Ninjas Are Butterflies – Episode 175

"2026 According to AI, French Protests & Grizzly Attack"

Release Date: January 2, 2026
Hosts: Josh Hooper, Andy DeNoon, Lily, Andrew

Episode Overview

The first episode of 2026 kicks off with the Ninjas Are Butterflies crew bringing their signature offbeat humor and banter as they recap highlights of 2025—including bizarre and dark news, pop culture events, and personal milestones. The show dives into AI-generated predictions for 2026, ongoing French farmer protests, the dark history of France's Huguenots, and one unforgettable story of a grizzly bear showdown. The hosts also reveal their favorite movies and TV of the past year and speculate on the year to come with a blend of comic relief and sharp cultural commentary.

Key Discussion Points & Segments

1. Setting the Tone for 2026

[01:47] - [03:40]

• The crew exchanges New Year’s greetings and reviews holiday mishaps, like delayed gift-giving and getting strong by accident.
• Lily: "Happy New Year. This podcast is powered by Sunday Cool!"
• Casual banter about Andrew shooting an animal off his property and displaying it as office decor.

2. Victorian & Jane Austen-style Sayings

[04:33] - [07:10]

• Andy shares old-timey ways to express fatigue, drunkenness, or the desire to leave a party—perfect for dealing with awkward family gatherings or overstaying guests.
• Memorable quote (Andy, 05:20): "How fortunate we are to witness the full breadth of your thoughts."
• Josh: "They're so rude, but so polite." (05:12)

3. Fitness & Weight Loss Updates

[07:27] - [10:09]

• The hosts compare weight loss progress using Genesis Health Solutions.
• Andy: "The white man is making us healthy again. Thinner. Stronger. Braver." (07:42)
• Lily brags she lost six pounds from just hanging around her fitter friends.

4. The “Recap Song” – 2025 in Review

[13:12] - [16:20]

• A musical rundown of 2025’s wildest moments: Tesla trucks burning, Katy Perry in space, TikTok bans, popes and politicians, and “the heist at the Louvre.”
• Andy (singing, 14:28): "This year, this year is done, flew on by, but I don’t think we will forget 2025…"
• Intense, absurd, and cathartic—a clever parody of year-end nostalgia.

5. Will This Year Be "The Year...?"

[17:08] - [20:08]

• A classic running gag: will 2026 "be the year" something momentous happens (like ending racism)?
• Josh (19:03, mock serious): "We're gonna start off on the wrong foot this year. I think Lily just set the tone for the whole year."
• A tongue-in-cheek satirical bit on social change, groupthink, and the nature of hope.

6. Jake Paul’s Big Fight & Influencer Boxing

[24:17] - [29:01]

• Recap of Jake Paul’s fight: injuries, purses, influencer culture, and how much money it’d take for the hosts to get into the ring.
• Andy: "I think I would get my jaw broken for $93 million." (25:52)
• Observations on physical endurance and boxing surprises.

7. Top Movies and Shows of 2025

[29:06] - [37:31]

• Each host lists their favorites, with much overlap and debate.
• Standouts: Frankenstein, Train Dreams, Mission Impossible, Steve, Knives Out, Mickey 17, Naked Gun, and several TV shows.
• Lily laments everything being “so dark” lately.
• Josh: "You think dream dreams is depressing? At least that was…beautiful." (37:14)

8. 2026 Movies to Anticipate

[37:45] - [40:31]

• Lightning round of anticipated films: Project Hail Mary, a Michael Jackson biopic, Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, Super Mario Galaxy, Avengers: Doomsday, Dune Messiah, Hunger Games, Peaky Blinders movie, and more.
• Josh: "Coyote vs Acme. Will Forte. Apparently he’s really excited about." (39:43)

9. 2026 Predictions – Gearing up for the Weird

Hosts’ Personal Predictions

[41:16] - [47:02]

• Josh: GTA6 gets delayed, an AI-run reality show, a major assassination, and North Korea absorbs North Carolina for comic effect.
• Andrew: “Partial truth surrounding politics will allow conspiracy theorists to thrive. The wildest theories paired with compelling yet misleading imagery and stories will reign true.” (42:12)
  – Anticipates a rise in conspiracy culture, brain rot, nostalgia drinks, and a subcultural Christian revival.
• Lily: Passwords will be replaced by “vibe” authentication, the moon gets a brand deal, smart fridges unionize, bird glitches (satire on “birds aren’t real”), and AI that invents trends.
• Andy: Reads chilling, poetic AI-generated predictions:
  – Non-human intelligence disclosure linked to ancient history
  – AI causes a measurable “psychological contagion”
  – Earth does something “the ancients knew, but we forgot”
  – Global satellite/signal blackout with ambiguous causes
  – Visible shift in young people toward structured, traditional religion
  – Spooky final note: “Humanity...is re-entering an old age with better tech and worse memory. Same story, new hardware.” (51:56)

Notable Quote
Andy (reading AI, 52:25): "We think we’re progressing into something unprecedented—in reality, we are repeating ancient patterns. Power, knowledge collapse, faith, myth. But we’ve forgotten the lessons while upgrading the tools.”

10. Time Magazine Person of the Year Predictions

[54:24] - [56:26]

• Who’s next? Guesses range from influencer Erica Kirk to Peter Thiel to (jokingly) Mr. Beast as the “Antichrist type Person of the Year.”
• Josh: “I think it’s gonna be Pope Leo. He’s doing big stuff.”

11. Rapid-Fire Question: Insider Info vs. The One Big Truth

[61:31] - [62:54]

• Lily’s question:
  "Would you rather have access to a secret government document that answers one question a year, or a mysterious insider who’s right 60% of the time?"
• Banter over the value of certainty versus high-volume info.

12. Viral Clips, War Tactics, & Modern Horrors

[64:08] - [68:57]

• Andrew brings wild and gross viral clips for reactions: cake disasters, dumpster dives, and bloody reindeer antlers.
• Andy highlights the dark side of modern drone warfare: Ukrainian towns covered in miles of fiber optic cables as drones bypass jammers.
• Andy: “Is that not the eeriest thing too? Those are drones… it’s catastrophic.” (68:32)

13. French Protests: Farmers, Food, and BlackRock

[80:29] - [87:09]

• France protests trade deals erasing food safety standards, mass culling over “lumpy skin disease” in cows, and Big Ag (like BlackRock) pushing small farmers out.
• Protest images: manure dumped on streets, potatoes blocking roads, a country standing up for its culinary and farming traditions.
• Andy: "The French, they're literally trying to bankrupt all these farmers so they can go in, swoop in, and...be the providers of food for Europe." (85:27)
• Hosts note many "organic" foods are still industrial/fake.

14. Disease, Food Chains, and Modern Malaise

[87:10] - [93:10]

• Discussion morphs into “are we being poisoned?” (diet, environment, viruses, processed food, resilience of bacteria).
• Andrew: “It’s weird that out of nowhere, all of these… sources for food, there's inflammatory, scary language about, like, hey, maybe you shouldn't live off the land.” (88:42)
• Hosts stress the importance of community, joy, and “real food.”

15. Strange Animal Facts

[92:43] - [94:10]

• Squirrels are eating meat. (“I saw a video of squirrels eating the head off a lizard…” – Josh)
• Nature is weirder (and more unsettling) than we think.

16. Dark History: The Huguenots in France

[94:16] - [98:47]

• Andy explores how Protestant Huguenots were persecuted, killed, and driven from France, only to boost economies elsewhere.
• Gruesome details: executions, cannibalism, and the “knowledge bottleneck” when advanced cultures are wiped out.
• Andy: "They killed up to 1 million of these Huguenots in France." (95:16)
• Lily: “Evil stuff.” (98:42)

17. French Cultural Trauma and Postwar Shame

[101:27] - [102:36]

• Discussion of French women shamed for (willingly or unwillingly) associating with German soldiers post-WWII.
• “Walks of shame,” public humiliation, and generational scars.

18. Ending on Lighter Notes: Fan Art & Sourdough

[104:35] - [105:56]

• The crew opens a fan’s crocheted dolls made in their likeness—heartfelt and well-received.
• Further debate about sourdough bread, with playful rivalry over French cuisine.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Let us not make promises at a moment of weakness.” —Andy, on Victorian-era phrases (06:31)
• “We think we’re progressing into something unprecedented. In reality, we are repeating ancient patterns. Same story, new hardware.” —Andy (reading AI), 51:56
• “I would get my jaw broken for $93 million.” —Andy, on influencer boxing (25:52)
• “Password apocalypse—nobody can remember their passwords. Instead, they’re going to authenticate based on vibes.” —Lily (44:16)
• “Is that not the eeriest thing too? Those are drones… it’s catastrophic.” —Andy, on Ukraine drone cables (68:32)
• “They killed up to 1 million of these Huguenots in France… but everywhere they went in Europe ended up thriving.” —Andy (95:16, 96:20)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:33] – Victorian sayings & banter
• [13:12] – 2025 year-in-review song
• [24:17] – Jake Paul fight discussion
• [29:06] – Top movies & shows of 2025
• [37:45] – Upcoming 2026 movies
• [41:16] – Predictions for 2026 (personal & AI)
• [54:24] – Time Magazine Person of the Year guesses
• [64:08] – Viral video reactions
• [80:29] – French farmer protests, food safety, BlackRock
• [94:16] – Persecution of the Huguenots
• [104:35] – Fan crochet gifts

Memorable Listener Experience

For listeners (and those just catching up):

• This episode mixes high-energy humor with genuinely thoughtful takes on where society and culture may be headed as we step into 2026.
• The blend of memes, real news, and historical deep-dives—from AI mental health crises to mass protests, food supply chain conspiracies, classic French history, and absurd predictions—keeps the show unpredictable and engaging.
• Fan interactions and off-the-wall anecdotes (from influencer boxing to grizzly bear legends) give the show its signature personal and outrageous flavor.

If you want a taste of cultural chaos, sharp satire, and sheer comedic chemistry, this New Year’s episode kicks off 2026 with a bang—and some questions the next 365 days may actually answer.