Alex Pearlman Breaks Down Trump's Scandals, Internet Anger, and Comedy in a Crisis

Summary

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Andy Beshear Podcast

Episode: Alex Pearlman Breaks Down Trump’s Scandals, Internet Anger, and Comedy in a Crisis
Host: Andy Beshear
Guest: Alex Perlman (Comedian/Content Creator)
Date: July 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and timely episode, Andy Beshear welcomes viral comedian and internet personality Alex Perlman (a.k.a. Pearlmania500) for a candid conversation on using humor to navigate turbulent news cycles, the onslaught of scandals in modern politics, especially those associated with Donald Trump, and making sense of anger on the internet. The second half features a lighthearted segment where Gen Z interns “mog” the host with the latest youth lingo—injecting some joy and cross-generational understanding into the heavy times.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Alex Perlman’s Comedy Origins & Viral Rise

• Stand-Up to Social Media:

  • Perlman spent almost 20 years performing stand-up before quitting in 2019 for an office job, only to re-enter comedy via TikTok during the 2022 Roe v. Wade reversal.
  • Rapid online growth began with a viral rant about political fundraising and the feeling of futility many people experienced.
  • Quote – Perlman on his big break:

    “I got kept getting the text messages like everybody else did from the Democratic Party, asking me for 15 bucks. And I just lost my mind... I picked up my phone, I was like, well, nobody, I'm not customer facing anymore. I started screaming in my phone. And before I knew it, I picked up like 50,000 followers.” (04:12)

• The Role of His Wife as Sounding Board:

  • His wife, who frequently vetoes possible videos, is his key test audience. 75% of videos don't make the cut.
  • Quote:

    “I want to tell you about 75% of the time she tells me no. She tells me, shut up, do the dishes.” (05:38)

2. Approach to Content and Internet Anger

• Perlman sees himself as a comedian and commentator, not a journalist or political analyst.

• He designs content as if explaining complex events to his family at Thanksgiving—striving for relatability and simplicity.

• Quote:

  “How would I explain this to them between passing the biscuits? And that’s kind of what that is for those three minutes.” (05:47)

• Online vs. Real-World Engagement:

  • The response online is different from feedback at live events or “in the wild,” where he hears about unexpected videos that resonated, such as his humorous riff on cheesesteak egg rolls. (08:06)

3. Trump's Scandal Machine & the Challenge for Commentary

• Overload and Desensitization:

  • Discusses Trump's tactic of bombarding the public with multiple scandals per day, making it hard to focus or hold accountability.
  • Quote – Perlman:

    “Donald Trump is the only politician I've ever seen who had a scandal in the morning, a scandal at lunch, and a scandal at dinner. And the dinner one doesn't even carry over to breakfast.” (10:28)

• Media Distractions and Democratic Messaging:

  • Perlman distinguishes between Democrats, who tend to be destroyed by a single scandal, and Republican officials who survive dozens.
  • Quote:

    “For the average politician... they get one scandal that takes them out. On the Republican side... they can have 600 of them.” (10:51)

• Audience Targeting:

  • Perlman isn’t trying to convert hard-right Trump supporters but speaks to “the people who have been here the whole time going, I knew this man was crazy in 2015” and reassures “you’re not crazy—this is insane.” (13:38, 14:19)

4. Comedy, Failure, and Content Creation Philosophy

• The Importance of Bombing:

  • Perlman values the necessity of failure in stand-up as resilience training, akin to the challenges faced in politics and life.
  • Quote:

    “If you get a bunch of bombs under your belt, nobody can hurt you... If it goes well every single time, and then you finally get that [bad show]... you’re never gonna do the Tonight Show if you can’t let that roll off your back.” (16:55)

• Comparing Stand-Up and Political Messaging:

  • Similarities between crafting a successful set and refining a political message through repetition and feedback, with Beshear observing the only one bored by repetition is the speaker. (19:37)

5. Language, Messaging, and Political Correctness

• Advocacy Jargon vs. Plain Language:
  • Beshear notes the distance that can arise from advocacy-speak versus relatable, plain talk (e.g., “substance use disorder” vs. “addiction”).
  • Memorable exchange:

    Andy: “The newest phrase is justice involved population.”
    Perlman: “Okay... Thank you. I had no idea. I was pretending I understood.” (20:24)

6. The Stakes of Current Politics

• Why Decency and Integrity Matter:
  • Both Perlman and Beshear stress the need for moral clarity and resisting the normalization of corruption, motivated by what kind of society they want to leave to their children.
  • Quote – Perlman on raising a child in this climate:

    “It’s very hard... As I’m beginning to raise him and he's starting to understand right and wrong... to look at him and be like, if you work really hard and you are honest, then good things happen. Because you see some of the corruption that's so blatant...” (21:38)

7. Comedy in a Crisis – Seriousness vs. Humor

• Perlman’s humorous rants sometimes frighten viewers more when he becomes solemn; the gravity of certain current events can’t always be laughed away.
• Quote:

  “Most people aren’t scared by the screaming. They’re scared when I get quiet... Those have been certain times when [serious events] happen.” (24:35)

8. Vision for the Future: Policy, Hope, and “The Newer Deal”

• Perlman advocates for expanded public goods (free birth, daycare, gyms, parental leave) as a way for people, especially outside cities, to see government as helpful.
• Quote:

  “I think births should be free. I think daycare should be free. I think gyms should be free, that we should have public, you know, gymnasiums and daycares and options for people the same way we do with schools and libraries.” (29:27)

9. Personal Insights and Superpowers

• Despite a reputation as a “guy yelling online,” Perlman reveals that knowing when not to yell—when to stay quiet—is his real superpower.
• Quote:

  “Where people want to hear from a 42 year old guy from southeastern Pennsylvania and where people don’t... The superpower people often tell me I have is that I can yell when they can’t.” (31:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s daily scandals:

  “A scandal in the morning, a scandal at lunch, and a scandal at dinner. And the dinner one doesn’t even carry over to breakfast.” – Alex Perlman (10:28)

• On living in the world of internet clips and controversy:

  “I think about context collapse a lot... Where you’re talking about something over here, then somebody clips it and they put it up or they take a screenshot.” – Alex Perlman (16:00)

• On generational anxiety:

  “If my son is two and a half, if he lives to be the same age as the president, it'll be the 22nd century. And one of my big concerns... [is] how often there can be conversations of what the rest of the century is going to look like.” – Alex Perlman (23:06)

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Important Timestamps

• Comedy career origins & TikTok breakthrough: 03:03 – 05:16
• Process of making content and his wife’s editorial role: 05:16 – 07:55
• Audience connection and viral moments: 08:06 – 10:07
• Breaking down Trump’s “scandal machine”: 10:07 – 13:38
• Comedy, failure, and building resilience: 16:55 – 18:31
• Advocacy vs. plain language in politics: 19:58 – 20:27
• On raising kids in today’s political landscape: 21:38 – 23:03
• Comedy’s role in coping with crisis: 24:19 – 25:56
• Future policy hopes ("Newer Deal"): 29:27 – 31:06
• Personal superpower & closing thoughts: 31:21 – 32:47

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Gen Z Lingo Segment (with Interns)

Highlights:

• Terms Explained: “Peak Cinema,” “Mewing,” “Being Mogged,” “Bot”
• Peak Cinema: Denotes a moment of excellence or drama in online content.
  • Quote – Gen Z Intern:

    “This is so peak.” (35:54)

• Mewing: A tongue/jaw exercise to sharpen your jawline and aura.
• Mogged: Being physically outclassed by someone, most often in size or looks.
• Bot: Slang for someone perceived as robotic or skill-less, especially in gaming, but extensible to real life.
  • Quote:

    “If somebody’s not carrying their weight... I can look at them and say, ‘You’re a bot.’” – Andy Beshear (43:04)

Notable Moment:

• Interns “mog” Andy/Beshear and Perlman, showcasing generational gaps and poking fun at their attempts to “stay cool” online (34:19 – 43:22).

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Tone & Flow

The conversation was unscripted, energetic, and full of quick wit and candid honesty, blending humor with seriousness in a way that reflects the podcast’s ethos: “Real people. Real conversations.” Beshear’s open style set a comfortable stage for Perlman’s mix of internet energy and heartfelt frustration.

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Final Thoughts

• Beshear closes on a note of hope and appreciation:

  “We don’t have to choose between taking this seriously and finding moments of joy and laughter in it. We can do both, and we should.” (43:24)

• The episode bridges the heaviness of modern American politics with the healing power of humor and intergenerational dialogue.

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For more from Alex Perlman:
@pearlmania500 on most platforms (not Twitter: “Elon Musk is a fascist” – Perlman, 33:14)

Upcoming episodes:
Subscribe for more unscripted, cross-generational conversations on the Andy Beshear Podcast.

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Transcript

[Oregon Lottery Announcer]

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[Andy Beshear]

Hey, podcast family. Welcome to the Andy Beshear Podcast. Our guest has been making people laugh for 20 years. He has 1.7 million TikTok followers and is commonly referred to as the guy yelling on the Internet. Comedian Alex Perlman has a gift for taking the moments that have everyone stressed out and finding the things in them that helps you exhale. And in this political climate, I think we could all use a little more of that. We're going to talk about comedy, about Gen Z, about what it means to reach people, where they are, and what happens when the news cycle moves so fast that sometimes the funniest response is the most honest one. And then our interns are taking over. They've compiled a list of Gen Z words and phrases that apparently I need to know. I've been told this segment is, and I'm quoting here, peak Cinema. I'll let you be the judge of that. This is going to be fun. Let's get into it, Folks. This episode of the Andy Bashir Podcast is going to be a fun one because our guest this week is a red haired guy who yells about the news. Alex Perlman is a comedian and content creator who's been delighting audiences with his viral 3 minute rants on social media as Pearlmania500 and on his podcast, Too Many Tabs. His sharp wit and humorous commentary have earned him features in major media outlets including cnn, the Washington Post and podcast, even the Joe Rogan Experience. Alex, welcome to the podcast.

[Alex Perlman]

Hi.

Thank you so much for having me. It's good to know that my old bio is still floating out there. I wanted to get that one updated.

[Andy Beshear]

It's still out there. But you know, I appreciate giving you this and the Joe Rogan Podcast. How about the same number of viewers?

[Alex Perlman]

I've never actually. So here's the thing. I never, I personally have never been on Joe Rogan, but they have played my clips and reacted to it. So we put it in there as a joke. And even though I've changed that bio like four Times, it's still the one that floats out there. It's fine.

[Andy Beshear]

But that's, but that's even better for you in that you are living rent free in Joe Rogan said.

[Alex Perlman]

Hopefully, we'll see. We'll see. This is one of those things. Sometimes I feel like I'm living rent free. Unfortunately, actually not even rent free. I feel like I'm living in the terror filled world that Joe Rogan has bequeathed to many of us. Yeah, so, yeah, go ahead.

[Andy Beshear]

You were doing, you were doing stand up.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

20 plus years, 2002, I'm coming up

[Alex Perlman]

next year, I'll be 25, which is terrifying for my hairline.

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, trust me, I understand. And then you start telling jokes on TikTok.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

So actually, what happened? It's an even crazier story than that. I did about 18 years of doing stand up, doing open mics, doing feature work, hosting, all that stuff. And it was about, around 2018, 2019, I opened for a big name comic. I was kind of miserable after the show and I quit, I completely quit doing stand up. I went, I had a good office job. I said, I'll focus on the office job. Let me do, do that, keep my head down. And, and it was 2022. It was when abortion got overturned with Roe v. Wade and everything. And I got, kept getting the text messages like everybody else did from the Democratic Party, asking me for 15 bucks. And I just lost my mind. I picked up my phone, I was like, well, nobody, I'm not customer facing anymore. I started screaming in my phone. And before I knew it, I picked up like 50,000 followers. And then I started yelling some more. And then more people started following me. And then one day there was a New York Post article. And I said, well, now I'm in trouble. And I sat down. My wife, we started, you know, talking about it. She was like, well, you know, this is what you kind of wanted to do with stand up. And now, once I had enough TikTok followers, Instagram followers, comedy clubs, then were like, okay, well now we'll book you. I said, but I've been funny the whole time. But you never had followers before, so now we'll have you on. So now I'm doing a tour with my second podcast called Crashing out with Phil DeFranco. And we're, we're touring across the entire country. We're not gonna be in Louisville. We tried, we tried getting spread out into more of the, you know, the smaller cities.

[Andy Beshear]

Right.

[Alex Perlman]

But I got to do a bunch of the major ones first. To prove to promoters that I can pull in smaller cities, which to me sounds backwards, but that's just how it goes. So we're gonna be in about 12 different cities from August through October.

[Andy Beshear]

So when, when I look at your content, I mean, you really span from the intentionally funny to the funny, furious and pissed off to the kind of straight to camera. Let me be serious and tell you how it is. What drives you when you get that piece of news and you know, it comes fast and furious all day long right now. And how are you gonna treat each one?

[Alex Perlman]

So it depends. So the first thing I do like to remind people is I'm a comedian first. I am a comic. My wife reminds me, and I like to remind my followers, my listeners, my viewers, all of them. Like on our podcast, Too Many Tabs, you remind people all the time. My wife and I, we have community college degrees. Nothing wrong with having community college degrees, but we're not experts in anything. Sometimes too many tabs is about when you click on something and you fall down that rabbit hole on the Internet and you look at the top, you go, why do I have this many tabs? I started out at Star Wars. How did I end up at Henry viii? That's kind of what too many tabs is about, right?

[Andy Beshear]

Yes.

[Alex Perlman]

And it's that same thing when it comes to content. I talked to other content creators who are more in the current events, new space. I view myself more as an opinion, commentary, comedy side of things. A lot of people notice that my, my videos, especially my three minute rants, they are one take. Doesn't mean they're the first take. Usually what will happen is I'll record a video and then I take it to my wife and I show it to her and I go, is this take even worth posting? Is, is there any value in this? Should I even be talking about this? And I want to tell you about 75% of the time she tells me no. She tells me, shut up, do the dishes. And she's usually right. But that's, that's kind of where it comes from. First thing, is there a passion? Do I, do I see it being explained wrong? Do I think there's a simpler way to explain it? Do I think there's audience that isn't being spoken to? And I try to picture that audience in my mind because a lot of people think just the general public. So there's. If I, if I'm hung up on something, I literally picture specific members of my extended family, you know, the ones who I'd talk to at Thanksgiving, who I don't talk to all the time. How would I explain this to them between passing the biscuits? And that's kind of what that is for those three minutes. That's. That's what you get.

[Andy Beshear]

So how exciting is it when you take that video to your wife and you get that real genuine laugh?

[Alex Perlman]

I know I did. Well, that's why. I know that's when I. Because that's the thing. The thing is with the Internet and you've had this as governor, there's. There's a reaction you get online, and then there's a reaction you get in the town hall. There's a reaction you get from the people they're trying to help, and they're wildly different. So she helps me touch base on that. And then the second part is then when I go out into the wild, like I was just out at Netroots Nation in Philly, walking around there, and just people stopping me on the street being like, this video made an impact to me. You spoke to me on this thing. That's the difference over there. And when she gives me a genuine reaction, and to me, it's sometimes not even actually a vocal laugh, it's that she never looks up. I know a video is bad if she's watching. She starts looks up and looks over at the baby, makes the baby's okay. I'm like, I'm standing next to the baby. I know the baby's okay. If she never takes her eyes off. I said, we have a pretty good video here. We'll see how it does. And then there's a secondary thing with the platforms because they're all over the place.

[Andy Beshear]

Right.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Which.

[Andy Beshear]

Which post that you've put out there has. Has gotten you the most. The most. Not commentary online, but people coming up to you saying, this meant something to me.

[Alex Perlman]

It's all over the place because I talked about so many different things. I mean, recently somebody stopped me and reminded me of a video I don't remember talking about. Do you know what a cheesesteak egg roll is?

[Andy Beshear]

No.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay. You know what a cheese steak is?

[Andy Beshear]

I do. And an egg roll?

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Yeah.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay. Put them together. Yeah, it's a. It's an egg roll with a cheese steak inside. And I was describing that because I went to some place outside of the Philadelphia area that had them, and they were wrong. And so I was describing what you need. And like the one you open it, the nuclear inside. And they were just telling me about it, and they said that video spoke to them differently for some reason. And made them think about their hometown food. They were not even from Philly. I've had that one one specifically. A few people told me it's the one that kind of blew up for me, which was because originally it was actually aimed at leadership in the Democratic Party and a distance that I saw from what many of us on the ground felt versus what was being sent to us, either via text or via messaging from the party in 22. And the distance there. And, you know, that was. That one I felt was pretty important. The other one was more local stuff for me. So when the I95 bridge collapsed here and Governor Shapiro got it back up in 12 days, and we kind of highlighted that, that had a big movement for us. And the other one was we had an escaped prison around here. And just the coverage of that, you know, people thought that was so interesting because it was so much in their backyard. So it depends.

[Andy Beshear]

The other thing about content that I always find fascinating is the one that you think is just great. That doesn't hit at all.

[Alex Perlman]

No, they know. They know. Especially if you're promoting something, you know, especially like if I'm. When I'm trying to tell people, go to crashingouttour.com get tickets to see me perform all over the country with my good friend Vil DeFranco, they won't show it to anybody. But if I make a video where I'm just like, well, my dog threw up. 2.7 million views.

[Andy Beshear]

Amazing.

[Alex Perlman]

I don't know why. It's just how that goes.

[Andy Beshear]

I don't know.

[Alex Perlman]

There's something about it. I think there's also a difference in content, too. Where people know effort, there's, like, certain things. It has to be such a high level of effort or no effort. And the middle ground kind of freaks out.

[Andy Beshear]

When you're commenting on politics, how do you pick what you're gonna respond to? Cause especially in this Trump administration, they are intentionally pelting the American people with five, six, seven things a day that make you not only scratch your head, it makes most people mad or at least depressed.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah, well, it's cutting through. What do I want to talk about? So, for instance, with the tariffs, he shoots. Like you were saying, five, six. I noticed this in his first term, Donald Trump is the only politician I've ever seen who had a scandal in the morning, a scandal at lunch, and a scandal at dinner. And the dinner one doesn't even carry over to breakfast.

[Andy Beshear]

Right.

[Alex Perlman]

You know, for the average politician, I look. I look around, you know, especially on the Democratic side, they get one scandal that takes them out on the Republican side. Now it feels. I mean, you look at Ken Paxton, they can have 600 of them.

[Andy Beshear]

And Ken Paxton does have 600 scandals.

[Alex Perlman]

Yes, he does. He does. And including his divorce. But the thing that's happening right now is about cutting through that and sticking with it. So the tariffs were a big one, I think the Jesus AI photo, that was a big one.

[Andy Beshear]

Absolutely.

[Alex Perlman]

But it's about really trying to point out to people about how Donald Trump. Can I curse on this podcast? I don't know.

[Andy Beshear]

Go right ahead.

[Alex Perlman]

All right. Donald Trump doesn't give a. About anybody. He doesn't. He really doesn't. And you look at this just this weekend, what happened with the LDS being labeled as non Christian by the Department of Defense. There's something in there of just a callousness of not caring about what any of these decisions are going to do. He just pops in, they do something, and then they decide later whether or not they're gonna not even ask for forgiveness. Go, oh, my bad. Why are you making a big deal about it?

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah, like the slush fund.

[Gen Z Intern]

It's like.

[Alex Perlman]

Exactly. The slush fund was another one. And then they throw in the distraction. He's been trying all week to make the reflecting pool happen. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. It looked weird at first, but now they're like, oh, it's reflecting.

Okay.

It's water. Physics still work. They got that going for you. But the rest of it is like, it's a concept. I think people are smarter, for the most part are smarter than. It during the height of the election was a little bit different because of the way the algorithms work and we're hyper focused on certain things. But as we're getting stepping back, the more things he's stepping into are things that people every day know. You know how it is.

[Andy Beshear]

Well, and sometimes I've got to feel that your comedy writes itself with this guy, because when the reflecting pool suddenly became about size, that was something Marco said.

[Alex Perlman]

It's the hands. Right. Remember little Marco talking about the hands? I feel like I'm the only person

[Andy Beshear]

who remembers 2016 well and how all of these Republicans in Congress or in his administration that he has treated terribly will just cower and go along with it. I was on Meet the Press. What about not this last weekend, but the weekend before? Right after Mike Pence.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

And Donald Trump sent a mob that built a gallow or gallows for Mike Pence, and the man still won't criticize Trump.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah. They're afraid there's a deep level of fear of the unknown, of what he could do. I mean, he's the first president in the history of America to publicly publish an enemies list. This weekend he posted David Pakman, Brian Tyler Cohen, Hasan Piker and others. He listed all of them as lunatic leftist influencers.

[Andy Beshear]

Were you on the list?

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

He's been.

[Alex Perlman]

I was not. I apparently, though, the secret is don't use Twitter.

[Andy Beshear]

Got it?

[Alex Perlman]

That's the secret. That's, that's the thing. This administration cares only about Twitter. They don't care about Instagram, they don't care about TikTok, they don't care about YouTube, they don't care about any of those unless somebody takes it and reposts it on Twitter. Then they'll, then they'll highlight you. But the other thing too is we're just, you know, we're moving in different worlds that way. Whether I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to turn MAGA over. I'm trying to talk to the people that have been kind of more undecided or the people who have been here the whole time going, I knew this man was crazy in 2015, there's been a lot of this last year of telling our people, and by our people, I mean people on the left and the Democratic party and more. You're not crazy because a lot of people have felt crazy in the last two years that the fact that he came back, that has been maddening for some people. And you have to look some people's eyes like, I hides from my own mother and go, mom, you're not crazy. This is insane.

[Oregon Lottery Announcer]

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[Alex Perlman]

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[Andy Beshear]

Kinda like him.

[Alex Perlman]

Are you shaking a maraca?

[Ozempic Ad Speaker]

Nope, I'm shaking the pill version of Ozempic, which no one should ever do except in ads like this.

[Andy Beshear]

Nice disclaimer.

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[Alex Perlman]

There's a pill version of Ozempic.

[Andy Beshear]

So we like to talk about a lot of different things on the podcast. Oftentimes political, but we also like to get to know people. So on your last podcast, you started with Star wars, but you're wearing a Star Trek shirt.

[Alex Perlman]

I'm a big star. This is my favorite show, Deep Space Nine. I actually usually when I record, I got a painting in the background of this. So I was like trying to figure out what's the shirt that will get you in the least amount of trouble. I got some political shirts and I was like, I think about context collapse a lot. You know, this.

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah.

[Alex Perlman]

Where you're talking about something over here. Then somebody clips it and then they put it up or they take a screenshot. And I didn't want that two shot of us. I figured wear a deep space 9 shirt. People can understand a lot about politics a little bit from that show as well. You know, that's just how that kind of goes. But I love Star Trek.

[Andy Beshear]

Well, I appreciate you looking out for me. What got you into comedy in the first place?

[Alex Perlman]

My dad asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I was an 18 year old punk kid. I said I want to do stand up. And then he said, you go do that. And I went to open mic and failed. And then I just kept doing it. He. He thought I would eventually become an accountant. What the irony of it is, I did.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Wow.

[Alex Perlman]

And I quit. I got a back office job. I was working in basically an accounting department. And then TikTok took off and now it's, you know, now I need to know accounting for myself to do my taxes.

[Andy Beshear]

So you say that that very first one you failed, which was the first performance where you just felt that audience and you thought, this is what I've got to do.

[Alex Perlman]

That was like three years in. It was a long time. You got to fail a lot. That's the thing about stand up and that difference between stand up comedy and content. There's a requirement of failure in stand up comedy. When I used to start out in open mics, I used to beg new guys. I'd see him come in, I'd beg them, I'd be, please go bomb, please. Especially if they did well the first three, four times. You know, it is with politics, right? You got a guy who goes and they run for city control or whatever, he wins, he runs for city council, he wins, he runs for state rep, he wins, he runs for state senate, he wins, he runs for Congress, he fails, he drops out. You didn't have a couple. You didn't have a couple fails in there, so you know what it feels like. So that way you're ready for it. It's the same thing with bombing. I. If you get a bunch of bombs under your belt, nobody can hurt you. They can say whatever they want to you. If it goes well every single time. And then you finally get that medium show, you're playing a dirt ball, dirt ball bar in Delco, Pennsylvania, and it doesn't go well. You're never gonna do the Tonight show if you can't just let that roll off your back. And it's the same thing with content. I get comments all the time. People say all sorts of crazy stuff. My comments, I either either choose to not read them or I just block them. And it's the same thing in standup. You can either respond to the hecklers or not. But for me, it was about three years in, I just felt that control of the room. I felt the laugh. Everything I was saying, it felt like the crowd was. The crowd was almost. Almost there before I even said it. And they knew I was gonna say it. Not that they were like, thought that I was hacked. They were just like, oh, he's gonna. I hope he goes this way. And I said it like, yes. It's a very different feeling. It's a good. You know, it's that good moment, I think, that failure. You ever get that in political speeches?

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, you do. Oh, you do. And you get that in specific rooms. And you know your message is right when you can give the same one. Because in politics, you've got to give that same message over and over for anybody to hear it. But when the rooms react the same across the country and when there's every now and then where they'll even almost speak back to you and that you're getting the pop, but that the message, you can also see the people nodding and thinking about it and coming out on that same team ready to do good things.

[Alex Perlman]

Got it. Yeah. I've always. I've always wondered about. Because I can see it sometimes. Some like Obama. When Obama would get up, you could tell kind of when he'd go a little bit off, he's like, let me go add a little spell. I had a little spice for just this Crowd and then I'll go back into it a little bit on there. But, yeah, for me, when I get on stage, I have, like, a general outline. I don't usually repeat the same jokes because I get bored, which is why I be. That's why I would never be a good politician. You got to have your typhoon.

[Andy Beshear]

That message. Message discipline is important. And you realize at one point, even when you've seen that same person at, you know, five different speeches you've given, the only person that's bored with the speech is you. Everybody else is into it and is supporting the cause, but you do, when you're in front of certain audiences, throw some things in that are a little more local.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

Like, I've got a line. I'm trying to push Democrats to talk like normal human beings again. And so I go over some of the advocacy speak that's crept in. You know, the idea that people say addiction and not substance use disorder, that they talk about hunger and not food insecurity, that our words have to mean something. And so I've got a part in there where I talk about the newest phrase is justice involved population.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay.

[Andy Beshear]

Which are our inmates.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you. I didn't have no idea. I was pretending I understood. I was just not.

[Andy Beshear]

So I was just in Colorado, which I said, an inmate is exactly what we should still be calling Tina Peters today.

[Alex Perlman]

Thank you. Thank you. That is a great line. That's a great line. I was actually. I actually wanted to ask about that as a governor. Do you guys talk? Do you guys call Jared and go, what the fuck?

[Andy Beshear]

We talk. That was one that Jared did that none of us agree with. I mean, once you start pardoning people that have directly attacked our democracy, especially when somebody is bullying you to do it, you just embolden them even more. You look at both of the gubernatorial candidates have condemned. You got Michael Bennett the state senator, and Phil Weiser the attorney general. I think Colorado wins either way. They've both been on the podcast. And then, you know, sometimes you see people making slightly different decisions than you would. But, you know, I talk to Wes Moore just about every week. I talk to Josh Shapiro a couple times a month, I talk to Maura Healey. So there is more camaraderie I will say right now with most Democratic governors. But we. We can't understand why he made that decision.

[Alex Perlman]

That's gotta be. It was a wild one. It seemed to come out of nowhere in our direction, like. But for the average person, because we just, you know, we'd heard about Tina Peters and the fact that he, that Trump couldn't free her was actually like the thing that made, that kind of calmed us down. We're like, okay, he can't get to her. So she's gonna be there, she's gonna sit there and at least said, at least in one state, law and order still matters. Cause I'll tell you, it's hard. I got a two and a half year old. It's very hard. As I'm beginning to raise him and he's starting to understand right and wrong, that truth, justice, the American way, Superman type of world I grew up in, it's hard to look at him and be like, no, if you work really hard and you are honest, then good things happen. Because you see some of the corruption that's so blatant now that I was always raised and told doesn't happen in America. It's, it's so normal and it's, it's become a part of that. And that's just, it's, it's very disturbing to me now that's. I'm glad you made, I'm glad you threw in that line about Tina Peters because that's one of the messed me up.

[Andy Beshear]

That's one of the reasons I'm still in this fight. Because my kids are about to turn 17 and 16 and I do not want to leave a broken country to them. That is, that is both our governance and that American dream has to be real. Right. If he does the right things and he works hard, he, he gets ahead. My concern, and I think you just gave voice to it, is for a lot of kids out there, this is one of the only presidents they've ever seen.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

And we can't allow this to become normal.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Yeah.

[Alex Perlman]

There's a two part thing. I remember when Trump first came back in 25, some people were talking about whether or not, but people had worries about him with the military and people were like, the military wouldn't do that. And I had to remind him, I'm like an 18 year old private right now. Was 9 when he came down the escalator. He's one of the only two presidents he's known and the other one he barely remembers. The secondary part I think about a lot is that if my son is two and a half, if he lives to be the same age as the president, It'll be the 22nd century. And one of my big concerns, I've talked to a lot of different electeds, is how often there can be conversations of what the rest of the century is going to look like because it feels like some, some guys don't even feel like they're, they're thinking about the end of this week, much less the end of today. Because it really does feel in the Twitter space and chasing the algorithm and these others that they're just trying to get that next beat. And that's something I think people are hungry for. People want a long term solution. They want something that we can aim for, whether it be a moonshot or just something simple like building more housing or trying to cut through red tape or what the future is going to be. Because I think there's too many questions for people.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

People.

[Alex Perlman]

And that fear is where a guy like Trump can really live in. And that's, that's part of screaming into my phone.

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah.

[Alex Perlman]

Telling people, wake up. This is, it's not supposed to be like this. You're not crazy.

[Andy Beshear]

I am trying to visualize your takes of screaming into the phone, showing your wife, her not looking at you and looking at the baby, and you grabbing your phone, going into another room, screaming into it again.

[Alex Perlman]

Well, you know, and sometimes it's sometimes just a line. It's sometimes the line and sometimes we've found, you know, actually, can I tell you, when people get, most people aren't scared by the screaming. They're scared when I get quiet. And the comment always, oh, this is real, this is serious. He got real quiet. And I was like, oh, and those have been certain times when Alligator Alcatraz open.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Right.

[Alex Perlman]

That one freaked people out because I, you know, I did a video about that and it was freaking me out that people weren't reacting. You know, Benny Johnson was out there wearing concentration camp merchants. Like, that's crazy. That's an insane thing. And it's like I was always told that this is stuff that we fought against and then we got a guy out there wearing merch. It drove me insane. There's been, there's been moments, I think over this last year that have been flashpoints of things that could have been worse. And we're. I'm very thankful, I'm very thankful that in some situations cooler heads prevailed. And part of this is it is, has been asking Democratic leaders especially, but also just state leaders in general, of just where do you want to be in this moment? And I think this is what kind of, you know, we saw it in Minnesota, we've been seeing it at Delaney hall, we've been seeing it in other areas across the country of like, this president really wants a flashpoint. He really wants a reason to do something and where are we going to go from there and how do we protect against it?

[Andy Beshear]

And I think one of the reasons that that line worked so well in Colorado is governors. Democratic governors are really the last line of defense when the rest breaks down. And we saw in Minneapolis something I never thought I'd see. I remember being 18, getting off a plane in Europe. I'd never been outside the United States and seeing two armed soldiers and thinking that will never happen in our country. And we've had the National Guard in D.C. in LA. We saw ICE occupy Minneapolis. But I was just up in Minneapolis this last weekend, too, and I thanked them because, I mean, you talk about living out your values, about looking out after your neighbor, about not giving the Trump administration the excuse. I mean, they. I think about how they reacted, even with love, to their neighbors, after two American citizens had been killed. It's impressive by Minneapolis. It's something that we should have never seen in the United States.

[Alex Perlman]

No, but it's something that we've seen in the United States before, I think is the part that is brain breaking for people. Because when you think of the story of Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre, and you think about Kent State, you think about other. We've had flashpoints like this before, but typically when they happen, we then step back from it. And what was wild to me in those moments when Renee Goode and Alex Preddy were murdered in the street was immediately the federal government saying and trying to label them as domestic terrorists. Absolutely filling in a narrative that they had actually been building. I mean, people keep forgetting that the president kept using the term homegrowns for a while. That was a thing that drove me that. That caught my attention a lot. He kept saying homegrowns as a joke. He said initially to Bukele, he said it to a few other people, this idea of we can use deportation to silence critics and more. And the part that gets me, I mean, you mentioned Joe Rogan at the beginning. The part that gets me of guys like him and others who spent so much of the last 20 years screaming about the First Amendment, have been very silent about this. And it's driven that. That's driven me a little bit over the edge. I can't stand hypocrisy. And that's the thing, to me, that's been very hypocritical, especially coming from the comedy sphere. We were raised on Lenny Bruce, we're raised on George Carlin and the seven words. We were raised on Richard Pryor. We were raised on this idea of comedians being truth tellers and then to be Trump's toady, to be his lapdog, to stand behind him as he's sitting there just lying about this shit. It just drove me crazy. But I have hair and he doesn't fair.

[Andy Beshear]

As we close out, we like our listeners to get to know our guests. So you got a two and a half year old, which means that when you get a date night, when you get an ability to get away, it's all that much more important. What do you all do?

[Alex Perlman]

Sleep? Yeah, just sleep. It's just, I mean, really, it's, it's. We, we've, we've set aside, we've canceled so many nights where we're like, we're

[Gen Z Intern]

going to do this thing.

[Alex Perlman]

We're going to go here and we're going to go into the city and we're going to get a hotel. And. Well, and we ended up just being like, we're lying to everybody. And we stayed home and my wife watch TikToks on our iPad and I sat on the couch and I played a video game on my phone. And then we had a thing on Netflix on mute in the background. I mean, that's kind of, that's kind of it. It's when, when they're that little.

[Andy Beshear]

Yes.

[Alex Perlman]

Because it's, it's bath time. Do you remember bath time?

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, yes, I do.

[Alex Perlman]

That's the most tiring moment because they wiggle. They just want to die. And you're like, no, don't die. It's, it's. There's a, There's a lot there, and I think there's. I, I've, as, as my son's been getting older, it changed my view on. I have a. Try to have a longer view of the world. And it's also changed my view on government. I really do believe that we should have. I think, I think births should be free. I think daycare should be free. I think gyms should be free, that we should have public, you know, gymnasiums and daycares and options for people the same way we do with schools and libraries. And I keep thinking a lot about the divide between the urban centers and rural areas, because I've been looking a lot at, like, Mamdani, and a lot of it has been this idea that people in the cities, they see government all the time, but the further away you get, away from major city government always seems to show up to give you a fine. And I think that if we could have more places like Public gyms, public daycares, free birth and, you know, early maternity leave and family leave. I think people could start to see what a good government could do for them. And these are the types of things I've been kind of pushing for in the background right now, because I don't think we're not going to get it underneath this president and not underneath this Congress. But these are the type of building blocks I think we need to have added to planks in a future Democratic Party. I want to see the worst part about FDR is he called it a new deal. And nobody can think of a better name for it. But we need a new new deal. And I don't know what we should call it, whether the new deal.

[Andy Beshear]

The newest deal.

[Alex Perlman]

The newer deal. Yeah, something along those. We need something there because there's been a lot has moved forward, but we've been kind of stuck for a while.

[Andy Beshear]

So my last question is something that we've been asking since our very first guest about a year and a half ago. We love to ask our guests what their secret superpower is. What is something that you are really good at that no one knows?

[Alex Perlman]

Shutting up, huh? That's the thing I've learned. I've learned in this space for a

[Andy Beshear]

guy that talks for a living. Yeah.

[Alex Perlman]

No, listen, there's a. Marc Maron's got a great joke. Do you know Marc Maron, the comedian?

[Andy Beshear]

I think I've seen him.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah, he had a podcast for a while called wtf, but he had a great joke years ago where he said he's 85% woke the last 15%. He's just quiet about. But the other part of it for me is being in this space with content creators. People want to talk shit, people want to do things. People want to do a lot of stuff online for me. Sometimes I go, oh, that's not my business. And it just. As I've gotten older, I've learned of where. Where people want to hear from a 42 year old guy from southeastern Pennsylvania and where people don't. And you know where, where I can step in the superpower people often tell me I have is that I can yell when they can. Whether it be because they don't have the ability, because they literally don't have the lung capacity, or because they live in an apartment with very thin walls, or they have a job where they can't speak, or they have family members where they don't feel safe sharing their full opinion about all sorts of different social and political things that are happening in their lives. So I've been told by other people. That's my superpower. But to me, that's just who I am. I'm just a loud Jew from outside of Philly. And I was told to always just, you know, wear your passion on your sleeve. And, you know, usually that ends up with us getting a shot of Fireball at the end.

[Andy Beshear]

Well, Alex, I think the patriotic duty that we need from you right now in America is to keep yelling, thank you, sir. Thanks for being on the podcast.

[Alex Perlman]

Thank you. I appreciate it. And someday I hope to get down there. Louisville, and if anybody wants to see me live crashingouttour.com you can see me

[Andy Beshear]

all over the country as we close. Tell our listeners how they can follow you if they don't already.

[Alex Perlman]

Sure, they can find me anywhere. Under Pearl Mania 500 that's P E A R L M A N I A 500 on everything. I have the Twitter handle, but I don't use it because Elon Musk

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[Gen Z Intern]

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[Alex Perlman]

Is a fascist.

[Andy Beshear]

And now on this episode of the Andy Beshear Podcast, the return of Gen Z Lingo. Except this time it is taught by the 2026 Media Pro interns. So we will call this intern Gen Z Lingo. All right, we're starting with Alina. You are a student at the University of Louisville?

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Yes.

[Andy Beshear]

All right, what do you have for us?

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Have you heard of the word Peak Cinema?

[Andy Beshear]

John and I are Going to take turns trying to guess what it is. And you can tell us if we are hot or cold.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Okay.

[Andy Beshear]

I'm going to say peak is, like, high, and cinema is drama. Like high drama.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Yeah. That's hot.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Okay, so why do we do this to ourselves? It's just constant embarrassment for us.

[Andy Beshear]

Well, I think people watch it and laugh because they think we're old now. They know you're old, but. But, you know, it's.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

It's.

[Andy Beshear]

It is peak cinema.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

It's peak cinema. Being at the height of whatever you're doing, you're at the peak of whatever it is you're participating in.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Okay, like mild lukewarm.

[Andy Beshear]

All right, tell us the last time.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Lukewarm.

[Andy Beshear]

Tell us the last time that you used the phrase peak cinema.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

I think, like, a few days ago.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Okay.

[Andy Beshear]

And what was it in response to?

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

I think it was. It was my brother's post. Oh, yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

And so the post was peak cinema, meaning it was like a hot, hot take.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

No, close.

[Andy Beshear]

A lot of drama inside it.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

More just like, this is peak. Like, this is so peak.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Okay, so anything with Winnie in it is peak cinema.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Winnie, yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

This dog.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Who's Winnie?

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Yeah. Oh, I think it could be. It depends.

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah. So can it be peak cinema if it doesn't get a big response online?

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

No.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay, so it's peak cinema. Like a post with a huge amount of likes.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Kind of. It's like a response.

[Andy Beshear]

Or is it comments? Like you generate the tea.

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

Yeah, comments.

[Andy Beshear]

I use tea correctly.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

I use the tea correctly. Okay.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

All right.

[Andy Beshear]

All right. What about the Andy Beshear podcast is peak cinema?

[Gen Z Intern - Alina]

The whole thing is just. Is peak.

[Andy Beshear]

Done.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Done. I like it. We're peak cinema.

[Andy Beshear]

Next up in our 2026 intern, Gen Z lingo is Lawan Lawan. Welcome to the podcast.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Thank you for having me.

[Andy Beshear]

All right, what do you got for us in Gen Z Lingo?

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

So, from Gen Z Linguo, we have a secret ultimate ore farm technique. It's called the mewing. The mew.

[Andy Beshear]

And the mew.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

The mew. Call it the mew. Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

And basically because that just threw in

[Andy Beshear]

a whole bunch of Gen Z lingo.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

Together. And. And now you've got a mew that's gonna. That's gonna pull it off, which is

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

why he has me sit on this little couch so he can ora farm off of me. Yes. I'm close enough.

[Andy Beshear]

Totally.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

He knows what he's talking about.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay, so the mew.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

The mew, yes.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay, so tell us about the mew.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

So basically It's. It's a very. You have to be very precise about it.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

It's all about the dry line.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Oh.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

And basically, I would describe. It is basically like a technique to just kind of honestly, like. Like, as you were saying, or farm. And what you do. I can show you.

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah, show us. People ought to be watching on you, too.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

You're gonna learn the mew.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Absolutely. So first, what you want to do is you want to pull your tongue to the roof of your gum. And then to make sure it feels all sharp. Your jawline pulls sharp. Then you want to just do this, and then just run your finger across the jawline like that. And what that does is it defines your jawline. And basically, that's a little practice that people do a lot of just to just, like, you know, just look their best every day.

[Andy Beshear]

Sorry. Let's walk John McConnell through this.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Yeah. It's a heavy thing.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

We knew where this was gonna go.

[Andy Beshear]

John, listen, we know you're older. This is going to help you.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

It's gonna help define my jaw.

[Andy Beshear]

Yes, the beard.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

The beard will help, too.

[Andy Beshear]

So you missed. On the episode where we played, John is older than. My favorite was dinosaur. So help him with the mew.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Here we go. Up.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Tongue. Yeah. Then. Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention. When you're doing it, to really, really define those cheekbones, you want to kind of bite those cheeks on each side with your teeth. And you'll see a little something there.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

I'm so old.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

If you can so, like, bite. Bite your. Your gums with your teeth, both sides. And then basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

And there is the.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

There we go. There's the mute.

[Andy Beshear]

John McConnell. Aura farming.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

I'm so impressed. You got it already.

[Andy Beshear]

We continue our marathon Gen Z Lingo from our 2026 Media Pro Interns with Holden.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Hi.

[Andy Beshear]

How are you?

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

I'm good.

[Andy Beshear]

How are you doing?

[Alex Perlman]

Doing all right, thank you.

[Andy Beshear]

All right. How are you going to make John and I look old? Through Gen Z lingo?

[Alex Perlman]

Well, what do y' all know about getting mogged?

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, now, I feel like I've heard this term before.

[Alex Perlman]

Yes, It's a pretty prominent term. Okay. Pretty much when someone is looking better than you, they're more physical, taller, or just better overall, you're getting mogged by them.

[Andy Beshear]

But that's why I don't know what it means.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Everybody gets mogged when I'm sitting on the tiny couch. Andy.

[Alex Perlman]

It happens often. Yeah, it happens often. Yes. You don't even know we get mogged. But you can be the mogger, too, though.

[Andy Beshear]

So if my son is, like, two and a half inches taller than I am and much larger, do I get mogged by walking around next to him?

[Alex Perlman]

Especially in public?

[Andy Beshear]

Well, come on. He helped introduce us to Gen Z Lingo. And now it all returns.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

That's it.

[Andy Beshear]

All right. So the goal is not to get mogged?

[Alex Perlman]

Yes. You want to be the mogger.

[Andy Beshear]

The mogger. That's what I was going to ask. And you can mog someone?

[Alex Perlman]

Yes.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay, so we can use it with. With the mogging being mogged. It works on all those terms.

[Alex Perlman]

Absolutely.

[Andy Beshear]

All right. So have you ever been mogged?

[Alex Perlman]

Happens every day.

[Andy Beshear]

Every day?

[Alex Perlman]

Yes. But you learn, though, to start mogging other people.

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, yeah. So at the end of the day, do you have, like, a score sheet or is it just kind of your level of aura?

[Alex Perlman]

It's definitely about your level of aura, for sure. It all just depends on where you are, especially, like, what city you're in or what location. Some places you will definitely get mogged and every day, but some places you'll be the mauler out of everyone. So just.

[Andy Beshear]

So at the end of all of it, do you just, like, feel the aura or do you kind of know where your tank is on it?

[Alex Perlman]

No, you will definitely feel it. It'll come to you naturally.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Yeah, for sure. When you get mogged, you're going to know it.

[Alex Perlman]

Yes.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

You're going to feel it.

[Alex Perlman]

You mostly know it.

[Gen Z Intern]

Yeah.

[Andy Beshear]

You know this from experience.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Hey. Hey.

[Andy Beshear]

Wrapping up Gen Z Lingo from our 2026 Media Pro Interns is Taylor. Taylor, welcome back to the podcast.

[Alex Perlman]

Thank you.

[Andy Beshear]

This is. I mean, you've. You've done a couple of different internships helping out on the Andy Beshear podcast.

[Alex Perlman]

Yeah. I've been in the program with Breland and Media Pros for quite a while now. So I met you one time, I think, last year, where another program was in.

[Andy Beshear]

So that's great.

[Alex Perlman]

It was really nice to meet you.

[Andy Beshear]

And now you are here with Gen Z Lingo, one of the initial segments that started it all. So tell us what you're going to teach us today.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay. You have a son, right?

[Andy Beshear]

I do.

[Alex Perlman]

Does he play games?

[Andy Beshear]

He does.

[Alex Perlman]

Okay, so you might or have. Might not heard this term, but it's called Bot.

[Andy Beshear]

Bot.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

Okay.

[Andy Beshear]

You know this one?

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

No, I don't.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay. Is that if you're really good at them?

[Alex Perlman]

No. I'll put this in a. In a term for you. Okay, so let's say you're playing a game with, you know, Your friends.

[Andy Beshear]

Okay.

[Alex Perlman]

And maybe they don't make a good play or they're not so good at the game. Like, it. Like it's not real that they're that bad at the game. Yeah, you're a bot. Oh, like you're not real.

[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

Oh.

[Andy Beshear]

Oh, yeah. Like you're one of the robots or the NPCs.

[Alex Perlman]

Yes. Yeah, exactly.

[Andy Beshear]

Yeah. And so you. You can't be actually trying or you would be better than that.

[Alex Perlman]

Exactly.

[Andy Beshear]

Now, can you use it outside of gaming?

[Alex Perlman]

Yes, you actually can.

[Andy Beshear]

Like someone that's so bad at basketball, it's like they're not even on your team.

[Alex Perlman]

Yes. Like you can use it any term. It's. I use it. I use it from time to time when I'm trash talking, but it is what it is.

[Andy Beshear]

So if somebody's not carrying their weight on the Andy Bashir podcast, I can look at them and be say, you're a bot.

[Alex Perlman]

You're a bot.

[Andy Beshear]

Like, yeah, we are going to use that on future episodes of the Andy Beshear Podcast. This episode of the Andy Beshear Podcast, Gen Z, lingo style, was peak cinema.

[Gen Z Intern - Holden]

There it is.

[Andy Beshear]

To Alex Perlman, my interns, for whatever just happened. Thank you. I want to say something serious for a second because I think there's actually something real underneath all of it. We're living through a heavy moment. The news is relentless and the stakes are high, and it's genuinely hard to stay engaged, to stay informed, and to stay hopeful all at the same time. What Alex does and what these young people do every day is remind us that we don't have to choose between taking this seriously and finding moments of joy and laughter in it. We can do both, and we should. If my interns have taught me anything today, it's that the next generation is watching. They're paying attention, and they are not, I repeat, not going to let me be cringe about it. I looked it up. That's the right use of that word. If this episode made you smile, share it and subscribe so you never miss an episode. I'm Andy Beshear and we'll see you next week.

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[Gen Z Intern - Lawan]

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[Gen Z Intern]

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[Gen Z Intern]

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