It's still a long way off until the next American Presidential election, and already, wooden [and balls-out stupid] people [at least one from Texas] are standing up and proclaiming their intentions to run for office.

Politics!

We're told politics and religion are things we shouldn't discuss, but why is that? Why not discuss very broken things in the open, for all to see? That's what we're doing on this week's episode!

We begin by talking about the first time we became aware of politics, followed by what political party -- if any -- we align ourselves with.

Find out the first election we voted in...and who we voted for. After that, we discuss whether or not we've ever volunteered to work for a political campaign (and if we've ever given money to any campaigns).

For many, political views are first formed by one's parents. Find out if we followed our parents' political views...and how we decide to vote for a candidate (if we decide to vote at all).

After that, we talk about the current political system in America (the Electoral College, campaigning, and all that other good stuff). Find out if we think it works, or if it can stand some improvements. (And, because we're muthafuckin' Americans and it's our prerogative: what we'd do to improve American politics.)

Have we ever not voted in an election...and, if so: why? Find out! After that, we talk about how involved with politics we are compared to our younger selves. And we wrap it all up talking about the future of politics in America.

So step into the comments' booth and be heard below!

While it is April first (at least somewhere in the world at the time of posting), this is no joke. We have speculated that we can talk about anything for an hour: even an hour dedicated to poop! We recently mentioned that ability again and got challenged to finally prove that we can keep a talk about feces interesting for an hour.

We have accepted that challenge!

In fact, we not only talk about poop for an hour...at 1:05:09 into this week's show, Christopher interviews his mom about pooping when he was a baby...and many other things. Yep, for the first time ever, there is another person featured on Men in Gorilla Suits -- the person who brought Gorilla Christopher into the world! (It's one of Christopher's favorite moments in any podcast he's ever done.)

But before the chat with Christopher's mom, we begin with this important question: when is the last time you shit yourself?

With one half of the podcast solidly into middle age and another climbing that direction, we chat about whether or not we're more concerned with regularity than we've been in the past.

But we never make a show all about us...

There's no classy way to address the turd in the urinal seen by most men in a restroom while on a road trip. It's one of life's greatest mysteries -- and we devote some time to talking about how and why this phenomenon exists! After that, we stick around public restrooms and talk about whether or not we are people who fear pooping in public. (Also, whether we're fond of the courtesy flush when pooping.) Then it's all about the worst public restrooms we've ever seen. (And a tale of an open cesspit in Canada into which campers were expected to defecate.)

Poop has smeared its way into pop culture; we spend a bit of time discussing our favorite songs about poop before talking about our favorite poop scenes in television and film. After that, we take a wild guess at how many words we've read in our lifetimes while pooping.

Find out why we think poop is used so often in humor...as well as naming our favorite euphemisms for pooping.

We all have favorite poop stories, right? Well, even if you don't, we do...and we're not afraid to share them.

We wrap it all up by having what might be the only serious moment in this week's show...when we talk about...THE FUTURE OF POOP!!!

We almost fear saying, "Share your best poop stories in the comments below," but if you make it through this episode (and the interview with Christopher's mom after the usual outro music), you've earned the right to write on our online bathroom stall wall...

How do you feel about who you are? Are you pleased with the person you've become, or do you think there's so much room for improvement that it affects the way you look at yourself? How do others view you -- and how do those you meet shape who you are and how you look at yourself? There are just a few things we're talking about this week on Men in Gorilla Suits.

We begin by talking about how the concept of self-image was introduced to us. (Shawn shares a particular devastating story, here.) After that, we discuss how accurate our perceptions of ourselves are.

Next, we talk about how we arrived at our current self-images.

Others shape who we are in so many ways. We chat about others making observations about us that, while true, went against the way we looked at ourselves. After that, we talk about who has the most accurate image of us: ourselves or our wives.

Find out if we ever project images of ourselves that is different in any way of what we feel are our "true" selves. Then we move onto other people: if we polled those closest to us, would their images of us match the way we look at ourselves? Would it be more positive, negative, or a bit of both?

Then we talk about other people. Find out if those we know view themselves better (or worse) than the people we see. After that, it's back to us. Do we have a positive or negative (or even aggrandized) image of ourselves?

We wrap it up with two questions:

• If you had to describe yourself -- your personality, your actions, your character -- in one word, what would you choose?
• What one word do you think others would choose?

Tell us who you are in the comments below...

Why did two white guys from the suburbs decide to talk about white privilege for an hour? You'll have to listen to find out.

Maybe you want a hint about what we talked about? Fair enough...

We begin by talking about when we first heard the term white privilege. From there, we move on to discussing if either of us have been accused of being privileged in any way...and how we reacted to it.

After that, we chat about if anyone's actually leveled the term "white privilege" at us...of if we've ever been told to check our privilege in any way.

Then, the question that made Shawn think about this episode: does the idea of white privilege hold any weight for us?

Next, we talk about where the idea of white privilege originated, before moving on to the last two questions:

• Do we think we are guilty of any sort of privilege?
• Is "white privilege" a subtle (or not-so-subtle) form of racism?

If you're a regular listener, you've probably noticed this episode contains about half the usual talking points we shoot for. It's a much more conversational episode, and we hope you like it and take a moment to comment about the episode below...

"Four and three and two and one, and when I'm on the mic, the suckas run..."

Hip hop and rap -- styles of music that seem to be either loved or hated. We're on the love side, and it's entirely possible that if you're on the hate side, we might win you over by the end of this episode.

We kick it off talking about the first rap or hip hop we remember hearing. After that, we move on to what we say to those who tell us they can't stand rap and hip hop (even going as far as saying it's inferior to all other music). Want to know what songs we play for those who say they hate all rap and hip hop? We tell ya!

Rap gets a bad...rap for being sexist and homophobic. While it's not something exclusive to the style of music, it's definitely prevalent enough that we spend a little bit of time to talk about that. And while we're on that roll, we discuss the use of "nigger" and "nigga" in rap and hip hop. (Hint about our feelings: just typing that seems sooooooo wrong. This part of the show devolved into talking about the awkwardness and desperation of Quentin Tarantino.)

Rap and hip hop have been influential enough to have offshoots like nerdcore and trip hop. We discuss that for a bit before jumping to how rap and hip hop have influenced music in general.

We take a little detour and talk about the best live rap or hip hop shows we've seen, and then it's on to a one-minute lightning round where we rattle off all the rap and hip hop we like as fast as we can.

We'll be the first to admit that not all rap and hip hop is good. We devote some time to the worst tunes before wrapping it all up by discussing what the future holds for rap and hip hop.

We'd love to know how you feel about the music; feel free to comment below.

As you read this, we're stealing your wallet or purse. Now...we're breaking into your car. Shawn just might assault you for the sheer joy of committing a crime. Christopher just stole your identity...

Okay, so we're not criminals, but crime is a fascinating topic to us; we're surprised it took us 109 weeks to finally get to it.

We begin the episode talking about the first time we remember hearing about crime; then we jump to whether or not we've been victims of violent crimes or any property crimes.

We couldn't do a show about crime without coming clean and talking about anything we've done that can be deemed criminal activity...or things we've done that -- without a doubt -- were criminal. After that, we talk about the worst crimes we've committed (at least, according to the law).

It's easy to jump online and convince yourself that you will be a victim of crime on any given day, but...is crime more or less of a problem today than when we were young? And what do we think contributes to the perception that crime is running rampant right now?

Criminals can be stupid and, sometimes, outright hilarious. We discuss the craziest crime stories we've heard and then put on our poorly-made super hero outfits and talk about if we've ever had a desire to fight crime. (Oddly enough, it wasn't, "Oh, yes...I always wanted to be a cop." Nope, we go straight to vigilantism.)

Crime in America is on the downswing, and has been for quite some time. We talk about what we believe has led to the overall decrease, and then we discuss where we believe the most crime-ridden places in the first world are when it comes to violent crime.

We wrap up the episode -- as always -- looking toward the future. Will humanity ever wipe out crime, or is it something that will always be around?

As always, confess any of your criminal activities, or share your thoughts on crime, in the comments below.

Meh...

Yawn...

We almost didn't do this episode because we just didn't care...

We were feeling rather...apathetic.

But then we remembered that apathy sometimes gets a bad rap, so we decided to stand tall and defend it.

Sort of...

We begin by discussing what we think the average person thinks of when you ask them what apathy is. After that, we talk about the first things we remember being apathetic about.

Why do some people become apathetic in the first place? We chat about that before asking if we've seen people use apathy as a defense.

If you listen to the show, you know there's a facet of apathy we embrace. We talk about the power of controlled apathy a bit, and then move on to when apathy can become a problem. Find out if we've ever seen apathy damage someone.

Another popular form of apathy is voter apathy. Are people who don't vote because they don't care part of the problem, or are there reasons some people don't vote that go beyond simply not wanting to go through the motions?

Next, we talk about how to overcome damaging apathy...and what we think can make one person obsessive while others become apathetic. Along the same thought, we discuss if a person can be apathetic in some aspects of their life while being very active in others.

We wrap it all up wondering if humans will always be apathetic.

If you care enough about this episode, please leave a comment below. If you don't, we get...it's cool...

It seems everywhere you turn -- government, corporations, religion, education -- there's corruption. So much so that many people seem to think that honesty is a thing of the past. (These people often forget that the past was full of just as much corruption...maybe even more.) Are we all doomed to live in a world where the little guy is crushed beneath the boots of those cheating their way to the top, or is that view of the world not really justified? That's what we're talking about on this week's episode of Men in Gorilla Suits.

We begin the episode talking about the first example of corruption we can remember (hint: Christopher was born in Chicago and raised in the area). After that, we discuss the first time we were on either side of something corrupt (as the victim or the one actually being corrupt).

We get a little bogged down in semantics when we talk about whether or not absolute power corrupts absolutely -- and then we talk about how big a problem corruption is where we live.

When most people think about corruption, they think about government. We talk about how big we think corruption is on a federal level, and then jump to corporations (including if we've ever seen corruption at any of the places we've worked).

We step away from the idea that corruption is reserved solely for the powerful and talk about other forms of corruption worthy of concern. Next, we discuss the most corrupt organizations we've heard about.

It seems like every week (or several times a week) there's a new video of corrupt police activity. We talk about whether or not police departments are more corrupt today than they were in the past, and then...we jump to the National Football League. (Because why not?! Actually, it was a talk about the NFL that triggered this episode for Gorilla Shawn.) If we were made commissioner of the NFL, find out if we'd give in to corruption...and how long it would take either of us to become corrupt.

We wrap up the episode talking about what we can do in the future to slow down or even stop corruption...or if it's just something we'll always live with.

Leave a comment below and we'll be sure that if either of us are ever made President of the United States, we'll give you the cabinet position of your choice!

If you're reading this -- whether you like it or not -- you have [at some point in your life] been part of a family. Chances are you're still part of a family. (We have met very few loners in life who have eschewed or lost all family.) It's something we all have in common, but what constitutes a family can be very different depending on who you ask. That's what we're talking about on this week's episode of Men in Gorilla Suits.

We begin by talking about our earliest family memories and then jump to how large our immediate families were (and are).

There are those who say, "My friends are family!" Does that hold true to us, or can only actual relatives be family?

The Brady Bunch introduced many people to step families at a time when it wasn't as common as it is today. We discuss our experiences with step families -- and then talk about in-laws...are they as bad as sitcoms and movies make them out to be?

Find out if family is the most important thing in our lives; then we talk about our best -- and worst -- family memories.

Families are not perfect things, and sometimes there are relatives who are just very hard to deal with. Find out if either of us have ever written off a family member.

With more people having children later in life (or not at all), "fur-kids" has become a term many use to describe their pets. We some time to talking about how important pets are to family.

It seems even the most Leave-it-to-Beaver families have some degree of dysfunction going on. We ask if there even are any normal families out there, or if it's all an ideal that can never exist.

Finally, what constitutes a family has changed over the years. We talk about the future of the family and the challenges faced (and -- hopefully -- the acceptance that family is really what we make of it...).

If you feel compelled to join in the conversation, have your say in the comments below...

This coming Saturday marks a fairly big day for the Men in Gorilla Suits podcast. On February 7, 2013, we loaded our first episode. Over a hundred episodes later, we're still going strong.

What better way to celebrate this milestone by podcasting...about podcasting!

We begin with the first podcasts we remember listening to and then jump to how we describe podcasts to those not familiar with them.

Most people into podcasts are familiar with Serial. It's one of the only podcasts we can think of that people at work talk about, but has it really gone mainstream (as many podcasters claim)?

Regardless of Serial's standing, there's no doubt that it has opened people's eyes to podcasting and influenced people. Find out how we feel the success of Serial has influenced podcasts.

Find out if either of us did any podcasting before Men in Gorilla Suits -- as well as what made us want to podcast.

Within podcasting, some argue that content is the most important thing while others say production matters so much that they will not listen to even a great show if it doesn't sound like it was produced in a studio. Obviously, a mix of both things is ideal, but if we could choose only one thing, find out what matters more to us: content or production quality.

Beyond that, find out what we feel is the most important thing when doing a podcast -- and also, find out how podcasting has changed our lives.

Clearly, we like podcasts. We talk about some of our favorite shows, including particular episodes that stand out as our all-time faves.

Finally, as we usually do, we look toward the future -- this time speculating what the future holds for podcasting.

Whether you've been there since the start of Men in Gorilla Suits, or if this is the first episode you've listened to, we thank you so much for letting us into your ear holes! We'd love to hear what some of your favorite podcasts are in the comments below...