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NOTE: This interview was recorded on September 5, 2025.

I'm so excited for you to see this conversation I had with RT Rybak. He was the mayor of Minneapolis for three terms — one of the most successful and popular politicians the city has ever seen. He won his third term with over 70% of the vote. And this is the kind of guy who was able to run a city while also hosting pajama parties at the airport to protest noise pollution.

We got into a lot. RT talks about why he still goes to therapy after leaving office, and how being that close to the worst moments in the city — murder scenes, the bridge collapse, sitting with families of kids who'd been killed — leaves emotional barnacles that don't just go away. I wasn't expecting him to open up about that the way he did, and I think it's one of the most important parts of the conversation.

We also got into the state of media (RT was a journalist before he was a politician), why he thinks the current fracturing of news might actually be a good thing, the night before the primary when he first let himself believe he might really become mayor of this city, what it was like to walk into office in deep financial trouble, and what he's doing now running the Minneapolis Foundation.

We also got into where downtown Minneapolis goes from here — the empty office towers, the conversions to housing, and why he thinks winter might be our most underused asset.

The conversation flowed by so quickly. I really enjoyed it. I think you will too.

00:00 Intro, One Hour, No Edits
01:48 “Disheveled” as a Media Strategy
04:15 The Power of Authenticity in Politics
08:23 Are TikTok Creators the New News Anchors
13:10 R.T.’s Career from Journalist to Mayor
17:00 Why He Ran for Mayor and Thought He’d Lose
21:45 Pajama Party Protests and Playful Politics
25:02 “I Was in Over My Head”
30:30 Trauma, Therapy, and the Emotional Toll of Public Service
36:12 The Cultural Shift in Minneapolis Politics
39:50 Should Outsiders Run for Office
44:10 How the Minneapolis Foundation Actually Works
50:40 Donor-Advised Funds Explained Simply
53:15 The Future of Minneapolis: Hope or Decline
56:33 Downtown Real Estate Collapse and Reinvention
59:58 Why Minneapolis Is Better Than Portland

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I sat down with Comrade for exactly one hour, and it turns out when you put an iconic awkward comedian on the pod, you get… well, it nearly broke the show.

Comrade is a prolific comedian who’s also building something real in the world, and we talk about how he balances performing, creating, and actually paying rent while trying to make meaningful work. We get into where his comedy comes from, why discomfort is kind of the point, and what it looks like when you keep showing up even when you don’t feel ready.

If you want to check out what Comrade is building (and support his work), start here:
👉 https://www.comradetripp.com/

And if you like conversations like this, the best way to support what I’m doing is to become a supporter at oneminutetours.com. That support is what lets me keep sitting down with interesting people and seeing where the hour takes us.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you on the next detour.

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Support the show and get behind-the-scenes access at oneminutetours.com.

This week I sat down with Richard Carlbom, the chair of Minnesota’s Democratic Party, in the middle of one of the most volatile weeks this state has seen in years.

A woman had just been killed in south Minneapolis during a federal operation. ICE activity was escalating across the metro. Schools were shutting down. Protesters were flooding the streets. At the same time, Minnesota’s governor announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, throwing the state into an open race for power.

Richard is one of the people quietly responsible for holding all of that together — managing the party’s response, keeping elections functioning, and figuring out how a democracy operates when pressure keeps rising.

We talk about what his job actually looks like when a crisis hits, why language and outrage suddenly matter so much in politics, and where the line is between protest, civil disobedience, and real political change. We get into misinformation, the way entire communities become scapegoated, and why Minnesota keeps finding itself at the center of national political flashpoints.

We also talk candidly about how candidates are really chosen, what an open governor’s race means behind the scenes, and what lessons he took from leading Minnesota’s marriage equality campaign — especially about listening instead of lecturing voters.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about power, fear, responsibility, and what it actually means to try to protect democratic systems when they’re under stress.