Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Pie Diversity Is Our Greatest Strength"

Date: November 21, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

In this pre-Thanksgiving episode, Armstrong and Getty get festive while tackling a mix of serious issues and lighter fare. The show weaves together cultural critiques, social commentary, listener stories, and a humorous, heartfelt ode to Thanksgiving foods — especially pie. The hosts discuss topics ranging from the evidence (or lack thereof) behind gender-affirming care for minors, labor force participation among U.S.-born men, immigration, pop culture, and the enduring joys (and oddities) of the Thanksgiving meal.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Thanksgiving Plans and Personal Goals

[03:27-04:02]

• Jack shares his goal to clean out his closet and get more reading done over Thanksgiving.
• Joe plans to host family, anticipating a full, festive house.

2. "Clips of the Week" and Media Headlines

[04:08-06:54]

• The hosts play their weekly audio montage of notable, odd, and humorous news moments (chess boxing, Trump headlines, dropping letters from words, and more).
• Afterward, they highlight a quote as a "maybe quote of the year candidate":
  • Jack [06:54]: "I think I feel fine, just my voice is rough because I was yelling at people because they're stupid."

3. Gender-Affirming Care, Social Contagion, and Medical Science

[07:15-15:18]

• Joe breaks down a recent HHS review concluding there is low-quality evidence supporting positive outcomes of gender-affirming care for minors.
  • Criticizes the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association as being ideologically "captured".
  • Skewers medical associations’ objections, noting that most "missing" studies they cite were actually considered in the HHS review, or irrelevant.
• Jack speculates these organizations aim to satisfy their political bases.
• Discussion of exploratory therapy and accusations it’s akin to “conversion therapy,” which both hosts find absurd:
  • Jack [11:20]: "How perverse is that?"
  • Joe [11:23]: "Yeah, the one is a good idea, the other is sick."
• Joe brings up research showing the proportion of teens identifying as transgender has halved recently, reinforcing the "social contagion" thesis.

4. Listener Mail: "Joe Getty Saved My Life"

[12:55-15:18]

• An emotional email from an anonymous listener who suffered severe anorexia credits Joe for helping her recover. She relates his prior comments comparing transgender identification among youth to the anorexia social contagion.
  • "Joe, you unknowingly lit a fire in me. Under no circumstances will I succumb to a social contagion..." [14:05]
• The hosts underline the importance of telling hard truths — sometimes, catching someone at a moment of clarity can save a life.

5. Social Policy, Addiction, and “Hitting Bottom”

[15:18-16:15]

• The conversation shifts to addiction policies and homelessness, arguing that current “compassionate” policies actually prevent addicts from "hitting bottom" and recovering.
  • Joe: "We have as a society, at least in blue states, designed a set of policies where people are never allowed to hit bottom. It is incredibly cruel." [16:15]

6. Pot Culture, Pop Music, and the Edge of Decency

[20:09-23:49]

• A segment about a flight forced to land after a passenger smoked pot leads to a meditation on how explicit popular music has grown.
  • Jack debates whether modern pop is any worse than previous generations’ sly innuendo, concluding:
    • Jack [23:27]: "I've listened to the latest stuff. There is no more ground ahead... We've reached the end of the road."
  • Joe prefers the days of decency: "That's just being restrained, gentlemanly, decent. To not be explicit in front of children and people who don't want to hear it." [23:15]

7. Declining Male Labor Force Participation and Immigration

[29:35-36:57]

• The hosts examine a new Center for Immigration Studies report showing a sharp rise in working-age U.S.-born men not working (from 11% in 1960 to 22% today).
  • Jack: "If that ain't socialism, I don't know what the hell it is." [32:13]
  • Both note the disconnect between millions not working and the demand for immigrant labor in low-wage jobs.
  • Joe: "We have a choice as a country. We can either adopt policies designed to get more working-age Americans currently on the economic sidelines into jobs, or we can ignore the problem and continue to bring in ever more immigrants..." [35:59]

8. Thanksgiving Food: Tradition, Preferences & Pie

[37:06-46:26]

• Armstrong and Getty, along with crew members, share favorite Thanksgiving dishes — mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, leftover sandwiches.
  • "It's a concert. It's a symphony of taste and texture." — Joe [41:37]
  • "Whatever that flavor is of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, all kind of mixed together with some turkey, that flavor that you can't get anywhere else, that's the flavor I like." — Jack [42:23]
• Ritual of lying on the floor—“I have to lay down after I eat because it’s the only place that’s comfortable.” — Jack [45:23]
• The legendary Thanksgiving Pie Debate:
  • "Pie diversity is our greatest strength. Are you a blueberry person? Cherry? A humble strawberry rhubarb? Your pie is my pie. We have a big tent here." — Joe [44:02]
  • Good-natured teasing about “fringe” pies like banana cream; sentimental recollection of eating lemon meringue pie together.

9. Family, Gratitude, and Anathemic Thanksgiving Moments

[46:57-47:47]

• On the real meaning of Thanksgiving:
  • Jack recalls his sons’ first Thanksgiving where they only noticed it was "just a meal", and the eventual maturing appreciation for the food and tradition.
  • Joe shares that his father will celebrate his 85th birthday on Thanksgiving.

10. Final Thoughts

[48:14-49:36]

• Crew shares last-minute Thanksgiving game plans — elastic waistbands, making mini leftover sandwiches, savoring “gizzard and heart” customs from older generations.
  • Jack [49:24]: "In the next decade, the last person who ever wanted to eat the heart from the turkey will have died off and that will just go away as a thing. God bless America."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Pie diversity is our greatest strength.” — Joe Getty [44:02]
• “Under no circumstances will I succumb to a social contagion... You put my whole image in a new and very ugly light, and I am eternally grateful. For the first time, I went to a doctor... You truly did save my life.” — Listener “Alien. Anonymous” [14:05]
• “If that ain't socialism, I don't know what the hell it is.” — Jack Armstrong [32:13]
• "There is no more ground ahead. ... We've reached the end of the road. It would be impossible to go any further than they go in your typical songs now." — Jack Armstrong [23:27]
• “That's just being restrained, gentlemanly, decent. To not be explicit in front of children and people who don't want to hear it.” — Joe Getty [23:15]
• "You do you." — Joe Getty, indulging Jack's preference for lying on the floor after Thanksgiving [45:52]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Personal Thanksgiving Goals & Plans: [03:27–04:02]
• Clips of the Week: [04:08–06:54]
• Gender-affirming Care & Medical Science: [07:15–15:18]
• Listener Email: Anorexia and Social Contagion: [12:55–15:18]
• Addiction Policy & "Hitting Bottom": [15:18–16:15]
• Cultural Decay & Explicit Media: [20:09–23:49]
• Labor Force Participation & Immigration: [29:35–36:57]
• Thanksgiving Food Talk & Pie Diversity: [37:06–46:26]
• Family and Thanksgiving Meaning: [46:57–47:47]
• Final Thoughts: [48:14–49:36]

Episode Tone & Style

The episode deftly combines Armstrong & Getty’s trademark snark, sincerity, and comradery. Difficult cultural issues are approached with critique and humor, while discussions of Thanksgiving are warm, nostalgic, and peppered with playful debate — especially regarding pie. The show closes on a sentimental note of gratitude and Americana.

Summary Takeaway

Whether breaking down the problems of social contagion, labor force decline, or simply which pie is most essential to the American table, Armstrong & Getty find the absurdities, ironies, and small joys of the modern world — always with a wink, a quip, and an eye toward what really brings us together.