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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Ever wonder what really goes on at a small-town morning radio show?
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Am I the Jerk? Holiday Verdicts, Comedy Tickets & Giving That Matters
Holiday laughs meet real-life judgment calls on this special Am I the Jerk Court Wednesday edition of The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett & Best Friends.
We kick things off with another Hallmark Christmas Movie Review from Andrea — this time breaking down Single on the 25th, which earns a respectable four cups of hot cocoa and sets the tone for a surprisingly thoughtful show.
Then it’s time for Am I the Jerk Court, and the stakes are high. We give away two tickets to this Saturday’s stand-up comedy show at Rocky’s Cocktail Lounge to a listener willing to step in as judge and jury. From workplace boundaries to standing up for others without crossing a line, the verdicts spark real conversation — and plenty of laughs. Jan from Heber also calls in for another round of court, proving once again that honesty and humor can coexist.
The heart of the show arrives with studio guests Rikki Johnson, Chad Brimhall, and Caski Brimhall, who share details about the return of the Light the World Giving Machine in Snowflake. We talk about how this unique experience lets you donate with total transparency — 100% of your gift goes directly to the cause you choose, from local food banks and senior centers to global initiatives that save lives and strengthen families.
With ticket giveaways, community stories, ethical debates, and holiday cheer, this episode delivers laughs and meaning — exactly what this season calls for.
If you enjoyed the show, follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more people find the fun (and the good).
From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew.
SPEAKER_01:And now it's time for Chris's wife to give us her Christmas Hallmark movie reviews.
SPEAKER_04:We're reviewing Single on the 25th.
SPEAKER_01:Ooh, single on the 25th. Here's what I think it's about. I think it's about this uh uh couple that was recently engaged, and uh she took her fiance to meet her parents for the first time. It was Christmas Eve. Everyone was so excited, but uh he ended up drinking milk. He's lactose intolerant and uh had uh a horrible, horrible uh situation, made a big mess and embarrassed himself in front of his future in-laws, and uh so his fiance broke up with them, and now he is single on the 25th. Is that what this one's about?
SPEAKER_04:No, not even quite.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, gosh dang it. All right, what's single on the 25th about?
SPEAKER_04:So this lady is so excited to be hosting her family, apparently um her apartment for the first time she's always coming home, but now they're coming here. And you have to confirm awkward with her and you can just have five. And so they end up having five singles put together.
SPEAKER_01:Ah, weird, so it's like just platonic?
SPEAKER_04:Or I mean that's how they want it, that's how it's hard.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. Obviously, that's not how it ends. Mmm, alright. Uh well, this one sounds interesting. How many uh cups of hot cocoa do you give for single on the 25th?
SPEAKER_04:I give it four cups of hot cocoa.
SPEAKER_01:Four out of five. Oh, so this uh must be a good one.
SPEAKER_04:It was cute. It was cute. It sounds like when you read the synopsis, it sounds worse than what it is. It was they did a good job.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, perfect. Alright. So if you're looking for a Hallmark Christmas movie to watch, my wife recommends single on the 25th. I love you, my love.
SPEAKER_04:Love you.
SPEAKER_01:Bye. Bye. Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. You are caller number one. Who's this?
SPEAKER_05:Will.
SPEAKER_01:Heck yes, Will from where? Taylor. Will from Taylor, calling a win. Two tickets to our comedy show this Saturday night with headliner Ryan McKee. You ever been to one of our Chris Bennett comedy shows? I haven't. Oh, dude, I can't wait. You're gonna have so much fun. And uh, Rocky's is an intimate venue, great place to see a comedy show. But before I give you these tickets, you have to be my Am I the Jerk Judge. Are you ready? Yes. All right, am I the jerk court is in session? The honorable Will from Taylor presides. Here's the story, uh uh, Will, this person wants to know if they're a jerk for not allowing a coworker to come in and use my bathroom. Here's the deal. I was given a coworker some furniture, and a few people from work came to pick it up. I put everything out in the driveway prior to them getting there and helped them load it up. One of my co-workers asked to use the bathroom, and I said no. That pacific that specific coworker is especially judgmental and talks about everyone. My house is somewhat of a fixer-upper, and there are things I want to change that I don't like about the house, and I did not feel comfortable with her in my house in fear of what she may say behind my back to anyone who would listen. Am I the jerk? What say you will? No, not at all. No, not at all. Uh yeah, you don't have to let someone, especially if your house isn't clean, you don't feel comfortable. It's uh, you know.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, they're judgmental, you know. You keep your judgment to yourself. My home is my sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Uh, do you let your friends come and use your bathroom? Uh yeah, it definitely depends on the friend. You ever have anyone clog your bathroom? Yeah. Oh, I know that. Well, uh, in the case of Am I the Jerk for not allowing a coworker to come in and use my bathroom, Will from Taylor says, no, you are not the jerk. Will, thank you so much for being our Am I the Jerk judge, and congratulations. You just won two tickets to our comedy show at Rocky's Cocktail Lounge this Saturday at 6.30 p.m. Rocky's is located on the deuce above the days in lobby. Doors open up at 5 p.m. They don't serve food at Rocky's, but you can bring your own food, and Rocky's will take care of the beer, cocktails, and mocktails. If you weren't as lucky as Will, get your tickets today at Chris Bennettcomedy.com. Only 22 left. Will, what station hooked you up? QCountry 925. Woo! Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? Jan. Jan, the weatherman, aka Jan from Heber. How are you doing? Any updates?
SPEAKER_03:Uh more 60-degree weather.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's uh how long have you lived up here in the White Mountains?
SPEAKER_03:18 years.
SPEAKER_01:18 years. Is this one of the warmest winters so far?
SPEAKER_03:Without a doubt. I don't I don't remember a December in the 60s. I mean, it's it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's crazy. We we need some snow because if the weather uh stays like this, uh the rest of the world's gonna find out and want to move up here.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. We don't want that.
SPEAKER_01:No, we don't. Well, what can I do you for this morning, Jan?
SPEAKER_03:Well, uh I heard you said you had 22 tickets left.
SPEAKER_01:That's right, 22 tickets left to our comedy show this Saturday night.
SPEAKER_03:I would like four tickets for you to donate to the fireman.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, dude, that's so sweet. Absolutely. Our first responders. Right. Absolutely. Okay, awesome. And then uh, and then you got two. You're coming to the show, right? Right. Heck yeah. Well then uh now, Jan, that means we only have 18 tickets left.
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's gonna be showing that I knew that.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, uh uh, it is Wednesday. I had some Am I the Jerk fun a little earlier. Uh, do you want to help me with a bonus Am I the Jerk Court case? Sure. All right, and welcome back to Am I the Jerk Court? We have the honorable Jan from Heber presiding. Pretty cool, huh? To be called honorable. Uh I don't hear that too often. Well, Jan, uh, this is a juicy one. I'm gonna go ahead and read the story, and when we come back, we'll get your ruling. Do you have a robe and wig on?
SPEAKER_03:Uh no.
SPEAKER_01:I won't ask what you're wearing. Okay. Here we go, Jan. Here's the story. I'm a 19-year-old manager at a hotel, and there's a coworker I'll call Sam, who's 32. When I first started, she made my life miserable, constantly picking on me, acting like she was in charge, even though we had the same title. Later, I became her manager and she chilled out, at least toward me. Early on, I found out she was having an affair with another married manager. Mm-hmm. A former employee had access to our computer logs, and Sam forgot to log out her Instagram. There were screenshots, messages, even photos. I've never shared it, but it explained why she hated younger women. She thought we were threats. A new 18-year-old co-worker started recently, and Sam treated her the same awful way. When I found the girl crying, I had enough. I pulled Sam aside and told her, I know about your affair. And if you keep bullying the new girl, I'm gonna go to upper management and let them know. Sam has been nice ever since, but now I'm wondering, did I go too far or was I justified? Am I the jerk? What say you? Uh not the jerk. Oh, not the jerk. It's okay it's okay to blackmail people with information you have to get them to behave how you want them to behave.
SPEAKER_03:Well, he's the boss.
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, yeah, I guess, yeah, this person is is uh considered the boss. And so, but so you you think it's fine to be like, hey, you're being mean to this person. If you don't stop being mean to this person, I'm gonna tell people what I know.
SPEAKER_03:She has been nice since he told her that he was gonna go to higher management.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, if she didn't straighten up, so okay.
SPEAKER_01:And so since since it worked. It worked. Okay, it worked. So you are not the jerk in the case of Am I the Jerk for sort of blackmailing a coworker with information about their affair. Jan says, You are not the jerk because it worked, and they're being nice, so yeah, yeah, it all worked out. Well, Jan, you are the best. Thank you uh for those four tickets. I will uh uh uh get those to some first responders. If you are a first responder out there and you uh want uh these tickets from Jan, give me a call. 9285-32-4144. Jan, you're the best, and I can't wait to see you on Saturday.
SPEAKER_03:All right, we'll see you then.
SPEAKER_01:All right, bye.
SPEAKER_03:Bye.
SPEAKER_01:I am so excited to have some guests with me in studio on this Wednesday morning. We have Ricky Johnson, Chad Brimhall, and Kasky Brimhall, right? Heck yes, coming in to talk about the Light the World Giving Machine that's coming back to the White Mountains in Snowflake. Starting when?
SPEAKER_00:It's there today. We're setting up today, and we're opened for business. Tomorrow is our kickoff event.
SPEAKER_01:Heck yeah, the big old kickoff event for the Light the World giving machine. And uh it's uh every year you guys have it located there at the Freeman Historic uh House, and it's always decorated so beautifully, and uh it really feels like Christmas. Uh, what are uh some exciting things about the giving machine uh that uh uh we should uh know about uh this year?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I mean the giving machine really is an opportunity to highlight uh some local charities and also some international charities. Um some of our local charities this year are the Hobrook Food Bank, the uh Silver Creek Food Bank, as well as the Nexus Coalition. So those one, those are the uh charities that are here local, and then obviously some international charities as well that we can support.
SPEAKER_01:And uh the coolest thing about the giving machine, in my opinion, well, one, uh it makes giving easy, which is so nice. But a hundred percent of our money that we donate to the giving machine, so if I'm donating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich uh for uh a family or a kid, a hundred percent of that money goes towards that item. It's so cool.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. The the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, um, they're the ones that kind of foot the bill for you know any of the the credit card fees or anything like that. And the charity gets a hundred percent of the of the donation.
SPEAKER_01:It's pretty cool, and there's some cool items uh that you're able to get from the giving machine. It's it's not like your typical vending machine. There's no chips, there's no uh sodas in there, just life-changing items you could buy for people in need. And uh you talked about how there's national charities that people can donate uh to at the uh giving machine. Like you could donate uh a goat, right? Chickens. What what are some other like national charities you could donate to?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so uh my we my wife and I were talking about this on the way up here, and she there's a there's an international charity that you can actually donate child care to. So it's a a woman's shelter that needs, you know, they they need somebody to watch their kids while they go out and work. And she's like, that is such a need, and she was really excited about that one.
SPEAKER_01:That that is beautiful. What about uh you, Ricky? Is there is there some items in this giving machine that's really stick out to you?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I love all the food bank items, and that's our charities are really um in need of food bank items. But I've been a nurse for a long time, and one of the items in the machine is uh vaccinations, a polio vaccination for another country to those that need them.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing. And then what what are the local charities again that are going to be at the giving machine in Snowflake starting December 18th?
SPEAKER_00:We have the Holbrook Emergency Food Bank, the Snowflake Senior Citizen Center, and Nexus Coalition.
SPEAKER_01:And these are all great nonprofits that service people here in the White Mountains, and 100% of your funds go towards helping uh those nonprofits. And I know for like a Nexus uh coalition against drug prevention, you're able to buy uh the life-saving drug Maloxone, um, you know, for them to give out. You're able to buy some you know drug education to to help uh people. And uh I know at the uh the food banks and the senior centers, you're able to buy meals. What what are some uh items you can buy in the giving machine?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so one of my favorites is just uh, like you said, a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich like my go-to snack, right? Right, toasted peanut butter jelly sandwich, that's where I'm at. And so as simple as that, um, all the way up to um uh meals on wheels. So great, great things for our food bake items.
SPEAKER_01:So many things you can uh contribute uh globally, you can contribute locally, but the best thing is 100% of your money goes towards that charity, and uh it is the giving season, and uh the giving machine makes giving super easy. It is time for me to let my best friends go. They've been hanging out with me for a little bit. We have Ricky Johnson, Chad Brimhall, and Kasky Brimhall talking about the Light the World giving machine that's coming back to the White Mountains December 18th through January 1st at the Freeman Historic House in Snowflake.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, check it out, Chris. You kind of know what you're talking about. And uh tomorrow is uh the grand opening. Tell us a little bit about that, and then I know even after the grand opening, every night you have some great festivities going on. Tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_00:Tomorrow is our kickoff event and it starts at four. We're having a little program at the machines and a ribbon cutting ceremony, and every night we have different forms of entertainment slated to go on. We have some musical entertainment, some activities, but Chad has some specific nights that he's excited about because they happen to be the nights that he's in charge of.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, nice! What do you got going on there, Chad?
SPEAKER_02:You want to be there. Um the 23rd, we have Caroling and Cookies, cookies provided by Summit Health Garrett. Nice. And uh show up and uh there'll be there'll be uh Christmas music and we'll all sing along. The 27th, we have a community potato bar. Come and grab a warm potato with all the fixings. And then last but not least, on the 31st of December, uh New Year's Eve, we have uh a short film, 22 minutes, along with kettle corn. So come out and enjoy those events.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, Christmas season is upon us, and the giving season is upon us, and the giving machine is making it easy for you to give back to your local community and your global community. Make sure or make sure you check out the Light the World Giving Machine that starts tomorrow, December 18th through January 1st. You could go ahead and uh donate an item. It will be manned from what time?
SPEAKER_00:From 9 to 9, but you can donate 24 hours. They'll be open 24 hours.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. It's easy to give. And thank you so much for coming in and talking about the Light the World Giving Machine. And uh, this is one of the coolest things uh that we have on the mountain, and it always just talking about it uh makes my uh heart swell. I like I feel like the Grinch. My heart has grown three sizes. Uh so thank you so much for coming in, best friends, and everyone, make sure you go and check out the Light the World Giving Machine in Snowflake at the Freeman Historic Home. There we go.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_01:You're welcome, best friend. Bye. And that will do it for today's episode of The Morning Brew. If you missed any of the fun, you could catch it all in podcast form wherever you listen to fine podcasts, The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett. And best friends for the morning brew, I've been Chris Bennett, reminding you to be nice to yourself, be nice to others, and don't be jerk. For the morning brew, I say, bye.
