December 28, 2025 • 31 mins
Ben Maller (produced by Coop & edited by Danny G.) has a fun, year-end special for you! Enjoy some of the most entertaining Maller & Militia moments of 2025!
Follow Danny G. @DannyGradio and Ben on Twitter @BenMaller and listen to the original terrestrial radio edition of "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on Fox Sports Radio, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!...Follow, rate & review "The Fifth Hour!"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cut booms.
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 soul fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mahler starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. It is a special edition, a
holiday edition of the Ben Mahler Show, and a very
happy holiday to you, and a special hour we look
back to some of the great moments this year on
the show. We'll start out with weed Man Hit. This
was a new bit on the show, weed Management of Caller.
He's a character, his name is Billy. He lives in Miami.
(00:50):
He loves the show, and he's called us for a
long time, many years, and he always wanted his own segment.
So one day this year we just said, ah, what
the heck, why not? And that led us to the
debut of Ask a weed Man. Let's go back in
the hot tub time machine and take a listen to
that very first edition of Ask a weed Man. Weed Man,
(01:15):
What is this what are we doing here? Are we doing?
Ask a weed Man? Is that what you want to do?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Ask a weed Man?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Please, all right, well do it right now. Give out
the number right now. We'll hang up on some of
these idiots and call right now eight seven, seven ninety
nine on Fox. We're gonna do Ask a weed Man.
This is a trial run. And if you want to
send a question in hashtag ask a weed Man. And
are we starting it right now? Yeah, we're doing it
right now. Do we have any music for this?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Or?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (01:41):
We do?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
All right, little music, get me in the mood. Here
we go, all right? Ask Do you have any opening
thoughts on Ask a weed Man? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Everybody should be rich and free and speak the same language.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, so that's you just believe they should be like
a universe. Isn't the emoji language the universal language of
the world that we all speak emoji?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No?
Speaker 6 (02:05):
Well, I don't know. I don't know why we don't
speak the same language.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
We should.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, because there's people that, uh, you know, there's big
The world's a big place, weed man. But you're the guy.
It's this is not my bit, it's your bit. Ask
a weed man. Let's say hello to it says Tokyo
t K. Is that correct? I think I'm saying that correct. Hello,
Tokyo t K. You're on with weed Man. It's ask
a weed Man.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Well that's the way I called. But I'll do you
think the language that we should all use would be
at fronto?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Weed Man? Your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Hey, what happened to the Montreal explodes?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That's a non secretor weed Man? You're you're this is
ask a weed Man. You've got a guy who says
you're in Japan? Is that correct? Sir?
Speaker 4 (02:49):
What's your question? Again?
Speaker 5 (02:53):
That's not why I'm called. But if you're going to
pick a language for everybody should be at yeah, go Toronto?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
All right? Why did you call? Did you call the
rip weed Man? Is that what you call?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
No? I called because weed Man when he said this
last week, he gave me an idea. And I'm sure
you're in no shortage of good idea, fairies. But I
thought to myself, how about Mallard's Mountain of myths back
where he constantly gives out free stuff to everybody else?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, that would be weed Man's dream. That would be
the absolute dream for weed Man, who so wanted me
to give him stuff. How many years have you begged
for stuff? Weed man? Come on every year? Every year?
Every year? Yeah, I mean at least you don't. The
great news is he lost his password to his Gmail account,
so he no longer says, you know, send me money.
He lost his passwords, so even if you send him money,
(03:44):
he won't be able to get his money. You also
lost your password on on Twitter, right, weed man, So
you're not on there anymore. Yeah, yeah, you can't get on.
You know, you can get another account, weed man. You
are able to get another account. You wear that. But
all right, well thank you. That's a great idea. But
I we'll move on. It's ask a weed Man. There
you go first, call weed man right out of the box.
(04:05):
And now just Josh writes in on ask a weed Man.
He says, weed man, do you shower more than once
a week? And did the mice ever return your teeth?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The mice never return my teeth?
Speaker 6 (04:16):
And I shower more than.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Once a week? Yes, one and a half times a week,
weed man? Maybe h three times a week? Look at
the heck? Good? Is that good?
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You're supposed to shower every day. Let's go to Josh
in it's ask a weed Man and Josh is in Orlando. Josh,
you're on with weed man, hippie weed Man.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Damn.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Hey, I got a question. What is the best.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
Vehicle to be homeless?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And it would be one of those boats flagging.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Uh, that's a great question. That's a great question. We
all listen, weed man, we're all a couple of mistakes
away from being homeless. So what's the greatest vehicle if
you are planning on becoming home?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Chevy and pala v.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Oh, this is great. Ask a weed man. This is unbelievable.
Our friend from Miami, this is his debut. This is
your first bit late night drug tester writes, and he says, well,
the penny no longer being minted effect your panhandling. That's
some late night drug tester. All right, Trucker Joe writes
(05:35):
in from the highways and byeways, he says, Ask a
weed Man will go just as good as Benny and
the weed Man did in Vegas with those all those
high prices. Weed man, listen, you don't want to do
you want to bring back Benny versus the Benny and
the weed Man. And all right, all right, let's take
another call. Let's go to Mike in Detroit. Hello, Mike,
(05:56):
you're on with weed Man Hippie.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Was from Detroit.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
What up? Weed Man?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
How you do you remember me?
Speaker 6 (06:05):
I'm a tote talk driver. You stayed at my house
in Northern Borider, remember you.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
We.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Man. Remember this is the guy I remember you. You
accuse me of having you kidnapped? Remember you? You begged
for a place to stay, And.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
I'm just a tot talk driver.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
All right, all right, all right, wow, all right, all right,
we'll move on from that person. That must be a
phony folk. DJ. Mike is in Kansas City. It's ask
a weed Man, DJ. You're on with our buddy in Miami.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Yeah, that's great, weed man. When you're playing five dollars
black jack and you've got a sixteen against the dealers ten,
are you hitting or are you staying?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Great? Great question.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
I'm staying.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Your snaking? No, no, no, no, you gotta you gotta hit.
All right, Well, great question, DJ Mike. Because you think gambling,
you think weed man. Hippie Rob in the three two one,
But this is going better than I thought. Rob in
the three two one is ask a weed Man?
Speaker 8 (07:20):
Hey, Rob, weeds Man, how you doing. You're highly entertaining.
So if you ever want to meet Jeff Bezos or
Elon Musk and they said, hey, would you like a
free trip to the moon, would you take it?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yes? Absolutely you would.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What if it was a one way ticket, though, weed man,
you couldn't come back? Would you know? All right? Thank you, Rob,
It's ask a weed man, Bud. These are great questions.
Let's see here, mister irrigation from Houston rights instances. Is
there any certain way that running from the cops can
(07:55):
turn out successfully? Great question for mister irrigation. Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Not unless you get away.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You gotta get away, though, Have you ever gotten Have
you ever been able to get away? Weed man? I've
known you a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
No, you're not very I actually did.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Yeah, really, And irrigation shitting me a beautiful ben.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Now a rig there you go. Enjoy that. Yes. Freddie
writes and says, what's your dream vacation? Ask a weed man?
Speaker 8 (08:18):
He says, my dream vacation is coming out of California
and staying with Dan.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh my, No, let's make it happen. No, no, we don't.
We don't need that, weed man. Let's say hello to
nurse jockey in Cannes City. We're doing a random new bid.
It's ask a weed Man or friend Billy. He's in Miami.
Longtime loyal minion of this show. He sat through hurricanes
(08:45):
because of our show and done all kinds of crazy things.
Nurse jockey, what's up?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yes, weed Man, I just want to know if you
have a patient who codes, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I'm I don't know what you might want to call
the corner at that point or something like that. All right, well,
thank you, nurse. An amazing question. Our last one from
King Rory. He says, does weed Man have more than
one pair of underwear?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yes?
Speaker 9 (09:14):
I do?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All right? All right, well, I lie. There's actually a
few more questions here. Let's see. Steve says, weed Man,
hippie to you is what Guillermo is to Jimmy Kimmel.
At least, he says, you're not making fun of Mexicans
like Kim goes. I don't know about that. Benito says,
what is the best beer to drink? That's from Benito,
the long suffering cowboy fan. That's your go to beer?
(09:40):
All right? Well, listen, weed Man. Amazing, what a great
segment that was. Everyone loved it. We'll do it again. Yes,
I love you all right every Monday night, ask a
weed Man. Well, that was quite the segment of talk
radio with weed Man Hippie. Up ahead, as this hour
(10:01):
continues on the greatest hits of the Ben Mahler Show
from the year twenty twenty five, we'll look back at
a legend, a childhood hero who left us this year. Also,
one of the most zany moments of the entire basketball
season was a transaction. We'll take a look back at
that night as well. When the Ben Mallor Show continues.
(10:24):
Hulk Hogan died. I grew up a huge wrestling fan
and one of my first childhood heroes was Hulk Hogan.
Loved professional wrestling, and we spent some time honoring and
giving a eulogy for hul Hogan, and I wanted to
go back and this the end of the year and
take listen again here let you hear some of my
(10:44):
thoughts at the moment as the Hulk a Maniac himself,
the leader of Hulk A Maniacs Everywhere, passed away earlier
this year. And we're gonna start with a wrestling story.
I think you know by now I'm assuming you heard.
It's really the biggest story I believe in sports, and
(11:05):
I assume you've figured it out. But the wrestling world
and the sporting world mourning the death of a legend
that transcended what was at that time the WWF now
the WWE. Hulk Hogan is dead. Died in Florida cardiac
arrest early in the morning hours on Thursday. I was
(11:26):
seventy one years old and was born Terry Bulla and
he joined the WWF in the early nineteen eighties and
within a couple of years had become the biggest personality
and really put that operation on the map and made
a lot of people a lot of money in those
(11:48):
days and even to this day, the day that Hulk
Hogan left the mortal coil that we all share here,
the revenues and the impact of the WDA are just
next level. So let us discuss the question what are
you going to remember about the life of Hulk Hogan.
So my thoughts on this, I got shag Carpet, Prince Charming,
(12:10):
and bulletproof, and we will combine all of these things
together and we are gonna make the Goba Ghul. We're
gonna make the gobag so A. The main reason I'm
starting with this is it hits close to home, right,
A chunk of my childhood as growing up and not
knowing much about anything, like we all start out. A
(12:31):
bunch of my childhood is gone. The man with the
twenty four inch pythons and the Fu Manchu mustache and
the whole thing is gone. That's it. See you later.
Now what do I remember? What do I really remember?
I'm not gonna sit here and there I go on
with all scandals, lawsuits, the reality show, all that. Listen.
(12:53):
There's no question hul Hogan was a flawed man, There's
no doubt about it. But what I'm going to remember
is my youth. Hulcomania right flashing back. I was a kid,
fat kid. Haul Cogan burst onto the consciousness of America
as I was growing up, and I saw it through
my eyes, the eyes of a child. It was awesome.
(13:15):
Fired off man, haul Coke impact that he has was
next level on the culture in the nineteen eighties. This
was a guy that stood in my head. This is
how fed up I was as a kid. I don't
know if you like me, I don't know how old
you are. Maybe you're younger than me, and you think, well, well,
you're just a boomer, dude, what are you doing. But
(13:35):
as a child, in my head, like hul Cogan was
toe to toe, belly to belly with the cartoon heroes
that we all worshiped, like he was he man, you
Captain of America. Hulk Hogan was them, except he was real.
You said, no, he was. You're just a loser. But
we'll try telling that to ten year old fat Benny
(13:56):
who was sitting with his legs crossed on some shag
carpet my parents bought years earlier, in front of those
giant televisions that was the size of a Toyota and
watching hul Cogan become a national treasure. And I don't
do the whole Mount Rushmore thing. Other people do that.
I'm not going to do that, but in my head,
(14:16):
and I could be completely wrong about this, what do
I know? But in my head, if I think back
to that era in my youth, the biggest names in
sports in the nineteen eighties, that's Joe Montana with the
forty nine ers, Magic Johnson with the Lakers. In boxing,
it was Mike Tyson, and it was Hulk Hogan, all
(14:37):
of them larger than life. Of course, those other guys
played real sports. Hulk was not about that. He was
a spectacle. It was the theme music, the real American
and all that. We played some of that and just
the whole thing, the national anthem on Saturday mornings. And
that was the Stone Age.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I grew up in the Stone Age. There was no
Internet and all that. You'd watch the cartoons. You had
the big big hit, you had Transformers, Gi Joe, and
then boom right into WWF Superstars with my original broadcast
hero Mean gene Okerland, who stood there in a tuxedo
talking to giants, literal giants like Andre the Giant. It
(15:14):
was absurd. As a kid, it was glorious. It was wonderful.
I want to give a little taste here, so we
have a little clip here. This is Mean gene Oakerland,
Hulk Cogan and Macho Man Randy Savage. They're all gone now,
they're all dead. But listen to this. This is this
is what it was like watching this as a kid. Tigers,
Oh Comania, two Mega Powers, being Air, the Mine, Hulk Hogan,
(15:34):
what has happened?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Well, you know me, Geen, we really don't know what
we're dealing with here, man, And I'm just kind of
a little worried about washing up here because we just
might pull the whole planet up. You know, everybody knows
that whole Comania is the strongest force in this universe.
But when I get that ring and I saw what
the madness was all about, I realized there was a
whole other universe out there, a whole on the frontier,
(15:58):
and the power of the mad in the media just
bloom on twenty four inch guns out.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You mean to tell me there is another solar system
monto Wolton state of shock right now? All right? So no,
I'm not going to sit here and tell you they
were all doing coke. But you know, I didn't think
that at the time, but looking back, they probably were.
But page two here, what was the secret ingredient as
we say goodbye and pour one out for Haul Cochin?
(16:25):
What was the thing that made him so special in
the wrestling game? Well, the obvious thing that you don't
need me to tell you. This guy was one of
the great showmen, charismatic, He had this magnetic personality, great
stage presence. Vince McMahon and his dad cooked up the
formula which had been around for a while in professional
(16:45):
wrestling was the WWF at the time, and it was
the age old battle between the good and the bad, right,
the good and the bad and all that, and the
rivalries between what they call in that business the baby
faces versus the heels. That is responsible, that sells the
tickets right, gets people intrigued and all that. But nobody
did it better than the Hulkster, and he was able
to blur the lines between fiction and reality. Again, as
(17:08):
a kid, I'm sure there were adulta who is the
dumbest thing in the world, But as a kid, I
was like, this was Prince Charming, mesmerizing, captivating and just
how successful was it? The number that is mind blowing?
Going back at WrestleMania, I think it was the famous
WrestleMania three in the early eighties. There were thirty three
(17:29):
million people that watched hul Cogan versus Andre the Giant.
Thirty three million, And I put that in context. Our
friend in Fox Sports Radio's form a morning host and
FSR alumni member Klay Travis pointed out more people watched
that than the World Series, the NBA Finals, and the
Stanley Cup Final combined. This year, if you combined all
of those events, there were more people watching a staged
(17:52):
wrestling match between Hull Cogan and Andrea the Giant. And
you know, look, I get it now. You know, we
know now how it's scripted. But back then, as a
naive kid, I didn't think about it, didn't really care,
didn't know. It was just magical. You'd see Hulk Hogan
there sweating like he was, you know, dying under the lights,
(18:16):
dripping water, hulking up if you will, and obviously on
steroids that came out later. They were all on steroids,
it seemed, uh. And then you know, shaking the the
righteous fury as as he could in those early days
and pointing the finger of doom and all that. And
you know some loser villain guy, you know, the iron
chic who literally, I think literally really like hates Hault
(18:36):
Cogan like it is, you know, the end of the life,
Big John Studd, Rowdy Roddy Piper Enow. If you're if
you're of a certain age, these are massive names. If
you're also of a younger age, you're thinking, boy, this
is the worst monologue ever. Oh my god, this is terrible.
But just let me just let me finish this, okay.
So then Hulk had the leg drop the signature move,
(18:59):
you know, one, two three, the crowd goes wild, the
music hits, he's flexing the biceps there, and he could
solve all the world's problems all in that moment. And
Halcogan did he get rich? Well, everything's relative, right. He
made a lot of money, made a lot of money.
He also lived very interesting life away from the ring,
(19:20):
involving you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all that,
and you know, bad decisions and things and so spanning
his his career. Based on a minutes long Mallar investigation,
starting in the nineteen eighties, when hulk Amania took off,
it's estimated haul Cogan made one hundred and fifty to
(19:42):
two hundred million dollars before taxes, before paying off spouses
and other poor decisions that he made. And remember, money
was worth more in the eighties. It was worth more
in the nineties than it is today. Just like you know,
if we get to twenty fifty, money today is going
to be worth more than was is then. Now the
last word here, So how much power, power, power, power
(20:06):
did Hulkogan have over kids in those early days? And
I can speak of this because I was a kid,
so we all bought it right. In my head, every
kid bought in completely. He was the master salesman. You
talk about product placement, the Hulk Mania T shirts, the
action figures, all kinds of crap that's in landfills right now.
(20:28):
And I was a kid that got fat on WWFA,
these ice cream bars that I got, and I was
convinced that I had to get these. I remember pestering
my dear old mom if she rest in peace, I
had to get my hands on those WWF ice cream bars.
And I couldn't stop eating them. I thought they were
the greatest right and the whole thing right. And now
(20:48):
I was more of a mean gene Oakland guy, but
I couldn't wear a tuxiedo. I remember me and my
older brother we went to the Anaheim Convention Center, which
is an absolute shole, but there was wrestling there and
we stayed after to see the wrestlers walk out to
their to their car. You know, there was like a
bus thing take them to the hotel. And uh. I
remember seeing these guys and they were wearing like these
(21:10):
uh soprano. You know, if you remember the old jumpsuits
they would wear back in those days. And so I'd
see these them. Oh man, they're out, they're out of
uniform and all that. I was like, wow. But so
I got fat on the WWF ice cream bars. I
blame hul Cogan. But then in my head I ate
the vitamins. And and so I figured, like, if just
(21:31):
you eat the Hulk, Hogan endorsed vitamins, and that would
make you bulletproof in my head as a kid, right,
I mean, Hulk told me, he said, to all my
little Hulk maniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins, and
you will never go wrong. So I thought, Okay, I
could eat the ice cream bars, I'll get fat, but
then i'll take the vitamins. I'll be fine. And I'm
telling you there were a lot of us who did
(21:53):
just that, right because we believed, you know, this was
bigger than just wrestling and all that and uh and
and those are the things I'll remember. And again the
headlines are there. And obviously as a cynical, jaded, middle
aged talk show host, I've seen all the controversies. The
Gocker thing, he took down Gocker, the bubble, the love sponge,
you know, stooping his wife. The holy I mean, listen,
(22:14):
that's all out there. You can get that. You can
do that if you want, you know, that reality stuff
that came later in my life. But I choose to
remember the day that hall Cogan died. I chose to
remember the simpler time being fat little Benny watching mean
Jeane introduced hall Cogan hyping up some event. Hey ww,
I'm coming to the you know whatever arena, you know,
(22:35):
coming to arena near you, you know, and not the jaded,
middle aged gas bag that I've become, but more of
the wide eyed Benny bright side ice cream all over
my hands, chocolate, the whole thing, because that was the time.
You know, everything's like this when you're a kid, right,
the world just feels amazing. Everything's ahead of you and
(22:56):
you feel like you could body slam anything. And and
that was Halcogan. So anyway, rest in peace, Hal Cogan.
Hapy Holidays. It is I Ben Mahler as we continue
this special hour looking back at the year twenty twenty five,
and two of the zanier characters that we have on
the show are blind Scott from the North End of
(23:17):
Boston and hollering James from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they got
together and started doing impersonations on a random night of
another caller, Poppy from San Diego, and laughs were had
by all. Take a listen, let's go back and this
special holiday edition, we'll take a look back at that moment.
(23:42):
So let's see hell Poppy in San Diego. Hello Poppy, Hey,
Ben Maller.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I just want to say I love the introl. How
you you know, listen to your mentor read that intro.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Was like fire?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know I loved it. I loved it, and Ben
for you know that we're gonna be having Poppy versus
Lorena for season two. Right, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let me check my notes here. I don't. I don't
see that on the notes. I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Oh yeah, well yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Maybe you didn't show up, Poppy. You were supposed to
show up every week and you didn't show up.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
And well, yeah, I already know what you were gonna say,
Ben Mala. But look, let me explain to you. Poppy
is a hard worker. Maybe you know you're saying I
didn't show up one week, but I'm always gonna be
there for season two. But I was working in the
morning all the way to the night. Like hard worker.
You know I'm a hard worker, so you know, maybe
you know for this time, but I'm not there. We
(24:41):
can have like a fake poppy, like weed man, you know,
like a fake weed man, have a fake poppy.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
So who would be a fake poppy? Who do you
think would do a good fake poppy?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I mean a fake poppy A man. A lot of
good callers out there that would do that. I mean, man,
I don't know. Maybe maybe someone I say, blind Scott
on my mind or something like that.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
All right, hold on a sec hold on, blind Scott.
Can you do a fake poppy voice? If poppy came, everybody,
it's Poppy.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I haven't worked for the past month because I've been
taking a pat.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
Of my car. I got the wheel off, I got
my I got my little loop here.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
All right, wow, okay, all right, hold on his poppy?
How is that poppy? Do you like that? It was
that a good? Is that a good fill in for you?
Speaker 3 (25:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
No, no, no, no, you're you're regretting. Wait wait wait, wait,
wait wait, who's talking right now? I don't know who
that was. I don't know both lines are up. I'm
not sure who just said that?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Oh that was me? That was me.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That was That's a great one, Scott, all right, what
about hollering James? You think James would be a good poppy?
All right, let me check with him, hold on, hold
on a sec. Hollering James? Would you like to be
the fill in as the fake poppy? Hollering James? All right,
(26:13):
well the real poppy, stand up poppy? Did you like that?
Do you think hollering James would be a good poppy?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Man?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Man, I love that he made me love, he made me.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Laugh, Yeah, he made me he made me cry, he
made me cry. Yeah, all right, So that are we
gonna settle on hollering James?
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Man, I would love to hear other people wandering like
a fake.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
All right, Let's see what Toning in the Bay Area? Tony,
would you like to be the fake poppy? Toning the
Bay Area?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Aaron Rodgers looks like a gay whereas Waldough, what.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Do you think that poppy? You think that would be
a good fake poppy?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Man, I don't think that, all right?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Apparently, how about Mike the Leprecaun. I see Michael Leprecaun. Mike, Yeah,
would you like to be the fake poppy? Mike the
Leprecaun in the Boston area. Would you like to be
the fake Poppy Mike the Leprecaun.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
I will, but don't put me off.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Hold out pop picks.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm gonna pick the changers, and I'd like to then
picks annoying, Okay.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
And ruin.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, We're going so good. We were three for three
and then we had to go for the fourth and
then man, all right, sorry, Poppy, I guess it's gotta
be hollering. James. Well, that was very interesting, and no
look back at the year on the Ben Malor Show
(27:41):
would be complete without taking a look at the biggest
night of the year. It's called the Malard Palooza. It's
our talent show, it's our spin on the Talent Show.
And the big winners this year a duet we had
just Josh from Cincinnati and Jays Scoop from Northern California.
(28:02):
These guys are senior members of the Mallard Militia. They're
so talented. They teamed up to give us a performance
for the ages. They were the big winners of the
Mallard Palooza. Let's go back and take a listen. Let's
get to it here without further Ado the final act
of the Malor Palooza. Let's listen.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
Look, if you had one take one phone call say
everything you ever wanted. It's big Glen Mallan. Would you
pick up the phone or.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Just let it sit?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yo?
Speaker 9 (28:46):
His car is ready, still has love for Eddie Brobacab.
You shun a sweat already like Jed and Fleddy insane,
but it's a shame. I feel a donut like Kelly's
lepper Kahn, the one who has lubrain a Freddie straight
out of Mallattown.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Weed Man smells sala.
Speaker 9 (29:00):
He opens his mouth and his teeth just fell out.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
He's smoking. How all the lame jokes?
Speaker 9 (29:05):
So now the clocks run out now, but wins cool.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
For blast snap crack.
Speaker 10 (29:09):
There's an injury yoke. The goals that Nubie yoke. The
goals would be he joked myself mad. But he won't
bring it home like it won't He won't have it.
He knows it could be worse to show. When Lega
Bama Man no for s time called to show one time. Listen,
we know when he goes back to this mobile phone,
that's when it's coop screen and crap again yoke this
so militia theme. Better go capture this penny and ope
(29:30):
it don't be better move yourself from the high seat.
It's lop be like pop be your color's gonna.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Hit the goat. You will only get one shot. It's
Fox Sports Radio. This opportunity knocks on the bed of shot.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
Make yourself like you know g and Cortina not a
deal and Donna never let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You will only get one shot. It's Fox Sports.
Speaker 10 (29:49):
Wait, Yo, this opportunity knocks on the matter show.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
You can do anything.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You shut your mind, you wish there. It is what
a p performance by Jay Scoop and Just Josh outstanding
as they never disappoint those those guys and again these
are guys that met because of the show. Just Josh
has been listening for many years in Cincinnati, and then
Jayscoop is in California. Now he used to be in
(30:16):
Seattle and here they are. They teamed up and they
put these songs together. Let's go to our our judge
inco Terror who again inco Warrior dot com. Is your website?
Is that correct? INCA If people want to go and
watch you perform somewhere it is. He's got that and
Inca performs all over the United States and all over
the world. He's a classically trained pianist, very talented man.
(30:39):
And you know, people in that world don't want to
know about this world, but we love you inco Terra.
So final final act here, how did you judge the
dynamic duo of Jayscoop and Just Josh?
Speaker 8 (30:50):
It was You're right, they always do better than they
did before, and I would have given.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Them a sixteen, but it is pre recorded, so I'm
giving them a twelve.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Twelve, alright, twelve. I loved it. I thought it was wonderful.
These guys have been great supporters of ours. Was pre recorded.
I gave Ohio a pretty high score. I'm gonna give
them the same. I'm gonna give it nine and a half.
I'm gonna go nine and a half for Jay Scoop
and Just Josh. Lorena. Yeah, they got a ten for me.
(31:20):
Ben ten, Yeah, erteen, Kopeloop nine and a half, nine
and a half, and my wife said a ten as well.
What a fitting ending to this hour. But as you know,
in radio hours never end. A special look back at
the year twenty twenty five on the Ben Malor show
(31:42):
happy holidays. We look forward to many great nights together
in the year twenty twenty six and beyond. Later, Skater
got a murder.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
I gotta go.
Cut booms.
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 soul fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mahler starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. It is a special edition, a
holiday edition of the Ben Mahler Show, and a very
happy holiday to you, and a special hour we look
back to some of the great moments this year on
the show. We'll start out with weed Man Hit. This
was a new bit on the show, weed Management of Caller.
He's a character, his name is Billy. He lives in Miami.
(00:50):
He loves the show, and he's called us for a
long time, many years, and he always wanted his own segment.
So one day this year we just said, ah, what
the heck, why not? And that led us to the
debut of Ask a weed Man. Let's go back in
the hot tub time machine and take a listen to
that very first edition of Ask a weed Man. Weed Man,
(01:15):
What is this what are we doing here? Are we doing?
Ask a weed Man? Is that what you want to do?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Right now?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Ask a weed Man?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Please, all right, well do it right now. Give out
the number right now. We'll hang up on some of
these idiots and call right now eight seven, seven ninety
nine on Fox. We're gonna do Ask a weed Man.
This is a trial run. And if you want to
send a question in hashtag ask a weed Man. And
are we starting it right now? Yeah, we're doing it
right now. Do we have any music for this?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Or?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (01:41):
We do?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
All right, little music, get me in the mood. Here
we go, all right? Ask Do you have any opening
thoughts on Ask a weed Man? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Everybody should be rich and free and speak the same language.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, so that's you just believe they should be like
a universe. Isn't the emoji language the universal language of
the world that we all speak emoji?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No?
Speaker 6 (02:05):
Well, I don't know. I don't know why we don't
speak the same language.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
We should.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Well, because there's people that, uh, you know, there's big
The world's a big place, weed man. But you're the guy.
It's this is not my bit, it's your bit. Ask
a weed man. Let's say hello to it says Tokyo
t K. Is that correct? I think I'm saying that correct. Hello,
Tokyo t K. You're on with weed Man. It's ask
a weed Man.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Well that's the way I called. But I'll do you
think the language that we should all use would be
at fronto?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Weed Man? Your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Hey, what happened to the Montreal explodes?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That's a non secretor weed Man? You're you're this is
ask a weed Man. You've got a guy who says
you're in Japan? Is that correct? Sir?
Speaker 4 (02:49):
What's your question? Again?
Speaker 5 (02:53):
That's not why I'm called. But if you're going to
pick a language for everybody should be at yeah, go Toronto?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
All right? Why did you call? Did you call the
rip weed Man? Is that what you call?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
No? I called because weed Man when he said this
last week, he gave me an idea. And I'm sure
you're in no shortage of good idea, fairies. But I
thought to myself, how about Mallard's Mountain of myths back
where he constantly gives out free stuff to everybody else?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, that would be weed Man's dream. That would be
the absolute dream for weed Man, who so wanted me
to give him stuff. How many years have you begged
for stuff? Weed man? Come on every year? Every year?
Every year? Yeah, I mean at least you don't. The
great news is he lost his password to his Gmail account,
so he no longer says, you know, send me money.
He lost his passwords, so even if you send him money,
(03:44):
he won't be able to get his money. You also
lost your password on on Twitter, right, weed man, So
you're not on there anymore. Yeah, yeah, you can't get on.
You know, you can get another account, weed man. You
are able to get another account. You wear that. But
all right, well thank you. That's a great idea. But
I we'll move on. It's ask a weed Man. There
you go first, call weed man right out of the box.
(04:05):
And now just Josh writes in on ask a weed Man.
He says, weed man, do you shower more than once
a week? And did the mice ever return your teeth?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The mice never return my teeth?
Speaker 6 (04:16):
And I shower more than.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Once a week? Yes, one and a half times a week,
weed man? Maybe h three times a week? Look at
the heck? Good? Is that good?
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You're supposed to shower every day. Let's go to Josh
in it's ask a weed Man and Josh is in Orlando. Josh,
you're on with weed man, hippie weed Man.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Damn.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Hey, I got a question. What is the best.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
Vehicle to be homeless?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And it would be one of those boats flagging.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Uh, that's a great question. That's a great question. We
all listen, weed man, we're all a couple of mistakes
away from being homeless. So what's the greatest vehicle if
you are planning on becoming home?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Chevy and pala v.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Oh, this is great. Ask a weed man. This is unbelievable.
Our friend from Miami, this is his debut. This is
your first bit late night drug tester writes, and he says, well,
the penny no longer being minted effect your panhandling. That's
some late night drug tester. All right, Trucker Joe writes
(05:35):
in from the highways and byeways, he says, Ask a
weed Man will go just as good as Benny and
the weed Man did in Vegas with those all those
high prices. Weed man, listen, you don't want to do
you want to bring back Benny versus the Benny and
the weed Man. And all right, all right, let's take
another call. Let's go to Mike in Detroit. Hello, Mike,
(05:56):
you're on with weed Man Hippie.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Was from Detroit.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
What up? Weed Man?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
How you do you remember me?
Speaker 6 (06:05):
I'm a tote talk driver. You stayed at my house
in Northern Borider, remember you.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
We.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Man. Remember this is the guy I remember you. You
accuse me of having you kidnapped? Remember you? You begged
for a place to stay, And.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
I'm just a tot talk driver.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
All right, all right, all right, wow, all right, all right,
we'll move on from that person. That must be a
phony folk. DJ. Mike is in Kansas City. It's ask
a weed Man, DJ. You're on with our buddy in Miami.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Yeah, that's great, weed man. When you're playing five dollars
black jack and you've got a sixteen against the dealers ten,
are you hitting or are you staying?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Great? Great question.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
I'm staying.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Your snaking? No, no, no, no, you gotta you gotta hit.
All right, Well, great question, DJ Mike. Because you think gambling,
you think weed man. Hippie Rob in the three two one,
But this is going better than I thought. Rob in
the three two one is ask a weed Man?
Speaker 8 (07:20):
Hey, Rob, weeds Man, how you doing. You're highly entertaining.
So if you ever want to meet Jeff Bezos or
Elon Musk and they said, hey, would you like a
free trip to the moon, would you take it?
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yes? Absolutely you would.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What if it was a one way ticket, though, weed man,
you couldn't come back? Would you know? All right? Thank you, Rob,
It's ask a weed man, Bud. These are great questions.
Let's see here, mister irrigation from Houston rights instances. Is
there any certain way that running from the cops can
(07:55):
turn out successfully? Great question for mister irrigation. Wonderful.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Not unless you get away.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You gotta get away, though, Have you ever gotten Have
you ever been able to get away? Weed man? I've
known you a long time.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
No, you're not very I actually did.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Yeah, really, And irrigation shitting me a beautiful ben.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Now a rig there you go. Enjoy that. Yes. Freddie
writes and says, what's your dream vacation? Ask a weed man?
Speaker 8 (08:18):
He says, my dream vacation is coming out of California
and staying with Dan.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh my, No, let's make it happen. No, no, we don't.
We don't need that, weed man. Let's say hello to
nurse jockey in Cannes City. We're doing a random new bid.
It's ask a weed Man or friend Billy. He's in Miami.
Longtime loyal minion of this show. He sat through hurricanes
(08:45):
because of our show and done all kinds of crazy things.
Nurse jockey, what's up?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yes, weed Man, I just want to know if you
have a patient who codes, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I'm I don't know what you might want to call
the corner at that point or something like that. All right, well,
thank you, nurse. An amazing question. Our last one from
King Rory. He says, does weed Man have more than
one pair of underwear?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yes?
Speaker 9 (09:14):
I do?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All right? All right, well, I lie. There's actually a
few more questions here. Let's see. Steve says, weed Man,
hippie to you is what Guillermo is to Jimmy Kimmel.
At least, he says, you're not making fun of Mexicans
like Kim goes. I don't know about that. Benito says,
what is the best beer to drink? That's from Benito,
the long suffering cowboy fan. That's your go to beer?
(09:40):
All right? Well, listen, weed Man. Amazing, what a great
segment that was. Everyone loved it. We'll do it again. Yes,
I love you all right every Monday night, ask a
weed Man. Well, that was quite the segment of talk
radio with weed Man Hippie. Up ahead, as this hour
(10:01):
continues on the greatest hits of the Ben Mahler Show
from the year twenty twenty five, we'll look back at
a legend, a childhood hero who left us this year. Also,
one of the most zany moments of the entire basketball
season was a transaction. We'll take a look back at
that night as well. When the Ben Mallor Show continues.
(10:24):
Hulk Hogan died. I grew up a huge wrestling fan
and one of my first childhood heroes was Hulk Hogan.
Loved professional wrestling, and we spent some time honoring and
giving a eulogy for hul Hogan, and I wanted to
go back and this the end of the year and
take listen again here let you hear some of my
(10:44):
thoughts at the moment as the Hulk a Maniac himself,
the leader of Hulk A Maniacs Everywhere, passed away earlier
this year. And we're gonna start with a wrestling story.
I think you know by now I'm assuming you heard.
It's really the biggest story I believe in sports, and
(11:05):
I assume you've figured it out. But the wrestling world
and the sporting world mourning the death of a legend
that transcended what was at that time the WWF now
the WWE. Hulk Hogan is dead. Died in Florida cardiac
arrest early in the morning hours on Thursday. I was
(11:26):
seventy one years old and was born Terry Bulla and
he joined the WWF in the early nineteen eighties and
within a couple of years had become the biggest personality
and really put that operation on the map and made
a lot of people a lot of money in those
(11:48):
days and even to this day, the day that Hulk
Hogan left the mortal coil that we all share here,
the revenues and the impact of the WDA are just
next level. So let us discuss the question what are
you going to remember about the life of Hulk Hogan.
So my thoughts on this, I got shag Carpet, Prince Charming,
(12:10):
and bulletproof, and we will combine all of these things
together and we are gonna make the Goba Ghul. We're
gonna make the gobag so A. The main reason I'm
starting with this is it hits close to home, right,
A chunk of my childhood as growing up and not
knowing much about anything, like we all start out. A
(12:31):
bunch of my childhood is gone. The man with the
twenty four inch pythons and the Fu Manchu mustache and
the whole thing is gone. That's it. See you later.
Now what do I remember? What do I really remember?
I'm not gonna sit here and there I go on
with all scandals, lawsuits, the reality show, all that. Listen.
(12:53):
There's no question hul Hogan was a flawed man, There's
no doubt about it. But what I'm going to remember
is my youth. Hulcomania right flashing back. I was a kid,
fat kid. Haul Cogan burst onto the consciousness of America
as I was growing up, and I saw it through
my eyes, the eyes of a child. It was awesome.
(13:15):
Fired off man, haul Coke impact that he has was
next level on the culture in the nineteen eighties. This
was a guy that stood in my head. This is
how fed up I was as a kid. I don't
know if you like me, I don't know how old
you are. Maybe you're younger than me, and you think, well, well,
you're just a boomer, dude, what are you doing. But
(13:35):
as a child, in my head, like hul Cogan was
toe to toe, belly to belly with the cartoon heroes
that we all worshiped, like he was he man, you
Captain of America. Hulk Hogan was them, except he was real.
You said, no, he was. You're just a loser. But
we'll try telling that to ten year old fat Benny
(13:56):
who was sitting with his legs crossed on some shag
carpet my parents bought years earlier, in front of those
giant televisions that was the size of a Toyota and
watching hul Cogan become a national treasure. And I don't
do the whole Mount Rushmore thing. Other people do that.
I'm not going to do that, but in my head,
(14:16):
and I could be completely wrong about this, what do
I know? But in my head, if I think back
to that era in my youth, the biggest names in
sports in the nineteen eighties, that's Joe Montana with the
forty nine ers, Magic Johnson with the Lakers. In boxing,
it was Mike Tyson, and it was Hulk Hogan, all
(14:37):
of them larger than life. Of course, those other guys
played real sports. Hulk was not about that. He was
a spectacle. It was the theme music, the real American
and all that. We played some of that and just
the whole thing, the national anthem on Saturday mornings. And
that was the Stone Age.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I grew up in the Stone Age. There was no
Internet and all that. You'd watch the cartoons. You had
the big big hit, you had Transformers, Gi Joe, and
then boom right into WWF Superstars with my original broadcast
hero Mean gene Okerland, who stood there in a tuxedo
talking to giants, literal giants like Andre the Giant. It
(15:14):
was absurd. As a kid, it was glorious. It was wonderful.
I want to give a little taste here, so we
have a little clip here. This is Mean gene Oakerland,
Hulk Cogan and Macho Man Randy Savage. They're all gone now,
they're all dead. But listen to this. This is this
is what it was like watching this as a kid. Tigers,
Oh Comania, two Mega Powers, being Air, the Mine, Hulk Hogan,
(15:34):
what has happened?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Well, you know me, Geen, we really don't know what
we're dealing with here, man, And I'm just kind of
a little worried about washing up here because we just
might pull the whole planet up. You know, everybody knows
that whole Comania is the strongest force in this universe.
But when I get that ring and I saw what
the madness was all about, I realized there was a
whole other universe out there, a whole on the frontier,
(15:58):
and the power of the mad in the media just
bloom on twenty four inch guns out.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You mean to tell me there is another solar system
monto Wolton state of shock right now? All right? So no,
I'm not going to sit here and tell you they
were all doing coke. But you know, I didn't think
that at the time, but looking back, they probably were.
But page two here, what was the secret ingredient as
we say goodbye and pour one out for Haul Cochin?
(16:25):
What was the thing that made him so special in
the wrestling game? Well, the obvious thing that you don't
need me to tell you. This guy was one of
the great showmen, charismatic, He had this magnetic personality, great
stage presence. Vince McMahon and his dad cooked up the
formula which had been around for a while in professional
(16:45):
wrestling was the WWF at the time, and it was
the age old battle between the good and the bad, right,
the good and the bad and all that, and the
rivalries between what they call in that business the baby
faces versus the heels. That is responsible, that sells the
tickets right, gets people intrigued and all that. But nobody
did it better than the Hulkster, and he was able
to blur the lines between fiction and reality. Again, as
(17:08):
a kid, I'm sure there were adulta who is the
dumbest thing in the world, But as a kid, I
was like, this was Prince Charming, mesmerizing, captivating and just
how successful was it? The number that is mind blowing?
Going back at WrestleMania, I think it was the famous
WrestleMania three in the early eighties. There were thirty three
(17:29):
million people that watched hul Cogan versus Andre the Giant.
Thirty three million, And I put that in context. Our
friend in Fox Sports Radio's form a morning host and
FSR alumni member Klay Travis pointed out more people watched
that than the World Series, the NBA Finals, and the
Stanley Cup Final combined. This year, if you combined all
of those events, there were more people watching a staged
(17:52):
wrestling match between Hull Cogan and Andrea the Giant. And
you know, look, I get it now. You know, we
know now how it's scripted. But back then, as a
naive kid, I didn't think about it, didn't really care,
didn't know. It was just magical. You'd see Hulk Hogan
there sweating like he was, you know, dying under the lights,
(18:16):
dripping water, hulking up if you will, and obviously on
steroids that came out later. They were all on steroids,
it seemed, uh. And then you know, shaking the the
righteous fury as as he could in those early days
and pointing the finger of doom and all that. And
you know some loser villain guy, you know, the iron
chic who literally, I think literally really like hates Hault
(18:36):
Cogan like it is, you know, the end of the life,
Big John Studd, Rowdy Roddy Piper Enow. If you're if
you're of a certain age, these are massive names. If
you're also of a younger age, you're thinking, boy, this
is the worst monologue ever. Oh my god, this is terrible.
But just let me just let me finish this, okay.
So then Hulk had the leg drop the signature move,
(18:59):
you know, one, two three, the crowd goes wild, the
music hits, he's flexing the biceps there, and he could
solve all the world's problems all in that moment. And
Halcogan did he get rich? Well, everything's relative, right. He
made a lot of money, made a lot of money.
He also lived very interesting life away from the ring,
(19:20):
involving you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all that,
and you know, bad decisions and things and so spanning
his his career. Based on a minutes long Mallar investigation,
starting in the nineteen eighties, when hulk Amania took off,
it's estimated haul Cogan made one hundred and fifty to
(19:42):
two hundred million dollars before taxes, before paying off spouses
and other poor decisions that he made. And remember, money
was worth more in the eighties. It was worth more
in the nineties than it is today. Just like you know,
if we get to twenty fifty, money today is going
to be worth more than was is then. Now the
last word here, So how much power, power, power, power
(20:06):
did Hulkogan have over kids in those early days? And
I can speak of this because I was a kid,
so we all bought it right. In my head, every
kid bought in completely. He was the master salesman. You
talk about product placement, the Hulk Mania T shirts, the
action figures, all kinds of crap that's in landfills right now.
(20:28):
And I was a kid that got fat on WWFA,
these ice cream bars that I got, and I was
convinced that I had to get these. I remember pestering
my dear old mom if she rest in peace, I
had to get my hands on those WWF ice cream bars.
And I couldn't stop eating them. I thought they were
the greatest right and the whole thing right. And now
(20:48):
I was more of a mean gene Oakland guy, but
I couldn't wear a tuxiedo. I remember me and my
older brother we went to the Anaheim Convention Center, which
is an absolute shole, but there was wrestling there and
we stayed after to see the wrestlers walk out to
their to their car. You know, there was like a
bus thing take them to the hotel. And uh. I
remember seeing these guys and they were wearing like these
(21:10):
uh soprano. You know, if you remember the old jumpsuits
they would wear back in those days. And so I'd
see these them. Oh man, they're out, they're out of
uniform and all that. I was like, wow. But so
I got fat on the WWF ice cream bars. I
blame hul Cogan. But then in my head I ate
the vitamins. And and so I figured, like, if just
(21:31):
you eat the Hulk, Hogan endorsed vitamins, and that would
make you bulletproof in my head as a kid, right,
I mean, Hulk told me, he said, to all my
little Hulk maniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins, and
you will never go wrong. So I thought, Okay, I
could eat the ice cream bars, I'll get fat, but
then i'll take the vitamins. I'll be fine. And I'm
telling you there were a lot of us who did
(21:53):
just that, right because we believed, you know, this was
bigger than just wrestling and all that and uh and
and those are the things I'll remember. And again the
headlines are there. And obviously as a cynical, jaded, middle
aged talk show host, I've seen all the controversies. The
Gocker thing, he took down Gocker, the bubble, the love sponge,
you know, stooping his wife. The holy I mean, listen,
(22:14):
that's all out there. You can get that. You can
do that if you want, you know, that reality stuff
that came later in my life. But I choose to
remember the day that hall Cogan died. I chose to
remember the simpler time being fat little Benny watching mean
Jeane introduced hall Cogan hyping up some event. Hey ww,
I'm coming to the you know whatever arena, you know,
(22:35):
coming to arena near you, you know, and not the jaded,
middle aged gas bag that I've become, but more of
the wide eyed Benny bright side ice cream all over
my hands, chocolate, the whole thing, because that was the time.
You know, everything's like this when you're a kid, right,
the world just feels amazing. Everything's ahead of you and
(22:56):
you feel like you could body slam anything. And and
that was Halcogan. So anyway, rest in peace, Hal Cogan.
Hapy Holidays. It is I Ben Mahler as we continue
this special hour looking back at the year twenty twenty five,
and two of the zanier characters that we have on
the show are blind Scott from the North End of
(23:17):
Boston and hollering James from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and they got
together and started doing impersonations on a random night of
another caller, Poppy from San Diego, and laughs were had
by all. Take a listen, let's go back and this
special holiday edition, we'll take a look back at that moment.
(23:42):
So let's see hell Poppy in San Diego. Hello Poppy, Hey,
Ben Maller.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I just want to say I love the introl. How
you you know, listen to your mentor read that intro.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
Was like fire?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know I loved it. I loved it, and Ben
for you know that we're gonna be having Poppy versus
Lorena for season two. Right, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let me check my notes here. I don't. I don't
see that on the notes. I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Oh yeah, well yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Maybe you didn't show up, Poppy. You were supposed to
show up every week and you didn't show up.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
And well, yeah, I already know what you were gonna say,
Ben Mala. But look, let me explain to you. Poppy
is a hard worker. Maybe you know you're saying I
didn't show up one week, but I'm always gonna be
there for season two. But I was working in the
morning all the way to the night. Like hard worker.
You know I'm a hard worker, so you know, maybe
you know for this time, but I'm not there. We
(24:41):
can have like a fake poppy, like weed man, you know,
like a fake weed man, have a fake poppy.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
So who would be a fake poppy? Who do you
think would do a good fake poppy?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I mean a fake poppy A man. A lot of
good callers out there that would do that. I mean, man,
I don't know. Maybe maybe someone I say, blind Scott
on my mind or something like that.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
All right, hold on a sec hold on, blind Scott.
Can you do a fake poppy voice? If poppy came, everybody,
it's Poppy.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I haven't worked for the past month because I've been
taking a pat.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
Of my car. I got the wheel off, I got
my I got my little loop here.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
All right, wow, okay, all right, hold on his poppy?
How is that poppy? Do you like that? It was
that a good? Is that a good fill in for you?
Speaker 3 (25:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
No, no, no, no, you're you're regretting. Wait wait wait, wait,
wait wait, who's talking right now? I don't know who
that was. I don't know both lines are up. I'm
not sure who just said that?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Oh that was me? That was me.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That was That's a great one, Scott, all right, what
about hollering James? You think James would be a good poppy?
All right, let me check with him, hold on, hold
on a sec. Hollering James? Would you like to be
the fill in as the fake poppy? Hollering James? All right,
(26:13):
well the real poppy, stand up poppy? Did you like that?
Do you think hollering James would be a good poppy?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Man?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Man, I love that he made me love, he made me.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Laugh, Yeah, he made me he made me cry, he
made me cry. Yeah, all right, So that are we
gonna settle on hollering James?
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Man, I would love to hear other people wandering like
a fake.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
All right, Let's see what Toning in the Bay Area? Tony,
would you like to be the fake poppy? Toning the
Bay Area?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Aaron Rodgers looks like a gay whereas Waldough, what.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Do you think that poppy? You think that would be
a good fake poppy?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Man, I don't think that, all right?
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Apparently, how about Mike the Leprecaun. I see Michael Leprecaun. Mike, Yeah,
would you like to be the fake poppy? Mike the
Leprecaun in the Boston area. Would you like to be
the fake Poppy Mike the Leprecaun.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
I will, but don't put me off.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Hold out pop picks.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I'm gonna pick the changers, and I'd like to then
picks annoying, Okay.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
And ruin.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, We're going so good. We were three for three
and then we had to go for the fourth and
then man, all right, sorry, Poppy, I guess it's gotta
be hollering. James. Well, that was very interesting, and no
look back at the year on the Ben Malor Show
(27:41):
would be complete without taking a look at the biggest
night of the year. It's called the Malard Palooza. It's
our talent show, it's our spin on the Talent Show.
And the big winners this year a duet we had
just Josh from Cincinnati and Jays Scoop from Northern California.
(28:02):
These guys are senior members of the Mallard Militia. They're
so talented. They teamed up to give us a performance
for the ages. They were the big winners of the
Mallard Palooza. Let's go back and take a listen. Let's
get to it here without further Ado the final act
of the Malor Palooza. Let's listen.
Speaker 7 (28:26):
Look, if you had one take one phone call say
everything you ever wanted. It's big Glen Mallan. Would you
pick up the phone or.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Just let it sit?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yo?
Speaker 9 (28:46):
His car is ready, still has love for Eddie Brobacab.
You shun a sweat already like Jed and Fleddy insane,
but it's a shame. I feel a donut like Kelly's
lepper Kahn, the one who has lubrain a Freddie straight
out of Mallattown.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Weed Man smells sala.
Speaker 9 (29:00):
He opens his mouth and his teeth just fell out.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
He's smoking. How all the lame jokes?
Speaker 9 (29:05):
So now the clocks run out now, but wins cool.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
For blast snap crack.
Speaker 10 (29:09):
There's an injury yoke. The goals that Nubie yoke. The
goals would be he joked myself mad. But he won't
bring it home like it won't He won't have it.
He knows it could be worse to show. When Lega
Bama Man no for s time called to show one time. Listen,
we know when he goes back to this mobile phone,
that's when it's coop screen and crap again yoke this
so militia theme. Better go capture this penny and ope
(29:30):
it don't be better move yourself from the high seat.
It's lop be like pop be your color's gonna.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Hit the goat. You will only get one shot. It's
Fox Sports Radio. This opportunity knocks on the bed of shot.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
Make yourself like you know g and Cortina not a
deal and Donna never let it go.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You will only get one shot. It's Fox Sports.
Speaker 10 (29:49):
Wait, Yo, this opportunity knocks on the matter show.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
You can do anything.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
You shut your mind, you wish there. It is what
a p performance by Jay Scoop and Just Josh outstanding
as they never disappoint those those guys and again these
are guys that met because of the show. Just Josh
has been listening for many years in Cincinnati, and then
Jayscoop is in California. Now he used to be in
(30:16):
Seattle and here they are. They teamed up and they
put these songs together. Let's go to our our judge
inco Terror who again inco Warrior dot com. Is your website?
Is that correct? INCA If people want to go and
watch you perform somewhere it is. He's got that and
Inca performs all over the United States and all over
the world. He's a classically trained pianist, very talented man.
(30:39):
And you know, people in that world don't want to
know about this world, but we love you inco Terra.
So final final act here, how did you judge the
dynamic duo of Jayscoop and Just Josh?
Speaker 8 (30:50):
It was You're right, they always do better than they
did before, and I would have given.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Them a sixteen, but it is pre recorded, so I'm
giving them a twelve.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Twelve, alright, twelve. I loved it. I thought it was wonderful.
These guys have been great supporters of ours. Was pre recorded.
I gave Ohio a pretty high score. I'm gonna give
them the same. I'm gonna give it nine and a half.
I'm gonna go nine and a half for Jay Scoop
and Just Josh. Lorena. Yeah, they got a ten for me.
(31:20):
Ben ten, Yeah, erteen, Kopeloop nine and a half, nine
and a half, and my wife said a ten as well.
What a fitting ending to this hour. But as you know,
in radio hours never end. A special look back at
the year twenty twenty five on the Ben Malor show
(31:42):
happy holidays. We look forward to many great nights together
in the year twenty twenty six and beyond. Later, Skater
got a murder.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
I gotta go.
Host
Ben Maller
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