Michael Malice: Thanksgiving Pirate Special | Lex Fridman Podcast #402

In this freewheeling Thanksgiving 'pirate special,' Michael Malice and Lex Fridman cover an enormous range of topics with constant joking, including a recurring bit with Lex's parrot. Malice discusses why he finds dark humor and absurdity funny, his favorite comedians (Norm Macdonald, Neil Hamburger, Dave Smith), and what he's thankful for: family, friends, his writing career, art, and social media. They unbox a sculpture called 'Chance Murmur' that an artist made for Lex, leading to a passionate defense of contemporary art and small artisans. The conversation also dives into serious territory: the nature of human goodness versus tribalism, lessons of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, religion versus internet atheism, soft power versus military power, and Camus. It closes with Malice's hyper-detailed 67-soap wet-shaving system, advice on happiness, and reflections on loyalty, betrayal, depression, and seeing beauty in the world.

• Malice once kept a peacock mantis shrimp as a pet and still keeps a pair of its molted punching appendages.
  00:02:39
• Malice announces he is finally producing a 20-year-old screenplay about the band Rubber Rodeo as a graphic novel.
  00:30:47
• An artist named Jake Michael Singer made Lex a sculpture called 'Chance Murmur,' which they unbox on the show.
  00:48:30
• Malice owns an actual ancient Egyptian Ibis mummy, still in its bandages, overlooking his desk.
  01:13:46
• Malice reveals his 'autistic' wet-shaving system: a rotating cycle of 67 shaving soaps with 86 more candidates in queue.
  01:23:39
• Malice owns Margaret Thatcher's bookcases and considers them his personal symbol of having 'made it' as an immigrant.
  01:25:16

• Malice last visited North Korea in 2012, and notes the border has recently been electrified, stopping nearly all escapes.
  00:10:58
• Malice recounts a Norm Macdonald 'pumpkin head genie' joke he uses as a litmus test for sense of humor.
  00:13:05
• Malice helped give national attention to a Texas independence referendum bill after discussing it with the legislator and on Rogan.
  00:35:29
• Malice argues the Holocaust is singular in history and that comparing other events to it cheapens its lessons.
  00:42:16
• Malice's view: most people are 'fundamentally deranged with a veneer of civility' that breaks down under pressure.
  00:43:19
• Malice describes his 'ambassador program' theory for fighting bigotry: knowing a member of a group reduces prejudice against it.
  01:03:13
• Malice argues the world is closer to 'Brave New World' than '1984,' with soft power and culture mattering more than military force.
  01:09:02
• Malice collects trilobite fossils (about 15), which eBay lists as 'used.'
  01:15:19
• Malice names favorite shaving soap companies including Ion Skincare (formerly Grooming Department), Barrister and Mann, Chiseled Face, and Phoenix Shaving.
  01:26:54