The Middlebrow Multiverse

The guys improvise like jazz musicians and share their loose takes on Kevin Costner's pretend-cowboy act, crows, "homestyle" food, Socrates, and more. They end the episode needing an illustrator for the world's next great graphic novel sensation.

Our revenants return with mailbag follow-ups on Beethoven vs. the Beatles, the correct temperature for coffee, the broad appeal of Philip Roth, and the evolution of the Boy Scouts of America. 

The fellas do two speed brackets, facing off concepts, foodstuffs, jail sentences, and geopolitical outcomes, crowning two champions as between pizza, live sports, nice hotels, weddings, donuts, The Wire, non-fiction, and much more.  Predictably, hilarity ensues.

The bros get back to their roots with top threes and fuck 'ems.  They address the Japanese vs. German schools of automotive engineering and how they reflect life at large. Danny describes his first YouTube crush and complains about inaccurate euphemisms in dentistry. A good time is had by all.

The gents kick up their feet and manifest a good old fashioned BS session in which they each divulge four perfect things (including a $10 bottle of red wine), ponder bullshit jobs, touch on history and techniques of coffee, and generally bloviate with their characteristic wit and candor.

The lads dive into the mailbag to answer questions about AI, freeway ne'er-do-wells, and irony.  We blame society's ills on finance bros and ponder the definitional contours of middlebrow.

Our champions are back at it with a look at the news. They ponder why Trump and Taylor Swift are so ever-present, when did America hit its peak foreign power, and wow, what a time to be a Gen-Xer. Finally, they discuss a little-known army of smart home products and its nefarious deeds.

We get our first report card from our Middlebrow Ombudsman, who is watching out for our dear listeners and making sure Danny and Pete keep their content as middlebrow as possible. What is the definition of middlebrow? And do the lads hit the mark or fuck it up completely?

The lads splash some cash to determine which of the Oscar Best Picture winners from the 2001-2010 decade is the zenith of middlebrow entertainment. Cash is King as they examine (WITH SPOILERS) Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Hurt Locker. There can be only one winner.

The guys start off with Danny's top 3 things that have grabbed his attention, then challenge Left Coast conventional wisdom 5 times and round it out with some Fuck 'Ems and Cheers.