Andrew Klavan: "They Stopped Hiring White Writers" | Planet Tyrus

Summary

Planet Tyrus Podcast Episode Summary Episode Title: Andrew Klavan: "They Stopped Hiring White Writers" | Planet Tyrus
Host: Tyrus (Outkick)
Guest: Andrew Klavan
Release Date: March 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This energetic episode of Planet Tyrus explores the world of mystery fiction, the nature of heroism, and the shifting landscape of Hollywood, through an unfiltered conversation between host Tyrus and acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and cultural commentator Andrew Klavan. With humor and candor, the two discuss how formative literature shapes character, the state of modern storytelling, the influence of "wokeness" in entertainment, and the challenges of being an outspoken conservative in left-leaning industries. The episode balances literary deep-dives, cultural critique, and personal anecdotes, making it a must-listen for mystery fans, aspiring writers, and observers of American culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andrew Klavan's Literary Roots & Process

• Origins as a Writer

  • Klavan reveals an early love for "tough guy" literature, especially Chandler and Hemingway ([02:12]).
    • "I wanted to be a writer. That was basically it from really the age of 10 or 11 on." – Andrew Klavan [02:12]
  • He was heavily influenced by Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and the idea of the incorruptible hero.

• Creative Process

  • Klavan's stories begin with a "what if" question and crystallize only when paired with the right protagonist ([03:46]).
    • “It’s the minute the story meets the guy who’s supposed to be in it.” – Andrew Klavan [04:33]

• Most Impactful Book

  • Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky changed his moral framework as a young man, countering the relativism he encountered at Berkeley ([05:33–07:17]).
    • “The minute I read it, I thought, no, some things are just wrong.” – Andrew Klavan [06:16]

2. Education, Authority, and the Challenges for Boys

• Both Tyrus and Klavan disliked the rigidity of the school system and discuss how current educational structures suppress natural boyhood energy through medication rather than adaptation ([09:12–10:19]).
  • “The people who don’t like sitting in chairs are called boys.” – Andrew Klavan [09:38]
• They highlight the difference in learning styles and the unintended consequences, including gender disparities in education.

3. Writer’s Block, Throwing Out Work, and Creative Regret

• Klavan candidly admits to having discarded entire novels when they weren’t working, despite the emotional and creative toll ([11:37–13:06]).
  • “I have thrown away entire novels... it’s bad.” – Andrew Klavan [11:37]
• He reflects on the nagging sense of never being satisfied with his past writing and the constant pursuit of improvement.

4. Hollywood: Adaptation, Decline, and Wokeness

Adapting Books to Film

• Klavan recounts both pride and frustrations with Hollywood adaptations of his works, invoking James M. Cain’s advice: the book remains unchanged even if the movie is altered ([13:49–15:51]).
  • “Hollywood has done nothing to my books. They're right over there on the shelf.” – James M. Cain, paraphrased by Andrew Klavan [14:19]
• He gives an example of a pivotal scene in True Crime whose core message was lost in adaptation:
  • “I don’t care about right and wrong... All I want to know is what happened.” ([14:19–15:21])
• Klavan tends to see film adaptations as beneficial for exposure, even when imperfect.

The Shift in Hollywood’s Culture

• Hollywood was always left-leaning, but the post-9/11 era saw unprecedented political filtering.
  • “My phone went dead, like that... It was like I thought somebody had unplugged it.” – Andrew Klavan ([16:05–17:17])
• There evolved a tacit “blacklist” against conservatives, with white writers increasingly shut out due to diversity mandates ([18:44–19:39]).
  • “I know for a fact that they stopped hiring white writers, which is just crazy because it’s obscenely racist.” – Andrew Klavan ([19:30–19:33])
• The creative stagnation is visible in the lack of compelling new stories in today's cinema and TV ([17:17–18:44]).

Personal Experiences with Blacklisting

• Both Tyrus and Klavan describe direct professional setbacks after publicly aligning with Fox News or conservative viewpoints.
  • “Literally overnight... I just remember being heated.” – Tyrus ([42:15–43:53])
• Klavan notes many in Hollywood “sell their souls” to stay employed, leading to profound personal regrets ([22:07–23:55]).

5. The DEI/Wokeness Era and Pushback

• Discussion centers on the increasing backlash against "woke" corporate and artistic decisions, especially as financial realities undercut ideological movements ([23:55–24:19]).
  • "We're starting to get a little push back now. People are starting to kind of... starting to say, okay, enough." – Tyrus [23:55]
• The emergence of alternative media and independent conservative studios is covered, noting challenges to flying “beneath the radar” ([39:55–40:31]).

6. Satirizing Modern Politics & Culture

• The pair riff on the idea of writing mystery or thriller plots based on modern American politics, with AOC, Sydney Sweeney, and other public figures as characters ([27:17–34:08]).
• They joke about perpetual identity politics and how controversies (e.g., Kevin Hart, Sydney Sweeney) are engineered for compliance and conformity ([40:08–41:04]).

7. Race, Identity, and Double Standards in Hollywood

• Both speak candidly about the unique scrutiny and "de-Blackening" faced by Black conservatives in Hollywood, referencing Tyrus’s personal struggle and the testimony of others in the (formerly) secret Friends of Abe group ([46:55–48:55]).
  • “Especially if you’re black and you stand up... they not only take away your right to work, they also take away your ethnicity.” – Tyrus [46:55–48:55]
• They discuss the projection and hypocrisy of far-left gatekeepers ([49:08–50:13]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Artistic Integrity:
  • "Most of the people who are out there would back a dump truck over their mothers to get a job." – Andrew Klavan [22:07]
• On Hollywood Blacklists:
  • "There is a moment in True Crime... I didn’t write the screenplay... and for some reason, when the screenwriter got to that scene, he changed it..." – Andrew Klavan [14:19]
• On Former Hollywood Ambitions:
  • "I turned out to be kind of good at it [screenwriting]... and then I started to talk politics... and my phone went dead like that." – Andrew Klavan [16:05–17:17]
• On Wokeness Killing Storytelling:
  • "When that kind of hysterical... 'we have discovered morality and no one ever knew what morality was before' washed over Hollywood, the stories went dead." – Andrew Klavan [18:12]
• On Facing Social Ostracism:
  • "You have to have courage... all good things take courage." – Andrew Klavan [55:39]
• On Integrity for Young Conservatives:
  • "To let people teach you to have no integrity is a sin... Integrity is the core of manhood." – Andrew Klavan [54:30–55:36]

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Tyrus introduces Andrew Klavan and his literary background | | 02:12 | Klavan describes his early inspiration by Chandler and Hemingway | | 05:33 | Crime and Punishment’s impact on Klavan’s moral development | | 09:12 | Discussion on boys, education, and medicating natural energy | | 11:37 | Klavan on writer’s block and discarding entire novels | | 13:49 | Adapting books to film; Cain’s quote about Hollywood adaptations | | 16:05 | Hollywood’s left turn during the War on Terror; blacklisting | | 18:44 | The wokeness era and exclusion of specific writers | | 22:07 | Why people "roll over" for Hollywood jobs and sell out | | 24:19 | Early signs of backlash against wokeness | | 27:17 | Imagining a mystery novel set during the Biden presidency | | 34:08 | AOC's foreign policy gaffes and the left’s disconnect on policy | | 39:55 | On secret conservative societies and Sydney Sweeney controversy | | 42:15 | Tyrus's personal account of blacklisting in TV and movies | | 46:55 | On being a Black conservative in entertainment | | 52:04 | B Team Q&A: Advice for young conservatives |

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Q&A – Advice for Young Conservatives (52:04–64:04)

Ryan (B Team):
Asks for guidance on being a young conservative in media and fighting the fear of cancellation.

Klavan’s Advice:

• Know what you’re for, not just what you’re against ([52:55])
• Read deeply to understand and defend your values ([52:55])
• "Integrity is the core of manhood. It really is... you got to be who you say you are and do what you say you're going to do." – Andrew Klavan [54:30]
• Be joyful and courageous; positivity is contagious ([56:41])
• Speak the truth politely and bravely ([59:19])
• Observe and learn from political storytelling – authenticity wins over fear.

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Episode Tone & Style

The conversation is frank, frequently humorous, and unfiltered, with both Tyrus and Klavan willing to turn a critical eye on their own industries, reminisce with self-deprecation, and take light-hearted jabs at contemporary popular figures. The tone shifts smoothly from insightful to satirical, but always returns to a core theme: the necessity of courage, integrity, and independent thought in both art and life.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode is a wide-ranging look at what it means to write—and to live—with conviction in an era of rapid cultural change. Klavan and Tyrus examine their career highs and lows, illuminate the decline of storytelling in an increasingly polarized Hollywood, and call for artistic and personal bravery. The advice for young conservatives—and for anyone navigating cancel culture—centers on joy, integrity, and courage in the face of social and institutional pressure. Punctuated with sharp wit and personal stories, the episode is a lively, hard-hitting blend of cultural commentary and personal reminiscence.

Transcript

[Tyrus]

What it is. Welcome to another exciting adventure of Planet Tyrus and today is going to be a mysterious episode because we're talking about mystery novels and one of the best to do it of all time. And I'm very excited to have Andrew Clavin on. He's a New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter and cultural commentator. Best known for award winning crime and suspense novels and his long running podcast and video commentary. He's a two time Edgar award winner and has been nominated multiple times by the Mystery Writers of America. Andrew currently hosts the Andrew Clavin show with the Daily Wire where he mixes political satire, cultural commentary and interviews. He's also active on YouTube and social platforms under ndrewclavin. Clavin's fictions include internationally best selling thrillers such as True Crime, one of my favorite movies adapted for film and directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood and and don't say a Word, adapted for film starring Michael Douglas. In addition to his novels, he's written screenplays including A Shock to the System which was starring the great Michael Caine and One Missed Call. So this is a really, really deep, fun guy to talk to and I'm really looking forward to him. So buckle up kids, because here we go. Hey, what's up boss? Tyrus. Here I am.

[Andrew Klavan]

Hey Tyrus, nice to meet you.

[Tyrus]

I am very excited to talk about. Now I am a huge fan of mystery novels, movies, even tv. Like I'm, I'm internationally known for predicting the killers on Murder She Wrote. I'm pretty good at that. So although not even going to uh, even go that route with you, you have an amazing resume. True, True Crimes is, is a classic. Just, just a great film. How your origin story, what made you it? Was it something as a kid that you always were into writing or is it something that just kind of happened in life or was just a. You were going in one direction and a different door opened up?

[Andrew Klavan]

No, it was right after, you know, the period where I wanted to be like a cowboy and circus clown. I wanted to be a writer. That was basically it from really the age of 10 or 11 on. And I think, you know, talking about mysteries, when I was a kid, I was always looking at. I loved tough guy writing, I loved Hemingway, I loved Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammond. And in Raymond Chandler, in the opening of the Big Sleep, which is his first Philip Marlowe novel, is the greatest, the greatest stylist of American mystery writers. You know, he has the scene in which his detective is entering a house and he sees a stained glass Window with a woman tied. A picture of a woman tied up in a night, rescuing her from a dragon. And he says, the guy is taking so long to get her untied that if I lived here, I would have to climb up there and do it myself.

[Ryan]

Right.

[Andrew Klavan]

And I read that paragraph and I thought, that's what I want to write about. I want to write about guys like that who walk. You know, Raymond Chandler said, he's the guy who invented the phrase down these mean streets. And he said, down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean. And in other words, he had a detective who was a kind of noble man night inside, but he was living in corrupt 1950s Los Angeles.

[Tyrus]

Right.

[Andrew Klavan]

And I thought, that's the world I want to be in.

[Tyrus]

Almost the reluctant hero.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah. But also the guy who holds inside himself a set of values that is incorruptible in the middle of corruption.

[Tyrus]

Right. So when you're putting together, when you write a mystery, what comes first? Is it the. The moral, the character, the finish? Like, what is your process?

[Andrew Klavan]

The first thing that comes to me is a question, like, what if this happened?

[Tyrus]

Okay.

[Andrew Klavan]

So I wrote a book called don't say a Word that was made into a Michael Douglas movie. And I was walking when my. Right after my daughter was born, I would get up in the middle of the night and walk in to make sure she was still going up and down, you know, still breathing like most crazy parents.

[Tyrus]

Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

I thought, what if I just looked in there and she was gone? You know, I'm living in this New York apartment. All the doors are locked, triple locked. What if I just walked in and she was disappeared? And after that, I get that question, and it seems cool to me. It doesn't become a novel until I find the exact guy who is in that situation. Okay. Because, like, if you have a. If you have a story about killing a dragon and Superman does it or Frodo does it, those are two different stories.

[Tyrus]

Yes.

[Andrew Klavan]

And the. The one with Superman. I'm not that interested in the one with Frodo. I think, okay, that's kind of cool. He's a little guy, you know, how does he do this? And so. And so that's it. It's the minute the story meets the guy who's supposed to be in it.

[Tyrus]

Now, when you were what book or what Arthur author hit you the hardest in terms of, like, affected the way you looked at things, was it a mystery? Because, like, for me, I think of the book that changed my entire perspective, and it was Like a weird thing. And I, I, I carried it with me was George Orwell's Animal Farm. For some reason, that book has been a permanent fixture in my brain. When it comes to. Whenever I hear politicians speak and stuff, I always attach a character to him, you know, like, that guy's a real squealer right there, you know? And it's funny, that has become like my go to, you know? And was there a particular book that just. It doesn't matter what the situation is, how many times you've read it? Every time you read it, it's like a new adventure or you find something different?

[Andrew Klavan]

Absolutely. When I was not. It's really the greatest crime novel ever written. When I was 19 years old, I read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. And I'm going to school in Berkeley, so I'm in the heart of darkness. But I don't know that because I'm still kind of on the left. And they're just starting to teach the idea that there's no such thing as morality. That you see it one way, I see it another way. Who's to say whether we should be killing Jews in Iran or we should be treating people with respect in America? Who can say one is right and one is wrong? And Crime and Punishment is about a guy who decides that as a superior human being, he has the right to commit a murder, and he goes to kill a pawnbroker that he owes money to with an axe. And while he's doing that, her mentally defective, her retarded sister comes in and he has to kill her too. And the scene is so horrific and pitiful that the minute I read it, I thought, no, some things are just wrong. And if you lived on a planet where hitting this retarded woman in the head with an ax was right, the entire planet would be wrong. And if only one person said it was wrong, and even if one person didn't say it. And that changed everything for me, because first of all, I couldn't buy into the intellectual atmosphere of the day that I was growing up in. So that made me a loner right there. And the other thing was that it just made me go off in a totally. I remember a guy, a literary professor from Yale, saying to me one day, you're going in the. Scolding me saying, you're going in the exact opposite direction of the intellectual current of the time. And I thought, yeah, that's.

[Tyrus]

That's a good. Yeah. Swimming upstream is you get stronger. Swim downstream, you don't get stronger.

[Andrew Klavan]

Exactly, yeah.

[Tyrus]

Did you.

[Andrew Klavan]

That was a big change.

[Tyrus]

Did you have a lot of problems with professors? Because I sense one thing you and I have in common is that we are, I like to say affectionately, we're sharp, but some people would say we're smart asses or sarcastic. Some people would say. Some people would say, yes, yes. On several occasions I have been accused. I prefer sharp, quick witted. You don't have to wait long for a response. It's a courtesy more than anything else.

[Andrew Klavan]

Exactly.

[Tyrus]

Did you get a lot of pushback?

[Andrew Klavan]

I was a total pain in the ass in school. I mean, I was. Some of it I regret because I didn't really realize when I would be talking to a female teacher how intimidating it was this guy.

[Tyrus]

You're preaching to the choir about that, sir.

[Andrew Klavan]

Oh, really? And you're twice as intimidating. But still, I, I just, I just hated authority. I hated the school system. I hated being told what to do. I hated sitting in chairs. And so, I mean, I, I dropped out of college. I went back and finished it later, but I couldn't stand it. And so it was a really tough time for me. And it was only about halfway through college that I realized that reading wasn't like, I, I like to read, but I kind of would only read in my narrow lane.

[Tyrus]

Okay.

[Andrew Klavan]

And then, and one day I, I picked up Faulkner, actually, and I thought, no, you know what, this is actually good. They're actually right about this. This is good. And that was. That kind of opened the door for me to at least educate myself. But it took me a long time because I had so skated my way through school just because I hated it that I then had to, I had, I bought all the books, so I had to just pile them up on these next to my chair and just spent the next like 15 years reading them all.

[Tyrus]

Wow.

[Andrew Klavan]

And. But yeah, I was a, I was a genuine smart ass and a pain in the ass as well, I would say.

[Tyrus]

You know what's funny? One of the things you said is you didn't like sitting in chairs, you know, and I feel like that's a. For a certain type of thought process. People who think a certain way who need to move around to express. Do you think the way the education system is designed to, where instead of changing for the child, they rather give them some pills so they don't want to jump around in the chair. Do you think about that as like, how that would have affected you given

[Andrew Klavan]

that the people who don't like sitting in chairs are called boys?

[Tyrus]

Yes. Thank you. I was one of them. Yeah. That's why PE in recess was so damn important.

[Andrew Klavan]

Like, please let me out of this place. And that is exactly what. They used to whip boys, and now they drug them. And, you know, drugging is. Is. Is easier, and it makes them, you know, placid. This whole thing about the attention deficit disorder, that's called being a boy. I mean, that is being a boy. And if you're sitting in a chair and you're a boy and they don't get you a lot of exercise and running around and doing all the things that boys do, you'll go crazy. And that's why girls, you know, they're always saying, oh, girls are doing better in college. And you think, yeah, of course they are. This is a way of learning that

[Tyrus]

girls like, well, girls are smarter. I think we can say that. I mean, they are. I think that's fair. You know, like, we're stronger. We do manual labor better. We protect better. And they're. They're better thinkers. Now, as far as solving problems, I'm not going there, but I'm just saying in terms of. Of blueprinting, everything that needs to be done or should be done, that's their role. That's their thing.

[Andrew Klavan]

The records show that in the middle, the women are smarter and the most smart people and the stupidest people are guys.

[Tyrus]

Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

I think if you look around that

[Tyrus]

it plays itself out, and sometimes in the weirdest orders where the stupidest people are calling the shots.

[Andrew Klavan]

That's almost always true.

[Tyrus]

Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

I don't know why that is.

[Tyrus]

No, I'm. One of the things, like, I was supposed to talk to you about today, and I was like, I always wanted to talk about the. Like, I still want to get in more. In the process of writing as a. And again, in no way am I comparing myself to you at all, but I've written a few books, and I got on that New York best selling list. The how. What was the worst case of writer's block you have? Because not just writer's block, but there was there a point like the writer's block? And the second part of that question is, is there was ever something that you wrote once you submitted? You were like, I need it back. I don't. I don't want this out there.

[Andrew Klavan]

The two things I have, I have thrown away entire novels. And writing novels is hard.

[Tyrus]

Yeah. No. Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Tyrus]

It's like, I'm upset. You just. I just got mad at you. Like, what?

[Andrew Klavan]

I've gotten there and I've read it, and I thought, I can't fix this, and it's bad, you know, And I. I've thrown away a few of them, probably about three, I would say, in my life, which is a lot of novels to throw. Just toss them out.

[Tyrus]

That's not like. That's not a paragraph in an outline, sir. That's a book.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, it's a. It's bad. You know, that. That is bad. But even worse than that, there are some books that I wish I had back, because I. I think they were good, but I would. Could have made them terrific. And I didn't know how at the time, you know, and that. That is something that has always troubled me. Like, I. I wrote this book called the Uncanny, which almost ended my career because it was so different from all my other books that I couldn't get anybody to buy it or like it or anything. But I knew it was really good. And I rewrote it as a play about 30 years after I had written it. Cause I just wanted to tell the story the way I should have told it right when I started out. So that's always. That's. That's really tough. And of course, the other thing you have. I have this all the time is I'll go back and read something that I wrote 10 years ago, and I'll think, wow, I could really write then. What the hell happened to me? So you're never. You're never happy. You're never. You know, because you always want everything to be perfect. That's why you become a writer instead of an actor. You want to rewrite it a million times before your show is anybody. But, you know, all in all, it's a great. I mean, it is. It's all I ever wanted to do. It is an incredible blessing to make your living in something you genuinely love. So I can't complain. You know, I take the take. The hard times.

[Tyrus]

Now, a lot of the authors have a difficult time switching their book to screenplay for movies and tv. Was that. Was that difficult? Because sometimes key components or movies like to blend things together, merge characters or shorten things up. Was that a difficult process? Like the first time you saw your movie on film, your book on film, or like, whoa, what the heck? That's not my method was that difficult. Did you have those moments?

[Andrew Klavan]

You know, I always. I always tell myself, I remind myself, one of the greatest of American mystery writers, a guy named James M. Cain, he wrote books Double Indemnity and the Postman Always Rings Twice. And they were made into fantastic movies. And in fact, Double Indemnity is a better movie. It was written by Raymond Chandler. It's a better movie than the book. And he admitted that. But at one point in an interview, somebody said to him. The interviewer said to him, how do you feel about what Hollywood has done to your books? And Cain said, hollywood has done nothing to my books. They're right over there on the shelf, you know.

[Tyrus]

Right.

[Andrew Klavan]

And I've tried to keep that attitude. There is a moment in true crime

[Tyrus]

where.

[Andrew Klavan]

And I didn't write the screenplay in the book. It's about. It's about. I always feel like I kind of invented Donald Trump before Donald Trump invented Donald Trump. It's about a guy who. Who's so nasty that he's the only person who can see that political correctness has put the wrong guy in prison, because he just doesn't care what people think. And he's a really bad guy. The hero of the book is a really bad guy. And at some point, he's interviewing this guy in prison, and the guy starts to talk about, you know, very highfaluting things. And the reporter says, I don't care. I don't care about right and wrong. I don't care about, you know, God or not God. All I care about is the things that happen. All I want to know is what happened, you know? And that's kind of the core of the book. And the whole book revolves around that conversation. And for some reason, when the screenwriter got to that. That scene, he changed it to, I don't care about this and that. I don't care. But all I care about is I have a nose for news that's.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, it's like you gave them Shakespeare and they turned into Mad Magazine, and you're like, what the hell?

[Andrew Klavan]

I remember hearing Clint Eastwood deliver that line and just kind of, you know, my head hitting the pavement, you know, But. But you just take it. It's always a good thing for the book. You know, it always sells some copies of the book. It gets the book out there. You can say, oh, this was the book that was made into a Clint Eastwood movie. And. And it means something to people. So I always try and look at it from that positive angle, you know,

[Tyrus]

because you mentioned Hollywood, and it was Hollywood then, and there's obviously Hollywood now. Did you learn a lot from Hollywood in terms of writing film? And when do you think storytelling got so bad?

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, good question. Excellent question. Well, first of all, you know, I never wanted to work in Hollywood. They dragged me into working in Hollywood. Somebody literally said to me, Is there anything you would write? And there was this one book by the British mystery writer Simon Brett called A Shock to the System. And I said, yeah, I'd write that book if you got that, because it's such a cool book. And they went out and optioned it and called me and I thought, okay, now I have to write it. And they made it into, I think it's a really good Michael Caine movie. Yeah, so that was, that's how I got into it. Eventually, you know, I got to a certain point where I thought, I want to go out to Hollywood because I was working in different places, but I thought I could just go out there and see what it's like. And for a couple of years, I did really well selling scripts, though not none of them well, one of them got made, but it wasn't very good. But mostly I was just selling them, which is a good living. You know, a lot of people never have a thing made. And then I, I started to talk politics. And it was the, the wars on terror, as they were called, where Hollywood started making these films in which we were the bad guys. A film after film after film in which, you know, we, the Republicans were evil, the soldiers were stupid, the, you know, the soldiers were rapists and killers, and the Muslims were just being picked on by. And I just started to say, you know, this is wrong. Our guys are actually in the field being shot at. You can't do this. I would write articles about it and my phone went dead like that. I mean, it was like I thought somebody had unplugged it. You know, it's like how fast my Hollywood career ended. It was almost instantaneous. And so there was already a blacklist, a tacit blacklist in place. It's not like there's a list that they pass around. It's just that they find out who you are. They stopped calling. And, and that, that was bad already because it meant only one side could ever be told. Like, I mean, you know, the, the late night comedy shows are all on one side. Everybody has the exact same opinion, except one. Except for Greg Gutfeld. Exactly. And, you know, he's. He's a big success. Look, we know it's not because of Greg's talent.

[Tyrus]

It's like, thank you. Hey, I'll take it. We. We all know what it is. We know what it is.

[Andrew Klavan]

It's. He's alone in saying what he says. And so that was already strangling the creativity of Hollywood when the Wokeness hit. And that was a genuine phenomenon. It was not like just right wingers throwing the word woke around when that kind of hysterical. Oh, we have discovered morality. And no one ever knew what morality was before washed over Hollywood. The stories went dead. And there were five years, and I've been around a long time. And I was sitting there thinking, I have never seen anything.

[Tyrus]

Nothing. Not even the 70s or anything like that, or like the 80s.

[Andrew Klavan]

Okay, yeah. I mean, there was always like a cluster of good stuff around. Like, for instance. For instance, when movies started to go bad, TV erupted with all this great. The Sopranos and Breaking Bad in the Shield, all this great stuff. And so there was always a place where the stories were. And it's not like there are no good authors. There are always good authors and there are always good films that are made. But you want to go to the movies on a weekend now, the odds of your finding something you actually want to see have been reduced to almost nothing. I'm hearing from people in Hollywood that the jobs have shut down completely. I know for a fact that they stopped hiring white writers, which is just

[Tyrus]

crazy because it's obscenely racist.

[Andrew Klavan]

First of all, it's obscenely racist, and it's. It means that you're just kind of picking people for.

[Tyrus]

With no merit. And then you wonder. And here's the perfect. Here's a perfect example. I'm on tour. I was on tour this weekend, and I had about six hours to kill. Now, when I was in the wwe, God, always seems like every year gets. Well, I guess every year gets further and further away. But I just remember one of the things we used to always do and also in college and football and stuff, bodyguarding, when we had downtime, we would hit the movies up. You just walk in and pick a movie. So I. I had about six hours to kill in. I think it was in. I was in Cadillac, Michigan, and it was a movie theater right next to the hotel. I was saying. So I just walked over and like, hey, let's see. I. I was like, nope, nope. What the hell? Like, I'm good. And I just. I was like, no, I'm good. And I was like. And this is a guy who, like, I enjoyed. I, like, I'm one of the few people that enjoys going to the movie by himself. Like, I absolutely enjoy it. Like, I will find a little. Sit in my corner and just watch the thing. And, and, and if I really like something, I'll watch it probably two or three times. Like, I'm just. I've always kind of been like that. But I, I just. And as a Guy who was, you know, I've done some movies and some. And I, I felt the pinch of the, of the. Oh, you work at Fox Shit. So, you know, you, you're apparently, you're hilarious on there, but we can't take the chance of you, you know, So I went through that and it was frustrating. But then I think the worst thing was for those who played along, who. Then they got cannibalized. A lot of the, like the writers and the, especially the white ones that were, that were in there, they placated to all these things instead of saying, hey, this isn't right, using their positions to say, hey, no, no, no, you're not going to exclude somebody because they, they're a breeder and they happen to have pale skin. You know, I mean, like, that is ridiculous. But they're writing these amazing things that helps everybody. So when, when those things were. Were happening, it was just shocking the. Where how many people just laid down. There was no resistance. And I, and I, I've always tried to get. I originally thought, well, because everyone had skeletons in their closet. So they figured if the flashlights are on everybody else and not me, then so be it. I was thinking things like that. But when a lot of the, like the Weinstein stuff and a lot of other things started coming out there, just. It didn't seem to really make a change.

[Andrew Klavan]

See, here's, here's the thing people don't know. One of the big advantages I had in Hollywood, and it really was an advantage was I love writing books and I love reading books and I love the movies too. But my, the thing that I love are books. I never wanted to work in Hollywood. And I did it, you know, because the opportunity came up. I turned out to be kind of good at it. And I was. Good money, you know, much better money. Instantaneous. You make money instantaneously. They pay you as you write the script. And. And so I was willing to quit jobs if things went bad. I was willing to say, no, I'm not going to write it because that's worse than what I wrote. I'm not going to do that. And I quit a bunch of jobs, you know, just saying, like, you know, go. Go with God. But I don't want to do that. Most of the people who are out there would back a dump truck over their mothers to get a job. That's what they live for. It's what they dreamed of when they were kids. It's all they want to do. And so. And it's hard. It's hard to get in. It's hard to stay in. You know, most people write a movie and it's a hit, and then that's it for them and they're gone. It is really, really tough to do. And so people sell their souls, and there's no other way to put it. You know, they're told to do things they know are wrong. They're told to write stuff they know is crap. They're told to do all kinds of things, and they do it. And the look in their eye, after they've done it for a couple of years, you look at it and thought, I don't care what happens. I never want to have that look in my eye. I want to look like a dead guy inside, you know? But that's the thing. It's the desire. I mean, look what screws up people's lives. Desire. The things you desire. You know, you have to have control over your desires and use them in the right way. It's true of every aspect of life. But in Hollywood, all bets are off. And people want it so badly, they'll do anything. And, yeah, when the DEI came in and the. And the. All the craziness that came in with wokeness, people just. You're right, they just rolled over.

[Tyrus]

You know, the rolling over. It seems to be a lot. It seems that we're starting to get a little push back now. People are starting to kind of. We're starting to see people like, all right, enough, because they're running out of their cannibalism, has turned on their own. So now their own are starting to say, okay, enough. Or corporations are starting to say, you know what? This woke stuff really hurt our bottom line.

[Andrew Klavan]

The bottom line is one thing, they are dying. I mean, the city is dying. That's the one thing. And the other thing is, was the reelection of Donald Trump. After everything they did to him, the lies and the Russian collusion and the accusing him of crimes, everything. I mean, they shot him, they did everything, and he won. And that was a signal that a new media had grown up that could fight back. And they were like people who've been caught with their pants down. I mean, almost literally, it was like they'd been caught doing everything that. And they kept telling you, if you don't believe this, you. You're a bad guy. If you're the villain in this movie, if you're a conservative, you believe in the Constitution, you believe in America, you're the villain in the piece. And suddenly it was like, oh, wait, the entire country, half the country disagrees with us so much that after all we did, they're still gonna vote for this guy and they're gonna vote for him partly because of what we did. I think that that broke a lot of bubbles, you know, it also became.

[Tyrus]

It was less profitable because the people that were. That benefited from his first term doing all that stuff, now they have no audience. And a lot of them, they have, like, they go from sitting on network panels with 10 people sitting around talking about all the ways the orange dragon is evil to earpieces in front of their green screen in their apartment, like, because they've been fired. You know? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just right, you know, and you see enough of that, you're like, maybe they'll get the message, but then they just double down.

[Andrew Klavan]

Well, I will tell you, I gotta tell you just a really quick story about the bubble in Hollywood when they were making all of these anti American war movies while our soldiers were fighting, which didn't happen in Vietnam. Right. All those guys had come back before they started making, you know, Apocalypse now and all that stuff. And he had actually been in the war. There were guys like Oliver Stone had actually been in the war, but they were making all these movies and every single one of them was bombing, you know, Green Zone. And, you know, all of them were just going right down the drain. And Variety, which is the, you know, is the trade paper for the business, wrote this article saying people just don't want to see movies about the wars on terror. I'm reading this in a coffee shop and I thought, they don't want to see movies on the war on terror in which we're the bad guys.

[Tyrus]

Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

Because we're not. You know, then Clint Eastwood makes American Sniper, and it's the biggest R for an R rated movie. I think. Think it was the first or second.

[Tyrus]

It was an unbelievably awesome movie.

[Andrew Klavan]

Awesome movie, huge hit. They read an article saying, this is a surprise because we thought people didn't want to watch.

[Tyrus]

No, the surprise is they don't want to hear how horrible the men and women who serve this country are. Their family members. Hey, let's sit around and even get

[Andrew Klavan]

the message, you know, Couldn't get the message. So the bubble. It's not a bubble. It's an iron lung. I mean, they're. They're really stuck.

[Tyrus]

So, all right, man, so we had four years. There's gotta be an amazing mystery thriller over the Biden presidency that you could, if you were to put together. There's got like, who is really running it, you know? You know, in the end, the big reveal, you know, was it. And the hood comes off and it was me. It was me.

[Andrew Klavan]

It was Obama.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, Obama. Or it was Hillary or someone we never even thought of. You know, Keyser Soze's back.

[Andrew Klavan]

It may have been Kaiser Soze.

[Tyrus]

Yeah. You know, like, you take liberties to where, you know, you want to make something to where people at the end won't be. You want to everybody watch where it was. It wasn't the left. Right. We were all tricked. It was. It was an alien, you know, it was the whole time.

[Andrew Klavan]

But you can't. They just won't make that move. I mean, now, see, now I think you could actually get away with something like that if you were an independent and broke your way. And the guys, the guys who carved the way for everybody, the Christians, they came in and just started making those movies and found out new ways to distribute them. And I think conservatives of conservatives had the wit. They would do some of the same stuff.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, I would like to see. I mean, I don't. I don't give a damn what the director or writer or actors political views as a civilian are. Just make a good flick. I don't. I don't care, you know, And I think that's the thing is, like, when the story. If you can't tell a story, you can't hold anybody. Now you have a very successful podcast and you talk about all things. And for some reason, my young producer team was like, you gotta ask him about this. He gotta ask about. So apparently, if you had two characters that you had to write a book about, and it's based loosely off their real life, and you need to somehow make them either allies or their protagonists to each other. Let's go with Sydney Sweeney and aoc. Okay, first, let's do. Let's do character breakdown. So we'll. I guess we'll go with a fun one first. What would aoc, how would you. Based on. Let's just say her fresh off her foreign policy. I'll call an event. It was an event. It was an event based off the information that you have seen just off her on tv. We don't know her personally. We're just going off of what we've seen in her interviews and we'll go off of what we've seen from Sydney Sweeney in terms of her portrayals in movies, whether it was handmade or whatever. How would you write aoc?

[Andrew Klavan]

Well, I actually think AOC is a very dangerous character. I really do.

[Tyrus]

I believe so, too.

[Andrew Klavan]

And one of the reasons I think this, and people always make fun of me when I say it, is she's kind of hot.

[Tyrus]

She's pretty. She's an attractive woman. No, no, that's true.

[Andrew Klavan]

She's got a great body. And. And the thing is, people say, well, that's sexist. You think, like, hey, it's the most powerful force on the earth. It is like, you know, a hot body is the. You know, you look on. On online, whatever the subject is, if they want you to click on it, there's a girl, a shapely girl in the picture that's now.

[Tyrus]

So we don't get in trouble. One could say the same about Gavin Newsom. He's. He's got good hair, he's tall. The ladies love him. You know, I don't. You know, I don't know if he has a washboard or not. That's not my thing. But I'm just saying, you could say he's an attractive guy. We can give him the nod.

[Andrew Klavan]

So looks matter.

[Tyrus]

Looks matter.

[Andrew Klavan]

Douglas Murray had a great line where he said, feminists are always talking about how much power men have. He said, but only one sex has the power to walk into a room and drive all the men insane.

[Tyrus]

Yes.

[Andrew Klavan]

You know, and that. That is just something that people have. And I've seen the way people look at aoc, and I think she's a fascist. I mean, that word now has almost no meaning.

[Tyrus]

But they call. Yeah. They project.

[Andrew Klavan]

She's an absolute authoritarian, and socialism is an authoritarian philosophy, and she's a socialist. You know, that's what it is. So I think that that is a good story. I think a story of somebody who is, like, really appealing on the left and to explain. Because it's something that especially young people don't understand, that it's inherently authoritarian for the government to control the money and the businesses.

[Tyrus]

Right.

[Andrew Klavan]

They always think, oh, that's more fair. That. That's more fair. But no, it just means it's more corrupt.

[Tyrus]

And it's a lot easier to launder when all the money goes to one place. And then you set up your NGOs and your charities, and then everybody gets paid except the people that were supposed to be benefiting from the thing in the first place.

[Andrew Klavan]

Exactly, exactly. So I would. I would put her in that position right where she is, except, you know, a little bit smarter so she's not, like. Doesn't make such a fool of herself. And then Sydney Sweeney, I would just have some just as A simple person who suddenly realizes, hey, I've got the same power. I'm just as beautiful. Yes, she is. And I'm going to fight back. And that would be the basic.

[Tyrus]

And then AOC uses her government ability to stop her from making a movie that was going to make or break her family. Everything they put into that. And then AOC disappears.

[Andrew Klavan]

We're in. This is it.

[Tyrus]

And Sydney Sweeney is on the trial of her life because the last person to be seen with AOC was a heated argument they had outside the, the courthouse. And then aoc, that was just blood trail or whatever. And then we just go from there. I think we're onto something here.

[Andrew Klavan]

I think it sounds. Typing as we sit here.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, I'm just, you know, I'll just think of a role for myself. I'll just be, I'll just be like the, the, the bailiff in the courtroom.

[Andrew Klavan]

Just don't, don't sell yourself short.

[Tyrus]

At least I'll be Sidney Sweeney's defense attorney. But, but I didn't actually pass the bar.

[Andrew Klavan]

But you just got the skill.

[Tyrus]

You get the skill and we're about to win the whole thing.

[Andrew Klavan]

That's it.

[Tyrus]

And. And then the AOC's team finds out.

[Andrew Klavan]

Exactly.

[Tyrus]

Wow. This. This thing writes itself.

[Andrew Klavan]

See, it's easy. This is the thing. Writing movies is easy.

[Tyrus]

Now, do you like. When I look at like AOC's performance was God awful, like that was just, it was, it was uninformed and not prepared. And it begs the question if that's the. Even if you're unprepared, let's say you and I were going into this thing and my paper disappeared and I couldn't ask a question about a novel. I couldn't remember the novel. I would still be able to be like, you know what, this slips me. But I know you did this and this. There wasn't even a pivot or just a general knowledge. It's not what was given to you that day. It's a pretty simple question. I don't have to be a forensic science of scientists, of forensic policy. If asked, would you still support Taiwan if China became aggressive? That's just a personal question, you know, like, yes, I would. Or what I think she wanted to say was no.

[Andrew Klavan]

That may have been the problem.

[Tyrus]

I think that was the issue was that the thing was no, because China falls more in line in my political belief system than Taiwan does. Now. That's what I picked up on. But the delivery was so, to quote the great Charles Barkley, terrible that it was. I Said that it would ruin her career. I don't think in terms of a major election now if I was running against her, that would be what I would run just non stop. I just don't think on the main, I think Americans will in small districts and small courts because we, we still vote lazy in our own neighborhoods. I think being pretty or a bartender, which again makes me have concerns of her bartending skills back in the day because what bartenders are supposed to be known for is the gift of gab is talking, right? And then a variety from broken hearts to newlyweds to, to talking a guy off the ledge to celebrating a guy like you. You gotta be, you know, just like the drinks you make, you gotta be quick. So I'm a little afraid. I would love to, to go back and see what that was like on a Friday night at the bar, you know. And again, this has nothing to do with her being a Democrat. If this was, this is as bad as Mitch McConnell freezing, you know, saying like his time machine stopped and he just, you know, it was like at that point it was like he's gotta go.

[Andrew Klavan]

Well there is a thing though, you know, in the same way, on the right, until Donald Trump, they didn't care. The right didn't care about the culture. I mean this was the right thing.

[Tyrus]

It was the party of Romney.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, yeah. The left goes into our museums and throws out all the masterpieces and puts up all this woke garbage. They go into the president's houses and when you visit them, the only thing in the gift store, books about slavery. And you think like, yeah, no, I'm interested in the slaves, but I'm here because George Washington lived here, Thomas Jefferson lived here. They permeate the culture and the right just stands there like a deer in the headlights and does nothing. In the same way, the left really knows nothing about foreign policy because they're here to transform America into something else. That's what they're here. They're here to fundamentally transform the United States of America. And that's what they care about. And so they don't really care. That's how you get people like gays for Palestine, which is like hens for

[Tyrus]

chick fil a.

[Andrew Klavan]

I know, you know, women for Palestine, feminists for Palestine. You think like, are you insane? It's like they don't care because that, that's transformative in their mind. They're transforming the world. And so that has always been their weakness. They, they do not know about foreign policy. They don't think about it. They don't even really think it's important, because their job is to tear down this country where ordinary people are allowed to talk. I mean, who thought of that? You know, this is like something that the left just hates that. Or who said that you should have free speech and ordinary people should be allowed to say things that we don't like? And so she really is actually an exemplar. It's not just her. She just doesn't know how to fake it because she never thinks about it.

[Tyrus]

Right now, to pivot to Sydney Sweeney, who I think is just a young lady who's trying to act and. And live her life, and she got caught up in the crosshairs of this. This cultural divide, basically, and the right just went all in on her. And I was like, just leave her alone. I don't feel like, you know, again, I have daughters. So when I think I'm. I'm, you know, I'm 53, so when I see young ladies and I think of daughters and children, I don't think of, like, you know, whatever. And I was like, just leave her alone. Like, why is she being dragged into this fight? Because she wore a pair of jeans. Now, they tried to go after her, and the American people took care of it by. Everyone started buying stocks and the company, you know what I'm saying? And everybody bought the jeans. So the American people stood up for her. Be like, you can say what you want to say, but we're buying jeans. So obviously, the American public had no problem. Now, the net that I always think the Cameraman. And that's 10% of 10%. The people who actually get on camera to discuss these things aren't always. Are never the people we see in everyday life.

[Andrew Klavan]

Right?

[Tyrus]

You know, it's always the. You know, it's always the. They said 80, 20. And I'm like, no, no, it's 95. Five, you know, with a lot of. And then that 5% is the one that gets with the extreme stuff where everything's racist or, you know, like, everything's. Was the biggest thing for a long time is everybody wanted reparations, which is hilarious to me, which is another mystery that we could do. Like, imagine. Imagine this brother, right? He's promoting. He wants reparations for his ancestors of all the wrongdoings. And we go through the whole thing, and then some young go hard. Some guy who does DNA for a forensic file guy come to find out that that brother who was fighting for it, his ancestors were actually the most notorious white slave owners. He'd only Been black for one generation, you know what I'm saying? This shit writes itself. That's 1,000% true. You were black now, you could have been white then and vice versa. This is America. If you look at the American, African American versus the African, African American. Somebody got a secret. Because when I go to Africa, I'm not seeing a lot of light skinned Scottish brothers walking around. So. But I think maybe there is that. We need to kind of what was an extremely difficult thing. We need to be able to make entertaining, fun, making fun of this situation so we can all get over it.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, but see, the thing, the thing is, you know, I've had a lot of people come to me and say, I want to, I'm going to start a conservative studio, but I'm going to do it beneath the radar. And I always say the same thing. There is no beneath the radar.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, no, no. As soon as you put something out, it's getting game over.

[Andrew Klavan]

Right. So the thing with Sydney Sweeney, for example, is they knew who she was. They knew that she had MAGA in her family. They knew she was maybe a Republican. They sniffed it. There was no way she was not gonna say something that they were going to. Yeah.

[Tyrus]

Even if she said hello, Even if she said, you know what? I wish I never did the jean commercial. Not good enough.

[Andrew Klavan]

No, no, no. That's just blood in the water. You can't apologize.

[Tyrus]

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely not.

[Andrew Klavan]

But she makes a commercial about jeans, which she says, I, I have good genes and that's a funny line. And suddenly she's a white supremacist. It would have been hello, just like you said. It would have been anything she said. So they're always coming after you and the people know it. And like I said, these people have dreamed their way to this place. They dreamed about this since they were a little kid. Think about, is it Kevin Hart? Is that the comedian's name? He was gonna host the cause.

[Tyrus]

He made a damn joke about a dollhouse 10 years ago when he was

[Andrew Klavan]

like 15 or something like that. So he was, he was going to be shot down. Now here's a guy, he's, he's a black guy. This is his dream job. He's made it to the top of the comedy pile, which is one of the hardest.

[Tyrus]

He's literally historic comedian and they, he, exactly.

[Andrew Klavan]

They shoot him down over nothing. So that, that lets everybody know who's less than he is, who hasn't got his stature, who hasn't got his position. They know Keep your mouth shut. That's why they go after J.K. rowling. That's telling all the writers, you know, if we can go after JK Rolling,

[Tyrus]

we can go after you. Yeah. And then the rest of us get, you know, just. They're under their shoe.

[Andrew Klavan]

It is not an accident what they do. They actually, you know, like I said,

[Tyrus]

I, I, I found my lane at Fox News right around the time that my acting career really picked up. I was doing a lot of different TV series. I was MacGyver, the Purge preacher. Like, I was. I was gaining momentum and doing some movies and stuff, and, and it. Literally overnight. Absolutely overnight, man. You're funny, you're talent, we love, you know, but this relationship with Fox we're just a little unsure of. So, you know, we're gonna pass.

[Andrew Klavan]

They said it out loud to you?

[Tyrus]

Well, that was. Yeah, that was. No, no. And then it just got to be the point where I go to an audition and as soon as I said I'm Tyrus, like, okay, thank you. And I was like, wow. And then I got upset. Cause I didn't ask to come to this mother. You asked me to. I got the email, man. I just didn't like Morpheus. Movie sucked anyway, you know what I'm saying? But I just remember being heated because I had to fill out all this paperwork for a Marvel flick and it's top. And I'm like, did the audition. It was like, hi, we're good. Thank you, sir. I was like,

[Andrew Klavan]

next, please. Yeah.

[Tyrus]

Did I say my name wrong?

[Andrew Klavan]

I used to get the same thing over and over again. A new producer would come to town, they read a stack of scripts, and I would be one of the three scripts they pull out of 100 scripts. Because I knew what I was doing. They'd call me in, they'd call my agency. I love this guy. We got to work together, never hear from him again. I thought they Google me, you know,

[Tyrus]

I had four major motion pictures where they flew me out to la, to the Beverly Hotel to sit and do the dinner and discuss the thing and how much money was. And I was like, man, this. I'm like, you know, like, I'm getting ready to call a fox. Like, you know, I might not be in next week because I'm doing, You know, luckily, I don't. Thank God. I don't count my chickens before. I mean, even after they hatch, they gotta, they gotta be eating and breathing steady for a month before I'll say anything. But I just remember, like, I went from that to, like, just Just radio silence, like overnight, you know, and even, like, I had a reoccurring role and one. And then like the next season, I just wasn't there.

[Andrew Klavan]

Just.

[Tyrus]

Just. Nope. You know, and it was. I was. Emotionally, it was tough because I was like, I don't. And I didn't know my career was going to go the way it was going to go at Fox at that time. I was just Saturday nights, you know, But I had a steady, little, steady little paycheck. It was nothing, you know, to where I could be like, you know, the world. I'm good now, bro. You know what I'm saying? But. And I was like, man, what am I going to do? You know? I was like, well, I can always go back to teaching and coaching. I was really in that mindset because

[Andrew Klavan]

I had to sell my house. I have to sell my house. Yeah. And. And like, you know, I. I knew. I knew I would if I had it to do over again. I knew I'd do exactly the same thing. So I couldn't really berate myself. I couldn't say, you shouldn't have done that, because I'd have done it again. I'd do it again tomorrow, you know.

[Tyrus]

Yeah. Because it was. All I had to do was go out and just say that, you know, working. That working with Fox was racist or some stupid shit for attention, and they would have rallied around me, you know, and, you know, and. And that's the best thing.

[Andrew Klavan]

I love that more than.

[Tyrus]

Yeah. And then, you know, and maybe short term, I would have got all that I wanted, but then I got to live with the fact that I just besmirched a company that believed in me when nobody else did.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Tyrus]

Just for a short term pay, you know, and then eventually they're gonna, you know, eventually I'm gonna say something anyways, and then I'm gonna get canceled anyways, you know.

[Andrew Klavan]

Right. You know, and like I said, I. I saw the look in the eyes of people who sold their souls. I just thought, I'm, you know, and

[Tyrus]

where are they all now?

[Andrew Klavan]

Decision. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the other thing. The road runs out anyway, you know, eventually they find out who you are.

[Tyrus]

I wonder if Acosta will look back and be like, man, maybe I should have just stayed in the middle, you know?

[Andrew Klavan]

You know, it's an interesting thing. I mean that it does happen. It does happen on the right, on the left. It's not quite as mobilized and organized as it is, but you can go too far on the left. But I mean, think of. Think of Sean Penn. I mean, the guy's a great actor.

[Tyrus]

Oh, he was phenomenal. I just saw him in. What was the one with him in DiCaprio?

[Andrew Klavan]

The one medal after another.

[Tyrus]

One medal after another. Oh, man, he was almost too weird.

[Andrew Klavan]

He's an amazing actor, but he supported Hugo Chavez. You know, he's like as far left as it's possible to be. Never pays a price. Never ever. You know, and it's just like anybody who is on the right a little bit is gone, especially if they're starting out.

[Tyrus]

Yeah. Actually, there was a movie called Lions and Lambs, which was the. Supposed to be the Suge Knight for lamps. Yeah, it was supposed to be Suge Knight's biography. And I was playing Suge Knight, and Sean was going to play, I believe, the guy who was doing the interview.

[Andrew Klavan]

Wow.

[Tyrus]

And. Oh, yeah, that was the big fly out. And it was like five or six meetings, and then. I'm still waiting for that call. Let me check. Hold on. Let me make sure my ringer's on. Make sure my ringer's on. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. As long as. Yeah. Gut feel, owes me money. I always got something to look forward to. But, but I, I think back when those things were happening, I, I, I can honestly tell you there was like a, a panic because I had worked so hard to get.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Tyrus]

You know, and, and, and stepping out from wrestling to try to really bet on myself. And, and, and, and it was the moment where I was like, did I just. My whole family over, you know, like, there was moments where I was like, you know, and I'm just being real. Especially if you're black and you stand up again, there is no forgiveness for them because they not only take away your right to work, they also take away your ethnicity. We're the only group. They're like, you're not black anymore. So I'm like, okay, so what am I? You know what I'm saying? Like, where do I belong? Where do I fit? And I always. And it's from the group that loves to point fingers about, you know, misogyny, toxicity, this, that, racism, oppression, blah, blah, blah. But the first thing you do, if you're a brother who has an independent thought, the first thing they do is they tell you you're an Uncle Tom. Take your blackness away, which is an oxymoron. You gotta be one or the other. And then they would take your living away, and then they take your manhood away. And it's the, it's, you know, and a president can say, if you don't vote for me. You're not black. And literally have no. There was absolutely no pushback other than, like, Fox was like, hey, what the hell? Everyone was like, shut up, Fox. You know, it was just. It's amazing to me.

[Andrew Klavan]

Listen, I. I belonged to an organization, a supposedly secret organization called Friends of Abe in Hollywood, which is where the people gathered who were conservative. And I used to joke about it because you'd go into a meeting in Hollywood and they curse out George W. Bush or whatever. But we had to meet in secret, and it was like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You get up and say, you know, my name is Andrew, and I'm a conservative. Hi, Andrew. You know, and all this stuff and the stories that the black people told, the black actors, the black people behind the, you know, behind the scenes, the cameramen and all this stuff, it moved people to tears, including me. You would just sit there because the. The treatment they got was unbelievable. The cruelty was unbelievable because it was like, you stay in your lane, you

[Tyrus]

know, you should be thankful that I'm allowing you to be here.

[Andrew Klavan]

Exactly.

[Tyrus]

Because I can replace you like that.

[Andrew Klavan]

Those stories were absolutely the worst stories. And, you know, this is what I mean. They're intentional. They're much more.

[Tyrus]

They project a lot. They're very. Project. Yeah. I don't know why we call them the far left. We used to call them the projectionist. Because they just project. Like, whenever they say something like, aha, that's what you're up to, you know, like.

[Andrew Klavan]

That's right.

[Tyrus]

They're almost like a bad villain. Or they just. It's like the Batman TV series all over again, where the Mad Harder has him tied up in, like, the elaborate plan, and then he tells him, hey, when this happens. And, you know, so Batman literally is taking notes, you know,

[Andrew Klavan]

and gives his whole scheme away.

[Tyrus]

Right. But then shoot him. But we always end up. The Republican Party Party always ends up like this.

[Andrew Klavan]

No, this.

[Tyrus]

Did you know that was going to happen? I didn't know that was going to happen.

[Andrew Klavan]

Like, so help me. So help me. I would tell I had an agent who was conservative, and I would say, you know, I've been blacklisted. No, no, no. All they care about is money. I thought they do.

[Tyrus]

That's just not true. No, they don't. No, they don't.

[Andrew Klavan]

You know, because. Because they care. They care about prestige and they care about girl getting girls, and all those things come to you if you do say and write the right thing, you know.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, well, and there's. And then they Control the money. So they control the money too. So. Yeah, that's another thing. You know, this has been absolutely amazing and.

[Andrew Klavan]

Oh, it's great. I was really happy to meet you.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, it's nice when you meet someone the first time, you just hit it off because I guess.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Tyrus]

You know, two. Two lords of smartassery meet in the night.

[Andrew Klavan]

So who should have been thrown out of school.

[Tyrus]

Yes, Both of them. Yeah. I can tell you I spent a lot of times in. In the. In the principal's office. And, you know, why don't you go to the front of the class and you do it and you get some giggles and some entertaining stuff and the teacher's like, just get your ass. Just go to the principal's office.

[Andrew Klavan]

They should have just sent us there as we walked into the building. Right.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, Just. Just hang out there. Now I have every guest I have on. I have. I'm. I'm trying to take some young guys under my wing. I call them the B team. And they like to ask a few questions of. Of guests and stuff. So. But again, bear with them. They're out here now. It's that. It's that Gen Z or what's. What's the one lower than that? What's the. It's Gen Z. What's the other one?

[Andrew Klavan]

Alpha. Is that the new.

[Tyrus]

No, they're clearly not an Alpha. Millennial. Yeah, yeah. Millennial or Gen Z, I don't know which one they qualify under, but they're. They're two young guys and I call them the B team. And they. They had some serious questions to ask you. But I just want to say you can treat them as you see fit, sir.

[Andrew Klavan]

Thank you. I appreciate that this is going to be.

[Tyrus]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please swing away. If this was signs, swing.

[Ryan]

Andrew, can you hear me?

[Andrew Klavan]

I can. How you doing?

[Ryan]

I'm Ryan. I'm one half of the B team. Harry got lost. I don't know where he is, but. So it's just gonna be me and you, I guess. I'm an aspiring political guy, a big conservative. I just wanted to ask you guys you a few questions. First being what advice could you give to a young conservative like me and how that advice can shape the future of conservatives in general.

[Andrew Klavan]

What is it you want to do? You want to be in media?

[Ryan]

Yeah, I want to be in media. But like, I got very involved when I was young. Since 16, I joined my local Republicans club in my town. I always want to be super involved, but I just don't see, like, enough people my age. Getting involved politically. So if you had to give advice for young conservatives, what would that be?

[Andrew Klavan]

I'll tell you know what you're for. That's the most important thing. Don't know what you're against. Everybody knows what he's against. Conservatives, you know, they call them reactionaries for a reason. It's because the minute the left says black, they say white. You know, the minute the left says white, they say black. And if you don't know what you're for, you can get, you know, you can really find yourself saying stupid stuff. You hear all these guys, they'll say, like, nah, the left wants to cancel me for this. That may be true, but that doesn't mean what you're saying is true or smart or good, you know, so. So if you know, you know, you should read enough, and it's a big deal to. Reading is like the whole key, but you should read enough to know what the country means, what it is to be an American conservative, which is different than any other kind of conservative, because we're conservatives in a revolutionary country, which is really different, you know, and. And you should know why the things that you believe are true and that then you won't just be a reactor. And that's the first thing I would say about doing that.

[Ryan]

When you think about it, when you're in college. I remember when I was in college, I went to school in Queens. I went to St. John's and I was one of the only conservative guys in my class, all my government classes. Do you think that young people, especially nowadays with the Internet and social media, they're almost afraid to be canceled just for having the view? Like, if you say you're a Trump supporter, people look at that and they already put you in a box. They already put you into a certain section. So what do you say to those that are afraid to kind of show their true colors?

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah. No, I think first of all, they're not stupid to be afraid. I mean, your teachers grade you down. You may not get the girls that you want. There's all kinds of social media prices that you pay. I would. I would just say this. And I say it especially to men. I gotta be honest. I say it especially to men. To let people teach you to have no integrity is a sin. It's a sin for them to do it. It's a sin for you to let them do it. Integrity is the core of manhood. It really is. It's, you know, like a woman can get away with a little bit of deception. We like that. You know, we like makeup, we like, you know, a little bit, a little bit of game playing, but not a guy. A guy. If you want to have self respect, you got to be who you say you are and do what you say you're going to do. And so what I would say is in the long run, and you're going to, you're going to pay a price, you should know it up front. But in the long run, you're going to be a better guy and a happier guy. If you have integrity, there's always like a shiny thing on the table that you can grab if you'll just give up your soul. But I can tell you this, over time, it is just absolutely true. Over time, you will be so much happier and the losses that you experience won't mean anything near what they mean if you lose your integrity.

[Ryan]

Yeah, for sure.

[Andrew Klavan]

That's it. Courage.

[Ryan]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Andrew Klavan]

All good things take courage.

[Ryan]

The thing is, I remember when Trump was running again and the big demographic to get was, or one of the big demographics to get was that young male generation, the 18 to 25 young men. And I think that Trump started to get those guys in, you know, social media. He did all those podcasts, he did Joe Rogan, he did the Nelk. So I see that there's been a trend, but there is life after Trump. Even I know that. And I love Trump. So how someone like me, that's young, how do I, like, if I hopefully continue this opportunity that Tyrus has given me, how do I help grab that younger generation outside of Trump, outside of the current MAGA politics, and just focus on trying to reach out and develop the future of politics. That's where we are. I'm part of the future of politics. So what would you say someone like I have to do?

[Andrew Klavan]

Well, I think that you have to be the guy who, first of all, you have to demonstrate, represent the things that we're talking about. You have to be the guy with integrity. And you also, you know, the funniest thing is, it sounds strange to say it, but you have to have joy, you know, you have to love what you're doing and love what you're saying, because it's the most seductive thing in the world. You know, if people see if you're like that angry guy and you're screaming all the time, you know, you know, a million conservatives like this, you know, it's like kids today and this, you know, when I was young, everything was bad. If you're that guy, it's just like off putting, you know, and people are saying, well, you know, that. That leftist looks really happy and this right winger looks really angry. I would rather be that. Do it with joy, you know, like you should. You should be joyful. This is like. This country is like. It's like a lightning bolt hit the ground. You know, there has never been anything on earth like this country where people are as free as they are and where people can say the things they say, where the government is constrained. It should be a joy to defend this place, you know, and you don't have to be a. A jingoist. You don't have to say, like, everything America does is right and everything's great. But you should understand that, you know, you were given a gift. This is an incredible gift to be here. And if people get that vibe, I think that they'll start to hear the message as well. I think it's an important thing.

[Ryan]

Yeah, that's a. That's a really good point. I mean, the messaging. I mean, that's one of the things that everybody loved about Charlie Kirk, because Charlie would sit there and he would invite people that were young from both sides of the spectrum. And I think that today is why we are struggling as a country. Because you see someone like Charlie who wanted to sit there and bring both sides together, that's what he ended up dying for. He ended up dying for trying to share that opinion, trying to merge and bring people closer, even though people disagreed with him. I mean, that's what we're all. That's what being an American is. You're supposed to disagree. But I think that. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that there's an issue with sharing how you feel, sharing your opinion, because to what we said earlier about teachers giving you bad grades, or maybe you're not going to get the job that you wanted, or, you know, you're. For instance, I'm planning a wedding right now. If I put something political on my Instagram or my Twitter, maybe that person doesn't want to book a venue with me or doesn't want to be the photographer. So it's like, I think. I mean, what do you think about sharing your opinion? Is it okay to try to have a voice, to try to share and try to create a new path forward past where we are right now?

[Andrew Klavan]

I think you have to. I really do. I think it's the job. It's the job professionally, and it's the job personally. The. The trick that the left pulled, which was a brilliant trick, is to convince you that you were A, the only person who thought what you thought so you were alone. And B, that if you had certain opinions, they were impolite, they were cruel.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

So if you just said the facts, you said, like, hey, you know, maybe. Maybe it's a bad thing to have children out of wedlock. Maybe that show, you know, the results of that are just terrible. And we can record them. That's a terrible. You know, some people can't help that. You know, this is the situation they're in. And yet what a terrible person you are to say that. And you think you don't want to be a terrible person. Nobody wants to be called racist. It's a bad thing to hate people because of their racist. It is an actual bad thing. So the thing is, if you can remember that it's not impolite to speak the truth and speak the truth politely, I think it has an enormous power. I think the thing about Donald Trump that is great is because he's actually not polite. He broke those bonds, you know, he broke those. Those. That. That bubble that they had people wrapped in. But because he's not polite, he also alienates people. And I think that you. With. With a little bit of courage, you can say the exact same things in the politest way.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I agree.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah. I mean, I love Trump. I mean.

[Andrew Klavan]

Oh, me too.

[Ryan]

He's, you know, I love Trump. I've always wanted to meet Trump, and he's the reason why I got into the political arena. I didn't have anything to do with politics. When I was in high school, he started to run, and suddenly I'm like, wow, this is a pretty cool experience. So that's why I got into it. But to your point, you know, there is a softer way to go about things. There is a different thing, and it will be completely different once he's officially out of office.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

The message may still stay the same, the ideas may still stay the same, but I think that it could help on a different direction because there is life after Trump, like I said earlier. So with that being said, do you think the structure of the Republican Party is what's wrong, or is it the messaging and the ability to message?

[Andrew Klavan]

No. The problem with the Republican Party is they have been absolutely cowed by the. The fact that the left has dominated the press, and they still can't believe that X is more important than the New York Times, that the opinions that you hear on social media may be better and smarter than the New York Times. They're so afraid. And I'M using the New York Times as a symbol for that entire media. They're so afraid that they will not step out of the lane. And that is. It's off putting. It's especially off putting to men who value courage, you know, among the top things. So I think that it is the gutlessness of the Republican Party. They're still this way. When I look at the Senate, they haven't passed anything. You know, John Thune says, oh, we haven't got. We haven't got time to pass this, this bill that, you know, that Trump wants. It's like, make time. Do it. Yeah, just get it done. And, like, I think that, that, that is the thing. And when you look at Trump, what he's accomplished, even if you disagree with them, the amount he's accomplished is amazing. And that's because he just doesn't. He's not cowed. And I think you can be not cowed and perfectly nice. And you just have to be able to withstand them telling you that you're not being nice.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I mean, that's a great point. And like you said, I think Republicans get in the way of themselves. You have the House, you have the Senate, you have the presidency. And in my opinion, not because I think that Trump's doing a bad job. I don't think the Republicans are gonna have a good turnout in November. I think it's gonna. Unless Trump is on the ticket. We have seen a huge shift in Democrat to Republican turnout, especially in early voting. You know, Texas is now getting blue. All of these other states are slowly starting to shift, and unless Trump is on the ticket, it's almost like Republicans don't wanna come out. So I really appreciate talking to you, Andrew. It's a pleasure. Hopefully, the future of politics and the Republican Party and conservatives will grow from this. And hopefully we won't be so afraid to share ideas and share our messaging. And hopefully people like me can help influence other people that are my age, and hopefully the future of the party and the idea in general can see a brighter day. Because, I don't know, right now, personally speaking, I don't see a huge shift in the right direction.

[Andrew Klavan]

I think you'll be surprised. I think you have a better chance than you think. And just remember, fear defeats itself, cowardice defeats itself. It. If you have courage, you can do a million things that nobody thought you could do. Yeah.

[Ryan]

All right, Andrew, it was a pleasure talking to you. I appreciate it.

[Andrew Klavan]

Nice meeting you.

[Ryan]

Nice. Very nice to meet you.