Holmberg’s Morning Sickness

Episode: 09-22-25 – Charlie Kirk Memorial Sees Huge Crowds In Glendale / Michael Vick, Kyler Murray Condemnation
Date: September 22, 2025
Hosts: John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, Bret Vesely, Dick Toledo, Alex

Episode Overview

This episode of Holmberg's Morning Sickness opens with a raw, humorous recap of the massive Charlie Kirk memorial event in Glendale, Arizona, which drew crowds starting as early as 4 a.m. The hosts reflect on the logistics, atmosphere, and emotional highs and lows of the day, mixing irreverence with honest critique of both the event and its attendees. Additional major topics include stadium concessions, crowd diversity, event production, and a listener's biting response to Kyler Murray wearing a Michael Vick jersey, which spirals into a discussion about sports loyalty, animal cruelty, and NFL culture. The show’s classic tone—blunt, comedic, a little edgy—pervades throughout.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Charlie Kirk Memorial: Atmosphere, Organization, and Oddities

• Crowds and Logistical Chaos

  • Hosts describe the overwhelming turnout ("lines started at 11 or 12 the night before" – John, 02:03) with tens of thousands lining up pre-dawn.
  • “People were in line for it and they went. I can’t sit through a funeral that long.” – John (02:20)
  • The post-event “trashpocalypse” is addressed with wry local sarcasm about visitors leaving Phoenix in a mess.
  • “Thanks for leaving the trash. We’ll get it... Get out of my town.” – John (00:25)

• Event Vibe and Programming

  • Much discussion of the event feeling “a little cultish,” with most attendees of a single political mindset.
    • “I watched the entire thing and got the feeling it started getting a little cultish. Did it feel cultish to you?” – Listener email, read by John (11:12)
  • Mega-church-style worship sessions and an emotional memorial for Kirk, with his wife on stage.
  • The crowd was overwhelmingly white, drawing a comparison to Taylor Swift concerts.
    • “That was the whitest group of people I’ve maybe... it looked like Taylor Swift was gonna take the stage... mayo.” – John (20:34)
  • Attendees came from across the country and even internationally (“One lady from Philippines flew out for this.” – John, 21:24).

2. Stadium Productions and Concessions Conundrum

• Who Paid, Who Built It?

  • Massive production values: pyrotechnics, giant screens, elaborate staging—put together rapidly.
    • “They had pyro, like... every time someone would get introduced, they had that stage of giant sparkler fire. I kind of blown away that they threw that together in a week.” – John (08:28)
    • “All hands on deck. Evidently in the production.” – Brady (08:47)

• Concessions Dilemma

  • Hosts openly wonder if food and drinks (especially beer) were sold during the event and joke about the etiquette of eating at a memorial.
  • Multiple callback jokes reference funeral and wedding food (or lack thereof), comparing to Catholic ceremonies.
    • “Is it kind of rude to go, I gotta go grab a hot dog like in the middle of that whole thing?” – John (15:28)
    • Listeners eventually confirm: there were trays of food, sodas, sandwiches, and “chicken fingers... the fryer going” (19:40).
  • Notable Quote:
    • “That’s a tough gig too, is sitting there deep frying chicken fingers all day.” – John (19:59)

3. Crowd Management and Event Experience

• Epic Waits and Parking Nightmares

  • Listeners report parking miles away, six-mile freeway backups, sitting in stadium seats for many hours.
    • “Sitting in stadium seats for that long, for a guy who’s not short today, I’m in a lot of pain." – Listener email, read by John (14:28)

• Ticketing and Seating

  • First-come, first-served color-coded sections (“white 6,” “red 1”) handled with giant signs.
    • “Like boarding a plane... they would hold it up. It wasn’t like by section 203, seat this... first come first.” – John (13:03)

4. Event Tone: Unity, Division, and the Cultishness Debate

• Hosts analyze whether massive, "like-minded" gatherings are inherently divisive or bring unity.
  • “Anytime you get a group of churches or... that Promise Keepers thing, when everybody’s got this hyper-focused singularity, it does get awkward.” – John (11:47)
  • Ultimately, the hosts believe the event neither deepened division nor truly unified.
    • “Nobody’s going to get along better and nobody’s going to divide from it. It was what it was.” – John (14:28)

5. Kyler Murray, Michael Vick Jerseys, and Sports Fan Ethics

• Listener Backlash to Murray

  • The show shifts to the fallout from Cardinals QB Kyler Murray wearing a Michael Vick jersey.
    • “I am now a staunch hater of the Arizona Cardinals... after last week’s Kyler incident with the Michael Vick jersey...” – Email, read by John (21:54)
  • A listener (Gene) describes learning about Vick’s animal cruelty convictions and sending a letter to the Cardinals condemning their silence.
    • Notable: “Then I read what you said... about what Michael Vick did to those dogs. That situation left me reeling... that dude was a monster. I immediately wrote a letter to the Cardinals...” – Gene, read by John (22:32)
  • John and crew agree, calling for Murray (and the Cardinals) to make substantial donations to animal welfare organizations.
    • “Until he makes some sort of massive donation to the Humane Society or the Cardinals do... that was reprehensible...” – John (23:07)
  • John details Vick’s violence toward dogs graphically, reminding listeners of the severity.

• Sports Loyalty Is Conditional

  • John (a Steelers fan) says watching the Cardinals lose was now a delight.
    • “I giggled like a schoolgirl... look at him, look at him. The midgets leaving the field a loser.” – John (24:20)
  • Kyler Murray: formerly supported for his athletic skill, John now considers him irretrievably “stupid.”

6. NFL Talk: Sunday Recap and Design Crimes

• Game Recaps and Schadenfreude

  • The group relishes bad results for disliked teams and fans, especially Cardinals, Packers, Cowboys.
    • “Packer fans... They were in the Super Bowl. There was nothing…” – John (29:31)
    • “The Browns were dressed like big turds. Those are the worst uniforms I’ve ever seen.” – John (30:19)
  • The color commentary on NFL uniforms—especially the derision of “turd brown” Browns and gaudy Bengals—is a recurring riff.

• Notable Quotes & Humor

  • “Browns fans are dumb enough because they’re in Cleveland that they’ll buy those turd brown outfits and walk around in the turd town dressed as turds.” – John (33:14)
  • “There’s corn, there’s turd brown, I don’t know what that green stuff is… it looked like my toilet after a rough weekend.” – John (35:16)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [00:25] John: “Thanks for leaving the trash. We’ll get it... Get out of my town.”
• [02:20] John: “People were in line for it and they went. I can’t sit through a funeral that long.”
• [08:28] John: “They had pyro... I kind of blown away that they threw that together in a week.”
• [11:12] Listener email (read by John): “I watched the entire thing and got the feeling it started getting a little cultish. Did it feel cultish to you?”
• [19:40] John: “There were people going back and forth... with trays of food, sodas, sandwiches. Chicken fingers...”
• [20:34] John: “That was the whitest group of people I’ve maybe... it looked like Taylor Swift was gonna take the stage... mayo.”
• [22:32] Gene (email, read by John): “What Michael Vick did to those dogs... that dude was a monster. I immediately wrote a letter to the Cardinals...”
• [23:07] John: “Until he makes some sort of massive donation to the Humane Society or the Cardinals do... that was reprehensible...”
• [24:20] John: “I giggled like a schoolgirl. Look at him, look at him. The midgets leaving the field a loser.”
• [30:19] John: “The Browns were dressed like big turds. Those are the worst uniforms I’ve ever seen.”
• [33:14] John: “Browns fans are dumb enough... they’ll buy those turd brown outfits and walk around in the turd town dressed as turds.”
• [35:16] John: “It looked like my toilet after a rough weekend.”

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Charlie Kirk Memorial Recap: 00:08–14:00
• Concessions and Stadium Production: 02:39–04:54, 08:22–10:26, 15:19–20:10
• Cultishness & Crowd Analysis: 11:01–14:00
• Football Talk: Kyler/Vick/Jersey Fallout: 21:54–27:07
• NFL Recap, Uniform Insults, Audience Bragging: 27:07–40:12

Tone & Style

The episode is brash, unsparing, and laced with “Arizona discontent.” The hosts shift quickly from newsy details to irreverent jokes, rarely pulling punches on politics, religion, or sports allegiance. The group’s chemistry leans on local in-jokes, self-effacing stories, and trademark rants—all colored by sarcasm and dark humor.

Summary for Listeners:
If you want an honest—and at times brutally funny—look inside one of Arizona’s biggest political events and what it meant to Phoenix locals, plus a sideshow of NFL rants, questionable stadium food, and strong takes on football ethics, this episode delivers. Prepare for charged banter, sharp wit, and a refusal to treat any topic as sacred.