Know Your Friends: 100th Episode Mailbag
Added 2024-09-19 14:07:16 +0000 UTCTo celebrate the 100th episode of Know Your Enemy, Matt and Sam decided to open up the mailbag and field listener questions—which, as always, proved to be incredibly intelligent and interesting, with topics ranging from what they've learned along the way to the politics of guns. Plus, past guests from the podcast stop by to offer their commentary on this auspicious occasion.
Sources:
John Lukacs, The Hitler of History (1997)
— Confessions of an Original Sinner (1989)
— A New History of the Cold War (1966)
Michael Oakeshott, Notebooks, 1922-1986 (2014)
Christopher Smart, "from Jubilate Agno," written between 1759-1763, published 1939
Comments
so you pay to subscribe to them, take the time to listen to their bonus content, and devote the energy to comment…. this? No one is forcing you to engage, my guy
Jake
2024-10-04 00:27:50 +0000 UTCSam’s dad’s message made me cry! Wow. And I agree with Perlstein that the podcast is humane. That’s a great way to put it. It’s grounding and nourishing.
Kathleen Reeves
2024-10-01 02:35:48 +0000 UTCCongrats guys! I would have loved to pick your brains on your experiences with other schools of philosophy like non-Western but I’ll save it for the next mailbag!
Martin Oswald
2024-09-30 21:24:15 +0000 UTCHappy Birthday, Matt - and congrats on 100+ episodes! I've listened to every one. This is my favorite podcast by far! Also, great episode pic. I love finding out what podcast hosts look like and see if they match what I imagine in my head. For the record, if you two and John Ganz were in a room and I had to match the voice to person, I would be 0-3.
Daniel D.
2024-09-26 13:46:13 +0000 UTCJust read the nymag article https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/opus-dei-members-catholic-washington-dc-politicans-jd-vance.html It would be great to interview the author of the book. It seems like perfect KYE material.
seaward
2024-09-23 14:43:33 +0000 UTCPut me down for a John Lukas episode! For reasons unknown, I read Confessions of an Original Sinner in high school. Unfortunate for biographies I read after as few could stand up.
Jessica
2024-09-23 05:39:28 +0000 UTCHere’s to many more eps 🙏
Thomas
2024-09-22 20:36:42 +0000 UTCThey're literally being sued for the second time by Young Americans for Freedom, so yeah, this project does seem to have gotten under some conservatives' skin.
drizzly_november
2024-09-22 16:53:20 +0000 UTCIs this know your enemy or know your hagiographer? Do the likes of Deneen et al even care if the lads have cranked out one episode or a 100? Did anyone ask? Surely there's someone out there that really does think that Matt and Sam do tend to the solipsistic, the grandiose?
Matt Gately
2024-09-22 12:52:28 +0000 UTCKYE solidifying its position as “kindest corner of podcast land.” Love you both, happy 100 eps!
Jenna Harmon
2024-09-22 01:58:23 +0000 UTCTayler!! That was huge for me. I told Hannah that it happens all the time. (Which is not remotely true.)
Know Your Enemy
2024-09-21 18:08:22 +0000 UTCCongrats on episode 100! I was listening on the train and started grinning like an idiot when I heard Daniel Denvir’s greeting.
Martin W
2024-09-21 17:50:30 +0000 UTCGood stuff, Isaac!
Yann Dardonville
2024-09-21 01:43:55 +0000 UTCI've been listening since episode 1! Huge congrats on cracking 100! Listening to this pod has felt like auditing one of the coolest classes ever. I've recommended it to many friends over the years. Appreciate you in all your modes: deep dives, rank punditry, etc. I feel like I've learned SO MUCH from you and all the guests. A few of my personal favs (just off the top of my head) were Shuja Haider on the politics of country music and Patrick Blanchfield on gunpower. I'm sure there are like a dozen more eps that I've loved, though, if I were to go back through the episode feed. Here's to the next 100!
Joel
2024-09-21 01:08:20 +0000 UTCHey Matt and Sam (and Jesse!), congrats! I just wanted to say you guys are a really great model of vulnerable, loving friendship, generally but also specifically between men. This pod made me reflect on how as ive gotten older my friendships have taken on more and more meaning, and how I much I value being and vulnerable and just telling my friends that I love them. In the current toxic masculinity online/podcasting malaise, I hope there are some young people out there that get inspiration from your work
Jake
2024-09-20 22:11:29 +0000 UTCInvoluntary smile at hearing Sam Tanenhaus' voice. Congrats on 100!
Brian Swoveland
2024-09-20 22:04:21 +0000 UTCThose pieces trying to paint them as some sort of lefty rivals were very funny, not a single one mentioned Matt was one of Chapo’s earliest guests! I believe he also used to work with then-producer Brendan James under Andrew Sullivan.
drizzly_november
2024-09-20 21:52:46 +0000 UTCBig mazel on 100 episodes! Also, I have been late in saying hello. My husband and I spotted Sam and Hannah in Greenpoint in March of this year and probably startled you with our on-the-street gratitude for your writing and work. Happy birthday, Matt. Too many more years and episodes!
tayler
2024-09-20 20:55:25 +0000 UTCIs this foreshadowing!!?? Bc we are desperate to hear yalls thoughts on the left for 100 episodes...
Pooj Rav
2024-09-20 17:59:29 +0000 UTCI also like "Right and Wrong" as a YouTube channel for lapsed right-winger Matt.
drizzly_november
2024-09-20 17:38:46 +0000 UTCI started listening in April/May of 2020 while processing remote book orders for eight hours a day. It rules that you've come this far and only get better over time—congratulations and happy birthday Matt!
Nik
2024-09-20 17:26:15 +0000 UTCI would looove a Roger Scruton episode, and congrats!
Daan Mantel
2024-09-20 15:30:27 +0000 UTCwonderful and wholly appropriate episode. happy to hear 5-4 peter in the mix... i started listening to you guys after they came on, so many years ago. and since then ive become an avid follower/reader/listener of osita, brandy, dan denvir, david roth, etc. thank you for sharing this amazing community with us, and happy bday matt
Jack Wolfe
2024-09-20 15:26:57 +0000 UTCHappy 100th episode and to Matt: https://youtu.be/OQFTwupdja8?si=74ebqpyjzLug8o2w I’ve been with you since maybe episode 3. Love you two. Best podcast I know!
Chad Bailey
2024-09-20 15:15:23 +0000 UTCCongratulations to my favorite parasocial relations on 5 years of great work. This podcast has genuinely meant a lot to me, and I look forward to it continuing (and also the Roger Scruton episode that you’ve been teasing us with for years).
Zachary Roussie
2024-09-20 13:59:22 +0000 UTCThat was lovely! Feeling very parasocial rn, also now I'm in love with Sam's dad
Laura
2024-09-20 12:44:29 +0000 UTCWhen is Sam’s dad back on the podcast???
Kevin Trant
2024-09-20 11:01:05 +0000 UTCAlso, I shouted "amen" at the mention of the holy trinity (mostly the mets)
Dan L
2024-09-20 06:42:32 +0000 UTCCongrats y'all. Hard to overstate how your show has shaped my thinking and brought me manageable levels of optimism and cynicism about my place in America and the Universe.
Dan L
2024-09-20 06:39:11 +0000 UTCIf you two would be amenable, two mailbag episodes each year would be delightful. Also, please raise the Oakeshott episode in the ideas queue!!
Sam Timme
2024-09-20 03:39:39 +0000 UTCRe: Sam Tanenhaus' suggestion that you invite J.D. Vance on to discuss Christopher Smart's poem praising his cat..... If that ever happens, you should follow up with William Cowper's "The Sofa"! Congratulations on five years of very informative and enjoyable podcasting.
Kevin Bush
2024-09-20 02:54:05 +0000 UTCOne of my favourite episodes yet and the first to move me to comment! Was an absolute joy to listen to something so suffused with friendship. Jesse and Will Menaker one after another had me in stitches. And Will Esptein’s song even managed to make this lapsed Catholic tear up a little. Happy birthday to Matt and here’s to 100 more 🍾
Lola Fayokun
2024-09-20 01:27:37 +0000 UTCGuffawed aloud several times! My heart is warm. Happy Birthday, Matt!
James Talley
2024-09-20 00:07:30 +0000 UTCMy wife and I are stuck in our little house in rural Washington State, sick with covid, and she thinks I'm out here losing my mind because I keep laughing out loud. Your fault. I think I've listened to every single episode, and I've learned SO much. Thanks guys, love ya
Dan Anderson
2024-09-19 23:05:44 +0000 UTCAlso! I wrote a piece about Posse Comitatus that references y’all’s work (I footnoted two of your episodes.) If it was not for y’all’s excellent work, I may never have tried my hand at writing and getting stuff published. https://strangematters.coop/history-of-posse-comitatus-far-right-militia/
Isaac Suárez
2024-09-19 22:47:01 +0000 UTCI liked the Will Menaker voicemail. Y’all were once played off against Chapo in a New Yorker piece (this show being the “classy, bourbon drinking show” juxtaposed against the “aimless and crass” CTH). I resented it as a Chapo fan, but it introduced me to y’all’s excellent show. Congrats on 100- keep up the good work!
Isaac Suárez
2024-09-19 22:44:14 +0000 UTCCongrats on 100, guys! Excited for the next 100.
Joseph Cutler
2024-09-19 22:00:01 +0000 UTCThe whole KYECU
Sam
2024-09-19 21:23:00 +0000 UTC"Know Your Rights" is the right wing bizzaro name for KYE and it would be a YouTube channel and bourbon would only be slightly more front and center
Tim Combes
2024-09-19 21:08:42 +0000 UTCThat cover picture is wigging me out. Every time I see pictures of you guys, I remember that I only vaguely know what you look like
Tim Combes
2024-09-19 19:13:21 +0000 UTCDaniel Denvir's message got me laughing out loud
vincent st-gelais
2024-09-19 18:58:06 +0000 UTC100th episode!! Bravo Matt, Sam, and Jesse.
Thomas Tighe
2024-09-19 18:57:57 +0000 UTCCouldn’t stop smiling when Will, Liz, and Brace chimed in. My parasocial worlds are coming together 🥹
Axel Herrera
2024-09-19 17:52:58 +0000 UTCSuch a rewarding listen, congratulations on 100!
Dillon Lamb
2024-09-19 17:05:09 +0000 UTCDitto!
Kathleen P. Lamothe
2024-09-19 16:58:17 +0000 UTCHe's a real pro
Know Your Enemy
2024-09-19 16:49:49 +0000 UTCThat medation thing: I was one of a half-dozen netroots-oriented leftish folks to speak at the 2005 Senate Democratic retreat. Exactly one senator acknowledged our existence at the bar afterwards!!
Rick Perlstein
2024-09-19 16:19:34 +0000 UTCvery cute episode. 100 more!
Helena Latimer
2024-09-19 16:13:20 +0000 UTCCongratulations on episode 100 of the best podcast!
Sam Timme
2024-09-19 16:09:27 +0000 UTCCongratulations/Happy Birthday - also Will Menaker won this one, nice try everyone else
Nah
2024-09-19 15:41:56 +0000 UTCLooking good guys! And looking forward to this mailbag.
Rob
2024-09-19 15:12:14 +0000 UTCI'll be honest, I must be standing on a dislodged paver or something. He is taller, canonically and otherwise. - Sam
Know Your Enemy
2024-09-19 14:37:47 +0000 UTCwow Matt has always been canonically taller than Sam in my head. this changes things
c
2024-09-19 14:19:02 +0000 UTC
