The Middlebrow Multiverse

Episode 10: Middlebrow Icons - Academy Awards Shark Tank 2001-2010

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.

Episode 9: Middlebrow Culture Warrior - Accidental takedown of Left Coast America.

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. 

Episode 8: Middlebrow Mailbag - Eric, Sam, Fiona, & Kate

Our heroes dig deep into the mailbag and answer questions about Pete's fancy car, an illicit fireworks show, the numbing sameness and mediocrity of modern life, the illusive concept that is middlebrow, and elite travel status. Ka-chow!

Episode 7: Middlebrow Culture Warrior - Good on you, Canada.

The fellas discuss peoples' secret beliefs then dive into the news to cover Canada's superpig problem, the return of the secession fantasy, and Harvard's dark web body snatching scandal. 

Episode 6: Middlebrow Icons - Pulitzer Squid Game Round 1

The lads begin their spirited inquest into prize-winning middlebrow culture by sending three of these four Pulitzer Winners for Fiction to a grisly and untimely end: The Shipping News, The Road, American Pastoral, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Only one will survive to advance to the next round.

Episode 5: Middlebrow Culture Warrior - Our nation's moral decline encapsulated in statistics, and other fun stories.

Danny misses a primo opportunity to do something whimsical and instead fumbles up some rather alarming statistics, setting the tone for a darker-than-usual episode. Then the fellas read you the news, including Boeing's problems, the self-taught savant that is decimating the pro bowling circuit, and the sad practical death of cryptids and UFOs. Finally, why is Joe Biden so unpopular, and what could be better than Balloon Boy?

Episode 4: Middlebrow Navel Gazer - We recklessly ponder existential dread without even providing citations.

In the first installment of this intentionally myopic series, Pete shares the various forms of moral anxiety that accompanied his finger injury, the guys divulge what numbers they track most obsessively, and Pete offers a refreshing tonic to Dad bod shame.

Episode 3: Middlebrow Zeitgeist Monitor - Where are the cable oligopolies of yesteryear?

The fellas peer at the zeitgeist and assess Taylor Swift as Time Magazine's Person of the Year, the utter chaos that has replaced cable tv, the devolution of tipping culture, and how often we think about the Roman Empire.

Episode 2: Middlebrow Culture Warrior - You can't take a horse to the dump!

The gents are back with a Top 3 and some Fuck 'ems (and some "Cheers"), providing hot takes on dopamine, the two remaining categories of popular music, the divine nature of citrus libations, the disposal of equine remains, the leaping over of lecterns, and more.

Episode 1: Middlebrow Culture Warrior - The Hanging Gardens get hit with a Daisy Cutter cluster bomb.

In the inaugural outing for the Middlebrow Culture Warrior, the boys discuss Jeeves & Wooster, the highly specific nature of Japanese culture, the latest breakthroughs in group text thread foreign policy, how the Metric System has failed Europe, and more. And we round it out with some "Fuck 'ems."