Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.

👏👏👏👏👏

This is great and well worth your time.

If you haven’t seen the 1976 film Network, well, it’s still one of the most important and relevant movies ever.

I wrote this two whole days ago. Read it fast before it gets internet fungus.

There is NO ONE smarter about Christianity and politics than Mr. John Fugelsang. Let him explain himself to you....then buy his new book.

This is my substack page. It contains a link to my new Rollingstone piece about the first amendment. But its a two-fer because it ALSO has a video of a piece we did in 1985 on the NBC version of the Letterman show, entitled 'Test the Censors.' merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/colbert-an...

I wrote a piece for Rollingstone about Monsieurs Kimmel, and Colbert and The First Amendment. And, oddly enough, also about Paddy Chayevsky. www.rollingstone.com?p=1235432169...

Clear, sharp, and withering.

Read this, then go watch "Network."

This piece is great. The "Meet the Censors" bit is truly inspired, and several video versions of it are in the piece. Utterly brilliant. This era of Letterman with Markoe is, for me, peak television comedy.

I wrote a piece for Rollingstone about Monsieurs Kimmel, and Colbert and The First Amendment. And, oddly enough, also about Paddy Chayevsky. www.rollingstone.com?p=1235432169...

Another government shut down is looming. Oh no! Not that! If they shut down the govnmnt, who will offer insane health care advice and get rid of those pesky environmental protections? Who will remind us that empathy is evil and threaten comedians and the first amendment? Dont shut down the govnmnt!

Agree

I thought this was a great John Stewart hosted Daily Show ep. today. youtu.be/_GXNJ3V9lzg?...

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

Today at 12, a WGA protest at the Disney main gate. Please go.

Hooray for The Writers Guild. I couldn't agree more.

For whoever needs to read this: After reviewing AI creativity for a couple days, I've concluded that AI is seamlessly consolidating the world of creative cliches in all areas. And those of us who scrupulously avoid them will now rule in a distinct empire all our own. Thx 4 yr attn to this matter

No wait. A person has to be careful with this stuff. I almost misunderstood myself completely.

Not enough has been said about AI as a useful way to get to know yourself better. I just tested an AI image search using my own photo and was surprised, to say the least, at the amount of stuff about myself that I had been getting wrong. This will be very helpful going forward.

Important squirrels I have met this week.

Just rewatched Oh Brother Where Art Thou and realized I know what song The Foggy Bottom Boys should write as a sequel to Man of Constant Sorrow:

Because I am me, I bought a bag of this stuff. Not too bad. But a bittersweet experience because what I really would have liked was to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where everyone sat at a long conference table and debated what adjective they were going to pair with DELICIOUS.

On the outside chance you would like to read along as I dissect the show PERFECT MATCH, here is your opportunity. merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/why-am-i-w...

What could go wrong? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

If you were holding your breath hoping that I would post something about how it is not possible for AI to make us any stupider because we are currently maxed out...TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!! merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/how-can-ai...

My two favorite things about the new Billy Joel documentary on hbo are 1. it was a nicely assembled and engaging look at his life and career and 2. it was gratifying to realize that, if all goes as planned, I will probably never again have to spend that much time with Billy Joel.

Breaking news: The ground squirrels were eating all my flowers. So I had to hire a sentry.

When I worked on The David Letterman (live, morning) show, I experienced the cancellation of a zombie talk show while still actively broadcasting live. It was a really exhilarating and creative time. So really looking forward to next 10 months watching Mr. Colbert and team. Should be best show ever.

On the chance that you are interested in a book recommendation from me... merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/oh-those-s...

Hooray for The Writers Guild!

E.Jean Carroll's new book about forging her way thru those amazing trials is a great, entertaining, informative and often funny read. I couldn't put it down. www.amazon.com/Not-My-Type-...

Fun new surprise gift for your overly careful friend who insists on listing all the prohibited exceptions to their diet.

It is, of course, awe inspiring that Netanyahu nominated Trump for The Nobel Peace Prize but gotta say I was just as excited when I heard that Kim Jong Un nominated Trump for The Mark Twain prize.

Gotta admit...The Bear was one of my favorite shows but I think they lost me this season. "Why is that, Merrill?" you ask. Well, here is why: TOO MANY EPIPHANIES. Does EVERYONE have to have one? When a show begins to turn me into Larry David, that is when I know our love may have come to an end.

If there was ever a time to call your Senator, this is it. Voting has begun on the GOP plan to cut off health care for working-class Americans and slash taxes for the wealthiest.

Watching #The Bear is good for my domestic harmony because it allows me to believe that when I'm boring myself silly with a myriad of tedious cooking tasks, what I'm really doing is working through a range of powerful emotional challenges.

Now, from the dept. of "Things That Are Not Part of You-know-Who and His Compound Messes": Did you know that you can grow more lettuce from existing lettuce cores? Look! Now that I know how, my house is filling up with tiny lettuces. Is this a good thing? Well...you may not think so but I LIKE IT.

The only explanation I can think of for "Thank you for your attention to this matter." is that maybe this is the way Fred Trump always used to sign his eviction notices.

Why do I think all of this happened because of insufficient awe at the birthday parade?

Finally a dance I might be good at!

Just a reminder that Republicans in Congress could put a stop to this at any time.

Well, it's finally happened. The New York Times has finally run completely out of buzzy questions to assign to a writer for starting an essay. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/w...

So, I guess Jeff Bezos is branching out into poetry as a way to bond with customers before he meets the same fate that befell Elon Musk.

This is great. Reposting in case there are any of you who think there are creatures who are not especially sentient.....

On the outside chance that you are remotely interested in what I did to pass the time in a hospital waiting room while my husband was receiving not one, not two, but FIVE stents.....it can now be witnessed HERE: merrillmarkoe.substack.com/p/how-to-hav...

Stolen from the always enlightening and amusing site of Mr. Tiedrich ( www.jefftiedrich.com?r=29yrue ) For those of you who believe the president's description of L.A. as a chaotic, dystopian hell hole, under invasion, here is a map of L.A. The red circle shows the part containing the protests.

Why no talk about section of 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL", buried 500 p in, that limits the power of federal judges? "it means federal judges would lose their most potent punishment — penalties that can include steep fines and even prison time — for those who refuse to follow their orders." wapo.st/3Ftb9r7

As one of our country's leading non-experts on narcissistic character disorder, I've been trying to formulate a prediction for Trump/Musk. They seem evenly matched in terms of missing pieces and dark holes so I expected maybe a mutually advantageous negotiation they'd both claim to have won. (more)