January 19, 2023 • 41 mins
Today is a weekly roundup and it's super special because Bill is back baby! We talk about MLK's legacy and why it's important to remember what he truly stood for, Shaq losing a bet and eating frog legs, and we discuss the 7-Day Happiness Challenge. It's a fun one!
Check out our comedy videos @markkendallcomedy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous News as a production of our heart radio and
cool Cool Cool Audio. Yeah yeah, yeah, we're amazing and
crazy topics to dig in to Jews you would now
tune and to Ridiculous News, we get us their views
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a while, reports that he was lasting brand up beat journalism,
(00:22):
the strange and unusual stories, and well we gave them.
When it's all about ridiculous news everywhere, we told about
ridiculous News over here. Hey, everyone, welcome to Ridiculous News,
not your average news show. We cover stuff you didn't
realize was news, from the wild and funny, to the
deep and hidden to the absolutely ridiculous. This is our
weekly roundup where we take some of the weirdest stories
(00:42):
in the news and dive a little deeper into them.
As always, we might have a few guests pop in
along the way. Hey, y'all, I'm Mark Kendall. I'm an
Atlanta based comedian, and I just got back from Orlando's
Many Fringe Festival, which is like a small theater festival,
and it was great to be around such a fun
and supportive arts communities. I'm feeling energized. Yeah, man, that
sounds like it was a blast. Mark. And I'm Bill Worley.
(01:04):
I'm an Atlanta based filmmaker and comedian, and I just
got back from Thailand and it was the best trip
I've ever done. It sounded so epic. I can't wait
to continue to hear more about that trip. Yeah, we'll
do some episodes where we talk about Thailand a little
bit more, but for now, let's talk about some of
our ridiculous news nibbles. Starting off, we got a great
story about Shaquille O'Neal Shack himself eating a frog on
(01:25):
live television after losing a national championship bet. This is
from Yahoo Life by Megan over Deep. And we all
know Shack for breaking backboards and uh goals and smashing
stuff and just being a obviously a pretty cool human overall.
Uh And he is a man of his word, and
(01:46):
he made a good on his promise to eat a
frog if TCU lost to U G A in the
National championship. And I have to say, Mark, as a
U g A alumni, what a dumb bet? What a
dumb kind of confused about that too, I'm like, Shack,
it's your job to watch sports. That's an interesting bet
to make. No one thought, and I was like, and
(02:06):
checked and go to tc You went to l s U,
So I was kind of curious, like why the loyalty
to t T see you in this situation almost feels
like a producer, but had this time to see it.
We need somebody to We need someone for TCU, guys.
So it was an NBA show. We need to figure
out a way to shoehorn college football into the show.
You got to say to lead a frog on national tone, Yeah,
(02:29):
because I'd never go agains the dogs. I mean, you
know U g A we had a great game because
I stayed I was overseas, so I didn't get to
watch the championship game. But people are updating me. I
knew it would be a blowout. I didn't predict. You
thought we would. You g A would win sixty five
to seven, which is, you know, unfortunate for TCU. That's
one of those games where I think the only people
that enjoy it are probably the U g A fans
(02:51):
because at that point it's just not fun to watch um.
But you know, to your point, he made that bet
with co host Ernie Johnson, who went to Georgia, was
a first base player on the baseball team way back
in the day. Um and after Check failed at substituting
chicken for frog on Tuesday's episode, he did dig into
(03:12):
a battered and fried frog presented to him on a
silver platter by Johnson on live television on Thursday. And
I watched this clip, Mark and you know what I mean,
it looks delicious to you know. Yeah, we were talking
before the uh, the podcast, how we were kind of
expecting was it gonna be live frog because otherwise just
(03:33):
like frogs everything that people eat, you know, so like
so so it's like, oh, he got served a nice
splate of food. It's like if if dise you, who's
like an au steak steak right, mashed potatoes. It's like
you're making a bet against the bulls, and you're like,
if the bulls with the game tomorrow, I will eat
a filet mignon. Yeah. It's like, okay, because he dug evan,
(04:01):
y'all when they presented him, he dug into these frog legs,
like with no no hesitation, with just all abandoning any
sense of yeah, yeah, well Bill, you're getting there. Maybe
you pick that up. Yeah, Hello, Hello, The NBA baseball. Shack,
(04:22):
Oh my god, thank you so much for calling in.
We're just talking about you. I'm sure I assume you
like you were talking about Daddy. Shock Daddy wanted to
talk about how he's eating frog legs on the National
Basketball Television Association show. Beforehand, I said that TC, you're
gonna be and if they lost, I would eat frog
on national television. That was my first time he did
some pride frog legs and I gotta say it was
the most delicious thing. I'll gi m m. Yeah, you
(04:46):
look like you enjoyed them for sure. Well, Shock Daddy
does a lot of things really well. It plays basketball.
The other thing he does, he's a great spokesperson Papa John's,
Christma Green, the general, whatever it is. Shock Daddy does
commercials every day all day. So Shack Daddy decided he's
gonna make an announcement. I'm gonna become a spokesperson for
the brand new frock fast food chain called Shacks House
of Hoaks. You can dump the fried frog legs and
(05:08):
barbecue sauce hot sauce like the only or even a
basket of fries. Wow, well that sounds absolutely, honestly pretty delicious.
Shock and now I kind of thinking maybe this whole
thing was a ruse so you could promote your new
fast food chain. Shock also has another announcement. From now
all Shot will make the same bit every single year,
So Shock will do everything that he needs to do
in his power to make sure that every single year
(05:29):
in TCU won in the National Championship Game. Shock will
make the same bet, and he will rig things in
such a way so the TCU was just a little
bit less good than U. G chef will have to
get a broke every year on television. Oh my god, Shack,
why don't you try something a little bit crazier about
like snake, or you could do like porcupine. I don't
know that evers somebody to porcupine a live snake. And
(05:50):
what I never even thought about the Shack fried a
deeper up pokpon with little we need eat the little
needles of the come front needles. I'll let it to
the menu. Shot gotta go by. Oh wow, but it
seems like you may have started something. We were looking
at him in the space and he had to look
at the termination in his eyes when you talked about
eating a porcupine. I mean he has started a lot
(06:12):
of businesses, like like he was saying, and you know,
I I have anyone can make it work. Maybe it's
shack Son do a lot. I believe in shack to
do just about anything. Uh well, moving on to our
next ridiculous story. This is from w s B TV
news staff and the headline is Michael Myers wanted in
Georgia on Friday exactly right. So there was a man
(06:36):
named Michael Myers was wanted in Chatham County. So Chatham
County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook they were searching for
the forty four year old named Michael Myers. Uh and
so apparently there was a probation violation and they just
happened to have the same name as the movie character
Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise. The Sheriff's office also
(06:57):
published the post on Friday the thirteenth, but they say
the timing is pure coincidence. I guess. So, yeah, did
you see this photo of Michael Myers Mark It's he's
an intimidating looking guy with and I you know, it
doesn't really say what the violation was, and this is
I hope he's you know, we all need second chances.
(07:20):
Hopefully it wasn't. But I was impressed by the beard.
It's like, oh, that's a it's a fancy beard. Was
not impressed by the look on the guy's face because
he just did not look like a very friendly man
true to his name. Yeah, it seems like the sheriff's
office in my opinion, with hindsight being it seems like
you would add a little bit more description on what
the situation was as opposed to just saying, Michael Myers,
(07:41):
this fried at thirteenth we need to find you know.
It's like, how can you not run away with the
headline if you put that out? There was so little information,
you know, right exactly. Yeah, And they, you know, they
had some funny comments on the article, like on that
Facebook post which went viral, they said from Chattham County
(08:02):
Sheriff's They posted, if we can't find them today, we'll
repost on Halloween. Okay, okay, guess yeah, but they did.
I was, I was digging into that mark. And they
did go on to say also because they were getting
that violent as they plugged that. They do have a
shelter dog adoption effort called Operation New Hope, which is
(08:23):
kind of cool. And I like these programs. They take
in abandoned dogs, take them to prisons and the inmates
trained them, UM and help them find a for if
you are ever family and you know, as much as
we are over incrcetraded and I hope that people aren't
in prison and we get I do think that's a
good program for the inmates and the dogs. Jamie Lee
(08:46):
Curtis was also randomly running around and screaming in the
Chatham County streets apparently, but that's another story. That's that's
another story. Well, let's move on to the next story
about Wyoming and then phasing out sales of a metric
vehicles to quote ensure the stability of the oil and
gas industry. This is right by Joanna Kriter for Tesla
(09:11):
Rotti and Uh. The state of Wyoming is considering phasing
out those vehicles. UM and the Senators Jim Anderson, Brian Boehner.
I don't know if I said that right, but we'll
leave it that way. Ed Cooper, Dan Duck Stater, UH
and David Berkhart, Bill Henderson. You know, again, if you're
not in Wyoming, which is the least popular state, you
(09:32):
probably don't know these folks, but they did sponsor this
bill that's claimed that oil and gas production has been
one of the state's proud and valued industries, creating quote
countless jobs, they say, countless jobs, and contributing quote revenues
to the state of Wyoming throughout the state's history. I
don't deny that that's true, but it just seems backwards.
What they're arguing is that, uh, having e vs would
(09:56):
destroy that industry or is bad get that having e
vs might slow down that industry. But you know, guys,
trying to to move things backwards is never a good idea.
I think, you know, electronic vehicles, electric vehicles rather are
here to stay, hopefully, and you know, we've all seen
(10:16):
the effects of climate change recently, especially in these last
you know, a few months here in the US, and
we gotta do something, you know. Yeah. To me, it's
just like the term phasing out the sales of electronic vehicles.
It seems like to your point, Bill, you know, electric vehicles,
that technology is only only going to continue to move forward.
And so while I understand the desire to want to
(10:38):
preserve the oil and gas industry, if that's been strong
for your state. It seems like you be trying to
figure out a way to merge the two together or
have them both coexist, because that's what's going to be happening. So,
you know, in the to me, it's like in the
interest of the citizens of Wyoming, you'd be like, all right,
how are we going to continue to adapt to these
(10:59):
technologies moving forward? You know, exactly exactly. That's what a
good business does, since they adapt, because you know, are
they also going to pass a bill like sorry, y'all,
we're no longer allowing Netflix the state of Wyoming because
we got a Blockbusters made countless job here in the
state of Wyoming. We all love going into a Blockbuster.
You know, it just doesn't it's that kind of mythology
(11:22):
doesn't make any sense. Like here you hear you, there's
a new iPhone out. In response to this, we are
now gonna be mass producing phone booths on every street corner.
You know what I'm saying, Get your change ready? Yeah,
right right, we don't have to change. It's like how
much on a phone booth phone called costs nowadays? Because
you know, I wonder if it would be like seventy
(11:42):
fives and maybe maybe it's like the it's like a
vending machine. We have to put five bucks in. You
got to use your iPhone to scan your debit card
to use the telephone booth. But we will fight for
the telephone. You gotta have those telephone booth. Industry has
made Wyoming exactly what it is. Uh. And you know
from now on you to buy a pack of cigarettes
to go along with your driver's license to support the
(12:03):
tobacco industry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna take a quick
break to hero words from our sponsor. Yeah yeah, yeah,
would amazing and crazy comics to choose. You would now
tune dance ridiculous news. All right, y'alls, So we're back.
(12:25):
This is a weekly roundup episodes. Who were talking about
things that happened this week, and of course to start
this week off, it was MLK Day and so Bill,
you pulled this great article from Axios. The headline being
weaponizing Mlk's words in a divided Nation is by Russell
Contreras for Axios. And I think this is a conversation
I've seen happening more on social media over the years.
(12:47):
But you know, when I came up in school, Bill,
maybe you had something similar we were taught about MLK,
But I feel like the a lot of the real
truths of what he was really fighting against and how
radical he really was, and how much he wanted to
like end poverty and have like true equality and equity
for the country, A lot of that's been kind of
(13:08):
like toned down, uh, in favor of whatever political agenda
people want to use his image for. So the article
goes on to say that words from Martin Luther King Jr.
Nineteen sixty three, I have a dream speech about a
color blind nation are repeated every MLK day. But civil
rights advocates say the now frequent cherry picking of quotes
(13:30):
distorts his views and masks today's systemic racism. And you
do see that a lot, right, Like when something happens
in the news, uh, you know, especially something that might
be race related. You hear a lot of politicians say
the classic this is not what this was not mlk's dream,
this is not what Dr King would have wanted. It's
(13:51):
like a political move that we see now, right. It's
so painful, so painful to see it. And then because
I think what it does is it makes well if
I know for me, I can only speak for myself
is it makes me more hesitant because I always would
celebrate Martin Luther King day, you know, reading letters from
Birmingham jail and a letter from Brian Jail, and then
(14:13):
you know, quoting and kind of reminiscing. And now it's like, well,
you've got to be careful how you do that, because
you see people on the other side that are twisting
people's words. And throughout history people have twisted you know,
leader's words. But it's really bad. I mean they give
some examples in the article of you know, Republicans selectively
(14:34):
using King's color blind words to attack you know, civil
rights programs and initiatives, you know, quoting from his dream speech.
And for example, Florida Governor Rhonda Santis invoked King when
he proposed his Quote Stop Quote Act aimed at limiting
discussions around slavery and racism in public schools, which is insane,
(14:55):
Like what how would Martin Luther King want us to
not talk about that? There's still a lot of into
your point earlier market. You know, systemic racing is systemic
racism is prolific and impacts our society at every level. Still,
so in addition to that, like that is what part
(15:15):
of what MLK was talking about. You know, he was
talking about police brutality, he was talking about systemic poverty.
You know, these are things that you very much cared
about that that he was talking about in his speeches.
So a few more examples in the same article bill
where it talks about you know, then Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell referenced King's speech when he won re election,
(15:36):
but McConnell opposed the re authorization of the Voting Rights Act,
which is a bill that King saw sign into laws.
Like so absurd amount of hypocrisy. And another example that
I thought um was a good example. It's like republican
good in a like a good example of something bad
happening to Kevin McCarthy, the current House Speaker, tweeted in
(15:58):
critical race theory goes against everything Martin Luther King, Junr.
Taught us, which is really interesting because it also highlights
the debate going around critical race theory today. Critical race
theory is just studying primarily like how the law helps
purport certain forms of inequality, like in our everyday systems. Right,
(16:19):
And that is exactly like what Martin Luther King Jr.
I Was trying to address. And so in my opinion,
when I look at what critical race theory is trying
to do, to me, I think it's trying to look
at all, right, so like what kind of laws got
passed during like the movement of civil rights, and like
what got in its way? What obstacles were putting this way?
(16:40):
So how can we continue to look at the laws
to see, you know, the things that King and other
people like him we're fighting for actually be realized, you know.
So to me, I think the study of critical race
theory and what it goes over is actually you could
say that it is like trying to continue that legacy,
is opposed to trying to work against it. You know,
in my opinion from from what I've seen, I think
(17:02):
your opinion is correct to absolutely. And you know, and
we've talked on this show too about you know, just
thinking about the war on drugs and how overly that
war has affected African Americans and minorities. It's blatant. You
can see it in the in the stats and the
amount of people incarcerated, and and there's tons and tons
of examples that you know, we've talked about on other
(17:23):
episodes and things. But it did just highlights the the
insanity of saying that, you know, studying these things goes
against what Martin Luther King said, is is crazy. And
and you know he King Um went on after he
gave his speech and he went on NBC News four
years later and from the arc he said, quote, I
(17:44):
must confess that dream that I had that day has
that many points turned into a nightmare. Uh. And he
cited persistent discrimination, poverty, and of course the Vietnam War,
which is to your point earlier market something we didn't know.
I wasn't taught in school that um Okay was against
the viet Um War. You know, I think it was
almost a year to the day that he preached against
(18:04):
the Vietnam War he was assassinated and so and it
was really bold move at the time. That was before
a lot of people were coming out against the war,
and he was a real canary in the coal mine
for the US about that war. And and he took
a stance that was super very unpopular. Um. And it
just I think just speaks to what an incredible person
(18:26):
he was in his ethics and morals that were so
strong at that time. Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know
what it's I'm glad that we get to celebrate him,
but I'm sad to see his words be kind of
bend and twisted even today. Yeah, I agree, And so
it's been nice to see uh people with platforms also
kind of saying on social media, Like especially this year
(18:49):
with m ok day, I saw much more content from
people saying like, hey, here are some things about m
okay that you may not have known or not been
taught in schools, and like, let's not all into the
same patterns of this more. Um. I don't know what
you would call it, but like softened I guess version
of MLK that had never existed. So articles like this
(19:10):
I think are helpful in pointing those those things out.
Yeah you know this. This next article, which also from Axios,
goes on to kind of talk about, um, some of
the interesting things again when you have people using gigs
words against the very things that he stood for. If
you just dive a little bit deeper and use a
little bit of uh, you know, you just process what
King said. You can see that and you read what
(19:32):
he what he said, what he wrote. Um, but this
goes this article goes on to talk about the states
that celebrate both MLK Day and Confederate holidays. And you know,
the Confederacy, which the main one of the main drivers
of the my main driver rather was slavery, was wanting
to continue the the institution of slavery in the South.
(19:54):
So obviously that goes against fighting for the right it's
of African Americans. So um, you know, tense. This article
talks about how tense states, all of the American South
celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and observed at least
one Confederate holiday during the rest of the year, which
is is you know messed up. Um In Alabama and
(20:18):
Mississippi celebrate Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee on
the same day. Uh, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general
and slaveholder who um lost his war treasonous war against
the United States. Um. So obviously that's a message they're
sending a message to people of their state when you
(20:39):
when you celebrate that man Um. Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas also have at
least a day uh commemorating the Confederacy. Mississippi and Alabama
actually celebrate three Confederate holidays, Robert E. Lee Day, Robert E.
Lee Day, Confederate Memorial Day, and Jefferson Davis's Birthday. Um. Yeah,
(21:01):
so you know, it's it's just pointing out that, uh,
we've still got a lot of work to do, and
especially in the in the South here, and we've done
we've done a good work, you know, it's but we've
got to continue to work on it, y'all. And um,
you know, one of the things that really jumps out
to me about this article and read about Tennessee is
a day of special observance for Nathan Bedford Forrest, who
(21:24):
not only was a Confederate general, but he was the
first Grand Wizard of the klu Klux Klan. So you know, again,
that's that's tough. What do you what do you teach
in kids, you know, what's going on here? Well, you know,
I think that's a great question, Bill, And the article
is point makes it a good point that historians and
(21:44):
scholars say the Confederate holidays and monuments in the South
mostly appeared well after the Civil War as Confederate apologists
pushed the Lost Cause narrative downplaying slavery. And I think
that this is a form of behavior that we've seen
in moments of progress, you know, whether it's like right
after you know, the Civil War ends and you have reconstruction.
(22:06):
You know, once reconstruction ends, you have like lynchings, numbers
go up, you have like, uh, the Jim Crow South
emerges as a reaction you know to black people making
steps taking steps forward, or even like the election of
Barack Obama, a lot of that. You see the Tea Party,
you see Trump come after that, you see January six.
(22:27):
So it's like this pattern that you see when there's
like progress, people making steps forward, there are things that
are then done to try to like have us regress.
And I think that these holidays, these monuments are result
of that. But also, you know, they mentioned the Lost
Cause narrative, and you know Bill and I, you know,
we both grow up in the South. But I think
(22:48):
that the Lost Cause, defining what that is is important.
Maybe just didn't come across that. So I just pulled
this quick definition from Britannica dot com. And so the
Lost Cause is an interpretation of the American Civil War,
viewed by most historians as a myth that attempts to
preserve the honor of the South. By casting the Confederate
defeat in the best possible light. It attributes the loss
(23:10):
to overwhelming Union advantage in manpower and resources, nostalgically celebrates
an antebellum South of supposedly benevolent slave owners and contented
enslaved people in downplays, or altogether ignores slavery is the
cause of war. It became the philosophical foundation for the
racial violence and terrorism employed to reverse reconstruction and for
(23:33):
the reimposition of white supremacy in the Jim pro era.
It's acceptance in the North as well as in the South,
facilitated national reunion following the war, but at the cost
of the civil rights of African Americans, or another way
I've heard the lost cause kind of defined as well
as sort of like the Civil War was a moral
victory for the South, Like, Okay, they didn't win the war,
(23:55):
but they got the moral victory of it. And so
a lot of these philosophy these the South and then
took that and made that a part of what was
taught in schools, you know, and so you you see links,
you see connections between this kind of behavior as well
as misusing intentionally misusing the words of Martin Luther King. Yeah,
(24:19):
And to your point Mark earlier, I think it's so
important to remember that, like when we do have progress,
you know, on all kinds of things on on racial stuff.
If you look at you know, it's interesting when you
were talking about that example of Obama and then you
get you know, T party and Trump and all this stuff,
and you know, I think about like l G B
t Q rights is another thing, you know, or you
(24:41):
look at you know, the swing from left right with
the repeal of Roe v. Wade and and things like that,
and so it's like we can't take things for granted.
I think it's it's easy to put on rose colored
glasses when we're people are having things to go their way,
but know that there and and I wouldn't. I'm assuming
that our listeners are so word of you know, rights
(25:02):
and getting rid of discrimination here. But I think we
we just gotta we can't. You can't let the gas,
Uh take your foot off the gas. And I think
you know, Martin Luther King was very big on continuing
his entire life until the moment that he died, pushing
UH for continuing to work hard on this stuff. Um,
and it's it's so important, and I know it's it's
(25:23):
not the most ridiculous of news is but it's it's ridiculous.
That's you know, it's it's kind of ridiculous that we
have to keep talking about this stuff. But it's also important,
and it's important too for us to you know, remember
King and remember that, you know, some of his legacy
is being threatened. But as long as people like you
listener or spreading the truth and talking about what's really
(25:46):
going on, I think there's some hope for the future.
We will be right back with more ridiculous news after
this short break. Yeah, yeah, us news. Hey, y'all, So
(26:08):
we are back and we have a really fun article.
We've talked a lot on the show about happiness and
relationships and how that's a big indicator of your happiness
is the health and quality of your friendships, like my
good friend Mark Kendall, and yeah, we've had a lot
of our good friends on this show talk about that.
And this is a great um article from the New
(26:30):
York Times that actually had seven day happiness challenge and
it's asking readers to tap into happiness and this weeklong
challenge helps you focus on a crucial element of living
a good life your relationships, um, which there's a you know,
all these studies done that you know across different socio
economic status, across race, across age, across you know, where
(26:53):
you countries that you live in. The one of the
key indicators of whether or not you feel that you
have a fulfilled life is the strength and quality of relationships.
It doesn't mean you have to have a ton of friends, y'all.
You don't have to be Mr or mrs popular or
they then popular. But what you do need is just
some quality relationships, even a couple is. And so that's
(27:14):
what this seven d A challenges, making sure that you
have that quality stuff. And if you um need to
work on it, it's helping you work on it. So
for day one it says, hey, hey, everybody, take stock
of those relationships. Uh. In night, researches at Harvard set
out to learn what makes a person thrive, And as
(27:34):
I was saying, eighty five years later, the Harvard Study
of Adult Development, which expanded three generations descendants of the
original subjects um from all the data, the one very
clear finding emerged that strong relationships are what makes for
a happy life more than wealth i Q or social class.
It's the robustness of the bonds that most determines whether
(27:55):
we feel fulfilled. So take a stock of it. Mark,
how's it going to take a stock of those relationships?
How you doing take a stock? Pretty good? I mean,
like I have not officially done this challenge, but I
remember a couple years ago definitely trying to think. And
you know what brought about was the pandemic, So it
is you know, we weren't able to see each other
in person for this extended period of time, and that
(28:18):
was a moment that I did take stock and be like,
all right, I gotta find a way to stay in
touch with these people. You know, I can't lose these
people from my life. And so I think that was
the time that I took stock. I said, it was
a couple of years ago, so I gotta do it.
And Mark, you you know, you did such a good job.
Mark and I were working together a lot throughout the pandemic,
and of course we still do it. Yeah, you did
(28:40):
such actually job keeping in touch with people, and we're
such a great connector. Um And well, day two, so
that's day one is taking stock to Day two is
the secret power of the eight minute phone call and
thinking about this person you love, someone you miss, someone
you wish you connected with more Often, it says shoot
that person in a text asking them if they can
chat on the phone for eight minutes, just a quick
(29:01):
eight minutes ideally you know today, but if not, schedule
it for some time this week. Um, you know which
minds me? You know what, I'm gonna real quick, I'm
gonna call somebody that's had a positive influence on me today.
Let me just dial a real quick and here we go. Hello, Hello,
you reached the secret direct line of the Chala Bill.
(29:23):
I have to save Bill. Wy hey shack. Yeah. I
just want to let you know, man, you such a
positive influence on me as a kid. I was actually,
believe it or not, I was a sinner and a
forward when I was a wreck basketball. I'm not that
tall now, but I had my growth spur early. And
you were, you know, a big uh like hero of
(29:45):
mine and fellow big man. This means a lot, yeah,
because about its quients big anymore. But yeah, not only that,
you're just such a funny and charming guy. And you
know that you've done a lot of good stuff to
help people, and um and you know what that frog
concept you have. It's making me think I want to
eat some frogs. I gotta say today you said, hey, check,
(30:08):
we'll enjoy it in the frog legs if you consider pokepons.
And the truth is, at that moment I had not.
And right now, my big check that the kitchen, I
am frying the needles of frog legs. Now these were
ethnically SOURCEDO you know it was. I found a very
old and sickly porcupine on the side of the beach,
and I just beach plug the needles from the porcupine,
(30:29):
and I know what. I boiled them, and what happens
in the hot boiling water. They softened and turn the pasta.
So I am the inventor of porkepon postause that sounds delicious. Well, yeah,
I hope I can may try it maybe when the
first people. You know what, you just stay right there once.
(30:49):
I'm just gonna look into the shack. Metic computer didn't
mean you should be at your door right now. If
you just open here is yeah, okay, mm hmm. It
is tough. It is because you're strong, your fellow big
(31:10):
man like me. I gotta I gotta go mass producible
of this porkey com pasta real quick check Check. See y'all,
look how easy that was really easy, you know, And
to just thank Check for his influence that I'm sure
you have people like Scheck. We can't I'm sorry, we
can't give out the direct Shack Daddy line number top secret.
You know. Yeah, it's very very hush hush. The day
(31:32):
three talking about small talk. Small talk has big benefits,
and that's going out and talk to somebody you don't
know or told stranger or booth. Bill, I gotta say,
this is something you do really well. This is something
I do not do as much. But this is if
you'll ever find Bill in a situation or a party.
You know, he's great talking with the people that knows.
But Bill, I've seen you strike up conversations. I'll like
turn my head and be back. It's like, Bills like
(31:54):
this is my new friend. Man. I love it. I
love of people. And you know, getting back from this
Thailand vacation, y'all, I was in Thailand for five weeks
and you know, they met people, amazing people from all
over the world, including the amazing country of Thailand. And
um I did make a lot of friends and our
friend Andy was there and he was laughing at me
(32:14):
because people were sending me messages like this guy from
South Korea just sent me a message. I met him
at jazz bar. He's like, hey man, you ever come
to South Korea? Got a place to stay? So nice
to meet all this stuff, and it's you know, I
love I just love people, and you know, not everybody.
I think. I think a key thing is, you know,
smiling and and being happy to talk to people, but
(32:35):
knowing that not everybody is always in the mood to
talk um, and and that doesn't have as much to
do with you as it does them, So trying to
not take that personally. So you know something, you know,
if you try to start small talk with somebody and like, um,
you know I'm grumpy or whatever, try somebody else, don't
give up, don't be like there's other people. It's okay,
(32:56):
it's not your fault. Um. Yes. This next one is
a day four why you should write a living eulogy.
So the exercises you get vulnerable. You tell an important
person in your life how you feel about them. The
article goes on to say, think about what they have
done for you in your life. And that's from Dr
Bob Waldinger, who's a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
(33:19):
That's a that's a hell of a challenge, but such
a good thing. I feel like I've seen this in movies.
I feel like I saw this in like a one
of those films where it's like a kid gets cancer
and then he makes his friends and I'm forgetting the
name of the movie, but seeing he makes his friends
give the eulogy at his that they would give. And yeah,
I mean, why not, Like if if your friends are
(33:41):
going to say all these nice things about you, uh,
it's probably better you'd be not in the coffin so
you can hear it. And Day five talks about the
importance of work friends um which worn't place. Relationships are
often overlooked, but a report from Gallup showed that people
who have a best friend at work are more engaged
than those who do. Not. Shout out to Joy if
(34:02):
she's listening for the last time I worked. Shout out
to Mark Kendall. I work with all the time, you know,
like amazing people that are my friends, and I get
to work with them. I'm feeling very lucky. But people
who have friends at work are more likely to innovate,
share ideas, get more work done in less time, and
report having more fun. And yeah, man, when you're going
to a workplace and I'm sure you've experienced this park
when you just don't like anybody, or or you know,
(34:25):
not that you're you're hating on people, but just not
really you're kind of people, or you're kind of tribe.
Oh yeah, stuff, it's it can be. It can be
a doozy here. I'm just I don't want to wrote
the podcast at all. I'm just saying I mean, I'm
here in person. I decided that yeah, shock Daddy got
the code and the keys to any building, it doesn't
(34:46):
matter where it is shady. But anyway, so shack Daddy
came here because you know, I was making the pokepon
pasta at home. I was prob myself doing it. I
really should instill a bit of infrastructure. I should delegate more.
Shadd has employees. But anyway, I realized how much I
like the vibe, and Bill you gave me the great
idea of mark you will also here. So I decided
I just kind of move in with my kitchen into
the ridiculous new studio Also, I just need to be
around the people YouTube people in particular, and hopefully we
(35:09):
can be work friends. You do your work, I do
my work. But you know, I just like the vibes.
It's the slam dunk shack. This is check. What what
a good vibe to have Shack being in the room
really cool? Cool? Yeah, it's great. Well, Day six, don't
cancel your plans. Um that says talking about it could
(35:29):
be tempting to stay home rather than socialize. As again
from Dr Waldinger, who's an author of a new book,
The Good Life, And do you think, well, I'm gonna
be happy if I stay home and watch that fux,
but not if I go to that party. This is
a very interesting mark because I have to say, like,
reading this out loud, you know, it's like this is
not me at all. I am the opposite. I'm so
(35:50):
the opposite of this. I can't think of a single
time in my forty years of life what I've been like.
You know what, I'm not gonna go to the party.
I'm gonna stay on with watch Netflix. And I realized
I might be the exception and not the rule. Yeah. No,
I'm definitely the person that will uh you know, pick
Netflix over a party at times or uh, I don't know,
(36:10):
like pick like a staying inside sort of thing versus
going out. And towards the end of this year, or
I guess towards the end of two rather, I kind
of like worked back up to going out more and
a lot of it. I mentioned the pandemic earlier. That
was a lot of it too, because it's like there's
this extended period of time ros indoors and I'm like,
I can do this quite a bit. And then so
(36:31):
then when it's like reminding myself like, oh, I can
go out more often, you know, and uh, you know,
I mentioned I went to the Orlando Fringe last week
and that was a great time of like being able
to be out and see things more like um, going
to the Orlando Fringe, for example, was like a great
way to reconnect with people that I hadn't seen in
a while. Friend Chase Patch, he's a performer out there.
(36:52):
He has this amazing one person show six guitars. Getting
a chance to see that in person and support his
show is really fun. So it's been it's been good
it to remember, like, oh, and I think something that
helps It's like if you're going out to do something
that you enjoy, you know, So it could be a party,
it could be like going out to eat with folks,
could be going to see a show. So I think
if it's something that you want to do enjoy, that
(37:12):
can also make it easier. Yeah. Yeah. Dr Wilder goes
on to say that interacting with other people often improves
our mood and it makes us happier than we expect,
and making the choice to go out and be with
people involves risk, usually a small one, but also offers
the possibility for encounters that are enlivening, interesting, or just
playing fun. Yeah, it always feels good. Like sometimes I need,
(37:35):
like I need to force myself that extra push to
get out. But what happens once I get out and
I'm around people. You get that shot of adrenaline, You
get that shot of energy. And so often I go
to a party, I'm like, I'll just I'll just get
my tone and I'll just be here for a minute.
And then like I'm there for several hours and I'm like, whoa,
this is a new me, you know. And it's just
like being around people, it can give you that energy
(37:56):
for sure. For sure we'll be yeah, follow following marksix
ample get that energy, y'all. And I love day seven
because day seven just keep happiness going all he long.
So well, spare y'all. Reaching day seven just says you
reached it. You got to the seventh and final day.
Congratulations on your efforts. Thumbs up. So really, it's a
(38:16):
sixth day challenge that The New York Times is like,
we needed the editors, like we needed to be a
week was I got six days? Well it publishes in
ten minutes. Well, okay, you know that brings us to
one of our favorite segments, which is our spring of
(38:36):
inspiring inspirations. And of course I want to quote the
amazing Martin Luther King Jr. And this is a quote
and Mark, we're talking about this. I try to always
read letters Letter from Birmingham Jail that Dr King wrote
because it always is such a challenging thing for me
to read, and every time I read it, I'm like
I could view more. Every time. It's a great reminder
(38:57):
of you know that we still got a lot work
to do. And this is a direct quote from me. Okay.
He uses the word negro in the quote, which I
don't need to normally use my day to day language.
But it's important, you know, for this quote, and and
you know coming from King himself, So he said quote,
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's
(39:19):
great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not
the white citizens counselor or the klu klux klanner, but
the white moderate who is more devoted to quote order
than to justice, who prefers a negative piece which is
the absence of tension, to a positive piece, which is
the presence of justice, who constantly says quote, I agree
(39:40):
with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot
agree with your methods of direct action. I mean, this
is me coming out of quote Mark. I just think
of so many examples of this, with the Black Lives
Ladder movement, with the Colin Kaepernick just kneeling on a field.
People are like, oh, we were portable. I just don't
think you should do anyway. Back to the court, who
paternalistically believe h that he can set the timetable for
(40:02):
another man's freedom, who people who live by a mythical
concept of time, and who constantly advised the Negro to
wait for a quote more convenient season. Shallow understanding from
people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from
people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering
(40:25):
than outright rejection. I know there's a lot in there,
but I think it's a it's a good thing for
us to all of us to think about, especially you
white moderates out there. Come on, white people, Come on,
white people. Uh, just keep working. We gotta work on it.
Let's keep working on it, y'all. And to all of
our amazing listeners all over, we love y'all. Thank you
(40:49):
so much for tuning in. That's so good to be
back with you. Um. It means the world to us
that you spend your time with us, And thank you,
Thank you. Yes, And you can email us at Ridiculous News.
I heart Media dot com and on Facebook and I
G follow Ridiculous News. And you can check out our
comedy videos at Mark Kendall Comedy Bioll See you. Ridiculous
(41:23):
News is hosted by Mark Kendall and Bill Warley. Executive
producers are Ben Bullen and Noel Brown. Produced and edited
by Terry Harrison, Research provided by Casey Willis and theme
music by four Eyes and Dr Delight. Four more podcasts
from my heart Radio. Visit the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous News as a production of our heart radio and
cool Cool Cool Audio. Yeah yeah, yeah, we're amazing and
crazy topics to dig in to Jews you would now
tune and to Ridiculous News, we get us their views
on working the rules of broadcasts. Then in all sorts
a while, reports that he was lasting brand up beat journalism,
(00:22):
the strange and unusual stories, and well we gave them.
When it's all about ridiculous news everywhere, we told about
ridiculous News over here. Hey, everyone, welcome to Ridiculous News,
not your average news show. We cover stuff you didn't
realize was news, from the wild and funny, to the
deep and hidden to the absolutely ridiculous. This is our
weekly roundup where we take some of the weirdest stories
(00:42):
in the news and dive a little deeper into them.
As always, we might have a few guests pop in
along the way. Hey, y'all, I'm Mark Kendall. I'm an
Atlanta based comedian, and I just got back from Orlando's
Many Fringe Festival, which is like a small theater festival,
and it was great to be around such a fun
and supportive arts communities. I'm feeling energized. Yeah, man, that
sounds like it was a blast. Mark. And I'm Bill Worley.
(01:04):
I'm an Atlanta based filmmaker and comedian, and I just
got back from Thailand and it was the best trip
I've ever done. It sounded so epic. I can't wait
to continue to hear more about that trip. Yeah, we'll
do some episodes where we talk about Thailand a little
bit more, but for now, let's talk about some of
our ridiculous news nibbles. Starting off, we got a great
story about Shaquille O'Neal Shack himself eating a frog on
(01:25):
live television after losing a national championship bet. This is
from Yahoo Life by Megan over Deep. And we all
know Shack for breaking backboards and uh goals and smashing
stuff and just being a obviously a pretty cool human overall.
Uh And he is a man of his word, and
(01:46):
he made a good on his promise to eat a
frog if TCU lost to U G A in the
National championship. And I have to say, Mark, as a
U g A alumni, what a dumb bet? What a
dumb kind of confused about that too, I'm like, Shack,
it's your job to watch sports. That's an interesting bet
to make. No one thought, and I was like, and
(02:06):
checked and go to tc You went to l s U,
So I was kind of curious, like why the loyalty
to t T see you in this situation almost feels
like a producer, but had this time to see it.
We need somebody to We need someone for TCU, guys.
So it was an NBA show. We need to figure
out a way to shoehorn college football into the show.
You got to say to lead a frog on national tone, Yeah,
(02:29):
because I'd never go agains the dogs. I mean, you
know U g A we had a great game because
I stayed I was overseas, so I didn't get to
watch the championship game. But people are updating me. I
knew it would be a blowout. I didn't predict. You
thought we would. You g A would win sixty five
to seven, which is, you know, unfortunate for TCU. That's
one of those games where I think the only people
that enjoy it are probably the U g A fans
(02:51):
because at that point it's just not fun to watch um.
But you know, to your point, he made that bet
with co host Ernie Johnson, who went to Georgia, was
a first base player on the baseball team way back
in the day. Um and after Check failed at substituting
chicken for frog on Tuesday's episode, he did dig into
(03:12):
a battered and fried frog presented to him on a
silver platter by Johnson on live television on Thursday. And
I watched this clip, Mark and you know what I mean,
it looks delicious to you know. Yeah, we were talking
before the uh, the podcast, how we were kind of
expecting was it gonna be live frog because otherwise just
(03:33):
like frogs everything that people eat, you know, so like
so so it's like, oh, he got served a nice
splate of food. It's like if if dise you, who's
like an au steak steak right, mashed potatoes. It's like
you're making a bet against the bulls, and you're like,
if the bulls with the game tomorrow, I will eat
a filet mignon. Yeah. It's like, okay, because he dug evan,
(04:01):
y'all when they presented him, he dug into these frog legs,
like with no no hesitation, with just all abandoning any
sense of yeah, yeah, well Bill, you're getting there. Maybe
you pick that up. Yeah, Hello, Hello, The NBA baseball. Shack,
(04:22):
Oh my god, thank you so much for calling in.
We're just talking about you. I'm sure I assume you
like you were talking about Daddy. Shock Daddy wanted to
talk about how he's eating frog legs on the National
Basketball Television Association show. Beforehand, I said that TC, you're
gonna be and if they lost, I would eat frog
on national television. That was my first time he did
some pride frog legs and I gotta say it was
the most delicious thing. I'll gi m m. Yeah, you
(04:46):
look like you enjoyed them for sure. Well, Shock Daddy
does a lot of things really well. It plays basketball.
The other thing he does, he's a great spokesperson Papa John's,
Christma Green, the general, whatever it is. Shock Daddy does
commercials every day all day. So Shack Daddy decided he's
gonna make an announcement. I'm gonna become a spokesperson for
the brand new frock fast food chain called Shacks House
of Hoaks. You can dump the fried frog legs and
(05:08):
barbecue sauce hot sauce like the only or even a
basket of fries. Wow, well that sounds absolutely, honestly pretty delicious.
Shock and now I kind of thinking maybe this whole
thing was a ruse so you could promote your new
fast food chain. Shock also has another announcement. From now
all Shot will make the same bit every single year,
So Shock will do everything that he needs to do
in his power to make sure that every single year
(05:29):
in TCU won in the National Championship Game. Shock will
make the same bet, and he will rig things in
such a way so the TCU was just a little
bit less good than U. G chef will have to
get a broke every year on television. Oh my god, Shack,
why don't you try something a little bit crazier about
like snake, or you could do like porcupine. I don't
know that evers somebody to porcupine a live snake. And
(05:50):
what I never even thought about the Shack fried a
deeper up pokpon with little we need eat the little
needles of the come front needles. I'll let it to
the menu. Shot gotta go by. Oh wow, but it
seems like you may have started something. We were looking
at him in the space and he had to look
at the termination in his eyes when you talked about
eating a porcupine. I mean he has started a lot
(06:12):
of businesses, like like he was saying, and you know,
I I have anyone can make it work. Maybe it's
shack Son do a lot. I believe in shack to
do just about anything. Uh well, moving on to our
next ridiculous story. This is from w s B TV
news staff and the headline is Michael Myers wanted in
Georgia on Friday exactly right. So there was a man
(06:36):
named Michael Myers was wanted in Chatham County. So Chatham
County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook they were searching for
the forty four year old named Michael Myers. Uh and
so apparently there was a probation violation and they just
happened to have the same name as the movie character
Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise. The Sheriff's office also
(06:57):
published the post on Friday the thirteenth, but they say
the timing is pure coincidence. I guess. So, yeah, did
you see this photo of Michael Myers Mark It's he's
an intimidating looking guy with and I you know, it
doesn't really say what the violation was, and this is
I hope he's you know, we all need second chances.
(07:20):
Hopefully it wasn't. But I was impressed by the beard.
It's like, oh, that's a it's a fancy beard. Was
not impressed by the look on the guy's face because
he just did not look like a very friendly man
true to his name. Yeah, it seems like the sheriff's
office in my opinion, with hindsight being it seems like
you would add a little bit more description on what
the situation was as opposed to just saying, Michael Myers,
(07:41):
this fried at thirteenth we need to find you know.
It's like, how can you not run away with the
headline if you put that out? There was so little information,
you know, right exactly. Yeah, And they, you know, they
had some funny comments on the article, like on that
Facebook post which went viral, they said from Chattham County
(08:02):
Sheriff's They posted, if we can't find them today, we'll
repost on Halloween. Okay, okay, guess yeah, but they did.
I was, I was digging into that mark. And they
did go on to say also because they were getting
that violent as they plugged that. They do have a
shelter dog adoption effort called Operation New Hope, which is
(08:23):
kind of cool. And I like these programs. They take
in abandoned dogs, take them to prisons and the inmates
trained them, UM and help them find a for if
you are ever family and you know, as much as
we are over incrcetraded and I hope that people aren't
in prison and we get I do think that's a
good program for the inmates and the dogs. Jamie Lee
(08:46):
Curtis was also randomly running around and screaming in the
Chatham County streets apparently, but that's another story. That's that's
another story. Well, let's move on to the next story
about Wyoming and then phasing out sales of a metric
vehicles to quote ensure the stability of the oil and
gas industry. This is right by Joanna Kriter for Tesla
(09:11):
Rotti and Uh. The state of Wyoming is considering phasing
out those vehicles. UM and the Senators Jim Anderson, Brian Boehner.
I don't know if I said that right, but we'll
leave it that way. Ed Cooper, Dan Duck Stater, UH
and David Berkhart, Bill Henderson. You know, again, if you're
not in Wyoming, which is the least popular state, you
(09:32):
probably don't know these folks, but they did sponsor this
bill that's claimed that oil and gas production has been
one of the state's proud and valued industries, creating quote
countless jobs, they say, countless jobs, and contributing quote revenues
to the state of Wyoming throughout the state's history. I
don't deny that that's true, but it just seems backwards.
What they're arguing is that, uh, having e vs would
(09:56):
destroy that industry or is bad get that having e
vs might slow down that industry. But you know, guys,
trying to to move things backwards is never a good idea.
I think, you know, electronic vehicles, electric vehicles rather are
here to stay, hopefully, and you know, we've all seen
(10:16):
the effects of climate change recently, especially in these last
you know, a few months here in the US, and
we gotta do something, you know. Yeah. To me, it's
just like the term phasing out the sales of electronic vehicles.
It seems like to your point, Bill, you know, electric vehicles,
that technology is only only going to continue to move forward.
And so while I understand the desire to want to
(10:38):
preserve the oil and gas industry, if that's been strong
for your state. It seems like you be trying to
figure out a way to merge the two together or
have them both coexist, because that's what's going to be happening. So,
you know, in the to me, it's like in the
interest of the citizens of Wyoming, you'd be like, all right,
how are we going to continue to adapt to these
(10:59):
technologies moving forward? You know, exactly exactly. That's what a
good business does, since they adapt, because you know, are
they also going to pass a bill like sorry, y'all,
we're no longer allowing Netflix the state of Wyoming because
we got a Blockbusters made countless job here in the
state of Wyoming. We all love going into a Blockbuster.
You know, it just doesn't it's that kind of mythology
(11:22):
doesn't make any sense. Like here you hear you, there's
a new iPhone out. In response to this, we are
now gonna be mass producing phone booths on every street corner.
You know what I'm saying, Get your change ready? Yeah,
right right, we don't have to change. It's like how
much on a phone booth phone called costs nowadays? Because
you know, I wonder if it would be like seventy
(11:42):
fives and maybe maybe it's like the it's like a
vending machine. We have to put five bucks in. You
got to use your iPhone to scan your debit card
to use the telephone booth. But we will fight for
the telephone. You gotta have those telephone booth. Industry has
made Wyoming exactly what it is. Uh. And you know
from now on you to buy a pack of cigarettes
to go along with your driver's license to support the
(12:03):
tobacco industry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna take a quick
break to hero words from our sponsor. Yeah yeah, yeah,
would amazing and crazy comics to choose. You would now
tune dance ridiculous news. All right, y'alls, So we're back.
(12:25):
This is a weekly roundup episodes. Who were talking about
things that happened this week, and of course to start
this week off, it was MLK Day and so Bill,
you pulled this great article from Axios. The headline being
weaponizing Mlk's words in a divided Nation is by Russell
Contreras for Axios. And I think this is a conversation
I've seen happening more on social media over the years.
(12:47):
But you know, when I came up in school, Bill,
maybe you had something similar we were taught about MLK,
But I feel like the a lot of the real
truths of what he was really fighting against and how
radical he really was, and how much he wanted to
like end poverty and have like true equality and equity
for the country, A lot of that's been kind of
(13:08):
like toned down, uh, in favor of whatever political agenda
people want to use his image for. So the article
goes on to say that words from Martin Luther King Jr.
Nineteen sixty three, I have a dream speech about a
color blind nation are repeated every MLK day. But civil
rights advocates say the now frequent cherry picking of quotes
(13:30):
distorts his views and masks today's systemic racism. And you
do see that a lot, right, Like when something happens
in the news, uh, you know, especially something that might
be race related. You hear a lot of politicians say
the classic this is not what this was not mlk's dream,
this is not what Dr King would have wanted. It's
(13:51):
like a political move that we see now, right. It's
so painful, so painful to see it. And then because
I think what it does is it makes well if
I know for me, I can only speak for myself
is it makes me more hesitant because I always would
celebrate Martin Luther King day, you know, reading letters from
Birmingham jail and a letter from Brian Jail, and then
(14:13):
you know, quoting and kind of reminiscing. And now it's like, well,
you've got to be careful how you do that, because
you see people on the other side that are twisting
people's words. And throughout history people have twisted you know,
leader's words. But it's really bad. I mean they give
some examples in the article of you know, Republicans selectively
(14:34):
using King's color blind words to attack you know, civil
rights programs and initiatives, you know, quoting from his dream speech.
And for example, Florida Governor Rhonda Santis invoked King when
he proposed his Quote Stop Quote Act aimed at limiting
discussions around slavery and racism in public schools, which is insane,
(14:55):
Like what how would Martin Luther King want us to
not talk about that? There's still a lot of into
your point earlier market. You know, systemic racing is systemic
racism is prolific and impacts our society at every level. Still,
so in addition to that, like that is what part
(15:15):
of what MLK was talking about. You know, he was
talking about police brutality, he was talking about systemic poverty.
You know, these are things that you very much cared
about that that he was talking about in his speeches.
So a few more examples in the same article bill
where it talks about you know, then Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell referenced King's speech when he won re election,
(15:36):
but McConnell opposed the re authorization of the Voting Rights Act,
which is a bill that King saw sign into laws.
Like so absurd amount of hypocrisy. And another example that
I thought um was a good example. It's like republican
good in a like a good example of something bad
happening to Kevin McCarthy, the current House Speaker, tweeted in
(15:58):
critical race theory goes against everything Martin Luther King, Junr.
Taught us, which is really interesting because it also highlights
the debate going around critical race theory today. Critical race
theory is just studying primarily like how the law helps
purport certain forms of inequality, like in our everyday systems. Right,
(16:19):
And that is exactly like what Martin Luther King Jr.
I Was trying to address. And so in my opinion,
when I look at what critical race theory is trying
to do, to me, I think it's trying to look
at all, right, so like what kind of laws got
passed during like the movement of civil rights, and like
what got in its way? What obstacles were putting this way?
(16:40):
So how can we continue to look at the laws
to see, you know, the things that King and other
people like him we're fighting for actually be realized, you know.
So to me, I think the study of critical race
theory and what it goes over is actually you could
say that it is like trying to continue that legacy,
is opposed to trying to work against it. You know,
in my opinion from from what I've seen, I think
(17:02):
your opinion is correct to absolutely. And you know, and
we've talked on this show too about you know, just
thinking about the war on drugs and how overly that
war has affected African Americans and minorities. It's blatant. You
can see it in the in the stats and the
amount of people incarcerated, and and there's tons and tons
of examples that you know, we've talked about on other
(17:23):
episodes and things. But it did just highlights the the
insanity of saying that, you know, studying these things goes
against what Martin Luther King said, is is crazy. And
and you know he King Um went on after he
gave his speech and he went on NBC News four
years later and from the arc he said, quote, I
(17:44):
must confess that dream that I had that day has
that many points turned into a nightmare. Uh. And he
cited persistent discrimination, poverty, and of course the Vietnam War,
which is to your point earlier market something we didn't know.
I wasn't taught in school that um Okay was against
the viet Um War. You know, I think it was
almost a year to the day that he preached against
(18:04):
the Vietnam War he was assassinated and so and it
was really bold move at the time. That was before
a lot of people were coming out against the war,
and he was a real canary in the coal mine
for the US about that war. And and he took
a stance that was super very unpopular. Um. And it
just I think just speaks to what an incredible person
(18:26):
he was in his ethics and morals that were so
strong at that time. Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know
what it's I'm glad that we get to celebrate him,
but I'm sad to see his words be kind of
bend and twisted even today. Yeah, I agree, And so
it's been nice to see uh people with platforms also
kind of saying on social media, Like especially this year
(18:49):
with m ok day, I saw much more content from
people saying like, hey, here are some things about m
okay that you may not have known or not been
taught in schools, and like, let's not all into the
same patterns of this more. Um. I don't know what
you would call it, but like softened I guess version
of MLK that had never existed. So articles like this
(19:10):
I think are helpful in pointing those those things out.
Yeah you know this. This next article, which also from Axios,
goes on to kind of talk about, um, some of
the interesting things again when you have people using gigs
words against the very things that he stood for. If
you just dive a little bit deeper and use a
little bit of uh, you know, you just process what
King said. You can see that and you read what
(19:32):
he what he said, what he wrote. Um, but this
goes this article goes on to talk about the states
that celebrate both MLK Day and Confederate holidays. And you know,
the Confederacy, which the main one of the main drivers
of the my main driver rather was slavery, was wanting
to continue the the institution of slavery in the South.
(19:54):
So obviously that goes against fighting for the right it's
of African Americans. So um, you know, tense. This article
talks about how tense states, all of the American South
celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and observed at least
one Confederate holiday during the rest of the year, which
is is you know messed up. Um In Alabama and
(20:18):
Mississippi celebrate Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee on
the same day. Uh, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general
and slaveholder who um lost his war treasonous war against
the United States. Um. So obviously that's a message they're
sending a message to people of their state when you
(20:39):
when you celebrate that man Um. Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas also have at
least a day uh commemorating the Confederacy. Mississippi and Alabama
actually celebrate three Confederate holidays, Robert E. Lee Day, Robert E.
Lee Day, Confederate Memorial Day, and Jefferson Davis's Birthday. Um. Yeah,
(21:01):
so you know, it's it's just pointing out that, uh,
we've still got a lot of work to do, and
especially in the in the South here, and we've done
we've done a good work, you know, it's but we've
got to continue to work on it, y'all. And um,
you know, one of the things that really jumps out
to me about this article and read about Tennessee is
a day of special observance for Nathan Bedford Forrest, who
(21:24):
not only was a Confederate general, but he was the
first Grand Wizard of the klu Klux Klan. So you know, again,
that's that's tough. What do you what do you teach
in kids, you know, what's going on here? Well, you know,
I think that's a great question, Bill, And the article
is point makes it a good point that historians and
(21:44):
scholars say the Confederate holidays and monuments in the South
mostly appeared well after the Civil War as Confederate apologists
pushed the Lost Cause narrative downplaying slavery. And I think
that this is a form of behavior that we've seen
in moments of progress, you know, whether it's like right
after you know, the Civil War ends and you have reconstruction.
(22:06):
You know, once reconstruction ends, you have like lynchings, numbers
go up, you have like, uh, the Jim Crow South
emerges as a reaction you know to black people making
steps taking steps forward, or even like the election of
Barack Obama, a lot of that. You see the Tea Party,
you see Trump come after that, you see January six.
(22:27):
So it's like this pattern that you see when there's
like progress, people making steps forward, there are things that
are then done to try to like have us regress.
And I think that these holidays, these monuments are result
of that. But also, you know, they mentioned the Lost
Cause narrative, and you know Bill and I, you know,
we both grow up in the South. But I think
(22:48):
that the Lost Cause, defining what that is is important.
Maybe just didn't come across that. So I just pulled
this quick definition from Britannica dot com. And so the
Lost Cause is an interpretation of the American Civil War,
viewed by most historians as a myth that attempts to
preserve the honor of the South. By casting the Confederate
defeat in the best possible light. It attributes the loss
(23:10):
to overwhelming Union advantage in manpower and resources, nostalgically celebrates
an antebellum South of supposedly benevolent slave owners and contented
enslaved people in downplays, or altogether ignores slavery is the
cause of war. It became the philosophical foundation for the
racial violence and terrorism employed to reverse reconstruction and for
(23:33):
the reimposition of white supremacy in the Jim pro era.
It's acceptance in the North as well as in the South,
facilitated national reunion following the war, but at the cost
of the civil rights of African Americans, or another way
I've heard the lost cause kind of defined as well
as sort of like the Civil War was a moral
victory for the South, Like, Okay, they didn't win the war,
(23:55):
but they got the moral victory of it. And so
a lot of these philosophy these the South and then
took that and made that a part of what was
taught in schools, you know, and so you you see links,
you see connections between this kind of behavior as well
as misusing intentionally misusing the words of Martin Luther King. Yeah,
(24:19):
And to your point Mark earlier, I think it's so
important to remember that, like when we do have progress,
you know, on all kinds of things on on racial stuff.
If you look at you know, it's interesting when you
were talking about that example of Obama and then you
get you know, T party and Trump and all this stuff,
and you know, I think about like l G B
t Q rights is another thing, you know, or you
(24:41):
look at you know, the swing from left right with
the repeal of Roe v. Wade and and things like that,
and so it's like we can't take things for granted.
I think it's it's easy to put on rose colored
glasses when we're people are having things to go their way,
but know that there and and I wouldn't. I'm assuming
that our listeners are so word of you know, rights
(25:02):
and getting rid of discrimination here. But I think we
we just gotta we can't. You can't let the gas,
Uh take your foot off the gas. And I think
you know, Martin Luther King was very big on continuing
his entire life until the moment that he died, pushing
UH for continuing to work hard on this stuff. Um,
and it's it's so important, and I know it's it's
(25:23):
not the most ridiculous of news is but it's it's ridiculous.
That's you know, it's it's kind of ridiculous that we
have to keep talking about this stuff. But it's also important,
and it's important too for us to you know, remember
King and remember that, you know, some of his legacy
is being threatened. But as long as people like you
listener or spreading the truth and talking about what's really
(25:46):
going on, I think there's some hope for the future.
We will be right back with more ridiculous news after
this short break. Yeah, yeah, us news. Hey, y'all, So
(26:08):
we are back and we have a really fun article.
We've talked a lot on the show about happiness and
relationships and how that's a big indicator of your happiness
is the health and quality of your friendships, like my
good friend Mark Kendall, and yeah, we've had a lot
of our good friends on this show talk about that.
And this is a great um article from the New
(26:30):
York Times that actually had seven day happiness challenge and
it's asking readers to tap into happiness and this weeklong
challenge helps you focus on a crucial element of living
a good life your relationships, um, which there's a you know,
all these studies done that you know across different socio
economic status, across race, across age, across you know, where
(26:53):
you countries that you live in. The one of the
key indicators of whether or not you feel that you
have a fulfilled life is the strength and quality of relationships.
It doesn't mean you have to have a ton of friends, y'all.
You don't have to be Mr or mrs popular or
they then popular. But what you do need is just
some quality relationships, even a couple is. And so that's
(27:14):
what this seven d A challenges, making sure that you
have that quality stuff. And if you um need to
work on it, it's helping you work on it. So
for day one it says, hey, hey, everybody, take stock
of those relationships. Uh. In night, researches at Harvard set
out to learn what makes a person thrive, And as
(27:34):
I was saying, eighty five years later, the Harvard Study
of Adult Development, which expanded three generations descendants of the
original subjects um from all the data, the one very
clear finding emerged that strong relationships are what makes for
a happy life more than wealth i Q or social class.
It's the robustness of the bonds that most determines whether
(27:55):
we feel fulfilled. So take a stock of it. Mark,
how's it going to take a stock of those relationships?
How you doing take a stock? Pretty good? I mean,
like I have not officially done this challenge, but I
remember a couple years ago definitely trying to think. And
you know what brought about was the pandemic, So it
is you know, we weren't able to see each other
in person for this extended period of time, and that
(28:18):
was a moment that I did take stock and be like,
all right, I gotta find a way to stay in
touch with these people. You know, I can't lose these
people from my life. And so I think that was
the time that I took stock. I said, it was
a couple of years ago, so I gotta do it.
And Mark, you you know, you did such a good job.
Mark and I were working together a lot throughout the pandemic,
and of course we still do it. Yeah, you did
(28:40):
such actually job keeping in touch with people, and we're
such a great connector. Um And well, day two, so
that's day one is taking stock to Day two is
the secret power of the eight minute phone call and
thinking about this person you love, someone you miss, someone
you wish you connected with more Often, it says shoot
that person in a text asking them if they can
chat on the phone for eight minutes, just a quick
(29:01):
eight minutes ideally you know today, but if not, schedule
it for some time this week. Um, you know which
minds me? You know what, I'm gonna real quick, I'm
gonna call somebody that's had a positive influence on me today.
Let me just dial a real quick and here we go. Hello, Hello,
you reached the secret direct line of the Chala Bill.
(29:23):
I have to save Bill. Wy hey shack. Yeah. I
just want to let you know, man, you such a
positive influence on me as a kid. I was actually,
believe it or not, I was a sinner and a
forward when I was a wreck basketball. I'm not that
tall now, but I had my growth spur early. And
you were, you know, a big uh like hero of
(29:45):
mine and fellow big man. This means a lot, yeah,
because about its quients big anymore. But yeah, not only that,
you're just such a funny and charming guy. And you
know that you've done a lot of good stuff to
help people, and um and you know what that frog
concept you have. It's making me think I want to
eat some frogs. I gotta say today you said, hey, check,
(30:08):
we'll enjoy it in the frog legs if you consider pokepons.
And the truth is, at that moment I had not.
And right now, my big check that the kitchen, I
am frying the needles of frog legs. Now these were
ethnically SOURCEDO you know it was. I found a very
old and sickly porcupine on the side of the beach,
and I just beach plug the needles from the porcupine,
(30:29):
and I know what. I boiled them, and what happens
in the hot boiling water. They softened and turn the pasta.
So I am the inventor of porkepon postause that sounds delicious. Well, yeah,
I hope I can may try it maybe when the
first people. You know what, you just stay right there once.
(30:49):
I'm just gonna look into the shack. Metic computer didn't
mean you should be at your door right now. If
you just open here is yeah, okay, mm hmm. It
is tough. It is because you're strong, your fellow big
(31:10):
man like me. I gotta I gotta go mass producible
of this porkey com pasta real quick check Check. See y'all,
look how easy that was really easy, you know, And
to just thank Check for his influence that I'm sure
you have people like Scheck. We can't I'm sorry, we
can't give out the direct Shack Daddy line number top secret.
You know. Yeah, it's very very hush hush. The day
(31:32):
three talking about small talk. Small talk has big benefits,
and that's going out and talk to somebody you don't
know or told stranger or booth. Bill, I gotta say,
this is something you do really well. This is something
I do not do as much. But this is if
you'll ever find Bill in a situation or a party.
You know, he's great talking with the people that knows.
But Bill, I've seen you strike up conversations. I'll like
turn my head and be back. It's like, Bills like
(31:54):
this is my new friend. Man. I love it. I
love of people. And you know, getting back from this
Thailand vacation, y'all, I was in Thailand for five weeks
and you know, they met people, amazing people from all
over the world, including the amazing country of Thailand. And
um I did make a lot of friends and our
friend Andy was there and he was laughing at me
(32:14):
because people were sending me messages like this guy from
South Korea just sent me a message. I met him
at jazz bar. He's like, hey man, you ever come
to South Korea? Got a place to stay? So nice
to meet all this stuff, and it's you know, I
love I just love people, and you know, not everybody.
I think. I think a key thing is, you know,
smiling and and being happy to talk to people, but
(32:35):
knowing that not everybody is always in the mood to
talk um, and and that doesn't have as much to
do with you as it does them, So trying to
not take that personally. So you know something, you know,
if you try to start small talk with somebody and like, um,
you know I'm grumpy or whatever, try somebody else, don't
give up, don't be like there's other people. It's okay,
(32:56):
it's not your fault. Um. Yes. This next one is
a day four why you should write a living eulogy.
So the exercises you get vulnerable. You tell an important
person in your life how you feel about them. The
article goes on to say, think about what they have
done for you in your life. And that's from Dr
Bob Waldinger, who's a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
(33:19):
That's a that's a hell of a challenge, but such
a good thing. I feel like I've seen this in movies.
I feel like I saw this in like a one
of those films where it's like a kid gets cancer
and then he makes his friends and I'm forgetting the
name of the movie, but seeing he makes his friends
give the eulogy at his that they would give. And yeah,
I mean, why not, Like if if your friends are
(33:41):
going to say all these nice things about you, uh,
it's probably better you'd be not in the coffin so
you can hear it. And Day five talks about the
importance of work friends um which worn't place. Relationships are
often overlooked, but a report from Gallup showed that people
who have a best friend at work are more engaged
than those who do. Not. Shout out to Joy if
(34:02):
she's listening for the last time I worked. Shout out
to Mark Kendall. I work with all the time, you know,
like amazing people that are my friends, and I get
to work with them. I'm feeling very lucky. But people
who have friends at work are more likely to innovate,
share ideas, get more work done in less time, and
report having more fun. And yeah, man, when you're going
to a workplace and I'm sure you've experienced this park
when you just don't like anybody, or or you know,
(34:25):
not that you're you're hating on people, but just not
really you're kind of people, or you're kind of tribe.
Oh yeah, stuff, it's it can be. It can be
a doozy here. I'm just I don't want to wrote
the podcast at all. I'm just saying I mean, I'm
here in person. I decided that yeah, shock Daddy got
the code and the keys to any building, it doesn't
(34:46):
matter where it is shady. But anyway, so shack Daddy
came here because you know, I was making the pokepon
pasta at home. I was prob myself doing it. I
really should instill a bit of infrastructure. I should delegate more.
Shadd has employees. But anyway, I realized how much I
like the vibe, and Bill you gave me the great
idea of mark you will also here. So I decided
I just kind of move in with my kitchen into
the ridiculous new studio Also, I just need to be
around the people YouTube people in particular, and hopefully we
(35:09):
can be work friends. You do your work, I do
my work. But you know, I just like the vibes.
It's the slam dunk shack. This is check. What what
a good vibe to have Shack being in the room
really cool? Cool? Yeah, it's great. Well, Day six, don't
cancel your plans. Um that says talking about it could
(35:29):
be tempting to stay home rather than socialize. As again
from Dr Waldinger, who's an author of a new book,
The Good Life, And do you think, well, I'm gonna
be happy if I stay home and watch that fux,
but not if I go to that party. This is
a very interesting mark because I have to say, like,
reading this out loud, you know, it's like this is
not me at all. I am the opposite. I'm so
(35:50):
the opposite of this. I can't think of a single
time in my forty years of life what I've been like.
You know what, I'm not gonna go to the party.
I'm gonna stay on with watch Netflix. And I realized
I might be the exception and not the rule. Yeah. No,
I'm definitely the person that will uh you know, pick
Netflix over a party at times or uh, I don't know,
(36:10):
like pick like a staying inside sort of thing versus
going out. And towards the end of this year, or
I guess towards the end of two rather, I kind
of like worked back up to going out more and
a lot of it. I mentioned the pandemic earlier. That
was a lot of it too, because it's like there's
this extended period of time ros indoors and I'm like,
I can do this quite a bit. And then so
(36:31):
then when it's like reminding myself like, oh, I can
go out more often, you know, and uh, you know,
I mentioned I went to the Orlando Fringe last week
and that was a great time of like being able
to be out and see things more like um, going
to the Orlando Fringe, for example, was like a great
way to reconnect with people that I hadn't seen in
a while. Friend Chase Patch, he's a performer out there.
(36:52):
He has this amazing one person show six guitars. Getting
a chance to see that in person and support his
show is really fun. So it's been it's been good
it to remember, like, oh, and I think something that
helps It's like if you're going out to do something
that you enjoy, you know, So it could be a party,
it could be like going out to eat with folks,
could be going to see a show. So I think
if it's something that you want to do enjoy, that
(37:12):
can also make it easier. Yeah. Yeah. Dr Wilder goes
on to say that interacting with other people often improves
our mood and it makes us happier than we expect,
and making the choice to go out and be with
people involves risk, usually a small one, but also offers
the possibility for encounters that are enlivening, interesting, or just
playing fun. Yeah, it always feels good. Like sometimes I need,
(37:35):
like I need to force myself that extra push to
get out. But what happens once I get out and
I'm around people. You get that shot of adrenaline, You
get that shot of energy. And so often I go
to a party, I'm like, I'll just I'll just get
my tone and I'll just be here for a minute.
And then like I'm there for several hours and I'm like, whoa,
this is a new me, you know. And it's just
like being around people, it can give you that energy
(37:56):
for sure. For sure we'll be yeah, follow following marksix
ample get that energy, y'all. And I love day seven
because day seven just keep happiness going all he long.
So well, spare y'all. Reaching day seven just says you
reached it. You got to the seventh and final day.
Congratulations on your efforts. Thumbs up. So really, it's a
(38:16):
sixth day challenge that The New York Times is like,
we needed the editors, like we needed to be a
week was I got six days? Well it publishes in
ten minutes. Well, okay, you know that brings us to
one of our favorite segments, which is our spring of
(38:36):
inspiring inspirations. And of course I want to quote the
amazing Martin Luther King Jr. And this is a quote
and Mark, we're talking about this. I try to always
read letters Letter from Birmingham Jail that Dr King wrote
because it always is such a challenging thing for me
to read, and every time I read it, I'm like
I could view more. Every time. It's a great reminder
(38:57):
of you know that we still got a lot work
to do. And this is a direct quote from me. Okay.
He uses the word negro in the quote, which I
don't need to normally use my day to day language.
But it's important, you know, for this quote, and and
you know coming from King himself, So he said quote,
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's
(39:19):
great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not
the white citizens counselor or the klu klux klanner, but
the white moderate who is more devoted to quote order
than to justice, who prefers a negative piece which is
the absence of tension, to a positive piece, which is
the presence of justice, who constantly says quote, I agree
(39:40):
with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot
agree with your methods of direct action. I mean, this
is me coming out of quote Mark. I just think
of so many examples of this, with the Black Lives
Ladder movement, with the Colin Kaepernick just kneeling on a field.
People are like, oh, we were portable. I just don't
think you should do anyway. Back to the court, who
paternalistically believe h that he can set the timetable for
(40:02):
another man's freedom, who people who live by a mythical
concept of time, and who constantly advised the Negro to
wait for a quote more convenient season. Shallow understanding from
people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from
people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering
(40:25):
than outright rejection. I know there's a lot in there,
but I think it's a it's a good thing for
us to all of us to think about, especially you
white moderates out there. Come on, white people, Come on,
white people. Uh, just keep working. We gotta work on it.
Let's keep working on it, y'all. And to all of
our amazing listeners all over, we love y'all. Thank you
(40:49):
so much for tuning in. That's so good to be
back with you. Um. It means the world to us
that you spend your time with us, And thank you,
Thank you. Yes, And you can email us at Ridiculous News.
I heart Media dot com and on Facebook and I
G follow Ridiculous News. And you can check out our
comedy videos at Mark Kendall Comedy Bioll See you. Ridiculous
(41:23):
News is hosted by Mark Kendall and Bill Warley. Executive
producers are Ben Bullen and Noel Brown. Produced and edited
by Terry Harrison, Research provided by Casey Willis and theme
music by four Eyes and Dr Delight. Four more podcasts
from my heart Radio. Visit the I heart Radio app,
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