Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep. 42 | Turkey Recall & Botulism in Texas from Mexico | Guests: Mike Rowe & Peggy Rowe

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

Turkey Recall in America | Guest: Mike Rowe & Peggy Rowe About My Mother features a foreword from Rowe’s son – Executive Producer, Show Host, and Podcaster, Mike Rowe, who has helped to make his mother a favorite among his “little Facebook friends” (as coined by Peggy) with a regular bit he calls, “Mondays with Mother,” where he shares her humorous antics with more than 5 million Facebook friends. Mike’s fans have turned out in droves to support About My Mother, which now has 76,000+ followers on its own Facebook page in just a few weeks. “It never fails.  Every time I involve my mother in a TV show or a commercial campaign, she upstages me,” says Rowe.  “Now, just as I was preparing to write a book of my own, she cranks out a feel-good hit of the summer.  And I’m not even in it! Typical.” Within hours of the book’s pre-release on Amazon last week it made numerous bestsellers lists for the online retailer, and received so many orders that the “pre-order” button malfunctioned. Currently, About My Motheris ranked in the top 50 of books on Amazon. “It’s a delight to work with Peggy,” says Merkh. “Her humor has been evident as I’ve followed her on Mike’s platforms. The journey for this book started in a very unorthodox way and I’m happy to help it continue to redefine the way publishing is done today. Who knew that ‘America’s Grandmother’ could be an industry disruptor?!” About My Mother: There's a Thelma Knobel in everyone's life.  She's the person taking charge—the one who knows instinctively how things should be. Today, Thelma would be described as an alpha personality.  But while growing up, her daughter, Peggy, saw her as a dictator–albeit a benevolent, loving one. They clashed from the beginning: Peggy, the horse-crazy tomboy, and Thelma, a genteel controlling mother, committed to raising two refined, ladylike daughters.   When major league baseball came to town in the early 1950s and turned sophisticated Thelma into a crazed Baltimore Orioles groupie, nobody was more surprised and embarrassed than Peggy.  Life became a series of compromises–Thelma tolerating a daughter who pitched  manure and galloped the countryside, while Peggy learned to tolerate the whacky Orioles fan who threw her underwear at the TV, shouted insults at umpires, and lived by the orange and black schedule taped to the refrigerator door. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Chewing the Fat on Demand. All right, it's almost Thanksgiving 2018. A day that many of us just sit back, eat, sleep, watch a little football, get up early, turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, watch the parade, watch the balloons go by. Remember the time that you went to the parade with your family. Oh, look, there's the giant balloons. Oh, no, no, honey, that's not a balloon. That's the old actress. that's gained weight.

We've all been there. We've all been there. What's her name? Jennifer. I still love her too. Okay, we'll stop for just a second. It might not be Jennifer. It is Jennifer.

It's Jennifer. Blonde hair, hot. Now, she first became famous because she was a singer and then she was in a reality show with a hubby. This is just chewing the fat. warning to you listening. When you

type in something into a search engine looking for a particular actress, you know, like I was telling you about the Macy's Day parade. And I was joking around about, no, that's not the balloon, that's the old actress. Like, for the life of me, I couldn't remember her name. And it's, so

I wanted to try to figure out her name, so I typed it, and it's embarrassing the way she used to look at me when she was on TV. Because look at that time I just didn't I was embarrassing but so

when we saw her the Macy's Day parade she had like many of us over the years ballooned up a little and so I can remember

her stupid name so I type in I type in Jennifer I can't remember it's not nothing comes up so I type in hot blonde Jennifer in about 80 adult sites

come up And I know, I know for a fact. I know for a fact that Milf Gonzo is not her. Okay, I just know that. I know that from the bottom of my heart. Milf Gonzo is not. Jessica. Jessica.

What do you mean? So when you're looking for Jessica Simpson, just know that Milf Gonzo. in the search is not it. When it comes up after you search, you typed in something wrong and Milf Gonzo comes up, that's not right. Where was I at again?

Seriously, I forgot where I was at. Welcome to Chewing the Fat. George, Truly, Jeff Fisher, appreciate it. Happy Monday. Gosh darn it. We're so close to Thanksgiving. That's all I care about. Truly, it's all I care about.

I just want to sit. That's where we were at. We're talking about Thanksgiving. And I know that all we want to do is just eat, sleep, but there's other things happening. Like, but then you start going through the stuff of things that are actually happening. And it doesn't seem pretty. It doesn't seem pretty at all.

We're days away from Thanksgiving, and we've got a Thanksgiving turkey recall. What's the big, what's the big meat we eat on Thanksgiving? What is the big meat we eat on Thanksgiving? Ham, no, that's not it. No, that's not. The big meat weed roast, no. Right. Turkey.

Butterbought, to be exact. Thanksgiving warning turkey recall. Now, we're lucky that it is like it's the genio turkey. So it's, you know, ground turkey. One pound packages used by dates. But it's good that it's only 147,27,276 pounds of raw ground turkey products. That's all. Salmon Hill outbreak.

Don't worry about it. It's all good. You're fine. You'll be fine. It's not yours. Are you eating Gen. Are you eating Geno on Thanksgiving? No, I don't think so.

It's possible. They'll get mad at me for saying that you're not, but it's possible that you're not. Now, this isn't the first time. This is not the first time. So just remember that, you know, clean, wash your hands and surfaces often. Separate raw meat from other foods. Really. Do I need to tell you that?

Cook to the right temperature. Do I need to tell you that? Chill and refrigerate food promptly? What does promptly mean? Does promptly mean eight hours after you've eaten in my world? No, it promptly means you're not eating, put it away. That's what promptly means. So just be careful out there.

Why? Well, let's go on, shall we? School with major chicken box outbreak has high vaccination exemption rate. Huh. Let's see. The kids aren't getting vaccinated. And now a bunch of them have chickenpox. Weird how that works out.

I know I've had, I think it was chat. Did the measles? No, chicken pox. I've had the chicken box. But I got vaccinated so I didn't have the measles. I didn't have the mumps. I didn't have, who I've had a bunch of other stuff. So we'll just stop there.

Just stop. I didn't have the measles or the mumps. I remember chickenpox, because they itch. You got to wear, you got to wear like oven gloves so that you don't itch them, you don't scratch them,

because otherwise they end up being, these little skin pox on your skin forever. You see, well, they get infected, but you see people sometimes that have almost like acne, looks like acne, but that's really because somebody allowed them to itch their chicken pox. And so, fortunately,

the one good thing my mom did was say hey fatty here's some oven gloves don't pick at your chicken box but is that all that we have to worry about on Thanksgiving week? No, a man's runny nose turned out to be his brain leaking cerebral fluid oh but this is one guy right? I mean

that's all nothing like this could happen or not you know just runny nose was like an unpredictable tap draining at random on airplanes during conversations or even his Thanksgiving dinner. The problem was, I we thought it was allergies until the doctor said, you know what? That's really your brain fluid. Your brain fluid leaking out.

That's a problem. That's a problem. And maybe it was just him. You know, it couldn't be anything that he'd be. That's all. Texas cases of infant botulism. That's all. There's a few things going on around the country.

That's all. Don't be worried about it on Thanksgiving. You're fine. You're fine. These infants that are contracting botulism linked to a honey pacifiers from Mexico. Is that a problem? Is that a problem? I don't think so.

There could not be. Four infants were hospitalized for treatment. They were given the honey pacifiers from Mexico. So if you have an opportunity and someone has been kind enough to give you a gift of the honey pacifier for your new little baby, you may want to think twice about that. Is that it? That's going on? Oh, no.

Labgrown meat coming to America. Yay! Now, stop. I read this, and I hear lab grown meat coming to America, FDA and USDA, announced this. But we've had the pink slime. And we've had the other stuff, but that still isn't the, and I was thinking that that's the same stuff, but it's not. Because the lab-grown meat is using cells from the meat that are making the artificial meat.

So they didn't know how to market it. I'm sure they, you know that the beef industry is not happy with lab-grown meat. And of course, you know, they, well, there are many benefits to lab-grown meat. eliminate the need for animals to be bred and slaughtered. You know what? I'm okay with the animals being bred to be slaughtered. The meat is good. I want to be, they better slap fake meat on.

I mean, not fake meat. Don't be silly. Lab grown. It's not fake, silly. Don't call it. Don't be that dumb. I'm sure the, I'm sure the, uh, beef, it's what for dinner people would be happy to put fake meat on there.

And I'm sure our president will help them right along. But is that all that's going on this week before Thanksgiving? I think not. I think not. Why? Because we have a new, a whole new organism. Now, we find out stuff all the time. And I love bringing these stories to you because it fascinates me that we are so concerned

over all these beings on Earth, and it's good to be worried. And we don't want to kill everything on the planet. I got that. But sometimes animals go extinct. That's what happens. But they go extinct, and then new animals arrive. New animals, poof.

Oh, there's more. Oh, we found more over here. Oh, something happens over here. Remember the island of Hawaii that went missing during the storm. And they were so concerned about all these animals. And I joked around about they're just going to hop on a piece of trash

and float somewhere else. What's the story we have two weeks later? They hopped on a piece of trash and floated somewhere else. It's amazing. That's what happens. Life finds a way. That's a quote from a documentary about dinosaurs

a number of years ago, Jurassic Park. I don't know if you ever saw the original documentary. There's a few follow-ups that weren't quite as documentarianism. But the first one, 100% documentary. So scientists say we're all yucarote. Wait, scientists say we're all yucca rotes. Yucayotes, Yucayotes, Yucayotes. Yucayotes.

U-E-U-K-A-R-Y-O-T-E-S. U-Karyote. If you call me that again, we're going to fight. Seriously, don't call me that again. All right, so we're all at eukaryotes. that's what he said right eukaryotes yeah get out who just let him's up to the mic you let the kid just walk up and say the word i mean thank you oh just because i didn't pronounce eukaryote he's smarter than you no he's not i mean maybe he is but that's not the point so eukaryotes plants animals fungi

tiny multi-celled organisms and uh they're the four kingdoms of life which uh you know encompass everything living that we found on earth, all encompassed in eukaryotes. Let's start with me. However, we have now found, oh my gosh, a fifth kingdom. What? Something we weren't aware of? Amazing. Oh, okay.

No, no, no. Don't stop right here. Bring in Mr. He's smarter than you. Show him the story. Now, bring up the story. Mr. I, Mr. Smarter than you. Were you in here listening earlier?

You carry out, boy. Okay. What's your name again? Did you say that out of the air? His name is Dylan. Oh yeah, yeah, Dylan. That's killing me. All right, so the new organism is now called

what you got for me, Dylan. That's what I thought. Nothing. Nothing is what you got. Mr. you carry out what you got what you got for me come on man

let's have it hemi mastic's coozyjic well I could I mean that's not quite as what is it actually Hemimastix cockwitch See the second word he got wrong He's not that smart

Don't walk away now Because I did I did as good as you did What's the second one don't you change it Eukaryote I know we've already been down the Eukaryote road we're moving on All right we're done

Thank you very much Dylan take care Chris take care Thank you appreciate you stopping by Go do whatever it is you do Here at the Blaze Television and Radio Network Because I sure as I don't know what you do I just know you show up around here once in a while

So let's go do whatever you do. Okay, so the new organism has a mother. The mother's name is. Hemimastigotes. Now, we now have a fifth organism, and its name is... Hemimastik's cockwitchk. That's not what Dylan said. I wish we could play back what Dylan said,

because that's not what he said. He did not say... Hemimastik's cockwitchk. Now, he said the first word. Hemimastex. He did not pronounce that second word right. Hamimastix. He pronounced that right.

He did not pronounce that right. No. In fact, we're pausing the podcast right now. I don't need to tell you this, but I am anyway because I want you to know exactly what's happening here. We're pausing this podcast because I'm going to go back and get what Dylan said, Mr. Easton's in you. And we're going to get what Dylan said. for the real name of the fifth element.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. So to prove my point, that's just to prove my point, because I have to prove my point, okay? So Dylan, Mr. I don't even know what he does around here. Seriously, he just shows up.

Listen, I'm a fan. I do that every day in this place. I just show up and they go, oh, he still works here. Okay, and they let you in. It's good. So this kid's got it down already. He beat me. He just shows up.

I turn around. He's like sitting behind a computer. Hey, Dylan. Hey. I guess he works here. So he's got to be Mr. Smartypants showing up today in the studio when I'm recording this. I don't know how to pronounce those words. He doesn't.

Chris, he's so much smarter than you. Yeah? Okay. Well, then we gave him the word of the fifth element now. All right, the fifth kingdom of life. And he pronounced it like this. Hemimimastics, Kuquisijic. And then it's supposed to be pronounced like this.

Mastix coquistich. What an idiot. Wow. I mean, it's embarrassing for me. If you hear how wrong he got that. I mean, play it again. Hemimastix, coquizzygic. Listen to the real way.

Hemimastix cockwood, jitch. Wow. Wow. That's all I'm saying. Whenever you have the opportunity to speak with Mike Rowe, the answer is always, yes. Of course you want to speak to Mike Rowe. He's Mike Roe. My gosh. He's the man. And I've met him a couple of times. We've met here at the Blaze Studios at Mercury Studios here at the Blaze. He's been on the show. I love him. And he's been reading letters from his mom on his Facebook page. And they've had so much fun with it that his mom put a book together. And it's called About My Mother. I mean, it's so funny. And we have an opportunity to talk to Mike and his mom. And just remember that if you have an opportunity, you can obviously get it wherever books are sold and wherever you can, you know, you see books out there in the world.

But you can go to about my motherbook.com as well. Okay. So, again, you have the opportunity to talk to Mike Rowe and his mom Peggy. And who doesn't say, of course we'll talk to them. Things to do when you're 80. Note to yourself. Of course you write a book. Of course you get the book published.

Titled About My Mother, Peggy Row. And of course, it doesn't say on the list, Peggy, but, you know, you just drag your son around so you can promote whatever he's doing? He insisted on doing this. It wasn't my idea. Oh, that figure. He's wonderful. That figure. So Peggy Row also with her son, Mike Row, joining me.

Thanks for coming on today. I appreciate it. I know you guys are on the big worldwide tour about my mother, the book that Peggy wrote. And are you enjoying the tour, Peggy? I am. It's exhilarating and exhausting. After three days, I have to say, it's been a blast. So you're in New York right now.

And then where else is the tour headed? Where are you headed? Well, after New York, I'm going to Baltimore and doing some press. okay and Baltimore happened to be my hometown and then and that's she'll be uh she'll be conducting the

remainder of her press this week from her condominium on her cell phone like the civilized human being thank you and then also you know every time we do Mondays, Mondays with mom will,

Mondays with mother you'll be promoting the book as well it's a great way to promote the book every time I mentioned to three or four people that I was going to talk to you to And everyone that I spoke to is in love with Mondays with Mother and in love with your idea that you have your mom on, Mike. And Peggy, I got to tell you, it's something that has brought smiles and joys to so many people.

You know, it makes us all remember our own moms if we've lost them. And it also reminds us of a time when we listened to our mothers and paid attention to their words, even if we didn't realize it. Yes, you know what? That's the thing about my book. It's relatable. Everybody has a mother. Everybody has memories of their mother, whether they're good or bad. Mine are mostly good.

We were very different. Our worlds were different. Yeah. But there was affection in love. Yeah. So I noticed that this is, this is, you're calling this book the second printing about my mother. And I'm fascinated to know the story of, why this is the second printing and what happened with the first printing well it was a combination

of forest gump and uh just happen sense you know my the Mondays with mother blog that i do on my page is really just me reading letters that my mother writes right one of those letters uh turned out to be viewed about 128 million times it was a very popular story about the time she lost her big blue purse at the Walmart and how my dad went looking for it by diving into dumpsters calling her cell phone from his and all the chaos that ensued. Great story. Publishers saw it. They thought a book of similar stories would be a bestseller, ideally stories that

involve the Dirty Jobs guy. So I told my mom, look, if you're willing to write these stories, you know, a lot of people will publish them. And she said, oh, well, let me think about that. Then she went away and wrote 20 stories, none of which I'm in. You're in two of them. Yes, but as a minor character, right? So she goes off to write the book that she wants to write, not the book that's a guaranteed bestseller.

And so the publishers didn't even read it. They were like, no, we really need that celebrity angle. And I said, okay, I get it. But I read it. And these stories were great. Right. So I printed 10,000 copies, put them for sale on Facebook. they sold out in two weeks.

Then the publishers came back for the second printing. Of course they did. So we put on a new forward, a new cover. We came to New York. And now she's number two on Amazon and we're 60,000 copies in. That's fantastic. Only in America, Jeff. I know.

I know. That's what makes America great, right? And we all, I love, I was, I went back and listened to, old blue the other day again, just so that I refreshed my memory. I mean, we all have memories of leaving things in parking lots. And I think, you know, overall, well, that story lends to believe that people are genuinely good. I know we think that people are bad and, you know, you make the joke of, you know, canceling the credit cards and you forgot your purse and everything is gone and they've thrown

it in the trash and they've taken the cash and the cell phone. But really, overall, most people see that and they just turn it in. not theirs they turn it in that's true and do you know I got to meet the woman as you know if you yeah yeah and she's charming and I do have a relationship with her I talk to her on then and yeah she's one of those good people out there and they they abound yes they do yes they do most people realize that when you see a giant purse hanging from a shopping cart that if it was if it was their purse they would have stuff they would still want in it, so turn it in for whoever it belongs to.

Oh, yeah. When you started writing this, I'm sure you had what you thought was, you know, your favorite story of all time and you wanted to tell it in the book. But now that you put it all down and it's in book form, have you turned another story into your favorite one, or do you still have the same favorite story? Oh, my goodness. I love each and every one of them because they, each one tells a different story. story about my mother. She was

multifaceted and there is no end to her her material. She gave me wonderful material. I still am a little partial to the first story. Which takes place which takes place when she's 90

years old. Yeah. And so no go ahead Mike. Sorry, but it's all good. But it is it's the thing it'll hook you. I mean, if you're standing on Barnes & Noble and you're looking through the book, you will read on the first page the true story of my mother pushing my grandmother in her wheelchair through the island of Macy's because my grandmother spies an Oriole jersey that she wants.

She has to have. So my mom pushes her over to the jersey. My grandmother stands up, takes off her top, rides on the jersey. My mother's horrified. A woman in a bra is standing there in Macy's. customers are transfixed. My grandmother hits a mannequin. The mannequin falls over. The bald head falls off. The head rolls down the aisle. Customers scatter.

And that's my nana, standing there in a bra, trying to put on an Orioles uniform with my mortified mother watching. And her story was, oh, Peggy, nobody's interested in a 90-year-old woman in a bra. I just want to try out the jersey. That is tremendous. And, of course, you know, really, while everyone is scattering from the mannequin, she's right. Just try the jersey on. That's fine.

Be done with it. She was always right. Yeah, just try the jersey. Always right. Yes, absolutely. So you spend all this time with your mom and you have all these enjoyable stories, and now you're sharing them with the world, and Mike shares many of them. When it was it the actual old blue story letter?

that started because Mike wouldn't return your phone calls. Is that what got this all really started? Well, you know, there was such interest in the story of Old Blue. I decided that I would send him the occasional letter, which he would read, and which garnered much interest and many comments. And then one day, in an effort to keep in touch with a son who lives thousands of miles away, I sat down and I wrote him a text just to keep him up to date on what his father and I were doing. Right.

The text was so popular that Mike said, well, maybe mom, you should just send me the occasional text. And then if your book ever comes out, people will know that they like your writing and maybe so buy your book. Absolutely. I love that plan. And listen, we've all lived through the, you know, you can call once in a while. So I understand that feeling from parents dramatically. Mike, so you're out touring with mom, but it's not like you don't have anything else to do

other than help your mom promote her book. So what are you up to, aside from promoting Peggy's book? Well, let's see. The third season of returning the favor will debut on Facebook on the 27th of November. that thing is out of control. 300 million views. We're celebrating common decency wherever we can find it in these United States.

And I'm happy to report. It's still out there. Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what I was talking about with people turning in, you know, things that they find in parking lots. Generally, people are good. They want to be good. Generally.

Well, look, you find what you look for. You know, if you want to look for bad news, there it is, right in the headlines. You want to look for good news. You have to look a little deeper. but you can find it on TBN. Somebody's got to do it. It is a show that still works, that we're still,

I think it's their number one show, and I'm thrilled that that's out there. Dirty jobs still airs 10 times a week. It's amazing. There's a podcast called The Way I Heard It, which they tell me is the number one short-form podcast in the country. More good news there. So, you know, I'm doing the same basic thing I've always done, Jeff.

I'm doing the same show I've been doing for 20 years. I just changed the title every five years. And now my mom's written a book based on the same fundamental stuff. Right. And it's still for sale. It still works. It's not a secret. It is not a secret.

And it's just a matter of getting out there and doing it. You know, my favorite, one of the favorite shows that you did, I know everybody, you know, has their favorite Mike Roe stories. But the How Booze Built America, I think is probably one of my favorites. Well, you know, that is still. not dead. I'm convinced that anybody who can figure out how to make history truly relatable is either going to have a successful show or a successful book or something. You know, one of the things we've become disconnected from, I think, is our own history. Oh, yeah. Where we've come from as a country. So, you know, that project was an attempt to check that box. And

great fun to shoot as well. Anytime you get paid to shoot in a bar, you've done something right. And so, all right, so now you're on the world tour, Peggy. You're dragging your kid along behind you saying, you know, help me promote my book. You're in New York. What do you want people to remember most from about my mother,

true stories of a horse crazy daughter and her baseball-obsessed mother? I think what I want them to know about my book is that no matter who you are, you can relate to stories in my book. You probably had a mother. You probably had a relationship with her or not. Maybe it was good. Maybe it was not. There is something in my book that you can relate to. And in the end, you'll laugh a lot. And it'll make you feel better. Yeah, and it'll bring back a lot of memories. I found myself remembering a lot of things. I hadn't thought about it in a long time, which was good. It brought you. It brought you. It

a smile to my face and it'll definitely bring a smile to your face when you read it. I noticed the book is available now. It's out. It's out for everyone to get their hands on as of yesterday. So it's available wherever you can get books. And I noticed that Mike mentioned Barnes & Noble. If you can find one of those, you can probably still go in and buy a book. I don't know that one exists anymore.

They're out there. I'll tell you. If you wander into the one in Manhattan, heads up. I walked in last night. My mom's book is the first thing you see. My dad was in the store. True story, literally, holding a copy of my mother's book, haranguing a customer, literally reading from the book until she bought the copy. She did.

She bought it. And I autographed it for her. Of course she did. She wanted him to stop. Okay, fine. All right. I'll buy it. I'll buy it.

Anything. Here. Take a money. Stop. Oh, you're going to sign it for me. too, okay. Listen, Mike and Peggy Roe, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it.

And I know that everyone will really enjoy the book. It's a really good read. And, of course, you know, we'll all enjoy whatever the heck you're working on, Mike. I appreciate it. Well, thank you for having us on. This has been fun. Thanks, Jeff. Say hey to the gang.

I will. Take care.