Critical Babe Theory

Native New Yorker Alex Brook Lynn comes on the show to talk about the city in the 90’s—and what’s lost when only the rich can afford to live and work in NYC. We discuss the demise of rent controlled apartments, marking art when the stakes aren’t high, and how close to life Larry Clark’s Kids was (pretty close). Also discussed: middle class drug dealers, how the out-of-towners are the city’s own mi...

My very fun and very discursive talk with Sam Adler-Bell, journalist and host of leftist podcast “Know Your Enemy.” We discuss his recent viral article “The Women Leaving the New Right” in New York Mag , liberalism’s lack of meaning, the (more) vile aspects of the New Right—and how the left drove women into their arms in the first place. Also discussed: “It’s China over here,” nebbish-maxxing, inf...

A surrealist interview with sign-based comedian and beloved internet denizen Alan Wagner (@truewagner) about the critically reviled Ari Aster film Eddington —and how it exposes the berserk heart of America.  Also discussed: the (unofficial) Eddington Preservation Society, a direct plea to Donald J Trump, basketweaving, Eddington as lighthearted romp, unwitting consumption of art, the final word: a...

In commemoration of Earth Day, climate activist Matthew Menzies comes on the show to discuss his nonviolent protest and civil disobedience with the climate group Extinction Rebellion—and how we can avert climate crisis, build community, and envision a better life. Also discussed: how climate change is not your fault, whether podcasts steal your soul, permaculture, how oil=corn=flesh, chimpanzee ci...

***This is our 50th episode*** The utterly delightful Monique Gabriel comes on the show to discuss the power of the bitch—which becomes a conversation about spiritual living and integrates into the timeless question: how can I be a spiritual bitch? Also discussed: adult tantrums, competitive crafting, alphas who like to be alphaed, girls school aura, “a friend to all is a friend to no one,” animus...

Novelist Andrew Ridker comes on the show to discuss the paradox of privilege and persecution at the heart of the Jewish-American experience (and literary canon)—and how it’s time to shift the plot. Also discussed: Birthright sex romps, the cure for ambiguity, how the medium is the message in social media comment fights, the intellectual inconsistencies of Holocaust denialism, Portlandia passover s...

Political consultant and strategist Charlie Goldensohn—aka @chez.chuck—comes on the show to discuss the Democratic Party and all its stumbling blocks. Also discussed: innate SF degeneracy, dip preferences, Gavin Newsom (again), the gender wars, how we all become our parents, American gerontocracy, “the people who are winning are populists,” the DL on Biden’s White House mental state, who’s really...

Léonie Weerakoon—human ecologist and founder of Kinetik Ventures, a bioeconomy investment firm—comes on the show to discuss her work, sustainability, and how nature is the highest form of intelligence. Also discussed: what it’s like to work for F1, living the globalist dream, extreme sports of sustainability, a hard pitch on moving to Luxembourg, nature as a peer, Francesca’s new conspiracy theory...

Johnny Gaffney—founder of Senior Centertainment ( https://seniorcentertainment.org ) — comes on the show to talk about his work with seniors and how we all can be good neighbors — and finally do away with the modern illusion of self-sufficiency.  Also discussed: always hailing yellow, the value of scrumming around, growing our capacity for non-romantic intimacy, VHI Behind the Music as spiritually...

Author and journalist EJ Dickson comes on the show to discuss her new book One Bad Mother and the impossible trap American mothers are put in—be they hot moms, influencer moms, MAHA moms or really any mom at all. Also discussed: ER vacations, how the kids-on-airplanes discourse points to the erosion of Judeo-Christian values, therapy as emotional prostitution, what we owe each other as a communal...

Simon van Zuylen-Wood—journalist and features writer at New York Magazine —comes on the show to talk about the battle for the soul of American conservatism and the battleground of elite inboxes (ie the prodigious emailing of Jeffrey Epstein). Nota bene: first half of the episode we discuss Charlie Kirk and Nick Fuentes, Epstein in the second half. Candace floats throughout, as is her wont. Also di...

Writer Nicole Treska comes on the show to talk about growing up in blue collar Boston under the aegis of the Winter Hill Gang—and how the left (maybe, if they stop being corporate sell outs) can win back the white working class. Also discussed: boomer greed, the authoritarian personality, ancestral goat programming, how when people say they want to be rich what they mean is they want to be middle...

Cult comic and beloved online denizen Lauren Servideo comes on the show to discuss her favorite characters (hint: it’s like choosing your favorite child), old-hat internet, and what we talk about when we talk about influencers. Also discussed: eldest daughter discourse, Billy Crystal and the female fear of death, crust punks with a TikTok presence, how men don’t like to be propositioned to be a mu...

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo Brian Wood, founder of Panodime, comes on the show to discuss what the AI overlords really want (hint: it’s not to make your workflow more efficient) and what we need to do to...

Nota bene: starting today, the first half of every episode of CBT will be free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo I talk with Reuben Barsky—raconteur & denizen of the diamond district—about the myth of the urban American male and pursuit of the good life. A...

Actress and impresario Ruby McCollister and I discuss Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae —the resurrection of the work post-Trump, Paglia’s thrilling/exhausting prose styling, the fundamental immorality and amorality of art, and the inherent tackiness of sexuality. Also discussed: Ruby’s theory on how JFK started the culture war (with his hotness), safe spaces at Vogue, being an emotional slut, the...

Activist and comic Davidson Boswell returns and we discuss Venezuela, ICE and the murder of Renee Good. We debate material conditions vs the flawed nature of man, what follows post-white supremacy and the eschatological possibility of saving ICE agent’s souls. Also discussed: Almond moms, socialist footwear, how Trump accidentally made Maduro look cool, Jonathan E Ross as the new Franz Ferdinand,...

Comic and activist Davidson Boswell comes on the show to talk about his radicalization post October 7th and the mass marketing of revolution. We discuss the sins of moderate liberals and Davidson's disruptions with Climate Defiance, including their interruption of the opening night of Carmen at the Met. Also discussed: how to get a pervert to put their dick away on the subway, the ego-wound of...

Friend of the pod Lauren Bille returns to the show and we attempt to talk about dating—but keep getting pulled into current events. The personal is political? Also discussed: the hermeneutics of dating people too young for you, paralyzation of choice, Candace Owens blaming American foreign policy in Venezuela on “Zionists” (editor’s note: by that does she mean Stephen Miller?), the ideal male-fema...

CBT welcomes in the new year with guest Dhananjay Jagannathan and a super-stoney discussion of what Christ really meant when he said he came with the sword (the Christian mandate for socialism, duh). We break down Phil Christman’s book Why Christians Should be Leftists , the semiotics of woke house style, the aesthetics needed to reach Christian moms and how Christ is a little too radical for the...

Guest  Dhananjay Jagannathan  returns to discuss his time as a professor at Columbia University post-October 7th and the ensuing protests and encampments. We discuss how the elite institutions of higher education are eating themselves alive—like it's 1968 all over again. Also discussed: the lost pleasures of MapQuest, how Columbia University loves its grass (more than its students), and that F...

This week's guest Dhananjay Jagannathan , essayist and Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College, comes on to discuss the value of education today—is it for the one percent? Is it for spiritual edification? Is it to perform well at cocktail parties? Read more on Dhananjay's substack, Cultured Opinion : https://culturedopinion.substack.com Atlantic article about how students don't read anymore: htt...

Francesca and guest host Lauren Bille discuss single motherhood (and why you shouldn't be one), the tepid response to pronatalism on the right, dating football players and much more.

You open your eyes at dawn and turn in the cool bedsheets. From outside, you can hear the California High-Speed Rail as it comes to a screeching halt. Your government issued Meta glasses deliver a Page Six alert: recently disgraced influencer has thrown herself into the tracks. You open your window, and an Amazon drone flies in with your reasonably priced prescription of Ozempic, manufactured in t...

Sarah is back from London with a theory about polyamory, and Francesca decides she no longer cares about Ezra Klein. We discuss Trump’s White House renovations, the looming war with Venezuela, the NYC mayoral race, the "ceasefire," and much more.