Countdown with Keith Olbermann

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“Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” the landmark news and commentary program that reordered the world of cable news, returns as a daily podcast. Olbermann’s daily news-driven mix will include his trademark “Special Comment” political analysis, the tongue-in-cheek “Worst Persons In The World” segment, and his timeless readings from the works of the immortal James Thurber. The man who turned SportsCenter into a cultural phenomenon will broaden the content to include a daily sports segment, a daily call for help for a suffering dog, and a remarkable series of anecdotes covering a career that stretched from covering the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice a month after his 21st birthday, to anchoring the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the 2009 Super Bowl pre-game show in a span of just twelve days, to rejoining ESPN as a “rookie” baseball play-by-play man at the age of 59.

  1. 27 APR

    I'M NOT SAYING IT WAS STAGED! YOU'RRRE SAYING IT WAS STAGED - 4.27.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Call me a cynic but I am beginning to get a sense that you may have some doubts about this Not-An-Assassination Attempt at The White House Correspondents Dinner. Well - that's what it was. Or in this case, what it wasn't. The acting attorney general says the alleged perp quote “was stopped before he got anywhere near the President.” So, NOT an assassination attempt, per the attorney general. But of course the White House is still trying to sell it as one (its 'protocol director' insists it was "the hand of God" again; its deputy chief of staff tried to start another 'USA!' chant after the incident). Even though proximity is the definition of such a nightmare scenario. Saturday Night? Obama had 15 of those. Still, among my fellow Americans who are NOT in the Trump Mass Hypnosis Cult, I may be in the minority because I DON’T think it was staged. Why are you so cynical? Just because an hour beforehand Karoline Leavitt told Fox quote “There will be some shots fired tonight!” That’s a coincidence. Just because Trump has gone insane about his quote “militarily top secret ballroom” and the next thing you know he’s GOING to a ballroom and after that the Secret Service screws up security AT the ballroom and after THAT he’s holding a press conference saying this is WHY he needs that ballroom and all his sock puppets are tweeting about the ballroom. Coincidence! Just because Trump and his filth have lied to you about every THING, every DAY, for 11 years… that’s no reason for you to think that was STAGED. It’s a coincidence! It’s all a coincidence. ALSO: for God's sake stop saying there's no room for violence in American politics and we don't resolve our differences this way! Certainly we all wish that were true. But in point of fact there's room for almost nothing BUT violence in American politics! Ask JFK, Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Garfield, Lincoln, McKinley, dozens of others! What was the Civil War if not political violence? B-Block (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Staten Island cop who has reportedly amassed more than 500 speeding tickets, and last year averaged one every other day. Jeff Bezos' Washington Post will only print a letter to the editor responding to its editorial if the authors take out the references TO Jeff Bezos. And Tom Cotton makes a hilarious mistake: Iran will meet its match not on the battlefield but at the bargaining table because it's never faced the author of "Art Of The Deal." Who's gonna tell him? C-Block (41:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: We need a break from media people talking about themselves so let's drop "Things I Promised Not To Tell" and instead read you his wonderful, weird, slightly spooky "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller."   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    49 min

  2. 23 APR

    TOP MAGA MAGAZINE HEADLINE: "TRUMP IS LOSING HIS MIND" - 4.23.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: "Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind." It's the headline on a column in perhaps the most prominent MAGA magazine headline. It's not me saying it this time. Not Jimmy Kimmel. Not George Conway. Not a psychiatrist. The Washington Examiner: “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind.” Why? Just because he’s also losing IRAN? Just because he’s COMPARING Iran to Vietnam (which he dodged)? Just because he threatened to go General Sherman on Teheran? Just because he's just announced you are no longer ALLOWED to CRITICIZE him ABOUT Iran? “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind” writes The Washington Examiner - guess that makes it unanimous (and there is now polling on this!) ALSO: House Democrats want Kash Patel to take an alcoholism screening test. His choices amount to: a) ARE you an alcoholic? b) Are you so FULL of alcohol you’re at risk of bursting into flames, or c) are you J. Edgar Boozer. AND about the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday. The Correspondents Association is obeying in advance to Trump, calling him an "honoree" and welcoming his rats like Brendan Carr and Stephen Miller. If you’re attending this dinner, and you are not planning to storm out or otherwise using this rare opportunity to protest Trump’s presence, you’re not only a traitor to JOURNALISM, you’re a traitor to America.  B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump's "National Garden Of Heroes" with 250 statues of everybody from Elvis to Whittaker Chambers is dumb enough. What happens when they forget to order the statues? Interior Secretary Burgum wants Theodore Roosevelt in the pro football Hall of Fame even though there wasn't pro football while T.R. was alive. And new Congressman Clay Fuller says he was only joking when he said Georgia was named after George Washington. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Talking about dinner in DC Saturday (The White House Correspondents) led me to mention my disastrous dates last century with Laura Ingraham on social media and there was considerable disbelief so it's time to tell that story.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    55 min

  3. 16 APR

    TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN WITH DISTURBING MAKE-OUT IMAGE - 4.16.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump doubles down on bashing the Pope and appropriating Jesus. This time it’s not him pretending to be Dr. Jesus or whoever. It's, it's, it's...well the image he posted looks like he’s about to make out with him. I mean this isn’t one of my areas of expertise but JC is fondling Trump's chest. It’s so bad even Speaker Mike Johnson noticed. The Republicans aren’t mad about the other part, slamming Pope Leo, because right wing governments have been attacking the Catholic Church since King Henry the 8th. But some of the comments do underscore that if they want the Pope to "stay in his lane," the MAGA evangelical squad needs to stay in its. This also underscores how MANY wars can Trump start at the same time? War against the Pope, War against European governments, War against Iran, War against Reality. He again insists he’s blockading the Strait of Hormuz when the American navy is clearly NOT blockading the Strait of Hormuz. He again insists he’s already beaten Iran, when Iran now says IT may also halt shipping in the RED SEA. Does Trump even KNOW how bad it’s going for America in the Gulf? In world capitals? Or is this like Germany 1942 where citizens – and many government officials – were actually told the Luftwaffe had totally destroyed New York City. Let me tell you the story of what happened when German POW’s actually SAW New York City… Plus: watch where you put your hands, J. B-Block (26:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Is naming a large pothole on the Moon in honor of the late wife of one of the astronauts an "act of colonialism"? One anti-colonialism commenter thinks so. When you OD and that isn't the worst thing you did all week - the story of Clavicular. And the Swalwell Disaster prompts one Congressman (Andy Ogles) to propose hanging rapists (who's going to tell him?) and one Fox host (Jesse Watters) to pontificate on the proper time to "whip it out." C-Block (39:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She was a five-hour a week camerawoman who had already survived several years on Capitol Hill. He, owned the network and invited her to the best French restaurant in Georgetown. And she - as she told me back in '82 or '83 - wound up saying good night, by standing up in the middle of that restaurant and slapping him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    59 min

  4. 2 APR

    BULLETIN: TRUMP FIRES BONDI, REIGNITING EPSTEIN COVER-UP - 4.2.26

    BULLETIN: TRUMP FIRES ATTORNEY GENERAL - SEASON 4 EPISODE 75 Trump, who attacked Iran to distract from his cover-up of and culpability in the Epstein Files disaster (and the malfeasance of his Attorney General Pam Bondi in mishandling those files) has now fired Bondi in part to distract from his attack on Iran - thus refocusing the world's attention ON the Epstein Files.  Todd Blanche is the interim replacement, Lee Zeldin among the candidates for the permanent job, and a British newspaper reports the tipping point was Trump's rage that Bondi had not jailed any of Trump's democratic opponents. The Daily Mail also says he was furious Bondi seemed to have intervened in a plan to release the investigatory files on Congressman Eric Swalwell, even though Swalwell had been cleared by the FBI. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 min

  5. 2 APR

    TRUMP CALLS AMERICA "STUPID" - 4.2.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The buffoon who is, for better or worse, the actual president of this country has called the United States of America STUPID. No – seriously: “We are the only country in the world stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship” He didn’t call the Constitution stupid. He didn’t call the Supreme Court stupid. He didn't call the immigrants stupid. He didn't call the Democrats stupid. He called the ENTIRE COUNTRY stupid. You. And me. And his own supporters. Why again do we continue to permit this disloyal, deranged moron to remain president? Oh by the way that was him - even before his pathetic speech on Iran last night - signaling he will LOSE, that he is getting CREAMED, after the oral arguments OVER birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, summarized by his lawyer saying “it’s a new world” and the Chief Justice replying but “it’s the same constitution.” When the Justices rule in June it could be 9-0, though 7-2 would be likelier. THE BESTEST WAR EVER: Near as I can tell, the essence of Trump's argument in his Iran speech last night was: It's going perfectly because it hasn't taken nearly as long as World War I or Vietnam. He didn't address NATO, he only tweaked the allies who have refused to jump overboard with him, and he only once gave any hint about what's next (Iran has "two or three weeks" to make a deal even though everybody in Iran is dead). The overriding theme of the speech was the tantalizing prospect that he might fall asleep at the podium while he was talking. TRUMP'S PERVERTS: The latest on Kristi Noem and whether she got a group discount on plastic surgery, the servitude of Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and RFK Jr and Jeff Bezos, and the weird psychology behind why his former critics enslave themselves to Trump. A professional in the field says it's not masochism, and while it may be blackmail, it's more about Trump providing them with a way for them to lie to themselves and say they aren't deviants or hypocrites, that he will back up their delusions - provided they do exactly what he tells them to.  B-Block ( ) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Oh, look, I'm dragging Katy Tur and Tony Dokoupil again. Tur and I used to talk about Trump's lack of acuity in 2015. She just did a tv segment on it this week and it was as if she discovered it. And a profile of Dokoupil by Columbia Journalism Review has revealed he was once a hair model. What do you mean "once?" Also on here, Navy Commander Tim Parlatore ragging on behalf of Gamblin' Pete Hegseth. Last time we saw him he was civilian Trump attorney Tim Parlatore. I'm waiting for Cardinal Parlatore. And if Cory Booker is paying for the astroturfed online support, he deserves a refund. C-Block ( ) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I'm dragging Tur, it's only fair I tell the story of when she went above-and-beyond even live-in girlfriend duties: the saga of the day my appendix exploded and it took me 48 hours to figure out it wasn't just an upset stomach.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    49 min

  6. 30 MAR

    TRUMP DIDN'T KNOW VINCE LOMBARDI. HE KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI JR! - 3.30.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have figured out what might be the weirdest most pointless delusion of Trump's second term: his claim "Vince Lombardi - I knew him." Trump was just 21, in college, and living with his parents in Queens the day the most legendary figure in football in the '60s retired as coach of The Green Bay Packers. More over, the first time he claimed he knew him was a decade ago, filled with details of witnessing Lombardi grab players by the shirt and not getting beat up because he was a winner. Where? How? He never explained. Of course he didn't. He probably saw it on television. So why does he believe he met Vince Lombardi? Because he DID meet Vince Lombardi. Only - not THAT Vince Lombardi. He met Vince Lombardi, JUNIOR, son of the legendary coach. Vince Lombardi Jr. was an executive in the United States Football League while Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of that league. Lombardi Jr. recounts meeting Trump (Trump was a jerk) in Jeff Pearlman's perfect book "Football For A Buck."  By this standard, I ALSO KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI. The younger was a negotiator for the owners during the NFL Strike of 1982 that I covered for CNN. But in the 44 years since I met him I never conflated him with his father. THIS IS NOT THE LEAD STORY, it's just maddening. The lead? Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. Not that they care. The conservative publication “The Washington Post” reports Pentagon plans for thousands of Marines and other personnel conducting weeks of raids while Rubio insists it’s going so well, we’ll never need boots on the ground. But Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be wildly exaggerating how EFFECTIVELY America has degraded Iran’s military capacities AND wildly underrating how effective Iran has been destroying American equipment – especially aircraft.The Pentagon said an AWACS – the giant command and control plane – was “damaged” while parked on an airfield in Saudi Arabia. Photos have leaked. The back half of the AWACs was blown off. Iran is successfully conducting a war designed to destroy our PLANES on the ground, and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land or be based. AND THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL doesn't know it is against federal law to send troops (or other "armed men") to a polling station during an election. Five years in jail for sending them, Todd Blanche. Losing eligibility for all offices or honors, Donald Trump. B-Block (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Maher wins The Shania Twain Prize For Humor. I think I have that right. Laura Loomer takes a terrible risk invoking the term "a slap in the face" given what she's done to her own face. And who's worse? Scott Jennings (now accused by three fellow guests of faking his anti-Trump hysteria) or Abby Phillip (who lets her name be used on the grotesque CNN show where Jennings allegedly lies)? C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mean this question literally: Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? Not that I miss him, not that I'm worried. It's just - he's vanished, hasn't he? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    57 min

  7. 26 MAR

    THEY SHOW TRUMP A SPORTSCENTER VERSION OF HIS IRAN WAR EVERY MORNING - 3.26.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has started World War 3 and has no idea how to stop it - and he doesn't know he's LOSING World War 3.How could he NOT know this? Because reportedly every morning they show him two minutes of highlights of "stuff blowing up" in Iran. His own personal SportsCenter Conflagration in the Middle East. Trump insisting Iran is dead. And yet Iran has struck Tel Aviv. Putin has sent a Russian oil tanker to Cuba just to remind us he can. Trump has now handed Iran de facto control of the worldwide price of a barrel of oil. Iran now controls 30 percent of worldwide fertilizer distribution. Because of Trump’s World War 3, the Philippines declares an energy emergency and Slovenia institutes energy rationing and United Airlines raised airfares twenty percent. Trump insists peace could be imminent and sends thousands more troops there. He mumbles about a peace proposal. It may be LAST year’s peace proposal and he's confused. Ukraine-Russia continues. Now the PAKISTANIS think they are mediators about Trump’s World War 3. Trump's World War 3, which is apparently being conducted, so crooks can make billion dollar bets on oil futures. And in the ultimate insanity: the military POINT of Trump’s World War 3 is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Strait of Hormuz was closed by… Trump’s World War 3.All this while Rupert Murdoch insists if Trump DOESN’T put boots on the ground in Iran it will mean “American collapse.” World War 3 (TRUMP’S World War 3) in the new Thursday Countdown dropping at midnight. IT IS ALMOST SCAPEGOAT TIME: He's beginning to give Hegseth way too much of the credit he normally gives himself. That's what he's always done when he's about to fire somebody. He did it to Noem. Hegseth could be next. Or maybe MarkWayne Mullin, he's been on the job two days and already made an idiot out of himself (again). And talk about scapegoats: who's going to get it at CBS where the morning show's target audience is now 33% smaller than the target audience I had the last week I did Countdown on MSNBC. B-Block (26:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: When Patel's federally-funded girl friend Alexis Wilkins trashes Mike Flynn, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent - this must be some list: The Blaze, Glenn Beck, Scott Jennings, and Lauren Boebert, C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A new baseball season is underway and this might be our last Opening Week until 2028 or later. My career began with covering the two most calamitous sports strikes in American history: MLB 1981 and NFL 1982. Of a drunken night with the football guys, and a broadcast in which a then-prominent sports columnist called them all communists (for the same kind of proposal OWNERS now offer TO players). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    44 min

  8. 19 MAR

    THAT WAS TULSI GABBARD TELLING TRUMP TO GO BLANK HIMSELF - 3.19.26

    SEASON 4 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are all looking at it backwards: That was Tulsi Gabbard’s passive-aggressive mini-coup against Trump - about Iran, and the elections. That's what she did in her Senate testimony – and what her deputy Joe Kent did when he resigned, a day earlier (and you think THAT was a coincidence of timing?) In a kind of bizarre code, through omission and not commission, they called Trump a liar about Iran and nukes. Not nobly or bravely. But they did it. They left no other conclusion that Trump was and is lying about Iran. Under oath. And THEN Gabbard passive-aggressively called Trump a LIAR AGAIN about the seized ballots in Georgia. Under oath. She testified that HE sent her. It might be a break in the damn; it might be trivial. It is NOT nothing. Because everybody has a moment in which they realize that they have to protect their own assets - and this might've been theirs. Lord knows all the allies have found theirs. Trump literally has no support from anyone, and the EU just started talking to Iran about a deal to get its ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is neck high in quicksand that he ordered and installed - and he's run out of people to blame. Plus I'll explain what the hell Trump meant when he said “DIG WE MUST" instead of "drill baby drill." (It was his brain defaulting back to 1962 and it's a really bad sign). B-Block (26:00) SPORTSBALL TONIGHT: Are there ANY good feelings left from the US Olympics Men's Hockey Gold? Now the scorer of the winning goal, Jack Hughes, is demanding they give him the puck rather than enshrine it forever at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and an ESPN commentator is demanding we ignore "politics" and admit Russia to the next international tournament (while Russia is aiding Iran, who we are - like it or not - at war with). (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Newt Gingrich falls for an internet troll who wants to create an instant Trump Canal in the Middle East using nukes. Rachel Maddow becomes the umpteenth commentator to insist HER favorite Trump scandal should be getting more attention than the others. And not only did the Los Angeles Dodgers desecrate Dodger Stadium by slapping a sponsor name on it - but they then lied and said they HADN'T sold the naming rights.  C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My great grandfather not only turned down stock - circa 1907 - in the company that would become General Motors, but according to family lore he gave the owner the idea for the NAME "General Motors." We are not businessmen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1hr 8min
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“Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” the landmark news and commentary program that reordered the world of cable news, returns as a daily podcast. Olbermann’s daily news-driven mix will include his trademark “Special Comment” political analysis, the tongue-in-cheek “Worst Persons In The World” segment, and his timeless readings from the works of the immortal James Thurber. The man who turned SportsCenter into a cultural phenomenon will broaden the content to include a daily sports segment, a daily call for help for a suffering dog, and a remarkable series of anecdotes covering a career that stretched from covering the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice a month after his 21st birthday, to anchoring the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the 2009 Super Bowl pre-game show in a span of just twelve days, to rejoining ESPN as a “rookie” baseball play-by-play man at the age of 59.

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  • Channel
    iHeartPodcasts
  • Creator
    iHeartPodcasts
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    715
  • Rating
    Clean
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    2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
  • Show Website
    Countdown with Keith Olbermann

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