Share
Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)
Pop culture comedy podcast from two old friends who are way too online.
Latest episode
Michael Jackson: We Chose Music Over Truth
01:12:44|Alex saw Michael Jackson perform live in 1996. He was 14, obsessed, and desperately wanted to be one of those lucky boys he always saw by Michael's side. As the years went on, he became very glad he wasn't.With the MJ biopic crossing a billion dollars at the box office and two active lawsuits still pending against his estate, Alex and John ask the question nobody in a theatre queue seems to be asking: what exactly are we all agreeing to ignore?In this episode we cover the decades-long pattern of behaviour, the 1993 Jordan Chandler settlement, the evidence presented at the 2005 trial, the Australian boys, Leaving Neverland, and the $16.5 million payout to the Cascio family that almost nobody knows about.And underneath all of it: the uncomfortable truth that his music is so woven into the fabric of our lives that the world has quietly decided the evidence just isn't worth looking at.Michael Jackson | MJ Biopic 2025 | Leaving Neverland | Jordan Chandler | Gavin Arvizo | Wade Robson | Cascio Family Lawsuit | Michael Jackson Documentary | Don't Press the Machine Podcast
More episodes
View all episodes
Steven Bartlett, Wine, & The Over-Optimized Trap
53:57|This week on Don't Praise the Machine, we're asking the question nobody in the productivity space wants to answer: is optimization culture actually making your life worse?When a clip of Steven Bartlett went viral, explaining how three glasses of wine with friends "ruined him for three days," the internet didn't push back on the sobriety. They pushed back on the measurement. The Whoop band. The sleep scores. The idea that a normal Thursday night had become a biometric failure.We dig into whether treating your life as a quantifiable system to be hacked and continuously improved is quietly destroying the things that make life worth living. Friendship, spontaneity, and the occasional loaded fry.If you've ever felt guilty for enjoying yourself, this one's for you.Rebel Wilson's Defamation Disaster — A Lawyer Explains
57:14|Rebel Wilson , star of Fat Pizza, Bridesmaids, and now defendant in her own defamation trial — is back in an Australian courtroom, this time on the wrong side of the lawsuit.We break down the full saga: a Bondi Beach hives incident, an Outback debutante ball musical, nasty websites, a Ghislaine Maxwell comparison, and PR staffers privately texting that their own client is completely unhinged.Joining the breakdown is a practicing Australian barrister who has been quietly calculating his own defamation exposure since agreeing to appear on this episode — and deploying the word "allegedly" as a legal shield throughout.⚖️ Topics covered:Rebel Wilson's defamation history & previous court winThe Charlotte vs. Rebel lawsuit explainedHow Australian defamation law actually worksWhy this case could cost Rebel millionsThe wildest cast of characters in recent celebrity litigation🎙️ Don't Praise the Machine is your survivor's guide to the cultural apocalypse.Kid Rock: Rap-Rock Rebel to MAGA King
56:35|How did a guy who used to jump around in a white fur coat screaming "Bawitdaba" end up advising the Pentagon and hanging out in MAGA’s highest circles?While his massive 1998 breakthrough album Devil Without A Cause pitched him as a raw, trailer-park, anti-establishment hero, the actual research reveals a slightly different story. From growing up on a wealthy Michigan estate with horses and orchards to commanding a massive modern cultural movement, we trace his bizarre 30-year journey through Nu Metal, Lynyrd Skynyrd samples, legendary tabloid drama, and full-blown political royalty.It turns out Kid Rock and Donald Trump share a very specific, unique superpower and it’s exactly why their paths crossed.Pack your bags, throw up the devil horns, and let's learn about the no.1 American Badass together.Why Is Hollywood Obsessed With Business Stories?
45:06|Hollywood has a new favourite hero, and it is not a warrior, a wizard, or a spy. It is a founder, a CEO, a disruptor.In this episode, we name and explore a brand new film genre: the capitalist procedural. From startup biopics to corporate origin stories, business movies have quietly taken over cinema and streaming, and we want to know why.We break down what defines the genre, why studios keep greenlighting these films, and what it says about our culture that we are now paying to watch board meetings, product launches, and Series B funding rounds play out on the big screen.Has hustle culture replaced the hero's journey? Are we using business stories to inject meaning into capitalism? Or have we just run out of ideas?Topics covered: capitalist procedural, business movies, startup films, Hollywood trends, cinema culture, film genre, hustle culture, founder mythology, cultural criticism, film analysisHow Banksy Became the Establishment's Favourite Rebel
49:09|Banksy built his reputation as an anonymous, anti-establishment street artist, spray-painting subversive stencils, dodging the law, and thumbing his nose at the art world elite. So how did he end up with Brad Pitt, Christina Aguilera, and Westminster City Council singing his praises?We trace Banksy's full arc: from punk origins in early-90s Bristol, to A-list celebrity collector, to a Reuters investigation that may have finally unmasked the man behind the mask, and revealed something far more ordinary than the myth.We ask the uncomfortable question: is Banksy actually toothless? And has he always been?Financial Journalist Tom Maloney Explains Prediction Markets
48:13|Prediction markets have exploded to $25 billion traded in a single month — but what exactly are they, and why should you care? Bloomberg journalist Tom Maloney joins the show to break down how platforms like Polymarket work, who's getting rich, and the deeply weird world of betting on elections, missile strikes, and Kim Kardashian's bar exam. From soldiers allegedly insider trading on military operations to people threatening journalists over their bets, this episode explores whether prediction markets are the final boss of financial nihilism.