Behind the Headlines: Trump's Health, Gladys Knight, and Celebrity Chaos for 8/27/25

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Trump's swollen ankles and makeup-covered hands have sparked widespread speculation across social media, with healthcare professionals weighing in on what these symptoms might indicate. While some eagerly predict catastrophic health outcomes, Lawrence and Meryl navigate this sensitive territory with surprising nuance, questioning when political criticism crosses the line into cruel schadenfreude. After all, beneath the politics lies someone's family member—a perspective worth considering regardless of your political stance.

The conversation shifts to Gladys Knight, whose son alleges elder abuse from her much younger husband. At 81, Knight has reportedly appeared confused after recent performances, raising concerns about her well-being. Is this a cautionary tale about aging celebrities pushing themselves too far, or something more sinister? The hosts contemplate creative alternatives that would allow iconic performers to connect with fans without endangering their health.

From a French Justin Bieber impersonator who fooled an entire Vegas nightclub (and racked up a $10,000 tab in the process), to the surprisingly controversial addition of male cheerleaders to NFL teams, the episode examines how our cultural flashpoints reveal deeper societal tensions. When a New Jersey bagel shop goes viral for serving comically thick slabs of cream cheese, it's not just about poor service—it's about declining standards and disconnection between businesses and consumers.

Through discussions about America's declining drinking habits, Lil Nas X's concerning public behavior, and even Cracker Barrel's polarizing logo redesign, Lawrence and Meryl consistently return to the human stories behind each headline. Their compassionate yet candid perspectives offer listeners a refreshing alternative to the usual outrage-driven coverage of current events.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode
of Thirsty Topics.
I'm Lauren Selrod.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey Meryl, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, hey, hey Good, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We're fantastic.
Did you have a great weekend?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I really did, I did.
I went down to San Diego and Ihad four shows and three of them
were amazing.
One of them was a littleawkward, but the rest were super
good.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh, you had a great weekend then.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, and the shows were right in the middle of like
where the Padres play in SanDiego.
I mean, I wasn't on the field,but I was right next to where it
gets out, so you could imaginethe like Saturday at 10 pm show
with people drunk and just beingcrazy was super fun.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
So I know you had a lot of fun.
I know a couple of weeks ago wehad the Aaron Waters show here
in Chicago and when they weredoing the Aaron and water show,
um, we happen to be downtown andum I'm sorry up on the north
side and I saw the planes goingpast wrigley field at the time

(01:16):
and I'm sitting there thinkingto myself they're probably
really pissed the picture andeveryone can, oh yeah you know,
throwing a pitch or givingsignals and all of a sudden boom
.
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, well, now that I I have to in quotation marks
watch baseball with my boyfrienda lot more I there's I don't
know if it's like this for everygame, but the Padres.
Now, the way the camera is setup, it's like right next to a
seat where there's always ascreaming fan and now you can
like actively hear what peopleare saying and screaming.
I don't know why this is a newthing or something, but they

(01:48):
just had a really, really loudlady.
That was annoying, and now Icould just hear a guy that was
yelling like don't mess it up,but you could hear it so closely
that I'm like, oh, this isweird.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Nice.
That means you were thereenjoying the moment with them.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Exactly, that's true, we're trying to phrase it that
way, but yeah, well, I amactually going to let you start
this week Amazing, okay, good,well, I have some thoughts on
this.
It's a crazy story.
I don't know if you've seenthis on TikTok, but a lot of the
psychic TikTok communitypredicted we're going to get

(02:22):
dark for a moment, but theypredicted that august 24th
yesterday would be a day thatsomething not so great would
happen to the president.
Have you?
Have you been seeing this atall?
No, I haven't.
Oh, there's been like an activeconspiracy slash, like
prediction community.
A lot of people were sayingthat like 8, 24, august, 24th,
there was going to be somethingbig you know as big as you can

(02:44):
get for the president regardinghis health, and a lot of people
were like predicting that wewere going to hear something or
not hear something about.
Like you know, you could justimagine what would happen on
that day if someone is not ingood health.
So that spawned a bunch of Iknow it's just really weird, but
I think a lot of psychics,which we shouldn't.
They've been wrong a lot onTikTok, but like they've been
saying that they saw somethingin charts that they were like,

(03:07):
just wait, it's going to be likea really big announcement day
and, like you know, today's, thenext, you know today's, a few
days after, and we haven't heardanything yet.
But anyway, that led to a lotof healthcare workers to then
chime in and say we don't knowabout that.
But what we do think is thathe's going through maybe some
like congestive heart failure orsomething, because he was
spotted a lot with makeup on hishands, um, and swollen ankles,

(03:29):
and they think that's signs oflike him getting IVs and then
putting makeup to cover hishands and his uh like ankles are
showing sign of, obviously likesome of the cardiovascular
stuff I saw.
This is so mean.
But I saw someone thatcommented like clots and prayers
.
I know Now I have many likethoughts on this.
I just think it's, at the endof the day, like to me he's

(03:53):
still someone's like grandpa ordad or whatever, and I just hate
the thought of like.
If this is like the same thingwith Biden, I felt where there's
things I don't like and I dolike or whatever, but I'm like I
just thought of making fun oflike an older, aging man who,
like really might be feelingreally ill, just like I don't
really love that because I thinka lot of people are like ready

(04:14):
to celebrate and whatever, butyeah.
So basically he's been showingup at places and he's had his
hand covered in makeup, Hisankles are swollen, he keeps
saying it's nothing.
His hand covered in makeup, hisankles are swollen, he keeps
saying it's nothing.
He alluded to like going toheaven a few days ago, but then
his speaker person just saidlike you know, he's just saying
that in general it doesn't meananything, but I don't know.
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, I mean, let's not forget.
I mean, the thing that amazesme is how much he wrote about
Biden being old and all this.
Oh, biden and people tend toforget they're only three years
apart in age, so he's almost 80years old.
Yeah, yeah, he's almost thesame age as Biden, right?

(04:56):
And the reality is we don'tknow what's going on.
But if your ankles and I didsee those pictures of his
ankles- yeah, look at them now.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
They're kind of crazy .

Speaker 1 (05:05):
We don't know what it is, obviously.
But yes, there is somethingmedically going on, because your
ankles don't get that big forno reason.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
And with the makeup on the hand.
To me, I think the worst thinghe could have did was put makeup
on there, because now he'sdrawing attention to himself.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Exactly, and I know his rep said there was nothing
to hide and that no treatmentplan or lifestyle changes were
made, including for his swollenankles.
So if anything, you would thinkand this is just an ongoing
thing exactly how they did it,for us to provide it as well.
And this happens a lot where Ithink they don't want to alarm
the public.
But then now, with social mediawe're all creating, if we don't

(05:42):
know the information,everyone's filling in the gaps
and you have like psychicsweighing in.
There's cardiovascular expertson nurses that were actively
saying like I see patients likethis all the time and I'm pretty
much like a hundred percentsure that this is what's
happening, just because of thesigns.
So I think to me in this dayand age, like we could handle
information if they just told uswhat's up, you know, rather

(06:05):
than just kind of denying itwhen it's actively right there
in our face.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, that's true, and one thing that people don't
understand too is that, yes,swollen ankles is a sign of
something wrong, but it's also asign of medication.
There's a lot of medicationthat has side effects to swollen
ankles, so it doesn't mean thatthere's something dramatically
wrong going on.
It could just be a side effectof a medication you saw exactly

(06:32):
what's it like water retentionor something too, from your
diuretics?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
So like I don't know, though, Ijust feel weird maybe.
Maybe I don't dislike him asmuch as like some people do.
I like I don't I'm not a fan atall, but like just the thought
of being hoping that somethinglike really really, really
catastrophic happens, it justkind of feels icky to me.
I'm sure people disagree and Ican see that and I can see where

(06:57):
the rage comes from of, justlike the things going on, you
know, with the ice stuff and I Ican see it's like, okay, well,
I'm not going to have empathyfor him because look at all the
people that have been affectedby him.
So I do understand that.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, the thing is is thatyou know he's got a tone for
things he's doing and thereality is, is that what he ran
on and what he's doing now?
A lot of stuff he told us upfront, a lot of stuff he didn't
tell us.
Yeah, you know we have to dealwith that, but you know, like

(07:32):
you said, he is someone's father, he is someone's grandfather,
so there is the human aspect ofit as well too.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
I know I saw a poll too that said now, like 40 of
the people that they asked, 45of people do think that they are
misleading us when it comes tohis health and I also just feel
like he's losing trust a littlebit in people, the way that, you
know, biden did after a while.
Um, and then there's also some,some accounts that are counting
the days that he's been golfingand I guess he, like hasn't

(07:59):
been golfing in 13 days andthat's one of the longest he
hasn't gone since even he's kindof gone the new president route
.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
So yeah, yeah, I mean , I think the worst thing to do
is have the american people findout that you've been lying all
this time and you know you didhave medical history, medical
issues that you did disclose Iknow so we'll, we'll see, but
yeah, there's definitelysomething going on again.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Doesn't mean it's something dramatically wrong,
but yeah, there is somethinggoing wrong and I would hope
that, like everyone, no matterwhat your political party is,
after the last two issues ofthis, like I think we can all
agree that it would be veryrefreshing to have someone in
office that, like, of course,any age can get medical issues,
but just that this wasn't a apervasive thing all the time of
just having presidents leaningthe wrong way and falling off

(08:47):
things and stuff, and so itwould be nice to have someone
next up that's young and spry.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Nope, I definitely understand and you make a good
point too, but I still thinkit's hilarious that he made fun
of Biden.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
I know.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
It's like you know, I kind of want to sit back and go
really.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I know, I know, I know, and yet he's not looking
good.
And you always see thescreenshots of presidents like
after you know, after four years, and just how, if they get gray
, if they get tired or wrinklyand stuff.
But this is like four months inor whatever.
However we are, it's alreadyhis eyes look bloodshot and it's
just not looking good.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.
And then the other thing, too,is when you go in hard talking
about Biden's age, oh, he can'tdo this, he's not able to do
this.
Well, what happens is that whenyou start showing a little bit
of your age, guess what's goingto happen to?

Speaker 2 (09:39):
you Definitely.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
We'll see, we'll see.
We'll see if he's going to behonest about what's going on or
they're still going to just playlike there's nothing wrong.
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
I feel like, up until the last, everything it's going
to be, they're going to be likeeverything's fine, everything's
fine.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
That is true.
Talking about something that'snot so fine.
I'm quite sure that is true.
Talking about something that'snot so fine.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
I'm quite sure you know who Gladys Knight is.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
right, yes, Yep, I love her.
She's a great singer musician.
Well, gladys Knight is you know.
She's doing concerts all overthe country and there's been
some concern about her healthand her son is stating that, um,
that she's suffering from elderabuse from her husband.

(10:35):
Now some people look at this asmaybe telltale signs of
something not right, becauseGladys Knight, who is 81, is
married to a young man who is 48.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh no, oh no.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
And there was one or more occasions where she
finished her concert and sheseemed like she was kind of out
of it.
She was basically kind ofconfused where they have to
leave off the stage.
So that's kind of added fuel tothe fire of the elder abuse
claim.
And Gladys Knight put out astatement saying that you know,

(11:18):
a lot of things have beenmisconstrued about her and you
know, and she's fine, there'snothing wrong with her.
The only problem with thatsituation is it's a statement,
it's not her sitting in front ofthe camera saying it Right
exactly, it could be anyone likeher publicist, her manager.
Exactly and again, for all Iknow, it could have been her

(11:40):
saying it, but I think that onlymakes it worse by doing a
statement instead of her beingin front of the camera saying it
yeah, oh man, already, ofcourse, like age gaps, as long
as everyone's mature.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Sometimes I am, I'm not the most upset about age
gaps.
I understand how they happen,but usually I feel like 15 to 20
years and less is like somewhatacceptable.
Getting closer, almost up tolike half, double the age of
yourself, you know, like a 40year age gap already.
Whether it's either way,whether it's a woman and like a
very, very old man or, like youknow, vice versa.
I think we kind of know whatthey're there for, maybe and

(12:16):
like, who knows, maybe they'rethe most in love ever.
But I don't like that already.
Like that's definitely anorange flag to me.
I think that that's happening,um, and I feel like we would
have to see her to know andexactly like how it.
You know, the proof is rightthere.
If she is getting disorientedafter shows or if she's seeming
like kind of confused, thenhopefully she's going to get

(12:37):
like a few wellness checks done.
But, um, yeah, it's prettyfreaky yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
I think part of the problem, too, is whenever
there's money involved, peoplearen't really looking at you.
In your best interest they'relooking at you as a payday,
because there's venues and stuffthat make pretty good money
with her doing her concerts.
There's still a lot of peoplethat love her music and love her

(13:02):
as a person.
Still a lot of people that loveher music and love her as a
person.
So if they see something off,do you really think they're
going to say anything?
Or just kind of, you know, keeptheir mouth shut.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I know, you know, that is like the sad part of the
business.
You know where you just keepgoing on a lot of these
performers.
I don't know what her financialsituation is like if she's
needing to go out and make moneyor if she could be fine just
resting.
But now I need to like, now I'mgoing to definitely after this
I'm going to go, not stuck, butlightly look at that man a lot

(13:32):
and see if I what my actual realthoughts are.
I mean, don't you, do you,right off the bat, think that
age gap is really like kind ofjust questionable, like kind of
just?

Speaker 1 (13:42):
questionable.
You know it's hard to say.
I mean, in all reality shecould easily be his.
You know his grandma, yeah, soit will be hard to ignore that.
But the other thing that youhave to think about too is would
he have her best interest inmind if she's not feeling 100?

(14:07):
that's the real question yeahand only someone that knows him
would be able to answer thatquestion or not.
But to me, whenever you see asituation where there's problems
within a family like the sondoesn't like the stepfather, um,
because you gotta wonder what'sgoing on it's hard to really
take sides one way or the otherwhen you don't have all the

(14:28):
facts.
But I do think it's somethingthat people should be, you know,
kind of aware of, especiallypromoters and people that have
her, you know, performing attheir, their venues exactly
remember.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
We just talked about this before with, like, the
wendy williams thing too.
We don't know if she I meanthat's a little different,
because we do know, that's beenconfirmed that she has a lot of
some, you know, physical andmental health struggles.
But, like I think, with thistoo, we don't know, cause Gladys
may be, like I know I'm kind ofgetting older, but I want to be
out every night, so I need youto protect me.
And saying that to her husband,but yeah, um, but yeah, you're

(15:01):
right, it's the job of thepromoters.
But then it goes into like, likeI used to, because I used to
work in a music venue and I justthink of all the times we would
have people come in and if thenit goes to like well, if we
know someone's on drugs, then isit, is it our responsibility?
Or you know, like we'd haveperformers of all different
abilities and you knowconsciousness levels come in and
stuff, and and I just thinkthose people are being booked by

(15:23):
like agencies and you know likecompanies like live nation and
stuff, and and I just thinkthose people are being booked by
like agencies and you know likecompanies like live nation and
stuff, and so it's just um, yeah, it's like kind of who who's
really responsible?
And a lot of times I think it'slike that person's team too.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
That's why you have to have good agents and managers
oh yeah, and I remember a whileago where there was a big
concert where someone was eitherhurt or killed, and what a lot
of these promoters of venueshave to understand if something
goes horribly wrong, you'regetting sued as well.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Because you should have known.
So you're still on the hook forthat and I get it.
There's hundreds of thousands,depending on the artist, even
hundreds of millions of dollarsat stake.
But think about how much you'regoing to lose if you get.
You know you're sued becausesomething horrible happened at
your venue and no one wants tocome to your venue anymore.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
I know it's tough too with someone like Gladys Knight
, because it's like you want tobe remembered as like a legend
and an icon.
But you probably also justdon't want to sit at home and,
like you know, you probably dowant to do what you love, which
is for her doing music.
But I think there's also waysto get around that, whether
that's like doing more sit downperformances or like coming to

(16:38):
perform with someone and doingkind of like a duet type
situation, or even doing like ashorter set.
You know, like if I was amanager and someone one of my
clients told me that I'm likeokay, let's find whether maybe
one of your songs can be in amovie, or like you could record
a new Christmas album, and youknow there's ways to still do
what you want to do, except forlike being out, you know, late
at night out on the stage.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
That's true, that's very true, and with technology
right now, I mean, you can evenstream concerts if you really
want to.
You really don't have to be ata stadium.
You can be at one venue andstream it, you know.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Exactly, you can get really creative.
Like one of my favorite bandsnow the leads is the Barenaked
Ladies and the lead singer.
They split up and now the leadsinger does like a summer camp
where basically other musicianscan go and learn from him and
it's like the coolest thing.
So I mean he performs andeverything, but that's a way to
be connected with him in a waythat is different than just him

(17:35):
touring the world, which he does.
But like I think you know,getting creative of like OK,
what, what can that person do?
Do you have a family that youwant to stay with and can that
family like come out, you know?
So even just doing somethinglike that would be awesome.
I don't expect Glass Knight todo a camp, but, like you know,
an afternoon with her where youget to drink wine and have fun,
that's actually an excellentidea, and I know that there were

(17:57):
a lot of people that would lovethat too.
Yeah, exactly too.
Yeah, exactly, I'd be a superfan.
I'd be.
I don't know if I'd be there,but I'd be.
Uh, if she she did like a sushinight with cladis knight, I'll
message.
I'll message her husband andsee what he thinks.
Well, talk about.
Uh, the, the complete oppositeend of the spectrum.

(18:18):
I am obsessed with this story.
I think this is so funny.
Uh, justin bieber look Bieber,lookalike tricked a Vegas
nightclub into letting himperform and racked up a $10,000
bill before getting kicked out.
I must have watched this videoIf it has 10,000 views.
8,000 of them are me.
A French man named DylanDesclos performed at the XS
nightclub in Vegas becauseeveryone thought he was Justin

(18:40):
Bieber.
Now he was able to get, so hepopped into the nightclub he
looks like Justin a lot and thenthey told him they were saying
like you know, I'm Justin.
He was acting like it and thenhe hopped on stage and performed
with DJ Griffin.
Who the DJ believed that he wasdoing a set with the real Justin
Bieber until a friend told himit was fake.
It's one of those things that,if you haven't watched the video

(19:00):
yet, until a friend told him itwas fake, it's one of those
things that if you haven'twatched a video yet, you just
have to see it, cause, like thefirst one I saw, was this DJ
really excited that he'sperforming with Justin Bieber
and it's like so embarrassingCause he even says like the
Biebs is in the house andeverything, and then people go
wild, of course, and heperformed a whole bunch of songs
and he was there for like quitesome time and people were going

(19:22):
crazy taking videos and then Ithink people realized he you
know, they weren't uh, it wasn'thim and it was an imposter, but
he he racked up.
I mean, I have to say like, atsome point I'm a little bit
impressed what was he drinkingto rack up that kind of bill?
I don't know.
Probably, probably everything.

(19:43):
It would imagine just beinglike haley and I are gonna buy
shots for everyone in the bar.
But I just think this is crazy.
It really does look like him,but you know when, like there's
a lot of taylor, swift, uh,impersonators too, where it
doesn't look like them, butthere's just a little thing off
that you just can't picture.
And I feel like this guy hasthat too, where I'm like, if you

(20:04):
look a lot, it just doesn'tlook like them, but there's just
a little thing off that youjust can't picture.
And I feel like this guy hasthat too, where I'm like, if you
look, it just doesn't capturethe full essence of him.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, and you know what?
There are people out there thatlook like, look like famous
people.
A good friend of mine years agowe went out with our wives and
stuff with downtown and wealmost got comped at a
restaurant because he looks likeMike Singletary from the band
Whoa Did someone ask are you him?

(20:32):
He's like is you Mike Singletary?
He's like yeah, I'm Mike.
And look, he kept doing this.
They killed back and forth.
They couldn't tell, but he doeslook like Mike Singletary.
It was kind of funny.
They didn't cop us, but that'sokay.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
And it is crazy that people the whole culture in
general that the thought of,because he is this person, that
he would get free things when anormal person doesn't.
I don't really agree with thatall the time.
Why would he be able to getsomething free and this other
person wouldn't?
I I don't like specialtreatment like that.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
I think it's weird this was crazy to me about that.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
The real justin b beaver is worth hundreds of
millions of dollars why, yeah,from anything just saying I'm
you know exactly, I know, I know, and if I was him I'd be like,
okay, I don't I.
Because I feel like everyonewants their sweatshirt to be
seen on him or like have himholding their vodka bottle or
whatever, but just like throwingstuff when they're not
promoting it's just like.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
It's so weird to me yeah, you know, everybody wants
that 15 minutes of fame you knowthat's what it?
Is and I would imagine, likethe club owner or whoever owns
the place, was probably thinkingoh my god, justin bie's here.
Oh my God, look up.
You know, look at Justin Bieber.
You know getting everybodyexcited and stuff, people
calling, people coming in, andbasically everybody's thinking

(21:51):
until someone goes, that's notJustin.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
I know, oh my God.
And then you have to be readyfor it, because if you're
standing up on stage and like,thousands by thousands, people
start to recognize that you'reimpersonating someone.
You're lucky that people justdon't go and like beat you up
and everything.
And I think this is reallyfunny, though, because the
impersonator has like the lookthat justin has now, which is
really weird because it's notlike the old school bieber look,

(22:14):
it's like skinny kind oflooking, a little questionable,
you know, like sunglasses onshaved head.
So it's funny that like he's,he's that he is the current day,
what you would think JustinBieber looks like this month,
type of thing.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
The interesting thing is, I took a look at Justin
Bieber recently and JustinBieber doesn't even look like
Justin Bieber anymore.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
I know.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
If you're a big Justin Bieber fan and this guy
looks like the current one, Ican see how that would happen.
I really exactly.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But also, how embarrassed areyou if you're the DJ, the main
DJ, and then you're like, oh myGod, this is the set of a
lifetime.
I can't believe this happened.
And then it showed him and cutto him like in his dressing room
15 minutes later, like I reallythought that was him.
I feel so bad for this dudeminutes later, like I really
thought that was him.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
I feel so bad for this dude?
Yes, definitely, and I'm quitesure the real Justin Bieber
probably saw this and isprobably laughing his ass off.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Oh my gosh, he is probably like I have nowhere to
be found.
Yeah, that is crazy.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Talk about crazy.
Now we all have seencheerleaders in college football
that's not a new thing, youknow and actually some high
schools too Not a big deal.
Well, there's a big uproar inthe NFL, especially when Vikings
the NFL team, the Vikings nowhas male cheerleaders.

(23:37):
Okay, some of the fans are in abig uproar over it Really Big
time.
Not all the fans, just some ofthem.
I have my own feeling on whythey're really in the uproar,
but I'll just keep that tomyself.
But let me ask you this Do youhave a problem with male
cheerleaders in the NFL?

Speaker 2 (23:56):
No, 0%.
I think like these aren't justrandom men coming off of the
street like joining you knowthis minute.
Chances are they've done thissince they've been little, I bet
you know.
Maybe they're like gymnasts orcheerleaders and they probably
were like that.
They're athletes like that inhigh school and college and so
no, I don't think so at all andI also think, too like chances

(24:18):
are they're working very nicelyand like in sync with the other,
with the female cheerleadersand you know all of the
positions and everything.
So to me, as long as theorganization and, like the, the
OG team is okay with it, I'mmore than okay with it.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, and the interesting thing is and I found
this to be interesting that theVikings were not the first team
to have male NFL cheerleaders.
Really, one of the first teamswas the LA Rams.
I did not know that until I.
We do some research on it.
And the interesting thing isthat if they've already had male

(24:55):
cheerleaders, I mean no onereally cares at this point Dude,
that's the real reason you havea problem.
Well, I wonder, do you thinkpeople are threatened that now?

Speaker 2 (25:03):
this means cares.
At this point, yeah, dude, yeah, that's the real reason.
You have a problem, you knowwell.
I wonder, do you think peopleare threatened?
That now this means, or whereare there?
There's no female uh players?
And then like that's notallowed, right or like?

Speaker 1 (25:14):
uh, no, there's no female nfl players okay.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
I wonder if people think, oh okay, if we're gonna
extend this now, it's gonna getcrazy with like, like females
can be in, with like females canbe in the professional football
.
I know there are professionalleagues, but I wonder if they're
thinking okay, it's that wholegive an inch, take a mile type
of thing.
This is just going to transcendinto craziness.
But I don't think it's going toget like that.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
I don't know, but I know some people thinking
probably well, what about womenwanting to be NFL players?
I'm OK, on one condition theygo through the same burgers
routine.
Yeah, male players go through.
Because these, these malecheerleaders had to do the same
routines as a female, theydidn't change any rules or make

(26:01):
things easier for them.
They still had to do theroutine just like the regular
female ones do.
As a big fan of the NFL, Ireally don't care about the
cheerleaders.
To be honest with you, they'regood to look at.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
After seeing some of the TVshows about them I'm like, wow,
they really do put so mucheffort and they really are
athletes and the amount of justtime and effort they put in I
think is very impressive to me.
But same thing is like theycome out in the game and usually
that's when I'm like about toeat my nachos and I just look at
how pretty they are and I'mhappy to like look at the males

(26:35):
too and just notice theirmuscles.
But yeah, I definitely don't.
I'm not like basing my wholelife around them.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Yeah, exactly Like I said, I think there's a bigger
issue going on that has nothingto do with football, which is to
me, I think, the real reason.
Some people have a problem withit, and I hope that's not, and
if it is, they need to get overthat they really do.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
You think the big issue is because do you think
any people think they'reprotecting the females by being
like we don't want creepy guysaround in the locker room?
But I feel like that couldn'tbe farthest from the truth with
like male cheerleaders becauseonce again they've grown up
being in the like.
I don't think a lot of men arejoining it just so they can like
be creepy.
I think they're genuinelyinterested in it as athletes
yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
I personally think the real reason is there's
probably a little bit ofhomophobic issues going on.
That's just my personal opinion, and I'm 20,000% wrong, but in
all reality, why do you reallycare if you're watching the game
?
I know, yeah, there's a timewhen the cheerleaders come out.

(27:40):
Please, cheerleaders, don't getmad at me when I say this, but
you know I'll probably get mynext beer or something.
You know what I mean.
I'm really paying attention.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Exactly.
It seems to me that, like themore secure a man is, the more
fine, or like unbothered hewould be with cheerleaders in a
game that he like doesn't know.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
He's not the one playing the game.
You know what I mean.
Like it seems like morebothered would mean more weird
things to me.
But yeah, exactly when you goto a game, let's face it you're
watching the game itself.
You're not really payingattention to all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, yeah, interesting.
But yeah, I could see like it.
It does open up a veryinteresting discussion because
then it's like okay, like theall-female soccer league, then
what now?
And this is different becausethese are obviously the
cheerleaders and not the players, but like just the conversation
of like, oh, okay, then if,like, it's good for one side, if
we're now allowing females orwhatever to play, now can like a

(28:37):
guy join like the all thesoccer girl league, and you know
, then I'm kind of like no, Idon't want that to happen,
almost just for, like, the funaspect of it.
But then it's, it's a veryinteresting.
I know.
You know it's a big talk toowith, like the trans stuff and
it just there's a lot ofdifferent opinions, um, so I
feel like it's a scale ofopinions and not necessarily
like a black and white thing butI feel like cheerleaders are

(28:58):
fine, I agree.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
I agree.
I mean when you talk about Iknow we're getting a little bit
off subject here but when you'retalking about a male or female
playing in the opposite sex ofsport, it's one thing.
If you're identifying likehere's a great example, if
you're, if you're playing, let'ssay, because I know flag

(29:21):
football has become real popularyeah.
Let's say you have a women'sflag football team or a girls
volleyball team or girlswrestling team.
To put a male in there thatidentifies as a woman I would
have an issue with, not becauseI'm homophobic or anything, but
because there's a physical, realdifference in the body type

(29:44):
between a female and it wouldnot be a fair comparison.
Now if it's someone who hastransitioned over from being a
male to a female totallydifferent scenario.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
I don't know if that makes sense.
To a lot of people it totallydoes.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, it makes sense to me, I feel like just
like many things I'm not.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
I like almost don't know enough where I'm like, I'm
like, I'm like, I almost don'tknow enough to like have an
opinion.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Very healthy, anyone can clip that, but yeah, totally
yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
So I mean you have to take it, and I agree with you.
I don't think it's black andwhite.
I think you have to look ateverything on a case-by-case
basis yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Well, I think that's good.
I will be cheering the malecheerleaders on.
I had some cheerleading guyfriends in college at Syracuse
and they were so nice and theywere the sweetest, nicest guys.
They would be the men thatwould walk us late at night if
we were home by ourselves.
I feel like they were good atschool and respectful to women,
even just at the college level.

(30:43):
The male cheerleaders that Iknew are like 10 out of 10.
Amazing.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh, that's nice, that's nice.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
So I have a feeling that that's what they're mostly
like.
I love that your stories alwaysgive like a great pop culture
commentary and then like my nextone is the silliest, goofiest
thing you just bring up likereal world conversations.
And then now for me, we'regoing to talk about bagels and
cream cheese.
Yeah, so I thought.
Another thing, this I was justwatching over and over this week

(31:11):
.
I found hilarious on TikTok thata bagel shop in New Jersey is
going through a schmear campaign, which is a bad joke, but an
influencer girl held up.
I forget what her name is, aTikToker girl, I think.
Valentina showed her bagel andsaid like I'm sorry, but is this
normal?
And you have another one ofthese videos that you just have

(31:33):
to see to believe where herbagel.
She opens it up and on bothsides it's like someone just cut
a block of cream cheese and putit in two different sides and
so it's not spread.
It's just like a brick of creamcheese.
And then she's holding it upand it looks insane, Like the
cream cheese is almost biggerthan the actual bagel itself and
it's like there's no way onthis earth that someone could

(31:55):
like eat that and be happy withthe results.
You know it's insane Because atthat point it's like you just
eat the block of cream cheesealone and don't even involve the
bagel.
So I think people got verypassionate about this.
I'm one of those people.
It got 25 million views andpeople were infuriated.
The place was from Bella'sBagels in Sea Park, New Jersey,

(32:16):
which I do feel bad for thisbusiness because you think all
of a sudden one day you're justgoing about business and the
next thing you have 25 millionpeople, like you know, hate,
hating.
I'm sure people took it too fartoo, but it was just then.
It sparked a whole discussionis like on like how much cream
cheese is too much?
Um, are these people just lazy?
And also like, why is this girlpaying money for anyone to do

(32:40):
this?
You know, like this is just.
It just shows a kind of a lackof care.
I don't know.
I guess my thought is how muchdo you eat bagels and cream
cheese?
If so, what's your spreadablestyle?

Speaker 1 (32:53):
You know what?
I haven't eaten bagels in along time.
I do like them though.
I do like them.
I like mine with flavored creamcheese, strawberry stuff like
that.
If I was served a bagel likethat, I would be pissed, Right,
it's gross.
I would be thoroughly pissed.
And you know, here's the thing.
We've all had our bad days atwork.

(33:13):
We all do.
It's normal.
But you know, if you're goingto be that petty, stay home.
That's just ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Exactly, yeah, and there was different comments
where people were like, okay,that's an insane amount of it.
And then other people were like, okay, the amount is right, but
now you have to just likespread it around, like that's
actually how much cream cheesewe do get.
But I don't think so.
It really really looked likesomeone said is that a baked
potato?
Like the way that I looked in.
If you are just taking a blockof cream cheese and cutting it

(33:43):
in half, as a business owner Iwould also be upset because
you're that's like reallyexpensive too.
You know what I mean.
Like that's that has to add up.
And I'm sure the owner was justlike that's not the way we do
things.
We just take three seconds andmake it look presentable.
And yeah, if you're, if youcan't take the time to like
spread it out on a knife for twoseconds, then you're just

(34:05):
having a bad day.
And then other people were likeno, it's up to the person
buying it.
Like it's up to this girl nowto like spread it around.
But people are like that's notwhat you're paying $10 per bagel
for.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
You know.
In that case, I agree with that, because here's the reality.
If I got to put it on myselfand spread it all over, I might
as well just make it at home.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Exactly.
I don't know if you can seethis.
I'm showing you the visual now,but yeah, you know what's scary
about the picture you justshowed me.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
You can see how thick that cream cheese is.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
I know it's disgusting, it's honestly
disgusting.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
And it's like wow, really, I mean I don't know.
I mean I don't know.
I mean again, if you're having abad day or you hate your job,
just quit, just or call itwhatever, because the reality is
most people are understandingand some people really don't
give a damn about your bad day.
They're coming in there andpaying the service.
You know they're paying for theproduct, and I've been on the

(35:00):
internet sometimes too, whereit's like wow, why'd you even
show up today?
This person at the service gota nasty chip on their shoulder.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
I know I feel like I could totally miss details and
look over things, but I'm likeif you're handing someone a
bagel that just looks like thisyou just have to be so
unbelievably checked out anddisconnected.
I totally get it that mistakeshappen and things get messed up
looks like like this.
You just have to be sounbelievably checked out and
like disconnected, you know,because I I totally get it that
mistakes happen and things getmessed up.
But, um, I just thought youknow, and I I also am jewish, so

(35:31):
like bagels are very close tohome for us.
It's a very serious thing, eventhough even though it's not
fair, because then my stomachhurts all the time like it's
like the cream cheese and bagelsare like the two things I
shouldn't be eating.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
But here's a good question.
If you got served like that,would you say something?

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Oh my God, Totally Honestly, I wouldn't be bitchy
about it at all, like I probablywould have made like a tick
tock, but I I honestly wouldhave maybe called and just said
this is, I wouldn't be a Karen,but I'm just saying this is a
little ridiculous.
Like just so you guys know,this is like before someone does
make a viral video about you orsomething like maybe just take

(36:06):
a minute and take a deep breathyou're nice, you're really nice
I I honestly am nice, I think Iam nice.
I'm not going to be rude, butbut what I wouldn't like is if,
like if it continued, and I justthink people, um yeah I don't
know, I think with me.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
I don't want my money back, really, and if they and
if they offered, well, you knowwe can make your rights, and no,
I used to work in a restaurantand I know how you guys do when
you get angry at people.
So no, I don't want anythingforeign on my food.
So no, just give my money backyeah, see, I do.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
I'm even trying to just like, personally, to curb a
lot of my restaurant eatingbecause I'm finding more and
more I'm just like not happywith, whether it's like wings
that I'm getting, or just likecoffee or whatever.
I'm finding more and moredisappointment in like food
preparation and stuff.
So I think it's a sign to takethe bagels in-house.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's true, and you know there are some people who
work in restaurants and don'tunderstand that the way you
treat your customers dictatesyour tips yeah, exactly, totally
I mean, I've even seen peoplewhere they actually get angry
when they don't get a tip, butthen they've been given shitty

(37:23):
service and it's like yeah, yeahI know it's very weird, yeah,
but yeah, I always think aboutthat.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Just to have like people making your food that
don't really care as much andthat's that can't be good on
like many different levels.
It's just kind of weird, youknow.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
So definitely, definitely, definitely.
Well, I do want to take thistime to send out my condolences
to the family of Frank Caprio.
Do you happen to know who thatis?
Was it the Sopranos guy?
No, actually he is.

(37:57):
They call him America's nicestjudge.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Oh no, I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yes, he's the one.
He has a big following onsocial media, where people come
into his courtroom and he showsa lot of generosity.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
You know he shows compassion for him, oh, ok.
I think, I've seen this.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, there's instances where he's dropped a
case.
Give them like a real low fine.
Yeah, I know you can't do thisfor every single case, but the
thing that I like about it is helooks at every case on an
individual basis and he doeshave compassion.
You know what I mean.
Because you know we don't know.

(38:39):
Sometimes people are goingthrough all kinds of struggles
in life.
Sometimes people don't evenknow they're going to make it
the next day and you know, yeah,you have to follow the law and
you have to enforce the law andeverything like that.
But you can show some grace too.
And that's what he's shown isthat you can have grace and
still enforce the law.

(39:00):
Now there are situations where,yeah, you're going to throw the
book at that person becausethis is ridiculous what they did
, but, when appropriate, showgrace, and he did that on a
day-to-day basis and I thinkthat's why so many people really
love them oh, I love that.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I think I saw a video where he like helped a single
mom out or something.
You know, I think he would hearthose cases.
And then there was one casewhere it's like I'm trying to
pay this but I need a job and Idon't have a car, and so I get a
car, I need this.
And you know he he wasunderstanding and he gave them a
fine, because I think too thatwe always have to remember that,
like I think sometimes forpeople if it spirals negatively,

(39:38):
it like spirals so muchnegatively you know where it's,
like your car, your house, youreverything is like the first one
to go and then it's really hardto get back to, even like
ground zero.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Oh, yeah, exactly, and you know, the thing is there
are some people that try andgate the system, but there are
some people that are trulystruggling and they do need some
help.
Yeah, you know, yeah, I get it.
Legally you can throw the bookat them, you rack them up with
fines, but here's the reality ifthey can't afford to pay them,
all you're doing is burying aperson.

(40:07):
You're not fixing anything.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
I know, I know that's why, even here, I do get
annoyed when, like here, there'sso much kind of weird crime and
like weird things happeningthat when pedestrians or whoever
get like a ticket or you know,115 ticket for parking or
something, I'm just like I feellike you're actively going after
the people that are just tryingto work hard.
And I mean of course there'sgoing to be some like privileged

(40:31):
people or entitled people outof the bunch, but, like for the
most part, when people getpulled over and just like a
ticket for something very minor,I get mad because I'm like okay
, that might be like a wholeperson's day of work or you know
, that was a hundred dollarsthat they need towards like
their grocery bill this month orsomething.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, and then you know there are some
municipalities where I think theboot is really exaggerated.
Now, if you have a lot oftickets, okay, I get it.
That makes sense.
Yeah, you know, there are somesituations, there's some
municipalities where if you gettwo or three tickets, they're
ready to boot your car.
I know, I know, and the reasonI have a problem with that is

(41:11):
one it's two or three tickets,oh my God.
Second thing is, when they putthat boot on, you got to pay for
your tickets.
Then there's a fine that youhave to pay behind it, then you
have to pay the fee to get theboot off.
Then in most cases your car maybe towed or whatever.
So you have to pay the towingfee.
So it's literally like billsand bills and bills, fees

(41:33):
stacked up on top of each otheryeah yeah.
So if if they're having a hardtime paying for the two or three
tickets or in some cases, twotickets that you boot them, you
racking up all those billsaren't going to make it any
better.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Now you basically put a situation where they can't
afford to do anything yeah, Iwould also argue too I think
that judge was on to somethingwhere I think people will learn
better sometimes if you do showthem some type of compassion.
That doesn't mean like let themgo and do everything they want
to, but if, if you tell themlike okay, I'm going to give you
one chance, I believe in you tolike I'm going to have you not

(42:07):
pay this or have you pay it ininstallments, but like we're
going to help set you up withthis job or this situation, I
think people like I don't know,I still have faith in people
that they'll take that and runwith it a lot.
Sometimes, no, but there arestill people left that will do
good.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Oh, absolutely.
And you know, sometimes youknow people don't have anyone in
life that they can lean on,that can point them in the right
direction.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
And you know you'd be amazed.
Something as simple as a smilecan change a person's day.
I know If you're having a realbad day.
You know whatever's going onand you pull to the drive
through or your food and all ofthe person's like, hey, how you
doing?
And they have a genuinely goodsmile.
You can feel a good smileversus a fake smile, and you're
like, wow, okay, and all of asudden, for whatever reason, now

(42:54):
you feel good.
Yeah, and your whole day waschanged just like that.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
I know.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Just by someone showing some compassion.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
That's why anyone that ever comes to my comedy
shows I am not one of thecomedians that will like make
people feel like ugly or bad inthe audience.
If anything, I'm like oh mygosh, you guys are all so
attractive Like cause I alsothink if someone's like showing
up by themselves or everyone isinsecure how they look and like
they're not the ones on stage, Ithink a lot of people are just
nervous to even sit down andlike be in a crowd, you know

(43:24):
sometimes.
Be in a crowd, you knowsometimes.
And so I have some friends thatwill like actively be mean,
especially to men, about likehow they look and everything.
I think if someone hasn'tearned it yet, then I'm going to
never be mean first or, likeyou know, let them.
I just feel like we don't needto make people feel ugly, cause
I almost everyone I know alreadyhas like a whole bunch of
insecurities that they don'tneed Like oh yeah, and you know

(43:45):
the thing is, and I've alwayssaid this before, you don't know
what's going on in a person'slife.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah, and you know you saying something or treating
a person a certain way may pushthem over the edge in a bad way
, and you know exactly however,if they're piping up, then we
can smack them down if they askfor it, which I've had.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
A few people that are on the edge where I'm like.
I'm like, sir, don't, don'ttest me I hear you, I hear you.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
I have to admit I do kind of like it when hecklers
mess with the wrong comedian.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
I do love watching oh god, oh my god, I can't take it
, especially like.
I mean this is a whole other,separate podcast and
conversation, but like theretruly is nothing worse than like
a I mean, I love, I love girls,I'm a girl's girl, but like a
drunk woman that just like won'tshut the heck up is like so
unbelievably annoying.
I don't know why it annoys meso much, but it's just.

(44:39):
Even I had some of the othershow where she kept on saying
like and then what, and I'm likeI'm about to tell you next,
like, shut the hell up.
I always say to them like whatyou have to say is important,
just not for the next 12 minutes.
So you know, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Yeah, like I said, I've seen hecklers that have
pushed the limits with the wrongcomedians and they end up
becoming the show.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I know, I know and I can't.
I can't take that.
I think that I think it likeit's a misnomer, where people
think that, like, if they wantto be a comedian, one of the
ways is to shout out at theperson on stage.
But I'm like that couldn't befarthest from the truth and,
like every comedian hates that.
That's like the, that's theleast thing.
So, yeah, no-transcript.

(45:36):
American self-reported drinkingdown to 54 percent and now now
more people are thinking thatlike, ok, the studies are right
and moderate drinking even couldbe bad for your health.
This is, like you know, agrowing concern.
I think we used to think,growing up, like red wine is
good for us and like amoderation is good for us, but
now it's kind of turning outthat moderation might not even

(45:59):
be.
You know, like all alcohol ispoison, but I don't know, some
people are still continuing todrink.
I, I don't know.
What do you think like I, I seeboth.
I see it where lots of drunkpeople and like cocktails are
still a thing.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
But I also think, more especially out here in la,
like less and less people areare drinking you know, I think
that and I've actually said thisto my wife I am really shocked
that bars don't sell bottledwater they don't sell bottled
water.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
A lot of them sell bottled water.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
A lot of them don't.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Really that's crazy, Shocking.
So what if someone wants water?
They just have to pour it perperson.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
That's so weird.
And here's the thing I'm not abig fan of water being poured
because you don't know wherethat water is.
It may just be, straight tapwater and I don't drink tap
water in my own house.
Yeah, drink tap water and Idon't drink tap water in my own
house.
You know, yeah, yeah.
So to me if you would attractmore people if you ordered or
had bottled water and you alsohad non-alcoholic drinks,

(46:57):
because you know, a lot of yourfavorite cocktails can be made
non-alcoholic yeah, exactly likea pina colada stuff like that.
You can actually make thatnon-alcoholic.
Yeah, mocktails are good, andwhat happens is to me, you
actually bring in more peopleBecause you still have the
markups and margins and stufflike that.
Plus, if someone has a littlebit too much to drink, guess

(47:20):
what you can still drinksomething?

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
And not just sit there looking crazy, exactly.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Yep, yep, yeah, I think it's good and they said on
the study that beer is stilllike the most popular, which
kind of makes sense Cause,especially with sports and just
how much it goes along with likesome of the culture.
But I still every now and thenlike I am lucky in the way that
I don't, I don't have like anissue with it, but it definitely
I like like a cocktail of it.
It's kind of like a food thingthat goes along with a dinner.

(47:50):
I think less and less peopleAre wanting to just be at a club
and especially as you get older, I don't know a lot of 30s and
40 year olds that actively wantto hang out 24-7 at bars or
clubs.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah, I agree with you.
I mean, it kind of gets oldafter a while.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, and expensive, yes, very expensive.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
So no, I get it.
But you know, I mean, you know,it kind of gets old after a
while.
You know, yeah, inexpensive,yes, very expensive.
So no, I get it.
And I think A lot of bars needto really think about.
Hey, maybe, just maybe, if Isold bottled water and a bunch
of non-alcoholic drinks, I canbring in those people that used
to come in all the time.
And you know what, if you don'tfeel like you want an alcohol

(48:27):
drink, don't buy one here, buythis instead.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
Exactly, yep, I'm down with it.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
So, yeah, that's not surprising at all.
In fact, I have a bar in mybasement right now and my bar is
like totally packed because Irarely drink, you know.
Yeah, don't get me wrong.
You know I like a cocktail,like a beer, so often, but it's
so rare that I drink that my baris literally overstuffed pack.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
wow, you know what I mean my conspiracy theory as
well is that also our food withthe additives is making us also
so not feel well, that I thinkmaybe we would drink more if,
like we weren't also bogged downfrom little caesar's pizza and
like cereal and like I can't doall of it, I can't have
Cheesecake Factory and alcohol.
It's making me too sick.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
I totally understand that does make sense too.
But talking about somethingthat doesn't make sense, do you
remember Little Nas X?

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, I saw this.
This is crazy.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Yeah, did you see the story about what's going on
with him?

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Yes, A part of me was like is this a bit for a new
song or something?
I don't quite know, but itseems like it's real right.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
It was real.
Unfortunately, oh.
Just so people are aware, incase you don't know what me and
Merle was talking about.
Just so people are aware, incase you don't know what me and
Merle was talking about, lil NasX was recently videoed walking
down the street in his underwearand boots Literally that's all
he had on Yep.

(50:06):
He looked good, came on thescene how he's so successful.
He made some great songs andthen I don't know if it's just
me, but it seemed like hedisappeared for a while.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
And he was also admitted to a hospital for
possible drug overdose.
Now they didn't elaborate onwhat that meant, but obviously
something triggered them to dothat, because when I first saw
that video I'm thinking there'sone or two things happening

(50:38):
Either A unfortunately there'ssome drugs going on, or it could
be, you know, maybe it's amental breakdown.
You know, because it's notsomething that normally any
person would do, let alone him.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I know Fame like that seems very hard.
It doesn't seem to do well onpeople's mental health and then
when you mix that possibly withlike drugs and alcohol or you
know some type of substances, itseems to be a recipe for
disaster.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
I agree, I agree, and you know, the thing is I kind
of wonder what happened to him,because you know, again, he came
on real hard with his song.
I had a couple of other songsthat were really good songs.
After that I remember he gotawards, you know he was, you
know, playing live on TV andstuff like that.
Then literally it's likeovernight he was gone, just

(51:29):
nothing.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
I don't know.
Once again my conspiracytheorist.
I feel like it's an Illuminatihumiliation ritual.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
I remember there was one point where he bought some
Jordans and I guess hecustomized them.
It was a very demonic type.
I was a little disappointed inthat because that really kind of
I know I really was disturbedby that it was very demonic.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Well, I think that was even a lot of his videos and
stuff.
Like people that think thatwhat I think is crazy would
argue that he's almost likelaughing at it and part of it is
tongue in cheek and he's likein on the joke.
But I'd be like, okay, okay,but his joke is like that.
He's like sitting in thedevil's lap and like I don't
know why it's.
It's like weird to like makethe joke, like kind of your
whole stick or whatever.
So you know, of course this is,I'm a little bit into this

(52:19):
stuff, so this is just what Ilike sometimes think where I'm
like, oh okay, this makes sensethat like someone like that is
having a breakdown.
But who knows, we never knowanything.
Could you imagine just drivingdown the street, because where
that was?
I drive around that a lot and Icould just be like, okay,
there's Lil Nas X in hisunderwear.
It's kind of weird.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
Yeah, that's true.
And then as you're tellingsomeone, they're like stop it,
did you have something to drink?
Stop saying that.
No, seriously, I'm looking athim.
Yeah, stop it, did you havesomething to drink?
Stop saying that, no, seriously, I'm looking at him yeah.
I don't know.
One of the bad things about theentertainment industry is you
got to be around the rightpeople and you really have to
have your head on straight,because there is a lot of dark

(53:01):
spaces within the industry.
I know If you don't watch out,you can fall into those pits.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yep, Absolutely Wow.
I know If you don't watch outyou can fall into those pits?

Speaker 1 (53:11):
Yep, absolutely.
So I'm hoping that he gets thehelp that he needs whenever it
may be.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
I know Me too Well.
Something else that almost tookthe internet by storm was the
new Cracker Barrel logo sparkeda lot of backlash, as people say
that it is eroding nostalgia.
Now have you seen this new, thenew, not improved logo?
Yes, I have.

(53:36):
Okay, okay.
Well, you know it's kind of itremoved a lot of the soul of it,
like the barrel itself, likenow it looks just kind of looks
weird, I think it's now it'slike text only and people that
worry that it's a rebranding,showing that larger cultural
changes are happening.
I don't know how on earth likethis became a political thing as

(53:57):
well, like now.
I don't know what the Democratsversus Republican.
I don't know what my crackerbarrel taste is.
I just know that, like with, Idon't have a lot of thoughts on
it other than that, like from agraphics point of view, I'm a
purist.
I like the old version better.
I feel like a lot of the logochanges that I've seen with a
lot of stuff lately just seemsto take a weird turn.

(54:18):
But I thought there was nothingwrong with Cracker Barrel
before.
If it's not broke, don't fix it, kind of things.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
I think what they were trying to do is do some
rebranding, because over theyears Cracker Barrel has been
losing money yeah they're tryingto.
In my opinion, they're trying toget ahead of the situation
before it gets worse.
And you know a lot of peopledon't realize this.
I didn't realize this.
But you know a lot of peopledon't realize this, I didn't
realize this, but you knowthey've had the same logo for
over 50 years Really.

(54:49):
So maybe in their mind they'rethinking, hey, maybe we need to
upgrade because there have beencustomers that complain about it
being, you know, kind of rundown, looking, old fashioned
looking, and you know, yeah,that's what.
I like about it, though and youknow, the thing is is Is that
you can't please everyone.
You really can't.
I agree with you.

(55:12):
I have no idea how the logobecame Political.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Exactly, of course.
Why do we need two sides onlike everything?
It's so weird.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
I mean, I guess my biggest thing is Does the food
taste the same?

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Yeah, no, I looked and the closest Cracker Barrel
to me is 44 miles and I did lasttime when I was in San Antonio.
I can't tell you how excited Iwas to like eat inside a Cracker
Barrel and pay $12 for my likedinner salad and I had a
wonderful time.
But also it's a novelty whenyou're not like around lot.
I could see if that's like yourreal, actual restaurants, but

(55:48):
but I would think, just like howred lobster did you don't?
The logo is not like the mostimportant thing.
I think changing the menu,making making sure people know
like what you're going to getwhen you're there, is the most
important thing and you knowgetting on tick tock, you know
doing all those things no, Iagree with you, and you know.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
The thing is is that no?
I agree with you and you know,the thing is is that I I get the
nostalgic part of it, butcompanies rebrand all the time.
This isn't something totallynew I know, I know, I know yeah
and you know the thing is, theyshow one of the stores that they
did the update to and reallyall they really did was just put

(56:25):
a brighter paint on the walland, like you said, you took the
barrel and the guy off of thepicture, yeah, I mean this.
They really didn't dramaticallychange it either, you know I
know, I know I.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
And it's so funny how they people are saying the
rebrand is woke.
I'm just like.
I don't know how it's woke, butto me, just from like a like a
person that likes, that wouldlike the crackrel brand, it does
seem like a little bit lesshomey or whatever.
To me it just kind of seems alittle bit more sterile and just
more like whatever.
But I'm not going to lose mymind over it.

(56:56):
I feel like I would still go tothe restaurant.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
So you mean you won't stay away from it because the
logos no?

Speaker 2 (57:03):
I would go as long as it, unless they turn it into a
weird, different, like a wholeother thing.
But, um, yeah.
So what do you think, mary?
You think they're going to getover it?
I think people will still wantto go.

(57:24):
I just think the rebrand is badbecause it doesn't.
It doesn't make me feel the waythat, like Cracker Barrel make
usually makes me feel, you know,which is homey, kind of
connected to that.
I just think they don't do agood job.
It looks, it just looks odd.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Yeah.
I hear you, I hear you.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
I think it's a fail, but I wouldn't like, I don't.
I don't think it's a fail, butI wouldn't like.
I don't think it's a fail forthe reasons that are going in
the news right now.
I just think almost more likegraphics and like emotion wise,
it's a fail, not a politicalstatement.
What do you think?
Or you just think it's fine.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
I mean, when I looked at it I expected to see this
dramatic change.
But the changes they did, Icould see the nostalgia in it.
But I don't think it's reallyworth it, as many people get so
angry about it.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Yeah, I also think it's just threatening, because
maybe also so much likeeverything is changing so fast
and it's like last week wetalked about AOL going away and
it does feel like all the thingsthat we just kind of know and
love are getting changed andlike whether that's TV shows and
whether that's like restaurants, it's like we can't really have

(58:35):
anything anymore.
So I think that this symbolizeslike that type of thing for us.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
No, I hear you.
I hear you, and that does makesense.
Talk about TV.
My last topic is actually agreat one to talk about.
Do you remember the show theBiggest Loser?

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Yes, yep, it was crazy.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
Yes, well, netflix of course has a documentary about
it.
It's called Fit for TV, theReality of the Biggest Loser,
and some of the clips that cameout were, for example, this one
woman that was on there.
I think she was a formerofficer and she literally had to

(59:20):
put on weight before she couldget on the Biggest Loser.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Really.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Because she wasn't big enough.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
And then you know they were talking about all the
crazy things that they had to doduring the Biggest Loser, you
know, to compete, and a lot ofit was really not healthy stuff
they were doing.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
And they also showed some people, especially this one
gentleman who lost, I want tosay, over 270 pounds, a lot of
weight, and today he gainedevery pound of that back.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Really yeah.
So that just shows thatwhatever like mindset changes or
you know he couldn't make thelasting shifts.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Well, I think what it was, and my personal opinion is
it was done just for theratings.
Yeah, they didn't reallyaddress the human side of it,
because one of the things thatpeople have to understand is
diets are horrible.
Yeah, here's the reason whythey're horrible because you may

(01:00:20):
do something, you get theweight off and everything, but
the moment you change youreating habit stuff like that
you're probably going to gainweight back again.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
What you need to do is have a lifestyle change,
which is totally different.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
Exactly, yeah, like sustainable, which isn't good.
When you're competing to win,you know how many pounds you've
lost on the scale.
Also, that woman, jillianMichaels, that was on it has,
like I don't know what she does,but people have such bad things
to say about her, like Ihaven't followed it.

(01:00:52):
I like actively stay out of it.
I think that's her name, right,jillian.
Yeah, but like all I know, Itry to actively not pay
attention to it, but like all Iknow is that she does not have a
good reputation.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
She seems like very problematic oh my god, there's a
lot of people that really hateher I know, I know not dislike
hate yeah, for real, like shemust really not be great, but um
.
But yeah, the whole show isproblematic, you're right, and I
think that does seem unhealthy,where it's just trying to get
people to lose weight, like asquickly as possible, no matter

(01:01:21):
what it takes yeah, and theother thing too is it's really
not good on your body to to havea yo-yo type situation where
first you lose weight, then yougain, then you lose, then you
gain, then you lose, again yougain it.
That's.
That's not the sustainableresult at all either, and that
causes other issues besides theissue of, um, you know, just

(01:01:44):
losing the weight.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Yeah, yep, they need to combine Cracker Barrel and
the Biggest Loser and have acomeback.
You have to lose weight by onlyeating Cracker Barrel for three
months.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
You know, as crazy as that sounds, that's actually a
great idea.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Right, it'd be like every day you have an okra
sandwich or something.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, but I don't know greatidea.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Right, it'd be like every day you have like an okra
sandwich or something, and yeah,there you go.
Yeah, but um, I don't know, didyou like the show when it was
on?

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I didn't watch it at all.
Honestly, like I don't likeweight loss stuff.
For weight gaining stuff Idon't really care either way.
You know, like that's notsomething that like really
interests me.
I kind of like a feel of I findit like a little bit disgusting
to watch like, uh, peopleeither like gain or lose weight

(01:02:33):
or kind of you know.
I like yeah, I feel like,especially when that was when I
was a teenager, college student,so I just felt like I didn't
really, um, enjoy it that muchyeah, I have to admit I didn't
really watch it either, justbecause I did not like the way
people were talked to on thatshow.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Yeah, treat it.
To me it was for ratings and Iwasn't really fan of it because
it has to be a lifestyle thing,you know not.
Let's try and lose as muchweight as possible, let's do
whatever we need to do Because,again, the moment you go back to
changing your habits, you havea high, a high risk of getting

(01:03:07):
all that weight back and someextra.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Yeah, definitely, yep .

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
So now I agree with you I'm not a big fan of that
show either.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
No, but I probably will watch a documentary.
It's the same as like the fastfashion things where I'm like,
no, I didn't really shop at thisBrandy Millville, but I'm going
to watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
There you go, but talk about something fun to
watch.
What do you have coming up,meryl?

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Yay, let's see.
Monday September 1st oh, okay,no, I'm going to start now.
Okay, monday September 1st, Ihave a really fun show in
Sherman Oaks.
I think it's called like Jess'sJokes, my friend who's a really
great comedian, this woman,jessica Winter.
So that will be at a placecalled the Oaks in Sherman Oaks,

(01:03:50):
and it's so fun.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Nice.
Well, everyone out there.
If you're in the area,definitely go support Meryl.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Yes, and for people that are watching too, I'm
plugging my my very good friendBo, who's a DJ, dj man cat.
I'm wearing a DJ man Cat hattoday.
So if you're in San Diego andyou want a cool DJ, check out DJ
man Cat.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Ooh, nice, nice.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Some product placement here.
I will wear anyone's hat ifyou're my friend and talk about
your business for free, soperfect.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
There you go.
Well, this was a lot of fun.
We always enjoy having a goodtime.
Also, make sure that you tunein to watch us on
LRodTVNetworkcom.
Yes or you listen to us on allof the major streaming platforms
.
Just look for ThirstyConversations, I'm sorry.
Thirsty Topics, my mind isThirsty Topics is what you want

(01:04:44):
to look for and again, Iappreciate everyone's support.
I'm Lawrence Elgret.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
I'm Meryl Clemo.
Have a great day everyone.