Bowen

ALT Adam smiling on the picket line, holding a sign and wearing a black shirt with a number of unions listed. The picture is adorned by a red border that says "Time 100 Next" on the bottom in white text.

ALT By Michael Schur. September 13, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT. Comedian Adam Conover first became famous by ruining things. Specifically, things people like. National monuments, weddings, orange juice- 1 by 1 he walked us all through why these things are messed up, wrong, bad, tainted, problematic. He knew how annoying it is to walk around ruining things, but he just kept firing jokes and facts and science at us, grinning maniacally from under an improbable blond pompadour. He was like a Pixar superhero called the Fact Checker. But he doesn’t ruin things just to ruin them. He does it because he hates, above all, injustice—as seen in his work to rally support for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. He hates bullies and scam artists and powerful institutions that abuse the public for profit. In a world of asymmetrical power structures, where unions and workers and consumers are bruised by arcane rules and rigged systems, Adam suddenly pops into frame, points out how things really work, and offers ideas.