Michael Malice

Malice was born in the former Soviet Union and describes himself as Russian and Jewish.⁠[1]

Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, a graphic novel about him by American Splendor creator Harvey Pekar, was published by Ballantine, telling in the first person of a life in which he is always right and everyone else wrong.⁠[2]

The book follows him from first grade in Brooklyn through refuge at the Cato Institute, temp jobs and stand-up comedy to co-creating a popular website that led to a book deal.⁠[3]

He is the founding editor of the website Overheard in New York.⁠[4]

The site collects snippets of New Yorkers’ conversations, drew about four million page views a month and spawned a book of the same name.⁠[5]

He has co-written books with several public figures; UFCUFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, United States. It began in 1993 as a no-holds-barred fighting tournament and gradually entered the mainstream after the Fertitta brothers’ Zuffa bought it for $2 million in 2001; it was sold for about $4 billion in 2016 to a consortium led by WME-IMG, and in 2023 it merged with WWE to form the publicly traded TKO Group Holdings, where as of 2026 it is one of the largest businesses by revenue.Open the full entry Hall of Famer Matt Hughes’s autobiography Made in America and comedian D. L. Hughley’s Black Man, White House were both New York Times best sellers.⁠[4]

Concierge Confidential, written with Michael Fazio, was named by NPR one of 2011’s top five celebrity tell-alls.⁠[6]

In 2012 he went to Pyongyang and brought back armfuls of English-language North Korean propaganda books as source material. He has said the giddy tone of the propaganda, applied to horrific realities, produces dark humor.⁠[7]

Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il is written in Kim Jong Il’s first person; he said Kim, present at nearly every major moment in North Korea’s history, was their “Forest Gump” figure and a natural narrator.⁠[8]

A profile before the book’s release described him as an avowed anarchist who does not vote and believes in neither marriage nor God; he said he hates the idea that “the personal is political.”⁠[9]

The book grew out of his North Korea trip, which he wrote about in the August/September 2013 issue of Reason.⁠[10]

The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics was published on May 14, 2019, by All Points Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, tracing the ideas and development of a loose coalition opposed to progressivism.⁠[11]

One review described the book as wavering between anthropological observation, screed and memoir.⁠[12]

Another review called it “sometimes-confused, sometimes-insightful,” noting that the Jewish author calmly records interviewees telling him he would not be allowed citizenship in their ideal state.⁠[13]

Writer Todd Seavey, who has known him for years, credited the book for explaining the movement in a fairly sympathetic way.⁠[14]

He first appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast as the guest of episode #128, described as a political thinker, podcaster and author, discussing anarchism, the Libertarian Party, objectivism, trolling and cancel culture.⁠[15]

Episode #150, titled around “The White Pill,” covered self-publishing, journalism’s failure to stop Stalin and Hitler, North Korea, Curtis Yarvin and violence under anarchism.⁠[16]

He and Yaron BrookYaron BrookYaron Brook is an Israeli-born American writer, commentator and podcast host and a former finance professor who from the early 2000s led the Ayn Rand Institute, which promotes Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, and later became its chairman of the board; with Don Watkins he co-wrote books including Free Market Revolution and Equal Is Unfair, and he hosts The Yaron Brook Show.Open the full entry appeared on episode #178, debating anarchy.⁠[17]

On episode #200 he discussed The Anarchist Handbook, which he compiled, along with Emma Goldman, Tolstoy, why he does not vote, and New York and Austin.⁠[18]

The Anarchist Handbook excerpts key writings of a number of important anarchist thinkers.⁠[19]

In the New Year’s special, episode #253, he talked about Fridman’s move to Austin, writing The White Pill, the Jeffrey Epstein case and the 2024 elections.⁠[20]

The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil was independently published on December 3, 2022, running 369 pages.⁠[21]

In the Christmas special, episode #347, he and Fridman discussed Marxism and anarchism, the October Revolution, the kulaks and starvation, the Great Terror, Stalin, the Iron Curtain and the “Twitter Files,” as well as self-publishing.⁠[22]

He made his seventh appearance in episode #402, the “Thanksgiving Pirate Special,” with topics including humor and absurdity, Marx and religion, art, books and how to be happy.⁠[23]

As of October 2026 his podcast “YOUR WELCOME” with Michael Malice, provided by PodcastOne, had reached episode #439, discussing everything from North Korea to American politics and culture with guests.⁠[24]

He lives in Austin.⁠[21]

Personal website: Public link: https://michaelmalice.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

X: Public account: https://x.com/michaelmalice (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/MichaelMaliceofficial (opens in a new window)⁠[23]