Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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This episode is sponsored by Odoo. Go to odoo.com/notkidding to try it for free.

This week’s ‘We’re Not Kidding’ guest thinks “hot people” have been excluded from politics for too long — and it’s time to change that.

Mary Beth Barone is a New York City comedian, actor, socialist, and early supporter of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. But before that, she was raised in a Republican household and thought George W. Bush was cool when she was in fifth grade. Mary Beth joined Mehdi in NYC to talk about her political character arc, her new Netflix standup special ‘Galaxy Brain’, and how the Democratic party can do better.

This interview was published 7 days earlier on Zeteo.com. If you want early access to ‘We’re Not Kidding’, as well as hard-hitting, independent journalism, subscribe on Substack here: zeteo.com/subscribe

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Credits:
Hosted by Mehdi Hasan
Guest Host: Mary Beth Barone
Executive Producer: Kiran Alvi
Senior Producer and Editor: Frank Cappello
Music: Andy Clausen
Design: Alicia Tatone
Mix Engineer: Valentino Rivera
Title Animation: Ehsaan Mesghali

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
04:28 Mary’s early standup
08:58 “Politics for hot people”
11:27 Living in Mamdanistan
22:16 Comedy in the Age of Fascism
26:18 ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu