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Ben Shapiro
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Ben Shapiro
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Jacob
Oh.
Fruit
Oh.
Jacob
Someone right in front of you. Aim downwards. Aim downwards.
Michael Knowles
Oh, there's a guy.
Jacob
Oh, someone else killed him. Someone. Oh. Oh. He got ran over by a car.
Michael Knowles
Wow.
Unidentified Gamer 1
It's time.
Michael Knowles
So you have to explain to me what this game is, why it exists and everything. I know nothing about this other than I've seen a bunch of dumb children doing a dance that they call the Fortnite Dance.
Unidentified Gamer 2
We like Fortnite. We like Fortnite. Do you like Fortnite? We like Fortnite. Fortnite.
Michael Knowles
Other than that, I don't know anything about it.
Jacob
So Fortnite is genre video game called Battle Royale, where a bunch of players drop out of the sky and land on an island. And you pick up weapons and you fight each other until there's only one person standing. Fortnite is one of the most popular games to ever come out. At one time, they recorded, I think it was, like, 45 million players playing at once with, like, hundreds of millions of downloads. We're gonna have you drop in. We're gonna see how you do. I'll teach you how to play it. Before we start, I think you should choose your skin.
Michael Knowles
So you've got Stormtroopers, you've got Vader, Han Solo. Okay. You got, like, the full Star wars compliment.
Jacob
I'm a big Star wars guy.
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, no, me too.
Michael Knowles
So that's good. I'm very tempted to use Palpatine.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Should I do it?
Ben Shapiro
Do it.
Michael Knowles
But instead, I'll go with young Harrison Ford, probably.
Jacob
Wow.
Michael Knowles
Wow.
Jacob
So let's push X. Okay, choose him. Now push circle. Perfect. Now we'll push this button here two times. Yep. And one, two.
Ben Shapiro
2,000 years later.
Jacob
Okay, so now this is the warmup. You got 52 seconds. So you can see you walk around, move around. X is gonna be your jump button.
Unidentified Gamer 2
Holy.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Let's go give it to you.
Fruit
Wow.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Let's go give it to you.
Michael Knowles
Running into a tree.
Jacob
Running into a tree.
Jet2 Announcer
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Jacob
Now you're in the water.
Michael Knowles
Swim. Okay.
Jacob
Please help me.
Michael Knowles
Interesting.
Jacob
So if you want to use that look button to look the other way, you'll turn the other way, you can
Fruit
float and swim at the same time.
Michael Knowles
Okay, Interesting.
Jacob
So now we're in the bus.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Oh, that's hot.
Jacob
All the players that are in this lobby, 97 of them are in this bus.
Michael Knowles
Okay?
Jacob
So at any point that you choose, you're gonna push the X button.
Michael Knowles
Okay.
Jacob
And you're gonna come out in a
Michael Knowles
parachute and I'll show you what are the other controls.
Jacob
So use your stick on the left. So I'd push X now so that you free dive.
Michael Knowles
There you go.
Jacob
You can use your stick on the left to kind of move around, see where you want to go. If there's any place that looks interesting, your look button, see if you can look down the other way. The controls are.
Michael Knowles
Yeah, so far I'm doing great.
Jacob
Yeah, you're doing great. That's great. Way better than I did.
Fruit
You're really good at falling.
Michael Knowles
This isn't flying.
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Michael Knowles
Just like socialist policy, it's all fun and games until you hit the ground.
Jacob
Exactly. Alrighty. So gonna jump over that wall using X. Good. Try to look in front of you. Yeah. All right. So if you look to your right, there are some bullets on the ground right there that you could pick up.
Michael Knowles
Interesting.
Jacob
You push. There you go. Oh, there's your first gun right there, that green thing. So you're gonna want to go next to it and push square. You have to move around a little bit. There you go. Now push the R1, the top right bumper. Now you have a gun in your hand.
Michael Knowles
Okay, and how do I shoot this gun?
Jacob
You push the bumper under that one R2, and then you aim with L2 L2s. Oh, you're getting shot at. You better run. Someone right in front of you. Aim downwards. Aim downwards. Guy right. Guy right in front of you. I'm dying.
Fruit
Help me.
Jacob
Shoot, shoot, shoot. Oh, someone else killed him. Oh, he got ran over by a car.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Wow.
Jacob
In a little bit, I'm going to try to get into teaching you how to build in this game. But first, let's learn how to aim and shoot in that stuff. All right, so it looks like there's some guns on the roof of that building. If you want to land on that roof?
Michael Knowles
There's beer as well.
Jacob
What?
Michael Knowles
That's not beer.
Jacob
Those are bandits.
Ben Shapiro
First aid.
Michael Knowles
Stay thirsty, my friends. Can I pick it up or no?
Jacob
Yeah, you gotta walk until. There you go. Now you can push square. Okay, now the gun, I think, is to your right. So let's look to your right. There you go. It's a pistol. Oh, wow.
Ben Shapiro
This is going so poorly.
Fruit
Okay, you gotta check your surroundings.
Jacob
You just. You gotta. Every game you're gonna get a little bit better until you finally, like, successfully shoots.
Fruit
Anything's better than that, though.
Unidentified Gamer 1
My, you just got roasted.
Michael Knowles
That was truly quite terrible.
Jacob
That is true.
Ben Shapiro
What do you get if you win?
Michael Knowles
People who have no hopes are easy to control.
Jacob
You get to pat yourself on the back, I guess.
Michael Knowles
Yes. It's a video game.
Ben Shapiro
I forgot. See, I was not much of a
Michael Knowles
video gamer when I was young. Basically, my video game experiences ended with quake. With quake, 1996 PC.
Jacob
This guy's good. Whoever's playing this, this guy's good. But look how, like, this game came out when I was in high school. And it was, like, extremely hard to get a win because you're going against 100 other players. So every time I would win, I would, like, post it on my social media. I'd be like, hey, let's go.
Michael Knowles
It turns out that, as you found out at the Daily Wire, that does not equate to upper income trajectory.
Jacob
No, not at all. Not at all. Not at all.
Michael Knowles
You just end up playing yes or no with Michael Knowles.
Jacob
Exactly. First of all, Professor, I'm really glad
Michael Knowles
that they allow underage drinking on this show now.
Jacob
That's really great that they're 12 years old. That's outrageous. Let's see where you can land.
Michael Knowles
Where is away from people.
Jacob
You want to just go. You just want to land, like, in the middle of the forest. You see all those trees down there? Those yellow trees?
Michael Knowles
Yes.
Jacob
Try to land like, in those yellow trees.
Michael Knowles
Okay, sounds good. Because if there are other people, I'm going to get killed immediately.
Ben Shapiro
Online shopping has created one of the weirdest modern rituals. You find the exact thing you were
Michael Knowles
looking for, you add it to your
Ben Shapiro
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Fruit
You should have done a round first.
Jacob
I should have done a round first.
Michael Knowles
Yeah. We have to see what it looks like when someone who knows what the hell they're doing does this. Okay.
Jacob
Okay. So that you found your first chest. So that's a chest. You gotta back up from it a little bit until it says to hold square. Look, try to look at it more. Like, gear your camera to look at it down a little bit, not jump
Unidentified Gamer 1
on it so close.
Jacob
Why not back up a little bit?
Michael Knowles
I'm literally right here.
Jacob
Now back up just a tiny bit.
Ben Shapiro
There you go.
Jacob
Wait, no, no. Forward a little more. A little more. Back up.
Michael Knowles
This is retarded.
Fruit
It's just like surgery.
Michael Knowles
Dude doesn't need a chest cavity.
Jacob
Oh, you had it. You see how it pops up? There you go. Now let's see what came out of it. Oh, you got a nice.
Michael Knowles
Okay, that's good. I'm gonna pick this up now. I feel like that would be useful. This.
Ben Shapiro
This is what I want.
Jacob
There you go.
Michael Knowles
Okay. And now I switch to it.
Jacob
Now, you also picked up a shield. It's that blue jug that you have. Okay, so type the R1 again 2 times 1, 2. Now push the shoot button. So essentially, you drink that and it gives you an extra 50 hp. Mmm. So good and tasty.
Michael Knowles
Okay, so he just drank a goldfish.
Jacob
Yeah.
Michael Knowles
Now he feels better about his life.
Fruit
Where are you? This looks like the Last Samurai.
Unidentified Gamer 1
If he does not shoot me, I will kill him.
Jacob
They change this map, like every few weeks, and they just add A bunch of new stuff to it. A few weeks ago they had, like, Darth Vader's lair. Oh, you're getting shot at 24. Take cover, Ben.
Fruit
Take cover, Ben.
Jacob
Hide behind the tree. Hide behind the tree. Hide behind the tree. They're shooting from behind you.
Michael Knowles
Other side of the tree. Turn around, turn around, turn around. There you go.
Jacob
Never mind.
Fruit
Look up a little more. There you go.
Jacob
Okay. Do you see that brick wall right there? I think he's behind that brick wall right there.
Fruit
Point down.
Michael Knowles
Okay. I'm not used to these controls.
Jacob
There you go. I think he might be. You want me?
Michael Knowles
I'll wait for you.
Jacob
You're gonna wait him out? Oh, he's to your left. You see the footsteps? He's to your left. Hard left. Hard left. Hard left. Yep. That brick wall right there.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Shoot the brick.
Jacob
Brick killed a guy. Yeah. Try to run around the brick wall. Yeah, cut that. But when there's noise, like right there, that's shooting. It shows you the direction the shooting is in.
Michael Knowles
Okay, you know what?
Jacob
We started with 100 people, and there's 45 left.
Michael Knowles
So you've survived half hiding in the forest. Hiding in the forest is actually quite a good tactic. It is just gonna run around the forest. Yeah. It's end.
Jacob
Yeah. This is where we're just gonna run around for a long time and just not see anybody. Because this map is so big that you're only gonna see people if you go to, like, the really highly contested areas.
Unidentified Gamer 1
There is a storm coming and not a one of you is prepared for it.
Jacob
One of the mechanics of this game that makes the action, like, a lot more intense is there is a circle on the map that you have to stay inside of on the top. Right. You see there's like a mini map right there.
Ben Shapiro
Yes.
Jacob
That white line right there that's slightly curved is like part of a bigger circle that you have to stay inside of.
Michael Knowles
Okay.
Jacob
And if you look to the left of it, do you see that kind of like pinkish purple.
Michael Knowles
Yes.
Jacob
On the bottom of the map? That's the storm moving towards you. And you die if you're okay.
Michael Knowles
That seems bad. Okay, let's not do that then.
Fruit
How do you know how many people are left? Is that the number up top?
Jacob
Yeah.
Michael Knowles
So 27 people left. 27. Somehow I have.
Jacob
Wow, look, he caught on it. Yeah.
Fruit
It's good. He's just been hiding.
Ben Shapiro
This is a good.
Michael Knowles
This is a good strategy, the hiding.
Jacob
You've almost made it to the top 25%. If we win a game just by Just staying away from everybody. That would probably be.
Michael Knowles
I've coined a new strategy.
Fruit
At that point, you realize you've been doing this wrong your whole life.
Jacob
I have been. I've been, like, just throwing my control with the tv. Yeah. No one's there. If I see someone, I'll tell you. There's some more guns on the ground to your left. You can pick up. Oh, okay. You got to shoot that guy. That's a monster.
Fruit
Run.
Jacob
Shoot him.
Michael Knowles
Nice.
Jacob
Nice. You killed one. The one on the right. Shoot him. Nice killing spree.
Fruit
Nice little squat there.
Jacob
The look button. Tap it, push it down once. There you go. Now you're standing up, brother. I feel like that might explode.
Michael Knowles
He slimed me.
Jacob
Oh, look, it gave you some more heels. So if you pick up those cans on the ground, you can splash yourself with them and heal up. There you go. Push square on that. Great. Now push the right bumper three times. 1, 2, 3. Now throw that at your feet. So look down. Look down and throw it at your feet.
Fruit
That would not be my first instinct.
Jacob
There you go. Throw that at your feet. Shoot button. Shoot button. Not that.
Michael Knowles
One more. One more.
Jacob
There you go. Shoot button. What? That's the aim button. Shoot button, Shoot button. There you go, R2. We got one more. Now you have almost complete health.
Fruit
How do you dance?
Jacob
How do you dance? Push the down arrow button on your control, and then you use the right stick to select one of the dances on the. Yep. Choose that one. Now you're dancing.
Ben Shapiro
But why.
Michael Knowles
But why is he dancing? I don't understand.
Jacob
The reason they added.
Ben Shapiro
How's that useful?
Jacob
The reason they added those in there is because when you kill somebody, they watch you for, like, five seconds after you kill them. So you just, like, taunt them with a dance.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Dance, you sons of. Dance like it's me down there.
Jacob
18 people left. Ben, you're pretty close.
Michael Knowles
My running around in the forest strategy, that's important.
Fruit
Fruit, is there a way to tell where the people are? Like, do the.
Jacob
No. That's the point of it.
Fruit
They just show up.
Jacob
They just. You run into them. This game is modeled after Hunger Games. Like, that was where they got the money.
Michael Knowles
That makes sense.
Fruit
Never seen it.
Jacob
You've never seen Hunger Games?
Fruit
Just a bunch of interviews of Jennifer Lawrence saying that she's the only female hero ever.
Jacob
Nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie. How should I know? I'm retarded.
Michael Knowles
Totally true, Ben.
Jacob
You're in the top 10 people. I did not expect this. That's crazy. All right.
Ben Shapiro
It's guerrilla warfare.
Michael Knowles
You go to the forest and you wait it out.
Jacob
But you haven't been waiting it out. You've just been running around the entire
Ben Shapiro
time in the forest.
Jacob
Mostly that's true. Oh, oh, you got the bugs next to you. Shoot, shoot, shoot.
Unidentified Gamer 1
Move back, move back.
Jacob
There you go. Aim at him. Aim at him. Take your time and aim. Jesus Christ. That's Jason Bourne.
Michael Knowles
I don't even know where I'm. Okay. I didn't like that. That was bad. I didn't like those guys.
Ben Shapiro
They were mean.
Jacob
Yeah. You know what? Why don't we turn around and open that chest? Let's turn around. There you go. Oh, they're following you, Ben.
Ben Shapiro
Surprise. Mother.
Fruit
Shoot him. Shoot him.
Jacob
Aim at him.
Unidentified Gamer 2
Pew, pew, pew, pew.
Jacob
That guy's coming towards you. Shoot him. Nice. Again. Nice.
Fruit
That blew up last time.
Michael Knowles
One more.
Jacob
Nice monster kill.
Michael Knowles
Un freaking believable.
Jacob
Top seven people. Top seven people out of a hundred just from going in the forest.
Michael Knowles
It's a car.
Jacob
You can drive it if you want.
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Ben Shapiro
Oh, my God.
Jacob
Now, you don't want to go too far there, because you have the storm right there. There, you see that?
Unidentified Gamer 1
I'm coming.
Michael Knowles
Oh, yeah. Go back.
Jacob
No, no, no, no. Go the other way. Reverse, reverse, reverse, reverse, reverse. There you go.
Fruit
Get out of that car.
Jacob
Yeah, let's just. Let's just hold square.
Fruit
You don't.
Jacob
You don't belong in that car.
Michael Knowles
Yeah, that car was not for me. I did not like that car. Okay, I need to turn around and.
Jacob
You're top five people, Ben. You are top five people. This isn't.
Michael Knowles
I'm just amazing at this game. I've discovered my calling.
Jacob
This is insanity.
Fruit
You should just be a. What is it? Like a twitch streamer?
Unidentified Gamer 1
Yeah, baby. That's what I've been waiting for.
Michael Knowles
No, don't like that.
Jacob
You got it. Aim downwards. There you go. Take your time and aim. Yep, there you go. You can switch guns, too, by pushing R1 if you don't want to reload.
Fruit
Yeah, you got to kill the hive or they'll keep appearing. Right, Jacob?
Jacob
Yeah.
Fruit
Maybe we.
Jacob
Maybe we should just leave the area.
Michael Knowles
I'd like to leave the area. I don't like this area. This area is mean and bad.
Jacob
Oh, yeah, you gotta. You gotta start running. That circle's right on your behind. You're gonna have to cut left. You're gonna have to run that way.
Michael Knowles
Cannot sprint low energy.
Jacob
Less energy than Jeb Bush.
Fruit
This can't be how you go. This can't be how you go.
Jacob
Run. You know what, Ben? Let me see. Let me save you real quick.
Michael Knowles
I appreciate that.
Fruit
Thank you.
Jacob
Let me see. Let me. Oh, man. No, it's too fast. Oh, man.
Michael Knowles
That's how I died. Wow, that was sad.
Jacob
Number five. You got fifth place. You got fifth place. Wow, that is crazy.
Fruit
It's your turn, Jacob.
Jacob
It's my turn?
Michael Knowles
That's it.
Fruit
You're gonna tell your kids you did this, or are you never gonna admit it?
Michael Knowles
I'm never going to admit it because then my son will want to play it, and I'll be like, nope, fair.
Jacob
Yeah. I don't suggest it.
Michael Knowles
Yeah, no. My kids are not video game kids, and I'm proud of that.
Fruit
Let's go, Jacob. Show us how it's done.
Michael Knowles
Yeah, exactly.
Jacob
Oh, I'm winning this game. There's no. There's no shot.
Fruit
The Hebrew hammer.
Jacob
Man, this guy is not giving me a break.
Date: May 23, 2026
Host: Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire)
Featured Guests: Michael Knowles, Jacob, and others (gamers identified by voice: "Fruit", "Unidentified Gamer 1 & 2")
In this unique and lighthearted episode, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and several friends dive into the massively popular video game Fortnite. The episode departs from Shapiro's usual hard-hitting political commentary, focusing instead on pop culture, gaming, and generational divides. The crew provides a running commentary while Michael Knowles plays Fortnite for the first time, with Jacob guiding the experience. Expect lots of playful banter, cultural observations, and a surprising amount of advice on basic gaming mechanics.
[03:25]
Jacob: “Fortnite is a genre video game called Battle Royale, where a bunch of players drop out of the sky and land on an island. And you pick up weapons and fight each other until there’s only one person standing.” [03:25]
[04:00] – [07:22]
Ben Shapiro: “I was not much of a video gamer when I was young. Basically, my video game experiences ended with Quake…1996 PC.” [07:20]
[04:21] – [17:19]
Fruit: “You’re really good at falling.” [05:27]
Ben Shapiro: “This is what I want.” [10:30]
Jacob: “Top seven people out of a hundred just from going in the forest.” [16:28]
[11:03] – [13:32]
Jacob: "The reason they added those in there is because when you kill somebody, they watch you for like five seconds...so you just, like, taunt them with a dance." [14:45]
[07:46], [15:06], [15:11]
Michael Knowles: "It turns out that, as you found out at the Daily Wire, that does not equate to upper income trajectory." [07:46]
Michael Knowles: “I’ve coined a new strategy.” [13:15]
Fruit: “Just a bunch of interviews of Jennifer Lawrence saying that she's the only female hero ever.” [15:15]
[18:20] – [18:46]
Jacob: “Number five. You got fifth place. You got fifth place. Wow, that is crazy.” [18:20]
Michael Knowles: “I'm never going to admit it because then my son will want to play it, and I'll be like, nope, fair.” [18:30]
This episode is a comedic, culture-focused detour for The Ben Shapiro Show, offering non-gamers a glimpse into the world of Fortnite while poking fun at generational gaps, gaming culture, and each other. Michael Knowles’ surprising success through "guerrilla tactics" provides a running gag, while Jacob’s tutoring makes for a relatable walkthrough for anyone new to gaming. The banter never lets up, culminating in a stealthy top-five finish and plenty of memorable quotes for listeners who enjoy the intersection of politics, pop culture, and light-roast gaming.