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PODCAST

Michael and Us

Luke Savage and Will Sloan

A podcast about culture, politics, and our crumbling world. Hosted by Luke Savage and Will Sloan. Exclusive subscriber-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/overview

tv & film

All Episodes

00:05:47

PREVIEW - #626 - Metaquest (w/ Wendy Liu)

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/29

At some point in the 15 years since its release, THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010) became a historical document. We're joined by our official Silicon Valley correspondent Wendy Liu to discuss why its complicated perspective on startup culture resonated so strongly, and what the passage of time has revealed about people like Zuckerberg. And of course, we get into the Aaron Sorkin of it all.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/130141170

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00:46:49

#625 - Due Process (Newsroom Part 12)

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/25

When the Twin Towers fell on that September day, who was there to comfort us? In Season 2, Episode 2 of THE NEWSROOM ("The Genoa Tip"), we learn that it was - of course - Will McAvoy. We also learn a little more about his Republican politics in this complicated episode. PLUS: We pay tribute to a fallen superstar of the podcast, and Will explains to Luke what THE ROCK (Michael Bay, 1996) is.JOIN US ON PATREON FOR AN EXTRA EPISODE EVERY WEEK - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Catch up on our

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00:05:05

PREVIEW - #624 - Twilight of the Dinosaur Hour

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/22

We return to one of our favourite topics: John Cleese's baffling GB News chat show THE DINOSAUR HOUR. In this episode, John and a panel of cranks and reactionaries try to define "woke," and we find that we've entered exactly the right room for an argument.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/624-twilight-of-129612151

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00:52:53

#623 - Occupy Sorkin (Newsroom Part 11)

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/16

After a healthy break, we finally return to Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM. In the first episode of season two ("First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers"), we find Will McAvoy and his team learning of a movement to Occupy Wall Street and debating the ethics of predator drones. PLUS: A roundup of American politics news, including David Hogg, Joe Biden, and a Woodstock for centrists.Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Catch up on our coverage

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00:03:31

PREVIEW - #622 - Highbrow Anxiety (w/ Alex Ross)

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/12

It's time to go dumpster diving in the wreckage of 2010s internet culture! Will is joined by Alex Ross to discuss THE CINEMA SNOB MOVIE (2012), a vehicle for infamous Channel Awesome contributor Brand Jones that takes a stand against highbrow cinephilia. We remember its unique strain of anti-intellectual faux-populism so you don't have to! PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/128722242

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00:03:20

PREVIEW - #621 - Three Jolly Fisherman

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/05

In the suburbs of Toronto in the 1960s, a group home for emotionally troubled youth specialized in a wildly experimental form to treatment. We discuss Allan King's cinéma vérité classic WARRENDALE (1967), in which the camera is nearly as intimate as the therapy. PLUS: Louis Theroux visits Israeli settlers, and why can't Pink Floyd just get along?PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/128199756

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01:04:41

#620 - Creation In Pectore

Michael and Us ·

2025/05/02

In last year's Oscar contender CONCLAVE (2024), the election of a new pope at Vatican City becomes a centrist parable for navigating an era of political extremes. PLUS: We recap the strangest Canadian election of the century so far.Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Check out Will's book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA - https://orbooks.com/catalog/ed-wood/ Subscribe to Luke's Substack - https://www.lukewsavage.com/ "Conclave, and the

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00:58:32

#619 - A Celebration of Specialness

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/30

In the delightful TRUE STORIES (1986), David Byrne offered a whimsical view of the late Reagan era through the lens of a fictional Texas town. We consider the politics - or lack thereof - of Byrne's Warholian gaze on America and Her Problems. PLUS: Checking in Thomas Friedman.Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "David Byrne on True Stories" by Kory Grow -

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00:03:04

PREVIEW - #618 - That Barton Fink Feeling

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/26

A socially-conscious East Coast playwright gets a taste of Hollywood in BARTON FINK (1991). We discuss Barton, Madman Mundt, and "the common man." PLUS: One last check-in on the Canadian election.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/127528125

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00:06:25

PREVIEW - #617 - No Country for Little Tramps

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/23

In this solo documentary episode, Will considers the events that led to Charlie Chaplin's political exile from the United States in 1952, and the lessons he offers for the current era of neo-McCarthyism.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/127261077

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01:08:20

#616 - When the Whistle Blows

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/21

Sure, he's incredibly annoying now, but how funny was Ricky Gervais in his prime? We return to our old mandate of interrogating things we liked when we were teenagers by revisiting his acclaimed sitcom EXTRAS and its Christmas Special. PLUS: Did you know that Will wrote a book? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Pre-order Will's book ED WOOD: MADE IN HOLLYWOOD USA - https://orbooks.com/catalog/ed-wood/ While you're there, why not also order

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00:03:09

PREVIEW - #615 - Vengeance Must Be Profound

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/17

In LONDON HAS FALLEN (2016), Gerard Butler has to save both the American President AND Great Britain from Middle Eastern terrorists... and ends up killing a lot of people who may or may not be cops! PLUS: Damn, it's a great time to be a Columbia University alum!PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/126894013

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00:48:14

#614 - Record of a Tenement Gentleman

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/12

Made in the rubble of postwar Japan, RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMAN (1947) finds Yasujirō Ozu exploring his familiar preoccupations of family and modernity through a different kind of setting. PLUS: Is the Canadian election a done deal?Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

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00:06:04

PREVIEW - #613 - The Paucity of Hope

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/08

In the summer of 2016, with a guaranteed Hillary Clinton presidency was on the horizon, the Obama Era enjoyed a premature victory-lap with SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU (2016). Seen nine years later, this Sundance drama about the Obamas' first date has, shall we say, aged poorly. PLUS: Did you know that Elon Musk's family has a (very racist) Canadian connection?PATREON-EXCLUSIV EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/126209063

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01:01:56

#612 - The Classical Work That All of Us Have Done

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/05

In 2011, William Shatner directed a documentary where he interviewed all of his fellow Star Trek captains. But the resulting film, THE CAPTAINS (2011), accidentally became the beloved ham's hilarious, revealing, and occasionally moving self-portrait. PLUS: How the Trump tariffs upended Canadian politics.Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus The Newsroom: Season 1 - A Michael & Us Playlist - https://www.patreon.com/collection/1429433 TORONTO:

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00:07:48

PREVIEW - #611 - Technology and Empire

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/03

In a moment when Canada is under existential threat, we look back on a great Canadian thinker who argued that Our Home and Native Land was already an American colony by the mid-20th century. In this special solo episode, Luke discusses George Grant, a self-described conservative who became an icon for the Canadian left, and his 1965 book "Lament for a Nation" PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/125887028

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00:55:58

#610 - The Greater Fool (Newsroom Part 10)

Michael and Us ·

2025/04/01

In the SEASON FINALE of our coverage of Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM, we find the show's many threads continuing, if not coalescing, in Episode 10 ("The Greater Fool"). We assess where the show has taken us so far, and assess the good (not much) and the bad (plenty).Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "The End of Resistance History" by Charlotte E. Rosen - https://proteanmag.com/2025/01/20/the-end-of-resistance-history/

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00:03:10

PREVIEW - #609 - Gather Ye Rosebuds (Newsroom Part 9

Michael and Us ·

2025/03/28

What if presidential candidates had to submit to a REAL debate with REAL questions? What if they had to face the most hectoring moderator of all tie? In episode 9 of THE NEWSROOM ("The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate"), Will McAvoy tests out that very idea.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/125384007

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00:47:06

#608 - Freedom Dues

Michael and Us ·

2025/03/23

In THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR (1973), a black man hired as a "token" by the CIA uses his training to start a black nationalist uprising. It couldn't be a more apt time to revisit this classic of radical American cinema. PLUS: Who's excited for the Abundance Agenda? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "On the Legacy and Importance of The Spook Who Sat by the Door" by Robert Daniels -

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00:05:09

PREVIEW - #607 - The Passion of Nancy Grace (Newsroom...

Michael and Us ·

2025/03/17

Episode 8 of THE NEWSROOM ("The Blackout, Part 1: Tragedy Porn") finds Aaron Sorkin considering media ethics through lens of three 2011-era scandals of varying magnitude: Anthony Weiner, Casey Anthony, and NSA surveillance. His conclusions find him returning to some pet grievances.PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/124709344

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194 results

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