Podcast Summary: Zac Amico's Morning Zoo

Episode 0041: With Guests Tristan Bowling & Dave Sirus
Date: September 5, 2025
Network: GaS Digital

Overview

This episode of Zac Amico’s Morning Zoo is a raucous, unpredictable ride through reality TV obsessions, wild road stories from the stand-up circuit, morbid curiosities, and signature irreverent banter. Zac is joined by comedians Tristan Bowling and Dave Sirus—along with occasional input from producer Shannon Lee—for a show that veers between TV show deep-dives, bizarre tour mishaps, dark comedy about medical oddities, and discussions of recent weird news.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Comics and Mornings: The Struggle is Real

• [02:00] Zac, Tristan, and Dave open with banter about how difficult it is for comedians to wake up early enough for a “morning zoo” show.
  • Zac shares, “It is very hard to book comics before this. You tried to do 9am and 10am and it is fucking tough.”
  • Tristan confesses he had to cut back on video games just to show up.

2. Reality TV Obsessions: Naked & Afraid, Love Shows, and British Oddities

• [03:09-11:58] The crew dives into reality TV:
  • Naked and Afraid: Dave describes his love for the show, likening it to pro wrestling for its participant drama.
    • Dave: “It’s realizing how dark the lives of the people who need to do this are... my life has sucked so much that not eating for three weeks in this desert is fine.” [04:00]
  • Other Reality Shows: There’s a tangent about Alone, 90 Day Fiancé, and a British dating show where contestants are eliminated based on full-frontal nudity alone.
    • Zac details the hilariously brutal elimination process: “No talk, no questions. No interaction. Then it goes up to, like, their armpits, and you eliminate another person. Then it shows their face, then you eliminate another person, and that’s when you start to talk to them.” [09:00]
  • The trio keeps riffing creative observations about the human condition revealed by these shows, with plenty of crude humor.

3. Wild Road Story: One-Armed Comic, Jail & Gas Station Sleuthing

• [12:15-24:21] Zac recounts a recent road adventure:
  • He was on a run through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, driven by his feature J. Wall, a comic born without one arm—whom Zac hilariously describes.
  • Crisis hits: J. Wall gets arrested after dozing off in a gas station parking lot, suspected of being passed out from drugs by attendants, and then charged with public intoxication (not a DUI—“so much better than a DUI though” [20:18], jokes Tristan).
  • Zac and the MC’s convoluted search to pick J. Wall up from jail is classic road gig mayhem, featuring a fat opener’s deep knowledge of which gas stations have which fast food:
    • “Young Luke... went ‘Pilots don’t have McDonald’s, Pilots have Wendy’s. Loves have McDonald’s.’ What a Rhodes scholar, dude.” [21:00]
  • The segment is a highlight of degenerate camaraderie and mid-level stand-up gig glory.
  • Quip from Zac: “Not only did he have the name of the wrong gas station, he told us we were looking for a Pilot. It was a Loves... the Bloods and Crips of truck stop gas stations.” [20:57]

4. Conjoined Twins: In Love, Teachers, Country Stars, and Brain Science

• [30:03-46:44] The group discusses the viral news about conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, exploring the mechanics of their bodies, their marriage, and their unusual lives.
  • Dave ponders, half-seriously: “Isn’t anyone else just, like, shocked at how well things have gone for them? ... You’re so used to these being, like, really sad... but they have a kid and a family!” [32:27]
  • The conversation detours into infamous conjoined twins from talk show history—one of whom transitioned gender, another who hated her sister’s taste in country music, and the ethics of separation surgeries.
  • Zac: “If I was the straight one, I might go, you know what? This guy’s gonna... for the good...” [34:45]
  • Dave, with characteristic dark humor: “If only one likes something, it’s still rape.” [36:39]

5. The Mutter Museum, Medical Oddities, and Morbid Fascination

• [45:08-47:41] Zac and Dave bond over their visits to Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum, home to medical oddities. Skulls, iron lungs, and outdated terms for disabilities in the skull collection are discussed.
  • Dave: “Some just say idiot. Idiot, Jew, cretin...” [46:06]
  • The museum contains a fascinoma of oddities—"drawers and drawers of shit you can go through." [47:11]
  • The tone is one of fascinated morbidity, reveling in the grotesque.

6. Pentagon Pizza Index: When Deep State Jokes Become Real

• [53:11-56:22] Zac shares the bizarre but real “Pentagon Pizza Index” story—a Cold War-era espionage technique tracking when and how much the Pentagon orders pizza as a measure of looming crises.
  • Dave quips: “Are they also able to determine how dire the situation is by what pizza they’re ordering? ... if you’re ordering Papa John’s, you know, death is near.” [54:19]
  • The group riffs on Comet Ping Pong, Pizzagate lore, and the absurd potential for misinterpretation.
  • “Dude, that is very specific. Like that is a question you ask in the Verizon store... ‘Can I talk to my dad [from jail]?’” [16:17]

7. Stingray Sold to a Chinese Restaurant (Or Not)

• [58:07-60:56] They react to a viral video showing NYC men selling a “found” stingray to a Chinese restaurant.
  • Sirus: “The word ‘found’ here is the problem with this headline. Those men did not find a stingray. Acquire is more correct.” [58:12]

8. Plus-Size Model’s Dating Struggles

• [67:03-73:23] The crew reviews a viral story about a 6’0, 385-pound plus-size model saying men are “ashamed” to be seen with large women.
  • Extended, explicit appreciation for her looks (“That’s my speed,” says Zac [69:42]), and sympathy for the social double standard.
  • Dave: “I would say the blonde is the hot one... But yeah, that’s bigger than I’ve ever dated, but very pretty face.... If that’s what you’re into, I totally get it.” [70:44/71:07]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On reality TV’s appeal:
  Dave: “It’s actually a lot like wrestling... It’s realizing how dark the lives of the people who need to do this are.” [03:56]
• On survival shows:
  Tristan: “There’s always some bitch every season here just being like, ‘These are the good berries!’... then just diarrhea sounds and a helicopter coming to take them out.” [04:26]
• On the uniqueness of British dating shows:
  Zac: “It starts at the bottom and it reveals them up to like, the waist, completely naked... No talk, no questions, no interaction.” [08:46]
• Road gig madness:
  Zac: “Now I get to knock off my road list picking up a one-armed white guy with cornrows from jail in the middle of a tour.” [17:39]
• Gas station detective work:
  Zac: “Young Luke, our navigator, was a fat little shit because he went ‘Pilots don’t have McDonald’s... Loves have McDonald’s. What a Rhodes scholar, dude!’” [21:00]
• On conjoined twins and sex:
  Dave: “It would be so mean if they didn’t let her participate in the lovemaking. Like this guy...” [35:31]
  Tristan: “Just cuddle buddies forever. That’s crazy.” [34:17]
• On the Pentagon Pizza Index:
  Zac: “Apparently they’ve been tracking this since the Cold War because they realized the Soviets were using it... To track how many late night meetings, how many people were staying overtime at the Pentagon.” [53:54]

Timestamps of Important Segments

• [02:00-05:00] Mornings vs. Comics
• [03:09-11:58] Reality TV Deep Dive (Naked & Afraid, Alone, 90 Day Fiancé, British nude dating)
• [12:15-24:21] Zac’s Road Story: J. Wall, Jail, Gas Station Detective
• [30:03-46:44] Conjoined Twins: Abby & Brittany, Country Stars, Gender and Brain Science
• [45:08-47:41] Mutter Museum & Morbid Medical Oddities
• [53:11-56:22] Pentagon Pizza Index – Pizza and Espionage
• [58:07-60:56] Viral News: Stingray Sold to Restaurant
• [67:03-73:23] Plus-Size Model, Dating and Beauty Standards

Tone & Style

• Uncensored, dark, and irreverent: The show’s signature humor is brash, uncensored, and heavy on gallows humor, making even medical oddities and jail time fodder for laughs.
• Conversational and riff-driven: Much of the humor is in the spontaneous riffing and interplay between Zac, Tristan, and Dave, who are quick to jump from topic to bizarre tangent.
• Self-aware degenerate perspective: The hosts are fully aware—and proud—of their status as “lovable degenerates,” leaning into grotesque and taboo-comedy territory.

For Listeners: Why This Episode?

Whether you love reality TV, want to hear truly wild “life on the road” stories, or have a penchant for the morbid and taboo, this episode is a quintessential slice of unhinged, drive-time comedy radio for weirdos. There’s an endless stream of jokes, strange knowledge, and “I-can’t-believe-they-said-that” moments—with just enough heart and human insight to balance the chaos.

Next Episodes: Zac and crew release three episodes per week, with the Friday show for subscribers only on gasdigital.com.

If you enjoy raw, high-energy, boundary-pushing comedy and can stomach a little darkness (and a lot of chaos), Morning Zoo is your new breakfast club.