Episode Overview

Title: Strom Thurmond's White Out Game - 2010 - BO
Podcast: Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona
Hosts: John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, Bret Vesely, Dick Toledo
Air Date: December 31, 2025

This episode of Holmberg's Morning Sickness is a best-of segment featuring the irreverent, often provocative humor the show is known for. The main focus is a recurring bit featuring a Strom Thurmond impersonator, who hosts a particularly edgy "white out" game themed around a hockey event. The second half of the episode shifts to a lighter, comical conversation about baby carrots and common food misconceptions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Strom Thurmond "White Out" Game Segment

(Timestamps: 01:08–12:08)

• Introduction of the "Guest":
  • The hosts play up the arrival of Strom Thurmond—portrayed as a ghost and a throwback to old Southern stereotypes.
  • The bit is deliberately outrageous, poking fun at outdated, bigoted viewpoints by exaggerating them through parody.
• Strom's Character & Humor:
  • The impersonator revels in the "white out" hockey tradition (everyone in the crowd wears white), twisting it into awkward racial humor highlighting Thurmond's notorious history.
  • Running jokes about Thurmond's lingering views, extended tenure in the Senate, and his outdated attitudes.
• "White Out" Game Mechanics:
  • Strom plays a call-in game where listeners must guess white objects described via clues (“Kids pull this white thing. If you don’t tend it, it grows to the floor. Seen at malls around Thanksgiving.”).
• Humor from Misunderstandings & Callers' Responses:
  • The guests' inability to guess (“hair" as an answer doesn't satisfy Strom) is played for laughs using condescension and mock frustration.
  • Thurmond's overt discomfort with black callers and references to his own bigotry are exaggerated to the point of absurdity, intentionally lampooning racist attitudes.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Strom on "White Out":
  "All you Arizonan getting together, putting on your white and making the city lily white like I like it." (01:42)
• On Barack Obama:
  "I died just in time. I was against the civil rights movement and still won 20 elections." (02:59)
• To Black Caller Mike:
  "Even when it's all white? Like tonight? Whiteout." – Strom
  "That's why. Cause I'm black." – Mike
  "You're a black man... Are you ready to play the great Whiteout White power game, Mike? The black man." (04:29–05:00)
• Game Clue Sample:
  "Kids pull this white thing. It grows to the floor if you don't tend to it. Seen at malls around Thanksgiving." (05:45, repeated multiple times)
• Satirical Self-awareness:
  "I've never helped a black man do anything. I'm Strom Thurmond, dammit. I gotta keep my reputation." (06:32)
• Winning Answer:
  "Closet's parents" [likely referring to artificial beards for mall Santas] (09:32)
  • Answers like "polar bear" and "White Castle" finally break the string of incorrect responses, with Strom celebrating:
    "We have a winner in white power. It's not the name of the game. White Castle. That's what I call it. White power. Hold on, Dan." (10:34)
• Comic Hostility:
  Unnamed Female Host: "Why is he obsessed with penis?"
  Unnamed Male Host: "He's weird."
  Strom: "Excited white out, that’s why." (11:43–11:47)

2. Baby Carrots and Food Realizations

(Timestamps: 13:11–19:23)

• Host's Realization:
  • The main host confesses, with comedic self-deprecation, that he just learned baby carrots are artificially shaped, not a special carrot variety ("today years old" trope).
  • A string of jokes ensue about farming methods, mistaken beliefs about shredded carrots growing in the field, and the "Mandela effect."
• Co-hosts Weigh In:
  • Brady and Brett join in, admitting they too sorta believed baby carrots were grown, not manufactured.
  • The group jokes about searching for "baby carrot seeds," and the absurdity of imagining tiny-handed farmers.
• Discussion About Food Processing:
  • The conversation pokes fun at modern food processing, designer vegetables, and misconceptions in grocery produce.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Baby Carrots:
  "I thought they made baby carrots out of the ground. Like you pick little baby carrots. Like they actually..." (13:31)
• About Planting Baby Carrots:
  "I wanted to plant baby carrots at the house. I was like, I'm gonna..." (13:57)
• Joking about Carrot Farms:
  "I thought some little tiny handed, like, slave baby somewhere was pulling baby carrots out of the ground. Probably Asians, I'm guessing. Most likely a farm, a bunch of Asians with their tiny hands pulling little tiny carrots out of the earth." (16:12)
• Mandela Effect and Admitting Confusion:
  "In fact, in my brain, they call it the Mandela effect, Something that clearly has never happened—in my brain I think has." (17:52)
• Brett Joins In:
  "I'll own it. I'm the same way." (17:46)

Segment Timestamps

• 01:08 – 12:08
  Strom Thurmond "White Out" Game with listeners; satirical and edgy roleplay about race, politics, and sports
• 13:11 – 19:23
  The group riffs on baby carrots, food misconceptions, and admits confusion about supermarket produce

Episode Tone & Style

• Relentlessly irreverent and provocative, often engaging in parody and extreme satire to confront uncomfortable topics.
• Fast-paced banter; the hosts riff off each other and encourage the audience to laugh at their own (and others') ignorance.
• A blend of edgy comedy and everyday observational humor.

Summary Takeaway

This best-of episode features the show's characteristic brand of biting satire and off-kilter honesty. The “Strom Thurmond’s White Out” segment uses politically incorrect humor and exaggerated characters to lampoon historical racism and sports enthusiasm. The shift to carrot talk serves as a palate cleanser, revealing the hosts as relatable, bumbling everymen willing to laugh at their own mistakes. Whether playing with taboo or everyday topics, the hosts maintain a playful, provocative edge that defines Holmberg’s Morning Sickness.