Full Show PT 3: Monday, August 10 [Vault]

Summary

The Bert Show: Full Show PT 3 – Monday, August 10 [Vault]

Date: August 10, 2026
Main Theme:
Live from the Nokia Theater for American Idol Finale Week, The Bert Show blends upbeat banter, celebrity interviews, personal anecdotes, and plenty of laughs. This episode focuses on behind-the-scenes stories from American Idol, a playful and flirtatious interview with Casey James, reflections on Idol parties, a vintage dual interview with Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, and some comic relief as the crew teases plans for hiking the Grand Canyon.

---

1. Casey James Interview: Flirting, Nerves, and Idols

Timestamps: [01:01]–[07:09]

Setup:

• Wendy is very nervous to interview American Idol’s Casey James, playfully describing her “stalking” him at the buffet line to become “visual,” not “touchable.”
• The crew banters about how to keep cool and what questions to ask when Casey arrives.

Key Interview Highlights & Quotes:

• On Auditioning for Idol
  • Casey’s mom pushed him to audition, lending him her new truck:

    “She said, I'll let you borrow my truck. ... So I was like, you know what? I'll drive up there and do it.” — Casey James [03:35]

• Expectations on the Show
  • Didn’t expect to make it far:

    “I didn't think I'd make it past the stadium.” — Casey James [04:01]

  • Decided early on to be himself, win or lose:

    “I'm gonna do this and be myself 100%...” — Casey James [04:26]

• Toughest Idol Week
  • Frank Sinatra night was the hardest because he had to sing without a guitar:

    “Never in my life have I ever, like, sang without playing guitar... So that was definitely the toughest for me.” — Casey James [05:00]

• On Performing Without His Guitar
  • Not opposed to it, but wouldn’t do it just for show:

    “I always do what the music calls for…” — Casey James [05:26]

• Missing Texas
  • Homesickness for the Lone Star State:

    “There’s nothing that I don’t miss. I miss everything. I miss the air, I miss the people, I miss the accents. …I miss my dogs…” — Casey James [05:49]

• Tour Excitement
  • Feels the tour is the real beginning:

    “That is gonna be... the beginning of everything for me, you know, because you get to ... see the people that want to come see you in a live setting.” — Casey James [06:23]

• Relationship Status

  “Are you single?” – Wendy
  “Yes, I am very single.” – Casey James [06:48]

  • “We gotta grab a drink when you’re in Atlanta.” – Wendy
    “Yeah, let’s go... I don’t drink, but I’ll go.” – Casey James [06:54]

Notable & Fun Moments:

• Wendy pushes her luck:

  “We can make out later, but just go with me...” – Wendy [03:13]

• The group’s post-interview debrief humorously evaluates Wendy’s flirting and Casey’s shy responses, with Bert applauding her courage:

  “I applaud you, man. You went for it.” — Bert [08:37]

• Insight into Casey’s possible past DUI as a reason he doesn’t drink is later discussed on-air [10:00].

---

2. Behind-The-Scenes: American Idol, Parties, and Publicists

Timestamps: [13:35]–[19:52]

Backstage at American Idol

• The cast discusses the varying personalities of Idol contestants’ publicists, describing “bad cop” PR people versus gracious ones.

  “You need somebody to be the bad cop...” – Bert [14:11]

• Bert, Frankie, and Wendy recall the American Idol Fox party, sharing stories about past Idol contestants in attendance (Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, Jason Castro, David Archuleta, etc.)

  “David Archuleta came out and performed. Archie, he's so cute... just so bubbly and fun and innocent.” – Wendy [17:22]

• Discussion on Taylor Hicks’s absence from previous Idol finales and possible reasons (dissing Idol after winning).

The “Craigslist Nomad”

• They meet a 23-year-old Atlanta native who’s bouncing city-to-city, landing jobs via Craigslist and starting a travel website—“the time to do it.”

  “He's from Atlanta and he's doing this with his brother... They're just all about moving.” – Wendy [19:07]

---

3. Celebrity Encounters: Brendan Hines & Chumlord Challenge

Timestamps: [19:55]–[24:40]

• Jen fangirls over Brendan Hines from “Lie to Me,” convinced he’s the next big star.

  “I think he's just one of those guys... that's got the swagger. He's got the ability to be like the next Bradley Cooper or the next, like, Jake Gyllenhaal.” – Jen [20:27]

• Hines shares that his friend David Anders — “Chumlord” on Vampire Diaries — will buy anyone a shot if they call him by that nickname in Atlanta bars!

  “Anybody sees David Anders in a bar, you just go up to him and you call him Chumlord... And you are gonna get drunk for free.” – David Anders [24:16]

---

4. Comic Relief: Hiking (or Not) the Grand Canyon

Timestamps: [31:09]–[37:55]

• Frankie plans to hike the Grand Canyon, hoping to ride a mule back up the rim until he’s told there’s a weight limit.

  “There's something that's pretty humbling about going to your wife and letting her know that you can't do the mule tour you wanted to do.” – Melissa [34:17]

• Light-hearted, self-deprecating stories about being “husky” kids, trading apples for double-stuffed Oreos, and contingency plans to hike the canyon.
• Teasing about how much harder hiking up will be, and fantasizing about becoming stranded or taking a helicopter tour instead.

---

5. Vintage Idol: Paula Abdul & Simon Cowell Double Interview

Timestamps: [39:28]–[47:07]

• The show replays a rare dual interview from Season 1, when Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were accidentally double-booked. The segment is flirty, charming, and comedic compared to their later, more caustic rapport.
  • Paula jokes:

    “What I've read is Simon thinks that there's sexual tension between us. That really just touched me.” – Paula Abdul [41:33]

  • Simon quips:

    “This girl is haunting me across America. This is the girl who used to claw outside my bedroom door, begging to be let in at night.” – Simon Cowell [43:36]

• The two reflect on judging strategies, with Simon’s emphasis on brutal honesty and Paula’s “conscience” role.
• Simon ranks Atlanta as #2 or #3 for audition cities, noting great voices and enthusiasm:

  “Atlanta was probably second or third... There was a lot of enthusiasm...” – Simon Cowell [46:10–46:45]

---

6. Audience Interactions & Listener Reactions

Timestamps: [10:32]–[11:43]

• Fans call in to praise Wendy’s Casey James interview, reassure her that her flirting wasn’t “too much,” and provide tabloid updates on Casey’s “I don’t drink” claims.

---

Notable Quotes

• “I would ask him for a date if he's coming to Atlanta. Stupid things like that. Play it cool.” — Bert [02:23]
• “We could work on that just a little bit.” — Wendy, about Casey’s dance moves [06:17]
• “You were giving him the thing.” — Bert, about Jen’s crush on Brendan Hines [21:17]
• “I think you just see if he approaches you. If you’re there and he’s there, I think the true result would be if he comes over to her and says, hey, I think I remember you from LA. Then I think you’re in.” — Bert [11:35]
• “We're not worried about the pants we're wearing. We're worried about moving a 200-plus pound payload to the top of the Grand Canyon using our own knees.” — Melissa [37:01]

---

7. Overall Tone

The episode is lively, self-aware, and irreverent. The cast mixes fangirl energy, dry sarcasm, and good-natured ribbing, with real talk about nerves, fame, behind-the-scenes media wrangling, and the Americana of Idol season. They include the audience in their world, sharing both awkward moments and triumphs, always with a smile and a laugh.

---

For Listeners Who Missed It:

If you enjoy celebrity gossip, Idol trivia, or just eavesdropping on a group of friends trying (and sometimes failing) to "play it cool" around their favorite stars, this episode gives you exactly that: playful interviews, authentic reactions, and some hilarious self-deprecation — all before breakfast.

Transcript

[Melissa]

Bubba Wallace here from 23xi Racing on the track. My car's look is everything. But today I'm talking about more than just paint schemes. I'm talking about my favorite games at Chumba Casino. Check out exclusives like Stampede Fury and my own King Croc Fury. It's just as wild as my car looked in Texas. With over 200 games and new ones weekly play for free at ChumbaCasino.com let's

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Chumba sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group voidware prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply.

[Evergreen Virtual Academy Announcer]

Are you a parent looking for an independent, flexible and tuition free school in Oregon? Evergreen Virtual Academy offers a dynamic and tuition free public education with Oregon certified teachers for PK through 12th grade students. Your student gets a laptop, live class sessions, and the ability to chart their own unique path. Plus in person events and social activities all year. When school has no walls, learning has no limits. Learn more and enroll now. Evergreen Virtual Academy evergreenvirtual.org the Birch Show

[Bert]

Casey James is going to be working his way over here in just like a couple of minutes. Let's just, let's all calm down. Let's think of a game plan here.

[Wendy]

Nerves, nerves.

[Bert]

Are you prepared? Wendy?

[Wendy]

I think I'm prepared. I'm just a little nervous because they've already walked in. So we've seen them walk in and walked past. And I was just nervous on that part.

[Melissa]

Melissa Already they attempted to do a little mini Casey James stalking.

[Frankie]

Yeah. Let me explain where Wendy's mind is right now because we're, we're at the Nokia theater, but we're kind of in the basement area and we're at a table and we're near, you know, a room where they have breakfast. Breakfast and a buffet. So when they had the eyeless come in, including Casey James, they led them to the food so that they could have breakfast before they started the interviews. And so that's where we're waiting on him to finish his breakfast. So as he was going in there, I said, oh, I need a water. And Wendy, come with me. So Wendy and I went, I got behind him in line behind Casey. I was, I was, I could breathe Casey's aura at the buffet line. And Wendy scooted off and went over to get drinks in another area.

[Melissa]

Wendy.

[Wendy]

Well, I was trying to make myself visual for Casey, so I went over to get a water instead of stand behind him and eat.

[Melissa]

You should be trying to make yourself. You're trying to make yourself touchable.

[Frankie]

No, I would have thrown touching his Butt. You were over there trying to get a visual.

[Jen]

I was like, dang, Melissa, you did his butt?

[Frankie]

No, just. Wendy just gave.

[Wendy]

I couldn't even be near food. I'm too nervous.

[Bert]

What up? What else? I would ask him for a date if he's coming to Atlanta. Stupid things like that. Play it cool.

[Wendy]

Okay.

[Frankie]

Yeah. You're gonna be fine.

[Wendy]

Oh, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. Because I can't even do it in the. In the buffet line.

[Lisa]

All right.

[Melissa]

We're literally, like, 15 seconds away from. So the rest of us are leaving the table.

[Frankie]

Okay.

[Jen]

Okay.

[Wendy]

Bye.

[Frankie]

Wendy.

[Simon Cowell]

You're going in.

[Melissa]

Wendy, good luck.

[Wendy]

Hey, Casey. What's going on? I'm Wendy from Atlanta. How's it going?

[Casey James]

It's going good. Good to meet you.

[Jen]

Good.

[Wendy]

All right. Well, this whole thing sort of started with your mom convincing you to audition. I'm kind of curious on what your mom said to you to make you go and audition with 20 and other people.

[Casey James]

Well, let me. Let me do this.

[Wendy]

No. You know, put that back in. We can make out later, but just go with me. You're gonna need that.

[Casey James]

Yeah. I'm gonna save this for later then.

[Jen]

Okay.

[Casey James]

No, it was just. I've been doing the same thing for so long, you know, playing every night

[Lisa]

and

[Casey James]

not really getting anywhere. And my mom said, why don't you just take the chance?

[Wendy]

That's it.

[Casey James]

I was like, yeah. I mean, to the point where they were starting to let people use instruments and things like that. And I didn't know any of this, you know, thinking that the show was just the type of thing that I wouldn't do well at. And she said, I'll let you borrow my truck. And she had just bought a brand new truck. So I was like, you know what? I'll drive up there and do it.

[Wendy]

Did you ever think you would make it to the final three?

[Casey James]

No, I didn't think I'd make it past the stadium.

[Wendy]

Really?

[Casey James]

Yeah, I just kind of went. I think maybe that's possibly why I made it past the stadium, because I just went in there and was like, you know, I don't think I was going for anything. I was just gonna sing. And that was actually when I made up my mind, my mindset for the entire competition. The entire show was set the day before I even auditioned the very first time.

[Wendy]

Oh, yeah.

[Casey James]

Because I had made up my mind. I said to myself, like, I'm either gonna make. I'm gonna do this and be myself 100%, or I'm just. I'M you know, I'm not gonna make it, so.

[Wendy]

Well, then I wanna know what the toughest week was for you. Because you're this classic Roc, very Stevie Ray Vaughan, very Jimi Hendrix type. So what was the toughest week? Because you had like Frank Sinatra and all these movie themes going on.

[Casey James]

That would have been the toughest. Yeah, the toughest. The movie wasn't. Movie themes was not bad at all. Because you can pick, you know, I mean, it's just like soundtracks and stuff.

[Simon Cowell]

But the.

[Casey James]

Frank Sinatra was the toughest for me because never in my life have I ever like, sang without playing guitar. It's not. I mean, not on a. Not on a live setting in front of people and things like that, like growing up singing my moms and stuff, but never, never like that. So that was definitely the toughest for me.

[Wendy]

So then when you ever do an album, is there ever going to be a song where you just put down the guitar and it's just you solid, raw, like raw.

[Simon Cowell]

Yeah.

[Casey James]

I mean, possibly. It just depends on the situation. I'm not opposed to it. I always do what the music calls for. And there's many times where I don't, you know, like in a song, I'll just be holding the guitar and I'll play a lead later down the line. But I would never just set it down just for the sake of setting it down, you know.

[Wendy]

And you're a Texas boy, I'm a Texas girl. So I know being away from Texas is pret. Pretty tough. What do you miss most about being at home?

[Casey James]

There's nothing that I don't miss. I miss everything. I miss the air, I miss the people, I miss the accents. I miss my dogs, I miss my friends and family. Miss my old gigs. I miss the comfort of my home.

[Wendy]

Do you miss the food?

[Casey James]

Yes. Yeah.

[Wendy]

Do you two step? Yeah, we gotta go two step.

[Casey James]

And then I can waltz better than I can two step.

[Wendy]

Now you can waltz. So can you do any other dances?

[Casey James]

Yeah, but, you know, not well.

[Wendy]

Would you say you have dance rhythm?

[Casey James]

Yeah, I've got the rhythm, I just don't have the moves.

[Wendy]

Just don't have the moves yet. We could work on that just a little bit. So are you excited about the tour coming up?

[Casey James]

I am. That's like. That is gonna be the. Essentially the beginning of everything for me, you know, because you get to. Then you get to see the people that want to come see you in a live setting. I'm not necessarily just watching on the tv. And even though that's a Huge honor. It's even a bigger honor when they come to see you and they want to follow you as an artist, so.

[Wendy]

And the big question. The ladies would be really disappointed if I didn't ask. Are you single? Yes, I am very single.

[Casey James]

Yeah.

[Wendy]

So you're available?

[Casey James]

Yes.

[Wendy]

So we gotta grab a drink when you're in Atlanta.

[Casey James]

Yeah, let's go.

[Wendy]

Would you be down?

[Casey James]

Absolutely.

[Wendy]

We definitely.

[Casey James]

I don't drink, but I'll go.

[Wendy]

We can have some water.

[Casey James]

Perfect.

[Wendy]

And lemonade. Yeah, well, it'll be a good night.

[Casey James]

Lemonade sounds actually really good right now.

[Wendy]

Well, Casey, I appreciate you talking with us today. I can't wait to see you on tour in August. And we definitely need to grab that bottle of water.

[Casey James]

Yeah, sounds good.

[Wendy]

Good luck.

[Casey James]

Thanks.

[Jen]

You done. Great job.

[Frankie]

Good job.

[Melissa]

Good job.

[Jen]

Nervous getting your flirt on?

[Frankie]

And. And you got it kind of a. You know, we said that the. The pinnacle of this conversation would be for him to agree to some kind of date or whatever, and you got that from him at the end.

[Wendy]

And then I tried to throw in, like, some ties here and there. Like, I said Stevie Ray Von in one of the questions, and then I obviously tied back into Texas. But, yeah, he's going to be in Atlanta. So you say, did it throw you

[Jen]

off that he doesn't drink?

[Melissa]

It did.

[Bert]

It did for a second.

[Wendy]

Then I was like, okay,

[Lisa]

yeah, that

[Jen]

would have thrown me a little bit, too. Because you think that that's just kind of what you say.

[Bert]

Right.

[Jen]

But, like, him, like, I don't drink. I wondered, like, is that an American Idol required thing to say, or is that more like he's just, like, really against it? I don't know. I just wondered if that would throw you.

[Melissa]

I think if he has publicly stated that he's not a drinker or something like that, because why else would you correct it? Because a drink, he could, like, you could let that go without. Without it being a big deal. And then when you go out, you just get a.

[Frankie]

You know, I would make a statement saying, well, I don't drink.

[Bert]

Yeah, I think we know Michael Johns doesn't really subscribe.

[Frankie]

No, he says it, but he says, I don't drink water.

[Jen]

But he's not under the American Idol thumb anymore, you know, So I wonder if that was more of a. A Fox thing or, you know, because he's on the show thing. This is like wholesome American entertainment.

[Bert]

I applaud you, man. You went for it. Yeah, you did. I mean, you definitely put out the flirt vibe.

[Wendy]

I was nervous the entire Time. I don't know. He's just good looking in person. So when you're sitting there staring at him and he's right next to you because he was sitting like right next to me is he's a good looking

[Frankie]

in person to you?

[Wendy]

Yeah, he was really good looking, I thought.

[Frankie]

But Jen's like, what's going on with the hair, though?

[Wendy]

His hair was a little matted, but

[Bert]

it was a little.

[Frankie]

Trying to do a dready kind of thing.

[Wendy]

Well, you know how all the idols didn't know that they were coming to do interviews today? Maybe he just kind of rolled out of bed, thought he was going to do something else rather than sit in front of a whole bunch of strangers.

[Bert]

Didn't have time to put his juvexon in today. Too bad.

[Melissa]

Well, the door is open for his visit to Atlanta.

[Frankie]

That's right.

[Bert]

That's right. I know.

[Melissa]

And that's. You really couldn't ask for more than that.

[Wendy]

It's August the first, so hopefully we'll grab that bottle of water that we talk about.

[Frankie]

Sparkling water.

[Jen]

Honey, you need to bring him some like some country. Like some real country lemonade or something.

[Wendy]

Sweet tea.

[Jen]

You can specially bring it to him. Like some lemonade, some sweet tea, some barbecue or something.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Jen]

You need a special. Deliver that back to backstage in Atlanta.

[Kayson]

Yeah.

[Bert]

I think our job somehow some ways to get you just into the same room with them again.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Bert]

Not force the issue and just see if he, you know, sort of takes the Wendy bait.

[Jen]

Did you like his mojo or did he seem too shy for you?

[Wendy]

He seemed really shy because I thought he would be more straightforward or just longer answers or have more to add. But he's just a shy dude.

[Jen]

He definitely seems shy. But you don't typically go for the shy guy.

[Wendy]

No, I like the more aggressive guy because I'm normally.

[Jen]

I was wondering person once they met in person, I was thinking, I wonder if she's as into him now because of that whole shy vibe, kind of holding back thing.

[Wendy]

Well, and it was his first. I was his first interview of the morning. So he came by and then that was it. I had to set the. The president for everybody else. So I had a big responsibility.

[Frankie]

So jokes, Jeff. No jokes.

[Bert]

You did a great job. Did a good job.

[Frankie]

Yes. Good job.

[Melissa]

Good job.

[Bert]

Good morning, Lisa. You are on the Burt show. Hi.

[Lisa]

Hey, Wendy. You did a really good job. First of all, I want to say thank you. But I want to let you guys know I read something about him somewhere online. He has gotten at least one dui I think in the past.

[Wendy]

Yeah, someone sent me that.

[Bert]

Now we get it. So it's not that he doesn't want to drink. He not allowed.

[Melissa]

He's got one of those Lindsay Lohan scram things happening.

[Bert]

Okay, that makes sense.

[Wendy]

Okay.

[Bert]

Thank you for the info, Lisa.

[Cassie]

Sure.

[Lisa]

Bye. Bye.

[Bert]

And Kayson, you are on the Burt Show. Good morning.

[Lisa]

You did so great.

[Wendy]

Oh, thank you.

[Lisa]

I think it was perfect. I don't think it was too much. I think it was. It was normal. It didn't sound awkward or anything. You did so well.

[Wendy]

Oh, Kayson, thank you so much. No, I was a nervous wreck. So thank you.

[Frankie]

You couldn't tell.

[Lisa]

You couldn't tell.

[Wendy]

All right, good.

[Bert]

Now, the results will be when he comes comes through Atlanta.

[Wendy]

Right.

[Bert]

We will get them in the same room together. And I think at that point, you just see if he approaches you.

[Wendy]

Okay.

[Bert]

If you're there and he's there, I think the true result would be if he comes over to her and says, hey, I think I remember you from la. Then I think you're in.

[Wendy]

But at least the tough part's over. The first conversation is done.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Bert]

The Bird Show.

[Cassie]

This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Hey, it's Cassie. And this is your heads up that you're probably sitting on a fat stack of cash and you don't even realize it, y'.

[Lisa]

All.

[Cassie]

I took a look at my closet the other day, like, truly looked at it, and I realized I probably don't wear half of it. It's just sitting there, taking up space and guilt tripping me every time I buy a new piece of clothing, reminding me that, oh, I'm running out of closet space and I have all these beautiful clothes I never, ever wear. And it's become this weird pain point in my life. And then I found Vinted. Vinted is a secondhand app that makes it easy for everyday people like you and me to sell. People pre loved fashion and earn some extra money. Vinted was the motivation I needed to clean out my closet. And I'm betting it's the same for you. So picture this. You use Vinted. Now you've got a less cluttered closet, a refreshed wardrobe with new pieces that you don't feel guilty about, and you made money. It's a win, win, win. And the extra nice part is that listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. And once an item sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. So if you're ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money, download the Vinted app for free and start listing with no seller fees. You keep every dollar you earn and for a limited time, you can enjoy free shipping in the US on Vinted. Can't wait to see what y' all are selling.

[Ryan]

Hello, it is Ryan. And we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps, you know, all the mundane stuff. That is why I'm such a big fan of Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino style games that you can play for free, anytime, anywhere with daily bonuses. So sign up [e-mail] that's chumbacasino.com no

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

purchase necessary vgw group void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply.

[Bert]

The Bird show we are here for American Idol this week. Let's just give you kind of, let's run a couple of things here. Let's give you a snapshot of what it's like hanging out with the American Idolists and specifically their publicists. You get a couple of different breeds of publicists in la, right, Jen? You've heard Jen talk about and you know, for the most part, they're pretty cool.

[Jen]

Yeah, I would say that, yeah. 99% of them are really cool. Especially the people who are here with Fox who are taking good care of us. They're awesome.

[Bert]

Then there are the others.

[Jen]

There are a few others.

[Bert]

The others. I take this entirely too seriously, man. Which I guess is if you're the celebrity is a really great thing because you need somebody to be the bad cop. Yeah. Bad cop.

[Frankie]

And tell me if I'm wrong, but I often wonder if the PR person is the bad cop and they know they're the bad cop because the celebrity has told them they have to be. Because. Because as a celebrity, you can't be rude to anybody. You can't get up and walk away. You can't say, you know, you can't do anything without ruining your image, you know?

[Bert]

Well, and in some cases the celebrity is so big, I can understand how they're pushed and pulled in so many different directions that you do need that buffer between the celebrity and the fans because somebody has to be the fall guy.

[Frankie]

Yeah.

[Bert]

And that's going to be the PR person. But there's, I think, a nice way to handle it and kind of a rude way to handle it. We've seen both.

[Jen]

Yeah, you definitely see both. And I think that I think handled nicely, they can get some of the same results as when they handle things rudely.

[Wendy]

And I think it's an age thing. From what Jen's told me about a couple of publicists, I think it's an age thing. I think the younger you are, the more rude you are. I think it's a. It's like a power thing because you're just coming up into this. You don't really know what to expect. Everybody's obviously older than you've been in the business longer, so you just don't know about it. And I think you have something to Rude.

[Jen]

Yeah. Like they've got something to prove. So they're like more rude to get point across when they're younger.

[Bert]

Jeff and I were talking about this yesterday, like we were joking. But maybe the truth is that when you're. When we see the nice publicist, the young, nice ones, Jeff and I were joking that we won't see them again next year. But the ones that are, like, really sort of aggressive and telling us that we only have 90 seconds and then they're moving on to the next one, those are probably the people that we have to deal with for the next 15 years.

[Jen]

That's funny.

[Bert]

So you got the publicist angle of this whole thing. And then engineer Frankie here and Wendy and I went to American Idol Fox party last night. They stayed longer than I did.

[Wendy]

Yeah, it was a fun party up at this place called Elevate in this hotel. So it's on the 21st floor, so you could see all of Los Angeles and Hollywood. So gorgeous view. And the party was a lot of fun. There's a couple of past Idol contestants from season eight and season seven. Bo Bison. Taylor Hicks were out there.

[Jen]

Taylor Hick.

[Wendy]

Taylor Hicks.

[Bert]

Taylor shaved his head a little bit.

[Jen]

Yeah, shaved his head real short.

[Wendy]

It's real buzzed.

[Bert]

I didn't even recognize him.

[Jen]

Taylor has not been back to a lot of I Idol season finales. I mean, none that I've seen or heard of. And so I'm surprised that he's back this season.

[Bert]

And I wonder why. I wonder if. Wonder if it's a black eye to American Idol or. Taylor just didn't want. Like, he just wanted to separate himself.

[Jen]

But somebody pointed out to us last year, wasn't it that in the montage before Idol, you know how they have, like, sort of the sketch drawings in that graphic montage before it starts, and it's like Kelly Clarkson and then you can see Carrie Underwood, but that they always left out Taylor Hicks.

[Bert]

That's weird.

[Jen]

Even though he won her.

[Frankie]

Oh, that Sucks.

[Jen]

But he was left out for a long time.

[Bert]

Why y' all think that?

[Jen]

I don't know. I mean, when he. When he won, wasn't he kind of the one that was sort of like rejecting American Idol? Saying stuff in interviews like he could have gone this far without them. And he kind of. He kind of dissed the franchise a little bit. I don't think they loved that.

[Bert]

He's supposed to be here with us today, so we gotta ask. We gotta ask some of these questions. Yeah, we'll do it in a nice way, but. Yeah, like the answers to that. Jason Castro was there last.

[Wendy]

Jason Castro and then he's a married dude now. I think he did get married like last year or he engaged or something happened last year. So he's with one woman. So he was there last night. And then David Archuleta came out and performed. Archie, he's so cute. He's just the same little singer as he was on American Idol. Just so bubbly and fun and innocent. You just kind of want to give him a little hug and tell him everything's gonna be okay.

[Frankie]

I know.

[Jen]

What did he sing last night?

[Wendy]

He sang a couple of his songs and he did some covers. He did Train Tay Soul Sister, which was really good. He's really talented, but you have haven't heard him since that one single he had, but he's putting out another one this year. So he hung out a little bit, took pictures with everybody. So he was cool.

[Jen]

He's so nice fans.

[Wendy]

He was so sweet last night.

[Jen]

Good care of his fans.

[Bert]

Who was the hottie horse chick that was there?

[Wendy]

Oh, Chrissy Lee Cook. Who?

[Simon Cowell]

I know.

[Wendy]

Katie Joe.

[Frankie]

That she likes horses. Not that she looks.

[Bert]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Ryan]

She just.

[Bert]

That's like her hobby.

[Frankie]

Yeah. Katie Jo's crush.

[Bert]

Very pretty.

[Frankie]

Katie Joe's crush from last two seasons ago.

[Wendy]

She was last season.

[Lisa]

And then.

[Wendy]

And then Brooke White from season seven. She was the one who did Let it be and stopped on the piano and had to restart on American Idol. She was hanging out last night, but the. The facility was just beautiful. It was gorgeous with couches and they had great food. They had sushi. A whole like awesome food spread last night.

[Bert]

I'll tell you, the interesting dude that we let. We met last night was not an American Idol contestant. The most interesting guy we met last night was like a 23 year old kid that has been going from town to town to town to town. 30 different cities.

[Jen]

Okay.

[Bert]

He gets up in the morning and he decides what city he wants to Go to. He goes on Craigslist, lands himself a job, and then goes to that city and works for as long as he wants. And then when he's done, he goes to Craigslist, finds himself another job, and then goes to that city. He's from Atlanta.

[Wendy]

He's from Atlanta and he's doing this with his brother. So we got to meet his brother. And they have a travel. They have a new travel website that they're doing out of Costa Rica. So they're like booking travel and they're just all about moving.

[Jen]

Different party. How was he connected to the whole AT and T?

[Bert]

He got a job on. On Craigslist and he got a job with AT&T. And he was like, just promoting a Samsung phone.

[Lisa]

Mm. Okay.

[Bert]

So he was going around the party, doing that, taking pictures. When he's done with this, then he'll decide what city he wants he wants to go to. He goes on Craigslist and he gets himself another job. And he's done it. He said 30, 35 different cities.

[Jen]

Oh, that's great for him. Yeah. At 23 years old. That's awesome.

[Bert]

That's the time to do it right there.

[Frankie]

That's perfect.

[Wendy]

I told him I need to write a book.

[Jen]

Not cool at 23.

[Frankie]

Very cool at 40.

[Jen]

Pathetic.

[Bert]

The Birch Show. Q100. The Birch Show. Live from the Nokia Theater. American Idol finale week. And we've been telling you guys a lot that this week, week, they're bringing in a whole bunch of former American Idol contestants and current contestants also and stuff like that. But what Fox will do from time to time also is they will bring in some stars from current Fox shows. And Brendan Hines is probably not a name, you know, yet, but Jen thinks this guy's gonna be a big old star. And she was getting her vibe on. I don't care, dude.

[Melissa]

Jen loves Brendan.

[Jen]

I was not.

[Bert]

Hello, Brendan.

[Jen]

I was not. I. I didn't tell him that. But I do think that he's gonna be a big star. I mean, I think he's an incredible actor. He's on the show. Lie to me. He's on the cast with Tim Roth. I think he does a great job on the show and I think he's just one of those guys that's got the swagger. He's got the ability to be like the next Bradley Cooper or the next, like, Jake Gyllenhaal. I think like, in a couple of years, I think he's gonna be go from this really cool television show to being a big time movie star. So I wanted us to make sure we like. I was like, gosh, guys, guys, let's pay attention. Like this. This guy's gonna be a big deal.

[Bert]

And could tell there was something different. Like she was vibing on him. She was giving him that thing.

[Jen]

I was.

[Melissa]

You were giving him

[Kayson]

anything.

[Bert]

As soon as he left, I called

[Melissa]

you out and Bert actually pointed it out as you as he was walking over and there's. He's like, who's that guy? And I'm like, somebody Jen knows. He goes, I know Jen knows him.

[Bert]

Yeah, you were giving him the thing.

[Frankie]

I'm trying to figure out what Bert's doing off in like. I wish you could see. What is it?

[Jen]

Like, like a claw. I wasn't obvious about anything, was I?

[Bert]

I mean, we other for so long. I know what the thang is because I saw.

[Jen]

Yeah, really?

[Frankie]

Because Bird thinks you used to give it to him.

[Jen]

I just wanted. Well, you know, I've been luckily lucky enough to come to these fox junkets for a little while now. And I think it was about a year and a half ago I got to meet Cory Monteith, the guy who's the star of Glee, who's a huge star a year and a half later hanging out with Taylor Swift, like rumored to be dating her or whatever. And when he came over to the table to sit down, he was on this. This new little soon to be launched show that nobody had ever heard of called Glee. And I think even though everybody's heard of Lie to Me, I think that Brendan Hines is like that next actor that in a couple of years is going to be a really huge deal. And now I have my picture with him.

[Melissa]

And did it get really. When the Glee guy came around, did it get really, really cold in here? The way it got really cold in here with that Brendan guy?

[Lisa]

Beep.

[Melissa]

Popped out.

[Wendy]

Oh, my God.

[Frankie]

Yeah.

[Bert]

So we're going to play just a couple of minutes.

[Frankie]

I don't want to think about your nips.

[Wendy]

Okay.

[Bert]

We're only going to play a couple of minutes of the interview because at one point he was really, really funn. A local guy in Atlanta.

[Melissa]

His best friend is part of the cast of Vampire Diaries, who Wendy hangs out with from time to time because they film in Atlanta. So he gave it up on what we could say to this guy if we ever run into him in a bar to earn free drinks for life.

[Bert]

And this guy's name here is Brendan Hines and he's on Lie to Me.

[David Anders]

My friend was just in Atlanta shooting the Vampire.

[Frankie]

Yes.

[Jen]

What's Your friend's name?

[David Anders]

David Anderson.

[Melissa]

He's on the Vampire Diaries when he knows all the Vampire Diary guys.

[Wendy]

I don't know all of them.

[Casey James]

What's his name?

[David Anders]

David Anders.

[Melissa]

Is he a good looking single man?

[David Anders]

He's good looking.

[Casey James]

He's not single.

[David Anders]

I think he came on the last, like, the last five or six episodes. He's like a vampire.

[Wendy]

He plays like the uncle. Right. There we go. Yep. He's been out in Atlanta a lot.

[David Anders]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Yeah.

[Bert]

You see him getting a strength on?

[Wendy]

Yeah.

[Bert]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Wendy]

Over at, over at some bars.

[David Anders]

That's my, that's, that's my drinking buddy. And I, I, I, I outsourced him to Atlanta for a while, but now we've got him back and I've got my pool game back in shape.

[Wendy]

Thanks for lending him to us for a little bit.

[David Anders]

No problem.

[Melissa]

Give Wendy some information on your friend about your buddy David. So next time she sees him out in a bar in Atlanta, something that she could approach him with that'll totally catch him off guard and completely freak her out. Freak him out.

[David Anders]

Do you want it to be. You want it to relate some way to the show, or do you.

[Melissa]

It doesn't matter.

[David Anders]

Okay, good. I don't know. Just go up to him and say, in fact, I'll just put this out there for the entire Atlanta metro area. Anybody sees David Anders in a bar, you just go up to him and you call him Chumlord.

[Wendy]

Do I want to know where he got that nickname from?

[Bert]

Ask him next to him at the

[Melissa]

bar and go, hey, can I get you a shot there, Chumler?

[David Anders]

Yes. And he will buy you a shot, Chumlord. So I'm putting that out there right now. Atlanta, David Anders. Just sidle up next to him at the bar, say, hey, Chumlord, how's it going? And you are gonna get drunk for free.

[Bert]

That worked out very well. It's good talking. Thanks for stopping by. Hey, the Bird show.

[Cassie]

This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Hey, it's Cassie. And this is your heads up that you're probably sitting on a fat stack of cash and you don't even realize it, y'.

[Ryan]

All.

[Cassie]

I took a look at my closet the other day, like, truly looked at it, and I realized I probably don't wear half of it. It's just sitting there taking up space and guilt tripping me every time I buy a new piece of clothing, reminding me that, oh, I'm running out of closet space and I have all these beautiful clothes I never, ever wear. And it's become this weird pain point in my life. And then I found Vinted. Vinted is a secondhand app that makes it easy for everyday people like you and me to sell pre loved fashion and earn some extra money. Vinted was the motivation I needed to clean out my closet. And I'm betting it's the same for you. So picture this. You use Vinted now you've got a less cluttered closet, a refreshed wardrobe with new pieces that you don't feel guilty about, and you made money. It's a win, win, win. And the extra nice part is that listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. And once an item sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. So if you're ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money, download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn. And for a limited time, you can enjoy free shipping in the US on Vinted. Can't wait to see what y' all are selling.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Tyler redic here from 2311 Racing. The rush of racing. Nothing beats it. But Chumba Casino comes close. Chumba's got fast spins, fun games, daily bonuses, and all the action you can handle. Now that's a ride. Ready to hit the throttle? Get in the driver's seat and head to chumbacasino.com let's Chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group voidware prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply.

[Bert]

The Bird show. This is the Birch Show. It's QR100 and the Birchill Live from the Nokia Theater on the morning of the evening of the winner of American Idol.

[Jen]

Wow.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Could you.

[Bert]

We're almost insulting. I am so get me out. I'm so sick of these people.

[Frankie]

Had no sleep.

[Melissa]

Could you have taken a longer road to the end of that?

[Bert]

I mean, we've all sort of been debating who we think is going to be crowned champ tonight, but yes, according to Melissa's family, this is done. This is done. And it has been written in the stars.

[Frankie]

That's right. Millie Pete. My mother, Millie Pete. Actually, today is her birthday. Today's her 81st birthday. So happy birthday.

[Melissa]

What's happening?

[Frankie]

But she had actually you get her a stripper cop. Actual fireman anyways.

[Melissa]

Well, I was just say careful. Didn't she have a heart procedure?

[Frankie]

Well, she's got a better heart now. She can take a lot more.

[Melissa]

You don't need him whipping out his hose and her getting.

[Jen]

Okay.

[Frankie]

This is Billy Pete.

[Jen]

This Is her mother.

[Frankie]

This is my mother.

[Jen]

Stop it. Okay.

[Frankie]

Anyway, so she loves American Idol. I had twit picked a while back, and I'll have to do that again. She makes a chart of American Idol every year, and every week she has her chart in front of her. So last night she had that chart ready to go.

[Bert]

What is on this chart?

[Frankie]

She takes notes on how people did and then she crosses them off when they had been voted off. And she is 81 today. And my aunt, her sister, is 89, and they're on the phone together with their charts charting American idol. Okay, so this is serious business to senior citizens.

[Bert]

No more joking.

[Frankie]

No more joking. So this is an email she happened because she knew I was coming out here. She sent this to me and my aunt about a week ago. And this is her predictions. And all it said was Millie Pete's predictions in the subject line.

[Bert]

Okay, so this was even before we saw what we saw last night.

[Frankie]

This is before last night. So I. So I have not received another email on whether or not her opinion has changed. But here we go. Quotes. I have been watching American Idol for months, since February 24th, I believe I went through all the ridiculous to get here. And she put ridiculous in quotes.

[Melissa]

That's an old person way to use ridiculous, too, right? Ridiculous to get here category of something is just. That's just ridiculous.

[Frankie]

It's just ridiculous.

[Melissa]

That's how she would describe our show if she listened to it.

[Bert]

Yeah, I think she.

[Frankie]

I think she has. And she goes on to say, I think Crystal and Lee both have things America will vote against, like Crystal's dreadlocks and gaps in her teeth.

[Jen]

Wow.

[Frankie]

And 81 years, she's gonna tell like it is.

[Bert]

She can say what she wants.

[Frankie]

That's right. And she can't walk on heels.

[Jen]

That's true.

[Frankie]

Okay. Lee sings great, but has puffy hair in the back.

[Kayson]

What?

[Frankie]

And wait till this next line.

[Melissa]

Okay.

[Frankie]

That Katie and I just screamed at. And a low crotch or where's his pants? Low. Just to let me know what she's talking about. She said, america at large does not like that. And then in the end, she says, though I believe Lee will win. So Lee is her.

[Melissa]

So despite the puffy hair in the back and a low crotch.

[Frankie]

Yes.

[Melissa]

He can still pull out the victory over the woman who's got bad teeth

[Frankie]

and can't walk on heels with her dreadlocks.

[Cassie]

Okay.

[Bert]

He doesn't.

[Jen]

That is really true. I mean, they made her walk down those stairs and heels, too, for her performance, and that was so clunky.

[Frankie]

I was, was so nervous and you can tell that she was looking down every step. Yes.

[Jen]

She walks like an 81 year old woman in heels.

[Frankie]

She walks like she's had hip replacement.

[Jen]

Like kind of like that waddle, you know, like she never learned to walk in heels. So don't put her in heels. Why is she on in heels on

[Bert]

the show and going downstairs and going downstairs like torture.

[Jen]

They didn't want her to win. They wanted her to fall down.

[Frankie]

Well, the thing is I, after watching it last night, I feel like Christmas. Crystal's the better singer but Millie Peach choice is Lee. So we'll see who.

[Bert]

Okay, I'm gonna go against Millie Pete on this one.

[Jen]

You think? Well, I think Crystal's definitely the better singer. But I feel like from the posters that we saw in the audience that Lee has more young teenage fans and they're the ones who vote.

[Bert]

We'll see.

[Frankie]

We'll know.

[Bert]

We'll know in a couple hours.

[Frankie]

Right.

[Melissa]

And keep to keep in mind too that this was written before last night's performance.

[Frankie]

Correct.

[Melissa]

So he may have fixed his crotch or puffy head.

[Frankie]

I gotta say, mom, I didn't look at his garage. So I don't know.

[Bert]

Crystal couldn't fix her teeth.

[Jen]

Well, I did.

[Frankie]

And I have to agree with Philly

[Jen]

P. He wears his pants too low.

[Frankie]

And America at large. At large.

[Bert]

I love it. All right. We will be, we will be coming back to Atlanta. All of us various at different times. But our engineer here, Frankie. Frankie, he is hanging out and he is going to the Grand Canyon.

[Melissa]

Yes, sir.

[Bert]

Is going to the Grand Canyon.

[Jen]

How cool.

[Melissa]

What's up, Frankie? A little. Frankie's been kicking ass for us all week. So we're, we're sad that this is the last time we're going to see him.

[Jen]

Yeah, we'll miss you.

[Kayson]

Yeah, it's a, it's, it's something very exciting for me. Cuz I've never, I've only flown over the Grand Canyon. I've never been actually to the Grand Canyon. So a friend of mine and I, we're going down and we're going to hike down it.

[Frankie]

Hike the Grand Canyon.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Go.

[Kayson]

It's four hours. Apparently.

[Melissa]

I didn't know you were a hiker.

[Kayson]

You know I, I've played soccer my whole life. I'm pretty athletic so I think I can.

[Bert]

Agreed.

[Kayson]

You know, I think I can.

[Bert]

Good job. Never had a knee injury. I had an injury.

[Kayson]

Not, not my knees. Not yet.

[Bert]

So you're going down four hours then you hang out down there. Overnight or. Or do you immediately turn around and come back up?

[Kayson]

Well, I. I think we're going to have to turn around. We'll probably wait an hour, take some pictures or something like that and then come back up.

[Jen]

8 hour high to come back up.

[Kayson]

Yeah, it's going to be really hard. And so then I thought that, oh, wait a minute, they have mules. And then Jeff smashed my dreams.

[Melissa]

Okay, well, I got.

[Frankie]

As he always does, we need to

[Bert]

paint a kind of a picture of what Frankie looks like here.

[Melissa]

Frankie and I are similarly built.

[Bert]

Okay.

[Melissa]

I don't play soccer, though. Really? Or do anything that involves a lot of quick side to side movement or even really forward to backward movement, now

[Simon Cowell]

that I think about it.

[Melissa]

I mean, I think probably the fastest thing I do every day, his shower, you know, so. So Frankie may be a little more physically fit than me, but I would say size wise, we might be similar. Right. You know, so Frank is offended.

[Frankie]

He's like, what?

[Kayson]

I'm not offended. Go on.

[Melissa]

But I think, you know, if we were in elementary school, they would call us the husky kids, right?

[Bert]

Probably.

[Kayson]

Okay.

[Bert]

There would be at the husky table,

[Melissa]

we'd have more pants than Bert. That would involve elastic stick.

[Kayson]

We got an extra dollar for lunch money.

[Melissa]

Yes, exactly.

[Bert]

Very much.

[Melissa]

We were the kids who traded the apples for the Oreos.

[Bert]

Double stuff.

[Melissa]

Dude, mom gave me three apples. Just give me one double stuff.

[Lisa]

Just.

[Melissa]

Actually don't. Just, you know what? You eat the double stuff and breathe on me.

[Bert]

So Frankie has this vision of going to the Grand Canyon. Taking a mule down.

[Frankie]

Yeah.

[Bert]

You know, well, at least halfway. Well, that was my plan.

[Kayson]

That was my plan B. Just in case, you know, we go right. If we go down, maybe, you know, back up's a little harder.

[Jen]

Have you done a lot of research on this?

[Kayson]

No, but. Okay.

[Jen]

Oh, but Jeff.

[Frankie]

Jeff filled him in on.

[Melissa]

Well, because I've been there and I remember we saw one of these mule tours and where you do the Grand Canyon thing. And I don't know why we were gonna be in Arizona, but Jessica says, let's take a detour to the Grand Canyon and we'll do one of these tours, you know, and you, you stay in a cabin or something. And then while you're in the cabin, you wake up early in the morning, hop on the mule, take a little tour, have lunch. I'm like, that's cool. So she sends me the website to see if I'd be interested in it. And luckily I read the fine print. And I mean, I, you know, I mean, it's a mule. Like it. It carries stuff, right?

[Bert]

Yeah, that's what I.

[Melissa]

Well, it's got a weight limit.

[Bert]

Yeah. Everybody has a payload.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Yep.

[Melissa]

So.

[Kayson]

And this is where my dreams got smashed.

[Casey James]

Yeah.

[Melissa]

Because there's something that's pretty humbling about going to your wife and letting her know that you can't do the mule tour you wanted to do.

[Bert]

How do you, what do you say? We're not eligible.

[Melissa]

She would have been fine. But, you know, it's your family. I think you just have to explain in a situation like that that for the health and wellness of the mules, they have to carry other people. So I can't remember what it was, but it was like, it was, it was like £200 or something or it's like 225. I don't remember what the amount was, but it was not close enough that I'm. That I thought, you know what, I'll just stay away from the pasta for a couple weeks. I mean, it was far in a way. Like that mule would have gone out B, like cartoon, like all four legs. And so I had to go to. I had to email Jessica back. And the first email was, I'm not into the mule tour. Thank you.

[Bert]

You didn't tell her why you just said, ah, I've been thinking about it.

[Melissa]

Well, I've got a. I got a weird.

[Bert]

It's not my thing and it's not the mule's thing.

[Frankie]

I'm allergic to mules.

[Bert]

Well, I think her Richard mule dander.

[Melissa]

Because then her next. Her follow up question is, how do you know? I'm like, well, you know, we used to have. We had to get rid of a mule when I was born. I got mule asthma. So she thought, I think she originally thought it was like, it was a horse thing.

[Frankie]

Oh, my God.

[Melissa]

Because, you know, she rides horses. And I always get like real nervous because I'm afraid I'm gonna be the guy on YouTube that gets kicked right in the nards by the horse. So I think she thought it was like, like that type of situation. So then she wrote back and said, mules are totally different. They're like, donkeys are low and small and they're not going to hurt you and they're really cute. And I'm like, well, if you please read the information on page two, you will see on account of the fact that I'm the one who goes to Thanksgiving dinner three times. On account of that situation and on account of the fact that the jogging I had been interested in partaking in of which was in like 1999. Never happened. On account of that the mule is not eligible to carry me. Yeah, like, it's not. I'm not unable to get on the mule. The mule just doesn't qualify for me.

[Bert]

It's not a me thing. It's a mule thing. Yeah. Which is way better than finding out like, when you get there putting the

[Melissa]

credit card down or.

[Bert]

Yeah, like you're down at the very bottom and you want to go back up and the dude has to tell you, sorry, bro, you can't. My mule is strong, but it's not that strong.

[Jen]

And you're like wearing jeans or something because you went down on a mule, then you gotta hike back up in jeans.

[Melissa]

Hey, Jen, at the risk of insulting Frankie again by comparing our statures, but when he or I are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, we're not worried about the pants we're wearing. We're worried about moving a 200 plus pound payload to the top of the Grand Canyon using our own knees.

[Frankie]

Ease.

[Bert]

And you're doing it in one day, dude.

[Kayson]

And then I gotta catch a flight at 9. Nine o' clock in the morning.

[Bert]

I think you're finally gonna have an attitude change when you get to the bottom. I think someone's gonna say, let's just live off the land for a couple.

[Frankie]

Where does this river take us? That's great.

[Jen]

What about one of those fancy helicopter tours?

[Kayson]

My plans are gonna change a couple of times before I get there. I have a seven hour drive to think about about this.

[Bert]

Yeah.

[Simon Cowell]

Yeah.

[Frankie]

Well, good luck, my friend.

[Melissa]

I would win you. Yeah. When you swing through the drive through, I would stay away from it because if you can save a couple pounds, they might have stronger mules. This is a few years ago.

[Casey James]

Get it?

[Bert]

The Bird Show.

[Cassie]

This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Hey, it's Cassie. And this is your heads up that you're probably sitting on a fat stack of cash and you don't even realize it, y'.

[Wendy]

All.

[Cassie]

I took a look at my closet the other day, like, truly looked at it and I realized I probably don't wear half of it. It's just sitting there taking up space and guilt tripping me every time I buy a new piece of clothing, reminding me that, oh, I'm running out of closet space and I have all these beautiful clothes I never ever wear. And it's become this weird pain point in my life. And then I found Vinted. Vinted is a secondhand app that makes it easy for everyday people like you. And me to sell pre loved fashion and earn some extra money. Vinted was the motivation I needed to clean out my closet. And I'm betting it's the same for you. So picture this.

[Lisa]

This.

[Cassie]

You use Vinted now. You've got a less cluttered closet, a refreshed wardrobe with new pieces that you don't feel guilty about, and you made money. It's a win, win, win. And the extra nice part is that listing items on Vinted is quick and simple. And once an item sells, Vinted creates the prepaid shipping label for you. So if you're ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money, download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn. And for a limited time, you can enjoy free shipping in the US On Vinted. Can't wait to see what y' all are selling.

[Ryan]

Hey, guys, it is Ryan. For years, Chum has been setting the bar for online social casino fun. And it just keeps getting better. With new games released every week and daily bonuses to collect, the fun never stops. So claim your welcome bonus [e-mail] no purchase necessary.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

VGW Group prohibited by law. See terms and conditions 21 plus, you're

[Bert]

on the Birch Show. We are going American Idol vintage here in just a second. The bird Joe Q100 live from the Nokia theater for American Idol finale week. But what I mean by vintage is we're gonna go back to season number one. This was a coup. We didn't realize how much of a coup it was right back then.

[Melissa]

It was just cool because it was a hot show on TV and we had two of the stars joining the Burt show. So that was cool.

[Bert]

I mean, when you have Paula, it's impossible now to get Paula Abdul and Simon on the phone at the same time in an interview. Couldn't happen. But back then we were double booking accidentally. So we had Paula on one phone and then this dude from England, that new judge, the English guy, the guy with the accent, you know, the mean one.

[Frankie]

The mean one.

[Wendy]

Yeah.

[Bert]

He's calling in at the same time. So let's save ourselves some money some time and get them both on at the same time and then we'll just move on. So we got Paula and Simon on at the same time. And Jeff said in listening back to it, like the tone of it is very different back then than it is now.

[Melissa]

It's like flirty friendly. You'll hear. Flirty friendly is it seems like toward the end it got a little caustic friendly. Okay, but this one's nice.

[Bert]

I said this was Paula Abdul. She was booked, and then Simon was booked on the show also. They overlap, so we put them on together, what, nine years ago on the Bird show. Hey, Paula Abdul.

[Lisa]

Hey.

[Bert]

How are you this morning?

[Lisa]

I'm doing great. How are you?

[Bert]

Oh, you're a little tired, aren't you?

[Lisa]

Oh, just a little bit.

[Wendy]

Yeah.

[Bert]

You are. Are you out in la?

[Lisa]

Yes, I am.

[Bert]

Yeah. I think. I think you've got a hit here.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

Yeah. Good, Bad and ugly. We do.

[Bert]

That's what we're calling our show today also, actually.

[Frankie]

And I have to say, all morning we've been talking about how you pretty much were the. The conscience on that judging panel because, you know, you here tried to let the people down easily, you know.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Frankie]

You didn't sing too well, but, you know, get some lessons, you know, try harder. And the other guys are like, you suck. You're awful.

[Lisa]

Yeah. I just think that's the cool part of the show, is that there's three separate and distinct ways of doing constructive criticism.

[Melissa]

Now, Paula, do you. In real true life, do you have any dislike for Simon? You can be honest with us. It's just, you know, it's just the four of us.

[Bert]

You know, he would tell us if he disliked you.

[Lisa]

Oh, I think no. What I've read is Simon thinks that there's sexual tension between us. That's. That really just touched me.

[Wendy]

Of course he does.

[Lisa]

I don't know what dream he is having. I seriously don't know.

[Bert]

So how many of these did you have to sit through? Every single audition?

[Lisa]

Pretty much. So we went. For the past month, we've been traveling all around the country, I believe eight or nine cities, and listened to hundreds, if not thousands.

[Bert]

Would you say the majority were bad or the majority were good?

[Lisa]

I would say there was a good percentage that was just bad. There was a larger percentage that was good but not above average.

[Bert]

And you're really looking for a superstar here. Even some of the train wrecks were great to watch. I'd say the line to me, though, was the crying. When Simon was so mean, he made women cry and some guys cry too. Was there anything going on between you and Simon that we didn't see on camera? Like, were you chewing him out a little bit more aggressively?

[Lisa]

I ask him if his arm has a permanent bruise or if there's left or right leg given on any city, if you're sitting to the right or left me has a permanent dent.

[Bert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lisa]

I mean, it's you know, I can appreciate his candor and being brutally honest, but it's, you know, it's brutally honest according to Simon. Just because Simon is brutally honest. It's his truth. You know, there were plenty of times that both myself and Randy Jackson would completely disagree. But, you know, it's just. It's the way he feels, not necessarily the way we are. And as you can see, there's so much going on and to fit it into an hour or so, it's difficult.

[Bert]

Well, this is kind of cool for us because Simon is here now also. Paula. Hey, Simon.

[Simon Cowell]

Hi, Bert.

[Bert]

Hey, we've got. We've got Paula. Yeah, that's Ms. Abdul right there.

[Simon Cowell]

This girl is haunting me across America. This is the girl who used to claw outside my bedroom door, begging to be let in at night.

[Lisa]

Oh, my God.

[Simon Cowell]

Admit it, Abdul.

[Lisa]

Oh, you wish, Simon.

[Simon Cowell]

Yeah, you admit it, darling. You're gonna have to give way eventually.

[Lisa]

You're back in America. Please.

[Simon Cowell]

No, I'm not. I'm in London.

[Cassie]

You are?

[Simon Cowell]

Yeah.

[Bert]

Is that enough mileage between the two of you?

[Simon Cowell]

We haven't even started yet. But I've got stories about this girl.

[Lisa]

Really? I can't wait to hear her.

[Bert]

Hey, Simon, Paula was telling us that she put a couple of really deep marks in both of your arms.

[Simon Cowell]

Do you know, I swear to you, Bert, I came out of this show black and blue. This girl has very, very sharp elbows.

[Bert]

Was there ever a time there? And Paula, we know you gotta take off in a second. Simon, was there ever a time there where you just really felt like going, paula, you know, you just can't be that nice to these people.

[Simon Cowell]

Oh, permanently.

[Lisa]

You always said that to me.

[Simon Cowell]

Permanently. I used to shake her at the end of the day and just say, look, speak your mind. But you know, she is a nice person.

[Lisa]

Oh, yes. But, you know, you tried attacking me, saying that I was patronizing, and I think, I think you really got big elbow in there.

[Simon Cowell]

No, I got a fist at that one. Actually, Paula, that was actually a smack in the mouth.

[Melissa]

Simon and Paula, you guys know that Fox has a show called Celebrity Boxing Us up and I'm just throwing it out there. I know Fox people are probably listening. Write it down. Think about it. Mull it over. Send me a royalty check.

[Simon Cowell]

Yes, I'll do it. Cause I'd rather take on Paula than Randy Jackson.

[Bert]

Hey, Paula, we're gonna let you go. But Simon, don't take off anywhere, okay?

[Simon Cowell]

Hold up. Missing you already.

[Lisa]

Oh, I miss you so much, Simon.

[Simon Cowell]

Bye, darling.

[Bert]

Now is it really as tough because, I mean, the people in this room have never gone on one of these big time auditions. But is it really as tough as you make it appear to be? I mean, are people as brutally honest as you are in an ordinary audition?

[Simon Cowell]

Certainly all the auditions I've ever attended. Because anyone who comes to one of our auditions, we, as we did with American Idol, we do talk to them as a group beforehand to say we are looking for something better than normal. If you don't like criticism, then I would suggest you leave this, this audition now because we will tell you the truth.

[Bert]

In the overall, like, ranking of cities that you had the auditions in, where did Atlanta fall as far as the talent comes to the other cities? Like, there's Dallas, there was Chicago, There was Seattle, Miami, New York, Louisiana, Louisiana.

[Simon Cowell]

I thought Atlanta was probably second or third. Wow. Yeah. And I tell you why, because they just had naturally good voices. There was a girl who came from Atlanta who I think I described as not having the X factor, but the Z factor. I thought she was sensational.

[Bert]

I think that was Tamira, probably.

[Simon Cowell]

Yeah. Really, really good. And what was also good about Atlanta was, is that there was a lot of enthusiasm from the people compared to, say, la, you know, which was a bit flat.

[Bert]

Oh, and they're so arrogant out there, too.

[Simon Cowell]

Well, I think they're too used to going to auditions and Atlanta, they were genuinely excited and I think that was good for us.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Bert]

Well, Simon, it's been great talking to you.

[Simon Cowell]

Likewise.

[Bert]

Congratulations on what I really think is gonna be a big hit, man.

[Simon Cowell]

Well, thank you very much.

[Melissa]

And can we talk to you a bunch of times throughout the year?

[Simon Cowell]

Whenever you want. I'm gonna be there for the next three months on and off. So, you know, whenever you want to do something, you know, I'll be delighted to.

[Melissa]

Excellent.

[Simon Cowell]

As long as I'm not in hiding.

[Melissa]

We'll let you know next time Paul is on with with us.

[Simon Cowell]

Okay, cool.

[Bert]

You take care, Sam.

[Simon Cowell]

Good to talk to you all.

[Bert]

Listen, it's the vert show.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

Looking for excitement? Chumba Casino is here. Play anytime. Play anywhere. Play on the train. Play at the store. Play at home. Play when you're bored. Play today for your chance to win and get daily bonuses when you log in. So what are you waiting for? Don't delay. Chumba Casino is free to play.

[Cassie]

Experience social gameplay like never before. Go to Chumba Casino right now to

[Jen]

play hundreds of games, including online slots,

[Cassie]

bingo, Slingo, and more. Live the chumba [e-mail]. no purchase necessary.

[Chumba Casino Announcer]

VGW Group void where prohibited by law, 21/plus terms and conditions apply.