The hosts of “Ruthless Podcast,” a conservative political show with deep Midwestern roots, will air a live special on Fox News Channel this Sunday from noon to 1 p.m. ET, just over a week before the midterm elections.
The four co-hosts — known to listeners as “The Fellas” — are Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, John Ashbrook and Michael Duncan. The podcast launched in October 2020, founded by Holmes, a longtime Republican strategist, and Comfortably Smug, an internet personality with a finance background. Ashbrook and Duncan, colleagues of Holmes at the consulting firm Calvary, later joined as co-hosts.
“Ruthless” began as Zoom conversations during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since grown into a program with a licensing deal with Fox News Media, signed last year. The show bills itself as offering an inside look at elections and policy from people who have worked directly in Washington’s political machinery.
Holmes, who grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, previously served as chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and has spent decades working on political campaigns. “We felt like there was a real hole in the conservative media landscape for people who enjoy politics but want to have fun while doing it. They want to know what’s really going on but could do without the ideological lecture,” Holmes told Fox News Digital at the time the show launched.
Ashbrook, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, has advised Republican politicians and officials for decades and is often described as the show’s “voice” for his read on how mainstream outlets will frame political stories. Duncan, who grew up in Indiana, got his start early in the digital organizing era of conservative politics and has built expertise in online advertising and media consumption.
Over the past year, the “Ruthless” team has interviewed candidates in 19 states as part of what they call the Ruthless Midterm Interview Series. The podcast normally releases new episodes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, but the hosts have added a Wednesday recording during the election season.
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