The Moynihan Report

Michael Musto Is Mr. Adjacent
Village Voice and NYC icon Michael Musto joins Michael Moynihan for a tour through the New York he chronicled from the inside, from growing up gay in Bensonhurst to the glory days of downtown nightlife, celebrity gossip, the Club Kids, Michael Alig, ACT UP, RuPaul, and the AIDS crisis.
They also talk about outing celebrities, Rosie O’Donnell calling Musto a “gay Nazi,” the changing city, and what it meant to spend decades watching New York culture from just off center.

Chapters
-Growing Up Gay in Bensonhurst
-Escaping Brooklyn for Manhattan
-Outing Celebrities
-Blind Items and Village Voice Lawyers
-Michael Alig and the Angel Melendez Murder
-Old New York and Gentrification
-Mamdani
-Making Money in Journalism
-Was Musto Too Mean?
-When Straight People Call Themselves Queer
-AIDS
-What Happened to the Old Club Scene?
-Mr. Adjacent



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Jon Lovett joins the show to talk about what Pod Save America is actually trying to be, why Democrats have struggled to find a coherent political identity, and how Lovett went from writing jokes for Hillary Clinton to becoming one of the biggest voices in liberal media.
They get into Hassan Piker and the socialist left, the disappearance of old-fashioned liberalism, Kamala Harris, Katie Porter, Zohran Mamdani, the politics of Woke 1.0, antisemitism on the left, Israel and Zionism, and whether a life spent arguing about politics ever gets exhausting. Plus, the childhood humiliation Lovett says made him a Democrat.

Why Are Democrats So Bad at This?
Why Jon Lovett Chose Politics
Writing Jokes for Hillary Clinton
Al Franken, Air America, and Liberal Media
Hassan Piker and the Left’s Media Problem
Who Gets to Be in the Democratic Tent?
The Maoist Wing of the DSA
What Happened to Liberalism?
Kamala Harris, Katie Porter, and Political Talent
How Democrats Lost Working-Class Voters
Mamdani and The Fifth Column Batting Average
“Desire Paths” and Woke Politics
Is It Hard to Be Jewish Right Now?
Brad Lander and Antisemitism on the Left
“Genocide” as a Political Litmus Test
Is Jon Lovett a Zionist?
Does Politics Ever Get Exhausting?
Ambition, Fame, and Why He Keeps Doing It

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Penelope Spheeris has spent her life around chaos, from Richard Pryor and the early days of punk to Wayne’s World and the machinery of Hollywood. She joins Michael to talk about The Decline of Western Civilization, turning down Spinal Tap, fighting over Wayne’s World, and collecting decades of grudges along the way. There are stories about Lemmy, Tina Fey, Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, Chris Farley, and a rhinestone dildo. Penelope has seen some shit, and she’s still happy to talk about it.

(0:00) Cold Open
(0:18) Monologue
(1:03) Richard Pryor and the Lost Movie
(6:02) Decline, Chaos, and Making Sense of Her Demons
(10:45) Guns N’ Roses Bails, Megadeth Steps In
(12:33) Lemmy’s Bad Review
(16:16) Punk Rock, Childhood Trauma, and Seven Stepfathers
(19:46) Fame, Money, and Unfulfilled Expectations
(22:57) Passing on Spinal Tap
(24:03) Chris Holmes and the Pool Scene
(27:34) The Decline vs. Wayne’s World
(29:30) Losing Wayne’s World 2
(32:07) Dana Carvey, Tina Fey, and Britney Spears
(35:08) Life With Her Schizophrenic Partner
(37:53) Chaos, Boredom, and Happiness
(39:05) Getting Rich Without Trying
(41:30) The Memoir and Being Written Out of Hollywood
(44:48) Jennifer Aniston and the Dildo
(47:27) Mike Myers, Chris Farley, and Black Sheep

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Gene Simmons sits down with Michael Moynihan in Los Angeles for a conversation about family, ambition, and the American dream. They talk about his mother’s survival of the Holocaust, coming to America, KISS, Bob Dylan, money, marriage, and why the music business isn’t what it used to be. Oh yeah, and after nearly 50 years as the Demon, Gene Simmons is still speeding up.



(0:00) Cold Open

(0:31) Monologue

(1:47) Gene Simmons, Nice Jewish Boy

(6:31) Assimilation, America, and Learning the Language

(9:36) His Mother Survived the Holocaust

(19:23) The $8 Million Check to Mom

(20:05) At 77, Gene Is Speeding Up

(21:03) Why KISS Had to End

(22:26) Bob Dylan Shows Up to Write a Song

(31:24) Selling KISS and the Business of Rock

(33:23) Streaming Killed the Romance of Music

(36:36) Ace, Peter, Drugs, and the Breakup of the Original Band

(45:25) Diana Ross, Shannon Tweed, and the Playboy Mansion

(50:50) Twenty-Nine Years as “King Asshole”

(53:48) Making His Mother Proud, Then His Wife and Kids Proud

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William Shatner sits down with Michael Moynihan in Los Angeles for a conversation about life, time, and knowledge. They talk about death, God, AI, Blue Origin, The Intruder, and the relentless curiosity that keeps Shatner looking for whatever comes next. Oh yeah, and at 95 years old, he’s releasing a heavy metal album.

In the episode:

(00:00) Cold Open

(00:29) Monologue

(02:09) Fear of Death

(03:59) Religion, God and the Universe

(09:26) Judgment at Nuremberg & the Holocaust

(11:12) Curiosity, Aging, and Learning

(19:20) Conversations With AI

(22:28) Why Humans Need to Go to Mars

(25:20) Blue Origin & Jeff Bezos

(30:14) Growing Up Jewish & The Intruder

(34:41) Luck, Failure and a Career Without a Plan

(37:28) “What the F Is Heavy Metal?”

(46:45) AI and Shatner’s Opera

(50:16) Why Shatner Doesn’t Do Politics

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