12: #12 | Mississippi with Landon Bryant

Summary

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Public Figures Podcast Episode 12 | “Mississippi,” with Landon Bryant

Date: April 22, 2026
Hosts: Brian Bates, Aaron Weber, Dusty Slay
Guest: Landon Bryant

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Episode Overview

This week's episode of Public Figures welcomes special guest Landon Bryant—a Mississippi native, viral internet storyteller, and former Teacher of the Year. The crew dives deep into Mississippi’s quirks, history, culture, and identity, weaving Landon’s stories with their trademark blend of Southern wit and playful sarcasm. They also catch up on comedy festivals, oddball food challenges, childhood memories, and Mississippi’s hidden gems.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nashville Comedy Scene Recap & Comic Adventures

(00:42–10:43)

• The hosts recount their experiences at the Nashville Comedy Festival, discussing show schedules, celebrity encounters at a Michael J. Fox charity event (including meeting Michael J. Fox and seeing Eric Church), and the confusion around set lengths.
  • “I showed up. My name’s not on any of the flyers... I just jump in a picture. I go, 'Hey, I’m on the show. Let me in.'” — Dusty Slay (03:02)
• Reflects on the energy in Nashville’s comedic landscape and side gigs, including Dusty’s live "Consumers Podcast" taping and Brian's trip to McAllen, Texas with Angela Johnson.

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2. Food, Country Culture, and Oddball Challenges

(10:51–17:21)

• The team discusses southern food rituals—Hardee’s, chili dogs, hot dogs at ballparks (“999 challenge”: 9 innings, 9 beers, 9 hot dogs during a baseball game).
  • “What is disgusting? Just the whole thing. For me to think about consuming that much out in the hot.” — Brian Bates (15:40)
• Humorous takes on the health effects of these traditions.

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3. Riffing on Taxes, Small Town Politics, and Community Movements

(11:16–13:36, 25:15–27:46)

• Brian revisits a rural “Keep It Country” rally aimed at fighting land development and keeping agricultural traditions.
• Engages in listener comments about property tax and how taxes are collected, with tongue-in-cheek economic theories thrown in.
  • “Property tax is the most insane thing that I’ve ever seen... you don’t own something if they can take it from you.” — Aaron Weber (27:43)

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4. Viral Moments: The Moon Landing Debate

(28:01–33:41)

• Dusty and Aaron rekindle the recurring argument about why stars aren’t visible in moon landing photographs, poking fun at conspiracy theories and photographic explanations.
  • “When I look up in the sky, I see lots of stars, right? But the sky is in space and you don’t see any. Why? Why is that?” — Aaron Weber (29:37)
• Classic example of the podcast’s playful, pseudo-serious conspiracy discourse.

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5. Riffs, Reviews, and Community Interaction

(21:01–41:11)

• Hosts read and riff off listener comments from Twitter, YouTube, and more, with running jokes about podcast formats, thumbnail controversies, and fan feedback.
  • “Caleb Wilson: We get a free two-hour podcast every week. It’s always funny and entertaining. It is clear that you all care a lot about the fans and for that I am very thankful.” (23:01)
  • “Well, Caleb. Come on, Caleb. What do you know? ...An idiot.” — Aaron Weber (23:25)
• Contemplate ideas like Dusty doing children’s book reviews, demonstrating the show’s interactive format.

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6. Introduction of Guest: Landon Bryant & His Mississippi Roots

(47:09–55:29)

• Landon recounts his first-ever stand-up gig (with Brian) in Columbia, TN—and how he went viral sharing tales of attending “Walmart High School” (after a tornado destroyed his original school).

  • “I literally went to Walmart for high school... They built a plywood cubicle maze in that Walmart... So we went to— I literally went to Walmart High School.” — Landon Bryant (55:22)

• Anecdotes about learning environments, tornadoes in Mississippi, local humor, and collabing with the National Weather Service after “getting in trouble” for cavalier tornado advice.

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7. True Mississippi: Culture, Food, Language, and Identity

(67:05–113:41)

History, Small Towns, and “Keep It Country”

• Reflections on what makes Mississippi unique—local slang, “fixin’ to” and “finna,” rural customs, and why Mississippians love sitting on porches and taking life slow.

Mississippi’s Cultural & Pop Legacy

• List of celebrities from Mississippi: Elvis (Tupelo), Oprah, Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Britney Spears, Jim Henson, B.B. King, Morgan Freeman, and more.
• Discussion of the state’s remarkable improvement in educational outcomes (“The Mississippi Miracle”):
  • “We just started teaching phonics again... and it immediately skyrocketed the whole situation. And we did it with the least, the lowest paid teachers... it was all just scraping and scrapping.” — Landon Bryant (83:29)

Music, Football, and Traditions

• Explains the “Egg Bowl” rivalry (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State), origins of cowbells at games (“State was an agricultural school... be ready if you’re going to a Mississippi state game—they’re gonna be ringing those cowbells the whole time.” — Landon Bryant [89:44])
• Trivia about universities, mascots, and naming quirks.
• Discussion of comeback sauce, Mississippi mud pie, and other regional culinary creations.

Classic Southern Upbringing

• The “crooked letter, humpback” mnemonic for spelling Mississippi.
• “Backyard football” counted in “one Mississippi, two Mississippi...”
• Porch culture and deep pride in local roots:
  • “If you love, like, sitting on a porch, like, if that's enough for you to sit on a porch and, like, enjoy the sunset and enjoy the pine trees... Mississippi's place for you... it's a place to be proud.” — Landon Bryant (112:41)

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8. Landon’s Comedy Career and Opry Debut

(107:14–112:39)

• Upcoming milestones: performing at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, prepping his first official Opry set, and excitement for family and friends to witness his stand-up career.
• Reflects on transitioning from public school teaching to sharing stories and comedy on bigger stages and the internet.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Michael J. Fox:
  • “I grew up really only knowing him as an advocate for Parkinson’s research, because I didn’t. I’m not old enough. ...I watched it knowing he would later become what he is today.” — Aaron Weber (06:02)
• On Moon Landing Photos:
  • “When I look up in the sky, I see lots of stars, right? But the sky is in space and you don’t see any. Why? Why is that?” — Aaron Weber (29:37)
• On Walmart High School:
  • “Our principals greeted us wearing Walmart vests every day. They loved that joke. And then they continued that for the rest of the school year.” — Landon Bryant (55:51)
• On Comeback Sauce:
  • “Comeback sauce... that's us... I know everywhere had comeback sauce... but yeah, like magic going on.” — Landon Bryant (99:40)
• On Mississippi’s Pace:
  • “If you don’t want to have much going on and just enjoy life in a very slow pace, I think I’ll always be—that’ll always be my home base, because that’s what I imagine when I think of, like, what life is like.” — Landon Bryant (112:41)
• On Overcoming Cringe as a Local Celebrity:
  • “We have to climb that cringe hill. ...It’s so cringey to think about the people that know you... but once you climb the hill, then it’s not cringey anymore. And you just totally stop caring.” — Landon Bryant (106:15)

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Mississippi Fast Facts & Oddities (as discussed)

• Largest city and capital: Jackson (68:29)
• Famous for: football, music (Elvis, B.B. King), and unique foods (mud pie, comeback sauce)
• Education: Drastic improvement in literacy via phonics in the last decade (“The Mississippi Miracle”)
• No major comedy clubs; most gigs are theaters or churches (104:01)
• Iconic sporting traditions: “Egg Bowl” (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State), cowbells, unique mascot history (black bear, land shark, failed Admiral Ackbar attempt)

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Important Timestamps

• Comedy Festival & Michael J. Fox Story: 01:42–07:01
• “Keep It Country” Movement: 11:16–13:36
• Moon Landing Debate: 28:01–33:41
• Listener Comments Section: 21:01–41:11
• Introduction of Guest (Landon Bryant): 47:09
• Walmart High School Story: 55:06–58:50
• Mississippi Deep Dive (Culture and Trivia): 67:05–90:21
• Comeback Sauce Discussion: 99:40
• Landon on the Opry & Closing: 107:14–112:39

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Guest Closing Thoughts: The Heart of Mississippi

(113:41)

“I just. I love it there. I love Mississippi. It’s a great place. If you love, like, nature, if you love, like, sitting on a porch, like, if that’s enough for you... that’ll always be my home base... that is what life is.” — Landon Bryant

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Where to Find More

• Landon Bryant: @landontalks and landontalks.com

Upcoming Shows:

• Landon at the Grand Ole Opry
• Aaron Weber, Dusty Slay, and Brian Bates—tour dates at their respective comedy sites

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“Public Figures” delivers another episode loaded with clever Southern humor, heartwarming stories, and an offbeat but affectionate portrait of Mississippi. Landon Bryant’s journey—from Walmart High School to education reform advocate to viral comic and Opry performer—encapsulates the state’s mix of grit, resilience, and charm.

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Transcript

[Landon Bryant]

This is Sarah Spain from Good Game with Sarah Spain, brought to you in

[Brian Bates]

part by Vital Farms.

[Landon Bryant]

Let me tell you why Vital Farms

[Aaron Weber]

pasture raised eggs are the only eggs I have in my fridge.

[Landon Bryant]

The hens, they're living the good life.

[Aaron Weber]

Fresh air, sunshine, and wide open pastures. I use my Vital Farms for my

[Landon Bryant]

famous frittatas and you could trace your

[Aaron Weber]

eggs back to the farm they came from.

[Landon Bryant]

Check the carton for the farm name, pop it into vitalfarms.com farm and boom, you're looking at the pasture. So next time you're in the store,

[Aaron Weber]

look for the black carton in the

[Landon Bryant]

egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Farms good eggs, no shortcuts.

[Dusty Slay]

Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Public Figures podcast. I. I'm. I'm being told I'm leading the episode to drive engagement because the most people hate me more than the others. Let's let Aaron lead an episode so we get a lot of bad comments. Oh, I'm happy to serve my role, whatever that is and do what I can for the Nateland universe at large. Welcome into the Public Figures podcast alongside Dusty Slay. There he is. And.

[Brian Bates]

All right, I almost got it in.

[Aaron Weber]

All right.

[Brian Bates]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Good to be here. It's been a while. We are here recording live in studio in Nashville, Tennessee at Zany's Comedy Club. We are just finished off a long Nashville comedy festival. There are shows every night. I did a spot every night of the festival. Except for last night. Been pretty busy. But we were rolling. We had a good time.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I wanted to ask you guys about, because you. Did you do a spot every night?

[Aaron Weber]

Not every night. I did a couple. I did a few things. I did. You know, I did my show on Tuesday. No, no, definitely not every night. I did Hugh Howser show. I did my show on Tuesday. I did a Michael J. Fox charity event.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, well, you guys both did that. I wanted to ask you guys about that.

[Dusty Slay]

We both did it. That wasn't technically part of the festival, but it was going on during it. It was, it was a lot of fun. Yeah. We met Michael J. Fox. Eric Church was there. Little Big Town. Was there a bunch of other. Just random celebrities.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know her name. But the redheaded girl from that 70s show.

[Dusty Slay]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Was there.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, is that the girl that was in the. One of the group photos?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I couldn't figure out who that was.

[Aaron Weber]

I didn't meet her, but I don't even think I was supposed to be on the show. But I Showed up and they put me on.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I wasn't on the post.

[Dusty Slay]

Can we tell the story about that?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

You were a featured guest at this event last year?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I was.

[Dusty Slay]

You did a full set?

[Aaron Weber]

Last year I was the only comic.

[Dusty Slay]

So then this year I was reading the run of show and it was Aaron Weber doing 10 minutes, Maggie Hughes Apollo doing 10 minutes. Before that, it was a two minute spot from Dusty Slay to introduce the comics.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And I go, I said to my management, I was like, I don't want to go down there just to do two minutes. They go, no, you're doing a full set. So I said, okay. And then later, Aaron messages me. He goes, you're only doing two minutes. And it freaked me out. So I message again. I go, are you sure I'm doing 10 minutes? They go, yes, you're for sure doing 10 minutes. And then I show up. My name's not on any of the flyers or people had no idea I was on it. They were already doing the red carpet when I got there. I got there on time and everybody was already doing everything. I just jump in a picture. I go, hey, I'm on the show. Let me in. And then the stage manager comes back there and goes, all right, there's a clock on the stage. You're doing two minutes. I go, no, I'm doing ten. Ten. They go, we were told too. They. And then they were trying to like, make it fun.

[Dusty Slay]

I love it. You finally put your foot down. You were like, I'm doing well.

[Aaron Weber]

I told my time, my manager Matt was there, and he. He goes, no, you're doing 10. And he goes, he was seemed irritated that that had happened. And he goes, let me go talk to somebody. And then he came back and he goes, all right, you're doing 10. He goes, you are always doing 10. I don't know why this has happened.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. So me and Maggie did two and Dusty did

[Aaron Weber]

an hour.

[Dusty Slay]

Dusty did his full minutes. Actually ran the light a little bit.

[Aaron Weber]

I probably did 12 because the clock wasn't working when I got out there. So I had to joke about that.

[Dusty Slay]

It's like when the clock doesn't work right away, you're like, oh, I can do as much time as I want.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Were you gonna blame me? Your clock was broken.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, but it was great.

[Dusty Slay]

It was cool to perform. I mean, 10 yards from Michael J. Fox. Here we are. I pulled it up. Picture of us on the red carpet there. Oh, yeah, you got Michael J. Fox doing the hand wave.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Having a good Time.

[Brian Bates]

That's Maggie, who's Apollo, who's very funny. She's open for Nate, and she's done a ton of shows here.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, yeah. She. She.

[Aaron Weber]

She's open for me before, too, guys.

[Dusty Slay]

She open for me most recently.

[Brian Bates]

I open for her. So she's doing well. Well, that. That was really cool. You. You met Michael J. Fox last year.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Did he remember you?

[Dusty Slay]

He did remember him immediately.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I got a little more time to talk to him last time. I didn'.

[Brian Bates]

Because. Because these guys were there. Chris Stapleton wasn't talking to him.

[Dusty Slay]

No, I didn't talk to him at all.

[Aaron Weber]

Did you not.

[Dusty Slay]

I said, hey, thanks for letting me.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, you know, interesting. You know, there's a bit of an age difference between me and Aaron. And, you know, Aaron was like, you know, he just has a different take on Michael J. Fox. Like, I don't mean. I don't mean I want to hear

[Brian Bates]

this, because I grew up.

[Dusty Slay]

That's an interesting way to frame.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I wanted to let you explain it in your own way, because it's not a bad take, but.

[Brian Bates]

What's your take?

[Aaron Weber]

But. Well, I'll say, like, growing up. Like, I grew up watching Back to the Future. I grew up watching Doc Hollywood. I grew up watching Teen Wolf. And then Aaron was saying that I.

[Dusty Slay]

I grew up really only knowing him as an advocate for Parkinson's research, because I didn't. I'm not old enough. Yeah, that's what I.

[Brian Bates]

What'd you do before this, Mr. Parkinson?

[Dusty Slay]

You're like, an actor or something. That's crazy. No, I just. I didn't know him before Parkinson's. I'm just. I'm not old enough to have really known him for the star that he was before that. But I have seen a lot of his stuff, but I watched it knowing he would later become what he is today.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I thought you were gonna say Spin City, but even that was probably before your time.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, I don't even know what that is.

[Brian Bates]

Was he on Spin City?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that was his sitcom.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay. From 96 to 2002.

[Brian Bates]

What? Well, that was Family Ties, but I'm saying that. That Aaron might now.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, I was.

[Aaron Weber]

Spin City was his last sitcom.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay. I was five when the show came out. I've never heard of it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I know. Alex P. Keaton, Family Ties. That was huge when I was a kid. And then those movies Dusty just mentioned was right in my heyday, so. Yeah, I would love to have met him.

[Aaron Weber]

Doc Hollywood. Nobody ever talks about it, but that's A great movie.

[Brian Bates]

It is a great movie.

[Dusty Slay]

It was a cool event. And then, you know, we did the shows at Zany's. There's just stuff going on. There's a lot of energy just around Nashville comedy for the last few days. So that's. That'll die down.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I was home all week, sitting on the couch. You guys hosted the Jimmy Fallon auditions, right?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, we did.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Yeah. How'd that go?

[Dusty Slay]

They were great. Honestly. The show.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Was really good. I didn't see any of yours.

[Aaron Weber]

They. I thought they were good. I mean, I messed around. I got a new joke that I probably can't even talk about on the podcast. Well, too dirty. Well, it's not dirty, but it could. You know, you could see how it could be taken as a dirty joke. But I'm just talking about a few of the lines from the John Mellencamp song Jack and Diane, how. How they enjoy their chili dogs. And. And I. I cannot stop talking about the joke. I cannot stop doing it.

[Dusty Slay]

He talked about it for, like, three hours backstage of the Michael J. Fox thing. He just went up there and talked about it on stage for eight minutes of your 10 minutes.

[Aaron Weber]

And then I have just been doing it. Any set I get, I'm just doing that joke. And I think it went really well on my show. Really well on Michael J. Fox. I don't know how well it went on either of these Tonight show shows, but it's a good thing. I'm already pretty well established with the Tonight Show. I will say that. Because I got to mess around and it was fun.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. That's cool.

[Aaron Weber]

But I used some of the riffs that we. We riffed.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, really?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, how about that? I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Are you doing the show tonight? You're going to do it?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. I'm going to do my whole sets

[Dusty Slay]

just about chili dogs.

[Aaron Weber]

I get. It's so funny to me, and I don't know why.

[Dusty Slay]

I was watching you on stage. You were like. It was doing well with the crowd, but you were really killing to you.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. That's what's so great about it.

[Brian Bates]

I can't wait to see it.

[Aaron Weber]

I enjoy the joke.

[Brian Bates]

Well, that's a big part of it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That's why I can't wait to see it. Well, it was fun watching you guys. Have a great week of comedy. I enjoyed getting updates every night.

[Dusty Slay]

So you could have hit us up.

[Brian Bates]

Congratulations for tickets.

[Dusty Slay]

No, you could have come. You could have come to the spot on my show. If you wanted to.

[Brian Bates]

You sold out every show, right?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. There's two shows.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I was just going to say every show the whole weekend.

[Landon Bryant]

You did.

[Dusty Slay]

Sold it out to the rafters. Yeah, it was great, man.

[Brian Bates]

And now you're training for Missouri Wrestling.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, I got this. I also did as part of the National Comedy Festival. I was the most recent guest on the Consumers Podcast. We taped a live episode here on Goo Goo Clusters. I think that'll come out fairly soon, but I was gifted. This from Greg Warren himself with the hoodie.

[Brian Bates]

You look like you're going to run some bleachers to get down to.

[Dusty Slay]

Do I actually look like that?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Get down to weight.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm about to run day one day.

[Dusty Slay]

This looks like the start of a training. I get that.

[Brian Bates]

I did go to. I was home most of the week. I did go to. With Angela Johnson to McAllen, Texas, to do a corporate.

[Dusty Slay]

McAllen's about as far south as you can go.

[Brian Bates]

You know McAllen. I was about to say that.

[Dusty Slay]

All the way down there.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, they have an airport there. I mean, it is down on the southern tip of Texas, right on the Mexico border. So fun time with her. And. Yeah, that was just a quick trip down and back the next day. So it was a good time. I haven't seen Angela in a while.

[Aaron Weber]

Is that where this shirt's from?

[Brian Bates]

Oh, so no, then Saturday. No, it did not come from the Mexican border.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, you know, a lot of Mexicans are farmers and they keep it country.

[Brian Bates]

Well, it says keep it country. Doesn't say keep out of the country.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, no, Mexicans are farmers and they keep it country, man. Come on.

[Brian Bates]

Well, this Saturday, that's the motto for McAllen, Texas.

[Dusty Slay]

Keep it country.

[Brian Bates]

I went to visit my mom and took Eleanor with me, and there was this event going on where they had bouncy houses and stuff for kids to play at. But it was like a political type of rally where. Back where I grew up in the country, eastern side of Wilson county, and they're trying to keep it country out there. All these people, they want to redevelop and Bill Gates wants to buy up all the land and they want. They want to keep it. Agriculture don't. So they had candidates time.

[Aaron Weber]

You're getting on board with us.

[Brian Bates]

Candidates come and speak, talking about how they're going to keep it country.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Good.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. So it was fun. I went to that. Saw a lot of people I grew up with.

[Dusty Slay]

Is there like a rival movement going there is stop it from being country. I don't know make it city. Make it city. Something like that.

[Brian Bates]

They've already stopped the big thing. There was an industrial park that was bought up a ton of land and was going to.

[Dusty Slay]

Industrial park is so funny because this is just not park makes it sound like.

[Brian Bates]

Like a fun thing.

[Dusty Slay]

There's slides and stuff going through it. It's just a collection of office buildings.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was. It was.

[Aaron Weber]

And factories, all that kind of stuff.

[Brian Bates]

And they fought it and stopped it.

[Landon Bryant]

Good.

[Brian Bates]

And stop it now.

[Aaron Weber]

They'll get a data center.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, they're trying to stop all that stuff.

[Dusty Slay]

They.

[Brian Bates]

They use Mount Juliet as the example of what's become of West Wilson county, where it's just dense.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, wow. We don't want to become Mount Juliet.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Keep it.

[Aaron Weber]

I like Mount Juliet too, but. Yeah, I mean, I could see if you're. If you're country. I mean, I. I just was at the Publix and Mount Juliet today, and it's. It. It is dense.

[Dusty Slay]

You're right by my house.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Come by and say hi.

[Aaron Weber]

I should. I should have, but I had my whole family. And it is, you know, every. There's always one person crying. Now, it might be me. It might be, but there's always crying at any time.

[Brian Bates]

Wait, wait. We're trying to keep it country, not just a Persona that. To sell tickets. I'm legitimately trying to keep it country.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I say Colorado. Like Colorado.

[Dusty Slay]

Colorado.

[Aaron Weber]

Colorado.

[Dusty Slay]

Colorado Rockies.

[Brian Bates]

So Colorado. That's what I did.

[Dusty Slay]

I love that. Did you stand up for their event?

[Brian Bates]

No.

[Dusty Slay]

Hey, you were just there.

[Brian Bates]

Just there, rocking out of the day, watching my daughter playing the bouncy house.

[Dusty Slay]

That's big time.

[Brian Bates]

Eating some. I got a ballpark hamburger, man. There is nothing better. You unwrap that aluminum foil?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, I do like those.

[Brian Bates]

It's so good.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, yeah. Hot dog. Some pork in it.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, I like Hebrew national, but I, you know, I try to stay away from hot dogs in general, even the all beef ones.

[Dusty Slay]

Why is that? Because they're objectively bad for you.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Nothing feels good about a hot dog. Like, I'll eat them and I'll go, dang, that was good.

[Dusty Slay]

You know what's big right now? The 999n challenge. Everybody's doing it now. A lot of these ballparks are even offering it. Like, you can buy the 999 challenge and try to do it. You know what the 999 challenge is? Nine innings of baseball.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Nine beers, nine hot dogs.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

That's the challenge.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

And what happens if you win? You're going to lose.

[Dusty Slay]

You just. You. You do it. I guess it's just.

[Brian Bates]

But it's like a TikTok thing.

[Dusty Slay]

It was. People were doing it unofficially for a long time. People would just go to the game and try to do one.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, you'd buy nine hot dogs is tough. The nine beers. That's not a big deal at all.

[Dusty Slay]

I was thinking the opposite.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay. See, when I. I used to go to the Charleston River Dogs minor league team, and you go thirsty Thursday, where they had dollar beers, but, you know, they would. They wouldn't give you a tray, so it was just however many you could hold.

[Dusty Slay]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

And, you know, you'd have them in the arm, fingers in the glass. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

See, the trouble with buying, like, this is an example of, like, what some of these ballparks offer. You buy, like, the whole thing all at once. The problem with that is, I mean,

[Aaron Weber]

those beers are beers getting warm. The beer is going to get warm.

[Dusty Slay]

You sit there and get flat in the. In the heat and everything. It's almost. You got to go buy the beers individual.

[Aaron Weber]

I think the trick would be to do two per inning and then just

[Dusty Slay]

be, oh, two beers per inning.

[Aaron Weber]

Two beers or.

[Dusty Slay]

And two hot dogs.

[Aaron Weber]

Two hot dogs. I mean, I think the beers. If you got down to the ninth inning and you had two left, you could chug them.

[Dusty Slay]

Right, Right.

[Brian Bates]

That sounds disgusting. Just.

[Aaron Weber]

What?

[Dusty Slay]

What is disgusting?

[Brian Bates]

Just the whole thing.

[Aaron Weber]

Hot dogs is disgusting. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I mean, all of it. For me to think about consuming that much out in the hot.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, if I were drinking, I could do nine beers.

[Dusty Slay]

During this podcast, how would you describe eating these?

[Aaron Weber]

Well. Well, John Mellencamp might have a special way to say they were eating. You know, they were. I don't want to say it, but, I mean, I want to, but.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, if I come up with some of these challenges, they would be so, like, I would probably do. Be the dude. I'd do the two. Two. Two. No, I do the nine. Two, two.

[Dusty Slay]

Would that be nine innings and then two hot dogs and two beers would be your challenge.

[Brian Bates]

Go home feeling good.

[Dusty Slay]

I've done that accidentally every game I've ever been.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. If it were burgers, though, burger might be different.

[Dusty Slay]

A burger. Nine burgers is that substance, but they're,

[Aaron Weber]

you know, they're not huge. Burgers. Maybe sliders. Nine sliders.

[Dusty Slay]

It's too easy. You gotta have something in the middle.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Nine hot dogs. That's a lot of dog.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's too much. Yeah. The. A lot of bun, but just the. Also a ballpark hot dog. What's in those things? I mean, what. I mean, hopefully part of the challenge

[Dusty Slay]

is not asking questions.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Nobody's doing it for their health.

[Aaron Weber]

And an extra bonus if you eat the box when you're done or. A frame is the perfect Mother's Day gift to capture the chaos you put her through and the memories that came with it. Our house is pure chaos right now. We just had a baby, and we have two toddlers. That is true. It's been wild. But it's fun to get the photos we can, during this time of our lives and be able to look back one day and think about how in the world we were able to get through this. And we don't know that we will be. It's fun to say one day we'll look back and be like, look how fun it was. But we don't know. But it will. We have got a lot of pictures, and I do. You know what? My baby is a. You know, a baby. And I found a picture of my daughter who's almost five, when she was a baby today. And I was very excited. Nobody else was, but I was. And we're gonna put that in the aura frame.

[Dusty Slay]

There you go.

[Aaron Weber]

With aura frames, you get to capture chaos and relive it later and laugh. You can add as many photos and videos as you want. You can even preload the photos before it even ships. Making that a great Mother's Day gift to give your mom. It was the top rated app and reached number one in the App Store on Christmas Day in 2025. Make Mother's Day special with Aura Frames. Name number one by wire cutter. You can save on the gifts moms love by visiting auraframes.com for a limited time listeners get it can get 25 off their best selling carver mat frame with code Nate. That's a U R A frames.com promo. Code Nate. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

[Brian Bates]

Today was, I think, the Boston Marathon. Okay, how. If. If we all run out there right now, how far could you go?

[Dusty Slay]

How far is the marathon?

[Brian Bates]

26.2 miles.

[Dusty Slay]

26.2 miles. I think I can do the 0.2.

[Aaron Weber]

Honestly, I don't even think I can run.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, but if you're even walking, how. How far you think you could do?

[Aaron Weber]

I could walk the whole thing.

[Dusty Slay]

When was the last time you. I could walk it, too. I've walked that far in one.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't believe sitting.

[Aaron Weber]

I'VE been.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. The sitting part, I believe

[Aaron Weber]

I've been.

[Brian Bates]

I think you've drove a car 26.2 miles.

[Aaron Weber]

I've been wheelbarrowing mulch all around my garden all week.

[Dusty Slay]

When was the last time you sprinted? Like really sprinted?

[Aaron Weber]

I kind of ran. There was a guy, they were grinding up this tree, mulching it at my neighbor's house and I wanted him dump the mulch over on my yard and I kind of ran over there just to wait.

[Dusty Slay]

Like flag them down.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And I was like. As I was doing it, I'll go, oh, no, I can do this. It's not too bad. And then I got in the truck and I was like, yeah, it's really hit you after, I think airports when that's a tight connection. But a sprint. Sprint?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, Like a full year, like for your life.

[Aaron Weber]

Years. Mm.

[Brian Bates]

Mine was at 40 yard dash.

[Dusty Slay]

40 yard dash. Probably the last time I really tried

[Brian Bates]

to run as fast as I could.

[Dusty Slay]

Try to, really? Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Before that it was when Nate and I were in San Antonio and somebody started firing a gun and we took off running.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, that'll do it too.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I wish you were there that day for that 40 yard dash, Dusty.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm glad I wasn't.

[Brian Bates]

Could have took some heat off me.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, yeah. Well, I don't know that I look bad running and for 40 yards I might be able to do it, but I don't want to do it. Yeah, I don't like running. I used to have a joke about it. Matter of fact, if you see me running, I appreciate it if you'd stop and try to pick me up. I'm probably in some kind of trouble.

[Dusty Slay]

We've got a guest coming here in a few minutes. You want to get through these comments?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Let's start it off with the comments. They come From Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Apple, podcast reviews, and mail at Nateland. Do we have our own email yet or is that still the email?

[Brian Bates]

No, I mean mail. I don't know what these guys do,

[Dusty Slay]

but Nateland, not much.

[Aaron Weber]

Just giggling back there.

[Brian Bates]

Just gig up. Well, she's even gone now, so who knows?

[Dusty Slay]

The first comment. This can't be right. The first comment comes from Shannon Sharpe.

[Aaron Weber]

I think it is. He's a listener.

[Brian Bates]

Yep. Got rid of the E.

[Dusty Slay]

Shannon Sharp. I am loving public figures. You guys seem to be having such a good time. I think Aaron's idea for Dusty to do book reviews is phenomenal.

[Aaron Weber]

Thank you, Shannon. We're also a big fan of Club Shay Shay. So.

[Brian Bates]

When my Special comes out. I'm going on there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, you should.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Really spill the beans. Yeah. Was that what they say, spill the beans?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Spill the tea.

[Aaron Weber]

Sip the tea.

[Dusty Slay]

I think sip the tea is to enjoy the gossip. Spilled the tea would be to divulge it. So just get on there and just.

[Brian Bates]

I bet our guests will know today.

[Dusty Slay]

I bet. So I will ask. Well.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, book reviews for kids.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, we're talking about doing children's.

[Aaron Weber]

But you know, I should do that.

[Dusty Slay]

I want a full in depth review. A lot of comedians now are doing these. The getting on book talk and talking about all the books they read and stuff. So I'd like you to hop on

[Aaron Weber]

there and talk about the Oxford terrible comedians.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, I want to talk about it's successful ones. We'll talk about it later. But I'd like to hear about the Wonky Donkey. I want to hear about Little Blue

[Aaron Weber]

Truck, you know, because I'm not as big of a fan of the Wonky Donkey. When we talked about it in here, you were a big fan of it.

[Dusty Slay]

And I just think it's a funny. It's funny to say out loud.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't think it imparts like a good message to children or anything like that. It's just. It's just a funny collection.

[Aaron Weber]

I like the Little Blue Truck. Have you read that one?

[Dusty Slay]

I know the Little Blue Truck.

[Aaron Weber]

I love the little. I tear up a little bit when I read the Little Blue Truck.

[Dusty Slay]

Really?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I like that kind of hero's journey.

[Dusty Slay]

Next comment comes from Caleb Wilson. I can't help but chuckle when people are legitimately angry at you all for slightly changing up the format or being playfully sarcastic with the fan base. We get a free two hour podcast every week. It's always funny and entertaining. It is clear that you all care a lot about the fans and for that I am very thankful. Appreciate y'. All.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, Caleb. Come on, Caleb. What do you know?

[Dusty Slay]

An idiot.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, Caleb.

[Brian Bates]

Care about the fans. I don't care about that comment.

[Dusty Slay]

Next comment.

[Aaron Weber]

Now we appreciate it, Caleb. Now we appreciate.

[Dusty Slay]

Very nice.

[Aaron Weber]

Thank you.

[Dusty Slay]

Thank you.

[Aaron Weber]

You.

[Dusty Slay]

Next comment comes from Max. Goodness.

[Aaron Weber]

The most goodness you can have.

[Dusty Slay]

Maximum goodness. Yeah, how about that? Two weeks in a row I haven't clicked on the new release because the thumbnail made me think it was a different podcast being only the guests with their name.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow. But you did, though. You ended up doing it.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And that you went ahead and read

[Dusty Slay]

the title and Max Goodness, Men smartness. Because.

[Brian Bates]

I don't want to say two weeks in A row somebody behind the scenes do something to screw up a perfect podcast that I put together. It's either the Phantom Gigglers or whoever decided to change the thumbnail, which is what you were texting about when you had a baby and I couldn't reach you. I thought something happened. Then you're like, hey, guys, how about this thumbnail? What do you think about that?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So, Max, blame Dusty?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, yeah, I guess so. But, you know, we're trying things, guys. You know, we're just trying. We're trying to highlight our guest when they're on. On here.

[Dusty Slay]

You know, it's the wild west out here, dude. We're throwing stuff at the wall. We're seeing what sticks.

[Brian Bates]

Well, now everybody's mad that we're not highlighting this behind the scenes crew here.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, we.

[Dusty Slay]

We couldn't be less involved with the editing of this. So y. So y' all blame. Blame everybody else but us.

[Brian Bates]

Well, you know, you need to take it up a notch.

[Aaron Weber]

We're on it. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Aaron Coors. Aaron. Coors. Coors Brewing. Mountains are blue.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Coors Field and Colorado. If you want to fix taxes, we need Colorado. If you want to fix taxes, well, here we go. This is a drunk guy at a bar. You know what they need to do. If you want to fix taxes, we need to stop having businesses take them out of our checks before we receive the money. If we had to actually make a payment ourselves from the money in our accounts, we would start to notice how much it actually is. We would question where it was going and how it was being used. Instead, it gets swept under the rug. I would also add that we get to pick what our taxes go to when we pay them.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dusty Slay]

So much different than the first point.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's the idea, though. The idea is like, yeah, just take it out of the check, and then when you get a refund later, you think, oh, I love tax season because I get a little money back. But sure, you're right. That's what happened to me. I started to have to pay my own taxes because I didn't have a job where it was getting taken out. And I was like, geez.

[Dusty Slay]

So the strategy is make taxes more inconvenient to pay so that people will revolt more.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, make people notice how much money is actually.

[Dusty Slay]

How do you not look at your. I would see it on my paycheck every time I got one.

[Aaron Weber]

I think people get direct deposit, and a lot of people don't.

[Dusty Slay]

Even direct deposit might complicate things.

[Aaron Weber]

I remember. Look at their stubs.

[Dusty Slay]

A check. And it's would say this is how much you made. And then minus Social Security and Medicare and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, fica. Who's this fica? Where's what? Taking all my money. Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah, I, I go on and on about taxes.

[Dusty Slay]

We're still. There's still more comments about it.

[Brian Bates]

You'll like this next one. Destiny.

[Dusty Slay]

Jenna Obi on Kenobi. Jenna Obi Property tax is just a way for the government to own all the land. You don't pay taxes on your property.

[Aaron Weber]

Cool.

[Dusty Slay]

It's ours now. That's insane to me. That needs to be abolished completely.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, 100%. But you talk about. I go, I talk about this on X. And then people go, oh, well, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they justify it. But it's like, you don't own something if they can take it from you. Like, if you go, all right, I bought this land. This land's mine now. But if you don't pay your taxes on it, they can take it. So how is it yours if they can take it and then they can also arbitrarily just raise your taxes?

[Brian Bates]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's insane. Property tax is the most insane thing that I've ever seen.

[Dusty Slay]

So here's. I had never looked into this, and

[Aaron Weber]

I've been looking at moon landing footage.

[Dusty Slay]

You see the iPhone shot through the. Yeah, yeah. You didn't like it. They're calling it the most incredible, I mean, video ever taken.

[Brian Bates]

I don't think I know what you're talking about.

[Dusty Slay]

The shot from one of the astronauts from his iPhone. He's just like, let me just get an iPhone shot.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, Just released it now. You know, it's like, I mean, I'm talking about if I got that shot the moment we land, the moment I got signal upload.

[Dusty Slay]

What do you do, like a day or two after.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, it's been weeks.

[Brian Bates]

Photoshop it. Right.

[Aaron Weber]

I just saw it today.

[Dusty Slay]

But why do you. Why do you think you would wait to post that?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know. Why would he.

[Brian Bates]

To Photoshop it? Right?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I don't know. I'm saying why would he.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, you're the one making an inference for it. So, like, what.

[Aaron Weber]

What I'm saying is, though, why would he. Like, I would do it?

[Dusty Slay]

Exactly. Give me one reason why he would.

[Aaron Weber]

Why he would wait. Yeah, well, I don't know. Why would you hang on to the greatest shot ever taken? Why would you. I mean.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, he's not the one calling it that. Other people are. Right.

[Aaron Weber]

But why would you hang on to it? You're like, oh, like. Because this is what we all been asking.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, this is.

[Aaron Weber]

Everybody's been like, where's the cool footage at?

[Dusty Slay]

Well, that's. Yeah, there's one.

[Aaron Weber]

And then days later, week later, they're like, oh, here's something. Forgot this. Forgot about this.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't think they ever made that claim.

[Aaron Weber]

Forgot about that.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, my bad. Let me airdrop you something real quick.

[Brian Bates]

Let's go through this. Camera roll.

[Aaron Weber]

That's what I'm saying. You guys want to keep believing it, but it's. Where's the stars at? Is all I'm saying. Where's the stars at?

[Dusty Slay]

I think, Dusty, I think you're. This is starting to be. This is a more and more common thing, and I think you're going to find it less and interesting as time goes by. And I think you're going to come around because this is not even. This is like all over social media now. So many people think it's fake and stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, but I've been on the tip for a long time.

[Dusty Slay]

I know, but I'm saying it used to be interesting. It's not that it's not interesting.

[Aaron Weber]

It's not a matter of interesting. It really is like. Like when I look up in the sky, I see lots of stars, Right? But the sky is in space and you don't see any. Why? Why is that?

[Dusty Slay]

Because the way photography works, like with the light and exposure and stuff, it's the same way. Same way when you're in the back of a comedy club and you are taking a picture of the person on stage and you click on the person on stage, where did all the people in the crowd go?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, they're still there. They didn't disappear. They may be blurred, but they're still there. They may be out of focus, but they're still there.

[Dusty Slay]

So if I. There obviously is a answer to this question. Do you want to know the answer? And would the answer persuade you at all?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's always the thing, right? Instead of just answering the question, it always has to be followed. Would the answer persuade you? Just give me the answer and then we'll see.

[Dusty Slay]

I gave you the answer. It's the way light works and exposure and how photography works.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I don't believe the answer.

[Brian Bates]

Can I see the photo?

[Dusty Slay]

There you go.

[Brian Bates]

Can I see the photo?

[Dusty Slay]

Well, we're not talking about the photo.

[Aaron Weber]

Just because you answer a question doesn't mean that it's right.

[Dusty Slay]

I understand, but you have to stop operating under this.

[Aaron Weber]

If you say, what's in this cup? And I tell you it's Coke, that's an answer, but it's not right. It's water in there.

[Dusty Slay]

But before I, But I would go, well, why won't you tell me what's in the cup? And you go, I did tell you what's in the cup. And I go, well, yeah, I'm just

[Aaron Weber]

asking questions, but I. But I lied to you about what was in there.

[Dusty Slay]

But I'm losing track of what we're even talking about this analogy tax at.

[Aaron Weber]

But. But I lied to you about what was in there. I gave you an answer, but it was the wrong answer. And then, and then I'm saying, well, if you don't believe it, then, well, I can't do anything about it.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, you're saying, I'm just asking questions and there's an answer for every question. This is like when people go. It's like when atheists are like, they act like they have this truth bomb that they drop. And like, people have been. They have had answers for this for thousands of years. There's answers for all these. Why can't you see stars in the picture? There's an answer for that. Why. Why can't you do that? Blah, blah, blah. And then you go, you'll. You're never satisfied.

[Aaron Weber]

So the iPhone shot behind the moon seeing the Earth, the Earth being about the. You can't see any stars. And that's. That's my question. And I get it. You're saying, well, it's photography and this is how this works.

[Brian Bates]

But I haven't seen it yet. But I'm going to guess it's. It's so bright that it's going to keep the stars from being seen. The. The Earth. Well, let me just look at it.

[Dusty Slay]

Pulling it up here on.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, it's a cool video. I'm not a video. I'm not saying it's not a cool video.

[Brian Bates]

This is taken a little blurry.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. This one.

[Dusty Slay]

Those aren't stars. That's. That's the glass area.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay, guy.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

But see, it's. It's focused on. It's almost like he clicked on the earth. So then the light and the exposure and I all. I don't know all the, the technical terminology, but it focused on that. So then the stars.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I mean, they completely disappeared. That's incredible.

[Brian Bates]

It's just so.

[Dusty Slay]

It's just so boring.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm just saying it's Boring. It's incredible that they completely disappeared. I mean, what an amazing feat of photography. Well,

[Brian Bates]

I blame Jenna Obi for this one.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I mean, it is an amazing feat of photography. You can see the details on the moon like that, but not a single star. That's a pretty unbelievable.

[Dusty Slay]

Do you think. Do you think you're the first person to.

[Aaron Weber]

No, but I'm just this.

[Dusty Slay]

And do you think it's never been addressed by somebody who's smart enough to answer it?

[Aaron Weber]

I'm sure people talk about it, but I mean, I just think that's amazing. I mean, you can't. I mean, you wouldn't say that's an amazing photography feat.

[Dusty Slay]

To do what? To be behind the moon.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, but all the stars completely disappear. No, I'd say that's pretty incredible.

[Dusty Slay]

No, I don't think it's incredible at all. I think it's the way photography works.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Light works and there's a little aperture inside of it.

[Brian Bates]

You have every camera and the aperture will close when there's so much light and there's so too much light that the Earth is giving off or whatever. We've gotten to Tristan, too.

[Aaron Weber]

I know. It's amazing. It's.

[Brian Bates]

It goes deeper than I thought.

[Aaron Weber]

It's amazing. I think it's. I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful.

[Brian Bates]

Well, this next person we exposed, Michael Edwards.

[Dusty Slay]

I generally think Dusty is the smartest guy on the panel by far, but his Willie Nelson take is a bridge too far. Say what you want about the moon, but don't question Willie's greatness.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I don't think I questioned Willie's greatness. I just said, you know, my kind of top country singers. Willie's not really in my. I like him. He has a lot of songs that I really, really like, but I don't know, there's.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't remember. What did you say that was controversial?

[Brian Bates]

I dated Willie Nelson.

[Aaron Weber]

There's several others. A lot of people would say the Willie Nelson's on there. Mount Rushmore of. But I would say there's many other. Before I get to Willie Nelson.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

And I love Willie Nelson. Nelson. But I'm saying there's just a ton of country singers that, That I like.

[Brian Bates]

What I said about Randy Travis, that's

[Dusty Slay]

what I said about Elvis. We all are allowed to have opinions.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, I like Willie Nelson, but. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. There's just a lot I like before I get to Willie Nelson.

[Dusty Slay]

I think it's perfectly fair.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, As I said, he has a great album with Leon Russell that I really like.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't know. Sounds like the craziest thing you've ever said on this podcast.

[Aaron Weber]

Yes, but

[Dusty Slay]

Nuclear spinach.

[Aaron Weber]

But I get it. I mean, people love Willie Nelson.

[Dusty Slay]

Nuclear spinach. Aaron is the whole package. That's what I'm talking about. It's about time. It's about time.

[Aaron Weber]

What a name.

[Dusty Slay]

I get a little respect. These are the nuclear spinach. These are my people.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Nuclear Spanish Aaron is the whole package. He's knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics. He asks deep questions.

[Aaron Weber]

Never heard him ask.

[Dusty Slay]

Quick on the uptake. And he has a radio voice. I love the signature disc special. Keep it up, Aaron. I mean, what a comment.

[Aaron Weber]

The last few things. Let's just wrap it up as a radio voice. Good special. Yeah, I agree.

[Dusty Slay]

You don't think I'm quick on the uptake.

[Aaron Weber]

Quick on the uptake, yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

You don't think I asked deep questions?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know that you ask any deep questions.

[Brian Bates]

He's a package, I'll give him that. Yeah, you are a whole package.

[Aaron Weber]

I'll say. Yeah. You know, I agree with all this.

[Dusty Slay]

Except knowledgeable about.

[Aaron Weber]

Except he asked deep questions.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

That's the only one I'm going to take away from you.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay. Andrea Ra Horst. Thank you, Nuclear Spanish. By the way, Andrea Rawhorse. Love you three. But Dusty has the best laugh. It's infectious. Thanks for the laughs every week.

[Aaron Weber]

That's true.

[Dusty Slay]

Thank you, Andrea. Yeah, that's really nice.

[Aaron Weber]

I never heard Brian laugh, I don't think.

[Brian Bates]

Nah, too busy a laugh.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Busy doing what?

[Brian Bates]

The world's a mess out here, Dusty.

[Aaron Weber]

If.

[Brian Bates]

Maybe if you'd open your eyes a little bit. See that?

[Aaron Weber]

Listen, you gotta laugh. You gotta let it out. You gotta let it out.

[Dusty Slay]

Maddie Pryor. I vote that Brian should be meaner to us.

[Brian Bates]

Well, you would with a name like that. Maddie. A stupid name.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Maddie. Maddie. Yeah. Well, be careful what you wish for. One of these days, Brian's gonna be unleashed and it's going to be a problem.

[Brian Bates]

You're right. Get to this next one.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay. Tim. Timothy Petranko.

[Aaron Weber]

Speaking of names, though, Timothy.

[Dusty Slay]

Timothy Petrenko. Seems like Brian is tired of it all and gets short with the other guys when they interrupt. Or when Dusty starts going off tangent. Aaron and Dusty seem to take it all less seriously, while Brian is too serious at times.

[Brian Bates]

Well, that is true.

[Dusty Slay]

This is what Dusty and I have been saying.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yep. That is true.

[Dusty Slay]

Since day one.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Take it easy, bud.

[Dusty Slay]

When we started to do this podcast, you remember, the three of us had lunch and we sat down and we said, let's talk about the vision. And Dusty and I had had private conversations before this, but we said, brian, I don't want this to feel like an intervention, but we need to have a conversation. You gotta let us have fun.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. What?

[Dusty Slay]

He just spit up all that water.

[Brian Bates]

He's about to do the spit take. Like, I'm not gonna do that to

[Dusty Slay]

you all over the laptop.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, he's right. Timothy, Timothy. Little Timothy.

[Dusty Slay]

Little Timothy. Now we're all. Look, at the end of the day, we're all having a good time.

[Aaron Weber]

We are having a good time and we're all professional.

[Brian Bates]

I play the straight man, Timothy, and you don't get it.

[Dusty Slay]

It'd be hard to have an actual sincere moment with a guy named Timothy. Listen, hey, Timothy, you gotta stop.

[Aaron Weber]

You sound like you have a speech impediment each time.

[Dusty Slay]

Jessica Young. Dusty, I am 43 and I love your comedy.

[Aaron Weber]

All right, I'm 43 too. Thanks, Jessica.

[Dusty Slay]

I wanted to let you know that I asked my 19 year old son to sit down and watch a comedy show with me. As soon as I turned on Wet Heat, he said, oh, Dusty Slay. I love his style of calm comedy. Yeah, how about that? I really don't know what calm comedy is, but I just wanted you to know that your comedy style has hooked both the older and the younger of our family.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Well, thank you, Jessica and your son. Yeah. Calm comedy, it's when you. You don't shove it down the throat of the audience member. You just. You bring them into you. You're telling comedy. You bring them in, invite them into your world, you know, you have. And then you tell them some jokes. You don't just go out there and beat them to death with it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

You know. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Jessica's parents are watching Brian's special in the next.

[Brian Bates]

Sorry, I would leave if it wasn't for Tim. I don't want Timothy to be right.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, so I'm gonna stay.

[Dusty Slay]

You gotta prove Timothy.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. Can I. Before we bring our guests, can I share some Nateland news with you guys?

[Aaron Weber]

No. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Okay. I'll be the deciding vote and yes, we will.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Is that how we work? Are we a democracy? Yes. You think we all have an equal.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't think so. I don't think you think you even get a vote.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, really?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I think I have the most

[Dusty Slay]

vote, but yeah, the most vote.

[Aaron Weber]

I have the least. I Think I have the least vote?

[Brian Bates]

I think as long as you guys vote the way I like, I pretend like I'm one of you, but if you don't, then I supersede you.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay, I'm happy with that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Now you guys have voted for some stuff I didn't want to do.

[Aaron Weber]

Like what?

[Dusty Slay]

Like what?

[Brian Bates]

Like Andrew Stanley. I didn't care for that guy.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, listen, Aaron brought him up. I just said yeah to it. No, I love Andrew.

[Brian Bates]

Of course we're joking.

[Aaron Weber]

That was a hot episode.

[Dusty Slay]

That was a hot episode.

[Brian Bates]

It was.

[Dusty Slay]

Sorry if you didn't click on it because his picture was on it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. Can you imagine that?

[Dusty Slay]

God forbid we highlight the guest.

[Aaron Weber]

Can you imagine? Like you're Andrew, you're reading it and they get. They go, well, I almost didn't click on it because I didn't know who this guy was.

[Dusty Slay]

I was gonna watch the episode. It was just some idiot on the thumbnail.

[Brian Bates]

Well, somebody said, I listen to this

[Dusty Slay]

guy talk about taxes. That looks terrible.

[Brian Bates]

Somebody said they thought it was his dad. They were like, pass.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, I get that. Okay. If you saw Andy Stanley. Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

[Brian Bates]

Nateland presents the Showcase. Season four. Last week, Peter Wong premiered on Showcase set. This Thursday, we've got Will Wright.

[Aaron Weber]

Very funny.

[Brian Bates]

Will is super funny. He was on my show that I hosted. Super, super funny. So check that out. We have a new comic every week. Nateland presents Graham K's Pete and Me. I've watched this. It is so good. I feel closer with Graham. I didn't know about his family history and his brother and it's really, really good.

[Dusty Slay]

That's great.

[Brian Bates]

Check that out. It's a humorous and heartfelt special about Graham and his autistic brother.

[Dusty Slay]

What was the show? Pete, Pete, Pete and Me and Pete or something. The Adventures of Pete.

[Aaron Weber]

Nickelodeon show.

[Dusty Slay]

What's it called? Yeah, I'm thinking I'm combining it with

[Aaron Weber]

the Adventures of Pete and Pete. Me and Pete and Pete. Pete and Pete.

[Brian Bates]

I don't know, but Graham's gonna be here soon.

[Aaron Weber]

How many times can we say Pete isn't with us?

[Brian Bates]

Dusty's book. We're having a good time. It's on pre order. How many times we're gonna read this?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know, but I like it. I mean, it's on the Naatland News.

[Brian Bates]

Who cares?

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, that's what I got going on right now.

[Brian Bates]

Grab a copy anywhere. You buy books?

[Aaron Weber]

I got book. I got boots too. I got lugs. Boots, Dusty, My own. Do you know about that?

[Brian Bates]

I saw you post something. I'm like, this guy will sell out to anybody.

[Aaron Weber]

I got my own. I got my own boot now. Look at that.

[Dusty Slay]

Whoa.

[Aaron Weber]

Lugs boots.

[Brian Bates]

That's a good looking boot.

[Dusty Slay]

That is a nice looking boot.

[Aaron Weber]

Says we're having a good time on this.

[Dusty Slay]

For a working man, that's awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Exactly.

[Dusty Slay]

How about that?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

So they got a professional artist to model them.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

What's your dad say about that?

[Aaron Weber]

You know, I don't know that he's seen it.

[Brian Bates]

I don't know. Working man, this guy doesn't do anything.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, yeah, in terms of a dream product or thing to have your face name brand on. I mean a work boot for you's got to be up there, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I like a boot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

What would you say is yours, Brian? What would you have, what would your equivalent of this?

[Brian Bates]

Cpap. First thing came to mind.

[Aaron Weber]

Coughs.

[Brian Bates]

Cough drop.

[Aaron Weber]

No, I'm saying the CPAP cough.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh.

[Brian Bates]

Coughs for me.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know, guys. I would like a cigar. My own cigar.

[Dusty Slay]

There you go.

[Aaron Weber]

But I also. Sometimes I feel like I've. I've heard this. I don't know if this is true. So I'm not trying to slander people. People, but I've heard sometimes that like when a celebrity gets a. Like a liquor or something, that it's technically not a good liquor and so they put the celebrity on there to

[Dusty Slay]

try to help sell the marketing game. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Right. So I wouldn't want that to be the case with my cigar. I would want it to be a. I'm not, you know, like I always think about like Dan Aykroyd was really like a. Has a vodka and I just, I don't know. For some reason I feel like Dan Aykroyd would take it serious.

[Dusty Slay]

I think his was patron.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. Wow. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Which is a pretty successful one.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, absolutely. So I would feel. To me, it feels like he would take it serious. So I would want a good cigar, you know?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. What would your speed, Aaron?

[Dusty Slay]

I would never sell out to a company.

[Brian Bates]

Yes.

[Dusty Slay]

So nothing.

[Brian Bates]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

I sold my soul to Tums pretty easily.

[Aaron Weber]

The guy hates money. You know what I mean? Good for him.

[Dusty Slay]

I would never abandon my principles to make money. But if Tom's. If you would like to do another campaign, please let me know. I'm happy to do that.

[Brian Bates]

Well, Nate's big Dumb eyes tour this weekend is in Fargo, North Dakota, 23rd. That would be Thursday, I believe.

[Dusty Slay]

He was just up there, wasn't he?

[Brian Bates]

He was in Canada last weekend. Okay. Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. So he's making his way around the the Midwest.

[Dusty Slay]

That's Nateland out there, man.

[Brian Bates]

That is so go check out Nate.

[Dusty Slay]

This weekend, it is weigh day at Wayfair. From April 25th through the 27th, you can score the best deals in home, like up to 80% off with free shipping on everything. Wayfair makes it easy to find exactly what fits your style and needs, from furniture and decor to home improvement and outdoor essentials. All will be on sale during weigh day. It's time to upgrade that space with quality pieces that work within your budget. And the best part, everything ships fast and free during way day. We just got the bayou breeze, Bali and Paris serenade, Bohemian scallop, rattan, accent, bench.

[Aaron Weber]

That's classic hair.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, that just screams me.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Silly me. I've been calling it the. The bench.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I didn't know it had all these other names, but it does look nice. It looks amazing. In our. We have a guest room that is being used right now. It really pulls the room together. Having features like reviews, being able to narrow down exactly what works for you or your wife or whoever makes it fit your style and budget. You can just throw up a filter, find exactly what you're looking for. It's different from other home retailers because they offer installation and assembly services, so the entire experience can be seamless. Wayday is the sale to shop

[Brian Bates]

the

[Dusty Slay]

best deals in home. We're talking up to 80% off with fast and free shipping on everything. Head to Wayfair.com April 25th through the 27th to shop Wayday. That's W a Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style. Every home. Every style. Every home. Wayfair.

[Landon Bryant]

Every style.

[Aaron Weber]

Every home.

[Brian Bates]

All right, we are back with. I think I maybe have known you the longest.

[Landon Bryant]

I think so.

[Brian Bates]

We did a show together. This is Landon Bright, by the way. We did a show. That is your name, right? It is. What was that, two, three years ago?

[Landon Bryant]

Two or three years ago, my very first show I ever did was with you.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Very. In Columbia, Tennessee, at the Mule House, Heather Land.

[Aaron Weber]

The Mule House, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Did you ever do that?

[Dusty Slay]

And you saw Brian go up and you thought, I can do this, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

He was just in the crowd.

[Landon Bryant]

I was like, give me a shot. You know, like, let me try this. No, actually, I got there and I had no idea what I was getting into. And you and Heather were both. Heather Land was the lady that the other comic. And they both were, like, looking at their notes Very seriously. And it was my very first time to do this, so I was kind of just riding on vibes of it, you know?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And they were like, I've been. I've been like looking at this for three weeks. Like looking at my new stuff for like three weeks. Heather was. And I was like, me too.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I also am very prepared.

[Aaron Weber]

Three weeks she's been looking at her notes.

[Landon Bryant]

She's very serious about it.

[Dusty Slay]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Maybe if you took it a little bit more seriously.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe I should.

[Dusty Slay]

You gotta step it up.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, I thought I'd already be out.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I'm still riding vibes.

[Landon Bryant]

Right. Like, that's what I was doing. I was just like doing vibes here.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I. Mule house.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. Mule town. Columbia's mule town.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Why do they call it that?

[Landon Bryant]

I assume there was a lot of mules at some point, but I don't know.

[Aaron Weber]

Mule is a. A horse and a donkey bred together and they're sterile.

[Dusty Slay]

They can't have children.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. So maybe they're clean podcast. So maybe they're what used to be mule breeding ground there. They were making mules.

[Brian Bates]

Why don't they have mule day every year?

[Aaron Weber]

They do mule capital of the world.

[Dusty Slay]

Self proclaimed mule capital of the world.

[Brian Bates]

A lot of places trying to grab that.

[Landon Bryant]

It's up for grabs. I spent a lot of time running for mules as a small child because my family obviously had a family. Family mule. I know Yalls also, you also had a family mule. I'm sure.

[Aaron Weber]

We had a. We had a donkey for a little while.

[Landon Bryant]

Oh, that's even more fresh.

[Aaron Weber]

We never had a mule. We had a donkey, though. My dad did.

[Dusty Slay]

So you could have made a mule

[Aaron Weber]

one of my dad. Yeah, we could have because we had some horses. My dad's wife bought him a donkey for his anniversary one time and then it chased one of the cows through a bottle.

[Landon Bryant]

An anniversary donkey. I've never considered it. Never considered it. Now I am keep it country.

[Dusty Slay]

So do you make mule? Well, some of this history on Columbia, Tennessee, Wikipedia. Pretty brutal. I'm going to exit of that. Do you make. Are mules just like an accident or do you breed them intentionally?

[Aaron Weber]

I think, like, do they.

[Dusty Slay]

Do they serve some benefit that a horse or a donkey started that way.

[Brian Bates]

Then they fell in love.

[Aaron Weber]

Strong as a.

[Landon Bryant]

They're harder workers and they listen better like a horse.

[Aaron Weber]

Donkeys are real on real stubborn kind of thing.

[Landon Bryant]

And they'll like bite you.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, yeah, they're stubborn, but I feel

[Brian Bates]

like in like old Westerns, it's always the mule. Like, come on, Betsy, let's go.

[Landon Bryant]

I literally have plowed, like, with a mule.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, wow.

[Landon Bryant]

Literally. Quite literally.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

Unfortunately.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, see, you know, I always say my grandfather has done that, but, you know, he was like, he was born in 1900s.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. No, we had.

[Aaron Weber]

You were doing it. They feel like you were being punished.

[Landon Bryant]

No, it was just like a regular thing to be doing that day in South Mississippi, you know, like, just have got the. Gotta plow with the mule. The second iteration of this family mule. There was Joe Mule, and then there was Joe Metter.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow. So you really grew. So when you were, like, in the mule capital, you're like, take it easy.

[Landon Bryant]

I was like, y' all come. Y' all don't know about meals.

[Aaron Weber]

We got a few mules where I'm from.

[Landon Bryant]

Talk to me about meals when you've been hiding in a tree from one all day.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I felt sorry for Landon because I knew it was one of your first shows. It was a really long show. Heather went out, did a set, full set, then I did a set, and then she did this thing where she would do Q A. Yeah. So the show had probably been two hours.

[Dusty Slay]

Don't give Dusty any ideas.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Two hours before Landon even came up.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow. And.

[Landon Bryant]

But what a better way to start. Like, if it. If I feel like it would have been, like, really bad for my career if I'd started out at, like, the most ideal show, you know, like, I think it was. That was. It's good.

[Brian Bates]

That was the most ideal show for me.

[Aaron Weber]

So for how long did you do?

[Landon Bryant]

I did a 30, 45 minute.

[Aaron Weber]

You already had Internet success at this time?

[Landon Bryant]

I had Internet success at this time.

[Aaron Weber]

So they were there to see you.

[Landon Bryant]

They were. Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay.

[Landon Bryant]

But who knew? I didn't know if I. What I was gonna do, you know, Like, I mean, I had an idea, but, you know, you never know what's gonna happen.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

So it was. It was nerve wracking, but exciting.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

They walked me through it very nicely.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I felt very good about it. And it was like, I had a blast.

[Brian Bates]

And I was thinking, this is gonna be bad.

[Dusty Slay]

He's doing 30 minutes. Good luck, brother.

[Brian Bates]

Let me get some popcorn.

[Landon Bryant]

And so many since then because I loved it that night.

[Aaron Weber]

And we did a show together.

[Landon Bryant]

Yes. I was so glad that you did that. It was the coolest thing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. People have said we look alike on the Internet.

[Landon Bryant]

It's just the hair.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I brought you this if you want to.

[Landon Bryant]

Excellent.

[Dusty Slay]

You want to complete the look here, here.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that's it.

[Dusty Slay]

There we go.

[Landon Bryant]

For sure.

[Aaron Weber]

All right.

[Landon Bryant]

There we go.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. We're having a good time.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, my goodness.

[Dusty Slay]

This is like my worst nightmare.

[Landon Bryant]

Two Dusties, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. How do you feel about the moon landing? That's what I'm trying to get into. I need a little backup on here.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, happy to have you here.

[Landon Bryant]

I'm so glad to be here.

[Brian Bates]

So I'm sorry to jump in, but you. I was not familiar with you until we did that show together, but I'm like, who is Landon Bryant?

[Dusty Slay]

And then Brian just got the Internet.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's. Yeah, but you blew up three years ago.

[Landon Bryant]

I did. I blew up, like, right. Really kind of right before that.

[Dusty Slay]

It just.

[Landon Bryant]

It just blew up. And it hasn't stopped since then. And I feel like I've been, like, launched and it hasn't stopped launching since.

[Brian Bates]

All right, don't brag, but I've been doing comedy 19 years, and I've left. Not left the ground.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, I don't know if I feel like I've launched in comedy, but the Internet launch was, like, very serious. All because Walmart High School.

[Brian Bates]

I know. I was about to bring that up. He went to high school school at a former Walmart.

[Landon Bryant]

I literally went to Walmart for high school. I would love to tell that to you now.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I'm interested.

[Landon Bryant]

So, first of all, I was camping in the woods, and it was my eighth grade year, and it was spring break, so no one was hurting the story. So if you're listening, you can laugh about it.

[Aaron Weber]

It's fine.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay.

[Landon Bryant]

And our school got blown down by a tornado, which sort of speaks to how we feel about tornadoes in South Mississippi, because I was very much in a tent in the woods and no one came, you know, didn't know there was a tornado. No idea.

[Aaron Weber]

You were camping in the woods. Tornado happen. Okay. All right.

[Dusty Slay]

So no sirens, Anything like that?

[Landon Bryant]

I mean, the sirens are kind of far away. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Guy yelling, There's a squall coming.

[Aaron Weber]

As a person that grew up in Alabama, sometimes you hear the siren. You go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

We don't really.

[Dusty Slay]

It's.

[Landon Bryant]

I actually have gotten in trouble with the National Weather Service about this. Actually, this very thing. I got in trouble with them. They called me and text me and emailed me about tornadoes.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, you and Dusty have more in common, I realize.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I get in trouble with him about twice a year, and I block them, and then I'll unblock them every now and then I'll Be like, don't go to the porch. Look at the tornado. Because that's what I said we do. I was like, the truth is, is like, we're not paying attention until first of all, the weatherman's sleeves get rolled up.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And then when that happens, we're going to the porch to look for the tornado. And they were like, take this down. So I just blocked the National Weather Service.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, I like that. The way I got into it with our local Nashville severe weather X. We're cool again. They sent me some hats. We're friends again.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, I recently accepted a collab from the National Weather Service. They asked me to redo a psa. So I had to unblock, do the collab. And now they're the sellout brothers.

[Dusty Slay]

That's what I'm saying. Dusty. Some T shirts or something. Come on.

[Landon Bryant]

For the. Right. But yes. So our school got blown down by a tornado. Literally blown down. And it was time, you know, like, it was time. It was old school.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And no one was there. So it was fun. But the best and brightest minds in our town got together and we had just gotten a new Super Walmart. And I'm actually like, I thought we had really moved up. I was like, we are fancy.

[Dusty Slay]

Super Walmart's a big deal.

[Landon Bryant]

It was a big deal.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Kmart. I mean, it's the real.

[Landon Bryant]

Exactly.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

We had a brick Wendy's and a Super Walmart. It was like, really? We moved up. But that meant that the Walmart was available. The Walmart next to the Kroger's. So where do you put a seventh through 12th grade? But the Walmart. So. And this was a Walmart that was closed for like two weeks. So it was very much still a Walmart. They pulled the shelves out of this Walmart. All the signs were still there. And they built a plywood cubicle maze in that Walmart. And we're like, good luck, you know? And so we went to. I literally went to Walmart High School.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

And our principals in Mississippi, our principals greeted us wearing Walmart vests every day. They. They loved that joke. And then they continued that for the rest of the school year. And I would have to.

[Aaron Weber]

They did do that. They did do. Greeted you every day wearing Walmart vest.

[Landon Bryant]

Every day wearing Walmart vests.

[Brian Bates]

That's great.

[Aaron Weber]

I love that you do that joke one time. And then you're like, nah, nah. This is.

[Landon Bryant]

They were like, this is good.

[Aaron Weber]

This is a good.

[Landon Bryant]

But I understand it because we learned because it was plowed cubicles don't have ceilings, so it's one giant room. We learned quickly on that. You could clap on one side of the building and it would spread all the way across. And that was a good joke. So we got that in three or four times a day. So it was like a, you know, things going on. It was very fun. I was upset that we were in the baby section as eighth graders. That hurt. Hurt, you know, a little bit. Seventh grade got sports.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And we got babies. I had like show car and layaway. For real. I had the. Our cafeteria was the garden center, which was fancy because it had a little piazza, like the outdoor area.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. If it's. I guess the garden center has a roof over it. Yeah. So it was raining.

[Landon Bryant]

That was a roof in one part of it. And then I had to take the Algebra 1 state test in that Walmart. And it was required for graduation by the state of Mississippi. It was the first year it was required and you take it the year you take Algebra one. So they built it. They were like, like, fine, we'll build y' all bigger auditorium. So they built a bigger cubicle in the middle of the Walmart. People cheering and clapping the whole time. And we like, laid on the floor and took that Algebra one required for graduation on the floor. And they were like, so serious about it. And we were like, so serious. And then like six weeks later, the governor of Mississippi pardoned us from that exam. And pardon was the language he chose to use.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

So I am pardoned from math.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's interesting. On certain sides of the Internet, people say that Walmart will be. When the. The society collapses, Walmart will be camps that will all be put in and they'll transform them into the prisons. So I already got a preview. I think this is a.

[Landon Bryant]

It's a good time, honestly, like, it's a good time with Walmart.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So you.

[Dusty Slay]

Those Walmarts are so big. I mean, there's room for a gym in there. I mean, you could do it.

[Brian Bates]

Great idea, actually.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And you just use your time.

[Aaron Weber]

Especially when we get super duper Walmarts. Imagine what we can do in the old Super Walmart.

[Landon Bryant]

We'll get a K through 12. Got the whole school. The whole school system.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Go to college at Sam's Club.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

So you just use the bathrooms of the Walmart. Those were just your bathrooms.

[Landon Bryant]

We had the Walmart bathrooms. And they built a bunch of like, Portons plywood. I guess they were flushable. Like, they were flushable.

[Aaron Weber]

Did you have the bathrooms in the front and the back. Or was this old Walmart just in the back?

[Landon Bryant]

Old Walmart just in the back. Through customer service. And that's where the office was. So everybody had it lock on you. But there was an Arby's in the

[Aaron Weber]

parking lot smoking there.

[Landon Bryant]

It was tough to smoke in there. But you could dip. A lot of people had a lot of dip in there. There's a lot of tobacco in the Walmart.

[Dusty Slay]

It was encouraged.

[Landon Bryant]

But you could go to the Arby's. There was an Arby's and actually got in trouble because one time my dad came to get me and they gave up on the intercom because it was the Walmart intercom, you know, and so they were like, good luck, go get him. And I was in the Arby's for lunch and the police found me there because I was not where I was supposed to be.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow. You know, got arrested in the Arby's, taken back to the Walmart.

[Dusty Slay]

When you graduate, do you have to sign out like Gail Lewis, remember that girlfriend?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. Everybody has to make an announcement on the intercom.

[Landon Bryant]

Some people did grab.

[Aaron Weber]

She like worked at Walmart for like 20 years or something.

[Dusty Slay]

It was, it was kind of a sweet moment.

[Aaron Weber]

It was. And then when her last day, she did a sign off on the intercom.

[Dusty Slay]

This is Gail Lewis signing out.

[Landon Bryant]

I'm.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm gonna bet Gail goes in there once a week.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, of course you go.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, I don't mean to shop. She's in there visiting. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

And you know, they're like, Gail's back.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, she's gone. You got you able to handle it without me.

[Brian Bates]

So you started posting. Let's talk about. Yeah. And it just kind of went viral, literally.

[Landon Bryant]

The Walmart story. I'd post the Walmart story. In the Walmart story. I said regular people, things like Mike could and fixing to.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And people the comment. And I need to go back and find who did this because this started the whole thing. Somebody was like, what do you mean fixing to? And I was like, what do you mean? What do you mean fixing to? Like, what are you talking about, fixing to? And so I was like, let's discuss fixing to. And then we just continued to discuss things for a while. I was like, I'm going to run out of topics.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

But then I don't run out of topics.

[Aaron Weber]

You know where they walk up to me in Opalike, Alabama. I feel like we took fixing to all the way down to Finn. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Finna do that and won't open like A do it, you know, like.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. Yes, I will. Yes, it will.

[Brian Bates]

I wanted to mention the one you posted today. How do you get your news? Dusty? I think you'll like this.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Used to be police scanners and he has a very funny thing about police scanners and how that, you know, my

[Landon Bryant]

father in law got. Got convicted about it. He said it was gossiping and listening to it too much. So we, we had to turn the police scanner off after a while.

[Aaron Weber]

Come on.

[Dusty Slay]

When you start to recognize all the names on there. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

You get in people's business, you know, and you're like, there's more than I

[Aaron Weber]

wanted to know if it's people in your town. Yeah, yeah. My neighbor, I got a neighbor in McMinnville that I think he has a police scanner and he was telling me something and I go, well, I think sounds.

[Brian Bates]

But don't. Every time, every time you see cop cars somewhere, don't you want to know what's going on there? Wouldn't it be great to be able to listen?

[Dusty Slay]

I want to be as far away as possible.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You're like how I'm not allowed to text and drive, but they have a laptop in the computer.

[Landon Bryant]

They sure do.

[Dusty Slay]

Sometimes I hop on like, you know, you can access all these police scanners online for free. Sometimes like to hop in. What's going on in Des Moines right now?

[Aaron Weber]

Wild.

[Dusty Slay]

What are they dealing with at 2am on a Friday night? You know, just go check it in.

[Aaron Weber]

I love that.

[Landon Bryant]

I actually like love that. Maybe that's what I'm doing now.

[Aaron Weber]

I love that.

[Landon Bryant]

Weekend plans.

[Dusty Slay]

Chime is finally changing the way that people bank. We've been banking one way for a long time. I think it's time to switch it up a little bit too long. It is fee free. Smarter banking built for real people, not those old school banks that hit you with the overdraft and monthly fees. I've spent so much money on the overdraft fees throughout my life. Where you have negative money.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Chime doesn't do that. It's built for you. Not the 1%. Chime members can benefit from up to $1,150 in annual rewards. Fee free direct deposit unlocks the most rewarding way to bank at Chime. You're not just switching banks. You're upgrading to America's number one choice for banking with a Chime checking account. Chime is rated 5 stars by USA Today for customer service. Real humans 24, 7. Here are some of the benefits. Lean close. I can say it to you get 5% cash back on Chime Card. In a category of choice like gas or groceries, you get savings that grow faster with a 3.758 API APY. Even better. That's nine times higher than the national average. Plus you get premium travel perks like airport lounge access. I've always wanted to be in a lounge and I can't get in one. Plus 24. Seven travel concierge included with your chime card, $500 of your pay. When you use my pay, they also have Spot Me, which lets you overdraft up to $200 fee free. I wish I had this when I was starting out in the world. You know what I mean? But I didn't. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who have already are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.comnate that is chime.comnate. it only takes a few minutes to sign up.

[Landon Bryant]

Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and ChimeCard provided by Chime's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on the J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, my pay Spot Me and travel Perks, go

[Brian Bates]

to Chime.com disclosures so according to Landon, you know, you can get your news from the booty shop, sewing circle, quilting circle, or the 6am Hardee's Men's Breakfast.

[Landon Bryant]

Yes. Do y' all have Hardee's in Nashville? Okay, I've been in. I was just in Texas and they don't do Hardee's out there. And it was very confusing.

[Dusty Slay]

Is it a Carl's Jr.

[Landon Bryant]

They weren't even like. Yeah, they weren't even passionate about Carl's Jr. So I don't know what they're doing out there. You know, like, I'm not sure what they're doing.

[Aaron Weber]

My dad still meet some friends.

[Landon Bryant]

It's important. The 6am Hardee's men are my dad.

[Aaron Weber]

My dad likes to tell me this, that when he goes, yeah, when we first started meeting, there was about 18 of us. But they keep dying. And we're down to. We're down to four. Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

Not funny.

[Dusty Slay]

But it might be the Hardies.

[Landon Bryant]

It could be the Hardee's every day. It could be, it could be, could be. A lot goes on in the Hardee's. A lot of Decisions are made. Everything that's ever been said about you was said in the Hardee's as well.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, we. In Opelika, we. You know, I. I used to. You know, we had to drive by a Hardee's every day to and from school, and I. We ate there a lot. Breakfast and then monster burgers in the afternoon.

[Dusty Slay]

You remember the thick burger came out. That was kind of.

[Landon Bryant]

It was a big deal.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. You kind of look at my life as before and after that.

[Landon Bryant]

And we were like, what is this? A thick burger from Hardee's?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And the commercials were pretty hot.

[Dusty Slay]

They were pretty great.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

And then they had. They had the low carb thick burger, which was just. No, bummer one. But it's the same burger.

[Landon Bryant]

It was like lettuce wrap up.

[Aaron Weber]

Remember the KFC double down, where it was two pieces of chicken and with some cheese in the middle?

[Landon Bryant]

That's wild like that. That's bestie.

[Brian Bates]

You remember the Fresno burger?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, well, well. Hardee's had what was called a Frisco burger, but I went to Fresno, California, to do a show, and I kept talking about the Fresno burger.

[Landon Bryant]

Amazing.

[Aaron Weber]

And I could not understand why it was not connected, y'.

[Brian Bates]

All.

[Landon Bryant]

Why. Why is this.

[Dusty Slay]

You go, why are y' all not talking about this non stop? This is your claim to fame as a city.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Some of this hardy stuff. I met a guy who worked at the Hardee's test kitchen.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

I think it's in Franklin, Tennessee.

[Aaron Weber]

How big was it?

[Landon Bryant]

Bet he can make some good biscuits.

[Dusty Slay]

He said. He told us if we ever want to go by and check out the test kitchen, we came can. I said, dusty probably won't want to, but I'll do it. But me and Brian can go. You're happy. I mean, you can come along if you want. I figure you're not going to sample stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

I. You know, I. I gotta tell you guys this. I ate at a Wendy's the other day.

[Landon Bryant]

What?

[Dusty Slay]

What a hypocrite.

[Aaron Weber]

And I liked it.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Wait, so was it a brick Wendy's

[Aaron Weber]

or a regular Vanderbilt? Okay. Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That one's been there forever.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dusty Slay]

Brick and mortar.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Well, I don't eat fast food. And my wife. My wife had a baby, and it was, like, late at night, and they were like, all right, you. She can eat now.

[Brian Bates]

Now.

[Aaron Weber]

So I was like, all right, I'm gonna go find this food. And there was nothing open. Yeah. But I found a Wendy's. I got a burger and some Chicken fingers.

[Brian Bates]

That Wendy's has been there as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I would go to Vanderbilt sporting events. And you go over that Wendy's.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Right there in front of the football stadium.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

West end.

[Dusty Slay]

I know the Wendy's you're talking about.

[Aaron Weber]

I ordered chicken strips. They go, we gotta drop those. It's gonna take about eight minutes. I go, what about some nuggets? They go, okay, we got that.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Something that's been sitting out for a while.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Well, we've talked about. About probably. I didn't do the math, But I think 30. Probably 33, 34 states so far. Over six years.

[Dusty Slay]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

Taking a while, but we've never done Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. We've been waiting for the perfect guests, and I think we have that today.

[Aaron Weber]

There you are.

[Brian Bates]

And here we go. So we're going to talk a little bit.

[Aaron Weber]

And you're from Mississippi?

[Landon Bryant]

Born and raised.

[Aaron Weber]

College in Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

I actually went to all the colleges in Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Your wife went to college in Mississippi. My friend Vince Fabra went to the same college as you in Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

In Hasburg.

[Aaron Weber]

Yep.

[Landon Bryant]

Southern Miss to the top.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Hub City.

[Landon Bryant]

The only school I could graduate from. They were like, you have adhd?

[Aaron Weber]

I was like, oh, all right.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay. So that's what.

[Aaron Weber]

You also. You also know Toby, who's the. The mayor. The mayor who I've. I've met Toby.

[Landon Bryant]

Just Vince's roommate.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, Vince's roommate.

[Brian Bates]

Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

So as far as fun.

[Landon Bryant]

So it's a small town, you know, everybody knows everybody. Yeah, it's the whole thing.

[Aaron Weber]

I liked Hattiesburg.

[Landon Bryant]

I'm very much from Mississippi, and Hattiesburg is. Is definitely a big place down there. So it's like.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, where you're from, if you actually are plowing with a mule. Yeah. Hattiesburg is the big city.

[Landon Bryant]

It was the big city.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Hasburg got a Target.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, you know, exactly.

[Landon Bryant]

Like, we got a Super Walmart, but they got a Target.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

It's not even a school.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

It's not even a school. There's never been a school. And it's just. Just a Target. Like it was just for Target.

[Brian Bates]

All right, I'll start with you, and then we'll go this way, because I know you'll know the answer. What's the capital of Mississippi?

[Dusty Slay]

Stonewall.

[Brian Bates]

It's also the largest city in Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Jackson.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Jackson.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm going. I'm going to Jackson.

[Landon Bryant]

That's what I always think every time.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Is that Jackson, Mississippi, or Jackson, Tennessee, they're talking about?

[Aaron Weber]

I gotta think Jackson, Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

I think it's.

[Aaron Weber]

I've been to Jackson, Tennessee. See, I like it just fine.

[Landon Bryant]

But I like Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

I don't think people are writing songs.

[Aaron Weber]

That's what I'm saying.

[Landon Bryant]

In Mississippi, we at least believe it is about us. I don't know.

[Aaron Weber]

I think it's about Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

I've never considered it being anywhere else.

[Brian Bates]

But I mean, there's a lot of Jacksons. There are out there. But.

[Dusty Slay]

But we learned on this podcast, you know, the song Country Roads by John Denver is not actually about West Virginia.

[Brian Bates]

They just.

[Aaron Weber]

No.

[Brian Bates]

What claimed it.

[Dusty Slay]

It's. It's about a guy on the way to Virginia and he's in West Virginia. I'm almost home.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm almost.

[Dusty Slay]

I'm in West Virginia. At least that's the way a lot of people interpret it. But it does. But. But we know now that's West Virginia's song. They've kind of, you know, pretty low

[Aaron Weber]

down of John Denver, to be honest with you. If you're like, I'm almost to heaven right now in West Virginia though.

[Landon Bryant]

Right now, though, I'm in West Virginia.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I think that's what a lot of people think. But. But my point is it almost doesn't matter if, if it's embraced so much by a people in a town and stuff. It just. It's about that. But it's about West Virginia now.

[Brian Bates]

The.

[Landon Bryant]

The football across. Across the ocean, the uk. It's one of their main songs. That song, Country Road. It is like Manchester United or one. I'm going to say the wrong team, but one of the. Their teams is like their big song. So you see all these like British people singing that in the huge stadiums and arenas.

[Dusty Slay]

That's fun.

[Landon Bryant]

And even something recently somebody played that song at like the Olympics or something and it got. Got all over the British people. They were like, this is our song. We were like, no, it's literally about. About West Virginia.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, they're very serious about it.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

John. You know, you know, when John Denver won a Country Music Awards, Charlie Rich lit the announcement on fire on stage. They were very upset about John Denver. Back then.

[Brian Bates]

It was real country.

[Landon Bryant]

Really?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Now times have changed and you know, I think now it's confirmed though, because, you know, the British are singing it. So the British are saying real country, isn't it?

[Brian Bates]

Both, apparently both Jackson, Tennessee and Jackson.

[Dusty Slay]

There was a lot of speculation regarding which city of Jackson the song is about, but. But the writer said, I didn't have a specific Jackson in mind. I just like the sharp consonant sound as opposed to saying like, I'm going to Nashville. And then Charlie Daniels said, I ain't talking about Jackson, Mississippi. I'm talking about Jackson, Tennessee. So how about that egg in my face?

[Brian Bates]

And Johnny Cash said he was going to see Carl Perkins in Jackson, Tennessee.

[Landon Bryant]

I'm shook. We. We didn't know this. This is new. I'm not going to take this back home. This is going to stay here in Tennessee.

[Aaron Weber]

I, you know, I've never been to Jackson, Mississippi, but like I say, I've been to Jackson, Tennessee.

[Landon Bryant]

You don't need to.

[Aaron Weber]

I think Jackson, Tennessee is fine. But there is. There used to be a comedy club there called south street, and I liked it, but it was a tough room. It was a tough room. Yeah. I went there one time. Harvey text me. He goes, ticket. I was doing a weekend. He goes, ticket sales are pretty good for Saturday. Not looking good. Too good for Friday. And I show up the marquee that they have only Saturday is listed.

[Landon Bryant]

I wonder why.

[Aaron Weber]

Put both nights up there.

[Landon Bryant]

That could do it.

[Brian Bates]

The state gets his name from the Mississippi river, which is Native American word for great river. You. A few weeks ago, we were talking about that and you said, I think Missouri is.

[Aaron Weber]

I think it's the longest river.

[Brian Bates]

And you were right. I looked it up.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

It's very close. I mean, incredibly close with the Mississippi, but Missouri slightly longer. I think Mississippi maybe is. Has more total volume.

[Aaron Weber]

They all the rivers flow to Mississippi? Yeah, they all. I think, I don't know, maybe not

[Landon Bryant]

all the river basin.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

We're talking about 20 miles in there. That close?

[Brian Bates]

200 miles.

[Landon Bryant]

I actually don't know anything about the Missouri River.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I did a deep dive on the Mississippi river one time. Not literally, but I studied up on it and I've forgotten most of it, but I was in Biloxi and I was just kind of looking out at the water and the water was not looking great. Yeah. And then I realized that that's where the Mississippi river comes out. So this river that runs through the entire country and it has at least seven other rivers that connect to it that pull from all over the country. So. So all of that water is coming together and dumping right there in the ocean. That's not going to make great ocean water.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, if you get the right hurricane, it can.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay, okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Blow some of that away if you.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, it. The hurricanes always changed our barrier islands. And if you cut the right barrier island in half, the water clears up.

[Aaron Weber]

But after amazing.

[Landon Bryant]

After Camille, it. Something happened. And now all the river water just sits right there in the Mississippi sound.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

So the right hurricane taking out one of those islands will be clear again. It'll be nice. But for now, you probably shouldn't get in there because bacteria and stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I love Biloxi, by the way. I'd never been. I had never been. And I did a show. I forget what theater I did, what casino theater I did, but it was. It was great. I loved it.

[Brian Bates]

According to this, before Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi was the second largest gambling state because all the casinos down Biloxi. Guess it Katrina wiped them out. But they're back now, right?

[Landon Bryant]

They're back. Now.

[Aaron Weber]

They're back. And it's. I mean, I had no idea what was going on down there, but it is pretty impressive.

[Landon Bryant]

They're throwing a party on the coast, for sure. They're. It's a totally different group of people on the coast. Like there's. Mississippi's got so many different sections of different folks, and the coast folks are a different thing.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm pretty sure there was a Waffle House just down the street from a Waffle.

[Landon Bryant]

There was.

[Brian Bates]

Yes. We've talked about that.

[Landon Bryant]

And they both stayed open through Katrina, I'm sure. But yeah, if they did close, we would be panicked.

[Brian Bates]

I think I saw three Waffle Houses on that strip right there. Yeah, guys, everything in life's an upgrade. Dusty's always saying the world's never been better, but our phone's now a supercomputer. Our car basically drives itself spaceships. Yeah. Your headphones cancel noise like magic. But your Razer. I feel like we're still stuck in 2008. That's why I tried Harry's Plus. Honestly, first shave, I noticed immediately. You guys know I have a rough, rugged beard. The average Razors can't handle me.

[Aaron Weber]

You look very clean shaven today.

[Brian Bates]

Thanks to Harry's. It's smoother. Way more controlled. Just feels like a premium shave. The handles, actual metal.

[Aaron Weber]

Like a little baby's bottom today. That's what they say. Smooth like a baby's body.

[Dusty Slay]

Don't say that about Brian's face.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, it's because of Harry's razors.

[Brian Bates]

Aaron filled his face.

[Dusty Slay]

I'm good, man. I could see. See it.

[Brian Bates]

The handle's got weight to it. Doesn't that feel good to have a

[Dusty Slay]

weighted just to hold something solid? Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

The blade glides over your face. No touching.

[Aaron Weber]

Really doing some work done.

[Brian Bates]

It's got a pivot system that really follows your face. Plus alloy vitamin E to keep your Skin from getting irritated. Somehow. Somehow it's cheaper even than the big brands. That's what's crazy about it. Harry's owns their own blade factory, which cuts out the middleman. So you're not overpaying for refill. So why pay $30 for refills when Harry gives you better blades for a fraction of the price? For a limited time, our listeners can get that Harry's plus trial set for only $10. Wow. @harry's.com Nateland this set includes the all new Harry's plus razor, one refined five blade cartridge, a two ounce foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head to Harry's.com Nateland to claim this offer. And after you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about this them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. I was kind of shocked how many great entertainers and especially football players have come from Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, we got. We got some football players even just from my town alone. There's like a bunch of famous people just from my one town. Like the Napiers have their HGTV show.

[Aaron Weber]

Parker, Posy, what's your town?

[Landon Bryant]

Laurel, Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Laurel, Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

It has HGTV hometown. It's like a hometown show.

[Aaron Weber]

I've heard that.

[Landon Bryant]

So you can come by a house for nothing.

[Brian Bates]

Lance Bass.

[Landon Bryant]

Lance Bass. Yep. We. We really claimed him. Y from Laurel. Specifically.

[Brian Bates]

Marsha Blackburn. Do you know who that is?

[Landon Bryant]

I know that name. I believe she's more on the political side of things.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, she's a Tennessee politician, but she's from Mississippi. From Laurel H. Oh, here's a few others. Not from Laurel, but from Mississippi. Jimmy Buffett.

[Aaron Weber]

Yep.

[Dusty Slay]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Landon Bryant]

Went southern.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Elvis was born in Tupelo. We claim him in Tennessee. But he was born Tupelo. Oprah was born in Mississippi. We claim her in Tennessee. But that's kind of funny. Like, two of our big famous people that we claim are actually from Mississippi. But then like, we're getting out of here.

[Landon Bryant]

But they're like careers were here, you know, with y'. All.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I feel like. Yeah, I feel like they escaped me.

[Brian Bates]

We forget Memphis. Memphis is from. Is part of Tennessee. I feel like it's more Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

Memphis is so Mississippi. Like the vibes of Memphis. That whole area is very Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

B.B. king. Morgan Freeman.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah. B.B. king also feels like a Tennessee guy.

[Landon Bryant]

Really?

[Aaron Weber]

I feel like it feels like Memphis. I mean, I don't know.

[Landon Bryant]

I mean, that area. That's the whole thing. His band played.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, New Orleans. Yeah. Maybe that. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Britney Spears does not feel Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

But it does, though, if you really think about it.

[Brian Bates]

What she's going through now.

[Landon Bryant]

The whole package, the whole Britney Spears package is. Is very friendly.

[Aaron Weber]

I get to be it, too. I got. Could see it, too.

[Landon Bryant]

One of my first encounters with fame. A kid in my elementary school transferred in from a different elementary school, and his yearbook had Britney Spears in the yearbook. And we were like, you know, oh, yeah, wow, this guy is really famous, actually. He, like, knows Britney Spears, you know.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Did he know her?

[Landon Bryant]

He didn't. They just went to school together. She was older.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. That's pretty cool. Jim Henson.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. Muppets.

[Brian Bates]

There's a Muppet museum, or at least a Kermit Museum museum in Leland, Mississippi. James Earl Jones was born there. Two of the great voice actors all time. Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones, both from Mississippi. And then football. Jerry Rice played Mississippi Valley State.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. Tough to beat.

[Brian Bates]

Walter Payton played at Jackson. I mean, two of the greatest of all time.

[Dusty Slay]

Wild.

[Brian Bates]

Brett Favre, Southern Miss. Archie. Archie Manning, Steve McNair, Dak Prescott, Marcus Dupree.

[Landon Bryant]

There was a bunch of them

[Dusty Slay]

from Philadelphia.

[Brian Bates]

That's right.

[Dusty Slay]

Philadelphia, Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Charles Crosby just. His team just won the super bowl and he's. Was my wife's student even in Laurel.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Landon Bryant]

There's a bunch of them.

[Brian Bates]

All those people plays for the Seahawks.

[Landon Bryant]

I don't know how.

[Brian Bates]

Did you say he just won the Super Bowl?

[Landon Bryant]

Yes.

[Brian Bates]

Okay, well, they probably plays for the Seahawks.

[Landon Bryant]

I don't know who won the Super Bowl.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know either. I quit watching it.

[Landon Bryant]

I just know we were so excited for Charles.

[Dusty Slay]

Dusty just tuned in for the halftime show.

[Landon Bryant]

He doesn't even work same. I was so excited for Charles and for Bad Bunny.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Some country singers from Mississippi, Jimmy Rogers, known as the father of country music. There's a lot of fathers country music.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I'm going to debate that one.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, I was going to say there

[Landon Bryant]

are a lot of fathers of country music.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, Montgomery, Alabama has a claim to that. That too.

[Brian Bates]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm going Hank Williams. That's where I'm going.

[Brian Bates]

Tammy Wynette's the first lady of country music.

[Dusty Slay]

She's okay.

[Brian Bates]

From Mississippi, Charlie Pride. Conway Twitty.

[Aaron Weber]

I thought Conway Twitter was from Arkansas.

[Brian Bates]

Louisiana, Woman. Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

Man.

[Aaron Weber]

I know that's the song, but I thought he was from.

[Brian Bates]

Thought he was a fraud.

[Dusty Slay]

Well, I. I used to live right next to Twitty Land, whatever it was called.

[Brian Bates]

Twitty City.

[Dusty Slay]

Twitty City.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Somebody said that.

[Dusty Slay]

Twitter.

[Aaron Weber]

When Conway. Conway Twitty's not his. His name. But he picked the name. He looked at a map of Arkansas and just picked two cities. Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

He picked Conway, Arkansas.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

And Twitty, Arkansas.

[Aaron Weber]

I think so.

[Landon Bryant]

It worked.

[Dusty Slay]

It's not a bad two to pick.

[Landon Bryant]

It feels good coming out. Conway Twitty.

[Aaron Weber]

That Conway Twitty. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, it's better. Murfreesboro, Memphis.

[Aaron Weber]

Right. Well, that's what he said. There's also a city in Arkansas called Toad Suck, Arkansas. They asked him why he picked Conway Twitting. He said, because it sounds better than Toad Suck.

[Landon Bryant]

And he was right.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Toad Suck Comedy Festival.

[Landon Bryant]

He was right.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I did that. Yeah. Yeah. Me and.

[Dusty Slay]

Do you have any chili dogs?

[Landon Bryant]

Lil o', Donnell, do you have any

[Dusty Slay]

chili dogs out there?

[Aaron Weber]

I didn't. And Justin Smith. We all did that together.

[Brian Bates]

Toad Sec Festival.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Hardy is from Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

You know what's a crazy Mississippi fact I saw the other day. You know, if England, the country of England, were to become a United States state, let's say it becomes our 51st state, where do you think it would rank in terms of economic output?

[Brian Bates]

Apparently close to Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I'm gonna say.

[Landon Bryant]

I would have said hi before now.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. But the way you're framing it. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

You think it'd be like California's. California is like, the fourth biggest economy in the world, so it's below. It's below California. But, like, where do you think would rank out of 50 states?

[Aaron Weber]

I'm gonna say 51 1.

[Dusty Slay]

51st.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Ms. Mississippi's economy.

[Landon Bryant]

Go ahead.

[Dusty Slay]

GDP is bigger than England.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Like, look at this gu.

[Dusty Slay]

This is like the. It's so funny. It's the se. You know, land is meant with. In.

[Aaron Weber]

No, Mississippi's 50. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

In terms of.

[Landon Bryant]

I mean, sure.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, everybody's like, yeah, guy. That's obvious.

[Brian Bates]

I wasn't gonna go there.

[Landon Bryant]

We've been moving up and stuff lately, but. Yeah, that sounds right.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I didn't want to mention that

[Landon Bryant]

GDP is, like, definitely, like, low.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, this depends on. I gotta find the exact. There's all kinds of different measurements here. This is the.

[Landon Bryant]

But we're, like, really high in education now.

[Brian Bates]

I was about to. The Mississippi miracle.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. I did it myself.

[Aaron Weber]

All right.

[Landon Bryant]

I brought that to y'. All.

[Aaron Weber]

You and Walmart brought it.

[Landon Bryant]

I was a public school teacher for a long time. I was teacher of the year even.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Landon Bryant]

I was the art element. Elementary art educator of the year for Mississippi and the teacher of the year for my school and stuff. Like. Like that. Wow, this is, this is way more fun, though.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, Gave it all. Gave all that success up for, for your own self.

[Landon Bryant]

Just for.

[Aaron Weber]

That's what we do, right? We go. I was helping the kids, but you know what?

[Landon Bryant]

I was a public servant. But it's way more fun to serve like me.

[Aaron Weber]

I get it. I get it.

[Brian Bates]

Aaron. The Mississippi miracle refers to the rapid, significant improvement of K through 12 education in Mississippi, particularly in fourth grade reading, where the state rose from last place in the nation to average or above average ranking by 2024.

[Dusty Slay]

Look, that's great, but it's very funny. Hey, our kids can read the way they're supposed to now. What a miracle.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, it was a miracle. And it was a miracle. And you know what the miracle was?

[Dusty Slay]

What's that?

[Landon Bryant]

Phonics.

[Dusty Slay]

Phonics.

[Landon Bryant]

That's all it was. We just started teaching phonics again. Everybody had gotten away from phonics education in all across the United States.

[Dusty Slay]

It was like vibes based.

[Landon Bryant]

It was vibes based.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And so then we started teaching phonics again and it immediately skyrocketed, the whole situation. And we did it with the least, the lowest paid teachers, the lowest paid. Like, like we. There's no money. So it was all just like scraping and scrapping.

[Dusty Slay]

So it is. So the word miracle is appropriate.

[Landon Bryant]

It was like, really?

[Dusty Slay]

That's great.

[Landon Bryant]

Really such a surprise.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. You feel funny now, big man?

[Dusty Slay]

We're from Alabama. Where do we rank on this?

[Aaron Weber]

I think we're 49, I think. Well, Vince has a joke who says he moved from South Carolina to Alabama. Alabama. And he says I'm, you know, I'm. Because of education, I'm big on it. I went from 49. I went from 50 to 49.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So, yeah, I think, but, but also

[Landon Bryant]

one thing about doing well, the miracle of it, like I'm moving up that far is like it's, it's pretty easy to go up when you're on the very bottom.

[Brian Bates]

And somebody's always going to be at the bottom. That's what I say. No matter how great everybody does, somebody's still going to be 50th.

[Landon Bryant]

Somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to do it. We've stepped up for so long. Long.

[Brian Bates]

William Faulkner is from Mississippi. John Grisham, I tell you what, in the 90s, John Grisham was just cranking out the best sellers and then.

[Dusty Slay]

And then became the best movies.

[Brian Bates]

The movies. Yeah. So many.

[Landon Bryant]

So good.

[Dusty Slay]

Rainmaker. Just watched that recently.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, what's some John Grisham movies that I should get. Time to Kill a Time to Kill. I've seen that one.

[Dusty Slay]

Rainmaker.

[Aaron Weber]

You should watch Rainmaker.

[Brian Bates]

You like the Rainmaker?

[Aaron Weber]

The Firm. I've seen the Firm. Firm. I watched recently.

[Brian Bates]

I did too.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. It's a good one.

[Brian Bates]

I'm gonna be honest, I. I don't 100% get it.

[Dusty Slay]

What do you mean?

[Brian Bates]

There, at the end, what he's doing. I don't.

[Landon Bryant]

It's been too long.

[Brian Bates]

I don't 100% understand what happened.

[Aaron Weber]

Isn't there one, like, called the Witness or something with John Cusack and.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Aaron Weber]

Is that what it's called?

[Dusty Slay]

Usually any movie like that that just has, like, one word name like that, that's probably a John Grisham book.

[Aaron Weber]

Let me see. Because that movie or whatever, that movie was great.

[Brian Bates]

I don't think the feature.

[Dusty Slay]

I know. Well, you don't know what happened to the Firm. So the Firm is there, laundering money for the mob, and Tom Cruise's character learns that and tries to expose them and get them. He turns against the Firm to.

[Brian Bates]

But at the end, the Mafia bosses come to town and he meets with them and he shows them some bookkeeping. It's been a while since I've seen it too. And then they kind of like. Like he finds a way out of it, right?

[Landon Bryant]

I think so.

[Dusty Slay]

He becomes an informant in the end.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. John Grisham, The Runaway Jury. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Incredible movie.

[Brian Bates]

Who's in that?

[Aaron Weber]

John Cusack. Gosh.

[Dusty Slay]

Gene Hackman, who's also in the. The Firm. Dustin.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

What a cast. Jeremy Piven.

[Aaron Weber]

Rachel Wise. Wise. Big fan of Rachel Wise.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

I think that's how you say it, Weiss.

[Landon Bryant]

There's good storytellers in Mississippi. I think that's, like, where it all comes from. There's nothing else to do, you know.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, oh, oh. Jerry Clower. Jerry Clower. Oh, gosh. Yazoo, Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Gosh, I love Jerry Clower.

[Brian Bates]

Jerry Clower. Tommy Davidson is from Mississippi. Tignataro.

[Landon Bryant]

Dig.

[Brian Bates]

Landon Bryant.

[Landon Bryant]

Me.

[Brian Bates]

Mary Ryan Brown.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

A whole crew of us.

[Brian Bates]

Casey Jones is from Jackson, Tennessee. But he crashed his train in Mississippi, so that's something.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

All right, so there's Ole Miss and Mississippi State are big rivals.

[Dusty Slay]

The Egg Bowl.

[Brian Bates]

The Egg Bowl. Yep.

[Dusty Slay]

Why is it called the Egg Bowl?

[Landon Bryant]

I'm not sure, but it's what everybody does on Thanksgiving.

[Aaron Weber]

What? They watch it because it's on Thanksgiving Day.

[Dusty Slay]

Right. Isn't it?

[Aaron Weber]

Egg Trophy. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

If you're especially. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both really good Places to tailgate and the grove or the junction. And that one is particularly excessive. There's. It's like very catered. It's very chandeliers.

[Aaron Weber]

I heard that Ole Miss is a real party.

[Landon Bryant]

A real party college. It's like what it's about right here.

[Brian Bates]

It's beautiful. I've never been.

[Landon Bryant]

It's very literary. Like that's where Faulkner and all them are from. So it's like very academic type of a place. But it is very beautiful. It' like a very. It's like a very quaint, perfect little small.

[Aaron Weber]

If you're going to be a good writer, you got to be an alcoholic. Yeah, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

You know, I think that kind of a thing, I guess is the general vibe of Oxford, Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Probably a lot of. What do you have a lot of those, Like Savannah, Georgia, the trees with the moss that hangs down out of them.

[Landon Bryant]

We don't have the Spanish moss in North Mississippi. It doesn't. It doesn't make it all the way up there, but we do have it in other places and it is important. But it's that vibe. What. The vibe that you're describing, minus the moss. It's that vibe.

[Dusty Slay]

This is kind of interesting. You know why it's called the Egg Bowl? It's because the. There was a trophy made that was supposed to look like the ball. And the footballs used in American football in the 1920s were. Looked basically like eggs. They look more like the balls used in rugby now. So the trophy just looked like an egg.

[Landon Bryant]

I think that lines up actually for how we'll name things in Mississippi for sure.

[Dusty Slay]

I didn't know if there was like. Are eggs of any sort.

[Landon Bryant]

Like, it's an egg.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, it looks like an egg.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's, you know that. That's how Auburn, Alabama became the Iron Bow. They used to always play in Birmingham, which is a. The Iron City. Yeah. So they call it the Iron Bow.

[Landon Bryant]

I never knew Aaron.

[Brian Bates]

Ole Miss won the national championship in football three out of four years. 50. 1959, 1960, 1962.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean it's a dynasty.

[Landon Bryant]

They take it very seriously.

[Brian Bates]

And Mississippi State beat Vanderbilt in the 2021 College Baseball World Series.

[Landon Bryant]

No, they do baseball really well. They like love baseball at Mississippi State. It's like got an incredible stadium a little left.

[Aaron Weber]

Where do you think the cowbells come from? You think they had. They just. Back in the day, everybody just, you know, they had a lot of cowbells.

[Landon Bryant]

State was a agricultural school. Like it was like a, you know, whatever those are called, like Agricultural type of school first. So there were cows, and there are cows in Mississippi very much. But I don't know where it came from. But I can tell you, be ready if you're going to a Mississippi State game, because they're going to be ringing those cowbells the whole time.

[Aaron Weber]

It sounds like the worst.

[Landon Bryant]

I had never loved it when I was there.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, yeah. If you're not as familiar with college football as some of us, Mississippi State, the fans have cowbells in the crowd and they ring them incessantly the entire entire game. And it's a very cool tradition because it's so unique. No other school does that, but I imagine it.

[Brian Bates]

And don't they set rules for when you can ring them?

[Dusty Slay]

I think that there are all kinds of. Kinds of stipulations.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Because it's such a. Like a outside source of noise that they had to put some.

[Dusty Slay]

There is a quote unquote, ring responsibly pledge by fans.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

So they can't. Whatever that means.

[Landon Bryant]

People get really fancy, decorated ones.

[Dusty Slay]

It began in the 1930s when reportedly a cow wandered onto the field during a game against Ole Miss, leading to the cowbell becoming a good luck charm for the school.

[Aaron Weber]

Did they win after the cow came?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, yeah. That's why. That's why it became a good luck charm.

[Landon Bryant]

Lines up.

[Aaron Weber]

They always say that. I feel like none of those are true. I feel like Auburn has. Has one where they're like, say that a eagle flew over the stadium before the game and they won. And then they. So they. I just feel like. I mean it all. It sounds like a nice tradition, but I just feel like deep down none of those are true. You know what I mean?

[Brian Bates]

So Ole Miss is masculine. It was forever Colonel Reb. Then they were like, that's controversial. So then they had a contest to pick the new mascot. And I remember there was a push for Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I like that. I was behind that.

[Brian Bates]

And that didn't happen. So then they decided on a black bear. Ole Miss black bear.

[Landon Bryant]

And then they did land sharks.

[Brian Bates]

And then they switched in 2018 or. Yeah, I think to land shark.

[Dusty Slay]

Which.

[Landon Bryant]

What is that?

[Dusty Slay]

I thought that was like a joke or it was tongue in cheek or like the defense.

[Landon Bryant]

But then they made it that.

[Brian Bates]

I think it became a thing. But then I read on Wikipedia that they're like, since 2021, they've tried to phase it out, but.

[Landon Bryant]

And now there's just not a mascot. Like now when you go, I'm not

[Aaron Weber]

a big Star wars guy. But he was Admiral Akbar. Admiral. Yeah. They were saying he was, you know, he was fighting for the rebel forces.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So it fit the Ole Miss Rebels.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

I think. I think it's cool. You know, I just know he goes tough to. It's a trap.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. That's all.

[Aaron Weber]

I know he does.

[Brian Bates]

That's a great match. Mascot.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, that would have been terrible.

[Aaron Weber]

I think it's great.

[Landon Bryant]

I feel like the land shark things was like a popularity thing. Like, everybody was, like, saying that for a second, and then by the time they, like, made themselves the land sharks, the joke was old, you know?

[Aaron Weber]

Yes.

[Landon Bryant]

So that didn't stick around.

[Brian Bates]

I said there was a guy on defense who. Who came up with it. Did. The land shark kind of took off.

[Aaron Weber]

Imagine if you. There's a trick play and Admiral Akbar is the guy. You go, it's a trap. And you. You.

[Landon Bryant]

I think it's.

[Brian Bates]

That's brilliant.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I'm not even a Star wars guy, but I. I like.

[Brian Bates]

You should be an old Mrs. Prt. Yeah, that's a great idea.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, let's have some fun with it. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

They've got the.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't even know where the shark comes. I mean, I know that you guys said the Finn thing, but Tony the

[Brian Bates]

Land Shark, That's That. Who that is right there.

[Landon Bryant]

That's bizarre.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You got to get. You got to be. It's got to be an L. Larry the Land Shark.

[Dusty Slay]

Oh, yeah. Some.

[Landon Bryant]

A little Tony the Land Shark. That is so, like,

[Aaron Weber]

you already got Tony the Tiger. It's got to be Larry the Land Shark.

[Brian Bates]

Yep. So the Teddy bear. Teddy bear, Terry. Teddy. Oh, I'm having Teddy bear. Teddy bear is Theodore Roosevelt.

[Landon Bryant]

We claim that.

[Brian Bates]

Correct. That would happen in Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

What. What happened?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Brian Bates]

I thought you knew the rest. I thought you were going to finish it off.

[Dusty Slay]

No, I want to hear about it.

[Brian Bates]

He was on a hunting expedition and everybody had killed.

[Aaron Weber]

What's a honey expedition?

[Dusty Slay]

Hunting.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, hunting. I'm sorry, I did dis.

[Dusty Slay]

You're gonna run into some bears on a honey expedition.

[Landon Bryant]

I have been.

[Aaron Weber]

I did misunderstand.

[Landon Bryant]

I have been on a honey expedition before.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Phonics haven't been talking.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. No, I just misunderstood.

[Brian Bates]

Hunting expedition.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Okay. I'm not making. I did just misunderstand.

[Dusty Slay]

There wasn't a lot going on. The president was on a honey expedition during. To get some sweets.

[Aaron Weber]

Some of that local hunting annual.

[Brian Bates]

You want to check this. That's from Wet Heat. Which you can see on Netflix hunting expedition. And he hadn't killed anything yet. So they tied a black bear to like a tree or something, basically let him kill it. And he's like, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to kill this bear. And the story got out and they were like, oh, that's a sweet story. Story. And they made stuffed animal and called it the tent.

[Landon Bryant]

Teddy bears. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But shout out to the. You're welcome. Strong enough to tie a black bear.

[Dusty Slay]

It was a baby. It was a baby.

[Landon Bryant]

It was a little.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. So he's really not that good of a guy in that story because he was still trying to kill a bear. But he's like, now I want to

[Brian Bates]

kill it the right way, I guess. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

He needed a rug.

[Landon Bryant]

You want to kill. Yeah. You don't want to kill one tied up. It would be so sad.

[Brian Bates]

That would. Would be some medical. First come from Mississippi. Mississippi's.

[Landon Bryant]

Oh yeah. We got hearts.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. The first human lung transplant and the first heart transplant from a chimpanzee. Same doctor did it.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah. You're the first people that needed them.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. And we still do.

[Aaron Weber]

So they took a lung and heart out of a chimpanzee.

[Brian Bates]

The lung transition plant, I think was just from a human.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay.

[Brian Bates]

Chimpanzee. Was from a chimpanzee. Let me ask you this. If they said.

[Aaron Weber]

Wait, wait, the heart was from a chimpanzee.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

And they gave it to her.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Now it didn't work, but they, they were able to do it.

[Landon Bryant]

They tried it and then they made it. The artifact artificial one.

[Brian Bates]

Is that right?

[Landon Bryant]

And then it worked.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Landon Bryant]

The guy stayed alive for like two months.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

The heartbeat looking for a little longer.

[Aaron Weber]

Then he started smoking again.

[Brian Bates]

The heartbeat for approximately one hour. And then the guy died because they said chimpanzees heart too small.

[Dusty Slay]

Did they tell the guy that's what they were doing?

[Brian Bates]

If you, if they said you'll live 30 more years before you'll die today, but you'll have some characteristics of a chimpanzee, would you do it?

[Dusty Slay]

I could use a little bit of.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. What are the characteristics? Can I climb real good?

[Brian Bates]

You'll occasionally throw poop at people.

[Landon Bryant]

Because we do have some monkeys that get loose every now and then in Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

Oh yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Just happened last year for medical purposes.

[Brian Bates]

Right.

[Landon Bryant]

The two lane monkeys. For some reason as they're coming through there, they always escape. Like it's like four or five times in my life. The disease, very diseased.

[Aaron Weber]

Monkeys escape it Feels like trying to get a. A virus spread throughout the country.

[Landon Bryant]

It does. And Theo. Theo Von has a story about these same monkeys. Like, they got loose in his town in Louisiana, and then they also got loose in our town. It just is, like, not good. If you're a monkey trying to get loose from a medical program, don't do it in Mississippi. I know a million people who are, like, ready at a moment's notice to hunt monkeys. So, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Diseased monkeys who were like. They were like, excuse me, there's diseased monkeys in the woods. I've been waiting my whole life.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm ready for that.

[Landon Bryant]

They were ready. They were ready. The monkeys lasted exactly 12 hours.

[Dusty Slay]

Wow. A truck was carrying Reese's monkeys in Jasper County, Mississippi, and the truck crashed. The primates posed a threat to humans. They were aggressive. They had hepatitis C, herpes, and Covid.

[Landon Bryant]

Because if you're gonna have a disaster, have a disaster, you know, like, oh,

[Dusty Slay]

my God, what a nightmare.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, what a life those monkeys had leading up to this, though.

[Landon Bryant]

Funny Is like, having a good time. When that story broke, the rest of the nation was like, the diseased monkeys. And everybody misses Was like, let's go. Like, yes, yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, let's get these monkeys.

[Landon Bryant]

Let's go.

[Aaron Weber]

But those monkeys were having a party.

[Landon Bryant]

They did.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, they were at Panama City beach.

[Landon Bryant]

But the thing about it is that's not the first time. Like, that's happened a lot. A few times.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. What do you think's going on there?

[Landon Bryant]

I guess the two lane. Two lane needs to get its trucks

[Brian Bates]

together, cuz, like, you know, but they're wrecking in Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

They are.

[Dusty Slay]

Tulane was very clear that they were not being transported by two lane.

[Brian Bates]

It's on a two lane highway.

[Dusty Slay]

Boom.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, two lane, y' all's monkeys are here whether y' all transported them or not. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Maybe start transporting your own monkeys.

[Dusty Slay]

Get your own truck. Dude, They caught. They caught all but three. Three. Three were just. Three were gone.

[Landon Bryant]

There's three out there.

[Dusty Slay]

Three made it, man.

[Landon Bryant]

There's actually, like, a lot of animals like that in my life. They're, like, still out there after being let loose at various points. Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

What do you. What if those monkeys have made a life for themselves?

[Landon Bryant]

I hope they have. They're doing well, you know, like, made a family.

[Aaron Weber]

They probably found some organic herbs and started curing their own things. And, you know, Covid wears off naturally. And then you get, you know, there's herbs. There's always videos out there where people. You post a video and then People are in the comments going, oh, doctor, so and so cured my herpes, you know, and you go, what? This is a weird. Like a weird targeted ad.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

You know, And I go, so if we see, like, a cure for hepatitis coming from, like, random place in Mississippi, Somebody caught a monkey.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Somewhere.

[Brian Bates]

I want to ask you about a couple of Mississippi dishes.

[Landon Bryant]

Yes.

[Brian Bates]

Mississippi mud pie is delicious.

[Landon Bryant]

It is. It's a big thing. It's delicious. We're proud that it's named after us. So we like that. Sounds like there will be Mississippi mud pies. Yeah, it's like a chocolate dream.

[Dusty Slay]

Sounds euphemistic.

[Landon Bryant]

Dream pie, you know, Very good.

[Dusty Slay]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

You would think with the name, like mud pie, though, it wouldn't be. Have the white icing on the top, that it would be chocolate all the way.

[Landon Bryant]

I agree. And I made many mud pies that we were not allowed to eat and nobody appreciated.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

As a small child.

[Brian Bates]

And what about the dipping condiment, comeback sauce?

[Landon Bryant]

We. That's us.

[Brian Bates]

According to this.

[Landon Bryant]

I know everywhere had comeback sauce. Yeah, that's good.

[Dusty Slay]

Never heard of that. What is that?

[Landon Bryant]

What?

[Aaron Weber]

Wait, what?

[Dusty Slay]

What is comeback?

[Landon Bryant]

Wait a second.

[Aaron Weber]

Mississippi comeback sauce.

[Dusty Slay]

I call this, like, chicken finger sauce.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, everybody's got that. Special sauce.

[Dusty Slay]

Special sauce.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, special sauce. Actually, my whole life it was special sauce. And then when canes came about, it became comeback or somebody like. I forgot it was canes or who it was.

[Aaron Weber]

Sometimes I make it at home and my wife is very impressed by it. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Why did you do that when you make it?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know.

[Landon Bryant]

But yeah, like magic going on.

[Aaron Weber]

I used to make it at Jim Bob's.

[Dusty Slay]

Chicken fingers, typically mayonnaise, ketchup, chili sauce, little Worcestershire, lemon juice, little garlic salt. Spices.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

It's good for a complex flavor profile.

[Landon Bryant]

I'm so proud of us for that. I didn't know we did comeback sauce. Good. Good for us, you know.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, this is the Mississippi comeback sauce. There's probably one for every state, but

[Brian Bates]

says comeback sauce is from Mississippi up there in the description.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, but in Alabama, we have an Alabama comeback sauce.

[Dusty Slay]

It was created at. In Jackson, Mississippi, at a restaurant called the Rotisserie.

[Aaron Weber]

Maybe that's why Johnny Cash was headed down there.

[Dusty Slay]

I'm going to get some comeback songs.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm going to Jackson. Ain't never coming back. Sorry, I didn't mean to yell that

[Dusty Slay]

you are miked up.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm fired up.

[Landon Bryant]

That makes sense that we have a lot of, like, catfish trailers and that kind of thing.

[Dusty Slay]

Food historian Robert St John called comeback sauce the queen mother of all Mississippi condiments.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Dusty Slay]

He's a great guy, you know Robert St. John.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. He's like our main restaurateur kind of a guy, and he does a lot of really good stuff, and he does a lot of charity work in Mississippi as well. And he's really fun.

[Brian Bates]

All right.

[Landon Bryant]

Fun guy. He's got a lot of very good restaurants. Restaurants.

[Dusty Slay]

That's a different Robert St. John.

[Brian Bates]

My first. First time I've probably ever thought of Mississippi was when I was a kid. We would play backyard football. It's one Mississippi, two Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

I know. I always felt good that we had that. Like, at least y'.

[Aaron Weber]

All. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

At least other people are saying her name every now and then.

[Dusty Slay]

Every.

[Brian Bates]

Everywhere they do that.

[Aaron Weber]

Right. Even in Alabama, we did that. Whereas Alabama is about the same amount of syllables. There's really no need to.

[Landon Bryant]

Yes, the same.

[Dusty Slay]

Mississippi. Alabama. Alabama.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. We could have did 1 Alabama, 2 Alabama, but we were still doing Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

1 Alabama, 2 Alabama, 3 Alabama.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Did y'. All. Y' all probably didn't do this.

[Brian Bates]

I'm.

[Landon Bryant]

This is dumb. But did y' all learn how to spell Mississippi with the song mi.

[Aaron Weber]

Crooked letter Humpback. Humpback. Yeah. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I was just in Kentucky, and people. I. I don't know how I ended up doing that song. And they were, like, really shook by it.

[Aaron Weber]

Like. Oh, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

They were like, crooked letter, crooked letter. Humpback. Humpback. What?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah. It's a P, right?

[Dusty Slay]

What is that all about?

[Aaron Weber]

And then even. Yeah, that's how you count. I mean, you count. Like they would say when it. When it lightnings, you say, one Mississippi, two Mississippi. And then however far you get before it thunders, they say that's how many miles away it is.

[Landon Bryant]

Exactly.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. It's. It's essentially one second to say one Mississippi takes one second. So. So you could just say that.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't take the magic out on it.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, we always drop that second iss. It's just Mississippi. And in Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

Mississippi.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

Usually Ms. Epi.

[Landon Bryant]

Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

Until you got phonics.

[Landon Bryant]

And then. Yeah. And now we have phonics. I don't know what the next generation will be doing. I used to be the most well spoken person in the whole state, so I don't know what will happen next.

[Brian Bates]

All right. Some movie set in Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

Bird.

[Brian Bates]

Help. A Time to Kill. Oh, brother. Where art thou? Mississippi's Burning was actually filmed in Lafette, Alabama.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Boom. That's where my dad lives. I met Gene Hackman that day. I Was a little kid.

[Landon Bryant]

No way.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Wow. But a lot of it was filmed in Mississippi.

[Brian Bates]

It was, but the town was setting.

[Aaron Weber]

Town was in Lafette, Alabama.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

They said they couldn't find a good town in Mississippi.

[Landon Bryant]

I believe that could be difficult.

[Brian Bates]

My dog. My dog Skip. That's a classic.

[Landon Bryant]

Devastating.

[Dusty Slay]

What is that?

[Landon Bryant]

Oh, you weren't tortured with my dog Skip.

[Aaron Weber]

No, I never saw that.

[Dusty Slay]

Was that like Homeward Bound, but he never gets home at the end, just like that.

[Aaron Weber]

General Pets, you know, he was bound to get there.

[Landon Bryant]

General. Good dog.

[Brian Bates]

Is there a comedy club in Mississippi?

[Landon Bryant]

I'm sure there is, and I'm ashamed that I'm not real familiar with it. I think there's some on the coast as well, but there's not a huge one. Now that I say this, they're going to be like, there he is. We're here. You know, But I have not encountered them yet.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't think so. There was supposed to be whatever one. There was one in Memphis and they were supposed to open that brand in Jackson.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Because I was set to do that club when Covet hit and then I don't know what happened to the club. But I never did comedy in Mississippi until I got to theater levels because there is no club.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

There may be only done theaters.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. There may be a. There may be a small one. Brian. It's just. Brian. Just taking in person.

[Dusty Slay]

I've done a church there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Does that count?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, it helps that.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But no, I'd never done. I never did comedy in Mississippi until I did the Hattiesburg theater and then I did Biloxi.

[Landon Bryant]

And I will say Hattiesburg's trying to, like, develop a little scene down there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Jamie Arrington.

[Landon Bryant]

Really proud of it.

[Brian Bates]

Does some shows there.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So maybe.

[Landon Bryant]

Maybe in the future we'll get it there. I would. I would love to. I'm new to comedy. I feel like I'm new to. That was my literal first show just a few years ago. So I feel like I'm like, still learning the world.

[Brian Bates]

So every time you do stand up, it's like on a real show, like. Like, you haven't had, like, a chance to go do open mics and stuff like that.

[Landon Bryant]

No.

[Aaron Weber]

Why torture yourself at an open mic when you can just jump right to theater?

[Landon Bryant]

Well, in a selfish way, like, I would rather. I would rather it be my audience, you know?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Really?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I thought of that.

[Dusty Slay]

Never thought about it like that.

[Landon Bryant]

Because I have a great, Great, like, audiences, all these ladies, and they're so much fun.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

So I love for the ladies to come.

[Brian Bates]

Are you, like, a celebrity? I'm sure you are. And at least in Laurel, I mean, I don't know.

[Landon Bryant]

I don't pay attention. I'm really bad at paying attention stuff. And. And honestly, being from a small town in Mississippi, you, like, already are a celebrity. So, like, I've already spent my whole life knowing, like, wherever I'm going, somebody's reporting back to my dad that I was at that liquor store, you know? So, yeah, it. That's, like, how life is. So it's really not that.

[Brian Bates]

If everybody knows everybody, then everybody.

[Landon Bryant]

Right. Everybody. Celebrity. Agree. Now I just have to, like.

[Aaron Weber]

And then, you know, it probably more people in your hometown are talking trash than you know, because they're like, they grew up with you.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, you have success elsewhere, but they're like, for sure.

[Landon Bryant]

We have to climb that cringe hill. You know, we start doing online stuff, like, it's cringy. It's so cringey to think about the people that know you, like seeing you say dumb stuff on the Internet every day.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

But once you climb the hill, then it's not cringy anymore.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And you just totally stop caring, you know?

[Aaron Weber]

Yes.

[Landon Bryant]

So now I just treat everywhere like a small town. But it is confusing because people in the south, we smile at each other and, like, you agree to stranger.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

So when I'm walking around, I never can tell, like, if you know who I am or if you're just Southern and smiling. So it just. I just treat everybody like we're all friends.

[Aaron Weber]

A wave and saying, all right. All right. Works so well. Because even it doesn't matter. Actually, I was at the airport, and somebody waved at me, and I go, all right. And then they go, oh, we thought you were somebody else. And I go, well, I hope you're having a good day anyway. All right.

[Brian Bates]

They must have thought you were Landon Bryant.

[Aaron Weber]

I guess. I guess. But I got. Hey. Well, either way, it's great to see you and nice to say. Hey.

[Brian Bates]

Well, we. We've got, like, five minutes before we need to wrap, and I wanted to talk about. You got a big week ahead.

[Landon Bryant]

I do. It's wild.

[Brian Bates]

So tell us about what you're doing. This comes out on Wednesday.

[Landon Bryant]

Great.

[Brian Bates]

So.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, on Monday of this week, I'm doing this with y', all, which is a huge deal. I'm stoked on it. And then last night, when this comes out, I will. I mean, and Andy Marie Tillman. And I'm sure y' all are familiar with her. People listening. She's incred. Nashville, incredible Nashville comic. And so we have a show tomorrow night here in the lab, and then Wednesday night I debut at the Grand Old Opera. And that sentence alone is wild.

[Aaron Weber]

It is wild. We've all done the opera here, so that's awesome.

[Landon Bryant]

Welcome tips. First of all, what are we. What are we wearing?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, probably don't want to ask me that. Or any of us, actually.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah, I was going to say we're probably.

[Aaron Weber]

Probably the.

[Dusty Slay]

The three worst people to.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay, I dress like this every time I. I go. Basically, I dress like this every day.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, you don't have to wear a suit, but just dress something nice that you might wear at a theater show.

[Aaron Weber]

If you feel. If you're feeling flashy, though, you know, go.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, I guess you could.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, they're well known for rhinestones.

[Dusty Slay]

That's the place to do it if you have.

[Landon Bryant]

I feel like it's the ch. It's my shot, you know?

[Brian Bates]

That's true. But I'm just saying you don't have to.

[Aaron Weber]

And the people at the opera are the nicest people.

[Landon Bryant]

They really are.

[Aaron Weber]

They're the nicest people.

[Landon Bryant]

It's really wild to be back there.

[Aaron Weber]

I went, Milo, Lemonade and Popcorn. Her name.

[Brian Bates]

Lemonade.

[Dusty Slay]

Lemonade. The lady.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. I just. There's a guy there named Popcorn Sweet Tea. There's. There's.

[Landon Bryant]

There is Lemonade. It's so good.

[Dusty Slay]

There's Lemonade.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, I was just saying about Milo's. And Milo Sweet Tea has lemonade as well. So I was like, okay, you know about Milo's. Cuz they took me to the Ay, like on a brand trip last year or whatever. They're. They're a really great brand to work with, by the way.

[Aaron Weber]

Milo, Milo, Milo.

[Landon Bryant]

They're the best. And they took me there and it was super cool. I. And I didn't know comedians did the. Like, I didn't know it was part of the opera. I knew the opera, but didn't know comedians did it. And it was so fun. Like, see the circle and all the stuff. And that was less than a year ago. And here we are doing it.

[Aaron Weber]

Was there a comic there that night?

[Landon Bryant]

There was.

[Aaron Weber]

Do you remember who it was?

[Landon Bryant]

I don't remember who it was.

[Brian Bates]

I think it was me.

[Landon Bryant]

It was. It was Brian.

[Aaron Weber]

Makes sense.

[Dusty Slay]

I remember saying, pretty forgettable.

[Landon Bryant]

But I'm excited to get to go step in the circle and do that whole.

[Dusty Slay]

That's awesome.

[Landon Bryant]

Song and dance.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that's going to be great.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Bizarre.

[Brian Bates]

You got your set down or are you just going to wing it?

[Landon Bryant]

I think I've got the set down because it's just 12 minutes. So down from an hour to 12 minutes.

[Aaron Weber]

That's got in.

[Landon Bryant]

I went through three weeks.

[Dusty Slay]

It's so funny. You went from. The typical path is let me work up to 12 minutes, and you're like, we try to get down from an hour to 12.

[Landon Bryant]

I talk too much. I'm talking too much all the time.

[Dusty Slay]

It's a great. It's a great problem to have.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah, I've got. I already got the second. I got a second hour written that I'm ready to, like, play with, but I have never. I haven't filmed this.

[Dusty Slay]

The only actual practical piece of advice I'll give you is that you can coordinate with the keyboard player to give you. Essentially give you a light. When you have a minute left, they hit a note. They can hit.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

If you talk, they could hit a note for you, and you'll hear it behind you, and then you'll know, I have one minute left.

[Brian Bates]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

And this is what I like to do. The. Cause the audience can also hear the note. I go, you hear that? That's letting me know it's time to

[Landon Bryant]

wrap it up, address it.

[Aaron Weber]

The last time I go, I was going to get a lot more time, but based on how the audience has reacted to me, they're cutting it short.

[Landon Bryant]

How does the audience react?

[Dusty Slay]

They're great. They do such a good job of setting you up, especially when it's your first time. They really make a big deal out of it, and you think it's going to be a little awkward because it's all music and then there's a comedy. But they do such a good job of, like, letting the crowd know it's a little something different. And they set you up and they build it up to be a big thing, and then they feel like they're a part of something special because it is something special. First time. It'll be great.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, this happened to me the last time. I'm. It's usually an older crowd, and I

[Landon Bryant]

do well with that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, See, I prepare. I do well, too. And I prepared material for the older crowd. And then I'm out there and they go, yeah, there's like four high schools out there tonight. And I go, the worst demographic for

[Landon Bryant]

me, yeah, high school would be very intimidating.

[Dusty Slay]

You say all that on stage.

[Aaron Weber]

No, I just rolled with it.

[Dusty Slay]

Four high schools.

[Aaron Weber]

Here I was talking about cars and you remember this on a car John Mellencamp song? Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

You have a lot of family friends coming in for the Opry?

[Landon Bryant]

I do. My parents, my wife's family, and her aunt, uncle, and sister and niece. My son's coming, so I'm excited to.

[Brian Bates]

Awesome.

[Landon Bryant]

Show them all that because they don't really see what I do, and, like, I'm just a silly goose to them. So. Yeah, it's nice to. They came to your show. That's the other show they came to. The one that I did with you.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

And then now this one one. So we'll see. See if they approve. Yeah, they're like, we hear him all the time. He talks.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's the great thing about not having to do the open mic route, because what we all do is you start doing open mics, and you burn all your. Your. Your friend, you go, hey, come see this open mic. You burn all that before you ever actually have any time.

[Dusty Slay]

And by the time you have a show worth. That's worth. People coming to those people aren't in your life anymore.

[Brian Bates]

Well, that is true.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Anything else this weekend you need to want to promote?

[Landon Bryant]

I think that's it this week.

[Dusty Slay]

Tough to beat that, man.

[Landon Bryant]

Big week. I'm very, very excited about it. It's just so hard to believe. All this stuff is so hard. It's hard to believe I'm sitting here with y' all now and then doing that later this week.

[Dusty Slay]

Any last words about the state of Mississippi? This is your.

[Landon Bryant]

I just. I love it there. I love Mississippi. It's a great place. If you love, like, nature, if you love, like, sitting on a porch, like, if that's enough for you to sit on a porch and, like, enjoy the sun, sunset, and enjoy the pine trees, and you also, like, can deal with the most allergies, then Mississippi's place for you. You know, like, if you don't want to have much going on and just enjoy life in a very slow pace, I think I'll always be. That'll always be my home base, because that's what I imagine when I think of, like, what life is like. That is what life is. So even when we're doing other stuff, I'll always end up back there.

[Dusty Slay]

I love when people are proud of where they're from.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Proud of it. It's a place to be proud. I mean, there's a lot of lot, but I feel like it's sort of a place where all of our nastiness is, like, out for everybody to see, and we're all actively, like, working on that constantly, so it's almost a really honest place to be from.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. You know, I did some air. I did an Air Force base in Mississippi, and I drove. Maybe it was. I don't know. I had to drive all the way through Mississippi and Woods and I. Yeah. And I stopped at some gas stations and stuff along the way in the middle of nowhere. And it was great. The people were so nice.

[Landon Bryant]

It was always taken care of.

[Aaron Weber]

It was always a mix of people hanging out together, country folks just hanging out, having fun. And I loved it.

[Landon Bryant]

I love it.

[Brian Bates]

You know, this is from Mississippi. Killer bees.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I knew that you think about Alabama because he's lived there, but he's from Jackson. I did a show there with him one time.

[Landon Bryant]

I was like, we brought killer bees. I did not. Yeah, you said killer. Be the person.

[Brian Bates]

Killer bees. Yeah, that.

[Dusty Slay]

Killer bees.

[Landon Bryant]

The comic, not the beast.

[Brian Bates]

No, no, no. Comedian.

[Landon Bryant]

Because I do end up on B expeditions, like I said earlier.

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I've ended up in the swamp looking for bees.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

No, this guy, he may kill you, but he's. He's a nice guy. Very funny guy.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, very funny. He's been around forever.

[Aaron Weber]

He is a sharpshooter, I think.

[Landon Bryant]

Okay.

[Dusty Slay]

I think he is.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

He's like a trained marksman.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

Wins competitions and stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Dusty Slay]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Had no idea. Well, May 20th through 23rd, I'll be in Denver, Denver, Greeley, and then hit it.

[Aaron Weber]

Where at? Where are those cities at?

[Brian Bates]

Denver, Colorado.

[Aaron Weber]

Colorado. Landon, how you said it last week. Colorado. Colorado.

[Brian Bates]

Sounds right.

[Aaron Weber]

Right?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

Sounds good to me. Colorado.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, exactly.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I. I like it, too. And I said that to you. What is that?

[Brian Bates]

These guys are Southern in name only.

[Aaron Weber]

It just.

[Landon Bryant]

We're saying the O very seriously.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, we say, you know, Colorado. And he just caught me off guard last year. Denver, Colorado. And I go. I just. Was I. And it made me laugh. I'm not. I like it.

[Brian Bates]

You remember when I was on your podcast and I was talking about my. My uncle. Uncle David Earl. Everybody I grew up with has two names. My dad was Denver Donald.

[Landon Bryant]

Yeah.

[Dusty Slay]

And my.

[Brian Bates]

My uncle was David Earl. But I just call him Uncle David Earl.

[Aaron Weber]

Uncle David.

[Landon Bryant]

I like it when the second name is just letter. Like, you know, Willie D. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ML.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

I literally have uncle ML.

[Brian Bates]

Wait, wait. I mean, yeah, I'm in Denver Greeley.

[Aaron Weber]

I had an uncle R.L.

[Brian Bates]

two nights in Casper.

[Dusty Slay]

R.L. stein.

[Brian Bates]

Brian Batescompany.com.

[Landon Bryant]

great.

[Dusty Slay]

Aaron, I'm Gonna be in Salt Lake City at Wise guys Comedy Club. May 1st and 2nd. May 3rd, I'm gonna be in Washington, D.C. at the DC Improv. Later that month, I'm gonna be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So I'm gonna be a bunch of dates out. I got dates through. Through the end of the year. So go to Aaron Weber, comedy dot com. All my dates are listed on there. I'll see you guys on the road. Is Aaron, by the way.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. May 1st, Dallas, Texas. May 2nd, Houston, Texas. And then. And then, you know, I'm. I still have a small baby at home, so I am taking as much time as I can to be at home and so slacking. Yeah.

[Landon Bryant]

So Dallas in Houston.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, it could be. What's that?

[Landon Bryant]

Are you doing the improvs there?

[Aaron Weber]

Majestic Theater in Dallas. And I don't. Not sure the theater in Houston, but gonna be very good.

[Landon Bryant]

Nice.

[Aaron Weber]

And we're excited and.

[Landon Bryant]

Well, I didn't know we were listing shows, but I have a lot next month. I have Tampa and Orlando in May and then a whole, like, Appalachian tour of, like, Boone and Appalachian Theater. And.

[Aaron Weber]

And what's your Instagram handle or what.

[Landon Bryant]

What land Landon talks on all. All across the platforms. And Landon Talks.com is my website, and you can find. There's like, 10 shows next month, so please come and do the dessert showdown. If you go to my website, we are picking the best dessert right now.

[Aaron Weber]

Very funny guy. Very nice guy.

[Brian Bates]

Thanks for coming.

[Aaron Weber]

Thanks for being.

[Landon Bryant]

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so honored.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Aaron, you want to wrap it up?

[Dusty Slay]

That's it. Another edition of Public Figures. Thank you all for tuning in in case I don't see. See you. Good afternoon, good evening, and good night. And that's it. And none of this is. We appreciate it.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm glad you did that thing, though, because people do criticize you sometimes for

[Dusty Slay]

saying that it's one of the best movies of all time.

[Aaron Weber]

It is. But they're saying, you know, that you're stealing that.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, I'm not claiming I created.

[Aaron Weber]

A lot of people think.

[Dusty Slay]

I mean, what's the line between stealing and giving an homage to something?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know, but I like it for the engagement.

[Dusty Slay]

Okay, well, let me just. Well, Luke, I am your father,

[Brian Bates]

James Earl Jones from Mississippi.

[Dusty Slay]

All right, there we go. All right, thanks.

[Landon Bryant]

By the time I hit my 50s, I'd learned a few things, like how family is precious, work can always wait, and 99% of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles. Not everyone at risk will develop it.

[Aaron Weber]

But I did.

[Landon Bryant]

The painful blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks. Don't learn about your shingles. Risk the hard way. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by gsk.

[Aaron Weber]

Folks knew the colonel approved of his

[Dusty Slay]

new honey, chili crisp and jalapeno ranch sauces the moment he tasted them and said, that's right.

[Aaron Weber]

No notes, just absolute silence.

[Dusty Slay]

Turns out some flavors don't need explaining. They just need dipping. It's saucy season at KFC with new honey, chili crisp and jalapeno ranch.

[Aaron Weber]

Get dipping with a boneless bucket today.

[Landon Bryant]

Prices and participation vary.

[Aaron Weber]

And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Landon Bryant]

Hey, everyone.

[Aaron Weber]

Check out this guy and his bird.

[Brian Bates]

What is this, your first date?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, no. We help people customize the and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Landon Bryant]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.