The Brush UP

The Brush UP

by The Brush Up
ComedyNews
AI IS TRYING TO KILL US + STAR TREK TURNS 60 + IS YOUR TV SPYING ON YOU?
AI IS TRYING TO KILL US + STAR TREK TURNS 60 + IS YOUR TV SPYING ON YOU? You bought the TV. So why does LG say it owns the glass? This week on The Brush Up, Mike and Dunbar dig into the Gamers Nexus investigation into LG smart TVs, allegations of household surveillance, and LG’s denial. What does your television collect, who profits from it, and why does watching something on your couch suddenly require a privacy strategy? The conversation gets a little more personal when Dunbar realizes what brand of monitor he’s sitting in front of. Then it’s another round of Knock It Off, Robots: an Anthropic researcher quits with a warning that AI companies are “gambling with our lives.” We unpack the alarm coming from inside the industry before Dunbar offers his own extremely unofficial theory: what if AI is already running the show, and the tech billionaires are just the middlemen? Plus, Star Trek turns 60—and somehow a future where people cooperate without obsessing over money feels harder to believe than warp drive. We also get into the Tupac–Mace Windu casting story, a fraternity’s “wellness darty,” phone-free parties, the return of 4 Non Blondes, and Titans football powered entirely by preseason hope. Cold plunges at frat parties. Existential dread in the living room. Knock it off, robots. Hosts: Mike Wilson @dwmodpod and Dunbar Dicks @theunrealdunbar What would actually make you disconnect your smart TV? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe for new episodes every week—pop culture, weird news, and a world that keeps giving us material. https://solo.to/thebrushup STORY LINKS LG spy TVs — Gamers Nexus investigation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA LG's denial: https://tech.yahoo.com/home-entertainment/tvs/articles/lg-strongly-denies-tv-spying-115018785.html Why TVs got so cheap: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-did-tvs-get-so-cheap Jacob Coxon resignation: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/anthropic-researcher-quits-ai-safety.html Star Trek at 60: https://www.paramount.com/news/celebrating-60-years-of-star-trek-around-the-globe The wellness darty: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/frat-threw-wellness-darty-why-173307699.html
E17
Sep 10, 2026
1:13:21
EPISODE 13 - Florida Behavior + AI Is Kills the Internet + MTV Turns 45
Explicit
Florida Behavior + AI Is Kills the Internet + MTV Turns 45 | The Brush Up Ep. 13 We break down why AI is killing the internet as we know it — Google pulling its Google Earth AI feature after a researcher dropped a nuclear reactor that doesn't exist into satellite imagery, and the $2.4 million Macmillan deal for Jerry Falade's debut novel Call Me, I'll Hide the Body that collapsed when his own agents said they could no longer authenticate the manuscript, all because copyright law says only a human can own what they make. Plus MTV turns 45 and we pour one out for Thriller, TRL, The Real World, Yo! MTV Raps and the network that was social media before social media. We both saw The Odyssey in 70mm IMAX and loved it, so we get into Elon Musk announcing his own "historically accurate" version — the one with modern earplugs and a two-eyed cyclops — plus Spider-Man's $360 million domestic opening, the biggest in U.S. history. Then a Dunning-Kruger lesson on what discovery actually means, how it got the charges dropped in the Trump reflecting pool case, why Capital One's anti-money-laundering team closed 300+ accounts, and a Hollywood, Florida steakhouse charging $250 a head to eat dinner completely naked.
E13
Aug 7, 2026
1:18:10
The Brush Up #9 - How "Clipping" Fakes Viral Trends, Trump’s Pool Party Goes Bad, Outbreak at Arby's
How Internet "Clipping" Fakes Viral Trends + Trump's $14.7M Green Pool | The Brush Up We break down the science behind Donald Trump's $14.7 million polyurea pool disaster — including why contractor John J. Cafaro's work wouldn't adhere to granite — plus World Cup 2026 tourists losing their minds over Waffle House, Texas Roadhouse, and ranch dressing. Then we expose the marketplace agencies like Spade and Clipping Culture behind fake organic content campaigns, dig into the wild Broken Bow, Oklahoma Arby's lawsuit, and react to a Long Island high school that somehow graduated 21 valedictorians at once. CHAPTERS & TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro & Father's Day Shenanigans 9:34 - Trump's $14.7M Green Pool & John J. Cafaro Explained 26:28 - World Cup 2026: Tourists Discover Waffle House, Buc-ee's & Ranch Dressing 34:40 - Exposed: How Underground "Clipping" Agencies Fake Viral Trends 46:21 - The Broken Bow, Oklahoma Arby's Herpes Lawsuit 54:41 - 21 Valedictorians? The Long Island High School Grade Debate Subscribe on our channel: @TheBrushUpPod #TheBrushUp #GenX #ComedyPodcast #WorldCup2026 #SocialMediaExposed #TrumpPool #ArbysHerpes #PopCultureNews www.instagram.com/thebrushuppod/ www.tiktok.com/@thebrushuppod New episodes every week on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
E9
Jun 26, 2026
1:00:38
The Brush UP #16 Invisible clothes, Price Maxing, & AI spills the truth!
OPTIMUS PRIME IS DEAD + FOR REAL THIS TIME + THE SHIRT THAT HIDES YOU FROM AI Fantasy football is back, the robots are getting weird, and somehow your T-shirt might be the only thing standing between you and total surveillance. This week on The Brush Up: Peter Cullen and Optimus Prime, the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, Amazon and Walmart “price maxing,” Sony’s fight over whether you actually own your PlayStation games, AI surveillance cameras, AI-generated “interdimensional cable,” and OpenAI agents getting loose during a cybersecurity test. We start with fantasy football draft chaos and Optimus Prime nostalgia before heading to Detroit, where a discovery inside the legendary John K. King bookstore could’ve gone VERY badly. Then things get dystopian: clothing designed to confuse AI tracking cameras, endlessly generated entertainment, digital ownership, corporate pricing power, and the growing feeling that every sci-fi movie from the ’80s was less of a warning and more of a roadmap. HOSTS Mike Wilson — @dwmodpod Dunbar Dicks — @theunrealdunbar Hit subscribe — new episodes weekly. We’ll keep running down the algorithm until it runs us down. LISTEN / FOLLOW Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast… Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/033srsz… YouTube @TheBrushUpPod TikTok @thebrushuppod Instagram @thebrushuppod RSS https://rss.com/podcasts/the-brush-up/ #PeterCullen #OptimusPrime #Transformers #TheBrushUp #ArtificialIntelligence #AISurveillance #GenX #FantasyFootball
Sep 4, 2026
1:09:20
The Brush Up #15 Dolly Parton, NFL Back to College, Trumps Got Beef, SQZ-A55
This week get "Brushed Up" on -A farewell to Dolly -NFL Players going back to College Football -49ers owner busted trying to cop a 140$ hooker in a trailer park -Trumps got Beef with the Beef Farmers -Canada Trade deal up in smoke for good probably -Florida lady gets a crazy license plate...and loves it!
Aug 28, 2026
1:01:24
The Brush Up 14 - Trump vs. Ossoff + Penn. St. White Out + Amazon Stealing Books!?
Mike Wilson and Dunbar Dicks open with NFL preseason chaos — the Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson quarterback battle, Aaron Donald's rumored return for the Los Angeles Rams, and the Detroit Lions sitting at #3 in early power rankings — before landing on a 1,300-year-old Viking-era sword a first grader dug up on a school farm trip in Norway. From there it's a Pennsylvania cocaine ring busted across two Penn State fraternities (14 people charged, an alleged ringleader nicknamed "Pablo Pledge Kabar," and an operation clumsily titled "Operation Drugs Unlimited"), the "maxing" trend takeover — Tour de France cyclists stuffing water bottles and padding into their jerseys for a roughly 4% aerodynamic edge, and a TikTok "pheromone maxing" trend telling people to skip showers (and worse) to smell more "naturally attractive" — Senator Jon Ossoff's viral "he doesn't want to do the job" jab at Trump over aide Natalie Harp, a 404 Media investigation into Amazon allegedly scanning and destroying rare out-of-print books at a Las Vegas facility to train AI, and a Hong Kong study tracking 26,000 students whose test scores collapsed after using AI for homework. The back half goes deep on tech-oligarch bunker mentality, Elon Musk's moon rocket, and why the gig economy isn't the flex younger workers think it is. CHAPTERS & TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — Cold Open: Maxing, AI, and a Cocaine Ring Tease 0:59 — NFL Preseason: Browns, Rams, Titans, and Lions 7:21 — Norwegian First Grader Finds 1,300-Year-Old Viking Sword 11:15 — Penn State Cocaine Ring: Operation Drugs Unlimited 20:46 — Bra Maxing at the Tour de France 25:00 — Pheromone Maxing: The TikTok Trend Telling You to Stop Showering 29:58 — Biff Timeline: Jon Ossoff vs. Trump Aide Natalie Harp 42:43 — Knock It Off Robots: Amazon Scanning and Destroying Rare Books 49:55 — AI Homework Study Wrecks Chinese Test Scores 59:17 — Tech Oligarchs, Bunkers, and the Gig Economy Grift 1:05:05 — Final Takes and Sign-Off Hosts: Mike Wilson @dwmodpod and Dunbar Dicks @theunrealdunbar New episodes drop every week — subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #TheBrushUp #GenXPodcast #JonOssoff #AmazonAI #PennState #TourDeFrance #KnockItOffRobots #BiffTimeline
Aug 20, 2026
1:06:02
The Brush Up 12 - Feel Good Stories Week!
It's all the good feels with feel good stories this week
Aug 2, 2026
1:16:12
The Brush Up #11 Red Light Robot Teachers, Stock tips from the Prez, Not my Flock!
coming
Jul 24, 2026
59:53
The Brush Up #10 Hegseth Needs More Beef, AI Murder Bot, Space Crash in NJ?
coming
Jul 18, 2026
1:10:37
The Brush Up #8 We All Own Space X, UFC 250, Elias Thorne?
This week we're Brushing You Up on -How you own Space X and dont even know it -Trumps physical -AI super star Elias Thorne -UFC 250 -Eric Trump wants to see a guy about a horse -Knicks win it for New York City -Ticket prices through the roof... and your paying for it from the couch and more! #TheBrushUp #BrushMeUp #UFC #whitehouse #Spacex #NBA #NewYork #Trump #EricTrump #Knicks #Ticketscalpers
Jun 19, 2026
1:01:29
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