2,000 episodes

For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.

The Gist Peach Fish Productions

    • News
    • 4.5 • 27 Ratings

For thirty minutes each day, Pesca challenges himself and his audience, in a responsibly provocative style, and gets beyond the rigidity and dogma. The Gist is surprising, reasonable, and willing to critique the left, the right, either party, or any idea.

    You Gotta Eat The Bug

    You Gotta Eat The Bug

    A cicada invasion dawns, and edible bugs are all the, if not rage, then opportunity for a quirk filled cooking segment. Plus, protesters at Harvard negotiate their way out of trouble, whereas their Princeton counterparts are redefining hunger, or at least "hunger strike". And we are joined by Wall Street Journal columnist and India expert Sadanand Dhume to discuss Narendra Modi and the world's most sprawling election.

    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
    To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist
    Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/
    Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 41 min
    Michael Cohen, Forma' Fixa'

    Michael Cohen, Forma' Fixa'

    A glimpse into the Trump Trial, where a sleepy former President is somehow more compelling than hush money, off-the-book payments, and getting stiffed on your bonus. Plus, life expectancy by race complicates the narrative of "white supremacy." And we're joined by Sarah McCammon, National Political Correspondent at NPR and author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church.

    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
    To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist
    Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/
    Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | MikePesca | Substack
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    • 43 min
    BEST OF THE GIST: Pulitzer Edition

    BEST OF THE GIST: Pulitzer Edition

    In this installment of Best Of The Gist, Mike’s December 5, 2023 interview with author, journalist, and former director of the International Crisis Group’s Arab-Israeli Project, Nathan Thrall. Nathan won the Pulitzer Prize this past week for his most recent book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. 
     
    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara 
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com 
    To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist 
    Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ 
    Follow Mike’s Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack 
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    • 43 min
    A Drug That Kills Drink's Thrills With Andy Mills

    A Drug That Kills Drink's Thrills With Andy Mills

    Andy Mills and Matthew Boll are out with a new podcast Reflector. Now available. Episode 1 concerns Naltrexone, a drug that actually works to stop alcohol cravings, and yet 12-Step programs are much more popular, despite being much less effective. We are joined by Andy to also talk about media capture and the great podcast fake enthusiasm epidemic.

    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
    To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist
    Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/
    Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | MikePesca | Substack
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 41 min
    One Cop's Questionable Confessions

    One Cop's Questionable Confessions

    Steve Fishman is the host and executive producer of The Burden, a podcast which focuses on the string of iffy convictions attained thanks to the police work of a high-flying Brooklyn cop in the 1990s. Plus, balloon releases and issues of cultural insensitivity. And of all of Donald Trump's positions over the years, "missionary" might be the least objectionable.

    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
    To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist
    Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/
    Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | MikePesca | Substack
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 39 min
    A Half-Baked Full-Blown Famine Assessment

    A Half-Baked Full-Blown Famine Assessment

    Cindy McCain says there's a "full-blown famine" going on in Gaza. The agency she heads at the UN does not agree. Plus, a House of Representatives hearing into NPR bias was skipped by NPR's CEO and not even covered on CPSPAN, but it did feature a House Republican saying he likes his NPR station, a House Democrat saying maybe NPR really should consider the allegations of bias. And we're joined once more to talk Paul Manafort and other fans of sumptuous fabrics with Brody Mullins, author of The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government.

    https://surfshark.deals/GIST

    Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
    Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
    To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist
    Subscribe to The Gist Subscribe: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/
    Follow Mikes Substack at: Pesca Profundities | MikePesca | Substack
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
27 Ratings

27 Ratings

wysurfin ,

Coffee on Screen :)

One of the few shows that walk barefoot on the hot coals of current topics. Then I was hit with a Latin translation that caused me to shower my laptop in the physical manifestation of a belly laugh

Tdddeingee ,

Clever, Sharp,Insightful

Mike Pesca invites great guests and asks very thoughtful questions. His skills as a critical thinker and entertaining orator make almost every episode well worth the time.

voltroner ,

Big Intellect, frivolous arguments

Yay. He’s back.
Was it the pandemic? Being cancelled? Or is Mike just letting his contrarian disposition let loose now that he’s on his own? Whatever it is, something has caused Mike to drift off course from a show that used to be extremely insightfully and informative. Nowadays Mike is fighting the fights no one asked for.

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