12-01-25 - ENTERTAINMENT Drill - MON - Our Deaf Listener Josh Reads Transcripts Of The Show But We Wonder If It's Funny

Summary

Podcast Summary: Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona
Episode: 12-01-25 - ENTERTAINMENT Drill - MON - Our Deaf Listener Josh Reads Transcripts Of The Show But We Wonder If It's Funny
Date: December 1, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Holmberg’s Morning Sickness revolves around the unique experience of Josh Libby, a longtime deaf listener who enjoys the show via transcripts. The hosts dive into the challenges and humor of interpreting a comedy radio show through written words, question how their bits come across without context or vocal inflection, and riff on their own style of entertainment. The episode also features the usual “Entertainment Drill,” recapping celebrity news and odd auction items with the show's signature irreverence and banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Josh Libby: The Deaf Fan Experience

• The hosts open by discussing how Josh, a deaf audience member, consumes their show by reading transcripts.

• The team humorously debates whether their often sarcastic, accent-heavy, and voice-driven comedy translates to text.

  “You heard me. He didn’t. What? … I've been doing it for years … It's amazing.”
  — [03:09-03:12] John Holmberg & Brady

• Jokes about how transcripts might struggle to capture racial jokes, accents, sound effects, and emotional subtext.

• The hosts question whether reading “stereotypical accent” or “[laughs racistly]” in brackets changes the humor.

  “Does it say ‘in bad Indian accent’ in parentheses every once in a while? Or ‘Hello, my friend’? … It would just constantly remind you we're bad with all the subtext."
  — [03:43] John Holmberg

2. Celebrity & Entertainment News (“Entertainment Drill”)

• Dame Judi Dench’s Health: Discussion of Judi Dench’s worsening eye condition (macular degeneration), adding personal anecdotes about family experiences with the disease.

• Kim Kardashian’s Brain Scans: Commentary on a recent episode of “The Kardashians” where Kim's brain MRI shows “holes” indicating low activity.

  “Her frontal lobe is less now that you could read. That was a good one. You don’t need voices for it. You’re welcome, Josh.”
  — [06:46] John Holmberg

• Running jokes about Kim Kardashian’s life and career, with multiple puns about “holes” and her celebrity status.

• Mariah Carey's Christmas Royalties: Talk of Mariah earning $2.5M annually from “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and her songwriting partner pulling in over $100M.

• Strange Celebrity Auctions:

  • The safe that once held Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s infamous sex tape auctioned for over $100,000 (far above expectations).
  • Guitars from Kirk Hammett (Metallica) and Adam Clayton (U2) also sold, and the crew debates the relevance and worth of such memorabilia.

3. Meta-Jokes and Listener Feedback

• Listener Key Custer sends in a tongue-in-cheek message poking fun at Josh, riffing on Helen Keller references—showing the show’s willingness to joke with (not at) their audience.

  “I call him Josh Keller now because the only thing he isn't is blind. Because he's for sure dumb too. Well, don’t cancel that transcription. You’re not dumb, Josh.”
  — [10:11] John Holmberg reading listener email

• They speculate about Josh’s enjoyment level when reading “impressions” and how comedic timing is lost in print.

4. Country Music & World AIDS Day

• The hosts reflect on Reba McEntire’s song “She Thinks His Name Was John,” learning it's about AIDS—pondering its appropriateness for weddings and marveling at odd country song topics.

  “You can’t write a love song about a woman who did this to herself. Yeah. Am I supposed to be touched?”
  — [11:37] John Holmberg

• Allude to World AIDS Day and darkly joke about the theme in typical show fashion.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Transcripts and Deaf Listener Experience:

  “You couldn’t pay me enough money to read this show. It doesn’t make sense.” — [03:21] John Holmberg
  “Does it say ‘in bad Indian accent’ in parentheses every once in a while or… ‘Brett giggled racistly’?” — [03:43] John Holmberg

• On Kim Kardashian’s Brain Scan:

  “Her frontal lobe is less now that you could read. That was a good one. … You’re welcome, Josh.” — [06:46] John Holmberg
  “Her holes have been a problem for her for a while.” — [07:01] John Holmberg

• On the Tommy Lee/Pamela Anderson Sex Tape Safe Auction:

  “Tape safe? They’re selling that?” — [08:38] John Holmberg
  “Come on…That’s. You can buy a safe for that.” — [08:54-08:58] John Holmberg

• On Listener Josh (Helen Keller joke):

  “I call him Josh Keller now because the only thing he isn't is blind. Because he's for sure dumb too.” — [10:11] John Holmberg reading listener email

• Dark Humor on Reba’s Song & AIDS:

  “I may or may not have given Reba McIntyre's friend AIDS. That translates. You could read that.” — [12:30] John Holmberg

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Start of Main Show, Event Plugs | 01:19-02:14 | | Discussion of Deaf Listener Josh & Transcripts | 02:14-05:32 | | Entertainment Drill Begins | 05:41 | | Dame Judi Dench’s Health | 05:41-06:12 | | Kim Kardashian MRI & Jokes | 06:14-07:18 | | Mariah Carey Royalties & Songwriters | 07:24-08:17 | | Celebrity Auction Recap | 08:24-09:55 | | Listener Feedback (Josh Keller joke) | 10:11-10:35 | | Reba McIntyre’s Song & AIDS Day Discussion | 11:22-12:59 |

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Overall Tone & Style

• The show maintains its irreverent, quick-witted, and sometimes edgy comedic tone throughout.
• Humor is often self-deprecating or directed at pop culture and themselves, with frequent meta-commentary (“You couldn’t pay me enough to read this show”).
• They are inclusive and poke fun even at their fans—never mean-spirited, but always honest, sometimes darkly so.
• The banter is sharp, with bits building on each other's jokes and regular callbacks to earlier topics.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode provides a window into the peculiar experience of reading—not hearing—a show built on vocal delivery, with the hosts poking fun at themselves and how their material might (un)successfully make the leap to text. Add in the typical flurry of irreverent entertainment reporting, interactive listener feedback, and a willingness to make light of even the darkest subjects, and it’s classic Holmberg’s Morning Sickness: noisy, original, and unfiltered—in any medium.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the HMS Podcast, brought to you by MMP Guns.com, your most trusted online marketplace for firearms, ammunition and accessories. Hey, it's Brett Vesely and I'm here with Byron from MMP Guns. Look, Byron, I have a friend wanting to sell some guns he inherited. What's the best way for him to do that?

[B]

Brett, the last thing you want to do is sell the gun to someone who can't legally own one. Tell him not to put himself at risk and come into M and P Guns where he'll get a fair offer and he can rest easy knowing it's not getting into the wrong hands.

[A]

Okay, but what if he lives out of state?

[B]

Easy. Legalgunbuyer.com and he can do it online. It really that simple?

[A]

There you have it. MMP Guns or legalgunbuyer.com the safe and legal way to sell your firearms. It's Brett Vesely from homewards. Morning sickness. Now, I've always been the kind of guy that takes care of my own lawn. That's until I found Divine Design Landscaping. These guys aren't your typical mow and blow landscaping company. They do amazing work. And it's just what I needed to finally throw in the towel and let the experts take over. If you've been unhappy with your landscaping or sick of trying to do it yourself, well, it's time to get a hold of Divine Design Landscaping. These guys handle everything. Lawn care, irrigation, tree work, low voltage lighting, 3D designs get free [e-mail] that's divinedesignlawncare.Com you thought that was funny?

[C]

You were laughing like a hyena when he said it. What the hell is wrong with you?

[D]

It's almost 10 already. One first day of December out the way, 24 days to go. Advent calendars are open. Weird. Uh, and then of course, you got stuff going on this morning with our own Fitz Madrid. Fitz is out this morning at the fries on 67th Avenue in Bell, and he's hanging out with Bailey. She's a WWE superstar and they're gonna have Wheatley American Vodka out there too. That's the official vodka of the WWE right there at their Bell Road in Glendale from 9 till 11. So he's already out there. Got an hour and 20 minutes to hang out with Fitz. Bailey's going to be signing the bottles of Wheatley American Vodka and taking pictures with you guys while Fitz stands nearby awkwardly comments on the situation and then hands out Bad omens and Motley Crue tickets, along with bandanas, T shirts, and a whole bunch more. Am I wrong?

[C]

Nope.

[D]

I nailed that, right?

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

67Th Avenue and Bell. That is where our friend Fitz is. I nailed it. You know what, babe? You know what this is like. And you're like, oh, here we go. Some odd comparisons coming here. And he's gonna be right. He'll get you thinking, that guy. So head on over there this morning. Fries Glendale. That's on 67th Avenue in Bell. That's not so far. And then I got another one. Josh Libby, our deaf listener. You heard me. He didn't. What? Yeah, Brady's our deaf performer. He's our deaf listener. He said, I read the transcript from Wednesday's podcast. Thank you for mentioning me on the air. Absolutely huge for someone who's been listening for 20 years. Too bad I couldn't hear it. Ha ha, ha. Signed, Josh, the deaf listener. We have a transcript. Who's doing that? I don't know.

[C]

I've been doing it for years.

[D]

Oh, my God. And he could still read it.

[C]

It's amazing.

[D]

Yeah. You've been doing the first show for years. I've seen you type.

[A]

His app does it.

[D]

Oh, he has it. Oh, okay. What's it do when I say phage? It's not a word, but it's going to spell something horrible for him. Am I wrong?

[C]

Maybe fajo.

[D]

Fajo. Yeah. Faso. T? U. It's going to screw up the whole thing. And he. He reads. I wouldn't read this show. You couldn't pay me enough money to read this show. It doesn't make sense. Does it say in bad Indian accent in parentheses every once in a while or. Hello, my friend. Yeah. Brett giggled racistly. Is that. Does it describe.

[C]

It has to take the emotion out.

[D]

It's got to take all of it out. When Brady's like, the guy in India did a thing and then a thing, and. And then I'm just like, oh, my friend. No, no, no, no. That's just going to read poorly. Unless somebody's, like, in Indian accent. Racist, Racist. Stereotypical Chinese accent. It would just constantly remind you we're bad with all the subtext. You can't read hateful tones that Brett has and everything he says with a grin on his face. Come on, come on. No hate. No hate there is true. You're not a hater. Skepticism. Anyway, thanks, Josh Libby. Thank you, Josh. There, I got it out of the way for everybody. What? What? It's time now for the entertainment drill. It's brought to you by our friends@react defense.com the home of tactical black self defense training. $89 for a month of training. They're keeping that special alive for a little while longer. Some gift certificates available. That was just for the first few people, but it went well enough. They're going to keep doing it for you guys because they care. 25 years is what they're celebrating in 2026. So they want to give back a little bit to you guys. Pretty awesome stuff. So if you want to get involved, you still can.89 for one month and you can get that as a gift for someone else or for yourself or whatever. And start learning how to be a better you while you get in great shape doing it. It's a good thing. ReactDefense.com is where you go. The price cannot be beat. Start being a sheepdog. Stop being a sheep. It's the home of Tactical Black Brady. Entertain me.

[C]

Dame Judi Dench is opening up about her worsening eye condition. She's got that macular degeneration.

[D]

My mom's got that.

[C]

And now she's pretty much blind.

[D]

My mom's got like a hole in her vision and one eye. And she got the dry one, so you can't fix it. The wet one you can take medicine. The dry one, you can't.

[C]

Her Fellow actor Ian McKellen stopped in to say hi to her. It's like, I can't. I can only see an outline. You sound very well.

[D]

Well, I feel great.

[A]

None shall pass.

[C]

But she can't recognize anybody. Can't even watch tv. I can't even read, she says. On the latest episode of the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian is shown with her doctor who expresses concern about her recent brain scans. He said he sees a series of holes in her scans which indicate low brain activity.

[D]

And there's a black guy in every one of them.

[C]

Basically.

[D]

Her frontal lobe is less now that you could read. That was a good one. You don't need voices for it. You're welcome, Josh.

[C]

Apparently, it's not the end of the world. He did say that these holes impact her ability to handle stress.

[D]

She's been. Her holes have been a problem for her for a while.

[C]

Yeah. Dealing with Kanye. Dealing with.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Effort to become a lawyer. Ray J. Her business ventures.

[D]

Yeah. But let's be honest. If it weren't for her hole, she wouldn't even be famous.

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

And her surgeons.

[D]

Exactly. Loosening those holes has been our whole life project.

[C]

I mentioned earlier this morning. But Mariah Carey rakes in 2.5 million in royalties every year from All I want from Christmas.

[D]

Yeah, Rob Wood makes a point, says John. When you read your impersonations, they're perfect. Do you think your deaf listener ever sits back as ah, it's a good Morgan Freeman while he's reading it? That's a good question. All like, why even bother? You shouldn't listen to the impression show the Guadalupe squares. Makes no sense even when you can hear. Can you imagine trying to read it?

[A]

That's true.

[D]

I'd skip that part.

[C]

That song was co written by a Russian Brazilian music producer named Walter Effin.

[D]

Cf no.

[C]

Nailed it. He did a lot of work with Mariah in the 90s. His net worth is over. Worth over 100 million just from that song.

[D]

And he spends it in both Russia and Brazil.

[C]

In a little celebrity auction this last week. And there's a couple of rock memorabilia stuff. The safe that Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson's sex tape was kept in.

[D]

Tape safe? They're selling that?

[C]

They sold it.

[D]

Come on.

[C]

Guess what it went for 20 grand. $102,560.

[D]

Okay. That was good. 20. 20 was good.

[C]

Just because.

[D]

I just thought somebody dumb would do it.

[C]

They were expecting 4 to 6,000.

[D]

That's. You can buy a safe for that.

[A]

Throw the trash if you got Tommy Lee's money. What are you doing? What the hell's wrong with you?

[D]

Is it to benefit something?

[C]

Yeah, proceeds. Music cares.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Benefits.

[D]

So just getting rid of some stuff that. Okay, that's a little different.

[C]

But Kirk Hammett donated a couple of guitars. They went for 192,000. His 1960 Les Paul. He had a couple other guitars. 75,000. 160,000 for the Gibson SCS. That's.

[D]

That's getting something there.

[C]

You're getting some adam Clayton from U2. He had a couple of guitars he sold too. But Tommy Lee. 2500 bucks.

[D]

Is Adam Clayton the drummer? I see the other guitar. The bass player.

[C]

That's right.

[D]

Who's the drummer?

[C]

Forgot the edge is the guitar player. And then. Huh.

[D]

I don't know who the other. Who the drummer is. Big, tall, dopey guy.

[A]

I thought it was that. He's a bassist. Larry Mullins.

[D]

Larry Mullins, that's right. Damn it. The two you forget about. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Guy says John, your deaf listener. Imagine coming to this show for your pretty faces because that's why he's there. I call him Josh Keller now because the only thing he isn't is blind. Because he's for sure dumb too. Well, don't cancel that transcription. You're not dumb, Josh. That was from a listener named Key Custer. Find him and curse him out.

[C]

Smackdown.

[D]

How does it transcribe that?

[C]

Josh is laughing right now.

[D]

I want to read our show. What a drag. Except the thing about the black guys in the holes, that was pretty good. We could read that. That translates. Geez Louise. All right, that's enough of us. Oh, I wanted. Somebody emailed me and said, did you ever. For World AIDS Day, Tamara said that she was listening to a song called she Thinks His Name Was John by Reba McIntyre. And she didn't realize it until today when we said it was World AIDS Day, that this is a song about Reba singing about some lady dying of AIDS and trying to figure out who it was. Have you ever heard this?

[C]

No.

[D]

So in World AIDS Day, just coincidentally, Tamara could. She stole the Brian Adams song. Another thief.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

It'S the same song.

[A]

Your ex made some money with these.

[D]

She can account for all of the men in her past, where they are now, who they married, how many kids they. You can't write a love song about a woman who did this to herself. Yeah. Am I supposed to be touched?

[C]

Did they do it all for love?

[D]

It sounds like they're about to. It's the same song. She's trying to. She's trying to blame a guy for giving her aids. How many dumb people have played this at a wedding when they married someone named John?

[C]

There's one. There's just one. Yeah.

[D]

I wonder. This is my new theme song. I may or may not have given Reba McIntyre's friend AIDS. That translates. You could read that. God, I'm glad I don't listen to country music. Think of the things they sing about. Jesus. They're trying to make me feel sorry for her. The whole song starts with, she was a pretty big caps on her back.

[C]

I mean, how it's just.

[D]

Wow. All right. Yeah. That's played at weddings because some. His name is John and he's the one. He's the one.

[A]

I'll let you know if I have to play it.

[D]

I haven't even. Do it. I will try. If you get a groom named John, just say, hey, there's a great song about marrying somebody like John being the one. I'm going to play this at your wedding and see if anybody goes. The song's about a woman dying of aids. Yeah. What's the difference between that and marriage? They're both terminal anyway. Well, thanks, Tamara. Happy World AIDS Day, everyone. That's not a suggestion. Go out and grab it it's not on sale or it's not like Cyber AIDS day. I guess it's world a avoid AIDS day. That would be the one to remind you to not get it. Crucial parental advice. Don't get it like that lady did in Reba's song. We're all done, right? Larry's coming up next. Fitz is still out there at that fries. He'll tell you more about that and everything else Larry's got for you. Be nice to him. He'll be kind back. I promise. We're done. We'll catch you guys tomorrow. Right here in the Morning Sickness, Arizona's most powerful powerful rock radio station. It's John Holmer here from the Morning Sickness. And it's time to talk about TVs Doug Hopkins of my home group and Doug hopkins.com boy, that team at Doug Hopkins office is amazing. Not only will Doug Hopkins buy your home for cash as is and get that deal done lickety split, his team is unbelievable. So if you've got a place that needs a ton of work, Doug will help you out by making that cash offer as is. Or he'll list your place if it's already perfect. All you have to do is start the process online@doug hopkins.com or grab the phone and sing. Hey, it's Larry McFalion.

[E]

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