The Gist

Former LA Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer was essentially run out of baseball after an accusation of sexual assault was lodged against him. Bauer always maintained his innocence, and this week, with the settlement of a legal suit, he posted information on social media that, while incomplete, seems at least somewhat, if not wholly, exculpatory. Mike examines the media's paralysis in covering this matt...

The 1978 movie Airplane! was a disruptive force in comedy filmmaking, redefining what (and who) was funny. We discuss what went into making the iconic film—from joke density to the line that Sigourney Weaver just wouldn't say—with two of the films writer-directors, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker. They have authored a new book, Surely, You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! Plus, the Peac...

Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, is out with The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work And Life . We can learn from Andy Reid about time management and Peyton Manning about purposefully opening his own feet up to attack. Plus, the Belarussian SOBR unit is drunk with power. And are the eight Republican defectors really "hard right?" Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey...

In Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded In a Divided America, NPR"s Steve Inskeep details how the 16th President used conversation, engagement, compromise, and tact to play the political hand he was dealt, without alienating factions, even those he could not abide. Plus, California has a trail-blazing senator whose a lot of things, just not a Californian. Also on the show, a great day for Matt Ga...

Recently in The Atlantic, Jill Filipovic wrote an article titled " I Was Wrong About Trigger Warnings: Has the national obsession with trauma done real damage to teen girls ?" We discuss the costs of referreing to the merely "annoying" as a "trauma," and how social justice movements have become therapy spaces. Plus, Donald Trump excoriates the very judge about to fine him. Also on the show, shutti...

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, an extra from our two-part interview with Heather Cox Richardson, which aired this past week. She read every copy of the New York Times from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century. Listen to find out why. Then, to keep the history theme alive, we listen back to Mike's 2015 interview with the iconic Sarah Vowell of This American Life and The Inc...

Max Kerman, lead singer of Arkells , talks about how to write songs in an age of law suits, and the often weird ways a song gets placed in films and commercials. Plus, Brooklyn Deluge! And the democracy-loving Dems would have done something about Diane Feinstein. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/T...

We're joined again by Heather Cox Richardson to continue discussing her new book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America . Rutherford B. Hayes gets taken down a peg. Also on the show, the second Republican debate wasn't great. Plus, pods about getting frisky with a dolphin, and a nudist colony serving as a witness protection program. Interested in checking out Mike's live appearance on...

Historian and author Heather Cox Richardson is out with a new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Richardson is hopeful, though a thorough reading of history does not invite a particularly blithe posture. Plus, Philadelphia is hit with a spate of looting and a surprising judicial ruling. And Vivek Ramaswamy has the clever comeback at the ready. Interested in checking out Mike...

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks is a progressive who loathes the toxic left and points to corruption as the unifying explanation as to why there's so much wrong with our system. But don't worry, because Justice Is Coming: How Progressives Are Going to Take Over the Country and America Is Going to Love It ... well, that's the title of his new book, anyway. Plus, the U.S. recognizes a new nation that'...

A young physicist working on high-temperature superconductivity follows her mentor to an island established as a haven for the "cancelled and deplorables" shunned elsewhere. " How I won a Nobel Prize " is the name of this novel perfectly calibrated to our times, Mike interviews author Julius Taranto. Plus, Senator Menendez won't resign, but doesn't offer an explanation about the unusually large nu...

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with automotive labor unions preparing for a huge battle, we listen back to Mike's 2016 interview with Steven Greenhouse, author of the 2008 book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker . Then we replay Wednesday's Spiel, in which Mike accuses Hasan Minhaj of concocting fakes in the name of comedy. Also, the rest of the world accused him, too....

Rory Stewart is back to discuss his new memoir How Not To Be A Politician and his podcast The Rest Is Politics . We discuss America's oversized role in shaping culture and politics beyond its borders. Plus, how the popularity of the UAW strike doesn't mean that much in terms of who will win the strike. And it's the rarest of moments, when an Antwentig comes on the 500th episode of Season 2 of The...

Rory Stewart is a former member of British Parliament, Harvard instructor, soldier, diplomat, cabinet minister, and traverser of Asia via foot. The co-host of The Rest Is Politics Podcast, we discuss his latest book How Not To Be A Politician . Plus, STOP REGULATING WOMENS BODIES, if by regulating you mean considering whether some lightly compensated past porn with her husband should factor into a...

Alicia Roth Weigel, author of the memoir Inverse Cowgirl , is back to discuss her row with conservative radio host Stephen Crowder, and why it's in the interest of activists to state that 2% of the population is intersex. Plus, Hasan Minhaj concocts fakes in the name of comedy. And Merritt Garland testifies before congress, and there's not much interest in his answers. To read Mike's Substack "The...

Activist and member of Austin's Human Rights Commission, Alicia Roth Weigel discusses her new memoir Inverse Cowgirl about being Intersex. We talk about her experience and discuss the ethics of operations on infants and how much to blame parents working with the best information they have. Plus, Lauren Boebert's theatrics. And the chilling effect of criticizing Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis for is...

Utah Governor Spencer Cox wants his enemies to be heard, his opponents to feel valued, and his sparring partners to never feel wounded. Is this any way to run a state? He says yes, and as Chair of the National Governor's Association, he's taking his "Disagree Better" platform national. Plus, Texas AG Ken Paxton is acquitted by a jury of his peers ... literally, including his wife, because of snazz...

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, with North Korea and Russia's meeting focusing the news media this week, we listen back to Mike's 2019 interview with Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield who had just written a fascinating book on Kim Jong-un. She spoke with people who had real life interactions with the man, in an effort to get the clearest picture yet of what the head of the Kim dynasty...

M. Chris Fabricant is the Director of Strategic Litigation for the Innocence Project. His new book is Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System . Plus, a Senate without Mitt. And the UAW strikes for wages and trash cans. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist Subscribe to The Gist Su...

Denigrating the SAT is to trendy educational stances as deleting the Abolishing Ice movement is to helpful immigration policy. There are 1,600 reasons—or maybe 5 or 6—why the SAT has validity, and Mike says some of them. Plus, Mike trusts Google to inform him that Hispanic Heritage month starts tomorrow. And we listen to part two of our talk with Vincent Schiraldi author of Mass Supervision: Proba...

Vincent Schiraldi was the commissioner of New York City's Department of Correction and is now Secretary of Juvenile Services of Maryland. We talk about his new book Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom , and discuss if there is a real path to true reform. Plus, the impeachment game is afoot. Also, the Pennsylvania prisoner is captured. Check out Mike's appear...

Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche have co-authored a new novel which is out today, The Last Election . In it, we follow a character not unlike Yang himself—a maverick political outsider whose slogan is, "Do the Math." But in this alternative reality, the candidate's appeal injects uncertainty into a system which devolves into a state of chaos and violence. Also on the show, why the Pennsylvania priso...

How do you co-write a novel with your spouse? Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel did it sentence by sentence in Dayswork . It's a new novel about one spouse's obsession with Moby Dick, and the other spouse alternating between harpooning bad ideas, serving as lookout, and blubbering. Plus, cookin' with Donna Brazile. And, let us be clear, Kamala Harris needs to veer from the script. Produced by Joe...

In this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen to Mike's 2020 conversation with Hit Parade podcast host and music writer Chris Molanphy about 1983s top songs, all of which are now 40 years old. Then we replay Wednesday's Spiel, in which Mike laments about the non-news story that is "near misses" on runways around the nation. The Gist is produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at the...

We're joined by the writer and director of the new film Office Race—starring Beck Bennett and Joel McHale—Jared Lapidus and James Kilmoon. We talk nipple balm and gaming the search function on the Comedy Central interface. Plus, Mike Pence is a perfectly uncharismatic Republican for this moment. And the triumphant return of the rapper Gunna is gunna happen this weekend. Produced by Joel Patterson...