“There’s only one thing to talk about today,” Larry O’Connor tells me at the start of our show today, “Hunter got off.” Fortunately, we found a lot more to discuss, including the Sussex-Spotify split and the latter’s description of the former as “f*****g grifters.” We’re both stunned at the allegation — thus far not quite proven — that Duchess Meghan may have faked doing podcasts. “They had a staffer ask the questions and then splice her voice in later,” Larry explains and then asks, “Where do I get a gig like this? Where can I marry a royal, please? This is amazing.” And then Larry ruins it all with his take on Evan Almighty … or so I argue.
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Welcome back to our VIP video series “Off the Beaten Path,” featuring my friend Larry O’Connor! The Townhall columnist and Salem News Channel host starts off our week by discussing stories and ideas that may fly under our radar, in culture, politics, sports, and more. Plus, Larry previews tonight’s SNC show!
Highlights from today’s show:
- “Where do you get a gig like this?” I ask about the Meghan Markle podcast allegations. “It almost reminds me of — who was the guy that used to do all of those gag news report things back in the day, and they would intercut like clips from popular songs as the responses?” I couldn’t recall the artist at the time (and clearly thought about Stan Freberg, who did other novelty acts), but the correct answer was … Dickie Goodman!
- And here’s the Star Wars recording(s) I was thinking of:
- I think that’s well off the beaten path … And I think I remember the second better than the first from my Dr. Demento days.
- Larry can’t decide whether he’s angry about Meghan’s alleged fakery on podcasts or just jealous. But we both agree that having your servants conduct the interview and looping in the questions is, um … pretty lame, considering how easy it is to podcast.
- We’re both fed up with the obsession over royalty, but we both pay respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose nobility came from her character rather than her bloodline.
- More seriously, we debate the tragic story unfolding about the Titanic tourist submersible and wonder how anyone thought that was a good idea. And should the gravesite be commercialized anyway, even apart from the safety issues involved?
- What about the other direction? “Space tourism is a real thing now,” Larry points out. “Would you do it?”
- No way in hell would I do that, I respond, but “there’s a more rational risk, there’s a more rational reward” in space tourism, I argue. “There’s an ambition to have people live on planets other than Earth,” I say, and “so eventually, if you do that, you need to have a fairly regular commute” to space. No one’s aspirationally expects to live 12,000 feet under the sea.
- We also take up the debate from the film Titanic and argue that Rose could have let Jack come out of the water. That leads me to recommend the Jim Carrey bit in Bruce Almighty, and leads us into the Evan Almighty debate. We at least agree that it’s the most entertaining Noah’s Ark film, but … that’s about it.
Be sure to watch it all and join us in the comments! (Unless you like Evan Almighty … )
