December 1, 2023 • 36 mins
Ben Maller & Danny G. have another fun Friday bonus broadcast! They talk: iHeart Holiday Party, the Taco Conquistador, Hush Puppies & more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kubbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the Old Republic, a sol fastion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. Welcome to the month of December,
the first Fifth Hour podcast for the month of December.
I am Ben Mallor you probably are knew that with
the Great Danny g Radio. And this is the very
beginning of the December broadcast season. Always an interesting time,
(00:51):
Always an interesting time because a lot of vacation coming
up over the next month into twenty twenty four. But
here we are Danny beginning a new How exciting is that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm actually a little blurry eyed right now because it
was iHeart Company party last night.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
We were all looking for you too. You never walked in.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I have not been to an iHeart Christmas party since
they were at the Beverly Hills Hotel. And like the Hilton,
and these are these massive, massive parties. I actually did
want to go this year though, to be fair. To
be fair, I did wanted to, you know, be like
everyone else there and try to suck up the management
at the iHeart Holiday party. But because of the schedule,
(01:36):
it was just physically impossible. But you were there, Danny.
So what was the food situation? Like? What are we
looking at here? Was it just appetizers? Did they pay
for drinks? Usually they don't pay for alcohol at these things.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
What they do and it was the same way last year.
They give you a couple of drink tickets when you
walk in, okay, so they try to control the damage,
and then there's bartering going on between coworkers with extra tickets.
The food was like sliders and little mini burgers. There
were some hot trays of wings and stuff like that,
(02:14):
so the food was pretty good. Then the desserts I
didn't partake because I've still been sugar free the past
five weeks. But there were people walking around with cookies
and brownies.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, who do you think ate the most?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I saw Rich go back and forth about five different
times after he had a few drinks. Is at first
he wasn't eating and I heard Covino say dude, you're
not eating, and he's like, no. Later after I drink
and he got enough drinks in him to where I
saw him, as he said it, nibbling on the food.
(02:50):
But it was after everybody else was done with the food.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Did anyone take a doggie bag of food when they
were on their way out? Did anyone say, I take
that tray of sliders. I'd like to have that for
tomorrow's lunch.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
No, I didn't see that, but I did see what
you were talking about, with a lot of butt kissing
and stuff like that. You'll be proud to know that.
I went up to Julie Talbot, who is the president
of our company.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
One of the most powerful people in broadcasting.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
And I did not kiss her, but I immediately started
to ask her about Animal Thunderdome.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh sure, yeah, yeah, she said, what.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
No, no, no, She was a fan about kick the coverage
and listened to it every morning, so she knows Animal Thunderdome.
And she's the one who drew up the paperwork for
Clay as she lives at Nashville and is a neighbor
and his friends with him. So that was my You know,
I've known her for a while, and I walked up
(03:53):
and said, so, what's going on with Clay? What's going
on with Animal Thunderdome? And she threw her hands up.
She's like, I No, I gave him the paperwork. I'm
waiting for him to sign it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So all right, right, So now you can pester Clay then.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Exactly all right? Instead of and that's a rule.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
On our afternoon show yesterday, Coveno and Rich did the
rules of holiday Christmas parties and they said that one
rule is you're not supposed to talk business.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
But I broke that rule.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I don't agree with that. I haven't gone to
these things in a while, but I was at one
of the greatest Christmas parties of all time. We've talked
about this over the years, so if you if you've
heard this before, you can just fast forward through the podcast.
But I don't know that you were at the company yet, Danny, but.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
With a strip, Yes, yes, I love this story.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So there was one of the guys that didn't have
a girlfriend and so he did love going to the ballet.
He enjoyed the jiggle joint and was a regular there.
And as often happens in that world, you become obsessed
with one particular ballet dancer that you have to get
(05:06):
their attention. And so this guy, and I don't know
if we've named in the past, what.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Was it, What did he do? Let's just say that
what did he do at the.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
G He did not work on the air. He was
behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Okay, so like a sales guy.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Not quite a sales guy, but but he was worked
behind the scenes. And somebody that I knew and I
had known for before we worked together at at Fox
and then after and I still know him to this day.
But he did have a girlfriend and producer.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Uh so we you know, we were buddies and and
so this man, I mean, these are back in the
days when you know, money was just flowing.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I mean it was I mean, I'd go to these
holiday parties and they'd fly in all the big Premiere
Network stars like Art Bell would come in from Perrump.
Matt Drudge was doing a radio show for the company
see case them. Doctor Laura was a huge star in
radio at the time. They had her a bunch of DJs.
I didn't know who they were, but they seemed important
(06:07):
and they were there, and the big shots, and I
mean it was just crazy. I mean, somebody that loves radio.
It was like wow, I mean, like the biggest names.
I was like an All Star team, you know, it
was like the All Star Game. They're all coming out there.
And they used to have these things at these big,
swanky Beverly Hills hotels. Now I don't usually go to
Beverly Hills. I live, I used to live at the time.
I lived close to it, but I'm you know, it's
not my jam. So I went to the party, and
(06:30):
I was I did not have a date, I know
one I was dating at the time, so I went
by myself. But the guy, he didn't want to go
by himself, so he brought He brought the girl that
he had been giving all his money to the ballet
and she came with him, which would not have been
(06:52):
a problem Danny, except she dressed like she had to
work after the show, after the party she had to
go to. And the the snickering and the whispering from
the other women, the wives and the girlfriends that weren't
strippers because it was so over the top, and uh
(07:12):
and it.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Eventually because their lives aren't as interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I guess, but you know, the alcohol starts flowing. Initially,
it's just you can tell everyone's talking about this woman
because she's dressed like a total whore, and uh, they're
all talking about all the other women are you know,
you're getting real caddy and all that, and so we're
like we're trying to figure out what's gonna happen. We're
doing the math on the alcohol. The open bar at
(07:36):
those days, we had open bar. Uh buffet style food
was just just wonderful, massive amounts of food and I
was fat, so I ate a lot of it anyway,
So uh, sure enough, once the booze started flowing, one
of the women who was I don't know she was.
I assumed she was married to one of the other people.
I don't know, maybe it was a girlfriend. But she
(07:57):
worked up enough liquid courage to confront uh the stripper,
and there was a there was a brief conversation confrontation
type situation, and then then that inspired some other women
who had to get something off their chest they wanted
to say. So it was quite. It was quite the scene,
but it was it was hilarious because it was just
(08:19):
you don't expect to see something like that at a
family company holiday, part family there were no kids there,
but it was all all dressed up and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And there was family education, money involved.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, that was good. And then I was at another
different year. We were at one. I don't know if
you were at this one, Danny, it might have been
before you worked at the company. Two. But there was
a employee who while the president of the company was
giving the State of the Company address, this employee was
sitting there listening.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh, I was at this heart During the speech.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
His wife was the one that was talking shit, and
she she laid it on like and she I guess
she didn't know that we could hear everyone else could
hear what she was saying that she was echoing the
president of the company. And this the Holly party was
like on a Friday or a Saturday. I think it
was on Saturday, but maybe a Friday night. It was
(09:17):
one of those days. But anyway, we did the Hollay
Party and then we show up to work on Monday,
and the guy no longer worked at the company.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, it would be like if my wife he got faded.
And then Scott, you know, was giving this big speech
about how awesome everything's going, and she's.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Saying, yeah, right, you're not even paying my husband enough money.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, that's pretty much how it went. That's pretty much.
That's pretty much how it went.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So because of what your significant other does.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Though, Yeah, but that does happen, right, We see that
in sports people have gotten in trouble because their wives
are done. True, So it happens on this pod. I
one story before I forget. I also remember getting my
balls busted when I would go to these parties because
they charged a lot of money to park at these
(10:09):
Beverly Hills hotels. So I would cruise around Beverly Hills
all dressed up to try to find street parking. And
then one of the parties I went to, I found
street parking, but then I had to go back every
couple hours to feed the meter.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
And weren't you worried about your Porsche being on the street.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, unfortunately, they never paid me enough to have to
have a Porsche. So I think that was the company's
way of looking out for me, Danny. I think they
knew that if I had, you know, a really expensive car,
it would be a problem. But so then I would
I would go back, you know, to feed the meter,
and I'd run back and I ended up getting covered
in sweat because I was really fat at the time,
and you know, people, well, are you all sweaty? What's
going on? Good memories? Though I wish I could have gone.
(10:54):
I mean, these things are always like during the week
in the like early evening.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
They're not three to five pm.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So we missed more than half of it because our
show was on the air. As soon as the show
ended we crossed the street, people were already buzzed. When
you walk into a party late like that, you have
to quickly go to the bar and try to catch up.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, and it's really a racing ends time because you
only have you know, you have probably by the time
you got there forty minutes maybe you know, forty minutes
to eat. And one thing I will say for this company,
they are by the clock when it comes to two hours,
not two hours, and ten minutes not two hours. You know,
five minutes. That thing cuts off at five o'clock. And
(11:38):
if you're if you want that extra slider, you better
grab that thing at four fifty nine fifty nine or
you're not getting it. It's over.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
They did refresh the food, which was different than last
year because I remember the food being cut off promptly
at five last year, but this year they brought out
some fresh food before the deadline and then for those
who stayed after the bell, our Boss Scott put his
card at the bar. Huh buddy, right, But Rich Davis
(12:09):
didn't know this, so he took his Covino and Rich
credit card for I guess like their Patreon show they do.
He took their company card and he was buying drinks
on that when he found out that card was at
the bar. You should have saw the look on his face.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Oh man, awesome kick to the nuts right there.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
An employee came up to Scott and said, they're gonna
now close your card. Would you like one more? And
Rich looked at him and he's like.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Wait, your card is at the bar right now.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
This was after he had signed all these drinks on
his own card.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I would like a bottle of whiskey? Can I get
a whiskey bottle and a kiel It to go in
a doggy bag? I would like to have that. We've
got on this pot. We've got Doc Mike Doppelganger, the
Taco canquistad and Hush Puppies. We start with this and
it is Friday, and so this is the time where
(13:08):
I tell you that I have a TV show, the
Chronicles of Television. It's week thirteen. We have made it
another week on Bennie Versus the Penny picking NFL games
against the spread man.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
What does that TV money feel like?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh man, it's so amazing, it's so great. It's a
little better than radio a little better than radio money.
But you know, who knows. It's only a seasonal show, Danny,
so you don't know. But it is on. If you
don't live in a city that has Benny Versus the Penny,
a reminder, it's on Direct TV, It's on Fubo TV.
But I turned out to be this week during Bennie
(13:47):
Versus the Penny doc Mike doppelgame, I did not drink
my own piss. I didn't do that. But let me explain.
So doing the late night show in if you're familiar
with LA if you're not from the area, we do
this in Sherman Oaks, which is right where the four
oh five, the infamous four oh five Freeway and the
(14:08):
one O one Freeway meet, just over the hill, down
the hill from bell Air, one of the ritchiest neighborhoods
in Los Angeles where a lot of fat cats and
Hollywood moguls live and all that. So we do the
show down the hill from there. Across the way is
a famous shopping center, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and then
(14:29):
the San Fernando Valley where you have places like where
in Sino Man, that classic movie in Sino Man, Woodland Hills,
all these different places. That's one direct. Now the other
direction is North Hollywood. That's the next kind of town
over North Hollywood. And then you've got burd Banks down
the way and whatnot. So I get done with the
radio show in Sherman Oaks and I hop on the
(14:51):
one oh one Freeway and I head east away from
from the main heart of the San Fernando. Well, I
hit the other direction and head into Century City.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, you drove away from the money. Yeah good. And
then and then there's a little bit of money again
when you get to Universal City exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So we went over there, yes, I says central, Yeah,
Universal City. So I went over there. Universal Studios is
where we record the TV and so I have my routine.
Now I do the radio show and then I zoom
over to Universal and there's no one there. There's like
a security guard who looks at me like what the
fuck are you doing here? You know, like why are
you here at this hour? So I get that, but
I know my thing. So I park in the We
(15:35):
have the Abbott Costello parking, so I park in that,
and then I walked to the to the place we
do the TV show. I'm the first one there. There's
no there's like a security guard sleeping at the desk,
and then there's like there's like two people manning the
NBC News the bureau, the NBC News Bureau desk, the
overnight people. So I go to I go to our
little room and I'm getting ready. But this week a
(15:57):
little different than other weeks. Now why was this week different? Well,
for some reason, I was even more tired. I must
have been the hangover from Thanksgiving and I had a
night off which was odd and all that stuff. So
I'm trying to coordinate my schedule. But I'm really tired,
and I'm like, I don't nap. I don't do that.
I'm not a napper. And I didn't really have time
to nap because I had a lot to do. I
had a lot of notes I wanted to go through
(16:18):
I'd done a lot of prep, but really the process
of how we make the hot dogs is I do
a lot of the number I put a lot of
the numbers together on Monday and Tuesday, and then you know, Wednesday,
I do do more. That's where we meet with the people.
I have email correspondence and meetings with the people in Boston, Vinnie,
(16:41):
the guy that produced the show, and those guys, and
John who's in Philadelphia. So we kind of email the stuff.
I give them the stuff they need and then they
tell me stuff that I need and then so that's
how that goes. And so then we do that. But
then when I get done with the show, I just
really put everything together. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together,
but it's not really heart a jigsaw puzzle. It's a
twenty two minute TV show, not that hard. But that's
(17:04):
the way I do it. And so I need a
certain amount of time to put everything together, just to
give you an idea I'm giving I'm like the inside whatever.
So I'm really tired. I'm like really really tired, and
I end up, as I said, becoming Doc Mike s Doppelganger.
I fell asleep at my computer while I started out
(17:29):
sitting up falling asleep, and then eventually my face gravity
took over and went down on the keyboard, which did
wake me up. It did wake me up. So I
wasn't even out for that long though, Danny. I only slept.
I think it was about fifteen to twenty minutes. I
think that's about it. But it was like a micro
(17:50):
nap and it actually worked. I woke up feeling refreshed.
I was like perked up crazy. And the reason I've
been I say, Doc Mike, because if you've been with
the show a long time. Years ago, Doc Mike, when
Michael Vick was in prison, Doc Mike drove from Chicago
(18:11):
down to Levenworth thinking that Michael Vick would take a
meeting with them. They'd have a meet and greet at
Levenworth Prison, and so Doc was documenting his trip from
Chicago to Kansas. Wasn't that long a drive, but he
didn't sleep, and he told me what he would do
since he didn't sleep, was he would just pull over
(18:33):
to the side of the road or get off one
of the off ramps and sleep for five to ten
minutes and then get back on the road for another
hour or two hours and I said, what are you going?
What are you a dumbass?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Here?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I am.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I didn't plan on doing this, It wasn't intentional, but
I ended up doing it, so it worked out. I
was able to get what I needed to get done.
And as many people have pointed out to me in
the past who are older than me, the thing about
get it done, it's done when the show when they
tell you, as we know with radio, right Dan, you
prepare Dan, you prepare for the radio show, and you're
(19:07):
never prepared, at least I've never prepared enough. But ultimately,
when the light goes on, you have to the show
will be fine. You know what I'm saying. Like, you
do as much as you can, but usually it doesn't
really matter. You're ready to go. And as far as
the TV show here in week thirteen, first of December,
we are actually not on quite as much in LA
because of the there's high school football. We're getting preempted
(19:30):
by high school football, which is a kick come on. Yeah. So,
for example, I believe on SoCal Sports Net tomorrow just
I don't know if you can record things day, but
we have a one showing I think it's six am
because if there's like high school whatnot. And then we're
on Sunday morning at a and am. But as far
as today, we're on in Boston on NBC Sports Boston.
(19:54):
After the Celtics play the Sixers. We'll have back to
back prime time late night TV showings at eleven and
eleven thirty. Philly. We're on a eleven thirty Chicago. We're
on our normal ten o'clock slot in Chicago. We're on
a couple times in San Francisco on NBC Sports Bay Area.
Benny Versus the Penny six o'clock ten thirty will be
(20:18):
on NBC Sports California, Sacramento there and that's at eight
and I mentioned so Cal. Also, our normal time slot
on SNY at eleven thirty am on Sunday in New
York will be on. There are regular times, so that
is that's the TV show. So see if you can
(20:41):
figure out that I was so tired I fell asleep
in the I think I fell asleep a second time,
but I the first one was like the big one
that really kind of woke me up, and then I
started popping caffeine pills trying to trying to keep going
on that. So there is some big news here outside
of the doc. Mike Doppelganger must alert the Mala militia
(21:03):
down the line here that I don't know if this
counts as breaking news, but it is a news update.
My tight wadd ways have led me to move on
to divorce something that was very important in my life
that I have had in my life.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Oh I love your wife, Oh not her.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
For I've had. This has been in my life longer
than the wife. It's been. Oh, probably I think this
has been in my life, Danny and I want to
be almost oh man, almost thirty years twenty five for sure,
Probably not thirty, but twenty five years of my life.
This has been part of my life. And I've ended it.
(21:47):
I've said that's it. It's not you, it's me, and
I must move on.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
From you your moped.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did you see my notes my cherry red and moped. No.
I have made a economic decision due to the pootin
price hike. I have eaten my final crunchy taco at
my beloved Tito's Tacos.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Oh man, I have it should be funeral music right now.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I have ended it. I love the neon orange cheese,
the the crunchy taco. Just everything about the beef just perfect,
the oil that tastes weird. I love it all, but
I just can't. When I started going to Tito's tacos
long time ago, the tacos were less than two dollars
(22:43):
a taco. Now, and this is not I'm sure you've
been there day. It's not fast food or it's not restaurants.
It's fast food. It's like a fast it's basically fest food.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
It's fast food Mexican.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It's fast food Mexican. Five dollars and seventy cents for
a crunchy taco one five dollars and seventy cents. That
same taco was two dollars. Now, you say, well that's
a long time ago. Now, I would agree with you,
it was a long time. But him in that long
to more than double the price, and really almost three
times the price. That's not that's not right. Nine five
(23:17):
for a bean and cheese and meat burrito night for
a breeda, and I know, twelve fifty for a beef burrito.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So like how I got an egg McMuffin last week.
It was like a real treat. It was five ninety five.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, so I get it. People have to make money.
Restaurants have to make money. I understand food's not et.
You know, cheap stuff goes bad. I understand all that.
But I know I'm out. So I have now become
the great taco canquistador. Oh no, yeah, I am a man.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Oh the way that you the way that you did
your knockoff roundtable pizza, Your gonna knock off their tacos.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Well, not quite. I realize we essentially live in Mexico here, right.
We live in a nice part of Mexico in southern
Caras and I love it. No, I'm not saying that
in a bad way. I think it's great. We have
the greatest Mexican food you could possibly have, outside of
just driving down to Tijuana or going to Mexico City.
It's amazing. Right in California, It's just awesome. So and
(24:22):
I thought, you know, I love Tito's, but I'm sure
I can find there's other It's gotta be thousands of
crunchy taco places in La So I am a man
on a mission. I am. Now I'm seriously thinking about
starting a food blog. Danny that my taco cantista doorways,
I should start like an Instagram page of me just
(24:44):
trying restaurants. And then I thought, if I did that,
maybe it would be like a tax write off. You know,
I could write it off or something like that. But
because I'm that cheap, no.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Non or you could be like Portnoy where they give
them or they try to give them lots of free pizzas.
He claims that he always pays for the pizzas. But
I mean, if you're not the taco guy, you could
probably get a lot of free tacos.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
So I started my mission as the great Taco Conquistador,
to conquer the crunchy taco, the gringo tacos. My friend
Alex Mexican guy. He died years ago, but he he said, gringo,
you eat the gringo tacos. He said, we eat the
regular tacos. That's what they eat in Mexico. I said, well,
I like the crunchy talk, and so I started last week.
(25:32):
I found a place in the Arts district in downtown
Los Angeles. Right now, this is a great neighborhood. It's
actually an up and coming neighborhood in LA but it
is surrounded on one side by the La gun Club.
On the other side is skid Row, and so it's
kind of wedged in between theirs. But in between there,
I went to Chewi's Tacos dorados.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Now, what's your number one thing you're looking for? The
price point.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Two things, price and crunch crunchability. I'm trying to get
that crunch ability and I don't want to pay. I
want to pay less than four dollars of taco. Is
that too much to ask for.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Dan, No, it's gonna be hard, though. I would think
that taco is going to be around two fifty.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You think two to fifty. See, I think I look around.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I think at little hole in the wall spots two
fifty to three dollars. Okay, Titos is taking advantage of
the fact that they are like a famous spot, kind
of like that famous doughnut spot that overcharges.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh, the one in the Voodoo Oh that one's too important. Yeah,
but there's a lot like you in Hollywood Pink's Hot Dogs. Yes, famous.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
So once you get a reputation like that and you're
kind of like a tourist attraction, I feel like you
double your prices.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, you're you're made man, You're good to go the
Quick Malor food review as the Great Taco Conquistador. Went
to this place, Chewy's Tacos Dorados, and I ordered three.
It was four crunchy tacos. I had the shredded beef.
I had two of those, the potato and the ground beef.
(27:10):
They also have a pork option. I did not get
the pork taco. Good news, Danny. The taco cost with
cheese three dollars and fifty cents.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Okay, all right, that is a.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Reasonable price for a taco. I'm okay with the price.
I'm fine with. I don't love. I wish it was cheaper,
but I'm okay. I realized it's twenty twenty three and
stuff's expensive, So I guess.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
I'm thinking of street tacos, which are a little more
affordable than the crunchy right.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, you're paying. It's a premium item, Danny. It's a
premium item with crunchy taco soumringo. That's right, yes, so
I pay my money whatever. It's got this weird kiosk
thing at Chewi's Tacos Dorado's. They're in the Beautiful Arts district,
and the crunch was solid. It was it was pretty solid.
(27:59):
I did not enjoy the.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Meat, though, I think a lot of people would be
more concerned about the meat.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, the shredded beef was really good. The potato not
so good. The ground beef I would never order again.
I wouldn't feed that to my dog. But the shredded
beef was really good. So on the malarimeter of food
goodness as the great Taco Conquistador, all right, one to ten, Yeah,
with ten being amazing, like the greatest thing you've had. Master.
(28:26):
I'm giving this place a seven point five giv that's
a solid score. Seven point five Mallard Food Review, seven
point five. I will be back. I think my plan
is I go to a lot of Dodgery games during
the summer, and sometimes I get there early and I
prepare for the show. So it's in downtown Los Angeles,
so I think I'll just cruise by there, pick up
some tacos, and then go to Dodger Stadium and that'll
(28:48):
be that. And the parking is not the greatest. There's
a lot some street parking. I'm sure it'll be really
bad when stuff's going on in that neighborhood. I happen
to go a Thanksgiving week so it was kind of
quiet down there, but it was good. So it's a
good start. And let me know, guys, send me a
message if you you would actually want. I'm seriously I'm
(29:11):
thinking about starting a food review blog that just like
obviously only in southern California, but when I travel and
I go to other places, I can visit my brother
in Wisconsin, my other brother in New York.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Or is this like a YouTube thing?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I think I would maybe do it on Instagram, but
I would I think Instagram probably be the way I go.
I could because those are short videos, right, those aren't
very well Yeah, I could do a minute or I
don't even think there are a minute a lot of
those things, right, Maybe maybe they are, but not that long.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
It sounds like a TikTok opportunity you can get.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I'm writing the demo on TikTok. We have one other
note I want to get out on this. So Jeremy
from Vermont is a big p one of the podcast.
He emailed me. He said he always listens to the podcast,
the radio show, and he's not missed the fifth hour podcast.
So thank you Jeremy and beautiful vermontt Home of Arnie Spaniard,
(30:09):
and I hope to visit Arnie in your state of
Vermont next time I go back to Boston. Anyway, Jeremy
emailed me and he says, hey, Ben, this is right
in your wheelhouse. He says, I love the he loves
the words and the phrases that we do every week,
the origin stories, and this is an item that I
(30:31):
have loved since I was a little boy. The first
time I everate this item was at Long John Silvers.
Did you ever go to Long John Silvers?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Got a few times?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
The fish fast food fish rest. Yeah, my parents took
me there when I was a kid, and as a kid,
we thought that was fine dining.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
We were like fast food fish sticks.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah. We were convinced that our parents were spoiling us
at Long John Silvers, that we were great. My dad
loved the he loved the tartar sauce, but he also
loved the vinegar. So Jeremy said, I found this on
the internet thing. It's fascinating and it's the origin story
of hushpuppies. And this is actually a couple of years old.
I looked it up. I did some research here, Jeremy,
(31:09):
and so the claim it was a Facebook page that
posted something claiming the term hushpuppies came back from the
slavery days in America that fried cornmeal was thrown by
escaping slaves at dogs to prevent the dogs from following.
Now this is quite detail, So I was like, is
that really that? I mean, is that really true? And
(31:32):
here's what I found that nobody seems to know for
sure whether it's like it's possible that that is exactly
what happened, and that's the story. Everyone's convinced that it
was around the Civil War. It was in the South
where the hushpuppies came came about. And I guess they
(31:55):
think it was derived actually originally from a South African
fryed corn meal. There was a fried cornmeal dish called
mealy pop and that goes way back. The Southern states
have taken ownership of it. Louisiana claimed that nuns who
(32:15):
came to New Orleans and the seventeen hundreds made the dish,
so it goes back that far. There are plenty of
stories about Union soldiers during the Civil War. There's another
version where fishermen or runaway slaves the quiet the howling dogs,
which we just gave that one. There's the fisherman's story,
(32:37):
a guy claiming that anglers who returned from fishing expeditions
to try try to cook the food the fish over
the fire, that their dogs would begin barking and yapping
from the aroma, and so to quiet the dogs down,
the fishermen fried up bits of corn meal that they
were using to cook the fish, and they just put
(32:58):
the cormea and they fed it to the dogs. But
they are people that deny that I mean. And so
the gist of it is, there's like three or four
different versions of what actually happened. The earliest mention of
the term hushpuppies, from my research, occurred in the nineteen
twenties actually nineteen twenties in Macon, Georgia, but these obviously
(33:23):
go back before that, and all in the South, all
in the South nineteen thirties though, and so the gist
of it is the hushpuppies in America. The modern version
of the hushpuppies definitely came from the South. But there's
a lot of creative writing where people that would write
(33:45):
stories about anything that came out of the South, anything
food related. Every single story of Southern food involves plantations
or the Civil War, So who knows whether it actually
happened that way or not, but it's a good story,
and so people like good stories. We'll get out on that.
(34:07):
It is Friday, Danny, the first of December. What do
you got going on? I'm off from the radio. I
worked last night, so I'm done. What do you have
going on here?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Danny? Speaking of last night?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Just really quickly, they had potato croquettes at the holiday party.
Do you think those are a cousin of what you
were just talking about?
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Oh, the hushpuppy. Do you like hushpuppies?
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I do? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I don't know anyone that doesn't like hushpuppies.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yeah. I mean they've ever.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Met anyone that's anti that's anti hushpuppy.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
You'd have to be Canadian or un American.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, hushpuppies are great.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I could just eat hush I love you Canada.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, oh cold. But you'll be on with Corvino and
Rich right.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, we have a fun Friday show from two to
four pm. We'll be doing our weekend hob nobbin in,
previewing all the NFL action for Sunday and even talking
some college football today, so that'll be good five to
seven pm in New York City.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's a big night tonight in college football, the PAC
twelve Championship game, and I'm pulling for Washington. They'll probably
get smashed, but I'm pulling for the Huskies here, big underdog.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Yeah, I like their quarterback.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yeah. Well, I think I don't know if I've said
on the podcast, but my best friend Hunter, my gambling
buddy from high school. His sister actually works for the
University of Washington football program, so she's like connected. So
she hasn't got me a free hat though, so I
shouldn't promote them. But anyway, all right, I have a
wonderful Friday. We've got new podcast, all weekend tales that
(35:49):
have never been told before. We'll have some foody fun
on the Saturday podcast, I believe, and we'll see what else.
We have a lot of interesting tales to tell, and
so have a wonderful, wonderful rest of your day.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Asta pasta, got a murder. I gotta go
Kubbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the Old Republic, a sol fastion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. Welcome to the month of December,
the first Fifth Hour podcast for the month of December.
I am Ben Mallor you probably are knew that with
the Great Danny g Radio. And this is the very
beginning of the December broadcast season. Always an interesting time,
(00:51):
Always an interesting time because a lot of vacation coming
up over the next month into twenty twenty four. But
here we are Danny beginning a new How exciting is that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm actually a little blurry eyed right now because it
was iHeart Company party last night.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
We were all looking for you too. You never walked in.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I have not been to an iHeart Christmas party since
they were at the Beverly Hills Hotel. And like the Hilton,
and these are these massive, massive parties. I actually did
want to go this year though, to be fair. To
be fair, I did wanted to, you know, be like
everyone else there and try to suck up the management
at the iHeart Holiday party. But because of the schedule,
(01:36):
it was just physically impossible. But you were there, Danny.
So what was the food situation? Like? What are we
looking at here? Was it just appetizers? Did they pay
for drinks? Usually they don't pay for alcohol at these things.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
What they do and it was the same way last year.
They give you a couple of drink tickets when you
walk in, okay, so they try to control the damage,
and then there's bartering going on between coworkers with extra tickets.
The food was like sliders and little mini burgers. There
were some hot trays of wings and stuff like that,
(02:14):
so the food was pretty good. Then the desserts I
didn't partake because I've still been sugar free the past
five weeks. But there were people walking around with cookies
and brownies.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, who do you think ate the most?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I saw Rich go back and forth about five different
times after he had a few drinks. Is at first
he wasn't eating and I heard Covino say dude, you're
not eating, and he's like, no. Later after I drink
and he got enough drinks in him to where I
saw him, as he said it, nibbling on the food.
(02:50):
But it was after everybody else was done with the food.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Did anyone take a doggie bag of food when they
were on their way out? Did anyone say, I take
that tray of sliders. I'd like to have that for
tomorrow's lunch.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
No, I didn't see that, but I did see what
you were talking about, with a lot of butt kissing
and stuff like that. You'll be proud to know that.
I went up to Julie Talbot, who is the president
of our company.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
One of the most powerful people in broadcasting.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
And I did not kiss her, but I immediately started
to ask her about Animal Thunderdome.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh sure, yeah, yeah, she said, what.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
No, no, no, She was a fan about kick the coverage
and listened to it every morning, so she knows Animal Thunderdome.
And she's the one who drew up the paperwork for
Clay as she lives at Nashville and is a neighbor
and his friends with him. So that was my You know,
I've known her for a while, and I walked up
(03:53):
and said, so, what's going on with Clay? What's going
on with Animal Thunderdome? And she threw her hands up.
She's like, I No, I gave him the paperwork. I'm
waiting for him to sign it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So all right, right, So now you can pester Clay then.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Exactly all right? Instead of and that's a rule.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
On our afternoon show yesterday, Coveno and Rich did the
rules of holiday Christmas parties and they said that one
rule is you're not supposed to talk business.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
But I broke that rule.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I don't agree with that. I haven't gone to
these things in a while, but I was at one
of the greatest Christmas parties of all time. We've talked
about this over the years, so if you if you've
heard this before, you can just fast forward through the podcast.
But I don't know that you were at the company yet, Danny, but.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
With a strip, Yes, yes, I love this story.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So there was one of the guys that didn't have
a girlfriend and so he did love going to the ballet.
He enjoyed the jiggle joint and was a regular there.
And as often happens in that world, you become obsessed
with one particular ballet dancer that you have to get
(05:06):
their attention. And so this guy, and I don't know
if we've named in the past, what.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Was it, What did he do? Let's just say that
what did he do at the.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
G He did not work on the air. He was
behind the scenes.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Okay, so like a sales guy.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Not quite a sales guy, but but he was worked
behind the scenes. And somebody that I knew and I
had known for before we worked together at at Fox
and then after and I still know him to this day.
But he did have a girlfriend and producer.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Uh so we you know, we were buddies and and
so this man, I mean, these are back in the
days when you know, money was just flowing.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I mean it was I mean, I'd go to these
holiday parties and they'd fly in all the big Premiere
Network stars like Art Bell would come in from Perrump.
Matt Drudge was doing a radio show for the company
see case them. Doctor Laura was a huge star in
radio at the time. They had her a bunch of DJs.
I didn't know who they were, but they seemed important
(06:07):
and they were there, and the big shots, and I
mean it was just crazy. I mean, somebody that loves radio.
It was like wow, I mean, like the biggest names.
I was like an All Star team, you know, it
was like the All Star Game. They're all coming out there.
And they used to have these things at these big,
swanky Beverly Hills hotels. Now I don't usually go to
Beverly Hills. I live, I used to live at the time.
I lived close to it, but I'm you know, it's
not my jam. So I went to the party, and
(06:30):
I was I did not have a date, I know
one I was dating at the time, so I went
by myself. But the guy, he didn't want to go
by himself, so he brought He brought the girl that
he had been giving all his money to the ballet
and she came with him, which would not have been
(06:52):
a problem Danny, except she dressed like she had to
work after the show, after the party she had to
go to. And the the snickering and the whispering from
the other women, the wives and the girlfriends that weren't
strippers because it was so over the top, and uh
(07:12):
and it.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Eventually because their lives aren't as interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I guess, but you know, the alcohol starts flowing. Initially,
it's just you can tell everyone's talking about this woman
because she's dressed like a total whore, and uh, they're
all talking about all the other women are you know,
you're getting real caddy and all that, and so we're
like we're trying to figure out what's gonna happen. We're
doing the math on the alcohol. The open bar at
(07:36):
those days, we had open bar. Uh buffet style food
was just just wonderful, massive amounts of food and I
was fat, so I ate a lot of it anyway,
So uh, sure enough, once the booze started flowing, one
of the women who was I don't know she was.
I assumed she was married to one of the other people.
I don't know, maybe it was a girlfriend. But she
(07:57):
worked up enough liquid courage to confront uh the stripper,
and there was a there was a brief conversation confrontation
type situation, and then then that inspired some other women
who had to get something off their chest they wanted
to say. So it was quite. It was quite the scene,
but it was it was hilarious because it was just
(08:19):
you don't expect to see something like that at a
family company holiday, part family there were no kids there,
but it was all all dressed up and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And there was family education, money involved.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, that was good. And then I was at another
different year. We were at one. I don't know if
you were at this one, Danny, it might have been
before you worked at the company. Two. But there was
a employee who while the president of the company was
giving the State of the Company address, this employee was
sitting there listening.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Oh, I was at this heart During the speech.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
His wife was the one that was talking shit, and
she she laid it on like and she I guess
she didn't know that we could hear everyone else could
hear what she was saying that she was echoing the
president of the company. And this the Holly party was
like on a Friday or a Saturday. I think it
was on Saturday, but maybe a Friday night. It was
(09:17):
one of those days. But anyway, we did the Hollay
Party and then we show up to work on Monday,
and the guy no longer worked at the company.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, it would be like if my wife he got faded.
And then Scott, you know, was giving this big speech
about how awesome everything's going, and she's.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Saying, yeah, right, you're not even paying my husband enough money.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, that's pretty much how it went. That's pretty much.
That's pretty much how it went.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So because of what your significant other does.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Though, Yeah, but that does happen, right, We see that
in sports people have gotten in trouble because their wives
are done. True, So it happens on this pod. I
one story before I forget. I also remember getting my
balls busted when I would go to these parties because
they charged a lot of money to park at these
(10:09):
Beverly Hills hotels. So I would cruise around Beverly Hills
all dressed up to try to find street parking. And
then one of the parties I went to, I found
street parking, but then I had to go back every
couple hours to feed the meter.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
And weren't you worried about your Porsche being on the street.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, unfortunately, they never paid me enough to have to
have a Porsche. So I think that was the company's
way of looking out for me, Danny. I think they
knew that if I had, you know, a really expensive car,
it would be a problem. But so then I would
I would go back, you know, to feed the meter,
and I'd run back and I ended up getting covered
in sweat because I was really fat at the time,
and you know, people, well, are you all sweaty? What's
going on? Good memories? Though I wish I could have gone.
(10:54):
I mean, these things are always like during the week
in the like early evening.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
They're not three to five pm.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So we missed more than half of it because our
show was on the air. As soon as the show
ended we crossed the street, people were already buzzed. When
you walk into a party late like that, you have
to quickly go to the bar and try to catch up.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, and it's really a racing ends time because you
only have you know, you have probably by the time
you got there forty minutes maybe you know, forty minutes
to eat. And one thing I will say for this company,
they are by the clock when it comes to two hours,
not two hours, and ten minutes not two hours. You know,
five minutes. That thing cuts off at five o'clock. And
(11:38):
if you're if you want that extra slider, you better
grab that thing at four fifty nine fifty nine or
you're not getting it. It's over.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
They did refresh the food, which was different than last
year because I remember the food being cut off promptly
at five last year, but this year they brought out
some fresh food before the deadline and then for those
who stayed after the bell, our Boss Scott put his
card at the bar. Huh buddy, right, But Rich Davis
(12:09):
didn't know this, so he took his Covino and Rich
credit card for I guess like their Patreon show they do.
He took their company card and he was buying drinks
on that when he found out that card was at
the bar. You should have saw the look on his face.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Oh man, awesome kick to the nuts right there.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
An employee came up to Scott and said, they're gonna
now close your card. Would you like one more? And
Rich looked at him and he's like.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Wait, your card is at the bar right now.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
This was after he had signed all these drinks on
his own card.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I would like a bottle of whiskey? Can I get
a whiskey bottle and a kiel It to go in
a doggy bag? I would like to have that. We've
got on this pot. We've got Doc Mike Doppelganger, the
Taco canquistad and Hush Puppies. We start with this and
it is Friday, and so this is the time where
(13:08):
I tell you that I have a TV show, the
Chronicles of Television. It's week thirteen. We have made it
another week on Bennie Versus the Penny picking NFL games
against the spread man.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
What does that TV money feel like?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh man, it's so amazing, it's so great. It's a
little better than radio a little better than radio money.
But you know, who knows. It's only a seasonal show, Danny,
so you don't know. But it is on. If you
don't live in a city that has Benny Versus the Penny,
a reminder, it's on Direct TV, It's on Fubo TV.
But I turned out to be this week during Bennie
(13:47):
Versus the Penny doc Mike doppelgame, I did not drink
my own piss. I didn't do that. But let me explain.
So doing the late night show in if you're familiar
with LA if you're not from the area, we do
this in Sherman Oaks, which is right where the four
oh five, the infamous four oh five Freeway and the
(14:08):
one O one Freeway meet, just over the hill, down
the hill from bell Air, one of the ritchiest neighborhoods
in Los Angeles where a lot of fat cats and
Hollywood moguls live and all that. So we do the
show down the hill from there. Across the way is
a famous shopping center, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and then
(14:29):
the San Fernando Valley where you have places like where
in Sino Man, that classic movie in Sino Man, Woodland Hills,
all these different places. That's one direct. Now the other
direction is North Hollywood. That's the next kind of town
over North Hollywood. And then you've got burd Banks down
the way and whatnot. So I get done with the
radio show in Sherman Oaks and I hop on the
(14:51):
one oh one Freeway and I head east away from
from the main heart of the San Fernando. Well, I
hit the other direction and head into Century City.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, you drove away from the money. Yeah good. And
then and then there's a little bit of money again
when you get to Universal City exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So we went over there, yes, I says central, Yeah,
Universal City. So I went over there. Universal Studios is
where we record the TV and so I have my routine.
Now I do the radio show and then I zoom
over to Universal and there's no one there. There's like
a security guard who looks at me like what the
fuck are you doing here? You know, like why are
you here at this hour? So I get that, but
I know my thing. So I park in the We
(15:35):
have the Abbott Costello parking, so I park in that,
and then I walked to the to the place we
do the TV show. I'm the first one there. There's
no there's like a security guard sleeping at the desk,
and then there's like there's like two people manning the
NBC News the bureau, the NBC News Bureau desk, the
overnight people. So I go to I go to our
little room and I'm getting ready. But this week a
(15:57):
little different than other weeks. Now why was this week different? Well,
for some reason, I was even more tired. I must
have been the hangover from Thanksgiving and I had a
night off which was odd and all that stuff. So
I'm trying to coordinate my schedule. But I'm really tired,
and I'm like, I don't nap. I don't do that.
I'm not a napper. And I didn't really have time
to nap because I had a lot to do. I
had a lot of notes I wanted to go through
(16:18):
I'd done a lot of prep, but really the process
of how we make the hot dogs is I do
a lot of the number I put a lot of
the numbers together on Monday and Tuesday, and then you know, Wednesday,
I do do more. That's where we meet with the people.
I have email correspondence and meetings with the people in Boston, Vinnie,
(16:41):
the guy that produced the show, and those guys, and
John who's in Philadelphia. So we kind of email the stuff.
I give them the stuff they need and then they
tell me stuff that I need and then so that's
how that goes. And so then we do that. But
then when I get done with the show, I just
really put everything together. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together,
but it's not really heart a jigsaw puzzle. It's a
twenty two minute TV show, not that hard. But that's
(17:04):
the way I do it. And so I need a
certain amount of time to put everything together, just to
give you an idea I'm giving I'm like the inside whatever.
So I'm really tired. I'm like really really tired, and
I end up, as I said, becoming Doc Mike s Doppelganger.
I fell asleep at my computer while I started out
(17:29):
sitting up falling asleep, and then eventually my face gravity
took over and went down on the keyboard, which did
wake me up. It did wake me up. So I
wasn't even out for that long though, Danny. I only slept.
I think it was about fifteen to twenty minutes. I
think that's about it. But it was like a micro
(17:50):
nap and it actually worked. I woke up feeling refreshed.
I was like perked up crazy. And the reason I've
been I say, Doc Mike, because if you've been with
the show a long time. Years ago, Doc Mike, when
Michael Vick was in prison, Doc Mike drove from Chicago
(18:11):
down to Levenworth thinking that Michael Vick would take a
meeting with them. They'd have a meet and greet at
Levenworth Prison, and so Doc was documenting his trip from
Chicago to Kansas. Wasn't that long a drive, but he
didn't sleep, and he told me what he would do
since he didn't sleep, was he would just pull over
(18:33):
to the side of the road or get off one
of the off ramps and sleep for five to ten
minutes and then get back on the road for another
hour or two hours and I said, what are you going?
What are you a dumbass?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Here?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I am.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I didn't plan on doing this, It wasn't intentional, but
I ended up doing it, so it worked out. I
was able to get what I needed to get done.
And as many people have pointed out to me in
the past who are older than me, the thing about
get it done, it's done when the show when they
tell you, as we know with radio, right Dan, you
prepare Dan, you prepare for the radio show, and you're
(19:07):
never prepared, at least I've never prepared enough. But ultimately,
when the light goes on, you have to the show
will be fine. You know what I'm saying. Like, you
do as much as you can, but usually it doesn't
really matter. You're ready to go. And as far as
the TV show here in week thirteen, first of December,
we are actually not on quite as much in LA
because of the there's high school football. We're getting preempted
(19:30):
by high school football, which is a kick come on. Yeah. So,
for example, I believe on SoCal Sports Net tomorrow just
I don't know if you can record things day, but
we have a one showing I think it's six am
because if there's like high school whatnot. And then we're
on Sunday morning at a and am. But as far
as today, we're on in Boston on NBC Sports Boston.
(19:54):
After the Celtics play the Sixers. We'll have back to
back prime time late night TV showings at eleven and
eleven thirty. Philly. We're on a eleven thirty Chicago. We're
on our normal ten o'clock slot in Chicago. We're on
a couple times in San Francisco on NBC Sports Bay Area.
Benny Versus the Penny six o'clock ten thirty will be
(20:18):
on NBC Sports California, Sacramento there and that's at eight
and I mentioned so Cal. Also, our normal time slot
on SNY at eleven thirty am on Sunday in New
York will be on. There are regular times, so that
is that's the TV show. So see if you can
(20:41):
figure out that I was so tired I fell asleep
in the I think I fell asleep a second time,
but I the first one was like the big one
that really kind of woke me up, and then I
started popping caffeine pills trying to trying to keep going
on that. So there is some big news here outside
of the doc. Mike Doppelganger must alert the Mala militia
(21:03):
down the line here that I don't know if this
counts as breaking news, but it is a news update.
My tight wadd ways have led me to move on
to divorce something that was very important in my life
that I have had in my life.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Oh I love your wife, Oh not her.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
For I've had. This has been in my life longer
than the wife. It's been. Oh, probably I think this
has been in my life, Danny and I want to
be almost oh man, almost thirty years twenty five for sure,
Probably not thirty, but twenty five years of my life.
This has been part of my life. And I've ended it.
(21:47):
I've said that's it. It's not you, it's me, and
I must move on.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
From you your moped.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Did you see my notes my cherry red and moped. No.
I have made a economic decision due to the pootin
price hike. I have eaten my final crunchy taco at
my beloved Tito's Tacos.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Oh man, I have it should be funeral music right now.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I have ended it. I love the neon orange cheese,
the the crunchy taco. Just everything about the beef just perfect,
the oil that tastes weird. I love it all, but
I just can't. When I started going to Tito's tacos
long time ago, the tacos were less than two dollars
(22:43):
a taco. Now, and this is not I'm sure you've
been there day. It's not fast food or it's not restaurants.
It's fast food. It's like a fast it's basically fest food.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
It's fast food Mexican.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It's fast food Mexican. Five dollars and seventy cents for
a crunchy taco one five dollars and seventy cents. That
same taco was two dollars. Now, you say, well that's
a long time ago. Now, I would agree with you,
it was a long time. But him in that long
to more than double the price, and really almost three
times the price. That's not that's not right. Nine five
(23:17):
for a bean and cheese and meat burrito night for
a breeda, and I know, twelve fifty for a beef burrito.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So like how I got an egg McMuffin last week.
It was like a real treat. It was five ninety five.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, so I get it. People have to make money.
Restaurants have to make money. I understand food's not et.
You know, cheap stuff goes bad. I understand all that.
But I know I'm out. So I have now become
the great taco canquistador. Oh no, yeah, I am a man.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Oh the way that you the way that you did
your knockoff roundtable pizza, Your gonna knock off their tacos.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Well, not quite. I realize we essentially live in Mexico here, right.
We live in a nice part of Mexico in southern
Caras and I love it. No, I'm not saying that
in a bad way. I think it's great. We have
the greatest Mexican food you could possibly have, outside of
just driving down to Tijuana or going to Mexico City.
It's amazing. Right in California, It's just awesome. So and
(24:22):
I thought, you know, I love Tito's, but I'm sure
I can find there's other It's gotta be thousands of
crunchy taco places in La So I am a man
on a mission. I am. Now I'm seriously thinking about
starting a food blog. Danny that my taco cantista doorways,
I should start like an Instagram page of me just
(24:44):
trying restaurants. And then I thought, if I did that,
maybe it would be like a tax write off. You know,
I could write it off or something like that. But
because I'm that cheap, no.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Non or you could be like Portnoy where they give
them or they try to give them lots of free pizzas.
He claims that he always pays for the pizzas. But
I mean, if you're not the taco guy, you could
probably get a lot of free tacos.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
It's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
So I started my mission as the great Taco Conquistador,
to conquer the crunchy taco, the gringo tacos. My friend
Alex Mexican guy. He died years ago, but he he said, gringo,
you eat the gringo tacos. He said, we eat the
regular tacos. That's what they eat in Mexico. I said, well,
I like the crunchy talk, and so I started last week.
(25:32):
I found a place in the Arts district in downtown
Los Angeles. Right now, this is a great neighborhood. It's
actually an up and coming neighborhood in LA but it
is surrounded on one side by the La gun Club.
On the other side is skid Row, and so it's
kind of wedged in between theirs. But in between there,
I went to Chewi's Tacos dorados.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Now, what's your number one thing you're looking for? The
price point.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Two things, price and crunch crunchability. I'm trying to get
that crunch ability and I don't want to pay. I
want to pay less than four dollars of taco. Is
that too much to ask for.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Dan, No, it's gonna be hard, though. I would think
that taco is going to be around two fifty.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You think two to fifty. See, I think I look around.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I think at little hole in the wall spots two
fifty to three dollars. Okay, Titos is taking advantage of
the fact that they are like a famous spot, kind
of like that famous doughnut spot that overcharges.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh, the one in the Voodoo Oh that one's too important. Yeah,
but there's a lot like you in Hollywood Pink's Hot Dogs. Yes, famous.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
So once you get a reputation like that and you're
kind of like a tourist attraction, I feel like you
double your prices.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, you're you're made man, You're good to go the
Quick Malor food review as the Great Taco Conquistador. Went
to this place, Chewy's Tacos Dorados, and I ordered three.
It was four crunchy tacos. I had the shredded beef.
I had two of those, the potato and the ground beef.
(27:10):
They also have a pork option. I did not get
the pork taco. Good news, Danny. The taco cost with
cheese three dollars and fifty cents.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Okay, all right, that is a.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Reasonable price for a taco. I'm okay with the price.
I'm fine with. I don't love. I wish it was cheaper,
but I'm okay. I realized it's twenty twenty three and
stuff's expensive, So I guess.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
I'm thinking of street tacos, which are a little more
affordable than the crunchy right.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, you're paying. It's a premium item, Danny. It's a
premium item with crunchy taco soumringo. That's right, yes, so
I pay my money whatever. It's got this weird kiosk
thing at Chewi's Tacos Dorado's. They're in the Beautiful Arts district,
and the crunch was solid. It was it was pretty solid.
(27:59):
I did not enjoy the.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Meat, though, I think a lot of people would be
more concerned about the meat.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, the shredded beef was really good. The potato not
so good. The ground beef I would never order again.
I wouldn't feed that to my dog. But the shredded
beef was really good. So on the malarimeter of food
goodness as the great Taco Conquistador, all right, one to ten, Yeah,
with ten being amazing, like the greatest thing you've had. Master.
(28:26):
I'm giving this place a seven point five giv that's
a solid score. Seven point five Mallard Food Review, seven
point five. I will be back. I think my plan
is I go to a lot of Dodgery games during
the summer, and sometimes I get there early and I
prepare for the show. So it's in downtown Los Angeles,
so I think I'll just cruise by there, pick up
some tacos, and then go to Dodger Stadium and that'll
(28:48):
be that. And the parking is not the greatest. There's
a lot some street parking. I'm sure it'll be really
bad when stuff's going on in that neighborhood. I happen
to go a Thanksgiving week so it was kind of
quiet down there, but it was good. So it's a
good start. And let me know, guys, send me a
message if you you would actually want. I'm seriously I'm
(29:11):
thinking about starting a food review blog that just like
obviously only in southern California, but when I travel and
I go to other places, I can visit my brother
in Wisconsin, my other brother in New York.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Or is this like a YouTube thing?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I think I would maybe do it on Instagram, but
I would I think Instagram probably be the way I go.
I could because those are short videos, right, those aren't
very well Yeah, I could do a minute or I
don't even think there are a minute a lot of
those things, right, Maybe maybe they are, but not that long.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
It sounds like a TikTok opportunity you can get.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I'm writing the demo on TikTok. We have one other
note I want to get out on this. So Jeremy
from Vermont is a big p one of the podcast.
He emailed me. He said he always listens to the podcast,
the radio show, and he's not missed the fifth hour podcast.
So thank you Jeremy and beautiful vermontt Home of Arnie Spaniard,
(30:09):
and I hope to visit Arnie in your state of
Vermont next time I go back to Boston. Anyway, Jeremy
emailed me and he says, hey, Ben, this is right
in your wheelhouse. He says, I love the he loves
the words and the phrases that we do every week,
the origin stories, and this is an item that I
(30:31):
have loved since I was a little boy. The first
time I everate this item was at Long John Silvers.
Did you ever go to Long John Silvers?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Got a few times?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
The fish fast food fish rest. Yeah, my parents took
me there when I was a kid, and as a kid,
we thought that was fine dining.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
We were like fast food fish sticks.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah. We were convinced that our parents were spoiling us
at Long John Silvers, that we were great. My dad
loved the he loved the tartar sauce, but he also
loved the vinegar. So Jeremy said, I found this on
the internet thing. It's fascinating and it's the origin story
of hushpuppies. And this is actually a couple of years old.
I looked it up. I did some research here, Jeremy,
(31:09):
and so the claim it was a Facebook page that
posted something claiming the term hushpuppies came back from the
slavery days in America that fried cornmeal was thrown by
escaping slaves at dogs to prevent the dogs from following.
Now this is quite detail, So I was like, is
that really that? I mean, is that really true? And
(31:32):
here's what I found that nobody seems to know for
sure whether it's like it's possible that that is exactly
what happened, and that's the story. Everyone's convinced that it
was around the Civil War. It was in the South
where the hushpuppies came came about. And I guess they
(31:55):
think it was derived actually originally from a South African
fryed corn meal. There was a fried cornmeal dish called
mealy pop and that goes way back. The Southern states
have taken ownership of it. Louisiana claimed that nuns who
(32:15):
came to New Orleans and the seventeen hundreds made the dish,
so it goes back that far. There are plenty of
stories about Union soldiers during the Civil War. There's another
version where fishermen or runaway slaves the quiet the howling dogs,
which we just gave that one. There's the fisherman's story,
(32:37):
a guy claiming that anglers who returned from fishing expeditions
to try try to cook the food the fish over
the fire, that their dogs would begin barking and yapping
from the aroma, and so to quiet the dogs down,
the fishermen fried up bits of corn meal that they
were using to cook the fish, and they just put
(32:58):
the cormea and they fed it to the dogs. But
they are people that deny that I mean. And so
the gist of it is, there's like three or four
different versions of what actually happened. The earliest mention of
the term hushpuppies, from my research, occurred in the nineteen
twenties actually nineteen twenties in Macon, Georgia, but these obviously
(33:23):
go back before that, and all in the South, all
in the South nineteen thirties though, and so the gist
of it is the hushpuppies in America. The modern version
of the hushpuppies definitely came from the South. But there's
a lot of creative writing where people that would write
(33:45):
stories about anything that came out of the South, anything
food related. Every single story of Southern food involves plantations
or the Civil War, So who knows whether it actually
happened that way or not, but it's a good story,
and so people like good stories. We'll get out on that.
(34:07):
It is Friday, Danny, the first of December. What do
you got going on? I'm off from the radio. I
worked last night, so I'm done. What do you have
going on here?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Danny? Speaking of last night?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Just really quickly, they had potato croquettes at the holiday party.
Do you think those are a cousin of what you
were just talking about?
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Oh, the hushpuppy. Do you like hushpuppies?
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I do? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I don't know anyone that doesn't like hushpuppies.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yeah. I mean they've ever.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Met anyone that's anti that's anti hushpuppy.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
You'd have to be Canadian or un American.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, hushpuppies are great.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
I could just eat hush I love you Canada.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, oh cold. But you'll be on with Corvino and
Rich right.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, we have a fun Friday show from two to
four pm. We'll be doing our weekend hob nobbin in,
previewing all the NFL action for Sunday and even talking
some college football today, so that'll be good five to
seven pm in New York City.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's a big night tonight in college football, the PAC
twelve Championship game, and I'm pulling for Washington. They'll probably
get smashed, but I'm pulling for the Huskies here, big underdog.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Yeah, I like their quarterback.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yeah. Well, I think I don't know if I've said
on the podcast, but my best friend Hunter, my gambling
buddy from high school. His sister actually works for the
University of Washington football program, so she's like connected. So
she hasn't got me a free hat though, so I
shouldn't promote them. But anyway, all right, I have a
wonderful Friday. We've got new podcast, all weekend tales that
(35:49):
have never been told before. We'll have some foody fun
on the Saturday podcast, I believe, and we'll see what else.
We have a lot of interesting tales to tell, and
so have a wonderful, wonderful rest of your day.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Asta pasta, got a murder. I gotta go
Host
Ben Maller
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