Helen Dale is a columnist and commentator who also writes novels. Her first novel, The Hand That Signed the Paper, won the Miles Franklin award in Australia and also exposed Helen to cancel culture in 1995, long before it became what it is today. She and Bridget discuss the impossibility of proving you didn't do something, the fact that all press is no longer good press, how most lobbyists are morally feral, and why most valuable thing about free speech is not what people say, it’s the fact...
Dec 19, 2019•2 hr 37 min
Coach Tea is a DJ, producer, podcast personality, and sound engineer for Comedy Central’s Roast Battle. He is also a counselor focusing on the rehabilitation and treatment of young men who have committed crimes. He and Bridget have a fascinating conversation about anarchy, “wokeism,” how unpopular a message of personal responsibility is in 2019, why happiness doesn’t exist without accountability, and how careful you need to be about creating the values systems by which you structure your life. T...
Dec 12, 2019•2 hr 32 min
Bret Stephens, op-ed columnist for The New York Times, sits down with Bridget to discuss Trump’s effect on the Republican Party, feeling out of place in your own country, the dangers of a culture that’s so sure of its convictions, mob politics, and how Trump’s behavior is both a symptom and a cause of a form of cultural corrosion. Bret talks growing up in Mexico and the perspective it gave him on the US that most Americans don’t have, and why what we have in the US is relatively rare, difficult ...
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Dana Goldberg, stand-up comedian, stops by to talk how she got into comedy, bombing in front of Gloria Steinem, the fact that European audiences don’t laugh, and her talent for bonding people with humor. She shares coming out to her parents when she was 18, how they made it an easy experience, and offers her best advice for parents who have children struggling with their sexual identities. She believes you haven’t failed your child until you turn your back on them. She and Bridget discuss Dana’s...
Nov 21, 2019•1 hr 26 min
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar’s first experience with Americans was during the second Iraq war when a US tank rolled up in front of his house. He shares his incredible story of growing up under Saddam Hussein’s regime, the vaccuum in his neighborhood that was filled by members of Al-Qaeda, blogging against extremism and receiving death threats as a teenager, escaping Iraq, and the ten year journey to becoming an America citizen. He discusses being taken in by a family in Virginia, why he thinks American...
Nov 14, 2019•2 hr 48 min
Ryan Stout, stand-up comic extraordinaire, shares how he got into stand-up, parsing his college courses for material, the joys of being a stay-at-home husband, and the changing effect of wearing a suit when doing a comedy show. He and Bridget discuss how liberal people used to view artists as a minority community that needed to be protected and now they view them as oppressors, the future of advertising with deep fakes, and how to support comics you like (hint: don’t just tell them they’re going...
Nov 07, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Melissa Chen (NY Editor, Spectator US) stops by for a brilliant chat that covers a lot of ground. She describes growing up in Singapore in a “benevolent authoritarian state,” feeling liberated in the US, the fact that most Americans take the first amendment for granted, being on the forefront of human genome research, the Pandora’s Box that is CRISPR, and points out that whatever moral concerns we have about gene editing technology, China does not have them. She is currently the Managing Directo...
Oct 31, 2019•2 hr 48 min
Adam Alter, author of Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, stops by to talk about screen and tech addiction. He and Bridget discuss the billions of dollars that go into keeping us looking at our screens, from game app design to, story formatting, to rolling from one episode into the next. They talk the evolution of binging, the fragmentation of our attention spans, the dopamine overloads we’re being doused with, and the difference between wanting ...
Oct 24, 2019•1 hr 21 min
Yasmine Mohammed, author of Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam, shares her story of growing up in a fundamentalist Islamic home in Canada. At 13, when she tried to report the abuse she suffered at the hands of her step-father, she was told by a judge “you come from a different culture, and that’s how your family chooses to discipline you, so we just have to accept that.” And here lies the inherent contradiction in the way in which the West views fundamentalist Islam versus othe...
Oct 17, 2019•2 hr 9 min
Bridget finally convinced Cousin Maggie to share her story, from a rather idyllic childhood in a small town in Rhode Island, to being raised in a stable environment with active, involved parents, to having a certain expectation about the track her life would follow, until she was completely derailed by depression in college. They discuss the little known realities of suicidal depression, picking up the pieces, the journey back to “normal” and how falling apart wound up being completely freeing. ...
Oct 10, 2019•2 hr 44 min
Jamie Kilstein, stand-up comic and podcast host, sits down with Bridget to discuss his conversion from a woke, SJW, male feminist to a humbler and healthier version of himself. He shares the scars of being falsely accused of sexual misconduct, the fallout to his career and life, being suicidally depressed, and why he was basically taken down for being a self-righteous a**hole who everyone was willing to turn on. They cover being addicted to validation, being crazy in relationships, people who ha...
Oct 03, 2019•2 hr 23 min
Helen Pluckrose, one of the three authors of the Grievance Studies and editor-in-chief of Aero magazine, sits with Bridget to discuss the much richer role for women in history than the lenses by which we’re viewing them today, the contradictions in feminism and social justice activism, the argument against post-modernism, and the inherent problems with intersectionality. Helen talks about her own journey from a care assistant in hospitals, to getting a Masters in Early Modern Literature with a f...
Sep 26, 2019•2 hr 48 min
Comedian and actor Jim Gaffigan stops by to discuss the long and painful journey to a career in the entertainment industry, from studying finance at Georgetown, to taking improv classes so he can overcome his fear of speaking in meetings at the advertising agency where he worked, to falling in love with stand-up and watching everyone else in his comedy class find success before he did. Jim talks why failure is such a great teacher, getting lost in other people’s expectations, the creepy thing ab...
Sep 20, 2019•2 hr 41 min
Bridget and Peter Boghossian have a conversation under the Colorado stars about the search for ultimate meaning in life, the denigration of reason, the loss of being able to wonder publicly, figuring out the best type of life to lead, and teaching people how to value the right things. Peter explains how bales of hay, lifting weights, and prison inmates got him started on his career path and led him to question whether you can fundamentally change the way people think about problems and the way t...
Sep 12, 2019•1 hr 14 min
Story Hour with Bridget Phetasy is a segment where Bridget reminisces with cousin Maggie and tells stories explaining who she is and how she got here. Full transcript available here: WiW47-AccidentalPundit-Transcript This week Bridget covers how she went from being the Playboy Advisor to an accidental pundit on Ben Shapiro’s Election Special. She can trace every opportunity she’s had since leaving waitressing behind to one thing – Twitter. The realization that Twitter is just like high school, w...
Sep 05, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Glenn Beck is a conservative political commentator, radio host and television producer. He and Bridget discuss the early evolution of his career, his love affair with radio, the transition from CNN to Fox News, attending Yale at age 30, and mistakes he’s made along the way. They delve into the value of struggle and overcoming hardship, the cultural celebration of “victimhood,” how tribalism and the culture wars trick people into thinking that the problem is outside themselves, and the dangers of...
Aug 29, 2019•1 hr 22 min
Noah Rothman is an MSNBC and NBC New contributor, Associate Editor of Commentary Magazine, and author of the book Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America. He and Bridget have a fascinating conversation about the origins of the social justice movement, the fact that “social justice” as a term defies definition, the paradox of treating individuals unequally in order to achieve equality, and whether or not it’s just tribalism with a fancy name. They cover Noah’s early career in radio, ho...
Aug 22, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Corinne Fisher is a stand-up comedian, co-host of popular podcast Guys We F@#ked, and co-author of the book F*cked: Being Sexually Explorative and Self-Confident in a World That’s Screwed, with creative partner, Krystyna Hutchinson. She and Bridget have a conversation that is surprisingly not all about sex, though that’s certainly covered. They also talk the small world of stand-up comedy, the joys of bombing during a stand-up set and the hidden skill involved, the impetus for the podcast and ho...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Ethan Nicolle, Creative Director at the Babylon Bee, stops by to talk the pros and cons of going viral, how virality does not automatically equal dollars, the never-endingness of being a parent, the bubble within a bubble within a bubble that is LA, and Ethan’s theory that fighting with bears is the struggle for manliness. They discuss the comic Axe Cop which Ethan created with his 5 year old brother, Malachai. Malachi provided the ideas and story, Ethan illustrated. He delves into finding succe...
Aug 08, 2019•1 hr 17 min
Marshall Herskovitz, writer, director and producer (thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Dangerous Beauty), drops by to talk about how he got his start in Hollywood, when he decided he’d rather fail and leave the business than keep writing things that didn’t feel like him, the TV movie that kick-started his and partner Ed Zwick’s careers into high gear, and what kind of reboot he would do for thirtysomething if the opportunity arose. Learn why he, Ed, and Winnie Holzman wound up sobbing when they...
Aug 01, 2019•2 hr 39 min
Andy Levy, American commentator and humorist, is a former panelist on S.E. Cupp’s Unfiltered and Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. He drops in for a conversation with Bridget about why Twitter is like Soylent Green, hanging out in LA waiting to be discovered, Bridget’s secret desire to knock popcorn out of people’s hands at the movies, their shared dream of becoming private island owners, and what to do if you’re having a bad drug trip. They discuss why Andy would make a great serial killer, why men ro...
Jul 25, 2019•1 hr 29 min
Sarah Solomon, author of Guac is Extra But So Am I: The Reluctant Adult’s Handbook, stops by to talk why life gets better as you get older, getting to the point where you get over your jealousy of other women, struggling with depression and anxiety in the age of social media, and how parenting seems like the hardest job in the world. She tells the story of being evicted from her apartment, losing her job, and getting her book deal all within a two week period. She and Bridget dissect why they bo...
Jul 19, 2019•1 hr 12 min
Kira Davis (Editor-at-Large for redstate.com ) drops by for a frank conversation about the hole that fatherlessness leaves in society, “benevolent” government, the destruction of the term “racism”, and extending grace to each other in our most challenging moments. She shares stories about growing up on Prince Edward Island, having a conversion experience during childhood, becoming a conservative, and the audacity of youth. She and Bridget talk tips for dealing with depression, God & meditati...
Jul 11, 2019•2 hr 59 min
Mitchell Sunderland is a freelance writer (Vice, Adult, Penthouse) known for his nuanced profiles on everyone from Stormy Daniels to Mike Tyson, Anne Coulter, Nick Jonas and more. His stories are insane, from growing up the son of one of the largest dog breeders in Florida and dealing with protestors for most of his childhood, to being banned from a gay safe space in college (he’s gay), to being the first American named to the 50 most hated people at Oxford list. He has profiled eclectic groups ...
Jul 03, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Tim Dillon is a stand-up comedian and host of the popular podcast Tim Dillon is Going to Hell. He and Bridget lament the absence of humor in today’s political climate, how rich white people have culturally appropriated oppression, death by selfies, and the terrifying nature of Pokémon Go. Tim talks about how being a juror on a murder trial changed his life, coming out, getting sober, and doing stand-up for the first time all within a three month period, and why he hates the demonization of liars...
Jun 27, 2019•1 hr 17 min
Robby Soave is an associate editor and writer for Reason magazine and author of Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump which investigates the shift in activist culture on college campuses since Trump’s election in 2016. He and Bridget discuss why everyone hates libertarians, the spectrum of libertarianism, how both the Left and the Right see the other side’s extreme radicalism as a reason to up their own, and the unfortunate reality that tiny fringes on both side are so loud they drown...
Jun 20, 2019•1 hr 28 min
According to Michael Malice, The New Right is a loosely connected group of individuals united by their opposition to progressivism, which they perceive to be a thinly veiled fundamentalist religion based on egalitarian principles dedicated to world domination via globalist hegemony. He wrote the book on it, because he watch it develop. He and Bridget discuss the push-back against progressivism and the four different tactics the New Right is considering in response, the audacity of the word “shou...
Jun 13, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Dave Rubin, stand up comic and political commentator, created The Rubin Report to “to talk to people and try to find out what they think about things.” In this week’s episode he shares his thoughts with Bridget on a variety of topics including leaving the Left, Thomas Jefferson, the bravery deficit in our culture, the Intellectual Dark Web, and classical liberalism. They unpack the term “white privilege,” discuss how intersectionality is the essence of bigotry, and expound on the trend of journa...
Jun 06, 2019•2 hr 34 min
Nathan Edmondson is a writer and President of EDGE, an ambitious counter-poaching and conservation organization devoted to the innovative preservation of African wildlife. They bring new technologies and US special operations tactics and expertise to develop counter-poaching initiatives. Bridget and Nathan discuss media coverage of extinction events, how he became involved in the conservation movement, and why increased cancer rates in south-east Asia have led to an explosion in rhino horn poach...
May 30, 2019•1 hr 18 min
Christina Hoff Sommers is a former philosophy professor and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She’s one of the Femsplainers on the podcast Femsplainers and has a series called the Factual Feminist on YouTube in which she corrects feminist myths within women’s and gender studies with truth and solid research. She and Bridget cover the disturbing rise of contempt within contemporary feminism, the appeal of Jordan Peterson, the erosion of Americans’ desire to protect free speec...
May 23, 2019•2 hr 36 min
