Cenk Vs. Dave, the Left Turns Violent & the Best and Worst of 2025

0:00Sage, could I ask you to repeat one word there? The first word of the third line. Could you just repeat that again? Can you just repeat that again for me, please? I don't think I said it right. Well, can you just say what you said? I'm going to say it the way I've heard it be said, and then maybe we can figure it out. We have people of great... Did I say lababoo? I think it's a lababoo. I know where to go for help. You guys did good. I've gone to my wife who knows what this is. Okay, babe, can you guys hear? Tell everybody what a little boo-boo is. La-ba-boo. La-ba-boo. Oh, my God. La-ba-boo? La-ba-boo.

0:40What the hell is it? La-ba-boo. Do you own a la-ba-boo, honey? No. Probably not. Okay. Well, thank you so much. And Sound Park insisted that the la-ba-boos were a, some sort of, you had some sort of devil worship associated with them. Oh, thank God we don't own a labubu. It's basically become the modern Cabbage Patch Kid. Or a doll Pokemon kind of thing.

1:09And welcome to this special holiday edition of Actual Friends with my actual friends from across the country. dr group pinsky julian michaels dave rubin and i am sage deal and hi i i think we all follow directions and showed up in holiday gear yes yeah i don't even think i look good in this shirt but my wife's like are you gonna wear that i'm like i think i have to i didn't have time to get one of those bad sweaters so kind of have like a bad banana republic shirt not that there's anything wrong with that but sorry go on just definitely signaling christmas though that says christmas i mean dave looks like he's unbuttoning a shirt here i was buttoning up a little more so you'd see a little more shirt but this is basically well i've got some christmasy colors here and this is mostly if you wanted to know what dave rubin looked like in college at suny binghamton in the late 90s in new york this was it this is all i just wore a flannel shirt white t-shirt four straight years that was it you know what i did that too you were there a little before me but you were in that area too yeah yeah it's sort of a velvet coat it's the most expensive thing i own yeah it's sleek i like it a lot you know i would be drinking if dave had sent me a bottle of his tequila but who's in who's in charge of sending big celebrities i'm confused all right i don't who's in charge of that oh look there you go look at that oh my god now i'm pissed yeah showing up jillian showing up to the ruben report holiday party has its benefits okay i know um i listen i want you to know jillian that your wife said are you wearing that my daughter the night the 19 year old's here and she's like are you are you serious i'm like yeah babe absolutely you know i'm an idiot you've known this from day one why are you surprised and i follow orders when it comes to holidays as a heart attack hell yeah and plus you have to balance it out because this doesn't look like christmas behind me i know kind of nice little balance so listen i'm super excited about this show because um unlike last week's show where it was very serious and very serious topics and kind of depressing we are you're going to close out the year 2025 on a high note and reflect Is that a fair way to encompass what this is about to be?

3:36Yes. 100%. Yes. Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. So we're each going to have our turn as usual, but it's going to be super fun this time. I am going to kick us off with a little bit of a poem. And no, I did not write it. I can't take credit for that. It's really good. So you'll know for sure that I did not write it. But are we ready for the 2025 pop culture recap poem? Pop culture. Okay. Listen up. I'm going to need your genuine reaction afterwards. Here we go. They said TikTok will be banned one day. January came. It stayed anyway. Lava boo dolls with teeth and glare sold out fast and everywhere.

4:15Celebrities flew to space for fun. Came back memes when the trip was done. Sydney Sweeney sold blue jeans. Turned one ad into cultural scenes. Taylor Swift got engaged at last. A headline that traveled lightning fast. Jimmy Kimmel left the screen. Came back quick. The gap unseen. That was the year, strange but true, a full rewind of 2025 just for you. Who wrote that? It's pretty good. That was incredible. Whoever wrote that deserves a Pulitzer. A bottle of Dave's tequila, I think. It is kind of true, though, when you think about, I mean, just those examples there, right? And I had forgotten about those idiots going into space.

4:57Like, how did we allow them? Sorry, I'm sure there are no humans. I mean, some of them. Like, what was that? Yes, Taylor Swift about broke the internet when she got engaged to Travis Kelce. And I think that the wedding has been set at her home in New England. And what else? I mean, from the musical side, from the political side, we saw a lot of that. Jimmy Kimmel, that was kind of gross. And he just came back as if nothing ever happened. I don't know that we'll ever fully be able to encompass what this year was. Obviously, personally, we had reasons, too. But there was a lot. Did you see Rachel's text?

5:34Chat GPT wrote that post. Wrote that. Oh, shit. I think it was terrible. Of course. That sounds like 2025. It does. It sure does. Chat GPT also wrote, like, the number one country song, Breaking Rust. It's like Walk My Walk. Have you heard it? It's terrifyingly good. There's a few, like, AI, you know, this you'd expect, but it's pretty staggering. Anyway, I went off piste. Forgive me. That was very well done, Sage. Well, Sage, could I ask you to repeat one word there? The first word of the third line. Could you just repeat that again? Can you just repeat that again for me, please? I don't think I said it right.

6:20Well, can you just say what you said? I'm going to say it the way I've heard it be said, and then maybe we can figure it out. We have people of great... Did I say lababoo? i think it's a labubu i know where to go for help hold on i think it's a labubu you know about these labubus do you guys know about this yeah i only know about it i anything obscure cultural i know about because of south park oh they had they had labubus on south park yeah the guy the the uh the gentleman that owns the the sushi no the what is it a walk or whatever in the shittipa town He's now turned it into a Japanese tchotchke store.

7:03You guys did good. I've gone to my wife who knows what this is. Okay, babe, can you guys hear? Tell everybody what a little boo-boo is. La-ba-boo. La-ba-boo. Oh, my God. Why? La-ba-boo? La-ba-boo. What the hell is it? La-ba-boo. Baby, what is that? Well, hold on. Does no one know what it is? Drew kind of knows what it is. well I know what it is I've seen a LeBubu my niece has a LeBubu it's a toy character that they sell out of Pop Mart but it's become this insane almost like super cliche everyone puts them on their bags and they have I mean the guy this is like a billion dollar business out of these characters do you own a LeBubu honey?

7:53no Okay. Well, thank you so much. And South Park insisted that the labubus were a, some sort of, um, you had some sort of devil worship associated with them. Oh, God. Thank God we don't own a labubu. Oh, my gosh. All right. Definitely not going in the kids' stockings. The labubu, my 10-year-old niece, I went over to my sister's and she was talking about the labubu and she has one labubu because they can be insanely, insanely expensive. And yeah, they put them on their bags and I guess on their jeans and whatever, but a little doll like this, that when we were kids, it would have been a$3 doll.

8:29But what it is, is like when I was, I don't know what, sixth, seventh grade, or maybe it was fifth grade, everyone wanted cabbage patch kids. You guys remember when that went absolutely insane and mothers were beating the crap out of each other at malls so that the kids could get a cabbage patch kid. That at least was a doll. I must've been younger than that, maybe second grade. I don't even remember, but it's basically become the modern Cabbage Patch Kid. Or a doll Pokemon kind of thing. It's a collectible. Yeah, exactly. And the only thing I will say to this is 6 '7". Oh, snap, Dr. Drew. Wow.

9:05Are we moving on from Lububu's predictions? I just, I want to know how long we're going to linger on this. The fact that the only thing Ruben pointed out about that great read was my mistake. But looking in the monitor at this shirt makes me want to go change. Like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get through this. If I'm wearing this, you're staying in that. Did we all have a good 2025? It was a weird year, I got to admit. A very, very strange year. But was it a good year? It's hard to tell, right? Well, it depends if you're asking, like, state of the world or personally or whatever. Like, personally, this was a great year for me.

9:46Like, like, you know, the kids at this age going from two to three is such an incredible age as the words start bursting in the sense of humor and all that kind of stuff. And just, you know, that I can show them my toys from when I was a kid now and they're into it and like all that stuff's great. So I always tell people like what goes on here in my little castle is amazing. The state of the world I've never been more concerned about. So that that's one thing I'm always grappling with. It's why I like doing this with you guys, because it's like we talk about heavy stuff. all of us in our own little avenues when we're doing our, our other gigs.

10:19And then, and then we get to come here and kind of like hash out some other things together. Um, so I, yeah, I would also say that at 49 years old, the years are going by way quicker. Like it feels like it was new year's three weeks ago. Like it's just, and then obviously there were just crazy things that happened this year between, you know, obviously Charlie being killed was the, was the main one but it's just it was a it was a weird year and i i would say in terms of western civilization it's ending particularly weirdly uh but but my little fiefdom over here is pretty good what about you drew hey we're good i have a granddaughter now i got a grandson coming and that's you you know when you can engage with the next generation it really makes everything meaningful frankly it's nothing more important than that and then yeah i have the same experience which is it's, you know, I sort of see the whole world now as pre-COVID and post-COVID.

11:13And as we move away from COVID, I feel like we're coming back to reality. Like reality is reasserting itself, but boy, it's doing it in a very strange, jerky, jerky kind of way. And I look forward to us all being back in reality. That would be nice. I know Sage Steele had a great year. I did. I did. I didn't think I'd be. I mean, a year ago, I had just met my current husband. So there you go. Like, let's go. What the hell? Um, you know, it sounds, you guys know me well enough. Oh, hi. We had a fun wedding. Did we not? Your other Dave. There's a lot of days in my life. You know, I, obviously that was such a blessing and to be able to have an opportunity to start over again at 50.

12:05I'm now 53. So I got married at 52. And, um, with my kids there, it's not, you know, with divorce, it's not, there's so much bad. And then you see this one silver lining, one of, I guess, many where it's like, gosh, my kids are old enough, not just to be there to witness this second chance and to hear the vows and to see the love and the transformation, the evolution, um, like to, they felt it and hopefully they take this forward into their lives with their decisions with partners in the future, you know? So like, that was beautiful. The health of my parents, um, which has been a tough year with that tough ending to the year with that.

12:44Um, but they got me there to witness it. So I'm just so grateful for so much. And I think back to how the year began with the inauguration. I mean, not only, yeah, it was freaking cold as you know what, but like, I remember just being in awe being there and like, look at what we did just by having conversations and talking and communicating and evolving with our opinions, which we'll talk about later on this show but like to think about how much our world has changed since january 20th um thank god you know with a lot of work to be done but i cannot imagine what 2025 would have been like had the other person on the ticket won yeah i would just simply echo what dave said like i love my family i adore my kids a little overwhelmed with the state of the world but But I am, gosh, guys, every interview is like stepping into the octagon, you know, every time.

13:50And like, I don't even do anything and I go viral. I literally do nothing. And it's been just a weird year in that way. But having said that, I'm exceptionally grateful for the time. It's like the only time where you don't even have to. I don't even do my homework because I know that if I make a mistake, I'm amongst friends who will gently correct me or educate me. And it's the ultimate safe space. I'm so grateful for that. And I'm so grateful, as mentioned, for my wife, my family, my brother, my children. So that you can't ask for more. Can I just say, like, I hope you take this the right way.

14:32Like when we met about a year and a half ago in Los Angeles, when you did my show, I just started off. And I don't know, you've just put yourself out there so much and taken a beating in some crazy ways. But you stood out for yourself and you've stood by the why behind your thought processes and your decisions. And I've, I guess, probably been on the right longer than you. And not that you are the right. I'm just saying, you know, with certain opinions, I just want you to know that like, there's for as much hate as you get for going into the octagon and for going on Piers Morgan, all of us and same with you, Drew.

15:13Like, I don't know. I'm just so proud of you. And I hope you take that the right way. Not like in a motherly way, but it's really hard. I think the key is, is when you are just true to yourselves with whatever that is, even if we don't agree on something on this, on this show, like you're true to yourself, it ends up being easier, but you're such an example. And there's so much more good when you speak the truth. There's so many more good people who agree with you actually than the opposite. They're just the sane ones who stay quiet. You know what I mean? And I just, I'm just really proud. Like the change that you have made in the last year alone is incredible.

15:47First of all, that means the world to me. And, you know, if I could also, Sage, and again, I hope this comes out the right way. there have been moments where I get a little bit alarmed at some of the the more kind of alt-right positions and I'm like oh man this is getting a little scary you know maybe maybe like being being gay I'm like and I would never like I'm not trying to play victim but there's it's becoming really unpopular like a lot of the a lot of the progress that we made with like listen you can have your marriage i don't want to trans kids i feel like we're really backsliding there and i and i'm getting a little scared and you know my wife goes god bless sage she doesn't give a shit she shows up with you and dave and she doesn't care and it's like and dude you just don't like if it's trendy suddenly on one side or another to go after gays or go after jews or go you don't subscribe to any of that shit.

16:53And I, I cannot tell you how much that means to me and how brave you would have to be as a religious conservative when everybody, anyway, I, without saying more and digging a deep hole. And I, again, like, I hate to kind of bemoan that point, but I have been feeling like a little bit freaked out and I'm so grateful for your friendship. That's I'm gonna say I love you I love all of you guys for that they're so and because we all this is what I always say to people who who question me or when my kids are like oh my gosh what about this and through I think we talked specifically about this every week last week right every single opinion is based on someone else's experience and like when we shut people down like you don't know what I've been through I mean the whole race thing where and Dave you and I've talked about this at length and to be a hair thing the way to be a black conservative I mean sometimes I I you'd be a question yourself and you're like oh my gosh am I a sellout all the things that these people say I am and like we're human we might be strong whatever but I I'm still really weak I still get my feelings freaking hurt all the time yeah but it's not Like I really, then it becomes a competitive thing.

18:14I go into the sports mode again and it's like, okay, so I'm going to let that person or that group of people change me and affect me and silence me. Well, then that's not it. That's on me. You know, it's just, it's just taken me a lot longer to get there than I would have liked at this age. And you know, that's, that's the beauty of being canceled a few times. There's a lot of silver linings and surviving cancellation. But that's also why I love doing this show with you every week. And why I said the alt title of the show could be creator therapy because it's like, we come here and then we, and we do this and, and it's, it's sort of an easy lift with literal, actual friends.

18:49And then it like helps me think things through for the rest of the week. Cause we, we all know we don't have to, we don't have to drop names at the moment. We've all watched some people in our circles go kind of crazy this year. And you, you get disappointed by people and all of that. And you know, when I look at the three of you now, it's like, man, Drew, literally the first TV show I ever did was Dr. Drew show in LA. We had never met before we did that tv show that's over 10 years ago now sage when you walked into my studio less than two years ago we had never met we had maybe texted before maybe maybe spoken the phone i'm not even sure but i remember you were standing right there you turned around and the second we looked at each other i was like this is like my long lost sister we ended up spending all day together you literally i had a dinner in palm beach you drove me like four hours while talking to your kids the whole all the time.

19:39And then, and then Jillian, it's like, you just got, you just got somehow flung into this world in this like white, hot, crazy thing. That is the Maga Maha thing. And you know, you and I text all the time, like, as we're going through the fights and everything else. And usually what I'm saying to you is something to the effect of I've been through all of this and just keep going and you're going to be fine. And, and you are, you know, you really wear your emotions on your sleeve. You have a very like thin force field around a lot of it. I think that's the beauty about you, but it also makes it tough.

20:13It scares me. Some of it, some of it scares me. And, um, you know, the rhetoric on both sides is it's scary. You know, you've got 20 % of these young kids on the left that think political violence is, is justified. You've got, the very alt-right, I hate to even include the word right in there, but I don't know how else to describe it. All of a sudden, you're starting to see this rise of identitarianism and homophobia and anti-Semitism. We all know who I'm referring to.

20:52You're seeing the fringe overgrow. And I watched it take over the left and I'm just praying to God. And I don't think it will, but that's all. Like it just, it's scary. I'm like, I can't believe these things are mainstream. I can't believe it actually. Well, it doesn't, but you know what, it doesn't necessarily mean they're mainstream. You know, one of the things that Jordan Peterson talked about for a long time is that the architecture of the internet sort of means that everything that is fringe will get pulled to the center, right? Because everything that's fringe becomes viral because it's crazy, it's out there and whatever.

21:26So what we've ended up doing basically is we have like a black hole that's sucking in all of the stars constantly. And what we have to worry about is what happens when every fringe idea is, is centralized or, or just stuff together, then, then what do we have? But again, that's why I love doing this with you guys, because yeah, that all sounds, it's all nuts out there, but you know, it's not like we're nobodies. Like we all have audiences. We, we all are speaking to people and our people are speaking to people and it's a long game, you know? you're right d 100 and you always make me feel better i'm like i'm gonna give dave ruben that i always give drew a panic attack every time he talks to me alone he's like my blood pressure i do the same to you and you you like hold steady but like privately i'm just like have you seen this this is crazy and you calm me down and i'm exceptionally with you jillian is usually when you're calling me in a meltdown mode it's because someone that i either used to work with or knew is saying something horrible about you.

22:23And I'm like, yeah, I've been through that. Yeah, I did that one. I did that one. I did, you know. Yeah. Okay. We won't bemoan this further. Should we make, should we get into some rapid fire? Ultimately, the bottom line on this one is we all appreciate the hell out of each other and everybody watching who's of like mind, we're grateful for you. Should I get into predictions team? I'm going to do a quick read, quick read. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad, my bad, my bad, Sage. But I feel like, you guys, no one went along. I think I'm done. Did it serve its purpose? I can't get out of these turds. You have to stick out.

23:01She has no blood rushing to the back of her head. That can't be good. All right. All right. Here we go. Positive stuff. What are we quietly optimistic about in the new year? I'll go first. I got one, which is against all conventional wisdom. I think the midterms are going to be just fine for the Republicans. I think they're so far away. I just sat down yesterday with, I was in D.C. I did 12 interviews, 12 interviews with senators and congresspeople. Only one Democrat will talk to me, Ro Khanna. It was the other 11 were all Republicans. But everyone said the exact same thing, which is that the big, beautiful bill, which has all sorts of tax cuts, deregulation stuff, other things that are going to help the economy, none of it's kicked in yet.

23:45It all kicks in this year. So I think if that happens, I think if Trump can move a little Russia, Ukraine towards piece. I think, you know, clearly the Middle East stuff is calming down. I think there will be a shift. And if they can message it properly and show that what we're really up against for all the little fights on the right is completely bananas, Marxist, communist, jihadist left. I know it's completely against conventional wisdom, but that's what I'm going into the new year with. I like how all of your heads went on a swivel on that one. I'm kind of positive on the world. I think when you look at history, whenever there are great risk.

24:20There is great reward. And in times of real unsettling processes in the world, that's how you get through things. And that's how you get to a better place. And God knows we're going through something right now. And I'm optimistic about it. There's great risk. That doesn't mean it has to turn out okay. But I am optimistic. I'm still blown away by Ruben. And I'm a black-haired full person here. I guess, though. What am I optimistic about? I am optimistic that the Trump administration is going to no longer do any print interviews with anyone ever again. I'm optimistic that they have learned their lesson.

24:59Vanity Fair, screw off. Susie Wiles is one of my heroes. And I think that they have learned their lesson finally. That's really a bad thing to be optimistic about. Nice. Okay. I'll toss one in quick. I'm very optimistic that parenting teenagers has been awesome so far. Can't believe it. I heard it was gonna be awful, but it's been great. So hopefully here's to another year of awesomeness. I do know they'll keep growing this year. I know. Okay. So you'll hit it. Don't worry. It'll cut 15 and a half. But so far, like I just keep hearing horror stories and they just keep getting more awesome so i don't know i tell my son i'm like i think you're supposed to become like a douche soon and he's like it's not gonna happen i'm like i think it's supposed to like you're supposed to slam doors and call me names and like not come out of your room he's like mom and then he comes and sits next to me on the couch and watches instagram reels and political clips 18 18 18 okay and the girl child is just fantastic like she's constantly like sitting down and educating me on her world and pop culture.

26:12And it's the cutest thing and teaching her to drive. I feared for my life, actually. This is a good luck, Dave. Like, wow, it's actually quite terrifying. And we did drive right over a sidewalk at one point the other day. But when we were doing that and I feared for everyone's life in the car, I thought like, This is a deathbed moment. Teaching your kid to drive. It is. And by the way, I have some of the funniest videos that we have on my phone, saved forever, are those when I was like, oh, I'll be fine. I'll be calm. I was the worst parent to drive with. We'll take a break in the passenger seat.

26:51It's so bad. And one of them, my oldest, is the worst driver in the history of drivers. and so I just have to and she's 23 I just have to like let go and let God I will say this like I'm so I do think the mother-son thing is different than the mother-daughter like that there's a different vibe and of course maybe father-daughter versus father-son I don't know but me my my son's always been so easy and so kind and um you know but it's bigger than just gender it's it's definitely who they are innately, but I, I, um, can I not be as lame? Thank you, Julian, for going personal. I was trying to go more worldly.

27:30I am convinced that this year I'm going to finally take better care of my health, Dr. Drew, because I've, I've taken it for granted for a long time and really, really let it go. And mental health is all about me. After 50, you got to get on it, on it. And I'm, and I'm well after 50. I just have taken it for granted, you know, personally right now with, with family members where it's, it's, it's scary. And I need to do it for not just for myself, but for everybody else. And then my final goal, though, optimism that when I do a full squat in front of Jillian, I'm actually going to do it the right way.

28:10And she's not going to mock me. Like, I'm optimistic that I can do a good squat that Jillian would be proud of. No butt wink, mama. No butt wink. That's so important. Yeah, none of that. I know.

28:27I'll jump on that challenge with you because I'm not I'm not great at squats. I got tight hips. We're working on it. Don't tell me you have a butt wink. I don't believe it. No, I don't even know what a butt wink is, at least in this context. So let me move on. Oh, my gosh, this is so bad. We're going to have to work. You're going to get like a serious back injury if you have a butt wink. I literally don't know what that is. I'm just saying I'm not great at squats, but I don't know what a butt wink is, honestly. Oh, just wait. Okay. Well, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll sidebar that for a private session together.

29:00Uh, okay. What trend do you think is already peaking?

29:08Touche. All right. We should move quick on these. I think big pants are over. You know, the kids are wearing the big pants now. My guy, Joey in the other room over there he's always wearing these big pants i think the day of the big pants it's out regular pants are back sage i think this crap all this tiktok it's like already pink stay away from me just please no more okay um i'm gonna go with weight loss drugs i think people are starting to see how they accelerate aging starting to freak people out like after a few years of this trend it's like Like, oh, they're so thin and now they look 25 years older.