Why is it So Hard to Find Content We Actually Love in the Age of Endless Media?

Why do we keep rewatching The Office, MASH, or Frasier…
when we have access to everything?

In this episode of The Jocular Pugilists, Phil and Tomas unpack why finding content we genuinely love feels harder than ever — despite unlimited streaming platforms, endless podcasts, and infinite algorithms promising the “perfect” recommendation.

From media overload and algorithm fatigue to nostalgia, originality, and the pressure to like what everyone else loves, this conversation explores how abundance has quietly made connection harder — and why comfort content keeps winning.

Along the way: cat-hair microphones, awkward rooftop parties, homemade wine disasters, Larry David moments, and the existential cost of infinite choice.

🧠 In This Episode

• Why unlimited choice actually makes content harder to enjoy
• Media fatigue and the psychology of too many options
• Why algorithms optimize engagement — not meaning
• How originality gets buried in a sea of sameness
• Why most podcasts (and shows) don’t stick
• Comfort TV vs. discovering something new
• Why we bail on movies faster than ever
• The difference between loving a topic and loving a personality
• Why reboots rarely recapture the magic
• How nostalgia becomes emotional refuge

Let us know what you think.

Email Phil or Tomas at: 

thejocularpugilists@gmail.com

And check out our website at: thejocularpugilists.com

Transcript

Why is it so hard to find content that we love_mixdown

Speaker: [00:00:00] Why stand still when you can run headfirst into a wall? You're listening to the Joop ISTs.

Tomas, what are you watching these days? 

Speaker 2: I'm watching the Office yet again. 

Speaker: I totally get it. I've been watching MASH and all in the family, which. I mean, those are from the seventies and I'm watching now what is going on. 

Speaker 2: Old classics man. Like it's something that you know what you're gonna get and it's gonna be really good.

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: Before we get, it's too far into it. I don't know how to describe this to a listener. I. But I'm looking at Phil at my, on my computer screen, we're we zoom for these podcasts and he has a microphone in front of him. I have a microphone in front of me and he can see my microphone. I can see his [00:01:00] microphone.

And on his microphone is a cover, a foam cover so you don't get a lot of p and ba and sounds for all you audio files. 

Speaker: Alright, the payoff better be good on this one. What's going on? 

Speaker 2: And it is utterly covered in cat hair.

I, I mean, I'm so sh if you were had any allergy, we could be assured he has zero allergy to the fe lion. It is. There's so much cat hair on that microphone cover. 

Speaker: I'm very professional. I am 

Speaker 2: very, it's so not professional. It's, you know, like crazy cat lady. It's crazy. Cat guy. And, and often I do get a cat like walking by the screen in front of the microphone when I'm talking to Phil.

And mind you, this is his studio. So he doesn't live there. He lives with his wife. This is a separate place. Phil [00:02:00] has his, he's fancy, he has his own studio. My studio is in the basement of my house. It has its own. Entrance, but it's in the same edifice, right? 

Speaker: Yeah. I'm not allowed to have a studio at our house.

There's too much going else going on over 

Speaker 2: there. Yeah. Yeah. So, but what I'm saying is these cats live in your studio. Yes. They don't live with you. 

Speaker: Yes, that's right. 

Speaker 2: Neglected felines. 

Speaker: I neglect everywhere I go, I'm neglecting somebody or something. I have no idea. 

Speaker 2: Okay. 

Speaker: How to manage my life properly. 

Speaker 2: I just have to bring it up.

'cause I was like, how much cat hair is on that microphone cover? I mean, to be fair that this type of, uh, foam, it just, any, everything sticks to it. 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: But if you notice, mine's pretty clean. My foam microphone. You 

Speaker: don't have any cats. 

Speaker 2: It's true. I don't. I did. I don't. 

Speaker: Does it have Gabriel hair on it? 

Speaker 2: Right.

That's my hair on it. I have a gorilla on it in the background. I, I'm trying not to move because I don't wanna be killed. 

Speaker: Anyway, the [00:03:00] reason I brought up that. What you are asked me, what you are watching is because. I had a feeling it was gonna be an older show and I'm watching an older show. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Speaker: And I'm kind of wondering why, when we have access to everything in the 

Speaker 2: world.

Yeah. You don't have to re-watch anything. 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: There's, there's not enough time in multiple lives to watch what's out there. 

Speaker: Right. So why is it hard to find something we actually love when there's so much available to us and that's what I, what we wanna talk about today. But before we do. I gotta ask you, what's been going on in your life?

Speaker 2: Well, you know, uh, one of the things that's kind of interesting in my life is that my wife is trying to clothe me. And, um, not that I'm walking around naked. 

Speaker: I know that that leads me to a lot of other questions. 

Speaker 2: Phil's gonna have a nightmare tonight. I'm in, in Phil and Stacey's bedroom trying to look for things to wear.

Quiet, quiet. Go back to bed. It's okay. It's okay. [00:04:00] It's just 

Speaker: stop. Stop. Suggesting nightmares. I have enough of my own. I don't need your input. 

Speaker 2: It's disturbing enough that you're in our bedroom. That your clothes on. Why did you have to dress like. Cloud,

we've gotta break into your house. I might as well have fun. Yeah, 

Speaker: that absolutely. I don't wanna be like every other burglar, 

Speaker 2: so, because I've lost some weight, I need new clothes, and although I've gone back up, I've gone down a little bit too, so I'm, I'm, anyway. Nonetheless, I need clothes. And Tracy's been stitch fixing for me every, so then, and we did get like one box of clothes last year that we kept a couple things in, but since then we've gotten like four boxes that Tracy's like, no, you're not keeping any of that.

And which is, she's gentle. But when I put on clothes and Gabriel sees me, he's like, comments. If I, if I didn't have a thick skin, [00:05:00] it would be like really hard to deal with. I know he loves me, but it's just one of the comments was like, I put on a pair of jeans and he was like, you look like a mom, like a middle aged mom in days.

Which, you know, if, if by the way, I, I think middle aged moms are. Pretty attractive, so. 

Speaker: Oh, of course. Absolutely. We're both married. 

Speaker 2: I don't wanna 

Speaker: to them. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't wanna look like ones now, 

Speaker: he wouldn't talk to Tracy like that, would he? 

Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. But he's like, he knows 'cause I give it to him. 

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker 2: So I get it back. 

Speaker: That's what I'm thinking. You've trained that, that. Young 

Speaker 2: man. I have. Yeah. It's my fault. So how was your week? 

Speaker: Well, I, I went to a party, a rooftop party I think I told you about that. I was gonna go to, I wanna start by saying this friend is 50 years old. Give you, I want to give you a little context.

It's the 50-year-old birthday. I walk into the, the room. It's a surprise party. So it's the setup. And the first thing I hear is this young woman turns to me and introduces herself and say, says, oh, are you her [00:06:00] father? Now I. I smiled and said, no, no, I'm not. But I wanted to say, honey, please do the math, because that would mean at the, at the least 

Speaker 2: 70 

Speaker: age, I would be 70.

Yeah, exactly. 70, right. Maybe, maybe 68 or something, you know? Anyway, 

Speaker 2: so hold on. Are you Stacey's father or, or are you the, the, the 50 

Speaker: Oh no, the, the 50-year-old. By the way, I will say, well, I did meet the father and he looks younger than I do. It's crazy. Oh, 

Speaker 2: wow. 

Speaker: Every little thing that happened was funny to me.

For some reason. We walked in and, and the wind is blowing and we're trying to put up the balloons and, and tape everything. You know, Stacey goes right to work. She doesn't want, she doesn't wanna sit around waiting for. Things to be done. She just jumps in and she's 

Speaker 2: her house. Anybody's house doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. She goes into, she goes for fast food, she starts cleaning [00:07:00] up, making stuff, 

Speaker: and so, so I, of course, because I'm with her, I can't look like the lazy man that I am. I have to. I have to get involved and start carrying stuff and at, at one point somebody hands me 

Speaker 2: just random shit. 

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: You start moving, moving furniture around.

The hell are you 

Speaker: doing The party's upstairs, man. Why are you moving our, our living room around? What are you doing? 

Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly. Pruning trees outside. Phil has nothing to do. He just, he starts doing things that no one wants him to do. 

Speaker: Somebody handed me. Tomas, a big, long pink balloon. 

Speaker 2: Okay. 

Speaker: What does that make you think of?

When? When I, okay, so yes, it was actually supposed to be lipstick, but they, they hand me this thing and I'm like, what do you want? Where can I put this where no one will see it and it won't blow away at the same time? It was, I was like, this is crazy. 

Speaker 2: We're were two round [00:08:00] balloons tied to one.

Speaker: That's really funny 'cause I made that joke to Stacey at the party. I'm like, where are, where are the two round balloons? 

Speaker 2: Did she find it funny or no? 

Speaker: Oh yeah, 

Speaker 2: she frowned. 

Speaker: Thankfully. She loves my stupid sense of humor. Right. Okay, good. I met this guy. And right away, like I introduced myself, Uhhuh, we start talking, I say something like, oh, this patio, which is on the roof of the building is huge.

It's, and it's their individual patio, so it's got this great view of the Hollywood Hills and that's fantastic. I mean, it's just beautiful, you know? And so he goes, yeah, this is great. They should put down like some artificial turf. And I thought that was funny, you know, so I said, Uhhuh, what are you, what are you?

Putting down a, putting green. What are you, what are you suggesting for them? You know, like a golfing, putting green uhhuh, which Stacey thought was hilarious. This guy just looked at me and turned away as if I really insult it. And then the rest of the time, the party, [00:09:00] we ended up sitting them next 

Speaker 2: to, sitting next to the guy.

He didn't like you, 

Speaker: he just did not like me. The, the whole rest of the time. 

Speaker 2: Maybe he knew someone who died in a terrible putting green. They said know. 

Speaker: I know. I mean, that is clearly a joke like meant to, I don't 

Speaker 2: know. 

Speaker: Yeah, I don't know, but I always open my mouth. I guess the theme of this is I open my mouth and get myself in trouble all the time, and thankfully Stacey has my back.

Speaker 2: Right. Did, did, did she goof on him? 

Speaker: Oh, after, after the fact? Yeah. We both goof on him. Not to his face. Not to his, no. She's way smarter about that than I am. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Speaker: So, and here's the, here's the follow up to that one. So if that's not bad enough, I'm sitting on online for the food, but there's a bar there that you can help yourself.

And I see, you know, some champagne and a couple wine bottles. One of the wine bottles has a handwritten label. So I thought, oh, that's interesting. Let me try this. I pour it and I take a sip and I make this face and I'm like, oh God, [00:10:00] this is disgusting. You know? And I put it down and, and the woman behind me goes, oh, that's a, is that like a, that's like the homemade.

Wine. You didn't like it, huh? And I'm like, no, it's just not for me. That it's, and she goes, yeah, it's an acquired taste. She goes, uh, I never expect people to like my wine very much. 

Speaker 2: Oh, you just, you're batting a thousand. 

Speaker: Yeah, it was, I was Seriously, Larry David. At this party. Yeah. Everybody. I said the wrong thing to every, everyone single person.

I walked in. I, yeah. Oh my God. It was unbelievable. Temas, you would've been following me, just laughing hysterically. 

Speaker 2: I remember one time I was with Terry and in Pennsylvania and I am sure. I'm gonna preface this by saying I'm sure there's amazing food in Pennsylvania. I had, I had one of the sweetest pies in my life once, a shuai pie in Pennsylvania, but I was very young and enjoyed it.

I went to the, that market in, in, uh, [00:11:00] Philadelphia. I forget the name of it. Really good food in there. There's great food, but unfortunately this Italian restaurant that, that Terry took me in was 

Speaker: not good, 

Speaker 2: was very Pennsylvania, Italian, third generation, and they had their own wine. And I had a similar experience where they, where, so Terry knew the, the guy that owned the place and the kids and, and oh my God, oh, Terry's here.

And I knew his father and they knew his family. And so the guys, I'm gonna bring my wine and, and everyone in the restaurant was, oh, oh, he's bringing his wine. His wine, he's taking out his wine. It was a big deal. He doesn't take out his wine much, you know, usually it's Gallo, his wine, I mean, you know, this is a big deal.

So I was like, wow, this is amazing. This is his wine. He makes this, this is gonna be great. And he pours it. And I had that feeling that, that you had drinking that wine. And I'm like, he's standing in front of me, looking at me and I have to go. Hmm. [00:12:00] Oh. And it was just nonstop the whole night. Had you like the wine kept on pouring more?

Do you want more you? Shit, 

Speaker: that's the worst, right? That's the worst. Okay. So in in those situations, do you be honest because, okay, but you also don't wanna drink that wine all night long, do you? 

Speaker 2: I powered through it. 

Speaker: See, that's the moment where I'd say, you know, I, I only limit myself to one glass of wine.

Right? And, and, and I, you know, you gotta say something, you can't suffer through it. 

Speaker 2: I, I was very klutzy, I dropped a lot of glasses.

Speaker: All right, we should get into this now. So let's talk about really what went wrong, because I feel like when we grew up, when we were growing up, TV and media, all of the stuff was stuff that we loved, you know, that we can get behind and it didn't seem very difficult to find shows that we loved. There was only three TV channels [00:13:00] and then four, 

Speaker 2: yeah, options were limited and we were younger.

So we, we probably were a little bit, I, you know, I definitely was much more open 

Speaker: Yes. 

Speaker 2: Than I am now. Right. Much more cynical and because there's so much, it's harder to find originality now than ever. 

Speaker: Yeah. And even when you do. It feels like there's so many different things begging for your attention that it's hard to, for any connection that you make, not to be feel shallow, you know, not to be like a surface level connection with, with content.

That's why so many content experts are always trying to get you to, to, to really connect. At least the good ones are trying to get you to connect with whatever the content is because you want people coming back. It's no, no good if you have to find new listeners or new. Viewers, every single episode that you put out or every single piece of content you, you post.

Speaker 2: Yeah, there's just too much out [00:14:00] there. So I mean, of course there's always gonna be, uh, whatever. Let's say a Taylor Swift, somebody, maybe not always, maybe not always, but there are, I mean, there is Taylor Swift and there's people that are just mega famous around the world right now. But when you have this many options, maybe it's gonna be less and less and less and less likely that you're gonna find that connection because it's once something goes wrong.

We talked about this. Because of the unbelievable amount of media out there stars. And it doesn't mean they're who they are. It could be a news reporter or a, a pop star or whatever. They're less likely to curate what they say, so they'll eventually say something that you won't love. Whether it's an opinion or just comedian, that you don't find that funny and it'll ha make you turn the channel.

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: Because you go, you know, that's not great. I'm gonna, let's see what else is out there. 

Speaker: Right. There's so much available, you don't need to hang in there. You know, I'm like that with movies now too. There [00:15:00] was a, a, a movie that I was talking to a buddy of mine about, and I bailed on it. Actually, I was watching it with Stacey and we both bailed on it 20 minutes in, and he said, there's actually a lot in that movie that's worth watching.

But I had no problem bailing out after 20 minutes because I'm like, well, like my, the day, the day is short, I don't need to watch something that I'm not enjoying. You know? Yeah. And there's so many other things to, to find here. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. I was like, gee, bailed on Star Wars. At the theater when, when he was eight.

Speaker: Yeah. He 

Speaker 2: got up and walked out. I, what's if it's, that's at a theater, if it's on tv, you know, and time actually is precious. Tracy always says, what's the point if it's not great? We bail on stuff all the time. We bail on easily as much as we watch. 

Speaker: Yeah, and here's the problem, because it's so easy to create things these days, and maybe this isn't.

Necessarily, uh, TV or film, but you know, online content is so much easier to create than [00:16:00] create than it's ever been. You just don't need to stick with it because most of it, you can be assured is gonna suck. Like most, yeah. Most podcasts are not good. 

Speaker 2: Right. That's the needle in the haystack thing. It's really hard to find that needle when the haystack is so enormous.

Speaker: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: The haystack gets bigger and bigger every day 

Speaker: and it's really interesting because even the celebrity podcast. Tend to last because they're celebrities, but a lot of them suck in the beginning. Like they don't know what they're doing when they first start and then they get better. 

Speaker 2: I actually found the reverse, like they'll, they'll be okay in the beginning.

They'll be excited in the beginning 'cause they have a lot to say, but then you realize, oh, they have a shtick. They actually have a shtick that they go back to the same thing over and over. How many people are gonna be interesting forever? Nobody. 

Speaker: Well, I know a few people who are interesting forever. And they're on this podcast.

Speaker 2: Oh, 

Speaker: okay. 

Speaker 2: That's very sweet. But, but you know what I'm saying though, right? [00:17:00] If somebody is consistently on who, it doesn't matter who it is. For hours too. Our podcast isn't hours long. There are podcast. That are like the Joe Rogan podcast that are, you know, an hour, two hours, three hours every week. After a while, you're gonna start hearing the same stories and the same jokes.

Speaker: That's a really good point. You know, I remember when we were talking, you and I were talking about, you know, that we, there are times where listenership for us dips. We, we were talking about it and I said, you know, the pattern is. A a for a lot of people it's gonna be, they'll listen to some episodes and they'll like what they hear.

But then they get bored or something else gets their attention, or they get 

Speaker 2: perhaps this exact podcast, 

Speaker: perhaps this one. And they'll go away for a little while and then they'll remember. Something will remind them of us and then they'll come back and listen again. You know, and it uhhuh and it's just patterns change it.

It never used to be like that again, [00:18:00] with, with TV shows. You would wait for your favorite TV show to come back and, and you never missed an episode. 

Speaker 2: So that, but, but the thing with a TV show, or an album or whatever it is, is it's, it's thought out like a novel. You're working on every aspect of it to make it as perfect as possible.

I mean, I know, I understand that there are time limits of Phoebe shows and stuff like that, so it's not, you know, you, there's limits, but still it's, it, there's a bunch of people getting it as good as possible. With the podcast, it's usually just two through, maybe there's a production assistant or somebody that's helping, but it's not that big team.

So it's a lot of just turn on the microphone and talk. So it's much easier. To, to bore people in, in this form. And I think there's just too much of it, right? We're, I am confident that we're really good at this, but there's so much junk out there that people can get lost in. Yeah. 

Speaker: And so you, you made a, a really good point.

Production value for [00:19:00] podcasts. It is easy to have a, a nice looking podcast now, or it's easier to have a nice, nice looking, nice sounding, you know, sound AI is. Is available to, to help us, which is why it is so much more important to stand out and to be the best sounding and the best looking, and to have the most original content that you can, because if you're not.

Actively trying to think about your, who's listening and, and what will catch their attention and what will be the more, most unique thing you could say. But even if it's a topic that's already been dealt with, which, 

Speaker 2: yeah, but if they care about you, you say this all the time. If they care about you as a person and they wanna hear you talk about it, that's different.

Your reaction to it, your thought, where it's not just the topic, you it, it's not really about the topic. 'cause any, you can get the topic anywhere. Everything's been done. It's more about. The personality. 

Speaker: Right. And that's why it's so important to be authentically yourself, you know? And, and we [00:20:00] try, we try really hard to do that, which is, which is why we make fun of each other as much as we do, because that's real to life.

Speaker 2: So the other thing too is that it's easy also to get caught with the podcast thing in being sensational, saying something that people get, um, upset about so that they come back, whether they agree or disagree with you. And that's kind of not you and I. Well, that's not who we are. We're very centrist in all of our, if you haven't thought about, figure this out, listener.

That's who we are. We're neither one or the other. We're just very in the middle and confused about all the chaos around us. So I know that that definitely both of us are similar in that way. We have different opinions. We disagree with each other, but it doesn't matter. We're not super, that's not our mo.

You know? And there are times that I wanna talk about political things that we don't go there just. Just because it's, there's so much of it out at this point, but, but we're just trying to, it's, it is difficult. This will be a podcast. We talked about it possibly. How, how do you get along in life and, and, [00:21:00] and interest people and not be crazy, 

Speaker: right?

Because everybody's conditioned for crazy now or for really high drama, you know, very high stakes. Yeah. They, you know, and, and part of that is the algorithm. Accelerates things that are click bait. 

Speaker 2: God, that's such a problem. The algorithm is such a problem. 

Speaker: It really is. And so content now has to be optimized for engagement, not depth, not, you know, real thought or real distinction between points of view.

They, they don't. Optimize for that. You know, they don't, they don't optimize for you to change your opinion or for you to say something that doesn't go along with your brand, whatever that personal brand is, you know? 

Speaker 2: Yeah. So, but, so then that's super passive. The people that are thinking what they are, whatever they're thinking.

You, you reinforce it. It doesn't matter if you're a cook and you like a certain type of thing and you, whatever it is, let's say it's [00:22:00] red meat, you're just gonna watch red meat. You're not gonna watch fish. You know what I mean? It's just they give you more of the same, more of the same, more of the same.

And I guess TV was that way when we were kids. But the difference is, I, I think there was many. We were kind of too young for this, but there was that water cooler moment, you know, with Mash. The last episode. We were in grade school at the time. How old am I? 

Speaker: Oh, I remember that though. I can, I can remember talking about that at my grammar school.

Speaker 2: Yeah. 

Speaker: With, with the kids. 'cause our family was religiously watching that show. We, 

Speaker 2: we, so, we so dated ourselves. I said, I said grade school. You said grammar school? Middle school for Oh, really? Anyone who's life, who's younger than 40. But anyway, there was that moment that everybody got together and did, there was, that's a little less passive 'cause you talked about it.

And I think, you know, I mean news, people talk about news things, although do they, right? Because they're so intense. 

Speaker: Not really. They talk at each other. They don't talk to each other anymore. Yeah, but I mean, I, you're [00:23:00] right. SI remember SNL being the biggest thing, and it was the craziest thing if you were as a kid, if you somehow fooled your parents into, into letting you stay up to watch SNL.

Speaker 2: We had these black and white TVs, we had these teeny TVs when I grew up. I mean, this is such a long time ago. Right? We, I think we made a joke about it in, in, I mean, so like, first off, like think about it, black and white tv. This is the 1980s. We had like a black and white TV in 1987. You know what I mean?

That's pretty 

Speaker: embarrassing. 

Speaker 2: That it really insane. You're talking about Saturday Live? This is hilarious. So I had a tv, we had like two of them, maybe three by the way. They were all, all three of them were small, but it was only one that we used. I kidnapped it. I, I took it and put it in my closet because I wanted to watch Samuel 11.

I, I made believe I was asleep and turned it on. Really quiet. Really quiet.

Speaker: This just popped in my head the [00:24:00] other day. I forgot who I was talking to about it, but I was thinking of your dad and we were watching, I think it was after David Lee Roth left Van Halen and he was doing his solo stuff. And he was, he was, do you remember this? I do. Yeah. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. He was, I totally remember it.

It was, I I know the video we were 

Speaker: watching. Yes. It was 

Speaker 2: Yankee Rose. 

Speaker: Yes, it was in the video. David Lee Roth is wearing pants with no butt. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. It's cut out 

Speaker: and 

Speaker 2: it's like Assless chaps. Assless chaps. Basically like a gay stripper. 

Speaker: And your dad walks in and he looks at it and he goes. Huh. So this is the guy you think is so cool, and then he looks, 

Speaker 2: yeah, I totally remember that.

Speaker: It was great. He 

Speaker 2: had a point. 

Speaker: He had a really good point. Yeah, he did. Anyway, so you have to kind of ask yourself, when we're talking about algorithms and all of this, do you really choose [00:25:00] the stuff that you, that you're watching now or are you just kind of. Nudged into it because I dunno about you, if I watch any video on YouTube.

All of a sudden there's like 20 follow that follow almost on the exact topic, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you end up watching the next thing maybe because they, uh, it has a little bit of a different take. I've, I've gotten good at weeding that out, like just ignoring it when it happens. But sometimes you get sucked into the vortex of.

I'm watching the same five topics over and over again. 

Speaker 2: Oh, I'm always getting that sucked into that vortex scrolling, 

Speaker: and then there's the pressure of, you know, loving the thing that your friends love. F you know, we were talking about now forget about politics, although that's of course part of it. But even movies or let's just talk about when you recommend something like Deadwood.

Yeah. How many years have you been trying to get me to watch Deadwood? 

Speaker 2: But we like different things. You recommended me things [00:26:00] and I'm like, eh, and, and vice versa. You've, yeah. I don't really like it, 

Speaker: but at least we're honest with each other. Some of my other, my, some of my other friends, I can't really tell 'cause they get so insulted.

You 

Speaker 2: know, 

Speaker: there's, they really, you don't like that? It's a or? Yes. Or it's like a, if I don't watch something that they recommend. Yeah. It's like I'm insulting them for some reason. Yeah. And not that I'm working 70 hours a week and have a life. 

Speaker 2: Right. 

Speaker: I don't get it 

Speaker 2: with my thing. It's the comedy thing where I become really pompous.

If it's a joke that I've heard a million times, it doesn't matter if it's wrapped up in another bow, if it's the same joke, I just go, man, I've heard it a million times. I get it. If you've never heard it, and you might find it funny, but it's hard for me to laugh. Particularly when I see it coming a mile away.

Now I have that issue. We just talked about this with newer sitcoms that I've seen, and I say newer. They're probably 20, 30 years old at this point. But you had said. That there are sitcoms that I [00:27:00] will never get the jokes. They're brilliant. So I, I just don't know what they are. 

Speaker: I have another friend who, who also has the same complaint where sitcoms are predictable and, and a lot of sitcoms are, and there, there's no question.

There are a lot that are not great. Yeah. But the best ones I defy, you defy to listen. To watch. She's 

Speaker 2: threatening. 

Speaker: Turn. Yes. Turn off the, the sound or pause it. Sound, 

Speaker 2: I love it. 

Speaker: Or no, turn off. No. Pause it. After the setup, pause it and try and predict what the, what the line's gonna be. 

Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean I'm gonna think it's funny.

Speaker: That is true. 

Speaker 2: And that could sound pompous. And I know I sound pompous as hell just because I'll say things. That are really, really God, man. And I think about it. I'm such an idiot. You know, someone will say it's, someone will say it's funny, and I'll go, yeah, I don't find it smart. Which you know, 

Speaker: and for some reason they don't take that well, I don't understand.[00:28:00] 

Speaker 2: I'm such a jackass.

You like that? I find that really dumb. 

Speaker: I get it. Obviously I stick my foot in my mouth all the time, so I'm with you there. 

Speaker 2: Oh my God. 

Speaker: I do imagine in our later years, you and I sitting on a, on a, on a porch somewhere just making fun of everybody. Everybody sticking. Everybody. Yes. 

Speaker 2: Oh. The last sitcom that I found really funny was like Arrested Development.

I mean, it's been forever that I found something. That's And that's a, that's a while ago. 

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. But to you, in your defense, a brilliantly funny show. So 

Speaker 2: crazy funny. 

Speaker: It's not like you have bad taste, you're just very selective. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. Very, very selective. And I'm sure I could find jokes that I would see coming in that episode, but, so there's a multitude of things that make me like them.

It's clever, you know, and the, the characters are really funny. Now do [00:29:00] I know if the actors are funny? I don't know as people or likable as people? I don't know because it, when I watched it, it was before I would see. And I don't listen to the podcast that those two guys are on, so it was before I knew a ton about them.

So it's easier to get into things. I honestly, it will affect me if I see someone, something that I really like and then I hear an interview or they see a podcast with somebody. And I don't find them as brilliant as I thought they were in the show. It does affect my love of, of the show, my desire to watch the show, which it shouldn't, 

Speaker: right?

Speaker 2: Because it's two different things. 

Speaker: It's totally different things. You know, sometimes we go to those events where there's the whole cast of a show, and when they're super witty. On top of the show being really good. 

Speaker 2: You love it. 

Speaker: I love 

Speaker 2: it. And that's when they're at their best, right? Phil? They, they're at a, they're at an event.

They, they're cocked and loaded. They got all their jokes, they're all their comments. They're great. But if they're doing a podcast and on, on, you know, or whatever, doing YouTube videos for [00:30:00] hours every week. There's just gonna be a time when something comes out that maybe they shouldn't, or Yeah. You know what I mean?

That's a good point. I'll have some moment and it's just easy to go. Yeah. I'm not interested in that person anymore. 

Speaker: Yeah. Not just that, you know. Um, everybody for content creators included, are, are using templates and for like things like thumbnails and, and graphics and, and people are now using chat GPT for to write their content and, and it's, it's all becoming homogenized.

And, and the challenge is, and, and I have to do this with a lot of my clients, is to, to, to use those. Tools because they do speed you up and make things more efficient. But to use them in a way where you're still being original, there's still humanity in what you're creating. 

Speaker 2: Oh, that's so true. That's so true.

Speaker: It's so difficult too. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and now with AI music, I, I find it all the time. I remember years ago when with music production software. [00:31:00] It just got easier and easier for things to sound good, and I, I remember talking to another musician and saying that, honestly, I'm more surprised when I hear something that doesn't have a, a good sound.

Not that the music isn't good, but that, but the quality of the recording isn't good. I'm more surprised when I hear that I'll probably listen more likely if it's just a microphone and someone's strumming guitar than a nice big production because it's much easier to do big productions now. 

Speaker: Alright, so this brings me back to what we were talking about in the beginning, which is like, we're both watching old shows and reruns, and I think the reason we do that is because of all the things we're talking about.

So there's so much content out there and you get exhausted trying to find something that you like because you, you get disappointed so many times that you're, eventually you go, alright, well let me just watch something. I know I'm gonna love. And you, you retreat into the familiar shows. Yeah. That you just remember loving, you know, and [00:32:00] sometimes, by the way, sometimes that doesn't work as well.

I was, you know, thinking about the $6 million Man, and I'm like, oh, let me go back you one. I watched it, it was terrible. 

Speaker 2: Oh, was it? 

Speaker: It was so terrible that it was fun to watch Uhhuh Uhhuh, but, but it wasn't like a good. What, you know, experiences creatively. Uh, but I think that's, that's a problem that, you know, it's not just, we're getting older and longing for things that we watched when we were younger.

I think it really is, we get fatigued and then we go back to something that we. We think or we know that we're gonna, it's 

Speaker 2: comfortable. It's comfortable. Also, those shows were not preachy. They weren't trying to teach you anything. Maybe, maybe a little bit, but not so much. Particularly the sitcoms. It was just easy.

Speaker: Mash always had a point of view and was trying to teach you something. All in the family certainly was trying to teach you, tell you something and had points of view and, 

Speaker 2: well, that's all right. So you bring up two, but I'm talking, thinking, thinking of Frazier in the office and things like that, and [00:33:00] cheers.

Were there. I mean, I'm sure there were little things that they did teach you. Yeah. But generally speaking it was just comfortable. Yeah. You know, it wasn't gonna be uncomfortable. So that's, so that's, there's something to be said about that, particularly when you're in a world where there's so much. You know, preaching, there's so much guilt and there's so much just being thrown at you all the time.

To just get away from that is so important. It's probably good for your sake. I 

Speaker: don't want new shows. I want old feelings. 

Speaker 2: Oh yeah. That's good. Yeah. That's true. And I don't think we get them for new shows. No. Particularly the reboots, you know, I'll get these reboots and they're like of, of old shows, whatever it is.

I won't point my finger, but there's a lot of them that are just not that great. I've tried virtually every one. I pretty much, and yet some of 'em are okay. But it's, I mean, I'm sorry, it's, it's hard to hold a candle to the original, just do your own thing, you know? 

Speaker: Yeah. And, okay. Is is just what [00:34:00] you say, it's good enough and you're happy that you're seeing the characters that you love again, but it's not, 

Speaker 2: it's not the same.

Speaker: It's not the same. 

Speaker 2: It's not 

Speaker: the same. And it's not, and it's not enough. It doesn't, it doesn't really make you feel like you want to feel. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's a lightning in the bottle thing, meaning catching It is. It has a lot to do with the time when it came out culturally, when those actors were at that age.

How it was filmed, you know? Yeah. It's just, it's, I can't imagine it being easy to do to get that again. 

Speaker: It's a good point. And there's another truth. Loving something, really loving something is rare, and that's, so, that's probably okay. It's not like we're gonna love everything we, we do in our lives or everything.

Every person we meet or every show or piece of content we watch. But the idea is we're, we're trying to find even something that to love. You know, I am a very loyal [00:35:00] media or content consumer. 

Speaker 2: Yeah. When you find something, you stick with it. 

Speaker: I stick with it. So, for example, I'm a big fan of armchair expert with Dak Shepherd.

Mm-hmm. I love everything about the show. I love that they put a whole lot of work into actually doing it, even though it's a celebrity episode and there's a lot of value. And I, I just love it. And I've literally been watching, they, they have multiple. Episodes per week, and I listen to every single one of them, and I have been since the very beginning, and I don't, okay.

It's rare that I'll miss, and that's because they've, they've made a real connection with me, I feel like with you. 

Speaker 2: So, but that, but that means that you're not listening to other things. 

Speaker: That's right. That's right. And I'm okay with that. Yeah. If I'm enough in love, yeah. I'm satisfied with that. That is fulfilling for me.

And I do, I feel like I know them. I feel like if I met them, it'd be a, it'd be fun to talk to them. You know? I'd have a good conversation. Good rapport. 

Speaker 2: So that's the thing. If you find your sheer, the person that you want to, to guide you in this [00:36:00] whatever, in comedy, in, in history, in cooking, whatever it is.

It is funny. People will, will get, I am not as, uh, as loyal as you are. And I'll find someone like, I really like Dan Carlin for history, and I'll find something else for history. Somebody else that's good, but but not as good for me, not personally as good and I'll. After a while, huh? Why am I, why am I not listening to Dan car?

He's so much better. What, what did I spend all this time listening to this guy? Fine, or girl, whoever. It's fine, but it's not for me. What, what, what did I waste my time? 

Speaker: Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Yes. And I do, I do have to say, and I don't, I don't want to bag on a show. Maybe I shouldn't. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say anything.

'cause some, there was, I, I'll say it this way. There was a show that recently won an award that, yeah. I was like, alright, I'm gonna, I'm gonna diver, I'm gonna divert my attention. I know 

Speaker 2: exactly what you, 

Speaker: I'm gonna [00:37:00] divert my attention from what I would normally watch or listen to or watch and 

Speaker 2: And check it 

Speaker: out.

And check it out because hey, 

Speaker 2: I have never checked it out. But awards are always that way though, Phil, just because it wins an award doesn't mean it's like the Academy Awards do. Does anyone really think they were the best films that year? 

Speaker: Rarely, yes, but that's a good 

Speaker 2: point. Yeah. Does anyone really think that?

No. So there, there are a lot of other things that go into the, the picking of those awards. So, but I get, I get what you're saying. The popular culture and, and we've always been that way with music and with whatever. Yeah. And now with news, it's overwhelming. Back in the day, it was Walter Cronkite or um, Edward r Murrow.

There was a couple people that were your sheer. Now the news sources come fast, you know, unless you're older, you know, I mean, I'm talking like in your eighties, you're not watching just CNN. Or, and listening to NPR, I mean, you gotta be like a thousand years old if that's the only place you get your news.

I, I [00:38:00] read the New York Times, I read the, the Wall Street Journal. I listen to CN, the NPR and CNI mean, it's like, what are you, a thousand, there's a million things that you can get your news from. Like, I just got, uh, an app called Ground Ground News because it's so overwhelming. The amount of places you can get news and what that does is an algorithm that takes thousands of, of news articles and si si siphons them through and goes, this is what they're saying.

It doesn't give you opinions, it just gives you, this is what they're saying. And it shows where they are in the spectrum there. It's what I'm saying is it's virtually impossible with news to find that chirp now that one person that you trust, 

Speaker: I totally agree with that and often. Maybe I will find somebody I trust for a little bit and then they'll say something that, that turns out to be untrue.

And that's enough these days to turn me off. And it, and it shouldn't be because, oh, me too, me too. People can make mistakes all the time 

Speaker 2: as long as they own up to it and, and I say that all the [00:39:00] time and I. I'll, I'll hear something that I don't agree with or that I'm, I question and I'll hear particularly like what you said.

I'll hear a mistake that they'll come back and say, that was wrong. This is what I should have said, and it affects my opinion, which it shouldn't. It. So shouldn't I should be happy to hear that. Yeah, I should be relieved. Wow, they made a mistake and they're admitting it. That's amazing. 

Speaker: That's it. I think if we're talking about finding something that you love, when you do find something that you love, maybe that's what you commit to.

And you'll be happier for it. Stick with a few of them until they're gone. You don't look for anybody new, don't replace them. You know what I mean? 

Speaker 2: We gone, Ooh, that sounds bad. So let's, I'm I'm gonna go back to the Spider-Man. Uh, analogy. With, with great power comes great responsibility. We have so much power in our hands.

There's so much media, there's so much out there. But that means you have great [00:40:00] responsibility. It's easy now to get just stuck. Political problems, you know, political opinions that are, that are insane. Popular culture. That's crazy. That doesn't go anywhere. And this wastes your time and your life instead of.

Tv curating our media, we're curating our media ourselves, and that's a lot of responsibility. So you have to think about it. 

Speaker: It's discernment, it's being able to discern and, and here's what's really frustrating about that. There's not enough time in the day to go through all of it and figure out. What is really right and what you should be listening to and what you, and that is why we make those snap judgements.

But you were even saying before we, we started this, you know, it was like that with music. Like we used to have record companies that would curate for us. Yeah. 

Speaker 2: Sift through, you know, thousands upon thousands of things. And, 

Speaker: and radio stations and, you know, before they, the radio stations would cure it, the DJs themselves would cure it.

And so [00:41:00] you'd actually get exposed to weird music that way because it was up to the taste of the, the dj. But when you found someone you connected with, you'd get exposed to Yeah. Really music that you'd end up loving. It's just so much harder to do that these days. That's all 

Speaker 2: it is. I mean, certainly it, it, it opens up the possibility of things getting to us that we would never have had before.

So there, there certainly. Amazing. It's certainly amazing. And the, and the possibilities are great, but again, it's a lot of responsibility in our hands to find the, find the good stuff, to find that needle in the haystack. 

Speaker: And it's a little, you know, disingenuous. Here we are creating the new media and hoping that God people like it.

But there, there you are. Alright. Having said that, we are the joists. Uh, thank you for joining us for another episode. If you'd like to learn more about us, you can go to the jocular pu list.com. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can go to Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts and [00:42:00] leave a five star rating or a follow.

Or, the best thing would be to just share it with your friends, tell your friends about it, because obviously, like we just said, friends, sometimes friends curate good, good information for you. That's true. Good media for you. Absolutely. And Tomas, if people want to reach out to us, how would they do so? 

Speaker 2: Well, they should just email us at the Jack of the uch list@gmail.com.

Speaker: Excellent man. I hate to love you. 

Speaker 2: Our producer is telling me that I should love to hate you. 

Speaker 3: Hey baby. I hear the blues are called in into salads and scrambled eggs, white, stylish, and maybe I seem a bit confused. Yeah, maybe. But I got your pegs. Ha. But I don't know what to with those tossed salads and scrambled.

They're calling again, scrambled eggs all over my face. What is a boy to do? Frazier [00:43:00] has left the building.