March 3, 2026 • 9 mins
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and this is a conversation that can save lives while making you smile.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., but it’s also one of the most preventable with early screening. KFI’s own Bill Handel has been open about his health journey, and today we’re talking with him about why getting checked matters, what people over 45 need to know, and how a simple screening could make all the difference.
Don't forget to subscribe to Entertain Me and leave a review! Follow Heather on Instagram @theheatherbrooker.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to entertain Me. I'm your host, Heather Brooker.
This is a show where we cover all things entertainment,
from socou to the silver screen. But we're switching gears
a little bit this week. That's because March is Colon
Cancer Awareness Month and it's a conversation that can save lives.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths
in the US, but it's also one of the most
(00:23):
preventable with early screening. I personally have a deep connection
to colon cancer. That's because my great grandmother was diagnosed
with it twice and beat it twice. That's because she
got regular screamings and KFI Zone Bill Handle has been
very open about his health journey, and I can think
(00:44):
of no one more entertaining to talk to about why
getting checked matters and what people over forty five need
to know and how a simple screening can make all
the difference. I am joined right now by the Bill Handle,
who has been very open about his recent colonoscopies and
colon health, and there's really no one more entertaining who
(01:06):
I could think of a KFI here to come in
and chat with me about this.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hello, Bill Oh, thank you for that and hello Heather.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, So tell me why are you so open
on the air, especially about your colonoscopies. Why do you
like to share about that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, first of.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
All, I find colonoscopies incredibly entertaining just conceptually.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I mean, it's just fun. You know where they go,
what they do.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But also it's one of those medical procedures that is
so easy to do, relatively speaking, unless you know you
have something going up here. We're in like that, but
then they knock you out. So it really doesn't matter
because colon cancer. Look at the number of people have
died of colorectal cancer, and virtually all of them had
they gotten colonosopy's beforehand, it would have it would have
(01:50):
been caught, and it's easy to cure early stages. My
mother in law died of colon cancer and I saw
that happening and it was it was brutal, and I
you know me, I'm just open about everything.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So this is particularly particularly important.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So, as you mentioned, colon cancer is on the rise,
especially for younger adults under fifty. I want to ask you,
in particular, if you were king for a day, what
would you change about how we approach screening for colon
cancer in this country.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, I think what they're doing fiber king for the day,
follow what the medical experts are saying, and that is
the baseline it should be now down. I think it's
forty five to do your first colonoscopy. And then I
you know, I bought a coupon book and the first
ten I paid for and then I got a free one.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It's like a car wash if you get enough of them.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So I got my first one, and I think it
was in the old days, when I think I was
fifty five or sixty is when I had my baseline.
And I've been very lucky, lucky in this last one
I just got. They actually found some polyps, and of
course that's where you want to do and what you
want to do. You know, they have the doctor, you know,
take out the polish with that little still same device.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Why do you think there is still such a taboo
for people or like especially men in particular when it
comes to this particular screening.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Maybe it's the fact that there's a five foot piece
of hose that goes up your ass. Yeah, I think
there's a little bit of a taboo about it. Yes,
we're a little reluctant to number one. Eight one admit it.
Number two, God forbid enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Which of course no one does.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But there, you know, it's you're it's certain things are
just taboo, and you know that's just the way society rolls.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I also recently had one, and I remember I was
filling in for Amy on wake up call and you
very lovingly said you're gonna die, knowing that I was
very nervous about it, and you're like, you're probably not
going to wake up. Well I did, and I have
to say sorry to you. But I have to say,
after having that first one and having it done, it
takes away a lot of the fear and anxiety. And
(04:00):
I see now why people are like, oh, this is
not so bad. You know, the prep is probably the
worst part.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, that is horrible.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And they call that stuff go lightly, and you know, explain.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That to me.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It is nothing lightly, nothing light about it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And everybody says the prep is horrible, and it is.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I mean, you're drinking sixty four ounces a gallon of
this horrific tasting stuff, and then you know, obviously you
have to get you have to clean out your your
entirely digestive system and so that it literally cleans you out.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And they tell you just be near a bathroom.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
As far as I'm concerned, you're just better off going
in the backyard and having a hose in your hand.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Why bother.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
No, I had a different prep than you did. I
had gatorade. They gave me gatorade and mirrorlaxe, and I
made a giant jug of it.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And I drank this orange gatorade over the course of
like three hours, and then was just in the bathroom constantly.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Why can't do you? Why didn't you talk to my doctor?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know, but I've heard people have had the
jug of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Now where you put out, not.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
What I was put under. Yeah, they did under that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And I actually woke up at the end of the
procedure and I said something to them, and I remember
the doctor going, she's awake, and they were all like,
she's awake.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, you're not supposed to be. You're supposed to a
wake up in the recovery room. And what happens with
propofol is you don't remember anything, right, So all I
remember is getting on the table and the nurse going,
you know, move over to your side, and then gone.
And the next thing I did is wake up in
the recovery room.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So if anybody, and I know, you know, I don't
know if you feel like you are inspirational in any
way or encouraging of people in any way. I don't
know that people use that word to describe it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Bill, No, they don't use to describe me with the
words inspiration. No, that's just not a word that is
thrown around.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay, well I may use it. Let's say, let's say
encourage people to encourage them.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I joke around a lot about everything,
but there are certain things there, you know, you get
pretty serious about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And the colon aspy is it's going to.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Save your life, you know, So you spend an evening,
you know, you know, shitting your brains out.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm allowed to say that, right, You're allowed to say that,
and you know that's not particularly fun. But then you
go in. The procedure is literally nothing.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You you have to wear the gown of course backwards
because they need access to your ass, and then you
you know, it goes over and it's done, and then
you're totally there.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And if you do have God forbid colon cancer.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Chances are it's caught early enough, because that's one hundred
percent success rate.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Catching it later on you're screwed.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And that's what is great about that test is that
they can, like you said, remove polyps right then and
there during the test. They can also if there's they
see anything unusual, they can take a sample of it
and ship it off and get it and analyzed. So
it's it's very you leave either feeling, you know, relieved
that it's over and you have some answers, or you
know you now are prepared in case there's a next step.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, did you see did they show you the picture?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Doesn't it look like the inside of a Japanese paper lantern?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
It does it?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Does?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
They gave me a whole sheet of paper with a
color printing of every angle, and I was like wow.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
When I uh, and there's something because you weren't around then,
but early days of this radio show, I've been doing
mine for over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We used to have events.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And we would make some kind of a promotional piece,
a T shirt or a bug. And one year, the
first after the first Kolonosky we had, I had t
shirts made and Neil Savada actually made them with the
picture of Mike Colon on the T shirt, you know,
the six photos showing and that was it.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It was you know, it was my colon.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And did you pass them ount to people as everybody?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, we had hundreds and hunters made. Yeah, I
still have some in the garage.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
I think I love it well as I expect.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Did you bring the most entertaining and informative take on everything?
And I hope in some way people are encouraged, not inspired,
but encouraged to go and get their early screening this month.
Bill Handle, you are amazing. Thank you for your time.
Everybody Bill Handles show. Everyone knows when it is, but
I will still say when it is Monday through Friday,
starting at six o'clock with Handle on the News, and
(08:22):
then on Saturdays I get to be with you for
Handle on the Law, which I enjoy very much.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, it's go crazy with people. I love it though,
I love it people radiots. That's something that makes it
so wonderful.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Anyway, thank you, and this is a great information that
you're giving and hopefully it saves lives or not.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Maybe you're just gonna die if you don't do it.
But that's okay too.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
All Right, thanks, you got it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You can say a lot of things about Bill Handle,
but one thing you can never say is that he
doesn't hold back. I want to thank Bill for taking
the time to be on my show, and I want
to thank you for listening. Remember, you can listen to
entertain Me anywhere. You get your podcast. Make sure you
subscribe to the show, maybe even share it with a
friend or two. You can listen anywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to entertain Me. I'm your host, Heather Brooker.
This is a show where we cover all things entertainment,
from socou to the silver screen. But we're switching gears
a little bit this week. That's because March is Colon
Cancer Awareness Month and it's a conversation that can save lives.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths
in the US, but it's also one of the most
(00:23):
preventable with early screening. I personally have a deep connection
to colon cancer. That's because my great grandmother was diagnosed
with it twice and beat it twice. That's because she
got regular screamings and KFI Zone Bill Handle has been
very open about his health journey, and I can think
(00:44):
of no one more entertaining to talk to about why
getting checked matters and what people over forty five need
to know and how a simple screening can make all
the difference. I am joined right now by the Bill Handle,
who has been very open about his recent colonoscopies and
colon health, and there's really no one more entertaining who
(01:06):
I could think of a KFI here to come in
and chat with me about this.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hello, Bill Oh, thank you for that and hello Heather.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
All right, So tell me why are you so open
on the air, especially about your colonoscopies. Why do you
like to share about that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, first of.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
All, I find colonoscopies incredibly entertaining just conceptually.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I mean, it's just fun. You know where they go,
what they do.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But also it's one of those medical procedures that is
so easy to do, relatively speaking, unless you know you
have something going up here. We're in like that, but
then they knock you out. So it really doesn't matter
because colon cancer. Look at the number of people have
died of colorectal cancer, and virtually all of them had
they gotten colonosopy's beforehand, it would have it would have
(01:50):
been caught, and it's easy to cure early stages. My
mother in law died of colon cancer and I saw
that happening and it was it was brutal, and I
you know me, I'm just open about everything.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So this is particularly particularly important.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So, as you mentioned, colon cancer is on the rise,
especially for younger adults under fifty. I want to ask you,
in particular, if you were king for a day, what
would you change about how we approach screening for colon
cancer in this country.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, I think what they're doing fiber king for the day,
follow what the medical experts are saying, and that is
the baseline it should be now down. I think it's
forty five to do your first colonoscopy. And then I
you know, I bought a coupon book and the first
ten I paid for and then I got a free one.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It's like a car wash if you get enough of them.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So I got my first one, and I think it
was in the old days, when I think I was
fifty five or sixty is when I had my baseline.
And I've been very lucky, lucky in this last one
I just got. They actually found some polyps, and of
course that's where you want to do and what you
want to do. You know, they have the doctor, you know,
take out the polish with that little still same device.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Why do you think there is still such a taboo
for people or like especially men in particular when it
comes to this particular screening.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Maybe it's the fact that there's a five foot piece
of hose that goes up your ass. Yeah, I think
there's a little bit of a taboo about it. Yes,
we're a little reluctant to number one. Eight one admit it.
Number two, God forbid enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Which of course no one does.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But there, you know, it's you're it's certain things are
just taboo, and you know that's just the way society rolls.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I also recently had one, and I remember I was
filling in for Amy on wake up call and you
very lovingly said you're gonna die, knowing that I was
very nervous about it, and you're like, you're probably not
going to wake up. Well I did, and I have
to say sorry to you. But I have to say,
after having that first one and having it done, it
takes away a lot of the fear and anxiety. And
(04:00):
I see now why people are like, oh, this is
not so bad. You know, the prep is probably the
worst part.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, that is horrible.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And they call that stuff go lightly, and you know, explain.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That to me.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It is nothing lightly, nothing light about it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And everybody says the prep is horrible, and it is.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I mean, you're drinking sixty four ounces a gallon of
this horrific tasting stuff, and then you know, obviously you
have to get you have to clean out your your
entirely digestive system and so that it literally cleans you out.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And they tell you just be near a bathroom.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
As far as I'm concerned, you're just better off going
in the backyard and having a hose in your hand.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Why bother.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
No, I had a different prep than you did. I
had gatorade. They gave me gatorade and mirrorlaxe, and I
made a giant jug of it.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And I drank this orange gatorade over the course of
like three hours, and then was just in the bathroom constantly.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Why can't do you? Why didn't you talk to my doctor?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know, but I've heard people have had the
jug of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Now where you put out, not.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
What I was put under. Yeah, they did under that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And I actually woke up at the end of the
procedure and I said something to them, and I remember
the doctor going, she's awake, and they were all like,
she's awake.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, you're not supposed to be. You're supposed to a
wake up in the recovery room. And what happens with
propofol is you don't remember anything, right, So all I
remember is getting on the table and the nurse going,
you know, move over to your side, and then gone.
And the next thing I did is wake up in
the recovery room.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So if anybody, and I know, you know, I don't
know if you feel like you are inspirational in any
way or encouraging of people in any way. I don't
know that people use that word to describe it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Bill, No, they don't use to describe me with the
words inspiration. No, that's just not a word that is
thrown around.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay, well I may use it. Let's say, let's say
encourage people to encourage them.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I joke around a lot about everything,
but there are certain things there, you know, you get
pretty serious about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And the colon aspy is it's going to.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Save your life, you know, So you spend an evening,
you know, you know, shitting your brains out.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm allowed to say that, right, You're allowed to say that,
and you know that's not particularly fun. But then you
go in. The procedure is literally nothing.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You you have to wear the gown of course backwards
because they need access to your ass, and then you
you know, it goes over and it's done, and then
you're totally there.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And if you do have God forbid colon cancer.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Chances are it's caught early enough, because that's one hundred
percent success rate.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Catching it later on you're screwed.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And that's what is great about that test is that
they can, like you said, remove polyps right then and
there during the test. They can also if there's they
see anything unusual, they can take a sample of it
and ship it off and get it and analyzed. So
it's it's very you leave either feeling, you know, relieved
that it's over and you have some answers, or you
know you now are prepared in case there's a next step.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, did you see did they show you the picture?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Doesn't it look like the inside of a Japanese paper lantern?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
It does it?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Does?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
They gave me a whole sheet of paper with a
color printing of every angle, and I was like wow.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
When I uh, and there's something because you weren't around then,
but early days of this radio show, I've been doing
mine for over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We used to have events.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
And we would make some kind of a promotional piece,
a T shirt or a bug. And one year, the
first after the first Kolonosky we had, I had t
shirts made and Neil Savada actually made them with the
picture of Mike Colon on the T shirt, you know,
the six photos showing and that was it.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It was you know, it was my colon.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And did you pass them ount to people as everybody?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, we had hundreds and hunters made. Yeah, I
still have some in the garage.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
I think I love it well as I expect.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Did you bring the most entertaining and informative take on everything?
And I hope in some way people are encouraged, not inspired,
but encouraged to go and get their early screening this month.
Bill Handle, you are amazing. Thank you for your time.
Everybody Bill Handles show. Everyone knows when it is, but
I will still say when it is Monday through Friday,
starting at six o'clock with Handle on the News, and
(08:22):
then on Saturdays I get to be with you for
Handle on the Law, which I enjoy very much.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, it's go crazy with people. I love it though,
I love it people radiots. That's something that makes it
so wonderful.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Anyway, thank you, and this is a great information that
you're giving and hopefully it saves lives or not.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Maybe you're just gonna die if you don't do it.
But that's okay too.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
All Right, thanks, you got it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
You can say a lot of things about Bill Handle,
but one thing you can never say is that he
doesn't hold back. I want to thank Bill for taking
the time to be on my show, and I want
to thank you for listening. Remember, you can listen to
entertain Me anywhere. You get your podcast. Make sure you
subscribe to the show, maybe even share it with a
friend or two. You can listen anywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
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