Al and John grew up together in the '90s. Now they live on opposite sides of the world, so once a week they log on to catch up and make sense of whatever the culture has done this time, laughing at each other along the way.
The result is a funny, surreal trip through current culture, technology, trends and the mysteries of everyday life. What's it actually like to fall for an AI companion? Did Hilaria Baldwin really pretend to be Spanish? Why did movies used to explain their own plot with a rap over the credits?
Get in touch at hello@dptm.org (mailto:hello@dptm.org) or find us on IG @dont_praise_the_machine.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Is YouTube the New Film School? Backrooms, Obsession & the Death of IP Slop
Hollywood Is Out of Ideas. The Internet Kids Are Taking Over. Tom Cruise’s Digger is on track to lose around $245 million. In the same year, two horror films from people who started out on YouTube have made close to a billion dollars between them. The Backrooms cost $10 million, came from a 4chan photo of an empty furniture store, and has taken $400 million. Obsession cost $750,000 and has grossed over $500 million, the most ever for a film made on under a million. Alex and John look at how a generation raised online is getting films made without asking Hollywood first, why a meme nobody owns turns out to be great business, and whether this is cinema’s new 1970s or a short detour before the next He-Man reboot. Plus Chiwetel Ejiofor’s secret Love Actually sequel, and the question the film never answers: how come you can eat them?
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm
💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/
🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
12 Oct 2026
From Prosperity Gospel to Apocalypse Food Buckets: The Jim Bakker Story
If you grew up leaving the TV on past midnight, you remember them. The stadium crowds with their hands in the air. The soft music. The man on stage who could heal your bad back, provided you called the number on screen.
The death of Jim Bakker sent us back to late-night Channel 10 Australia, and we came out with a lot of questions. How did a guy with a puppet show become one of the most powerful men in American television? How did a Christian theme park with a water slide end up the third most popular in the country? And how did it all end with five years in prison and a second career selling buckets of freeze-dried food for the end times?
Along the way we meet Aimee Semple McPherson, who did sermons on a motorcycle in the 1920s, Fulton Sheen, the bishop who beat Frank Sinatra in the ratings, and Oral Roberts, who told viewers God might take him if he didn’t hit his fundraising target. Then there’s Benny Hinn, whose healing technique Alex can still do from memory.
We look at where televangelism lives now. Spoiler, it’s on YouTube, and the thumbnails are better than ours.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm
💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/
🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
5 Oct 2026
Your iPhone Killed Your Boredom And That's Why You're Sad
In 1989, the ABC asked a group of Australian kids what they do when they're bored. The first answer was "I ring people." Imagine asking a kid that in 2026.
Alex and John were born in 1982, which makes them part of the last generation that grew up properly bored. This week they look at what happened to boredom after the iPhone arrived in 2007, and why losing it might be part of why so many of us feel flat all the time.
They get into the 2014 study where people chose to give themselves electric shocks rather than sit alone with their thoughts for a few minutes. They talk about how skater kids went from a parent's nightmare to a parent's dream, and how 90s slackers turned being bored into a look. Alex explains his phone-free "key walks" and three-hour runs with no headphones. John makes the case for treating phones at the dinner table like loud farting.
If you know someone who can't get through a two-minute queue without their phone, send them this. Maybe don't tell them why.
🛎 Get bonus episodes, early episodes, and exclusive goodies while supporting DPTM!
Patreon ➡️ https://www.patreon.com/dptm
💌 Sign up for John's famous weekly DPTM newsletter
Click here ➡️ https://dptm.org/
🔌 Connect with us!
TikTok: ➡️ https://www.tiktok.com/@dontpraisethemachine
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/dont_praise_the_machine/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
75,635
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.3 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
47 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 77 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
92
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
77
Contact Don't Praise The Machine
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
