THE LAST LAUGH

Phoebe Robinson Sounds Off on MAGA Podcasters Turning on Trump

Phoebe Robinson takes on manosphere podcast bros and rich comedians taking Saudi money—and explains why she named her new stand-up special “I Don’t Wanna Work Anymore.”

For the first 10 years of Phoebe Robinson’s comedy career, she “dreaded” getting up to tell jokes every night. It wasn’t until she found a way to genuinely have fun on stage that she has produced her best hour of stand-up yet in the new special I Don’t Wanna Work Anymore (now streaming on YouTube).

In this episode of The Last Laugh podcast, the former co-host of the popular 2 Dope Queens podcast takes on the rise of the MAGA manosphere podcasters who are suddenly having second thoughts about helping Donald Trump win.

She also shares her unfiltered thoughts on the greedy comedians taking millions from the Saudi government to look the other way on human rights abuses at the Riyadh Comedy Festival and weighs in on the “divorce” rumors that have plagued Barack and Michelle Obama.

In the fall of 2018, Robinson and her comedy partner—and Emmy-nominated Shrinking star—Jessica Williams decided to end 2 Dope Queens for good. Then, the rise of the MAGA manosphere really took hold with hosts like Theo Von and Andrew Schulz joining Joe Rogan at the top of the charts.

“Podcasting is so different now than when we were doing it,” Robinson says now. “There was just such an overwhelming sense of positivity and joyfulness, it just really felt like this little cocoon that we had built and in the world that we live in, which is just so combative and it’s so rife with everyone just yelling at each other, I just don’t know how it would work in this atmosphere.” While fans may want them to revive the show, she just feels like “it’s not worth it.”

And now that those same podcasters who helped Trump win by humanizing him for their massive audiences of young men are lightly criticizing him for doing what he always promised to do, Robinson is incensed.

“He’s been a monster for decades!” she says of Trump. “You just didn’t care when it wasn’t going to come anywhere remotely close to your world. And I think a lot of people do take joy in the subjugation of others. And Trump enjoys that. And I think a lot of people who vote for him enjoy that. So you shouldn’t be speaking into a microphone if you can’t use any critical thinking to see that what is happening now is what was always going to happen.”

While some on the left have welcomed a change of heart from figures like Rogan, who has condemned Trump’s ICE raids, Robinson says, “You have to live with what you did. We know who you voted for, so just take ownership over it. If you’re confident enough to vote for Trump and these policies that are basically stripping away as much of people’s humanity as possible, then you need to own that choice publicly and loudly.”

As for why Robinson and Williams decided to end their podcast when they did, she says, “I mean, it’s really hard to top Michelle Obama.” After hosting the first lady in the fall of 2018, “we were just like, yeah, this is how we want to go out.”

Later that same year, Robinson served as one of the celebrity moderators on Michelle Obama’s Becoming book tour. So there is a bit of personal experience that goes into the closing bit from her new special.

Towards the end of her new hour, Robinson refers to the time Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to John F. Kennedy Jr. at the Democratic National Convention as “one of the hall of fame chaotic white women moments.” Noting that Jackie Kennedy was nowhere to be seen at Madison Square Garden that night, she imagines what would happen if there were rumors Megan Thee Stallion was having an affair with Barack Obama and then showed up in public to perform for him. “You think Michelle would just f--- off out of town?” she jokes.

Given that she taped her new hour over a year ago, Robinson may have inadvertently predicted the divorce rumors that consumed all coverage about the Obamas over the past several months.

“People think that if you are not on social media every day saying ‘I love my spouse’ your relationship is over,” Robinson tells me, sharing her personal reaction to the uproar. “And I go, these people are in their sixties living their lives! She’s writing books, they’re going on vacation, they’re spending time out of the limelight, which was really brutal to them and their family. They don’t need to prove they’re in love to you!”

Lamenting the way “parasocial relationships” have corrupted the way we all think about famous people, Robinson adds, “If they’re getting a divorce, it’s not your business. But there are more important things to be worrying about than speculating or hoping for someone’s relationship to fall apart. Let them live!”

Listen to the episode now and follow The Last Laugh on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to be the first to hear new episodes when they are released every Wednesday.

Matt WilsteinEditorial Director

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