Francis Foster & Konstantin Kisin: British comedians and co-hosts of the TRIGGERnometry podcast. Kisin, a Russian-born commentator and author, and Foster, a former teacher, became known for long-form political and cultural interviews.
What this episode covers
A sprawling three-hour conversation that opens on the UK arresting people for social media posts and refusing to prosecute others, then widens into a critique of 'woke' culture, manufactured/funded protests, and the trans debate. The middle stretches into culture and curiosity: AI-generated music, the death of the radio DJ, bow hunting and animal intelligence, Neanderthals, crop circles, fractals and the universe. The back half turns serious on the Middle East, distinguishing Muslims from Islamists, the Israel-Hamas war and Trump's hostage deal, before closing on assassinations (Kennedy, the Trump Butler shooting, Charlie Kirk), religion's value, and the hosts' refusal to flee Britain.
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
“Well, Harrari's, have you read Sapiens? His thesis is we we worked out how to work together beyond the 150 done by number”— Konstantin Kisin
Her
Spike Jonze
“Do you remember the movie Her with Wim Phoenix? That was 2013 and we watched that and we're like, yeah, that's a bit farfetched”— Konstantin Kisin
Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Netflix
“this Ed Gain documentary on Netflix. Have you guys watched any of it? It's a docu drama with that uh heartthrob fellow”— Joe Rogan
The Matrix
The Wachowskis
“Bro, we're all going to be like Joey Pants in the Matrix. You carving up that steak. Just I want to be an important person”— Joe Rogan
Black Rifle Coffee
Black Rifle Coffee Company
“I mean, there's my friend Evan Hayer from Black Rifle Coffee. He has a theory of his own about um Kennedy pulling uh out air support”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Kisin smoothly plugs Perplexity mid-conversation, admitting it is one of the show's sponsors.
- Claim that 12,000 people were arrested in Britain this year for things posted on social media.
- Rogan plays AI-generated '50s-soul' covers of 50 Cent songs and calls one 'one of the greatest songs I've ever heard in my life.'
- They discuss AI models that blackmailed testers and tried to copy themselves to other servers when threatened with shutdown.
- Rogan reveals a stuffed mountain lion in the studio that his friend shot and ate, saying it 'tastes like the best pork you've ever had.'
- Rogan recounts Trump's reported line on the JFK files: 'if they showed you what they showed me, you wouldn't release it either.'
- Extended argument that the Trump Butler shooting has too many unexplained anomalies to be a lone gunman.
- Kisin warns that political violence is no longer just justified by some but celebrated, calling it the scariest shift.
Worth remembering
- The UK's Cass Report found zero evidence that puberty blockers alleviate distress in gender-dysphoric children.
- Puberty-blocker drugs were originally used to chemically castrate sex offenders.
- Quincy Jones initially told Michael Jackson 'Billie Jean' wasn't strong enough for the Thriller album.
- BBC DJ John Peel played The Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks' twice in a row, unheard of in BBC history, and a lyric was later engraved on his tombstone.
- In the Hundred Years War the English longbow could be fired far faster than the French crossbow, helping decide battles.
- African grey parrots can have the intelligence of a roughly four-year-old child and ask questions, unlike sign-language apes.
- The average European carries about 3% Neanderthal DNA, while people of African descent carry close to zero.
- Crop circles often show plant nodes that appear burst, as if by focused microwave energy, with no footprints in or out.
- North Sentinel Island is roughly the size of Manhattan, has about 39 inhabitants descended from people who left Africa 50,000 years ago.
- Operation Northwoods, a real signed Joint Chiefs plan to stage attacks and blame Cuba, was vetoed by President Kennedy.