EP. 478 The Leading Man: Mike Bless aka Michael Anthony on Healing, Dating, and "The Gift"
CockTales: Dirty Discussions
Kiki Said So & Medinah Monroe
4.7 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To kick off our February Men’s Series, we are joined by actor, producer, veteran and content creator Mike Bless aka Michael Anthony. This conversation dives deep into dating, emotional healing, masculinity and the realities of modern relationships from a male perspective.
We talk about how men process heartbreak, the role of honesty in dating, why communication looks different for men, and the idea that many men heal quietly instead of publicly. Mike opens up about accountability, emotional vulnerability, dating expectations and the importance of being honest about intentions early.
Of course, we also get into power dynamics in relationships, monogamy vs honesty, the Atlanta dating scene, men wearing purses (yes, we went there), and why giving space in early dating might actually be healthy.
This episode kicks off a full month of real conversations with men about love, growth, healing and relationships — and we are listening.
Cocktail of the Week: The Leading Man
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon
1 oz blood orange juice
½ oz simple or honey syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Orange peel garnish
- Instructions
- Add bourbon, blood orange juice, syrup and bitters to a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir for about 20–25 seconds until well chilled.
- Strain over a large ice cube in a rocks glass.
- Express the oils from an orange peel over the drink and drop it in.
Sip, stare dramatically into the distance, and pretend you’re the main character.
🥃🍊
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Yeah, yeah, check one, two, check one, two. |
| 0:04.3 | Is this mic on? |
| 0:05.6 | Is this mic on? |
| 0:06.5 | Hey, listen, man, it's the one and only trendset of DJ since, and you're listening to cocktails. |
| 0:11.3 | Dirty discussions with Kiki and Medina Monroe. |
| 0:14.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:19.6 | Today's cocktail is called The Leading Man. |
| 0:22.5 | I liked it. |
| 0:23.9 | The ingredients you need, some bourbon, some blood, orange juice, some simple syrup, or some honey syrup, some Angostura bitters, and an orange pill. |
| 0:31.3 | And this is how you're going to make a leading man if you don't already have one. |
| 0:34.5 | You're going to stir in the bourbon, the blood orange juice, the syrup, |
| 0:38.0 | and the bitters with ice, strain that over a large cube, and express the orange pill oils. |
| 0:44.0 | I love that and then drop it in. And that, my friends, is a leading man. That sounds tasty. |
| 0:49.0 | It is. I'm not drinking right now for dry January year,, except for my little funny drinks. But these are non-alcoholic cocktails, but I've made this before and it's really good. And I was like, you know what, this is a good manly drink because today we do have a man who is here with us as a guest. But real quick, I want to remind you guys, we're going to save our announcements for the end. So make sure you listen to the entire episode. And welcome back to Cocktails Dirty Discussions, you guys. I'm Kiki Said So. And I'm Medina Monroe. And you guys, this month for the whole month of February, Kiki and I are doing something very different. We're allowing men to come on the show. And we're going to listen. We're going to listen. We're going to talk to them about love, about good behavior, healing. They heal the whole month of February. And the first man that we have come out, he's tall, he's fine. He's a leading man himself. We have Mike Anthony, aka Mike Bless. Hi. Welcome, welcome. |
| 2:36.5 | I'm glad to be here. I'm a fan. I say that right now. When you told me that, I was like, that's so dope. Yes. What if Beyonce is a fan? That would be nice. I wish she would come, but I know she wouldn't. Yeah, she would be like absolutely. Just come to a show and you can sit backstage with us. Yeah. Okay, Mike, so you're a producer, you're a writer, you're an actor. You do a lot of things. You're a veteran. Thank you for your service. Thank you. I was doing my little research on you and I didn't know that. What part of the military were you in? Air Force. But it's different. What's different? Let me tell you, when people say that in the military, people automatically think they just they got guns and they're doing this neck. They could be a chef. That's what I'm saying. What did you do? I was special forces. Okay. So I'm a combat veteran. So you were out there. Ooh. I got injuries. My back mess up. I got a scar on my arm. You see my tag on the car? Mm-mm. |
| 2:37.7 | You got your vet tag. |
| 2:34.4 | It ain't a vet tag. It's different. What's you got? It's like a, it's a, damn, that's bad I don't know this. It's like a special metal. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your service. I was scared, too. I bet. He didn't like the movies. It was scary. |
| 2:50.8 | Did you make friends? Well, good. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your service. I was scared, too. I bet. |
| 2:51.8 | They ain't liked the movies. It was scary. Did you make friends? I made, you know, it's crazy? I made friends with the, are you ever heard of the Northern Alliance? Mm-mm-mm. So during war, kind of like in America, let's say I went to California when I was in the streets, I would be cool with |
| 3:07.8 | somebody who was in that city that knew what was going on, and that's my alliance. |
| 3:12.7 | So when we had, anytime we had wars somewhere, we always have somebody on the ground that |
| 3:17.1 | our government pays them, they take the money, and they're basically just traitors to that |
... |
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