Michael Krechmer
(born July 12, 1976), better known as Michael Malice, is a Ukrainian-American author, and
podcaster
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...
. He is the host of ''
"YOUR WELCOME" with Michael Malice'', a video podcast which airs on
Podcast One
LiveOne (formerly known as LiveXLive) is a music streaming platform that combines audio and (sometimes live) video available in the US and Canada. Users can access the service on the web through mobile apps on smartphones and over-the-air devic ...
.
Malice's early life was the subject of Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical '' American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...
's 2006 biography ''Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story''.
Early life
Malice was born in Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...
, a city in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
.
Malice has a sister and two nephews. He is of Jewish heritage[ and grew up speaking Russian.
When he was two years old, he moved with his parents to the ]Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
neighborhood of Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
, New York. His father originally worked as a courier
A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...
and attended Baruch College
Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...
to study computer science. He later worked for Merrill Lynch
Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment banki ...
.[ Malice attended ]Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineerin ...
. Malice also worked for Goldman Sachs before quitting.
Malice is known for trolling
In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the ...
others on social media, according to ''The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
''. His pseudonymous surname was inspired by nicknames such as Sid Vicious
John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...
and Poly Styrene that were common within the punk movement
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedo ...
and the cultural movement that centered around Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
, two cultural movements that greatly influenced Malice.[
]
Career
Malice is the co-creator and founding editor of the humor blog ''Overheard in New York
''Overheard in New York'' is a humor blog, published by Michael Malice and S. Morgan Friedman, that documents snippets of conversation heard by passersby in New York City. The blog popularized the format, which was created by the Web sit''In P ...
'' that posts submissions of conversations allegedly heard by eavesdroppers in New York City. Launched in 2003, the site was inspired by a conversation overheard by co-creator S. Morgan Friedman. A book based on some of the site's submissions was published in 2006.[
Malice is also the subject of ]Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical '' American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...
's 2006 biographical graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
''Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story'', illustrated by Gary Dumm
Gary G. Dumm (b. c. 1947)[Dumm entry](_blank)
Who's Who of American Comic Boo ...
.[ As the title suggests, the biography deals with the development of Malice's egoic personality, a characteristic that Malice does not dispute.]
Malice also co-authors and ghostwrites for celebrities. He is the co-author of several celebrity memoirs. He co-wrote MMA fighter Matt Hughes's 2008 autobiography ''Made in America: The Most Dominant Champion in UFC History''.[ He co-wrote ''Concierge Confidential: The Gloves Come Off – and the Secrets Come Out! Tales from the Man Who Serves Millionaires, Moguls, and Madmen'' (2011) with Michael Fazio, one of New York City's most highly sought ]concierge
A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...
s to the rich and famous,[ Malice also co-wrote comedian ]D. L. Hughley
Darryl Lynn Hughley (; born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's ''ComicView'' from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/UPN sitcom ''The Hughleys'', and as on ...
's 2012 book ''I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America'' and his 2016 book ''Black Man, White House: An Oral History of the Obama Years.''[
In 2014, he published his first solely authored work ''Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of ]Kim Jong Il
Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
''. It was crowdfunded through Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
and published through Amazon's CreateSpace
On-Demand Publishing, LLC, doing business as CreateSpace, is a self-publishing service owned by Amazon. The company was founded in 2000 in South Carolina as BookSurge and was acquired by Amazon in 2005.
History
CreateSpace publishes books conta ...
program. The book is written from the hypothetical first-person view of Kim himself and is a semi-farcical commentary on how he is portrayed to the North Korean people. Much of the material was based on English language propaganda material that Malice collected while on a week-long trip to Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...
, North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
in 2012.[ Malice had previously recounted his experiences of his trip in a 2013 article for '']Reason
Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...
'' magazine. In a generally positive review for NK News
NK News is an United States of America, American subscription-based news website that provides stories and analysis about North Korea. Established in 2011, it is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea with reporters in Washington, D.C. and London. R ...
, Rob York described ''Dear Reader'' as "informative, and surprisingly earnest."
Since 2014, Malice has been a regular guest on the Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
and Fox Business Network
Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenu ...
shows '' The Independents'', '' Kennedy'', '' Red Eye'',[ '']The Greg Gutfeld Show
''Gutfeld!'', known as ''The Greg Gutfeld Show'' from 2015 to 2021, is an American late-night talk show on Fox News Channel, created and presented by Greg Gutfeld. It airs at 11 p.m. ET on weeknights with an encore episode that airs Saturdays a ...
'', '' The Story with Martha MacCallum'', and ''Tucker Carlson Tonight
''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' is an American talk show and current affairs program hosted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on the television network Fox News. The show premiered in November 2016 and includes political commentary, monol ...
''. He is also a regular guest on ''The Tom Woods
Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American author and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute.Naji FilaliInterview with Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Harvard Political Review, August 16, 2011. W ...
Show'' podcast and has appeared on ''The Joe Rogan Experience
''The Joe Rogan Experience'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer un ...
''[ and '' The Rubin Report''.][ Malice is also a regular columnist at '']Observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Computer science and information theory
* In information theory, any system which receives information from an object
* State observer in co ...
''.
Malice sued former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros in October 2016, saying that he was owed $150,000 for ghostwriting
A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...
her book ''Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable''. In an argument to keep the lawsuit under seal, lawyers for Tantaros said that if Malice's role in editing the book was revealed, "it would severely undermine her credibility in the eyes of her colleagues, fans, publisher, and the wider news-media world." Tantaros countersued Malice for defamation, saying that he had submitted fabricated evidence and colluded with Fox News to harm her reputation. Malice's lawsuit was dismissed. He appealed the dismissal and lost the appeal, too.
In 2018, Malice began hosting the late-night talk show
A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...
''Night Shade with Michael Malice'' on Compound Media. The show aired for 425 episodes and concluded on October 1, 2020.
In 2019, Malice published his second solely-authored work, ''The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics''. The book is a historical analysis of the American New Right
New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Un ...
movement which contextualizes the events surrounding Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 United States presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
.
In 2021, Malice organized and published ''The Anarchist Handbook'', a collection of essays by various Anarchist figures, including Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...
, Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of th ...
, and Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertaria ...
.
In 2022, Malice published his third solely-authored work, ''The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil''. The book is a historical analysis of the Rise and fall of the Soviet Union and how it demonstrates the importance of hope for humanity's future.
''"YOUR WELCOME"'' podcast
In 2017, Malice joined Compound Media as the host of the weekly talk show ''YOUR WELCOME'', of which Malice writes as YOUR WELCOME as a form of trolling
In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the ...
.[ In 2018 ''"YOUR WELCOME"'' moved to the ''GaS Digital Network'', and effectively converting to a podcasting platform. In 2021, he moved to ]PodcastOne
LiveOne (formerly known as LiveXLive) is a music streaming platform that combines audio and (sometimes live) video available in the US and Canada. Users can access the service on the web through mobile apps on smartphones and over-the-air devic ...
, where he began adding his name to the show's title. Episodes generally revolve around interviews with a wide variety of political pundits and entertainers, including journalist Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substa ...
, author Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray may refer to:
* Douglas Murray (author) (born 1979), British political journalist, author and commentator
* Doug Murray (comics) (born 1947), American comic book writer
* Douglas Murray (ice hockey) (born 1980), Swedish ice hockey ...
, comedian Dave Smith, radio show host Alex Jones
Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcast ...
, YouTube personality Blaire White, politician Kari Lake, media pundit Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic ...
, and comedian Jimmy Dore.
Other ventures
Malice is a regular guest on the '' Lex Fridman Podcast'', and ''The Joe Rogan Experience
''The Joe Rogan Experience'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer un ...
''.
Views
Malice describes himself as an anarchist or anarchist without adjectives. ''Reason
Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...
'' described his politics as a combination of anarchism, Objectivism
Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...
, and libertarianism in 2006. In 2014, he wrote an opinion piece
An opinion piece is an article, usually published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about a subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.
Editorials
Opinion pieces may take the form of an editorial ...
for ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' explaining why he does not vote. Malice has advocated for the peaceful dissolution of the United States.
Personal life
Malice, formerly of New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, resides in Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
Bibliography
As sole author:
*
*
*
As editor:
*
As co-author:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
* Locals
Locals Technology Inc., also referred to as locals.com, is a creator crowdfunding site cofounded by Dave Rubin and Assaf Lev. It started in 2019 and is based in Miami.
The site was founded after Rubin and Jordan Peterson left Patreon in respo ...
References
External links
Official Website
Books by Michael Malice
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malice, Michael
1976 births
Living people
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American anarchists
American columnists
American podcasters
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
American political commentators
American political writers
Anarchist writers
Bucknell University alumni
Ghostwriters
Jewish American writers
Jewish anarchists
People from New York City
Soviet emigrants to the United States
Soviet Jews
Writers from New York (state)
American male non-fiction writers