Hour 2 | Biden's Covid Diagnosis @ConwayShow

COVID hurt Trump and changed the course of his future, and now it is hurting Biden at a time when his health is already in question // Metro’s tap to exit program could expand in wake of uptick in crime // Woman at large after another Metro bus driver assault // Guest: Michael Monks joins Mark to discuss the latest Metro updates // One of Hollywood’s last costume shops is closing // Mirage closes for good after nearly 35 years on the Las Vegas Strip // Robbery vehicle pursuit.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's KMF I AM six forty andyou're listening to the Conway Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app. Always coolduring the breaks when the Hallway magic spills
over into the studio and get Petroscoming from AM five seventy, Oscar coming

(00:21):
from down the hall. Oscar madea really interesting point. By the way,
Mark Thompson here for a Tim ConwayJunior. Tim'saway this week. He'll
be back next week. Oscar madean interesting point about we're discussing the Biden
COVID nineteen diagnosis and everything going onat the same time with Biden's candidacy,

(00:45):
let's just say being put somewhat indoubt, and Oscar was making a really
good point related to Trump and COVID. You'll remember that the beginning of the
Trump administration was marked essentially by nothingextraord When COVID hit, there were all
kinds of warnings that COVID was goingto hit, that it was going to

(01:06):
be big, that this is ayou know, pandemic, et cetera,
and the way it was handled withoutgetting into all the specifics, and just
the general chaotic nature of things.And you know, for that administration,
for many of the health institutions connectedthe administration. It was just chaos and

(01:26):
no one knew and the restrictions stateto state were what they were, and
the economy suffered, et cetera.So we were discussing it. It was
in a way you could say itreally was Trump's undoing on some level,
or certainly it hurt him right andhis presidency. He got COVID, and

(01:48):
you'll remember he drove around with theSecret Service agents in the car and they
got COVID too. He wouldn't wearthe mask. And then he had that
big event with the announcement of AmyCony Barrett and all this. You begin
to remember some of this stuff.But the reason it's particularly relevant now and
today is that it changed the coursepotentially, you could say, of Donald

(02:10):
Trump's future. And it was oneof the things that became an encumbrance,
you know, it was weighing himdown politically. And now look at Joe
Biden. Is the point Biden,dogged by questions of age by his own
party looking at ways to convince himto step down. He gets COVID today,

(02:38):
and now conversations around his political futurebegin to integrate questions of his COVID
and you heard me ask the questionthe last hour. Could this be the
hook on which he can hang gettingout of the race. You see the

(02:59):
writing on the wall, dude,you see the polls. Everybody from George
Clooney to Chuck Schumer to Adam Schiffhas come to you and said you ought
to step back. And now youget COVID. And it's just interesting that
that very thing that was so relevantto the Trump administration and Trump's political future

(03:24):
may actually be the thing that pivotsBiden's political future, and he may use
the opportunity to get out of therace. Just an interesting conversation that we
were having along the way here.So I mentioned Metro and I want to
get to it. There's a Metropilot program. As it turns out a

(03:49):
lot of people aren't paying the fareon Metro. And we do have a
Michael Monks to talk to us.Oh we don't, we don't have.
All I heard is we have MichaelMonks. But what you actually said is
we don't have Michael Monks. ButI heard Michael Monks. And why did

(04:12):
you hear I heard Uncle Monks?Oh we have Michael Monks. No,
No, I was trying to bewhat you actually said, is we don't
have Michael Monks. It's my voiceanyway, So imagine Michael Monks telling you
this story. So apparently, inany case, a lot of people don't

(04:32):
pay the fare, you know,and they have this serious problem with fair
evasion, and they also have aserious problem with writer's safety, as we
know on Metro. So the pilotprogram that they're expanding across the transit system,
according to Janice Hahn, is atap to exit policy, okay,

(04:58):
and they had promising results of thepilot program at the North Hollywood station.
According to the agency's Transit Watch app, there's been a roughly forty percent reduction
in reported crime and incidents at thestation since this policy was implemented. So,
I mean that's a pretty substantial success. And she said the numbers cannot

(05:18):
be ignored. The tap to exitprogram is even more effective than many of
us that imagine, and I agreewith Metro that we should expand it quickly.
She said, this is about keepingour riders safe, and our pilot
program at the North Hollywood station hasproven that it not only prevents crime but
improves the writer experience with nine toten riders, saying that they now feel

(05:40):
safer on Metro and are noticing cleanerstations and trains. She says, Look,
we got a lot of work todo to better protect our writers,
but this is low hanging fruit andwe should act as quickly as possible.
So the way it works is allMetro riders are required to tap a fare
card to board a bus or atrain. The tap to exit policy requires
that writers tap their fare cards againto exit the Metro rail station. So

(06:08):
again it's another way to ensure thatevery writer is paying the fare. So
they're looking at the results of thisprogram. And meantime, as you know,
violent crime is a problem, andthis is supposedly going to spill over
in helping that program as well.There was a stabbing and unprovoked attack in

(06:31):
April on the Red Line, andthere are many perpetrators of crime on the
transit system, and they are suggestingthat most all of these people don't pay
the fare. So by requiring fairpayment in different ways, this actually does
spill over and cut down on violentcrime on Metro, according to Metro,

(06:57):
similar tap to exit programs are alreadyin place on the other systems, including
Bay Area Rapid Transit BART in theSan Francisco Bay Area, the Washington Metropolitan
Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Atlanta RegionalTransit Authority. So if you look at
them sort of as pilot programs,also it's a success story. Meanwhile,
being a bus driver in La Wow. If you're a metro bus driver and

(07:18):
it's late at night, like oneforty five in the morning, this is
the crap you have to put upwith. An assault. According to cops,
the bus driver was assaulted. Extentof the injuries not known, but
it was one forty five in themorning and the suspects described as a black

(07:41):
female. She fled the scene andshe's not been apprehended. So I think
that there is some closed circuit camerastuff associated with the metro bus. Maybe
they can get that. But someonereceived medical treatment on the sidewalk. It
might have been in the presumably itwas the driver, and that just happened

(08:03):
overnight. So again, I mean, I always feel for these drivers who
are working late at night. Youknow, it's one forty five in the
morning and you got to put upwith that challenges, big city challenges.
We're watching a brush fire. We'llupdate that for you as we continue.
And something this is a pretty substantialclosure after fifty years. Yeah, I'll

(08:30):
share that with you. Next,Mark Thompson here for Tim Conway Junior were
KFI AM sixty Yeah, live everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. You're listening to
Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFIAM six forty. Well, now I'm
told that we do have Michael Monks, is that? Yeah? So Michael

(08:50):
Monks has been watching this Metro situation. Metro trying to solve two basic problems,
and they feel the tour related.The two problems are people who are
jumping on Metro without paying the fareand rider safety. Those are the two
issues. And again, as Isay, I think generally speaking, Metro

(09:11):
officials and Janis Hahn, who's theLa County supervisor and she's riding herd over
this pilot program, they feel thetwo things are linked, right, Michael,
Indeed, market and not only dothey think they're linked, they have
data that supports it. You know, you might think that most crimes on
the Metro transit system are committed byfolks who didn't pay their fare. It's

(09:33):
more than that. It's not justmost, it's nearly all ninety seven percent
according to the police departments that arepatrolling the Metro system folks who don't pay
their fare, who get on thebuses and the trains and then wreak havoc
upon them. And so this pilotprogram that was launched at the North Hollywood
Metro Trains station requires passengers to usetheir tap card to leave the station.

(09:56):
Of course, when you're going intoone of these underground stations, you're tapping
to get in to get on board, unless you're jumping over it or finding
a way to sneak on in someother capacity. But this way, the
security authorities are able to monitor folkswho are not able to exit and then
either cite them or perhaps ban themfrom using the transit system in the first
place. It's apparently been very successfulin North Hollywood. So janis Han has

(10:18):
noted the county supervisor, who isnow the chair of Metro's board, wants
to see this expanded and quickly,yeah, this is interesting. I mean,
I'm a halting because the statistics area little bit deceiving, but they
look at that one station where they'redoing it, okay, and then they
note this is again the North Hollywoodstation that there's been roughly a forty percent

(10:41):
reduction in reported crime through the appand incidents at that station since the Polish
is implemented. So that's a reallybig number. Ford, I mean,
you're essentially almost cutting in half thereported crime and the incidents at the station.
That will another word, But Idon't think we know exactly what those
raw numbers are. So when wereport forty percent reported reduction that's reported by

(11:07):
Metro, they did not provide theraw numbers. So is it six fewer,
is it one hundred fewer? Thatwe don't know. But it's the
best news they've had in a whileas it relates to public safety. So
I know they're happy to tout thatnumber, but we don't know the specifics.
So what we do know for certainis that Jonas Hahn says that the
program has been successful in North Hollywoodand that she wants to move to expand

(11:28):
it to the other stations. Sothe plan is to expand, And what
is the timetable on expansion, Mygoodness say, it's not even been presented
for official expansion yet. And thiscould be a big deal. So if
you've been to the North Hollywood station, or really any of the stations on
that Red Line, the B Line, you do have the infrastructure to stop

(11:50):
you from getting on the train forthe most part unless you use your tap
card. However, as many ofus know, if you're driving on the
highway and you see some of thosetrain stations, there are no barrier.
Really, it's almost an honor systemwith the tap machines. So they would
have to not only expand the programin principle, they would have to invest
significantly in turnstile infrastructure because there areso many stations all across the county that

(12:13):
that don't have any barriers at allpreventing folks from getting on board. It's
wild that when they designed these things, they designed it that way. I
mean, it really presumes the verybest in us, and I find oftentimes
we don't deliver the best in ourselves, certainly not on the train system,
as evidenced by their statistics in thatrecent crime spike that they saw in the

(12:35):
system. Yeah, it's tempting.Now, I will confess I always use
my tap card, but you know, occasionally you're tempted, like, oh,
I've only got a couple bucks lefton there, Maybe I could just
sneak on this one time. ButI will as your attorney. I'm suggesting
that you stop speaking right now.Michael Muggs Wi John your honor. All
right, thanks for the update.I'd love to see Metro get safer and

(12:56):
more prosperous. So it's good news. Appreciate it. Thanks Mark. Yeah,
Michael Muggs. Well, in additionto Metro, there are signs of
things changing in Hollywood. A Idon't know. Institution maybe is the word
that comes to mind. Ursula's costumesis closing fifty years they've been outfitting Hollywood

(13:18):
stars. I mean, this isreally Ursula is an iconic Hollywood costume designer,
and she made her way through racksof clothing at the Santa Monica store
that has her name as she showsoff what is a going out of business

(13:41):
sale six thousand square feet, Imean everything from pirate outfits, flapper dresses,
the western wear, Roman legion uniforms, military helmets, animal heads,
there's an animal room. It's aremarkable fact that it's been fifty years in

(14:05):
business. It's in Santa Monica,and it's a sad comment on how Hollywood's
changing. They're saying that there's justthere's not the demand for all of this
that is stocked in Ursula's place anymore, so she can't pay the bills,

(14:26):
she can't pay the rent, andit's all going away. They've done all
kinds of great costumes for big starsSteve Martin. Steve Martin asked her to
create hidden suit pockets where he couldpull things out for one of his magic
acts. Remember the great fly DENI. He used to do that on the
Tonight Show, and out of hisfly on his pants all of these things

(14:54):
would come, scars, eggs,a telephone. It was really funny.
You can find it on YouTube.Well, it was designed that Ursula's costumes
directors used to come or sent theirassistance when they needed a period piece or
inspiration. So many celebrities through thosedoors, and now those doors will close.

(15:16):
Ursula is going out of business afterfifty years. It's The Conway Show.
Mark Thompson sent in for Tim onKFI AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You'relistening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from
KFI AM six forty. Mark Thompsonsitting in KFI AM six forty live everywhere

(15:37):
on the iHeartRadio app. Got thewhole crew here watching breaking news and news
of the moment. Yes, thepresident has COVID. We're watching that and
a lot of pressure on the sittingpresident to step back, sort of watching
that unfold as well. This asthe RNC continues for yet another night.

(15:58):
But there is one thing that isup for sure. It's not Joe Biden.
It's not a political party. Butit was an institution of the Las
Vegas Strip, the Mirage Casino.Say goodbye to it. It was at
one time the high end place.The Mirage was the home of Ziegfried and

(16:25):
Roy and it was the first highend poker room on the strip as well.
So you have been there many times. I've been there many times,
and it's wild how you know timeshave changed in Las Vegas. There was
a since years ago that the Miragewould never go away. I mean it

(16:48):
was sort of the ranking officer ondeck. But now everybody's saying goodbye to
the Mirage, and can you youpop up this computer and that way people
can hear what other people are saying. We knew that there were closing,
so I was like, I haveto go and see it before it's the
hard rocks. It's an end toan era. As this Tropical Oasis will

(17:11):
close its doors for good July seventeenth. The Mirage, which dayly seventeenth.
Wait a minute, I'm no calendarexpert, but I'm pretty sure that that's
today, Am I right? Youare right? Okay? Just a mirage,
which debuted on the strip almost thirtyfive years ago, was home to

(17:32):
some of the most famous acts,and Sunday March the last night guests were
able to stay there. Let's thinkfor you and Ray show. I think
that's like the most iconic theme thatyou would think about the Mirage, and
then also the Beatles show. Iwas really trying to make it out to
see it, but it finished,I think last week. So this is
the closest I'm going to get toit. And Las Vegas locals who typically
stay away from the strip shared intheir past experiences there. Many describe their

(17:53):
time at the Mirage as their ownexotic, tropical getaway in the desert.
I appreciated the Mirage. I lovedwhen it opened that you have to be
dressed up to go in in theinning, get to go in there.
It was amazing. The three thousandplus room casino resort will continue to operate
as the Mirage until renovations and rebrandingbegin to turn it into the hard Rock

(18:15):
Hotel and Casino. Remodeling is expectedto take three years, with a completion
date by spring of twenty twenty seven. Another Las Vegas locals say, well,
they'll miss the nightly volcano shows andthe jungle like atmosphere of the water
and foliage. They have high hopesfor what's to come. You know,
I had set to see it goaway, but I am kind of excited
to see hard Rock though, becausethat guitar looks pretty amazing. I'm hoping

(18:40):
hard Rock is like the old hardRock in the sense that it did change.
It was the place to be forso many years, and I'm hoping
that it makes this proper to becomeout again. And that is true.
When the hard Rock first open,it was the place the rock and roll
a hotel. Maybe it'll turn theMirage into that, and I've forgotten about
the Volcano. I hosted a NewYear's Eve show on Fox. Of course,

(19:07):
the New Year's Eve show. Inthe New Year's Eve shows, the
one to host is that Dick Clark'sRock and Eve, Right, So we
were up against Dick Clark every yearand then now Seacrest host that Dick Clark
thing. But Fox would always doa New Year's Eve show, and we
would do something at midnight, like, for example, just speaking of Vegas

(19:30):
when they imploded, I want tosay the Hacienda at midnight. We did
that and that was like our bigcrescendo at midnight. And then and this
gets to the Mirage, we dida Robbie Knievel jumping jumping on his motorcycle
over the volcano at midnight. Howwas at the Mirage? You did that?

(19:52):
Yeah, at the Mirage? Yeah, that way, I'd forgotten,
but that's what that was at theMirage. I don't remember. It had
to be early two thousands. Maybethat's so cool. And I did it
with Spike Ferriston, who was theother host on the show. Spike,
it's very funny. He wrote withJerry Seinfeld the b Movie and he wrote

(20:15):
a bunch of on seinfeldbon She's avery funny guy, and he did I
think his most the unfrosted thing thatSpike wrote that with Jerry also, But
anyway, I'd forgotten, but thatwas the volcano, which is such a
big part of this trip. Butthat is going away. But the other
thing that they're saying goodbye to orremembering fondly is zig fred and Roy.

(20:41):
Isn't that right, Sharon? Didn'tyou have some sake Freda and Roy stuff
in here? Yeah? Yeah,here? It is. The identity of
the mirage is played out by andthey were the face of the mirage.
They were the identity of that hotel. I mean, the hotel opened around
them. Zar Sangin is talking abouthis dear late friends, Sake fried Fish,
Roy Horn, the legendary headlining magicduo from Germany named Siek Freedom Roy.

(21:06):
Steve Winn imagined the Mirage and imaginedthem as the showman for that property
and the volcano, the theater.Everything was built around them being the headliners
for that property. I spoke withSteve Winn exclusively during the pandemic. This
reporter sounds like Cherio Terry. Sheabsolutely sounds like Cherio Terry Man. It's

(21:26):
almost hard for me not to thinkof her kind of like half doing of
Barbara Walter's impression Cherio Tarry with SteveWinn exclusively during the pandemic. The night
I broke the story that Roy Hornhad died from covid our community showing an
outpouring of love for Roy in thewake of his death. Mister Wynn reflected
on the legendary show complete with whiteTigers. Their show was so complicated and

(21:51):
dangerous, calling the Magic duo perfectionists. The boys had incredible discipline. They
never missed a show. Dad unpeckablehigh stakers. You compromise. Everything had
to be perfect, and they strivefor perfection every night. Over fifty seven
hundred shows over fourteen years, oneoccupancy, twelve shows a week, no

(22:15):
matter what we charged. And youknow, those tickets were expensive. I
saw saying Freddy and Roy once andnow I wouldn't go to a show like
that because they're animals involved, andI just don't approve of that. Ah,
just to be a buzzkill. ButI before I was woke that way.
I went, and I remember thetickets are really expensive. But I

(22:38):
will tell you that was an amazingshow. I mean, that was it
blew me out. I saw Iwant right crows? Come on? Do
you remember the theme song? No, I don't know. Song for the
show was done by Michael Jackson,No kidding. I sat right literally what
it sounded like. I didn't rememberthat Oh, that's great. You know

(23:02):
how they met and ended up kindof hooking up to become a me like
that. They were on a uh. Sigfried was working on a cruise ship
as a magician and Roy was workingas a waiter on that cruise ship,
and during one of the shows,Sigfried brought Roy up to help assist with
a trick and they became partners eversince, and they ended up getting fired,

(23:23):
I believe from that cruise ship forbringing a live cheetah on the on
the ship. That is great knowledge, great Sigford and Roy knowledge. A
friend of mine is a magician,told me years ago. He said,
Yeah, Zigfred's a magician and Royloves the cats. That's the way you
put it. Total sense. Yeah, so it's consistent with the story.

(23:44):
That's wild. Well, the Miragethey went away a while ago, as
mentioned, and the Mirage is goingaway slowly and will become the hard Rock
in about three years. So they'renot gonna blow it up. They're not
gonna they're gonna remodel it. Yeah, they're not gonna blow it up.
So that's like eight months apart orsomething like that. It was like like
in twenty twenty and then the otherone died in twenty twenty one. I

(24:07):
think, yeah, well the accidentwith the horn getting chomped by the tiger,
and they still have lived another fiveten years at least. Yeah.
All right, that's your wrap onthe Mirage and on Sigford and Roy,
complete with a nugget from Krozier readit's the Conway Show. Tim's off this

(24:29):
week. Mark Thompson's sitting in onKFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. You're listening to TimConway Junior on demand from KFI AM six
forty. Mark Thompson's sitting in forTim Conway Junior. There is a an
effort here Sharon has uncovered. Ithink Lindsey gets the assist on this.

(24:53):
But apparently the original what I mentionedwas because the Mirage is closing, that
we did a big New Year's Eveshow from the Arrage and Robbie Knievel jumped
the Mirage volcano at midnight. Nowis this Robbie jumping? Is that what

(25:14):
you're telling me? I'm told solittle on this because we just roll it
the canyon jump. We're recording theMirage. But but this is the Grand
Canyon, Oh, the Grand Canyonjump. All right, If this amazing
stunt was to go perfectly, Robbiewould hit his takeoff Brandt but a top
speed ninety two miles an hour.All right, okay, anyway, that's
this all the stuff we did withRobbie. You know, he's got to

(25:37):
hit it like this. If hedoesn't hit it like this, this is
going to happen. If he hitsit like daddy. If he overshoots it,
he could kill himself. If heundershoots it, he could kill himself.
You know, he's building the dramaof it. Meantime, speaking of
drama, there is a high speedchase going on on the streets of Los
Angeles. Am I right? Yes? Can we crank that up just a

(26:02):
little bit. It's breaking news ofthe moment, just keeping up with that.
And you saw that pedestrian there runningacross the street to get out of
the way of the situation. Justso many obstacles here, Gil were we
just west of downtown. We areactually southwest of downtown right now. On
this is forty third off of Menlogoing westbound. Still in the traffic here

(26:26):
is just a nightmare with all thepeople out on foot and people on in
cars. Here we are he's goingto turn into a parking lot. This
might be over unless it's a backend shopping area. It's going to go
through there. But he's got theheat right on his tail. But now
he's turning into the parking mare andhe's going to go southbound on Vermont.
We might see the pit here,might be slow enough. They might have

(26:48):
it that's going in the direction isslowing down. Another unit blocking there that
intersection. That's good news. Butnow southbound here on Vermont for about forty
they're saying about forty miles an hour. Let's see our speed pedometer on this,
about sixty miles an hour. He'sgoing to make a right hand turn.
You know. Every time that thatlead unit the deputy's vehicle gets close

(27:11):
enough to the vehicle, the driveris able to turn off onto a road
and avoid the pit. So herehe is going whoa people there with cars
that are stopped. He's going tosqueeze through. That is so scary because
he's in a residential area and insummertime, absolutely right, kids running around
and everything. Yeah, for sure, they tried to box in it.

(27:33):
But now the officers are having ahard time squeezing through. He's south the
side of that car. Yeah,it looks like he said turn there,
so the air. He's having arough afternoon in that car like that,
losing it looked like a Tesla,but it's not. It's like that.
But again, I want to insidethis vehicle. And right now he's really
roaring through vehicles actually heading back.Angel said, these are residential streets.

(27:57):
He terminated which was off of needssome of those speeds to fly over yah
dips that he keeps cruising right overto see almost bounce. So going back
towards that, he's a robbery suspectapparently everyone, so, you know,
stealing the car is really sort ofjust like an extra thing that is going
on in Harry. If it's indeedstolen, he's wanted in a robbery.

(28:19):
It's just so very dangerous along Avenueon fifty first Street place through a residential
area, blowing through stop signs,movement and just hauling trying to get away
from the car. The driver obviouslyit feels as though with all the traffic
around that it could easily end upin one of those situations in which he
was inadvertently gets slammed by something that'shappening with someone in another car. It's

(28:45):
insanely dangerous. Though he's definitely northof sixty miles an hours. He blows
down the streets and there's any doubtwhatsoever that they're in Southern California. Those
dips that he just keeps hitting,and you wonder southern California things. Yeah,
the drainage dips area. Week.Yeah, that's like old school streets
in southern California. You know,it's an old area when you have to
believe there's a gravitational pull on thepart of this driver to get back into

(29:08):
that area. Just pass through Slosson, still on, but long passing about
fifty ninth streets. You can go. In a situation policy standpoint, you
know, it looks like lapd iskind of backed off a little bit,
although no, there they are there. They're still on his tail, but
they're not but again right on it. Usually when they get that aggressive,
they can pull back a little bitexactly. That's what kind of I was

(29:29):
waiting for most erradically at a verydangerous time. A bit. Well,
we'll keep watching this for you.And obviously this is a as I say,
a robbery suspect who is playing lapdat healthy rates of speed on city
streets in downtown Kia optim I believeno Crosier first with the sigamurty and Roy

(29:51):
stuff, and now he pulls outthe make of the car. It looks
like based on the chopper shot,I have one, so very impressive.
We'll update this for you along withhe's moving through other breaking news. But
yeah, this appears, at leastin the short term, to be continuing
as cops can't seem to pin himin. It is the Conway Show.

(30:15):
Mark Thompson's sitting in for Tim.We are KFI AM six forty We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. ConwayShow on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Now you can always hear us liveon KFI AM six forty four to seven
pm Monday through Friday, and anytimeon demand on the iHeartRadio app.