Firehose #197: More Bang for Your Buck

Also: Fuck communism

Most every year around this time (annual subscription renewal season), I give a lil’ State o’ the Podcast pep-talk in this space, and forecast what’s coming next for you, our most beloved and foundational of customers. So much has changed around here over the past eight months that it can be hard to even remember how things looked like in May 2025. Since I read every email and comment, and have a Rain Man-style tendency to count numbers, *I* certainly remember … everything.

Twelve months ago, these were the four biggest complaints from subscribers: 1) the audio quality too often sucked; 2) we didn’t exist on video (nor in any shareable sense on social media; 3) no merch (a long-running joke at that point); and, 4) hard as it may be to believe after our recent run, not enough guests, particularly those we disagreed with. From Dec. 13, 2024, to March 14, 2025, for example, we had exactly … one guest. Stretch it all the way out to Sept. 12, 2025, and we’re talking 9 months of 72 episodes with just 15 guests, only 4 of whom were making their debut. Not only did you tell us we were in a rut, some of you voted with your feet: After years of consistent growth, our paying subs over that exact timespan trended perceptibly downward.

So, we listened. Audio was fixed, via the winning combo of recording in person and engineering with professionals (who also managed much quicker & more regular turnaround times). Video was rather decisively launched, including a clips factory that has produced multiple million-view segments. The merch chamber of secrets was finally unlocked, its wonders revealed at three live shows (including two in virgin cities), compared to the previous nine-month total of zero. And yes, we’ve had some guests … 69 of ‘em, including a whopping 52 first-timers, across 93 episodes. Were there some annoying ones here, some boring political hacks there? Absolutely, yes. And there were also: Russ Roberts, Sebastian Junger, Chris Christie, Sarah Isgur, Peter Moskos, Thor Halvorssen, Ryan Long, Steven Pinker, Robert D. Kaplan, Brace Belden, Mark Harmon (!), John Spencer, Ted Henken, Kevin O’Leary, Jason Leopold, Noam Dworman, and Charles Mann, for starters.

Given the opportunity to cross-examine newsmakers, we got 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful Rahm Emanuel to cry, subjected Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to housing policy arguments I’m not sure she’s ever heard, broke news that Sen. Rand Paul (R—Ky.) may have talked Donald Trump out of bombing Colombia, squeezed out some Lindsey Graham dish from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D—Mich.), and exposed Ben Rhodes to some apparent self-contradictions he hadn’t yet thought through. We asked Megyn Kelly about Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, Lloyd Blankfein about the 2008-09 bailouts, Ana Kasparian about her infamous hand-rubbing gesture and “hatred” of Israel, and Preet Bharara about that time he had the federal government shut me up. While one always second-guesses one’s performances, as a whole, looking over every bold name mentioned above, je ne regrette rien.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t hear your 2026 complaints! Having not just solved but routed three of last year’s four main beefs, while addressing the fourth in such a way that produced truckloads of interesting new content, we nonetheless got all caddywhompus with the whole guesting mix. Our goal going forward—and concrete schedule, as sketched out through the end of next month—is to make sure we have one guestless episode each week, to rebalance the jackassery.

We like to experiment with shit, see? Including booking agencies. We convened one of our monthly Second Sunday subscriber meetings via YouTube livestream, which you absolutely hated, but that experiment allowed us to learn how to use that technology, which we employed to very fun effect on our 10^th anniversary episode, and will be doing much more often in the future. We ran our first podcast ad campaign, which many paying subscribers detested, but that impelled Substack to create a workaround excising the ad from paid feeds going forward. We experimented with a limited-run (and sadly discontinued!) sidebar historical series; brought the One-Hitter concept out of mothballs to spectacular effect, and are right now—again, in response to your feedback—mulling different ways to handle distribution when an interview subject of note turns out to be a bore.

In short, in addition to increasing the amount of content here (please do note that the 93 episodes of the past 8.5 months resoundingly eclipse the 72 that were produced the 9 months prior), we want to jack up the percentage of bangers. We will be openly imperfect along that path, but we will not be resting in any rut. In the last one of these May essays, I made this vow:

When we Pivot to Video, it will not be in coach. We eagerly look forward to the day when remote recording is mostly a bad memory, and all the bottles will be right out there on the table.

Fact-check: True, cubed. Our acting upon your mild disgruntlements of a year ago has helped lead us to all-time highs across every possible metric. This was made possible due to your patronage, for which we can’t ever express enough gratitude. Now what we’re asking you—whether the annual subscriber wavering on renewal, or the free subscriber pondering an upgrade—is to Trust the Process. We are working like bastards to improve, variegate, and vastly increase the scope of this originally weekly, originally moonlit boozefest, and that includes incorporating your feedback at every turn. If you must go, go in peace. But you’ll be missing out.

* Why was Kmele all sad on Thursday? Wasn’t just the smudged glasses; it was having to speak on national TV about all the terrible politics. Here’s a clip of all his words:

* Kmele also did his Tangle this stuff about the various kerf(l)uffles in Texas:

* For both of you who miss me hosting The Reason Roundtable, I did so this past Monday, with the great Mike Pesca (veteran of Episodes #343, #418, #467) sitting in. We talked about lessons from Iran, the anti-Spencer Pratt campaign, Project 2025 revisited, Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund, and the awesome NBA playoffs:

* Here’s a clip of me & my good buddy Preet talking more about Trump’s slushie:

* And here’s another from Members Only #324 with the beloved Josh Szeps (#25, #80, #103, #117, #196, #328, #423, #445, M.O. #231):

* Wanna see Josh’s new sizzle reel for Uncomfortable Conversations? Sure ya do!

* Re: the aforementioned NBA playoffs, here’s a New York Post article about that Brooklyn pizzeria in my neighborhood that became the best sidewalk for watching the Knicks. And yes, Moynihan was dead on about the visuals:

* Another NYC tip comes care of alert listener Oliver Mosier: Apparently there’s a proper dive bar downtown called Nancy’s Whiskey Pub, featuring this beaut on the wall. I’ll be patronizing next week:

* Commie-hater and two-time guest Scott Lincicome (#479 & #499) has one of those pieces in The Dispatch that will annoy the types of people who like to be annoyed, but may well be of use to some of y’all in your 20s: “How to Eat Well on the Cheap.” More bang for your buck!

* Time for Producer Jason’s Video Vault!

As noted when Josh Szeps stopped by, Australia has Asians. That fact is what drives most of the action in Romper Stomper, featuring a young Russell Crowe as the leader of a racist skinhead gang. It’s a compelling, unsettling, violent film that can’t have done much for Australian tourism. The film features a haunting original score by John Clifford White (with some cribbing of Morricone’s Giù la testa), and some really embarrassing fake racist skinhead songs (which really is a genre in its own right). Watch free (with ads) on Pluto; buy the BluRay; here’s the trailer:

* Comment of the Week comes from torontorunner:

Excellent interview -makes you realize how bad some other podcasts are in comparison! Two funny things: when Michael asked Ben if the Obamas have too much money and when Matt said ‘Michelle, not so much’ in relation to Ben’s comment that Obama was so positive about the country.

* Chat of the Week comes from kkmoresi:

Szeps Ep: 10/10 no notes❤️TYVM, a temporary stay of execution for my NFC status has been granted

Sendoff: What can you say about one of the greatest? Trick question, given my vast ignorance of jazz, and need to poke this Firehose out the window & let ‘er fly. RIP to the Saxophone Colossus, one of the few people to make me not resent that instrument in a rock song, deserved recipient of every accolade being tossed his way. Ladies and gentlemen, Sonny Rollins: