Once upon a time in the city of Chicago - around 2006 - a group of politically-nerdy writers and performers came together in a mutual need to stay sane through what we all SWORE would be the WORST Presidency we would EVER live through. How naive we were ... but also, how funny! Because the only way we all got through the George W Bush years was to laugh - and, dare we say, we will get you to laugh too. We are at W, and we invite you to listen for one final time at that time ...

DB Comedy returns to put as much of a bow as we can to our discussion of Third Parties - what with several lurking about as this episode was posted in 2024 and all - but we focus on Bull Mooses and Socialists and Dixiecrats and Greens, and even chat and snark about parties and privilege and movements and oh, all SORTS of fun things! Sit back, set a spell, and y'all give it a listen - ya hear?!!

Throughout the podcast, we have flirted with and chit-chatted about all kinds of third parties in the United States, and while at first we didn't think it was the case, we realized it actually would have been wrong not to talk about all those extra parties - and explore what it is about our system that keeps them as extras. So HERE WE GO, starting way back with that nasty 1824 election and getting through Masons and Whigs and Free Soilers and Know-Nothings and Populists - OH MYIt's a lot more fun than anyone should have talking about third parties in America would be! Join us, why don't'cha?!

We have reached the end of the American Century - was this a century about nothing? Was the last President of the 20th century a Presidency about nothing? Or was it chock-a-block of a life we left behind (good-bye, VHS!) and into a new way of life (hi, Internet!) and the start of so much of what we live with now? Get your flannel and teal out and let's find out with President 42, The Man From Hope, Bill Clinton!

Would it be prudent to download this episode? Is it a kinder, gentler take? Or is it all voodoo? Read Our Lips - it's DB Comedy snark the way you know it and love it ... especially since it's a chance to kick a certain potato-misspelling Hoosier up and down the electoral map too! It's George HW Bush - he was a President, he turned out to be the better Bush (erp!) and this is his episode!

The Ronald Reagan Presidency. Lots of feels about this one - and so our discussions and sketches have lots of barbs and lots of laughs to cope with the things that were done. Ronnie may not have remembered - but we did and we dish, and you'll be glad we did! This is how you deal with Reaganism - give it your ears!

It is said that the influence on the 1980s on subsequent decades - even now - is stronger than any other in cultural history. All we know is, because we're at Ronald Reagan and he was kind of big in the 80s, we talked a LOT about a bunch of those influences - and we thought it was interesting and fun, so we packaged them here in this bonus episode (and even include a bonus sketch at the end going out to our Chicago homies). Grab that Walkman, pull up those leg warmers and order up a Long Island Iced Tea for this one!

If Franklin D. Roosevelt was the defining President of the first part of the 20th Century to the burning resentment of one of our two political parties, you KNOW there was an inevitable counter - and we all know that counter is named Ronald Reagan. So away DB Comedy goes, with a review of the pre-Presidential path that includes baseball and acting and naming names and even times when ol' Ronnie remembered stuff - right up to when he becomes President. The Ronald Reagan DB Comedy episodes start NOW!

In Part II of EVEN THE LOSERS, we now take the three Walks of Futility of the multi-losers of the 20th century: Mr. Thought-He-Won (Thomas Dewey), Mr. Knew-He-Was-Gonna-Lose (Adlai Stevenson), and Mr. Mighta-Won-If-He-Wasn't-Nuts (H. Ross Perot). Props for running, but time to have fun with the results. ENJOY!

There are winners and there are losers - and there are the losers who lose and lose and lose, especially for Presidents. So we at DB Comedy thought, why not at least give them their snark? Join us as we take two episodes to fete the men who won nominations but lost the big prize - and we'll start with the three losers of the 19th and early 20th century: Henry Clay (lost four times), William Jennings Bryan (three), and Eugene V. Debs (FIVE times). Never was losing more fun than this - enjoy Part One!

Some Presidents were born to be Presidents - and SOME Presidents were born to be Ex-Presidents! Were it easier to get to the latter without going through the former - but then, would the late 70s have been so late 70s without having had to go through the Jimmy Carter Presidency? The good news is, you need only listen to this episode to imagine the actual Carter Presidency (and the late 1970s) while reveling in the coolness of post-Prez Jimmy. (And with laughs!) (You're Welcome, America!)

There are Presidents that DB Comedy discusses knowing the weight of their historical importance, and there are Presidents that DB Comedy discusses because they're on the list. This episode is one of the latter. (Too harsh? PARDON us, nyuk nyuk nyuk!). Presenting America's least elected, most appointed, and most Michgandy of all of the Presidents - Gerald (Ka-THUNK!) Ford!

Are you ready for the biggest Dick that ever served in the White House? Why, everyone's ready to kick around the worst President between the guy that lost states and the guy who nearly lost the American Experiment - and that includes us! Enjoy the epic DB Comedy episode of the one and only Richard M. Nixon. (You can record if you'd like.)

Are you getting used to Presidents genuinely full of contradictions? Because WOW do we have that with Lyndon Johnson - a warmongering civil rights crusader ... a liberal bully ... a crude and ruthless political operator whose heart broke by the time he left the Presidency ... a guy misunderstood when alive being reconsidered with the advantage of time. (But don't worry - it's funny as Hell, too!) LBJ is here for your Electable goodness!

It says ... something about our political culture ... that the man with the third-shortest Presidency (and lack of legislative record to match) nonetheless generates SO much press and myth and legend and historical interest - and we at DB Comedy are right there with them. Its John F. Kennedy, and in a super-sized episode, we dive into that myth and look for new historical angles - with snark and wit. We think we did! So please, give this episode a shhaahhh...err...a listen, won't you?

Was the JFK assassination the birth of the modern-day conspiracy theory movement? DUH! But JFK's much more than that! So we decided to take it back and to the left with a bonus drop all about who may or may not have done the deed. In rap form. of course. Enjoy this special JFK teaser ... "Who Shot Ya?"

Yep - we're up to the guy everyone you kind of avoid at holiday family meals says was President during THE BEST EVER TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES! It's the War Hero of World War II and That Neato Campaign Slogan You And Me Like - Dwight David Eisenhower! We don't know what the 1950s was like, but we added westerns and street rants and certain famous puppet-like characters to give you something to pass to your Uncle Frank other than that weird green jello mold he always brings because his grandmother made it in 1955 and it was good THEN! Enjoy! (Jello mold optional!)

You know that whole the-1950s-were-kinda-boring thing you may have been taught in school? WELL, we at DB Comedy beg to differ! Our talkback about the Eisenhower administration went in so many different directions, we thought we could give you a few of them in a bonus talkback episode! Join us along with Americanists Dr. Chelsea Denault and James McRae and contemplate how three innovations of the 50s - interstate highways, television, and the counterculture - all undergird ol' Ike's tenure!

World War II is ending, and the American Century is ready to go - but before we do, there's the matter of the last guy who brung us there: the plain-spoken piano player from the Show-Me State who worked up through a political machine and avoided the Klan to drop the bomb(s), pulled off one of the all-time upsets (or was it?!) and put us on the road in Southeast Asia. It's Harry S. Truman! (Now listen or he'll have Margaret sing to you - and do you really want THAT?!)

All Presidencies come to an end. Some Presidencies end with war. A few end with illness and a death. Even fewer than that end with the President in question getting on all four lists. Guess what? Our final episode on Franklin Delano Roosevelt DOES ALL FOUR! With one more assist from Dr. Margie Rung of Roosevelt University, we bring you the final episode of FDR!!