From the Jill Schwartz Memorial Library here in the wilds of Connecticut, this is obscure, season four in American tragedy.

I'm your host, your friend, your ear lover, and literary mansplainer and chief Michael Ian Black recovering from oral surgery.

I spent the last five days, five solid days of just misery, misery, I tell you, just acute pain in my skull, just radiating through my skull. It was debilitating.

It was very sad. I was morose. I couldn't muster any energy to do anything. And now finally,

finally, a week after my oral surgery, I seemed to be on the mend. And that is good news because

I have been itching to go play poker. And after I finish recording today, that's exactly what

I'm going to do, going to get in the old robot car and drive over to the local poker hall

and put up my money and try to make some good decisions. Some of you may be thinking,

not playing poker is probably the best decision of all. And to that, I say Pishaw. Pishaw,

to all of you who would say such a thing? I just read a long article in

the Atlantic by McKay Coppins. I think it's entitled my ear as a degenerate gambler,

and it is about the proliferation of sports betting all over the country, McKay Coppins, journalist,

and practicing Mormon, which I didn't know, broke the stricture, stricture, I don't know,

against gambling that is in his religion, conferred with a bishop, by the way, to do so, gambled with money provided

by the Atlantic and spent a year, I shouldn't say a year. It seems like the football season,

the entire football season of last year, studying sports betting, making bets, and at least

according to him, becoming slowly addicted to it. Now, one of the few things

in my life in which I take any pride at all is my refusal. And this refusal goes back to the

relaunch of Mike and Tom eat snacks, my other podcast, which you can listen to, me and my friend Tom

eat snacks, but we've got this new production company and we have to approve all of the

advertisers who may want to advertise on our podcast.

And from the very beginning, I said, me, a poker player. I said, I will not advertise any of the

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