Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona

Episode: Condensed Short Show - Tuesday (01-13-26)
Date: January 13, 2026

Overview

This condensed episode of Holmberg’s Morning Sickness finds the crew—John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, Brett Vesely, and Dick Toledo—riffing on everything from awkward public encounters and the stereotypes of certain vehicles to the wild future of AI (inspired by Elon Musk), childhood food hardships, and silly new Gen Z slang. The show’s signature mix of irreverence, storytelling, and group roasting is in full swing, with plenty of memorable lines and playful banter.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Awkward Public Encounters and Being Recognized

• John recounts a late-night gas station encounter where someone recognized him, yelled, and even took a jab at him verbally.
  • "I was hiding. Really. That's that Holmberg dude, which he'd yell at him. It's punched me right in the guts." (01:10, John Holmberg)
• He jokes about recording future incidents and ponders the pattern: people seem more likely to shout slurs when his friend Mark is in the car.

2. Car Stereotypes & Brady’s Infamous Subaru Outback

• The group dives into a roast of Brady for driving what they call the “lesbian Outback."
  • The Outback, especially in gold with special packages, “Ultra,” “Gold,” or “Navratilova edition,” is lampooned as a car no man purchases voluntarily.
  • "A man driving an Outback is just confusing. No man has an Outback." (06:00, John Holmberg)
  • The running joke is that only lesbians, particularly those into outdoor activities, are supposed to own such vehicles.
  • Brady gamely defends his purchase, admitting, "It's my experimental stage." (07:27)
  • Nostalgia and gentle self-effacement are center stage as John summarizes:
    "That thing just had big V energy coming off. Like angry vaginas." (07:29, John Holmberg)

3. Childhood, Dining Out, and Parental Strategies

• The team pokes fun at restaurant kids’ menus, lamenting "kids eat free" deals and how parents take advantage, to the chagrin of staff and other patrons.
  • "Nobody likes your kids." (13:01, John Holmberg)
• A broader discussion arises about how their parents intentionally gave them "garbage" food to avoid creating expensive taste.
  • "I'm realizing as we talk about this, I was getting rotten like Timothy Busfield. Kids all through my childhood on food, I never got good meals." (16:56, John Holmberg)
  • The consensus: meals like TV dinners, mac and cheese with hot dogs, and bologna sandwiches were not just common, but a strategy to keep costs down and expectations low.

4. Public vs. Private School and Upbringing

• John likens private schools to the new “filtered water,” poking at cultural shifts and guilt tactics used in education.
  • "School is the same because somewhere along the way, they made public schools like... like water out of a faucet." (19:50, John Holmberg)

5. Elon Musk, AI, and the Coming Era of Abundance

• John recaps a podcast with Elon Musk, sharing mind-boggling predictions: in about a decade, AI will make work, money, and even education largely obsolete due to "abundance of everything."
  • "AI will create an abundance of everything … in about 10 or 15 years saving for retirement, there’s no reason to." (24:24, John Holmberg)
  • The room debates:
    • What does this mean for human motivation?
    • Will universal abundance make people lazy, or just shift desires?
    • Brady wonders: "What happens to the people that still want more?" (30:45)
    • John observes, "If there's no more man running things and everything is abundant, we will be Wally. Eat your food, there’s tons of everything." (31:15)

6. AI, ChatGPT, and Trust in Tech

• There’s group skepticism about how much to trust current AI platforms, with a funny concession that trust issues might fade as tech improves:
  • "There’s stuff that gets wrong for sure. But it's two years old. It's a baby. And we're leaning on it, like it's been here forever." (32:20, John Holmberg)

7. Gen Z Slang — "Choppelganger"

• Brady introduces “Choppelganger,” a variant of "doppelganger," meaning an uglier version of someone.
  • "Means you look like someone else. So you're like a doppelganger, but an uglier version." (32:54, Brady)
• Everyone tries to figure out who their “choppelganger” is, with a round of playful self-roasting:
  • John: Johnny Sins (porn star), but he's the “choppelganger” (uglier version)
  • Brady: Butterbean, Andy Reid (insists he’s better looking), and more.
  • Brett: Andy Garcia.
  • Toledo: Rachel Maddow, Tom Arnold, Richard Marx (with long hair).
• "To look at a picture of you side by side to Butterbean and go, 'I don’t know who’s better.' That’s a tough look." (41:10, John Holmberg)

8. Surgery, Skill, and "I Could Do That" Dilemma

• John wonders aloud how quickly his surgeon friend could teach him liver transplant surgery, imagining a world where everything is step-by-step like “land the plane” scenes in movies.
  • Dr. Brink tells John it would take two years of study to be able to transplant a liver—John thinks he could do it faster just by watching.
  • "I could do an open heart surgery by August… The heart's easy. It's like four hunks." (44:39, John Holmberg)
• The rest of the crew expresses doubts, comparing car repairs, bike rack installation, and windshield wiper replacement to the complexity of actual surgery.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Gas Station Fame:
  ”I wasn’t even being personal. I was hiding. Really. That’s that Holmberg dude…” (01:10, John Holmberg)
• On Car Stereotypes:
  "A man driving an Outback is just confusing. No man has an Outback." (06:00, John Holmberg)
• On Kids at Restaurants:
  "Nobody likes your kids." (13:01, John Holmberg)
• On Budget Parenting:
  "My parents fed me garbage, bargain basement ghetto food, to keep me from liking good stuff. So I never asked for it." (17:17, John Holmberg)
• On AI and the End of Work:
  "AI will create an abundance of everything… Will have such an abundance… money will be irrelevant." (24:24, John Holmberg)
• On Choppelgangers:
  "Means you look like someone else. So you're like a doppelganger, but an uglier version." (32:54, Brady) "I consider myself a choppelganger to about 700 bald guys…” (33:00, John Holmberg)
• On DIY Surgery Aspirations:
  "I could do an open heart surgery by August. I’m pretty much—That’s what that’s like, though. The heart’s easy. It’s like four hunks…” (44:39, John Holmberg)
• On Self-Perception:
  "To look at a picture of you side by side to Butterbean and go, I don’t know who’s better. That’s a tough look. I’m well into my admission of ugliness. I’m not sure Brady is there yet." (41:10, John Holmberg)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Public Encounters and Car Stereotypes: 01:10–08:35
• Childhood Dinners and Parenting Philosophy: 12:13–18:44
• School Analogies & Upbringning: 19:21–21:14
• Food Deprivation Realizations: 21:14–23:36
• Elon Musk’s AI Future, Money, and Universal Abundance: 24:22–32:20
• Choppelganger Term and Playful Insults: 32:43–41:28
• Skill Learning, Surgery, and Funny Doubts: 41:29–47:28
• DIY Mishaps (Wipers, Bike Racks): 47:28–49:36

Tone & Style

Holmberg and his crew keep it biting, self-deprecating, and brash—mixing observational comedy with a Gen X outlook on modern trends, technology, and the absurdities of everyday life. The show is filled with running gags, stories from their past, and rapid-fire group riffing, never lingering too long on one subject but always mining it for a laugh.

For listeners: This episode is a lively ride through nostalgia, friendly roasting, wild speculation about the future, and tongue-in-cheek wisdom on everything from car buying to surgery. If you enjoy quick wit and the group’s signature brand of honest, unfiltered banter, this short show is solidly on-brand.