Random Thoughts - An Exploration of Ideas

With Nathan Carroll and Carlos Ruiz
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

Random Thoughts is a long-form, unscripted conversation show built on curiosity and contradiction. Guests range from artists and bartenders to veterans and builders, people who’ve lived enough to have opinions worth testing. Some episodes are thoughtful, some funny, some intentionally uncomfortable. It pushes past shallow, performative talk to explore identity, culture, masculinity, faith, purpose, loneliness, and the strange corners of modern life. Sometimes wisdom. Sometimes chaos. Usually both.

  1. 6d ago

    Random Thoughts #73 - Nathan & Carlos: Let's Test a Billion Dollars

    Would a billion dollars ruin your life? Nathan thinks it might. Carlos has a better idea: let's test it. Nathan and Carlos are back for a conversation about money, freedom, and whether getting rich would actually buy you peace—or just a helicopter. They debate AI, work, privacy, and the appeal of bringing an idea to life without turning everything into a business. Along the way, Brennan gets replaced by the dog, the studio couch eats humans, and Carlos makes his case for crying in a Bentley. Plus: camping, movies, plans for a new studio, and Lucy's growing role in editing Random Thoughts. It's friends challenging each other, giving each other hell, and occasionally stumbling into a serious point. Random Thoughts is a long-form, unscripted conversation show built around curiosity, contradiction, and real people. Some episodes are thoughtful, some are funny, and some drift into uncomfortable territory on purpose. Sometimes there's wisdom. Sometimes there's chaos. Usually there's both. Follow Nathan: https://www.instagram.com/nathan.carroll_rtp/ Follow Carlos: https://www.instagram.com/carlito.hd83/ Watch more Random Thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLew8XZcc1uWjK8shOTPpB_SlwyzmZUExv

  2. Sep 23

    Random Thoughts #72 - Landon O’Bryan: Fixing Yourself Before Helping Others

    Landon O’Bryan joins the Random Thoughts crew to talk about the path that took him from nursing school to chiropractic care. After struggling with injuries of his own, Landon learned how movement, strength work, stretching, and hands-on care could help him rebuild—and that experience pushed him to open his own practice inside CrossFit Barbell Battalion. The conversation ranges from CrossFit, injury recovery, and what honest patient care should look like to fasting, alcohol, faith, community, and the choices that shape everyday life. The group also pauses to remember Savannah Stair and reflect on how short life is—and why the people you love should hear it now. Random Thoughts is a long-form, unscripted conversation show built around curiosity, contradiction, and real people. The guests range from friends, artists, bartenders, builders, thinkers, veterans, creatives, and everyday characters who’ve lived enough life to have opinions worth testing. Some episodes are thoughtful, some are funny, some drift into uncomfortable territory on purpose. The show exists because most conversations today are shallow, performative, or filtered for approval. This one isn’t. It’s about letting ideas breathe, following tangents, questioning identity, culture, belonging, masculinity, work, purpose, faith, loneliness, and the weird corners of modern life. Sometimes there’s wisdom. Sometimes there’s chaos. Usually there’s both. Check out Carlos Ruiz:https://www.instagram.com/carlito.hd83/?hl=en Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/40zdvb1LdjrLQSUicBbIWZ?si=b3d545158e8546f6 Listen on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/random-thoughts-with-nathan-carroll/id1532602559 Follow Nathan Carroll:https://www.instagram.com/nathan.carroll_rtp/ Random Thoughts Playlist:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLew8XZcc1uWjK8shOTPpB_SlwyzmZUExv

  3. Sep 16

    Random Thoughts #71 - Faith, Fatherhood, and Owning Your Choices

    Using **#71**, as mentioned in the opening: :::writing{variant="standard" id="71031"} Random Thoughts #71 - Faith, Fatherhood, and Owning Your Choices ::: :::writing{variant="standard" id="71032"} In this episode of Random Thoughts, Nathan, Carlos, and Brennan get into faith, personal responsibility, and the example we set for our children. Nathan opens up about taking a break from alcohol, his plans to fast, and an unexpected moment with a new Bible. The conversation moves into gratitude, the difference between cussing and hurting people with your words, and how easily we can get pulled into someone else's negativity. Fatherhood becomes the heart of the discussion: being present, building trust, admitting when you're wrong, and teaching your kids that they can hold you accountable, too. Nathan shares a moment with his son Landon that changed his approach to parenting, while Carlos challenges the idea that every outcome comes down to a parent's choices. There's also excitement about becoming a grandfather, a detour into Dracula, and plenty of unfiltered humor. Just the boys working through what it means to take responsibility and leave something worthwhile for the next generation. :::

  4. Sep 9

    Random Thoughts #70 - Angel Noble: The greatest rescue is the one we never have to do.

    In Episode 70 of Random Thoughts, Nathan, Carlos, and Brennan sit down with Angel of Mission of Truth (MOTO) for a conversation about faith, resilience, and protecting vulnerable children.Angel shares her journey from leaving a troubled home at 15 to rebuilding her life through education, performance, and a calling to serve. She explains how her work in Haiti—and the disappearance of a girl she knew—helped inspire Mission of Truth and its focus on care, accountability, and preventing exploitation.The conversation also turns to human trafficking in Tennessee, online grooming, and the importance of building trust with children. Along the way, there’s plenty of Cajun humor, motorcycle talk, and an honest look at what it means to put faith into action.“The greatest rescue is the one we never have to do.”

  5. Sep 2

    Random Thoughts #69 - The Miss Barbara Effect

    Miss Barbara is back — and apparently, one episode wasn’t enough. Nathan and Carlos sit down with one of the most memorable guests to come through Random Thoughts for a conversation about faith, purpose, aging, business, relationships, and what keeps a person excited about life. Miss Barbara shares where her joy comes from, why her faith remains at the center of it, and what she’s learned about continuing to live fully instead of simply getting older. Along the way, she turns the questions back on Nathan, including where his relentless drive to create new businesses and chase new ideas comes from. There are laughs, uncomfortable questions, a few “Sorry, Miss Barbara” moments, and plenty of the wisdom and personality that made people ask for her to come back in the first place. Because apparently, we really do all need a Miss Barbara in our lives.

  6. Aug 26

    Random Thoughts #68: For Your Safety: Surveillance, Toxicity, and the Courage to Cut It Off

    Nathan and Carlos revisit government surveillance, artificial intelligence, and the dangerous promise that control is always “for your safety.” They explore how fear, power, and constant access to data can compromise institutions and even well-intentioned people. The conversation then turns personal: protecting your peace, confronting negativity, teaching self-reliance, and knowing when loving someone means letting them go. When does protection become control, and when is it time to simply cut it off?

  7. Aug 19

    Random Thoughts #67 - Jason Daugherty - The Right to Be Wrong: Freedom, Surveillance, and Personal Autonomy

    New guest Jason Daugherty joins Nathan and Carlos for a conversation that begins with pool, music, fitness, and motorcycle wrecks before turning toward much harder questions. They debate Flock cameras, artificial intelligence, capital punishment, euthanasia, faith, government power, and whether personal freedom includes choices we deeply oppose. Jason challenges Nathan’s convictions, exposing the tension between protecting individual liberty and accepting its uncomfortable consequences. Can you truly believe in freedom if you only defend the choices you agree with?

  8. Aug 12

    Random Thoughts #66 Tim Russel - The Price of Safety: Surveillance, AI, and the Death of Privacy

    Tim returns to join Nathan and Carlos for a spirited debate over Flock cameras, license-plate readers, artificial intelligence, and the growing surveillance network surrounding everyday life. Can these tools protect innocent people without eventually becoming instruments of control? The conversation expands into government power, human nature, the future of work, and why comfort may be destroying our sense of purpose. They also explore the value of struggle, the mythology of utopia, meaningful work, faith, local politics, and what happens when human beings no longer have anything difficult to overcome. Are we building a safer society, or quietly surrendering the freedom and purpose that make life worth living?

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Random Thoughts is a long-form, unscripted conversation show built on curiosity and contradiction. Guests range from artists and bartenders to veterans and builders, people who’ve lived enough to have opinions worth testing. Some episodes are thoughtful, some funny, some intentionally uncomfortable. It pushes past shallow, performative talk to explore identity, culture, masculinity, faith, purpose, loneliness, and the strange corners of modern life. Sometimes wisdom. Sometimes chaos. Usually both.

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