She's A Bon Vivant!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Commercial Break – Episode: "She's A Bon Vivant!"

Release Date: January 24, 2025
Hosts: Bryan Greene and Chrissy
Co-Hosts/Guests: Gustavo, Percy Jose, Astrid

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1. Snowstorm Chaos in Atlanta and Florida ([02:02] – [05:10])

The episode kicks off with Bryan and Chrissy discussing an unexpected snowstorm that recently hit Atlanta, disrupting daily life and causing significant traffic snarls. Gustavo vents his frustration over meteorologists' inaccurate forecasts, highlighting how the snow fell earlier than predicted, trapping many on the roads and unprepared for such an event. Chrissy shares personal anecdotes about the beauty and unexpectedness of the snowfall, emphasizing the rarity of snow in regions like Florida and Amelia Island. The hosts reflect on the challenges of entertaining children indoors during prolonged cold spells, revealing Gustavo’s struggle with keeping his kids engaged without the usual snow activities.

Notable Quote:
Gustavo ([02:23], [04:45]):
"These fucking nudniks can’t get it right. I mean, I love the weather guys, but they got it wrong again by like four hours."

2. Social Media Woes and Meta’s Auto-Follow Feature ([05:10] – [09:56])

The conversation shifts to social media frustrations, particularly Meta's (formerly Facebook) new auto-follow feature on Threads, causing unexpected spikes in their follower count. Gustavo expresses irritation over unrelated accounts, such as political figures like J.D. Vance and Donald Trump, appearing in their follower lists without their consent. The hosts discuss the implications of Meta’s algorithms overstepping, automatically following users based on obscure criteria, leading to unwanted associations and cluttered follower bases.

Notable Quote:
Gustavo ([07:04], [09:03]):
"It was unbelievable that Zuckerberg or somebody made an actual decision that anyone who’s not following J.D. Vance or Donald Trump should be, so we are going to follow them for them. It’s insanity at the highest levels."

3. Cryptocurrency Critique: Meme Coins and Market Manipulation ([09:56] – [16:57])

Bryan and Chrissy delve into the volatile world of cryptocurrency, focusing on the rise and fall of meme coins like "Melania Coin." Gustavo criticizes these coins for their lack of utility and inherent pump-and-dump schemes, explaining how early investors manipulate prices to their advantage while others are left holding worthless tokens. The hosts express skepticism about the legitimacy of such cryptocurrencies, lamenting the potential financial losses for everyday investors and the ethical concerns surrounding their creation and promotion.

Notable Quote:
Gustavo ([14:32], [15:30]):
"All meme coins really are, at the end of the day, some of them have some utility, but really, no, they don’t. People who make these, hold a large portion, pump it, then dump it. Everyone else is left holding the bag."

4. Nostalgia for Retro "Rich Porn" Shows ([18:07] – [35:35])

The hosts take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, reminiscing about 1980s and 1990s television shows like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" hosted by Robin Leach. They discuss how these shows served as the original "rich porn," showcasing extravagant lifestyles, luxury estates, and the opulent lives of celebrities. Gustavo humorously critiques the over-the-top displays, while Chrissy shares fond memories of watching these programs during their adolescence. The conversation organically transitions into discussions about Merv Griffin’s empire-building through game shows like "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," highlighting his business acumen and lasting impact on television.

Notable Quote:
Chrissy ([24:08], [35:35]):
"This must have been one of like the very first seasons. It was huge."

5. Merv Griffin: The Mogul Behind Iconic Game Shows ([35:35] – [55:31])

A substantial segment is dedicated to Merv Griffin, the mastermind behind "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune." The hosts analyze his business strategies, including his ventures into riverboat gambling and real estate. They humorously speculate on his motivations and legacy, blending admiration with irreverent commentary. Astrid joins the discussion, adding insights into Griffin’s personal life and business expansions. The hosts reflect on Griffin’s philosophy of optimism and his relentless pursuit of success, contrasting it with current trends in media and entertainment.

Notable Quote:
Merv Griffin ([46:24], [55:09]):
"I live by the philosophy that there's two stone cutters... One cuts stones and makes blocks, and the other builds a beautiful cathedral. I like the second one."

6. The Decline of Genuine Entertainment and Rise of Vanity Content ([55:31] – [59:40])

The hosts critique the shift in entertainment from substantive content to superficial displays of wealth and status. They argue that shows like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" paved the way for today's influencer culture, where authenticity is often sacrificed for image. Gustavo laments the disappearance of meaningful engagement in favor of flashy, short-lived trends, drawing parallels to current social media practices. The discussion touches upon the loss of genuine creativity and the increasing commodification of personal lives for public consumption.

Notable Quote:
Gustavo ([56:12], [59:13]):
"I love when I get waited on entitlement. It’s just how bon vivants say it."

7. Conclusion and Teasers for Upcoming Content ([59:40] – End)

As the episode wraps up, Bryan encourages listeners to engage with the podcast by sharing their personal drama and following their social media channels. The hosts humorously reflect on their own show’s journey, highlighting the challenges of maintaining a presence on platforms like TikTok. They tease an upcoming episode featuring a special guest who will delve into political topics, promising a shift from their usual comedic and lighthearted content.

Notable Quote:
Bryan ([61:34], [62:04]):
"One of my New Year's resolutions is to hear more of other people's drama. So help a girl out and tell us your drama at 212-433-3822."

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Notable Insights and Themes

• Frustration with Inaccurate Weather Forecasts: The hosts express annoyance over unreliable meteorological predictions, emphasizing the real-world impact of such inaccuracies.

• Critique of Social Media Algorithms: A significant portion of the episode highlights the intrusive nature of social media algorithms, particularly Meta's auto-follow feature, and its unintended consequences on user experience.

• Skepticism Towards Cryptocurrency: The hosts take a critical stance on meme coins, questioning their legitimacy and ethical implications within the crypto market.

• Nostalgia for Retro Entertainment: A deep dive into nostalgic content reveals the hosts’ longing for the days of substantive media content, contrasting it with today’s fast-paced, image-focused digital landscape.

• Admiration and Critique of Industry Moguls: Through discussions about Merv Griffin, the hosts explore the complexities of building an entertainment empire, balancing admiration with humorous critiques.

Useful Information for Non-Listeners

For those unfamiliar with "The Commercial Break," this episode offers a blend of humor, personal anecdotes, and pointed critiques on contemporary issues like social media manipulation and cryptocurrency. The hosts balance lighthearted banter with insightful commentary, providing listeners with both entertainment and food for thought. Whether you're dealing with unpredictable weather, navigating the pitfalls of social media, or curious about the evolution of entertainment, Bryan and Chrissy offer relatable perspectives infused with their unique sense of humor.

Follow The Commercial Break on:

• Instagram: @thecommercialbreak
• TikTok: @CBpodcast
• YouTube: YouTube.com/thecommercialbreak
• Website: tcbpodcast.com

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Chrissy]

I've been working with a Nourish dietitian for the last six months and it's been life changing. I've lost weight, healed my relationship with food, and have way more energy. Working with a dietitian online to create a personalized nutrition plan was so easy. Thanks to Nourish. The best part, I pay $0 out of pocket. Because Nourish accepts hundreds of insurance plans, 94% of patients pay $0 out of pocket. Find your [e-mail] that's usenourish.com Where'd you get those shoes?

[Brian]

Easy.

[Chrissy]

They're from DSW.

[Percy]

Because DSW has the exact right shoes.

[Gustavo]

For whatever you're into right now. You know, like the sneakers that make.

[Percy]

Office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways, and all the styles that show off the many sides of you, from daydreamer.

[Chrissy]

To multitasker and everything in between.

[Percy]

Because you do it all in really great shoes.

[Chrissy]

Find a shoe for every YouTube at.

[Percy]

Your DSW store or dsw.com hey, bestie.

[Gustavo]

I'm a snow angel, and I'm here to tell you, you are more beautiful than the snow, bestie. Let it snow. Let it snow. On this episode of the commercial break, I want to be a bon vivant. How do I get to be a bon vivant? Brian Greene and his longtime co host and bon vivant Percy Jose sit around and stare at penises as they're slowly revealed behind a curtain. Look, that bon vivant is uncircumcised. He's a true bon vivant.

[Astrid]

The next episode of the commercial break starts now.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, boy. Oh, yeah. Cats and kittens. Welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is the Teresa to my Frankie crew. Enjoy, Hoadly. Best to you, Chrissy.

[Chrissy]

Best to you, Brian.

[Gustavo]

Best to you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks for joining us. We're all back in studio after a fart of snow here in Atlanta took the entire town down for three.

[Chrissy]

We did not get a fart of snow. We got a huge covering, Christina and I, down where we live.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, but what would you say? Like a total of 2 inches?

[Chrissy]

Yeah, but it was a big blanket.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chrissy]

It was beautiful.

[Gustavo]

It's amazing.

[Chrissy]

I sent you the picture.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, I saw the pictures. Lots of traffic jams yet again happened yet again. The city still can't get it right. But I mean, you know these meteorologists, they tell you it's going to happen late in the afternoon or in the evening. So Everyone figures, okay, let's go to work, let's go to school, let's do the things. The truckers are driving through Atlanta. Everyone's having a good time. And then of course, these fucking nudniks can't get it right. I mean, I love the weather guys. I know that they have a hard job and I understand that weather's really hard to predict, but they got it wrong again by like four hours. So of course it starts snowing at 10am, not 5pm and everybody gets stuck out there on the fucking roads. They're killing each other out there trying to drive in ice and snow in a town that's ill prepared for any event whatsoever. And so there you go. So now what about Florida? Well, that's true. That's a different animal.

[Chrissy]

They don't even have snowplows.

[Gustavo]

They don't even snowplows. They don't even have long sleeve shirts.

[Chrissy]

I know what, yeah, Florida, New Orleans, all that Gulf area, Houston.

[Gustavo]

I just saw that Amelia island, one of my favorite places. Got a good. More than a dusting of snow. And that's like the first time in 30 years that that's happened. I mean, it has to be really fucking. It has to be a really weird event for snow to happen in Florida, which is usually. No, you know, it's usually never below freezing there. I mean, I can't think of a time when I've been down in Florida and I've spent a lot of time there when it's actually been below 32 degrees. Maybe one night during the winter, maybe. But then they got snow. That's crazy. And the crazier part is I am literally four miles from three inches of snow. Do you know what I'm saying? I know I am four miles from three inches of snow. But I guess that's how the weather works. Why are we talking about the weather again on this show? I feel like we're one step away from the weather dot com.

[Chrissy]

Well, it was a big event.

[Gustavo]

It was a big event. It was a big event. It took us all down. And the reason why it's a big event is because then I have to deal with my children three days in a row. Fucking stir crazy. And absolutely nothing to show for it. Like we say it's a snow day and they fully expect they're gonna be out there making snows, making snowballs, and there's nothing. And it was just too cold to go outside.

[Chrissy]

It was really cold.

[Gustavo]

Too lazy to bundle them up. So I said, hey, make the best of it. Drive Yourselves. Drive yourself.

[Chrissy]

You and Astrid got in the studio together.

[Gustavo]

We did. We got in the studio together. We managed to have some. And thank you so much to Astrid. I mean, I literally am just like, okay, you're on. Like, what are you talking about? And she hates the microphone. I know she does, but she does a great job.

[Chrissy]

She does. And so it was a back to back. It was Gustav. Gustavo on Saturday.

[Gustavo]

Gustavo on Saturday.

[Chrissy]

Yep.

[Gustavo]

Astrid on Thursday.

[Chrissy]

Wednesday or Thursday?

[Gustavo]

Well, Thursday, though.

[Chrissy]

What day is it?

[Gustavo]

I don't know. Well, the episode. Yes, the episode is a Thursday episode. So there you go. And another reel about Venezuela going viral out there on the Internet.

[Chrissy]

Good.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. I think we're just gonna start speaking Spanish on this show.

[Chrissy]

I think we might.

[Gustavo]

We're gonna put a Venezuela classes. It's gonna be called the Maduran Break. That's what we're gonna call. Those Venezuelans are just lovely. And they're so loyal. Like, once you. Once you show affection to them, they will show affection back to you. Unlike our American listeners. Can't be bothered to click follow on Instagram.

[Chrissy]

I know. I feel like we've become part of the family.

[Gustavo]

We're in the fold. There's no doubt now. There's. We have our naysayers. We have some people who call me and kind of like the Spanish. Or in Spanish, they. It would be an idiot and a dunce. A slow person, if you will. Yes, I'm a dunce. I'm an idiot. But, you know, you got to take the heat when it comes your way. You know, when you're riding the waves, chance it's going to crash.

[Chrissy]

Everybody happy.

[Gustavo]

That's right. So we've had two. We've had a number of reels go viral, and most of them are because I say something about Venezuela.

[Chrissy]

Yes.

[Gustavo]

But eventually we're going to get backlash. So I figure we stop while we're ahead, but stop all the Venezuelan. So let's just stop while we're at.

[Chrissy]

Let's just leave it at that. We love the people and it's a beautiful country.

[Gustavo]

That's it. And then we'll slowly watch as our Instagram following goes back down again. Perfect. So much fun. So much fun. Speaking of Instagram following, I don't know if you had a chance to stop by J.D. vance's page and follow him recently, but I noticed you were just throwing that out there.

[Chrissy]

Yeah, that was not me.

[Gustavo]

Yeah.

[Astrid]

Wow.

[Gustavo]

Unbelievable.

[Chrissy]

Like, Meta made some changes.

[Gustavo]

Meta made some changes.

[Chrissy]

The old Zuck.

[Gustavo]

Zuck, yeah, the old Zuck. The old fuckerberg he's up to no good again, the old Zuck. The old Zuck Cuck is what I'm going to call him because he's currently cuckolding the administration that just got. Listen, vote for Trump. Cool. That's your right. I. I will fight for your right to vote. And I don't care who you vote for. That's the way it works. Sometimes the cookie crumbles your way, sometimes it does not. I'm not here to cry over spilled milk, but I will say that the amazing amount of dick sucking that is going on on behalf of the big technology companies into Trump's. Directly into Trump's zipper is unbelievable.

[Chrissy]

It really is very blatant.

[Gustavo]

It's blatant. It's unbelievable. This used to happen behind the scenes when we couldn't know about it, therefore we weren't so stressed about it. But the fact that Zuckerberg or somebody made an actual decision that anyone who's not following J.D. vance or Donald Trump should be, so we're going to go ahead and do that for them, is insanity at the highest levels in a company that is run by insane people. Meta is for insane people, truly people who want to run the world. They want to control you and own you and everything about you. And it's just insane to me that I wake up in the morning to all this kerfuffle, that everybody's following J.D. vance and no one followed J.D. vance. And I thought to myself, come on, guys, let's stop crying, right? Let's stop being big babies about this. And then I go, and I'm following J.D. vance. It's unfucking believable. I was like, holy shit, it's true. Oh, my God. It happened to me.

[Chrissy]

It was. And it is. Yeah.

[Gustavo]

I wasn't following djt. I wasn't following him, but I was following JD Vance. Jdv, not J. Djt, but JDV was following him. And then I noticed that a lot of my friends were following. You know, it says also followed by. And there's just some people who I know would never make that. Like, no one.

[Chrissy]

That's correct.

[Gustavo]

I know their finger would never press that button.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

And as a rule, on our particular, like, our. Our company account, the commercial break, the podcast account, we don't follow people who don't come on the show. And that's just one of those things. Like, it's no offense to anybody. It's just like, if you come on the show, we follow you. Otherwise, we don't. And that's for our Personal accounts. That's who we follow. We follow all you plebs on our personal accounts. We can't be seen messing around with the people who have less than 3,000 subscribers. Because we have more than 3,000 subscribers, according to social media experts, by a tiny bit. So anyway, I say this not to like, make anybody, not to sound elitist. I say this because I know for a fact that we would not have followed one of those accounts. And we were. And it was just unbelievable to me. Now here's what I've also noticed. I've also noticed that we have a thousand or so people following us on threads. The Twitter knockoff that. Yeah, like threads too, but I guess.

[Chrissy]

It'S part of Meta too.

[Gustavo]

Yes. I also know for a fact that those thousand people did not follow us on threads because we haven't posted anything on fucking threads. So how did we get a thousand followers? It took us four years to get a thousand followers on the commercial break. How do we magically appear with a thousand. They are auto subscribing people auto following people that follow us on the commercial break account. How they make the decision about who that is, I really have no idea. Maybe someone that has a threads account, then it automatically follows them. But that's just a shitty business practice. I think you. Yeah, like, I don't want to be auto following people. I just want to like follow the. I have made my algorithm into a national treasure.

[Chrissy]

Yes, you've been working on that.

[Gustavo]

Toil and trouble through blood, sweat and tears, many long nights of anxiety. I have made my algorithm something to behold. Many yes, many nipples later, I have my algorithm right in the sweet spot. Or as Christina loves me to say, on fleek. Now I don't want it to be fooled around with by Zuck, Zuck, Zuck Cuck and his friends over there at Meta. And I don't give a shit if he hears this. He doesn't. Cuz he lives in a plastic bubble. People roll him around on his private yachts or jets or whatever. I just. That just seems like a really boner move to me. Don't do that, dude, don't do that. Keep your fingers out of the pie. How's that? Don't seem so oblivious.

[Chrissy]

I know that's been in the pie.

[Gustavo]

I know.

[Chrissy]

Always a part of the pie. What's that new one? Blue sky or something? I'm gonna get on that.

[Gustavo]

Blue sky's good. Blue Sky's good. And there's only like six people over there right now, so you can probably get a following that's only like, six people. I have a Blue sky account. I got a Blue sky account. I think I got one for the commercial break. Yeah, it's like it's Twitter, basically, is what it is. But it's, you know, supposedly the better Twitter. Like, not as ruckus as Twitter has become, because Twitter's. I mean, Twitter's always been kind of like a rough place to be if you're going to get in those waters. You really got to know what you're doing.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

You got to have a very thick skin. And it's been that way long before Elon Musk took over, just to be clear about that. But there was some semblance of, like, reciprocity or, you know, there seemed like there was an even hand somewhere over there at Twitter when. Before Elon owned it. Now. Now it's just like it's literally the Wild west, so. And, you know, I don't want to bash on everything that, you know, Trump does or Elon does or JD does or whatever. I don't care about that part. I'm not going to talk about that part. But I do not care for these billionaires getting so close to the seat of power and apparently feel. It feels like they're buy the seat of power. Feels like they're buying into a clear path to do whatever the fuck they want, whenever the fuck they want it. And I do believe that there needs to be some checks in place. I believe in your right to be a billionaire. I really do. I'd love to be one. I'd like to be a billionaire. It'll take another 6020 episodes of the commercial break before we even get to 100,000 there. But just know this. I will also fight for your right to be a billionaire. But there needs to be some. Of course there needs to be some. Like, just like guardrails, you know what I'm saying? Like, don't be so obviously bending over with your. Ready to have your bell rung by, you know, everybody in power. It's just so fucking crazy.

[Chrissy]

I didn't watch the inauguration, but apparently they were all, I guess, right there up front, like, even closer than some other people.

[Gustavo]

Oh, Chrissy. They had box seats. And I'm sure that those box seats were sold to them by somebody. But don't worry, you can use Melania coin to buy a Melania coin. Oh, I was talking to Astrid about this or the preacher who was up there given the whole sermon. You know, the kind of the sermon that was much ballyhooed online he went right off stage into the backstage area and then announced his own altcoin too, because, you know, we should all prosper under the Lord or some shit like that. I mean, it's unbelievable. Grift is unbelievable.

[Chrissy]

It's really crazy.

[Gustavo]

The grift is on. Everyone's got their hands in the piggy bank. These meme coins do nothing but just make other people rich. It's just unbelievable. And there's a sucker born every minute, I suppose. I told Astrid, I think we should have a TC Bitcoin. We should have a TC Bitcoin so that we can get in on the action. What are we doing? What are we doing? We're sitting around here like idiots working for a living.

[Chrissy]

I know.

[Gustavo]

You know what I'm saying?

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

Why are we doing that? I don't know, Chrissy. I don't know.

[Chrissy]

Well, I did see that some of the crypto currency pioneers or people that are high up in it were mad because the Trump and Melania coins, because it just, it does not lend legitimacy.

[Gustavo]

It bastardizes the whole thing. And a meme coin has very little, if any utility whatsoever. You cannot walk into Kroger and spend your Melania coin on milk. Okay? It does not take in anywhere. It's simply a vehicle. It's a pump and dump scheme. That's it. Let's call it like we see it. And all meme coins really are, at the end of the day, some of them have some utility, but really, no, they don't have any utility. And so people who get in at the beginning, who make these, who hold on to a large portion of it, they control the price. And when the coin gets released or it gets really high, or they pump it, then they dump it. And everybody else is left holding the bag, hoping that one more idiot behind them is going to come in willing to buy it at a higher price than they bought it. But people always get left holding the bag. Always. And when the people who make the laws, who make sure that people don't get left holding the bag, aren't in fact holding the bag, what do you do? Nothing. I don't know. I don't know. It's sad to me. It's just sad to me. And there are millions. I was looking the other day like that melania coin had $53 billion worth of transactions happen in a 24 hour period. $53 billion. And who money is buying, buying and selling, buying and selling, buying and selling. If I was smart, I would have bought, you know what I'm saying? If I was smart, I would have bought. Maybe I'm just mad because I didn't buy any. Maybe I'm just mad because I didn't make any money on Melania coin. I'm just jealous. Yeah. Where's the Biden coin? I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting for the Joe coin. That Joe coin. I'm waiting for Joe Coin to drop. I don't know. There's got to be a, you know. Kamala, Kamala coin. Buy the Kamala coin. It's all coming. They're all going to go the same way. It's all happening, I'm telling you. I see this coming down the tracks. The liberals protest right now, but they're soon going to be willing to get into bed also with the billionaires and the oligarchs to make themselves personally enriched. And none of us are going to have representation anywhere. Be careful what you ask for.

[Brian]

It will appear they're all doing that already with stocks.

[Gustavo]

Well, they've been doing that for thousands of years. Right.

[Brian]

It'll be Nancy Pelosi. She'll be the first one.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, listen. Absolutely, absolutely. It's been shenanigans going on for years. And the Democrats are just as guilty as anybody. They're all in cahoots. They're all doing it. You think they go sit up there and work together because they really enjoy doing the work of the people? Sure. I'm sure a few of them do. True servants of this country. Yes, the John McCain's of the world and stuff like that. The people who give a fucking shit. But there's this whole other side of life where you can be fabulously rich if we could just pull a few strings here and push a few buttons there. And Insider Trading 101 here, let me give you that class. I'm sure they get that the second they become a senator or whatever. And then we all are here voting them in term after term after term after term after term. And they're making the laws that push the buttons and make the power and make themselves more rich. And now it's out in the open. There's no more hiding anymore. It's out in the open and all of them are guilty of it. Or most of them are guilty of it. And we are all going to suffer because already we have, you know, whatever.

[Chrissy]

I know.

[Gustavo]

No, I honestly, honestly, I just had to say something. I just like, my top just popped. I haven't watched news in first in forever. I know, but when I started reading about Melania Coin. And then I got follow and then I'm following people. I never followed. It just made me incensed. It really did. It made me incensed. And so next week we're gonna have a very special guest come on the show and for one day you guys are gonna have to suffer through talk about politics. Do you hear me?

[Chrissy]

The break is over.

[Gustavo]

The break is over. The commercial break has broken. You've done broke the commercial break. How do you feel about that, Mark Zuckerberg? Fuck you. We'll be back.

[Brian]

If you were wondering, obviously you were. Yes, we did finally surpass 5,000 followers. But now here we are thirsty for more. So follow us. We are hecommercial break on Instagram and CBpodcast on TikTok. And we'd love you the most if you liked our videos and subscribed to our channel on [e-mail] thecommercialbreak and if social media isn't for you, just go to our website, tcbpodcast.com because everything we have ever done lives right there. Now let's take a listen to our sponsors and then we'll get back to the show.

[Percy]

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[Gustavo]

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[Merv]

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[Gustavo]

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[Merv]

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[Gustavo]

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[Robin]

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[Gustavo]

All right. And we're back. Brian had to take a couple minutes, go outside, spin around three times, take a deep breath, look at my children, say, everything's gonna be all right, Brian. Everything's gonna be all right. You know, back in the day, now we now, I think because of the Internet and media and the way that we have to get involved in everybody's. Back in the day, we used to have to run to the corner grocery store, talk to grandma about who's fucking who. Now you just look at that tmt.

[Chrissy]

Back in the day, did you mean tmz?

[Gustavo]

No, I meant tmt.

[Chrissy]

Oh, okay. What's tmt?

[Gustavo]

I don't know, but I just made it up. But I mean, I don't know who grandma is or who the corner grocery store is either. I was going somewhere in my mind. Okay, I'm following it. I had to stop because I didn't wanna completely derail the show as I'm doing right now. So Lifestyles of the Rich and Fam is was probably our first rich porn. Right. I think this.

[Chrissy]

I remember growing up with this.

[Gustavo]

The 80s were kind of like it is today. Money and greed above all else. Yes, everyone's screwing everybody else. As long as I got mine, greed is good. And that was literally the vibe for some period of the 80s. And people were doing very well, there was a lot of money flowing around. Wall street was really taking off as a place where you could make your money. And there were a lot of people that money, that kind of that hedge fund money, savings and loan money, it filtered down and everyone felt good. They had an attitude, an air that they too could be rich someday if they just got this real estate course from the late night TV like Brian did, like Brian's got his dad to pay for it. But I would say that Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, the show that aired from about 84 to 95, starring Robin Leach, produced by Robin Leach, was our first rich porn where we were really gawking at people who had fabulous amounts of money and hoping that's a.

[Chrissy]

You were getting an inside look.

[Gustavo]

You were getting inside look at what it was like to fly a private plane or be inside of a mansion. Yeah, it wasn't. Instagram wasn't showing this to us every other reel.

[Chrissy]

Right.

[Gustavo]

As some dipshit, you know, some 13 year old in Colorado paid $100 to a pilot of a private plane to make it pretend and seem like he had a Lear jet. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Chrissy]

Yes.

[Gustavo]

We didn't have all of this, that's all the way I can say it, money porn that goes around today. And so that. But that show was fascinating. It was, it got me just like it got everybody else. And I was very young when this first came on, but I remember it for a good chunk of my adolescence.

[Chrissy]

Me too.

[Gustavo]

And I loved it. I loved it when it came on. The story is that Robin Leach had this idea to do this television show to showcase some of his friends fabulous wealth. But no one would bite. There was no company that would bite. So Robin paid to have these shows produced at first on his own and then I think he continued to do that and he would syndicate it on whatever television shows.

[Chrissy]

It was all over the place.

[Gustavo]

It was all over the place. You would see it in the mornings, you would see it in the afternoons, it'd be on late night television. It ran a lot like. And there were many episodes, I think, I think they end up doing like 180 episodes or something. So I thought after my little diatribe on segment number one that it was only fair to, I think, go back to the beginning when we all started looking at these rich people as status icons, so to speak. Let's look at some rich porn from 1980s kids. We're going all the way back. I was trolling on the Internet as you do as I oftentimes do. And guess what I found.

[Astrid]

Get ready for another incredible lifestyle. Your VIP journey into the lives and loves of today's winners who really know how to enjoy the great things of life.

[Gustavo]

Oh, look at that. Sexy fashion models, large pools, breasts of breasting.

[Chrissy]

Helicopters.

[Gustavo]

Ooh, helicopters. I love helicopter. Nothing like a helicopter shot to get you get your morning wood going. That is the Breakers Resort in Miami, by the way. I know that because I one time saw a picture of it.

[Chrissy]

Oh, Polo.

[Gustavo]

Polo. We know how I feel about polo. Okay. Yachting.

[Chrissy]

Sailing.

[Gustavo]

Sailing. Gaudy gold tables.

[Chrissy]

Oh.

[Gustavo]

Oh, it's like a Model T. Yeah, we're watching the intro. And by the way, this is one of the. This is like season number one or two or something. So this is one of the older episodes. It is. I think it's a Model T. I.

[Chrissy]

Think it's a Rolls, but I'm going to see.

[Gustavo]

Oh.

[Debbie]

Host is Robin Leach, who circles the world to bring home the stories people will never forget.

[Chrissy]

Good for Rob.

[Gustavo]

A fun job. And I think he was like, kind of like a nobody television producer before that. I don't know. I saw one time I saw a documentary about Robin Leach, but they don't show those anymore because I don't think, you know, he didn't really live on. And people of our age know about him.

[Chrissy]

Right.

[Gustavo]

But it's not like Robin Leach went on to be super famous. He did this show, and that's what he was known for. And he hosted a couple of other things. I think he did the game show, but so this guy pretty much glommed on to everybody else that was rich. He would just visit their house and take a camera.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

People love showing off how much money they like the.

[Chrissy]

What was the. Mtv.

[Gustavo]

MTV Cribs.

[Chrissy]

The Cribs.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. It was like Cribs before Cribs. Glittering Cribs before Cribs. Lifestyles before Lifestyles. Utah trad wife before Utah trad Wife.

[Astrid]

Big Ben chimes to a whole new beat. Now Debbie Gibson is a Londoner. America's songbird inspires a Debbie Gibson on.

[Gustavo]

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Now my. My ears are perked.

[Chrissy]

Yes.

[Astrid]

In my old hometown. By juggling two careers. There's a new big wheel on the river of dreams. The captain of the ship is Merv Griffin.

[Gustavo]

Oh, Merv Griffin.

[Chrissy]

Wow.

[Gustavo]

Merv Griffin made every game show you ever watched.

[Chrissy]

Yeah. And still is around.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, it's still around. That's a Jeopardy. Right.

[Chrissy]

Wheel of Fortune.

[Gustavo]

Wheel of Fortune. Yeah.

[Astrid]

There's Lady Luck. Hit the Jackpot on his brand Nerve Floating Casino.

[Gustavo]

Ah, dude.

[Chrissy]

His real first name.

[Gustavo]

Merv.

[Chrissy]

Merv?

[Astrid]

Yeah.

[Chrissy]

It's Baby Merv.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. What's Merv?

[Chrissy]

Somebody name their baby Merv the Perv.

[Gustavo]

That's what they used to call him back in the day. This is 1984 and he looks 90 there.

[Chrissy]

I know.

[Gustavo]

And didn't he live till like just a couple years ago? He was like 107 when he died. People again, they just looked older back then.

[Brian]

I think Mervyn is the name. Mervyn M, E, R, V Y N. Mervyn B. Pervin. Mervin stays Pervin.

[Gustavo]

Mervyn stays Pervin.

[Astrid]

A Brazilian bombshell has landed on children's television. Meet Shusha the 100 Shusha.

[Gustavo]

Ah, good old Shusha.

[Chrissy]

Brazilian bombshell has landed on children's television. Okay, you don't hear that every day.

[Gustavo]

We've hypersexualized half of Australia with these beautiful breasts. You can't go wrong. The kids will be sucking at the TTS of Shasha.

[Astrid]

Host who's out to bump up Barney, choke off lamb chop and slaughter Sesame Street. Can Latino Spitfire pull it off? You be the job.

[Chrissy]

Slaughter Sesame Street.

[Gustavo]

Wow. Do you think she sat around in meetings and was like, we're gonna slaughter Sesame Street?

[Astrid]

The other life of Entertainment Tonight's John Tash. Get to know that.

[Gustavo]

Wow. First of all, what I have to remember about these television shows from the 80s and 90s is they had extraordinarily long intros. We're already seven minutes into the show and we haven't seen one bit of content.

[Astrid]

Man behind the mic, A former shy boy who muscled his way into not one, but two super successful careers.

[Percy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

By the way, John Tesh is one of the most successful musicians that ever lived. And that's a fact that befuddles me to this day.

[Chrissy]

Really?

[Gustavo]

He sold like 180 million albums or something. It's insane.

[Astrid]

Hot diggity dog. You're not gonna believe the platinum lives of pampered cats. Creature comfort takes on new meaning for the four legged friends of the stars. Enter their world of luxury unlimited. Of doting owners deep into their pockets. Multi millions of.

[Gustavo]

How much stuff can you fit into an hour long television show?

[Astrid]

Jewelry, spas, fashions and Barbies. A dog life. Don't you believe it. These amazing stories. And even more when lifestyles Returns in a moment. Stay with us.

[Chrissy]

Returns in a moment.

[Gustavo]

Yeah.

[Chrissy]

Because we just introed forever.

[Astrid]

Guess who we found in London town? America's teen idol. Debbie Gibson Grew up to conquer a whole new continent. She even Inspired a retro rock fashion craze from Bermondsey to Bethnal Green by starring in the English production of a classic American musical. Between eight shows of Greece each week, she also found time to explore the rockingest little city of Europe.

[Gustavo]

She also found time to be a normal person walking into stores with cameras all around her.

[Merv]

I remember going to Covent Garden on a day off from rehearsal and walking around. And what amazed me in general about London and especially that area is how people are just all out in the street. It's kind of like the equivalent.

[Gustavo]

What amazes me is that there's people on the streets. Debbie.

[Chrissy]

And now she's juggling.

[Gustavo]

Debbie. That's one of the dumber things I've heard said. There were people on the streets. I know. Now she's juggling. Well, she's got talent. Debbie Gibson, by far was my favorite teen pop star chick, for sure.

[Chrissy]

I bet.

[Gustavo]

Yes. Who was the other one? Tiffany.

[Chrissy]

Tiffany.

[Gustavo]

It was Tiffany and Debbie and the argument between the two. I would go Debbie all day week. Debbie, Debbie, Debbie.

[Merv]

In New York, only it's more central.

[Astrid]

Debbie's first surprise.

[Gustavo]

Despite penises in Italy.

[Astrid]

Language and cultural parallels. It is most definitely Europe. She also discovered that, like Rome, London wasn't built in a day either.

[Merv]

There seems to be a lot of culture here. I mean, this is probably what every American says, and I'm gonna sound really redundant right now, but there's so much history around. Not every building is shiny and new. You could drive. Threw in a cab. And there's history about everything to be told. It's nice.

[Gustavo]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's get to the good stuff. Show me what you're driving. Yeah. I love that Blossom hat, by the way she's got on. So 1984.

[Merv]

Except you gotta do something about the weather. Summer was like last Wednesday, and that was it.

[Gustavo]

You're right.

[Astrid]

And that's why I moved to America. Taking a rain check on tourist hotels, Debbie checked into an elegant address that a favorite for discerning visitors who stay for a while.

[Merv]

The place I'm staying at was an old house, apparently, so it doesn't have that impersonal hotel feel. Instead, I feel like I'm in a house that happens to have room service and maid service and being instead.

[Gustavo]

The water's cold and it smells like rat.

[Merv]

I can't cook and I'm a slob. That is very helpful.

[Gustavo]

I love when I get waited on entitlement.

[Astrid]

With a spacious suite doubling as an office, the dynamo and her manager mom work Double time for a new generation of British fans.

[Gustavo]

Look at that laptop computer back there. That is highfalutin for 1984.

[Chrissy]

Yeah, it was.

[Gustavo]

You do not find a laptop that I promise you that had the memory, the same kind of memory as Christina's computer. That's like 1, 2K.

[Astrid]

Between shows. She composed new music.

[Gustavo]

I'm getting her a new one. Stop texting me. I hear you already. I can hear you pounding away on that keyboard.

[Astrid]

To be released when she returns stateside. Her core Blimey Limey fans were amazed to learn that Debbie's written more than a thousand songs.

[Gustavo]

Whoa. She wrote a thousand songs. And what's Blimey Limey?

[Chrissy]

I don't know.

[Gustavo]

I don't know either.

[Chrissy]

Yeah, Blimey.

[Gustavo]

I think I was post Blimey Limey.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

You have to be a real Debbie Gibson fan to know what Blimey Limey is.

[Merv]

I don't think I could really choose a favorite as far as recording and doing concerts and doing theater goes, because they're both very different. Theater is a very different thing from, let's say, recording in the sense that the producers are, in the sense that.

[Gustavo]

There'S people out front. Show me the actual yachts. Shit. I don't want to hear about your recording. I don't care.

[Merv]

The director. Everyone has to be confident that you can get out there eight times a week.

[Astrid]

Though immortalized on film, Debbie had no hesitation about reprising her character on stage.

[Gustavo]

Reprising. Reprising. Get it together, Robin.

[Merv]

Sandy. Since I was, you know, like 8 years old and saw the film, I was just dying to do a West End show.

[Gustavo]

So I remember this being a show that showed you all the glitz and glamour, and what this really is, is one big promotional tool, tour tool, for her Off Broadway show Greek. What's that? Nah, we'll keep on rolling with it.

[Chrissy]

Why not?

[Gustavo]

Hey, listen, this episode couldn't get any worse than my grandstanding in segment one.

[Merv]

So to be a part of that is just. It's like being a part of history. It's unbelievable. I think people will always love the 50s era. The upbeat kind of feel that Greece has, I think is timeless.

[Gustavo]

People do love Greece. People do love that Grease. Do you like Greece?

[Chrissy]

I like Greece.

[Gustavo]

Do you like Greece? Jeez. Something wrong with you people? Rocks in your socks or something?

[Astrid]

Triumphant return to her mega million dollar mansion in one of the big apples.

[Gustavo]

Here we go.

[Astrid]

Incredibly Dappy. Was just 18 years of age when she parlayed royalty revenues into this 20 room.

[Gustavo]

10,000 20 bedroom at 18.

[Chrissy]

She was 18 years old.

[Gustavo]

Did he say 20,000 square foot house? 20,000 square foot house. That's 32 of these houses.

[Astrid]

Square foot home. The house that hits Built is sweet sanctuary for the girl who was destined for stardom. Picking out songs at age two, she quickly learned to play five instruments and was performing publicly by age 13.

[Debbie]

Wow.

[Astrid]

The meteoric rise was so swift that only as an American songbird in London was she truly able to take stock of her accomplishments over there. Debbie looked around at a new triumph in a new land, and she liked what she saw.

[Merv]

No time for him on stage. And I look up.

[Gustavo]

Okay, this is one big fluff piece. Speaking of pr.

[Merv]

Yeah. I'm Jane Greece in London.

[Gustavo]

This is how Robin got himself invited to all these places, because everybody knew he was just gonna do one big Jack me off session.

[Chrissy]

Yeah, the website. Exactly.

[Merv]

I'm enjoying my personal life, my professional life. Yeah. And I do kind of go, is this really happening?

[Gustavo]

You know?

[Merv]

Cause it's just. It's one of those times in my life where I feel like I'm exactly where I want to be doing exactly what I want to be doing around the people I want to be around, which doesn't come together that often in life, you know? So when it does, it's like, really?

[Gustavo]

Oh, I don't know. Look at any Instagram of any influencer, and it seems like everything's going swimmingly for them also.

[Chrissy]

Yeah, it comes right together.

[Merv]

Kind of appreciate it and enjoy it.

[Astrid]

Gabby.

[Gustavo]

Good for you.

[Chrissy]

Next.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. Okay, move on to the next one. You showed one shot of her house. That's not the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. That's Debbie Gib. Buy tickets here in London. Shame on you, Robin. I remember this show being much better.

[Debbie]

If relocating's on your mind, look no further than the foothills of Northern Georgia.

[Gustavo]

Oh, I remember this.

[Chrissy]

Beaver Dam Farms.

[Gustavo]

Beaver Dam Farms, huh? I think that went out of business. Yeah.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

I don't know what Beaver Dam Farms is, but I. Georgia, do you see it? Is it still there, Christina? I mean, clearly there's like a multimillion dollar house sitting.

[Brian]

Hold up, hold up, hold up. This is a real estate agency, so Beaver Dam farms. Oh, no. 900 plus acres of pure resort perfection. Let's see that. Oh, just outside of Athens. Up for auction in 2016.

[Gustavo]

Okay. All right.

[Brian]

Well, I don't know.

[Gustavo]

Didn't all work out.

[Chrissy]

Beaver took it.

[Brian]

It'll go for auction on 16 June. Sorry. 2016. Estimated replacement cost, between 30 and 40 million to be sold to the highest bidder at or above 3.5 million. Now that's drama.

[Gustavo]

Wow. That is $3.5 million for how many acres? Man, I wish I saw 900 plus. Yeah. If I was only would have known as a six year old boy watching this episode. It does look beautiful.

[Brian]

But golf courses are famously hard to maintain.

[Gustavo]

They're, they're, they're money and a blight environment.

[Chrissy]

This is somebody's private.

[Gustavo]

It's like a resort abode.

[Chrissy]

No. You know, there's a day there.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. And there's a number of people here in Georgia. And I knew one guy's name was Harrison. He was a lovely real estate developer. And he had this dream, one last hurrah. He would develop like he helped develop like Sun City west out.

[Chrissy]

Okay.

[Gustavo]

It's okay. So he's like a true real estate developer. Who knows what the fuck he's doing. Master plan communities. And he bought a bunch of land down south of the airport to do this huge resort with houses and restaurants and hotels and blah blah, blah, blah. You know, 17 square miles or whatever it was going to be. He's going to make his own city, his own Disney world, his half rock and all this other here. Yes, here. And this guy couldn't, he couldn't get two nickels to rub together to make this happen. Because everyone's like, you're dumb. Who the fuck is gonna come out here to go to your resort when there's nothing to do here? Like there's nothing to do. Who's gonna be the first one to come down here? And essentially he was. He built his own house there and he was lonely cause he was the only guy that living down there. But now I remember why there's a commercial inside of this. Go ahead.

[Brian]

Sorry, I'm just reading it. Formerly was the estate of Kenny Rogers.

[Chrissy]

Oh, Kenny Rogers.

[Brian]

And then it sold to a buyer in Texas and then they used it as a private family retreat and home for a few years, which is crazy. And then it was later sold to a land corporation.

[Gustavo]

A land corporation? Yeah, yeah. Meaning the hedge fund who then bought this for $3.5 million. The reason why there's a commercial inside of this is because he was funding this all himself. So he would embed commercials into the show. Smart, smart thinking, Lincoln.

[Debbie]

Beaver Dam Farm is an old sweet song of Kenny Rogers. A hundred and fifty acre spread he designed and lovingly built with his country music millions like no other working farm. It's a masterful balance of practical luxury, of shadows and light beneath Soaring ceilings. There's a 3,000 square foot mass.

[Chrissy]

This must have been one of like the very first season.

[Gustavo]

Islands in the stream. That is what we are. Lots of cocaine. And I'm at the bar suite, professional.

[Debbie]

Kitchen and movie star pool. Just for openers, the property also contains the world's largest privately owned horse barn. Can you customize all 77,000 square feet of blue ribbon design from marble entrance to brass rail shop.

[Gustavo]

Wow.

[Chrissy]

It's quite impressive.

[Gustavo]

It is huge. Now this is Lifestyles of the rich and famous. This was owned by Kenny Robin. Owned and built by Kenny. And just a few short steps away.

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, we didn't even know.

[Debbie]

Celebrity visitors. A five bedroom guest house with every imaginable luxury, elegant salon, fully.

[Gustavo]

Geez, if someone gave me that guest room in their house.

[Chrissy]

Five bedroom.

[Gustavo]

Unbelievable.

[Chrissy]

Guest house.

[Debbie]

Guest house, gymnasium and bar.

[Gustavo]

Let's not look at that. There is a like a cheers sized bar in that guest house.

[Chrissy]

In the guest house. Yeah.

[Debbie]

At the par 7218.

[Gustavo]

Oh, there's Kenny.

[Debbie]

He's doing gol draw headliner pals to the Peach State just to play a few pains. In Kenny's backyard, a hard drive from the green, you'll find a regulation sized tennis court where visiting Hollywood chums came to work on their backhand.

[Chrissy]

Is that. Was that Woody Harrelson? It was.

[Gustavo]

Wow. Okay. This is Lifestyles of the rich and famous. The guy's got an infinity pool, an 18 hole golf course, the world's largest horse barn. All right there in the luxury of his own backyard. That's what I'm talking about. Kenny Rogers is rich. Debbie Gibson is paying the mortgage.

[Debbie]

Kenny's favorite spot, a gazebo by the lake where he and his son spent lazy afternoons playing hooky.

[Gustavo]

Now the playing hooky and a helicopter landing on your backyard.

[Debbie]

There's moving on. And Beaver Dam farm is on the market. Yours for $13 million.

[Gustavo]

13 million bucks. That was a deal back right in 1984. That's probably the equivalent of 1 million Melania coin.

[Astrid]

Directly ahead, one man.

[Gustavo]

Okay, we're gonna check out Merv Griffin's river steamboat gambling boat. Merv Griffin was into a lot of. Huh. He's probably into S M too. But that's just my interpretation. No offense to the Griffin family.

[Chrissy]

With a name like Merv, if you.

[Gustavo]

Want me to host one of your. If Ryan Seacrest should keel over at any point, you need me to do that Wheel of Fortune gig. I think I could do that. I was telling my son who loves the Wheel of Fortune, I said Son, I could be the host of the Wheel of Fortune. And he said, I think I like Ryan better. That's what he said. Well, that's just the first in a long line of disappointing things you'll say to me, son. And this is one of them. We'll be back.

[Brian]

One of my New Year's resolutions is to hear more of other people's drama. So help a girl out and tell us your drama at 212-433-3822. You can text it or if it's extra juicy, leave us a voicemail with the full story. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTokCBpodcast. And watch our video [e-mail] TheCommercialBreak but also you can find everything I just mentioned and more on our website, tcbpodcast.com okay way. Let's listen to our sponsors and send us your drama.

[Merv Griffin]

Wow.

[Gustavo]

What's up?

[Brian]

I just bought and financed a car through Carvana in minutes.

[Chrissy]

You, the person who agonized four weeks.

[Gustavo]

Over whether to paint your walls eggshell or off white, bought and financed a car in minutes.

[Brian]

They made it easy.

[Chrissy]

Transparent terms, customizable, down and monthly.

[Brian]

Didn't even have to do any paperwork.

[Percy]

Wow.

[Chrissy]

Hey, have you checked out that spreadsheet.

[Gustavo]

I sent you for our dinner? Options?

[Chrissy]

Finance your car with Carvana and experience total control financing subject to credit approval.

[Percy]

Ready to level up. Chumba Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary.

[Brian]

Enjoy hundreds of casino style games like.

[Percy]

Bingo, slots and solitaire anytime, anywhere. With fresh releases every week. Whether you're at home or on the go. Let Shumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus. Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void were prohibited by law 18 + TNC supply.

[Gustavo]

All right. And we're back with the lifestyles of the rich and famous. We just saw Kenny Rogers trying to unload his amazing resort.

[Chrissy]

That thing was amazing. I mean, $13 million useless. That's. It was huge.

[Gustavo]

It was huge. What'd they say? They said it was like 900 acres or something.

[Brian]

Thousand million over 900 acres.

[Gustavo]

900 acres in between Atlanta and Athens. That. That has got to be worth some money now. Some hedge fund made a killing on that. All right, let's see what Merv Griffin is up to. He's the guy who started all the game shows.

[Astrid]

You Love a million dollar gamble. Mighty Mogul Merv Griffin goes for broke with a little help from a company.

[Gustavo]

He does look like a jolly old man, doesn't he? Does. Yeah.

[Chrissy]

He's filthy rich.

[Gustavo]

He's filthy rich. Hook.

[Astrid]

Superhero. Stay with us. Call Merv Griffin Mr. Entertainment. With the Midas touch, the super showman turned mighty mogul says his secret of big business success is all down to an attitude.

[Merv Griffin]

Well, I still have that wonderful optimism about life. I live by the philosophy that there were two stone cutters.

[Gustavo]

I live by the philosophy that there's two young men, two young chiseled stone cutters.

[Merv Griffin]

And they said to them, what do you do? And one of them says, well, I cut stones and I make blocks. And the other one said, I'm on a team that's building a beautiful cathedral. I like the second one.

[Gustavo]

Everybody sing.

[Chrissy]

Everybody sing. He's getting down on that piano.

[Gustavo]

Everybody gather around Grandpa for one last hurrah. Your billionaire grandpa. He's seen Vanna White's titties. All right. Listen to him play Hooty Doody at the Howdy Dowdy.

[Astrid]

The Razza Mataz. An innate savvy that built Merv Griffin Enterprises an empire captained by someone who's never been afraid of going against the stream. Yeah.

[Gustavo]

I would say of all the things your financial advisor would tell you to get involved in riverboat gambling, probably not one of them. It's worse than a restaurant.

[Astrid]

A joke that he sold himself down the river on his newest gamble.

[Merv Griffin]

Well, riverboats are going to be a thing of the night.

[Gustavo]

The 90s.

[Merv Griffin]

I mean, there's no question about it. All the states.

[Gustavo]

Oh, yeah, no question about it.

[Chrissy]

It took off the 90s.

[Gustavo]

If all I can remember about the 90s was riverboat gambling. Gaming.

[Merv Griffin]

And most of them are naming the fact that they have to be riverboats with the paddle wheel and all.

[Astrid]

A floating palace to lady luck players riverboat casino boasts three restaurants, entertainment and a 20, 000 square foot gaming floor with room for 1200 passengers.

[Chrissy]

This really just is an advertise advertisement for him.

[Gustavo]

Yes. Now. Now I see just how fragile my young mind was. I always felt like the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was a fun show showcasing.

[Chrissy]

Came about that later. That's what I was saying. I think this had to be a really early episode.

[Gustavo]

This is. This is an early episode. A season one or season two. I can't remember which one I pulled. But yeah, just. This is just one big commercial for Merv Griffin's riverboat and his big gamble on you Know the wave, taking the wave of the future. Riverboat gambling bankroll.

[Astrid]

The 18 and a half million dollar ship has every reason to toot his own horse.

[Gustavo]

Wait, hold on. It's 18. 18 and a half million dollars to buy that riverboat ship. And it was only 13 to buy Kenny Rogers world's largest horse barn facility. I would have bought Kenny Rogers.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Merv Griffin]

That means somebody won a jackpot.

[Astrid]

Speeding bullet. Merv established the super casino's corporate headquarters somewhere rather fittingly the tiny northern town put on the map by a superhero.

[Merv Griffin]

I guess the name Metropolis came first. I guess when they were doing the the strip in the papers of Superman they took the name of Metropolis. The paper here is the Planet. It's not daily, it's a weekly planet. And they have a statue.

[Chrissy]

I did not know this about metropolitan Metropolis Illinois.

[Gustavo]

I do not care. I really don't. I wonder if they still have that statue there. Ah, it's probably, it's probably a Banksy at this point one but the tourists.

[Merv Griffin]

Do come to see it right in the the town square.

[Astrid]

When he's not wheeler dealing, Merv's having fun usually with longtime companion Ava Gabor and his world explorer and bon vivant, his favorite favorite travel companion.

[Gustavo]

I want to be a bon vivant.

[Chrissy]

How do you do?

[Gustavo]

How do I get to be a bon vivant? Brian Greene and his longtime co host and bon vivant Chrissy Odley sit around and stare at penises as they're slowly revealed behind a curtain. Look, that bon vivant is uncircumcised. He's a true bone vivon elitist. You bon vival.

[Astrid]

Sorry. Son and daughter in law.

[Merv Griffin]

They're a dream couple. They're great fun, they're fun to travel with, they're fun to be with, they're fun to be friends with other than being.

[Gustavo]

And my son in law is sucking all my money. He's sucking up all my cash.

[Merv Griffin]

Close family.

[Astrid]

It's nice to go.

[Gustavo]

Oh yes. Nothing like someone pointed out on the Internet the other day. They said shit started to go wrong in this world when sexy saxophone stopped being played in music. And he like he actually put a timeline together of how the slowly the sexy saxophone went away from music and slowly things got worse around the world. Oh yeah, I think he's onto something.

[Chrissy]

Here actually he doesn't love a little slow saxophone.

[Gustavo]

Listen sexy. I used to play the saxophone of course. It was one of my first instruments. Alto saxophone. I was second chair because. Because Russell was first Jeremy. He was much more talented than I was.

[Astrid]

Oh so nice to come home to a choice of three dream west coast addresses.

[Merv Griffin]

My main headquarters is in Beverly Hills. I love Carmel Valley, where I have been for many, many years. And I have my vineyard there.

[Gustavo]

Bon vivant. My vineyard with my bon vivant. My hose and poo boys. I swing either. I'm a wild Roman man. I'm a bon viv.

[Merv Griffin]

Spots in the world at 1700ft high on a mesa with the big sur mountains up against me.

[Chrissy]

And he was living the life.

[Gustavo]

Oh, he was. This guy was a billionaire before. Yeah, he wasn't that. I don't think he probably would be now. A billionaire. His. His company's got to be worth a billion dollars. At least. He owns all those rights to all those famous television shows. But he's embedding restaurants into the side of a mountain. He's got golf courses everywhere.

[Chrissy]

He's out vineyards.

[Gustavo]

Vineyards. And he's got bon vivons. He's. He's eating olives with toothpicks. This guy's. He's really into something.

[Merv Griffin]

I live in the winter time and that's.

[Gustavo]

He's even got a La Quinta hotel.

[Merv Griffin]

Everything that's a ranch. They're too totally.

[Gustavo]

Well, that's how. That's what bon vivants say. Chrissy.

[Chrissy]

Yes, they do.

[Gustavo]

La Quinta. I say La Quinta places and yeah.

[Merv Griffin]

I'm really crazy about both of them.

[Astrid]

When the islands call Dayo Mer follows the trade winds and spl d.

[Gustavo]

That's from Beetlejuice, not the islands.

[Astrid]

She's down at a balmy hideaway.

[Merv Griffin]

It's the greatest tonic in the world to come here. And you? I sleep here.

[Gustavo]

I sleep here. I sleep here with many people. I sleep here.

[Chrissy]

He's. He's got an island in the Bahamas.

[Gustavo]

He's got an island in the Bahamas. I have an island in the Bahamas. Trouble Islands in my dreams.

[Merv Griffin]

Still I'm very comfortable here.

[Astrid]

He's come a long way from a 50s crooner singing for his supper. Risking a steady $125 a week gig, Merv went solo and scored a number one hit.

[Gustavo]

What? What?

[Astrid]

He flirted with movies until a chance fill in as a host spun him into the living rooms of the first television generation.

[Gustavo]

That's right. He was. He was like the guest host on the Jack Parr show. Then he did the Merv Griffin show.

[Merv Griffin]

Whole world passed through that talk show in those 23 years. It was 23 years.

[Gustavo]

23 years.

[Chrissy]

He had that show for 23 years. Wow.

[Gustavo]

Wow. He was 107 when he died.

[Merv Griffin]

Never Let the audience know what's going to happen next. Did you spit that out of your mout? It was part variety. It was part heavy conversation. It was part everything.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, just like an episode of the commercial break.

[Merv Griffin]

It was all improvised. That's what I love.

[Chrissy]

Don Louise, or what was it?

[Gustavo]

Yeah, that is Don Luis don or Tom DeLuise. Don DeLuise, that's right. Isn't he like Gallagher? Didn't he have a brother? Twin brother. That would go around. I don't, though. Dom. Dom DeLuise.

[Chrissy]

Dom DeLuise.

[Gustavo]

Not Don. Dom with an M.

[Astrid]

Such flamboyance made his low key 1986 farewell all the more poignant.

[Merv Griffin]

We will not be right back after this message. That's all, folks.

[Chrissy]

We will not do that.

[Gustavo]

That's how I am ending the commercial break. Remember this moment, girls, because it might come sooner rather than later. When Brian says we won't, you know, we must say we will say we won't be right back.

[Astrid]

Behind the scenes, he created and launched the two most successful game shows in television history still.

[Gustavo]

On to this day. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Still extraordinarily popular.

[Merv Griffin]

No game has ever in the past or ever will do what Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy. Have done.

[Chrissy]

I mean, I think he might be right.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, no, he's right about that. That they're the two longest running television shows, aren't they? And then the Simpsons or something.

[Merv Griffin]

Yeah, those shows.

[Gustavo]

Oh, I guess the Tonight show in 60 Minutes and CBS this Morning and BBC World. Okay. There's a lot of other shows. Sorry, Merv. It didn't work out how you anticipated.

[Merv Griffin]

The news now of a couple of billion dollars.

[Astrid]

In 1986, Coca Cola made Merv an offer he couldn't refuse. $250 million dollars for both shows.

[Chrissy]

Oh, Coca Cola bottles.

[Merv Griffin]

I'm gonna have some fun now. There's plenty for my son. You know, he'll never have to worry.

[Gustavo]

So why not have some fun?

[Merv Griffin]

And I went out and just started buying things.

[Gustavo]

I didn't know Coca Cola.

[Chrissy]

I had no idea.

[Gustavo]

I had no idea. But it makes sense.

[Astrid]

Merch spree began with $102 million for a West coast hotel.

[Gustavo]

Oh, he owns the Beverly Hilton. Wow. Okay. Chrissy and I are really impressed with Merv Griffin. He's the kind of billionaire we can fall in love with.

[Brian]

Well, he is dead.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. Well, yeah, he's like that old school pedo that. No, you know, just. He's kind of bothersome, but he really didn't do anything bad. And, you know, he just Stepped over a few people's heads to get there and ruined a couple of thousand acres of land and stuff like that. But, you know, they were old. You could give them a break.

[Chrissy]

It was a different time.

[Gustavo]

It was a different time. Now he owns the Beverly. He owned. Well, he owned at the Beverly Hill. Now his son does and his son's.

[Astrid]

Probably never mind for renovations.

[Merv Griffin]

If it's going to be an extension of me, I want to know what's going on in the place and I want input to it. I'm not a passive owner. I don't want to own things and then sell them.

[Astrid]

His next purchase spark a bidding war for Atlantic City Casino. Did anyone beat out Donald Trump?

[Merv Griffin]

I don't know if it'll ever be rectified. With Donald, I didn't bother at all.

[Chrissy]

Oh, my God. Thank God there's a young Donald Trump.

[Gustavo]

Merv Gift Griffin unbothered by Donald Trump.

[Chrissy]

Yeah.

[Merv Griffin]

While he was running around saying, I want, I want, I want, I want, I was in the back of the house with my sleeves rolled up, working on projects and getting things done.

[Percy]

The shade.

[Gustavo]

Wow. Trump getting. Trump being called out early.

[Chrissy]

40 years ago.

[Gustavo]

That's right.

[Astrid]

Winning bid of $365 million won in resorts International Casino and more. With it came an 80 stake in another moneymaker in the Bahamas. With a roll of the dice, the showman muscled his way onto the cutting edge of big business. Yet despite his mover and shaker status, Merv remains a maverick, a mogul whose eye isn't totally focused on. On the bottom line.

[Merv Griffin]

Now, some people do it for money. I don't do it for money. It's very nice. I'm sure that it comes in. If someone says, what are you worth? I have no idea. If somebody said, how much money do you have in the bank? I have no idea.

[Gustavo]

Oh, God. God, would that be nice. God bless. Just for one day, I want to wake up and not wonder what's in my bank account. Do you know what I'm saying? Not wonder how I'm going to pay the bill. Not wonder who's going to call me next for money. Not wonder any of this. Or not worry who's gonna call me next for money. Not worry about any of that. I just wanna be Merv for one day. I wanna wake up and go, I don't know how much I have in my bank account. Well, that's true. I don't know how much I have in my bank account.

[Brian]

I do that, but it's only cause.

[Chrissy]

I don't wanna look, yeah.

[Gustavo]

I do ignore my bank account, largely because when there's a minus, when you open up your app, you just kind of forget about the rest of the numbers.

[Astrid]

Merv Griffin enjoying the fruits of success by spanning the worlds of showbiz and bigger missing.

[Gustavo]

Wow, Good for Merv. I do. I do think I like Merv very much.

[Chrissy]

Merv lived well.

[Gustavo]

Merv lived well. And the fact that he beat Trump out for a couple of hotels makes me even more joyous. On this day of our Lord, whatever day, whatever day it is, today is that important. You have to take that. Okay. I think someone is calling you. They are? Is that who I think it is?

[Chrissy]

Yes.

[Gustavo]

You're kidding me.

[Chrissy]

No.

[Gustavo]

How long has it been since you've talked to her? A while. A long time.

[Chrissy]

Yes.

[Gustavo]

Yeah, she's probably listening to the show, going, what are these two fucking morons up to? I won't mention who because she might not want to be on this show, but, hey, listen, okay, there's the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. We may not revisit that one, but, you know, we did it once. That's all I gotta say.

[Chrissy]

I think if we go to a later.

[Gustavo]

I think so, too. I think we gotta go later. Yeah. When it's more like rich porn. Right?

[Brian]

I can pre screen for you.

[Gustavo]

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. And there aren't. Not every episode is out there on, you know, on the plat, on the. On the interweb. So. Yeah, see if we can find one closer to like 1992 or 93. And that one. And one of those I might remember. Like this. I don't remember. I was too young for all of this. But anyway. All right, so bow to you. Bon Vion. A Bon Vion. A Bovino. Bon Vion. A bovine full. Otherwise known as a Bon vion. Okay, well, that's it. We're back in studio. You know, thank you to Astrid for jumping in. Jumping in for joy. There you go. I do love her dearly. I do love her dearly. But I. I do thank God that you're in this seat six hours a week instead of her.

[Chrissy]

She probably does, too.

[Gustavo]

Oh, yeah. No, definitely no. Why do you think she. Part of her hates the podcast, the other part likes it that I'm occupied with something besides talking to her. Also, Astrid and I talked about this yesterday about kind of the TikTok and creator economy. Some people will text in and they'll say, love the show. If there's anything I can ever do to help, let me know. There is something you can do to help share the show. Share it with a friend, share it with a neighbor. Share it with a boss you don't intend to be employed with for very long. Just send it to someone you don't care about. Sharing is caring. And if you can share the show, that's the biggest favor in the world you can do. Biggest compliment you can pay us. Also, you can follow us on Instagram at the commercial break. We're posting content there now constantly, it seems like at TCB podcast on TikTok. I do try and post there as frequently as possible though. TikTok's another scene altogether and I just don't get it. Yeah, I think we have less than 100 followers. Sure.

[Chrissy]

Hi. That does not surprise me.

[Gustavo]

Oh how impressed Roy Wood Jr. Must be when he goes to our tick tock and he sees less than 100. Anyway. 2124-3338-2382-2212-4333 TCB Questions, comments? Concerns? Content, Ideas? We're taking them all right there and tcbpodcast.com all the auto all the video YouTube.com/the commercial break for every episode now available on video. Chrissy that's all I can do for now, I think.

[Chrissy]

So.

[Gustavo]

I'll say that I love you and I love you. Best to you and best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Chrissy and I do say, we will say and we must say goodbye. We're so done with New Year, new you. This year it's more you on Bumble. More of you shamelessly sending playlists, especially.

[Debbie]

That one filled with show tunes.

[Gustavo]

More of you finding Geminis because you know you always like them. More of you dating with intention because you know what you want and you know what? We love that for you. Someone else will too be more you this year and find them on Bumble.

[Chrissy]

Be honest, when's the last time you had a homemade meal?

[Gustavo]

We get it. Between meetings, workout classes and the kids after school sports, who's got time to cook? That's where HelloFresh comes in. No matter how busy you get, HelloFresh.

[Chrissy]

Has everything you need to get an.

[Gustavo]

Easy home cooked meal on the table. With flavor packed recipes like Parmesan Herb Crusted Salmon.

[Chrissy]

You'll be filling your kitchen with the.

[Gustavo]

Cozy aromas of a homemade meal in no time.

[Percy]

So go ahead, try HelloFresh.

[Gustavo]

It's homemade made easy. Learn [e-mail].

[Robin]

This message comes from PEMCO.

[Gustavo]

Mutual Insurance Company at PEMCO, their mission is to help customers worry less and live more. That's why they're all in on sharing prevention tips that empower you to Prevent some of life's pitfalls before they happen. Visit pemco.com prevention.