Nov. 28, 2024

Jim Gaffigan on Comedy in the Trump Era, fame and acting

Show Notes
Transcript

In today's Thanksgiving episode of Daily Comedy News, host Johnny Mac highlights Jimmy Fallon's 10th participation in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, including performances from his new album 'Holiday Seasoning'. He also discusses Fallon’s charitable turkey donation initiative with the Jenny O. Turkey Brand. The episode features insights from Jim Gaffigan on avoiding political humor, adapting sets, and his views on being labeled a 'clean comic'. Additionally, Kenan Thompson shares his experiences from his long tenure on SNL, and Andy Samberg praises Thompson's enduring humor. Comedian Joaquim recounts a humorous childhood story and his career aspirations, with a segment about performing at a nudist colony. The episode wraps up with Thanksgiving wishes.

00:12 Jimmy Fallon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
01:33 Jim Gaffigan on Comedy in the Trump Era
02:33 Jim Gaffigan on Being a Clean Comic
03:00 Jim Gaffigan on Fame and Acting
03:37 Kenan Thompson and SNL Memories
06:13 Worst Show Ever: Performing at a Nudist Colony

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media Mattery Thanksgiving. I'm Johnny Mack with your

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daily comedy news. If you're up early. Jimmy Fallon and

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the Roots will be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day

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Parade if it's their tenth time. Fantastic parade. I used

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to go all the time as a kid, when my

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kids were smaller, I would go every now and then.

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You get a sixty degree day in November in New

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York City, and that is a great time to go today.

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Not so sure about that. Jimmy's expected to play a

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few songs from his new album Holiday Seasoning, which features

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two tracks featuring The Roots. They are Hey Rudy and

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New Year's Eve PoCA five four three two one. For

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the first time since twenty ten, Fallon and the Roots

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will be on the Santa Lant Express, which is a

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train shaped float that's been part of the Macy's prate

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since nineteen eighty five. The last two years they were

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on the Winter Wonderland and Central Park Float. Fallon teamed

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up with the Jenny O Turkey brand to donate fifteen

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thousand turkeys to the Food Bank for New York City.

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That's a good cause. I'll roll with it. I'll read

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your press release because he did good work here. Jeff

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Baker is the group vice president of Retail Marketing at

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Hormale Foods and said the Geneo Turkey brand team is

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thrilled to collaborate with NBC Universal as The Tonight Show

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starring Jimmy Fallon to ensure that meals get to those

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in need during the holiday season. This special time of

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year is about giving to others and showing gratitude, and

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we have a long standing tradition of working with organizations

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throughout the country to provide turkeys to those in need.

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We hope to make this Thanksgiving the momentous holiday for

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tens of thousands of families by helping them share a

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meal with the ones they love. The Hollywood Reporter did

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that big fluff job with Jim Gaffigan, and they asked him, Jim,

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it's a very different in America that comedians travel through today.

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Does any aspect of your comedy or the response change

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as you travel? Gavigant said, this is, for lack of

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a better term, the Trump era. When he first won,

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I'd never talk about it, but the guy who opens

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for me, he went through periods where he would and

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people wouldn't respond negatively, they would just look at the ceiling.

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So I stay out of it. People go to shows

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to escape, and there's just a fatigue surrounding the two.

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I did the Al Smith dinner, and I knew it

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was a no win situation, but I said yes, because

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I'm a history buff and a Catholic. I try to

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do it very much down the middle and in the

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spirit of Bob Hope. But there were still people upset.

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I want to be able to look my children in

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the eyes, and I pride myself on a certain amount

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of authenticity. But I really do feel Americas like, we

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don't need to know what you think. They were curious

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about Jim feeling the room and making adjustments on the fly.

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Jim said, there were adjustments. We had this joke about

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RFK Junior. Once you're in the setting, you're like, you

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know what I'm not doing at Cheryl Hines was there

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there's no sense in an innocent bystander getting shrapnel on

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her new topic, Jim, you're considered a clean comic, which

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is a characterization that's always irked you. Why, Jim said,

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the only adjective comedians want is funny with categories on

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a streaming platform, EDGI is more powerful than clean. But

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I'm constantly looking for what to watch while i sit

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next to my twelve year old. By the way, Edgie

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is ridiculous, It's lazy. The Hollywood Reporter editor points out

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on Netflix, Gaffigan specials fall under goofy, marriage and food.

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They are not in the provocative or politically incorrect categase

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New topic. Hollie Reporter said, Hey, a couple of years ago,

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you told Maren that you were comfortable with your level

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of fame, but which should open more acting doors? Has

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that changed? Jim said, the same thing is less about

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ego and more about the opening of opportunity and being

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part of the conversation. But there's this naive expectation of

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the entertainment industry that Tom Hanks is gonna invite you,

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and that doesn't exist. That's said, I love acting. Every

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time I go to Sunday as I'm thinking, all right,

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this is the one I'm gonna be able to play

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Jesse Plemman's older brother. That's very funny. That is a

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great line. Going back to SNL, That's what I wanted

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being at the after party and hanging out with Martin

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Short and John Hamm. I'm not the person who would

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just go to that party if I wasn't on the show.

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Speaking of Saturday Night Live, Entertainment Weekly caught up with

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Keenan Thompson, who said, being in SNL for a long time,

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you watch people come and go, so you have to

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deal with the parting of friendships, that kind of thing,

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the morning of the loss of certain people's presence and

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all that, so there's a lot of bittersweetness to it.

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Andy Samberg said, the wildest thing about Keenan is that

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he was there before I got there, and obviously still

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is there and he still gets me. I'll still be

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watching the show and I've seen his moves, like I

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know what he's gonna do, but it's still and I'll

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do some new stuff. I'm like, has this fool still

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killing it so hard? Seth Myers is petitioning Ben and

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Jerry's to get his own flavor. Seth said it would

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be called a closer lick. We've already mocked up what

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the container would look like. I've sent it to them.

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I've called their offices and left dozens of messages and

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all that happened was one of the interns called and said,

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we already have a flavor named after you. It's called

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Vanilla Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice will stream on Max starting December sixth.

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I already have it in my calendar. There's so many

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movies I want to watch. I actually put them on

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the calendar so that I get around to them now.

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I don't have anything tonight because I have to hang

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out with the family. But let me tell you what

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I write for thirteen days is Friday night, Movie Night,

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and on Saturday, I have Diehard two scheduled. Sometimes I

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lib and wind up watching something else, but that's what's scheduled.

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Imil Joachim is one of Vulture's comedians you should and

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will know. They asked him, He'll tell us a story

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from childhood that might explain why you ended up being

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a comedian, he said. I went to an Irish Catholic

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middle school and then second grade. Our teacher, legit none

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the only one left in the school. I think she

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was genuinely nine years old, decided we should do a

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reenactment of the Stations of the Cross at a class

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play for Easter, and I was randomly picked to play Jesus.

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It was an insane thing, like we did a kid's

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version of the Passion of the Christ. It was their

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idea of a fun thing to invite parents to, like

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my parents took off work to watch their son get

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crucified by twelve white children. I also remember wanting to

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turn down the role because I found that there was

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a scene where I had to wash the apostles feet

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and I had OCD when I was a kid and

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was super germophobic. I told my parents I wanted to

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turn the roll down. They were like, this is great honor,

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you can't So I went through with it. I had

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robes and all that. We walked around the school outside.

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I watched twenty four feet and then was fake murdered

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an unpaid roll not even sag. Which comedian's career would

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you like to follow? He said, I feel like romy

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is the coolest career right now. Being able to work

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on a special in the show and then put it

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out and go back and work on the next thing

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without having to check in every day and post stuff

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all the time online. That seems dope. I think it's

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cool that a lot of comics are moving to non

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La or New York City's at a certain level like

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Chad Daniels, Kyle Kanae and Rory Scovel. Being able to

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tour whenever you want to, your own fans and have

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a house and own land that seems nuts. I'd love

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to have a driveway or a garage one day, having

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a backyard and some string lights. I just need a

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small legal cult of maybe five hundred to one thousand

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people in every major city that'll come see me while

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I'm in town. Worst show ever, he said, This wasn't

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necessarily my worst show, but I did a show at

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a nudist colony in Indiana one time. It was a

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private community in the forest and you had to go

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through a gate to get in. It was a bunch

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of Southern Indiana nudists living in RVs around a campsite.

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They drove little golf carts in the middle of the commune.

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It was like this gazebo where they had events and

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maybe Orgi's or something. Was wild because it was Southern Indiana.

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The show ended up being fun. It was like thirty naked,

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forty to fifty year old just sitting around in mismatched

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chairs in this cabin I remember the first couple of

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minutes of my set, I was doing extremely mediocre, and

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I think it was because they thought I was making

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fun of the lifestyle, which I was. But then I

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told him I'll do a strip poker thing where every

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time a joke didn't work, I'll take off a piece

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of clothing. And then I just pulled my pants down

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around my ankles and did the rest of the set

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in my boxers. They loved it and were super fun

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after that because I like bought into their thing. Yes,

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it is always pander to the audience. This is good.

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I've got more for him than I will save for tomorrow.

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You enjoy the turkey and the football, and I'll meet

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you back here tomorrow. Have a happy Thanksgiving.