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- [00:05]
Jack Posobiec
Good day. We come to you today with breaking news out of New York. Fox News has announced a new media expansion that includes a licensing agreement with Ruthless Podcast. CEO of Fox News Media. Suzanne Scott says, quote, the Ruthless deal is a natural extension of our powerhouse brand as audiences reshape how they consume quality content. Since its launch as an alternative to progressive podcasts ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the fellow's irreverent variety of next generation conservative talk with a wry sense of humor has solidified it as the preeminent go to podcast for political power players. President and editor in chief of Fox News Digital and new media Porter Berry added, quote, as the creator economy continues to evolve a spirit that Ruthless has championed from the start, we are expanding our reach to meet audiences wherever they engage with the Fox News media content, which remains in a league of its own. And now for breaking news reaction, we turn to us. Let's go.
- [01:20]
Comfortably Smug
Oh, man.
- [01:20]
Jack Posobiec
Dude. Oh, what a dream come true, fellas.
- [01:25]
Comfortably Smug
I thought I was on set with Tom Brokaw there.
- [01:29]
Jack Posobiec
I mean, it was so hard to stay in character.
- [01:32]
Josh Holmes
It was so hard not to laugh.
- [01:34]
Jack Posobiec
It is a listen. This is an incredible day. And I think we start with an enormous amount of gratitude both to the Fox News family for believing in us and seeing the value that we can bring to that next generation that they're talking about, but also to all of you, the listener who have been with us, many of you, since day one. We've grown over time. We started with, shall we say, something less than a professional product four years ago. And we've evolved and brought new things in. We've had a lot of fun along the way, and it's been a blast.
- [02:11]
Michael Duncan
Yeah, to me, I mean, it's. It's an incredible day. I told everyone today was going to be an insane day, and this is.
- [02:18]
Jack Posobiec
What happened each and every day.
- [02:21]
Michael Duncan
But honestly, this is. I'm so thrilled and grateful because of our audience. We have the best listeners and viewers on YouTube that anyone could ask for. And this is an opportunity with Fox of where the only thing that changes is you get more. You get more episodes every week. You get more interviews with the top players in the game. You get more exciting content all over the place. There's going to be more exciting things coming in the future. But all this means is for our day one listeners. Thank you. Because your loyalty, you telling your friends, your family to tune in, to get on board, to subscribe, is what has gotten us here. And we're going to bring you even more of the best Stuff, no question.
- [03:05]
Comfortably Smug
Yeah. I think the thing that really struck me, and we talked to a lot of people over many, many months about trying to grow the show and what we might do. And a lot of people talked a lot of different deals and a lot of things. I think the thing that made Fox different is they cared about our audience and they wanted to learn about our audience. And I don't mean just anybody at Fox. I mean everybody at Fox. Yeah, they were listeners themselves. And for that reason, it gives us a confidence that we can grow this brand with them.
- [03:34]
Josh Holmes
You know, fellas, the other night we were at dinner with a handful of the legends who built that network and created some of the household names that everybody watch so frequently over the years. And they were all saying very smart things. You guys were saying very smart things. But at some point during the dinner, I just sort of lost track of the conversation because all I could hear in my head was this magic moment.
- [03:58]
Jack Posobiec
It's true. Look, Fox News is the gold standard for conservatives. It has been, and I think it always will be. They see value in generational change. They understand that people are consuming news differently and they want to be at the cutting edge of all that. And that leadership from the top down is basically what built a network. That is, what are they, like, four to one? Everybody else in the cable industry and they're just.
- [04:25]
Michael Duncan
And even beyond cable, they're now the number one channel on television. They're beating abc, cbs, NBC.
- [04:30]
Josh Holmes
Crushing them.
- [04:31]
Jack Posobiec
All of them, totally. But it comes. We got a little under the hood insight as to how that happens. It's not happenstance. You know, if you. If you're not involved in media or politics or anything else, you know, you think they got a good brand and has a loyal following or whatever. But when you see the sort of painstaking effort that they undertake every day to make sure what they bring to audiences, the absolute best in class, best interviews, the best information, the best personalities. I mean, we. We got to see why it is that they are the best. And it was so attractive for us to be a part of just this gold standard that they had built over the years. And I'm blown away to be able to work with these folks because they're also our friends. You know, you've seen us on Fox dealing with, you know, interviews and that kind of thing. Just about every show on the network. What you don't know, it's not shtick. When we're on, there are friends. These are people who, when you know, in real life are incredibly good at what they do. But gracious and thoughtful and interesting and funny and, like, it's just a perfect fit culturally, for what it is that we hoping to do to even grow this thing larger than we already have.
- [05:47]
Michael Duncan
And to me, that was also the most exciting thing is when we really got under the hood, we started talking shop nuts and bolts. How's this partnership gonna work? We're like, okay, so what would need to change what's going on with, like, branding ideas, whatever. And they're like, change nothing. Yeah, just do more of it. The people want it. We love it. Give them more. And we're like, let's go. I mean, like, I heard that. And I was like, yes, let's go. Yes, let's do that.
- [06:11]
Comfortably Smug
Some additional thank yous beyond the Fox family that I would like to do. First of all, all of our buddies back home who listen and watch the.
- [06:19]
Jack Posobiec
Show, they're the ones that we think about every time the microphones turn on.
- [06:23]
Comfortably Smug
And they keep us well grounded. Oh, yeah. And thank you to, like, everyone on Capitol Hill and all of the people who drag their bosses here into the studio and convince, no, you gotta go in and talk to the fellas.
- [06:33]
Josh Holmes
We appreciate you, too, because you're gonna love it. They know that they're gonna love it. And when they come in, they do love it. And, I mean, I have the same gratitude that you guys expressed. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is one of my daughter's good friends. Whenever he comes over to our house, he's like, What a day, Mr. Ashbrook.
- [06:51]
Jack Posobiec
What a day.
- [06:52]
Josh Holmes
It's the first thing that came to my mind when the news hit. It's just like. It's just an incredible, incredible day.
- [06:58]
Jack Posobiec
Yeah. Yeah. And where we've gone just in the compendium, this is not what we thought of when we first started. And we were nowhere near prime time, shall we say. It's been a real work in progress. It started with Tom Cotton doing us a solid as the first interview that we ever did on the program. And, you know, we often joke with him. That took a lot of guts for him to trust us with that when we had USB mics slammed into the side of a laptop. But over time, it became a destination for lawmakers, for people in the White House, for candidates, for others to come in and have a natural conversation. Right. Something that you don't see everywhere else, where you can see another side of the personality that they're not allowed to exhibit in a political space. They don't get that in the sound bites and I think what's so rewarding, in part, about this is the relationship that you guys referred to, not only with the audience, but with those guests, with people who know that what we're trying to get is real information for our audience, and we're trying to provide them with a value prop that you don't get everywhere. And part of that is getting to know you a little bit. You know, our three questions that we asked every guest, you know, it's not like, what's your stance on X, Y and Z? It's their personality. And we've found that when you do that kind of thing, they open up and you can get actual answers to questions that you want, rather than a talking point back. And there's a trust level involved and a trust level that we've had with our audience because we've tried different stuff. I mean, we sing, we dance, and we entertain here on the program.
- [08:35]
Josh Holmes
And just one of the reasons why we are the hottest, most influential podcast in the entire world.
- [08:41]
Michael Duncan
That's what they say.
- [08:42]
Jack Posobiec
Let's go.
- [08:42]
Comfortably Smug
Many people are saying. Many people are saying, may I do one more? Thank you.
- [08:45]
Jack Posobiec
Yes.
- [08:46]
Comfortably Smug
Thank you to the haters, everyone who doubted us.
- [08:49]
Michael Duncan
Yes.
- [08:49]
Comfortably Smug
Because as an agony of defeat, guy who likes to prove people wrong. Yeah, I'm glad we were able to do that.
- [08:56]
Jack Posobiec
There was a lot of people at the onset of Ruthless that were like, what the hell are you guys doing? You know, because it was a real big risk in our line of work. We came from a serious. We ran campaigns. We were, you know, chiefs of staff and comms people on Capitol Hill. And. And it's just not done where you take the mask off and you can just be yourself and have an entertaining, often comedic conversation, because you don't want to show any vulnerability in that world, and you don't want anybody to really get to know you beyond the really important, smart stuff that I'm going to say. And basically we were like, fuck that. It's not worth doing unless we can do it authentically the way that we want to do it. And from moment one, and I really salute you guys on this, too, there has never been a day where it's not what you see is what you get. If the microphones were gone and there were no cameras, we would all be sitting at a bar somewhere in D.C. doing the exact same thing that you're listening to Tuesdays, Thursdays and now Fridays. It's been a real pleasure, and we're super excited about where it goes from here, because, like you said, Smuggler, bigger and better, buddy.
- [10:05]
Michael Duncan
Bigger, better and more.
- [10:07]
Jack Posobiec
Bigger, better and more. So thank you once again to FOX News. Thank you to our audience who've been so special to us and given us the motivation to keep going and keep making this a bigger thing. We're going to see you on Thursday. Do we do it?
- [10:23]
Michael Duncan
I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to our listeners. Remember, like and subscribe on YouTube if you have. Not yet. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, subscribe, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless.