March 30, 2026

Arsenio Hall talks to Conan O'Brien about Jay Leno

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac delivers daily comedy news, highlighting Arsenio Hall’s Conan O’Brien appearance where they revisit Jay Leno’s Tonight Show history while noting Leno’s participation in an abused-animals benefit and referencing his 2019 “Standup for Animals” remarks. The show addresses Bert Kreischer claiming Dollywood is closing; a Newsweek fact check says the park only closed early for a few hours and is not shutting permanently. Mark Normand tells the LA Times a “best of gay porn” VCR label in his special was a friend’s joke, discusses his stage fist pump, avoiding overly kid-focused material, how comedy gives him purpose, and his view that comics chase virality due to booking pressures while advocating a middle ground on internet clips. Other items include Comedy Survivor results coming at noon Eastern, recommendations (Joe Dombrowski; Last One Laughing UK), Diane Morgan’s rail safety video comments, Noah Gordon Schwartz’s YouTube series on prediction markets, and Melbourne comedy festival show notes.

00:19 Arsenio and Conan Talk Leno
02:03 Dollywood Closing Rumor
03:16 Newsweek Fact Check
03:50 Mark Normand LA Times Q&A
06:09 Comedy Survivor and Watch Picks
06:35 Diane Morgan Rail Safety
07:41 Prediction Markets Comedy Series
08:28 Melbourne Fest Highlights

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This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Happy Monday. I'm Jutnimack with your daily

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comedy news, daily briefing on stand up comedy, comedians and

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the comedy industry. A sentence the Algorithm loves. Arseniel Hall

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was on Conan O'Brien. They started talking about the worst

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person who ever lived, Jay Leno or Sanuel. Hall said

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he was relieved to be welcomed into Conan O'Brien studio

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because the previous evening he had spent time with Jay Leno.

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Those two have done a few shows together. Arseniel Hall

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told ConA last night, me and Howie Mandela arrived in

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Beverly Hills to do a benefit for abused animals with

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Jay Leno. Yeah, Jade's like, what a horrible guy doing

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a benefit for abused animals. Now, I'm not sure what

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this benefit was because Jay Leno the worst person who

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ever lived. He's not going around going everybody look at me,

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how cool I am? He's just doing benefits now. I

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did find this story from twenty nineteen. I think it

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is yes, and back in twenty nineteen, jay Leno was

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at an event called Stand Up for Animals. Back in

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twenty nineteen, the worst person who ever lived. Said, in

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these divisive times, there's one thing that brings all people together,

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a public and democrat, libertarian, no matter who you are,

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and that's animals. I mean, all humans just have a

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need for animals. They help cure people, they help us

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have fun, they put us in a good mood. And

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here's a chance for us to do something for him

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and Chilean, he's the worst, right anyway, Arsenio says, So

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last night, about eight o'clock, I'm thinking, get to bed,

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get up tomorrow, Duke Conan, and I'm looking at Jay

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Leno in this green room, and I don't keep up

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with all white folks business, but I do remember that

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y'all had friction. You may recall Jay Leno was the

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host of the Tonight Show and then Conan hosted it

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for five minutes, and then Jay Leno came back. If

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you listen to this podcast, you're probably familiar with the story.

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So I will move on, Arsenio said, I thought about it.

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I'm like, WHOA. I hope Conan doesn't hate me because

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Jay's like a big brother to me, and we fought too.

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Me and Jay were like Canaan Abel. Conan O'Brien said,

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water under the Bridge. This is gonna sound so corny,

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but I'm so happy with my life and I get

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to do all the things I want to do, and

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honestly don't think about any of that stuff. Is Dollywood

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closing now? No one thinks it is, except Bert Kraser,

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who said this on a podcast with Luke Comb's. Bert

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Krascher and Luke Combs were discussing the difference between fame

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and celebrity in which country star fits into each category.

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Bert Krescher asked Luke Combs, hey, have you ever met

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Dolly Porton? And if he had visited the theme park

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as a child, then Bert says, it's one of the

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best theme parks in the entire world. I'm so sad

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it's closing. It's a theme park with a thumbprint, and

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that thumb print is Dolly. It is authentically Appalachia. The

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topography of the park is very hilly, and so even

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with large crowds, you get a good workout. And all

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the food is Appalachia, and so the smells are unlike

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any other theme park. Plus the rides are awesome. It's

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such a great park. Now you might be like John

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why'd you say Appalachia not Appalachia. Well, as I have learned,

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in the central of the Southern region, people tend to

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say Appalachia, while in the North, where you Yankees live,

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you people from New York City say Appalachia. So I'm

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trying to be correct. I may have made things worse.

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Should have probably just sat Appalachia. Lu Comb said she

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definitely stayed true to her East Tennessee roots. She's always

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been a huge proponent of the region and has installed

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that spirit in Dollywood. You know what I'm going to

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call out friend of the show, Scott Beckett. Scott, help

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your Yankee friend pronounce words, Shoot me a note, text

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me bro. Newsweek ran a fact check. The fact check

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is is Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park closing permanently? They

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report Dolly Parton's theme park Dollywood had to close early,

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just days into a new season, in a development that

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sparked confusion online. The park had been due to close

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at eight pm on Monday, March sixteenth, but according to

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an update posted on Instagram, it closed at five pm.

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The fact check by Newsweek says Dollywood has not been

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closed permanently. It was shut for a few hours. It

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is possible that Bert Krescher was wrong. Mark Norman's talk

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to The La Times. They were curious about at the

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beginning of Mark Norman's special, a tape goes into VCR

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in case you missed it, and I did. The tape

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is labeled best of Gay Porn, and The LA Times

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asked the very important question, were there any other working

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titles for that tape? Norman said, no, My dumb friend

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edited it and put that in himself as a little

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easter egg. He thought it'd be funny, so I had

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nothing to do with that. I was a big skateboarder

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in my youth and I told him I wanted a

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tape in a VCR like an old skate video, so

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that's what he did. Thanks for catching it. They were

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also curious about Mark Norman throwing his fist in the

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air from time to time? Is that a tribute to Rocky?

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Mark said, I don't know where I got that from.

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There's really no story behind it. I just got pumped

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up to do comedy. The LA Times. Yeah, sometimes when

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comics become parents, the material goes straight to kids say

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the funniest things. But you're still feels pretty horned up,

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but not overly kid heavy. Mark said, that's news to me.

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Now I was conscious of that. I didn't want to

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be the Aushuck's dad. Kids are so crazy comics. I

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appreciate you noticing that. I don't know about the charged

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up part though. You know, Louis c k is the

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best with that. He has a ton of kid stuff,

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but it's still, you know, throwing your kids at a

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dumpster and all that. So that was kind of min

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nord star. They're curious about all of Mark's projects. He said,

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I'm a weirdo and I like to work. He used

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to be a janitor and I used to move furniture.

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So podcasting and stand up is not so bad. You

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talk about having a job. It is a lot, and

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I have no free time, but I don't mind it.

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I hang out with my two friends. We do a

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pod together each so that's how we get to hang out.

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Now we monetize it, so that's something. And then the

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stand up, I actually just love doing it, love of

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the game. If I wasn't doing it, like during COVID,

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I wanted to put a gun in my mouth, I

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felt like I had no self worth. I just started

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drinking every day and doing drugs. Comedy gives me some meaning,

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which is kind of sad, but that's how I'm wired.

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If I have nothing to work towards, I'll just collapse

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in on myself. They asked him about what's standing out

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with the newer comics coming up another good question, he says,

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I think comics are chasing going viral. I get it though.

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Everybody wants the followers, everyone wants the views, but they're

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not really chasing good jokes or quality comedy. Let's say

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that's a big thing, but it's not even the young

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comics fault because you hear the clubs say stuff like

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we need a comic with a lot of followers or

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we won't book you, so they're scrambling to get followers.

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But I'm on fashion and young comics are probably gonna

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make fun of me. But I think the cream tends

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to rise. So if you're killing, you're writing good stuff,

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and you're getting up the right people will notice you eventually.

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I think the old guard, like Louis c k and Seinfeld,

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these guys are all very against the Internet. They're like,

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get off the Internet, and I'm saying, no clip cell

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tickets both extremes, the young and the old. I think

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we need a little bit of readjusting towards the middle.

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Coming up at noon Eastern today, the results of Comedy Survivor.

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As I speak to you right now into your ears,

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I have no idea who was voted off. I think

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I know because I look at the Facebook groups sometimes,

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but I don't actually know yet. I didn't produce the

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episode yet, but it will be out at newon Eastern today,

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out today. If you need something to watch, Joe Dombrowski's

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Dad on Arrival, available via early access on the eight

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hundred Pound Gorilla. I'll also encourage you to watch Last

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One Laughing UK on Amazon. One of the comedians on

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there is Diane Morgan. She's currently also storing in a

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train railways. Is that redundant train railway? Could you have

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just said railway? Leave it in train Railways? Inaugural safety

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video it is called Travel Safe with Diane Morgan, she said,

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at first I thought it was a mad idea asking

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me because I thought, am I the right person for this?

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And then I thought it'd be an interesting challenge to

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do something like this two people every single day or

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getting injured. I had no idea is that high, So

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don't run down a platform whatever you do, or try

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to throw yourself between the doors. Diane's trying to work

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out more. She said, I went through a phase last

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year of running, but then when it got really dark

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and cold, I stopped. Amen's sister Johnny Mack had a terrible,

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terrible winter for running. But it's still forty degrees out.

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If it ever gets warm again, I promise you I'll run.

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Even bought new shoes. Diane says, I'm so busy throughout

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the day. It's difficult to find a time when you

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can go. But I really need to start doing something.

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They all start doing yoga at home or something. We're

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lifting weights. That's meant to be good, isn't it. I

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like this Diane Morgan. I find her very funny. I

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don't find her to the worst person to watch on TV,

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if you know what I mean. And she says, I'm

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starting getting in age where I just hate anything modern

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as well. She may be perfect. Noah Gordon Schwartz will

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be launching a weekly comedy series tracking the craziest elements

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of the new trend of prediction markets. You may know Noah.

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He wrote all five seasons of The Marvelous Missus Masel.

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He's hosting The Spreadsheet twelve part series on YouTube in April.

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Each episode will track the week's most votable prediction contracts

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across pop culture, sports, and global affairs. Noah says social

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media first allowed people to voice their opinions about anything. Now,

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prediction markets actually allow people to try to make money

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off those opinions. Or you know, sometimes there's some things

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that happen five minutes before the markets open or five

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minutes after the market's closed, and there's some sort of

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international thing and there's some trades, and you know, somebody

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just guessed well and made a ton of money. That's

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been happening a lot lately, So maybe you can talk

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about that stuff. Shut up, Sean, Okay, let's see what's

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happening at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Melbourne Arts says

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Sammy Jay's Hero Complex is one of the most memorable

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comedy shows they've ever seen. Five star review. It's about

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Sammy Jay's lifelong obsession with the comic strip character of

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the Phantom, and it described as a heartwarming hour of

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constant grinning, chuckling and laughing punctuated with revelations that may

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just blow your mind. Sam Nicorestes Baby Joomer Troutle describes

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it as who knew a show about finding the perfect

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two piece skirt suit would be so uproariously funny, life firming, angry, dumb, insightful,

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and political all at once. Babydomer at the Weston until

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April nineteenth, And that is your comedy news for today.

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Coming up in noon Easter and the results of Comedy

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Survivor See you then,