Holmberg's Morning Sickness - 12.15.25 (Full Show) | 98KUPD | Arizona

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This episode opens with a stunned, irreverent, and sometimes dark-humored reaction to the shocking news of the violent deaths of famed director Rob Reiner and his wife. The show also dives deep into recent station layoffs, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the radio business, and features a wild recap of their annual comedy event with comic Frank Caliendo—who joins the studio for improvisational fun and some honest talk on show business. The blend of current events, radio shop talk, and candid banter offers listeners both catharsis and comedy after a jarring Hollywood tragedy and workplace shakeup.

Show Outline & Key Segments

1. The Rob Reiner Tragedy & Celebrity Deaths (02:24–07:31, 93:37–98:17)

• Rob Reiner’s Death: News breaks that legendary director Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead in their home, throats slit, possibly by their son in a family dispute.

  • “They found him dead with his wife in his house yesterday afternoon... stabbed to death or cut there... they're speculating that it's his son. Okay. Which is so weird.” – John (03:17)
  • The crew lists Reiner’s films ("A Few Good Men", "Stand By Me", etc.), reflects on how “weird” this celebrity death feels, and jokes morbidly about the “Stand By Me” dead body theme now branching into real life.

• Cultural Impact: Holmberg and team note how Reiner never seemed like the type for public scandal, marveling at the lack of warning signs:

  • “He was never like an upset guy. He was always the goofy... I don’t know why that one kind of shocked me, but it did.” – John (03:56)

• Dark humor surfaces: “I think they killed Rob Reiner, I think that’s exactly what happened—too soon.” (09:44)

• Later, Frank Caliendo weighs in as the news keeps developing, marveling: “That’s the weirdest. Oh, no.” (93:52)

• Notable Quote: “We haven't had a Hollywood 'oh my god' for a while.” – John (97:08)

• Discussion of the oddity of celebrities like Billy Crystal and Larry David being let in at the Reiner crime scene and how only in Hollywood would that happen (128:56-136:34).

2. Radio Station Layoffs & Radio Industry Insights (14:24–26:42, 16:06-25:49)

• Mass Layoffs: John addresses audience emails about two longtime staffers, Fitz and Paul Sura, being let go for "money reasons," offering a candid inside look at how radio companies handle firings.

  • “Was it performance based? I don’t know what they thought of Fitz. ...This was just kind of a thing where it’s like, you need to start finding ways to get this down to a certain number.” – (14:40)
  • Discussion on the tradition of not letting fired radio personalities do a “final show” live—raising the spectre of jocks locking themselves in the studio to rant on air.
  • “The last thing you want to do is give a dude who’s got 20 years on... one last ride. Because usually... he'll seal himself in that room. And it is soundproof, giant steel doors, usually.” – John (15:20)

• Radio Firing Stories: The team shares favorite stories of radio firings, over-the-top employee reactions, bizarre co-workers, and anecdotes about the industry’s constant churn.

  • “Radio is an ugly bitch, and it's usually run by people who don't know what they're doing.” – John (21:43)
  • “It’s a business where everybody ascends through failure. If you get fired, you get a better job. It's the craziest thing.” – John (21:53)

• Camaraderie & Cynicism: Despite joking, Holmberg insists on caring about those who’ve left (“Do I love Fitz? Do I miss him? Yes, absolutely.” – John, 25:50) and decries the impersonality of the “it’s business, not personal” axiom.

  • “It is part of this cruddy business... He did an awesome job for a long, long time.” – John (25:53)
  • Endearing tip: “If you see [Fitz] around, buy him a drink, because he's on fixed income now, at least for a while.” – John (32:30)

• Staff humor: Speculation on what would happen if they got fired: “0% chance if they [fire] me, that they’d lock a door on the outside.” – John (26:53)

3. Wild Weekend Recap & Comic Tales (07:31–14:23, 31:31-41:47, 64:31-70:51)

• Happy Endings Show Recap: John recaps their annual Stand Up Live event with Frank Caliendo, Jon Lovitz, and Kato Kaelin. He shares behind-the-scenes near-death experiences and notes the stress/relief of big live shows.

  • Notable Moment: John’s recount of his friend Jordan’s near-accident dodging a careening, wheel-less truck: “...Disgraced Dr. Jordan made two of the greatest driving moves I’ve ever seen in my life.” (10:46)

• Lovitz & Kato Kaelin Lunch with Dog Vomit: A surreal lunch story where Lovitz’s dog throws up on Kaelin—twice. Both their reactions are highlighted with humor at how showbiz personalities can be both indifferent and endearing.

  • “Lovitz is feeding Jerry [the dog] over Cato... the dog throws up on Cato Kaelin right there at the restaurant... Then Jerry the dog does it again. ...He got me again.” – John (13:10-13:57)

• Legendary Radio Firing Tales: Long, hilarious segment recapping a parade of radio loons and lunatics: handsy salesguys who get canned on day one, staff who drink bottles of mouthwash, violent producers, forgotten cars, on-air melt-downs, and more.

  • “He threw a chair at one of the sales ladies, and they got everybody out... Like there was an active shooter.” – John (39:46)
  • The demolition of a staffer’s long-abandoned car becomes a shared office catharsis: “It was like the printer in Office Space.” – John (41:24)

4. Guest Segment: Frank Caliendo (46:33–70:51 and scattered through show)

• Frank’s Radio/TV Career & Getting Fired: The comic discusses being ‘not renewed’ at Fox, frustrations with TV execs’ creative inflexibility and how broadcasters rise “by failing upwards.”

  • “The Dr. Phil was the easy one to go to at Fox because you could just do jokes.” – Frank (51:40)
  • “Every time I try to come up with something new... they’d want to go, no, let’s just do Andy Rooney again.” – Frank (49:15)

• Comedy Event Recap: The group recounts risqué and wild moments from their live Stand Up Live show, including sex jokes, crowd discomfort, and exposing Lovitz as an unwilling but riveted observer of NSFW video clips.

  • “I can’t take looking at that stuff directly...” – Frank (61:35)
  • “Lovitz is in the green room watching on the video... ‘Who watches this stuff? Who enjoys this?’ ‘You’re looking at it.’ ” – John & Frank (62:56-63:18)

• Caliendo & Holmberg’s Friendship: Banter, voices, story-telling round-trips, and riffing on everything—from comic performance ethics, crowd dynamics, to the bizarreness of New Year’s Eve comedy crowds.

  • “You can get away with two shows on New Year’s Eve... [the late show] is never good.” – Frank (82:18)
  • “Make it a tournament. It is... only one day and there's no competition.” – John (93:05)

5. Sports & Life Talk: Cardinals and Ownership Woes (72:03–76:16)

• Frank and the crew dissect the Cardinals’ perennial futility and the pitfalls of multi-generational family team ownership.
  • “You get dumber. The more you hand it down to family members.” – John (74:53)
  • Riffing on the need for relegation-style forced owner sales: “If your team doesn’t make the playoffs in five years, the owner is forced to sell.” – John (74:09)
  • Celebrity impressions abound with Frank morphing into Jerry Jones, Bidwill, and discussing owner egos (“Nobody ever tells them no.”).

6. Listener Q&A, Odd News, and Show Closer (143:55–164:51)

• ‘What Would Brady Do?’: Humorous agony-aunt responses from Brady to wild listener scenarios: should a newly-divorced woman date a woman (“Wounds heal. In the meantime, lick everything. Test it out.” – John, 145:52), and a father whose son is failing out of high school (“You gotta put a little respect fear on top of a kid that’s loose.” – John, 154:17)

  • Producer Toledo (Richard) is exposed as the letter-writer, seeking career advice for his own underperforming teen.

• More Office Firings & Career Advice: The team riffs on balancing job reliability versus being the “doormat” when over-relied on due to not having kids, echoing back to the earlier station layoff segment.

• Notable Quotes:

  • "The best day I was ever was the birth of my kids. Mine is every day because it's the not birth of any kids." – John (161:20)
  • “Availability is the best ability.” – John (163:26)

7. Entertainment Drill & Cultural Snippets (169:32–172:20)

• Home Alone Fun Facts: Movie trivia, casting stories, Pesci biting Macaulay Culkin, and more.
• Trump’s Tasteless Tweet: Real-time reaction to former President Trump’s offensive tweet about Rob Reiner’s death, drawing a hard line between political rivalry and basic decency.
  • “That is the worst tweet I've read from anybody, maybe ever.” – John (171:51)

Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | Context | |-----------|-------|---------|---------| | 03:17 | “They found him dead with his wife... and they're speculating that it's his son. Okay. Which is so weird.” | John Holmberg | Breaking news, Reiner tragedy | | 13:10 | “Lovitz is feeding Jerry [the dog] over Cato... the dog throws up on Cato Kaelin right there at the restaurant.” | John Holmberg | Surreal story about lunch with Jon Lovitz and Kato Kaelin | | 21:53 | “It’s a business where everybody ascends through failure. If you get fired, you get a better job.” | John Holmberg | On radio's strange career ladder | | 46:40 | “Have you ever been fired from anything?” “Yes. Fox.” | John Holmberg & Frank Caliendo | Launching into Caliendo’s career stories | | 61:04 | “People liked my vaginal mesh... it killed everything. It was... great.” | Frank Caliendo | Stand-up show recap, crowd reaction to risqué material | | 97:08 | “We haven't had a Hollywood 'oh my god' for a while.” | John Holmberg | On the shock of the Reiner news | | 145:52 | “In the meantime, lick everything. Test it out.” | John Holmberg | Advice to a recently divorced woman considering dating women |

Episode Highlights by Timestamp

• Opening & Reiner Breaking News: 02:24–07:31
• Radio Industry Layoffs & Stories: 14:24–32:30
• Friday Night Stand-Up Show Recap: 07:31–14:23, 31:31–41:47
• Frank Caliendo Joins, Showbiz Talk: 46:33–70:51
• Sports Talk: Cardinals Ownership: 72:03–76:16
• Listener Advice & Corporate Dilemmas: 143:55–164:51
• Hollywood Handling of Crime Scene: 128:56–136:34
• Trump’s Reiner Tweet Reaction: 170:01–171:51

Tone and Style

• The show is sharply irreverent, candid, and profane—quick to use gallows humor to address even grim subjects.
• Camaraderie and sardonic edge run throughout; the team pokes fun at themselves, their industry, and the world at large, pulling few punches.
• Guest interactions are spontaneous and vivid, particularly Frank Caliendo, who bounces between honest career commentary and wild impression-filled riffs.

Final Summary

This episode of Holmberg's Morning Sickness is a whirlwind of real-time reactions to major news (Rob Reiner's shocking murder), brutally honest radio industry talk amid station layoffs, and wild, comedic storytelling. The team leans hard on dark humor and inside baseball, bringing in Frank Caliendo for added improv zest. While there is laughter and catharsis, the underlying note is one of resilience—the show, and everyone in it, persists through tragedy and corporate shakeup with jokes, perspective, and the knowledge that in life, and in this business, nothing is forever.