Marauders of 2025, Beefing & Trolling, and WTF Nicki

Looking back and forward.
Will and Max open 2026 by revisiting what actually mattered in 2025—personally, culturally, and publicly—and setting the tone for what’s next.

This episode covers:

• 2026 priorities & goals: nudge words, fitness, health, and midlife recalibration
• Sean Combs: The Reckoning — reflections on one of 2025’s most unsettling stories and Netflix documentary
• Beef & grudges: what the 50 Cent saga says about holding onto anger—especially in middle age
• Marauders of 2025 — the people, trends, and forces that defined the year:
  • Culture & power: Time’s AI moment and its architects — Elon Musk, Lisa Su, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei, Fei-Fei Lee
  • Politics & place: Abigail Spanberger and Dominion Road
  • Music: longevity and late-career runs from Clipse, Nas, De La Soul, Raekwon, Slick Rick
  • Pop culture: Heated Rivalry director and author, Walton Goggins everywhere, Jon Hamm’s victory lap, Pamela Anderson’s reinvention, and late-night TV’s inflection point (Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, John Oliver)

And finally:
WTF is going on with Nicki Minaj?

Thanks for listening--keep on marauding!

Transcript

Max (00:06.69)
Welcome to Midlife Marauders with Will and Max.

Max (00:13.56)
Let's talk about the new year. All right. So how are you feeling about the new year so far and do you have any resolutions?

stuff. You know I never really did. You're not surprised? No.

I'm not surprised. You never really did. I don't know. You seem to be more...

I'm gonna fly by the seat of my pants guy for sure. Yeah, making lists. What the list?

work.

Max (00:44.098)
For me, I'm a, let me write down my resolutions, but then I kind of forget about it. So it's not effective.

Yeah, at least, well, at you attempted to write them down. I just like, I'm not gonna adhere to it anyway, so why even write it down?

Yeah, I guess that's practical. I am trying something new though this year. Actually, this is the second year of my family and I have done it. So we try something called nudge words. I think I read about it in New York Times or somewhere else. And so it's you pick a word that's kind of a guideline for you for the year. And so maybe that's something you can try and see if it'll work. Although I'm trying to think of my one for last year.

All right, let's.

Will (01:24.404)
I know, right?

I have a new one for the that's my mind going not that I didn't adhere to it last year. I actually remember what my one from last year was simplicity. Simpli- Okay. And I think it helped. It helped. But this year I think mine is nurture, which means for me it means don't try to add on too many new things, but nurture what you already have, whether it's your family, you know, your relationships, your job, like do better in your job, do better on the podcast. We want to expand the podcast. So-

Max (01:55.734)
rather than trying, I have the tendency to want to try a lot of new things. And so this year I thought maybe just nurture what I have already.

I love that concept. a nudge word. Okay, nurture. I love that. I'm gonna have to try to do that myself. have to, I can't come up with a nudge word right off hand, but I'm gonna put some thought. Yeah, I'm gonna put some thought into it. I like that because although I don't do a list or resolutions or anything, but you know, obviously I still think about some things that I would like to accomplish in the new year because it is a new year. You wanna do.

different things and change it up and have different or new perspective on things. You know, I just think that's inherent. So yeah, I'm gonna come away with

Things are you thinking about? Okay, yeah. Tell me about any things. They don't have to be resolutions, but are there any things that you kind of want to improve this year?

Well, you I think it's just general stuff that most people do. You you want to try to be healthier, eat better, work out more, read more, that kind of things, you know, good for the mind and the body and soul and stuff like that. Maybe becoming a little bit more spiritual. No, I think about it day.

Max (03:13.814)
Is that new for you?

I think about it every time the calendar rolls over. I could do more, you know, with, I could just do more, you know what saying? I could be better in certain aspects of my life. It's an ongoing process, but I don't want to write them down and check them off. I guess I'm.

afraid of commitment in that regard. yeah, yeah, yeah. Just kind of want to just do it by my own time. You know, if I feel like I write them down a list, you know, like there's pressure to get it done. But I do need to get these things done. So, but the, the, the nudge word sounds like a great concept, a great idea. I'm going to, I'm going to have to,

You don't want to be accountable.

Max (04:10.766)
It's kind of like a mantra or a headline for the year. So I'd love to hear that for you for this year. But I had a question. So what would you rate last year for you in terms of, let's do it. Yeah, let's do it in relation to marauding, right? How would you rate yourself in terms of how much you marauded last year? to 10, let's do one to

I'm just thinking. On what kind of scale? As far as marauding, I give myself a two, to be honest with you. Yeah. Really? Well, no, no, no. I got to bump it up a little bit because I did start, you know, well, this podcast is over one years old, but I did start another podcast. that, yeah, in that regard, I did maraud some, but as far as just

That's you.

Will (05:05.26)
Every other thing. Yeah, it was it was a low-maraud year

What do you think it's because, maybe I'm hitting you with it right now, but if you actually reflected on it, because I can think about, so you had two podcasts last year, which is pretty amazing. working on two podcasts. You worked out quite a bit, right?

I did, but I didn't quite get the results that I wanted and the, I didn't stay on schedule as much as I wanted to. there's some, there could be some improvement on that. I felt like I'm eating a little bit better and I'm taking all kinds of supplements and other things that we've talked about before. So that's good in that regard. So, you know, I have changed things up a little bit, but you know, last year was.

was kind of difficult for me, you know, as far as, well, some of it was based, it was all based on some decisions I made and, you know, I made some errors as well too. You know, I took a leave of absence from my job, well, a separation from my job because they offered me a separation package. So I kind of took that and I just kind of coaxed it off that for at least half of the year.

So you don't think that was marauding to make that decision? you happy with that?

Will (06:22.382)
No, I think that was the right decision to make seeing how you know, they just Did a huge Massive layoff at the end of last year I knew to say I wouldn't have been laid off from that and then I would have got nothing Really from that so it was a gamble. There's a chance and it it worked out. I do have another job So I didn't really

lose anything in that respect. So I thought that was a good calculated gamble in that regard. But I had some legal issues that I had to deal with and that was always on my mind and that's behind me now. So yeah, last year was just kind of more like just riding the wave, riding it out. making sure, So this year I plan to be a little more.

upward and onward with a lot of things. yeah, lot, a lot more marauding this year for sure.

Okay, so not knowing everything, feel like you should still get a six.

Well, I appreciate that. really do. Yeah, I could do a lot better, but that's, like you said, that's life. You know, we're going to go through some ups and downs and some challenges and so on. And, you know, I've kept my head above water and it's not anything that's really got me down, you know, in any kind of mental state or anything like that. So I'm very positive with what 2026 is going to bring and I'm really excited.

Max (08:02.978)
I think I was about like a six or a seven. I think this year or last year. I know we can put something on the screen. But I think it wasn't a bad year for me. feel like I tried. I feel like this podcast, you we have a lot of potential. It has a lot of potential. And so I feel like that we kept it up, you know.

for the most part, I think was good. But I didn't. For sure. Yes. And then I think that for fitness, I really didn't do a good job. It was just all over the place. But I started teaching swimming, which I think was positive. Yeah, that's great. And I think then because of that, I have a gym to go to, so that should help. But I think I can spend more time helping. That's why my word this year is nurture.

We can do better

Max (09:02.67)
paying more attention to my kids. I just got really focused on work and you know it's so easy just these days when you can have all these shows to watch and you just kind of zone out. You know I think everybody in the family you know we end up just watching our own separate things and so I'd like to change that this year.

You know, that's a great point that you just brought. I never really thought about that. I do think, you know, you talk about the shows and all the streaming services and stuff like that. I have, there've been some great shows this year and I have kind of fallen into like, just kind of sitting down and watching a lot of shows and like really anticipating like when shows start or the next episodes and that sort of thing. But got to kind of.

break free of that a little bit. And I think it was easier to do, obviously, when the weather changed and it got darker and colder, it's just, you're more resigned to just sit in and watch television. But once the weather breaks, well, I shouldn't wait that long, but I am anticipating being able to go outside and do some things and getting away from the stupid TV. But it does suck you

I know, because I feel like once you watch one season, you're like, well, I got to watch the next season. And we don't have to, right? We could use that time. I always think, oh, all of those hours, I could have learned the guitar or Spanish.

Yeah.

Will (10:27.394)
Yeah, yeah. I feel the same way. But then the thing is though, it's dangerous when you talk to other people about what they're watching, because you start realizing what stuff, you know, the shows that you haven't watched. And then it kind of creates a backlog. You know what mean? Like, I to catch up with that. I got to do that. And that starts wearing on your mind a little bit. shoot, I haven't started this. When am I going to have fun?

find time to watch it, wait a minute, what are we talking about here? You know what I'm saying? We're just.

Is this really important? I do think in moderation is fine. And I do think some of the topics we talk about are shows. So we kind of got to stay up to stay up on pop culture and be a little bit current. Because I also think if you are totally unplugged, then you're

not able to relate to some people. And maybe those are not the people you want to relate with, but I do find joy sometimes talking to people about, did you see this? And, you know, because some of it reflects life. Some of them are real stories that are interesting.

Yeah, 100%, yeah, I agree.

Max (11:50.958)
Speaking of watching series and shows, I know that both of us watched Sean Combs' The Reckoning. So I wanted to get your initial thoughts on that.

I've actually watched it twice. just most recently watched it. I watched it when it kind of like a week or two after it came out. And then, then I watched it, last weekend, with some of my older cousins.

For listeners, we have talked about Puffy Diddy quite a bit on this podcast. It seemed like we had to watch this and we had to talk about it.

Well, 100%, I think everybody, most people watched it and were talking about it. The first time I watched it, I think I watched all four episodes back to back to back. I just invested time to, I was like, gotta finish this. And, you know, most of the things I kinda knew about, but they did give me some kinda perspective on it, a little bit more background.

Did you know all the players that were involved? Did you know about Kirk Burrows, the co-founder? Had you heard of him before?

Will (13:06.1)
No, I didn't know that part of it. I'm talking about the scandals and deaths and stuff like that. no, right. Not the actual, as you said, players behind it. I didn't know that. But you know, there was some back story that I kind of forgot about, you know, with the celebrity basketball game, that, you know, resulted in tragedy.

Right.

Max (13:29.424)
right. Those things are vague. Yeah, I don't remember it. And when you're looking back at it, you see the significance more. But at the time, know, we were young.

Yeah, we were young and that was really our first exposure to him because he would come on the news or whatever kind of media and talk about what happened and how he was going to make restitution and all that other good stuff. that was my first real exposure to him. And then obviously when he got fired from Uptown and then started Bad Boy, that's when he really became...

mainstream. But yeah, it was a good documentary. I don't know if I should air quote that or not. You know, some people aren't giving it its full respect because, know, it was produced by 50 Cent and, you know, obviously they've got a long history and so I think, but I thought it was, you know, well done. I thought any biases may have been

They didn't seem that forward and apparent to me, but it seemed very straightforward. mean, it did picture him in an unsavory light, but that's just how I feel about that human being in general. just, you don't care for him, but I do realize the impact that he had on society and culture and...

and music and I can't take that away from him, but it did kind of expose him as to being a suboptimal human being. I'll leave it at that, but.

Max (15:18.774)
Yeah, I mean, I kind of wished it had built in, like, it was dramatic, but it could have been, like, I felt like maybe something could have built up more to the last episode. You know, I don't know, like, it was all bad, right? There's all this bad stuff, right? All these people who are speaking out against him. I think I wish I had heard. It was interesting to me because...

I didn't know a lot of the stories, right? I didn't know all the detail about his involvement, maybe Tupac's death and, you know, how, I knew about the East Coast, West Coast rivalry, but not all the details. So that was interesting, but I just felt like, what is the real point of this, right? They kept on showing, okay, this was the outcome of the trials, right? They kept putting that in there and I was like, okay, what are you saying? Like, felt like somebody, I don't know if we needed a net, more of a strong.

narrator to tie everything together. Okay. And I think they tried to do that a little bit with Kirk Burroughs. So maybe I didn't really want a documentary. I wanted something a little bit more dramatic. Okay. But I don't know. I felt like they could have been a little bit stronger in their message. But it is supposed to be a documentary.

Yeah, I mean, it definitely showed, you know, the downfall of him. You know, I would like to have seen more of a more of a comprehensive documentary on him, but it was just a documentary of what he, the culmination of all the, you know, the court case and all that stuff. wasn't a full documentary on him. So, yeah, so.

Is it going to make him look bad? But you know, I'm hearing now that his sons are going to produce a documentary and I'm sure they'll show him in a more favorable light. I didn't think the sons came out very well in the documentary. Right. that we're talking about it. But yeah, it's just bad all the way around. But that just kind of shows you, you know, money and power and influence. can all...

Will (17:31.544)
go sour and and yeah true too yeah and it's just you know when unchecked it could it could be could be a catastrophe and it just affected so many people so many lives you know and I feel very bad for you know the ones that lost their lives and even the ones that were abused and whether mentally or physically or

or what you can get away with.

Will (18:00.64)
anybody that was really affected by it. But I will say that it does show you how kind of messed up the system is, you know, because I think the thing that he was trying to do, and I'm sure it'll come out when, you know, his documentary, it seems like he was trying to, and maybe that's just how the legal system is now, just the way we are right now. Like it's,

trying to buy influence, trying to sway minds and opinions with money and on social media. That was the interesting part to me. He was just trying to, particularly with his trial, he was trying to do all he can through social media and even hiring people outside of the courtroom as supporters to...

to sway the legal system, you know what I mean? Sway the opinion of the jurors. And I'm sure it's not the first time it happened. I'm sure it's not a new thing, but it's just kind of mind-boggling to me. It's never gonna be completely unbiased. Everybody's connected. It's not like, I don't think those jurors were even sequestered. mean, they...

You have a month.

Will (19:26.85)
they can be touched, they can be swayed and influenced and you're not gonna get, it's not gonna be a perfect system, you know, where they're just examining the facts and the details of the case and making a educated, you know, and the right, you know, verdict for that. I'm not saying it wasn't the right verdict, but it.

Well, the people are worried about, well, he might come after me. know what I mean? Well, too, that too, but. You're actually right. It's not an unbiased system at all. So what do you think about, you know, seeing those, so they have the current footage where he was talking to his lawyers and like you're saying, trying to influence social media. You know, that was kind of footage that he didn't expect that would get out in the way that it did. Like, what do you think in midlife?

No, that's it.

Max (20:22.178)
You think this is common in midlife? He was in denial basically. He's like, I didn't do anything wrong or I shouldn't be put in jail for a long time. So how do you feel like, do you think it's just certain people in midlife don't or even older, they just don't change?

mean, you know, it's, know, they say it's harder to change as you get older, you know. I don't know. I will say, I think the trial, the charges were trumped up. I think they, I don't think he should have been on trial for what, for what he was charged for. I think he should have been on trial for obviously domestic violence and some other things, but.

card.

Will (21:11.308)
Yeah. Yeah, I think the plan was just to throw the whole, throw everything at them that you can and to see what you can get out of it.

They were trying to get him on something, I guess.

Max (21:22.89)
That's kind of how I felt about the documentary. They're throwing a bunch of stuff out there. I wanted more of a story. so it's similar to that, like for 50 Cent, like how, you know, in midlife maybe you stop beefing with somebody, right? Like how long do you hold a grudge? Is it just an ego thing, right? Well, that's him. It's everything about ego and, you know, okay.

That's him. I mean, he's the ultimate troll. He has these beefs, petty beefs, whatever you want to call them. And I don't know if it's sad or not, but that's what we enjoy about 50 Cent. He's a master at having these type of rivalries and beefs and coming out looking better for it.

than the person that he's opposing. He just has that ability to do that, to make fun of people, putting them down, or clown people that he's going back and forth with. He always seems to get the better of who he's doing that with. I enjoy his social media presence. I think it's funny. But if you take a step back and look at it, it's...

I could see why somebody would say, that's kind of sad. That's not good for the culture. That's, you know, it's painting us in the back.

There was some quote, I don't know if it's his quote, but he uses that quote about when they go low, I go lower.

Will (22:53.57)
Yeah. Yeah. See, see, see, but you know, you're, you're laughing at it and I'm laughing at it too. And it's, I think in some respects, and if it's done right, I, know, I do think, you know, there's a entertainment value of it, but I think sometimes it goes a little too far and just like wishes people just put down their, their differences and, and come together.

I mean, in this case, he was trying to expose all the wrongs that Diddy did. in that, you know, maybe he was just trying to show, you know, he wouldn't be charged with a lot of things. So he really wanted to expose him and a lot of people got hurt. And so I guess it's not necessarily payback for him, but, for all these victims, it was effective in that way, I guess.

Yeah, but Max, you gotta look at it like this too. I just had this thought.

A lot of people blame, and we could have a whole nother podcast category or whatever about this, but a lot of people blame 50 for the demise, so to speak, of New York hip hop.

they should.

Max (24:14.69)
Yeah, really.

Yes, and the reason why they blame 50 for that is because, know, when, and hip hop has always been about competition and, you know, battling, but it's always been like, it never went too low. It was just like, I'm gonna test my mic skills against your skills, right? It wasn't a tearing down.

So to speak of folks, and I'm not saying he had the first hip hop beef or anything like that, but during his hay day, there was a lot of, uh, uh, beefs with him, with other New York hip hop artists that it kind of made a, uh, a division, so to speak in the, in the culture, you know, there was, you know, we did have the, you know, the East coast, West coast beef, but it, you know, before that, but

He was beefing with a lot of New York artists and it kind of like separated the crew. And a lot of people will say that's how Atlanta came to be and became now Atlanta's really like the mecca of hip hop because they kind of grew from that and all their artists.

support each other. They'll jump on each other's records and features and everything. And you very rarely hear about any beast between a Southern, mean, Atlanta hip hop artists. You know, there's been a couple, but they tend to like support each other a lot better than the New York artist did. And a lot of people point, you know, that the timing of it kind of...

Will (26:08.238)
goes along with when 50 came up.

So in this case, are you saying midlife or getting older, you shouldn't change or that like, maybe he shouldn't, this is just who he is and we should just accept that?

no, and you know, it's funny because I was having a talk with a gentleman last night. I was at a R &B listening session or there was a DJ that was doing some R &B music at a local hookah spot. he was telling me about, shout out to my boy Antoine, he was telling me about this woman that come up.

to him and obviously they knew each other for a long time and she was kind of like waving him off and putting her fingers in his face and kind of stuff like that. And this is a, where we are is kind of a smaller black community so we all kind of know each other and dated each other's friends and stuff like that. she was really just kind of putting him down and he was like,

He brushed her off and we're hey, we're too old, having these, well, what are we doing? He was like, I think he's 52 and I think she's in her 50s. And he's like, what the hell's going on? Why are people still doing this? I think at our age, Max, I figured this out a little while ago. I'm not going to.

Will (27:49.518)
There might be people that I don't like or don't trust or don't want to deal with, right? But I'm not going to go out of my way to like dodge them or not be in the same place with them. I just don't, I just won't mess with them. I just won't talk to them. I mean, I get like, I just say, you know, Hey, what's up? And that's it. I'm not going to like manufacture.

a lot of animosity and, or try to rally friends to like, Oh, don't mess with that person. Don't do, don't, don't. It's just too much time and too much energy. Like why? There's so many people in this world and the world is so big. And so what if you run into them or whatever? I just, don't have that type of energy or time anymore. And like, he was kind of telling me the same thing, like, okay, you know, you might know something bad about me or whatever, blah, blah, blah.

spent

Will (28:43.534)
You know, I might know something bad about you or I disagree with you about something, but you know, I'm not going to put my fingers in your face. I'm not going to make a production. I'm not going to do any of that. You are one side of the room. I'll stay on the other. And if we happen to, you know, meet in the same place, you know, it is what it is. And, know, it's just not going to spend that time or energy trying to stir something up.

feel like there's a nudge word in there somewhere.

Just, yeah, well, that's just me being unbothered. I'm unbothered, you know. I don't care. mean, you know, I'm not gonna fake anything. know, I'm not gonna be, you know, that's another thing people do. They'll fake friendships or energy knowing that they don't really like the person. I'm not gonna fake it, but I'm just like, you know, I don't rock with so-and-so if that person is here, I like it.

You know, it is what it is. know, we might exchange a greeting and that's it. You know, I'm not gonna, you know, have a conversation with the person. I'm not gonna, like I said, tell people not to talk to whoever, whatever it is. And I ain't got the type of energy no more. So to answer your question, yes, I think we can and should change. shouldn't be, we shouldn't hold these grudges and just, you know.

Yeah, I think there should be a natural evolution as you get older, but maybe this is just part of 50s public persona, right?

Will (30:14.382)
Yeah, this is what he's, this is his character now. This is, this is who he is now. He's, he's, he's the guy that we depend on or know that's going to troll. And maybe he'll outgrow it one day. I don't know. Maybe he's embracing that role, but he's that guy now. He's the, he's a professional troll. And, know, as long as it doesn't go too far, we can laugh at it and enjoy it. It's fine.

Max (30:48.334)
So we typically at the end of the year will kind of review who we think were the marauders of the year. We did that in 2024. So we wanted to do that since we didn't have a chance to do it at the end of 2025. We wanted to do that now and kind of talk about who we thought really marauded last year. know, speaking of people who had a big impact, you know, maybe it could have been 57.

I was just about to say, know, he might be on our list of marauders, you know.

Will (31:23.246)
Give him an honorary... Marauder.

Shout out to for stirring things up and keeping things interesting and helping out these victims. I definitely think that you put their stories out there front and center and so people couldn't ignore it. I think that's a good thing. We each came up with about four marauders or groups of marauders. Do you want to start with your number four pick?

Yeah, 100%.

Will (31:52.802)
Yeah, I'll start with my number four pick. I'm in Virginia and my number four pick will be the first female governor of Virginia, Abigail Spamburger, age 46. I think that's cool that we have our first female governor of Virginia. So I want to give her a shout out with her being a midlifer.

I thought the whole campaign, if you know anything about it, the gubernatorial campaign for Virginia was kind of crazy. And the ads were hilarious. These two women were going back and forth with each other. And, but that, think that's just where we are. And, know, these, these races against each other, these political races, it's not all going to be peaches and cream. It's going to be,

I saw that.

Will (32:48.526)
It's going to show people with some bad light and.

I feel like with women they really focus a lot on the appearance too, you know.

Well, that's true. That's yeah, that's that's an aspect. I didn't really think about you. Right. There was one ad against her opponent. I can't think of her name right now. That just made

But she had the crazy hair. don't know if that was AI or something.

Dude, she was saying something crazy. I can't think of her name. Shout out to her. yeah, so Abigail Spanberger would be my number four, a Marauder for 2025.

Max (33:23.694)
So my number four, we're counting down to one. So mine was the heated rivalry mid-likers. So not the actors who are awesome, amazing. I've been telling you to watch this speaking of series and getting hooked on stuff. But the director's name was Jacob Tierney. He is 45. And Rachel Reed is the author who wrote the book series. And they're both Canadian. This series is on HBO Max, if you haven't seen it.

yet and it hit in December and HBO picked it up expecting it to be somewhat popular but it really took the internet or social media by storm and crazy like rabid fans, rabid fans like me. I'm a rabid fan but it just kind of, it's gay hockey smut, right? That's what people refer to it jokingly but it really was a love. It's what? Gay hockey smut.

Okay

It's a hockey show, right? But it's a romance. It's a love story. And it's very fresh in the way it's told. You know, it's two guys, you know, in a very competitive sport. It felt pretty realistic to me. I mean, I don't know that much about hockey, it wasn't just about the hockey, but it was about these guys who had a lot to lose because they were at the top of their sport and they were rivals. And so that's why it's called Heated Rivalry. But it was about how they...

you know, it would hook up in private and how it ended up that they really loved each other. So it was a beautiful story. And so I feel like that, you know, with all the bad news in the world, it kind of gave some people some respite and happiness and joy. So I picked them for number four for me. All right, back to you.

Will (35:06.412)
My next one would be, and this kind of affects all of us, you know, with AI becoming so prevalent, you know, you can't really escape it at this point. I mean, it's almost in all walks of life now. If you even look at something on the internet now, it's gonna be most likely done with AI, you know, and it's also, we're all using it at work.

so it's just become a huge part of our lives, but time magazine recognized it's person of the year, but it was actually, people that, are highly involved in influential and AI. just want to shout out a few of those that are in our demographic, you know, our, midlife marauders out there. of course we'd have to mention, Elon Musk, age 54, with his grock that

Ironically, sometimes I use in my car, in my Tesla. Lisa Sue with AMD. Demis Hassabis, Lisa Sue is 56 by the way. Demis Hassabis, age 49 with Google DeepMind. Dario Amadee, age 43 with Claude. And Fei-Fei Li, age 49 with World Labs.

People that were in the Time Magazine as far as influential as AI architects and those are the Time persons or people of the year.

That's pretty impressive that so many of them were mid-lifers, right? Because there was more, how many were named total?

Will (36:56.718)
were about four or five more names, but they, they were, little older. but yeah, these are.

And a couple younger, right? A younger. With Zuckerberg in there?

Zuckerberg, uh, he might be 40 now.

Kind of crazy, it is interesting, right? Like people are hitting their stride or in their stride at this age and he's 41. Oh, he is. So he's a midlifer, millennial midlifers we'd like to say.

Yeah, he's a pre-midlifer, I think. All right. For me, it's like 45. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of like, this is an off the wall question. What's your age for cougars?

Max (37:37.294)
Well, yeah.

Max (37:48.494)
I don't know if I have an age for cougars, but probably, I think 40 plus.

Yeah, I got in the heated argument about this one time. Uh, I said 40, 40 plus. somebody said, no, it's 45 or 50. You can't be a Cougar at 40. I was like, the hell you.

think he can be a cougar at 40. Yeah.

Alright, who you got next Max?

All right, so my number three, right? I'm going to put two actors together, two actors who you kind of saw in a lot of different places. So Walton Goggins, 54, and Jon Hamm, 54. They're both 54. All right. So I picked them because they were very, I don't know, you kind of saw them everywhere. Maybe this is the stuff I'm watching, but so Walton Goggins was the character Rick in White Lotus. He was in several commercials. There's some Super Bowl commercials that he was in, but.

Max (38:38.862)
Walmart, no doubt. And he had this completely different character from his White Lotus one, you because he was kind of goofy and he was on SNL making fun of his hairline. So I kind of liked the two sides of him, the very serious, know, he can get really serious in these acting roles, but then I think he tapped dances. He can be kind of silly as well. So I think he's, he was very visible last year and we've talked a lot about Pedro Pascual, so we're not going to talk about him here, but.

And then also John Hamm, he introduced the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl last year. He got some award from Harvard for being like a hasty pudding theatricals man of the year. You know, he had a meme that was going around from his show, Your Friends and Neighbors. So, and then also he was shown, he was on SNL, but then also he was, you know, on social media at a Bad Bunny concert where he was dancing around and people were joking around that it's, and it's not John Hamm, it's-

Juan Hamon, you know, so I think just he it's to me it's exciting that you can be in midlife and still a lot of people are Following you they you know think you're funny or you're just making a splash, right? So I think that's kind of cool that these guys You know, I think Walton Goggins it took him a while to really become a familiar face or for people to know who he was so Kudos to both of those. So those are that's my number four pick

You know, it's funny to me, Max, and maybe because I'm biased, but it just seems like guys our age are like really is what's running like Hollywood right now. You know, you're going through your list and I'm thinking about, you know, some of my favorite actors aside from like Samuel Jackson and Denzel, you know, obviously, but like guys that I see the most are

Midlifers, you you had your list. I'm thinking about Matt Damon.

Max (40:36.334)
Yeah, and they're putting out their own stuff, producing stuff, they're directing and yeah.

about John Berenthal, Idris Elba, John Cena, guys. Yeah, 100%.

a lot of women yeah

Max (40:55.822)
like Amy Poehler has her own podcast. I think people are in our stage. What do you think that is? Is it partly because they have many money to produce things, that they have the experience, have, you know, think about Ben Stiller, right? He did Severance, but is it just this idea that, okay, it's now or never, I'm gonna just do whatever I want or really, know, hit my creative stride?

Regina.

Will (41:19.956)
No, think it's, this is gonna sound vain, but I think we just look better than we used to, you know, and can stay.

Will (41:33.006)
You know, if you go back and look at people in their 40s and 50s, what they used to look like back in the day, I mean, they used to look old as shit. now, yeah, well, I don't know if it's because, it may be. I just think we're, we take better care of ourselves. Yeah, healthier. I think we can still do some of these roles that were reserved.

for younger cats or younger people and not look like we've aged out of it. You know what I mean? So.

Or there's maybe more roles in this demographic. stories. Yeah. Cause think about the White Lotus character, right? He was paired with a younger woman. His girlfriend was younger and they did that on purpose. Like that he was like this older, a little bit of a sugar daddy type, you know. And same with Jon Hamm. He was going through this whole midlife crisis and your friends and neighbors. So the whole story was about being in midlife, you know, for Jon Hamm. So.

But I think you're right, the people who are creating these want to hear these stories, right? Because they are themselves might be in midlife. Maybe we're just watching these shows because we're interested in midlife stories. So that might be it too. We're editing out the things that are younger for us because we're not as interested in that.

Yeah, I'm thinking about like Ben Affleck and Ryan Reynolds. But at some point those people are going to get aged out and then a lot of care.

Max (43:10.862)
I think there's a lot of young creators now, a lot of young, you know, at least some of the actors are younger now, even if the directors are.

Yeah, that's interesting. All right, my next one, and I couldn't put this at number one because it affects me personally, I know I couldn't put that. Humble. But yeah. My number two is me. Well, me and.

I don't want.

Will (43:44.716)
Yeah, me. Well, let me be more.

you should have been like at a ten for marauding last year. Number two is you.

There's a reason for that. Well, me, but let me be more specific. So, as I stated earlier, I did start another podcast with some gentlemen that we attended school with at UVA, and we started the Dominion Road podcast, and that can be, you can find those at any podcast outlet, and we're also on YouTube, and anywhere you get your podcasts.

This is very professional.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we're trying. And it was, it was spawned from this podcast. We, had one of the members on shout out to Frank McGee, AKA Moin and he did such a good job. then he and my friend Steve and Darren, they, we all kind of talked about it and we decided to do.

Will (44:47.95)
Uh, our podcast, Dominion Road, that name comes from a street that we all live together at the same time after we graduated from the University of Virginia. And we talk about some of the, some of the similar things that we talk about here, but obviously it's, for males. Uh, so it's going to be a little bit of a different perspective.

It's male perspective, right? think women can still.

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. we, we talk, we get a lot of topics from our, from our female audience that wants to hear, or wants to tell us what they would like for men to talk about. And the reason why we started this podcast, particularly at our age is, is because we felt like current, not current, but previous generations didn't.

really sit down and talk about these things. They kind of kept these things to themselves. we get, you know, we, we, we, we, we, we get serious and we get, you know, we're, there's, get humorous and, you know, kid each other and talk about all kinds of things that I, say that our fathers never talked about. So we wanted to talk about these things and, know, it actually appeals to the younger generation as well too, cause they,

They want to hear what us quote unquote unks and old heads have to say about certain topics.

Max (46:16.974)
boomers.

Yeah. So yeah. So, yeah, I encourage all our listeners to check out that podcast as well. And I certainly will be steering, listeners from that podcast over to the midlife marauders podcast as well too. So we're all in, in sync and in harmony with that. And, we're all trying to grow and prosper together. So, so yeah, that's my number two shout out to those guys, dominion road podcast and, yeah.

Number two for me was Pamela Anderson. She's 58. She's on the higher end. I felt like she was in the news a lot because her look now is very different from what it was when she was on Baywatch or before when she was with Tommy and her. I think just the fact that she

you know, would appear and she was on a cover of people with no makeup on, very different hair, her hair was curly and maybe more natural colored. So I feel like she made a big impact. I noticed, and she was in a bunch of movies last year, she went makeup free for the most part at the Met Gala. I just think that it was pretty brave of her to not, to kind of have this new look, you know, because she was so known for being this blonde bombshell with lots of makeup and

always put together or looking, you know, her face was always very pretty and made up. But now she's kind of showing a different kind of beauty and she still looks beautiful. So, you for me, somebody who doesn't like to wear a lot of makeup, I found that inspiring. And I felt like it was very courageous of her to just... And you hear that from other midlife actresses as well. think Kate Winslet has talked about it. I think Halle Berry. So I feel like...

Max (48:04.974)
But I thought Pamela Anderson was, she stood out because she was getting, maybe her PR person was really good, but she was everywhere last year, I thought. Okay. All What's your number one?

Okay. My number one. Well, my number one is a conglomerate, so to speak, or. Nice. I just thought like in 2025, we had such a good year for midlife artists, particularly in the hip hop genre. And I wanted to shout them out. Obviously we.

Well, I'll kind of go in order of importance a little bit, guess. Rayquan put out a new album, The Emperor's New Clothes, which I thought was a really good album. De La Soul. Obviously, one of the members passed away, but they put out a highly anticipated album this year, Cabin in the Sky.

I enjoyed it. know, some people liked a lot better than I did. but I thought it was a good album. I thought it was a good, good showing by them. And, I guess the number one. Well, no, let me back up. So Nas, put out a new album as well with a DJ premiere that had been talked about, maybe over 20 years, called light years. And.

You know, that, album was kind of polarizing because I liked it. Let me just say that, but it's kind of polarizing because it's definitely like New York, like boom, bat, like, you know, it's a DJ premier produced album. I think the Alchemist has something to do with it as well, but it's got that New York boom bat feel to it. And sometimes people will think that's a little bit outdated.

Will (50:04.874)
but if you're into that kind of, and there's a big audience, that still, still likes that, particularly me.

Did you feel like it was outdated?

No, but I can see why people would say that. You know what saying? It's kind of using like beats that, you know, would have been good. 20, 25 years ago, I mean, it's obviously updated from that, but, know, some of the some of the tracks feel like they could have been done in. I don't know, 1996 as opposed to 2026. You know what mean? It would have fit in there as well, But like, but but that's what we wanted from that from that.

We didn't want them to do something that they aren't known for or aren't good at. So it was good to me. I liked it, but there was some talk on the interweb, so to speak, that it was a little outdated and they wished it was more timely. I don't think that was the goal of them. I think they wanted to give us something that was long overdue.

Like I said, it's been talked about for over 20 years and they gave it to us. So, shout out to both of them, but I, let me get to my, most anticipated one of the crew is the Clips album, let God sort them out. You know, they're obviously, marauders, and,

Max (51:34.574)
like a 15-year hiatus or 14 years.

Yeah, so, a mouse.

together.

Malice is 53 and Pusha T is 48. And it's been, yeah, like you said, a good little while since they had an album because.

Will (51:55.182)
He's more famous because he because he when they when Malice stopped making music Pusha T kept going. So. Yeah, so and Pusha T is considered one of the better better rappers out there. And we were all well not we, but a lot of people were a little worried about what Malice was going to bring to the table because he's been gone for a long time. And he met.

Or I think he exceeded all the expectations. He sounded like he, you know, he did many, many years ago and in some ways better, if you ask me. And a great album, still play it, still bump it, still getting the car with friends and you know, certain tracks are requested and I mean, it still hits and just so shout out to those. They did get a Grammy.

Yeah, and they got a Grammy. A Grammy for best rap performance. They're nominated for five Grammys. And they're doing all this, think Pusha T is doing a collab with Louis Vuitton and you know, so he's got the whole style thing with Pharrell, you know, so it really is a resurgence or a renaissance.

Yeah.

Will (53:08.898)
Did you see them with Pharrell in their pink suits they wore at the Grammys?

I did the dusty pink suit. don't know. I thought they were okay. It kind of made them look like some band from back in the day, like The Temptations or something where they're all dressed the same. You know what I mean? I wouldn't have mined the same suit in different colors. There's something that maybe that wouldn't have looked as like they were one unit. Right.

What did you think about that?

Will (53:34.99)
I don't know. I mean, I hear what you're saying. I actually kind of like it now. I wear it? No, but I actually kind of like it. I thought it was daring. love, you know, pink is a, particularly I think, and other people say it's too pink on men of color looks like it pops. So I think, I think it was a good look.

I don't know, there was a part of me that wanted to see something a little bit more them that maybe it wasn't a stylist putting that together, right? Like what would they have come up with if they had their own choice?

You don't think they put that together? think they put it. Yeah, think Pharrell was.

I we'll leave it on.

sure they had input. I'm sure they had input. And it's not that, know, Pharrell doesn't have good taste, but I just felt like, I don't know, I want to see something more relatable, you know? It's kind of like, I don't, I can't afford Louis Vuitton, right? So I like kind of the new, the direction that it's going in, but I'm still not going be able to buy it, you know?

Will (54:34.712)
So yeah, that's not for you, Max. Sorry. That's not for you.

I think I kind of Kendrick Lamar with the comb and his hair better. Because I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting. That kind of made me, it was less expected. Okay. So my number one one is the late night hosts. Like Jimmy Kimmel, 58, his show was suspended by ABC. Stephen Colbert, he's a little bit older, 61.

I think you've got one more, right?

Max (55:07.854)
Show was canceled. Seth Meyers, 52, Jon Stewart, 63, John Oliver, 48. So these are all a bit of more liberal, progressive comedians and late night hosts. But I really felt like they were in the news a lot because they were speaking their mind and just making fun of how ridiculous our government is right now. And I think a lot of people feel that. And I just like that the comedians have a way to express it.

you know, they're causing a stir at their age, you know, at our age. So I think in terms of relevance and marauding, I think they're good example. So that was my last one. We don't have to talk that much about it, but those are mine.

All right. I'm going to give an honor, an honorable mention, if I may. Dave Chappelle. Yeah, speaking of comedians, still going strong, still pushing the button, still not afraid of being canceled, still doing this thing. The Living Ohio being, you know, an original.

speaking of comedians.

Still going strong, right?

Max (56:16.994)
Still living in Ohio

Max (56:22.028)
I think he went to Saudi. Did he go to Saudi Arabia?

He addressed that in his comedy special. It's weird too, man, I've heard some people talk about this. Did you see it?

I saw part of, you know, this is my thing. started. I didn't finish it. Yeah, I didn't finish. I started it.

No, I shouldn't.

But for him, it's not so much, he's not really telling jokes anymore. He just has a funny spin on just social commentary. You know what I mean?

Max (56:59.468)
Maybe that's why I turned it off. I expecting something else.

That's the thing though. That's what I heard from some people like, you know, they did the same because it's not really, not really jokey joke anymore. It's just, you know, I enjoyed it, but I do see why some people would not like it. But, know, to use their own, but I enjoyed it. I do like to hear.

his take on things. He does it in a humorous way, but I like to hear his take. just quickly, I just want to give him an honorable mention.

Max (57:50.668)
So kind of related to celebrities, maybe this is a new segment for us, but we wanted to have like a WTF midlifer. So this week's or this episode is Nicki Minaj. So WTF Nicki Minaj.

So I'll be honest with you, Max. I'll be honest with you. Whenever I see something about Nicki Minaj, I stay away from it.

So not just this episode, tell me what else that you're not surprised about. She's 43, so she's a younger.

Well

Will (58:31.828)
She, listen, everybody's entitled to their views and political leanings and all that kind of stuff. But from her, it just came out of right field, pun intended. It's bizarre. It's very bizarre. And it's not so much, and again, who cares what her political leanings are, but her...

Let's go.

Will (59:00.63)
what she's saying about other people is, and what we should believe is just completely out of the norm. And I just don't understand it. I thought that, you you remember during the elections, people were accused, whether rightfully or wrongfully, of being paid for their support.

Again, Doris.

And the endorsements, right? And, you know, I thought maybe that was how that came to be. And, but it's just gone so crazy right now. And I hate to call anybody crazy, but I just don't get it. And I listen, I love Nicki Minaj. I think she's, male or female. I think she's one of the better, better rappers of our, of our generation.

And, you know, I always loved her personality, her style, you know, what she is as a black woman, what she...

Right, but she's a comp.

Will (01:00:11.63)
accomplished and used to represent.

She thinks that the moon landing didn't happen.

I mean, that's fine. That's of all the conspiracy theories that that's the least of the ones I would categorize as just ridiculous. know, but I hesitate to have any commentary to where I'll have to lean up on you to do this because I just choose to remember her. She's passed away.

But do you choose to remember why I like her, what the influence that she had on me, her contributions to music and everything else and style? Yeah, I'm just going to leave it at that. yeah, she, I really like what. Yeah, what.

I influence on you. I didn't know you were big fan.

Will (01:01:11.288)
yeah, I've always been a huge fan of Nicki. yeah. I saw Nicki in concert years and years ago. really? Yeah. yeah, like she...

I actually take dance classes in one of her songs. really? Like fitness classes.

Yeah, you just need to post that video. But no, just like, I've always been a big fan of Nicki Minaj. Shout out to her. But like, what the hell, man? What's going on here?

I don't know. Yeah, I feel like she's just trying to, I don't know. She said she didn't want to make politics part of it, but she felt that Trump was getting targeted and bullied, which is so ironic, right? But, know, they show the pictures of them holding hands and like, I don't know, it seemed kind of weird.

If we would love to hear your theories and thoughts about mismanaged, if you have anything, if you know, comment what you think about.

Max (01:02:12.62)
You think it's because she wants to get attention? No. Or she... No. She just really, her mind just thinks this way.

I think something flipped. think something happened. think, you know, because there was that whole thing about her brother and some, I think her brother was incarcerated and a lot of public, she, you know, obviously is going to support her brother. You know, I think a lot of that happened because of that, because she was receiving a lot of backlash for that.

Yeah, I think that's, I don't know if that was the genesis of it, but in my eyes it seemed to come from that. But shout out to Nicki Minaj, I mean, you know.

Maybe there's a reason behind it. I mean, they say it's also because she wanted her citizenship, but then that was also not, she didn't really need it. I don't know who knows.

Yeah, it's again, I'm trying to take politics out of it, but you know, some of the comments and some of the things she's been saying about other people and our people in general just seems completely bizarre to me. It's just very bizarre behavior. but yeah, that's our WTF Marauder.

Will (01:03:37.708)
Can you Maran and BWTF or what do we category that as?

Yeah, I think you can maraud and maybe in a infamous way, right? Right?

I tend to look at marauding a little bit more of a positive thing, but hey, yeah. But you know, that's, she's doing something. She's some sort of marauding, marauding off the path, but you know, it's all good. But shout out to Nikki. Yeah. WTF.

would ever leave.

Will (01:04:12.632)
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Midlife Marauders. Follow us on social media and wherever you stream your podcast.

We also want to give a big shout out to Frank Moyn at Moyn Music for providing the beats for our theme music. And to our listeners, keep on marauding and see you next time.