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Kevin Booth
Your name is Kevin Booth. It's October 1993 and you're standing in the break room at Austin Community Access TV with your best friend since high school, the rising comedian Bill Hicks. He is the funniest person you have ever known. You are one of the few people who knows that Bill has four months to live. A thick necked, red faced kid walks past you in the hall. He's a loudmouth regular here ranting to nobody about black helicopters. Bill watches him go by. His name is Alex Jones. You're a fan of his shtick. If people like your best friend Hicks, you think they'll love Jones. After Bill passes away, you start driving out to Waco with Jones. You produce a compilation for him called the Best of Alex Jones in 2000. You, you produce his 911 documentary, Martial Law 911 in 2005. And along the way, you introduce him to a comedian friend of yours named Joe Rogan. Years later, Alex Jones will build the modern Internet conspiracy movement. He will tell millions of listeners that the Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag, that the government is putting chemicals in the water that turn the frogs gay. Joe Rogan will host the biggest podcast in the world. He will interview presidents and Olympians and Elon Musk. And you, Kevin, will be the connective team tissue linking the disinformation space and the manosphere. A conspiracy theory that says Bill Hicks really didn't die will appear. CIA faked his cancer, it says, gave him a new face, rebuilt him from the ground up and sent him back into the world as Alex Jones. In 2014, Alex will go on the air to swat that theory down. Bill Hicks is in the ground, folks. Kevin was there when he died. This isn't funny. This is sick. In 2017, five years after Jones called Sandy Hook a hoax and the parents of murdered children, actors, you will say, I would just love to be able to see Alex break through to the mainstream. This week, infowars goes off the air, its transmitter shut down by a court receiver. A federal court has Alex Jones on the hook for $1.5 billion to the families of the children that he said were never killed. His company is in receivership. The court is selling his ranch. This is. Wait a second. The Onion and Infowars with Tim Heidecker.
Jason Concepcion
I'm Jason Concepcion. That's Tyler Parker. Today we are thrilled to be joined by Tim Heidecker of the Office Hours podcast, of the On Cinema podcast, of various other things which are very, very fun, including the formative Tim and Eric. Awesome show, Tim. Thank you for joining us.
Tim Heidecker
No, happy to be here.
Jason Concepcion
So we have you on today because of the Onion takeover of Infowars, which is ongoing. The Onion has been publishing fake news since 1988. Infowars has been publishing very destructive fake news since 1999.
Tim Heidecker
99, you said?
Jason Concepcion
Since 99. After a federal jury hit Mr. Jones, Mr. Alex Jones, for a $1.3 $1.5 billion defamation suit, damages related to his various Sandy Hook disinformation, the company went into liquidation. The Onion put in a bid. There's some up and downs here with a bankruptcy judge rejecting the bid in 2024. And then a second deal was stayed by a Texas Appeals court within 48 hours of the deal being signed. And Infowars went dark on May 1st. And on May 28th, when this episode will come out, a Texas court will decide whether the Onion does indeed get to take over Alex Jones's company or whether Alex Jones gets to keep taking his shirt off and mumbling weird stuff on his own program. And today on the show, we're going to discuss this with you, Tim, and discuss your plans, your plans for Infowars, if and when you do indeed get to take it over.
Tim Heidecker
Great.
Jason Concepcion
I guess the first thing I wanted to ask is, you know, Jones has said in his various defenses for promulgating the most disgusting disinformation about the Sandy Hook families, including that they were paid actors,
Tyler Parker
truly cannot hit it harder, that this is a deeply vile piece of shit.
Jason Concepcion
Like, he's a bad guy. But his defense was that he's playing a character. You yourself have played various versions of Tim Heidecker over the years. Any critiques of Alex's character from the perspective of someone who plays various versions of themselves?
Tim Heidecker
I mean, is that what he said? Yeah, he said, I mean, he said that at some point, you know, it seems a little like a flailing defense.
Jason Concepcion
His lawyer argued that it's for entertainment purposes. Only for entertainment purposes.
Tyler Parker
Like Fox News has been sued in the past. It's always like, this is for entertainment.
Jason Concepcion
Alex is a Persona that's not the real guy. He then had to walk that back on his own program so that the fan base didn't get overly alarmed.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
But. Yeah. You know, and any. Any particular critiques of the.
Tim Heidecker
I mean, he's a great entertainer.
Jason Concepcion
Yes.
Tim Heidecker
I mean, he's a tremendous broadcaster and a great filler of content, creator of content. So I give him credit for that. But if, you know, you have to present that as. You can't just say you're doing. You're telling people the truth. There's a lot of seemingly a lot of people out there who take him at his word and that's troubling. You know, he is not presenting himself as Andy Kaufman or anything. That's not the case.
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Jason Concepcion
As a Hollywood insider that you are.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, big time.
Jason Concepcion
You know, I think about the kind of like production hurdles necessary to hire actors to play the grieving parents of Slank.
Tim Heidecker
Can you imagine getting.
Jason Concepcion
I mean how would it work as a Hollywood insider? How would you do it?
Tim Heidecker
That's a great question. There's no way to do it. I don't know.
Tyler Parker
I mean theoretically you're still paying them.
Tim Heidecker
Would there be residuals of some kind? I mean it could be a non union gig. I think it would be. But yeah, it boggles the mind. I mean that kind of you can go through all the conspiracy theories and that's like kind of the first thing that starts making it hard to believe is all the people that would have to be in on this. So I'm not a huge, I'm not like a major conspiracy debunker guy. I don't really care. Usually it doesn't matter to me in my personal life whether 911 was an inside job or not. It doesn't affect my day. To my the price of eggs. Maybe it does.
Jason Concepcion
It might do that. Eggs.
Tim Heidecker
Maybe it's fun to think about the world working in certain ways. But yeah, I'm trying to think how would it work? Because even with like something like on cinema when we go and put a casting notice up, usually it starts spreading on the Internet that we're casting a new, a new character or something. So yeah, it's, it's insane. And now having Like I've gotten a chance to meet some of the parents over. Zoom. Still meeting.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
You know what's happening these days?
Tyler Parker
What's that been like?
Tim Heidecker
Well, it was just once, but it was very emotional of course, and very intense. And it just again, you're just like, these people are what? They're still on the payroll. They're still doing it so many years, 12 years later, 13 years later. So it does. Of course, I'm sure you guys all subscribe to this, that it helps some people understand the world in a more, less chaotic way. I feel sympathy for those people that think that things can be this predictable or planned out. But yeah, it would take quite a bit of an insane amount of money. And then it didn't really work. Right.
Jason Concepcion
Right. It didn't really work.
Tim Heidecker
Didn't really lead to any mass gun confiscations. That would have been the plan.
Jason Concepcion
That would have been the plan as a kind of federal Australia style takeover and seizure of some 300 million guns.
Tim Heidecker
None of that happening.
Jason Concepcion
None of that happened. And you know, I guess like it seems like it would be a very improv laden production because. Yeah, it's.
Tyler Parker
Yeah. Not. Probably not a script to go off. I'm probably gonna outline.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. If you were the, the one. Only the big evidence they have is that guy laughing or smiling.
Jason Concepcion
Smiling.
Tim Heidecker
Smiling before he takes the. The podium. And that seemed like if you're gonna get a good competent guy, that's the one thing he wouldn't do.
Jason Concepcion
Right.
Tim Heidecker
Like the actor wouldn't. The actor would, wouldn't be smiling. He would be locked in.
Tyler Parker
They're getting that note beforehand.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah.
Tyler Parker
Let's just remember this is serious.
Tim Heidecker
26 children were just murdered. Yeah. So it's very weird that they, that that's what they. That's really all they had.
Jason Concepcion
Right. Was the guy.
Tim Heidecker
The guy and then some other baloney like the EMS people didn't get there then that was debunked. I don't know. It's not. It's amazing that they could fill hours and hours and years and years of like not a lot of years and
Jason Concepcion
years is really the. I mean it started in 2012. I think his first kind of Mr. Jones first foray into this is a hoax was like 48 hours after the actual event. And then he went for years. I guess you'd also need a line producer to fight to keep it, to kind of keep everything. Obviously the budget is massive now.
Tim Heidecker
Do you think this happens on any level, in any way with the CEO or the NSA or something? Do you think there is a mechanism to do something historically?
Jason Concepcion
Oh yes, for sure. But we've covered some of them here, including various. We've overthrown governments in Latin America over the years. But a lot of those were more kind of contractor type style situations where you'd have the CIA more as a kind of executive producer saying, I'd love it if this happened and this guy died. And then maybe this group would get elected. And then you kind of go out to the people on the ground who agree with you.
Tim Heidecker
Right.
Jason Concepcion
So I now could.
Tim Heidecker
What about like something like Butler, like on a small level you could do this, right? You could fake something with a small group of people.
Tyler Parker
I think so.
Tim Heidecker
I think so, sure. But when you expand it to a
Jason Concepcion
town, that's when it starts to get. Really strain the credulity in how you could keep it quiet. I remember one of the, one of the details in. I had a family member who was really into loose change
Kevin Booth
DVDs.
Jason Concepcion
And one of the details there, I've
Kevin Booth
talked about this on the pod is
Jason Concepcion
that the plane that hit the Pentagon was a missile. And the actual plane, they deplaned all the people and then they put them in Guantanamo. So there's like 234American.
Tim Heidecker
It's like a woman who was reading her Stephen King book one day, doing her crossword puzzle, going to see her nephew's graduation.
Tyler Parker
You need me to go where?
Tim Heidecker
Why am I still doing it here?
Jason Concepcion
And so all those passengers are, if you subscribe to that, still at Guantanamo being cared for and fed and that, you know.
Tyler Parker
Yeah, the idea is that they're at Gitmo, but they're being taken care of very well as opposed to.
Tim Heidecker
I got no complaints.
Jason Concepcion
Pretty good over here.
Tyler Parker
Three squares.
Jason Concepcion
I gotta, I gotta tell you.
Tyler Parker
What, what did you. How much joy did it give you when after some of the stuff started coming out when he shows up bare chested on one of those Infowars shows and starts talking about how he's already got lawsuits for like Democratic Party.
Tim Heidecker
I mean, the surreal. It couldn't get more surreal than him showing, you know, Steve Mahanahan's Child Clown Outlet and picture of me from on Cinema at my mug shot, the electric sun 20.
Tyler Parker
Yeah, really sticking up for them.
Tim Heidecker
And the scene from Billion Dollar Movie. I mean again, who is Alex Jones? Does any of that. Is any of that him manipulating his audience against me or does he really believe that this is what he says it is? It was wild because, I mean, just to have him talking about me and talking about my friends and Knowing how we. And us. Knowing who we are and knowing how, you know, this thing that we shot like 15 years ago, which was purely for goofs. Purely because it was. Somebody said. Either me or somebody in our room said something that made us laugh. All right, we're doing that without thinking about what it, you know, the repercussions of it. And you watch it now and you're like, okay, I get that it's like it's fucked up, but that's what we did. We made shit that made you uncomfortable.
Tyler Parker
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
Just for the sake of making you uncomfortable. Not because we had some kind of, you know, Illuminati deep state mission of, you know, kidnapping and sucking.
Tyler Parker
You had no marching orders from Satan himself.
Jason Concepcion
Well, I think you said something that I. I subscribe to. I think this is the dynamic that's going on. I think it's. I think it is very disturbing. The world's a chaotic place. Random stuff happens. Sometimes that random stuff is world altering and terrible and very tragic. And I think gives people some comfort to believe that there is an order to.
Tim Heidecker
Even if it's against you, at least there's a reason somebody made that happen.
Jason Concepcion
And I think to an extent that Alex is one of the people that he would be talking to. If Alex was not him, I think he'd be listening to a show like Alex Jones because I think he's one of those personalities.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. I mean, who knows? We don't know. I don't know if anyone really knows that guy except maybe his family. You know, like, who is that guy? Is he a true believer? Is he just a P.T. barnum type?
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
There is this great clip of him walking around with. I think it was maybe Roger Stone or somebody. But they go into this diner in Texas somewhere and somebody, some one of his random methed out crazy fans comes up and just starts, you know, talking to him about the lizard people or whatever it is. And he's like, yeah, all right. Like, leave me alone. Like, I don't, you know, he doesn't want to hang out with his own audience, I'm sure because they're dullards. You know,
Jason Concepcion
the development of the, of the Alex Jones, the voice.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
How. How painful is it to do? I feel like the throat. Do you need to prepare for it?
Tim Heidecker
And how long? Hot coffee or hot tea doesn't hurt for sure.
Jason Concepcion
How did you develop it?
Tim Heidecker
I can remember like 2016 during the conventions. During there.
Tyler Parker
You were on one of the live streams.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, Vic. Vic Berger and I went. Were sent there to cover it and it was a lot of fun. And we. For one of the first people we saw there was Alex Jones doing, like, this rally right by the river in Cleveland, where it was one of his. You know, 1776, Hillary goes up. You know, what is it? Hillary prison.
Jason Concepcion
What's the Hillary for prison?
Tim Heidecker
Hillary for prison.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tyler Parker
Really catchy. Got to give him that.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, yeah. And Vic went up to him and asked him about Chubby Checker getting into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. And it's the best because he's just like, same, like, with that guy in the diner. He's just like, I don't know about that.
Tyler Parker
I don't know.
Jason Concepcion
Like.
Tim Heidecker
But then just that weekend, I was just doing it, and, like, I think at the time, I had a very brief little dalliance with Snapchat, which. I don't know. Does anyone? I don't know. I don't anymore, but I think it's still going.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah, yeah.
Tim Heidecker
Snapchat had, like, those face filters, really good face filter. So I was doing these videos with. With Alex Jones's face on me and doing the Voice. So I said all the way back then I was doing him, I was able to lock into that. So I hear it, and I'm like, when I hear it, I am like, that sounds. That's what he sounds like. Then when you hear him, he's like, well, it's not really what he sounds like, but it is the essence of.
Jason Concepcion
No, no. For sure. When I hear it.
Tim Heidecker
When I hear it will Sasso.
Tyler Parker
But it has been fun. I mean, even before this, watching office hours and you having Sasso on y'
Tim Heidecker
all going back and forth.
Jason Concepcion
That, to me, is the core of the thing. The real hook of it is when you get caught in these little whirlpool eddies of a sound and syllable that he gets stuck on. That's.
Tim Heidecker
And the idea of like. And Trump is very masterful at this, too. Of just going and going and just words, words, words, whatever, doesn't matter. And there's documents and Roger Stone, and I've got the link. You know, I've got links to things, and if you want to check them out, you'll see, because now that we're looking at the links, people are starting to put two and two together. Like, you could just go and go and not really say anything, which is the case for a lot of podcasts.
Jason Concepcion
Yes, it really is. So tell us how you became the person to anointed to take over Infowars.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, I mean, the genesis was whatever. The first Attempt that the Onion had. I heard about it and I didn't know anybody at the Onion, but I reached out to Ben Collins through my agent and I just said, you know, this is a field, this is an area of great interest to me, the Infowars right wing media landscape. I wasn't sure what they were going to do and I never, I just didn't hear back. I was like, okay. And I think the reason was it just kind of fell apart. But then when it came back without me knowing it on their end, it came back and they got in touch and were like, what if we got this? What would you. What? They're kind of looking for advice. What would you do with it? And my first instinct was, well, I think you can't play the parody, the satire of this for too long. It's just going to get old. You know, every, you know, Stephen Colbert show did it, like, it just runs its course. And for my personal taste, it runs its course very quickly.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
And so I said, okay, you do that for a little bit. You, you. And then it turned out they were thinking the same thing, but the Onion was looking to expand and, and start doing more comedy. That doesn't necessarily always fit in the very rigid structure of what the Onion is. I mean, it's a very. And I have a great deal of respect for the Onion and understand that they, they're, you know, their voice is very specific and if you go, if you bring in other people or other kinds of comedy, it doesn't work. So they need to create a new. If they want to grow, if they want to expand, you need to create like a new division or even a new, you know, building. That is not the Onion, but it is Global Tetrahedron, which is their parent company. Right. So I said I would do that. I would take Infowars and turn it into a comedy streaming site. And just all the people that, that I know that have been cast into the wilderness because the major cable networks and streamers have become increasingly more conservative and producing less and taking less risks on younger, more interesting, in my opinion, more interesting talent, they're going away. And we could use a site, we could use money and a platform for this kind of comedy that doesn't really have a home.
Jason Concepcion
Is that gratifying? I mean, I think about the way that I first became aware of Tim and Eric and the things that I've read about your path towards that. Does it feel like a moment that has really. It couldn't happen that way again. If you guys were coming up now how would you break through now?
Tim Heidecker
I have no idea. I mean, I think we. In some sense it could have worked. Could have even been quicker because the Internet is. People are so online and people can. If we put up one of our early clips, it might have caught fire. And so I don't. I. But. But having Adult Swim, which was a. Which had real infrastructure to it, you know, it had. It was a big. It was rel. You know, compared to maybe, you know, abc. It's small, but it's. You know, they had real money and they had. They cared about how shows were released and they. You. You went there because it was. There was a brand of quality or of, you know, a common interest. So having that as our launch pad was. Was key. I mean, I could do. I was literally able to just do nothing else but do that work. And that's not the case if you're like an Instagram creator, a TikTok creator at first. You know, it takes a long time to. To build that up. So. Yeah, I don't know what it would be like now.
Jason Concepcion
What would you say the secret is to. As a Hollywood secrets, as a Hollywood insert. It's. I can't help it but notice that you have not. You're working with the same folks that you've been working with for years. Nobody. There's no.
Kevin Booth
Well, he.
Jason Concepcion
Tim and Eric, they don't talk anymore. Him and Vic, we were just in
Tim Heidecker
Cannes Film Festival together making a bunch of little movies.
Jason Concepcion
You know, having seen Vic on the show in a couple years and he's had a falling out.
Tyler Parker
Oh, Tim and Doug do not talk.
Jason Concepcion
Right. It's not. It's not like a Dan and Stugots type situation.
Tyler Parker
Yeah, not a feral. Not a feral McKay kind of situation.
Jason Concepcion
How do you. What is the. So how do you do. What's the secret been?
Tim Heidecker
I guess it's me. I'm the common link between all those things. I'm a pretty easy guy to work with, I guess. No, I. I've been lucky. I guess. Everybody I tend to work with generally are pretty reasonable and have. We have common interests and we do it mostly firstly because it's fun to do. And if you can keep doing that, you know, why. Why would you break that up? Why would you spoil that? So, yeah, I mean, I guess I. There. It's not. It's not always easy. You know, there was. There's. It's. With any human being, there's. There's always conflict that you have to deal with or arguments or something, but very. It's it's been, you're right, it's been 20 plus years of just kind of pretty normal relationships with my creators. Yeah.
Tyler Parker
I mean one of the things I've always admired about at least looking at it from the outside, how it seems like y' all operate like I, I went and listened to the first audio only on cinemas. That is one of my favorite things.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. Thank you.
Tyler Parker
And I think that part of it works because you and Greg are such good actors. There is a commitment to a shared reality that is just really exciting to watch in a inherently silly sort of comedy that it is being played so straight is so, so cool. Did when you're first doing those audio only ones, do you have an idea that y' all are going to put them on?
Tim Heidecker
No. I mean first of all, who remembers whatever they were thinking 20 years ago should have my stock answer for that. But the truth is, you know, we watch all these Paul McCartney interviews because he's putting out a new album now. You don't remember anything. You don't remember anything. You remember the, the answers to your, into your questions that you've been answering for 20 years. But no, I mean I know for a fact that we were just kind of going off, going from the hip with that stuff and enough that you know, we knew that we were doing something that we thought was really funny and how could we do more? How can we grow this? How can we expand an audience? And yeah it just, you know, you know when something is cooking that you want to keep cooking.
Tyler Parker
Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
So are you skewer so many right wing people. Do you ever get worried about it? Are you worried about it on any level? Alex Jones seems like a maybe, like a maybe an unhinged type of character, I guess.
Tim Heidecker
I mean about again back to 2015, 16, that was the first experience I had with it where it was white hot. It was if you remember that it was back it was crazy. People that I didn't know existed that were, some of them were my fans that were, you know that just turned and they went nuts I think. And they, they, they also played with, with violence and terror as a, as a game right online that was that I didn't know the rules to, you know, that I didn't get, you know and it was very stressful and very scary because some of it, a lot of it was directed at me because mostly because I was just make, I was seeing what I was seeing in the world and just saying like this is insane and you know, making fun of Trump mostly. But you Know, pictures of me going into the, into the gas chambers and, you know, just violent shit that was like, what the hell is wrong with you guys? Like, Jesus. So I had, like, I just kind of realized that that ultimately didn't lead to anything, and it never really affected me in my, my personal life and my, in, in reality. It was purely online, so. And of course, there are stories of people getting harassed in real life and that could be coming my way, I don't know. But I, I, I think Alex is so, I believe he's been so diminished, you know, and the whole, that whole movement has just kind of become so disillusioned. It feels like there's not that fire in there anymore. They, People are realizing, what did I, what have I been? What have I done? Or who have I been behind? This guy is, is, is a con man, you know, with Trump specifically. But I think, you know, seeing when Alex started going after us, I could see his audience being like, you know, Alex, I love you, buddy, but this, this, these were clearly jokes. And I feel bad for you if, I feel bad for you if you don't get that. And I'm, I'm probably lost faith in you if you're using, manipulating us so I don't lose too much.
Tyler Parker
I loved your description of it being like the final gasp of like, a beached wave.
Tim Heidecker
It is sad.
Tyler Parker
That's what. Yes, it was.
Tim Heidecker
And then I watched a little bit of their reaction to the longer video we did. This guy, Harrison Smith, who's like his toady now. And, like, in that he called me a cuck, and I'm like, oh, that's a little sad. You know, like, that's. You're still going with that one. I know. And that, that it wasn't funny and that there were no jokes. And it's like as soon as you start saying that.
Tyler Parker
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
And then you do see all these people that loved it. And I have a lot of people coming up to me and, and whatever. That's, that's very trumpy. Too many people are saying, but, you know, it's like, no, man, like, you're not laughing because we're, we are making fun of you, you know, and I get that you will not find that funny, but that's what's going on.
Jason Concepcion
Finally, do you have a particular favorite supplement or pill that Mr. Jones has hawked?
Tim Heidecker
I mean, the thing that cracks me up maybe the most is the iodine. I think the iodine is. We're going to be doing a lot with iodine in our parody I believe
Tyler Parker
I read that you said that he has many domain names.
Tim Heidecker
Yes. Yeah.
Tyler Parker
Do you have any in your head that tickets?
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, there's there yes. There's one particular one that we all can't get enough of, which I believe is Goblin Love. Yeah, he just says GoblinLove.com or something.
Jason Concepcion
Goblin Love.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, well you get that one.
Jason Concepcion
Get Goblin.
Tim Heidecker
Get Goblin Fever. Yeah. Just went shopping one day.
Jason Concepcion
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Jason Concepcion
Okay, let's go to the doom scroll.
Tyler Parker
All right. Don Jr. Got married this past weekend and daddy wasn't there. Reason that Don Senior gave on Truth Social was, quote, circumstances pertaining to government and my love for the United States of America do not allow me to do so.
Jason Concepcion
Okay.
Tyler Parker
Some people have suggested that he didn't go because he's in bad health. He goes to Walter Reed for the third time this year. Some people have suggested he took that time to surrender to Iran. It. The wedding came a few days after the press asked the president about it. He called his eldest child, quote, a person who I've known for a long time, which is great. Don Jr.
Tim Heidecker
I've known my son, I believe, since he was born.
Jason Concepcion
Wow.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. Long time.
Tyler Parker
It reminded me a lot of when you go to a wedding and the maid of honor is not that funny. And she's giving a speech and she's saying, like, Rachel and I have been sisters. Well, pretty much our whole lives.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. Yeah.
Tyler Parker
It's very.
Tim Heidecker
Well, I have two thoughts on that. One is it is his second wedding, so.
Jason Concepcion
Right.
Tim Heidecker
Not sure. You know, maybe skip.
Tyler Parker
I'll go to the next one.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, yeah, go to the next one and I can. It was like a beach wedding too, right? Trump's not standing on the beach in that blue suit or whatever that's, you know.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
He's like, we're if it's outdoors, I'm out.
Jason Concepcion
I agree. I don't think he's got the posture for uneven ground.
Tyler Parker
All that makeup and shit.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. Standing on sand. You think he's ever been on sand?
Jason Concepcion
I think it's been.
Tim Heidecker
I think it's been decades since he's beach volleyball video.
Jason Concepcion
Truly been on sand.
Tyler Parker
Yeah. He's probably rolling both ankles if he just tries to walk 10 yards in the sand.
Jason Concepcion
I also think from an existential perspective, I think that giving Don Jr. His name, I think in his mind no one is ever going to live up to the name. Yeah. And I think he's a little. I think there's. He's just always going to be disappointed in Don Jr because his name is Don.
Tim Heidecker
Right.
Jason Concepcion
And he is not living up to the full flower of the name.
Kevin Booth
Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
And that's what I think. That's personally why. I think part of the reason why he did not go.
Tyler Parker
Next up, the Fox News mask incident. Heard around. Heard around the Internet. Retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harward.
Jason Concepcion
Harward.
Tyler Parker
Harward, sorry. H A R W A R D. First time I've ever encountered that. Made a brief appearance on Fox News last week to discuss the war with Iran. Allegedly it was Harward. Some conspiracy theories began popping up claiming that the person who said they were Harward was wearing a very lifelike mask.
Tim Heidecker
And the reason, I mean that would have to be an insanely lifelike mask.
Tyler Parker
Insanely.
Tim Heidecker
With also major problems with it. So I'm a debunker of that one.
Jason Concepcion
Oh, you are a debunker of that one.
Tim Heidecker
Well, I think it's just some kind of weird lighting thing.
Tyler Parker
It would have to be.
Tim Heidecker
What else could it be? He's wearing a mask.
Tyler Parker
No, it's some real Mission Impossible shit.
Jason Concepcion
It's like, you know, the thing that I Obviously this is a very.
Tim Heidecker
Cause what's going on with his mouth? Like you can't do that with a mask.
Jason Concepcion
It's very bizarre. I will say that the question that I.
Tim Heidecker
And then what for?
Jason Concepcion
That's the thing to me, it's the why. Now there have been and sorry to
Tim Heidecker
interrupt, but just to get like a random pundit on the Chiron retired dude.
Jason Concepcion
I think they couldn't get him. Maybe like now I'm. Now I'm fan ficing it. Right. But like he couldn't. They couldn't get Admiral Harward for he was fishing and so they needed somebody to bang the drum on whatever it was he was talking about. Somebody. Yeah, right. They've had a stable of guys.
Tim Heidecker
Totally.
Jason Concepcion
Now there have been consistent allegations that various characters that appear on Fox News, including like the antifa whistleblower type person and other masked characters are often ex Navy SEAL Robert J. O' Neill, who I think erroneously claimed he shot bin Laden but then was debunked by one of his other SEAL squadmates. Anyway, that's based on the eyes. It's Unclear if that is also the case. But I kind of agree with you. My thing is, why would they do it? Now, as for the tech behind it, I will note that in 1991, John Mendez, who is the CIA's former chief of disguise, took a meeting with President George H.W. bush in full realistic mask, and he didn't realize it was her until she revealed it. You've probably seen the picture of that.
Tim Heidecker
So, like, I haven't seen the picture of that.
Jason Concepcion
There is a picture of just her sitting there, not her.
Tim Heidecker
Like. Right, got it.
Jason Concepcion
You know, like pulling the mask off. So, you know, all of which is to say that the technology to create this probably does exist. Right, but why?
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. And you would fix this? Yeah, this wouldn't be the issue.
Jason Concepcion
Somebody would say, hey, let's pull the collar up. What's next?
Tyler Parker
Okay, so Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie lost his primary recently to a Trump backed challenger in a race that a lot of people have speculated was heavily influenced by some pro Israel spending. Now Massie is promising to really make the most of the next little bit that he's got in office.
Jason Concepcion
Seven months. He's got seven months.
Tyler Parker
He's been a longtime critic of the Justice Department and the President surrounding the Epstein files and things like that. He said on Meet the Press recently, quote, we know the files have been over redacted. I have released at least three names of billionaires who are implicated in this. He then invoked Melania's name. The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn't act alone.
Jason Concepcion
That's a big one. Now to your point, this primary was the most expensive primary in history. $32 million to defeat Mr. Massey. I'd like to hear him say some names regardless of the fact that obviously he did do that before and he then had to walk that back because the names were like people in a lineup that weren't necessarily linked to anything that said. I'd like to.
Tim Heidecker
He's gonna say Woody Allen. Dick Cavett.
Jason Concepcion
No, not Dick. Oh, no.
Tim Heidecker
There's some good Dick Cavett emails in the Ebstein files. Yeah, they're really funny. They're not like salacious at all. It's him just like complimenting the dinner he had at his house. But it's like really overwritten and pretentious and, you know, they're great. They're so funny.
Tyler Parker
I need to go look at those caveats. An odd guy.
Jason Concepcion
He's interviewed everybody. It does appear that he is in there looking for funding and other things.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, I don't think he did any Creepy stuff. But it's just like.
Jason Concepcion
It still does appear. It was in 2017 when the email
Tim Heidecker
about the coq au vin is the one. We did it on office hours. It is the funniest. It is the hardest to follow. Little bit of like, yeah, look it up. It's the best.
Tyler Parker
He's just talking about the meal.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. And he. I almost have it memorized, but it's something like, yeah, let's hear it. When I was asked to do the Ballantyne beer commercial with, who was the guy that he did it with? Mel Brooks. He thought it would be. And like, I can't do it because the way he's writing. The way he's writing is all way too many words, you know? But the point of it was. He said, it tastes like an explosion in my mouth, which is what I would say to your coqavin last night. And Jeffrey's response was like, thanks.
Jason Concepcion
Great.
Tyler Parker
Thanks. Spelled T A N X. The Pope has warned against a love this Pope.
Tim Heidecker
I'm a former Catholic, grew up Catholic, and was never that. I just went to Catholic school, you know, but starting to, like, feel pride in my religion.
Jason Concepcion
I was also raised Catholic. And here's my note for woke Pope Pope Leo the 14th and other, you know, bishops and prelates in the Catholic governance. It's just a little boring, I think is why I kind of drifted out of it. It's a lot of standing and sitting and then always with you, but not a lot of, like, zip and juice to.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah. Like a. Like a Baptist church in the South. Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
Where there's stuff happening, people jumping up. Yeah.
Tyler Parker
As someone who did not grow up Catholic but has gone to some Catholic services.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah.
Tyler Parker
You're.
Jason Concepcion
It's drowsy.
Tyler Parker
It's a little drowsier. And it's. You're almost. For a little bit, you're doing burpees. It feels like you're just getting.
Jason Concepcion
You're going down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
I like the smells. I like the music.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah, I would. I might go back.
Jason Concepcion
Let's work on that.
Kevin Booth
Pope Leo.
Tim Heidecker
But I was happy to see him come out against AI. I think people are really starting to wake up and being like, whoa, whoa, no, no, we don't want. We don't want this. If this is what it costs, if this is what it means. Like with the data centers and the. You know, it seemed like the stuff in. In Utah.
Jason Concepcion
Oh, yeah. Where it's gonna. The.
Tim Heidecker
It's gonna suck up all the. The Salt Lake and spend. Send all this toxins across the state,
Tyler Parker
if you haven't seen recently, like AOC in front of. I forget what the panel is of health people there, but she's showing up two different jars of awful drinking water, which is another thing that happens.
Tim Heidecker
Maybe it is worth it if I'm going to get a suggested reply for an email.
Jason Concepcion
Right.
Tim Heidecker
Because it is such a hard thing to try to figure out. Writing back sounds good. I'll be in touch soon. I can't do that on my own. I need assistance.
Jason Concepcion
What if I could help you organize your DVD collection through a Sprint spreadsheet? Right. And then the cost would be that there's no water anymore.
Tim Heidecker
Right.
Tyler Parker
Still, my favorite response any sort of creative has had to that was, I think it was David Milch who somebody was interviewing him, asking, like, but what if you're having trouble with the transition and you could ask, you know, the AI to, you know, write up five different transitions for how to get from this scene to this scene. Would you do that? And Milch just goes, I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
Jason Concepcion
It was not Milch who was.
Tim Heidecker
It was, oh, David Simon.
Jason Concepcion
David Simon of the of the Wire. I will say that the, the proposed Utah data center is going to use more power than the entire state of Utah.
Tim Heidecker
Wow. So there's a state without that admittedly doesn't really use that much power.
Jason Concepcion
It is an entire state. You know, it's a large territory.
Tim Heidecker
Right.
Jason Concepcion
So there is that.
Tyler Parker
I mean, some of the things that Pope Leo called. It was a 42,000 word decree. It's called encyclical was the official term, which I had never heard before until this.
Tim Heidecker
It doesn't happen all the time. These are big announcements from the church.
Jason Concepcion
These are big moments.
Tyler Parker
So it was government regulation of AI companies, protection and retraining for workers whose jobs are threatened from AI. Education helps students think critically about the technology protection of children from violent, hypersexualized or fake info online. And then this is a big one as it relates specifically to anthropic. It should have safeguards to ensure that humans, not artificial intelligence, remain responsible for all the decisions regarding the use of weapons.
Tim Heidecker
Aha.
Jason Concepcion
Well, I'm sure they'll take that under advisement. But again, Pope Leo, love the guy. He's doing great. Doing great things.
Tyler Parker
Yes.
Jason Concepcion
Big fan.
Tyler Parker
This Gaza flotilla story has been extremely depressing.
Jason Concepcion
Yes.
Tyler Parker
Organizers of a Gaza aid flotilla say that foreign activists who are abducted from international waters faced a lot of abuse while in Israeli detention. There are 15 reported incidents of sexual assault Says that the Israeli forces detained around 430 people on board 50 ships.
Tim Heidecker
So they were. Just to be clear, they were detained by Hamas.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah, they were detained by the Israeli.
Tim Heidecker
That's my joke. That's my joke. That's the only. I was thinking. I was like, I don't really have a funny take on this. This is very dark. And I was like, oh, I guess I do.
Jason Concepcion
So I will say that this is like the, what, the fourth or the fifth flotilla that has attempted to make to deliver aid, and the fourth or fifth one that has been intercepted by the Israeli navy. Somewhere, like, east of Cyprus.
Tyler Parker
Yeah, they call it international waters. It was 50 total ships that are carrying these 430 people.
Jason Concepcion
But there's a video going around of Ben Gvir, who is like, their. Really?
Tim Heidecker
You, like, smacked somebody.
Jason Concepcion
Horrendous.
Tyler Parker
He trotted. He just sort of. He was, like, trotted through there with all of his people and was like. Yeah, he was hitting people and doing all sorts.
Jason Concepcion
Yeah, he was like. It looked like he was, you know, like he had just scored a big touchdown and in like a sec game or something was rubbing into people's faces. He is the national security minister who also was behind the recent hanging law which allowed arrested Palestinians. Palestinians arrested in the west bank to be tried by a military tribunal, not a court, and then hanged. He made little pins.
Tim Heidecker
Jesus.
Jason Concepcion
Noose pins and like, a noose cake.
Tim Heidecker
Yeah.
Jason Concepcion
Dark character, not a great guy.
Tyler Parker
They've got them all on this Israeli landing craft that they've converted into a makeshift prison with barbed wire and shipping containers and things like that. Supposedly, the people were beaten over the head and the ribs. Some were shot with rubber bullets or tasered. And then there's obviously the 15 reported incidents of sexual assault like I mentioned. Right now, officials in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain say they're investigating, weirdly missing from that list.
Jason Concepcion
The U.S. oh, no, we're not here. We're not gonna.
Tim Heidecker
We're busy. We're busy building a UFC cage in
Jason Concepcion
front of the White House.
Tim Heidecker
I always think about when you said Italy, it's like. And the flotilla. It's, like, on the map. It's crazy because it's like. Yeah, if you went just west a bit, you're in Italy and this is happening, like, hours away. This insane barbarism is going on. It's crazy. It's insane.
Jason Concepcion
I know. It's very trouble.
Tim Heidecker
It's a small world.
Jason Concepcion
So Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps the future owner
Tim Heidecker
of the universe, King of the universe,
Jason Concepcion
owner of some of your media Properties, office hours.
Tim Heidecker
No. Yeah, we got a hold of that leaked video of him firing 8,000 people. Played that on the show as if he was delivering it to Vic and Doug.
Jason Concepcion
It's very funny. I love what you did with his forehead in that video. Mr. Zuckerberg has been working on a $270 million bunker on the island of Kauai, beautiful Hawaiian island, on his 1,400 acre compound, which is owned by him and his wife. It includes a 5,000 square foot underground bunker with a metal and concrete blast door with an escape hatch and ladder, its own energy and food supplies, a water tank 55ft wide by 18ft tall, 30 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms, two standalone mansions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Tyler Parker
Standalone mansions.
Tim Heidecker
Underground.
Jason Concepcion
It's underground. He was asked about it by Bloomberg in 2024, and he said that it's not a doomsday bunker, quote. No, I think it's just like a little shelter. It's like a basement, he said.
Tyler Parker
A basement with two mansions inside it.
Jason Concepcion
Yes.
Tim Heidecker
Wouldn't it be great to get them all down there and then seal it up? Seal it up.
Jason Concepcion
I mean, that's.
Tim Heidecker
Pave it over. Yeah. Bye. Thank you. Thank you for Facebook, I guess.
Tyler Parker
Enjoy.
Jason Concepcion
Sorry. Meta. Meta. It's now Meta.
Tim Heidecker
But no, it's. Yeah, he seems. He's got to be one of the worst. Top 10.
Jason Concepcion
He's very bad, for sure. My favorite thing is the meta. How it was like, you know, people are mad at him because of the various genocides that were promulgated on Facebook and also the election that was. Was thrown via Facebook. And he's like, that's it. Meta. We're not Facebook anymore. Not even that company anymore. All those people are gone. The whole thing is gone.
Tim Heidecker
The funniest is the collapse of the Metaverse. Oh, my God. I mean, three years ago, when that launched, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen. With all these legless people floating around, having these board meetings and conference rooms and stuff. Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants this. And it didn't work out. They never will.
Tyler Parker
Thank God.
Jason Concepcion
Well, Tim, thank you so much for taking the time. Good luck with all your InfoWars endeavors.
Tim Heidecker
Thank you very much.
Jason Concepcion
My best. Alex Jones.
Kevin Booth
Ah.
Tim Heidecker
I won't be speaking with him, most likely. Perhaps in court. I'll see him.
Tyler Parker
I don't know.
Jason Concepcion
And best of luck.
Tim Heidecker
Thank you.
Tyler Parker
Thanks for coming.
Tim Heidecker
My pleasure.
Tyler Parker
This is great.
Tim Heidecker
Pleasure to have me.
Tyler Parker
I said, yeah, pleasure to have you.
Podcast: Wait a Second...
Host: Jason Concepcion and Tyler Parker (The Ringer)
Guest: Tim Heidecker (Office Hours, On Cinema, Tim and Eric)
Date: May 28, 2026
This episode dives into the cultural, legal, and comedic spectacle surrounding Alex Jones, the fate of InfoWars following federal liquidation, and the ongoing satirical takeover bid by The Onion. Comedian Tim Heidecker—a renowned satirist with a history of lampooning the far-right—joins hosts Jason Concepcion and Tyler Parker to dissect the bizarre convergence of fake news, parody, and conspiracy theory in American media. The episode later branches out into a doomscroll of the week’s wildest news, touching on everything from the Pope’s encyclical against AI, to the Trump family, to Mark Zuckerberg’s surreal bunker-building, and more.
Opening context (00:06–04:14): The show opens with a narration framing producer Kevin Booth’s role in connecting Bill Hicks, Alex Jones, and Joe Rogan—drawing the throughline from cable access eccentrics to the internet conspiracy movement, and noting how legal judgments have finally brought InfoWars down.
The Onion’s satirical bid to acquire InfoWars (03:08–04:14):
The conversation is sharp, irreverent, and tinged with dark wit. Heidecker, renowned for absurdist satire, elevates the discussion with both sincere and sardonic insights, especially on the surreal overlap of right-wing media and parody. The hosts keep the energy high, pivoting rapidly from gallows humor to genuine reflection and media critique.
This episode encapsulates the American disinformation ecosystem by squaring the collapse of InfoWars with the limits—and power—of satire. With Tim Heidecker’s insight, the show masterfully exposes both the tragedy and farce of conspiracy-mongering, the uniquely American appetite for spectacle, and the vital (if dangerous) space comedians occupy as both observers and participants in public life. The rest of the doomscroll is a study in how weird, dark, and absurd news has become—requiring exactly the blend of skepticism, humor, and existential dread that the hosts and their guest provide.