Zac Amico’s Morning Zoo – Episode 0048

Guests: Jeremiah Watkins & JP McDade
Date: September 28, 2025
Main Theme:
A riotous, unfiltered round table of comedians riffing on strange news, wild road stories, stand-up inside baseball, and the absurdities of daily life. The trio gleefully poke fun at generational differences, comedy traditions, and the ongoing chaos of America, all while maintaining that signature “Morning Zoo” flavor—irreverent, vernacular-heavy, and chaotically upbeat.

Episode Overview

This wild ride with Zac Amico, joined by stand-up heavyweights Jeremiah Watkins and JP McDade, dives deep into bizarre news stories, tales from the road, the weirdest gigs, and the evolving cultures of crowd comedy, all seasoned with their trademarked irreverent humor.

The discussion swings from elderly ushers in peril and wild bar stories, to the etiquette of Metro-North, crowd babysitting, and the physiological realities of being on the road (and the can). Highlights include:

• Viral news stories processed through a comic lens
• Deep-dive stories from New York's least glamorous club days
• Confessional-level road and bar tales
• Cultural commentary on public space, crowd behavior, and body functions

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Comedy and Club Culture: Inside Baseball

• [02:07–03:19] The group does a plug round and reminisces about the power of having a “signature piece of furniture” on stage. Amico mentions the awkwardness of performing with an armchair—has Cosby connotations (“It looks like Cosby’s about to go” – Amico, [06:09]), while McDade and Watkins discuss how each comic’s got their “thing” (Maron's stool, Voss’s stool, etc.).
• [12:15–17:29] Amico dives into a rambling, darkly hilarious story about his days at New York’s infamous LOL Comedy Club. He describes being conscripted into illegal bartending gigs, not knowing prices, dealing with endless underage drinkers, and eventually leaving amid a scene that likens to “a hundred dying Puerto Ricans all holding their stomachs and just girls crying.”

  “It was like Gone With the Wind, but this is the lobby and it’s all Puerto Ricans…” – Amico ([18:40])

2. Wild and Weird News Stories

• Elderly Usher Attack (“NBA Youngboy” Concert)
  • [04:55–11:33] The trio watches the viral video and lampoons both the overmatched usher and the breakdown of social norms.
  • JP: “This is why you never go above and beyond at work.” ([08:29])
  • Jeremiah points out industry shifts: “If he keeps working there, for sure is going to grab security anytime he needs to ask someone to move now.”
  • Group lampoons hiring practices: “Maybe old Phil should work Barnum & Bailey’s next week.” ([09:50])
• Kids at White Concerts Using the N-word
  • [10:00–11:23] Amico regretfully relives watching "12-year-old white girls screaming the N word" at Hot Topic-era Mindless Self Indulgence shows, highlighting generational and racial tensions from the lens of club security.

3. Road & Bar Stories: Customer Service Hell

• Bartending at Dance Nights
  • [13:10–19:50] Amico details the chaos of being a first-time bartender—no register, no menu, makes up prices, gets overrun by teenagers, and flees the scene as the police arrive to a lobby of “dying Puerto Ricans.” He confesses to essentially robbing the club blind alongside other comics, resulting in them never being hired again but leaving with pockets full of cash.
  • Notable exchange:
    • Jeremiah: “You’re an adult with a lemonade stand at that point.” ([16:51])
    • Amico: “They gave me a Tupperware to put the money in—no register, no inventory…” ([16:53])

4. Crowd Management & Wildest Gigs

• Drunkest Audiences Ever
  • [21:38–24:05] Early show Florida, teachers crawling out drunk from Bobby Slayton’s clean show. Teachers “got up at 5 am, started drinking at lunch, crawling on hands and knees.”
  • “Bailey’s bottle in the teacher’s lounge was empty…” – McDade ([22:40])
• Outdoor, BYOB, and Pandemic Shows
  • [26:32–29:46] New York’s post-pandemic “bring your own everything” crowd model results in “Gremlins rule” – when the audience gets wild after 10 PM. “Once it hits 10 pm, that’s when they go from good to evil…” – JP ([27:10])
  • SOULJOEL: “He sold VIP front row tickets to an outdoor seat-yourself show!” ([28:42])
  • “She took her pussy out…” – Amico, recalling an old lady’s shock move at an outdoor gig, sparking gleeful, raucous speculation on the physicality required for such a feat. ([29:26])

5. Train Etiquette, Race, and Old Lady Drama

• Metro-North Incident
  • [31:32–36:09] After a black man is removed from the train for having his feet up, Zac and JP debate “losers all around” scenarios and the unique decorum of Metro-North vs. the subway.
    • JP: “If people are breaching etiquette, you kind of want to see their day get ruined.” ([32:48])
    • Zac: “The Metro North has still got some decorum; the subway is made of filth…” ([33:10])
    • The segment blends social commentary with comic exasperation about public space control (“Nowhere to sit in Grand Central!” – [37:30])

6. Odd Crime: Man Robs Bank To Escape Wife… Gets House Arrest

• [38:34–40:30]
  • Elderly man tries to get sent to jail to escape his marriage; instead, receives house arrest, leaving him “stuck with his wife forever.”
    • JP: “So cruel and unusual punishment.” ([38:34])
    • The group riffs on “homelessness vs. jail” as a choose-your-own-adventure book.
      • “How much do you love structure?” – JP ([40:56])
    • Comedic tangent about witnessing public sex among the homeless (with a vivid anecdote from Zac involving a homeless couple’s priorities).

7. Hooker Interviews & “Human Interest” Content

• [44:00–47:26]
  • Zac introduces YouTube’s genre of “man on the street” hooker interviews, leading to a brief, bleak viewing (“Practice, practice, practice,” offers a Detroit street worker as summary of her craft—[45:14]).
  • “Really hard to ballpark a hooker’s age…” – Zac, musing on the accelerated aging of street workers ([43:09]).

8. Physical Endurance & Beer Steins

• Queens Stein-Holding Contest
  • [50:46–54:13]
    • Segment on who can hold a five-pound beer stein outstretched the longest—winner got $4,000.
      • “If you do this long enough, is there pressure on your arm so when you don’t have a stein, your arm just stays in a Nazi salute?” – Zac ([51:46])
    • Tangents about Oktoberfest-related drunkenness, and the purity laws of German beer.

9. Public Toilets Requiring Ads to Dispense Toilet Paper (China)

• [55:02–58:14]
  • China rolling out a system: you must watch an ad or pay to get a strip of toilet paper in public restrooms.
    • “I would need to watch 85 ads to take a shit.” – Zac ([56:23])
    • Group riffs on what that would do to Americans with digestive regularity (“If I’m included in the stats, there’s eight people that don’t shit in weeks!” – Zac [57:19])
  • The group polls each other on their own frequency, leading to a disgustingly detailed but hilarious breakdown of Zac’s daily schedule.

10. GWAR & Stage Antics

• [60:31–63:09]
  • Closing: Zac reminisces about seeing GWAR behead every sitting president, abort Taylor Swift, etc. Now people are shocked—they’ve just started decapitating “Elon Musk” on stage…
    • “You mean the doll they’ve been decapitating for 30 years?!” – Zac ([61:48])
  • Show closes out with a request for GWAR’s cover of “Carry On My Wayward Son.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Zac Amico: “It makes a mockery of the concept of time.” ([02:07]), on the show’s afternoon “morning” slot.
• JP McDade: “There’s two types of stank face. There’s good stank face and bad stank face.” ([10:23]), dissecting security’s reactions at concerts.
• Jeremiah Watkins: “Working in customer service will make you a Buddhist. You become Zen, or you will die.” ([12:10])
• Amico, recalling a club con: “They’d sell ‘ball drop at midnight’ NYE tickets, then wheel in a TV on a cart to watch the ball drop.” ([20:14])
• On New York club survival: “They would just change their name slightly every six months and start a new Yelp.” ([20:45])
• On “structural flaws” at the worst clubs: “There were two kinds of black people, Chris…” ([14:20–14:25]), a mocking reference to the club’s own twisted marketing.
• Watkins: “That’s your mom lifting a car because a baby is stuck under it moment!” ([16:11]), on Zac’s bartending power boost.
• On pandemic shows: “SoulJoel booked VIPs for outdoor seat-yourself shows. Entrepreneur.” ([28:45])
• On feet up on the Metro North: “If people are breaching etiquette, you kind of want to see their day get ruined.” ([32:48])
• On house arrest for attempted jail escape: “So cruel and unusual punishment.” ([38:34])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:56 – Introduction and branding jokes
• 02:07 – “Mockery of time” / what makes a morning show/branding
• 04:55 – Elderly usher news story & stand-up seating bits
• 12:10 – Customer service, Zen, and nightclub con stories
• 18:40 – Gone With the Wind reference / bar disaster story
• 21:38 – Drunkest audiences & road gigs
• 26:32 – Crowd control: BYOB shows; “Gremlins rule”
• 29:26 – The infamous “pussy out” story at an outdoor gig
• 31:32 – Metro-North etiquette, race, and train policing story
• 38:34 – Bank robber sentenced to “house arrest” with wife
• 44:00 – Hooker interview YouTube genre
• 50:46 – Stein-holding contest & Oktoberfest war stories
• 55:02 – Ads for toilet paper in China & debate on bowel movement averages
• 60:46 – GWAR’s stage decapitations & how the media covers it
• 63:09 – Outro, GWAR song, and goodbyes

Tone & Language

The episode sticks close to the bones of blue-collar, “degenerate comedy” radio: rapid riffs, no awkward silences, plenty of crosstalk and callbacks, all heavily seasoned with first-person war stories, inside jokes, and streetwise vernacular. Throughout, the hosts maintain irreverence, self-deprecation, and comic exaggeration—never taking a story at face value if there’s a bit to be wrung.

Summary

Zac Amico’s “Morning Zoo” showcases the anarchic spirit of drive-time comedy—swerving between viral news, stand-up scars, and the lowest of low-brow humor, all through the chemistry of seasoned comics who’ve seen the best (and worst!) of the road. Whether you’re an industry insider or a wannabe-degenerate, this is the episode for learning how the sausage gets made—and watching it slide across the floor.