TRIGGERnometry Podcast Summary
Episode: "They Tried To Cancel Me So Many Times I Stopped Caring - Greg Gutfeld"
Hosts: Konstantin Kisin & Francis Foster (with "Cat" participating)
Guest: Greg Gutfeld
Air Date: January 11, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode features Greg Gutfeld, popular Fox News host and satirist, sharing his unconventional career journey across journalism, magazines, and TV; his evolving attitude towards 'cancel culture'; his insights on politics and media; and his experiences as a late father. Blending irreverence with industry wisdom, Gutfeld explores how not caring about being "canceled" enabled his success, why the tides have turned on woke censorship, and how cultural priorities—parenthood, work, and optimism—shape his worldview.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Surviving (and Thriving Under) Cancel Culture

• Gutfeld recounts being a repeated target of cancellation both in media and socially:
  • "I've been a target of being canceled so many times that I stopped caring." (00:02, 30:56)
  • He explains early on his friends warned him: “All your friends at Gawker or wherever are gonna hate you. And they were right.” (30:56)
  • He observes the waning power of cancel campaigns as their effects became counterproductive: “Woke and cancellation died when they realized it was helping people… If you ever got fired for a joke, it would actually make your career better.” (32:31)

2. Unconventional Media Career

• Gutfeld’s path is marked by fits, firings, reinventions, and pranks:
  • Begins at American Spectator as an assistant, meets President Reagan (and eats his dinner)—“I had his DNA in me, that’s all that mattered.” (02:50–03:57)
  • Health magazine era at Prevention, then Men’s Health—claims to have “invented abs” as a fitness obsession (04:25–05:33)
  • Pioneering magazine cover strategy: “It’s the whole package. It’s how it looks…the five things: sex, stress, muscle, fitness, nutrition.” (05:56)

Magazine Pranks & Firings

• Fired from Men’s Health after an anti-woke “Best Colleges for Men” feature (08:34–10:11)
• Legendary prank: replacing his magazine’s farewell editorial with a rogue message before print—"Got 100,000 copies printed...cost, I don't know, half a million dollars to do that." (10:55)
• Fires and pranks as accidental career springboards: his “little people” stunt at a publishing conference led to Stuff magazine, then to Maxim UK after being fired/pushed out (11:02–17:43).

3. Rise to Fox & Creating Subversive TV

• His satirical blogging at Huffington Post drew Fox News's attention; his late-night show "Red Eye" is founded on magazine-style segmenting and oddball guests (19:18–22:34).
  • “None of us had any TV experience… All of a sudden we stopped worrying about being embarrassed. All of a sudden it became like this really subversive [show].” (21:59–22:36)
• Early chaos on Red Eye: “A guy lighting his guitar on fire…I thought that could destroy the network!” (22:36)
• Launched “The Five,” which survived as a program because of "teasing as secret sauce," fostering camaraderie rather than performative one-upmanship (23:26–25:32).
• Reluctant at first to take his own show nightly: “I said, no, I think my target on my back is enough.” After encouragement (especially from Tucker Carlson), accepts and finds success (25:32–28:10).

4. The Politics of Comedy & Media Change

• On Fox as a "conservative" home for an anarchic troublemaker:
  • “I didn’t become a Republican to be like a Republican; I became a Republican so they would be more like me.” (28:26)
  • Cultural role reversal: “The scolds, the humorless people…are on the left, and it’s people on the right that are having fun.” (28:26–30:26)
• TV and media are “waking up” from a woke “addiction”; Gutfeld draws analogy to recovery from alcoholism (48:42–50:00).
• Critique on ‘DEI’ and representation policies:
  • “It’s almost like everything we went through was just a complete and utter delusion.” (40:29)
  • “Most of the people online…don’t give a shit. It’s not like, okay, SNL fires Shane Gillis. The people complaining aren’t suddenly going to watch SNL. They weren’t watching anyway.” (39:21)

5. Podcasts & the New “Uncancellable” Underground

• Notes the rise of unapologetic podcasts as a force (“Rogan and Kill Tony and Tim Dillon and you guys, Trigonometry, Theo Von, Michael Malice…” 35:47), arguing legacy comedy/TV can’t hope to stop this movement (36:36).
• Lauds “undeniable” talents like Shane Gillis, forced out of SNL but returning triumphantly (35:47).

6. Fatherhood & Transformative Life Events

• On becoming a father later in life:
  • “If you had asked me, five years ago, what was the best feeling in your life... I was in Ibiza doing ecstasy... Now... I was sitting with Mira in bed... This is the greatest drug ever invented.” (54:29–55:52)
  • Discusses the philosophy of ‘transformative experiences’: “Having a child is that thing… It’s like death... you don’t know what it is until it is.” (57:19–58:09)
  • Reflects on how widespread negativity about having children and media messaging (“having a child will cost $250,000!”) has shaped generations’ decisions (60:12–61:58).

7. Perspective on America & Hopefulness

• Despite cultural or political anxiety, retains optimism:
  • “Yes, I am [hopeful for America]. I don’t know why. I have a trust that things work out… I actually think things are pretty good.” (64:37)
  • On the impact of negativity in digital/social media feeds: “You are your own thoughts. I try to be positive and things kind of end up being positive, but if I get negative, it’s over.” (66:13)
  • Criticizes the “tiredness” narrative of perpetual outrage: “I'm so tired. I'm so tired… That's your choice, right? That is your choice to be angry.” (66:29–67:29)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I’ve been a target of being canceled so many times that I stopped caring.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (00:02/30:56)

• “Woke and cancellation died when they realized it was helping people… If you ever got fired for a joke, it would actually make your career better.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (32:31)

• “I didn’t become a Republican to be like a Republican; I became a Republican so they would be more like me.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (28:26)

• “We’re sharing the risk. We’re not scared anymore.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (30:26)

• “It’s like the Trump Derangement addiction has a filter and it tightens this relationship so nobody can be within it. Just like an alcoholic... there is a come to Jesus moment in any kind of addiction.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (48:42)

• “Having a child is that thing… It’s like death. You don’t know what it is until it is.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (57:19)

• “Why do you care so much about my opinion? That usually makes them think about their own self-doubt.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (44:00)

• “You are your own thoughts. I try to be positive and things kind of end up being positive, but if I get negative, it’s over.”
  —Greg Gutfeld (66:13)

Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Opening—Greg on being canceled | | 02:35 | Origin story: early career, Reagan anecdote | | 04:25 | Men’s Health era, “inventing abs,” magazine strategy | | 08:34 | Story of being fired from Men’s Health | | 10:55 | Magazine prank: sabotaging his own editor’s letter | | 11:02 | Joining Stuff and Maxim UK, outrageous stunts (little people, IKEA sex party)| | 19:18 | Move to Fox via Huffington Post and Andrew Breitbart | | 21:59 | Red Eye chaos and innovation on TV | | 25:32 | Launch of The Five & Gutfeld’s own show (with Tucker Carlson anecdote) | | 28:26 | “Becoming a Republican so they’ll be more like me” | | 30:56 | Surviving cancel culture in media | | 32:31 | Why cancellation stopped working | | 35:47 | Shane Gillis and the podcast era | | 39:21 | Representation in media and corporate DEI | | 48:42 | Addiction analogy for Trump Derangement and wokeism | | 54:29 | Fatherhood: His most profound experience | | 64:37 | Is Greg hopeful for America? | | 66:13 | On the attitude of "tiredness" and perpetual outrage | | 68:42 | Closing question: Jan 6th bomber story |

Memorable/Light-hearted Moments

• Eating Ronald Reagan’s leftover chicken at a VIP dinner (“I had his DNA in me, that’s all that mattered.” 03:57)
• The infamous "IKEA sex party" illustrated feature for Maxim UK that led to a lawsuit (17:43)
• Punk rocker guest sets guitar on fire live in the Fox News newsroom, almost triggering the sprinkler system (22:36)
• On baby fatherhood: Comparing the joy of being with his daughter to “Ibiza on ecstasy”—declaring fatherhood the “greatest drug ever invented” (54:29)
• Quipping about being “the first Lewinsky” by eating presidential leftovers (04:18)

Takeaways for Non-Listeners

• Gutfeld’s journey is a masterclass in subversion, resilience, and irreverence—his indifference to being canceled powered his career.
• The podcast’s tone is witty, brash, and "insider" in media-political culture, but also accessible for outsiders.
• Key thesis: The tides are turning culturally; the woke/cancellation moment is (perhaps) past its peak, replaced by a new unapologetic open season in podcasts and (certainly on Fox) TV.
• His reflections on parenthood, risk, and personal growth offer a more serious, personal counterpoint to his professional antics.
• His optimism for America is weary but real—grounded in faith that the country's culture eventually "works itself out" despite periodic delusions.