Hour 1: HOW MANY CHICKEN WINGS?
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I read a story that produced more questions for me than answers, but I was interested in the story and I suspect that you guys will be interested and have some of the same questions that I had. So this is a story that didn't answer any of the questions. It got me interested enough with the details to have a thousand more questions about what it is that I was reading. An Illinois school district teacher who's 68 years old

got nine years in prison because of what it is that she did between July of 2020 and February of 2022. Okay. So in less than two years, she stole 1.5 million chicken wings. Nope. Not possible.

Well, it's not possible to consume them in less than two years. I think it means saying not possible to steal them. How do you... 1.5 million chicken wings. That means you're walking out with like a Santa Claus satchel of chicken wings every week? It was over time. It was... And it started with the pandemic and some of the fraud that started with the pandemic. Can we just state the obvious that nine years in prison for that is just absolutely insane? Right, bro. Free mom right now until it's backwards. Yeah.

She stole 11,000 cases of chicken wings, and now the questions begin.

She had to be reselling them to local restaurants or something. Secondary market. It can't be the only thing you and your friends are eating. It doesn't seem possible in less than two years for a family to eat 1.5 million chicken wings. Okay, so question. Is there a fine for Dan for reading the internet wrong? Yes. $17. Okay, then it's $17 for you, Dan. Because 1.5 million dollars worth of chicken wings. Not 1.5 million count chicken wings.

Of chicken wings. Okay, wait a minute. So if it's $1.5 million of chicken wings, it means it's more...

than 1.5 million chicken wings. She stole a ton more than 1.5 million, right? I don't think so, because they usually give a 20-piece be like $30 from the store, and she must be the Avon Barsdale of chicken wings because she is moving them guys. Okay, so I'm sorry for reading that wrong. It's $1.5 million worth of chicken wings, but that still seems like too hard to eat in two years. I feel like Blago did less than that for selling a Senate seat. Like, what, nine years? Jesus. Yeah.

Allegedly. Wait, no, he was convicted. How many more questions do you guys have about this story? How do you get rid of $1.5 million worth of chicken wings? How long did Henry Ruggs get?

Is it even nine years? Exactly. Not nine years. What are we doing? She's 68, by the way. So nine years, that might be. This is like an average of $2,500 of chicken wings per day off the basic math. How is that possible? Per day, stealing that many? I don't even understand what the execution would have been here. So in total, Liddell...

ordered more than 11,000 cases of wings from the school district's food provider, then picked up the order herself in a district cargo van. Legal papers filed as part of the case called the scheme a, quote, massive fraud. We turn now to our fraud correspondent, Stu Gatz. Thank you. Oh, wow. He realized he was doing what there before he- You almost called Juju our fraud correspondent. I was looking at Juju. What's up, brother? My bad, my bad, Juju. Uh, uh, uh, uh.

Stugatz, what would you do with 11,000 cases of chicken wings that you've stolen over the span of about,

18 months. I mean, the reason you steal something is to make money. So I would assume that she is selling them. She had another player involved here where she is buying these while she's stealing the boxes and then selling them out to someone else for a lot more money. That would be the reason. Otherwise, why would you do it? And also, you guys questioning whether or not she should get nine years in prison. That's $1.5 million right there. I mean, I know it's not actual money, but it's worth $1.5 million. I mean, she stole $1.5 million? Yeah.

- That's not that much. - Nine years? - If she stole $1.5 million worth of chicken wings and you said she did it to make money, how much money did she make off of $1.5 million worth of chicken wings, ladies and gentlemen? 11,000 cases of chicken wings for $1.5 million, that means it's $733 per case.

So $733 per case, let's assume a very modest profit of $100. $100 per case is a modest profit, right? So $833 times $11,000, guys, she made. Oh my God, are you guys ready for this?

$9.1 million. Nah, bro. Not with that. Why would she still be working for the school? Because she would have retired. That's where the chicken wings are. No, you have to stay with the school. You got to? Yeah, it's a giveaway. This is the best chicken crime I've seen since Gus Fring. I'm so confused about the logistics. But were they raw or were they cooked? Like, I don't know. I'm assuming that they're raw. I think they're raw. I don't think they're going to be cooked.

But it is Chicago Public Schools, so I don't know if they're like cooking wings at the school. Or maybe, wait, was that even an option? Do they have wings at public schools? I don't know. I never had wings at school, but I have been eating a lot of wings lately. I rediscovered in the last six months or so, wings are...

The best. They are a top two. I feel like I fall in and out of love with wings every couple years. I eat too many and then I'm off wings and then I have them for the first time and I'm like, holy shit, wings are great. And then I eat too many again and then I'm off again. The only thing that gets me off wings is when I have bad wings.

Then I get gun shy. I'm like, oh, I don't know. Should I order wings from this place? What if they mess it up? I don't know. But then you find that good wing place or that good wing order that comes out. The sauce is perfect. It's nice and crispy. The juicy on the inside. And you're like, I can't get enough. Your mouth is watering. I'm picking barbecue sauce out of my cuticles for two weeks after. And you don't feel like you're eating terrible. You're like, this is meat. It's chicken. It was fried. Who cares? We're going to forget that part.

But a lot of times it's not fried. Sometimes they're smoked. Smoked wings? Grilled wings? Lemon pepper? Did you have chicken wings the night that you ate in that big group that infuriated you? No. Chicken wings, for me, that's a bar food. I want to eat that at a Flanagan's or at a Kuda's. But I have realized recently that every time I go out to dinner in a group at a restaurant and...

the waiter brings the food and people just kind of freeze because they don't know what they don't remember what they ordered and the waiter's like who got the filet or whatever that pisses me off so much remember your order it's so good why are you not paying attention pay attention and then there's always one person that's got it all covered they ordered that yep that's me i'm the pointer yes i'm like yeah oh the chicken pasta yeah that's that part it's like you're paying more why are all these people not paying attention everyone just freezes like the waiter comes and everyone freezes they're like oh everyone

I don't know what's for me. I don't want to be too pushy and be like, oh, that one's mine. I'm the pushy one. I'm like, you got the salmon. You got the steak. This is the risotto. Pay attention, people. It's not that they don't pay attention, Jessica. You just hit on it. It's people don't want to seem to be like the eager, hungry. There's mine! They don't want to seem like that. So they're like, I don't know. Did someone else have? Oh, I guess. They're just standing there holding like 17

plates. Like, come on. That happened to me in Tampa when I was with Mike and his friends watching Panthers Lightning. We were at a restaurant. We ordered a bunch of wings. I ordered mine well done, but apparently it came, and the wings came out, and I was like, oh, medium garlic, those are mine, and apparently those were Cowboy Carl's. Mine hadn't come out yet. They came out five minutes later, and they were like, here's the well done medium garlic, and I was like four wings in, just like, uh, and then Cowboy Carl now has to eat. Oh.

Well done wings. Oh, he's got to eat four well done wings. No. You guys just switched the plates back. I gave him the whole, no, he just kept the whole order. Wait, well done wings? You don't do that? Oh, I love well done. Yeah. Chicken wings well done. Oh, I've never heard of that. I like my medium rare. Little salmonella. I'm a wings newbie. I don't know.

Teach me more. Teach me more of the way of wings. Well, it depends on the place. If a place has bigger wings, I like them well done. Because I don't like when you bite into the wing and you see like the pinkish. That's how you know it's. Like the tendons. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like that. I like mine crispy. I like my wings crispy. No, no, no. Well, when Mean said bad wings, I was about to say there is no such thing. But I would have been wrong because when you have some of that.

extra that you don't need in the wings. Some inefficiency. This is not all chewable meat. I have eaten, but undercooked wings, I would rather err on overcooked than what Amin is saying. I have not heard a lot of people say that their favorite kind of wing is with a little bit of salmonella. Like a little bit of raw chicken wrist. It's an odd thing to want. That's how they serve them at the Sizzler.

I don't like when it's tough because it's been cooked so much that I'm fighting. Shout out to Jon Taffer. Look how hard he's pulling just to get some wings out. You don't want that hard pull. You want that to kind of flesh, fall off the bone. Fall off the bone, yeah.

Yeah. You don't really get that with fried wings, though, do you? No. Like, that's a baked wing you're talking about fall off the bone, right? Once you fry it, you've hardened it some. Well, it depends. Do you guys eat the knuckles, though? We're split back here. Jess eats the knuckles. I'm not a knuckle eater. I'm not leaving meat on the bone, period. Only in a sandwich. What's your favorite flavor of wings, guys, around the corner? Honey barbecue. Woo!

I like mine hot with lemon pepper sprinkles. I like a spicy buffalo. Medium garlic kind of guy. I can't believe we skipped past only in a sandwich. That was so good. You eat the knuckles only in a sandwich. Knuckle sandwich. I was like, oh, you put those in a sandwich. That just went way over my head.

Clearly a cover-up though from the government and mama in these wings. Something that's afoot. This is a story before the story. I don't believe this story yet. Let me see the next one. I thought you were actually referring to Ray Gunn. Me too. Ray Gunn stole the wings. Allegedly. I mean, $1.5 million in the grand scheme of things, Stugatz. Like corporations steal...

Quadruple. A thousand times that in a year. They never go to jail. But this woman, $1.5 million in chicken and we're putting her in jail for a decade when she's 70 years old? That's absurd. She works for a school. She shouldn't have done it. I agree. How about the kids? Don't steal. Don't commit fraud. But nine years, come on. Kids need their wings. Guys, I decided $100 a profit per case was too much. I dropped it down to $50 a case per profit.

$8.6 million. Do we know if she resold the wings? I was not able to find them. Why would you steal them? She could have healed the hood. She could have been eating them or making them for people. That changes the story completely. If I'm her lawyer, I'm like, my sister was feeding the entire west side of Chicago out of her trunk. She gave them all away. Great defense, man. Gave them all away. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Jess, you're seeing why it is that I had more questions than answers with this story. I'm not going to lie. You surprised us with this one. I did not hear this story. Well, you surprised me with this one because you've got Stugatz in a position where he's the one being tough on crime. He's the prosecutor. He's the one shaking a fist and wanting to be maximum prosecutor guy.

Throwing this one. Bury her under the jail. Just to close the loop, I don't mind being the eager person at the table, helping the server make sure that they distribute the food and the entrees to the right places. I think it's worse to be the timid person who's just standing there frozen while they're carrying a thousand plates and doesn't know, like, oh, what did I order again? I don't know. How about the server do their jobs? They should know. I'm helping

them do their job. But why are we trying to figure it out? Well, not every restaurant has... I can't stand the server who says, listen, I got your order. Don't worry about it. I've committed it to memory. And then comes back and asks everyone what they ordered. No! Do your job! Write it down! Guys, I did the math wrong. I'm there to eat! Ha ha!

You know what? You know what? You know what? I figured that this was all happening as it was happening. It's 11,000 times whatever, man. No, but no. Look. Look, I let it go three or four times. Thank you. Major penalty, five minutes, ruining comedy. I do it.

Let me explain. You're going to do it? Okay, great. Two gods to the rescue. Glad we've got a mathematician on the case. The idea that Amin opened the bidding with, you know what I think is a good idea? To stop everyone so they can listen to me count in my head as I do math.

That that would be his starting point and that he would do it incorrectly. We will find out how erroneous all his math is in a second when Stugatz gets to the bottom of the facts here.

Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. Stugatz, guess what? What? You know what you can do with Peloton? What? Get the app, go outside, ride a bike. Well, I thought you ride Peloton inside. Well, you do. You can ride Peloton inside if it's a rainy day or if it's cloudy or you just don't want to get outside. Maybe it's too hot.

It's summertime. Go outside. I record a lot from my office with you and you've noticed it's sitting there yet. It hasn't been used. Well, now's the time. Summer's the best time to start that push. Right. Can we do it together? Not on the same bike, but we could join a class together. I used to do that. We used to have Guillermo Tan. I'd invite people. We'd all take a class together. Okay. So I think you're starting to get concerned about my health and my age, Billy. I,

I sense that with you. We're beyond starting. Okay. Whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread and Tread Plus. It's not just a bike, a treadmill too. I'm going to go outside. I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to do it with Billy Gill. I want to be in your class. I want you to be my instructor. You know what? I won't be your instructor. You don't want to spend more time with me. No, I can schedule a class and we can ride together. I won't be the instructor of the class. We can have Camila could be our instructor. I like the Grateful Dead class. My daughter, she uses the Peloton. Mm-hmm.

She was on it once and an instructor who was playing Grateful Dead tunes. Let's do that. Okay. Why don't we go for a run outside? Guided run. Peloton. Me and you. That's something we can do together. Okay. Turn on the app. Me and you go outside. Enjoy the summer. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right.

Don Levitard. Did someone say conservative entity? Whoa! No! What? Oh, see, this is why. Stugatz. Wait, five? Hers was better than mine. And the fifth Zagaki. Yours was funny. How is the fifth Zagaki better than the third and the fourth Zagaki already? This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz. ♪♪

Something that I don't think was covered very much during the Olympics, but I saw it everywhere. And I want to get your guys' thoughts on this because it can be argued that Jimmy Fallon has ruined the Tonight Show's legacy.

And a whole lot of people were angry at how much Jimmy Fallon was being thrown down their throats during the Olympics because Peacock was presenting and they've got a vested interest in getting third place back into first or second place. I do not find...

Jimmy Fallon in any way objectionable. I find him benign. I find him, you know, talented enough. He can't quite keep up with what some of the other folks have done during the history of late night. But I don't I'm not bothered by him in any way. And in fact, it can be argued that what the position is, if you're protecting the legacy of

of the Tonight Show is be benign. Be someone that everyone can stomach. Jay Leno, a lot of other comedians are mad at Jay Leno because they thought he was an edgier comedian than the one he presented on television when he had to be palatable to all of

America and made the choice that would fill his airplane hangers with cars. But I always enjoyed Jay Leno. The Tonight Show version of Jay Leno was not the edgiest version. Jimmy Fallon is on as the lead of the Tonight Show, at least in part, because he's not supposed to bother people. Why does he bother so many people? Because it's all fluff. I

I mean, that's it. There are no opinions. He doesn't do anything. It's all, this is my friend. We're going to play a game. Get in, get out, see you later. It's like he's not trying. Honestly, Colbert gives opinions and does the fluff. Kimmel does the, you know, gives opinions and does the fluff. But Stugatz, hold on. Dan, I am telling you, Jimmy Fallon, the entire show is, this is my friend. We're going to play a game that involves music, and then we're done. But my point to you, though, Stugatz, is that generally speaking before now, opinions...

are the things that polarize people. If the job is to be benign, how is Jimmy Fallon failing at being benign? Or has the culture around him changed so much that now what you expect from comedy is you need to get closer to the edge because that would represent a different televised experience than the one that all my life has been the one that works in late night in that slot. The Tonight Show has always been a

gentle show that America can feel comfortable watching late at night without anyone getting too offended by anything. What he inherited, he's done that job. He's not the one who changed. We changed. The viewer and what the viewer wants changed because

he's doing what he's supposed to. He's been hired to be someone that middle America is not going to object to because of his opinion, but he should change with the times. If that's what the audience wants, if they no longer want what Jimmy is providing, Jimmy needs to change. It's like journalism, Dan, you realize pretty early that, Hey, people are going to stop reading newspapers. Eventually.

And you were right. And you transition. You did what you had to do. You transition your career out of newspapers and into radio and into podcasting. And Jimmy is unwilling to change. He's still trotting out the same show he was doing five years ago. I think that's kind of about skill set, though, right? Because he was hired to start on The Tonight Show in February of twenty fourteen.

So it was right before everything really started ramping up politically in America to where we cared to turn to our late night hosts as beacons of journalism in any sort of way, as opposed to just looking at things like The Daily Show where they were doing that on purpose. Stephen Colbert comes in at

that right time to be someone who can do that commentary because he came from the Colbert report. So now you're in a situation with Jimmy where he was hired right before that all starts. And a lot of the things that people loved when he was on late night with Jimmy Fallon just carried over to tonight show. It was anticipated, but then people started and this is more of a, uh,

young viewership thing, but his sort of jovial, this kind of fake laugh feels like a laugh track in a way that some of these other hosts don't have one. And I think that that kind of bothers the TV viewer who, uh,

doesn't really like shows with laugh tracks anymore it just feels jovial in that way but he's still one of the five people in America who can do that job at that level I sometimes think we're maybe a little too harsh on on the content part there's obviously been other sides of Jimmy Fallon and the behind the scenes stuff that have evolved but in terms of being able to do the job like

He's still doing it at a very high level. But he's not one of five people who can do it. There are plenty of people who can do it. But he is doing it, is more the point. You guys are talking about like, oh, the political climate is changing, what we demand of our hosts to be more polarizing, whatever. But I'm like,

Is Conan O'Brien like that? Is Jimmy Kimmel like that? Like, was Corden like that? I don't feel like any of those guys... Kimmel does, though. Kimmel does it now. He dips his toes, but I don't feel like he's... I think he's just the same... What are you talking about? Cuddly and makes middle America feel warm and fuzzy. I think Kimmel does that. Part of why Corden struggled, though, toward the end is because he was not doing some of those things. People felt the same way about Corden as they do about Fallon, and Kimmel has at least...

gone that direction going after Trump and things like that. I do think the politics have coarsened so much that the Tonight Show I'm talking about of Johnny Carson, you might make a politics joke, but it's the most harmless of presidential jokes that doesn't even mean anything. It's just a silly thing. Can't we laugh about this? It's a different time in America. Now, Jimmy Kimmel does get involved aggressively. Colbert obviously

does a lot of that. The thing that I wanted to ask you guys, though, because Norm MacDonald brought this up one time. Norm MacDonald, I've told you before, I really admire what it is that he did. And one of the things that he said about Bill Maher and others, Chappelle, do you want to be a funny guy or do you want to be a smart guy? Like, which is it that you're trying to be? Norm MacDonald wanted them separated and...

Joe Rogan's not doing comedy most successfully at the highest levels, even though he does do some stand-up. That's not what he is successful for. He took a different path that has a different lane. Bill Maher, John Oliver, Jon Stewart...

They can all do stand-up comedy, but Norm MacDonald is asking you, which one is it that you want to be? That job, The Tonight Show, I think requires both a mean. It does now.

It does now. And I think that Jimmy Fallon is fun to watch, but it's cotton candy. Can we also point out that he's probably the least funny? If it is just being funny and not necessarily smart. Subjective.

He's not funny. Subjective, yes, but I don't think he's as funny as the guys were putting him up against. Like what you said about Jay Leno is true. People were frustrated because they knew, yo, Jay, you're a funny dude. Why are you dumbing yourself down like this? I don't think Jimmy Fallon's dumbing himself down. I think this is who he is. This is who he's always been. Like since he was on SNL. Like, again, subjective, like Juju said, I just don't think he's that funny of a guy. Now, they've had some fun kind of conceits that they've done on that show.

Like when they do the karaoke. I wear my tight pants. He does videos like that. But it's just like, I think part of it is, I don't think he's talented enough.

to raise the stakes even on the comedy side if in order to avoid the political side like have you never seen fever pitch the movie with drew barrymore come on i love that movie i haven't should i watch it no oh it's so good but just in terms of talent i mean he can do impressions he can sing like jimmy fallon is undoubtedly talented that's all he does though right let's

I mean, that's the point. All he does is impressions and sings. It's pretty impressive. He sings well for, I guess, a comedian. He's not Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx sings and is a comedian. Agreed. He's no Taylor. I mean, come on. Yes, exactly. He's no Taylor. But the impressions? That's a good Seinfeld.

What are you talking about? Do you guys watch late night? They've become less and less of a thing as cable has become less and less of a thing and now everyone streams the content that they like and I think it probably coincides with

With him being hired, not him specifically, but it happened around the same time. And also he's got a bad reputation from everything I've read about him. The bad reputation stuff is recent as far as it's coming out, being public. So I don't want to go there because I think his demise has been happening for a while. But again, I go back to...

People are consumed by clips, right? Most people probably are like, yeah, he's fine. Right. That's all he has to be. That's what I think of him. He's cool. Yeah. I'm going to tell you one thing. He was celebrating for that gold medal game. People were like, yo, did you play? Get off my screen. Stop it. Carmelo was doing the same thing. He didn't say anything. Carmelo and his son, Steph Marbury. You know why they get to do that? Why?

Why? Because they know these people. This dude coming in here, he just ran out there like, oh, I'm cool too. No, you're not, man. We know these people. You don't know them. He knows them. They done been all on his show. And he done interviewed one by one and had dinner with the fam. Man, we done interviewed who here? Do you think they know us? Yes. He was taking selfies with Emmanuel Macron. I mean, how many...

American celebrities are doing that. 11,000 cases of wings, $1.5 million. Okay. That is $136.36 per box. Okay. Per case. If you upped it, okay, just $63. Okay. Just $63. Well, no, it's $700,000. Yeah. I did all the math. I did. Yeah. I hear the drums echoing tonight.

Remix. Yeah, he's terrible. Great job, video team. This segment, by the way.

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Don Levitard. The elephant went into a 7-Eleven and bought a pack of cigarettes. But my question to Ron is this. Stugatz. That joke didn't really land the way you wanted it to, did it? We all just stared at you. It didn't land at all. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

Our friend Ron McGill has returned here on a Wednesday. I don't know, I'm disoriented. Why were you not here on a Tuesday? What happened? Were you busy filming some sort of giraffe surgery or some sort of emergency? What happened? Why weren't you here yesterday?

You had people much more important than me that could only do yesterday, so I'm the movable nut, so to speak. Oh my God, so we bumped you. It wasn't your fault, and I came out here accusatory just because Charles Barkley knocked you off the guest list. That is not right to Ron McGill. There is no one in the history of this program, I would argue, that is more important as a guest than Ron McGill. I don't know what happened there. You guys are very kind in saying that, but that's not true at all. Charles Barkley trumps Ron McGill on any

platform, any day, anywhere. Except that was Monday, so I don't know.

Ron, I saw that you were in Eater Miami giving your best food places in Miami. I'm getting slammed for a couple of those, but hey, listen, I love them. Okay, so you had best takeout option hole in the wall, best burger, Fuddruckers. But then I came across best pizza and you said Costco. Is Costco pizza a thing? I've only ever heard of the Costco hot dog and the rotisserie chicken. Jessa, you haven't tried the Costco pizza? It's the bomb. Never.

It's one of the biggest pizzas. First of all, it's huge. OK, it's just over ten dollars for this huge pizza that is twice as big as what you get at any of these pizza shops and half the price. And it's fantastic. It's the greatest. I guess it's one of the greatest secrets ever, unless you've had it.

Hmm. Is there like a local pizza option that you, I mean, this is eater Miami. Like the best we can do in Miami is Costco. Well, I like, I like mama Mia's pizza. Mama Mia makes a good pizza. Um, you know, it's a local option, but you know, again, for the price, listen, I work at a zoo, you know, I don't, uh, I try to be as frugal as I can. So the Costco pizza at 10 75, brother, that's, that's the bomb in a bag of chips. That pizza can last me five days. All right. I'm sold. Are you a, are you a chicken wing guy at all? I am a

I am a chicken wing guy. What's your favorite kind of wing? I like baked wings. I don't like really spicy wings. I like a good sauce with them. You know, even a good ranch dressing. I'm kind of simple that way, but I like it to be baked and crispy. And Hole in the Wall does a good job with those, too. I was going to ask what your favorite wing was in Miami, but I guess you just gave us the answer. And Cake South. Cake South also does a really good job with wings.

This interview with Ron is presented by LinkedIn Jobs. Put it on the poll, please, at Levitard Show. Is Costco pizza the bomb if you're on a budget? And also put on the poll chicken wings. I want the chicken wings, the most delightful of appetizers. Yes or no?

or no. Can you tell me, Ron, if you think Sugats earlier this week said that they're not even close, a burger and a sloppy Joe. And I really can't think of anything closer to a burger except maybe a slider than a sloppy Joe. So do you believe that a burger and a sloppy Joe belong in the same breath?

- No, I don't. I have to agree with Sugata on that one. Sloppy Joe's just a bunch of whole saucy, messy meat, a burger you bite into, you get the juicy, it's not just a bunch of sloppy sauce with a bunch of ripped off meat from something else. It's totally different. The only thing common is they had two pieces of bread.

Yeah, but it's a hamburger bun. It's a hamburger bun, but how many things can you put on a hamburger bun? You can put a turkey sandwich on a hamburger bun. You can put an egg salad sandwich on a hamburger bun. You can put anything on a hamburger bun. It doesn't give me any credibility. But it's meat in between hamburger buns. Yeah, but it's ground meat. So is turkey, so is chicken, so is everything else meat between hamburger buns. Slotty Joe is ground beef, is it not? It's beef, yes. Yeah, but it's ground beef, yeah. So is a hamburger. No, it's just a patty.

Got his ass. We'll have to continue this debate. I will have to agree to disagree. I have an actual animal question for Ron, other than these weird food questions you guys are coming with. Ron, my cousin told me that dolphins will often use puffer fish to get high and they'll pass it along. And he also told me making dolphins the only other animal besides humans that get high recreationally. Is this true?

I have heard that same comment about using puffer fish to basically ingest an enlightening drug, so to speak. I will say that they're not the only animals that get high. I know certain primates that will chew on certain leaves, eat certain horticultural products that will elevate their happiness, so to speak. So, you know, it depends on the meaning of getting high.

Are they rolling up a doobie and smoking it? No. But they are getting the elements in other ways. They're grabbing a puffer fish and sucking on it, apparently. There you go. Are dolphins the only animal that tries to have sex with humans? No. Haven't you ever had a dog hump your leg? No.

Yep. Yep, my bad. I feel like a real fool. I feel like a real idiot. That and sloppy joes, I mean. Okay, follow up though. When your dog's humping your leg, are they trying to have sex with you or are they trying to get you to play with them? Because I've always been told that it's like, because my female dog will hump my leg and I don't think she's trying to have sex with me. What's the difference? That's a dominance thing, but it also can be pleasurable for the animal. It's almost a form of masturbation, so to speak. Oh, wow.

You never wanted to look at Willow that way. Got her ass. Willow. Let's look at this video together here with Ron McGill. Walk us through these tactics to fend off a bear because we've got in Tahoe, we've got a bear and a beach cooler. You tell me what's happening here, Ron, and how it is that we avoid situations like this.

well you got to make sure your beach cooler is closed first of all and that's not a way to do it well it worked somebody threw a chair this is not smart though okay that bear can turn around and do something let the bear do his thing and get away do not try to do something like that because if that bear comes at him that rake is going to do nothing that rake is going to do nothing to save him so don't be stupid if the bear is at the food let him have the

food and wait till he goes away. What an idiot this guy is. He's really playing with fire. He's an idiot. It worked, it seems like. You know what? It worked that time, but maybe not another time. And you want to take that chance? That's stupid, Stugatz. That's just stupidity. Let him have the freaking whatever you got in the damn cooler and don't make the same mistake twice. Make sure your coolers and everything are locked and closed.

Like, what's he saving there? Like, I have three more Miller Lights. I have three more Miller Lights in there. What's he saving there? Exactly. Wings. Ron, has working with animals given you more faith in nature and less faith in humanity? Absolutely. I learn something from animals almost every day that I wish other humans could learn.

I want to show you another video here. It's a woman surrounded by orcas. It's a boat in New Zealand. She seems pretty anxious. Let's see what how is someone supposed to remain calm in this situation? My wife wants to do whale watching things. I don't like to be at a different place on the food chain than I presently am. And when I'm in the ocean, I am not at the top of the food chain anymore.

So I ask you, this video that we're showing you, can you tell me how one remains or is supposed to remain calm in this situation? You know, that's a fine line between pure excitement and pure fear. I'm going to be honest with you. I think I told you the story that I was in the Galapagos Islands once, and while swimming, snorkeling, photographing sea turtles, I had an orca swim right over me. Stop for a moment, look at me, and keep on swimming. It was one of those moments that was so exhilarating, and yet it

I'm not gonna lie to you that my heart started racing. But you know that saying that I love to say is that life isn't measured by the number of times, the number of breaths that you take, it's measured by the number of times your breath is taken away. This woman or whoever this was in this sport will never forget this moment. And it also reflects and is indicative that these animals are not malicious monsters.

okay it's a pretty great moment you know it could have gone south i'm not gonna lie to you you never know but um that was an incredible moment and maybe those orcas knew she had a camera and say you know what maybe she can show the world that we're not these monsters that many times were painted to be i mean you're talking out of both sides of your mouth now the bear was like that thing could kill you and these orcas it's like okay no no wait wait wait no what he's doing is playing the results i mean run those orcas next time just like next time the bear would kill him next time those orcas could just kill that lady but listen but but

Chris look at the situation Chris. She's on a board in the middle of the ocean. What are her options? Well, don't do that as a hobby You know you have a bad car accident never drive again you have a bad car accident you never drive again Come on, I have to get in the car to go to work you get eaten by orcas You never go in the water again. Come on. Do we know? You're never gonna go into water again because you're done but the bottom line is this guys these animals are

are not these malicious monsters. We tend to sensationalize these things. You know, the term killer whale is probably a bad connotation in many ways. They're very smart citations. We've heard these instances now where these certain pods are going after some boats out in Portugal. Hey, you never know what spurred them on. You know, just like with people, there are some bad apples in every group. - Bron, I have to drive. I don't need to be New Yorkers.

- Orcas. - If it's something you love, if it's something you feel-- - What was that, near orcas? - I got it, Chris. - And being close to those animals that's exhilarating. Listen, again, I don't wanna be in front of a television with remote control feeling safe just going through a bunch of boring shows. I wanna go out there and live life and experience those things that make my heart beat faster.

Ron, I just recently bought a new kitten and we're slowly introducing our kitten to our cat. And I was wondering if at the zoo you have to do the same sort of thing with lions or tigers because bears become a meat and green territorial. Yeah, where, you know, we're keeping the kitten basically in a separate room for the minute and then we're going to put a little screen up so that they can kind of sniff each other, but they can't

be near each other until, I guess, a week or so in. It sort of depends on how they're feeling. Listen, absolutely we do that with the animals here at the zoo. And many times it takes not just a week, it can take months sometimes to make those introductions. You know, the people have these misconceptions. Oh, heck, it's a male and female. Put them together. They'll do what comes naturally. Couldn't be further from the truth. Many times they'll try to kill each other. Just like humans.

- Just like with people, they generally have to kind of like each other and get along to be able to be paired together. So yes, whenever we have a new animal, it goes through a quarantine period and then it goes through a very subtle introduction period where we, for instance, with our birds, birds are the worst. Pound for pound, birds are the most aggressive vertebrates on the planet. So when we go into our big aviary, for instance, we'll put a bird in a smaller introduction cage

And it's able to be seen by the other birds. It's able to see the other birds, the keepers that can watch the reaction with the other birds, whether they're being aggressive through the cage or not. And then they can decide using their judgment and experience when is the best time to release that bird into the aviary. How many whales, Ron, would be a threat as killers to humans? One.

So that's the only one. And how often do orcas actually kill human beings? How rare is that? And how afraid? I know you tell us that the animals are usually more afraid of us than we are of them. But I had not considered, actually, and this is my fault, I had not considered the orca as a killer whale any more dangerous than any other whale to humans. I didn't think whales were dangerous to humans.

Well, orcas are carnivores. They're cetaceans. Unlike the big whales, the pelagic whales, the humpbacks, things like that, which tend to feed on plankton, they're not feeding on things like the killer whales, which feed on seals and sea lions. So theoretically, a person could be prey, but I personally don't know of any predatory

by a killer whale that's killed a human being. I don't know of any. There may be some, but I don't know in the back of my mind of any. I saw an animal this week I had never seen before. I'd be curious if the room has ever seen this. I am about to show you a monkey that looks like an old man. You guys tell me. Oh, the Jimmy Durante monkey. I bet you it's the Jimmy Durante monkey. Yeah, what? Okay, I should have said that. That would have been funnier. There you go. I'm about to show you a monkey that looks like Jimmy Durante. Okay.

can you guys put up a photo at some point of Jimmy Durante so that people can see this monkey that looks like Jimmy Durante? Uh, that's one of the bigger noses you will find in the animal kingdom. That nose is, uh, seems to be almost, yeah, I think longer than his entire face. What the hell is that, Ron? That's a, that's a proboscis monkey. I actually was able to photograph those things in Borneo. The males are the ones that develop those big noses. Those big noses are a bit of a sexual attraction to the females and the

the bigger nose usually gets the more females. They're a spectacular primate out of Borneo, out of Indonesia, those areas. And like I said, it's the males that get the big noses. The females actually have a little cute nose. He also looks like Mel Brooks, by the way, but continue. Well, I...

All right. Thank you, Ron. Good talking to you. Go ahead. Yes. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. I want to let the listeners know that, listen, if you want to take an amazing trip, I'm going to announce the trip. I'm going to lead a trip to the Galapagos Islands, December 12th through the 20th, right before Christmas. It's going to be an incredible trip. Only 12 people. I'm taking...

Go to the zoo. Go to the zoo's website. It'll tell you how to direct to that trip. I'm going to lead this trip. I've been to the Galapagos several times. It is the trip of a lifetime. If you've never been there, what a great holiday treat for you. Book that trip, man. Do you want to give them the website information in the event that they don't end up in the right place for whatever reason? Sure. Go to zoomyami.org and you'll navigate through there. I don't know exactly how to navigate, but it'll tell you the Galapagos trip. It's like $8,200 per person.

so oh go under travel program under support travel program under the do miami.org but it's like i said it's 8 200 per person it's going to be uh eight days in uh two in quito and six on the galapagos island oh you already got it up there look at that you guys are amazing but i'll tell you this trip is going to be incredible i've been there several times this is the best itinerary i've ever put together right before the holidays you're back before christmas and it's just 12 people limited to that i'm going to be leading on this trip including

Incredible trip. Book it if you want it, maybe. Durante was an Italian man, referred to his nose as the schnozzola. All right. Very good. Thank you, Ron. Good information there, Jeremy. I appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Have a good one.

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