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- [00:00]
Podcast Host
If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions and sleep duration. Then every morning it combines these factors into an easy to understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high. Know your sleep score with Apple Watch. IPhone 11 or later required.
- [00:30]
Dave Smith
My view is that this country is really out of control and that bothers me very much because I got little children who are going to grow up in this country and I want them to have it better than I did. Everyone's more isolated, everyone's more removed, we're more on our devices and politics is taking up more and more and more of life.
- [00:47]
Greg Gutfeld
It's bigger than sports. All right. Dave Smith, stand up comedian, libertarian political commentator, podcaster, and the host of Part of the Problem. I think part of the problem is probably accurate, but you're a good problem to have.
- [01:10]
Dave Smith
Yeah, there you go.
- [01:13]
Greg Gutfeld
Why do you think that your takes are so controversial? You're a common sense guy. It's not like you're inventing a new language or pulling something out of the stratosphere. You're just kind of laying it out to play it out. Why is that such a. Why is that so threatening?
- [01:29]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I guess over, you know, the last 20 years, there's a lot of common takes sense, common sense takes. Excuse me, that were very controversial. I mean, up until like five minutes ago, I think it was controversial to say that there's a difference between boys and girls.
- [01:46]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [01:47]
Dave Smith
And so it's like, feels to me like the, the establishment. I mean that in a very broad sense of the term, it's like they just got so lazy recently that anybody who's ever criticizing them, all they can do is like label you, you know, you're homophobe or racist or a transphobe or this. So like I'm, I'm, to me, like, I agree. I think I, I think I'm pretty reasonable. I, I believe in Americanism. I don't particularly, like, I'm not actually particularly bigoted. I mean, I think we all have our bigotry.
- [02:24]
Greg Gutfeld
Anybody who drives in traffic has got a little bigoted. Him. But I mean, we've all, but we have, you know, and it's not like
- [02:30]
Dave Smith
you just can be.
- [02:31]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah. You know, it's not like you just pick on one side. You know what I'M saying, like you call it as you see it. And that's one of the things that I respect about. Because it's not easy to do.
- [02:41]
Dave Smith
Yeah, that's. Well, that's right. And I mean, I guess I just. That's just the way I am. And I've kind of always been like that. And it's easier. It's easier for me because I really believe, believe in the things I believe in, whether they're right or wrong. I genuinely think I'm right and I believe in them. And so that's kind of what drives me. And so I don't really care if you have an R next to your name or a D next to your name. I'll. I'll agree with you if you're, if you're saying something that makes sense. But I just. My view is that this country is really out of control. We're really not what we are supposed to be. We're not like America is supposed to be the city on a hill that's a free market, Free, free country with free speech that isn't. The policeman of the world doesn't have to bankrupt ourselves to fund every foreign conflict around the world. I mean, this, this is what the founders believed in America. It's not like I'm taking some radical crazy stand, but I do think that it's like we're kind of in slow motion watching our country be destroyed. And that bothers me very much because I got little children who are going to grow up in this country, you know, and I want them to have it better than I did.
- [03:48]
Greg Gutfeld
I often think.
- [03:49]
Podcast Host
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- [04:18]
Greg Gutfeld
It's spoiled. I think we've become like a. We're all like. And I say us because I. You have to take the good, the bad with your. Their country. But we've kind of become a spoiled little fat kid, you know, like, we just. We want everything now. And if it's not our way, we throw a temper tantrum. And it used to be when you threw a temper tantrum, your mom would just let you sit your ass in Kmart and cry. You're still not getting the GI Joe, but you can cry it out all you want to, and she'll go about her business. Now when somebody cries, it's breaking news, you know, and it's. And it. It's frustrating, and it's on. I'm. As long as I've been in this game, the more the. Each year goes by, the less I have to say, because it feels like I never knew that when I was a kid coming up, I never heard my parents be like, well, the neighbor across the street, you know, they're a Democrat. Right. Or, you know, like the R and D word is. It's almost become like an evil Dr. Seuss book. You know what I'm saying? Remember that one group had a little star, and if you didn't have a star, you weren't cool. So then a guy showed up and charged him was like, 15 Zucker Bucks or whatever it was to get stars. And then the star people didn't want stars. And that's kind of like what it is, is, like, it's just. It's just this. We're all become. This. This suicide. I keep saying it over. Gad Saad has this new book out, and I'm hooked on it. But he talks about suicidal empathy, and it's like, we all become that virtuous. Look what I'm doing. I'm so virtuous. But they're never, ever living by the virtue that they preach.
- [05:52]
Dave Smith
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I think there's. You know, there's a lot of things going on, and I think one of the things is that, like. Right. Like, I'm. I was born in the 1980s, and it really was. I guess this is part of what getting old is. And, you know, me being in my mid-40s or whatever. Not that that's old, but.
- [06:11]
Greg Gutfeld
What getting old on the fresh side of 50. It's not at all.
- [06:14]
Dave Smith
Well, okay, fair enough. But. But around our age, you kind of just. You start to realize, like, oh, this is a really different country than the country I grew up in.
- [06:22]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [06:22]
Dave Smith
Like the America of the 1980s, which is a much different place. Like, I grew up in an environment where my parents told me to get out of the house. That was normal. That's what everyone did. We all just. We all played outside with kids. I grew up in a world where other adults could discipline you. Yeah, like adults where you could get in trouble with someone else on the block and they could discipline you. Now, by the way, I'm not raising my kids that way because that's just not the way any of people raise their kids these days. It's a different world.
- [06:50]
Greg Gutfeld
Village is gone.
- [06:52]
Dave Smith
Yes. And. But with that comes, like, it toughens you up a bit. It prepared you for the world. You might have to deal with a fist fight, and no one was going. There wasn't like an adult you could run to. If you ran to the adult, they'd be like, did you punch him back? Yeah, they wouldn't like, you know, and it produces different people, you know, and so there's. There's. That's one of the elements to it. People are overly sensitive. There's. There's not like a feeling that there could be confrontation, that there could be ramifications for your words. You could say whatever you want on Twitter, man.
- [07:22]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [07:22]
Dave Smith
It's different in the neighborhood saying, because the wrong thing had consequences, potentially.
- [07:27]
Greg Gutfeld
Class couldn't write checks you couldn't cash, you know?
- [07:30]
Dave Smith
Right.
- [07:30]
Greg Gutfeld
But, you know, I. I can now. There was a. A huge issue in my neighborhood when I was in the seventh grade. So I had gotten a few Ds in biology and English and just not doing my work. And so I got together with some of my buddies on the school bus and. And we all put lines in our Ds to make it look like bees. So
- [07:57]
Dave Smith
the road to the NBA finals ends here, with star guard setting the tone. The Cavs eye another upset, while the Knicks carry the dreams of all of New York. The Eastern Conference finals continue on ESPN and ABC
- [08:24]
Greg Gutfeld
for about 48 hours that Friday, when, first of all, my. My mom automatically knew something was up because I presented the report card to her. You know what I'm saying? Typically, the report card be stuffed in a backpack, hoping she would forget about it. And I walked in, like, report card mother. And she's like, oh, you got all bees in the sea. Like, oh, I'm so proud of you and the neighborhood. And she came out and she told. And I remember Ms. Pyvis gave. Made cookies, and it was like a thing because we. All the boys on the neighborhood have good grades, you know, and one guy, I'll never forget his name, Timmy Smith, he had an F, and he tried to turn it into a B, and he didn't do it. Great. And his father figured it out when his father got home. And word spread quick and literally two bites into my homemade chocolate chip cookies, the jig was up. And my mother was like, hey, you know, for having all Bs, it's crazy that you have a 1.85 grade point average. And I remember my mother just, you know, you're a liar, you're this, you're that. And I thought that was. Oh, but I. Walking into school in the morning at 7:30 to the bus. Ms. Pyvis was waiting on my ass and she had a spatula in her hand. She gave me like three whacks on the back for being dishonest. And don't you ever ask for any cookies or baked goods again. And that was worse than anything, you know, and you know, and it made me pick my grades up. It made us all pick our grades up. But it was a community thing. When we went outside to play two hand touch football, some of the greatest arguments of all time over those 10 step rules for the first down. But neighbors would come out and sit in their chairs and like, they'd watch and they'd like. It was a whole thing. And now it is an absolute ghost town out there. And I don't.
- [10:03]
Dave Smith
Yeah, dude, we used to, we used to play T ball, we used to have barbecues. We used to get in fights and then make up with each other. You were best friends, you know, watch my. Yeah, like watch movies that we weren't supposed to see. Now look, I'm not saying everything was perfect, you know, like, but, but there is, there's something to the fact that we're a much more isolated society. We're a much more privileged society. And, and also government just kept getting bigger and bigger over this time. So, you know, the size of government now is maybe, maybe four times as big as it was under George W. Bush. Like literally you go look at the.
- [10:38]
Greg Gutfeld
No, it's staggering.
- [10:39]
Dave Smith
Maybe three times as big. It's. It. And so, and, and what ends up happening then is that everyone's more isolated, everyone's more removed, we're more on our devices and politics is taking up more and more and more of life.
- [10:51]
Greg Gutfeld
It's bigger than sports.
- [10:53]
Dave Smith
Right? If you have, look, if you have a night watchman state where the government essentially maintains the courts and the roads and the police force and like a military or something like that, there's just not that much to talk about or to argue about or to identify with. But when you have a government that not only is the empire of the entire world, but we're determining what happens in the conflict in Eastern Europe, in the conflict in the Middle east, we're determining what happens in like Asian monetary policy. And then we're also have this giant welfare state where we're taking care of Illegal immigrants, and they're pushing all types of crazy cultural stuff on us. Well, then it just draws everyone into fighting about politics all the time, which, look, we all do. We're all in this world doing it. But. But I gotta say, I don't think this is the healthiest way for a society to run.
- [11:40]
Greg Gutfeld
Here's the thing. Why do you think libertarianism hasn't taken off more? Because if you speak to more people without the cameras on and just everyday people, people kind of align more with a libertarian philosophy. But when their choices come, it's either one or the other, you know, and we just. Is. Is it that we just need that charismatic libertarian to come out of the way, or is it just government has just got a lock on those two parties and there's just no room? I think Ross Perot probably got the closest.
- [12:12]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [12:12]
Greg Gutfeld
You know, I think that I. And I thought maybe. And I was. At that point, I think I was. I don't even think I voted yet. I think I was like, I thought Bill Kilton was cool because he was on Arsenio Hall. I think that was about as. About as depth of my politics at that time. And I think. But, like, are we missing that? That Libertarian champion. Is that what it is? Or is it just. It's just never going to allow it to happen? Because you would think after Perot, there would have been a presence. I mean, we've had the Greenpeace, but they've never been enough other than a mere annoyance for one party or the other.
- [12:44]
Dave Smith
Well, they did. They did a lot after Ross Perot to. To rig the system and in favor of the big. The two major parties. And in fact, it used to be it was the League of Women Voters who used to run the debates. And then immediately after that, they switched it and they made it. It's the Democrats and Republicans. They're just straight up not letting anybody else get in those debates. And I think that the, you know, the truth is that what the American people want doesn't really seem to have much impact on policy.
- [13:14]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [13:15]
Dave Smith
And there's, you know, it's like the American people, you know, they vote. Barack Obama says, I'm going to end all the wars. I'm a close Guantanamo Bay. I'm going to restore habeas corpus. I'm going to do all these things. The American people overwhelmingly go, okay, we like that guy. We like what he's saying. He doesn't end the wars. He doesn't close Gitmo. He doesn't do any of the things he said he was going to do. Then we go, okay, well, we're going to go with this Donald Trump guy. He's going to drain the swamp. He's going to start no new wars. He's going to release the Epstein files. He's, you know, it's like, it's what we say we want. So there's a disconnect there between, like, yeah, if you said to the American people, how about we're going to, you know, we're not going to fight any more stupid wars. That's very popular. In fact, you might even win the popular vote in every single swing state
- [13:56]
Greg Gutfeld
if you just want to fight in war. Everyone's anti war until they're in it, you know.
- [14:02]
Dave Smith
Right. Well, but look, I mean, the truth is that I don't think anybody. I'm about as anti war as people are out there. I don't think anybody's suggesting that, like, if our country's attacked, we shouldn't retaliate or that we shouldn't, like, thwart an imminent attack or something like that. But the question is, like, are we just going, are we fighting wars of choice, wars of aggression against countries who haven't attacked us, who really don't pose a real threat. Threat to us, because they're puny little countries compared to us, after all. And we've just been in the business of doing that nonstop for 25 years. The people. Anyway, the point is that whenever you're trying to do what libertarians are trying to do, which is shrink the size of government, the issue isn't really getting the people on your side. The issue is that you're a threat to power because there's just every bit of government spending represents some entrenched interest. And people are making a lot of money off of this.
- [14:54]
Greg Gutfeld
Millions, apparently. I mean, I'm not privy to. And I'm big banks.
- [14:58]
Dave Smith
Big banks and big weapons companies and big pharma. I mean, these, these guys are making trillions to hundreds of billions of dollars off of the current system, and they're going to fight like hell to make sure that they don't lose that power. And so essentially, that's not just like what libertarians are up against. That's essentially what we're all up against. It's, you know, this is why, I think when Donald Trump. Donald Trump's campaign slogan of drain the swamp resonated so much with so many people, because on some level, we all just know that Washington is so corrupt and so criminal and that the real kind of permanent government isn't One that we get to vote on. It's people that unelected positions of bureaucrats and spies and private interests who end up controlling policy. And we kind of wanted a real president to rein all of that in, but that is, that is a difficult feat.
- [15:51]
Greg Gutfeld
No, it not just that, but it's like we don't really take voting seriously in this country because especially when you look at the Senate and the House and I mean, it's across the board. Republican, Democrat, doesn't matter. These career politicians, a job that doesn't pay that much, but everyone walks out with unbelievable amounts of wealth. And it's just laughable when I like, they're going after some of the new kids on the block now. But it's like I find it funny when you have Nancy Pelosi pointing the finger and at the same time, the Republican, you know, old turtle, Turtle man, he's literally, I mean, Mitch McConnell. And then you have Bernie Sanders, who's a socialist who owns three mansions, you know, and they're all anti oligarch. We gotta stop these oligarchs. You all are the definition of an oligarch. You've been in power longer than most of us have been alive.
- [16:40]
Dave Smith
Oh, it's so infuriating, man. It's right, like, it's like Bernie Sanders, this like regime approved communist or whatever, like a regime approved revolutionary who's a multimillionaire who has three houses, but yet he's going to talk to you about inequality all day. And it's not just that. It's like every, down to every inch, like they advocate gun control, but they have armed guards.
- [17:03]
Greg Gutfeld
Yes.
- [17:03]
Dave Smith
And they advocate open borders, but they live in gated communities and they advocate, you know, racial quotas and woke, you know, public education, but they send their kids to private school. It's like at every level they advocate for this thing that they don't have to live by. It's. They, they were advocating for mass compliance during COVID while they're all out, she
- [17:24]
Greg Gutfeld
was bitching and complaining because her hairdresser, you know, I'm saying. And it's like, it's enough.
- [17:29]
Dave Smith
It's, it makes your blood boil, dude. Because it's their mentality really is that like we are all the slave class and they're the ruler class. And so even when they're advocating a policy, they wouldn't dream that that applies to them. Like, no, Bernie Sanders, tax the rich doesn't mean me. Doesn't mean like that means other people.
- [17:47]
Greg Gutfeld
Multimillionaires tax write off.
- [17:50]
Dave Smith
Right, right. And that's, dude, he, he itemized his deductions, claimed his wife as a dependent. Like he does everything to pay as little taxes as he can and then starts talking about paying your fair share and all this nonsense. It's like, it's infuriating, man. But the, the hypocrisy kind of knows no bounds. And I think that's why, that's why we're in a populist moment, you know, because people are, even regular people can't be expected to like read about politics all day long.
- [18:22]
Greg Gutfeld
Regular people, jobs, it's boring.
- [18:24]
Dave Smith
It's, it's boring. It's a specialized thing. And also they got jobs. They got, they have things that they have to do. They have, you know, they can't spend all of their time on this the way some of us do, but they know, they know all of this. They know on some level that like these elites are just screwing them over. And so they're, they're very interested in someone like bringing justice for that.
- [18:47]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah. Or just the illusion.
- [18:50]
Dave Smith
Yeah. I think that's, I think that's the essence of why the Epstein file cover up is affected so many people. It's not even like we don't exactly know what's in those other millions of documents that they're keeping from us and we don't exactly know what was in the millions that they gave us because it's just so weird and it's like, I don't know, I don't know what to make of the fact that Jeff, Jeffrey Epstein's urologist is emailing him bring nine year olds and grape soda. I don't know what the hell that means. Means, but I'd like to get to the child.
- [19:17]
Greg Gutfeld
As a kid, when we were growing up, there was that guy in the corner that had wine coolers and king size snicker bars. On Halloween. We knew not to go to that house. But there was always one kid that would make that move, you know, and you'd see him on the bus next day, how to go, I want to talk about it.
- [19:30]
Dave Smith
But, but this is, this is the thing, right? It's just like the, we've, we've seen, forget even like what the Epstein files really represent, what was really going on there, which we don't exactly know. But like we've all sat here and watched. We watched James Comey and John Brenner and Barack Obama frame Donald Trump for treason. So like just take one thing, just take Russiagate. They all framed the sitting president for treason and lied through their Teeth just all lied through their teeth. There was this big conspiracy and Trump was involved to overthrow the election. None of it was true. Literally, not one inch of it was true. It was all complete nonsense, including the Russian interference in the election at all. There wasn't even Russian interference. They bought like some Facebook ads or something like that. It was a nothing burger. There was no story and Donald Trump was not involved with it at all. And it's not even clear that they were trying to help Donald Trump at times. I think they were. Whatever. The point is that no one's gone to jail for this. No one's been indicted for this. This is so criminal. And now even with Trump's administration in and Trump's Justice Department, we still can't bring any of these deep state criminals to justice. It's because we're.
- [20:43]
Greg Gutfeld
It's because it's. You want the policeman to arrest himself? Yeah, that's the, that's, that's the thing is, is you want. Because when I look at, when they talk about fraud and stuff and like, was it Elian, like refuses to turn in any of her stuff. There's no consequences. There isn't an emergency session. And they're like, hey, you're suspended until you turn your stuff in. Because this will not stand. Because they all. Again, it's the only way you get to clean this stuff up. And you end up stuck in a rap. You know, we'll talk about conspiracy stuff. Because I used to be. I wouldn't even give it any time. I wouldn't give it any time. Now I'm looking at every, I'm going back and looking at everyone going now, especially when I feel like we have been groomed over the last 10 years to be, to focus on being so empathetic, you know, like, well, you know, they have to have health care and, you know, you're doing these wonderful things instead of actually being able to stand. Like, they took away harsh comedians, people who made real life jokes, who challenged you like a, like a George Carlin. If he was coming up during the pandemic, he'd have been gone. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, and a lot of them were. And it was pushed like my career as a comic was like. And an actor was gone because I was showing up on another network. And you get to the thing like, but that was to, to water down. You take away the controversy, the voices who call shit out. There's no one in line to question things. And I know it's like, well, there's all they're just comedians. But comedians shape the way people interpret and laugh at things, question things, because that's kind of. When you get up there is you. You're throwing them at life, you're laughing at life, but at the same time, you're looking at the ugliness of life and laughing at it. They take that away from the base level and it drops down. Then you have, well, we don't know what a woman is anymore. And we are all trying to figure out the dumbest in the world. Meanwhile, they just continue to go as business as usual. You know, like, they've. It's a system that I think is designed. They have stuff to where everybody makes money. They have stuff to protect them from fraud. They have things in place that quality immunity. So you can go on tv, you can say, hey, I don't have a problem. We need more boots on the ground. You need to do this. You can make a. Basically make a death threat to the president, and you're protected. So. And the American citizens, we're not. So if I go on this rampage and start saying all these terrible things, my ass will be in jail. But if I'm a member of the House, I can go up there and say anything I want and be protected under qualified immunity. So if it. It really would take. And again, another agency. Another agency. But it would have to be something with absolutely no connections to the political world. And I just feel like their web is just too big.
- [23:20]
Dave Smith
It's very tough. It's very tough. You know, the. The power that the intel agencies have is very difficult for anyone to roll back, including a president and I. But I think, you know, to your point, there's so much of this stuff was always economic and it was always about the fact that these guys are looting us. And the culture war stuff, it's like, I think it's an intentional distraction that they use. Now there does become a point where the distraction becomes so awful that you gotta fight back against it. Because they're like teaching little kids. Yeah, they're messing with little kids and teaching them that their gender can be changed and all this. Like, that's too crazy. But there's no. I mean, if you look at, like, around 2010, where there were these, you know, like, Occupy Wall street was out in the streets, The Tea Party were out in the streets. They were all furious about the banker bailouts and the debt and, like, the spending being out of control. And then the response from the Democrats was to just like, insert the craziest culture war issues into everything in life. And don't tell me that wasn't a distraction. Oh, don't tell me that wasn't.
- [24:27]
Greg Gutfeld
Can't win the argument. Create a new one and especially one that you can control. It's like me saying Bigfoot attacked me. I know it. He comes to my house every night. So we have to. I need 12 trillion to set up a committee to where we can search every home and look for. Because if just one Bigfoot gets in your neighborhood.
- [24:48]
Dave Smith
Yep.
- [24:48]
Greg Gutfeld
Your life is over. Genetic decommission. You know, they'll, you know, and, and people will be like, oh my God, we gotta, we gotta deal with this. And it just.
- [24:56]
Dave Smith
Yeah, you scare them into that. You get, they, you give them more power. And really, you know, I think the, the statistic above all else that defines America today and the problems we face is that the average first time homebuyer is 40.
- [25:11]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah, I'm still not.
- [25:13]
Dave Smith
This is, you know, and this is the. Look, this is the whole. To me, this is the whole game as far as politics go is that essentially we have a government that is so big that we can't afford it. We can't even come close. And you know, it's. Nobody on either side of the political aisle wants to admit this, but. Because there's bitter, bitter pills to swallow. But we cannot afford the world empire. We can't afford this military budget and we also can't afford the entitlement programs. We just straight up can't afford them. And so again, this isn't like, it's not even like a moral issue of like, do you support this program or not support this program in the same way that if your wife came to you and was like, hey, I want to buy this $50 million like mansion or something like that. It's not an issue of whether it would be nice or not nice. I'm saying, honey, we don't have the money.
- [26:01]
Greg Gutfeld
I can't do the Burke, I can't do the Burger Michael Kors, I can do. But I can't do the burqer right now.
- [26:06]
Dave Smith
That's right. That's right. So essentially we can't tax the people enough because it would destroy the economy. So we can't raise taxes enough to pay for this $7 trillion a year government. And we can't even borrow enough. We've tried and we're 40 trillion in debt because we borrowed so much money that we can't afford to pay back. But even that's not enough. So we have to print the money. This is the only way we can keep this system going is just infusing trillions of dollars into the system. And what that does, when you just start debasing your currency is it makes the prices of things get more and more and more expensive. And this is now. Now the Democrats are running on unaffordability.
- [26:42]
Greg Gutfeld
I feel like that's a word.
- [26:44]
Dave Smith
Well, that's. They're just coming up with a new thing to describe, because, look, it does ring true to people because they go, yeah, like, if you're living in New York City and someone says unaffordability, you go, yeah, that's exactly right. I can't afford anything. But of course, their solution is more government. When the whole reason things are unaffordable is because we can't afford the government we have and we're debasing our currency. And then the Republicans have these dreams of fighting a war in Venezuela, fighting a war in Iran, a trillion. A $1.5 trillion defense budget, and all of this. We can't afford any of this. And in the pursuit of this government that we can't afford, we have buried the young generation. Now the young generation is getting out of College. They're already 100 grand in debt because idiot adults convinced them to go get a Bachelor of Arts degree and.
- [27:29]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah, and gender studies. Good luck with that.
- [27:31]
Dave Smith
Whatever. Yeah. Even if it's not as goofy as gender studies. They got a degree in history. They got a degree in sociology. How many jobs are there out there for that?
- [27:39]
Greg Gutfeld
I can actually. I can actually attest to this because while I was trying to stay eligible for football for a while, I majored in history. And I'm. It was a grim outlook. Even the counselor was like, other than eligibility, unless you're going to be the guy at the museum giving tours. And I'm just letting you know there's not a lot of upside to that. It's not a lot of six and seven figures in that line of work. So maybe go back and get your teaching degree. At least then, you know, you can. You can possibly get something out of it.
- [28:05]
Dave Smith
But even then, people who get degrees in sociology, degrees in history, they try to become professors of sociology or professors of history. It's like this Ponzi scheme where the only thing you can do is try to teach it to somebody. Somebody else to get. But. So they come out of school, they're 100 grand in debt, and they're get. There's no job. They're getting a job at doordash.
- [28:22]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [28:22]
Dave Smith
And the average. The average house is going for $800,000, like how, how am I ever going to. And so now you got these young people where you'll see on the left they're embracing socialism, on the right they're embracing like a kind of quasi fascism because the whole system here just doesn't work for them. And they're looking for radical alternatives. But like tying it back to my perspective is that no, we don't need to find our solutions in socialism or fascism. These are failed experiments of the 20th century that resulted in horrors. Like we don't want to go to them. But what we do want is like true Americanism, libertarianism, a free society. And the answer is we got to stop printing all this money. But if we stop printing the money,
- [29:03]
Greg Gutfeld
the machine breaks down real well.
- [29:05]
Dave Smith
We have to get real about what we can afford and what we can't afford. And the truth is, is that it's like Ron Paul always said. If you think that the role of the US government is to take care of all of its citizens, and I suppose non citizens as well, from cradle to grave, and that the role of the US government is to fight wars all, all around the world and search for monsters to destroy, then you have to print all this money. You know, then, then you have to, then this is our only choice. But we don't have to do all that. We could just kind of say, hey, we're going to cut the welfare state, we're not going to fight stupid wars and we're not going to have to print trillions of dollars and destroy our currency.
- [29:38]
Greg Gutfeld
Let me ask you this because this is something that I've been, and I actually had a few words with the President and I have to be careful because I made policy once on the Gutfeld show, not trying to, just talking about, hey, how we deal with the drug, you know, drugs coming in the country, wouldn't it be great if we treated them as terrorists? The military can handle it and blow stuff up. And the next thing I'm sitting on the couch with my wife and I'm watching a boat getting blown up and she's like, you. No. And I was like, I make policy. But I think the two things that stops major change is the filibuster and term limits. Because I think the filibuster, although is bullshit because it's a way for the leading side not to do any work. Well, sorry guys, I know we got a two house lead, but we can't get these things done because we need 60 votes. This, that's the only place where that Shit flies if we're right here having a pool and we vote and it's 2 to 1, that's gonna happen. And they're like, well, you know, if we lose power. But my argument is always, if you do what you say you're gonna do, then you're gonna get reelected. And if there's term limits, you can't build a career out of it. So all of a sudden all the lifelong, the snakes and shit that were there to make money and spread their bullshit, there's no opportunity for them. So I think that would be. But again, you're asking the policeman to arrest himself, you know, and I think. Do you agree with that? Do you think that. I know I get a lot of pushback on the filibuster thing, but I'm just saying it just sounds to me like a way to stall out doing things to get done.
- [31:11]
Dave Smith
I mean, I suppose, like I just. The, the danger that I worry about in that is that I can envision a really bad regime trying to get a lot of really bad things done. And you know, particularly right now, I'm getting very concerned about the Democrats. Democrats coming back into power here. And I. Anything that slows down what a potential President AOC with a, with a Democratic Congress could do, I might want to keep around for a little bit just because I am worried about that. So there's that concern. But you know, term limits, right? Again, I think you're right. Like it's, you got to get them self imposed by the Congress. So it's a tough thing to do.
- [31:50]
Greg Gutfeld
They die on job, literally die on the job.
- [31:52]
Dave Smith
But it's, it's undeniable that like one of the things that it's just so crazy, I think for people around our age is that even when I was talking about how I grew up in a different, you know, country, like when I was a teenager in the 1990s, we had these politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell and. Okay, now Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden have like, just left but like the whole range of people, I mean, Dianne Feinstein had to get dragged out of there, dude. Like, they're, they're just. The fact that these people, it's like they don't just do. It's just, it's insane that these, these guys. Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. You know, Joe Biden was, is, is his peer.
- [32:40]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah.
- [32:41]
Dave Smith
What is he doing in his presidency, you know, a year and a half ago? And so the fact that these guys just never leave.
- [32:48]
Greg Gutfeld
They die on the job.
- [32:50]
Dave Smith
It's a real.
- [32:50]
Greg Gutfeld
John McCain, rest his soul, died on the job. Kennedy, like. But here's the thing, Feinstein, that means for at least, and I'm just, I'm speculating, but let's just say for the last three years of their time in the office, they weren't making those decisions in those speeches, you know, like, come on, man. I mean.
- [33:08]
Dave Smith
Oh, no, they're being handled. And no, no question about it. Oh, look, and Joe Biden, I mean, you know, Joe Biden got so senile in office that it was impossible to tell what. I mean, like, Joe Biden was at the point where, like in his last year where I'd imagine his chief of staff could have just told him something and said, you agreed to this?
- [33:35]
Greg Gutfeld
And be like, oh, I guess I wouldn't know.
- [33:37]
Dave Smith
Joe Biden wouldn't know whether he had agreed to it or hadn't agreed. I mean, it was, it was crazy. And it's true with a lot of these congressmen and congresswomen too. But there is something about like the, and I think how the founders always envisioned Congress would be. Like, people who were very respected in their community would go and, and do public service for a short time.
- [34:01]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah, it was.
- [34:01]
Dave Smith
And then come back.
- [34:02]
Greg Gutfeld
They didn't anticipate the success.
- [34:03]
Dave Smith
Yeah. Like your local, your local doctor or something like that would run for Congress and then he'd go do six years and then he'd go back to practice medicine. Like. And I do think that's the way government ought to work.
- [34:14]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah. It should be service. You're like, thank you for your service. Thank you. You know, you tax free for a couple years, you do your part, you get a little badge, maybe a little picture on the wall and then it's move. It should never be a career. And like I'm, I'm stuck between two books right now. I'm reading Brett Bear's new book on the case for America and reading about all the founding fathers. First of all, it blows my mind. Like, the oldest one was 40, like 44, like insane. These guys are like in their 20s and 30s, changing the world and holding down real jobs like they were all belonged to something else, had to do something else.
- [34:49]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [34:50]
Greg Gutfeld
And even in their thing. And then you have a point where George Washington gives the power away because he knew how important it was not to have that. We weren't going to go back to kings, but I think the joke is, is that we now have kings that lead from underneath you Know, we blame everything on the president, but we only got to deal with him. Let's say he's the worst president ever. You got four years warm or maybe eight tops. And most of us can get through four years of bullshit. I mean, some things change. Tax is high. But if you work because this is America, opportunities are always around the corner. You can kind of get through that. But when you have sustained decades and decades of just absolute corruptness, you can't, you can't clean that. You know, it's just impossible. And I think that's the, that's the, the trick is somehow term limits, if you get thrown in, I don't think you would see it would be a completely different genetic makeup of people who ran for office. I don't think you would see lawyers going into politics anymore.
- [35:53]
Dave Smith
Yeah, well, that's a big part. You know, I, I remember Ben Carson said once years ago that he goes, you know, the problem in D.C. is that it's all lawyers and we need doctors. And I thought it was a really interesting point, and I always have been. I'm a huge admirer of Dr. Ron Paul, who I think was one of the best. It was the best congressman who's ever lived. He. And what Ben Carson said was that doctors, just by their nature, approach a situation and go, how do we fix this? Like, there's, okay, there's an ailment, we need to treat it and solve this problem. Whereas lawyers try to legislate everything and argue over everything. And it's always about, it's never about the truth. It's about winning the argument with whatever case you have.
- [36:42]
Greg Gutfeld
Right.
- [36:42]
Dave Smith
And there's a real problem to that,
- [36:44]
Greg Gutfeld
you know, and there's Devil's advocate, I can't lose, you know.
- [36:48]
Dave Smith
Yeah, well, it's like, right. It's like that type of stuff you see, and they all do it. I do think that there's been a really major sea change in this country in terms of public opinion, and a lot of things that I couldn't have imagined would have ever happened. And the younger generation particular particularly. I think we've entered an era in America where everybody sees through the corruption. You know, I've read about, like, the, the late stage Soviet Union and how essentially by, like, by the end of the Soviet Union, everyone knew the government was lying to them. No one believed in it anymore. They all went, yeah, yeah, yeah. They pretended to believe because they knew they could be punished if they didn't, but no one did. And like. And that was the beginning of the end for that system, that's. That's really what made it unwind is that just the people just don't buy it anymore. You can only lie so much before they catch on to the fact that you're lying about everything. And the young people today, like, I remember again, this is one of the big differences between the 80s and now. In the 1980s, people believed in America.
- [37:52]
Greg Gutfeld
Oh, yeah.
- [37:53]
Dave Smith
Like, young people believed in. Dude, Hulk Hogan.
- [37:56]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah. I'm about to say Slaughter versus the Iron Cheek. I was on my shag green carpet. Obviously influenced me way more than it probably should have. But I remember me and my friend screaming, usa. And he's bleeding, and I'm like, if this. If the Iron Sheik wins, our freedom is gone. Mom, I can't possibly go to bed right now.
- [38:15]
Dave Smith
You know, greatest. My. My favorite wrestling heel turn ever was Sergeant Slaughter defecting.
- [38:22]
Greg Gutfeld
I was in high school, Desert Storm, going, this son of a. You know, and, dude,
- [38:29]
Dave Smith
the idea. The idea that we had. This is the Persian Gulf War. This is the first Iraq War. The idea that we had defectors is just so funny already. Like, that someone, one of our. Our sergeants defected to,
- [38:42]
Greg Gutfeld
he burned Hulk Hogan's shirt on, like, an American flag. Yeah.
- [38:46]
Dave Smith
Yeah, dude, it was crazy. But it was just so you're like, okay, well, then that's the bad guy and that's the good guy. People today, young people in America, see through how corrupt the whole thing is. And so I don't know if we're going to be able to get, like, term limits or something like that passed, but it is going to be interesting to see that, like, dude, the ba. There is such a big disconnect between, like, the baby boomers and. And the media that they consume versus young people and the media that they consume. There's such a disconnect between their feeling. You know, you see this when. And look, this is a problem with the older generation, and I'm not just trying to trash them, but, like, you see that there's a thing where, you know this. With old people in your life. They're. They're kind of always a product of their time. I'm learning that about myself.
- [39:31]
Greg Gutfeld
I'm a problem, I realize. Yep.
- [39:33]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah. You know, you're like, I will look at. You know, you look at things like. I don't know whether it's like, mumble rap or just, like, young people things. And I'm like, I just don't understand.
- [39:42]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah, like, new rap. Like, hey, last album I bought was, like, Tupac. You know what I'm saying, because it's completely. I just. I don't even bother with it.
- [39:50]
Dave Smith
You're like, I don't even understand. I don't even know why I like it.
- [39:53]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah. Yes.
- [39:54]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [39:54]
Greg Gutfeld
It's so these damn kids with their loud bass. But isn't that kind of like a natural thing? Although it's. When I'm saying that, it's like. I remember when I was coming up, I saw the Malcolm X movie, and the next day, me and all, every one of us had Africa necklaces on, and we wanted to fight the system, you know, when we were caught up in that movie. Yeah, it was a great movie. And. But then you kind of, like, common sense kind of kicks in. But I also think, like, the 70s were very similar to now. Like, when you. Like, for example, I watch all the old sitcoms because that's the best comedy. And Archie Bunker, him and Meathead. Right. Their argument is the same argument that we're having today where he's like, oh, man, this country's racism. We're destroying the planet. And Archie's like, shut up. You know, and it's like, this is America, Jack. You know, and of course, Archie's the bad guy. And, you know, the thing. And it's like. But they cut. And then the 80s came, and everybody. It just kind of corrected. Everybody kind of just. It just corrected themselves. And I'm kind of. I'm hopeful that we. America is the one country that kind of has a reset. It's like, we go so far one way, and then there's this. This reset. And I'm curious to. I'm. I'm starting to see signs of a reason when I start seeing, like, for example, the Gutfeld show. We have a live audience every night, Right. And for a long time, it was. It was a lot of gray hair. I'll just put it that way.
- [41:20]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [41:20]
Greg Gutfeld
You know what I'm saying? It was a lot of, you know, and then slowly but surely, you're starting to see a younger crew kind of take in and actually getting tickets, which is hard, you know? And even in my shows and stuff, you start seeing younger people kind of coming along and kind of rebelling. It was almost like, you need to be this way. You need to be progressive. And then which. Most young kids do. They reject it. You know, they, like. It was pushed so hard on them, especially during the pandemic. And now we're seeing a kickback. I don't know if it's going to be the extent where it goes back to where we're super conservative. But like the 80s just felt it was more of live and let live, but not like, but within the like. But don't, don't bother me with your bullshit. It was a polite, like, it's an
- [42:04]
Dave Smith
interesting, it's a very interesting point. And I think that, so I think it's correct that kind of like after the radicalism of the 60s, around the 80s is when a lot of those boomers really kind like, well then they grew up and they had to enter the workforce and it was a good economy. And so it was like, oh, okay, you know, like, I guess actually yeah, I had some more radical views back then, but let's leave some of that aside because I kind of would like a vacation home actually. And you know, now that I'm 35, everybody. Yeah, yeah, like, yeah, it's like, okay, there's actually. And so that, that did work to kind of pull down the radicalism. Now one of the major differences I think between say like the radicals of the 60s, say like the leftist radicals of the 60s and say like the woke leftist radicals of five years ago, like the trans rights activists. One of the major difference is that whatever beef I have with the hippies and the cultural revolution in the 60s, which I do have some issues with them, they were genuinely the counterculture. Like they were rebelling against their parents, against their teachers, against the establishment. There weren't teachers who were trying to convince them them to be hippies. The teachers were trying to convince them to wear a suit and tie. And they were like, no, I'm going to do this. The radical leftist, the trans activists of five years ago, they were a product of the system. They felt like they were revolutionaries, but they agreed with every corporation, every politician, every professor, everyone in Hollywood. The establishment was them. So then it's almost like the right wing young people became kind of the counterculture. Yeah, like actually just like going to church and believing in different genders became like a revolutionary statement. I think the major difference here is, and this is what concerns me is that it's the economic realities that I laid out before. So it's not like we're not having our young radicals grow up and go, hey, I mean look man, like my, my father in law talks to me about this all the time. That in the. He's a trucker, he just retired, he's in his late 70s, he was a trucker for 50 years. And he goes, he, he. When he says he bought his first house in the. I think it was the early 70s and he was making like 15 grand a year and the house went for like 15.5. You know what I mean? Like, it was like, it was like a yearly salary was a. You could go just get a job as a trucker and buy a house for essentially what your annual salary was today. That, that just doesn't.
- [44:32]
Greg Gutfeld
You can't even buy any ring or some like, everything is.
- [44:35]
Dave Smith
Yes. Yeah, listen, the regular people even like say people who have like a good job, like a plumber or something like that, an electrician who's married to a waitress. They used to be able to just go get a home and send their kids to college and have two cars and play poker on the weekends and go on date nights and maybe take a vacation once a year. That is just over now, man. Those, those guys are living paycheck to paycheck. They're putting grocery bills on the credit card. And so we don't have a system that can kind of de. Radicalize people anymore because now those people aren't buying houses, they're not settling down and having families. They're not having decent jobs. And that's when, that's when political radicalism gets more dangerous. When the economy.
- [45:19]
Greg Gutfeld
Because hey, look, it's not you. You're not the problem. Your lack of work ethic and, and you're laziness and relying. It's not you, it's the system. So.
- [45:27]
Dave Smith
And like look, and there is some truth to that, but it's also a devastating mentality to have like, no matter how bad the system is, you always want to have like. Like I have a son. The lessons I will teach to my son are not like, yeah, the system is really messed up. It's against you. It's like, no, you're a no excuse man. And that's that. And you have to go achieve regardless of what the system scenario is. But there is something poisonous about when, when the system is so messed up and houses are cost in a million dollars and you're six figures in debt and there's no good jobs, it's very easy for people to start saying we need revolution. You know what? The problem isn't me. The problem is all of these external factors. And again, that's a dangerous mentality even when there's some truth to it.
- [46:10]
Greg Gutfeld
Yeah, it's like, you know, it's one of those things where again, and we got the 250 year celebration coming up and especially our boomers and stuff have been alive for literally 25% of. Yeah. Why this country's been here and we forget how Young our country is compared to the rest of the world. But there is a certain. And we're. We're the most diverse country on the planet. I mean, and there are some things that like allow you. We've almost become like a, a bulldozer parent, a helicopter parent to where. Yeah, scars and failure are just. You can't even have them. And those are the defining characteristics of greatness. Like with. And I have the same. I have six kids and especially my boys, I worry about them more than my girls because it's like there was always this standard. And I'm sure you've experienced you as a man. You look at the other men around you and like you need to be, be where they're at, you know, and especially age wise, you know, and that, that thing where like you're supposed to have, by the time you're in your 20s, you should have a car, you should have money in, in your account, you should be able to support a family, you know, and, and when you don't have those things, you know, there's a frustration there. And then time and then next thing you know, you're now in your, your, your, you're 35 and you're still bumming, you know, a couple bucks off mom and dad when you need it. That changes not just the outlook to where it's not me. And there's a lot it's not me. And I hear my kids be like, well, you know, they won't. And then my newest one is. My stepson's, probably the funniest one I heard. He's like, you don't understand what it's like being white out there. And I'm like, okay, I don't. But then I was like, you know what, he has a point. Because when I was coming up I would be like, well, look, as a black man you need to understand. But now it's changed. And it was one, I think probably the biggest outrage that I saw that was nobody would stand up to it. And even now it's starting to get some pushback now. But white men in the last, I would say eight years have the most racist attacks on them that I would say rival things back into the 50s and 60s to where you can't even. I'm not hiring this guy. Why? He's a white guy. I can't have a white guy working.
- [48:33]
Dave Smith
Yeah, you know, that's right.
- [48:35]
Greg Gutfeld
I mean that is just. And it was just such. Even now it's like swept under the rug. But. And it's. And I'm like, no, you can't do that. That would be like me being. Oh, it was okay, you know, for the. Because they've ruined the word racism and that's by design because you've made it to where it's, it doesn't matter. It has no strength anymore. But it.
- [48:53]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, that's right. No, look, I mean there's, there's no question. And again, there's, there's nuance to all of this. So it's not as if, like I'm not trying to paint an inaccurate picture. Like, it's not as if white men over the last decade have gone through what black people in Jim Crow went through or something like that. But there is no question that it was just total like bigotry against white men was not only accepted, but institutionalized and profitable and thrown in these kids faces from the time time they were very, very young. And people wonder why, you know, say like the young white right wingers are so much more hardcore today than, than they were, you know, 15 years ago or something like that. And it's like, okay, well a big part of it is that like these kids all went to college and went to high school with this as the status quo. That racialism was totally accepted and it was just anti white racism where there would be, literally it was encoded into the law in all this DEI affirmative action nonsense that you ought to discriminate against straight white men in every position of power, in every, whether it's just corporate jobs or positions of political power or whatever getting into universities they would openly talk about, they would lecture people about their whiteness. They were made to feel like you're inherently rare, wrong for things that are done in the past, which, and, and by the way, none of that even makes sense. No, I mean like the black people
- [50:24]
Greg Gutfeld
who are, you don't even know if you were. I always say this all the time when people like, well, you know, he's an oppressor. I'm like, wait, wait, he's white now. He might not have been white back then, you know what I'm saying? Like you, when you look at family trees and stuff, you could, you could make an argument. You don't know what anyone's family tree is or where they go. And here's the other thing. Slavery was not a, a one group deal. Yes, Native Americans had slaves. My Jamaican ancestors had slave like slaves. Unfortunately, there was a Muslim, Asians had slaves. Muslims still have them. Ask the people of India what they think about Africa.
- [50:59]
Dave Smith
Well, also, I mean, look even at the Height of slavery in America. Most white people didn't own slaves. Most white people were poor. Were poor indentured servants.
- [51:11]
Greg Gutfeld
They had a different name doing.
- [51:12]
Dave Smith
Doing backbreaking, agricultural labor. And they didn't own anything, let alone another person. It was always wealthy people owned. And then this isn't. Not in large numbers, but there were also free black men who owned black slaves. Like, it's just. It's a little bit more complicated than people want to make it out to be, but that's okay. People naturally tend to simplify things, but then it becomes like. It's like, oh, by the way, there were also a lot of white people in the country who fought for the north in the Civil War. So, like, I mean, I don't know.
- [51:46]
Greg Gutfeld
With the rail, Underground Railroad, it wasn't.
- [51:48]
Dave Smith
And then. Yes. And then more. More than that. In much greater numbers. There are just people like white people in America today who have been in the country for three generations, whose parents came over in the 1920s or something
- [52:01]
Greg Gutfeld
like that from Ireland. How they were treated when they got here.
- [52:05]
Dave Smith
Yes, the huge waves of immigration we had. Right. Were like in the 1870s and then like in the early 1900s. This was all after slavery had been abolished. And if you particularly, like in the, like in the Northeast, in the Tri State area, if you talk to any white person or you, you know, my. My wife is Italian American. Her mother's mother came over here, and my family. My mother's father came over here. Like, we don't go our lineage.
- [52:33]
Greg Gutfeld
My family came from Jamaica. The other half came. It's just from Scotland.
- [52:36]
Dave Smith
None of it. And the idea that, you know, again, that like, some. Some white kid in Appalachia is privileged, but Barack Obama's daughters are oppressed, it's like, that doesn't really add up now, does it? Like, life's a little bit more complicated than that. And of course, there's a. Now that's also not to say that probably, generally speaking, it's always a little bit more difficult to be a minority than to be in the majority. If, if me or you were to move to Tokyo tomorrow with our whole family, it would be a little bit of a thing that every room we go in, we're different than the majority of the people who are in this room. And there might be some stereotypes that go along with that. You might be getting glance, like, there are instances of racism and all of that, but if you're talking about America in, like, say, 2015 or 2020 or 2026, there are so many bigger factors than race to determine whether you're privileged or oppressed. How about just having a dad? Yeah, the people who have dads have a privilege that the people who do not have dads don't have. I'm literally, I, I grew up without a father and I'm a very, I'm a very present father in my kids life. So me and you both were very aware of what a privilege that is. Now I, I would argue it's, it's not exactly just a privilege. It's a, it's a duty that we have and it's, it's, it's a birthright for them to have their father around. But a lot of kids don't have that. And so, you know, would I like, would I rather my son be a black boy in America who had a present father or a white kid from like a broken home? I would go with black kid with a present father. Like, I just don't just point a
- [54:18]
Greg Gutfeld
new phrase you with your dad. Privilege. You know, privilege. There you go. Yeah, I'm going to get it. I mean get a shirt because that, you know what, that's such a Segway a little bit. Because you are someone that does with all your stuff. You always do promote family and.
- [54:33]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [54:33]
Greg Gutfeld
You know, and it's one of those things where it's, I think it's starting to become important again. We're starting to see more, especially men, especially in entertainment, seeing more guys come forward and be like, I would rather be a good dad than, than a, than a cool celebrity. You know what I'm saying? I would rather, instead of going to the gala which is above my pay grade, you know, I would rather go on a camping trip with my kids. We're starting to see when it, when they comes from people in front of the camera, I think that resonates more, you know, to put family. And it doesn't mean, because there's that stigma that if you're family then you wear a suit and tie every day and you know, you're this uptight conservative that's has nothing to do with taking care of your responsibilities. And also, and again, it's not easy. Like I, I did it in the craziest way ever. I had, I had three kids in one year. I, I don't even want to. Whatever. You know, by three different. Yeah. By three different donors. We'll just put it that way. And you know, there's a, but there's a, there's that moment where you're like my, I'm not the star of this show anymore. Like, I need to be the man my father wasn't. And my children, even though I have to travel and. And because I did think I have to work 10 times harder to make sure everybody has what they need to have. But there's an honor in that. There's a. Yeah, there's an honor in all my kids texting me every day from, you know, or FaceTime. There's a certain inspiration to that, and I think that's been lost for a really long time to where. Where dads have been kind of almost villainized, to where every movie, the dad's either a moron, he's either a Homer Simpson, or he's the second coming of Jason. There's, you know, very rarely do we see a straight up good dad, respects his wife, you know, spends time with his children. That is almost like a leprechaun. It's. It's projected that we're. We're not present, and when we're there, we either have a beer in our hand or we're a complete. You know what I'm saying? A.
- [56:35]
Dave Smith
And, yeah, the chick, your wife is always 10 times smarter than you, and she's holding up with this. This buffoon. Who's. Right. Yeah, it's. It's. And I think that stuff has been really damaging. You know, I just, Like, I. I lived it and I talk about it. So I. You know, I was. I. I was. I've been doing standup comedy for, like, 20 years now, and for years of it, I mean, I was. I was living the wrong way. I was doing all types of degenerate stuff, and I was a comedian on the road and trying to, you know, hook up with girls and a lot of drinking and some drug use and just, like, living the wrong way. And I have a. I had a million, you know, great stories of partying or something like that, but I just experienced that life. I know how empty that is. It's like, yeah, you might be having some temporary fun, but you're left with a feeling of despair and loneliness at the end of the night.
- [57:29]
Greg Gutfeld
Like, it is not, you know, you're never winning. Like, you have the greatest show ever as soon as you get back to your hotel and the lights are off and it's just you. Yeah, there's no. That's right, that's right. And I. I. People sometimes are like, well, you had, you know, wrestling. You had all these people, thousands of people cheering for you and this, that, whatever. But I was like, as soon as the lights went off, I was stuck with the dude in the mirror and I didn't like him.
- [57:50]
Dave Smith
Dude, I know exactly how you feel. And then, I mean I even, I mean obviously it's a little bit different being a wrestler than a stand up comedian, but it's that same thing. Like you're like in front of these people, you're having this good moment. I killed the show went really good. There's lights and there's people. There's, there's. And then like people file out less until there's less and less people. And then it's just you. And then you're in a hotel room somewhere just looking at this like weird, like very depressing, like generic hotel room.
- [58:16]
Greg Gutfeld
You're a mirror. There's always a mirror that finds you.
- [58:18]
Dave Smith
Yes. Yeah, that's right. And, and like, then you compare that to something where like, you know, whatever it is, like you're playing in the backyard with your kids or you go to your, your daughter's school play or something, something like that. And like, okay, yes, it's not about you and you're not this. But then ironically, when you're living for other people and not for yourself, at the end of the night, you feel really good about yourself. There's just something like, hey, we had a great day today. I did a nice thing for my kids. I did that. You know, I, I remember I just recently, you know, my kids are like, they're four and seven now. So now for, this is like the first year we're like, I'll be, bring them on the road with me sometimes. So I was doing shows in Boston. I brought the whole family. So like I'm doing my shows and then, and I remember at the end of the show and it was great, it was a great weekend, they sold that, the shows, it was really good. And then, But I remember like at the end of the night I would just be like, oh, my wife and kids are in the hotel room. Like, I'm going to go back and
- [59:14]
Greg Gutfeld
they're all going to be with me. I had my wife open for me for a while because she was like, I can be funny. So I had her open for me. It was a little brutal. I took my kids, come on and do a couple jokes and then one day they say, hey dad, we're tired of being on the road thing, you know, and that, and, but, and I,
- [59:29]
Dave Smith
and I, but there's just but that's, but even when they're not there with you, it's just like having that in your life. It's just it's much more fulfilling. And there's just something where, like, I think particularly for. For guys like us who grew up. Who grew up without fathers in our lives, it's almost like a thing you had to figure out on your own. That I think the idea is that your father would impart some of this wisdom to you, but guys like us had to kind of figure it out on your own, but it's like, yeah, listen. Right, but that's the thing is that it's like when you. And this is a great irony in life, but that, like, in order to real, you know, like, to really make yourself happy, like meaningfully happy, you have to not be focused on yourself. You have to not be focused on giving yourself some immediate pleasure or you being the star of the movie the whole time. And then there's this weird thing. It's. It's like counterintuitive, but when you start focusing on other people, then you actually start getting that for yourself.
- [60:23]
Greg Gutfeld
Y. And I think that's a great place to leave it, man. This has been phenomenal. I can't believe this is the first time we've actually ever talked and stuff, bro. We have to definitely do this again, man. It was. It was a lot of fun. I appreciate you. And please come back and maybe we do some cross promotion sometime because your sign is way better than mine. I need to work on that.
- [60:40]
Dave Smith
Absolutely, brother. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me.
- [60:42]
Greg Gutfeld
Yes, sir. Anytime, man. Appreciate you. All right.
- [60:45]
Dave Smith
Have a good one.
- [60:45]
Greg Gutfeld
Yes, sir.