Rush Limbaugh has died at the age of 70 after being diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2020, his wife, Kathryn, announced on his eponymous radio show on Wednesday morning. The right-wing talk radio host will perhaps be most remembered for his long history of controversial provocations, insults, and hate speech (and/or his inexplicable beef with Game Of Thrones recappers).
Limbaugh’s radio career was spent spreading the opposite of positivity, and he found a lot of success doing that. But we here at The A.V. Club choose to focus on things that hopefully make the world a better place—or at least make us feel good. With this goal in mind, here are three talk radio offerings that we make time to enjoy that aren’t All Things Considered (which is also quite enjoyable).
Stephanie Miller is the daughter of the 1964 Republican VP candidate, William E. Miller of New York, but she’s a die-hard liberal. Her daily three-hour progressive radio series offers fresh, funny commentary on the often-head-spinning politics of the day, with guests including the likes of Esquire’s Charlie Pierce, The Rude Pundit, and Congressman Adam Schiff. Available in syndication and Miller’s website.
This Peabody-winning syndicated show is much like The A.V. Club in that it offers interviews, commentary, and criticism covering all forms of pop culture. The program is hosted Mondays through Thursdays by Terry Gross, who has been with Fresh Air since a few months into it’s launch at Philadelphia’s WHYY in 1975. Gross received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016, “For her artful probing of the human experience. Her patient, persistent questioning in thousands of interviews over four decades has pushed public figures to reveal personal motivations behind extraordinary lives—revealing simple truths that affirm our common humanity.” Available in syndication on NPR stations and on demand at npr.com.
It’s Been A Minute with Sam Sanders
This twice-weekly series spends every Friday tackling the news of the moment, and every Tuesday offering up in-depth conversations that help us make just a little more sense of this crazy world. This Tuesday, NPR correspondent Sam Sanders welcomed filmmaker and activist Abigail Disney, daughter of Roy E. Disney, to discuss “her views on inequality in the U.S., corporate greed and why, despite her last name, she’s become one of the more vocal and prominent critics of The Walt Disney empire.” Available on demand wherever you get your podcasts.
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WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL.WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL.WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL.
AH, FRESH AIR. VERY NICE.WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?
Nice work today.
You mean like this?
Sure Rush was racist, and homophobic, and transphobic, and a liar, and hypocritical, and in general wrong about most things, but don’t forget he was also busted with a suitcase full of illegal viagra coming back from a known child sex trafficking hotspot.
I have fond memories of “Operation Chaos”. Rush thought helping Obama win the primary would ensure a GOP victory come November. It took him a couple of weeks after that to regain his composure.
There were Dems who thought the same thing about Trump.It never stops being a remarkably stupid move.
And I see people saying the same thing now! Don’t give the people the option to elect a clown because, sadly, they will.
Americans love their Rock Stars.
I have weirdly fond memories of his riffing on the Clintons, despite it also warping many of my family into following reactionary bullshit. Tons of rides with dad with him on. So I feel a weird sadness mixed with joy that he cant poison any minds anymore. To his listeners, Trump’s insane rhetoric is completely normal and they genuinely don’t get why people are so freaked out.
It’s pretty irritating that the many apt descriptions you’ve listed have all been eschewed for “controversial, provocative” in the obits across mainstream media. Disgusting, really. Limbaugh did nothing but bash them his whole career and now they’re glad-handing his “legacy”
Rush is not a child molester. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a child molester…but he is NOT a Communist.
Don’t forget misogynist.
And those were his good qualities.He was overall and unrepentant piece of shit with zero redeeming qualities. Even in his death bed showed no remorse.
“Sure Rush was racist, and homophobic, and transphobic, and a liar, and hypocritical, and in general wrong about most things, but don’t forget he was also busted with a suitcase full of illegal viagra coming back from a known child sex trafficking hotspot.” Is that all? In all honesty, I actually forgot about the viagra thing simply because of everything else. JFC he needed to be put down like a 15 year old pug with hip dysplasia.
Too late.
It’s weird, I don’t remember conservatives saying “keep politics out of sports” when Rush was, for some reason, part of the Sunday Night Football team.
It seems like he lasted for a lot longer than he actually did, but the internet assures me he only lasted all of four weeks on Sunday Night Football.
The nail in the coffin for Rush was when he argued against the Eagles starting quarterback Donovan McNabb over Koy Detmer, peppering his racially-divisive diatribe with claims that the NFL was pushing the Iggles to start him because “it’s in the league’s best interests that a black quarterback do well.”
So lest we focus all our energies on Rush being an asshole, let’s not forget that he was also shitty at NFL hot-takes.
My brother is both a Rush and Eagles fan – that was some existential dilemma for him, ultimately him siding with Rush because hey, you can always get another quarterback. Sigh.
I am also an Eagles fan, and this was around the time my mom was listening to Rush all the time, so i figured I’d at least give him a chance. This was the last straw.Also I wonder what the overlap is between fans of Rush Limbaugh, the Philadelphia Eagles, Rush the band, and the Eagles the band.
Rush was just shitty. Period.
Why do liberals always bring up race?!*proceeds to claim McNabb is only there because he’s black
Rush joined MNF in late 2003, a few months after the beginning of the Iraq invasion, during a time when George W Bush’s approval was still near its height. It was very much a moment where a lot of media worried they were too liberal and needed voices like Limbaugh to balance things out. Which is to say, his death is reminding me how insane America got in 2001-2004, and how the Trump years have kinda caused us to forget this. But really in terms of lunacy the first Bush term isn’t far behind Trump.
Rush was on Sunday NFL Countdown, not MNF, although he narrowly lost out to Dennis Miller on the MNF gig in 2000.
And is burning in hell.
Perfect.Since the movie came out, this clip never left my head.
Probably the only thought bouncing around in there…
Goodbye.
This Peabody-winning syndicated show is much like The A.V. Club in that it offers interviews, commentary, and criticism covering all forms of pop culture.Ok, take it easy, guys. This article was up next to Dan Savage talking about pandemic glory-holes. There might be a prestige gap here.
They could have earned what NPR earned one day, but then G/O bought them
what is bad about talking about glory holes?
Finally, 2021 proves itself the superior year! They come in threes, right? Fingers crossed on Mitch Mcconnell.
That’s a tough one, but I’d rather Ted Cruz bite it. He’s just such a smug loser who thinks he “owns the libs” on twitter all the time. Also, dude challenged Ron Perlman to a fight and then backed down. What a knob.
I think you’re misremembering. IIRC, he didn’t challenge Ron Perlman to a fight…he challenged Ron Perlman to fight Jim Jordan.
That’s right, and also just as spineless considering Perlman is like 70. Though still in great shape.
I heard he died from auto-erotic asphyxiation.In his memory, let’s take that hearsay and repeat it.
People are saying it…
I’ve heard that already. Must be something to it now that I’m seeing it again here.
“Rush Limbaugh died from cigars. No, not the lung cancer they caused, he took too big a puff and he choked on one of them. Died from the fire of a big brown phallus in his mouth.”
I have a subscription to Cigar Aficionado. The Facebook page is surprisingly divided in the comments, dare I say leaning towards shitting all over him on the post that did a RIP. As a kid I remember Rush going off about how second hand smoke isn’t a thing and defending tobacco companies at every turn, while also maintaining that he quit cigarettes. Of course switching to habitual cigar use is gonna be even worse for you.
People are saying, a lot of people, they’re telling me, these are professionals, brilliant people, top of their fields and they’re telling me, well, auto-erotic asphyxiation is just what happened is all, and that you have to respect that Rush was an adventurous type, a trailblazer, and that’s all there is to it.
That’s what passes as a ‘classy remark’? It’s not even humorous to begin with. I bet you’re a riot at your wine and cheese parties.
He died givin’ it to your slimy gash of a mother. How about putting that out there, fuckface?
Taking you out of the grays so folks can more easily click your name, see your comments, and laugh at you further.Stay mad, kiddo.
Thanks for being so benevolent as to ‘take me out of the grays’. You act as if that’s an insult.
“your slimy gash of a mother”.Just the sort of classy remark we expect for the refined audience that enthusiastically followed Senor Limbaugh’s serialized entertainment, ‘The White Mans’ Radio Escapades’!
I guess you go in for the high brow humor on these sites, you fucking clown.
While wearing a Hello Kitty sash.
On The Media which is hosted by WNYC is often worth a listen .https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otmThey are about the only place on Public Radio which ditches the pearl clutching claims that America is a divided country. OTM explores how right wing media does the dividing and the mainstream side abets it when they refuse to report what is happening.A perfect example of the dynamic was Limbaugh himself, who proudly and openly explained how he would do everything in his power to drive the GOP away from compromise, push isolation and orthodoxy, and relentlessly attack on any grounds. He would host and promote Republican politicians who agreed with him and openly drive wedges to split the right wingers from GOP moderates and Democrats.He was plenty savvy about how the process worked He knew that no matter how divisive he got, the mainstream press could be bullied into leaving him alone and resort to blaming Democrats for being divisive. And he made no effort to hide his scorn for the regular media anyway.You could at least give him credit for being honest, while the NY Times or NPR’s national news has never accepted that their political reporting is broken.
On The Media is the best thing NPR currently has going for it, and it should be the gold standard against which all other news emulates. To bad All Things Considered is complete both sides-ism dross.
AV Club threw me a curve ball here. Keeping it classy. I’m impressed. Totally didn’t have to, and we’d all understand 😉
That’s what comments are for.
Because it was Gwen, last of the AVClub Old Guard.
Rush Limbaugh is dead.
I know everyone here already knows, but it’s just fun to say, like “sassafras” or “Timbuktu.”
Yeah, Rush sucked. If his takes were anywhere near the truth it was in mood only (“some people hate America because of slavery and so why shouldn’t bad things happen to us”) and he was never correct. Just another team-jersey guy like his buddy Ted Cruz.
Rest in piss, buddy!
Rest in the most piss.
What is this “radio” you speak of?
If you don’t love Terry Gross, we can’t be friends. That said, she was a recipient (not the deliverer) of one of the best interview questions I’ve ever heard, courtesy of Marc Maron: MM: “Was your husband your first love?”TG: “Now that I really know what love is, I would say yes.”MM: “What was the other thing?”It’s a really great question in a great interview. It lead her to talking about dropping out of college and hitchhiking across country with her then boyfriend — which you would never expect is a thing that Terry Gross did — how it broke her parents’ heart and how scary it was at time.
That Christ the AVClub was respectful to this human pile of festering shit. I guess true evil doesn’t warrant snark or disrespectful comments.
Fuck off and die, AVClub.
I will say this for Rush. At the very least, in the late 80s and early 90s, he was at least funny. As the GOP moved further and further to the right, his show became less about having a laugh and more about pushing the agenda. By the Obama years, it was unrecognizable.
Nope. Not even a little bit correct. Not funny for one single solitary second. But hey, thanks for telling us all about who you really are.
Please elaborate on your definition of “funny”
If by funny you mean made fun of people who died from aids, then yeah, he was fucking hilarious. 🙄
Some of his Clinton songs were a bit funny, but it doesn’t make up for the horrible joke he made about Chelsea and how he brought about Gingrich and company to cripple US politics. And he also made fun of people with AIDS. He was kind of funny on Family Guy, so at least he has a better sense of humor than Ann Coulter.
come on now, Ann Coulter was *totally* hilarious on “The Boondocks” /s
Usually 70 years old is an untimely death.
I guess technically “untimely” doesn’t mean “25 years too late.”
Lifelong smoker who denied that smoking causes lung cancer dies of lung cancer.
Reagan broke the radio with ending the Fairness Doctrine. Rush just took advantage of it.
Literally what are you trying to excuse here?
Never post on the internet again.
But we here at The A.V. Club choose to focus on things that hopefully make the world a better placeLike Rush Limbaugh dying?
The Howard Stern Show
You don’t know how much self-control it’s taken for me not to say awful things on social media today. Or even just to Tweet “The world became a better place today.”
Now waiting for the tribute concept album by Rush, the title of which is ‘Limbaugh’.
“I do not wish death on anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.” -Clarence Darrow
Limbaugh was a gross, oxycontin-popping, self-serving lying gasbag who made millions selling hate to the stupidest assholes in the country, causing decades of irreparable damage in the process. He consistently dehumanized women, Blacks, LGTBQ, minorities, or anyone who didn’t agree with his deeply cynical and bigoted worldview. He was also suspected sex tourist who got busted for smuggling Viagra. Rush was a total and complete POS in almost every conceivable way.So Limbaugh’s friends, family and fans deserve the same level of sympathy he offered his perceived enemies throughout his long, disgraceful career as a merchant of hate. TL;DR: Fuck Rush Limbaugh and his equally terrible asshole followers.
eta: and I hope he suffered inexpressible pain & misery on his way out.
NPR, especially Fresh Air was there long before Rush, and may it go on long after he’s forgotten.
The only good thing Rush Limbaugh did in his life, as far as I’m concerned:
The world literally became a better place today.
I shouted in joy (not hyperbole) upon hearing of his death. One of the wicked warlocks is dead.
So to clarify: you don’t like his politics, but here’s three alternatives that just happen to be on the left. Got it.
“You were a vicious bastard Limbaugh and…I’m glad you’re dead! HAHAHAHAHA! Glaaad you’re dead! HAHAHAAAAAAAAAA…”
I’ll be honest, I thought he died years ago. So learning he died just now is an unexpected treat.
Check out Randi Rhodes on youtube.com, or randirhodes.com. She’s also on FSTV. And I believe on a couple of terrestrial radio stations. She’s a buddy of Stephanie’s and used to follow Rush and correct his lies on the Florida station they were both on. Check her out tomorrow, 3-5 pm EST, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKQloWXK6SLttZgw1wbnQ
The Glenn Beck ShowPat Gray UnleashedThe Steve Deace ShowBasically anything on Blaze TV will help deprogram LWPNJs.
As abhorrent as Rush was, and coming from a lefty, AOC loving lib-tard, his show was infinitely easier to listen to than “Fresh Air.” My lord NPR is twee AF….