Romance Out Loud

Of all the scary things this Halloween — food diarrhea, measles, a market crash, disappearances, Senator Tim Scott as Mushmouth, five-minute press secretaries and more — we ALSO have an election coming up! We're talking political horror, campaign fatigue, Lady G, questionable endorsements, serial killers, Halloween candy paranoia, and why the real monsters aren't wearing costumes. Plus, Mike wants nothing to do with trick-or-treaters, Chad is dressing as Smee, and Lee is ready to take souls to the polls.

Election anxiety? Check. Halloween anxiety? Check. Billionaires who think they own the world? Oh, honey, CHECK. This week, a political campaign drags a survivor's childhood trauma into the mud, the outrage machine promptly gets outraged about the outrage, and the billionaire class keeps demonstrating that obscene wealth and common sense apparently aren't a package deal. Meanwhile, politicians are glitching, crowds are mysteriously missing, gotcha questions are backfiring, and even some lifelong Republicans are looking at their own party and saying, "Yeah, I can't do this anymore." The bottom is somewhere down there. And the President might just be staring at it.

Beef is too expensive? Just pick another protein! Political campaigns are out here serving up AI-generated embarrassment, politicians keep stepping on rakes, and our phones may be planning our next vacation without asking permission. There's unnecessary celebrity outrage, subscription fatigue, and the usual cavalcade of political nonsense and cringe. This week needs a rewrite. And a new press secretary. Oh, OH! Come have a Rant with us. The circus is open, and the clowns are self-funding.

Michael Myers has a knife. The people running the country have "policy ideas" that somehow make them richer and you poorer. Honestly, which is more terrifying?

Some days, you just have to sit back and watch the rake hit the face. This week, political chaos meets spectacular incompetence, campaign panic, economic WTFery, and the growing realization that maybe checking the facts before unveiling the big gotcha is still a useful strategy. It's another Rant about the state of things, the people trying to run them, and what happens when the "gotcha" moment turns into a very public rake-stepping incident.

We're tired. The country is tired. And apparently even our voter rolls aren't safe from getting dragged into the chaos. So naturally, we spent an episode ranting about elections, presidential ego, the Electoral College, Dolly Parton, AI presidents and whether living on a cruise ship might actually be a better retirement plan than assisted living. Because when reality gets this ridiculous, sometimes all you can do is laugh, rant, and yell: HANDS OFF MY VOTER ROLLS!

The FBI is lowering hiring standards to allow anyone who's engaged in bestiality. Yep. You heard that right. But that's not the worst thing that's happened. The Kennedy Center can't have you-know-who's name on it so it must be torn down apparently. Speaking of petulance, an Epstein alumnus and pro football team owner has a hissy fit over comments so we're all forced to discuss Ed Sheeran vs. Macklemore vs. the world of "both sides"-ism. Psst: CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION REGULARLY because the biggest clowns in the biggest circus could whip up some dirty tricks for November!

It's one of those episodes where you start out remembering, reflecting and trying to make sense of the world and somehow end up wondering whether Fort Knox became Fort Knocked Off when we weren't looking. There's nostalgia, Halloween outrage, convention absurdity, a little existential dread, and the growing realization that maybe the biggest problem isn't that reality has gone off the rails but that nobody seems to know where the rails are anymore. Come have a Rant with us.

What happens when you look back at COVID and think, "Honestly, not that bad?" Remember when a president wearing a tan suit was considered a scandal? Yeah. We'd like those problems back, please. Meanwhile, Dallas is preparing for a presidential visit with enough security to guarantee it won't be reimbursed by the RNC for the cost. There's also a giant monument-sized ego project looming over the landscape in D.C., surveillance cameras watching more than anybody asked them to, and a growing concern that some of the progress we thought was permanent really isn't. So, basically: everything is fine. Except it really, really isn't.

After a week away, Chadrick, Lee and Producer Mike catch up on the latest political chaos, Texas shenanigans, Trump's upcoming Dallas convention, and the increasingly bizarre things happening when politicians realize their time in the spotlight might be running out. But then there's Dolly. As politicians scramble to claim Dolly Parton's legacy for themselves, the gang takes a closer look at the woman behind the legend and why Dolly's actual record of kindness, generosity, literacy, and letting people live their lives makes her a pretty terrible mascot for anyone trying to tell other people how to live. Plus Lake America, political grifting, Nashville airport naming rights, the future of the Democratic Party, and the question nobody seems willing to ask: Would Dolly approve? Probably not.

Chadrick, Lee and Producer Mike take a ride into the future of self-driving cars and immediately start wondering whether we're really ready to let the robot drive. Will self-driving cars make life safer for older people who don't want to give up their independence? Probably. Will they replace truck drivers, taxi drivers and Uber drivers? Almost certainly. Will someone eventually slur their destination, wake up 12 hours later and ask, "Why are we in Pennsylvania?" Absolutely. The gang gets into AI, disappearing jobs, liability, insurance, Elon Musk, drunk passengers, and the inevitable question of what people will call the Mile High Club when there's no driver to kick you out. Plus we play audio from live-TV bloopers that send everyone into hysterics. Lesson: Go find something that makes you laugh. Because we could all use more of that right now.

Trump has a new wig, and honestly... OH, HAIR NO! This week on Ranting Out Loud, Chadrick, Lee and Producer Mike start with the political distraction sitting on Trump's head before getting into Fauci pleading the Fifth, political retribution, the economy that's supposedly "the greatest ever," and why there always seems to be something shiny to distract us from the actual problems. Then we ask the question Republicans really don't want to hear: What happened to the Republican Party we used to argue with? From FDR and LBJ to today's Democratic socialists, Texas politics, and a new generation of politicians who aren't afraid of the S-word, the gang looks at whether today's supposedly radical ideas are actually... pretty damn familiar. Plus media outlets manufacturing political brawls, billionaires building bunkers, and the continuing realization that reality has apparently stopped trying to make sense.  

Broadway meets Beltway in this week's Ranting Out Loud. Chadrick, Lee, and Producer Mike turn Washington into one big casting call, deciding which politicians belong in Wicked, Kinky Boots, The Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, and, of course... My Fair Lady G. Along the way, they tackle the latest political closet gossip, speculate about Mitch McConnell's future, and ask an important question: if Ohio's Bernie Moreno ever starred in a movie, would it be Weekend at Bernie's? And if Kentucky's senior senator landed the role... well... that title suddenly makes even more sense. Throw in Lee's mysteriously disappearing microphone, Producer Mike trying to keep the train on the tracks, and enough political absurdity to fill a Broadway season, and you've got another episode where reality still outperforms satire.

Is Washington D.C. hiding the world's worst-kept secret? This week on Ranting Out Loud, Chadrick and Producer Mike dive into Hunter Biden's eyebrow-raising interview with Don Lemon, where talk of a "gay mafia" of closeted politicians has everyone asking the question nobody in Congress wants to answer. From closeted power players and political blackmail to the obsession with "manliness," testosterone, and the manosphere, the guys wonder if the loudest anti-LGBTQ voices are hiding in the biggest gold-leafed closets with an arched entry. Then it's on to POTUS's latest international cringe, getting boo'd, jinxing another team, and properly getting cropped out of World Cup celebration photos. The Tate brothers are in legal trouble again and this time they might not be saved by the administration like last time. We get to the bottom of who's on top of the world of crazy. Don't fight it, join it!

"He had explosive diarrhea coming out of his Whatever." This week on Ranting Out Loud, Chadrick, Lee and Producer Mike try to make sense of a week where death becomes her, as in Senator "Lady G" Graham, and the scramble to metaphorically (or literally) delete his browsing history. Also, Mitch McConnell is all dressed up but still in a hospital bed, is he really back from the dead? Why is the FBI raiding Lindsey Graham's closet? And most of the networks finally decided they'd had enough of another presidential speech full of crap, but why now?  The gang dives into Texas politics, the 2028 presidential bench, why younger voters may finally be taking the wheel, and what happens when reality becomes impossible to parody.

Turns out Freedom 250 didn't just flop; it kept getting worse. Lee is back with Chadrick and Producer Mike to sift through the wreckage of America's birthday party, where empty crowds, rain delays, and Fox News' search for "the massive audience" became comedy gold. Then it's on to Mitch McConnell conspiracy theories, Ken Paxton's latest drama, Democrats eating their own before the midterms, and why the next generation may finally be ready to take the keys away from the political nursing home. To end on a lighter note, the guys ask a fun question: If you could travel back to 1996, what would surprise your younger LGBTQ self most about 2026? Marriage equality? Pete Buttigieg? RuPaul's Drag Race becoming mainstream? The answers might surprise you.

What could possibly go wrong? Turns out... pretty much everything. This week on Ranting Out Loud, Chadrick and Producer Mike watch the Freedom 250 celebration fall apart faster than a Trump business venture. Actually, it IS one and he stole your money to do it. Allegedly. We're talking collapsing stages, empty crowds, Fox News desperately searching for somebody—anybody—to put behind their cameras, and POTUS apparently workshopping policy ideas with Theodore Roosevelt's ghost. Somewhere between the world's saddest patriotic festival and the most expensive political vanity project ever built, we also dive into Taylor Swift's reported wedding, Dolly Parton's literacy charity, democratic socialism, and why reality has officially become impossible to parody. If you've ever wondered whether America is living inside an episode of Veep written by the producers of Tiger King, your are.

It's straight into Father's Day as Lee, Chadrick, and Producer Mike rank TV's best (and worst) dads—from Phil Dunphy and Ward Cleaver to Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Talking about dads, the biggest dad joke is in the White House as his pet passion projects peel away in failure like the skin on his hands ... and the "patriot blue" paint under the reflecting pool. Of course, no episode would be complete without a detour into Texas politics, where everyone's favorite absentee-and-going-to-Cancún-during-his-home-state's-ice-emergency dad and runner up for "Fat Wolverine", Ted Cruz, is busy questioning what makes a "real man" ... and James Talarico is busy handing him a master class in how to respond.  

What happens when you mix Pride Month, Taylor Swift, Trump getting booed at Madison Square Garden, billionaire space races, hockey grievances, and World Cup predictions? You get another completely normal episode of Ranting Out Loud. We go head first into the reflecting pool of politics, sports, the power of Swifties, why billionaires keep getting richer while everyone else gets squeezed, and whether Mexico might just shock the world. Enjoy your Beer-Ritas, basketball comebacks,  and as far as the folks at the White House, they can all UFC themselves!

Happy Pride Month!