Check Your Brain

Back by popular demand, Tony Mazur's dad Mark is back on the Check Your Brain podcast. After having fun with an old Frank Rizzo video from 1980, Mark shared his thoughts on a recent bodycam video of a female officer in New Jersey breaking into her ex-boyfriend's home and causing a scene. Basically, she should know better.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets vi...

Long-time NBA writer, insider, and commentator Peter Vecsey appeared on Tony Mazur's Check Your Brain podcast, along with friend and frequent guest Ken Mosca. Peter answered questions on how NBA stories are broken in the digital age, how gambling scandals are nothing new, the multiple streaming services one needs to watch games, and how he broke the Gilbert Arenas/Javaris Crittenton "guns in the l...

In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur pours one out for the Body Positivity Movement, which has seen a death blow of late thanks to the "miracle drug" known as Ozempic. A slew of female entertainers, who were once either stout or obese, have dropped a considerable amount of weight, and the Body Positivity Movement can't do anything other than turn on them.   Be sure to s...

Dr. Steve is an actual doctor, and for the better part of two decades, has hosted a radio show/podcast called Weird Medicine, where he and his crew take questions from listeners. In this crossover episode between Tony Mazur's Check Your Brain podcast and Chad Zumock's World War Z Patreon show, they talked to Dr. Steve about how he got on the radar of the Opie & Anthony Show, sounded off about...

Jackson Lahmeyer is the lead pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he is a national faith leader and member of the White House Faith Council. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about the rise in church attendance in recent months, which, sadly, has corresponded to the rise in political violence. He also touched on the young man's struggle with gambling, pornog...

In a special Halloween bonus episode, Tony Mazur talks about how this holiday has exploded among Millennials, his favorite costumes over the years, and the line of good taste when it comes to dressing up.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is a...

Mark Malkoff is a comedian, writer, and podcaster, and he is the author of the new book Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about who Johnny was, how the Tonight Show gained its footing, the move from New York to Burbank, and all of Carson's admirers and imitators. They also touched on th...

Marty Gitlin made the transition from sportswriter to author many years ago, but sports continue to be near and dear to his heart, especially baseball. A few years back, Marty co-authored a book on Sam McDowell, the brilliant but troubled Cleveland Indians pitcher from the 1960s.   In this sports-themed episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Marty and Tony Mazur wax nostalgic about the game of b...

Marty Gitlin is a long-time sportswriter who, by the 2010s, became a prolific author, and not just about sports. He's written many books about a variety of pop culture subjects, but the three discussed on this podcast with Tony Mazur are about breakfast cereals, the greatest sitcoms, and greatest animated cartoon characters.   On this episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Marty and Tony talk ab...

It's not often Tony Mazur has "in studio" guests, but he made the exception this week by inviting his father, Mark, on the show. But Mark isn't just a podcast host's dad, he's a long-time member of the Cleveland Police Department, where he was on the job from 1981 till 2005. He joined the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about his early career, see how much modern policing has changed, and shared...

Every month or so, long-time friends and collaborators Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock team up on a stream where they go over a bunch of retro junk. This month, they focused on music, from Chris Cornell trying to perform Rage Against the Machine songs to Gary Cherone's time as the lead singer of Van Halen, to the corpse-like stage personas of David Lee Roth and Frankie Valli.   They also provided a leg...

Four years ago last week, the world learned of the loss of Norm Macdonald to cancer, which shocked everyone, as he had the disease for nearly a decade. In this episode, as a break from the recent seriousness of political violence, Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur looks back at his favorite comic, Norm Macdonald, and some of his favorite moments from the unique late Canadian comedian, from his Weekend...

A week ago, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, shot in the throat during a speaking tour in Utah. As of this podcast, we know more about the assassin, including his personal life, the Discord channels he was a part of, and yes, his left-wing political views. Make no mistake about this: Charlie Kirk was murdered because he was a conservative Christian espousing conservative Christian ideas. This was a...

On September 10th, 2025, conservative pundit Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in Utah. A founding member of Turning Point USA, Charlie made a name for himself barnstorming college campuses and encouraging lively and intelligent debate. Sadly, he was killed for the sin of wanting open discourse.   In this free bonus episode, Tony Mazur shares his thoughts on the murder, Charlie’s l...

Whatever one thinks of Elon Musk these days, his purchase of Twitter in 2022 was a major victory in favor of free speech. Because of that, stories like the horrific stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska won’t be swept under the rug.   X users are now asking the tough questions and having the uncomfortable conversations that were considered too hot for the previous Twitter regime. In a sense, X users ar...

Week 1 of the NFL season literally kicks off this week, and long-time friend of Tony Mazur's, Rick Morris of FantasyDraftHelp.com , stopped by for a preview. First, he shared his do's and dont's when it comes to picking players for fantasy leagues, and they got into how not only is the NFL a copycat league, but fantasy sports are like that as well. Then Rick gives his predictions for each division...

If you’ve listened to Tony Mazur’s Check Your Brain podcast since its early years, you may have noticed a shift in his tone and content. That’s no accident. The free weekly podcast used to be more of a standalone show from the solo Patreon episodes, but now the line is blurred. If a guest comes on, it’s because he wants to hear from that person, not a PR guest offered to him.   In this episode, To...

In an episode that crescendos from silly to serious, Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur gets in the Wayback Machine to the early 2010s and covers the phase the West went through with hipsterdom. Hipster culture was exemplified by a phony blue-collar motif, making practical things slightly worse, and listening to terrible music like The Lumineers and Mumford & Sons (hence "stomp, clap, hey"). It's m...

Chad Zumock is a comedian, podcaster, and very frequent guest of the Check Your Brain podcast. However, the vast majority of those appearances are done remotely, with Chad being in Florida and Tony Mazur up in Ohio. But Chad stopped over Tony's house, and they riffed on how the Z-Man gets under peoples' skin, the goals in comedy changing, who he's at war with online, and a tribute to Ryne Sandberg...

Adam Koehler is an entrepreneur from the Cincinnati area (specifically Price Hill) who is more than upset with what is going on in his home city of late. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to blast city leaders and their backwards and divisive mindset. Of course, they addressed the continued fallout from the brawl in downtown Cincinnati that occurred two weekends ago, from the DE...

Courtney Allen is a fellow podcaster and political commentator, and is the host of Patriot Strong. She is based in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, where a brutal racialized beatdown occurred last Friday night at 4th and Elm downtown. Courtney talked to Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast about the crime rates in the Queen City and how she and her husband refuse to head downtown these days. They...

Rick Morris is the proprietor of FantasyDraftHelp.com and main dignitary of The FDH Lounge, a freeform place to talk about whatever Rick is interested in. Recently, he invited Tony Mazur onto his show about the halfway point in the Major League Baseball season, so here is that conversation.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all o...

George Chiger is a competitive eater hailing from the Poconos region of Pennsylvania and is a top 20 eater in the world. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast fresh off competing in the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest in Coney Island to talk about his eating and training process, and if a normal person has what it takes.   George is all over social media, and in September, he will be in Bu...

Some songs are better left untouched. Others can be greatly improved upon. Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur listed his top ten favorite cover songs that, in his opinion, are better than the original. He even asked his X followers, friends, and Patreon supporters what theirs were.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, a...

Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock used to do a weekly podcast called Mondays with Mazur, but as is the case in life, schedules change and the weekly hit couldn't be met. However, they are resurrecting the show with a monthly themed episode, and this week featured terrible old TV promos and crossovers from the 1980s. Halfway through, comedian Dave Landau calls in for a quick chat.   Be sure to subscribe t...