Hero or Dick - S4., Ep. 5 - Vegas

Las Vegas sells the same promise to everyone: step into the lights, forget your life, let chance take over. We trace how that illusion was built—from desert outpost to gambling hub to mob-financed Strip—backed by the numbers people argue about: visitors, rooms, revenue, constant reinvention. Then we get honest about what it is now: expensive, engineered, nothing truly free. Hero in moderation or a Dick at scale?

Tune in and find out!

~ Kate & KJ

Transcript

Flooding And Lightning Back Home

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Okay, I'm already recording. I hit record. Sorry. Welcome to um your old dick. Um season four, episode five.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

The topic today is Sin City. Sin City. Also known as Las Vegas. Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Um we already talked for about 30 minutes before this.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

We had a whole podcast that we didn't record.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

One thing that we didn't talk about though was the flooding.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

It's very bad in Alpina, Michigan.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

In fact, on my way in, yeah, Sheboygan is really bad.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

They closed part of 23 because of damn night flowers.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hayworthy Road or whatever, and Roger City's just washed out a whole section of that.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah. And uh across the state too, on all the trees, 119. They had a wash out there. When I was coming into town, Ford Avenue was blocked off. It was flooded over. Um my road's fine. I mean, it's got some spots that are dicey, but dicey, but it's okay. So tell those people have to deal with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

That's not good.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

It's dry today, sun's out. Hopefully that lasts, but I think we're gonna storm tonight. And last night the storms, I mean, it was just lightning after lightning after lightning, and it was all south of us, and we have a south-facing house. And so when I went to bed, I was just kind of laying there watching it. And uh I think it was over Taos in the Harrisville area, and it was just lightning, lightning, lightning, lightning.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, it woke me up once, the thunder and lightning.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, and then we had it like at about 1:32. It was bad, it was nasty.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Well, and then too, even though it's not raining today, it's actually pretty nice out there. Um the melt stuff. It's still snow in the woods, man. It's melting off up north. So, but Mother Nature wins no matter what.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Oh yeah, she's a bitch, a bitch who knows.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

All right. So, besides the fact that Vegas dry uh draws in like 40 million people a year, what what do we got?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, uh 40 million, yeah. Well, here's a statistic: 38 million people in 2025 came to Vegas. That was down three million from 24. It is projected to hit 41 million in 2026. And it it uh my my stat guy, Tom, says the weekends are way busier because California people come over there. 15, 115,000 come and go each day through McCarran Airport. But the only thing up in the last 10 years is conventions at 10 percent.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Conventions.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah. So I think, well, we can start with the history, but I think uh in a nutshell, and we'll touch on it later. People used to come there for different reasons. Now it seems to be the convention city.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Well, yeah, it's more corporized, everything I don't know if corporate's any better than the mafia.

Origins From Springs To Mob Casinos

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it is would you rather? So it started out as a Native American area, as all areas were. We came. We came. Uh yeah, over 10,000 years ago. And then um in more modern history, Las Vegas was a railroad town slash water stop in 1905.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

And that lasted till what, the 30s?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Till the 30s. Uh in the 30s, Nevada re-legaled gambling. And also the Hoover Dam construction started, and that's when the mafia started to invest in the late 30s, early 40s, and that's what made Las Vegas grow so much in the 40s through the 60s.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

The mob?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Um, all those three that I just said, but the mob had a big to do with it. Um oh, in the early early settlement in 1829 through 1904, a Mexican explorer, Antonio Armanjo, named it Las Vegas, which uh is the meadows for its natural springs. And Mormons tried to live there, didn't take. Tried to align with their uh it was 1855, but they stopped there, they had a short-lived settlement, and then they moved on. So then from the 30s through the 40s, legalized gambling, quickie divorces, and the Hoover Dam, building of the Hoover Dam, which was I didn't write down how many years, but it took a long time to to build it. But that gave uh Las Vegas rapid growth. And the El Rancho Vegas opened in 1941, the first resort on what would become the strip.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

The strip.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, the Las Vegas Strip. And then in the 40s through the 70s, organized crime built the luxurious themed casinos and hotels like the Flamingo. That was a Bugsy Seagal.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Hey, oh Bugsy.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

And Bugsy, you know him. Um, that one is the only one that is still around, and it is the oldest continuing operating hotel slash casino, and it was the first major mob-based backed uh casino on the strip.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Isn't that sorry? It's amazing that the mob, so powerful and organized, well structured, smart, to actually uh create an industry.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

They did. They were, you know why? Because of one word in their title, organized. Yeah, they were organized. Seemed to uh work and they had a lot of money, and if they didn't, they had other ways.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

And I suppose they needed a place to launder the money.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Probably, and so casinos, what better place? Yeah, so then they also had the Tropicana, that was Frank Costello and Carlos Marcello. Um, that one closed in 2024 and was demolished. It's now a baseball uh they're building a baseball stadium, but it was a major mob cash uh cash cow. I couldn't read my writing. I thought it said cash. I don't know, but it was a major mob cash cow, the desert inn in 1950. That was Mo Dowitz. That one closed in 2000, demoed now. The win and the encore. And when uh I've only been to Vegas once, but I stayed at the win. Man, it was beautiful. It was just beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

When was that?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Uh it wasn't that long ago. It was maybe like three years ago, three or four years ago.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

While we were doing this podcast? Uh probably no probably.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

I don't know. I can't remember. They say that just started up.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

It's going along with your conference thing, or is that what you said? Conference? Um, yeah, it's really they pretty it up over there. Made it a lot more appealing to uh people with discretionary income.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

And not just conferences. They I think in the maybe we'd have to look it up, but the 2000s, they m tried to make it family friendly. Yeah, maybe even a little after that. They're like, oh, bring the family to Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, I remember hearing seeing those ads.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Nobody would have said that in the in the 40s through the 60s. It's like, leave the family at home. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

That's what you do, right? Go to Vegas. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

That's right. That's right. Uh here's a famous one: the Sands Casino was Vincent Alo, was the mobster that opened it. It was actually closed, uh, also was closed in '96, demoed, and that's where the Venetian is now. And the Venetian is one of the largest hotels in the world. It has over 7,000 rooms.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

7,117 hotel rooms.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

That's crazy. Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

We had a full house, we don't have room. And you I I'm sure it happens, but wow, it's a lot of rooms to fill.

Resort Rooms And Food Sticker Shock

SPEAKER_01 8:48

They're typically uh the hotels around that area. I read are usually at 80% at least. 80%, which is pretty much that's really good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the food, I guess, you know, is pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Well, no. It's not. Uh-oh. It used to be, and that was kind of their their shtick, you know, they're come for the$1.99 breakfast or the, you know, you can get the buffet for$9.99. And according to Mr. Vegas, aka Tom Dutcher, he says those days are gone.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

No shit.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And he said when he was there, you know, it was easy$100 for two people for dinner. Easy. And uh there was no cheap meals to be found. And that used to be their one of their drawing points, where you get, you know, and free drinks at casinos, which you did at um, where would I say we were at the win. And so while we were gambling, you know, the waitress came around to give you, but there was limited drinks you could get, and they were pretty weak. I was ordering two at a time. And it was just, you know, they weren't. I wasn't getting drunk. Right. But they wine kind of have buzz.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Sure, they do. They make some bad decisions. It's all about split seconds. Split-second decisions.

Tunnel Living Heat And Water Limits

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Check that out the list. Uh the Riviera's gone, Stardust is gone, and the dunes is gone. The dunes got replaced with the Bellagio. Bellagio. Which is uh actually beautiful. And I watched, I I walked through their lobby, part of their lobby. They have over 1200 fountains. Is it watering like a lot of things? They do the the show. Well, funny that you would mention that. Water is very important, but they actually have a very good reputation for water conservation. 99% of it is recycled. So those waters in there are probably is old water.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

What about those underground people? Yeah, the tunnel people. And I don't know. There's quite a few of those if we know about those.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

But I did I did read about them this time. Uh a thousand plus people live in the storm tunnels beneath the city.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, they where the water is.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

So what happens when there's a big storm? Not that there is very often, but I don't know. Do they just get washed out and start over?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

That could be a whole episode itself. That seems fascinating. But you know, the people that are hanging out down there.

unknown 11:26

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Probably not the pillars of society. Things happen, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

And these man, I just it can't be good.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Well, yeah, but if you're gonna be homeless, I mean maybe that's a good place to be because it's warm. I don't know, underground. But it's almost too warm there if for if you're homeless because oh, me and I wrote down some of the temperatures and like the the has 300 plus sunny days, but the they have the a record of 120 degrees.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

That's too warm, Kate.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

That's too warm. And then on the surface, these like surface areas were even warmer than that. So you're walking down the sidewalk and your shoes are melting.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

That's not fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

I don't I made that up, but it's yeah, it could happen. Could you fry an egg?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

You could.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Uh, the oldest casino is the Golden Gate.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

The oldest, you mean just lasted the longest so far?

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah, I think it's I uh I think it's still around, too. I think it's on the old strip. I don't I'm not positive about that fact. So um, and uh how about the biggest gambler that I read about was Archie Karas. He had uh took a$10,000 loan and turned it into$41 million.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Let's do that. Or$4 million, whatever, it's still a lot of money.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Which he then lost.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Shocking, right? Longest and largest documented streak in casino history. So I don't know how long it took him to do that, but yeah, he built it to millions. I think it's$41 million.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

You know, yeah, my wife went in with$10,000 and she won$10,000. Or she won$50, she put.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

She'd quit.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

As long as she's ahead.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

I uh Jenna and I went to Gun Lake Casino to have dinner. And uh we walked in there and they're like, oh, it's a 20-minute wait. I'm like, okay, well, I got six bucks. Here's three for you, three for me. And we put it in the machine, and she hit the the button, and she's like, Oh mom, it it picked up last bat. I wasn't paying attention. And as she was saying those words, it was going and she won$142. What? And I said, What do you want to do? Do you want to play for a little bit more? I mean, we still had 15 minutes to kill or more. She goes, Oh no, I'm gonna go cash out right now.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

That's smart. She did very smart.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yep. So, but not everybody gambles like that. And if you're a gambler, you're usually losing money. And if you say, Oh, I got a big win, you might have, but I'm sure you lost that at some point.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Nobody, nobody goes in and and wins over a lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

I'm talking about casinos don't look the way they do because people are winning money.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

That's right, that's right. Um, here's a good example: the CEO of Oriental Trading. Remember that catalog? It was like a bunch of little crappy things. Yeah, if you had kids, you knew that catalog. His name was Terrence Wan Watamabee, and he lost 204 million dollars in 2007.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

At the casino?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Yeah, between Caesars and the Rio.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Is that what happened to the catalog company?

SPEAKER_00 14:58

It's not around anymore, is it?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Man. Oh that doesn't sound fun.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

And although it's still considered Sin City, it has evolved from the outlaw town to corporation town.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, and you could bring your kids.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, and you can bring your kids, and there's lots of rides and even if you go there and don't want to gamble, there's plenty to do. There's lots of shows. Uh 300 weddings daily.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah, they do like seven, well, more than that. Well, yeah because there's 70,000 licenses a year or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Wow. So, well, I had 300 weddings daily. We'd have to do math, but I don't feel like doing that.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

300 times 300. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Um, but yeah, they put the emphasis now on sporting events, concerts, family friendly friendly environment.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Um yeah, they had the Super Bowl there in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

They did. Four. Uh recently.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

And now they're having they're having it again in 2029.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Oh, are they?

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And they've done Formula One racing there.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Oh. So, and there's lots of basketball and uh hockey and yeah, what do they have?

SPEAKER_01 16:05

A couple teams.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

They have some teams that I don't know about.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, me either.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Um, so it's kind of the new Las Vegas versus the old Las Vegas. And the other reason, though, um Tom and I talked about this, that I think they're losing people and losing money. So it used to be if you wanted to gamble, you had to go somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Not anymore.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

And not anymore. We can pull out our phones right now and lose a thousand dollars like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

For the for the fans?

SPEAKER_00 16:33

For the fans, go ahead. Do it on your phone.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Uh oh, what else did he say? Is there still a lot of uh what do they call it? You can't call them prostitutes, non-hookers. Well, sex workers.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Prostitution has never been legal in Las Vegas. However, it is in parts of Nevada. So if you go just outside Las Vegas, and I'm sure there's ways around uh pretty sure you can get a escort.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Where do they take you?

SPEAKER_00 17:06

What do they what do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

An escort. They escort you.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Oh, they escort you to wherever you want to go. A hotel room. One of the many, many hotel rooms. That it would take 288 years to spend one night in every hotel room in Vegas. Uh-huh. Think about that.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

That's that's a lot of hotels.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

That's a lot of hotels. Man, think of the stories those rooms could tell.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Oh, don't take a black light thing there.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

I meant like the heartache, the happiness.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

People are happy, they want money, people are more likely to. Imagine that.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

It's that happy all the time.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

And then, you know, oh, well, they they get rooms comped. Well, there's no such thing as a free lunch or a free room. Yeah, but we'll give you a free room, go to our casino and lose all your money.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Uh, did you know? What was his name? Papa Grigio? Fakus vacation, the kid.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Oh, I did. That was a great movie, I thought. I like that movie.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Wayne Newton was in it though.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Oh, you love Wayne Newton.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I do not love Wayne Newton.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Have we done him?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I'm not doing him ever.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

I mean on the show.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

I don't think so. Well, we probably talked about. We're gonna get pretty fast. He's a he's an odd dude. Yeah. Uh, did you know that the dice that they use do not have rounded corners? Because some people think that that's cheating. So they all the dice in Las Vegas are traditional dice. Gotcha. I thought that was interesting. It is. It's also the city of Neon, and it has uh a neon museum there, but it is it has the brightest light on earth is at the Luxor hotel. Okay, and the brightest spot on earth is Vegas, and yes, it can be seen from space.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

That's something to brag about.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Is it no? No. The golden nugget hotel has the world's largest golden nugget. It weighs 60 pounds. Oh shit. I was wondering how old it is, though. I wonder how long they've had it.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

That's a big nugget.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Who has who has tested it? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

It's probably painted stuff.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

It's probably just a rock painted.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

We know it's a chunk of lead.

Gambling Reality Weddings And Casino Tracking

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Chunk of lead, something toxic. Any other fun facts?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

No, I think you're covering all the fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

The top gambling games in Vegas are blackjack, roulette, craps, and poker, and bingo.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Blackjack is a pretty good odds. What 42 to 40% win?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

If you know what you're doing, blackjack, you can win.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Uh slots.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

It's a crap.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

That's it said that the return to player is 85 to 95%.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

I don't believe that.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I think that can't be I don't know what that means. That doesn't losing money over time is far more likely. Yeah, far more likely. Um roulette, 47% chance of winning.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I like playing roulette, watching that ball.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

One of my favorite games, craps.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

You just like seeing it.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

49%. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Playing craps. You got some dice we can shoot right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

But you're better off if you bet on some of Los Vegas teams because sports betting, which is huge. 52%.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

You can bet on anything, really.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Isn't everything 50% realistically? Either one or you lose. Uh well, no, it's not, though.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

It's not that simple.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Public uh gambling is treated as the public health issue in Nevada.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

It is for some people.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Um oh, here's the wedding thing. The wedding 70 to 80,000 licenses a year.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

You got drive-thru weddings, you got Elvis can marry you. Uh there was some other funky ones.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

And then you get like the venues, the photography.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, that's where they nail you. Well, we've also got to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

You covered you covered historical stuff. You covered Bugsy.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Bugsy.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Oh, and now the reason that they're getting so successful and even more profitable, meeting the people that run the places, is data. Like the data, they're you know, data driven instead of mechanical machines, it's data. And then also they're starting to use that further. So instead of uh loyalty programs, algorithms, oh customer tracking. You know, you got an app on your phone, they know what hotel you're going to, what casino you're going to, how much you won, how much you lost, what credit card you're using, where you're from. Yeah, they do. And uh they're starting to integrate AI into everything.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. AI's everywhere. We covered that.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

I saw an I saw an interesting AI generated.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Oh no, no, no, no, no. We're not talking about that. Was it out of a doctor?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, it was a doctor. Is a proctologist, actually. Anyhow, uh, we talked about the entertainment. Oh, what's the MSG sphere? It's like an immersible spectacle.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Oh, I I don't know that one.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I can uh 20,000 people can apparently experience it. It's got full LEDs and like enhanced audio and like it's all sensory. I thought maybe you went there.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

I didn't. We didn't go to any shows. We were there. We got there late one night. We spent one whole day, and then we left the next morning.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

You'd have to go there for other to really experience it.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

I think you have to be there a week? Oh yeah, that's a long time.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

I think it would I'd be a different person after a week.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah. You've been to Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

No. I thought you were in Vegas because I mean I probably thought I was Vegas sometimes. Um and then the water. Um heavy reliance on the Colorado River and Lake Mead.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Yeah, and Lake Mead is uh going down, down, down.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Um outdoor irrigation is a primary net loss. So I mean they do pretty good with their recycled stuff, but there's still and then that whole unhoused population and the flood channels. I mean, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

That is crazy. And you know it sounds like a lot of thousand people, but uh uh overall, I mean, I don't know what the population is. I think there's more of uh I don't know what the population is in Vegas, but a thousand is probably a small percent.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

But anyhow, and then let's not forget the not a happy thing, but the uh Route 91 Harvest Festival in 2017 where 58 people got killed. Oh yeah, one of the deadliest mass shootings in history.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

That was like a country concert thing. Yeah, it was right before we saw Paul McCartney because I remember going to the Paul McCartney concert. I was like, this is scary. Yeah, this is really scary. And um God bless Paul, he got up there and he said, you know what? There's a lot of bad stuff happening in the world today, but for the next few hours, we're just gonna have fun. It was also the that weekend that we heard Tom Petty was really sick and that he he died that weekend. So free fallen. Oh, Tom Petty rip.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Never was a big Tom Petty fan. Respected him as a musician, but I like him. Yeah. Maybe I need to listen to it again. I started reading that book, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

But you need to just listen with new ears to break down.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Oh, that I'm sorry. That is a great song.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

It's the perfect song. It's got everything going for it. I think I could listen to it on loop. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

When can we start playing music on this channel?

Iconic Las Vegas Movies And Moments

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Well, when we get some money to pay Tom Petty's daughter.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Um I don't really have.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I hear some movies that were shot about. Well, I I'm assuming they were shot in Las Vegas. They are about Las Vegas. So in 1960 was Ocean's 11, the original one, with the rat pack, which I have to mention the rat pack because it's the rat pack, man. Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey. Who's your favorite rat pack?

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Who's Peter?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Peter Lawford.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Is he for real? I'm just kidding. Um Sammy.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Sammy, good choice.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Like Gino. Who's a oh, who doesn't? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Well, if somebody doesn't, I don't want to know them.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

So Ocean's 11, uh, Diamonds are forever.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

What the hell's diamonds are forever?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Oh, James Bond. Who? James Bond.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Oh, sorry. James Bond. I don't know my I don't know my James Bond. Just like I don't know The Godfather. I know that bothered you. Something else happened. The Hobbit or something. Yeah, we're done. I'm getting a new podcasting co-host.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

I am. Oh in 1992 was Honeymoon in Vegas. 93 was Indecent Proposal. 95 was a big year for Vegas movies. There was Casino, which is a Martin Scorsese movie.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

That was a good one.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Uh Leaving Las Vegas. Showgirls. And then in 96, Swingers.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

And also in 96, I don't know if you know this movie, but it is hilariously funny, stupid. Mars Attacks. Tom Jones is in it. It's a sci-fi movie, and it's just weird. Is Nicole Kidman in that? Uh who's the lady on that? I don't know, but somebody, there is a red hair lady in it. 97. Oh, here's a classic Conair.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Oh man. But that's two Nick Cage movies in Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

98 was Vegas Vacation. Yay. Which is a good one. 2001, 3,000 Miles to Graceland. About Elvis and Persuaders.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Kurt Russell.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Kurt Russell.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

He's got a new movie coming up, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Yeah, he does. Madison. He will never stop.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

He's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

And the other one I wanted to mention was The Hangover.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Holy crap.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

I love that movie. And I think everybody does. The Wolf Pit. Oh my god. I mean, that's a classic Vegas movie. Or time in Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Jeremy Pivon. They go to Vegas. No, because this one there have a hooker in the hotel room and they accidentally kill her, and then things go awry.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

I missed that one. What happened to Jeremy Pivon? I used to like that guy. Jeremy Pivon.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

He was in the show like in the 90s called Cupid on ABC, and he was the Cupid.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Oh, I don't remember that. Was he the guy in the Selfridge series?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

He was an Entourage.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Entourage, yeah. And he was Mr. Selfridge in the Selfridge series on BBC.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

I believe that.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

I think it was him. I think that was him.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Have you ever seen um Old School?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

He was the Dean in Old School. Oh, he was.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

That's a good movie, Old School. See. Will Farrell's Rustreakan.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

The KFC's still open.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Uh okay, so um I have some fast fives regarding Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Okay. What are you gonna say if you're it's a hero or a dick now or after the fast five?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Uh it's up to you. Your choice.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

I think it's a dick.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

You think it's a dick? Yeah. I think everything in moderation. So is it a dream destination or a draining experience? I mean, if you go for two weeks and lose all your money, then you hate it. If you go like we did for two days and you win, I won 600 bucks. I thought I was like a gazillionaire. Um, I cashed it out and kept it separate from all my other money for a long time. It's like this is my Vegas money. Um, so I think everything in moderation. So it's a hero in moderation, a dick otherwise. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And there, because there are there's hidden costs involved when you go to Vegas. Oh, yeah, look at you, get your room copped. No, you don't, no, it's free. Um, and there is environmental concerns, but you know, it's also a place to go to kind of forget your everyday life.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

And as long as you don't gamble away the farm, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Don't take out a$10,000 loan.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

No, don't go to the HVM machine even. So here's some Vegas residencies that we're gonna fast by. Tell me, hero or dick. From 2003 to 2007 and 2011 to 19 was Celine Dion.

unknown 30:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Dead silence. I don't like her.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

I don't know, I'm not a big I mean that's impressive. So it's very impressive.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

She made 681 million. Good for you, Celine. I do know a guy who went there.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

She made what?

SPEAKER_00 30:25

$681 million on her residency there? Yeah, two. Well, there's two.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Hero.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Uh she's single.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Um yeah, I can see that.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

I do know somebody, a couple who went there because the the wife wanted to go, and the guy's like, uh, but he said, you know what? She had such a um a complicated stage show. He said, I was really in, is it was an electrical engineer that went. He said, I was really enthralled by all the, you know, all the props and how everything moved, and you know, the stage went up and then it went over. And so he said that was kind of interesting. This he said the singing, it was just goddamn.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

I mean, good for her. She's a great singer, yeah. And I don't want to not have her on the show someday. So oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

How about Elton John?

SPEAKER_01 31:18

What about him?

SPEAKER_00 31:19

What about him?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Oh, he's here.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

He he did 2004 to 9 and then 11 to 18. He made he did 450 shows.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

He's a he's a Vegas fit, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Oh, yeah, he is Vegas. He did good, yeah. 108 million fans saw him.

unknown 31:36

What?

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Get out of here. So that's almost right there. Hey, that's almost and then you're like, what? So, okay, that many people saw him. Why does he have to charge$300 for the cheap seats?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Because he wants to make a lot of money. Well, he did probably, and you know, if we think about that, that's almost as many people as we have that follow our podcast. Almost, and I mean, we almost got that many emails, our email address, yeah, which is hero or dick2023 at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

It is, it is. Send us an email. How about Brittany Spears?

SPEAKER_01 32:08

I'd go see that.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

She's in rehab, yeah. Uh, she was there from 2013 to 2017. She made 130 million, so good for you, Brittany.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

She uh now she just she's kind of a star on uh Instagram and TikTok with her crazy shenanigans, right? Yeah, good for her.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

She just needs some help. Um how about Elvis Presley? He was there from 69 to 76, and he kind of was the grandfather of residencies. He got there and he stayed there.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Died there, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 32:46

For good or bad. I mean, I think he wanted to travel, but the colonel wanted to keep him down.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Colonel like Colonel Sanders.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yeah, did you ever see the Elves movie, the recent one? No, that was a very good.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Is it really?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah. Tom Hanks plays the colonel.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

A little scary.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Hero.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

I think he's a hero. Wayne Newton.

unknown 33:03

Dick.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

According to my father-in-law, he has the softest hands of a man he's ever felt because he met Wayne. Yeah, in Vegas at some shower with the game. Oh my god. And shook his hand and he was like, What?

SPEAKER_00 33:17

He's a girl. Not in a good way. It was so creepy.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

In Vegas vacation with him, and I mean, I think it was purposeful, but it was like okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Here's my Wayne Newton story. Cassidy and I went to see Tom Jones, who is way better than everybody listed right there. He was way better than Wayne Newton. Anyway, we saw Tom Jones, we were in Windsor at the casino. And uh we went afterwards, we went to get a drink, and we were just going through the cafeteria. We got our our drink, and our we were supposed to sandwich or whatever. And um, the lady who was ringing us up said, Oh, did you go to the show? And we said, Yeah, and we said, Oh, we got to meet Tom Jones, because we did get to meet him. And what was it like? He was fabulous, he was shorter than I thought he was gonna be. He had a brown velour sweatsuit on, and um, we saw him by the elevator and we were talking to him, and I didn't have my camera, it was before phones, and um he's like, Do you do you have something to sign? And Cassidy bought a shirt, so we signed he we didn't have a pen. He like whips this uh Sharpie out of his third nipple and signs it for his hand. So we're all gooing over him, you know. And um, he was very gracious. Uh and uh his handlers, we were by the elevator bank, his handler is like, I'm sure you'll understand that you should take the next elevator, meaning we can't get on the elevator with Tom Jones.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

All right.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

So probably it was gassy.

unknown 34:52

Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Well, he said, Do you have a camera? I'll take a picture. And I said, I have one in my room. Oh boy. He was like, Give it a man. I don't know. He did not come to our room. No, no, but so we were telling the lady who was ringing us up, and uh, she said, Oh, he was so nice. He came and said hello to all of us and shook hands and was just so gracious and nice. And then under her breath, she goes, Not like that, Wayne Newton. No, no. Huh. I guess he was a dick to him.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Really?

SPEAKER_00 35:23

So I I've never forgiven him for that.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Shame on you, Wayne. Wait, is he still alive?

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Uh I think so. I think so. He's like a I don't know, he's gotta be 900 years old. Tom Jones is still alive. I just saw him on the UK voice show.

unknown 35:44

What?

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Yeah, was the audition? No, he was a guest judge, and they were all singing Tom Jones songs.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

So Wayne Newton, boo.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Unless you want to be on the show, Wayne. You know what Wayne doesn't care about? What we think.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

He doesn't care. He doesn't need us.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

He doesn't need anybody.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

I don't need you either, Wayne.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

No, look at us.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

And okay, how about Frank Sinatra? Come on. He did a residency that also um made history. Wait, you know. Did we do him too? I think we didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

No, we did Bob Hope or something. Not the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

No, we we should we should uh tackle the Frank? Uh yeah, he's okay, but I like Dean better.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Oh, that's fine. Yeah, he wasn't really drunk all the time, they said.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

No, he wasn't. He was sometimes he was drinking apple juice.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

He's acting. He was smoking all the time, though.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Um, hero, though, yeah.

Holocaust Remembrance And Final Advice

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Yeah. For Frank. So all right, so that's what we have for Vegas residencies. And for Vegas. Uh, one more thing I want to mention that today, April 14th, 2026, is Yum Hashkoal. I know I'm sure I pronounced that incorrectly, but it's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Nine million murdered Jews during the Holocaust. Oh. And today we commemorate that.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

We do, but man, that's you just I know it's kind of a heavy note.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

We went from Vegas, but that's why I'm doing it because not everything's sunny in Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Holy moly.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

It's real life, man.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

It is. Jesus Christ. God, why'd you do that?

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Because I want people to remember. Some people don't even believe that the Holocaust happened. And it happened, and you know, it could happen again, and I don't want it to. Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

No, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

That's why we have to remember.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Yes, be a hero. Don't be a dick.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Yes. That's yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

That's that's perfect advice. Be a hero, don't be a dick. All right. Get a t shirt that says it. I guess we're done then.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Thanks. Bye, everybody.