Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: Holmberg’s Morning Sickness – 12-24-25

Episode Theme:
Listener Pushback & The 'Rah Rah Room': Loyalty, Fame, and the 'Common Man'

This episode’s main focus is an email accusation from a listener named Brian, who calls out host John Holmberg for “flaming out” on everyday listeners after spending more time among elites in the so-called “Rah Rah Room”—an exclusive, high-status social environment. Holmberg and his co-hosts dig into the topics of authenticity, fame, social aspiration, and the expectations audiences have of their favorite radio personalities, all filtered through Holmberg’s trademark irreverence and humor.

1. Listener Email: “Flaming Out, Bro”

[02:00]

The episode kicks off with an email from listener Brian who accuses John of acting like Howard Stern in his later years: favoring celebrity and abandoning “the common man.”
Brian’s subject line: “Flaming out, bro.”

Notable Quote

“It’s starting to sound like the demise of Howard Stern when he started hanging out with all his celebrity friends and abandoned the common man. Flamin’ out, bro.”
—Brian (Listener Email)
[02:10]

2. Holmberg’s Response: Ambition & Authenticity

Holmberg Embraces the Elite

[02:15 – 05:45]

Holmberg makes clear he’s always aspired to “the Rah Rah Room,” unlike Stern who claimed he’d resist celebrity.
He pokes fun at the idea of loyalty to "commoners" over the affluent and famous.
Openly jokes about preferring Jennifer Aniston and “Matt Ishbia” (mispronounced) to co-hosts or longtime friends.

Notable Quote

“If I can hang out with Matt Ishbia and not Brady, I’m doing it. Let me tell you.”
—John Holmberg
[02:24]

He mocks the expectation that one should choose "the common man" over a glamorous experience.
Uses the analogy of “boning Margot Robbie and then going back to your fat wife. Like, ah, nuts. There’s a better life out there and I’m not part of it.”
Admits feeling out of place among the genuinely rich and famous, but values the experience.

Notable Moment

“Whoever has the goal of medium people—I don’t want to meet ‘Too Nice a Guy.’ A common man WILL do? No, thank you… Spent a lot of time with the common man—it’s not that great.”
—John Holmberg
[03:10]

3. Howard Stern & Celebrity Parallels

[05:50 – 08:40]

The team discusses Stern’s transformation post-SiriusXM payday and his eventual embrace of the A-list.
Holmberg acknowledges Stern’s hypocrisy—making fun of celebrities, then joining them—while defending that career move.
Common theme: it’s natural to want to level up socially, especially if you suddenly come into money or status.
Brady and others agree that “nobody’s goal is to be just the average common man.”

Notable Quote

“You gotta start hanging around people of your own ilk. The last thing I want to do is go to Applebee’s with the common man. I could be in the Rah Rah Room and avoid him completely.”
—John Holmberg
[07:12]

4. The ‘Rah Rah Room’ Dynamic

[08:45 – 17:00]

Holmberg details the experience of feeling like an outsider in elite circles (“I felt Toledo-ish the whole time…”).
Jokes about contests letting ‘commoners’ join him in the Rah Rah Room, likening it to a “dart thrown in Walmart”—total luck of the draw, potentially disastrous.
The show riffs on the concept of doing a “Tap That App” contest: bring a random ‘dreg’ listener into the elite fold for a day.
Imagines the awkwardness and inherent risk in pairing with someone outside “the club.”

Notable Quotes

“Somebody suggested we do a Tap That App and the winner gets to go into the Rah Rah Room with me. You don’t want to do that… That’s a crapshoot. Like saying, hey, throw a dart in Walmart—whoever it lands on lives with you for your birthday.”
—John Holmberg
[11:30]

“The commoner Holmberg treats a commoner! Let’s just call it—the worst possible thing. Good luck.”
—John Holmberg
[12:30]

Continues the bit with mock rules for contestants (“Don’t look Mr. Holmberg in the eye… just behave…”).
The hosts embrace irony, suggesting that while the idea is absurd, it’s “hilarious actually.”

5. The Social Satire & the “Common Man”

[14:30 – 17:00]

Satirical take on artists/celebs who claim “common man” status but operate at a different economic level (references Bruce Springsteen, ticket prices, and private jets).
The hosts laugh about how disconnected even the most “relatable” celebrities are from most people.

Notable Quote

“Springsteen’s always tried to be the common man—with his ‘flying my private jet to your house, but not letting you in it.’ By the way, I’m the common man, and I’m for you! That’s why tickets to my show are $480 minimum.”
—John Holmberg
[10:30]

6. Closing Bits & Takeaways

[16:50 – 17:50]

Holmberg circles back to listener Brian, acknowledging the criticism with tongue firmly in cheek:

“I am talking about a very unique situation. Why not? Pretty awesome.”

The team riffs on internal gags (“What would Red Robin do?”), clearly comfortable lampooning themselves and their own privilege.

7. Memorable Quotes & Running Gags

“I spent a lot of time with the common man. It’s not that great. Leave it up, bro.” —John Holmberg [03:08]
“Last thing I want to do is go to Applebee’s with the common man. I could be in the Rah Rah Room and avoid him completely.” —John Holmberg [07:13]
“I got it. I’m invisible. But, yeah, Stern did start talking. Just the fact that you’re a member and you’re walking in there and you’re treated … because stabbings is no … He’s classy looking. I’m not. I walk in there, they just say, ‘Hey, sir, can I get another drink?’.” —John Holmberg [13:40]

8. Takeaway

The hosts, led by John Holmberg, revel in the ironies of celebrity culture, social aspiration, and radio fandom. Far from apologizing for “flaming out,” Holmberg doubles down on the allure of elite company, pokes fun at listener expectations, and keeps a tongue-in-cheek attitude about who really fits in and who stays left out. Satirical, self-aware, and never far from a biting joke, Holmberg’s Morning Sickness once again tackles the divide between the everyday listener and “the Rah Rah Room”—with plenty of laughs (and mock insults) along the way.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
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For more info go to givetotheclock.com Sanders and Ford making an ABC15 the best of the morning sickness is on the air. 98 KUPD. Do any of you people do any actual work? The Best of H's Morning Sickness this segment brought to you guys by Mo Money Pond, 12th street and Indian School. Now, whatever you are looking for, it doesn't matter if it's electronics, jewelry, tools, pretty much. You name it, they got it there. All right, check them out online@momoneypond.com or like I said, just go to the store and check them out. 12th street in Indian School, it's Mo Money Pond. Then I got this one and the subject line is flaming out, bro. Flaming out, bro. There's a Listen to your rant this morning about the Rah Rah room. Starting to sound like the demise of Howard Stern when he started hanging out with all of his celebrity friends and abandoned a common man. Flamin out, bro. Brian. Yeah, the difference is I always said that's what I wanted. Howard acted like he didn't want that. That's awesome. If I can hang out with Matt Ishbia and not Brady, I'm doing it. Let me tell you. You'll learn, bro. Brady, let me tell you something like you're the common man right there in the name. I'm bored. I want an uncommon man. Why in the world would I if I could hang out with Jennifer Aniston or Brett, who do you think I'm going on vacation with? I'm not an idiot. Is that right, Red Robin? Am I right? Yum I mean, if I've got a look, if I've got a. In other words, if. If Baba bastard and I are hanging out together. Matt Ishbia says, come here, but don't bring that guy. You think I'm gonna be loyal to Toledo? That's insanity. Of course not. Me and Kimmel and Aniston, we're going on the beach. We're gonna have vacations. I go with Brady. I gotta stay at a Days Inn and share a room. That sounds horrible. Yum. Thank you, Red Robin. You think I would breathe on my trips? I'm not doing that. Not taking you the rah rah route. It's a high class group of people. Brett, I don't want you in there. You can muck it up for me. I've been working really hard. In other words, no Toledo comes in. Boba Bastian comes in. He starts saying, hey, maybe I can get in there and get a father figure. That's the last thing I need is him walking table to table. Of course I want high class friends. That's what we're after. Whoever has the goal of medium people, I don't want to meet too nice a guy. A common man will do. No, thank you. I spent a lot of time with the common man. It's not that great. Leave it up, bro. It's like when Stern started hanging out with all those celebrities. Why wouldn't he? If you were Howard Stern? That's one thing he gets a knock for all the time. That I don't blame him for. Now he did set himself up by saying, I'll never be part of that. He was always making fun of the Hollywood thing and all the stars were too self important. And then. But then you have to remember Howard Stern got like $250 million in a day when he sold his stock at XM. You don't want to hang out with a common man with that kind of cash. Because then the common man always wants you to pay for everything. It's tough. You gotta start hanging around people of your own ilk. Then start hanging around with what? Old Jer. Great. Last thing I want to do is go to Applebee's with the common man. I could be in the raw by room and avoid him completely. I see the common man. He's at Walmart. I try not to go. Have it all delivered. Flame it out, bro. You don't want to hang out with us. No, you're right. And when did I ever make that unclear? Hanging out with. I don't like hanging out with Anybody? Tripp can go. I like Trip. He sometimes foots the bill. That awkward, weird, common man stare you get when the bill shows up. He doesn't even reach. Am I wrong? Red Robin? No, thank you. Yeah, she gets it. Red Robin gets it. Brittlejuice sort of gets it, but I'm not sure I ever get through to you. Baba Bastard's nowhere to be found. And that makes sense. I mean, we're flaming out, but that good. If I'm flaming out and you're not there, that's great. Me and Ashbeard can flame out together on an island. Hba. Sorry, I forgot his name. My God, I met Matt Ashby. It's not even the same. I'm an idiot. You can compare me to Stern all you want. The dude's got hundreds of millions of dollars. I'll take it. You're flaming out, bro. If you go to the Rah Rah room for five seconds and tell me you want to hang out with the riff raff you're normally with, you're insane. Like the last thing you want to do, it's like boning Margot Robbie and then going back to your fat wife like, ah, nuts. There's a better life out there and I'm not part of it. Yeah. Jon Rahm, Matt Ishbia, Kevin Rayer and I are standing like, this is a room of beautiful people. I do not belong here. Doing it like a sore thumb. But then they know if you're in there, there's something you're not. A commoner. That's why they call you guys a commoner. It's horrible. What an insult. If I wanted to talk to you, I'd tell you you should yell at them. But then I'd have to spend time with you at Gar. Of course. No one wants to be. Nobody's goal is to be just the average common man. Is it? Stern made the mistake of saying he hated the idea of being a celebrity. Hated the idea of doing all that stuff. I get emails like that a lot, talking about that stuff. You know we can't relate to it. Exactly. I'm introducing you to a world you'll never know. Me and Jennifer Aniston were out the other night just talking. Just because you'll call every once in a while. People hate that. Only can think of that wants that goal of Springsteen. He's always. Springsteen's always tried to be the common man with his flying my private jet to your house, not let you in it. By the way, I'm a common man and I'm for you. That's why tickets to my show are $480 minimum. That's when you know, 2, 3, $400 a T. Do these guys not realize that for $20, you get in, but you also have to buy two drinks? There's a minimum. This is gonna set these people back months. He's not wrong. If you had to save up 20 bucks to go to the show, I am the first one to tell you, do not go to this show. Buckle down. Talk to go to Dave Ramsey's next show. Rice and beans. And when Dave Ramsey comes in and does Ramsay after Dark. Save up for that. I'm gonna do Stern all morning. Screw it. But then you're gonna have $160 worth of Ramsey stuff. I'm just tuning in late. Did I hear there's a show called Homburg with the darks? No. Stop it. Oh, my God. This is. I want to hear Stern talk crap about Pratt. Well, this isn't a. You're not writing the show. Damn. I like your Stern. Now talk. Now do this. It's like a dominatrix. Now do this. I don't even know Dave Pratt. Because you know why? He's a commoner. He's less than. I'm not getting in the muck with him. Yuck. Am I wrong? Red Robin? Yum. Thank you. Where is Baba Bastard? Is he not putting anything? What did he do? Did he leave Brattle juice? Find Bubba bastard and get him in here so I can tell him he can't be in the rah rah room to his face. I like that stuff because I always. I think about that a lot. I go into the rah rah room and all that stuff that was going on, I used to years ago go, I can't talk about this. People will think I'm. But now I'm like, I don't. This is awesome. People need to know about this. This is incredibly cool. And I know what it's like to be Toledo. Cause I was in there. I was the least important person in the room. I felt Toledo ish the whole time when I was in there. I got it. I'm invisible. But, yeah, Stern did start talking. Just the fact that you're the member and you're walking in there and you're treated. Because stabbings is no. Oh, you're the guest of. He's classy looking. I'm not. I walk in there, they just say, hey, sir, can I get another drink? I'm like, I don't work here. What do you mean? You don't work here, get me? Of course you do. I don't. I'm actually a member. He's my guest. The good looking, rich looking one. You've seen him. Red Robin. He looks good. Yum. Yeah. Imagine Brett, me walking into a hoity toity place like that with Red Robin under my arm and people will kick us out just on sight. You can't bring these people in. They're this drooling moron. There's people trying to eat, complaining about the prices on the menu. Come on. Somebody suggested I have a contest. We do a tap that app and the winner gets to go into the rah rah room with me. You don't want to do that. Of course I don't want to do that. That's a crapshoot. That's like saying, hey, throw a dart in Walmart. Whoever it lands on lives with your birthday. That'd be horrifying. Can you imagine that? I mean, you could get lucky, but you could also get real unlucky. I get David Vasquez showing up at the house and the next thing you know, I'm on the news. I didn't say any of those words. He did. All right, it's time to play dart into the Walmart. The lucky catch of this gets to stay at my house for a day. Cause I'm an idiot. That's not a bad idea, to be honest with you. The commoner Holmberg treats a commoner. Let's just call it. Let's make it the worst possible thing. Good luck. Holmberg takes a lesser to the rah rah route. You tap that, I'm gonna talk. Don't stare Mr. Holmberg in the eye. Don't talk to him. Now look, you need to behave. John will take you to a game. That's not a bad idea. I take an unfortunate to the rah rah. That's balls. Oh my God, is that ever balls? You should go to the zoo and just grab someone. It's like human trafficking, only they volunteered. Dregs can win. Dreg society unite. I'm gonna throw a dart out into the pig palace and pull one out. I'm gonna treat it like a human for a day. All right, listen up, dregs. It's another contest just for you. Hilarious, actually. Not bad now that I'm thinking about it. It's a lot better than that. That second show that we're not having. The demand is there. Can we do one for the R words? John Holmberg on the spectrum that I actually would be Thrilled to do that. Audience would. I'd be laughing so hard at that. Anyway, so I'm sorry to Brian, although I do know he was kind of elbowing me in the side there with the flaming out, bro. He said it twice. But it is sort of that. Look, I get it. The rah rah rah room's not for everybody. I am. I am talking about a very unique situation. Why not? Pretty awesome. Trip and I will go. I'll have trip talk about it. Yeah, that's fine. I was gonna take. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I can't stop. Ready? Now it's. Now it's stuck. We might as well just do the whole thing like this. Yeah. What would. What would Red Robin do? Is coming up in a yum. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Ain't trying to get to get a top off this time. Hey, Red Random, let's go to the rah rah room and you flash your beef to everybody and we'll see how fast everybody gets saves. Either excited or we get kicked out. In brattle juice. You have to drive the getaway car. And I mean fast. It's out of control now. Hey, it's John Holmberg from the morning sickness. When my beloved dog Dutchy started to slow down, I knew it my heart the time was going to come. That's when I reached out to Happy Endings in home pet euthanasia. Once Dr. Fixler got to my house, he explained every step, answered all the questions, and created a peaceful, loving atmosphere right there. We were able to hold Dutchy on her favorite blanket. Happy Endings made it as peaceful and dignified as the moment could be. If your furry companion is getting close to that time, whether it's a dog or a cat, and you want the comfort of home, the compassion of professionals, and the dignity your pet deserves, call Happy Endings. Visit online Happy endings youth in Asia.com because every pet's life should have a happy ending. It's John Holmberg here, and it's time to talk about TVs Doug Hopkins of my home group and doughns.com I got a from Doug the other day thanking me for leading so many of you guys his direction. He told me a story of a listener who had been through quite an ordeal and had a house they absolutely had to sell to feel like they were getting back to a normal place in life. You just never know when simple business transactions can actually change someone's life. So you want to deal with somebody great. TV's Doug Hopkins, that's your guy. So if you want to sell your house, start the process right now online at Doug hopkins.com or grab that phone and sing Hopkins 1-800-sale- now.