Pod Insights The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe 420: Coffee with Mom—Merry Freakin' Christmas! About this episode Peggy Rowe, a.k.a. Mike's mom, a.k.a. America's grandmother is not one for excessive cursing… usually. In this episode, however, she makes an exception. Expect tales from the home, cultural appropriation karaoke, and janky Christmas wishes. This cup of coffee will not disappoint.
Transcript 10,193 words · 7 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 A cup of coffee with my mom.
0:07 Speaker 01 I think we should all be on the floor with our feet up against the wall.
0:12 Mike Rowe? It kinda works.
0:14 Speaker 01 Does it help?
0:15 Mike Rowe? Yeah, it helps. It does, just takes the pressure off the lower back.
0:22 Speaker 01 You know what, you know how I get relief? When I go to bed at night, it really hurts, I'm lying on my back. And if I bring my-
0:30 Mike Rowe? Noble Tennessee whiskey?
0:32 Speaker 01 If I bring my knees up toward my chin, it feels much better.
0:38 Speaker 00 Can you get your knees to your chin?
0:40 Speaker 01 I can.
0:41 Speaker 00 Wow, that's impressive.
0:43 Speaker 01 John can-
0:44 Speaker 00 I can barely get them to my navel.
0:45 Speaker 01 See?
0:46 Mike Rowe? Well, she has to take her legs off.
0:47 Speaker 01 John can-
0:48 Speaker 00 Oh.
0:49 Speaker 01 No, I take my head off.
0:54 Speaker 01 Well, it's nice to see everybody.
0:57 Mike Rowe? Mom, it's so nice to see you. This is so weird. People should know, I'm like, I don't know-
1:02 Speaker 00 Can you see her house from there?
1:04 Mike Rowe? Almost, I'm looking toward it. I'm probably 20 miles from where you are. I'm downtown Baltimore. I was over there at the home yesterday. And we decided we wanted to do this today because it would be fun to be in person. But of course, you can't do this in person with this Riverside setup. We couldn't be in the same room without actual cameras. So anyway, I'm here, but not here. If that makes sense.
1:30 Speaker 01 Right, so I did get to see you yesterday. That was a treat.
1:34 Mike Rowe? Was it? What did you like about it?
1:37 Speaker 01 That you finally got here. What is so exasperating about you, Mike,
1:44 Speaker 01 is that-
1:45 Speaker 00 Let's get right to it.
1:48 Speaker 01 Let me get my list. Number one is that you seem to find it very difficult to make a commitment to when you're doing something. I don't know-
2:00 Speaker 00 Is that so?
2:01 Speaker 01 Oh, you've noticed it, Chuck. I don't know if that's on you or on your business, but you've been in town for several days and you were unable to tell me exactly which day you were coming to visit me. And when you finally told me the day, you couldn't give me an approximate time.
2:23 Speaker 01 Which makes my planning a little difficult because I wanted to take you to lunch and, you know, but anyway, I've gotten used to it. I know you'll never change.
2:34 Mike Rowe? Well, look, guilty as charged, but my mistake was simply in telling you I was here. That was the mistake. I didn't come to town specifically to visit you guys, but you know, I have a rule. If I'm in, you know, the same time zone, I'll always get by. But if I tell you in advance I'm there, then I get slugged into whatever neatly ordered schedule drives your existence these days. And I'm just looking at the texts. What'd I say on Thursday? I said, hi, Mom. I think the podcast will work fine on Saturday today. I'm not going to make it up there tonight. I have a dinner downtown. I can't get out of it. Maybe lunch tomorrow. You say, okay,
3:19 Mike Rowe? come by for brunch lunch at 11:30 in the Acorn. Scott's running late. He won't be here till five o'clock this evening. Fine. And then you write back at 11:40 PM that night, which is like way past your bedtime.
3:34 Speaker 01 I know.
3:35 Mike Rowe? Mike, we can eat at Lakeside tomorrow. Breakfast is for eight to 10. Lunch is from 11 to 1. So lunch suits us better. We can probably eat at 11 since we will skip breakfast. We have to eat again at four with our Friday evening friends. You probably have plans, but if not, you are welcome to join us. So Chuck, if you listen carefully, you'll hear the passive aggression just under the surface. So I wake up the next morning yesterday. I see this and I say, Mom, I've got a breakfast meeting. I'm free after that. I figured I'd come by around 11 or noon. Probably won't be very hungry, but I can join you guys for lunch in the Acorn anyway,
4:19 Mike Rowe? and hang out for a while, to which Mom says, okay, Mike, if quote, working us in is inconvenient, you can do it at some other time, maybe. I mean, that's it. Boom. There it is.
4:35 Mike Rowe? It's just like, good God, these guys, it's like a train schedule up there. I mean, it's like every 10 minutes, there's a meal. Every, there's a different group of dining people. Am I gonna fit in with the breakfast people, the lunch people, the brunch people, the pre-supper people, the dinner people, the la- I, you know, it's a big place, so it takes 15 minutes to walk to wherever they're going. And if you're late, I literally got there, my mom's clutching her bag by the elevator going, oh, well, look who it is, it's just.
5:08 Speaker 00 Peggy, how, on a scale from one to entire BS, how close is that?
5:13 Speaker 01 Actually, it's about an eight.
5:16 Speaker 00 Okay, that's not bad. Good job, Mike.
5:19 Speaker 01 What can I say, it's the rhythm of the home and we are totally immersed and we are at the mercy of the meal schedules. Now, if you come expecting a meal at 1:45, forget it, because nothing's open. You know, there are certain hours when we are welcome to come and eat. I mean, they're generous times, but if you're not here, you can't eat. I mean, I could get a takeout for you, but it's all about schedule.
5:54 Mike Rowe? Yeah, it is. I mean, it's not about the food, though. It's like dinner is not about the food. Nothing is really about the thing. It's about the getting together with the right people at the right restaurant. There are like 20 restaurants in this place.
6:08 Speaker 01 There, I think there are nine.
6:10 Mike Rowe? Um, okay, I mean, that's, that's more than that is in this hotel where I'm, by the way, here, let me show you what I tried to do, why I was a little late with all of this. It's so pretty down here, and I wanted to set the computer up over here. Look at Baltimore back there. Is that awesome?
6:27 Speaker 00 Ah, that's gorgeous.
6:28 Speaker 01 Beautiful.
6:30 Mike Rowe? And by the way, we're trying to make this podcast more of a, of a visual feast for people over on YouTube.
6:39 Speaker 01 Oh, good, well, I'm glad I wore my Christmasy sweater.
6:45 Speaker 01 Silver earrings. And you have some red in your farmer shirt.
6:53 Speaker 01 I love farmers. That was not a put down for farmers.
6:57 Mike Rowe? I believe they call it flannel.
6:59 Speaker 01 Uh huh, flannel. Yeah, it's a nice shirt.
7:03 Mike Rowe? Well, it's made in the USA. Yarn dyed by our friends at American Giant. Who may or may not be sponsoring this conversation, but it is a comfortable shirt regardless of whether they're paying me to say that or not.
7:17 Mike Rowe? Who made your shirt, Mom?
7:19 Speaker 01 I don't know, but I bought it at the treasure chest for $3 the year we moved in because I didn't have anything all red, so. And it's very comfortable. Has a zipper.
7:30 Mike Rowe? Don't take it off. Don't take it off.
7:32 Speaker 01 I'm not taking, are you kidding?
7:34 Mike Rowe? Well, we know you how you get your vitamin D, so.
7:37 Speaker 01 Well, I did.
7:38 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
7:39 Speaker 01 One day.
7:39 Mike Rowe? Naked out there on the balcony.
7:41 Speaker 01 One day I did that.
7:43 Mike Rowe? That's all it takes. All your neighbors have to do is look out the window one day. And see you splayed out there with the sunlight bouncing off your alabaster 87 year old hide.
7:55 Speaker 01 Lucky neighbors.
7:59 Speaker 01 And there was no petition and we didn't have to move, so that's a good thing.
8:03 Mike Rowe? Did Scott get to the airport okay?
8:06 Speaker 01 No, but we took him to the car rental place this morning.
8:10 Mike Rowe? Oh, he was driving.
8:11 Speaker 01 And he's on his way to a little town in New Jersey for his company Christmas party.
8:19 Mike Rowe? My middle brother Scott is an engineer. He lives down in Florida, but he got hired by this company in New Jersey and they're doing their big shindig, so. On his way to New Jersey. See, Scott has taken the same pledge that I have, Mom. Anytime you're in the time zone, or certainly in the state. You gotta come by. So he was on his way to New Jersey and stopped to see you guys and. Stayed for a night and I guess he's gonna stay, what, tomorrow night on his way back?
8:46 Speaker 01 He'll be back tomorrow afternoon and then he's gonna leave on Monday. But your brother, he's such an engineer. My cousin Nancy called yesterday. Well, she's been in real estate for years and she loves to talk to Scott. And she said, Scott, I want you to know. That realtors hate to sell to engineers.
9:12 Speaker 01 They are so specific. They come into the house and they wanna check the water and the heating and they wanna check how this is put together and that's put together. Well, on our way to the car this morning, Scott was carrying a garment bag with his party outfit for tonight at the hotel. The handle came off of the hanger inside the garment bag. Well, I mean, anybody else would have just laid the garment bag over their arm and thrown the handle in the trash can, not Scott. He stops, analyzes why that handle came off. Well, he got it put back on again. By the time we got to the car, his hanger had a handle again.
9:57 Speaker 01 That's engineer for you. I would have, like I said, chucked it.
10:01 Mike Rowe? And I would have never brought a party outfit in the first place.
10:04 Speaker 01 Sure, you would have. I've seen you dress up for that, that military thing that you go to.
10:12 Mike Rowe? Oh, yeah. Well, that's different. I wear my very best farmer shirt for that and my farmer suit and all of that. My black tie farmer wear.
10:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
10:24 Mike Rowe? That's the Marine Corps ball you're talking about.
10:26 Speaker 01 You sent me a picture and you really look good.
10:30 Mike Rowe? I mean, everybody there, it absolutely looks their best. But the thing about that ball that's so interesting is the youngest Marine is there and he cuts the cake with a sword and the first piece goes to the oldest Marine. And I think the last time I went, the youngest Marine was like nineteen and the oldest was a hundred and four. And they're on stage and there's a brass band and it's very patriotic and people stand and sing all the obvious songs. But over all of it is just this heavy smell of mothballs.
11:10 Speaker 01 I thought you were gonna say noble whiskey.
11:14 Mike Rowe? No, no, American Giants. No, it's mothballs, man. It's everybody looks glamorous, but they only wear that tux or that gown once a year. It was kind of like at the opera. Remember, you'd go there sometimes, you'd be like, wow, everybody's dressed up. But what is that smell? It's mothballs.
11:33 Speaker 01 I hadn't thought about that.
11:33 Speaker 00 And now you know.
11:34 Speaker 01 And now we know. And now we know.
11:36 Mike Rowe? The rest of the story.
11:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
11:38 Mike Rowe? No.
11:39 Speaker 01 Anyway, Scott has a party tonight. He had a black, well, I know he had a Christmas tie, actually, instead of a black tie, but it's a fancy affair.
11:48 Mike Rowe? Who did I see yesterday over there at the home who had a round, like a Hawaiian lei, except it was full on Christmas tree lights, all screwed in to like a closed circuit. Literally, it's like a necklace made out of big Christmas tree lights.
12:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, that was Dan. He came to our table in Lakeside and joined us a little bit for lunch. He's head of marketing here.
12:15 Mike Rowe? Yeah, the other guy had it though, too.
12:17 Speaker 01 Yes.
12:18 Mike Rowe? Sullivan.
12:19 Speaker 01 Todd Sullivan, yes. He's an executive. He's like the vice, he's under the top executive.
12:26 Mike Rowe? Here's how weird it's gotten, Chuck. I know we've talked about this before and laughed about it, but Mom's book, Oh, No, Not the Home, which is doing quite well, not to anyone's surprise, has done weirdly well, like shockingly, strangely well at the home itself. I think everybody's read it. People are walking around with it. And you can't walk through this place with my mother and not get stopped every 10 feet by somebody who wants to know, hey, is, you know, Carol on page 97, whose name was changed, I think I know who that really is.
13:06 Speaker 00 Right.
13:07 Mike Rowe? And they're like these constant conversations.
13:10 Speaker 01 Or tell me, am I on page 85? Is that me? Because that sure sounds like me.
13:19 Mike Rowe? Well, yesterday was that on steroids. They were doing some kind of open house. And there were probably a hundred people there, maybe more.
13:30 Speaker 01 There were two hundred.
13:32 Mike Rowe? Wow. Two hundred people who come in to see if they want to live in this place. And as I'm talking to the, like, the head of sales, this woman comes up, she's like, Peggy Rowe, I just want you to know that I'm moving in here because of this book. I love this book. It just made me want to live here. And I swear to God, it was not set up, nothing. And I'm just like, what is, what is going on here?
13:58 Speaker 01 Chuck, you have to know that when we go anyplace with Mike, our family, the rest of us are totally invisible. It's all about Mike because everybody knows who Mike is. And the rest of us just kind of fade into the shadows. Well, this woman stopped to tell me about the book. And then she looked over and she looked at Scott. She said, I know you. You're the son, you're the son who lives in Florida. I saw your picture in the book.
14:29 Speaker 01 Well, I felt, I mean, I'm sure Scott kind of felt important.
14:33 Mike Rowe? I'm sure that's exactly how he felt. Big day. Big day for Scott. Had his picture in a book.
14:39 Speaker 00 Recognized at the home.
14:41 Mike Rowe? Scott truly couldn't give a crap about any level of that. I mean, he is as indifferent as you would hope an engineer would be to anything that could be confused with notoriety, celebrity, awareness.
15:00 Mike Rowe? He just doesn't care.
15:02 Speaker 01 No, no, he really doesn't. He's delightful.
15:06 Mike Rowe? Where's Dad?
15:08 Speaker 01 Well, I believe he's in the kitchen reading right now. He's supposed to play pool at two o'clock. So he'll be leaving shortly with his pool stick.
15:18 Mike Rowe? That's a sight too, Chuck. Seeing my father walk around clutching what could be a shotgun. It's in this black case, you know, with like these.
15:29 Speaker 01 Or maybe a clarinet.
15:31 Mike Rowe? Could be a clarinet, a big one, you know, but it's a pool cue.
15:35 Speaker 01 A friend here gave it to him. And this friend is probably the best pool shooter here at Oak Crest. I mean, we have 2,000 independent living residents here.
15:47 Mike Rowe? You're talking about Will, Willie?
15:49 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah, you met him yesterday. Yeah, he's been impressed by Dad's diligence at the pool table and had an extra pool cue. So gave it to Dad and Dad walks around with it. He's proud of it and uses it.
16:11 Mike Rowe? Couple of weeks ago, on this very podcast, I talked with Brooke Rollins, our Secretary of Agriculture, about the incredibly complicated business of delivering affordable beef to our citizens without disadvantaging American ranchers. We also discussed the very controversial decision to import 300,000 metric tons of ground beef from various foreign countries and the maddening policy that allows meat packers to label imported meat as a product of the USA. Well, shortly after that conversation, one of my sponsors, Good Ranchers, reported an unusually high level of interest in their product. And this is not surprising.
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17:53 Speaker 00 Hey, Hal.
17:56 Mike Rowe? It's really funny how not very good most people are at pool who really enjoy playing it, including you and I, Chuck. I mean, we've played for years. We're not good at all. But it's just one of those sports that you can really sink your teeth into, no matter how incompetent you are at it.
18:15 Speaker 01 And did you?
18:15 Speaker 00 Is Scott good at it?
18:17 Speaker 01 This is the funny thing. Scott doesn't play pool.
18:22 Speaker 01 But he's really.
18:22 Speaker 00 I just would think as an engineer.
18:24 Speaker 01 Really good with angles.
18:26 Speaker 00 That's what I would think, yeah.
18:27 Speaker 01 And so he played, they play a game called Captain with three people can play. And after they played last night, the women were in the library playing. We play pinochle or rummy cube. We play games and the men play pool. And Bob came up to me afterwards, Bob Kaufman, and he said, "I really enjoyed playing pool with Scott tonight. He's a lot of fun and he's pretty good."
19:00 Speaker 01 And Dad just said to me this morning, he said, "I was surprised Scott is really, is really pretty good at the pool table." You know, he takes his time and he, he measures and he does what he has to do.
19:16 Mike Rowe? I was gonna say, my friend Scott Flansburgh, the human calculator, who's been on this podcast before.
19:22 Speaker 00 Yeah.
19:23 Mike Rowe? He has a level of coordination that is on par with his ability to see angles. I don't think Scott does, but it's not that Scott's, my brother is uncoordinated. It's just that. Most people can't do what Flansburgh can do. He'll run thirty, forty balls at a time routinely.
19:46 Speaker 01 Really?
19:47 Mike Rowe? Yeah, he's just a lights out pool player. He can shoot free throws like in basketball or even some tougher shots at the top of the key. He'll just hit them one after the next, one after the next. He's a great basketball player. He's only like five nine or five ten, but he's super coordinated. And golf, good grief, golf, he can hit a ball three hundred and thirty yards and is basically a scratch golfer. He's like an engineer. He can see the angles, but he can also, you know, throw bullseyes with darts just all day long. And yeah, Scott doesn't do that. In fact, do you remember when we were giving him crap
20:27 Mike Rowe? years ago about either playing baseball in the backyard, playing catch or throwing a frisbee and he, he was making a mess of things and he said, well, whatever, golf is my game.
20:41 Speaker 01 He plays once a year with the company when the company has their golf tournament. He plays once a year, but he always said growing up that golf was his game, but he never played.
20:52 Mike Rowe? He never played it. Yeah, just never played it. Golf's my game.
20:57 Speaker 00 Just hoping nobody would call his bluff.
21:01 Speaker 01 I guess. None of us were golfers, so there was no danger.
21:04 Mike Rowe? There was nothing we could say. It was like, well, who knew?
21:07 Speaker 01 Maybe.
21:08 Mike Rowe? Who knew?
21:10 Mike Rowe? But yeah, the pool thing was so much fun for us. There was a place, I don't know if we've talked about it here before. We probably have, but Chuck and I used to shoot pool in North Hollywood at a place called North Hollywood Billiards, which was really just a, is a great pool hall with a great jukebox. But I think ninety-nine percent of the people who played were migrant workers and Mexicans who came in. We used to call it the, what do we call it? The trumpet palace?
21:39 Speaker 00 Trumpet palace, yeah. Because of all the mariachi that they would play. And then as soon as we came in, there was a very eclectic jukebox. It had everything from mariachi to Prince. So, yeah.
21:50 Mike Rowe? Did we tell you this story before, Mom?
21:53 Speaker 01 It sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't, I don't know where you're going with it. So it's been a while.
21:59 Mike Rowe? It's just so inappropriate. You have to imagine this happening at the pool hall at the home. This is not really a pool hall. They, they got three or four pool tables, but this place probably had, I don't know, 40 or 50 at least, and they were all lined up. And you got to imagine maybe a hundred guys in there, all day laborers, you know, and they're drinking Corona and they're shooting pool. And they're talking, they're, everybody's smoking, everybody's speaking Spanish and then everybody's shooting pool. And the, the sound in the air is pure brass band. It's just trumpets, just like the smell at the ball was mothballs. The sound here was trumpets and Chuck and I would play and we liked it. And then we discovered all the different things on this jukebox.
22:44 Mike Rowe? And, uh, we started playing a song by Prince, which I'm sure you're super familiar with mom. It was a big hit. Back in the eighties, I believe called You Sexy Mother.
22:56 Speaker 01 Oh, yes. You know what?
22:59 Speaker 00 It's all coming back to you now.
23:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
23:01 Speaker 00 You remember this story?
23:02 Speaker 01 We sing it in church frequently.
23:06 Mike Rowe? Chuck, sing a few bars. How's it go?
23:10 Speaker 01 Oh, well, you.
23:10 Mike Rowe? Really?
23:11 Speaker 01 No, don't. You don't have to say that word each time.
23:14 Mike Rowe? Well, we'll bleep it out, but I, I just want you to hear what our Mexican pool playing brothers heard out of nowhere. Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Klausmeyer.
23:25 Speaker 00 You sexy mother.
23:29 Speaker 00 Sexy mother, shaking that ass, shaking that ass, shaking that ass. Sexy mother, shaking that ass, shaking that ass, shaking that ass. You sexy mother.
23:39 Mike Rowe? So you have to imagine, I mean, all these guys, it's just nothing but trumpets and trombones for hours. And then this happens and they all just start looking at each other. Yeah. And then they start looking around.
23:53 Speaker 01 But did they speak English? Did they know what the lyrics were?
23:58 Speaker 00 I think a lot of them did. Yeah.
24:00 Mike Rowe? Oh, I think they were conversant. Yeah. It wasn't where did that song come from? It wasn't, why is that song being played? It wasn't, hey, we've never heard that song played in here before. It was who played that song?
24:17 Mike Rowe? And in that room, when you look around, two obvious suspects come to mind.
24:24 Speaker 00 Yeah, we were routinely the only white guys in there. Yeah.
24:32 Mike Rowe? Oh, boy.
24:33 Speaker 01 Well, I'm glad, glad you didn't break out in song here yesterday, Mike. That would have.
24:40 Mike Rowe? No, they had a Santa Claus there. There were carolers.
24:44 Speaker 01 Yeah, he took our picture.
24:46 Mike Rowe? Yeah, that song would have been amazing there at the home.
24:49 Speaker 01 Oh, my goodness, Michael. Don't even think about it.
24:52 Speaker 00 That song would have killed at karaoke the other night.
24:56 Mike Rowe? Yes.
25:00 Mike Rowe? Yes, we had a company Christmas party, Mom. Took the gang out, you know, people flew in who don't work in California for us, but eight or nine, or I guess maybe 10 of us. And I took everybody out to a nice dinner and then we went to some karaoke joint not far from the office in Santa Monica.
25:18 Speaker 00 But a unique karaoke joint. It wasn't just recorded karaoke. It was a live band. So you came up and sang karaoke with a live band. No pressure.
25:29 Mike Rowe? Pretty great. I mean, so the band is pretty tight and people are coming up and they're doing their thing. And Chuck, of course, used to run a karaoke bar years ago. What was it called? Like the Bombay Bicycle Club?
25:42 Speaker 00 Yes, which was a restaurant and bar, but they did karaoke on the weekends and I hosted it. Yeah.
25:48 Mike Rowe? So, so Chuck puts his name in and he's gonna sing, what, like La Bamba or something?
25:55 Speaker 00 That was like the only song that I thought, I think I could sing that with a band because it's different. You know, you don't, you have no bouncing ball or anything.
26:02 Speaker 01 Oh, you don't have the lyrics in front of you?
26:05 Speaker 00 Well, you have the lyrics, but there's no bouncing ball to let you know when you're supposed to come in or when you're not supposed to come in. So you better know all that. Because all you have is the lyrics and you got a live band playing. Yeah, so.
26:16 Mike Rowe? There's like an iPad on a C stand. So you're looking at the lyrics. There's a real band around you playing and a room full of people watching. So it's a, you know, it's much more of a performance. And so Chuck is gonna sing La Bamba, or so he thinks. How's that go? Just so my mom understands.
26:35 Speaker 00 Para bailar La Bamba, para bailar La Bamba, se necesita una poca de gracia.
26:43 Speaker 00 You get the idea.
26:44 Speaker 01 I recognize him.
26:45 Mike Rowe? Which would have worked very nicely at the Trumpet Palace, by the way.
26:49 Speaker 00 Very much so, yeah.
26:50 Mike Rowe? But at the last moment, we're looking at the song sheet, and I don't know who it was that suggested it, but um...
26:58 Speaker 00 Well, what really sparked it, Mike, was that a certain someone there by the name of Jade had a coat that she wasn't wearing, but it was there. And this coat was white and fur, like fake fur, but...
27:14 Mike Rowe? I got a picture of it in my phone somewhere. See if you have one.
27:18 Speaker 00 Yeah, I'm looking for one right now.
27:20 Mike Rowe? It looked like a costume that the abominable Snowman would wear if he were being cast, right? It was just a shaggy... I mean Jade's fashion is unbelievable.
27:31 Speaker 01 Oh, so Chuck wore that?
27:33 Speaker 00 Yes.
27:34 Mike Rowe? It was like, well, wait a minute. If you put this jacket on, would that make La Bamba somehow funnier? And it was unclear, but what was very clear would be if he sang a song by Rick James.
27:48 Mike Rowe? Now, if you go out as Rick James in that coat, well, that would be something. And Chuck, that song was what?
27:56 Speaker 00 Um, oh, "Super Freak." Sorry, it's called "Super Freak."
27:59 Mike Rowe? "Super Freak."
28:00 Speaker 01 Did you do that one, Chuck?
28:02 Speaker 00 I did. I did, and I barely knew the chorus to it. But yeah, there I am again. There's another...
28:10 Speaker 01 Did you bring the house down?
28:13 Speaker 00 Oh, my God. Totally, yeah.
28:16 Mike Rowe? Yeah, that was a great moment, man. That was good.
28:19 Speaker 01 We don't hear much profanity here at the home, and of course, I'm not...
28:23 Speaker 00 Is that true?
28:23 Speaker 01 I'm not famous. My books don't have a lot of profanity, or violence, language, or nudity, or porn.
28:31 Speaker 00 I read a post recently where people took umbrage with your book because of the profanity.
28:37 Speaker 01 Wow.
28:38 Mike Rowe? I think it's your first piece of hate mail.
28:40 Speaker 01 You know what? I've got it here somewhere.
28:43 Mike Rowe? Oh, I would like to hear this. For those of you who don't follow my Facebook page, I actually posted this. My mother sent me a picture of it, and it's written in longhand. On lineless paper by somebody we'll call J.L. Look at this thing. Dag.
29:03 Speaker 01 Oh, and at first I felt kind of badly because he takes me to task for using, apparently, I quoted, there's an author who lives across the parking lot. His name is Dick Elwood, and he's written six books or so. He was a career Baltimore City policeman, and his books are good. I mean, he's not a polished, accomplished, he's, he ain't Shakespeare, I say in my book. But he can tell a story.
29:34 Mike Rowe? That's nice.
29:35 Speaker 01 He can tell a story, and he's had many interesting experiences in his career. And I quote him a little bit, and I use a couple of bad words in my book. So I think that might be what Mr. J.L. was referring to. But I mean, he wasn't nasty. He just says to Peggy Rowe, in Oh, No, Not the Home, as in your other books, I have been shocked. Wait a minute, as in my other books, I have been shocked by your obscenities. Misspelled, but that's okay.
30:14 Speaker 01 Especially from a woman who seems too dignified to set such a poor example. Do you use that language with your children and grandchildren? Or did you learn it from them? Do you do that to make your books R-rated so they can sell better? You come across as a woman who could be more respected except for your foul language. I don't use foul language. I take umbrage at that.
30:44 Mike Rowe? Just keep going.
30:47 Speaker 01 Well, as you described on page 202. Well, okay, that's with the former sentence. I looked at page 202, there's nothing on there. I'm also on the edge of my seat when I read your books, wondering when I will come across one of your obscenities, misspelled again. Please clean up your language so that I can sit back and enjoy, now this is the good part, and enjoy your funny and amazing experiences without being shocked. On page 278, you say that you were shocked by the language in the movies, and right after that, on the same page, "You shocked me again." It's very disappointing, Peg.
31:29 Speaker 01 "I only read your books because my daughter keeps sending them to me." "I doubt that she knows about your obscenities," misspelled again. "I really do wish that you were the kind of person I would be happy with for a neighbor." Is this the real Peggy Rowe? J.L. He gives me his last name, but I don't know, so...
31:54 Speaker 00 Or hers. How do you know it's a him?
31:57 Speaker 01 Well, I don't know. I think, I looked him up on the internet, and there is somebody, a man with that name, who is 78 years old. And this looks like maybe a 78-year-old man might have written it. But anyway, I think it's funny, I'll cover up his name up here. I think it's funny that he would take the time to sit down and, and write this letter in cursive, and then put a stamp on it, and send it to me, across the country. Well, anyway, I don't want to hurt his feelings.
32:40 Speaker 01 He sounds like he likes my writing, except for the obscenities with a C in it.
32:45 Speaker 00 But he only reads it because his daughter sends it to him.
32:47 Speaker 01 I know. Why does he keep reading my books if he's so shocked? That's what I don't get.
32:58 Mike Rowe? Gosh, you know, I hate to interrupt my mom like this, but she'll probably understand that I'm interrupting her to remind you that it's a great time to pick up her latest book. It's called Oh No, Not the Home. It really is great. She writes with such honesty about the people that she's met at this place. People just love it. Her other books are available as well over at my website, micro.com/momsbook. And you know, her pop was Carl Noble, the man who inspired Dirty Jobs, and then the Microworks Foundation, and most recently, a line of whiskey with his name proudly festooned upon it. K-N-O-B-E-L. Noble Tennessee Whiskey comes in half a dozen different flavors now. They're all available at noblespirits.com. You buy a bottle online, it helps out the foundation. It's a great cause. It tastes
33:43 Mike Rowe? delicious at noblespirits.com. K-N-O-B-E-L spirits.com. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, me mom.
34:05 Mike Rowe? Because people love to be shocked. People love to be offended, and then they love to complain about the extent to which they've been offended. That was not a thing when you were my age today. That's new. That's changed. People delight in being scandalized and mortified. And they especially delight in sharing their disappointment.
34:29 Speaker 01 Yeah. Well, you know, I grew up in a home, you knew your grandparents, they did not use obscenities at all. Their language. I kids sometimes that I grew up in a Quaker family, there was no language at all. I mean, sometimes my dad painted the air blue with, "Go to war, Miss Agnes." Well, we knew it was something really serious. Yeah. So last week, I talked to my sister. I talk to her every week, a couple of times. And she was down. Janet's had a lot of physical problems this year, and she can no longer walk. She
35:11 Speaker 01 relies on a wheelchair. And she said it just kind of hit her all at once. So maybe it was the season.
35:20 Speaker 01 But she said she was getting teary and kind of weepy a lot. And it just upset me because she's such an upbeat person all the time. So I called her and toward the end of our conversation, I told her about this guy's letter and how he, you know what? Let me, I have this.
35:46 Mike Rowe? It's your episode, Mom. You can do whatever you want. Just keep your shirt on.
35:50 Speaker 01 Okay, and zipped up. I was headed to the mailroom today when I suddenly missed my 90 year old sister, a couple of hundred miles away. Perhaps it's just the season, but I needed to connect with her. Janet has struggled physically this year and a few days ago admitted to feeling teary from time to time. I'm pretty good at cheering people up. So when we spoke this evening, I shared a letter I'd just received from a Mr. L. who claimed to be shocked and disappointed by my obscenities, with a C in it, in my latest book. It's my first piece of hate mail, I told her. Obscenities? What obscenities? Your books don't have obscenities?
36:34 Speaker 01 My sister claimed. Now Janet would know because we grew up in a Quaker like home where the word crap would send my mother's eyebrows to the ceiling. And Janet has carried on the tradition. We decided Mr. L. was referring to my neighbor's book, A Career Cop in Baltimore City. Dick Tells It Like It Is. And I quoted some of his colorful language in, oh, no, not the home. Before saying goodbye, I went out on a wispy twig and signed off by wishing my sister a fucking good night. Well, it's been a while since we shared such a belly laugh together, followed by another one when she responded, I'll try my damnedest.
37:17 Speaker 01 I can only hope our parents didn't hear us. Maybe you can lift someone's spirits this holiday, whatever it takes.
37:26 Mike Rowe? Oh, man. If there's any justice, Mr. and Mrs. L. is listening to this right now. That's fantastic.
37:37 Speaker 01 Well, you know, I don't use that word gratuitously. Is that a good word, gratuitous? Yes, gratuitously.
37:45 Mike Rowe? Yeah, that's a great word.
37:45 Speaker 00 For no reason.
37:46 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
37:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
37:47 Mike Rowe? That's an excellent reason. I gotta laugh. Gotta laugh out of everybody.
37:51 Speaker 01 It did. It picked up her spirits.
37:53 Mike Rowe? Well, did you approve of my response on the Facebooks as I tried to defend your honor?
37:59 Speaker 01 Well, I thought you used the word, an S-word gratuitously, five or six times.
38:06 Mike Rowe? Well, I was quoting you, which I...
38:10 Speaker 01 You know what?
38:11 Speaker 00 Honestly, it was more like 12 or 20. I think it was a lot.
38:15 Speaker 01 Ho, ho, ho. Just the season to be jolly and holy. So, maybe we should talk about something else, other than...
38:22 Mike Rowe? I don't think so. I think what we're gonna talk about is a mother's attempt to delight her many fans and her son's desire to protect her honor in the wake of her first bit of hate mail. I think there's a seasonal joyful message in that, you know? Beyond the language, anyway. I think people would appreciate it, at least knowing, you know?
38:45 Speaker 01 Well, as long as you know when and where to use it, it's okay. Because I posted that letter, I mean, I posted this on my Facebook page. And I have hundreds of thousands of fans, not as many as you do, but...
39:02 Mike Rowe? No, no, we're close.
39:03 Speaker 01 I... I read quite a few of the comments. I mean, there are almost a thousand comments, and I read quite a few. And nobody took exception to my language. Nobody was offended. I mean, if they were, they didn't leave a comment.
39:22 Mike Rowe? I didn't read the comments to this. Chuck, do you wanna hear this? Should I read this thing real quick?
39:28 Speaker 00 Yeah, why not?
39:30 Speaker 01 Do you think you'll offend your listeners?
39:32 Mike Rowe? I doubt we have any still listening at this point, but if we do, they're probably either all living at the home or related to you, so I doubt it.
39:42 Speaker 01 The other day, I watched you on a podcast where that word was used liberally. It wasn't your podcast, but you were on with somebody else, Joe.
39:50 Mike Rowe? Joe Rogan, I believe his name is.
39:53 Speaker 01 And you were...
39:54 Speaker 00 Never heard of him.
39:55 Speaker 01 He was saying the F-word, and you guys were smoking cigars like you were in a bar somewhere. I'm glad you didn't invite me to be on that.
40:05 Mike Rowe? Look, the things that happen when you're not around, you know, sometimes, sometimes Chuck is singing inappropriate songs.
40:13 Speaker 01 I know.
40:13 Mike Rowe? Sometimes we're shooting pool, sometimes I'm smoking cigars. This Joe Rogan guy's kind of new to the podcast game, but I think, um, I think he's got.
40:22 Speaker 01 Potential.
40:22 Mike Rowe? He's got some potential.
40:23 Speaker 00 He's got chops, yeah, for sure. Yeah, he'll be all right.
40:27 Mike Rowe? Does have a bit of a potty mouth, but you know, his people seem to like him.
40:31 Speaker 01 Does he have any following?
40:33 Mike Rowe? Not much.
40:34 Speaker 00 No.
40:35 Mike Rowe? Not much, but again, I think, you know, with a little bit of luck, he could probably carve out a piece.
40:41 Speaker 00 Mm hmm.
40:42 Mike Rowe? Anyway, mom sends me the letter she read from Mr. Or Mrs. L. And I just posted it and what I said was, Dear Mr. Or Mrs. L. I'm writing to inform you that my mother has noted your disappointment with her occasional use of obscenity in her various bestselling books, including her most recent masterpiece, Oh No Not The Home. Your letter attached, along with a brief note from my mother, arrived in my inbox this morning. Dear Michael, well, I guess it was bound to happen. I finally heard from someone who doesn't like my writing. I'm not sure how to respond, but given the number of people that you've disappointed over the years with your own reliance on vulgarity and smut. I thought perhaps you might have some advice.
41:26 Mike Rowe? Much love, Mom. Before we delve into my own reliance on vulgarity and smut, I want to say that my mother and I appreciate the time you took to express your disappointment. Moreover, we were both impressed by your grammar, spelling, I said ironically, sentence structure and overall syntax. So many people these days, especially those who wish to offer the kind of gentle rebuke you have provided here diminish their points with myriad mistakes. Not so with you. We were also impressed by the fact that you took the time to express your criticisms in a handwritten cursive note. Not only is your penmanship legible, it appears on a piece of paper with no lines. And yet your sentences remain neatly ordered and easy to read.
42:10 Mike Rowe? That's a real talent, Mr. Or Mrs. L. We also noticed the way your carefully chosen words filled every square inch of the page without a lot of unnecessary crowding at the very end. Another indication that this is not the first letter you've written to someone you've never met to share your disappointment. So far, so good, right?
42:30 Speaker 01 Yeah, nothing offensive at all.
42:33 Mike Rowe? As for your primary concern, my mother's purported penchant for obscenity, spelled incorrectly, I can only tell you that the instances to which you refer do not reflect her actual vernacular, at least not in a way that should cause offense to any grown-up. The fact is, my mother, like her mother before her, would never use bad language in the course of expressing her own thoughts. In fact, my mom and my grandmother positively deplored the crassness to which you object, and they both criticized it whenever they encountered it. However, both women were far less scrupulous when quoting other people. And that's the point. This is precisely what happens in most of my mother's runaway bestsellers, including her latest triumph, Oh No, Not the Home,
43:18 Mike Rowe? which can still be purchased in time for Christmas at micro.com/momsbook.
43:24 Mike Rowe? Now, as for my own reliance on vulgarity and smut, to which she so casually alludes, I believe my mom was referring to the many hundreds of letters I received 20 years ago that reminded her of yours, letters from angry viewers who thought I was cursing on dirty jobs when in fact I was not. The trouble began for me way back in season one when a large rat jumped into my lap while I was filming in a sewer. In my surprise, I yelled, "Holy crap", before leaping to my feet, smashing my head on the top of the tunnel, and falling face-first into a river of filth. Given the environment and the conditions, "Holy crap" seemed a harmless and completely appropriate exclamation, but the network was concerned.
44:10 Mike Rowe? They believed the word "crap" might be offensive to a handful of their most sensitive viewers, so they bleeped it out when the episode aired. Consequently, millions of viewers, including my own mother, assumed that I had said something much worse. In fact, my mother called me immediately after that episode aired, demanding an explanation. "Michael, why did you say shit on national television? What's wrong with you? Don't you know that shit is a bad word?" "I do, Mom, but I didn't use that word. What I said was crap." Mom was dubious. Why would they bleep you for saying crap? She said. Crap isn't a bad word. Are you sure you didn't say shit? It sure looked like you said shit. I'm positive, Mom.
44:55 Mike Rowe? I definitely said crap. But don't they understand that bleeping crap makes everyone think you're really saying shit? She asked. I don't know, Mom. All they told me is that every time I say crap, they're going to bleep me. Great, said Mom. Now everyone will think your father and I raised a son who says shit on national television. Do you have any idea how much crap we're going to get at church this Sunday? From people who think you're saying shit? Well, then I said, if they're gonna bleep me every time I say crap, I guess I might as well say shit. Especially when I'm in a sewer and up to my neck in it. Watch your mouth, Michael. Shit is a bad word. Please don't say shit. See what I mean, Mr. Elk? Or Mrs. Elk?
45:37 Mike Rowe? My mother deplores crass language and only uses it when she's quoting other people directly or referencing the word itself. Please send your letter of apology to the same address and have a wonderful holiday. Warmly, Mike Rowe. P.S. Her next book, Seven Words You Can't Say on the Shitter. It should be out later this year. You can reserve a copy today at MikeRowe.com/momsbook. That's the one that sent me over the edge. The P.S. is the one that made me just spit my coffee all over my computer.
46:07 Speaker 01 What can I say? Lovely response.
46:12 Mike Rowe? Look, we're living in a weird time, Mom. Content is a strange thing. Social media is a weird thing. I wrote that on a plane after reading the handwritten note that you posted. I stand by every word of it. People have just listened to it now. They're still listening, in fact. Dozens of them, anyway. I mean.
46:32 Speaker 01 Maybe if they haven't turned it off.
46:35 Mike Rowe? Well, probably more than are listening to Joe Rogan now. Probably.
46:41 Speaker 01 Seriously? I thought he had a big phone.
46:44 Mike Rowe? Oh, you do? You did? Joe Rogan, I think.
46:49 Speaker 01 You're putting me off.
46:51 Mike Rowe? Yeah, I think 12, maybe 14 million people listened to that conversation.
46:55 Speaker 01 But it goes on for three hours. I couldn't stay on to the end of it. It just was too long.
47:06 Mike Rowe? Ever since Chapter started advertising on this podcast, I've been getting letters and emails from satisfied customers all over the country. Last week, I got one from Joseph, a retired veterinarian in Texas, who just learned his Medicare plan was shutting down. I can't tell you Joseph's last name because his medical history is complicated and personal, but his situation is not uncommon at all. Given his medical history, Joseph was unable to find a local provider that would include the doctors he'd come to rely on. Happily, Joseph listens to this podcast, and Joseph heard me talking about Chapter just last week. And Chapter exists for one reason:
47:48 Mike Rowe? to help people on Medicare find the plan that's right for them. It's a free service. Anyhow, Joseph called Chapter. He connected with an advisor named Heidi. And Heidi caught something that most people miss because his current plan was about to close. Joseph had a limited window to continue with his current coverage through a new plan without any additional medical underwriting. In other words, Heidi found a way to get Joseph the coverage he needed with the doctors he preferred. Then she found great coverage for his wife, too. Moral of the story? Medicare plans are constantly evolving. You are too. Call Chapter. Make sure you're on the best plan for you.
48:32 Mike Rowe? Also, people who switch plans after calling Chapter save an average of $1,100 a year. 804-Chapter. That's the number. Call it today. It's free. Whole thing takes about 20 minutes. 804-Chapter. We're at 52 minutes and 54 seconds right now, and I gotta think it's probably time to land the plane. With that in mind. Yeah.
48:55 Speaker 01 Oh, really? Have we said anything about Christmas? Anything holiday-related?
49:01 Mike Rowe? Why don't we start now with your warmest wishes to everybody? What do you want to tell people out there this Christmas season? Please say Merry Fucking Christmas.
49:10 Speaker 01 Oh, my God. Don't hold your breath for that one. No, I've... You know, living here at the home has really opened my eyes to... The fact that Christmas is a sad time for a lot of people. I met a woman in the hall the other day, a friend. I've gotten to know her well here in the last three or so years. And she's known for being upbeat and happy all the time. And she can make me laugh. She's a funny person. And she wasn't even smiling. And then she wiped wiped her cheek. And I asked her what's wrong. She said, I'm sorry. This is a rough time of year for me. I miss my husband. I miss my mother.
49:55 Speaker 01 It's just a sad time. So I told her about my sister. I said, and apparently, there's a very mild medication that you can take that relieves anxiety. And a lot of people find that it helps them, you know, through a difficult period. And somebody else. So that's three people that I've just come into contact with this week, who are having a hard time this Christmas season. And I'm a happy person. But you know, there are times when I remember Christmases past. How wonderful they were. And it's not the same now. I have family and I love them and they love us.
50:41 Speaker 01 But it's just not the same. And I, I think at this time of year, it's about the memories. And, you know, they're just not the same. You know, with children running around and gifts under the tree. And they were really special times.
50:59 Mike Rowe? Do you think people romanticize it in hindsight? I agree, you know, when I think of the Christmases we had when I was a boy. I remember them the way I heard it, right? But I wonder how much of a patina we put on it sometimes. And I wonder if that is part of the reason why a lot of people get down this time of year. Was it really as good as you remember it? Is it really as bad as you think it is right now? I don't know.
51:28 Speaker 01 Well, it was as good as I remember it. And it's not bad now. It's just not the same, you know?
51:34 Speaker 00 It's a different season. It's a different season in life.
51:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
51:38 Speaker 00 Or the same season of the holiday season.
51:41 Speaker 01 It is. And you know, and the truth is. We have three children and we would be more than welcome at each of their homes over the holidays. You know, traveling is just not very pleasant when you're older and you have to drag along a lot of medications and. Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho, and it's Metamucil at three o'clock and your, and your thyroid medicine half hour before breakfast and your, and your pills after dinner and your breakfast pills.
52:16 Speaker 00 I love a good after dinner pill.
52:19 Mike Rowe? I do too. You know what? You should decorate the tree with them.
52:23 Speaker 01 That's another thing. Our tree is a ceramic tree. I have two of them. We don't put up a tree.
52:30 Speaker 00 It's tough to get the things to stay on there, the ceramic tree.
52:33 Speaker 01 You know what? Living where we do, I don't know, Mike, you were not here long enough last night, I believe, to appreciate the beautiful decorations for Christmas.
52:46 Mike Rowe? I've seen them. They do an amazing job there overall. It's pretty great.
52:51 Speaker 01 Every lobby has a huge Christmas tree, just laden with bulbs and decorations. Every night of the week, there is a sing-along, a carol sing-along in every, in every lobby. There's a hot cider festival. There's eggnog. There's, I mean, they do everything they can here to make people happy. Because for a lot of people, the Christmas that we get here at Oak Crest is their only Christmas. They don't have relatives or loved ones. Anyway, so Christmas season can be a downer. What was your question? Do you remember?
53:33 Speaker 00 My question was, what, what's your wish to the audience in this Christmas season?
53:38 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
53:39 Speaker 00 And I think you've, you've basically just said, everybody to draw a warm bath and sharpen the steak knives, so.
53:45 Speaker 01 Um, you know what? Well, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, of course, and I hope that you can spend it with.
53:57 Speaker 03 She's super freaky. Now.
53:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
54:01 Speaker 01 Merry freaking Christmas.
54:03 Mike Rowe? Merry freaking Christmas. Oh, my God.
54:07 Speaker 01 Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. They'll have a special Christmas. We won't be here for Christmas because some friends invited us to their home. Some good friends invited us to their home. They do every Christmas.
54:21 Mike Rowe? Where are you going? Are you leaving the compound? The reservation?
54:25 Speaker 01 Well, yes, and we're driving four miles to our friend's house, Pat and Richard. And we'll have a lovely meal. There'll just be four of us. And then we'll probably play some games and just being with people that you enjoy and that you really like is a good thing. And then we'll come home and if there's time, we might play a couple of games at pool. We might watch The Christmas Story. And of course, throughout the day, we will get phone calls from our children who miss us.
54:55 Mike Rowe? Oh, constant phone calls.
54:57 Speaker 01 And wish we were with them.
55:00 Mike Rowe? Well, that's for sure. Even when they show up late for a breakfast that they explained they wouldn't be coming for in the first place.
55:09 Speaker 01 He managed to eat a lot.
55:12 Mike Rowe? It wasn't easy.
55:13 Speaker 01 Because you were so late getting here, it was more like lunch.
55:17 Mike Rowe? We call that a bang-bang. Yeah. Two meals back to back.
55:23 Speaker 01 Back to back. Well, for us, it was bang, bang, bang. No, actually.
55:28 Mike Rowe? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
55:30 Speaker 01 Michael, that chicken salad they serve at Lakeside is just wonderful. And I brought one back and Scott had it for his breakfast this morning. It was it has nuts and cranberries and it's just wonderful.
55:45 Mike Rowe? These guys, Chuck, can stretch a meal into a week. They'll bring it home. They'll triple down on desserts and whatever extras and then they just proportion them out. It's like the loaves and the fishes. It's just, there's always stuff.
55:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:59 Mike Rowe? There's always stuff in the fridge for meals that, you know, three, four days old. It's amazing.
56:06 Speaker 01 So anyway, Christmas goes on and I went. To a Christmas celebration the other night at the Acorn. I got out my pad and pencil because I was alone. Your dad was playing shuffleboard. And I sat at the bar with the ginger ale with my pad and pencil, just looking around. I took some pictures, but Dan was there with his guitar and he played. And there was a sing-along for like forty minutes. And then there were videos and I just looked around at people's expressions and they were, you know, having a drink with friends and some appetizers. It was just a fun time. The place was packed. The lobby outside was packed.
56:49 Speaker 01 The lounge alongside was packed. Christmas trees visible out every little window. It was, it was very festive and I'm not complaining, you know. Christmas is good. And of course, your father is the liturgist at church in December. So we'll be at church tomorrow and that's always special fun over the Christmas season and Christmas Eve. And if you recall last Christmas night, Christmas day night, your father had a horrific heart attack.
57:24 Mike Rowe? That's right.
57:25 Speaker 01 So whatever happens this Christmas will be better than last Christmas. That's for sure.
57:31 Mike Rowe? You know what? I guess that kind of rhymes a little bit. That was the hardest Christmas ever for you, I'm sure.
57:38 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
57:39 Mike Rowe? Certainly for me.
57:40 Speaker 01 It certainly was. It was horrible.
57:43 Mike Rowe? And here we are a year later. That's my Christmas wish too. Would you just describe this, this idea that, I mean, it struck me the other day when I was leaving as I'm walking down these long hallways and you don't know what's going on behind those doors and you don't know who's grieving, you don't know who's up, you don't know who's down, you don't know who's struggling. But you have to assume that in a facility filled with people, most of whom are in their eighties and nineties, I guess, you know, older maybe, that they've had loss and they've had tragedy and that the holiday is tough and to be able to walk out and down a hall and past a holiday tree and. You know, Christmas caroling and to a place where a woman is sitting at the bar sipping
58:28 Mike Rowe? her ginger ale, writing it all down and a guy's playing his guitar and people are singing that, that's community. That'll save your ass, I think, you know, when the chips are really down.
58:40 Speaker 01 Beautifully said.
58:44 Speaker 01 And who doesn't want his ass saved on Christmas?
58:47 Speaker 00 Amen, sister.
58:50 Mike Rowe? Oh, gosh. Well, this was odd, but I like it. From Prince to Rick James to La Bamba, to Christmas carols, to old traditions and new friends and all of it, Mom.
59:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, here's to old traditions and new friends.
59:08 Mike Rowe? Mm-hmm. What are you drinking there? Wassail?
59:11 Speaker 01 Uh, this is coffee with Mom, isn't it? Coffee with Mother?
59:15 Mike Rowe? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it sure is.
59:16 Speaker 01 Okay.
59:18 Speaker 00 I went with vodka with Mother.
59:20 Mike Rowe? Vodka with Chuck.
59:21 Speaker 01 Looks strangely like water.
59:24 Mike Rowe? It always does. Chuck's going with I'm alone in my bedroom drinking vodka. What's your Christmas wish?
59:31 Speaker 01 Yeah. And you should pick up the stocking part of your cap when you say that.
59:39 Speaker 00 I would say, uh, oh, well, go ahead. You sign off.
59:42 Mike Rowe? No, go ahead. You brought up my podcast for me. Would you know? No, go ahead.
59:45 Speaker 00 I thought you asked me a question. That's all.
59:47 Mike Rowe? What was the question you thought I asked?
59:49 Speaker 01 Tell us about your Christmas, Chuck. What do you wish for people?
59:52 Speaker 00 My Christmas wish? Just remember the, the reason for the season. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
1:00:00 Speaker 01 Oh, what a nice way to take us out. I would have said that.
1:00:04 Mike Rowe? You and Charlie Brown really nailed it.
1:00:06 Speaker 00 I love Charlie Brown. That's a good one.
1:00:09 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
1:00:09 Speaker 00 All right. That's it. That's all I got to say.
1:00:12 Mike Rowe? That's it. Good for you. Good for you, Chuck. Sharing your faith with people, jamming it down their throats and whatnot. I think that's great.
1:00:19 Speaker 00 Get in there!
1:00:21 Mike Rowe? But no one did it better than Schultz. You know, Lee Mendelson tells that great story of getting Peanuts on the air. A Charlie Brown Christmas was a tough sell. It was a tough sell and to have, I think Linus quoting Luke.
1:00:39 Speaker 00 Yeah, like a lot of it, the whole Christmas story. Yeah.
1:00:43 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
1:00:43 Speaker 00 Exactly, yeah.
1:00:45 Mike Rowe? The executives did not want that, you know, and to get Vince Guaraldi soundtrack, that weird jazzy thing and that sad little Christmas tree that nobody wanted, but Charlie Brown would put one bulb on the top. Remember it pulls the whole thing over.
1:01:02 Speaker 01 And Linus wrapped his blanket around the trunk and that made everything good.
1:01:08 Mike Rowe? That's what this conversation was. It was not a traditional ho, ho, ho, everything is going to be great. It was an honest look at
1:01:19 Mike Rowe? the unexpected music of the season with some language you might not expect to hear in church or find in a traditional greeting card.
1:01:27 Speaker 00 True that, true that.
1:01:31 Mike Rowe? With a little John 316.
1:01:33 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:01:35 Mike Rowe? All right, guys. Well, wonderful to see you. Merry Christmas to everyone listening. Thank you for making coffee with mom, my favorite episodes of this podcast and for making this podcast so much bigger than Joe Rogan's. I'm so grateful for that and so surprised by the many, many, many, many millions of, of listeners we have now. So that's what I'm grateful for, Chuck.
1:02:03 Speaker 00 Awesome. Goodbye, everybody. Merry Christmas.
1:02:06 Speaker 01 Goodbye. Love you all.
1:02:08 Mike Rowe? Ho, ho, ho.
1:02:09 Speaker 01 Merry Christmas.
1:02:10 Mike Rowe? Really? Everyone? You don't really love everyone.
1:02:12 Speaker 01 You all three.
1:02:13 Speaker 00 I think she was talking to us. Yeah.
1:02:15 Speaker 01 I was talking to you guys.
1:02:16 Mike Rowe? You know what? You know who else I love?
1:02:19 Speaker 00 Who?
1:02:20 Mike Rowe? Mr. Or Mrs. JL.
1:02:23 Mike Rowe? I really hope they're having a great holiday regardless of their relationship with the English language.
1:02:29 Speaker 01 I hope so.
1:02:31 Mike Rowe? All right. Goodbye.
1:02:33 Speaker 01 Goodbye.
1:02:34 Speaker 04 Here's to the guys who advertise and subsidize the podcast that I do. They spend their dough and you should know before you go. That's why it's free for you because it's free. I hope you see and then agree their bottom should be kissed without the guys who advertise. The show would not exist. There's no podcast without a sponsor. Thank them for paying the freight.
1:03:12 Speaker 04 Please don't fast forward through their commercials, even ones that you hate. There's no podcast without a sponsor. Thank them for paying the freight. Please don't fast forward through their commercials, even the ones you hate.
1:03:43 Mike Rowe? Well, we did it again, my friends. We got through another year. Unbelievable. Thanks, of course, to the generous support of our many sponsors who, in no particular order, include my friends at Pure Talk, BuildSubmarines.com, BetterHelp, ZipRecruiter, American Giant, PrizePix, Aura Frames, Go Ruck, NetSuite, Noble Tennessee Whiskey, and of course, oh no, Not the Home by Peggy Rowe, which you can pick up over at MikeRowe.com/momsbook. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
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