Podcast Summary: New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Episode: Heights Hotline | The Best Thanksgiving Side Dish, Dry Ass Turkey & Is Halloween the New Christmas?
Date: November 21, 2025

Episode Overview

This lively bonus episode of New Heights features Super Bowl champion brothers Jason and Travis Kelce debating hot holiday topics with their signature brotherly banter and humor. Through listener call-ins and their own memories, they take on polarizing holiday questions: Is Halloween better than Christmas? Why is turkey so universally dry? What’s the most overrated Thanksgiving dessert? And which side dish reigns supreme? Along the way, they share personal stories, irreverent food takes, and playful jabs at each other, all while keeping things candid, relatable, and entertaining.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Halloween vs. Christmas – Is Halloween the New Christmas?

[02:29–07:31]

• Listener Hot Take: Thaddeus from Kansas City calls in claiming, "Halloween is actually a better holiday than Christmas."

  • Jason immediately calls it a "hot take" and jokes, "You're an idiot."
    ([02:31], Jason)

• Jason’s Perspective:

  • Believes Christmas is unsurpassed in terms of overall joy, family togetherness, giving, and cultural significance.
  • “It moves the stock market. That’s how, like, influential it is.” ([04:52], Jason)
  • Suggests only people who’ve had "a shitty Christmas" would put Halloween above it.

• Travis Adds:

  • “There’s just nothing that gets people happy like Christmas does.” ([04:44], Travis)

• Candy Debate:

  • The brothers get sidetracked comparing Christmas and Halloween candies:
    • Jason prefers Christmas candies (ex: “Candy corn is—Yes, exactly. The candy that represents Halloween and the candy that represents Christmas is night and day better for Christmas.” [06:46], Jason)
    • Travis pushes back: “They don’t make a Christmas Reese’s.” ([06:57], Travis)
    • Jason responds: “Yes, they do. Reese’s Trees!” ([07:00], Jason)

• Brandon (Producer) Sides with Halloween:

  • “If I’m just gonna be honest, I’m kind of with Thaddeus on this one.” ([07:17], Brandon)
  • Jason chides him: “Apparently Brandon’s parents gave him a shitty Christmas as well.” ([07:21], Jason)

2. Thanksgiving Entrees – Is Turkey Overrated?

[12:02–13:58]

• Listener Hot Take: Thaddeus again claims, “Turkey is one of the worst dishes on Thanksgiving of all time.”

  • Jason agrees: “Hard agree.” ([12:10], Jason)

• Turkey Critique:

  • Jason: “It’s so dry and people who like it just so weird... It gets kind of muddled down for the most part the way most people make it—a dry-ass bird that you gotta slather gravy and cranberry sauce on to redeem anything.” ([12:15-12:50], Jason)
  • He notes they never had turkey growing up: “Mom would make pork chops or some other meat.”
  • Travis suggests, “You gotta fry it, or you gotta be in that thing nonstop injecting it... or you gotta spatchcock that sucker.” ([13:03], Travis | [13:09], Jason)

• Alternative Thanksgiving Meats:

  • Jason mentions wanting to try turducken.
  • Both agree the “dry turkey” stereotype is unfortunately true unless you deep-fry.

3. Pie, Dessert & Warm Fruit: Overrated Apple Pie?

[13:24–14:50]

• Jason’s Bold Take:

  • “Apple pie—it’s gotta be the most overrated dessert in the fucking history of top-shelf desserts.” ([13:43], Jason)
  • Prefers cake over pie and specifically dislikes warm fruit pies.

• Pie Preferences:

  • He appreciates unique pies if done well: “Steven cookies down the shore, they make a mean blueberry pie. It is fucking incredible.” ([13:58], Jason)
  • Key lime pie and cold pies are the exceptions for both.

• Fruit and Caramel:

  • Neither brother is big on caramel apples, particularly Jason due to his beard.
  • “For me, with a beard, to eat is just, like, sounds like the biggest disaster of all time.” ([15:41], Jason)

4. Thanksgiving Side Dishes – Sweet Potatoes, Carrots & the Best Side

[16:10–24:45]

• Sweet Potatoes Debate:

  • Caller: “Sweet potatoes have no place in a Thanksgiving menu... they’re just the least of the least.” ([16:11], Thaddeus)
  • Travis and Jason both disagree, praising both potatoes and sweet potatoes.
  • Jason: “You don’t need to have one or the other... If somebody made sweet potato fries, I’d be jazzed.” ([17:31], Jason)

• Carrots & Root Vegetables:

  • Caller proposes honey-glazed carrots as a replacement.
  • Travis likes honey-glazed carrots ("Some roasted honey carrots are good though, man." [18:01], Travis), Jason less so (“When they get roasted, they just get mushy. They get too mushy for me.” [18:09], Jason).

• Carrot Cake Love:

  • Unexpectedly, both go on a tangent celebrating carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.
  • Travis recommends carrot cupcakes in the city.

• Cranberry Sauce:

  • Jason: “Kylie only likes the canned cranberry sauce.” ([23:48], Jason)
  • Brandon: “I want to see the ridges. Brother, I want to see the ridges.” ([24:09], Brandon)
  • Jason: “I’m out on the ridges.” ([24:15], Jason)

• Best Thanksgiving Side Dish – Rapid Fire Picks:

  • [21:25] “What is the best Thanksgiving side dish? 1, 2, 3, go.”
    • Jason: “Green bean casserole.” ([21:25], Jason)
    • Travis: “Mac and cheese.” ([21:28], Travis)
    • Brandon seconds mac and cheese with an ode to the “day after, congealed version.”
  • Jason finds mac and cheese overrated: “I’ll go one step further: mac and cheese is the most overrated side item. Travis has always been a mac and cheese guy—I've never been a big mac.” ([22:17], Jason)

• How It's Made:

  • Jason describes Kylie’s green bean casserole: “It’s like this mushroom—oh my gosh, what’s it called?—a cream mushroom thing as the base... then it's got fried onions on top.” ([23:16], Jason)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Christmas vs. Halloween:

  • Jason: “Christmas has candy too! Candy canes.” ([06:36], Jason)
  • Travis: “What? You hate candy canes.” ([06:41], Travis)
  • Jason: “No, I love candy canes.”
    (A playful back-and-forth highlighting their sibling dynamic)

• On Turkey:

  • Jason: “The way most people make it—a dry-ass bird you gotta slather gravy and cranberry sauce on.” ([12:48], Jason)
  • Travis: “You gotta fry it, or you gotta be in that thing nonstop injecting it... or you gotta spatchcock that sucker.” ([13:03, 13:09], Travis & Jason)

• On Carrot Cake:

  • Travis: “Next time you're in the city, I got a place, dude—get these little carrot cupcakes. Make you feel like you’re not doing too much.”
    ([18:29], Travis)
  • Jason: “Damn, it’s good. It’s so good.” ([18:40], Jason)

• On Green Bean Casserole:

  • Jason: “Green bean casserole is like an exclusive thing to Thanksgiving.” ([21:48], Jason)
  • Travis (about trying it): “I tried it just because I was appreciative and thankful like my dad always taught me.” ([23:39], Travis)
  • Brandon: “This is the anti–Travis Kelsey dish.” ([23:43], Brandon)

• On Canned Cranberry Sauce:

  • Brandon: “I want to see the ridges. Let it be nasty.” ([24:15], Brandon)
  • Jason: “I’m out on the ridges.” ([24:15], Jason)

Key Timestamps

• 02:29 – Halloween vs. Christmas debate kicks off
• 06:46 – Holiday candy debate heats up
• 12:02 – Turkey on Thanksgiving gets taken down
• 13:43 – Jason trashes apple pie
• 16:10 – Sweet potatoes: hero or zero?
• 18:23 – Carrot cake tangent
• 21:25 – Best Thanksgiving side dish rapid fire
• 23:16 – Inside the famous green bean casserole
• 24:09 – The great cranberry sauce divide

Tone & Style

The episode is high-energy and irreverent, with deep brotherly teasing, strong opinions, and plenty of laughter. It moves fast, features passionate rants and playful debates, and delivers both NFL-family banter and universal holiday nostalgia. The brothers’ down-to-earth chemistry and willingness to poke fun at themselves make the discussions warm and highly relatable, especially for listeners prepping for family gatherings of their own.

In summary:
This episode is a post-practice, post-game drive home for the holidays—full of takes, tangents, and sibling heat. Whether you’re planning your Thanksgiving menu, plotting your next costume, or just avoiding dry turkey, the Kelce brothers offer the kind of loud, loving camaraderie that makes you wish you were at their table.