Podcast Summary: Intrusive Thoughts by Adam Rippon

Episode Title: The Same Buffet
Release Date: October 2, 2025
Host: Adam Rippon

Main Theme and Purpose

In this solo episode of "Intrusive Thoughts," Adam Rippon takes listeners on a wild ride through personal anecdotes, online oddities, and listener calls and texts. Adam uses his signature comedic, casual, and unfiltered tone to discuss everything from cruise line spam and the monotony of buffet food, to social anxiety at birthday dinners, airpods etiquette, and the existential dread of modern news cycles. The episode features hilarious rants, relatable confessions, and advice for listeners struggling with social nerves—proving once again that Adam’s thoughts might be intrusive, but they’re always entertaining.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Royal Caribbean Email Saga

(Starts at 00:00)

• Adam opens with a fiery, comedic rant against Royal Caribbean Cruises, begging them to stop sending relentless promotional emails.
  • “I have unsubscribed to your emails about 1 million times and I get them now into multiple different email accounts.” (01:00)
• Reveals his legacy email addresses and jokes about having an “aol instant messenger” account that’s haunting him.
• Admits to having been on cruises before—ironically, with Celebrity Cruises, which he discovers is owned by Royal Caribbean.
  • “I have been on your ships. They are nice. The X. I have been on the X. That’s a nice ship, not a boat.” (08:13)

2. Cruise Life: The Same Buffet and Multipurpose Staff

(02:30 – 09:30)

• Describes the sameness of cruise buffets and restaurants, where the food—and even the waitstaff—are recycled.
  • “It’s a floating island where you just… it’s all the same people… the food at the breakfast buffet is just what you had at the restaurant last night and also the night before.” (03:59)
• Observes how cruise ship staff serve in multiple roles, breaking the illusion of variety.

3. Online Oddities & Statues

(10:00 – 13:00)

• Dissects bizarre online happenings: statues of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, Trump holding a bitcoin, and the absurdity of bitcoin and NFTs.
  • “Bitcoin. Can we please not. I don’t think we need—I just… Every time I think of bitcoin, I think of people going, well, I mine bitcoin. What? No, you just… run the power on your computer nonstop.” (11:18)
  • On NFTs: “They were just like clip art, you guys… Non-fungible doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist.” (12:34)

4. White House UFC Fight & Broad Political Satire

(14:00 – 15:30)

• Dismisses a “UFC fight on the White House lawn” promoted by the administration as dystopian.
  • “It is absolutely hell that we are living in. And that is true.” (15:01)

5. Religious Psychosis & The Rapture That Wasn’t

(15:40 – 18:00)

• Recaps social media reactions to the predicted Rapture, poking fun at the non-event.
  • “Unfortunately, some of the most miserable bitches in the world are—yes, they’re still here, because the rapture didn’t happen yesterday.” (16:25)
• Shares a chilling yet hilarious anecdote: a mom tells her kid, “If I don’t see you later, we’ll meet in the clouds… or I’ll see you at 2:30.”
  • “That’s how psychosis works... it’s either the last of days, or I’ll be in that carpool line picking you up at 2:30.” (17:41)

6. Recession Indicator: Hoda Kotb’s Garment Bag Saga

(19:00 – 24:30)

• Breaks down in excruciating detail an Instagram video of Hoda Kotb packing for her book tour, noticing her AirPods are in upside down (a recurring generational theme).
  • “She’s wearing AirPods. They’re in upside down. Completely twisted the wrong direction.” (20:55)
• Adam obsesses over the travel bag, the struggles with zippers, and the subtle signs of economic decline.
  • “It is bone chilling… if Hoda Kotb is having to carry on all of her stuff… Hoda Kotb, one of the most successful broadcast television personalities of all time, is having to make sure she carries on that bag.” (24:00)
• Wonders if the lack of checked baggage is a recession sign and wistfully recalls Kathie Lee’s brash, wine-at-9am energy, longing for her return to daytime TV.

7. Listener Voicemail: The Miss Crystal Chronicles

(26:05 – 28:30)

• Accidentally plays a voicemail not intended for the podcast from Keegan to “Ms. Crystal,” venting about being honked at in traffic.
  • “Ms. Crystal, they used that goddamn horn on me, and I don’t know how much longer I can take. I want them banned and I want them stripped out of every car right now. Have a good one, Ms. Crystal. Love you bunches.” (26:12)
• Adam, in true form, riffs on the beauty of accidental voicemails and shares thoughts on the etiquette and positive uses of car horns.
  • “I do love to honk the horn in a way to, like, surprise people. Hear me out… I want to use the horn for good and not always for bad.” (27:20)

8. Tech Talk: Wireless vs Wired Earphones and Apple Loyalty

(29:30 – 34:00)

• Comments on a listener’s preference for iPhone 13 and wired headphones.
• Shares his own misgivings about wireless earphones and jokes about paranoia around technological eavesdropping.
  • “The technology to eavesdrop from a wireless situation is easier… They can hear what’s going on.” (31:20)
• Engages in playful Android vs Apple debate, comparing Apple’s ecosystem to family and Android’s to distant relatives.
  • “Apple products connect in a way that you connect with your parents and your siblings. Android products connect… like you do to distant relatives.” (33:04)

9. Listener Advice: Birthday Anxiety Breakdown

(35:05 – 54:00)

• Reads a listener text about social anxiety before a birthday dinner with new friends (only known them for a year).
• Gives supportive but blunt advice:
  • “You are being unreasonable to yourself… If people are agreeing to go to this dinner that you invited them to, they want to be there.” (39:22)
• Walks through anxiety logic, encourages living in the delusion that “everyone likes me until proven otherwise,” and advocates for facing worst-case scenarios head-on.
• Relates social nerves to his own experience starting the podcast.
  • “This is the voice of anxiety, of complete and utter crippling anxiety. This is what it sounds like. Hello, it’s me!” (47:32)
• Offers a pep talk about minding only your own expectations and recognizing how anxiety can sometimes be a superpower.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Royal Caribbean emails:
  “Please stop emailing me. I don’t care if you put the palm tree emoji in the subject line. You do it every day. I am sick of it.” (07:12)
• On the sameness of cruise food:
  “Then you go to the breakfast buffet, and then you realize that the food at the breakfast buffet is just what you had at the restaurant last night and then also the night before. And it’s this vicious cycle.” (04:15)
• On bitcoin and NFTs:
  “Bitcoin. Can we please not… It doesn’t exist. It’s not a real coin. How about we do real coin, real money? Which also always makes me think of NFTs… NFTs were just like clip art, you guys.” (12:34)
• On rapture anxiety:
  “It’s a huge loss not to lose those people. Because it’s tough, you know, it is tough.” (16:49)
• On Hoda Kotb’s generational tech struggle:
  “She’s wearing AirPods. They’re in upside down… There is a person of a certain age who always puts the AirPods in upside down. They cannot figure out the schematics of their own earlobes.” (21:03)
• On existential dread:
  “It is absolutely hell that we are living in. And that is true.” (15:01)
• On AirPods privacy:
  “I think it’s easier to, like, eavesdrop. The technology to eavesdrop from a Wireless situation is easier, if not much easier… And they can hear what’s going on.” (31:20)
• On anxiety and friendships:
  “I think you are overestimating the lengths 10 people will go to to have a laugh behind your back… If I didn’t like somebody, that would truly be… my worst nightmare.” (41:28)
• On adrenaline and anxiety:
  “Adrenaline is that crazy thing that like overrides the whole body. That’s how a 5’2 mother can lift a car off a baby.” (52:09)
• On fan support:
  “Everyone who has done [left a five-star review], you are doing the Lord’s work. And when the rapture does come, you are—I’ll meet you in the clouds. All right, I’ll meet you in the clouds or I’ll meet you at 2:30.” (1:01:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – 09:30: Cruise line rant, floating buffet, cruise anecdotes
• 10:00 – 13:00: Trump and Epstein statues, bitcoin and NFTs
• 14:00 – 15:30: White House UFC fight satire
• 15:40 – 18:00: Rapture that wasn’t, “Meet you in the clouds or at 2:30” story
• 19:00 – 24:30: Hoda Kotb’s travel bag saga and recession symbolism
• 26:05 – 28:30: The “Ms. Crystal” wrong number voicemail
• 29:30 – 34:00: Wired vs wireless earbuds, Apple vs Android
• 35:05 – 54:00: Listener social anxiety, advice on birthday nerves
• 54:00 – End: Reflections on anxiety, podcast process, and thank-yous

Wrap-Up & Tone

Adam closes the episode on his signature note of warmth and self-deprecation, inviting listeners to text or call with their own intrusive thoughts, and immortalizing the new catchphrase:
“I’ll meet you in the clouds or I’ll meet you at 2:30.” (1:01:20)
He leaves everyone with a blend of honest emotion, comedic coping, and an open invitation to continue sharing their stories.

Overall Tone:
Comedic, unfiltered, self-aware, and empathetic, with running self-deprecating jokes and a healthy dose of heart.

Next Steps:

• Leave a five-star review if you enjoyed the episode
• Text or call the podcast hotline at 310-909-9717 (also in Adam’s Instagram bio)
• Stay intrusive, stay funny—see you next time!