War is Stupid: An Anti-War Podcast About War

Orli Matlow sits down with Jenny Chan, director of Pacific Atrocities Education, whose public history projects increase awareness of the crimes committed in the Asia-Pacific Theater of World War II. The atrocities were so atrocious that a literal Nazi wrote home that the Imperial Japanese Army was going too far with what is now known as the Rape of Nanking. Jenny exposes Imperial Japan’s war crime...

Orli Matlow sits down with comedian and activist Davidson Boswell, fresh out of spending 24 hours in jail for disrupting the Metropolitan Opera. Davidson shares how and why the Carmen counter-programming went down, and how the war on Venezuela is actually about Cuba. They riff on everything from the American Civil War to Canadian wildfires, and challenge the myth that things have to get worse and...

Orli Matlow speaks with Australian Jewish writer and organiser Em Hilton about the recent anti-Semitic terror attack in Australia and its profound impact on the Jewish community. They discuss the acts of heroism amidst the tragedy, growing up Jewish in Australia and Canada, and building safety through solidarity—united against Iberian ham. Theme music by This Revolution Production Collective.   Re...

Orli Matlow sits down with Sally Abed and Alon-Lee Green, co-founders of Standing Together, a grassroots movement fighting for peace, equality and social justice in Israel-Palestine. They discuss what the fight looks like, what peace looks like, and how the issues won’t be solved by simply getting rid of Netanyahu. Sally and Alon-Lee also share their origin stories, riff on a joke from Alon-Lee’s...

Orli Matlow sits down with Andrew Facini, Communications Director at The Council on Strategic Risks, to learn all about tactical nuclear weapons and armageddon. Andrew walks us through the consequences of a nuclear blast, whether or not bombing Iran this past summer saved the world, and why the US has lost its appetite for regime change. They talk about the new movie A House of Dynamite, and Andre...

Orli Matlow welcomes comedian Ethan Stanislawski to talk about growing up as the son of a Jewish history professor, the grandson of a Liberal Zionist political icon, and the next door neighbor of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (It turns out that the Upper West Side is not, in fact, the utopia from Nora Ephron movies). They talk Holocaust museums in public schools, studying abroad in Berlin, the Six Da...

Orli Matlow welcomes Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, Executive Director of Partners for Progressive Israel, for a conversation with as many sidebars as a page of Talmud. They talk about the old-timey colonizers who set the systems up that haunt us to this day, and the role of a rabbi in facilitating the trauma and spiritual work that needs to be done in a time of genocide. They also talk movies, Moom...

Activist and journalist Sam Stein joins host Orli Matlow to talk about his experiences living in the West Bank: first as a student blasting “America, F*** Yeah!” through Israeli checkpoints, and then as a protective presence activist deterring violent Jewish extremists from attacking his Palestinian friends.  Sam speaks about his friend, the late human rights activist Awdah Hathaleen, who was brut...

Host Orli Matlow welcomes comedian, screenwriter, and certified Film Nerd Greg Roque to talk war movies, from All Quiet On The Western Front to Amy Schumer’s upcoming October 7th rom-com (yes, that is a real thing). Greg shares the wisdom of Grand Theft Auto IV, his journey converting to Judaism, and whether or not becoming a father has changed his opinion of Winston Churchill. Theme music by This...

It's Election Day in New York City, an election that has become about Israel and Palestine despite being for New York City! Host Orli Matlow welcomes comedian Atheer Yacoub to talk Zohran Mamdani (who really just wants to talk about buses), throwback Islamophobia, BDS, her childhood in Ramallah and Alabama, and chocolate. Theme music by This Revolution Production Collective. Follow Atheer: Denied...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with Michael Greenberg, founder of Climate Defiance, to talk about the need for, well, climate defiance. They explore his journey to activism, the concept of ecocide, the power of heckling, and the fact that you don't need to be good at science to join the fight for a livable planet.  Theme music and editing by This Revolution Production Collective. Follow Climate Defian...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with Dr. Nicholas Wright to talk about his new book Warhead: How The Brain Shapes War and War Shapes The Brain . Dr. Wright draws on his experiences in the operating room and at the Pentagon to posit that the brain is wired for conflict, yet we are somehow not doomed as a species. The fascinating conversation covers the past (Winston Churchill wasn’t always Winston Churc...

Host Orli Matlow welcomes comedian Nour Hadidi to talk two of the most devastating forces on earth: the military-industrial complex and Toronto sports. They discuss watching the hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas, and how it feels when the world begins to catch up to what you've been saying for years. Nour reflects on growing up in Jordan, her experience joining the Global March to Gaza las...

Host Orli Matlow welcomes the World’s Most Moral Podcast Guest, Daniel Maté, composer, lyricist, and co-host of Bad Habara: The World’s Most Moral Podcast. They talk politics in musical theatre and musical theatre in politics, from the pogroms of Fiddler on the Roof to Irving Berlin’s bloodlust in 1943’s This is The Army to the hate crime that is Miss Saigon. They go back to 1918 with public domai...

War is Stupid: An Anti-War Podcast About War celebrates its first ever gender reveal—which is what true freedom is all about! Marcela Onyango (they/them) joins host Orli Matlow (she/her) in a riff-heavy episode to talk about everything from chattel slavery to wage slavery to "Young Sheldon." Marcela shares their journey going from democratic socialist to anarchist, and from "Sex and the City" fan...

It's the first ever War is Stupid holiday special...and the holiday is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement! Host Orli Matlow sits down with Rabbi Andrue Kahn, Executive Director of the American Council for Judaism, to talk about the connection between Jewish values and anti-war activism, from biblical times to today. Rabbi Andy shares his journey to the rabbinate, his experiences getting arres...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with the incredibly cool teen Iddo Elam, who served prison time for refusing to serve in the Israeli military. They talk about Iddo’s journey as a conscientious objector, which includes putting on tefillin for the first time ever in military prison—and also Hannah Einbinder’s acceptance speech at the Emmys. Iddo provides encouragement to everyone around the world living...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with former Marine Lyle Jeremy Rubin, author of the memoir Pain is Weakness Leaving The Body: A Marine's Unbecoming, to talk everything from Afghanistan to The Music Man. Lyle opens up about his politics going into the military and his politics after, the accountability crisis in American politics (George W. Bush is not a cutie patootie!), and the theatricality of war an...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with Jess Salomon (The Tonight Show, The Hague) for a wide-ranging conversation that includes the war crimes lawyer to comedian pipeline, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Rwandan genocide, Zionist crashouts, and the future of the Jewish story. Follow Jess: https://www.instagram.com/jess_salomon/   https://salomonsays.substack.com/ Follow...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with comedian and host of The Vanquished podcast Freddy G to talk men, masculinity, and militarism. The wide-ranging conversation includes tea on Sigmund Freud (a man), wrestling (drag shows for straight men), Alexander the Great (a man…and a nepo baby), Kurt Vonnegut (a man), Barbie (a doll/woman), Taylor Swift (a woman) and Travis Kelce (a man), the pro-war candidacy o...

Host Orli Matlow sits down with Tamar Glezerman, co-founder of Israelis For Peace, to debunk the myth that war frees hostages—a myth that is promptly disproven by the numbers. They talk Israelis For Peace's work in New York and its hecklers, reflect on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, spill tea about the Netanyahu crime family, and provide practical ways to help people in Gaza right now. Follow...

Comedian Orli Matlow sits down with Danaka Katovich, National Co-Director of CODEPINK: Women For Peace.  They break down the myth that war liberates women, covering Gaza, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Danaka shares her personal journey to activism, her experience heckling Joe Biden, and what the world could look like if America didn't spend a trillion dollars on weapons—with a cameo from the fighter jets...

Comedian Orli Matlow explores how the military is romanticized and sexualized, with a diversion ranking the Magic Mike Cinematic Universe. She is then joined by comedian and IDF dropout Penina Beede, whose solo show Slack Off: Losing My Pants In The Israeli Army is running this summer in New York City. Donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/ Learn more about A Land For All:...

Comedian Orli Matlow tackles the myth that launched a thousand Oscars: that World War 2 was a humanitarian war waged humanitarianly for humanitarian reasons. The way we talk about World War 2 comes more from Steven Spielberg than from soldiers and survivors.   Further reading: "The Destruction of the European Jews" by Raul Hilberg "The Good War" by Studs Terkel "Looking For The Good War: American...

Comedian Orli Matlow breaks down the myth that "war benefits the people" by exploring World War I—that time approximately 40 million people died because a bunch of cousins wanted to flex.