Hysteria

Erin and Alyssa round up the latest news from JD Vance’s embarrassing book tour, Bari Weiss’s next fail-upwards, and the future of the USPS’s independence. Then Megan Gailey (Sports Bitches) joins to talk sports news from the UFC to the Knicks and the rise of heteropessimism. They wrap up with a petty conversation about nun podcasts, takeout orders, and Disclosure Day.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.Alyssa’s rec: Dominican Sisters Open MicJD Vance went on television to plug a faith memoir. ‘The View’ had other plans (AP News 7/16)Vance’s new book puts his Catholic faith at the center of his story — and his political future (CNN 6/15)Postal Service Seeks to Block Mail Ballots in States Resisting Trump Demands (NYT 6/11)CBS News boss Bari Weiss poised to oversee CNN editorial operations: report (NY Post 6/9)$60M and 7 federal agencies required to stage Trump’s UFC fight at White House (AP News 6/10)Trump’s UFC Fight Ended With a Slur About Michelle Obama (The Cut 6/15)The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine (Wired 4/17)How Algeria won over a Kansas town – and became the World Cup’s unlikeliest love affair (The Guardian 6/16)Which World Cup teams, players and officials were denied US visas, entry? (Al Jazeera 6/11)

In our 35th episode of This F*cking Guy, Erin and Alyssa dive deep into the past of the AI Scammer, Sam Altman. From his early tech bro days at Loopt and Y Combinator, to getting a thrill by playing “God" with AI decision-making, to acting VERY shady about the death of an OpenAI employee, this may be our most disingenuous guy yet!For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. Sources:https://archive.ph/eQq7g https://archive.ph/jOp6s https://www.npr.org/2024/05/20/1252495087/openai-pulls-ai-voice-that-was-compared-to-scarlett-johansson-in-the-movie-herhttps://archive.ph/zoP9g#selection-4553.0-4561.49 https://teach.its.uiowa.edu/news/2024/04/when-ai-gets-lost-its-own-reality https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/what-should-we-learn-from-openais https://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/ai-agenda/ice-says-uses-ai-palantir-openai-metas-humanoid-robot-training-planhttps://fortune.com/2023/06/08/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-worries-15-quotes/https://www.investopedia.com/ceo-of-chatgpt-s-parent-company-i-expect-some-really-bad-stuff-to-happen-here-s-what-he-means-11859389https://fortune.com/2024/05/21/openai-superalignment-20-compute-commitment-never-fulfilled-sutskever-leike-altman-brockman-murati/https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/openai-made-me-crazy-videosthen-the-cto-answered-most-of-my-questions/C2188768-D570-4456-8574-9941D4F9D7E2https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardnieva/2026/02/03/sam-altman-explains-the-future/ https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-ithttps://cmr.berkeley.edu/2025/10/seven-myths-about-ai-and-productivity-what-the-evidence-really-says/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69520118/1/altman-v-altman/https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzHI_hxRWtz/?igsh=Mnk4aWI5ZWx1YW9n https://www.newsweek.com/sam-altman-annie-altman-accusations-2011449https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-booms-reliance-circular-deals-223120705.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/someone-going-lose-phenomenal-amount-130131761.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFoRip8fz4FHwOH2WCUZPwEuQkW7dzucbZpLzmYo76VRkDnTSXOdVyD0Gal1rlu_JsyOMoGYJi5ciu5Lp9wIGfnullBmfQpywCyqrZ-3W18NUVCvg2G2E_Mz-UcpYS45S2vBsh8FQEWM2gjzZMXKYUh3r9WefakZygmKPkkgrdCchttps://techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/openai-policy-exec-who-opposed-chatbots-adult-mode-reportedly-fired-on-discrimination-claim/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sam-altman-reinstated-open-ai-ceo-1234893167/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd2qv58yl5o https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/opinion/openai-chatgpt-safety.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/15/altman-open-ai-moral-police-erotica-chatgpthttps://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/openai-suicide-safeguard-wrongful-death-lawsuit-1235452315/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/sam-altman-artificial-intelligence-openai-profile.html​​https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/technology/scarlett-johannson-openai-voice.html https://nypost.com/2025/08/29/business/ex-yahoo-exec-killed-his-mom-after-chatgpt-fed-his-paranoia-report/ https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/can-sam-altman-be-trusted-with-the-future?_sp=e25261d0-a4b3-43e5-aad6-a9dcae53da26.1770317526311https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/07/openais-sam-altman-denies-sexual-abuse-allegations-made-sister-ann.htmlhttps://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/sam-altman-and-jony-ive-will-force-ai-into-your-life#rid=89972881-46ae-4035-9810-ac4d1a0124e3&q=sam+altmanhttps://sfstandard.com/2026/01/04/suchir-balaji-openai-suicide-murder-conspiracy/https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/companies-pouring-billions-advance-ai-infrastructure-2025-10-06/https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/oracle-corporation-orcl-slips-amid-concerns-over-debt-fueled-ai-data-center-expansion/ar-AA1WBjunhttps://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/openai-anthropic-super-bowl-commercial?srsltid=AfmBOopGoxhLMPSo8rD2wfy2SpO6PqeQb-OYHJiFTGFq3nCDctQKF5vehttps://web.archive.org/web/20231103004609/https://mashable.com/archive/loopt-cbs-mobilehttps://web.archive.org/web/20100315000456/http://www.looptblog.com/2010/03/looking-for-something-fun-to-do-try-the-new-loopt-pulse.html https://www.reuters.com/article/business/loopt-was-a-lemon-dropping-to-just-500-daily-active-users-prior-to-sale-update-idUS2505978580/https://archive.ph/yAgIK https://blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-singularityhttps://venturebeat.com/technology/y-combinator-accepts-15000-startups-into-its-online-school-after-software-glitch-causes-confusion

Erin and Alyssa dish on Trump’s State of the Union address and Kash Patel taking the Olympic US Men’s Hockey team from hero to zero. They also unpack the disturbing case of Representative Tony Gonzales’ inappropriate relationship with a staffer and how Republicans are weighing the calls for his resignation with their razor-thin majority in Congress. Then they wrap up with the latest on the Epstein files and a petty preview of Candace Owens’ new series on Erika Kirk, “The Bride of Charlie”.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.Epstein accusers, Olympians among guests invited to State of the Union speech (Reuters 2/24)Trump invites US Olympic hockey heroes to State of the Union in locker-room call (The Guardian 2/23)Virginia teen Sage Blair at State of the Union (Fox 5 2/24)FBI head Kash Patel defends ‘frat bro’ hijinks with US hockey team in Milan (The Guardian (The Guardian 2/23)Tony Gonzales faces mounting pressure from GOP women over affair allegations (Politico 2/23)Tony Gonzales says he will not resign (Politico 2/24)Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump (NPR 2/24)