Check Your Brain

The city of Pittsburgh hosted the 2026 NFL Draft, where over 800,000 football fans made the trek to the Three Rivers town. Prior to the draft, Alleghany County bragged about their efforts to clean up the city, but the question Tony Mazur poses in this week's Check Your Brain podcast is, why can't cities be this nice the other 362 days a year? Why can't urban areas remain pleasant on days when a foreign national or ESPN aren't in town?

Tony gives a brief history on the degradation of cities, which happened nearly 60 years ago, and we're seeing i...

Gord Magill is a long-time trucker from Canada, and is now a podcaster and author. His new book End of the Road - Inside the War on Truckers is available now. He talked with Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast about the "Competence Crisis" on the roads, the unfettered immigration and how it's affecting the trucking industry, the Freedom Convoy of 2022, and if/when AI and automation will replace the OTR truck driver soon.

Gord's book is on Amazon if that is easier for the reader, but it is better to go to h...

In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur goes through the archives of how pop songs are intended to sound timeless, as they are mainly used to sell products. He also explores why, in the Napster/LimeWire universe, artists may be purposely putting out mediocre crap because they know they will barely see a dime in royalties.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Laura Stack is a mother, activist, and Founder & CEO of Johnny's Ambassadors. Her son, Johnny, committed suicide at just 19 years young after becoming psychotic from high doses of THC. Laura joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about her son, who was not psychotic before the THC, nor did her family have a history of psychosis; in fact, Johnny was an athlete and a 4.0 student. She also discussed how this isn't our grandparents' marijuana, and how dangerous it is for the teenage and young adult brains.

For more information on Laura, J...

After 41 years (and 20 in its current location), Tony Mazur's home comedy club, the Funny Stop, is no more. In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony looks back at his time there, why it meant so much to him, and why it closing isn't anything like other businesses that have closed up shop.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Tony is also o...

Ryan Hoppe is a radio personality, originally from Chicago, now living in Tampa, Florida, with a brief stop in Cleveland, Ohio. He made a return appearance on the Check Your Brain podcast with Tony Mazur, this time inside a Tampa shopping mall, to talk about the ever-changing medium that is radio, where both gentlemen began their careers. They talked about the viability of radio in 2026, shared old "war" stories, and the legacy (or lack thereof) that long-time radio hosts will leave behind.

Ryan hosts his own show, Hoppe Hour, which can be heard on all t...

Zak Ford is a lifelong baseball fan from the Bay Area, specifically the human interest side of the game. That is why he is the author of the book Called Up, which chronicles 109 different players' stories of getting the call up to the big leagues. He has another book coming out in 2026 about the final moments of players' careers. He discussed both books with Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur, as well as how much the game has changed compared to the childhoods of the athletes he interviewed.

Zak's books are available to purchase on Amazon. H...

Adam Nutter is a former NYPD officer who later became a comedian and a podcaster. He once again joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to discuss a variety of current events, while giving them some background and perspective. Adam and Tony shared their thoughts on the Iran War and the Zionist propaganda network headed up by Mark Levin, Laura Loomer, and Ben Shapiro. They also touched on the historical and biblical tenants of modern day Judaism and Christian Zionism, who opened the doors for mass migration, and trying to get through to the normies about "The...

Six years ago on March 11th, 2020, the New Normal kicked off. The world we knew on, say, March 10th no longer existed. The way the politicians and pundits flood the public with war propaganda (as seen with the recent Iran strikes), the same tactics were used during the Covid years. Instead of a Middle Easterner, the enemy we needed to fight was a spooky, invisible virus.

In this annual episode, Tony Mazur takes a look back at the insanity that was 2020, as well as 2021 when the vaccine mandates and subsequent intimidation and coercion techniques were u...

Here is a bonus episode of the Check Your Brain podcast with Tony Mazur.

Six months ago today, we lost Charlie Kirk to the biggest political assassination in most of our lifetimes. What has improved since then? Have goods and services become more affordable? Has the Trump administration continued their outreach to the young people? Has the American Dream returned to sight? The answer to all is no, nada. Since Charlie's death, the messaging on the right is all over the place, their support of Israel has become psychotic, and we're now in another Middle E...

After spending half of this Check Your Brain episode talking about the DabbleVerse and Stuttering John Melendez, Tony Mazur reads a New York Times opinion piece on why the Epstein files should have never been released. Tony disagrees, believing everything should be released, but it's true that a story like this may be too layered and nuanced for the average person to grasp. If their takeaway is "yeah, but Trump is in the files," they're not a serious person. They're a partisan who roots for one team over another.

For decades, families gathered in their big ol' vehicles and enjoyed a nice night out at a chain restaurant. The purpose of these chains is, no matter where you're located, you'll have generally the same food and experience at a reasonable price. However, by the 2010s, chain restaurants became pariahs, and many have either filed for Chapter 11 or have closed up shop completely. Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur talks about the death of the chain restaurant, how it wasn't just Millennials and their avocado toast that killed them, and how these closures represent an erosion of the Middle Class.<...

Each month or so, Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock sit down for a retro show, where they riff on pop culture fixations from years, and even decades, past. Among several other topics, they chatted about video movie rentals and even called the last standing Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon. They also discussed comics in 2026, James Harden, and the rise and swift fall of the Two Coreys.

Chad is doing his thing behind a paywall at Patreon.com/WorldWarZ.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND au...

Super Bowl 60 wrapped up, with the Seattle Seahawks downing the New England Patriots 29-13. But no one is talking about the game itself, it’s everything else. Football is entertainment, a diversion, but sometimes these diversions are divisive and driving people away. Check Your Brain’s Tony Mazur recaps the Super Bowl and, like a similar 2023 podcast of his, the waning love of sports.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyM...

Over the weekend, a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein emails were released, after nearly a year of the Trump administration and other ConInc. pundits saying they didn't exist. In these emails, Epstein calls non-Jews the derogatory term "goyim," that very powerful people were in contact with him until his death, and that PizzaGate may have been real. Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur also talks about the heavy influence Israel and its lobby has on our politics and culture, as shown a plenty in these emails.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just a...

Around this time five years ago, Tony Mazur launched the Check Your Brain podcast. In this episode, Tony not only talks about the state of his own podcast, but podcasting in general. Is it even a thing anymore? He also gets a bit personal as to why he began this podcast, the ups and downs the last half decade, and how much longer he wants to keep it going.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts p...

Cody Perez is the lead singer of the band Amerakin Overdose, and he has also dipped his toes in the water of podcasting. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about a shared enjoyment of theirs, which is nu metal, the genre of hard rock with some metal and rap styles that was popular around the Y2K days. Cody also talked about how musicians like himself have embraced AI, rather than run away from it.

Check out Amerakin Overdose's new single "Nothing (Without You)", featuring Jonny Santos, formerly of Spineshank.

A couple of weeks ago, Check Your Brain podcast host Tony Mazur visited Las Vegas, a town that has numerous people believing to be either dying or dead. In this episode, Tony talks about his experience on the strip, whether it's dead or not, and what a destination city such as Vegas or Atlantic City need to do in these changing, modern times.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

In this episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur pays tribute to Scott Adams, who lost his battle with cancer this week at the age of 67. Tony talks about how Adams was a visionary and not just a cartoonist, how he did a mea culpa over the Covid vaccine, and how he managed during his 2023 cancelation.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Tony i...

Ruzvelt Stevanovski is the owner of Harpos Concert Theatre, a historic music hall in Detroit, Michigan. Prior to owning Harpos in 2017, he was the proprietor of Blondies in the 1980s, another venue where Michiganders could see up-and-coming metal acts of the time, and later resurfacing off Fort Street in the 2000s. Ruzvelt sat down with Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast in his Harpos office to tell stories about Corey Taylor, GG Allin, Megadeth, and Slayer, how he handled himself and his business during the pandemic, and how he competes with massive promoters in Live Nation and...

Each year, Tony Mazur hosts a "year in review" episode of the Check Your Brain podcast called Tony's Top Topics of 2025. It was a year of good news wrapped in bad news, and vice-versa. From deportations and lampooning the DEI industry, to unafforability and political violence, 2025 had it all.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts o...

In this very special episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock watch a "classic" presentation of Diff'rent Strokes. Yes, it's the one that sticks out, from 1983 starring Gordon Jump of WKRP in Cincinnati fame.

This is only a portion of the episode. The full thing is up on Chad's Rumble.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Ton...

The football season is nearing its climax, while others are glued to cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. Either way, one is inundated with commercials featuring a white guy being awkward, stupid, corrupt, or downright evil. From food to sports betting to insurance companies, the white man is the main target virtually every time, and there's no end in sight. Tony Mazur covers many recent examples on this week's Check Your Brain podcast.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as b...

Lisa De Pasquale is an author and commentator, and a proud member of Generation X. In fact so proud, she wrote a handbook for the generation that now bonds middle age with senior citizens. She joined Tony Mazur's Check Your Brain podcast to talk about not only Gen X, but the differences between the six generations walking the earth (but mainly the core four). They also got into the "Boomer Question," the populist and nationalist takeover of the Young Republicans, and the "right" way to lose weight.

Lisa's Gen X Handbook is available now on A...

Wallace Thompson is a 19-year-old from Maine and the author of a book, The Field Game Field Guide, where he talks about how childhood games such as Tag and Capture the Flag can shape a child's foundation. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to discuss the contents of the book, as well as the struggles and "red pills" his generation faces, including the dating scene, AI, and how to navigate through a trauma like Covid hysteria.

Wallace's book is available to purchase on his website, FieldGameGuide.com.

Be...

Back by popular demand, Tony Mazur's dad Mark is back on the Check Your Brain podcast. After having fun with an old Frank Rizzo video from 1980, Mark shared his thoughts on a recent bodycam video of a female officer in New Jersey breaking into her ex-boyfriend's home and causing a scene. Basically, she should know better.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Tony is also o...

Long-time NBA writer, insider, and commentator Peter Vecsey appeared on Tony Mazur's Check Your Brain podcast, along with friend and frequent guest Ken Mosca. Peter answered questions on how NBA stories are broken in the digital age, how gambling scandals are nothing new, the multiple streaming services one needs to watch games, and how he broke the Gilbert Arenas/Javaris Crittenton "guns in the locker room" story. After that, Tony just threw names at him, from Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, and Charles Barkley to Lenny Wilkens and the legends of the NBA.

Be sure to subscribe to...

In this solo episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Tony Mazur pours one out for the Body Positivity Movement, which has seen a death blow of late thanks to the "miracle drug" known as Ozempic. A slew of female entertainers, who were once either stout or obese, have dropped a considerable amount of weight, and the Body Positivity Movement can't do anything other than turn on them.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per w...

Dr. Steve is an actual doctor, and for the better part of two decades, has hosted a radio show/podcast called Weird Medicine, where he and his crew take questions from listeners. In this crossover episode between Tony Mazur's Check Your Brain podcast and Chad Zumock's World War Z Patreon show, they talked to Dr. Steve about how he got on the radar of the Opie & Anthony Show, sounded off about some DabbleVerse related issues, and answered legit medical questions.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, a...

Jackson Lahmeyer is the lead pastor of Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he is a national faith leader and member of the White House Faith Council. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about the rise in church attendance in recent months, which, sadly, has corresponded to the rise in political violence. He also touched on the young man's struggle with gambling, pornography, and women who do not share the same values, as well as why Christians seem to take persecution.

His new book is called Chasing After the W...

In a special Halloween bonus episode, Tony Mazur talks about how this holiday has exploded among Millennials, his favorite costumes over the years, and the line of good taste when it comes to dressing up.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of the above, as well as bonus podcasts per week. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.

Tony is also on Rumble! Go find his video podcasts over there for free.

Cover art for the Check Your Br...

Mark Malkoff is a comedian, writer, and podcaster, and he is the author of the new book Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend. He joined Tony Mazur on the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about who Johnny was, how the Tonight Show gained its footing, the move from New York to Burbank, and all of Carson's admirers and imitators. They also touched on the state of late night TV in 2025, the failures of Chevy Chase and Magic Johnson, and the wars between Team Letterman and Team Leno, as well as...

Marty Gitlin made the transition from sportswriter to author many years ago, but sports continue to be near and dear to his heart, especially baseball. A few years back, Marty co-authored a book on Sam McDowell, the brilliant but troubled Cleveland Indians pitcher from the 1960s.

In this sports-themed episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Marty and Tony Mazur wax nostalgic about the game of baseball, what it means them, how much has changed in the analytics age, and their favorite ballparks to catch a game.

Marty's books can be pu...

Marty Gitlin is a long-time sportswriter who, by the 2010s, became a prolific author, and not just about sports. He's written many books about a variety of pop culture subjects, but the three discussed on this podcast with Tony Mazur are about breakfast cereals, the greatest sitcoms, and greatest animated cartoon characters.

On this episode of the Check Your Brain podcast, Marty and Tony talk about the sugared cereals of the '60s and '70s and how the "sugar" was dropped from the names, the absurdist and escapist sitcoms, and why Bugs Bunny is e...

It's not often Tony Mazur has "in studio" guests, but he made the exception this week by inviting his father, Mark, on the show. But Mark isn't just a podcast host's dad, he's a long-time member of the Cleveland Police Department, where he was on the job from 1981 till 2005. He joined the Check Your Brain podcast to talk about his early career, see how much modern policing has changed, and shared advice for young or perspective members of the force.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, a...

Every month or so, long-time friends and collaborators Tony Mazur and Chad Zumock team up on a stream where they go over a bunch of retro junk. This month, they focused on music, from Chris Cornell trying to perform Rage Against the Machine songs to Gary Cherone's time as the lead singer of Van Halen, to the corpse-like stage personas of David Lee Roth and Frankie Valli.

They also provided a legal update on Aaron Imholte, shared their favorite guilty pleasures in music, and tried to sell each other on the Beastie Boys and Queens o...

Four years ago last week, the world learned of the loss of Norm Macdonald to cancer, which shocked everyone, as he had the disease for nearly a decade. In this episode, as a break from the recent seriousness of political violence, Check Your Brain's Tony Mazur looks back at his favorite comic, Norm Macdonald, and some of his favorite moments from the unique late Canadian comedian, from his Weekend Update jokes to his must-see talk show appearances.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all o...

A week ago, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, shot in the throat during a speaking tour in Utah. As of this podcast, we know more about the assassin, including his personal life, the Discord channels he was a part of, and yes, his left-wing political views. Make no mistake about this: Charlie Kirk was murdered because he was a conservative Christian espousing conservative Christian ideas. This was a political assassination, one this country hasn't seen in a half century, and one would think there would be calls to lower the temperature, to tamp down the rhetoric. Sadly, the opposite is...

On September 10th, 2025, conservative pundit Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in Utah. A founding member of Turning Point USA, Charlie made a name for himself barnstorming college campuses and encouraging lively and intelligent debate. Sadly, he was killed for the sin of wanting open discourse.   In this free bonus episode, Tony Mazur shares his thoughts on the murder, Charlie’s legacy, what this means for society, and if you’re prepared for what will undoubtedly come next.

Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $3 gets you just audio, $5 gets video AND audio, and $10 has all of...

Whatever one thinks of Elon Musk these days, his purchase of Twitter in 2022 was a major victory in favor of free speech. Because of that, stories like the horrific stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska won’t be swept under the rug.

X users are now asking the tough questions and having the uncomfortable conversations that were considered too hot for the previous Twitter regime. In a sense, X users are the new media, while the regime media continues to expose themselves as state propagandists.

In this free episode of the Check Your...