Conan Brothers Q&A

ShiftyBob asks "Has the Internet fostered a golden age of conspiracy theories? Is there any cure to the weirdness people come up with?"

Dave: If you want to believe the world is flat, then there's nothing I can do for you.

Arnold: There's a distrust of institutions that's spreading like a pandemic. Our media is not homogeneous. Walter Cronkite no longer favors Americans with a fatherly expression from the television screen. People on the Left go to completely different web sites than people on the Right. People in the middle tune out and watch local news, or no new at all. Most people have no idea what's going on, and they're the ones who are the most vulnerable. A lot of people get their news from Facebook, which blows my goddamn mind. People find their Reddit hole and never emerge.

Dave: I don't think people really believe conspiracy theories. Your idiot uncle babbling on about Pizzagate and QAnon is just trying to push your buttons. On some level he knows it's all bullshit, but it sounds like it could be true, because the other side is terrible and subhuman, in his eyes. It's wartime propaganda, essentially.

Arnold: Kicking baby boomers off the Internet could help, as well as investing in public education.

Dave: What, you going to send some of these people back to school, Arnold? A forty-five year old truck driver has seen the world and he feels like he knows it. Maybe something huge and furry crossed in front of his lights in the middle of the night. Maybe the lot lizards spooked him something fierce, and he's never recovered. Don't tell him about education, brother. He knows better than you know, and there ain't no convincing him.

Arnold: Is this someone you know?

Dave: More like a friend of a friend.

Arnold: In closing, yes, and there's nothing we can do about it.

...

TheGorn asks "The Mandalorian: good Star Wars, no?"

Dave: It's a space Western with a star-studded cast and a crazy special effects budget. Not a whole lot of depth, but hey, that's Star Wars.

Arnold: I just want to say that Baby Yoda has been engineered by psychologists to appeal to the nurturing part of our brains. Every time he moves his ears, I feel manipulated.

Dave: Baby Yoda doesn't need any Jedi training. He can already block fireballs and levitate giant rhinos. Lightsabers? Baby Yoda doesn't need them. He'll choke your ass with the Force.

Arnold: Only if you're a mean, bad man. Or woman.

Dave: I must say, I find Gina Carana incredibly attractive.

Arnold: Apparently, she sent one of the stunt men flying and the director thought they were playing a trick on her.

Dave: Give us more Mandalorian. A gritty story in the Star Wars universe with just the right amount of fan service.

Arnold: And that's all I have to say about that.

...

OilyBob asks "Twenty rep squats are hard. Are they worth it?"

Dave: For a time, yes.

Arnold: It's a fun challenge. Going from 200 lbs to about 250 will definitely build some strength and endurance. I've never went much further, as doing so drains you and you start to dread your workout.

Dave: Pussy.

Arnold: I'm old enough now that I can't really afford to be wrecked all day from lifting.

Dave: One set of twenty is a good way to get some volume in. That's what I'm currently doing on one of my lifting days.

Arnold: We'll see how long it lasts.