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Feb. 22, 2023 - Lionel Nation
01:00:45
How to Distinguish History From Romanticized Nostalgia

I now you can do it.

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Good day, my friend.
Welcome.
Welcome to this version of today's immersion.
This YouTube immersion.
I love that notion of immersion.
Where we get really into something on a live basis.
I trust that this is different than most of the stuff you will read.
And here, I shouldn't say read because nobody reads.
I promise you it will not be the usual hey guys.
I will not be using trite sloganeering.
I will not be saying the usual stuff.
And that of course is problematic because some people like that.
Others don't.
It's part of my My curse.
Spending the rest of my life basically saying things that not everybody understands and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I made my mind up a long time ago.
This is it.
This is the version.
So please like this.
Hit the little like button and the bell so you'll be notified of new occasions such as this.
And please subscribe if you already haven't.
You know that routine.
Let me tell you what happened today.
Maybe you can relate to this.
I got into talk radio in 19...
Actually, officially, 1988.
35 years ago, roughly.
By accident.
By complete accident.
Not out of anything...
I didn't care about radio.
This was kind of before Rush Limbaugh.
Right before Rush.
I mean, Rush was big.
He was there, but he hadn't really blown up yet.
Talk radio was still...
It was local.
It was...
I mean, it was political.
It just didn't have the verb.
And it was frighteningly boring.
Just boring.
And I, throughout my life, always loved doing phone pranks.
Still love phone pranks, but nobody picks up their phone anymore, so phone pranks are a thing of the past.
Not to mention people will know who it is.
Who was doing said prank.
So, I found myself, through just happenstance, calling up on a regular basis, calling up local talk shows in the Tampa Bay area, and I used this term correctly, in the entire Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Pinellas, Hillsboro, that area of the West Coast.
In particular, we had some of the best talk radio anybody's ever seen.
WPLP, WTKN.
Miami was great with Neil Rogers and Alan Burke.
Or was it Burke?
I think it was Burke.
Even Larry King started in Miami.
Florida was in particular.
It was great.
It was territorial.
Talk radio then was similar to professional wrestling before Vince McMahon.
It was territorial.
It was local.
It was great.
Better than anything anybody's ever seen.
And it needed somebody to come in and make fun of the format, which is what I did.
Much like Ernie Kovacs made fun of the limited technology.
Ernie Kovacs did it.
Other people did it.
They came in and they...
I'm not trying to compare myself, but I'm just telling you what I did.
And I loved...
Making fun of the foibles of the limitations of talk radio.
I would call sometimes four, five, six, seven times in a show using different voices.
You had to have different voices.
A little bit different.
And it was so wonderful because it was so precise and behaved.
And so I would call up...
I remember one time coming here to New York, I called up Barry Gray.
Barry Gray was still around.
And he called up and never got to the point.
He used to talk about...
Just make fun of a caller who never got to the point.
And a kind of a voice similar, it's kind of almost many professor-esque, but Mr. Gray, I feel, I wouldn't say that I feel per se, I am aware of that which I believe,
vis-a-vis sentience, as opposed to that of being feeling, or being aware of such, and therefore I provide you this prolegomenon, this proem, this Pray see.
As for that which I initially believed prior to the assumption of the particular point and then would go on and never get to the point.
He never coming off because he was tired, it was late at night.
I thought it was some of the funniest stuff I've ever heard in my life.
And it was obvious to me what I was doing but they didn't realize it.
So anyway, so that was that.
I decided one day through no particular reason for no particular reason I had watched a movie called Scarecrow with Al Pacino.
Al Pacino, Gene Hackman.
It was Al Pacino's movie after Godfather.
It's one of the best movies ever.
He played this character, Francis Lionel Del Bucchi.
Lion was kind of a name.
I saw this.
Prior to calling up, at the time, when you called up this local show, you never had a name.
You were from your town.
Let's go to Plant City.
Let's go to Treasure Island.
Let's go to Pinellas Park.
Whatever the area's town was.
With Lacucci, you're next.
Whoever.
I said, you know, this is stupid.
From now on, and I had called up as this kind of a faux New York-y kind of a sound.
It sounded, I think, much older.
People thought it was an old retiree from Brooklyn or something.
I took on this very...
I listen to it now, and it's horrible.
But it was this very affected New York, Williamsburg kind of accent.
And I said, this is stupid.
I said, from now on, I'm going to be called Lionel.
Boom.
I just said this later on.
And I didn't realize that that name actually caught on because when I had called before, I happened to pick a name, and I had forgotten that, and then they called back, and they said, oh, this is Lionel, and I had forgotten the name.
I said, oh, yes, yes, yes, and the name just stuck.
It just, because I happened to say one day, I was watching this movie, it was in my mind, top of mind awareness, I was thinking the name Lionel, and I needed a name.
These naming places are stupid.
Cleveland, you're right.
Cleveland?
No.
What is this?
All right.
At that point, where we were, that was the beginning of names.
That was my thing.
Period.
Later on, I got this call because people knew who I was.
It was very, very smallish.
Do I want to do a weekend show?
Sundays.
3 to 7, I think it was.
3 to 7?
Yeah.
The afternoon.
One day a week.
You want to do it?
You want to do it?
I'll do it.
To make a long story short, I did it.
One thing led to another.
Went to middays, afternoon drive in New York.
It was a different time.
And there's a reason why I'm telling you all this.
It was exciting.
It was dangerous.
You could get away with so much more than you can today.
You could get away with it because the only thing they really didn't want you to do was don't drop any deliberate F-bomb, any really scabrous stuff.
Don't really.
But short of that, oh.
And you really could be very, very concupiscent, very sexual.
You could do so much stuff.
Not now.
Not today.
Today, talk radio is homogenized.
It's all, you know, iHeartRadio or whatever.
It's just all kind of...
It loses its local flavor.
And the history, the future of it is going to be local talk radio.
Not this, you know, the usual suspects.
God bless them, but I haven't listened in yet.
Why am I saying this?
I call every Monday to my friends in Tampa.
Kind of as a bit of a...
I don't know.
It's kind of nostalgia, which I'll get you.
But I don't even think anybody's listening.
We never have enough time.
The wheel, the clock is so stupid.
This is the amount of segments, you know, to this, this, this.
It's just cluttered and there's no flair.
But I do it because I love the guy.
His name is Jack Harris.
To make a long story short, this station, this...
They are situated at in Tampa, on Gandy Boulevard, right near MacDillan, right near CENTCOM.
They're moving.
And they're saying goodbye from their old station.
And the premise was, do you think that I could come on today and talk about reminiscing?
Okay.
So, help me God, from the time I got on, immediately, well, we're out of time.
It's like one of these things, I don't understand it, and the amount of time that they attribute or contribute to some of the most mindless blather, I have no idea.
But anyway, I was trying to explain what was going on.
And I realized one thing, and this is the reason for today's show.
When you think about history, There are various iterations of it.
Nostalgia, romanticization, and a kind of a reconstruction of history.
Kind of a revisionist, where you are remembering only the good parts.
Only the happy parts.
Or maybe only the bad parts.
Depends upon what you're doing.
You're remembering it in a particular point of view.
And it's one of those things where it's just not very accurate.
And this is what I wanted to tell you about.
I've been telling you for the longest time that life is about balance.
Remember, remember when your kids were little.
Remember what it was like when you were first dating.
Remember what it was like to be in high school.
Remember it.
Acknowledge it.
And forget about it.
When I mean forget about it, I mean don't forget about it.
I mean it has no bearing now.
It's nice, but now you're romanticizing.
My memories of great talk radio are over.
It's done.
It's finished.
It's through.
It ain't coming back.
And that's the way it is.
It gives me a unique perspective because it trained me a lot.
It showed me, oh, this is interesting.
I could do this if ever they let me.
What you are seeing today, and I want to be very, very fair.
What you are seeing across the board, no matter the format, interview, singular, Individual presentation, multiple bunches of people in boxes, whatever.
It wouldn't last a minute on the old days because it is so, please forgive me, so boring.
It is just...
And that's just the way it is.
This is the way it is now.
That's it.
When something works, today, the format condenses and concentrates into the most brutal representation.
For example, DIY.
That kind of show.
I thought, this is interesting.
Very little production.
No writers.
No...
Very low budget.
Get some good camera people.
You can take all the time in the world you want.
This house goes up like this.
You can do post-production.
You have somebody.
And at first it was such a great idea.
Remember that?
Okay.
Now it's one parody of each...
Now it's...
They're just playing, not with the format, but with the hosts themselves.
It is now a parody of itself.
It has reduced itself into...
That's the way we do it.
When something works, we kill it.
We overdo it.
And I wouldn't know this had I not had a different perspective.
Food blogs.
Food blogs have now hit critical mass to the point where you have three different people who are primarily the big shots.
I don't know where these things are going.
I do realize I have a quick saturation level where I get bored immediately.
I say, okay, I got it.
There's nothing.
Intrigue me.
Fool me.
Surprise me.
I'm never surprised.
When do you start saying, I don't feel the uniqueness of this anymore?
Why are we doing this?
The syrupy, anodyne, saccharine couple, grinning from ear to ear over a panini or a falafel, is so gone.
Very, very popular.
Nothing wrong with that.
The unctuous, overly effusive, Sickeningly sweet, nice, happy, whatever it is.
It's over with.
Next, it was so good.
It was so good at first because nobody knew really what it was.
As soon as the format is familiar, it's copied.
And then it becomes a parody of itself.
Now, now that I've said it, so what?
Great, I've analyzed something.
Am I going to convince anybody?
Nope.
Does my opinion mean anything?
Not really.
Does it matter the way we used to do things?
No.
Do you remember when food first started?
What was the first food show?
What was the first one you ever saw?
James Beard.
Remember James Beard?
It was almost comical today.
That was the first one.
And they said, food?
James Beard.
This is before he was James Beard.
Okay, give it a shot.
Julia Tom, French chef.
Galloping gourmet.
And then, off and running.
See what happened?
Then we got into the proliferation of it.
Then we were overwhelmed with it.
See what happens?
The homogenization of something destroys it.
So you can look back to those original days when it was really neat.
You want to hear something before.
You want to hear the Beatles before they were the Beatles.
And they were trying to figure out, who are we?
Before Sgt. Pepper.
What are we doing?
We don't know who we are.
We're not the Beatles yet.
We're not sure.
That's the most exciting.
To go back and listen to talk radio before talk radio was talk radio?
No.
Those days are over.
I'm romanticizing.
It's done.
It's finished.
It's over.
You'll never see it again.
And you don't want to see it again.
It can't exist.
So what I was realizing today was I'm reminiscing about something that is a waste of time.
It is a total waste of time.
And I see things all the time.
I'm thinking, you know what?
If this were different now, if this made sense, if only they were listening to what was going on.
Let me stop you right now.
Let me stop you right now for just a second.
Just a second.
Just a second.
Very quickly.
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Now, when I see what's going on in the news today, what do I think?
I think back to Vietnam.
I think back to the way the news was then.
I have a frame of reference.
I'm not living back then.
I'm not being nostalgic.
I recognize we're not going to go back to that.
But you yourself have to realize this.
You always have to remain.
It's almost like this beautiful troika, that id, superego, inigo, that balance.
You've got the present now.
The past is history.
It's wonderful.
It's great.
It teaches you perspective and judgment.
But we're not going to go back to that.
The future is a little bit differently only because the best you can see with the future is maybe a trend or a pattern.
You see where big box stores are closing?
How about that, honey?
A bunch of them.
What are they?
Party City?
Oh, Mrs. L loves Party City.
Party City to me is one of the greatest examples of...
Just a brilliant idea about how we are celebratory.
What else is there but Bed Bath Me On and Walmarts?
I never thought I'd see this.
Pay attention to this.
Pay attention.
Now, what are we watching?
What are we looking for?
Here's what we need to do.
First, always look and see a couple of things.
How are...
What is the recession doing?
Go to smaller towns.
Do you know what's happening?
Mrs. L called this.
Small towns, kind of Main Street-esque type of things.
Smaller, privately owned companies.
That's making a comeback.
Big time.
Also, when you go to the mall, ask yourself this question.
Are they carrying bags?
When you walk by, look at the checkout.
Are there people at the checkout?
That's good.
You want to really see it?
Go to a cheesecake factory.
Dear God!
This is not cheap.
Packed.
Good sign.
Don't give me things about, well, the consumer, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I want to know about disposable income.
That's what I want to know.
Nothing, nothing is getting in the way of that.
Pay attention to what people are doing.
Watch how this thing works.
Now remember, Does history give you something?
Yes, it gives you perspective.
Don't lament.
Don't be nostalgic, but it gives you perspective.
But notice what's happening.
Pay attention as to what's happening.
We have this friend of ours who are these people that are kind of stuck up.
Kind of stuck up.
They think they're stuck up.
Well, they are stuck up.
They think they're...
I don't know if you know people like that.
They think they're classy, but they're not.
In any event.
I love the essence of America.
And I have no problem with if something is good.
And one of the things which I find the most interesting is when you see places like Dollar Trees and Dollar General and Dollar This and Dollar That.
Look at you.
That's what I would be investing in.
It's becoming one of the biggest food retailers around.
Pay attention.
So we have these friends of ours who say, well, you go where?
Dollar Tree?
Yep.
Dollar Tree.
Oh, well, we don't go there.
Of course you don't go there.
Of course you don't go there.
We know people who shop at stores, grocery stores, for no particular reason.
Same stuff.
Same stuff they're getting, but they like the name of it better.
Oh, no, no, we don't do that.
We don't.
No, no, no.
No, we don't do that.
Shop right?
Oh, no.
What are some other ones?
Acme, we love.
What else is another one, too?
Yeah.
Stop and shop.
Stop and shop.
No.
No, we don't.
No, no.
We go to other...
I'm not going to mention their name.
Okay, fine.
Be that way.
I cannot tell you.
Again, maybe it's because I have history and perspective.
I'm looking at what's happening right now in terms of how merchandise is done, what people are buying, what people are selling.
In New York, let me tell you about what's happening here.
Everything is delivered.
This is Manhattan.
I don't know about the outer borough.
I don't know.
Everything is delivered.
Delivered.
If you ever find yourself here, before you worry about crime, before you worry about anything, what do you have to worry about?
What's the number one fear?
The number one fear I warn everybody about.
And they look at me, they kind of laugh.
It's being hit by an e-bike, one of these delivery.
The delivery economy is un...
Go to any building.
You'll see.
They have these e-bikes and they have these plastic bags where you put your hand in for the controls.
They have mittens and they're wrapped in plastic and they're all over the place.
They are everywhere.
They are everywhere.
They don't follow any rules.
They don't think you have to stop for red lights.
This is delivery like you cannot believe.
No matter how little, no matter how big, it doesn't matter.
Amazon, in the streets, dedicated to people, they work their behinds off.
Like, you cannot believe.
Go to a Whole Foods, who are most of the people there?
The shoppers who are preparing the orders for delivery.
This is the biggest thing in the world.
This is the biggest economy.
Ever.
This is just, and it's not cheap.
It's huge.
Huge.
I'm telling you.
Now I've got, again, friends who say, well, we don't.
I don't know what they think class is or whatever, but we're noticing things.
Notice what's happening.
Notice.
Here's something for you.
Have you ladies noticed this?
This is my favorite.
Do you remember when your mother went to a beauty parlor?
Do you remember this?
It was in your town.
They had barbershops and a beauty parlor.
Kind of sort of thing, right?
Is that what you called them?
They weren't even a salon then.
No, they were beauty parlors.
Beauty parlors.
This is where your mom went.
Few of them.
And they had those big...
Those dryer devices, you know, you put your head in there and it lowers it with these canisters over your head.
And I don't think my mother ever wanted to do it.
I mean, maybe once.
I mean, she...
No.
No.
It's just...
A lot of people didn't do this.
Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
We were just...
We weren't poor.
We were just middle...
I don't know anybody who did that, but it was what they did.
You maybe saw one there, maybe you saw one there.
Today, in New York, now I know this is a bad example, what you will notice all the time, banks on every corner, not so much now, maybe even now, but nail salons.
Nail salons every corner, two, three, on a street.
Now, I've got my suspiciousness of what's really going on there, but that's me.
Today, ladies, blowouts, salons, every corner, and now these places where you go to get your hair dyed, and it's unbelievable.
Seemingly endless.
Salon after salon.
And for you to invest your money here, that's a lot.
The rent, you've got to turn this over.
Isn't that something?
What does that mean?
What does that tell you?
And the best part is there are people today, young people, who don't care anything about the way it used to be.
They don't care about Mr. Remember Vidal Sassoon?
Remember, what was his name?
Jose Ebert.
Remember that?
These names...
Who are the other names?
The big...
Fidel Sassoon.
Jose Ebert.
The guy with the hat.
Who?
Nobody cares about that now.
Look where the money is.
Look where it is.
Blowouts.
I mean, early in the morning, people on their way to work.
Fat.
Big.
Big.
Every, every, every, every corner.
Another thing too is, now that COVID is, people are coming back, I'm doing a lot of air quotes here, dry cleaning's back.
Dry cleaning took a big hit.
By the way, first rule, don't dry clean.
Really think about this.
Men, if you have a suit, don't dry clean.
Steam it.
You never, if you, I've got stuff, I've never dry cleaned.
Never.
Why do you want to dry clean?
Just, I threw that one out for you.
Chipotle.
Huge!
So what am I saying?
What am I saying?
Number one, I just told you what it used to be.
I don't want to lament about the way there were beauty products.
Who cares?
But I don't know what's happening now unless I have a historic reference.
It doesn't mean anything.
And if you're 20 years old, it doesn't mean anything.
So what?
It doesn't.
Talk radio will never be back on AM the way it used to be.
Never.
It's going to have to be different.
It's never going to be back.
Howard Stern shock jocks are over.
There's nothing shocking.
Let me say this again to you.
Nothing shocking.
That was then.
I was there during a part of that.
It was kind of interesting.
When Don Imus passed away, they did a retrospective of Don Imus.
And they said, here were his.
He was so cantankerous.
And he was so...
He said things that weren't shocking.
They were sometimes stupid.
He was caught off guard.
But anyway, I listened to it.
I'm thinking, this is shocking?
This is shocking?
No.
To people right now who are listening to, if you heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time, you might say to yourself, well, it's okay.
You don't know what this was.
You don't know how big this was.
But, here's the balance.
That was then, this is now.
It's a different world.
So here's what I'm trying to tell you.
Here is my beautiful message to you.
Everything is balanced.
Perspective.
I've been listening over the...
I'm hooked.
I go through these phases.
I love Richard Norton Smith.
His lectures about presidents, John Tyler, and what will people say?
What will people say about Trump or Jimmy Carter or Reagan or Obama?
What will history say?
Not people now.
What will history say?
What fascinates me...
It is what history says about somebody that I remember.
And my recollection of history is not what they're saying now.
Harry Truman is now beloved.
Harry Truman left with one of the lowest favorability ratings in history.
In history.
So what happened?
Why is he loved?
What happened?
If I didn't tell you that fact...
And I didn't live through Harry Truman, but I do know this fact.
I wouldn't be able to tell you, whoever the president is now that you're thinking of, doesn't matter.
You have no idea what history is going to do.
Because history, as Tolstoy said, would be a wonderful thing if only it were true.
People still don't understand.
I cannot tell you the benefit of having lived through the Vietnam era.
I was from like 7 to 18 and missed it by this much.
And I saw it.
And it saturated my life and my music and my culture and my songs and my world and peace signs and POW bracelets and everything.
Vietnam was everywhere.
Everywhere.
Not in terms of...
Not protest, per se, but it was something that I saw.
And I will never forget how everybody was going crazy when, during LBJ, when Walter Cronkite, during, I believe, the Tet Offensive said, and he said nothing.
He just said, it was seismic.
Seismic!
Incredible!
LBJ said if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.
Is there anything like that today?
No, but so what?
Now it's the accumulation.
Now we have people who are so distracted by so much, it doesn't really matter.
That scares me the most.
Too much information.
Too much white noise.
Too much clutter.
Too much...
Balance.
Balance.
I watch...
Look at what's happening right now.
Say, being in an aircraft and seeing dials and gimmicks that are...
Not gimmicks.
What am I seeing?
Gadgets.
Gimmicks.
Gadgets.
How many do you need?
Do I need all this?
This is confusing.
Just give me a red light.
Just give me a red light.
I don't want to read gauges.
Just tell me when something's like...
It's like in a hospital.
Some kind of a...
That's all.
That's all.
Just give me a light.
Just give me something.
That's all.
Are you following this?
Are you catching on right now?
Or are you overwhelmed?
People send me stuff all the time.
Minutia.
Did you see this YouTube story about this?
You've got...
To see this.
You're looking at one little gauge on the instrument panel.
Why is this story so good?
I don't know.
But I just want you to know that I know this.
I'm going to go now, Don Corleone.
I'm going to leave you alone.
I don't know what I'm doing, but I wanted to let you know this I know.
Hey, here's something about the bimetallism.
Bretton Woods, the gold standard.
I want to send that to you.
What does this mean, Jerry?
I don't know.
That's where we are today.
We are awash in minutia.
Did you see that?
They say it's breaking news.
Jerry, everything's breaking news.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Jerry, do you understand perspective?
No, I don't, really.
I don't.
I don't know.
I'm just reacting to everything.
Take it easy, Jerry.
Have a seat.
Relax.
There's a lot going on.
Where's that red light?
Where's that...
that alarm that goes on?
A lot of data coming in.
A lot of data.
Did you ever see a blood result?
Blood test when you go get your...
What the hell is it?
What?
Don't worry about that.
Bun levels?
What does this mean?
Well, why are they doing it?
I don't know.
This is the number you want.
Look for the thing that says...
That's what you want.
So where do you go for that?
How do you know?
In the old days, I know this doesn't matter, but when I was a young 'un, anything on TV was big!
It was like, okay, we have little time now.
I got three stories, and these are the biggest stories you better listen to.
We have an editor, we have a news editor who edited this, and you got to listen to this.
I only have half an hour, so you listen to this.
Sometimes they didn't even do sports.
This story is big, and you had Richard Thrill killed.
Terrible graphics, but they told you.
People with suits, and they sounded like professors, and you knew, if this guy's saying it, did Cronkite say it?
Yeah, it's important.
Not anymore.
Now it's everything.
1980, 1979, CNN came along.
24-hour news.
I was there.
I was there.
There was a guy years ago, he used to come to the news director and say, boss?
Yeah, Jerry, listen.
I got an idea.
Things in your...
Bathroom that can kill you.
We have a bacteriologist who went and he took a loop, took a sample of your toilet and your toothbrush, and he wanted to see what parts of your bathroom have the most bacteria.
Jerry?
Yeah, boss.
Barry, Jerry, you know, this is the bathroom.
Do you know what I do in the bathroom?
Yes.
I think we're going to find a little bacteria in there.
You know what?
We don't have time.
I've got a half an hour.
I have the world that is imploding.
We don't have time for things in your bathroom that can kill you.
Okay?
I don't know what you're thinking, but it's just maybe in a different world, okay?
Enter Ted Turner.
Enter CNN.
Jerry, do you have that thing about the bathroom yet?
Can you make it a five-part or why?
Because I'm going 24-7.
And I've got to feed this beast, and I don't know what the hell I'm going to...
I don't know what this...
Can we bring in everybody?
Hey, can you bring...
Remember this woman?
She used to be on CNN.
She talked like this.
She was like the funny...
I don't know what her name was.
She had a voice like this and she...
She was like Andy Rooney.
You ever have a hard time getting a child-proof cap off this?
We ask a child that...
Why?
They had to feed it.
Feed the maw.
Feed the machine.
Feed it!
Feed it!
Just anything.
Anything.
It doesn't matter.
Just give us something.
It doesn't matter.
Content.
No editing.
Content.
Do a three-parter.
Do a repeat.
Just keep doing it.
Here's another one.
You didn't hear it from me.
I wouldn't be surprised.
I wouldn't be surprised if somebody says, hey listen, Jerry, you're the anchor.
Listen, Jerry, we are running out of time and running out of money and running out of interest.
Nobody seems to care.
Jerry, we're going to suspend you.
For what?
Doesn't matter, just listen.
Jerry, we're going to have a bunch of people on your set who are going to complain about the way you handle something.
Did it really happen?
No.
But here's what we're going to do.
We're going to put this out that you've been suspended.
That there's a real row going on.
That you have different people who want your head.
And we'll be stretching this story.
We're going to suspend you.
And then we're going to bring you back.
And then we're going to feed it to the news platforms.
So they'll talk about it.
So people will talk about us.
And maybe watch this God Forsaken show.
You got that?
Am I fired?
No, you're not fired.
But just work with us on this, okay?
But what about my career?
Jerry, you don't have a career.
There is no career.
We've got to make this.
And you, come here.
You two are having a bit of a romance, right?
Yeah, okay.
It's not against the law.
It's been happening since day one.
We're going to stretch this baby out as much as possible.
We're going to stretch this thing.
We're going to make it...
And then, you're going to go on into some kind of a, I don't know, something, maybe Mexico, have some kind of a vacation, and then you're going to call the paps, the paparazzi, and they're going to be there to see you as you, whatever it is, and then we might enjoy the residual benefit of that, because people say, hey, didn't they used to work at this?
Because we need all the help we can get.
What do you say?
Think that's beyond possible?
You don't think that's beyond?
You don't think so?
How about news sources that do nothing but say, did you hear what he said?
No, I didn't.
Did you watch, there's one show, I'm not going to mention it, you know it.
It's about, did you hear what she said?
She said that she believes, I'm not going to believe this, he said that he believes in black holes in our atmosphere.
Did you see this?
Let's play that back.
Well, Jerry, today on this show, one of our, said that he believes, Now we're talking about stories about what somebody said.
Now, perspective.
Let's go back.
Where'd this come from?
Dick Clark.
Remember this?
Bloopers and practical jokes.
Remember that?
Bloopers.
It was a blooper reel.
Oops.
Today, the news is a blooper reel.
The show is a blooper.
Media shows telling you, did you hear what he said?
Let's play that back.
Did you hear this?
This is the most critical.
Social media says, let's make a meme out of it.
Let's TikTok it.
Let's do this.
When I was a kid, it was a blooper.
It was okay.
It was good for one time.
Okay, so he didn't say, remember the old joke, can I get two tickets to Pittsburgh?
Remember that?
This is the news now.
Why?
We're 24-7.
and social media.
So, You may not think about this.
You may not care about this.
But all of a sudden, I'm watching my TV show.
And you might have heard Mrs. L's phone sometimes.
It just goes off.
And all of a sudden, they're playing something.
And all of a sudden, somebody decided the short came along.
The short was the greatest thing in the world.
Eventually, there's going to be just a sound.
That's it.
It's a short.
People are making, you ever see this?
Here's how I make.
Creme brulee.
And they take these and you see it so fast.
Am I supposed to write this?
What was that?
Was that a blowtorch?
What is this?
Wait a minute.
Next.
Next what?
I didn't see it.
What is this?
This is a cooking show.
I don't know what it is.
What was that?
Play it again.
You've got to go swipe back.
Okay, here we go.
Okay, we've got three eggs.
And there's a blowtorch.
Is this a blowtorch?
A lot of blowtorches.
Okay.
But a while back, all of a sudden, I saw this song.
And I found it.
And it starts off.
Some woman, usually in the kitchen, doing this...
And they start doing this synchronized dance to this song.
And I'm thinking, what is the purpose of this?
I don't know.
Four million likes.
What am I liking?
What is this?
Dun, dun, dun.
Dun, dun, dun.
What?
What?
What is this?
What are we doing?
In my...
I...
I'm thinking...
When I was a kid, we had...
Remember Playboy After Dark?
Remember laughing?
Remember the way the dancers...
There was this one guy who would do this kind of dancing.
Remember that?
They would do all...
I loved it.
Today we got this...
They're wearing socks in the kitchen.
Great.
I've got perspective.
You think nothing of it.
I'm thinking, oh my God.
Oh my God.
This is the devolution of our...
But, but, but, we're seeing great music.
Have you seen...
It might be the same...
Forgive me, I didn't catch the name.
There's a little Japanese girl.
She might be eight years old.
Playing drums to, like, Kashmir, you know, Led Zeppelin.
Dear God!
Girls playing bass licks and playing lead guitar, that is fantastic!
Great!
Unbelievable!
We didn't have that then.
That's good.
The music and instruction.
How many times have you heard the term pentatonic?
Pentatonic!
It's a pentatonic.
Here's a pentatonic.
Here's the lead.
I didn't know this.
I couldn't play lead to save my life.
Now, if I knew, it's wonderful.
How do I know this?
Perspective.
We didn't have this.
I used to go to a music store.
Told her how to play the guitar.
Went to a music.
They had the lessons in the back.
The guy called me Greg.
With a book.
I don't need this then.
You can do this.
This is perspective.
I love this.
You want to know how to cook?
This is good.
Slow it down a little bit.
It's wonderful.
Who can watch a show?
Can you watch Rachel Ray today?
Can you?
I never really could in the first place, but compared to what we're seeing right now, no.
No.
I'm addicted to South Korean.
Is it South Korean?
South Korean Japanese?
Have you seen them make eggs and omelets in Japan?
Dear God!
In the box with the lower and the thing with the egg.
Phenomenal.
Phenomenal.
I'm thinking if there's a culture that I can relate to the most, it's Japanese.
So polite.
I love this.
I love this.
My friends, what I'm trying to tell you, despite this rambling discourse, seemingly rambling to you, is that you may not notice how great something is because it's new to you.
I know how great it is because I can compare.
Because I've got perspective.
My history is never going to replicate.
I understand that.
I'm not lamenting.
I'm not saying, oh, where's...
No, no, no, no.
Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't.
But I wouldn't know.
We, my generation, we went through, we had 78. We had a little record player that had 16, 32, 30, no, 16, 33, 78. Who played 16?
We had 16. What was this?
Hey, you got any 16 records?
What was the 16 for?
33, I got 78, yeah, yeah.
I went from that.
To the stereo.
To the cassette.
Reel to reel.
A-track.
Quadraphonic.
Every conceivable form of floppy disk you can imagine.
To the advent of the internet.
To the advent of websites.
Dial-up modems.
High speed.
Wi-Fi.
I love it!
And one of the reasons why I love it?
Perspective.
History.
History invigorates me.
I'm not living in the past.
I'm not.
I love it.
I appreciate it.
Because I know this.
If you're too young, you don't get it.
Plus, I know how to work things better knowing the difference.
Does this make any sense to you?
I hope so.
If it doesn't, what are you going to do?
Now let's talk about one thing.
Some things that just don't change.
Pillows.
Haven't changed it.
Think about it.
They haven't changed it.
And MyPillow is it.
I love when somebody comes along and says, this is it.
MyPillow right now, promo code Lionel, is so smart and so good.
You get a free gift by going there and signing up and looking and reading and finding about this.
Remember when you had catalogs?
Remember the Peterman catalog?
Remember S&H catalog?
That's what this is.
This is a catalog here.
And you think, wow.
Wow.
I never thought so much.
So much was determined and fixed and focused on, basically, sleep.
Yes.
So they're our promoter.
They promote us, they support us, and we support them.
MyPillow.com.
Promo code Lionel.
Use promo code Lionel.
L-I-O-N-E-L.
And it's 800-645-4965 if you want.
And finally, finally, finally, finally, my friends, emergency food.
In my perfect world, I'm going to say, emergency food.
Got it!
I'll take some.
Would you like me to explain how emergency food works?
Nope.
My pantry supply, preparewithlino.com.
Got it!
Don't you want me to explain?
No!
It's called emergency food, right?
Food that we need to save our lives in the case of an emergency?
Yeah.
You don't have to sell me on that.
Don't you want me to tell you about it?
No!
What am I, an idiot?
Tell me where to sign up.
Preparewithlionel.com.
Okay.
Go there and read.
$250 on a three-month emergency.
Best deal since 2019.
Okay, got it.
What was that again?
PrepareWithLionel.com.
We're going to get it.
Why?
Emergency food?
Hello?
Nobody says emergency marshmallows.
No.
Emergency napkins?
No.
Emergency food?
Yes.
It's rather self-explanatory.
My friends, I want you to understand something.
You're getting older.
You're getting older, and that's great.
And with it is wisdom.
Judgment.
Maybe not wisdom.
It's judgment.
It's judgment.
I've seen this before.
I've seen this.
I know all about this.
You have to have lived through Vietnam.
I saw this.
And you realize, wow!
Wow!
This is very interesting.
I see the advent of things.
I remember when running!
When we...
When people said, hey, we can go out and jog.
Jog?
You want to jog?
Jim Fix.
Remember this running?
Remember that?
The running craze.
Remember PM Magazine?
You know, the running craze is...
I remember walking.
They had walking.
They didn't really catch on as much, but they had walking magazine.
Yeah, walking magazine.
Walking!
Remember when Evian and Perrier first came out?
Do you remember this?
Do you remember we were the first ever to have Perrier water?
We had Perrier.
Why?
Because The family was in the liquor business.
Nobody even knew about this.
People come over and say, what's this?
It's water.
I remember this.
It's sparkling water.
You mean club soda?
No, it's not club soda.
What is it?
It's water.
Why do you want water?
It's in a green bottle.
I don't give a damn what bottle it is.
I remember this.
And then people say, if you want a glass of water, did you ever have a jug in the water?
And you're just a jug.
And you had to fill it up.
Remember that one?
Had to fill up the ice trays.
Had to fill it up.
Don't leave it.
Bill Cosby did a great routine of him.
I remember this.
Somehow we weren't.
Now, then, everybody had to have the water.
You brought the water with you.
You got the water in your bag.
I got the water.
I got the water.
Make sure you got your water.
You want an extra water?
Would you like a water?
How did we live?
Nobody ever had.
We had a water fountain.
And a hose.
You just never...
That was the greatest thing ever.
That was one of the most brilliant.
Do you know what it's like to be able to say, I remember water.
I swear to you.
Even then I'm saying, I can't believe what I'm saying.
So whenever there's a new fad, it made me aware of watching new fads.
That's all.
So my friend, the moral of the story is very simply this.
Please.
Do yourself a favor.
Do yourself a favor and pay close attention.
Don't get too bent out of shape if something happens.
Make sure you have something where you read the alarm button.
Make sure you also look at citizen, civilian, alternative, and foreign media.
You get a better balance.
Let me also tell you, I've got a brand new, oh, I got a beauty coming out today about, I think, 3 o 'clock Eastern Time.
It's a newsletter.
Sign up for this.
It's a beaut.
It's a beaut.
It's like a pastiche, a myriad, a mosaica, a cornucopia, a melange of little thought orts and morsels.
It's beautiful.
Just gorgeous.
Also, this is important, Mrs. L's newsletter.
We're working on this one just before we came on board.
We're putting it together.
Parents, grandparents, and caregivers, this is it.
This is how to keep your kids safe.
Digital safety, lens warriors, you follow that.
And you follow that.
Alright, my friends.
Remember one thing.
You need me every day to give you perspective.
Think of this as a spiritual means of awakening.
You need me to tell you.
Here is your...
Please have this guy Seed for the Sower before the show, before the TV shows would go out.
Remember this late at night?
This guy was from Metairie, Georgia.
Seed from a sower and he would...
He would say, before we realize where we are, remember the parable of the man on the beach.
He was walking along and found footprints that didn't belong to him.
I think, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
I used to think, was that God?
That's not the way I heard it.
It would always confuse me.
I thought this was so funny.
This is supposed to be my last little thought before we go off to slumber in our MyPillow for chaos.
And they would always give us this vague stuff about, I don't know why, and then they would have the Star Spangled Banner, and then the Indian, and the...
The test pattern.
What's a test pattern?
TVs went off!
There was no TV.
The Late Show.
I remember this.
It gives me perspective.
I don't want to go back to that.
But you don't know what to look for now if you don't have a frame of reference in it.
I've said enough.
My friends, you have a great and a glorious day.
Don't ever change.
I mean that sincerely.
Thank you so much for spending time with me today.
I love your thoughts, your comments, your insight, and your perspectives.
See you tomorrow.
Same bat time, same bat channel.
9 a.m. Eastern Time.
Until then, remember...
The monkey's dead.
The show's over.
Sue ya.
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