Van Lathan on What Makes a Good Political Pundit, How TMZ Shaped Him and His Career, and a Very Special Request for Hillary Clinton and His Mom.

The Press Box

The Ringer

Sports

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hello, media consumers! While Bryan is on vacation, Joel is in the driver’s seat and he welcomes in The Ringer’s own, Van Lathan (3:10). They kick off the show by discussing their paths to today’s episode then talk about the following: How Van prepares for his CNN appearances (6:56) Stephen A. Smith as a presidential candidate (17:52) Who will be the face of the NBA (32:23)? NIL ruining college sports (44:19) Van’s time at TMZ and what he learned (51:23) Life after confronting Kanye West (1:03:29) Host: Joel Anderson Guest: Van Lathan Producers: Brian H. Waters and Jonathan Kermah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, humanoids. It's the Maskman here, David Shoemaker.
0:04.7	It's officially a WrestleMania season, and we've got you covered here on the Ringer Wrestling show.
0:09.7	Kaz here, every Monday and Thursday hang out with me and my gosh shoes from the Masked Man show.
0:14.3	And Ben Cruz here. Come kick it with me, Cal, and Brian on Tuesdays for Ringer Wrestling worldwide,
0:20.6	where we hit on the most interesting
0:22.4	headlines and even react to some of mass mans and even your hottest takes.
0:26.9	Don't tap out, tap in to the Ringer Wrestling Show feed now on Spotify or wherever you get your
0:32.3	podcasts.
0:33.9	Worldwide?
0:44.2	Thank you. Worldwide. Hello, media consumers.
0:46.0	Welcome to Pressbox.
0:47.6	You've got me, Joel Anderson, and producer, Brian Waters on the ones and twos.
0:53.3	Our fearless leader, Brian Curtis, is piloting a rented Winnebago.
0:57.9	Okay, actually, I don't know if it's a Winnebago introversing the Great American Southwest with his wife and two children.
1:04.0	Let's please wish them all safe travels and that nothing happens out there that will make me call him Clark Griswold for the next few months.
1:11.1	Today, we have a very big, very different pod. There's no J-school, but I still expect all of y'all
1:17.0	to turn on your assignments next week. But listen, so before I started working here, almost everyone
1:24.2	I spoke with at the Ringer, and that's from Bill Simmons on down, said,
1:28.3	I'd love to see you talk with Van Lacey.
1:30.9	I'd love to see you talk with Van.
1:32.5	And it was flattering, but I couldn't understand exactly why.
1:36.8	And I didn't know if it was because I like, I take myself too seriously and Van doesn't seem
	...

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