Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
Cold, Dogs, And Traditions
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The holidays don’t need glitter to glow; they need texture. We start with cold air and a favorite track, then tumble into a frank Thanksgiving recap where a beloved spot serves prime rib that refuses to yield and potatoes that somehow skip the heat. That misstep opens a bigger conversation about how traditions bend: why we forgive some places, how leftovers can still feel like a hug, and what happens when a carb detente turns into a full-on food hangover.
From plates to purchases, we trace the quiet of Black Friday aisles against the thunder of online checkouts. We talk about brand storefronts on Amazon, price drops without middlemen, and the thorny tradeoffs of convenience—the packaging waste, the seven-day deliveries, and the gravity of a single platform. The shopping calendar stretches from Singles Day to Cyber Monday, and the numbers tell their own story: people are buying earlier, clicking more, and leaving doorbusters in the past.
Relief arrives on four perfect paws. We celebrate the National Dog Show and its Best in Show stunner, a Belgian Sheepdog named Soleil, and spotlight the group winners that made the ring sing. Then we hold that real-world beauty up against Christopher Guest’s Best in Show, a comedy masterclass built on improv, warmth, and the kind of ensemble chemistry that turns obsession into art. Real life still elbows in—an out-of-nowhere tooth abscess postpones surgery (MAYBE)—and our dogs reclaim the couch and our schedule with effortless authority.
Listen for the humor, stay for the honesty, and leave with a few practical takeaways: give grace when a place stumbles, shop smarter without losing your values, and keep a short list of movies and dog breeds that make you smile. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a laugh, and leave a quick review—then make one call you’ve been putting off and put a little light on.
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This is WOMR ninety two point one FM in Provincetown, Massachusetts, broadcasting from the historic schoolhouse and worldwide at WOMR dot org.
SPEAKER_06:That's it.
SPEAKER_01:Hello. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show. It's Tuesday, December second, two thousand twenty-five. And we are listening to Big House. Big House.
SPEAKER_03:It's uh cold outside.
SPEAKER_01:Cold outside. And this is a Michael Tech.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, this is uh like in my top 20.
SPEAKER_01:And I I really like this song too. Maybe you could tell a little bit about could you ask me, do you know that?
SPEAKER_03:Right, well, uh because everybody assumes that I'm talking about the like the Nenis Simon, you know, the baby it's cold outside song. So they you know that's why I ask if you know this song, because it's completely different. They don't have anything to do with each other.
SPEAKER_01:You know, so Nis Simone did baby it's cold outside?
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Holy smokes. Uh I would not have thought that would have been in her cannon.
SPEAKER_03:Well not not this song, but yeah, the No, I mean baby it's cold outside. Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Interesting. Well, I bet she wouldn't now.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, I mean the the the old songs are the old songs. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's uh, you know, uh Adel Dezim and Michael Boublet did a version of it in 2014.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know. Yeah, um, and I know the old songs are the old songs. But uh I don't know. What can I say?
SPEAKER_03:What can you say is really what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01:I can say my old Kentucky home isn't working for me anymore.
SPEAKER_03:No. Okay, well.
SPEAKER_01:But anyway, still not even once a year. Uh especially not once a year. At that huge clan rally they have where the horses run around.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And everyone gets bombed on bourbon. Yep. Oh yeah. Anyway. And they wear goofy hats. You know, there's a guy that I follow on Instagram named Mr. Crux. Uh-huh. And among other things, he's so hilarious. He does a thing called me not do this. Uh-huh. And he shows, you know, like rock climbers on Al Capi 10 or, you know, people on those suspension brid bridges in Asia. These rickety falling apart, you know, yeah. Over, you know, a hundred-foot drops.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, those places are awful.
SPEAKER_01:Well, he also does, along with me na doodis, uh-huh, he does skiddlin.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Which is when he sees like Irish folk dancers or any cook goofy dancers, he says, look at them skedaddling, and they're whimsy. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. And they have a whimsy meter. I gotcha. And he also does a thing called white people, white people in. Okay. Which is one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_03:I've actually seen uh maybe uh a few versions of white people, white people, and you know, different like YouTubers and social media.
SPEAKER_01:What I think about the Kentucky Derby.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:White people, white people.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um now I can't for the most part.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Basically anything where people go around in a circle for hours, and you can just sit there is a very good point. Yeah, and you can just sit there getting drunk.
SPEAKER_03:That is a very, very good point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And yelling in the sun.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. You although no, I did go to horse races uh quite often years ago, and uh pretty diverse crowd, to tell the truth.
SPEAKER_01:Well, was that like OTB? I mean, I know it wasn't OTB.
SPEAKER_03:No, this was actually at the track. Uh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, was this mostly a gambling thing? It wasn't like, oh, look at the Arabian Stallion.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, it wasn't the biggest uh horse racing venue in the world, so you didn't get the you know I know, I just the huge renowned horses, but it was a it was a big deal for a while. Yeah. It's called Long Anchors.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so all right, it was all people, all people in yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, yeah, it was it really was a but the Seattle area actually is pretty diverse to, you know, so you know, in its entirety, it's pretty diverse.
SPEAKER_01:Now I have mentioned him, so I just want to make sure I I name check him. It's Mr. Crooks. And it's either M-I-S-T-A-C-R-O-O-K-S or M-Y-S-T-A-C-R-O-O-K-S. Oh, okay. Anyway, at Check Him Out There you go. Mr. Crooks. Mr. Crooks. And he also does Mi Fatback. Um, because I guess in Jamaican slang, fat back has to do with if someone's really fat, right? You call them a fat back.
SPEAKER_03:I gotcha, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So Because they have a lot of back fat. And yep. And he does this whole thing about where he shows people making ridiculous dishes or sandwiches, and it's like fried cheese around a layer of fried butter, around a chocolate ice cream cone, around a piece of cake, around a cupcake. Just like insane stuff only in America.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Okay. How about a toast sandwich?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, tell what that is.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that's British, by the way. And uh, and it was was in included in one of, you know, one of the big houses, you know, like High Claire, you know, the the big houses like Downton Abbey and stuff like that, in one of their cookbooks for uh for when visitors came. Right. And it was a toast sandwich, which was a sandwich, meaning two pieces of bread. Right. With a piece of toast in between.
SPEAKER_01:Now, see, I want that.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you you know, I actually watched this happen on a on a on uh I watched this ne these YouTube videos on a show called QI. Quite interesting. It's a British thing. Anyway, um they handed out all these different food items they were talking about, and one of the guys got this toast sandwich, and he's like, This is really good. Exactly. I can't I he says, I don't know why it is, it's probably just the texture difference between the two things. I mean, it's just it's like, yeah, it's good, and uh he he ate all his.
SPEAKER_01:Who needs to met? I mean, you know, you've got toast with some butter.
SPEAKER_03:Right. And when they say, you know, man cannot live on bread alone, well, bread and toast. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Amazing. There we go. Yeah. I can I can totally get it because toast is like one of my favorite foods.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Toast sandwich, though, yeah, that was especially reserved for uh visiting uh guests.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah. So that's that's quite interesting, I suppose.
SPEAKER_01:It is. So we had Thanksgiving, speaking of Oh yeah, we did. Speaking of nice. It was nice, yeah. However, we went somewhere that we have gone every year for quite some time and other years in between. And what would you say about it, Michael?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, you and I aren't going to have the same opinion. Um because everything was fine for me. Everything was everything was good. Um no no one got upset about anything, except, you know, there's this, you know, w detail here. One detail that that that was kind of glaring, but uh Well, there were two details. Okay, well you you tell them what it is, because uh yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01:Well, one was that a friend of ours ordered prime rib.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now describe how prime rib should be.
SPEAKER_03:Uh eatable with a spoon.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And how was this prime rib? It was apparently pretty pretty tough.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, we could look at it and see that you couldn't. Even with a steak knife, they were having trouble getting through it, yeah. Through it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So our friend thought maybe it's because it's too rare.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Which was not the case at all.
SPEAKER_03:No, actually it looked cooked perfectly.
SPEAKER_01:It was cooked perfectly. Yeah. Um, it just that it was an inedible piece of meat.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so we called Tovala over and said, Um, you know, this is the situation. And she said, Oh, all right, let me take that back to the kitchen. And she came back and said, Did you just want this cooked a little more? Or and I said no. I said no. Because I know that this friend of ours would have said yes, and all that would have done is make the whole thing worse. Okay, yeah, yep. So um she ultimately came back. I'm calling her Tavala, if you know you know. She ultimately came back and said, actually, the chef says all of the prime rib is like this.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's gonna be there all of the cuts of it are gonna be the same, pretty much.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, because it's coming from the same piece, which you know totally shocked me, you know, that this place that we have gone to have never had anything remotely like this happen.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and so our friend traded it in for the turkey traditional traditional feast, which is, you know, stuffing mashed table, blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_03:And which they were fine with.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So except you don't know this part. As we were leaving, she whispered to me, and I believe her, the potatoes were ice cold.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that was in the first potato, yeah. That was the uh gratten potatoes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, all right, so that also is glaring.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Your your potatoes should not taste like they just came out of the fridge. Not until the next day.
SPEAKER_03:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I agree. Um I was really disappointed in that, not for not for myself. You know, if it had been myself, um, you know, I would have whatever. I would have handled it a little differently, but I certainly wouldn't have been on tender hooks about it. Um, but it was I just I felt really bad that, you know, we told this friend of ours how fabulous it is. And it wasn't. It was a bummer. So anyway, um I'm I'm obviously gonna give them more chances before I throw in the towel. So uh and I would never say their name, but that was unfortunate. Um since then, so what we usually do is we make a little something something Thanksgiving if we go out to someone else's house or to town.
SPEAKER_03:I mean we often we traditionally kind of do go out. Right. You know, we used to go to the city to New York and go and then um and now we're you know we're we're going out here to various places we've been to, but yeah, it's it's kind of it's kind of our tradition now is to is to go out, but we tend to try to make everything a little bit here at home too.
SPEAKER_01:So you want your turkey sandwich, right?
SPEAKER_03:Your day after stuff, right? Oh yeah. Well and and pie, obviously.
SPEAKER_01:Obviously. How's the pie going, by the way?
SPEAKER_03:What pie?
SPEAKER_01:Really?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I mean, you have some pie.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. Well, that was quick.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Well, that's good.
SPEAKER_03:I'm glad that's really good. And that was uh me sized pumpkin pie.
SPEAKER_01:Ooh, miso, miso, miso, miso eating this pumpkin pie. Yeah. Wow. Um, well, when it comes to other leftovers, how are we doing, Michael? Uh, you know, we got a little bit left. How's the stuffing situation? We got we got some. Okay. Not a lot, but we got some what are we mostly out of? Um mashed potatoes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, I think so. Uh no, we're closer to being out of stuffing than we are mashed potatoes. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then turnips and carrots.
SPEAKER_03:Turnips, carrots, yep.
SPEAKER_01:Turkey itself.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, squash. Really critically low on the squash, actually.
SPEAKER_01:Critically low. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:There's some more like one more serving of that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh dear. And what about turkey itself?
SPEAKER_03:We got a bit of that left, because we cooked a half a turkey.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And we've only eaten, you know, a couple big chunks out of that.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, we'll have to put some.
SPEAKER_03:Because we came home with a lot from the restaurant.
SPEAKER_01:Right, that's true. They gave way too much turkey.
SPEAKER_03:It was so much food. And um, yeah, it was like a 10 pound. We brought like 10 pounds of food home.
SPEAKER_01:Well, so I don't eat any of this stuff or anything like it. Not usually on a regular basis. No, not at all. Never. Um, but something kicked in.
SPEAKER_03:You don't you don't do bread, you don't do uh starches that are, you know, I mean, like mashed potatoes, that's just really just starch. You you don't do those things, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, or stuffing.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Well, yeah, because I was thinking, because bread in there, and you don't do regular bread ever. Or cranberry sauce. Right, true.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I have been eating like way above and beyond any amount and any, you know, sort of carbs and sugar than I ever eat.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I feel really weird because I haven't felt this full in a long time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And it's day after day, and even though I'm only eating one meal a day, uh wow. If it's Thanksgiving, it's a lot. Oh, we also have these rosemary rolls.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, those are good.
SPEAKER_01:That are just killing me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, so yeah, Thanksgiving food. I'm not sure why we do it.
SPEAKER_03:Pretty thankful for Thanksgiving food, really, if you want to know.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not sure why we do it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, because it's good. That's true. And because we're kind of like fattening ourselves up, you know, for a hibernation. I thought I was already hibernating. Um, you know, because winter's coming. It's yeah, it is. It's kind of here. Twenty twenty days, nineteen days till the sun starts, uh days start getting longer. Yep. So that's very nice.
SPEAKER_01:I love to always say that to Michael in the depths of the doldrums. It's getting lighter every day.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. The first day of winter is actually one of the greatest days. Because that's the day it starts. Right. The next day it starts getting lighter.
SPEAKER_01:The lights. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And that's why because the dark is there's a we have a lot of dark right now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But it's totally doable because there's all this literal shiny things to distract you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01:Tons of it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So speaking of which. Speaking of Black Friday.
SPEAKER_03:Shiny. Oh yeah, Black Friday. Black Friday. Let's talk about that. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:What the hell?
SPEAKER_03:Uh, well, no one was in the stores, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Were you over there?
SPEAKER_03:I I didn't go to uh shopping anywhere, but I did see a lot of videos online from different uh news organizations around the country, and they're they're all saying the same thing. The stores were pretty empty.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so we don't know what it was like here on the Cape. It could be different on the Cape because our choices are so narrow.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, it's just it's it's not like people didn't shop though. It's they just didn't go out to shop. They bought online to the tune of almost 12 billion dollars in the United States.
SPEAKER_01:And what's the usual price tag, do you know, of shopping on Christmas? Good question. I don't know. I'll look that up. Well, of course, then yesterday we had Cyber Monday.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, which I I don't understand. I mean, that's no longer different from Black Friday. This is all online. And then now what's happening is early Black Friday.
SPEAKER_03:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think uh I mean, I believe Black Friday from now on is gonna be in July.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:It's just stupid. It's just like, look, just spend your money online all the time. Right. And horror be known, Amazon, I bet is getting the lion's share.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm sure they're getting, um I sure, I'm sure they are, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I bet they are. And so I mean, one thing I noticed is that I have someone in my life that I wanted to get some cosmetics for.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I won't have anything to do with Sephora anymore, which is a long story. Um, but I figured now, where can I get all of this? Where can I do the same thing? So I went to Ulta, they were out of one of the things. I tried a few different places, and then I said, well, let me try Amazon. Now, all these stores in quotes. So let's say you did go into Sephora and you wanted uh oh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:An eyeliner. Just yeah, pick something. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:An eyeliner in a particular brand.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you can go on Amazon and find that brand. So say it's Dior.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:Dior has a store on Amazon. Right. So you know, guess what? They had a sale. Yeah. Right. And so it used to be that buying on Amazon was a little hit or miss or hit and miss, as my father used to call it. Um, it's a little hit and miss.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because you didn't know, like, all right, so is this just coming from, you know, some fake place, or is this the real, is this really Dior? Well, now these manufacturers have storefronts on Amazon. So I went on Amazon, I picked out all the stuff I wanted, and ching, it was way less than if I had gone to Sephora and had loaded up my cart with these same things.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um it was less, and I mean, it does make perfect sense because these manufacturers have no middlemen. They don't have to pay, Dior doesn't have to pay Sephora.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:It comes straight to me and I get that discount.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. And they make a little more off of it. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So um it all makes sense. And I hate it. I hate knowing that I'm giving my money to this one enterprise.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But I don't know how you and now that their little trucks are driving around everywhere.
SPEAKER_03:That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And they show up at your house seven days a week.
SPEAKER_03:The fact that they or the you know, UPS or anything.
SPEAKER_01:The fact that they ship a pencil in like a refrigerator box.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that has happened, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Many bothers me. The wastefulness of their packaging.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, they're they are trying to do better, but uh, you know smaller things are getting put in like massive bags. Well, occasionally where they're trying to eliminate boxes altogether, but that you know, yeah. It hasn't happened everywhere yet. So you're still getting, you know, you ordered a little desk calendar and it's coming in a box you could put a VW in. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, there you go. Exactly. That's ridiculous. Anyway, um, so here are some of the days, in case you didn't know. Major November shopping days. Singles Day. Have you heard of this, Michael?
SPEAKER_03:That's a shopping day.
SPEAKER_01:November 11th started in China. This has become the world's largest online shopping day. Okay. With massive sales from retailers globally.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean Singles Day.
SPEAKER_03:That's not what they will call it here, you know, since it's Veterans Day.
SPEAKER_01:Right, but I 1111, I think that's why it's Singles Day, maybe.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I see. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I don't know. Then we have Black Friday, yep. Which traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season. I know a family that when catalogs started coming in in blah, like October, I guess, is when the catalogs start coming in for Christmas. They would stack them all up, and then after Thanksgiving dinner, they would get out all the catalogs, sit around the dining room table, and start going through and circling things they wanted for Christmas.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah, yeah. See, I didn't we didn't do that.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, yeah. We had uh it was we were a big catalog people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, now given that I don't know, whatever for whatever reason, um my family was a little different than say the rest of our, you know, our greater family, you know. I mean, I have some some cousins and aunts and uncles that probably were doing this, uh-huh, but for some reason not in our house. Um we just weren't doing that. Yeah um that big, you know, around the table. But yeah, the days of catalog shopping are virtually gone. Um and I mean, of course, hard print.
SPEAKER_03:Right, right.
SPEAKER_01:But then we have Cyber Monday, right, which is today. Now, there's a thing called pre-Black Friday.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So Amazon and uh Walmart were both all in on that this year.
SPEAKER_01:Many retailers begin offering deals in early to mid-November, sometimes weeks before Black Friday itself. And these sales can be spread over multiple days or weeks. So here's what I did with one thing that I knew, one gift. I basically buy gifts for two people. I I mean Christmas gifts. Um anyway, and for one of them, I had found this item that was perfect, but it was more money than I wanted to spend. And it went on sale like whenever, a few weeks ago. And I said, okay, but and then they're advertising, and just wait, there's more. Black Friday is coming. And I thought, let me wait till Black Friday and see if the price goes down. Right. No. What about Monday? I will check, except it's already on the way here.
SPEAKER_03:Ah, well, let me ex uh let me let me tell you what uh what happened uh yesterday. They expected or you know, on Black Friday, not yesterday, they expected around$11.8 billion was spent. What they expect for uh this Cyber Monday, this past, you know, the day we just passed, it's$14.2 billion in you are kidding me. No. Matter of fact, last year, Cyber Monday sales were twenty-two percent higher than Black Friday sales.
SPEAKER_01:So you're thinking I I wonder why that is. I wonder if it's just because um I don't know, maybe Thanksgiving Friday you got stuff going on, you're going to the game, you're what people are traveling. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:You're sleeping in um from the LC.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you have a hangover. Yep. Um if I sound a little strange today, it's because I am definitely still in food hanger.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Food hanger. That's what I call food hanger.
SPEAKER_03:I'm also I'm I'm I got my own thing.
SPEAKER_01:You do?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, tell.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, Thanksgiving was Thanksgiving was great. That's right. Uh I had a toothache all all through dinner. Uh-huh. But by the time I went to bed, I had a uh softball sized lump on the side of my chin.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:From uh an abscess. Right. And a tooth. And I'm still, you know, I'm still it's it's almost you know completely gone now, but uh, I'm still dealing with a little bit of it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's definitely and it messed up, you know. Significant.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I I I had a surgery scheduled. I I can't do that now. Michael's supposed to have hand surgery uh tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so we I I realized when this was happening, there's no way they're gonna do a surgery.
SPEAKER_03:And even if I st if even if I'd started on uh antibiotics today or yesterday, you know, whatever, uh it's still not early enough.
SPEAKER_01:It's not soon enough for them to uh and I mean the risk is just so at ways. Yeah. You know, um they're not gonna admit you and give you IV antibiotics and I wouldn't think so.
SPEAKER_03:No, no. They would no, they w would rather just do the surgery and send me home. I would say. Right?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think you know, Blue Cross Blue Shield is gonna say nope to any of it. Yeah, I agree. And say, well, if it has to be three months from now, that's when it has to be. Right. Anyway, we shall find out.
SPEAKER_03:I'll have a fun summer. I'll do uh have both hands done, and I won't be able to do a dang thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that'll be wonderful. It'll be fun, fun for all.
SPEAKER_03:Great, yeah. Speaking of fun for all, there's there uh there's a dog thing happened.
SPEAKER_01:Best in show in film and in reality. Yeah, that's true. So I had a friend here last week, a good friend of ours, and we were talking about movies that would be good for Thanksgiving. Right. And it occurred to me, oh my god, Westminster Dog Show is right after your the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:And so Best in Show, the Christopher Guest Joint is perfect. It really is, yeah. It's a great because it's about something that happens on Thanksgiving. Yeah. And it's hilarious. And there's nothing, you know, I hate to use this term, but it pleases me. Hall Markian about it. Yeah, yeah. You know, not a tear is shed. Um, and you get to see the most ridiculous and sublime. Absolutely. Sublime are these dogs, they are stunningly gorgeous, beautifully trained. They're just and they're dogs. Yeah. You know, and so every now and then, instead of being these like show pieces, they bust out and turn into dogs.
SPEAKER_03:Which is It's one of the great things about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Now let's talk about what just happened because it wasn't Westminster. It was the National Dog Show, which is AKC.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_03:Westminster actually is going to happen at the end of January. Right. January 31st through February 3rd. Uh, it used to be at this time of year. And then when COVID happened, they moved it uh both time-wise and place-wise. They moved it to Billie Jean King uh Center in Queens, and they did it in May. God, I have no memory of that. This is the first year they're they're bringing it back, but it's going to be in January. So well we had the AKC uh Kennel Club show, which is, I believe, the oldest dog show in the country. It started in 1877. And uh wow.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I didn't know that this had happened. Yeah. Um, but I'm glad to know it happened recently, and it wasn't just my other example of my mind going.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, not at all. Um but there was uh we do I do know who won best in show at the 2025 National Dog Show. Yes. And that's Soleil. Her name is Soleil, she's a Belgian sheep dog. Funny name. Gorgeous, gorgeous dog. Just mind-blowing beautiful, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:She is a hundred percent black.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:There is not one hair on that dog that isn't black.
SPEAKER_03:So pretty. Of course, the uh, you know, the herding group went winner. That's was the same dog, but uh let's see, a shihtzu won the toy group, a uh miniature schnauzer named Baby Joe won the Terrier group, a giant schnauzer named Dino uh uh won the working dog group. Non-sporting group winner was a Bichon Frise named Neil. I love these names.
SPEAKER_01:That dog was hilarious.
SPEAKER_03:Uh the sporting group winner was Tyler, who was an English setter who was dropped at gorgeous. Uh, the hound winner was an American foxhound, which was so beautiful. There were two of them. Um, no, he's the were was reserved best in show. So he was like the number two dog.
SPEAKER_01:I see.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And oh, what a pretty, pretty dog that was.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that part of it is delightful.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Just delightful. Uh and it's very much worth watching. Unlike, say, the puppy bowl, which I can handle maybe 10 to 15 minutes of. Yeah, yeah, it gets so stupid. And then it just gets so stupid. Yeah. But uh these shows are extraordinary. They really are, yeah. If you like animals, if you like dogs, uh anything.
SPEAKER_03:I can tell you who won Westminster for 2025, but that was, you know, this past February. Uh-huh. Um I did have the results here somewhere. Oh no, I'm gonna tell you who's gonna be in it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:There are 201 eligible breeds.
SPEAKER_01:What?
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, breeds, not groups. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Toxins are leading the way with 52 representatives, followed by 44 poodles, 40 French Bulldogs, 39 Chihuahuas, 38 golden retrievers.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's who is uh But then then who do we have?
SPEAKER_03:Who are the this last year's winner was a miniature poodle named Sage.
SPEAKER_01:Now, is this year's Westminster dog show gonna be so we have 2026 coming up, right? Right, yeah. Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_03:Now that's what's gonna be at Madison Square Garden again this year for you know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I finished watching The Beast in Me. Did I mention that? Did you mention it? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think you might mention watching it, but I don't remember you if you said that you've watched I finished watching it.
SPEAKER_01:It has a thoroughly satisfying ending.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:I recommend this story. Is it a show?
SPEAKER_03:Is it an open ending?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:No. Not unless Angela Lansberry ke I why is her name Jessica Fletcher?
SPEAKER_05:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Not unless Jessica Fletcher gets brought back to reprise the role of Aggie Witt. Is that her name?
SPEAKER_03:Okay, yeah, I believe.
SPEAKER_01:Uh so but there would have to be a whole switcheroo and I can imagine it. And I want people to watch it just to get back to me and talk about the Jessica Fletcher Aggie Witt comparisons.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I also have a big problem from that show.
SPEAKER_03:You do?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So there's a character on the show called Olivia Rodriguez, and she's a politician in New York.
SPEAKER_02:Right, okay.
SPEAKER_01:And there's a scene where she goes to have a meeting with someone, and she's wearing this jacket. It's like an indoor jacket, like an overpiece.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I'm obsessed. I must have it. And I have been looking all over the internet for this darn thing. And I cannot find it. Uh there's there are the all these sites where you can look up stuff that was worn on television. Okay, yeah, yeah. And so there are a few things from the beast in me. But not many and nothing that this character wore. Um so I've been informed by AI that I need to get a screenshot and send that along.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but I don't think this is something I get on my com I don't know. We'll see.
SPEAKER_03:I I don't know either.
SPEAKER_01:I'm a I'm a frustrated person.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well.
SPEAKER_03:Well happens.
SPEAKER_01:Well. So best in show.
SPEAKER_03:Best in show. The film. What a great movie that is. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01:You've gotta watch it. It's the funniest damn thing.
SPEAKER_03:And it's almost entirely improvised. That's my favorite part. Yeah. The way Christopher works is he's like, here's the idea. We want to go from this place to this place. He gets his people together, explains the idea, and he just lets them come up with their own words. And it's mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_01:It is. What I love too is if you're a follower of his and his films, you see the same sort of group of players that he always works with in these different roles.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And and once you really get to know them and you realize, oh my god, that's so-and-so from that other film. There are there's one woman in Best in Show that I knew from Waiting for Guffman.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:But I had no idea until we just watched it this last time.
SPEAKER_03:Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01:That they were the same person. Anyway, it's it's amazing what each of these characters is capable of. And I think that's part of why Shits Creek is, which is supposedly coming back.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I hope so.
SPEAKER_01:For another season.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um that I think that, you know, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are just, you know, with those two at the helm.
SPEAKER_03:Here, well, I mean, here's the group, right? The the basic group. Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Scherer, and of course the uh the great Fred Willard, who's no longer with us, but everybody else is.
SPEAKER_01:And we're forgetting one woman who plays the dentist's wife.
SPEAKER_03:Right. I and I I know who you're talking about, and her name is not in this list.
SPEAKER_01:And her husband. There are two, he's a Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know exactly who you're talking about. He's got that very nasal and he's a big comedian. Yeah, he's uh yeah. I'll have to look him up. Have to look those two up.
SPEAKER_01:Anyhow, uh it's phenomenal. And then um for your consideration.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Which has all of these people in it, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Um and a mighty wind. A mighty wind. And spinal tap. This is spinal tap. Yeah. What an engagement. Which we still haven't seen the I cannot believe that. What's it called? Is it this is uh the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? Oh, the end continues.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Uh oh and oh does Ed Begley Jr. is often in uh right.
SPEAKER_01:He's in Best in Show.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, it's amazing. The Best in Show cast is phenomenal. Yeah, it really is.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:America's favorite acting couple. Well, we are completely dog obsessed. Yeah, that is true. Our dogs rule our lives.
SPEAKER_03:They really do. Yeah, and they kind kind of know it, really.
SPEAKER_01:I mean Yeah, I mean they have so many things that they put us through our pieces every day.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Every day. I know which side of the chair I'm allowed to sit on.
SPEAKER_03:That's correct.
SPEAKER_01:I know. Which side of the chair my dog has to get up on, which is the opposite side. So I have to scooch all the way to the left, and then she likes to get up there. That's right. Then I have to scooch all the way to the right because she likes to sleep.
SPEAKER_03:That's where she wants to actually be. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. Um, so it's everything from that to I need two of you sitting in here for me to eat.
SPEAKER_03:Right, yeah. She doesn't want to eat.
SPEAKER_01:We've got that, so we have to it's just and we do it. We do it. It's really funny. We do what they want and they deserve it. But of course, and things happen. Like, I don't act on it. I'm not at that point. But like when we're at Thanksgiving dinner, a couple hours in, and it's gone from afternoon to evening, it's getting dark, and I start thinking, oh gosh, the dogs are gonna be wanting some dinner. Yeah, right. Yeah, and that starts motivating me.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And I don't feel guilty about it, but every now and then, if I hear someone say, Oh, I've got to get back to my dogs, let's put it this way some people use it as a bit of an excuse or a crutch. Uh-huh. Like, I can't stand being with you one more minute. And I have to go feed my dogs. Oh, yeah. You know, that's what comes out. The word, those are the words. Exactly. Um, but yeah, no, I actually start to get a little hitch, a hitch in my side. A stitch. Do you remember that? Did your mother ever say, You oh, I've got a stitch around? Absolutely, yeah. Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_03:It just means that it feels you know you've got a cramp. A cramp. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, Krampus. I I want to know about it.
SPEAKER_03:He's coming around too, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, does he come around Christmas or does he come?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Because I saw a great Krampus card.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, did you? Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And for a second I was thinking, wait a minute, is this dude Halloween?
SPEAKER_03:No, he's like Dark Santa.
SPEAKER_01:Dark Santa. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna have to ask Mr. Crooks about Dark Santa. Uh-huh. Um it's got fangs and fur and it's and horns.
SPEAKER_03:I think it and a basket to carry kids away.
SPEAKER_01:And it wears like a loincloth, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_03:It's it he's depicted in a lot of different different ways, yeah. He's a fashionista. He's he looks very, you know, devil like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. The devil wears Prada.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I might start calling Meryl Streep Priestley. Um, what's her first name? Priestley. Um, something with an E Priestley. Anyway, um, Krampus. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm just gonna refer to her as Krampus.
SPEAKER_03:So um it uh that comes from the word claw in German, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:What's the word for claw in German?
SPEAKER_03:Krampon.
SPEAKER_01:Krampen. Yep, yeah, and you know what comes from there? Crampons.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And what are crampons? They're snow claws.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I'm putting it all together. See? Yeah. See that how I do it? I see how you're doing that. I am a wordsmith. You really are, yeah. You know, you are actually the wordsmith, certainly the spelling smith.
SPEAKER_03:I do like the I do like the spell, yeah. I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_01:You do the New York Times um oh, spelling bee.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Every day, and you always get to genius, yeah, and you do it pretty dang fast. Occasionally you'll say, Oh, I had trouble with one pangram or something.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm always upset with me if I don't get the panagram first.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Because usually I look at it and I'm like ding bing. I got it. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Same with me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but quite often.
SPEAKER_01:Did you get the one on Sunday? Uh or the one on Monday so far?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I don't I don't even remember. It just is kind of a Sundays. This toothache has taken over a lot of my uh you know, a lot of my uh Yeah thinking time. I think so that I just kind of forget about a lot of other things that have happened.
SPEAKER_01:I think we have to get you to uh to uh somebody to give you some antibiotics. Those bastiges. Those bastiges. You need urgent care, man. Yeah. Yeah. You know what happens when you go to urgent care? Not much. They give you prescriptions. Oh, oh, okay, good. That's all that ever happens there. Yeah. When I went there, I went there.
SPEAKER_03:I got an x-ray once.
SPEAKER_01:Huh?
SPEAKER_03:I got an x-ray at one of them once. Wow. Yeah. Well, that's advanced. But I went there, you're sure it was out here either. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I went there for an ear problem. And um they gave me they they rinsed out my ear and they gave me an antibiotic.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, as it turned out, I didn't need either of those things.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, well, that's good.
SPEAKER_01:It was a bigger problem than that.
SPEAKER_03:That is true. You had to get up in the hospital.
SPEAKER_01:Well, not not in, but at um Mass Ion Ear. Yeah. Two days I had to go up there. But um they at the very least give you a prescription for antibiotics.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, I've gone for uh pneumonia and when I got uh prescription for antibiotics. Right.
SPEAKER_01:So that's probably what they'll give you. And I recommend it. I highly recommend it. Exactly. Yeah. Um, so you'll be feeling better in no time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was trying to get you to go over the weekend. And you wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03:No, because I knew it would go down on its own.
SPEAKER_01:So, you know, it's no, but it's not gonna you're not gonna get rid of that infection on your own. Um, it's not gonna just go away. Yeah. Yeah. The infection. I think I'm probably right. I know.
SPEAKER_03:I think you're probably right about that one.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, I'm the doctor. I'm the doctor around here. What is your Christmas list? How many people are on your Christmas gift list? Um four. Four people on your Christmas gift list.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, plus uh the the dogs and the cats.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Well, I already did their shopping, so I didn't include that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I don't really have a lot of people on the show. But when it's people You're one of them. Christmas? Not Hanukkah? That's yeah, it's it's all the same time of year. So yeah, you lump it all in together.
SPEAKER_01:It almost overlaps.
SPEAKER_03:This year it ends a couple days before Christmas. But uh Okay, so I have three people And then I've got kids, you know, so I have done I've done it.
SPEAKER_01:I've done my Christmas shopping. I pretty much have too. Yeah. And the Hanukkah shopping.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_01:I finished that up on Thanksgiving Day.
SPEAKER_03:Right on.
SPEAKER_01:Because our Hanukkah party this year, we have been told we're not allowed to spend more than two dollars and fifty cents.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-huh. Yeah. And that doesn't make any sense at all.
SPEAKER_01:No, I mean, if you're buying a pack of gum. Yeah, you're that's about it. That's about it. You're not getting any more than that. Um, and this isn't a gum chewing group. No. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03:Um, anyhow, I am You might not even be able to get a Snickers for$250. Well, where you're not gonna, you know, look.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not gonna say what I got because I'm pretty sure some attendees are might be listening.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But uh I ended up getting something that was like five dollars. Because seriously, find something, and it was uh uh whatchamacallit. I want to say Good Friday, Black Friday.
SPEAKER_03:Black Friday, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, it was a Black Friday situation. Oh, okay, yeah. So I was able to spend five bucks on on uh a little Hanukkah thing, and it won't even look like I spent that on it. It won't, it'll look like I stuck to the 250 situation. All right, well, there you go. So there you go. Mission accomplished, mission accomplished. I found a gift for a friend that I want to get a gift for, but it doesn't come in her size. This friend of mine needs an extra small at the largest. I see, and I can only find this in a medium, and I've lost my mind over it. I get obsessed by stuff for a while, but oh my gosh, and then it goes away. Yeah, well that happens. Um this is It's Henry Gross. What's kind of gross?
SPEAKER_03:It's Henry Gross. It's the guy who's singing sweetheart.
SPEAKER_01:Henry Gross. Yeah. And his song Shannon. Yes, which some of you will remember when it gets to the chorus. Most of you won't remember it at all. Yeah, I sure did. Um I did too, but not until it got to the chorus.
SPEAKER_03:I I got to it uh about when we got to this point in the song. Right. Like, okay, I know I know this.
SPEAKER_01:I knew what was coming next.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'd like to say for everyone who is not at home, not comfortable, not with their families, and I don't know, maybe old feeling a little passed by. Pick up the phone, call that person that deserves a call from you. You know what exactly what I'm talking about. That person that keeps calling and you don't answer. Oh my god, I have two phone calls I have to make tomorrow. First thing. For all of the people who need our help and kindness right now, please reach out and take care of them and put a light on.
