Wow. For once, he's actually right. President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Washington Post opinion columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying “THINGS HAPPEN.”

This is amazingly good.

If you would like the hear a song that PERFECTLY encapsulates this moment in our country, I insist that you behold "All Hail The Corporation" by Mr. Andy Prieboy. Even tho he wrote it 10 years ago, boy oh boy did he nail it. youtu.be/PdnYv-M8euA?...

Concerned that the alien virus that took over the globe in the new show #PLURIBUS has begun spreading in my area.

Timeline cleanse! (Except for one fairly alarming fact/photo about echidnas, but there are adequate trigger warnings about the photo so you can skip that part if you want)

Seven Surprising Animals that I prefer to EVERYONE in the Trump administration. substack.com/@merrillmark...

Having given this some serious thought, I feel confident about announcing that the most embarrassing word in the English language is Nutmeats.

New work by Robert Crumb at Zwirner Gallery in L.A. Show is called 'Tales of Paranoia.' And Mr. Crumb is NOT kidding. But boy, that guy can really draw.

On one of the few bright sides: This is the best Halloween decor in my neighborhood. Apparently the Mom in this house is an incredibly good sport.

It's not lost on me that the part of the White House we are destroying is the part that has to do with women's history in the White House.

Just thought everyone might like to see a photo of The East Wing of The White House before it was completely and totally demolished by our current president. (courtesy @jefftiedrich.bsky.social )

No matter what value the jewels have in terms of resale on some weird black market, it prob. pales in comparison to the $$ they will get when the rights to the screenplay go up for auction. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/w...

I love Halloween and Halloween decorations as much as the next person. In fact, probably quite a bit more, depending on who the next person is. But THIS is NOT the kind of Halloween decoration you want to see at your Dentist's office.

Important Announcement Regarding Season 9 of "Love is Blind": None of these couples should get married. None. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING "THANK YOU JEFF TIEDRICH" (ME!), FOR EXPLAINING HOW REPUBLICANS ARE WALKING INTO A SHUTDOWN SHITBLIZZARD OF THEIR OWN MAKING. SPOILER ALERT: BECAUSE THEY ARE "DUMBFUCKS." THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO READING MY "TREMENDOUS" POST. HERE IS THE LINK: bit.ly/4q09r2I

So the Universe held a spiritual meeting and said unto itself "What kind of mushrooms should we plant on the property of a woman who has spent a good deal of her life writing about her dogs?" And the Universe answered "Pisolithus Tinctorius. The Dog Turd fungus." And presto. These two came forth.

I volunteer at a wildlife rescue where we raise orphan baby wildlife and then release them when they are mature enough. So I get to release some of them into my yard to begin their professional lives.Here are 5 baby squirrels seeing freedom for the first time.

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-...