Critical Wade Theory

This is the unedited video of my interview with composer Carlos Rafael Rivera. There's about 10 seconds of quiet at the start, so be ready for that. Anyway, Carlos and I discuss his work on the movie "They Will Kill You," a 2026 American action-comedy horror film directed by Kirill Sokolov and co-written with Alex Litvak. The film stars Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felt...

Talking about folklore. Fairy tales. The stories people pass down. And more specifically, the idea that these stories came from some kind of “pure,” untouched oral tradition. This also leads me to eventually discussing (a little bit) one of my favorite MST3K episodes.

Pretty Lethal   is a 2026 action thriller directed by Vicky Jewson and written by Kate Freund. The film stars Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds, Avantika, Maddie Ziegler, and Uma Thurman. It follows a dysfunctional ballet troupe forced to take shelter when their bus breaks down en route to a major competition. When a gang of armed men targets them, the dancers must use their training to...

The biggest controversy tied to Harry S. Truman is usually considered to be his decision to use atomic weapons against Japan in 1945 during World War II.

This episode is about a man whose voice carried across prison walls, across decades, and straight into the foundation of American music. His name was Lead Belly.

Strom Thurmond remained a powerful and deeply controversial figure in U.S. politics for decades, shaping South Carolina’s political direction long after his early career. His influence even extended into later generations of politicians; for example, he campaigned on behalf of Lindsey Graham, illustrating how political networks tied to segregationist power structures persisted well into the late 2...

This episode: Why Fairy Tales Repeat Across the World.

Jandron said on X, “I’m running for US Senate. If elected, the first bill I introduce will draft Lindsey Graham into any conflict he publicly supports while in office.”

An uncertain disconnect happens when global forces start to override local ways of living.

This episode starts with a moment from daytime television. During an appearance on The View, Arnold Schwarzenegger was there to promote his Netflix series FUBAR. But the conversation quickly shifted to immigration. [IMAGE is from the film "Total Recall" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.]

Alright, today we’re talking about a movie that’s less of a film and more of an experience… and not always a pleasant one. It’s Movie 43, one of the strangest, most infamous comedies to come out of the 2010s.

I had an opportunity to have a guest on my show who most certainly has an extreme, likely apocalyptic worldview. It's someone who's apparently running for Congress, a so-called 'White House Faith Advisor.

Before and during the mid-2000s, Illinois politics revolved around a familiar mix of party power, patronage, and public scandal. One figure at the center of that system was Rod Blagojevich, a Chicago-born politician with a working-class background who rose through both state and federal offices before becoming governor in 2003. Another was J.B. Pritzker, a wealthy businessman and heir to the Hyatt...

Is JB Pritzker genuinely distancing himself from AIPAC, or is it just a strategic act?

Today we’re going back to 1981 — to a moment before the global superstardom, before the polished pop-metal sheen, before Hysteria.

In this episode, I'm talking about The Omen, a 1976 supernatural horror film that changed the game...and even got an Academy Award!

Much to my surprise, I received an e-mail from someone wanting to be a guest on my show...who wasn't a right-winger! Here is my conversation with Sean Martin of the band The Quarantined. We talk a little about music and, yes, politics. As usual, I end up looking like Casper with a black eye in the video, due to the dark bags under my eyes and the awkward natural lighting. Also, the camera adds...

This episode is about one of those strange little musical collisions that almost feels like a dare.

In this episode: I respond to a YouTube comment suggesting Obamacare (or the tax penalty) is fascist. I then get into what fascism is. I conclude with a message to macho tough guys: Go be tough somewhere else, away from me.

“The human jungle.” You’ve probably heard it before to describe various things: A ruthless workplace. A crowded city. A competitive society where everyone seems to be scrambling for status, resources, and survival...

This episode looks at an unsettling true-crime documentary: Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer.

In Honduras, the corrupt drug trafficker President Juan Orlando Hernández was succeeded by Xiomara Castro, who presented herself as a “democratic socialist” reformer. But how different was she from what came before? Well, let's see what her biggest scandal is...and, as I so often do on this podcast, I will see to what extent her scandal seems to align with anarchic critiques of authority.

October 11th, 1975. 11:30 p.m. Most Americans tuning in probably had no idea they were about to watch television history.

Trump's corrupt pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández: An example of why we should never, ever take Trump at his word. It's some truly mind-boggling hypocrisy...as usual.

Interview with Marc Klasfeld. He's directed music videos for tons of major artists, and now he has an adventure-horror movie called "Do Not Enter" from Lionsgate. It may look like I have a black eye in the video, but that's a danger of natural lighting, and I'm one of those people who have dark bags under their eyes. I suppose I could lie and claim I just got out of a rowdy f...