Michael and Us

Our Superdelegate patron tier voted for us to discuss GROUNDHOG DAY (1993), which we're pleased to bring you on Groundhog Day. We discuss Bill Murray's much-loved spiritual journey and ask the question: what is happiness? PLUS: You'll never guess which celebrities are endorsing a new right-wing bourbon. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/149771474

We finally discuss Paul Thomas Anderson's ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025), which takes place in a dystopian America not too dissimilar from the current one. PLUS: The Conservative movement reclaims an artist we were really happy to be rid of. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Chaos: Behind the Scenes of Amazon's Melania Trump Documentary" by Tessa Stuart - https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/melania-trump-documentary-amazon-behind-the-scenes-1235505208/

We watch the short documentary MICHAEL MOORE MAKES A MOVIE (2018) - a bonus feature on the Criterion release of Bowling for Columbine - and consider how it both challenges and affirms certain of our preconceptions about this podcast's patron saint. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE CONTENT - https://www.patreon.com/posts/149365674

It's a heavy news week, and we're catching up. As Canadians, we are honour-bound to comment on Mark Carney's acclaimed speech at the World Economic Forum. Is the rules-based international order dead? And what does it mean that our banker-in-chief is the one to bury it? PLUS: A word of solidarity to our friends in Minneapolis. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Interpreting the Carney Doctrine" by Luke Savage - https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/interpreting-the-carney-doctrine "Why I'm supporting Avi Lewis" by Luke Savage - https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/why-im-supporting-avi-lewis "Why Philosophy Matters" by Hilarius Bookbinder - https://hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/why-philosophy-matters-b35

Rob Reiner's SHOCK AND AWE (2017) looks back at a handful of journalists who stood against the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. Released in the first year of the Trump administration, it looks squarely back to the Bush era - in more ways that one. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/148618908

We return to our roots by discussing a conservative documentary that attempts to take down Michael Moore. In MICHAEL & ME (2004), buffoonish talk-radio personality Larry Elder has a bone to pick with Bowling for Columbine, using facts + logic to show why gun control is racist, sexist, and anti-American. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "God of the Gaps" by Robert P. Baird - https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/01/15/god-of-the-gaps-believe-ross-douthat/

We catch up on a very grim news week, and then discuss a documentary about a journalist who has reported a lot of very grim news weeks. In COVER-UP (2025), Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus paint a sympathetic portrait of Seymour Hirsch, the journalist who exposed everything from the My Lai massacre to Abu Ghraib. PLUS: Folks, it seems the right is cancelling Plato? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Check out some incredible M&Us fan art by the great Josh Bayer - https://www.patreon.com/posts/fan-art-147656792

Raoul Peck's new documentary ORWELL: 2+2=5 (2025) seeks to show how George Orwell's warnings from the past are being made reality today. The results are less than the sum of their parts. PLUS: We note the passing of Norman Podhoretz. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/147746762

We say goodbye to 2025 and offer a skeptical welcome to 2026 with a very special call-in episode. Topics range from Marshall McLuhan to Michael Jackson and beyond. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

What happens when a historian who loves the American presidency is faced with a president like Donald Trump? We discuss the HBO documentary THE SOUL OF AMERICA (2020), about Joe Biden's favourite historian, Jon Meacham, as he struggles to make sense of the Trump era. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "The Man Who Loved Presidents" by Thomas Frank - https://harpers.org/archive/2021/07/jon-meacham-thomas-frank-soul-of-america/ "The End of Resistance History" by Charlotte E. Rosen - https://proteanmag.com/2025/01/20/the-end-of-resistance-history/ "The Fight for the Four Freedoms" by Harvey J. Kaye - https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/The-Fight-for-the-Four-Freedoms/Harvey-J-Kaye/9781451691443 "Take Hold of Our History" by Harvey J. Kaye - https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/take-hold-of-our-history Our two previous episodes on Michael Moore Hates America (2004) https://soundcloud.com/michael-and-us/episode-8-michael-moore-hates-america https://www.patreon.com/posts/300-300th-61042533

On the eve of the 2020 election, legendary conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza declared war against socialism - which, according to him, encompasses everything from COVID lockdowns to gun control to the Lyin' Fake News Media. We discuss TRUMP CARD (2020). PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/145991797

On this episode, the hosts divulge some of their guiltiest pleasures, from Judge Judy to Kenny G to the writings of a couple of bona-fide right-wing pundits. They also interrogate the immortal question: should you truly feel guilty about something that brings you pleasure? (Spoiler: Yes. Sometimes you should.) PLUS: the Warner Bros sale, public domain day, an a surprising new front in the right-wing culture war. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

George Orwell's famous essay "Politics and the English Language" leads us into a discussion of good language, good thought, and their relationship. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/145712151

Ten years before Siri and quarter-century before Grok, Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick considered a new form of humanity in A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001). We discuss a meeting of the minds between two very distinctive authorial voices. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "The Best of Both Worlds" by Jonathan Rosenbaum - https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2024/01/the-best-of-both-worlds/ "A Matter of Life and Death" by Jonathan Rosenbaum - https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2024/05/a-matter-of-life-and-death-ai-artificial-intelligence-tk/ Call for submissions: "The Journal of Stoogeological Studies Vol. 2" - https://x.com/WillSloanEsq/status/1995213884635193456

As a coda to our exhaustive study of his show The Dinosaur Hour, we thought it was only fair to discuss John Cleese from when he was at his peak. We consider what it means that FAWLTY TOWERS is Britain's most beloved sitcom, and the incisive commentary about British/American relations in "Waldorf Salad." PLUS: Speaking of British legends, for some reason we get really into discussing Simon Cowell. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/145077527

In A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING (2016), Tom Hanks is a depressed American businessman trying to find himself in Saudi Arabia. It's the lamest fish-out-of-water self-actualization comedy/drama we've ever tackled! PLUS: We discuss Doug Ford's war on renters in Ontario, and - of course - address the news of Rush Hour 4. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

A year before American Beauty offered its Oscar-ready glimpse beneath the placid surface of suburbia, Todd Solondz offered a truly unsparing depiction of same with HAPPINESS (1998). We discuss this legendary succès de scandale, and how it makes laughter indistinguishable from horror. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/144566731

Set in a world of young people and old money, Whit Stillman's METROPOLITAN (1990) offers an affectionate but melancholic view of the elite. We sort through the layers of ambiguity in this charming ode to the "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie." PLUS: A spectre is haunting the world - the spectre of Jeffrey Epstein. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Israel" by Branko Marcetic - https://jacobin.com/2025/11/trump-epstein-israel-intelligence-blackmail "The Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years: Metropolitan" by Mark Henrie - https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/3-best-conservative-movies-last-25-years-mark-henrie/

A few years after Stanley Kubrick envisioned humankind ascending to a new plane with the dawn of space exploration, John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's proudly low-budget DARK STAR (1974) imagined a working-class space odyssey. In space, no one can hear you feel exploited. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/670-space-oddity-143962526

At the turn of the millennium, one New Jersey-based auteur nailed his 130 minutes' worth of theses on the Catholic Church's door. We discuss Kevin Smith's DOGMA (1999) - the much-maligned director's biggest swing for the fences. PLUS: Is there a revolt within the Conservative Party of Canada? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus TORONTO: See Will introduce Steven Seagal's On Deadly Ground at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday, November 19 - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/important-cinema-club-on-deadly-ground/