Boomer Has It!

Jim Gialamas & JB Miller

Two writers, two cities, two opinions on culture and politics from a boomer perspective. Veteran creatives JB Miller and Jim Gialamas, reporting from London and New York, offer up a surprising take on a world going somewhere on a handbasket, if not a steamer trunk. All aboard. Jim Gialamas is a writer and former journalist, widely acknowledged as the cultural mayor of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. JB Miller is an author, playwright, and former New Yorker now haunting cafes in southwest London. Drawing on their transatlantic dispatches, they meet here to figure out what the flip is going on. 

Episodes

  1. Is Male Friendship in Crisis?

    3d ago

    Is Male Friendship in Crisis?

    Send us Fan Mail Dude Desert? Guy Gridlock? Brocopalypse? A 2025 Gallup study revealed a disproportionate 25% of young American men suffering from severe daily isolation. JB and Jim trace the cultural evolution of male bonds—from the post-WWII "strong, silent" to the vulnerable "bromances" popularized by Judd Apatow and Ted Lasso to today’s "strong, violent type" idealized in the modern manosphere. If the male friendship deficit is real, do Boomers bear responsibility? Were they absent parents? Did they deliberately extract wealth from the economy, leaving behind a wasteland of financial destitution and unemployment? Or is it an imagined crisis?  Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    1h 6m
  2. Luigi Mangione: Folk Hero or Villain?

    May 6

    Luigi Mangione: Folk Hero or Villain?

    Send us Fan Mail What does it mean to be a "folk hero?” While figures like Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan once inspired ideals, like wealth redistribution and frontier progress, today’s larger-than-life characters carry the scent of cynicism. Jim and JB trace the evolution of the folk icon, starting with the 1970s mystery of D.B. Cooper—the enigmatic hijacker who vanished into the clouds with a bag of loot— to the obsessive revival of the Unabomber manifesto and the zealous courthouse support for Luigi Mangione. We ask: Do today’s "folk villains" signal a legitimate breakdown in our social institutions or a reckless descent into nihilism? Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    30 min
  3. Apr 16

    “Lost Lambs” Reviewed

    Send us Fan Mail This week Jim and JB shepherd readers through “Lost Lambs,” a buzzy new book by 29-year-old New York writer Madeline Cash. Will they be sheepish to suggest how much they like it? Or is celebrating Lost Lambs just following the flock? (Okay, I’ll stop now.) Relatedly, are boomer critics too dismissive of young writers? Also: JB celebrates the UK giving fresh rights for lobsters (at least when they die), and Jim complains about famous literary complainer Lionel Shriver. Plus Alexander Payne, Wes Anderson, and HBO’s “DTF St. Louis.”  And Finally, Boomer Has It! has a new corporate sponsor. (It's monetization time...or at least, puppy time!) Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    59 min
  4. Mar 24

    Will the Andrew Scandal Take Down the Royals?

    Send us Fan Mail The Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal has been a huge story in the UK, with the first royal arrested since King Charles I was taken into custody and beheaded in 1649. Andrew’s prospects look better than that, but not by much. He’s lost his mansion, his titles, and his reputation, but will he take the rest of his family down with him?  As the author of Duch, a novel that imagines the royals' reaction to a returned Princess Diana, JB trains his regal eye on the current situation, offering historical precedent for the modern monarchical morass. Also, Jim salutes the late centenarian art reporter Calvin Tomkins and recommends Andy Weir’s new novel Project Hail Mary, just released as a film starring Ryan Gosling.  Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    1h 6m
  5. Mar 7

    Mad Men Is Back!

    Send us Fan Mail Mad Men is Back! Twenty years after studio executives rejected it, Mad Men is finally on HBO. Much to its chagrin, the cable network passed on the groundbreaking series, which debuted on the second-tier network AMC on 2007 and went on to win 16 Emmys, including 4 for Outstanding Drama.  Now a whole new generation is finding it along with its original audience, who are taking another look. Advertising never looked so sexy, clever, or cut-throat. But does the series have anything to say about toxic masculinity in the 1960s, about the culture clash between the Rat Pack and the Woodstock generation? Were privileged white New Yorkers really that oblivious to the civil rights, gay rights and “women’s lib” movements? Did people really smoke that much?  Join us for a three-martini lunch as Jim and JB discuss the return of a modern classic! This week's Headquakes and vital links: Is Mad Men just for white folk? Maya Phillips shares her rewatch experience in the NYT and sheds much-needed light.   Read Food & Wine’s excellent coverage of the SCOTUS tariff decision, reported by Ray Isle. Explore anticipatory-crisis strategy with Michele Wucker. Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    1 hr
  6. Mar 1

    Good riddance Washington Post?

    Send us Fan Mail March 1, 2026 Good riddance to the Washington Post?   The Washington Post has been a DC institution for 149 years, but is it time to say goodbye? Since Jeff Bezos took over, WaPo has suspended presidential endorsements, intruded on its opinion pages, and jettisoned sports, metro, daily podcast, book coverage, and 350 reporters.  Whoops!  Correction: Jim mistakenly confused Citrini Research (the firm behind the viral 7,000-word "2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" report) and Robert Citron (the treasurer who bankrupted Orange County in 1994).  Both rocked Wall Street, but in different decades. It’s a case of confusing oranges with oranges. Here's the doomy, gloomy report:  https://www.google.com/search?q=citriniresearch.substack.com FInally, an intro to Percival Everett from WaPo’s now defunct book world Everett was born in Georgia in 1956 and raised in Columbia, S.C. His background is as multifaceted as his writing, though the relationship between his biography and his fiction is slant at best. He’s a former philosophy graduate student, a fly fisher, a woodworker and a painter. He can play and repair guitars, he can castrate bulls, and he spent 12 years training horses in Moreno Valley, Calif. In fact, he connects his experience with horses to his ability to write under any circumstances: “You can’t make a 1,200-pound animal calm by being excited.” Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    30 min
  7. Feb 20

    Where is the counterculture?

    Send us Fan Mail In the 1960s, there was a clear counterculture to the political upheavals of the time, led largely by music, but also by key novels such as “Catch-22” and “Slaughterhouse-5,” despite being written by representatives from an older generation who had fought in, and were writing about, World War Two. There was a clearer generational divide, stemming largely from the fact that the older generation was ordering the younger one to fight and die in a war few believed in or even understood. But where is the counterculture now? Are there just too many fires to put out at once? What art is addressing our dire moment? Where is our Woodstock, our Gimme Shelter? Are the Boomers the last generation to really commit to protest? We’re seeing younger generations everywhere else in the world protesting, but not in the US. Boomer Has It!  The transatlantic podcast you never knew you needed. About the Hosts Boomer Has It! brings together two seasoned writers from two different worlds to find common ground (or a good-natured argument) in the middle of the Atlantic through an unfiltered boomer lens. Join the Conversation We don’t just want to talk at you; we want to hear from you. Whether you agree with our take or think we’ve missed the mark entirely, get in touch: Instagram: @boomer.has.itYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomerHasItPodcastSupport the Show If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support us is to follow the show on your favorite app and leave a 5-star review. It helps us stay visible in a "fractured age" and keeps the conversation going. Two writers. Two cities. Two opinions. One perspective you won't find anywhere else.

    44 min
4.9
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Two writers, two cities, two opinions on culture and politics from a boomer perspective. Veteran creatives JB Miller and Jim Gialamas, reporting from London and New York, offer up a surprising take on a world going somewhere on a handbasket, if not a steamer trunk. All aboard. Jim Gialamas is a writer and former journalist, widely acknowledged as the cultural mayor of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. JB Miller is an author, playwright, and former New Yorker now haunting cafes in southwest London. Drawing on their transatlantic dispatches, they meet here to figure out what the flip is going on.