The Nicole Sandler Show

When something huge happens in the world, my mind goes to what George Carlin would think. He was not only THE comedian with his pulse on everything, but he seemed to be able to predict the future. 'Prescient' is a word I often use to describe him, as I did last week when a Carlin bit on abortion rights went viral after the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion that appears will overturn Roe v Wade... So, in a sense, we do have him weighing in on current events. But not really. The world lost George Carlin in 2008. Although there are many talented comedians riffing on our lives and tribulations, there's still a giant hole where George Carlin should be. A few years back, I was fortunate to meet Kelly Carlin. She wrote a memoir, "A Carlin Home Companion" about growing up as the only child of the comic legend of our times. She then wrote and performed a one-woman show based on the book, which I was also fortunate to see. And she came on my show to talk about it, and has returned numerous times since then. Not to talk about her amazing father, but to talk about the important work she's doing herself. Well today she's back to talk about George! A new 2-part documentary premieres on HBO and HBO Max this Friday and Saturday. It's directed by Judd Apatow, but Kelly is one of the executive producers. So I get to pepper her with questions about her dad without feeling guilty about it... We'll begin with a feeling of relief and comfort, as the first big primary day of the 2022 midterms was mostly encouraging! Big wins for progressives, as John Fetterman handily won the Democratic nomination for senate from PA, and Summer Lee appears to be on track to win her race to run for the House seat form District 12, defeating a corporate, deep pocketed attorney Steve Irwin and the almost 4 million dollars spent on his behalf against her by PACs aligned with AIPAC. There's even better news out of Oregon where the progressive running to unseat the man often called the "Joe Manchin of the House" -- Kurt Schraeder- did it! Jamie Mcleod-Skinner is enjoying an almost 2-1 lead over the soon to be former DINO congressman from OR-5. So, George (and Kelly) Carlin and some good electoral news for progressives. That's a Wednesday I can believe in!

A bit of what's news for now

It's Primary Day today in five states, with a couple of very important races in there... most notably, Pennsylvania. With Rob Portman retiring, the soon to be open senate seat is one of the best chances for the Democrats to pick up a much-needed seat. Poised to win the Democratic nomination is John Fetterman, who is not your average candidate. Oh, and he suffered a stroke last week. But it was a minor one, and he's expected to make a complete recovery. The question is whether this will impact the vote? The race for the Republican nomination is also a curiosity, as TFG endorsed Dr. Oz, but that goes against much of the Republican party's preference for the other MAGA candidate, financier David McCormick. Who best to talk about this all with other than Will Bunch? The columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer is a frequent guest on the show, but today he's here to talk about Pennsylvania (and the other races too...)

A bit of what's news for now

When my daughter was little, she's always try to get out of trouble for things she said or did by claiming, "it was a joke!". My response was always, "a joke is supposed to be funny." And perhaps they were, to her! More accurate would have been to say "comedy is subjective." We know that. I can't say I've honestly given right wing comedians a chance to make me laugh. I just know that the few times I've tried, laughter was the last reaction elicited from me... Today, I'll speak with Nick Marx, one of the co-authors of a new book titled "That's Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them".

A bit of what's news for now

A bit of what's news for now

We're now two weeks in to primary season for the 2022 midterms, and it's too soon to declare any trend. But we can still be terribly frightened of what's to come. The candidates endorsed by Howie Klein's Blue America PAC represent our best hope of taking the US off the rightward track toward fascism. Today, we'll be joined by the Tom Nelson, the progressive running for the Democratic nomination in the senate race from WI to take on Ron Johnson. But first, breaking news from the 1/6 committee, and more...

A bit of what's news for now

Inflation sucks. It sucked back in the 70s and 80s too. It's a word we hadn't hear much about in recent years... there was plenty more to terrorize us even without the specter of inflation. But like war, it's back and we're trying to figure out how to deal with it. This morning, Jonathan Larsen sent me a link to an article he wrote, "How Trump Caused Inflation: Trump Blocked Regulations Against Price Manipulation; Biden Has Yet to Acknowledge the Problem"-- and I think he's on to something. So Jonathan joins us today to talk about that. Also happening today, the senate is voting on the Women's Health Protection Act which would codify into law Roe v Wade, ostensibly preventing the Supreme Court from killing women's right to control our bodies. But it's doomed to fail as the Dems don't have 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Damn, they don't even have the 50 they'd need if the Senate operated as a democracy. Go figure.