The BOB & TOM Show Free Podcast

Episode: B&T Extra: John Heffron
Date: December 19, 2025
Guest: John Heffron, comedian, winner of Last Comic Standing
Theme: Thanksgiving Traditions, Stand-Up Evolution, and Comedy Banter

Episode Overview

This episode of The BOB & TOM Show features comedian John Heffron in a lively roundtable with the hosts. The crew reminisces about Thanksgiving traditions, pokes fun at evolving family gatherings, and dives into how stand-up comedy—and life—change as you age. Peppered with nostalgia, irreverence, and quick-witted banter, the show blends Heffron’s Midwest memories with group insights and listeners’ shared quirks around the holiday season.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Catching Up with John Heffron (04:11–05:55)

• Heffron on Aging & Comedy:
  • Heffron jokes about winning Last Comic Standing over 20 years ago:

    “At this point it's like I won, you know, Hollywood Squares or Match Game, you know, or Who Do You Trust?” (04:22 – John Heffron)

  • Touches on the generational shift in stand-up, referencing TikTok/Instagram comics and his own contentment with aging out of that scene:

    “I'm 56 and the older you get, the more invisible you start to become. Right? Like I'm at that age. I go to the grocery store, the door doesn't even open up for me because it just doesn't acknowledge that I exist anymore.” (05:46 – John Heffron)

  • Relates the experience of being the “creepy guy” at his niece’s college soccer games, reflecting on changed perspectives as an older male.

2. Thanksgiving Talk & Holiday Traditions (06:32–09:44)

• Relocations and Family Turmoil:

  • Heffron shares moving stories, from selling his Michigan farm to finding unexpected mysteries (e.g., stained carpets), and becoming addicted to Zillow.
  • Lampoons amateur real estate photos:

    “There's a guy asleep on the couch with a cigarette in his mouth...there's a kid with a dumpy diaper and a one boot. This should be sent to child services and not...you know what.” (07:29–07:38 – John Heffron)

• Thanksgiving Survey Facts:

  • 90% of people in a survey prefer sides over turkey.
  • Thanksgiving meal facts are introduced, setting up a string of trivia and banter.

• Consumption and Family Dynamics:

  • The crew guesses the number of turkeys consumed (Heffron jokes about eating multiple as a kid from divorced parents):

    “I'm from divorced parents, so I ate three turkeys....So that was three just for me. Three birds—go to grandma's, my mom's, my dad picked me up, so I'm at three.” (09:18–09:23 – John Heffron)

  • Final answer: 46 million turkeys consumed on Thanksgiving.

3. Holiday Booze, the "Marijuana Walk," and Childhood Mischief (09:44–11:59)

• Alcohol Is a Big Part of Thanksgiving:

  • Average: 2.7 drinks per person—with group consensus this is “low.”
  • John and others recall sneaking sips in basements and awkward interactions at the “kids’ table.”

• The Pre-Dinner "Walk":

  • Discussion of the tradition where young adults would “take a walk” to consume marijuana:

    “I've tried for years to keep the walk from you. How do you know?” (10:55 – Michael Rosenbaum)

    • In the modern era, this is replaced by a discreet basement vape session, leading to new awkwardness:

      “You get too stinky...you got to talk to your aunt while you're high.” (11:13 – Michael Rosenbaum)

    • Old-school “shots in the garage” considered more acceptable—especially for doing Jello shots.

4. Thanksgiving Food Quirks & The Birth of the TV Dinner (12:10–13:59)

• Food Separation on Plates:

  • Heffron prefers to eat like a TV dinner, with nothing touching:

    “I eat the same exact way that TV dinners were. Nothing touches on my plate.” (12:12 – John Heffron)

  • Others pile their food “KFC Famous Bowl style” (12:32).

• TV Dinner Origin:

  • Thanksgiving leftovers directly inspired the Swanson TV dinner:

    “Swanson used 260 tons of leftover turkey to create the original frozen meals.” (12:55 – Thanksgiving Facts Narrator)

  • Nostalgia for original “aluminum foil” trays, burning fingers on the hot apple crisp (13:17–13:19).
  • Tom’s mother recreated TV dinners at home with quality food:

    “She would buy one [a tray], and then she would make fresh, decent food and put it in the various sections.” (13:37 – Tom Welling)

5. Memorable Comedy: "Give Beef a Chance" Song (14:09–16:28)

• Lloyd, “Leader of the Turkey Nation,” delivers a tongue-in-cheek Thanksgiving song encouraging people to eat beef on the holiday, parodying “Give Peace a Chance.”

  “All we are saying is give beef a chance.” (15:00 – Lloyd)

• The segment lampoons holiday food dogma and delivers a highlight of absurdist humor.

Notable Quotes

• On stand-up and aging:

  “I'm 56 and the older you get, the more invisible you start to become.”
  (05:46 – John Heffron)

• On real estate absurdities:

  “There's a kid with a dumpy diaper and a one boot.”
  (07:36 – John Heffron)

• On family Thanksgiving as a child of divorce:

  “I'm from divorced parents, so I ate three turkeys.... That was three just for me.”
  (09:18 – John Heffron)

• On the evolution of the ‘walk’:

  “I don't even think it's a walk now. I just think it's—you go down to the basement and you hit a secret little vape pen.”
  (11:01 – Michael Rosenbaum)

• Thanksgiving food philosophies:

  “Nothing touches on my plate.”
  (12:12 – John Heffron)

• Turkey Pleas:

  “All we are saying is give beef a chance.”
  (15:00 – Lloyd, “Turkey Nation Leader”)

Notable Segments with Timestamps

• [04:11–05:55] Catching Up with John Heffron
• [06:32–09:44] Thanksgiving trivia and memories
• [09:44–11:59] Thanksgiving family drinking and ‘walk’ traditions
• [12:10–13:59] Food on the plate and TV dinner nostalgia
• [14:09–16:28] "Give Beef a Chance" Parody Song

Memorable Moments

• John Heffron's wry take on aging out of younger comedy audiences.
• The absurd real estate photos from his Zillow addiction.
• Group riffing on the “family walk” and how it's evolved in the era of vape pens.
• The parody song from Lloyd, championing beef instead of turkey for Thanksgiving.

Tone: Playful, irreverent, nostalgic, and loaded with sarcastic observations about family, tradition, and the passage of time—classic BOB & TOM Show through and through.