The Last Show with David Cooper
FULL EPISODE: A Steamy, Heated Rivalry - January 26, 2026
27 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Unfiltered discussions.
Chapter 2: What remarkable achievement did Alex Honnold accomplish recently?
Unexpected guests. No topic is off-limits. From sex and relationships to the human condition. Personal anxieties and so much more. The only talk show of its kind in the world. World This Is.
Hello, welcome. A snowstorm dumped in a bunch of places where this show airs, so if you're in one of them, I hope you're doing okay. I fled New York. I'm in the West Coast this week. Have fun. All right, the last show, that's what you're listening to. On tonight's show, you'll learn a lot of things. Here are some of them. Dread, waiting for an outcome. It can feel heavier than reality itself.
Halfway through the hour, new research shows why the fear of what might happen will shape your choices, whether the outcome is good or bad, and will teach you why waiting might be the hardest part of all. Then later in the hour, more people than ever report eating meals alone. Is this a depressing statistic?
Chapter 3: How does dread influence decision-making according to cognitive science?
What does it say about loneliness? We'll cover that too. That's some of what the show will be. There will be more. Let's dive in.
Imagine you climb a 101-story skyscraper, break a bunch of records, but so much messed up stuff is happening in the world right now.
Nobody cares. Well, that is exactly what happened with Alex Honnold. And we're going to do the Lord's work describing a man... who ascended to the heavens, at least almost, here with Caitlin Green, a media personality who is the co-host of the Jan Arden Podcast.
Chapter 4: What alarming statistics are revealed about solo dining in the U.S.?
Caitlin, a joy it is having you on the show.
As someone who thinks that climbing really high things seems stupid, I'm kind of satisfied that this isn't landing for people just amidst the barrage of world news we have right now.
Yeah, it's like, oh, who cares? You just climbed a building. Come on, give the guy a little credit. He's human Spider-Man.
He's incredible. I just, when I hear about the number of frozen dead bodies on the side of Mount Everest, I just go, I think we should call it. I think we should just call it a day.
Chapter 5: What is the significance of the show Heated Rivalry for queer representation?
Yeah, I saw like a topographical map, like an old bird's eye view map of where all the bodies are of all the people over the years in Everest, and it's horrific. Why would you want to do that? You'd have to walk by these frozen bodies. It's too difficult to remove them. They're just there. I'm totally on a tangent, but why? Why?
No, it's true. And it's the same way that I feel about Alex Honnold. It's the same way I feel about hot air balloon rides.
Chapter 6: How can encouraging social interactions help prevent student loneliness?
It's the same way I feel about a lot of things that if something bad happens to you, everyone goes, yeah, well, fair enough. So why are you doing it? If no one cares that you die while you're doing it. And some people, me kind of actually go, what an idiot.
I got an audio clip, which I think sets the scene for this guy. I think perfectly. It's literally six seconds. You sent it to me this morning. I love it. This is him being interviewed after the achievement.
Chapter 7: In what ways are AI models being treated like alien life forms?
The highest free solo climb of a building, I think is what that was. That's right.
Alex Honnold has made history again.
Sick. Sick.
It's just exactly what you would expect of someone who's addicted to free climbing. They seem like they have the mentality sort of like surfer adjacent, just like very unusual. I would maybe think could have like some spectrum stuff going on.
Because it's so funny to me that he just got up there and was like, sick. And that was it. Yeah, no ropes, no safety net.
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Chapter 8: What insights do researchers have about the psychology of dread?
It's got to be nuts. You mentioned something about his wife at the commercial break, how you're maybe low-key fascinated by her or at least their relationship.
She's the one I want the documentary on, truthfully, because he had a documentary in 2018 that I watched and really enjoyed called Free Solo. And I am making fun of him, but he is endlessly impressive. The stuff that he's doing, like you put it, he is human Spider-Man. So I don't want to take away from that. It's crazy. But I think what's crazier is...
being married to this person, building a life with them, having two children with him, which they now do. And in the documentary, she is very concerned about his safety on multiple occasions, brought to tears. Like it's really putting her under a lot of stress because he climbed the a mountain called El Capitan, which is like essentially it's just a rock face.
It is a rock face and he goes up it with like one little meager rope and you fully expect that you could be watching someone die. And she does this all the time and she watches him prepare to do this. She knows in advance that he's gonna be doing this. She knows the day of, like trying to check in with his team to see if he's still alive.
And he just keeps doing this, even though they have now got two children. So he does this. This is the stunt he just did where he climbed the 101 story building in Taipei. He did it for Netflix. It's being live streamed. So she could now and her kids could now have footage of her husband live stream dying. I come to find out he's only paid in the mid six figures for this.
And this guy obviously has no life insurance because he's uninsurable, I would imagine.
Well, and I think he said I would do it for free. He just wanted to climb the building. Like people were saying, oh, Netflix paid you such a low fee. He's like, I don't care. I was there to climb the thing. I wasn't there to be a billionaire.
Yeah, and at what point are you just like, okay, I guess you hate your wife and family.
Did he become a climber after they started dating?
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