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Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Eugene Mirman - Comedy Under Fire: On Kimmel, Colbert, Trump’s Attacks on Free Speech

Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff

Righteous Media | Bleav

News, Veteran, News Commentary, National Security, Daily News, Politics

4.6906 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Comedians are under attack. The MAGA machine has pushed Stephen Colbert off the air, gone after Jimmy Kimmel, and skipped a comedian at the White House Correspondents Dinner for the first time in memory. That's not an accident — it's the playbook of every authoritarian regime that ever feared a punchline. Paul Rieckhoff sits down with his old college friend, beloved comedian and actor Eugene Mirman — Bob's Burgers, Flight of the Conchords, and the new special Here Comes the Whimsy — for a candid, funny, and unexpectedly moving conversation about what it means to make people laugh while the rigged two-party system burns and Trump and the executive branch goes all gas, no brakes.

Transcript

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0:00.0

We absolutely could not have this conversation in a genuinely authoritarian country.

0:06.8

That doesn't mean that, like, Trump isn't an obvious, like, a person with obvious

0:13.0

fascist tendencies.

0:14.1

You know what I mean?

0:14.7

Like, it doesn't betray that.

0:16.1

He just, you know, I think that America is a little too big

0:21.0

and a little too used to freedom to be truly

0:23.5

wholly silenced, but that isn't to say that

0:27.1

like Colbert isn't being fired.

0:51.8

I don't know. Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 509. I'm your host, Paul Reikoff,

0:58.1

and I'm coming to you from New York City, USA, with a very special episode that's going to bring you the five eyes.

1:04.4

I bring you in every single show, independence, integrity, information, inspiration, and impact.

1:07.7

Our special guest is going to bring all that and then some.

1:10.7

He's a man I've known for over 25 years. We went to college together.

1:12.7

We used to work in the same radio station. And now he is globally recognized, respected, and loved

1:18.3

as one of the most important comedic voices of our time. You know him from Bob's Burgers. You know him

1:24.0

from Flight of the Concordes. You know him from his many comedy specials, from

1:27.9

opening for amazing bands all across America. And he has a new special now called Here Comes the Whimsie.

1:34.6

That is absolutely hilarious. He is the great Eugene Merman. And he sat down with me for an extended,

1:41.2

candid, funny, thoughtful, heartwarming conversation.

1:45.0

These are tough times.

1:46.7

People are divided, but I always want to bring you light to contrast to heat.

...

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