11-14-25 - Starting To Get Details Together For This Year's Happy Endings Show We'll Announce Monday

Summary

Episode Overview

Theme:
In this episode, the Holmberg's Morning Sickness crew—John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, and others—prepare listeners for upcoming live shows, most notably the "Happy Endings Show" and "Holmberg After Dark." The team shares behind-the-scenes stories, especially about a dramatic event involving William Shatner at a recent show. The episode mixes humor, candid reflection, and insider info on show planning, while engaging in their usual banter about aging celebrities, personal regrets, and community events.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Upcoming Live Events and Show Announcements

• Happy Endings Show & Holmberg After Dark:

  • The team is gearing up for these major end-of-year events.
  • Holmberg After Dark is set for December 12 at Stand Up Live, downtown.
  • Pre-announcement buzz is high; 40 tickets sold even before the official announcement.
  • Monday will bring more details and an official guest lineup.

• Notable Quote:

  "Tickets are on sale now. If you can find out how we're gonna announce officially how to do that... People have evidently liked this thing."
  — Holmberg (03:04)

2. William Shatner Incident: Comedy and Crisis

• Dramatic recount of a "Shatner Show":

  • Holmberg and Frank Caliendo performed with William Shatner (age 94).
  • Shatner experienced a health scare—Holmberg jokes, "William Shatner died in my arms."
  • Despite the scare, the show continued, reflecting on the professionalism and stamina of Shatner and the emotional toll on the hosts.

• Holmberg’s Regret:

  • Shares an embarrassing moment when meeting the band Chevelle:

    “You're like everybody's second favorite band. And I don't know why that is. You should be everybody's favorite.”
    — Holmberg (01:45)

• On Elder Performers:

  • Discusses concern over older entertainers, using Frankie Valli as an example of possibly exploitative bookings.
  • Contrasts this with Shatner's genuine engagement.

• Notable Quote:

  “I didn't want to be part of elder abuse... After the tumble last night, after, you know, ‘Oh, pick me up,’ you start to wonder, like... And I even said it out loud, we got to cancel this, right?”
  — Holmberg (04:48)

3. The Emotional Impact & Coping with Live Mishaps

• Aftermath and Reflection:

  • Holmberg and Caliendo keep texting each other about the night, balancing humor with lingering unease.
  • Struggle between enjoying the job’s fun and feeling responsible after seeing an elder icon in distress.

• Memorable Exchange:

  “You're turning on the comedy vibes, you know, like, he is teetering on the brink of not being part of this night, man. What a—he's a trooper. 94. Not many 94 year olds get up and do an hour of entertaining after a faint drop.”
  — Holmberg (06:29)

4. Light-hearted Banter and Behind-the-Scenes

• Making Fun of Celebrity Age:

  • Brady compares aging stars to melted army figurines, poking fun at how they look onstage but with affectionate undertones:

    “So Frankie Valli looks like when you're a kid, you had those army figurines, you melted them... So he doesn't fall down, just stands there like a statue.”
    — Brady (05:49)

• Potential Future Guests:

  • Jokes about inviting Dick Van Dyke and even bringing Shatner back, riffing on the idea of having a “convalescence home for celebrities.”

    “I'll put him in the Bronco and we'll get over OJ style and I'll go get William.”
    — Holmberg (08:31)

5. Community Engagement and Promotions

• Listener Interaction & Contests:
  • Reminds listeners about the app-based code word contest—correcting a previous mistake and extending the deadline.
  • “Odds” is the 9 o'clock code word for the ongoing $1,000 giveaway.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Chevelle & Fan Behavior:

  “You guys just make radio better. You make music better. My speakers are grateful to have Chevelle pumped through them... You're like everybody's second favorite band. And I don't know why that is.”
  — Holmberg (01:35)

• On Shatner’s Resilience:

  “What a week. So, yeah, get ready for the Happy Endings thing that's coming.”
  — Holmberg (07:37)

• On Performing For Free:

  “I, I didn't take a fee. Frank didn't take a fee for last night. And they offer money. We're like, no, this is silly. We're not gonna. That's. We want to be there. You're giving us the best seats in the house on stage. I think we don't need to get paid.”
  — Holmberg (08:08)

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Important Timestamps

• [01:35] – Holmberg’s awkward Chevelle story and the band’s impact
• [03:04] – Preview and behind-the-scenes of live event ticket sales
• [04:15 - 06:29] – The William Shatner health scare and reflections
• [05:49] – Brady’s “melting figurine” joke about Frankie Valli
• [07:37] – Announcements about Happy Endings Show and year-end programming
• [08:08] – Discussion about paying (or not paying) for guest appearances
• [09:04] – 9 o’clock code word contest reminder

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Tone & Style

The episode features Holmberg's trademark witty, irreverent banter mixed with genuine warmth and humility, especially when recounting the Shatner incident. Brady adds humorous visuals and plays off Holmberg’s stories, keeping the mood lively even when serious topics emerge. The overall approach oscillates between self-deprecating anecdotes and excited anticipation about upcoming events, in a style that long-time listeners will find familiar and inviting.

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Summary

This episode packs in crew camaraderie, local event teasers, and a revealing look at the unpredictable reality of live shows—highlighted by an intense and humorous retelling of a near-miss with William Shatner. Listeners get exclusive early info about upcoming shows and a window into the emotional side of putting on live entertainment, all delivered with the show’s characteristic mix of cheek, sincerity, and comedic edge.

Transcript

[Holmberg]

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[Holmberg]

Holmberg's morning sickness.

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You've been deceived by an agent of Satan himself.

[Holmberg]

He's evil sitting right here. Come on. No, no, he's not. He's not evil. He's just a bit rude. There you go, Chevelle. They just make your radio better, make your speakers better. I still It's a huge regret when I met Chevelle to try to tell them that exact phrase and I stumbled all over myself and told them that you're everybody's second favorite band. And it's not what I meant when I said it. You guys just make radio better. You make music better. My speakers are grateful to have Chevelle pumped through them. And I told them, I'm like, you're like everybody's second favorite band. And I don't know why that is. You should be everybody's favorite. You're on everyone's list when you were relevant. Yeah, it was exactly that moment. Stupid. Monday, we're going to announce the well, there will be no announcement of people Bad news, good news, bad news. Bloomberg After Dark is coming up here. That's the next thing we Got on our docket. We've got Pledio next week or not next week for the week after next. Then Thanksgiving happens, we come back and then we have our happy ending show. Homeburg After Dark will be happening, I believe, December 12, downtown. Stand up live. We're gonna have. Tickets are on sale now. If you can find out how we're gonna announce officially how to do that. But Matt down at the club said we've already sold like 40 tickets and it's not even announced it. I'm like, fantastic. So people have evidently liked this thing. The guest we had, I can tell you right now, is Jay Pharaoh. Phenomenal, right? Pharaoh. I did a podcast with Pharaoh years ago, and it. Me and Ralphie Frank and Jay Pharaoh and Chuck Powell were in this thing and it was an hour and 20 minutes of gangbusters funny. And so far. And I have always brought that back. He. He was more than happy to do it. He's gonna. He just got an offer to do another thing. So he's moving his schedule now. He. So he canceled. That would have been amazing. I wasn't allowed to announce that he was part of it once he was here because he's selling tickets for something else. So it would have been like a surprise. But you could trust me. We're gonna. We got another one also balancing on whether he can go or not. But we've got. It'll be fun either way. We'll announce that on Monday and it should be pretty fantastic. But homework after dark's December 12th. I got a lot of people asking, that's a good thing. Get that right and ready and have all that going. It's a fantastic show of videos and nonsense and everything else, and I probably will end up having something to do with my Shatner story. I've been retelling that on. On my emails all morning from people who woke up and said, oh, I had so much fun at the Shatner show last night. You guys were great. I'm like, you have no idea what I went through with the Shatner show. If you didn't hear it this morning, grab the podcast, go back and listen to the first 40 minutes of the show. I retell that William Shatner died in my arms. He just died in my arms. We'll just use this.

[Brady]

The cutting crew down.

[Holmberg]

Go Shatner. It was a crazy night last night, and it was. And I, you know, credit to the professionalism of both William Shatner and Frank Caliendo and to a certain degree, me, although I can't say I was professional at all. Because inside I know what I was feeling, and it was not professional. I was scared to death all night.

[Brady]

But, you know, that's why the show goes on. Because if you would say beforehand, this is what's going to happen. That show's canceled.

[Holmberg]

Everything should have been canceled.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Holmberg]

And I didn't want to be part of elder abuse. There's a Frankie Valli from the Four Seasons is. I don't know how old he is. He's got to be in his 80s, right? And they sang Grease and all that. You know, there's like a big. Frankie Valli was a big deal. And he is so old now that they. They put him on stage, sell tickets, put him on stage. He stands behind a microphone and he just. He doesn't lip sync. His mouth just kind of goes, blah, blah, blah. And they play the track of the song and try to just say, this is your Frankie Valli concert. And it's borderline abusive. And I don't know who's making the money or what they're doing, but it's terrible. I don't believe that's true with William Shatner and the people around him. Everybody cares about him greatly and he's super spry. But after the tumble last night, after, you know, oh, pick me up, you start to wonder, like. And I even said it out loud, we got to cancel this, right? This is canceled. Nope, nope. We're going all. Everyone's going on, like, oh, my God.

[Brady]

So Frankie Valley looks like when you're a kid, you had those army figurines, you melted them. Stand. They're on a little stand and they'll play, you know, oh, night.

[Holmberg]

Yeah.

[Brady]

So he doesn't fall down, just stands there like a statue.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Holmberg]

The GI Joes that you would melt in the sun because they just stand there and then they look like they're melting.

[Brady]

Except he doesn't melt.

[Holmberg]

No, he looks melted already. He's pre melted, but it's. Yeah, so I, I didn't want to be part of that. So, you know, I didn't touch him. So I'm still. I'm. I'm not normal from last night. And Frank and I keep texting each other this morning, giggly stuff. But we're both. It was. It was. It's off putting. Then you just feel terrible that the old man dropped and then you went out and started laughing and having fun joking.

[Brady]

You.

[Holmberg]

You're turning on the comedy vibes, you know, like, he is teetering on the brink of not being part of this night, man. What A He's a trooper. 94. Not many 94 year olds get up and do an hour of entertaining after a faint drop. Anyway, you get the whole story if you go back on the podcast this morning. And again they the. The. This is supposed to be the last day that you guys can take it in the app, but it is not. We'll do a Monday one because there were mistakes made on one of the days by our Internet. So we're going to do it all over. And if you remember the words from the day we missed, they're the same ones because we had to pre. The lawyers made us pre approve all the words beforehand. So it's all listed. So we're just gonna go back to whatever day got screwed up and do it again Monday. So it's your second to last day to get the code word in. And the 9 o' clock word is odds o double ds odds. So that's the 9 o' clock word you put in the 9 o' clock box and we are done for the week. And you can win a thousand dollars from us right here at 98 KUPD. So throw it in there, take it in the app, boost our app numbers, get our bobs off our back and we'll be happy. Everybody wins. Everybody wins. What a week. So, yeah, get ready for the happy innings thing that's coming. And then Palladio is the Monday after closing up the year.

[Brady]

Brady, I can tell one person that we're trying to go after for the homework after dark on the 12. Who's that? Dick Van Dyke. For you to.

[Holmberg]

Yeah, we're running a convalescence home for celebrities. I would. You know what? I actually considered maybe having Shatner come back for that. I don't know what Shatner cost.

[Brady]

He would have said yes for sure last night.

[Holmberg]

I, I didn't take a fee. Frank didn't take a fee for last night. And they offer money. We're like, no, this is silly. We're not gonna. That's. We want to be there. You're giving us the best seats in the house on stage. I think we don't need to get paid. And if he's not getting paid, I'm not getting paid. And the fee wasn't much. It was a little bit, but it was still something. So we did ours for free. He can do us.

[Brady]

He can come back, provide the Lincoln.

[Holmberg]

I'll do it myself. I'll put him in the Bronco and we'll get over OJ style and I'll go get William. But homework After Dark starts about the same time. He did his thing last night. So we can just get him a nice room, rest him, and then have Brady, you'd have to go to the hotel and you'd hear what I heard, which is the most harrowing thing in the world. Pick me up and. It's very strange. Brady, I'm feeling a little dizzy. Man. Last night was weird. We got an entertainment drill coming up in just a little bit. Prepare yourselves. It's 98. Hey, it's not weird. It's pretty cool, actually.

[Brady]

No membership fee.

[Holmberg]

I have heard enough of this.