Check Your Brain

In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur goes through the archives of how pop songs are intended to sound timeless, as they are mainly used to sell products. He also explores why, in the Napster/LimeWire universe, artists may be purposely putting out mediocre crap because they know they will barely see a dime in royalties.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Laura Stack is a mother, activist, and Founder & CEO of Johnny's Ambassadors. Her son, Johnny, committed suicide at just 19 years young after becoming psychotic from high doses of THC. Laura joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about her son, who was not psychotic before the THC, nor did her family have a history of psychosis; in fact, Johnny was an athlete and a 4.0 student. She also discussed how this isn't our grandparents' marijuana, and how dangerous it is for the teenage and young adult brains.   For more information on Laura, Johnny, and her advocacy, visit JohnnysAmbassadors.org.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

After 41 years (and 20 in its current location), Tony Mazur's home comedy club, the Funny Stop, is no more. In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony looks back at his time there, why it meant so much to him, and why it closing isn't anything like other businesses that have closed up shop.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Ryan Hoppe is a radio personality, originally from Chicago, now living in Tampa, Florida, with a brief stop in Cleveland, Ohio. He made a return appearance on the Check Your Brain podcast with Tony Mazur, this time inside a Tampa shopping mall, to talk about the ever-changing medium that is radio, where both gentlemen began their careers. They talked about the viability of radio in 2026, shared old "war" stories, and the legacy (or lack thereof) that long-time radio hosts will leave behind.   Ryan hosts his own show, Hoppe Hour, which can be heard on all the major platforms, as well as RyanHoppeRadio.com.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Zak Ford is a lifelong baseball fan from the Bay Area, specifically the human interest side of the game. That is why he is the author of the book Called Up, which chronicles 109 different players' stories of getting the call up to the big leagues. He has another book coming out in 2026 about the final moments of players' careers. He discussed both books with Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur, as well as how much the game has changed compared to the childhoods of the athletes he interviewed.   Zak's books are available to purchase on Amazon. Here is the link for the 2023 book: https://www.amazon.com/Called-Up-Ballplayers-Remember-Becoming/dp/1476692793   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Adam Nutter is a former NYPD officer who later became a comedian and a podcaster. He once again joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to discuss a variety of current events, while giving them some background and perspective. Adam and Tony shared their thoughts on the Iran War and the Zionist propaganda network headed up by Mark Levin, Laura Loomer, and Ben Shapiro. They also touched on the historical and biblical tenants of modern day Judaism and Christian Zionism, who opened the doors for mass migration, and trying to get through to the normies about "The Epstein Class."   Adam is part of the 5 Til Midnight show. Check them out on your favorite streaming platform, and sign up to their Patreon for additional content. patreon.com/c/5TilMidnight   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Six years ago on March 11th, 2020, the New Normal kicked off. The world we knew on, say, March 10th no longer existed. The way the politicians and pundits flood the public with war propaganda (as seen with the recent Iran strikes), the same tactics were used during the Covid years. Instead of a Middle Easterner, the enemy we needed to fight was a spooky, invisible virus.   In this annual episode, Tony Mazur takes a look back at the insanity that was 2020, as well as 2021 when the vaccine mandates and subsequent intimidation and coercion techniques were unleashed. Has there been "hell to pay," as Rand Paul suggested with accountability towards Dr. Anthony Fauci? Nope. Even though Fauci, Bill Gates, and even Jeffrey Epstein were hip to plans surrounding a potential pandemic. Mothers lost their babies in Pfizer trials. Athletes lost out on the big leagues and big money due to vaccine injury. And here in March 2026, no one has or will be held accountable. If anything, people will be miffed at Tony for still discussing Covid after all these years.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Here is a bonus episode of the Check Your Brain podcast with Tony Mazur.   Six months ago today, we lost Charlie Kirk to the biggest political assassination in most of our lifetimes. What has improved since then? Have goods and services become more affordable? Has the Trump administration continued their outreach to the young people? Has the American Dream returned to sight? The answer to all is no, nada. Since Charlie's death, the messaging on the right is all over the place, their support of Israel has become psychotic, and we're now in another Middle Eastern regime change war.    Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

After spending half of this Check Your Brain episode talking about the DabbleVerse and Stuttering John Melendez, Tony Mazur reads a New York Times opinion piece on why the Epstein files should have never been released. Tony disagrees, believing everything should be released, but it's true that a story like this may be too layered and nuanced for the average person to grasp. If their takeaway is "yeah, but Trump is in the files," they're not a serious person. They're a partisan who roots for one team over another.

For decades, families gathered in their big ol' vehicles and enjoyed a nice night out at a chain restaurant. The purpose of these chains is, no matter where you're located, you'll have generally the same food and experience at a reasonable price. However, by the 2010s, chain restaurants became pariahs, and many have either filed for Chapter 11 or have closed up shop completely. Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur talks about the death of the chain restaurant, how it wasn't just Millennials and their avocado toast that killed them, and how these closures represent an erosion of the Middle Class.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Each month or so, Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock sit down for a retro show, where they riff on pop culture fixations from years, and even decades, past. Among several other topics, they chatted about video movie rentals and even called the last standing Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon. They also discussed comics in 2026, James Harden, and the rise and swift fall of the Two Coreys.   Chad is doing his thing behind a paywall at Patreon.com/WorldWarZ.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Super Bowl 60 wrapped up, with the Seattle Seahawks downing the New England Patriots 29-13. But no one is talking about the game itself, it’s everything else. Football is entertainment, a diversion, but sometimes these diversions are divisive and driving people away. Check Your Brain’s Tony Mazur recaps the Super Bowl and, like a similar 2023 podcast of his, the waning love of sports.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Over the weekend, a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein emails were released, after nearly a year of the Trump administration and other ConInc. pundits saying they didn't exist. In these emails, Epstein calls non-Jews the derogatory term "goyim," that very powerful people were in contact with him until his death, and that PizzaGate may have been real. Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur also talks about the heavy influence Israel and its lobby has on our politics and culture, as shown a plenty in these emails.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Around this time five years ago, Tony Mazur launched the Check Your Brain podcast. In this episode, Tony not only talks about the state of his own podcast, but podcasting in general. Is it even a thing anymore? He also gets a bit personal as to why he began this podcast, the ups and downs the last half decade, and how much longer he wants to keep it going.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Cody Perez is the lead singer of the band Amerakin Overdose, and he has also dipped his toes in the water of podcasting. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about a shared enjoyment of theirs, which is nu metal, the genre of hard rock with some metal and rap styles that was popular around the Y2K days. Cody also talked about how musicians like himself have embraced AI, rather than run away from it. Check out Amerakin Overdose's new single "Nothing (Without You)", featuring Jonny Santos, formerly of Spineshank.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

A couple of weeks ago, Check Your Brain podcast host Tony Mazur visited Las Vegas, a town that has numerous people believing to be either dying or dead. In this episode, Tony talks about his experience on the strip, whether it's dead or not, and what a destination city such as Vegas or Atlantic City need to do in these changing, modern times.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

In this episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur pays tribute to Scott Adams, who lost his battle with cancer this week at the age of 67. Tony talks about how Adams was a visionary and not just a cartoonist, how he did a mea culpa over the Covid vaccine, and how he managed during his 2023 cancelation.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Ruzvelt Stevanovski is the owner of Harpos Concert Theatre, a historic music hall in Detroit, Michigan. Prior to owning Harpos in 2017, he was the proprietor of Blondies in the 1980s, another venue where Michiganders could see up-and-coming metal acts of the time, and later resurfacing off Fort Street in the 2000s. Ruzvelt sat down with Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast in his Harpos office to tell stories about Corey Taylor, GG Allin, Megadeth, and Slayer, how he handled himself and his business during the pandemic, and how he competes with massive promoters in Live Nation and AEG.   For information on the venue and what is on the schedule, visit HarposLive.com.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

Each year, Tony Mazur hosts a "year in review" episode of the Check Your Brain podcast called Tony's Top Topics of 2025. It was a year of good news wrapped in bad news, and vice-versa. From deportations and lampooning the DEI industry, to unafforability and political violence, 2025 had it all.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

In this very special episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock watch a "classic" presentation of Diff'rent Strokes. Yes, it's the one that sticks out, from 1983 starring Gordon Jump of WKRP in Cincinnati fame.   This is only a portion of the episode. The full thing is up on Chad's Rumble.   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur. Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.