Speaker 1: Kabbooms.
Speaker 2: If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
Speaker 2: a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
Speaker 2: of the old republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
Speaker 2: treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the
Speaker 2: rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
Speaker 2: The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts.
Speaker 3: Right now in the air ey where The Fifth Hour
Speaker 3: with me Ben Mahler and Danny g Radio who's on
Speaker 3: assignment but his producing this show.
Speaker 4: He will be back tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.
Speaker 4: But you got me today on this Friday's the thirteenth
Speaker 4: day of December, as we celebrate National ice Cream Day. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you'd think National ice Cream Day would be sometime in
Speaker 4: the summer, right, There is actually another National ice Cream Day.
Speaker 1: There's two National ice Cream Days.
Speaker 4: There's one in July, which makes sense, right, I mean
Speaker 4: the ice cream you think of the summertime. But there's
Speaker 4: a second National ice Cream Day, which is today. And
Speaker 4: of course I think we talked about this in July.
Speaker 4: But the invention of ice cream, the people of the
Speaker 4: Persian Empire started making ice cream. They poured concentrate of
Speaker 4: grape juice over snow, and that was the original I scream.
Speaker 4: Of course, at some point before that, it's likely there
Speaker 4: was a lemon flavor, shall we say, of ice cream
Speaker 4: that was used, if you know what I'm saying, like
Speaker 4: a yellowy lemon flavor of ice cream. But ice cream
Speaker 4: was first patented in eighteen forty six. Someone named Nancy
Speaker 4: Johnson invented the She invented the patent for the first
Speaker 4: hand cranked ice cream maker, and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: And I was in Vermont earlier this year.
Speaker 4: You're visiting my friend Arnie, the great Ernie Spaniel, the
Speaker 4: sticking genius, and we drove by the Ben and Jerry's compound,
Speaker 4: those moon bats in Vermont, and the famous story back
Speaker 4: in the seventies they took a five dollars course on
Speaker 4: ice cream making and opened up the Ben and Jerry's
Speaker 4: there at a gas station, a converted gas station in Burlington.
Speaker 4: And and now they are looney tones, but they it
Speaker 4: all started with the little ice cream. Four out of
Speaker 4: five Americans eat more sugar. Here's a fun survey around
Speaker 4: the hollage. I thought it should be more than that
Speaker 4: it's eighty percent. And there's all kinds of I got
Speaker 4: all kinds of sugar ice cream stats here, all kinds
Speaker 4: of this by age group, they say the For example,
Speaker 4: according to Way survey, different age groups preferred different ice
Speaker 4: cream flavors. The fourteen to seventeen group enjoy mint chocolate chip.
Speaker 1: The eighteen to twenty four it's cookies and cream.
Speaker 4: Get them all turned on, and then the cookie dough
Speaker 4: twenty five to thirty four, and then above forty five
Speaker 4: it's it's chocolate. I I'm a cookie dough. I like
Speaker 4: midship mint chocolate chip cookie dough. It's really hard to
Speaker 4: turn down any kind of ice cream, right, fudge, brownie,
Speaker 4: you name it.
Speaker 1: Whatever might be ice cream on top of that.
Speaker 4: Anyway, So it's National ice Cream Day, but it'll happen
Speaker 4: again coming up in the month of July. So July
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty five, just have like multiple days wine.
Speaker 4: It's also National Cream cheese Frosting Day today, so celebrate
Speaker 4: appropriately for that, National Cocoa Day on this Friday, and
Speaker 4: randomly National violin Day.
Speaker 1: Okay, So on this edition.
Speaker 4: Of the Fifth Hour, we have Liberachi approved. Goodbye, my
Speaker 4: radio friend, A little foodie fun and a very bizarre
Speaker 4: word of the week, which actually could be two words
Speaker 4: of the week.
Speaker 1: It's not really one word, it's more than that.
Speaker 4: So we always begin the Friday podcast by pointing out
Speaker 4: that Noel am I lucky enough to have a radio
Speaker 4: show that hopefully listen to during the week.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty cool, right, pretty that's a neat thing.
Speaker 4: And then I have this podcast, which I've been very
Speaker 4: blessed with to have this podcast as well.
Speaker 1: I've done this for a number of years.
Speaker 4: Now with gag On and of course Danny GE's been
Speaker 4: with me for a long time as well. And a
Speaker 4: couple of years ago, the good people at NBC gave
Speaker 4: me a TV show. Shocking, I know, and I feel
Speaker 4: like Jim Harbaugh evangelizing. Who's got it better than us? Well,
Speaker 4: probably nobody. Well there's a lot of people that have better,
Speaker 4: a lot of people that are worse than us. But nonetheless,
Speaker 4: I try to convert you if you have not already
Speaker 4: fallen for my crusade, as I missionize every week, the
Speaker 4: Little Missionary here, my campaign to spread the gospel of
Speaker 4: Benny versus the penny. It is a half hour of
Speaker 4: your time. It is a weekly NFL gambling show, but
Speaker 4: not really so much a gambling It's light on the
Speaker 4: gambling and mostly just me futzing around, goofing around with
Speaker 4: my sidekick, teleprompter Tom as we call him. So it's
Speaker 4: week fifteen. We recorded the TV show yesterday. It actually
Speaker 4: started airing on television around the country last night.
Speaker 1: It is a nationally syndicated show, thank god for that.
Speaker 4: NBC Sports Now for our purposes, the show is produced.
Speaker 4: The director, the producer, all the production team, my team,
Speaker 4: the people that put the show together behind the scenes
Speaker 4: are at NBC Sports Boston. So that's our flagship. So
Speaker 4: that to us is the biggest affiliate, not that we
Speaker 4: don't love being on in all these other cities, but
Speaker 4: that's the one where the people that make the magic,
Speaker 4: the people that make the hot dogs, they get to
Speaker 4: consume the hot dog right there in their backyard. And
Speaker 4: so with that being said, we will go live no
Speaker 4: Celtic game tonight, hallelujah, hallelujah, no Celtic game tonight in
Speaker 4: the early television window.
Speaker 1: Don't think they play it all.
Speaker 4: Today, So we will go live on tape on NBC
Speaker 4: Sports Boston in prime time six pm and then two
Speaker 4: more at least two more encore showings. The show will
Speaker 4: be broadcast again at eight thirty and then again at
Speaker 4: nine to thirty, so three showings between six pm and
Speaker 4: nine thirty ten ish, which means Alf the Alien ol
Speaker 4: Piner going to be very busy. Alf I know you
Speaker 4: have a homework assignment there, buddy, and you've been very
Speaker 4: good and loyal, and we lost our buddy masshole Mickey,
Speaker 4: so I need you to carry the load there and
Speaker 4: watch the show and all the episodes.
Speaker 1: And all that, and I know you will. I know
Speaker 1: you will.
Speaker 4: Rusty as well, Rusty in Boston. And now Danny DeVito,
Speaker 4: how cool is that the call the other night.
Speaker 1: From Danny DeVito.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna tell my wife this weekend, Danny
Speaker 4: DeVito is a fan of the show that I've arrived.
Speaker 1: Now, this is Danny Vieto.
Speaker 4: He just happened to be a trash man in Boston,
Speaker 4: but he's making like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 4: a year picking up other people's trash, which is not bad.
Speaker 4: So again, the whole point is Benny versus the Penny.
Speaker 4: Week fifteen break down, all the big matchups, this weekend
Speaker 4: in the NFL, and I want you another show. Is
Speaker 4: Liberacci approved at least teleprompter Tom his outfit Liberacci approved,
Speaker 4: And we're gonna send out another Sissor real.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, I have had so much fun.
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm a child the last couple of
Speaker 4: weeks walking around the back lot at Universal Studios, Hollywood,
Speaker 4: and we've stumbled on to the downtown city backdrop scene,
Speaker 4: the fake buildings where they've filmed so many iconic movies
Speaker 4: and TV shows over and mean, we get done with
Speaker 4: the TV show and we we walk and it's pretty
Speaker 4: long walk from when we do the show.
Speaker 1: We do the show kind of near.
Speaker 4: The front of Universal, the back lot, the front part
Speaker 4: of the back lot at univers Studios, if that makes
Speaker 4: any sense. So then we get out of that building.
Speaker 4: We have to walk down to the abb And and Costello
Speaker 4: parking garage. We then put our bags in the abb
Speaker 4: and Castello draw Abnue Costello Garage. We then go into
Speaker 4: an elevator. We go down the elevator to the ground floor.
Speaker 4: We then walk out through an office building. We then
Speaker 4: walk up to the left and have to go up
Speaker 4: a hill and then we have a long walk.
Speaker 1: We go by all.
Speaker 4: These massive studios and we walk, walk, walk, Why walk
Speaker 4: by the Johnny Carson building. There's a jay Leno street
Speaker 4: slash building right across the street from Johnny Carson's building.
Speaker 1: We keep going, keep going, keep going. At Boom there
Speaker 1: it is right there, right.
Speaker 4: In front of us, this beautiful city with a movie theater,
Speaker 4: it's got a hotel, it's got everything. So we've deterned
Speaker 4: and we love this Looney as well. And I tried
Speaker 4: to explain to Looney we should have been doing this
Speaker 4: a long time ago, and for some reason he thought
Speaker 4: I was taking him up to Universal Studios the amusement park.
Speaker 4: It's like, no, I don't. I can't fit on the
Speaker 4: rides at Universal Studios. I'm too tall for that. I
Speaker 4: used to be too fat too, but I'm too tall now,
Speaker 4: so I'm like no. So this is our new spot.
Speaker 4: And there's another video that we're putting out later today
Speaker 4: that you can check out behind the scenes of the
Speaker 4: Universal and you will see the Liberachi approved outfit from
Speaker 4: teleprompter Tom for this week's episode of Benny Versus the Penny.
Speaker 4: It is well, it's it's on brand for looning. It
Speaker 4: is on brand for Looney all right. Turned the page
Speaker 4: from that, I was I think I was trying to
Speaker 4: think who sent me a message out? One of you
Speaker 4: guys sent me a message saying, hey, we should go
Speaker 4: back and kind of honor some of the people that
Speaker 4: we've lost this year, and my buddy in Charleston.
Speaker 1: But anyway, we will do that at some point.
Speaker 4: I did want to spend some time this weekend to
Speaker 4: say goodbye to my radio friend, and that would be Skeeter.
Speaker 4: We talked about this at the beginning of the week.
Speaker 4: I found out over last weekend that we had lost
Speaker 4: our friend Skeeter. And over the last few days before
Speaker 4: Skeeter passed, I had been in contact with Colonel Rick
Speaker 4: and the Montana Girl. They are the two fine sweet
Speaker 4: souls that have kept an eye on Skeeter, and they
Speaker 4: reached out to me when Skeeter had a medical emergency. Now, Skeeter,
Speaker 4: if you're not familiar, is a caller to the show.
Speaker 4: He's one of the great characters on the show. And
Speaker 4: really what the Overnight Show is all about. We're keeping
Speaker 4: your company. We're there with you. You can't sleep, you
Speaker 4: got medical problems, whatever it might be, and there's another
Speaker 4: human being who is there. That's the whole point of
Speaker 4: doing it. Otherwise they just put tape programming on and
Speaker 4: that's it and save some money and they don't have
Speaker 4: to pay people like me, and that's that. But Skeeter
Speaker 4: is famous, and I will remember Skeeter as long as
Speaker 4: I do this show for what he inspired Skeeter is.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna tell you about his life here because Colonel
Speaker 4: Rick and the Montana Girl were kind of enough to
Speaker 4: share a nice little right up on Skeeter. I wanted
Speaker 4: to share that because this is the last time we'll
Speaker 4: probably mention him often on the show, and I wanted
Speaker 4: to give him the proper sendoff as he deserves. So
Speaker 4: Skeeter started calling the show years ago and just a
Speaker 4: sweet old man. But he loved being part of the show.
Speaker 4: He loved being part of the show, and so much
Speaker 4: so that we have the mal Or Militia. Listen to
Speaker 4: the show, you know that we wote to Mallard Militia,
Speaker 4: a group of super fans of the show that support
Speaker 4: and defend the honor of the Ben Maller Show.
Speaker 1: So fine.
Speaker 4: I had used the Malad Militia moniker for a long time.
Speaker 4: In fact, to Johatish John.
Speaker 1: If you remember that name from Michigan, who retired from
Speaker 1: sports radio calling. Very odd story.
Speaker 4: But johnis John's like Mallad Militia Maleman. So we did
Speaker 4: this years ago. This probably goes back twenty years we
Speaker 4: had the Mala Militia. But a few years back, and
Speaker 4: I don't even remember exactly when Skeeter started calling the show.
Speaker 4: And he really was into the show, and he loved it,
Speaker 4: and he had great energy, and he was a sweet
Speaker 4: old man, and he wanted to be a member of
Speaker 4: the militia. And he could not wrap his mind around
Speaker 4: the fact that that there's no way to enter. He
Speaker 4: wanted to be part of the club. He kept asking me,
Speaker 4: call after call, how do I get part of this?
Speaker 1: How do I want to be part of it?
Speaker 4: And so in a moment of weakness, I said, all right, fine,
Speaker 4: you want to be part of it. I stop annoying me, Skeeter.
Speaker 4: I'll come up with an oath. So I took the
Speaker 4: I went on, I did some creative editing. I took
Speaker 4: the United States Military Oath, and I twisted a few
Speaker 4: words around. I made it my own. I put my
Speaker 4: own touch on it and that was it. And then
Speaker 4: I did it on the air, and Skeeter loved it
Speaker 4: and he could not get enough of it, and other
Speaker 4: people in the listening audience wanted to be part of it.
Speaker 4: Many of you have taken the Malad Militia oath over
Speaker 4: the years, and it's all because of Skeeter.
Speaker 1: It's all because of Skeeter.
Speaker 4: It's a blood oath and accordance to the bylaws of
Speaker 4: the Mala Militia. And so that is all because of Skeeter.
Speaker 4: That is his lasting legacy on our little radio show.
Speaker 4: And it's the funniest thing because Skeeter. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 4: you about him here in a second. Skeeter spent a
Speaker 4: long time in the military. He spent time in the
Speaker 4: United States military, and here I am doing the military oath,
Speaker 4: is changing a few words around, and he loved it.
Speaker 4: And I get the biggest kick out of that because
Speaker 4: I've heard for a lot of guys that did time
Speaker 4: in the military, spent time there, and they all seem
Speaker 4: to enjoy it.
Speaker 1: I've not had anyone say I'm offended by that. It's
Speaker 1: just really a great tribute to Skeeter. So let me
Speaker 1: tell you a little bit about him. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you a little bit about him. Skeeter just on.
Speaker 4: I think it's proper right. It's interesting. You never really
Speaker 4: know who these people are when they call in. But Skeeter,
Speaker 4: we learned a little bit about him.
Speaker 1: His name, his real name is David.
Speaker 4: David aka Skeeter, was born and grew up in North
Speaker 4: Dakota on a farm, the son of a farmer. Graduated
Speaker 4: from school, he went off to the Navy. I'm in
Speaker 4: the Navy. He was a semen. Served twenty years in
Speaker 4: the United States Navy. Our buddy Skeeter, twenty years in
Speaker 4: the Navy. Now, after the Navy, he moved to Montana.
Speaker 4: He said, that's it. I'm done. I'm going to retire
Speaker 4: and I'm going to fish. And man, did he love
Speaker 4: to fish. And if you love to fish, Montana is
Speaker 4: heaven on earth?
Speaker 1: Is it not? Is it not heaven on earth? Going
Speaker 1: to Montana?
Speaker 4: So as the story was passed on to me by
Speaker 4: Colonel Rick. One of the famous Skeeter stories. In his
Speaker 4: life in Montana fishing, he one time caught a seagull.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was fishing.
Speaker 4: Instead of catching a salmon or something, he caught a seagull,
Speaker 4: and he reeled it in and cut the tangled line
Speaker 4: and set it free. He was very excited about that.
Speaker 4: And I'm happy to report that I thought this might
Speaker 4: be bullshit. I thought this might not be true. And
Speaker 4: I have seen photos of said seagull. The seagull seemed
Speaker 4: to be doing okay, and it was not killed by this,
Speaker 4: but it was just amusing. As far as Skeeter's personal life,
Speaker 4: he had been married twice, He had no no children
Speaker 4: from his first marriage.
Speaker 1: He had three step sons with his second marriage.
Speaker 4: And since he had a retirement from the Navy, he
Speaker 4: had worked a little bit, worked as like a service station,
Speaker 4: a gas station attendant in Montana.
Speaker 1: He'd done that briefly. Liked music and sports and fishing.
Speaker 4: And all that, and also had a great love of
Speaker 4: of of the history of music, song titles from different dates.
Speaker 4: He knew all about that. And as far as what
Speaker 4: happened to Skeeter, without going into too much detail here,
Speaker 4: Skeeter had called the show we knew he had cancer.
Speaker 4: He had given us updates. Now it's it's pretty well.
Speaker 4: I mean, Skeeter was you know, we were we were
Speaker 4: like radio.
Speaker 1: Family, and you know Skeeter was one of those guys
Speaker 1: he wanted to share with us.
Speaker 4: We were important to him and and from any ways,
Speaker 4: he was important to us.
Speaker 1: On the Overnight show.
Speaker 4: And so Skeeter would call us up and give us
Speaker 4: medical updates when he visited the doctor about his cancer
Speaker 4: and the outlook and how things were looking and all that.
Speaker 4: He was very positive, very optimistic about everything. But about
Speaker 4: two weeks ago, Skeeter was taking the trash container out
Speaker 4: on a very cold, cold morning or afternoon, I guess
Speaker 4: it was. It was a Sunday, so not this past Sunday,
Speaker 4: the Sunday before, and there was a lot of wind,
Speaker 4: a lot.
Speaker 1: Of wind in Montana.
Speaker 4: Winds gusted up to sixty mile an hour, and baby,
Speaker 4: it is cold outside.
Speaker 1: It was cold, and pair of.
Speaker 4: Skeeter was not even though he's lived in Montana for
Speaker 4: a long time and he's a hardy North Dakota, he's
Speaker 4: gotten older and he's sick and whatnot, and so all
Speaker 4: that apparently caused him. He was not prepared for it.
Speaker 4: He fell down, and unfortunately he was by himself. He
Speaker 4: laid there for about an hour on a frigid afternoon,
Speaker 4: was sixty mile an hour wind Finally, one of his
Speaker 4: neighbors came home and saw him laying on the ground,
Speaker 4: called the paramedics. They got him up, helped him into
Speaker 4: his house, and Skeeter being a you know, being stubborn,
Speaker 4: which I respect. I'm stubborn too, excuters like, dude, I'm
Speaker 4: not going to the hospital, all right, get out of here.
Speaker 4: I don't I want to go to the hospital. I
Speaker 4: don't need to get checked out.
Speaker 1: So the next.
Speaker 4: Morning, as I'm told, the Colonel Rick, who has been
Speaker 4: his caregiver for a number of years with Montana girl,
Speaker 4: they they've done a great job with him. So Colonel
Speaker 4: Rick went to his home and found our buddy Skeeter
Speaker 4: had fallen yet again in his house. And so this
Speaker 4: time the Colonel got him up and kind of got
Speaker 4: him walking with the assistant a walker and made sure
Speaker 4: he had his phone with him twenty four to seven
Speaker 4: for help of needing. And you know, David, they was
Speaker 4: happy and all that he was good. But then the
Speaker 4: following Tuesday, there was a wellness check that was done
Speaker 4: on Skeeter and he didn't answer.
Speaker 1: It's never gonning done. That's what happened on my dad.
Speaker 4: My dad used to do wellness calls my dad one
Speaker 4: time he didn't answer.
Speaker 1: That was not good.
Speaker 4: So anyways, Colonel Rick ran over to check on Skeeter.
Speaker 4: He had fallen yet again. He was very weak and
Speaker 4: needed to call an ambulance. They called an ambulance, took
Speaker 4: him to the hospital, try to find out what was happening.
Speaker 4: He had fallen down three times in three days, so
Speaker 4: obviously this is not going well. He was taking to
Speaker 4: the hospital our buddy Skeeter and obviously not doing very well. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: you never know when your time is, and you hope
Speaker 4: it's not.
Speaker 1: Today, you hope it's tomorrow. But Skeeter's body had been
Speaker 1: shutting down.
Speaker 4: He did suffer from kidney cancer and that in the falls,
Speaker 4: everything kind of tied together, we are told, and eventually
Speaker 4: he became unresponsive. But I am happy to report this
Speaker 4: actually made me made me very happy. The colonel who
Speaker 4: had been keeping an eye on Colonel Rick and the
Speaker 4: Montana girl deb they tell me that while Skeeter was
Speaker 4: in the hospital, before he crossed over to the pearly
Speaker 4: gates there and went to the other side, they had
Speaker 4: mentioned the name my name Skeeter wanted me to know
Speaker 4: about his situation.
Speaker 1: If something were to happen to him. So Colonel had
Speaker 1: reached out. But when he mentioned to Skeeter my name,
Speaker 1: Skeeter smiled, which made me feel very good. And I
Speaker 1: had left a.
Speaker 4: Voicemail message for Colonel Rick to I didn't know whether
Speaker 4: that was for Skeeter or not, but I left a
Speaker 4: very nice message on the phone. I was trying to
Speaker 4: get in contact, but Skeeter was unresponsive and whatnot. So
Speaker 4: I left a voicemail message about how much we loved
Speaker 4: Skeeter and how great he was and all that stuff.
Speaker 4: And before Skeeter passed, they were able to play that
Speaker 4: message for Skeeter and Colonel Rick. I teared up a
Speaker 4: little bit when I read this. But Colonel Rick sent
Speaker 4: me a message and he said that when they were
Speaker 4: playing my voice to Skeeter and he's, you know, unresponsive,
Speaker 4: he's dying, is on his deathbed in the hospital, and
Speaker 4: his eyes fluttered and he actually smiled, which made me
Speaker 4: feel just was great. You know, it's not about me,
Speaker 4: but it just it's like, wow, there's just that connection
Speaker 4: that you have. And I never met Skeeter. We never
Speaker 4: met in real life. We just talked on the phone
Speaker 4: on the radio several times, and and then his wife,
Speaker 4: Colonel Rick's wife told David, you know, we love you
Speaker 4: and all this stuff, and and then Skeeter shortly after
Speaker 4: that passed away and he was at peace. And I
Speaker 4: was also told by Colonel Rick that our buddy Skeeter,
Speaker 4: he had one last wish. I guess he wanted to
Speaker 4: see the Lions go to the Super Bowl. And so
Speaker 4: that's for Skeeter. We'll see how far they go. But
Speaker 4: he loved and really enjoyed the show and the characters,
Speaker 4: and he loved being part of the show.
Speaker 1: And I mentioned this on the radio the other day.
Speaker 4: It was just a hilarious tale that Colonel Rick told
Speaker 4: me about Skeeters on he was on what used to
Speaker 4: be called twitters now X and he was so proud.
Speaker 4: He thought he was Taylor Swift or you know, whoever
Speaker 4: your favorite famous person is, because he had like one
Speaker 4: hundred and thirty people following him on X and to him,
Speaker 4: that was the.
Speaker 1: Biggest thing in the world. Like that was awesome.
Speaker 4: Was that was his bully pulpit, that was his megaphone
Speaker 4: to the world. I thought that was just so sweet
Speaker 4: and wonderful. I need emailed me a few times over
Speaker 4: the years, and we had corresponded off the radio. But
Speaker 4: rest in peace, Skeeter in Montana. A life well lived,
Speaker 4: a full life, twenty years in the Navy, a good
Speaker 4: amount of time retired fishing in Montana, and a couple
Speaker 4: of the marriages and all that.
Speaker 1: But rest in peace, Skeeter.
Speaker 4: Hopefully he's hanging out with Genie and Medford and a masshole.
Speaker 1: Mickey's on four.
Speaker 4: We had a lot of people on the other side.
Speaker 4: Let me tell you something, the malor meet and greet
Speaker 4: that we're going to do on the other side, Holy Canoley,
Speaker 4: that is going to be a big one. A lot
Speaker 4: of legends, a lot of legends that we have lost
Speaker 4: over the year. Jimmy Ray from Tampa Bay, so many
Speaker 4: others that have passed on.
Speaker 1: All right, it's the fifth hour.
Speaker 4: I wanted to turn the page from that our tribute
Speaker 4: to Skeeter in Montana, and I wanted to mention what
Speaker 4: a perfect transition.
Speaker 1: Skeeter liked to eat.
Speaker 4: We'd like to eat. Skeeter would appreciate this. Foody fun,
Speaker 4: foody fun. Let's do it, that's right, A little food
Speaker 4: he fun, food he fun. All right, some food stores
Speaker 4: here at Taco Bell testing a beverage concept called Live
Speaker 4: Moss Cafe. Does that not sound like a ripoff of
Speaker 4: the McDonald's cafe thing. Yeah, I'll give Taco Bell credit
Speaker 4: Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, which is not
Speaker 4: a national chance of regional chain. They'll just throw anything
Speaker 4: out there like they don't really care. A Wendy's recently
Speaker 4: brought back the French onion cheeseburger. Now, I used to
Speaker 4: eat Wendyes all the time, but I always went chicken
Speaker 4: sandwich nuggets, Chicken sandwich nuggies, as the kids say at Wendy's.
Speaker 4: I do like French onion though, I'm a fan of
Speaker 4: the French onion, so.
Speaker 1: Take that for what it's worth.
Speaker 4: Also, Burger King has announced the return of the BK melt.
Speaker 4: I know that Blair and Maine is excited about that,
Speaker 4: and I'm excited about the Truro fries available for a
Speaker 4: limited time now. That starts December nineteenth, So today's the thirteenth.
Speaker 1: You knew the math on that.
Speaker 4: And this being the holiday season, it is the season
Speaker 4: to put random maps up and have some fun.
Speaker 1: And this being.
Speaker 4: Foody fund, we don't have too much time left. But
Speaker 4: I did want to mention this on Foody Fund. The
Speaker 4: most popular Christmas desserts in each US state. The most
Speaker 4: popular desserts in each US state. And let's see, we
Speaker 4: don't we can't do all of them. Let's just we'll
Speaker 4: do some of the big ones. We'll do some of
Speaker 4: the big ones. Now most states. What do you think
Speaker 4: the number number one dessert is for Christmas? That is right,
Speaker 4: ding ding ding ding ning pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie. Now,
Speaker 4: I think pumpkin pie. I think Halloween, I think Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4: I don't necessarily think the Christmas holiday. But pumpkin pie
Speaker 4: is number one in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado,
Speaker 4: South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Minnesota, and Ice, Missouri. Number
Speaker 4: one Wisconsin, Michigan. These are all Hardy, hardy pumpkin pie territories. Maine,
Speaker 4: my friends in the state of Maine love pumpkin by
Speaker 4: South Carolina pumpkin pie now in New York, New York,
Speaker 4: in Pennsylvania. In Texas, the sugar cookie. The sugar cookie
Speaker 4: reigns supreme. Also in Illinois. Also in Illinois, California, the
Speaker 4: state we broadcast from, Red Velvet Cake is number one
Speaker 4: here in California the most popular Christmas dessert, which I've
Speaker 4: never had at Christmas. I've only had red velvet cake
Speaker 4: a few times. There was a woman that listened to
Speaker 4: the show name I think her name was Tiffany. She
Speaker 4: came into the studio and I don't know, she just
Speaker 4: like stopped.
Speaker 1: She must have hated us. She must have thought I
Speaker 1: looked like an ogre or something that it's very were
Speaker 1: she came in and then she just vanished, stopped calling
Speaker 1: the shoe name. She brought in red velvet cake one
Speaker 1: time and we enjoyed.
Speaker 4: It was very good, a very moist cake, delicious, hardest
Speaker 4: screw cake up, but I don't usually have it here.
Speaker 4: Kansas also big red velvet cake territory, as in Alabama
Speaker 4: and where else I think I said South Carolina was
Speaker 4: it was pumpkin pie. It's actually red velvet, North Carolinas
Speaker 4: pumpkin pie, Virginia red velvet, Ohio red velvet. Some of
Speaker 4: the other ones here, Like what's going on in Florida,
Speaker 4: Tierra Massou is the number one to serve well. I
Speaker 4: guess we could get supermarket Steve's wife to make some
Speaker 4: Tierra Massoux there for the people of Florida.
Speaker 1: Piscotti is number one in Georgia. That seems a lot.
Speaker 1: What else do we have? If I see anything else? Utah?
Speaker 4: Well this is perfect for Utah. J Dot in Utah
Speaker 4: and his people over there. The number one dessert in
Speaker 4: Utah for Christmas is rice pudding.
Speaker 1: Yes, rice pudding is a nonmber. Yeah, good luck on that.
Speaker 1: I'm good.
Speaker 4: I also believe in if I'm looking at this properly,
Speaker 4: Maryland is also rice pudding. So yeah, I'm okay. I'm
Speaker 4: a big pecan guy. Pecan pie got Connecticut. I should
Speaker 4: go to Connecticut or DC. Pecan pie is number one. Also,
Speaker 4: I want to pint. Tiera Massoux number one in Oklahoma.
Speaker 4: I know I'm bouncing around, but I of those desserts
Speaker 4: that were listed, like some states have carrot cake, like
Speaker 4: Indiana's carried I don't.
Speaker 1: I can't stand carrot cake. I mean, whatever floats your boat.
Speaker 1: Tiera Masoux also big in Nevada. Point that out.
Speaker 4: I'm a big pecan pie guy. Sugar cookies. I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna do a list because Terry in England. I do
Speaker 4: not do lists, Terry, but I will give you my
Speaker 4: big board. Of these lists, I would put pecan pie
Speaker 4: in the number one spot, Sugar Cookies, number two, Red Velvet, three,
Speaker 4: pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1: Four. Because I think of pumpkin pie, I.
Speaker 4: Think of that as a Thanksgiving dessert. I would put
Speaker 4: piscatti after that, followed by Tierra Massou and then I
Speaker 4: put rice putting, followed by carrot cake.
Speaker 1: That's my big board right there. That's it.
Speaker 4: That's all right time now four the word.
Speaker 1: All the week, or in this case, the words of
Speaker 1: the week.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 4: This one an email I got from a listener to
Speaker 4: this podcast. He calls himself the grease Monkey.
Speaker 1: You're not alone.
Speaker 4: He's in Atlanta, and he says he wanted us to
Speaker 4: talk about the Alan Wrench. Of all things, the Alan wrench.
Speaker 4: That's random anyway, Grease Monkey writes. Sin says he's spent
Speaker 4: a lot of time in recent years. He got married
Speaker 4: about a year ago. They've got a home, and he
Speaker 4: has purchased all kinds of Ikea furniture, and every piece
Speaker 4: of furniture that he's built since he got married and
Speaker 4: started his life has had an Alan wrench. He says
Speaker 4: he now hates the Alan wrench and hopes to never
Speaker 4: see it again. But yet he emailed me wanting to
Speaker 4: know about the history of the Allen wrench. So it's
Speaker 4: not just I can't, but Ikeia is most nomal Every
Speaker 4: single ready to assemble product requiring screws has a complementary
Speaker 4: Allen wrench.
Speaker 1: That hex tool you twist, you know what, it's pain
Speaker 1: in the ass.
Speaker 4: You twist it to secure fasteners and for bookshelf you're
Speaker 4: building the table, any kind of price, pretty much the
Speaker 4: entire line of Ikea products, and it's it's necessary. It's
Speaker 4: a necessary thing. It's not the easiest thing to play
Speaker 4: around with, depending on how small it is. And the
Speaker 4: Allen wrench it's an L or an S shaped tool,
Speaker 4: six sided head, easily gripped allegedly, So what's the history
Speaker 4: of it? So I did a deep dive on this
Speaker 4: and it goes back to nineteen ten.
Speaker 1: Sure enough, there's a gentleman named William G.
Speaker 4: Allen, the owner of the Allen screw manufacturing company. Mister
Speaker 4: Allen loved the name Allen and he started marketing hex wrenches.
Speaker 4: You see, the wrench, the Allen wrench was actually the
Speaker 4: hex wrench. It had already existed since the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: And they.
Speaker 4: Were intended to compete with similar square wrenches and whatnot,
Speaker 4: and then reduced tool slippage.
Speaker 1: And unity to get in all that.
Speaker 4: But to mention, the wrenches were meant to be used
Speaker 4: with a screw that had a hexagonal recess, so Allen
Speaker 4: had filed a patent for that in nineteen oh nine.
Speaker 4: He called his the Allen safety screw is what he
Speaker 4: called it, not the Allen wrench. So you're probably wondering,
Speaker 4: So the hex wrench existed before the Allen wrench, So
Speaker 4: why do we still, all these years later call it
Speaker 4: the Alan rench. Here's why. And this is a great
Speaker 4: lesson about marketing. It's a great lesson about business and
Speaker 4: how people are wired. The reason in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 4: almost twenty twenty five that we call it the Alan
Speaker 4: wrench and not the hex range, it's very simple.
Speaker 1: The reason we do.
Speaker 4: That is because of publicy, publicizing five screwed that up,
Speaker 4: publicizing right. Marketing, marketing, and that is the key, that
Speaker 4: is the key to this. It's all about the marketing.
Speaker 4: And I've read books about business and products and what
Speaker 4: makes products popular and what makes them not popular, and
Speaker 4: the manipulation of the mind and all this different stuff.
Speaker 4: You study this stuff and you learn that the same
Speaker 4: playbook is used to hype things up, to advertise, raise
Speaker 4: the profile of something. The pervasive marketing, if you will.
Speaker 4: It's the same formula of salesmanship that is used. And anyway,
Speaker 4: so this guy, William G. Allen, just was able to
Speaker 4: publicize and market it. And once in a mind, once
Speaker 4: people have determined that a product is called this, that's
Speaker 4: what it's called. People don't like to change their minds.
Speaker 4: Once they perceive you one way, that's it. And so
Speaker 4: the secret to success off is getting into the mind first.
Speaker 4: And while the X ranch was around, it was not marketed,
Speaker 4: it was not publicized, and not have the Hollywood hype
Speaker 4: machine behind it like the Allen screw manufacturing company.
Speaker 1: And so therefore it's.
Speaker 4: Better to be first in the mind than first in
Speaker 4: the marketplace. It was not, and all these years later
Speaker 4: we still call it the Allen Wrench. We'll get out
Speaker 4: on that. Have a wonderful rest of your Friday. Please
Speaker 4: try to watch Benny Versus the Pennys on in Boston,
Speaker 4: San Francisco, Philadelphia, Kansas City, a bunch of other places
Speaker 4: around the country.
Speaker 1: Check your local TV listings, or just.
Speaker 4: Watch it later tonight on Peacock streaming nationally twenty four
Speaker 4: to seven, Benny versus the Penny, myself and teleprompter Tom,
Speaker 4: the liberati of the TV show, have a great rest
Speaker 4: of your day. Danny g will rejoin me tomorrow and
Speaker 4: we'll catch you then. And as he would say, later,
Speaker 4: skater
Speaker 1: Gotta murder, I gotta go.