Walsh & Knowles Respond To Your X Posts | Off The Clock

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Michael Knowles Show

Episode: Walsh & Knowles Respond To Your X Posts | Off The Clock
Date: May 2, 2026
Hosts: Michael Knowles (MK), Matt Walsh (MW)
Location: Refuge Cigar Lounge, Moscow, Idaho

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Overview

In this laid-back, conversational episode, Michael Knowles and Matt Walsh go “off the clock”—literally and figuratively—fielding questions and provocations from X (formerly Twitter) users while relaxing after a TPUSA event. With cigars in hand and spirits high (possibly literally), they riff on everything from conspiracy theories—aliens, the moon landing, flat Earth—to fatherhood, online discourse, free speech, accusations of special interest money, and even nail care. The episode delivers both humor and cultural commentary in the hosts’ signature bantering style, with direct engagement of their online critics and fans.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Authenticity, Internet Banter, and Receiving Online Feedback

• The episode begins with the hosts making fun of unflattering photos shared on social media ([03:03]).
• They underscore the authenticity of their show—warts and all—reminding listeners that late-night, post-event “content” is the realest kind.
  • Quote:

    “If there’s no camera, it’s not real. It’s not content, it’s not real. That’s what I’ve learned.”
    — MW ([02:47])

On "AIPAC Money" and Right-Wing Media Stereotypes

• Responding to a sarcastic comment about taking money from AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Knowles and Walsh joke about the stereotype but clarify their pay grades and company makeup.
  • Quote:

    “Maybe I’m not gonna get that direct AIPAC payment... What about Yemeni money?”
    — MK ([05:10])

  • Quote:

    “There’s like one Jew who works at the whole company, and the rest are Catholics and some Protestants who become Catholics.”
    — MK ([05:28])

Nail Care, Masculinity, and Late-Night Content

• Amid banter about online questions, they discuss mundane topics like nail care, lampooning themselves:
  • Quote:

    “No, all I do is... I actually only use a toe clipper because they’re big and strong... The reason they look nice is because I never do any manual labor.”
    — MK ([06:11])

Punishing Fathers for Desertion

• The hosts mull a provocative suggestion: imprisoning fathers who leave their families ([07:06]).
  • They highlight complications—how to assign blame/aggression and implications for mothers who might manipulate situations.
  • Quote:

    “Should the mom go to prison?... That’s a hard one.”
    — MW ([07:29])

Aliens: Do They Exist?

The Great Walsh-Knowles Debate

• Audience Prompt: “I need to hear you guys debate whether aliens are real.”
• Matt Walsh: Argues that, given the size of the universe and Earth-like planets, it's almost certain aliens exist somewhere—even if not visiting Earth.
  • Quote:

    “Do aliens exist at all in the universe? To that I would say yes, almost certainly.”
    — MW ([09:04])

• Michael Knowles: Argues that since we don’t know how life arises (abiogenesis remains a mystery), we have no rational basis for claiming probability of life elsewhere.
  • Quote:

    “In order to ascertain the probability that aliens would exist there, you would have to know something about the natural mechanism by which life arises, which we don’t.”
    — MK ([09:22])

• Debate gets playful, with both using semantic judo around “necessary conditions” for life and what counts as “knowledge.”
• Notable Exchange:

  MW: “So we know something about where life, how life arises.”
  MK: “We know how life is sustained. We know a lot about that. But we don’t know how life arises...”
  MW: “So we know something about the conditions that are probably necessary for life.”
  MK: “Yes... But we don’t know how life begins.”
  (Paraphrased from [09:57]–[13:14])

AI and Online Authenticity

• Both lament the pervasiveness of AI-generated social media responses ([14:51]).
  • Quote:

    “AI isn’t just a problem. It’s a pandemic.”
    — MK ([15:04])

• They riff on writing tics—the EM dash, for example—which digital natives now see as AI "tells," while old-school writers just see as good style.
  • Quote:

    “I love the EM dash. But I can't use it anymore.”
    — MW ([15:23])

  • Memorable Story:

    MK tells of being taught the EM dash by Ben Shapiro’s father, David Shapiro ([15:41]).

Flat Earth and Conspiratorial Moderation

• On flat Earth: Both ridicule the idea but note that "moderate" positions (“I'm open to the evidence!”) are now common, poking fun at the “centrist” impulse ([16:26]).
  • Quote:

    “Is the moderate position that it's like a cube or a cone or something?”
    — MK ([18:52])

  • Walsh: Observes that people's lack of conviction makes them susceptible to any viewpoint if it's framed as moderate.

    “You could make them believe the least plausible view. It is much more plausible the Earth is flat than that it's somewhere in between flat and a sphere.”
    — MW ([19:20])

The Moon Landing: Sincere Doubts and Viral Misinformation

• Knowles: Jokingly admits to a “six-hour phase” of being convinced the moon landing was fake, after watching an online documentary ([19:48]).
• Discuss the lack of consistent evidence for faking the moon landing, making fun of typical YouTube-level “counter-arguments.”
  • Quote:

    “I went through once... like six hours where I was completely convinced we did not land on the moon.”
    — MK ([19:48])

  • Walsh: Stresses that denying the official narrative is not intellectually neutral—one must propose a new theory with its own evidence ([23:43]).

    “You are proposing an entirely new narrative... Where is your evidence for that?”
    — MW ([24:15])

• On “the Soviets would’ve said something”: This, they say, is a knockdown argument for the landing’s authenticity ([22:05]).

The Limits of Being “Informed”

• They lampoon the modern tendency to wield isolated facts—about quantum physics, the Van Allen radiation belt, etc.—without genuine understanding ([25:47]).
  • Quote:

    “This is why being informed is so overrated. People have all this information bouncing around... but they don’t have any real depth of knowledge.”
    — MW ([25:47])

Family Size, Masculinity, and Gendered Language

• Responding to a listener’s question on how to convince his wife to have a fourth kid, Walsh rails on men using “kiddos” instead of “kids” ([26:46]).
  • Quote:

    “Kiddos? That’s 35-year-old female talk... Are you a 35-year-old woman? Do you call them doggos too? Just call them kids.”
    — MW ([26:55])

• Both discuss how family size expectations, Catholic/Protestant culture, and practical parenting tweak these questions.
  • Walsh’s family journey: He and his wife planned for six, settled at four (two boys, two girls); surprise twins came later, making for a challenging but rewarding family life ([28:46]–[30:53]).

Conservative Media, Texting Habits, and Online Relations

• They joke about not responding to texts, insulating themselves from “leaked DMs” scandals ([31:16]–[32:47]).
  • Quote:

    “Good luck trying to plant me in a scandal. I don’t text anybody back ever.”
    — MK ([31:38])

  • Accepting the fate of ignored relationships via late replies.

    “Two months later, it’s Halloween – ‘Happy Easter!’ That’s what I do.”
    — MK ([33:18])

Free Speech and Protestant Conversion

• Responding to a troll accusing them of wanting to shut down free speech:
  • Quote:

    “I actually do kind of want to shut down free speech, but that’s kind of a hobby horse.”
    — MK ([34:53])

• On “Which of you is most likely to become a Protestant?”:
  • Walsh: “It’s not me.”
  • Knowles and Walsh: Joke about what denominations would be most out of character for them ([35:11]).

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• [02:52] MW: “If there’s no camera, it’s not real. It’s not content, it’s not real.”
• [05:28] MK: “There’s like one Jew who works at the whole company, and the rest are Catholics and some Protestants who become Catholics.”
• [09:04] MW: “Do aliens exist at all in the universe? To that I would say yes, almost certainly.”
• [13:03] MW: “You’re saying things about the subject of how life arises... In fact, you’re saying something rather definitive about it.”
• [15:04] MK: “AI isn’t just a problem. It’s a pandemic.”
• [19:20] MW: “You could make them believe the least plausible view... more plausible the Earth is flat than that it is somewhere in between flat and a sphere.”
• [19:48] MK: “I went through once... like six hours where I was completely convinced we did not land on the moon.”
• [24:15] MW: "You are proposing an entirely new narrative... Where is your evidence for that?"
• [25:47] MW: “This is why being informed is so overrated.”
• [26:55] MW: “Kiddos? That’s 35-year-old female talk...”
• [31:38] MK: “Good luck trying to plant me in a scandal. I don’t text anybody back ever.”
• [34:53] MK: “I actually do kind of want to shut down free speech, but that’s kind of a hobby horse.”

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Key Timestamps

• [03:03] Unflattering social media photos & authenticity
• [04:50] “How much money do you dorks take from AIPAC?” riff
• [06:11] Manicures/nail care and masculinity
• [07:06] Prison for fathers abandoning families
• [08:12]–[14:51] Alien debate (existence, probability, God, conditions)
• [14:51]–[16:10] AI writing habits, the EM dash, authenticity online
• [16:26]–[19:39] Flat Earth theory, centrism, and media ignorance
• [19:41]–[24:15] Moon landing conspiracy, how misinformation spreads
• [25:47]–[26:09] Dangers of being shallowly “informed”
• [26:46]–[30:53] Convincing a wife to have more kids; gendered language
• [31:16]–[33:29] Conservative media, texting habits, humor on “scandals”
• [34:53]–[35:37] Free speech debate troll, Protestant conversion joke

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

The tone is irreverent, candid, and playful, veering from philosophical to farcical as Knowles and Walsh parody internet culture, poke fun at their own followers (and detractors), and indulge amusing detours on language, parenting, and the absurdities of online “debate.” Throughout, they keep to their classic style: contrarian, Catholic-tinged, and deeply skeptical of online posturing—while never missing a chance for storytelling or self-mockery.

For new listeners: The episode gives a sharp sense of the duo’s chemistry and cultural commentary—unfiltered, unhurried, and (mostly) unbothered.

Transcript

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[Michael Knowles]

Why U2 is both some bitch as white boys that don't know no mother effing gang signs.

[Matt Walsh]

I mean this is the kind of thing you get. I mean this, this is why it's a great idea to surrender the programming of your show over to X commentary. We're going to get going to get from them. Oh, is that so you're doing. That's a gang sign.

[Michael Knowles]

Modern McCarthy says I need to hear you guys debate

[Matt Walsh]

now. I'm looking at it. You got to say it. I'm looking at it right now.

[Michael Knowles]

Hey everybody. Welcome to Matt and I having a Cigar. After our TPUSA speech, we're still workshopping the title. We got a few options. This episode of Whatever it Is is brought to you by Helix. Try the most awarded mattress brand reviewed by real experts like Forbes and Wired today. Go to helixsleep.comofftheclock Is that the name of the show? That's what they named it. Helixsleep.com offtheclock for 27% off site wide. That is. I think I'll get it right this time. Hello, helixslate.com offtheclock for 27% off site wide. Special thanks by the way. Especially special thanks to the Refuge Cigar Lounge in Moscow, Idaho for hosting tonight. I would have been happy just at this beautiful lounge, but the fact that they stock a lot of Mayflower cigars here means you see it's just the creme de la creme of lounges. Matt, remember when we used to just do this without cameras?

[Matt Walsh]

If there's no camera, it's not real.

[Michael Knowles]

It's not real.

[Matt Walsh]

It's not content, it's not real. That's what I've learned.

[Michael Knowles]

No, this is good content. So what I did, I tweeted out, I said, I'll let you all in on it. I tweeted out, I said, for the next 45 minutes we're having a cigar. Ask us anything. That's us.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, can I just. I didn't fully connect that. That picture was going to be that specific picture was gonna be tweeted.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I look terrible.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, I look really bad. Yeah, I look drunk in this picture.

[Michael Knowles]

I'm drunk and hunched over.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, I like to think I'm like not a terrible looking guy, but then I see any picture of me ever and I think I'm.

[Michael Knowles]

This is because they're all the wrong angle.

[Matt Walsh]

They're just lighting.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, all the angles are wrong.

[Matt Walsh]

The right lighting for me is like directly thrown into the sun, I guess. Yeah, from.

[Michael Knowles]

So look, this is a great first question from RP McMurphy. Why you two is both some bitch as white boys that don't know no mother effing gang signs.

[Matt Walsh]

I mean, this is the kind of thing you get. I mean this, this is why it's a great idea to surrender the programming of your show over to X. Because this is the level of commentary we're going to get going to get from them. Oh, is that. So you're doing. That's a gangster spelled blood. Is that a gang sign or was that you do? Is that like a swan? Isn't that a shadow puppet swan?

[Michael Knowles]

I learned that when in high school when I grew up on the rough streets near AOC. You put Cs down, that's like Crips are down. And then you do blood. If a gangster actually comes after me because I did that, that'd be so annoying. But it'd be great content.

[Matt Walsh]

That would be good content.

[Michael Knowles]

The next one. This is from James. James with a Ukraine flag, a gay flag and a trans flag. He says he's a Progressive Liberal and Walmart Plus Admin BLM Power 4 times boosted LGBTQIA supporter, proud husband and stepdad of a 6 year old biracial autistic trans son. He him. He said.

[Matt Walsh]

Is that his comment? No, that was his profile.

[Michael Knowles]

That was his profile. The question is, how much money do you dorks take from apac? How much do you get?

[Matt Walsh]

Everyone is getting paid off by everybody. I'm not getting paid off by anybody. No, no one has ever offered. They're not important enough to pay off.

[Michael Knowles]

They talk about AIPAC as if like sort of the top of the heap is getting money from the Jews. That's like the top of the heap. Right. And I think, all right, well, maybe I can't. Maybe I'm not going to get that direct AIPAC payment. You know, I know it's the daily wire. They call it the Israeli wire. The. But there's like.

[Matt Walsh]

I've never heard that.

[Michael Knowles]

I know. I've heard.

[Matt Walsh]

Do people say that?

[Michael Knowles]

The Israeli wire. But the problem is that there's like one Jew who works at the whole company, and the rest are Catholics and some Protestants who become Catholics.

[Matt Walsh]

I've never. So you're saying there's criticisms of the.

[Michael Knowles]

So occasionally people say.

[Matt Walsh]

I've never heard this.

[Michael Knowles]

I don't know. It's weird. But I've never gotten any of the. So I'm gonna set my sights lower. If I can't get the good Israeli AIPAC money. What about Yemeni money? How hard is it to get Yemeni Somalian money? Who's asking for Somalian money? That's a good opportunity.

[Matt Walsh]

You gotta open a daycare center in Minneapolis for that.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes. Your hands are perfectly manicured, Michael. Does Matt Walsh keep the same standards?

[Matt Walsh]

Are your hands actually manicured?

[Michael Knowles]

No, they're not. You know why? No. All I do is I take my. I actually only use a toe clipper because they're big and strong and I just clip, clip, clip. The reason they look nice is because I never do any manual labor. That's the reason. Are yours.

[Matt Walsh]

I clip my nails. Is this the kind of content you were looking for? Is this what we're.

[Michael Knowles]

This is great content.

[Matt Walsh]

This is great. Our strategy for clipping our nails. Yeah. Well, this is what you get when you try to record content at. Well, it's 10 o' clock at night, west coast time. Yeah. After we just did two hours on stage.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. It's quarter midnight Central time.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah. Let's not even talk. Let's just have this conversation on Twitter.

[Michael Knowles]

Here's one. Should fathers be thrown in prison for leaving their children released only if they agree to come home. Says of Gorse

[Matt Walsh]

thrown in prison if they leave their children. I like. I mean, there's a lot about that idea that I like.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

The problem is, I mean, you run into a lot of practical problems. And also, how do you differentiate between the father left the children and.

[Michael Knowles]

Or he just needed a pack of cigarettes or that gallon of milk.

[Matt Walsh]

When I get some milk and he got lost. Or the mother is taking the kids. But then accusing the father of leaving. That's a pretty common thing. Yeah. And in that case, should the mom go to prison? So that's a, that's a hard one.

[Michael Knowles]

Plus, what if you got really bad kids?

[Matt Walsh]

That there's that too, you know. I mean.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I guess I'm, I'm for, you know, I would be for legal punishments if you get divorced or something, if you break a marriage contract or adultery related or adult.

[Matt Walsh]

I mean, obviously criminalizing adultery is.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's something modern. McCarthy says. I need to hear you guys debate.

[Matt Walsh]

I'm looking at it. You got to say it. I'm looking at it right now.

[Michael Knowles]

I need to hear you guys debate whether aliens are real. They are, by the way.

[Matt Walsh]

Guys say, now we finally got something interesting. We can get the 45 minutes out of this.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

So you try to wiggle your way out of this question. If, if I could say it kind of frankly, a cowardly way.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

By wanting to focus on have aliens visited Earth? Which, which puts you on a much stronger footing. Yes, because obviously I have no evidence that they've visited Earth. Of course you have no evidence that they haven't, so it's sort of a wash. But the, the much more interesting question, and the one where I'm, I feel in a much better, stronger position is do aliens exist at all in the universe? And to that I would say no, it's.

[Michael Knowles]

No.

[Matt Walsh]

Almost certainly. Why it's absurd to think that they don't.

[Michael Knowles]

So. Okay, I'm glad you have. Granted, they probably haven't been to Earth. At least maybe they haven't been to Earth. But let's say.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, I didn't say probably. Maybe they haven't been.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, okay, let's.

[Matt Walsh]

On the off chance they've never been

[Michael Knowles]

here, let's just say 10 trillion light years away on an Earth like planet, you say it is very likely, almost certain that aliens exist there. And I would say in response to that, that in order to ascertain the probability that aliens would exist there, you would have to know something about the natural mechanism by which life arises, which we don't. The term would be abiogenesis.

[Matt Walsh]

I think we know a fair amount.

[Michael Knowles]

We don't know anything about it.

[Matt Walsh]

We don't know anything about how life arises?

[Michael Knowles]

No. No idea?

[Matt Walsh]

Nothing at all?

[Michael Knowles]

No. What you were taught in seventh grade was that there was some kind of primordial soup and a bunch of molecules got really hot and banged into each other. And eventually that was like step A, really hot soup. Molecules bang into each other. Step B, question mark. Step three, prokaryotic cells.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, well, that. And, and that's. And that Is your third grade biology teacher. Whoever.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

Trying to get around the reality of God. I get that.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

I don't have that problem. I'm not, I, I. So I have no problem filling in the step. The, the, well, it's not even step two. I have no problem filling in the question marks with well, God. That's God. God makes that happen. God has a, has a process that he uses to create life. And it's a gradual process.

[Michael Knowles]

No, but what's the start of it for?

[Matt Walsh]

It is. I could, I could tell you. But to say we know nothing about how life arises.

[Michael Knowles]

I mean, we know how life develops. We don't know how life arises. That's my. Well, I do. I mean the way life arises is God takes clay and breathes into its nostril.

[Matt Walsh]

But is it more? Is it more? So take, take a hypothetical two planets. Alien planets. Yeah. One is like, is like Jupiter. A gas giant.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

With a, with a, with a, you know, a hurricane of 500 mile power winds have been going on. It's been going on over half the plan planet, whatever for centuries. And the other one is an Earth like planet.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

Which one? Is it more likely that if there is life at all that it's on one? Which of those planets is more likely to have life?

[Michael Knowles]

If the non earth planets, they are equally likely to have life, which is not likely at all. But if we have to assume that there is life on one of the planets or the other, then yes, life would more likely be on the planet. More like Earth, because the Earth is perfectly finely tuned to support life.

[Matt Walsh]

So we do know something about where life, how life arises.

[Michael Knowles]

We know how life is sustained. We know a lot about that. But we don't know how life arises and what.

[Matt Walsh]

No, we don't know anything about it.

[Michael Knowles]

We don't know anything about it.

[Matt Walsh]

So we know something about it.

[Michael Knowles]

We know nothing about it.

[Matt Walsh]

We know something about the conditions that are probably necessary for life.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes, we know what supports life. Yes. But we don't know.

[Matt Walsh]

So we know what is necessary for life to arise. We know how it. We know what conditions that are likely necessary for life to arise.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. Yes, we know that. We know something about the conditions without which life probably cannot arise. Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

Okay, so then I would say that counts as something that we know about how life arises.

[Michael Knowles]

We just know.

[Matt Walsh]

You just said something. That's not nothing.

[Michael Knowles]

No, no, no. We know what there has to be in order for the thing that gives life. It's a, it's arousal.

[Matt Walsh]

So is that something? No, no, what you just said is nothing.

[Michael Knowles]

What I said is something about something else. Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

You are talking. You're saying things.

[Michael Knowles]

I'm saying things? Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

No, no, no, hold on. You're saying things about a subject and the subject is how life arises and you're saying things about it. In fact, you're saying something rather definitive about it. So I would say that we can say something about how life arises. We can say the thing that you just said about it.

[Michael Knowles]

No, I am saying something about the nonsense things that people say in response to the question, how does life arrive?

[Matt Walsh]

You just, you just said that. That's. That those are the conditions that are probably necessary for life to arise.

[Michael Knowles]

I said those are the conditions that are. That are certainly necessary for life to be sustained. For life to be.

[Matt Walsh]

So you said. You said arise. No, wind the tape. You did say arise.

[Michael Knowles]

They don't exist. They don't exist. They don't exist is what I'm saying.

[Matt Walsh]

You're getting gas lit.

[Michael Knowles]

They don't.

[Matt Walsh]

At 10 o' clock.

[Michael Knowles]

We're talking about a big, a big giant ball of gas. A big giant ball of hot air.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah. That's what I'm hearing right now.

[Michael Knowles]

That's what I'm seeing right now. That's what I'm seeing. Folks, you and I both know you can't go out and save western civilization if you spent the whole night losing a wrestling match with your mattress. Now, I've had bad mattresses, okay? I'll tell some tales out of the boudoir. I've had some mattresses that weren't so great. But you know what? I've had for six years, not only a Helix mattress, multiple Helix mattresses. Because I'm a good father. And I have given the gift of a Helix mattress even to my beautiful children. If you want to sleep like me on a mattress that is tailor made for you, you need to go to helix sleep.com head on over to helixsleep.com off the clock. Free shipping. You will get the mattress right to your door. You will get a 120 night sleep trial. Head on over right now to helixsleep.com off the clock. 27% off site wide. Helixleep.com off the clock. Okay, did you. Have you found a question?

[Matt Walsh]

There's some AI stuff. The AI stuff is out of control.

[Michael Knowles]

It's unbearable.

[Matt Walsh]

Once you learn how to read AI, it's like everywhere. Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I don't know if real people exist anymore. Yeah, it's all just AI.

[Michael Knowles]

AI isn't just a problem. It's a pandemic. You know, they always. They always do that at the end.

[Matt Walsh]

It's not this, it's that.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

Or it. Asking yourself a question rhetorically and then answering it is an AI thing.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, of course.

[Matt Walsh]

The M dash. The other thing about it is that there are a few things AI does with writing that I also like. Like, I love the EM dash.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

But I can't use it anymore.

[Michael Knowles]

No, I know. They tell you someone did that. I responded to a tweet, I don't know, and they said, you didn't write that. I said, first of all, I guess they thought my tweet was smart or accurate. But I said, what do you mean? I didn't write that? They said, because you used an EM dash. Do you know who taught me the EM dash?

[Matt Walsh]

Who?

[Michael Knowles]

Ben Shapiro's father, David. This was 10 years ago.

[Matt Walsh]

What do you mean he taught you? You didn't know what it existed?

[Michael Knowles]

I didn't know what it was. I turned in some writing to David. I don't remember what it was even. And I did two hyphens like an idiot, like a rube, like a dumb dolt. And he looked at me and he said, michael, do you not. Are you. Are you? And then I said, what's wrong?

[Matt Walsh]

And he said, he preached the gospel of the mdash.

[Michael Knowles]

He did. And I. And I've never gone back. I've never looked back.

[Matt Walsh]

There was one here that I thought, well, someone brought up flat Earth. What, do you think that's real? Obviously, the flat Earth isn't real. Flat Earth, Flat Eartherism. Is that a real phenomenon, or is

[Michael Knowles]

it like a meta thing?

[Matt Walsh]

Oh, yeah. Is it all just a troll, or do people really believe that? And if they do, how is that possible? How is it possible that in a. In a. In a world now where we have all the knowledge of the universe at our fingertips, how is it possible that people are more ignorant about the basic shape of the Earth than they were 500 years ago?

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, you probably got a lot of COVID shots, too, didn't you? You believe all these people down in the conspiracy. I one time was sitting with an interesting guy, but I was sitting with a buddy of mine. We were having a cigar, and a guy who I didn't know very well, but he's very interesting. A little quirky, though. And he says to me, michael, you love Dante. I said, I do. He said, so do you believe in Dante's cosmology? I said, what do you mean by that? He said, you know, do you believe the Earth is flat surrounded by a solid firmament? And I said, oh, I don't. And also, more important to your question, Dante didn't believe that either. In fact, it's actually crucial to Dante's cosmology that the world is round because the devil's at, like hell's in the middle and you crawl back up out of Mount Purgatory. Anyway, I just thought. You don't even. The thing you think is leading you to that, even that is not saying what you think it does.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

Is it. Is it just.

[Matt Walsh]

So. So what is that?

[Michael Knowles]

I think it's just being a hipster. Right. It's just being.

[Matt Walsh]

I don't know. I. I remember, man, like, seven years, six. Seven years ago when I was still doing my show, the show in my car, and that's when I first came across flat Earth as a modern phenomenon.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, it's really only a modern phenomenon.

[Matt Walsh]

That's the irony. That's. Yeah. Is. And. And I did like a show about it for some reason, and I just got annihilated in the comments, and it was a very. And. And the thing that. That blew my mind. It's not even the people who were adamant that the Earth is flat. That's pretty mind blowing.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

It's more the. All these other people in the middle. Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

Who they have the moderate position.

[Matt Walsh]

Yes. That's. That's very common now. They take the moderate position and they say, well, look, I'm not saying the Earth is flat, but. But, you know, I'm open to the evidence.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

What, so you're sane enough to not be totally convinced, but you're open?

[Michael Knowles]

Like, do they think it's a rhombus? Is that. Is the moderate position? That it's like a cube or a cone or something?

[Matt Walsh]

An octagon? I don't know.

[Michael Knowles]

Look, I don't want to be an extremist, all right. I just. Wow. Yeah. I wonder if that's. That is like one of the real flaws of the centrists or the moderates is because they don't actually believe in anything. They just want to take the middle position between it.

[Matt Walsh]

Like,

[Michael Knowles]

you could make them believe any. You could make them believe the least plausible view. It is much more plausible that the Earth is flat than that it is somewhere in between flat and a sphere

[Matt Walsh]

just fluctuates like a.

[Michael Knowles]

Like an accordion.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

It's an accord. The Earth is an accordion.

[Matt Walsh]

Or the moon landing is fake. I mean, you.

[Michael Knowles]

The moon landing thing. I Mean, I'm open to the evidence.

[Matt Walsh]

You're not really open to the heavens. No, I mean, is that real? Is that a real thing?

[Michael Knowles]

No, I'm not. No. We landed on the moon. But I tell you, I went through once, it was like six hours where I was completely convinced we did not land on the moon.

[Matt Walsh]

Completely convinced.

[Michael Knowles]

Cause I watched a documentary on like 4chan or something. I don't know, it was like on some weird website. I guess they don't have documentaries on 4chan, but it was like some weirdo link. And I clicked it and it was a two hour schizo documentary and I watched it at the office when I was pretending to do work. And I texted Elisa from the office and I said, girl, we did not land on the moon. We did not land on the moon. She's like, ah. And then I almost finished this two or three hour doc. I get home that night, I said, girl, you gotta just watch it. We gotta finish watching it. So we watched the last 10% of it or whatever and I was like, no, no you don't. Because it started to get pretty off the rails at the end. And I said, no, no, you gotta watch. You gotta go back and watch the whole thing. So we watched it again and by the end of the second time I realized, I said, oh, we went to the moon. I now it took two times. Did you ever go through. We didn't go to the moon phase.

[Matt Walsh]

No, I never went through a tranny phase either. Like, what else do you want to tell us?

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I mean the pictures and the videos look pretty crazy.

[Matt Walsh]

Which pictures and videos?

[Michael Knowles]

Like they were golfing on the moon. That's silly. They had the little dune buggies, the moon buggies. This was in the later Apollo mission. It looks weird.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, they're on the moon. Like, of course it looks weird. It looks weird on the moon. And that is, that, that is the entirety of the evidence as people look at the pictures. Like, that looks weird. Yeah, it's the moon. I mean, it looks like. That's not what it looks like when I take pictures in my backyard. Yeah, you don't live on the moon. So. And we, so by the way, we, we would. To fake it. We faked it multiple times. Like, that's the part they leave out a lot of stuff.

[Michael Knowles]

The first time we tried to fake it, a bunch of people died because it exploded.

[Matt Walsh]

Right.

[Michael Knowles]

And then.

[Matt Walsh]

But then what? But once you've. Let's say we faked it. So you faked it then why would we fake it? Multiple more like more times after that and fail.

[Michael Knowles]

One of the times we faked it.

[Matt Walsh]

Right.

[Michael Knowles]

But the people didn't die. But they almost died.

[Matt Walsh]

And we're supposed to believe that every other government on the globe to include the Soviets.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, this is the most compelling evidence

[Matt Walsh]

they are in on it. I mean, because they would know that it was fake.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

And they decided to just be cool about it and not tell anybody.

[Michael Knowles]

I spoke to a famous mutual friend of ours who doesn't think we went to the moon and I brought up the Soviet thing and this person had no response to it. And this person is really bought in on we didn't go to the moon. And there was no response. I said, okay, well that's it. That decides it.

[Matt Walsh]

A famous friend.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes. Not famous for being our friend, like a famous person who is a mutual friend of ours

[Matt Walsh]

who thinks the moon landing didn't happen.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I wanted, like it was a private conversation. I don't.

[Matt Walsh]

But okay. It's a conservative media person or something. Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

And we're narrowing it down to like four people. I don't.

[Matt Walsh]

Okay, well, I'll think about it. I mean, this is. I spent the last time I did Joe Rogan, we spent an hour on this, we spent an hour on the moon landing. And I got, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't break. I had no breakthrough.

[Michael Knowles]

I tried not.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, well, because Joe's taking more of a, of the in between position.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. It's like Apollo 8 was fake, but Apollo 10 was real. And Apollo 13 was fake again, but that was like a reverse UNO card. And then Apollo 16 was real.

[Matt Walsh]

Well, one of the points I tried to make to him, maybe unsuccessfully, and this actually applies to a lot of conspiracy theories, the ones that are irrational, is that you're not just rejecting the so called official narrative, you are proposing an entirely new narrative. And so my point is that what you should have evidence for your like you're not just denying that a thing happened, you're actually proposing that a whole other thing.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes.

[Matt Walsh]

Did in fact happen.

[Michael Knowles]

Right.

[Matt Walsh]

Which in this case is that they set up, they did a moon landing on a movie studio somewhere.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

So where's your evidence for that? Like where is your evidence, your positive evidence, other thing.

[Michael Knowles]

Stanley Cooper, don't you know that.

[Matt Walsh]

Where's the evidence of that? I mean.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, he was a filmmaker who did a movie about space.

[Matt Walsh]

Right.

[Michael Knowles]

So I think that.

[Matt Walsh]

And he directed the moon landing.

[Michael Knowles]

The defense. Yeah, he directed. You know, one time I was talking to someone who was talking about the moon and this person said, not the famous person. This person said, well, yeah, but give me a break. I mean, what about the Van Allen radiation belts?

[Matt Walsh]

Joe's big on that.

[Michael Knowles]

So I was arrested by this because I thought this person. I said, you don't. You didn't pay any attention in. Forget physics. You didn't pay any attention in any science class in high school. You have no idea what the Van Allen radiation belts are. You don't know how radiation works or what radiation is. And I don't really either. But I don't go around. It's like. It'd be like saying, guys, it's like, actually, people do this a lot. People who don't know anything, not a single thing about science. And they'll say, well, actually, you know, because of quantum physics. Here's why. My random fever dream is totally right. You just say like, well, you don't know anything about quantum physics at all. You just. That's just a phrase you learned. You heard. You either read that in a popular science journal or more likely heard it in a YouTube video, and now you're just saying it.

[Matt Walsh]

This is why being informed is so overrated. I think it's so overrated because people, they. We just have all this information bouncing around their. In their heads, but they don't have any real depth of knowledge.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

To ground that.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

Or any wisdom.

[Michael Knowles]

No.

[Matt Walsh]

So you just end up with like little bits of information you've picked up.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

But no way of directing it. And so you just end up concocting all these bizarre ideas.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

Based on this, like scattershot.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

And then it would be better for most people to just be totally uninformed.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. But. And the thing is then our theory of government in America is that you just get. Everybody's like that.

[Matt Walsh]

Right. And then they can vote.

[Michael Knowles]

And then they vote. Yeah. Okay, this question is from Champagne List. Who says. My question is, how can I convince my wife to have four kiddos? We have three. But she only can.

[Matt Walsh]

I first of all, don't call them kiddos. I can't stand that. And this is a man who wrote this. This a man.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

Kiddos, that's. That's 35 year old female talk. Are you a 35 year old woman? Kiddos? Do you call them doggos too? Just call them kids. What is this kiddo bull? I can't stand it now when women do it. I can put up with it, like fine.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

And my wife does a little bit with the kiddo thing. It's fine. Whatever. Women put up With a lot. It's a woman thing, right? Yes, but when men do that, that's embarrassing. I mean, talk about. You shouldn't be allowed to vote. Like, that's. That should exclude you.

[Michael Knowles]

Should he be allowed to have four of them? Four kiddos?

[Matt Walsh]

Well, if you want your wife to have kids with you, don't speak like a woman to her. She's not gonna respect you. You know, you want her to get in bed with you and. And create kids. Like, say, wife. Can we.

[Michael Knowles]

Let's have.

[Matt Walsh]

Let's make some kiddos. It totally kills the mood.

[Michael Knowles]

That's my pillow talk. Can I finish his question? Can I finish? We have three, but she only wanted two. I was able to talk her into three, but four seems like a better number also. Congrats on your fourth, Michael. Thank you very much. So, yes, I have four. Three and a half now because one's cooking. Matt has one hundred and fifty, I think.

[Matt Walsh]

Right. I think that's what we're up to.158 children.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. So my answer. And I think this is kind of the way you did it. I don't know if you're Catholic or Protestant or Jewish or Buddhist or whatever, but for the Catholics, you just basically have to pop them out. So it's very easy to say, well, God demands it, so let's go, lady. Or if the lady sometimes has to convince the man, you're just like, well, you got to do it. There's just a rule that's outside of you. You had four kids. In fact, I don't want to tell tales out of school. I think you viewed that as sort of your ideal number. And then you had more.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah, that's. Well, actually, I'd always thought six. My wife and I first got married and we talked about this. I mean, you know, we're open to God's design. So it's like your ideal number doesn't really matter. Doesn't really mean anything. When we talked about it, I was like, six sounds like a good number to me. I'm one of six. That's probably why I thought that. But then we ended up with four. We had four for a while, and I thought, like, this is. We had two boys and two girls. And you're good. It's like, this is.

[Michael Knowles]

You're done.

[Matt Walsh]

This is kind of. Kind of good. And then. And then the youngest kind of got out of the baby phase and was out of the sort of getting out of the toddler phase. And it was getting really easy. Yeah, because that's the thing. You Know, when we think about the challenges of parenting and you hear people talk about it, there are certainly challenges that come and the kids get older, teenage years. But most of the, the challenges that you hear about are really concentrated on like the first four years of life.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. You're not sleeping. You can't go anywhere.

[Matt Walsh]

It's like when you see all these videos of someone who's quote, unquote, child free and they're saying all the benefits, oh, I can sleep in and I can do this and that, it's like, yeah. So those are arguably benefits you have over someone who has a kid in the first couple few years of life. Yeah. But once your kids are older, all that stuff. Yeah, you could do that. You could sleep in with older kids, whatever. Any of that stuff you can do. So we had gotten to that stage and it was kind of, we're kind of getting settled into it. It was kind of nice and it was getting easier. And then, and then we found out that, well, first we thought, okay, we're gonna have the fifth. It's like, all right. Yeah, okay, yeah, fine, let's, let's. Great, let's. Let's do it. And then we, and then we get the, the ultrasound. So it was gonna be two. So we're doing the twins again.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

And that was, that was, that was kind of daunting at first because the thing is, we had twins to start with. Our first were twins. We had no idea we were getting ourselves into at all. We had nothing to compare it to. We were totally ignorant. Ignorance is bliss. But twin babies, like the first two years of life with twins is, that's parenting on hard, hard mode.

[Michael Knowles]

It's really difficult to do it twice.

[Matt Walsh]

Yeah. And then, and then. So we'd already been through that and we knew we were, we knew it was going to happen. And now we're, now we're facing that again. It was daunting, but. But it's a rewarding challenge and it's a beautiful thing.

[Michael Knowles]

Just covering your bases in case the youngest kids watch this in like 20 years. Be like, no, it's actually, I always wanted another set of twins. Let's see, the recent one.

[Matt Walsh]

Is that you?

[Michael Knowles]

No. You sent me one? No, I don't check my texts. One thing, this is really great. You know, in the right wing media, when they all are stabbing each other in the back and they're always, and the way they do it is they're always posting texts. Well, I got this text from you and you text, whatever, but no one's Gonna ever do that to me? Cause I don't text anybody back ever.

[Matt Walsh]

You're worse about that than I am. And I'm really bad.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, it's this story. Some of these are so humiliating and irresponsible that I, like, can't say them publicly. But it. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty. But when someone is trying to plant me with some scandal, good luck.

[Matt Walsh]

But you know what it is? I assume this is what happens with you, because I'm also really bad at texting back. It's not intentional. I'm not trying to be important or whatever, but I see the text when it comes in. I almost always see when it comes in and I think to myself, like, oh, I'll get back to him because I'm in the middle of something.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Matt Walsh]

And also, I don't need to text you back 30 seconds after you text me. No, that's like. That's weird. That looks desperate.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. And then I'm in a conversation. By the way, it's not just a three second text. That, that's like 15 minutes exactly.

[Matt Walsh]

So then you think I'm texting back, and then seven days later, you think, oh, I never text that person back. Now it's too late. I've gone too far, Way too late. I can't. You know, it's, it's, it's. Once you get past the 48 hour mark, it's too late. So now I have no choice but to just ignore forever.

[Michael Knowles]

You know what I do now? I've, I've, I've embraced this. Later on, I, I do this with good friends of mine or family members or whatever. Two months later. Two months later, I'll just. It'll be like, hey, buddy. Checking in on you. I wanted to let you know I'm having a kid. I wanted to reach out about this thing, whatever. And I'll have forgotten about it. I was gonna take two months later. I'll just be like, oh, hey, sorry, sorry. Happy Easter. Whatever. It's like, it's Halloween.

[Matt Walsh]

Two months later, it's Halloween.

[Michael Knowles]

Happy Easter. That's what I do.

[Matt Walsh]

You can't do it two months later.

[Michael Knowles]

Why not?

[Matt Walsh]

It's too late. It's gone. Just let it go. Let that relationship go. You're just.

[Michael Knowles]

I was waiting for this. You know how Twitter is just basically a bunch of people hating the Jews? So our producer, Mr. Davies, texts me this response from Rabbi Goldstein Schickelberg Handel. The Holy Talmud says we should discuss ideas on how to combat rising Nazism and anti Semitism and what we can do further as a country for Israel and Israel first. The Holy Land with three Israeli flags. I don't think this is a real rabbi.

[Matt Walsh]

You don't think so?

[Michael Knowles]

I'm starting to think that that's you

[Matt Walsh]

with the conspiracies again.

[Michael Knowles]

I know I don't. Something tells me this person might not even be Jewish.

[Matt Walsh]

That's pretty offensive to them.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, I know. On Twitter, it's hard to believe.

[Matt Walsh]

Hold on.

[Michael Knowles]

Did I get any. Why is Davies is only posting? Oh, he texted me the. The kiddos one too. Hold on. See, this is what happens. Then I get. I'm just in my phone. I don't want to be in my phone. But now I.

[Matt Walsh]

He's texting you stuff and he's putting it up on the prompter and he's sitting right there. You could just say it. Well, it's literally right here.

[Michael Knowles]

Here's one from Cap and Caveman. Tone check, sir. Well, as long as you shut down free speech, then you boys have a good time. What is that in response to?

[Matt Walsh]

As long as we shut down free speech, we'll have a good time.

[Michael Knowles]

I actually do kind of want to shut down free speech, but that's like

[Matt Walsh]

kind of a hobby horse.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, but I don't. What is it? Is that in response to anything in particular?

[Matt Walsh]

I don't know.

[Michael Knowles]

All right, well, we got a lot of. Man, we got a lot of comments on this. Which of you is most likely to become a Protestant?

[Matt Walsh]

It's not me. No.

[Michael Knowles]

As you have six kids, you can't. It's not.

[Matt Walsh]

Speaking of this way too much.

[Michael Knowles]

Would that be crazy if I became not even just a Protestant? Like, because if I were Calvinist, I guess I'd be a Presbyterian.

[Matt Walsh]

You become like a megachurch, non denominational,

[Michael Knowles]

like Joel Osteen style. Just like, hey, you know, big smiles. I don't know if I have that in me. P is stored in the. I'm not reading.

[Matt Walsh]

What?

[Michael Knowles]

I'm not. Hey, you can't dress like that in Idaho. Yes, I can. In response to, hey, we're going to be hanging out, having cigars. Ask us anything. The guy just posts this picture from Dinosaurs, says, take out your gun and blow my brains out. Well, on that note, thanks for tuning in to Matt and I have a Cigar after our talk at Idaho. We'll see you on the next episode.