November Bonus: Richard Simmons, Celebrity Frenemies and the Podcasting Industrial Complex

I listen to all Dan Taberskis podcasts but I didn't finish Richard Simmons Missing. I liked learning more about Richard, but the whole time I listened I felt like I was invading his privacy

I lost it at Dan Taberski painting a picture of Richard being held at gunpoint by Theresa on the phone interview, and then saying “I’m not saying thats whats happening, I’m just saying” 😭😭😭 its giving “I’m just asking questions”. You wouldn’t have said that if you didn’t want people to think about it.

I so enjoy hearing Aubrey sound like a busted wheel while she tries to hold back laughter about Michael's rage. Love y'all.

Turbo late comment but I just have to say Mike's rant about bad true crime/documentary tropes is giving me LIFE. my personal favorite is "this kind of thing just never happens in x town!" which is always taken as obvious fact and never interrogated

Friends, Richard Simmons’ estate is going up for auction: https://orrillsauction.hibid.com/catalog/663132/the-estate-of-richard-simmons---ending-8-05-25

Thank you both for getting me though another tax season! I binged all your main feed and bonus episodes up to Richard Simmons. Thanks for all that you do❤️

14 min in to the episode but just a friendly PSA, don't take a shot every time Michael says the word "tropes".

This podcast is such a perfect balance of well done journalism, humor and gay

"I am a person and you are probably also a person" I thought this was the whole sentence

I know this chat relates to the previous episode, but I can’t seem to get the most recent bonus episode (January 2025) on the After Dark rss feed on Apple Podcasts. There’s only the Apple Podcasts Subscription version. Is anyone else finding this?

Patrick Radden Keefe (one of my favorite writers, too!) — “Say Nothing” is also now a show 👍

Was anyone using a podcast app ever able to access this episode?

Working title idea for the pod. “Missing Aubrey Gordon: Fat lady not about town” Jk

Wait I want to hear mikes serial thoughts… I remember thinking it’s the best thing I ever heard when it came out but don’t have the emotional bandwidth to revisit lol

Hello Mike & Aubrey - I don't have Bluesky or Instagram or any other social media, so I can't make a comment there, but: seeing as (one? both? of) you will be in LA for a while -- here's a rec. Find a Vallarta -- it's a Latino supermarket chain -- and get yourself some fresh shrimp ceviche (sold by the pound) and some made-to-order fresh guac (as spicy or not as you want!). This isn't silly LA health food; it's just straight up good food. Enjoy and happy holidays!

I'm an Aussie, and LOVE you guys. I've loved Michael since the beginning of You're Wrong About. Recently here ppl have been going on and on about Sunscreen being toxic, and causing cancer (the irony of that is just too much) As some of you know, our sun hits differently. We have a massive hole in the Ozone layer right above us, so our sunscreen is much higher than most countries. I'd love to suggest an ep on sunscreen... I feel like when it comes to this stuff I now can only absorb the information from your voices. Love your work guys... really!! Have an amazing Chrissy, thanks for keeping my IQ above Trump voters. 😜💜

Came here to NOT celebrate my home state of louisiana. Health workers cannot do anything to talk about vaccines. Not campaigns, socials, irl talking, you name it. Ugh

I am voting for an Andrew Huberman episode. Because Stanford. ;-)

I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet but I wanted to let Mike and Aubrey and everyone else know that Richard Simmons was in an Air New Zealand safety video in 2011 and it's great. That's actually the only place I knew him from until these episodes.

Michael and Aubrey - please listen to and discuss this Ultra Processed consideration of Ultra Processed Food. Just heard on The Daily from NYT. https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/65957f22-45da-431f-8090-83fae75e505a/episodes/10d7a890-0502-493f-8382-2ceace712031/THE-DAILYA-TURNING-POINT-FOR-ULTRAPROCESSED-FOODS?ref=dm_sh_rNcoaEGrRyjOqhaW2UxwBAkrW

I have never related more to Richard Simmons than him running away from Streisand.

I can't wait to listen to the "Finding Aubrey" podcast for the moment the host knocks on Michael's door and he tears out on his bike yelling homophobic slurs.

PLEASE can we have a Gay Behaviours™️ bonus episode 😂

"I asked Richard Simmons' manager off the record, and he said..." Journalism!

I would like to quote a comment found on The AV Club article referenced in this episode: “In these troubled, divisive times, one thing that unites all members of society is our desire for Pauly Shore to stop.” -igotlickfootagain

I LOVE this pic you chose of Richard

Sooo I’m not the most hip on pop culture and until I listened to this episode I thought Pauly Shore was the same person as DJ Pauly D from Jersey Shore 😂

This only just dropped for me, but the Letterman fire extinguisher thing sounds like something preplanned unless he always had a fire extinguisher ready to aim at his guests.

JUSTICE FOR MIRACLE THAW

I love Patrick Radden Keefe. Also one of my favorite writers. I was going to wait until the end of the episode to make sure I had all my comments together BUT I'M SCREAMING ABOUT PAULY SHORE NOW FUCK HIM SO MUCH.

November bonus isn't showing up in the RSS feed for me, did you guys maybe forget to add it?

“Bring out the dish baby” omg I lol’d so hard 😂😂😂

All I could think of during the Oprah bit was the infamous scene in Sex and the City wherein Trey buys Charlotte the cardboard baby 😭

Lmao Aubrey saying… “just bring out the dish baby” killed meee

Anyone else seeing a parallel with the 'disappearance' of Agatha Christie where she said it publically like a month later but everyone decided it didn't fit their narrative of who she was/should be so they ignored her and kept speculating for decades 🤔

Just want to comment on the missed joke in the main feed episode, where Michael mentions Bjork’s easily misperceived outburst as, in context, Human Behavior. I suppose if we can’t expect the kids to understand General Hospital, we also can’t expect them to get Bjork song references. I however would have found such a joke ever so, ever so satisfying.

please please please may we have Happy Little Meatball shirts?

Still can’t access this in the RSS feed, has anyone resolved this?

Sadly, the show is still not showing up on the MP After Dark RSS feed for me.

Y'all are the only ppl who can call me a little meatball and have it make me happy 😂

Several times during this ep you referred to taberski doing “npr” style nonsense. I want to say as a reporter at an npr member station that while I’m well aware people use “npr” as a shorthand for smug narrative storytelling, almost all the actions criticized are indeed things I’ve never heard NPR or member station reporters do. For example, I don’t think a producer would ever FLY someone to a reclusive public figure’s relative’s house without securing an interview beforehand (a potentially huge waste of $$), I’ve never heard of a journalist disclosing off-the-record remarks in a published work, as the host seems to do in that clip from FRS. Most of the true crime pods people associate with public radio, such as serial, s town and yes, the Richard Simmons pod, are not NPR productions. While the outlet has reported on true crime, it’s stuff like the Pulitzer-winning series on guns called no compromise. There’s plenty to criticize about public radio and npr (like, do we need that audio of people walking through the snow or people greeting you at the beginning of the interview), but as a huge admirer of you both I was disappointed to hear this referred to flippantly and inaccurately.

I actually pulled my car over to the side of the road after listening to this Richard Simmons series just to let you know that you SMASHED it!

Weirdly this one is not showing in the feed of my podcast app.

One thing about me is that I was raised in an abusive neglectful household with a hoarder and my sister had unrestricted access to the internet. She emailed Richard Simmons because we were both overweight and her biggest wish was to get a pig. He called the house one day saying he wanted to give her a pig. My sister answered and my mother then stepped in thinking this would be a media extravaganza and our home and family were not presentable to the public as we would end up with DCF which we eventually did. By all accounts he was very genuine and kind. My sister was a HUGE fan. Richard tried to swoop in and save us.

I never listened to the podcast about Richard Simmons when it came out but just hearing the clip where he’s like “I’m not saying he has a gun to his but, come on” made me roll my eyes so hard they almost fell out.

This reminds me of that doc ‘Searching for Debra Winger’ and she had just taken time away from acting because she was burned out.

Unrelated, deep dive into the "cancel culture" "moral panic" would be a great topic. https://open.substack.com/pub/justtwothings/p/30-november-2024-media-cop29-again?

When I'm feeling sad, I'll just remember these two think I'm a happy little meatball out here ❤️

If Mike and Aubrey ever peace out, I’m gonna release a podcast called “Missing Mike and Aubrey” and every episode is just me going “leave them alone, it’s none of your business, they’re fine” over and over again

Why is Mike so anti NPR ??

things i blame for this: serial S1, s-town, and OJ: made in america (my favorite docuseries of all time but my god everyone wants to make the next one)

I feel like I remember Richard having some sort of "oh haha, you think I'm so annoying" bit with a late night host. I was thinking it was Letterman but maybe based on this it was Leno?

For some reason this episode refuses to show up in my Apple Podcast app through RSS feed. I thought it was a problem on my end, but looking through the comments here it seems like a lot of people are having the same issue.

So, I'm one of these degenerates who listens to podcasts on 1.8-1.9 speed. Now this episode still isn't in my MP After Dark RSS feed, so I need to listen to it here - it's bizarre hearing Aubrey & Mike talk in what basically sounds like slow-mo to me. Even the theme music is sluggish! :D Brains are funny things.

Pauly Shore has aged as gracefully as Russell Brand, what a nasty piece of work.

This is great, I loved it, but I have to ask am I the only gen x fan of hair metal that was offended on behalf of Rock You Like a Hurricane when Michael called the Scorpions a one hit wonder? 😆😆😆

Episode not on Pocketcasts MP After Dark yet either. 🤔

Was it NPR storytelling or This American Life storytelling? I think TAL has a uniquely strong influence, for good and for bad imitation. (public radio, yes, but not NPR specifically)

TIL Pauly Shore is not a person from Jersey Shore (I have never seen Jersey Shore and do not actually know why I thought this)

As a former Commentariat I miss the hell out of the AV Club in its prime, hoping they continue building back to what they once were

Aubrey and Mike: Thank you for entertaining me in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. What about an entire bonus episode of the two of you yelling about whatever you want? I am here for this content.

its mind blowing to me that there are fans of maintenance phase who would do this boundary crossing weird shit just cuz like, that type of person doesnt seem like they would resonate with maintenance phase. yet you guys seem to allude to these people existing, wild

YES CHEMICAL BROTHERS

I think my meetings would be Aubrey 😂😂😂😂

I couldn’t help but giggle remembering this: about three years ago, when asked in a new job intro survey, “Which person, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with?” I answered, “Michael Hobbes.” So technically, Mike, you’re my Barbara Streisand. Any preferences for the ring?

This episode made me realise that whenever I'd heard the name Pauly Shore I thought it was referring to Pauly D from Jersey Shore, and I don't know what to do with this

Michael the book is say nothing!

When they got to the part about Richard sending Oprah a baby doll… this is not relevant, but there’s a holiday piece from this American Life, where Elna Baker talks about working in a fancy schmancy toy store at Christmas, which sold extremely expensive and lifelike baby dolls, and I kept wondering if it was one of those. That piece is also well worth listening to, especially as we get into the holidays and it’s thematically appropriate.

suddenly I can't find the new ep on Overcast - I even deleted the feed and resubscribed using the Patreon RSS. Anyone else having this issue?

Mike… I dunno about that Wind of Change take. The “mystery” about the CIA involvement really isn’t the thrust of the show, it’s an interesting rumor that led PRK to explore the intersection of Western pop culture in conflict zones, particularly the Cold War, and that’s what made it worth listening to. If anyone hung on through the season for the “reveal,” they kinda missed the point. It feels pretty unfair to lump it in with Serial etc. Also, not the biggest deal but it’s nice to get the names of works you’re referencing right (PRK’s book is Say Nothing, not Say Anything).

https://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/crablouse.html

Michael!! Patrick Radden Keefe’s book is entitled Say Nothing not Say Anything. Sorry for the off-topic corrects, it’s one of my favorite books.

Can I just say that I *love* grumpy Mike? And he’s right: sharing a bed with other people is the worst. I wrote a WHOLE ASS dissertation about how much people hated/distrusted people sharing beds, married or not. Why did we move away from twin beds for couples? Anyway my pet peeve was triggered. All the love, Mike!

Every time I’m having a shitty week and I see y’all post an episode I literally feel like I’ve been hugged🥹💚🫶🏽🤎❤️

Is anybody else having a problem with the RSS feed? This episode isn't downloading for me.

This is thee most complicated public figure I’ve stumbled upon

"The Pauly Shore Diversion" is a Bourne movie in a cursed timeline. 😄

These comments make me feel so old because even in Australia Pauly Shore was a Big Deal to elder millennials until Adam Sandler came along and displaced him

It’s so interesting how the age old phenom of fans feeling like celebrities “owing” their fans access differs between men and women. The obvious corollary is Brittney Spears (or Chappell Roan). When a female celeb puts up a boundary, they are spoiled and stupid for thinking they get privacy anymore. With Richard, it’s couched as “we’re just worried about him” even though it’s the exact same demand for fan access to both.

I am once again asking for a t-shirt saying "I'm a Happy Little Meatball"

can you imagine saying ‘amazeballs’ towards richard simmons

scorps had more than one hit

As a Brit, who has been confused about the Pauly Shore reference in Clueless since year dot: thank you.

Thanks for the Winds of Change synopsis, I've been getting that commercial for YEARS! Spotify seems to have limited ad options in Canada...

what does dan taberski think off-the-record means???

Not the meta algorithm putting Pauly Shore in my feed now 😭

Also does knowing who Pauly Shore is make me old? 😂😂

Looking forward to Mike's six-part "Missing Aubrey Gordon" podcast when she takes her disappearance

You mention that your non-US listeners might not know who Pauly Shore is. That would be me. But I'd never heard of Richard Simmons either! Didn't stop me enjoying the episodes :)

I just got to the Oprah part and literally buried my face in my hands

I recounted Richard Simmons’ film career in Italy to friends this past weekend, and the way I had to censor “happy little meatball” from my description… I just don’t think I could provide an explanation that could do it justice.

I cannot believe that in the year of our Lord 2024, I heard Micheal make a "fressh avaco do" joke.

It just occurred to me that pauly shore is different that pauly d from jersey shore. Idk why I thought they were the same person

hey everyone. great episode, no notes, love the show. just wanted to say that until this very moment at the 34:11 timestamp, i thought pauly shore was one of the dudes from jersey shore and i was deeply fucking confused until i finally googled him

The Pauley Shore bit is wild. 😂

thrilled to be your meatball

Oh my gosh I HATE the whole "let's just surprise someone at their home/place of work/whatever" investigative podcast trope. I love love love Someone Knows Something and David Ridgen but he has a habit of doing this and I just want to cringe out of my skin. I cannot listen to these encounters. I will literally skip entire episodes if that is the bulk of the material. BLEH.

(This is most likely the wrong place to let you know about this, but this episode isn't showing up in my RSS feed or on Spotify. I've tried the various troubleshooting things but alas)

I love the podcast/npr snark so much!

As a londoner. Nope never heard of pauley shore lol

I once saw Pauly Shore at a comedy club in Des Moines, Iowa. He must do the thing where he looks at one person during his whole set because he told every joke straight into my eyes. It was the most uncomfortable 45 minutes of my life.

Aubrey's "oi" sound about a project you promised to people not maybe being as robust as you previously thought is perfect. As a fellow writer, I feel that way a lot 😅

Ok hard disagree on Wind of Change. I think the question serves as a really fun and clever framing device to tell a story about the end of the cold war that I absolutely wouldn't have listened to without it. If you haven't listened to Wind of Change, don't be put off by this. It's wonderful!

Scorpions are definitely not a one hit wonder. They are a bit cheesy, but a huge band. Rock You Like a Hurricane! Send me an Angel. I am old tho.

I feel bad, but for the longest time (especially as a kid) my knowledge of Richard Simmons was based on the Simpsons. Which, if memory serves, was a robot?

Ooh, bonus episode! Happy birthday to me 🥰

I had never heard of Pauly Shore and my brain assumed he was something to do with Jersey Shore 😂 I think my brain went with Pauly D and I was incredibly confused 🤣

Not showing up in RSS feed here either!

I preemptively accept your ‘disappearances’, love from a happy little meatball x

"would you care to describe this celebrity to european listeners who might not know about him?" as a European Listener i deeply appreciate this. however it is bold to assume i know about any of the celebrities, ever. i had never heard of richard simmons before. the number of 'you're wrong about' episodes i have listened to without never having heard about the subject before...

I WOULD NEVER WANT TO MEET A CHEMICAL BROTHER 💀

Hmmmm it’s showing up in the regular feed but needing payment and not in the after dark feed where the subscriber episodes usually show up

Same here

Is anyone else having issues getting the episode to show up on the RSS feed on apple podcasts?