‘Ruthless’ Hosts Reflect On Five Years Of Success, Look To The Future

Josh Holmes remembers the warnings were as clear as day.

The political strategist had just started “Ruthless,” a raucous show covering the latest news, when his Beltway colleagues cried foul.

“‘Are you out of your minds?'” Holmes recalls of the steady drumbeat during the show’s 2020 launch. The critiques made sense. Holmes and his co-hosts — Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook, and the pundit known as Comfortably Smug didn’t talk like political consultants.

They called themselves “the Fellas,” and, true to the name, they talked like regular guys cracking wise at the bar. Smart fellas, to be sure. But fellas nonetheless.

And funny. Always funny.

Their colleagues may have been right, but the public disagreed. The variety “progrum,” as they call it, caught fire despite their unorthodox style and humble roots.

Now, they’ve sealed a deal with Fox News, bringing the progrum to the next level.

“The conventional wisdom that has governed the industry of politics is bulls***,” Holmes tells The Daily Wire.

Longtime fans, also known as “minions,” may fear the corporate partnership, but Smug says the best is yet to come.

“For listeners, the only thing this means for them is you get more. More episodes. More content. More capabilities,” Smug said.

“Nothing’s changing,” Holmes adds.

The show’s comedy veers from ribald banter to signature games like “Dem or Journo” and “King of the Hill.” The latter pits former Republican pundits squaring off for the most unhinged social media hot takes. The competition is fierce, all the better for show prep.

“Too many people in politics want to prove how smart they are all the time,” Duncan says. “If you’re not laughing, you’re going to be crying. Politics can be frustrating.”

The satire practically writes itself, assuming you’re paying attention, Holmes says.

“Watch the House of Representatives for 10 minutes and not have enough for a full, 30-minute comedy sketch,” Holmes says.

The show’s rise coincides with the country’s shift to the Right, Ashbrook suggests. Comedy mainstays like late-night TV don’t grasp that transition, he adds, consistently avoiding liberal targets in their monologues. “Ruthless” fans crave the comedic parts of the show, a rarity with right-leaning talkers. That’s especially true when digesting some of the heavier news cycles.

The show’s shocking ascent became clear earlier this year. The show joined the White House briefing room as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to expand the pool beyond legacy outlets. Ashbrook represented the progrum with a question for spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

There’s a practical side to their high jinks. Pre-election, GOP voters got to know Vance as not just a youthful candidate but a wisecracking dad who could hang with the boys.

Other Beltway guests get to let down their guard, too, swapping jokes with the foursome and showing a fresh side of their personas. You won’t see that on C-SPAN. 

“You can see these folks in an environment that isn’t staid Washington, D.C.,” Holmes says. The Pelosis, Harrises and Buttigieges often visit Jimmy Kimmel or Seth Meyers to show their softer side.

Republicans get “Ruthless.”

The accidental podcasters all have day jobs. Holmes, Ashbrook, and Duncan work at Cavalry, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs and communications firm. Smug is a political consultant and hedge fund guru. Together, they’ve joined the podcast revolution at a critical moment.

Both sides of the political aisle acknowledge how vital podcasts were in the 2024 presidential election. President Donald Trump dropped by “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Flagrant” with Andrew Schulz, while future Vice President JD Vance visited “The Tim Dillon Show” and “This Past Weekend” with Theo Von.

Vice President Kamala Harris infamously balked at a Rogan sitdown, much to her campaign’s eventual dismay.

“Listeners see podcasts as a more realistic source of information,” Smug says, blaming traditional media outlets for that shift. People can’t trust media outlets that told them President Joe Biden was the “sharpest guy around,” he adds.

“People were getting flat-out lied to, adds Holmes.

The 2024 election cycle “opened people’s eyes to the way the electorate consumes information,” Duncan says. The Fellas were ahead of the curve.

“The Legacy Media is entirely captured by the Left, and it is a disease. They’re fundamentally incapable of getting over that disease,” Ashbrook says. Journalists “care more about what rich people in New York think about them than they do about how the rest of the country views them … will they course correct? I always thought they would, but it’s only gotten worse.”

“They’re living in a society that does not exist in America beyond their X feed,” Holmes adds.

The Left has been begging to find their own Rogan since November 5, forgetting that the ex-“Fear Factor” host leaned to the Left before Democrats forgot their core principles, like free speech.

“There are very funny Democrats in this country. ‘Saturday Night Live’ was the funniest thing on the planet, staffed and written by Democrats,” Ashbrook says. But now, “they’re not allowed to be funny. They’re handcuffed by the Left.”

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at HollywoodInToto.com.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire