Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kabbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Right now in the air ey where The Fifth Hour
with me Ben Mahler and Danny g Radio who's on
assignment but his producing this show.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
He will be back tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.
But you got me today on this Friday's the thirteenth
day of December, as we celebrate National ice Cream Day. Yeah,
you'd think National ice Cream Day would be sometime in
the summer, right, There is actually another National ice Cream Day.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
There's two National ice Cream Days.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
There's one in July, which makes sense, right, I mean
the ice cream you think of the summertime. But there's
a second National ice Cream Day, which is today. And
of course I think we talked about this in July.
But the invention of ice cream, the people of the
Persian Empire started making ice cream. They poured concentrate of
(01:25):
grape juice over snow, and that was the original I scream.
Of course, at some point before that, it's likely there
was a lemon flavor, shall we say, of ice cream
that was used, if you know what I'm saying, like
a yellowy lemon flavor of ice cream. But ice cream
was first patented in eighteen forty six. Someone named Nancy
(01:49):
Johnson invented the She invented the patent for the first
hand cranked ice cream maker, and the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And I was in Vermont earlier this year.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You're visiting my friend Arnie, the great Ernie Spaniel, the
sticking genius, and we drove by the Ben and Jerry's compound,
those moon bats in Vermont, and the famous story back
in the seventies they took a five dollars course on
ice cream making and opened up the Ben and Jerry's
there at a gas station, a converted gas station in Burlington.
(02:22):
And and now they are looney tones, but they it
all started with the little ice cream. Four out of
five Americans eat more sugar. Here's a fun survey around
the hollage. I thought it should be more than that
it's eighty percent. And there's all kinds of I got
all kinds of sugar ice cream stats here, all kinds
(02:42):
of this by age group, they say the For example,
according to Way survey, different age groups preferred different ice
cream flavors. The fourteen to seventeen group enjoy mint chocolate chip.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
The eighteen to twenty four it's cookies and cream.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Get them all turned on, and then the cookie dough
twenty five to thirty four, and then above forty five
it's it's chocolate. I I'm a cookie dough. I like
midship mint chocolate chip cookie dough. It's really hard to
turn down any kind of ice cream, right, fudge, brownie,
(03:22):
you name it.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Whatever might be ice cream on top of that.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Anyway, So it's National ice Cream Day, but it'll happen
again coming up in the month of July. So July
of twenty twenty five, just have like multiple days wine.
It's also National Cream cheese Frosting Day today, so celebrate
appropriately for that, National Cocoa Day on this Friday, and
randomly National violin Day.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Okay, So on this edition.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Of the Fifth Hour, we have Liberachi approved. Goodbye, my
radio friend, A little foodie fun and a very bizarre
word of the week, which actually could be two words
of the week.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It's not really one word, it's more than that.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
So we always begin the Friday podcast by pointing out
that Noel am I lucky enough to have a radio
show that hopefully listen to during the week.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I mean, that's pretty cool, right, pretty that's a neat thing.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
And then I have this podcast, which I've been very
blessed with to have this podcast as well.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I've done this for a number of years.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Now with gag On and of course Danny GE's been
with me for a long time as well. And a
couple of years ago, the good people at NBC gave
me a TV show. Shocking, I know, and I feel
like Jim Harbaugh evangelizing. Who's got it better than us? Well,
probably nobody. Well there's a lot of people that have better,
(04:52):
a lot of people that are worse than us. But nonetheless,
I try to convert you if you have not already
fallen for my crusade, as I missionize every week, the
Little Missionary here, my campaign to spread the gospel of
Benny versus the penny. It is a half hour of
your time. It is a weekly NFL gambling show, but
(05:14):
not really so much a gambling It's light on the
gambling and mostly just me futzing around, goofing around with
my sidekick, teleprompter Tom as we call him. So it's
week fifteen. We recorded the TV show yesterday. It actually
started airing on television around the country last night.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
It is a nationally syndicated show, thank god for that.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
NBC Sports Now for our purposes, the show is produced.
The director, the producer, all the production team, my team,
the people that put the show together behind the scenes
are at NBC Sports Boston. So that's our flagship. So
that to us is the biggest affiliate, not that we
don't love being on in all these other cities, but
that's the one where the people that make the magic,
(06:00):
the people that make the hot dogs, they get to
consume the hot dog right there in their backyard. And
so with that being said, we will go live no
Celtic game tonight, hallelujah, hallelujah, no Celtic game tonight in
the early television window.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Don't think they play it all.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Today, So we will go live on tape on NBC
Sports Boston in prime time six pm and then two
more at least two more encore showings. The show will
be broadcast again at eight thirty and then again at
nine to thirty, so three showings between six pm and
(06:37):
nine thirty ten ish, which means Alf the Alien ol
Piner going to be very busy. Alf I know you
have a homework assignment there, buddy, and you've been very
good and loyal, and we lost our buddy masshole Mickey,
so I need you to carry the load there and
watch the show and all the episodes.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And all that, and I know you will. I know
you will.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Rusty as well, Rusty in Boston. And now Danny DeVito,
how cool is that the call the other night.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
From Danny DeVito.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
I'm gonna I'm gonna tell my wife this weekend, Danny
DeVito is a fan of the show that I've arrived.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Now, this is Danny Vieto.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
He just happened to be a trash man in Boston,
but he's making like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
a year picking up other people's trash, which is not bad.
So again, the whole point is Benny versus the Penny.
Week fifteen break down, all the big matchups, this weekend
in the NFL, and I want you another show. Is
Liberacci approved at least teleprompter Tom his outfit Liberacci approved,
(07:36):
And we're gonna send out another Sissor real.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I gotta tell you, I have had so much fun.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I feel like I'm a child the last couple of
weeks walking around the back lot at Universal Studios, Hollywood,
and we've stumbled on to the downtown city backdrop scene,
the fake buildings where they've filmed so many iconic movies
and TV shows over and mean, we get done with
(08:02):
the TV show and we we walk and it's pretty
long walk from when we do the show.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
We do the show kind of near.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
The front of Universal, the back lot, the front part
of the back lot at univers Studios, if that makes
any sense. So then we get out of that building.
We have to walk down to the abb And and Costello
parking garage. We then put our bags in the abb
and Castello draw Abnue Costello Garage. We then go into
an elevator. We go down the elevator to the ground floor.
(08:27):
We then walk out through an office building. We then
walk up to the left and have to go up
a hill and then we have a long walk.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
We go by all.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
These massive studios and we walk, walk, walk, Why walk
by the Johnny Carson building. There's a jay Leno street
slash building right across the street from Johnny Carson's building.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
We keep going, keep going, keep going. At Boom there
it is right there, right.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
In front of us, this beautiful city with a movie theater,
it's got a hotel, it's got everything. So we've deterned
and we love this Looney as well. And I tried
to explain to Looney we should have been doing this
a long time ago, and for some reason he thought
I was taking him up to Universal Studios the amusement park.
It's like, no, I don't. I can't fit on the
(09:12):
rides at Universal Studios. I'm too tall for that. I
used to be too fat too, but I'm too tall now,
so I'm like no. So this is our new spot.
And there's another video that we're putting out later today
that you can check out behind the scenes of the
Universal and you will see the Liberachi approved outfit from
teleprompter Tom for this week's episode of Benny Versus the Penny.
(09:37):
It is well, it's it's on brand for looning. It
is on brand for Looney all right. Turned the page
from that, I was I think I was trying to
think who sent me a message out? One of you
guys sent me a message saying, hey, we should go
back and kind of honor some of the people that
(09:58):
we've lost this year, and my buddy in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
But anyway, we will do that at some point.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
I did want to spend some time this weekend to
say goodbye to my radio friend, and that would be Skeeter.
We talked about this at the beginning of the week.
I found out over last weekend that we had lost
our friend Skeeter. And over the last few days before
(10:27):
Skeeter passed, I had been in contact with Colonel Rick
and the Montana Girl. They are the two fine sweet
souls that have kept an eye on Skeeter, and they
reached out to me when Skeeter had a medical emergency. Now, Skeeter,
if you're not familiar, is a caller to the show.
(10:50):
He's one of the great characters on the show. And
really what the Overnight Show is all about. We're keeping
your company. We're there with you. You can't sleep, you
got medical problems, whatever it might be, and there's another
human being who is there. That's the whole point of
(11:11):
doing it. Otherwise they just put tape programming on and
that's it and save some money and they don't have
to pay people like me, and that's that. But Skeeter
is famous, and I will remember Skeeter as long as
I do this show for what he inspired Skeeter is.
I'm gonna tell you about his life here because Colonel
(11:32):
Rick and the Montana Girl were kind of enough to
share a nice little right up on Skeeter. I wanted
to share that because this is the last time we'll
probably mention him often on the show, and I wanted
to give him the proper sendoff as he deserves. So
Skeeter started calling the show years ago and just a
sweet old man. But he loved being part of the show.
(11:54):
He loved being part of the show, and so much
so that we have the mal Or Militia. Listen to
the show, you know that we wote to Mallard Militia,
a group of super fans of the show that support
and defend the honor of the Ben Maller Show.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
So fine.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I had used the Malad Militia moniker for a long time.
In fact, to Johatish John.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
If you remember that name from Michigan, who retired from
sports radio calling. Very odd story.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
But johnis John's like Mallad Militia Maleman. So we did
this years ago. This probably goes back twenty years we
had the Mala Militia. But a few years back, and
I don't even remember exactly when Skeeter started calling the show.
And he really was into the show, and he loved it,
and he had great energy, and he was a sweet
old man, and he wanted to be a member of
the militia. And he could not wrap his mind around
(12:44):
the fact that that there's no way to enter. He
wanted to be part of the club. He kept asking me,
call after call, how do I get part of this?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
How do I want to be part of it?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And so in a moment of weakness, I said, all right, fine,
you want to be part of it. I stop annoying me, Skeeter.
I'll come up with an oath. So I took the
I went on, I did some creative editing. I took
the United States Military Oath, and I twisted a few
words around. I made it my own. I put my
(13:14):
own touch on it and that was it. And then
I did it on the air, and Skeeter loved it
and he could not get enough of it, and other
people in the listening audience wanted to be part of it.
Many of you have taken the Malad Militia oath over
the years, and it's all because of Skeeter.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It's all because of Skeeter.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
It's a blood oath and accordance to the bylaws of
the Mala Militia. And so that is all because of Skeeter.
That is his lasting legacy on our little radio show.
And it's the funniest thing because Skeeter. I'm gonna tell
you about him here in a second. Skeeter spent a
long time in the military. He spent time in the
United States military, and here I am doing the military oath,
(14:02):
is changing a few words around, and he loved it.
And I get the biggest kick out of that because
I've heard for a lot of guys that did time
in the military, spent time there, and they all seem
to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I've not had anyone say I'm offended by that. It's
just really a great tribute to Skeeter. So let me
tell you a little bit about him. Let me tell
you a little bit about him. Skeeter just on.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think it's proper right. It's interesting. You never really
know who these people are when they call in. But Skeeter,
we learned a little bit about him.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
His name, his real name is David.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
David aka Skeeter, was born and grew up in North
Dakota on a farm, the son of a farmer. Graduated
from school, he went off to the Navy. I'm in
the Navy. He was a semen. Served twenty years in
the United States Navy. Our buddy Skeeter, twenty years in
(14:55):
the Navy. Now, after the Navy, he moved to Montana.
He said, that's it. I'm done. I'm going to retire
and I'm going to fish. And man, did he love
to fish. And if you love to fish, Montana is
heaven on earth?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Is it not? Is it not heaven on earth? Going
to Montana?
Speaker 4 (15:12):
So as the story was passed on to me by
Colonel Rick. One of the famous Skeeter stories. In his
life in Montana fishing, he one time caught a seagull.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, he was fishing.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Instead of catching a salmon or something, he caught a seagull,
and he reeled it in and cut the tangled line
and set it free. He was very excited about that.
And I'm happy to report that I thought this might
be bullshit. I thought this might not be true. And
I have seen photos of said seagull. The seagull seemed
(15:51):
to be doing okay, and it was not killed by this,
but it was just amusing. As far as Skeeter's personal life,
he had been married twice, He had no no children
from his first marriage.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
He had three step sons with his second marriage.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
And since he had a retirement from the Navy, he
had worked a little bit, worked as like a service station,
a gas station attendant in Montana.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
He'd done that briefly. Liked music and sports and fishing.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
And all that, and also had a great love of
of of the history of music, song titles from different dates.
He knew all about that. And as far as what
happened to Skeeter, without going into too much detail here,
Skeeter had called the show we knew he had cancer.
(16:43):
He had given us updates. Now it's it's pretty well.
I mean, Skeeter was you know, we were we were
like radio.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Family, and you know Skeeter was one of those guys
he wanted to share with us.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
We were important to him and and from any ways,
he was important to us.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
On the Overnight show.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
And so Skeeter would call us up and give us
medical updates when he visited the doctor about his cancer
and the outlook and how things were looking and all that.
He was very positive, very optimistic about everything. But about
two weeks ago, Skeeter was taking the trash container out
on a very cold, cold morning or afternoon, I guess
(17:20):
it was. It was a Sunday, so not this past Sunday,
the Sunday before, and there was a lot of wind,
a lot.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Of wind in Montana.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Winds gusted up to sixty mile an hour, and baby,
it is cold outside.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It was cold, and pair of.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Skeeter was not even though he's lived in Montana for
a long time and he's a hardy North Dakota, he's
gotten older and he's sick and whatnot, and so all
that apparently caused him. He was not prepared for it.
He fell down, and unfortunately he was by himself. He
laid there for about an hour on a frigid afternoon,
(17:58):
was sixty mile an hour wind Finally, one of his
neighbors came home and saw him laying on the ground,
called the paramedics. They got him up, helped him into
his house, and Skeeter being a you know, being stubborn,
which I respect. I'm stubborn too, excuters like, dude, I'm
not going to the hospital, all right, get out of here.
(18:20):
I don't I want to go to the hospital. I
don't need to get checked out.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So the next.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Morning, as I'm told, the Colonel Rick, who has been
his caregiver for a number of years with Montana girl,
they they've done a great job with him. So Colonel
Rick went to his home and found our buddy Skeeter
had fallen yet again in his house. And so this
time the Colonel got him up and kind of got
(18:47):
him walking with the assistant a walker and made sure
he had his phone with him twenty four to seven
for help of needing. And you know, David, they was
happy and all that he was good. But then the
following Tuesday, there was a wellness check that was done
on Skeeter and he didn't answer.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
It's never gonning done. That's what happened on my dad.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
My dad used to do wellness calls my dad one
time he didn't answer.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
That was not good.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
So anyways, Colonel Rick ran over to check on Skeeter.
He had fallen yet again. He was very weak and
needed to call an ambulance. They called an ambulance, took
him to the hospital, try to find out what was happening.
He had fallen down three times in three days, so
obviously this is not going well. He was taking to
the hospital our buddy Skeeter and obviously not doing very well. Unfortunately,
(19:42):
you never know when your time is, and you hope
it's not.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Today, you hope it's tomorrow. But Skeeter's body had been
shutting down.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
He did suffer from kidney cancer and that in the falls,
everything kind of tied together, we are told, and eventually
he became unresponsive. But I am happy to report this
actually made me made me very happy. The colonel who
had been keeping an eye on Colonel Rick and the
(20:12):
Montana girl deb they tell me that while Skeeter was
in the hospital, before he crossed over to the pearly
gates there and went to the other side, they had
mentioned the name my name Skeeter wanted me to know
about his situation.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
If something were to happen to him. So Colonel had
reached out. But when he mentioned to Skeeter my name,
Skeeter smiled, which made me feel very good. And I
had left a.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Voicemail message for Colonel Rick to I didn't know whether
that was for Skeeter or not, but I left a
very nice message on the phone. I was trying to
get in contact, but Skeeter was unresponsive and whatnot. So
I left a voicemail message about how much we loved
Skeeter and how great he was and all that stuff.
And before Skeeter passed, they were able to play that
(21:08):
message for Skeeter and Colonel Rick. I teared up a
little bit when I read this. But Colonel Rick sent
me a message and he said that when they were
playing my voice to Skeeter and he's, you know, unresponsive,
he's dying, is on his deathbed in the hospital, and
his eyes fluttered and he actually smiled, which made me
feel just was great. You know, it's not about me,
(21:29):
but it just it's like, wow, there's just that connection
that you have. And I never met Skeeter. We never
met in real life. We just talked on the phone
on the radio several times, and and then his wife,
Colonel Rick's wife told David, you know, we love you
and all this stuff, and and then Skeeter shortly after
(21:53):
that passed away and he was at peace. And I
was also told by Colonel Rick that our buddy Skeeter,
he had one last wish. I guess he wanted to
see the Lions go to the Super Bowl. And so
that's for Skeeter. We'll see how far they go. But
(22:15):
he loved and really enjoyed the show and the characters,
and he loved being part of the show.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
And I mentioned this on the radio the other day.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
It was just a hilarious tale that Colonel Rick told
me about Skeeters on he was on what used to
be called twitters now X and he was so proud.
He thought he was Taylor Swift or you know, whoever
your favorite famous person is, because he had like one
(22:48):
hundred and thirty people following him on X and to him,
that was the.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Biggest thing in the world. Like that was awesome.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Was that was his bully pulpit, that was his megaphone
to the world. I thought that was just so sweet
and wonderful. I need emailed me a few times over
the years, and we had corresponded off the radio. But
rest in peace, Skeeter in Montana. A life well lived,
(23:16):
a full life, twenty years in the Navy, a good
amount of time retired fishing in Montana, and a couple
of the marriages and all that.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
But rest in peace, Skeeter.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Hopefully he's hanging out with Genie and Medford and a masshole.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Mickey's on four.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
We had a lot of people on the other side.
Let me tell you something, the malor meet and greet
that we're going to do on the other side, Holy Canoley,
that is going to be a big one. A lot
of legends, a lot of legends that we have lost
over the year. Jimmy Ray from Tampa Bay, so many
others that have passed on.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
All right, it's the fifth hour.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I wanted to turn the page from that our tribute
to Skeeter in Montana, and I wanted to mention what
a perfect transition.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Skeeter liked to eat.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
We'd like to eat. Skeeter would appreciate this. Foody fun,
foody fun. Let's do it, that's right, A little food
he fun, food he fun. All right, some food stores
here at Taco Bell testing a beverage concept called Live
(24:20):
Moss Cafe. Does that not sound like a ripoff of
the McDonald's cafe thing. Yeah, I'll give Taco Bell credit
Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, which is not
a national chance of regional chain. They'll just throw anything
out there like they don't really care. A Wendy's recently
(24:40):
brought back the French onion cheeseburger. Now, I used to
eat Wendyes all the time, but I always went chicken
sandwich nuggets, Chicken sandwich nuggies, as the kids say at Wendy's.
I do like French onion though, I'm a fan of
the French onion, so.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Take that for what it's worth.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Also, Burger King has announced the return of the BK melt.
I know that Blair and Maine is excited about that,
and I'm excited about the Truro fries available for a
limited time now. That starts December nineteenth, So today's the thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
You knew the math on that.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
And this being the holiday season, it is the season
to put random maps up and have some fun.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
And this being.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
Foody fund, we don't have too much time left. But
I did want to mention this on Foody Fund. The
most popular Christmas desserts in each US state. The most
popular desserts in each US state. And let's see, we
don't we can't do all of them. Let's just we'll
(25:46):
do some of the big ones. We'll do some of
the big ones. Now most states. What do you think
the number number one dessert is for Christmas? That is right,
ding ding ding ding ning pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie. Now,
I think pumpkin pie. I think Halloween, I think Thanksgiving.
(26:06):
I don't necessarily think the Christmas holiday. But pumpkin pie
is number one in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado,
South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Minnesota, and Ice, Missouri. Number
one Wisconsin, Michigan. These are all Hardy, hardy pumpkin pie territories. Maine,
(26:33):
my friends in the state of Maine love pumpkin by
South Carolina pumpkin pie now in New York, New York,
in Pennsylvania. In Texas, the sugar cookie. The sugar cookie
reigns supreme. Also in Illinois. Also in Illinois, California, the
(26:57):
state we broadcast from, Red Velvet Cake is number one
here in California the most popular Christmas dessert, which I've
never had at Christmas. I've only had red velvet cake
a few times. There was a woman that listened to
the show name I think her name was Tiffany. She
(27:18):
came into the studio and I don't know, she just
like stopped.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
She must have hated us. She must have thought I
looked like an ogre or something that it's very were
she came in and then she just vanished, stopped calling
the shoe name. She brought in red velvet cake one
time and we enjoyed.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
It was very good, a very moist cake, delicious, hardest
screw cake up, but I don't usually have it here.
Kansas also big red velvet cake territory, as in Alabama
and where else I think I said South Carolina was
it was pumpkin pie. It's actually red velvet, North Carolinas
(27:54):
pumpkin pie, Virginia red velvet, Ohio red velvet. Some of
the other ones here, Like what's going on in Florida,
Tierra Massou is the number one to serve well. I
guess we could get supermarket Steve's wife to make some
Tierra Massoux there for the people of Florida.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Piscotti is number one in Georgia. That seems a lot.
What else do we have? If I see anything else? Utah?
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Well this is perfect for Utah. J Dot in Utah
and his people over there. The number one dessert in
Utah for Christmas is rice pudding.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yes, rice pudding is a nonmber. Yeah, good luck on that.
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
I also believe in if I'm looking at this properly,
Maryland is also rice pudding. So yeah, I'm okay. I'm
a big pecan guy. Pecan pie got Connecticut. I should
go to Connecticut or DC. Pecan pie is number one. Also,
I want to pint. Tiera Massoux number one in Oklahoma.
(29:04):
I know I'm bouncing around, but I of those desserts
that were listed, like some states have carrot cake, like
Indiana's carried I don't.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I can't stand carrot cake. I mean, whatever floats your boat.
Tiera Masoux also big in Nevada. Point that out.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
I'm a big pecan pie guy. Sugar cookies. I'm not
gonna do a list because Terry in England. I do
not do lists, Terry, but I will give you my
big board. Of these lists, I would put pecan pie
in the number one spot, Sugar Cookies, number two, Red Velvet, three,
pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Four. Because I think of pumpkin pie, I.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Think of that as a Thanksgiving dessert. I would put
piscatti after that, followed by Tierra Massou and then I
put rice putting, followed by carrot cake.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
That's my big board right there. That's it.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
That's all right time now four the word.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
All the week, or in this case, the words of
the week.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Now.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
This one an email I got from a listener to
this podcast. He calls himself the grease Monkey.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
You're not alone.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
He's in Atlanta, and he says he wanted us to
talk about the Alan Wrench. Of all things, the Alan wrench.
That's random anyway, Grease Monkey writes. Sin says he's spent
a lot of time in recent years. He got married
about a year ago. They've got a home, and he
(30:37):
has purchased all kinds of Ikea furniture, and every piece
of furniture that he's built since he got married and
started his life has had an Alan wrench. He says
he now hates the Alan wrench and hopes to never
see it again. But yet he emailed me wanting to
(30:58):
know about the history of the Allen wrench. So it's
not just I can't, but Ikeia is most nomal Every
single ready to assemble product requiring screws has a complementary
Allen wrench.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
That hex tool you twist, you know what, it's pain
in the ass.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
You twist it to secure fasteners and for bookshelf you're
building the table, any kind of price, pretty much the
entire line of Ikea products, and it's it's necessary. It's
a necessary thing. It's not the easiest thing to play
around with, depending on how small it is. And the
(31:39):
Allen wrench it's an L or an S shaped tool,
six sided head, easily gripped allegedly, So what's the history
of it? So I did a deep dive on this
and it goes back to nineteen ten.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Sure enough, there's a gentleman named William G.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Allen, the owner of the Allen screw manufacturing company. Mister
Allen loved the name Allen and he started marketing hex wrenches.
You see, the wrench, the Allen wrench was actually the
hex wrench. It had already existed since the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
And they.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Were intended to compete with similar square wrenches and whatnot,
and then reduced tool slippage.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
And unity to get in all that.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
But to mention, the wrenches were meant to be used
with a screw that had a hexagonal recess, so Allen
had filed a patent for that in nineteen oh nine.
He called his the Allen safety screw is what he
called it, not the Allen wrench. So you're probably wondering,
(32:53):
So the hex wrench existed before the Allen wrench, So
why do we still, all these years later call it
the Alan rench. Here's why. And this is a great
lesson about marketing. It's a great lesson about business and
(33:15):
how people are wired. The reason in twenty twenty four,
almost twenty twenty five that we call it the Alan
wrench and not the hex range, it's very simple.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
The reason we do.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
That is because of publicy, publicizing five screwed that up,
publicizing right. Marketing, marketing, and that is the key, that
is the key to this. It's all about the marketing.
And I've read books about business and products and what
(33:52):
makes products popular and what makes them not popular, and
the manipulation of the mind and all this different stuff.
You study this stuff and you learn that the same
playbook is used to hype things up, to advertise, raise
(34:12):
the profile of something. The pervasive marketing, if you will.
It's the same formula of salesmanship that is used. And anyway,
so this guy, William G. Allen, just was able to
publicize and market it. And once in a mind, once
(34:34):
people have determined that a product is called this, that's
what it's called. People don't like to change their minds.
Once they perceive you one way, that's it. And so
the secret to success off is getting into the mind first.
And while the X ranch was around, it was not marketed,
it was not publicized, and not have the Hollywood hype
machine behind it like the Allen screw manufacturing company.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
And so therefore it's.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
Better to be first in the mind than first in
the marketplace. It was not, and all these years later
we still call it the Allen Wrench. We'll get out
on that. Have a wonderful rest of your Friday. Please
try to watch Benny Versus the Pennys on in Boston,
San Francisco, Philadelphia, Kansas City, a bunch of other places
around the country.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Check your local TV listings, or just.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Watch it later tonight on Peacock streaming nationally twenty four
to seven, Benny versus the Penny, myself and teleprompter Tom,
the liberati of the TV show, have a great rest
of your day. Danny g will rejoin me tomorrow and
we'll catch you then. And as he would say, later,
(35:43):
skater
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Gotta murder, I gotta go.