice to get through this." 🤣
Aubrey
Behind The Bastards did a good deep dive into how vile RFK Jr is. I recommend.
i'm humbly requesting a joint maintenance phase/ibck episode where michael just expounds upon astronomy & space stuff. xD
Aubrey’s lil giggle at “fish and wildlife regulations” freaking sent me.
About the Independence Party, in Denmark, a right winger recently had the proposed name for his new party rejected by the election authorities. The party name in question was "Denmark's Best Party"
Wish we rejected shit like that here. Right Wing organizations are always named shit like "America is Beautiful!" or "Protecting Our Children!". 🤦♂️
i live in portland and was meeting those canvassers all the time this summer, especially at country fair (lol). when they showed up outside the lesbian bar me and my very drunk friends said “no!!!!! he’s an anti vaxer!!” and the guy said “yeah i just get paid by the signature, man. i know he sucks” 😵💫🤦🏻♀️
Wow listening to this episode and the Behind the Bastards episodes about RFKJR in one week was A Lot of gross to consume.
Y’all. I love you, but please. Emu = eeeeem-you. Not eeeemoooo
That’s just going to make Mike double down… like with “denowment” 😆
'I have a podcast voice' 😆