Really? no, Really? with Jason Alexander & Peter Tilden

Alcohol consumption globally has hit it's lowest rate since the 1930s. This has resulted in $830 billion of liquor stocks being wiped off. Multiple US distilleries have filed for bankruptcy. There's supposedly a lake of 220 million gallons of alcohol somewhere that can't be sold. Wineries all over the world are backed up resulting in wine revenue down over $1 billion last year. So who's to blame for this? Millennials and boomers? On this episode of Really? no Really?, Jason and Peter sit down with with celebrated author, Doug Melville, who recently was a former board executive of luxury group in Switzerland. He'll break down down the complexity behind the the liquor industry's decline. It's easy to blame younger generations like Gen Z for the current situation because the liquor industry relies on younger drinkers. It's true the younger generation is more focused on living healthier lifestyles and are preferring liquor that has fewer calories and less likely to give them a hangover. However, Doug addresses that current state of drinking isn't just a generational issues. It's also a political issue with Republicans have a double digit drop in alcohol consumption whereas Democrats have had a two percent decrease in alcohol consumption over the past few years. Doug also explains how it's a class issue as well. You may have seen Doug interviewed by Charlamagne Tha God on The Daily Show regarding his best-selling book, Invisible Generals, The Quest To Honor America’s First Black Generals. We'll also delve more into that discussions. He's partnering his book with his favorite types of bourbon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You have to appreciate the guys who are getting hit for the love of the game, not for the money. And you know what's funny about it? It's just taking one. On this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast, Jason and Peter learn more about the psychological and biological rational behind UFC Founder, Dana White's latest phenomenon, Power Slap. Writer and Essayist, Ander Monson, wrote about how Power Slap originated in Oklahoma City from two guys who worked at a Dollar Store and started Power Slap as a form of camaraderie and create a sense of community in a time of heightened isolation. We'll delve into how there's a deeper resonance than what the title is. What attracted Ander to this story was this kind of weird brotherhood that's not necessarily trying to hurt the other guy like you were just trying to win. Afterwards you still are in the same world. You're still in the same town, you're still in the same text chain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Barry Sonnenfeld joins Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast with more true stories from his career as both a Hollywood director and cinematographer. Peter discovered a TED Talk that Barry did called How to Get People to Do What You Want, that was fascinating, funny and very informative. Barry also has a new book out called, Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood, that's filled with fascinating stories spanning his whole career in Hollywood. From starting off as a cinematographer for the Coen Brothers to directing blockbuster movies like Men In Black, The Addams Family and Get Shorty. Barry will share some pretty entertaining stories. Some of our favorite stories include a scene from Get Shorty that needed to be cut for budget purposes but was also the head of MGM's favorite scene. Plus, you'll want to hear about his story working with Tommy Lee Jones and Rip Torn on Men In Black. They truly hated he each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are both economic and cultural issues why young people would opt into living with their parents. But with today's housing affordability crisis, the number of young people living with their parents has gone up 33%. This has contributed to the rise of the trend known as stay-at-home sons, made popular by influencer, Luke Parkhurst, but there's also a cultural aspect behind the stay-at-home sons movement. On this episode of Really? no Really?, Jason and Peter sit down with journalist, Shane O'Neill, who reported on the Stay-At-Home Sons trend for the Washington Post. Shane will provide us with his insight into how this trend started and how influencers like the Stay-At-Home Sons Club have been creating & monetizing content about living with their parents. Jason, Peter and Shane also highlight that with the demise of print media, it could lead to more people having to move back in with their parents. We'll let Shane elaborate more on that and how during COVID we saw a peak of young people moving back in with their parents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Smith is a Johns Hopkins trained artificial intelligence expert who was was hailed as a veteran veteran programmer by The New York Times for his work with human in the loop AI, and served as an OpenAI beta tester and a co-founder for 12 years of AI driven photography agency. He also gave ChatGPT money to invest $500. Jason and Peter sit down with Thomas to find or more about using ChatGPT and AI to handle to your money. We'll find out more if it's better to turn to a money manager than an AI chatbot. Is it also possible for AI chatbots to be messing with you when it comes to your investments? Is AI capable of shutting itself down before it goes off the rails? Thomas helps address our questions and many concerns. Also, we'll find out what happened to that $500 investment Thomas made with ChatGPT and see where he is now with his investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sadhguru is a spiritual leader who has billions of views, has at least 14 or 15 million followers on YouTube. Do people come to him for a fix to change or just for comfort? On this episode, Jason and Peter speak with Sadhguru about a prescription to change a world that seems challenged to take two minutes to turn inward. Can we be optimistic about humanity? Jason discovered Sadhguru during the pandemic and his views on how the whole human mechanism is a great miracle is of seeing how to work. They also debate how there is a whole science and technology to create a well-being. But it's a subjective science. It needs to be approached in a different way. They'll also debate and delve into the fixation on validation, confidence without clarity, presenting certainty, joyfulness and what's happening in your mind being manufactured, imagination also being psychological reality, and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You ever notice in podcast interviews, everyone's all comfortable? There's soft chairs, bottled water. The lighting that says you are important. Everybody's relaxed. Everybody's polished, and everything's lying just a tad or even more than a tad about who they are. Then there's Kevin Nealon. Kevin Nealon has done more episodes of Hiking show than Jason and Peter have of Really? no, Really?. But it's always a great time when Kevin stops to tell us stories about hiking with folks like Matthew Modine, Weird Al Yankovich and Rob Lowe. Kevin will also fill us in on his stories about working on Saturday Night Live and remind us what happened with him being replaced by Norm Macdonald on Weekend Update. He also has a great story about running into Sir Paul McCartney at the SNL 50th Anniversary party with Conan O'Brien. While he's here, Kevin will also explain how he went from stand up to writing sketches to becoming an actor. Not just on SNL but also after the show when he would go on to star on Showtime's Weeds. Kevin will also talk about his relationship with the legendary Gary Shandling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Late Night talk shows are a unique art form that started with Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and then continues today in whatever form it's in. But what made Carson special was because you got to see actors who weren't out there with the internet and take a look into their personal lives. In this episode, Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden sit down with Mark Malkoff, comedian and author of the book, Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend, and host of The Carson Podcast. Max will entertain us with several interesting stories about Carson and his time as the king of Late Night. Since Max is a also a self described "huge comedy nerd", Jason and Peter will get to share their stories about Carson and answer Max's questions about Jason's own late night appearances. This includes Jason's first time on Carson, being on both Letterman and Leno's shows, his experience with Craig Ferguson and his filling in for Jon Lovitz last minute on Conan O'Brien's test show. Something else you should know about Max; outside of being an author on comedy, Max has become well known for pulling off some incredible public stunts. These range from asking random New Yorkers to carry him to visiting 171 Starbucks to living in an Ikea to bringing a goat into an Apple Store. Of course we'll have a lot of questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With prediction market apps and sites like Polymarket, Kalshi and WagerWeb, you can literally bet on anything: Labubus, criminal case verdicts, Stephen Hawkings black hole theories, natural disasters. You can even bet on when a celebrity is going to die. But prediction markets aren't just about making money from gambling, there's a darker truth here. On this episode, Jason and Peter talk to Jonathan D. Cohen, author of the book, Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet On Sports Gambling, to discuss America's sports betting public health crisis. On this episode, Jason and Peter also dive in with Jonathan about the coverage of insider trading becoming a problem in prediction markets. Something to note, we did film this episode before the story broke about MrBeast's editor being banned from Kalshi for insider trading. We do bring up the story about former Toronto Rappers player, Jontay Porter, who was fined and banned from the NBA, for making proposition bets based on his game performance. We'll also cover the role of AI when it comes to sports betting along with the endorphin release rush you get when you make a bet. We'll also cover mob sports betting, legitimate poker games and Jonathan's record as a competitive board game player. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Credit Card Churners are people who repeatedly open and close credit card accounts to primarily earn sign-up bonuses like cash back, points, or travel miles. Is this type of hack strategy illegal? On this episode, Jason and Peter ask financial expert and senior advisor at Magnetar, Roger Hochschild, to explain how this process works. We'll also have Roger clear up a few myths and answer some questions that you might also have when it comes to finance and credit cards. For example, does it actually hurt your credit score every time you check it? Is it actually a good thing or bad thing to pay off your credit card every month? Why do lenders look more at your Fico Score instead of your credit score? Roger also takes a moment to explain the process of closing our your loved ones credit cards after they have passed away. He'll also offer his advice on finding a good company for long term investments instead of trading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices