The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett

Back in the Saddle: Laughter, Local Giving, and Hallmark Movie Magic

• Chris Bennett • Episode 146

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We’re back in the saddle — and what a ride it was! This Monday's show is packed with laughter, live calls, and a reminder that small acts of kindness can make a big impact.

We kick things off catching up with our friend David Whitmore from the Show Low Elks Lodge, celebrating a comedy night that raised $723 for the Timber Mesa Fire Auxiliary and the volunteers who keep our community safe. Plus, the Elks are collecting Thanksgiving boxes filled with turkeys, sides, and smiles — and we’ve got the details on how you can help feed local families this week.

Then we turn up the fun with Brian from Pinedale playing a round of Table Topics, some “Are You Smarter Than a Redneck?” trivia with Paul From Beaumont, and even a Little Mermaid trivia.

Chris's Wife Andrea joins in for a cozy Hallmark movie review — “A Royal Montana Christmas” — earning four steaming mugs of cocoa and zero clichés. It’s the perfect wrap to a show that’s part comedy, part heart, and all community.

💬 Motivational Monday Quote: “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

❤️ Local Love: Drop off non-perishables at Shwo Low Elks Lodge 805 East Whipple between 2–6 PM to help fill Thanksgiving boxes.

🎧 Subscribe, share with a friend, and join us every morning on QCountry 92.5 — where laughter meets local.

#TheMorningBrew #QCountry925 #ChrisBennettComedy #BackInTheSaddle #CommunityFirst #WhiteMountainsAZ #LocalRadio

SPEAKER_02:

From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. I'm back. You may have noticed I have been out these past two weeks taking care of some personal family matters, and I am now back and we are ready to rock it on this Monday morning. Let's get started. Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? Kimber. Kimber? Mm-hmm. Oh, heck yeah, Kimber. Heck yeah. Are you a big country music fan? Yeah. Yeah, you love the morning brew with Chris? Yeah. Heck yeah. What, uh, what you calling in for today? Do you have a song you wanna hear? A question you want to ask? You what? It's my birthday. Happy birthday, Kimber! How old are you? Nine. Nine years old? Are you gonna do anything special for your birthday? Uh yeah. What? Yeah. Yeah, but what are you gonna do for your birthday?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I'm gonna go to Kittles and Pizza Factory.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, dude, that sounds like a good day. Do a little art at Kittles and then uh munch some pizza over at the pizza factory. Well, happy birthday, Kimber. I'm gonna sing you a song. Happy birthday to Kimber. Happy birthday to you. Oh, how was that? Heck yeah. Do you uh have a song you want to hear on your birthday? Uh yeah. What song? Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton. Which one? Nine to five? Heck yes! Well, happy birthday, Kimber. Here's a little Dolly Parton throwback for you on Q Country 925. Ooh! Thank you. You're welcome. I actually have a best friend in studio with me right now. It is David Whitmore. He's with the Sholo Elks Lodge and part of the Elks Riders. And uh the Elks Riders always provide uh security for me at all the uh shows we do at the Elks Lodge, and we also do a 50-50 raffle uh that you guys use to raise money for local charities here in the White Mountains. Uh, I haven't been here since the comedy show. Go ahead and give us a review of our uh comedy show that was November 1st at the Elks Lodge.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it was great. Um, you always have the best comics come down. It's a great time, beginning to end. Uh people are great. It's great to see a room of people laughing, having a great time, and we love being there for it.

SPEAKER_02:

I love it, and thank you so much to the Elks Lodge for allowing me to continue to do these shows there. And huge shout out to the Elks Riders. You make the show so uh much more enjoyable for me because I know that we have security handled and uh you really take care of the room, and we always are able to raise some money uh for some local charities. This time, uh, go ahead and tell us uh what the uh 5050 raffle raised money for at our comedy show.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, so this time uh we're gonna donate it to the uh Timber Mesa Fire Auxiliary uh to help take care of our firefighters. Um we were able to raise$723 on the 50-50. Uh so it was a great night, great turnout, and we're proud to be able to make that donation.

SPEAKER_02:

You guys are also now working on uh feeding people in need this Thanksgiving season. Go ahead and explain uh what you guys are doing and how we can help as a community.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. Well, uh with the Elks Lodge, we always try to provide uh Thanksgiving boxes uh to families in need. Uh they come with a turkey and all the fixings, plus food to last for a few days after that. Um we had a great turnout at Safeway the last couple days or last couple weekends. Um we were able to fill up four truckloads of food of donations, and that's gonna go a long way. Um we can still always use some extra donations by the end of the week. Um if you want to bring them by the Elks Lodge at 805 East Whipple, you can drop off donations and we'd appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. Is there any particular time they should drop those donations off?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh we open at two o'clock, so uh between two and six.

SPEAKER_02:

Between two and six, Monday through Saturday.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, well, we'll be putting the boxes together on Thursday and passing them out on Saturday. So Monday through Thursday this week. If you have canned foods, non-perishables that you want to bring in, come on by.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, and they're trying to help as many people as possible. There's no limit, so go ahead and donate so they can uh help feed as many people as possible this Thanksgiving season. Woo!

SPEAKER_04:

That's my vlog!

SPEAKER_02:

Yee yeah! It's everyone's favorite redneck from Beaumont, Texas. It's Paul from Beaumont, buddy. Uh, how have you been? Anything new and juicy?

SPEAKER_04:

We had we had my my oldest granddaughter finally, and she turned into a teenager yesterday.

SPEAKER_02:

Holy moly. Any advice uh for him there, uh David, on how to deal with a granddaughter in her teens?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I don't even have kids, so I'm gonna leave that one to you.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh do you have any? I'm gonna leave I'm gonna leave it to her parents.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's the best part about being a grandparent. You can pass all the responsibilities on to someone else.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Paul, before we find out if you're smarter than an elk rider, um go ahead and give us a weight loss update. He's been taking like that Ozempic type shot. Uh, what are you uh your new weight? Man, I I hit I hit my all-time low, 243. 243, and you started at what? 278. 278. And and I've been off of it for three weeks. Oh, and the weight's not coming back, or is it still going off?

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, it it it it it went up, it went up a little bit, but I I I I still just drink like a lot of water and uh I I stay away from the from the sweet or you know, from all the garbage food.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Well, awesome. Congratulations. Do you have any moobs? Did it give you any uh moobs?

SPEAKER_01:

Moobs?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like man boobs. No. Oh no. Oh, okay. So no weird side effects. Awesome. All right.

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, no, see, see, see, that goes, that goes show, man. Kurt Nermie's got that doesn't know what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, Paul. It is now time for Are You Smarter Than a Redneck? Today your contestant is David Whitmore with the Elks Rider over out of the Elks Lodge here in Solo. It is Little Mermaid Day, so we're gonna do a little Little Mermaid trivia. If you know the answer, say your name. That's your buzzer. Are you two ready?

SPEAKER_03:

I guess. Yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, okay. What is the name of Ariel's best fish friend? Is it Bubbles? Flounder, Finn, or Goblin? Oh, David. Uh Paul. Paul.

SPEAKER_04:

Hey, hey, Flounder.

SPEAKER_02:

It is Flounder. He's up one zero. All right, next question. What is the name of the sea witch who steals Ariel's voice?

SPEAKER_00:

David.

SPEAKER_02:

David.

SPEAKER_00:

Ursula.

SPEAKER_02:

It is Ursula. Dude, we have a manly redneck and a manly biker that know an awful lot about the little mermaid. Whatever, I had to get the hands. All right, what does Ariel call a fork? Is it a who's its snarfblat, dinglehopper, or thingamabob? David. David. It's a dingle hopper. It is a dingle hopper, and he is smarter than a redneck. Congratulations. Wow.

SPEAKER_03:

Holy. Big tough god knows his uh his life under the sea. What can I say?

SPEAKER_02:

That's right. Well, we love you, Paul. Great talking to you, and hopefully we'll talk to you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, buddy.

SPEAKER_02:

Y'all have a great day. Glad to hear you back on the air. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks, best friend. It is Monday, so you know what that means. It is motivational Monday, David. Time to get our audience motivated to tackle the week ahead. And uh, I have five quotes, and uh you are going to pick what our motivational quote for the week is. Uh to today's theme is overcoming hard times. Here's some motivational quotes for overcoming hard times. Jean De Labruy, I don't know how to pronounce her name, says, Out of difficulties, grow miracles. Is that a good one? That's a good one. All right, all right, we're off to a good start. Uh Helen Keller said, although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. Okay, okay. That's a good one. That's a good one. All right. Eleanor Roosevelt said, You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. I like that one. Okay, all right. Uh, and uh two more. Albert Einstein said, in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. And the last one, Robert Schuler said, Tough times never last, but tough people do.

SPEAKER_00:

What is our motivational quote for this week? You know what? I'm gonna go with the last one because you gotta be tough to get through things, and it just makes you stronger along the way.

SPEAKER_02:

So absolutely. Today's motivational quote for this week is by Robert Schuler. Tough times never last, but tough people do. Thank you so much, David. You're welcome. Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris and his special guest, David Whitmore, with the Sholo Elks Lodge. Who's this? Good morning, champion Chris Bennett. Yeah, buddy. It's been a while. How are you doing, Brian from Pine Dale?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing really good. I thought you might want to start the show with table topics.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, heck yeah. Play a little game. Table topics. He's gonna read us uh some random questions from this deck of cards, and we answer it to the best of our ability. I'll show you how it's done.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, let's do it. All right, first question if you could donate one million dollars to a charity, which would you choose?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, well, I have uh David with the Solo Elks Lodge with me. The Elks Lodge and the Solo Foundation do so many great things uh for our local community and uh also obviously on a national level as well. So that would be one. I also love uh St. Jude's uh children's hospital. Uh what about you, David?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh well, I mean, I I'd have to just go with the Elks, you know. Yep, there you go. I'm a little biased there.

SPEAKER_02:

That's right. You know what? We're gonna go with the Elks, and they got some uh cool stuff coming up.

SPEAKER_01:

What uh right, and if you had the million dollars, you'd donate it to the Elks Club? Yeah, well, you're putting me on the spot.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't get to I don't get I don't get to keep any of it?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's a charity. Well, okay, yeah, I'll give it. You can feed the whole mountain, all your audience with that for Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, yes, I will.

SPEAKER_01:

You got that raffle going.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah. Next question.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, next question. If you owned a boat, what name would you choose for it? Uh gosh. Um The Unsinkable.

SPEAKER_02:

The Unsinkable? Yeah, but although, yeah, the unsinkable, because it's a good omen. You can't sink it. Or I don't know if that's good or bad.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a good omen. Okay, what about you? I'd have to be a little funny with it and call it uh Unsinkable Junior. Or unsinkable the second.

SPEAKER_02:

That's funny. I'll take it. Better luck this time. That was Table Tapping with Brian from Pinedale. We love you, best friend. All right, have a great show, Chris. You too. Bye. Bye, Dave. Bye-bye. On the phone, we have Avid, Hallmark Christmas movie lover, and my beautiful wife, Andrea Bennett, on the phone. Uh, it's that time of year already for Hallmark Christmas movie reviews?

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm so ready.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, how uh how is your excitement level on a scale one to five hot cups of cocoa uh for this year's new slot of Hallmark Christmas movies? I'm always out of five hot cups of cocoa and uh how many do they come out with every year, do you know?

SPEAKER_05:

I think it's around 30. 30.

SPEAKER_02:

And you watch all 30, so we don't have to, right?

SPEAKER_05:

I try my best.

SPEAKER_02:

And uh right now you've watched six. Uh how uh how does the new season of Hallmark Christmas movies stack up to years past? Pretty good. So far, pretty good. Nice. And uh if there uh are some uh people that maybe never watched any Hallmark Christmas movies, before we get into the new Christmas movies that are being released this year, what are your top three Hallmark Christmas movies that you think everyone should watch to get into the Christmas spirit?

SPEAKER_05:

Ooh, that's hard. That's uh I'll I'll go back three years, maybe. So last year I think my favorite was Confessions of a Christmas Letter. And that one was like highly rated. I think I gave it five total. And um touched with uh Teddy Rose, Angela from the office, neurotic, totally obsessed Christmas alert. It's great. That one was that one's really fun if you're wanting like a really romantic one. And there was one from a couple years ago. That was called a built-for Christmas, and that also includes a little bit of time travel, which I'm a tricker for. So that one was very romantic. And then rescuing Christmas. I think that was from a couple years as well. Um, that one's more of a comedy, and um if you're looking for something fun and comedic, that would be the way to go. But all of those I think I rated five cups.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, those are some uh Hallmark Christmas movies to catch if you missed them in years past. And now it's time for Chris's wife to give us her Christmas Hallmark movie reviews. All right, my love, what new Hallmark Christmas movie are we reviewing today?

SPEAKER_05:

So today we're going to review a Royal Montana Christmas.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, alright, a Royal Montana Christmas. Here is uh my guess on what this one is about. Um, I think uh they're uh a a king and a queen, and their son, who's a prince, came to Montana for Christmas to kind of live like normal folks, and he ends up falling in love with a girl that cleans out the horse stalls, and when they first met, she fell into a pile of you know what, but they overcome the stink and they fall in love. Is that what it's about?

SPEAKER_05:

I mean, that could be several royal Hallmark movies, but it's not this one.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay. What's this one about?

SPEAKER_05:

So this is about a princess who's going to be assuming the throne and all the royal duties, and she's feeling overwhelmed, and so she goes to uh Montana Ranch where she was taken as a little girl by her father, and she ends up she's just you know trying to decompress and she ends up falling for the ranch owner's son.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

SPEAKER_05:

But I like this one because it didn't it didn't rely on the secret identity of her being a princess to kind of like she tells them. I I never understand in the videos where or the movies where they they're like, Oh, I'm a prince. I'm a princess, and then the other person is like really bad, and I was like, I don't get it. Like that's pretty awesome, like oh sweet, you know, like so that didn't happen, which I appreciated. They didn't rely on that trope, and she told them who she was, like in the middle of the movie, and then it was you know, just like moving on with okay, now how do we entertain a princess? So anyway, it was it was really good.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, so how many uh hot hot cups of cocoa for a Royal Montana Christmas?

SPEAKER_05:

I did four cups of hot cocoa.

SPEAKER_02:

Four out of five cups of hot cocoa. A good way to start out our Hallmark Christmas movie review season with my wife, Andrea. We love you, best friend, and uh, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Get to watching some more Hallmark Christmas movies.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay, if I have to.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. All right, David, it is that time already. The morning brew is over for the day. We'll be back tomorrow morning. Did you have a good time?

SPEAKER_00:

I had a great time.

SPEAKER_02:

Heck yeah, it was so much fun to have David Whitmore here with the Show Elks Lodge and the Elks Riders. Remember, if you have any items you'd like to uh uh donate to help them fill their Thanksgiving baskets, uh go ahead and drop them off this week. They'll be handing out the baskets on Thursday.

SPEAKER_00:

Or uh on Saturday. Oh, on Saturday.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, but the deadline is Thursday, okay. And just drop them off over at the ShoLo Elks Lodge at 805 East Whipple. East Whipple, all right. And if you missed any of the fun today, or you want to hear some of the stuff that didn't make the show, uh, you could listen to our podcast, The Morning Brew, with Chris Bennett and best friends wherever you listen to fine podcasts. Thanks so much for starting your day with us. And for the morning brew, I'm Chris Bennett, reminding you to be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don't be jerk. And for the morning brew, we say bye. Bye.

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Chris Bennett

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