On this episode, Bill catches up with journalist Chris Cuomo. They get into Chris’s current life since his CNN exit, why he’s suing to clear his name, and reflect on the media’s “scalp-hunting” mentality. Chris opens up about growing up in a political dynasty under his father Mario and working closely with his brother Andrew, how policy fights don’t always match party ideals, and what it’s like navigating scandal in a 24/7 news cycle. They swap thoughts on Trump’s flair for the dramatic, America’s appetite for outrage, the “defund the police” debate, how we lost the art of joking about sensitive topics, and why it’s vital to push back against extremes on either side. Throughout the conversation, Bill and Chris find common ground in calling out hypocrisy, highlighting nuance in politics, and believing we shouldn’t judge people by their worst moments—and they close out with some friendly banter on self-defense, fatherhood, and the value of letting go of grudges. Go to https://www.ffrf.us/freedom or text "CLUB" to 511511 and become a member today Try ZipIntro FOR FREE at https://www.ZipRecruiter.com/RANDOM Get 15% off OneSkin with the code RANDOM at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod #ad Go to https://www.RadioactiveMedia.com or text RANDOM at 511511 to save up to 50%, today! Follow Club Random on IG: @ClubRandomPodcast Follow Bill on IG: @BillMaher Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/ClubRandom Watch Club Random on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ClubRandomYouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Chris Cuomo and what is his current situation post-CNN?
Are you happy in general?
Yeah. I mean, look, I like where my kids are at. Where are they at? So...
Did you teach them not to end a sentence with a preposition?
With a mother's cat or whatever that stupid thing is between the A and the T. The youngest is determined to go to boarding school. Heartbreaking. Determined to go to boarding school?
Is that a sentence anyone has ever said? I thought kids resisted boarding school.
And this kid is... Just obviously, it's my kid, so I'm biased, but I'm just so impressed by her. Her grind, her name is Carolina Regina Mattia. We call her Cha-Cha. And she's- Who gave her all those names? Well, Carolina, my wife, I gave her. Regina is one grandmother. Mattia is the other grandmother. So she has their two names. And we call her Cha-Cha. And she's a grinder. Cha-Cha?
Yeah.
How'd you get that? When she was a kid, an infant, she had born with abdominal weakness. And she wasn't able to move the way she was supposed to. And when she started walking, she had to walk like this. And it looked like she was doing the cha-cha. So we kind of gave it to her as a joke. Just straighten that out? Yeah. And she's just a grinder. She was a worker then and she's a worker now.
And she said, I love my friends. I love where we are. We live in this really great little place. She said, but I want to be around kids who are more ambitious and come from different out settings. And I think it'll help me more in figuring out what I can do next. And I was like, So she lives in Queens now? Is that where you are? No, out in East Hampton. Oh, East Hampton.
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Chapter 2: What is the CNN lawsuit about and why is Chris Cuomo suing to clear his name?
Stoics were ancient Greeks. The misconception is that it means don't feel anything. That's not what it is. It's about choice. It's about living your life as a function of reasoned choice whenever possible and understanding what guides that. And that is what you control. And then there's a whole big basket of shit that you just don't control.
So you got to give very little attention and energy to it because you cannot change it. It's like the serenity prayer. Right. And it's just training yourself to be that way. And it is not easy. It's simple, but it's hard. Okay, here's a Roman Empire joke. You were just waiting for me to finish.
Yeah, but I was listening. So there's an old Jewish lady watching a movie like Ben-Hur, one of those movies, and it's the Colosseum. Because you mentioned this about like, so the lions and the Christians are in the Colosseum. And it's very, she says, turn off the movie, turn off the movie. And they come in and they say, man, we turn it, what's the matter? She said, it's too violent.
I can't watch the, I can't watch this. Okay, they turn back the movie. She watches two minutes more. Turn off the movie. Turn off the movie. They come back and say, what's the matter? She says, I can't watch the lions. They're eating the Jews. And the guy says, no, they're not eating the Jews. They're eating the Christians. They turn the back movie on.
Two minutes later, she says, turn the movie off. Turn the movie off. What's the matter now? She says, one of the lions isn't eating.
All pain is personal. It's much easier when it's not you. My father used to tell a very funny joke. You know, it's so sad that so many things that I grew up with where the different ethnicities swapped humor with one another. I think it added such a more healthy nature to the relationship than now when it's all sanitized.
It's terrible that I think racially we've lost out on so much that we made it so that you're walking on eggshells. Because I certainly remember an era, you know, I would say the late, or mid-90s, certainly Clinton, our first black president, and there was certainly lots more work to do racially. There still is. Yes, but like just certainly in the arts.
I think we have, you know, you cannot say that African-Americans are not represented in TV and movies as they were. That was the complaint, and it was valid. That is definitely not a valid complaint. And great, happy for you. Okay, but, like, in that era, through Obama, I feel like you could joke.
I mean, there was a lot of comics, so their whole act was like, black guys do this, white guys do this. You know, like, even making that comparison now. It's like, how dare you? That's racist. And the fact that we can't, like, take the piss out of each other. You think of a movie like White Men Can't Jump. You know, it's a black guy and a white guy, and they're...
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Chapter 3: How does the media's 'scalp-hunting' mentality affect public figures?
Those astronauts who just came back from space after nine months, did you see? They didn't get any, like, extra... They didn't even get overtime. They lost bone density. For being lost in space for nine months, and they didn't get overtime.
Listen, Paul Whelan... So Paul Whelan's one of the guys that we got back from Russia, right? One of the guys who was unlawfully detained there for years. I'm doing this interview with him, very compelling, and all of a sudden he says something as an aside that almost made me vomit. He says...
And then you come home and they have the act that they passed for people like me to be rehabilitated, but they never funded it. So there's no money in it. And he just keeps going. I'm like, wait a minute. You didn't get any money when you were taken because you were an American and you didn't do anything wrong and you were held for five years in a Russian prison?
He goes, yeah, no, you don't get any compensation. They never funded it. Are you fucking kidding me? I mean, and then you want to tell us that you're a just society, that you're a good society, and that you're going to make judgments about people. It'll be so easy. And you're okay with that?
Like, where does that break down where the guy who could have made that call just didn't?
It's just, it's so lazy. We got to talk about Signalgate for the next week until something else happens.
No, I'm going to let you go, but... You have anything to plug? I think it's great that you're on News Nation. I'm glad you landed somewhere. I'm glad your voice is out there. I'm glad you're talking to the people. I'm glad that you are not quite the like reliable lefty you were on CNN. I feel like I trust you the way I help people trust me to just call it down the middle, call balls and strikes.
I feel you're doing that. And I want, you know, Yes, I'd like the field to myself, but I'm glad more people are doing it for the sake of the country. And Chris, I'm always here for the country. That's mostly what I'm doing for the country.
Thank you.
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