Nick D – Monica Eng, Election Talk and Terrible Excuses

The Radio Missfits Podcast Network

Nick!

Gentleman!

Nick's your buddy!

Kind of guy you can get in the mirror with.

Start!

You're...

INYA!

It's the Nifty Podcast.

Oh, right, all right, all right.

It is the Nifty Podcast.

How are you, everybody?

My name is Nick DeGio and I am the host of the Nifty Podcast

here at the Radio Missfits Podcast Network.

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Great, great podcast lineup here.

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to and subscribing to my podcast called That Show

hasn't been funny in years and SNL podcast.

Every Wednesday, a brand new episode drops.

You can pick it up at every platform right at RadioMissfits.com

as well.

So please check that out.

This is episode number 439 of the aforementioned Nifty Podcast.

I am your host and let's talk about what's going to be happening

on this episode.

The wonderful Monica Eng is going to join me.

She is one of my many amazing recurring guests that I have on this

podcast that I am lucky to have.

I love my guests.

They are experts in so many different fields of the world of

pop culture, entertainment news and Monica rules.

She is part of Axios.com, Chicago.

A newsletter that you can get sent directly to your email

with stories every morning that make you sound smarter,

give you an update on what's going on in the world

and in Chicago, in the world of food and pop culture

and entertainment news, politics, all of that stuff.

Axios is fantastic.

And we'll talk with Monica Eng.

One of my favorite people in the world.

I've known her for many, many, many years.

I grew up in the newspaper business.

Hang out on my radio show back on WGN has been a regular on

this podcast since the very beginning.

And we're going to talk about, geez, I mean, we have a lot to

talk about happening in and around the Chicago land area.

We're going to talk about the, obviously, the elections that

just took place.

Some of the winners, the losers, the surprises.

We will jump on that, upsets, all of that cool stuff.

We're going to jump into what she was calling the dumpster dive.

Not dumpster, dumpster dive.

And that's where she actually took a bop down dumpster street

and tried 40 different pieces of food from 40 different

countries that are all represented just on that street.

We always talk food with Monica as well.

She rules.

So Monica Eng from Axios is my guest on this episode of the

podcast.

And then the fantastic guys where all the Leon is going to join me

as well.

And I again have known each other for, oh, I don't know, 45

million years.

And as is a regular on the podcast, we love to catch up,

find out what's going on, what she's going to be doing for

the weekend, hanging out, doing whatever.

Just shoot the shit, have some fun.

We're also going to talk about some real excuses that people

have used to get out of situations.

Yeah.

You know how you've done that.

Like excuses for like calling insect to work or excuses

for breaking a date or excuses for being late.

We found a website that has actual real excuses that people

used in the real world and got away with.

Well, maybe not got away with.

But so we're going to dive into the world of, hey, what kind of

lie can I tell to get out of something that I'm supposed to do?

Excuses.

They're not good.

We don't buy it.

Esmeralda and I are going to chat about that.

So a couple of lovely ladies joining me today, Monica Eng

and Esmeralda Leon and you.

And I appreciate you being a part of the podcast.

Thank you guys.

I thank everybody for coming out to the Museum of Broadcast

Communications on Oscar day Sunday, March 15th.

We had a really nice turnout, really lovely.

Rick Cogan legend from the Chicago Tribune and WGN radio

was the host and he interviewed me on stage.

We just sat, had a great conversation.

We had questions from the audience and then afterwards I walked

over to my table and then signed and sold a whole bunch of books.

So I appreciate that.

My book is called 40 Years, 40 Films.

If you've got gotten a copy, you should.

I'm real proud of it.

And I and I and a lot of people are giving me feedback that they love

the book.

I think it's cool.

The fact that I have interwoven my personal story into essays

about my 40 favorite films in the past 40 years.

But they also love that they can just skim it, look at it.

And if they're thinking of looking for a movie to watch on streaming,

they can pick up my book, flip through it, go through a chapter,

maybe look at an essay or go in the back,

which has over 400 of my favorite movies listed from the past 40 years

because all of my top 10 lists are there.

So people are using it as a guide to help them pick something out

and to discuss it and then to talk about, you know,

what they love about movies and all that cool stuff.

So it's been a really, it's been a really lovely trip

since this book came out on Halloween, last Halloween.

So I got a sequel that I'm writing.

And it's about horror films.

So this one's called 40 Years, 40 Films.

The next one's called 40 Years, 40 Horror Films.

Because a lot of my horror buddies were like, hey man,

there's not enough horror movies in this.

So all right, okay.

So I'm going to write a book specifically about horror movies

and that'll be coming up before the end of the year.

So look for that.

But anyway, get my book that's out now.

40 Years, 40 Films.

You can go to Eckhartspress.com

and order as many copies as you want.

Or you can come out and see the producers.

Mel Brooks's Masterpiece Hilarious Comedy.

I will be screening a 4K restoration of it, hosting it.

On Wednesday, April 8th at 7 p.m.

at the beautiful Lake Theater in downtown Oak Park, Illinois.

They give me control of the biggest theater,

of the most magnificent theater there at the lake.

The second Wednesday of each month,

I get to pick whatever movie I want, show it.

We talk about it.

I introduce the movie to a lovely little intro.

We introduce ourselves.

We watch the movie together.

And then afterwards, I'll jump up on stage,

talk about the making of the movie

behind the scene stories.

We'll do some trivia.

I'll have some questions.

You'll win some prizes.

And I always bring copies of my book, 40 Years, 40 Films,

for you to purchase and for me to sign.

So if you want to get a copy of it,

you can go to Eckhartspress.com.

That's E-C-K-H-A-R-T-Z.

E-C-K-H-A-R-T-Z.

Eckhartspress.com.

And you can order it there.

Or you can come out and see the producers.

On Wednesday, April 8th at 7 o'clock at the Lake Theater.

You can get your tickets now.

It's classiccinemas.com slash nick.

Classiccinemas.com slash nick.

Zero Mustell, Gene Wilder, Springtime for Hitler, Kenneth Mars, Dick Sean.

One of the funniest movies ever made.

Mel Brooks won an Oscar for it.

And see it on the big screen.

It's big deal and to watch it with a big crowd laughing your ass off.

It's just the genius of this.

Mel Brooks, big screen.

The producers.

I'm hosting, selling some copies of my book to sign for you as well.

So get your copy of 40 Years, 40 Films.

I'll sign it for you.

And see the producers on the big screen.

Again, Wednesday, April 8th, 7 p.m. at the Lake Theater.

Get your tickets now.

Reserve those seats.

Come on out.

Have a great time.

Watch the movie.

Get a book.

It'll be a blast.

That's all coming up.

More things are planned.

You know, in conjunction with the book.

That's out right now.

I'm going to be speaking at libraries and doing some other speaking engagements.

I'll keep you posted on everything.

And thank you so much for the support, guys.

For listening to the podcast.

For coming out to some of these events.

The museum was really amazing.

If you've never been to the museum broadcast communications.

At Randolph and Canal, you should.

It's amazing.

Dave Plyer and everybody there has done a magnificent job.

With so many great exhibits.

The loop exhibit that my friend Rick Kemper put together.

Rick is my publisher at Eckhart's press.

Rick put together the loop exhibit.

From the giving the history of the radio stations.

It's fantastic.

There is an unbelievable Johnny Carson exhibit there.

There is Fengouli exhibit.

Bozo.

Great radio history.

Hall of Fame.

The radio hall of fame is there.

It's an unbelievable place.

If you're a fan of radio and TV and all of that stuff.

It's an amazing place.

It was an absolute honor to do a presentation there.

And to have Rick Cogan there and all the people there.

It was great.

Talking about my book.

Talking about Roy Leonard and the history of broadcasting.

And all that cool stuff.

It was great.

We're going to do more interactive stuff like that as well.

But thanks to everybody who came out to the museum.

It's really, really cool.

Check out the website, museum.tv.

All right.

Hey, you want to be a sponsor on this podcast?

You can.

Sales at radiumisfits.com.

Voice mails.

Leave them.

Anytime you want.

I listen to every voice mail that comes in.

Comments, questions, contributions.

Seven, seven, three, four, one, seven, six, nine, four, eight.

You can email me too.

NickDee podcastedgmail.com.

All right.

Let's get to it.

I've said enough.

Oh, look.

Hi, I'm Carrie Russell.

And I love Nick's show.

I understand that you do.

I'm Carrie Russell.

And I love Nick's show.

All right.

She loves the show.

Everybody loves the show.

What the hell?

I think.

Cool.

Awesome.

Monica Angus from Axios.com in Chicago.

And we're going to talk with her right after you get to the show.

And we're going to talk with her right after you get congratulated.

Congratulations.

You're about to listen to the NickDee podcast.

It's my father's best decision.

You've made today.

It makes the other podcasts seem like crap.

Oh, yeah.

Don't be a jackal.

Oh, here comes Monica.

It thinks we want to play my harmonica.

Here we go.

I don't have a harmonica.

It's an imitation.

We gonna talk about this.

And we gonna talk about that.

Or a little while.

Or a little while.

Where was I at?

Oh, yeah.

Monica Ang.

Monica Ang.

That's what I sang.

Oh, Monica Ang.

And there it is.

It's the Monica Ang theme song by the great Jason Skags.

Who's crazy?

I can never get enough of that.

You never get enough of that.

Yes.

Every one of my regular guests has an exclusive theme song.

That.

Now I don't feel so special anymore.

Not to, you know, you know, to grade yours.

Yeah.

Yours is fantastic.

But everybody seems to really love their theme songs.

That's the one thing.

That's the one thing that.

If people hate being on this podcast, but they do like the theme songs.

So that's that works out well.

There you go.

Monica Ang.

Do you say people love the sound of their own voice or their other name?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Well, here's Monica Ang.

Hi, Monica.

Hey.

Good morning.

Good morning.

How are you doing?

You know, all things considered.

I'm hanging in there.

Yeah.

All right.

Cool.

I understand that you ventured out to the dentist.

How would you?

Are you okay?

Um, you know, at first you're kind of annoyed that the Novakaine is still there when you're walking out of the dentist.

Yeah.

And you're like, oh, now I know why I had it.

I wish it would come back.

Or you just take some Tylenol.

I just, I had a cavity filled.

Yeah.

It's always.

Yeah.

Not.

And I wanted to like listen to a podcast while it was happening.

But, you know, I also need to say, hey, you're not suctioning enough.

I'm choking here.

It was just.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've never actually, I've never actually sat in a dentist chair with a podcast.

Because I'm too, I'd be too like, hey, I would do the same thing.

I'd be like, I don't think that that's cool.

Yeah.

The whole pain, the whole drilling of my teeth.

Yeah.

It's not cool.

That's very nice.

Well, I'm glad that it was just.

I survived.

Yeah.

You survived.

All that cool stuff.

So, uh, all right.

Well, um, it's been busy for you guys.

First of all, uh, Monica writes for Axios.

Um, um, and axios.com slash Chicago's where you can sign up for the newsletter.

First of all, I'll tell everybody Axios how they can get it and what Axios does and is.

Sure.

Axios is a daily newsletter.

We are turning five years old in, um, in August.

Axios Chicago.

Wow.

Yeah.

It seems like just the other day that I skipped a jump ship from WBZ to Axios Chicago.

Right.

With Justin Kaufman and Carrie Shepard.

And, um, until every day we give you, every day we give you five stories that you need to know.

Hopefully some laughs.

Hopefully some humanity.

And we really try to boil down the, the biggest stories.

So that they're totally understandable.

They're not like a big, great 10,000 word piece that, you know, it's really important for some, uh, people and some topics.

But we want you to be able to be the smartest guy at the par, at the party or the, the water cooler within 3.5 minutes.

We try to make it readable in 3.5 minutes.

Because you know that water cooler things still exists.

Yeah.

I hope they're hanging around them all the time.

I wonder if that's, I wonder if people, because you and I are around the same age.

I wonder if that, if people who are younger than we are, if we say water cooler, do they know what we're talking about?

Like if we say, oh, that was a water cooler moment.

Do you think people know what that is?

Younger generation.

Like they look it up and they look up those antique pictures.

Right.

Okay.

You guys did that.

You stood around that thing.

Yeah.

Well, I love, I love Axios.

I look forward to getting, uh, I look forward to getting it every morning and it shows up in my, uh, it shows up in my email.

Almost precisely at 6.30 a.m. every day.

That's the, uh, that's the work of robots.

The work of robots.

I just saw a documentary called, uh, the AI doc.

Um, or how I became an apocalypticist.

Oh, so it's like pro AI.

No, no, it's well.

It's not really.

It's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a made by this.

By a Academy award-winning documentary filmmaker who, um, wanted to add, because he's unsure about it.

Like many of us.

Like what does it mean?

You know, like, they're, I mean, the only thing we know about AI in movies is the, like, the Terminator Skynet and they all kill.

Everybody kills us.

It's.

Right.

Yeah.

The robot always turns on the.

Yeah.

So he makes this documentary about it, which is a really, you know, like a perfect time to release it.

Um, and obviously people are interested in it.

Some people use it.

Some people don't, you know, um, people, you know, like the documentary attempts to explain, like, the difference between the different corporations that open AI and, uh, you know,

that's smart.

And all that stuff.

Uh, and, you know, and he gets a bunch of people.

He couldn't get Elon Musk and he couldn't get Zuckerberg.

They, they did not show up.

But he gets a boatload of people who are in the industry who are creators and writers and, you know,

and, and they talk about it.

And the, the conversations are interesting.

There's not the most enlightening thing in the world, because I've, I've done a lot of research on this.

Um, you know, stuff.

Um, but what.

Everybody has.

And so the basics, especially if it's accurate.

The basics are, the basics are good.

The problem with it is, and this is just me.

I didn't know I was going to review the movie, but the problem with it is this Monica.

The dude who made the movie decided to kind of insert himself in it.

And I hate when documentary filmmakers do that.

Like, well, you know, Michael Moore works outside others.

Yeah, we'll see.

I'm not a, I'm not a Michael Moore guy at all.

Okay.

I mean, I put it.

Okay, let me say this.

Politically, I agree with him.

I really do.

Um, one of my favorite quotes is my old buddy, uh, rest in peace.

My good friend, Mike View.

Fantastic dude.

Great actor.

He, uh, he used to say that Michael Moore was the Ted Nugent of Liberals.

And I'm like, yeah, that.

That kind of makes sense to me.

I've been knowing all about him.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Uh, just like shut up for a couple of minutes.

I agree with you, dude, but not shut up.

But I, I, I don't know.

They're in this guy who made this documentary decided that like he was going to include his personal story about his wife having a baby and him feeling anxiety about that and a.

And that kind of with wacky like animation and stuff.

And, and it totally distracted me from the interesting stuff in the movie about this really timely and important topic.

Yeah.

And so I just, every time it would be like, oh, I felt anxiety and then a wacky piece of animation and a conversation with his wife and then like, you know, uh,

they've tripped to the, to the, to the, to the guy know, and I'm like, I don't.

Where, where are the guys talking about it?

Where's the, what's happening?

Where are the bots?

Um, no, I can, I can see what you mean.

There, there was that, um, that Dolly Parton radio documentary by Chad, uh, yeah.

Chad, I always pronounced his last name wrong.

And, and I loved it.

And it's like, and then there was an episode just all about him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What's going on?

We're here for Dolly, man.

Yeah.

I totally agree.

But this was like, it's, it's like, and it's only like a 90 minute movie, you know, like hour 40.

And I'm, and again, an impressive lineup of talking heads here.

You know, like people who are old men.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

No, I mean, like literally like I was like, whoa.

And when they're talking, it's great.

And then like he goes, oh, no.

And another little piece of animation where he's ain't got anxiety.

And like, what's the baby?

You're going to be a boy or a girl?

I'm like, I don't give a shit about this.

What?

Yeah.

I think one of his producers was just like, okay.

So how about we like humanize it by putting your story in that little baby thing?

And that's the thing.

Like, I understand why he did it.

Because it's like, oh, I'm a regular person too.

Right.

But it doesn't work.

It doesn't work.

And if, and if, you know, I got a kid coming, should, should I not have a kid being born right now?

Is the world going to end in six years?

You know, like that, that's kind of the angle he's taking.

But man, it's very intrusive on the really interesting stuff.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Well, one of the producers of the movie is one of the Daniels who did that.

Everything, everywhere, everything.

Which I hated.

So.

And then they start to think that they can do anything.

Yeah, exactly.

So do no wrong.

Right.

Well, AI, it's out there and it's going to kill us all.

That's basically what it is.

All right.

Enjoy your last one.

Well, listen, I don't know if AI was, I'm going to try to segway.

I don't know if AI was used in the campaigns of any of the candidates.

Oh, it was.

We'll get to that in a moment.

I was trying to segway.

Yeah.

You guys have been covering beautifully, I might add, the elections leading up to Tuesday.

I went out Tuesday morning, voted, walked over to my, you know, to independence park is where I vote.

Yep.

And there was nobody there.

It was like me and I got there about, I think it was like 10 to 7.

I got there.

But we're not seven, you know.

Wow.

The lines, the non-existent line, non-existent lines.

And according to the turnout, there probably weren't, there weren't,

there were non-existent lines all day is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So let's talk about the.

Yeah, tons of early voting and then not much on election day.

Yeah.

I think we got up to 12.

What was it?

28%.

Go America.

28% of you registered people actually bothered to show up at the precinct.

Three blocks from your house.

It literally took me with the walk.

And I don't know, 15 minutes.

Maybe.

And I don't understand.

That's why we're in what we're in right now is because I mean, that's why.

Get your ass out.

But I don't understand.

I don't know what, you know, I understand it's like a prop.

People are like, maybe it's just a primary, you know, whatever.

But it matters.

Well, guess what?

In Cook County, the primary is the general dudes.

Yeah.

It is.

Sorry, we just don't elect Republicans.

It's true.

It was really funny because when I went to the gym at, you know, at the field house of an

independence park, which is where the, where my polling place is.

I went in and they were, everybody was very kind.

They were really kind of, you know, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, it's out in coffee and the whole thing.

Because I got there very early.

But you know, I got there very early.

So I was like, you know, I'm, and so I get in.

And, and they're like, would you like a Republican ballot or a democratic ballot?

And I just went and she's, and they're like, and I just went, like that.

And then she goes, I'm sorry, I have to ask.

So.

I was going to ask, you know, what are you going to say?

You're always try to, what pepper pepper?

I was trying to pepper them with questions and I'm like, okay,

I just say I'm a reporter and that's why I'm like so how many people today? How many Republican

ballots versus Democratic? How many independents? I'm sure they love you when you show up. Now did you

did you mail or did you did you do it? Did you do it? I did I did early. My neighborhood on Saturday

was filled with young people wearing green, carrying empty milk jugs full of

a board or pink. It was a work city and and so I decided to take a walk when maybe they started

to take an app and I went down to Illinois and the Sonic and I was packed as well with

driving people who is like alcohol poisoning which is not funny but yeah and and I was like well

where's the early voting you know where's where's the long line for early voting nothing I wanted

to say hey all you kids out here guess what an early voting you can go to any place so

get over here and start doing your duty because you know it was it was a packed neighborhood

so I said so how's how's that turnout today and they're like what you see is what you get yeah

yeah it was like no line nothing they you know here's a secret they let us bring our dog in the

booth I mean I thought I was like Colin they're not going to let us bring the dog in it was so

dead that they're like bring the dog and let the dog vote see what happens okay so no that's

gonna get around of course they're probably gonna be like they're letting dogs vote but if they're

when they're not eating them right and and you know me the person has been covering elections for

the last whatever you know this particular election for the last three months I was like shit

did I do it like all my I do diligence all the judges and so we like quickly checked you know

Mark and Bar Association of Justice Watch but yeah I was in and out in yeah you know three minutes

it literally doesn't take long they had the longest thing the thing that took the longest was that

they were like trying to find me you know like where's your address where you where do you live what what

and I'm like what's right you know that was what took the longest and it was like I'm right I live

right down the straight literally live four blocks away you want I can you can walk you back to my

place in a you feel where I live anyway I have those like those big books I've ever

yes it's so crazy now I'm mailed in I did a male in ballot for the presidential election

um and you know I voted I brought it right down to I but right right on Washington brought it

right down to Washington threw it in them in the in the ballot box and all that stuff because

you know it was very important so I didn't actually do I'm mailed in and now I feel like guilty

like maybe my vote got lost well you know if if any of the um uh the races we're going to get

really tight they would go into all the later mail-in ballots yeah but yeah and then you know

folks the new rules on mail-in is you can't just mail it on election day it has to be post marked

by election day and I didn't know that stuff could be post marked a day later or even sometimes they

say several days later it happens yeah yeah it's true so um so everybody is doing mail-in you

know get it in early before get it in early okay well yeah Lexington Williams who's is saying

you know a week early yeah okay well do it do whatever you or just go to the polling place

yeah prepare for November now yeah because it may not be easy no absolutely not so by the way

I you mentioned that you were out in the neighborhoods on Saturday so um my my girlfriend and I had

my girlfriend had a couple of friends in from out of town um and uh their fans of David burn

so they came in from out town to see this David Burns show I'm sure you've heard about it

yeah I'm going next week okay so um without you know really knowing or remembering what that day was

Julie got tickets oh my god she had to go downtown on that day well no we got tickets we went

oh you guys yeah yeah to the matinee on Saturday and the space no and the space is located

at 333 wall bash on the dam river so oh my god it was Monica it was I mean I'm not surprised by

you know this but I was as soon as I found out I was like oh man this is not going to be good and

we didn't really I didn't even realize it you know when we ordered the tickets and made the

plans for the friend to come to come in from out of town to see it yeah it was unbelievable it was

like you don't think Patrick's day you think that's the Saturday before yeah I didn't even

even think of that it was like oh yeah okay this is 1245 matinee cool we'll go to that um also the

show's not very good Monica so oh yeah it's not even like trippy it is it's a mess but I mean like

I look it officially opens on the 25th we saw it like 12 days before it opened and there were

some tech issues and I don't think a couple of sets were finished um and our guide who plays

basically David burn um she struggled a little bit with some of her monologues so I mean it we

went it was a preview but all right I'm going on the 26th yeah that's the day after it opens so all

the tech issues should be fine but there's like problems with them which the actual play itself

then I had that I had issues I can't wait to hear what you think of it though because I'm

just yes next time next time all right election so you've been covering this for a while your thoughts

on this election uh besides the ridiculously low voter turnout what was different about this

what was special some of the things that you've been that you would like to talk about uh in terms

of covering it well we had um possibly an historically large number of open seats uh with the

retirement of Danny Davis Dick Durbin Jan Chakowski uh Rajana Chris Rajak Christian Berthy moving

over to run for senate and so it was just like hey open season who wants to be in Congress

so everybody and their brother got the signatures to be on the ballot which was a problem for some

people who thought that they they deserve a better chance you know yeah look at all these other

people running against me um it was I think a big referendum on on big packs um our people going to

be turned off or turned on by outside groups from uh big national special interest campaigns

coming in and pouring millions into influence uh Illinois voters and it was kind of a mixed bag

the pro-Israel apac um they ended up being linked to a lot of groups that uh poured in millions and

millions especially in congressional campaigns and they they they bragged that in the last election

cycle 96% of their candidates won if you go by Chicago I would say it was a 50-50 thing um there were

some some big races in the ninth so the northern suburbs you had Daniel Bis Laura fine

Kat Abogazala um apac linked groups spent I believe just in November alone about two million

on Laura fine and um just as much in the tack ads against Daniel Bis and Kat Abogazala

guess who won a cat and Daniel beat Laura fine you know this this 20-year-old kid um

cat 20-something she ended up you know having more votes than you know this very well-funded

establishment candidate and so I think that was a big uh big sort of rebuff to apac money um but

then you had Melissa Bean um who I believe in the second I want to say who wasn't second maybe

the fourth I can't remember the numbers but she she got a lot of apac money she returned to her

all district uh because Raja was vacating the seat and she won big um you had um Donna Miller who

got a lot of apac money but she was you know sort of a favorite of the democratic party um and she

she won against Junaid Akhmed um but then you had the seventh Danny Davis's old seat where

Lashon Ford was running against um a lot of people but Melissa Kanye's urban the Chicago

treasure was seen as his his biggest foe she got apac money apac linked money I should say

and uh Lashon uh beat her so uh if they said they had like a 96 percent uh success rate last time

it was you know about 50-50 in Chicago and Lashon was the was the target of a bunch of um crypto

attacks uh crypto had lots of money in this race millions and millions to attack candidates they

didn't like who thought that um if they thought that the candidate would try to regulate them you

know constrain them in any way they ran huge ads and and and you know it's bad enough that these

special interest groups can spend unlimited amounts of money but they can also spend it in the name

of um vote for Chicago women you know uh progressive uh partnership and it just it just feels so

sneaky yeah that so much money but they're not even you know tipping your hat as to where

this money is coming from I think it just turned off a lot of voters you know young people

they didn't turn out in the numbers you know and like people under 25 I think it was like

I want to say 17,000 but I haven't seen I haven't looked at the latest numbers um but you know

I talked to Jen's ears and they're and they're they're talking about apac funding I'm like wow

I didn't even know you knew what a what a pack was yeah um so sorry 18 to 25 was a number um

and so there is more awareness and I think that that all the negative uh commercials and all the

pack spending did play a role and not always positive for people that's interesting that's really

interesting uh where there's some big surprises uh at all uh for you uh covering this um Fritz

Keggy losing I know that the cocaine assessor is not the um the most glamorous uh yeah uh race

but uh you know if you if you've got property property taxes are a big deal um you know he was

seen as vulnerable just because nobody likes their property taxes um hiked and and there was a

big hike in this last round yeah uh but it was very close um pat hines uh of alliance township

assessor uh fame beat him um juliana stratten you know roger christian berthi has has his

commercials going since july yeah very well funded yeah and so he was seen as kind of the front

runner in some polls but juliana stratten who said I you know I don't like corporate pack money

which roger got a lot of it um but she got uh she's like I don't like corporate pack money

but she got a lot of money from uh jb pritzker um so I guess private pack money and his family

right yeah and she won you know robin kelly a lot of people liked her she got you know she was

basically no pack money as far as I saw you know the right be some that comes out and disclosures

later yeah and uh but she she ran a third um all of them like we can talk about the hideout show but

all of them showed a different side of the personality and the hideout show and um so that was

that was a big surprise I mean it pritzker turned out to be the winner of the night um you can say

that a pack has a lot of influence that crypto had a lot of influence that AI had a lot of influence

that the pritzker pack really has a lot of influence in the state of elanoi love him or hate him

yeah there's no question about it now you mentioned the hideout um tell everybody what that is

and how long have you how long has Axio's been doing that and what a great space to do it you sold

it out too that's amazing yeah um it's uh we we decided to have something called midterm madness

because you know everybody we've been asked to moderate a lot of um you know single race uh

debates where you got all nine candidates and it's all very serious and grown up and we said

you know we'd like to see another side of the candidates you know we just don't want to see

the same old questions where they're attacking each other impacts which is important but that's

something that they've done on every tv show sure so we ask questions like what's your portillo's

order what's your Chicago go to grocery store um we had a walk up song for all of them so they

had to choose a walk up song and we had um what's your what's your go-to karaoke song and I think we

learned a lot about them yeah and you know what let me give you a hot tip you're gonna find this

out this week the hideout has been sold but um oh it has i says yeah um they're looking for a new buyer

oh man okay well well so i hope that doesn't change things yeah i hope i hope they still like

axles yeah it's such a great space it's such a great space wow okay well well maybe that'll be okay

tell you about the songs that we played for each one i would love to hear that and here's the thing

though what i love about that is that it um you know the take that you guys do uh it's it's so great

when you when you guys do this stuff but i love the fact that like this is stuff that seems meaningless

but it humanizes the candidates you know i mean like you see all this stuff over and over and over

again they spend all this money and they you know it's all about stuff that we you know information

that is thrown at us that we have to you know like uh think about but just to hear like a portillo's

order that's like i like that it's refreshing and it makes them human that's probably i mean that's

one of the reasons why you what you what you do that correct yeah and you know i don't know if it

was tongue-in-cheek but a lot of people are like oh my gosh i've finally seen a side of them that

it's going to help me yeah it's going to help me you know in my vote because they've got

yeah when we say so why would you like to be cook county president they all had their

road answer ready to go yeah and um and that's fine you know that's that's their their stomp speech

but then we cut them off guard um and so i'll go down the um robin kelly her walk up song was

this girl is on fire oh okay um proud Mary Tina Turner was her karaoke song okay

juliana stratten walk up song was um give the people what they want by the oh jays oh okay

and uh love on top by Beyonce she and Justin did a little duet on that

oh he loves some karaoke Beyonce oh sure um and uh uh roger christian of orthy he um he had

beautiful day by you too as his walk up song okay that's a good song that's a good song

it is um but and i always pronounce this wrong um and i was i was corrected on the air by

pair of shirts on election night um juror maker i called it he dire maker by let's have a yeah

yeah it's true yeah i know i wouldn't correct you but i but i know that that's uh i wouldn't be

but it's spelled d apostrophe ye r maker right right that's what it's spelled i mean you know i've

been as apple fit man i can't believe that that guy those are two great songs uh a lot of people

like whoa i didn't know he was cool yeah yeah yeah now i mean i'm i'm you know my vote wouldn't

have changed but yeah now i want to vote it for him damn it wait the guy likes zeppelin i got a vote

for him that's that pet um cook county assessor fritz keggy yeah i've been to the burden ring of

fun oh cool okay he liked john and caches ring fire and you remember the end of blues brothers how

they went to the assessor's office yes so his walk-up song is d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d okay

you get that um well uh the the victorious cook county assessor pat hind to one yeah um his walk-up

song is we're not gonna take it twisted sister so Justin's like well why didn't you wear the

blonde wig and like the de snyter makeup yeah uh he wasn't having it no um uh karaoke song i said

so what's your favorite karaoke song he's like i don't have one oh i'm like really nothing like

you like do you sing anything in the shower he's like well i sing iris drinking songs to my kids

that's it okay passed up a chance i think you're gonna lose this election i was wrong

uh uh i was drinking songs to his kids i know right oh i don't know if that's so safe um

cook county board president tony preck winkle yes i'm curious okay change is gonna come see i'm

so i said yeah i said tony if a change is gonna come you're not gonna be cook county board

president for a fifth term and she said i mean a change is gonna come to the country come on

um rendered riley whom she beat all the downtown alderman don't stop believe in um so that's his

karaoke song but vote baby vote by delight which is a delightful song yes it is um it was his walk-up

song wow okay i'm almost done christian Mitchell who is our lieutenant governor will probably um

be our next lieutenant governor who's running his with j j b his song was by jz uh public service

announcement was his walk-up uh september oh jambourth when in fire is his uh cure

karaoke and finally buffy ready the perennial candidate who runs for everything who this time

is running as attorney general for the public and party against quammy rewool um

um you'll never guess no i had the tiger was his walk-up song god okay

that todland town is his karaoke thanks okay not very adventurous or imaginative there um yeah

so that was but that must have been that must have been fun though right i mean uh and what were some

of the what were some of the portillo picks um so christian Mitchell who are it's gonna be a

next lieutenant governor he's like well am i am i behaving or am i not behaving and so i think he

was if he was i said don't behave and it was just like you know uh i think the double cheeseburger

fries and then a shake wow and then roger was like i just get the chocolate cake and the penny pasta

and everyone's like oh penny pasta i didn't know that side of you i'm like oh smashing pumpkins

just means like you need to do a commercial that talks about how you love smashing pumpkins

led zeppelin and uh penny pasta they also told us their favorite grocery store and it was all

peets marianos and jewel i'm like hello guys what about all day it was very disappointed i know

i know monica you and i you know uh screaming the praises of all the now look i'm i'm forever attached

to jewel i worked there for 11 years monica so i will always and that's what i grew that's where i

grew up going like that was our oh then you should vote for pat hinds roger and a christian

murthy and christian Mitchell because they're jewel fans oh okay well no no i mean now it's like i

i'm all the way i'm an alde dude now there's no question about it and did anybody pick alde no

no no come on although Justin did ask julyana if and when you become senator where will you

stand to be on self-check out at allty she's like well if you can find a box i'm like no you

got to bring your own bag asking the burning questions just i think a lot of these guys haven't done

self-check out in a while oh no no i would imagine one of the things that we talked about this

before one of the things that i adore about all the is that that is that the the people who work the

checkout sit down i just i remember they sit and i remember going man that's the great that's the

best thing ever is it so i don't know that was the one of the first times i've went into all the

and i noticed that i was like oh i not only do i love this place because of the you know like

how it's run and what they have and the prices and all that cool stuff but man the the cashers sit

i'm like yes so anyway oh i forgot the best i want to say the best part about our show

was that i had i asked them if they had a machine accent and so i they had to do a poop quiz

when they put picked out of the hat but they also had to read these phrases and it was kind of

hilarious when when they read these phrases okay i picked and of course now i'm not finding them

it was like um i was like i smacked my pal on the fanny on Saturday because i was mad

uh i could eat a whole stack of these snazzy flapjacks or i could sput a pack of tack in five minutes flat

only pat hinds had like the real chicago that makes sense that totally makes sense oh that's hilarious

and now we're i mean i was everybody in good sport about this stuff or did where there's some

people who were like no i want to be but you know i want to be deadly serious what did did you

have to like coax people along or you know they um they turned out to be pretty good sports i liked

it you know they were a little confused by you know you have to have me to pull a paper out of a

hat that had all these flat a's in it and then i'd say well the way you were supposed to say it is

uh my dad gave a spam sandwich to my uh classy and pet and then they'd say it back not with the

flat accent not hearing it that is so that is awesome that's great so you can see it all others

there's the live stream video of it on on my face i have not watched the whole i have not watched

the whole thing i i saw you know a little bits of it here and obviously i know that you guys do

that and i love i love that i that's fantastic that is really i don't know if it would have changed

my voting now i'm thinking raja wow that's cool i didn't know he was a zeppelin fan he i didn't know

he like dire maker i felt so dumb saying that i had to do three hours of election commentary on

fox 32 and i i was still up last night to damn it what did i say wait wait you said that on fox

you said that on tv yes and then Paris is like um that's very interesting but you know it is

germaker thanks Paris for making it a dumb no i mean i think we should we could have sorted that

oh my god is that funny that is that's oh man that's great it's so funny because i like

seventies thing i i i'm less than uh twelve hours out from seeing tomi in i max last night

i went to the movie tomi from 1976 yeah that's a cream oh my god with Tina Turner and

check Nicholson sings in it Oliver Reed um anyway it was in i max they released it for one night in

i max and i went and the place was packed and we were all old we were all old and we loved

it and um they was great it was loud it was fantastic i remember our remember it like it was

yesterday when i first saw that movie in 1976 at the state lake theater with my dad on a Sunday morning

and it was the loudest it went out where you 11 i guess 76 i was 11 so i mean my brother was

old enough to see and he tells all about it we're like what well it's it's it's mega it's

magnificently insane i have you ever seen the movie only bits and pieces and it was like the whole

telling is like my brother coming back and telling me you can't believe this movie i just saw

well if you want to see Oliver Reed sweat a lot and sing it's pretty great um but it's no it's

it's a great it's completely batchit crazy movie i let's Ken Russell the director's nuts

and i love i adore that movie so talking about cheermaker is very funny because i'm

literally i was just like watching the who and um but i mean if you watch it there is a

sequence that like because i was a i was like an 11 year old boy when i saw that movie and there's

a scene where uh and Margaret um is like and Margaret too holy shit oh my god man uh and and

Margaret at one point uh is like uh dressed very provocatively and rolling around in a room covered

in baked beans and i and and why not who doesn't it is like the sexiest thing i've ever seen in my

life and watching it last night i'm like oh my god and like every guy because we're all like in our

50s or 60s in the in the theater last night and when that scene came on every guy was leaning forward

in their seat going oh yeah it was very very great so if you ever see the movie just be be prepared

for this insane scene where she's like writhing around in baked beans and chocolate for five minutes

it's it's um like uh press uh Russ Myers yeah yeah it's it it approaches that

it approaches that girl so anyway i was like so to hear you talking about some 70s that which

which actually that song came out about six months before Tommy came out uh dire maker that's

it's dire okay do you just rub it in make you film so overall um you know the fox coverage was

great i mean overall satisfying uh from the months you've been working on it the event at hide

hideout the coverage that you did um was it was it a good election for Monica well i mean i'm

proud of our coverage um not proud you know so the last time we had a midterm under trump we had

about 32 percent turnout not that i'm a nerd um sorry 33 percent turnout so 28 it doesn't quite

make it it's better than the 23 we had um in the last uh Biden midterm but i just wish people would

take it more seriously understand that in Cook County um this is who you're gonna get because

we you know yeah Julia Nostratten is likely going to be our senator yeah and uh Daniel

Bess is likely going to be the uh the ninth district uh congressperson so this is a very important

election and it's important in so many ways on a federal level to have good people in congress

there's no question about now more than ever now more than ever um so okay cool well great job

you guys at axios um uh and uh and congratulations on it and uh and and don't mispronounce any more

zeppelin songs that's uh man never again i know i'm always gonna just correct people uh you know

that's your maker it's stairwell to heaven i don't know if you know that or not but it's uh oh yeah

i grew up going to um to a religious youth group every week um so boy we were never allowed to

will like you know like you know if you play that backwards it's right right uh so you didn't listen

to zeppelin's houses of the holy very often that wasn't a big uh not in front of the grownups

all right well let's talk about Demster dive now this this is a very clever name i don't want

people to think that Monica's diving around and like if i go out to throw my trash out that you're

gonna be in there like looking for food that's not what it is is Demster i want to make sure people

know that it's Demster so explain what this is this is fantastic and tell everybody about it

so um Demster which runs through Evanston and Skokie and Morton Grove and Niles

i am declaring it possibly one of the best food streets in america um especially for ethnic

diversity because as our collar suburbs have become more and more um you know culturally diverse

you get all these little strip mall spots that are being filled in by small businesses

who want to serve up the foods of their culture so i decided could i in this little

four mile stretch and a lot of it is forest preserve so it doesn't even really count as four

miles you know you got a country club in forest preserve that if you took those out it would just be

like a a squinched up two mile stretch could i eat food from 20 different cultures and i found i

could so i took my family i'm like okay do not eat anything before we go and i started um

east at uh Georgian restaurant called matechi where we had this incredible cheesy hotcha

putty um pastry with cheese and then we went and got cameroonian one block over

and motto is african market we got right plantains then we got a northern chinese breakfast called a

jambing at monkey king what is that what is what is what is what is that consistent so a jambing is um

if you wake up in the morning and china and you walk down the street and everybody's going to work

you'll see all these people sitting at a little griddle and then you's like you know one jambing

and then they'll put um basically like a pancake on the griddle which is like a crepe

and then they'll crack an egg over it and spread that over so like the egg is is covering the whole

crepe and then they'll put in some onions and some lettuce and some hoisin sauce and then whatever

approaching you want if you want like you know to meet in there and then they roll it up like a

breakfast burrito and you walk down the street in this delicious warm egg pancake with a nice

crunch and sweetness and spiciness inside and it's finally come to america um and so you can get

that you know there are a couple monkey done being locations in chakago but one of them is on

demester okay and smoky then there's so many hot dog stands um there's poochies there's

germs and there's a new red hot ranch on this little strip of demester i went to poochies got

their famous char cheddar burger but don't sleep on the salami sandwich grilled salami

tealish um poochies is great i've been to poochies a million times i've been to poochies in 1969 since

i was born um then Iraqi food at larsa metaturanians another block down we got they've got something

called kaba which is a bulgar wheat zeppelin speaking of zeppelin with meat inside and deep fried

i got the potato kaba too and then mexican from my little kitchen and then of course

palestin they're five palestinian jordanian places on the strip yeah including the famous pita in

yep um then coffins uh bagel bakery they've got these new corn beef scones delish um and you know

of course tons of bagels then pakistani food at omg nafisa's kitchen indian mexican food at

dosa point honk honk barbeque at jason's barbeque korean stews at junju sushi at dumpster sushi

afghan kabob philippino steamed table food k-coup chicken charcoal oh they they have the famous

pork yuros on the strip three three greek restaurants hubs uh gree should kitchen and charcoal

flame but uh charcoal flames claim to fame is that they make yuros the way they do in in Greece which

is with pork then Vietnamese philippian bakery uh several Yemeni cafes uh you get all these like

fancy coffee drinks and and uh do buy chocolate snacks so i basically go and i say here are

20 great things to eat and i tell you uh from 20 different cultures and i'm making a little map so

that you too can go and experience um an international smorgasbord along this just one suburban street

just on dumpster that's amazing that's amazing now did you did you uh uh come up with this idea because

you were like you go back to dumpster and go wow there are so many different

yeah i was drive by for years and i'm like holy moly you know Yemeni korean Vietnamese you know

kosher style hot dog like what's going on here so i should do a story where i see if you

could go to 20 different you know countries yeah our cultures in one day are in and it took three

trips and a lot of belly belly room i was gonna say could you you just know possible what you did

this all in one day i mean yeah i had to go back and and say okay today we're doing the goats do

at the at the korean restaurant now do what could you could you have done 30 i bet i could have

yeah um if i'd gone farther because there were some things that i kind of mushed together um but

it it really is amazing you know scoki morngrove as these uh these these color suburbs have become

affordable to first generation people um they're you know setting up their homes and then setting up

their small businesses and let these low-slown uh strip malls and it just it just creates this

wonderful cultural opportunity for all of us yeah well that's that's such a great thing uh and

and everybody where can everybody check out the results here at axios at axios.com slash chicago you

look for my dumpster eating story dumpster eating story with pictures of everything yeah dumpster yeah

yeah i was gonna say you take fantastic food photos they're very very very good uh and uh that's

axios.com slash chicago you can check out the dumpster dive wow then and uh and uh

been all everything you described i'm i haven't eaten yet this morning so now i'm starving oh boy

that's that's one well there's some good breakfasts you gotta yeah i gotta go and try that uh

Chinese breakfast pancake try that out and i'm and i'm now i want to eat breakfast and listen to

zeppelin that's what i want to do right now eat zeppelin while listening to zeppelin please

just go to the arachios serian place there it is that's that's great now uh you also went to

the lyric apra um yes you know wow it's so busy eating on dumpster covering all the the candidates

in the election and doing all that and doing a show at the at the at the hideaway and all that

cool stuff and you still want to go to the lyric apra tell tell us about what's playing there

and uh and how good it is well you know i don't write things down on my calendar while sometimes

and so um after a long day of voting and and dealing with the uh the bork people and i can't

remember what else i did last saturday i look and it pops up hey don't forget opening night of

madden butterfly tonight madama butterfly and i'm like shoot i totally forgot so i call up to my

partner calling we gotta get to the lyric apra i forgot madama butterfly is opening tonight

so um we got there and like oh boo who i'm in but you know i shouldn't uh feel bad that that i

gotta do this and i was like you know i've seen this opera a lot in eighth grade in fact we had to

study it and then lyric will have seats for cps kids we had to study the libretto we had to study

the second act um um beld uh aria in in in italian and in english um because you know us

gifted kid at pewterson elementary school cps it was actually you know as i look back on that

particular class it was like you know what we did learn some cool stuff yeah but i always hated

and sorry spoiler alert i hated that you know oh it's this japanese teenager who this american

sailor marries at the turn of the century in nogasaki and he's like clah clah i married her it doesn't

really matter see you later cho cho son slash madden butterfly i'm going back to america see

it and she's like waiting and waiting waiting at three years and she's got this baby well who's a

three year old he never comes back and everyone's like dude he's never coming back just forget about

it oh he's coming back i swear he is and then she sees him coming and turns out he's got as

american wife with them and then she's like darn i'll kill myself so um that that always seemed like

a bit of a downer you know you always ended the that's the best by the way that's the best

description of madden butterfly that i've ever heard in my life yeah and you know for like a half

Asian girl it's like really like white guy doesn't like you so just plunted dagger into your stomach

and and the whole opera with a pool of blood and a white kimono um so i'm like okay you know

Saturday night i'm going out there to see this you know this the same story where the the

Asian girls got to kill herself because white boy decides to marry someone else and and i was

electrified by it because they take this totally new angle pinkerton the american sailor

he's like this anime obsessed vr guy who completely objectifies um japanese women

and so he's got this idealized sort of view like oh she's going to be my play thing

and it's a game like he's got this game thing on his head oh and uh and so and you see her and you

see nugasaki japan as this very gamified neon world um she's got purple hair her her handmade and

sezuki's got green hair um and at the end instead and okay sorry spoiler alert for those who

can see it instead of uh cho cho son slash madden butterfly killing herself she puts the dagger

up to his head while he's got the vr thing on like how dare you do this to me and then

when she's about to plunge the dagger into her made you know some people interpret it that she

does kill herself i would like to believe she didn't she plunges the dagger and throws off her wedding

kimono and then she's wearing sort of modern clothes and she marches out of there like eff you man

i am not gonna kill myself over this and i was like exhilarate i'm like yes finally

cho cho son's decided i am not gonna let you define me and you kill me i'm gonna be my own self

that's cool so i was like wow this guy Matthew Osawa so he's a half uh he's a Japanese

American and he had an entirely Japanese American production crew uh a women and said okay how

should we reimagine this oh that's so cool yeah and it's it's really beautifully done beautifully

sung um it's uh it's a korean soprano a one second name is Catherine son um beautifully sung

and just really beautifully rendered and really turning the tables um so that she's

not the victim um sorry kara son is her name and that she's actually liberated at the end and

you know i i admit and i don't want to tell the people the lyric this i was really tired that day

i was like okay we can leave it intermission if we don't like it and we're like we are staying

this is amazing butterfly wow that's cool i would you know tickets are not cheap they start at

ninety five dollars folks and they go up to like four hundred but if you if you've got the time and

maybe if you're like a student or something you can get um inexpensive tickets but this is

electrifying it was first done at the Cincinnati Opera and it came here wow that sounds amazing

that sounds really amazing okay and that's at the lyric uh midama butterfly yes and uh highly

recommended by monica jibber c m butterfly i did uh the uh david henry huang fusion yeah yeah

and that is another you know asian you know an asian saying i'm not going to take this sort of

victimized version i'm gonna sort of redo it yeah i saw that on broadway with john liqueur and bd

Wong oh one of the greatest uh theatrical experiences of my life i i i was astonishing i thought i

thought i'm sorry the helicopter comes into the uh yeah yeah yeah and it's it but but but like

the performance is a bd Wong obviously one of tony and established himself as an actor with that

play but lithga was unbelievable in it like unbelievable um i still i mean this was like an 87

when i went to this and i still remember it is one of the one of the greatest nights i've ever

spent on broadway was that show um you know and then they they obviously were productions all

i think it's a great play and there were productions of it all over the place and david kronenberg

made it into a very strange movie i never saw that it's very weird it's very interesting his

take is not quite what i mean it's kronenberg so it's weird but but it's interesting it's fascinating

to jimmy irons and it's it's kind of fascinating to watch uh but that that performance that i saw

on broadway with let go and bd Wong one of the greatest nights of theater i've ever had um and i

love that you know i love that idea i'm with you on that but and and obviously that idea to turn

it into a gamer thing is fantastic i mean that's a really interesting idea yeah i mean it's it's very

jarg when the play opens and you know this guy walks into his apartment he cracks open a beer

he sits in his gamer chair and puts on this vr i'm like what play i what what opera

we're seeing that's cool that's really really cool okay lyric opera doing some great work very very

cool um all right well cool now by by the way um really quickly what's going on with um the

freeze on wage increases for tipped workers because i know that you mentioned that here and i would

yeah before we get out of here talk talk a little bit about that what's so i was at city hall this

week and the big boat was going to be whether or not so so when when mayor brandon johnson first

came in and one of his biggest wins was uh this is called one fair wage where you no longer have a

regular minimum wage and a um uh tipped minimum wage for people who like our servers or bartenders

or manicurists that was going to become the same wage in five years by 2028 i believe and so it

was gradually creeping up so that that people who are you know a waiter would make the same minimum

wage plus tips as someone else who's just making minimum wage no tips well um restaurants and some

other businesses seem to say look we're going to get killed here with rents with tariffs with

food costs um and if we have to give our servers on another raise this year um that's going to

really hurt us so thirty alders voted to freeze that gradual step up yesterday and then the mayor

quickly vowed to veto it so you know i can totally see both sides here yeah it's tough um yeah

and servers are not you know flow at the diner who might make fifty dollars in tips all day

it's a little different than pier at Gibson's who could make five hundred dollars in tips all day

and so putting them on exactly the same level is is kind of problematic it is it's weird yeah yeah wow

so uh we'll see it in layers about to veto it we'll see if he will we'll see if brandon does

something about that okay um and how has the how have has has city hall been to you lately

well um it's you know well i i the mayor's answering my questions more i'm good good good good

which is good yeah and um and you know it's it's it's interesting because we're seeing a city council

that pushes back pushes back on budgets pushes back on some legislation and we're saying

a mayor who's pushing back on on successful votes in city council so it's very interesting to

cover and um we'll we'll see what happens as you know it's now that this race is done now that

the primary issue done it is open season on uh the mayorship and even though we're not going to

have an election till 2027 between now and then i think we're going to see everybody coming out

what that was one of the questions we asked at the hideout so who's going to be the next mayor

nobody wanted to touch that yeah i was wondering if they would that's very interesting could you

ask me about zeppelin again i would read another one of those Chicago accent i don't understand

it but i'll read it uh right i don't want to talk about the mayor right now okay cool um what are

you working on in the immediate future um and and and food stuff are you is there anything that

you're looking forward to eating um well i'm eating a lot on dumpster but i've been doing

these happy hour hops and if anybody wants to email me with some more it's sort of a way to like

check out restaurants that maybe you couldn't necessarily afford a full meal yeah i've had

really great ones at briney swine at um what's it called ill porcelino it's let us entertain you

unhubbered at this place called lagran busheri which a lot of people hated when first came in because

it had a lot of service problems but it was really one of the most beautiful rooms in the city

it's like this bella park parisian room and you know you don't have to get liquor you can just like

sit in the room and have you know fairly inexpensive oysters or um or uh french onion soup or

or muscles um but ill porcelino excellent deals and excellent food uh for happy hour and i tried

briney swine and link in park near the um uh weenner circle they got like pork rinds and

pimento cheese which you wouldn't think we'd go together for like five bucks and really delicious

for their happy hour so i've been trying a lot of that oh that's another story i'm working on is um

it's it's it's it's not uh it's it's it's i hope it doesn't sound tongue and cheek but this the

sometimes did the story about how once a month people are pushed onto the tracks on the

subway yeah i'm asking like if you get pushed in what to do god that's how to avoid the third

rail the safest way to get up um it's weird that you have to do a story about that yeah i like i

don't want i want people to like sound like it's gonna happen but i do want you to be prepared

you know feel like okay i i would know how to safely get out if this did happen cheese i would think

about that i mean i you know i've been going i've been taking the all my entire life and i often

thought about that i would go man what happened how do you how do you do this yeah like which one

is the third rail and um okay you know so you recover then by the way uh uh julie and i went to

uh sushi son on on grand oh right um for uh we went the day after valentines day for valentines

they had a fantastic meal and we saw there they they have a really cool uh off they have really

cool offerings for happy hour there oh i gotta go yeah you should check it out i mean the sushi

that place is great and the food is great but but uh and that's a lettuce uh entertain you

place too yeah um but we were noticing like because you know they had the little uh table tag on

our on on the table we're like wow look at these prices they were really reasonable for a lot of

really cool food so that one you might want to go yeah it's a way to be able to kind of get a

little sampling of the place that well i've eaten there for happy hour exactly don't say that

don't say that it's happy hour just let her know yeah all right uh monika you are the best everybody

check out axios.com slash chicago uh follow monika on the on the on the on the socials as well because

it's a delight to follow uh monika as well and again and that that full uh evening um uh at the hideout

is available people can watch it online yeah so you can go to my facebook page and the whole video is

there um and like i think facebook is going to get rid of it in 30 days so i got to find some

way to preserve it okay all right but watch it i can get in there and watch it all right monika

you're the best thanks for doing this we'll talk to you next month all right thanks take care

bye buddy take care there's monika angus she's awesome you know who else is awesome the fantastic

Esmeralda Leon and here she comes

Esmeralda yeah yeah yeah Esmeralda Leon yeah yeah yeah get yourself some Esmeralda let me

some Esmeralda Leon yeah there it is the theme announcing that it's time to talk to Esmeralda Leon

who joins me on every episode of the podcast so let's say hello to Esmeralda hi Esmeralda

hello how are you i'm good how are you you know good you know it's all right well that's great yeah

any uh any plans for this uh for this uh for this weekend that we're heading into i guess it's

supposed to be almost 70 uh tomorrow oh i'll see it when i believe yeah or i'll believe it when

i see it you'll believe it and see it and you'll like it until i see it i don't trust it

no anything happening this weekend you can hang it out or just do anything or no just staying in

home all right join my home join your home all right cool have you been watching anything on the

two bees or the loobies or the whoobies lately uh not lately no okay all right well uh there you go

all right um so uh you know when uh when you were younger did you ever try to get out of like

school and did you ever try to like did you ever when you were a kid did you ever try to pretend you

were sick and go i don't want to go to school um when you were a kid not really rarely very rarely

but no no you're ready to do that did he ever do that was was he good at that no it's it's not

hard to do or it's hard to do honestly yeah parents like hey no get up go yeah yeah yeah pretty much

no excuses uh have you ever got out of he ever lied to get out of work like if something popped

up did you ever come up with an excuse to get out of work yeah i'm not going to say that on

recorded podcast oh okay okay because i have i've i was black bulls i bullshitted my way out of

you know when i was working at july i would sometimes call him yeah uh man uh my my arm uh fell

asleep uh so i can and they're like well i guess you can't go okay thanks for calling you know

every once in a while you do that when you know like when you're younger you know i was

working at McDonald's and be like you know my friends are like yeah we're going to a party i'd be

like called down to go oh man i've got 175 fever my balls just fell off so i gotta you know

i'd be like wow okay go to the doctor for that okay cool you know and then i'd be hanging out

with people who work at McDonald's and they were like hey man weren't you supposed to be working

today and i'd be like oh shit sorry about that aren't you yeah yeah how come you're not working how

come they didn't call you in to fill my shift asshole you know that kind of thing um

um but uh you know i had uh i've heard some like i found some because i was thinking about like

ridiculous like um excuses for like why people have called into work um had you ever heard of any

any any excuses uh about like the people just clearly made up um no no i don't know any okay

well i have a few and these are uh these are real these were these were these are reports based

on managers and employers um who have heard some of the most absurd and ridiculous excuses for

getting out of work and then i have other excuses uh that also have been have been used now i've

done the uh you know i've done it in the past like you know when i was working at chowel there

was working at McDonald's or whatever i would call them go yeah i've got a fever i don't feel

well whatever and then i'd go out now i don't know my friends because i was an idiot and that's

what you did when you were like 18 19 20 you would do that but here are some and these were all

these are all like they did a they did a survey of of of managers and people in positions and a lot

of this stuff would probably be it doesn't say exactly which specific jobs they are but they are

these are real employers and real managers have heard these things so here's a real one

there have been some animal related excuses you know okay so like the first one here is

can't come in my llama will not start will will not stop barfing wow i mean you can't just yeah you

can't leave a llama barfing i guess i i mean i don't know i mean i might you know if you

if you're working at a job and like you call up and go yeah my llama won't stop barfing

yeah i wouldn't the boss go how come i didn't know that you owned a llama like wouldn't that be the

first yeah yeah you think you would have heard about this maybe he had maybe the maybe the boss

had heard about this llama that could be true it could be true i mean now they're like oh wow

barfing so much it is man right i don't know how to treat a llama so clearly you should take time

off you know that's an exotic animal i mean yeah but i mean also at that point like if you

call up and go yeah my llama's pukin then you at this point i mean seriously though at that point

aren't you the guy who owns a llama aren't you that guy like if you're right yeah i know Nick

he's that guy and i don't know him very well but he works for the company but he the only

I know about him is he owns a llama like that would be the thing that defines you i think

among your workgroup yeah oh the llama guy yeah he's out why because of the llama

okay he's a llama guy llama what would you do with a llama where would you put a llama like you

have to like own it i mean you have to have a farm you do you can't like have like i can't keep

him inside no no i live in a one bedroom i don't think the llama wouldn't work out here i don't

think you know sorry well anyway the guy the guy called up and said it like very specifically

llama guy called up and said my llama won't stop barfing

do if you can you can you can you take a llama to the back i guess you can't come in

where you can yeah i mean if you live in an area with vets yeah if there's a lot of wild animals

what what would happen if like what would happen if like where do you where do you take your

where do you take your cat do you know which i why you don't like maybe you don't want to give it

away but where is it in your neighborhood is it yeah yeah so like could you imagine if you walked

in there to take your cat in to get a check up and there's a fucking guy with a llama in the waiting

room that would be a little weird right i think at that point the vet makes house calls so yeah

just come to your house and take a look at your llama yeah i gotta say that's a good one though

that's a good one my llama won't stop barfing how do you respond to that like if you're a manager

at jewel and someone calls in and said yeah my llama won't stop barfing you go all right i can't

well i'll see you next time that i guess you're in that llama maybe he rides the llama to work

and that's also his excuse too because that's his form of transportation

that i can't yet not only is that i llama sick but i can't get to work because i ride the llama

to go to work right so all right now this one just seems like this one just i mean this is real

my goldfish is sick that another possibility i mean they get sick they do how do you know when a

goldfish is sick though is there some sort of the look this up on them yeah they kind of uh what do

they do there's stuff that like kind of gets on them and they did like animals they get um

kind of slow and like you'll see them though they won't be swimming around as much and yeah

and you want to make sure you pay attention to that because if they're not if they're not swimming

around or as lively or they're kind of like in the bottom of the tank or in the corner just going

out man and there's something on their scales or something you might want to pay attention because

the next time you see them they might be floating on top and that's too late then you're too late

well this guy's goldfish was ill that's why he couldn't make it in the work

hmm okay how about this one a squirrel defecated on my work now that sounds like an old homework oh

god i'm curious what the work was it's just it's just a quote here there's no background story

can't you just wipe it down yeah you would think little squirrel shit just bring it in say hey

this is a little squirrel shit wipe it off and you can still see my work also i don't think that's how

squirrels go they like bury it and stuff do that unless your work is something that yeah that's

why you never see it that's you know i never really thought about that before yeah so they bury it

or they go up into a tree and dig into it or something i think yeah they just bury it they bury it

okay well anyway this squirrel i don't know maybe this guy had a pet squirrel maybe it was the same

guy with a llama this guy's got all kinds of maybe yeah yeah yeah squirrel and it shit on his

work and it defecated on his on his like that's a good homework one why didn't you do your algebra

yeah squirrel squirrel shit on it again when she's wipe it down but then you can't tell the x's from

the bees and the all that stuff all right so squirrel shit wipe it down or read it just rewrite it

yeah you know what you wrote not hard yeah you know what you wrote just rewrite it type it up now

you got no excuse for that because everything is so you know text it to me right

right squirrel stole my password a squirrel stole my password and shit all over my phone

some of these are old school llama yeah now this one i don't know this one seems like

it sounds kind of absurd this one but if i heard this i'd go okay that you know that's not

completely insane a swarm of bees surrounded my cars car and i couldn't get in

i mean yeah if that's happening i'm not going anywhere i'm staying in that car until those bees

are gone yeah well this guy couldn't get into his car so he came out of his house

because it says i couldn't get in oh the bees were just surrounding it the bees were surrounding

maybe parked under a hive or something and there were a bunch of bees and he's like i'm not

gonna get stung will then get on a bus i mean that's true you know get on a bus i'm hoping yeah i

wouldn't yeah if i had a bees around my car nope no but if i'm in the car that sucks like well yeah

and i live there now yeah i'm not leaving until the bees are gone just have all my shit delivered

to the car drop it off outside as it's to not get stung by bees if you've ever been stung

by a bee yes no yeah i i i was allergic to bees when i was a kid oh when i was a little kid how do you

how'd you figure that out i get i mean i don't know i think they ran i don't know when i was a kid

you know back in the 60s the late 60s in the early 70s i don't know if they still i mean

they would they run like tests to see if you were allergic to shit they would stick your

they would stick uh all kinds of shit in your skin to see how you you react to it and stuff

i um not me yeah no they did that to me i remember like they would test your they

would test to see what you were if you were allergic to anything and i was like when i was a

little kid i guess i was allergic to a lot of shit um like they want to find out if you're allergic

to stuff like penicillin and all that so they they do like a they i guess i mean i don't know if they

still do this or not but but my my pediatrician when i was a when i was a kid but i remember i

still remember this guy's name dr smolin was his name yeah do you remember your pediatrician's name

did you have a family doctor that you remember no no um but i remember dr smolin he was a big guy

who yelled a lot but he would give you a lollipop um he yelled a lot but he'd give you a lollipop

but i remember like they did all kinds of tests on me and i was allergic to bees and i was told

when i was a little kid i was told that if i got stung by a bee i could be like macawley kalkin in

that movie and fucking die yeah that's what they told me so i would be petrified if i if i saw

bee when i was a little kid and then at some point they were like nah you're okay now you're not

allergic to allergic anymore i'm like oh all right okay so for like the first like interesting

like eight or eight or nine years of my life i was deathly afraid of bees thinking that if i got

stung i'd be dead so but anyway if i were in my car and i was surrounded by bees and i would not

get out i'm not gonna get it's not pleasant to get stung by a bee and um

i knew a dude when we were in a little league with a little game he had a can he had a can a

doctor pepper i think you know where i'm going with this and we were in the dugout i don't know

we were like 12 11 12 years old he grabs his can a doctor pepper not knowing none of us knew

that a bee had gotten inside of it like a crawled inside oh god and he took a swig of it and got

it got stung in the mouth damn yeah so there you go that's a good excuse not to go into legal

league practice sorry a bee i can't talk now yeah did he did he was the allergic or was he uh he

wasn't allergic but they obviously took him to the fucking you know emergency room or the doctor

or whatever they you know he was like uh screaming yeah i guess stung by bee had to sit in this

parents were there in the in the crowd and everything and they took him in the car in general he was

i mean i saw him we were you know like the next week he was at the game so it wasn't a deal but

so apparently he wasn't allergic otherwise he'd be McCulley Culkin right yeah but that was like

i was always like after that anytime i would drink pop outside i'd be like i'm gonna cover it

put something on top of it just to make sure in the summer i mean yeah bees crawling this was at

ham yeah that sounds scary regardless allergic or not oh yeah absolutely uh you know i

ain't even crawling into your can of pop that's not good you know that was a hamlin park right here

in Chicago god okay here's another animal related uh excuse as well you ready for this one

but you could use this one if you ever if you ever have to get out of out of something

out of an engagement you ready my cat chewed through my charger my phone died my alarm didn't go off

i that is quite a plausible excuse honestly i mean nowadays nobody has very few people have

another like a alarm clock or you know the phone is the alarm clock i use my phone yep

so did your cat did your cat like the chew on does your cat chew on wires

no yeah your cat is chill though right your cat's like yeah yeah he's not uh he doesn't chew on

and stuff like that thankfully i've had a couple of dickhead cats in my life who would like

would chew on everything yeah but no i mean that's not if that's that is if that's an actually

not if that's not a an unbelievable excuse my cat chewed through my charger my phone died my

alarm didn't go off that like sounds legit to me i'd be like yeah that's good yeah the only thing

is they'd be like well you should probably have a different alarm have a backup plan yeah yeah

mm-hmm so all right how about this um i got bitten by i got bit by a snake on my way to work

god that sounds frightening yeah that depends on where where the guy's working you know i mean

yeah i mean that would be frightening regardless even if it is a net a normal thing that oh yeah

there's just snakes and you could get bit still still frightening yeah yeah although i i don't

there are a lot of snakes crawling around like you know like i live in old Irving park i don't

there's not a snakes crawling around out here i hope not so i don't think that's a good excuse like

if i were you know if i worked at the jeweler six year six corner it could be hey the way things

are going snakes night you know might be you know walking down the street at some point wouldn't

mean we'll be like all right whatever that makes sense now anything's possible now anything horrible

is possible now yeah okay how about this personal and physical disasters these are personal and

physical disasters and excuses that people came up with okay mm-hmm this is just a quote they said

i was glued in my apartment what i don't know what does that mean i don't know the there was

his doors were glued shut yeah you show i guess because what does it matter can be like wow

that stinks are you coming in somebody glued him to the bed while he was asleep i don't know

i was glued in my apartment is what this person said that's an actual excuse somebody used

my guess is that somebody glued that i don't know as a practical joke glued his doors shut i don't

know because we can't get him out of his apartment wow okay how about this how about this one

this is pretty i think this is pretty good this is very specific okay

mm-hmm i broke my arm reaching for a falling sandwich oh wow i wouldn't tell people that no

like if that actually you maybe used to come up with another thing yeah i broke my arm while

reaching for a falling sandwich what would i mean was the sandwich falling off of a third story

building what what what what the fuck how do you break your arm reaching for a falling sandwich

yeah that's embarrassing yeah maybe you know if that really happened if that really happened i would

say i i can't make it in i was glued in my apartment instead of telling them that i actually broke

my arm trying to get a sandwich i would rather no right i'd rather say it was glued in my apartment

or that the bees the bees came to get me mm-hmm okay um

haven't okay how about this i got stuck in a grocery store blood pressure machine oh no

yikes see that you know you could be like well they had to cut me out of it yeah here's here's the

cuff yeah it's true that's why i'm late i was a chest in my blood pressure in a grocery store blood

pressure machine i got stuff that of course reminds me of dawn of the dead in uh

george marrow's dawn of the dead one of the biker assholes who invades the who invade the uh the

the mall mm-hmm uh ghost of the blood pressure machine and he's having his blood pressure taken

and then a zombie rips his arm off and the arm is stuck in the blood pressure machine

so it's just uh no so anytime i think of those blood pressure machines you know uh things the

the the public ones i always think of that scene in um uh in dawn of the dead you know they used

to have these to have one of those in the cafeteria in the trip building when we work in the

trip building did you did you ever uh see that no it was it was in the cafeteria down on the first

floor of the trip building um and it was right by the vending machines like i'd go i'd go down

there to grab a pop or something um or you know and and there would be the blood pressure machine was

there um interesting and it was free like they didn't charge you because it's like you're trying to

you know it's good for your health we're not going to charge you because back in the old days like

when the blood pressure machines first popped up in malls or stores or whatever it was like i don't

know 50 cents or whatever it buck and then they were like we want to we want you to keep an eye

on your health it's very good that you're going to check your blood pressure so it's free

yeah that's wow i didn't know that they charged i did i mean back in the early days they did uh

hmm so this is interesting that they would have it at the tribune they would have it in the

tribune cafeteria because you eat some of that food and then your blood pressure probably because

it's so goddamn salty would go right yeah yeah that's a curious like how to tell in on yourself it

is right i think we don't have a lot of confidence in this food here's a blood pressure machine

all right um let's see i was sprayed by a skunk

i again believable also if that is true yeah i don't want you at work yeah you're going to stink

uh i've been sprayed i think i told you this story i've been sprayed by a skunk um

and it's fucking horrible let me just say that clothes have to be thrown out i was wearing a leather jacket

that had to be thrown out by the way tomato juice doesn't really work

that no that's that thing you've never been sprayed i mean by a skunk no no it's fucking horrible man

it's horrible and i was loaded i came home from the bar drunk and this was at the honey bee complex

when i lived with uh and i walked down the back way and there's a lot of bushes and stuff there

this was in norage not very far from a we didn't live very far from a forest preserve

oh okay so yeah yeah yeah i mean it didn't it was a kind of a hike for mr skunk to get there but not too

much so i'm drunk it's like one thirty in the morning and i'm staggering down the back way to get to

the to the apartment of the the honey bee complex and i hear in the bushes oh god and i'm like what

the fuck and i look and i turn a vish but can nails me across like my leg and my chest

and it was unbelievable it was unbelievable and i was loaded and i i was staggered back to uh

the white hen um and i walk i walk in they're like get the fuck out and i'm like okay

with because i was stunk that was like just give me a bunch of tomato juice and i and they and

they brought the tomato juice out they brought like a like a couple of gallons of tomato juice out

that was horrible what uh what got it finally i had to like take 47 hot showers i mean i did the

tomato juice thing and it didn't i mean didn't it didn't like tomato juice according to like

whatever you see in pop culture movies tv whatever you know tomato juice is oh i'm gonna

inform myself in tomato juice and it it it helped but it does not fix it like that's not

like the clothing all thrown out all gone had to get rid of all of it

and then like scrubbed my body on a bunch with a bunch of uh showers stayed home i was home for like

you know like half a day like doing tomato juice and doing and doing showers and i didn't even get

it wasn't even like a full like my face didn't get sprayed or anything yeah so did you actually

have to call into work and no no no no no no i was no i did not

at that time when i got sprayed at that time i was um

um i was what was i working on Roy Leonard's magazine i was an editor at Roy Leonard's

going out guy so i was kind of my own boss and i kind of made my own hours and i was coming back

okay and i can't and i was coming back and and uh from the bar it was late um and i don't think

i had to work the next day i don't think i had to work i mean well you know i mean alcoholic so

i was at bars late even i'm working right sometimes uh when i was working for the for the magazine

um but yeah no i i didn't have to call in but that's a good excuse i mean that's a legit excuse if

you get sprayed it sucks yeah yeah well isn't everybody else doesn't want to deal no like the dudes

it the dudes at white hen were like get the fuck out you know when i went yeah and that's just

because i was drunk too you know i mean like i was a stinking skunk smelling drunk and they were

like get the fuck out here so white hen's boy there you go there's a blast from the past

those are gone now man man white hen all right all right how about this one

i'm sorry i just read this for the cold for the first time you're ready for this one

mm-hmm i couldn't come into work because i accidentally boarded a plane what the

wow okay sure went through a door hot it was work it was an airplane this must have been a really

long time ago you know because like you can't fake you can't just because it takes two hours to

get through tsa now you know what i mean so it's not like you can accidentally this must have

been like the 70s when everybody was drunk you know i accidentally boarded a plane what the what

that's a good one though i would like people to try if you by the way if you're listening and you

have a job where you can call in sick try that one see what your boss says everybody who's listening

right now try that say i couldn't come into work because i accidentally boarded a plane

name there'll be very understanding i'm sure all right now this next one this one um not too

crazy not not like the lamin the last one i accidentally boarded a plane that's ridiculous but this

one mm-hmm this one is not bad are you ready for this yeah lock myself out when my dog got out of

my apartment building yeah that's very possible absolutely you could have left your phone inside

you know like oh my god you're panicking because the dog out you don't think shit i got to get my

dog run out locked out no keys no phone that that's a legit i buy that absolutely yeah okay all right

how about this one now we go from legit like okay that's cool i hope you found your dog hope you

get a locksmith get back into your apartment that's cool how about this one i squirted shampoo

in my eye during my morning shower oh no i also imagine like these the people who would use these

excuses they're they're like one or two excuses away from getting fired all right no question

no like whoever hears that goes all right that fucking llama guy again yeah yeah yeah i don't see

this guy i don't see a lot of these people they're having their pictures on the wall for

employee of the month that's just i don't i don't write exactly i squirted shampoo in my eye

during the my morning shower what the fuck does that even mean oh i can't come in i

of course you're good all right um okay how about this these are just this one was just like this

is listed under bizarre life circumstance my reflection looked judgy that morning and i needed

a mental health day to repair my relationship with my mirror all right okay what okay i guess if

you're like a new ag person you know maybe yeah sure my my reflection looked judgy you ever

look judgy when you look at yourself um i mean yes yeah but i never take it as a separate of

myself yeah it's not like it's my reflection i feel i can't come into work my reflection was judgy

yeah yeah yeah okay oh there's a there's a cat there's the judgy there's the judgy yeah

uh about this i called off work because uh i told him uh there was a death in the family and

i was her boss what oh she was her i don't understand that the death that she was the boss of the

person who died i don't understand i don't know i don't yeah i don't get it oh that doesn't make any

sense okay um how about this i couldn't go into work today because i just backed over my dog in the

driveway Jesus Christ yeah that would be awful Jesus okay uh how about this apparently somebody really

said this i woke up didn't see myself in the mirror so i thought i had already gone into work

what okay so are we getting sort of metaphysical now or

or yeah i thought i was yeah these people are yeah yeah that was the that was the last that was the last

strong for that person yeah how about this uh i need to exfoliate

i could see that but not to not come into work what okay yeah i can't come into my skin i got

to exfoliate i can't be expected to work with this kind of skin um someone called up and

simply said i'm too lazy to do this right now there you go hey at least you're honest yeah

points for uh for honesty um how about Starbucks messed up my caramel iced white mocha order

okay all right and then the last one is i need to lose a few pounds before i go to the gym

what does that even mean right that's why you go to the gym and what does that have to do with

i don't know yeah you know that's very very weird um so how about this my parents had a medical

emergency years ago where one got stuck on the toilet and when the other tried to help they

fell and knocked themselves unconscious my employer demanded details they didn't believe me because

they said it sounded like an SNL sketch but it was real i mean it does but yeah that could

absolutely happen god oh that's that's terrible one was stuck on the toilet the other like

fell and knocked themselves out trying to help the other one that makes that totally is that's

believable that's totally believable yeah i mean it does sound like a it could be a wacky sketch

but that's totally believable all right here's another one i flush my car key down the toilet

yeah i could believe that yeah yeah that's believable

uh it was opening day of the school year and i was in our home office typing up my classroom

expectations suddenly i felt something on my head a company by a high-pitched scream it was a

freaking bat entangled in my hair my husband somehow got it out of my hair while i collapsed

onto the floor trying to breathe from sheer panic after half an hour trying to compose myself i

called our principal and told him what had happened and that i would be late as my nerves had to

settle down before i could drive the one and a half hour commute when i arrived in time for my third

when i arrived in time for my third period uh class of nervous brand new first years and told

them while i was late the looks on their faces were memorable and they laughed Jesus

you imagine just sitting there in a bath on your fucking head what yeah that's wild i know i wouldn't

have gone in i wouldn't have been like we're just calling it a day yeah that's horrifying and an

hour and a half drive an hour and a half drive after a bath's been in your on your head

yeah no thank you how the fuck does a bat i mean i doesn't say where they lived i mean but man

yeah all right one more before we before we uh before we call it here

i had to call my boss and tell her i would be late because chipmunks had filled my trucks engine up

with black walnuts no yeah that you know i know in the winter at least like here you need to kind of

be aware if you have a car outside for cats and things yeah go up into the engine and like

yeah hang out in there they will yeah that's true it's absolutely true this woman who called in

about the chipmunk thing in the walnuts that she my boss laughed so hard i thought she was going to

choke so i went out to leave started the truck and i heard this awful sound i opened the hood

and the engine was full of black walnuts i had to get a little step ladder out and i spent half an

hour cleaning them out luckily i was only a half an hour late so it happened early in the morning

so it was all good so she cleaned out the walnuts that had been stored in the car

um again believable yeah that's believable all right so okay those are good

except for the llama that's the only one that i'm having some issues with right and the glue

in the apartment i was glued in my apartment i don't know yeah yeah i would like more detail on

that one please that one we need to investigate further i have a question about it all right well

for anybody listening we have just provided you with some pretty solid excuses for you to get

out of work yeah if you want to use it go ahead and use it you can thank us all right as thanks you

rule uh oh thanks my thanks to Monica ang for hanging out with us and talking so much fun stuff in

politics and zeppelin and all kinds of cool stuff uh Dan Feinberg is going to join us for our

biweekly visit to talk about TV and so much more that's on the next episode if you would like to

be a sponsor sales radio missfits.com is the way to do that you can leave a voicemail anytime you want

with questions comments anything you want to say 24-7 7-7-3-4-1-7-6-9-4-8 email me anytime nickd podcasted

gmail.com jason skegs does all the music and the themes and the sounds and all that cool stuff

take the time to share rate and review us on every platform thanks to ed sill and everybody at

radio missfits uh and we will see you next time every great weekend and we'll see you next time on

the nickd podcast