Podcast Summary: Holmberg's Morning Sickness (Arizona)

Episode Date: October 1, 2025
Main Hosts: John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, Bret Vesely, Dick Toledo
Episode Title: Followup On N*Bomb Dropper From WWBD Says He Got Fired Over It – Scientists Still Talking About Using Nuclear Weapon To Blow Up Asteroid That Could Hit Moon Sparking Our Concern

Overview

This episode of Holmberg's Morning Sickness interweaves offbeat humor and blisteringly candid social commentary, zeroing in on two distinct yet equally attention-grabbing story arcs:

• Follow-up on a workplace racial-slur controversy and its aftermath, sparked by a listener's email featured earlier in their "What Would Brady Do?" segment.
• Banter and genuine musings over ongoing scientific considerations to use nukes against an asteroid projected to pass near the moon, reflecting public anxiety and the absurd behaviors of government and science in the face of potential catastrophe.

The episode oscillates between irreverent laughter and unexpectedly sober reflections, holding listeners' interest as it skewers workplace culture, cancellation, and pop science panic.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. "This Day In History" Rapid Fire (00:00–04:21)

• Brady hands John a list of notable October 1st events, leading to a deadpan run-through of significant moments ("135 years ago, Yosemite started...Babe Ruth called his shot...Johnny Carson debuted...Walt Disney World opened...Beach Boys, Beatles releases...Thriller in Manila...”).
• Humor at the density of the list: "I don't think I've ever seen one of these this day in history. It's like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Like that's a load of them." – John Holmberg (03:30)

2. Halloween "Blight" and Over-the-Top Decor (04:21–05:27)

• John jokes about his neighbor’s unruly yard and city interventions due to excessive skeleton displays—using this to riff on suburban competitiveness and laziness.
• “I don’t know why you want your house to look unclean clean as well, with the cobwebs and the silliness, but it looks good now.” – John Holmberg (04:39)

3. The "N-Bomb Dropper" Follow-up – Fallout from Racist Text (05:27–14:22)

Recap & Email Update

• Background: Listener previously emailed about sending a racially offensive text ("N-word") during a fantasy football chat involving coworkers, including a Black colleague.
• Follow-Up Outcome:
  • The emailer apologizes to his coworker as advised. The coworker accepts the apology but informs management.
  • The emailer is later fired, with prior workplace violence (shoving a coworker into a woman, who burned her hand) cited as a cumulative factor.
  • "Evidently my apology ... he still told the bosses what happened. And because it was a company phone and it was company time, uh, they cited a time in 2022 where I pushed a coworker and he fell into a female by the coffee machine. ...So this is more about my past than the N word." – Listener Email (06:32)

Candid Analysis and Office Culture Skewering

• John and Bret break down the pitfalls:
  • Don’t use company phones for anything personal or inappropriate: "You're setting yourself up." – John Holmberg (07:24)
  • Racial slurs are never workplace-appropriate—even "joking" among white coworkers: "Don’t text the black guy the N word. ...Don’t text the N word to each other as much." – John Holmberg (08:14)
  • Accountability isn’t just about the most recent misstep; your past follows you at work.

Notable Quotes

• “He shook your hand. He was a bigger man by just not saying, you know what? Screw you. ... But I already got you.” – John Holmberg (08:20)
• "You must be pretty good at what you do, because the second you start knocking broads into coffee machines... I'm not real sure what's worse, the physical act of shoving people when there's women near hot things, or just, you know, being kind of out. You sound a little bit like you need some work on yourself there." – John Holmberg (09:41)
• On company oversight: "Google knows exactly what. You use this site to block all the—like your past. Because you’re going on a lot of porn sites, and they’re basically saying, if your wife’s up your ass, here’s what you do." – John Holmberg (15:34)

“N-Word Guy” & South Park Reference

• Comparison to South Park’s “Naggers” episode, lampooning the social consequences and persistent stigma after a racial gaffe. “He became known around the town as N word guy.” – John Holmberg (12:28)

4. The Nuke-The-Asteroid Panic (19:21–30:03)

The Science Panic

• News coverage is ramping up on the possibility of using nuclear weapons to divert an asteroid with a 4% chance of hitting the moon, as if “we're just children who want to use our toys.” (20:41)
• John's skepticism: “Can’t we … just be on guard? ... We don’t have to go out there and just start nuking it.” (20:59)
• Paranoia about unintended consequences, referencing Oppenheimer’s original anxieties: “What if in space, whatever’s out there, we don’t know that there’s something in the ‘space air’... and it turned space into a fire.” – John Holmberg (21:47)
• Satirizes the Armageddon movie logic and science in pop culture (“Get some oil riggers. I can handle this. Right. Because it's much easier to educate oil riggers to be astronauts than it is for astronauts to learn how to work big drills.” – 22:10)

Nukes as International Bragging Rights

• Worries about normalization and escalation: “Once we do that, we’re going to be doing it all the time because it’s a display of power for us or Russia...” (30:03)
• “If we can hit this, we can crush you. And then Russia would be like, well, we have to hit one now too. ... Now the whole, like, nukes in space are a constant, which would be a good show, but come on. 4% chance. It's not like you just saw Livy Dunn in a bar and you're like, there's a 4% chance I can get this. Like, you still take that swing. You know ... it's not happening.” – John Holmberg (30:42)

5. Cultural Satire—Anxiety, Video Games, and Learning to Cope (33:41–38:17)

• Draws parallels between old video games (“Asteroids,” “Tempest”) and today's “mental health” discussions, mocking the idea that anxiety is new or unique to younger generations.
• “We paid for anxiety. We would steal quarters from our parents to go have anxiety. You guys don't know how good you've got it.” – John Holmberg (35:24)
• Pop culture as predictive programming: Points to movies and games priming us for future events (“Asteroid did that. We've been shooting at asteroids for years. ... When it actually happens in real life, we don't act like it's crazy.” – 32:38)

6. Running Gags, Music Tangents & Memorable Moments

• Digs at Aerosmith for their “Armageddon” ballad (“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) and its incongruity with their legacy: “This is like AC/DC doing this song. What are you doing? Gross.” – John Holmberg (24:35)
• Repeated “Hey man, Steven Tyler…” impressions, mocking the seriousness of celebrity ballads.
• Banter on science fiction tropes and the ironic reality of "space nuking"—“Send the blue penis up there with a crew,” referencing Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket. (28:20)

Notable Quotes, Speakers, and Timestamps

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |--------------|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:30 | John Holmberg | “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these this day in history. ... That’s a load...” | | 05:59 | John Holmberg | “His question on Monday was, do I apologize? What do I do? How do I handle this?” | | 08:14 | John Holmberg | “Don’t text the black guy the N word. ...Don’t text the N word to each other as much.”| | 08:20 | John Holmberg | “He shook your hand. He was a bigger man by just not saying, you know what? Screw you.” | | 12:28 | John Holmberg | “He became known around the town as N word guy.” | | 20:41 | John Holmberg | “4% chance. Can’t we like 4 days before it’s close to the moon... just be on guard?” | | 21:47 | John Holmberg | “What if in space whatever’s out there... and it turned space into a fire.” | | 22:10 | John Holmberg | “Get some oil riggers... It’s much easier to educate oil riggers to be astronauts...”| | 24:35 | John Holmberg | “This is like AC/DC doing this song. What are you doing? Gross.” | | 30:03 | John Holmberg | “Once we do that, we’re going to be doing it all the time because it’s a display…” | | 35:24 | John Holmberg | “We paid for anxiety. We would steal quarters from our parents to go have anxiety.” |

Important Segments & Timestamps

• This Day in History Rapid-fire – 00:00–04:21
• Halloween Decor & Suburban Satire – 04:21–05:27
• N-Word Dropper Email & Office Culture – 05:27–14:22
• Asteroid/Nuke Satire & Armageddon Parody – 19:21–30:03
• Games, Anxiety, and Pop Culture Conditioning – 33:41–38:17

Summary Tone & Language

Holmberg and crew maintain their trademark sardonic wit throughout, oscillating swiftly between laughs, savage takedowns, shocking bluntness ("office dickhead", "N-word guy"), and genuine ponderings about social and scientific absurdity. The discussion is rapid-fire, peppered with cultural references and ribald asides but never loses focus on the satirical critique of workplace culture, American overreaction, or generational neuroses.

In a nutshell:
If you missed this episode, you’ll know the team tackled politically perilous territory and moon-wiping asteroid paranoia with the same irreverent, incisive humor that keeps Holmberg’s Morning Sickness atop Arizona’s airwaves. Highlights include a masterclass in why "company phone" is a career deathtrap, why not all apologies end in redemption, and an indictment of both science fiction and 21st-century anxiety—plus, the best/worst moments in Aerosmith’s pop sellout history and the enduring wisdom: “Don’t be the office dickhead.”