Country crooner and Academy Award winner Zach Bryan released a country song about ICE, and he’s divided opinion. The Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia hosted a number of high-profile comics including Dave Chappelle, while other comics like Shane Gillis turned down the money due to the nation’s human rights abuses. Thoughts and prayers for great American cultural icon and national treasure Dolly Parton, who is suffering health issues. Silcon Valley scientist Dr. Fred Ramsdell was off the grid on a camping vacation when he received his nomination for the Nobel Prize after his wife finally got cell service on the Montana campground. America has become one of the most unwelcoming countries for... tourists.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Does the song have to say in it?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
No, it's just the instrumental No no, no, no, no, no, Nikki,
the one that we've got here for Zach Bryan.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Does it say effort?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I've removed the Okay, thank.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You for doing this. That's good producing.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I try.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You may have just saved Sam's job.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Oh I think I saved my job too by removing it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That's I mean, basically, it's a two for one job
saving kind of thing by not having an effort.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I did leave in the word cocky, but I made
sure that that's fine. I know, but I accidentally removed
the E on the end, and so.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I stop it. Stop it, always pushing the envelope? Aren't
you trying?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Always going down there? I'm Chris Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
If I am six what You can listen anytime on
demand of the iHeart Radio app. Grammy Award winning singer
Country singer Zach Bryan is taking a swipe at raids
by US immigration and customers of Enforcement with a teaser
of his new song that inserts himself into the political
debate that has divided the nation. That from ABC. All right,
so I gotta hear this.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
All I did was just see that it was a song,
and so I haven't. I haven't sampled this. Nikki said,
did you listen to all the work that I did?
And I said no.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
She said, well I remove the swear words. I said,
I hope.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Didn't we come deader in jail from that of tambos
and giving a sale?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I got some bed.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We'll commission you.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Sounds like a love song.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
My friends who.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Wrote the generation, they're all I got the generational story
of dropping the plot. I heard the cops came COCU,
tain't they? And I is gonna come to s down
here in dorm, trying to build a house on builds
no more.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I gotta telephone.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Kids are all.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Scarning all along. That is brooding. I'm gonna call that brooding.
I'm seeing brooding.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
The boss stop bumping the rocks, start rolling the middle
things rousing, and it won't stop showing us some bad news.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Could say, not a real wife? Is he gonna get
Dixie chicked? Anybody hard to say. I'd never heard of
this guy before today. No, Zach Brand's a pretty big name.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
It doesn't sound like country music to me, though country
music is.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Kind of anything you wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Now, I guess as long as you sang it like that,
you see, you could do counter music can just work
on more of your Southern American accent. I don't think
it's so rom I'm wow like going palm.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Like Nicole's X, so maybe it could work it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, teith uh So Anyway, this dude h has divided
opinion on social media. Right leaning fans calling out his
perceived criticist of President Donald Trump's unprecedented raids on undocumented immigrants,
those left leaning are praising his stance. All right here,
let me see, here's the uh. We got some lyrics here,
and Ice is gonna come bust down your door. Try
(03:13):
to build a house. No one builds no more. Huh,
but I got a telephone. Kids are all scared and
all alone.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Brian is the US Navy veteran. He's from Oklahoma. He's
not doing fine, not doing okay. He began recording posting
videos of himself playing this original songs on YouTube twenty seventeen.
It's going to become one of country music's hottest draws.
That according to ABC OH, CNN Wire and ABC seven.
Posting the CNN wire So uh oh, actually they mentioned
(03:48):
the Chicks here. Navigating progressive politics has long been a
commercially treacherous act for country stars, who risk alienating their
conservative fan base. In two thousand and three, the Dixie
Chicks known as The Chicks now known as The Chicks
faced backlash within the industry for their comments about former
President George W.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Bush and the Iraq War.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
If you recall, they said, but they said they were
ashamed that he came from Texas? Am I am?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I getting that pretty close? Ark.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Do you remember the story from I don't remember the
pre killers, but I remember they were against the war,
and history kind of vindicated them.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Did they did? You're right, it took a while. I
mean they were, they were hurting for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean they got pulled from a bunch of country station,
I think almost every country station in the in the nation.
But if you're out of the in the head of
the pack on something like that, you're going to take
your lumps.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah you are. And then later on they're like, oh,
look they did great. Look there they were.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Actually you know, I'm not going to say that they
were right or wrong, but people went they shouldn't have
been canceled, right, But then all of a sudden they go, yeah,
but that doesn't really make up for the millions of
dollars they lost out on from their record sales or
CD sales and uh uh touring the monies.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So yeah, lost out on that.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
What they said wasn't that bad either. Apparently one of
them said, we do not want this war, this violence,
and we're a shame that the President of the United
States is from Texas.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
But remember though, Nikki, that in two thousand and three,
we had just gotten into these wars and we were
still we were still smarting from nine to eleven. And
so there was this there was this overwhelming patriot or
else type of attitude, like you're either with us or
against us, similar to what we see in politics today.
(05:32):
But this felt this felt more mark. How would you
describe were, Sam, how would you describe it? It felt more well,
it was a real rally around the flag moment. Yeah,
and even just cold factual reporting that contradicted the official
version was a lot of the time suppressed. I had
stories of my own suppressed, Is that right? Yeah, just
like this is what's you know? Here is the body count? No, no, no, no,
(05:55):
We don't want you wanted to hear anything that wasn't
rah rah rah kill them all. We don't want to
say that there were you know, one hundred and eighty
three civilians killed in the bombing.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
We want to hear only.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That those sobs in a rock and Afghanistan got what's
coming to him. In retrospect, maybe we should have not
invaded the wrong country. But you know, what's done is
done by gones moving forward. Josh, you shushed with you,
you shushed with you and all that. It was an
opportunity to go. I believe in George W. Bush's case,
(06:25):
what did he say he was going to go finish
what his daddy started. Well, he said that, and if
you remember, they kept changing the rationales for the invasion.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, they were behind that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Eleven weapons of mass destruction, human rights violations, yeah, all those,
yeah yeah. So it wound up being about a half
dozen different reasons in sequence.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
But ultimately he was really, I'm gonna go finish when
my daddy started.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Also, oil, stop it. I'm so tired of hearing that
oil is the reason for us being involved in the
Middle East.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Are you telling me we have no other interest?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In the Middle East that, for instance, we are you
telling me we don't care about the human rights in
Saudi Arabia. Let me get back to you on that.
Of course we do, Mark, I'm just reporting what I know.
Look at how much we stand up for the oppressed
women of Saudi Arabia. It has nothing to do with
the oil. We spent a lot of time standing up
for people in Syria and Saudi Arabia, in Iraq, other places.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
We do all that. It's all for that.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Did you just get back from that comedy thing and
you re odd? Is that where this step? Boy?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That that was an interesting little controversy. I was torn
on that.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm guessing you weren't just knowing you, but I was
genuinely torn on the ri Odd Comedy Festival. If you're unfamiliar,
let me just reset this for anybody that doesn't know
what was going on the re Odd Comedy Festival. There
were a number of high profile acts who were invited
to go to Saudi Arabia and do this this comedy festival,
and then there were a number of others that either
turned it down or weren't invited for one reason or another,
(07:56):
like Shane Gillis turned it down. He said, they offered
a lot of money and he said no, and then
they doubled the offer. And let's just tell you what
Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson. I mean, there were
some big names that went over there and and and
people were like, how could you do that? This country
stance on human rights is horrible, and now you're now
you're gonna go take money from basically Saudi Arabian, the
(08:19):
crown prince. It's there, and you know, aren't you basically
profiting from from blood money in Saudi Arabia? And it's
a reasonable it's a reasonable criticism. But I also thought
that the rationaleis some of the comics used. They said, look,
this is an opportunity to spread some Western values into
place here. And I know that there were some limitations
(08:40):
of what they could and couldn't say, but they actually
negotiated that doubt. So it was like, you can't make
fun of our religion, and you can't make fun of
the of the crown, which in a country that's pretty oppressive,
Those are not those are not terrible limitations. We obviously
would never accept that here in the United States. But
those weren't terrible, and I thought, you know what if
you're there and you're spreading some of your viewpoint. I
mean they had one LGBTQ performer who was like, half
(09:04):
of my show is me talking about being a lesbian,
and they said, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That's okay, really, yes that hang on, I had.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The story on Sunday. Actually, i'll find it. We're later
a break. Let me find that story, because I.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Do have it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
But Bill Burr was defending it as well. And you know,
everybody's got their own red lines. I probably wouldn't have
gone if I were a comedian, yeah, but I had
a comedian.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
But I really find myself going.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And by the way, the comedians that were critical of
the other comedians never called for them to be canceled.
I was so glad to see that too, Like, good,
we're beyond the whole canceling now. People like Mark Marin
were like, what, you don't have enough money?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, but he didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mean, it's fine, you should use satire to chastise
your other comedians. Yeah, hang on, I've got that. I've
got the story in from me. I'll find the name
of the story here and I'll get back with you
on this performer because what she had to say I
thought was really interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So that is next.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And also we're gonna need some prayers for one of
America's sweethearts who right now status is unknown.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
That is next.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Chris Merrill KFI AM six forty. We are live everywhere
in the iHeartRadio app. Chris Maryland to if I on
demand anytime the iHeart Radio app. It's more stimulating talk.
Jessica Curson or Curson is the name of the performer.
I think it's cars Carsol quis soon pistol Quisson, pois
(10:23):
soul Quasso comedian and Jessica Carson or Curson and openly
gave veteran to the stand up stages from Hollywood Reporter,
issuing a statement that express sincere regret for being among
the more than fifty stars that participated in the Saudi
Arabian ri Odd Comedy Festival. She let Me See.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
One comedian turned down the fest officer offer posted that
the contract said artists shall not prepare or perform any
material that may be considered to degrade to fame or
bring into public distric repute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it's leadership, public figures, culture
or people, the Saudi Royal family, legal system or government,
(11:09):
and any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice.
So they didn't even say Islam. They just said any religion.
So that's interesting anyway. Chris I said that she was
surprised to be asked to perform because she said as
so far as to request to guarantee that she could
be openly out as a lesbian on stage and perform
(11:29):
gay material as is common in her act.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Here's what she said.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I hope that this could help LGBTQ people in Saudi
Arabia feel seen and valued. I'm grateful that I was
able to do precisely that. To my knowledge, I'm the
first openly gay comic to talk about it on stage
in Saudi Arabia. I received messages from attendee sharing how
much it meant to them to participate a gay affirming event.
Same time, I deeply regret participating under the auspices of
(11:55):
the Saudi government. And then she goes on to basically,
you know, affirm some of the complaints others have that
you know you're you're doing this under an oppressive regime.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
This is a regime that would not allow you to
be gay, that kind of thing, but they allowed her
to do it. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I mean, I don't blame her. Maybe I'm maybe I'm
short sighted on that, but I don't blame it. But
that went over there and did it. I think as
a journalist I might be a little thin skinned about
the matter since they dismembered a journalist.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, but I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
But if you want to bring about change, you can't
do it from the outside being a keyboard warrior. Now,
I think reasonable people can disagree about this. But I mean,
let's just call things what they are. Okay, Uh, what
do you mean, oh, Saudi Arabia being horrible? Well in
that comedy, in that respect at the very least. I mean, yeah,
and you know you've got to you've got your own
(12:48):
yardstick about what restrictions you're gonna find tolerable while all.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
The comics do. Yeah, Like, again, I wouldn't have done it,
but I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I can't say that. I I mean, I understand the
viewpoint of the others. I'm not going to be like
I'm never going to a Bill Burst show because he
went to RIOD, I won't do that. Yeah, I don't know.
I mean I think WWGCD, what would George Carlin?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Do I think he would have done it?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Do you really? I do?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Okay, he never shied away from the controversy.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I think that he would stay home and purposely do
a show just telling them how oh counterprogram well yeah,
counterprogram it and like call out certain people for their hypocrisy,
the people who have spoken out before years ago on
the subject and said that they wouldn't go and mocked
people who would consider doing it, and then all of
(13:42):
a sudden.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
When there they are. That is hypocrisy. I'll give you that. Yeah,
I'll give you that. That's fair. Uh oh, I just
got a memo. Hold on here. As for George Carlin,
he would not do Riod because he dead, Well, that's.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Fair, that's insightful. Yeah, I mean that's fair. Who do
we owe for that pearl of voisdom? I'm not gonn
I'm gonna keep them private. Okay. Can we call thought
some prayers? We're gonna need some prayers, and this time
I'm dead serious. We need some prayers. This is America's sweetheart.
We've already lost Bob Barker and Betty White and Paul Newman.
And is Clint Eastwood still kicking? Yes, he's okay. We've
(14:23):
merely lost Clint Eastwood. Dick Grandyke still around, Uh huh yeah.
I mean it's no time before we lose him. My God,
we cannot go through another national nightmare by losing another
great American cultural icon.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Like Dolly Parton's loved ones are asking for support as
the beloved music icon faces health challenges. Dolly's sister Frida
Parton shared a concerning post about the singers well being,
writing on Facebook October seventh that she'd been quote up
all night praying for her and hopes others will do
(14:57):
the same.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Many of you know she hasn't been f her best lately.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I
have been led to ask all of the world that
loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me,
Frida's message read before ending on a hopeful note, adding
She's strong, she's loved, and with all the prayers being
lifted for her, I know in my heart she's going
to be just fine.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I hope you're right, because I'm not gonna be okay
if Dolly Parton is not okay. I uh, I'm not
a I'm not in a place right now where I
think I can handle that. She's one of the one
of the greats. God, it's like you, you talk about
being able to respectfully disagree with somebody. Dolly Parton could
(15:42):
tell me that I have an ugly mother, I'd be like, well,
you know, Dolly, you know I see your point. I
don't agree with you, but I see your point. Let's
let's go get milk chicks. She's just a America's sweetheart.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I just can't.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I just can't not gonna be okay about it. How
about a Nobel surprise. What a weird way to find
out that you just became a legend.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That is next. I'm Chris Merril k I AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Hi Chris Merril, Pleasure, Pleasure, Pleasure, hanging out with you.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I think we've got we have Norie coming up here
in about fifteen minutes or so.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
We're gonna talk with George. Yeah, okay, cool, we'll get him.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I love talking to George Norrey. I have so much
respect for the man.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
He likes it when you call him Georgie.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I bet he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I think you should try it. I think he's a
I think he's just an amazing guy. So I'm excited
about it. I'm excited. I think he's a I think
he's just a swell fella. Okay, so here is let
me see. Oh yeah, there, here we go. I want
you to imagine that you are hiking through the back
(17:06):
country right you're you're you're getting away from it all.
You have no cell service, you aren't checking your emails.
It's just you, your your wife or your husband, and
the sound of the wind through the trees. Ah. So uh,
(17:27):
then you hear a rattle in your car. Yeah, but
I gotta pull over. I think we got I think
we hit something. I pull over, so you stop, and
then you, uh, you start tinkering with your car, and
your wife turns on her phone just to see if
there's any cell signal, and then she screams from inside
the car.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Now, what are that?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
What goes through your mind? You hear your wife screaming
from inside the car the backwoods of Wyoming spin spider
is a great guess.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Great guess, you might think, bear right. Okay, No, that's
not the case either.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Turns out she did get cell reception, and that is
when Fred Ramsdell, Fred Ramsdell, excuse me, a Silicon Valley
scientist who was completely off the grid, found out that
he was named one of three recipients of the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Ramsdell, along with two others,
(18:27):
honored for groundbreaking work on how the immune system knows
what to attack and what to protect. Their discovery of
regulatory t cells the immune system security guards is opening
doors to new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer. But
he didn't find out until more than twelve hours after
it was announced to the rest of the world. His
wife turned on her phone at the campground they made
(18:47):
it into Montana, and they saw this flood of messages.
So the screen was obviously, oh, my gosh, you won
the Nobel Prize, which, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't the
Nobel Prize come in with the million dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You guys don't.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
No, I don't know how much it is. It's not
a massive life changing them ount, But it's a good
chunk of change.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Million dollars would be massive life changing come out for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
If you got to split it with three other people too,
And that fun twisted the story, that is when the
murder plot began.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Wouldn't that be great if the story actually continued on
that way?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You get one point two million dollars all right, split
three ways four hundred thousand. Now does that go to
you or do you think they end up like throwing
that into I don't know, buns and burners and beakers
and things vegas, hookers and cook That's exactly what I
would be doing. You would never see me again. But
because of that attitude, I'm never gonna win a Nobel Prize.
Like he could have been somebody. But once he had
(19:45):
his very first patent, he immediately disappeared down to a
down in a hole of hookers and cocaine. He said,
I certainly didn't expect to win the Nobel Prize modest liar.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
His company had no idea where he was. They said
he was just out living his best life.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So evidently somebody from the Nobel Prize company contacted his
company and said, hey, we're looking for Fred and they
were like, no, I.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Don't know where fred is.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Some colleagues joked they thought he was backpacking in Idaho.
They were stupid. They were dead wrong. He was not
in Idaho, in Montana and Wyoming morons. So I kind
of love that there's a There's a certain irony, isn't he?
(20:33):
Isn't there that you've got a scientist for physiology and
medicine who spends all day indoors in the lab. I
just assume wearing a lab coat, staring into a microscope.
I don't know what else they would possibly do, probably
typing away at a computer and doing math, maybe drawing
(20:56):
pictures of blood.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
But then they find him when used to completely disconnect
it and off the grid, right, I mean, do you
see what I mean? There's a certain irony to it
that obviously he's advancing technology, but he was completely off
the grid when they wanted to announce the award for
his advancements in technology.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
If I was spending most of my life doing like
Nobel prize level winning stuff, winning like as far as
like you know, research and like being you know, nerdy
witsen Berner kind of stuff, yeah, I would want to
com and when I wasn't actively doing that stuff, I'd
want to disconnect from everything too.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Totally totally decompressed.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah right, I wouldn't want to see one beaker.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I'm I'm one hundred percent with you, Sam. I
agree wholeheartedly.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
But I just think it's a little bit ironic, right,
I certainly understand it, but I think it's ironic. Do
you ever find we'll go to I don't know, Mark,
when you do your stuff? Do you how do I
phrase this so it doesn't so it sounds professional and stuff?
When you have like a week off, yes, do you
(22:08):
pay attention to the news or you just completely unplugged?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You never?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I'm a constant news junkie and I've got the blood
pressure to show for you.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, And that's what I was trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Like when you prep for your your news reports, you
don't come in and go, oh, what's happening in the
news today, Like you already know what's happening in the
news today. No, I spend all day before I get here.
He's just compulsively devouring all the news I possibly can. Okay,
you and I are you or I we do we
approach it the same way. You got to know what's
going on, and you've got to be able to spot
mistakes so you can fix them one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Doesn't it? I mean, you work with people that don't
have that kind of ethos, and doesn't it just drive
you crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm not gonna say anything on that front. Oh, but
I do my best. I have a partner, Yeah, and
I love him to death. I mean, I genuinely love
this man. And the best couple of hours of my
day that is the time that he and I are
on the air together.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
My my day job.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And but every day is like doing a group project.
And he's the one that does not pull their weight
on the group project. It just puts their name on
the paper before you turn it in the kind of
Marlon Brando, not learn your lines, just show up and
hope somebody's got them taped to their back. And I
just want to strangle him. I want to strangle him
so bad. And Sam, I know, as a as a
(23:29):
a clinical therapist, you would probably say that's.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
The dynamic you two have. You're the ying and the
yang You've got.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know, you've got your your prepare guy, and then
you've got your winged guy and that's what makes things special.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
No, it's not drives me crazy.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Okay, So you know about the original Omen movie from
the seventies. Do you remember the sequel, the second Omen movie,
where Damian's a teenager?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
How could I forget?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay, So he's in a classroom and he's pissing the
teacher off, and the teacher keeps asking him questions and
he gives the teacher right answers until the teacher, I believe,
nearly does or does suffer a heart attack or a
struggles my web model. I want to I want to
be able to answer anything and give somebody a heart
attack stroke.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Damien, Damien is my spirit animal. And all right, maybe
that's gonna be your new nickname, Damien. Well, okay, just
cool it on that Mark Damien Runner. By the way,
who came up with the name Damien in the first place?
And why did that become popular for a while.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It's not a popular name in the US anymore because
of that series. No one's named Damien in the US.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Did it not have Did it not have that kind
of connotation before that?
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I don't think so. But it's a hugely popular name
in Australia, is it. Yeah, everyone's called Damo, I know,
but they're all criminals, right, I'd rather be a criminal
than a Puritan.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Are those the only two choices?
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean there's no I feel like there's gotta be
more levels better. If there aren't, then I guess I'm
with you.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
You guys are Puritans. You were founded by a Puritans.
We were founded by convict. So you know, we having fun.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I know, I feel like we're flipping.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yes, true.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I feel like Australia is far more pure if it's
kind of hard, than we are now.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
We also had the jailers down there, and I think
they've taken over now the jailers.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Who are the jailers?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
The people the jail you put you in prison?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh oh oh, okay, jailer's there you go. There's the
American accent?
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Really was?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You nailed that one? Although Nikki, to be fair, you
could also have a Boston accent or give me a
New York accent.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You still would you would still do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Park the car in harband yard, right.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I love that if it ends in er it becomes
an ah. But if it ends in an ah, it
becomes an er.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
We don't ever say the letter are a.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I worked for the British guy one time, and every
time we talked about this is back when Obama was president.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
He kept saying Obama, Obama, Obama, and I thought, stop
calling him obomber, stop doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Obama Obama.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, weirdo.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
America has become one of the least welcoming countries for well,
it wouldn't be a tease.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
If I nicky, nicky, nicky, Sorry, And.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
It's still in the learning curve here.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, it's just playing a long Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
No, I appreciate. I said, you followed your instincts.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Do I get a prize?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
No, you don't.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And collected outdoors Yeah, I mean, uh no, we're trying
to set up a tease here, but no, I get it. Look,
I appreciate that you followed your instincts. They weren't exactly
on this time, but.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
You they were dead wrong immigrants.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
It could have been lots of things. That's why it's
a fill in the blank teas. God bless you for that.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
All right, NICKI with the giveaway?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
In fact, how about this, We're going to talk to
a very special guest next who may or may Not
host a nationwide show called Coast to Coast with George Norri.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I guess you'll have to wait and find out who
our guests might be next.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm Chris Merril, k IF I am six forty, WeLive
everywhere in the iHeart Radio app radio legend, a host
of Coast to Coast George Norri joining us right now,
k if I am six forty. George, good to hear
from you, my friend. What can we expect for you?
Starting it from you? Starting here at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
We got a great show tonight.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
We're going to talk about economic trends and predictions. Then
later on UFU Phenomena on Coast to Coast.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
It's what we come for, is why we stick around.
We come for the econ, we stay for the aliens.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
George.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That perfect, all right, George Norrie, Coast to Coast Radio
Legend Hall of Famer. Is he in the Hall of Fame?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yet he's not? He's a lock for it. I think
you got to use him. Heck of a guy. Heck
of a guy.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right, Nikki, you gave away the spoiler in this one.
America has become one of the world's least welcoming countries for.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Tourists.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Tourists very good.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah, the federal government shutdown, they say, is not just
a political standoff. It's a full blown tourism crisis. From
shuttered national parks to frozen passport services, travelers finding their
plans derailed, their money wasted, and their patients tested. In fact,
I did see, Yeah, Vegas is having some problems. Vegas
having some problems. What's the story for oh La Times
(28:35):
had a story about six hundred million dollar casino coming
to California.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, they're gonna build casinos in California now, So what
is it going to mean for our next door neighbors
in Vegas? I love Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
When was the last time you were there?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I went last year for two days because my best
friend flew out from Australia.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Just to see you tube two days.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Two days last year doesn't come?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Oh No, And I go often, like the like I
went awake a few months before. I love Vegas.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So I was there in August, and I'm not gonna
say that it was dead, but I've never seen it slower.
There were people there, There were still obviously, you know,
the like the waddling Midwesterners who can't seem to get
out of the way, Like, look, if you're just gonna
waddle through the casino floor, just move to the side.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
This isn't Costco.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
But they're still there waddling, and look, I'm a fat Midwesterner,
so I can say that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I probably can't say that, but I do. It really
was disappointing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
In fact, I think the longest I saw any traffic
on the Strip backed up at a light, I'm gonna
say maybe six or seven cars deep. I mean, I've
been there in Vegas at night when the strip is
like it takes forever, forever to get down the strip.
I mean, Nikki, you go from you ever go from
downtown to the Strip or the Strip to downtown.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
It's easier to walk usually.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Now it's not.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I mean, I'm with you. It's it's like what mile
and a half two miles depending on where you are
on the strip, right, I'm with you on that. But
it was not like that in August. I'm telling you.
It was like you could have written an e bike
right down the strip and you would have been fine.
It was not great.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Do you feel like they priced out the average human yes, yes,
I do. I feel like that is like a big
problem right now. It's one hundred believe that that is
the biggest thing going on with Vegas. You're at a
time where people are concerned, and again I was there
in August. We're still talking about what's gonna happen with
the economy. I think there's still some apprehension about the economy.
You've got some people. I was just reading, what is
(30:42):
a A third of the country, depending on where you live,
is already in a recession. We're not, but you know,
some places might be already whatever. So everybody's economic situations
are different. And I think for some people are going
it's like Game of Thrones, like winter is coming. We've
got to make sure we've got supplies, we got to
make sure we've got resources. So they're starting to save
some of their discretionary spending and they're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
But Vegas definitely is priced themselves out. They did it
to themselves. I mean, it's just like, how about if
we just had more resort fees. How about if we
throw in more tourism taxes on top of the resort fees,
on top of the already exorbitant prices, and so I
mean I was at where did I say it was
(31:25):
one of the MGM places? I forgot Anyway, I gotta
tell you there was never a wait for the elevator.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
There was never. I mean it was. It was kind
of sad, it was pathetic.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
But now they're saying that because we've got the government
shut down, you've got you seventy and Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
They're still open, but they're unstaffed.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
In other words, they basically said, if you want to
go see the hole in the ground and you want
to go see the guys that it's over there, also
try not to throw your trash around.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
But what do we love to do. We love to
throw our trash around.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We are disgusting people, tour operators saying that there's a
thirty five fifty cancelation rate right now in the gateway
towns into those communities. Not great friends. The longer the shutdown,
last longest is going to go on, and as we
continue to present ourselves as being generally furner unfriendly, that's
not gonna help out either, I believe. Yeah, I think
(32:20):
I'm back again tomorrow, so we'll expound upon those things.
George Norri is coming up next with Coast to Coast.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Sam. You know I love working with you.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Mark. You're like it's like the big brother I never wanted,
and I just love you for that. You're You're just fantastic.
Don't get me all emotional. I'm fairly emotional today.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I know you're, I know Y're. I'll give you a
big hug. And then Nicki. What can I say about NICKI?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Not much?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I loved. I could say a lot about Nicki. But
as we've already discussed, HR is listening. Very good, love HR,
very good. All right, we'll talk to you tomorrow. It's
Chris Merril k if I am six forty you listen
any time on demand of the iHeartRadio app f I
A M six forty on demand
Does the song have to say in it?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
No, it's just the instrumental No no, no, no, no, no, Nikki,
the one that we've got here for Zach Bryan.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Does it say effort?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I've removed the Okay, thank.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You for doing this. That's good producing.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I try.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You may have just saved Sam's job.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Oh I think I saved my job too by removing it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That's I mean, basically, it's a two for one job
saving kind of thing by not having an effort.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I did leave in the word cocky, but I made
sure that that's fine. I know, but I accidentally removed
the E on the end, and so.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I stop it. Stop it, always pushing the envelope? Aren't
you trying?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Always going down there? I'm Chris Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
If I am six what You can listen anytime on
demand of the iHeart Radio app. Grammy Award winning singer
Country singer Zach Bryan is taking a swipe at raids
by US immigration and customers of Enforcement with a teaser
of his new song that inserts himself into the political
debate that has divided the nation. That from ABC. All right,
so I gotta hear this.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
All I did was just see that it was a song,
and so I haven't. I haven't sampled this. Nikki said,
did you listen to all the work that I did?
And I said no.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
She said, well I remove the swear words. I said,
I hope.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Didn't we come deader in jail from that of tambos
and giving a sale?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I got some bed.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We'll commission you.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Sounds like a love song.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
My friends who.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Wrote the generation, they're all I got the generational story
of dropping the plot. I heard the cops came COCU,
tain't they? And I is gonna come to s down
here in dorm, trying to build a house on builds
no more.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I gotta telephone.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Kids are all.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Scarning all along. That is brooding. I'm gonna call that brooding.
I'm seeing brooding.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
The boss stop bumping the rocks, start rolling the middle
things rousing, and it won't stop showing us some bad news.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Could say, not a real wife? Is he gonna get
Dixie chicked? Anybody hard to say. I'd never heard of
this guy before today. No, Zach Brand's a pretty big name.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
It doesn't sound like country music to me, though country
music is.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Kind of anything you wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Now, I guess as long as you sang it like that,
you see, you could do counter music can just work
on more of your Southern American accent. I don't think
it's so rom I'm wow like going palm.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Like Nicole's X, so maybe it could work it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, teith uh So Anyway, this dude h has divided
opinion on social media. Right leaning fans calling out his
perceived criticist of President Donald Trump's unprecedented raids on undocumented immigrants,
those left leaning are praising his stance. All right here,
let me see, here's the uh. We got some lyrics here,
and Ice is gonna come bust down your door. Try
(03:13):
to build a house. No one builds no more. Huh,
but I got a telephone. Kids are all scared and
all alone.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Brian is the US Navy veteran. He's from Oklahoma. He's
not doing fine, not doing okay. He began recording posting
videos of himself playing this original songs on YouTube twenty seventeen.
It's going to become one of country music's hottest draws.
That according to ABC OH, CNN Wire and ABC seven.
Posting the CNN wire So uh oh, actually they mentioned
(03:48):
the Chicks here. Navigating progressive politics has long been a
commercially treacherous act for country stars, who risk alienating their
conservative fan base. In two thousand and three, the Dixie
Chicks known as The Chicks now known as The Chicks
faced backlash within the industry for their comments about former
President George W.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Bush and the Iraq War.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
If you recall, they said, but they said they were
ashamed that he came from Texas? Am I am?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I getting that pretty close? Ark.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Do you remember the story from I don't remember the
pre killers, but I remember they were against the war,
and history kind of vindicated them.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Did they did? You're right, it took a while. I
mean they were, they were hurting for a while.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean they got pulled from a bunch of country station,
I think almost every country station in the in the nation.
But if you're out of the in the head of
the pack on something like that, you're going to take
your lumps.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah you are. And then later on they're like, oh,
look they did great. Look there they were.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Actually you know, I'm not going to say that they
were right or wrong, but people went they shouldn't have
been canceled, right, But then all of a sudden they go, yeah,
but that doesn't really make up for the millions of
dollars they lost out on from their record sales or
CD sales and uh uh touring the monies.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So yeah, lost out on that.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
What they said wasn't that bad either. Apparently one of
them said, we do not want this war, this violence,
and we're a shame that the President of the United
States is from Texas.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
But remember though, Nikki, that in two thousand and three,
we had just gotten into these wars and we were
still we were still smarting from nine to eleven. And
so there was this there was this overwhelming patriot or
else type of attitude, like you're either with us or
against us, similar to what we see in politics today.
(05:32):
But this felt this felt more mark. How would you
describe were, Sam, how would you describe it? It felt more well,
it was a real rally around the flag moment. Yeah,
and even just cold factual reporting that contradicted the official
version was a lot of the time suppressed. I had
stories of my own suppressed, Is that right? Yeah, just
like this is what's you know? Here is the body count? No, no, no, no,
(05:55):
We don't want you wanted to hear anything that wasn't
rah rah rah kill them all. We don't want to
say that there were you know, one hundred and eighty
three civilians killed in the bombing.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
We want to hear only.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That those sobs in a rock and Afghanistan got what's
coming to him. In retrospect, maybe we should have not
invaded the wrong country. But you know, what's done is
done by gones moving forward. Josh, you shushed with you,
you shushed with you and all that. It was an
opportunity to go. I believe in George W. Bush's case,
(06:25):
what did he say he was going to go finish
what his daddy started. Well, he said that, and if
you remember, they kept changing the rationales for the invasion.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, they were behind that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Eleven weapons of mass destruction, human rights violations, yeah, all those,
yeah yeah. So it wound up being about a half
dozen different reasons in sequence.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
But ultimately he was really, I'm gonna go finish when
my daddy started.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Also, oil, stop it. I'm so tired of hearing that
oil is the reason for us being involved in the
Middle East.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Are you telling me we have no other interest?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
In the Middle East that, for instance, we are you
telling me we don't care about the human rights in
Saudi Arabia. Let me get back to you on that.
Of course we do, Mark, I'm just reporting what I know.
Look at how much we stand up for the oppressed
women of Saudi Arabia. It has nothing to do with
the oil. We spent a lot of time standing up
for people in Syria and Saudi Arabia, in Iraq, other places.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
We do all that. It's all for that.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Did you just get back from that comedy thing and
you re odd? Is that where this step? Boy?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
That that was an interesting little controversy. I was torn
on that.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm guessing you weren't just knowing you, but I was
genuinely torn on the ri Odd Comedy Festival. If you're unfamiliar,
let me just reset this for anybody that doesn't know
what was going on the re Odd Comedy Festival. There
were a number of high profile acts who were invited
to go to Saudi Arabia and do this this comedy festival,
and then there were a number of others that either
turned it down or weren't invited for one reason or another,
(07:56):
like Shane Gillis turned it down. He said, they offered
a lot of money and he said no, and then
they doubled the offer. And let's just tell you what
Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson. I mean, there were
some big names that went over there and and and
people were like, how could you do that? This country
stance on human rights is horrible, and now you're now
you're gonna go take money from basically Saudi Arabian, the
(08:19):
crown prince. It's there, and you know, aren't you basically
profiting from from blood money in Saudi Arabia? And it's
a reasonable it's a reasonable criticism. But I also thought
that the rationaleis some of the comics used. They said, look,
this is an opportunity to spread some Western values into
place here. And I know that there were some limitations
(08:40):
of what they could and couldn't say, but they actually
negotiated that doubt. So it was like, you can't make
fun of our religion, and you can't make fun of
the of the crown, which in a country that's pretty oppressive,
Those are not those are not terrible limitations. We obviously
would never accept that here in the United States. But
those weren't terrible, and I thought, you know what if
you're there and you're spreading some of your viewpoint. I
mean they had one LGBTQ performer who was like, half
(09:04):
of my show is me talking about being a lesbian,
and they said, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That's okay, really, yes that hang on, I had.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
The story on Sunday. Actually, i'll find it. We're later
a break. Let me find that story, because I.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Do have it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
But Bill Burr was defending it as well. And you know,
everybody's got their own red lines. I probably wouldn't have
gone if I were a comedian, yeah, but I had
a comedian.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
But I really find myself going.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And by the way, the comedians that were critical of
the other comedians never called for them to be canceled.
I was so glad to see that too, Like, good,
we're beyond the whole canceling now. People like Mark Marin
were like, what, you don't have enough money?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, but he didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mean, it's fine, you should use satire to chastise
your other comedians. Yeah, hang on, I've got that. I've
got the story in from me. I'll find the name
of the story here and I'll get back with you
on this performer because what she had to say I
thought was really interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So that is next.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And also we're gonna need some prayers for one of
America's sweethearts who right now status is unknown.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
That is next.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Chris Merrill KFI AM six forty. We are live everywhere
in the iHeartRadio app. Chris Maryland to if I on
demand anytime the iHeart Radio app. It's more stimulating talk.
Jessica Curson or Curson is the name of the performer.
I think it's cars Carsol quis soon pistol Quisson, pois
(10:23):
soul Quasso comedian and Jessica Carson or Curson and openly
gave veteran to the stand up stages from Hollywood Reporter,
issuing a statement that express sincere regret for being among
the more than fifty stars that participated in the Saudi
Arabian ri Odd Comedy Festival. She let Me See.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
One comedian turned down the fest officer offer posted that
the contract said artists shall not prepare or perform any
material that may be considered to degrade to fame or
bring into public distric repute, contempt, scandal, embarrassment, or ridicule.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it's leadership, public figures, culture
or people, the Saudi Royal family, legal system or government,
(11:09):
and any religion, religious tradition, religious figure, or religious practice.
So they didn't even say Islam. They just said any religion.
So that's interesting anyway. Chris I said that she was
surprised to be asked to perform because she said as
so far as to request to guarantee that she could
be openly out as a lesbian on stage and perform
(11:29):
gay material as is common in her act.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Here's what she said.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I hope that this could help LGBTQ people in Saudi
Arabia feel seen and valued. I'm grateful that I was
able to do precisely that. To my knowledge, I'm the
first openly gay comic to talk about it on stage
in Saudi Arabia. I received messages from attendee sharing how
much it meant to them to participate a gay affirming event.
Same time, I deeply regret participating under the auspices of
(11:55):
the Saudi government. And then she goes on to basically,
you know, affirm some of the complaints others have that
you know you're you're doing this under an oppressive regime.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
This is a regime that would not allow you to
be gay, that kind of thing, but they allowed her
to do it. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I mean, I don't blame her. Maybe I'm maybe I'm
short sighted on that, but I don't blame it. But
that went over there and did it. I think as
a journalist I might be a little thin skinned about
the matter since they dismembered a journalist.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, but I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
But if you want to bring about change, you can't
do it from the outside being a keyboard warrior. Now,
I think reasonable people can disagree about this. But I mean,
let's just call things what they are. Okay, Uh, what
do you mean, oh, Saudi Arabia being horrible? Well in
that comedy, in that respect at the very least. I mean, yeah,
and you know you've got to you've got your own
(12:48):
yardstick about what restrictions you're gonna find tolerable while all.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
The comics do. Yeah, Like, again, I wouldn't have done it,
but I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I can't say that. I I mean, I understand the
viewpoint of the others. I'm not going to be like
I'm never going to a Bill Burst show because he
went to RIOD, I won't do that. Yeah, I don't know.
I mean I think WWGCD, what would George Carlin?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Do I think he would have done it?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Do you really? I do?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Okay, he never shied away from the controversy.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I think that he would stay home and purposely do
a show just telling them how oh counterprogram well yeah,
counterprogram it and like call out certain people for their hypocrisy,
the people who have spoken out before years ago on
the subject and said that they wouldn't go and mocked
people who would consider doing it, and then all of
(13:42):
a sudden.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
When there they are. That is hypocrisy. I'll give you that. Yeah,
I'll give you that. That's fair. Uh oh, I just
got a memo. Hold on here. As for George Carlin,
he would not do Riod because he dead, Well, that's.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Fair, that's insightful. Yeah, I mean that's fair. Who do
we owe for that pearl of voisdom? I'm not gonn
I'm gonna keep them private. Okay. Can we call thought
some prayers? We're gonna need some prayers, and this time
I'm dead serious. We need some prayers. This is America's sweetheart.
We've already lost Bob Barker and Betty White and Paul Newman.
And is Clint Eastwood still kicking? Yes, he's okay. We've
(14:23):
merely lost Clint Eastwood. Dick Grandyke still around, Uh huh yeah.
I mean it's no time before we lose him. My God,
we cannot go through another national nightmare by losing another
great American cultural icon.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Like Dolly Parton's loved ones are asking for support as
the beloved music icon faces health challenges. Dolly's sister Frida
Parton shared a concerning post about the singers well being,
writing on Facebook October seventh that she'd been quote up
all night praying for her and hopes others will do
(14:57):
the same.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Many of you know she hasn't been f her best lately.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I
have been led to ask all of the world that
loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me,
Frida's message read before ending on a hopeful note, adding
She's strong, she's loved, and with all the prayers being
lifted for her, I know in my heart she's going
to be just fine.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I hope you're right, because I'm not gonna be okay
if Dolly Parton is not okay. I uh, I'm not
a I'm not in a place right now where I
think I can handle that. She's one of the one
of the greats. God, it's like you, you talk about
being able to respectfully disagree with somebody. Dolly Parton could
(15:42):
tell me that I have an ugly mother, I'd be like, well,
you know, Dolly, you know I see your point. I
don't agree with you, but I see your point. Let's
let's go get milk chicks. She's just a America's sweetheart.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I just can't.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I just can't not gonna be okay about it. How
about a Nobel surprise. What a weird way to find
out that you just became a legend.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That is next. I'm Chris Merril k I AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Hi Chris Merril, Pleasure, Pleasure, Pleasure, hanging out with you.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I think we've got we have Norie coming up here
in about fifteen minutes or so.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
We're gonna talk with George. Yeah, okay, cool, we'll get him.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I love talking to George Norrey. I have so much
respect for the man.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
He likes it when you call him Georgie.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I bet he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I think you should try it. I think he's a
I think he's just an amazing guy. So I'm excited
about it. I'm excited. I think he's a I think
he's just a swell fella. Okay, so here is let
me see. Oh yeah, there, here we go. I want
you to imagine that you are hiking through the back
(17:06):
country right you're you're you're getting away from it all.
You have no cell service, you aren't checking your emails.
It's just you, your your wife or your husband, and
the sound of the wind through the trees. Ah. So uh,
(17:27):
then you hear a rattle in your car. Yeah, but
I gotta pull over. I think we got I think
we hit something. I pull over, so you stop, and
then you, uh, you start tinkering with your car, and
your wife turns on her phone just to see if
there's any cell signal, and then she screams from inside
the car.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Now, what are that?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
What goes through your mind? You hear your wife screaming
from inside the car the backwoods of Wyoming spin spider
is a great guess.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Great guess, you might think, bear right. Okay, No, that's
not the case either.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Turns out she did get cell reception, and that is
when Fred Ramsdell, Fred Ramsdell, excuse me, a Silicon Valley
scientist who was completely off the grid, found out that
he was named one of three recipients of the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Ramsdell, along with two others,
(18:27):
honored for groundbreaking work on how the immune system knows
what to attack and what to protect. Their discovery of
regulatory t cells the immune system security guards is opening
doors to new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer. But
he didn't find out until more than twelve hours after
it was announced to the rest of the world. His
wife turned on her phone at the campground they made
(18:47):
it into Montana, and they saw this flood of messages.
So the screen was obviously, oh, my gosh, you won
the Nobel Prize, which, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't the
Nobel Prize come in with the million dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You guys don't.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
No, I don't know how much it is. It's not
a massive life changing them ount, But it's a good
chunk of change.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Million dollars would be massive life changing come out for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
If you got to split it with three other people too,
And that fun twisted the story, that is when the
murder plot began.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Wouldn't that be great if the story actually continued on
that way?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You get one point two million dollars all right, split
three ways four hundred thousand. Now does that go to
you or do you think they end up like throwing
that into I don't know, buns and burners and beakers
and things vegas, hookers and cook That's exactly what I
would be doing. You would never see me again. But
because of that attitude, I'm never gonna win a Nobel Prize.
Like he could have been somebody. But once he had
(19:45):
his very first patent, he immediately disappeared down to a
down in a hole of hookers and cocaine. He said,
I certainly didn't expect to win the Nobel Prize modest liar.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
His company had no idea where he was. They said
he was just out living his best life.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So evidently somebody from the Nobel Prize company contacted his
company and said, hey, we're looking for Fred and they
were like, no, I.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Don't know where fred is.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Some colleagues joked they thought he was backpacking in Idaho.
They were stupid. They were dead wrong. He was not
in Idaho, in Montana and Wyoming morons. So I kind
of love that there's a There's a certain irony, isn't he?
(20:33):
Isn't there that you've got a scientist for physiology and
medicine who spends all day indoors in the lab. I
just assume wearing a lab coat, staring into a microscope.
I don't know what else they would possibly do, probably
typing away at a computer and doing math, maybe drawing
(20:56):
pictures of blood.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
But then they find him when used to completely disconnect
it and off the grid, right, I mean, do you
see what I mean? There's a certain irony to it
that obviously he's advancing technology, but he was completely off
the grid when they wanted to announce the award for
his advancements in technology.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
If I was spending most of my life doing like
Nobel prize level winning stuff, winning like as far as
like you know, research and like being you know, nerdy
witsen Berner kind of stuff, yeah, I would want to
com and when I wasn't actively doing that stuff, I'd
want to disconnect from everything too.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Totally totally decompressed.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah right, I wouldn't want to see one beaker.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I'm I'm one hundred percent with you, Sam. I
agree wholeheartedly.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
But I just think it's a little bit ironic, right,
I certainly understand it, but I think it's ironic. Do
you ever find we'll go to I don't know, Mark,
when you do your stuff? Do you how do I
phrase this so it doesn't so it sounds professional and stuff?
When you have like a week off, yes, do you
(22:08):
pay attention to the news or you just completely unplugged?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You never?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I'm a constant news junkie and I've got the blood
pressure to show for you.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, And that's what I was trying to figure out.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Like when you prep for your your news reports, you
don't come in and go, oh, what's happening in the
news today, Like you already know what's happening in the
news today. No, I spend all day before I get here.
He's just compulsively devouring all the news I possibly can. Okay,
you and I are you or I we do we
approach it the same way. You got to know what's
going on, and you've got to be able to spot
mistakes so you can fix them one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Doesn't it? I mean, you work with people that don't
have that kind of ethos, and doesn't it just drive
you crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
I'm not gonna say anything on that front. Oh, but
I do my best. I have a partner, Yeah, and
I love him to death. I mean, I genuinely love
this man. And the best couple of hours of my
day that is the time that he and I are
on the air together.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
My my day job.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And but every day is like doing a group project.
And he's the one that does not pull their weight
on the group project. It just puts their name on
the paper before you turn it in the kind of
Marlon Brando, not learn your lines, just show up and
hope somebody's got them taped to their back. And I
just want to strangle him. I want to strangle him
so bad. And Sam, I know, as a as a
(23:29):
a clinical therapist, you would probably say that's.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
The dynamic you two have. You're the ying and the
yang You've got.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
You know, you've got your your prepare guy, and then
you've got your winged guy and that's what makes things special.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
No, it's not drives me crazy.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Okay, So you know about the original Omen movie from
the seventies. Do you remember the sequel, the second Omen movie,
where Damian's a teenager?
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
How could I forget?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Okay, So he's in a classroom and he's pissing the
teacher off, and the teacher keeps asking him questions and
he gives the teacher right answers until the teacher, I believe,
nearly does or does suffer a heart attack or a
struggles my web model. I want to I want to
be able to answer anything and give somebody a heart
attack stroke.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I totally get it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Damien, Damien is my spirit animal. And all right, maybe
that's gonna be your new nickname, Damien. Well, okay, just
cool it on that Mark Damien Runner. By the way,
who came up with the name Damien in the first place?
And why did that become popular for a while.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It's not a popular name in the US anymore because
of that series. No one's named Damien in the US.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Did it not have Did it not have that kind
of connotation before that?
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I don't think so. But it's a hugely popular name
in Australia, is it. Yeah, everyone's called Damo, I know,
but they're all criminals, right, I'd rather be a criminal
than a Puritan.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Are those the only two choices?
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean there's no I feel like there's gotta be
more levels better. If there aren't, then I guess I'm
with you.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
You guys are Puritans. You were founded by a Puritans.
We were founded by convict. So you know, we having fun.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I know, I feel like we're flipping.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yes, true.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I feel like Australia is far more pure if it's
kind of hard, than we are now.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
We also had the jailers down there, and I think
they've taken over now the jailers.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Who are the jailers?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
The people the jail you put you in prison?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh oh oh, okay, jailer's there you go. There's the
American accent?
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Really was?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You nailed that one? Although Nikki, to be fair, you
could also have a Boston accent or give me a
New York accent.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
You still would you would still do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Park the car in harband yard, right.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I love that if it ends in er it becomes
an ah. But if it ends in an ah, it
becomes an er.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
We don't ever say the letter are a.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I worked for the British guy one time, and every
time we talked about this is back when Obama was president.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
He kept saying Obama, Obama, Obama, and I thought, stop
calling him obomber, stop doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Obama Obama.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, weirdo.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
America has become one of the least welcoming countries for well,
it wouldn't be a tease.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
If I nicky, nicky, nicky, Sorry, And.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
It's still in the learning curve here.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, it's just playing a long Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
No, I appreciate. I said, you followed your instincts.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Do I get a prize?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
No, you don't.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And collected outdoors Yeah, I mean, uh no, we're trying
to set up a tease here, but no, I get it. Look,
I appreciate that you followed your instincts. They weren't exactly
on this time, but.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
You they were dead wrong immigrants.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
It could have been lots of things. That's why it's
a fill in the blank teas. God bless you for that.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
All right, NICKI with the giveaway?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
In fact, how about this, We're going to talk to
a very special guest next who may or may Not
host a nationwide show called Coast to Coast with George Norri.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I guess you'll have to wait and find out who
our guests might be next.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm Chris Merril, k IF I am six forty, WeLive
everywhere in the iHeart Radio app radio legend, a host
of Coast to Coast George Norri joining us right now,
k if I am six forty. George, good to hear
from you, my friend. What can we expect for you?
Starting it from you? Starting here at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
We got a great show tonight.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
We're going to talk about economic trends and predictions. Then
later on UFU Phenomena on Coast to Coast.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
It's what we come for, is why we stick around.
We come for the econ, we stay for the aliens.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
George.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That perfect, all right, George Norrie, Coast to Coast Radio
Legend Hall of Famer. Is he in the Hall of Fame?
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yet he's not? He's a lock for it. I think
you got to use him. Heck of a guy. Heck
of a guy.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
All right, Nikki, you gave away the spoiler in this one.
America has become one of the world's least welcoming countries for.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Tourists.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Tourists very good.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah, the federal government shutdown, they say, is not just
a political standoff. It's a full blown tourism crisis. From
shuttered national parks to frozen passport services, travelers finding their
plans derailed, their money wasted, and their patients tested. In fact,
I did see, Yeah, Vegas is having some problems. Vegas
having some problems. What's the story for oh La Times
(28:35):
had a story about six hundred million dollar casino coming
to California.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, they're gonna build casinos in California now, So what
is it going to mean for our next door neighbors
in Vegas? I love Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
When was the last time you were there?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I went last year for two days because my best
friend flew out from Australia.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Just to see you tube two days.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Two days last year doesn't come?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Oh No, And I go often, like the like I
went awake a few months before. I love Vegas.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So I was there in August, and I'm not gonna
say that it was dead, but I've never seen it slower.
There were people there, There were still obviously, you know,
the like the waddling Midwesterners who can't seem to get
out of the way, Like, look, if you're just gonna
waddle through the casino floor, just move to the side.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
This isn't Costco.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
But they're still there waddling, and look, I'm a fat Midwesterner,
so I can say that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I probably can't say that, but I do. It really
was disappointing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
In fact, I think the longest I saw any traffic
on the Strip backed up at a light, I'm gonna
say maybe six or seven cars deep. I mean, I've
been there in Vegas at night when the strip is
like it takes forever, forever to get down the strip.
I mean, Nikki, you go from you ever go from
downtown to the Strip or the Strip to downtown.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
It's easier to walk usually.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Now it's not.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I mean, I'm with you. It's it's like what mile
and a half two miles depending on where you are
on the strip, right, I'm with you on that. But
it was not like that in August. I'm telling you.
It was like you could have written an e bike
right down the strip and you would have been fine.
It was not great.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Do you feel like they priced out the average human yes, yes,
I do. I feel like that is like a big
problem right now. It's one hundred believe that that is
the biggest thing going on with Vegas. You're at a
time where people are concerned, and again I was there
in August. We're still talking about what's gonna happen with
the economy. I think there's still some apprehension about the economy.
You've got some people. I was just reading, what is
(30:42):
a A third of the country, depending on where you live,
is already in a recession. We're not, but you know,
some places might be already whatever. So everybody's economic situations
are different. And I think for some people are going
it's like Game of Thrones, like winter is coming. We've
got to make sure we've got supplies, we got to
make sure we've got resources. So they're starting to save
some of their discretionary spending and they're not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
But Vegas definitely is priced themselves out. They did it
to themselves. I mean, it's just like, how about if
we just had more resort fees. How about if we
throw in more tourism taxes on top of the resort fees,
on top of the already exorbitant prices, and so I
mean I was at where did I say it was
(31:25):
one of the MGM places? I forgot Anyway, I gotta
tell you there was never a wait for the elevator.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
There was never. I mean it was. It was kind
of sad, it was pathetic.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
But now they're saying that because we've got the government
shut down, you've got you seventy and Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
They're still open, but they're unstaffed.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
In other words, they basically said, if you want to
go see the hole in the ground and you want
to go see the guys that it's over there, also
try not to throw your trash around.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
But what do we love to do. We love to
throw our trash around.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We are disgusting people, tour operators saying that there's a
thirty five fifty cancelation rate right now in the gateway
towns into those communities. Not great friends. The longer the shutdown,
last longest is going to go on, and as we
continue to present ourselves as being generally furner unfriendly, that's
not gonna help out either, I believe. Yeah, I think
(32:20):
I'm back again tomorrow, so we'll expound upon those things.
George Norri is coming up next with Coast to Coast.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Sam. You know I love working with you.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Mark. You're like it's like the big brother I never wanted,
and I just love you for that. You're You're just fantastic.
Don't get me all emotional. I'm fairly emotional today.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
I know you're, I know Y're. I'll give you a
big hug. And then Nicki. What can I say about NICKI?
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Not much?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I loved. I could say a lot about Nicki. But
as we've already discussed, HR is listening. Very good, love HR,
very good. All right, we'll talk to you tomorrow. It's
Chris Merril k if I am six forty you listen
any time on demand of the iHeartRadio app f I
A M six forty on demand
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