S17.E14: Jay Inslee, Moby, Kara Swisher, Bret Stephens, and Bakari Sellers

[Guest]

Airs May 3, 2019

Guests:

Quote

Jay Inslee, Moby, Kara Swisher, Bret Stephens, and Bakari Sellers

[Paws]

Finally a really good show! ASMR is decidedly not for me but the bit was hilarious

[Milburn Stone]

5 minutes ago, Paws said:

Finally a really good show! ASMR is decidedly not for me but the bit was hilarious

I'm going to look into it! 🤔

[Caseysgirl]

Great show tonight - everyone on the panel made good points, didn’t talk over one another and seemed to get along well and Moby is not at all what I thought he would be like; very self deprecating and hilarious! This is the what I watch Real Time for.

[Robert Lynch]

I can't stand ASMR. But anything has to better than listening to Trump's voice. It's nails on a chalkboard.

[Milburn Stone]

45 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

I can't stand ASMR. But anything has to better than listening to Trump's voice. It's nails on a chalkboard.

Whether or not I look into ASMR (and I seriously have half a mind to), Bill's end monologues have been on a tear lately. Just when you think you've seen the best one ever, the next week's is even better. This one was so fresh and inventive, it may be a highlight not just of the show's history, but of television history!

[GoldenGirl90]

“Yesterday I wandered into a dispensary and said, give me the strongest indica you have and the guy said, sir this is a Baskins Robins.”

Lol! Good show tonight. I also agree that the ASMR bit was hilarious. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve used ASMR to help me fall asleep a time or two. Ugh. 🤦🏽‍♀️😂 

[sugarbaker design]

I had no idea ASMR was a real thing until I came to this thread, I was entirety convinced it was a trend concocted by Bill and his merry band of producers.

[angelamh66]

ASMR annoys me to no end but that bit was hilarious. Moby’s participation was there icing on the cake. So good. I also liked the end. When Bill originally said he felt owned I was thinking some Fox News jag off was going to have a field day with that. So I’m glad he rectified that. Not that it will stop said Fox News jag offs from using the earlier clip. 

[arachne]

Anyone else notice how very uneasy Bill was getting when Moby talked about his past rock-star excesses? Bill kept laughing it off or dropping the subject.

And ITA about that final New Rule. For once, Bill's guest was a help and not a hindrance in that segment. It was clever, funny and kinda sad all at once. 

[iMonrey]

I also thought the opening monologue was pretty funny and enjoyed the joke about Bill Barr being so far up Trump's ass he bumped into Hannity.

And I agree with Bill about Oprah. The election would be a slam-dunk. It's too bad we can't recruit her.

I really did not understand what Bret Stephens was trying to say about Bernie Sanders, or why he thinks Mayor Pete should  be the nominee. Both options seem equally risky to me and I wasn't following his logic, if there was any. 

Best bit about the ASMR New Rule was Moby rubbing the Trump doll on his crotch and Kara Swisher filming it with her phone.

I like Jay Inslee well enough but he's just another name in a very crowded field. 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

GREAT show!  Hilarious and actually made me laugh out loud and I live alone, scared the shit out of me!  LOL. Loved the panel’s laughter too, Sellers on Stephens shoulder and the two of them buckled over in laughter, the lady (forget her name) taking pics!  The looks between Bill and Mobe were hilarious on their own as they beautifully led us through the skit...great show!

Edited May 4, 2019 by Foghorn Leghorn

[meowmommy]

I've never heard of either Moby or Bakari Sellers, but I noticed that when Moby was introduced and came out, while the other two guests applauded, Bakari Sellers put his head down and studiously stared at his hands.  What could that mean, or am I reading too much into it?

I don't enjoy dick stories or dick jokes.  Bill loves them.  So of course we had to hear the knob touch story.

28 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

It's funny, because I hate ASMR as well.

I knew nothing about it, but I hate it already.  New age for the new millennium.

[atlantaloves]

Okay gang I've got some ASMR for you, go to youtube and you will find all kinds of dogs eating yummy things into a mike, crunch crunch, it is wonderful. My favorite dog is Tucker the Golden Retriever. Trust me on this one.  All of it is silly, but anything that has a dog eating something crunchy is okay with me. 

Great Show last night. Bill and Moby killed it.🐳

[Robert Lynch]

18 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

I've never heard of either Moby or Bakari Sellers, but I noticed that when Moby was introduced and came out, while the other two guests applauded, Bakari Sellers put his head down and studiously stared at his hands.  What could that mean, or am I reading too much into it?

I don't enjoy dick stories or dick jokes.  Bill loves them.  So of course we had to hear the knob touch story.

I knew nothing about it, but I hate it already.  New age for the new millennium.

Moby had a hit song from the late 90s called Natural Blues and there was a video featuring Fairuza Balk and Christina Ricci for that song. He also had another hit song called We're All Made of Stars. Useless alternative information.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[wknt3]

26 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Moby had a hit song from the late 90s called Natural Blues and there was a video featuring Fairuza Balk and Christina Ricci for that song. He also had another hit song called We're All Made of Stars. Useless alternative information.

I think most of Bill's audience is old enough to remember the omnipresence of We Are All Made of Stars. Especially given how much time Bill spends pulling the cranky old man act these days bashing college kids and millennials. A good way to think of Moby for those viewers who aren't familiar with him is that he is to techno/EDM what Bill is to topical comedy - a big star in the 90's who was influential on what came later and it's rise to mainstream dominance, but has been largely surpassed by those who came after him and spends a lot of time these days pontificating and trying to stay relevant.

[meowmommy]

22 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Moby had a hit song from the late 90s called Natural Blues and there was a video featuring Fairuza Balk and Christina Ricci for that song. He also had another hit song called We're All Made of Stars. Useless alternative information.

Well, I know who Christina Ricci is...the rest, not so much.  

7 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

I think most of Bill's audience is old enough to remember the omnipresence of We Are All Made of Stars.

I'm close to Bill's age, have not lived in a cave, and I have no idea what that is.

[Robert Lynch]

1 hour ago, SweetTooth said:

Moby also did a song called "Southside" with Gwen Stefani.

I have all kinds of useless information rolling around in my head instead of the math I needed to learn.

Moby & Gwen Stefani-Southside

That's the one I was thinking, too. It's weird seeing Moby with a beard, though. I was use to him  being clean cut then. 

[Lifesabeach]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I've never heard of either Moby or Bakari Sellers, but I noticed that when Moby was introduced and came out, while the other two guests applauded, Bakari Sellers put his head down and studiously stared at his hands.  What could that mean, or am I reading too Much

I noticed the same thing and it made me feel uncomfortable for Moby.  And it took a long time until they showed Sellers again.  I thought something was up.  

Re: asmr, I wasn’t aware of it but this is my only social media stop.  But there is a commercial where the husband is eating waffles and he takes it into the bedroom and whispers ‘Karen Karen you gotta try this’ and puts a bite in her mouth.  I often fall asleep with the tv on (I live alone too) and when that comes on while I am dozing it scares the hell out of me as my name is Karen and for a second I think someone is in my room.  👻

[UYI]

OMG, that ASMR bit was INSPIRED. It's not something I do much--I'm more of a meditate/practice my breathing before bed kind of woman--but there some VERY relaxing videos of it out there.

"...You're in a feud with Meghan McCain?" Anyone who watches The View had to appreciate that. (For those who don't: He was a guest there recently, and Meghan tried to ask him a "gotcha" question, and he smoothly handed her her ass. LMAO.)

As a country music fan who actually is a liberal Democrat, the crack Moby made about them not getting involved with politics bothered me a bit--the political history of country stars, if you look up those who have endorsed/campaigned for candidates, is a LOT more complicated and varied than one might think if all they know is what happened to the Dixie Chicks (not that I blame them for that assumption, given how despicable the treatment they got from their genre's establishment in 2003)--for one thing, there has been at least one article recently about how many people in the industry--behind the scenes or not--are actually Democrats (and given the political demographics of Nashville/Davidson County it should be considered an inevitability that some of them work in country music), but almost none of them gave their real names in the article, out of the (very real) fear of some sort of backlash.

But that's just me, probably. 🙂 

Edited May 4, 2019 by UYI

[Marci]

I haven’t laughed watching Bill Maher since Obama was President, and he nailed the Fox News “bubble” of unreality so on the head. 

But, that ASMR bit was hysterical. Every look on his face, every  delivery of the lines... the whole bit had me laughing, really laughing, like I haven’t since Trump got elected.

Kudos to everyone that had anything to do with that bit.

And Bill, if you’re listening....Oprah wouldn’t win. She wouldn’t get the swing voters - those who don’t always vote their party line.  Those voters didn’t want to vote for Trump, they just couldn’t stand the alternative. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

5 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Well, I know who Christina Ricci is...the rest, not so much.  

Fairuza Balk was Bobby Boucher's felonious girlfriend in the Adam Sandler movie 'The Waterboy'.  She was also in the movie 'The Craft'. 

5 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

Moby also did a song called "Southside" with Gwen Stefani.

I have all kinds of useless information rolling around in my head instead of the math I needed to learn.

Moby & Gwen Stefani-Southside

Music sidebar:

Southside was really good, but I was also a fan of 'Porcelain' off the Play album -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWlBfo5Oj0
And his 'Extreme Ways' song was used in the Jason Bourne series of movies -- you may recognize the song, but you probably just didn't know it was Moby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBB2bPwKWVg

End Music sidebar:

The ASMR sketch was really funny, and Moby's deadpan contributions were awesome.

The one sentence I thought I would never hear on this show (or any other show, for that matter) -- "stir wet ramen with a dildo"

[UYI]

57 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

The one sentence I thought I would never hear on this show (or any other show, for that matter) -- "stir wet ramen with a dildo"

Bret and Bakari were GONE once he said that. My favorite part of it all, right there. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by UYI

[ganesh]

12 hours ago, UYI said:

Bret and Bakari were GONE once he said that. My favorite part of it all, right there. 

They both totally lost their shit. It was an excellent cut to them when Moby kind of raised up the dildo to show everyone. 

I had no clue what that superbowl commercial was about, so I'm glad to have it explained. I wasn't really into the bit until they panned out and showed Moby in on it and I really had a great laugh. TBH, the ASMR clips Bill showed really made my skin crawl. The noises were really annoying. 

I really liked the woman. Especially when they called Zuckerberg a 'kid' and she said, 'he's in his 30s, married, and has 2 kids.' I think he gets let off the hook because of his youthful appearance and dressing like shit, and I'm glad she called them on it. 

[UYI]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

I had no clue what that superbowl commercial was about, so I'm glad to have it explained. I wasn't really into the bit until they panned out and showed Moby in on it and I really had a great laugh. TBH, the ASMR clips Bill showed really made my skin crawl. The noises were really annoying. 

He did not show it in its best light, for the most part, with those clips. Some, but not all.

There's a therapist named Kati Morton on YouTube, who uses her channel as a way to answer questions about therapy/issues that people go to therapy to discuss, and she's done a few ASMR videos herself that IMO are quite good.

[ganesh]

I wanted to follow up on Moby - "Play" was (and is) considered a masterpiece of the genre. It wasn't just that he's had a couple of songs. Plus, like others have said, he's done a ton of other things. Bill only mentioned that it was the 20 year anniversary of the record, but it was a big deal when it came out. 

I have to give Bill some credit for asking the WA governor about nuclear. I've been to the power plants in eastern WA. They're cranking out power. WA actually has a good portfolio of nuclear, hydro, wind, and solar. But, when you have extreme weather events, you can't rely on renewables. 

I agree we need to invest more in R&D for advanced nuclear technologies, but saying 'make them safer' just isn't entirely fair, and I think it sends the wrong message. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by ganesh

[b2H]

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

They both totally lost their shit. It was an excellent cut to them when Moby kind of raised up the dildo to show everyone. 

I had no clue what that superbowl commercial was about, so I'm glad to have it explained. I wasn't really into the bit until they panned out and showed Moby in on it and I really had a great laugh. TBH, the ASMR clips Bill showed really made my skin crawl. The noises were really annoying. 

I really liked the woman. Especially when they called Zuckerberg a 'kid' and she said, 'he's in his 30s, married, and has 2 kids.' I think he gets let off the hook because of his youthful appearance and dressing like shit, and I'm glad she called them on it. 

This is Kara's bailiwick - her Recode newsletter probably has at least four stories a week about FB, so she knows whereof she speaks.  The last time she was on, which was just a couple of months ago, she impressed me so much I started a subscription to her newsletter.  His modus operandi is that of just a college kid with an idea, but that was about 10 years ago.  That stuff needs to stop.

[ganesh]

9 hours ago, UYI said:

There's a therapist named Kati Morton on YouTube, who uses her channel as a way to answer questions about therapy/issues that people go to therapy to discuss, and she's done a few ASMR videos herself that IMO are quite good.

This made my dog growl. 

[UYI]

25 minutes ago, ganesh said:

This made my dog growl. 

I'm assuming that's bad, so my apologies. LOL. 😄 

[ganesh]

9 hours ago, UYI said:

There's a therapist named Kati Morton on YouTube, who uses her channel as a way to answer questions about therapy/issues that people go to therapy to discuss, and she's done a few ASM 

You're fine. I played someone raking sand and she totally conked out. 

[Milburn Stone]

18 hours ago, UYI said:

There's a therapist named Kati Morton on YouTube, who uses her channel as a way to answer questions about therapy/issues that people go to therapy to discuss, and she's done a few ASMR videos herself that IMO are quite good.

Thank you, @UYI. Would it be wrong to ask the thread for for other ASMR video recommendations?

[Guest]

Please use the Real Time Small Talk thread for future discussion of all things ASMR.

[Iguana]

Good show, as it was nice to have reasonably coherent panelists speaking without shouting over each other.  But New Rules, well, ruled.  My only previous contact with ASMR has been very limited, but I knew enough to know it annoyed me.  When Bill started in on it, I was like, nope, and ready to stop my recording.  But then the camera pulled out to show Moby doing the various weird (supposedly soothing) sounds, and I started giggling.  Lost it further when they showed the two male panelists losing it too, and then the dildo stirring ramen came, and I was laughing so hard the cats still are hiding somewhere.   

[Tachi Rocinante]

Moby is overrated (can't sing, play, or DJ) but the "dildo in the ramen" bit was fucking priceless.