Metro’s “Drop in Violence,” the Passing of Bob Newhart & MORE

ICYMI: Hour Two of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Another look at the reported “drop in violence” on LA Metro…PLUS – Thoughts on the passing of television icon Bob Newhart AND the true impact of SpaceX moving from Hawthorne to Texas - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
You know, when you're doing radio, when you're a talk radio host,
most of the time, you're nottalking to thousands of people. No,
No, you're just talking to afew people, like I see Steph and
I see Mark. I can seeTuala. But I'm imagining talking to you

(00:25):
right now in your car. I'mimagining you listening on iHeartRadio. Maybe you're
in the gym, working out,maybe you're you know, getting ready for
bed, having your shower or something, you know, because it's a little
bit later than usual. But Ican't see you. So I'm always surprised
when I hear from certain people whowere listening. I mean, in the

(00:47):
abstract, I know you're listening,but sometimes I'm kind of shocked when I
hear back from specific people. TodayI got an email from Metro. I
got an email from La Metro.They were listening last night. Now I
know that they've been listening, butyou know, to get an actual response.

(01:12):
Oh, y'all the messed up.Now now that I have your undivided
attention. La Metro was complaining abouthow I laid out the story about North
Hollywood station which saw forty percent dropin violent incidents. That's the freaking headline,

(01:33):
okay, from the story. Allof my information came directly from the
story, and it seems some personin an administrative position over at Metro will
not use the person's name, reachedout to me on behalf of Metro and
said I had some of my factswrong and wanted to correct me, and
wanted me to, I guess,do some sort of retraction or correction on

(01:56):
air. No, sir, no, sir. I politely emailed him back
and pointed him to the podcast whichhad all the information that he said I
left out because I remember what Isaid. I was there when I said
it, and I even listened tothe podcast again to confirm that I said
it. No response from him eversince I sent the podcast to him,

(02:17):
but evidently he is of the opinion. I don't want to speak for him,
but I could tell from the tenorof the email that he thought that
I was unfair to Metro, thatmaybe I was hyperbolic, maybe I was
exaggerating the amount of crime which washappening, not only on that one specific
line. He thought that I wasn'tclear in the story that I didn't make

(02:39):
it clear. It was that redline that I think as they call it.
I don't know what they call itnow, but when I was writing,
it was called the red line whichstops in North Hollywood. I made
it clear it was just that oneline. He thought I didn't get the
story right. Well, let meknow if that's the only thing that you're
going to complain about, because I'munder the impression I've been talking about La

(03:00):
Metro for the past year and ahalf and this is the first damn time
I've heard from y'all, and theonly thing you want to complain about is
the latest story that I did yesterday. Is that what you want to complain
about. You didn't have anything tosay about the ambassadors that I talked about.
You didn't have anything to say aboutthe bus drivers getting ass whooped.
You didn't have anything to say aboutthe train operator who might have been stabbed.

(03:21):
You didn't have anything to say aboutthe woman who unfortunately was murdered.
You said nothing about that you wantedto talk about. Excuse me, sir,
there's some things that you didn't havecorrect in your most recent story.
We just want to point it outand being wrong about that. You were
wrong about me being wrong. Youhad nothing to say about the actual people
who were being hurt every single dayon Metro. And I just want to

(03:44):
go very quickly through history, justvery quickly, since Elliott Metro is listening
right now, and I want tobe sure that you're sure I'm aware of
the amount of violent incidents across Metro. I'm not going to limit myself to
just one line. When I talkabout La Metro. I'm talking about the
totality of it. I'm talking aboutbuses, and I'm talking about trains,

(04:08):
I'm talking about platforms, I'm talkingabout employees. All of this is connected.
So let me just go up tomaybe, I don't know, a
few weeks ago, and I mighthave missed some stuff because everyone's getting hurt
on Metro just about every damn day, So excuse me if I leave some
victims out. January fourth, anLAPD officer was treated for a lake injury

(04:30):
after allegedly being attacked at a Metrostation in North Hollywood. You know,
the same North Hollywood station I wastalking about last night. A suspect was
later arrested. February twenty second,Daryl Winborne sixty two died after authorities say
he was pepper sprayed by another manaboard a Metro bus in Korea Town.
March twentieth, a man allegedly hijackeda Metro bus and threatened the driver with

(04:51):
a gun and turned out to befake, which authorities say cause the bus
to crash into several parked cars andthe Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown La.
April second, Metro closed down anA line station in Huntington Park so law
enforcement could investigate the alleged assault ofa man as he was leaving the station.
He suffered serious injuries and was rushedto a nearby hospital. Metro,

(05:13):
are you still listening? Just wantto make sure I still have your attention.
April thirteenth, an elderly man ridinga bus in Silver Lake was stabbed
by another passenger after they got intoan argument. The suspect was arrested and
the victim was treated on the localhospital. That was on April thirteenth.
Also on April thirteenth, in SouthLA's Wilbrook neighborhood, a man allegedly began
yelling at a Metro bus driver whenthe driver stopped the bus. The police

(05:38):
said the man then punched him inthe face and stabbed him in the chest.
The driver jumped off the bus andwas able to get away. That
was on April thirteenth. April seventeenth, as a metro bus traveled through Santa
Monica, a man allegedly kicked inthe door of the bus and attacked the
driver. Are you picking up thetheme here? April twenty second, miRNA

(05:59):
aren't ras X seven was stabbed inthe throat and killed in a sudden,
unprovoked attack. That trial continues rightnow. April twenty sixth, an argument
broke out on a metro bus inSouth la and the driver ordered the passengers
to get off. Once off,one person stabbed the other person several times
with a knife. May seventh,a metro train rider was shot dead and

(06:23):
a security guard was stabbed following aviolent encounter in East Hollywood. According to
police, a pair of security guardschased down the rider after he allegedly pulled
the train's emergency brake and got off. They ran after him and pepper sprayed
him at the Metro B Line station, and that's when the man allegedly pulled
out a knife and stabbed one ofthem in the leg May seven. May

(06:45):
thirteenth, an altercation on a metrobus in Glendale spilled into the street and
led to two people being stabbed.After the driver ordered the group to get
off the bus. Another two peoplewere arrested. That was also on May
thirteenth, a woman was stabbed insidean elevator at the Green Line metro station

(07:05):
near South Vermont Avenue in South lanot too far from where I live.
May fourteenth. The next day,a man police described as homeless allegedly attacked
another rider with a wrench aboard ametro bus in Encina. The suspect slammed
the wrench into the victim's chest afterstealing their cell phone. May sixteenth,

(07:27):
This is all within the course oftwo days. Juan Luis Gomez Ramirez was
shot and killed while riding a metrobus in Commerce. He was going home
from a new job at a packingwarehouse. The suspected gunman sat behind Gomez
Ramirez after getting on the bus andallegedly later following him to the exit.
Then he shot him in the head. May twenty, first deputies responded to

(07:51):
a stabbing reported on a metro busin Lynwood. June twenty first, Juan
Garcia thirty eight, was on anE Line Metro train at a South Los
Angeles station and West Adams when authoritiessay someone on the platform approached him as
the train was leaving and shot himin the head. So, La Metro,
if you would like to reach outto me again and correct me on

(08:11):
any of this information of the extensiveviolence on La Metro buses, trains and
platforms, you know how to findme. And thank you for continuing to
listen to Later with Mo Kelly.You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on
demand from KFI AM six forty Hometo Emily. A lot of people may

(08:35):
not know the actual name of thesong with the name of the song Home
to Emily written by the late artistPatrick Williams, and it also was the
theme to The Bob Newhart Show,one of my favorite shows as a kid.
And if there's anything that I canappreciate about the now late Bob Newhart

(08:56):
was his uncanny ability to find humorlaugh out loud humor by saying nothing at
all. He found the funny inthe silence. He found the funny in
not saying anything and letting the jokejust sort of hang out there, and

(09:16):
it was something that wasn't done,and I don't think it was actually appreciated.
In fact, I know it wasn'tappreciated. It's mind blowing to me
to think that he did not winan Emmy for any of his best work.
He won an Emmy in twenty thirteenfor Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy
Series for an appearance on The BigBang Theory. How he got overlooked for

(09:39):
all of his great work for TheBob Newhart Show or New Heart. I
have no freaking idea. And didyou know this? He only won one
Emmy but he won three Grammys.How in the hell is that even possible?
Have you not heard his comedy album? No, no, no,
no, Not that he won threeGrammys, but his television work wasn't equally

(10:03):
lauded. No, I get yourpoint, But this is a good occasion
to remind everybody to hear those becausethey're laugh out loud funny and you can
find all that stuff on YouTube,and a lot of them are his one
sided phone calls. I'll admit toyou that I was too young to appreciate
his humor when his show was on, When when I was a kid,
and I think it ages tremendously wellbecause of how smart it was. It

(10:26):
ages tremendously well. And it wasmy father part of it, because my
father loved the Bob Newhart theme,and that's part of the reason why I
let it play so long, becauseit's something I played when I was in
stage band at Cali Mayor Middle Schoolback in the you know, prehistoric era,
like nineteen eighty. I think itwas, so I always had an

(10:48):
appreciation for the theme and through thetheme. I discovered the show watching it
in the mid to late nineteen seventies. And I didn't get all of that
obviously as a kid, because Icouldn't understand the finer points of deadpan humor,
right, But then you get olderand then you realize, oh,
this guy is hilarious, hilarious,And I think part of the secret was

(11:09):
he surrounded himself with the kooks andhe was the reactor. Well, I
don't know. I know, Ihaven't told us on the air. If
we do something that's funny here onthis show, and every once in a
while we managed to be funny.I tell people, someone will hit me
on social media say, you knowthat was really funny. And I explained
to them, well, it worksbecause there's a formula, like if we're

(11:31):
talking about Tuwala and his conspiracy theories, someone has to be the straight guy.
Not everyone can try to be funnyat the same time. And I
would say that's a direct reflection ofthe type of humor that Bob Newhart would
do. He wasn't trying to befunny. He was letting the funny just
kind of hang out there, andhe would say, look, it's funny

(11:52):
over here. He didn't have tosay it. It could be his facial
expression, it could be a pregnantpause, it could be a way where
he seemingly struggled to find the words. It was all intentional, but that
was the subtlety in his comedic genius. You can't have a whole cast that's
nothing, but mooks. You gottahave it. You gotta have it straight

(12:13):
man. Right, did you havea favorite? Sorry? No, no,
sorry, I was getting ready togo there. I was wondering if
you had a favorite episode because allday I've been thinking about the one where
Bob and his uh and and Howardand the other guy getting drunk and order
Chinese food. That one in thereis the infamous Thanksgiving episode. Why don't
we set up for some Chinese food? Guys, Oh, I got a

(12:35):
number of a great little Chinese bro. Let's call him. It's the laundry
man. Why don't we set offfor some pizza? Do you want to
say pizza? You said, PiaHoward? Is this the house of I'd

(13:00):
like to order some Chinese bood?What do you want? A hard one's
pizza? You know what the googoole guy? Pat did it? Did
you hear what Howard wanted? Moveoguy? That's when I want to doctor

(13:20):
Joe Robinson wants Google back and more. Move move he was this? Is
that? No? He said,Google? Google? You Goo Goo Google.
That's right, he said, movego Google. Maybe I'm ordering Chinese
baby food? Why are you betterget them paper up chicks? You have

(13:50):
my chicken next, I'll love thesweet and sour for it? Tick up
your mind, mister card Okay,I'll have themo guy. Pat is is

(14:18):
Bob Hartley, It says in thebook Bob Harley dure we are period,
Thank you very much. Yeah,there's no one like Bob Newhart in today's

(14:46):
world of comedy. The subtlety,the facial expressions, and you could be
funny without being ridiculous, And thesubtleties of what he would do is so
underappreciated. Clearly the television Academy couldn'tappreciate him as well as I think he
should have been appreciated. Don't tellme that his performances were only worth one

(15:09):
Emmy forty five years after his heyday. Let's pause to note that you and
I both zeroed in on the MogouGoogu episode. Right, That is hilarious,
But ninety four years old, thatis a long run. That's a
good run. No, he didn'tget cheated in that regard. Bob Newhart
gone at the age of ninety four, and we shall miss him. You're

(15:31):
listening to Later with Moe Kelly ondemand from KFI AM six forty. And
before we get out of here,there is one story I want to comment
on because I feel like it's notbeing reported correctly by now. You've heard
about SpaceX and how Elon Musk haspublicly said that he's going to move SpaceX

(15:52):
to Texas. And I think aboutthis because SpaceX is in Hawthorn, and
I drive by this maybe once aweek because I usually get food in Hawthorne
once a week, so I'll driveby SpaceX and I know, Stephan,
you're in that area. You knowexactly what I'm talking about, right off
of like Crenchaw or so, yeah, it's off the one five. I

(16:14):
passed it every single day, rightlike if I'm going over to Target over
there, that's where I usually goand I'll pass SpaceX. The reason I
bring this up it's a it's amassive complex and it's not something you can
just hear some news on Tuesday anddecide to pick up and move the family
on Wednesday. When you're talking abouta major aerodynamic rocket company, it's it's

(16:37):
the logistics of that would have tobe tremendous. I don't know if Elon
Musk is serious. It could havebeen he had already planned this, he
had already put these steps in motionmonths ago, years ago, and then
decided to announce it on the heelsof Gavin Newsom announcing the law regarding transgiend

(17:00):
rights. It could have been connected, it could have been disconnected. I
suspect that is probably not connected.I don't believe as mercurial as we would
like to make Elon Musk out tobe as flighty and whimsical as we want
to make him out to be.This is a guy who probably is serious

(17:21):
about some things. And I don'tknow if he's just going to pick up
and move a company which is atremendous financial, financial consideration and commitment on
a whim because he didn't like somethingthat happened in the news. I just
don't think that we're talking about aone million square foot campus, and it's

(17:42):
just it's more than just administration workers. It's a production phelicy excuse me,
a production facility for their rockets.Moving this base would obviously disrupt production productivity
and their timeline of deliverables. Idon't think that this is something which would

(18:03):
have been done on a whim.And no one moves a company a manufacturing
facility just like this because they're madat a politician. Now, he could
have been mad at Gavin Newsom formonths. He could have been planning this
for quite some time and then hejust wanted to tie it to that public
announcement. I don't think so.I don't think so that's a humongous move

(18:29):
to make. No I know youwant to say this is the last straw,
that's it. I'm moving, andthat sounds good because you're also at
the same time announcing that you're goingto be donating ungodly amounts of millions of
dollars to Trump, and it soundsgood to tie you to your Republican beliefs,
and you're pushing the whole power ofX behind Trump. So all that
tying in together, to me isjust pomping circumstances. Like this move is

(18:53):
something that was probably going to happenanyway, because if we remember, he
talked about the move while around thesame time that Disney was talking about making
this big move to Florida. Yeah, so this is like, yeah,
dude, we knew you were gonnado that. Yeah, this is something
that one has probably has nothing todo with the other. Because SpaceX has

(19:15):
a responsibility of some seven thousand jobs, sixteen percent of the employment total employment
in the city of Hawthorne. Youcan't move all these facilities, all this
production, and all this human capitalon a whim and keep everything smoothly.

(19:37):
But you have to you have torelocate all these employees. It's not like
you want to say, hey,you can come with us or quit.
It's not that easy, you know. You're talking about a lot of engineers,
You're talking about a lot of nopun intended moving parts to move a
campus and operation of this size fromCalifornia to Texas. I'm not saying he's
not going to do it. I'mnot saying that he isn't isn't serious.

(20:00):
I'm saying that if he's really goingto do it, this was already in
the works. The logistics of itwas already in motion months ago. You
don't wake up and look at thenews and say, oh my gosh,
I can't believe that Gavin Newsom isdoing this. You know what effort.
I'm taking everything. I'm taking allmy marbles and seven thousand employees and all

(20:21):
my manufacturing and all my facilities weremoving to Texas. Now that's impossible.
Know, if he did that,do you know the impact on just the
company and the faith and trust inhim and his decision making. People would
be quitting like you mean and right? Yeah so again? And also contractually,
I don't know if you can dothat with all of his his talent,

(20:42):
because people have individual contracts where youyes, you know, you just
can't pick a move. Oh,absolutely absolutely. I love that the timing
of this. It worked in hisfavor. He is always taking some dig
at California, Southern CALIFORNI even northernCalifornia. Fine, we get it,

(21:03):
Musk. You've hated California for thelongest, and when you first reported moving
I believe even then we said bye, right, it's gonna hurt Hawthorne.
I don't know how much it's gonnahurt California big picture, when you're talking
about the fifth largest economy in theworld. I just want to put that
out there because sometimes people are soquick to just believe whatever is put forth

(21:26):
when it doesn't make sense on anylevel. Hell if I decided to move
my house tomorrow because of something Isaw on the news, that's logistically not
a thing. You just can't dothat. And then you want to talk
about a company of some seven thousandemployees, and he has a timeline that
he has to deliver these rockets andalso a launch schedule for his rockets.

(21:51):
It's not that easy. All I'msaying is keep watching the story and see
if it actually turns out the waythat it's been originally presented. So we'll
see you tomorrow for a fabulous Friday. We're gonna have all sorts of fun.
We're gonna tell you about some tickets, so we're gonna be giving away
to the Hollywood Bowl and Barbie nextweek as well. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. The news isan updated to refresh. K F I

(22:15):
M the K O S T eh D two Los Angeles, Orange County
Live everywhere on the radio.