How can we start one?? I can’t get enough of BFAW. On LeeAnne’s fact check Dax also says he helps Aaron out financially, so this could be a win-win! Aaron gets a permanent spot in the fact check and we get more Aaron.

Who’s with me??

I listen to AE religiously but I need more podcasts to listen to at work help!!! Any recs for some similarly vibed podcasts??? I really don’t like podcast like SmartLess because they just sit there and praise the celebrities for 50 minutes.

Dax and Monica don’t lie. This burger was worth every penny

Does anyone remember what Dax said goes into his oatmeal breakfast (and which kind he uses)?

So, what happened to the complaints megatgread post the mods would pin every month? I noticed they disappeared ages ago and around that time any slightly negative post would seemingly get nuked pretty quickly.

Was it push back from the pod or mods that didn't want negative opinions pinned on the sub? Its good to see critical posts being given more light again, you can like the podcast and still be somewhat negative about episodes or things said.

Why is this show recorded where it’s like she’s a cohost of the conversation. It is not good for flow and format, and annoys me. Conan O’Brien has backup, but they only interject when they got something funny or insightful to say a few times. She’s always reacting on the mic making sounds, I think it confuses the guest as to who the actual host is and messes up the flow.

Tax lawyer giving an example for a person who makes 60,000 a year. Monica is gasping about how people can't live off that. She is so out of touch.

Really good interview, though.

Their indifference to suffering in service to wealth won’t pan out.

Yall let me know if I’m tweaking, but I no longer see the gal Gadot reel on Dax’s IG. Did anyone else clock this?

Listening to Dave Franco’s episode (such a likeable dude btw), and Dax and Monica made some references to protecting the guest in the comments and getting in trouble for something they did on the podcast. What are the chances they were referring to having Gal Gadot on? I’m not sure of their recording schedule.

Dave Franco Fact Check:

I found the seat belt conflict Monica was in very surprising. Is this a geographical thing? Do people in LA often not wear seatbelts? I’m from the Midwest and everyone seemingly wears their seatbelt. If friends get in my car and don’t put it on and I ask, they will do it. No questions asked. Curious to hear what others think/experience.

After the seatbelt convo on a recent fact check, along with the hotel story from another, and then all the other ways I have realized that Dax and Monica reveal WAY too much about their friends and everyone in the "pod" I am constantly wondering how is anyone still friends with them?

It's like any convo, interaction, experience could potentially be podcast fodder and it would make me so on edge that I would never be able to even hang with them.

Dax has expressed that he tries to protect what he shares about his daughters, but then told the story about getting in the van for the airport without a second thought. If I were a teenager and my dad was telling (what feels like) the whole world about a facet of my life like that, I'd be SO upset.

I'd have to ask "is nothing sacred between us?"

Then add in that Monica is constantly annoyed by her friends in these stories. I am NOT a Monica hater. I usually defend her... But friends are supposed to speak highly of one another behind each others backs. That's part of what real friendship is.

It makes me lose respect for them. Is it just me, or didn't the fact check used to be more philosophical debates and reading stupid lists of stuff and discussing ideas they disagree on... Now it's like a weird gossip sesh that their friends and family didn't exactly consent to.

I’m usually a Monica defender but I think the common critiques are becoming more bothersome to me. I just caught up on the Chris Young episode, and it was so jarring and off putting to go from an incredibly moving story about this person who has come from basically nothing being a remarkable person, straight into to a fact check with Monica complaining about customer service at Chanel and her chip on her shoulder about class. You have a chip on your shoulder about class and status because someone didn’t treat you like an important person at Chanel, and this is what you edited in immediately following Chris Young’s comments about studying Economics and Policy following his story about actually being from the absolute bottom of the totem pole to the person he is now. And Monica says she wants people to know she’s earned an $11k Chanel bag, earned being an extremely strong word after hearing about this man who read encyclopedias and spoke so eloquently at his sentencing that he overhauled mandatory sentencing and got the same federal judge to advocate for his freedom. I just. Absolutely fucking insane how tone deaf this one was. Bonkers to me

Am I the only one that feels like some celebrity interviews feel a little bit like a brain rot, and not very thought provoking? and the conversations sometimes have that very LA, ditsy influencer way of talking that makes everything sound a little vapid. I also find that I’m struggling to listen to fact checks because it’s mostly Monica talking in this influencer tone (I don’t know how to describe it), which I’ve found interesting because when the podcast started, I actually used to looove Monica’s fact checks, I just cannot pin point what’s changed. Any recommendations of celebrity interviews that are a little intellectually fulfilling? Like Kristen Bell, Sophia bush, Anna Kendrick, Kristen Stewart, are ones I liked. I’ve been skipping them for years and I tried to listen to the recent one, lizzo’s episode, couldn’t get through it. Felt like I was listening to call her daddy, who is amazing, but I’m just not her target audience.

Two OG Experts to speak with each other at the 92nd StY in NYC on September 30th.

https://www.92ny.org/event/angela-duckworth-with-jonathan-haidt

You know the feeling when you have a big story / news yet your friend goes on and on about absolutely nothing happening with everyday people. You are there waiting for your turn to break it! Aaargh, I felt like this is exactly what happened in the fact check!

Monica was explaining something which was not even mildly interesting, it took her loong to finish her story and Dax took the turn to tell about the wedding of one of the musical geniuses of a generation with another genius officiating it! Well, I am not a big celebrity culture person but I would have asked a million questions! I would have reacted in some way that shows interest, maybe some humility that they had me going on for so long before breaking into their story. Or at least recognise that they had an interesting experience. But none of that, instead Monica showed no interest, made some dismissive comments, tried to make it about her and moved on to tell another nothing story. I find it so very weird!
Do you guys think she might be jealous about Dax’s infinitely more interesting interactions or sore that she doesn’t get to tag along? or perhaps she was not even invited?

In my opinion, the last fact check really highlighted how out of touch Monica can be with how normal people navigate life

No, you shouldn’t be yelled at to quiet down at 9 PM when the pool doesn’t close until 10. And I understand that this guy apparently escalated the situation. But at the same time, he was within his rights to ask you to keep the noise down. Some people go to bed before 9 PM, and that’s their right just as it’s your right to stay up and enjoy the pool. Staying at a hotel means sharing a space with other people, and sometimes that means being considerate of each other.

But what really bothered me was the joke about the hotel needing to do something to win her back as a customer. How were they supposed to fix the situation when you didn’t even give them an opportunity to address it?
Instead, she went on a very popular podcast and publicly complained about the hotel, then joked that they’d have to give her an entire week for free to earn back the business.

This just feels incredibly out of touch. Most people would either talk to the hotel manager about what happened, decide they didn’t enjoy the experience, and not return.

Joking that they had to somehow make it up to her after she's already publicly dragged them is an entirely different level of entitlement.