Update 1/19/24: It seems that one of the two producers that replaced Cullinane is already gone. More changes in the producer chair are a sure thing.
Although it’s somewhat ambiguous as to whether he was fired or quit, Dave Cullinane is leaving The Kirk Minihane Show.
Cullinane replaced hard-working Renaissance Man Steve Robinson, who exited two summers ago, as podcast producer.
The Barstool Sports podcast, which is distributed on all the usual platforms, is currently auditioning candidates to assume the role, so good luck in working with the mercurial Minihane to whoever gets the job
As usual, the whole drama played out during the show itself rather than privately, which is in keeping with the podcast about a podcast that emulates, to some degree, old-school Howard Stern’s in-studio histrionics.
The sometimes inane Cullinane’s downfall was allegedly lack of effort when it comes to creating and sharing social clips as well as issues that occurred during a recent live show.
Competency or lack thereof aside, a change of venue may provide a big relief for Dave, who seems rather upbeat under the circumstances.
Public Scolding
Both Robinson and Cullinane, when their turn came to be unfairly publicly humiliated, came across as completely emasculated during Minihane’s browbeating.
No one knows how they would react to that kind of bullying, but standing up to a boss doesn’t mean yelling or getting overly emotional.
It simply means preserving your dignity with a calm, measured response.
For those unfamiliar with it, Minihane’s podcast has legions of Minifans and can be a good listen, in part, and is primarily meant to be comedy.
One of the producer’s roles is to feed topics to the host, and the basic format is unlikely to change with a new hire.
Anyone who enters the studio should be prepared for Minihane’s nosey and often disrespectful questions about their personal lives, even though Kirk’s personal life seems to be off limits.
According to Apple, “The Kirk Minihane Show is a podcast from America’s most talented on-air personality, featuring Minihane’s raw, uncensored commentary on sports, politics, culture, and things that matter. There is no show like this show.”
Some of Minihane’s egotistical chatter is performative — at least let’s hope so.
Kirk Is Right — About Some Things
It may take new listeners a while to process all the inside jokes and whatnot.
Tedious, irrelevant discussions of, e.g., the Barstool Sports trivia team or golf team, are things that don’t matter, so you’ll probably want to fast forward through those segments.
The palace intrigue at Barstool (which is now back under the sole ownership of Dave Portnoy), on the other hand, is interesting.
For all Minihane’s criticism, however — most of it valid — about lame terrestrial radio programming, taking phone calls from KMS listeners is ironically about as radio-ish as you can get.
Minihane, the former top-rated morning drive host on Boston’s now-moribund WEEI, likes to take cheap shots at his former radio partner Gerry Callahan, also a podcaster.
Kirk is generally correct that Callahan’s mostly politics-related content is quite predictable and redundant. That may be because Gerry’s podcast is either owned outright or aligned contractually with Newsmax.
The Callahan show would be a far better listen if the host would give more inside information about the radio industry or talk more about his experiences as Sports Illustrated writer.
In a massive overreaction, Minihane recently went off on Callahan after the latter sent out a relatively innocuous tweet that the former interpreted as anti-adoption. The duo are apparently no longer on speaking terms.
Minhane’s so-called raw commentary, during which he typically interrupts everyone else who is trying to get a word in, often gets muted when he has obsequious interactions with Barstool Sports higher-ups, which is obviously the opposite of the way he treats his producer and anyone lesser on the hierarchy.
It’s well documented that left-wing activisim led to the end, for better or worse, of Kirk and Callahan‘s otherwise successful radio career.
With that in mind, The Kirk Minihane Show is a compelling listen when exposing virtue-signaling media bias and/or when media news generally comes up for discussion.
It’s also a fun listen when Kirk gives his own inside take about the radio industry, WEEI included, although that content may not appeal to Stoolies outside of the Boston or New England area.
Also, most people understandably want entertainment that provides an escape from dreary, depressing politics.
That being said, Minihane is apparently so wary of being perceived to be on the ideological right that when politics, does come up (and this is usually another moment to fast forward), his main target seems to be on the failings of the “far right.”
Again, it’s valid to observe that the right sometimes manufactures outrage, but is is it really true that every conservative pundit, according to Kirk, is a stupid, boring, hypocrite?
Some are — but that doesn’t minimize the left’s corrosive, anti-free-speech agenda for America.
By the way, Kirk Minihane doesn’t care if you dislike his show.
As a footnote, nothing has changed with the self-named Blind Mike.
Related stories:
An Open Letter to ‘Blind Mike’ and Steve Robinson of The Kirk Minihane Show
Gerry Callahan Opens Up About WEEI on the Kirk Minihane Podcast [Listen]
Perhaps like a modern-day version of Ed McMahon on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, sidekick Mike agrees with Kirk on just about everything and incessantly fake-laughs at everything that Kirk says.
Note: This post will likely be updated/revised.
